The Witch's Heart

by Christopher Penczak

  1 tablespoon rose petals soaked in rose water

  1 tablespoon rue

  1 tablespoon jasmine flowers

  1 tonka bean

  1 tablespoon vervain

  1 tablespoon star anise

  1 tablespoon raspberry leaf

  1 tablespoon damiana leaf

  1 tablespoon yarrow flower

  1 tablespoon basil leaf

  1 tablespoon red clover tops

  1 pinch dragon’s blood resin

  1 vanilla bean

  Let the mixture cool and strain out the herbs. If available, add nine drops of sea water to the potion to truly activate its Venusian sea foam powers.

  This potion is not for consumption but for anointing the body, including the chakras and nape of the neck. One of the ingredients, rue, can cause skin irritation in some people and should never be used by pregnant women. Omit it from the formula if necessary.

  potion} Romance and Self-Love

  2 cups spring water

  3 tablespoons sea salt

  1 teaspoon yarrow

  1 teaspoon orris root

  1 teaspoon rose petals

  1 teaspoon patchouli

  1 teaspoon lemon verbena

  3 drops hyacinth oil or jasmine oil

  2 drops rose oil

  1 drop patchouli oil

  Copper wire, penny, or ingot

  Rose quartz

  This is one of my favorite love potions both for self-love and for use in romantic love magick. It is another saltwater-based anointing potion. Add the herbs and salt to the water and let it simmer. Add the copper and rose quartz as it simmers. Strain it out when cool and add the oils for scent before you bottle it. The hyacinth oil was another oil specifically for gay love. Jasmine makes an excellent substitute from the original recipe for those not specifically using it for a gay male love, and I’ve had students use jasmine to good effect. You will have a potent potion for love magick. I wore it every day for quite a while, both when seeking romantic love and when doing healing work on self-love in preparation for a healthy romantic partner.

  potion} Apple Love Elixir

  Apple blossoms

  Brandy

  Mason jar

  Plastic wrap

  The magickal power of apples can be harvested to make a very powerful love elixir. The blossoms must be lovingly gathered, filling a small jar. The jar is then filled with brandy, covered in plastic wrap, and capped so that no metal touches the flowers or alcohol. As a folk recipe, exact measurements are not as important. Simply fill the jar with blossoms and then cover them with brandy. Let it steep for seven days. A few drops can be taken on the tongue or in a small glass of water to transform your relationship with love by the power of the apple tree and its Venusian correspondences. You will feel more attractive and more magnetic, and be able to draw love and romance to you if you desire. It works first on kindling your own inner powers and a relationship of self-love. I suggest taking a few drops every day for a week. You can also add a few drops to the drink of a lover, and drink it together to unite your love and further your commitment.

  Love Spells

  Love spells use a variety of tools to evoke passion, affection, and, most importantly, the magnetic energy to attract two (or more) people together in relationship. They work through the power of correspondence and sympathetic magick, and can also include prayers to the deities of love, circle magick, and use of the potions, oils, and incense described above.

  spell} Rose Quartz

  A simple love spell involving the most beloved of all love stones can be done by anybody. Take a rose quartz crystal. Cleanse it under cool running water; ideally we should use the water of a stream, but faucet water will do in a pinch for those of us without a stream in our back yards. Hold the stone up to the full moon and imagine the stone filling with moonlight. Ask the moon goddess and the spirit of the rose quartz to bring you love. Specify what kind of love you wish—self-love, relationship love, spiritual love—and then carry the stone in an appropriately colored bag. Use pink for self-love, green or red for romantic love, and blue for spiritual love. Repeat the spell as often as needed. This can also be done with rose quartz jewelry. Simply omit the carrying bag and wear the jewelry.

  [contents]

  spell} Candle

  Green taper candle

  Pink taper candle

  2 candle holders

  Venus oil or other love potion

  14 pins

  This spell works through the power of sympathetic magick, gradually bringing you and your potential love closer and closer together until you meet. One of the candles is representative of you, the other of your potential, unknown love. Determine which candle is which in your mind.

  Start this spell on the first Friday of the waxing Moon. Pass the candles through a purifying smoke such as sage or a mix of frankincense and myrrh to cleanse them. Anoint the candles with a Venusian oil or other love oil. If you have a particular signature scent, perfume, or oil, anoint the candle that represents you with it. Charge your candle to be you, and imagine magnetizing it to attract the appropriate person for you. Charge the second candle to be your potential love, and charge it to only be attracted to you. Stick seven pins in each candle, dividing them evenly along the taper. Set the candles about twelve inches apart. Burn the candles until the first pins, at the top of each candle, fall out. Snuff the candles and move each candle one inch closer. The next day, burn them until the second pins fall out. Snuff them and again move them an inch closer. Repeat each day until on the last day they are as close to touching as possible. Let them burn all the way. Your love is on the way, and the two of you will soon meet.

  spell} Dreaming of Your Love

  A traditional folk love spell states that a young maiden seeking to know and attract her love must go out on Midsummer’s Eve and collect nine different kinds of flowers (the different types of flowers depend on what’s in bloom in the area). The flowers are placed under her pillow, and she will dream of her love and attract her lover to her. St. John’s wort is a traditional flower for this spell and one of the most powerful flowers for Midsummer’s magick.

  spell} Rose Wish

  Fresh red rose

  Vase

  Spring water

  Brown sugar or honey

  Dragon’s blood resin

  The rose wish spell, also known as the rose life-mate spell, is hands-down my favorite love spell, for it is the spell that brought me together with my husband Steve. I’ve shared it with a number of people, and those who cast it while in the proper frame of mind have had amazing successes with potential life mates. A few others have had good romantic relationships, if not lifelong matches.

  You must do this spell when you are truly ready to settle down and truly ready to find your life mate and build a balanced partnership together. You can do this when you are feeling unsure if there is someone out there for you, and even though you might be somewhat discouraged, you are coming to a place of detachment about a life partner. If you find one, that’s great, but you are not pinning all your future plans and focusing your life on it. Only in this frame of mind does the spell seem to work best. I performed it after several years of casual dating, each time knowing the date was not a potential life partner. Only when I let go of my expectations of what a partner should be (but not necessarily lower my standards about the kind of person I wanted) did I have success.

  On a Friday while the Moon is waxing, take a live, freshly cut rose to your altar. (You can use a florist’s rose; it doesn’t have to be grown yourself.) Mix fresh water, a pinch of brown sugar or honey, and a pinch of dragon’s blood resin to the water, charging each with your wish to find your life mate. The water is to feed the relationship with pure love, the sugar is to bring sweetness, and the drag
on’s blood is to bring passion and power. Hold the rose to your heart between both hands, and pray to the goddess of love, asking the spirit of the rose to connect you and open your heart. Through your feelings and thoughts, your inner magickal prayer, ask for your life mate. Imagine the feeling you will feel when you are together. Do not focus on a look, image, or any specific qualities other than the mate being attractive to you (and you to your mate), that your mate be of good character, and that the match be what is for both your highest goods. Hold the rose a few moments longer and you might get a message from the Goddess to aid you in your journey. Then put the rose in the water and let go of your intent. After a day in the water, take the rose out, hang it, and let it dry. Keep the petals in a safe place, such as a small green bag on your altar, under your bed, or in your nightstand. I poured the remaining water out on the land.

  When I did this spell, I received a very clear and distinct message that I would know my mate because he would give me flowers long before I ever thought to give him flowers. Being a true romantic, I was the one in a relationship to give flowers, write love poems and songs, and plan romantic surprises, but I never received them. So I had resolved to back off from broad gestures of affection until I was certain about the relationship. On our first date, a blind date, I walked him to his car and he stopped me for a moment, pulled out a single long-stem red rose, and said, “I don’t know why, I felt strongly compelled to get this for you on my way here. I hope it’s not too forward.” I was shocked, but that night was the start of a lifelong romance.

  Polyamory Spells

  Though I’ve been in both traditional and polyamorous relationships, I’ve never specifically done a polyamorous love spell. Though our relationship is very magickal, the third in our triad partnership came into our life without any overt magick on my end, though Adam certainly performed a love spell for the partner that was correct for him, and in the end found two partners instead of one. Any of the spells and formulas can be adapted to suit a polyamorous intention. You can also adapt these principles to create a spell specific to a polyamorous intention.

  Polyamorous relationships are often described in terms of geometry. Triads are described as triangles, where all three have relationships with each other, or “V’s” with one person serving as the focal point. Foursomes are described as squares, and so on. In this spell, do you have an ideal configuration in mind? If so, draw a sigil, using the configuration you’ve chosen, such as a triangle, V, or square. Place a candle for every person you desire in the relationship. If you already have a partner and are seeking others, separate your candle and your partner’s candle from the candle or candles you have designated as the person or people you seek to attract. In the center of the candles, put an incense burner, cauldron, or censer with charcoal, and burn a love incense. Let the candles burn as the incense burns and be open to your new love.

  Love Symbols

  A variety of symbols may be used to attract love, romance, and sexual desire, and to increase charm and beauty. To use these symbols, they are traditionally made into some form of charm and are carried or worn by the person. They can be carved in wood, molded from clay, etched on metal, or even written on parchment paper. They can be carved into candles, written on petitions, or placed beneath candle holders or potion bottles to enhance other forms of magick.

  The best wood for such magick depends on the type of love charm you are making. Apple and willow work wonders for love and romance, as does whitethorn and rose if you can get it. For a strong relationship, oak of any kind is powerful and enduring. Clays can be mixed with oils and ground herbs to align them with the forces of love. Copper is the best metal to work love charms, while parchment papers should be colored green or pink and ideally red or green ink should be used.

  Love Runes

  The following runes from the Norse Elder Futhark are used by Witches and modern magicians for the purposes of love. Most have a more agrarian concept of fertility than romance, but the powers of fertility can be directed toward a successful and fertile union, even if the fertility is a harvest of joy, happiness, and health as a couple, and not necessarily the conception of children. I’ve found them particularly inspiring when inscribed in wedding rings.

  Uruz—Uruz ( ) is the rune of the wild ox. Its power is embodied by the animal nature. It is vitality, physical health, and strength. In love magick, this rune can be used for increasing sexuality and fertility, encouraging one to go with primal urges and passions. On the highest level, Uruz is connected to the wild and vital shamanic and initiatory rituals that get you in touch with your primal self, and for many of us, sex can be a ritual that gets us in touch with our primal, vital self.

  Kenaz—Kenaz ( ) is the rune of the torch, of fire and inspiration. Though it’s not explicitly a rune of love or romance, it can be used for energy, inspiration, and fertility. The fertility associations come from the light of the torch, seen as a masculine symbol, entering into the darkness of the night, or the darkness of the cave, penetrating the feminine mysteries. Some Stone Age sites have alignments of sunlight entering a cave or crypt to bring illumination and perhaps to symbolize the sun entering and fertilizing the deep earth for the coming year.

  Gebo—Gebo ( ) is one of the best runes for love magick. It translates to “gift” and refers to a freely given offering, an unexpected gift or good fortune. In readings, this rune shows up for relationships, love, and marriage, as the gift can be an exchange between two people bonding them, such as the exchange of wedding rings. Magick with Gebo can find or strengthen a relationship, or bring new and unexpected delights to an existing relationship.

  Wunjo—Wunjo ( ) is the rune of joy, and when it occurs in a rune reading, it indicates success, bliss, and a happiness that occurs when everything goes the way you want it to go. While not specifically a love rune, I’ve used it in love spells to draw forth the blessings of joy and happiness for a relationship.

  Sowulo—Associated with the Sun, Sowulo ( ) is the power of the increasing, fertile sun, used in all magick to bring strength and success. The solar correspondence gives it power with fertility, particularly the fertility of the land, but that can be translated into human fertility and sexuality as well as success and optimism in relationship.

  Berkana—Berkana ( ) is a feminine symbol of fertility and the earth, associated with the birch tree. It is another rune that is not specifically for love but for conception, healing, and fresh starts. Birth has been associated with spring fertility rites and young love. Berkana can be paired effectively with Sowulo or the rune Teiwaz ( ) for a female/male balance to the rune magick.

  Ing—Ing ( ) is the rune of the fertility god, associated with Ing and the god Freyr, brother to Freya. Again, this is not a rune of romance or love but of our connection to the land and the fertility of the land. Ing has the male, virile power of the land and animals, a power that can translate to the relationship between people, to add lust and attraction to our magick.

  The Seals of Venus

  For those seeking a medieval flair to their love magick, the Seals of Venus are powerful tools in your quest for love. These complex geometric symbols are also called Venusian pentacles, though they are not always based on the five-pointed star. They originate from the Clavicular Salomonis, or The Key of Solomon, popularized by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn through a translation from the order’s founder, Samuel Liddel MacGregor Mathers. In it, each of the seven classical planets has several seals described, along with specific instructions on how to create them and what each does. The system is heavily Judeo-Christian, using the Hebrew names of God and traditional archangels. They have been adapted into Witchcraft, and you can even find them cast in pewter and silver as items of occult jewelry.

  Venus has five pentacles from this text, and any one of them can be used in Venusian love magick, but the ones most strongly associated with our work are the third and fifth pentacles.


  The third pentacle is said to be ruled by the angel Monachiel, and this angel should be invoked in the day and hour of Venus. For those not wanting to bother with calculating planetary hours, dawn on Friday is the easiest hour of Venus on Venus’s day and requires no mathematical calculation. If the third pentacle is shown to a person, it will attract their love.

  The last pentacle of Venus is shown to a person to “inciteth and exciteth wonderfully unto love.” Like the previous pentacle, you must be sure of whom you show it to, for it can conjure strong emotions when used correctly.

  figures}Top, the Third Pentacle of Venus; bottom, the Fifth Pentacle of Venus

  While tradition gives us specific instructions suitable to the medieval worldview, most Witches I know use the seals much like runes or other talismans, believing the symbol itself has inherent geometric power but the manner in which it is created can be adapted to the modern world.

  Another form of ceremonial magick for love involves using the kamea, or magick square, of Venus. Your intention for a spell is reduced to a simple phrase that would then be converted into geometry by using the magick square. For example, take a short intention such as marriage, if you are seeking a marriage partner.

  Using the alphanumeric conversion chart below, MARRIAGE would convert to 4-1-9-9-9-1-7-5. Some would cross out the double letters, leaving us with MIGE, or 4-9-7-5.

  123456789

  ABCDEFGHI

  JKLMNOPQR

  STUVWXYZ

  Using the simpler version, plot out 4-9-7-5 on the square of Venus, forming a sigil in harmony with your intention. (See next page for completed sigil on the square of Venus.)