Black joy is still celebrating Hoodoo Heritage Month, and much of our celebrating involves shining a light on influential Hoodoos who are making spiritual waves in their community. I got a chance to speak with a fellow Mississippian, Keon Dillon, about their digital platform Millennial Soul Food, growing up with Hoodoo as part of their everyday life and how they’re spiritual journey has evolved over time. We also chat about whether or not Hoodoo Heritage Month is shifting the narrative about Hoodoo in the broader community.

What’s the story behind Millennial Soul Food?

I had this idea where I was like, Oh, my God, I want to make soul food for millennials and make it healthy. So, it actually centered around food first because I love to cook. But then, eventually, I think I just decided to stop doing the food stuff because I have a background in education and tech. And so it just kind of made more sense for me to go the route of making it a digital platform. I did one event with food and I was like, hell no. And then after that, I actually started doing readings because I was living in Chicago and I was driving for Lyft, but I was burnt out. I was tired. I was working 60 hours a week.

And then my ancestors were like, get your ass up and read tarot. And then I just posted on Facebook, like, Hey y’all, I’m doing readings and no one really knew me as a reader. I had been doing readings for 8 years, but I just never told anybody. And then I made enough money that weekend that covered like 2 weeks’ worth of driving Lyft in Chicago. And so that’s when I was like, damn, okay. And then after that, I started collaborating with people and doing more workshops. And so that’s how Millennial Soul Food grew into what it is now.

I saw in your biography that part of your childhood was spent in rural Mississippi. Can you tell me some of the earliest memories of Hoodoo you experienced or witnessed growing up in rural Mississippi?

Hoodoo is a part of everyday life, especially in the rural South [and] Mississippi. So, I grew up actually in Tupelo and my family is from the Delta and then my dad’s side of the family is from New Orleans, Louisiana. My grandma on my mom’s side was actually very intuitive and had premonitions and stuff, but she was a church lady, too. So, she’d read the Bible and be like, Lord, show this to me. But it would be about people dying and stuff. She was the first example of someone who did make me feel comfortable with being intuitive and I didn’t really grow up being afraid of my intuition.

Growing up in rural Mississippi, you learn how to be in sync with nature. So, she did a lot of informal cleansing rituals, like using Pine Sol for floor washes, the specific kinds of prayers that she would do was definitely Hoodoo. She would pray over me when I was a child and laying hands, all that kind of stuff. That’s Hoodoo. And she just spoke a lot from Spirit. So, the Hoodoo that I grew up around had a lot to do with prophecy and then community healing. My grandma was also an empath. She would make food [and] she was very good at providing home and community for people who were in need.

Did you grow up in church?

Yes, I resonate with Beyonce’s song, Church Girl. I was in the church every Sunday. It was every Sunday and then even some Wednesday nights. When I was a teenager, I actually started going to like Pentecostal and COGIC churches just because I was, honestly, really bored with the church I grew up in. I was trying to get live, you know, Mary, Mary, Yolanda Adams. And so that’s when I started going more to COGIC churches and stuff like that. But I definitely grew up deep in the church and in the Bible.

I know you’re also an Ifa initiate. What was it like cultivating a spiritual life that extended beyond your upbringing into more of a personal journey?

I would say it was very freeing and also enlightening. Because I’m not training to be a Babalawo or anything like that. I got initiated to Ifa to learn more about my spiritual blueprint and my different abilities. And so, Ifa has kind of helped me really expand what I already knew from Hoodoo. I think also, Ifa helps you learn more about your limitations and your own areas of challenge. So, once you know that kind of stuff, you’re accountable to actually embody your own truth. So, it was scary to be honest. The first 2 years after initiation were like, oh, my God. I went through Hurricane Ida also. But yeah, I would say it was freeing and very enlightening, but also scary.

Can you name at least one Hoodoo who you feel like you’ve learned from and who has deeply inspired your life and journey?

Definitely Black Witch University, Lakeesha Harris. I was actually in her coven in Chicago the year before she even launched Black Witch University. So, I learned so much from Lakeesha. She really helped understand what parts of my life were Hoodoo, because whenever I moved up to Chicago, I was just kind of country as hell and just talking about trees and stuff and squirrels. So, she helped provide structure in understanding the significance of water and libations and also being queer and being a Hoodoo practitioner and that legacy of Black queer identity in spiritual Hoodoo circles.

Hoodoo heritage month is in its fourth year and has become a lot more recognized. I’m seeing more social media accounts that I have not seen in the past post about it. Do you believe this celebration has shifted the narrative about Hoodoo and other black spiritual traditions? What do you think the impact has been?

I think there’s always positives and negatives, but I do think that it’s been very important. And I think that this kind of visibility is really important because it helps destigmatize Hoodoo in general. I do feel we, especially with maybe the younger people, have moved past being like, Oh, Hoodoo is associated with the devil. It’s like, if you want to get into the devil and Illuminati stuff, that’s not Hoodoo. You can get into the Hollywood stuff, but we don’t do that over here. So, yeah, I think the visibility is really good.

And also, whenever I was doing tarot before I started my business, I was kind of afraid to tell people [because] I didn’t want them to think I was just snooping on them or trying to do spells on them. But I do think it’s been really important and it’s been great for people who otherwise wouldn’t have an outlet or a place to learn about this kind of stuff. A lot of people live in rural places and they don’t have anywhere to learn about this kind of stuff, so I think it is really important.

Did you have any final thoughts or forthcoming projects you’d like to share?

Yes, so I always have my courses that are up. So you can go to my website to see those. And then I have an oil that I’m coming out with. It’s an ancestor oil. [It’s] very big on protection and you can use it in reversals and stuff, too. Yeah, just check out my website and check out my podcast. I got a lot of episodes planned. And then final thoughts is, definitely remember don’t overcomplicate Hoodoo heritage month. Don’t be on Instagram looking at everybody’s altars and be like, Oh, my God, this isn’t enough. Start with yourself and then go from there.