Every root in this library is one I work with. Not one I read about.
I was raised up by my Geechee grandmother. What I know about Hoodoo roots came down that way, hand to hand, in a kitchen. It did not come from a book written by somebody outside this tradition, and that is most of what is online right now.
So I am writing it down myself.
What this library is
One root at a time. What it is, where it actually comes from, what it was used for before the supply houses got hold of it, and how it is worked in a Gullah Geechee house. I photograph the roots before they dry. I write about the ones I source, dress and sell, and I say plainly when a root is not what the label on a jar claims it is.
The sourcing for everything here: Black voices, the primary record, and my own lineage.
The entries
Sea Salt From the Coast of West Africa
Where our people were taken across the water, and some chose the sea instead of chains. The salt in my My Grandmama Prayed For Me candle, Don't Try Me melts, and Wash It Off bath.
Coming
High John and man of the earth. The root most people are sold is not the root. I am writing about what the supply houses have been fixing as High John, how the king got whitewashed onto botanica labels, how his work got shrunk down to virility and gambling luck, and why man of the earth is the root I keep in my house. Photographs of my own roots, dug this fall.
Adam and Eve root. Dug after first frost.
If you want these as they come
The teachings that stay off the public feed go to my letters first. Sign up at the bottom of this page.