A Guide to Protection, Cleansing, Abundance, Prosperity, and Love Spells

When it comes to spellcrafting, spells can fall into different categories. While you don't have to categorize your spell, knowing where it falls in relation to others can help you focus your intention and find the proper correspondences to help you achieve your goal. Below you will find a list of the most common types of spells. You will notice that I categorized spells based on their intention, not their ingredients as some authors may be inclined to do. I did this because the ingredients you use are simply to enhance the intention, not drive the spell.

Protection Spells

Without a doubt, protection spells are one of the most commonly sought after and recorded spells in the history of humankind. Folklore is full of protection spells, from placing dead cats in a wall to hanging a horseshoe over your door to hanging mugwort crosses above windows to placing oak branches around your home. The list of protection spells is truly endless and for a good reason. Historically, the world has been an extremely unforgiving place, with the chances of falling ill or injuring yourself remaining rather high prior to the invention of modern medicine. Even then, disease and accidents are still common. Protection spells were designed to prevent these accidents, injuries, and illnesses, as well as any other unexplainable negative occurrence. These unexplained occurrences were often attributed to the work of demons, witches, witchcraft, and other evil spirits. As such, protection spells were employed at every opportunity and highly sought after. These spells often take the form of warding and defensive spells such as those mentioned above. If you are looking at stopping something from entering your home, preventing bad luck and illness, or otherwise keeping evil and negativity at bay, you are likely performing a protection spell.

Cleansing and Healing Spells

Followed by protection spells, cleansing and healing spells are also extremely common. Cleansing and healing spells are done to remove unwanted energies, entities, ailments, and spells from a person, place, or object. If protection spells failed, cleansing was the next course of action for many, although today it is suggested you cleanse prior to setting up protections. Cleansing is often done using smoke or water as the basis of the spell, but you will also find spells that use salt, eggs, onions, crystals, candles, and a host of other ingredients. Healing spells, like cleansing spells, are designed to remove the unwanted from the person and like cleansing spells, this too is often done with smoke and water, especially water which is naturally healing. In both cases, something is being removed, so if you are looking to remove or banish something, then you are likely looking at a cleansing type of spell.

Abundance, Prosperity, and Wealth Spells

Abundance, prosperity, and wealth, along with love spells, fall under the broader heading of manifestation magic. I separated these out, however, because while you are manifesting something in all cases, the intention behind that manifestation is very different.

Abundance, which comes from the Latin abundantia, refers to a large amount of something, whether that something is tangible or intangible. Historically, abundance was deeply associated with agriculture and crops, which is why today you see abundance spells still linked to these ideas. However, abundance does not always mean a lot of things; it can also refer to the lack or absence of something. You can have an abundance of worries or fears, as much as you can have an abundance of happiness. When working abundance spells, it's extremely important that your intent is clear and focused, or else it's likely the spell will backfire. Furthermore, abundance spells take work. You cannot perform the spell and expect food to show up on your table without working the fields in the first place. If you are looking at manifesting more of something in your life, then an abundance spell is likely what you will need.

Prosperity, however, originates from the Latin prospreitas and refers to having good luck and success. Notice the difference here between abundance and prosperity. Prosperity is not about having a lot of things but instead doing well overall. Prosperity spells will not manifest as a single achievement, but a series of events in your life. They are designed to bring good luck and success, which can later result in abundance depending on the situation, but that isn't the ultimate goal. Furthermore, prosperity is a give-and-take relationship; you must give in order to receive. You water your garden and in return, you are gifted with the fruits of your labors. When performing prosperity spells, expect to give something in return, a sacrifice if you will. If you are looking to increase your chances of success or bring general good luck, then the spell you need is a prosperity spell.

Finally, wealth spells are specifically designed to bring assets, such as money, power, and other resources, to you. Yes, this is a type of abundance spell, but the intention is specifically for wealth. With wealth spells comes the assurance that you will never be without and have everything you need right when you need it. These spells most often come in the form of money spells but also include spells to find a new job, attract business, or get a promotion also fall in this category. 

Love Spells

Love spells are also extremely common and always have been. In fact, they are one of the most commonly searched for spells in modern times, even by people that do not practice witchcraft or believe in it! There is a lot of controversy around love spells, with some arguing no love spell is a good love spell, while others find them perfectly acceptable. Like abundance, prosperity, and wealth spells, love spells are done to bring something to you, more specifically love. This can be in the form of finding a new lover, keeping a lover, encouraging marriage or a happy marriage, avoiding divorce, preventing cheating, promoting self-love, or even divining a future lover. Binding rituals can also fall under love spells if the intention behind the spell is to keep a lover attached to you and prevent them from leaving or cheating. So if it comes down to matters of the heart, it's likely a love spell.

Curses, Hexes, and Jinxes

I talked extensively about the differences between curses, hexes, and jinxes in my last post Ethics in Spellcrafting: To Curse or Not to Curse, so I am not going to go too in-depth here. I strongly encourage you to read through that post to learn more. 

However, at a most basic level, jinxes cause a minor inconvenience, hexes are longer-lasting ill-will to teach a lesson, and curses are long-lasting ill-will and bad luck to seek revenge and bring justice. Depending on the intention, binding spells can fall within this category, specifically as a hex. Often times binding spells are done to prevent someone from continuing to do something, especially if that something is potentially harmful. If you couple this with the intention that they learn their lesson then the binding spell becomes a hex as much as a protection spell. Curses and other baneful spells were one of the most commonly used spells historically, apart from protection spells which were used to counter baneful magic. When we look at historical records and folklore, a large number of curses appear, from curse tablets to charms. Honestly, the history of cursing is fascinating and deserves more attention than it currently receives. Remember, curses were often used by the oppressed to seek justice and freedom from their oppressors. This was their only way of effectively fighting back and that alone warrants respect.

Whether or not you decide to use curses, hexes, and jinxes is entirely up to you. Again, I discuss the ethics of this in my last post, Ethics in Spellcrafting: To Curse or Not to Curse, which will help you set your own code of ethics through journaling.

While I know there are spells that may not fall neatly into these categories, almost all of them do. When you understand where your intention falls, it makes planning your spell a heck of a lot easier. It also sometimes helps focus that intention further by giving you a new perspective. In the next post, we will cover the basics of spellcrafting, including a general spell format to get you prepared to start writing your own. Until then!

Interest in the rest of the series? 

Spellcrafting Series

What Is A Spell?

Ethics in Spellcrafting: To Curse or Not to Curse

Types of Spells

Basics of Spellcrafting

Correspondences, Substitutions, and How to Write Your Own

Perfect Spell Timing

Spell Wording: Be Clear, Be Heard

Cleansing, Charging, and Raising Energy Prior to Spellcasting

Grounding and Centering After Spell Work

Breaking Your Own Spells

What to do with Spell Remains

Recording Your Spells

Intuitive Spellcasting

Casting Spells from the Otherworld

Troubleshooting Your Spells: Why They Didn't Work

Looking for more information about writing your own spells? Check out my posts on the topic:

What is Magic?

What is Hermeticism?

Primal Language

Magic All Day Long: What Time of Day Should I Perform Magic?

The Importance of Gratitude in Witchcraft

If you liked this post and would like to support future content, please consider leaving a small tip in the jar.