Subject:Bathwater
Entries
Entry 3986
Yo' take dat chamber lye when yo' cook, make coffee or tea. Yo' jis' take dat an' put dat in de coffee or de tea an' let 'em drink dat. An' if yo' wash yore face, dey put jis' a little in de watah, de watah where yo' won't tell [notice] it, an' let 'em wash dere face wit it.
(What will that do?) Dat will hold 'em, make 'em love yo'.
Entry 3989
Yuh chamber lye, yo' drop seven drops in de watah dat yuh [he?] bath [not bathe] in. An' when he take 'is bath- bath befo', he gon'a do dat befo' he takin' any- thin' else. Well, he'll git dat odum [odor] or yo', or scent, eithah one. Dat's why he can't tell it [that urine is in the water].
(And just wipe off his face?)
[I evidently had turned off recording machine and am repeating what was missed.l Dat's right.
(What will that do then?)
Well, yuh see when yuh do dat, jis' lak a person take a bath yuh know. When he take a bath in yuh chamber lye, see yo' gits de 'fluence tuh 'im an' tuh yuh.
(You do that for love?)
Dat's right.
Entry 3991
Take de bathwatah an' mix it in lime wit it. [Here is one of those accidental treasures. The obsolete and now exclusively a dialect word, chamber lye, is known to almost everyone in the hoodoo world. It is usually pronounced chamber lye, because formerly it was used in making lye; but frequently the word is called chamber line or chamber lines - hence the preceding in lime. My transcriber had trouble with dialect at times, so did I for that matter; but in the present instance, after reading my comment which soon followed, she typed urine above in lime.] Stop it up in a tight bottle, place it undah de steps or any place by de street, whah [where] yuh have tuh walk along ovah, an' den dat will drive yuh away from home. (If they were doing it to me, they would have to take my bathwater and my urine to do it. That the idea?) Dere yuh are [= absolutely right]. [Had I not repeated the substance of the rite, I would never have solved the meaning of in lime. But out in the field I was not repeating for my transcriber, but for my own benefit at the very moment.]
Entry 4087
DAT [URINE] ONE DE GREATES' THIN'S IN DE WORLD.
(Tell me one thing you can do with it and why you do it.)
Yo' kin put a little bit in de cookin' an' control 'im - put it in de cookin'. An' yo' kin put some in yore bathwatah. Dat makes 'im stay home.
(Some of that urine - chamber lye?)
Yes. Make him stick tuh yo' an' he won't leave yo'. Mix it up yo' know.
Entry 5033
Yo' take dat [bath] water - jis' like if yo' had a wife an' yo' wouldn't wan' chore wife, yo' under- stand, an' she be - yo' go off, an' maybe yo' might come back. She kin put down dat sock when yo' go home. An' den [when you come home that's how] she come to git dat [bath water] - "I wan'a take a bath." She take dat water whut choo bath in an' she scrub from de front doah back [into the house]. Den she kin take dis sock of yourn from yer lef' feet, an' she kin measure [flatten out] dat sock under de doah [concealing it under the carpet or linoleum near the door], de length of de foot of dat sock. She take nine new tacks an' put down behind dat, tack it back in de house, an' he's bound to come back, he can't quit. An' she take yer dirty socks [the left one], she put it down, de toe to de doah an' dis heel right on back disaway, yo' see, comin' back.
(The toe is pointing into the house.)
Dat's right. [The informant's demonstration was correct, but her interpretation the reverse because she sat opposite me; hence my annotation.] An' she take nine tacks an' she measure it nine times, de length of de sock, an' dat bound to draw yo' home.
(How do you mean she measures it nine times?)
Jis' like if yo' git a sock, yo' put dat sock down, yo' put a tack dere [in the toe] till yo' put nine tacks - dis de length of de sock. All right. An' den she'll tack a tack at dat end [toe], an' she tack one at de heel, den she'll put dem other nine [seven] tacks between dem tacks, comin' to yo' [in a row coming into the house].
Entry 6381
Yo' kin make de girl love yo' dat way. Well, yo' kin take an' wash yore feet nice an' clean an' scrape de callous lightly, see. Go git chew a dime's wuth [worth] of beer or 15 cents wuth of beer an' put dat indere. Keep it always shet up good. Keep it in - an' co'se yo' could drink a glass an' give huh a glass, an' SHE BE JES' AS WILD ABOUT CHEW AS SOMEBODY ELSE IS ABOUT DERE BABY.
Entry 9089
Dey claim that if yo' use God's Name three times aftah usin' three different kind of roses, one a red rose, a white rose, an' anothah a kind of a pink rose - after usin' those roses - they boil those roses an' get de juice out of 'em an' takes a bath in dat juice. An' den take dat juice an' put a little bit in a vial or sumpin like dat in de pocket. An' put a mixture in dat wit High John de Conkah an' bluestone an' aloes an' incense; an' den use de word, "God de Father, God de Son, an' God de Holy Ghost" fo' nine times in de court- house. Dat'll be impossible fo' a judge to give a heavy sentence. [Elizabeth City. N. Car. (482), 498:8.]
Entry 9818
Dey'll take dat an' dey'll go tuh verk [work] cuz dey kin git nine needles - now listen, nine needles. Stop dat up, put dat in a bottle an' dey'll turn dat cross yuh step - cross de do'step - an' yuh can't go, neithah cross it. (They put this bath water of yours in this bottle to keep you in the house.)
Entry 12140
If you wanta get a job, work somewhere, you kin do that. And when you go round [to] 'proach a person, wet it [usually a handkerchief with what is coming later]. Well, when you first 'proach him, maybe he liable not to need no one. He liable to turn yuh down, say, "Well, now, I don't want no one. I couldn't do that now [at this time]. I ain't gonna do that." Somepin like that. You kind of fiddle around, put a little [of this liquid] round where he walk over it. Put some of that same stuff. If you kin get that close to the person at that time, and when you go back, you be around them a little bit. You not harmin' them with it or anything like that.
(What do you sprinkle around him now?)
You take - like if you got some of where he baths [bath water]. Somepin like that, you know. You take and put it with some nice Hearts Cologne. or somepin that smell, not too loud. And just be around, you know, like you be around talking with him and you just might put a little on your fingers or down on de floor or anywhere. Long as you keep that up, there'll always be harmony with you.
Entry 12429
Well the fact is, if yo' wan'a job, they have Mind Oil. You hear of it? Mind Oil. Well, suppose the boss's name John Henry. You sign his name to that parchment paper, put it in that Mind Oil. You will get you some paradise seed, get you some parsley. You take a bath with that. After taking bath, you must stay in that building all night, and throw the water out into the Middle of the street, see. And anything that instead of going contrary, you ill have a success with. [For "paradise seed" see margin title GUINEA SEEDS etc., P.570, v.1. Throwing bath water into street is a transference rite and remaining instead in building all night recalls ancient incubation rites.]
Entry 13256
Ah heard dat too. Lak if yo' a big bootleggah an' dere's several people dat chew want tuh come tuh yore house, an' yo' wanta keep de law away from yore house or somepin lak dat. Yo' take [and] burn dis sulphur an' ole shoes dat will stink, an' whilst yo' take an' burn dat sulphur an' dem shoes - git up first thin' in de mawnin' - take an' burn dis sulphur an' dem shoes an' aftah yo' burnin' dis stuff, yo' git up an' take a bath round about 'leven a'clock [at night].'Fore yo' take a bath, yo' take dis stuff an' put it in de watah dat chew take a bath in. Yo' take dis stuff an' put it in yore watah an' yo' set dere [until] ah reckon round twelve or one 'clock at night. Well, yo' git up an' yo' burn dis stuff ag'in - dis sulphur an' dis ole shoes an' sprinkle sulphur lak dat. Yo' git up an' den yo' put dis back in de same watah where de sulphur is. When yo' git up jes' about sunrise, jes' as de sun in peepin' up above de trees, an' yo' take dis tub of watah an' yo' go an' po' it out on de opposite of de sun - opposite where de sun rises, but de same side where de sun rise on. Yo' take dis watah jes' 'bout sunrise, dis tub of watah, an' yo' take an' dash it out on de opposite side of de sunrise. An' dis watah will jes' run right on down - dat drive 'em 'way lak dat.
(You do this early in the morning?)
Yessuh, early in de mawnin' jes' about sunrise. (Do you pour this water out on the side where the sun is rising up or where the sun sets down?) Where de sun rise - de same side de sun rise on, de same side yo' po' dis watah out.
(That brings in trade.)