Lightening in a Bottle: Charm Bags and Spell Bottles

If you have been anywhere on the witchy Internet lately, you have seen videos of people casting spells by adding ingredients into a little bottle and sealing it with melted wax. These little spell bottles are very popular and, in many cases, very pretty. Occasionally, you will also see a spell bottle’s sister, the Charm Bag. These ancient forms of spell craft are popular again. The bonus to all this for a beginner or seasoned witch is they are easy to create, take few supplies, and pack a magical punch.

Charm bags and spell bottles are a lot alike. Basically, both are the act of placing spell ingredients into a container. In most cases, spell bags and bottles are designed to be both portable and discreet, if needed. They can be created quickly and, unless you are sealing the bottle with wax, do not require the use of candle magic or flames. If you live in a place or situation where you can’t practice candle magic, spell bottles are an alternative means of casting spells. Spell bags and bottles can be very budget friendly, because you only use a small number of supplies. Finally, they are quick to create and can be used in a large variety of spells.

Charm bags are spells that are cast by placing your ingredients inside a little bag or on a piece of cloth that will be gathered and tied to activate the spell. Historically, they have been used in cultures the world over. There is archeological evidence of charm bags throughout the ancient world. In some cases all we have are the contents as the bag has degraded and no longer exists. From what archeologists can figure out, spell bags were used for protection spells, hexes, prosperity, offerings, and much more. The contents often included herbs, charms, beads, and sometimes inscriptions on clay. The evidence of bags often shows that they were made of what the locals had handy, including bits of cloth, animal hides, woven plant fibers, etc.

Spell bags have been called different things at different times in history. In Neolithic Africa and Central Europe, spell bags consisted of pieces of cloth or leather with herbs and wishes on paper that were carried to aid in the manifestation of those wishes. In Karpathos, a Greek island settled since neolithic times, triangles of cloth were filled with a secret formula of herbs and other ingredients, decorated with beads and carried by sailors for safe travels. Even the ancient Egyptians used spell bags for spells to make life safer and better and in their funerary practices to aid the deceased in the afterlife.

Probably one of the most famous types of spell bags has its origins in Early Islamic Africa and came to the New World in the traditions of the enslaved people. In Voodoo tradition and most commonly in Louisiana, they are known as gris-gris bags. They are also referred to as mojo bags, depending on the tradition of the person using them. There is no consensus of the true origins of gris-gris or what the exact meaning of the word means, but gris-gris is often believed to be a Central African word that means “charm” or “fetish”. Mojo is believed to come from a Western African word for “prayer.” Modern gris-gris bags are usually a red flannel piece of fabric filled with natural ingredients that are worn or carried. The purpose of a gris-gris bag can vary from healing and protection to gambling and warding off evil. Some other common names for gris-gris are conjure bags, trick bags, root bags, lucky hand bag, traveling bag, mojo bag, and juju bag. Please note, while spell bags are universal practice, gris-gris bags are part of the closed practice of Voodoo and its associated traditions and should only be used by practitioners of that practice.

Native American medicine bags are a form of spell bag. Many, if not all Native American traditions are closed practices and therefore their traditions around and techniques to create medicine bags are their and theirs alone. Unless you are part of that tradition, do not infringe on those practices. What we do now about medicine bags is that they hold great significance to those who use them and are a very sacred thing.

MODERN WITCHES AND SPELL BAGS

With all that history and tradition behind them, modern witches often utilize spell bags in their everyday lives. There is a wealth of information regarding the use of spell bags without infringing on closed practices.

Like all spell craft, the first thing you need to do when you want to create a spell bag is decide on what the intention of the bag is. Are you creating a travel safety bag for your car on an upcoming road trip or are you making a “hire me” bag for that upcoming job interview? Bags can be created for just about any intention.

Once you figure out your intention you need to research what items you wish to include in that bag. Look up what herbs and crystals correspond to your intention. Look at your supplies and see what you have out of those corresponding herbs and crystals. For example, you decide that you want to make a self-love bag, so that you feel more in love with yourself. You look up your herbs and crystals. Upon going to your witch supply shelf, you see that you have rose quarts, dried rose petals, dried lavender, some pink salt, and cinnamon chips. Gather all that together.

Now you need to determine the bag you are going to use. Spell bags can be made of just about any material, they can be a flat piece of cloth (usually a square), a drawstring bag, or a little bag that can be tied with a ribbon or string. The material is up to the witch casting the spell. Traditionally, they are made of plain colored cotton cloth, but can be made of silk, organza, leather, woven materials, wool, new fabric, and even old fabric. If reusing fabric, you can add extra punch by using a piece of fabric that was part of the clothes of the person you are casting the spell for. In the case of a self-love spell, you may look in your closet for an old, ready to be trashed shirt that made you feel pretty when you wore it before it became too worn to wear. Say for example, I have a tee shirt that always made me feel like a beautiful woman when I wore it, but now it is torn, I can cut a square from that shirt before I toss it in the rag bag, a 6 inch by 6-inch square is more that large enough. I’m going to lay my fabric out on my altar, cleanse it with incense smoke and visualized white light.

Now I’m going to gather the ingredients that my research tells me are good for self-love spells. I will then bless them with white light and incense smoke. Then, I will take a pinch of each ingredient and place it in the center of the cloth. As I place each ingredient, I will let it know what my intention is and that ingredient’s role in the spell. For example, “Red rose petals, symbol of love, you are to bring that love to my self-love spell and help me love myself.”

The ingredients you can add to a spell bag are numerous. In addition to herbs and crystals, you can use various salts, magical dirt (graveyard dirt, dirt from your home, sand from a special beach, etc.), ashes (ashes from incense, a sacred fire, ash from a lightning struck tree, etc.), charms and trinkets, buttons, papers (magic spell words, intentions, name of the person the spell is for), or tag locks (physical object or name of the person the spell is for). Two little notes on ingredients, do not add anything wet or fresh to a spell bag because it could leak or mold, and if you are burying your bag, don’t add anything that won’t biodegrade or could harm the Earth.

After you are done placing everything in your bag, gather the fabric and tie it closed. Repeat the intention over the bag one last time. What you do at this point is dependent on the spell you cast. Some spell bags are carried, some are kept on the altar, some are burnt or buried, and some are left sitting somewhere that it will be seen by you on a regular basis.