Herbs for Love, Self-Love, Attraction and Relationship Support - Witchcraft Basics

Last Updated: April 17, 2023

If you’re interested in incorporating herbs into your witchcraft practice for love, self-love, lust, sensuality, and relationship support… you’ve come to the right place. I’ve been really enjoying sharing the different series on herb magick, such as for divination and for protection, so I’m hoping you’ll devour this one just as quickly!

Herbs have been used for centuries for various purposes, including love spells and rituals, documented in places such as the Greek Magickal Papyri. They have an innate power that can enhance and amplify the energy of your intentions, allowing you to manifest your desires and intentions more easily.

Whether you’re looking to improve your relationship with yourself or others, deepen your connection with your partner, or ignite your sensual energy, many herbs can assist you on your journey. With the right knowledge and intention, you can harness the magick of herbs to support your love and relationship goals.

As you begin exploring this magickal world of herbal love spells, remember to approach it with respect, mindfulness, and gratitude. Take the time to connect with the energies of the plants you’re working with and listen to their wisdom. Check your intention. And always remember that the true power lies within you – the herbs simply serve as a tool to help you access and channel that power.

So let’s dive in, with an open heart and a curious mind, and discover the magickal AF world of herbs for love, relationships, and self-love!

Why use Herbs for Love

Herbs for love spells are one of the most sought-after rituals, due to their ease of accessibility and their connection to the Earth and natural magick. Herbs have been used for centuries in love spells, rituals, and potions to enhance romantic relationships, increase attraction between two people, attract new lovers into your life, and even bring back an old flame. Plants take energy from the earth, from the sun, and even the people around them – this makes them incredibly powerful tools for magickal purposes.

Each plant usually has it’s own correspondence. This can make it perfect to be used to amplify the energy of your intentions. When we combine them with our magick, we can look at lots of different angles;

Herbs for Love – Using herbs for love can help attract love, increase affection and intimacy, and promote harmony in relationships. An example of a herb used for love is rose petals, which can be used in love spells, bath rituals, or as an offering to deities associated with love and relationships.
Herbs for Attraction – Herbs for attraction can be used to draw specific people or energies into your life. These herbs can enhance your personal magnetism and make you more appealing to others. An example of an herb used for attraction is cinnamon, which can be used in spells, charms, or as a perfume to attract love, abundance, and success.
Herbs for Eternal Love – Herbs for eternal love can be used to deepen the bond between two people and promote long-lasting, committed relationships. These herbs can also help heal relationships that have been damaged. An example of an herb used for eternal love is yarrow, which can be used in love spells or as a talisman to promote fidelity and lasting love. A witches favourite go to here is also Rosemary, which has links to memory and strength.
Herbs for Emotional Pain – Herbs for emotional healing can help soothe and heal wounds, such as heartbreak or grief. These herbs can also promote self-love and emotional resilience. An example of an herb used for emotional pain is chamomile, which can be used in bath rituals or as a tea to promote relaxation, calmness, and emotional healing.

Herbs can be used to attract and protect love, enhance sensuality and lust, promote self-love, and improve communication in relationships. But they musn’t be used alone. By using the right herbs and setting an intention while working with them, you can create a strong energetic connection that will help manifest your desired outcome.

When Would I Need To Use Love Magick Herbs?

A witch might use herbs for love in their practice for a variety of reasons and occasions. One example is during Beltane, which is a pagan festival that celebrates fertility, love, and the beginning of summer. Beltane is a time when many witches may choose to use herbs associated with love, such as rose petals or hibiscus, in their rituals to promote passion and intimacy with their partner. And who wouldn’t like to give sex magick a try?

Another reason a witch may use plants is to attract a new romantic partner, for personal or professional use. You may choose to work with herbs like lavender or jasmine to increase your attractiveness and magnetism and draw love into your life, or your client’s life.

Herbs can also be used to lovingly heal and strengthen existing relationships. A witch may work with herbs like chamomile or rosemary to promote harmony, understanding, and emotional connection with their partner. These could be perfect accompaniment spells to couples therapy, pre-marriage counselling or when finding ways to reconnect with your partner.

Ultimately, using herbs for love in a witchcraft practice is a way to tap into the power of nature to manifest our desires and intentions related to love and relationships. It can be a beautiful and powerful way to connect with the divine and the energy of love in all its forms, and I don’t think it need to be shameful at all.

How To Use Herbs for Love and Herbs for Self-Love

In this following jumbo list of herbs, spices, resins, and plants, I have provided information on the parts that are safe to use, such as “safe to handle” or “safe to consume.” These are simply suggestions on how to incorporate these items into your practice, as witchcraft is something that is intuitive and unique to each individual. Ensure you do all your own research, as I’m not a botany PHD.

There are endless possibilities for how to use these items, such as crushing and grinding them into Himalayan sea salt for self-love rituals, using them in witches’ poppets, or keeping them dried on your ancestor’s altar or next to your bed.

You can also create a love altar by combining your favorite items such as crystals, candles, and tarot imagery or love iconography. Burning herbal items as incense (in a well-ventilated room) is another way to set a loving energetic container for additional spellwork.

There is no set guideline for using plants in love magick, and it’s important to experiment and find what works best for you. Keep a record of your results in a personal Herbarium and consider exploring the flora native to your local area. Lastly, please be mindful of not over-picking and leaving the first plant you find in the wild to thrive, without interfering with local ecosystems.

20+ Magickal Herbs for Love, for Self-love, for Lust and Sex with meanings and correspondences

We have to bring a starter list somewhere, so for love magick purposes I would suggest sourcing some of these for your spellwork (or seeing what you can ethically forage nearby to cut costs). This list will be added to often, so you’ll find that you can pin this page for later or sign up to my newsletter for any updates, and you’ll get the current link to any updates on love magickal herbs in your email whenever I decide to make a new list.

1. Lemon Verbena

Latin Name: Aloysia citrodora
Planet: Mercury
Element: Air
Deities: Bast, Venus, and other goddesses associated with love, happiness, and beauty.
Parts to use safely: Leaves and flowers.
Spell suggestion: Brew a tea with lemon verbena leaves to attract love and happiness into your life. It’s one of my favourite happiness protecting herbs tbh. Make a small sachet out of pink or white cloth and fill it with dried lemon verbena leaves, rose petals, and lavender. Add a few drops of a loving essential oil such as jasmine, ylang ylang or rose, and tie the sachet closed with a pink ribbon. Hang the sachet in your bedroom to promote a nurturing and positive energy in the space.

2. Rose

Latin Name: Rosa spp.
Ruled by the planet: Venus
Ruled by the element: Water
Associated with Deities/Gods/Goddesses: Venus, Aphrodite, Eros, Cupid
Parts to use safely: Rose petals, rose hips, rose thorns
Spell suggestion for Love: Use dried rose petals to stuff a poppet for yourself; fill yourself with loving vibes and to help you see the world through more loving eyes. You can literally use rose petals for everything, so enjoy some creative freedom with them.

3. Hibiscus

Hibiscus (Hibiscus spp.)
Ruling planet: Venus
Ruling element: Water
Associated deities: Oshun, Hathor, Venus
Parts to use safely: flowers, calyces
Self-love spell suggestion: Brew a cup of hibiscus tea and sit in a quiet space. Take sips of the tea and as you do, visualize the love and acceptance you have for yourself growing within you. Repeat positive affirmations to yourself, such as “I am worthy of love and respect” and “I honor and cherish myself.”

4. Mullein

Latin Name: Verbascum thapsus
Ruling planet: Saturn
Ruling element: Fire
Associated deities: Hecate, Saturn, Hermes
Parts to use safely: leaves, flowers
Healing emotional pain spell suggestion: Create a Mullein-infused oil by steeping the leaves and flowers in a carrier oil such as almond oil for several days. Strain the mixture and use it to anoint your heart chakra before meditation or before going to sleep. Visualize the Mullein oil bringing peace and comfort to your heart and mind, and releasing any emotional pain or trauma that you may be holding onto.

5. Jasmine

Latin Name: Jasminum spp
Ruling planet: Moon
Ruling element: Water
Associated deities: Selene, Vishnu, Kama
Parts to use safely: flowers
Ensuring everlasting love spell suggestion: Create a spell jar filled with jasmine flowers, rose petals, and dried lavender. Add a small piece of rose quartz and a bay leaf with your intention written on it. Seal the jar and place it in your bedroom. Visualize the energy of the jar attracting and amplifying the love and affection in your relationship, and keeping it strong and eternal.

6. Violet

Latin Name: Viola Odorata
Ruling planet: Venus
Ruling element: Water
Associated deities: Aphrodite, Venus, Pan
Parts to use safely: flowers, leaves
Self-love spell suggestion: Create a Violet-infused water by steeping the flowers and leaves in water. Strain the mixture and add it to your bathwater. As you soak in the bath, visualize the loving energy of the Violet filling your being and nurturing your self-love and self-acceptance. Repeat positive affirmations to yourself and release any negative self-talk or self-doubt. You can use leftover violet water in self-care rituals too.

7. Magnolia

Latin Name: Magnolia Spp.
Ruling planet: Venus
Ruling element: Water
Associated deities: Aphrodite, Venus, Hebe
Parts to use safely: flowers, leaves
Love spell suggestion: Create a Magnolia spell bag by placing dried Magnolia flowers, a piece of rose quartz, sprinkle of dried agave or sugar, and a cinnamon stick in a small bag or pouch. Carry the bag with you or place it under your pillow to attract new love or to strengthen an existing relationship. Visualize the energy of the bag amplifying your intentions and drawing love and harmony into your life.

8. Primrose

Latin Name: Primula Vulgaris
Ruled by Venus
Element: Earth
Deities associated: Freya, Venus, Eostre, Cupid, and Aphrodite
Safe parts to use: flowers and leaves
Spell suggestion: Infuse a handful of fresh primrose flowers and leaves in warm bathwater. As you soak, repeat affirmations of self-love and confidence. Visualize desires of love, acceptance and respect manifesting in your life. Allow the energy to fill you with renewing warmth and comfort as it washes away any inner critic or self-doubting energy.

9. Thyme

- Thymus vulgaris
- Ruled by Venus
- Element: Water
- Deities associated: Aphrodite, Freya, and Ares
- Safe parts to use: leaves and essential oil
- Spell suggestion: Write the name of your desired partner on a piece of paper and place it under your pillow along with a sprig of thyme. Repeat affirmations of love and attraction before going to sleep. Visualize yourself surrounded by love and light, attracting your ideal partner into your life. Anoint yourself with thyme essential oil before or after the spell for bonus time spent (hahaaaa!) on this intention.

10. Vanilla

Vanilla planifolia
Ruled by Venus
Element: Water
Deities associated: Venus and Erzulie
Safe parts to use: beans or extract
Spell suggestion: Create a small charm bag containing a vanilla bean and rose petals. Carry it with you to attract love and romance. Alternatively, use vanilla in any cooking for you and your friends – even a vanilla pod in a pot of sugar, kept sealed and shaken, and the then infused sugar sprinkled into tea or coffee together to bring you all feelings of love and build on togetherness.

11. Garden Sage

Salvia officinalis
Ruled by Jupiter
Element: Air
Deities associated: Jupiter, Zeus, and Jupiter
Safe parts to use: leaves and essential oil
Spell suggestion: Renowned for it’s cleansing ability, so can be a perfect support for love magick. Burn sage leaves or essential oil to cleanse and purify the energy of a space. Repeat affirmations of healing and renewal.

12. Cinnamon

Cinnamomum verum
Ruled by the Sun
Element: Fire
Deities associated: Aphrodite, Venus, and Sun gods
Safe parts to use: bark and essential oil
Spell suggestion: This is one of my favourite spicy sexy scents. Sprinkle cinnamon powder around a red candle and light it. As it burns, visualize your ideal partner’s desires for you. Focus on the flame and repeat affirmations of love, acceptance and trust. Anoint yourself with cinnamon essential oil (mixed with carrier oil) to amplify the spell’s power, repeating affirmations of love, desire and attraction.

13. Cherry Blossom

Prunus serrulata
Ruled by Venus
Element: Water
Deities associated: Inari, Shinto Goddess of Love and Fertility
Safe parts to use: flowers
Spell suggestion: Place cherry blossom flowers on your altar or in a vase as a dedicated space for intention. Light pink candles and meditate on love and gratitude. This can be a list of all the things you love and have loved about yourself, what you forgive yourself for, what you are grateful for and then focus on the qualities that you’d like to attract into your life in a partner. Visualize the cherry blossom energy falling away any negative feelings in the meditation and leaving you feeling open, refreshed and filled with love.

14. Lady's Bedstraw

Galium verum
Ruled by Venus
Element: Water
Deities associated: Venus and Freya
Safe parts to use: flowers and leaves
Spell suggestion: Create a tea infusion with lady’s bedstraw flowers and leaves. As you drink it, visualize yourself surrounded by love and positivity. Draw sigils of love, of acceptance and of enduring love to yourself with the tea/infusion on your body as part of self-love rituals.

15. Apple Blossom

Latin Name: Malus domestica
Ruled by Venus
Element: Water
Deities associated: Venus, Pomona, and Aphrodite
Safe parts to use: flowers
Spell suggestion: Collect apple blossom flowers and petals, and place them in a spell jar with rose quartz and cinnamon sticks. Charge it with love and attraction energy and place it in your bedroom.

16. Calendula

Latin Name: Calendula officinalis
Ruled by the Sun
Element: Fire
Deities associated: Apollo and Sun gods
Safe parts to use: flowers
Spell suggestion: Create a calendula flower essence by soaking the flowers in water under the sun. Use this essence to anoint yourself before or after a love spell to create a healing and renewing energy around you. I would combine calendula and rosemary for a hair rinse before a date night with my partner to make my hair feel really magickal.

17. Hawthorn

Latn Name: Crataegus spp
Planet: Mars
Element: Fire
Deities: Hymen, Venus, Mars
Parts used: Berries, leaves, flowers
Spell suggestion: To attract a long-lasting love, create a talisman by tying a red ribbon around a hawthorn branch and carrying it with you. This talisman is may help bring a balanced and healthy relationship into your life. Burn dried hawthorn leaves or berries as an offering during rituals afterwards until the next New Moon.

18. Meadowsweet

Latin Name: Filipendula ulmaria
Planet: Venus
Element: Water
Deities: Aphrodite, Venus, Brigid
Parts used: Flowers, leaves
Spell suggestion: To attract love and harmony, create a simple love charm for any intention by placing meadowsweet flowers in a small bag and carrying it with you. You can add crystals and even a bay leaf with intention, but meadowsweet is a perfect little plant to use for love magick.

19. Ginger

Latin Name: Zingiber officinale
Planet: Mars
Element: Fire
Deities: Mars, Ares, Sekhmet
Parts used: Root
Spell suggestion: To heal emotional pain, or relationship stress, or even nerves from a first date, create a ginger tea by boiling sliced ginger root in water and adding honey and lemon. Sit quietly and sip the tea while visualizing your tension being released from your body.

20. Damiana

Latin Name: Turnera diffusa
Planet: Venus
Element: Water
Deities: Venus, Oshun, Hathor
Parts used: Leaves
Spell suggestion: To enhance self-love, create a bath sachet by placing damiana leaves and rose petals in a muslin bag and tossing it into your bathwater. As you soak, visualize yourself surrounded by love and positive energy.

21. Nutmeg

Latin Name: Myristica fragrans
Planet: Jupiter
Element: Fire
Deities: Jupiter, Lakshmi, Hathor
Parts used: Seeds
Spell suggestion: To ensure some everlasting love, create a love sachet by filling a small bag with nutmeg seeds and carrying it with you. Sprinkle ground nutmeg above a red candle flame and visualize your relationship growing stronger and more passionate with each passing day.

22. Dragon's Blood (resin)

Latin Name: Daemonorops draco, Dracaena cinnabari
Ruled by: Mars
Element: Fire
Deities/Gods/Goddesses: Mars, Ares, Sekhmet, Kali
Parts to use safely: Resin from the tree
Spell suggestion for protection: Dragon’s blood resin is often used in protection spells and for manifestation. Combine dragon’s blood resin with other love herbs such as rose petals, lavender, or jasmine to create a love spell sachet or sprinkle it under your bed or in your bedroom to attract love.

23. Mistletoe

Latin Name: Viscum album
Ruled by: Sun
Element: Air
Deities/Gods/Goddesses: Apollo, Balder, Freya, Odin
Parts to use safely: Berries and leaves
Spell suggestion: Mistletoe is often associated with love and fertility, but as it is quite dangerous, especially to ingest, it has elements of protection to it also. Create an infusing bottle by placing mistletoe leaves, berries and a rose quartz crystal in a small glass jar with spring water. Leave it in the sun for 3 days and use it to anoint your spell-casting space or around your bedroom or altar when doing love spells.

BONUS Herb Magick for Better Sex

There are several herbs, plants and naturally found components that have been traditionally used to enhance sexual desire, performance, and pleasure. Here are a few examples:

Cacao: As a calming and rich in copper and magnesium, I’d be remiss to mention this caffeine free chocolate-y alternative. Cacao is known to promote feelings of love and pleasure. Mix it with maca or with cinnamon for a relaxing nightcap with a kick.
Ginseng: Ginseng is believed to increase energy, stamina, and sexual desire. It can be taken as a supplement or added to tea or smoothies.
Maca: Maca is a root vegetable that is believed to enhance sexual desire, performance, and fertility. It can be taken as a supplement or added to smoothies or baked goods.
Horny Goat Weed: Horny goat weed is a traditional Chinese herb that is believed to enhance sexual desire and performance. It can be taken as a supplement or brewed into tea, and hands down wins when it comes to it’s name.
Tribulus: Tribulus is an herb that is believed to enhance testosterone levels, sexual desire, and performance. It can be taken as a supplement or brewed into tea.

It’s important to remember that while these herbs are believed to have aphrodisiac properties, there is limited scientific evidence to support their effectiveness. It’s also important to talk to a healthcare provider before taking any supplements or herbs to ensure they are safe for you to use.

Please note that when using herbs, it’s important to make sure you are using them safely, properly and ethically. It’s important to use herbs and plants that are safe for internal and external use, especially if you plan to consume them. Some plants may also have negative effects and can be harmful if used in the wrong way.

Also, be aware of laws and regulations concerning the use of certain herbs and plants, particularly in regards to cultivating and harvesting them. Finally, when harvesting herbs and plants, it is important to do so sustainably and ethically – never taking more than what you need or damaging the environment in any way. This is especially true when collecting wild plants and herbs, but most of the herbs I’ve mentioned here can be easily found in supermarkets or ordered safely online for accessibility purposes.

With proper knowledge and research, you can use herbs and plants safely and effectively in your magickal practice. Until next time xox

Written by Lizzie Burgess

I love curating divination experiences for those invested in spiritual growth with secular honest vibes. I am that witch you come to for these honest, interesting and beneficial divination experiences!

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