INTRODUCTION

Love as inexhaustible source of inspiration of numerous artists, philosophers but also scientists was and remained a large mystery in all eras of human history precisely because no one managed to explain what love is and what in essence is this strong feeling which rules over our bodies. The closest explanation of what love is was summarized in a short answer - love is magic. How else to explain events that we are attracted to another person by a blinding force, a person which we observe in awe and tenderness, towards which we open without any caution and fear both physically and spiritually, to which we reveal our weaknesses. Love, especially in the beginning, promotes a romantic enthusiasm and excitement which cause chemical reactions in the brain. Love hormones which swell our bodies at that moment like a spell make us stronger, more optimistic, happier. The adrenaline rush causes our reduced need for sleep but raises our tendency to fantasize and daydream. It is more than obvious that in that period, while hormones of love dominate us some mysterious processes take place in our conscience which partially change our perception and way in which we experience a person towards which we feel love. Hence drastically changing our classic behaviour and unconsciously adjusting ourselves to our partner, aligning their needs with ours.

Our lives begin and end with love. It is interesting to point out that the need for love doesn't stop in any parts of our human lives. In the earliest part of our life when humans are helpless infants, he is completely dependent on the parents love and care but also in other parts of our lives, especially puberty and adolescence, that need for love is not decreased but intensified. Marriage and arrival of a child are events which were once considered as the culmination of love, but today we all know that they point to the fact that one is entering in a new period in life when love gets a deeper and more intensified form. As we age the need for attention and love becomes more pronounced because we find solace in it from fear of aging, diseases and death. When we reach our retirement and we have enough time for ourselves most people experience new forms of love through grandchildren which complement some missed feelings with their own children.

We could write numerous books on love, make the same amount of movies about it but we still couldn't say all there is to it. That's why love is universal and has no alternative. In all epochs and through different nations, cultures and religions love always had the same face. It transcended cultural and linguistic barriers and differences and always made us infringe on our own beliefs and taboos. Hence love deserved an honorary title of the first and largest world miracle.

Though today's fast tempo of life marks contemporary modern society, people are trying to stay emotionally connected which in the end produced an even greater need for similarly fast and simple solutions such as this book which offers a handful magical recipes and tips for everyday life. In order to practice magic we don't have to be members of secret societies or a coven of witches, undergo often unclear initiations or subject oneself to suspicious and questionable rules of living. It is sufficient to connect with nature in some instances and use the hidden forces in the direction of fulfilling our wishes. Never forget the fact that we too are an inseparable part of nature and with that we possess in ourselves that magical capacity which enables us to connect with everything around us and to influence events around us. In the end we remain our own, we don't change nor do we undergo some foreign systems of living, we simply use what has been given us by birth.

Never forget that love too needs help. And that this is the case is best shown by previous surveys of numerous world scientists towards which love relation from the initial stage of fervour and passion, after three and a half years slowly stops and turns into routine and habit which is usually followed by everyday issues and problems, relaxation of the partner and lack of romance. The perpetrator of this is often sought in the modern quick way of life, stress, lack of time, worry over money, children, work. However, none of the above has such a destructive effect on a relationship if the partners have a developed need for love and exchange of tenderness. For the things we love we can always find free time and will.

Coherent and harmonious relationship or marriage is kept with open communication, touch, showing tenderness, understanding and also magic. According to statements of some Bosnian witches in every relationship or marriage it is necessary to strengthen it with magic and deepen the connection of it, no matter how stable the emotional connection of the couple actually is. Practice of such rituals has a strong effect on the psyche of those using it since it helps with concentration and channelling of emotions towards the other person, release of suppressed energy which stimulates the need for renewed closeness, the emergence of romance and erotic desire.

Red magic

There are a lot of answers to the question of how did love or red magic came to be? One of the more interesting is known in Arabic occultism where this type of magic is connected with the mysterious Atlantis. Allegedly, 30 000 years ago, spiritual beings walked the earth which founded ancient Atlantis. That continent was made up of seven islands, and since earth was at the time still hot, geometrically it resembled a red rose and that's why this flower became its trademark. Each island had its own city, while the capital city of all islands was Atlantis. There was a huge temple inside of it, darkest of them all, called the black temple of Atlantis. But, it had nothing to do with black magic, instead red magic was exclusively practiced. In its time, Atlantis had an extremely advanced civilization and science and religion did not exist in the form that is familiar to us today, instead it was based on practice of rituals of red magic which was used by all its inhabitants. Because of that sin, according to the legend, Allah punished them by destroying Atlantis which sunk into the sea and since then it was never again seen. But, other versions of this legend explain how it came to the conflict between the Atlanteans themselves and how amidst such events it came to the cataclysm. However it may be, spiritual beings which lived on that mysterious continent did not disappear, rather they stayed living in their supernatural world which intertwines with the human world. It is assumed that they live in the Bermuda triangle. Throughout numerous legends of the ancient world but also religious legends of monotheism numerous cases were described when the spiritual beings from Atlantis (gods, angels, demons, faeries.) communicated with humans and transferred their knowledge onto them, among other things rituals of red magic.

Today when we read Arabic grimoire dedicated to love magic, we can truly conclude that a red rose is the original symbol of red magic. In most descriptions it is insisted on the usage of rose water for the preparation of spells with the remark that without it the magic won't have any effect. A similar congruence is found in Bosnian magic which is best illustrated by the description of this spell: In order for a woman to win over a man she must take a red rose and drink it with a glass of water in order to obtain rose water. She would add three drops on menstrual blood in the water and a drop of blood from the thumb of the right and left hand and blood from the toe of the right and left foot according to the system right hand, left leg and vice versa. When the love potion is ready it is served by a few drops in the coffee or juice. The most ideal time for the production of the potion is a night of a full moon or the first Friday after the appearance of the new moon.

I must immediately mention to all of you that by practicing rituals described in this book you will not become the most desirable person in the town or that you will have however you wish. Such a thing is an impossible mission and exceeds all spheres of normal thinking. One of the first rules of Bosnian love magic is that, with magic you can only influence a person that at least has a crush on you or a person that finds you physically attractive. Meaning, that person has to have a positive opinion about you. You cannot influence a person that doesn't know you or that finds you repulsive. That's why as the author of the book I'm recommending to you to use magic only when you are in a relationship or married. No matter how stable the relationship currently is and full of enthusiasm, just remember that even a fire stops burning if you don't add new wood. That's why love magic should be a stimulant that should strengthen the chains of love which bound you and should elongate bodily sensations and emotional enthusiasm.

Similarly you must know that love spells, no matter the strength and intensity, cannot destroy true love of a couple because when emotions are true and love is deep then it is stronger than any magic. Avoid getting caught up into others love relations because such acts cause a karmic punishment. Use rather love divination and look if the partners are harmonious, do they get along and what is their future like. If trough divination you see that their common future is not bright, arm yourselves with patience and wait for the person you desire to become available. In the meantime there is a possibility that you will cool off from such a desire and that you will connect with a new person or that you will give yourself time to get to know the other person better and build for starters a stable friendly relationship. In either case you will act wisely and correctly.

Love magic in Bosnia

Anthropologically analysed love magic surely belongs into the most widespread form of occult practice in the entire world since it is directly aimed at human lives and social circumstances. In Bosnia love magic was formed and maintained mostly as a female form of rebellion to bad social and patriarchal conditions, rigid social norms in which marriage was holly and divorce public shame and degradation of a female as a person. Such a mind-set was enforced by the generally accepted belief of a lower value of women compared to men. A woman not married was considered to be a second class citizen. Such unfavourable social pressure affected the emergence of various forms of witchcraft and divination with whose help, with frequent participation of their mothers, girls wanted to affect their marriage cycle in order to begin the part of life which is looked on favourably by their peers. Marriage, among other things, ensured women material safety and that was an additional reason for it to be realised as soon as possible.

In ethnological work from the mid-fifties of the previous century realised in the National Museum of BiH ethnologist Abdulah Škaljić mentions the confession of Ibrahim Klempić from Vlasenica:

-"As a young man I dated a girl, and since she only had her old mother in her family, I had a good relation with her mother, and I sometimes visited them. I noticed however that both the girl and mother used various forms of love magic in order to get me closer to the girl so that I couldn't live without her. That seemed wrong and inappropriate to me so after some time I decided to break up with her. But, when I would at instances secretly sneak under their window, I had the opportunity to hear and see how they performed their magical practice. Her mother would use a copper vessel full of water to extinguish a few embers taken from the fire and after that they would place that vessel under the chair on which I would sit during my visits. After the sun set the girl would go outside and gazing at the stars she would utter magical formulas in which she would mention my name and after that she would blow in the direction of my house."

A very good example of social reflections in the previous centuries are also Bosnian folk songs in which it is openly talked about love magic with the goal of winning over loved ones, like the songs about Mujo.

In the song, the girl is defending herself from the accusations that she created love spells with the following words:

I didn't, my dear, by my life,
I did dig out your footprint,
buried it under a yellow marigold.
Wither, my dear, while I don't come to you!

Particularly compelling seems the song, in which a maid makes spells for her landlady's husband to come to her:

A little dream had miss Alta
three nights without her master,
to her it seemed three years.
She calls for Kumra her slave:
let my little Bey come to me tonight!>.
Spell concocts her slave Kumra:
It gets dark to the Bey in Banja Luka,
in Banja Luka to Alta on his hand.

Love magic was often used for revenge or for gratification of passion and erotic desires. In the folk song the young czar, after the beautiful girl named Biser-Naza rejected and humiliated him, she used love talismans in order to make the girl come to him alone at night. The young czar wrote three talismans of which the first he threw into the fire, the second into the water and the third talisman into the wind. The magic is successful since at midnight under the influence of magical power Biser-Naza comes to his house door hysterically begging him to let her in. As the song mentions the czar opened the door for her only at dawn, made love to her and chased her away.    

Closed destiny

When a person doesn't have luck in love matters for a prolonged period, cannot find a permanent partner or get married then it is considered that she is of a "closed destiny" or "locked luck". Though ethnologists and anthropologists think that belief in a closed destiny came into Bosnia during the Ottoman occupation in the middle ages it is difficult to escape from the feeling that it always existed among the Bosnian people, especially because throughout the epochs the girls were raised to marry young and become mothers. That's why all inabilities to fulfil that life goal were considered to be a negative influence of supernatural forces on the human destiny. On the basis of this assumption solutions through various rituals were sought whose primary purpose was to stimulate a positive flow of energy in order to remove the blockade and enable luck in love.

Allegedly, human destiny can be opened in a few ways - because of sin, curse, with the help of a spell, effect of spellbound eyes or randomly i.e. carelessly. The Bosnian people are prone to believing the power of curse which according to a legend can be active for nine generations in a family. From the committed sin a curse is born, an especially dangerous curse can be that of the abandoned girlfriend, which can close destiny of her boyfriend.

When one girl hates another or wants to prevent her from marrying a man towards which she harbours special feelings she will secretly take a part of her clothes and wash it in a bowl of water in which she placed 40 needles. According to belief, when a girl puts on the washed 40 needlesher love luck will be blocked and her destiny will be closed. That's why girls still today avoid loaning clothes to each other.

An individual can close his destiny or luck by his own fault and that according to stravarke happens when someone has a habit to cross over their clothes with their legs. That's why the old rule that the clothes one takes off shouldn't be left on the ground but always moved to a bin for dirty laundry or stored in a closet.

Girls and boys often turn to local stravarke for help o they can eliminate their love blockade with the ritual that includes lead. When she would go to see a stravarka a girl would bring a bottle of water in which she mixed water from three different springs. That water would be poured in a vessel by a stravarka leaving only a bit of water at the bottom of the bottle which she uses to sprinkle the vessel while uttering verses of a formula. During that time on the fire, in a metal spoon, a small piece of lead would be melting which the stravraka would put inside the vessel with the water once she finished chanting the formula, and based on the formed shape of the hardened lead she would interpret its meaning.

Large Sanela's water from dear god,
god's destiny and black earth.
How many droplets,
so much strength and freedom to Sanela.
Drops of water call god,
they destroy every evil,
fire and earth save the slaves
and the live water quenches everything.
Sanela is calling the mountains and valleys
which have blocked her name and body,
the fire said to the water that she has put her out,
that the water saved Sanela.
The earth said to the slave that she opened the door,
all disease and evil she removed from Sanela.
God's power banished evil from her,
saved gods slave on earth.
The valleys and hills were broken,
they deflected all evil from Sanela,
they are not created by god's will
and that's why they didn't stay on Sanela,
the hands of all enemies nor the evil eyes of this world.
The hands of the enemies she chased away
and the evil eyes of the world were extinguished.
Sanela stayed light like a bird's feather and clear as silver.
Sanela accepts this formula onto her body the water from her body removes the disease,
opens paths for Sanela,
chases away all evil from her body.
Water and fire are fighting to chase away all evil.
Water and fire stayed with Sanela and nervousness and hatred disappeared.
Every god's slave called for an angel,
the angel chased away the evil from the slave,
Sanela is calling for her star,
the star walks above her,
asking for Sanela's name,
to chase away all fear,
hatred and nervousness from her body.
The star is calling the water,
the water flowed and three times she said that she saved Sanela,
the water is calling fire and the fire answered
- "You water have flown and three times told to god that you saved Sanela
and that you have extinguished the fire.
Sanela stayed light as a feather and clear as the silver!"
Sanela washes her body,
water from the body the fear and nervousness takes,
water and fire stayed with Sanela and nervousness and hatred left.
The fire she extinguished and saved her bones and nerves.
By bathing she opened the closed paths and rests her body.
She called an angel,
the angel rested Sanela and restored her strength,
extinguished evil winds,
saved her blood and body,
Sanela rested her blood and body and received an angel.
The angel and the water saved her and locked the hands of the enemy.
Whoever tried to put a spell on her,
the angel would destroy her.
The water flowed from the spring and three times she told god that she gave Sanela rest,
every evil, pain, nervousness, hatred, fear, weariness
and hands of the enemy that she removed,
opened all paths for her and removed distress from her.
Full moon - new moon passes,
water brings her lead,
the elad develops her body shields her body from evil.
Sanela saved her nerves, returned sleep to herself.
Sanela gets sleep lead - new moon,
lead - full moon brings,
with Sanela lead,
water and fire stayed and all evil went away!

Though this strange problem is often solved with the ritual of melting lead there are other ways to free an unlucky soul from its burden. In village areas that problem was solved with the help of a chicken's egg, namely, according to stravarka Fatima from Todorovo, one would watch which chicken would lay an egg on Friday. That egg would be taken by a person of a "closed destiny" and would bring it to a spring which was located east and she would throw it into the streem uttering "I give you an egg and you give me new luck in love!". Then she would return home without looking back.

In urban areas help is often sought from a dervish or imam, primarily because for a person living in a city it is much simpler and more practical to perform a ritual with a talisman than to follow directions of a village stravarka, whose advice and help require additional engagement and wastes time. A person with a "closed destiny" schedules a date with the imam which is determined according to the lunar cycle i.e. the visit is made just before a moon phase, the appearance of a new moon. Usually then the imam would ask for the person to bring a new lock and key on which he will inscribe a short prayer, magical signs or utter a certain prayer. After that, the person is directed to go to a bridge with the lock and key and throw the unlocked lock with the key over his right shoulder into the water. There are other variants of this ritual, so a person of a "locked destiny" stands next to a river and watching down the stream unlocks the lock, usually above his navel, and throws it into the water uttering: "As this lock was opened, so too my destiny should be opened from God amin and from me veledalin". Then he heads home without looking back.

Dear Allah...

How much present the fear of a locked destiny or locked luck among the Bosnian girls throughout the decades is perhaps best shown by the words in short magical formulas which are pronounced in love spells. The most famous formula in Bosnian magic is "bah bahti" which when translated means "luck shining" or "luck coming". Bah i.e. baht is a Persian word which signifies luck or destiny. Besides this meaning this word has found use in spells, especially in those with bean beads, because of the similarity between the Persian word bah and Bosnian grah (bean), which fulfils the highest rule of any magical formula - rhyme. The girl places nine beads of white beans on the ashes of a hearth, close to the fire, and repeats the formula: "bah bahti, grah grahti..."

People always tried to influence destiny with magic so we shouldn't be surprised by the large number of love spells with which one wants to ensure and quicken the marriage process. In order to stimulate her destiny and see a man in her sleep which will be her husband, the girl would take three walnuts and would daub them in tar. At night she would go out with the walnuts and look at the stars of Vlaščići (Big Dipper) and she would repeat this love formula over each walnut.

I'm seeking infatuated to madness N.N. son of parents NN
I took his peace, put a spell on him.
I took his mind, put a spell on him.
I took his patience, put a spell on him.
I took his heart, put a spell on him.
If he lies in bed, let him not lie.
If he sleeps, let him not sleep.
If he is eating, let him not eat.
If he is drinking, let him not drin.
Let him not be calm until he sees me.
Let beads sheets be a snake to him.
Let the pillow be a cobra to him.
I made him my slave.
I imprisoned him for myself!

Then the girl enters her house and throws away the walnuts uttering:

Dear Allah, as these walnuts are burning on the fire, so too should the heart of NN burn for me!

Immediately after that the girl lays in bed, and if she performed the ritual with no mistakes, in her dream the man whose name she mentioned in the formula shall appear.