Your altar is the heart center of your home, holding the energy of your sanctuary. Yet the world is constantly coming in and bringing harmful energy over your threshold—problems at the workplace, financial woes, or bad news about new virus mutations or the climate crisis. All this negativity wants to get in the way and stay. While you can’t do anything about stock market crashes, the rate of inflation, or a coworker’s divorce, do not allow this bad energy to cling to you. Instead, you can do something about it with a home-keeping spell. The best time to release any and all bad luck is on a Friday the 13th or during any waxing moon. As you know, Friday the 13th is considered a lucky day on the witch’s calendar.
Get a big black candle and a black crystal, a piece of white paper, a black pen with black ink, and a cancellation stamp, readily available at any stationery store. Go into your backyard or a nearby park or woodland and find a flat rock that has a slightly concave surface.
This is the perfect spell of enchantment to use when you have met a special someone and you wish to enhance your personal charm and allure. With this invocation, you are sure to attract your heart’s desire!
Love letters are an ancient art that always deepens intimacy. This spell combines candle magic with letter writing to hone the desire between you and your partner.
Set the stage for hands-on pleasure before you knead your lover’s body into rapturous bliss. Start with your favorite music. I prefer Indian ragas because they seem to have a naturally sexy rhythm. Whether it is the sound of classical guitar, angelic harps, or an ambient electronic band from Iceland, it should relax and bring pleasure. Light pink, red, and brown candles to create a loving, sexual atmosphere that is strongly grounded. Kindle incense your lover has previously complimented, and lay out towels you have warmed and oils and lubricants you have also warmed. Turn up the heat a bit and turn down the lights to simply create a “spa” feeling for complete unwinding. I have some honey, goose feathers, and an edible raspberry-and-mint rub I like to share as well.
First undress your partner, very slowly and gently. If your partner is open-minded to pagan ways, you should speak this incantation in his or her presence. If not, it is your silent prayer:
This conjuration utilizes the secret language of flowers to bring your ideal love into your life. With visualization and daily spell work, you can create the love of a lifetime, custom fit to your specifications. Gather up:
• 2 candles shaped like human figurines, or two pink candles
At the next full moon, make a vow, alone or with your partner, to bring forth all your inner erotic powers. Begin with a blissful bath in oil-scented water; this essential oil must be the one that makes you feel sexiest. For me, it is an equal mix of vanilla and amber; my vamber has never failed me. When I wear this unguent, I feel as if a cloud of sensuality surrounds me.
Sit in a darkened room, encircled by flickering jasmine, musk, or “vamber” candles. Raise a cup of jasmine tea or a glass of wine from a vintage that represents a lucky year for you, and speak this spell aloud:
A great relationship can be cultivated, literally. By planting and carefully tending flowers that have special properties—like night-blooming jasmine for heightened sensuality, or lilies for lasting commitment—you can nurture your relationship. During a new moon in the Venus-ruled signs of Taurus or Libra, plant an assortment of flowers that will surround you with the beauty and energy of sweet devotion.
Before you place your hothouse posies or seeds into pots or flowerbeds, bless the ground with a prayer of health for your plants, yourself, and your relationships.
Erin Lale
Fellow faculty at Harvard Divinity School posted an open letter to Wolpe in response to his article. It's available on this page, below the call for p...
Erin Lale
Here's another response. The Wild Hunt has a roundup of numerous responses on its site, but it carried this one as a separate article. It is an accoun...
Erin Lale
Here's another response. This one is by a scholar of paganism. It's unfortunately a Facebook post so this link goes to Facebook. She posted the text o...
Erin Lale
Here's another link to a pagan response to the Atlantic article. I would have included this one in my story too if I had seen it before I published it...