Love and attraction
Charms and rites for love, marriage, fertility and desire.
Love magic covers attraction, courtship, marriage and fertility. It includes the Hoodoo and folk charms of the American South, the love spells of the Greek Magical Papyri, the Italian and Spanish traditions of amulets and saints, the Indian use of mantras and charms for a wedding, and the Afro-Caribbean rites for Erzulie and Oshun. This page covers what people ask for, the consent problem, and the stories told about it.
What people ask for
Requests are varied: to find a partner, to keep one, to mend a quarrel, to conceive, to have a safe birth. Many customs are playful, such as young women in Europe watching for omens on certain nights to see a future husband. Others are weighty, such as rites to protect a marriage from a rival or to cool a husband's anger. The practices often mirror a society's anxieties about marriage and family.
Consent and coercion
Magic aimed at making a particular person love someone raises questions of consent, and many practitioners and traditions regard it as wrong or dangerous. Historical records show people accused of using love potions, and some trials of women in Europe included such claims. Today, many practitioners say they only work to attract love in general or to improve their own confidence. Examples include a Hoodoo sachet, an Italian saint's novena, a Greek papyrus recipe and a Hindu mantra, all of which are recorded as customs and none of which are recommended here.
Gender, religion and law
Women have often been the customers and the specialists, and also the ones blamed. Medieval clergy lists included love magic among sins, and the Inquisition tried people for it. In some Muslim societies, charms for love and marriage are sold at shrines, while scholars object to them. In Hindu and other weddings, protective rites are woven into the ceremony. In most of these places the stories are cautionary: the charm works too well, or goes wrong, and love obtained by trickery is shown as empty.
Commercial love
Love spells are a major online product. The market is full of promises, and some sellers ask clients to pay again and again as the spell is said to need more work. Scholars read love charms as a way to speak of desire and risk. For real distress in a relationship, counselling and support are the reliable routes. Rites for fertility and a safe pregnancy are also grouped here, and for these, couples should of course seek medical advice and not rely on a ritual.
Love and attraction on EveryJaadu
The entries written up so far, best known first.
🇷🇴 Romania and 1 moreSânziană
Romanian fairies and a summer solstice festival of flowers and magicBeing · Protection · Love and attraction Living
🇵🇹 PortugalEnchanted Mouramoura encantada
A supernatural maiden from Portuguese and Galician folklore who guards treasures and ancient stones.Being · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Legendary
🇮🇪 IrelandGancanaghgean cánach
A male Irish fairy known for seducing women and tricking humans.Being · Cursing and harm · Love and attraction Legendary
🇮🇳 IndiaEcheneis
A legendary fish said to hold back ships and influence legal proceedingsBeing · Cursing and harm · Love and attraction Legendary
🇵🇬 Papua New GuineaBaloma
Spirits of departed kin who, Trobrianders hold, place each new child in the wombBeing · Love and attraction Living
🇯🇵 JapanAmorōnagu天降女子
A celestial maiden from Japanese folklore who descends to Earth for love or soulsFigure · Love and attraction Legendary
🇮🇳 India and 5 moreLock of hair
A piece of human hair kept for symbolic, sentimental, or superstitious reasons.Substance · Protection · Luck and prosperity Living
🇭🇹 HaitiMarassa Jumeaux
The divine twins of Haitian Vodou, representing love, truth, and justice.Being · Love and attraction · Cursing and harm Living
🇨🇦 CanadaChasse-galerieLa Chasse-galerie
A French-Canadian folktale about lumberjacks who fly a canoe to visit lovers on New Year's EveFigure · Love and attraction · Wonder and entertainment Legendary
🇨🇳 ChinaFish in Chinese mythology鱼 (yú)
A cultural symbol of wealth and abundance in Chinese traditionBelief · Luck and prosperity · Love and attraction Living
🇮🇩 IndonesiaNini Pelet
A West Javanese sorceress legend linked to Mount Ciremai and the origin of the word for love charmsFigure · Love and attraction · Power and authority Legendary
🇨🇳 China and 1 moreLegend of the White Snake白蛇傳
A Chinese folktale about a snake spirit who becomes human to love a mortal manFigure · Love and attraction · Cursing and harm Historical
🇮🇱 IsraelBabalon
A Thelemic goddess of fertility, ecstasy, and spiritual transformation.Being · Change and initiation · Power and authority Living
🇮🇳 IndiaEpic cycles of incarnations in MoirangMoirang Shayon
A Meitei mythic cycle tracing the repeated lives and deaths of divine lovers across generations.Figure · Love and attraction Historical
🇩🇴 Dominican RepublicAnaisa Pye
A Dominican loa of love and wealth, linked to Saint Anne.Being · Love and attraction · Luck and prosperity Living
🇹🇭 Thailand and 2 moreSang Thongสังข์ทอง
A Southeast Asian folktale about a prince born in a shell who gains golden skin and magical powers.Figure · Luck and prosperity · Love and attraction Historical
🇮🇳 IndiaHenjunaha and LairoulembiHensunaha Lailoulempi
A Meitei epic of lovers who die and return from the underworld through devotion.Figure · Love and attraction Legendary
🇨🇳 China and 3 moreSwan maiden
A folk motif where a man steals a bird-woman's feather cloak to force marriage.Figure · Love and attraction · Cursing and harm Legendary
🇬🇹 Guatemala and 1 moreEl Sombrerón
A tall, hat-wearing figure from Guatemalan legend who courts young women and haunts neighborhoods at dusk.Figure · Love and attraction · Cursing and harm Legendary
🇮🇩 IndonesiaKeong Emas
A Javanese legend about a princess turned into a golden snailFigure · Love and attraction Legendary
🇬🇧 United KingdomTam Lin
A Scottish ballad about a fairy knight rescued by his mortal lover on Hallowe'enFigure · Love and attraction · Cursing and harm Historical
🇺🇸 United StatesThe Michael Teachings
A channeled New Age system for self-understanding and personality analysisTradition · Love and attraction · Change and initiation Living
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 5 moreWedding superstitions
Folk beliefs and omens tied to marriage customs across many culturesBelief · Protection · Luck and prosperity Living
🇸🇪 SwedenVittra
A forest spirit from northern Sweden linked to livestock and seductionBeing · Cursing and harm · Love and attraction Legendary
🇫🇷 France and 1 moreSebile
A medieval enchantress who evolved from a classical prophetess into an Arthurian fairy queenFigure · Love and attraction · Cursing and harm Legendary
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Swan maiden: Walter Crane, Public domain, source
- Sang Thong: Narisara Nuwattiwong, Public domain, source
- Sebile: tony_57, CC BY 3.0, source
- Sânziană: Saturnian, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Enchanted Moura: Henrique José Teixeira Matos, Public domain, source
- Chasse-galerie: Henri Julien, Public domain, source
- Fish in Chinese mythology: Daderot, Public domain, source
- Legend of the White Snake: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Babalon: William Blake, Public domain, source
- Epic cycles of incarnations in Moirang: Bhudro Singh (AKA. Ningthoujam Bhadra), Public domain, source
- Keong Emas: Post of Indonesia, Public domain, source
- Tam Lin: Richard Webb, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Wedding superstitions: Anonymous Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Lock of hair: Unknown author, CC0, source