Talking Pow Wow again

The other day I mentioned some of the books that Pow wow healers use. One of them is The Long Lost Friend. The Long Lost Friend" is an English-language edition of "Der Lange Verborgene Freund," a magical receipt-book written in German by Johann Georg Hohman, and published first in Pennsylvania in 1820. Its original title would be better translated at "The Long Hidden Vade-Mecum," but since 1846, it has been known in English as "The Long Lost Friend" and the author is now "John George" Hohman to his English-language readers.

The subtitle of the booklet hints at the breadth of its contents. It is nothing less than
A Collection of Mysterious and Invaluable Arts and Remedies for Man as well as Animals with many proofs of their virtue and efficacy in healing diseases, etc., the greater part of which was never published until they appeared in print for the first time in the United States in the year 1820.

In "The Long Lost Friend," the general theme of Hohman's occultism was Christianity-as-magic. Again and again the practitioner is called upon to recite a psalm or cross himself at the end of an invocation. Some of the spells are given in simple rhyme, and by back-translation, it can be seen that even more of them rhymed in the original German. The booklet includes practical formulae for herbal dyestuffs and wound dressings as well as magical preventives for robbery, death by firearms, and persistent toothaches.

Among the many charms and talismans Hohman prescribes, these will serve as examples:

How to Obtain Things Which Are Desired

If you call upon another to ask for a favor, take care to carry a little of the five-finger grass with you and you shall certainly obtain that which you desired.

How to Walk and Step Securely in All Places

Jesus walketh with (name). He is my head; I am his limb. Therefore walketh Jesus with (name).

To Extinguish Fire Without Water

Write the following words on each side of a plate and throw it into the fire, and it will be extinguished forthwith:

S A T O R
A R E P O
T E N E T
O P E R A
R O T A S

Because it is so rich in magical lore, "Pow-Wows or The Long Lost Friend" is in itself a magical item. The very last page of the pamphlet presents the reader with this advisory:

Whoever carries this book with him, is safe from all his enemies, visible or invisible; and whoever has this book with him cannot die without the holy corpse of Jesus Christ, nor drowned in any water, nor burn up in any fire, nor can any unjust sentence be passed upon him. So help me. + + + [make the sign of the cross three times]"

I hope that reading this page will serve you equally well!