If you love someone
who has left you,
try this spell.
You’ll need
an entire bottle
of wine.
Drink this
out of a mug,
an extra large one,
which reads:
I <3 MY DOG.
All good love spells
require libations
to the goddess
that is you.
Do this on the night
of the crescent moon.
The moon, too, is
only a slim piece of herself.
She mourns your loss
with you.
But she, like you,
will either become whole
or reborn again
soon.
There will be
other people.
The moon, like you,
is hungry.
There is another name
for this spell.
It is “To Cure A Bad Habit.”
Pull nine hairs
from your own head.
Make sure this hurts,
but only a little.
Wrap the hairs
around a nail.
Hammer the nail
into a wall.
Your pain will
go away when
the nail rusts
and your hairs
fall away.
The hole will remain,
but, like a freckle,
you will forget
that it is there.
Spell inspired by “To Cure A Bad Habit” from The Good Spell Book: Love Charms, Magical Cures, and Other Practical Sorcery by Gillian Kemp
Jessica Drake-Thomas is a poet, tarot reader, freelance writer, and former college professor. She is the author of the chapbook, Possession, from dancing girl press, and dog mom to Mia. Twitter: @IAMBADWITCH