Appalachian Magic and Witchcraft: Introduction to Ancestors, Prayers and Cleansings

               The mountain I grew up on lay in a betwixt space. It lays between two towns, and the old home sits atop a mountain with a steep drop off behind it. Driving down the road about a mile and half if you turn left you will head down the state road into the small town of Coeburn, VA, and if you turn right you will drive about five miles and find yourself in the town of Wise, VA. Not only does my family home lie between two towns, but I grew up in a betwixt time. For well over a century coal reigned supreme in the small Southwest Virginia towns (and FYI Virginia does continue south past Roanoke). However, near the end of the 1970s coal began to lose its hold on the economy. More and more coal companies lay off the men, and closed up their mines. the economy of the 1980s for the Appalachian people was not a boom as it was for other areas in the country. Trickle down economics was a farce then, and continues to be a bane on my home land.

(source: family picture. Do not use without verifiable written permission from Ian Allan) 

              Why am I discussing this on a blog about Appalachian Witchery? Well, betwixt and between times are an important area in witchcraft. They allow the veil to open a bit more, and energies to seep through into the physical realm of humans. There are many places that between and betwixt at all times. Cemeteries, doorways, gallows (or sites where the gallows or executions took place), and church bell towers are just a few places that are liminal spaces. There are times and dates that are liminal, as well, these times are dawn, dusk, noon, and midnight and the dates are spring and fall equinoxes and May day and Halloween (Samhain). During this times, dates, and spaces it allows for the shifting of time and space. An old practice that I was told is that if you stand behind a door and look through its crack (where the door meets the hinges) at dawn, dusk, or midnight you can see into the other side, and you might see the dead or you might see the Fae. Liminal spaces can also be created when a society or a community is going through a shift. Usually these sorts of liminal spaces aren't as obvious as the other times, and they react with the time and space a little differently.
               I was born in 1983 about 5 years after the coal companies started having problems. I am not the only person born in the community that have had these experience that I am about to describe, but I am the only one (to my knowledge that has continued to learn and adapt control over these experiences). From a very young age I would have dreams about the past or about the future. It got to the point that in the morning my mom, sister, and I  would talk about our dreams just to see if there was anything in them that was important. It wasn't just dreams either. I started being visited by spirits. One spirit identified itself as Mary Magdalene (and I go into more detail about this in my essay that is included in the book (Finding the Masculine in the Goddess' Spiral). But then there were other spirits that would sit on my bed, and talk. I would walk into homes, or funeral homes and see people that no one else saw. Growing up during this time there was a rush in the area to distance themselves away from the "hillbilly" image, and all the connotations that came with it. However, there was also a deep desire to continue the old ways, and beliefs that had sustained the Appalachian region for so many centuries. I came of age during this betwixt time of learning in secret through stories, gossip, and just doing what I was told in the ways of Appalachian Folk Magic, and on the other hand I was being taught everything secular by the community about how to act and fit into the world at large. To say there was an identity crisis is a bit of an understatement. At the age of 13 my family took a day trip to Salem, MA while we were visiting family in Connecticut, and I purchased my first deck of tarot cards. This was also the first time I heard people calling themselves witches, and no one being shocked by it. When we got home I became fevered with learning everything I could about modern Wicca and Witchcraft. I decided that I would leave all of my culture behind (because what did they know?!) During this time I found some answers as to how to control my clairvoyance, clairsentience, and answers to other spiritual questions I was having at the time.
               I have began to write small 30-40 page booklets about the spiritual folk practices in the Appalachian Mountains. I hope to have the first booklet printed and ready to ship by the end of July. Below is an excerpt from the introduction to the booklet. I hope you enjoy it.

(source: self drawn. Do not use without verifiable written permission from Ian Allan) 

Introduction

I grew up in the Appalachian Mountains. Born and raised on the outskirts of a small town called Wise. Wise is situated in the coal country of the Appalachian Region. Just down in the southern most tip of Virginia; a short 30-minute drive to Kentucky, an hour drive to Tennessee, and an hour and a half drive to West Virginia.

I was born in what I can only describe as a betwixt and between time for that region. Coal had been king for nearly half a century, and suddenly its reign was falling. However, coal was not fully dethroned then (or now). Currently, the coal industry is in its last phases of life in the area that I grew up in and around. Coming of age at the time I found myself living in a very small community that desperately clung to the “old” ways, and parts of the community desperately trying to find to save and move the community into the 21^st century. To say the least myself, as well as, a good number of my peers found ourselves having cultural identity crises by the time we graduated high school. We fought hard not to be too Appalachian. We struggled to find ourselves in “modern” society of MTV, the WB channel, and the movies that permeated our TVs and psyches. Wise County was not our future. The future was out there in laces like New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, or Miami. These mountain towns were dying, and we better get out while the getting was good. Most of them did get out. Some of us left and returned. Some, like me, never left. I now live about an hour away from my hometown of Wise, VA in a small college town in the northeastern part of Tennessee.

It wasn’t until my sophomore year in college that I discovered just how lucky I was to be born and raised in these mountains. I am eternally grateful to my composition professor, Amy Clark, who had the class collect oral histories and write it out. I met with my Great Aunt Fern who shared so many stories, memories, recipes, and more with me. Many of the stories I remembered hearing growing up, but had forgotten over the years. After that class and assignment my love affair with my home and mountains was in full bloom. To this day 15 years later my love for this area is still going strong.

I grew up on the top of a mountain surrounded by many aunts, cousins, uncles, and other families who lived there as long as my family had; they too were considered family as well. It was a very close-knit community out on the mountain. It was also impossible to get away with anything without getting into trouble. It’s always a very fond memory to think back to those times, and everything I learned. My sister and I spent a lot of time at my mamaw’s house, and she was either visiting someone or someone would be visiting her. On the days it would just be us we would have lunch made, usually boiled chicken legs and a diet mountain dew. Mamaw would share stories from time to time about growing up, and how things had changed. My aunts, who were actually my great aunts, would visit often. They would bring food, stories, and most importantly medicine and tonics, and pure moonshine. When the family got together or when the neighborhood would get together this was the primetime to hear all the stories the children weren’t supposed to hear. I grew up on ghost stories, witch stories, salvation stories, moonshine stories, the “bless her heart” stories, and the “ I can’t believe so-and-so did that” stories. But the ghost and witch stories were always my favorite. As I’ve gotten older I’ve discovered how much power and magic are in all the other stories as well. Especially the church and salvation stories. It is impossible to extricate faith from the folk magic, and “witchcraft” of the Appalachian region. For many neo-pagans, wiccans, and other types of earth based practitioners the Christian faith has left many of them hurt, wounded, angry, and scarred. While that has unfortunately been the new brand of some Christian churches it is not the type I encountered in my family’s home growing up.

So where do we go from here? How do I practice an authentic form of Traditional Appalachian Witchcraft? Truth is there is no one type or tradition in the Appalachian Mountains. Let me repeat that THERE IS NO ONE TRADITION IN THE APPALACHIAN MOUNTAINS. However, the different styles of practice were similar. It is very important to note here that there is also no calling on foreign deities of Egypt, Greece, Rome, India, Mesopotamia, or any other foreign and ancient land. Anyone teaching a version of Appalachian magic including foreign pagan pantheons is not teaching an authentic form of Appalachian Magic. There was devout faith in the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost. While deeply protestant ranging from myriad types of Baptists to Methodists, to Pentecostals, and to holiness there was not a lot of love or acceptance of Catholicism or Catholics. However, many homes contained a lot of Catholic art because it was pretty and inspired faith.

It is important to state here if you can’t disassociate magical and spiritual workings from an antichristian prejudice you probably want to put this book down now. But if you can separate them, and see the beauty in the old ways you can be assured to find inspiration and guidance. I firmly believe to read and learn from as many sources as possible, and take what you need and leave the rest.

In this first booklet you will discover the beginning steps to incorporating an Appalachian practice into your life. As I stated previously the people of Appalachia were usually devout Christians in some form or fashion. Their practices, prayers, and spell work are usually down through and using a Christian theology. They did sometimes work with the spirits of the land, and the hidden invisible spirits of faery and other creatures. However, by and large their workings are through a Christian filter. I present them here as they were handed down. Feel free to adjust and use whatever cultural and spiritual context you are comfortable using.

 What I present to you here is one family’s way of working. Gathered from my time seeing, being taught in person, gathered from family stories, and a little from what my taught me often after they passed on to the other side.

So let’s begin. Come on in, and sit a while. Grab yourself a cup of coffee, a cathead biscuit and sop up the gravy.