BALTIMORE — It was Juju Bae’s Catholic upbringing in Baltimore, she said, that sparked a deeper reflection on her spirituality and “who I’m praying to.”
Now, memories of St. Bernardine Roman Catholic Church in Edmondson Village set the opening scene of her debut book, “The Book of Juju: Africana Spirituality for Healing, Liberation, and Self-Discovery.”
“The jump between being a Catholic raised in Baltimore and then being someone who practices Africana spirituality was not a big jump,” Bae said.
Part history, autobiography and discussion of African and Africana religious and spiritual practices — and part how-to — the book includes stories like that of Bae’s experience connecting with her ancestors while a student in graduate school, through a particularly vivid and distressing dream.
It acts as a guide, explaining terminology and giving advice on how to make offerings, altars and more.
“It’s about our relationship to our ancestors, the people that we descend from and the importance of those people,” the 31-year-old spiritual practitioner said of her book, in which she writes directly to Black readers, her intended audience. “Concepts around death and grief and dying are really taboo, when they shouldn’t be.”
Bae, who was born in Beechfield, now splits her time between Brooklyn, N.Y., and Baltimore.
“I actually didn’t think that I would be writing a book so soon,” she said. “There’s just something happening right now where the paranormal is in.”
Last year, Bae starred as the resident “witch” and spiritual healer in Hulu’s LGBTQ+ ghost-hunting docuseries “Living for the Dead.” The show documents the adventures of a team of queer ghost hunters.
But she said most people recognize her from her podcast, “A Little Juju Podcast,” about Africana spirituality and “demystifying mysticism, specifically for Black folks.” In 2020, it was an iHeartRadio nominee for best spirituality and religion podcast.
“It’s again another archive of Black spirituality and Black spiritual tradition,” Bae said, noting that the podcast and her new book are closely related.
In early chapters of “The Book of Juju,” Bae writes about her own spiritual journey through Catholic school and beyond. She also dives into Yoruba religion and Hoodoo, a tradition “descended from enslaved Africans in America,” among other topics.
In other chapters she examines the history of slavery and Christianity, and gives guidance on everything from praying to rituals meant to “help center your mind and body.”
