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Dragon's Blood - A Powerful Grimoire Spell for Amazing Magical Ability

magical spells with dragon's blood ink

Blood from Dragons?

Dragon’s blood resin is a vibrant red substance that has captivated cultures for centuries due to its striking color and wide range of uses. Contrary to its mythical sounding name, dragon’s blood does not come from dragons but from various species of plants, such as calamus draco and dracaena cinnabari. These plants are typically found in tropical and subtropical regions, such as Southeast Asia, Africa, and parts of South America. The resin is harvested by making small incisions in the bark or stems of these plants, allowing the sap to flow and harden into resin.

Each plant genus produces a slightly different variety of dragon’s blood with unique characteristics. The Dracaena cinnabari tree, found on the island of Socotra off the coast of Yemen, produces one of the most famous varieties, known for its use in ancient rituals, medicine, and art. The process of harvesting and processing the resin is often labor-intensive, requiring careful extraction to maintain the health of the plant and ensure a sustainable yield.

Dragon's Blood Ink

In 2011 I had the opportunity to work, for the first time, with dragon's blood ink. Now, I typically practice in the hoodoo tradition, where fancy magickal inks aren't really used (being told to use red, blue or black ink is traditionally as complicated as it gets.) But, on this occasion I was doing a spell from The Black Pullet and while it didn't specify to use any particular kind of ink, it seemed like the appropriate place to try one out. 

Now, it may come as no surprise that "dragon's blood" does not come from a dragon. Rather, it's the name of a resin that has a reddish color. Presumably it was thought at one time to come from dragons; or perhaps the plant in former times had a name that sounded similar to "dragon" and was corrupted by folk etymology.

I mixed the ink by myself from the genuine resin, and laid it down with a brush instead of a pen. I was surprised that the ink came out a rather brownish color, rather than the red tone dragon's blood appears to have when pulverized, and that fake dragon's blood talismans are usually printed in (I had always assumed they at least were attempting to match the hue of the real thing.)

Here is the recipe for dragon's blood ink which I used:
2 parts dragon's blood resin
1 part gum arabic
17 parts alcohol (pure -- use Everclear or 100% rubbing alcohol)

Finely powder the resins and combine thoroughly with the alcohol. You may need to let the mixture sit a while for the resins to properly blend into the alcohol, before it is ready.

This stuff dries out fairly fast, or at least it did when I made a tiny batch like I did. I think most commercial Dragon's Blood formulas have some water mixed in to keep down the evaporation, and I suppose you could do that here (though you'd probably want to do it AFTER it's blended into the alcohol.)

Alternately, you can just let the mixture dry out like I did, and save the leftover resin powder for a batch of Agrippa's Sun incense.

Dragon's Blood Incense

Dragon's blood resin can be burnt by itself as an incense mixture. However, it doesn't have much of a fragrance on its own; though it will smoke plenty, and scent isn't necessarily the way that magical properties are conveyed in the traditional practices that use incense. I would call the smell of true dragon's blood resin "plastic-like" -- not a smell of burning plastic, but that faint odor that clings to an item made of plastic.

If you are burning dragon's blood incense which has a strong perfume to it, it is either adulterated or is a fake fragrance blend. Many incense brands sell alleged "Dragon's Blood" incense which contains none of the real resin and is just an artificial fragrance mixture chosen by the company. Some incense makers don't even realize that it's a true herbal ingredient, and sell it just as a suggestive name like "Angel Wings" or "Mystic Nights."

In hoodoo magical practices, dragon's blood is admired for its red color, which is used in spells of power, love, protection and sometimes uncrossing. It's also used to bring back a lost lover, on the word play of dragging (dragon) the person back into the relationship. For this reason it pairs well as an incense with Intranquility Spells and rituals of the type.
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