The Big Book of Practical Spells: Everyday Magic That Works - Judika Illes 2016

Love Sachets and Bags
Love Magic
Spells

Charm bags and sachets can be used to attract romance. Muslin is the material of choice. Pink, white, yellow or blue are the favored colors.

· To form a romance charm bag, a handkerchief-size muslin square is tied with either a piece of lace or a red satin or velvet ribbon.

· Sachets are sewed closed. For romance sachets, use gold, white, red or pink thread. Cut two small matching squares of muslin. Sew up three sides, leaving one side open, so that you may fill the sachet, then sew the last side shut.

Charm bags and sachets are used in the same way: sleep with one under your pillow, keep it safe in a treasure box or wear it tucked inside your undergarments, against your skin. Five separate sachet/charm bag formulas follow, all time-tested components of romantic enchantment. Choose which appeals to you most.

Bay leaves, pink rose petals and catnip

Elecampane leaves or flowers plus 1 licorice root

Dried lavender and violets

Juniper berries, poppy seeds, vervain and violets

Rosemary, sage and thyme

· If you're making a sachet, add 1 drop of rose attar to the botanical material.

· If you're using a charm bag, where you will have easy access to the botanicals, add 6 drops of essential oil of bergamot upon making the charm and then add another 6 drops every 6 days until love arrives.

Burst of Love Potpourri

1½ cups rose petals or rosebuds

1 cup lavender blossoms

1 vanilla bean and/or 1 tonka bean chopped up

2 tablespoons dried ground cardamom

Combine ingredients. (Do not grind or mash them up, just gently intermingle them.) Store them in an airtight box. Open and breathe in the fragrance before any love enchantment, before an important date or when you just need to feel the possibility that Earth truly does contain beauty and love. Use the potpourri-filled box to store and empower your love charms.

Romance Floor Wash

Floor washes are created to serve many purposes, not only cleansing and protection. This floor wash clears away the proverbial “bad vibes,” while setting the stage for romance. If necessary, it sends a message to the universe that your home lacks a lover. If you already have one, its lingering aroma transmits a subliminal reminder of the pleasures of love.

1. Make a strong infusion of peppermint leaves and add to a bucket of water.

2. There's no need to add vinegar, but if you feel you need it, select a floral or mint vinegar rather than plain white.

3. Use the water to clean the kitchen, bedroom or bathroom floors or wherever you see fit.

4. For variety, try apple or chocolate mint. Compare and contrast, see what works best.

Better Sex But Only If You Come Back Home

Has your lover left you for another? Want him back? The spell was conceived in Morocco by women whose husbands had taken a second, often younger, wife. However, it has since been adapted by women whose husbands or lovers have left them for another.

The abandoned woman sleeps with one date inside her vagina for seven nights (same date; you can take it out during the daytime) at which point the object of her affections is induced to stop by for a little dinner, maybe lunch, just to talk. The date is chopped up finely and served in her beloved's food. If all goes as the spell intends, he won't be leaving after dinner.

Of course, the Moroccan spell presumes that you want your old lover back, cheating heart and all. What if you don't want him back, you want to move on and find a new lover, too? A Gullah ritual recommends burning a pair of your former lover's shoes: you'll soon have more new prospects of your own than you'll know what to do with. Perhaps this derives from the old injunction against giving a lover a gift of shoes: he'll only use them to walk out on you!

· This spell, incidentally, is supposed to start working from Day 1. As soon as the date is placed inside, he'll remember his sex life with you fondly and be dissatisfied with his new lover.

There are also other, less intimate ways to call back a departed lover:

Lover, Come Back Incense

Ground cardamom

Dragon's Blood

No, no! I told you, there's nothing like eye of newt in this book! Dragon's Blood won't be found in the “bat's tongue” aisle of your local witch-market. It's actually the resin from the Dracaeana draco tree, available from sources that sell incense and herbal supplies. Unlike most resins, this one is red, hence the name.

1. Combine the ingredients in a mortar and pestle and burn as incense near an open window for seven nights.

2. Make up a little invocation or rhyme if you choose, something like:

“Lover, please come back to me,

This time our love will blessed be.”

Our Hearts United in Love

To return a lost lover or reinforce the ties that bind.

Pink or yellow candle(s)

Paper and ink

Essential oil of either jasmine, pine or rose

1. In the center of a piece of paper, draw a large heart with your name and the name of your beloved written in the middle.

2. In each corner of the paper, draw a diamond shape with a cross inside. Draw smaller diamonds containing crosses at each side of the heart, plus one at the base of the heart, by the point and another at the top of the heart, by the indentation.

3. Place a single drop of either essential oil of jasmine, pine or rose on the very center of the paper.

4. Fold the paper over at least twice so that you can hold the paper within one hand.

5. Holding the paper tight, visualize yourself and your partner happy in love.

6. Place the folded paper in a bowl of hot water. Encourage the paper to disintegrate into tiny little pieces, basically into pulp, unreadable and barely recognizable as paper.

7. When this has been accomplished—and it may take a little while—add it to your bath water.

8. Light at least 1 pink or yellow candle, enter the tub and concentrate on true love. If the paper is visible in the water, rub your body with it. Allow the particles to flow down the drain with the water.

· This spell can also be accomplished in the shower. Follow steps 1 through 6, then bring the paper into a running shower and rub your body with the paper like soap until it completely disintegrates.

Broken Heart Solace Bath

White rose petals

Honeysuckle blossoms

Rose attar or rose quartz

Should all else fail, you can find solace alone in your bathroom shrine of love.

1. Float white rose petals and honeysuckle blossoms in your bath.

2. If you have the budget for a more potent variation, add a few drops of rose attar and/or honeysuckle absolute, however the flower petals are truly the essential part of the spell.

3. Wear your rose attar and/or rose quartz until your broken heart heals.

Other types of love exist and can be lost, beyond the romantic.

Have you lost a valued friend? Have you done everything you could but someone special still won't forgive you?

Reconsider Friend

Powdered or dried rosemary

Dried or rubbed sage

Salt

Sugar

Pulverize all ingredients together, using about a pinch of each. Sprinkle on your friend's shoulders. It will resemble dandruff but should get them to cool off long enough for you to present your side effectively.

* This spell has a lot of ingredients; the hibiscus flowers are the most crucial component and cannot be left out. (No, you don't have to live in the tropics to gather them; dried hibiscus is available from most herbal vendors. Red hibiscus teabags are also popular; create an infusion from as many teabags as you need to achieve the desired color.) Otherwise, don't let the lack of any single item prevent you from accessing this magic. Substitute, omit, improvise as your intuition tells you!