Subject:Enter
Entries
Entry 4555
Ah've heard of 'em. Dey takes dat li'le bow. Well, dey takes dat li'le bow dere an' dey walks aroun' dat house. Dey goes roun' dat house nine times an' bring de bow back in de back do', an' walk through de hall tuh de front do' an' put it ovah de front do'. Conceal it from dis man.1 He nevah know where it at. An' long as it stay dere, dey got dis man.
(A woman would do that to hold a man?)
Tuh hold de man. No harm perform on it, no mo' den a deep taste fo' love.
Entry 9129
[The word Lamed in this rite is the title for lines 89-96 in Psalm 119, which is broken up into a number of named sections. Lamed is not the au- thor's name but a direction. Verse 94 shows why this portion of the Psalm was chosen: I am thine, save me; for I have sought thy precepts. In recent years these courtroom rites, like the present one, could be called fox-hole or shell-hole religion. The Lord is not a Way of life but a last resort. Our rite has another interest, one of the oldest and commonest of all beliefs, the right foot first: Always start a journey right foot first for luck - Folklore from Adams County Illinois, No.12829, p.367, 2nd ed.] Well, yo' take sage leaves an' yo' write twelve names from de Bible, twelve names on each leaf of sage.
(You write one name for each leaf?)
Yes. An' yo' put it in yuh shoe, de right shoe firs'. [I must have been nodding here! Does it mean 6 leaves in the right and then 6 in the left? Or does it mean alternate: one right, next left, etc?] An' den yo' read, yo' read de word of Lamed in de 119 Psalm befo' yo' go [to court]. An' yo' PUT DE RIGHT FOOT IN FORWARD FIRS' an' yo' read dis 119th Psalm, de word of Lamed, an' yo' turn evah thing bottom upwards in de house: chairs, stools, evahthing bottom upwards, an' go on down.
(Before the judge.)
Entry 9317
Ah don' know how dat is. Say if its de p'liceman or some law on de beat, yo' know, dat yo' could write dere name on a egg an' bury it at de steps, an' dat will prevent 'em from comin' in. (You write their name on this egg and bury it. At your own steps?) At yuh own steps. (That will keep the law from coming in?) If yo' sellin' whiskey in dis house or somepin. An' whoevah is on dis beat, yo' could bury de egg. Write de name nine times on de egg an' bury it at de front steps, an' dey wouldn't come ovah dat egg.
(I see.)
Entry 9511
Yo' rise early in de mawnin' befo' de sun rise an' put salt befo' de do', an' nobody will nevah come in de gate.
(That is to keep the law away or your enemies.)
Entry 9756
[Here in italics is my notation about a rite my transcriber forgot to transcribe: 9 new nails evil wisher drives in your home where you walk over or at doorstep. Go inside and turn around and drive 'em into floor going out as you leave the house. Run 'em out. Nails go out in a row, but the last 3 together. I suggest that the last three nails grouped closely together, the nailheads forming a triangle, represent the 3 HOLY NAMES. Memphis, Tenn., (962, informant good), 1553:6.]
Entry 9771
Well, ah've hear'd of settin' dem nails. Jes' lak comin' up tuh yuh do' dere [in interviewing room] yo'd set dem nail wit de point down - pointin' away [demonstrates]. (Pointing away from the door.) Yes. An' [you] have tuh boil all of dem nails in sulphuh, brimstone, peppah an' bluestone. Dey [unwant- ed person: law, rentman, etc.] can't come [in] tuh save dere life. [Here I turn- ed off recording machine too soon, missing the first few words of the demonstra- tion]...place dem up lak dat [demonstration continues]. (How? Have the point straight out like that? [I demonstrate]: And all this stuff is underneath there [the doorsteps]? This lime and all this stuff?) Yes.
Entry 9891
Yo' take a toadfrog alive an' yo' sew it up. Yo' puts 'im in a sack, sew 'im in a sack 'live. An' den ah cain't git tuh yuh bed, see, but dere is a fren' woman dat kin git tuh dere dat is a pers'nal fren' of mine. Ah give huh dat, tell 'uh tuh put it in yuh bed, in yuh mattress, see. An' when she slip dat, put dat in dat mattress, yo' become restless an' dose things will come tuh be in yuh flesh, becuz ah got de frog in dere. An' ah got de needles in dere, dat make de pain come. An' den dat git chew restless on de bed. Don't care when yo' git in dat bed, yo' gotta git out an' gits dressed. An' den all ah got- ta do den, aftah ah got it in dere, ah'll come tuh yuh house; an' when ah come tuh yuh house, if ah ketch yuh back tuh me, see, ah sprin- kle yuh bed wit dese [some kind of] powdahs. Ah sprin- kle dat, else ah drop one or two drops of dat perfume on dere.
Entry 10208
If there's something that you don't want taken regardless of what it is, if you don't want it taken - for an instance if you take, if you lock your house they going to break in, and you don't know how to do for to keep 'em from taking your things. Well, then, first I would go and I would get me some sassafras [roots or pieces of bark]. I'd get some sassafras and I'd get me a knife and I'd trim this sassafras, see. I'd trim it and every little piece that I'd whittle off it [demonstrates].
(Every piece that comes off, what do you do with that?)
Every piece I trim off - I'm going to trim it off until I get to nine pieces, and every time I get the nine pieces, I'd count the nine pieces. I'd get them nine pieces and I'm going to put nine pieces here [demonstrates]. I cut off until I get nine more pieces and I'm going to put that there until I get four times nine. See? Well, all right. Now, I'm going to set it on the outside of my door. That's the corner of my house and that's the corner of my house. I'm going to set nine pieces there and nine pieces there, and at the back end of my house. I'm going to set nine pieces.
(You have nine pieces in each corner of the house.)
In each corner of the house, but on the outside. Under my house, if I can get under there and get to where the fire part is - the fire-hearth part is; under the house, you know.
(You what?)
Get under the house, underneath the house and get to the fire-hearth, see.
(Oh, the chimney - the fire-hearth.)
Yes, the chimney. I take and I put me a Bible there. I put that Bible there. I puts the Bible up under that house and I puts a candle there, and I leave that candle burning, see, and I leave the Bible open. But I put a piece of something in front where nobody can't learn that candle's burning there, you see, and leave it burning there. And then I come out from under that house and I locks my door, and as I'm coming out I'm sprinkling a little sugar, you see. I sprin- kle sugar as I come out, you see, until I get at least fifty feet from my house, you see. Then I won't sprinkle no more sugar and I can go and stay from three or four days and come back. Nobody will go in that house, nobody never go in there.
(What sort of a candle do you burn on that chimney?)
I'm got a ordinary white candle. (A white candle, I see.) [Here we have a quincunx, 4 corners and a double central point - Bible and candle.] [New Orleans, La., (832), 1249:2.] [If the reader is approaching this multi-volumed HOODOO archive for the first time, he or she must be told that the present beliefs and rites about sex are perely a continuation of 167 pages of similar material published in volume 3, Nos.3ll0-3830, Pp.2341-2509; material listed in logical sequence according to the Table of Contents for volumes 5, 4 and 3. The material now following could not be so conveniently arranged, though it does have a certain amount of alpha- betical order and other continuity. I am dividing this section into two parts: (1) COMPLETE RITES and (2) CONDENSED RITES, these latter sometimes a reference oaly.]
Entry 10230
(To get your wife back?)
Yes sir.
(How do you do that?)
You just go out there to them front steps and you kin take a piece of her toe of her stocking or the heel, and she [not] going to pass over that. She - all you gotta do is to git it down in de ground under them steps, de toe of her stocking or de heel, or a piece out of her bloomers, out of de seat of them. Put it down in there under them steps and bury it, and if a man comes there, he won't come up them steps. He come there and - and call her and they'll stand there and talk. And if she want anything at de store, she send him. She ain't going to go out of there.
Entry 10779
Take a broom an' turn dat broom bottom upward - de part dat chew sweep wit, turn it upwards, an' git chew a clean towel an' put ovah dat broom an' call dere name. Call de person name an' dey cain't cross de sill of yo' door. Dey kin stay outside an' wanta come in, but dey cain't come in. (You leave this towel right over the broom?) Right ovah de broom. An' yo' call de name just once. Call it mine times. Anything yo' do in dat line yo' supposed to use nine or seven.
Entry 10831
Well, if yo' want somebody tuh come in de same do' of yore house all de time, yo' git chew a straw out of a broom. If it's a man, git de bow out of his hat; if it's a woman, jes' take one of her tracks. An' take dat straw an' stick nine straws around yore front, an' dey [man or woman] won't nevah come in yore back do', dey will jes' come in de front do' all de time. (Well, what do you do with that stuff that you get from them? Where do you put that?) Put that? Yo' put it with de straws. If it's a man, yo' take an' put one up ovah de do' - see, one of dem straws. Yo'd have tuh have nine straws from yore broom, yo' understand. An' if it's a man, yo' take one [broomstraw] with de bow of his hat an' stick it up de do'. If it's a woman, jes' take her track an' where yo' put dis straw, put some of dat dirt right down aside of dat [foot track] right round in front of yore house. An' dey coming dataway all de time.
(Well, why don't you want them to come into the house any other way but that?)
Well, dat's in case a man got a woman an' she messin' with anothah man, an' she kin always have him tuh go out de back do'. See, make him come in de front do' an' he kin go right on out de back do'. Have it locked an' he won't nevah go to de front do' - see, nowhere but de front do'.
Entry 13250
I stayed at a place up north. Every morning when I kindled de fire- I gen'a'ly made de fire - they had a package of sulphur there on that stove. When it was hot, they would sprinkle de sulphur on it, to fumigate de house with sulphur. They said that kept off the evil spirits and give it luck. (Every morning?) Every morning they'd sat- urate dat stove, when ft. got hot, you know, so that sulphur Would burn, they would sprinkle some of that sulphur on the stove. Said that kept off the evil spirits and give them luck. Druv [drove] the evil spirits out of the house, which, you know yourself, that there are more evil spirits than there are good ones. We are told by the Bible that many's the soul to walks this earth, visible or invisible. What they meant visible ones is the ones that we want to get rid of, don't want to be bothered with 'em. Well, now, we'll go back to de sulphur question. When you go to dig money, you make a circle around, all de way around de place yo' goin' to dig. Now a fellah tole me this to be a fact. Ah never seen it. An' sprinkle sulphur all around it [circle], an' yo' dig inside de ring of sulphur. When de evil spirit comes up there, he can't get inside that ring over that sulphur.
Entry 9951
Git a toadfrog an' sleep on it fo' nine days. If they [some person is] hard tuh git along with, that'll make 'em come in the house an' be peaceful.
Entry 2424
She kin take straws an' nail 'em cross her do', an' if anyone comes in dere to - if dey has whiskey in dere, take three straws an' nail 'em crossways an' if dey walks in, dere mo' goin' walk in with him. (You say you take three straws - from a broom?) Broomstraws - not straw broom, but stick broom straws. [Not straw or grass bent into a homemade swiss (swish) broom, a handleless broom, see Index.]
(What kind of a broom is that?)
A stick broom wit de handle to it.
(And you put three straws - each in a row - three in a row.)
Three in a row. (And if one person comes in, the rest are going to follow.)
Entry 2585
An' if yo' sellin' likker, it's a simple thing an' it don't cost but a nickel - spill salt. Git chew a box of salt - S-A-L-T. An' yo' sprinkle from de corner of yore house or yore fence lak dat, chew know, round dat way an' cuss em - yo' know, call dem by dere names an' curse them out an' they cannot enter yore premises. Dey can't come dere.
(You begin to sprinkle that salt down where?)
Jes' lak, yo' see, where did lot run. Yo' sprinkle it from right in front of yore do' right straight on 'cross.
(Just in front of your property?)
An' cuss 'em out. Turn roun' lak dis yo' see [demonstrates], cuss 'em, "Don't come in mah house." Cuss 'em out - talk nasty to 'em. Jes' lak dat an' turn yore back an' don't look back. Keep talkin' to 'em, "An' don't come back. Don't come tuh mah house. ". See. An' dat's easy tuh be done.
Entry 7366
When murderer enters room, corpse begins to bleed. [This belief is unusual because touching the dead body is an essential part of the rite.]
Entry 8704
They say dat yo' kin write a per- son's name on a piece of papah seven times an' place it ovah a doah, aftah dey comes in. Wait till dey get inside an' den place it ovah de doah. An' dey say, when dey go out, dey can't stop comin' back, where dey go undah.
(They keep coming back and forth?)
Keep comin' back where dey go [under] dere name.
(Write it like this right in a row [column?] seven times, that name?)
Seven times.
(One right after the other, I see.)
Entry 8768
You write your name down on a piece of paper, an' yo' write de othah party's name down on de other piece of papah. Well, if dat's someone dat yo wanta get back, an' yo' folds it [to you] three different ways. Well, because of the Way yo' foldin' it, yo' want dem tuh come back. Well, yo' have dere name turnt in de house, yo' see, an' every time, dey walk, yo' see, dey always goin' back in de house all de time, cause dere name is joined dat way. Well, if yo' want dem to stay out of de house, yo' turn de names up lak dat [demonstrates]. Yo' see, just like a... turn it up lak dat.
(You turn the names out if you want them to stay outside.)
If yo' want 'em to stay outside, yo' turn de names out de house. Jes' like yo' put it up ovah dat door [points to door of interviewing room]. Well, yo' turn de name out like dat. If yo' want dem to stay in, always come in yore house, turn de name dis Way [into house].
(I see.)
Entry 12250
It have to be Red Devil Lye, de same lye dat dey use for scrubbing porches. You buy Red Devil lye in de groc'ry store, you see, but it's more... [expensive in hoodoo shops?]. Now, you git dis Red Devil Lye and after cut- ting [making an opening in] dis can, you understand, you turns it upside down [a number of "up- side down lye cans have been given in text] you see. And dere's some kind of root dey get. John de Conkah is one and it's another one. You see [there are] several of them, but I do not [remember?] even enough to know each and every one of them. And get some of dis Dragon's Blood and you sprinkle it around dere [the door]. De law will come to de door but dey will never be able enough to enter.
(Well, what do you do after you get that can open?)
Dat can - when you get dat can open you put dat can in de earth upside down, you see how it is, and cover it right back up and leave it stay dere, but it must be right to your front, de leading door dat comes in.
(What do you do with these roots then?)
Well, dose roots, well dose roots dey'll have to be right side de can. John Ce Conkah you have cause dat will conquer everything.