Black skin, sweetgrass, and tobacco: the uses of sacred directions in Hoodoo
The use of white sage has become controversial - a controversy that should’ve started much sooner. In folk’s quest to decolonize their soul, they (ironically), often run in a circle of capitalism. Buying up and using up whatever is most easily available on the free market. For many spiritualists takin' ova for the ’99 and the 2000, white sage is one of the materials that can be found anywhere, from Amazon to T.J.Maxx.
It’s everywhere, which, isn’t a good thing. When people accept what commodification and consumption makes most readily available, they become complicit in the marketeering of Indigenous spiritual goods. Being caught up in the faux “convenience” of capitalism causes people to overlook tools that will have the most cultural integrity within their practice.
“Rootworkers of Hoodoo tradition are moving away from the capitalistic and public consumptive aspects of plants when it comes to spiritual botanicals... Personal relationships with the Divine Forces of Nature are paramount to Rootworkers. These relationships cannot be packaged and sold. We let the plants tell us if they want us to dry and keep them outside their growing seasons... or not. Because sometimes only fresh plants will do — no exceptions. We let the plants tell us how they wish us to work with them. More importantly, we first allow the plants to choose us, not the other way around.” — Mina Wilson a.k.a Mama Rue, beloved Hoodoo Practioner and Priestess
So what’s a Black person new to Hoodoo to do? Look around you. Learn about what your ancestors used, based on where they were located.
Cedar, Tobacco, Sweetgrass and (white) Sage are sacred directions for Indigenous Turtle Islanders/Native Americans. For spiritual reasons… and for the fact that you’ll find Cedar in the North, Tobacco in the East, Sweetgrass in the South, and (white) Sage in the west.
However, there is a reason why Cedar, Tobacco, and Sweetgrass is also for use in Hoodoo and by African descendants (notice white sage is excluded).
When people talk about the Native American influence in Conjure/Hoodoo, most people assume that to mean that we absorbed Native lore and rituals. That is not always the case. Although there were some intertwinings of African and Native struggle and community, the base of Native American influence in Conjure comes from the land: the flora and fauna of this land. Especially since many Africans that were trafficked to the Americans already had herbal knowledge that could translate across continents.
As African peoples, we brought over African practices and learned how to adapt to Native American ecologies and environments. Many were skilled and knowledgable herbalists whose expertise could translate over to new land. Even in a colonial world, the intelligences and languages of this land was made available to us via the marriage of the land with our experiences, our blood, tears, and prayers that met this soil.
Our knowledge of plants carried over with us. We were able to make intelligent workings with roots without much hands on guidance from Natives in the times when connections with Natives were not fostered, and some things were learned through trial and error.
There were times of cultural exchange, and even times where African and some Native peoples shared the “Black" or “Negro" label due to skin color and intentional mislabeling of Native peoples. Depending on the area and political happenings that cultural exchange between those of African ancestry and Native ancestry is not always universal amongst some of our ancestral Hoodoo practitioners.
While adapting African practices (by forced environment and experiences due to slavery), we absorbed these sacred directions:
Sweetgrass in the South.
The Gullah Geechee (of the Carolina and northern Georgia coastal areas and islands) have an extensive history and relationship with Sweetgrass. One of the most outwardly visible uses of Sweetgrass by Gullah Geechee folk is evident in the baskets they weave. Sweetgrass is often used to “sweeten” after a cleansing; to recall benevolent energies back into a space.
Cedar in the north.
Cedar is often found in historically Black cemeteries. Black cemeteries are posthumous examples of how systemic antiBlackness and restriction from resources affect even the dead. In Black cemeteries you’ll find places where Cedar trees were sometimes used as grave markings.
Cedar is another sacred direction that our ancestors built a relationship with. In “A Domestic Cook Book,” (the first known cookbook to be written by an African American, published in 1866) , you’ll see that one of her recipes for “oils” calls for cedar oil. Cedar is a powerful cleanser. It can also be used to draw spirits when used with other materials.
Tobacco in the east.
One shouldn’t have to be told the hows and whys Tobacco came to be absorbed as a sacred spiritual tool for Africans: slavery is the short answer. Enslaved Black people worked with that plant, they were forced to. During that work they built an indelible relationship with tobacco. For African Americans that have ancestral lineage from enslaved people that were based in the Maryland and Virginia areas, tobacco is especially sacred for those ancestral spirits. Tobacco is a favorite of Ancestral spirits across the diaspora.
Many African Americans will have some link to the Chesapeake area, as that is not only where chattel slavery started in the English colonies (that eventually became the U.S.) - but white human traffickers (“slave traders”) based in the Chesapeake area are responsible for trafficking some of the highest numbers of Africans to this land and dispersing them across the colonies.
One could argue that there is not enough (or extensive enough) history with Black people (that are not Native) using white sage. Most Black people that use white sage currently, do so because of the commercial availability of white sage. White sage has been commodified as part of spiritual capitalism.
While there are some Black people that use white sage within its cultural integrity, you’ll notice that usage is concentrated on the west coast ( where white sage originates) for people that use local materials. There are Black people whose ancestors did expand Westward (especially those that expanded there prior to the great migration). That is another story.
Many of the same people that use white sage appropriately ( not as a result of commercial marketeering of that sacred plant) have Native ancestry.
Although Black people did expand to the West both prior to, and post, the great migration, majority of our lore and experiences are concentrated within the Eastern and Southern areas of the now U.S.
The core of why people advise against using commercial white Sage is respect to the integrity of Native tradition. Advocacy for non Native American people to sway away from white sage is an Indigenous (African Black people are Indigenous as well) political stance. All against white spiritual colonization, consumption, and consumerism: insidious occurrences that have already attempted to ravish and flatten Hoodoo.
Many may worry that moving away from commercial white sage limits their spiritual practice, however, it liberates practitioners from being captive in the wheel of capitalism and cultural ineffectiveness. In-turn, this encourages practitioners to sharpen their knowledge of local flora and fauna: creating a spiritual practice that is ecologically sound and ancestrally aligned.
The foundation of Hoodoo is concerned about the wellness of the earth and the politics affecting its people. Redirecting our usage of sacred plants is inline with the values of this tradition.
Cedar, Tobacco, and Sweetgrass have a prominent and a long founded place in Hoodoo/Conjure culture as an African Diasporic Tradition/Religion.
Please use wisely.
