Love magick! We have all at least thought about it, have we not? Some of us have even tried it, all with varying degrees of success. To charm and enchant the object of our desires is certainly one of the oldest forms of magick in the world. There are probably no cultures or societies, modern or ancient, where people are without some form of love spell. Without a doubt, at least in my view of life, to love and be loved is one of the most powerful and motivating forces that humankind has experienced or ever will experience. Love is the force that has caused wars, caused families to fall apart, ended wars and settled family feuds.
But what is it that drives us to use love magick? To attempt to fascinate and bewitch another is a very basic act of human behavior. When a woman puts on her loveliest outfit, fixes her hair and puts on makeup to enhance her appearance to go out with the man or woman of her affections, is that not casting a spell of sorts? When a man puts on his best, gets a clean shave or trims his beard and puts on a splash of cologne for the woman or man of his desires, well, need I say more?
When we were children, we probably all watched our parents or older siblings doing these things. At least, I did, and I noticed how these people had a certain radiance about them. Later in life, my ability to attract a girl evolved from pulling her hair, to leaving a love letter in her desk, to sending my friends over to tell her that I liked her. Then, finally, in the sixth grade, when I asked a girl to "go with me," I began to understand that radiance I saw on the adults who did enchant and beguile. So, on reflection, aren't hair-pulling, note-leaving and friend-sending an impetus of my young will?
As an adult, my quest for love became more of a ritual than I ever could have forseen as a child. I will recount my experience with working love magick, and my results.
After living in Seattle for a year, and after a year and a half of sobriety and a year and a half of celibacy... well, let's just say I was a very lonely, horny young man. On Christmas Day 1991, I went into Shamanic Convergence, a Wiccan shop no longer in existence, and bought Buckland's Gypsy Love Magick. I read it on the bus back to my University District home. I must say how disappointed I was with the contents of the book; I wanted reality, not McFiction!
A few days later, while reading through Starhawk's The Spiral Dance, I found just what I needed! A simple spell and love sachet - how could I have missed it the other three or four times I read the book? Must have been the lack of blood to my brain.
For the next few days, I went between Tenzing Mono, at Pike Place Market, and The Cauldron, another witch store now gone, gathering the necessary herbs. I waited until the correct day of the moon cycle, did everything just right, then waited.
After two weeks, I was becoming disheartened, thinking I must be just a big loser! Then it happened: I met her, though at that moment I didn't realize it. After a couple days, we had a date. Let me tell you, love magick requires specifics, and specific I was; she was everything I wanted. She was sensitive, psychic, pagan and witch-friendly; she was sober, liked animals, was older than me and liked to have sex.... The list went on.
Unfortunately, she was all I asked for and then some. You see, I included all I required, as I should have, but I did not mention what I did not want, and the resulting "combo package" made us incompatible. In some very important ways, we were not able to see eye to eye. I realized that love must have time to grow, time to mature, time to actually begin, and when she said she loved me after a couple of days, I couldn't return the sentiment. She wanted to get married, have kids, that kind of thing; I wanted to work on my sobriety and finish growing up, as much as possible. We had a rather grisly breakup after a month, and a short string of relationships with very similar problems followed for me.
At one point, I realized that this love charm had locked me into a definite cycle. I knew I had to break the spell. What I did was go to Volunteer Park and found a huge tree that has a place in my heart, said a prayer to the tree and buried that bag in its roots. Free at last, free at last, thank the gods almighty I was free at last! The spell was broken.
While this was going on, I met someone new and graduated from girls to women. This woman was everything I had wanted to begin with. Plus, she was supportive of my sobriety and gave me the space I needed to grow. We have been together for almost four years now. Maybe it was she who I actually summoned with my love magick.
Let me share my opinion about why love magick works. First, there is real or imagined need; the lonely heart can be a powerful thing. Second, there are always people out there who want to love and be loved. With the correct direction of will, along with the ability to focus and visualize a goal, the witch or magician should be able to attract that which he or she seeks. I, however, do not recommend working love magick, and I certainly would reproach someone working love magick on a particular person; this will almost always interfere with that person's own free and true will. If you must work love magick, work for the best possible person who you are compatible with, for the greatest and highest good of all!
I have learned a valuable lesson. I am a much wiser person for it and have some good advice to give. I did cause other people pain that they may not have felt had I not worked the spell. I also caused myself pain, and I know I should have let destiny take its course. After this experience and knowing what I know, if I had it all to do again, would I? No!
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