Years after I became sure of my decision to stop going to church, I began to intentionally explore Hoodoo and other African Traditional Religions. On my journey, I was recommended the now critically acclaimed podcast, “A Little Juju,” hosted by Educator, Osun Priestess and self-proclaimed witch, Juju Bae. Like so many others, Juju Bae opened me up to the world of Black a** spirituality.

Juju Bae recalls her spiritual journey into Hoodoo being propelled by her ancestors and then becoming further inspired by Beyonce’s “Lemonade” visual album to continue her exploration of Orisha traditions. A few years later, she would launch her podcast and reach heights beyond what she imagined. Black Joy had a chance to chat with Juju Bae about her journey and what she has learned (and accomplished) along the way.

You’ve been able to forge a very interesting life path for yourself — was the uniqueness of the journey you’re on something that has been evident since childhood, or have you been surprised by where life has taken you?

Completely surprised. This was not the plan to be a spiritualist and talk about it and teach about ancestors. I don’t even think I even considered much about my ancestors, even before my adulthood. So, this whole journey is fascinating to me. I honestly feel like I’m watching it, even though I’m in it. Because I didn’t grow up being like “Ohh, I’m a witch or I have prophetic dreams.” I wasn’t necessarily thinking about that. I was always open to it and I always, somewhere deep in me as a child, felt that there’s something different and special [about me]. So, this experience in my adulthood is really me uncovering and unpacking a lot of gifts that I didn’t even know existed, or that I could even do. So, I’m shocked every day.

As a leading figure in the spiritual community and this current African Diaspora Religion renaissance we’re in, how does it feel to witness the reach of your influence among Black folks?

I think that’s a part of what’s very shocking and surprising. I never sought to be a leader in anything. I am interested in Black spiritual traditions. It is my fascination. It is truly a fascination. And so, I think as I started to learn I wanted to share my learnings and me sharing my learnings and my ideas and my musings propelled me into places that I was not preparing for or planning for or in some ways, feeling like I was even ready for it. And I still feel that way. So, to see my reach, to see the people who listen to me or who know about my work, appreciate my work or people who even say my work changed their life, it’s just like, wow. I’ve always been very intentional, but it makes me just feel like I must be intentional.

What is the biggest lesson you’ve learned through your journey as a practitioner, educator and advocate for Black folks returning to our ancestral traditions?

There’s so many, but if I were to name one, I think it’s that these traditions are not romantic in the sense that sometimes when we’re in the midst of renaissances, it becomes like, “Oh, this is the perfect place, in the perfect space to be this and only this is the answer.” And it’s so beautiful that we’re returning and all of that is true. But there’s another side that I also want people to contend with about the messiness, the horror, the kind of works that have happened within these traditions. I’m reading a book right now by Danielle Boaz called Banning Black Gods about people around the world being subjected to violence because of their traditions, because of, specifically, Africana based traditions. So, as we are in this renaissance, we also have to keep in mind that this is actually something that is still highly not even just judged, but unlawful in certain places. And like I said, many people are actually subjected to violence, shrines being destroyed, physical assaults like bullying in schools, all of that. So, I want us to keep that in mind. And I think that’s not something that I kept in mind at first. I think I deeply romanticized it. It ain’t all roses and butterflies.

You have shared so much knowledge and guidance through your online platforms. Now you have a book coming out, The Book of Juju: Africana Spirituality for Healing, Liberation, and Self-Discovery. What are you most looking forward to about releasing your book?

I’m looking forward to having a space to direct people specifically because I know, and most people in the spiritual community know, there’s a lot of questions and a lot of those questions are very similar. People are thinking about the same things. What if I don’t know my ancestors? What if I don’t have gifts? What if I’m adopted? What if my ancestors weren’t good people? And they’re all valuable questions, but it can be hard to kind of channel that into one space. So, I’m excited to be like, I addressed that in this book. I really tried to answer as I was writing, what do people ask me? Let me put it all in one space for everyone’s convenience, including mine.

You’re a cast member on the Hulu series, Living for the Dead. How did that opportunity come about?

Chile, the ancestors. So, I wasn’t thinking about none of that. I wasn’t thinking about no paranormal investigating, any of that. Someone on Twitter was like “Kristen Stewart is coming out with a ghost hunting show. I wanna see Juju Bae in this,” and tagged me in the article. I read about it like, OK, I’ll send in [my information]. I put it off for a very long time. I wasn’t considering it then I was bored one day, so I did it and before I clicked submit, I was like, ancestors if this is for me, make it easy. Otherwise, I don’t care.

After I clicked, I had a call, literally no exaggeration, like 2 minutes later from an unknown number in LA and I was not answering it, the spams are spamming. This person leaves a message and is like “hey Juju, my name is blah blah blah. I’m from the casting for Living for the Dead. I just saw that you sent through your casting information, and I was literally just on your Instagram about to reach out to you to ask you to apply because I think you would be a good member.” And that’s it. There was a lot of rounds of casting, flew out to LA and they picked me.

What impact do you hope your presence on that show will make?

I really wanted to be my full self and I was never acting or trying to say things I didn’t really feel or even use things I was unfamiliar with. I went and I divined like how I divine in my house with my shells or with my coins. I wore the things when I’m in spiritual spaces on the show that I do when I’m doing spiritual work, I cover my head. I just want people to be able to see that the paranormal space is Blackness, too, and you don’t see that. This is how, in my tradition, I show up in this paranormal space and how other folks can also show up. We’re here and we can be a part of this, too.

How does Black Joy show up in your work?

I want my ancestors to be happy so bad. I want them to be well. I want them to be proud. I want them to be fulfilled because they had joy, but not enough as I think they should have had, like many of our ancestors. And so, when I’m able to converse with the dead and converse with my spirits, and they’re like, “Ohh, we’re proud or thank you for the offering,” or just whenever they’re happy, I’m happy. So, I think my black joy is very ancestral and the joy expands through time and dimensions, there’s no stop or time frame of when the joy is.

Pre-order Juju Bae’s forthcoming book, The Book of Juju: Africana Spirituality for Healing, Liberation, and Self-Discovery on the Black Joy bookshop.