New World Witchery Quotes

“Be a magical magpie if you wish, and gather the shiny and beautiful things you like, but acknowledge that you are a magpie and not a bluebird or a cardinal, even if you add a few of their twigs or feathers to your nest. Be grateful and humble toward the magic and the people behind that magic, and you will find that magic opens up all sorts of new possibilities for you.”
― Cory Thomas Hutcheson, New World Witchery: A Trove of North American Folk Magic

“Pine-Sol—This commercial floor cleaner basically evolved out of Hoodoo floor washes in Mississippi when chemist Henry A. Cole used local pine forests to extract oil to use in a household floor wash. Pine already had a reputation in African American cleaning solutions for being extremely effective as well as nice-smelling, and folk beliefs about pine’s potency for purifying and stripping away spiritual dirt as well as physical dirt made the Pine-Sol brand extremely popular.”
― Cory Thomas Hutcheson, New World Witchery: A Trove of North American Folk Magic

“Keep track of your omens. Write them down. Whenever you think of one that you subscribe to in any way, make a note of it. Even if you only half-believe it, or feel like it’s silly, take the time to write it, because it means you’re already paying attention to it. Then, test your observations. Which omens bear fruit for you in the wider world?”
― Cory Thomas Hutcheson, New World Witchery: A Trove of North American Folk Magic

“Lighting a candle or carrying a talisman may seem strange, but that can be a benefit since they shake up the normal flow of daily life a little in ways that take a person’s problems seriously. If someone is a little less anxious carrying a mojo bag, or sleeps a little better after saying a small charm and making a few hand motions, that can be immensely beneficial.”
― Cory Thomas Hutcheson, New World Witchery: A Trove of North American Folk Magic

“One thing that I think we often miss, however, is that in some communities the local “witchy woman” with her bag of bones or tarot cards has another health function: listening.”
― Cory Thomas Hutcheson, New World Witchery: A Trove of North American Folk Magic

“The spell involves simply speaking the biblical passage of Ezekiel 16:6 while passing a hand over the wound to make the blood stop flowing so it can be bound up and heal: “And when I passed by you and saw you polluted in your blood, I said unto you while you were in your blood: Live. Yea, I said unto you while you were in your blood: Live!”
― Cory Thomas Hutcheson, New World Witchery: A Trove of North American Folk Magic

“Knots are thought to magically interfere with the ease of the birth, so removing them helped provide a smooth delivery.”
― Cory Thomas Hutcheson, New World Witchery: A Trove of North American Folk Magic

“The life of a New World Witch, then, is one of action. Witches do work. Witches solve problems. Witches learn and grow. Witches make things. Witches talk to things that others don’t or won’t talk to. Witches see the world differently, and it changes them. Then, they change the world.”
― Cory Thomas Hutcheson, New World Witchery: A Trove of North American Folk Magic

“Instead, witchcraft in North America seems to be—from the perspective of history and folklore—less about gods and goddesses and much more about muttering under one’s breath in a time of need, or knowing not to burn sassafras wood.”
― Cory Thomas Hutcheson, New World Witchery: A Trove of North American Folk Magic