“The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.”
― W.B. Yeats
The Ozarks have long been regarded as a magical place. Even in the tourism of the 20th century, the transcendent beauty of the hills, the forests, the crystals, and the crystal-clear springs were used as a reason to lure visitors. In the 19th century, the curious and the ill traveled into these mountains in search of a kind of healing, both physical and spiritual. Dozens of “healing springs” were found and towns were built. Some towns still remain.
Before white settlement, the Ozarks Plateau was Osage territory, a vast, undulating and rugged space where certain caves and springs were noted as spiritual epicenters. In Autumn, the nomadic Osage would travel to certain locations to pick herbs and dig roots for sacred and medicinal use. Here in Taney County, one such spring, now largely forgotten, was a sacred space for a particular Osage clan who, even after white settlement, would return each fall from Oklahoma (then Indian Territory) to prepare for winter.
As in Appalachia, the Ozarks were largely settled by the Scots-Irish, resourceful, independent people who had left the British Isles in order to achieve religious and economic freedom, the opportunity to live life on their own terms. Tough and fiery, they were stout congregationalists who believed their lives governed by God, directed by the Bible they held in their hands, and they wanted free of kings and taxes. Where they settled they built churches. And while they lived and died firmly in the arms of their God, they still carried with them the beliefs of the Celts. Ancient Scottish funeral customs are near-identical to the Ozark “dyin’ superstitions” recorded by Vance Randolph in the mid-20th century.
Modernity came slowly to the hills, but came nonetheless. By the 1970s, the old ways were dying out and the relatively small population of the Ozarks was vulnerable to a modern culture that called the old beliefs “stupid” and “old-fashioned.” Archetypal and ancients beliefs maintained by Celtic, Osage, and Cherokee peoples were lost. Modern education, modern medicine, and modern reliance on big stores and modern ways erased a thousand generations of knowledge.
Modernity was so complete, old traditions full of ancient knowledge were mocked, then forgotten. Nonetheless, a handful within the population held onto what they could remember from a grandmother, a grandfather, or old and trusted friend. As time passed, a new generation has become intrigued by the ideas of healing from the land, the nature of the seasons, the beliefs of the ancient peoples. Some stay quiet about their ideas. Others gather in small groups, finding solace in shared knowledge.
In commitment to the Ozarks ethics and culture, StateoftheOzarks recognizes the many faces of this time-honored but often overlooked tradition. We acknowledge those who went before us, our ancestors, whose genetic and spiritual memory still serves to guide us. And we commit to the hills a Culture Campaign, an endeavor to bring together again those in the Ozarks with a heart for healing and a sensitivity to that which lies just beyond the secular, the modern, and the flat, for we believe true healing begins within the soul, and beyond the bland confines of a spirit-less and gray modernity.
— Joshua Heston, editor-in-chief 8/21/2024
Culture Campaign Details
In alignment with StateoftheOzarks Ethics, every Culture Campaign puts boots-to-ground to our culture and ideas, preserving and celebrating the Ozarks.
First, we invite like-minded Ozarkers to join us in sharing ideas and fostering community.
Second, we come together to share our experience with the larger world, using our own gifts as well as the ever-growing platform of StateoftheOzarks.
To participate in a StateoftheOzarks Culture Campaign, or for more information, contact Joshua Heston at Josh@StateoftheOzarks.net.