When we talk about Bosnian love magic then it is best to start with the truthful story from Prijedor about a woman which had an unfaithful husband, which brought the woman to despair. She found out from her neighbours that by accident her mother in law knew the secrets of love magic so she asked her for help, to make her son a good husband. Raised in a traditional manner knowing that a marriage must be saved, especially for the children, the mother in law agreed to help after she had some time to think but asked her if she knew what she was getting into, since according to her, once one starts with the practice then there is no going back. But, that didn't daunt the young woman.
The mother in law gave advice to find a love frog and two hazelnut twigs and to piss into flour after that, which was once considered a great blasphemy, and to make maslenjak out of the flour which will change the mind of the husband and make her attractive and desirable. She made the dough following the magical recipe and kneading it with her feet she thinned it out on the sofra (traditional round table for preparation of dough among the Bosnians). She then placed a frog on the dough, took two hazel branches and hitting the frog lightly with them she would utter: "call my NN!" then she removes the frog from the dough cuts a circle from it, strips naked and passes the dough against her body, folds it a couple of times, places it into a casserole and places it into a stove to bake it. Finished maslenjak is then served to the unfaithful husband who eats a good part of it not suspecting what he is eating. In a very short time he changed his behaviour towards her and started to shower her with attention and love. But, no magic lasts forever and this one was nearing its end and the young wife noticed that the husband started to be rebellious again and she realised that the mother in law was right - she will have to repeat the magic her entire life if she wants a harmonious marital life.
In Bosnian magic the frog represents a shaytan, i.e. a studiously analysed heavenly being - Grand Mother represented in the form of a witch, which is clearly visible in the second version of the recipe where the frog is not used, instead while passing the dough for maslenjak down her body the girl or woman utters: "shaytan, help me, be of service..." The connection between the shaytan and a frog can be found in the story about the woman from the Dizdarević family and the scene when one of them sees a large pregnant frog on the road and pushing her away with her feet she said to call her when she gives birth, which happens in the end when the devil themselves come for the woman and lead her to the frog i.e. witch to help her during birth.
Love magic also requires strict obedience of the rules and the slightest mistake can cause unwanted effects. Powerful and outstanding love spells of traditional Bosnia are performed with the help of nine bean beads, nine kernels of corn, wheat, nine willow twigs, etc. Which are at the end of the ritual discarded into the fire of a low intensity. Rasima Š. From Bihać admits that she is scared of magic since she had an unpleasant experience with it. She was instructed into the secrets of magic by an old neighbour which she assisted for years with work related to the house. As they became close as time passed, Rasima frequently told her about her marital issues and on one occasion the old lady revealed a few love recipes to her which she used to practice in her youth. As at the time it seemed as if the marital issues will never end, Rasima decided to try out a love recipe with bean beads in hope that they will help her settle her husband and make him a more loyal partner.
-"I did everything as described, except the last part, Rasima revealed, and instead of throwing it into a smaller fire I threw it into a raging one. In the next two days all the members of the household fell ill, all of them complained of fatigue, dizziness, headache and lack of appetite. I was immediately suspicious of what could be the cause of it. I ran to my neighbour to tell her what had happened. She suggested that I light some sugar inside the house, ground coffee and a stem of rue (ruta graveolens) and that after half an hour I should open all the windows and doors. On the same day I performed all of this the members of the household miraculously got better?! Since then I never dabbled with magical recipes".
