TIM BOUCHER RAW!

Last night I had a dream that someone gave me a hex sign as a gift. This was planted in my head no doubt by my recent drive through Pennsylvania Dutch country. In these regions, you’ll notice colorful wheel patterns (mandalas, really) painted or hung at the tops of many barns. Often they will be in the shape of a star, although they come in many different patterns ranging from abstract geometrical to more pictoral forms with birds and flowers.

The origin of these emblems is not well agreed upon. Most sources seem to indicate that this custom of decoration was brought over by Swiss and German settlers to the United States in the 17th and 18th centuries. However, other sources indicate that references are not made to these signs until at least the 1830’s. And still others say that their origin may be more towards the later 1800’s and the early part of the 20th century. The phrase “hex sign” doesn’t seem to have appeared in print before 1930.

According to that site, “hex” comes from the German word for “witch”, and some say that these signs are used as warding devices to keep away spells and bad fortune. Mainly mainstream scholars seem to scoff at that idea though (perhaps because it doesn’t fit into their own personal worldview). In one of the most popular books on the subject, Hex Signs, the authors say that “the meanings we find in the hex signs are ethnic identity, ethnic pride, and the pure joy of colorful decoration.” Another author writing in the 1950’s indicated:

“I must say with absolute honesty that I have never found a single shred of evidence to substantiate any other conclusion but this: ‘hex signs’ are used but for one purpose, and to put it in the Pennsylvania Dutchman’s own words, ‘chust for nice.’ “

Kind of sounds like a crock of shit, especially if you know even just the rudiments of folk magic traditions. One occult-based source on hex signs is much more explicit about their use:

Assorted round magical signs and symbols used by the Pennsylvania Dutch, principally for protection against heverei (Witchcraft) but also to bring about spells. These signs serve both as amulets and talismans. Traditionally, hex signs are painted on barns, stables and houses for protection against lightning, to ensure fertility and protect animal and human occupants alike from becoming ferhexed, or bewitched. The hex sign are also painted on candles; household goods such as kitchen utensils and racks; and on wooden and metal disks which can be hung in windows.

This seems rather more intellectually honest to me. Another reallly interesting item I just discovered is that there seems to be a folk magic tradition among various groups of the Pennsylvania Dutch, called “pow wow“. Wikipedia even has an entry on it:

Pow-wow is a system of American folk religion and magic associated with the Pennsylvania Dutch. It comes from the book Pow-wows, or, The Long Lost Friend, written by John George Hohman and first published in German as Der Lange Verborgene Freund in 1820. Despite the Native name, taken from an Algonquian word for a shaman, the collection is actually a very traditional collection of European magic spells, recipes, and folk remedies, of a type familiar to students of folklore. They mix Roman Catholic prayers, magic words, and simple rituals to cure simple domestic ailments and rural troubles. [...]

The tradition is also called hex or hex work, or Speilwerk in Pennsylvania Dutch; its adepts are hexenmeisters. The tradition of Hex signs painted on Pennsylvania barns in some areas originally relates to this tradition, as the symbols were pentagrams thought to have talismanic properties; though many current hex signs are made simply for decoration.

Also important to the pow-wow practitioner were the Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses, books brought to the United States from Germany, containing cabalistic magic, claiming to be the magical arts by which Moses obtained his powers and commanded spirits.

The book Long Lost Friends can be read online (and has lots of cool rhyming spells in it), as can the Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses. The LLF book even has cool magical remedies like this one to protect against injuries:

Whoever carries the right eye of a wolf fastened inside of his right sleeve, remains free from all injuries.

The more I read about this, the more I realize I don’t know jack shit about the Pennsylvania Dutch. Here I was thinking they just sit around and milk cows or whatever, and the next thing I know, they’re off doing all kinds of cool folk magic. One important distinction though, a lot of what I’ve read seems to indicate that the Amish groups don’t use the hex signs. I’ve not yet seen any indication of whether or not they practice pow-wow. As far as I know, the Pennsylvania Dutch are a very diverse group of religious and ethnic communities, whose beliefs and practices vary greatly. If anybody knows a good resource for finding out more about these differences, I’d love to read it. Oh, one other thing I found on the topic of PA Dutch folk magic: an article entitled Powwowing: A Persistent American Esoteric Tradition by David W Kriebel, Ph.D. (a really excellent detailed article)

In any event, here’s a website with some images and meanings of hex signs, and here’s another. Also, while we’re on the topic, you ought to check out the related practice of decorative barn stars. PS. If you’re wondering what the image I used in this article means, it has to do with abundance. I read one website that claims there is a folk tradition that says a farmer with no children hung that sign on his barn. Before he knew it, he had so many kids that he took the sign down and hid it away!

UPDATE!

I just found another book which looks to be pretty good on this topic: Hex and Spellwork: The Magical Practices of the Pennsylvania Dutch by Karl Herr.

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