A Writer's Guide to Potion and Spell Ingredients Used in Magic

I have many interests and an inability to make up my mind about which one to focus on. That's how I came up with my name: ControlledChaos1.

A List of Potion and Spell Ingredients for Writers Using Magic in Their Story

The list of spell and potion ingredients found below is a "loose" collection inspired by books, games and mother nature itself. It's meant to be used by writers whose stories involve magic, witchcraft, voodoo, or alchemy. It is not meant to be 100% factual, though I have spent a good amount of time researching it, and many of the spell ingredients used by witches and people involved in such activities can be found below.

I made the list because I wanted my stories to stand out from others by not using terms such as "oil of boil" and "dead man's toes." I hope that other writers may find this list as useful as I did when researching it for my stories. Thank you for giving it a chance.

Ingredients For Magic Spells and Potions

Potion Making Can Yield All Kinds of Results

To me, it seems that the people who created the magic books above purposely left out certain things so young wizards and witches would learn from their mistakes. I'm sure that any field involving mixing ingredients can be a bit hit or miss and experience only comes by experimenting. With that being said, it's probably best to experiment with spells with less severe consequences rather than with potions called "Draught of Living Death". Can you imagine the witch or wizard who originally came up with this spell; can you imagine why they came up with it?

Items For Casting Magical Spells

Alchemy Ingredients

Magic Spells Can Be Intense

This scene does a good job at relaying the intensity you can go through when casting certain magics. For people who have never experienced making contact with otherworldly powers, it can be quite a shock at how your emotions can breakdown so quickly (fear being the major one in most cases). The Craft still holds up fairly well even today and should be watched by everyone who has an interest in magic or horror movies in general.

Magical Ingredients To Put Down In Your Spell Book

Another Batch of Ingredients Used by Wizards, Witches, and Practitioners of Voodoo

Magic Spells Can Often Go Very Wrong (Especially Love Spells)

Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 2, Episode 16 (Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered) is but one of the many great episodes where we see magical incantations gone wrong. Xander casts a love spell on Cordelia, only to find that every woman in Sunnydale has a thing for him. Hilarious!

I've often wondered how far love spells like these can reach. I mean, did women hundreds miles away suddenly feel the need to make their way towards Sunnydale? It's also probably a good thing that the spell only worked on humans or human-like creatures (like vampires); can you imagine if female animals also influenced by such a spell?

Even More Supplies to Make Those Brews and Concoctions

Owl Pellets

© 2019 Don

Do you know any cool ingredients that could be used in spells, witchcraft, or wizardry?

Don (author) from Tennessee on February 02, 2020:

I actually researched witchcraft a few years ago, and I can tell you that a lot of the more useful information about the craft cannot be found online. You're going to have to turn to books and actual practitioners.

Ginny on February 01, 2020:

I am interested in becoming a witch, but before I start casting spells I want something to go off of, so that I do it safely. But I can't seem to find anything that tells me what different ingredients represent.

Sapphirezzz on December 22, 2019:

You could use a fox's tail (covered with mint liquid spray), a pinch of sapphire(zzz, hence my name), a nature fairy's phlegm (wait that's kinda weird but you get it from when she/he sneezes. Don't worry, it doesn't carry diseases to humans), a bit of rust from a very young witch's spoon for mixing brew, and a teaspoon of water from a dragon's fountain for a prosperity spell.

Priya Barua on June 30, 2019:

This is an interesting article that I stumbled upon. Thanks for writing about it.