Cory Thomas Hutcheson - New World Witchery: A Trove of North American Folk Magic

Llewellyn Publications

Woodbury, Minnesota

Copyright Information

New World Witchery: A Trove of North American Folk Magic 2021 by Cory Thomas Hutcheson.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any matter whatsoever, including Internet usage, without written permission from Llewellyn Publications, except in the form of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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First e-book edition 2021

E-book ISBN: 9780738764627

Book design by Donna Burch-Brown

Cover design by Shannon McKuhen

Editing by Marjorie Otto

Interior art by Cory Thomas Hutcheson

Llewellyn Publications is an imprint of Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Hutcheson, Cory Thomas, author.

Title: New world witchery : a trove of North American folk magic / Cory

Thomas Hutcheson.

Description: Frist edition. | Woodbury, Minnesota : Llewellyn Publications,

[2021] | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Summary: A

collection of stories, rituals, exercises and beliefs, this book looks at

folklore and folk magic in North America Provided by publisher.

Identifiers: LCCN 2021004742 (print) | LCCN 2021004743 (ebook) | ISBN

9780738762128 (paperback) | ISBN 9780738762227 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: WitchcraftNorth America. | MagicNorth America. | North

AmericaFolklore.

Classification: LCC BF1584.N58 H87 2021 (print) | LCC BF1584.N58 (ebook)

| DDC 133.43097dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021004742

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021004743

Llewellyn Publications does not participate in, endorse, or have any authority or responsibility concerning private business arrangements between our authors and the public.

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Llewellyn Publications

Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

2143 Wooddale Drive

Woodbury, MN 55125

www.llewellyn.com

Manufactured in the United States of America

Dedication

This book is dedicated to those who, like enchanted magpies, have shown me the shiny bits of magic in my world, little by little, every day.

To my magical partner, the friend and co-witch who has made this entire project possible, Laine.

To my mother, Sue Zack, who opened the doors of riddles and lore to me.

And to my children, Jack and Poppy, whose imaginations provide more magic than I could ever hope to use.

Thank you, all. I hope this book adds a little magic back into your world.

Acknowledgments

A book like this absolutely cannot exist without an enormous number of people providing support, guidance, care, admonition, sympathy, criticism, love, and no small amount of their own enchantment. Inevitably, I will falter here in remembering them all, and for that I beg forgiveness in advance, and ask that you do not send curses at me. My intentions are good, and my failuresI thinkmostly harmless.

Enormous thanks to my patient family: Kate, Jack, and Poppy (and Baudelaire the greyhound), who have all put up with my strange obsessions and weird tendencies with unflappable good humor. For the same reasons, I must thank my mother, Suzanne Elizabeth Zack, as she not only supported but actively encouraged my oddity in the best possible ways.

I also could not do this without my friends, the people who have frequently fuelled my quirky passions. I am grateful to Laine, of course, a partner in both magic and crime without whom none of this would have happened. Thanks also to my dear friends Justin and Bob, who have frequently been the ones to inspire me and have the deep conversations that challenge me in the best possible ways. I am deeply thankful for my magical community, who have offered their feedback, lore, enthusiasm, and kindness at so many turns: Vic, Heather, AthenaBeth, Fire Lyte, Chris Orapello, Tara-Love Maguire, Velma Nightshade, Kathleen Borealis, Via Hedera, and Jen Rue.

Special thanks as well to my early readers for this book, whose feedback has been immensely valuable to me in making it what it is today: Jonathan D. Clayton, Xamonster, Tarsha Gragsone, Astara Dragonheart, Mari Lee Ray, Victoria S., Wisdomqueen, Montine Rummel, Signy Hege Myrsdottir, Catriona McDonald, and Rosalie.

I know this book is not explicitly an academic one, but so much of my work is built upon the foundations of my folklore and history peers and mentors, and to all of them I am profoundly grateful for their contributions and guidance: Simon Bronner, Anthony Bak Buccitelli, John Ernest, Jenn Lewin, Mary Sellers, Kate Anderson Holmes, John Price, Annamarie OBrien, Jeanna Jorgenson, Morgan Daimler, Andrea Kitta, Lynne McNeill, Semontee Mitra, Kay Turner, Marc Norman, Lilith Dorsey, Tony Kail, and Patrick Donmoyer.

And to the many witches, conjurers, cunning folk, root doctors, Hoodoo men and women, curanderas, yarb doctors, Pow-wows and brauchers, and all other magical folk who have lived on this land and left a legacy of enchantment; truly, a deep and abiding thanks. I also could hardly have come so far in my study and practice without those who have been magical teachers and guides to me directly and indirectly: Atticus Hob, Robert Schreiwer, Rob Phoenix, Starr Casas, Jack Montgomery, Stephanie Palm, Sarah Anne Lawless, Juniper Birch, Concha Ruiz, Peter Paddon, Michael Howard, Benebell Wen, and Laura Tempest Zakroff (without whom this book would not exist, as she very much threw me over her broomstick and flew down the chimney of my editor to introduce us).

To that end, I must also offer deep thanks to my editors at Llewellyn, Elysia Gallo, Marjorie Otto, and Lynne Menturweck, as well as to Judika Illes at Weiser, who have all been phenomenal guides and resources in the world of witchy publishing (as well as delightful human beings all around).

And finally, my thanks to frankly every author I cite in my bibliography, because I am standing on the shoulders of an entire army of giants. But especially to Zora Neale Hurston, whose legacy of folklore, magic, literature, and life have spoken to me since I first read her words many years ago.

Contents

List of

: The CrossroadsAn Introduction and Guide to This Book

: Are You a Good Witch?Defining and Categorizing New World Witchery

: Seventh Son of a Seventh SonThe Call to Witchcraft and Magic