Bahamian Bush Magic Fri May 27, 2005

Mum is as superstitious as they come. Maybe its a Bahamian ting, but I don't think so. It doesn't help that both her friends, Miss Knowlton and the witchy woman who is the wife of the petting zoo guy that lives near us, are into the supernatural (as well as the natural). They are all practitioners of herbalism, and it's a short step from herbalism to bush magic.

It all started innocently with hyssop. The women make money by making and selling organic products at the local farmer's market. Of course their main product is the goat's milk soap that they scent with wild herbs and flowers that they find growing in my back 40. They also had a lucrative run by pickling the wild leeks and wild garlic that grows in the woods. They met some man who grows hyssop as an herb. He is an older gentleman, and he is a widower, so he makin' googoo eyes at either Mum or Miss Knowlton or both. They come home with a load of hyssop.

They mix the hyssop with dried staghorn sumac, dried lemon zest, salt and a dropo of sesame oil. They put in small cellophane packets, tied it with a ribbon, printed up labels with "Holy Hyssop" on it and the instructions to make a vinaigrette. The 'Holy Hyssop' was Mum's idea, because apparently someone gave Jesus a drink of vinegar on a sponge on a hyssop stick. I don't remember THAT Bible story, but Mum swears that it is true. The bottom line was that they sold $450 worth of Holy Hyssop in six hours (150 packs at $2.99 each). That was on top of the $1,200 they sold in soap, pot pourri, dried herbs, baking and sewing stuff like potholders etc. That was two weeks ago.

Well last week, a lady came back and told Mum and the gang that the 'Holy Hyssop' had what she termed 'properties'. It supposed brought 'positive energy' to her life after eating it. Mum agreed, because the ladies made a pile of money off that hyssop. The customer lady bought three or four packs more of the spice concoction. Of course, Mum and ladies fell for the postivie-energy ting hook line and sinker, and they begin telling the folks at the farmer's market that the stuff had 'properties' and they sold out again last week. This time it was fer good, because the hyssop guy een gat anymore until the next batch grows in a month or so.

But I noticed that Mum started putting a pinch of the hyssop in her tea. I guess she was hoping for the 'properties' to kick in. The ladies also started collected other herbs wid 'properties'. In my back forty, the grass is thick with white clover. In spite of the goats munching on it, they fertilise the field, and this time of year, it is lush as ever. The grass, clover and wild strawberries is emerald green and ankle deep. Mum has been on a tear, finding four leaf clovers. The superstitious side of her thinks that if she finds them and dries them and powders them, well it will have 'properties'.

Mum has a perverted sense of superstition. When she moved to Canada, she discovered the lottery. That's another ting about Bahamians -- they love games of chance. Every Wednesday and Saturday, she pools with Miss Knowlton and the Witchy Woman, and they place $6 worth. They payoff is usually $4 million if you get six out of six.

Turns out that Mum is trying bush magic on the tickets. She puts the powder of seven four-leaf clovers on her ticket, lights a white candle, and hopes to make it win the big one. How do I know this?

Well last night I decided to make a spaghetti sauce. I add a lot of ingredients. Into the pot went what I thought was dried parsley. It was the powder of seven four leaf clovers. Mum had a conniption when she discovered that her magic herb was gone. It was lucky for me though. It cleared up a constipation spell fer me. When I told Mum this, she gave me a swat and told me to go find her more 4 leaf clovers. I looked for an hour. There een a one back there. I guess the bush magic is gone.

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