American Folk Magic

Pennsylvania dutch pow wow and Appalachian granny magic are two of the American folk magic traditions I am currently studying and I am in love!!! They are amazing. Pow wow magic comes from the German tradition and is practiced in the Pennsylvania area of the U.S. Granny Magic is from Irish and Scottish traditions and is practiced in the Carolinas, eastern Kentucky and Tennessee areas of the U.S. I have always had a hard time believing that what was available to learn, in terms of a magickal practice, was all there was. Somehow it just seemed to much, I mean when I decided I wanted to do a spell I had to set up an altar, clear out the space, cast a circle, call the quarters, invoke/evoke deities, raise energy yada yada. Just to do a spell that maybe took 2-5 mins.(this is very general example) I wanted simpler. I wanted more natural, something that just flowed out of me and was part of me. I became very interested in green witchcraft, kitchen witchery, cottage witchery, hedge witchery, garden witchery and anything else that seemed natural. However, everything that I read seemed to be in the same style, more or less, as traditional wiccan practices, with all the circle casting and hoopla. There is a lot of good info in these, don't get me wrong, and I do use many forms of these, but something was still just missing for me.  Then I started coming across forms of folk magick. Folk remedies, old wives tales, folk stories, superstitions. I would write down any little tidbits of info that I came across and try them out. If I liked my results I kept the practice. Then, one miraculous afternoon, I got the bright idea to do an amazon search for folk magic and BAM! you would have thought this would have occurred to me sooner, lol. Anyway two books popped up "American Folk Magic" by SilverRaven Wolf (I don't care what anyone says I have always liked Silver) and also "Mountain Magick" by Edain McCoy. There are a few others as well. So I started looking into Pow wow magic and some of its traditions and I feel that these are what I have been searching for. Now, once I started reading about it I could see why I wouldn't have looked twice at it before, most of the spells and chants are in a Christian form, they even use the psalms for healings. Personally I am okay with this and will use them as well as ones using the Goddess, Its only very recently that I have become comfortable with this though. Anyway I also feel that the use of Christian forms has kept this tradition in practice and intact over the years and if it could be changed from Pagan to Christian it can be changed back from Christian to Pagan without loosing any of its "magic"!! So anyhow, the reason why this appeals to me so very much is because the practitioner memorizes certain spells and chants for things like "stopping blood" (if someone has a nosebleed for example) this chant would be repeated 3, 7, 9,12 or 21 times, as long as it takes to stop the bleeding. Now the more you use this specific spell the more aquainted you become with it and the faster it will work for you, just like any other tool. Oh that reminds me, the tools used are very simple and usually consist mostly of white, red and black thread and red yarn and hex signs (they are totally cute and really country looking, which fits me perfectly, like mrs. weasley, Lol!!) and these can be empowered for use as a talisman or amulet. I like this form of having a set of spells memorized, the words themselves gaining power by being used over and over and being able to do magic at the drop of a hat. I do use the traditional chants that I have found and have been contemplating some of my own. I haven't read the "Mountain Magick" by Edain McCoy book yet, however, I have done some research online about "granny magic" and I cant wait to get more involved in that form as well. Right now my personal practice is kind of a modge podge of folk traditions and cottage/hedge/kitchen witcheries. There are some traditional wiccan things that I have retained like the wiccan rede, charge of the God/Goddess, and celebrating the Sabbats (I love the Sabbats). I find that the more I follow my heart in my craft the more I feel like a real "witch", even if it doesn't match the stereotypical idea of a witch!