The Witch's Heart

by Christopher Penczak

  The dominant planetary power for love magick is Venus, the planet of love, attraction, and social relationships. Its colors are green, pink, and copper, and its metal is copper. When copper corrodes, it creates a green color. Many minerals with green or light blue (such as malachite and turquoise) are copper compounds, giving them an association with Venus, though any green or pink stone, with or without copper in its chemical structure, is associated with Venus. Fragrant flowers associated with love, particularly the rose, are also associated with Venus.

  Other planetary powers used in love magick include Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, the Sun, and the Moon. Mars is used for passion and lust, for it is a fiery planet. Mercury, like the element of air, is used to improve communication in love magick. Jupiter adds a spiritual connection to the spell, so your paths, even if they are not the same spiritually, will be connected and complementary. The Sun and the Moon are the two most powerful “planets,” though they are technically called luminaries in astrology. The Sun confers blessings of health, wealth, and happiness in all things, while the Moon is a powerful attractive force for you to draw the right person to you.

  Planetary magick and many branches of folk wisdom also suggest that we time our love magick in harmony with the Moon and the planets. Friday is the traditional day of love magick associated with Venus. All love magick is said to be more successful on this day. We attract relationships and develop them further with magick on the waxing Moon, as the light of the Moon is growing. We banish ills from our relationships, or even banish the relationships themselves, when the Moon is waning.

  Moon signs bring their own qualities to the magick. While all Moon signs have an effect, specific signs are particularly good for love magick. The Moon in Taurus brings a sensual and stable relationship. The Moon in Cancer brings a family-oriented partner. The Moon in Scorpio can draw a particularly sexual relationship, while the Moon in Pisces is good for a romantic and idealistic love, or even spiritual love. Older texts such as the Greek Magical Papyri suggest the Moon in Aquarius for love magick, though I’m not really sure why. Chapter 7 contains more astrological information that may be used to understand your compatibility with a lover. This information can also be applied to astrological magick and timing when casting your spells.

  Nature’s Helpers

  Love magick from almost all traditions looks to the powers of nature for aid in procuring love. Since ancient times, humans have learned how scent, color, and texture can stimulate, arouse, and entice other humans. From a larger metaphysical view, we see nature as a source of unconditional love, and when we spend time in nature, we feel connected to our source of creation through the emotion of divine love. Like the creatures of nature—plant, animal, and mineral—we feel less separation from the Divine because we are operating out of our heartspace rather than our intellectual minds.

  In magick, we have used the energies of the natural world to help us tune in to specific qualities to make our magick. As nature is part of the whole, anything we can imagine magickally is available to us. Love is one of those specific energies we want to tune in to when making magick. We want to manifest that divine and romantic love in our daily life and use charms from nature to help us do so. They have become the basis of our magickal formulas in traditional magick systems.

  While some look to these substances as ingredients, as tools, from a spirit worker’s point of view, they are really allies. Everything has a spirit. Everything has an energetic consciousness, even though it might operate in a way much different from humanity. Every animal, every plant, and every stone has a living power, and the best magick workers consciously partner with that living power to be in harmony with nature rather than unconsciously command or compel those powers. They become our helpers in magick. Cooperation, particularly in love magick, is always better than force.

  Love Stones

  Stones, minerals, and crystals are powerful allies in the quest and sustainment of love because their very nature is solid and dependable. Each anchors a particular vibration of love for us and helps us attune to it, even in the midst of emotional upheaval and reactions. When used in magick, they can return us to our intention of love, even when we are feeling lonely, scared, or angry.

  The following stones have been partnered with love magick in the past and can be used in your own spells:

  Amber—Amber is not a stone but a fossilized resin, usually orange, yellow, or brown in color, from the sap of a tree. Though variations of it are found all over the world, the magick of amber plays most strongly in the Norse traditions, being sacred to the goddess Freya. In modern Witchcraft, amber is generally considered male and solar in nature, a counterpart to dark jet, another fossil. It is a versatile “stone,” with the ability to absorb or project energy as needed. It can be used to enhance any magick; with its associations with Freya, it is an excellent charm for love magick and for healing from the loss of love by absorbing grief and pain.

  Aventurine, Green—Green aventurine, sometimes called green quartz, is another Venusian stone. Though an entirely different stone, it is used much the same way that emerald is (though it is much cheaper), opening the heart and even healing vision. It is used as a good-luck charm and can attract love and romance, and generate an overall sense of well-being.

  Azurite—Azurite is a deep-blue stone with properties associated with peace, healing, and unconditional love. While it doesn’t have traditional correspondence with romantic love, it forms with many other copper compounds that do, such as turquoise, malachite, and chrysocolla.

  Calcite—The shiny family of calcite stones is best used to reveal the truth and to reveal illusions. The color of the calcite focuses on whatever level of your consciousness it operates. For aiding in the quest for love and revealing your illusions about love and relationship, green, emerald, pink, and blue calcite would be helpful.

  Cat’s Eye—Cat’s eye is formed from the same mineral as nephrite jade, but it forms with green fibers in it. When polished, it forms a single vertical streak, making a rounded piece look like the eye of a cat. Like many natural phenomena resembling eyes, it’s used for protection, to avert the “evil eye” form of curses. It is also said to confer catlike attributes, helping you attune to your instincts, intuition, and playful nature. Because of the green color, like jade, it can be used for love magick, though other forms of cat’s eye can be found in brown or yellow.

  Chrysocolla—This soft, blue stone is another copper compound. Its energy is soft, feminine, and loving. It is used to soothe pain—physical pain, particularly joint pain, or the pain of the heart to overcome the ending of relationships.

  Chrysoprase—Chrysoprase is a stone of spiritual protection and balance. It elevates the mood, preventing depression, and increases physical fertility. The apple-green stone is sometimes mistaken for a form of jade, but it is really of the chalcedony family of stones.

  Emerald—Emerald is one of the premiere love stones. Ruled by Venus, it can be used in all manner of magick to attract and strengthen love, as well as heal the heart. Also influenced by Taurus, emerald magick is used to find strong, secure lovers who seek to build a home. Famed for its ability to heal the eyes, emerald can help you “see” your relationship or lover clearly and make appropriately informed choices about your life.

  Hexagonite, Pink—A stone recently “discovered” by the metaphysical community for healing, pink hexagonite has the same minerals that form cat’s eye and nephrite jade but with pink or lilac color. Current magickal research says that it opens one up to divine unconditional love rather than personal love, aligning the heart, brow, and crown chakras with the energies beyond. It calms the mind to receive true divine love without judgment.

  Jade—Two different stones bear the name jade: jadite and nephrite. While they look very similar and have similar magickal uses, jadite has a brighter color and is considered “true” jade. Jade is an all-purpose stone that is used f
or physical and spiritual healing of all kinds, strengthening the life force of the body, granting longevity, and boosting strength and determination. It is also a stone associated with love and fertility and is given as a gift on the twelfth, thirtieth, and thirty-fifth wedding anniversaries.

  Jasper, Green—Jasper is a form of chalcedony that takes many colors and contains many forms and patterns in it, giving it a wide variety of properties and appearances. Most jaspers are considered protective or balancing. Green jasper, due to its color, can be used in love magick.

  Kunzite—Being pink, kunzite can look similar to rose quartz, and many would use the two interchangeably. Kunzite has the added benefit of lifting up the emotions. While rose quartz has a sense of “warm and fuzzy” love, kunzite’s love vibration can raise you out of depression and inspire you to make choices from a place of love.

  Kyanite—Kyanite is the stone to remove thoughtforms and blockages from the energy body. Its straight, fibrous growth is most commonly found in blue and is used to heal the mental body, but it can also be found in green, removing blocks in the emotional body, or black, to bring protection and grounding. Unpolished kyanite can be fragile.

  Lapis Lazuli—Sacred to the queen of heaven and earth, Inanna, lapis can be used to bring peace and prosperity to relationship. It grants a sense of royalty to the user, to enhance self-esteem. It’s a particularly good stone for women to get in touch with their inner goddess of love, but it can also be used successfully by men.

  Lodestone—Lodestone, or natural magnet, is a classic ingredient in love charms everywhere. The attractive forces of magnetism parallel the “animal magnetism” in sexual and romantic attraction. In the Hoodoo tradition, lodestones must be fed with iron powder to keep them active and alive in your magick.

  Malachite—Malachite is a very dense and grounding green stone, granting physical and emotional protection as well as prosperity. It grants strength in all matters of the heart. It is one of the few stones that should not be made into a direct gem elixir, for toxins will leach out of the stone into the water, potentially harming the user.

  Peridot—Peridot, also known as olivine, is a bright yellowish green stone used to open the heart to love and to keep it open despite fear and pain. Peridot is also known to attract material wealth.

  Quartz, Clear—Clear quartz magnifies any intention placed into it. The points, or rounded stones, can be used in love magick of all kinds to increase attractiveness, to magnify self-esteem, and to broadcast a beacon to attract the lover who is correct for you.

  Quartz, Rose—Rose quartz is the preeminent love stone. The color comes from titanium tinting the naturally clear or white quartz, and with this addition, the quartz carries the vibration of unconditional love. It is used in all manner of self-esteem and confidence spells and is the heart of charms for true magickal love.

  Rhodochrosite—Rhodochrosite is a pink stone banded with white. It is used to attract and nourish love. It is also particularly powerful in healing issues of the past, including past lives. Rhodochrosite heals the heart and cleanses the aura of unhealthy emotions.

  Rhodonite—Similar to and often confused with rhodochrosite, rhodonite is a pink stone with black coloring due to black manganese oxides rather than white. Rhodonite can also be used in dream magick to clarify your dreams, work on past-life issues, and dream of your future lover.

  Serpentine—Serpentine is used as an amulet to protect you from harm, particularly the bites of poisonous animals and insects, yet it is also used as a charm for love and romance, being a green stone ruled by Venus. Serpentine can help prevent poisoning a relationship with jealousy or mistrust.

  Tourmaline—Tourmaline is an excellent stone to remove blocks in consciousness, particularly blocks in the heart chakra and blocks to love. Blue tourmaline brings peace of mind and clears obsessive thoughts. Green, pink, and especially watermelon tourmaline are particularly powerful for heart healing and love magick.

  Turquoise—Turquoise is an all-purpose stone. Due to its blue color, it is most associated with Jupiter in planetary magick, but because its blue hue is from being a copper compound, from the metal of Venus, it also has Venusian associations. Turquoise can be used to bring love, peaceful emotions, clarity when making decisions about matters of the heart, and healing when relationships are in turmoil. It is also a stone of protection, communication, and wealth.

  Herbs of Love

  Along with stones, it is common to use herbs, flowers, and trees in love magick. Herbs are just as powerful as stones, but they are different. Rather than anchoring a specific kind of love energy, they grow and develop in their own journey of love, just as we do; therefore, their spirit can teach us lessons of change that are different from the wisdom of stones. Plants undergo their own sexual relationships and families, and that wisdom can be carried with us when we use them in spells and formulas. Even though human relationships are different, plant magick can help us adapt, change, and respond more appropriately when seeking romance or when we are in a long-term relationship.

  Generally, the flower is the part of the plant that attracts. In some traditions of flower magick, the practitioner divides the sexual aspects of flowers so that the harvested pollen of flowers is for the male mysteries, the God of Witchcraft, and is used generally in attracting women; the nectar of flowers is for female mysteries, the Goddess, and for attracting men. Since most of us do not collect our flower, pollen, and nectar individually, such traditions do not have a lot of written lore on them but are worth exploring. The more solid parts of the plant—the roots of herbs and the bark of trees—can be used to gain solidity in any magick. The leaves and stems are used in general magick.

  The following plants can be called upon for aid in your love magick:

  Adam and Eve Root—Adam and Eve root are two separate orchid roots, also known as putty root. One is considered male and the other female. Sometimes the roots are tied together and/or carried in a bag to attract or ensure love. They can be bound in a pouch and given to a couple to ensure happy love and a successful marriage. For heterosexual couples, the “male” root is carried by the man, and the “female” root is carried by the woman. It ensures fidelity and promotes the strengthening and growth of the couple. If not in a relationship, you can give the corresponding part to your intended lover. In Hoodoo, the roots are anointed with an attraction oil and carried in a pouch of red flannel to attract a lover.

  Almond—Almond is ruled by the element of air and the planet Mercury, though it has associations with love magick and Venus. It is best used to grant eloquence and communication skills, along with creativity, in any romance. Almond oil can be used as a good base oil for any essential-oil blend.

  Angelica—Usually angelica is used in protection magick, to align yourself with the realm of the angels and to break harmful, unwanted energies. The root of this plant is used in protection, banishing, and healing incense and powders. In love magick, it can be used to add blessings and grace to any relationship.

  Apple—Apple is the tree of Venus, with its five-petalled flowers and five-pointed seed star within the fruit. It is filled with magickal and healing lore and has a variety of uses. Faery traditions are associated with the apple, as are Witchcraft and spells. Apple wood collected in the fall and winter is used in magick to commune with the faeries of the underworld. Due to its potentially baneful nature, it should not be used in relationship and love magick. However, wood collected in the spring and summer is used for the magick of love, relationship, fertility, and marriage. Do not use it for communion with the underworld faeries. In general, apple is also an herb of immortality and healing.

  Apricot—Apricots can be used in all manner of love spells, as their juice makes any working more sweet. They also have associations with androgyny and diversity, mixing the flavors of peach and plum, and can be used in gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender love magick.

 
Arrowroot—Arrowroot is used to heal the heart’s wounds from the “arrows” of love, just as Native American healers used it to heal the wounds from physical arrows. The powder is used in heart-healing powders and incense.

  Avocado—Avocado is an excellent food for love magick, being ruled by Venus and considered a feminine food. It can also be used in beauty magick and in oil mixes, as well as in creams and ointments. As a carrier oil, it should be mixed with other carrier oils because it can have a strong scent on its own.

  Balm of Gilead—The flowers of the balm of Gilead are used in love spells and incense. It is considered to be a balm to soothe quarrels in the family, marriage, or any relationship. It eases jealousy and hurt feelings, and helps lovers and friends reconcile. In can be used in incense with myrrh to open the channels of reconciliation with someone. It is used to bring peace in magick. In Wicca, putting bowls of salt in the four corners of the home is a traditional protection spell. Add a pinch of balm of Gilead to each of the bowls in order to add the power of peace with protection to the household.

  Bay—Bay is a solar and masculine herb, sacred to Apollo. A powerful herb with many uses, particularly the power of prophecy, it can be used to add power to any love, lust, or romance magick. Bay is particularly powerful when used in food magick.

  Belladonna—Belladonna means “beautiful lady,” as it was used to dilate the eyes of women in the European court to give them greater allure and beauty, yet it is also known as deadly nightshade, one of the most powerful and toxic herbs in the Witch’s apothecary. Few modern Witches use belladonna for this reason. The spirit of this plant is decidedly feminine and seductive. Spiritually, she opens new doorways of consciousness and shamanic journeys, being one of the ingredients in the classic flying ointment of medieval Witches, but she is also an enchantress. Her leaves and berries can be used extremely carefully to add potency to any love mixture that will not be consumed. Use only with caution, and never consume or use topically.