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Sunday, June 17, 2018

Conjure and the Witch


I am a Witch. I have been interested and involved in the occult since I was about 11 years old, and I began my official training when I was 21. I'm 42 now, so half my life has been dedicated to magic and the Craft. If you met me "out and about" and asked me to describe my spiritual path, the short answer would be "American Folkloric Witchcraft." The long answer would also include Aphrodite, the Ordo Templi Orientis, rootwork/conjure, Druidry, Goddess studies, and more. The part of the long answer that I find most tricky (and at the same time, easiest to align to the Craft) is what is called Conjure or Rootwork.

Generally, "conjure" and "rootwork" and "hoodoo" all refer to African American magical traditions. The philosophies and practices behind them came from West Africa to the West Indies and Americas via the slave trade. Here in the US, those traditions have not only held on, but they have flourished in areas like the Gulf Coast (particularly New Orleans). Indeed, African American folk magic is kind of a unique and separate thing from its predecessors.

In 2008, (my now ex-wife) Natalie and I founded what we came to call the American Folkloric Witchcraft tradition. You can read about the tradition on the AFW blog. AFW began as an American expression of British Traditional Craft -- the stuff taught by Robert Cochrane and the Clan of Tubal Cain, not Gardner's witchcraft. We dug deep into Cochrane's writings, particularly the correspondence between Cochrane and Joe Wilson, who went on to found 1734 (another American witchcraft tradition). We also pulled deeply from the Arthurian legends, recognizing in them a mythopoetic pattern that speaks to the magical mind on a deep level. She and I had already done quite a lot of study of what some call "woodcut witchcraft" or "Sabbatic Craft" as depicted in medieval woodcuts and witchcraft trial records.

All of these roots of the AFW tradition were very European, as you can see. That was fine by us. As very, very white (and I mean, the type of white that spontaneously combusts in the noon-day sun) American girls, we have a lot of Northern European heritage. She was largely Scottish and German. I'm mainly Dutch-German with healthy doses of Irish and English.

So, what makes AFW "American"? Well, there are several things, actually. One is that we made a decision early on to work with the spirits and energies of the North American continent. We encourage AFW witches all over the country to get to know the land spirits, local legends, and regional flora and fauna of their locales. This is a big country. A damned big country, in fact. Florida feels (and smells and sounds) different than Indiana or Oklahoma or New Hampshire or Oregon. Those differences impact your magic, and we let the American (particularly the Hoosier, since we lived in Indiana at the time) landscape and history influence our magical choices.

We also opened ourselves up to the nuances of Native American traditions. Like many Americans, our family trees include roots that are very firmly planted in American soil. There are a few subtle ways in which AFW is informed by Native American traditions. We do a fair bit of shamanic work in our private coven work, though we haven't written much about these aspects publicly yet. Some of that work is drawn from European traditions, and some is drawn from indigenous traditions.

Mountain magic -- particularly Appalachian and Ozark -- is also a major influence in our practical Crafting and general worldview. This is actually a fascinating area of study for me right now, since my family has been in and near the Ozarks for the last 5 or 6 generations. Until I started actively reading about it, I hadn't realized how many of the superstitions and folk-ways of the Ozarks are deeply ingrained in the way I see the world. (Her family is more Appalachian, and we both live closer to Appalachia, where those folkways seep into our individiual and collective practices.)

We also saw and were open to African- and Latin American magical influences. We may not have any (or much) biological connection to these traditions, but they are undeniably part of the fabric of American folkloric magic. Indeed, Hoodoo, Voudon (particularly the New Orleans variety, which has been my greatest exposure), etc are some of the strongest and most uniquely American types of magic around. 


For myself, rootwork and Hoodoo practices (and also Voudon, to some extent)  started showing up in my magical workings in a very organic and Spirit-led way. Maman Brigitte has always been a part of my Craft life (originally as Brighid, the spiritual Mother into whose lap I threw myself for comfort and guidance as a young Witch), and when she told me (as Maman) that she "had my head", I wasn't entirely shocked. My first beloved Goddess had been brought to the "New World" by indentured servants, who shared her magick and power with the slaves they labored alongside, eventually becoming a beloved lwa (and finding her way back to me through that guise, as well). Also, my familiar S informed me early that she is a Ghede (in addition to being known to the writers of the Goetia as a demon and showing up to John Dee and Charles Kelley as an angel whose name shows up in the Enochian tablets). My daughter's familiar is a simbi, and he has taught both of us so much!



One of the clearest messages that has come through is that magic is color-blind. Magic is there and available to anyone who is willing to listen to the Spirits and do the work. Conjure and witchcraft aren't two separate things. They are the same. The flavors may be a little different, but the goals and folk-ways are surprisingly similar. Use what you have. Do what you must. Help yourself and your kin.



America is the great Salad Bowl, with lots of different colors and textures and flavors. American magic is equally as colorful and diverse. The adept American Witch knows which flavors work well together, knows how to use every bit and scrap, knows which piece will pack the biggest punch at a given time.





Which folk traditions influence your magic? Do you feel more comfortable working with just one system, or do you blend several?

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