Monday, June 25, 2018

"Put it back!": Spell Jars, Witches' Bottles


"We don't dare open it ourselves, sir," he told me, in a quavering voice. "Do you think you might be able to run an analysis of it without breaking the seal?"
I looked carefully through the filthy glass of the old jar at its murky contents, through which a deep amber glow shone.
"Well, I see a lock of hair and a Muggle tampon," I replied drily, "in a menstruum that consists mostly of ---" I waved my wand at the jar, feeling for the signature, "--- honey."
He turned a dainty shade of red.
"Very good, sir. But if you'll forgive my ignorance, what's a tam---"
"If you really think a full analysis is required," I cut across him, "I'd be happy to take your Galleons."
"No, no, sir. It won't actually be necessary, if you're that certain ---"
"I am certain."
"Right. But what should I do with it?"
I smirked at him. "Be grateful you are not the target of the jinx in the jar ---" He looked suddenly and deliciously uneasy for a moment, "--- and put it back."
"But ---"
"I know for a fact that you attended Hogwarts, Mr. Gudgeon, and therefore I expect an occasional moment of idiocy from you," I say, "but I assume that even you are not stupid enough to try to consume the honey? Put. It. Back."
"Er . . . no, sir. I mean, yes, sir."


A post has been making the Internet rounds in recent months, with much speculation on the truth behind it. Someone was digging about in their yard, and unearthed a sealed jar with unknown, and decidedly suspicious, contents. Most recently, the news popped up as a post on one of several witch-oriented social media pages I frequent weekly.

What would you do if you dug up something like this in your backyard?


A jar like this may be someone's trash, or a failed canning project. But, depending on its contents, there's also a good chance it's a spell!

Jar or container spells come in several main types, although I can see how you might adapt this kind of "potion" to numerous uses.

One of the oldest jar spell types is the traditional protective Witch Bottle. The bottle acts as a trap for any negative energy that might target you and your home. Into the bottle, put rusty nails, iron filings, needles, barbed wire, and broken glass (or other items that carry a protective Mars energy). Vile or potent herbs and chemicals can also go in. Then fill the bottle the rest of the way up with your urine to link it to your personal vibration, a form of sympathetic magic. Now, seal it, and bury it. While some advocate burying a Witch Bottle far from your home, others suggest burying it on your property to protect the entire premises. If the bottle or jar is broken, the spell ceases to work:

"Witch bottles were also used as preemptive measures against evil acts. A common spell for a protection witch bottle involved pins and needles (to impale the curse), red wine (to drown the curse) and rosemary (to send the curse on its way). While preparing the bottle, one would chant:
  Pins, needles, rosemary, wine; 
  In this witch’s bottle of mine. 
  Guard against harm and enmity; 
  This is my will, so mote it be!
This bottle would then be buried in the furthest corner of the preparer’s property."

Clay witch jar from 1650, made from a Bellarmine Jug (in itself kind of scary!)

Archaeologists discover a witch bottle

A scan of the jug reveals its secret curious contents

One account writes:

"One of the earliest mentions of this type of magic came from a 17th century. A man was advised to make a Witch's jar for his wife, because it was suspected that she was being 'bewitched' and they wanted to break the curse:
'Take your Wive’s Urine as before, and Cork, it in a Bottle with Nails, Pins and Needles, and bury it in the Earth; and that will do the feat. The Man did accordingly. And his Wife began to mend sensibly and in a competent time was finely well recovered; But there came a Woman from a Town some miles off to their house, with a lamentable Out-cry, that they had killed her Husband… But at last they understood by her, that her Husband was a Wizard, and had bewitched this Mans Wife and that this Counter-practice prescribed by the Old Man, which saved the Mans Wife from languishment, was the death of that Wizard that had bewitched her.'
-- Joseph Glanvill’s Saducismus Triumphatus, or Evidence concerning Witches and Apparitions (1681)"

Glass witch bottle and contents, unearthed

Another account:

"When created for counter-magical purposes, a witch bottle often contained nails, pins, herbs, and samples of the afflicted, such as urine or hair. In the Old Bailey case mentioned above, the apothecary advised the man to prepare a potion of his wife’s urine, nail clippings, and hair, combining the materials in a pot of water and boiling it. Boiling was a key part of counter-magical efforts, as it was believed to help reverse the curse. Another key ingredient, if you could get it, was sulfur. 'If you think about where sulfur came from in those days, it spewed out of volcanic fumaroles from the underworld. It would have been the ideal thing to [kill] your witch, if you wished to,' said Brian Hoggard, an independent expert on British witchcraft who helped researchers understand a sealed witch bottle found in London in 2004."

Bottles are common finds in excavations; if lucky, you'll find one with contents!

Another type of jar spell is a "sweetening spell," often found in the hoodoo tradition of American folk magic. Affects from the target person, even a name written nine times, can be put in a jar along with honey, perhaps with Compelling Oil or certain herbs depending on the precise intent, so as to "sweeten" the person's attitude toward the mage, be it in love, business, or just getting along with friends and neighbors.

Then there are curse or hex jars, which is pretty self-explanatory. A mirror box is good for a specific type of hex, the Binding or Reflective spell, to send a person's evil or negativity back at 'em. Come to think of it, popular among today's interior decorator stores are mirror-lined or mercury-glass bottles, jars and candleholders. One of these might be good as a mirror hex-vessel, too. Witch bottles, interestingly, were designed to both protect the worker and curse the evil one, as is a mirror binding spell.

Do I spy a tampon string, wick of candle or mere stringy thing?

Last I heard, the contents of this particular mystery jar remain, still, a mystery. I'd likely avoid opening it, whether or not I could verify in person that it contained a tampon! A spell like this may or may not be designed to continue working long after being planted, but unless you know its purpose for certain, why meddle? If it's a sweetening spell, maybe it prevented domestic abuse or homicide. Barring advanced tracking, research, psychic and divining methods, we have little way of knowing.

Comments on the witches' social page varied, but the most frequent suggestion seemed to be:

"put it back"
"Put it back."
"PUT IT BACK!"


 For those who wish to make jar spells or witch bottles today, the possibilities are endless, whether nice or nasty. For further ideas, just search the 'Net. A modern protective jar might require these items:

• Bottle or jar, with a tightly closing cap or lid
• Sea salt
• Crystal or stone, for example: turquoise, obsidian or black onyx
• Herbs, for example: acasia, aloe, lilies, lime, lotus, agrimony, corn, cayenne and black pepper, dried onion, salvia, frankincense, basil, mint, myrrh, garlic, rosemary, mistletoe, pine needles
• A few nails or needles
• Wine, apple cider vinegar or urine
• Thread
• Black candle for sealing
• Ritual tools

In decorating a bottle that will remain visible, as opposed to being buried, the field of creativity is wide open:







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