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nature. However, the latter approach demonstrates that healing
does not occur as a result of the acts of the healer alone and/or the
agent being used. Therefore, cures are almost always accompanied
by the recitation of short prayers or the reading of short Bible
verses.
For the Appalachian folk magic practitioner, the otherworld
is all around us. We exist in a world inhabited by little people,
ghosts, spirits, demons, and angels. Yet, most of us are taught to
deny the existence of the otherworld and its entities from the time
we are small children. Following in the footsteps of their Celtic
ancestors, Appalachian folk magic practitioners regard natural
openings or doorways as sacred places—the portals between
worlds. Caves, lakes, stones with naturally occurring holes (holey
or hag stones), graveyards, and mountain tops are all believed to
be places where one can glimpse into the spiritual world. Since
the spirituality of the Appalachian folk magic practitioner is so
far interwoven with nature it would be incorrect to think of this
spirituality as an organized system of mystical beliefs or practices.
It is simply a way of living as one with God by how you perceive
nature and treat others during the everyday routines of life.
2. Eclectic.
Appalachian folk magic and medicine are eclectic in that
they borrow from several different ethnic and cultural traditions.
Another historical occurrence that contributed to the development
of Appalachian folk magic was the cultural influence of both
Native Americans and Africans. Fischer, for example, claims
that Appalachian folk magic “was an eclectic body of beliefs,
constantly growing by borrowing from Indians, Africans, Germans,
and other cultures.” 13 For the most part, the influence of these
cultures has been specifically associated with folk medicine.
However, as Snow points out, it is “not always possible to identify
a particular belief or practice as distinctly “African” or “European”
or “Native American” in origin due to parallel but independently
conceived folk medical knowledge such as, for example, belief
in imitative and contagious magic, witchcraft, and sorcery.” 14 As
such, not only is it often difficult to identify the particular cultural
14