An Exploration of Jar, Bottle & Container Spells
Witch bottles are an old part of the folk magic tradition. They are traditionally used to keep bad spirits or influences away from your house. Some are filled with sharp metal objects and vinegar or urine. Another traditional form of witch bottle is packed with short pieces of thread. The idea is that the threads form a dense maze, which will confuse the spirits so they won't be able to get past the bottle. I have adapted the tradition a little. I do a lot of sewing, embroidery and knitting; mostly I make magickal artefacts. Every time I make something, I snip off the odd ends of thread or wool and put them into a bottle. Thus these bottles, in addition to providing protection, should exude some of the creative and magickal energy that went into their making.
Source: Museum of Witchcraft & Magic | 1829 Spirit Bottle
There is no question that there are many ways to make and work magic. Magical workings take countless forms, ranging from elaborately designed rituals to the simplicity of a spoken charm. This has been true throughout magical history and across many of the various magical traditions we have to learn from. Despite this truth, there have always been those voices within the magical community which seem to persistently poo-poo some of the simplest forms of magical working as being ineffective or ill-researched.
One such example—a popular and historically-informed means of creating magic—is the container spell or vessel spell. A container/vessel spell is a magical artifact that is created by the practitioner using some kind of sealed vessel (most commonly a bottle or jar, often with a cork and a wax seal). These exist in a number of diverse magical practices; many with regional, cultural and folkloric ties. They stem from a variety of folk customs, beliefs and magical protocol, and serve to accomplish a number of different things (their primary function varying from tradition to tradition).
Examples of jar and bottle charms have been found across Britain and the United States. They have been mentioned in Black Books and grimoires found around Europe. Their use in the folk customs of Hoodoo and the conjure of the Black & African diaspora survives as part of a living practice. And, despite being most commonly associated with folk practices and traditional magic, these container spells have grown in popularity among practitioners of various modern practices as well. Many practitioners of Wicca and Wicca-influenced magic have adopted the use of container spells into their own practices (owed, at least in part, to their simplicity and accessibility compared to more complicated magical workings).
HISTORICAL & TRADITIONAL EXAMPLES OF CONTAINER SPELLS
The English Tradition of Witch Bottles: Beginning in the late Middle Ages, Witch Bottles were created and used in Britain and other parts of Europe as a magical counter-practice to ward off curses and other forms of baneful magic. These bottles were typically created by experts in helping and healing magic known as cunningfolk. They were made using urine or other bodily fluids, bent pins, nails and other sharp objects. They were then hidden in the thresholds, chimneys, walls, and gardens of homes to grant them and their inhabitants protection from magical harm.
The Practice of Creating a Spertus/Spiritus Bottle: Another form of vessel magic involves the trapping and/or keeping of a spirit within a sealed bottle or jar. Sometimes, these spirits were kept as essences which were intended to aid a practitioner’s magical workings as a familiar might. Other times, these bottles were used to keep unwanted spirits out of a practitioner’s hair by sealing them away with some means of keeping them either amused or confused.
Spirit Bottles on the American Battleground: Piggybacking on the English tradition of Witch Bottles to protect against maleficarum, there also arose a phenomenon of similar charm bottles in the era of the American Civil War. These artifacts of Anglo-American folk magic are most commonly found in what would have been the areas where Civil War soldiers would live, sleep and convalesce; they are believed to have been used to keep the spirits of the dead at bay.
Bottle Trees of Congo & the Southern United States: Similar to the Spirit Bottles of the American Civil War and the Spertus of European Spirit-Based Magical traditions, the creation of bottle trees began in the 9th century in Central Africa as a means to ward off evil spirits, who were said to have become trapped in the bottles if they came too close to the tree. This custom was continued in the United States by those who were brought to the Southern United States as slaves. They are still created and used in the Southern and Greater Appalachian regions of the United States.
Amulet Bottles of Latin America: Amulet Bottles or Charm Bottles created in South and Central America are filled with herbs, talismans, written prayers, small icons and more to invoke the help of spirits and saints in magical work. Often, such bottles are filled with holy oils in addition to the charms and amulets placed into them, and then kept on the practitioner’s working altar.
Honey Jar and Vinegar Bottle Spells of Black & African-Diasporic Magical Traditions: Honey Jar spells are some of the most widely discussed examples of container spells within modern practice. Also referred to as Sweetening Jar Spells, these are typically used to turn a person or situation in the practitioner’s favor—such as in love spells, spells to win the favor of a prospective employer, etc. Despite their name, these jars have also been made with various kinds of sugar, syrup, molasses and other sweeteners in addition to honey. On the other end of the magical spectrum—but from the same family of practices—there are also spells known as Vinegar Bottle spells. These spells are utilized to sour a situation. The oldest examples of these spells were intended to force a couple apart by sowing discord between them, and were created using very specific curios (in specific numbers) which were then suspended in household or magical vinegar and sealed.
THE PHILOSOPHIES BEHIND JAR & BOTTLE SPELLS
Due to the widespread use of vessel spells in folk practices from around the globe, the beliefs about how and why these spells work is varied. Many of these traditions are closed, meaning that outsiders to those traditions do not have a working knowledge of the mechanics that drive a magical practice. As such, the only appropriate lens I have through which to explore the working parts of vessel spells is the perspective of my own practice.
As some background, my practice is European in origin and it is considered by some to be partially closed (with membership limited to those with ancestral ties to the practice’s area of origin, or practitioners of the source culture’s folk religion and religio-folk customs) and initiatory (requiring some sort of apprenticeship, which Black Books have described as being either to a living practitioner or to a spirit). Although participation in traditions like my own may seem limited in comparison to the neo-Wiccan magic that is most commonly regarded as the magical community’s norm or baseline, there is some information that has been preserved and published by practitioners, scholars and historians familiar with the practice. The explanation that follows is a discussion of the philosophies and mechanics surrounding these practices within European folk magic. It is based entirely upon that published and preserved material which has been made public through books and museums (though many practitioners may develop their own beliefs and understandings of the lore at the foundation of the creation of spell jars and bottles throughout their practice and study).
According to the Black Books and research that guide many through the study of European Black Book magic, the practice of creating spell jars and bottles is rooted in the Spirit Theory of Magic. That is, the belief that magic is fueled by spirit, the essence of spirit and the creation of bonds between spirits. One common belief about vessel spells is that they work because of the spirit essence with which it is infused. A bottle spell used to trap malevolent magic, for example, may be infused with the spirit essence of the practitioner or their client through the inclusion of their hair. When this bottle is buried, this spirit essence is believed to serve as a decoy that attracts any malevolent magic or spirits to it instead of to the target of that magic. Depending on the design of the bottle, it may also serve as a trap to collect and confuse those spirits and energies (such as with tangled threads or broken mirror pieces) or as a means to negate or tear down the baneful magic (such as with nails, pins or broken glass).
Similarly, the spirit essence of the practitioner can be used in spells and jars to establish control or power over another person. This is often accomplished by putting some personal item (also known as a token or taglock) of the target’s in the vessel along with the bodily fluid of the practitioner and other curios. The token/taglock is then sealed into the bottle along with the practitioner's taglock/token and other curios permanently. It can be buried to prevent tampering or kept handy to continue working with it. Because it is believed that the containment of these essences is the fuel for this kind of working, dismantling or damaging the bottle or jar is intended to undo the magic performed.
As I said, this explanation is based on the published and publicized material connected to my own practice. If you are part of a practice that utilizes some kind of vessel spell and are willing to explain the philosophy behind it, feel free to email us at thomasin@crowsbone.com and we will include your explanation as a credited quote in this post.
HISTORICAL USES OF JAR & BOTTLE SPELLS
Because of the long and scattered history of the employment of these types of spells in magic—often in traditions with little connection to one another, operating under slightly different framework in terms of the philosophies behind the creation and movement of magic), there is a good deal of variety in the goals and application of these types of spells. Even within the earliest documented examples of these artifacts recovered from Britain alone, Witch Bottles are believed to have been used to achieve a number of goals. The Witch Bottles tucked into the doorframes, hearth-halls, and walls of Britain’s old houses did not just provide protection from the curses of the wicked witches that allegedly stalked through the hills of the Cotswold’s. They also served as cures for maladies that medicine was not yet able to help, sacrifices to the spirits of the land that the house resided on, blessings for a new home, and entrapments for unwanted spirits.
In the times of the American Civil War, it is unclear exactly who created the Witch Bottles that have been found in areas like Pennsylvania and Virginia. However, we do know (based, in part, on their contents) that these bottles were likely intended to ward off evil spirits. Whether these were spirits they believed to have been the result of someone else’s curse, the spirits of the dead by whom the American soldiers did not wish to be plagued, or some other spirit already associated with the land on which these bloody battles took place is uncertain. What is certain is that the American adaptation of the English Witch Bottle—as well as the adoption of the Bottle Tree into the folk customs of the Appalachian regions—stems from a deeply held belief in the spirit-centered folklore of the United States.
Honey Jar and Vinegar Bottle spells are slightly more variable in their applications (due to the fact that they are part of a living magical folk tradition, which has been continuously building and innovating on their foundations over time). The general idea behind the Honey Jar practice is to change a situation by sweetening it. This could be used to make someone more likely to give you something you asked for (as might be the case when applying for a new job, applying to rent a house, or reaching a divorce settlement). It could also be used to coax someone to treat you better—whether it’s an in-law who doesn’t care much for you, an ex who won’t give you back your things, or someone who has a habit of gossiping about you. Because of the breadth of possibility in their application, Honey Jar Spells can be used as love spells, friendship spells, peace spells, and home blessing spells (just to name a few).
Vinegar Bottle spells take the opposite approach to dealing with problems. They are used to create trouble, to wreak havoc, and to sour a person’s situation against them. Although Vinegar Bottles may be commonly referred to as Break-Up Spells, they can be used for many things beyond the dissolution of relationship. Variations of the vinegar Break Up Bottle can be used to lay obstacles into the target’s life, perform destructive magic, drive a person out of someone’s life or even as a “Death Unto My Enemies” (D.U.M.E.) spell.
MODERN APPLICATIONS OF VESSEL SPELLS
Within the modern magical community, the use of bottles and jars in spells is varied. Vessel spells are extremely practical for practitioners from many backgrounds. This is because they are made with easy-to-find, inexpensive supplies; they are self-contained and require little physical maintenance, and they are intended to continue working as long as the bottle or jar is intact. They are also hallmarks of a number of folk magical practices and one of the few aspects of these practices that we can continue on almost completely unchanged, making them a favorite for practitioners of those traditions.
While many may continue to use these types of spells for their original uses, there has also been a good deal of innovation and change from these original forms. Many love spells, for example, may be performed as vessel spells without necessarily being Honey Jar spells (especially if the practitioner is not a part of Hoodoo or other Black & African-diasporic magical practices). The concept of Witch Bottles has been adapted (in almost its exact historical form) for use as a curse jar rather than as a means to deflect curses. Through the use of herbs, oils, vinegar, crystals, bodily fluids, alcohol and other small curios, vessel spells can be used to meet just about any magical goal.
Vessel spells are simple. They are accessible. They are inexpensive to create. And they are simple to disinfect the outside of (which is handy if one does choose to use bodily fluids in their workings). That does not, however, mean that they are less powerful or less useful.
The simplicity or accessibility of a magical practice does not necessarily make it less effective, regardless of whether they are inspired by tradition or innovation. Although they are simple, vessel spells still require work and still involve magical protocol (which may vary depending on the practice one is following). They are rooted in historical practice, folklore, and folk custom, which can make them a powerful addition to one’s practice if they are interested in that.
you may want to try a vessel spell if…
You practice magic that is associated with the folk customs of Witch Bottles, Spirit Bottles, Honey Jars, Vinegar Bottles, etc.
Your practice is informed by the folklore of a region that historically utilized vessel magic.
You are using liquid curios (such as urine, water, vinegar or spirits).
Your working needs to be buried or preserved for a long time.
Your spell needs to be self-contained.
Disclaimer: Each of the Crowsbone writers and guest bloggers has their own magical background, beliefs, traditions and practices. These post represent the opinions, research and beliefs of the individual writers. We do not believe that they represent beliefs and rules associated with all magical practice or witchcraft; nor do they represent the beliefs and opinions of all of the Crowsbone community.