Pennsylvania Dutch Healing Rituals and the Occult (Part One)

THE NATURE OF THE OCCULT

In this article, I would like to look at the Pennsylvania Dutch healing rituals also referred to as Powwowing, but want to start off by simply describing the nature of the occult. I was exposed to these healing rituals at a very young age which opened my life (unknowingly)up to the occult. The occult is multifaceted (with many aspects) and is often presented today by the world as something fascinating because of its mysterious, hidden, supernatural and secretive aspects about it. It's often marketed as something fun and harmless, making it appear innocent and good when it's actually quite harmful.

I have heard the occult defined as, " anything that offers itself in place of the real thing when the real thing is occluded or hidden". In other words, there is a deceptive and seductive nature behind the occult where it is presenting itself to be something that it is not, to appear real when it is fake. There are different reasons why people might connect with the occult. Many get drawn in innocently, by the occult in order to find a sense of security or develop self sufficiency in some area, while some might be fascinated by its secret nature and power. When the things from the occult gain access to our heart, it works like a magnet to draw and attract you into deeper facets and different aspects of it in order to establish a slow and gradual work of death and destruction in your life, often, without your awareness of what may be happening, or the long term effects it can have. If you have ever heard of the analogy of the boiling frog you will know that as the frog is placed in the cold water and the water is gradually heated up, the frog never notices as his body begins to acclimate with the temperature of the water, that he is slowly being boiled to death. It’s much the same way with the occult. It starts with things that seem harmless and we open our hearts to them and entertain them and they become normalized in our life. When the things of the occult become normalized to us we become desensitized by the reality of the truth, because of its blinding effects. The occult desensitizes our ability to discern what is truly good and what is actually evil (evil disguised as an angel of light) and harmful to us. Some of the fruit that comes with the occult is insurmountable amounts of irrational fear, anger, deception and perversion. The fear will seek to control your mind and thoughts, in order to control your will, and the choices you make, while the deception will manipulate and seduce you into believing lies. Its end goal is to get you to connect with darkness and the work of death, in order to destroy you. When you think of the occult you might think about witches, witchcraft, spells, and so on, along with all that creepy stuff, but there are so many more things associated with the occult that are actually not as sinister and as obvious as those things. Surprisingly, I found a lot of it in church, and false religions, (where it grew in my life). I wanted to explain the nature of the occult, to help shed some light, before diving into the history and practices of the PD healing rituals, so you can begin to start seeing the parallels and connections the PD rituals have with the occult.

BELIEFS AND VIEWS ABOUT PA DUTCH RITUALS

Before I begin to look at some historic facts about the Pennsylvania healing rituals I want to elaborate on some beliefs and views surrounding these rituals. There are a lot of claims made about this practice where people have attributed it to something that comes from God because of the supernatural nature of it, because it works, and because of the use of scripture in the incantations that are being used during the healing rituals. It was often demonstrated in the community I grew up in, that everything that happens in our lives originates from God, which I don’t believe is true. This idea assumes that God passively supports the work of sin, darkness and death, and that it is part of his will for us to continue to stay in bondage to whatever darkness we may encounter. If you know or have read about Jesus, you know He came to destroy the works of darkness, and set us free from them. Not only did He come to destroy darkness, it says in Colossians 1:13, that, "God rescues us from the kingdom of darkness and transfers us into the kingdom of His Son, who is the truth and the light. It is His desire to rescue those that have fallen prey to darkness, in order to help transfer them into the light of His kingdom.

In going back to the case that everything comes from God, the use of scripture with these rituals doesn't prove that these rituals come from God. Anyone can misuse and abuse scripture to support their own narrative behind something, even the devil knows scripture quite well. The fact that it works also can't confirm that it is from God, because not everything that is supernatural comes from God. Remember the supernatural miracles of the magicians in Pharaohs day, who were attempting to outdo the power of God through Moses' staff? The devil can perform false signs and wonders, even today, and they have been known to work.

On the flip side of that, I have also seen where some come to the conclusion that everything supernatural comes from the devil, which isn’t true either. The supernatural belonged to God, before it was ever counterfeited by the devil and the fallen angels (demons). Some hold to the idea that God only speaks to people through the words in the Bible and you can never hear the voice of God apart from the words that leap up off the page of the Bible. While God does speak this way through the Bible, He also speaks by His Spirit and communicates with us in a way that we can pick up and understand what He is communicating to us directly, through thoughts that have been inspired by Him. Learning to discern the source behind our own thoughts, can help to understand whether our thoughts are coming from God, ourselves, or the enemy. In 1 Corinthians 2:14, Paul talks about how none of us can know the things of God but the Spirit of God, and it is because we have received His Spirit, that we might come to know and understand the things that have been freely given to us by God. Then later he goes on to share that those guided by the Holy Spirit will be taught by the Holy Spirit how to interpret spiritual thoughts with words, and how the natural man or the carnal nature of man is incapable of understanding them, because they are spiritually discerned. Without His Spirit, and understanding we become unqualified to judge spiritual matters. We can not discern between good and evil without His Spirit teaching us. Those who walk according to His Spirit have been given the mind of Christ in order to be guided by His thoughts and purposes.

HISTORICAL FACTS ABOUT POWWOWING

There have been different terms used to describe these healing rituals that are often used interchangeably. While these rituals are referred to as pow wowing, the Pennsylvania Dutch refer to them as "Brauche" or "Braucheri." These healing rituals are defined by the Wikipedia, as folk magic and can include the use of different folk remedies. While the term "pow wow" is Native American and is used to describe a ceremonial dance, in celebration of their culture, the pow wow healing rituals that are still being practiced among many Pennsylvania Dutch communities today, originated in the 17th and 18th century, in Central Europe, and migrated to Pennsylvania with the German speaking people, who fled religious persecution. I believe the Amish and Mennonites called the Anabaptists, were among these people and when they settled in Pennsylvania they became known as the Pennsylvania Dutch plain people. Before that, they were settled in a German region called Rhenish Palatine from Switzerland. They are not the same as the Dutch people from the Netherlands. The word Dutch associated with these German speaking people is an English word that was translated from the German word, “ Deutsch”. An important distinction about the word pow wow is that it used to be spelled, " "powwaw" and the Wikipedia documented that it was written this way by the Algonquian language (a group of 17th century missionaries in New England) where it was originally described as a "medicine man" or "shaman", one who entered into trances or a dreamer of divination for healing purposes. {Quote from Wikipedia}- Evidence suggests that the term was applied to the PA Dutch out of a perceived similarity in ritual healing, consistent with its borrowed meaning in English for "conjuration performed for the cure of diseases and other purposes."

As the practices and customs of folk magic and superstitions continued to be passed down through the years, more conservative groups sought to separate from what they considered to be the dark side of this practice which was known as, Hexerei. Hexerei was widely known as the use of witchcraft, and coined as black magic. This is often why you still see some of the hex signs associated with the Pennsylvania Dutch people. You will see them in their quilts and on their barns. Those who wanted to keep the healing rituals but remove the darker side of it began to use "Christian terminology," in their incantations and it became known as white magic, and most likely one of the reasons it still is so widespread in conservative communities and seen as an acceptable practice to many. This practice provided a sense of security and self sufficiency along with all their folk remedies during a time when diseases were rampant, and there was no conventional medicine available. There are still some today that will prefer powwowing over going to any conventional doctors. While conventional medicine is not without its own set of problems, turning to practices that will connect you to the occult, may appear to bring temporary relief, but usually ends up bringing more problems in different ways, in the long term. If you don’t know what incantations are, they are defined in the 1828 Websters, "as the act of enchanting (which is the use of magic ( sorcery), charms, spells and the act of using certain formulas or words and ceremonies, for the purpose of raising spirits". So even though many in conservative communities separated from the use of black magic and prefer white magic, it is all still part of the occult, because their power source is coming from the dark side of the supernatural. Even though darkness can appear to be a form of light, remember it is presenting itself as though it is something that it realistically isn't, and presenting itself as being a form of healing from God, when its not.

In 1820, a man by the name of John George Hohman first published a book called, "The Long Lost Friend," where he documented a collection of recipes, spells, and different remedies that could be used with pow wowing. Many of these remedies embark on the use of divination (witchcraft), which is the power source behind them. John was a German immigrant and occultist and borrowed from a lot of other sources that other pow wowers gleaned information from. He borrowed from books like, "Egyptian Secrets" by Albertus Magnus and "The sixth and seventh book of Moses" which is derived from the European magical traditions. John's book claimed to be an amulet (an object with divine power for protection) that people used to protect themselves from evil spirits. I don’t know if the conservative groups like the Amish and some Mennonites still use these books as literature to support their rituals or not. There is still a lot of secrecy surrounding these rituals, even more so, I think, since people are catching on to the fact that it is witchcraft. I do know there was a book called "Himmelsbriefs," a German name interpreted in English as "heavenly letters," which was something that had circulated in their circles, but I am unaware if it is still being used. These letters were usually carried on a person or hung in their homes. The claims made by these letters were, that they were divine letters written by God or other divine agent. We must never forsake the importance of testing things, in order to discern whether something is real or fake. With this book, it also makes claims for people's protection from evil but only if they abide by the moral covenants detailed in the book.

There was a lot of attention brought to the practice of pow wowing in 1928 after a man by the name of Nelson Rehmeyer, was killed by three assailants. One of those assailants claimed that he was hexed by Nelson after experiencing a lot of repeated circumstances of hardship, and the three had gone to his house to try and obtain his book, "The Long Lost Friend" and to recover a lock of his hair in order to break the spell they believed he had on them. Instead they ended up killing him, believing this would remove the hex. In an attempt to destroy all evidence of his murder they tried to destroy his house by fire but it failed to burn down completely. Nelson was a pow wower, and known as a white magician while the assailant who claimed to be hexed, was known as a black magician. It was a classic case of the black magician vs. the white magician, yet they were both warlocks. The dark vs. the light here is actually the dark side vs. the dark side that is posing as an angel of light.

POWWOWING AMONG THE PA DUTCH

The practice of pow wowing is primarily used for the purpose of healing people and calming animals in the PA Dutch communities. Some may still use it for protection or for warding off evil spirits, I am not completely sure, but I never came across any personally, who used it for that. Usually the pow wow practitioner, Braucher, or Braucheri (women powwowers) will have a waiting room and a separate room where they see their patients. There are certain pow wowers who will not make a professional practice out of it but will only perform the rituals on their family members, neighbors and close friends. When you were called into the patient's room you either sat on a chair or laid on a table. I remember being taken to one as a child and we would have to go extremely early in the morning, because it was on a first come, first serve basis. When we would get there it was almost always packed with other Amish people. This guy would incorporate massage and chiropractic with powwowing.

In my research, I discovered that some pow wowers in the Pennsylvania area today will make sure and ask individuals first if they believe in God, before they practice powwowing on outsiders, and they will have the individuals hold a Bible while they are pow wowing. They usually will ask you what is ailing you and then they begin doing this motion over your body with their hands and speak certain incantations as they move their hands around your body. I can't remember if they actually touch your body or not. I believe some do and some just hover their hands around the areas of your body where they believe the ailments reside in your body. Those that practice these rituals claim to be able to detect pain, and make claims that in order to heal the ailments, they have been given the ability by God to draw the pain out of the individuals body and it goes into their own body, where they may suffer from it for a couple of weeks until it completely leaves them. I read an account in a book where one man claimed he would send the ailments to the moon, which is crazy. At some point they will shake their hands or wring their hands in a motion that suggests that they are attempting to shoo away the ailments from themselves and away from you.

A guy that I was taken to in my early teens would belch, which was disturbing, and felt gross. I couldn’t figure out why he would do this and later understood, that it was probably his way of attempting to reject the ailment that he was drawing out, which was typical, with pow wowing. In a book I discovered called, "Powwowing Among the Pennsylvania Dutch" by David Kriebel, he recounts his own story of investigating this practice where he went and visited the Pennsylvania Dutch communities searching for active pow wowers so he could interview them. In his book he shares how he allowed two lady pow wowers to practice on himself, and recounts his story and experiences. Ironically they weren't able to cure his arthritis.

In his book, he shares a story about an "Amish lady" that he met that practiced pow wowing but she used a little different method where she would lay hands on people without speaking any incantations out loud. This lady did not refer to herself as someone who practiced powwowing for fear of being labeled by others as being "New Age. " It was later communicated to David by this lady's Mennonite cousin that what she was doing, actually fit the model of powwowing as practiced by many in the Amish community. At another point in his book David described the presence of the supernatural as a palpable (very tangible in the atmosphere) thing when he spoke to those who believed in the power behind powwowing. He described the very air, as feeling heavy with it, and how it was magnified even more by the secrecy surrounding the practice of pow wowing. Whenever I discern any activity of the occult, it will feel like something heavy is pushing against your mind in order to control and scramble your thinking. There is a lot of mind control associated with the dark presence of the supernatural work of the occult. God's presence is also supernatural but it's pure and brings liberty, not dark and heavy.

I wanted to share more about this practice because of the levels of secrecy that have kept it shrouded and buried. Secrecy almost always reverts to hiding and the need to limit knowledge or information that would expose the darkness and bring it into the light of the truth, where others can be healed and set free from its grip. I think sometimes it can be helpful to recognize the real by also having an understanding of what is fake. If you have found the history useful to your understanding and would like to learn more about this from a practical and personal perspective, please continue to join me in the second part as I share more specific details about this practice along with my own story about how I was healed and freed from it.