Jake Richards

The Simple Magick of Wild Things: The Journey of a Southern Male WytchForeword by Jake Richards, auhtor of Backwoods Witchcraft"I am a southern male wytch, deep fried and dirt grown. Growing up in this unique blend of culture and magick has made me who I am today. Just as the South is known for its rich flavors and hospitality, I've found a deep richness in the world of wytchcraft, where intuition, nature, and spirituality intertwine. Like the secret recipe for a beloved dish, my path as a wytch is my own personal journey, filled with family traditions and the magick of the land. So, I embrace who I am, rooted in my heritage and the legacy of those before me." -Dave GaddyEmbark on a mystical journey with The Simple Magick of Wild Things. Discover the untamed wisdom of nature and harness its mystical energies to bring a touch of wild magick into your everyday life. Uncover the secrets of the wildlings and the elements as author Dave Gaddy takes you on an exploration of the natural world's potent spellcraft and delves into the lives of his ancestors. You'll experience the stories and history of a southern male wytch and follow him along his daily path. Put on your most comfortable walking shoes and allow yourself to be captivated by old dirt roads, homey stories, and a whole lot of laughter along the way. Embrace the simplicity of the life of a country wytch and connect with the enchantment that surrounds us, awakening the wild magick within.Meet Dave Gaddy, a Southern male wytch whose journey through the realms of magick and spirituality has captivated hearts. Hailing from North Carolina and currently living in Atlanta, Gaddy blends his ancestral roots with the ancient craft, infusing his practice with a unique Southern charm. With a deep connection to nature, he navigates the realms of folklore, spellwork, and a passion for ancestral magick, sharing his insights in a way that resonates with the soul. Join Gaddy on an adventure as he weaves the tales of his experiences, revealing the wisdom of a Southern male wytch walking a path that follows dusty roads, mountain wisdom, and a heart full of humor and passion.

A unique divination deck based on the authentic backwoods traditions, folklore, and superstitions of Appalachia. For centuries, people living in Appalachia have used homemade playing cards for fortune-telling and dream interpretation. This tradition has arisen over many generations of backwoods conjurers, grannie witches, and yarb doctors. The Conjure Cards fortune-telling deck was created by Jake Richards (author of Backwoods Witchcraft) and fashioned after the folklore, superstitions, and dream symbols that he grew up with in western North Carolina. Jake offers these common Appalachian methods of divination paired with the honored pastime of sharing and interpreting dreams. Examples: The Nine of Diamonds shows a headless rooster; to dream of a headless animal is a sign of a haint or plat-eye, which is a spirit who didn't have proper burial. The Ace of Spades, usually named the death card, is an old-fashioned baby cradle because to dream of a birth predicts a death. The "little joker" is a witch or enemy and is represented by the folkloric black cat, while the "big joker" is the devil and is symbolized by one of the devil's forms in Appalachia: the black dog. The black dog represents evil spirits, so if it is paired with the black cat and the Ten of Spades (a grave stone), it could mean a family haint is haunting you or an enemy has conjured the dead against you. The Ace of Diamonds shows two wedding ring, ands predicts news, luck, and proposal. If shown with the Five of Hearts (a chapel with a stained-glass window) and the Ten of Diamonds (sunflowers), it would predict a happy marriage or undertaking.

Appalachian conjure man Jake Richards takes us deeper into the backwoods, sharing root work practices and spells of traditional folk craft magic. Who were the old conjurors and witches of Appalachia? What were their practices and beliefs? How can you learn the ways of conjuring for yourself? Appalachian folk magic and conjure are little known today, but forty or fifty years ago just about every person you might ask in Appalachia either knew something about it themselves or knew someone who did it. These practices and "superstitions" are at the core of Appalachian culture. In Doctoring the Devil, Jake Richards speaks to those questions and more, offering the various ways of rooting out the "devil"--any unfriendly spirit bringing bad luck, poor health, and calamities of all sorts. Like the blue smoky mists that glide up the Appalachians, Jake leads his readers up the hillsides too, introducing us to folks along the way--hunters, farmers, blacksmiths, faith healers, preachers, and root-diggers. We'll also meet the local spirits and learn root ways. Further up the hill, we delve into Jake's notebooks--a personal collection of tried-and-true Appalachian recipes and roots for conjuring love, money, justice, and success.

In Backwoods Witchcraft, Jake Richards offers up a folksy stew of family stories, lore, omens, rituals, and conjure crafts that he learned from his great-grandmother, his grandmother, and his grandfather, a Baptist minister who Jake remembers could "rid someone of a fever with an egg or stop up the blood in a wound." The witchcraft practiced in Appalachia is very much a folk magic of place, a tradition that honors the seen and unseen beings that inhabit the land as well as the soil, roots, and plant life.The materials and tools used in Appalachia witchcraft are readily available from the land. This "grounded approach" will be of keen interest to witches and conjure folk regardless of where they live. Readers will be guided in how to build relationships with the spirits and other beings that dwell around them and how to use the materials and tools that are readily available on the land where one lives.This book also provides instructions on how to create a working space and altar and make conjure oils and powders. A wide array of tried-and-true formulas are also offered for creating wealth, protecting one from gossip, spiritual cleansing, and more.