Halloween 2018 the team decided to pay Pendle Hill a visit and on our visit we found what appeared to be a witches bottle.
I decided to look into what it had in it and the concepts to why someone may want to make one.
Inside this jar was some unidentified material and a screw and nails, this kind of thing would leave any curious minds asking what is this?
From past experience we know of witches bottles (or jars) to help protect an area against witchcraft and negative energy directed in that direction.
A Witch`s Bottle
These bottles have been dated back to 17th century Britain and have also been found over in America dating around the 18th century. From the evidence found it seems as if these bottles were used to protect an area from negative energy, witchcraft or conjure. These bottles were also used around the time of Hallows Eve to safe guard against spirits that may come through around this time of year.
A witches bottle for protection
These bottles can be made in many ways depending on your own techniques and experiences but if we are to look at a basic process you would, take a bottle made of glass or ceramic, place rusty sharp items within the bottle usually nails or screws. These items are used to deflect negative energy may that be bad luck or ill fortune.
So with the glass or ceramic bottle containing rusty nails or/and screws filled around half way you may also choose to add salt to the bottle for purification. The next step is to fill the rest of the bottle with a fluid that makes the bottle yours. This may have originally been done by filling the bottle with your own urine, if you find this a bit gross you can choose another method by taking some wine or orange juice in your mouth and spitting it back out into the bottle, this marks the bottle as yours.
Your basic witches bottle is pretty much ready to use, make sure the lid is on tightly whatever you do, but from here it as been known to place these bottles somewhere on the property your wanting to protect. Some will bury the bottle in the ground of the property, hide it near a door to the house or even inside the chimney.
This is just a brief look at these bottles for protection the methods and ingredients may vary in so many ways.
Spell Bottles
Not all witches bottles are used for protection of property, some would say a more recent use for a witches bottle is for the casting of spells. A witches spell bottle can be seen used in many traditions including Hoodoo and Voodoo and can be used for cast all types of spells and hexes. Depending on your intention would depend on the items you place in these bottles for the desired result. I know of one person that as a shelf full of these bottles and uses them for certain tasks and times of the year, she also makes one especially every Christmas and hangs them on the tree or places them around the base of the tree as a collective spirit of Christmas.
John Williams