I was asked at a dinner party the other day about the role of hoodoo in contemporary society.
Was trying to explain to a fellow academic the difference between Hoodoo and Voodoo. I told him that while both were part of a family of African religious retentions in the Americas, Voodoo, like most of the ATR family, is a mature religion while Hoodoo has traditionally been a magical system.
Though a very knowledgeable and engaged Pan Africanist, he was having trouble accepting Voodoo as a true religion. This is the case with many folk outside of the ATR world.
ATR, as is hoodoo, going through an intense process of selfdefinition, questioning just what is it and what is its role in contemporary society. This questioning comes from its increased viability in the world and pressures on it from more structured religions (Christanity and Islam). Not that it ever could, but African Traditional Religion can no longer just be what its always been. It has to grow and evolve. Everything grows and evolves or it dies.
The question is who will be in charge of this evolution. Will it be shaped by those of us who really care about it and its role in the care and feeding of the tribal soul and destiny. Or will it be defined by those who despise us as a people and culture, Will it be defined by those who want to sensationalize it for commercial purposes.
Or should I say will it continue to be sensationalized, demeaned and demonized by the powerful American cultural/commercial machine that defines it at best as cultic and at worst as evil. Much of the Fundamentalist West still considers ATR the devils work.
Or those who simply want to use it as a cashcow.
Our strength and weakness in the world is a direct result of how we are perceived, within and without.
A major aspect of demanding respect for what we do is how we conduct ourselves as spiritual workers. There are quite a few spiritual thugs in this line of work, taking advantage of the weak and the desperate. If we would guide others we must first clean our own house.
And then we must resist those who would define us as spiritual pop and even worse. My last book, Mojo Rising, the industry offered me a three book deal. They said we love your new book Art but we are going to turn it into a giftbook. “We are going to take out everything uncomfortable.”
A giftbook. They were going to turn my sacred hoodoo text into a newage giftbook. I was tempted, had visions of being a media friendly hoodoo guru and clocking big checks. Ricky Vanzant. But I just couldnt do it. In literary hoodoo we consider every Book a Spell. Every draft a divination. Here I was with Mojo Rising, trying to forge a spell that would define the hoodoo tradition as a valid and powerful tradition and the industry was trying to define me (and hoodoo) as spiritual pop.
The recent controversy in ATR circles over Iya ta'Shia Asanti’s participation in Mad Mad World is another case in point. The salient charge was one of disrespect.
When I tried to explain this to my colleague he didn’t get it. I had to explain that ATR is going through an critical process of selfdefinition. We will either define ourselves as a force to be respected in this world or we will be defined by those who despise us as a joke. Mad Mad World defined African religion as a joke.
(What pray tell does putting idiots in a pit and pouring animal entrails over them have to do with African religious practice?)
This is just another manifestation of the historical disrespect with which ATR has been treated in Western Civilization and which we are now defying by taking ourselves seriously.
It is clear what hoodoo gets from increased affiliation with the ATR family. It is less clear what hoodoo brings to the table. Personally I think it is our flexibility.
We are Conjurors. Conjuration is our pride and joy. To conjure. To create. To make real in the world that which was not. That’s what we do. We believe in Transformation. In turning Adversity into Strength. The redemptive power that has been at the heart of African American culture at its best.
Conduct yourself as you aspire to be and you shall. This is the essence of Conjuration. The essence of Transformation.
If anything Hoodoo has always been an inclusive system willing to adapt, adopt and evolve as necessary. An inclusive flexibility which has been one of the primal strengths of the African Way of God. What Hyatt called Anymethod Anytime - the hoodoo propensity to break the rules of magic according to need and circumstance.
The ability to hit a straight lick with a crooked stick. Legba’s Lost Children. Mythmakers and Realitybreakers.
Consequently hoodoo is not wedded to certain positions just because they are traditional, and unlike the more traditional paths, feels no obligation to accept religious dogma uncritically. We are willing to consider what is actually sacred and eternal and what can and should be left behind. These should be conscious (and sanctioned) decisions based on our ever evolving understanding of religious, spiritual and magical principles. Some rituals may have been viable in the social context of their inception but are now open to question. Clitorectomy is one example, animal sacrifice perhaps another.
If its any consolation to those offended by that last statement, my positions are considered anathema in hoodoo circles too. I have been charged repeatedly with being hostile to traditional hoodoo. I am not hostile to traditional hoodoo. I do, however, believe that hoodoo and ATR have to evolve. Or rather that they are in a constant state of evolution and that we have to take steps to shape that evolution or it will be shaped for us and to our detriment. Especially now.
Iya ta'Shia Asanti’s claimed that her participation had been sanctioned. Forgive me if I am a bit cynical about that. More like Hollywood made her an offer she couldn’t refuse. Who among us would not have been tempted. But the Mad Mad World gig was a stone sell out. It brought no dignity to the tradition. It brought no power. It demeaned and diminished us.
That said I was impressed with the dignity with which she defended herself in ATR forums, clearly wanting to maintain her good standing in the community. I hope she uses her increased visability wisely. There is power there. Those practitioners who attacked her sexuality by claiming homosexuality not authentically “African” just muddied up the water with diversionary bullshit. Fundamentalism is problematic, be it Christian, Islamic or African.
But the charge of sensationalizing African Traditional Religion was, I felt, a legitimate one. And unfortunate. A felony charge. How can we demand respect from others if we do not respect ourselves.
We cannot continue to allow Hollywood to define us. We cannot continue to let Hollywood sensationalize and demean us. Not now. For these are Trying Times and our ATR power needed now like never before. Many ATR practitioners are adverse to the politics of religious institutionalization. Yet until we do engage in the politics of religion and its institutionalization we will be defenseless against the onslaughts of those that do.
I believe that this is a critical moment in the evolution of ATR. I believe that we are standing at the crossroads and I believe that it is a question of our survival as a people and culture.
I believe one of the primary responsibilities of any spiritual tradition is the care and feeding of the tribal soul and destiny. I believe that it is because we have not lived up to that responsibility that our people and our cultures are in almost genocidal trouble today. I believe the questions of evolution and illumination facing ATR today are manifestations of an attempt to assume that responsibility
I believe that it is Fa.
Are we or are we not Spiritworkers. Are we or are we not Masters of the Way. Shaping reality is what we do. Surely we will shape our own reality. Our own traditions. Our own destiny. Our own Fa.
Are we or are we not Conjurors.
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