Magic with Thee Mystique ✨

Peace & Love,

My name is Samira, and I go by The Mystique Yogi on all my platforms. I teach embodiment through yoga and dance, helping people reconnect with themselves and view the body as sacred.

My work is rooted in Tantra; a belief that the body holds wisdom. A lot of teachings outside of Tantra teach you to ascend, but Tantra asks you how you can integrate these higher levels of learning into your everyday life.

Recently, I had the opportunity to be on the Fire Risings podcast where we talked about spirituality, Hoodoo, honey jars, witchcraft, and so much more.

This was my first podcast, and I had SO much energy. 😂 I was excited, stimulated, and honestly, at one point everything just went blank. There were so many things I wanted to say and topics I wanted to go deeper into, but I couldn't get everything out in the moment.

After rewatching the conversation, I realized I had so much more I wanted to say.

So instead of trying to fit everything into one podcast conversation, I felt inspired to make this blog post.

This is the conversation I wish I could have had in the moment.

What Got Me Into My Spiritual Journey?

I have always felt like I have been on this journey forever.

I can remember being connected to the ocean, loving mermaids, dolphins, whales, and anything supernatural. There was even a time where I tried to do a mermaid ritual, and that's when I knew this life chose me. LOL.

However…

I come from a Baptist Christian and science-based background, so we weren't really strict Christians, and I am grateful for that. My mom has always been free-spirited and allowed me to explore.

I feel like there are times where we go through multiple spiritual awakenings.

As I got older, I remember talking to my older cousins about conspiracies and the Illuminati, everyone has this phase LOL and just being intrigued by the unknown, the secrets of the universe, and the things we don't necessarily have answers to.

At the time, I still identified as Christian, but I remember hearing stories about this girl who was a witch that lived in NOLA. I had to be maybe 13 at the time, but every time she was mentioned, I was intrigued to hear more.

But as a Christian at the time, they viewed everything that wasn't of the Christian God as demonic.

However, I still continued to learn as an observer.

Then 2020 happened.

COVID happened. I was 18, and I wanted to claim my independence, so I moved out.

But I didn't realize that so much of what I “believed” was something someone else had told me. I wasn't necessarily seeking it myself in the way that I do now.

I kind of stayed with the Illuminati thing because there are levels to this. LOL.

I also started dating my boyfriend Jayden, who was actually a huge part of my journey.

He gave me perspective on a lot of things. One of the things I fell in love with was his intelligence. He challenged the way I viewed things. He taught me history of the world from the male POV, which eventually led me to study the herstory of the world from the woman POV.

I always felt like TV and film hides the truth in plain sight.

It was when I finally watched Sabrina the Teenage Witch that I realized all witches aren't bad and that they don't pray to the devil or Satan.

It made me wonder, was the label “witch” used to demonize women who were connected to nature and worked with goddesses and gods from different faiths?

I even remembered learning about the witch trials (back in highschool) and hearing about Tituba, a Black woman whose story became connected to the Salem witch trials.

This sparked another curiosity in me:

What did my ancestors practice before?

What are my roots?

In the midst of all that, I was getting back into “working out”, so I started to practice yoga and dance. This led me back to my roots as well as getting into the craft.

And that's really where my spiritual journey started becoming less about being told what to believe and more about me actually asking questions, researching, experiencing, and finding my own relationship with spirituality.

(I later went to the Salem Witchcraft Museum to pay homage)

This is where Thee Mystique was born.

One of my favorite quotes is:

“The more you learn about the secrets of the Universe, the more you learn about yourself.”

That became my mission statement.

Tell Me More About Hoodoo. Is It a Closed Practice?

This was one of the topics I wish I had gone more in-depth about during the podcast.

Hoodoo was created by African Americans during the Transatlantic Slave Trade and continued to develop as a way of survival, protection, healing, and liberation.

It is a combination of African, Indigenous, and European roots, so depending on who you ask, you may hear different influences emphasized.

At its heart, Hoodoo is working with the natural world, honoring ancestors, using herbs and roots, prayer, divination, and other spiritual practices.

Of course, many spiritual traditions throughout the world also work with ancestors, plants, prayer, and the land. The question of who practices Hoodoo, how it should be practiced, and whether it is considered a closed practice is one that people within and around the tradition may hold different perspectives on. I think it is important to approach any tradition with respect, context, and an understanding of where it comes from.

Harriet Tubman is also connected to rootwork/conjure traditions, herbal knowledge, and spiritual practices. There are stories and accounts of her using that knowledge during her work helping enslaved people escape.

There is also a LOT of Christian influence in Hoodoo.

My ancestors were given the ONLY the Bible to read and Christianity was forced into their lives, but they also found ways to bring their own traditions and spiritual practices into that religion.

The church became one of the places where a lot of Black cultural traditions continued to live.

You can see this in catching the Holy Ghost, stomping, clapping, call-and-response, music, movement, etc.

Music has always been a part of our culture.

I feel like the movie Sinners showed this beautifully. how music can become a bridge between the spiritual and physical worlds. It really shows how music transcends everything...time, generations, culture, even the physical world.

Music has always been such a powerful part of Black culture and spirituality.

We don't just hear it; we feel it in our bones.

That's also why I think Black and white churches can look and feel different. People were worshipping through different cultural experiences and traditions.

A lot of the Blues and Jazz also came from the church, so I do have respect for it.

Honey Jars & Cultural Roots

This is something I wish I had said more clearly on the podcast.

Hoodoo has a documented history, and so do many of the practices associated with it.

For example, honey jars are a well-known Hoodoo rootwork practice. Honey jars are used as a form of “sweetening” work and are documented within Hoodoo/rootwork traditions.

At the same time, honey itself has been used symbolically and spiritually by different cultures throughout history.

So for me, those things aren't contradictory.

I can acknowledge that honey jars have roots in Hoodoo while also recognizing that honey and the symbolism of sweetness can be found across different cultures.

That's actually what I was trying to get at during the conversation.

Something can become mainstream and still have a specific cultural history.

When I talk about Hoodoo, I don't want to separate it from the history of Black people and what we had to do to preserve ourselves spiritually and culturally.

My issue is when something becomes mainstream and suddenly the history gets erased or nobody wants to acknowledge the people who carried these traditions.

Where I Am Today

Today, my practices are rooted in Tantra, Hoodoo, and other spiritual practices.

I try to help people rediscover their roots by learning who they are and empowering them to become who they want to be.

My spiritual journey continues to evolve, and I don't think there is ever going to be a point where I know everything.

I'm still learning.

Still questioning.

Still exploring.

Still remembering.

And that's the beauty of the journey.

Watch the Podcast

This was my first podcast, and although I didn't get everything out that I wanted to say, I'm grateful for the experience and for the conversation.

After rewatching it, I realized there was so much more I wanted to share, which is what inspired this post.

Sometimes you don't realize what you wanted to say until the conversation is already over.

And that's okay.

The conversation can continue.

Watch the full conversation below.

Until next time,

The Mystique Yogi ✨