Love Spells & the Magic Within
“I dream of a love that even time will lie down and be still for…” Many of us know that line from the cult classic Practical Magic (1998)—a story of sisters, curses, and midnight margaritas where love is always the central enchantment. And why not? Who doesn’t crave a love story?
Here’s my confession: I’ve been in a 37-year love affair with romance itself. To borrow from Cinderella: “I fell in love with love one night when the moon was full.” And yes, I still believe that a “plain yellow pumpkin can become a golden carriage.”
From Shakespeare’s sonnets to Tennyson’s “Lady of Shalott,” from folktales to Whitney Houston, love and magic have always been entwined in our stories. And if you’ve ever sat across from a tarot reader, you know the question seekers ask most often:
“Do they love me?”
Of course, what they usually mean is: Are they the one? Where is the one? How do I make them love me? The truth is: you can’t.
Love, Lust, and the Limits of Magic
When people come to me for a reading, what they call “love” often turns out to be lust. Lust is fiery and intoxicating, but it isn’t love. Lust is willful; love requires surrender.
And that’s where love spells are so often misunderstood. Magic cannot bend someone’s will. A spell to make someone love you will always collapse under its own weight. But that doesn’t mean love spells are pointless. It means their power lies elsewhere.
When I first moved to Philadelphia, I fell into a relationship that was passionate, complicated, and ultimately unsustainable. When it ended, I turned to magic—not to get him back, but to heal myself.
The first spell was for me. To mend, to open again, to learn to love myself. That work led me to therapy, to new teachers, and to a deeper relationship with the Goddess. Months later, he came back into my life. He was fragile, still healing. I was tempted to force the old romance, but I knew better.
The second spell was for him. Not for his love, but for his strength and his ability to love himself again. If we were meant to reunite, the path would open naturally. Eventually, it did. We found ourselves trying again, cautiously, hopefully.
The third spell was for us. For patience, communication, and a future that wasn’t chained to the past. I honored our bond on my altar and in my daily practice, not as a binding but as a blessing.
Eight months later, we parted ways again. But this time, we did so with love, not bitterness. We had both grown. Today he is happily partnered, and I continue to honor love in my own life.
The Real Magic of Love
What those spells taught me is this: the most powerful love magic begins within. Self-love is the soil from which all other love grows. When I read tarot now, love questions almost always circle back to this: how are you making space for love in your own life? Magic is only as strong as the intention we bring to it. Grounded in self-love, our spells radiate truth.
So this Valentine’s Day—or any day—cast your first love spell on yourself. Fall in love with your own breath, your own becoming.
For me, that spell is also a devotion to the Goddess, to the great romances of myth and poetry, and to Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s timeless words:
“I love thee with a passion put to use.”
And perhaps that is the kind of love even time will lie down and be still for.
