Bosnian love magic

Blood of a dead chicken


A chicken egg is buried into horse manure and is left there for 21 days. After that the egg is dug up and in it, according to folk belief, a chicken will appear. The egg is cracked and the chicken is slaughtered with a gold coin. Using its blood one smears a body part of the person whose love one craves. Of course, this needs to be done discretely so that the person doesn't notice anything.

Love knots

To "tie" her husband to herself and secure a long common life, a woman pulls from her underpants and her husband's underpants a long thread. Then she connects them together and ties seven knots on it. Prior to any knot tying the woman repeats the prayer Ihlas and utters:
"on Friday I tied you to myself and your thoughts, kaf, nun - kun" (blows into the knot)
"on Saturday I tied you to myself and your eyes, kaf, nun - kun" (blows into the knot)
"on Sunday I tied you to myself and your ears, kaf, nun - kun" (blows into the knot)
"on Monday I tied you to myself and your mouth, kaf, nun - kun" (blows into the knot)
"On Tuesday I tied you to myself and your arms kaf, nun - kun" (blows into the knot)
"on Wednesday I tied you to myself and your legs, kaf, nun - kun" (blows into the knot)
"on Thursday I tied you to myself and your entire body! kaf, nun - kun" (blows into the knot)

The thread with the knots is worn for seven days on the right side of the body, in the bra, and then placed under the doorstep of the house.

Love formula for arrival

In the past when a Bosnian girl wanted to make a young man visit her using a spell, she would get into bed and repeat the following formula seven times:


I laid on seven mattresses, 
onto seven sheets, 
onto seven pillows 
and my dear N (name) onto seven knives, 
onto seven swords 
and onto seven rifles - may he not be able to live, 
may he not be able to breathe, 
may the sun not shine on him, 
until he sees me, 
kisses me and comes to me!


If the formula is uttered with a lot of passion and belief, it can have a fascinating effect, namely, according to folk tales, the young man that the girl mentioned in her formula will be struck by a mysterious longing and desire to see the girl and he will immediately go to see her. If on the other hand he tries to resist the urge he will be drenched in sweat and red dots will appear on his skin.
In order to prevent the girl from casting such spells the boy has to go to her house in secret and urinate on the door hinges with which he will neutralise all her future attempts of influencing him with love magic.

Red apple and blood


A girl takes a red apple and on one part of it he carefully lifts a piece of the skin, he drips a few drops of blood from his pinkie on the left hand, and discretely returns the skin to its place. He then sprinkles the apple with a few drops of water which was used to bathe a deceased person. If the apple is eaten by a man which she desires as a lover or husband, he will quickly fall in love with her.

Ring of a dead man


A young man who wants a girl to fall in love with him takes a ring from a dead man and holding it in his hand or pocket he circles around the girl three times and then from a safe distance he looks at her through the ring and says: 
As this dead man, on whose finger this ring resided, has no knowledge of anything so too N (name of the girl) shouldn't know about any other man beside me!

Bat and donkey


One of the oldest spells of Bosnian love magic is the use of bats as props for casting a spell. When it is caught, the bat is slaughtered with a golden or silver coin and a spindle is used to puncture the middle of its body, that hole is wrapped with golden threads in order to form a circle. Actually, the entire bat is wrapped with golden threads so that nothing else can be seen besides the hole in the body which will be used to look at the person whose love is desired. While the girl is looking through the body of the bat she utters: "With god's help as this bat flew through the air blind, so too you shall be blind by love towards me!"
Besides this, the brain of a donkey is often used, a piece of the brain to be exact, which is mixed into a cake or another meal and offered to the person whose love one desired. Exactly because of this spell among the Bosnian people there is a saying about a man who is overly interested into a woman: "She must have given him some donkey brain to eat!"

Jako jako zanimljivi recepti posebno ovaj sa čvorovima mislim da mi je ta praksa poznata po priči moje majke koja je nešto spominjala da su žene nekad u cilju da zadrže muža vezale u čvorove konce iz muževi gaća baš sedam njih ili su konac nosile kod hodže ili neke bule pa da oni vežu i uče šta znaju za to. Takva praksa je arapska ali se vezanje čvorova udomaćilo i kod nas a i na Balkanu.

For a girl to find out for whom she will be married, she performs some of the love divinations:
If it happens that a girl spends a night for the first time in someone's house she will use that opportunity to divine in order to find out how her future husband will look like, she will count all the beams in the room with her right leg. The man she dreams of that night will become her husband.

When the new moon appears on the sky the girl goes outside, stands on the key and turns her face towards the moon uttering: 


O moon, by your youth, 
tell me the name of my future husband.


 After this ritual, it is believed, that the first male name which the girl hears will be the name of the man she will marry.

At night the girl looks towards Štapima (assemblage of three stars in the sky) and utters: 


Illuminate me Žarinko Nasiba, 
set me on fire Planinko Nasiba, 
so I can see my future husband. 
To see him tonight in my dream as in real life, 
or to see his face, or to hear his name. 
Until I see him he shouldn't walk nor work!


After that the girl goes to sleep. That night she will dream of her future husband or she will hear his name the next day.

When a woman has issues with her husband, because of infidelity or bad behaviour, then she acquires some spring water and performs religious washing (ablution), but in such a manner as to keep the dirty water. Then, he utters the prayer Ihlas three times and light a match each time and then throw it into the water. At the end she discretely pours some of the water in the husband's juice, coffee or tea. She repeats this until she spends the water. In the meantime, her husband will change and become better towards her.