A Hoodoo/Root Worker/Conjurer works with the Christian (Protestant or Catholic) Bible. The words of Jesus Christ, the intervention of Mary, the calling of the Saints, along with the use of the Psalms are thought to hold great power for all manner of works.
When working Hoodoo, a more Southern African-American slant will prevail. A root worker may, practice along the lines of the Scotts-Irish-German that was brought to the Appalachian Mountains. Both will use the Bible, especially the Psalms, in their works, and some will use the various seals, such as the Seals of Solomon and/or the Black Pullet Seals.
As a result of the exposure to various beliefs and practices the religions of African slaves transformed into a hodge-podge of magickal practices
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God, the Universe, etc...) marked everything in existence with a sign, or signature, which indicates its intended use. Furthermore, by careful observation one can determine the uses of a plant from an aspect of its form such as the shape of its roots or leaves, its color, place of growing, or even its name.
RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE
Retributive justice is a theory of punishment based on the biblical principle of an “eye for an eye”. Unlike other religions which accept magick as part of its philosophy and adjure its adherents to “do not harm”, Hoodoo allows for an individual to not only protect themselves by magickal means but also to retaliate against those who have wronged them. However, in the case of the latter, the punishment must fit the crime.
LIFE AFTER DEATH
Along with the belief in a Higher Power comes the belief in the continued existence of the soul after physical death. Many Root-Workers start out working with spirits of the dead in the form of the Ancestors, the spirits of the dead connected to them by blood. It is believed that the dead don’t die, but rather ascend to another level of being, from which they can look on and assist us. From this higher level, the Ancestors can guide us in our daily lives, intercede with the Godhead on our behalf and protect us in times of
It is amazing how two religions, such as Voodoo and Christianity, can be filled with so many awesome differences with respect to time eras, status, publicity, and language, and yet still have an almost identical core ideal. This also demonstrates that this core ideal of the use of humans as a mouthpiece of the divine has been a long lived concept which people, such as Mama Lola and her family, still believe in and practice today. Perhaps this proves there is some truth in the idea, and most likely, we will never know for sure, whether this concept, in it’s many different forms continues to live on, or if it dies out.
Their dependence on magic is similar to very religion-like. It is akin to how a pious group of people consider their faith as sort of a protection. But the Trobriander magic extends to more realms than most religions. Malinowski mentions the varied aspects of their lives that magic plays a part in. It is used to explain death. Physical ailments and illness can be attributed to magic. There is a team of human sorcerers, the bwaga’u, who induce the “deepest dread and most constant concern of the natives” because of how magic can extinguish human life (393). Health is closely tied to magic as it can ruin or improve one’s health. Magic also plays a part in social events such as “ambition in gardening, ambition in successful Kula, vanity and display of personal charms in dancing” (394). Individuals can perform magic to improve the chances of success for their gardens while also casting black magic on the gardens of their rivals. Magic governs the weather. One of the more interesting aspects of
Author of “The Negro Family”, E. Franklin Frazier believed that the centrality of the bible, structure of Black worship, and notion of God that evolved from the invisible institution to the Black Church was confirmation of the power of white influence . These tactics and different developments were merely adaptive methods used by slaves in order to worship freely in a confined space. Frazier’s beliefs were undermined by author Gayraud S. Wilmore’s description of Vodun in his book Black Religion and Black Radicalism. Frazier’s contention that black religion was evidence of white influence assumes a blank and passive slate. While Vodun in West Africa did have organization that was probably “infiltrated by Roman Catholicism” the goal of New World Africans was to adapt and understand their lives (Wilmore 43). Although white influence was forced upon New World Africans, slaves did not accept this influence but rather interpreted it to create a new, place-based Vodun religion. Vodun adapted to New World conditions, functioned as a coping mechanism, and possessed evolutionary qualities.
During a most dark and dismal time in our nations history, we find that the Africans who endured horrible circumstances during slavery, found ways of peace and hope in their religious beliefs. During slavery, Africans where able to survive unbearable conditions by focusing on their spirituality.
The terms voodoo, hoodoo, black magic and conjure arouse different ideas and interpretations such as fear, fascination, or repugnance. For some, the image of voodoo dolls, which are used to bring pain to the one’s enemy are associated with these words. Others might consider curses and spells used for evil intentions to be at the heart of voodoo. A more innocent notion of voodoo encompasses the idea that it is to be used for the communal good. All of these ideas came together and merged with Christian and Catholic beliefs after Africans were transported to the Americas and subjected to unimaginable horrors as slaves. Many historians define voodoo as “a syncretism between the African religion Vodu and Catholicism.” Voodoo is an entirely new creation, which was born as the African slaves were confronted with New World religions. These new ideas were “camouflaged as European saints, the Orisha divinities continued to be invoked, fed, and celebrated by their transplanted New World devotees, who in turn expected protection and assistance from their ancient spiritual guardian.” In some cases, slaves used the culturally accepted Catholic saints as a cover for their ancestral beliefs which were often seen as foolish and heretical by their masters. This new belief system “met new world needs that the settled and passive African modes could not match.” Voodoo held an important part in many slaves’ lives as remnants of their African beliefs evolved into a meaningful and powerful force. Voodoo was an essential element of survival for many slaves because it helped them cope psychologically with the physical torment they endured, it gave them a sense of power in impossibly difficult situations, and it served as a unifying force.
This paper considers the desert arguments raised to support retributivism, or retribution. Retributivism is "the application of the Principle of Desert to the special case of criminal punishment." Russ Shafer-Landau and James Rachels offer very different perspectives on moral desert which ground their differing views on the appropriate response to wrongdoing. In "The Failure of Retributivism," Shafer-Landau contends that retributivism fails to function as a comprehensive theoretical foundation for the legal use of punishment. In contrast, in his article "Punishment and Desert," Rachels uses the four principles of guilt, equal treatment, proportionality and excuses to illustrate the superiority of retribution as the basis for the justice system over two alternatives: deterrence and rehabilitation. Their philosophical treatment of the term leads to divergence on the justification of legal punishment. Ultimately, Rachels offers a more compelling view of desert than Shafer-Landau and, subsequently, better justifies his endorsement of a retributive justice system.
Immanuel Kant has long been considered an exemplar of the retributive system. He claims punishment, retributive justice's primary reaction to wrongdoing(4), is the only way justice is upheld, and the state needs
The process of syncretization among the African religions helps to explain why those cults found it relatively easy to accept and integrate parts of Christian religious belief and practice into the local cult activity. Initially this integration was purely functional, providing a cover of legitimacy for religions that were severely proscribed. But after a few generations a real syncretism became part of the duality of beliefs of the slaves themselves, who soon found it possible to accommodate both religious systems.
J. W. Dunlap, an educational specialist and a medium, in her article “REINCARNATION AND SURVIVAL OF LIFE AFTER DEATH,” defines reincarnation as life being eternal and with a purpose that each individual will experience and continue to experience after death. The belief in reincarnation is universal in certain aspect of the world; based on the lives of Africans and Native Americans there is a strong belief in the concept of reincarnation from past human history (Dunlap 157-170). Looking at some Africans, they have a strong belief in ancestral rebirth; they do not believe that once an ancestor died they will never see them again; they believe that it is just a separation and only temporary (Dunlap). Some Native Americans have a different view; they have a spiritual, philosophical view with regards to reincar...
The rituals and traditions of the Indians evince their beliefs in spirits and afterlife. Indians believed that there would be a better life for them after they die, because many of them did not see a way out, but people were still fighting for their lives.
Robinson, B. A. "Partly Real; Partly Imaginary." The History of Wicca. N.p., 30 Jan. 2014. Web. 31 Mar. 2014.
One of the greatest and oldest human mysteries on Earth is death, and the fate that lies beyond it. The curious minds of human beings constantly wonder about the events that occur after death. No person truly knows what happens after a person ceases to live in the world, except for the people themselves who have passed away. As a result, over the course of history, people of various backgrounds, ethnicities, and religions have speculated and believed in numerous different possibilities for the destiny that awaits them beyond the world of the living. The great ambiguity of the afterlife is extremely ancient that many different beliefs about it have been dated back to several centuries ago. These beliefs go as far back to the beliefs of Ancient Egyptians, which outline the journey that the dead travels to the land of Osiris; and the belief of Ancient Greeks that all souls eventually find themselves in Hades’ realm, the Underworld. Throughout history, views and beliefs from emerging religions continue to develop as the human conscience persists in finding answers to this ancient, unresolved mystery. Prime examples of the various and separate beliefs regarding death and the afterlife are found in the diverse faiths of Roman Catholicism, Islam, and Buddhism.
The reason I believe this is because these steps above describe exactly what slave masters did in order to change the whole mindset of a slave, and get them to comply to the religions that were unknowingly being forced upon them. For example number four on the list describes “the manipulation of the totality of the person's social environment to stabilize behavior once modified”. An example of this action is when the slave masters would split family members from each other so they wouldn’t worship the religions as a unit that they had created on their own, way before coming into slavery. According to academia.edu in a study on the role of religion in Africa. With their family units broken, their African beliefs were broken too, making them
Russell, Jeffrey. A History of Witchcraft: Sorcerers, Heretics, and Pagans. New York: Themes and Hudson Inc. 1983.
These ideals have influenced our culture though our use of language and thought. The implications are apparent in the common references to one’s past lives. For instance, if someone has a natural talent for music one may refer to the person as being once a talented musician in a past life. A religion which describes death as a continuation of existance is held by the Crow tribe of middle America. They viewed death as a journey with the final destination as a place where all their anscestors have gone before them.