STORY OF JOHN DE CONQUER

Sometimes, John is an African prince (son of a king of Congo), said to have ridden a giant crow called "Old Familiar." He was sold as a slave in the Americas. Despite his enslavement, his spirit was never broken. He survived in folklore as a reluctant folk hero, a sort of trickster figure, because of the tricks he played to evade those who played tricks on him. Zora Neale Hurston wrote of his adventures ("High John de Conquer") in her folklore collection The Sanctified Church.

In one traditional John the Conqueror story told by Virginia Hamilton, and probably based on "Jean, the Soldier, and Eulalie, the Devil's Daughter", John falls in love with the Devil's daughter. The Devil sets John a number of impossible tasks: he must clear sixty acres (25 ha) of land in half a day and then sow it with corn and reap it in the other half a day. The Devil's daughter furnishes John with a magical axe and plow that get these impossible tasks done, but warns John that her father the Devil means to kill him even if he performs them. John and the Devil's daughter steal the Devil's own horses; the Devil pursues them, but they escape his clutches by shape-shifting.

MAGICK USES:

Uncrossing
Love Spells
Money Spells
Burn over charcoal
Add to charm bags, blends
Use as an offering

High John the Conqueror Root is a staple of African-American Magic – its very name signifies power and prosperity to many. It is used whole and carried as a pocket amulet or in a mojo bag. It can also be used for drawing luck and financial success, gaining mastery, and strengthening male nature. Use it to win court cases, protect from all hexes and curses, and to break and destroy spells and hexes.