Post by Graveyardbride on Nov 19, 2015 2:25:16 GMT -5
Folk Magic Traditions of the Early Modern Era
Witches, goblins and spirits lurking in the shadows ruled the medieval world view. They were supposedly banished as science bloomed and religious institutions dismissed superstitions. But even as the empirical method advanced the cause of human knowledge, old beliefs continued to persist and grow and were transported to the new worlds.
Cunning Folk. “Cunning folk” was an English term used to identify those who engaged in beneficial magical practices such as healing the sick, removing curses, identifying wrongdoers and inducing love. Such practices likely date to the beginning of time and the expression “cunning folk” can be traced to the Anglo-Saxon word cunnan, meaning “to know.” These individuals enjoyed a boom in popularity following the Reformation, assuming the rôle of healing and supernatural protection that had once been assigned to the Catholic clergy. Perhaps this was the reason many began to distinguish between malicious black magic and beneficial white magic, though both were anathema to mainstream religion. While there was undeniably a popular demand for their services, cunning folk operated on the fringes, constantly under threat of persecution. Some were tried under witchcraft laws, but many more were dragged before ecclesiastical authorities and accused of peddling the sort of superstition that the Church of England had been established to eradicate.
For cunning folk in the upper echelons of society, knowledge of white magical arts such as astrology, alchemy and necromancy were within financial and educational reach, but for those of the lower classes, a simple demonstration of literacy and grasp of occult concepts or literature was enough. Many cunning folk worked not for income but rather to increase their status within their community. Knowledge of magical traditions was passed down within families or from master to disciple, as well as simply picked up from observing the techniques of other cunning folk. The services provided were varied and involved diverse preparations, incantations and magical rituals. Thieves were identified via a ritual involving slips of paper bearing the names of suspects slotted one by one into the hollow section of a key while a cunning man or woman held a Bible. When the Bible began to “wag” and fell from their hands, the culprit was identified. Healing magic was performed by using Catholic prayers or written charms, which were impressively arcane to the usually illiterate population who sought these services. Meanwhile, “witch-bottles” or “bellarmines” helped protect against the influence of malevolent magical practitioners. They were filled with potions that included hair, urine and pins, which were buried or burned as a potent form of counter-magic.
Blood-Stopping. The Ozarks region of Illinois, Missouri and Arkansas has a tradition of “power doctors,” who are purported to be able to cure illness and disease through supernatural means. One of their most vaunted techniques is known as blood-stopping, by which the “unnatural” flow of blood is stanched by magic, usually with the recitation of Ezekiel 16:6:
“And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live; yea, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live.”
One Georgia woman in the 1960s even claimed to be able to use the power of blood-stopping by reciting the verse over the telephone, substituting the word “thee” with the person’s name. Another variation used by a blood-stopper in Missouri was even simpler: “Upon Christ’s grave three roses bloom, Stop, blood, stop!”
Some blood-stoppers have claimed to be able to exert their influence on farm animals and in one notable case, on a piece of meat. A skeptic was having dinner with a self-proclaimed blood-stopper and challenged him: “We’ll just let ya’ try your luck on this beef,” he told his host. The blood-stopper replied, “All right, but it’ll ruin yer beef, man.” According to the story, the skeptic ended up going hungry. “They killed it ‘n stuck it. It never bled a drop. Blood stayed right in th’ flesh an’ ruined it. Couldn’t eat it.”
Interestingly, a parallel tradition existed among the Saami people of northern Norway, which would later be adopted by non-Saami practitioners of folk magic and persisted into the modern day. As in the Ozarks, religious commandments were often used to staunch the flow of blood, often including a reference to the Trinity:
Stop blood!
As the water stopped
In the river of Jordan
In the three holy names
God the Father and Son
And the Holy Spirit.
Granny Women. There were few trained physicians in the Appalachians in the 19th century, so people usually turned to individuals whose practices lay on the edge between folk medicine and folk magic, usually known as “granny women,” or in the case of men, “yarb doctors.” They were essentially herbalists, collecting and preparing natural pharmaceuticals with organic or inorganic properties that could help to alleviate the symptoms of sicknesses. While they could cure diseases, they saved lives by reducing the severity of the symptoms. They also played an extremely important rôle as midwives. Medical doctors were usually too far away to respond quickly to a woman giving birth in the Appalachian hills, while granny women were in the neighborhood and willing to spend far longer periods of time tending a woman in labor. They provided psychological support, in no small part through a belief in a number of mystical rituals to ensure a healthy birth. A woman would be given her husband’s hat to hold, bringing him symbolically into the room, even though the mores of the time left him pacing outside. Labor pains were dealt with by placing an axe or knife under the bed, “cutting” the pain in half, while some midwives opened door and windows, symbolizing the opening of the birth canal. Herbal remedies were used to assist the birth, such as raspberry tea to relax uterine muscles, blackberry to avoid hemorrhaging and slippery elm bark tea to speed delivery. Those who had it available, could give the mother laudanum or morphine if things turned grim because such drugs were once available over-the-counter.
Powwow. Derived from older traditions and brought to the US by German settlers, powwow (brauche in German) is a religious and magical tradition practiced among the Pennsylvania Dutch, particularly among the “plain people” – Amish, Dunkers and Mennonites. The tradition is believed to derive from pre-Reformation practices that were condoned by the Catholic Church, but then driven underground by the Protestants. The magic included a number of protective and healing functions, such as counteracting hexes or curing illness (though if a powwow healing did not achieve results, the powwow practitioner would often blame the insufficient faith of the patient). Most powwow incantations are from the Bible, with certain passages believed to have particular powers to exert supernatural influence, including the same Ezekiel 16:6 passage used by the blood-stoppers of the Ozarks. Many incantations also call on the intercession of saints and some prominent powwow practitioners came to be regarded as saints in their own right. One such person was the German immigrant Anna Maria Jung, who retreated into the mountains following the death of her husband in the American Revolution and became a holy woman. She was called “Mountain Mary” or “Barricke Mariche” by the locals. Another potent source of incantations was written German immigrant John George Hohman in 1819 – Der lang verborgene Schatz und Haus Freund (The Long Lost Friend). It contained a variety of potent spells and practices derived from the Bible, occult sources such as the German charm book Romanus-Büchlein, and Egyptian Secrets, a book of magic compiled by 13th-century Swabian Dominican monk Albertus Magnus. Hohman claimed his book was in itself a powerful protective amulet and contained a variety of useful spells, such as the following:
A Good Remedy for Those Who Cannot Keep Their Water: Burn a hog’s bladder to powder and take it inwardly.
A Good Remedy to Stop Bleeding: This is the day on which the injury happened. Blood, thou must stop, until the Virgin Mary bring forth another son. Repeat these words three times.
To Extinguish Fire Without Water: Write these words on each side of a plate and throw it into the fire and it will extinguish forthwith – SATOR, AREPO, TENET, OPERA, ROTAS.
Another more dangerous powwow text is the mysterious The Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses, which is believed to contain incantations relating to black magic and the summoning of spirits. Generally, powwowers would strenuously deny practicing black magic or hexerei as in the words of 19th-century powwower Peter Bausher: “I only try to cure people and help the afflicted. Heaven knows there is enough suffering in the world.”
Mariners’ Magic. Men who make their living on the sea have long been known to maintain superstitions and rituals to ensure their safety on the water and these have persisted into the modern era. Nineteenth-century fishermen of Gloucester, Massachusetts, were eager to avoid individuals, vessels and objects identified as “Jonahs,” which were cursed with bad luck. A spell of poor catches could lead to a person’s being identified as a Jonah, possibly leading to his being kicked off a vessel. In ambiguous cases, a Jonah could be identified by the ship’s cook who placed a nail, a piece of wood, or a lump of coal in a loaf of bread. Whoever got the foreign object was labeled a Jonah. Certain activities were also deemed Jonahs, though individuals often expressed very different opinions as to their identification. These activities included constructing toy ships onboard, anchoring in an inauspicious fashion, or cleaning one’s deck while on fishing waters – or allowing it to get dirty). Soaking mackerel in a bucket was considered by some a particularly egregious Jonah, because, “So long as you soak them in a bucket, you will never get enough to soak in a barrel.”
Gloucester fishermen also believed in a number of strange superstitions and practices such as whistling into the wind or sticking a knife into the aft side of the mast to summon a breeze. Some wore earrings believed to improve eyesight and many others carried lucky talismans such as fish or animal bones or horse chestnuts. Putting potatoes in one’s pockets protected against rheumatism and wearing nutmeg around the neck cured scrofulous. One interesting custom was observed in the Cape Cod region when a fish was being dressed. One man, the header, would decapitate the fish and hand the body to the splitter. If the fish’s body continued to wriggle, the splitter would ask the header to kill the fish, which the header would do by striking the decapitated fish head. According to one Gloucester fishing captain, “It is a singular thing, but it is surely true, that when the head is treated in this manner the body always straightens out.”
Southern Hoodoo. The African-American folk tradition of hoodoo (also known as Conjure) is distinct from the African diaspora religion of voodoo (or Vodou), though they both originated in western Africa. While voodoo is a religious system, hoodoo is a magical system of beliefs that use spiritual forces for both good and evil. Hoodoo first emerged in the Southern US as a belief system among slaves from what is now the Congo, Sierra Leone and Ghana. These people brought their diverse traditions with them to the New World. Hoodoo also borrowed elements from American Indian beliefs, as well as Northern European cunning folk traditions.
Some believe that voodoo was able to develop into a more established religious tradition by co-opting the saints and sacraments of Catholicism. American Protestantism did not tolerate such heterodoxy and African folk beliefs developed into a folk magical tradition, which could be practiced with the acquisition of esoteric knowledge without necessarily being initiated into a theological tradition. Of particular importance was the art of rootwork, an herbalistic art with origins in western Africa but also incorporating the knowledge of New World herbs (though many African plants were brought to the New World). These practices sometimes changed through adoption. For example, the amaranth plant, which was used as an astringent by American Indian herbalists, was combined with honey and a dove’s heart by hoodoo conjurers to cause a person to fall in love. The most potent root may have been High John the Conquer, also known as bindweed or jalap root. Some hoodoo scholars have suggested its magical power derives from the fact it resembles man’s testicle, but others contend this explanation is erroneous. Originally used as a medicinal plant in Mexico, it would become the most important magical root in hoodoo tradition.
Conjure bags, otherwise known as gris-gris bags, mojo bags, lucky hands, or nation sacks, also played an important role. Filled with roots, plants, minerals, or the powered remains of animals, these bags served as a connection to the spirit world and could bring love, protection, luck, money or healing. One potent conjure ingredient was often a bone from a boiled black cat, believed to counter black magic or allow the user to fly, become invisible or be cured of illness. Hair or nails from an individual could be used to target a particular person, while graveyard dirt could draw power from the dead.
Galdrastafir. Derived from mystic traditions and pagan beliefs from the Middle Ages, galdrastafir were Icelandic sigils designed to control or influence the world through magic. They have their origins in Norse runes and pagan mythology, but also incorporated Judeo-Christian elements. They may have existed since the 1400s, but were popular from the 17th century onward and most of the grimoires featuring galdrastafir date from this period. They were used by so-called galdramenn, those who had received an education in Scandinavia and Germany with the intention of becoming clergy only to come back and become magicians instead, using their literacy to amaze and enchant the generally illiterate population.
There were a number of different forms of galdrastafir. The oldest are called asymmetrical, usually consisting of lines intersecting with other lines or small shapes with hidden or arcane meanings. Symmetrical galdrastafir look like cartwheels or snowflakes and some combine Christian and runic imagery. Runic galdrastafir are strings of rune characters, the meanings of which are generally unknown, while seal or insignia galdrastafir resemble seals in European occult texts and usually reference Christian leaders, monarchs and angels. The most elaborate and beautiful were the superstaves, sometimes called “rood-cross,” generally used for protection against evil forces. While some galdrastafir simply brought luck or protection against evil, many others had a specific purpose. Many were purported to affect human relationships. One ensured: “A girl will love you. Carve this stave in the palm of your hand with your saliva and then shake her hand.” Many others were designed to provide the user assistance in economic activities, support in legal redress, influence over the weather, or an advantage in cards or wrestling. There are a few recorded instances of malicious spells, though they aren’t particularly deadly. Examples include causing a victim to fart or vomit uncontrollably, or fall off a horse. The Museum of Icelandic Sorcery and Witchcraft has provided a guide to many galdrastafir and their uses.
Concealed Items. Although 160,023 convicts were transported to Australia between 1788 and 1868, there is little remaining in terms of the clothing they wore. This odd fact is likely linked to the secretive folk magic tradition of concealed items. In the bizarre and exotic environment that the convicts found themselves, they leaned on superstitions to for protection against hostile supernatural forces. They achieved this through an old British magical tradition – concealing clothing, shoes, toys, trinkets and dead cats in houses and other buildings in order to protect the occupants from evil spirits. In 1980, tradesmen renovating Sydney’s Hyde Park Barracks discovered two convict shirts hidden in the structure of the building and numerous examples have been discovered since. One of the most interesting was the discovery of a child’s shoe hidden in a pylon of the Sydney Harbor Bridge. According to Australian historian Ian Evans, it was “concealed by a builder or stonemason to protect against evil forces.”
There is no written documentation of the secretive practice and it has been rediscovered only with the finding of old boots, shoes, tattered garments, children’s toys and the bodies of dead cats hidden away in the walls of colonial homes. These items were almost invariably hidden in out-of-the-way parts of the house such as behind walls, up chimneys and in attic crawl spaces, which were believed to be weak points through which malevolent forces could enter houses. It is believed this tradition was observed in parts of Australia until at least the 1930s and thousands of such protective items still lie hidden within houses, with their occupants none the wiser. One sign of their presence is evidence of evil-averting marks or apotropeia, mystical marks scratched next to windows or doors, on fireplace lintels, or in roof cavities.
Sources: David Tormsen, ListVerse, November 17, 2015; Appalachian Magic; and Voodoo & Hoodoo by Jim Gaskins.