Subject:Palmistry
Entries
Entry 595
To begin with in that I have been abnormally mistreated by. superstition what we call hoodoism. See. Well, in that my family was torn to pieces and I was just wrecked and jest now recovering from that. Now, when it come ah went to a hand reader to read mah hand. (Where did you go - here in town?) Yes - she read my hand - a white lady, and she told me of dese things without coming in contact with any of them. Being a minister I found what she said about people being torn in mah congregation - I found that to be true. She told me that I wouldn't be able to get along with 'em - ah found that true. Now, ah been married three times. This wife I have now - ah was told that they did not want me to have her, and hear say to de cause and de reason why they did not ["want me to have her"] and what they done to prevent me from her and have her return back home. Ah married her against her people's consent - they didn't want me to have her. Then they put in to take her from me and to kill me - that was, she said, because of my age, you see. They wanted me out of de way so she could come back home, and in that they give me all kind of trouble. A friend of mine, who was in my church at dat time, somehow or another got onto it and told me it was best for me to go see about it mahself. I'd done got into a kind of a wreck some way - my mind wasn't nuthin' and ah couldn't remember nor think nuthin' long - couldn't do no one thing completely - ah'd start and stop. (What did this woman do to tell you to get rid of this? Did they tell you what to do?) They told me what to do and give me something to protect myself - ah kin show you some of the things now - got 'em in my pocket. See 'em [he shows them]. (This white woman gave you this to carry ~ a white fortune-teller - a hand- reader?) Yes - a reader of cards. (It's a little tin box with - it's a large quinine capsule with red powder of some sort in there. Do you know what is in there?) No, ah don't.
(What is that supposed to do - you carry that?)
Well, that is supposed to give me success and prosperity and get by. Now, this dime was given - she told me to get a dime and put in mah pocket and handle it as much as ah could fo' three days. Now, it wasn't as colored as it is now, and at that time it was real bright as you could see. And she said whatever they Was trying to do, the dime would ketch it and turn like a copper cent. And sure as I sit here today and tell you, this is the same dime - only it jest like a copper cent. And den again, I could tell just as good when the thing was going to strike me and was on me, as I can tell I'm sitting here.
(How can you tell that?)
By mah feet - by de way ah felt, and I had kind of strikes in mah toes - big toes, each one of them - and I couldn't hardly stand the blow. Well, I had a strike de side of de head like somebody struck me - it was sore for several days.
[I repeat one thing he said while machine was off for lack of interest:]
(Six people made a wish for you - gave you this bad luck?)
Yes - made a wish fo' me - an' then they was intendin' that ah'd die and mah wife come back home - right heah in dis city. Ah's pastor heah.
Entry 1047
Dere was once a young lady she was very much in love - ah mean she wasn't so very much in love with the young man she was going with but she loved him, yo' know, the kind of love that chew kin break off when yo' git ready for it. But immediately de young man gave her a Christmas present which was a watch, and immediately after she received the watch - about a couple of weeks, she fell madly in love with the young fellah. Well, she quit him one while [had quit him once] and was going with another young man, and de young man dat she was going with before immediately broke off from her but she didn't know the reason why. Well, she went to a palmist and de palmist tole her that the person that gave her de watch had de watch dressed and that as long as she'd wear the watch, she would be madly in love with him. [There is an interruption here - probably a knock on the door. Before turning on machine again I evidently ask, "White or colored?"] A colored palmist.
(All right, go ahead.)
This colored palmist told her that he could fix this watch in such a manner that she would throw off de love she had fo' dis young fellah. And so he did. Ah don't know definitely whut he [palmist] done to de watch but he did fix it so.
Entry 6914
Ah'm fo' good luck. Ah'm a seven months chile, an' dis palm of mine cain't be read. (Why can't it be read?) Well, 'cuz ah'm seven months. [Ida Bates of New Orleans, also a doctor, was another seven-month child.]
Entry 568
Well, mah husband was runnin' with a woman an' ah didn't know about it. He came - he was in this city an' he came to mah home where he married me an' he brought me ovah heah, an' he moved me not far from dis woman, an' at de time she knew of her affair between he an' her, an' ah didn't. Well, she begin tuh git friendly with me, bringing me diff'rent things to eat, an' a lady tole me that ah stood in danger, an' ah asked what did she mean. She said, "Why dat woman likes yore husband - been liking him fo' about ten-'leven years." An' so ah begin to watch around an' I find out. So pretty soon she begin to work some kind evil spirit in mah home an' ah notice on certain moons mah husband would be very cruel to me an' mah baby. An' so his treatment to me was so cruel tull [till] it arouse mah mother in Bay City, Florida - forty-nine miles below Tampa, an' she begin to have bad dreams about me. She had a dream about me that night that mah brother came to her an' said, "Mother," said, "whut kinda casket [coffin] do yo' want us tuh buy for Janey May." An' she said, "Well, ah want chew to git a brown casket." Well, he goes downtown an' couldn't find one so he comes back an' tells her that he couldn't find a brown one but that he has a gray one. She said, "Ah don't like the gray. So, in her dream she woke up and she sent mah two sisters over here to see whut was wrong with me. So they came over here an' they said, "Mama had bad dreams about chew so we came to see about cha" - to see whut was wrong with me. So they talked with me and they said, "Something's wrong between yo' an' yore husband," said, "yo' better go see someone." So ah came up de way heah on Ninth avenue to Mr. Singleton which is a palmist. He read mah palm an' he tole me that mah husband was vitchcrafted an' de woman did it because she wanted him tuh be cruel to me - he would treat me so mean so ah would leave him. So fin'lly ah left him an' went home - ah vowed ah wouldn't come back tuh him. Ah talked with him to go to Tampa, so he went to Tampa an' the lady tole him the same thing, an' tole him that the stuff was buried under the steps. She tole me to watch close and ah would ketch dis woman because all vitchcraft is usually done at twelve 'clock in de night. An' so ah asked her if ah could dig fo' it. She said if ah would dig fo' it ah wouldn't find it [i!l], but the best thing to do was to go round an' round de house with salt and sulphur. So when ah came back from Tampa that Sunday afternoon ah went round an' round de house with sulphur an' salt. An' so 'bout twelve 'clock dat night mah step-daughter was comin' from de picture show - it was 'xactly twelve an' dis woman was down on her knees in my yard digging holes. Well, mah step-daughter ran ahead and tole me, "Dis ole woman is out heah in de yard digging holes," so ah got up an' run to de do', an' she had run. Well, ah come back to Mr. Singleton, an' ah asked him, ah said, "What was de trouble - what was dat woman out dere fo'?" He say, "She's burying something to make yo' git along bad." An' ah asked him if he could dig it up an' he said, "Yes." An' ah asked him tuh please dig it up. He went out an' he dug up a little hearts cologne bottle - de bottle had a little junk in it - an' he said, "Dis stuff in heah raises lotsa cain." An' ah said, "What do yo' mean by cain?" He said, "Well, it makes yore husband be very cruel to yo' - he loves yuh but he can't treat chew nice because she's got him goin' that way so yo' kin leave him." Ah say, "Well, ah'll not leave him." I says, "If she kin spend her three an' fo' dollars to make him quit me, ah'm goin' tuh spend mine to show her that she can't git him." Ah said, "If she'd come an' ask me fo' him, maybe ah'd give him to her, but if she gon'a work some kinda dirty plan like dat to get 'im, ah'll live tuh see the grass grow on her grave." So, fin'lly, it kept on an' on tull dey tole me ah would have tuh move outa de house ah was in because it was so badly dressed, it would take at least $75 to fix it up so we'd have peace in it. So ah moved in another house an' she fin'lly tricked that one. So ah wrote a letter tuh de Unity School an they wrote me back and tole me -
(Where was this school?)
It's in Kansas City, Missouri. An' so they wrote me back and tole me that they were praying fo' me and that they were very sorry I was havin' such luck. So ah prayed on an' read the 35th Psalm, see, as ah was tole to do, an' ah read it fo' nine mornings. An' so de lady tole me, said, "Yo' continue on tuh read this, that God's will will be done to the person who did yo' this way." So fin'lly, ah kept readin' an' readin', an' readin', an' readin', an' so ah said, "Lawd, look lak yo' will ain't nevah goin' be done" - ah say that in mah mind. So on de last day in May, which is the 30th day of - Decoration Day in May, she got drownded. An' so all de people came around an' said, "Maybe yo'll have peace." Ah said, "Maybe ah'll have peace, after she's gone maybe ah'll have peace." So then, the man tole me about two weeks ago, says, "She's dead, but dat [her] stuff is still livin'." An' ah tole him, ah say, "Ah don't believe yo' kin kill it," I said, "because they usually say when a person dies an' leave that kinda stuff, well, yo' can't git it off." He said, "Well, ah kin take it off," said, "but ah'll have tuh do it dis way," said, "ah'll have to leave it at de [her] grave." He say, "Usually when a person do anything to yo' and they daid," say, "yo' have to take it off an' leave it at de grave," he said, "but if the person livin', why, yo' don't have that to do." He said, "But chure trouble, it has tuh be took off an' left at the grave," he say, "an' ah'll have to go in de grave fo' yo' round fo' 'clock in de morning." An' ah tole him, ah said, "Won't chew be 'fraid tuh go in there?" He said, "No," say, "ah went to the grave on many mornings." He said, "That's mostly how ah ketch people." He said, "Usu'lly, yo' write a letter to a daid person an' take three cents an' lay it on de letter an' when yo' go to de grave- yard, yo' jes' dig a little hole an' stick it in there," said, "when yo' go home yo'll have a dream jes' what plan to do. An' ah asked him how did he know, an' he said he had experience with that, that's how he got so much money for that. So, well, we discussed a lotta things an' he tole me, he said, he wanted me to have some hog husk an' things ready fo' him Tuesday afternoon.
(What?)
Hog husks [tusks]. So we discussed things on an' he tole me, he said, "Yo' husband has lotsa enemies 'cause he's a older man than yo' an' yo's a younger woman than him," an' said, "lotsa men envy him of yo'," an' he said, "ah'm goin' fix him an' put him on his feet but de one thing ah want him tuh do is tuh git me nine hog husks." An' say, "Ah'm gon'a take dem nine hog husks, an' ah'm gon'a git a dime worth of herts perfume an' ah'm gon'a put this dime into some kind of eskit [this is the word = essence? = greasing dime] an' ah want chew tuh swallow it." [See Dime, swallowing, in Index.] He said, "Ah want that dime to remain in yo' body 'leven days."
(How many?)
"Leven. An' he said, "When ah return on de 'leven day," he say, "ah'll remove that dime from yore body." An' he say, "Then ah'll take those hog's husks an' ah'll grind 'em an' ah'll put some mah strong stuff with it." He said, "Then ah want chew to roll it into a cigarette an' smoke it fo' nine mornings, an' each time yo' smoke that cigarette," say, "yo' say these words, say, "let chure work be done Lawd, ' say, "let this bad luck and the evil spell go away an' let me be lak ah once was.'" He said, "Say that fo' nine days," say, "ah'm quite sure that yo' will be on yore feet again." Ah said, "Well, what about dis evil spirit that's bothering me?" He say, "It will even do away with the evil spirit," an' he say, "there's one scripture in de Bible that ah want tell yo' tuh read when ah come back." Say, "Ah want chew tuh read it fo' nine mornings an' ah'm quite sure yo'll be on yore feet."
(Well, what happened then?)
Well, he hasn't come yet - he'll be in Tuesday.
(He hasn't told you what to do yet?)
He hasn't tole me yet. (Well, now, when you get to the end of the story, you come around and tell me again, will you - tell me what he does.) Yes sir.