CORNS, BURNS, FEVER, AND CRACKING FEET OR HANDS

There are numerous physical and verbal charms used in folk medicine that are too great to show here. However, there are some that are very common because they are often flexible. With a bit of word change, they can be applied to multiple maladies and ailments. The most famous is the first burn charm I was ever taught:

Two Angels came from the East

And one from the West;

One brought fire, one brought frost

And the third was the Holy Spirit.

Out with the fire in with the frost.

Say this three times, blowing on the burn after each recitation but away from the person. With faith, anyone can use this charm.

Here's another charm for healing a burn. Wash the burn with lukewarm water while reciting the following three times in the three highest names, indicated by +++:

As Christ was bathed by the River Jordan and made whole,

I bathe the burn with the same for [name] to be whole.

For cracking feet, folks would use a liniment of some kind, some of which are still available in some places. But the way they'd apply it was the charm: Don't use the dog finger (index finger) when applying the liniment. It's thought that this finger on every human is cursed because that was the finger Judas used to point out Jesus to the guards. Apply it with the middle and ring fingers after a warm bath or shower—but never when it was raining, as this would make the person's feet crack more as the ground dried after the rain.

Fever, a symptom of something greater in the body, was a common cause of death. Because of its nature, it was usually countered with charms much like those used against burns to extinguish the fire in the head. One of the oldest tricks I have found is to wet a rag with cold water and rub it over the head, the back of the neck, and the chest, and down the arms until the rag feels like it's drying. This is the fever getting into the fabric. Take the rag outside and smack it on a tree, rock, or the pavement while telling the fever to leave the person, calling them by name, and stating it cannot return until the Virgin has another child. Finish in the name of the Trinity.

For corns, it was advised to wait for a funeral of someone of the same sex. You don't need to know the person. This was done when the bells of the church tolled, but they don't do that much anymore, so that reference can refer to the bells of “Beulah Land” tolling for the newcomer. Cut out the corns, usually with a pocketknife, and bury them. Then run your fingers over the place and say

They are sounding the holy bell and what I now grasp will soon be well.

What ill I grasp do take away, like the dead one in the grave does lay. + + +

COUGH, ASTHMA, OR PHLEGM

The charms for respiratory problems are extremely varied. Sometimes they involve carrying a spoken word or physical charm, while other times they consist of odd remedies that have no logical basis behind them. But they may work for some. This category also includes COPD, bronchitis, pneumonia, and other breathing or lung issues.

For pneumonia, the lung of a sheep was placed at the foot of the bed of the sick person and left overnight with the belief that the pneumonia would transfer into the larger “home”: the sheep lung. Other folks recommend soaking the feet in whiskey or brandy and then binding onion halves to them overnight. I have done this, and sometimes the onion turned a greenish color from the phlegm being drawn out through the soles.

For general breathing issues, hole a penny that has turned green from oxidation and wear it around your neck so the coin will rest at the center of your chest. This is best done when the moon is in the chest (Cancer). Alternatively, have a person who has never met their father blow into your mouth—or carry a lock of their hair with you.

Here's a charm to be spoken three times while running the hands up the chest and neck, overhead, and to the sky:

What has gotten into you? A bad smell or a bad wind?

Up and out to hell I send! + + +

ACHES, PAINS, HEADACHES, AND SPRAINS

In Appalachia, before modern medicine came riding over the hills, our people had their own way of belief in regards to the body, how it came to health or disease. This included simple pains. One belief my family still holds is that pain radiates or “gallops,” as Papaw Trivett called it. Many in my family have suffered from fibromyalgia, a disease common among melungeons. The only way I know they bared it was through faith. Nana would speak little of her pain and equate it to the pain Christ felt on the cross. She'd say in passing, “If it didn't hurt him, these pains ain't nothing.”

The following charm is along those same lines and can be applied to a number of ailments:

They have crucified the Savior on the Holy Cross. It did not hurt him, it did not pain him. Hence, my (thy) sores and sprains will not hurt me (thee). In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

To stop shooting pains, write the following on a piece paper and carry it with you:

ARILL. AT. GOLL. GOTTZO

For sprains, take a long piece of brown paper and soak it in vinegar. Then bind it to the sprain with a piece of red flannel while saying, “Pickle, pickle, make it good, as surely on this earth Christ has stood.” This is an example where folk medicine and folk magic or faith mix. We have confidence in both separately, but together they are stronger.

Another for sprains is to rub downward or away from the heart while repeating this charm nine times. (Always mutter your charms, lest others hear you.)

Ronde Geronde

+ + +

Say “prestale” after each interval. Repeat three times for a total recitation of twenty-seven times.

To help alleviate pain, harvest garlic from the garden on Saint John the Baptist's Day (June 24). This was then applied either magically in a carried charm or in a home remedy.

Another charm I recommend often for pain is to get a bowl of foreign dirt, meaning dirt taken far from the person's home or property. (You'll need enough to fill a bowl three times.) Set the bowl on the floor by the person's bed, and each morning their feet should first land on the dirt. Turn over the dirt of their prints with a spoon three times, and toss it out at a crossroads. Do this for three mornings: Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. This dumps the pain into the dirt.

For headaches, a number of odd things were done. A piece of red flannel lathered with Vicks VapoRub and tied around the head would help. Or tie a red string around the head as the sun goes down and then take the string to an old tree, somewhere folks don't frequent often, and tie it to one of the tree's roots. Then leave it without looking back. (It's better if the ailing person never sees the tree.)

Another is a written charm, a story told using characters from the Bible, that may be carried always:

Peter sat on a rock holding his head. Jesus was passing by and asked, “Brother, what aileth thee?”

“My Lord, it is the pain in the head that torments me, both waking and sleeping.”

Christ laid his hand on Peter's head. “No more shall you be pained in the head, nor shall anyone who remembers these words and carries it upon him be pained.”

COLIC AND WHOOPING COUGH

For colic, the following may be written on paper and was usually sewed into the baby's bonnet. Today, you could sew it into the inside of every shirt of the child's, so when the shirt is worn it rests on their breast:

S + a + t + o + r, A + r + e + p + o +

T + e + n + e + t, O + p + e + r + a +

R + o + t + a + s³

For colic, repeat the following charm three times while running your hand in counterclockwise circles over the baby's belly:

Colic, I embrace thee, I surround thee, I denounce thee,

from this flesh and blood now flee!

Beware thee God, blood and flesh the heavenly host;