A collection of European magic spells and folk healing, entitled the Pow-wows or The Long Lost Friend was first published in German language in 1820. The book contains healing spells, binding spells, protective spells, talismans, and benedictions.
The original title of the book was Der Lange Verborgene Freund, or The Long-Hidden Friend. John George Hohman, a German-American writer and publisher who immigrated to United States in 1802, wrote the book and later made a crude translation in English in 1846. The looming spiritualism in the United States in the nineteenth century began the incorporation of the word Pow-wow in the title of the subsequent reprints.
Pow-wow is a combination of Christian and shamanistic belief system associated with the Pennsylvania Dutch, who came from Germanic tribes and immigrated to Pennsylvania. Many of these immigrants are believed to have come from radical Christians.
They say there are five vital sources of spells in the Pow-wow belief system.
The Bible is the most common source of incantation. The second is the already mentioned The Long Lost Friend's . Another source is The Egyptian Secrets of Albertus Magnus
Other significant sources are the Sixth and Seventh books of Moses. Many say Moses gained power through magical procedures.
Lastly, the Secrets of Sympathy by William Wilson Beissel which was republished in 1998 as a section of the book, Pow-wow Power by Beissel's great nephew.
In teaching the Pow-wow belief system, certain procedures are followed. For instance, a student and teacher should come from different sexual orientations. Meaning, a male can only teach a female and vice versa.
Breaking this rule will lessen the healing powers of both the student and the teacher. Pow-wow's rituals and traditions mix prayers, incantations and ceremonies for home remedy purposes.
The book Pow-Wows: Or, Long Lost Friend
In eliminating pain or healing a wound, the Pow-wow suggests rubbing the end of each three small twigs in the wound. Each twig should be cut in one smooth method. After rubbing it, wrap the twigs separately in a piece of white paper and put them in warm and dry place.
If a person has a whooping cough, a Pow-wow practitioner would usually do this procedure. First, they cut three small bunches of hair from the crown head of a child who has never seen his father. Then the hairs are sewn in an unbleached rag. This will be then hanged around the neck of the person having a cough. The thread used in sewing is unbleached, too.
There is another procedure in curing a cough. It is to thrust the sick person three times through a blackberry bush without saying anything.
Pow-wow magic is a very ritualistic system, whose roots go back for hundreds of years.
Personal note: I first heard about the book, The Long Lost Friend , in a collection of fictional stories about a character called Silver John in books written by Manly Wade Wellman
Simply Magic: Pow-wow Protection
Third video in the Simply Magic series. This explores protective charms and magics of the Braucherei.
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