Lee Raus Gandee, Hexenmiester, Spiritual Teacher, Friend

"How does one become a Hexenmiester?" This is the question that
began a relationship that opened my eyes to a world apart, a world beyond
any I'd known before and one in which I still find an ever deepening sense
of wonder. "By being a Hex until you can manage it!" the elderly
gentleman sitting in his rocking chair, smoking his well-worn pipe replied.
This was Lee Raus Gandee, the "Hexenmiester of the Dutch Fork"(an area northwest of Columbia, S.C.) a man who had a checkered, if not fearsome reputation for a variety of reasons. I tracked him down from an article about him in a local magazine in
hopes of conducting a field interview that I could turn into a term paper
for a Religious Studies class at the University of South Carolina. The
year was 1975 and March was already like spring as I saw in Lee's
ramshackle old house with his large study/bedroom in rural Lexington County.
It was a true "hex house" situated on the highest point, facing east between
two bodies of flowing water. It was surrounded by oaks and had once
belonged to a woman who was tried, convicted and tortured for witchcraft in the 1790s long after the famous Salem witch trials.

As we began our interview that day, I realized that Lee was not
only well educated, versed in the local history but had written an
autobiography entitled Strange Experience: autobiography of a Hexenmeister. He
offered me a copy at the end of our first visit with the admonishment to
read it and "decide whether you really want to come back." Now long out of
print, I took it home and poured over it. Lee’s story presented itself
as one of folklore, magic, intrigue and intimate personal revelation. I was not
bothered by the revelation that Lee was gay, and even had a name for his
feminine side. I’ve always believed that The Divine makes no mistakes in our creation.

What really intrigued me were the stories of things beyond the ordinary realm of human experience. I thought to myself, "If this guy is not crazy and doesn't try to hit on me, this could be a real adventure." It was!

I returned to his house bearing gifts of pipe tobacco and toiletries to compensate him for his time although it soon became clear he would have talked to me anyway. What I didn't realize was that he was also sizing me up as well to see if I had the potential to learn the craft of Hexerei or Powwow.

Hexerei or Powwowing is, in reality, traditional European shamanism. It is most commonly known as a healing art for humans and animals that employs various chants, gestures and mental projection handed down over the ages in families. It also is, at a deeper level, a mediumistic, shamanic practice dealing with the spirit world and an ancient tradition bound to the old nature-based religions of Europe. Powwow, was a name some historians believe was given to the practice by Native Americans who, upon
observing the work, remarked that it resembled the actions of their medicine
men and in groups, it resembled their powwows.

The practice quietly migrated over to the then "new world" with the early settlers from Germany but, eventually practiced by people of a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds.

It has gone by many names including "powwowing, "braucheri", and "using"
depending on the geographic location and language of its practitioners. There is also a more spirit-focused practice called Hexerei which was often seen by the healing tradition as dangerous and morally questionable. Lee practiced both.

In essence, it is a rich and encompassing tradition of healing, herbalism,
spiritualistic shamanism and sympathetic magic that lives to this
day. Still largely hidden from the prying eye, most practitioners would
deny any involvement with Wicca, neo-paganism or even recognize the non-
Christian roots of their activities. Many of the older Powwows would
characterize themselves as devout Christians who act solely as vehicles though
which the Christian Divine can act and intervene in human affairs and hence never accept
compensation for their services.

As a historian, Lee had researched the practice back to its roots and knew that it
was pagan in origin. He was convinced the tradition was a remnant of the old
Druidic religion of Europe. A native of West Virginia, he had traced the
movement of German settlers through Pennsylvania, down through Virginia into
the Carolinas and the presence of Powwow within those early settlements.

The early German and Swiss settlement of Saxe Gotha in the upper midlands of
South Carolina provided the rich farmland and virtual isolation from the
settlement of Charleston to allow for a reemergence of the traditional
shamanic culture. German was spoken in these homes, schools and
churches preserving the traditions including the practice of "using"(an
English translation of Braucherei) as it was and is still called in the
Carolinas. In colonial times, the presence of witches and wizards in that
early community was looked upon as a normal routine part of daily life
and a useful resource in times of need. However, if this resource was
seen to have turned upon the community, judgment was certain and swift.(But
that is another story)

Another historian, John Hawkins states in his 1907 article for
Popular Science Monthly entitled "Magical Medical Practice in South
Carolina," as of that day, (1907) people of the German settlement of South
Carolina still held to their traditional beliefs in healing and traced these
beliefs to their pre-Christian origins. As he indicates "in old Germany
neither Charlemagne's conquest nor the priest that followed it could put a
period to the use of staves carved with mystic runes and devoted to the
purposes of divination and incantation. The oak, the ash, and the willow
preserved their sacred character; and in the old heathen formulas used for
the cure of disease, the only change effected by Christianity was the
substitution of the three highest names'(Father, Son and Holy Ghost) for those of
Thor, Woden and other heathen deities."1 p.170 Hawkins then illustrates this cultural incorporation by giving the pagan and then Christian form of a well-known incantation for the healing of sprains:

Pagan Version:
Phol and Woden went to the wood,

there was Balder's colt his foot wrenched,
then Sinthgunt charmed it and Sunna her sister,
Then Frua charmed it and Volla her sister,
the Woden charmed it as he well could,
as well the bone-wrench,
as the joint wrench,
as the blood-wrench,
bone to bone, blood to blood, joint to joint,
as if they were glued together.

Christian Version:
Our Lord rode, his foal's foot slade,
Down he lighted, his foal's foot righted,
Bone to bone,
Sinew to sinew,
Flesh to flesh,
Heal, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
Amen. 2

In South Carolina, during the early 1970s however, this type of
practice was either unknown, not spoken of in polite company or was
considered the province of the unstable. Families who practice it also practiced
the art of social invisibility and blend seamlessly into their communities. This was a wise posture then, and even today. You won't find them unless they choose to reveal themselves. Lee, on the other hand, was not ashamed of the term witch. His openness about his personal life, along with his book, caused many Powwow families to shun him as having betrayed their heritage.

To Lee, the craft of the wise was as natural as breathing and simply a way of responding to the world around you. Lee was considered to be a
Hexenmeister or "master witch" in his community and, like many
Hexen, was reclusive, private person who was respected and yet viewed with some
trepidation by his neighbors. His methods and magic had a natural flowing character about them often employing elements of the natural world
like herbs, trees, water and stones. Once, when I bought several items
from an occult catalog house including an athame, he smiled and said "Do
you really think that stuff will help you? Don't you realize by now that the
magic is coming from within you. You are the catalyst! In you, the power
will either arise or fall flat." He reminded me that unlike those who
claim to confer magical power via degrees or initiations, "you can either do this
(Powwow) or you can't...I can only point you in the right direction, but you
must make it happen... you must make it real...and it's no shame if you
can't! "

Lee was not a man possessed of arrogance or an inflated sense of
his magical power. "I'm just like everyone else" he said one afternoon, "I sometimes behave badly, I am given to my desires and betrayed by my needs." He loved his family, was proud of his children, even in their struggles and expressed great regret about what the revelation of his homosexuality had done to his soon to be ex-wife who was very religious in a traditional Christian manner. "She is a good woman" he softly remarked one day, "I wish I could have spared her all of this." To me, Lee demonstrated that even those who have found and follow a spiritual path still must often walk upon rocky ground. Finding a spiritual path, is a light in the woods but, you're still going to occasionally wander through the thickets.

Lee was often called upon by neighbors and others to conduct healings when someone or some animal was ill or feeling oppressed by someone or something in the living or spirit world. The particular healings that fascinated me the most were the ones on animals. After all, one can perhaps explain away such events in humans as the product of self delusion or will to believe, but how could an animal, such as a cow being de-horned, realize that the incantation to stop the bleeding needed its agreement to be effective? Yet, when he would chant, sometimes over the telephone, the bleeding would cease. When he chanted over a sore on a dog's mouth, it would begin to heal right before our eyes.

The healing aspect of Powwow was one in which I could easily
adapt. I stated healing burns, stopping blood and taking away pain and the
like. The appearance of the spirit world and in particular, the visible
manifestations really unsettled me at first and it took years to develop a
comfortable relationship with the presence of an alternate reality. Lee
protected me at first, and would tell me that I had "just imagined it" and "just
pay it no mind, it's not going to hurt you." For me this was what he was
referring to when he talked about "being able to manage it." I found it very
difficult to move between the world of everyday life and the states being he
revealed to me. It was like having to return to your little, provincial
town after you've been living or traveling in some exotic land. The little
town is the same, but you have changed, and nothing feels as it once did before
your journey. "I'm afraid I can't help you" he once responded to my
distress, "If you're going to walk this path, it will exact a price from you.
You can no more go back to your ordinary world now than you go back to
being a child again no matter how you may try" he added, "you can only accept
what has happened and keep growing." As with all true spiritual paths,
magic or otherwise, there comes a point, an epiphany, a moment in which your
perceptions change forever and the transformation begins.

Lee swore me to many secrets which I have kept concerning the practice of Powwow during our years together, not because he wished to hide what he knew, but in recognition of my youthful immaturity and the way he knew the outside world would react. "You don't need to go tell everyone you know, what you
know" he said. "They don't have the ears to hear you! Give it(Powwow) and
yourself some time to settle into it before you go talking about it! He added: "Most of this old world is still going to think you are out of your mind.
That will be your protection."

Sadly, Lee passed from this plain of existence in 1998 in West Columbia, SC at the age of 81. We had remained friends, but not actually spoken for years as our paths were only meant to cross for that short period of four years. Sometimes however, when I listen to the tapes I made of our talks (the ones he allowed the
recorder to record) I can clearly feel his presence. Why shouldn't I? The
world of spirit occupies the same space and time as our own. "Spirits are
all around us, all the time" he would say. It is simply a matter of altering
your perception and they are there." "At your center" he would often
say, "is the Divine...union with it is what you've been seeking all through
your many lifetimes. You are not apart from it (the Divine)...you can never
be, it is you." "What you see in this life is like a dream! It's a
combination of your imperfect senses interacting with your limited mind.... but the ultimate reality is right there, (pointing to me) you just have to awaken to
it's presence and nothing will ever be the same again...I promise
you!"

He was right of course, though I didn't quite understand at the time. The path of
the Powwow or any other shamanic practice can be arduous at times, but it is a
compelling mystery, a journey of discovering just who and what you
really are, you true self, and it never ends. That is such a joy to be involved in such a wondrous process. There is no end to it because you are always in
a process of becoming, whether in this body, or not. Don't be afraid, there
is so much wonder ahead of you.” He once said. I'm sure that somewhere, somehow, Lee is still on his path, still wandering the forests of endless time and space. I just may catch up with him one day.

After many years, I have finally written a book entitled American Shamans: journeys with traditional healers for BUSCA Press that was published in March of 2008. It has a detailed account of my adventures with Lee and other traditional folks who walk the shaman’s path in modern day America. The book is for sale by the publisher at http://www.buscainc.com/, Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble and many other stores.

Blessings to you all. Go in peace and wisdom.

Jack Montgomery aka Gray Owl Shadowdancer

1. "Magical Medical Practice in South Carolina" by John Hawkins,
Columbia, S.C. : University of South Carolina, Caroliniana Library
Reprinted for the Popular Science Monthly,(Feb. 1907), pp.164-174,
170

2. Ibis., p.171

author: Gray Owl Shadowdancer