Oral Fixations

Food can be foreplay, a wonderful prelude to a night of love. I recommend consuming these aphrodisiacs for your pleasure:

• Almonds, or erotically shaped marzipan
• Arugula, also called “rocket”
• Avocado, referred to by the ancient Aztecs as the “testicle tree”
• Bananas and banana flowers
• Chocolate, quite rightly called “the food of the gods”
• Honey, as the term “honeymoon” came from a bee-sweetened drink served to newlyweds
• Nutmeg, the traditional aphrodisiac for Chinese women; eat enough and you will hallucinate
• Oysters, prized by the Romans for both their effect and their resemblance to female genitalia
• Strawberries, often mentioned in erotic literature
• Coffee, a stimulant for many things
• Garlic, the heat to light the flame of desire
• Figs, another symbol of ultimate femininity; just eating one is a turn-on
• Vanilla, captivating for both its scent and its flavor

Valentine’s Day Observances: Attraction Altar

This is the first step to prepare for potential relationships and create a foundation for self-love in the truest sense. You can recreate your altar as a power source and a center from which to renew your erotic spirit. You can also concentrate your energy, clarify your intentions, and make your wishes come true. Incorporate a special element to enhance love in your life, for yourself, and for others. As always, the more you use your altar, the more powerful your spells will be.

Feng Shui for Love

Surely one of the main reasons for clearing space in your home and bedroom is to make room for a happy love life. Before you attempt to enhance your prospects for love, you need to improve the flow of chi, or life energy, in the environment where you express your love. Try any of all of the following to help you improve the chi:

• Remove all pictures of yourself where you are alone.
• Remove all empty cups, jars, vases, and bottles.
• Remove all photographs of past lovers, or at least relegate them to another room.
• Make sure that decorative accessories are in even numbers, not in odds or in triplets. This pertains to candles, frames, pillows, and lamps.
• Display special feng shui love symbols, such as an open red fan, a pair of crystal lovebirds, and two red hearts. On your bed, you should use rich, silky, and extremely comfortable fabrics and colors. Also be extravagant when it comes to pillows—the more the merrier. But remember to have even numbers, not odd ones, which disrupt your “love chi."

Sabbat of Imbolc: A February Festival

Although February is the shortest calendar month, it holds many rich festivals from several cultures. Celtic Pagans celebrate Imbolc, or Brigid’s Day, as the first sign of spring in the Wheel of the Year.

Imbolc translates to “in the milk,” which reflects the lambing and calving season that begins around this time. The idea of purification also runs through February festivals such as Purim, Candlemas and Lupercalia. Take the opportunity to start “spring cleaning” a bit earlier than you usually do to help chase away the winter blues. And of course, February holds Valentine’s Day, a now-secular celebration of affection and friendship.

Put a Cork In It - Charmed Life Charm

The next time you enjoy a beverage sealed with a cork, keep the cork. This does not have to be a champagne cork—they are all lucky. When a bottle is shared and the occasion is a happy event or joyous moment, secret away the cork from the bottle, making a wish for repetition of the pleasure as you do so, and placing a coin in a slit in the top of the cork.

Now you must sleep on the cork every night (under your pillow) and keep it in your pocket all the next day. Rub the cork any day thereafter when you wish to hear from the other person or people who shared the bottle with you; do not wish for love but rather for continuing happiness. The cork symbolizes buoyancy, not love.

Celebrate these events throughout the year to find your lucky cork: 

January 1: New Year’s Day

February 14: St.Valentine’s Day

March 8: International Women’s Day

April 22: Earth Day

May 1: May Day, Beltane

June 19: Juneteenth

July 20: National Moon Day

August 4: Dom Pérignon invents champagne in 1693—celebrate! 

September 20: International Day of Peace

October 15: Festival of Mars (Ancient Rome) 

November 5: Guy Fawkes Day

December 5: International Volunteers Day

Put a Cork In It - Charmed Life Charm

The next time you enjoy a beverage sealed with a cork, keep the cork. This does not have to be a champagne cork—they are all lucky. When a bottle is shared and the occasion is a happy event or joyous moment, secret away the cork from the bottle, making a wish for repetition of the pleasure as you do so, and placing a coin in a slit in the top of the cork.

Now you must sleep on the cork every night (under your pillow) and keep it in your pocket all the next day. Rub the cork any day thereafter when you wish to hear from the other person or people who shared the bottle with you; do not wish for love but rather for continuing happiness. The cork symbolizes buoyancy, not love.

Celebrate these events throughout the year to find your lucky cork:

January 1: New Year’s Day

February 14: St.Valentine’s Day

March 8: International Women’s Day

April 22: Earth Day

May 1: May Day, Beltane

June 19: Juneteenth

July 20: National Moon Day

August 4: Dom Pérignon invents champagne in 1693—celebrate!

September 20: International Day of Peace

October 15: Festival of Mars (Ancient Rome)

November 5: Guy Fawkes Day

December 5: International Volunteers Day

Cooking Up Lots of Love: Spells to Attract, Create and Keep Love in Your Life

Like many before me, love spells were my first.  At the age of fourteen, I cast my first and soon my best friend was the object of amorous attention from a previously disinterested suitor. Since then, I have had many years and ample opportunity to perfect this most joyous aspect of the craft. I have happily watched these spells kindle and keep love’s passion alive time and again.

Any metaphysician will tell you the most common requests for help involve matters of the heart. Witchcraft is based in the knowledge that our destinies lie in our own hands, even where love is concerned. Why suffer the slings and arrows of romance gone wrong when you can do something about it? Below are lots of ideas for magical workings so you have a life you love and a life filled with love.

Light of Love: Altar Dedication

Use a small table or chest in your bedroom and cover with a rich red scarf or cloth.  Adorn it with objects that signify love- red candles, ruby-colored bowls, roses, a statue of Adonis, a heart-shaped chunk of amethyst, whatever stirs your feelings and senses. Give the area a good smudging to purify the space to refresh for new beginnings. Anoint your candles with oil of jasmine, rose or any scent that is redolent of romance to you and light similar incense. Light both and speak aloud:

I light the flame,

I fan the flame.

Each candle I burn is a wish,

I desire and will be desired in return.

Twin Hearts Candle Consecration

If you are seeking a soulmate, this simple spell will do the trick. At nearly any new age bookshop, you can find heart-shaped semiprecious stones. On the next new moon, take two pieces of rose quartz and stand in the center of your bedroom. Light two pink candles and cite:

Beautiful crystal I hold this night,

Flame with love for my delight.

Harm to none as love comes to me.

This I ask and so shall it be.

Keep the candles and crystals on your bedside table and think of it as shrine to love. Repeat three nights in a row and ready for yourself for amour.

Mists of Avalon Potion

If you are dreaming of real romance, you can bring about visions of your true love to come with this potent potion:

3 drops rose oil

3 drops lavender

3 drops neroli, orange blossom essence

4 ounces pure distilled water

Pour all these into a colored glass spray bottle and shake well three times. Fifteen minutes before you retire, spray lightly on your linens, towel, and pillow case. Keep a dream journal on your nightstand so you can record details of the great love that will soon manifest.