Cooking Your Mojo

Old John-Bear with two of my Master Candles

"Mojo" is a funny word. It probably comes from a West African word mojuba, which means "charm" but its use in Southern culture - influenced by its use in conjure, of course - has transformed. You can get an idea of what mojo means by its various uses. From advertising of conjure curios to blues lyrics, it has come to mean an awful lot of things: sexual potency, skill, luck, self-esteem, confidence.

One old rootworker lady I used to know used it in a way that I've since fallen in love with. It took me a long time to figure out what she meant by the term "mojo." She used it to describe the essential traits of not just people, but animals, things and places too. If she were a neo-pagan, she might have used the term "energy," but that phrase doesn't quite encompass it.

When it came to conjure, though, it is all about the mojo. The rootworker has mojo that she lends to the work she's doing. Some rootworkers don't need a whole lot more than their own mojo, laying on hands, using breath and spittle and prayer.