Tag: water spell

Protection from Spirits Spell (Spell Saturday #29)

There’s plenty of protection spells out there. Most are general. They protect from everything but it’s a good idea to have protection spells for specific reasons. Protection spells of this nature not only allow you to tailor the spell to specific desires (like a fire protection spell when you regularly run the fireplace or a fire pit) but it also allows you to remove that protection as needed. Like if you want to invite spirits into your home on Samhain but you don’t want to deal with them on your average Tuesday.

This spell is designed to work for a most spirits. It doesn’t work as well against the fae or spirits with a gift for illusion and glamour. It hampers them but doesn’t work as well against them. Still, the spell’s great for most entities and worth having.

What you’ll need:

  • Basil
  • Thyme
  • Sage
  • Salt or sea salt
  • Rue (not Syrian rue)
  • Large nails or spikes (see notes)
  • Sun water (see notes)

Take your sun water and wash the large nails/spikes in it. Let dry in direct sunlight. Avoid letting night or big shadows touch them. (Putting them outside is a good idea but setting them in a window works well too.) Keep them wrapped until you’re ready for the next step.

Powder the herbs and salt together. Set aside until you’re ready.

On a sunny day, step outside. Sprinkle the powder over your nails/spikes. Go to each door, ground level window, and gate, touching the nails to them and sprinkling the powder in a line across the ground or windowsill. You’re creating a line that can’t be crossed. Take the nail or spike and drive them into the ground at the edge of your property. This should all be done before the sun sets.

pfs

Notes:

  • To get large nails or spikes, check either a hardware store or online. Railroad spikes are the best option but I’ve gone to a hardware store and picked up a foot and a half long aluminium-steel nail for less than $1 so do what works best for you. This works no matter what kind of nail or spike you use.
  • Sun water is water that’s been left in the sunlight. It can also refer to rain water collected on a sunny day (when it rains while it’s still sunny).
  • You can drive the nails as deep as you like into the ground. I’ve put them underground before and I’ve left them sticking halfway out of the ground. Remember that you’ll probably need to mow the lawn or walk near that space so keep that in mind with your placement. Replacing lawn mowers can be very expensive and tripping over your own protection spell is embarrassing.

Happy casting!

Begin Again [Spell Saturday #28]

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Sometimes, we just need to hit the refresh button on our lives. This spell won’t do precisely that but it’s pretty close. It’ll help you make a fresh, new start.

stba

What you’ll need: 

  • Flower, flowering plant, or petals from a flower
  • Water
  • Piece of quartz crystal
  • Candle

First, make sure you’ve cleansed your home, car, work, and self. For this, perhaps a light personal cleansing followed by cleansing whatever spaces and stuff you need to cleanse, followed by a deeper cleansing might be ideal. This spell should be done immediately after your self cleansing.

Light the candle and put the flower, candle, and water in front of you.

Hold the quartz crystal in your hand and just sit with it, meshing your energy with yours. If you’re into programming stones, you’ll want to program it to hold the energy you’re about to give it. (More on programming stones in the notes.)

When you’re comfortable and ready, say the following,

“I am beginning again.”

Blow your breath across the quartz.

“I breathe newness, energy, and light.”

Pass the quartz through or over the fire.

“I have fire, passion, and glory at my side.”

Touch the quartz to the petals of the flower.

“I am blooming, growing, achieving. I am beautiful even in the worst storms.”

Dunk the quartz in the water and pull it back out.

“I have healed, I have surpassed, I will never be broken.”

Now hold the quartz to your heart and say,

“I have begun again and will live my life as I wish, happy, and free.”

Carry the stone with you and/or keep it by your bedside. Hold it when things get rough or you’re beginning to fall into old habits.

Notes:

  • You can use any candle color here. I prefer white but yellow, red, or blue might be appropriate too.
  • Any flowering plant will work, especially if they’re your favorite flower. Roses are a good choice.
  • I like to use purified water for this spell.
  • This might be a great choice for a spell to cast on a quartz crystal piece of jewelry.
  • If you’re into programming your crystals, your crystal should be programmed to give you energy, light, and remind you of the spell you’re casting. It should serve as a gentle reminder of the life you want to live and the promise you’ve made to yourself to start again.

Happy casting!

Know What You’ve Done [Spell Saturday #27]

Sometimes, we just need people to stop and realize that they’re asshats. We need them to realize that they’re making other people upset. We need them to see their own lies and we need to cause them to be disillusioned.

This spell can do that for you.

What you’ll need:

  • String (any color), about 1 1/2 foot in length
  • Rose petals or rose water.
  • Eyebright
  • Hot water
  • Picture of target (optional)

First thing you’ll need to do is to boil some rose petals in hot water. If you have rose water on hand, then you can just use that but we’re making a sloppy version of rose water here.

If you’re making rose water, strain most of the water into a separate jar. Keep some water and the rose petals. Put the string in a bowl and pour the rose petals and remaining water over it. Let cool for at least 10-15 minutes. We’re not looking to dye the string, just infuse the string with rose.

Once cool, go ahead and pull the string free and set it aside to dry fully.

Now take the string and tie a knot for every single thing you’d like your target to realize. This should be their own behavior and you should word each thought as  “[blank] believes they are without flaw” or whatever. You’re not disillusioning them yet. You’re confirming their beliefs right now.

Once done, put it aside for a while. I usually leave it overnight but you don’t need to wait that long.

Boil hot water once again and add some eyebright. Let cool to warm bath temperature (you should be able to put your hand comfortably in the water). Now plunge the string in the water then pull it out and unknot one of the knots you made before, saying “[blank] now realizes they are flawed].

Repeat the process of plunging the string in the water, pulling it out, unknotting and declaring the reserve of whatever you said before until you’ve unknotted the entire string.

When done, leave the string in the water until the water has cooled entirely. I typically let it sit overnight.

Finally pull out the string and let dry. You have several options with the disposal. You can burn the string, tie it around a photo of the target, or bury it in their yard.

Notes:

  • You don’t need to use very much eyebright or rose petals. A pinch is just fine.
  • If you have a picture of the target, you can put it under the bowl when you’re soaking the string.
  • The rose here stands for secrecy, hidden intentions, and ego.
  • Eyebright is to make the eyes clear.
  • You can add some clear quartz crystal to the eyebright bowl, if you like, but toss the water afterwards.
  • I like to use clear bowls for the eyebright part of the spell, mostly for “clear sight” sort of symbolism.
  • This spell is much faster if you have a water kettle to boil the water quickly.

Happy casting!

Water Divination – How to Fathom the Depths

Water divination is, hands down, one of my most favorite methods of divination. It’s not the first one I learned (crystal scrying was) but it’s definitely one that I go back to again and again.

You can scry with any kind of reflective surface. Mirrors are the most common but historically crystal, glass, water, blood, and oil have all been used. I’ve personally used window pane, turned off monitor screens, cell phone screens, and once, an incredibly shiny notebook.

Scrying isn’t like tarot card reading or even tea leaf reading. There aren’t any meaning you can go to and rarely is there anything to actually look at. Instead, you stare at the reflective surface and pay attention to what you sense in your mind. The thoughts that come to your brain and the images that form there. I’ve rarely actually seen images in the water. The reflective surfaces are more about allowing you to see what’s in yourself. No two scryers will see the same thing, after all, so it’s a lot of independence practice and trusting your intuition in order to get a reading.

Because of it’s a very intuitive art, some people will be better at it than others. Practice can even things out but the most important thing is to trust yourself. When I do divinations for myself, I rarely assume that what I’m seeing will absolutely come true. Instead, I view divinations as the most likely outcome, at this specific point in time, until something changes. Having a divination allows me to hedge my bets and set up contingencies. Since that’s how I view divinations, it means that I don’t mind using my intuition to make a decision because I probably have a back up plan outlined in my head.

Anyway, water divination is definitely old and definitely worth pursuing, especially if you feel connected to water in any way. Here’s how to do it.

Find a suitable vessel for the water. You can use anything but a shallow bowl or plate works well for beginners. The preferred color would be black but white or clear works well. If you’re using a clear bowl, make sure that the table you’ll be working on is cleaned and maybe drop a plain black cloth on the table. It’s up to you and experimenting will reveal the best results here. But for beginners, stick with a plain black bowl or clear bowl with black cloth under it.

Fill it most of the way with water. The water you use will depend on you and even your questions. When in doubt, use purified, spring, or tap water. Since I keep pitchers of purified water around, I usually just pour from that but if I need to get my serious witch game on then I go for the bottles of collected water.

Put the bowl before you, and sit in a chair that’s not too comfortable but not too uncomfortable either. You can do whatever you like with your hands. I usually put them on either side of the bowl, to ensure I don’t faceplant into the water (a definite risk for me that I’ll explain in a bit) but you can put them in your lap or on the bowl if you like.

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Now lean forward enough that you can see the reflection of the water but not your own reflection. This might be a bit tricky and you might need to play with any light sources nearby in order to get a good reflection without you. It won’t ruin your divination if you do find yourself in the reflection but I find staring at my own face distracting and end up embarrassed at whatever silly expression is on my face.

Think or say what you want to divine about. Describe it if you have to. Wait as long as you feel comfortable doing so. I find that after a few minutes I’ll drift closer to the water (hence the aforementioned faceplanting) and and my eyes will lose focus. That’s OK. Just let whatever come to mind happen.

Sometimes I’ll get particular sensations, like the color green or a snake. Other times I’ll see mini scenes in my brain like a movie reel but the people are faceless or stand-ins with people I know or even celebrities. Many times I’ll get a bunch of things all at once and I won’t be able to decipher it until later when writing it down. Don’t worry if it doesn’t make sense now or even after you’ve written it down. Scrying is one of those arts that is either incredibly, frustratingly vague or dead-on, scary accurate.

Talking aloud might help you find more and clarifying what you’re seeing but it also might disrupt your conversation. It’s a hit or miss thing for me. Sometimes I’ll talk and other times I won’t.

After a while, you’ll feel your concentration break. Maybe your mind slips into think what’s for dinner or you’ll feel the table edge pressing into your chest or your nose touches the water or something. It could be a phone ringing or the cat brushing against your leg. Whatever disrupts you concentration marks the end of that session.

Dump the water, clean the bowl and try again  at a later time. Don’t try to give it another go with the same question right away. It’s best to let what you’ve seen rest and sort itself out in your brain before trying again.

If you want to do more than one question at a time, you can use the same water or swap them out. It’s up to you. You can dump the water down the drain, drink it, or use it as an offering or water your plants. Whatever you want. I usually offer it to the garden as thanks but sometimes will pour it back to the source or down the drain.

And that’s it! It’s one of those easy to learn but difficult to master skills and one I think it’s super important to build up your belief in your own intuition. Give it a try and see how it works for you!

Be Brave (Spell Saturday #24)

Sometimes, you just need to be brave. Gathering your courage to go and do A Thing can be hard. (Although, it’s usually gathering motivation that’s harder but shh).

Here’s a spell for when you need to stop being a wimp and Do The Thing.

 

Take a deep breath. Hold your hands about a foot apart from one another in front of you and say,

“Fire around me, burning bright, passionate and true,

Water beside me, flowing free, understanding and calm,

Earth under me, steadying strong, patient and grounding

Air above me, pushing past, darting and knowing”

Now imagine the energies of all four elements to be in between your hands. If you’re god an energy manipulation, you can pull energy from the elements around you.

Take a deep breath once again. Condense the energy and move your hands closer together. Press your hands and energy into your chest. Say,

“Become with me

Grant me your courage and strength

To get me through this day.”

Now breathe out and go about your day.

Note:

  • Doing this in front of a mirror sometimes helps.
  • Doing this in front of an altar can be helpful but it isn’t required. There’s usually enough elements in the area that you don’t need to.
  • Bathrooms are great places to cast this spell. There’s water and fire (lights or electricity or even candles) on hand. Kitchens are also good places.
  • You can adapt the spell to your elemental system

Happy casting!

Grace Under Fire Potion

Sometimes, you just need to keep your cool despite all the stress and annoyances in life. This potion can help you do just that.

You’ll need:

  • Saucepan
  • Open flame (see notes)
  • 1 pint Purified water
  • 3 parts Ginger
  • 1 part Rosewater or Pink roses
  • Pinch Allspice
  • Pinch Betony
  • Pinch Valerian
  • Pinch Sage

Over an open flame, simmer all the ingredients together. Don’t allow to boil. Set aside and let cool to drinking temperature. You can serve over ice.

Consumption tips:

Taste-wise, this isn’t all that great. You may want to play around with the recipe a bit until you find something tasty.

Notes:

  • Ginger ale, candied ginger, or ginger beer can be exchanged for ginger
  • Candied rose petals are a good alternative
  • Valerian and sage can be omitted if desired. Betony is essential.
  • You can make this in two parts, a tisane with allspice, betony, valerian, and sage followed by a rosewater and ginger shot. Or, you can drink the tisane and eat candied rose petals and candied ginger.
  • Open flame is necessary for this specific potion. Stove top flame is perfect for this but you could heat this up over a candle or campfire stove.
  • Remember fire safety!

Happy casting!

Does this seem familiar? There’s a spell version of it!

13 Ways to Break a Curse

Need to break a curse fast? Here’s 13 ways you can do it.

Not sure you’re cursed? Go here and check out the symptoms of being cursed. Have a cursed item? Here’s some tips to end that curse on an object. Want a list of herbs to help break a curse? Go right here.

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1 Smoke cleansing

The best method to use smoke cleansing to break a curse is a two step process. First, pick a non-toxic hex-breaking herb(s) and burn that, waving the smoke around the cursed person, object, or place. Then repeat with a cleansing herb selection. Incense made with or using the scent of hex-breaking herbs will also work.

2 Living Water

Water universally is used in witchcraft and magical practices. The key is to select living water such as a river, ocean, and so on to allow the curse to wash away.

Want a more ritualized version? Go to the ocean and stand in the water while the sun rises. Allow the waves to hit you as many times as you need to feel freed from the curse. Some say being hit seven times with a wave breaks bad luck.

3 Bath Water

Baths are not only relaxing but they can un-hex you too. Create a bath with non-toxic hex-breaking herbs. Soak in the bathwater and scrub your body. Drain the tub, run the bath again this time with relaxing and cleansing herbs. Soak in this water and let yourself drift off, hex-free.

4 Mop Water or Floor Wash

Infuse your cleaning water with hex-breaking herbs to really get in the nitty-gritty. A pinch of herbs for a bucket of water can go a long way and can be used on most surfaces. Don’t forget to wash doors, windows, walls, ceilings, and floors too. Test the water in small areas first in case of staining.

5 Drink it

Make a potion with non-toxic non-allergenic hex-breaking herbs. Drink this before bed. In the morning, make sure you urinate first thing when you wake up. Then shower and wash all your bedding.

6 Egg Method

Get an egg and roll it over your body. Get as much of your body as you can, especially the palms of your hands, your head, gentiles, torso, and the soles of your feet. Then take the egg to a crossroad away from your house and smash it on the ground. Leave in a different direction from which you came.

Candle Smoke

7 Pass It On

Pass the curse on to someone else. You can use a person, a poppet, or even a rock as your subject. You’ll have to have a pretty good idea what the curse is and you’ll probably need a pretty good idea on how to manipulate energy or spells in order to push the spell onto someone else but it’s definitely doable.

A lit candle can also be used to pass the curse on. Then simply blow the candle out and toss it in the trash to be done with it.

8 Reverse It

Reversing the curse or sending it back on the sender is a popular choice. Usually a mirror or reflective surface is used for this. Ideally, you’ll look at the mirror and pronounce that the spell once cast on you is now returned to sender. There are lots of spells of this nature out there so look for one, if you’re interested.

9 Pass Through a Graveyard

Someone could break bad luck by passing through a graveyard on a full moon. Ideally, the graveyard should have two entrances, allowing you to pass through one side and out the other. If that’s not possible, then walk the perimeter of the graveyard in a full circle and pass through the entrance once again. Make sure you can legally enter that graveyard after dark.

10 Destroy the Source

Curses often have some sort of physical component to it. Breaking the physical vessel of the spell may break the spell itself. “May” being the operative word here. Some casters are clever and set up security measures for this sort of thing.

Additionally, some spells are cast in the spiritual realms or use spirits to do the dirty work. A trip to the astral may be needed in order to break the spell, if that’s the case.

11 Blessing Upon You

A simple way to counter a curse is to seek out a blessing. Find a clergy member of any religion capable of giving a blessing and go through the steps needed to cleanse yourself and be blessed in the name of the appropriate entity.

Invoking the name of an entity or deity often works just as well as a full blessing.

spells and herbs

12 Through Fire

Take a fresh picture of yourself and print it out. On the back, write down the symptoms and bad crap that keeps happening to you. Cast this into a flame, let the picture burn completely, and dose the fire. You could say something like “as this fire burns, so does the one who curses me” or “as this fire dies, so does my curse.”

13 Spin around three times and spit

This is an old one but is so commonplace. Plus, it’s the easiest one by far.

 

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of ways to break curses and the above are just a select few. It’s best to arm yourself with a few techniques so you can handle any type of curse or negativity thrown your way.

Love By the Moon Spell [Spell Saturday #18]

On a night where the moon is particularly bright or beautiful, hold a bowl or glass of water so the moon is reflected in the surface of the water. The water and bowl/glass should be clean and drinkable.

Now, while the reflection of the moon is in your hands,

“Under the light of this moon, I call to one who can love me

One who be honest and true, someone who will love me with their free heart

Look upon this moon and hear my call

Come to me and let us meet soon

By the light of the next full moon.”

Now drink the water completely.

Notes:

You don’t have to be outside for this to work. A window will work just as well.

This spell is NOT designed for a specific individual but instead to call a potential love interest that is not entangled in other romantic interests. Someone who is ready and willing to try their hand at a relationship with you.

If you don’t meet anyone new, try it again during the next moon.

Happy casting!

Happy Home Jar Spell (Spell Saturday #10)

With the winter holidays fast approaching, we’re pushed to have a lot of holiday cheer. For some people, that’s very easy and for others, the winter holidays are nightmarish. I wrote this spell to help out everyone in those situations.

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The purpose of this spell is to bring happiness and joy into the household. Ideally, people won’t get up in arms about life choices made and old arguments. and maybe wounds may begin to heal.

What you need:

  • Jar or bottle of plastic or glass. Size, shape, and color up to you.
  • Water, pot to boil water in, and salt
  • Herbs or flora: Basil, blue hydrangea, sea holly (erynogo), lavender, angelica root, chamomile, bay laurel, flax seed, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cloves, ginger, motherwort, garlic, citrus zest (orange, lemon, lime, etc peels), vervain, vanilla, vetiver, yarrow, or rosemary.
  • Sugar: golden sugar preferred but brown sugar or just regular white cane sugar, or sugar alternatives will certainly do.
  • Other: myrrh, dragon’s blood, benzoin, regular table salt, sea salt, pink salt, cascarilla (powdered eggshell), citrine, amethyst, chrysoprase, pink or blue tourmaline, turquoise, rose quartz, aquamarine, chalcedony, malachite, sodalite, or calcite.
  • Personal items from each target person or pet: hair, nails, etc. Alternatively, you can have a list of names instead. Dirt, ashes, or rocks from the family home or fireplace can also be used.

Note: You don’t have to have everything on the list above. Just pick out what you have or want to add in. Family items such as dirt from the family home might not be useful if you live in an apartment building or move a lot and personal items of the family could be omitted if you want a more general happy home spell.

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  1. Select a jar or bottle. Ideally, the bottle should be glass but plastic will work as well.The size, color, and shape it up to you but consider any traveling the bottle might do or where it’s going to sit. Small plastic bottles would be useful if you travel for the holidays but a larger more decorative jar can be put out on the counter during cooking to keep things copacetic.
  2. Wash the jar in boiling hot salt water. This can be done by getting pot larger than your jar and filling it with water and adding a few pinches of salt in. Make sure the salt dissolves and put the jar in before letting the water boil. Once the water boils, turn off the water and let it cool before removing it from the water. If you’re worried about the jar melting, just wash it in very hot salt water.
  3. Let the jar cool and dry completely before attempting to use. Now would be a good time to consider painting or otherwise decorating the jar or jar lid if applicable.
  4. Now layer in the heavier items like salt, resin pieces, ashes, dirt, or even the stones. Personal items should be also mixed in here but shouldn’t be seen through the glass or plastic so put down a layer of something else first and keep those personal items towards the middle. When you add them say “This is the foundation of my family, strong. We are unified.“
  5. Next add in the botanical materials. You can mix this however you want. When you add them in say “This brings peace to our home. We are happy and unified.“
  6. Now add a thin layer of sugar to the top. You can put your stones or other items on top as decoration, if you like. When you set up this layer say “This brings us kindness. We are happy and joyful.”
  7. Now seal the jar up. You can do this with tape, paint, glue, or wax. Blue’s a good chosen color. However, you can simply just cork or screw the jar shut if that’s easier for you. Hold the jar in your hands and imagine or say aloud how you want the home to be like. People enjoying each other’s company, sharing a meal, going home safely, no arguments or crying, etc. Dream of the perfect family environment. Push your energy into the jar as you do this.
  8. You can now set the jar somewhere where it can be seen in a busy place in your household (a high shelf or tucked into a corner on the counter will work nicely. Or you can carry the jar as needed. Shake or add more energy to give the spell a boost as needed.

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Tips:

  • This jar spells can be very easily adapted for your personal usage and can even be made travel size. All that you need to do is to select a jar or bottle that suits your needs and go from there.
  • If you’re using a jar that has labels on it, the boiling water trick will remove it. If the adhesive is still on, rubbing it with some baking soda will take it off. If you do this however, boil it a second time in clean salt water.
  • If you can’t avoid the personal items being seen in the jar, don’t worry about it too much. It’s more for decorative purposes and peace of mind than anything else. The spell won’t suffer from it.
  • Normally jar spells have wet items it in. I skipped this because I wanted the jar to be decorative for a long time. If you want to add liquids, I recommend the following: honey, sugar water, sunflower oil, Four Thieves Vinegar, or even salt water.
  • This is a long-term spell so it can sit out or be added to as needed. If the spell seems to be fading, you can swap out the ingredients for fresh material, give the jar a little shake, or push more energy and magic into the jar.
  • In order to get rid of the spell, pour out the ingredients into a dug hold on your family’s yard or garden. Alternatively, you can bury it at a park or even toss it in the trash.

That’s it! Happy casting!

Anti-Nightmare Workings, Spells, and Cures (repost) (Spell Saturday #3)

Happy Spell Saturday!

Today’s spell is a collection of anti-nightmare fixes reposted from my original tumblr blog. I think nightmares tend to start up more often since we’re moving into the Halloween and horror movie season. Enjoy and sweet dreams!

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Firstly, as much as we’d like to say that dream dictionaries help, they really don’t. I check them occasionally just to see what they say out of curiosity but I don’t hold much stock with them. No one can really tell you what your dreams mean besides you. You know your mind best and you know whether you view a specific symbol as one of warning or joy. You’ll have to figure it out for yourself. But, maybe this will give you something to think about. Check with your symbology, folklore, superstitions, mythology, favorite books, movies, video games, etc. Anything that has meaning to you might give some insight to the dreams.

As for anti-nightmares… I usually find throwing together a quick sachet and hiding it in my pillow works great. I’ve also hung it nearby or put it on a table. Works great. I’ve also heard under the bed works well too.

For anti-nightmares or nightmare cures…

From Scott Cunningham’s Magical Herbalism

NOTE: Scott Cunningham sometimes is on the ball with his shit and sometimes he is absolutely horribly fucking WRONG or doesn’t explain why the fuck he does what he does (And it’s hard to ask now, since he’s dead). Example: He considers comfrey a protective herb only which is really fucking weird since comfrey is known by herbalists as a healing herb. It’s even used in medications. Consider this with the information I now give you.

Anise (Cunningham, Magical Herbalism, pg 138) – “A good, general cleansing bath is made with a handful of anise seed and a few bay leaves. This is especially effective if you have (accidentally or intentionally) killed something. A pillow of anise keeps away all nightmares”

Betony (Cunningham, Magical Herbalism, pg 143-144) – “… Stuff a pillow with the herb and sleep on it to prevent nightmares.”

Hyacinth (Cunningham, Magical Herbalism, pg 169) – “Sachets to ease childbirth, protection and a guard against nightmares.”

Thyme (Cunningham, Magical Herbalism, pg 202) – “A pillow stuffed with thyme cures nightmares.” [Crown’s note: he claims thyme is used for clairvoyance but doesn’t list any uses for it as such.]

Vervain (Cunningham, Magical Herbalism, pg 205) – “Hang up o the bed to keep you free of nightmares.”

From Judika Illes’ Encyclopedia of 5000 Spells

NOTE: Illes collected her stuff from all over the place and doesn’t source it (bibliography but each speck of information isn’t directly sourced) so it’s hard to trace. And her history is shoddy beside the culturally based spells and workings taken out of context…. Anyway, she’s got a whole section (pg 380-388) but I’ve selected a few of them for various reasons.

“Nightmare Spell (2) Anti-Nightmare Garden” (pg 382)

… The Primary botanical nightmare-repellant is rosemary. Given the opportunity it flourishes and grows wildly. Other suggestions include:
Mimosa
Mint
Mugwort
Poppies
Roses
Rowan
Saint John’s Wort
Snake Plant
Wormwood

[Crown’s Note: I think this is a lesson is what not to use? Most of these plants are used in clairvoyance and divination. If you’re hoping to prevent nightmares or dreaming in general, I’d say avoid these. YMMV though.]

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“Nightmare Spell (6) Betony” (pg 382)

“Gather betony in August without the use of iron. Dry the plants and then grind the leaves and roots. Cast a circle around your bed with this powder to protect against nightmares.” [Crown’s note: Or make a sachet or pillow, hang the plant, grow it next to you….]

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“Nightmare Spell (9) Crystals” (pg 383)

Certain crystal gemstones repel and relieve nightmares:
– Blue crystals in general, especially angelite, lapis lazuli, and turquoise
– Black crystals, with the possible exception of onyx
– Chysolite
– Citrine
– Topaz”

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“Nightmare Spell (11) Silver Bell Dispersal” (pg 383)

Keep a bell made from real silver on the nightstand, and ring as needed to dispel a nightmare and cleanse the atmosphere.

[Crown’s note: I love bells. I don’t see why a silver one’s necessary. Any bell with a clear sound should suffice. I like using brass bells because of the sound they make.]

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“Nightmare Spell (32) Water Absorption” (pg 388)

1. Leave a glass of water by your bedside.
2. For extra strength, add camphor, but be sure not to drink the water!
3. In the morning, flush the water down the toilet.
4. Reserve the glass for this use only and repeat as needed.“

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Illes also lists the following herbs on pages 386-388 in separate spells. Since I’m not going to type out the whole section of the book, I’ve listed them with their page numbers and spell titles so you can look them up yourself.

– Amaranthus (“Nightmare Spell (18) Flower of Essence Relief” pg 386)
– Gray Spider Flower (“Nightmare Spell (18) Flower of Essence Relief” pg 386)
– Saint John’s Wort (“Nightmare Spell (18) Flower of Essence Relief” pg 386)
– Juniper Berries on yucca thread (“Nightmare Spell (19) Ghost Beads” pg 386 *watch for cultural appropriation!)
– Peony Roots (“Nightmare Spell (24) Peony Roots” pg 387 and “Nighmare Spell 25 Peony Root Beads” pg 387)
– Agrimony (“Nightmare Spell (26) Protection (1)” pg 387)
– Betony (“Nightmare Spell (27) Protection (2)” pg 387)
– Purslane (“Nightmare Spell (28) Purslane Protection” pg 387)
– Vervain (“Nightmare Spell (31) Vervain” pg 388)

Crown’s Additions:
– Iron. Iron anything under the bed, pillow, between the mattresses, next to you, whatever.
– I love the idea of the bell as written above.
– Betony is a good keep-away for spirits, dreams, and generally everything as far as I’ve seen. YYMV.
– I personally use rosemary and thyme or rosemary and chamomile when I want to be left dreamless.

Original post from my tumblr blog here.