By Madame Ja
A STROLL DOWN MEMORY LANE
So, a little family history…My mom and her brothers and sisters (all 10) were raised in a small town in central Indiana, along the banks of the White Lick Creek. By the time I came along, my grandma and grandpa were still living in the same place my mom and her brothers and sisters had grown up in.
I remember their house so vividly because it is where I spent a lot of my first few years of life. Besides the hand-pump well, the old outhouse, the chicken coop, my grandma’s many pink peony bushes, and her favorite tree stump, I also remember the lush darkness created by the many Black Walnut trees that overhung the path to the “crick.”
My grandma was the one that taught me about Black Walnut. Their yard would be littered with the husks/balls in all stages of decay, and I always found it odd that other parts of the yard would be a vibrant green, but under the canopy of these trees, hardly anything grew; it was just damp, black soil. Grandma told me that Black Walnut would kill other plants, but despite that, you could use it for all kinds of things—wood for furniture, the removal of parasitic worms, to dye things, and in baths, besides just eating the walnuts.
It’s said that Black Walnut leaves can be used to kill someone’s luck and the husks can be used to kill love between two people. If you’re having a hard time leaving someone who is no good for you, take a bath in the husks and all of that love will turn to bitterness, and that will be that. Use Black Walnut for setting boundaries, exorcism, and uncrossing. It also makes a dandy ink for writing petitions for protection and good health.
Once my grandma and grandpa had passed, the “Old Homestead” stayed in my family’s hands for another 20-some-odd years. I was back in Indy for my mother’s funeral, and my uncle had decided that it was time to let the land go. The day we buried my mom happened to be the same day that the paperwork for the sale was signed. I was able to say goodbye, one last time—to my mom and the place (besides my own home) that I had always felt the happiest.
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