To Draw Money

For Protection from Evil

Photographed with multicolored filters on a black backdrop, these floral arrangements by Elizabeth Parks Kibbey wouldn’t look out of place as a centerpiece in your home. Take a closer look and you may notice that each of these arrangements are actually comprised of ingredients to botanical spells and potions used in practices of witchcraft. Book of Shadows is Amelia Bauer’s most recent series, exploring feminine rituals that date back to the Salem Witch trials.

The spells, culled from a variety of sources on witchcraft, are brought to life in their most floral state. To see spirits, combine pepper, saffron and vervain. Infuse cedar, lavender and nutmeg to gain confidence in social situations. To be used in teas, bathed in, or kept in pouches, these concoctions were widely used both symbolically and medicinally in 17th century witchcraft, while some of these ingredients are found in herbal remedies of present day.

We don’t associate Bauer’s images with visions of witches around a cauldron. Instead, the floral arrangements, in their brightly colored and florescent hues, turn these rituals of magic and witchcraft into something of the domestic, to present a less threatening vision of femininity.

For Safety in Travel

To Break a Spell You’ve Cast

For Confidence in Social Situations

For a Man to Attract a Woman He Desires

For a Woman to Attract a Man She Desires

Invisibility

To See Spirits

To Increase Fertility

All images © Amelia Bauer 2013