Money Magic

For our popular media presentation activity, we chose to have the class create love potions. In preparation for this activity, I browsed through WitchTok for love potions and later came across a woman on Instagram discussing how she did a money spell. In this video, she says that she put cinnamon on top of a dime, then went outside of her front door, stated an intention (which for her was ‘I need money), and blew the cinnamon back into her house. The next day, she booked a new job. I had never heard of money spells before and was instantly intrigued. The next day, I spent some time delving into WitchTok and money magic. 

To begin, there is a wide variety of money magic spells, and mainly, their purpose is to bring wealth to the witch in the form of physical money, new job opportunities, or not having to pay for things/discounts. I was not able to find a spell that had the same list of items and steps for completion. It seems that money magic is based on the witch’s preferences for mediums, steps, and ingredients. However, I did notice some concurrencies across the various types of spells. Cinnamon is used in pretty much every single spell and is said by this user to draw in abundance and luck. Secondly, green candles and gemstones are often used in money magic, as green represents growth, abundance, and wealth in all areas of life, not just financially. Many witches will carve affirmations or money-related symbols into their green candles during rituals. Writing down your affirmations/intentions on bay leaves is a big part of money magic and is used in nearly every spell. Bay leaves, according to this article, have many medicinal properties, but in relation to money magic are said to keep negative energy away and attract success and healing. Lastly, using actual money–coins, bills, credit cards–is also fairly popular. Some witches will use all types of physical money in order to attract more wealth. 

The three main types of money spells/rituals that I saw on WitchTok were users creating money jars, money bowls, and money oils. Again, there were no two rituals that were the same when I was researching. In these rituals, these items were the most popularly used: cinnamon, green aventurine, citrine, tiger’s eye, pyrite, physical money, bay leaves (with written intentions or symbols), cloves, basil, salt, rosemary, thyme, rice, mint, allspice, and oranges. All of these ingredients have some connection to prosperity, wealth, protection, abundance, luck, etc. Money jars are first cleansed with incense, filled with various ingredients, and then sealed with green wax to solidify the spell. Most money bowl spells start with rice and salt for protection and prosperity, are layered with items, and tend to stay in one place until they are remade on either the first of the month or the new moon. Some witches describe ‘feeding’ their money bowls with oils or any of the aforementioned ingredients. Money oils are similarly created with the same ingredients and are to be worn every day, mainly on the inside of the wrist. Interestingly enough, they do not require a specific oil. 

While money magic may not have an inherent tie to our discussions in class, it does develop some of the themes that are present in witchcraft. On one hand, money magic may reinforce the idea that witches are self-indulgent, conniving individuals who are simply looking to better themselves. However, I believe that money magic positively reinforces the independent nature of witches and redefines them as prosperous, intelligent individuals.