Love magic

Did You Know?

• Cuneiform tablets preserving rituals of erotic magic from ca. 2200 BCE have been uncovered at Tell Inghara and Isin in present-day Iraq.
• An Aramaic love incantation on pottery sherds, dated to the 5th–6th century CE, was discovered in the synagogue complex at Horvat Rimmon in the northern Negev, Israel.
• In the Renaissance, love magic was expensive and believed to cause severe damage to the caster, so it was used primarily on unions of special importance, often to break economic or social class barriers.

Hellenistic love magic

In the syncretic magical tradition of Hellenistic Greece, spells of erotic attraction and compulsion appear in texts such as the Greek Magical Papyri and on amulets and artifacts from the 2nd century BC to the late 3rd century AD, incorporating Egyptian and Hebraic elements. These practices later influenced private rituals in Gaul, Roman Britain, and among Germanic peoples. Christopher A. Faraone distinguishes between eros magic, practiced mainly by men and some prostitutes to instill lust, and philia magic, used by women to maintain affection and fidelity in marriage, linking these to ancient Greek gender roles. However, Irene Salvo has questioned this model, noting exceptions such as men using philia spells and women using eros spells outside of prostitution. Some scholars, like Catherine Rider, adopt Faraone's framework with modifications, while others find the exceptions more revealing of how love magic actually functioned.

Women in love magic

Historian Guido Ruggiero observes that love magic drew heavily on attributes perceived as feminine, such as fertility, birth, and menstruation, a view reflected in texts like the Malleus Maleficarum and in trials of the Holy Office, where most accused were women. This reinforced the stereotype that men did not perform magic. Love magic was often linked to prostitutes and courtesans, but Catherine Rider argues this association developed around the time of the early modern witch trials, influenced by the fact that women of ill-repute were most often tried. In the early Middle Ages, married women were solely portrayed as practicing love magic on their husbands. Works by Regino of Prüm, Burchard of Worms, and Hincmar typically gender practitioners as female, though pastoral manuals and exempla from the same period often leave practitioners ungendered or single out men. The Malleus Maleficarum, written by Heinrich Kramer in 1487, states that 'All witchcraft comes from carnal lust, which in women is insatiable,' but scholars note this may reflect one man's regional opinion rather than a widespread European view.

In literature and art

The motif of a love spell used to create or break a relationship appears in older literature and art, often causing tragic complications for protagonists. One early Western example is the myth of Heracles' death, caused by his wife Deianeira using a poisoned shirt she believed would reignite his love. Richard Wagner's 1865 opera Tristan and Isolde, based on Gottfried von Strassburg's epic, famously treats the subject, as do Donizetti's 1832 opera The Elixir of Love and Manuel de Falla's 1915 ballet El amor brujo. In modern fantasy fiction, such as the Harry Potter series, love magic is portrayed as desperate and immoral; Merope Gaunt forces Tom Riddle Sr. to love her through love magic, resulting in the birth of the main villain, Tom Riddle, who cannot understand love due to his loveless conception. Love potions in the fandom are regarded as the magical equivalent of date rape drugs.

Love spells in Christianity

Despite church teachings condemning magic, Christians in late antiquity used love spells, particularly in Egypt and Roman culture. Christian magic developed partly to counteract pagan magic, but pagan influences bled into Christian spells, including the use of papyri and amulets. Practitioners of Christian magic denounced pagan magic as demonic, while citing church teachings, scriptures, and Christian deities, and sometimes using blessed oil. Common Christian love spells were erotic or sexual, with two main purposes: to attract an unattainable woman and control her sexual desire, or to secure a socially advantageous marriage. The belief that women were the sole practitioners of erotic spells stems from male authors writing women as magic users to distance men from the controversial practice. Erotic and love spells also existed in early Christian same-sex communities, used to control attraction. Same-sex spells commissioned by women are difficult to analyze due to few surviving records by women, but evidence suggests these women were willing to engage in sexual relations with other women; when discovered, they faced heavy persecution.