Witches Bottle for Protection
In 2006 I helped to found a witches study group called The Nerdy Witches. The write-up below was something I created for the group after one of our study group sessions. I’m sharing it here because it’s one of my favorites and because it offers a lot of information on some protective herbs.
The witch bottles we crafted are counter-magical devices used as protection against the things we discussed in the Who needs Protection Magick blog. Keep in mind that this is only one type of bottled spell.
The things we put into the witches’ bottles fall into the three categories of personalizing, trapping, and dissipating. Each magickal worker will need to fill these categories as they see fit.
Personalize – This is the act of putting the essence of the person to be protected in the bottle. The witch’s bottle needs to draw any harm away from the intended (or unintended) victim. Using parts of our body that we no longer need like hair, fingernail clippings, urine, spit or menstrual blood attracts the energies to the bottle but does not deteriorate the protected person in any way.
Some practitioners believe that you must also have the essence of the protected person on the outside of the bottle to draw the energies. The essence of the witch can be inserted into the bottle in other ways as well. Common examples are naming papers, felt hearts, personal jewelry, or anything that resonates with the energy signal of the person to be protected. When using these, keep in mind what the rest of the content of the bottle is meant to do and protect the items as needed.
Trap and Confuse – Once we have attracted this harmful energy into the bottle we need to make sure it stays there. There is no limit to the ways a practitioner may decide to confuse the energies and trap them in the bottle long enough for them to begin to dissipate. Knotted string, certain herbs, pins, rusty nails, broken glass, empowered stones, thorns, and sap are just a few of the items we discussed. The important thing to remember is the need to hold or damage the energy so it can not continue on to its intended purpose.
Dissipate – Although many practitioners will leave a bottle to fill to capacity before dissipating the energy others find it useful to immediately start transforming the uglies captured in the bottle. Some items that can be used to this end are urine, vinegar, wine, certain herbs, empowered stones, and salt. You will likely find it helpful to charge these items with intent before placing them in the bottle.
Constructing and Sealing – There is no specific order the bottles should be filled to. Follow your intuition and you will not go astray. From personal experience, I will recommend adding any liquid last but this is purely for ease of construction. A traditional way to seal the bottle is with wax (often black) dripped over the cork or lid. This can be a cumbersome (and messy) process but it will give you some good time to charge the bottle well. Any sealing that keeps the items and energy where you have put them will suffice.
Placement – When it comes to placement there are again divergent schools of thought. Traditionally the bottles are buried in a forgotten corner of the protectees property (or potted plant if that’s what you have). This will move the energies away from the target. Since burying items is often seen as a way to dissipate them in earth energy this would help with dissipation. Others like to keep the bottle above ground and by a window or doorway (in other words near them) and bury it only when taking the item out of service.
Some Herbal Addition Options
Angelica for removing curses and hexes.
Anise for protection from spirits.
Cinquefoil for protection and washing away curses.
Cinnamon for increasing speed of action.
Lavender to protect against the evil eye.
Hyssop to purge evil and negativity.
Raspberry to protect the home from intruders.
Rosemary for protection while sleeping and from thieves (energy thieves)
Sandalwood for healing and exorcism.
Please feel free to share your thoughts, comments, questions or experiences. We love to hear from you.
Also, check out the other blogs in the protection magick series on the Nerdy Witch Blog.