A couple of months ago I got into a little debate with a self-described witch who claimed that it was okay to remove the bible from hoodoo because not every work uses it. Let me clear this up. It's true that not every work includes the bible. This said, one cannot entirely remove the bible from hoodoo. For example, one cannot substitute a Wiccan prayer for Psalm 23. One cannot substitute, "the maiden, mother, and crone" for "the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit". I've actually found a woman online teaching people to do that and it is completely wrong! Hoodoo is not a "anything goes" tradition. All I can say is that if you think you can just come into hoodoo/rootwork/conjure, and start making all these changes, start throwing out stuff that is at the core of the practice, such as working with the bible, then hoodoo is not for you and you need to leave it alone. Go find something else.
Also, let me confess that when I was a new worker, and even occasionally now, I would tell people to pray a certain Psalm or bible passage, OR pray something in their own words. When I mentioned it to an old school worker I was told that if I didn't clarify it that the people would begin to think they can pray to whatever deity or even demon they want and still believe it's hoodoo. So I got chastised not to simply tell them "prayer a prayer in your own words" unless I clarify that what is meant is a Christian prayer to God.
Read my words closely. Not a single old-school black worker, not a single old-school white worker, and not a single old-school Indian worker accepts witches or teaches that it's okay to remove the bible. Instead, this is being taught by people with no family history of the practice, who learn mostly from books, and who are motivated by money and profit. They teach what people want to hear instead of the actual truth of the tradition. If you have a problem with using the bible, of praying to the Christian God, then hoodoo is not for you.
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