We are now heading into my favorite time of year.  It is no secret that I absolutely love the fall season and await it impatiently all throughout the balmy days of summer.  To me it is the most magical of seasons when the Earth gives us her gifts in the form of a bountiful harvest and the trees and their leaves put on a spectacular color show before resting during the long winter months.  Today I would like to talk about a ritual that I perform this time of year, which is the brewing and blessing of a love potion that by its very nature can only be made once a year on the 9^th of September at 9am or 9pm.  The resulting blessed liquid is meant to be sprinkled around a room while entertaining a lover to drive him or her mad with passion.  It can also be used to anoint candles burnt for purposes of love and applied discretely to gifts given to intended partners to draw them to you.  It is definitely a potent love potion and one of the most sought after items that I prepare for matters of the heart.

The recipe for this particular potion exploded onto Wiccan, Pagan and other spiritually included newsgroups and message boards in the 90’s when the internet was in its infancy and I suspect before that it existed in oral and possibly printed form prior to that.  It was usually called “Love Potion Number 9” no doubt taking its name from the popular 1959 song by The Clovers which describes the dazzling effects of a potion given by a mysterious magical woman to a young man.  I’m sure that some clever witch created this potion sometime in the 1960’s or afterwards based on the title of this popular song, however the ingredients and procedure for blessing the potion are entirely based in solid magical folk knowledge found in various spiritual traditions.  Even the number 9 has highly mystical and magical properties as we will discuss further below.  While most likely developed by a modern Pagan or eclectic witch, this potion has become popular with practioners of Hoodoo and other spiritual paths who will often brew a yearly batch.  Each individual spiritual practitioner will often add different ingredients or employ his or her own particular methods for blessing the potion appropriate to his or her spiritual tradition, but across the board one rule remains steadfast: this potion can only be made once each year on the 9^th of September and it must be magically charged either at 9 am or 9 pm on that day.

While I’m sure that this potion was named after and inspired by the hit song Love Potion No. 9, it is worth mentioning that the number 9 from a numerological standpoint is quite powerful.  It is a number of tolerance, peace, power and, above all else, love.  This is true not only in western numerology, but also in Asian cultures.  In fact, in China the 9^th of September is one of the most popular days for scheduling weddings since the number 9 is associated with good luck in matters of love and having one’s wedding on this day will give the marriage an auspicious start.  The potion itself makes heavy use of the number 9, not only with the date and time of its brewing but also many of the ingredients themselves are added in 9’s: the petals of 9 pink roses, 9 cinnamon sticks, 9 cloves etc. and 9 pink or red candles are used in the blessing of the potion after the brewing.  A base of red wine or cranberry juice is common as well since red is a color of passion and love.  The exact ingredients I use for my recipe are a personal secret as is the case for most witches and spiritual workers, but I will say that I brew the potion earlier in the day on the 9^th of September and begin the blessing promptly at 9 pm.  You can also bless or magically charge the potion at 9 am, but I’ve never been much of a morning person!

I hope you have enjoyed learning about the September love potion and if you wish to acquire some for personal use, don’t hesitate to contact me.  I thank you for taking the time to visit my blog and as always I wish you peace, happiness and abundant blessings.