Subject:Paper/Yellow paper
Entries
Entry 6340
Now ah tell yuh anothah thin' tuh send 'em away. If yuh kin git dis now. Now dis is purtty hard tuh git. Yuh don't git dis all de time. If yuh kin git a few strands of 'is hair, yo' undahstan', an' wrap it up in yellah papah an' put nine wrops in it, see [demonstrates by wrapping and counting] 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9.
(Wait a minute! Do you wrap it that way, the way you are wrapping it now?)
Comin' to yuh.
(It comes to you and goes out.)
Yes sir. An' yuh take dat an' put it in runnin' watah. Dat'll carry'i away.
Entry 8679
[The doctor in the following rite for a job has an organized mind, though I was too recent in New Orleans at that time to realize it. In face, on this original transcription I formerly had a note use with care, which can still be seen despite my later erasure.] When yo' go to get a job - ah'll tell yo' about de job proposi- tion. It just like if yo' was out of a job an' yo' runnin' in bad luck. Yo' can't be success- ful in nuthin dat yo' start. Well, yo' get yo' some of dis seniment. Yo' get some of dis seniment with this rain water. (What is seniment? What is that?) Dat's a powder. (What does it look like?) It look just like - yo' ever seen this powder what they call that brown-skin powder? (You mean cinnamon powder?) Yeah. (Cinnamon powder. All right.) [How did I ever guess it!] Yo' take dat seniment powder. An' yo' get some of dis seniment powder an' yo' get what yo' call this lodestone; but ask for lodestone, see, with candy stripes. It's got a little stripe.
(What kind of stripes?)
Candy stripes. Just say, "Give me some of de lodestone." (Like this candy - now wait a minute! It's like this candy they got in the country stores, candy stripes?) Yes, just like that; round, see.
(And what do they call that?)
Lodestone.
(You said something about four-something. Four what?)
[Informant said it while recording machine turned off.1 Fo' corners. Yo' just get de fo' corners. Well, if it ain't got fo' corners, vell yo' just take anything, a file or somepin like dat an' put 'em there.
(You have to make it square. Four corners. All right.)
Yeah. Yo' go anywhere they got them rams - yo' see, them rams, or anywhere yo' know them ramhorns at. [Cowhorn appears several times in Hoodoo. This could be the only ramhorn.] Yo' gets a file an' yo' file some of that dust down there [with the lodestone dust]. Then yo' get some of this here oil what yo' call that green - Wintergreen Pasture Oil.
(Wintergreen?)
Wintergreen Pastures Oil.
(GREEN PASTURES OIL?)
[SURELY THE ENTERPRISING HOODOO-PRODUCTS SALESMAN SHOULD HAVE NAMED IT "PSALM 23 OIL"!] Yeah, an' yo' take some sugar an' seniment an' lodestone. An' take a silver dime an' yo' file dat silver dime on a piece of paper just where yo' got this stuff [various ingredients] at. Yo' take a piece of yellah paper - it [lode- stone?] comes with yellah paper - an' yo' wrap it up twice. Yo' fold it coming to you. Then, after yo' take this Wintergreen Pasture Oil an' yo' put over it, am' yo' put it in your pocket. Keep that in yore left pocket. Then yo' goes back an' yo' get this he Eve [Adam and Eve] root, see. He Eve root.
(He Eve root?)
Yeah, yo' go back an' get that an' yo' got hit, yo' got de she root in yore pocket, yo' understand. Yo' take that - powder up that. piece there - an' yo' get some rain water an' river water or hydrant water [3 running Waters], or anything like that, an' yo' put it in two glasses. Put it in two glasses like that an' yo' let it set, after yo've mixed it. Well, heap up just about de same amount in each glass. Yo' leave it set there fo' three days. Aftah yo' leave it set there fo' three days, yo' take it an' yo' pour it into one glass. Then yo' take this here - this seniment, lodestone an' dis Wintergreen Pasture Oil. Well, yo' Put it in de glass, in one glass, an' yo' let it set there fo' three days. Den take that water off - take dat watah off before yo' go out to see about a job. Just like, if yo' know the foreman's name, yo' take his name an' yo' write his name nine times backwards, just like if yo' write it backwards this Way nine times [demonstrates]. Then yo' fold it, fold it comin' to yo' like dat [demonstrates]. Then yo' write yore name on de top of it, but yo' must write yore name forwards.
(Write your name what?)
The right way.
(You write your name forwards. All right.)
Then yo' take dat an' yo' put it down in dat water where all yore stuff is in the morning when yo' going out - just when yo' going out to the foreman. Yo' got his name. Well, when yo' get ready to go there, yo' take this water out of Chere. Yo' pour it out in a basin or anything like that, an' yo' take it an' yo' wash yo' hands good with it, an' yo' wash yore fingers. Yo' takes this here lodestone an' yo' put it in yore pocket with this she Eve root. Yo' walk to him a'when yo' get there, before yo' ask, just like yo' take a piece of chewing tobacco, cut a little piece off dat she root an' put it in your mouth. An' get this here lodestone thing in your hand like that an' rub it, an' make yore wishes, as yo' walk up to him an' ask 'im for a job. Probably he may not have nuthin to do right then, but he'll run his hand in his pocket if he got any money an' he'll give yo' a piece of money. The first opening that he have - WHEN YO' LEAVE FROM THERE, YO'LL MAKE A WISH FOR ANY - JUST LIKE ANY JOB YO' WANT AROUND THERE, YO' MAKE A WISH FOR ANY BAD LUCK TO HAPPEN TO 'EM PEOPLE AT THAT PLACE. SAY PRAYERS, AN' IN A WEEK'S TIME [7 DAYS] YO'LL HAVE A JOB. There no favor that yo' ask 'im that he could turn yo' down. If he ain't got it at de present time, he will tell yo' a way to come an' get it.
foreman’s name written nine times backwards, contrasted with own name forwards. Keep foreman nine-times-backwards versus applicant forwards on top; not all names backwards. manually inscribed arrangement of foreman’s and applicant’s names. Retain foreman backwards nine times and own name forwards on top, followed by the use of the inscribed paper in the preparation. employment sought from a foreman, with conditional intermediate outcomes and harmful wish. No immediate job guarantee: preserve probably no work, money if he has it, the first opening, and the subsequent one-week claim as attributed. river as a stated possible source of water, alongside rain/hydrant wording. Keep literal rain water an’ river water or hydrant water and or anything like that; do not convert ambiguous conjunctions into an all-three requirement or flatten all alternatives. These are attributed source occurrences; outcomes remain unverified.
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Entry 2816
(What other illustration could you give me now, if they were burning a black candle on you?) If they burning a black candle on you? Well, you take - go and get you. (What do they do now?) Take a black candle and a piece of yellow paper, wrapping paper, and they writes the name down on it nine times, and then they writes the name of you on that candle, around that candle, and they wraps that paper around that candle and light it. And as this candle burns down, well, it's burning your name. They calls it to drag you - you'll suffer with headaches and all that stuff.