WHERE IM COMING FROM
did this for the new folk in the mix, went thru the old missives
and cut out all the slush to come up with a doc I can give new
folk that lays out where im coming from
training folk in the tradition to hoodoo like I do is a new move for me
im kinda stumbling thru but one thing ive learned is to go w/the flow
OLDSCHOOL AND NEW
mostly when folk hear hoodoo they thinking slaverytime hoodoo,
spirits, spells, hells and blackcat bones, folk magic hoodoo.
I propose retooling hoodoo as a high magic system instead of folk magic. I propose
an evolution of hoodoology, into what I call high hoodoo, custodial hoodoo,
hoodoo that takes responsibility for the well being of a chosen community.
Hoodoo that operates as tribal medicine folk in a contemporary frame,
Tending to the cultural / tribal soul thru cultural
products designed to Work / Heal the culture
MAGIC, FOLK AND HIGH,
hoodoo today is still primarily a folk magic system, part of a family of
afrospiritual traditions, ifa, vodou, , candomblé, obeah, et all, the bulk of which
are religious systems, fusions of Catholicism and various ATR traditions.
early in my practice I abandoned folk magic as a viable paradigm and
started retooling hoodoo to be a viable indigenous spiritual system
folk magic was fine for a folk people but we aint been
a folk people for generations, that’s the hoodoo past
the cutting edge of hoodoo doing high magic these days, according to rdoc
- conjurework: playing with reality / mind / spirit
- soulwork: forging homesoul into a spiritual work of art
- souleasery: hoodoo blessings healing troubled souls / cultures,
- rootwork: ameliorating the human condition: missionwork
- destinywork: shaping generations into the people we would have them be
- godwork: prophetic attunement w/divinity: centerwork
MGANGA MAUA: ON SPIRITDOCTORS AND MEDICINE FOLK
I enjoy doing hoodoo performance work in Africa cause they thik afroams have lost their
afrospiritual chops and I show them no, we just doing something diff with them. After one
such ritual performance in nairobi, folk started calling me mganga maua, witchdoctor flowers,
they said, I translated that as medicine man flowers, ever since I have called myself operating
as a contemporary tribal medicine man, the tribal healer in a contemporary / global context.
THE GREAT GRIOT MASTER OF BROOKLYN:
my vision of the hoodoo future and custodial hoodoo has been shaped in part by
the 16 years I studied with babajohn Killens, the great griot master of brooklyn
who taught us not only how to write but how to be writers, taught us how to
be visionaries, what he called being long distance runners, what I call the
longgame, shaping our generations into the people we would have them be
also this come from my own trajectory as a literary hoodoo and the
early abandonment of folk magic as a viable 21st century paradigm.
talking to mama whodun, closest thing I know to a hoodoo queen,
she say the appropriators doing the hoodoo they have read about,
but by the time its been written down we’ve moved on, this a
living tradition, she say
RETOOLING HOODOO
so, early in my practice I begin retooling hoodoology for a
21st century sensibility, trying to transform it into a spiritual
tradition, a wisdom tradition, for instance, webster says to
hoodoo somebody is to hurt or harm them. According to
rickydoc to hoodoo somebody is to bless or heal them.
CUSTODIAL HOODOO
because it is a living tradition every generation practice different, the salient
question then is how does the hoodoo way manifest in our day and time
I call what I do custodial hoodoo because I prioritize taking
responsibility for the well being of a chosen community
that community has traditionally been your neighborhood / tribe but
in a globalized world that community can theoretically be everybody
the tribal medicine woman / man operating
in a modern and even visionary context
LITERARY HOODOO
my brand of hoodoo has also been called literary hoodoo,
because it is manifested thru literary / sacred works
sacred literature, wisdomworks, holybooks and the like
that Work the tribal soul thru working its culture
I was trained as a cultural organizer by the babajohn. He trained
his legions to shape generations thru cultural products
my understanding is that one cares for the tribal soul by monitoring it
through its cultural products, contributing what it needs to balance out
its weaknesses and emphasize its strengths, minimizing the dysfunctional
and emphasizing the transformational, accentuating the positive,
eliminating the negative and not fucking with the in between,
the hoodoo premise, according to my boy rickydoc, is you ensure the
health of the tribal soul and everything benefits, when the tribal soul is
healthy, its people live healthy, vigorous lives, their culture produces works
that enlighten the entire human race and become part of the worldspirit,
my understanding is the criteria for a viable indigenous
tradition is what quality of life do its believers live,
based on the bottomfeeder status of blackfolk all over the globe
and in every quality of life indicator we clearly have work to do
taking the african way of god to its next stage, whatever that is
basically saying if vodou was doing its job haiti wouldn’t be in the shape
its in, same thing could be said about hoodoo and afroam culture
CONCENTRIC CIRCLES OF CARE
the biggest thing about hoodoo identity far as im concerned
is that you understand yourselves as tribal medicine folk
responsible for the well being of your tribe
and that tribe will consist of whoever you want it to
consist of, you are members of many tribes
family, friends, neighborhood, race, humanity, etc
what I call concentric circles of care
I am by nature and training responsible for the
welfare of blackfolk, hoodoos traditional role
but in the globalized 21st century we got to
reach beyond tribal into the universal
healing and empowering afroam culture is our immediate responsibility as
tribal medicine folk - but we also looking at the immensity of the human condition
which is basically humanitys ongoing
quest to be better / greater than we are
UNIVERSALIZATION AND THE GREAT WAYS
accordingly I want to position hoodoo as one of the worlds great ways
I believe the question which will define the globalizing 21st century is which
cultures will make the cosmic cut and shape the generations of the future,
and which will die out -
I want afroam to be one of the worlds significant cultures, the magical
negro wrote large, I have to make afroam culture so strong, so
illuminated that others admire, emulate and adopt it, refine and finesse it
a world in which everybody want to be black
THE ILLUMINATED CHILDREN OF THE SUN
I want blackfolk / culture to be so strong in spirit, so powerful a people
that no matter where in the cosmos we find ourselves in the foreseeable and
unforeseeable future, that blackfolk not only survive and prosper as a race
and culture but that they are illuminated and empowered unto eternity. . .
the illuminated children of the sun
but also I have learned what every black leader worth their
keep must, cant just save your own, got to save everybody
got to transcend the tribal into the universal
got to universalize the hoodoo way
make it one of the worlds great ways
I have had to expand my sense of responsibility
for tribe to that of all humanity, this I think is the
role of hoodoo in the globalized 21st century
we must work with both hands and /
serve both blackfolk and all humanity
as 21st century hoodoos in my line I expect you to be about
making a better world, howsomever you choose to do that
THE PROPHETIC IMPULSE
in the global spiritual competition of the great ways the african way of god
has lagged globally, often not even counted as a valid way of god by the
global spiritual community categorized under primitive / tribal religion
all the great ways go thru periods of reform and illumination, the prophetic impulse
I call myself positioning hoodoo as the prophetic system in the ATR family
1) because it means that hoodoo will always be on the cutting edge of spiritual and cultural evolution and
2) it means I / hoodoo will not subject to the authority of the ATR traditions. I man wish
to remain a mystical tradition, not a religious one festooned with rigid mythologies.
I see the hoodoo relationship to ATR akin to
that of the sufi and islam, in it but not of it
according to Hyatt IN HCRW the hoodoo principle is anymethod anytime -
the propensity of hoodoo to break the rules of magic with a patchwork quilt of
procedure in search of what works, a refusal to be restricted by rules and traditions,
a bastard tradition kinda like the african american culture that sustains it,
every hoodoo I know practice different, I can work with that
FUNDAMENTALISM AND THE HOODOO FUTURE
but tell hoodoos there is more to life than folk magic and they
go fundamentalist on me, fundamentalist resistance to hoodoo
evolution used to bother me but I now see it as process
What I hope to do is provide a new model of hoodoology for the hoodoos
to come, I will with my life define just what it is a high hoodoo do
I have pretty much given up on convincing folk in my lifetime, that
way I don’t have to expend myself begging folk to see what I see
my dialogue is with the generations of the
future thru what I hope will be sacred texts
and training folk who want to hoodoo like I do
okay this brings us to you
ELDERSHIP: NEEDING TO PASS IT ON,
I have been immersed in my own ministry but
in my 70s now I can feel myself in decline and it
has suddenly become impo to me
pass on what I have figured out
also my cultural profile has become such that folk
who are sufficiently intrigued reaching out to me
so here we are - stumbling thru
what I have figured out so far is to go with the flow, to
be patient and not try too hard to shape you right away
it is a process of years
- 1st you got to get deep into meditation / work on your soul
- then you got to get deep into the study of magic
- in particular high magic
- and you got to get your literary chops together
- and learn how to produce Works in the midst of your daily grind
- you have to gain cultural orchestration skilz / be an organizer
- a competent ideological orchestrator w/a functioning cosmology
- be capable of moving the multitudes thru performance and exhortation
- contribute to the struggle and the amelioration of the human condition
- build facilitating institutions
- shape your legacy / reaching for Fa and
- godhead / oneness w/divinity
that’s all
this is not the task of a couple of months / even years
this is a good 10 years of training if we lucky
(god lord willing and the creek don’t rise on an elder)
clear to me I got a short shelf life, likely wont get 10
problem is I want my results tomorrow
I wanna be this new improved / wiser hoodoo person - tomorrow
I want you to be this new and improved hoodoo person, tomorrow
but thats not how it works
anything of value takes years to manifest, in particular soulwork
so ima need you to start thinking in hoodoo time that
encompass past present future and mythologic - eventually
I want you to think in eras and generations, destinywork
just kidding / fucking w/you - my bad
for the moment I want you to accept loss of instant gratification in favor of a longer
achievement frame, assume that every phase will take at least a year and possibly more
start meditation practice now - be a year before youre good at it
start a Text now, be a year before you got a viable draft
any transformative goal generally will
take longer than you thought it would
in order to fulfill that responsibility there are
certain esoteric skill sets I got to train you in
the quest for wisdom for example is never ending
but these are the estoric skilz you must master to
be the great hoodoo
got to teach you magical meditation, in which you
learn how to vitalize imagery until real in the world
soulwork: in which you shape your soul into a spiritual
work of art, o traveler, life as pilgrimage
and magical transformation, in which you learn how
to shapeshift thru dimensions, two headed folk
in the realworld I am a novelist and political intellectual
in the spiritworld a sorcerer and prophet of the hoodoo way
part of your meditational practice will be enabling the
ability to exist in multiple dimensions, a traveler
w/the ability to play with reality, to conjure, to
make real into the world that which was not
but I cant do any of these until
you have basic competency
1) a hoodoo identity, 2) meditational
practice, 3) magical /conjurational skilz
yes we doing baby steps, I AM, but
cant get to 2nd gear wo going thru 1st
I tell you scholarship
I cannot emphasize this enuf, a high magician is a scholar
if you not into scholarship you will have a problem walking this path
you gotta have a love of learning, a love of knowledge, vision and insight
I once had an undergrad ask me in class ‘how are you, you know,
teaching in a prestigious univ, if you, you know, are a hoodooman.’
told them high magicians have always been scholars, told them the
true magician strives to stay on the cutting edge of knowledge about
the nature of the world, above and below, taking it a step further,
experimenting with the further reaches of the potentially divine human
mind, a conjunctive state of mind, will and way that enables the aspiring
magician to utilize timeproven magical and ideological technology to
shape the destiny of humanity, to shape the fabric of reality, to conjure,
if you will, master of time, space & being – what I call -
turning the key in the hoodoo lock -
my premise here is that the visionary artist / practitioner / change
agent uses the prophetic vision to see as far into the future as possible
and anticipate the changes / crises / opportunities the tribe will have
to overcome in its generational struggle for survival and prosperity,
the aspiring destinyplaya then determines what cultural traits
will be necessary to meet those challenges and tries to program
them into the culture / tribalsoul through ageold technologies of
magical / literary / ideological orchestrations, cultural custodianship
thru Works serving as cultural instruments,
the competent high magician maneuvers to influence those strategic
points in the life of an individual or a society when the shape of
the future hangs in the balance – working at the crossroads
turning the key in the hoodoo lock, in
DE GEAS OF RICKYDOC
cast your vision, young hoodoo, as far as you
can see, determine the challenges the tribe will
face, prepare the tribal soul to meet them.
(or you can spend your life marketing love potions
and hot foot powder to folk desperate for guidance)
THE LONG HAUL
the quest for spiritual and literary mastery is forever
the thing is to never quit, once you enter upon the twisted
path you never quit, everyday you will be tempted
when you running long distance you adjust to the terrain, you pace
yourself, at all times taking sustainability into consideration
a stable life is a productive one
and you must always be willing to do a
little more than a ‘normal’ person would
to dream a little bigger
to work a little harder
TRAINING AND THE DAILY GRIND
whatever transformative training you embark upon
has to work within your daily grind - pace yourself
and also I got to accept this path aint for
everybody, folk come and folk go
folk determine they don’t actually want to do
what I do, or don’t want to pay the freight
I can live with that, long as I keep
reminding myself, patience rick,
go w/the flow, whatever is is
folk come and folk go
you got to maintain
MY JOB
my job as I see it, is to facilitate your growth / identity as great hoodoos
preferably high hoodoos, custodial hoodoos, destiny playas
legendary hoodoos of historical stature and significance
taking care of the tribal soul / culture thru our Works
giving it what it needs, extracting what it don’t
your job is to take what works
for you - reject what dont
the most significant thing about hoodoo identity far as Im concerned
is that you understand yourselves as tribal medicine folk responsible
for the well being of your tribe
if not service what is the point
of late my sense of responsibility has expanded to incorporate all humanity,
this I think is the role of hoodoo in the globalized 21st century
the global griot – each w/a contribution to be made
to the amelioration of the human condition
each unto self an army
MISSIONWORK
accordingly I believe all high hoodoos should have a hoodoo mission
some lifeplan contribution to the amelioration of the human condition,
as a trained adept you will leave a legacy, only
question is what you want that legacy to reflect
what do you want the generations of the
future to think / feel when they think of you
I will give you the power to make a difference
what will you do with it
ONE LAST EXHORTATION
I have made the importance of meditation clear
I assume you have not maintained it
please recommit
meditation will improve your daily grind,
like sleep renews you, meditation will too,
cant do meditation you got no future in the Work
you are all at different stages of hoodoo identity and practice
some of you already identify hoodoo and got some practice
some of you starting from scratch
you also got diff levels of commitment to learning the Trade or got
life commitments that will influence both path and level of investment
also I accept that for some of you this just aint gon work
im asking a lot of folk, diff folks w/diff trajectories
I tell you, you have to meditate if you want to
walk this path - ima assume most of you don’t
I tell you scholarship, I tell you read hyatt, read mama day, read
mumbo jumbo, read Texaco – I assume most of you wont
but if I ask you to do it its critical, this thing evolves in stages
got to crawl before you can walk - much less dance
so ima give you instructions for best practice as I see it
if you don’t engage maybe it will take later in life, seedings
and if you not feeling it at all or find it don’t work for you that’s
cool too, ima go with the ebb and flow, I aint gon stress this
I aint gon let it stress me
ENDGAME: A LITTLE COMPASSION
an incident that happened w/my mentor, babajohn Killens, the great griot
master of brooklyn, when I was a youngster and a power freak, (still am
just more spiritual about it now) cause one day he pulled me aside and said
you a brilliant writer, art, but with a little compassion you could be profound
All I heard was brilliant, wasn’t until life had humbled me some I realized
he was trying to make sure that my contribution, as his student, would be
warm and loving instead of hard and cold - an old shaman trying to take
care of the tribal soul, thru me
as i shall try to do thru you
awaken the sleeper
protect the weak
gudie the strong
be safe
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