A spell bottle is a bottle into which a magical spell has been cast in the form of physical items used to ensure that the spell results in the desired outcome.
A bottle spell is a magical spell that is contained within a bottle, and which, when finished, is expected to work for the ends one desires.
There are many types of bottle spells used in folk magic traditions from around the world. Almost every culture that uses bottles (or gourds, or animal horns) as containers also has developed ways to use those containers to hold works of magical spell craft.
The painted bottle spells shown at the top of this page were made in America from small medical bottles. They come in both hoodoo and Catholic styles, as described below.
Among the earliest spell bottles known are those called "Witch Bottles."
They are buried under the threshold or hidden up in a
chimney to keep witches or evil-intentioned people away from
your home. Examples of glazed clay witch bottles have been found in
England that date back to the 1600s at least. A typical
witch bottle contains sharp, jagged items like bent pins,
shards of glass, nails, or even broken razor blades, a hair,
and the urine of the person who wishes to be protected. Some
of the ancient witch bottles found sealed by archaeologists
in England have been opened and all of them that still
contained liquids tested positive for the presence of
urine.
In more recent times, the
witch bottles of England and Anglo-America have been made from cobalt blue glass and
they are often kept on a window sill "for pretty" as well as to keep away witches and
the evil eye.
Because they function as "fascinators" and spirit traps, they
are typically filled with shiny and sparkly things. The empty cobalt blue glass
bottle shown here is typical of the style used. It has a rolled rim and is stoppered with
a cork, adding to its old-fashioned look and charm. Its shape has led folks to
call it a "potion bottle," and of course it can also be used for storing magical liquids.
This is a small, short, squat style of jar made from very
pale green recycled glass. The shape is what used to be
called a "Cream Cup" in restaurants -- a tiny container
for coffee cream. Made of glass and outfitted with a cork
stopper, it serves beautifully as a Spice or Herb Jar,
or a diminutive container for a special Bottle Spell.
In Central and South America, spell bottles are generally filled with lucky and protective
amulets and curios and are then filled with oil and sealed.
These bottle spells come in many sizes, from
medical ampules to whiskey flasks.
Some beautiful examples of such bottle spells from Peru, Bolivia, and Guatemala can be
found on the page of charm
vials and charm flasks.
One of the oldest bottle spells that is not a witch-bottle
or protective spell is the
Break Up bottle. These are most
commonly found in African American
hoodoo magic, but their
contents are related to similar "divorce from demons" spells
inscribed in bowls that are found in ancient Jewish ruins.
Break Up
bottles typically contain the hair of a black dog
and the hair of a
black cat
-- so the people you want to
break up will "fight like cats and dogs" -- plus red cayenne
pepper powder, to make then angry, and a group of 9 needles,
9 pins, and 9 nails to cause them to hurt one another.
Vinegar
may be added to "sour" their relationship. A black
candle
inscribed with the people's names written
back-to-back (to separate them) may be burned in the mouth
of the bottle before it is sealed. After it is prepared it
can be buried at their home where they will step over it or
it can be shaken up daily as you name them and call down
curses on their relationship.
Bottle spells may also be used for helpful magic. A
honey jar spell
-- in which in two
people's names are written criss-cross and folded around some personal items and kept
in a jar of honey to create sweet conditions between the two -- is also a form of bottle spell.
Honey jar spells
may be used for
love magic,
for
court cases,
to succeed on the job, to get a bank loan, or anywhere
that you want someone to be sweet to you or those on whose behalf you are working.
Special bottle spells are made for various conditions.
A Compelling
bottle to make someone keep a promise may be made by writing their name on paper,
crossed by your command, folding the paper with herbs such as Licorice and
Calamus that are used to rule and control people, and inserting everything
in the bottle. A small purple
candle
is then stuck in the neck of the bottle and burned.
It may be dressed with
Compelling
brand
dressing oil,
all-purpose
Special Oil No. 20,
or plain Olive Oil.
A Fast Luck
bottle spell to get luck in a hurry is made the same way --
only in this case one writes the command first and crosses
it with one's own name written out 9 times. A red candle for a
love spell
or a green candle for
money magic
or
gambling luck
dressed with
Fast Luck
brand
anointing oil
is burned with this bottle.
Come To Me,
Reconciliation (shown here),
Peaceful Home,
Lavender Love,
Prosperity and other bottle spells are all created in a similar way:
If there are two people in the case, appropriate herbs and
minerals are placed in the bottle and when the petition
paper is written out, your name goes on top of the name of
the other party, to rule them. If there is only one party
and the petition is for
success,
wealth,
or luck, the
petition is written first, crossed and covered by your name.
Dress the candle with an appropriate formula oil or an
all-purpose anointing oil such as
Special Oil No. 20, or, in
a pinch, use plain Olive oil.
Religious bottle spells are a special form of
prayer-in-a-bottle. They are made to hold your wish or
petition, written on paper, along with herbs and minerals
deemed relevant to the case, such as Rose buds if calling
upon the Virgin, two Balm of Gilead buds if petitioning to
mend a broken relationship, or Frankincense and Myrrh in
making a petition to the Infant Jesus. There are
patron saints
for almost every human occupation, location, or condition, and some
of the popular saints who appear in painted bottle spells include
Saint Expedite
for fast results,
Saint Christopher
for the safety of travellers,
the Seven African Powers
(shown here) for devotion to the Orishas,
and the
Infant of Atocha
for political prisoners and missing victims of kidnapping.
Once the relevant items are put
in the spell bottle, a candle of the appropriate colour for that
patron saint
is
inserted in the neck of the bottle and dressed with oil --
either a named Saint or Holy oil or simply pure Olive Oil --
and then lit.
One candle alone may be sufficient, but some
people burn several, one per day, until they achieve
satisfaction.
Sealing the bottle concludes the work, but if your spell is
ongoing, you may make a "shaking" bottle of it before you
seal it. After the candle is burned out, add
vinegar (for a
harmful spell),
Florida Water Cologne
(for a blessing
spell), or
Hoyt's Cologne
(for a luck spell) and seal the
bottle. Shake it for a few minutes, either every day or once
a week, as you call aloud your blessing, wish, prayer, or
curse. Hold the spell bottle between your thumb and middle finger
and shake it rhythmically as you speak, as you would a
rattle. Your words should be improvised and cadenced, like
preaching, toasting, or rapping.
When you are done with a bottle spell or prayer bottle and
feel that the work is completed, it should be given a
ritual disposal
in an appropriate manner. It
may be
buried under a doorstep,
buried in a graveyard,
thrown into a
crossroads, have a hole punched into the cap before
being made to sink in water, or kept on an altar,
depending on what your intention was.
If the spell or prayer
was to rid yourself of some person or condition,
ritually dispose
of
the bottle.
If your intention was to keep someone close but
not let them know what you are doing, bury the spell bottle in
your back yard.
If the petition or prayer you made was
performed for
love,
money,
gambling luck,
protection
or
religious reasons
and you maintain an altar, then you should keep the spell bottle on the altar where it
will continue to work for you.
If you work the bottle by
If you are working the bottle spell at your altar
-- by shaking it, setting small altar lights in the bottle mouth, etc. --
you may continue to add things to it, as it is still a "work in progress."
ENGLISH AND ANGLO-AMERICAN WITCH BOTTLES
LATIN AMERICAN CHARM FLASKS
HOODOO PAINTED BOTTLE SPELLS
RELIGIOUS PAINTED BOTTLE SPELLS
FINISHING THE WORK
burial in earth in the home yard
then the spell-work is finished when the action of deployment or disposal is performed and you
cannot re-open the bottle to add more ingredients to it.
burial under the enemy's doorstep
deployment or disposal at a crossroads
interment in a quincunx pattern in a building
burial in a graveyard
deployment in a tree
deployment in running water
disposal in fire
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