BOSNIAN LOVE CHARMS

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.

Secrets of love magic

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".

According to folk belief there are three stars/demons that appear after sunset, if the sky is clear without clouds. Demon stars move around the sky and they are always on the other side of the world where there is a woman which wants to enchant a man with magical formulas and oaths. The main demon among them is called Palinka and the other two which follow her are Budinka and Nesanka. According to folk belief the three of them are sisters and each of them individually have different magical powers: Palinka who is also called in some formulas Kostolomka, Sjanka or Planika, she brings a lot of love and obsession into the heart of humans. Budinka, Budmirka or Budimka, brings unrest and hysteria and Nesanka, also called Prisanka or Podminta, causes insomnia. The folk imagines them as beautiful girls with long golden hair and bright eyes.

Three demons are classic characters in all rituals of Bosnian magic. Unlike Palinka, Budinka and Nesanka which are female sky demons, there are three male demons which respond to a call by banging one's hand on the wall on the eve of Tuesday and by uttering a specific formula. They are called Indija or Inda, Džindija or Džinda and Šumabir. In love rituals Indija and Džindija are sent on a trip in their lands and Šumabir is directed towards the one that needs to be spellbound and compelled to love. All three of them are imagined as creatures with tails which are blind in one eye and they limp. But none of these physical defects create difficulties for their courtesy and efficiency.
These three names are also mentioned in specific formulas used to negate negative energy, especially spellbound eyes and children weeping. While as in all other cases the first two demons are sent to their native lands Šumabir is sent to bring the child's weeping and spellbound eyes into a river vortex.

According to the occult classification Indija, Džindija and Šumabir are earthen demons which respond to banging against the wall of a house but in the end of the ritual the person calling forth the demons places both hands on the ground praying to earth, or antic goddess mother, to help and direct the demons in the desired direction. In other formulas which are of an esoteric nature the names of the demons are not mentioned, the term "three Jinn and three devils" is used. Based on that, we notice how the exorcists are not quite sure if they belong to a stronger or weaker line of demons.

When a sihirbaza (bosnian witch) wants to create love magic that is to bring together two persons, she first needs to find out if this is possible by divination. After she has taken a large branch of hawthorn (Crataegus Oxyacantha) she then splits it into three parts of equal length. Then she waits for the fire in the fire place to tone down and then she places one branch upright into the ember which she names as the person she wishes to put her spell upon. The next branch she places right next to the first one, on its left side, in the hot ember 5 inches apart and names it as the person for whom she is creating the spell, and the third branch she places on the right side of the first one with the same distance apart but she doesn't name it. Then she watches to see what will happen. If the branch, the one she named as the person for whom she is creating the magic, falls as it is burning in the middle (named as the person she wishes to put her spell upon) then she is certain that her magic will succeed. However, if it happens that the un-named branch falls in the middle then it is clear that the magic will have no effect.

Even though the male's extra marital affairs were tolerated to a degree because of the traditional upbringing, Bosnian females didn't shy away from using magic to ward off their husbands from their lovers. Most wives were seeking help from local witches (Sihirbaza), which would heat a sowing needle in a secret ritual and then they would bend it in a way that the tip of the needle would go into the needle's eye while pronouncing magical words. The bent needle was then carried home by the wife, and a favorable moment for its use was anticipated. When an unfaithful husband would leave to meet his lover, the wife would throw the needle after him which would then activate the spell. According to the statements of some women, who wish to stay anonymous, the magic worked and the husband would return home quickly often ill tempered.

The spell with the needle aims at making the man impotent and to weaken his sexual power when he reaches his lover. To annul this negative effect the husband would often seek the help at a local witch or Imam. Some witches request the following from the impotent man: some water from three various springs, four leafed clover, nine different flowers from a meadow and a stickyweed (Galium aparine). All of the above mentioned ingredients are thrown into the water and the following words are uttered :

Ćuhum ćuti lehum leti
eyu beyu kulhuveyu
ehad allah kulhuvallah.

and the verse El-Fatiha is uttered three times. After that the impotent male washes his face with that water and drinks some of it. And then on a starry night he washes first his left hand and right foot and then the right hand and left foot. It is interesting to note that the man creates a five-pointed star: head, left arm, right leg, right arm and left leg. The five-pointed star in Bosnian health rituals plays a major role since it is considered to be a symbol of health and protection therefore we find it in almost all descriptions of ritual washings of the sick

In their practice the Bosnian witches used various ways to cast love spells on men, and the most famous one is the one with white beans. The ritual was performed as follows:

At night, when no one is around, the witch would take an axe and place it behind the entrance door along with nine white beans on which she urinated on. Then the witch goes to the fire place inside the house and places the beans in the ash near the fire. She would then utter:

the beans crackle,
bah bahti,
the axe behind the door and X in front of it.
Die, burst until you come to me,
with Gods power and my merit,
veledalin amin.

She would then blow three times in the direction of the man and then she would swallow her spit. The witch stirs the beans in a circle with a metal spoon, takes the axe and brings it and places it next to her feet, and then she stirs the beans with the spoon one more time and brings the axe back behind the door. While doing this she utters:

I am placing the axe behind the door;
I am not placing the axe but the brain and wits of X behind the door.
Die, burst until you come to me,
with God's power and my merit.
Veledalin amin"

After that she repeats the following words three times:

Basmice, basmice sisters as ordained by God,
bring me X there is the dark and the cloud,
I am his shining sun and moon.
Dark all around him and I am his only light,
elzalif amin.

At the end she blows down her bosom three times, turns around and goes to bed.

It is believed that after this ritual the man who was the target of the ritual becomes plagued by an unexplainable longing and wish to see the woman as soon as he can. Because of the love magic the man cannot sleep nor concentrate on anything else. If he resists the urge to visit the witch strange blisters appear on his body and he suffers a high temperature for days. When he visits the woman, and as soon as he lays his eyes on her, all of the symptoms disappear immediately.

In a long tradition of magic practice in Bosnia & Herzegovina, particularly the practice of love magic, we encounter various aspects of beliefs in the power of spirits, planets, herbs, as well as blood, human secretion, and so on. Alongside it all, an influence of Illyrians, european and oriental beliefs based on animalism is evident, what tells us about the ancient connection between human beings, nature and its forces.

Only some persons used to practice magic throughout the centuries; those who were able of establishing contacts with the invisible entities. Sometimes, such communication was initiated by spiritual forces themselves and more often by human beings performing magic rituals. In Bosnia & Herzegovina, the most known ritual of establishing contact and alliance with the invisible forces is “sacrilege with the Quran”, in which man or woman denies their faith in God and accept devil as their master or partner.

Such power was often desired by women aiming to be successful in love magic practice. In order to acquire magical power and make an alliance with the world of demons (jinni), a girl involved in a dark ritual of initiation must get completely undressed/nude and step with both feet on Quran and say: “Iblis, I surrender to you my soul and I ask the following…” By such an act of sacrilege she gets in union with demons.

The benefits of such a pact for a woman are numerous; a girl (witch) has the power of invisibility, or power to revenge whoever she wants to, or to cast love spells. Various magic rituals aiming to get jinni across prove that. One of them is performed by a girl during the night; right before she gets in bed, she knocks the walls saying: “I knocked the wall and 3 jinn’s popped out…”

Traditionally, every witch performs her magic right at the sunset time, although the whole night is adequate for all magic practices, particularly a night before some important holiday when various fortune telling practices are performed too. In that way, a night before Bayram, girls get outside, take a look to the brightest star at the sky and, being very focused, repeat for nine times: “Tell me star, who loves me... ” Immediately after this they go directly to bed and if they happen to dream about men they love that night; it is a proof that their love is mutual.

The special attention in love magic Bosnian witches pay to a herb called milogled (asarum europaeum) for which they believe it possesses a power to stimulate erotic desires in a monotonic marriage and to fire up love in the heart of the wanted person. Milogled is picked up in the forest in ritual way at the sunset time, in a way that an herb is first encircled by a golden necklace and then pulled up from the soil, along with the root. Since this herb mainly has only two leaves, one is coated by honey and second with butter with magic words being chanted. After that one leaf is placed at one side of the entrance door of the house and second on the other side, in order to get loved person passing between them. The moment beloved person passes through the door; the leaves are to be immediately glued to each other and carried along for some period of time. If this magic is performed for the husband then the mentioned leaves are to be put in his pillow.

A great power to seduce the desired person, according to believes in Bosnia, are with the amulets made by a mullah (Islamic priest). Amulets made for this purpose are normally kept as talismans or burned in fire, beloved person is looked at through them or they are to be buried underneath the beloved person’s threshold. Sometimes, amulet is burned down and ash is to be poured in a drink or meal of a desired person. It is believed that this is very powerful magic. However, its effects often last for 40 days only after what the magic is to be repeated.

In love magic, human secretions (sperm, vaginal secretion) are often used. After sexual intercourse woman picks the sperm of her lower by a kerchief after what she wipes her vagina with it. Then she washes a kerchief in a glass of water and she puts that water in her lover’s coffee or soup with magical words being chanted.

MAIDEN AND MARITAL MAGIC

Maiden magic unlike marital magic is full of various divinations, usage of basmi, magical poetry and movement rituals which follow oral magic. Girls as well as boys frequently address the local Imam (Hodža) who then crafts love inscriptions on their behalf, they hold various citations from the Qur'an, numbers and letters with an addition of a drawing of a triangle or a circle. The young people carry them with themselves or they place it under the threshold of the person they love. The first Friday after the new moon is reserved for love magic and inscriptions.

Basme are magical formulas or texts of a shorter or longer content which teem with rhyme and reference of a supernatural being such as a fairy in order to invoke fervour and passion in the desired person. For a basma (oral charms) to work they need to be invoked in a state of bodily cleanliness, most often at night and always after repeating verse Ihlas three or five times, since according to belief the verse grants magical power.

Among the people it is believed that the power of a basma is best expressed if it is invoked before Eid al-Fitr, Laylatul Qadr or some other festival and among sunsets, in intervals between 17 and 21 hours.

MARITAL MAGIC

Unlike the previously described magic, this form of magical practice is much more aggressive and richer in content and props, the usual props include pubic hair, menstrual blood, sperm, urine and spit. It is believed that pubic hair possesses magical powers; if they are trimmed frequently and burned in fire they create a prophylactic effect and shield that person from black magic. Also, if a woman burns her pubic hair she stimulates passionate love in her husband with such an act.

When a husband was aggressive and when he would abuse his wife, she would take a fist full of dust from a grave and while her husband was sleeping she would throw the dust on him. Besides this, women used to mix their menstrual blood with coffee or they would give their husbands a sugar cube that was previously wiped through her vagina.

In the past the young men in Bosnia carried this talisman close to their hearts wishing that a certain young lady falls in love with them. The power of the talisman was to stimulate feelings and to awaken love.

A love talisman with a modest content was written on a piece of paper which was then folded to make it smaller in order to fit under the tongue while the young man or the young woman were talking to the person of their desire.

In order for a man to love a woman, she would steal a piece of his clothing, usually a handkerchief or a sock, and then she would write the following numbers and letters onto them. After that she would place the clothes under a large and heavy stone.

The most common form of usage of love talismans was placing two talismans on two sides of the road or doorstep in order that the person that one fancies passes between them. This was usually done during the first Friday after a new moon.



"When a young man falls in love with a girl who doesn't have the same feeling for him, then he seeks help with the local Imam with a request for love talismans. By the Imam's advice the lad places the talisman on two sides of the doorstep and waits for the girl to pass between them. When that happens the young man quickly picks up the talismans just in order that no one else passes by or that the girl returns, the talisman on the right side is submerged in water. As soon as the ink on the talisman starts to melt the young man washes his face with that water and the remaining water is used to knead a cake with a hole in the middle through which he needs to look at the girl. After that, it is believed, that she will fall in love with him and that they will marry.

On the eve of Eid (Bajram) the girl repeats three times verse Ihlas and then looks at the shiniest star in the sky and repeats the following formula nine times without even blinking:

Tell me O star who loves me,
tell me star if its N. (name of her love) which I love?

Then she goes to bed to sleep. If she dreams of the man which she mentioned that night, that means that the answer is positive.

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 clothes her 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.

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.