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"Hoodoo Moma" by Luisah Teish

Wooden stairs scrubbed with red brick
Holy water sprinkled on the floor
St. Michael slays that old demon
behind the front door.
"Jesus, Mary, and Joseph" she cries,
"C'mon in here and sit down"
coffee is sipped from a demitasse cup
in my moma's part of town.
"Don't cross yo' legs at de table.
"Beware the cook dat don't eat.
"Mind ya' home training for company
"Don't dare sweep dat 'oman's feet!"
A frizzy is running outside
scratching up gri-gri. Rattlesnake skins
and mudbug fins 'round a blue plate of congris.
Back yonder in da burning barrel, there's
sulphur and rags aflame. Wrapped in red thread
up under it, nine times, she's writ somebody's name.
B'yond the fence, things a-growing: cow greens, milkweed, and
Devil's bread. Sunday mornin' she's stiff starched and
Catholic; altar night-white rag on her head.
Ask the woman where she's going, or dare to ask her
where she's been. You'll find blueing water
on ya doorstep, and ya breathin' dis-eased by the wind.
Being as how I'm her daughter, I dared to ask her one time
"Moma, you know about Hoodoo?"
"Child, ya must be outta ya mind.
Who don't hear death rattle, Or know howta talk wid a frog?
Common sense is what de Lawd give ya. There's prophecy in the
bark of a dog."

One of my favorite poems by one of the most influential writers in my life, Luisah Teish.

The Infamous Graveyard Dirt

Graveyard dirt has become a misunderstood and commercial curio. "Graveyard dirt" purchased from large supply shops could be nothing more than dirt scooped up from outside their back door or an herbal mix. There is no authenticity when the earth has no story or experience behind it.

The true way a hoodoo uses graveyard dirt is becoming lost as well. It is now often mistakenly written about as an evil ingredient, made to bend the will of others, which is incorrect. Graveyard dirt is an enhancer, a powerful gris gris to invoke the true strength of our workings. The intent is up to the investor. Nothing is inherently evil or good on it's own.

Methods by which one pays for graveyard dirt vary from worker to worker. One must get in touch with the grave's spirit and make a respectful request and offering before permission is granted to collect the earth. There are numerous details; whose grave, the kind of death they died, where the grave is located with respect to the cemetery gates, the age of the person who died or if it is a family, mother, brother, etc. Whether you dig from the head, the heart, or the feet, and what type of offering is left. May it be coins, rum, whiskey, tobacco or a combination. I often leave small toys for children and baby's graves, as I have two babies of my own. I find the dirt from children and baby's graves to be the most sweet, and energetic, and therefore, helpful.

The type of grave the dirt is collected from holds tremendous power and meaning, graves of families, children, babies, police officers, veterans, reverends, judges and so on. Different graves hold different power and a particular variety of graveyard dirt should be used to compliment particular spells. what kind of spell your workin' depends what type of dirt you'll use.

Example-Graveyard dirt from a judge is for legal proceedings and justice. From a police officer for protection and to right wrongs. From a baby for spells of sweetness, healing, and platonic love, from a family grave for familial matters, from the grave of someone who's been murdered for ememy and revenge work.

My dirts are all from the cemetery I live next to and are respectfullyand traditionally collected and communication established to ensure a good working dirt for you and your magical endeavors.