Viburnum / Nolina root sections (the tough, stringy 'devil's shoestrings') — a ceremonial root of Black American hoodoo, carried and worked for protection, employment, and stopping harm. Primarily a conjure root, not a food.
Devil's shoestring is core hoodoo — a protection root carried by Black Southerners navigating a world of real physical danger. The conjure tradition it belongs to is a direct survival of West and Central African spiritual practice, adapted under slavery, that gave people a sense of power and protection when every external system was arrayed against them.
Devil's shoestring is one of the most important PROTECTION roots in the Black American rootwork tradition. The tough, fibrous root pieces — said to 'trip the devil' and stop evil at the door — were carried in mojo bags, laid across thresholds, and used in work for protection, job-getting, and breaking a run of bad luck. Its 'healing' is psychological, spiritual, and communal: the felt sense of protection and agency in a world that was hostile and dangerous to Black life. This is a ceremonial root, not an edible food.
Ceremonial only. The root sections were carried in flannel mojo bags (often dressed with oil), nailed or laid across doorways and thresholds for protection, or kept in multiples (traditionally a count such as nine pieces) for specific works. It is not prepared as food or medicine to be ingested.
Free, no account needed to ask.