What do you do when you’ve tried everything, but nothing seems to work?
   Frustration has a way of tempting us to try just about anything to heal a sickness, solve a financial problem, mend a broken heart, or get piece of mind.  When we reach the point of desperation we become vulnerable to those who would prey on our weaknesses for their own personal profit.
   Whether it’s the snake oil salesman who sells a bottle of sweet water as a miracle cure or the traveling faith healer who heals every sickness from cancer to the common cold for a generous offering, there are many who would take advantage of the vulnerability of the frustrated masses.
    There are millions, especially in the South, who, in their frustration, turn to voodoo doctors, witchcraft, and palm readers. They spend tons of money consulting their psychic connections. No one likes to admit it, but there are millions of African-Americans who are influenced by South Louisiana Voodoo even though we sit in churches on Sunday.
    Millions, seeking to rid themselves of enemies or to resolve complicated personal situations turn to Voodoo spells, even though they call on the Lord on Sunday.
    For centuries Voodoo witchdoctors have cast their spells on Black America and any others who listened. These witch doctors concocted a brand of religion unique to Louisiana called Hoodoo, which involved incantations, voodoo dolls and the blood of animals. Even today, tourists find voodoo dolls and chicken bones being sold in novelty shops all over Acadiana.
    The Hoodoo, espouses a belief in God, but it teaches that God disconnects himself from the daily affairs of people. Instead there are spirits that can be called on to do godly type work if we call on them with the proper chant and seek atonement or demonstrate humility by shedding the blood of an animal.
    Thousands of Hoodoo proverbs are repeated in African-American homes just as if there were biblical:
   -- If you lay a broom across the doorway at night, a witch can't come in and hurt you.     
   –If a woman is your first visitor on Monday mornings it is bad luck for the rest of the week.
   --Don't borrow or lend salt because that is bad luck.
   --If you sweep trash out of the house after dark you will sweep away your luck.
   --If a woman sprinkles some salt from her house to yours, it will give you bad luck until you clean the salt away and put pepper over your door sill.
  --If a woman wants her husband to stay away from other woman, she can do so by putting a little of her blood in his coffee, and he will never quit her.
  --You can give someone a headache by taking and turning their picture upside down.   
  --You can harm a person in whatever way you want to by getting a lock of his hair and burning some and throwing the rest away.