There’s nothing like your handsome date stumbling over a tattered book opened to a virility spell involving satyrion root and a rooster’s private parts worn around the neck. “Oh, that one’s not for you, don’t worry,” you assure him as you gently close the tome and lead him over to the fireplace aware of the heart shaped rose quartz hidden in your pocket.
Love spells date back to the beginning of time as the human heart has continuously longed for the passionate throws of romance. Over the centuries when everything from trying to meet someone at the local goats’ watering hole to swiping right on your phone has failed, men and women have decided it is time to turn to magic.
Thousands of years of spells have been recorded from the simple to the complicated to the downright bizarre. You can serve hot chocolate to the one you desire like the Aztecs or steep in a bath of rose petals, marjoram, and myrtle like the Romans or plant a tulip bulb and water it with tears like the Victorians. And sex with acacia honey sounds so much better than consuming a potion made of chicken’s heart.
Some love spells are extremely tedious and complicated such as finding an egg laid on a Thursday by a jet black hen which has never before laid an egg, bury it for three days and then sell it (and that is the easy part of the spell.) Another involves carrying a whole nutmeg in your armpit for 48 hours, grinding it up and adding it to your desired beloved’s red wine or sewing their name into a cloth with a needle stuck in a dead body then threaded with a lock of their hair. And the no underpants in the cemetery one — I won’t even go there. Pay attention to the fine print. Carrying a snake in a red pouch seemed downright dangerous until I realized it was snake root.
Some of the rituals make intuitive metaphorical sense like getting over a break up by rubbing a whole raw egg over your body (in the shell) then breaking it into the toilet and flushing it away. Or washing your bedroom floor with a peppermint infused wash or planting a window box with lavender, pansies, basil and bay, all love attracting botanicals.
The one biggest mistake is trying to use a love spell to bind a certain person to you.
Everyone has free will and their own energy, and as much as you may think you want them, it may not be your greatest happiness which will result. Or maybe you are desperate to get someone back who ultimately made you feel crappy. People don’t usually change. The trick is to get very centered in exactly where you are at in your life and what you specifically want and put out the love spell to bring you the best person for that goal. You may be surprised.
Do get very centered when you are doing any love spell. Stay focused and don’t get distracted. You can create sacred space simply by sprinkling salt water around for protection and lighting a white candle and meditating on your heart’s desire. Tune out the outside world. Don’t pick up the phone. It’s hard enough to get rid of spam callers without them getting caught up in an attraction ritual.
Love spells trade in the currency of metaphor. Correspondences are very powerful so symbols such as a red candle or rose quartz or certain flowers, essential oils or images can be incorporated into a ritual. What object has a meaning of love for you? It doesn’t necessarily have to be harvested under a full moon or used in a ritual performed on a Friday ruled by Venus the goddess of love (although both are helpful.)
Finally, here is the most important rule of love spells. You have to believe you deserve love to truly receive it. Think about spending as much energy on your own healing as you do looking for that black virgin hen or rare aphrodisiac satyrion root or figuring how to keep that nutmeg from slipping out of your armpit. This year be your own best valentine. Create a love spell to win over your own heart. So mote it be.
To reach out to Heather, email kissandtellhb@gmail.com.
