Skip to main content

An Early Greek Love Spell, To Draw Back an Unfaithful Lover.

ancient cupid or eros love god



From the pages of Theocritus:

Where are the bay-leaves, Thestylis, and the charms?

Fetch all; with fiery wool the caldron crown;

Let glamour win me back my false lord's heart!

Twelve days the wretch hath not come nigh to me,

Nor made enquiry if I die or live,

Nor clamoured (oh unkindness!) at my door.

Sure his swift fancy wanders otherwhere,

The slave of Aphroditè and of Love.

I'll off to Timagetus' wrestling-school

At dawn, that I may see him and denounce

His doings; but I'll charm him now with charms.

So shine out fair, O moon! To thee I sing

My soft low song: to thee and Hecatè

The dweller in the shades, at whose approach

E'en the dogs quake, as on she moves through blood

And darkness and the barrows of the slain.

All hail, dread Hecatè: companion me

Unto the end, and work me witcheries

Potent as Circè or Medea wrought,

Or Perimedè of the golden hair!

Turn, magic wheel, draw homeward him I love.

First we ignite the grain. Nay, pile it on:

Where are thy wits flown, timorous Thestylis?

Shall I be flouted, I, by such as thou?

Pile, and still say, 'This pile is of his bones.'

Turn, magic wheel, draw homeward him I love.

Delphis racks me: I burn him in these bays.

As, flame-enkindled, they lift up their voice,

Blaze once, and not a trace is left behind:

So waste his flesh to powder in yon fire!

Turn, magic wheel, draw homeward him I love.

E'en as I melt, not uninspired, the wax,

May Mindian Delphis melt this hour with love:

And, swiftly as this brazen wheel whirls round,

May Aphroditè whirl him to my door.

Turn, magic wheel, draw homeward him I love.

Next burn the husks. Hell's adamantine floor

And aught that else stands firm can Artemis move.

Thestylis, the hounds bay up and down the town:

The goddess stands i' the crossroads: sound the gongs.

Turn, magic wheel, draw homeward him I love.

Hushed are the voices of the winds and seas;

But O not hushed the voice of my despair.

He burns my being up, who left me here

No wife, no maiden, in my misery.

Turn, magic wheel, draw homeward him I love.

Thrice I pour out; speak thrice, sweet mistress, thus:

"What face soe'er hangs o'er him be forgot

Clean as, in Dia, Theseus (legends say)

Forgat his Ariadne's locks of love."

Turn, magic, wheel, draw homeward him I love.

The coltsfoot grows in Arcady, the weed

That drives the mountain-colts and swift mares wild.

Like them may Delphis rave: so, maniac-wise,

Race from his burnished brethren home to me.

Turn, magic wheel, draw homeward him I love.

He lost this tassel from his robe; which I

Shred thus, and cast it on the raging flames.

Ah baleful Love! why, like the marsh-born leech,

Cling to my flesh, and drain my dark veins dry?

Turn, magic wheel, draw homeward him I love.

From a crushed eft tomorrow he shall drink

Death! But now, Thestylis, take these herbs and smear

That threshold o'er, whereto at heart I cling

Still, still—albeit he thinks scorn of me—

And spit, and say, ''Tis Delphis' bones I smear.'

Turn, magic wheel, draw homeward him I love.

Popular posts from this blog

Cut and Clear Purification Spell - White Witchcraft to Forget the Past

The time has come. You're over and done with that relationship. It could be a romance, a friendship, a business partnership -- any sort of connection really. But now you're done, and you want all ties severed. This spell helps clear up any lingering energies and makes people let go of past feelings. You need: 1 bottle Jinx Removing salt Lemon verbena leaves Purification oil or Cut and Clear oil Personal or representational items of the person(s) you are removing yourself from (names and photos are easy) Purification incense 4 white candles You will also need to make your own Cut and Clear bath salt. For this you'll need about 1/2 cup epsom salt to which you add 5 drops each lemongrass oil, lemon or melissa oil, and rue or rosemary oil. It's important to make this salt yourself with only oils (no herbs) because we want it to run clean down the drain with no residue left behind to be cleaned up. Many spiritual bath blends contain herbal matter and curio...

Paper-in-Shoe Spells

A popular and very traditional hoodoo spell, often used for any situation where you need to control someone with magic , is the namepaper-in-shoe spell. It's very easy: you write the target's name 3, 7, or 9 times on a paper (depending on intent and who's giving instruction) then fold it up, sometimes after dressing it with oils or powders, then put it in your shoe. This "keeps the person underfoot" or "stomps out the trouble" or "puts pressure on them" or any other number of metaphors. I have had this work several times over the years. In one instance, I was working for a very unpleasant boss, on a short-term job. It was the last day, and I only had about 3 hours of work left on the project; and I wanted him to up my pay for the day since it almost wasn't worth the trip across town for the amount he was paying me, for only 3 hours. He was very reluctant. So I wrote his name 3 times on a 5-dollar bill he'd given me, and dusted it...

Ammonia - A Spiritual Cleansing Agent for Magick

Ammonia is a strong cleansing agent in hoodoo magick, both physically and spiritually. In Edwardian times it was advised as an old home remedy for a nerve tonic (see recipe below.)  "Household ammonia" or "ammonium hydroxide" is a solution of NH3 in water. Household ammonia ranges in concentration from 5 to 10 weight percent ammonia. The Romans called the ammonium chloride deposits they collected from near the Temple of Amun (Greek Ἄμμων Ammon) in ancient Libya 'sal ammoniacus' (salt of Amun) because of proximity to the nearby temple of Amun, the chief god of ancient Thebes. Salts of ammonia have been known from very early times; thus the term Hammoniacus sal appears in the writings of Pliny, although it is not known whether the term is identical with the more modern sal-ammoniac (ammonium chloride). In the form of sal-ammoniac (nushadir) ammonia was important to the Muslim alchemists as early as the 8th century, first mentioned by the arab chemist...

The Intranquil Spirit

(EDIT: Up to date information about the Intranquil Sprit can be found in my book  The Intranquil Spirit , available on Amazon.  This post has some incomplete information which is clarified in the book.) The Intranquility spell is, unfortunately, the first resort of many a rejected lover. In some ways it makes sense -- the more unhappy and forlorn one is about a breakup, the better this idea of making the other partner feel just as much so starts to sound. Unfortunately, this spell is often not well suited to a case. The purpose of the standard Intranquility spell is to have the person be tormented by the spirit until they make contact with you, or whomever the spell is being cast for. This means that if a person is already in good contact with their ex OR if they're one of those people who cannot restrain themselves from initiating contact, then this already is probably not the right spell for that case. If you've had an Intranquility spell cast and you make contac...

Planetary Hours and How To Use Them for Magic Spells and Conjure Work

The Planetary Hours are a belief that sections of each day are ruled by certain heavenly bodies, and that these times of day can be utilized by those who understand their secrets to improve success in certain types of ventures. Folks like Jim Haskins and Tarostar have printed slightly incorrect versions of "Venus Hours" which have been popularly repeated: the claim that 2 AM, 9 AM, 4 PM and 11 PM on a Sunday, 6 AM, 1 PM and 8 PM on Monday, etc, are Venus Hours is wrong. This is a problem that goes back to the 18th century at least -- the Petit Albert itself mentions the mistake. The error stems from the notion that planetary hours align to hours on the clock -- they do not. As the Albert puts it: "In order that there be no mistakes about the hours that each planet rules [...] one needs to reckon the first hour from the sunrise, and not by midnight, as some people have erroneously claimed." In other words, the planetary hours are reckoned by a solar clock. T...