If you recognize one of these witch critters and track it to somebody’s house, you’ve narrowed the field. Someone who lives or visits there is the witch. Animal tracks between the homes of the victim of a curse and a suspected witch are a giveaway—especially if the tracks start or end as human footprints.
Sometimes one of these shape-shifting witches is spotted in the act. One might be disguised as a strange pig or cow in the barn or an extra cat or dog in the yard. Somebody might lash out with a stick or whip. A passing hunter might take a shot. The wounded critter splits. A few hours later and not too far off someone is found with a matching injury—someone perhaps long suspected of being a witch. A bloody trail of the prints of hoof or paw may even lead to the house. This, too, is an Old World motif.
In the late and desperate stages of a curse, some bewitched people can even see their tormentors, particularly when they are coming to visit. Often, they say, in this sort of vision trance, the sufferer can narrate the witch’s movements as if watching a surveillance video.
Recognizing your hexer is critical to any defense. It’s rare that it’s easy. The witch could be anyone. The best thing, of course, is to spot someone engaged in some act or practice—say, making a charm—which would take away all doubt. But most witches train and work in secret.
We hear stories about witches who learned the dark art at the private tutelage of a friend or family member. The tutor may even be someone no longer alive. But often a semipublic ceremony seems part of the process of becoming a witch, and a sip of a magic brew completes the initiation. Witches often go into the deep woods and work their rites and spells by small, slow fires. If you spot one of these in progress—and make it back—you may know several witches.
If you chance to be out in the New York countryside and come across one of these midnight rites, you can start by being quiet. Rrreeeaaallll quiet. You might see a slow blaze, a steaming kettle, and a ring of human countenances in the glow. Note the faces. Hear what the voices are saying. You may be able to figure out what they’re up to. If someone in the community has been suffering, you may know why.
The old Iroquois believed that the spirits of exceptional witches could inspire living ones long after their physical deaths. Like the European vampire, this spirit witch lingers in the grave in a queer state of death-in-life. A living witch with such a disembodied friend is especially powerful. The spirit witch will lead the living one to prosperity and luck. In some tales, the live witch occasionally visits the graveyard, showering the dead one with grisly gifts and tokens. If you go by a cemetery and see someone paying homage to an open grave, you may have spotted one of these eerie transactions. When it’s discovered by the medicine people, the witch body has to be specially dealt with. This is another parallel to the European vampire.
If you’re bold enough to poke around in the house of a suspected witch, you might find ritual objects, particularly totems and animal parts used in cursing or shape-shifting. But be careful what you play around with. If you hold one of these otkon objects, you may, against your will, learn how it works. You may curse or kill the next living thing you see. If you put on the wrong hat or glove, your next move may be in something other than your natural form. If one of the veteran practitioners spots you flitting around in your animal body and asks you a few questions, you may not make it back in any form.
GETTING TO THE ROOT OF THE HEX
Once you realize that you or someone you know is the target of a curse, the source of it has to be identified before any effective cure can be found. This won’t always be easy. Witches usually attack in secret.
The stroke could have come anywhere or any time in the past few months. It could have been launched quickly, with a powerful witch blinking the victim with an evil eye. It could come slowly, a traditional hurting curse wrought with spells and implements in a private ritual and from far away. Like an avenging spirit, its energy keeps escalating.
There might also be a charm targeting the victim, an inanimate, metaphysical time bomb as traditional as a charm-bundle or as seemingly non-Iroquoian as a simple effigy representing the victim. Like a voodoo doll, it might have burns or scratches in selected places. It could be a tiny object magically placed within the victim’s body. It could be witch powder fed to the victim by “sprinkling”—tossing charmed dust on a dinner or drink.
If you or someone you know happens to be suffering from a curse, knowing who your attacker is can be very helpful. That way you may be able to handle things on your own. As we’ve seen, you might be able to buffalo that witch into dropping the business.
It might sound easy at first. Most of us have a real small list of people who might be both mad at us and magically inclined. But it can take a long time to spot a pattern in a wave of disasters and come to the conclusion that something magical might be involved. And just because you’re suffering from a curse doesn’t mean you’re the real target.
You see, Iroquois witches don’t always hurt their intended victims, at least not at first. Some of them work toward their targets by knocking off the people they love, thus making them suffer the more. Fiendish and clever. Think of it as a national refinement.
ARTHUR C. PARKER ON WITCHCRAFT
Arthur C. Parker stated in 1901 that no understanding of
