Language of the Blues - Edmonton Blues Society

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C O NJUR E
To conjure is to cast a spell, or to call upon supernat
Lexicon of Black English. 114 The
conjurer calls upon the web god of West Africa who links earth and sky. Bessie Smith
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carved staf
Grainger was probably describing tribal priests, who were among the Africans imported
as slaves into in the American colonies. Although enslaved priests tried to keep African
religious practices alive in the new world, these were harshly suppressed by slave
In Haiti, Cuba, Brazil, and Jamaica, in con
Vodun,
and Obeah religions, respectively (see Voodoo). This happened, in part, because slaves in
the very Catholic West Indies grasped the similarity between their tradition of appealing
to ancestral spirits to intercede in their favor with God (Vodun) and that of Catholics
praying to their saints for similar intercession. 115 They grafted Catholic saints onto their
spirit-gods and created religious hybrids that were able to survive waves of repression
and persecution.
The term hoodoo, meanwhile, emerged in the early 1800s as a name for African
American folk magic practices, such as the use of mojos or conjure hands. Grainger
described
No thieves break in; or, if they dare to steal
Their feet in blotches, which admit no cure
116
Mojos, foot track magic, and other conjuration practices survived to become important
elements of hoodoo, which combined herbal healing and spells with aspects of African
and European religions, and Native American herbal lore. Dried roots played an
important part in hoodoo charms, spells, and healing; hence conjuration is still sometimes
In rural African American communities, the conjurer was more doctor
than priest, priestess, or shaman. He or she was the root doctor, Doctor Yah Yah, Doctor
John, or Doctor Jack. 117
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