Browse:STATIONARY ROOT OF DOCTOR KING IN RICHMOND (Volume 4, entries 7254)
STATIONARY ROOT OF DOCTOR KING IN RICHMOND
Volume 4, entries 7254. Source context: THE PHYSICAL HUMAN BODY ITSELF → FOLK MEDICINE → A FEW MORE DOCTORS. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
Entries
Entry 7254
[Doctor King, my first great failure, I remember quite well. In a group of ten dissimilar men, I could still identify him: very black, very formal, very professional. Yes, he carried a medical kit! A recent arrival in Richmond, so he said, my contact man Carter found him just as he was about to leave home on a professional call. Only because Carter had an automobile, that would save time, could he see me for a few minutes to make an appointment for the following day.] If he git holta [hold of] yuh shoe, dere's a root dat yuh call stationary root. He kin take yuh shoe an' shave off a li'le dust, off dat root, an' put it in yuh shoes. An' yuh kin put yuh shoe back on yuh feet, yuh unnahstan', an' dere ain't nuthin yuh kin do. Yuh unnahstan'? Well, if yuh wan'a be successful or anythin' lak dat, yuh unnahstan', dere's nuthin yuh kin do. Anythin' yuh do is stationary, yuh cain't do nuthin. This stationary root is any root the mail-order firm or hoodoo drug store says it is.] [Richmond, Va., (392), 446:1.] Dere's a certain bone dat chew git a holta [hold of]. Yuh'll fin' dat bone right ovah 'is left eye. Yuh notice when anybody, somepin gon'a happen tuh any- body, yuh've heard people says, "Ah'm gon'a have bad luck, mah left eye jumpin [see Folklore from Adams County Illinois, 2nd ed., Nos.4035-4050, p.176]. It's de only sign bone yuh got. Yuh unnahstan', it's a soft bone, it's right ovah yuh left eye. Dat's de bone dat zhoo git. Now, dat's de bone dat chew waäh lak yuh do a black cat bone (see Hoodoo Pp.74-97, etc.). Keep yuh outa all dangah, any time yuh're goin' intuh trouble or goin' tuh be disappointed or anybody goin' tuh do somepin tuh yuh. Well now, listen. If yuh know a man or a woman dat dey wuh [were] undah forty-seven yeah ole, not oldah but undah forty-seven, an' if yuh know dat person, an' anybody kin git dat bone an' wrap it up in a black han'ke- chef, aftah he's daid, an' - yuh take dat bone an' put it in yuh cloz an' weah dat bone continly [continually]. An' evahthin' dat's gona happen tuh yuh, wheth- ah it's bad or it's good - when somepin gona happen tuh yuh dat's good, dis bone will git hot, yuh unnahstan', an' yuh kin feel it burnin', yuh unnahstan' fō'a short while. Now, yuh know yuh're gona git in good luck. But if yuh're gona git intuh trouble de bone will move, jis' lak yuh eye jump lak dat. It will move So dat choo kin feel it. [446:2.] Now, if yuh have a paralastic [paralytic] stroke, somebody give yuh [has given yuh] somepin, put somepin down aroun' de house [for you to walk over or touch] an' yuh cain't git along. Yuh stay sick all de time, yuh haven't got no pahtic- lah [particular] ailment, yuh unnahstan', but choo jis' pō'ly [poorly] all de time, bad health, no courage, no man of 'bility [ability] tuh make connection wit yuh wife, an' all dat kin'a stuff. Yuh absolutely know dat dere sompin wrong. Well, all right. NOW, YUH KIN DEDICATE AN' KILL ANYTHIN' DAT IS AROUN' YUH HOUSE AN' IT WON'T HAVE ANY POWAH TUH IT AN' YUH GIT WELL. [Doctor King Says to dedicate and kill an animal around the house will not cure no courage. The killing of animals as a remedy for impotence is common in Hoodoo: ants, Nos.31ll-3112, p.2342; frog, Nos.3198-3203A, Pp.2360-2362; liver of live dog, Nos.3425-2443, Pp.2411-2414; snail, Pp.2458-2470, and duckling, No.6787, p.3122.] To dedicate the animal before its death is not so apparent, except by intention. There may be in Hoodoo an example or two of real dedication.] Now, ah tell yuh [a second method] whut choo do. Yuh go tuh work an' cut a piece of cloth outa de baid [bed] when yuh be sleepin'. Unnahstan', cut a piece of cloth outa de undahgarment dat choo wheah. Set it afiah [afire] an' let it Smoke. An' git chew a handful of natchal [natural] table salt, pō' [pour] it in- tuh a bottle, an' hold dat smoke right on dat bottle an' it will fill dat bottle up wit smoke [demonstrates]. (You hold the neck of the bottle down [tilt it]. Yuh put a rag dere, de smoke goin' in de first hole it comin' in. Well, fill dat bottle up wit smoke yuh unnahstan', an' stop [up] dat bottle wit dat smoke in dere. De smoke will live, it cain't escape.
(The handful of salt is placed in the bottle before it is corked up.)
An' yuh dig a hole undah yuh step an' put it undah dere. An' yuh git well.
[346:3.]
[Doctor King gives us another impotence cure:]
Now, whu' choo [what you] gota do now, yuh gota go tuh work an' git a male horse, a stallion. Ketch some of 'is watah, yuh unnahstan'. Ketch some of 'is watah an' baz [bathes] yuhself [the penis] down in watah [stallion urine] an' dat will...yuh git chure courage [sexual potency] back. [A penciled note of mine made at the time of my pencil transcription attached reads: Do not use unless par [lparallel]] secured. This rite of perfect magic needs no parallel, though there may be one in Hoodoo or elsewhere. Since this rite was never typed I have attached to this sheet my original penciled tran- scription made a few months after the collecting.] [446:4.] Yuh [someone else] kin take yuh photograph an' go tuh de graveyard, an' walk aroun' de grave seven times, jis' lak de walls of Jericho when dey walked around it seven times de walls fell. Pick some dirt off de daid man grave an' put it intuh a envelope, an' put dis pitchure in dere. An' bring it back an' put it anywhere yuh wan'a put it, upside down yuh unnahstan', an' [the person of the picture] yuh'll pine away tuh death. [467:1.] [At the end of this brief interview Doctor King left to visit his waiting patient. Carter let him out of the automobile somewhere. Next day Doctor King failed to appear for his appointment with me. As soon as convenient Carter went after him. No one at the house had ever seen or heard of a Doctor King! Unfor- tunately the landlady Was out shopping. Normally I would probably have returned to New York City after my work in Richmond. Instead I took a flyer down to Petersburg to visit Doctor King's old address, the one he had given us. Again, no one had ever heard of him or his name. What had happened? Doctor King had probably sprinkled some of his stationary root dust in my interviewing room. At least, as far as he was concerned, we were stationary.]