1) Casting the bones is not done with fucking chicken bones. I don't care who taught you this online, or what book you read it in, or what "hoodoo course/class" you learned it in. It's done with opposum or raccoon bones. These two animals are said to "walk between two worlds", this and the spirit world. The information divined from the bones is provided by one's ancestors, which is why these animals with strong ties to the spirit world are used. Not friggin' chickens. The ancestors may more easily physically manipulate the bones and affect the way they fall. Which brings us to the next point...
2) Bone reading is almost nothing like tarot/other cards, runes, or crystal gazing/scrying. You can't just decide to learn it. In real life, in real conjure, there are very, very few people who read the bones. I've never met anyone who does it, everything I know, I know from older family members and workers. Here's what I know: It's mostly a family tradition, and only taught to one or two members of each generation. The bones are passed down in the family and readers are generally middle-aged to older. The reader doesn't just interpret the bones like tea leaves, it is a process of communing with and receiving information from their ancestors.
3) This is what no one wants to hear, but they need to hear it. You are not just entitled to whatever you want. You are not just entitled to learn conjure. These online marketers who are willing to teach anyone anything, so long as they have the cash, are poison. No, it isn't "great" that they're bringing "hoodoo" to a new generation. They're selling a dressed up patch-work of second-hand information, mix 'n match pagan/Asian/African Traditional religions, and a culture of product dependency. It's just so arrogant and disrespectful to treat other peoples' cultures and beliefs like a buffet, where you can just load your plate up with whatever looks good.
Doing everyday folk magic--such as carrying a buckeye for good luck--is one thing, but when one assumes they have a right to learn things so deeply rooted in the blood and ancestry of the people who practice it, they have absolutely crossed the line.
4) This style of bone reading is unique to conjure/hoodoo. It seems that many people online think it's acceptable to mix and match conjure and ATRs "because it's all African". They go and "learn" other forms of bone divination and still call everything they do hoodoo. Here is a great article explaining the harm caused by this, as well as how to spot everything-but-the-kitchen-sink frauds.
Hoodoo is not Vodou/Santaria/Palo/etc "minus the religion" or "just the magic". It is a separate folk-magic and healing practice that is a combination of mostly African American, Native American, and Scots Irish influences.
5) Lastly, if someone is teaching or providing fake chicken bone reading, think long and hard about just how authentic the rest of their work is. A silly "certification" means nothing.
Cultural appropriation and deceitfulness are never ok.
(I wanted to include a link to Dolly Parton's "These Old Bones", but the only quality video on youtube no longer exists.)
