Nov 17, 2021 - HooDoo Tarot Card Deck and Book for Rootwork Arrives - First Ancestor Spread

I ordered my HooDoo Tarot Deck and Book for Rootworkers a week ago last Sunday. It arrived today, just in time to begin the recommended homework.

Between yesterday's class and today's mail arriving I found a YouTube video of Tayannah Lee McQuillar talking about the construction of the deck and the Elders selected. A story she recounted was Miss Robinson, who represented the power the Devil card plays in other tarot decks. Miss Robinson was McQuillar's real life cousin whose story she heard through McQuillar's grandmother  (6:30 in the video)

Once again the "something is happening but I don't know what it is" feeling I had last night came back. I remembered the card might mean "stop what you are doing" but I really didn't have anything to stop besides watching the YouTube video, which I did.  

I wasn't sure how much of this two week story to go into with my wife but she was curious about the cards and deck. She is also great at following instructions so after she shuffled and I shuffled she guided me through my first "See Bout Your Folks" Ancestor Spread Tarot Reading.

As you can probably imagine, I barely knew how to react to the first card. It appears Miss Robinson has something to say. The entire spread was:

1. Miss Robinson       

2. Gullah Jack XII

3, Seven of Sticks

4 Four of Knives

5. Two of Coins

6. Mother of Sticks

7 Two of Baskets

8 Daughter of Knives

9 Ten of Knives

Perhaps I must examine the perspective with which I am coming into the HooDoo rootwork. My encounters with the Miss Robinson story may be dramatizing what I should confront. This is a deck not only to do ancestor work but is primarily a tool with deep connections for the African diaspora. How do I best accompany a beloved community to "midwife the new dawn" in how I approach HooDoo?

When I hear the story of Miss Robinson I sense this is a story about how powerful rootwork is and that in Miss Robinson's mind there was an equivalence is drawn between Miss Robinson losing the rootwork that she loved and Mrs, Patrick's love for her nine-year old son. The book points out that evil is a point of view. Does this story make Miss Robinson a devil for the actions that are implied? Did Mrs. Patrick simply get what was coming to her or is there ambivalence built into the story?

Babá spoke of how important it is to belong to a community to midwife the new dawn. How does rootwork achieve this when HooDoo seems much more focused on what I will call "this world" needs? And how do I, as someone who benefits from "this world" privileges, do the powerful accompanying rootwork that I see needs to be done?

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