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!

Pow Wow Healing

One of my first recollection with a healer was a pow wow healer by the name of Eddie Quillman, who came and healed my cousin of water on the brain. He said a prayer and gave her a penny and that's all I can remember.

Pow-Wow (also called hex work or Speilwerk) is Pennsylvania Dutch/Pennsylvania German folk healing. It combines Pennsylvania Dutch Germanic/Nordic European healing traditions with religion and Native American traditions. Pow-Wowers use a collection of European magic spells, recipes, and folk remedies with simple rituals to cure health ailments, protect livestock, cast or remove hexes (curses), and invoke blessings.Pow-Wowers are Christians and believe their powers are spiritual gifts from God. Religious sects like the Amish and Mennonites oppose Pow-Wow as a satanic practice.

A Pow-Wower's source of spells comes from these books:

1) The Bible.The most common source of Pow-Wowing incantations.

2) The Long Lost Friend, or Der lang verborgene Schatz und Haus Freund.Written by John George Hohman in 1819 and first published in 1820 in Reading, Pennsylvania.It is a collection of recipes, spells, and procedures.

3) Egyptian Secrets of Albertus Magnus.This is one of the main sources for The Long Lost Friend. Its compiler is the Swabian Dominican monk Albertus Magnus (A.D. 1200-1280), a saint in the Roman Catholic Church and known as a scientist, philosopher, and theologian.

4) The Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses.The Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses is associated with black magic because it contains procedures for conjuring spirits, it is often considered a hex book.

5) Secrets of Sympathy by William Wilson Beissel.Originally published as a 16-page chapbook in 1938 and republished in 1998 as a section of the book Powwow Power, by William Wilson Beissel's great-nephew James D. Beissel.

I remember once as a kid, when some other children stole Mr. Quillman's Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses, both children got hurt in accidents later, one breaking his arm as he fell out of a tree, which made for some good stories about the hexes associated with this book.

Lately I have been thinking about this kind of healing or spell work, since this is were some of my roots come from. So as I delve deeper, I will sometimes share with you on this blog.