As modern science and healthcare is constantly being revolutionized and "improved upon"..your modern day Dr is going to suggest some standard, book learned ideas and treatments to cure your sicknesses and ailments, treat your elderly and children, and even possibly save your life. They will scoff at and tell you that these Old Wive's tales and Folk Medicines are false and what we have learned for generations from our Old Women holds no value, and how it is that Mamaw's Ways are outdated, a lie, and unconventional. Yes, some of these ideas and remedies have proven to really have no positive effect or hold a serious meaning to better our lives. But let me explain, for a week or longer now, me and my son have had a nasty cold. I ended up buying OTC manufactured chemical medicine for this because well my kid's doctor suggested it..and he has to go to school despite being pretty miserable. Needless to say, despite this artificial quick fix and "good advice" from what is supposed to be a certified professional, we are not yet feeling better. Adam is still coughing and hacking like a half dead seal, and has a sore throat and stuffed up sinuses that show no signs yet of going away. Had I done this Mamaw's Way and NOT followed this "professional's well meaning advice, we would probably be feeling a lot better by now. But alas, I am low on some supplies and some herbs needed to make some good old timey sick cures. Old Mamaw is probably not too thrilled with my slacking on that either..if she were still physically here with us, she might actually smack me upside my head with a wood spoon and scold me about "Girl did you hear, why you not minding me?" Old Mamaw was said to not be too gentle with her version of tough love...she meant what she said and done what she intended without hesitation, and Goddess and "Lawd" forbid she had to find a switch and come looking for you when or if you weren't to be found anywhere or caught slacking and not minding your tasks she said to be doing..there was no "child abuse" back then..it was called "told to mind"..
Our Mamaws and Great Mamaws and the Old Wives long before them, came from the mountains, the "hollers" and hills and way back in the sticks and swamps, and they were curing the sick, and all but raising the dead, (and sometimes they even did that!).. back in the days when schooled and trained doctors didn't really exist and medical science was a fledgling idea. These women could throw a seemingly unmeasured handful of herbs roots,and a assortment of other items, picked and gathered fresh that day from a wild patch, into a well seasoned iron pot of natural spring water,also brought in fresh from the stream or well pump, boil the brew down to a syrup, mix that syrup with a stout shot or two of home distilled 150 proof sour mash liquor, (moonshine) add "a dab" or "a pinch" of whatever else her personal secret ingredients were, give you a unmeasured "spoonful" of her well made cure once a day and night, and whatever sickness you had was sure to be drove out of you within three to seven days.Why? How does this work?: Because the Old Wife or Mamaw made it for you, and she knew exactly what she was doing. Life threatening fevers broke, "ill vapors" and "bad spirits" were sweated out, the blood was purified of taint, rattling, fluid filled, lungs were opened and cleared out, you slept like the dead until you were better. Goddess forbid you had a "bilious fever" because you were given strong emetics and bowel stimulants mixed with castor oil to flush the illness out of both ends until it was seen that you were cured. Yes that is a bit harsh, but it works..where do you think the idea of modern day "Colon Cleansing" and "Detox" remedies comes from?
If actual "haints" or negative spiritual presence was thought to be the cause of the illness, then specialty cures and diagnostics existed for that too and were done in conjunction with the sick cure. the hex, curse, or "evil eye", or the "haint"was cast out and removed via several methods, and was followed by strong bouts of herbal smoke fumigation and other types of cleansing and blessing of the house and people affected. If you showed a knack to learn what Old Mamaw and the Old Wives knew, then you were very lucky and being taught what she knew was a rare privilege. Old Wives didn't read or write well back then, if at all, as getting a advanced education was not as important back then, and everything was shown by hand and passed down by oral sermon, so best that you were paying close attention.
Old Wives were sought out for cures and advice, and the occasional miracle back in the days when no one could help. If you were laid up with the "croup" and your kids and even the livestock and animals were deathly sick, as fevers and communicable illness were life threatening back then, the Old Wife or maybe even Mamaw could make you feel better. If you had bad Moon Times and had problems with certain Fertility Issues and couldn't conceive or carry a child,or even your Husband was afflicted somehow, Old Wife or Mamaw knew where to find the roots and herbs,and other needed items, and what to do with them, to help ease those issues and ensure a healthy pregnancy, and often she was also was there to deliver the baby. If her sour mash liquor looked like crystal clear spring water, had absolutely no taste, and burned bright blue flames when lit with a flame, it was well made and highly prized for it's aide in making medicines and offerings to benevolent and healing spirits, and not just for the Old Man's midnight runs down the road. Especially Blessed were your family and the surrounding households if by chance one of these Old Wives and Mamaws were Native American or Irish either pure blood or by descent, for their special brand of wisdom and knowledge of medicines and spiritual cures was unparalleled back in the day, and in certain places it still is even now. I speak of only a few Southern traditions and that does not mean these Old Wives and Mamaws are only found in the South and are only just Native American or Irish though..I will say that the Old Wives and Mamaws that still thrive in the Appalachian Mountains, are well known for their abilities! There's a kind of magic and medicine that exists there that is found nowhere else on the earth! It is rivaled only by Southern Conjure, New Orleans Voodoo and Hoodoo, and similar practices, with its ability to heal, cure, and work in miraculous ways.
It took me a good while to learn the things that the Old Wives and Mamaws knew that once lived and practiced in my own family..because both passed away long before I was born, and I never got to hear their stories or learn their crafts from them personally. No one in my current immediate family bothered to remember or actively use the skills that were passed along, and now a lot of it has been forgotten or cast aside as "Old Wives Tales" and considered "unreliable, uneducated and backwards thinking" or worse..they were converted to being Baptist or some type of Christian and totally shunned and deliberately cast out and tried to stamp out the "shame" and "sins" of their family's past, and purposely forgotten what they should have kept alive and thriving. Some of the older people from our grandparents generation, still remember bits and bobs about how to garden by the signs, can food, and a few other things.think about "The Farmer's Almanac"..that is literally a book of magical practices that has been very cleverly disguised and how many people use one that would never once think about that idea? I am sure that our ancestors are probably shaking their heads at the younger generations in shame and regret!
I discovered quite early in life that I have the same talent for herbal and spiritual cures and other practices as they once did, and I have endeavored to try and learn and practice and add to them One of my Great Great Grandmothers in mom's family,was Cherokee, her family line comes from the deep coves of Alabama originally. More Old Wives and Mamaws in my family come from the mountains in South Carolina, and they were mostly Irish and German descent. I also got passed the gift of being a Empath and Sensitive, and this particular gift apparently just totally skipped my mom and the rest of the earlier generations before me, this is said to also be a passed down trait from the Old Wives and Mamaws, as a couple of them were known to have the same gift..which is also how it is that I have picked up a few lessons that I know now.
There is learning to be a Witch and then there's some of us that are born a Witch, and despite what others will sometimes try to tell you, being naturally born a Witch is definitely advantageous and comes with a distinct edge over having to learn from everything from bare bones scratch.Yes anyone can learn to harness and use their latent gifts and develop their skills, but those of us that were born with our talents have a far easier time with learning and developing them. I will not tone down the obvious facts.
The Old Wives and Old Mamaw's spirits are far from dead and forgotten, and many times I have found my mind and hands busily working of their own accord in the kitchen to mix a herb with a certain root, or mix this ingredient with that "pinch of" something else, along with plenty of spells, charms, crafts, and other things that I make and create. My own mother often tells me I am "just like her momma" and who is to say that Mamaw isn't still alive in her own way? Mamaw was the one that told my mother that "You won't get to have any babies to live until after I am gone" and her words held true,what she heard, saw, or knew about in regards to that event specifically, well she never would tell anyone. I was born almost a year later right after she passed away, after my mom had went through two miscarriages and was told she couldn't have kids at all.. I know better than to question the way that particular power of the Old Wives and Old Mamaws works. It was always said that some things were best left alone and let be what it was going to be, and never mind the why and how of it, and questioning or expressing any doubts of Mamaw's and the Old Wives words would get you whacked with a spoon or that "old stick" of a inconspicuous looking wand or staff she was using to stir that well used iron pot with! Yeah..there was a very strong chance that mine and your Old Mamaw and the Old Wife was a Witch of some kind, and their descendants live on to this day, way off in the sticks, back in the boonies, deep in the hollers, and high on the mountains.
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