TUESDAY
900 pages of dense oral histories and i got about 3 pages of notes
though it seems slim pickings its actually was not, the realms and
realms of folk magic recipies dont interest me for my wisdom text
but i will be able to use all that when i get back to novel characters
these notes have been translated from deep dialect
often its the turn of phrase im looking for:
referring to hoodoo folk as cunning folk and in the Virginias highmen, highfolk (high hoodoo)
a classic greeting is hello you should have come to me earlier
if I cant get a clients mind I cant do nothing with them
they got to believe in the tradition, believe in me, then I can help them,
whole thing is what worries on your mind, everybody got something worry at them
if you large enuf to matter you large enuf to have enemies
conjurism aint nothing but another ism
if you aint got no belief its just an ordinary root
the only way to protect yourself is thru willpower
folk still believe, even folk say they don't, they believe
(specially now that ima move hoodoo into the 21st century)
I tell folk ima hoodooman, they expect me to do some magic
malignant forces cant go past a fork in the road
to capture a spirit, call their name and when they answer cap the bottle
man falls into hole and keep falling and falling and never seen again
doctor buzzard of beaufort
man of power who ran and transformed himself into a bird when the slaveowners came
child seeing spirits because too young to be afraid of what he say, his aunt says
I was fixed so they taken all my strength from me
Anybody who cripples you in any way has fixed you, with or w/o intent
Bag of fixtures
Husband treating her bad, mother dreams it, sends sisters to check
oldtimey hoodoo dnt work on folk no more cause they minds is stronger now
She tried to fix me but I will live to see the grass grow on her grave
That's the truth if I never speak again
hoodoo told child run thru my garden again and I will make you bark like a dog and so she did and he barked, more like a cough, for the rest of his life and when he died he died in her garden
The spirit of my mind told me to
You give it a spirit of imagination wonder
Just breaking peace
I used to lead a spiritual man when I was 12 because he was blind and he paid me 50c a day
a hoodoo is a fortuneteller, a seer, master of dreams and spirits, a foreknower, able to know what has happened, is happening and will happen in the totality of the moment
traveling medicine show barker learn something about some of the locals so he can point one or two out and say, let me tell you something, ben bard, do you have to go to the bathroom all times of the night and the local is astounded, this man knows something
I shall be a tree alone, im by myself and I sees and reads, foreseen, foreseen for me thzt you must do things that what nobody ever seen
Didn't nobopdy teach me because im gifted, that mean the knowledge is already in you, all you got to do is act
Difference between the sorceror and the fortuneteller is that the fortuneteller tells your fortune, the sorceror makes it
I came to tell you about a little short story that happened to me once . .
Fixing a wrestler by rubbing him down w/a fixture,
wrestler saw his fixed opponent dancing on a beam and conceded, I saw he was a higher man than me
I will make you crawl on your belly like a snake
The souls/destiny/fa of the tribe is whats at stake
Two hoodoos disputing who will cut a tree when they work each other and neither can
Taking the bath leavings, puts on stove and sings as it is brought to a boil then put under bed
she is laid low and the doctor cant do her no good, she goes to uncle ben mackey and he set her right
Woman feeling fixed but too sophisticated to call on a hoodoo, dreamed one up as a sinner seeking forgiveness, ‘his eternal future depending on her’ and cures herself by forgiving him
They prevailed on me to go to someone that knowed a little more than I did
Wild fire flies away, tame fire devours you ????
The use of knot work, tie the knot don't pull it tight, call the name and when answered pull
catch his mind while you talking to him while tying 9 knots, cause his mind to lock up
got to catch your own mind 1st
the simple minded spirit is so curious about the knots it ventures too close, sudden jerk traps
one effort to cross the pain/disease/unwanted trait
if I do work for you then turn around and work against you my power goes out, it breaks my hand
if I put it on only I can take it off
this will cure you for 7 years, for 7 years your mojo will be stronger than any adversity
if you put your whole heart and mind on it (burning incense at the 4 corners) it will come true, by your faith you are saved, by your faith you are damned
you know you been fixed when you in bad luck, when you find yourself going contrary to your character
(so how am I going to interpret that for a 21st century sensibility, how do you fix someone now)
his recipe for a cleansing bath is a tablespoon of ammonia, salt and vinegar
I would use a dab of hearts cologne and a helping of florida water (stock up next time in city)
boil basil, strain it in handkerchief, add to bathwater, (or pour during shower)
swamproot will strengthen your back, gingerroot will help you breed
cross two matches nine times for various purposes , one cross will take away a headache
hands also called tobys, guides, shields, roots, mojo, jomo, they are to be feed when necessary
spirits do not eat solid foods, they are fed with various liquids
a lost hand has returned to its maker
various play on adam and eve roots for love work
good toby and anytime danger threat you will know (or as he put it ‘you will take a fearful feeling’ and then you must remove yourself,
bloodshed will kill a hand, it will have to be renewed again
a chastity hand, catch her nature in a dishrag and buried it at his door and for 9 mornings think on what you want when you walk over it, that no man (or woman) can pass it, he “cant raise the courage for that woman’
charge a person according to what you think they can pay, I work in % of power, I charge less for less, 25%, 50%, 75% 100%, the best cost you $25, I guarantee it for 5 years – the 1st time you win send me 5 silver dollars, the next time you win send me the rest
one for 5 dollars claim you will be in luck for 6 months
wrapping two fingers together as cross or uncross
if you see a lightning struck tree be sure to get some wood from it
luck piece hand saying luck is mine by right – commercial object
havent gotten it yet but I remember a Memphis conjure saying I don't buy, I make my own
if you have a strong determination that you will win you will
nationsack, pg 620, Memphis conjure he say didn't get anywhere else, w/their lucky stuff in, modern conjurewomen wear a thin gold chain as their nation sack and never remove it, least the one I know does
the 4 jacks as a fetish, also the joker, dependingon what you doing the queens, kings, aces, dueces, etc
queens delight herb will purify the blood, as will beets i been told, who knows, I got zero herb knowledge
the seven sisters of new Orleans can read your mind, do any kind of hoodoo that can be did, helen, maud, frances, they were good interperters, they had mental capacity
an old wifes saying away back in old antiquity cause that's the first originator of the hoodoo proposition
qwnt ot have a good consultation bless the space beforehand
to be gifted it to be a born psychic and don't need no initiation
lot of people come to me say they huirt and they are not, they get a pain they think they been hoodooed but most often its not that, if you tell them that they will go pay somebody else to trick them
if they come to me I will use my hands and prayer, if its swollen I will fix a herbal bathe if that don't work I will send them to a medicaldoctor, something I send them straight, sometimes the whtemans medicine is all that will do
I don't need bible no spells ‘long as I gt you well and work for your hap[pines then its all that's necessary
Course there nothing you can do for nobdy if they don't believe nothing, if you don't believe I don't want to bother with you, no use in using the energy
may it please thee o jehoges to prosper, to heal the body and soul of this person
Take the 9 keys to the crossroads at midnight and call the spirit living or dead and it will come
Mother jones of north Carolina, she named them, she knew them
a hand can be defeated by the spirit of a stronger hand
I don't need no altar because my altar is myself, I was gifted w/that, the high altar
sometimes they would impose the magical delay, come back in 9 days
At the end of 9 days my way would be opened
You keep your ingredients to yourself cause if they find them they don't need you nomore
dr buzzard live on an island and he will send a boat rowed by buzzards to get you
but if they pass the island best you get off because they plan to drown you
dr buzzard see you before you come
a conjure will conquer all obstacles for you or teach you how
ole leana davis of Richmond was called the mammy doctor
aunt zippy tull lived in drummondtown virginiia, she didn't use no cards or nothing just told it straight out
uncle tom Williams, when asked if he could handle a case, said son, I can do most anything
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