The Folk Process - Music History of Charles of Sweden to House of the Rising Sun
I often wonder with old folk songs what the "original" tune sounded like. In many cases the song was already very old before anyone bothered to copy down a version of the tune, and in cases like Long Lankin there might be multiple versions floating around by the time anyone became interested. Folk songs were traditionally transmitted orally to people who didn't read music, and by slight misremembering of the tune or by altering it a little to suit one's own performance style, the so called Folk Process would transpire and alter the song, sometimes just in the tune or sometimes in the lyrics as well.
Or if you just want to hear them because you can't read music either, here's some from YouTube.
And finally perhaps my least favorite version (in part because they mess up the lyric "rambling man" into "gambling man" and the rest of the verse makes no sense then) but basically the only version anyone seems to know these days...
One beginning in the tradition of hoodoo should know about the importance of baths. They are vital tools in hoodoo work and cannot be dispensed with. Many people nowadays don't have bathtubs, and some adaptation can be achieved by way of showers. Other people use a large bowl or bucket of water to pour on themselves in place of a spiritual bath. In olden times, and also in some places today where water on tap isn't common, people will perform their spiritual baths in a river or pond outdoors. A spiritual bath is similar to a regular bath, but with certain key differences. Spiritual baths are not meant primarily for physical cleansing and so washing items like soap might be taboo depending on the exact bath type. However there are some types of magical bath that do use the multitasking property of soap or other cleansers, and in those cases the cleaning aspect is appropriate to the work. There is some controversy around washing the hair in a spiritual bath. Many people don...
Recently tried this one to some good effect. As I did it, I petitioned Ganesha, but any of those crossroads deities (Mercury, Ellegua, Odin) will be able to help you here. You need: Blockbuster Oil Blockbuster Incense (loose or resin works best for this) Van Van Powder or Oil Gunpowder 2 White, Black or Orange Candles Fabric and Thread to wrap spell remains Offering for Ganesha (candy is a favorite) Do this spell on a Sunday or a Wednesday, or in a Sun or Mercury hour. Begin with your candles. White can be used for anything and is always a good choice. Black candles can be used to blot out problems and to bring destruction of all types, and so are a popular choice in Blockbuster work. Orange is used for opening the way and is another possibility if you are feeling blocked. Whatever colors you choose, take one candle and carve your name (or the name of the person the spell is for) onto it. Then carve on the other candle what it is you want to unblock -- this cou...
Wall to wall carpeting only became common in houses during the 20th century, when the technology to make it cheaply and also the technology to clean it relatively easily (vacuums) made it much more practical than it had been in former times. In the old days, you had to uproot the entire carpet and take it outside to be beaten or scrubbed, while the wood floors underneath were swept and washed. Routine cleaning of a carpet would have usually been done by servants while the family was away on vacation. Nowadays a lot of people have carpets, and in many cases they're seen as a cheaper type of flooring than bare wood or tile. However, when dealing with traditional magic spells and hoodoo rituals, this can become a bit of a special encumbrance: instructions for floor sweeps, floor washes, and the use of colored sachet powders becomes an issue on a carpeted floor, whilst it is not an issue on a wood or tile floor. Most traditional hoodoo cleaning and drawing rituals were made for...
I've been having a rough week. For whatever causes, I'd been feeling particularly stressed out, irritable, and like everyone was against me. All week I'd been bathing in Florida Water, washing with salt, sprinkling herbs, burning Healing incense and Uncrossing candles, and dousing myself with Peace oil to such little effect. Then, I took this simple bath from Draja Mickaharic's book Spiritual Cleansing: Handbook of Psychic Protection, and it did better for me than all the week's work had. From the text: Add 1/4 cup bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) to the regular bath water ... This simple bath has produced more testimonials than any other. Indeed, indeed. What magic makes baking soda so strong is unclear, but it's a famous bath additive even in non-occult circles. I first heard about it in beauty books that I read in high school, because when added to a bath it helps to soften the water. It's often used, there, as a medium for other fragrances, but i...
I own two feather pillows. Recently I was finding that both had grown resistant to all efforts to fluff them. It was obviously time to buy new ones after more than 10 years. It occurred to me that if I pulled the stuffing out from one and used it to refill the other, I'd only have to buy one new pillow instead of two. I'd read enough ancient household management guides that I knew how to replace feather filling, so I went for it. When I cut open the pillows, I found one of them had developed a strange rope-like quality to many of the feathers. They'd grown matted and stuck together in many places. Lafcadio Hearn in his "New Orleans Superstitions" article of 1886 wrote: It is believed that by secret spells a "Voudoo" can cause some monstrous kind of bird or nondescript animal to shape itself into being out of the pillow feathers--like the tupilek of the Esquimau iliseenek (witchcraft.) It grows very slowly, and by night only; but when ...
