who or what's a witch? iroquois persons of power

Who or What's a Witch? Iroquois Persons of PowerAuthor(s): David BlanchardSource: American Indian Quarterly, Vol. 6, No. 3/4 (Autumn - Winter, 1982), pp. 218-237Published by: University of Nebraska PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1183630 .

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218 David Blanchard

WHO OR WHAT'S A WITCH? IROQUOIS PERSONS OF POWER

David Blanchard

Seventeenth and eighteenth century descriptions of Iroquois village life are rich with references to the practice of witchcraft, "juggling" (a form of dream divination), sorcery, and shamanism, all generally regarded as instances of evil and mischief by European chroniclers. Although the suppression of witchcraft played a significant part in the revitalization of Handsome Lake,1 the existence of witches is still acknowledged in Iroquois settlements today. Des- pite the early efforts of deCost Smith (1888, 1889) and William Beauchamp (1892), and the more recent attempts by Shimony (1961a; 1961b; 1970) to describe and analyze Iroquois witchcraft, knowledge of how witchcraft operates within Iroquois culture is sorely limited. What is required is an examination of the witchcraft phenomenon within the general context of Iroquois ontology and metaphysics. Such an examination should reveal: (1) how the Iroquois define a person; (2) how persons use power, and; (3) how the use of power by persons in certain circumstances has been considered "witchcraft."

Iroquoian Ethnopersonality

Mary Druke has recently proposed an exegisis of Iro- quoian ontology where she distinguishes various aspects of being for the 17th and 18th century Iroquois (Druke, 1980). Druke argues that the Iroquois traditionally differentiated between "two metaphysical aspects of being," between



AMERICAN INDIAN QUARTERLY 219

consciousness, (root, -nigonr-) and a living principle or generic property of matter contained in all substance. For the Iroquois, personhood is the equivalent of the first aspect of being, consciousness (Druke, 1980:59).

In the Iroquoian cosmogony, the universe consists of the "Sky World" and this world (Earth) on the back of the great turtle; furthermore, they believe that this world is a material reflection of the Sky World. The Sky World is populated by ongwe shona, or first peoples; this world is in- habited by ongwe honwe, "real men," material re-creations of the ongwe shona of the Sky World. Both the ongwe honwe and the ongwe shona are considered as persons by the Iroquois; that is, as having a consciousness and an awareness of self and others. The Iroquois further acknowledge that there are human as well as non-human persons. This is true of the persons who inhabit the Sky World and the Earth. For example: corn, beans, and squash -- the three "Sister-Providers" of Iroquois myth and legend -- are persons, although not human, who exist as both ongwe shona and ongwe honwe.

Additionally, the Iroquois believe that human persons can interact with non-human persons. Although ongwe honwe persons assume corporeal forms, they are not restricted to their bodies, so that a consciousness could leave its body and migrate to other forms. This could occur naturally in sleep, for example, or could be induced through cultural means -- through sweat lodge rituals (JR, 60:181; 13:203, 213; 19:259; Smith, 1978:110); through a form of sensory deprivation of fasting (Hewitt, 1903:142; Lafitau, 1974 (I):236; JR, 15:177); chanting (JR, 15:179; 33:195); through self-mutilation (JR, 12:69-71; Blanchard, 1981:6, 91, 105); and through the use of charms and fetishes, usually pro- vided by a person of some considerable power (Lafitau, 1974 (I):243; Hewitt, 1902:33; Druke, 1980:65; Parker, 1923:368-9; JR, 15: 177; 33:211; 39:27). Such flights of consciousness from the body were also able to be induced through the consumption of alcohol (Belmont, 1952; Car- penter, 1959). These quests were considered integral reli- gious experiences by the Iroquois. Power

As Druke notes in her essay on ethnopersonality, the Iroquois acknowledge the existence of a living principle to



220 David Blanchard

matter, generic to matter, but separate from it. For example, the Iroquois speak of the "spirit" of food (Druke, 1980:61), or of medicines, maple, animals and minerals. This living principle is not active and is not to be confused with consciousness, will, mind or volition. Contemporary Iroquois at Kahnawake speak of this force as tsiniiakoiano- renhseraten ("nature") or as kahsatsenhsera ("power" or "strength"). Both share the root -sera- which is also found in the Mohawk word for nutrition, meaning "to be born of."

Here, this concept is spoken of as "nature." For example, men and women each possess distinct natures. Corn has a nature distinct from beans. The most common way to derive power from nature, the Iroquois believe, is to eat of certain kinds of substances to achieve the powers that these substances contain. Today at Akweasne and Kahna- wake, mothers prevail upon their children to eat fish in order to develop as good swimmers. The skill and survival of a hunter is believed to depend, in part, upon the amount of game food he has eaten as a young man. An herbal tea made from the inner bark of the basswood tree is given to a young woman suffering from menstrual irregularity. If taken by a man, this tonic can cause impotence, homosex- uality, or even the complete transformation of a man into a woman. A number of Seneca "transformation" tales collected by Jeremiah Curtin from 1883-1887 deal with the change of one species into another, usually due to the over- consumption or over-exposure of a person to the power of some substance (Curtin, 1918).

One outstanding example of a transformation tale found in Curtin's collection involves a young woman who went hunting with her husband. One day while her husband was away from their campsite, the woman went to a stream and caught some fish. She ate all of the fish, then proceeded to drink great quantities of water, and gradually, she turned into a water serpent -- probably an eel. Initially her consciousness remained unchanged and her body simply assumed this other form. As the transformation was com- pleted, she slid into the water and left her husband forever (Curtin, 1918:111-12). Finally, it must be emphasized that nature does not act on its own initiative. The power of nature (kcahsatsenhsera) has no will or awareness of others.




One need not consume a substance in order to derive its power; some medicines, for example, are worn about the neck. At the feast of the dead, the power of the foods brought to the longhouse is taken by the spirits of the dead while the substance remains unchanged. The northern Mo- hawk believe that running water contains a special kind of power and that, by residing near running water, a people gain this power. The men of Kahnawake are thus adept at handling canoes, while the Six Nations Mohawk are not. For this reason, when the Saint Lawrence Seaway was built at Kahnawake, the people felt they had lost much more than land; they were cut off forever from a source of power that had sustained the village, "By the Rapids" for over 300 years.

Iroquois "Witchcraft"

Fogelson has developed a definition of witchcraft from his Cherokee material that treats both sorcery and witchcraft as

the presumed ability of one human being to effect, directly or indirectly, undesirable transformations of state in another human being. The ability to induce adverse changes of state in another person directly through innate capacities, as acts of an inherently evil or maleficent disposition, is generally ascribed to the realm of witchcraft. . . Sorcery, in contrast, usually refers to acquired knowledge of specific incantations and ritual acts to enable a practitioner to invoke spir- itual agents or occult forces for the purpose of causing misfortune, illfare, or even death to a designated victim (Fogelson, 1975:117).

Fogelson's definition of Cherokee sorcery and witchcraft is introduced here in lieu of a northern Iroquois definition -- (which, for example, could be taken from Shimony, 1916; 1970) -- because Fogelson is interested in the same parameters of witchcraft that the author has set out to examine. There are: "culturally recognized categories of witches" (1975:116); "understanding the various categories of persons" who are capable of being witches (Ibid: 119), and dealing with the question of a witch's inher- ent evil (Ibid). For the Iroquois, witchcraft may be broadly defined as the manipulation of one person by a person of



222 David Blanchard

great power, within specific contractual terms, in order to effect a demonstrable change in the world. Unlike Fogel- son's characterization, an Iroquois witch may be an other- than-human person. The essential attribute is not one's humanity, but a consciousness -- an attribute of being -- that is shared by plants, animals, and even some mineral forms.

Beauchamp provides an example of a rock-witch in his history of the Iroquois (1905). According to Iroquois tradition, this rock is situated in Lake Champlain and was honored by the Iroquois with gifts of tobacco whenever they passed by it in canoes. Once, when the Dutchman, Corlear, was traveling with a group of Mohawk past this point, he noticed this custom and laughed at it. The rock -- now named Corlear's Rock -- was conscious of this derision and so struck the Dutchman dead. Curtin's collection of Seneca legends (1918:229, 231, 265) contains stories about animal witches. Converse also recounts the legend of a witch-hawk and witch-bear who struggle with one another (1962:89-92). It is important to emphasize that these stories are not about human witches who have tem- porarily assumed mineral and animal form, but about rock and animal witches, which may, at times, leave their bodies, but eventually return to them.

Witches, then, are persons -- but not necessarily human persons. While legends and traditions about non- human witches exist, however, there are no detailed accounts of how these beings actually practice their witchcraft. Neither Lafitau nor the various writers of the Relations provide accounts of their activities. Also, in- formants who claim an ability to interact with non-human witches are reluctant to discuss specific encounters with other-than-human persons. The author's investigation of Iroquois "witchcraft", therefore, must be confined to the study of human persons of power. Two Dichotomies: Nature-Culture/Good-Evil

To what extent is the nature-culture dichotomy set forth by Evans Pritchard (1937) evident in Iroquois witchcraft and sorcery? Both Shimony (1970:243) and Fogelson (1975:117-18) see some evidence for this dichotomy among the Six Nations (Reserve) Iroquois and the Cherokee. Shim-




ony acknowledges, however, that the Six Nations Iroquois do not make a "terminological distinction" (1970:243) between sorcery and witchcraft. While not totally convinced of its application to the Cherokee, Fogelson sees some jus- tification for applying the nature-culture dichotomy onto the witchcraft-sorcery distinction. With qualifications, the same may be said for the Iroquois.

For example, Iroquois children born with a caul were considered to be possessed of a powerful nature. They were secluded from human contact at the time of their birth and could develop into great and powerful witches in later life (Curtin, 1918:810; Hewitt, 1899:127). In the Iro- quois cosmogony, the process of creation was initiated when a young man and a young woman, both born with a caul, came into contact with one another. What Hewitt and Curtin fail to point out, however, is that it is the body of the child that contains this great power, and not the child's consciousness. Given the fact that consciousness and nature are not inextricably bound in Iroquois world view, a "witch's" power was considerably reduced when its consciousness took flight from its body.

In another popular witchcraft tradition, a young man accidently turned into a witch when he sat beneath a tree and the oil of a serpent fell upon his head. This substance enhanced the boy's own natural power and made him able to perform great acts. Again, however, it was not the person of the boy which was able to initiate change in the world, but the power contained in some particular substance -- snake's oil, transferred to a boy's body. Witches have their power because of a feature of birth (born with a caul), or because he or she came into contact with a powerful substance (snake's oil), either accidentally or in- tentionally.

Without this natural power, a man or a woman may not perform witchcraft. Having this power, however, does not make one a witch, for one must learn how to use power and control it. In fact, an Iroquois person of power must learn how to control his/her own nature, to guide and manipulate it, or else he or she would prove destructive to self and community. An Iroquois person of power disrupts the natural and social universe by virtue of nature and strength.



224 David Blanchard

In this sense, witchcraft is a natural state. However, these same persons must learn to control this power or else suf- fer the consequences at the hands of their communities.2 Thus, the categories of witchcraft and sorcery are col- lapsed into one of "persons of power" for the Iroquois.

Witches are generally treated as evil. Fogelson (1975: 119), Shimony (1970:243), Lafitau (1974, 1:241), Hewitt (1928:610-11) and various writers of the Relations have all emphasized the evil character of witchcraft. Lafitau used a good-evil dichotomy to distinguish between "fortune tell- ing" and witchcraft. He writes that

...these shamans and the men and women who cast spells are regarded, as I have said, as agotkon or spirits because of the traffic which people think they have with the spirits or tutelary geniuses. They differ in appearence from one another only in the motives of their actions; those who cast spells have no other aim than to harm and work harm; the shamans, on the other hand, although they may misuse their art, have as their purpose only the public good and seek to bring a remedy to the harm which others might be able to do or might have already done.

The power of doing extraordinary things stems from the same source with both groups, that is, from com- munication with the spirits. The esteem of the Indians for their shamans and their extreme antipathy to the sorcerers, make me believe that they make some distinction between those who they think communicate with the spirits in such a way that they think that the good spirits are the cause of the miracles done by their diviners, and the evil ones, on the contrary, are the authors of their curses and witch-craft (Lafitau, 1974, (I):242).

The distinction developed here by Latifau was origi- nally proposed by Paul Le Jeune in his investigation of Huron witchcraft (JR, 12:17-19). It is interesting to note that Lafitau makes no moral distinction between what he regards as sorcerers ("those who cast spells") and witches. Both are evil. On the other hand, the "shamans," "diviners," and "fortune tellers," while misguided, were per-




ceived by Lafitau as having good intentions. It is the author's contention that Iroquois witchcraft does not involve a consideration of good and evil. The effects of some witchcraft are bad; but similarly, it is only another person of power who can reverse these ill effects. This point and the various categories of persons of power discussed by Lafitau is made clearer if Iroquois witchcraft is examined in the context of their beliefs about sickness and healing.

Iroquois Beliefs About Sickness and Healing The Iroquois traditionally believed that there were

three kinds of sickness (Hewitt, 1928:610-11): "some natural -- the effects of purely natural causes; others occasioned by the soul of the patient being desirous of something; others by sorcery" (JR, 39:17). When a 17th or 18th century Iroquois became ill, one first needed to identify the nature of the illness. The diagnostician who supplied this information was called a saokata. The Jesuits referred to the saokatas as Jongleurs (jugglers), a term applied generically to the court fools, magicians and jesters who entertained European royalty with various staged antics, fortune tell- ing, tricks of slight of hand, and recitations of improvised limericks. According to Shimony, these diagnosticians are referred to as ta:ya?towetha at Six Nations Reserve, lit- erally meaning "he deliberates" (Shimony, 1970:240). At Kahnawake, they are called "fortune tellers."

The Relations of 1648 describes a saokata at work:

When a person falls ill, his relatives call in the M edi- cine Man, or, rather I should say the Juggler - who is to decide as to the nature of the disease (JR, 33:203).

Without acquainting himself with the disease of the patient, he sings and shakes his tortoise shell; he gazes into water and sometimes into fire, to discover the nature of the disease (JR, 15:179). Saokatas are able to diagnose an illness because of the

assistance they receive from an oki, a body-less person who is able to enter into the body of the afflicted and discern the cause of the sickness.

They say that it is an oki - that is, a powerful genie, who enters their bodies or who appears to them in



226 David Blanchard

their dreams or immediately on their awakening, and shows them these wonders. Some say that the genie appears to them in the form of an Eagle; others say they see him in that of a Raven and in a thousand shapes, each according to his fancy (JR, 33:193).

Coping With Natural Illness

Natural illnesses were cured with natural remedies (JR, 33:199; 39:17). That is to say, a cure could be sought through the applications of materia medica, the power of the substance itself acting directly on the illness, without recourse to an oki, and without reference to the dream- wishes of the patient. Few of these "natural cures" were recorded in the Relations. The Jesuits were more interested in "exposing" sorcerers and shamans. However, it is known that the Iroquois claimed access to many plants used in the curing of natural illnesses. According to the Rela- tions, if

he [the saokata] says that the sickness is natural, they make use of potions, or emetics, or of certain waters which they apply to the diseased part, and sometimes of scarifications or of poultices (JR, 33:203).

Examples of natural medicines are the use of the gin- seng plant for the cure of impotence, or, for a woman suffering from menstrual cramps, a tonic made from willow bark and the inner bark of the basswood tree may be pre- scribed. In some cases, these medicines were prepared by herbal specialists; in less serious illnesses, "home remedies" were prepared by the patients themselves. Collections of natural remedies used by the Iroquois have been made by Beaugrand-Champagne (1944), Waugh (n.d.), and Rousseau (1945) at Kahnawake, and by Fenton (1939, 1941, 1949, 1951) and Parker (1928) among the Seneca.

The Relations point out that the Iroquois were "convinced that natural remedies should infallibly produce their effect and restore health, if the disease were a purely natural one, just as fire inevitably dispels cold" (JR, 33:200- 01). What was the Iroquois' reaction then, when a natural remedy failed to effect a cure? According to LeJeune,

...although I do not think that they have any diseases except those that are natural, still they are apt to




convince themselves of the contrary that they believe that most of their diseases arise either from desires or from witchcraft. Accordingly, if they be not soon cured of a disease, which, as they cannot deny has a natural cause - such for instance as a thrust of a javelin or the bite of a bear - they at once say that either some sorcerer has some hand in it, and that some spell delays the cure, or else that the soul itself has some desire that troubles it, and is killing the patient (for it is thus that they speak). Therefore, it frequently happens that they try, one after the other, all the remedies that they know of, for all those kinds of disease (JR, 33:200-01).

Fulfilling the Wishes of the Soul

If the saokata determined that the patient's illness was caused by an unfulfilled dream, the patient had two options open in seeking relief: (1) to try to discover the "meaning" of one's desires, or, (2) to seek the assistance of the saokata in discerning these desires. The saokata was better suited for this task because of the assistance he or she could expect to receive from an oki.

LeJeune's Relation of 1637 describes the activities of the Huron saokata, Tonneraouanount:

On this same day the sorcerer Tonneraouanount, who was beginning to play his pranks in this village, and had undertaken to cure the sick, came towards evening to have a sweat in our cabin, to get some knowledge of this disease. They crossed four or five poles in a ring, making a sort of little arbor, which they sur- rounded with the bark of a tree. They crowded within this, twelve or thirteen of them, almost one upon another. In the middle there were five or six large red hot stones. As soon as they entered, they covered themselves, as usual, with robes and skins in order to retain the heat. The little sorcerer began to sing, and the others sang after him; there was a savage outside who was merely to serve him whatever he might desire. After much singing, he asked for some tobacco which he threw upon the red hot stones, while ad- dressing the devil in these words, Io sechongnac (JR, 13:203).



228 David Blanchard

The sweat bath was one means employed by asaoka- ta to get in touch with his oki. There were other means as well, and once this wish of the soul has been identified the patient has only to satisfy the desire in order to be cured.

Some look into a basin full of water and say they see various things pass over it, as over the surface of a mirror - a fine collar or porcelain; a robe of black squirrel skins, which are considereed the most valu- able; the skin of a wild ass, richly painted in the fash- ion of the country; and similar objects which they say are the desires of the sick person's soul. Some seem to fall into a frenzy, as the Sibyls formerly did; and, after exciting themselves by singing in an outstanding voice, they say they see around them the images of the objects for which they say that the sick person's soul has desires, which are frequently unknown to him (JR, 33:193-5).

The Illness of Witchcraft Affliction Like other illnesses, witchcraft affliction needed to be

identified before it could be cured -- in many cases, by another witch. LeJeune's Relation of 1637 describes the cooperation required between the saokata and witches. In the example cited below, the saokata identifies the illness as witchcraft, but another must be called to effect the cure:

A medicine man was invited to cure her. He took a sweat, to get knowledge of her disease; he threw some tobacco into the fire and perceived, he said, five men; then he expressed the opinion that she was bewitched; that she had five charms in her body - that the most dangerous, and the one which was to cause her death, was in the navel. They had to apply to another to get them out, for these Gentlemen content themselves with the designating of evil (JR, 13:31-3). Witches also work with oki persons. These okis are not

incorporeal, however, but inhabit forms called aaskuandi by the Huron (JR, 39:27; 33:213) and ?otsinehke?ta by the Iroquois of Six Nations (Shimony, 1970:250). Lafitau and the writers of the Relations referred to these okis as charms and fetishes. They were directed by persons of pow-




er into the bodies of their victims and could only be re- moved by other persons of power.

Lafitau refers to a collection of charms in the pos- session of Father Garnier, a missionary at Kahnawake, in his two-volume Customs and Manners of the American In- dian (1974).

One day I begged him to examine them with me, arousing his curiosity for the first time. There was a great quantity of them; there were little bundles of twisted hair, bones of serpents or extraordinary animals, pieces of iron or bronze, figures of dough or corn husks and other similar objects which could not, in themselves have any connection with what they were supposed to effect, but could only operate by superna- tural power in consequence of some formal or tacit agreement (Lafitau, 1974, (I):243).

Iroquois charms are part of a larger sacred bundle complex seen across Native North America. Parker provides a detailed description of a charm holder's bundle, given him by Edward Cornplanter. The bundle was called goda'ensiyus'ta'kwa , the individual contents, otcinakenda. Among these contents were:

(a) scales of the great horned serpent or some of its blood; (b) round white stone given possessor by a pygmy, (c) claws of the death panther, or fire beast; (d) feathers of dewat'yowais or exploding bird; (e) castor of white beaver; (f) otna'yont, or sharp bone; (g) gane- ontwut, or corn bug; (h) small, mummified hand; (i) hair of dagwanoeient, or flying head of the wind (Parker, 1923:368). It is important to refer back to the "two aspects of

being" discussed by Druke, in order to appreciate the use of charms by Iroquois witches. Recall that Druke identifies consciousness and power as two important aspects of being for the 17th and 18th century Iroquois. Although Iroquois charms are small, they were believed to possess great natural power; they also had a consciousness and, thus, were treated as persons. This fact is made very clear in Bres- sani's Relation of 1658 (JR, 39:27) and in the Relation of 1647, Chapter 14, "Of a Species of Charm Which the Hu- rons Use to Bring Good Fortune" (JR, 33:311-15).



230 David Blanchard

These charms are sometmes found in the entrails of an animal who managed to successfully elude a hunter for a long time, or sometimes they are found in a tree or in the earth.

They say that those Aaskouandy, or charms, sometimes change their shape or appearance, and that a man who has put away the stone or snake found in the entrails of a deer will be astonished, next day, to find in its place a bean, or a grain of corn, or sometimes the beak of a Raven, or the talons of an Eagle - as if that Aaskouandy, or familiar demon, transformed himself, and took pleasure in thus deceiving men by those meta morphoses.

They believe that these Aaskouandy will make them lucky in the chase, in fishing, in trade, or at play; and they say that some have a general virtue for all of those things, but that the virtue of others is limited to a certain thing, and does not exceed to another... Now it is quite a common practice for those who have these A askouandy to give them a feast from time to time - as if, by giving a feast in honor of that familiar demon, they make him more propitious to them. At other times, they will invoke them in their songs, and will beg their friends also to join them, and to help them in those prayers (JR, 33:213). Two points must be made at this time regarding the

Iroquois use of charms: (1) charms were considered living persons, with great power; (2) charms had to be treated as persons by the Iroquois. This means that they had to be fed, talked to, listened to, and appeased at times. Shimony provides a good summary of behavior directed at charms in her 1970 essay. She discusses some of the activities of societies holding charms (Pygmy Society, Dark Dance Soci- ety, Shake the Pumpkin Society) and describes how a person could rid himself of a charm no longer wanted:

... although the proper technique for the disposal of a charm is to take it to a waste place, give it a final tobacco offering. (its feast) and ask it to go on its way henceforth, it still remains psychologically difficult for a family to divest itself of a charm forever (Shimony, 1970:252).




Charms become dangerous when they are hungry and not fed by their owners, for they then turn to human beings for food. In this emotional sense3 they are believed to act "just like humans," although they are clearly regarded as non-human persons. Other charms, however, are regarded as evil from the very start. These are made from flesh of the serpent angont.

They say that the Sorcerers use the flesh of that frightful serpent to cause the deaths of those upon whom they cast their spells. With that poisonous flesh they rub some object - a blade of corn, a tuft of hair, a piece of leather or of wood, the claw of an animal, or some similar thing. The objects thus rubbed with that ointment derive from it a malignant efficacy that causes them to penetrate into a man's entrails, into his most vital parts, and into the very marrow of his bones, carrying with them disease and suffering (JR, 33:217).

Just as these charms were directed into the bodies of the afflicted by a witch, only a witch could extract them. This was done through the preparation of emetics:

By means of emetics [they] produce the ejection of a tuft of hair, a piece of leaf, or of wood, or any other similar object accompanying the matter of which nature has relieved itself, they imagine without reason that some spell is connected with that piece of wood or tuft of hair (JR, 33:219.

Also,

*.. the charms are expelled sometimes ... by sucking the diseased part, and extracting from it what is claimed to be the spell. In this, some jugglers are so expert in their art that with the point of a knife they seem to extract or rather, they cause to appear whatever pleases them - a piece of iron, or a pebble which they say that they have drawn from the heart, or from inside of the patient's bones, without, however, making an incision (JR, 33:199). Parker provides an interesting account of a man who

became ill, went to several doctors and yet remained un-



232 David Blanchard

cured. Finally, a friend brought a witch by this sick man's house to see if he could cure him.

The witch doctor made a poultice and placed it on the sick man's abdomen. He covered the poultice with rags and moss. The poultice was very hot and ap- peared to be drawing something out of the patient. Pretty soon, the witch doctor yelled, "now is the time," and grabbed the poultice and ran to the kitchen stove where he threw the contents of the poultice into the ash can. Then he stirred into the poultice and pulled out a small sharp bone with a white hair wound around it (Parker, 1923:370).

The witch doctor was also able to ascertain who had bewitched the sick man. That night when the patient went to bed, he held onto the bone-charm which had hurt him. The next morning the offending witch came by the sick man's house to look for her charm; she was told not to come back again. That night the man, now recovered, directed the charm to fly into the woman's body and pierce her heart. The next day the woman was found dead.

Iroquois Witch's "Spells" A number of points need to be underscored at this

time: (1) witches were considered persons of great power; (2) witches establish relationships with charms, oki-persons, also possessed of great power; (3) this relationship was view- ed by the Iroquois as a kind of contract, with specific responsibilities assumed by the human witch and the oki - person. Herein lies the confusion as to Iroquois witches using "spells." These spells follow a formal structure, although there is a great deal of variety in the actual de- livery -- depending upon the witch, the oki -person, and the nature of the contract. In this structure: (1) the original contract or charter is recalled; (2) the witch then recounts that he or she has in fact lived up to his or her part of the "formal or tacit agreement" (Lafitau, 1974 (I):243); and (3) the oki -person is then reminded to fulfill its part of the outstanding agreement by providing health, fulfilling a wish, causing harm to another, or protection from other witches and their charms.

In a sense, these "spells" can be considered perform- ative utterances; they do something, namely compel action




if the context is correct. However, they are not performatives in another sense of the term, as they do not describe what they do. No collection of these performatives exist for the northern Iroquois. They are not formulaic, like the Cherokee idi:gawe:sdi collected by Mooney (Mooney, 1900: Mooney and Olbrechts, 1932); however, some collections of "prayers" to masks ("Twisted Face" and "Husk Face") and charms exist (Blanchard, 1976; Parker, 1909).

In addition to these words which compel action, a witch speaks words of love and comfort to his or her charm. Charms are persons and expect to be spoken to, addressed with great respect, and listened to in return. If this was not done, the charm would then turn on its holder.

Conclusions

A number of conclusions about Iroquois witchcraft may be drawn from the evidence presented here:

(1) The key to understanding Iroquois "witchcraft" lies in first interpreting Iroquois ontology, and discerning the categories of person that characterize Iroquois world view.

(2) Once this is done, it becomes clear that Iroquois witches are persons, albeit not necessarily human persons. Some witches are human; others are mineral and others, yet, are animal or plant-persons.

(3) A witch must have a powerful nature in order to be effective as a witch. Beyond this, a witch must also secure certain kinds of knowledge: how to control power, how to identify kinds of bewitchment, how to work with charms, and how to propitiate these charms. Such knowledge is essential for the witch's own health and the health of the witch's community.

(4) Witches may occasionally work with naturopaths and saokatas; however, each of these persons have distinct responsibilities and deal with different tasks and kinds of power.

(5) Witches deal with oki-persons who inhabit charms. These charms were appeased by witches and directed by them. When offering a cure to a person afflicted by witch-



234 David Blanchard

craft, the witch's task consisted of removing charms from the body of the sick.

(6) Because witches cured as well as afflicted, they were not regarded as evil by the Iroquois.

NOTES 1 Handsome Lake's persecution of witches only served to reinforce the Seneca's belief in witchcraft. According to legend, Handsome Lake finally died as the result of bewitchment. 2 The learning itself is only possible if the apprentice has the power to control the oki -persons who inhabit charm bundles and do the work of witches. Without this power, the student-witch would become a victim and not the mas- ter of the oki.

3 The strongest charm available to the Huron was called onniont. "They say that this onniont is a sort of serpent, or almost the armored fish, and that this serpent pierces everything that it meets in its way -- trees, bears, and even rocks, without ever deviating from its course or being stopped by anything. . . They believe that those who can kill it, or obtain a piece of it, bring good fortune to themselves" (JR, 33:213-15). More often than not, this charm was secured in trade with the Algonkians.

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