Browse:Hoodoo Books (Volume 1, entries 827–830)
Hoodoo Books
Volume 1, entries 827–830. Source context: THE DOCTORS AT WORK: REPORTS FROM LAYMEN → THE DOCTORS THEMSELVES: BIRTH TO DEATH: DESCRIBED BY LAYMEN. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
Entries
Entry 827
Aftah de sun have rose in de heaven - uh-huh, dat pink. Now, mind chew, dat pink in de day an' de green at night.
(You always burn the green candle after the sun has gone down.) Aftah de sun is down. (What do vou use green candles for?)
Tuh make de green-eye monster lay wake de hours at night - tuh make him come, yo'see. Dat'll keep him upsetted, worried thinkin' about chew. He will come. Ah've tried dat. Ah had a book from Marie Laveau - dat wus known de bes' hoodoo had evah been in dis State.
(She wrote a book?)
Yeah, ah have her book.
(What is the name of it?)
Marie Laveau - dat's de name on de book.
(Just Marie Laveau?)
Yeah.
[Marie Laveau did not write a book]
(What does it tell you in the book - what about?)
Well, it tell yo' 'bout hoodooism - how tuh make yore man come back; whut tuh make him do.
(Where do you buy those books?)
Well, a fellah died an' ah don' know where he bought this one but he brought it tuh me. He paid $3.50 fo' de book 'cause ah gave him de money an' he brought me de receipt back an' dat book cost $3.50.
[After informant departed I comment as follows:]
(This woman that was just in here is supposed to be very good but I think she Was rather lost without her book. A finch woman.) [The first Marie Laveau of New Orleans died June 24, 1881, at the approximate age of eighty-five. She may or may not have been buried in St. Louis Cemetery No. 1. There Was a succeeding Marie Laveau, her daughter, and probably others unremembered. This has always been a common practice, to assume the name of a well-known predecessor - for example, see Dr. Buzzard and Madam Helen in Index.]
Entry 828
Yo' know ah wouldn't want nobody tuh heah me dat would do me evil, an' my thought would be ah don' know dat ah'm capable of whut chew ast, wantin of me. Dat wus de biggest thought wit me [before coming here]. Dat's mah biggest trouble, yo' see. Ah saw some books that give some thoughts on it an' that book say they had whut wus called move-away dirt, somethin' they would sprinkle down, an' it wus called hot-foot.
(What were the names of them - do you remember the names of the books?)
One of 'em wus a Vam-Van, a magical book.
Entry 829
You know you heard of the Seventh Book of Moses, the Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses. That book contains symbols. There's the symbol of Jupiter, Jupiter being the god of lawsuits and financial plenty. You cut that symbol, it is the black symbol copied from where they made them in Bible times and just before you go to trial you bury that symbol and you recite the 72nd Psalm, using the name lye[?] instead of God, which is supposed to forset all lawsuits. And those books cost $2.00, Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses.
Entry 830
["Root doctors using books - the Seven Wonders of the World - the Seven Books of Mosee - Dr. King said they were the same thing, 'They contain the same thing. 11 Richmond, Va., (392), 342:2; my note made from cylinder.]