Richards Jake. Backwoods Witchcraft: Conjure Folk Magic from Appalachia

Newburyport (Massachusetts, USA): Weiser Books, 2019. — 196 p. — ISBN 978-1-57863-653-2.In Backwoods Witchcraft, Jake Richards offers up a folksy stew of family stories, lore, omens, rituals, and conjure crafts that he learned from his great-grandmother, his grandmother, and his grandfather, a Baptist minister who Jake remembers could "rid someone of a fever with an egg or stop up the blood in a wound." The witchcraft practiced in Appalachia is very much a folk magic of place, a tradition that honors the seen and unseen beings that inhabit the land as well as the soil, roots, and plant life.
The materials and tools used in Appalachia witchcraft are readily available from the land. This "grounded approach" will be of keen interest to witches and conjure folk regardless of where they live. Readers will be guided in how to build relationships with the spirits and other beings that dwell around them and how to use the materials and tools that are readily available on the land where one lives.
This book also provides instructions on how to create a working space and altar and make conjure oils and powders. A wide array of tried-and-true formulas are also offered for creating wealth, protecting one from gossip, spiritual cleansing, and more.Foreword.
Acknowledgments.
Preface.
Introduction. Through the Quilting Hoop.
These Roots Run Deep. Terrain and Culture in Appalachia.
Down Devil's Run. Stories and Superstitions.
Barefoot Wandering. Connecting with the Land.
Soup Beans and Cornbread. Ancestor Veneration.
From the East, from the West. Living by Signs and Omens.
Folk Rites of the Mountaineer. Techniques and Methods of the Power Doctor.
Saints on the River. Spirits of Southern Appalachia.
Casting Apple Seeds. Spelling and Fortune-Telling.
Stolen Flowers. Tools and Supplies.
When the Rooster Crows. Appalachian Candle Magic, Doll Babies, and Other Trickery.
Pray the Devil Down. Folk Recipes and Remedies.
Epilogue.
Bibliography.