Did Robert Johnson Sell His Soul to Satan?

Tarot card illustration of Robert Johnson and the Devil by Philip Cheaney

This article for the Paranormal Corner was written by Jose Prado.

We've all heard the story of the famous Blues musician Robert Johnson, and how he supposedly sold his soul to Satan on the Crossroads in order to learn how to play the guitar. But the truth is far from it. Robert Johnson wasn't the one who made the pact on the Crossroads; it was another musician, a friend of his named Tommy Johnson who made the legendary deal on the Crossroads. And Tommy never claimed it was 'the devil' he made the pact to. He always told people even in interviews, that he made the deal with Papa Legba, the Vodoun God of the Crossroads, the one who opens and closes doors to things. To gain favor from a Deity or spirit of Doorways and Roads whether it be Legba, Hekate, or Ganesh will lead to prosperity and fame. But somehow they twisted the legend to say he sold his soul to Satan, is an outright lie.*

To further the lie they then confused Robert Johnson with his friend Tommy Johnson. Why would American historians confuse them? And why would they say either one of them sold their souls to the Devil? These are the reasons why.

1) America has a long history of racism and ignorance of other ethnic groups and cultures and more than likely white Americans in the 1920’s couldn't tell the difference between one black musician named Johnson and another.

2) Both Johnsons were Vodusants, that is to say, Voodooists, their religion was Voodoo, they believed in different spirit forces that ruled all things. [1]

But to white society in 1920's America it was all 'pagan' blasphemy mixed in with 'devil worship', they couldn't tell the difference. 

3) They were both Hoodoomen (Conjuremen, Conjure workers, Hoodooists, Rootworkers etc) they both practiced Hoodoo, the witchcraft of the Voodoo religion.

Contrary to popular belief, not all people who believe in Voodoo are witches. A Voodoo witch practices Hoodoo and is referred to by the above names. Voodoo is the religion, the stories of the Spirits/Gods/Divinities the prayers etc...Just as not all Catholics are priests or can bless things. Or not all Wiccans are witches. There is a clear line between a regular Vodusant and a Rootworker. But to white supremacist America, no one saw the difference. [2]

Many today still view it as Satanism. But these men, back then both openly admitted to practicing witchcraft. The controversy they stirred up must have been enough to have white Americans talking about ‘demons’ stirred up by blacks under every corner. Or then again, it may not have been that controversial since many white Americans already had such racist notions to begin with. If anything all it did was solidify those notions. With Tommy Johnson openly speaking of his pact to a Pagan God or Spirit? It was propaganda that racist America could use to spread to one another about the ‘heathen’ blacks. To them it was clear: a black blues musician sold his soul to Satan. Clearly to them a spirit or God from another religion is 'evil' and of Hell. And since Robert died of seemingly un-natural causes[3], it was said his death was due to the Faustian deal with Old Scratch (nickname for the Devil in New England and Pre-civil war America) who had come for his due.

4) Both Tommy and Robert were known Hoodoomen. In fact you'll even find Occult messages in Robert's lyrics about how his lover used Hoodoo to cheat at Gambling along with other hidden messages.

And since he wrote a song about Hell Hounds, to them it was proof he was consorting with Satan. Of course for all anyone knows, the song was a reference to something else. We know his song Crossroads was about hitch hiking on the Crossroads. But most people think it was referencing his non-existent 'deal'.

5) Both Tommy and Robert were friends, and both were Vodusants and Hoodoomen. So when one person talked about one of them it was probably inevitable the other would come up in conversation. So that may have started the confusion for white historians in the first place.

But despite popular legends and confusion, the facts are these:

* Robert Johnson did not make any deal on the Crossroads (that we know about, it would not have been odd for any Vodusant to make one with a spirit there)

* The one who made the deal was Tommy Johnson his friend.

* Tommy did not sell his soul to any spirit, let alone to Satan.

* Tommy Johnson made a pact (an unbreakable promise to a divine being) with the Vodoun Crossroads spirit (Or God as I believe him to be) Papa Legba to learn how to play the guitar.

* What he promised is unknown to us; pacts are sometimes secret and are between the spirit or Deity and the human.

* Whatever he promised, we can be sure of one thing: it was not his soul he gave away. Legba is a benevolent Divinity. Good spirits or Deities do not do things like that.

* Pacts could be promises of leaving offerings to a spirit or God when you have money, paying them tribute on special days like their feast day, wearing special colors, beads, or amulets or other things to signify your allegiance to them etc... Pacts are also not exclusive to non-christian religions. Plenty of pacts can be found in the Bible. Noah’s pact with God (Genesis 9:11-17) or God’s pact with Abraham (Genesis 15:1-4). Vows of chastity made by Christians are pacts with God. A pact is a solemn promise to a Deity or spirit that in exchange for a gift they will bestow upon you, you will reward them with something in return. A gift for a gift in other words.

But when people hear the word ‘pact’ they usually think of pacts with demons or the Devil. It is important for everyone to realize that it is not always so. In fact, infernal pacts are rare and nearly non-existent. In my work as a Pagan priest and exorcist I have only come across two such cases. So remember folks, next time you see a black shadow or apparition on the Crossroads at midnight don't be so quick to say its 'Satan' it could be anybody.

* Note: In some beliefs and stories it is Satan who is summoned on the Crossroads. So it's not impossible. I have met Hoodoo men/women who perverted the teachings of Hoodoo and summoned demons under Satan, and they did go to Crossroads or Cemeteries to make deals with them. But they do these things "under the table" or in secret. So don't expect people to openly say they are doing these things. Because they would be shunned as blasphemers by the rest of the community. No one would be dumb enough to openly admit they were doing that.

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[1]  In Voodoo, a believer can either be Pagan and believe that some spirits are Gods like me, or a believer can be a Monotheist and view the spirits as messengers like the Angels in Christianity, doing God's work. Whether or not Robert and Tommy Johnson were Polytheist or Monotheist is not known

[2]  Some of us are divided on the issue, some believe you can not be a Vodusant without being a witch, others make a distinction. It's not racist to believe they are one and the same. It is racist to lump all other religions into one category for not being Christian

[3]  No one knows how Robert Johnson died. The stories range from demons having come for his soul to having been poisoned by the jealous husband of a woman with a beer bottle laced with strychnine. The next morning he is said to have been found convulsing on the floor.

Bibliography

Bartkowski, J. P. (1998). Claims-Making and Typifications of Voodoo as a Deviant Religion: Hex, Lies, and Videotape. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion .

Day, A. (2010). Satan Whispers: Bob Dylan and Paradise Lost. Cambridge Quarterly .

Haskins, J. (1990). Voodoo & hoodoo: Their tradition and craft as revealed by actual practitioners.

Hays, T. (2012, October Friday). Robert Johnson: Murder or Bad Whiskey? Retrieved from Criminal Element.com: http://www.criminalelement.com/blogs/2012/10/robert-johnson-murder-or-bad-whiskey-tony-hays-true-crime-historical-bottoms-up-music

Hurston, Z. (1931). Hoodoo in America. The Journal of American Folklore .

Kloc, J. (2010, June 21). Fact-checking the Life and Death of Bluesman Robert Johnson. Retrieved from Mother Jones.com: http://www.motherjones.com/riff/2010/06/music-monday-blues-robert-johnson-honeyboy-edwards

Lynn, J. (n.d.). Voodoo Spells. Powerful Papa Legba Crossroads Voodoo Spell Retrieved from Voodoo-Spell.Org: http://www.voodoo-spell.org/2012/05/powerful-papa-legba-crossroads-voodoo.html

Maximilian, J. R. (1921). Devil Stories : An Anthology.

Pascoe, P. (1996). Miscegenation Law, Court Cases, and Ideologies of “Race” in Twentieth-Century America. The Journal of American History .

Yronwode, C. (1995-2010). The Crossroads in Hoodoo Magic and The ritual of selling yourself to the Devil. Retrieved from Lucky Mojo.com: http://www.luckymojo.com/crossroads.html

Hags (Demon Witches)

Today's entry called Hags (Demon Witches) was written for the Paranormal Corner by Jose Prado.

Although witches originally were healers and great teacher who helped shape our civilizations with the teachings of nature and in some cases with advanced knowledge, there is a darker side. The Warlock. Warlock is an old Scottish word meaning but not limited to: traitor, deceiver, oath breaker (because they broke the oath to use magick only for good, devil, etc). Each religion or culture has their own term for these evil witches. In Vodoun they are called Chochon Gris (grey pig, sometimes translated as hairless pig). In the Bible in Exodus 22:18 it says "thou shall not suffer a witch to live" in the original translation, it's actually "thou shall not suffer a Deceiver to live" Deceiver as in warlock.

Over the years the Catholic Church under Emperor Constantine censored the original Bible, taking out entire chapters or even entire books; therefore a deceiver or warlock in the Bible was changed to the eponymous term witch. Most people think that the Bible condemns all witches, but this is a false premise invented by the Council of Nicea. In some books of the Bible, characters like Solomon practiced powerful forms of sorcery, usually associated with Angels, and Yahweh was not the only God. Several Pagan Gods and Goddesses were subservient to Yahweh such as Anat, Inanna, Hadad, (also known as Baal Hadad*), and other deities from the Canaanite religion. That is not even mentioning Asherah also known as Azna the feminine face of God. Remember that the Hebrews came from Canaan. The word Hebrew comes from Habiru (river crosser) because Hebrews were immigrants from Canaan.

So being a witch was not necessarily a bad thing in the Bible; however, being an evil witch is. Precisely within the culture of the Hebrews and the Canaanites resides one of the earliest recorded instances of creatures known today as the Hag or Demon Witches. Hags are a sub-species of Demon that come from a much larger species the Lilim. In legend, Lilith was the ex-wife of Adam and was cast out for turning to the dark side after Adam continued to try and force his will on her. She returned after her exile as a Demon once Adam took on Eve as his new wife.

We commonly recognize this demon today as a Vampire feeding on Adam and Eve's children. She was also the first witch to turn into a warlock. All Vampires, warlocks, and even some Earth demons (demons who were either human in origin, half human, or fallen nature spirits) can trace their spiritual ancestry back to her. Lilith bred many of these Earth demons after coming to Adam in an erotic nightmare, sleeping with him, and then giving birth to creatures known as the Lilim. Other Lilim were bred from Lilith's children with Satan or members of her male (demon) harem when she was still a human though albeit at this point as a warlock. From the Lilim many species of Earth demon came forth and among them were the Hags. The term simply refers to demon-witch hybrids in cultures around the world. Lilith was the first warlock and the first human to become a demon in history. She's the Empress of Hell and wife of Samael (Satan's original Hebrew name). In different regions of the world we find Hags of different species under different names and of different purposes.

In Romania we have creatures known as the Strigoi. Strigoi (along with other variations of the name Strega from Latin Strix: witch) is a name given to evil witches who are either undead vampire witches or living human vampire witches that bring all manner of evil upon people in their communities including the classic stalking of human victims to feed on them. Strega is not given to evil witches or flesh eaters; it means witch like Strigoi but where as it carries a darker connotation in Eastern Europe, in Italy is used for any witch good or bad.

In other countries there are stories of warlocks who become flesh eating hags such as Baba Yaga in eastern Europe which is the origin of such stories as of Hansel and Gretel coming across an evil sorceress with the hunger for human flesh, which is part of the reason so many people have an innate fear of witches today. The bad part of this fear is that most witches are normal human beings who use good magick or at least don't use it to harm people (unless it's an extreme situation).

Contrary to popular belief male hags also exist. The Cambion is the child of an Incubus with a human woman who becomes a demon sorcerer with destructive powers and is usually called upon as an Antichrist for demons to destroy the world. The female version of this with a Succubus and a human man is an Alu-Demon.

In the Navajo religion, warlocks are people who subscribe to a perversion of the Navajo religion known as the Witchery path. Among the many types of warlocks in the Navajo faith are creatures known as the Skinwalker, warlocks who shape shift into demonic creatures that can become animals like wolves, crows, bears and other animals.

These warlocks are people who s lowly transition into demons and as such have all sorts of unnatural abilities (even for a warlock) and can be warded off with sacred objects or blessed waters and salt. These creatures or people are either half demon or becoming demons due to their practice of the black arts; therefore whatever effects a demon can now effect them. This explains why so many legends state that witches can be warded off by salt, fennel, silver or can't cross rivers; things which in tradition are related to demons not witches. Most scholars say that it was Christian ignorance and prejudice in conflating witches with demons but in fact that these are warlocks that have gone so far into the darkness that they are shedding what is left of their humanity with these practices.

If one carefully examines the things prescribed against these demonic witches, the sacred objects used to banish them are used and prescribed in witchcraft. Fennel among all the uses for charms holds the power to banish negativity. It counters psychic attacks and curses. It can also prevent evil spirits and energies from entering the home when you keep it outside your doors or hang it on door knobs. Salt is used for breaking spells cast on you from an enemy, warding off evil spirits, empowering holy water and the more powerful exorcised water, and demons almost uniformly cannot abide it. Silver has many medicinal properties and since disease was ushered into the human world by demons, things that are used to counteract disease typically can be used in the warding of demons, hence why demonic creatures are usually said to be killed by silver knives blessed with a priest's prayers.

There are even spells for preventing warlocks and the more evolved hag from coming to your house. In German communities, it was believed if you said "Kiss my Ass" three times under your breath with your anger and/or concentration they could not harm you. A more powerful version of this spell requires you to get a besom broom or at least a regular broom and casting it as a protective rod before your door after you say "Kiss my Ass" three times. In Vodoun, laying an old shoe at the door would prevent a warlock who is close to becoming a hag from entering the home. In other spells throwing out pieces of sugar, salt, or even buttons would cause a hag and other supernatural beings to stop and count each one, eventually losing count and having to start over till sunrise when they must leave. The reason is because for whatever reason different supernatural beings develop a type of obsessive compulsive disorder over time and as such must do compulsive rituals every single time. However some have evolved beyond that weakness so it is best to rely on more than one thing to fight them.

Others place mirrors outside the home so that evil beings (usually very vain) are distracted by their own reflections which incidentally demons love mirrors and use them as doorways into our world and many others. Therefore a demon with a physical form or a demon-human hybrid could very well be effected by this technique. There are many, many more techniques that can be found in cultures all over the world. There are obviously too many to list in this one article and I do not pretend to be a specialist on the matter. But just remember this: whatever it is you believe in, keep an open mind. There are things that lurk in the dark, Hungry things and many may not necessarily have been covered in your own religious studies if you stick to only just one path. No matter how learned you are, or how much knowledge you acquire there are always things that wait and watch and are wiser than humans. Arrogance is their downfall, they need not be ours too. Until then stay safe and learn all that you can to protect yourself from them. And if anyone is reading this now and saying "I've never encountered this and never will" thank whatever God you serve and pray that it stays that way.

* Baal is not a name, it is a title either for a Deity or a Lord in Canaan. So the evil Baal who demanded the murder of children was either a Demon God or a high ranking Lord who demanded it, or in my opinion, religious fanatics demanded human sacrifices of children.

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Evil Entities - Demons

Illustration by PJ 2005

When we think of demons, we think of an evil, nasty, spirit. The term demon did not always mean that, in its greek origin δαίμων (daimōn) the term was used to refer to any divine entity. It was when christians and the christian faith seem to take over in Rome which already had adapted the greek use of the term, and spread through out the world that the term demon came to be of meaning of an evil spirit. Actually, I believe that a demon is an entity. The word entity can mean several things. For use in my  paranormal field of research and, this entry of the Paranormal Corner, we will refer to the term demon as an evil nasty dangerous entity. A demon was never of this earth and in christian beliefs, demons are the angels that were cast into hell from heaven along with Satan, making the term demons and devils equivalents.

The real problem with a demon is that you could have one in your home and not really know it. As described in Miracles - Gift of Tongue Xenoglossy, a demonic entity tricked someone thinking it was performing miracles and was a good entity. In another account The Possessed Role Play Game book a demonic entity entered a friend of mine through a book describing demonic channeling and conjurations for a game. Another example that show some typical signs of the demonic is in Three Scratches. Demons are also considered by some to be of a different dimension, making them ultra-terrestrial beings. Oppressions and Possessions are some also some of the other tail signs of a Demonic entity at play. Sometimes one get opened up for demonic possessions through practice of black magic or use of Ouija boards, Like described in the entry My first exorcism by Rev. Alaina Damewood. And the entries Possessions and Mary and the Quija Board by Jose Prado. Some members of the demonic are half-breeds like the Hags (Demon witches). Demons are universally affected by Salt, which is used in both protection against and in part for exorcisms.

I am sure that you would know that something was going on and, you may even that there we some kind of paranormal activity happening but, would you be able to tell it was demonic activity? A demon can fool you and make you think it is a nice spirit or a spirit of a loved one that has passed on. After it gains your trust a demon will start it's attacks on you, they are very patient and sometimes wait years slowly breaking you down and then one day moving in for the final blow. Demons can indeed cause you harm and have been known to even make people kill themselves. A demon will have no problem with taking over your body when it has got a foothold by having you accepting it and welcome it into yourself and thus using yourself to make you do its will.

Two of the fastest ways that I know of to cause a demon yo attack you and ruin every thing you have including your relationships, home, job,and even your life, is to use an ouija board and, or attempt a seances. An ouija board should never be used for any reason and a seances should only be attempted with a qualified medium! Even then, there is a chance that an inhuman manifestation could come into your life because you have just opened the door for it by having a seances. You have then in fact, invited it in, an good example how wrong things could go is in the can be read in the entry Mary and the Quija Board.

Some people say you can tell if a spirit is demonic or not by the odor it may cause. An odor of burning, rotten flesh is at times associated with a demonic haunting. A demonic haunting is an intelligent haunting because it can scheme and it is destructive of the person or persons that it is attacking, other phenomena known to be associated with demonic possessions is xenoglossy and phantomania, though phantomania could be present in non demonic experiences too.

There are some people that do not believe in demons as evil inhuman manifestations from Hell. These people tend to believe that some people are the demons and that they are indeed evil people. Everyone is free to believe what ever they choose to believe. For myself, I believe that demons from Hell and other places do indeed exist.

I would advise anyone who has reason to believe that they or a loved one or friend is being possessed by a demon or has a demonic haunting in the home or even on their land to contact a local paranormal investigation team for help and for the most part, paranormal teams do NOT charge for their services. Usually, once a person is possessed by a demon, a blessing needs to be done along with a house blessing and, cleansing along with a religious ceremony and, sometimes a deliverance or if accepted by the Catholic Church as a demonic haunting one could get someone from the Catholic Church to perform the approved exorcism, this is not the only way to do an exorcism, other religions than the christian church can also do this, as described in the entry Remote Exorcism.

Evil entities are mentioned in all religion even though the name for them differ the description of them are eerily similar pointing to the fact that this type of evil demonic haunting is universal and in opposition to all benevolent entities or angelic entities if you like.

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