Nfuiri=Kufwa=Goofer
Eoghan Ballard
universality in kongo religion at least in the new world. Tonight I wanted
to reawake another subject.
I want to bring up Goofer dust. In the Kongo traditions as practiced in
Cuba, mpolo or polvora (in castellano) is the universally used powder.
Powders can be made of many things but the most powerful powder of all -
that which in its use makes even the Oloricha and the Babalawo feel fear,
is what we call "empolo enfuiri" (mpolo nfuidi-modern kikongo) which means
powder of the dead. In proper terms,and speaking most technically, one
would say that this refers strictly to the dust made by scraping human
bone. In practice it is distinguished from graveyard dirt by describing
the latter as "mpolo campo finda". I am collapsing the two for linguistic
purposes here.
The reason for that is because the term nfuiri is the creolized form of
the genetive form of fua/fwa which refers to death or the dead. kufwa
means a dead person when it modifies a noun, in this case mpolo or powder,
the form of the word is changed to nfuiri (mod. kikongo nfuidi). It is a
logical leap. In a situation where the majority do not speak kikongop,
when a nonspeaker asks a Kikongo speaker "what's in that?" or What's
that", he or she will answer "kufwa" meaning a dead person or a spirit of
the dead. From that we get Goofer dust.
Now, in the Kongo tradition as practiced in Cuba today, the ingrediants
are quite varied. Since a good palero is being guided by his specific
muerto who always speaks to him, he will vary a basic recipe according to
the instructions he receives. The primary ingrediant in mpolo campo nfinda
is always dirt from a grave. But depending on what it is used for there
will be different additional ingrediants. These can vary from various
herbs associated with specific Enkises to various animal parts including
powdered feathers and powdered bone.
I would be interest in hearing what Cat has to say about Goofer dust. Or
anyone else with experience, for that matter.
Sala Maleko,
Eoghan
Tata Enganga Nsasi Endoqui Malongo Quimbisa
--
Eoghan Ballard
Center for Folklore & Folklife
University of Pennsylvania
John M. Hansen
the skull of the deceased, with powder of the grave of the deceased
added. Other material may be added, as suited to the sork at hand.
It is a formidable powder used for working magic of various kinds.
The spirit of the deceased is attached to the powder by vivication
with alcohol.
Funny story - A servant of a priest in New York City was filing
powder from a skull to make some of this powder when the deceased
spoke to him and told him not to hold his head in the disrespectful
way he was holding it. The priest's servant, who had never heard
the voice of a spirit of the dead before panicked, and almost
dropped the skull.
Another powder is made from the disintegrated remains of a body,
along with scrapings from various bones. (Arm and finger bones for
some things, leg bones for other things, and skull for guidance)
This powder may be made into a very strong protective powder to keep
other spirits away from a place or a location. This powder is
often added to paint to be used to protect a room or even a
building.
Best Wishes,
John M Hansen
RE Ausetkmt
I have a question on this,,
and I have had this question for a longtime,
so I'm really glad to see this finally come up..
Goofer Dust.,,heard that term all my life, since My Mom was from the Hoodoo
Element.
Eoghan, you spoke about Graveyard Dust,
and Dirt, so I wonder if you could elaborate on the uses of the Dirt from
the Grave, instead of the bone filings, which are much more difficult to
obtain and utilize properly without explicit directions.
and John, you spoke about the paint being used to protect places, can you
speak on that a lil more.
I wonder if this is the reason for some old hoodoo houses being painted
White, or even having rooms painted Red. I was in NOLA last fall and went
to see a few Hoodoo workers and to a few botanicas and one thing that seemed
really universal was this use of the color white on the outside of the
building, and the brightly colored reading rooms inside. Interesting,,
I have collected dirt from many family graves and in fact I have some from
the alleged grave of Mdme' Laveau and I wonder what power could be realized
from this wonderful primary element.
Any and All Information is Appreciated,
Odaro,
Olu
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"John M. Hansen" <jmha...@erols.com> wrote in message
news:8fdd4r$9mm$1...@bob.news.rcn.net...
Eoghan
uniquely kongo practice. You do find some cultures that will occassionally
use such things, but among the Kongo and closely related people it is the
preeminant ingerdiant in many recipes.
First of all, one needs to know how to collect it and how to select the
right grave. Of course, there are different traditions regarding that.
Usually one picks a grave that will reflect what your intentions are. If
it is for something negative, a mean person; if for real force, from the
grave of a person who died a violent death. On the other hand you can also
use dirt from graves of people who had some special characteristics as
perople. This is in Kikongo called "ndoki". For instance, for work
concerning money, get dirt from the grave of a wealthy person or a banker;
for other spiritual work, from a priest. If you want to do work concerning
sex or amorous relationships, you might get dirt from the grave of someone
who worked in a very ancient profession. The list goes on.
As for how one acquires the dirt, there are varying procedures for that as
well. One must get it from the head of the grave, from the foot, from the
center. Each has their own reasoning and logically one can take all of
these and figure out a significance for each. The head is the most
powerful and to take dirt from that part of the grave indicates you are
looking to get the essense of the Kriyumba or skull of the deceased which
is considered the most powerful part of the skeleton. Some say you must
put the hand in to the shoulder, others six inches, others don't care. For
some the time is important, for others no. I think reasonably speaking,
the more skilled you are and more in contact with the spirits, the less
such concrete issues matter. They serve to place one in more rapport. if
one doesn't have a great deal of ndoki, then everything helps. If one
does, then the force of one's own power makes these other matters less
significant.
What is always important is that you pay a derecho of hard liquor, some
coins and a cigar upon entering the grave yard for permission and then you
pay something, usually some variation of the same, at the grave you take
the dirt from. of course, you need to be able to tell whether they've
agreed to work for you or not.
Sala Maleko,
Eoghan
Eoghan Ballard
Center for Folklore & Ethnology
University of Pennsylvania
catherine yronwode
>
> John and Eoghan,
> I have a question on this,,
> and I have had this question for a longtime,
> so I'm really glad to see this finally come up..
> Goofer Dust.,,heard that term all my life, since My Mom was from the Hoodoo
> Element.
From my web page on goofer dust
-----------------------------------------------
http://www.luckymojo.com/gooferdust.html
GOOFER DUST
"GOOFER DUST is a compound that has long been used
by Southern root doctors and conjures to work so-called
Enemy Tricks. A proprietary mixture of Graveyard Dirt,
Sulphur Powder, Rattlesnake Skin, and powdered
herbs, GOOFER DUST is alleged to Jinx an Enemy in
Family, Money, Job, and Health Matters. Folks
well-versed in such doings tell us that they have
picked up a person's Footprint, mixed it with GOOFER
DUST and stopped the mixture up in a bottle, which
they have then hidden in the crotch of a tree where it
could not be found. Others claim that they have
sprinkled GOOFER DUST around an enemy's home, in
the yard, or even in the bedroom, to cause Hard Luck
and Trouble. We do not make any occult claims for
GOOFER DUST, and sell as a curio only."
Lucky Mojo Curio Co. catalogue
[IMAGE] Goofer Dust is a
very old
African-American
hoodoo curio
used to trouble,
harm, or kill an
enemy. In
particular, it can
cause the
victim's legs to
swell up and
medical doctors
will not be able
to effect a cure.
Recipes for
making it vary,
but it is almost
always a mixture
of simple
natural ingredients, usually including graveyard dirt,
powdered sulphur (which gives it a yellowish colour) and
salt. Subsidiary ingredients may include powdered snake
heads or snake skin "sheds," red pepper, black pepper,
powdered bones, powdered insects or snails, and greyish,
powdery-surfaced herbs such as mullein and sage. A
continuum of shared and overlapping ingredients links
Graveyard Dirt, Goofer Dust, Hot Foot Powder, and Crossing
Powder -- but of all of them, only Goofer Dust is said to
contain both graveyard dirt and snake skin.
As Robert Farris Thomson indicates in his works on Congo
folk-magic, the word goofer comes from the Kikongo word
"kufwa," which means "to die." Among older hoodoo
practitioners, this derivation is very clear, because there
"goofer" is not only an adjective modifying "dust" but also a
verb ("He goofered that man") and a noun ("She put a
goofer on him"). As late as the 1930s, goofering was a
regional synonym for hoodooing, and in North Carolina,
the meaning of the term was broadened beyond spells of
damage, illness, and death to include love spells cast with
dominating intent. Meanwhile, in New Orleans, the
specificity of Goofer Dust's connection to graveyard dirt was
lost and the term became a general name for any sachet
powder used to cast a harmful spell.
One old blues song explains the use of Goofer Dust like this:
Gonna sprinkle Goofer Dust all around your bed
Wake up in the mornin', find your own self dead!
Although in Memphis a locally popular method to use
Goofer Dust is to put it an unwanted lover's mattress to
cause him pain, the most common way to employ it, as
described in both the catalogue and the song lyric above, is
to sprinkle it around the enemy's home where it will be
stepped on and rise up through the foot to "poison" the
legs. Alternatively, it can be placed in the victim's sock or
shoe when he or she is not looking. If this is not possible, it
can be mixed it with the enemy's footprint dirt and the
resultant mixture corked up in a bottle to stop the victim in
his tracks or bring on an unnatural illness, buried in a
graveyard to kill him, or thrown into a crossroads to drive
him out of town.
Such Goofer Dust spells -- like similar ones involving
Graveyard Dirt, Hot Foot Powder, and Crossing Powder --
are quite African in character, deriving from African
foot-track magic, a form of sorcery in which one "hurts" or
“poisns” a victim "through the feet." Undoing the jinx may
involve ritual bathing, floor washing, or sweeping to
remove the goofer dust. Sprinkling salt in the corners of the
house is also an antidote.
Many old-time root workers say that wearing Devil's Shoe
String root twigs or a silver dime in the shoe or at the ankle
will provide magical protection against any form of
“unnatural poison” rising up through the feet. A silver
dime may also be worn on each ankle as a warning device:
if the coins turn black, someone has laid out Goofer Dust
and you have stepped in it. Since formulas for goofer dust,
Hot Foot Powder, and Crossing powder often contain
sulphur, which turns silver black, this seemingly magical
alarm system has a firm grounding in chemistry.
The following documentation on goofer dust comes from
"Hoodoo - Conjuration - Witchcraft - Rootwork," a
5-volume, 4766-page collection of folkloric material
gathered by Harry Middleton Hyatt, primarily between 1935
and 1939.
IMPORTANT: If this is the first time you have encountered
Hyatt material
at this web site, please take a moment to open and read the
supplementary page called
"Hoodoo - Conjuration - Witchcraft - Rootwork" by Harry
Middleton Hyatt.
GOOFER DUST
657. {This is a very long entry, so i am going
to present excerpts only.} [Closely associated
with graveyard dirt and also dangerous is
goofer dust. Since descriptions of this
substance are usually brief and inadequate, I
begin with an account by a {root} doctor.]
(What is goofer dust?)
Goofer dust is dust right from de cemetery,
but it's gittin' out from undah de footstone --
whut ah mean, de footboard yo' see. Yo' go to
run -- yo' cross runnin' watah an' yo' bless it
in de watah. Yo' carry it through de watah an'
de watah puts whut chew call a Christian
Spirit on it. {This practitioner's Christian
blessing of goofer dust as it is carried through
running water is unique in the Hyatt
collection, as is his beneficial use of it.} An'
yo' carry dat an' during de time yo' gamblin'
yo' keeps yore mind on de gamblin' it's true,
but chew let chure mind think about chew
got -- de dust in mah pocket. Think about
yore dust. Den luck will come. {The use of
goofer dust as "reverse bad luck" is
reminiscent of the use of the nominally
unlucky black cat and skull as gamblers'
luck. Hyatt's commentary calls this spell} [...a
brilliant operation, a daring use of the magic
of the contrary or opposite, because everyone
knows that the spirit in this graveyard dirt
can not cross running water....This is actually
a baptismal rite. All graveyard dirt being of
uncertain spiritual quality for our doctor, he
gives it a Christian spirit....]
[Fayetteville, North Carolina, (1395), 2506:12.]
658. (Have you ever heard of goofer dust?
Yessauh, ah've heered tell of that.
(What is it supposed to be?)
Well, Ah heered {herewith follows a very
long story about a travelling preacher who
used goofer dust to break up a married
couple at the wife's request.}...He tole her
whut to do -- had her tuh bring some salt
'long wit' some sulphur an' some
turpentine. So she brought dat stuff tuh him
an' he tuk dis stuff an' he gone to a graveyard
dat night....an' he tuk some of de dirt from de
west side -- de west side is dat way -- from de
west side corner of de grave. He tuk dat an'
he fixed it all up into jes' somethin' lak a
powder. An' he went -- ah know dis fo' mah
ownself, co'se as stayed roun' dere an' ah
seen him on de street. An' he went tuh dis
man's house an' sprinkle dis stuff all 'round
de porch dat nex' mawnin'. An' he tole dis
woman, said, "Yo' let him come outdo's first.
Don't yo' come out." See. Say, "let him get
outdo's first." ...Well, he come out an' he
walked in dis stuff. {Within a few days the
goofered husband "packed up his things an'
left" his wife; however, according to the
informant, after the preacher died, the
couple got together again.}
[Fayetteville, North Carolina, (1413), 2541:6.]
659. (What is goofer dust?)
Dey tell me -- now if -- goofer dust is jes' lak if
yo' have loved somebody -- this is whut they
tell me, if yo' loved 'em an' they have died
an' been dead fo' a number of yeahs, then yo'
goes to this graveyard where they's been
buried an' yo' dig right down underneath dis
bo'd, or undah -- jes' lak it was a rock
[tombstone] dere of some kind. Yo' git de dust
from there an' yo' sprinkle it on yo' jes' lak
yo'd wanta go fo' somebody {just like you'd
sprinkle a love powder on yourself if you
wanted to attract somebody}. Then yo'd
sprinkle it on the next person that chew
wanta love. That will make them fall in love
with yo'.
{At this point in the interview, some
confusion resulted as Hyatt turned his
machine off prematurely and had to re-ask
questions, which seems to have intimidated
the interviewee. I have sharply condensed
what follows to avoid repetition.}
(You goofer them you say. What do you
mean by goofer them?...Is that doing them
good or doing them harm?)
Well, yo'd be making them love yo'...Dat
means dat chew be in love wit' me -- jes' lak
if ah would wanta make yo' love me, den
ah'd have tuh continue jes' keep it on yo'.
{In other words, goofer dust from the grave
of a deceased lover produces thrall-like love,
not natural love, and the dust must be
reapplied continually to keep the lover in
thrall.}
(Do the people around here in Fayetteville
ever speak about putting the goofer on you?)
Yes.
[Fayetteville, North Carolina, (1391), 2496:8.]
660. Well, dey say for ninstance, dat you go to
de cemetery an' de first seven grave dey come
to, at de foot of de seventh grave, dey git
down about seven inches and get out some of
de dust. See. Den you take it home and put it
into some salt and den you make seven steps
into de home.
(Into whose home?)
De home dat you wants put de bad luck on,
see. An' den you begin de seven steps back
{backwards} yo' begin sprinklin' yo' [your]
whut dey call goofer dust. See, dat's de
beginning of de hard luck.
An' den to offset it it's practi'lly de same way.
(How do they do that?)
It's de same graveyard dust, see, to offset it.
And then to make it stronger, why you puts
salt into de four corners of de home and you
make a wish to each corner and name dem.
You see, dat's where you have salt.
An den some people dey so much suspicious
towards salt dat dey won't loan salt. I, myself,
you know, I won't loan salt. I'd rather give
you a nickel and let cha buy some salt.
[Jacksonville, Florida, (555), 691:18.]
661. Dat's whut we call dat graveyard clay,
goofer dust.
(You mean that's what you call it down
here?)
Yes sir.
[Florence, South Carolina, (1306), 2211:1.]
662. They take graveyard dirt, they say, and
make goofer dust out of it and gave you a
lingering cough.
[Elizabeth City, North Carolina, (438), 558:5.]
663. Graveyard dirt and different things
mixed together is goofer dust.
[Mobile, Alabama, (666), 876:9.]
664. It's supposed to be dirt come out de
bur'in' groun'. An' yo' git little roots right
from de root of a tree in de bur'in' groun' --
jis' cut de root off de tree. An' yo' take an'
keep dat an' let it git kin'a ole, yo' know. Yo'
take dat an' ball it up lak dat [demonstrates].
(Grind it up by rubbing it in your hands.)
An' yo' take it [with the graveyard dirt] an'
den yo' sprinkle it right 'roun' de front door
[someone's] house an' yo' [that person] have
bad luck. That's goofer dust.
[Richmond, Virginia, (361), 296:8.]
665. (What is goofer dust?)
Well, goofer -- dis stuff a graveyard dirt, red
peppah an' black peppah. Ah call all dat stuff
-- yo' kin git a snail an' powder him -- all of
'em goofer dust.
(Why do they call it goofer?)
Call it goofer -- it do things dat yo' cain't jis'
ordinary things can do.
[Little Rock, Arkansas, (897), 1468:12.]
666. They claim they'll make it from bones,
dried bones from people. They call it goofer
dust at home. They sprinkle a little goofer
dust in your tracks and you're sure goin'
wrong.
[Snow Hill, Maryland, (83), 1:8; Nansemond
Co., Va.]
667. Rattlesnake dust. You know, if the
rattlesnake die in the dust [snake shed?] you
sprinkle that all around, and moving powder
{Moving Powder and Drive Away Powder
are alternative names for Hot Foot Poeder}
(They call that goofer dust, rattlesnake dust?)
Rattlesnake dust.
[New Orleans, Louisiana, (834), 1130:7.]
668. They claim they take serpents' heads and
grind them up and powder them up and they
supposed to bury that under your doorstep.
That's goofer dust. That's supposed to
conjure you. You're supposed to walk over
that.
[Warrenton, Virginia, (36), ED.] {On the early
Edison cylinders marked "ED" Hyatt did not
attempt to transcribe regional dialects.}
669. (Goofer dust is what?)
Jest a -- yo' see yo' git a snake -- yo' can take a
rattlesnake an' dry his haid up, pound it up,
an' den yo' kin go to work an' use dat as
goofer dust. Kill anybody.
[Waycross, Georgia, (1074), 1737:9.]
670. (Goofer dust -- what is goofer, what is
that?)
Goofer dust is snake haid, scorpion haid,
lizard haid -- listen, snake haid dust, scorpion
dust, and lizard dust. Dat's whut yo' call
goofer dust. Yo' git them things an' yo' kill
em an' yo' cut de haids off an' yo' dry that.
After yo' dry that, yo' powder that up. That's
whut dey call goofer dust.
(Do the people around here talk about
putting the goofer on you?)
Yes.
(What do they mean by that?)
Well, dey mean yo' do harm -- when dey say
goofer, dey mean yo' do harm. Dey don't
mean tuh do nuthin' good tuh yo'.
(That's just doing you harm; they want to
goofer you?)
Yeah, dat's jest doin' yo' any kinda harm.
[Fayetteville, North Carolina, (1396), 2532:4.]
671. {Excerpt.} Ah have heard dat goofer dust
is jes' diff'rent roots for whateveah kinda
work it is yo' wanted tuh do or anything
bad...Take devil grass and snake's head and
grind it up together an' make a powder out of
it....Srpinkle it in dey hat, de bandin' of dey
hat. It would run 'em blind. Do different
things with it.
[Wilson, North Carolina, (1507), 2675:6.]
672. {Excerpt.} ...Goofer dust -- dat's jest what
you might call conjuration, jest lak yo' take a
snake shed. {The informant describes drying
and powdering the snake shed.}...Sprinkle it
ovah anything -- anything a person eat or
drink. Well, yo' see, dat's puttin' goofer dust
in 'em -- dat's whut chew call de goofer
dust....
[Waycross, Georgia, (1097), 1769:1.]
673. Goofer dust is dust from any live insect.
[Charleston, South Carolina, (509), 570:3.]
674. {Excerpt.} ...Any kinda stuff lak dat
{powder or dust} in hoodooism is de goofer
dust.
[New Orleans, Louisiana, (1566), 2871:7.]
675. {Excerpt.} ...Well, goofer dust is just -- it
just a kind that people use. At any time you
use anything from hoodoo, some call it
goofer. But anything [any time] that you use a
dust that you use to sprinkle...people call that
goofer dust. Well, that just the common term
they got -- the term that is ordinary used is
hoodoo.
[New Orleans, Louisiana, (828), 1218:1.]
676. {Excerpt.} ...Steel dust {magnetic sand} --
mostly any dust that you mix...
[New Orleans, Louisiana, (822), 1187:7.]
677. {Excerpt.} ...Peppah an' salt...
[Savannah, Georgia, (1261), 2144:5.]
678. {Excerpt.} ...Brick dust and charcoal...
[Vicksburg, Mississippi, (538), 1009:8.] {there is
a typographical error here; the informant is
actually (738) by virtue of location and
cylinder numer}
679. {Excerpt.} ...That's jis' this fine dirt...dis
dirt dauber nest {wasp nest made of fine clay}
and de pepper...So now, say, for instance, I
want you to lose your memory, if you were
going to court or something with [against] me
-- it would get you where so you would
prob'ly forget what you's talking about.
[Mobile, Alabama, (650), 844:2.]
{And, finally, my favourite recipe}
680. (What is goofer dust?)
Dat's whut yo' also buy from one of dose
order houses, yo' see. It's supposed to put
whut chew might call tricks on a person.
Dat's supposed to be, aftah yo' obtain it, put it
in de mattress of a person where dat dey have
tuh sleep on, an' yo' supposed to jis' go away
-- jis' pine away.
[Memphis, Tennessee, (915), 1482:8.]
Speaking of "order houses"...
To order Goofer Dust from the Lucky Mojo Curio Co.
CLICK HERE
[IMAGE] Now,
here is
one of
those
blazingly
clear
synchronicites
i love
so well.
I was
writing
this
article
on
Mother's
day,
1998,
when
my
daughter
Althaea
came to visit. She took me out for brunch and then, because
my birthday always falls close to Mother's Day, she gave me
my birthday presents, two CDs of rare old acoustic blues and
a Nepalese Karukulla "Divine Mother Protector." You
cannot imagine my incredible delight when i put on the
first CD -- recorded by the great Frank Stokes in Memphis in
the 1920s -- and found that it contained perfect confirmation
of Hyatt's 1930s Memphis informant, who had bought
goofer dust from a mail order house and took the unusual
step of putting it in a mattress to cause a lover to go away.
Here is a recording from February, 1928, in which Stokes
describes his break-up with a woman who has goofered his
mattress in exactly this regionally popular way!:
BEDTIME BLUES
Frank Stokes
Don't want no jealous-hearted woman
makin' up my bed
She'll put something in the mattress, man,
make you wish you was dead
She'll give you pains to your body, give you
hurtin' all through your head
Now when you lay down at night, call your
good friend by name
Now when you lay down at night, call your
good friend by name
You don't like my treatment, you sure can
make a change
And i looked at the sun and the sun was
shinin' warm
And i looked at the sun and the sun was
shiny warm
You never miss your good gal 'til you've got
the train and gone
And you stood and cried, "What you want
me to say to you?"
Hey, stood and cried, "What you want me to
say to you?"
"I want you t'think 'bout the things, baby,
that me and you used to do."
And then run here, baby, let's try the other
hand
Hey, run here, baby, i said, "Let's try th'other
hand"
I've had a troubled complaint, God, ever
since i been your man
If the blues was whiskey, i'd stay drunk every
day
If the blues was whiskey, i'd stay drunk every
day
The last time i seen you, tried to make your
getaway.
Frank Stokes' guitar partner at this 1928 session was
probably Dan Sane, but at other times he recorded duets
with the equally proficient Will Batts. In 1933 Batts recorded
a variant of "Bedtime Blues" which he called "Country
Woman Blues;" it too contained, in truncated form, the
verse about the "jealous-hearted woman" who "put
something in your mattress."
A highly unusual, but obviously authentic spell using
Goofer Dust was brought to my attention in April 1998 by
Carol Barber, who wrote about what seems to be a very old
recipe for a mojo hand:
"[Here's] something I've been trying to figure
out [...] Someone was looking for a spell to
help a friend get out of jail. This person
received a spell that I'm not quite sure what
to make of [...] It called for a "guffa bag" to be
made from yellow silk, in which is placed a
yellow feather, a sprinkling of powder (not
defined as to what type), and a shiny new
penny. It was then to be tied closed with a
yellow ribbon."
The word "guffa" in this mojo bag recipe stumped me at
first because in my mind i pronounced it with a short "u"
(as in "guff") but in discussing it in usenet, William S.
Aronstein set me straight by asking if "guffa" was not the
same as "goofer," and then the composition of the bag fell
into place:
Here is a brief analysis of the ingredients of the Goofer Dust
mojo:
YELLOW SILK
Yellow silk tends to be associated with charms for wealth
(yellow stands for golden coins) and, in older times, for
court cases, especially when paying a fine was necessary.
Yellow silk is the 2nd most common cloth used in making
conjure bags (after red flannel). Its use dates back to the 19th
century or earlier when yellow Chinese silk was very
popular for ladies' fancy dresses and undergarments and
seamstresses had lots of scraps of yellow silk and silk ribbon
ready to hand.
YELLOW FEATHER
The inclusion of a feather in a mojo hand is very common,
a practice that has roots in both African (Congo) and Native
American custom. By the 1900s, the colour-coding of dyed
chicken feathers included in such hands had been brought
into line with the Western Esoteric Tradition of magical
colour symbolism, as modified in America. In this system,
yellow usually stands for gold and wealth.
SHINY NEW PENNY
Coins are often found in African-American conjure bags
and they appear in many Congolese magic bags as well. The
American coin most often encountered in mojo hands is
the silver dime, followed by the nickel and then the penny,
always specified as "shiny new." A silver dime cannot be
placed in contact with Goofer Dust, however, for the
sulphur will discolour it. The symbolism of coins is obvious
-- acquisition and mastery of money -- but because this is a
"get out of jail" bag, the coin may symbolize paying a fine,
bribing an official or, more likely, the penny may stand for a
"copper" that is, a cop or policeman.
POWDER
The name of the bag identifies the mysterious unspecified
powder it should contain. It's a Goofer Bag, so the powder
must of necessity be Goofer Dust. The inclusion of a powder
is another pointer to the 19th century origin of this magical
recipe, for although sachet powders are very popular in
hoodoo work, they have become less and less common
ingredients in conjure hands in the years since WW II.
Goofer Dust is a fine yellowish-grey, so the colour makes it
all of a coherent piece with the yellow silk, yellow feather,
and yellow ribbon. Since it is there to mess up someone's
life and the bag includes a penny, the implication is that a
"copper" will suffer if the bearer is jailed.
This old-fashioned Goofer Bag does not contain the
elements one would expect to find in a "court case" mojo
hand intended to influence a trial or parole hearing. (Those
items would likely include Chewing John root (a.k.a. Court
Case root or Little John to Chew), poppy seeds (confusion to
an enemy), white mustard seeds (faith in deliverance),
oregano (keeping the law away), and so forth.) Rather, this
bag is intended to get a fine or bribe paid or to destroy any
policeman who arrests the bearer. Only a real criminal
would carry a Goofer Bag like this. It is not an innocent
victim's petition for legal aid; it is a law-breaker's bag,
meant to put the jinx on the cops.
Dedication:
To the memory of Frank Stokes: blacksmith, singer, song-writer,
guitarist, and culture-bearer.
Acknowledgements:
Substantial help in the preparation of this article was provided through
the usenet newsgroup alt.religion.orisha. In particular, i would like to
thank Stehen C. Wehmeyer, Eoghan Ballard, William S. Aronstein,
Carol Barber, and Mikal Mularror for their correspondence; Johnny Parth
of Document Records for keeping the music of Frank Stokes available; and
Althaea Yronwode for her brilliant choice of gifts.
© 1995-2000 catherine yronwode. All rights reserved.
Send your comments to: c...@luckymojo.com.
-----------------------------------------------
cat yronwode
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