Browse:FOLK MEDICINE (1) PRINCIPLES OF HEALING (Volume 1, entries 963–1092)/Part 2
FOLK MEDICINE (1) PRINCIPLES OF HEALING
Volume 1, entries 963–1092. Source context: THE DOCTORS AT WORK: REPORTS FROM LAYMEN → FOLK MEDICINE. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
1 listed entry is unavailable here.
Entries
Entry 1044
My own laig Was pizen oncest, an' dey had my laig pizened in a way dat I couldn't use it, see. And I went in a graveyard and I axt a fellah wat died and ah pay him a little bit, and I got dis same woman dat fix my laig up, pizened it. And I went to de same woman and she died, see. I got a piece of her dress - under pieces like and I went and got some of dat same [dirt] and I washed my laig in de water and that heal my laig up.
(You got some dirt from one grave.)
From one grave - a fellah wat died, and I paid him to use some of that dirt, see - and de lady wat dies, wat had my laig fixed, and I went and got a piece of de dress befo' she died, see, and I got de cloth and put 'em in dat water - in dat water with de graveyard dirt, understand, and I washed my laig in dat water about four or five times understand, and den my laig was well.
Entry 1045
[Any article a doctor prepares for his patient is dressed - prepared magically, because the doctor himself is a person with magic. See Dressing in Index.] I heard one day that a man had tricked 'im. This other man told 'im, he said, "Well, '' he says, "you tricked me but, '" he say, "I'll turn it back on you." An' [he goes to a root doctor]. He [doctor] says, "You take this [dressed] nail and go to a tree on the sundown side an," he said, "you driv that nail right into the tree in seven licks [blows of the hammer] an' he said, "tomorrow before twelve o'clock he'll be here where's he a-plowin' an'." An' he said he done it. An' he said jis' about three o'clock, he said, he wus plowin' in the field. He said he saw de man comin' han' [hand] on his head - looked like it[ [his head] about to run 'im crazy.
Entry 1046
He would go an' turn it [headboard of grave] back straight an' then put a cross on de - in de center of de grave an' take some of de dirt from de feet - de first fellah take it from de haid an' he [second fellah] take it from de feet, an'( cause de dirt dat he [first fellah] put to cause confusion - this dirt [by second fellah] would bring about peace. (What would he do with this dirt after he got it - this fellow who Was going to cause peace - what would he do with that dirt then?) He said he would take it an' overdress de same home - jist lak the othah fellah dress it yo' know to bring about confusion, he would take his an' dress it ovah an' it would bring about peace. (He just did the opposite to the other fellow? He changed the headboard - he simply goes there [to the grave] and reverses them [everything].) Yessuh - ah've heard dat.
Entry 1047
Dere was once a young lady she was very much in love - ah mean she wasn't so very much in love with the young man she was going with but she loved him, yo' know, the kind of love that chew kin break off when yo' git ready for it. But immediately de young man gave her a Christmas present which was a watch, and immediately after she received the watch - about a couple of weeks, she fell madly in love with the young fellah. Well, she quit him one while [had quit him once] and was going with another young man, and de young man dat she was going with before immediately broke off from her but she didn't know the reason why. Well, she went to a palmist and de palmist tole her that the person that gave her de watch had de watch dressed and that as long as she'd wear the watch, she would be madly in love with him. [There is an interruption here - probably a knock on the door. Before turning on machine again I evidently ask, "White or colored?"] A colored palmist.
(All right, go ahead.)
This colored palmist told her that he could fix this watch in such a manner that she would throw off de love she had fo' dis young fellah. And so he did. Ah don't know definitely whut he [palmist] done to de watch but he did fix it so.
Entry 1048
It was a nachur'l doll. They seem to think it was. And they had this doll baby fixed. And she went away to her mother's home and when she came back, de doll baby was in her door when she opened de door and she wouldn't put her hand on de doll. And they had this doll fixed for her and she took de doll and swept de doll in de fiah. And aftah she'd swept de doll in de fiah, three weeks aftah that, she got burned up. She burned de doll up. And they had de doll fixed so if she burned de doll up, then three weeks aftah that she caught afire and she burned up. [For an amazing example of victim fixed to burn to death, see story under margin-title Doctor Harris.]
(What should she have done with the doll?)
They said she ought to throw him away or get someone, you see, that understand that [kind of work] to take it up from there, and she don't have nuthin to do with it - jis' have it tooken away, jis' like they does now, anything that they take [and put down] and have anything [like that] taken away. [For doll baby, see following story, also No. 197, p.54, and Index.]
Entry 1049
Well, I kin make a little baby - accordin' who got a sickness, got any kind of disease, and how many times I have it. (You what?) I make a little doll baby, purtty it with all kinds of ribbons, you know, and I can - if I got any. kind of disease, just how many times I had it - and I make a knot in there so many times. If I had it three or four times, I makes [three or] four knots in that piece of ribbon and I tie that baby and I go and I drop it. The one that picks it up is the one that gets that - it be's off of me, I won't have it no more.
(I see. Well now, first you do something else. You have a disease, you say?)
If I had it, yes.
(Then what do you do?)
Wind the disease on the doll.
(You take the piece of ribbon?)
Take the piece of ribbon - get me - make a purtty little doll - make it like a saint - nobody will notice it cause it's purtty, and I get this pink ribbon and I tie it in a knot just how many times I had the disease, you see.
(Every time you had it. You tie a knot for each time you had the disease?)
Yes. Uh-huh. Tie them and put it on that doll - it go off me. Go off and leave it drop - it don't look like you drop it, just let it down in the street on the sidewalk anywhere.
(I see.)
And one person will pick it up. When they pick it up, well they gets that - it off on you then, no more for you.
Entry 1050
A man, just goin' around selling diff'rent medicines and things like that, and he'd work on these people where they just believed those things. He say mostly de trouble with those people - you ketch de majority of 'em now, he didn't say all - say in de majority you ketch 'em and they need a cleaning out. He say, "What I'd do, '' say, "I'll buy two or three pounds of Epsom salts." [Laxative or alcohol is the principal ingredient of many hoodoo medicines - see Index.]
Entry 1051
Yo' use a dime to keep anybody from poisonin' yo'. Yo' take dat dime an' a new file - yo' take a new file an' ten cents an' file it into a glass. Den yo' put into that about two good mouthfuls of sweet milk an yo' drink it down. Dat cures fo' seven yeahs - dat nobody can't hurt chew fo' seven yeahs. Yo' kin step ovah anything yo' wanta, eaten anythin' yo' wanta, an' dat silver will turn it. Dat ah've proven out dat, cause ah had a uncle dat had eaten somepin. [Could this remedy derive from the belief that, "The entire composition of the body changes every seven years?" FACI, 1st ed., No. 2855, p.139; 2ed., No. 3534, p.159.]
Entry 1052
[This story could have gone under margin-title Whipping, p.388, but I found it too late to include in the closed text. Besides, the hitting here is a little different from the whipping there - the doctor does the knocking.] She married a man - some root vorkah maked 'em [or make dem] marry. An' aftah dey married, de woman had been [become sick], take pain in 'uh side an' dey had to care 'uh to a root vorkah. An' when she valked in dis root vorkah say, "Ah don't put 'em togethah" - you know, put 'em togethah an' make 'em marry. An' when de woman valk in de room he say - he look in de woman eye an' ast 'uh why did she marry dis man. She say, "I mare 'im cus it vus love." He say, "No, it vusn't no love; it vus a hand put on yah to make yah mare dis man." An' de woman had a pain in 'uh side. She couldn't, you know, half valk. [Word woman is also heard as 'uman.] An' he tell all to go out de room. Jis' de woman an' dis root doctah vus in de room. An' aftah dat he make de woman stand up. De woman couldn't har'ly valk when she vent [to the doctor]. An' he vent out in anothah room an' came back wit medicine, an' he po'd some up in de top huh haid. An' he knock 'uh t'ree time on 'uh haid wit 'is fis' an' evah time he knock huh he jis' shut 'is eyes lak dat an'jis' blow. An' aftah doin' lak dat he tell 'uh to straighten up. An' de woman straighten up. An' when she straighten up jis' lak dat, he knock 'uh t'ree time in de back - fust [time] he knock 'uh in de haid. An' aftah dat he tell de woman, he say, "Now, yo' valk. Don't valk scared," he sayes, "yo' jis' pick up yo' feet - joo kin valk." An' de woman could valk good jis' lak she vusn't sick. An' he tell 'uh to valk on out in de po'ch [porch] an' come back. [She did.] An' he tells 'uh to lay down. He had a long chair in de room an' he tell 'uh to lay down in de chair. An' she, you know, laid down in de chair. An' he tell de woman to get up an' go on [home] but not in barefoot - she vus [had been] verkin' aroun' in barefoot. [This medical advice was to protect her against sprinkled or buried cunjuration, not against hookworm.] An' he tell 'uh, he says dat vus dis husban'. He say uh husban' had consult a root vorkah fer to put 'em togethah, jis' cus dey [cunjures] had powah 'nuff to put 'em togethah. Dat vus a woman cunjure [who put them together]. An' de woman vent back home bettah an' nevah did been sick no more wit pains in 'uh side. [Long chair is the only time I heard this expression. Since the informant surely knew the words couch and sofa, I am guessing the long chair was some type of deck chair - perhaps a Morris chair which has a bar and slots so that the back of the chair can be lowered or raised.]
Entry 1053
Dey came heah an' dey try tuh harm yo'. Well, it ain't but the one thing 'bout dat now fur as ah know. If dey kin go an' do that - now these things seem simple but it's this - red peppah an' saltpeter an' sulphur. An' yo' fix them things all together an' dat's jes' if yo' - jes' lak if dey write dat lettah yo' know. Yo' cut chew some little small papahs in pieces an' yo' put so much in there, much as yo' would think that ought to be hold in yore mouth, jes' as de sun rise. An' when de sun rise, yo' see, yo' git out an' yo' say that - an' yo' say, "Father, Son an' Holy Ghost." Den yo' blow dat out chure mouth - dat papah, but chew hole de papah in dat direction. An' when yo' blow it out, yo' let hit know yo' fightin' fo' me because ah have tried to mistreat yo'. An' yo' blow that fo' me. Well, de same thing ah had intend tuh come to yo', it comin' back to me.
(Well, what kind of paper did you put that on?)
Any kind papah, jes' long as it papah, but we mostly uses brown papah. (In other words if I write you a letter and you think I am trying to harm you, you take this stuff [red pepper, sulphur, saltpeter] and put it in a brown paper and blow it toward the sunrise.) [Then the paper is chewed or torn and blown.] Dat's correct.
Entry 1054
Really, de fac' 'bout it suh, yo' kin take a piece of new cloth an' yo' kin put it into a glass of watah an' let it wet good - dat is soak good an' den open it out. Yo' kin take a penny an' put on dat new cloth an' blow yore breath through it three times dat is a penny. Sew it up an' put it roun' yore neck or anywheres roun' yore waist, an' dere's no harm dat dey kin do to yo'.
(They can't put anything down for you to walk over or anything of that sort?)
Not a bit in de world. [For penny in cures, see next subsection and Index.]
Entry 1055
Dey always tole me, that chew git up in the mawnin' on Friday mawnin' an' blow yore house out - whut call blowin' yore house out - git up in de mawnin an' put sulphur in dat corner, sulphur in dat corner an sulphur in de fo' corners of your house. See, dat blowin' yore house out. Take de sulphur an' put it in a little somepin an' blow it tuh death. Say dat makes yore house lucky. (They call that bZowing out your house. After they put the sulphur in the four corners?) If dey put.sulphur in de fo' corners of dey house, den dey takes somepin in dey han' an' blow it all ovah de house lak dat. Den take dat in de corners an' burn it.
(You burn that in the corners?)
Yessuh, burn dat right in de corners. See, dat blows yore house out.
Entry 1056
Just like if you was poisoned, they use bluestone [= blue vitriol]. (I see. How do they do that?) They make a pill out of it. Just like somebody poison you, you know, you kin get - people kin get snakes, you know and put in you. Well, they take a snake, you know, and put a hole through him but they don't kill him. They put him into a fireplace or some place and build a fire somewhere and make a dry place for him - just like you going to dry something out, you see, and they'll dry him and let him dry till he be a powder like, you know. Well, when he comes to be a powder, why he'll pound that all up, you know. He's goin' to poison somebody then, you know. Well he take that then and sprinkle it in some water, or lessen wheresomever you drink at, or put it into your dipper or your cup or something of the kind where you drink coffee or something of the kind. And that will come to be a living snake in you again. You see, in a length of time you'll - that'll kill you, you will be full of snakes. Course, you kin take - you kin take then and if you go to the hoodoo doctor - well, de hoodoo doctors - I've lnowed people that had them things in 'em. Hoodoo doctor will give him a certain amount of bluestone. They take it in a pill but he will put it in a piece of tissue paper or something so it won't strike your teeth or nuthin of the kind. You hold your head back and drap that in your throat, and in about four or five hours time, why then he'll give you a dose of natch'l grease - grease what you cook with, about a half of a cupful behind that. Well, in about - well, I reckon in about six or seven hours, why he will give you another one of those pills. Well, that cure you first and last - he kin cure you with that, of that snake. If he's alive - if he's alive, he'll take him. Then [if snake is dead] he has something or other made like a cup, and he'll put it on you and cup you and draw that - draw that poison and stuff all out - you'd run it [remains of dead snake] in one place and draw it all out.
(What did he do with the snake then [by cupping]?)
The snake be dead - it going away [by cupping]. [This is my only example of cupping; I have none for the use of a leech.]
Entry 1057
It shore a sign of bad luck, if yo' goin' some place an' dere's some reason fo' yo' tuh turn roun'. Why if yo' don't [do] make a cross-mark an' spit in it, why dere's nuthin to it. An' then too, dere's anothah superstition among men dat if yo' urinate an' don't spit in it - ah learned dat from childhood, ah can't help but take dat forward when unwittingly I will do - ah learned dat from childhood an' ah will do it. But somebody kin do somethin' tuh offset chew, yo' understan', if yo' don't do dat.
(To harm you?)
Yes, to harm yo'.
(Where did you live during your childhood? Where did you hear that?)
Ah wus born in Fairfield County, Winnsboro [county seat], South Ca'lina, 'bout three miles from de village proper.
Entry 1058
[The preceding informant's words somebody kin do somethin' tuh offset chew...if yo' don't do that are proved true in the following two rites.] Well, yo' take a man's watah an' yo' put it into a bottle - ketch it. Don't chew pee in it, leave him only pee dere hisself. An' when he pees yo' take it in a small bottle. Yo' don't have tuh have a big one, but see dat he don't spit in it or nuthin lak dat. An' yo' take that pee an' yo' put it in a bottle. Well, yo' buries that right by yore steps. That brings him home. [This is a bottle hand - see subsection Hands - used in love rites.]
(That brings him home. Keeps him home?)
Dat's right.
(Why wouldn't you get it, if he spit into this?)
De spit supposed tuh not - might be killin' outfit whut he could do. Yo' see whut ah'm speakin' of?
(That kills the power.)
Now a woman when she could do dat - she's tuh watch an' see if he does dat, but ketch him when he wouldn't do dat - yo' see, lak a man would make watah an' he would spit in it. Den yo' kin take a man's watah an' put nine needles an' nine pins in it, yo' see, into this watah an' bury it anywhere upside down an' he won't pee any mo'. Dat will kill him. [Retention of urine, perhaps most urological trouble, is caused by hoodoo.] [New Orleans, La., (1568) 2878:9.]
Entry 1059
Dey tell me you kin take a bottle - listen good now - take a bottle with your husband's chamber lye. Just don't let him spit in it - just like he pass de water, don't let him spit in dere, see. And you take a piece of de underclothes - piece of his underclothes and you take one piece of his stocking from heel side, one piece off de middle, one piece to the bottom see, and den put them three in it and then you gets six needles - gold-eye needles and this - some kind of old-time cologne dey call - some kind of old-time cologne dey call - it's real sweet cologne. (Heart's Cologne?) [Informant could not remember. I had to suggest a name to get along with the story.] I'll say. Get dis Heart's Cologne and dey put dat in dere and then they put six needles, and they put six new needles - gold-eye needles see, and you put - then you take it and bury dat late at night. And den dey put 'em down at de head of yer step like dat and when you put 'em down you say, "You son-of-bitch, I want you to come back....
(The head of the bottle is upside down. There is a cork in it though?)
Yas suh, cork in dere too - airtight. Nobody - nothing can get into it. And say, "You son-of-a-bitch, I want you to come." And he won't have no nature for no other woman, just have to come back to you. [While checking transcription against recording I made a note "lowland dialect," meaning that the transcription is approximate.]
Entry 1060
This waiter, he was sick, he was cunjured right, poisoned to death, he couldn't walk, and I made it my work and took it off. I just got some red oak bark and boiled it and made a liquid, and went there and washed him good, I washed his feet, and put it down in the [outdoors] toilet and made a wish. [For an unusual example of scatology, one of the remarkable stories in this book, see No. 822, p.284; for "into privy' rites among persons of German descent, see FACI,2ed., Nos. 16488, p.905 and 16260, p.855.]
Entry 1061
Take some black peppah, salt an' sulphur an' mix it together, an' if they comes about chure house to harm yo' - come in, yo' know - sprinkle it on de floor an' sweep it. An' when dey come in an' go out, sweep de whole thing out an' that will stop dem from comin' dere an' cut off dere prosperity towards hurtin' yo.
Entry 1062
Well, this happened about five years ago [1931]. I had a boy friend and he met another lady down at his, Someone's house, here in Fredricksburg. Somebody told me he was down there so I went down there. I rang the doorbell and the old lady's daughter came to the door. She says, "Mama, here's Mrs. Smith." So the old lady came to the door with a broom and commenced sweeping all around. I knowed my mother done that same thing too. So I went on in and I say, "Where's So-and-So?" She said, "I haven't seen him." By that time he came walking down the stairs. I haven't been to that house since. Whether that broom kept me out of there I don't know. My mind just don't lead; me there.
Entry 1063
Well, tuh prevent dis now, yo' go tuh work - when yo' git up de first thing yo' should do when yo' git up, git chew a broom an' sweep. Sweep 'fore yo' walk around any place on yore po'ch, front po'ch, an' always sweep in front of yo', see. An' aftah yo' sweep, yo' go back an' git chew some sugah an' yo' throw that in front of yo. See. An' yo' kin walk on out any place yo wanta go an nuthin will harm yo'.
Entry 1064
Jest lak if anybody hangin' round yore place an' yo' don't wanta be bothered with 'em an' yo' don't wanta tell dem 'cause yo' don't know whut dey know. Yo' jest take de broom whut chew sweep wit - take de stick broom an' jest throw three hands of table salt behin' dem an' take dat stick broom whut chew sweep wit, dat salt, goes to de do' an' jest turns de broom up, an' dey won't be botherin' round yo' no mo'.
(You mean turn the broom up? The brush part up after you finish sweeping?)
Shore, that's right.
Entry 1065
Sweep yo' house out backward for nine mornings, that will keep him out.
(Keep what out?)
Keep de ghost, the dead spirit.
The informant names a ghost or dead spirit as what the sweeping practice is meant to keep out.
Entry 1066
If yo' has a enemy an' he always giving yo' trouble, any morning yo' git up - nine mornings - if he lives - whichever direction he lives at chure house - from yore house - whichever direction he lives, why yo'll git up every morning fo' nine mornings an' sweep. Never carry yore broom back nowhere an' jest sweep. Everything yo' got to pick it up, jest sweep an' sweep it clear for nine long strokes. [Demonstrates.]
(Nine long strokes. They are forward and you don't bring them back at all.)
[Never sweep back and forth.]
Jest bring de broom back, when yo' bring it back, sweep it [lift broom] clear
[of floor]. Give it nine strokes - nine long strokes [sweeping strokes forward]
an' nine short strokes [non-sweeping strokes backward] for nine mornings. An' yore enemy - de tenth morning she'll come up an' acknowledge everything, every wrong that she ever did fo' vo' (In other words your enemy can't do anything to you.)
The informant instructs sweeping for nine mornings in an enemy-directed practice; its promised result is unverified.
Entry 1067
Heard if anyone sprinkles things in your home, and I've known it to be true - if they sprinkle anything in your yard, in your home - Mondays and Fridays or certain days - Sundays, Mondays and Fridays - but you do this before the noon hour. You get up and sweep the trash thoroughly out of your front. Put sulphur in it and stick a match to it and burn it. You sweep your back thoroughly and you do the same otherwise, twice every week, that is to keep things found from around your home so no one kin [sprinkle] anything round to take to your body.
(I see, you must do this before noon on Mondays or Friday.)
Mondays and Fridays before noon.
(I see, that's to protect yourself against anything put down.)
To protect yourself and also change your clothing. And on Sunday night turn your clothing or either be sure that they are on the wrong side. Put 'em on twicet a week of that other same, the same days that you burn.
(I see. You change your clothes on Sunday, you say?)
You turns your clothes [Sunday night] so you kin put 'em on on Monday, Monday mornings as you burns the trash. Wear your clothing on the wrong side. Fridays the same. Then nothing kin be taken to your body. (I see. When you burn this trash on Mondays and Fridays, you must do it with your clothes on wrongside out.) And put sulphur in it whilest it's burning.
(Put sulphur in this trash that you sweep out.) [Mobile, Ala., (710), 979:2.]
[Broom rites, used for many purposes, are endless.]
Entry 1068
They say that chew kin take an' wear yore clothes that's next to yore skin - turn it wrongsides out an' wear that, an' bath in household ammonia and in saltpeter - a little pinch, an' a teaspoonful of cinnamint [cinnamon], an' bathe in it. Throw it Tused bathwater] to de sunrise and that will turn dere works back on dem. (You mix all these ingredients up in the same water.) The same water an' put it in three buckets of water in a bathtub or in a ordinary tub and bathe in it.
(What do you mean by putting it in three buckets?)
Three buckets of water - three, "Name of de Father, de Son and Holy Ghost."
(Warm water or hot?)
Warm.
Entry 1069
I can tell you, but I will tell you this because there's lots of people that don't believe in the Bible, you understand. But there's nothing I kin tell you without givin' it to you OUT OF THE BIBLE. Now, this is what you do. You get you some saltpeter. You know what that is. Put that saltpeter and cayenne pepper - that's red pepper ground up, that's what they mean - mix that together and you raise that sole, the inner sole that's in the bottom of your shoe, and you sprinkle that under there good. You take your underwear and get up in the morning and put it on the wrong side and at exactly twelve o'clock of the day you take it from the wrong side and put it back on on the right side. And then you take some of that saltpeter and you take a bath in it; put it in the water and bath yourself good and nobody can't harm you. [Informant's OUT OF THE BIBLE may mean some hoodoo book claiming to be a revelation from God, but I think the meaning is any cure comes from (is approved by) the Bible because the Bible believes in witchcraft - see introductory note, p.361.]
Entry 1070
You get a pair of hose an' - course if it's a man he get de white but if it's a woman it doesn't make any diff'rent in colors - an' put these stockin's on you, wear them. An' if you get up the next mornin' - when you go to bed at night if you take 'em off an' they're turned wrong side outward, you still put em on the same way the next mornin' until after nine nights and days, and then after, when the ninth night and day is over, you get a bottle of sweet spirits of niter, a little knife blade [small blade of pocketknife] of lye [the steel in the knife blade is a part of the ritel, an' you put that in the amount of water tha' chew wanta bathe with, an' make you a big hot fire. Be wearin' those socks. At the end of nine days they should have a hole in 'em, but if they doesn't have a hole in 'em you have to wear 'em until they does git a hole in 'em. An' then you take saltpeter and put it into those an' make a fire even if it's in August an' throw 'em in the fire an' say, "Rid me of my enemy." Partly why it don't make any diff'rent [it is difficult] for a woman because they're seen when they dirty. They wanta change 'em [which would ruin the rite]. But the socks the man wouldn't have to let nobody seen 'em because his trousers be's over 'em.
Entry 1071
They say if a person is trying to harm you and don't like you or some- thing of the kind like that, they say you must take your underclothes and turn them on the wrong side and wear them like that for nine mornings. See. And get up and repeat the Lord's Prayer three times a day. And that's why, they say, your enemies can't harm you.
(I see. Each morning you repeat the Lord's Prayer three times a day.)
Yes, three times a.day - nine, twelve and three.
The informant reports a practice said to avert an enemy's harm; neither an attack nor protection is verified.
Entry 1072
You take your last piece and wear it on the wrong side.
(What do you mean, the last piece?)
Your drawers. You turn them inside out and wear it on the wrong side. And then they can't hurt you.
Entry 1073
If anybody's tryin' tuh git to yo', happen tuh put anything undah yore do'step fo' yo', yo' jes' go dere an' turn dat right ovah - turn it right ovah an' let it stay right dere an' whut he put on yo', will go off an' be on him. (If he buries anything, simply turn it over.) Yessuh. [See Nos. 1058-1059, p.401f.]
Entry 1074
Get a piece of St. John the Conquer root, you get he and she lodestone and you put a little piece of it in a little bottle - a little small bottle with a big mouth to it, and you put it down in there and you get the very best perfume in the world which is Oil of Rose. (Oil of Rose.) And you put it in that bottle and you stop it tight and whenever things get - you get worried about anything, you put three drops on your head, "In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost" - in your hair and push it up [demonstrates while I comment]. (You put three drops in your hair and rub your hand around like that while you are saying, "In the Name of the Father, the Son and Holy Ghost.") Yes, sir.
(And you rub it over yourself?)
Yes. [This magic rite of upwards - to improve the situation - is rare compared to the downwards rite. Perhaps the best known of the upward rites is carrying a newborn baby upstairs to rise in life or become high-minded or long-lived - FACI, 2ed., Nos.3201-3206, Pp.144-145.]
Entry 1075
You start that - it's on his elbow [I mean] down here to his ankle. It start down there in the morning and at twelve o'clock it's middleway of his leg, of his ankle and his knee [at noon between ankle and knee], and in the evening at six o'clock it's at his knee. Well, it stays there then and all night he cain't rest and that morning it goes back in the center [between ankle and knee]. Then around at dinnertime [noon] it goes back down to his ankle, but it makes it back up here to his knee before night. [See subdivision Time and Hoodoo Spell, p.349; also Time in Index.] You take Jimson weed and make it into a water [tea] - put 'em on and boil 'em, the leaves. And you set that stuff in the tub or the basin and bath it [leg] the way the sun sets thataway, and when you did that and get through with it - you bath it about twice or three times a week the way the sun sets - then, when you gets through, you takes the water and throw it in the same direction. Well, when it go down here to the middleway of his leg [between knee and ankle] it'll stop, it won't make it back to his knee. Then, about the fourth or fifth day it will be at his ankle. It won't get no further and it will come back to the middle of his laig. Well, you goin' to continue to do that until it go complete out and he won't feel the misery of it atall. And that'll stop it - that'll cure that. [An example of downward bathing rite - see p.369f.l
(Well, how did he get that - get that thing in his leg?)
That by the distance where he goes along walking. That started that misery in his laig.
(And this just cures it?)
And that just cures it.
Entry 1076
[Cursing rites come in many forms - here's an unusual one:]
Walk over it an' cuss, it couldn't do anything to yo' lak dat. Ah heered dat.
(If you thought you were walking over something that somebody put down for you. All you do - just curse as you walked over it and it wouldn't harm you?)
Yes.
Entry 1077
Any spell upon you - you know that work from another - someone of your people like your mother or your father, something like that. You believe - you know, just like some people say that a child [child's] mother have cursed 'em, you see - didn't wished 'em no ways good, you understand, fer disobedience to 'em. Dey kin go to dese old- time grave and he kin change, you know, the footboard to the head and the head- board to de foot, but he'll have to pray unto her, you understand, to beg her for forgiveness.
(I see - that's if he wants to get - )
That curse off.
Entry 1078
But on mah husband's side, he went to a woman in Tampa an' she gave him some holy oil an' she tole 'im to put that holy oil - make a cross in his hand in de mawnin' an' make a wish an' wish de bad luck away, an' make cross on his feet at night fo' goin' tuh bed, an' in de mawnin' when he got up tuh read the 37th Psalms fo' nine mawnin's, an' that would kill de bad luck; an' read de 35th Psalms if he wanted something to happen to the person that did it. An' so he tried that an' his luck begin tuh change.
(Did he make this cross in both hands?)
Well, yo' kin make it in both or yo' kin make it in the strongest hand, which would be the right hand. (What about the cross in the palm of the feet?) [Palm of the feet, a common expression, shows she is retelling rite and I am repeating unrecorded words of hers.] Both feet an' make a wish.
Entry 1079
I order me incent [incense] an' a bottle of holy oil. This incent [demonstrates] I set it in this corner, this corner, this corner and this corner.
(The four corners of the room.)
Yes. An' ah burns them down at that corner. I git down dere an' ah wish fo' whut ah want - success, prosper, money. An' by burning that an' have yore whole heart an' min'on it, why it would - it comes true. An' when yo' burning that incent an' with the holy oil, yo' po's that holy oil on that incent, yo' see. Yo' order that. Ah don't buv it out de drug store. ah orders it mahself. An while it's burning yo' wishes. It's jest lak de Cath'lics, yo' know, by yore faith yore saved aren't [or not] an' by yore faith yore damned. An'by mah faith I always has success an' prosper an' everybody mostly likes me.
Entry 1080
Take de graveyard dirt an' carry it an' git de black cat's bone an' carry it fo' luck.
(For gambling?)
For gambling. Ah sells stuff dey call lodestone an' ah sell another one call High John de Conker, an' each satisfies 'em. Ah explains it so dey jes got faith in it.
(How do you prepare that? How do you fix it up then?)
How yo' prepare de High John de Conker? Well, yo' wear dat chew know. It's a root somepin 'bout dat long an' yo' put it in yore pocket an' wear it wit chure money. An' de lodestone yo' puts dat in a purse. Yo' know dere's a purse goes with it. Den ah has anothah stone dat comes in de oil called de holy oil. When yo' go in at night, lak if ah wanted to have luck, yo' uncork dis. It's in a little jar lak dat an' set it up ovah de mantelpiece an' when ah'm goin' out, take de lode- stone out an' wrap it up an' put it in mah pocket. When ah come back in at night, ah go to de jar an' drop it back in de holy oil. [Informant is a small- time curio products salesman: "Wilson, N. C., Fri., June 16, 1939...1468 - man 50 - sells articles - ng [[= no good, meaning he knew his own work but little about hoodooll" - Numbers Book 1291-1515. For an expert seller of curios, woman in Jacksonville, Fla., see Agent for Curios in Interviews Section.]
Entry 1081
Use this holy water - it's clear like rain water. You can take a bath in that three times a day 'cause I tried that - take a bath in that three times a day. And after you take a bath in the water three times a day - you don't use no soap or nothing, you bring it out and you throws it towards the sunrise. You see, like the sun rise over there, you throw the water over there and after you throw it you makes a wish. And if anybody got you tricked or anything like that, why, you see, you done throwed your troubles out there. Well, they cross over it and they catch it - that leaves, it get off you and get on them [see Transference, p.38f.].
(I see. Well, now, do you take that bath three times a day? How many days?)
No, you take it nine mornings - every morning for nine mornings, you take that bath.
(I see. Well, now, where do you get this holy water?)
You get it at the Spiritualist [or Spiritist or Spiritual] church. [This name is sometimes difficult to freeze into an exact word.]
(The spiritist church holy water, I see.)
Yes, sir.
(You don't use the Catholic holy water?)
Yeah, it's all the same. You see, the priest blesses it and he sends it out to diff'rent spiritualist people - chapters and all. You got to take holy water, if your house is crossed. Take the holy water and you see, you sprinkle it in this corner - the four corners of the house. In each one of them four corners you sprinkle the holy water and then take the rest of it and wash all in front your door for three mornings, and that will bring peace and success to your home. [See also Holy water Medicine, p.382, and Index.]
Entry 1082
Well, for instance, somebody might have the measles - that's the first thing to start with, a child with the measles. You cut right in the mole [mold] of his head - a strand of hair out of the mole of his head. Go right direct to that tree and take that child and stand him right up there like that - have to be a young tree though, willow tree or something of that kind that's growing - and you just take a auger and bore a hole right in there and take that hair.
(Right from the top of his head?)
Yes. Take that hair and put it up in there and take a stob [peg or stake] and drive it up in there, and the more that he grows over that [taller than the stob] why you [he] improve. [After the cure] you transport it [the hair] back here where most the people can see. [This public display of hair causing the cure violates the fundamental rule of secrecy; the cured ailment could have returned. I would say that something more than ordinary measles is involved here, because usually magic measurement of a child is confined to recurrent disorders. For a child measured against a tree to cure asthma, see FACI,2ed., Nos. 5660-71, Pp.254-255. Also for various complaints children are measured against many objects: door, fireplace, wall, floor, ground, stick, string.]
Entry 1083
[Many examples have been given of payment to the dead for their grave- yard dirt. Here, a doctor, a man offers a rare healing principle about roots:] De dime - some people uses a dime an' wears it around dere laig, so if dey walk ovah anything it'll turn black an' hit'll take it. An' den take a person, dey take a dime - same as if like if dey in de woods diggin'a root. Well, yo' supposed tuh pay off fo' dat root; if yo' don't pay off fo' it, it ain't goin' do yo' no good. When yo' diggin' John de Conker or de chew root - see, hit's a root dat grows in de woods dey call de chew root. Well, yo' kin take dat an' yo' kin chew an' go befo' co't. Why anywhere yo' wanta borrow anything, why jes' go ahead an' chew it an' spit it round dere and dey'll take sides wit chew. But when yo' diggin' dese roots an' things yo' should pay off in silver.
(Why is that?)
Well, dat's de sacrifice.
Entry 1084
Dey walk to de spring an' turn dere back. Whutevah dey scrape off where dey hurt at, even to de piece of cloth [bandage] from where it hurted, throw it ovah de left shouldah. Don't look back but keep agoin'. An' when it hit de runnin' stream it's goin' away from 'em an' whoevah dat did it, dey'll follah behind.
Entry 1085
[This rite and the next one, which are the same, come from Pinewood, South Carolina, original home of the persons telling.them. Although informants were interviewed separately, they probably knew each other. For another example of two persons with the same story, see Nos. 73-74, pp.30-31.] It wus a woman had a aunt who's hurt in 'er feet an' it broke out, an' dey git anothah man or woman - git a man I think it wus - to work on 'er. An' he take 10 ten-penny nail an' put it in a tin can, an' some brimstone an' some bluestone an' sulphah, an' buried it in de chimley feh nine mawnin'. An' ev'ry mawnin' he'd take dat can up an' rin' [rind = peel] de scuff [dead skin] offa it - you know, pick it offa dis wound - an' put it in dis can. [Then the can was replaced in the chimney until next morning.] Dey did dat fer nine mawnin'. Dat turn it back on someone who had it fixed like dat. Den dis woman commence gittin' bettah.
Entry 1086
[Comment at beginning of preceding rite applies here:]
They say if anyone hurt choo, that you'd take twelve ten-penny: nails an' put it in a open can, an' nine new needles, an' sulphah an' brimstone. An' you put it [can] in your fireplace, in back of de fiahplace, an' fer nine mawnin' when you dress that place [where you are hurt], you take that, whutsomevah you take offa you [the wound] an' put it in that can; an' jis' let it stay there an' burn until you git well, an' then the spell'll go back on the person.
Entry 1087
They had something like snakes in 'em; whole lot of things just working up. So I fixed up a remedy and she passed all those from her. I got the stuff and gave her it and she passed a rattlesnake first - the first dose I gave her. And then the next dose I gave her, she passed a whole lot of little things just working up. I was working down here and someone knocked at the door, the first time. He woke me up and he says, "Go to the back door." And there was a bottle at the back door. I went there. He told me to carry it to her. Well somehow another somethin' said, "You can't go." And I got the axe and took that in there and I struck the bottle and broke the bottle up. It was a bottle about that long and in this bottle was a piece of her dress - the back part of her dress. The reason why I know it was the back part, we found the dress on the back porch balled up in a corner and that's why I know it was a piece of her dress. We found it. And then there was a piece of hair in there and a whole lot of piece of needles - sharp-pointed needles and pins. In this bottle it smelt like cologne. And there was a piece of root in there - it looked like High John de Conquer root - was in this bottle. And there was a cork stopper in the bottle. We opened it - course I didn't, but I got another lady to open it for me. And we'd taken 'em out later on in a piece of paper and looked at 'em. This girl was almost crazy. So I got some - something told me to do this. I went and got some Jerusalum root. I reckon you've heard talk of Jerusalum root - a root that grows.
(Jerusalum root?) [Jerusalem artichoke?]
Yes. I just got that root and then I got some of these pokeberry roots and I got me some red pepper - pod pepper and I got me some fish salt and I put it into a boiler and boiled it all up together - cooked it all up together, and just cooked it enough to have enough for her to bath in. And I bath-ed her in this here for nine mornings, and then I had another - and her hair come off her head just like your hand [handfuls] she was just almost crazy. Then after bath-ing her with this, then I takes up this red pepper and some grease and mix it together with olive oil and just greased it good all over with this here pepper and oil together, after bath-ing her for these nine mornings. Then after doing it nine mornings, bath-ing her, then I told her to take those bottles and throw it all overboard, but not to do it before because I've heard people say if you were tricked and before you were cured, if you throw that away if you found it, why it wouldn't do any good.
Entry 1088
You use - black molasses and turpentine and sulphur is good for any time you got some kind of a inside ailment from the hoodoo. Its always - they mostly use that all the time for inside of you because that will make you purge - it'll purge it out you, see. This sulphur it'll get in you and help to kill it. As long as it alive, it ain't coming out. The sulphur will kill it. And turpentine, it helps - it takes pains from you, helps your stomach from paining you know. So you can have a very bad pain and that turpentine'll take the gripe out of it. And she takes this and she makes like pills with it and gives it to him. See. He take that and within three days he pass these things out - those frogs.
Entry 1089
He was fixed lak dat a long time ago. He was in de house an' he went out to feed de chickens, an' a lady sprinkle some powder down an' when he stepped ovah de powder somethin' lak a snake got in his laig, an' his laigs swoled up an' dey [doctors] had tuh cut his laig open an' left a lot of pus out. An' after dey [doctors] let all dat pus out, ole woman come dere an' sayes she could cure him. Hit swole back up agin after dey [doctors] healed it up. An' [again] some- thin' lak a snake was moving in his laig. She'd taken some mullein an' boiled it an' bathed his laig as hot as he could stand it an' set him right in front de fireplace, an'somethin' started fryin' in de fire lak it was a snake burning, but dey never did see him come out. She rubbed it [snake] right on down to his foot an' his laig went down [see Downward Rubbing, p.377].
(Do you know what kind of powder that woman sprinkled?)
No, sir, ah don't know whut kinda powder it was.
Entry 1090
If someone try do anything to you an' you die, you could put - jis' like de medicine you use in de body, you kin take dat an' put it in de grave when dey die, an' de person'll die right behind dem. [Note on my original pencil transcription reads "medicine in coffin."]
The body is named as a location of medicine use in a hypothetical account; the claimed later death is unverified.
Entry 1091
A boy was livin' down our house and he was goin' wid a girl and he quit her, and she says she gon'a have him fixed. So about a week after dat his leg swoll up, you know, jes' a kin'a roun' place like. So dey taken him to de doctor and it look like de more de doctor do for him de worser he'd git. So they taken him to a root doctor and he taken and give 'im a package, you know a piece of cloth, about as long as his leg was, and put nine needles in it and told him to, you know, when you go to sleep to lay his leg on that. And so he got all right. [The preceding medical pad for the leg is actually a hand. Many of these protective hands will be found in the following two subsections - (l) Cure and Protection, (2) Hands - and see Index.] [Wilmington, N. Car., (258), 253:4.] FOLK MEDICINE (2) [In Part One of Folk Medicine, Principles of Healing (p.361), some of the principles were given. Also, as I previously summarized: To catch a spirit or to protect your spirit against the catching or to release your caught spirit - this is the complete theory and practice of hoodoo (No. 38, p.24). We have now reached a place where specific substances must be named for guarding the uncaught spirit as well as freeing the caught spirit. Some of these substances have been described - here is a further list.]
Entry 1092
[The term Eve-and-Adam is more frequently used than Adam-and-Eve, a proper name for the plant, but what an informant means by either name I do not know - it could be a plant from six or seven genera. Since one informant calls this root (possibly a corm) Adam-and-Eve-and-Their Son, I would identify it as puttyroot, common name for Aplectrum hyemale, a North American orchid producing annually a solid corm, "two or three of which remain strung together." When there are two, we have Adam and Eve; when three, the son is added. This could suggest The Trinity or The Holy Family, but as often as I heard the plant named I remember the son once. Adam-and-Eve, like lodestone and some other objects, is one of these He-and-She ingredients - see Index.] Ah knows that. Ah had a cousin, she lived in Oil Town, Arkansas. She got poison, see. Dis woman had her howlin' [like a dog - see No. 775, p.256, and second cure under Dog in this subsection later]. Now, ah know this fo' a pus'nal fac'. She wus howlin' an' sometimes she jis' crawlin' on her knees, see. Stood up diff'rent times though. Mah uncle taken her tuh her daddy - he [daddy] taken her out heah tuh Newport, tuh Ca'Zine Dyer. He taken her out theah. She got some rattlesnake dust - ah nevah will fo'git this, an' she made some little bags an' she hung one undah dis arm an' one undah dis one, an' she went an' got some dat Eve-an'-Adam dust an' she place it on cousin right heah [demonstrates]. Now, mah cousin wus crazy - she wus stone crazy.
(Right on her breast?)
Yes. She wus crazy. One [bag] wus made outa rattlesnake dust an' one [bag] wus Eve-an'-Adam dust. Dis one right heah dat's Eve-an'-Adams' dust on yore chest, an' dat whut she put undah her arm dat wus rattlesnake dust yo' see. She put one undah each one of her arms. An' when she got that Eve-an'-Adams' dust, she put that little bag an swung it right there. An' she tole mah uncle tuh buy a bottle of turpentine an' say, "Now, fo' nine mawnin's straight yo' git up an' fix yore water in a washpan an' let her wash her han's fo' nine mawnin's straight an' throw it to de.east." An' mah cousin wus jis' crazy - she wus jis' howlin', she didn't have bita sense. An' when dat woman put that on her, she come back home an' she tole her mama, she say, "Ah feel lak a diff'rent pusson." Dat wus in Newport, [Arkansas]. Strictly brought her back to her min' an' she didn't have sense 'nuff even to entertain mama.
(How did he fix this water in the morning?)
Ah'll tell yo' whut chew do. See, yo' git some watah an' yo' put it in de pan an' yo' put that turpentine in there fo' nine mawnin's straight. Yo' see, yo' take it in yore han' jis' lak yo' goin' wash yore face - co'se lotta folks use a face towel but yo' use it jis' natural, yo' see. [For use it jis' natural, see also the Uncle Ben Mackey story, No. 918, p.337.] Rub it ovah yore han' and stroke it down ovah yore face an' throw it tuh de west. See, throw that tuh de west, an' yo' say, "Lawd, heah am ah. Take all mah troubles an' heal me, In de Name of de Father, Son an' Holy Ghost." Co'se ah wus with mah cousin when she do that an' she wus crazy. She wus jis' as crazy as a rud [red] lizard [see Index].
(When did this happen?)
Dis happen in 1929, Oil Town. An' ah nevah fo'git de woman's name dat did dat [spell]. Her name wus Lou T. [At a later date we shall meet Caroline Dyer again. See near end of my interview with Madam Collins of Memphis in Interview section.]