Hello!
Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2012 4:02 pm
I obviously just joined this forum, but have experience with many other unrelated forums. I am not myself a practitioner of Hoodoo, but I am rather perplexed about something.
I live in the NW corner of North Carolina (just outside of Boone.) I have been in this area for years and I spend a lot of time in Pisgah National Forest as well as the woods surrounding my house. There's ancient "black magic" floating around in the southern hill country. I say this because this mountain range is among the oldest mountain ranges in the world. Imagine what those mountains have seen! Having been to wilderness areas all over the US, I can say that the southern Appalachians have a mystical, slightly dark feel unmatched by anywhere else i've visited. My heart rate has gotten pretty high out there hiking around alone. It's an incredible place to recreate, but It's almost as if the mountains are trying to communicate something deeper, something forbidden. It's something you feel deep within your psyche. The winding, twisting switchbacked trails, the dense forest, it's like walking through a dark green labyrinth of rhododendron that can suffocate you if you think too hard about it. But my friends, when you spend enough time there you truly become one with the dark forest. You learn it's patterns, you learn how it gives life and takes it. It's a far more profound wilderness experience than i've had anywhere else in the country. I've been here for many years, but have yet to decipher exactly what Mother Appalachia is trying to convey.
Now here's where the Hoodoo comes in. I get the gist of what it is and how it originated. It is my understanding that Hoodoo is still practiced in rural areas and remote locations throughout the southeast. I'm not usually into this kind of stuff, i'm a "natural explanation" type of guy. The reason i've started researching this topic is because of the strange "feeling" that I get here. Even living just outside of town there's enough wooded area around my little shack that I can feel it here too. Especially when I get close to the 100+ year old oak just down the trail from the house. It's not like a human presence, but it's more of a residual aura or some kind of lingering energy with a hint of malevolence or darkness. IDK how to better explain it. Originally, Hoodoo had not even slightly crossed my mind, but I came across a book in a bookstore that I frequent. It's called "Staubs and Ditchwater: A friendly Guide to Hillfolks' Hoodoo" by Byron Ballard, a western NC native. I thumbed through it and payed it little mind, but I keep thinking about that book and if it might have some answers for me about these strange feelings I get out here. I'm still skeptical, but awfully curious about this ancient practice. I figured if anybody knew anything about it I might find them here. Oh, and the predominant Native American tribe in this area were/are the Cherokee if that helps. I know local tribal belief and herbal ritual have a lot to do with conjure.
P.S. If any Mod feels the need to move this thread to another area of the site please feel free.
I live in the NW corner of North Carolina (just outside of Boone.) I have been in this area for years and I spend a lot of time in Pisgah National Forest as well as the woods surrounding my house. There's ancient "black magic" floating around in the southern hill country. I say this because this mountain range is among the oldest mountain ranges in the world. Imagine what those mountains have seen! Having been to wilderness areas all over the US, I can say that the southern Appalachians have a mystical, slightly dark feel unmatched by anywhere else i've visited. My heart rate has gotten pretty high out there hiking around alone. It's an incredible place to recreate, but It's almost as if the mountains are trying to communicate something deeper, something forbidden. It's something you feel deep within your psyche. The winding, twisting switchbacked trails, the dense forest, it's like walking through a dark green labyrinth of rhododendron that can suffocate you if you think too hard about it. But my friends, when you spend enough time there you truly become one with the dark forest. You learn it's patterns, you learn how it gives life and takes it. It's a far more profound wilderness experience than i've had anywhere else in the country. I've been here for many years, but have yet to decipher exactly what Mother Appalachia is trying to convey.
Now here's where the Hoodoo comes in. I get the gist of what it is and how it originated. It is my understanding that Hoodoo is still practiced in rural areas and remote locations throughout the southeast. I'm not usually into this kind of stuff, i'm a "natural explanation" type of guy. The reason i've started researching this topic is because of the strange "feeling" that I get here. Even living just outside of town there's enough wooded area around my little shack that I can feel it here too. Especially when I get close to the 100+ year old oak just down the trail from the house. It's not like a human presence, but it's more of a residual aura or some kind of lingering energy with a hint of malevolence or darkness. IDK how to better explain it. Originally, Hoodoo had not even slightly crossed my mind, but I came across a book in a bookstore that I frequent. It's called "Staubs and Ditchwater: A friendly Guide to Hillfolks' Hoodoo" by Byron Ballard, a western NC native. I thumbed through it and payed it little mind, but I keep thinking about that book and if it might have some answers for me about these strange feelings I get out here. I'm still skeptical, but awfully curious about this ancient practice. I figured if anybody knew anything about it I might find them here. Oh, and the predominant Native American tribe in this area were/are the Cherokee if that helps. I know local tribal belief and herbal ritual have a lot to do with conjure.
P.S. If any Mod feels the need to move this thread to another area of the site please feel free.
