Spell time: Jacks Green Omen Spell

 

Jack’s Green Omen Bundle Spell 

In Hastings, England, the Jack-in-the-Green festival celebrates a leafy figure who moves through the streets in a May Day procession. At the end of the rite, the Jack is “slain” and the spirit of summer is released. 
This little working helps you welcome May’s growth and ask the season for one clear sign.

You'll need:

• 1 small bundle of fallen leaves, grass, ivy, herbs, or flowers  
• 1 green, white, or yellow ribbon  
• 1 small piece of paper  
• Pen or pencil  
• Optional: a green candle, a bowl of water

1. Collect only fallen or respectfully harvested leaves, grasses, herbs, or flowers. As you gather them, say:

“Green one, return. Show me what is growing.”

2. On the paper, write one thing you want to grow this month: courage, love, clarity, money, health, creativity, community, or protection.

3. Wrap the paper inside the greenery and tie it with ribbon. Hold it to your heart and breathe into it three times.

4. Place the bundle near a window, altar, garden, or front door. Say:

“As spring becomes summer, reveal the path.
Send me one clear sign.”

5. Over the next 24 hours, notice repeated animals, dreams, songs, card pulls, candle behavior, or sudden invitations. Write down the first sign that feels meaningful. Keep the bundle for the month, or return it to the earth with thanks.

Taken from Spells8

 

The Nine Herbs Charm

The Nine Herbs Charm (Nigon Wyrta Galdor) is a 10th-century Anglo-Saxon metrical charm recorded in a medical manuscript called the Lacnunga. It is one of the most significant pieces of Old English literature because it preserves a rare blend of Christian influence and ancient Germanic paganism.  

The charm was designed to treat poisoning, infections, or skin issues (symbolised as a "serpent's venom") through a combination of herbalism, ritual chanting, and divine invocation.  

The Ritual and the Legend

The text tells a mythic story: a serpent crawled to a man and bit him. In response, the god Woden (Odin) took nine "glory-twigs" and struck the serpent, shattering it into nine pieces.  

To perform the charm, a practitioner would:

1. Chant: Recite the poem over the herbs before they were processed.  

2. Prepare: Crush the nine herbs into a powder and mix them with old soap and apple juice to create a salve.  

3. Apply: Sing the charm into the patient's mouth, both ears, and onto the wound itself before applying the salve.  

The Nine Herbs

While scholars debate some of the Old English names, the most commonly accepted list of the  ( modern named here) nine herbs is:

• Mugwort 
• Plantain
• Watercress / Bittercress
• Betony 
• Chamomile 
• Nettle
• Crab Apple 
• Chervil
• fennel 

Why it Matters Today

• Sacred Numerology: The charm focuses heavily on the numbers 3 and 9, which are sacred in Norse and Germanic traditions (representing the Nine Worlds).  

• The "Flying Venom": The charm mentions "nine venoms" and "nine flying things." In the Anglo-Saxon worldview, disease wasn't just physical; it was often seen as "elf-shot" or invisible darts of poison flying through the air.  

• Woden’s Appearance: This is one of only two places in Old English poetry where Woden is explicitly mentioned as a healing/magical figure, marking it as a crucial piece of pre-Christian history.

Fun Fact: The charm specifically addresses the herbs as living spirits. It speaks to the plantain, reminding the plant of how it has withstood the wheels of carts and the breath of bulls, essentially "cheering on" the plant's spirit to fight the patient's illness.

Create your own Nine Herbs Salve

Creating a modern version of the Nine Herbs Salve is a beautiful way to connect with ancestral healing traditions. The original recipe calls for "old soap," "apple grime/juice," and "ashes," but we can adapt these into a shelf-stable, skin-friendly ointment while keeping the spirit of the ritual intact.

1. Gather Your Modern "Nine"

Some of the original herbs are hard to find. Use this guide to gather your ingredients

Base Ingredients:

• 1 cup Carrier Oil: (Olive oil or Jojoba work best)

• 1/4 cup Beeswax: (Replaces the "soap" as a hardening agent)

• A splash of Apple Cider Vinegar: (Representing the apple and the acidic purification)

2. The Infusion (The "Medicine")

1. Prepare the Herbs: Finely chop or grind your nine herbs. If using fresh herbs, let them wilt for 24 hours first to reduce moisture (this prevents mold).

2. Slow Heat: Place the herbs and carrier oil in a double boiler (a bowl over a pot of simmering water).

3. The Chant: As the oil warms, this is where you perform the Galdor (the chant). Traditionally, the charm is sung into the mixture nine times. You can recite the poem I mentioned earlier or simply speak to each herb, acknowledging its power (e.g., "Mugwort, oldest of herbs, bring your protection here").

4. Strain: After 2–3 hours of low heat, strain the oil through a cheesecloth into a clean jar, squeezing out every drop of "glory."

3. Creating the Salve (The "Body")

1. Melt the Wax: Return the infused oil to the double boiler and add the beeswax pellets. Stir gently until melted.

2. The Apple Element: Add a few drops of Apple Cider Vinegar. It won't fully mix with the oil, but it honours the original instruction of "apple-grime."

3. The Test: Drop a spoonful onto a cold plate. If it’s too soft, add more wax; if too hard, add a splash more oil.

4. Pour: Pour the liquid into small tins or jars.

4. The Final Ritual

According to the Lacnunga, the magic isn't finished until the salve is "activated."

• Sing into the Jar: Once the salve is set, sing the charm over it one last time.

• Application: When applying it to a scratch or skin irritation, the ancient text suggests singing the charm into your own mouth, then into each of your ears, and finally over the wound before rubbing the salve on.

Safety Note: This salve is for external use only. While these herbs are traditional, always patch-test a small area of skin first to ensure you don't have an allergic reaction—modern skin can be more sensitive than 10th-century skin!

Carrie’s potions and spells: Witch Salt

 Potions and Spells

Witch Salt

Witches salt or black salt as it is also known as is a powerful and essential creation that any witch should know how to make and use.

It’s easy to make and is an essential element that can be used on its own or as part of a ritual, potion or spell.

Witch salt is cleansing, purifying and protecting for your home, yourself, others and your workings. Here’s my version of it but there are many variations. Experiment and find what works best for you.

Mix together well:

Rock or sea salt

Charcoal

Ash ( from your incense etc,)

Egg shell ( optional. Ensure it is clean and dry)

Lavender 

Sandalwood 

Mustard seeds

Patchouli 

Black peppercorns 

Turmeric 

Nutmeg

Chilli Powder 

Angelica 

Clevers ( optional for binding)

Cinnamon (optional for increasing energy)

Grind this together well in a clockwise manner until it’s a fairly uniform consistency. Ensure that you charge it with your intent. This is essential for this to work.

Place in a labelled air tight bottle or jar. 

That’s all there is to it!

How to make a witch’s ladder

How to

Make a witch’s ladder

 A witch’s ladder (also called a witch ladder or spell ladder) is a traditional piece of folk magic, often associated with witchcraft, Wicca, pagan practices, and knot magic. It’s essentially a cord, rope, or braided strands with a series of intentional knots tied into it (most classically 9, but sometimes 3, 13, 40, or another significant number). Each knot is created while focusing on a specific intention, affirmation, spell goal, protection, binding, prosperity, love, etc.

The classic historical version (from 19th-century English folk magic accounts) used three cords braided together (often red, white, and black) with nine feathers woven or tied in at intervals.

Modern versions are very flexible — you can adapt them for almost any purpose.

Basic Materials

•  Cord, yarn, embroidery floss, twine, leather thong, or natural fiber rope (3–9 feet long is common)

•  Traditional: three colors braided together (red + white + black is the most cited classic combination)

•  Modern: single cord, multiple braided strands, or even beaded versions

•  9 (or your chosen number) small items to tie or weave in, such as:

•  Feathers (traditional)

•  Beads, charms, small crystals, herbs, dried flowers, shells, bones, keys, hag stones, twigs, etc.

•  Scissors

•  Optional: a quiet space, candle, incense, music, or other ritual elements to set the mood

Step-by-Step: How to Make a Basic Witch’s Ladder

1.  Decide on your purpose
Choose a clear magical intention (one main goal or a sequence of related goals). Examples: protection of home, attracting abundance, healing, breaking a bad habit, sweetening a relationship, etc.

2.  Prepare your cord(s)

•  Traditional method: Take three strands (red, white, black) of roughly equal length. Tie them together at one end with a simple knot or loop (for hanging later if desired).

•  Simple modern method: Use one long cord or several strands you’ll braid as you go.

3.  Set your sacred space (optional but powerful)
Light a candle or incense connected to your intention, ground yourself, call any deities/spirits/guides you work with, etc.

4.  Tie the knots with intention
Most people use 9 knots (a very common magical number). As you tie each knot, speak, chant, or visualize your intention.
A classic traditional chant (spoken aloud or in your mind for each knot):

Protection mojo bag

 Protection Mojo Bag (Traditional Hoodoo Style – Very Strong)

This is the classic “don’t mess with me” hand that rootworkers make when someone wants to stop gossip, psychic attack, crossed conditions, the evil eye, or physical danger. It works 24/7 as long as you carry it and keep it alive.

Bag color (choose one)

•  Red flannel (most common and fierce for protection)

•  White flannel (pure spiritual shielding)

•  Black flannel (returns evil to sender)

Must contain an odd number of items: 5, 7, or 9 (7 is the strongest for protection)

Core 7 Items (the “never-fail” combination used by many old workers)

1.  Devil’s shoestring (trip and bind enemies) – one piece cut into 7 knots

2.  Rue (breaks jinxes and the evil eye) – pinch of dried rue

3.  Hyssop (Psalm 51 cleansing and protection) – small pinch

4.  Graveyard dirt (paid for with a silver dime at a soldier’s or protector ancestor’s grave) OR black salt if you can’t get dirt

5.  One small iron nail or coffin nail (returns harm)

6.  Piece of snakeroot OR a snake shed (sheds evil like a snake sheds skin)

7.  Your personal concern: lock of your hair tied with red thread + a drop of your blood on a name-paper (or saliva/sexual fluid if blood if you don’t do blood)

Optional power-ups (add to make it 9 items total)

•  Master root piece

•  Frankincense tears

•  Angelica root (“Holy Ghost root”)

•  Small crucifix or St. Michael medal

•  Black peppercorns (hot-foot evil back)

•  Pinch of gunpowder (old-school, use very carefully)

•  Fiery Wall of Protection powder

Petition paper

On a small piece of brown paper torn on all sides, write:

“I am surrounded by the Fiery Wall of Protection. No evil can see me, touch me, or harm me in any way.”

Turn paper 90° and write your full name 9 times over it.

Fold the paper away from you 3 times (to push evil away), turn and fold again, repeating until small.

How to put it together (best on a Saturday during the hour of Mars or Saturn)

1.  Light frankincense & myrrh or protection incense and a red or white candle.
2 Hold each item in your left hand, pray Psalm 91 or speak plainly:
“In the name of God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost, I charge you to protect me from all harm seen and unseen enemies.”
3 Breathe on each item three times.
4 Place everything in the bag (do not count out loud).
5 Add 3 drops of Fiery Wall of Protection oil or holy oil.
6 Tie shut with 3 knots while saying “So mote it be” or “Amen” each time.

Feeding schedule (keep it alive)

Once a week (Saturday or Tuesday night is perfect):

•  Sprinkle with whiskey or Florida Water

•  Smoke it in protection incense

•  Hold it to your mouth and breathe into it 3 times while praying

•  Anoint with protection oil

Where to carry it

•  Left pocket (traditional)

•  Bra (very common for women)

•  Around neck in a black pouch (if very serious danger)

•  Under your bed or over your front door if protecting the house

Warning – Old-school rule

Never let anyone else touch or see inside this bag. If they do, it dies instantly. Bury it at a crossroads with whiskey and thanks, then make a new one.

Carry this and you walk inside an invisible wall of fire that burns anything evil that comes near you. Many people swear they have felt bullets bounce off, curses slide away, or attackers suddenly turn and run for no reason.

Stay safe, and keep that hand strong.

Love Spells

 Witch Love Spells: History, Practice, and Ethical Considerations

What Are Witch Love Spells?

Witch love spells are magical rituals or incantations performed with the intention of influencing romantic feelings, attracting a specific person, strengthening an existing relationship, or kindling general love and desire. In modern witchcraft and folk-magic traditions, they typically involve some combination of the following elements:

•  Symbolic tools: candles (especially red or pink), herbs (rose petals, lavender, damiana, vervain), crystals (rose quartz, emerald), personal items (hair, clothing, photographs), written petitions, oils, or poppets (cloth dolls representing the target).

•  Timing: performed on Fridays (Venus day), during a waxing or full moon (to increase love), or on specific pagan holidays such as Beltane or St. Valentine’s Day.

•  Invocation: calling upon deities of love (Aphrodite, Venus, Freya, Oshun, Erzulie Freda, etc.), spirits, angels, or simply the practitioner’s own focused will.

•  Verbal components: rhymes, chants, or affirmations spoken aloud or written and burned/buried.

Love spells exist on a spectrum:

•  General love-drawing spells – meant to attract “the right person” without naming anyone specific.

•  Sweetening spells – to make an existing partner more affectionate (e.g., the famous “honey jar” spell).

•  Compulsion or binding spells – intended to force a particular person to fall in love against their natural inclination (historically called “goetic” or “black” love magic).

Historical Overview

Love magic is one of the oldest and most universal forms of folk practice.

Ancient World

•  Mesopotamia (c. 2000 BCE): Clay tablets record incantations to make a man or woman burn with desire, often addressed to Ishtar.

•  Ancient Egypt: The “Love Spell of Victorious Horus” (Papyrus Chester Beatty, c. 1200 BCE) uses effigies and wax figures.

•  Greece and Rome: The Greek Magical Papyri (2nd century BCE–5th century CE) contain dozens of erotic attraction spells (agōgē) and binding spells (katadesmoi), often inscribed on lead tablets and buried with the dead or thrown into wells. Roman writers such as Ovid and Apuleius describe love philtres and witches who could “draw a man from the ends of the earth.”

Medieval and Early Modern Europe

Christian authorities condemned love magic as demonic. The 13th-century Malleus Maleficarum (Hammer of Witches) explicitly lists inducing love or lust through witchcraft as proof of pact with the Devil. Despite the danger, village cunning folk and clergy themselves were frequently consulted for love charms (e.g., using menstrual blood in food, tying knots in cords, or reciting corrupted psalms).

African Diaspora and Hoodoo/Conjure

In the American South, enslaved Africans and their descendants developed a rich tradition of rootwork that included powerful love workings: “nation sacks,” mojo bags containing lodestone and a lover’s hair, or the famous “Follow Me Boy” oil used by sex workers to keep clients returning.

19th–20th Century Occult Revival

Figures such as Paschal Beverly Randolph (sexual magic), the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, and later Aleister Crowley integrated erotic magic into high ceremonial practice. Modern Wicca, founded by Gerald Gardner in the 1940s–50s, generally discouraged coercive love spells but popularized gentler attraction magic.

Contemporary Practice

Today, love spells are widely shared on TikTok (“WitchTok”), Etsy, and pagan forums. Many modern witches explicitly reject spells that target a specific unwilling person, favoring instead self-love rituals or spells “for the good of all and harming none” (the Wiccan Rede).

Ethical Considerations

The ethics of love spells are the most debated topic in modern witchcraft and occult communities. Three broad positions exist:

The Consent-Absolutist Position
Any spell that attempts to override another person’s free will is inherently unethical and tantamount to magical rape. This view is dominant in most Wiccan, eclectic pagan, and New Age circles since the 1980s. Practitioners argue that even “mild” influence (e.g., making someone notice you more) violates autonomy and will rebound karmically (“threefold law” or simple cause-and-effect).

The Traditionalist/Pragmatic Position
Found in older folk magic, Hoodoo, and some ceremonial traditions. Love magic has always been performed for hire; village witches and rootworkers rarely refused a client who wanted a specific person. Ethics are contextual: if the target has already shown interest, or if the client has been wronged, stronger measures may be justified. The practitioner’s responsibility is to warn the client of possible backlash, not to police desire itself.

The  Radical-Will Position
Associated with chaos magick and some Left-Hand-Path practitioners. All magic is manipulation of reality; drawing an arbitrary line at love is inconsistent. If you accept that advertising, fashion, and flirting are attempts to influence attraction, the difference between a spell and a seduction technique is merely one of method.

Common Practical Arguments Against Coercive Love Spells

Even many non-absolutists caution against them for purely pragmatic reasons:

•  They frequently backfire, creating obsession, stalking, or violent jealousy in the target.

•  They bind the caster as much as the target (“you become what you obsess over”).

•  They rarely produce genuine, lasting love; the relationship often collapses when the spell’s energy dissipates.

Self-Love as the Modern Alternative

Most contemporary teachers now recommend redirecting the desire for a particular person into spells for confidence, magnetism, and openness to healthy love. The logic: “Work on becoming the kind of person your ideal partner would fall in love with, rather than trying to force a specific person to change.”

So, should you do love spells?

That is for you to decide on a case by case basis and with the relevant ethical and psychological considerations taken into account . As with all witchcraft, no magick is totally free and every action causes ripples through lives and therefore this is all part of the equation of balance and consequence.

True love is a wonderful thing that cannot be made to happen but you can of course help things along, say with a shy partner. If they truly love you then they will always love you Magick or no. If they are with you because of spells then you may spend more time thinking if they really love you than you would be happily in love with someone who truly wants to be with you.

Witch love spells are an ancient and cross-cultural phenomenon that range from gentle attraction charms to aggressive binding work. While their techniques and ingredients have evolved, the core tension remains unchanged: the collision between human desire and the principle of consent. Modern witchcraft has largely moved toward an ethic that prioritizes autonomy and self-work over coercion, but older and more pragmatic traditions continue to exist. Whether one views love spells as harmless fantasy, legitimate folk practice, or unethical manipulation ultimately depends on one’s metaphysical worldview and personal moral framework. What is undisputed is that, for better or worse, the urge to use magic to secure love is as old as humanity itself.