Privacy & Disclaimer
What this site collects (almost nothing), what happens to a message sent through the contact form, and a plain note on the nature of Powwow as a folk-religious practice.
What this site collects
Very little, and nothing on purpose.
There is no analytics, no advertising, no tracking pixel, and no third-party script of any kind on these pages. The site sets no cookies. Nobody is building a profile of you as you read.
The fonts are served from this site rather than from Google, so reading here does not send your address to a third party.
Whoever hosts these pages will keep ordinary server logs — the kind every web server keeps, recording requests and IP addresses for a short period. That is outside our control and is not used for anything beyond keeping the site running.
The contact form
The form on the contact page is handled by Formspree, a third-party service in the United States. When you send a message:
- Your name, email address, and message are passed to Formspree, which forwards them by email to Arthur Vanderbilt.
- Formspree holds a copy on its servers under its own privacy policy.
- Nothing is added to a mailing list. There is no newsletter, and your address will not be shared or sold.
- Messages are kept only as long as is useful for replying and, where the exchange is about a healing request, for remembering the thread of a conversation.
If you would rather not use the form, write directly to arthurvanderbilt@proton.me — the same person reads both.
To ask what is held about you, or to have it deleted, write to that address and say so. It will be done.
On healing, plainly said
Powwow — Brauche, Braucherei — is a Christian folk-healing tradition of the Pennsylvania Germans. It is a religious practice: charms are prayers, and the work is done in faith.
It is not medical care, and nothing on this site is medical advice. The charms and remedies here are published as a record of a living tradition and as material for study. They are not a diagnosis, a prescription, or a substitute for a physician.
If you are ill or injured, see a doctor. The old Brauchers said the same — a Braucher was consulted alongside the doctor, not instead of one, and the sources here are explicit about it. The burn charm on the healing rituals page carries the tradition’s own warning: don’t try to treat serious burns, get medical attention immediately.
Several remedies on this site involve plants. Some plants are toxic, some interact with medication, and some are dangerous in pregnancy. Wormwood, rue, and asafoetida all appear here and all warrant care. Identify anything you forage with certainty, and check with a pharmacist or doctor before taking a herbal preparation alongside prescribed medicine.
Work these charms, if you work them, at your own discretion and on your own responsibility.
Copyright
The writing in Robert’s Corner and across the reference pages is the work of Robert Phoenix and remains his. The site is kept by Arthur Vanderbilt as steward.
Historical charm texts — from Der Lange Verborgene Freund, the Romanus-Büchlein, Egyptian Secrets of Albertus Magnus and similar sources — are long out of copyright and are reproduced here freely, as they have been passed hand to hand for two centuries.
A few images and quoted passages belong to others and are used with attribution. If something here is yours and you would rather it were not published, write to the address above and it will be removed without argument.