Subject:Seal
Entries
Entry 3488
I've heard that a woman could measure a man while he's asleep and tie that string around her leg and wear it for three weeks; then take the same string and burn it, and take the chars from the string and put them in an envelope, and seal it and write his name on it, and put it under her pillow. And he wouldn't have any use for any other girl.
Entry 7822
I've heard this: if you wake up in the night at twelve o'clock and you write a letter to some of your kin people which is dead and seal it and mail it to yourself, when you receive this letter you burn it and make a wish and the girl that you're going with will marry you. [Fredericksburg, Va., by Edi- phone.]
Entry 8334
Well, yo' see if yo' git anybody tuh snap a person's photograph - now, ah don' keep mah pichures. If ah take a pichure, an' ah lets people look at it - ah'll keep it an' ah'll take it an' ah'll do 'way wit it, becuz yo' could take a man's pichure, jes' have somebody snap it, den go tuh a tree an' bo' a hole in it - a fast-growin' tree - roll it [snapshot] up, an' take an augah, a very small one. Yo' jes' take a li'le bit a [augerl, li'le five-eights [of an inch] an' bo' a li'le hole in a fast growin' tree. An' put it in dere an' jes' grab a li'le dirt tuh smear ovah de end of it. [Hole is filled with dirt, not wooden peg.] Dat's de last of 'em. If yo' don't git it outa dat, he'll die. Dat shows yo' cut it off, cover it
[hole] ovah.
Entry 8522
(How do you do that?)
Well, yo' use a coconut to make a person come to yo'. Yo' take an' pluck out de eyes, but yo' don't let that water come out of there. And you take the name and put it upon this Venrick [brand name?] parch- ment [paper imitation] and put it in there, inside, and you seals it up with the wax that drops from the candle. And just roll it. Start from the front door and be rollin' back inside an' speak to it just like yo' speakin' to 'em an' call 'em by their name. That'll draw 'em to you.
(That will make them come back.)
Entry 8787
If yo' want to make 'em drift, yo' jes' take it an' get dat. Yo' always got to get dat name an' get dere right name, an' fix it up. Yo' put it into a bottle an' yo' get yo' some vinegar, strong, good vinegar, an' stick dat name down into dat vinegar, wit nine pods of red peppah - red peppah, not a strained peppah.
(Nine pods of red pepper?)
Yeah, an' stick it down into dat bottle wit his name in it an' dat old Epsom salts an' dat peppah. An' yo' can take it an' go to de rivah. Yo' seal dat bottle up an' yo' go to de rivah an' pitch it right in de channel. It'll float. An' as long as de bottle will float, dey'll always be goin' - dey goin' to keep goin'. Dey won't stay in no one place. Dey'll go to one place an' den dey'll come back to anothah place. Dey'll keep a-goin' an' dey'll nevah stop goin' until somepin gets dat bottle an' knocks dat stoppah out of dere. It goin' to get loose some way, if dose [things inside] won't keep it [afloat]. (I see. Now, you only write the name once on that piece of paper? You only write it once?) No, write it nine times, an' den make yore wish when yo' are writin' it.
(Oh, I see.)
Entry 8839
Then again, dey wan'a draw yuh. Say a woman likes yuh very well an' she can't git up tuh yuh. Well now, she will git a love vine [the dodder], she'll git dose little candies [used for decorating a cake], an' holy watah, an' if possible she'll git a wishbone from a turkey, if she kin git it; if not, she will use a chicken [wish] bone. She'll set in de forks of dis road an' she'll place it dere jis' as neah as dat fork an' dat wishbone will match tuhgethah. An' she'll make a wish. An' if she kin Write, well - aftah makin' dis wish in de forks of de road - while she dere, she'll write a lettah. She'll have 'er three grains of rice. She seal dat lettah wit three grains of rice. She have de rice cooked sof' an' done, an' instead of wettin' wit yore tongue, why yo'll jis' mash - yo' ought tuh have it wet enough, yuh see. Yo' jis' lay it on dere an' mash it down an' let it seal [demonstrates]: one grain on one side [of letter flap], an' one in de middle of dat part, dat part here, an' one on de othah [side]. Seal it wit dat, wit a dash of Lovers Sashay. An' believe yuh me, he gon'a come.
Entry 9321
Yo' put a li'le hole in it [egg] an' draw dat [raw] egg out. Take a person's name an' write it nine times...put it in that egg [shell] an' stop de egg up...throw it in de rivah. An' as long as dat egg'll float, drift down [the river], dose peoples will drag, will drift.
Entry 10915
Like if I got a woman and she living with another man and I want her to break up with him. Well, I take some hair from a dog and from a cat and I gets me a lemon. I cuts this lemon open and I put them two party's names in there - this woman and this man - names down in this lemon and this dog [and cat] hair. And I takes a candle and I light it, and I close it back up [see later] you know, so they won't fall from it. Close it right up and I bury it. On the dark of the moon, I do that. And they won't get along.
(Where do you bury that?)
I just take and bury it anywhere in my yard.
(I see. You seal that lemon back up with this wax from the candle?)
Yes, sir.
Entry 11324
Yo' kin go to a dogwood tree, yo' know, an git dis bark yo' know, an' do somepin to a person - a man eithah a woman. Yo' kin take somepin othah an' bo' a hole in dis tree. See, yo' take dis bark out an' bo' a hole in it [the wood part] an' git some of dat bark an' dat wood yo' understand out an' take an' mix it [bark and borings] up togethah, an' git some [of their] hair, an' den go back to dat place an' chunk [push] it [bark, borings and hair] back [in the hole] yo' undahstand. See, dat [hair] grow up in dere. An' take a - yo' know lak a person go to take a passage, yo' understan', take some of dat stuff [excrement] an' tie it up an' put it in dat hole. [Usually a hole with something in it is plugged up with a peg, perhaps not here.]
Entry 7187
Yo' uses High John an' yo' uses five fingahs grass an' yo' make charms outa dem, an' den yo' put lodestone all on dat. An' if yo'd make a seal an' wear dat - when yo' read parts of de Bible. "Co'se [of course] dat's de way a lotta people do, but ah go by de Bible. See, whut ah do, ah based on de Bible - prayahs, see, an' sech. [The preceding word charm rarely appears in Hoodoo. For the word seal, see SEALS AND HANDS, p.643 and elsewhere.]
(How would you use this High John and five finger grass?)
Oh, yo' jis' put it in a li'le bag.
(Put it in a little bag and that piece of lodestone with it?)
Yes. An' den put it wit - wet it wit dis lodestone perfume, yo' see, an' weab it.
(And what about the seal?)
Or yo' kin weah a seal. De seals are made outa de Six an' Seven Books of Moses. (And then what do they do with this little bag they wear? That is something separate again, isn't it?) Dis li'le bag, dat's somepin sep'rate.
(What do you wear this little bag for?)
Dat's fo' pertection [protection]. An' prayah too. All de othah [people] weah a prayah. Prayah'll pertect chew too.
(What kind of prayer do you use while you are wearing that bag?)
Well, yo' kin weah a prayah at any time [not only while wearing that bag]. Yo' kin weah a prayah outa de Bible, de 91 Psalms on parchment papah. An' yo' have it wit certain kinds of ink. Yo' write dese prayahs outa de book of de 91 Psalm; mos' any prayah dat's suitable. An' yo' weah dat prayah all de time an' God'll pertec' chew. Yo' kin even put a prayah behind - on parchment - put it behin' jore do' an' no one cain't come an' do yuh any harm. (You say they have to write with certain kinds of ink. Can you tell what kinds of ink they have to use to write that?) Well, ah fergit de kinda ink. Dey have reg'lah ink fo' dat. Ah tell yuh - dove's blood.
(Do you get the blood from a dove or do you buy this?)
Well, yo' cain't very well git it from a dove, yo' have tuh buy dat. See, EVAHBODY CAIN'T GIT DOSE THIN'S. DEY SEN' TUH CERTAIN PLACES.
[Is dove's blood ordinary or special red ink with a dove label on bottle?]
(They send to some firm.)
An' git dose thin's an' dey even make dose parchments. (What firm do you buy these things from? Do you happen to know the name of any firm? There were several down in Memphis and one in Chicago.) Ah know one in Chicago.
(What one do you know there?)
AH DON'T LAK TUH CALL DESE NAMES, AH DON'T KNOW WHETHAH AH'D BE DOIN' RIGHT DEN.
(Oh, I'd just send and get a catalog, that's all.)
Well, de Lawrence [Laurence]. (What is their address? What street do they work on? State Street?) [A penciled note of mine, made soon after the transcription was typed, reads: Use with caution. Later I write in red ink: How cautious I was in the earlier days of collecting!!! This informant is O.K. (signed) H. M. H.]
Entry 3483
If he an' 'er could have dealings, den she would take a rag an' she would let 'im wipe wit it mostly. Den she take an' tie it up, or seal it in some kin'a sealed bag, an' put it up ovah de do' dat goes into her room so he kin walk undah it, walk in undah it, an' den dat would fix 'im where he couldn't do nuthin wit nobody but 'er. When he go to go wit othah women, why it would fall.
Entry 8810
Dey could take yore handwritin' on a piece of papah, but de way how it is, how it comes in, ah'm goin' give yo' de beginnin' of it. It's de same if yo' should happen tuh go - if somebody should happen tuh go away an' dey should write tuh yo'. Well, all right, dey'd put it in an envelope. Well, dey puts some kind of powdah in dere. Ah forgot de name of de powdah, but dey put dat powdah in dere to seal it, yo' know, an' dat powdah will come out de minute yo' open it. Yore handwritin' will be in it. If yo' should happen tuh go an' write a person a lettah [like that] an' dey. take it an' burn it on de fo' cornahs, or pro'bly burn it all up tuh dust, an' put it back in de mail an' mail it back tuh yo' - well, dey stay dere demself. Dey find dat dey jes' don't care tuh have nuthin to do wit choo.
Entry 8817
Why a person could write a lettah to yo' an' if dey don't wanta hear from yo', why they burn de fo' cornahs off dat let- tah, an' den dey boil peppah tea, steep dat lettah in it, an' seal it up an' send it back tuh yo', an' yo' can't write 'em no mo'. An' den dey will go blind from dat.