Make a Witch Bottle this Samhain…Halloween by Cherie Desues

A friend reminded me lately of a very ancient way to draw in and trap forever the evil lingering outside your door. This wicca device is the witch bottle and making one can protect you against evil spirits and attack by magick or from black witches and their spells against you.

Traditionally, a witch bottle was a jug or flask. They were made of stoneware or green, amber or blue glass depending on the available ingredients of the witch. The stoneware was glazed with salt with evil looking bearded men to ward off evil. A replica of any earlier time, of a tyrant who killed witches.

Historically, the witch's bottle was filled with the maker's urine, hair or nail clippings and red thread from sprite traps. In more recent years, witch's have filled their bottles with protection herbs like rosemary, nails, needles and pins, and red wine.

The bottle has always been buried at the farthest corner of the maker's property, beneath the hearth, or placed in a secret spot in the house, like inside the walls. After being buried or hidden, the bottle captures evil by impaling it with the sharp objects, drowning the negative energy with the wine, and sending the evil packing from the rosemary.

Seawater or earth may be used if you know what kind of evil is looking for you. Other types of Witch bottles contain sand, stones, knotted threads, feathers, shells, herbs, flowers, salt, vinegar, oil, coins, or ashes. A similar magickal talisman to protect yourself when you travel is the "lemon and pins" charm.

When you've captured an evil within the confines of the witch's bottle, cast it into a fire and when it explodes, the spell is broken and the evil dies.

Bottled spells date back hundreds of years to Elizabethan England, when witches were in vast numbers and not always conjuring "white magick". In ancient buildings, people find witch bottles buried under the stones of the fireplace, under the floorboards, and plastered inside walls.

As long as the witch bottle remains buried, hidden and unbroken, the spell is strong. The tradition has it's origins in the 16th century. In very ancient times witch bottles were made of stone and were filled with rusty nails, urine, thorns, hair, menstrual blood, and pieces of glass, wood, and bone.

To make a witch bottle today, choose ingredients that will benefit you the most. Seal the bottle with wax to make sure the contents stay within and bury or hide your witch bottle.