Whisper their name upon rising and going to bed every day for nine days. On the tenth day, sprinkle salt into the fireplace or on the stove eye while saying, “It is not salt I aim to burn, but my lover's heart to turn. Wishing him neither joy nor sleep, till he come home to me and speak.”
Take three twigs from a mockingbird's nest, and tie a paper with their name or a photo of them to the sticks, facing inward. You can also use hair, if needed. Hang this over the door or in a swag.
Take a piece of paper with their name written on it three times, crossed with the words “Come back to me” and signed with your signature. Cut the top off a sweet red onion and carve a deep cross in it. Stuff the paper into this cut. Place the onion in a tin can and fill it with molasses and whiskey. Place it under the bed, and talk to it as if it were him every morning until he comes back. “Johnny, come back to me. Turn away from everything and come home.”
Family was and is of great importance in the mountains, and although it didn't always consist of blood relation, that blood was a special connection—a continuation and extension of one's own blood, reared and formed to one's own understanding and stories, furthering the patchwork quilt of our ancestors that compose us. One's beloved ones always had priority over all else, spiritually and physically. But the greatest thing beyond finding and keeping love was the fruit it bore and the certainty of the future. The next generation was prayed for, conjured up, blessed, and bathed in the dreams of the family in a day where infant mortality was big and family time was little. Only by God and those with the Gift could call up a soul to be born during the narrowest of windows offered in their old-time mountain lives.
2 Snail water is the juice naturally made by snails and slugs as they move. Snail water is sticky and very hard to remove, which is why it's used to keep something with you. To make a batch, collect twenty cotton swabs of the juice and place them in a jar with 3 tablespoons water and 1 tablespoon salt. Do this during the full moon after a good rain, ideally in April. Steep for a month before using. You can leave the swabs in or take them out after that.
10
LITTLE RABBIT SKIN
Appalachian folk magic recipes are largely tempered by the micro-cultures they arise from. Just two generations ago in my area in east Tennessee, sex or kids before marriage was unheard of. So was divorce. This mimics the old children's rhyme, “First comes love, then comes marriage, here comes ____________ with a baby carriage.” While it is preferred for most that a child be born from love, that isn't always the case. However, after the old rhyme, fertility and children are next on our list after love and lust in the life of the old mountaineers. Many families back in the day had huge families with as many as twenty children, either by one woman or many. The average minimum was usually four to six children. Because of this, there are many old wives' tales regarding fertility, childbirth, and child rearing, whether it's how to get pregnant, stop having stillborn babies, ease teething, or weaning a child.
FERTILITY WORKINGS
Everyone is different, of course, and, just like herbal remedies, not everything works for everyone. So some women would resort to different remedies until they found success. Just because something doesn't work for you, though, doesn't mean it won't work for the next person. These works may be used to help you conceive.
An old work to make a woman fertile involved having a preacher hand the husband or father a can of chickpeas. These were cast onto a busy road and, as they were ground into the mud by traffic, would bring fertility. If you can't find a preacher to help, bury a can of chickpeas at a church for a month, ideally when a blessed day such as Easter or Christmas comes and goes. Then cast the chickpeas into the busy road.
Boil chickpeas (you can do this after getting them from the church yard as well) as the sun rises while praying Psalm 113:9:
He maketh the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children. Praise ye the Lord.
Boil chickpeas in spring water until a third of the water has boiled off. Strain the chickpeas out and bathe in this water for three days. Then sew the dried chickpeas into the mattress you wish to conceive on.
Rub powdered milk on the skin side of a rabbit hide. Dust this with baby powder and place seven apple seeds in the center with a ginger root. Eat the apple first. Tie the hide into a bundle and baptize it by dunking it in fresh running water in the three highest names. Let it dry in a secluded place, then hide it under the bed. Back in the day, folks would sew something like this up in the head of the bed. This reminded me of a lullaby my grandmother used to sing to us called “Be-oh-bye-oh Baby,' which talked about the daddy going hunting to “catch a little rabbit skin to put the be-oh-bye-oh baby in.”
If you wish to have a child, have a friend sit their newborn on your bed or leave a dirty diaper at your house when they leave.
Eat juicy fruits, such as watermelons, apples, or pumpkins—but nothing acidic, like oranges. For twins, eat twinned fruits.
Carry a rabbit's foot dressed in rose water and baby powder. Pray Genesis 25:21 over the foot twenty-one times, substituting “Isaac” with the man's name and “Rebekah” with your own name:
And [Isaac] intreated the Lord for his wife, because she was barren: and the Lord was intreated of him, and [Rebekah] his wife conceived.
Make a hex bag of jack-in-the-pulpit root, pumpkin seeds, and a bit of bear's-bed. Wrap these up as the moon grows and lay the bag under the bed when attempting at the most fertile time of the month. As the moon grows, so will your chances of conceiving.
Another old-timer trick was to acquire butter from a woman named Mary whose husband's name was Joseph, or from a woman whose last name didn't change in marriage (meaning she married an unrelated man of the same surname). Eat a little bit of the butter each day, starting as the moon begins to grow, until you become pregnant. Alternatively, acquire a piece of fabric from such a woman and sew it into a piece of your clothing. Wear this piece until you are pregnant. After the baby is born, cut out the cloth and use it as the baby's first swaddle.
Sleep with an oblong, phallic-looking stone under your pillow on the night of the full moon and you'll allegedly be pregnant within nine months.
JUMPING DOWN THE BABE
The following tricks, almost entirely based on sympathetic magic, are done to ease labor pains, stop hemorrhage, protect the mother from spirits while giving birth, and ensure safety of both mother and child.
A knife or axe is placed beneath the bed the woman lies on and a pocketknife or arrowhead is placed under the pillows to cut the pain down. I've seen this work firsthand. Some folks say she should wear the father's hat as well to help with the pains.
A Bible is placed, open to the Book of Matthew, on the mother's chest if she is in danger and on the mother's belly if the child is at risk in the birthing process.
It was said that in order to bring on labor, the mother had to walk in circles until she was exhausted.
Roots and charms were likewise employed next to physical activities such as sex, induced sneezing, or driving over railroad tracks to bring the child. One such recipe calls for tying asafoetida around the neck and placing a rabbit's foot under the bed.
To induce labor, the father's shoes are placed on the mother's feet while he says, “I gave you this burden and here I relieve you of it.” In other areas, the verbal charm isn't mentioned and the father's shoes are worn for strength.
If the birth is proving difficult, burning corncobs on the porch is recommended.
Snakeskin was also bound to the woman's thigh for a fast delivery, the basis seemingly being the child will slide right out like a snake.
Or sew a rattlesnake rattle into a bag and place it in the woman's hand for a smooth delivery. The mother isn't allowed to know what it contains and likewise is barred from opening it to view the contents.
To help bring the child through, a holey stone (a stone with a natural hole through it) was hung from the rafters of the old cabins back then, right over the mother's head.
To keep the baby from getting caught up, every open vessel was turned upside down and all knots untied. Additionally, it was recommended that all jewelry be removed from the house altogether. This was usually placed in a small bag or something on the porch until the child came. This not only helped “pour” the child out but also kept the child from getting tangled in the umbilical cord, which was buried in the yard (along with the placenta) afterward with salt. Or, if they wanted more children, the father would carry it over the same number of ridges as children they wished to bear.
STILLBORN BABIES AND MISCARRIAGES
Infant mortality used to be around 50 percent in days gone by. Thankfully, that number has gone down. But it still occurs, whether due to chance or a medical condition. While I'm not prescribing or guaranteeing anything, I do believe that faith and prayer work; and when put together in a root, your chances are improved. My grandmothers used some of these remedies.
An old superstition for curing the condition or luck that causes stillborn or early death of infants that usually has no cause is to name the next male child Adam. After him, it's said it will stop.
When Nana had stillborn children, she waded in the ocean at Myrtle Beach. After that, she had no more complications. You may also wade in the water while praying Psalm 113:9 (see page 160).
Tie a bundle of church dirt, baby powder, and dogwood bark around your waist to prevent miscarriage.
Any and all complications were eased by the mother, secretly pregnant, sitting on the unknowing husband's lap.
