From “Ozark Magic and Folklore” by Vance Randolph

 

“If a girl has quarreled with her lover, she may get him back by taking a needle and drawing a little blood from the third finger of her left hand. Using the needle as a pen, she writes her initials and his in blood on an ironwood chip, draws three circles around the letters, and buries the chip in the ground. The recreant boy friend will be hangin’ round again in three days, or less.”

Matthew 8: 14-15

“And when Jesus was come into Peter’s house, he saw his wife’s mother laid, and sick of a fever.”

“And he touched her hand, and the fever left her: and she arose, and ministered unto them.”

This verse is written on a piece of paper and the verses are prayed over the paper three times. The paper is then suspended from the neck of the sick person.

 

Note: This charm is not intended as a replacement for professional medical advice or attention, and is posted only as a reference for the preservation of folklore.

Bible used for Goomering and Doctoring

Each Goomer Doctor and Power Doctor keeps a Bible for religious devotions and as part of their work. In the Old Days, many families only had a family Bible, which would have been what the goomer or power doctor used. However, some were lucky enough to possess personal Bibles as well.

This particular Bible was one of two Bibles given to me by my grandmother, which makes it very special to me. This is the Bible I use for Goomering and Doctoring, and the other Bible I use for Hoodoo when practicing that art.

This Bible is a hardback copy, and as you can tell by the photograph, red in color. The red color of this Bible makes it particularly significant in many folk magic practices.

I have post-it notes on the inside cover with notations of specific verses for specific conditions – such as blood stopping, drawing rain, drawing out fever, conquering enemies, taking off spells, and other similar uses.

Any individual who wants to pursue the practice of Ozark folk magic will need a Bible that holds particular importance to them. The more special the Bible, the more effective a tool it will be, and the Bible given as a gift is the best of all, especially given by a loved one, or family member. The Bible is definitely the most important book in our folk traditions and magical practices.

 

The Hoot Owl has a lot of lore attributed to it in the Ozarks, from being a herald of death, and being connected with witching.

There is a belief that was once widely practiced regarding Hoot Owl eggs. The eggs were said to be able to stop a man from drinking. Women would send children out to fetch these eggs from the nests, and cook them for their alcoholic husbands, believing this to be a sure cure.

The gizzard of a Hoot Owl is said to grant luck, when dried and worn around the neck.

The feet are suspended, claws up, in chimneys, to keep witches and evil spirits from entering the home through the chimney.

The feathers are used by some witches in their workings; sometimes burned and reduced to ashes, and at other times tightly rolled into feather balls for various curses and maledictions.

Note: Owls are a protected species in many areas; this post is again just for the preservation of folklore. Don’t go off killin’ Hoot Owls.

Pawpaw Bottoms, Oklahoma, which no longer exists, – the ruins of a few old buildings remain, the Church and houses long gone, is a place familiar to me, as most of my sister’s paternal family are buried in the cemetery. Up until recent years, the cemetery was surrounded by trees and swamp-like land and accessible only by a one land trail barely large enough for a car. It gave the whole area quite a mystique until the trees were hacked down, the old wrought iron fence removed, and the whole area turned into farm land. Since this was done, there has been a lot of desecration in the graveyards, especially since the family moved away.

My sister’s father is buried there, who died under questionable circumstances, and I’ve been in the habit of always accompanying my sister to his grave, for reasons that safety’s sake and length I can’t explain. Just about any given night out there, individuals are cooking dope, and I have been stopped and hassled by one policeman who definitely seemed under the effects of aforementioned substance.

But to get to the point of the whole matter – even when my sister’s father was alive, folks always came home before sunset. Dangers were never spelled out, but were understood to be normal and paranormal. Individuals have been seen conducting rituals out in the bottoms (I’ve done my fair share, but of a vastly different type), reckless youths go out to shoot random animals and objects and raise all kinds of hell, and full body apparitions have been seen on numerous occasions. I can state that I have never been to the area, especially around the cemetery, and not have had some sort of experience.

Take into account a long gone town, the cemetery, and the bodies over the year that have been dumped there, or even buried, and occult rituals; it makes for a particularly unusual place for paranormal activity.

The link at the top of this post gives a short history of the town of Pawpaw, which some of you might find of interest.

 

Isaiah 45:8 – “Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together; I the Lord have created it.”

Write this verse on a piece of paper and pray the verse over it three times; then submerge it in a bowl of water outside and leave it there to draw rain.

Are the accounts of Witch Initiations by Vance Randolph true? Are they still going on?

I’ve been getting this question in my emails lately; and I will attempt to answer them.

Are the accounts true? Did they literally happen? Anyone who would have known is long dead and gone by now; and I’ve not been able to personally trace down a single account; nor any old folks alive today that even have heard tell of such things.

Did Vance Randolph make up the whole mess? I highly doubt it, and have no reason to believe Randolph was not retelling an account he had heard, especially when you take into account the other methods he collected for becoming a witch, involving silver bullets and recitation of prayers backwards – this makes total sense, as silver bullets were quite commonly used for apotropaic devices, mainly firing at suspected witches, booger dogs, etc.

Hillbilly Satanism? Most of the old folks would have attributed any witching to a woman being in league with the Devil, the term “Speaking the Devil’s Language” being synonymous with a knowledge of maleficia. But this should not be mistaken as some religious devotion to the Demon, but could only be classified as an application of folk magic invoking the powers of Satan.

What’s the difference between descriptions of witches who undergone these alleged initiations and the average woman who had knowledge of witching? The general belief as recorded in folklore describes these women who have undergone such initiations as particularly tied to the Devil by a pact of sorts; while general knowledge of witching only entails the knowledge of certain charms that cause ill. Either would be classified as a witch, and would be considered in league with the Devil in some form or another.

This whole concept becomes problematic when you have church going women who are known to practice some form of witching, whilst considering themselves Christian.

As a final analysis – we can’t say one way or another as to whether these initiations happened, as most accounts of Ozark witches show them as solitary practitioners, and many individuals who aren’t learned in such matters often confuse a goomer doctor with a witch, especially if the goomer doctor himself also has knowledge of witching. If any such initiations actually took place in the past, it could be said that they most likely do not occur anymore, though the practice of witching still goes on and likely will always go on in this area.

 

A look at a modern day yarb doctor http://www.watersheds.org/folkways/healers.htm