13
Appalachian and Ozark Charms and Spells
Within the Granny Magic construct, all working served a practical purpose, usually centered around protection on all levels, health concerns, family and marital harmony, and the success and safety of crops and livestock. They rarely addressed the acquisition of riches or abundance except in terms of good luck and good fortune. The scope of life’s goals was to marry well and early, have a family of healthy children, maintain a house to shelter that family, develop a skill to support that family, live a good life, and die feeling fulfilled. Aspirations beyond that noble few were frowned upon and considered to be putting on airs.
Protection
Hang basil around any entries into or out of your house to keep the haints away. Plant rosemary around your house for protection from two-legged, four-legged, and six-legged critters. Some herbs work better when cut and others are more effective as they grow. For instance, basil and mint have stronger magical properties after cutting and rosemary is at the height of its power when it is still in the ground.
Carry a branch from a tree struck by lightning for protection. If the branch is large enough, make it into a walking stick for the height of personal protection.
Carry mistletoe in your pocket to ward off lightning strikes. Mistletoe also foretells a marriage proposal in the spring if one is kissed under it during the winter.
Blue glass bottles repel negativity. Place the following items into a blue glass bottle to create a home protection bottle: hair from each person living in the home, ashes from the home’s hearth, and dirt from the area next to the front and back steps to the house. Place the blue bottle on the front porch or in a tree in the front yard of the home.
Colored glass itself carries strong magical connotations. Placing multi-colored bottles into tree branches by shoving the branch into the bottle creates a “bottle tree,” which is a strong home talisman in the South. Bottle trees convey the color magic properties of the bottle color to protect those who live in the home and to imbue the home with the blessings traditional to those colors.
Removing and Warding Off Curses
Remove a curse by sleeping a full night on a freshly dug grave, especially that of a near relative. This increases the influence and protection of the deceased loved one around you and allows them to pull the curse into the grave with them forevermore.
Bang a nail into the crib post to ward off evil curses. Iron itself is protective, particularly against witches and evil faeries. The nail repels all evil entities and keeps the child safe.
Touch the side of your nose if you see someone giving you the evil eye, and recite Psalm 94 three times to ward off evil sent to you by another person.
Health
Carry a bloodstone to prevent pregnancy loss. A goomer doctor could give a pregnant woman a small medicine bag (called a gris-gris or mojo bag in Hoodoo) to protect her and her unborn child during pregnancy. This could include a bloodstone to prevent miscarriage, a jasper to reduce bleeding in pregnancy and childbirth, and a lock of hair from the mother and from the father to further the good health and protection of the baby.
Give a newborn baby a taste of the ashes from the hearth to prevent crib death. Ashes from a person’s home hearth were sacred, and throughout winter it was bad luck for the fire to go out, mostly because people could freeze to death. When the coal or wood fire went out in the spring, it meant the seer or granny had predicted that winter’s grip was over for the year. Placing a bit of the hearth ashes on the baby’s tongue gave the baby the assurance of continued life and the protection of the entire home.
If you feel a cold coming on, slice an onion and use clean linen strips to bind the slices to the bare bottoms of your feet at night. The onion will draw the cold out of your body through your feet while you sleep.
To cure a wart, draw a drop of blood from the wart and put it on a grain of corn. Feed the corn to a black hen and the wart will go away.
Bury your own hair clippings under a stone in a cemetery to cure headaches. Like a curse, the spirits of the cemetery will pull the head pain into the grave with them to disburse into the earth and plague you no more.
Marriage and Home Life
Twist an apple stem as you recite the alphabet. The letter you speak as the stem breaks away is the first letter of the name of your future spouse.
Throw a cotton pouch filled with basil and rosemary into the hearth fire to bring happiness to the home.
Put a fresh sprig of rosemary under the mattress of your husband to keep him from straying. Burn the rosemary the next day and replace it with a new sprig. Do this for nine straight days. The same charm can work on women if you use mugwort instead of rosemary.
Luck
Put a thrown horseshoe over your front door for luck, but make sure the U points upward so the luck doesn’t run out. Iron provides protection for many disincarnate and aggressive entities.
To carry a rabbit’s foot is lucky, but it is not as simple as acquiring any old rabbit’s foot. It must be a left hind foot, and you must kill the rabbit in a graveyard on top of a grave on a Friday, unless it is raining. If it happens to be raining at the time, you must do it on a Saturday … even if it is raining on Saturday. Additionally, killing the rabbit must happen within one day of the new moon.
Finding a silver pin on the ground is lucky if you pick up the pin and stick it into your collar or lapel. The rhyme “See a penny, pick it up. All day long you’ll have good luck” was originally “See a pin and pick it up …”
Divination, Omens, and Portents
If your left hand itches, you will lose money. If your right hand itches, you will get money.
If a blackbird sits on the roof, someone will die within two weeks. If a blackbird sits on the windowsill, it is bad luck.
If a broom falls over, company is coming.
If smoke moves straight up from a chimney, the weather will clear soon, if it is rainy, foggy, or snowy. If smoke stays close to the roof, it will rain or snow by the next night, unless birds are flying around it. If smoke goes back toward the chimney, the weather will change from what it is at that time.