Love Spells, Charms and Customs From Around the World

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

People have used love magic for millennia.

Image © Ron Levine/Getty Images

Love and its pursuit have driven us for millennia. Valentine's Day is one of our biggest holidays of the year, rings are purchased, chocolate is consumed, flowers are delivered -- all in the name of love. It should come as no real surprise that most modern-day magical practitioners will tell you that hands down, they get more requests for love spells than anything else. And why not? Love magic has been the staple of the wisewoman, the cunning man, and the village herbalist for ages. Read through any account of rural folklore, and you'll find frequent references to charms, talismans, potions, and amulets that people have used to draw love their way. Here is a look at some of the best-known, and most popular, forms of love magic from around the world.

• In some traditions of hoodoo and rootwork, those in love are advised to obtain a piece of their intended's hair. Wrap it in a piece of cloth and then carry the cloth in your shoe, and you will attract the person's love.
  
  
• Many magical traditions encourage the use of bodily fluids to attract a person you're in love with. Like many magical customs, if this goes against your personal code of ethics, then you may want to skip it.
  
  
• According to folklorist Vance Randolph, in parts of the Ozarks a man can make a woman love him by hiding the "dried tongue of a turtle dove in [her] cabin." Likewise, he says that a woman can make a powerful love charm by taking a needle which has been stuck into a corpse, covering it with dirt, and wrapping the whole thing up in a strip of winding sheet (Ozark Magic and Folklore, Dover Publications, 1946).
  
  
• In many European countries, apples are considered a great form of love divination. By using the peels, the seeds, and even a few chunks, you can tell a lot about the identity of a potential lover!
  
  
• Virgil and Hesiod both write of the ancient Greek practice of using hippomanes as an ingredient in love potions. The word Hippomanes applied variously to the semen of a stallion, the vaginal discharge of a mare, or a specialized herb.
  
  
• Animal parts were popular in love potions of days gone by. During England's medieval period, girls were encouraged to make a liquid including -- among other things -- hare's kidney, a swallow's womb, and a dove's heart. Blood and wine was added to make it drinkable (see Rosemary Guiley's Encyclopedia of Witches and Witchcraft for more on this).
  
  
• Make a love magic bag. Create a small drawstring pouch out of fabric -- preferably a piece of your lover's clothing. Fill it with cinnamon, rosemary, and a piece of rose quartz. Add a magical link of some sort to the person you're in love with. Wear the bag around your neck or carry it in your pocket, and it will attract the person to you.
  
  
• Some folk magic traditions call for a woman to grind up a piece of her own hair or fingernail clippings into a fine powder, and then brew it into the tea or coffee of the man she is in love with. This will draw him to her.

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

In some circles of the Pagan community, magical workings pertaining to love are frowned upon. The rationale is that to do any magic related to love is to interfere with the free will of someone else. However, there are many traditions that believe love magic is perfectly acceptable to perform, either generally (as in, "bring love my way") or specifically (as in, "Brad is gonna fall head over heels in love with me"). If you're of the opinion that love-oriented workings fall within your scope of ethics, here's some information on traditional love magic.

Love Poppets

In some forms of European folk magic, there are a number of ways to bring love your way. One of the most well-known (and easiest) is through the use of a poppet, or magical doll. You can approach this in a couple of different ways:

• Create a poppet that represents yourself, and use it to draw love to you
• Create a poppet that represents the object of your affection, if your tradition permits you to do so, and use it to compel the person to see you as someone worthy of love
• Create a poppet for yourself and a poppet for the person you wish to be with, and do a working that brings the two of them together

Remember, if your beliefs prohibit you from doing love magic on other people, the first option may be the best one for you.

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

Love spells. They're one of the things that often draws new folks to Wicca and Pagan religions. However, there's a lot of question within the Pagan community about the ethics of casting a love spell on someone else. After all, if you're performing magic on someone without their knowledge, aren't you messing with their free will?

Most Wiccans will tell you that the best way to approach love magic is to avoid focusing on a specific individual as a target. Instead, use your energy and skills to focus on yourself -- to draw love your way, or to help you present yourself as a person worthy of love. You could use your magical abilities to feel more confident and attractive, much like a magical makeover. In other words, fix yourself, not someone else.

Bear in mind that many Pagan traditions have no restrictions on the use of magic to change someone else. If you're part of such a tradition, the use of love magic may well be within the boundaries of your ethical guidelines. In some traditions of folk magic, love magic is perfectly acceptable. It's something that's done as a matter of course, and is no more unethical than wearing a sexy perfume or a cute push-up bra. Magic is viewed as a tool, and can be used in tandem with the mundane to bring you what you want -- after all, if you didn’t want to change things, you wouldn't be doing magic in the first place, right?

Before casting any sort of working that affects another person, though, be sure to think about consequences. How will your actions affect not only you, but other people? Will it ultimately cause harm? Will it cause someone to be hurt, either directly or indirectly? These are all things that should be evaluated before performing any working at all, whether it's a love spell or some other type of magic. If your tradition or belief system prohibits you from performing magic on someone without their consent or knowledge, then you'd be better of skipping the love magic, and focusing instead on self-improvement and self-empowerment.

Rather than aiming a love spell at someone and expecting them to become your devoted servant and doormat, consider looking at love spells as a method of (a) getting someone to notice you AND (b) getting the person to, once they've noticed you, find all the things about you that they like. If you maintain this perspective, you should be able to work love magic and still keep within your ethical boundaries.

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

Marti Finizio 11:24in the mornin' Jan 12
Bring Love to a Relationship

Get a small bottle with a lid, you can cleanse it and consecrate it if you wish.

Either write the name of you and your lover or your symbols on a piece of paper, then put the paper inside the bottle so the side with the writing on is facing outwards.

Grind up some herbs that are used in love or lust charms. Love- rose petals, jasmine flowers, lavender, orisis root. Lust - ginger, cloves, cinnamon, caraway. Whilst you are grinding them up visualize you and your partner (or future partner) being deeply in lust or happy and in love, you could also say something while doing this like:

"herbs of the earth herbs of lust bring me passion in you I trust"

Then put them into the bottle - Then add drops of essential oils used for love or lust. love-rose, rosemary, ylang ylang. Lust - patchouli, cinnamon, ylang ylang, orange. Fill the bottle with oil almost to the top. Get a candle (preferably pink or red) and drip wax into the bottle until it is about to overflow and then put the lid on the bottle while the wax is still molten. This seals the spell.

Sit and mediate for a while and do whatever you normally do to 'charge up' your charms. Imagine the bottle glowing with a pink or red light.

You can carry or wear the bottle or you could bury or hang it somewhere special to you and in the future if you no longer require lust or love between you and your partner, then smash the bottle and bury it somewhere far away.