Ozark Rites for Magical Cleansing

Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Brandon Weston, author of the new Ozark Folk Magic.

In the Ozark Mountains, rituals of cleansing have long played a vital role in being able to successfully mitigate the harmful effects of both physical illnesses as well as those of a magical origin (like hexes or being “spelled,” as hillfolk often say). There are as many different variations of these rites as there are healers and magical practitioners in the Ozarks, but there are two common categories where most cleansing work falls: water and smoke.

Water
Cleansing using water is an ancient practice, influenced in the Ozarks from European folk magic sources as well as Indigenous practices that were encountered and incorporated in the Appalachian Mountains. For some healers, the practice of ritually bathing someone who is ill mimics the all-important baptismal process and seeks to reconnect the afflicted back to their divine source. Others recognize water as a primal force of purification, one that no doubt most of our ancient ancestors would have also valued. Water is seen to wash things cleans, whether it is the physical body or clothing. This metaphor is then extended to washing the spirit or soul clean as well.

Water cleansing in the Ozarks can be as simple as pouring pure spring water over a patient’s head alongside prayers, or as complex as washing someone in a river flowing west, before dawn, along with certain mountain herbs. More involved rituals like these are usually left for the most serious cases of hexing.

Smoke
The theory behind cleansing with smoke (or fumigation, as it’s often called) is at its core an extension of the water metaphor. The smoke flows over the body, picking up any traces of illness or malign magic, then floats away with the wind just like a river’s current. Ozarkers are known for a couple of powerful fumigants.

For everyday cleansing of the home or an individual, hillfolk will often burn the foliage of the red cedar (Juniperus virginiana) a practice influenced both by the Scottish and Pan-Celtic use of the common juniper (Juniperus communis) as well the indigenous peoples of Appalachia’s great love of the tree. Burning fumigant plants was traditionally done using coals from the fireplace in a cast iron skillet or by heating up the skillet and then tossing the leaves and resins directly into the pan. This would then be carried around the home or wafted around the targeted individual using a fan.

The other common fumigant is asafetida (Ferula assa-foetida), or “asafetidy,” as it’s sometimes called in the Ozarks. This foul-smelling, resinous plant is used only in the direst of circumstances, and it’s believed that the stench of the smoke will clear out even the most stubborn contagions, evil spirits, and hexes (not to mention its effectiveness at clearing out unwanted visitors and busy-body relatives). The powdered resin from the root of the plant can be burned in a similar way as red cedar detailed in the previous paragraph.

Our thanks to Brandon for his guest post! For more from Brandon Weston, read his article “Fairy Faith in the Ozarks.”