Appalachian Folklore, Wives Tales, And Superstitions

Appalachian Folklore, Wives Tales, and Superstitions

Brought to you mostly by my grandparents, but also by my family at large. These are all things I heard growing up in the northern region of Appalachia and wanted to share with y'all. The lore and sayings may vary based on location, family tradition, and other factors, but this is just what I’m sharing from my experiences!

• Give the first pinch of a freshly baked loaf of bread to the Good Men to keep them happy. • Deaths and births always come in threes. • Spin around in a circle three times before you walk in the front door to confuse any spirits that are following you. • Don’t throw your hair out! If a bird builds a nest with it, you’ll have migraines. • “Red sky at night, sailor’s delight. Red sky at morning, sailor’s warning.” • If the leaves on trees are flipped over with their backsides showing, rain’s coming. • If you hear a dog howl at night, death is coming. • If you’re giving someone a wallet or purse as a present, put money in it to ensure they’ll never financially struggle. • Spirits can’t cross running water. • Cats and dogs won’t enter a room where spirits are present. • Carry an acorn in your pocket for good luck, a penny for prosperity, and a nail for protection. • If you’re having nightmares, put a Bible under your pillow. They’ll go away. • Take a spoonful of honey to keep your words sweet. • Keeping a pot of coffee on ensures a happy home. • It’s bad luck to walk over a grave. • A horseshoe hung above a door ensures good luck. • A horseshoe in the bedroom staves away nightmares. • If your right hand itches, you’ll soon be receiving money. If the left itches, you’ll be paying it. • Wishing on a star works. “Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight. I wish I may, I wish I might, have the wish I wish tonight.” • When you have a random shiver, someone just walked over your grave. • If smoke from a fire rises, expect clear skies. If it rolls along the ground, expect storms. • Rosemary near the door provides protection. Lavender provides peace. • “A ring around the sun or moon, rain or snow is coming soon.” • Wind chimes and bells keep spirits away. • Seeing a cardinal means unexpected company. • For that matter, so does dropping silverware. • Rubbing a bit of potato on a wart helps it to go away. • If the soles of your feet itch, you will soon walk on strange grounds. • Black eyed peas, greens, and/or pork and sauerkraut should be eaten on New Year’s Day to welcome good luck and good fortune. • Driving a nail into a bedframe or crib will drive away curses. • If your ears are burning, someone’s talking about you. • If you dream of fish, you are or will soon be pregnant. • Listen to the wisdom of children, they see and know more than we think. • To dream of death means birth, to dream of birth means death. • To cure a headache, crush some mint leaves in your hands, cup them over your mouth and nose, and breathe in a few times. It should help. • Placing a fern or ivy on the front porch protects against curses. • In a vegetable garden, never plant the same plants in the same spot two years in a row. Rotate where they are, and you’ll save your soil. (Note: this is a real thing called crop rotation, and is actually kind of important) • A black bird (Raven or crow, doesn’t matter) on the roof or a windowsill is an omen for death. To avoid it, you have to scare it away without using your voice before it caws. • Say a prayer when you pass a coal mine for the lost souls still in the mine. • Thank the land and the Lord with every successful hunt or harvest you have, for nothing is guaranteed.

These are a few of the folklores, wives’ tales, superstitions, and sayings that I’ve heard growing up (and still living in) in Appalachia! I encourage other Appalachian witches, cunning folk, and general inhabitants of the Appalachian region (and just the mountain range at large) to share whatever bits you’ve heard over the years! I just wanted to share a bit with y'all to give you an insight into some Appalachian lore, my own practice, and maybe give you some things to research and incorporate into your own practice! 🌿✨

I know we’re all pretty down rn so here, have some cute pics of svalbard reindeer

it’s the smallest subspecies of reindeer on the planet and it loves you

the svalbard reindeer is also the northernmost herbivore in the world, and during winter they survive an average of −16°C (3°F) weather

look at those small fluffy ears and kind eyes, the reindeer is cheering you all on to stay strong in these trying times 

just like the arctic winter, this too shall pass

the svaldbard reindeer proves that even under the most extreme of circumstances, life finds a way. so please, please keep on fighting

A “For When Shit Hits the Fan” Witchy Emergency Masterpost

This is a post compiled for the 21st century modern witch who is having a rough time in a “first-world-problem” sense. If you’re having a real emergency, contact services in your area, such as a hospital, police, or fire department. Also check out my other “For When Shit Hits the Fan” Emergency Masterpost for information on how to get help with emergencies without witchcraft.

Resources:

Planetary Retrograde Guide

Solving problems using astrology

Yoga for After a Disaster

Self Care & Mental Health Masterpost

Sigils:

strength during hard times

to overcome depression

“I will make it through this”

“Fear Cannot Live Here”

My family remains healthy

Happiness & Release items that obstruct health

banish bad luck

Luck will follow me

“I am jinx, hex, and curse proof”

Tarot Spreads:

What the Actual F@%K?!

Freedom from Addiction

Disaster Spread 

Trouble in paradise

Tell Me the Truth

calm the f@%k down

a spread to realize something difficult

When the World is Cruel

This Too Will Pass

fix a f@%k up

How to Handle a Situation Getting Out of Hand

Emoji Spells:

protection from toxic people

to get your shit together

for anti-depression

for banishing depression

help ease depression

for peace and serenity

Heal and open your heart

For healing from heartbreak

Get unstuck in life

See the gifts in the present moment

Peace during hard times

Banish desperation

Get out of a dark mental place

For your family to treat you with respect

Family Communication

Universal Peace Spell

Mood Booster

transmute anxiety

break curses, hexes, and jinxes placed on you

avoid people with poor judgment

bless the planet

have more faith in the universe 

Other Spells:

Prayer to help with depression

Chant to Banish Depression

A Spell to Banish and Protect: Restraining Order Bottle

A Spell to Escape: Get me out of this mess

Month of Growth

Instant Good Luck Spells

For All-Day Calm if You Work or Live in a Hostile or Volatile Atmosphere

A Dying Leaf Rite to Remove Sorrow, Illness or Misfortune from Your Workplace

Stress Relieving Drink

magick for heartbreak

Ease Trauma Tip

Other Resources:

Witch Tips: Spells Gone Bad

When your spell fails

Crystals for depression

School Witch Tip Masterpost

how to handle a bad day

may your growing pains ease 

Receive a big hug

Remember: You’re beautiful!

End of the Year Spell

As Yule passes and the new year is beginning, I have a spell I enjoy using this time of year as it brings good things to come whilst helping to remember and learn from the past.

1) Think of what you want to manifest in your life, and the hardships that you have endured to make it as far as you have. Be proud, you’ve made it so far and will go much further.

2) Say the following:

As the sun warms my skin,

May it heal me within.

As the dark slowly leaves,

May I remember the night’s mysteries

As the wheel turns once more,

May happiness find me evermore.

Nine wishes - A New Year’s ritual to end & begin the year creating an energetic bridge

I found this ritual in one of my favourite witchy shops’ Instagram account ✨

What you need

Crystal quartz (pointed if possible)

Nine candles ( one for each of the colours of the rainbow)

Something to write down

Take the crystal quartz and place it in front of you, pointing in your direction.

Write 9 wishes in 9 different pieces of papers and assign one to each of the 9 candles. You can direct your intentions according to the colour of the candles (pink for love, green for health & prosperity, yellow for creativity, etc)

Light one candle per day during 9 days in a row. Put the paper under the plate in which you put the candle. You have to let each candle consume the same day you light it. Take your crystal quartz and place it pointing to the candles while they burn.

When you finish lighting all the candles after the nine days, take the nine wishes you wrote and burn them together in a bowl that’s fireproof.

Put the ashes in a pot and plant flowers of the colour that you like the most. Visualise your intentions growing everytime you water the flowers/plant.

Keep the Crystal quartz and carry it with you to vibrate with you the intentions that you have worked on this ritual💕

If you start the ritual this year, and finish it the next, you’ll create an energetic link that will bring your intentions from this year’s portal to the next one.

Optional: Carve your full name, date of birth and the main word of your desire in each candle (example: love, health, happiness, creativity)

I hope you like it! Please do not remove the tags

Happy New Year, witches!🔮✨🌠 Remember to take precautions when working with candles & fire. Safety’s always first!!

Learning to write your own spells, and/or rituals

Introduction :

All the Spells, and/or rituals that you have seen at one point had to be created, and written down. Learning to do this process, and to write down your own spells, and rituals can be a very fun, and creative process. Learning to do this can greatly help you along your path allowing your magick to become more versatile, and connected to you. You will not need to know a lot in order to do this, all you will need to do is understand metaphysical properties, so that you can put them together in order to form some form of a spell, and/or ritual. It’s also very important that you understand how magick works. Being able to write, and create your own spell so that you can personalize them can increase the power, and understanding that you hold with that  spell, and/or ritual.

Setting the intent:

First you need to figure out what you want your intention for the spell, or ritual to be. This can be whatever you wanted to be but it should be in the realms of something that can be achieved through the energy, and will that you have, or can muster. This will make you set your intention so that you can form the rest of your spell, and/or ritual around it, so you will be able to make appropriate choices in choosing things to help you in that spell, and/or ritual. Before you do anything else you must understand what you want to accomplish from this. It will be your blueprint for the rest of what you are building here, so spend a lot of time and focus exactly on what you want to bring forth, and to manifest in the universe around you. The intent will shape the rest of the spell, and/or ritual, so make sure it is exactly what you want before proceeding. You are going to want to create a journal or some place where you can write down this to keep track of what you have done, and the results. This will  allow you to learn, and improve from what you have already done, so that you can make your spells, and rituals better. You never know what you could learn, and want to add to your technique in order to improve it for yourself, or anyone else who will use it.

Gathering items:

In order to manifest our desires upon the universe, we are first going to need to gather constructs that have to do with our intent, so that we can call those energies into our spell, and/or ritual when it comes time to cast it. To find constructs that will fit your intent you should look for items that are well-known for representing the energies that you would like to use in this spell, and/or ritual. You can do this by looking at metaphysical properties of certain stones gemstones, crystals, herb, colors, elements, tools, and much more. These things should have something to do with the energies that you would like to bring into the world. This would be like bringing in three leaf clovers along with the color green, and earth in order to bring about luck. You might want to choose a specific time, day or even place that you could do your spell that might aid in the intent of your spell, and/or ritual. You could even come up with some form of a chant in order to ingrain your intent into the energies that you are gathering. You may also want to gather items that are going to supply the overall energy of your spell this would be things such as candles, clear quartz, or selenite, so that they can use their energies to increase the already existing energy of the spell, and/or ritual. This can be incredibly helpful when trying to increase the overall effectiveness, and power of  the spell, and/or ritual.

If you want your spell to target someone, something or even yourself you can bring in to your spell, and/or ritual some form of taglock. This taglock could be linked to someone, something, or even yourself through the laws of names, association, similarity, and/or contagion. If you were going to use a taglock that used the law of names you could try to incorporate the name of where you are trying to send the energy, somehow into the spell, and/or ritual, so that you could direct it at that target. This could be done by speaking their name during the spell, and/or ritual, or even writing it down and just having a present during the spell, and/or ritual. You could use the law of association by associating something, so heavily with what you are trying to affect, and have that be present in your spell, and/or ritual, so that you can manifest your desires upon it. You could use the law of similarity in your spell, and/or ritual by getting a picture of what you would like to affect, and using that to send the energy to your target. In order for you to use the law of contagion in your spell, and/or ritual you would need to get something that came in contact with what you are trying to affect so that you can use it as a target to get to them with the energy that you will be harnessing. Using these taglocks could help you in so many different ways when making spells, and/or rituals while trying to figure out how to connect it to a certain form of construct.

In order to give your spell even more power you might want to call in some other entities in order to help you get exactly what you desire. These entities can be any entities that would be willing to work with you. These entities could be anything from spirit guides, angels, totems, spirit companions, gods, goddesses, familiars, and even ancestors among many other things. They will be able to influence your spellcraft, and help move your energy in the place that you would want it to be. they are great allies, and friends that will be good to call upon especially in this time. So allow these entities to work with you if they are willing to.

Casting the spell, and/or ritual you created :

When you have all these components together you are ready to then do your spell. What you are going to want to do is gather all your materials that you have already decided on in the steps above. Bring them all to a place where you will not be disturbed and you can focus solely on the magick that you are working. Now you are going to want to light your candles, and incense, and maybe even turn on some music, or you some form of instrument in order to make ambience to get the mood just right, and to even help out with the spellcraft. You should then enter the area where you will be doing your craft, and this is when you should take on a meditative state in order for you to connect with the spiritual realms, and planes of existences. Now before you start the spell that you have prepared yourself, you will need to do the basic stuff that you should usually do before every spell. This would be such things as grounding, and centering, so that you can be firmly connected to the earth, while you do all of your spell craft. You should also do some cleansing, and/or banishing using any form of method that you find useful I would personally recommend the Lesser banishing ritual of the pentagram, because it’s a classic. Casting a circle, or some other form of protection technique, so constructs that you do not want interacting with you or the spell stay far away. Once you are done with all of that you can then begin your spell, and/or ritual that you created.

Now you need to take all of the elements that you decided about for the spell, and/or ritual. The idea here is to take all of the correspondences from all the things that you have gathered, and put them together into a workable usable system. Bringing in all the energies from all the items that you have gathered, so you can push it out into the universe, or at a target of your choice in order to cast it out, making your spell, and/or ritual a reality. That’s all there really is to it my friend. Just the energies that you employ, and how, or what you send them at, is what will change the effectiveness, and overall strength of the spell. Remember to gather up the energy that you want, so that it can follow your intention. Energy will always follow intent, allowing you to manifest your desires upon the universe.

Once you are done with your spell, or ritual remember to undo your protection, to banish and/or cleanse again, and then to find the ground, and center again. This will put everything back to where it is supposed to be, so that you can continue on with your day, while knowing that you have cleaned up the leftover energies from your spell, and/or ritual.