Granny magick

By Editor | October 21, 2022 |

Southern Blend
John Rittmann

I’m curious about something, and I’m going to need y’all to write in to Ms. Christa about this.

There’s a topic that I’ve found interesting for a long time. It’s one that I think many of us encounter, but I don’t think we still recognize it for what it is. Granny Magick, or Appalachian Folk Magic, is a term that few use these days.

However, the funny thing is it’s the root of so many traditions in how we all came up. So I’m going to name a list of things here. I want you to write in to Ms. Christa this week about which one’s you’ve done, or maybe have a relative who does / did them.

Speak your sorrows to a weeping willow. The breeze in the branches will make it whisper them away.

Willow bark is also good for inflammation remedies.
Never gift someone a knife or scissors lest it cause a deep cut between the two of you.
Plant your garden on Good Friday.
Plant lavender by the front door.
For remembered dreams, put a mugwort leaf in your pillowcase
To tell the gender of a baby, use a needle and thread pendulum over the pregnant woman’s stomach. Up and down is a boy. Side to side is a girl.
Only fertilize watermelon on the side where the dirt is highest.
Put onion juice in your ear to soothe an ear infection.
To look for water, cut and peel a y-shaped piece of green/newly cut wood and balance it in your hands aiming out. When the point turns to the earth there you’ll find water.
To get a job, place a bay leaf in your left shoe during the interview.
Never say “thank you” when you receive a plant as a gift or it will die.
Plant peppers while you’re angry and they’ll be hotter.
Eat black-eyed peas, ham and collard greens on New Year’s Day for wealth and luck in the new year.
Itchy palms means money is coming to you soon.
When someone dies in a house you must cover all of the mirrors so that their spirit does not become trapped there.
Lift your feet when driving over railroad tracks.
Alternately, touch the roof of the car when driving over railroad tracks.
Never wear black to a wedding or baby shower as it causes misfortune and bad luck for the family. (Also never wear white to a wedding, but that’s just so that you don’t distract from the bride.)
If you think someone has left items to cross you, let a hen out into your yard to scratch it out.
If your ears burn then someone is talking about you.
If the clasp of your necklace is touching the pendant then someone is thinking about you.
Drink raspberry or sassafras tea to aid in childbirth.
If a pregnancy belly is carried high it’s a girl, low and it will be a boy.
Use rhubarb leaves to scrub your pots to a high shine.
Apply damp moss or plugs of chewing tobacco to small wounds to help them heal.
Feed a cold; starve a fever. That is, eat heavy when you have a cold, but avoid food when over-hot.
Put a pair of cold scissors down your back to stop a nosebleed.
Put colored bottles on tree branches outside your home.
Scourify a newborn baby to keep it from getting sick.
Bible passages to take the heat out of a burn
The breath of a fatherless child can cure thrush – Same for the seventh child of a seventh child
Rising smoke means clear skies; low rolling smoke means storms.
Elderberry tincture to root out colds and coughs