Mojo Bags
So what is a mojo bag? It is, in short, the staple amulet of African-American hoodoo practice, a flannel bag containing one or more magical items. The word is thought by some to be a corruption of the English word "magic" but it more likely is related to the West African word "mojuba," meaning a prayer of praise and homage. It is a "prayer in a bag" -- a spell you can carry.
Alternaive American names for the mojo bag include hand, mojo hand, conjure hand, lucky hand, conjure bag, trick bag, root bag, toby, jomo, and gris-gris bag. In the Memphis region, a special kind of mojo, worn only by women, is called a nation sack. A mojo used for divination, somehwat like a pendulum, is called a Jack, Jack bag, or Jack ball.
The word "gris-gris" looks French (and in French it would mean "grey-grey"), but it is simply a Frenchified spelling of the Central African word gree-gree (also sometimes seplled gri-gri). Gree-gree means "fetish" or "charm," thus a gris-gris or gree-gree bag is a charm bag. In the Caribbean, an almost-identical African-derived bag is called a wanga or oanga bag, from the African word wanga, which also means "charm" or "spell" -- but that word is uncommon in the USA.
The word "conjure" -- as in "conjure work" (casting spells) and "conjure woman" (a female herbalist-magician) -- is an old alternative to "hoodoo," thus a conjure hand is a hoodoo bag, one made by a conjure doctor or two-headed doctor. Likewise, the word trick derives from an African-American term for spell-casting -- "laying tricks" -- so a trick bag is a a bag that contains a spell. Similarly, "wanga" is a West African word meaning a spell, hence a wanga bag is a bag containing a spell.
The word "hand" in this context means a combination of ingredients. The term may derive from the use of finger and hand bones of the dead in mojo bags made for various purposes, from the use of a rare orchid root called Lucky Hand root as an ingredient in mojo bags for gamblers, or by an analogy between the mixed ingredients in the bag and the several cards that make up a "hand" in card games.
Although most "Southern Style" conjure bags are made of red flannel, some root doctors favour the colour-symbolism employed in hoodoo style candle-burning magic and thus use green flannel for a money mojo, white flannel for a baby-blessing mojo, red flannel for a love mojo, pale blue flannel for a peaceful home mojo, and so forth. Leather bags are also seen, but far less frequently than flannel; they are associated with West Indian obeah, another form of folk magic closely related to African-American hoodoo.
Mojos made for an individual are usually carried on the person, always out of sight. They are very rarely worn on a string around the neck, fairly commonly pinned inside a woman's brassiere, and much more commonly pinned to the clothes below the waist or caried in a pants pocket. Those who make conjure bags to carry as love spells sometimes specify that the mojo be worn next to the skin. Mojos intended to purify or protect a location are generally placed near the door, hidden in such a way that they cannot be seen by strangers.
And what is contained in the mojo hand? Well, that varies a lot, based on what the wearer hopes to accomplish by carrying the amulet and what the maker finds effective or customary to use in preparing it. A mojo carried for love-drawing will contain different ingredients than one for gambling luck or magical protection. Generally there are at least three items in a simple hand, and many root doctors try to ensure that the total number of ingredients comes to an odd number -- 3, 5, 7, 9, or 13 -- although sometimes mixed herbs are counted as one item.
Once prepared or "fixed," the mojo is "dressed" or "fed" with a liquid of some kind. It may also be "smoked" in incense fumes or the smoke from a candle, or breathed upon to bring it to life.
The most common liquids used to feed a hand are alcohol, such as whiskey; a perfume, such as Hoyt's Cologne or Florida Water; bodily fluids, such as spit or urine (or sexual fluids for a love-drawing hand); or with a specially-prepared condition oil. The bag is not generally soaked through, but simply dabbed with the liquid, although some old-time poker players i knew during in my youth, during the 1960s, used to say that to get a gambling hand to really work for you, you had to have your lover pee all over it out in the alley between rounds of play.
Here are a few representative mojo hand combinations, to which it would be customary to add a name-paper or wish-paper signifying the person for whom the work is being done:
To draw money:
A silver "Mercury" dime, a pinch of sugar, a lodestone, and a John the Conqueror root wrapped up in a $2.00 bill, fixed in a green flannel bag with a metal money bag charm and dressed with Van Van Oil.
To attract love:
A matched pair of lodestones covered with magnetic sand -- or the less traditional but equally effective pair of Magnetic Scotty Dogs -- fixed in a red flannel bag and dressed with red Fast Luck Oil or Love Me Oil. (For a variant of this conjure bag, created by a couple to preserve faithful love during absences, see the page of Love Spells.)
"Ole' Conjure Man's" Hand for luck and protection:
The advertisement shown above depicts a popular mojo bag consisting of two lodestones and two horseshoe nails in a red flannel bag that was sold nationally during the early 1930s by King Novelty Company (the occult supply branch of Famous Products, about which see below). The text reads in part: "An old Conjure Man or Trick Doctor of the South used this Curio Charm consisting of a Red Flannel Bag filled with Lodestone, Nails, and Hair. This has been claimed to ward off the Devil, to be a Good Luck Charm against HANDICAPPING and to PROTECT against other 'HANDS.' PROTECT aginst other 'HANDS' means, we believe, to ward off evil intended by someone else..." In place of the owner's hair, the use of this mojo for magical protection against witchcraft would also rendered quite powrful by the inclusion of a pinch of salt, which has a long history in this regard.
To remove a jinx, stop crossed conditions, or drive away evil:
A broken length of chain; a broken ring; a rat bone or toy plastic rat; a catseye shell; a miniature metal, bone, or plastic skull; a pinch of five finger grass; and a miniature dagger; fixed in a red flannel bag and dressed with Stop Evil Condition Oil, Jinx Removing Oil, or Uncrossing Oil.
For luck in gambling:
A Lucky Hand root, a pinch of five-finger grass, a miniature pair of dice, and a John the Conqueror root, fixed in a red flannel bag and anointed with red Fast Luck Oil or with the urine of your lover. An added dried bat heart and an alligator tooth or badger tooth is good here too, as are a rabbit foot or alligator foot.
For the return of an estranged lover:
A black cat bone wrapped in cotton wool, fixed in a red flannel bag and dressed with Follow Me Boy Oil or Reconciliation Oil.
For peace in the home:
An Angelica root, a hair-charm made of family members' hair, a metal dove-with-olive-branch charm, balm of Gilead buds, flax seeds, rosebuds, lavender flowers, and basil leaves, fixed in a pale blue flannel bag and dressed with Peaceful Home Oil.
For a wish to come true:
Seven wishing beans, a rabbit foot, and a piece of parchment upon which the wish has been written in Dragon's Blood ink (or other red ink), fixed in a red flannel bag and anointed with Van Van Oil. Some people write a different wish for each bean, seven wishes in total.
"Root Doctors' Hand" for good luck:
Another combination sold during the 1930s by King Novelty is shown in the above advertisement. It contained Sampson's snake roots, devil's shoestring roots, a piece of brimstone (sulphur), and a magnetic lodestone in a red flannel bag. As a bonus, the buyer received a good luck ring bearing the image of a horseshoe and a four-leaf clover, plus a copy of the then-popular "Witch's Dream Book," one of a number of similar dream books used by players to predict lucky numbers when betting on illegal lottery games such as policy. The text reads in part: "A HAND made by an old-time Conjure Man contained the following: One piece of Sampson Snake Root and a piece of 'Devil's Shoe Strings.' This was wrapped in a piece of Black Cloth folded always toward the maker and sewed with White Thread and then incased in a Red Flannel Bag. The Conjure Man said that the whole should be thoroughly wet with Whiskey or Camphor [camphorated oil] at regular intervals and should always be carried with you. It was said that such a Bag brings things to you and the twine-like roots of "Devil's Shoe Strings" ties them close and the folding of the cover towards you brings you GOOD LUCK in Gambling..."
For steady work:
A John the Conqueror root, a metal clock charm, devil's shoestring roots, gravel root, salt, and pyrite crystals, fixed in a green flannel bag and dressed with Steady Work Oil. A simpler version, employed by day laborours, consists of carrying salt and gravel root in one's pocket. A bit of the mixture is sprinkled inconspicuously where the hiring boss will step in it.
To keep a man at home:
A detailed desription of this form of woman's mojo hand appears in the page on nation sacks.
In addition to the ingredients named above, the objects most commonly found in mojo bags are roots and herbs, plus a variety of animal parts such as dyed feathers -- green for money, red for love, orange for anger, blue for spiritual peace -- rattlesnake rattles, dried frogs, swallow hearts, and bat wings. (Modern urban practitioners may substitute a toy plastic bat for the latter). Coins, metal lucky charms, crystals, good luck tokens, carved stones, and written papers may also be added for extra power. Finally, some root workers top off their mojo bags with parch
