#MythologyMonday 🌱🫖✨
In Appalachian lore, granny women brewed Sassafras root for a Spring tonic to “thin the blood” and cleanse away winter’s ills.
Sage smoke was waved through sickrooms to chase out bad spirits and sickness.
Fun fact: These sassafras tonics inspired the flavor and origins of modern root beer! 🐻🍺
#AppalachianFolkMagic ✨ ⛰️🌳
#SassafrasTea 🍵🌿#Sage
Recipe: https://fobdel.com/2025/05/20/sassafras-tea
(Source: 'Foxfire Book 2'; Light, 'Southern Folk Medicine')
#FairyTaleTuesday ⛰️
Cherokee medicine people called rain from Smoky Mountain peaks with song and sacred tobacco. In Appalachia, “Granny witches” heal with plant wisdom—brewing catnip tea for headaches and restful sleep.
#FairyTaleFlash #SmokyMountains #AppalachianFolkMagic #GrannyMagic #CatnipTea
✨#FolkloreSunday #PumpkinPie 🥧#AppalachianFolkMagic🪄
🍂 Appalachian Pumpkin Pie Ritual for Protection & Prosperity 🍂
Bake a pumpkin pie under a waxing moon w/ cinnamon (luck) & spicebush (protection). Stir clockwise, offer a slice to Samhain spirits for home safety, share w/ kin for abundance.
Kentucky Superstitions by Daniel Lindsey Thomas & Lucy Blayney Thomas.
First published in 1920.
This is a fantastic primer for those beginning in Kentucky folk magic and Southern Appalachian folk magic.
Get a gander here on Internet Archive. https://dn790009.ca.archive.org/0/items/kentuckysupersti00thomuoft/kentuckysupersti00thomuoft.pdf
It's worth having a copy in hand, though. I have so many pages book marked and notes written in mine on who I heard it from locally, etc. I'll be passing mine down to the kids.
For this week’s episode of WitchLit, I talked with Dave Gaddy about Appalachian folk magic, growing up in the South, and refinding that spark when our practice (writing or magic) goes fallow.
Nifty Buckles Folklore
KentuckyConjurer
Victoria