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Doc wasn't necessarily a believer way back then, but after witnessing what a conjure woman could do with a mess of cobwebs, Doc's perspective on the world of folk medicine was radically altered. What the old conjure woman did was not a miracle, it was just good old fashioned folk medicine. The commodifcation of traditional Hoodoo charms and folk remedies began around the turn of the twentieth century and was in full force by the 1930s. Hoodoo drugstores and mail order spiritual doctors were common in the South. The old people know many such remedies and though they may not understand why the remedies work from a scientific standpoint, that doesn't matter. Amulets give protection by absorbing negative energies, while Talismans work by generating a positive force to achieve their objective. An Amulet is an object which has intrinsic power to give protection to its wearer, whereas a Talisman is specifically made to achieve a particular purpose. In Jamaica for example, a traditional remedy uses spider webs for the purpose of preventing eye infection in newborns. In fact, there is a large body of folklore that has yet to be seriously studied that suggests the silk from spider webs has clot inducing and antibiotic properties.