Witches’ Bottles have been used for home and personal protection down through the ages by myriad cultures, in many forms and going by many different names. As I cover magick here in Thorne’s World, I probably won’t be spending a whole lotta time chasing down history and references for you. There are plenty of books and internet sites and blogs that will give you that kind of information and I just doesn’t have time nor inclination for that sorta thing. What I want to write here, and for you, Constant Reader, is how I live a magickal lifestyle. What daily, weekly and seasonal things I do in my real life of magickal living.

I’ve been living the Magickal Life, or living a magickal lifestyle, (as I prefer to call it) for over 30 years now, so my purpose here is to simply share some bits of that with you all, not get into who did it first or best. Hell, I’ve probably forgotten more than I actually know, and I’d be hard pressed to tell you how I came by much of it; I am indeed an eclectic witch.

I have a number of Witches’ Bottles around my home. I love them. They are as attractive and artistic as I want them to be; some are meant to be seen and admired, others are hidden or even buried- but they all serve the purpose of protecting me and mine, and of course, my home.

Witches bottles can be made with anything from ceramic pots or vessels to tin cans, but I prefer glass. In the first place glass, like ceramics, is already imbued with elemental magick. It is a substance made up from earth that is transformed by fire. I like that. I also like to see my magickal ingredients inside, and I just think they look cool. If I want one to look really artsy (or if I have a specific purpose in mind as you’ll see later with my Prosperity Bottle), I use colored or interestingly shaped bottles like these.

Of course, any old jar will do. A Mason or Ball canning jar, or even an old pickle or mayonnaise jar with a screw lid.
I love this one, nestled in the fork of this old Chinese Elm outside my kitchen door. It’s been there about 7 or 8 years now and it won’t budge. I imagine in another few years the tree will grow around my bottle and it will be our little secret, (mine and the tree’s).

I use some of both. The Witches’ Bottles filled with nasty sharp things protest your home from theft and invasion and people who mean you and you property harm. The magickal idea here is that sharp nasties will ward those folks off.

For spiritual protection, use salt and rocks and sand. The idea here is that the entities/energies will become trapped and/or cleansed in the earth.

Okay, before I get too far ahead of myself, here’s your ingredients list. Get this stuff together to start.

Bottle or bottles with lids. (If you don’t have a lid, get or carve a cork, then after you fill the bottle/jar, seal it with wax)

For Home and Property or Personal Protection (from people)

nasty sharp things like:

• rusty nails and screws, pins, needles
• bent pieces of metal, sharp pottery shards
• broken glass

For Home and Property and Personal Protection from Malignant Energies (Unquiet or Mischevious Spirits or the Badwill of others)

• sand
• salt
• small pebbles or gravel

You can make these bottles as simply as you like, in your own sacred space or in full ritual, or create them in circle with your friends, sisters or coven.

So here is the moment ya’ll have been waiting for: The complex and difficult ritual instructions. Are ya ready?

1. Put the stuff in the bottle.
2. Seal
3. Bury (or display) at strategic points; ie: entryways, corners of property/yard, driveway and gates.

Now if you really feel the need for strong protection, pee (that’s right, urinate) in the jar before you seal it. Body fluids pack a powerful magickal punch. (You might want to bury the ones you pee in. *cackle)

There are herbs, spices and other magickal ingredients you may add if you wish, but for now I’ll leave that to your imagination (or intuition).

The final type of Witches’ Bottle I’d like to share with you is particularly appropriate now, in these somewhat trying economic times.

It is a sort of prosperity spell that I put together some 15 or so years ago. I found this great green bottle, embossed or stamped all ’round with grapes and vines in a thrift store, it positively screamed of fecundity, pregnancy, growth and the bounty of the earth. The premise is almost the same, except the goal here is to draw in and contain prosperity. This bottle has a tight cork, but is not sealed with wax, since you’ll be wanting to make offerings (add to the contents) regularly.

I began the bottle with a prosperity spell (use your own for now, or come back after I’ve written you one here. A green or gold candle is always a good start! Feel free to make the bottle now. Need and desire are the greatest magickal spells, anyway).

For this Prosperity Witches’ Bottle, we don’t fill it right away. Just wash it and add a few herbs and something special to you. Perhaps everyone in your family can put in a “lucky charm” they have kept. A smooth rock or shell, a milagro or other charm or piece of jewelry, one of those flattened souvenir pennies.

Suggested Herbs:

• Marigold
• Basil
• Chamomile
• Cinamon
• Garlic
• Star Anise
• Wintergreen
• Sunflower

Essential oils may be used instead of or in addition to the herbs. Some you might like to add are:

• Bayberry
• Clary Sage
• Eucalyptus
• Patchouley
• Pine
• Yarrow

Put a bit of a few of each in the bottle, (I generally work in multiples of 9- 9 being the magickal number of completion) along with your “lucky charms”, add a few coins, or a couple of dollars if you can, cork the bottle and display on your home’s central altar or near a highly trafficked entrance. Don’t put it next to your living room door, if your family comes in through the kitchen. Wherever you place it,
make sure it’s some where that you (and family members when appropriate) will see and take note of it often. From time to time light a green or gold candle and think prosperous thoughts. When you have a bit of spare change, drop it in and ask the God/desses, Universe, Powers-that-Be, or Flying Spaghetti Monster, that it return to you multiplied. I think you can see in this photo, that my bottle is far from full. And by the grace of the Gods (and our own efforts, of course; “As above, so below”) we have not yet had to raid the prosperity bottle to get the money we have offered out. May it continue to be so, and may you have protection and prosperity all your days!

Peace, out!