Rootcraft

> “And so it is.” - Patricia, Mariah, Vera
>
>

**Rootcraft** is a type of magic practiced. Rootcraft use root, a type of magic, they are the descendants of those who developed the craft, black folk who can borrow power from their ancestors and use it to heal, or to speak to the dead, or protect others, or divine the future, and more.

## Root

Rootcrafters borrow root temporarily because they believe that root is not for people to own. It is a balanced form of magic. They make offerings to their ancestors so that they will share root with them for a time. Offerings include a collection of items that are organic or edible, such as things that used to be alive or things that are fresh. Mariah explains that they offer the favorite pieces of life to the dead because they remind the ancestors of their time on the human plane. After root's returned, they thank them for being a bridge to its power. That is the unifying philosophy of their practice.

The heart of Rootcraft is protection from those who would harm the user, and if they do, healing so that they can survive, resist, and thrive. The ancestors control the amount of power a Rootcrafter has access to. Patricia explains that they "can't turn them on and off like a tap." Rootcrafters is nowhere near as powerful as the magic used by the Legendborn, but is far less dangerous, and won’t take a toll on the caster, allowing them to live long and happy lives.

## Branches of Root

### Wildcrafter

Wildcrafters can manipulate the energy found in growing things like plants, herbs, and trees. Wildcrafters borrow power from their ancestors in order to use the energy of plants. That power if finite because the living energy of plants is finite. Their ability to operate as a vessel is finite as well.

* **Practitioners:** Faye Matthews, Mary

### Reader

Readers can see people's auras, and thus their emotions, intentions, and abilities. Auras are a person's personal energy that reflect the state of their spirit. Auras look like a faint sort of fog or thin mist. Readers could only see root if they asked their ancestors to lend their eyes, and only for a short time.

* **Practitioners:** Hazel, Janice

### Memory walker

Memory walkers can astrally project themselves into the memories of their ancestors, who they can interact with in a limited capacity. This branch of root allows practitioners to work memories by understanding their energy and power over the present day. They can't see root, but they can feel it. A memory walk is a sort of time travel into a memory of a person's ancestor. It's uncommon for someone from outside the family to be brought along for a walk. A memory walker is an observer only. The people in the memory can't see or hear them.

* **Practitioners:** Patricia Hartwood, Vera, Louisa, Cecilia, Ruth Hartwood

### Healer

Healers use root to heal others and themselves. They call root doctors, or herbalists, granny women.

* **Practitioners:** Jessie

### Prophet

Prophets use root to see the future. They could only see root if they asked their ancestors to lend their eyes, and only for a short time.

### Medium

Mediums can channel the dead and be channeled by them.

* **Practitioners:** Mariah, Bree Matthews, Lucille

## Mediums

Most Mediums could only see root if they asked their ancestors to lend their eyes, and only for a short time. Mediumcraft is a branch of root with its own sub-branches, like possession. All are different because ancestors themselves are different. A Medium makes offerings to their deceased ancestors to borrow their knowledge and power. Mediums might use **focal items**, which are used for **aura work**. Holding them can help a Medium read the dynamic between them and their objective or relationships. As a Medium, their power is wound tightly with death. Medium can't control the dead or contact a specific ancestor at will.

### Possession

Medium possession, which is channeling a spirit forward to the living, is really rare. When possessed they have to focus from spilling them out, and keep their guard up so other ancestors from their line don't come knocking. The hardest part of being a Medium is closing the doors once they're opened. The unsettled spirits, the eager ones, look for ways in. A root shockwave, with enough power, can disrupt the dead beyond their location.

When possessed, like Bree being possessed by her grandma, Mrs.Charles, she acted as a **lighthouse**. A signpost for an older mother. She’ll passed the request on.

### Ancestral Stream

Mediums can travel the ancestral stream, a type of spirit DNA, navigating DNA memory. Communing with ancestors requires a connection that runs in both directions. Spiritual and physical. An open channel on both sides, tying each party to the other. Like blood. Channeling in the opposite direction, bringing another living being into their ancestor’s body in the stream.

## Rootcrafters

Different families have different approaches. It is taught within families and practitioners tend to keep the craft private. Most often, Rootcraft is passed from mother to daughter. If a child has a branch of root, their gift will manifest at an early age, usually around five or six years old, with some small, accidental crafting. Traditionally a mother teaches her daughter about the craft.

Rootcrafters have been hunted by the Order for decades. Rootcrafters call the type of magic used by the Order "Bloodcraft." They have networks of stations to move Rootcrafters whose powers are big enough to draw attention from Merlins to get them to safety.

A **granny woman** is a root doctor herbalist. There’s not many of them nowadays, but still a few.

## Author’s Note

In addition to drawing on Tracy Deonn's own life to create the fictional magic system of rootcraft, she took inspiration from African American history and spiritual traditions. In particular, she focused on rootwork, also known as hoodoo or conjure. Rootwork was developed by enslaved Africans and their descendants under American chattel slavery, and it can be traced from its historic origins to varied practices in present-day African American communities. Rootwork is not a centralized tradition, and practitioners from different families, regions, and times have their own gospel on what it looks like. But there are common aspects, many of which can be found in other traditions and religions, including those with roots in West Africa. "Rootcraft" in *Legendborn* borrows four of these common elements: ancestor reverence and communion, the ritual use of organic materials, naturopathic medicine and healing, and themes of protection.

Rootwork is a historic and living folk tradition and spiritual practice, but it is not the practice in her book. While the rootcraft magic Bree explores in the book is fictional, Tracy chose to use the term "root" in *Legendborn* for four reasons:

* To set this type of ancestral, organic magic apart from the magic of the Order.
* Because of the power of this word in my community; imagery using roots exists across Black music, pop culture, and film.
* Because, for me and many other Black people in the South, it feels as if the very soil that helped grow this country is soaked with the acknowledged and unacknowledged blood, sweat, and tears of enslaved Africans and their descendants. And, in truth, it is.
* To hint at the solution to Bree's turmoil in the book, which is to recognize the living nature of love in her life, alongside death, and to literally go underground to find the truth of her origin.

## References

1. ↑ *Legendborn*: pg. 223
2. ↑ *Legendborn*: pg. 232
3. ↑ *Legendborn*: pg. 231
4. ↑ *Legendborn*: pg. 166
5. ↑ *Legendborn*