In Backwoods Witchcraft, Jake Richards offers up a folksy stew of family stories, lore, omens, rituals, and conjure crafts that he learned from his great-grandmother, his grandmother, and his grandfather, a Baptist minister who Jake remembers could "rid someone of a fever with an egg or stop up the blood in a wound." The witchcraft practiced in Appalachia is very much a folk magic of place, a tradition that honors the seen and unseen beings that inhabit the land as well as the soil, roots, and plant life.
The materials and tools used in Appalachia witchcraft are readily available from the land. This "grounded approach" will be of keen interest to witches and conjure folk regardless of where they live. Readers will be guided in how to build relationships with the spirits and other beings that dwell around them and how to use the materials and tools that are readily available on the land where one lives.
This book also provides instructions on how to create a working space and altar and make conjure oils and powders. A wide array of tried-and-true formulas are also offered for creating wealth, protecting one from gossip, spiritual cleansing, and more.
Casas, Starr: - Starr Casas was born in the mountains of Kentucky and raised in the culture of the Deep South. The author of numerous books, she continues to hold tight to the folkways of her ancestors. At the age of seventeen, Starr learned how to do cleansings with eggs, herbs, and candles. She has been a Conjure woman for over forty years and is the fourth generation of her family to practice traditional Southern Conjure. A beloved teacher, she presents workshops across the United States. She lives just outside Houston, Texas.
Richards, Jake: -
About the Author:
Jake Richards holds his Appalachian heritage close in his blood and bones. His family has tilled the soil in Virginia, Tennessee, and North Carolina for a good 500 years. He spent most of his childhood at his great-grandmother's house on the side of Mount Mitchell in North Carolina. Jake has practiced Appalachian folk magic for almost a decade and teaches classes on the subject in Jonesborough, Tennessee, where he owns Little Chicago Conjure, a supplier of Appalachian folk magic supplies and ingredients.
