May this syrup sweet every man whose door I knock on for work.

[Psalm 90:17]

May this Low John show the beauty of my work to all who see it.

[Psalm 90:17]

May this sugar sweeten each one whose hand I shake.

[Psalm 90:17]

May this water bring clarity in the agreements I undertake.

[Psalm 90:17]

May this molasses sweeten each opportunity I meet.

[Psalm 90:17]

Place your piece of worn sock in the bottom of a glass jar, then fill with a bit of the roots and equal parts water and syrup, the entire time praying Psalm 90:17 after adding each ingredient, for a total of seven times:

And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.

Once the jar is filled and the lid is shut tight, face the east and shake it while praying that you find work soon. Pray from the heart here. Then stay facing your front door or driveway and roll the jar on the ground toward you twenty-one times. After this, set the jar down somewhere high up, taller than you, preferably. Every day, shake the jar and pray and roll it toward you in the same manner until you get the job. Once you've been employed, bury the jar in your front yard.

GOOD HUNTING CONJURE BAG

Hunting game is not only a sport but a necessity for many families in Appalachia today, especially when the monthly check is late and the cabinets are going bare. Deer, hogs, bears, squirrels, possums, and raccoons have all been hunted around here, and good luck charms were sometimes taken to help ensure you got what you needed for the home. My father often carried an airplane bottle of Jägermeister (“buck's blood,” as it was sometimes called) with him when he went hunting for deer or turkeys. He said it was because of the cross over the deer's head; it's like your prayers were already answered for a good hunt. I was further convinced when I found out that the emblem for their logo was inspired by the German saint Hubertus, patron of hunting! The Cherokee also carried different charms for success in hunting, so it is a long tradition in the hill country. Here is a hunting conjure bag recipe many of my folks have had success with.

Items needed:

Tobacco

Red powdered clay (native to land)

White mustard seed

Ginseng root

If hunting bears, blackberries; deer, apple seeds; turkeys, oats; hogs, lovage or bo' hog root; raccoons, squirrels, or possums, salt

Tie up your tobacco, clay, mustard seed, ginseng, and animal-specific plant in a square of cow leather or red flannel and bless it, calling it up and baptizing it. Recite these verses three times each:

He was a mighty hunter before the Lord: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord. (Genesis 10:9)

And whatsoever man there be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, which hunteth and catcheth any beast or fowl that may be eaten; he shall even pour out the blood thereof, and cover it with dust. (Leviticus 17:3)

Repeat these verses when you field dress an animal as well; cover the spilled blood with dirt and leaves. (This also connects to a Cherokee story where the blood of a bear is covered, and as the hunter walks away with the parts and meat, the bear rises again from the earth and goes back into its cave.)

Once you've blessed your bag, feed it with a bit of Jägermeister before sunrise when you head out. Carry it under your left armpit by tying it around your shoulder. When you see game, squeeze it under your arm for luck. When you come home with good game, feed the bag with rendered fat from the animal and place it in a cedar box until your next hunt.

GOOD FISHING HEX BAG

You will need:

4-inch by 4-inch piece of newspaper

White mustard seed

Walnut leaves

3 dried minnow heads

4-inch by 4-inch mesh net from a potato sack

Lay out the piece of newspaper and place the mustard seed, walnut leaves, and minnow heads in the center. Recite Ezekiel 47:9–10 nine times over them:

9 And it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither: for they shall be healed; and every thing shall live whither the river cometh.

10 And it shall come to pass, that the fishers shall stand upon it from Engedi even unto Eneglaim; they shall be a place to spread forth nets; their fish shall be according to their kinds, as the fish of the great sea, exceeding many.

Then tie up the corners into a bag with three knots. Cover that with the mesh net and bind it the same way. When you take it fishing, feed the bag by dipping it in the waters you're fishing from three times in the name of the Trinity, spit on it, and place it to rest on the side of the bucket you plan to put your catch in; you can hang it with a fishing hook on the side. When you've caught what you need, bury the sack on the bank of the river with three angleworms and leave without looking back. Don't count your fish until you get home.

LAMP TO KEEP MONEY FLOWING IN

Much like water, money runs thin or even goes dry. This happens a lot, but it may be prevented by working a conjure lamp for a steady flow of money wherever and however possible. Get a clean oil lamp and fill the basin with a rattlesnake rattle, cornmeal, snuff, seven dimes, and a pinch of dirt from your front door. Wrap this in brown paper and place it in the basin while reciting Psalm 23 (see page 66) twenty-three times, then light the lamp and let it burn as the hand of the clock or the sun rises. Recite Psalm 23 twenty-three times on the first of every month when lighting it.

LUCKY DAYS AND UNLUCKY DAYS

To calculate the lucky days for a month, count the number of days from that full moon to the end of the month. So say the full moon is on January 18. That's thirteen days to the thirty-first. Multiply this by the number of days in the month, so 13 x 31. This equals 403. By this result, the lucky days are the third and the fourth. These days are fortunate for all things, but especially in regards to general luck and money.

To determine the unlucky days in a month, follow the same formula except count the days from the first of the month up to the full moon. So if the full moon is on January 18, your number would be 17. 17 x 31 days in the month is 527. So the unlucky days would be the fifth and the twenty-seventh.

Note: If an unlucky day turns out to be a previously found lucky day, it is marked off and is considered unlucky.

Do this for every month to determine its luck or lack thereof. It's bad to plant, marry, move, lend, and bathe on unlucky days. However, as we'll see soon enough, these days can be correlated with the signs for workings. For love, you could find a lucky day that falls in the sign of the heart (Leo). For cursing, you may find an unlucky day in the sign of the head (Aries).

Now, as the history and plight of Appalachia has shown, money and making a living doesn't always sit on the legal side. As such, many folks have run-ins with the law or try to avoid it in the activities of their illicit professions. Other times, good folks are done plain wrong by the justice system and need a greater power to get them out of the mess they've been thrown in. All of this is undertaken beneath the eyes of the one who dined with thieves and murderers and who will be the Judge to judge all others. The Just Judge.

8

AIN'T NO BADGE THAT SHINES BRIGHTER

Long before localized authorities, folks often took justice into their own hands to protect their loved ones and their property, and to exact revenge. There are hundreds of examples of folks working in and outside the law here: bootleggers or “wildcats” killing for their jar of corn, thieves and murderers who've had the Devil whisper in their ear. Violence and bloodshed have been in the back rows of Appalachian culture forever. It sits rights next to witchcraft.

In my hometown, Johnson City, Tennessee, it's said there are underground tunnels leading in and out of the city that were used by the famous American gangster Al Capone for bootlegging liquor during Prohibition. Ten minutes west in my current town of Jonesborough, nearly every house downtown has old tunnels and hideaways used to traffic and store liquor. Before that, they were used to help slaves in the Underground Railroad. This type of conjure and folk magic has had many developments and additions over the centuries. From using “witch guns” to keep the law off the property to escaping slaves sprinkling graveyard dirt as they went to hide their tracks and throw off the hounds, we are a people constantly running from our past and our future.

Many folks feared going to the big house, so they'd do everything they could to avoid it. Now before you say, “Well, just don't do liquor,” it wasn't that easy. Moonshine and liquor were big parts of our culture and heritage. They still are. Mind you, we're also stubborn as hell, and most wouldn't quit their stills if the Big Man Upstairs told them himself to stop. Many folks laid powders and bags around the property, and hung rags and other odd but not easily noticed things to either keep the law away or make them sweet. If those didn't work, there were other things to make sure your trial and the judge were in your favor. This is how folks made a living. It paid well and kept food on the table. People still bootleg moonshine; I've had some come to me for a bit of something extra. What folks do isn't my business, so I give them what they ask, whether that's a powder or poke bag.