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.
馃嚠馃嚜 Ireland and 1 moreBrigid's crossCros Bhr铆de
A woven straw charm hung for protection, named after Ireland's patron saintCharm 路 Protection 路 Luck and prosperity Living
馃嚜馃嚜 Estonia and 5 moreFern flower
A mythical bloom said to bring fortune and unlock secrets, found only on midsummer night.Belief 路 Luck and prosperity 路 Love and attraction Living
馃嚛馃嚜 Germany and 5 moreMaypoleMaibaum
A tall wooden pole raised for European spring festivals, accompanied by dance and celebration.Tradition 路 Luck and prosperity 路 Love and attraction Living
馃嚞馃嚪 Greece and 2 moreCurse tablet魏伪蟿维未蔚蟽渭慰蟼
A lead sheet inscribed with a binding curse in the Greco-Roman worldCharm 路 Cursing and harm 路 Love and attraction Historical
馃嚠馃嚜 IrelandStatue rubbing
A tourist custom of touching statues to attract luck, love, or a return visit.Belief 路 Luck and prosperity 路 Love and attraction Living
馃嚪馃嚭 Russia and 4 moreFiery serpents芯谐薪械薪薪褘泄 蟹屑械泄
A pan-Slavic spirit of fire and wind, seen as a demon or a household helperBeing 路 Cursing and harm 路 Luck and prosperity Historical
馃嚪馃嚧 Romania and 1 moreS芒nzian膬
Romanian fairies and a summer solstice festival of flowers and magicBeing 路 Protection 路 Love and attraction Living
馃嚦馃嚧 NorwayBergen rune charm
A four-sided wooden stick with runic verses for love and protection from medieval Norway.Charm 路 Love and attraction 路 Protection Historical
馃嚛馃嚜 Germany and 1 moreCromniomancy
Divination by onions to reveal health, love, weather and distant newsOracle 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Love and attraction Historical
馃嚞馃嚙 United Kingdom and 5 moreWedding superstitions
Folk beliefs and omens tied to marriage customs across many culturesBelief 路 Protection 路 Luck and prosperity Living
馃嚝馃嚪 FrancePetit AlbertSecrets merveilleux de la magie naturelle et cabalistique du petit Albert
An 18th-century French grimoire of natural and cabalistic magic sold to rural householdsText 路 Protection 路 Luck and prosperity Historical
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Imbolc: Culnacreann, CC BY 3.0, source
- Statue rubbing: Matthias Rosenkranz, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Fern flower: Antoni Piotrowski, Public domain, source
- Petit Albert: Albertus Parvus Lucius, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Maypole: Uploaded by Mikael H盲ggstr枚m, CC0, source
- Curse tablet: Unknown artist, Public domain, source
- Bergen rune charm: Bengt A. Lundberg, CC BY 2.5, source
- Wedding superstitions: Anonymous Unknown author, Public domain, source
- S芒nzian膬: Saturnian, CC BY-SA 3.0, source