Spell bottles have been around for centuries though they have not always gone by that name. Commonly called Witch Bottles or Witches' Bottles, these little charms were meant to guard the home against evil spirits and baneful magic. Just as the title "witch" itself, this magical practice has gone through a transformation, and instead of serving as protection against witches, spell bottles are now largely used by witches for protection and manifestation of desired outcomes.

((a little note :: previously I have posted in this community under this name as well as Libra.Gardener. Both accounts are me but from now I on I will be working under just this account - Calendula Craft. This (re)Introduction post explains the reason for two accounts and why I am now switching to just one.))

How to create your spell bottle ~

With most spells the first step is to clearly define your intention and gather up the corresponding herbs and flowers. As these bottles are not going to be consumed, you may use any herb or flower that you find to me in accordance with the intention of the spell. Depending on the goal of your bottle spell you will use different herb and flower combinations. In this example I used rose & calendula petals and whole yarrow flowers to attract self-love and friendship.

There are so many witchy books and websites that list off spell ingredients and their correspondences. In a future post I intend to make a list of all my favorite resources but for now I think Flying the Hedge Herbarium is a good place to get ideas as to the magical powers of herbs.

As well as the classical magical meanings of each herb, I also incorporate my own intuition and associations with each herb or flower.

All of the flowers were grown in my garden or collected in the fields of the farm were I live. This place was once a perfumery so there are a lot of roses growing all around. I personally prefer to use herbs I grow or collect myself but, you can certainly use herbs or flowers you bought or collected from a special place. Just make sure the herbs and flowers are totally dried before you begin this craft as filling a bottle with fresh plant material will just create a bottle of mold.

In this type of magick we are working with the concept that "like attracts like" also known as sympathetic magick. You may have heard the phrase "your vibe attracts your tribe" and we are working with that very same line of thinking. By creating a bottle full of happy, lovely herbs and infusing it with the attention to attract friends - we will be subconsciously more open to the possibility of happy and lovely friendships that we may have otherwise not noticed.

Spell bottles aren't only for attracting friendships. Here are a few other possible intentions and combinations that I came up with:

Protection bottle : yarrow, vervain, rosemary, and cedar or pine.

Self love bottle : vervain, lavender, pink or red roses, yarrow, lemon or orange peel.

and another variation on the Friendship bottle : calendula flowers pink or white roses, zinnia flowers, sunflower petals and orange peel.

Think of these as suggestions or guidelines and feel free to replace or alter the ingredients based on your intention and what herbs and flowers you have access to. For this craft I like to use a very small bottle or tiny jar, so not much herbal material is needed. It is more important the quality and care you put into collecting and processing the materials for this jar than having large quantities or diversity of herbs.

Now that you have all the materials and the herbal contents are totally dry, we can discuss when you will construct this bottle spell. Depending on the goal of your spell you will want to choose a specific day to do the spell. For example, if your bottle is about love, beauty or self-love you should work on Friday – Venus or Aphrodite’s day. A bottle for friendship or communication should be made on Wednesday – Mercury’s day. But, you can be flexible and creative with this for example if you want to do a self-love spell to help connect with and accept your emotional self, Monday or Moon’s day would be good too. If you want to make a bottle to encourage you to achieve your fullest protection, SunDay would also work.

Next, write out the ingredients and/or your intentions on a beautiful piece of paper. In this example I made a spell bottle for my sister and only wrote the meaning of each ingredient, on the back she can write her personal intentions when she receives the bottle in a couple of weeks – she lives in California so I mailed her bottle from where I live in Argentina.

That day I made several bottles for my sister, a friend, my partner and myself so each person will do as they wish with their bottle and consecrate them in the manner of their choice. Even though I have no control over what day they will receive the bottle or how they are to use them. I made the bottles with love & care and that energy will surely aid whatever magic they are working in their lives ...