Love Spells & Charms Through the Ages: Ancient Secrets of Attraction
Magic and love have long been intertwined, with ancient societies across the globe turning to spells and charms to secure affection, rekindle romance, or fend off rivals. As Halloween approaches, it feels only fitting to look back on these fascinating, and sometimes strange, rituals used by the lovestruck of the past. Here, we journey through time to explore how four ancient cultures—Greek, Roman, Egyptian, and Graeco-Roman—sought to attract love through mystical means.
The Greek Magical Papyri: Spells for the Desperate in Love
The Greek Magical Papyri are a collection of spellbooks from Egypt, dating from around the 2nd century BCE to the 5th century CE. These scrolls served as guides for everything from finding lost objects to winning over a lover’s heart. For those desperate enough, these spells provided the recipe for attraction—though the ingredients and methods were often bizarre.
One spell, designed to be “irresistible,” required fish blood and a piece of donkey hide on which the spellcaster would inscribe the names of powerful spirits. Once prepared, this hide would then be placed in the mouth of a recently deceased dog to activate the charm. Another love spell directed the user to rub a dead dog’s tick on their skin to ensure the attention of a particular person. Though these spells might sound disturbing today, they were emblematic of a time when people believed deeply in the power of symbolic materials and ritual acts to change their fortunes in love.
Roman Amulets and Charms: Tokens of Affection and Rivalry
The Romans also used charms and amulets as love tokens and protective objects. One particularly evocative artifact is the gold ring of Polemius, unearthed in Corbridge, Northumberland, in 1935. This ring bore the inscription, “The love charm of Polemius,” and might have been worn by its owner as a talisman to heighten his allure or gifted to a lover as a token of devotion. Romans believed strongly in the power of such objects to influence their relationships and, in some cases, to bring them closer to the people they desired.
The Romans, however, took it one step further by using curse tablets to eliminate rivals. These curses would be inscribed on thin sheets of lead, which were then folded, sometimes pierced with nails, and hidden in secret locations. One such tablet, found in Boeotia, Greece, curses a woman named Zois, enumerating the aspects of her life that should be destroyed to separate her from her lover, Kabeira. While not quite love spells in the traditional sense, these curses served a similar purpose: to help the caster achieve romantic success by any means necessary.
Egyptian Love Charms: Invoking Gods and Spirits for Romance
In ancient Egypt, love spells and charms were just as popular and equally potent. The Handbook of Ritual Power, a 1,300-year-old Egyptian codex, includes various spells meant to invoke the protection of gods and spirits to attract or control a lover. One spell required the user to whisper special words into the ears of a pair of nails, which they would then drive into the doorpost of their beloved’s home—a method believed to secure the target’s affection.
Ancient Egyptians also relied on amulets to enhance love and attraction. For example, many wore protective charms inscribed with symbols of Harpocrates, the Hellenistic god of silence, to guard the secrets of their affections. Love spells like these demonstrate how Egyptians combined magical practices with their rich pantheon of gods, asking divine beings to intervene in matters of the heart.
Graeco-Roman Love Potions and Rituals: A Mixed Bag of Ingredients
The Graeco-Roman world saw an intermingling of Egyptian, Greek, and Roman magical traditions, particularly in the realm of love potions. These recipes could be elaborate: one potion detailed in a Demotic spellbook combined blood from the spellcaster’s finger, apple seeds, and sometimes even the caster’s semen. Another recipe recommended a rooster’s right testicle as an aphrodisiac to enhance one’s romantic appeal.
These potions often relied on symbolic ingredients to heighten their power, as well as on specific rituals to infuse them with magical properties. In some cases, potion ingredients were chosen to represent fertility, such as seeds, while others might symbolize strength or vitality. Spells from this era capture the deeply rooted belief that love could be both stimulated and controlled by the right combination of elements.
The Legacy of Love Magic
Ancient love charms and spells, while foreign to our modern sensibilities, reveal timeless truths about human desire. Across cultures, people have gone to great lengths to secure the love they seek, often turning to mystical and spiritual practices when all else fails. Although the methods may vary, the motivations remain strikingly familiar.
Today, while most of us won’t be crafting love spells or brewing potions, the persistence of such practices in folklore and popular culture shows how magic, love, and desire remain intertwined. These ancient customs remind us of the lengths humans have always been willing to go in pursuit of love, often believing in the supernatural to help make their dreams come true.
For a deeper look into ancient love magic and how our ancestors tried to influence the course of their relationships, check out the fascinating history of these spells in our complete archive of ancient romance secrets.