Chewed linn bark is also applied to the bite, perhaps from the supposed occult connection between the snake and the thunder, as this tree is said to be immune from the lightning stroke.
Notwithstanding the fear of the rattlesnake, his rattles, teeth, flesh, and oil are greatly prized for occult or medical uses, the snakes being killed for this purpose by certain priests who know the necessary rites and formulas for obtaining pardon.
This device for whipping the devil around the stump, and incidentally increasing their own revenues, is a common trick of Indian medicine men.
Outsiders desiring to acquire this secret knowledge are discouraged by being told that it is a dangerous thing to learn, for the reason that the new initiate is almost certain to be bitten, in order that the snakes may “try” him to know if he has correctly learned the formula.
When a rattlesnake is killed the head must be cut off and buried an arm’s length deep in the ground and the body carefully hidden away in a hollow log.
If it is left exposed to the weather, the angry snakes will send such torrents of rain that all the streams will overflow their banks.
Moreover, they will tell their friends, the deer, and the ginseng in the mountains, so that these will hide themselves and the hunters will seek them in vain.
The tooth of a rattlesnake which has been killed by the priest with the proper ceremonies while the snake was lying stretched out from east to west is used to scarify patients preliminary to applying the medicine in certain ailments.
Before using it the doctor holds it between the thumb and finger of his right hand and addresses it in a prayer, at the end of which the tooth “becomes alive,” when it is ready for the operation.
The explanation is that the tense, nervous grasp of the doctor causes his hand to twitch and the tooth to move slightly between his fingers.
The rattles are worn on the head, and sometimes a portion of the flesh is eaten by ball players to make them more terrible to their opponents, but it is said to have the bad effect of making them cross to their wives.
From the lower half of the body, thought to be the fattest portion, the oil is extracted and is in as great repute among the Indians for rheumatism and sore joints as among the white mountaineers.
The doctor who prepares the oil must also eat the flesh of the snake.
In certain seasons of epidemic a roasted (barbecued) rattlesnake was kept hanging up in the house, and every morning the father of the family bit off a small piece and chewed it, mixing it then with water, which he spit upon the bodies of the others to preserve them from the contagion.
It was said to be a sure cure, but apt to make the patients hot tempered.
The copperhead, wâ′dige-askâ′lĭ , “brown-head,” although feared on account of its poisonous bite, is hated, instead of being regarded with veneration, as is the rattlesnake.
It is believed to be a descendant of a great mythic serpent (see number 5 ) and is said to have “eyes of fire,” on account of their intense brightness.
The blacksnake is called gûle′gĭ , “the climber.” Biting its body is said to be a preventive of toothache, and there is also a belief, perhaps derived from the whites, that if the body of one be hung upon a tree it will bring rain within three (four?) days.
The small greensnake is called sălikwâ′yĭ , the same name being also applied to a certain plant, the Eryngium virginianum , or bear grass, whose long, slender leaves bear some resemblance to a greensnake.
The doctrine and worldview that natural phenomena, places, and objects possess inherent spirit, soul, or personality — and that the cosmos is populated by countless local, plural, embodied divine agents: kami in mountain and tree, sidhe in cairn and well, landwights in field and stone, nymphs in spring and grove, haltija in forest and lake, lares and penates in household and threshold, Iamblichean daemons in element and place. Distinct from monotheism (single transcendent God), pantheism (one underlying substance), and emanation_hierarchy (cascading single source); animism's signature is the plurality, locality, and embodied-in-landscape character of the divine.
The passage is a quintessential example of animism, describing snakes, trees, deer, and plants as possessing spirits, personalities, and the capacity to communicate, feel anger, and influence weather and human affairs.
The Stoic and Plotinian doctrine that all parts of the cosmos are bound by hidden affinities, so that a movement in one part resonates through the whole; the metaphysical basis for astrology, magic, and divination.
The text illustrates cosmic sympathy through the belief that specific actions (like burying a snake head) or objects (hanging a blacksnake body) can causally trigger distant natural phenomena like rain or the hiding of game.
Direct address to the divine, whether petitionary, contemplative, or liturgical; speech and silence offered upward.
The doctor is described as addressing the snake tooth in a prayer before using it, indicating direct address to a spiritual entity or force as part of the ritual.
Iamblichean ritual practice that engages the gods directly through consecrated material symbols and actions, on the premise that divine power descends into properly prepared matter — distinct from philosophical contemplation alone.
The text describes ritual practices involving specific rites, formulas, and material preparations (burying heads, extracting oil) performed by priests to manipulate spiritual forces and achieve medical or protective ends.
The doctrine and practice that spoken or sung word carries causal-magical force — that uttering names, formulas, songs, or incantations alters reality directly rather than merely communicating about it. Vainamoinen's runo-songs that move mountains and command iron, Norse galdr, Vedic mantra, Shinto kotodama, the magician's barbarous names in the Greek Magical Papyri, Iamblichean arcane signatures and inexplicable symbols, biblical creation-by-word. Distinct from sacred_names (the ontological power of names themselves) and prayer (address to the divine); word_power_incantation is the magical-causal efficacy of the spoken word as such.
The passage details how specific 'formulas' and prayers spoken by priests are necessary to kill snakes safely, obtain pardon, or animate a snake tooth for medical use, attributing causal power to the spoken word.