HOODOO ROOTWORK COURSE
HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS

LESSON THIRTEEN

HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT #2

	Remember Homework Assignment #1, back in Lesson 6?
	That time i asked you to write out and send me a
custom, belief, trick, or recipe that you found in
your own family. This time i want a belief, trick,
or custom similar to what you got from a family
member -- but from a person of another race or
ethnicity than your own.
	Copy the format below, fill in the blanks, and 
send it to:
	HOMEWORK #2 (Student ID#)
	c/o Lucky Mojo Curio Co.
	6632 Covey Road
	Forestville, CA 95436 
1. What is This Belief, Trick, or Recipe Used For? 
    (e.g. Love, Money, Protection, Cursing, etc.): _______
2. Describe the Belief, Trick, or Recipe in Full:________
3. How did you meet this person?: ___________________
4. Their Birth Year:______________________________
5. Where They Were Born:________________________
6. Their National/Ethnic/Racial Background(s):________
7. Your Name and Student ID#: ____________________
	The reason i ask for the nationality, race, or
ethnic background(s) of your informant is not to
pigeon-hole them, but so that i can use that data to
increase my own understanding of the many kinds of
folk magic that are practiced in America. And notice
i ask for your informant's background(s) plural, so
please don't just say "White" or "Black" or "Asian."
If there's more, please tell me more, like
"African/Cherokee/Irish" or "English/Scottish" or
"Chinese/Lithuanian-Jewish" -- as best you know.
	Don't worry if what you collect is "common" -- like
hanging a horseshoe over the door. What seems common
to you may not be known to me.
	Now, here's where it gets a little complicated for
some folks -- but please bear with me: Because this
course is about African American hoodoo, i am
requesting that my non-Black students gather their
Homework #2 from a person of African American
descent. (Black students can ask anyone of any
background different than theirs.) If you are a
White, Asian, Native, or Polynesian student, the
only reason it would be not possible for a you to
gather Homework #2 from a Black person is if you
lived in Northern Europe, Asia, or Polynesia and
didn't have internet access. Barring that, you can
surely get to know someone of African American
ethnicity.
	The reason i make this request is that i have
noticed that many people who take the class come
from White backgrounds, and a certain percentage of
those people sincerely want to learn about conjure,
but they don't know any Black people well enough to
talk to them. Well, think about it: Here i am, a
Jewish woman, teaching this course, and i sure as
heck did not learn what i know by staying on "my
side of the street," so to speak.
	As i said in Homework Assignment #1, "The practice
of conjure draws on the traditions of other
cultures, acquired through social contact,
book-learning, and intermarriage" -- and now it is
time for you to make that "social contact." You
cannot learn conjure without entering, to at least
some extent, into Black culture. 

LESSON NINETEEN

HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT #3

	Copy the format, fill in the blanks, and send
homework to: 	
	HOMEWORK #3 (Student ID#)
	c/o Lucky Mojo Curio Co.
	6632 Covey Road
	Forestville, CA 95436 
1. How were you introduced to the practice of magic?
2. Do any other people in your family practice magic or have 
natural gifts? 
3. How old were you when you first began practicing?
4. Briefly describe the very first spell or trick you 
worked.
5. Do you work on behalf of clients or only to help 
yourself? 
6. Your Name and Student ID#: ______________________

LESSON TWENTY-SIX

HOMEWORK #4

	Go to a graveyard and buy some dirt. Put it in 
a small Ziplock bag. Copy the format, fill in the
blanks with the information requested, and send
homework to:
	Homework #4 (Student ID#), 
	c/o Lucky Mojo Curio Co., 
	6632 Covey Road, 
	Forestville, CA 95436 USA. 
1. The name and location of the cemetery: ______
2. How and/or why you chose that grave: ______ 
3. How you collected the dirt: ______
4. How you paid for it: ______
5. Your Name and Student ID#: ______

LESSON THIRTY-TWO

HOMEWORK #5

	Write out and dress a name-paper or petition. On a
separate piece of paper describe the spell in you
would use this sort of name-paper or petition. Send
it to:
Homework #5 (Student ID#), 
c/o Lucky Mojo Curio Co., 
6632 Covey Road, 
Forestville, CA 95436 USA.

LESSON THIRTY-NINE

HOMEWORK #6:

	Please identify, collect, dry, and properly label an
herb, root, flower, leaves, bark, or seeds used in
hoodoo. Do not send me commercial cut-and-sifted
herbs or jarred kitchen spices. I want you to
identify, collect, and prepare the herb yourself.
The plant may be collected in the wild, grown in
your garden, or, if all else fails, it can be a
fresh herb from a grocery store that you "collected"
and dried. You may use a field guide to wildflowers,
garden plants, or herbs to identify it.
	The material must be DRIED and it must NOT be more
than will fill a 3" x 5" Ziplock bag. Attach to the
bag a piece of paper on which you have written:
1. The common name(s) by which you know the plant.
2. The plant's taxonomic (botanical Latin binomial) names.
3. A description, in your own words, of at least one 
way the prepared material can be used in hoodoo magical 
practice. Send it to:
	Homework #6 (Student ID#), 
	c/o Lucky Mojo Curio Co., 
	6632 Covey Road, 
	Forestville, CA 95436 USA.

LESSON FORTY-FIVE

HOMEWORK #7

	Please prepare a small bottle of anointing or
dressing oil. Follow the instructions in Lesson 15
and the herb suggestions in HHRM. The material you
submit must be WELL PACKED in a BOX, not a padded
envelope, and it must NOT be more than will fill a
1/2 oz. bottle. Place the bottle inside a sealed
Ziplock bag and attach a piece of paper on which you
have written:
1. The name you are giving this oil
2. How you got the formula: Is it an old recipe (if
so, from where?), or a new one (if so, from what
study resources?)
3. A description, in your own words, of at least one
way this oil can be used in hoodoo magical practice
4. The name of at least one essential oil and one
herb (both a common name and the botanical Latin
binomial) in your recipe. You need not name all the
ingredients, but i want to know that you are on the
right track and have done your research.
	Address your package to: 
	Homework #7 (Student ID#), 
	c/o Lucky Mojo Curio Co., 
	6632 Covey Road, 
	Forestville, CA 95436.

LESSON FIFTY-TWO

HOMEWORK #8

	Please prepare a mojo bag. Follow the herb and root
suggestions in HHRM and the outlines on how mojos
are made on the HITAP "Mojo Hand," "Nation Sack,"
and "John the Conquer" pages at
	http://www.luckymojo.com/mojo.html
	http://www.luckymojo.com/nationsack.html 
	http://www.luckymojo.com/johntheconqueror.html  
	The bag must be WELL PACKED in a BOX, not a padded
envelope. Please dress the mojo, but do NOT enclose
any oil or perfume with it. Place the bag inside a
sealed Ziplock bag and attach to the bag a piece of
paper on which you have written:
1. The purpose of this mojo hand and, if you are a
professional toby-maker, any "brand" name you have
chosen to give it.
2. The name of the oil, Cologne, or alcohol with
which this mojo was dressed
3. How you derived the recipe, naming your study
resources
4. The names of at least three roots or herbs included
(give both by their common names and botanical Latin
binomials). You need not name all the ingredients,
but i want to know that you are on the right track
and have done your research.
	Address your package to:
	Homework #8 (Student ID#), 
	c/o Lucky Mojo Curio Co., 
	6632 Covey Road, 
	Forestville, CA 95436.

YOUR FINAL HOMEWORK DEADLINE

	You have until my death to turn in your 8 pieces
of homework and receive a certificate of completion 
in the course.

	As a member of the course, you are always welcome
in the Yahoo group list; if you unsubscribe and
later resubscribe, please give your full name and
your Student ID # so we can approve you for
membership again.

	For my own ease of work, i do prefer students to
turn in ALL EIGHT assignments at one time in a
small Priority Mail box, if possible. This is not
a requirement, but it significantly cuts down on
lost or misplaced homeworks.

	Thanks for studying with me -- and stay in touch!

NON-MATRICULATING STUDENTS
(GOING "INACTIVE" ON THE YAHOO GROUP)

	Non-matriculating students -- those who do not
intend to turn in homework or graduate from the
class -- are welcome, but due to my time
constraints, they cannot displace active,
matriculating students in the queue for replies to
questions at the hrcourse Yahoo group.

	If you do not turn any homework within 24 months
(two years) of signing up for the course, or have
not graduated from the course by then, you will be
considered a non-matriculating student and will be
placed on "inactive" status. Your name will still
appear on the student roster, and you may
remain on, join, leave, or rejoin the hrcourse
Yahoo group as you please. However, as a non-
matriculating or "inactive" student, you will be
put on "read-only" status at the Yahoo group. You
will be able to read all yahoo messages, but you
will not be able to post messages to the group
until you have met some of the homework
requirements. 

	At any time they choose, "inactive" students may
turn in homework and this will place them back on
the matriculation track as active students, with
full rights of participation to post to as well as
read the Yahoo group.

	Graduates of the course may continue on as 
members of the Yahoo group indefinitely.

	"Inactive" students will be fully able to read
messages in the hrcourse Yahoo group, may
participate as callers on the Lucky Mojo Hoodoo
Rootwork Hour radio show during live broadcasts,
and their names will continue to appear on the
homework web page, but they will not be able to
post at the Yahoo group again until they have
turned in at least one homework for every year
since they signed up.

	All it takes to become "active" again is turning
in some homework -- and then you would be in "active" 
status for another year.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT HOMEWORK #1

I come from a completely non-magical, materialistic
family, so i can't turn in Homework #1. What can i
do instead for credit?

	The homework asks for customs, beliefs, and practices of
	your culture. ("I want you to ask someone in your family --
	preferably someone older than you -- for a saying, recipe,
	custom, belief, magical technique, or traditional remedy.")

	Did your family have a Christmas tree? Was food, such as
	cookies and milk, left out on Christmas Eve for Santa Claus?
	Did you have Easter Egg hunts? When you lost a tooth, did
	the Tooth Fairy come and take it away? Was finding a penny
	good luck? Was stepping on a crack bad luck -- and if so,
	for whom? Did you say or do anything special if you found a
	cherry with two pits? At a wedding, did anyone jump a
	broomstick, throw a bouquet (and if so, why and what did it
	mean?), or save a piece of wedding cake? (and if so, for
	what reason?) Did anyone nail a horseshoe over the door? Did
	you break a wishbone after eating a turkey and make a wish
	on it? When you saw the first star at night, did you say or
	do anything? When you made a smug or possibly too-certain
	comment about future pleasant events, did you knock on wood
	or say "knock on wood"? Did anyone in your family have a way
	of getting rid of warts that involved unusual words or
	deeds? When someone sneezed, was anything formulaic said in
	response to the sneeze? In your grandmother's church did
	people speak in tongues? Were healing services performed?

	How many more questions should i ask? Have i got you
	thinking of something yet? If not, just let me know and i'll
	run through another two dozen of the most common folk
	beliefs and customs of people who think their families have
	no folk beliefs, but who never pause to consider that there
	are no Christmas trees in the Amazon and the Tooth Fairy
	never visits Central Asia, and it's pretty odd, when you
	think of it, to say "gesundheit" after someone sneezes if
	your family is not of German decent. 

	A Christmas tree is an ancient pagan religious custom, a
	marker of ancient religious belief, embedded or entombed in
	a Christian context. It is what one might call a remnant
	custom or, more properly, evidence of syncretic
	Norse-Christian religious practice in your family. Compare
	it with the anthropology of African religious survivals in
	contemporary Christian belief among those of Afro-Caribbean
	descent, such as practitioners of Voodoo or Santeria -- the
	mechanism by which the Norse Yule tree is conflated with
	Bible accounts of the birth of Jesus is exactly the same
	mechanism as that which conflates Saint Barbara with the
	Yoruba god Chango. 

	The wedding cake belief ties in to a strong current of
	British-Germanic folk magic surrounding weddings that
	invests them with magical importance. There are two classes
	of wedding party attendants who save a piece of wedding
	cake, the married couple and single young women. The latter
	sleep with the wedding cake under their pillow "to dream of
	the future husband." This is a form of magical dream
	incubation (see the course lesson on Dreams for more on
	dream incubation). The couple preserves the wedding cake,
	either by drying it or, in modern times, by freezing it. In
	most families, they will eat the reserved piece of cake on
	the one-year anniversary of their marriage either for "good
	luck" in the marriage or to magically re-incubate the same
	height of joy they had on their wedding day. Obviously. the
	belief that eating or sleeping upon a piece of
	event-consecrated bakery goods will produce a supernatural
	result is a magical belief.

	I have heard this tale of woe before, but have yet to find a
	family with no magico-religious customs, no folk recipes for 
	healing minor ailments, or no culture-based holiday practices.

All the elders in my family are deceased, and i am
the oldest, so there is no one i can interview. 
What can i do about this?

	Rely on your memory and simply report on 
	something you recall being told in the past.

I was adopted and don't know who my family is. How 
can i turn in Homework #1?

	Give me a response from your adoptive family, 
	and explain what their ethnic / racial background
	is, if it differs greatly from yours. 

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT HOMEWORK #2

I don't know any African American people and there are none
where i live. How can i do homework #2?


	I often find it strange that i am here teaching this class,
	being Jewish-born, and i know full well that i never would
	have learned about this stuff if not for African American
	friends and teachers -- and so i use my God-given talent as a
	writer to pass along this knowledge to others, to preserve it 
	and popularize it as a matter of spiritual interest to all. 

	My original intent was to reflect the lore i had collected
	back into the Black community, as a way of repaying the debt 
	i owed -- but, being who i am, i am also eager to open up
	dialogue among and between people of all ethnicities, and 
	so i decided to teach this class to all, as it was taught to
	me. My students now include many White folks and even a few
	Asian folks. But ... if these students cannot do Homework #2
	because they cannot make face-to-face friendly contact with
	a Black person and thus come begging for an email helper, i
	have to ask, "WHY?"

	Why are you unable to meet and befriend a Black person?

	Fully 1/10th of the citizens of the United States identify
	themselves as African American according to the US census.

	You are studying a form of folk magic that owes its very
	existence to the African American community. 

	Can you not find it in your heart to reach out and befriend
	ONE African American person face-to-face for the purpose of
	discussing family traditions and folklore? Not even ONE?

	Think about it. Think long and deep about it.

	I think about it myself, every time i hear a request such as
	yours, and this is what i think:

	Why would someone want to learn to practice magic in the
	manner of African Americans and yet call NOT ONE OF THEM a
	friend?

	That having been said, of course, i do understand that some
	people, by virtue of where they live or due to their
	personal physical limitations, will not be able to do more
	than correspond by email.

	If, for instance,  you live in Europe or Asia, or are
	physically disabled in such a way that you cannot leave your
	home -- you may post to the Yahoo group elist and request
	that someone contact you to help you do Homework #2. Several
	of my Black students have graciously expressed a willingness
	to communicate by email with White students, so that they
	can complete the course. Just post a message in the hrcourse
	Yahoo group, asking for someone to contact you.

	But if you make such a request, please understand that you
	must state your VERY GOOD REASON for requiring this kind of 
	assistance and you must also make it clear that you are not
	just going in to get information, but, hopefully, to make a 
	friend.

	Also, be aware that if you have no Black friends, there is a
	bit more to doing Homework # 2 than finding a willing
	interview subject. You will also need to learn enough about
	African American culture to understand the role that conjure
	places in society. 

	I would recommend to you that you supplement your reading in
	the course book and in my other books (HHRM and HITAP) with
	some grounding in African American social culture, in order
	to place the material in context, since it seems to have
	been off your map so far. 

	A good academic book on the subject is "Conjure in African 
	American Society" by Jeffrey Anderson, who is one of the 
	course students, by the way. We sell copies of his book at
	the Lucky Mojo shop, and you can check that out at 
	http://www.luckymojo.com/mojocatbooks.html#folklore

	Next, to experience some of the social background to conjure  
	on your own terms, without the intermediary of an academic 
	text, please view a few documentaries on post Civil War and
	early to mid 20th century Black culture for some
	understanding of the era during which Southern rural hoodoo
	began to be documented, and simultaneously became
	increasingly urbanized due to the Great Northern Migration.

	Use google to check out folks like Paschal Beverly Randolph, 
	Marcus Garvey, Madame C. J. Walker, Father Divine, Father 
	Hurley, et al. 

	Then, to focus in on conjure itself, check out the large 
	selection of early to mid 20th century blues songs that 
	mention hoodoo at
	http://www.luckymojo.com/blues.html
	
	There is a bibliography for the course at
	http://www.southern-spirits.com
	-- along with many 19th and 20th century narratives and
	early interviews that mention hoodoo and its role in Black
	culture.
	
	Read "Spiritual Merchants" by Carolyn Morrow Long.
	It is available at amazon.
	
	Read "The Spirit of Blackhawk" by Jason Berry. 
	It too is available at amazon. 
	
	Look at the photos of Saint Martin's Spiritual Church that
	were taken by Gordon Parks (the director of the movie
	"Shaft!"), A partial selection is here, along with a brief 
	text introduction:
	http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/fsahtml/fachap07.html
	
	The full set of Saint Martin's Spiritual Church photos that
	Gordon Parks took for the FSA will be found somewhat
	scattered among this larger collection of images made by
	Gordon Parks at the following Library of Congress URLs:
	
		http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/b?ammem/fsaall:LC-USF346-013216-A-A:collection=fsa
		http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/b?ammem/fsaall:LC-USF34-013303-C:collection=fsa
		http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/b?ammem/fsaall:LC-USF34-013315-C:collection=fsa
		http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/b?ammem/fsaall:LC-USF34-013327-C:collection=fsa
		http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/b?ammem/fsaall:LC-USF34-013339-C:collection=fsa
		http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/b?ammem/fsaall:LC-USF34-013350-C:collection=fsa
		http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/b?ammem/fsaall:LC-USF34-013362-C:collection=fsa
		http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/b?ammem/fsaall:LC-USF34-013372-C:collection=fsa
		http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/b?ammem/fsaall:LC-USF34-013382-C:collection=fsa
		http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/b?ammem/fsaall:LC-USF34-013394-C:collection=fsa
		http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/b?ammem/fsaall:LC-USF34-013406-C:collection=fsa
		http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/b?ammem/fsaall:LC-USF34-013418-C:collection=fsa
		http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/b?ammem/fsaall:LC-USF34-013430-C:collection=fsa
		http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/b?ammem/fsaall:LC-USF34-013442-C:collection=fsa
		http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/b?ammem/fsaall:LC-USF34-013454-C:collection=fsa
		http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/b?ammem/fsaall:LC-USF34-013466-C:collection=fsa
		http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/b?ammem/fsaall:LC-USF34-013478-C:collection=fsa
		http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/b?ammem/fsaall:LC-USF34-013490-C:collection=fsa
		http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/b?ammem/fsaall:LC-USF34-013502-C:collection=fsa
		http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/b?ammem/fsaall:LC-USF34-013514-C:collection=fsa
		http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/b?ammem/fsaall:LC-USF34-013526-E:collection=fsa
		
	Go to a video rental store and, at a rate that is
	feasible to you, rent and view at least 20 African
	American movies. Not the big name ones in which a
	noble Black person played by Morgan Freeman or
	Whoopie Goldberg helps a White person get in touch
	with his or her feelings, but flicks with all-Black
	casts -- an assortment of romantic date movies,
	thrillers, 1970s blaxploitation, comedy, and drama.
	
	If you like modern films and your video store does
	not have a wide selection of African American films,
	then watch every movie Eddie Murphy, Will Smith,
	Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman, Samuel L. Jackson, 
	and Danny Glover ever made, including the really, 
	really bad ones.
	
	Try these:
	
		* "Barbershop" -- A sweet drama that points out the 
			historical role played by small neighborhood
			barber shops in Black culture.
		
		* "Brother to Brother" -- African-American gay life in
			Harlem.   Great flashback scenes of the Harlem
			Renaissance and Zora Neale Hurston.
		
		* "The Color Purple" -- All-star African-American cast. 
			The cinematography, costumes, and historic  detail is
			breathtaking; filmed in North  Carolina.
		
		* "Daughters of the Dust" -- about the Gullah culture of
			the South Carolina and Georgia Sea Islands.
		
		* "Eve's Bayou" -- a social drama about family secrets, 
			set in Louisiana in the 1960s, and starring Samuel L. 
			Jackson; memorable for its magical scenes.  
		
		* "Harlem Nights" -- Eddie Murphy and Redd Foxx in a 
			comedic drama about the numbers racket in Harlem; 
			watch for Foxx giving an old-time conjure spell.  
		
		* "Holiday Heart" -- Ving Rhames as a flaming queen in a
			film about being gay and Christian.
		
		* "Soul Food" -- all-star African-American cast shows the
			trials and tribulations of a large family in conflict.
		
		* "When the Levees Broke" -- This documentary by famed
			director Spike Lee may be painful to watch, but is 
			absolutely essential for America  to see.
	
	But while you're at it, be sure to catch a few of
	the old-time "All-Negro Cast" classic fIlms from the
	1930s and 1940s, including
	
		* social dramas such as "Spirit of Youth" starring 
			the prizefighter Joe Louis and Mantan Moreland,
			or "Broken Strings" with Clarence Muse;
		
		* religious dramas like "Go Down, Death" and "The 
			Blood of Jesus" by Spencer Williams, Jr.;
		
		* the comedies of "Moms" Mabley and Mantan Moreland, 
			such as "Boarding House Blues," "Up in the Air,"
			and "Lucky Ghost"; 
		
		* westerns like "Two-Gun Man From Harlem" and "The 
			Bronze Buckaroo" with the Black singing cowboy 
			Herb Jeffrey (aka Herb Jeffries); 
		
		* the musical dramas "Green Pastures" with Rex Ingram 
			and "Cabin in the Sky," with Ethel Waters, 
			Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson, Lena Horne, Louis 
			Armstrong, and Rex Ingram; 
		
		* jazz films like "Beware!" and "Look-Out, Sister!" with 
			Louis Jordan; 
	 
	If these older black and white films cannot be rented,
	you can find most of them for sale at
	http://www.luckymojo.com/mojocatdvds.html#africanamerican
	at very reasonable prices.
	
	Many of these films will touch on religion and/or magic. 
	Take note of any references you see.
	
	Basically, consider that to best understand hoodoo from an
	outsider's point of view, you will need to approach it
	either by immersion in the Black community or, if that is
	not possible for you, then by giving yourself the
	perspective of the equivalent of at least an undergraduate
	college course in 19th, 20th, and 21st century African
	American social and material culture to set the scene.
	
	[Thanks to Lee Canipe and Jennifer Line for film
	suggestions.]


I am White, and in doing Homework #2, i have a Nigerian
friend whom I want to interview. Is this acceptable?

	Africans do have wonderfully interesting beliefs, and i
	am sincerely grateful that you have taken the time to
	get them, but i hope you do understand that they are not
	valid for Homework #2.
	
	Why not?
	
	This is a course about magical practices that are part
	of African American culture, a culture that has been
	shaped by contact with Native American folkways and the
	folkways of other immigrant cultures (mostly European
	and Asian). In other words, this homework is not about
	skin colour, but about culture, and that is why i
	require you to learn a custom, belief, remedy, spell,
	or trick from a person who is African American, not a
	recent immigrant from Nigeria. There may be some
	similarities between the customs of a person born and
	raised in Lagos, Nigeria and someone born and raised in
	Birmingham, Alabama, but there are also major
	differences -- and no matter what the similarities are,
	we are not studying the folk magic of Nigeria here, but
	rather the folk magic of the Black American South.
	
	There are personal exceptions made to this rule -- i
	accepted homework from a student living in Africa whose
	"other culture" study involved a different tribal /
	language group in Africa, mostly because this was such
	a novelty to me that it won my heart -- but for the
	most part, the deal is this: For Homework #2, if you
	are *not* a Black American, you must interview a Black
	American, and if you *are* a Black American, you can
	interview anyone born and raised in the USA *other*
	than a Black American.


I am Black, and in doing Homework #2, i have a Danish
friend whom I want to interview. Is this acceptable?
How about my friend from Nigeria -- he's not a Black
American, but an African immigrant living in America --
can i interview him?
 
	Hoodoo is a melange of African core practices ornamented
	with practices incorporated from other cultures, so in
	order to familiarize my African American students with
	the beliefs found in the other cultures that have
	contributed to the development of hoodoo, i require
	that they work with a member of another race in the
	United States (e.g. European American, Asian American,
	Native American) -- and not with a native of another
	country (e.g, not a native of Denmark, India, Nigeria,
	or such).
	
	Again, the deal is this: For Homework #2, if you are
	*not* a Black American, you must interview a Black
	American, and if you *are* a Black American, you can
	interview anyone born and raised in the USA *other*
	than a Black American.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT HOMEWORK #3

No questions have been asked about this homework assignment yet.

	No reply is needed yet.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT HOMEWORK #4

I am scared / embarrassed to go to a graveyard. Can i substitute 
something else for this homework?

	Short answer: No.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT HOMEWORK #5

No questions have been asked about this homework assignment yet.

	No reply is needed yet.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT HOMEWORK #6

How should i dry the herbs to send you?

	You can use any of the common methods -- hanging them 
	upside down to air-dry, drying them over a heater or
	wrm stove area, using a food dehydrator, or plaing 
	them in an oven at very low heat. They must be 
	crumbly-dry and not mouldy when i open the packet
	or i will return them to you. 

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT HOMEWORK #7

Can i send you an oil i made with symbolism or herbal
ingredients derived from my research into Wiccan / 
Pagan / Norse / Hindu / Santeria / Voodoo / Muslim / 
Zoroastrian / Palo / Taoism / Confucianism / New Age 
religion or from my preferred non-hoodoo magical 
tradition such as Ceremonial Magick, Chaos Magick, or 
Lemurian Sorcery? Can i use as my research sources books 
on any of the above religions or traditions? 

	No. The oil must be made in the tradition of hoodoo, 
	and any attempt to send an oil based in another tradition
	or using symbolism derived from other traditions will be
	returned. The reason for this is that the oil is meant 
	as a test by which i can determine your understanding of 
	hoodoo, not your understanding of non-hoodoo religious 
	or magical traditions. 

Is it OK if we add ingredients that we consider
related to the purpose of the oil? For instance, I
added small pieces of quartz to a Vision type oil. I have
always associated quartz crystal with psychic abilities 
-- it seems to me almost like a lens to better understand 
the reality. So, would it be acceptable to add pieces of
quartz to a Vision oil for Homework #7?

	No. Semi-precious stones and crystal gems are not used 
	in hoodoo, so i would reject such an oil and send it 
	back. Please understand that i am not here to teach you 
	how to follow your own intuitive path, not here to teach
	you crystal magic, and not here to teach you gem stone
	magic. I am here to teach you rootwork. In order to get
	the certificate of completion, you have to show me that
	you know traditional hoodoo conjure practices.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT HOMEWORK #8

Can i turn in a used, discarded, or partially
disassembled mojo bag that i made for another
purpose but am finished with now?

	No, you cannot. The mojo hand that is made for 
	Homework #8 must be made new. I will not accept
	mojo bags from which personal concerns, herbs, 
	roots, minerals, or sewn-on charms have been 
	removed. I will not accept worn-out, used, dirty, 
	or tattered mojo bags from your past.

	Actually, it's kind of insulting to send me a
	used, discarded mojo bag. Please think of this 
	assignment as a project that will please
	and impress me -- not some old junk that
	you are sending to me rather than throw it
	away.

Can i have my mojo bag back after you look at it 
for the homework assignment?

	No, i keep all items turned in by students. They 
	will not be returned.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT HOMEWORK DEADLINES

You said in the course that there is no real homework 
deadline and that we have until you die to turn in our 
homework -- so why is there a deadline now?

	There is no deadline for turning in the homework;
	that remains open until my death. 

	However, there are deadlines for turning in homework if 
	you wish to participate in the hrcourse Yahoo group as
	an active student or matriculating student -- that is, 
	one who is seeking to graduate. 

	All students will be able to post messages in the hrcourse 
	Yahoo group for two years without turning in homework, 
	but after that time, they must either turn in homework 
	or make way for newly arrived students to post -- so 
	unless they turn in homework, they will be placed on
	non-matriculating, "inactive," and "read-only"
	status in the hrcourse group.

Why must i turn in some homework within two
years in order to retain my ability to post to the
hrcourse Yahoo group?  	

	It's a matter of "labour for labour," or a fair 
	exchange of time. 

	One student who turned in his homework told me
	that it cost him $20.00 worth of materials. Let's
	say that it also took 10 hours worth of his time to
	prepare the homework, and let's say that he might
	otherwise have been compensated for that time at
	the rate of $10.00 per hour. (A lowish figure, but
	fair to all, averaging out the wealthy with those
	who work for minimum wages.)

	If your costs were about like his, your total labour 
	and materials investment in the fulfilling of the 8
	homeworks would thus be $120.00. 

	Meanwhile, i spend at least 10 hours per week replying 
	to questions in the hrcourse Yahoo group. At the same 
	$10.00 per hour rate for my time in labour, that means 
	that i donate $100.00 worth of my labour per week to
	the students. About half the students who take the
	class are participating in the Yahoo group at any
	given time. With, say, 400 or so students in the
	group, each student gets a pro-rated $13.00 worth
	of my labour per year.

	At the end of two years, by which time i expect
	each student to have turned in just 2 pieces of
	homework or to go "inactive" on the Yahoo group,
	they will have had a pro-rated $26.00 worth of my
	labour. By the end of 10 years, when i expect them 
	to have turned in all 8 pieces of homework or to 
	go "inactive" on the hrcourse Yahoo group, each
	student will have had the pro-rated personal benefit 
	of $130.00 worth of my labour, neatly offsetting the 
 	$120.00 in time and labour they might have spent on 
	doing and turning in their homework, including materials 
	and labour.

	When they graduate, they will then get the benefit of
	$13.00 worth of my pro-rated labour FREE per year ...
	as long as i live. (Given my family's lifespans, 
	they might get up to 30 years' worth of posts, or a
	cumulative $390.00 value each, over the remainder of 
	my life.)

	"Labour for Labour" was the simple economic theory
	of Josiah Warren, and he has always been my
	guiding star in the world of commerce. (Look him
	up if you are unfamiliar with him.)

 Why do students who signed up in January of their year 
have more time to turn in homework than students who signed 
up in December?

	Students who fail to turn in two pieces of
	homework by the end of their second January
	after signing up for the Correspondence Course
	will be considered non-matriculating students
	and will be able to READ the Yahoo group
	postings but will not be able to post. If they
	turn in their homework, their ability to post
	will be restored and they will be able to
	graduate.

	The determination of inactivity is done on a
	yearly basis, and by invoice date, not by
	receipt of book. Those who sign up in any
	given January will therefore have 11 more
	months in which to complete two pieces of
	homework than will students who sign up in any
	given December, but regardless of the month of
	enrollment, each student is given more than
	one year to turn in their first two homework
	assignments, which is quite generous,
	considering that the course is only 52 weeks
	long and is designed to be fully completed --
	with all eight assignments submitted -- within
	one year.

	We also give all students three consecutive
	warnings of the due-date for cut-offs in the
	hrcourse Yahoo group, and list all potentially
	affected student ID #s in each warning post.

	Our reason for doing the student-pruning only once
	a year instead of daily, weekly, or monthly is tha
	we try to limit our paperwork, management time,
	and overall workload by spending one day per month
	on homework and one day per year on list
	management. 

What if i change my mind after a few years of being on 
"inactive" or non-matriculating status and want to regain 
my ability to post to the Yahoo group or even to graduate?

	To resume an interrupted matriculation:
	
	Students # 1 - 304 (2003) must turn in at least
	   2 assignments by January 1, 2005
	OR 3 assignments by January 1, 2006
	OR 4 assignments by January 1, 2007
	OR 5 assignments by January 1, 2008
	OR 6 assignments by January 1, 2009
	OR 7 assignments by January 1, 2010
	OR 8 assignments by January 1, 2011 or thereafter
	
	Students # 305 - 430 (2004) must turn in at least 
	   2 assignments by January 1, 2006
	OR 3 assignments by January 1, 2007
	OR 4 assignments by January 1, 2008
	OR 5 assignments by January 1, 2009
	OR 6 assignments by January 1, 2010
	OR 7 assignments by January 1, 2011
	OR 8 assignments by January 1, 2012 or thereafter
	
	Students # 431 - 689 (2005) must turn in at least 
	   2 assignments by January 1, 2007
	OR 3 assignments by January 1, 2008
	OR 4 assignments by January 1, 2009
	OR 5 assignments by January 1, 2010
	OR 6 assignments by January 1, 2011
	OR 7 assignments by January 1, 2012
	OR 8 assignments by January 1, 2013 or thereafter
	
	Students # 690 - 943 (2006) must turn in at least 
	   2 assignments by January 1, 2008
	OR 3 assignments by January 1, 2009
	OR 4 assignments by January 1, 2010
	OR 5 assignments by January 1, 2011
	OR 6 assignments by January 1, 2012
	OR 7 assignments by January 1, 2013
	OR 8 assignments by January 1, 2014 or thereafter
	
	Students # 944 - 1240 (2007) must turn in at least 
	   2 assignments by January 1, 2009
	OR 3 assignments by January 1, 2010
	OR 4 assignments by January 1, 2011
	OR 5 assignments by January 1, 2012
	OR 6 assignments by January 1, 2013
	OR 7 assignments by January 1, 2014
	OR 8 assignments by January 1, 2015 or thereafter
	
	Students # 1241 - 14xx (2008) must turn in at least 
	   2 assignments by January 1, 2010
	OR 3 assignments by January 1, 2011
	OR 4 assignments by January 1, 2012
	OR 5 assignments by January 1, 2013
	OR 6 assignments by January 1, 2014
	OR 7 assignments by January 1, 2015
	OR 8 assignments by January 1, 2016 or thereafter
	
	All it takes to become "active" again is turning
	in some homework. If you turn in the minimum
	amounts listed above, you would once again be in
	"active" status and could post to the Yahoo group.
	If you turned in all eight assignments, you would
	graduate, which includes permanent full membership
	in the Yahoo group. 

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT
NON-MATRICULATING STUDENTS
(GOING "INACTIVE" ON THE YAHOO GROUP)

If i don't intend to become a professional
rootworker and i don't want or need the
certificate of completion, why do you insist that
i do the homework or you will kick me out of the
Yahoo group?

	Doing the homework does not mean that i or anyone
	expects you to become a professional root worker. It
	just lets me know that you took the lessons seriously,
	tried out the instructions, and understood the
	message. 

	Also, i do not "kick out" anyone -- i will just
	turn them "inactive" in such a way that they can
	read all the messages but they can no longer post
	to the list. One reason for this is that there are
	folks on this list who want to answer questions
	for others, but they have never done their homework
	for me. Their replies may be interesting, but
	without having seen that homework from them, i
	have no way of knowing if they know what they are
	talking about -- and neither do those on the list
	who read their replies.

How do i know when my deadline is to turn in homework 
or go "inactive" on the hrcourse Yahoo group?

	These are the deadlines:
	
	Students # 1 - 304 (2003) must turn in at least
	   2 assignments by January 1, 2005
	OR 3 assignments by January 1, 2006
	OR 4 assignments by January 1, 2007
	OR 5 assignments by January 1, 2008
	OR 6 assignments by January 1, 2009
	OR 7 assignments by January 1, 2010
	OR 8 assignments by January 1, 2011 or thereafter
	
	Students # 305 - 430 (2004) must turn in at least 
	   2 assignments by January 1, 2006
	OR 3 assignments by January 1, 2007
	OR 4 assignments by January 1, 2008
	OR 5 assignments by January 1, 2009
	OR 6 assignments by January 1, 2010
	OR 7 assignments by January 1, 2011
	OR 8 assignments by January 1, 2012 or thereafter
	
	Students # 431 - 689 (2005) must turn in at least 
	   2 assignments by January 1, 2007
	OR 3 assignments by January 1, 2008
	OR 4 assignments by January 1, 2009
	OR 5 assignments by January 1, 2010
	OR 6 assignments by January 1, 2011
	OR 7 assignments by January 1, 2012
	OR 8 assignments by January 1, 2013 or thereafter
	
	Students # 690 - 943 (2006) must turn in at least 
	   2 assignments by January 1, 2008
	OR 3 assignments by January 1, 2009
	OR 4 assignments by January 1, 2010
	OR 5 assignments by January 1, 2011
	OR 6 assignments by January 1, 2012
	OR 7 assignments by January 1, 2013
	OR 8 assignments by January 1, 2014 or thereafter
	
	Students # 944 - 1240 (2007) must turn in at least 
	   2 assignments by January 1, 2009
	OR 3 assignments by January 1, 2010
	OR 4 assignments by January 1, 2011
	OR 5 assignments by January 1, 2012
	OR 6 assignments by January 1, 2013
	OR 7 assignments by January 1, 2014
	OR 8 assignments by January 1, 2015 or thereafter
	
	Students # 1241 - 14xx (2008) must turn in at least 
	   2 assignments by January 1, 2010
	OR 3 assignments by January 1, 2011
	OR 4 assignments by January 1, 2012
	OR 5 assignments by January 1, 2013
	OR 6 assignments by January 1, 2014
	OR 7 assignments by January 1, 2015
	OR 8 assignments by January 1, 2016 or thereafter
	
	All it takes to meet your deadlines is turning
	in the minimum listed above for your student ID#
	(course year) -- and then you would be in "active"
	status for another year.

Why do you force students to go "inactive" on the 
hrcourse Yahoo group if they don't turn in homework?

	With 1300 students enrolled as of May 2008, it's
	not in my own best interest to get personally hung
	up on those who drop out, lose interest, fade
	away, or change their minds. Distinguishing
	between those who intend to matriculate and those
	who do not, and placing the latter on "inactive"
	status with respect to the Yahoo group allows me
	to file them away where i don't have to wonder
	or worry about them ... and about my role with
	respect to them. (Did i displease them? Are they
	still interested? Was what i taught not easy
	enough to understand? Are they in trouble? Are
	they still alive?)

	I only have time to respond to about 5 - 10
	questions per day -- sometimes only 1 or 2 per day
	if the question requires a lengthy reply. In order
	to give my new students the benefit of studying
	with me (and there are new students, at the rate
	of 250 per year, a little over half of whom sign
	up for the Yahoo group) i have to make myself
	available to them and to their questions -- even
	if old students know the answers.

	In some cases, old students reply so well that i
	don't need to add much, if anything -- but in
	order for me to let those old students have a
	voice as teaching assistants (and believe me, i
	value their help!), i need to know that they are
	graduates of the course and are qualified to speak
	as such.

	Y'all don't see the many replies to student
	queries that i return to the sender rather than
	post because the replies are "not hoodoo" (that
	is, they come from another cultural tradition and
	don't mention hoodoo at all, even for the sake of
	comparison), or because they are just flat-out
	wrong as hoodoo, according to how i was taught it
	and how i teach it. In most cases, those rejected
	replies come from students who have not completed
	the course. They may be using this venue for social
	chat, or may have taken the course, decided to
	pursue other interests in magic but still like the
	company here, or they may not yet understand the
	nature of this list and sincerely think that it is
	a free-for-all bulletin board for the posting of
	spell-craft from all traditions.

	I want to make it clear that i am NOT insisting
	that folks either graduate or leave -- but i must
	acknowledge that i have time to moderate and edit
	up to 30 posts pr day, of which only 5 - 10 will get
	extended replies -- and the only posts i can put
	through unmoderated for sure, most of the time,
	are from graduates.

	I need a simple, valid, verifiable criterion for
	retaining graduates in the active list and
	passing most of their comments unmoderated so that
	i can then devote my time to replying to the
	questions posed by new students, who otherwise do
	not get the advantage of having the teacher's full
	attention.

I hate certificates and don't want one, but i also don't 
like the idea of going "inactive" on the hrcourse Yahoo 
group -- so what can i do?

	Turn in your homework and be listed as a graduate.
	If you don't want a certificate, tell me so and i 
	won't send you one. :-)

copyright © 1995-2003 catherine yronwode. All rights reserved. Send your comments to: cat yronwode.

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