She opened her eyes. Hmmm she thought. I maybe should have removed the stopper before the incantation. The bottle fitted in the palm of her hand. It was so tiny she had real doubts as to whether it would hold enough to make the charm work, but she’d had no choice as it would have to slip into a pocket or a bag. She’d considered making two, one for each so there was never any chance that the wearer would inadvertently be without it, but that would halve the effect, which was never a good thing. Lighting incense, white sage, Palo Santo and juniper for purification she gathered together the required elements. She knew she should really have also burnt lavender, but that reminded her of her mother which was somewhere she didn’t need to go right now.
Holding the items one-by-one she placed a blessing on each before laying them out in order on the black tablecloth. Although a spell of protecting was required to ward off unwelcome advances from those that refused to pass over to the afterlife, she had decided to include a little something for positivity and happiness. Picked fresh that morning the sunflower radiated brightly amidst the other stuff. Needing just a couple of seed she carefully picked out a few with her gold tweezers, she’d not have room for many but figured that even just a couple should be enough.
She re-read the request again, to make sure she had not missed anything. The letter was beautifully hand scripted, which was a rare thing in these days of technological advancement. She was more used to getting emails, social media messages or texts from the locals. There was far more information in it than she had requested. Things that were unimportant to the task at hand, but it was as if there had been a cathartic need to share. Tucked in a throw away comment about an upcoming anniversary was an obscure hint towards a desperate longing to start a family. That was the main reason for the sunflower seeds. Naturally she had cut the flower at sunset and made a wish, after all a little self-help was never a bad thing. The wish was not grand, those have a habit of falling by the wayside as too difficult to accomplish in a day, but her outspoken desire for a child was one she hoped would hold sway for both herself and the witch bottle. Mind you, if he was not up for it then there would be no chance of anything happening before sunrise. Tonight she would make a special effort. She giggled … maybe a love potion when the orders were completed, or the Viagra they’d got as a laugh. Who knew …what she did know was that she would do whatever it took.
Munching on the fresh sunflower seed, she flicked through the pages of her Book of Shadows, sure she’d written something in there about making a witch bottle a little more personal. Each page contained spells, incantations, ritual practices, and laws all scripted in purple ink, using feather quills she had acquired throughout the years. It was her take on calligraphy, not classic by any means but ornate and intensely elaborate. The required page almost fell open by itself.
She aloud ...
To intensify the invocation, the charm should be worn at all times.
That was it. There was always a reason for everything. The tiny bottle cried out for a bond below the seal to create a necklace. Searching through her supplies she selected a neutral twine and adding a final blessing she slipped the cork in and dipped it into the yellow wax, before lovingly tying the string. She added a heart that was to act as more than just mere decoration, as wearing silver enhanced the deflection of negative energies.
Once done she popped it in a plain brown paper bag and placed it alongside the others in the basket. After lunch she would make her rounds, not on a broom as I know you’d expect, but on her trusted old-fashioned push bike and once delivered to the relevant doorsteps her part was played out, well almost.
Hopefully after tonight the fertility bit would kick in having both her and the bottle recipient embarking on a whole new adventure.