Me (Moth) depicts the intersection of Hoodoo and Diné traditions via the main characters, Moth and Sani’s, relationship. Moth’s late grandfather was a Hoodoo rootworker who taught her many Hoodoo lessons and customs, while Sani is Diné and has been raised by his Diné father, a medicine man. Throughout the novel, the characters help each other to reconnect with their ancestral roots and customs.

Rather than a religious doctrine, Hoodoo is a spiritual tradition originating with enslaved African people during enslavement in the United States. Hoodoo combines traditional African healing, ancestral reverence, and spirituality “with Indigenous herbalism and European folk magic” (“What Is Hoodoo? A Guide to the History of Rootwork.” Original Botanica, 14 Apr. 2025). The sacred knowledge of Hoodoo was passed between generations in a quiet and honorable manner. Amidst Hoodoo’s covert origins, “Herbs growing by the riverbank, a whispered Psalm, a bottle hidden in a tree’s hollow” became “tools of resistance, healing, and protection” (Original Botanica). Allusions to these traditions and customs recur throughout the novel, most notably in Moth’s memories of her grandfather. In particular, her grandfather teaches Moth that “The ancestors are with you,” that “you are never alone,” and that “You have magic in your bones” (217). Once Moth recalls these teachings, she can recognize her truest self and make peace with her generational trauma.

Diné (or Navajo) tradition is also rooted in a connection to the natural world. This Indigenous tribe can be historically traced back to the American Southwest—specifically to the Four Corners region, where Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado state lines abut—where they are most often remembered as being sheepherders. However, there is “a lesser-known history that predates this colonial-era, a history very much rooted in a plant-based way of life” (Yarow, Mansour. “The Fascinating Plant-Based History of the Diné People.” Sentient Food, 18 Apr. 2023). This “plant-based” lifestyle ranged from diet and nutrition to herbalist practices which emphasized healing through the use of “herbs, prayers, songs and ceremonies to help cure patients” (Lewis, Ray Baldwin. “Navajo Culture: Diné Way of Life.” Discover Navajo). When any sort of “disorder evolves in a Navajo’s life,” the Diné people call for attention from a medicine man “bestowed with supernatural powers to diagnose a person’s problem and to heal or cure an illness and restore harmony to the patient” (Discover Navajo).

In Me (Moth), Sani is a member of the Navajo tribe and is undergoing “disorder” in his personal life. However, because he feels disconnected from his ancestral origins and family history, he finds it difficult to confront his mental illness, his trauma, and his abuse and to accept healing. When he asks Moth to travel back to New Mexico with him to reunite with his father, he is seeking guidance along his journey to spiritual healing. Along the way, they visit ancient sites and ancestral land, which helps Sani remember his cultural origins. When he returns home, his father (a traditional, qualified Diné medicine man) offers him mythic guidance and herbal remedies for his internal unrest. These experiences help Sani reconnect with Diné customs and restore his spiritual balance, which is central to Diné teachings and tradition.