3

Keeping It

In learning to keep love in our lives we have to be very careful of that nasty word, manipulation. If you absolutely, positively feel you must say another person’s name in your spellwork, then always add, “or someone better.” Often there are very good reasons why you should not be involved with a specific person. For example, there may be negative character traits that you have not (as yet) been made aware of, or the person may fight against your spiritual path in life, thereby holding you back from the missions you are to accomplish. To be fair, your presence in another individual’s life may keep them from moving in a healthy direction, too. Perhaps you’ve been attracted to someone that, unknown to you, practices abusive behavior. He or she would not be considered a good catch. What if you’ve already seen the ugly blackness of abuse, but are treading that old gerbil wheel of denial? I’ve seen countless women and men clawing after someone who should have moved out of their lives long ago, but they cling with a death grip to the negative because they fear change.

I’ve discovered that ethics, values, and principles are not a cut-and-dried proposition, as I once believed. As I study various countries, religions, and cultures, I find a wide range of differences in what groups of people feel are acceptable behaviors, and what are not. Even time and our progression through it changes how we view a variety of subjects, including the institution of love. During the Victorian times, for example, a man or woman was evaluated on a different scale than we currently practice in our search for the ultimate mate.

We definitely find these successive changes of acceptability in the array of folk spells that have propagated over time. Many of these spells are considered manipulative in nature; however, if we look beneath the surface, we discover that the spells were often used against (or to enhance) the normal manipulative devices used by women and men since time immemorial in the ever-passionate theater of love. For example, if the next-door neighbor has wooed your husband into her bed using the normal female predatory process to “catch a man,” is the wife to be condemned because she uses what she has available to her to get him back? (Providing, of course, he’s worth the effort—but that’s another loose thread in the scenario.) Society expects the wife to use conventional methods, such as changing her appearance, altering her behavior, going to a marriage counselor, going through divorce proceedings, or even threatening the offending female with a baseball bat (hey, I said expects, not condones). If, however, the jilted wife uses magick, then someone is always quick to condemn, which leads us to the discussion of who is actually magicking whom? If we believe that magick ultimately changes our perceptions, and not those of the other person, then what have we truly done but manipulate ourselves? Love spells go bad simply because we massage our perceptions in an unhealthy way for our overall spiritual plan . . . heavy thoughts to ponder, indeed.

When researching love spells, especially those birthed in the secretive depths of folk magick, we may find some of the ingredients and practices strange or even distasteful to the modern palate. However, if you consider the country folk, who often owned little and had few supplies, it is not surprising that bodily fluids might be used—they are, after all, the ultimate signature of the person. I can remember laughing to near hysterics when told the story of the older woman who (during the 1920s) was determined to keep her younger husband. To that end, every day of her life she rose before her husband and prepared his breakfast in the buff. The twist to this already titillating story is that she always broke the eggs for his omelet on her naked body and allowed them to roll down into the pan. I kid you not! (And, for your edification, he never left her.)

With that dissertation, I leave you to your own devices and the forty-plus love-keeping spells and ideas in this chapter. Just don’t say I didn’t warn ya.

Conditioning the Aura for Love

Life got ya down? People saying nasty things about you? (That aren’t true, of course.) Time to steep yourself in a conditioning bath for love.

Supplies: 1⁄8 teaspoon cinnamon; 5 cloves; orange peel; 1⁄8 teaspoon brown sugar; mortar and pestle; 1 pint of water; 1⁄8 teaspoon honey; gold candle (optional).

Instructions: Mix herbs and brown sugar with mortar and pestle. Add to one pint of water, charging liquid for cleansing the aura and instilling love. Add the honey. Mix again. Fill your tub with hot water, then add the mixture to your bath. Bathe by the golden candlelight, concentrating on bringing love energy into your life. Repeat for five consecutive days.

Love Garden

This spell comes from the coal mining regions of Pennsyl-vania, using totally innocuous items (for that area) and creating a fantastic love-drawing garden.

Supplies: A piece of coal (yes, coal); a dish or pie pan; salt; bluing (see page 95); water (not much).

Instructions: On a new moon, carry the supplies out-of-doors and ask for the blessings of Spirit to help you draw love into the lives of your family. Set the coal on the pie plate. Cover with salt. Sprinkle bluing on top. Place the pie plate on your love altar. Eventually, a mold will begin to grow, turning pretty colors (due to the salt).

Note: This is a slow-working spell and a heck of a science project for your kids!

Crystal Spell of Love

I’ve used this spell for years to keep loving vibrations in the home.

Supplies: An African violet (and a book on how to care for it properly); 5 quartz crystals; a bottle of champagne; a crystal goblet.

Instructions: Although I perform this spell on the common New Year, you can begin at any time. Set the African violet on your love altar. Surround the flower with the five quartz crystals empowered to bring loving energies into the home. If you have a significant other, open the bottle of champagne together. Carry the bottle to the four quarters, asking for blessings from the elements. Hold the bottle together and ask for blessings from Spirit. Pour the champagne into the crystal goblet and each take a sip. Say:

May we never thirst for love or friendship.

Leave the goblet full of champagne on the altar for seven days, then pour outside, saying:

A gift to the gods.

Wash the goblet. Fill with the empowered crystals. Leave on the altar until you wish to change the contents.

Oh, the remainder of the champagne bottle? Why, drink it, of course!

Love Beads

It is believed that any representation of a circle, such as a bead, represents the unending circle of life. When we finger the beads in this spell, we are experiencing the physical sensation of the smooth, unending surface of the bead, using the object to help us focus on our intent—the unending energy of love.

Supplies: 10 white beads (purity and spiritual love); 10 pink beads (friendship); 10 red beads (love and lust); gold cord (length is your preference); love-drawing oil or perfume.

Instructions: String the beads, saying the self-blessing rite:

Blessed be my feet,

which walk the path of the Mother.
May I be protected by the strength of the Father.

Blessed be my knees

that kneel at the sacred altar.

May I find healing from the seat

of unlimited power.

Blessed be my heart, so that I may
give solace to my brothers and sisters.

May I practice courage, patience,

honesty, and love.

Blessed be my lips,

which speak the sacred names.

May my words be truthful, caring, and wise.

Dress the beads with love-drawing oil or perfume. Speak the prayer daily while turning each bead, or hold the beads while doing your daily devotions. These beads can also be used to call specific energies toward you by repeating the above prayer followed by your love request.

Herbal Love Charms15

In this section, you can see that most magickal applications associated with any plant correspond to its medicinal or agricultural function. Below is a short list of plants whose correspondences are linked to love and passion.

Basil: Sacred to the Yoruban goddess Erzulie. If you wish to enlist her help in finding love, add basil to charm bags and incense to ask for her blessing.

Cloves: An aphrodisiac that can be added to charm bags and incense to bring passion. You could also add the intention of passion to dishes cooked with cloves—that would make for one heck of an apple pie! (Apples are also associated with love.)

Coriander: Ancient belief has it that if you add a few seeds of coriander to wine, it will incite passion. It is thought that coriander helps to speed the energies in the timing of a spell.

Dragon’s Blood: Added to charm bags, incense, and oil, dragon’s blood will draw love.

Ginger: Added to food, ginger will “spice” up a relationship. How about carrots cooked with honey (to sweeten the relationship) and freshly grated ginger to add spice?

Hyacinth: Brings fun and joy to a relationship. Add the oil to incense or keep a potted hyacinth in the home to keep a relationship joyful and fun. Plant in your garden to ensure you always have laughter and joy in the home.

Lavender: Best used to heal love problems. It has a calming effect and can also be used to stuff a dream pillow so that you dream of your true love.

Mandrake: Used to bring love. Carried by a man, it enhances virility.

Musk: Musk attracts men. It can be used by women or gay men who wish to attract a man. Wear as perfume.

Neroli: Uplifting. It can be used to draw love, or to heal a love problem.

Orris Root: Used in love drawing. The whole root can be used or, in its powdered form, it can be added to incense and oils. Orris also enhances the qualities of other herbs. Add to any love mixture to strengthen your intention.

Rosebuds: Common ingredient of love charms to draw love. They also help with love communication. They can be added to love charm bags, incense, and oil. Use rosebuds to stuff love poppets.

Rue: Has the ability to protect against drawing the wrong type of lover when doing a general love spell to draw the right one to you. Add to charm bags, incense, and oils.

Love Spell for a Child

In this spell we use the child’s astrological chart to bring good fortune and protect him or her through life. A person’s natal chart is a blueprint of energies available to the individual as they travel the difficult journey of birth, maturation, and into death. The project below, along with a complete written natal portfolio, is an excellent gift for a newborn baby or for any child (even an adult!). Natal reports can be obtained from various services off the Internet, from the purchase of your own software, or by ordering from Llewellyn Worldwide. Reports specialized for children can also aid the parent in determining the strengths and weaknesses of the child, fashioning educational activities tailored specifically to the child, and, above all, showing you how to communicate in a way your child will understand.

Supplies: This spell requires the date, time, and place of the child’s birth, as well as his or her astrological chart;16 a special prayer of love and blessing written by yourself on a clean sheet of parchment; a flat surface the size of the chart, such as cardboard or posterboard; decoupage mixture from a hobby store; a soft foam brush; 2 blue taper candles; love oil or cologne.

Instructions: With the brush, decoupage the chart on one side of the chosen flat surface and your blessing on the other. Allow to dry. On a new moon, rub the blue taper candles with love oil or cologne. Light the candles, reading the blessing you wrote aloud. Ask Spirit for a special gift, such as wisdom, laughter, compassion, etc. You might add the request that the child carries spirituality in their heart and can see clearly the mission chosen for this life. End the rite by requesting that the child rise above their chal- lenges in life and learn to use their talents in the best way possible for themself and humanity. Allow the candles to burn completely. Present the chart and prayer to the parents in a gift box.

To Keep Loving Friends

A friendship with someone is a partnership based on mutual interests and respect. Use this spell to help yourself maintain a loving and honorable attitude when dealing with others.

Supplies: A decorative heart-shaped box of chocolate; love incense; 2 pink seven-day candles; red pen; several slips of parchment paper; love herbal blend (use either the recipes in this book, your own, or a mixture from your local occult/new age store) to use as an incense and to sprinkle on your petition.

Instructions: Place the heart box on your love altar. Dedicate all supplies to the goddess Aphrodite. Light the incense and pass all supplies through the smoke, asking for blessings of the love goddess. Light one pink seven-day candle, repeating your petition. Hold your hands over the chocolate candies, saying your petition for the third time. Allow the candle to burn to completion. Share the candy with your friends. On a full moon (after the box is empty), light the second pink candle. With pen and parchment, write down the type of energies you are looking for in a friend. Remember, you cannot want what you can’t give in return. Roll each piece of parchment paper into a small scroll and tape shut or tie with pink thread. Place each parchment scroll in the slots that the candy once occupied. Once you have filled out all the scrolls, hold your hands over the box and repeat your original petition. Close the box, and put in a safe place. If you feel it is necessary, you can seal the box with some of the pink wax from the burning candle (just be careful). Allow the second candle to burn completely. Each evening, for seven days, repeat your original petition as you hold your hands over the magick heart box. When your wishes come true, you can remove the parchments and burn them, giving thanks to Aphrodite. Keep the spell box for another magickal working.

Note: You can also turn this working into a healing spell.

Lustful Nights Spell

Okay, it’s a given. You and your mate have been under stress lately and some of the zing seems to have gone out of the partnership. Why not reserve a nice room at a local hotel and break out this spell!

Supplies: 2 empty plastic champagne glasses; 6 pink rose buds; 1 red ribbon; 1 piece of parchment paper; a red pen; a red lighter.

Instructions: Fill the glasses with the six pink rose buds. Tie the glasses together with the red ribbon. With the red pen, write your name and your intended’s name on the piece of paper. Burn the paper, repeating the words “Love and lust, sex a must!” three times. Scat-ter the ashes on the roses. Place under your bed and wait for the fun to begin!

Warning: This spell is to be used for consenting adults only!

Season of Love Spell

This is an old Southern spell used to rid the home and family environment of negativity from the past season and welcome positive energies into your life at the birth of a new season. Should you not feel particulary literary in writing your own seasonal blessing, you can find excellent information in Caitlin Matthews’ Celtic Devotional Daily Prayers and Blessings published through Harmony Books (a division of Crown), in New York.

Supplies: A large onion; red cloth; broom; milk; honey.

Instructions: This is a bit complicated in that you will need to check your datebook for the astrological beginning of the seasons. On the day before the seasonal change, wrap the onion in red cloth. With your broom, roll the onion around on the floor throughout your home or apartment. (Kids love this spell, by the way.) Chant:

Evil has no peace, no rest,
until it’s left my sacred nest.

Open your front door and sweep the onion out, down the steps (if you have them), and out into the street. Immediately throw into the outside trash (a local dumpster, if you can). Close the front door, saying:

Evil has gone, love remains.

On the following day (the day of the seasonal change), open the door and offer a love prayer to the new season, welcoming the fresh energies into your home. Leave an offering of milk and honey at your doorstep.

Love Spell for the Computer Whiz

Show how much you care by creating your own seven-day specialty candle for a friend.

Supplies: A poem or prayer written by yourself specifically for that person; appropriate clip art that matches your sentiments; a full-size label designed for your printer type (have at least two just in case); a seven-day candle in glass (your choice of color); love oils and herbs; gold or silver glitter; pink embroidery thread.

Instructions: On a new moon, spend as much time as you like writing the sentiment/spell and designing the label for the candle. Doublecheck your measurements to make sure your label design will fit nicely around the glass of the candle. (Hint: if you use insertable candles, then your friend can use your gift over again.) When you feel you have done your very best, print out the label. Check again before pasting that your measurements are correct. Remove the backing from the label and adhere to the glass. Smooth any bubbles by carefully running your fingers from the center of the label to the edges.

Rub the candle (if it is an insertable one) with the love oil. If the candle has already been poured into the glass, rub the oil in a clockwise motion around the top of the candle. Add a small amount of love herbal mixture. Seal the magick by creating an equal-armed cross (page 18) with the glitter (not too much) over the top of the candle. Hold the candle in your hands and read your poem aloud three times, asking Spirit to bless your friend. Wrap the pink embroidery thread around the candle three times, and tie. Cut off extra thread. When you give the gift, explain that the thread is to be cut after the candle has burned a third of the way down as an extra boost to release the magick you have placed in the candle. This also gives your friend the choice of when (if ever) to release the energy placed in the candle.

Note: This makes a nice special occasion gift, or a just-because surprise.

Hint: To keep negative e-mails and other nasty stuff from coming through your computer to you, line up three rose quartz stones and one amethyst on the lip of your monitor, right next to the screen.

Love Stuff: Give It
Away Before You Die

This spell is designed specifically for the packrat among us (about which I am an authority because I’m one of them). You cannot have a happy home life if you are constantly running an obstacle course to get to the kitchen (or worse, the bedroom). Pick a Saturday (banishing) and start throwing. Set aside those things you feel are too good to get rid of but should leave your home because you will most likely never use them. Cleanse these items with the four elements and set them on a separate table. Invite your friends over for dinner by sending them a “Love Stuff” invitation, indicating that you have several things you’d like to remove and if they’re interested they might wish to take a peek at them over takeout Chinese (if you’re not into cooking). Perhaps you have something they’ve been looking for? Be creative with the invitation and guard your fine china—not everything is up for grabs. Also, some people are insulted by “seconds.” You might want to take that into consideration when you are going over your guest list. Others, however (like myself), will be delighted by the invitation.

Dragon Heart Spell for Keeping Love

For this spell, invoke the Babylonian dragon goddess, Tiamat, associated with life creation, the primordial waters, earth, nature, and sky.

Supplies: A red felt heart; 3 pink-headed pins dipped in love oil; your name and the name of your partner written on a piece of pink paper; 1⁄8 teaspoon dragon’s blood powder; a blue candle; a small plastic bag; a rose petal (optional).

Instructions: On a new moon, empower the red felt heart for love. Dip the three pins in love oil and charge for lasting, pure love energy. With the three pins, attach the pink paper to the heart. Sprinkle with dragon’s blood powder. Empower the blue candle so that your love will be true blue. Light the candle. After it has burned a third of the way down, drip some of the blue wax onto the herb, paper, and heart. Place the heart in a small plastic bag with one rose petal (optional). Place the still-burning candle on top of the bag. Allow the candle to burn completely. Place the heart in between the mattress and box spring of your bed. Renew every six months.

Eye of Love

This one comes from Haiti and is slow working, making it perfect for the dating period of a relationship. If you don’t like how the relationship is going, simply break the needles and discard spell elements off your property after sunset on a dark moon.

Supplies: 2 needles; red thread; 1 fresh comfrey leaf or fresh bay leaf; a red pouch; 1 lodestone or magnet.

Instructions: On a new moon in the Venus hour (or on a Friday), position the needles point-to-eye and wrap them in red thread. Roll in the fresh herb leaf. Tie. Hold in your hand for fifteen minutes, praying to Spirit for success in the relationship. Place the empow-ered object (leaf and needles) in the red pouch with the lodestone. Tie shut. Keep in a safe place.

Expansion of Love

The use of keys figure prominently in folk magickal practices. Here, we’re using it as the “key to success” in relation to a current partnership you may have, or wish to keep.

Supplies: A chocolate figurine (be careful if you pick a rabbit); plastic wrap; a gold key; a piece of rose quartz; a small blue bag.

Instructions: On a full moon, in the hour of Jupiter (or on a Thursday), place all items on your love altar. Empower for success and the expansion of love in your life. Share the chocolate with someone you care about, saving one piece for the remainder of the spell. Wrap the piece of chocolate securely in plastic wrap. Place the gold key, the rose quartz, and the piece of chocolate in the blue bag (blue for true blue love). Put in a safe place. Renew on the anniversary of your first date, or on your wedding anniversary.

Conjure Ball to Keep Love

Conjure balls can be used for a variety of purposes from good health, healing, success, and money drawing to love attraction. Normally made no larger than a shooter marble, the primary ingredient is usually wax or clay. These days you can also use those interesting plastic compounds like Fimo that come in a variety of colors. Using the instructions on the Fimo package for jewelry, you could make an entire necklace or a pair of earrings into conjure objects.

Supplies: A red candle, rubbed in love oil or perfume; rose petals (love); vervain (action); lavender (spiritual empowerment); rosemary (to place you in the mind of another); a piece of lodestone or small magnet; a white plate; and something belonging to both individuals involved in the spell (hair, nail clippings, etc.—commonly called a “taglock” in some magickal circles). Add echinacea if you think you need to strengthen the spell, but don’t go overboard.

Instructions: Place all items in the center of the white plate. Charge for lasting love. Light the red candle. As you chant, drip the wax on all the ingredients and visualize your desire. As the wax begins to cool, roll all items into a ball. Continue to add wax until the ball is smooth and as unblemished as possible. Allow the candle to completely burn. Carry the conjure ball with you.

Marriage Spell

Here’s a folk magick spell often performed by the mother of the bride to ensure that her darling daughter ties that eligible bachelor down for good, but it wasn’t unheard of for the young lady to work the spell herself. This is a working that takes time in the conjuring process.

Supplies: An item from the prospective bride and groom (items chosen should be small enough to fit in the hollow cake top); a bride and groom cake topper (normally used on wedding cakes); a large jar (a pickle jar works well); spring water; 1⁄4 teaspoon each of verbena (vervain), orris root, and myrrh (to open the astral doors to love); a magnet or lodestone; 1 tablespoon myrtle leaves; 1 tablespoon orange peel; 21 inches of white satin ribbon wide enough to write on; 2 dimestore rings; a bowl of brown sugar; a white specialty wedding candle; a blue candle; a child’s shoe box.

Instructions: Firmly secure the personal objects of the prospective bride and groom inside the cake topper. Seal with red wax if necessary. Fill pickle jar with spring water (about three-quarters full). Hold your hands over the water and charge for love, fidelity, and spiritual happiness. Add the verbena, orris root, and myrrh to the water. Drop in the lodestone or magnet, charged to bring the couple together in a positive way, with the blessings of Spirit. (Here is where you can put a “back door” into the spell, and I would advise doing so. From one who walked down the aisle the first time around and didn’t say anything, it was a mighty expensive mistake. Don’t you fall into the same pit I did!) Stir clockwise eleven times. Slowly lower the cake topper into the water. Seal shut. Pray over the jar for three days. Open the jar, drain the water, dispose of the herbs, keep the lodestone, and remove cake topper. Allow the cake topper and lodestone to dry on a bed of the myrtle leaf and orange peel mixture. On the white satin ribbon, write the names of both people as many times as you can. Wrap the ribbon completely around the cake topper, leaving enough ribbon to thread through the silver rings, and enough to tie off the ends. Thread rings. Tie the ends together so that the ribbon cannot be removed if jarred.

Stand the cake topper in a bowl of brown sugar. Empower the specialty white wedding candle for the higher aspects of love. Light the candle and, each day at the same time for three days, pray for a positive union. Burn a blue candle so that the love will be true blue.

On the fourth day, place the cake topper in the child’s shoebox and seal. Scatter the sugar out-of-doors on your property. Put the box where it will never be found by the person whom you sought to marry. The rider to this folk spell states that if the box is opened by the groom (or the bride, if you have done this spell to catch her), then the spell will be broken. Likewise, should you wish to divorce that person, you are to open the box, separate the ribbon from the cake topper, burn the ribbon, bury the rings separately off your property, and destroy the cake topper. If the bride’s mother cast the spell she might give the cake topper to the bride; in other cases the mother would keep the cake topper in her own home for safekeeping.

Mending the Fence

Sometimes we know we screwed up by opening our big mouths. To ease the sting of a foolish argument, try this spell, which focuses on harmony.

Supplies: The names of both people involved in the argument on white paper, with the runes Gebo (), Mannez (), and Wunjo () over the names; a metal bowl; passionflower seeds; orris root; love oil or perfume; honey; brown sugar; a blue and a green candle; picture-hanging wire; 2 pencils.

Instructions: Place the names in a metal dish. Charge all supplies to mend broken feelings. Sprinkle paper with the listed herbs and brown sugar. Rub love oil or perfume on both candles, followed by the honey. Place one candle to the right of the dish and the other candle to the left. Light both candles, asking Spirit to remove the unhappiness and replace with harmony. Slowly, repeating the names of both people, wire the two pencils together. Light the paper in the metal bowl. Pass the wired pencils over the smoke and flame, again petitioning Spirit for an honest reconciliation. Cast the ashes to the wind. Put the pencils in a safe place. Burn the candles for ten minutes each day for seven days. On the last day, burn to completion.

Immediately After an Argument

Granted, it isn’t always you who cluttered up the atmosphere with negative energy. Arguments happen all over the place—the office, while visiting a friend and her husband is cranky, or your kids bring over a pal in a spiteful mood. Here are some quick tips for diffusing that negative energy on the spot.

• Place a charged glass of ice near where the argument began. As the ice melts, the negative energy collects in the water. Throw the water out the door after the ice has completely melted.

• Sprinkle Florida Water or holy water around the room. To make Florida Water, combine 1⁄2 gallon of 90-proof alcohol, 1 pint of spring water, 1 tablespoon squeezed lemon juice; 10 drops love oil or protection oil (as the occasion calls). This is to be used as wash water only.

• Place a dry sponge in a bowl of charged water. After the sponge has drawn the last of the water, dispose of both out-of-doors.

• Ring a bell or wind chimes at least seven times.

• Open a window, no matter what the weather is like.

Love Lantern Spell

Another folk spell designed to rid the home of negative energy after a nasty row uses a decorative kerosene lantern. If you’ve had a bad day at work, or there’s been an argument on the job, light your little love lantern and conjure away!

Supplies: Mortar and pestle; allspice (to smooth hurt feelings), frankincense (for cleansing), and orange (to make the spell work faster), in your choice of amount; a small, decorative lantern; small piece of white paper or a clean wick to write on; pink lantern oil (if you can get it, or dilute red oil with clear oil of the same brand); mortar and pestle; incense charcoal brick (do not use a charcoal brick for outdoor fires as these can cause serious indoor air pollution and be a hazard to your health).

Instructions: Empower all items for harmony. Take a spiritual bath. With mortar and pestle, mix the herbal ingredients together. Burn this loose incense on the incense charcoal brick. Take the lamp apart. Write your name and the person’s name (the other party in the argument) on the paper, or on the clean, dry wick. Don’t worry if you can’t read it—you know who you’re talking about. If you used the paper, place at the bottom of the lamp, or if you used the wick, insert it back in the lamp. Cover with oil and put the lamp back together. Place the lamp in the center of your love altar and light. Ask Spirit to bring the light of love back into your relationship. Allow the lamp to burn until the problem ceases and harmony has been restored.

The Spell of Bast

Bast, a demi-animal goddess, is the Egyptian archetype of earth, nature, the moon, night, the arts, happiness, and dancing. In her lion-headed form, she is a sun deity. To call on Bast to bring love, talent, and happiness into your life, you will first need to find a statue of a cat.

Supplies: A clean, empty milk jug; a hobby knife, such as an X-acto knife; a paper punch; pictures of the entire family or a family portrait; a small image of a cat (even a plastic toy will do); at least 3 cups of white sand; several lengths of cord (blue and green) that will fit through the holes made by the paper punch; an assortment of beads that can be strung on the cords.

Instructions: On a Monday in the hour of the moon (if possible), charge all supplies on your love altar. Cut the top off the plastic milk jug with a hobby knife. With the paper punch, punch holes one inch from the rim, one inch apart, around the top of the jug. Place the pictures of your family at the bottom of the jug with the plastic cat, which you’ve empowered and dedicated to Bast, the Egyptian goddess of protection. Cover with the white sand. Thread one cord through each hole, asking for a special wish for each family member. Tie at the top. Thread the beads (as many or as few as you like) onto each cord, repeating your request. As you tie it, say:

This wish is sealed.

Place by the front door. Consider the wishes granted if your resident feline takes a liking to the hanging beads. Change the sand once a month.

Love Song Spell

Couples often tag a song that signals a special time in their relationship. Therefore, if you think about it, song magick really isn’t all that unusual. Music carries a distinct and powerful enchantment all its own.

Supplies: A love song; a piece of paper and a pen; a hobby knife; a pillar candle; love oil or perfume; glitter; crushed coriander seeds (optional).

Instructions: While listening to your favorite love song, write down the words (or use a song chosen for a specific person for a specific purpose). Write your name and the name of your intended on a piece of paper. While listening to the chosen music, sing the words while carving a series of spirals on the candle with a hobby knife. Pillar candles work best for this particular spell. This may take you some time, and you will most likely need to play the song repeatedly. That’s okay, the repetition helps you to focus on your desire. When you are finished, rub the candle with love oil or perfume, then roll the candle in glitter. Place the paper under the candle. Burn as an added touch of romance while your significant other is in the room. Be sure to play the love song while the candle burns and add lots of kisses! Add crushed coriander seed under the candle to make the spell work faster.

The Perfect Date Spell

Fast, simple, and it works!

Supplies: For this one you will need the cover of a novel from your favorite romance author. If you don’t normally read romances, may I suggest one by Maggie Shayne, or cruise the bookstore to find a cover that appeals to you.

Instructions: Write the name of your date on the back of the cover and place right-side up (picture showing) on your love altar. Sprinkle with herbs of lust, including rosemary, to keep you in your date’s mind.

Note: Effects of spell are temporary.

Card Divination for Love

Here’s a love divination to try at the next party you attend. Trust me, you’ll be the belle of the ball.

Supplies: The suit of hearts from a regular card deck (charge for messages of love before use); place in a red bag with a moonstone and a piece of rose quartz.

Instructions: Shuffle and pick one card (two at the most).

Ace—Go for it! There’s a new love on the horizon.

Two of Hearts—Now is the time for partnership.

Three of Hearts—Fun ahead at a party or celebration. Possible proposal!

Four of Hearts—Time to feather the nest and plan for your future.

Five of Hearts—He or she is bad to the bone. See ya later!

Six of Hearts—An old flame returns.

Seven of Hearts—Someone is lying to you.

The Eight of Hearts—Seek spiritual guidance.

Nine of Hearts—Your wish will come true, but be careful what you wish for.

Ten of Hearts—Happy family life ahead.

Page of Hearts—Message of love on the way (may indicate pregnancy).

Queen of Hearts—Love goddess!

King of Hearts—Soulmate!

Love Healing Incense

The best time to use this is after an argument, to empower healing spells and rituals, or to reach someone that has misunderstood your words and actions.

Supplies: 1 teaspoon finely ground myrrh; 1 teaspoon sandalwood powder; 7 drops patchouli oil; 1 teaspoon crushed lavender buds; 1 teaspoon crushed rose petals.

Instructions: Add ingredients in order given, mixing after each addition. Empower. Burn on charcoal. Put remaining incense in a resealable plastic bag or jar.

Best time to make: New moon.

To Help Clarify the Issues
in a Troubled Relationship

Not all the spells in this book are designed for a significant other. For example, if you are having trouble communicating with your parents or with your child, this spell is an excellent first step in helping to clarify the energies between you.

Supplies: Incense (whatever you like for clarifying purposes—“Rain” or “Ocean” kinds of scents have good symbolism); 3 candles: 1 white (for purity of purpose), 1 purple (for dedication to high spirit), and another in whatever color symbolizes the quality of the relationship you’re working on; salt; blessed water in a goblet or cup; a few long sprigs of rue, fresh if possible (or if you can’t get rue, try lavender); 2 small vases or bottles filled with blessed water; 2 flowers of the same type—doesn’t matter what kind, clover to roses, just that they are the same; a selection of items belonging to each of you (called taglocks)—2 at the least, several if you like, or a piece of paper with symbols representing each of you.

Timing: Full or waxing moon.

Instructions: Keep in mind that the love altar and spell supplies will be placed in the center of the room, enabling you to work around them; therefore, you may wish to erect a temporary love altar for this working. Ground and center (cast the circle, etc.) and dedicate yourself to the highest spiritual values at work in the relationship. Light the incense and use the smoke to purify all the items you’ve brought to the altar, one at a time, removing any negativity. Light the white candle and put yourself in service to the highest good in the situation. Visualize the very best parts of the relationship, the places where you are in harmony, whatever things you like and love about the other person, and the good things you share—and light the purple candle, then the other one, and visualize the flames drawing in the highest qualities of the relationship.

Place some of the salt into the goblet of water. Then, using the rue branch as the “sprinkler,” walk the circle three times (instinctively, I go counterclockwise, for undoing mud), saying aloud:

I wash away the muddiness in this relationship.

This water cleanses away all the clouded aspects that interfere with our perfect communication. We see each other clearly and speak clearly
and honestly to one another.
I wash away hurt, defensiveness,
and anything else that will interfere with
true communication between us.

(Or whatever words seem appropriate—usually relationship problems have to do with not communicating or with dishonesty on one part or another, but there are other problems that can be addressed the same way.)

Return to the center. If the rue is fresh, put it in one of the vases. Then take the flowers, one in each hand, and again visualize all the best parts of your relationship. Imagine pure, easy communication flowering between you, clearing away all the interfering junk that might be in the way. Ask the Mother to bless the two of you as you work through whatever comes up in this communication, then put the two flowers into the second vase.

With the candles and incense burning, hold the paper with symbols (or the two items belonging to you) in your hands and imagine white light filling you and then the area around you. If you like you can say something, dedicating yourself and your actions and words to the service of the gods, or you can just stand quietly and visualize the cleansing taking place. When you feel ready, let it all go, thank the Mother, and close up the ritual in a manner comfortable to you. Put the two vases where you will see them regularly, especially where you might be in communication with that person. (If it’s someone you talk to on the phone, for example, put the flowers where you sit to talk on the phone.) Renew this ritual every thirty days until the entire situation is resolved. Change the flowers every week, saving the old ones, drying them, and keeping them in a safe place until the relationship is secure. You can then toss the dried flowers to the wind, thanking the Mother for her support.

Folk Spells to Keep Your Significant Other from Wandering

• Find a pair of old shoes belonging to your significant other. Place a magnet or lodestone in each shoe. Bury the shoes with the toes pointing toward the house in the front yard—this is to remind them where they live. Conversely, if you are trying to get rid of a stalking ex-lover, omit the magnets and point the toes toward the street. You can also use this spell for an errant teen that appears to have forgotten where home is, your renter who thinks he can wander off without paying the bills or, conversely, to keep your mother-in-law away. (Hey, don’t ask me—the ethical decisions are yours!)

• The same idea can be used in the house. Take an old pair of shoes, place a magnet in each toe, and place under the bed where the person sleeps. This is to remind them that they should be sleeping in their own bed.

• To keep a partner from wandering, tie a poppet (small stuffed doll) with their name enclosed to the underside of the bed.

• Wrap a picture of your partner around a gold key. Empower for success in the relationship. Add a piece of spikenard herb to keep the relationship faithful. Bury in a flowerpot in the house. Water the pot with spikenard tea every thirty days.

• If he done up and left ya and took your little dog, too, find a yellow candle, 3 pieces of string or embroidery thread 21 inches long, and a pin. Stick the pin into the candle halfway down from the top and leave it there. Pray that the person has no peace, no rest, until they come back and finalize the end of the relationship in a positive, constructive way. Do this three days in a row, each day holding one of the strings, tying three knots in that string, and gazing at the lighted yellow candle. Throw the string into the street. Repeat until all three strings are in the street. Prayers can be directed to St. Helen of Jerusalem, St. Anthony, the Blessed Mother, the Wiccan Mother, Breid, or, if children are involved, Diana or St. Joseph. Allow the candle to completely burn on the third day.

• To keep ’em faithful, collect 2 of each of the following: magnolia leaves, linden flowers (fidelity), rosemary (keep you in their mind), lavender (peace and harmony), and rose petals (love). Set the magnolia leaves aside. Grind remaining herbs into a powder. Place the herbs on one of the magnolia leaves, cover with the other leaf, and seal the edges with red candle wax. Place magnolia leaves between the mattress and box spring of the bed where the person sleeps.

• For fidelity through cooking, add charged basil to their favorite dish. Serve an empowered chocolate dessert. Don’t forget romantic candlelight with red candles.

• Take the towel your lover last used when bathing. Cut a thin strip from the towel about a yard long. Rub yourself with the towel. Knot in three places. Place between the mattress and the box spring.

• Place both of your names on a piece of paper. Set under a plate. Place a large onion on the plate and empower for love. As the onion grows, so will the love within the home. (Given that there aren’t any major problems in the first place!)

Stray Lover Spell

Taking into consideration that you are probably better off if he or she has fulfilled the prophesy of the sad country song, there are ways to use this particular spell for the good of all. It works surprisingly well in missing person cases or in situations where you need information about someone that is deceased (of course, you’ll have to change the wording a bit). The spell can also be used to call home a favored pet. Other situations include someone who has jumped bail and you’ve posted the bond, a roommate who has run off with your stereo, or a teen who, after the biggest fight you’ve ever had, decided to run away from home.

Supplies: Passionflower; orris root; an incense charcoal brick (or a small piece of one); several dried leaves from a wandering jew plant; a magnet; brown paper; tape or candle wax; a white saucer; a picture of the person (if you can get it); a white candle; 13 inches of thin, red ribbon; a pair of new scissors.

Instructions: Lay all items on your love altar. Cleanse, consecrate, and empower all items. In this spell, the first order of business is to remove any deep-seated hatred from your heart. To do this, burn the passionflower and the orris root on the charcoal brick while reading the following:

I sit by the rivers of love and weep

as I remember that which was

whole, good, and ever in harmony.
In those days the willow played her magickal song upon her harp of silvery leaves,

bringing love into my life.

Now I am in a strange land,

a place of hurt and pain, and though

I am asked to sing the songs of universal love,

I cannot lift my voice

nor can I unburden my heart,

such is my inner turmoil.

May I instead remember the gentle feelings

of compassionate love and the song of the heart when it dances in harmony with the wind. Though I walk in the midst of trouble,

I know that the Lady will revive me,

that the Lord will stretch forth his loving hand against those who attempt to harm me,

and the right hands of both shall save me

from my own despair.

At your love altar, wrap the wandering jew and the magnet in brown paper. Seal with tape or candle wax. By your front door (where the objects will not be disturbed), place the brown paper packet underneath the white saucer. Place the white, charged candle on the saucer. Open the scissors and tie them so that they remain open (this is very important). Place the scissors around the candle (one blade to the right, one to left) without actually touching the candle. Light the candle.

Due to the nature of this spell, your words are extremely important. You must be specific in what you want drawn back to you. Perhaps you don’t feel the need to see your roommate again, but having your stereo back would be particularly nice. For a lost pet, for example, you would say the name of the lost animal, and perhaps put the pet’s favorite toy by the door as well. I might say, “No matter where Fluffy is, he will be drawn back here, to his home, in a safe and healthy way.”

Once you have specifically stated your desire, hold your hands over the candle and envision the flame drawing the person or object back to you. You may wish to add the following prayer:

I petition the Holy Mother in the hour of my need. Let not (person’s name) face be hidden from me.
I seek __________, and with your assistance,
I shall find him/her.

He/she cannot forsake the relationship without positive communication and closure.

__________ shall wander no more,

nor will he/she have peace nor rest until this
situation is resolved in the best way possible.

Keep the candle burning, or burn each evening for seven minutes, until the candle burns completely. If the person (or pet) has not returned, nor have you heard adequate information, replace with another candle. Continue this activity until you have received what you asked for.

Note: Once the person has returned, do not close the scissors or the Sisters of Fate may sever the relationship permanently. On the other hand, if you just wanted your stereo and your old roommate came bouncing back along with your sound system, feel free to clutch the stereo and close the scissors. Better yet, put the stereo in a safe place and then snap those scissors shut (and not around the roommate’s neck, either—that’s a no-no).

To prevent evil from entering, magickal people with Italian, German, or French heritage will hang those open scissors above the doorway of the front entrance of the home to cut negativity; Psalm 16 can also be employed.

Come Back to Me Spell

As with the previous spell, there is more than one way to apply the energies of this magickal working. Exercise your own creativity. This one works great for lost objects as well as people and pets.

Supplies: A piece of parchment; a red pen; a mirror; a red candle.

Instructions: Write your name and the other person’s name on the piece of parchment. Draw three circles around the names without removing the pen from the paper. Place the paper, face up, under the mirror. Set the red candle on top of the mirror. Light it and think of the candle flame pulling that person back to you; however, this spell has an important rider if you are concentrating on a person:

If not right for me,

then off you be,

across the sea, so mote it be!

Come Jump Me Spell

Yes, indeedy! This one matches the Come Jump Me oil in chapter 2 (notice, however, I put this spell under the consenting partnership section—hmmm?).

Supplies: Daimiana (lust); galangal (lust); cayenne pepper (passion); coriander (to work fast); a red candle.

Instructions: Mix the above herbs together and crush into a powder. Sprinkle on your front sidewalk, saying, “Come jump me,” as long as it takes to scatter the powder. Because of the strong nature of this spell, I suggest that you have a particular person in mind to focus on as you wouldn’t want to be jumped by just anyone. Load the remainder into a red candle. Burn to completion. Can be used to create your own spell using the Come Jump Me Oil.

Love Potion Wine

For a romantic evening, serve this liquid delight!

Supplies: A bottle of dry red wine; 1⁄4 teaspoon sweet basil; cubeb berries; lovage; beth root; a golden cup; 3 candles: pink, red, and yellow.

Instructions: Soak herbs in red wine for seven days, chanting for nine minutes each day that the brew be empowered with divine love. Strain and remove herbs. Bury herbs in your backyard or in a flower pot with dirt from your yard. Store in a dark place. On the new moon pour one glass of wine into a golden cup. Surround the cup with a pink candle dedicated to deity, a red candle for passion and action, and a yellow candle for determination. The candles are your offerings to deity. Sip the wine from the cup and focus on the person you love. That same evening, or soon after, share the wine with your loved one. Both of you are to take at least one sip out of the same glass.

Note: Check with your physician before imbibing any herbal potion.

To Loosen Up Those
Stingy Fingers Spell

There has been many an argument about money in the history of relationships and open communication is definitely needed in this arena, as well as a financial plan on which you both agree. What if, however, you’ve got one of those obsessed-with-money partners who has a cow over every little expenditure? Say you really want that sofa bad, you need it, and you know he or she is going to moan and groan for months to come if you do go out and get the darned thing? This is a tension you can kindly do without.

Supplies: 1 green candle (money) and 1 purple candle (power). Dress both with your favorite money oil (or corn oil if you have nothing else). Roll the green candle in gold glitter that has been empowered to bring money to you. Roll the purple candle in silver glitter empowered to strengthen your spiritual power. You can throw in a little echinacea, too, to strengthen the candles. You will also need a piece of paper and a pen, and the herb known as devil’s shoestring.

Instructions: On the paper, write the other person’s name nine times. Write your name eleven times over the top of theirs. This is to take back your power. Place under the purple candle. If you have a specific dollar amount that you need for something, you can add this to the spell by writing the amount on a separate piece of paper and placing that under the green candle, or you can carve the amount directly onto the green candle. Roll the devil’s shoestring in your hands twenty-one times, then place around the base of the candles. Light both candles, stating your intentions aloud. Let the candles burn completely.

Boosting Your Power
in a Business Partnership

No matter how hard we work, occasionally there’s that person who wants to get the glory and ride on your coattails, impressing the boss and making you look like you slept all night in the garbage dump. Here’s a spell to put you on top.

Supplies: Devil’s shoestring (herb) or John the Con-queror root; camphor; whiskey; a piece of paper and a pen.

Instructions: Roll the herb in your hands several times, thinking how your good work will come out on top due to its merit. Place the herb in a half-and-half mixture of whiskey and camphor. On the paper, write the other person’s name (or the problem succinctly) nineteen times. Write your name over the top twenty-one times. Place the paper under the mixture of whisky and camphor. Hold your hands over the glass and, for at least eleven minutes, pray that your work will be the best it can be and that you will overcome the negativity of others. Take the herbs to work with you. Rub in your hands before you touch the other person who is against you or who is trying to use you for their benefit.

The Partner Who
Voraciously Tears Through Your Bank Account

You had over a thousand dollars there last week, and now the ATM machine says you’ve got less than a hundred, and you’ve got two weeks to go until payday . . . and oh, yes, the kids are off school for a full week and there’s no food in the house. Sound familiar? Lots of families go through this, where one partner doesn’t mean to nickel-and-dime the bank account but does so on a periodic basis. This can certainly affect your love life. Naturally I would suggest that you sit down and have a heart-to-heart talk about the family budgeting process, even visit a financial counselor if you think it necessary, but there’s no reason why we can’t throw a little practical magick around as well.

Supplies: 1 purple candle (for personal power); 1 blue candle (for the higher vibration of partnership); Has No Hanna Oil (Has No Hanna Oil definitely helps you to keep your paws on your money. I know, I use it often. With four kids, being broke could be as natural as breathing if you don’t pay attention to business); a blank check from your checking account or a bank statement; one anchor (no, not one off the USS Enter- prise—a little charm or a picture will do); a black candle (to banish a bad habit); your favorite banishing oil; if it is a credit card problem, see if you can wrestle the card out from his or her clutches—if you can’t do that, use the statement.

Instructions: This spell takes the entire month to practice. On the full moon, dress the purple and blue candles with the Has No Hanna Oil. Place the candles on top of the blank check. Add the anchor picture or charm over the check. Light the candles. Hold your hands over the flames (not too close) and say:

Holy Mother, enter here.

Thank you for your guidance and love.
Due to overspending,
I walk in the shadow of hunger.
I am stalked by creditors (if appropriate).
I ask your assistance in repairing the damage wrought by (name) to my credit
(if appropriate, or my bank account, etc.).

Please give me a solution to stop this problem from occurring again.

Allow the candles to burn completely. On the dark of the moon, on a Saturday if possible, rub the black candle with the banishing oil. You will be burning the black candle to banish debt. If credit cards are the problem, place them underneath the black candle, or use the credit card statement, and ask the Mother to banish the debt. Allow that candle to burn completely. If things are really bad, most cities have local chapters of Debtors’ Anonymous listed in the phone book. Call them.

Couch Potato Spell

First things first—hide the remote to the television. Better yet, put dead batteries in it. When he asks for new ones, put more dead batteries in it. Okay, just kidding! Here’s a little spell to help you feel more seductive, though the spell is a bit more complicated than some of the others in this book.

Supplies: 1 cup baby talc; 1 tablespoon each orris root, crushed rose petals, cloves, and rosemary (to keep you on his or her mind); 3 orange candles (to draw excitement to you); love oil or perfume; 2 slips of paper; a pen; nail or hair clippings from both of you (tag-locks); 1 potato; 2 pins; a nice, clear quartz crystal at least the size of a quarter; mortar and pestle; Morgana’s Aphrodite’s Aphrodisiac Incense (see page 28). For the bath: 1⁄4 teaspoon each blessed salt, baking soda, and Epsom salts.

Instructions: Mix the baby talc, orris root, rose petals, cloves, and rosemary together. Crush into a fine powder with mortar and pestle. Rub orange candles with love oil. Light one candle and the incense while taking a love-drawing bath with the ingredients listed (salt, baking soda, Epsom salts). As you soak, think of bringing love toward yourself, and of releasing any negativity you may be harboring. Air dry, then pat body with talc, especially hitting the chakra points (crown, forehead, throat, heart, naval, solar plexus, and groin). Some magickal people also use compelling oil, love oil, or love perfume on these points as well, especially before going out on a date or when they wish to be appealing to another. At your love altar, write your name and your partner’s name on separate pieces of paper. Place the taglocks over the appropriate names. Roll each paper and seal with orange wax from a candle. Light the second orange candle, asking to draw love to the partnership. Hold the potato in your hands and roll it twenty-one times, thinking of love, harmony, and happiness in your relationship. Pin each rolled paper to the potato. Set the potato beside the orange candle. Charge the crystal to bring the higher-level love into your relationship. Pray, in your own special way, for at least nine minutes.

Allow the candle to burn to completion. Place the potato in a safe spot under the bed where you both sleep. In seven days repeat the love-drawing bath and light the third orange candle.

Warning: This is one of those slow-working spells I mentioned earlier in the book. Be patient. Soon he or she will reach for you rather than that remote.

Immortal Love Apple Spell

In the world of magick the apple symbolizes love, immortality, the soul, healing, seduction, and fertility. Offerings of apples were given to various goddesses in different cultures (Greek—Diana, Demeter, Kore, and Hera; Celtic—Cerridwen and Crone manifestations of Celtic Goddesses, especially in calling for divinatory abilities; German—Dame Holda; and even the Virgin Mary). You may wish to petition any one of these goddesses in strengthening your current relationship.

Supplies: 1 large, very red apple; a sharp knife; the names of the two people who wish to stabilize their relationship written on a piece of paper enclosed in a drawn heart image; 1⁄4 teaspoon each honey, cloves, and cinnamon; 1 small, red tea candle; 4 orange votive candles; love oil or perfume; love incense; 4 new quarters.

Instructions: Cut off the top of the apple and set aside. Hollow out the apple (use a knife or spoon). Place the paper with the names in the apple, then cover with herbs and honey. Insert red tea candle last. Place the apple on your love altar. Surround with the four orange votive candles rubbed with your favorite love oil or perfume. Burn your favorite love incense. Light each of the votive candles, calling in the directions of north, east, south, and west, in that order. Ask for the strengthening of the relationship from each quarter. Hold the quarters in your hands and move them around in your hands, rubbing them twenty-seven times, thinking that as you rub you strengthen the relationship. Place a quarter under each votive candle. Pass the apple through the love incense smoke, again repeating your petition. Light the tea candle inside the apple. Pass the apple close to the flames of the quarter candles, one at a time, beginning with the north, envisioning the power and strength of love coming toward you, encompassing the apple and yourself. Allow all candles to burn completely. Remove the stem from the apple top. Place the top back on the apple (with contents still inside, but the candle flame is now out). Bury the apple in your backyard (or in a flower pot if you don’t have a yard area), thanking the Goddess and asking that this strengthening of love be granted in a positive way in its own place and own time. Yes, this is another spell that requires patience.

New Year’s Snow Spell for
Revitalizing an Old Love

Although not necessarily a magickal holiday, the entrance of the common New Year celebration in the United States has permeated the subconscious of each of us. There is no reason why you cannot use this night of collective “newness” to instill an old relationship with vital new energy.

Supplies: 1 plastic champagne glass (or 2, if your partner will go along with it); metallic confetti; a large pot of snow (if you don’t live in snowy climes, not to worry, use spring water); your favorite love incense; love oil or perfume; 3⁄4 teaspoon salt; snow on the ground (optional).

Instructions: Before the hour, fill both glasses with the metallic confetti. Add three drops of love oil or perfume to each glass. Empower both glasses to bring renewed vitality into the relationship. Mix more of the metallic confetti with the snow in the pot. Make two snowballs (leave some snow in the pot). Rub a little love oil or perfume onto the snowballs. You can also place your names, written together, inside the snowballs for added oomph. Empower the snowballs for a lasting, loving relationship with renewed vitality. Place outside your house by the front door, saying:

As you melt, our relationship

will strengthen in a positive way.

To the remainder of the pot, add 3⁄4 teaspoon salt (a fourth at a time), concentrating on the cleansing ability of salt and water. Sprinkle on your front and back sidewalks. When the clock strikes twelve, stand outside with the champagne glasses, look into each other’s eyes, and throw the confetti up in the air, then seal the spell with a luscious kiss.

Note: The confetti looks beautiful on the snow. If you are worried about the feathered or furry creatures, you can always use birdseed, omit the oil, and pass the glasses through the smoke of the love incense.

Spell to Conceive a Magickal Baby

I wrote this ritual several years ago for a woman who was told that it was impossible for her to conceive. Her child is now seven. To my knowledge there are two others, over the years, who have also used the ritual with equal success.

Supplies: A rag doll, made by yourself; a spoon if you want a girl, a fork if you would prefer a boy (but remember, Spirit will send you the right child for you, meaning gender is not that big an issue); 2 blue and 2 white candles (to place at the quarters of your ritual circle); a bowl of pomegranates; fragrant bedstraw (optional; association Venus, element water). For the ritual bath: 1 teaspoon of cinnamon in 1 pint of water (Note: cinnamon may irritate sensitive skin; use with caution).

Instructions: Take a ritual bath, adding the cinnamon cleanser to the water. Soak in the warm water, releasing all negativity from your body. It is best if your mate will go along with the bath and the ritual, but I’ve known a case where the woman successfully performed the two alone. Suck on one of the pomegranates while bathing, visualizing yourself in a state conducive to pregnancy.

Cast the magick circle with the express intent of calling for a healthy, magickal child. Light the quarter candles, beginning with the north and ending in the west, asking again for blessings on the ritual from each element and stating your purpose of calling a magickal child to you with the guidance of Spirit.

Place the doll on top of the bedstraw beside the bowl of fruit in the center of the circle. Offer the bowl of fruit to Spirit, making your request for a magickal child. Place the bowl in the north, near the north candle. Return to the center of the circle (always walking clockwise whenever you must move about the circle). If both parents-to-be are in the center of the circle, they should stand, one at the head of the doll and one at the foot, holding hands over the doll. Again, make the petition for the magickal child. Envision Spirit descending into the circle and empowering the doll to draw the magickal child to you. Slowly, the couple lowers themselves until their clasped hands touch the doll. Together, with hands still together, they reach under the doll (this is a symbolic act that the parents must nurture the child together while still remaining a communicating couple) and lift the doll. Together they stand. Slowly the couple moves together as the doll is pressed between the couple, symbolizing the fertilization process and the entering of the child into the mother’s body.

When the couple feels ready, they should kiss.

Together, they carry the doll to each quarter, asking for blessings from the elements. They return to the north quarter and place the doll on top of the bowl of fruit. Place either the spoon or the fork at the north quarter, asking for the specific gender (or leave the gender open if that is your wish), but be sure to indicate that either sex will do. Thank deity, then release the quarters and, finally, the circle.

Place the doll and the implement (spoon or fork) under the marriage bed. Keep it there through the entire pregnancy. Set the fruit outside and give to Spirit. Put the bedstraw outside the front door. When the mother leaves for the hospital to give birth, take the doll along. If possible, allow it to remain in the birthing room. When the baby returns home, place the doll over the head of the baby’s crib for added protection from sickness.

Best performed on a Monday or a Sunday. Never perform on a Saturday (banishing), and don’t go for artificial insemination on a Saturday either.

Note: Many magickal people prefer to place a statue of a pregnant mother on their love altars when working to conceive a child, and often make offerings to deity with the statue as a focus during pregnancy.

Revving Up the Tired Relationship Spell

And you thought the goddess Caffeinea was a joke!

Supplies: 1 full can of fresh coffee; a red marker.

Instructions: On a Tuesday, in the hour of Mars (if you can), turn the unopened coffee can upside down and draw the symbol of Mars () and the rune Gyfu () on the bottom of the coffee can. Open the can. Massage (yes, absolutely) the coffee in your hands for at least seven minutes, focusing on waking up your relationship, adding zest and positive excitement. Brew a pot and serve!

Note: Coffee grounds are excellent activators to make any spell work faster; however, liquid coffee is used to “muddy the waters” and bring confusion in other spellcasting procedures. Adding vinegar and milk sours the situation.

Attraction Spell17

This spell aids in getting your significant other to notice you!

Supplies: Picture of your beloved or picture of yourself; 4 river rocks; 2 carnelian gemstones; 2 rose quartz crystals; your diamond engagement ring; a double-terminated, clear quartz crystal; 1 orange and 1 red candle; love attraction oil or perfume; attraction incense.

Instructions: Set up your altar and place the picture on the front of your altar. Place the four small river stones (one at each quarter) on the picture, about one-eighth inch from the edge of the photo. In the NE and SW place the carnelian gemstones. In the SE and NW place the rose quartz crystals. Place the diamond over the person’s face. Place the double-terminated quartz over the chest, facing east to west. Lastly, place your candles (which have been dressed in love attraction oil or perfume) to the north (orange) and south (red) of the picture.

Light your incense, then move the burner over the picture in a clockwise motion three times, then set the incense on the altar. Light orange candle, then red, saying:

Crystal light and powerful sight,

work together in love and might.

Together are placed

and together shall work

to bring my beloved to me.

By the Father’s gems

and the Mother’s light,

let no obstacle stand

to my heart’s desire.

With crystal link and bonding light,

bring my beloved to me.

With crystal link and bonding light,

bring my beloved to me.

With crystal link and bonding light,

bring my beloved to me.

See the inner power of the crystals begin to glow, like a light in a tunnel growing slowly and blindingly bright. Observe each stone with its unique color. See the heart of the stones being bound by a neon white-pink light that begins in the diamond and pulses outward, going clockwise through all of the stones. When they are all bound in your mind’s eye, see your beloved’s face in the crystal glow, and visualize the person having eyes only for you. When the image is very clear, release the power built up in the stones and visualize it shooting off into the universe, leaving dully glowing stones behind.

Carry the diamond with you, preferably as a piece of visible jewelry. The diamond will act as the beacon to your beloved.

Note: This is a powerful spell. Be sure to leave yourself a back door should you not appreciate the advances you receive.

Notice Me Spell

If you feel like your partner doesn’t know you’re breathing, then try this spell.

Supplies: The music to Bolero; 2 yellow candles; 2 orange candles; love oil, perfume, or corn oil; love incense; white paper; a red pen; a red plate; an image candle (male to make a man notice you, female to entice a female to notice you); 1⁄4 teaspoon each eyebright, lavender, and rosemary; a clear quartz crystal; a piece of white ribbon wide enough to write on; a red conjuring bag.

Instructions: Play the music as you work this spell. On one yellow and one orange candle, carve your name. Rub with love oil, perfume, or corn oil. Write the name of the person that you wish would notice you on the other set of candles. Be sure to add in your thoughts “this person or better” as you are concentrating on carving the candles. Add the Venus sigil for love () on both candles. Pass all four candles through the love incense. On a piece of paper, write the other person’s name twenty-one times with the red pen, and at the bottom write This person or better. Place the image candle on your love altar. Put the red plate at the feet of the candle. Place the paper with the written names on the plate, name side up. Cover with the herbs. Empower the quartz crystal to attract this person or better. Put the quartz on top of the herbs. Place the orange and yellow candles around the figure candle and plate. On the ribbon, write your name (about in the middle). Place the ribbon over the eyes of the figure candle, your name facing the eyes of the candle. Tie securely. Cut off ends. Light the orange and yellow candles, asking that this person (or better) notice you. You might say:

Eyes for me you only see

unless Spirit wills you’re not for me.

(Trust me on this one, you may need the “out.”) Burn the orange and yellow candles each day for seven days. On the seventh day, allow the candles to burn completely, remove the blindfold, and lay it at the feet of the figure candle. Repeat the chant. Burn the figure candle completely. Save all candle ends and herbs. Place in a red conjuring bag. Carry with you.

When You Feel Unloved Spell

Emotions are funny critters. Sometimes we feel unloved when, all along, people love us a great deal. This spell is to bring that love toward you in a noticeable way.

Supplies: Go shopping and buy a favorite greeting card that expresses the sentiments of love that you feel you need in your heart; a magnet or a lodestone; paste.

Instructions: Paste the magnet or lodestone to the back of the card. Hold your hands over the picture, visualizing the card becoming a vortex for love, pulling toward you just the right amount of love and caring that you feel you need (don’t go overboard, please). Rub your fingers over the picture or sentiments for nine minutes, thinking of drawing that which you most need toward you. Place the card in a prominent spot (on the fridge, on your desk, above the television, etc.).

Note: You can also sprinkle love-drawing water around your home. Steep rose petals and myrtle in spring water for three days. Strain. Discard herbs. Use water as you feel appropriate.

Dealing with Your Emotions

One of the best tricks I ever learned was how to deal with my feelings on a practical basis. For example, I learned how to say to my husband, “When you say such-and-such, it makes me feel so-and-so.” That little statement cleared up many a budding argument in our home. I also learned to examine an emotion while I was feeling it. For example, if I was worried about money, and therefore snapping everyone’s head off, it didn’t take me too long to discover that I should look at that feeling, acknowledge that I had it, and then let it go.

Sometimes it helps to turn those feelings into visualizations. Anger becomes a red ball that I then push away. Fear becomes a black ball that I knock out of my mind’s eye with a physical jerk of my arm. Sadness is a blue ball that I allow to drain back into the earth. I’m sure that if you think about it, you can come up with great visualizations of your own that you can use to enhance your life and reduce your stress.

Road Rage Shield

This is certainly a subject we’ve heard a lot about lately! Everyone in my household has a guardian angel statue on their dashboard to protect the occupants of our collective vehicles, with the following fetish attached.

Supplies: 2 small pieces of parchment paper; your birthdate; a red pen; 1 blue candle; 1 white candle; love-drawing incense of your choice; oils of the following variety: La Flamme, French Creole, Compelling (these are store names found in most botanicals) or your own love-drawing oil or perfume; 9 gold beads; 2 pictures of your car; 9 white or blue feathers; a gold cord 21 inches long; glue; powdered love herbs or a mixture of clove and orris.

Instructions: Write your name and birthdate on both pieces of parchment paper. Draw a heart around your name on both pieces of paper. Pass the candles and the papers over the smoke of the love-drawing incense. Rub your chosen oil on each candle. Rub each bead with the oil, and wipe clean. Place one paper and the pictures of your car underneath each candle. Light the candles, chanting:

Light the flame, love’s ardent fire,

protection be, fulfilled desire.

Pass the feathers, beads, and cord through the incense smoke, repeating the incantation. About one inch up the cord, tie a knot around a feather (the glue will help to hold the feather in place), then string a bead. As you are doing this, say: “By knot of one, this spell’s begun . . .” and repeat the “Light the flame . . .” incantation until the knot is tied and the feather and bead secure. Continue this process with the remaining eight knots:

By knot of two, my dream comes true.

Light the flame . . .

By knot of three, love comes to me.
Light the flame . . .

By knot of four, the love’s secure.
Light the flame . . .

By knot of five, this spell’s alive.

Light the flame . . .

By knot of six, the spell is fixed.

Light the flame . . .

By knot of seven, protection given.

Light the flame . . .

By knot of eight, I seal my fate.

Light the flame . . .

By knot of nine, love divine.

Light the flame . . .

Hold your hand over the candle flames (don’t burn yourself) and draw the invoking pentagram (see page 85) in the air above the candles four times, repeating the blessing found in Lady Sheba’s Grimoire of Shadows:

I call the earth to bind this spell.

(Make the invoking pentagram in the air.)

And air to speed its travel well.

(Again, make the sign of the pentagram.)

And fire to give it spirit from above.

(Pentagram.)

And water to manifest this spell with love.

(Pentagram.)

And spirit to bring it through time and space.

(Pentagram.)

Knock on the table four times to seal the spell. Pass the fetish over the candle flames, once more repeating the incantation. Knock on the table four times. Allow the candles to burn to completion. Sprinkle fetish with powdered love herbs, then place fetish inside of car either attached to guardian angel statue or by itself. Renew every three months.

Right Back Atcha!

Using mirrors to deflect negative energy is a common practice in many a magickal compendium. When my daughter began to have trouble on the job, targeted by a gaggle of old ladies who had nothing else better to do, she decided to use love and the reflective ability of a circular mirror to solve the problem. She empowered the mirror, thinking of the blinding energy of universal love, and chanted “Right back atcha!” while rocking and holding the mirror. (You can also add the energy of the sun, or of Sekhmet, if you so desire.) The following day, and for seven successive days thereafter, she took the mirror to work and placed it beside her on the table. Every time one of the ladies tried to say something nasty to her (or tattle to the supervisor about some nonexistent infraction), my daughter touched the mirror and smiled, thinking, “Right back atcha.”

Is Your Lover Truthful?

If you feel you must have the truth, and your partner isn’t exactly ’fessing up, then it is to Spirit that we turn to discover the truth of the situation.

Supplies: An herbal tea of your choice that soothes stressful nerves; eyebright herb; chamomile herb; 1 tiger-eye gemstone; water; cotton balls or pads.

Instructions: Brew the herbal tea and drink. Steep eyebright and chamomile in hot water for fifteen minutes. Pass the tiger eye gemstone over the steam of the steeping herbs for five minutes, asking Spirit to draw forth the truth of the situation. After the herbal mixture has cooled, sprinkle on cotton balls or pads. Lay the pads over your closed eyes and concentrate on the opening of your third eye (the chakra point in the center of your forehead). Practice for seven days. Carry the tiger-eye gem in your pocket. Eventually, you will learn the truth. If you wish to continue this exercise for general psychic abilities, practice for at least thirty days, every day. If you miss a day, you have to start all over again.

Love and Astrology

Here are some ideas that will help tailor your magick with your own personal astrological signature. To work with these tips you will need a copy of your natal chart.18

• Carve your name on a green candle. Charge the candle for personal harmony. Place taper in a candle holder in the center of your chart. Focus on yourself and the energies of you that your chart represents. Ask Spirit that these energies flow in harmony with the universe. Repeat as often as you like.

• Perform love spells when the moon is in the sign where your natal Venus lies, or when natal Venus visits that same sign.

• In the center of your chart, place the Lovers card from a tarot deck. On the chart, in the second house (the house of values), place the nine of hearts, the two of hearts, and the ace of hearts from a regular card deck. Empower to bring toward you what you most value.

• Perform love spells when the moon is in the sign on your seventh house cusp (the house of partnerships and close friendships).

• Embroider your astrological chart on a cloth and place in the center of your love altar to personalize all spells involving you. Or, if you are like me, you can take the easy way out and decoupage the chart onto a piece of wood.

• Empower gems and place them in the various house of your natal chart, in accordance to your desires.

Your Happy Meter Spell

Believe it or not, Spirit gave each and every person a happy meter when they were born. Your happy meter is attached to your innate talents. If you love to write, and can do so, then your happy meter rises. It is the same for singing, music, a knack with figures, cars, or speaking to the public. Your happy meter is also attached in some way to your overall mission in life. That which makes you happy is the path that Spirit usually wishes you to follow in the course of your journey on earth.

This spell can be used before, during, or after you have employed your talents. All it requires is your favorite book of inspirational poetry or verse and a pink ribbon.

Before you read the material, hold your hands over the closed book and imagine that, as you read the words, each syllable, each nuance, each cadence and tone will rise in the air, causing a vortex over your head—its purpose is to draw to you the success you require to fulfill the use of your talents. Keep this in mind as you read the passage. Place the pink ribbon at the page you have just read and close the book. Pull the ribbon through the book and toward yourself, visualizing the success you’ll enjoy by the use of your talents coming toward you. Practice as often as you can. Try various books, delve into the great poets and inspirational writers through the centuries—perhaps you will expand your horizons as you work on your happy meter!

Pennsylvania Dutch Pow Wow Practices for Love

The Pennsylvania Dutch (German Settlers) carried a wealth of magickal folklore that covered healing, agricultural pursuits, death, and, of course, the attraction of one person for another. Pow Wow (meaning “he who dreams” and associated with positive enchantment) is a system of folk magick. Here are some interesting magickal bits that you may find useful along your enchanted way.

• Many Pennsylvania Dutch farmers believed that the horns of the moon had a special power. When the horns of the moon were up (the moon’s ascension), this heavenly body helped to create an upward force. Magick sent out into the universe was done at that time to remove unwanted energies or send a mental message to a loved one. When the horns were pointed down (the moon’s descension), a downward force was present, allowing the magickal person to bring things to him or her, or drive things deep within the earth.

• Couples who married in the period during the full moon were said to have many children.

• The moon in Leo was the time to cut your hair if you wanted a glorious mane to attract or keep a mate.

• Buy a happy home when the moon is in Leo, Cancer, or Taurus.

• To seal your love with another person in a positive way, take three feathers from a rooster’s tail and press them into the palm of your mate three times. Kiss your lover or mate three times to seal the magick. Save the feathers as a good luck talisman.

• To restore sexual vigor, take a new fresh egg and pour cooking oil over it. The oil should be poured downward, never upward, over the egg, and into running water. Open the egg a little, carry to a red ant hill, and bury the egg. (Be careful you don’t get bitten!) As soon as the ants have devoured the egg, the weak and troubled person will be restored to former strength and vigor.

• Cold burned matches placed in a flower bed or box outside the home will break negative energy that looks to ruin a marriage.

• If you dream of a funeral, a wedding is coming.

• If one is anxious to marry, one should feed the family cat from one’s right shoe.

• On Christmas or Yule Eve, put a loaf of bread in the yard and leave overnight. In the morning the bread, wet with Christmas morning dew, is cut and each member of the family eats a piece to ensure health and happiness for the family until next Christmas/ Yule.

The Alphabet Spell

To keep love in our lives, whether we are talking about our significant other, friends, family, or our pets, we must strive to act in a positive, spiritual way each and every day. This, naturally, isn’t the easiest behavioral pattern for anyone! Here’s a little spell to help you become a better person through your own choices, and at the same time, draw the love that you desire to you in a positive way.

Timing: Perform on a full or new moon; if that is not possible, begin on a Friday, the day belonging to the goddess Venus.

Supplies: A fire-safe container; 3 dried rose petals; your favorite perfume (the perfume becomes the “signature” of the spell); one pink scarf; 26 plain index cards; 1 pink candle; a 3-ounce bowl of honey; a red marker.

Instructions: Before the scheduled day for casting the spell, sit down in a private, quiet place. From A to Z, write one letter on each of the twenty-six cards in red marker. Leave the twenty-seventh card blank.

Throughout the month, after the spell has been cast, you will continue to work with the cards. On the back of the first card, write about a quality you would like to maintain or bring into your life that starts with an A.

You can use more than one word, the more specific the better. On the back of the B card, make a list of unwanted habits that you would like to break. From C through Z continue to write those character traits that you would like to draw into your life. Leave the last card blank. This will take some time. The more you concentrate, the better results of the spell.

On the full or new moon, place a small dot of your perfume on the pink candle, and on each card. Say:

I seal this desire with my signature.

If the moon is full, carry the candle, the pink scarf, the rose petals, and the cards outside or near a window where they can absorb the light of the full moon and ask divinity (your choice) for assistance in your request. Allow the supplies to remain in the moonlight for about three minutes. Don’t worry if it is cloudy, you can still do the spell. If the moon is new, hold your hands over the supplies and ask for fresh beginnings from your chosen deity.

Cast the spell in a private place where you will not be disturbed. Place the cards under the pink candle. Light the candle, and say:

Love is the power, the power is love.

Repeat this line until you feel happy and filled with peace. It doesn’t matter how long this takes. Once you feel at peace, hold your hands over the blank card and visualize exactly what type of love you wish to draw toward you. Remember, love just isn’t having sex or finding a suitable partner—love can encompass the feelings you have for your children, your parents, friends, or co-workers. Love is a magnificent engine that can create remarkable changes in a person’s life.

When you are finished visualizing, burn the blank card in the fire-safe container. Allow the candle to burn completely. Throw the ashes to the wind. Place the honey outside as a gift to your chosen divinity.

Throughout the month, work with the remaining twenty-six cards. Meditate with them, carry one or two with you in pocket or purse, or place one under your pillow each night. When you are not working with your love cards, wrap them in the pink scarf with the three dried rose petals. The color pink and the rose petals are universal symbols of love, and therefore connect with the divine essence of that energy.

If, at the end of twenty-nine days, you have not drawn what you desired to you, repeat the spell. Magick is the art of balance. It may take three to six months to bring exactly what you desire, as change can occur on many levels until you see it in the physical form.

Many blessings to you!

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15. Morgana’s Chamber, 242 West 10th Street, New York, NY, 10014.

16. From “The Little Black Book” of Lord Ian Markiv.

17. From “The Little Black Book” of Lord Ian Markiv.

18. To order, call Llewellyn at 877-639-9753.