Lesson 1
Entering the Space
What it means to step into Hoodoo study with reverence, curiosity, and an open heart.
✦ Free for every visitor ✦
HOODOO ORIENTATION
HU 100 — Entering the Space
A warm, no-cost welcome to Hoodoo University. Learn how to approach the practice and the space with spiritual etiquette, respectful study, and care.
Lesson 1 · Video welcome
A word from Auntie Tasha
Press play and let Auntie Tasha welcome you to the space herself. She'll set the tone for your studies — how to enter, how to listen, and how to carry yourself while you learn.
The welcome mat
What you'll learn
Four short lessons designed to help you enter the tradition with clarity and respect.
Lesson 2
Respect & Etiquette
How to honor the tradition, the elders, the ancestors, and yourself while you learn.
Lesson 3
Meet the Ancestors
Who the ancestors are, why we call on them first, and how to begin building a living relationship with them through prayer, offering, and remembrance.
Lesson 4
How Hoodoo U Works
Membership, courses, the Demonstration Lab, and how to choose your path forward.
Lesson 1 · Full lesson
Entering the Space
The drums open the door
Before the first word, the drums speak. They start slow and steady — like a heartbeat. The pace picks up, drum layered upon drum, rising to a crescendo. Then a fast stop. Sit with what the silence leaves behind. That silence is part of the teaching.
From Auntie Tasha
"Look around you. Look at where you're standing. This space is sacred. This space is you. This space is Hoodoo University."
Whenever you enter the space, I recommend it being intentional and with open heart. Those are the best ways to learn and receive information. This is a space created for us to freely explore and consider traditions that are indigenous to our ancestors, in hopes to preserve tradition and continue legacy. When you enter this space, do so with the desire to learn about ways to begin — and deepen — your relationship with your benevolent ancestors.
Look around you first. Before any herb, any candle, any working — locate yourself. You are not browsing content. You are standing inside a living tradition, and the tradition is watching how you arrive. In Hoodoo, the state of the worker shapes the work. A hurried, distracted entrance produces hurried, distracted learning. A deliberate one — feet planted, mind settled, heart open — produces something that can actually take root in you.
Intention is the key that opens the door. You chose to come here. Say why — out loud, or in a journal, or simply in your spirit: "I am here to learn. I am here to remember." Intention is not a formality in this tradition; it is the first ingredient in every working you will ever do. Practicing it now, on something as simple as entering a classroom, trains the muscle you will rely on when the work matters more.
Sacred is not decoration. When Auntie Tasha says this space is sacred, she means it the way our people have always meant it: sacred ground is where the ancestors can reach you. It can be a church, a kitchen table, a corner shelf, or a school like this one. What makes ground sacred is not ornament — it is conduct. Reverence, honesty, consistency, and respect for what you are being trusted with.
Why we preserve. This knowledge was carried here in chains — West and Central African spiritual technology that survived the Middle Passage and took root in the American South, practiced in secret, hidden in Bible verses and root bags, kept alive by grandmothers and rootworkers who could be punished for it. To study Hoodoo is to receive what people suffered to keep. That is why we preserve it, and why we continue the legacy forward — so the tradition outlives us too.
Benevolent ancestors. Notice the word "benevolent." In this space, you will learn to discern carefully who you invite close — not every spirit of the dead belongs at your table. Lesson 3 will show you how to begin, and how to go deeper. For now, hold the intention. That is enough to enter.
Practice · Do this before Lesson 2
- State your intention. Speak or write one honest sentence: why you are here, and what you hope to carry out of this space.
- Choose where you will sit with this tradition — a consistent chair, table, or corner you can return to for every lesson. Treat that spot with care.
- Greet the ones who came before you. A simple "good evening, ancestors" and a glass of cool water on your study surface is a complete and correct beginning.
Reflection · Journal prompts
- How did it feel when the drums stopped? What did you notice in the silence?
- What does "this space is you" ask of you? How will you carry yourself here?
Lesson 2 · Full lesson
Respect & Etiquette
Honoring Spirit. Honoring Each Other.
Welcome home · Why respect comes first
Welcome to Hoodoo U. Before you light a candle, dress a root, or open a single lesson, there's something we need to settle together: how we carry ourselves in this work and in this family.
In Hoodoo, respect is not a nice extra. It is the foundation. Our ancestors survived by knowing how to honor what was bigger than them and how to take care of one another. That same respect is what makes the work hold. Without it, nothing stands.
“You don't have to know everything to belong here. You only have to come with respect, an open heart, and a willingness to learn.”
— Auntie Tasha
Upward and outward
Respect toward Spirit, the Ancestors, and the tradition itself.
Across
Respect toward every member of this community, whether they have been practicing for thirty years or thirty minutes.
Part One · Respect for Spirit
The Ancestors
We ask. We petition. We never demand.
The Ancestors are the heart of Hoodoo. When we speak of them, we mean three circles of kin:
- Blood ancestors: the family line that made you, known and unknown.
- Spiritual ancestors: those connected to you by spirit, calling, or adoption rather than blood.
- The Mighty Dead of the tradition: the rootworkers, conjure doctors, and elders who carried this work through slavery, Jim Crow, and migration so it could reach us.
Approach with humility
Speak to your Ancestors the way you would speak to a respected elder sitting at your kitchen table. Greet them. Thank them. Ask, don't order. They are not servants to be summoned; they are family to be honored.
Tend your ancestor space
- Keep it clean, dusted, and cared for. A neglected altar speaks for itself.
- Refresh water regularly. Remove old food and flowers before they spoil.
- Dispose of spent offerings respectfully, not tossed carelessly in the trash with a shrug.
Offerings
Give what is appropriate and give it with intention. Never offer what you would not set in front of an elder at your own table. If you do not know what an ancestor liked, start simple: fresh water, a white candle, and your sincere words.
The Tradition Itself
A living inheritance, not a trend
Hoodoo is a living African American tradition. It was born from survival, resistance, and the Black Southern experience. It carries Central and West African roots, from the Kongo to Benin and beyond, carried through the Middle Passage, kept alive by enslaved ancestors, and passed down along the Mississippi and throughout the South. When you study here, you are handling something that people protected with their lives. Treat it that way.
What honoring the tradition looks like
- Learning the history, not just the spells.
- Understanding a practice before mixing it with other paths, renaming it, or rebranding it.
- Naming Hoodoo as Hoodoo and giving credit to the people and communities it comes from.
- Refusing to treat the work as an aesthetic, a costume, or content for clout.
Hoodoo U teaches from documented, credible sources, including Harry Middleton Hyatt's field records and established formularies, alongside living practitioner knowledge. Unsourced internet spells are not a lineage. When you learn something outside class, ask: Where did this come from? Who carried it?
Remember
Hoodoo is not a costume. It is somebody's grandmother's knowledge.
Sacred Tools, Spaces & Practices
Nothing on the altar is a prop
Candles, roots, oils, bones, dirt, and altar pieces are sacred once they are dedicated to the work. Handle them with care and intention, both your own and other people's.
- Hands off. Never touch another person's altar, tools, or workings without clear permission.
- Ask before capturing. Get permission before recording, photographing, or sharing any ritual moment, including live sessions.
- Not for show. Sacred items are not decor, backdrops, or aesthetic filler.
- Close what you open. End every session, prayer, and working properly. Do not leave spiritual doors swinging.
Spiritual accountability
- Be honest about your level. If a working is beyond you, pause and ask for guidance.
- Do your own shadow work so you do not pour unexamined wounds into the work or onto others.
- Own your mistakes. Make them right with the people involved and with Spirit.
Part Two · Respect for Every Member
Come As You Are
No judgment. No dogma. Just family.
Everyone arrives at Hoodoo U from a different road. Some grew up in church. Some are coming from other spiritual traditions. Some have no tradition at all, just a pull they cannot explain. All are welcome here.
- Respect each person's pace, both in learning and in healing.
- Do not pressure anyone to believe, share, or practice before they are ready.
- Leave room for people to be in process. Growth is messy, and that is allowed.
- Speak from your own experience and use “I” statements.
- Disagree with ideas; never attack people.
- No gatekeeping, mocking, or shaming someone for what they do not know yet.
- Honor elders and experienced practitioners, and make generous room for newcomers' questions.
Remember
A question asked honestly is never a stupid question here. Laughing at someone's learning is not how we do things in this house.
Safe Space & Boundaries
What is shared here stays here
Confidentiality
- What is shared in classes, circles, and live sessions stays within the community.
- No screenshots, recordings, or reposting of anyone's story, face, or words without consent.
- Handle trauma disclosures with care. Listen, do not fix, and honor content notes.
Spiritual boundaries
- No unsolicited readings. Do not send someone a reading or an “I saw something about you” message they did not ask for.
- No working on members without consent. Never do work on or for another member without their clear, spoken yes.
- No selling or recruiting. Do not promote products, services, or other groups in community spaces without permission.
- Respect instructors. Use the proper channels and office hours for questions, and be patient with response times.
Cultural Respect
Open to learn. Rooted in a people.
Hoodoo U welcomes students of every background who come in good faith to learn. At the same time, Hoodoo carries a specific history rooted in racism and survival; that ancestral memory must be honored.
For every student
- Learn the history before you practice the work.
- Center Black voices, Black teachers, and Black experience when discussing the tradition.
- Give credit where it is due, always.
For non-Black students
- You are welcome here as a respectful learner.
- To be a respectful learner, listen more than you speak.
- Do not claim ownership of the tradition, attempt to rebrand it, or present yourself as an authority.
Remember
Hoodoo history is Black history. The practice of Hoodoo rootwork and conjure is a closed practice left to the descendants of enslaved Africans.
Part Three · Living It
Campus Guidelines
How respect shows up day to day
- Show up present. Arrive to live sessions and lectures on time and prepared.
- Follow the path. Complete lessons in order; skipping ahead skips foundation.
- Use proper names. Honor instructors, Ancestors, and historical figures by their proper names and titles.
- Credit your sources. When you share something learned here, say where you learned it.
- Protect the materials. Course content stays within the University. Paid materials may not be copied, resold, or redistributed.
When respect is broken
We are family, and families sometimes step on each other's toes. When it happens, we handle it with care and accountability. Most issues begin with an honest, respectful conversation. Continued behavior brings a formal warning with clear expectations. Repeated or serious harm may result in removal from the community. Accountability means making it right with the person harmed and with Spirit. We aim to repair, not just punish.
Zero tolerance
Harassment, hate speech, and spiritual threats of any kind are never tolerated. These result in immediate removal.
Part Four · The Covenant
The Hoodoo U Covenant
Read it aloud. Mean it. Sign it.
- ✦ I will honor the Ancestors, approaching them with humility, gratitude, and care.
- ✦ I will respect Hoodoo as a living African American tradition and honor the people who carried it.
- ✦ I will treat sacred tools, spaces, and practices as sacred, my own and everyone else's.
- ✦ I will take responsibility for my intentions and my actions in this work.
- ✦ I will welcome every member as they are and respect their pace and their path.
- ✦ I will keep what is shared here in confidence and honor every boundary.
- ✦ I will learn with an open heart, ask for guidance when I need it, and give credit where it is due.
- ✦ I will make it right when I cause harm.
“We are each other's kin in this work.”
Optional opening blessing
Marking your entry into the family
You may mark your entry into Hoodoo U at your own altar or sacred space. You will need a white candle, a glass of fresh water, a quiet moment, and your own words.
- Clean your space and set the water and candle before you.
- Light the candle. Greet your Ancestors by name, or as your known and unknown Ancestors.
- Tell them where you are stepping and why. Speak plainly, from the heart.
- Read the Hoodoo U Covenant aloud.
- Ask for their guidance, protection, and patience as you learn.
- Thank them. Let the candle burn safely or snuff it, then close with gratitude.
Fire safety: Keep the candle on a stable, heat-safe surface, away from children, pets, drafts, and anything flammable. Never leave it unattended.
Reflection · Journal prompts
- Who do you already count among your Ancestors?
- What does honoring an elder look like in your family, and how might that carry over to your altar?
- What drew you to Hoodoo specifically, rather than another path?
- What does “closing what you open” mean in your practice right now?
- What makes a space feel safe enough for you to be honest? How can you help create that feeling for someone else?
Lesson 3 · Reading & practice
Meet the Ancestors
In Hoodoo, nothing begins without the ancestors. They are the ones who carried this tradition through the fire — who hid conjure in Bibles, who worked roots under the watch of overseers, who prayed in code so the work could survive. When you sit down to study, you are not studying alone.
Connecting begins with acknowledgment. Speak their names if you know them. If you don't, speak to "the ancestors whose names I do not know, but whose blood I carry." A glass of cool water, a white candle, and a few honest words are enough to open the door. You do not need elaborate tools — you need consistency and sincerity.
Connection deepens through practice. Set aside a small, clean space — a shelf, a corner of a table — where you refresh the water weekly, light a candle on a regular day, and speak to them as you would family. Listen in the quiet. Pay attention to dreams, songs that rise in your mind, and the small signs that answer back.
And connection asks for respect. The ancestors are not vending machines. Come with gratitude before you come with requests. Thank them for what you already have. When you make a promise to them, keep it.
Free book excerpt
Meet the Ancestors
Read the teaser from Auntie Tasha's upcoming book directly in this lesson.
From the Head Auntie in Charge
Meet the Ancestors: Bakulu
The complete 60-page e-book by Auntie Tasha, with teachings, stories, photographs, and practices for building your ancestor connection. Sold separately; not included with membership.
Meet the Ancestors is a digital ebook, delivered instantly to your email after purchase.
Ps “Don't see it? Check your spam or promotions folder or send us a holler info@hoodoouniversity.com
$30
Lesson 4 · Full lesson
How Hoodoo U Works
II.
Getting Started
- Create your account and enroll through Admissions.
- Complete New Student Orientation (Respect & Etiquette) before any coursework.
- Affirm the Hoodoo U Covenant.
- Set up your Student Portal.
III.
Your Student Portal
- Dashboard: your courses, progress, and next lessons.
- Lesson materials and branded workbooks.
- Announcements, live session schedule, and replays.
- Support and contact channels.
IV.
The Departments
- Ancestral Sciences: Hoodoo history, genealogy, ancestral veneration theory, and lineage work.
- Conjure Studies: rootwork and conjure practice. Informational study, open to all students.
- Divination Arts: dream interpretation, the numbers tradition, and Hoodoo divination methods.
- Rootwork & Ritual Practice: informational study, open to all students.
- Kitchen Hoodoo'in: natural herbal living, anti-inflammatory eating, and natural remedies.
- Big Mama's House: a self-help space for mental, emotional, and physical repair. "Come as you are. Heal how you need to."
V.
How Courses Work
- Self-guided 13-lesson tracks that move at your pace.
- Complete lessons in order, since each builds on the last.
- Reflection questions and workbook exercises in every lesson.
- Sourced content from documented lineage, not internet spells.
VI.
Premium Paths & Programs
- The Shadow Path: a premium 13-lesson shadow work track.
- The Threshold: a three-tier initiation program (Initiation, Retrieval, Rebirth).
- The Working Circle: a cohort that follows the 33-day program.
- 33 Day Awakening: self-paced spiritual awakening coaching with a companion shadow work ebook.
VII.
Live & Community Learning
- Monthly Lecture Series: free live lectures on notable historical Hoodoo figures, open to all enrolled members.
- Monthly Public Addresses: sermon-style addresses delivered from Congo Square.
- Community spaces: discussion guidelines and etiquette reminders.
VIII.
Certification
- Certification is open to all students. Complete the capstone and receive your Certificate of Completion.
- Students who complete the full 16-week track earn their Certification in Hoodoo Fundamental Theory — earned by completing the entire track, not just one course.
- Certificates recognize completion of your course of study within Hoodoo University. They are not a license, a clinical credential, or an initiation into any lineage, house, or religious tradition.
IX.
Tuition & Payments
- Free versus paid content.
- Course pricing and premium path pricing.
- Payment methods, refunds, and cancellation policy.
X.
Community Standards
- A summary of respect and etiquette, with a link back to Orientation.
- Confidentiality and content use: course materials stay within the University.
- How concerns are handled.
XI.
Getting Help
- Student support contact: info@hoodoouniversity.com — this is always the way to reach us.
- FAQs.
- Office hours: 9am–5pm.
Your complimentary next step
Now that you’ve finished orientation, see what Hoodoo University feels like.
Step into What They Call Weeds, We Call Medicine—a free, interactive rootwork field lesson with 16 plants, safety training, a field journal, and a knowledge check. No membership or sign-in required.