The people of Appalachia have always clung tightly to the familiarity of their heritage, land, and livelihood, and we easily put up arms when any of these things become threatened in any way. We have routine rituals scattered throughout our lives and land. We cook a certain way, we socialize in particular ways, and we live our daily lives the same. The Appalachian root doctor likewise applies certain techniques and methods to his formulas in repetition and rhythm.
Many of these techniques are simply repeated ways of doing things that show up in different formulas—I call these patterns “rites,” as they appear again and again in our folklore. I utilize many rites in my own work, which we'll cover in this chapter. The methods and charms discussed below are also those used by traditional folk healers in Appalachia, namely the hand movements and motions of the fire talkers, thrash throwers, and blood charmers (those who cure burns and thrush, and stop the flow of blood).
The act of “passing” is when an object is passed over a person, or the person is passed under or over something for a particular work. Commonly done in blessings, protection work, and cleansings, passing is believed to remove the evil eye, among other things. Passing rites appear in Appalachian lore in a multitude of ways, primarily in those of the Baptist Church, and in the Appalachian funerals, where the candle is passed over the body to bless it. I've performed many blessings on people who come to me helpless, afraid, and afflicted by ill luck. With each one, you can see the stress and worry drain away as the candle is passed over their body and prayers to the Holy Ghost fill the air.
These practices relate to the Bible and the natural world. In the beginning, the Ghost passed over the unformed earth; and that same Spirit is the one who passed over Egypt and brought death, disease, and storms.
In one old remedy for colic, a child is passed backward through a horse collar three times between the parents. In others relating to colic and ailments such as fever or chills, a man and two women (or one woman and two men) are to take the child to a young tree. The tree should be about 10 inches in diameter or “as old as the child.” The trunk is split open with an axe or blade, right in the middle, toward the west. In this position, the cutter's back is to the east and he's facing west aligning the cut to run east to west. Once the trunk is split, one person holds the split trunk open while the others pass the child through it three times feetfirst and belly down. Afterward, the trunk is bound back together with rope, and no one is to speak of the event thereafter until the baby outgrows the colic. Working with trees in this manner has also led to the belief that if the tree dies, then the illness will return or the person healed by the tree will likewise die.
Change is effected by leaving the unwanted condition on one side and returning the afflicted to their natural health on the other. This rite appears in many formulas around the world, especially those in Britain and Ireland. I'm sure you're familiar with the large boulders with natural holes weathered into them. Newborns were passed through the holes for health, and sometimes, if the hole was big enough, people would walk right through; a symbolic rebirth.
The numbers of the pass vary, but the general rule is three. As most things in this work, the number three represents the Holy Trinity. Hands are passed over or on the body in faith healing, usually over the head; the same act occurs in many tricks to ease burns or stop blood and in some folk-Baptist deliverance ministries when expelling “demons.”
The method of passing is further employed with the use of animals believed to be biblically endowed with power, whether by actual Scripture or the simple folk belief. One formula I continue to follow is using the donkey in my works of healing or protection. In rural Appalachia, donkeys not only kept coyotes and wolves away from cattle and goats, but they also kept the Devil away.
In healing, the donkey is seen as a vehicle for the miraculous power of Christ. This one is actually based on Scripture; others aren't, as most folks couldn't read or write, so they believed what other folks told them about the Good Book and it changed and spread from there. The book of Mark (11:1–10), details the story of Jesus calling for a donkey colt and riding into the city of Jerusalem. He calls specifically for a colt that has never been ridden, which is why the oldest tales say the donkey has to be a colt, but today that isn't always required. After Jesus rode the donkey, its hide was forever marked with a cross.
It is for this reason that the donkey is believed to hold miraculous healing powers. For seizures, sickness, broken bones, and more, a person is passed under and over the donkey nine times, although this is generally only done with children. For adults, they simply crawl under and hop over the donkey nine times. Nine is a very significant number in these charms because Christ died in the ninth hour on the cross, the first battle mentioned in the Bible (Genesis 14:1–2) involved a total of nine kings, and nine is associated with prayer (Acts 3:1 and 10:30).
After the person has been passed, three hairs from their head and four from their toes are taken and placed into some cornbread, which is then fed to the donkey. The use of the donkey in rites of healing or protection stems, to my knowledge, from Ireland and Scotland. There are two other patterns showing in the latter part of this animal charm: transference of disease and what I call “head to toe.” Both are explained next.
Transference rites or “transference of disease” is exhibited in many forms of magic and witchcraft worldwide. It is the belief that things or the essence of them can be transferred from one place or carrier to another. As noted above with the donkey charms, food and hair are fed to an animal with the belief that doing so will pass the affliction from the person to the animal.
Transference takes place in a few forms in Appalachian folk magic. One of these is the creation of a “bag of warts,” where a certain number of stones (the same amount as there are warts present) are taken up from the creek and placed in a bag. The bag is left at a crossroads to await the next person who opens it, thereby transferring the warts to them.
A practice for sties says to go to a fork in the road, take up a stone there, and touch it to the afflicted eye while saying, “Sty, sty leave me by; go to the next passerby.” This little rhyme is also said while holding a gold wedding ring against the sty. This one I have tried and it works.
All the women from my mother's side of the family treated morning sickness with this practice mentioned earlier: crawling over her husband to get out of bed in the morning. This will pass the symptoms on to him. Sounds cruel, I know, but for some odd reason it didn't hurt them as bad as the women. They get a bit light-headed, nauseated, etc., but that was about it.
Versions of these rites can be found in many forms of magic, especially in the North American folk magic traditions of Appalachia, the Ozarks, the Deep South, and Mexico. Although they are similar, the methods of the mountaineer are unique in the way he utilized his “God-given sense”, the land, and the Bible. One of the best examples is that of the egg in Appalachian folk magic. It shows omens and wisdom, and it absorbs and holds tightly the prayers and needs of the user. It can also carry back one's “ghost” after a fright or traumatic event.
“Running the Egg” is one of the cleansing works I use for clients whereby an egg is passed over the client from head to toe to take out fevers, chills, the “pewter,” and so on. (In Appalachia, the Devil was often said to have one pewter eye, and a person who can give the evil eye is said to be “looking for the Devil.”) The egg is then broken into a glass of water and read for any signs of the cause of illness. Blood in the yolk means a curse; an eye will form for the evil eye; and the water will become murky for illness (murkiness measures the seriousness of the illness). However, don't be stupid and not go to the doctor if you need to. As I write this, the flu is horrible right now in America and several people have already died because of it. Be as wise as you want, but don't be a fool.
Other rites of transference use trees. To be rid of the chills and “fits,” go to an aspen tree and wrap your arms around it. At the place where your fingers meet, carve a hole into the tree with a pocketknife. Back in the day it had to be a stolen pocketknife, but I've used just any one. The hole is then loaded with three hairs taken from the crown of the head and a glob of honey or butter. While doing this, say the following:
Aspen tree, aspen tree, I pray to thee,
may you shiver and quake instead of me.
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
The hole is then plugged up with the wood that was removed to transfer the chills to the tree.
Another rite that utilizes a tree is for when you have a toothache. The gums around the tooth are stirred with a toothpick or needle to bring the blood. The blood is then wiped on a strip of white fabric one inch wide by seven inches long. Then find a tree where a root is exposed, ideally about one to two inches in diameter. Once you've found your root, dig down enough so you can wrap the fabric around the root, tie it in a knot, and leave without looking back. This will cure the aching.
Another form of transference is shown in the act of “buying” diseases or the clients themselves, such as someone giving you money and then rubbing your warts for a bit afterward, or buying you from a relative. This confuses the disease spirit because it's not clear who has possession of the ailment or the client themselves, leaving it only one option: to leave.
One's own temperament while doing something can also transfer to things to affect them a certain way. One trick I'm sure most of my local readership has heard of growing up is to be mad as hell when planting any type of pepper. This itself varies by family and location in Appalachia. I personally grew up hearing that you had to piss someone off and then get them to plant a pepper without them knowing about the charm. Hard to do that when everyone knows this, so I'm sure you can just muster up enough anger to plant your own. Bring up things from the past in your head that made you mad. It's probably not psychologically healthy to do so, but you'll have some good peppers come harvest, so screw it!
Transference rites don't focus solely on healing and removing disease, either. They can be done to remove spirits and conjure tricks placed on you. To remove the spirit of a haint from their old home, get a potato and an item that belonged to them in life. Cut the potato in half and hollow out both sides just enough to fit the item inside. Then close the potato up with string. Take this charm to their grave and bury the potato at the heart of it. The spirit will then be transferred and bound to the grave.
To remove a conjuring placed on you, take one hair from the crown of your head, an eyebrow hair, and a nail clipping from your left hand. Bundle these into a bag and blow into it nine times. Take this bundle and leave it at a crossroads far from your home, one that you rarely pass by; the ninth person to pass that crossroads will receive the trick. It is apparent this trick was likely formulated by laypeople and not a conjure person. The laypeople simply took it into their hands with what they knew and transferred the charm to someone else.
Another example of transference is one I believe everyone has heard: eat a lot of carrots so your eyesight and hearing will be good like that of the rabbit. This one is odd, because it doesn't bring the rabbit into direct relation. Instead the only connection is the belief that the rabbit's food, the carrot, is the reason they see and hear so well. Therefore, by eating the rabbit's food, you can also gain those qualities of the rabbit through “implied transference.”
Many other transference rites, however, bring the animal into direct relation, such as swallowing a fish's bladder to become a good swimmer, or eating a turtle's heart to become brave.
Lastly, the widespread phenomenon of transference rites appears not in formulas or cures, but in the transition of knowledge from one person to the next. Oftentimes, certain formulas or “gifts,” such as fire talking, were only shared with the closest relative of the opposite sex at death. Other times, charms could be shared with only three people, after which point the bearer would lose the gift. And in still other regions, a person could be of any sex and their gift could be shared as much as possible—but those related by blood could not be taught. Since we see here how transference affects the body and is likewise channeled by the body (in the example of planting peppers, mentioned above), let's move on to rites of the body.
There are several old formulas, stories, and superstitions focusing on parts of the body. In this section, we'll focus primarily on restoring health by treating two crucial parts: the head and the feet.
One of the most widespread is that of keeping the head covered in graveyards; to do otherwise could leave you vulnerable to haints hopping on your back and following you home. The head is also the crown of your soul, the eyes are the windows to it, and the chest is its seat. The head acts like the roof of that home.
The head is the crown of the soul and should be protected. Many people hold superstitious beliefs about hats and other head coverings. It's bad luck to lay a hat on a table or bed. When a black cat crosses a man's path, he's supposed to turn his hat backward until he gets to where he's going in order to avert the foretold bad luck.
For fever, I will make up some redbud tea (from the bark of the tree), and take a very small sip from a straw and blow it on the crown of the sick person's head before they drink the remainder of the tea. Depending on the person and their specific condition, I mix it up with certain prayers and methods that I won't share here. (A good doctor never reveals everything.)
Growing up, whenever we had an earache, my mother would blow tobacco smoke in our ears.
If you ever get a toothache, try holding tobacco smoke in your mouth.
For any pain from the jaw up (fever, toothache, earache, and so on), hold a button made of bone in your mouth until the pain subsides. This cure is somewhat reminiscent of taking the host at church and could very well be a folk invention based on that rite.
Many times, such remedies are bags or curios hung around the neck, like the case with hanging mole feet around the neck of a teething child or wearing a bag of buttercups around the neck for insomnia, confusion, and other maladies of the head.
The feet are the second most vulnerable point of the body: they are the “foundation.” One's feet are especially susceptible to being “poisoned” by conjurings and roots placed for the person in the form of powders, dirts, sprinkled water, or buried charms. Sicknesses can also enter through the feet and likewise be drawn out. My grandmother always fussed at me when I was little and my feet were dirty from playing out in the woods barefoot. She'd say, “You best clean them feet or they'll have you walking wrong.” Not sure if she was alluding to the whipping I'd get if I didn't clean them or to picking up some sickness, but I didn't leave a lick of dirt on them lest I was to find out!
The head and the feet comprise the top and bottom of the “house” of the soul. The Cherokee believed that the soul lives in the chest, home of the heart and the place we experience half of our existence (the other half being in the mind). In the Freewill Baptist Church, folks are anointed on the forehead, chest, and feet. On the Thursday before Easter, properly known as Maundy Thursday, Baptists wash each other's feet as Jesus washed the feet of others in the Bible. This is to remind them of compassion and humility, but can also offer protection and health to those washed during the Holy Week. Oftentimes, members of the congregation burst into tears, or yell and holler in the presence of the Holy Spirit; other times they simply cry and lay blessings on the one washing them.
The church also anoints from the head to the toes, as shown in Leviticus 14:14–28:
14 And the priest shall take some of the blood of the trespass offering, and the priest shall put it upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot. (Leviticus 14:14)
The clothes worn on the body also hold special significance in folk magic. You've seen previously how hair is taken from the crown of the head in some formulas to affect initiate change in an ailment, but the feet are also just as useful. Foot track works and shoe magic have appeared in Appalachia in numerous tales and superstitions. If you walk behind someone in their footsteps, it's said they'll die. Placing prayer notes and dried herbs such as red pepper in the shoes is also done in certain formulas for protection from conjuring, to guard against haints, and to attract good fortune.
Old shoes hold the shape of the wearer's foot, and in this way they hold that person's essence. Old shoes were dusted with baby powder, salt, red pepper, and other things at hand for protection from conjure, illness, and accident. Sprinkle “new” salt (a container or packet of salt that has never been opened) in the shoes for good fortune and success. Or take a piece of brown paper bag and fold into it salt, red pepper, and dirt from a church, and place this in your left shoe to prevent yourself being conjured or “shot” at.
Likewise, old preachers may anoint the inner rim of their hat with blessed oil when doing a funeral to keep haints away. Other formulas prescribed burying the unwashed undergarments of someone to make them go mad, lose their hair, or waste away to death. The garments must have been worn so that they contain essential connections to the person through sweat or odor.
The head and feet hold great importance in the magic of Appalachia, especially in cleansing, blessing, and protecting. Around here, you'll go to great lengths to make sure you are upheld, kept clean, and cared for “from the top of your head to the soles of your feet,” as the old church prayer goes.
Measuring practices can be seen in a plethora of tales of the Upland South for remedying ailments such as back pain, rheumatism, worms, and inflammation. Silk thread is often used for measuring rites for infants and children, whereas regular yarn, thread, or twine is used for adults in measuring practices.
One practice involves measuring an afflicted or symbolic part of the body with a length of yarn or twine and tying it with a series of knots. Different formulas specify what to do with the knotted yarn. For chills, I will measure the diameter of a person's torso, because that's where the body “shakes and shivers.” Use a length of red string to measure and take it out to a tree in the woods. I tie a knot in the line for each day the chills have been present. I then tie the yarn around the trunk and leave it there without looking back. The chills will go to the tree within the same number of days as there are knots in the line.
To remove a fever, measure the girth of the patient's head with white thread. (The color of the string is based on the need of the person or case at hand. The red string for the chills brings the warmth of the blood and sun; a white string is the color of snow to “cool” the fever.) The head is measured because a fever is thought to sit in the head, and it's the first place mothers always feel to check for one. Tie three knots in the thread in the name of the Trinity and place it in a bowl of cold water beneath the bed. The fever usually breaks within the hour.
For someone who has frequent nose bleeds, measure their left ring finger with a white string. The left ring finger is measured because it is “closest to the heart,” having a larger artery than on the right hand. Wet the string with the blood from a nosebleed. Then knot the string three times in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Take that knotted and bloody thing out to a willow tree and bury it under the dirt, right at the base against the roots, on the east side of the tree. I ain't had a nosebleed since this rite was done for me. That's going on about twelve years now.
Measuring rites don't focus solely on healing. To keep a dog or cat from running away, measure the length of its tail or the length from its left hind foot to the tip of the tail with a holly branch or red string and bury this under the doorstep, including a carefully acquired snip of fur from the scruff of the animal's neck and the tip of their tail.
To “tie a man's nature up,” meaning he will only be sexually attracted to you and he won't be running around on you with someone else, measure the length of his penis with a red string. How you go about doing this is your own business. Braid this string with two strips of his dirty underwear and take it to a living honeysuckle bush. Tie the vines around the braid snug, but don't break them. As the vines grow more around it, as they gain bark and strength during the growing season, he'll be closer to you and it'll be harder for him to leave you for another.
Now if a man wants to tie a woman's nature up, he doesn't utilize the measurement of her genitals. Instead, he takes the measurement of her left big toe, her left foot, or her left leg. (Ask any man in Appalachia—our women are always on the go, doing something or another, which may explain the use of the foot and leg here. We also know why the man's genitals are used. Think on it if you need to.) He'll take this measurement of string and urinate on it. The use of urine in American folk magic in very common, and more often than not it is the first relief of the morning that is put to use. When the string is wet with his water, he will bury it under the doorstep, where she'll walk over it. She won't be running around on him again after that. Other ways of tying a partner up involve slugs and genitals, but that's for another book.
Measuring can also be done against an enemy. To cause them grief and struggle, get some soft black dog hair and spin it into yarn with a spindle. Then measure the width of the heel of your enemy's footprint and cut the string to that length. Bore a hole into the western base of a black walnut with a stolen pocketknife and stick the string into the hole with some salt, black pepper, and snakeskin and plug the hole up. Your enemy will be grieving and struggling as long as that's plugged up.
Pegging or plugging are the half sisters of measuring in the ways they're employed. Pegging utilizes three parts in its working: first, the measurement of a person or animal compared to a tree; second, the type and age of the tree itself; and third, outgrowing the measurement of the peg.
Pegging rites are usually done with children and their ailments since the main purpose is to outgrow the marking so they likewise outgrow the sickness or problem that was plugged into the hole. Pegging is mostly done with trees, although doorframes, walls, and poles are sometimes used. Nailing is related to pegging solely in the act of holding something or someone down, back, or in place.
To stop up a bleed, place some of the blood into a hole with some honey and plug the hole. Many times peggings that are often done for healing are made into the east side of a tree, or sometimes the hole is made where the sun first hits the tree in the morning, because that's the auspicious direction of the Christian English and pagan natives alike.
You can also plug up your enemy's life or stop up the bladder of the witch who cursed you. One way of doing this is to collect the hair or dirt from the property of the witch who cursed you. Some salt or sugar borrowed from them would work as well. Take this to a pawpaw tree and bore a hole into the wood, at the crotch of the trunk on the western side. Fill the hole with the hair, dirt, or borrowed thing and plug it back up. Then drive three horseshoe nails into the plug. The only way to remove this would be to remove the nails and the plug from the wood and burn the contents.
The pawpaw tree has always been associated with the dead and witchcraft in Appalachia, even before colonization. I call it the Appalachian pomegranate, mountain food for the dead. It has a sweet banana mango flavor to it, but the deer will not eat the fruit and many beasts avoid it also because of the rotting meat smell the flowers give off.
To keep something held down, whether you're wanting your man to stay with you or to remain in the home that you're in, take a wooden peg, stake, or railroad spike and something of the person's out to the west side of your home and drive it down into the ground. Leave a couple inches of the stake above ground. Each day, for seven to nine days, take the stake out and whisper your petition or prayer into the hole. On the final day, drive the stake straight into the ground and cover it up.
Being that Appalachia has had a crock pot of culture and tradition brewing for a long time, it was bound to occur that certain directions gained sway over the daily activities and secret things of the mountaineer's life. In East Tennessee there's a majority who hold the belief that they descend from the Cherokee. Paired with that belief is the pride placed in the Cherokee's gifts of war, healing, and religion.
The Cherokee people held a noticeable influence in the making of Appalachian folk magic, as our local lore, tales, and cures show. Many cures shared between the two groups in those times are likely to have been pure magic or belief in nature, with no medical theory at their ground.
The Cherokee associated the east with good spirits, the sun, and more. They would address the east in their petitions and prayers to these spirits, especially those for removing witchcraft and disease. They would look to the north, the home of winter or the Blue Man, when healing burns.1 (The Blue Man was the Cherokee explanation for winter and diseases associated with it.) And they would look to the south for the Red Man for aid with frostbite and other winter-related ailments. Finally, the Cherokee recognized the Black Man or Purple Man of the west, who brought death. (The Black Man has many incarnations throughout American folklore, as he is often thought to be the Devil or some dealing spirit who waits at the crossroads. The distinction between the two isn't clear, so they may be the same spirit called upon in witchcraft and death spells.) The duality, significance, and personality of each direction have been partly preserved in lore and tales, some of which were passed down in families like mine.
Today, the formulas that I use from this lore and magic utilize the directions in the same ways. I use the east for healing diseases of the flesh, mending, joining, and charging new things. I use the west to purify and be rid of disease altogether, to send away, to hold down, and for calling rain. I use the south for love, things of physicality, healing diseases of the blood, curing chilblains (inflammation caused by exposure to the cold), good crops, and good fishing. And the north I use for cursing work, keeping things hidden, good root crops (especially those to be sown in the snow), giving disease or “unnatural illness,” or curing burns or fevers.2 Unnatural illness, a changed stomach, or madness are all ways to describe this folk phenomenon, caused by a curse to kill the afflicted. Usually caused by the well-known Goofer Dust, made from powdered grave dirt, spider eggs, and other ugly things laid for the person to walk in, the symptoms were madness, pain, and swelling in the legs to the point of lameness, ending in the afflicted howling like a dog and finally dying.
The Baptist Church we grew up in performed baptisms in the river facing east. We spoke previously about graves being oriented a certain way so the dead face east as well.
When “water witching,” some folks start by facing the east and turning counterclockwise. Whichever way the stick first bobs, that's the direction to go in. From the starting place to the area where the sticks dips real good, indicating water, you measure that length; that's how far you'll dig to reach the water. (Here we see the measuring rites come into play apart from the use of the human body.)
Some cursing formulas recommend taking lichen or wood from the north face of a tree, usually pawpaw or dogwood. Lichen is often powdered and added to food for the work, while formulas that detail taking wood from the north side of the tree only work by splitting the wood open and inserting something like the person's hair or nails before binding the split back together with string.
Through the works of Harry Hyatt, an Anglican minister who collected folklore all over the south and composed it into five volumes, it becomes apparent that the west quarter of one's property was almost always used to keep something or someone where it currently is, be it your employment at work, your man's fidelity, or an enemy.
The directions of up and down also come into play in some ways. When passing a candle over a person, I always move in a downward motion from head to toe. This is done to be rid of something: as the feet are an opening for possible conjure to come in, they are also the exit by which you can remove it. This is applied also to baths. To dispel something, wash downward from head to toe; and to draw something to you, wash upward from the feet to the head.
The clock's hands also created directional use in magic. Move clockwise to go with the sun and grow, or move counterclockwise to go against the sun and diminish. Wounds are rubbed counterclockwise, to undo the harm. The Cherokee used this directional method with snakebite to “uncoil” the serpent, thereby eradicating the poison to effect a cure.
Turning rites are a play on directional rites. Mountaineers have used these for generations to undo or prevent things, whether it's bad luck, haints, or disease. It is simple yet effective reversal work, and it is amazing. During a woman's labor, all empty vessels are sometimes turned upside down to prevent the baby from being breech.
An old trick for when you suspect someone's got a candle on you, like they're working roots on you, is to get a small crock or other handleless pot. On a Wednesday morning, place it in the sink or bathtub upside down under the faucet and let the water slowly drip onto the bottom of the pot until Friday night. That'll put their candle out.
When a black cat crosses your path or you're walking through a graveyard alone, turn your pockets inside out to guard against ill fortune and haints. Some folks turn their hats backward, as mentioned before, or literally turn around three times either clockwise or counterclockwise, depending on the superstition and the location.
There's an old superstition that says if you accidentally put your clothes on inside out then you should leave them that way all day, as it's a sign someone is trying to charm you. Others recommend wearing every garment inside out for nine consecutive days and then taking the clothes to the river to wash them with vinegar to remove any tricks.
Turning also applies to wheels and handles. Take any kind of wheel and turn it backward while reciting Psalm 7:13–17 for nine consecutive days to send conjurings back to their sender, reverse your back luck, and let your enemies catch themselves in the spikes of the wheel:
He also prepares for Himself instruments of death;
He makes His arrows into fiery shafts.
Behold, the wicked brings forth iniquity;
Yes, he conceives trouble and brings forth falsehood.
He made a pit and dug it out,
And has fallen into the ditch which he made.
His trouble shall return upon his own head,
And his violent dealing shall come down on his own crown.
I will praise the LORD according to His righteousness,
And will sing praise to the name of the LORD Most High.
An owl hooting near the house is said to be a death omen. One old remedy calls for every person of the family to take their shoes and place them under a bed upside down to deter death from visiting the home.
To protect against being conjured by any roots you may walk over, take a pocketknife and cut the soles out of your shoes. Flip them over and put them in the other shoe (that is, place the upside-down left sole into the right shoe and vice versa).
When there's a bothersome haint haunting the home, we will take up some old horseshoes in red fabric. We then hang them above each doorframe, pointing downward. In Appalachia this is a symbol of the home: to keep luck in, keep the points turned up; to get rid of evil spirits, put the points down. Oddly enough, the way to guard against conjuration entails the points be turned upward, but the horseshoe be wrapped in “silver paper” or tinfoil.
Other formulas describe the turning or flipping of portraits for various reasons. My family will turn the photo of a family member upside down to call them home for any reason. To return a lover, get a photograph of them, a bowl of salt, and a glass of water. Set the water between you and the bowl of salt and take their photo and turn it upside down and flip it away from you. The photo should be facedown with the head toward you. Cover it with the salt. Then dip your fingers in the water and sprinkle them over the salt while telling them to think about you, to want you, and to yearn to see you. Pray for them to need you as though they were thirsting for water because of all the salt.
If someone hasn't been so kind to you, take their photo and wrap it facedown around a pokeberry root, which is known to be poisonous. Take this bundle and bury it where they'll walk across it. Once the photo fades away, so will their health. Alternatively, wrap a white handkerchief around the framed picture and hang it on a wall by driving a knife through it with the photo facing the wall.
If you just want to jinx them a bit, a run of bad luck, basically, turn their photo upside down into a bowl of brown rice and leave it in a dry place. This will dry up their luck. Take it out and put it upright again to put their luck back.
Quincunx is a particular pattern that is abundant in all American folk magic practices. A Quincunx consists of four points or corners with a central mark, recalling the symbol of the cross and the crossroads. In many folk traditions, American and foreign, the crossroads is a meeting place between worlds, between man and the spirits. It's home to the Black Man, to lost souls who wander about, and to the dead in general. The cross symbolizes protection, sacrifice, and revelation. Many things are worked at the crossroads, and likewise anything done is left there for the spirits to continue the work.
New salt is often used by the workers of Appalachia. One such trick is done to give someone bad luck: make a simple cross or X on the ground where they'll walk over it. X's pair into this same symbolism and are a common symbol used in Appalachian folk magic. To protect children from the evil eye, a red X was embroidered into the left-leg hem of their underwear. In the Baptist Church, the brow is anointed with the cross. And, as we've seen, the crossroads symbol is invoked by placing four tiles around a crop field, with one more placed in the center.
Crosses and X's are used in rites of cleansing and cursing; sending out and drawing in since they lead in every direction going out or in. I have an old knife-tool that my father found and gave to me. On the one side of the handle there are three marks (X X X) carved into the wood. The number three here likely connects to the Holy Trinity. X's are also used to cancel out illnesses, followed by the cross to bless after the cleanse.
If a woman wanted to keep her man at home so he wouldn't leave her, she'd go to a dirt crossroads and make a cross in the dirt. From the center of the mark she'd take some dirt and pair it with his hair, which she would then wrap in brown paper and bury at the door of the home.
You will notice throughout this book that many workings and remedies specify doing something on the left or right side. Irish lore is filled with formulas that prescribed things to a certain side. One still acknowledged today is to carry an iron nail in the left hand or left pocket to protect from being conjured by the little people.
The left hind foot of the rabbit is carried because the left side is traditionally associated with luck, and the alluring hind legs allow the rabbit to escape from predators (although it doesn't seem to have been lucky for the rabbit in the end). While we're on the topic of rabbits, their feet are sometimes carried by livestock or people to protect them from the evil eye because rabbits are born with their eyes already open. I've also been told that the foot gets stronger the longer it is carried and the more dried out it gets.
In Appalachian formulas, the left side is symbolic of warding, protection, and getting rid of something, such as tossing spilt salt over your left shoulder to “blind the Devil.” The right side is another story altogether. Jacks or sachets are prescribed by folklore to be carried in the right pocket. The charms carried on the right side are those that affect an influence, they administer the will in some way; so a jack to get a new job or convince someone to do a favor for you would be carried on the right side. The left side deflects and gently brings, while the right side enacts and gives influence; this influence can also be to repel or draw, but mostly when the work is to affect others in some way. To protect from conjure, items can be carried on either side, really, so place red pepper, black pepper, and salt wrapped in newspaper in both shoes to do the job. For a healing charm, that should be carried on the left in some manner—in the shoe, in a pocket, or pinned to the inner hem of your clothes. To bring a lover back, roots would be thrown over the right shoulder. However, formulas detailing use of the right side have become extremely rare to come across—either documented or by word of mouth.
In regards to the rabbit's foot again (it's one of my favorite charms, if you couldn't tell), I prefer to use the right hind feet for safeguarding against harm, curing hiccups, and keeping off conjuring. The left side seems to have become the universal way to carry it, however. What has been preserved is the reasoning behind both: the left is the more vulnerable side, better for carrying protective and curing works, whereas the right side is the more dominant one, used for drawing in, keeping up, and setting down—but is also likewise employed in works of guarding and protecting.
If you do not hunt rabbits for meat, I would speak to friends and family who do or even go to your local taxidermist. You can get the foot dried or preserve it yourself by burying it in a bucket of salt and baking soda and leaving it for about a month to dry. You can also look online, but folks rarely specify left or right foot and may not even know how to tell. The ones for sale are often the front foot.