Love Spells and Why We Need Them

What lover has not wished for a spell to bring her belovèd close forever? What is more infuriating, more damaging to the vanity, than the sense of powerlessness one feels when one wishes for a call, a letter, a kiss, a declaration of need that will not—damnably!—come.

Where does witchcraft originate if not out of powerlessness and its concomitant frustration? Oh, for a poppet to do one’s bidding, a candle, an incantation! Oh, for a magic formula to bind him close, to keep him away from her, to make him waste away, to pine with passion unrequited; to call, to beg, to rearrange his life around one’s own sweet (but fickle if requited) love!

Thus are love spells born. Thus is the belief in them perpetuated. Necessity is nothing if not the mother of witchcraft. Powerlessness is nothing if not the mother of spells.

Dear reader, if I knew a way to make him love me everlastingly, I would surely share it with you (provided, of course, we did not love the same one).

Some say black candles and some say caraway seeds and lemon balm; some say rosemary and rue; some say poppets linked in love, like twine.

I say if wishes were ropes, lovers would bind each other forever. But lacking that, we go to witches and hope they’ve learned their witchcraft well.

A LITTLE MISCELLANY OF ADDITIONAL LOVE SPELLS

Should the poppets not work at once, don’t despair. There are numerous other means of attracting love-everlasting, and patience and diligence are as important in these matters as in more conventional pursuits.

The herbs that are said to bring love are myriad: from Adam-and-Eve root and aloes to vervain, violet, witchgrass, and yarrow. Even coriander, cumin, and dill have been used to attract or intensify love.

Some of the spells are simple—couch grass sprinkled beneath the bed of a lover—and some are complicated—a split walnut shell is filled with Adam-and-Eve root, plus one spider web, whereupon it is sealed shut with wax. Then it is wrapped in a new handkerchief and secreted in the potential lover’s clothing without the subject’s knowing. As long as he/she does not discover the amulet, he/she will love you! (The spell books do not say what happens if the lover finds the walnut shell.)

People tend to get very nervous when they observe their friends hollowing out walnuts, preserving spider webs, pulverizing roots, or stuffing poppets, so be sure to do these things in secret (or with a like-minded associate or coven). An old witch proverb goes: Power shared is power lost. It hardly needs saying that secrecy is often a witch’s most potent weapon.

Some of the simplest love charms consist merely of making a charm bag, filling it with herbs, and wearing it around the neck to attract love. Cloves, culeb berries, lavender, and rosebuds are often used in this manner. (The danger is that one may attract an undesirable lover.) If a man pins lavender to his underwear, near the penis, it is said by the French to make him sexually irresistible. And a red flannel bag filled with rosebuds and one bat heart, when pinned to the underarm of a dress, is said to do the same for a woman. (Any woman who can find a bat heart and wear it about her person probably will have no use for a book as elementary as this one.)

Other favorite love charms (not, alas, tested as of this writing) are given below. The author and publisher take no responsibility for their efficacy, but here again we would be most grateful to hear of their success or failure, for the purpose of correcting future editions of this book.

Looking-glass Charm

Capture the image of your beloved in a small mirror without his/her knowledge. Immediately put the mirror in a box, strew it with the herb known as ladies’ thumb, and close the box. Now hide the box directly in the path the beloved takes when coming to see you. Within seven visits, the beloved will be yours forever.

Hair and Heartsease Ritual

Take a lock of purloined lover’s hair and an article of his/her clothes. Incinerate the piece of clothing carefully, preserving the ashes. Sprinkle the lock of hair with these ashes. Strew with heartsease and wrap in a white cloth. At the very next new moon, bury this charm near your own doorway (or under a doormat if you live in an apartment building). It is said that this ritual keeps a lover faithful for at least one lunar cycle. In the case of compulsive rovers, you can repeat the ritual with each new moon.

Bellybutton Lint Spell

To strengthen a shaky alliance, take lint from both partners’ navels, hair from each partner’s head, and roll this mixture into a small piece of cotton wool. Bind with red thread, and dip seven times in a vase of rainwater containing one reed. Allow the lint ball to dry, and keep it in an underwear drawer. (A talented witch will find a way to procure bellybutton lint from her beloved without his knowing!)

Tying a Love-Knot with the Aid of the Horned God

A powerful ritual for attracting a lover requires twine made from the hair of the male goat, a few hairs of the lover’s head, and an altar bedecked in honor of Cernunnos, the Roman incarnation of the Horned God. This altar will contain autumn flowers, pine cones, oak leaves, evergreen branches, red candles, ritual horns, as well as red wine and smoldering incense of the sort sacred to Cernunnos.

Cernunnos incense consists of: powdered patchouly and powdered bay leaves, powdered pine needles, powdered wormwood stems and leaves, and powdered vervain leaves. It is moistened with red wine, pine oil, clove oil, and olive oil as well as honey, three drops of blood, and three drops of urine. A dash of red pepper and a pinch of ginger are often added.

Draw the nine-foot magic circle on the ground with the athame. Within it, draw an equilateral triangle with its topmost point facing east. Consecrate all the objects on your altar in the name of Cernunnos. Then face east and invoke the Horned God. There are many invocations to the Horned God, some in extinct magical languages. My own preference is for using an invocation you understand, like the poem to the Horned God in this book, but you may wish to compose your own poem or prayer.

Repeat the invocation to each point of the compass, turning slowly clockwise. When you reach east again, it is said that the Horned God will manifest just outside the magic circle. He will be known by his powerful odor of male goat, his eyes blazing with passion, his immediate sexual effect upon all females present. Whether he will manifest as Pan, a goat, or merely an ephemeral object of lust is not clear. Do not be deceived by his tricks! Stay within the magic circle, safe from his seductions. When the ritual is completed, his image will fade.

After your invocation to Cernunnos, pass the goat hairs through the incense smoke and begin to plait them, invoking the god all the while. Knot the plait at each end, and wear this consecrated love-knot close to your crotch (around the penis if you are a man) for twenty-eight days, beginning at full moon and continuing through the lunar cycle. If after twenty-eight days your love has not been captured everlastingly, an even stronger Cernunnos love rite must be performed.

Second Cernunnos Rite

This rite requires the same altar, magic circle, and equilateral triangle as before, but now, you will fill your wine chalice with equal portions of red wine, olive oil, honey, urine, and three drops of your own blood. You will take your love-knot (from your crotch where it has been receiving vibrations for twenty-eight days) and knot it nine times (working from either end) while invoking Cernunnos’s aid in procuring your beloved’s undying passion. When the rite is completed, you will dip the plait into the chalice (filled as directed above), then drop it into a smoldering crucible. If this doesn’t lure the lover, he/she is probably dead anyway (or clearly not worth having).