figures}Venus square, top, and marriage sigil
on Venus square, bottom, made by
connecting 4-9-7-5
figure}Venus’s Planetary Intelligence Seal
A Venus Talisman
This sigil then could be made into a paper, wood, or metal talisman. In qabalistic magick, a more complex talisman can be made, usually using paper. Venus’s qabalistic number is seven, so its shape is seven sided, a septagram, and its primary color is green, with a complementary color in red. Cut out two paper septagrams that are connected with a paper link like a paper doll, and put a different Venusian symbol for your intention on each, colored with green and red. Venus has a traditional seal association with the planetary intelligence that can be used for one side (see above); you could also use one of the pentacles of Venus from page 140.
The talisman is then folded over (see next page for an illustration). Sometimes a bit of herb, oil, or a mixture known as a fluid condenser appropriate to the intention would be put in the middle before it is folded over and sealed with glue. For this work, a bit of cotton with four drops of rose oil, sandalwood oil, or a blended Venus oil would work very well for the center of the amulet. Even some rose water would be quite effective. The connecting paper tab is now a loop where a string can be put through and worn like a necklace. Such talismans were usually kept under clothing, secret from prying eyes.
figures}A completed seven-sided Venus talisman, top;
left, the outside of the sigil, and right, the inside
of the sigil; place a bit of cotton with essential oil
in the center before folding it up and wearing it
The Sigil of Archangel Haniel
Haniel is the archangel of the planet Venus and is associated with love, romance, and fertility. Her name means “grace of God” or “beauty of God,” and she is said to hold the secrets of beauty and the mysteries of nature and herbcraft. She is also the teacher on the nature of true love and can grant romance and loving relationships, heal relationships and marriages, and bring self-love.
Ideally, her seal is made at dawn on Friday, etched in copper, smudged in the smoke of red sandalwood or rose, and anointed with rose oil or lady’s mantle tea. If you can’t get the copper and engraving tools, making one out of green or pink paper can still work.
Hold the sigil and tell Haniel what you want and need in a relationship. Speak with an open heart, be true to your feelings, but ask for exactly what you want and need. Carry the sigil upon your person, on the left side, to draw your relationship wish to you. It can be saved until the next time you need to commune with the angel or destroyed upon the completion of your wish. Sigils of Venus are best disposed of in water—running rivers and streams or the ocean itself.
figure} Seal of Haniel
Love Charms
Charms are magickal devices created in ritual. They can be containers of herbs, stones, metals, and animal hair or geometric talismans (as described with the symbols above) or even pieces of jewelry. Symbols and sigils can be incorporated into more complex charms. Generally, a charm is known as a talisman when its magick seeks to attract benign forces to you, while an amulet sends harmful forces away or repels. Most love charms are considered talismans by these definitions, unless you are creating a talisman to ward you from love or sex, or to make you less attractive.
The item itself is said to contain the energy of the spell. To be of use, one has to carry the charm, place it in the home, or bury it somewhere to activate its power. Love charms are an excellent way to empower another who is seeking love magick. If they can’t carry the talisman and follow any other instructions, then they are not actively engaged in the creation of their own reality. Carrying a talisman helps your own consciousness interact with the natural virtue of the charm and helps you co-create your new relationship.
charm} Herbal Mojo
A love charm that I had a lot of success with in terms of attracting attention and getting dates was a simple herbal mojo bag I wore as a necklace. When the Moon was waxing in Taurus—both a sign ruled by Venus, the planet of love, and my own solar birth sign, adding extra power for me—I placed the following herbs in a red square of satin cloth, approximately seven inches in diameter. Seven is the qabalistic number associated with Venus, and proportions of five and seven are sympathetic to Venusian magick.
2 teaspoons rose petals
2 teaspoons yarrow
2 teaspoons raspberry leaves
1 teaspoon damiana
1 teaspoon dragon’s blood resin
1 teaspoon mandrake root (mayapple)
1 teaspoon lavender
1 teaspoon orris root
1 teaspoon cinnamon
I added a small piece of rose quartz, also charged for love, and the following oils:
21 drops hyacinth oil
9 drops rose oil
5 drops patchouli oil
3 drops jasmine oil
I wrapped up the herbs and stones, gathering the corners of the cloth together, and then the edges, tying them together with a black cord. I left enough cord on each end to be able to create a necklace and placed beads on the cord to make it decorative. I wore it almost continuously for five months, particularly when I was out in public. Many people, including many potential dates, were attracted to it, and it began many conversations that led to dating, if not a long-term relationship. Sadly, with this spell I thought that “love” as the intention was enough, but I wasn’t clear in my goals, which I thought were implied as being a long-term relationship. But it was effective in getting a temporary sort of love and some dating experience. You can try this charm for yourself, either to get attention for romance or to be very specific in your intention to find the type of love you are looking to find.
I specifically formulated this charm for gay love, being a gay man seeking to attract a man. The use of the hyacinth oil in particular is specific for gay male love, and in some traditions of herbal magick, so is lavender. This charm recipe can be adapted for all types of love and relationships, with some substitutions. You can replace the hyacinth oil with bergamot, palmarosa, or cinnamon oil. Each variation will yield a different quality, the first two being more feminine and the cinnamon being more spicy and masculine, though bergamot, palmarosa, and cinnamon don’t have any connotations for specific types of partners. With the proper magickal intention, all three can attract a romantic partner of either sex for a heterosexual or homosexual relationship. Choose the one that has the most pleasing scent to you. If you do not like the smell of lavender, you can also replace it with vervain and be equally successful. For some, lavender is too peaceful for a love spell.
charm} Walnut
The walnut tree is associated with love, fertility, and the Faery realm, and the use of walnuts and their shells in magick is very powerful. A simple love charm uses the shell of the walnut, cracked as evenly into two separate pieces as possible. Remove the nut from the shell (ideally eating the nut) and put in a copper coin (in the United States, a penny minted before 1982) and pinches of several different love herbs, depending on what herbal allies suit the type of love you want to draw toward you. Seal up the walnut shell. Tradition will say to use wax or pine pitch, but I’ve found the best method to assure a nutshell won’t come undone is glue. Carry the nut with you to attract love and relationships.
The walnut spell can be changed to draw other things to you. Walnuts with sexual fluids rather than coins can be used to draw sex and generate lust. Gambling charms can be made with silver dimes and prosperity herbs. Cursing nuts can be made with thorns, nails, or sulfur.
charm} Apple
The apple tree can aid us in many ways. A potent love charm consists of using a thorn, copper nail, or other sharp or spiked implement (never iron) for carving your spell on the skin of the apple. On a waxing Moon, hold your apple and think about the l
ove you seek. Take three qualities you wish your lover to possess and write them on the skin of the apple, carving them with your tool. Make the cuts deep. Some Witches find it helpful to translate their three wishes into a magickal language. Runes are ideal, as they are straight lines and easier to carve than some other magickal languages, such as Theban Script. You can let the apple dry on your altar or windowsill; once dried, use it as a traditional charm, carried upon your person or hidden beneath your bed.
A more powerful method consists of disposing of the charm. Take the apple either to its original grove, if you have picked the apple yourself, or to another place of power—a special place in nature, the graveyard of an ancestor, the crossroads, or the beach of a river—and cover the apple in honey. Leave it there, turning around and not looking back on it, knowing the spirit of the apple and the spirits of that place will work with the gods of love to bring you what you seek.
Other fruits can be used instead of the apple, such as pears, but they are not as powerful, in my opinion. Mayapples from the species Podophyllum peltatum can be used. Mayapples are considered American mandrake by some. If you should have the fruit of the true mandrake, Mandragora officinarum, its fruit can make a potent magickal charm, yet many of us have not been blessed enough to use this plant directly due to it being difficult to grow in colder climates.
Love Spells for Specific People
Though love spells for specific individuals are controversial, as covered in chapter 3, they are quite traditional. You can find many spells in traditional folk magick. No love magick book would be complete without citing at least a few examples for those interested in such ideas and for those interested in protecting themselves from such magick and breaking these spells when they might occur. You must know how they work in order to know how to undo them properly.
All of these spells can be adapted by the clever magician into versions that would conform with more modern magickal ethics concerning love magick.
spell} Sweeten Up to Love
A traditional spell used to solve all sorts of problems is known as the sweeten up spell. Basically, you have a sealable jar or bottle with some sort of sweet substance in it. Usually the jar is filled with honey, though some will use a sugar water. You place the name of anybody who is not being sweet to you on a piece of paper and place it into the jar and sweet liquid, immersing it. Through the magickal principles of correspondence, you will cause sweetness between you. It’s a spell used to quell any arguments you are having with somebody or generally used when you feel you don’t get along with a family member or coworker. It makes them more likely to be nice and feel good toward you.
A variation of the sweeten up spell, used for love and romance, is to add essential oils associated with romance and happiness, including jasmine, rose, sweet pea bouquet, vanilla, or even cinnamon to the mix. They will alter the sweetness to romantic sweetness, not just niceness, so make sure you have separate jars for the people you just want to be nice and for the people you want to be romantic toward you. You could also use tinctures or the dried herb, but the oils carry the most potency, as we give strong smells a more aphrodisiac quality than dried herbs. The spell doesn’t guarantee romance but makes the person more likely to be flirty and romantically sweet toward you.
spell} Red Sock
A traditional Finnish love spell (which honestly I’ve never used or known anybody to use but still find interesting) instructs a woman who desires a specific man to pass water through her red sock after she has worn it and to collect the water that passes through it. She must then somehow get the man she seeks to drink the water, and he will fall passionately in love with her. Spells like this work under the principle of the intended target consuming something intimate—body fluids, sweat, hair—in order to bewitch.
spell} Bewitchment Powder
3 tablespoons apple wood
2 tablespoons orchid root (satyrion root)
2 tablespoons coriander seeds
1 tablespoon foxglove flowers
1 tablespoon passionflower
1 tablespoon yarrow
1 tablespoon parsley leaf
½ tablespoon poppy seeds
¼ tablespoon datura seeds
This modern variation of a traditional powder recipe works by having your intended recipient step through the powder, transferring the energy of the magick and the virtue of the herbs to the target. This particular mix of herbs creates an enticing synergy to bewitch and enchant another, as well as raise sexual energy. The results are not necessarily deep romantic love but a fascination and enchantment that is more reminiscent of a faery glamour than a love spell.
Grind each ingredient into a powder individually and then mix them together one by one, starting with the apple wood as a base and moving down the list to the datura seeds. Spread the powder in a line across a threshold of a door where the target of your affections will cross. The trick is to make sure only your intended target walks through the powder or, at the very least, is the first to walk through it. If you can arrange to cross paths with the target of your affection, ideally shortly after they cross the threshold, so much the better.
spell} Love Bread
1 cup warm water
1 tablespoon plus 2 tablespoons sugar (white or brown)
2 tablespoons yeast
5 teaspoons rose water
1 teaspoon flavored extract (vanilla or almond)
6–7 cups flour
1 cup milk
Dash salt
4 tablespoons oil or melted margarine/shortening
A potent charm to engage a specific lover is to share a magickal bread. Prepare a simple bread using love ingredients that are potent in romance and seduction. While baking and all forms of cooking can be a complex magickal art, bread breaking can be much more simple than you might think.
Mix one cup warm water with one tablespoon sugar in a bowl. To this sugar-water mix, add two tablespoons yeast. Let the mix sit for five minutes.
Add three cups of flour to the bowl. Ideally, for love magick, walnut flour, also known as walnut meal, is used as the base of the love bread. Walnut trees and their nuts are powerful aids to love magick. Acorn flour can also be used; some would say it makes the bread more of a fertility charm, while others say it adds more of a sexual element to it. On a practical note, acorn flour can spoil easily if not stored properly, and its bread will be more crumbly than bread made of other flours. Perhaps a small amount added to the walnut or regular flour works best. To the flour, add one cup milk, two more tablespoons sugar, a dash of salt, and four tablespoons oil, melted and cooled margarine, or shortening. Then add five teaspoons of food-quality rose hydrosol (rose water). Make sure the rose water is all natural, because many cosmetic brands of rose water are actually synthetic. A teaspoon of vanilla extract or almond extract can be added as well. Stir the entire mixture. When you are done, the spoon should be able to stand up in the mixture.
Add another three to four cups of flour and mix it into the dough until you can form a good ball. Take the dough out of the bowl, place it on a floured surface, and let it sit out for about ten minutes. Knead the dough for ten minutes. Put it in a large greased bowl for about an hour, letting it rise. It should reach about double its size in the bowl. Punch down the dough, and then let it rise again for another thirty minutes. Divide the ball into two equal parts and shape them into loaves, putting them into loaf pans. Bake them at 425 degrees for about 30 minutes. Take out of the oven and let it cool.
Traditionally, with this flowery and sweet recipe, the bread is made by a woman and given to a man. Men wanting to work this magick might remove the rose water, or at least lessen the amount to only one teaspoon and remove the vanilla or almond entirely. Instead, a teaspoon of ground ginger and half-cup of fennel seeds would be added to the mix, making a fennel bread. This spell bread can also be consciously sha
red by spouses to rekindle love rather than procure a new lover.
spell} Greco-Egyptian Love
Many love spells come from the Greek Magical Papyri text, a Hermetic collection of spells fusing traditions and deities from the Egyptians, Greeks, Hebrews, and Christians. Many of these spells involve the recitation of specific god names to evoke power. One of the simplest involves a special name for Aphrodite, NEPHERIÊRI, which means “the one beautiful to the eye” in Egyptian. The spell specifically states a man winning the love of a beautiful woman, but I’m sure it could be adapted to fit other circumstances. The basic steps of the spell are as follows:
1. Abstain from any sexual activity for three days. (In fact, I would suggest abstaining until the spell is complete, three days before and then seven days after the spell.)
2. Make an offering of frankincense, burning it on charcoal while chanting the name NEPHERIÊRI over it.
3. When you see the target of your affection, say NEPHERIÊRI seven times in your heart while gazing upon her. Do this for seven days in a row.
4. On the seventh day, she will be receptive to your approach. Go and speak with her.
In many ways, I see this spell as one that grants confidence as much as love or sex.
spell} Ensuring Love
Another folk love spell to ensure that you and your lover stay together, usually done when the relationship is in trouble, is done at the crossroads. One should take two dolls, naming one for yourself and the other for your lover. In forms of Christian magick, they would be “baptized” with water as you and your love. The dolls are bound together with a cord, brought out to the crossroads at midnight, and buried at the crossroads, binding you both together.
This spell is not the best idea if you are doing it on someone else without their knowledge and consent, particularly if you need to let go of your love to heal, move on, and create a new life. This spell binds you together and makes it almost impossible to move on unless one of you has an indomitable will or the help of a magickal practitioner.
The Witch's Heart Page 14