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Discussion
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I hope this is allowed here, just to explain our frame of reference, we are a Christian family. I’m posting here because once you read this you’ll see why I assume a Witchcraft subreddit is more appropriate. We’re not looking to convert or anything, just trying to understand something.
My wife’s great grandmother supposedly had ways of curing people, while being against medicine. She would resort to “herbs” if her rituals failed though. An example of this ritual was a nephew of hers had several asthma and was constantly having to see the doctors of the time for various treatments. Eventually she convinced her sister to let her “cure” him.
The way it worked was all the women in the family went down to a specific kind of tree (nobody remembers what kind) and use a special nail (not sure what makes it special) to nail a lock of the child’s hair to the tree.
Now the weird thing is the kid never had breathing trouble again, and neither did her kids or her kids. My son has sever asthma, but he gets that from me, and some fairly strong medications alongside a lot of prayer and he’s doing better.
Another one my wife heard about as a child involved turning a horse hair into a worm somehow for some purpose and using it to treat something.
The reason I post this, is there are some oddities with that side of the family in their beliefs, and I think it could have been a family of witches a hundred years ago. Does anyone know anything about this “ritual” or its accompanying belief system, or any generationally lingering spirits which may be involved with it?
The location is central Kentucky if that matters.
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Was this a form of Witchcraft and what do you know about it?
updated 1 year, 2 months ago
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Replies
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These charms sound very similar to ones I’d be familiar with from rural american folk magicks. Do some research on Appalachian folk magic, Ozark folk magic, and hoodoo/rootwork. All 3 are similar and have crossover, with roots from similar older cultures mixed up in rural poverty in these regions. Kentucky is right in the middle of where these regional practices intersect, and magick isn’t/wasn’t as segregated a practice as modern practicioners online try to make it so the granny magick of the family whose history you are interested in could have been influenced by any number of neighbors and travelers and immigration histories.
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I know you’re in Kentucky but it sounds very like the old Irish system of cures, things like passing a baby under a horse’s belly three times will cure colic, rubbing a potato on a wart, tossing the spud over your shoulder and never looking back will cure warts, drink a whiskey containing a handful of dirt from a priests grave will cure an infected wound, drinking water from a well at sunrise for 7 days in a row will cure another thing. (If anyone is interested I suggest looking up duchas.ie and searching cures, it’s a great read!)
Anyway, not witchcraft from my perspective but a folk practice, they are usually rooted in the natural world. Strangely they’re highly effective! I grew up strictly Christian and deliverance from generational curses was a thing in my day, so I hope that’s not where you’re headed with this enquiry! Take some time to look into the folklore of your wife’s family homestead and allow yourself to be curious about the root of the beliefs, often there is a kernel of truth. In the instance of the priests grave example I gave it turned out that there was an unknown antibiotic in that grave yard, it was tested and confirmed in 2015 and was a HIGE deal that this folk tale had been born in fact.
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Yup, that there’s some classic Appalachian witchcraft. I’m originally from eastern KY and I remember my grandmother and other old church ladies talking about this sort of thing when I was young.
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Witches are not bad . Witches are just master manifester’s and they learned the way of the universe and how to use certain things to get a certain outcome faster . I think it’s beautiful and very sacred . Nothing to be afraid of .
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My great great great aunt was a Quaker woman from West Virginia, and she was a healer who did the laying of hands on others. She was also known to prophesy, but I know little more than that about her. She was not described as a witch, but as a pious “cunning woman” and Quakeress.
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Well you’re gonna have to define witchcraft first.
Not all magic is witchcraft not all witchcraft is magic
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One thing I would advise as you do more research on this is just to refrain from calling it witchcraft. Your family is Christian, their rituals are informed by Christian faith. Witchcraft in these traditions refers to curse throwing and relationships with trickster spirits; it sounds to me like the people in your family come from a background of healers, not the reverse.
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I am reluctant to call it witchcraft without a frame of reference. If you are strictly speaking in terms of witchcraft being defined as a (seemingly) magical result obtained outside of the strictures of Abrahamic religions, then yeah, probably witchcraft.
If you’re conflating witchcraft with infernal powers or deals struck with demons/devils in exchange for power (think Daniel Webster, Robert Johnson), then probably? not witchcraft– though that mythology does still survive. Take some whiskey down to a crossroads and see if Old Scratch wants a chat 😉
Like others are saying, it is definitely in line with folk magical practices in the U.S. A lot of those magics (especially throughout the South and Appalachian regions) have elements of Christianity mixed in. A lot of people also view such things as superstitions or things for luck/health/prosperity. They might be offended that you would call it witchcraft.
Also, herbal medicine is pretty common cross-culturally. Unless you have “herbs” in quotes to mean drugs/hallucinogens/psychoactive substances or something, and I am missing the joke.
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As soon as I saw central Kentucky, that was my first thought, Appalachian folk magick!
