Browse:Lodestone: He and She (Volume 1, entries 2068–2072)
Lodestone: He and She
Volume 1, entries 2068–2072. Source context: THE DOCTORS AT WORK: REPORTS FROM LAYMEN → HANDS: MAGIC HELPERS. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
Entries
Entry 2068
In gambling, you wanta have luck in gambling, you got to - of course, you can go to church and make your wishes there for anything you want. I have did it and I was successful too. And now like you wanta be lucky in gambling, you go to a drug store wherever you can find - you get you a piece of John the Conker Root. You get some John Conker Oil and the root. You take this root, you put it in a bottle, you pour this oil on it. You get you a piece - if you are a man and wanta gamble, you get you a piece of she lodestone and you get some per- fume and pour on this lodestone and that'll make life in it. What I mean by, by it make life in it - it would make a lodestone as thick as this key [she shows] when you pour that perfume on there. It will grow and little spangles come out all around it, but you gotta keep it corked up good.
(Little spangles. Little hairs?)
Yeah, that what it do. That's the life in it. And if you are a man and you gamble, you use she lodestone. If I would gamble, I would use he lodestone. I would get the he Conker Root and you should get the she Conker Root. But now when you go on gamblin' and you come home, you always take it out of your pocket and put it in the bottle and shut it up, where the oil won't evaporate. And when you go on out you can take a piece of that Conker Root and chew it and spit it around whenever you gamble on the floor and you will be lucky.
Entry 2069
Dis here magnify lodestone [magnetized?], that will create chure busi- ness, make yore business more greater. Yo' know dere's two diff'rent kinds of stone an' dere's some lodestone that ain't magnify lodestone, which de magnify lodestone whut chew call a he an' a she - dere's two points of it, dere's a she an' a he. Yo' kin take dat'un [that one] an' set it in yore room an' hit will increase your business more greater 'an anything yo' mostly ever had. Ah've used it and ah've seen other people use it. (You mean this piece of lodestone is both he and she, or are there two differ- ent pieces?) Two different pieces but dere's a he an' a she in 'em.
(Magnifying lodestone?)
A magnify. Dere's lodestone but dis heah magnify lodestone is a whole lot better. Ah've got heah magnify lodestone now, with me now. Course whenever it's died down ah creates it up.
(How do you do that?)
Ah creates it up by giving it some whiskey - put on it. Ah'm gittin' 'long all right. Whensomever ah don't use whiskey on it for say, three-four weeks, why it goes down on me. Ah kin tell de change of it. But yo' kin take dese magnify lodestone an put it in dis building heah, a piece about so size [demonstrates].
(You wrap it up in a piece of rag?)
Yeah, jest about dat size.
(Only this little piece?) [The piece he held.]
Yeah take a little piece - don't care how big it is - yo' take an' put it in dis building [Negro hotel in which I was Working] yo'll cultivate more business. Yore business will be more greater. Why ah happened tuh write to dis fellah, ah had a friend an' mah friend he got in touch wit dis man by name of Johnny. He got in touch wit dis man an' ah wrote to him. He give me dat address an' ah wrote to him. When ah wrote to him he give me an answer back. An' after he give me an answer back, then ah wrote back to him an' then he sont me - he sont me this lodestone.
(Where did this man live?)
In New York [City]. An' he sent me lodestone an' he tole me how to handle it - what to do fo' it. An' ah did it an' ah has had very good luck.
(What did he tell you to do for it?)
Tole me to put de magnifying lodestone in it [sack] an' put one ten-cents with it - one ten-cent piece with it.
(You put whiskey with it?)
Put whiskey with it an' then put a dime with it.
(How long did this stone last you?)
Well, ah've it yet. Ah've got it continuing yet.
(If the stone sort of got weak, then you were told to?)
Put whiskey with it. Feed it, feed it and keep afeeding it.
Entry 2070
Yassuh, ah experienced dat. De way yo' do, yo' git chew a piece of John de Conker root and a piece of de devil's-shoestring and a piece of lode- stone. Dere two kind of lodestone, de male lodestone and de female lodestone. Git chew two pieces of dat lodestone.
(The male or the female?)
A piece of each, yassuh, an' put 'em in yore pocket. Put 'em.in yore pocket or pocketbook, anything - in yo' shirt pocket, coat pocket, anything jes' since yo' got 'em about chure person. An' dat John de Conker root, yo' jes' chew dat root and jes' ack likes it's 'bacco and be jes' chewing - chewing it an' talkin'. If it's any kinda job, yo'll git it.
Entry 2071
When you got a case or something like that and you want to get dis- charged, well you go and use a thing they call lodestone - it's two pieces, it's the he one and a she one. Take and wrap it up in a dollar.
(In a what?)
Take and wrap it up in a paper dollar.
(Paper doll?)
Paper dollar.
(Paper dollar? Oh, a dollar bill.)
Yes, a dollar bill - one dollar bill, and you wrap it up in there and you keep it in your pocket, and when you go - well, when they call you up there in front of the court, well they going to throw it out - they just going to tell you - throw it clean out of the court.
(Well, which piece of this lodestone do you use in that dollar?)
You uses two pieces - it's the he lodestone and it's the she lodestone, it's black lodestone and a white lodestone.
(Which is the black?)
It's got fringes on it just like iron rust. You see iron rust on a old piece of tin. Well, it thataway when you knock that dust off of there.
(Well, is the black the he or the she....? What color is the he lodestone?)
It's white.
(What color is the she?)
It's black. It's got kind of a nose - kind of a tip on the end of it.
(Which one?)
The black.
(Which one did you put in this dollar?)
You put both of 'em. You make two folds with that dollar and you fold it up. You put one just like that and you make another fold, you put that other piece, and you bend the four corners of it together. Then you take this and you put it in your pocket and you keep it and you go up there. Every time you go up there they discharge you or either throw it out, say you come the next day or somepin.
Entry 2072
You kin fix that yourself, far as I know. I have did it and I know it holped me out, 'cause I was selling whiskey and I used it. Now, you take the John the Conker and a little lodestone, that is [if] you kin get hold of a piece, a lady piece, and make you something like a toby - just sew it up in a piece of flannel with silver in it. They sav vou use a silver dime and you keep it damp with alcohol. Keep it damp with alcohol all the time and put it up over your door where your customers come in at. Then that will draw plenty of customers. One will bring the other and everyone pays his own way, and they'll be back again - everyone.