Different witches have different ways of making witch’s
bottles for various magickal purposes. This is the type of
bottle that I make, one that attracts positive energies to the
home. Whether you make one of these bottles for yourself,
or make several and give the rest as gifts, for each one you
will need:
a bottle with a tight-fitting cork or cap
a pentacle or pentagram (Any type will do, even the
symbol drawn on a piece of paper.)
a white candle
white sugar
white salt
herbs for each of seven blessings (See below.
Rosemary corresponds to all of the blessings, so it
may be substituted for any or all of them.)
a spoon or funnel
Preparation
Gather all of the spell materials. Get into a magickal mood,
and create sacred space around the area where you will be
working. Focus on the blessings you want the bottle to
attract to the home and to those who live there.
Fill the bottle one-third full with salt. Use a spoon to fill a
bottle with a wide opening or a funnel to fill one with a
narrow neck. Tap the bottle a bit on your altar or other
working surface to firmly settle the salt.
Add at least one spoonful of one or more dried herbs for
each of these seven blessings: health, happiness, love,
prosperity, peace, protection, and good fortune. Add several
spoonfuls of each herb if you are using a large bottle. Be
sure to use only thoroughly dried herbs, so that they do not
ruin your witch’s bottle by spoiling. Add the herbs carefully,
so that they form distinct layers. Any ingredients that are
too large to pass through your bottle’s neck may be ground,
shattered, chopped, or reduced in size in another way.
Use whichever herbs correspond to these blessings in
your mind, culture, or magickal tradition. Alternately, use
herbs fromthe following list of correspondences:
Health: caraway seeds, eucalyptus leaves, ginger, juniper
berries, pine needles, rose hips, sunflower petals or seeds,
thyme
Happiness: baby’s breath, cedar chips or shavings, fir
needles, marigold petals, marjoram, orange peel, oregano,
savory
Love: cardamom pods or ground cardamom, carnation petals,
cinnamon chips or ground cinnamon, coriander seeds,
hibiscus flowers, linden flowers, mint, rose petals, willow
leaves or bark
Prosperity: acorns, allspice, almonds, banana chips, cloves,
oak leaves, oats, poppy seeds, rice, saffron threads, sage
Peace: basil, catnip, lavender, lemongrass, olive branches or
leaves, rosemary, violets
Protection: angelica, black beans, cactus needles, garlic
powder or garlic salt, nettles, ground black pepper or black
peppercorns, thistles, thorns
Good Fortune: ash leaves, bay leaves, cumin seeds or
powdered cumin, dill seeds or leaves, whole or ground
nutmeg, vanilla beans
Concentrate on each blessing as you add the herb that will
attract it to the bottle. Visualize the bottle’s magickal power
building as each ingredient is added.
Each bottle will be unique. Yours might, for example, have
a layer of green eucalyptus leaves on top of the salt. There
might be a layer of mixed orange peels and marigold petals
atop that, with a layer of rose petals on top of it. A layer of
ground sage might come next, then a layer of lavender. They
might be followed by layers of black peppercorns and
powdered cumin. It is also possible that your bottle might
contain nothing but a thick layer of rosemary between the
salt and the sugar, or have a rosemary branch in its center,
with the salt and sugar poured around it.
Use whatever herbs are available to you. If you have a
wide selection, create a bottle that is pleasing to your eye as
well as magickally powerful. The bottle should be at least
half full when you finish adding the herbs.
Pour sugar over the herbs until the bottle is completely
filled. Tap it a few times to help the sugar settle, and add
more if needed. Handle the bottle carefully, so that the herbs
remain in layers as much as possible. Close the bottle. Cover
it tightly to seal in the magick, and place it in the center of
the pentacle. Position the candle at the top point of the
pentacle.
The Spell
Raise power, and light the candle. Wrap your hands around
the bottle, and charge it with the power of your intent.
Clearly visualize the blessings that the bottle is meant to
attract. Pick up the candle, and begin to drip its wax over the
top of the bottle, as you say:
With health and happiness, enchanted be.
With love and prosperity, enchanted be.
With peace and protection, enchanted be.
With good fortune, enchanted be.
Whether placed in house or yard,
Make life better, and less hard.
Keep dripping wax over the top of the bottle until the candle
is spent. Allow the wax to form a thick seal over the bottle’s
opening and to drip down its sides. The bottle should look
very witchy by the time you finish.
Once the wax has hardened, bury the bottle in the yard or
secrete it inside the house. The back of a closet near the
front door is a good indoor place to put it. If you have a
large potted plant, you could bury the bottle in its soil. Keep
the bottle in an upright position, so that the layers of herbs
will not mix together too much. While you bury or hide the
bottle, say repeatedly:
Make life better, and less hard.
Ground power after the bottle is buried or hidden, and clean
up.
Afterward
Renew the bottle’s magick fromtime to time by focusing on it
and saying, “Blessed be this home with health, happiness,
love, prosperity, peace, protection, and good fortune.” Say
this aloud if you are alone or mentally if others are present.
Should you move, you will have to decide what to do with
the witch’s bottle. A buried bottle can be left behind to bless
the new inhabitants of the home, or it can be unearthed and
taken with you to your new home. A bottle that was not
buried should be taken with you or emptied and discarded.
Moving a bottle will ruin its neat layers of herbs, but that
will not diminish its magickal potency. Recast the spell if you
install an old bottle in a new home.
Variations
This same technique can be used to make many different
kinds of witch’s bottles. You could make one to attract
different blessings by using herbs or charms that
correspond to those blessings. If a certain blessing is
particularly sought, such as healing, you could make a bottle
whose herbs all correspond to that blessing.