Hoodoo

Hoodoo - also known as conjure or rootworking - is a thoroughly American system of magic that is a unique amalgamation of primarily African, Native American and European magical concepts, with a smattering of other folklore reflecting the mish-mash melting post of the American South. Though often confused in name with "voodoo," they do not share origins even as far back as Africa: hoodoo is derived from Central African tribal folklore, and vodou comes from West African origins.

Though it uses a great deal of prayer and incorporates the Psalms as invocation (rather than liturgy), it does not hold to any specific theology. It has been equally used by Protestants, Catholics, voudisants, spiritualists and (in modern times) neopagans. Hoodoo is a very hands-on art, without much attachment to philosophies or moralizing, save what the practitioner chooses to bring to his or her practice. Practitioners are themselves referred to as hoodoos, conjures, rootworkers, root doctors and a handful of other terms.

As such, hoodoo has seen a great deal of infiltration into Southern culture in general, and to African-American culture in specific, so much so that many Southerners are surprised to learn that they know a little something or other associated with its practice, even if they just think of it as "some superstitious thing my granny used to do." Hoodoo is deeply syncretic, mixing easily with other practices - for example, in the southern Appalachian range, its practice has mixed and mingled with Appalachian Granny Magic, for instance, or in Louisiana with voudisants fleeing Haiti to form the "voodoo" so well known from New Orleans.

It was not uncommon in times past for someone to visit a hoodoo when they had some sort of issue that they had no other recourse for. At its heart, hoodoo's main goal is about solving peoples' problems, rather than any sort of philosophy, goal for enlightenment or any of the sorts of high-mindedness that seems to permeate other magical traditions. In times past, a hoodoo might have a steady stream of clients at their door, and in the early part of the 20th Century, urban areas in the South (or those areas that had a large population of displaced African-Americans with roots in the South) even boasted small corner drug stores that were half-pharmacy and half-hoodoo shops.

Prerequisites

Crafts 2, Empathy 2, Occult 2; Specialties: Folkloric Curios in Crafts, Hoodoo in Occult

Tradition Skills

• Craft: Rootworkers are often skilled with their hands, crafting a wide variety of baths, oils, candles, washes, incenses and a double-handful of other, similar curios.
• Empathy: The work that a hoodoo does is deeply intuitive, requiring a sense of subtle emotions and their impact, not just on people, but on places.
• Occult: A knowledge of a wide variety of occult symbols and techniques are vital in conjure.
• Persuasion: A good conjurer has a forceful, magnetic personality and a winning way about him or her, vital not just for dealing with troubled clients, but also the myriad spirits that hoodoo works with.
• Subterfuge: Hoodoos have a reputation as leg-pullers and story-tellers, with more than their fair share of huckster thrown in. They are also skilled at "laying tricks," spells set up to affect those who are unaware that a trap has been set for them.

Praxis

• Mojo: One of the prime concepts behind hoodoo is the idea of "mojo." Mojo is "power" - not just magical power, but also describing sexual potency, luck and skill. Individuals all have their own unique mojos, basically what the Awakened call Resonance. But inanimate objects with occult significance also have mojo, subtle resonances associated with certain themes: love, purification, money, luck and the like. Conjure is like cooking, on some level: by bringing together ingredients that have a mojo associated with what you wish to accomplish, and "cooking" them together (aided by the fire of the divine spirit; see "The Philosophy of Fire" below), you can make events in the world take on that "flavor" and impel towards the desired outcome.
• High John the Conquerer:
• The Crossroads:
• Personal Effects:
• Sympathetic Magic:
• The Philosophy of Fire:
• God as Hoodoo:
• Timing:

Correspondences

• Tobys, or Mojo Hands:
• Setting Lights:
• Prayer and Laying on Hands:
• Powders & Foot-Track Magic:
• Anointing Oils, Baths, Washes and Waters:
• Working Tricks: X
• Intercessional Magic: Spirits, Saints and Angels.
• Divination and Dreaming True:
• X:
• X:

Higher Mysteries

• Raising Mojo (•••): X - raise mojo of a certain Resonance, investing Mana with it and placing it into preparations like Tass. Such mana may only be spent on Tradition rotes cast in accordance with that theme, but grant a +1 bonus to spellcasting when thus used in addition to paying for any Mana expenditures. Wits + Occult roll, at a penalty equal to the points of Mana to be invested, taking one hour. Each theme requires a different roll.

• Altar Work & Laying Tricks (••••): X - spend longer working on ritual magic to mimic

• Setting Lights (•••): X - negate point of Mana for sympathy when using candle as
• Raising the Mojo (••••): X - Resonance manipulation
• Curios and Formulas (•••••): X

Curios & Formulas

The curios and formulas of the highest Mystery of hoodoo function as Gross Matter Creation, with a single exception: they do not require Matter to create. Instead, they are created through other Arcana, notably Death and Spirit. These still require an Alchemical Lab to craft, though.

• Craft Anointing Oil: (Spirit •••; Extended; Prolonged; 1 Mana); Gross Matter Creation; Must be imbued with a spell that affects the one being anointed with the oil only. By spending an additional Mana of the appropriate Resonance while creating the oil, the spell gains the Conditional Duration (+3 - spell lasts until the oil is wiped or washed off).

• Craft Sachet Powder: X - Conditional Trigger + Concealed Potency
• Craft Incense: X -
• Craft Mojo: X - Conditional Duration (Until Mojo is "killed")
• Craft Goofer Dust: X
• Craft Washes and Baths: X - Advanced Duration

Typical [Tradition] Rotes

The following are some of the most commonly taught XXX rotes.

NAME (ARCANA •••••)

• Spell: X
• Dice Pool: X
• Factor Bonuses: X
• Tradition Rote: X