Folk belief with a background of African, Christian rites, Middle Eastern, Buddhist and indigenous influences involving religious activities of a priestess, priest, Oracle or practitioner of Divinations, characterized by spirit possession, sacrifices, sorcery or invoking intercessory means to affect the power of healing, death or nature. As rootlore, integrating elements of community and personal ritual practices by lay people for honoring ancestors and spirits in the privacy of one’s home to experience spiritual relationships.
Published in Chapter:
Healing Conflict With Grigri
Cedar Sarilo Leverett (Institute for Frontier Areas of Psychology and Mental Health, Freiburg, Germany)
Copyright: © 2021
|Pages: 21
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-7998-3665-0.ch002
Abstract
Hoodoo is an ethnomedical, natural healing method of magical rituals derived from West and Central African traditions, elements of Christianity, Native American folklore and African-American slavery. Rootlore applies herbs, roots, minerals, implements and animal part charms for ritual and personal use as intercessory curios that petition supernatural help and flaunt superstition. Grigri is a hoodoo object believed to protect the wearer from evil. Belief and protection associated with personal hoodoo may be appreciated with concepts in ritual healing, rootlore and meaningful experiences with respect to placebo effects. The study provides a narrative analysis of elements of ritual preparation of a chicken feet Grigri within a shared space with extended family members. In a personal account, a successful attempt of curing a conflict by unconventional means is reported. Ideas about extraordinary experiences outside traditional western medicine arise. Thoughts about the efficacy of taboo ritual material as complementary to western medicine speak to needing more innovative directions in psychotherapy.