Building your Québecadien spellwork through folklore and folktales
You might wonder how I come about spells and rituals for my path when Acadians were church goers when they had a church to go to, and mostly tried to stay in the good graces of the religion. They were in fact a very folklore-minded people, telling traditional stories, often times brought over from France in the 17th century. It also doesn't stop the fact that through these tales, it's a reflection of a people who weren't afraid to take risks, seek out other solutions (such as the Great Albert book, or making pacts with the Devil), or learn a few charms to keep their houses and assets safe.
Antonine Maillet’s work, Rabelais et les traditions populaires en Acadie (Québec, 1971), examines the root of much Acadian folklore, and its introduction presents a powerful overview of the course of Acadian history through three centuries.
I read sources like this, along with folktales in online archives and books, to inform my own spells inspired by the themes and results found in those stories. Sadly, many archive materials are in French only, so it gets a bit hard to find if you can only read English. However, there are books that can still give you some stories with which to be inspired by:
Acadian Legends, Folktales, and Songs from Prince Edward Island. By Georges Arsenault, English translation by Sally Ross
Classic French-Canadian Folktales: Volume I by Honoré Beaugrand, Louis-Honoré Fréchette, translated by Hammerson Peters.
Don't be shy to ask the librarian for help in this one! You can peruse the database within the Library of Congress for Maine Acadian culture and folklore here:
The Maine Acadian Cultural Survey was an eight-week study conducted in 1991 as a joint project of the American Folklife Center and the North
Here's an example of how I might glean spell work from folklore:
Maillet suggested a popular motif in her 1971 book mentioned above that in some tales, it involves the main hero bathing in the blood of a bird to gain invulnerability. Well well well. Don't go around giving yourself aviary diseases! Instead, maybe try using Dove's Blood Ink (found in most esoteric stores nowadays, or you can make your own!) to invite invulnerability against any obstacle that comes your way!
We can also use the formula of starting a folk tale for our spell work's beginnings too, or to seal one. For example, a character named Jos Violon of the Mauricie region of Quebec would often begin his folk tales with this phrase: “Sacatabi, sac-à-tabac, à la porte les ceuses qu’écouteront pas!” (Sacatabi, sac-à-tabac (tobacco bag), to the door go those who don't listen!). Could this also be used as a clearing your space spell? You betcha.
For those who can read French, here's some folklore to get to reading!
I'd suggest reading Maillet's work mentioned, as well as consulting this website: https://lesheritiersdesiles.ca/contes-et-legendes/. It's a collection of archived folk tunes, legends, and remembrances from the Magdalen Islands!
You can also listen to Fred Pellerin's folk tales and glean some little charms from those too! Just search "Fred Pellerin" on Spotify, and at least four of his folklore shows are available as albums. I know the movie Babine (2008) gives me so much inspiration just for the aesthetic of my practice alone!
You can also read Louis-Honoré Fréchette's Contes de Jos Violon for free here!
