Dear readers,

Today I took another fascinating magic practice from my “Book of Shadows”: The Witch's Bottle. As always everyone is free to believe in what they want, but I repeat: if you don't believe in something it doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

I also want to say that the article is quite useful for approaching this practice and therefore I always ask you to always use the knowledge learned for the good of others and respecting everyone's free will.

                                                                        

The Witch's Bottle

It is one of the oldest spells known. This practice has its roots in European witchcraft, with models similar to those found in other parts of the world, to the point of being widely known and widespread even outside England, considered the homeland of this technique. The witch bottle was born as a supernatural protection against witchcraft and the evil entities that populated the ancient world. We have traces of witch bottles as far back as the 17th century, when the first description of this object created with the express purpose of providing protection against black magic dates back to, although the tradition probably originated at least in the 16th century.

What is it for?

Following the most ancient and witnessed traditions, the witch's bottles were used for:

•  Protect the owner or the home,
• Repel or prevent magical aggression,
• to trap malevolent spirits,
• Curse
• Heal (rarely)

The contents of the bottle

As for the characteristic content of the witches' bottles, there is nothing to discover and invent, given that illustrious archaeologists have analyzed the contents of various specimens.

The ingredients in the witch's bottle could vary by location.  Following the tradition and the discoveries made, the elements useful for one's purposes are chosen, according to the symbolic and magical value of what is contained in the oldest bottles found in Ipswich , Hellincton and Plymouth.

The first very common ingredient is: pins, needles and nails (generally in iron, due to the Anglo-Saxon tradition, according to which it has the power to keep evil away) such as hawthorn thorns, pointed wood, glass splinters or pottery (to be understood as weapons).

The second less frequent but equally used content was "The laces of the Witch", laces knotted in sequence of three knots, used to load or fix an intent or the repetition of the same.

In some cases, sacred, religious texts such as the Bible were also used: specific passages that had a double meaning. The meaning contained in the text and to perform specific actions according to the person for whom it was done (The witness).

The third common and indispensable content is the witness: objects, fragments of clothing or other items that have come into contact with the person, or organic elements of the person (hair, nails, blood, sperm, urine, saliva, perhaps more powerful than objects). In magical works they serve to connect the spell (intent) to the subject on which it must act. Inside the witch's bottles were included various kinds, depending on the use. The person would add his hair, or fill the bottle with his own urine, in case the object was to protect him or protect his properties and possessions, or heal him or trap the evil or disease that afflicted him.

Last note on the content: the elements that form the content are not unrelated to each other, but must be interpreted as functional parts that create a single, harmonious and single spell.

Witch bottle discovered along the Thames in 1926

The container to use

As for which container to use to create your own witch bottle, the traditional and most characteristic ones are ceramic and terracotta pots, glass bottles of various shapes and sizes, and a very specific type of vessel called a bellarmine  or  bartmann  jug .

"Whatever contains and isolates the content from the external environment plays a capital role in magic, because it becomes the means in which to recreate symbolic conditions, or even a "miniature cosmos", built in every detail according to the needs of the practitioner." 

 

 The place to place the bottle

The bottle must not be kept in plain sight or displayed (practice valid for any object dedicated to magical practice). The witch's bottle was then buried in the most remote corner of the property, under the center of the house or in an unsuspected and difficult to reach place. It was walled up in the walls, buried under the entrances of the houses always to delimit and protect places and people. 

 

Well, once the theoretical part is over let's move on to practice, let's see how to build the witch's bottle in a simple but still effective way. Obviously my version.

How to build your own witch bottle

NECESSARY:  A bottle (preferably never used to your taste), nails, pins, broken pottery, magical herbs (Laurel, Sage, Cloves, Nettle and Rosemary), a white or green string (or as in some versions you taught me a braid of three colors: red, green and white). Where to seal the intent with nodes in sequence of three. The witness (always for personal use and without ever harming anyone), preferring body fluids, I leave the choice to you which one to use. Hair and nails are fine too.

PROCEDURE: First you look for a quiet place where you can work undisturbed, meditate and impress the intent or spell. During this operation, knots are made in the lace, at least three. Insert the string into the chosen bottle, then continue with the magical herbs, always with the intent clearly in mind, and finally insert the "weapons": nails, broken glass, broken pottery, etc. As soon as everything is done, the witness is inserted, I always repeat to do it for oneself, respecting everyone's free will and not hurting anyone. Now the bottle is almost ready, you have to imprint your energy on everything or the energy that you can channel and seal the bottle, which is very important.

Various methods are used to seal the bottle, one that I prefer is: close the bottle with plastic film, then cover it with the hemp cloth and the string with the name hanging on it, then pour the wax, possibly black, to cover everything in order to make the bottle airtight.

At this point the bottle is ready, all that remains is to place it, as we have seen, in a place that is difficult to find and in your home.

The validity of this spell is almost unlimited, as long as it remains sealed and doesn't break and I add don't let anyone see or touch it.

As always in the ether of the news you can find everything on this topic, with many more or less valid variations, the important thing is the intent, the strong intention and the energy you give it.

Before concluding, I would like to underline the importance of not using this knowledge incorrectly, never harming anyone and respecting everyone's free will. In all the works that are done there are consequences which, as history shows, are always catastrophic if done incorrectly.