Browse:Seals Are Hands (Volume 1, entries 2279–2282)
Seals Are Hands
Volume 1, entries 2279–2282. Source context: THE DOCTORS AT WORK: REPORTS FROM LAYMEN → HANDS: MAGIC HELPERS. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
Entries
Entry 2279
De seals [are] in de Six an' Seven Books of Moses. Yo' take dis parch' [parchment] papah an' de seal dat fits yore complaint. Take dis seal an' yo' put dis seal, aftah yo've copied it [from the book], in de inner sole of your shoe, de right shoe an' yo' wear it dere constantly an' read de 25th chapter of Psalms fo' nine straight mawnin's. (What will that do then?) Dat's supposed to protect yo' from all enemies. [Seals are usually said to be from the Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses, but an able doctor will sometimes make his own seal (see No. 2281) and occasionally a person will call almost any hand a seal.]
Entry 2280
Over heah on mah property had a friend boarded an' his wife quit him, an' she was tryin' to do him harm an' he writ to dis person [doctor] an' he sent a little article. Ah got one dem little articles now, but ah have nevah tried it. See dat.
(What is that?)
[He didn't know, so I describe it for the microphone.]
(It's a square piece of heavy parchment [imitation] - it's a seal - it's about 1 1/4 inches square on heavy brown parchment. [Printed on it is] Seal from the Book of Moses. What did she give him that for?) Wal, to git his wife back to give him luck.
Entry 2281
Take dirt dauber's nest and mix with mostly any oil that you want to. and make like a seal for yourself. Understand. Just write like - like this were - like a seal that's made on de Sixth and Seventh Book of Moses. Well, you take that and beat it out, you know, press it. Well it get hard, understand. Then you write just whomsomever you want - a person you want upon there - and wear it upon you, just like I'd come to you for a favor or anything.
(You mean, you write this seal on this stuff?)
Yes.
Entry 2282
(If I want a seal, just how would I do that?)
Well, yo' write chure own seal. Yo' take yore birth, de day yo' wus bo'n, an de ll8 or 'long somewhere lak dat in Psalms - lak dat. Fold it very.even an' pir it somewhere down heah in de front - jis' so it's in front of yo' all de time. An' den yo' might write one an', put it in yore right shoe, but it don't have to move. Yo' have to seal it - yo' know, put a muscilage on it an' put a papah ovah it an' seal it. Let dat stay dere - jis' let it stay in a warm place. Dat keep anyone from harmin' yo' dat's tryin' tuh harm yo'. Ah puts dat seal in it an' ah wears dat saltpeter in dat shoe - make a dust of it an' put a little bergamine [bergamot] in dere, an' have mah seal in dere al- ready. If ah don't, ah put a seal in dere an' den ah wear dat in dere all de time, an' once in a while put a little white sugah. White sugah is pretty sweet.
(That is if the shoe was dressed for me, that would undress it.)
Well, ah'd git dat job seal. De seals is re'lly good. An' if vo' write a seal fo' a job, yo' would put it in a pocket, in a tobacco sack or somepin [thus seal becomes hand] an' put it in yore pocket an' den yo' take yore bath an' git chew a little piece of conker [John de Conker] an' talk to it.
(How would you make that seal for the fob?)
Yo' would make that seal jis' lak yo' would make the othah seals. Seals is wo'n mo' now den anything. [The latter is a personal judgment of the informant - doctor, woman and good. Seals were practicaliy unknown along the Atlantic coast and not used often in New Orleans. Copying a seal, whether design or prayer, is for the lazy or ungifted practitioner.] Everybody that works have someone workin' ovah 'em an' if they [the law] git chew, why the madam or whoever it is, will make a seal an' git it to yo' - the seals of the law [the seals to conquer the law].
(Have somebody over you to bring the seal to you in jail?)
Yes.