Subject:Dove
Entries
Entry 930
(When was this - last year?)
Last year, my wife got hurt in her leg. Dey had her up ev'ry night at twelve o'clock hopping like a dog [see correction later] - she couldn't sleep. And she just tell me, say, "Somebody done something to me." I say, "Well, I see if somebody done something to you." I went and got me some dove blood. (Dogblood?) Dog blood - a dog; I order it - dove blood.
(Oh, dove - dove like a pigeon, dove blood?)
Yes, sir.
(Yes. You ordered it?)
Took dat and ah fixed dat in some medicine and give her dat and let her take dat and den I rubbed her, you see, with dat Noozoo oil. I rubbed her good and in fifteen days, den I turned dat spell back on de person what put it on her. You see, when I turned back on dat person, den -
(What did you put that dove blood in?)
I put dat in John de Conker root - took John de Conker root and boiled it and made de medicine and then.poured that dove blood in it. You see.
(I see. And then how did you give that to her?)
I let her take dat fus' like a doctor would give it to her - a suscription, take a tablespoonful three time a day before each meal. And when she'd taken dat little bottle full, dat long, den she could get up and go.
(I see. And you say you rubbed her or something?)
Rubbed her with Noozoo oil.
(You rubbed her with that Noozoo oil?)
Yes, sir.
(And then how did you turn that spell back on the other person?)
Well, you go - the person what done it, you ain't goin' never know who done it until you do it and then you goin' have the complaint. See, you figure who it is and where dat person is passing back and forwards. You git in a conversation wit 'em and you begin to do things - you see, put things down where dey kin walk over it, you see, and pass back and forth by it, and they'll ketch this yere. When dey ketch it, dat's got the slam offa her, you see - it's on dem, you see. And den, if dey don't get somebody to get dat offen dem - if dey don't get de person what put it on before he die, they never will get it offa dem.
Entry 6794
(How do you do that?)
[Something will] cuz warts on yo' haid or on yo' body, yo' know. Well, if it's on yo' haid, yo' kin git de - kill a dove, yo' know. (Kill a dove?) Git 'is heart out an' scrap de bottom of 'er feet; yo' know, husk scuff, scrub off where yo' feet [have become rough]. An' yo' puts dat in watah an' yo' boils it an' an'ints wit it three times a day. Ah mean three times a night: befo' night at six o'clock, twelve at night, an' six o'clock in de mawnin' [this is the well-known FORMULA 6-12-6, No.2885, p.830 and elsewhere]. But yo' always an'int wit dat at night, not durin' de day- tine.
(THAT'LL TAKE AWAY THESE PAINS THAT PEOPLE PUT ON YOU?)
Dat's SO. SuPPOSed tuh be Wit ANY KINDA PAIN DAT IS PUT ON YO' DAT YO' WASN'T BORN WIT. (Well, would that take off a pain that.someone put a spell on you? With that Lind of pain?) Dat's right. Dat's so [true] too. (You have to do that at six in evening, at twelve at midnight, and then at six o'clock in the morning?) In de mawnin'. (I see. You boil this dove heart and the scraping from the bottom of your feet.) [This rite presupposes the patient's walking barefoot much of the year, pick- ing up all sorts of bad smells and tastes odious to the disease-or-pain spirit captured by the spellcaster. The latter, called witch and many names, dislikes: Spitting, obscenity, animal manure, human excrement and urine (see FACI, 2nd ed., Bos.16481-16499, Pp.903-908). Our present rite is a hair-of-the-dog-that-bit you oae. Since the victim picked up his witchcraft or cunjure pains through his feet, he will rid himself of them the same way. Rites sending pain, even live things fn you, out through your feet, often through the big toe, are fairly common in Boodoo. Killing the dove is double or back-up insurance.]
Entry 11331
Ah said, jes' lak someone is gone an' yo' want 'em back home, why yo kin take a dove - git chew two doves. Kill one de doves an' let de othah one be live. Jes' lak, say fo' in- stance, yo' want Charlie tuh come home. Drop three drops of dat blood outa dat dead dove on de wings of dat live dove - on each wing - an' call Charlie's name wit each drop of blood. An' drop three on de next wing an' call Charlie's name. An' turn de live dove aloose an' let him go wit dose six drops of blood on his wings, yo' see. An' dat will bring de person back home whut chew wanted back.
Entry 11332
Don' want chew tuh mess with a dove. Anybody [everybody] crazy 'bout a dove an' ever'thin' else 'cause dey say he discovered dry land, when he went out. If dey take one of his[!] aigs or anythin' lak dat an' bust up one of his aigs, yo'll be ragged all de time.
(He discovered dry land in the Bible.)
Entry 11334
Yo' kin git a dove, a turtledove. an take de heart out an' let it dry. An' when yo' dry it, yo' kin take a red strip - a string - an' wear it round yore right arm. [I turned off recording machine too soon.]
(That's luck for what?)
Fo' gamblin'.
(You get this from a turtledove?)
Yes, turtledove. Yeah, de heart of a turtledove.
Entry 11335
"Bout takin' de mo'rnin' dove [= turtledove] an' takin' his heart out, dat's fo' fixin' somebody. Yo' know, fixin' 'em in any kinda way dat chew wanta, so dey mindless. Dey take de heart out of a mo'rn- in' dove an' have it parched up until it jes' be like ashes or a powder, anythin'. An' say yo' kin take dat an' put dat intuh any watah or anythin' dey use tuh drink, or anythin' dat chew Wanta put it in, an' from time tuh time after yo' give it tuh 'em in de weeks dat dey live, dat dey would be jes' mindless or go jes' crazy.
Entry 11336
(Well, tell me about the dove's heart then.)
Just like I and you is enemies. I get me a dove and I'll take the dove and call your name, you see, at twelve o'clock at night. And I'll take that dove and I'll stab that dove through the heart and call your name In the Name of God, the Father, the Son. And when that 股中 dove - when that pain hit that dove it supposed to hit you, you see, and that will effect you, and you will wilt down just as that dove die. You see. But you gotta call your name and hit that dove through the heart with the knife. (I see.) [This is only one of many times in HOODOO I was used as a guinea pig.]
Entry 11337
Well, yo' take now fo' love - yo' know whut dese little ole hoot owls is, yo' know. No, ah mean dese little morning [mourning] doves. (Mourning doves that coo-coo like that?) Yes. Well, see a person kin go out, chew know, an' kill one of dem an' cut de tongue from under his mouth, an' place it under yore tongue in yore mouth an' kiss a girl, an' it'll be hard fo' yo' to git rid of her. She'll come to be in love with yo' an' yo' couldn't git rid of her.
Entry 11338
Mah husband had quit me once an' a girl tole me about a dove. She tole me tuh take de tongue of dat dove an' put it tuh dry, an' den lay it in Hearts Cologne, an' den when ah gits a chance tuh go wit mah husband, tuh put it in mah mouth an' kiss him, an' his love would come new ag'in to me. So ah tried it an' suah enough, it did.
Entry 11340
Dere's a love powder yo' kin make, too. It's made from a dove, a turtledove. Yo' git dis turtledove an' put him in de oven an' jes' bake him dere until he dry. An' yo' make a powder an' sprinkle dis powder, a teaspoonful of powder into a cup of wine, an' dat will draw de love.
(Of the person that drinks it?)
Yes.
Entry 11341
Dese little mawnin' birds like a turtledove, dey calls it - lak a dove, a mawnin' dove. It's lak a [something] but it's a smaller bird. See, if dere's a sick[ness], dere 'fliction around de house, yo' see him come light around dere. Pretty soon dat's a dead body. [A note of mine reads: "The drunk who came in twice.'"'