Spring's Herbal Magick: Making Traditional & Modern Folk Charms
The tying of knots, the hanging of bundles of herbs, the collecting of charms into some sort of jar are all old forms of traditional magick used by common folk for millennia - likely including some of your ancestors.
Simple, accessible, and known by a variety of names, charms like witch's ladders, spell jars, and herbal bundles, remain popular forms of magick to this day because they are easy to create and fulfill that need to feel like you are doing something when making your magick.
I'm fond of folk magick not only because it is the form of magick I feel most at home with but because it so often involves plants - of which I am quite fond of, too. Folk magick has its own language and rhythm, full of ideas like the doctrine of signatures (which supposes that what an object looks like - its signature - tells you what it is useful for), ancestral myths transformed into easily digestible fables, family folktales, and a belief that we have power in our interconnectedness to create change.
I want to spend some time drawing on these folk magick inspirations to explore a pathway of herbal magick flowing through the seasons of the year. We'll work with three common forms of physical folk magick each season, exploring the same arts of magick through the lens of the changing year, beginning with spring. With each charm I'll focus on one plant ally to incorporate into your magickal working, helping to inspire your magickal herbalism practice. Finally, what I love about these crafts of the Craft is the way they can be shaped and formed to reflect our personal styles and desires, creating ways of reflecting the beauty of our inner world to the world around us.
What is wonderful about most types of folks magick is that they have a foundational form (a bottle filled with stuff) that can be used for a variety of purposes (a bottle full of stuff to help us get our dream job). The folk magick items we'll be exploring can be used in a variety of ways, including as:
Gifts and offerings
Acts of devotion, creating an item for a particular deity or spirit of place
Connections to ancestors by integrating cultural relevant plants and items
Decorations for sabbats and esbats
Containers for a specific sort of energy
So let's explore how we can create Witch's Ladders, Bundles, and Bottles as one of the ways to connect with the seasonal rhythms of the year and our beloved plant allies.
The Witch's Ladder
Traditionally made of woolen cord, rope, woven thread or hair and knotted with items like feathers, holed stones, sticks and bits of metal, witch's ladders are a beautiful form of magick that combine charm-making with knot magick and weaving spells. The witch's ladder has remained popular among modern practitioners, supported in part by the Priestess Doreen Valiente's Spell of the Cord, an inspired modern variation of older forms of spoken knot magick. Energetically, they can act like a net, gathering up energy to hold in place and to either be drawn upon (in the case of beneficial energy) or released elsewhere (in the case of baneful energy).
I think my own exposure to the witch's ladder was through the work of Scott Cunningham in one of his books on folk magick - it's remained one of my favorite forms of charm-making ever since.¹ Witch's ladders can be made with all sorts of things, so long as you are able to tie them with your cord. You can focus on fully biodegradable components (essential if you're making a ladder that is going to be hung and left outside to naturally fall apart) or small plastic figurines alongside wooden coins carved with sigils, crystals, and feathers. They are a wonderful way to create a visual reminder of your craft and intentions while the skill of co-current charm speaking and working.
I love simple cords for my witch's ladders, but the re-vitalization of crafts like macrame has meant that the practice of making witch's ladders is as much an art form as it is a practical bit of magick. I think starting simple is best - frustration can be cumbersome to magickal ritual - but I recommend seeking out the ladder-making practice that will allow you to slip into as much of a flow state as possible as you make it.
A Witch’s Ladder To Stir Up Energy
Spring is a season of growing energy and as magickal folk we can connect to the rising tide of possibility with a simple witch's ladder that helps to stir up and collect energy. Spring's ladder acts like a simple net to gather energy so that you can draw upon it for your spells and rituals. I think all witch's ladders benefit from bells, but I especially like bells on one for spring to connect with the noise of the season of increasing light and life.
Dandelion Leaves (Taraxacum officinale) are the plant ally we'll be working with for spring because they not only resemble feathers traditionally used for a witch's ladder, but carry a strong energy of air and the gifts of movement, communication, and stirring up energy. Dandelion is a plant that is both expansive and grounding - a great combination for working with spring's mercurial nature. As part of your ladder-making ritual, you could name each leaf for the type of energy you want to bring into your life as you braid them into your ladder, such as energy for a certain project, energy to clear out stagnation, energy for love, energy for boundaries, and so on. When working with Dandelion as a magickal plant ally it helps to approach them with the energy of wishfulness, whispering to them what it is you desire as you craft your spell.
A Dandelion Charm
By root so deep
And wishes so sweet
By leaf and flower so bright
Gather up spring
Gather up dreams
As day outgrows the night
Other plants like sticky Cleavers (Galium aparine) and bright shining Calendula (Calendula officinalis) can be added, but consider what you have available, the plants that are growing around you (or one's saved up from last spring's harvest that need using), and enjoy the process of using what you have at hand. Flowering plants as well as flower shaped objects (including beads and paper flowers), orange and yellow colored stones or items, and bells are all great items to consider for your spring witch's ladder.
Creating Your Ladder
To create a witch's ladder use cord, thread or yarn to braid or not your chosen objects into a long hanging cord. How long you make your witch's ladder is up to you, but I find that they work better when shorter when being hung outside and can be a bit longer when keeping it inside. I like to start by laying out all objects I'll be tying into my witch's ladder before me on my altar, blessing them with the four elements of fire (candle light), air (incense), water (water infused with flower essences or salt), and earth (sprinkling herbs over the items or laying the items on a stone surface). I like to use some variation of a cord charm when knotting my items, like Valiente's or the one written above, changing the language for my needs.
Once all items are added, the witch's ladder can be hung up by an altar, window or door. For a spring witch's ladder I like to make ones that'll either hang just outside my door or beside a window, so that the ladder is able to dance in spring's winds.
The Witch's Bundle
The simplest of our three traditional folk magick charms, a witch's bundle is a collection of exclusively or mostly plants with other items (such as old skeleton keys, a nice stick, a hunk of rock) tied up together and hung up above a door (or bed or other auspicious place). I make bundles throughout the year and they double as offerings once they've dried and I can burn them as incense or toss them in a sabbat fire. Some of the oldest types of witch's bundles that I've come across were meant for protection, from protecting a house from lightning and fire to hanging above the crib of a newborn to protect them from malevolent energies (but please be wise about anything you put above or around a crib if you're interested in this folk practice). In general, bundles help to hold energy, sticking it to a specific place or intention.
Nowadays witch's bundles are used for all sorts of magickal desires from drawing in good fortune to cleansing energy. I love the ways that these bundles of herbs and other charms help to dress up our homes and bring a bit of the outside in. I have magickal bundles hanging throughout my own space, but I also have practical ones of herbs that I use frequently and can draw from daily when making teas or burning as incense. Bundles can also be taken down from where they are hanging and used to "brush" and cleanse the energetic body in place of or alongside incense.
Witch's bundles, like all of the magickal crafts listed here, can be endlessly personalized to match your need, your aesthetic preferences, and reflect your relationships. If you're studying a particular plant ally you might include them in your witch's bundle (if the herb has already been dried and processed, you can add some into a little pouch and tie it to your bundle). If you are working with a deity that is fond of one particular color, choose that color of cloth or string to tie up your bundle. If you're a cool goth witch, add the skulls and gothic crosses to your bundle of dried Rose (Rosa spp.). Let yourself enjoy the process of finding your creative magickal expression - it helps you understand better what it you're using magick for in the first place.
A Witch's Bundle for Balance
Spring is one of two seasons that carries the energy of the equinox, helping us to connect with the spirit of balance within and around us. As long nights retreat with the passing of winter and longer days arrive with the start of spring, making sure to invite in energy that helps us feel grounded, centered, and steady will help us to thrive during this season of expansiveness. For spring I like to create witch’s bundles that help me to stay connected to my sense of equilibrium so I can enjoy the increase of the season’s energy without feeling overwhelmed.
Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis) is one of my favorite herbs for finding balance between our inner world and the world around us. Lemon Balm is a beautiful nervous system tonic or nervine, a key type of plant to work with when you want to find and cultivate balance in your life. Energetically, Lemon Balm helps us to connect with the path of peace within us, understanding our relationship to the collective without becoming overwhelmed by the world. Lemon Balm is a guide through the web of life, helping us to feel secure in our needs and knowings. The herb is also traditionally used in spells to bring about love in all its forms and since finding balance in our lives is an act of love, it's a great plant ally to have around.
A Lemon Balm Charm
To and fro
Ebb and flow
Balance comes
Balance grows
Fro and to
Flow and ebb
Balance holds
Like a web
Other plants like Sage (Salvia spp.), Rosemary (Salvia rosmarinus), and Lavender (Lavandula spp.) help us to grow the inner wisdom needed within us to find balance in our lives. Adding symbols of balance such as scales, circles or triskeles, blue and purple items such as stones and ribbons, as well as any visual reminders that help you to remember to pause and connect with your inner wisdom are great additions.
Creating Your Bundle
Bless all your objects as described in the above section "Creating Your Ladder." Once you've collected all of your items (such as a bunch of Lemon Balm), use a colored thread or ribbon of choice to tie up your bundle. I like to tie the top part and leave the rest loose, but you can tie up everything from top to bottom. The advantage of the latter technique is that you can tie larger objects inside the bundle, even hiding them from view if that's your preference. Once tied up, hang the bundle above an altar, door, or window.
The Witch's Bottle
A fair amount of my professional life involves putting plants in bottles, storing them for when they're needed, handing out jars full of tea to friends and family, toting bottles full of tinctures and flower essences back and forth to classes. It's no surprise then that witch's bottles have a soft spot in my heart. Witch's bottles of old were often protective or vindictive in nature, containing all sorts of interesting ingredients from rusty nails to hair to urine. I remember reading about them as a kid and connecting with just how visceral witchcraft could be - how this art of connecting with the intangible relied so much on the deeply tangible body of the practitioner.
Traditionally, witch's bottles or jars were buried or hidden away from view in the back of cupboards, sometimes even between walls, beneath floors, or high up in the attics. They embody the magickal practice of doing the work and then letting it be, allowing the magick to continue to unfold in its own time. Sometimes jars are made for a short period of need (such as a honey jar for attracting a job) and then the contents are offered back to the earth, while others are more permanent and meant to be mostly forgotten. Other times, jars and their contents can be renewed on a regular basis (such as at the Full Moons or the sabbats). Energetically, witch's bottles tend to act like generators, helping to generate an outcome or a specific type of energy.
I know many a witch who made magickal bottles full of plants and stones in their younger witchling days, often reusing food jars and sealing them up with bits of wax or thread. It's practically a magickal rite of passage to come across an old witch's jar many years later - perhaps when moving or cleaning out a back corner of a closet - and to have completely forgotten its purpose (which I consider a good sign). Whether or not you prefer the "make it and forget it" method or like displaying your witch's bottles in a spot where you can appreciate them daily, they are a wonderful living relic of our magickal pasts carried with ease into our magickal futures.
A Witch's Bottle For Luck
Spring’s energy carries with it a wild quality of luck, where it feels like the wind might nudge you in the right direction at just the right moment for something magickal to occur. A witch’s bottle can help us keep a little luck generator going so that we can increase our possibility of an encounter with Lady Luck. A luck bottle should be full of luck-drawing and energizing components, whether cultural symbols or symbols that you find to be personally lucky. If small enough, the bottle can be carried on the person, but larger bottles can be tucked behind the altar or in a similarly hidden place so that it can do its work unhindered.
I love Lavender (Lavandula spp.) for luck magick. Carrying the energy of Mercury, brightly scented Lavender is a little luck magnet, not least of which because it strengthens our intuitive gifts, essential for moments of luck. The herb helps us to keep calm and focused while naming our needs with intention so that when luck does come our way, we are able to see it for what it is. Lavender is one of those magickal panacea herbs and helps with most any ritual or spell you might be performing, again helping us to cast a wide net for luck and possibility.
A Lavender Luck Charm
Luck is found
in this home
where I visit
where I roam
between the sky
the sea and me
through the land
luck flows free
Other herbs to consider for your luck-making are Peppermint (Mentha piperita), Basil (Ocimum spp.), and Thyme (Thymus vulgaris). Any and all lucky symbols that you connect with can be added to a jar, including lucky pennies that you found while out and about and all sorts of spring flowers. Green stones, ribbons, buttons, and charms as well as magnets all do well in a luck bottle.
Creating Your Bottle
Bless all your objects as described in the above section "Creating Your Ladder." Make sure you have a tight sealing bottle or jar so to prevent items from leaking out if you are using any fluids or from pests getting in. Add your herbs and charms in one-by-one, naming their purpose as you go, and then you can seal your jar with wax or tie it up with ribbon to seal in or bind up the magick. Once completed choose where your bottle is going to live, whether in the house, mode of transportation, place of school or work or buried (especially good for banishing magick, though make sure all items are biodegradable).
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For more magickal inspiration for your folk charms, how about creating charms for the three primary points in your birth chart, starting with your Sun sign? Or a might-do list for the Spring Equinox? I also explore more of spring's plant allies, healing paths, and magickal ways over here.
If you've found yourself wanting to learn more about traditional forms of folk magick, I highly recommend checking out museum archives like the Museum of Witchcraft. While The Museum of Witchcraft has a focus on British and European witchcraft, there is a growing library of online and printed resources of many of the magickal folk traditions out there.
I hope you find inspiration from tradition while trying new things and bringing in modern and future-dreaming sensibilities into the practice of the Old Craft.
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Footnotes
1. Blessed be the living memory of big witch brother Scott for laying a solid foundation of folk magick for so many of my generation. Scott Cunningham wrote a number of great books based on his folk magick research and lived experience as a practitioner - Earth Power: Techniques of Natural Magic is a great place to start!
