A rabbit's foot is carried to help increase the chances of safe delivery. This may be due to the fact that rabbits have many babies so very often, being able to conceive another litter while still carrying a previous litter. They seem to be experts in this area.
ABORTION
It's hard to believe a section on abortion is here, considering the conservative religious influence in this work. However, what the church doesn't know never hurt them. Sometimes a woman would have sex before marriage and end up pregnant. In fear of her family and others, she would resort to anything to be rid of this burden. By all means, see a doctor for this! That said, you have your beliefs, and I have mine; this is here for historical and educational purposes only.
Physical abortions (no magic involved) were rarely spoken of back in the day and of course were seen as a major sin. I heard they used to tell women that after they died, their aborted babies would scratch their eyes out. Physical abortions were done with a large number of things, none of which are recommended, including alcohol, saltpeter, black pepper, turpentine, castor oil, and more. When a procedure could not be done for fear of being caught, women looked to the spiritual roots that abound in these hills.
An old tale says a woman who wishes to get rid of her child should go to the oldest grave in a cemetery before sunrise. She was to kneel behind the gravestone facing east. As the sun rose, the shadow of the headstone would pass over her belly and take the child with it.
A red yarn was moistened with turpentine and worn around the waist for nine days to cause abortion.
It was always said that if a woman continuously carried a pack of salt, it would cause miscarriage. Having a tooth pulled during pregnancy was believed to cause miscarriage, too.
When the moon was in the bowels (Virgo), a woman would stand on a tree stump on a high hill and switch the stump with cottonwood branches as the sun set. This was usually repeated every Friday night until her flow came and the child was gone.
A woman would boil an egg in her urine, naming the egg for the child while praying that it not come. She would then bore a hole into the narrow end of the egg and rub graveyard dirt into it. Next, she'd take the egg to an anthill and leave it there. As the ants consumed the egg, so the woman miscarried.
Women would also squat over a pot of stewed onions to bring a miscarriage.
PREDICT A CHILD'S FUTURE PROFESSION
An old work that was done back in the day, and is still performed now, is to find out a child's future profession. There are of course many variations, but I will only detail a couple here, as the variations are usually minor and only affect the specific items used and the number of them (usually three or five).
A child is sat on the floor facing east before three objects, symbols of their predicted occupation. Whichever one the child grabs or goes to first is the answer for them. Growing up, the items consisted of an empty liquor bottle, a Bible, a piece of wood, a dollar bill, and a bowl of dirt. If the child goes for the liquor bottle, they will be a drunk. If they go for the Bible, they will be a man of God or a churchgoing woman. (If a regular book is used, the child will be very smart.) The piece of wood shows they will work hard for their money, and sometimes predicts a future in carpentry. The dollar bill says they will be wealthy and money will come easily to them, while the bowl of dirt suggests they will be poor all their life. That last one isn't necessarily a bad thing—you can be rich in more ways than with money. Remember, every parent should love their child to death, so this shouldn't have any hinderance on how they are treated or raised. Like with everything, this can change as life goes on.
ENSURE A BABY'S FUTURE SUCCESS
Certain formulas were developed over time to ensure a child's success in life. These methods varied greatly but the majority of them had the child's best interest in mind.
To ensure book smarts, folks would place a bunch of books under the cradle with the belief that as the child slept over them, they would become more intelligent.
Arguably, the birthplace of country music is in Appalachia; so it's no wonder so many roots and tales were made surrounding musical talent that could have the potential to “take you to the big city.” For this, mothers would rub three living ladybugs on their child's lips or tongue to give them a good singing voice. For musical talent, they would use a cricket.
To make sure the child will be successful, it was said the child should first be carried upstairs before going down stairs. If the house was just one level, a chair was used to step up on.
If a mother, while pregnant, becomes interested in an art form, whether music, art, building, or cooking, then the child will be gifted in it.
Likewise, bodily signs gave an idea of their success: if a baby has long fingers, it suggests musical talent.
Historically, a baby's first bath should be done when they are four days old in lightly salted water. The salt must be new and bought by an aunt if it's a boy, or by an uncle if it's a girl. If no uncles or aunts are available, parents do it in the same gender respects.
Make a pouch from the first socks the child wore. On one sock, add a dab of molasses for a sweet life, three quarters for enough money, a pinch of salt for good luck, a piece of bread for abundance, and some church dirt for their angels. Lay the other sock over these and sew them together at the edges. Roll the package up and place it under the baby's cradle. After they are grown enough, this is then placed in a Bible with a lock of their hair at Psalm 23.
Now having and rearing kids was only half the job done. The other half was making sure they survived. Remember, with no modern medicine, a simple cut on the hand could quickly fester and lead to death. And diseases that we have vaccines for now, such as hives and shingles, were major risks. So, naturally, the second aspect of raising a family was to keep that family healthy. Because without health no work could be done—and you can't survive if you can't make due for yourself. Here is where faith healing and root doctoring come into play.
11
THERE'S A BALM IN GILEAD
No volume on these works would be complete without those recipes that are employed by a large majority of the community—not just the conjurer or preacher. These also far outnumber any other superstition or charm I've ever found.
Since, your health was and is the foundation of your entire life, and even the world of your family in some cases, Appalachian Americans took this power of independence to do things for themselves and try every last resource before requesting help. That independence removed the middle man between man and God and the barrier between religion and superstition. The following are recipes and remedies my family, and many others, have employed for hundreds of years. Remember, this is not a substitute for modern medicine—but it may complement it. And if you're like me and my folks, this is sometimes the only option.
Folk medicine has been well documented in southern Appalachia as well as the South in general, but folk magic has been looked over—which is a shame, as it has connections to every aspect of life in Appalachia, especially when it comes to the health of the family. Prior to the germ theory (and even still today), people believed disease and accidents arise from God, the Devil, haints, or witchcraft. It's no wonder that the resulting diseases of witchery and devilment that befall the body must be met with counter-charms and fervent prayer—especially in the mind of the mountaineer, a mind grown in the wiles of the forever forests, with echoes of angels and demons in an eternal war, with spooks and haints around many corners.
As with every war fought in these hills, we harm ourselves spiritually with whatever works, regardless of what the pastor says about it. Although we are a close, keep-to-our-own-kind culture, deeper within we are a blood-before-water kind of people; family comes first. In this way, folk magic and conjuring lead the way to health and balance in the body. While germs are real and you should definitely wash your hands, spirits can still create imbalances in the body, which lead to illness.
In the infancy of Appalachian folk magic, as our ancestors and the knowledge of their motherlands were slowly mingling over time, medicines were a commonly discussed topic. This occurred all over the South, as new people came with new diseases and native plants were used to help them. Many of my southern readers should be familiar with the phrase “It hurt like the Devil” in reference to a wound or accident. Later, as the belief in magic- and spirit-originated illnesses grew, these became the new “Devil,” and thus the phrase “doctoring the devil/root out of you” came about. People would make the root or Devil, and doctor or fix someone with the charm. Following are examples of the former, physical doctoring of the painful Devil.
Note: Before doing any kind of healing for others, you must ask if they have faith in God. Faith is required here. This can even be seen by the actions of Christ: Before he healed the blind man or the lepers, he asked them, “Believe ye that I can do this?” And they all replied with, “Yea, Lord, I do.” Faith is required of the soul for the healing of the body and mind.
GENERAL HEALTH
To ward off disease, a flannel bag containing asafoetida, plus sometimes sawdust and salt, was worn around the neck with the belief that the smell would ward off disease-causing spirits. Much to the same effect, the following character charm, found in Egyptian Secrets by Albertus Magnus, is written in white chalk above the front door:
1. + 2. 7, D. 1. A. + B I 2. S. A. V. + 2 +, H. 6 f. + B. F. 2, S. + + +
(The foot of each + should be elongated to form a mini Christian cross. Apply this with all +'s unless specified otherwise.)
Another recipe for general health calls for the following to be written on brown paper:
+ INTRA + ILLE + CORPUS + CHRISTUS + OPUS + INCOLUMIS +
Place Adam's needle leaves, onion skins, and a dab of honey on top, and fold the paper to make a packet. Bind it with red cord going one way through the square and then the other way. The result should be a red cross on either side.
Every spring, for general health, go out to a field at midnight on a Saturday and pull the ninth, thirteenth, and twenty-first tuft of grass you find. Cut these up together and brew until ⅓ of the water has been boiled off. Wash with this infused water upward as the sun rises. Toss the remaining wash to the rising sun.
Glory Notes
