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earmarked traits over the centuries, ones often at variance with
modern Pagan magickal practices.” 50 As such, McCoy lists the
following eleven specific characteristics usually found in mountain
magickal practices and folk beliefs:
1. A division of all that exists into distinct and warring camps
of good and evil.
2. A sense that all things have their own sentient quality, be
they plant, animal, or inanimate object, and that their intent
for good or evil can be made manifest.
3. A strong belief in the influence of the Christian Devil.
4. An acceptance that magick is real and that it can be worked
for either good or evil purposes.
5. The belief that certain individuals are blessed with
paranormal powers and that their magick is always more
powerful than that of a layperson.
6. A sense of fatalism in the face of dire circumstances,
particularly during severe illness or intrusion by outsiders
into the local way of life, conditions which no amount
of magick can completely cure. (Fatalist thinking is the
first cousin of predestination, a spiritual legacy left to the
mountain people through the Calvinist theology prevalent
in the early Scottish Protestant churches.)
7. That the resting places of the dead are places wherein evil
may lurk, but which contain great magickal powers which
can be harnessed by the brave.
8. An underlying magickal philosophy which says it is wicked
to work magick for monetary profit or to gain power over
another individual, though the latter condition is frequently
ignored, especially in matters of romance and inter-family
quarrels.
9. The acceptance of the reality and potency of magickal
curses.
10. The belief that nature provides omens and portents of the
future, and these are to be heeded by the wise.
11. An emphasis upon actions, rather than upon thought and
will power, as the ultimate magickal catalyst. 51
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