Subject:Juice
Entries
Entry 4378
Yuh take yuh passage [excrement], yuh take dat an' stop it up in a bottle. Yuh kin take de hair offa end of a dog tail, a black dog, an' put it in dat bottle. An' squeeze dat lemon juice on it. An' it's no mo' tuh it. Yuh take dat bottle an' bury it. Yuh cain't make no passage no mo'.
Entry 7836
(What do you do with that graveyard dirt, now?)
Yo' kin take it, if yo' know a person dat died dat wuz sinful, yo' undahstand. Yo' kin take it an' throw it ovah dere [at the house]. Say, dat de spirit will ha'nt 'em tuh death an' dey will leave. Den yo' kin take dis graveyard dirt an' mix it wit moving oil an' lemon juice. See, yo' mix dat tuh- gethah, an' if yo' got a friend dat live at dis - ah mean dat visit dis house - an' yo' mix dat tuhgethah an' make a powdah of it. An' yo' come an' yo' sprinkle it from front tuh back. An' dey won't stay in dere aftah three days.
Entry 8532
Use a coconut, put turpentine in dere an' de party's name, an' stop it up tight an' throw it intuh de Mississippi River, when it will float in de watah, an' de party will leave dere home. Turpentine in dere, yes.
Entry 8623
Well, yo' see, jis' like a person asleep, they'll take this hair out de mold of yore had. Dey put it in a bottle. After dey put it in a bottle, dey take a lemon. Dey squeeze dat lemon juice in dat bottle, an' take yore name. Yo' write dat name nine times an' put it in dat bottle, an' shake it up, an' set in de sunrise side of de worl'. Jis' as de sun goes [from sunrise to sunset], dey say yo' lose yore mind.
Entry 8719
(To get the job?)
Yo' write his name, de boss name, an' yore name, too, if yo' wants. If yo' don' want, yo' don' need tuh write chure name, but long as yo' git de boss name, yo' understan'. (You write his name down once?) Nine times. Yo' git chew cinna- mon [chewing cinnamon] an' yore sugah. An' git some cinnamon tuh chew [stick cinnamon] an' spit nine times goin' tuh 'im an' nine times when yo' git tuh 'im.
(After you have written this name, what do you do with this name?)
Yo' jis' keep dat name folded tuh yo' an' weah it in de bottom of yore shoe. Eithah shoe will do.
Entry 8939
If yo' got any way of leaving your friends, if yo' got a idea of that, of somebody goin' to come there an' trouble yo', yo' understand. Yo' know, all yo' have to do, use this here steel dust and this cinnamon an' sugar. That will sweeten up the place there and they will change their mind. Yo' see, yo' takes a bottle of vinegar and the apartment have - probably may two or three windows into the apartment where you at. Well, yo' take this fresh bottle of vinegar - yo' could get a nickeZ[!] bottle of vinegar - an' yo' put it in a dif- ferent bottle [bottles numbering] just how many windows or doors that you got. Yo' take your cinnamon an' this steel dust an' yo' put down in there [bottles] an' sugar. Put it [bottle] down beneath any window or any door, where they could enter into the building. Just put that there. Every time they get there, their mind is upsetted - changed.
(Do you mix this stuff with the vinegar or use the vinegar alone?)
The vinegar and this here steel dust and this [cinnamon and sugar].
(What do you use the vinegar for?)
The vinegar, that's the strength - to strengthen, to sour it.
(Oh! To strengthen it.)
And sour it. Yo' see, that's to sour that - just like that sugah, that sugah sweetenin' that vinegar. Yo' see? Then yo' take lemons, such as lemon juice, an' squeeze it down in there. Well, yo' put it at all the windows in any little bit of bottle - small little bottle - an' just shake it. An' yo' put it in dere. Well, anywhere round that building they come at, that sugar an' sweetening. When they get there, they'll say, "Oh, well, I'll delay that for another day."
(They won't take anything from there? Won't steal anything from there?)
No, never would take nuthin.
Entry 9095
It was a colored person, a lady, Miss Field [in New York City] she'd fell [fall] off in a trance, tell yuh anything. An' she tole me dat [a remedy in 870:2 - mullein and snake oill. An' she even tole me dat any time de trouble come, any- thing dat ah wanted tuh go in- tuh, or anybody was goin' tuh do anything, tuh come back in trouble - she tole me tuh go git some limes, yo' know dese li'le limes. An' if ah'm goin' in co't or any trial dat Was goin', cut one of 'em in half - dis fortunetellah in New York - an' walk in dere an' while ah walkin' in, put a half in mah mouth, an' de whole time jes' spit a li'le bit of spit. Evahthin' in court was throwed apart half- an'-half, no kind of fine. Nuthin can be - de jedge cain't do nuthin'. She said, go anywhere, regardless, jes' take dat lime an' cut it in half an' use dat in....
(When you are in trouble.)
When yo' in trouble be sure to git dat lime.
Entry 10613
Well, you goes to de woods and you git you a piece of Eve-and-Adam root, you see. Jes' like de time God have drove Eve and Adam from de garden, see. You git a piece of Eve-and-Adam root. After dat you go and git a piece of de root chew call de Amy root, see. [I am unable to identify this root; it may be a hoodoo- store root.] You git a piece of chinaberry root. Well, jes' like you chew dat Eve-and-Adam root dis morning, you'll chew dat chinaberry root about twelve o'clock noon of de day. All right, jes' about six o'clock, you'll chew on dat Amy root, see. You jes' keep chewing dem roots and spit de juice around in your house every time you chew it, you understand, and she couldn't stay dere to save her life.
(This is, if you want to get rid of the woman?)
Yes.
(You break the spell which is holding her there.)
Entry 11711
Jes' lak if a person didn't lak yo', yo' take a garlic an' yo' mostly chews it, an' when yo' git around dese people - yo' jest go around dem. Jes' if dey didn't lak yo' an' yo' wanta make friends wit 'em, yo' jes' spit around dem. Jes' continue to use dat garlic de whole time yo' around dem. Directly yo' all will be good friends an' otherwise he wouldn't even be speakin' to yo'.
Entry 11731
Lak dis house - yo' got a house. An' dat grapevine, yo' takes off so much of it [indicate length] an' burn it. An' dem ashes yo' put around dat do', in front of de do', an' sweep [ashes out door] an' use dat grapevine fo' dat. An' yo' kin take a bath with grapevine.
(What does that do?)
Dat's fo' luck. Keep people 'way; bring folks in an' he'p yo' undertake [overcome], yo' know, de devil.
(Overtake the devil.)
Keep de devil away.
Entry 12301
Pass a hole into a lemon an' squeeze de juice out of it an' full it up wit sulphur an' brimstone an' salt. Take nine pins an' put through it an' den wrop it up jes' as tight as yo' kin, an' tie nine knots in it - into de string dat yo' wrop aroun' it. An' stick nine pins in it an' go ahead. (What will you do with that then?) Well, jes' carry it with yo'. (What is that supposed to do then?) An' den ah'll go ahead an' attack whatevah busi- ness yo' wanta attack, an' dat supposed to help yo' accomplish it.
(Any favors or anything of that sort?)
Yes.
Entry 12304
I've heard that you could sprinkle lemon juice, juniper [berries?] and black pepper, and boil this a half an hour, cook it off, add milk to it, boil it again, put it in a white bottle, a bottle you can see through [a clear glass bottle] and hold it in your hand, and anybody you put it on their hair, all their hair will come out. [Fredericksburg, Va., Ediphone 50.]
Entry 12532
Yo' take a red onion an' if yo' got anyone in yore house, yore hus- ban' or yore wife in dere, an' yo' want 'em tuh go or want tuh git rid of 'em. When dey go out de front do', on dat cross piece dere [saddle?] yo' take dat onion, aftah yo' done rolled it real soft, an' yo' squeeze dat red onion juice on yore steps. Yo' take a red onion in his track goin' out an' squeeze it in his track goin'. An' den, after hit stay dere awhile, why yo' sweep it out. An' he ain't nevah comin' back dere no mo'.
Entry 12751
Well de first thing would be if yo' wanted a job. An' dat go fo' a job, a favor or money or anything. Dat chew would git chew some of dis root whut de' [they] call rat- tlesnake marster, an' spice. An' yo' take dat root an' yo' chew dat rat- tlesnake marster, but chew have [hold] de spice in yore mouth. An' yo' spit dat when yo' speakin' tuh him. "Fore yo' consult him yo' spit from him an' nevah spit tuh him. Den he cannot turn yo' down even [whether] it's money or job or whut. If he don't place yo den, he will place yo' [later], but don't nevah spit, jes' spit tuh him but [when] chew spit jes' turn away from him, turn yore haid from him an' spit.
Entry 12985
Take a little piece of this silk root or piece of swamp root and hold it in your mouth and chew it and swallow de juice, and if you is poisoned, it'll make you sick in your stomach and you'll have to vomit. If you start to vomitin', why they've done somepin to you.
Entry 3226
Yo' use a lemon, dat is, if yo' wanta find out if it's anything wrong wit a woman, if she got any kinda disease. Dat is, yo' kin squeeze a little of dat lemon juice on 'er, see. If she got any kinda disease, well she'll holler.
Entry 3227
If yo' be's wit a woman or man an' tuh keep from ketchin' any kinda disease, yo' take a lemon an' squeeze de juice an' bathe yo'self wit it.
Entry 745
Ah had one [case] - Miss Katy Jones which was harmed, she had frogs in her. These frogs had came [from] de crushed bones of a live toady. De bones was grind and placed into de food with a serpent's head crushed with it and put into her food that she eat and create a growth. From this growth in her stomach - I could bring her fer you to see. An' taking a bone[?] weed, which dey call a herb which dey call a pestle - a pounder.
(What is the name of this weed?)
De weed? A bone[?] weed, dey call it. Yes, sir. Strip it up.
(Is it a bone weed, like b-o-n-e - bone of your body?)
Oh, no sir - a bore [or boar] weed - it grows like people say - dey call it de gall of de earth - a yella root. [Do pestle, pounder and bore or boar weed suggest that he is talking about the tion's-foot, a possible identification for his gall of de earth? The latter root is frequently used.] Take it and pull de bark from it up - you have to for casting, dat's de way ah always does it. [Pulling the bark up is upward magic to make the patient throw up, vomit, have a casting (up); just as dowrward magic, usually rubbing downward, drives pain or disease downward and out of the body through the feet.] Next, boil de herb and put a pickamarrow[?] into it.
(A what?)
A pickamarrow[?].
(What's that?)
That's a bush that grows high but you use de root of it. And boil de root and give dat to her to drink and that will 'cum'late a casting on [in] de stomach and that will bring de dangerous poison from de body, and then we kin be able to heal that body after bringing the casting from it. Otherwise, from that, if they have it in them and you never git a caskey [casting], you kin not cure de body.
(What is that caskey - what is that?)
That's heaving up - like you see some people heave up.
(I see - that's what they heave up, I see.)
That's de way I would get mine from 'em - let 'em heave it up, de poison part. And like rattlesnake's buttons off de body, you know, de rattle part of a rattlesnake - de powders from dat, people say dat will run you blind. Well, no doubt it will, if it git in yore eyes it will run you blind, but if it's crushed up into a powder and you eat that, that will create a death, because you kin not live with that in you.
(Well, isn't there any way to cure it, if they got that in them?)
Yes, sir. Take dat - that herb for them to throw up.
(That will cure them, too.)
An' you have to take a gallberry. You know what a gallberry bush is - take de berry from a gallberry bush and put it in water and squeeze de juice from de gallberry which dat is a snake food.
(What do you do with that, then?)
You squeeze it and take that juice from that and boil it. After boiling de juice, turn it into de person to drink, as after dey go to drug store and take a dose of castor oil. If dey have a cold, castor oil will break de cold on 'em, from dem, and dem [they] will be able to git rid of it. But if dey drinks dis medicine off of de gallberry leaves and de rattlesnake master, that will be able to help dem get rid of it. (Get rid of this - from the rattlesnake-button powder.) [Since gallberry (inkberry) is thought to be a snake food, here is another example of like cures like.] [Savannah, Ga., 655:1.]
Entry 1227
Dey use dat for asmee. Boil it, de dog livah - boil it right on de stove an' give 'em de juice of it.
(That cures asthma.)
Entry 2931
Lak if ah wus goin' tuh co't today, ah'd go tuh de rivah an' ah'd git me - lak if ah had tuh go tuh co't tomorrow, ah'd go tuh de rivah tonight, see. Well de watah's muddy. Ah'd git me a quart bottle of watah. An' ah'd take me about a nickel of sugah, white sugah, an' ah'd put in dere. Ah'd take a lemon an' ah'd open it an' ah'd squeeze de juice of dat lemon in dere. Ah would take de judge's name, see. Lak if his name is Judge Andrews, ah'd take his name. See, dat'd be fo' mahself, an' some honey an' some sugah. Write his name an' git me a white candle.
(Would you write his name just once?)
Well, dat's all jis' in a co't case. Er, no, yo' write his name nine times on de piece of papah.
(How would you write it?)
Well, yo' kin write - fo' de judge, yo' write it [demonstrates] disaway an', write it disaway an' that way an' come back an' write it that way.
(Cross it.)
Yes. An' yo' leave that burn at night, an' leave dat lemon - dat watah from de rivah set there to that lemon. Tomorrah mawnin' when yo' git up tuh git ready tuh go tuh co't, yo' take some of dat watah an' yo' drink it, a glassful, of dose little glasses - take one lak dat full [demonstrates] an' drink dat. An' when yo' be goin' out, yo' leave from de house, yo' take de rest of de watah an' throw it behin' yo', but don't nevah look aroun' - jis' throw dat behin' yore back, see. An' when yore case come up, well, he'll keep on settin' it back. He'll nevah call yo', jis' keep on settin' it back until yore case nevah be called again. Dat makes yo' win de case - it nevah be's called. (Now when you burn that candle, do you burn it just a little bit or burn it all night long?) Yo' let it burn all night long till, yo' know until it burns down.
Entry 3153
Take a black hen feathah. An' yo' know when yo' pull it out 'is wing, yo' git a little bit of juice in dere. An' sprinkle dat 'cross a woman, see. Or yo' kin sprinkle it in yore han' an' rub it in yore han' [and rub across a woman]. Dat's if yo' got a woman dat yo' don't wanta have nobody else. Jes' sprinkle dat in yore han' an' rub it in yore han' an' [rub it across her]. If a man tetch her, she fastened jes' lak a dog.
Entry 3788
Now, I kin tell yo' somepin dat'll make yore courage rise, if a man falls, yo' know. Yo' know some people say yo' kin fix a man where he can't have nobody but chew. But chew take a red onion an' yo' wrap it up in a wet rag an' put it in de fiah an' roast it, an' when it git done lak a roast aig, yo' take an' let it git cool. Take dat an' squeeze dat juice all de way on yore private an' yo' rise lak dat.
(That will cure it?)
Kills anything. If dey hang up de rag lak some do's, dey take de dishrag an' run yo' wit it.
Entry 10286
Get a red-skin onion, rub juice on penis until burns; let dry, do not wipe. [Since onion is a witch deterrent, the cause of impotence here was witch- craft. Shape and color of this vegetable also added to its magic power.] [Richmond, 341:1.]
Entry 11177
Yo' git devil's-shoe- string an' yo' cut it in three lengths in long strings. Yo' cut three pieces of it in three [long] lengths an' yo' git dat shoestring an' yo' go round a man's job an' chew dat shoestring an' spit all round, an' yo' could go to his steering wheel an' yo' spit some of de juice on yore han' an' wipe it on de steerin' wheel.
(The steering wheel of the boss' automobile.)
Entry 4277
Yuh take dis chamber lye an' set it, set it fo' 34 hours, see. An' yuh let it stay dere an' den yuh take it. Boil dis [John de] Conkah root an' boil dis snakeroot tuhgethah. Put de juice of dis snakeroot an' conkah root intuh dis chamber lye wit a tablespoonful of red peppah, tablespoonful of table salt. Stir it all up tuhgethah. Ef anybody come in dere an' yuh don't want 'em come in, when dey go out jis' throw it behin' 'em an' keep on like dat. Dey nevah come dere no mo'. An' yuh kin break a fellah's business up wit it. [This Conker root is really devil's-shoestring says infor- mant in 798:3, several rites preceding present one.]