Education

The Practice of a Hoodoo Baptist

The Practice of a Hoodoo Baptist is a storytelling podcast rooted in the sacred traditions of Black Southern spirituality. Hosted by Chelsea VonChaz—doula, philanthropist, and Southern-born truth-teller—this series blends testimony, conjure, ancestral wisdom, and church girl grit.

“This podcast is a living, spoken reflection of my spiritual path — an inheritance of Hoodoo passed down from my great-grandmothers who worked the roots in silence. These recordings reflect my practice, which lives at the intersection of healing, storytelling, and honoring those who came before me. This isn’t instruction. It’s remembrance. It’s testimony. This is my practice.”

www.chelseavonchaz.com

Latest Episodes:

Divination for Liberation: Prophecy as a political act in Black resistance Aug 22, 2025

Show notes

Growing up, many of us were told prophecy belonged to the Bible, to men in pulpits, or to faraway “chosen ones.” But what if I told you prophecy has always lived in us—passed through the mouths of grandmothers, whispered in dreams, traced in the stars, shuffled in tarot decks, and carried in our bones?

This week on The Practice of a Hoodoo Baptist, I’m sitting down with Dayna Lynn Nuckolls—The People’s Oracle—to talk about prophecy not just as spiritual guidance, but as political fire. Dayna calls her work Divination for Liberation, skillfully using sidereal astrology, tarot, dream interpretation, and intuitive guidance in service of Black resistance.

In this enlightening conversation, we explore the intersections of hoodoo, divination, and spirituality, emphasizing the importance of these practices in navigating oppression and fostering liberation. We also discuss the current cultural perceptions of astrology, the political implications of divination, and the necessity of reconnecting with ancestral wisdom.

Together we ask:

* What does it mean to reclaim prophecy as part of our survival toolkit?

* How have colonization and Christianity sought to sever us from our oracular inheritance?

* Can divination help us build a future that’s freer than our past?

Dayna reminds us that prophecy isn’t just prediction—it’s direction. It’s the courage to say the truth even when the world isn’t ready to hear it.

✨ Tune in to this conversation if you’ve ever wondered how spirit meets struggle, how dreams can be maps, and how divination can become a weapon for liberation.

Because sometimes survival is political. And sometimes, prophecy is too.

For more information on Dayna’s services and products, you can contact her here. Also check out her own podcast, Divination for Liberation.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.chelseavonchaz.com/subscribe

We Been Belonging — Black Creeks & the Right to Remember Aug 15, 2025

Show notes

I identify as Afro Indigenous. Specifically I am a Black Creek.

My Great Grandmother, Claretha Williams-Lynum taught me that I’m a child of the Natives of this land as well as Africa, and that being both made me unique, and it was nothing to be ashamed of.

After 46 years of exclusion, the Muscogee Nation’s Supreme Court ruled that Black Creeks are citizens. Descendants of Creek freedmen, like myself can now apply for tribal citizenship.My ancestors are rejoicing with me.

This successful win for tribal recognition is something my Creek elders dreamed about. It’s my duty as a descendant to reclaim ALL that was denied.

This isn’t just about paperwork.

It’s about legacy. It’s about land. It’s about spiritual justice.

Covered by spirit. Guided by blood.

🎙 Listen to this full reflection now on The Practice of a Hoodoo Baptist.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.chelseavonchaz.com/subscribe

Haint Stories and Holy Ghosts: When the Spirit World Comes Knocking. Aug 08, 2025

Show notes

In this soul-stirring episode of The Practice of a Hoodoo Baptist, spiritual activist and land steward Kat Niambi (aka The Hungry Medium) takes us to the edge of the seen and unseen.

We talk haints, holy ghosts, and the spirits that show up when the veil thins—and how Black folks have always known the difference between a haunting and a homecoming.

In this episode:

— Growing up with spirits: Kat’s earliest haint encounters

— How land carries memory, grief, and ancestral presence

— Spiritual boundaries: when to welcome the dead, and when to set boundaries

— Making space for the sacred through farming, ritual, and reverence

You can support and connect with Kat Niambi aka The Hungry Medium directly by checking out Middleton-Cooke Farms.

If your grandmother ever told you not to sweep after dark—or you’ve ever felt a chill with no wind—this one’s for you.

Listen to full episodes of The Practice of a Hoodoo Baptist wherever you get your podcasts. Support my Youtube channel as well!

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.chelseavonchaz.com/subscribe

When the Tongue is a Wand: The role of writing and prayer in survival Aug 02, 2025

Show notes

Growing up in the Yoruba tradition, Dr. Ayoka Wiles learned early that words are never just words—they’re power, protection, and prophecy.

Dr. Ayoka Wiles is a scholar, spiritual practitioner, and author of I Hear Olofi’s Song: A Collection of Yoruba Spiritual Prayers for Egun and Orisa—a heart-deep offering of ancestral prayers. With a PhD in Public Policy and two decades in nonprofit and arts leadership, she amplifies the voices of Black women through writing and prayer as survival and liberation tools.

In this episode, she joins The Practice of a Hoodoo Baptist to share how writing and prayer became her tools for survival, her connection to spirit, and her act of resistance.

Growing up in the Yoruba tradition, Dr. Wiles shares her story of how language, ritual, and ancestral connection shaped her journey through academia, activism, and spiritual life.

We talk:

— How prayer functions as spiritual technology

— Writing as a ritual of protection and prophecy

— The power of Black women’s tongues to shift reality

— Why silence is sometimes a spell—and sometimes a wound

If you’ve ever used your voice to heal, this one’s for you.

Be sure to check out Dr. Wiles’ book, I Hear Olofi’s Song: A collection of Yoruba Spiritual Prayers for Egun and Orisa. Available to purchase here.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.chelseavonchaz.com/subscribe

You Can’t Practice What You Don’t Live Jul 25, 2025

Show notes

Rootwork is not a costume. It’s not a candle collection. It’s not a feed full of rituals you don’t actually follow. You can’t practice what you don’t live. And you shouldn’t.

Because Hoodoo isn’t about looking powerful — it’s about being in alignment.

I don’t do this for aesthetics. I do this because my spirit needs covering. Because my ancestors walk with me. Because my great-grandmother, Ma’dear, taught my Mother about discernment.

My practice lives in how I move. How I make decisions. How I say no. How I protect my peace and call in support.

A clean altar means nothing if your spirit is messy. A prayer means nothing if your actions cancel it. A spell won’t stick if your mouth is reckless and your boundaries are weak. Living the practice is the power.

I wake up and cleanse because I need to be clear. I pour into others as a doula, so I pour back into myself as a spiritual being. I don’t wait until something breaks to check my alignment. This is daily. This is real. This is mine.

If you’re just beginning your journey — move slowly. Let your practice grow through your choices, not just your rituals. Live the work before you speak on it.

And trust: Spirit will always meet you where you’re real.

Covered by spirit. Guided by blood.

🎙 Listen to this full reflection now on The Practice of a Hoodoo Baptist.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.chelseavonchaz.com/subscribe

Black Girls and the Bible Belt. Jul 18, 2025

Show notes

I was raised in the church. Not just on Sundays — but in the culture.

In the clothes. In the fear. In the expectations stitched into every sermon and skirt hem. Black girls raised in the Bible Belt know what it means to carry shame before we even understand our own bodies.

We were taught to be nice — not discerning. To be obedient — not intuitive. To be godly — but never powerful.

The rules were loud: Don’t feel too much.Don’t ask too many questions. Don’t trust your gut. Don’t ever speak spirit unless it comes from the pulpit.

But what if your calling doesn’t entail wearing white on first Sundays? What if your altar has herbs instead of hymnals?

They taught us to fear ourselves. Our menstruation, emotions, desires, and visions. And yet — even with all the shame and surveillance — the Spirit still found a way to speak.

Hoodoo gave me back my voice. My body. My rhythm. My right to pray in a way that didn’t require permission. And the truth is — I still carry Baptist love in my heart. But now, I carry myself too.

If you were told you were “too much” to be holy, or “not enough” to be loved, or “too worldly” to be safe — let this be your reminder:

You are divine. You are whole. You are not confused — you are becoming.

Covered by spirit. Guided by blood.

🎙 Listen to this full reflection now on The Practice of a Hoodoo Baptist.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.chelseavonchaz.com/subscribe

Spiritual Baths, Cleansing, and Everyday Protection. Jul 11, 2025

Show notes

Protection is a practice.

Not every spell starts with a flame. Before I speak, I honor the ones who spoke before me.Before I write, I call on the ones who wrote in spirit.May these words carry their wisdom, their warnings, their protection.May what needs to be heard, be heard.May what needs to be held, be held.

Not every spell starts with a flame. Sometimes it starts with a bath. With salt, with prayer, with intention poured into water. Protection doesn’t begin when danger shows up — it begins with preparation.

Spiritual hygiene is spiritual protection. And for me, that work happens daily. Hoodoo lives in the everyday.

The small, consistent ways I keep my spirit clean, my space covered, and my energy clear — that’s rootwork.

Spiritual hygiene is spiritual protection! Cleansing keeps you aligned and less vulnerable to spiritual debris. In this episode I share how I cleanse with certain herbs and products that you could get from a local botanica or apothecary.

Do you ever take spiritual baths? Think of baths as cleansing, releasing, and resetting for your mind, your chakras, or energetic build.

* I use:

* Florida Water

* Sea salt or Epsom salt

* Herbs (like rosemary, hyssop, lavender, or basil)

* Oils

* Psalms or spoken prayer

Cleansing your space is necessary! Whether your home, personal workspace, business, it deserves cleanliness and protection. This also requires some discernment, because not everyone should be in your space… especially your home!

I also cleanse my space.I mop with intention. I open windows and play music that makes Spirit feel welcome. Sometimes gospel. Sometimes jazz. Sometimes silence.

* I use:

* Floor washes — cleansing the home physically and spiritually

* Lighting candles or incense to shift energy

* Opening windows to move stagnant energy out

* Playing blues, jazz, gospel, or spiritual music to shift the atmosphere

Before I leave the house, I anoint myself with oil. I pray over my work. I call on my ancestors to walk with me — especially when I’m showing up for others as a doula or healer. This isn’t performance. It’s maintenance. It’s what keeps me clear, calm, and covered.

Don't wait for something to happen to practice protection. Consider building up new routines that keep you spiritually covered. I wear white a lot. I wear white to bed, when I go in hospitals, and of course when I’m attending traditional gatherings.

You don’t need to be in crisis to protect yourself. You don’t have to wait to be thrown off before you reset. You can build a practice that holds you — even when life shakes. Your peace is sacred. Your energy is worth tending to. And your spirit deserves to be kept.

Covered by spirit. Guided by blood.

🎙 Listen to this full reflection now on The Practice of a Hoodoo Baptist.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.chelseavonchaz.com/subscribe

What Makes a Hoodoo Baptist? Jul 04, 2025

Show notes

Before I ever called it hoodoo, I called it faith.

Before I knew it was conjure, I knew it was prayer.

Before I had words for it, I had my granny’s hands, my mama’s oil, and a God who never needed a building to show up.

Before I learned rootwork, I watched my grandma rub oil on our foreheads and sing the blood of Jesus into our skin.

This ain’t new. It’s remembered.

In this episode of The Practice of a Hoodoo Baptist I’m sharing the beginning of the walk in faith. My walk in faith.

I’m talking about how I was raised in the church, what I carried with me, and what I had to reclaim. How I found myself somewhere between holy water and river water. Between scripture and rootwork. Between what was handed down and what was hidden in plain sight.

I talk about growing up in church pews, hearing spirits in dreams, and eventually learning that the two weren’t separate. That the oil, the shouting, the prayers, the herbs—all of it lived inside me long before I had language for it.

In this episode, I unpack how I became who I am: a daughter of the South, a doula, a conjure woman, and yes—a Hoodoo Baptist.

Being a Hoodoo Baptist ain’t about choosing sides. It’s about remembering both. Holding both. Letting both make you whole.

I invite you to listen with reverence, and with your own memories close by.

🎧 In this episode:

* I share how growing up Baptist shaped my spirit

* How rootwork and ritual found me before I ever named them

* Why I stopped splitting myself to be palatable

* And how being a Hoodoo Baptist is a practice, not a title

💭 Reflection Prompt:

* Who gave you your first lesson in faith or protection? Who taught you how to pray?

* What spiritual practices shaped you before you had the words?

* What have you always known—but only recently named?

The Anointed Few

If this episode resonates, share it with someone who’s walking their own path between tradition and truth.

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Support keeps the porch light on, the mic hot, and open access to more resources for your knowledge and practice.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.chelseavonchaz.com/subscribe

Ancestors Speak — Dreams, Signs, and Spiritual Visitations Jul 01, 2025

Show notes

In this very special episode, I’m joined by my partner, Nore Davis. Grief can be hard, especially when you experience multiples losses in a short period of time. Nore shares how he navigates grief through his new understanding of ancestral veneration.

The ancestors don’t stop speaking just because they’ve crossed over. If anything — they finally have room to speak louder. Through dreams, signs, and sudden knowing.

Please understand, I don’t worship my ancestors. I honor them. I stay in relationship with them. And they stay in relationship with me.

The ways they speak:

* In dreams that carry their faces or their voices.

* In repeating signs — animals, numbers, words that come like echoes.

* In gut instincts that hit like truth before my mind can even catch up.

* In confirmations — sometimes through strangers who don’t even know they’re being used.

My great-grandmother Madear has visited me in dreams. She shows up for me and other family members when we need her. Also I think she does it when we need to remember our own strength. Sometimes to warn, sometimes to guide. Her presence feels like clarity — not fear. The world would call these coincidences. I call them conversations.

Because our ancestors were silenced for so long, many of us were taught to ignore these moments. We were told they were “bad” or “spooky.” But they are sacred. We are the first generation with permission to speak what they had to whisper.

If you feel your people speaking — trust it.

* Build your altar.

* Call their names.

* Listen for the quiet ways they show up.

* You don’t have to force it.

* You don’t have to explain it.

The relationship continues.

Covered by spirit, guided by blood.

🎙 Listen to this full reflection now on The Practice of a Hoodoo Baptist.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.chelseavonchaz.com/subscribe

The Work of the Doula Is Rootwork Too! Jun 27, 2025

Show notes

I’ve been a full spectrum doula for over a year now. I’ve been a doula concentrating on menstruation since the inception of my charity’s programming. Every time I show up as a doula, I’m practicing rootwork. I’m not just holding space for periods, fertility, or birth — I’m standing at a spiritual threshold.

The womb has been undervalued and underestimated for too long. Where new life enters. Where blood moves. Where ancestors whisper. Where protection is required. The womb holds more than life. It holds memory. It holds spirit. It holds every woman who came before. As a doula, my practice is never just physical — it’s spiritual labor.

Before I enter a birth space, I cover myself.

* I pray.

* I anoint my hands.

* I cleanse my spirit.

* I call on my great-grandmothers, on my ancestors, to walk with me.

The hospitals may not see them — but they’re standing right beside me. Black women have always done this work. We were the midwives, the birthworkers, the root women who delivered babies while holding both physical and spiritual knowledge.

Granny midwives or lay midwives, were Black and Indigenous women primarily living in the antebellum south, that delivered babies and took care of mothers. I’d like to honor some historical figures that paved the way and dedicated their lives to their communities.

Ancestor Honorings

* Onnie Lee Logan (1910-1995)

* Margaret Charles Smith (1906-2004)

* Biddy Mason (1818-1891)

* Mary Coley (1900-1966)

* Gladys Milton (1924 – 1999)

* Maude Callen (1898-1990)

Hoodoo isn’t separate from my doula work, it is my doula work.

Every time I light a candle. Every time I prepare an herbal bath. Every time I protect a mother and child with prayer — I am practicing the work passed down in my blood. Shoutout to all of the Black, Indigenous, and Latina doulas and midwives out there. You don’t have to compartmentalize your gift. You don’t have to separate your calling from your culture. Your work is already your rootwork.

Covered by spirit, guided by blood.

🎙 Listen to this full reflection now on The Practice of a Hoodoo Baptist.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.chelseavonchaz.com/subscribe