I was reviewing one of my books, Magic & Medicine of Plants, to see if I could find any references to Hoodoo or Rootwork. The information I did find was (mis)labelled as Voodoo and Rootwork -- no Hoodoo mentioned, but it did reference the work of Hyatt. The particular book mentions a Hyatt informant who spoke of a footwash of running brier (greenbrier, possibly?) and pokeweed root to overcome a crossing. Has anyone run across anything similar? If so, do you know of any specific workings that call for footwashing?
Foot washing is quite a common practice in conjure, especially among members of the Spiritual Church Movement. It is described in the Hoodoo Rootwork Correspondence Course. We gave hands-on workshops on the techniques of footwashing at our annual May Church Convocation and Hoodooo Workshps in 2008 and 2009. We'll probably do so again at the annual workshops in 2010 as well, as it is an extremely popular topic and many professional root workers want a chance to practice their techniques and compare them to others.
My next order will surely include HHRM. One can never have too many herb/root reference books and the pages available for online reading are fascinating. I will have to look up the running brier as I have never heard of it -- it may not be indigenous to WV. I look forward to taking the course in the future.
I am eager to learn about this in the hoodoo tradition as I am assuming there are many varied types of footwashes I have never encountered or considered. I appreciate the time taken to answer this question and I can assure you I'll be back with more...so thanks in advance!
Addendum to post: found the plant, mimosa quadrivalvis ,on the USDA site -- nope, none for me here in WV! We do have some similar species, though...it would be interesting to learn if anyone has made use of them in the same way.
Thanks again, have a lovely evening.
I learned as a young teen about foot washing from my Aunt & Grand Mother. What I learned is that this is a tradition of honor & respect. When my Aunt gave a foot washing it was to help cleanse a person to help them. This is something that she always did before any conjure or healing on a person.
I have had this done to me a handful of times in my life and found it helped on many levels. To me this is an old method but a very effective and good method that many don't seem to use anymore. To bad because many will tell you it is a great thing when someone can help with a spiritual foot washing.
Be sure to check out Tanisia Mooney-Greer's article, "Spiritual Foot Washing" in the book "The Black Folder: Personal Communications on the Mastery of Hoodoo."
In addition, Khi Armand's article Hands-On Conjure for Cleansing and Blessing" in the same book contains a short section on foot-washing.
What you have available in WV is the same as I have here in NC, Mimosa microphylla. It works just fine as a substitute. In fact, given the geographic distribution, it's quite possibly the original and M. quadrivalvus is the substitute.