Book Title and Author:
HOODOO: 4 books in 1 Hoodoo for Beginners + Spell Book + Herbal Magic + Candle Magic | A Complete Introductory Guide To Traditional Folk Magic
By Mirella Williamson
Status? : Finished
My overall rating of the book : 6.5
How does this book relate to my magickal practice?: I learned a lot about not just Hoodoo but Voodoo, Voodon and other practices that are often confused or intersect with Hoodoo.
My personal thoughts/opinions:
Hoodoo has it’s own vocabulary although in and of itself has no theology of its own. As a magical system Hoodoo is independent from a particular religious system, although it is often (and traditionally) practiced in a Christian context. More blurred are the boundaries between Hoodoo, Voodoo and Louisiana Voodoo (or New Orleans Voodoo). New Orleans Voodoo developed in the French colony of Louisiana among the French-speaking or Creole African population, is a sort of middle way between the two, providing for the worship of the same Haitian voodoo loa but placing, like hoodoo, a great emphasis on popular magic.
This book’s content is a comprehensive basic review of what Hoodoo is and what it isn’t. However, many editing and spelling/grammatical errors, even repeated entire paragraphs made reading this distracting for a grammar nazi as myself but generally the content was easy to read and very consumable. At 385 pages, it’s a very quick read.
An interesting quote from the book: " "
“The purpose of hoodoo is to give access to supernatural forces in order to improve the various aspects of everyday life such as luck, money, love, work, health, revenge. In hoodoo is made extensive use of herbs and stones and traditional ingredients of spells are also fragments of animal bones, personal items and body fluids (menstrual blood, urine and semen). Very common practices in the hoodoo magic system are contact with the spirits of the dead (including those of the ancestors) and the magical use of roots. The goal of hoodoo is therefore to improve everyday life with almost medical purposes through the action of supernatural forces acting for example on love, health, in everyday life or work. In hoodoo are used parts of animals, body parts of people such as blood, nails, hair, urine, then there are objects such as candles, incense, oil, powders used in potions.”
All in all, would I recommend this book?: Maybe
