Crossroads of Conjure by Katrina Rasbold

Author:Katrina Rasbold
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: CVR04192018;conjure;folk magic;folk magick;catrina rasbold;what is conjure;natural magic;hoodoo;voodoo;santeria;curandismo;brujeria;using conjure;conjure magic;conjure magick;crossroads of conjure;CVR08222018;CVR10302018
Publisher: Llewellyn Worldwide, LTD.
Published: 2018-12-11T18:12:47+00:00

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12

Appalachian and Ozark Granny Magic Today

Of the three folk magic traditions presented here, Granny Magic is arguably the most obscure and over time has faded almost into oblivion. There are a few revivalists who work to keep the historical practices alive, many of whom have authentic ancestral ties to the traditions.

Anna Wess is an award-winning essayist and storyteller from the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains in southwestern Virginia, and is a practicing granny. Her online blog, Appalachian Ink (appalachianink.net/), evokes the essence of Appalachian living in beautiful prose and nostalgic sentiment. Her most popular work is her essay called “The Last of the Granny Witches,” in which she sums up life as a granny by saying, “We are a mystery as old as these hills themselves, and it doesn’t take much figuring to know that we are enigmas of intentional design and destiny.”

Her words are grounded in the memory of Appalachian folk magic, and she translates the experience into modern life in a uniquely poetic fashion.

One of the most famous modern-day granny witches is the self-identified forensic folklorist, Byron Ballard, who intertwines Granny Magic with Hoodoo. Ballard is an active healer and practitioner who laments the appropriation of hill folk magic by outsiders, calling it “cultural strip-mining.”

Ballard is not the only voice decrying appropriation and even contamination of a pure tradition that survived for so long specifically because of its isolation in remote, inaccessible areas until technology caught up. I have personally heard the grumbling of granny witches who complain that modern practitioners “wiccanize” a path that is Christian in origin, thereby diluting the purity of the work and insulting the history that created the system of folk magic. The relatively new practice of cherry-picking individual components from various paths to create a composite practice is widespread in the magical community, but distinctly unpopular with those who feel a tradition should remain intact and cohesive for all its followers. Others feel that only those who have a cultural, geographic, or genetic bond with a folk magic path should hold entitlement to its practice, and anything else is appropriation at best and exploitation at worst.

A public proponent of blended paths is author Orion Foxwood, an avid and experienced teacher of many traditions, including Witchcraft, Faery Seership Tradition, Southern Folk Magic, and Hoodoo. His books, The Flame in the Cauldron: A Book of Old-Style Witchery and The Candle and the Crossroads: A Book of Appalachian Conjure and Southern Root-Work, specifically address his experiences growing up in the magical Appalachian Mountains and include many of his charms and rituals, as well as his own musings about working in these fields.

Foxwood has a strong following and is beloved for his amiable and relatable writing style as well as his lectures on various forms of folk magic and his other areas of expertise. He has, however, drawn marked criticism for his melting pot approach to the various magical practices he embraces.

Unlike his predecessors, Foxwood does not hesitate to identify as a Witch and blends his folk magic practices with Hoodoo and elements of Wicca and Witchcraft.

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