The Hoodoo Heritage Festival

01/07/2026

Today we honor the birthday of Zora Neale Hurston (January 7), one of our most important cultural ancestors.

Zora Neale Hurston was not only a novelist , she was a trained anthropologist who documented Hoodoo as a living Black folk practice, rooted in survival, ancestral wisdom, and community knowledge. At a time when our traditions were mocked, criminalized, or erased, she preserved them with care, respect, and intention.

Her essay “Hoodoo in America” remains one of the most vital written records we have. It reminds us that Hoodoo is not aesthetic, trend, or fantasy, it is lineage, land, people, and practice.

On her birthday, I want to acknowledge how much her work continues to inform my own commitment to community education, cultural preservation, and honoring our spiritual elders properly.

✨ May we continue to study, protect, and pass down what she trusted us with.

Happy Birthday, Zora 🕯️🖤

01/07/2026

Happy Birthday Zora Neale Hurston. We remember and pay Homage to you!

Born in 1891, Zora Neale Hurston, author and anthropologist, is an inspiration for African Americans and those who wish to preserve African American culture through the lens of African Americans. Because of people like her, the unaltered stories of traditions and history of African Americans survived.

She is recognized for her contribution to the collection of slave narratives as a cultural anthropologist. She wore many hats and was also a part of the Slave Narrative Project of 1935-1936. She's also on record as one of the first African American videographers to record her research and capture it on film and in pictures. A trailblazer in research and vlogging, if you will.

Zora Neale Hurston was a cultural anthropologist I find inspiration in. Zora was hardcore and serious about her studies and research of African American culture. Zora, from the Southern United States, knew that a big part of African American culture is in religious and spiritual beliefs. So, she went through initiations within certain churches and temples to obtain the secrets of Hoodoo conjure. She explained that she was crowned with consecrated snakeskin, flowers, herbs, eggshells, and sycamore bark in these different initiations. These initiations took 7-9 days, depending on the temple. The crowning represented clean living, anointing, and power.

She participated in sacrificial ceremonies involving black sheep and other animals. See, that's the old-school Hoodoo back when animal sacrifices were done, and you've got to search far and wide to find a two-headed doctor that still does that nowadays. Sacred means to make holy. She learned how to work with fire "magick" (candles), incantations, work the Bible scriptures, and learned as much lore of African American culture as she could. Thanks to her contribution and hard work, she plays a big part in the preservation of the African American traditional way of life called Hoodoo.

01/07/2026

The Hoodoo Heritage Festival was created to honor Hoodoo as a living African American folk tradition rooted in history, survival, spirituality, music, and community knowledge. What began as a small, community-centered gathering has grown into a Black-led cultural festival grounded in lived practice, lineage, and cultural accountability.

Founded by Karii Jaye, the festival exists as a response to the growing misrepresentation, commercialization, and erasure of Hoodoo from its historical and cultural context. This space centers practitioners, artists, scholars, and community members coming together for education, performance, healing, and intergenerational exchange—on Hoodoo’s own terms.

Through workshops, panels, ritual spaces, live music, and a practitioner-centered community market, the Hoodoo Heritage Festival prioritizes ethical presentation, accessibility, and fair compensation while preserving the integrity of the tradition.

This work extends beyond a single event. The festival is part of a long-term vision to build sustainable cultural infrastructure in Tennessee through year-round education, preservation, and community engagement.

We invite you to learn with us, build with us, and honor Hoodoo as it has always existed—alive, accountable, and rooted in community.

🖤

01/02/2026

What Hoodoo Is and What It Is Not

As we begin this Monthly Hoodoo History series, it’s important to start with clarity.

Hoodoo is a Black American folk tradition, developed by enslaved Africans and their descendants in the United States as a means of survival, protection, healing, and resistance. It is rooted in land, ancestry, memory, and necessity, not trends, not aesthetics, and not fantasy.

Hoodoo is not a religion.

It does not have a single founder, holy book, or centralized church. It lives in kitchens, gardens, graveyards, back rooms, brush arbors, and family lines. It was practiced quietly because it had to be.

Hoodoo is not interchangeable with:

• Vodou / Voodoo

• African Traditional Religions

• The Black Spiritual Churches

• Modern spiritual “witchcraft”

While these traditions sometimes existed alongside one another and influenced each other culturally, they are not the same and should not be collapsed into one practice.

A major misconception is that Hoodoo is primarily about spells or products. Historically, it was about:

• Protecting oneself from violence and injustice

• Calling on ancestors for guidance and defense

• Healing when medical care was denied

• Maintaining spiritual autonomy under oppression

Before asking how to do Hoodoo, we must understand why it existed.

This Monthly Hoodoo History series is part of a larger effort to preserve Hoodoo as a Black American tradition through education, historical grounding, and ancestral accountability, not social media performance.

Reflection question:

What did Hoodoo protect our ancestors from and what might it be protecting us from today?

05/30/2025

✨ KEYNOTE PANEL ANNOUNCEMENT ✨
Join us for “Collective Consciousness: Leading with Spirit. Following with Wellness.” — a transformative keynote panel at the Hoodoo Heritage Festival, featuring the powerful insight of and facilitated by , COO of .nation.

This heart-centered conversation will explore what it means to live a holistically well life by balancing the ego and spirit. Come ready to receive wisdom, truth, and ancestral guidance.

🕘 9:00PM on the Main Stage
🎤 Don’t just witness it—be part of the dialogue.

05/29/2025

🔮 Workshop Spotlight #6: Unforgettable – S*x Magic & Pleasure Mapping

Step into your power and pleasure in this transformative workshop exploring the sacred art of s*x magic. Led with intention and rooted in ancestral wisdom, you’ll learn how to imprint energy, deepen connection, and craft intimate rituals that live beyond the moment by

This is about embodiment, intention, and claiming the fullness of your sensual self. You won’t want to miss it.

🎟️ Add-on ticket required — grown folks only.
*xMagic

05/28/2025

🕯️✨ Bring Your Offerings, Bring Your Heart ✨🕯️
Our sacred community altar returns—curated by . This is a space for ancestral reverence, collective healing, and spiritual connection.

💐 Bring photos, candles, flowers, herbs, or any offerings to honor your lineage.

🌹This year, we’ll hold a special tribute to Mama Lisa of Memphis Conjure —a beloved elder who is now an ancestor. She never missed a Hoodoo Festival in life, and her spirit will be with us still.

📍May 31 |

05/28/2025

🔮 Workshop Spotlight #5: Divination in Motion

What happens when tarot meets movement? In this embodied ritual led by , you’ll explore how divination and dance can unlock intuitive wisdom and creative expression.

Pull cards. Feel the message. Let your body speak.

No dance experience necessary — just bring your breath, your curiosity, and your spirit.

🎟️ Add-on ticket required. Open-level. All bodies welcome.

05/27/2025

🔮 Workshop Spotlight #4: Build Your Mojo

Join for a powerful, hands-on Mojo bag workshop at the Hoodoo Heritage Festival! Set your intention and craft your own spiritual tool rooted in Hoodoo tradition.

✨ Herbs will be available for purchase from
✨ Mojo bags + crystals will be available from

Come ready to build, bless, and elevate your energy.

🎟️ Add-on ticket required – limited space!

05/26/2025

🔮 Workshop Spotlight #3
Hoodoo Heritage & Daily Practices: Honoring the Ancestors 🕯️✨

Step into the living tradition of Hoodoo—a powerful path rooted in ancestral wisdom, spiritual resistance, and everyday magic. Led by Erica Williams of , this workshop offers both historical grounding and practical rituals to help you protect, heal, and connect with your lineage.

🗓️ May 31 | ⏰ 7:00 PM
📍 Hoodoo Heritage Festival – Nashville
🎟️ Add-on ticket required

05/23/2025

04/11/2025