There are two basic types of magic used in romantic situations – creating (renewing, or strengthening) the bonds of love, and, on the other hand, dissolving (cord-cutting and breakup magic). The latter could be considered a genre of baneful (destruction) magic as well, but I will include the topic as well. After all, the goddess Ishtar presides over both, Love and War.
The most famed kind of love magic lies indeed in the promise that you can enflame passion, or gain favor with another person. Make them amicable to you, make them notice you, appease them, make them choose you over the others. This type of influence magic is useful in situations that are non-romantic as well, ie. to gain business, or to sway the jury in a court case. When the goal is to create romantic attraction, that is the true arena of love magic.
I have legit seen magic to make one’s partner like their children, or their dog, or accept a hobby. This kind of magic that is done within the context of an already committed relationship, even though manipulative, is generally considered still to be ‘White Magic’ because of the person’s freely expressed commitment that they entered into.
Oaths and promises can be used magically as leverage, hence when I was working with Voudon, the Hougan always asked me to get the client’s wedding picture. Affairs can be broken this way. You are essentially forcing the person to make true on their own promise which gives you divine right.
Unfortunately, some men just have too much of a vice for the ladies, so putting this kind of pressure on them might produce undesirable side effects, ranging from aggressivity to impotence.
No matter what type of magic is used, you can’t force a person to go completely against their will, their natural inclination, or even their self-interest. The magic ends where survival instincts kick in, and if the matter at hand is ‘survival matter’ for the target, they will not comply with your spell. This is simply a fact, that many refuse to acknowledge. You cannot force anyone to do anything with magic. If the person is willing to self-destruct, rather than to submit to the will of the caster, that is where magic hits a dead end. It doesn’t matter if what you are asking them to do is good for them, such as giving up drinking or another vice, or if it is only good for you, such as you want to have multiple lovers and keep them oblivious of one another. They have the free will to pursue self-destruction in any case. History is full of examples. Human wills are weak and strong, people have vices, things you can appeal to, and these are all things that an experienced Witch will consider.
Now, back to the fabled Love Potion. You can, seemingly, make a desired person love you. How they experience it, and what happens, depends on how forceful your spell is, and what is the overall relationship between your souls. This relationship started before this life, and so if one remembers subconsciously great love from previous centuries, this subconscious reservoir will be opened and can be used to make the fall in love, again. Essentially since we exist across all timelines, they love you ‘already’. They love you ‘still’. This effect can feel pretty powerful, but let us not draw any premature conclusions. It doesn’t mean that you are compatible in this life. See, love is not everything. There is still money, reputation, personal priorities, and no-nos.
You can’t keep somebody in a dead-end romance forever. In the end, reality will always dawn in. You can even secure a commitment from them, or create a situation that will make it difficult (if not impossible) to leave, but none of this shit works for real. It’s the old warlock keeping a princess in the tower. If you find yourself in positions of greater and greater dependence on your partner, ask yourself what is going on.
Breakup magic, to be honest, is in many ways more straightforward and simple. Since the social barriers to divorce and breakup, and canceled engagement are minuscule compared to what they used to be, many magicians consider breakup spells ‘fair game’ and ‘no big deal’. Sometimes, the petitioner will not be a person romantically interested, just someone who wants revenge on you. In most cases tho, they will be an ex, a rejected jilted lover, or possibly someone who wishes to approach you and wants barriers removed first. History is full of examples of such stories.
How Break Up Magic Spells Work
In my colorful and bizarre life, I have had relationships broken up by third-party magic (&possibly my own magic) more than I can count. What it does, as a rule, is it does three things –
1/ The targeted couple will experience ridiculous strings of bad luck. This will make the person resent their partner, because they subconsciously know, and feel that it has something to do with them and that if they were alone, they would be free of this influence. This is particularly sinister. I have had a cellphone and a laptop crash in one day, purses lost and stolen, if you are experiencing bad luck like that that is out of the ordinary, you need to assume that you are under magical attack and seek help.
2/ Objective blockages will be faced by the couple. I have had everything from missed planes, to being detained at customs. Like a reversed road opening ritual, roads will be just closed for the couple to make it. It depends on the will to overcome, but many will give up. Now, this last phenomenon deserves a side note. It doesn’t necessarily mean that somebody is trying to break you up, it might just be that some higher power is opposed to the union occurring, and for a good reason. You might actually be protected.
3/ The breakup spell or curse will bring up the absolute worst, typically, in the rival that the third party seeks to remove from the equation. If they are in any way unstable, or abusive, they will get much worse. Their worst fears will haunt them, they may become paranoid, because subconsciously they feel the relationship is being taken from them, and act out in ways that actually then cause the breakup.
Much depends on how the couple chooses to address the situation, or even if they recognize it. You can’t break up a true loving union, or, conversely, a totally toxic codependent relationship. It’s about how deep is a person willing to sink, and what kind of situation are they willing to tolerate before they leave.
Sometimes casters fail to recognize the objective barriers to the situation, i.e. it is rather unthinkable to force a married man to leave his wife when she has just given birth, and her parents own the house he lives in, while he has nothing.
It is, therefore, best NOT to try to think your own ‘best solution’ of the situation, which might be a good enough guess in some cases, but it might also be a complete fantasy.
For example, you might wish for the other woman making a scene, or throwing the man out on the street while beating him up, which is what you would do if you learned your husband was cheating on you, but maybe that other woman is not at all passionate and proud. She is meek and a doormat, so you are projecting something that cannot manifest because it goes against the person’s nature.
Trying to manifest conflict between the lovers, or kill their sex life is two traditional methods that were used. Understand tho, that some unions will be kept together without sex, or even physical contact, for years, if it is still worth it for them, or they have no way out situation. Some couples thrive on conflict, so throwing War Water would be like pouring fuel to the fire, making them have great makeup sex et cetera.
Just don’t try to insert your own fantasies of how it will happen, or what will happen. As always, the intention should suffice.
The time factor should not be overlooked. Clients’ expectations of the timeline to break up a couple are almost always vastly out of whack. If you can manifest a breakup (or reconciliation) in 3 months’ time, consider yourself very lucky and your situation to be favorable. If that is… most situations will take anywhere from 6 months to a year to unravel. Or more. Do you have this patience? Lack of resolve is common, and many people give up after a few months time or start attacking the magician during the first couple of weeks.
The part that modern magicians completely overlook lies in the past life oaths and covenants, and various pacts we have taken on. People can manifest crazy situations when they have the Divine Right to do so when some Higher Power is backing them. These loyalties can be complex and the answers will be always given by your patron deities or by scrying the soul covenants that exist between the involved parties.
Sometimes these factors will be shadowed, so you just have to take it as it is, and make your own way through life, perhaps by transmuting your crazy stories into art or poetry…
