RED BEANS:
THE LUCKY LEGUMES
I am researching the "lucky" qualities of several species of
psychedelic, intoxicant, aphrodisiac, medicinal, and lethally toxic legumes, many of which are bright red. These beans,
variously known as huayruru, crab's eye, frijol colorado, ormosia, wishing
bean, sea heart, and deer's eye, are carried as good luck charms
around the world. In addition, i am accumulating information on edible beans that are eaten in
special ceremonies to bring luck. This page contains an
alphabetical listing of the following Lucky Legumes, with links
to the pages where you can find pictures or information about
their use in amulets.
Lucky W Amulet Archive pages on these legumes are marked with a bullet; links to other people's web pages are not.
Abrus precatorius rosary bean
Adenanthera pavonina jumbie
Dipteryx odorata tonka bean
Entada gigas sea heart
Entada phaseoloides sea heart
Mucuna pruriens ojo de venado
Ormosia coccinea huayruru
Ormosia macrocalyx huayruru
Ormosia nobilis huayruru hembra
Phaseolus spp. green bean, red bean
Vicia faba mojo bean, fava bean
Vigna spp. black-eyed pea
Unknown spp. "medium-sized red legume" (frijol colorado)
Credits for Research Help
Most recent update: December 4th, 2005.
Abrus precatorius
(1/8" long; bead-shaped; red with small black spot at base of seed,
surrounding hilum; the raw seeds contain abrin, a ribosome inactivating
protein that is one of the deadliest plant toxins known; despite
their toxicity, the boiled seeds are ingested as a contraceptive
and an aphrodisiac (as are the chewed roots); they are
also made into a decoction for use as a diuretic, for sore
throat, and for rheumatism; the powdered seeds are taken as a snuff
for headache; a poultice of the leaves is said to remove freckles;
a decoction of the leaves and roots is used for cough,
colds, and colic)
common names:
abrus a chapelet (France, Quebec)
colorine (Mexico)
crab's eye (Southeastern U.S.)
gunga, gunteh (India -- its native bio-region)
jequerite (Colombia)
jequirity bean (Canada)
lady bug bean, lady bug seed (California)
ojo de cangrejo (Panama)
peronilla (Colombia)
prayer bean (Great Britain)
precatory pea, precatory bean (Great Britain, Canada)
rosary bean, rosary pea (U.S.)
Order Abrus precatorius Seeds from the Lucky Mojo Curio Co. Occult Shop
Adenanthera pavonina
(1/8" long; bead-shaped; red; the related species A.
colubrina and A. peregrina (known as yopo, angico, cebil, cohoba, vilca in various indigenous languages)
have been used as psychedelics for centuries throuhout South
America and the West Indies)
common names:
Circassian seed (U.S. and Britain)
jumbie (Caribbean Islands)
Dipteryx odorata, Dipteryx panamensis
(1 1/2" long; black, reticulated-wrinkled "peanut" shaped pod;
the roasted seeds are eaten; their pleasant aroma is due to
coumarin, which has antispasmodic, cardiac, and diaphoretic uses
in folk-medicine; indigenous Cuna people prohibit the felling of
this tree because they ascribe mystical
properties to it)
common name:
almendro (Panama)
choiba (Colombia)
igua (Cuna)
love-wishing bean (African-American)
tonga (Colombia)
tonka bean (U.S.)
tonquin (U.S.)
sarrapia (Colombia)
yapo (Colombia)
Entada gigas
(2" or more in diameter, brown, heart-shaped seed found along the sea coast of Eastern South America)
common name:
sea heart (U.S.)
Entada phaseoloides
(2" or more in diameter, brown, heart-shaped seed found along the sea coast of Eastern South America)
common name:
matchbox beans (Australia)
Related to Entada gigas is Entada phaseoloides of the Pacific. No
"lucky" customs have been reported in association with it, but it
has medical properties. Here is what Owen Foley wrote from Australia about
the species:
I spent several years beachcombing in tropical Australia, New Guinea, and the
Solomon Islands. Similar seeds to the "sea hearts" are very common in the beach
drift. They are Entada phaseoloides. The pod can be 3 ft. long and is segmented with a long frame
and panels that pop out when the pod falls. In Northern Australia they are called
matchbox beans. They are toxic too but Australian aborigines ate them after careful
preparation. Contraceptive and abortive uses have also been recorded.
Mucuna pruriens a.k.a Mucuna prurita; also M. andreana, M. gigantea)
(1" diameter; oblate disk shape, brown with elongated black
hilum; the green pods are cooked as a vegetable; the mature seeds
are considered aphrodisiac, carried as good luck charms in Mexico and Central America, made
into buttons, and ground into flour; the roots are used to treat
cholera; the hairs covering the pods are used to kill intestinal
worms; the seeds contain dimethyltryptamine and related alkaloids as well as L-dopa,
a precursor of the neural transmitter dopamine; in at least one
clinical trial "Parkinson's sufferers treated with crushed seeds
regained some mobility with fewer side effects than conventional
drugs," according to an herbal seed supplier; a dopaminergic
effect might account for the reputed aprhrodisiac
qualities; the names pruriens and prurita refer to
the itching caused by the velvety hairs on the pods)
common name:
cowhage (English)
cow-itch (English)
horse-eye nut (English)
nipay (Phillipines)
ojo de venado (Mexico and Central America)
pica-pica (Panama)
velvet bean (U.S.)
Ormosia coccinea
(1/2" long; flattened shape, red wth irregular black patch along "seam" edge of seed)
common names:
barakaro (Arawak -- Surinam)
huayruru (Quechua -- Peru and Bolivia)
kokriki (Carib -- Surinam)
panacoco (Guiana)
peonia (Venezuela)
tento (Brazil)
wo-ka (Puinave -- Colombia)
Ormosia macrocalyx
(3/8" long; flattened shape, red with no black marking)
common names:
alcornoque (Panama)
chocho grande (Colombia)
huayruru (Quechua -- Peru and Bolivia)
tento (Brazil)
Ormosia nobilis
(3/8" long; flattened shape, red with variable amount of black marking)
common names:
huayuru hembra (Quechua -- Peru and Bolivia)
ladybug tree (US)
mulungu (Brazil)
tento (Brazil)
Phaseolus spp.
(edible green beans and dried beans commerce)
common names:
kidney bean (US, Canada, UK)
red bean (US, Canada, UK)
Vicia faba
(edible broad beans of commerce)
common names:
fava bean (US, Canada, UK)
mojo bean (African-American)
St. Joseph's Bean (Sicilican-American)
Vigna spp.
(edible cowpeas of commerce)
common names:
black-eyed pea (US, Canada, UK)
cow pea (US, Canada, UK)
Unknown species
(1/2" long; "bean" shaped; dark red all over; may be a species of Phaseolus)
common name:
frijol colorado (Guatemala).
Credits for Research Help
In order to learn more about lucky legumes, i inquired about
them in alt.lucky.w, alt.folklore.herbs, and
sci.bio.botany. Discussion
ensued in these newsgroups and helpful suggestions were received
from
Bob Batson
David Deutsch
Owen Foley
Mike Lock, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Monique Reed, Herbarium Botanist, Biology Department
of Texas A&M University
Lee Rudolph
Doug Scofield
Following these leads, my friend Barry Carroll took me to the
Life Sciences Library and the Herbarium at the University of
Texas at Austin and there, with the help of Head Librarian Nancy
Elder and Herbarium curators Carol Todzia and Dr. Billie L.
Turner, i was able to identify Abrus precatorius as the
legume seed in several Mexican amulets and the Peruvian "huayruru" seeds
in my collection as members of the genus Ormosia.
Barry made change for the copy machine and waited patiently while
i photocopied Velva E. Rudd's definitive study "The American
Species of Ormosia" (Contributions from the United States
National Herbarium, Volume 32, Part 5, Smithsonian Institution,
1965). I spent the next day reading and absorbing the information
therein and creating a cross-index of common names and places of
origin for each species -- and i suppose i am now as fully
conversant on the subject of Ormosias as the average hobby
folklorist and garden writer can be.
I intend to summarize my findings here at a later date -- but suffice
it to say for now that several species of Ormosia seeds (of the
50 species native to the Americas) are used for good luck charms
in Latin America -- and that these fascinating legumes contain
alkaloids with medicinal and narcotic properties, and that
indigenous knowledge of these properties may account for the seeds'
debased cultural survival as "lucky" emblems. Furthermore, because the
distribution of each species was carefully mapped by Velva Rudd,
the region of origin for a given amulet can be fairly closely
judged by identifying the species of Ormosia used. Stay tuned for LOTS more information on Ormosias!
Thanks to all those who have contributed information to date.
Thanks also to The Tico Ethnobotanical Dictionary on the web at
http://www.ars-grin.gov/~ngrlsb/dictionary/tico/. Any
further help would be greatly appreciated and will be credited
here.
|
copyright © 1995-2003 catherine yronwode. All rights reserved.
Send your comments to: cat yronwode.
|
|
|
Did you like what you read here? Find it useful?
Then please click on the Paypal Secure Server logo and make a
small
donation to catherine yronwode for the
creation and maintenance of this site.
|
|
LUCKY MOJO is a large domain that is organized into a number of
interlinked web sites, each with its own distinctive theme and look.
You are currently reading
THE LUCKY W AMULET ARCHIVE by cat yronwode.
Here are some other LUCKY MOJO web sites you can visit:
|
OCCULTISM, MAGIC SPELLS, MYSTICISM, RELIGION, SYMBOLISM
Hoodoo in Theory and Practice by cat yronwode:
an introduction to African-American rootwork
Hoodoo Herb and Root Magic by cat yronwode:
a materia magica of African-American conjure
Lucky W Amulet Archive by cat yronwode:
an online museum of worldwide talismans and charms
Sacred Sex:
essays and articles on tantra yoga, neo-tantra, karezza, sex magic, and sex worship
Sacred Landscape:
essays and articles on archaeoastronomy and sacred geometry
Freemasonry for Women by cat yronwode:
a history of mixed-gender Freemasonic lodges
The Lucky Mojo Esoteric Archive:
captured internet text files on occult and spiritual topics
Lucky Mojo Usenet FAQ Archive:
FAQs and REFs for occult and magical usenet newsgroups
Aleister Crowley Text Archive:
a multitude of texts by an early 20th century occultist
Lucky Mojo Magic Spells Archives:
love spells, money spells, luck spells, protection spells, and more
Free Love Spell Archive
love spells, attraction spells, sex magick, romance spells, and lust spells
Free Money Spell Archive
money spells, prosperity spells, and wealth spells for job and business
Free Protection Spell Archive
protection spells against witchcraft, jinxes, hexes, and the evil eye
Free Gambling Luck Spell Archive
lucky gambling spells for the lottery, casinos, and races
POPULAR CULTURE
Hoodoo and Blues Lyrics:
transcriptions of blues songs about African-American folk magic
EaRhEaD!'S Syd Barrett Lyrics Site:
lyrics by the founder of the Pink Floyd Sound
The Lesser Book of the Vishanti:
Dr. Strange Comics as a magical system, by cat yronwode
The Spirit Checklist:
a 1940s newspaper comic book by Will Eisner, indexed by cat yronwode
Fit to Print:
collected weekly columns about comics and pop culture by cat yronwode
Eclipse Comics Index:
a list of all Eclipse comics, albums, and trading cards
ONLINE SHOPPING
The Lucky Mojo Curio Co.:
spiritual supplies for hoodoo, magick, witchcraft, and conjure
Hoodoo Rootwork Correspondence Course
with cat yronwode: 52 weekly lessons by email
Comics Warehouse:
back-issue catalogue of Claypool comics and albums
PERSONAL SITES
catherine yronwode:
the eclectic and eccentric author of many of the above web pages
nagasiva yronwode:
tyaginator, nigris (333), nocTifer, lorax666, boboroshi, !
Liselotte Erlanger Glozer:
illustrated articles on collectible vintage postcards
Jackie Payne: Shades of Blues:
a San Francisco Bay Area blues singer
ADMINISTRATIVE
Lucky Mojo Site Map:
the home page for the whole Lucky Mojo electron-pile
All the Pages:
descriptive named links to about 1,000 top-level Lucky Mojo web pages
How to Contact Us:
we welcome feedback and suggestions regarding maintenance of this site
Make a Donation:
please send us a small Paypal donation to keep us in bandwidth and macs!
SEARCH ALL OF LUCKY MOJO
There are 6,000 web pages at Lucky Mojo. You can search
for a single word (like mojo, hoodoo, pagan, or magick) or
an exact phrase (like love spells, witchcraft supplies, or rootwork course):
OTHER SITES OF INTEREST
Yronwode Family:
www.yronwode.com, the home page for the Yronwode family
Garden of Joy Blues:
www.gardenofjoyblues.com, former hippie commune in the Missouri Ozarks
Satan Service:
www.satanservice.org, theory, practice, and history of Satanism and Satanists