Browse:Crossroad Dirt (Volume 1, entries 1205–1206)
Crossroad Dirt
Volume 1, entries 1205–1206. Source context: THE DOCTORS AT WORK: REPORTS FROM LAYMEN → FOLK MEDICINE → CURE AND PROTECTION. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
Entries
Entry 1205
Dey supposed to let nobody see it. Dey digs a hole.
(At the forks of the road.) [He had said this before I turned on my machine.]
At de forks of the road - four forks of de road. Dey dig a hole and dey git de red sand. Well, dat is fo' if anybody do anything to yo', yo' know, an' yo' boil it in water with lemons and yo' drink it. Dat is supposed to be if anybody do anything to yo' for bad luck. Jes' like yo' is in bad luck - well, yo' do dat and dat is supposed to cut de bad luck off yo'.
Entry 1206
I walk to the forks of the road [crossroad]. I make four steps east and I make four steps west, I make four steps north and I make four steps south. Then I walk east if there's any dirt there. I gets me a small 'mount of that dirt and I bring it home and I take a little piece of pasteboard and in each corner of the house, if hoodoo is round, I just lay the dirt round in the corner, just lay it on the floor. If anything is in there that is hoodoo, it going to be moved. (You put a little bit of this dirt in the four corners of the house and then you tack this pasteboard over it.) Then the hoodoo is going to be moved, there is no mistake about it.