Secular Magic for Valentine's Day
Many witches choose to work with pagan holidays or seasonal markers in their practice, but you can also work powerful magic with secular holidays. And one major secular holiday is right around the corner: Valentine’s Day.
Valentine's Day is all about love. It's true that this holiday is most often associated with romance, but it can also be a day to celebrate everyone we love, whether they are family, friends, lovers, or queerplatonic partners. For example, when I was a kid, my mom would give me and my siblings each a box of chocolate on Valentine's Day as a way of reminding us that she loved us.
If you are in a romantic or sexual relationship, you can use Valentine's Day to work magic to strengthen, deepen, or spice up your relationship. (With the consent of everyone involved, please!) If you are seeking a new romantic or sexual partner, you can use this holiday to work magic to attract the right person to you.
If you aren't in a romantic or sexual relationship and don't want to be, Valentine's Day can be a time to reaffirm that we don't need romance or sex to be happy. Celebrate the loving platonic relationships in your life, or focus on celebrating your independence by treating yourself and being your own Valentine.
This is a great time for magic to attract more love into our lives, no matter what kind. Spells to strengthen self-love or attract new friends are just as aligned with the energy of Valentine's Day as spells to attract a new lover.
Valentine's Day Correspondences
Colors: red, pink
Symbols: hearts, cupid
Flowers: Roses, especially pink and red
Foods: chocolate, red wine, heart-shaped foods
You can also include any love herbs you feel might be appropriate.
Valentine's Day Ritual Suggestions
Self-love bath ritual: Mix up your own bath salt by combining epsom salt with your favorite self-love herbs or oils. (I like lavender essential oil.) Add the bath salt to a hot bath along with one bottle of rosewater. As you soak, focus on feeling love, compassion, and friendliness towards yourself.
Candle spell to attract new love: On a piece of paper (or a Valentine card!), write a description of the love you want to attract into your life, whether that's a new romantic partner, new friends, or just loving energy in general. Spray the paper with your favorite perfume or cologne and place it under a pink or red candle. As you light the candle, focus on bringing this new love to you.
Kitchen witchery with chocolate: Bake some chocolate goodies to bring in loving, healing energy. Chocolate is especially well-suited to healing after a heartbreak.
Make a sugar jar spell: If there's an area of your life where you'd like to feel more love and sweetness, use this spell to sweeten it up. Write a description of the situation you'd like to sweeten and place it in the bottom of a mason jar. Fill the jar with sugar. (To bring in Valentine's Energy, you could use rose-infused sugar or mix dried rose petals in with the sugar.) Seal the jar and place it somewhere you'll see it often, like on your altar or next to your bed.
Write yourself a love letter: In case you can't tell, I really like using Valentine's Day to work on self-love. Set some time aside to light some candles, have a sweet treat, and write yourself a long letter about all the things you love about yourself.
