The healer, most of the time women, sometimes called a granny witch. He or she, doesn’t use magic as in pulling a rabbit out of a hat, waving a wand while repeating the words hocus pocus. And not in the sense of a magic show by Harry Houdini, in some Las Vegas setting in its day. Nor was it by any standards as famous as the witch trials of Salem, which garnered women being burned at the stake. Still yet, not the same as your family practitioner. A granny witch, mountain doctor, midwife all terms used to explain what is called a healer is more of the Appalachian free spirt. It’s a feeling passed from a family member to another family member. It was a way of life for a woman or man, who took up the science of healing. If you felt the calling, you could be taught the trade. Those chosen people must faithfully believe in the gift in order to make it his or her craft. A person is taught the importance of the wilds around them. It’s the knowledge of plants, oils, animals, and even simply the bark off trees, used to make a poultice or salve. It wasn’t just what to make, but how often to use it. When to use it could depend upon morning, night, or just before or after dusk. In some cases, it might be when the new moon shows itself.
An Appalachian healer is special. A trusted part of the community back in the day. They were your neighbors. Doctors and hospitals were never close in the mountains. The dependence upon such healers became as important to one’s community as today’s physician. Cuts and scrapes had to be closed. Snake bites had to be tended. The common cold needed to be doctored. Babies had to be birthed. This old practice has since ceased in most areas of the mountains, but some of their customs still remain in practice.
When I was a child, back in the day, I had a dog like most typical children. This dog was the expert escape artist. She’s what my granny called a runner. The dog would wait for her chance to make her escape. Once the screen door was slightly pushed, and had no more than a few inches open, she would make her way through running as hard and as fast as any rabbit being chased by a good hound. She was gone. Granny told me to stop chasing after her, because I would be gone hours looking for that dog. There was apparently a better method. Granny told me to snip the end of her tail off, bury it in the ground under a rock next to the house. That way, the dog would always know where to come back to. I don’t know if Granny was right or wrong, as I never snipped the dogs tail. I kept searching for her. What granny believed was another kind of belief, typically called witchery.
Beulah, a family member, tells me her mother would put groundhog grease on the chest and back, wrap with a warm towel to cure the croup.
Healing is what Beulahs mother did, while witchery in what my grandmother proposed. Witchery is a practice of magic with rhyming words and maybe a poultice. A belief using objects.
Where a healer uses no magic, its completely a belief in the technique of using herbs and other vegetation, oils, etc. If the granny healer used any words it was done with Christ in mind. A prayer was her words. And we all know the power of prayer.
I asked a group of people, all of whom are living in the beautiful Appalachians, if they had any remedies that they, remembered as children. As a matter of legality, I am not telling anyone these should be used in any manner, shape or form. See your doctor above all. Simply written here as a matter of story. These are just a few of the remedies remembered.
- Wrap fried onion in cheese cloth, place on the chest as a cure for a cold.
- Cutasourwoodtreetotheexactlengthofachildwithasthma,oncethechildoutgrows the tree limb they would be cured.
- Placing an X on a wart would make the wart disappear in time.
- Anothercurewouldbetobuythewartforapenny.Thepersonwouldrubthe wart and mumble something. You then spend the penny and the wart goes away.
- Mixgingerrootandmoonshine,crawlundertheblanketsandletthesweatflytofix a flu or cold.
- Chokinganemia–boilredoakbarkinwater,addateaspoonofturpentinetoitand swab your gums. Seems that choking anemia and lock jaw are easy to mixup and doctors misdiagnose I am told.
- Along-standingbeliefwas,ifababyisbornpriortothefatherdeath,thatthechild would grow up to cure the thrash by blowing into the affected person’smouth.
- Theseventhsonofaseventhsonofadirectline,andifyouhadtheLordscalling,that this male could cure thrash by blowing into the affected child’s mouth. My grandmother said her father was known to do this act.
- Moonshine and rock candy to cure a cough.
- Placing a silver dollar upon an umbilical hernia. Or by others, banding theprotruding umbilical stump with a quarter helps.
Healers would gather the right herbs available, and sometimes trade with others in regions not of their own, and some parts may be purchased to use in recipes. She learned that each plant had its own healing organics when singularly used or mixed with a plaster, salve, or a tea. Again, we would recommend seeing your doctor for all health issues. [1]
- Tocurethecommoncold;takethreecentsworthoflicorice,threeofrockcandy, three of gum Arabic, and add to a quart of water; simmer till thoroughly dissolved, then add three cents with of paregoric, and like a quantity of antimonial wine.
- Tocurethechestcold;melttogetherapieceofcamphorinasmallquantityof olive oil; apply warm to the skin of the chest. Then cover over with a piece of wool flannel and leave overnight.
- Coughmixtures;boilsweetcidertoonehalf,makeamostexcellentsyrupfor cold and coughs for children. This can be made ahead and kept in a cool cellar.
- Another cough mixture; roast a lemon, but do not burn, when hot cut and squeeze into a cup with three ounces of sugar candy, finely powdered; take a spoonful wherever the cough troubles you.
- Croup; take a grater and shave off in small particles about a teaspoon full of alum; mix it with twice the quantity of sugar to make it palatable, administer quickly. Its effects will be truly magical.
- Dysentery;takebutterofffreshlymadechurn,withoutsaltedorwashed;clarify it over the fire like honey. Skim off all the milky articles when melted over a clear fire. Let the patient take two tablespoons if an adult, three times daily. Never fails to cure.
- Earache; take a cotton batting or cotton wool and make a depression in the center. Fill it with as much ground pepper as will rest on a five-cent piece; gather it into a ball and tie it up; dip the ball into a sweet oil and inset it into the ear, covering the latter with cotton wool and use a bandage or cap to retain it in its place.
- Headaches;takeaspoonfulofpowderedcharcoalinmolasseseverymorning and wash it down with a little tea or drink half a glass of raw rum or gin, and drink freely or with may weed tea.
- HiveSyrup;oneounceofsquillsandSenecasnake-rootintoonepintofwater; boil to one-half and strain. Add one-half pound of clarified honey containing twelve grains tartrate of antimony. Dose for a child is ten drops.
- Pain relief; steep marigold in a good cider vinegar and frequently wash the affected areas.
- Pain relief; take a half pound of tar and the same quantity of tobacco; boil separately to a thick substance. Then simmer them together. Spread a plaster and apply it to the affected parts and will afford immediate relief.
- Poor mans plaster; melt together beeswax, one ounce; three ounces of tar; three ounces of resin and spread on paper or muslin.
- Flaxseedpoultice;takeoflinseed,powdered,fourounces;mixitwithhotwater sufficient unto a suitable consistency. A little oil should be added and some smeared over the surface as well, to prevent it getting hard. A very excellent poultice, suitable for many purposes.
- Rheumatism;bathethepartsaffectedwithwaterinwhichpotatoeshavebeen boiled, as hot as can be borne, just before going to bed. By morning it will be much relieved, if not removed. One application of this simple remedy has cured the most obstinate of rheumatic pain.
- HealingSalve;threequartsofsweetoil;threeouncesofresin;threeouncesof beeswax. Melt together. Add two pounds of powdered red lead. Heat all together and when nearly cold add a piece of camphor gum as large as nutmeg. Good for burn and etc.
- Toothache;mixalittlesaltandalumofequalportions,grinditfine,wetalittle lock of cotton, fill it with the powder and put it on your tooth.
Share your own family remedies with us. Let us know what you remember.
[1] Book; In Grandmothers Day by Jean Cross.
By Barbara Vance Cherep
Disclaimer: Always consult your doctor or family physician.
