Holy Stones and Iron Bones

Doll Babies and Poppets Part II

The odd thing about Appalachian folk magic is that each family works differently. And these differences are close in region surprising. What one family does will be done in a different way compared to a family just across the Mountain or just down the holler. If you know a thing or two about Appalachian life out of the city, you’d know that rural communities were basically left to dry by the rest of the country. No good transportation, news would arrive weeks later if something somewhere else. People waited for weeks to get to a doctor or they simply couldn’t.

It was with the help of the natives and the imported knowledge from their homelands that the immigrants were able to utilize the native plants for medicine and magic.

These differences apply to the use of dolls in the mountains as well. But it’s generally thought they used anything on hand to make a doll when times were rough; which was always, as many of them, myself included, were always piss poor.

So keep in mind, there ain’t no one tradition of working in the root in these mountains. After all this time, cultures have mixed and swirled, there ain’t no telling how many ways there are to make a dolly. So the ones here, and in the previous post, are the ones I’ve learned about and heard about in my life.

If your from these mountains (meaning your great grandady is from here too), I invite you to message me about the ones you’ve heard of and I’ll add em here.

There’s plenty more. We’ve covered stick dolls and rag dolls already, so now let’s move to the most iconic of this region: Apple Head dolls.

Apple head dolls were generally done in love work, but as piss poor as most of Appalachia was and still is, we made due with this for just about anything. Apple head dolls are essentially made like a stick doll, with the head simply being an apple. Mostly though, they are rag dolls in with stick as the main core, upon with the apple is placed to make the head. Again, Google the instructions on how to dry the head.

Apple head dolls were used in varying ways, to stop gossip by sewing the mouth shut, loading the head with love and attraction herbs to bring a lover or have them dream of you. I’ve even seen an apple head doll once growing up, but the hands of the doll were seared. Still not sure what its purpose was. Maybe a thief? Hell who knows.

Next is probably the second most simple doll to make, Hankie dolls, also known as crow babies (final product somewhat resembles a scarecrow). Not sure what they’re called elsewhere, but they’re sorta like the little, ghost dolls people hang in trees around Halloween; except we don’t leave the “skirt”, that becomes the arms and body. Originally, they were used for protection of them home from haints (troublesome spirits) and bad luck. Since the making of the doll is so simple, the technique is widely used for a number of things. Originally it was simply made from a handkerchief, but you can just use a 7×7 peice of fabric.

Another type of doll made in the Appalachias was the corn doll. These are commonly made from just corn husks while others may use an empty, dried cob as the body and form the husks around the cob to make arms and legs, or simply left as a skirt of sorts. These were traditionally used for healing purposes. Mama Starr relates her encounter with one for a pregnancy issue, you can find this in her book Working the Root.

Lastly, dolls were made from mud, dough or meat, generally for cursing and hexing. For dough and meat dolls, they were worked for a few days and left out either on an ant hill or deep in the woods for the critters to eat away your enemy to either hex them or just get em outta town.

Mud dolls are usually made using the red clay which is common in these mountains or crawfish holes. You simply gather the moist mud, shape it into a person, adding personal concerns, herbs and other ingredients for your intent, and continue to work it from there. Afterwards the doll is disposed of either by smashing it at a crossroads or throwing it in the river/lake, after the spirit has been released.

Below are some possible doll works to get you started.

Angel doll

This working is used to heal a person of an illness or to help with pain. You can craft a doll from sticks, fabric or clay. Once the doll is made and awoken, lay it in a bed of healing herbs. Take four eggs and anoint them while reciting Matthew 7:7-8 or Psalm 30:11-12. Place the eggs at the head and feet, left and right of the doll. Continuously pray over the doll until the sickness is gone. Once the work is done, dispose of the eggs at the base of a willow, and disassemble the doll. Return any personal concerns back to the target and bury the remains of the doll on church or hospital grounds. To strengthen this and prevent the sickness from returning, wrap the doll in a silk or lace cloth before lying it in the bed; this will also be given to the person after the work to prevent the sickness from returning.

Caught in a web

This is for those bastards who just don’t know how to stop with the lies. Make a rag doll and fill it with beans (whatever you have on hand). Work the doll from full moon to new moon, work the doll while reciting Proverbs 14:5, 19:9. One the night of the full moon, cut the mouth of the doll open and walk to the lake or other body of water. While walking to the water, spill out 1/3 of the beans while reciting one of the above verses 13 times. On the 13th recitation, toss the doll into the water. They’ll be weighed down by there lies until they hit rock bottom and spill the beans.

Allot of people have shown interest but have requested videos on making these different kinds of doll babies. While there are much more, there may be a third posting. But that’ll be later on if the interest continues. Until then, be sure to subscribe below and comment if you’ve heard of any other kinds of dolls worked in these hills. Until next time, love one another.

Sop, Doll, Sop: Doll babies in Appalachian Folk Magic

This is by far my favorite type of work. Dollies are made to represent yourself or another, for many reasons. These fetishes are used to cross someone up, heal a person, get em gone, induce subtle thoughts/behaviors etc.
They can also be used to store things like worry and dreams.

Dolls have been paramount in witchcraft for centuries, maybe even millennia. Worked in all the corners of the earth, these dolls were used for more than play. The belief behind them is “like affects like,” basically this doll looks like Bobby, has his real hair and finger nails, so there’s a strong connection for me to affect him in some manner. Cause those links, those taglocks, they got a piece of his spirit, his essence in it.

One rule that seems to be universal is that, for the most effective work, the doll needs to look like the target, as similar as you can get it. This will help further the “like affects like theory”, and will have a better impact by making the image look as similar to the target as possible, this adds fuel along with the taglock, or bit of their spirit caught in it.

Doll babies seem to take on a life of their own, whether they are being used in work or for play by a child. The attention given to it by human consciousness seems to gather, and you know, give it that creepy feeling you get at night when your trying to sleep but there’s eyes on you. I had the same opinion of all my nana’s angels that littered the home waiting for you to act up when a grown up wasn’t in the room haha.

But Angel, toy, or witchcraft, there’s always that back-of-the-mind, quickly-brushed-off question, “did I sit it in that position?”. There’s been many instances when a doll of mine seems to move. We’ll touch on that later.

While there are many ways to make dolls, there’s a few that seem to work well than others. In this post, we will talk about the many types of dolls used in the Appalachias as well as the ones utilized by our Hoodoo cousins further south, as many forms of doll babies have found themselves in general use all over the country. I will also give a few practical recipes for working dolls for love, health, protection and crossing.

The first thing you need to do, is get it right inside your skull that doll babies can be dangerous. For example, you always, always, ALWAYS need a direct link to the target. Either their hair, nail clippings, etc. This gives the focal point for who exactly the doll is for. A name paper will work should you not have this, but here’s where the potential danger comes in.

Say I’m working on a co-worker who just can’t seem to get some sense and quit gossiping. Now it’s hard to get any personal concerns from co-workers (harassment laws and whatnot), so I decide to use a name paper instead to link the doll to them. Everything is going well, I’m focused, I’m centered on the work being done on her.

Then something mundane irritates me. I go back to working on the doll, mad as hell at someone or something else. You should see two big problems appearing here. #1: Never, EVER do work while you are mad, unless your anger is toward the person you’re working on. #2: this energy is now seeping into the doll I am making. While there’s another persons name in there, my energy overpowers the little piece of paper, overwriting it like a computer code with the code of my anger to the other person or thing.

This is why you should always try your best to have a strong link to the target when doing doll work. Because now I have a doll for Bob which will actually affect the other person. Believe me, it’s a mess to clean up. So always do your work focused fully on the target, or if something like that happens, wait until your no longer upset. Wait until you can put your full attention to the job being done. Do this especially when you have no means to get any direct personal concerns from the intended person.

Naming the doll varies from region to region. European witchcraft sometimes calls for elaborate rituals to name and awaken the poppet. New Orleans Hoodoo and Voodou varies from elaborate to simple yet powerful. In the Appalachias and Ozarks, the process is usually a command for the doll to awaken to life, with a knod to the Maker Upstairs. Sometimes we throw in a baptism or three. What can I say? We’re the biggest notch of baptists’ in the Bible Belt.

In these hills, we have a process most go by when bringing a doll to life. First, you name and baptize the doll. Say a prayer to the Creator and sprinkle the doll with holy water of some sort. Next you will name the doll. If the doll is you, you will give it a secret name that no one must know, and that is what you will address in as when not in the company of others. Afterwards, over the doll for 9 days in a secret spot where it won’t be disturbed. This is its “germinatin’ period”. Feed the doll baby afterwards with a small offering of food, water and a candle. Then introduce it to family and friends (not by its secret name of course). If the person is you, introduce it as you. If it’s another person, introduce it as a nickname of sorts. Instead of “meet Charles”, use “meet Charlie”. Talk with the doll as normal, telling it to bring you something or the job to be done.

While working with the doll there’s some things you need to know so you don’t get frightened, should the doll be made correctly. This especially happens when the doll is of yourself. So do not be too frightened when the dolls seems to talk back, smile, tilt its head, or twitches its arms and legs a bit. Some have reported they can also “go to bed when you do.”

Now, this part goes for all dolls, of others and yourself. Never, ever lose the doll or let it get stolen; and definitely do not leave it around those you don’t trust. Should you lose the doll, or the doll get stolen. There’s some old remedies for this. Not well know today, but a couple of my elders have sworn by it. This is also one of the reasons you never abandon the doll for long periods of time, because this make you more susceptible to lose it.

In the event that any of the above happens, you need to disassociate yourself as much as you can from the doll (should it be in your image). This includes cutting our hair or shaving your head, shaving all body hair, cutting your nails, changing perfumes or cologne for a while, rinsing your mouth with moonshine or whiskey, and adopting a nickname for a while. Anything you can think of to separate your connection to the doll. Just wanted to put that here, first and foremost. Now let’s move onto working the doll.

Should the doll be of someone else, with a specific intention, they will need to do the same. If they are unaware of the doll, pray your ass of that its okay. Unless of course the intent is for it to not be okay. This is the reason I never make and send a client a doll that is someone other than themselves.

There are many ways to work a doll. You can bind them with yarn to tie a person down, nail to a tree for much darker works, you can show the doll love for love work, the list goes on and on. There’s no set way of working the doll. Some people use pins and needles to “focus energy”, but that’s not done in the mountains unless you’re causing ruckus for a persons life. Sometimes when we’re really on budget we’ll use old nails or thorns (hawthorn and locust are the best; about 2-3in long and they hurt like hell).

I have found my own way of working a doll. If for love work, I’ll place the items in the heart area while crafting it and dress it with flowers and perfume/cologne.

For commanding work, I put my receipt (petition) into the head, wrapped in patchouli root. This kind of makes the “brain” of the doll, with the thought (petition) inside it. For those works I’ll squeeze the head while tellin em what to do. Even squeeze the hell out of it when they’re being stubborn. With healing dolls, I make a bed from the left over materials and care for the doll. You get the picture. Now let’s talk about the many times of dolls that are utilized, not only in these hills, but everywhere in American folk magic.

We’ll start with the different types of dollies worked within the Appalachian Mountains.

The first, and simplest, is the stick doll. For this you’ll need two sticks of either oak (power), willow (love and healing), or walnut (crossing). Make a cross with the stick, creating a notch in the middle of each before hand so they fit like a puzzle piece.

Next you will need to make the head. This can be made of fabric and stuffed with your herbs and moss, it can be sculpted from clay or mud, or made from a dried apple. Google instructions on drying an apple head if that is your choice. Mama Starr gives some good instructions in her book Working the Root. Depending on the size you plan for your doll baby, you can even use a large bead as the head.

Next you will need to make the body. This can be done many ways, depending on the workers preferences. You can wrap the stick frame with yarn or twine, glue moss or cotton to the stick which will then be covered with clothes matching closely to the fashion of the target. If you chose to go with yarn to make the body, you can wrap the personal concerns in with the yarn as you go. If you decide on putting padding on the frame and dressing the doll, you can mix the personal link in with the padding, by either gluing it directly or making a small pouch for it and then glueing the pouch in as well.

For doll baby clothes, we hill folk like to keep them clean from dirt and grime once the doll is made. There’s not enough room here to give instructions on making clothes for the dolls so just Google and or find someYouTube videos. Once you have the clothes for the doll, soak it in sugar water and dress the doll while it’s still wet. The sugar water makes the clothing stiff, so position your clothing while it’s still wet and leave it to dry and harden.

This next one will be the last for this post, as it is getting extensive. Plus I like the suspense 😉. The next simple way to make a doll, is a rag doll. Up in the mountains, these were made with old fabric they had on hand. I still do it this way from fabric scrapes if I have them. This is the most common doll, made simply from two fabric cuttings shaped like a person and sewn together with an opening left for the stuffing and ingredients.

Clothes can also be added and sewn into these dolls. If the personal concerns you have of the target is hair, you can sew this into the head. If it’s fingernail clippings sew the ones you have onto the hands, assuming your doll baby has fingers. If not just sew them on in the like-placement of fingers. If the intention is love, place the items and personal concerns in the heart area. If your tryin to get a pesky bastard to leave you be, put the concerns in the feet with some hotfoot powder or hot peppers.

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Egg Cleansing in Appalachian Folk Magic

Egg cleansing is an ancient practice, utilized in Mesoamerica, Europe and Africa, among other places. The symbol of the egg is a universal symbol of Life. The yolk inside cozy and protected by a seemingly fragile shell. The ancients found this symbolism and began using it as a tool for their spiritual practices.

The thought behind egg cleansing is that it acts like a sponge, absorbing and neutralizing negative energy, diseases and the evil eye. Many today do not have the information readily available to instruct them on how the cleansing is done and the egg read effectively. Which is the reason behind this article.

For an Appalachian egg cleansing, you will need some form of “holy water”, either from a church, river water or simply water over which you have prayed Psalms 23 seven times each day for seven days. You will also need a clear glass, a candle for the spirits, and a religious symbol (cross, rosary, bible etc.) I would suggest getting eggs from an organic grocery store, as traditionally in the mountains these eggs were readily available from the chicken coop in the yard. Today there’s no telling what kinds of things are in the egg which may affect the reading phase of this process.

Wash the egg in the water and let it air dry completely. Make sure the egg is room temperature. Light the candle while praying Psalms 86.

Psalm 86

A prayer of David.

¹Hear me, Lord, and answer me,
    for I am poor and needy.
²Guard my life, for I am faithful to you;
    save your servant who trusts in you.
You are my God; ³have mercy on me, Lord,
    for I call to you all day long.
⁴Bring joy to your servant, Lord,
    for I put my trust in you.

⁵You, Lord, are forgiving and good,
    abounding in love to all who call to you.
⁶Hear my prayer, Lord;
    listen to my cry for mercy.
⁷When I am in distress, I call to you,
    because you answer me.

⁸Among the gods there is none like you,Lord;
    no deeds can compare with yours.
⁹All the nations you have made
    will come and worship before you, Lord;
    they will bring glory to your name.
¹⁰For you are great and do marvelous deeds;
    you alone are God.

¹¹Teach me your way, Lord,
    that I may rely on your faithfulness;
give me an undivided heart,
    that I may fear your name.
¹²I will praise you, Lord my God, with all my heart;
    I will glorify your name forever.
¹³For great is your love toward me;
    you have delivered me from the depths,
    from the realm of the dead.

¹⁴

Hold the dry egg in both hands, while praying to the Creator and blessing the egg to remove illnesses or curses from yourself.

Begin by holding the egg in your dominant hand held about 6 inches away from the person’s body. If your doing a self-cleansing do this also. The only time the egg is rubbed on the body is when pain or illness is the issue and only in the respective area where the issue is arising, moving in a head to foot direction over the specific area, or in counterclockwise circles.

Go in strokes from head to toe, going downward, never back and forth. Go over the body as many times as you think necessary depending on the issue warranting the cleansing, although its traditionally done three times in intervals that day, every thirty minutes as the clock of the hand goes down. Make sure to get every space of the body, front, back, and sides. If you’re doing this on yourself try to get as much covered as you physically can.

Once you’ve covered everywhere you can, fill the glass with water and mix some of the left over “holy” water into the glass. Crack open the egg and drop it into the glass. Make a cross over the glass in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit with the candle. Let it sit there for the next thirty minutes to an hour as the yolk forms.

After time passes, come back to see the formation of the yolk. This process is the reading of the egg. This will basically tell you what was collected, the cause of the issue, how effective the cleansing was, and what steps should be taken next. Below I include a set of meanings for different formations.

Reading the Egg interpretations

If the egg smells bad or has a strong odor, this is a sign of evil being done or severe illness. This is also the interpretation should the egg show blood.
Small spots of blood in the water show signs of bad luck and damage done by Conjure. Especially if the water is also cloudy or murky.
If the water becomes cloudy without scent or blood, there’s been a loss of vital energy via a hole in the aura which needs to be healed. In many folk traditions this is a sign of nightmares, ptsd, susto (the fright), etc.
If the egg yolk makes the shape of a face, this is a sign of a enemy. A slender face represents a man, a round face means a woman.

If the yolk looks like an eye of sorts, this shows that the evil eye is present and will most likely warrant additional sessions to be removed, paired with other cleansings.
Small bubbles in the water or egg show that negativity has been removed.
If the water is clear without any abnormal shapes, scents, etc. and the yolk sits perfectly at the bottom with very little egg moving up to the surface of the water, then nothing unnatural has occurred and no more cleansings are needed.
Patterns of web formations show that something is catching you up, stopping you, or there’s a blockage. Additional sessions are also warranted here to further remove any existing problems.
If the patterns make a pyramid, this indicates that the cleansing went well but there seems to be a little bit left. Do another cleansing.
With egg cleansings, it is expected for the whole egg to sink to the bottom. This shows that all negativity was removed. If a part or the whole thing floats then another session is needed. If only part of the egg floats in the glass this shows that there is a small problem or that it is still developing and can immediately be fixed.

Another style to remove negativity is to place the egg in the glass and place it under your bed. Leave it for three days and change it as often as you’d like or until it has a “clean read”.

Once done with the egg, discard it at the crossroads. If you must flush it down the toilet, do a cleansing or washing to clear away any residual energy left by the egg.

So now you know how them old folk did more than cooking when they went out to gather the hens eggs.

From the Pulpit to the Kitchen: Folk Magic in Appalachia

Come and sit a spell. Let’s reminisce over the old days on the porch with mamaw talking about the highest mountain in the Carolinas and that one grandfather who stayed the night with the witchy woman down in the holler. Don’t forget about those days in the garden, surrounded by lettuce and sunflowers, as the bottle trees shake in the mountain breeze and the willow by the pond whispers a tune to the cattails.

Most importantly let’s remember the spirit of those mother-mountains, where people use to wave as they drove by and if ever you was out of something, someone down the mountain would kindly help provide or help you make do.

Remember those honeysuckle bushes? And those apple trees? Oh those fresh red apples. Good for a lot more than apple butter, ya know. Mamaw knew.

All of this applied to daily life for my great grandmothers and grandfathers whose home in the mountains was like honey dew at the Throne. Like Christ in Paradise. Peaceful and filled with praise. But it was also like chains at the Devil’s feet, rampant with poverty and bad health. Still is. May always be.

More importantly, you best remember those pearls of wisdom nana so kindly threw at you, mostly when you least wanted to hear them. Those ol’ wives tales telling you you’s gonna marry a drunk or come on hard times cause you did something. I often wonder on it being the wives who told them stories; threads of the storytelling past leading back to the Cherokee camps and those cliffs off the Old World where mother’s churned and baked and birthed.

“Never throw money away, it’s bad luck.”

“Sweep under their feet, they’ll never marry; on they feet, they’ll go to jail.”

“If ‘dem leaves show they back, storms a comin.”

“A watched pot will never boil and a watched stove will make the bread fall.”

“Rappings on the kill kitchen table when no one’s there tells Death is coming.”

“A rocking chairs a moving and ain’t nobody in it, death and troubles on the way and they’re coming in a minute.”

“Don’t clip a baby’s nails before they’re a year old or they’ll become a thief. Bite them off instead.”

“Never let an expectant mother see a corpse, or the baby will be pale and deformed.”

“New salt in the shoes will make you slicker than glass, doing right in everything.”

“Piss in ‘is cup and he’ll be head over heels for ya.”

“Money by the door, ya never be broke.”

“Whistling indoors invites the devil in.”

So listen close to the Spirit and let’s remember those poor-magic days up on the mountain and down by the creek.

Mamaw’s apron and Papaw’s hat hold secrets and testimonies and prophecy. That is, if you have the soul for it.

So sit back, get you some sweet tea and let’s ramble about the Mysteries and Mayhem of these smokey hills.

Visit my website for readings and rootwork services at

https://littlechicagoconjure.weebly.com