Mules and Men

This chapter offers a short demystification of Hoodoo as a religious and spiritual practice. As Hurston clarifies, Hoodoo is the same as Voodoo, the latter being the preferred term in white communities. Hoodoo involves implementing a broad scope of practices and beliefs, ranging from herbal medicine to spiritual conjuring. It is directly related to the spiritual and religious beliefs of various ethnic groups from West Africa, the Caribbean, and the American South. It can be difficult to describe one uniform system of beliefs or practices in Hoodoo because “it adapts itself like Christianity to its locale” (183), merging core values and rituals to regional norms. Furthermore, “because the worship [of hoodoo] is bound in secrecy” (185), many components are hidden from the public. Hurston outlines the emergence of Hoodoo through the biblical history involving Moses, who receives the Ten Commandments in the Old Testament; Jethro, Moses’s father-in-law; and the Queen of Sheba, who brings gifts to the Israeli King Solomon. According to these origins, “Jethro was a great hoodoo man” who taught Moses how to understand and use the word of God to succeed (184). Long after Moses and Jethro lived, the Queen of Sheba taught King Solomon wisdom through hoodoo.