The Powwow Guy

I taught this information with my six-week course last year but decided that I wanted to share it here as it seems to be a lost practice within Powwow...

Several years ago, I was approached by a gentleman at an event where I was speaking about Powwow. He gave me his number and I later followed up with him and met him just outside of Orwigsburg, Pennsylvania in Schuylkill County. 

He taught me two things that day: the forked "water witch" branch and the "throw" stick.

The Throw Stick was fascinating to me because I had read about them but never received any information about what it was used for, how it worked, etc. Until that day. And he was completely happy to share the information with me AND was fine with me sharing the information publicly. I hesitated to do so until now.

The Throw Stick (also sometimes called a Powwow Cane or Powwow Stick) is a walking stick or cane used by a Powwower. In addition to its practical use as a walking helper, it also serves to "store" the illness and evil you remove from your patient. Then, when you are finished your work for them, you literally use the stick to "throw" the negative energy to the Hexenkopf; which in Easter Pennsylvania is a well-known landmark.

To "throw" the illness, you swing the stick in a tossing motion, such as you might do with a tennis racket or baseball bat, in order to shake it out of the stick and toss it into the Hexenkopf.

There is biblical precedent, of course. The earliest depictions of Jesus showed him with a stick, rod, or wand. 

A throw stick need not be elaborately decorated, although the natural entwined "snake sticks" are favored. 

If you choose to utilize a throw stick, remember to do so in the names of the Holy Trinity.

May God bless you and all that you do!