AVERT BAD LUCK

Appalachian Americans have always tried their best to avoid the bad cards in the deck life deals by following superstitions and taboos. Averting bad luck was practiced by everyone of all ages, from the old farmer who made sure to plant every row of crops to the school child who would kiss their textbooks after they dropped them. Here's how we avoid bad luck: Never open an umbrella inside, or turn a chair on its leg in the house. Always light a new candle and put it out. Never exit a door you didn't enter from. Always step into your home with your right foot first. Turn your pockets inside out upon a black cat or a white “witch” rabbit crossing your path from the right to the left. If you spill salt, toss some over your left shoulder to blind the Devil. Never whistle outside at night. If you drop a comb, put your foot on it first before picking it up. Never comb your hair in the dark, as the saying goes: “Comb your hair in the dark, comb your sorrows to your heart; comb your hair in the day, comb your sorrows away.” It is also bad luck to shave in March. And marry. And move. March is just a bad month in general.

You can also wear new salt in your shoes to bring success in all your undertakings, or wear a penny issued in your birth year. But it has to be the first one for that date that you find in the year. Pennies and dimes issued during leap years also bring good luck. Specific luck in love, money, and business will be discussed further.

PROTECT AGAINST WITCHCRAFT

As we've seen, even the kindest of neighbors may have something against you. Today, they may not curse your cows or horses, but witchcraft can still bring about strange illnesses for which there is no cure, horrible fortune in money and employment, and strife to a whole household. While the belief in witches and witchcraft has diminished greatly, and with its passing the witchdoctors as well, the power it has is still there, unbeknownst to those who come victim to it. This social belief transition first began in the valleys in the cities, where the more “sophisticated” folks lived. They prided themselves on their “civilized” manners and beliefs, unlike those hicks who still lived in the mountains and woods. That's not to say that city dwellers had no superstitions or taboos; they simply weren't as numerous and didn't hold the same sway on life as they did for the mountain dweller. This can be seen in the different types of omens held by both groups.

In the mountain regions of Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Georgia, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, stories spread of a “belled buzzard” who flew close to the ground with a bell around its neck that went ding . . . ding . . . ding, the prior ring toning out before the next rang. Wherever it landed, it predicted death for the owner of the land or home. The belled buzzard, whether real or phantom apparition, was last seen on Friday, August 13, 1926. It could have only been one buzzard, but they generally live twenty years, and the belled buzzard reports spanned sixty-plus years.

While death was predicted by a musically inclined bird in the mountains, death was foretold by the arrival of a white horse, a recalling symbol of the horseman in Revelations. In the valleys, a pregnant woman shouldn't look at a white horse or it would cause trouble in labor. To dream of a white horse predicted death, and the birth of a white mare on the farm was bad luck. However, in the mountains the white horse was considered an otherworldly being, with its hair and shoes having strong powers against witchcraft. It is also included in folk remedies, such as one to cure colic that calls for drinking water after a white horse.

So while superstitions have changed greatly in the southern hill countries of Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina, and Kentucky, the needs and wants of the people remain the same. To protect against witchcraft, hang a horseshoe wrapped in tinfoil (“silver paper,” as it was called) over the front door, or hang a pair of opened scissors, points down, over the windows. Never let a stranger or neighbor you've had it out with borrow anything. When having company over, hide all combs and brushes, lest your company snag some hair during their visit. Take a tablespoon of castor oil on the first of every month, or drink sassafras tea to strengthen the body and spirit against roots placed against you. Wear a silver dime, minted in 1964 or prior, around the neck or ankles. Many roots and powders used for cursing contain sulfur, which reacts to the dime and turns it black in the process of taking the hit for you and also warns you that you've “walked over poison.”

PROTECT LIVESTOCK

To protect livestock from conjuring, take four brown paper bags and fill them with equal parts asafoetida, whole red peppers, salt, snuff dipped in vinegar, and a cross (this can be hand made from two sticks). Hand these around the livestock area. You may also hang up a horseshoe, points down, wrapped in one full newspaper. Catch the first rainwater in May and sprinkle it on the animals once a month or give it to them in their drink. Take candles dipped on Christmas night and burn them, dripping the wax around the premises. To protect animals from the evil eye, sprinkle them with blessed water or holy water from a Catholic church.

GENERAL PROTECTION FOR LOVED ONES NEAR AND FAR

A general protection my grandparents always used was to take a person's photo or name and place it in the folds of a Bible at Psalm 23 or another protective verse facedown toward the verse.

For soldiers, place it at Ephesians 6:11:

Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

For little children, especially if they are in potentially unsafe environments, place it at Matthew 18:10:

Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.

This can also be done with a small item of the person's. After my nephew was born, we did this with his little booties and placed them in one of Nana's old Bibles. Lastly, if a loved one has been gone for a while and you wish to call them home, turn a photo of them on its head until they return.

PROTECT AGAINST WEAPONS AND ASSAULT

For most of its colonized life, the hills of Appalachia have been filled with violence and crime, from bootlegging deals gone wrong to deadly family feuds. This has always been a threat, especially if you find yourself in the company of the wrong people. When the Civil War and the World Wars came, pocket Bibles were marketed to the public with the allegations that, if carried over the heart on the battlefield, they would stop a bullet and save your life. Other charms, conjure bags, and written verses were carried by the faithful and still are to this day. Here are a few verses and written charms that may be carried with you:

Ephesians 6:11 written as follows:

[Your Name]

+Put on

the whole armour of

+++, [Your Name] that ye may be able to

stand against the wiles of the devil +++

Carry a written SATOR square. Used in European folk magic, a few charms have been found in old shoes, plastered into walls, and more from Tennessee to Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. The square's true meaning is unknown, as is its true origin. Following are a couple of variations.

Finally, you may also use the Paternoster cross (opposite page), which is Latin for “Our Father.” I have not found any sources in southern Appalachia for its use but it has been used in northern Appalachia. The A and O symbolize alpha and omega. Draw it in chalk on the walls.

Lastly, another form is the same as the SATOR square, but also contains the powerful abbreviations of INRI and CMB, that is the inscription on the cross at Calvary and the first initials of each of the three wise men:

+ I N + R I +

S A T O R A R E P O

T E N E T

O P E R A

R O T A S

C. + M. + B. +

CONJURE BAG FOR PROTECTION

Most conjurers and even plain folks carried a personal conjure bag made by themselves or acquired from a conjure doctor to protect them from all evil and danger, whether accidents, criminals, rabid animals, snakebites, haints, or witchcraft. Again, items that have a protective quality in the mind of the mountain folks have been used for such things, much like pretty, flowering herbs and heart-shaped leaves are used in love conjuring. These items range from common things such as garlic, onion skins, dried minnows, and hair to the more obscure “wood from where two trees rub together in the wind,” or “skin from a church snake.” The following is an example of awakening a poke or hex bag in general and a recipe for protection from the above threats. The best bags are those blessed over a long period of time. With protection bags for personal use, bless them three times in total: once when the moon is in the head (Aries), once when it is in the heart (Leo), and once when it is in the feet (Pisces). Always keep your ingredients at an odd number so “it can't be cut in half” by your enemies. Whiskey, personal concerns such as your hair or name, and baby powder aren't ingredients, but more fuel and eyes, feeding the bag and letting it see for you in order for it to do its job.

Everyone makes their hex and conjure bags differently, and I use different methods based on the work at hand and how the Spirit is leading me. The following is one of my methods.

You will need:

White taper candle

Tobacco smoke or incense such as frankincense or myrrh

4-inch by 4-inch piece of blue flannel

4-inch by 4-inch piece of newspaper

Your hair or nail clippings from every finger and toe

Red string or yarn

Snuff soaked in vinegar for three days and strained

A glass of water that has been blessed by reciting the Lord's Prayer over it three times (see page 86)

Whiskey

Baby powder