Ep. 30: What Does Magic Look Like in Everyday Life?

When I was a little girl, I was CONVINCED my magic was just around the corner. Like at any moment my hands were going to start sparkling, some unseen being was going to reveal itself to me, and I was going to discover that I had magical powers.

Turns out, magic was a part of the world, I just coulldn’t see it then.

This week, I’m thinking with Yvonne Chireau’s Black Magic about what magic actually looks like in everyday Black religious life. We get into the history of conjure + hoodoo, rootworkers, mojo bags, divination, healing and harming practices, and why the distinction between “magic” and “religion” has never mapped neatly onto Black religious history. Chireau’s work traces how conjure and Christianity have historically operated alongside and through one another, including as sources of protection and spiritual power.But we also get into the little things. The kinda things I talked to my students about this week. Don’t put your purse on the ground. Don’t let somebody sweep your feet. Honey on the tongue. Throwing salt when the vibes are off. All the things you might have heard growing up without ever thinking of them as having a relationship to conjure, hoodoo, or Black religious history.

And finally, I’m thinking about one of my favorite things magic gives us: a different way of imagining our relationships with higher powers. What if relationships with the unseen can also be collaborative, conspiratorial, and a way of asserting agency in a world where so much is outside of our control?Basically, lil Iman was right. The magic did come. I just didn’t know it would look the way it did.

Chapters

00:00 — Teaser: I Built an Altar in Elementary School 😭

00:38 — Finding Grounding: Feeling Hopeful About the World

03:54 — I Always Thought My Magic Was Coming

11:07 — What’s the Difference Between Magic and Religion?

23:55 — What Does Magic Look Like in Everyday Life?

30:09 — A Different Way to Think About Higher Powers

34:04 — The Magic Did ComeReferencesARC

References

Southeast: https://arc-southeast.org/

Chireau, Yvonne P. Black Magic: Religion and the African American Conjuring Tradition. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003.

Manigault-Bryant, LeRhonda S. Talking to the Dead: Religion, Music, and Lived Memory among Gullah/Geechee Women. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2014.

Greene-Hayes, Ahmad. "Hair, Roots, and Crystal Balls: Archival Viscerality, Black Conjuring Traditions, and the Study of American Religions." Journal of the American Academy of Religion 91, no. 4 (2023): 798-819.

Stewart, Lindsey. The Conjuring of America: Mojos, Mermaids, Medicine, and 400 Years of Black Women's Magic. Hachette UK, 2025.

Wells-Oghoghomeh, Alexis. The Souls of Womenfolk: The Religious Cultures of Enslaved Women in the Lower South. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2021.

Wells-Oghoghomeh, Alexis. "Engendering Slave Religion: Methodology Beyond the Invisible Institution." Journal of the American Academy of Religion 90, no. 3 (2022): 579-598.

Pop culture: Monaleo, “Sexy Soulaan”; Sinners (2025).