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