Hess, Ray

I was born and raised in the south, going back and forth between Memphis and the backwoods of Hornsby and Obion Tennessee. My family line is descended from American Maroons, isolated groups of escaped slaves who scratched out their living in the harshest wilderness, eventually blending with the Natives and, in time, other oppressed peoples such as the Romani (perjoratively known as "gypsy") and finally the Irish. I grew up learning folklore, wilderness skills, how to read omens and other types of folk magic which were presented to me is just fundamental knowledge I assumed every adult would ha...