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Love magic is a type of magic that has existed or currently exists in many cultures around the world as a part of folk beliefs, both by clergy and laity of nearly every religion. Historically, it is attested on cuneiform tablets from Mesopotamia, in Ancient Egypt texts and later Coptic texts, in the Ancient Greece-Ancient Rome world, in Syriac alphabet texts, in the European Middle Ages and early modern period, and among all Jewish groups who co-existed with these groups.
The exact definition of what constitutes 'love magic' can be difficult to establish and will vary from scholar to scholar, but a common theme shared by many is the use of magic to start, preserve, or break up a relationship of some type whether for purely sexual or romantic love or both. The tools and methods used in its practice do not significantly differ from the way other forms of magic are practiced and include spoken and written spells and incantations, dolls, , , Love potion, and .
As most surviving sources concern love between men and women, there is a strong heterosexual bias when discussing these sources, though there are a few examples known to concern love between both two men and two women, such as Greek . Love magic motifs appear in literature and art and in the mythology of many cultures. It is less likely to occur in modern fiction, except in fantasy fiction (like Harry Potter), though even then it is not common and may be portrayed as negative.
Christians in late antiquity were among others that practiced magic and, more specifically, love spells. Despite the controversy in Christian communities, it was still a common practice. These spells are influenced and deprived of pagan traditions. The goal of these spells was to attract the desired sex, and they were used mainly by men but also by women and same-sex communities. Even though Christians were using love spells, this was still very problematic and angered many officials of the church as it was viewed as contrary to official scripture.
Christopher A. Faraone, a University of Chicago Classics professor specializing in texts and practices pertaining to magic, distinguishes between the magic of eros, as practiced by men, and the magic of philia, practiced by women.Paul C. Rosenblatt, pg. 482. These two types of spells can be connected directly to the gender roles of men and women in Ancient Greece. Women used philia spells because they were more dependent on their husbands. In marriage, women were powerless as men were legally permitted to divorce. As a result, many used any means necessary to maintain their marriages which meant more interest in affection producing spells. Philia magic was used by women to keep their male companion at bay and faithful. Eros spells were mainly practiced by men and a small selection of women, like prostitutes, and were used to imbue lust into the victim. However, Faraone himself also states that eros magic can be thought of as aggressive magic and philia as non-aggressive.
While some scholars use Faraone's model, like Catherine Rider though she modifies it slightly, it has been questioned by other scholars, such as Irene Salvo, who points out the exceptions to his classification and finds them to be more elucidating of how love magic in Hellenistic Greece actually worked. She points out there were men who used philia spells and women who used eros spells who were not prostitutes or who generally appear to have lived like men.
While the spells were supposed to be kept secret, very rarely were they successful in this. However, if the victim realized that a spell was being cast upon them, believing in magic themselves, they would often submit to the believed enchantment, adding effectiveness to love magic.
With the dominance of Christianity and Catholicism in Europe during the Renaissance, elements of Christianity seeped its way into the magic rituals themselves. Often, clay dolls or written spell scrolls would be hidden in the altar at churches, or holy candles would be lit in the rituals. The Host from a Catholic Mass would sometimes be taken and used in rituals to gain the desired result. Thus, love magic within the Renaissance period was both Christian and Paganism.Guido Ruggiero pg.225
In the Early Middle Ages, there is some evidence that women were considered more likely to be practitioners of love magic. For instance, in the works of Regino of Prüm, Burchard of Worms, and Hincmar the practitioners of love magic are usually gendered as female. However, in pastoral manuals and exempla from this same time period, the practitioners are often not gendered at all or men are primarily singled out.
How modern scholars interpret how medieval and early modern Europeans viewed women, witches, and magic has traditionally been heavily influenced by the 1487 misogynistic anti-witchcraft treatise Malleus Maleficarum written by Heinrich Kramer. In the opening section of this text, it discusses the sexuality of women in relation to the devil. Heinrich Kramer wrote within his book that, "All witchcraft comes from carnal lust, which in women is insatiable."Barbara Holdrige, Malleus Maleficarum But as Rider and others have noted, this may reflect the opinions of one man in one region and was not widespread in Europe as a whole.
Matthew W. Dickie, a prominent magic scholar, argues that men were the main casters of love magic.Matthew W. Dickie, pg.563 Demographically, they suggest that the largest age group that practiced love magic were younger men targeting young, unobtainable women. There are a variety of explanations for why the literary world contrasted reality in this area, but a common interpretation is that men were trying to subtract themselves from association.Matthew W. Dickie, pg.564
Christian magic often developed in response to pagan magic. This was to counteract the widespread influence of pagan magic. However, this influence would bleed into Christian spells, including the use of papyri and amulets. Bagnall, Roger S., and Raffaella Cribiore. Women's Letters From Ancient Egypt, 300 BC-AD 800. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2008
Practitioners of Christian magic, despite also using magic, were very against pagan magic, claiming that it was demonic. This is primarily due to the source the spells were coming from. In Christian spells, they often cite church teachings, scriptures, and Christian Gods and even had spells that called for the use of blessed oil.Frankfurter, David. “The Perils of Love: Magic and Countermagic in Coptic Egypt.” Journal of the History of Sexuality 10, no. 3/4 (2001): 480–500.
One of the most common Christian love spells was erotic or sexual spells.Meyer, Marvin; Smith, Richard (1999). Ancient Christian Magic coptic texts of ritual power. Princeton University Press. These erotic spells typically had two purposes. The first was to gain the attraction of an unattainable woman and to control that woman, specifically to control her sexual desire to ensure she would only find the spell caster desirable. The second use was to secure a marriage that would benefit the user in the social hierarchy.Dickie, Matthew W. “Who Practised Love-Magic in Classical Antiquity and in the Late Roman World?” The Classical Quarterly 50, no. 2 (2000)
Originally, it was believed that women were the sole practitioners of erotic spells. However, this belief is rooted in the fact that most authors from this time period were men, meaning women’s narratives are absent. Male authors often wrote women as magic practitioners to distance men from it since it was very problematic and controversial in the Christian community.
Erotic and love spells were also found in early Christian communities within same-sex relationships. Similar to heterosexual spells, they were used to control or influence the desired person’s attraction.Halsall, Paul . “Coptic Spell: Spell for a Man to Obtain a Male Lover (Egypt, Perhaps 6th Century).” sourcebooks.fordham.edu. Internet History Sourcebooks Project, 1998. Same-sex love spells commissioned by women are harder to analyze due to there being few records written by women, making it difficult to completely understand their motives for these spells. However, there is evidence to support that, at the very least, these women were actively willing to engage in sexual relations with other women. However, when this was discovered, women were heavily persecuted and criticized as this action was not acceptable behavior of women.Brooten, Bernadette J. Love Between Women: Early Christian Responses to Female Homoeroticism. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1996.
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