What Kind of Spells Use Nails? 

If you’ve seen any movies or read any books about witches, you may be wondering what kind of spells use nails.  

Every once in while you’ll see rusty nails in a bottle or a nail through a voodoo doll.  

Nails are just another example of the “ways” in witchcraft.  

Nails in spells are not necessary in and of themselves; rather, they are a symbolic way to cement your spell or manifestation.  

Nails in Spells: Witchcraft and Manifestation 

In witchcraft, we say that to make a spell complete, you need three elements – words, ways, and will.  

Words 

This one is obvious, right? In order to cast a spell, you want to speak the words of your desire into existence.  

Write it down on paper, speak it out loud, and keep it in your head.  

You can also read my full piece on how to write a spell.  

Ways 

The ways of a spell are the ingredients you use.  They typically draw on symbolic elements that represent the purpose of the spell.  

For example, you could use a feather to get a message across, salt to purify, or water to cleanse.  

Crystals are another example of ways in a spell.  

Will 

Then, the most important ingredient for any spell is the will to see it done.  

You must not only desire it, but you must also know deep down inside of you that you are worthy of seeing this spell come to fruition.  

Remember, you imbue any spell you cast with your own energy.  

You are the spell.  

Of course, Abraham Hicks will say you don’t even really need the words or the ways.  

All you need is energy.  

This is where manifestation and witchcraft intersect in some interesting ways.  

Of course, energetically, all you need is will.  

You are a child of the Universe, the ocean in a drop, a god being in a human body having a human experience.  

Before you were human, you were god/God/the Universe/nature/Source Energy, call it what you will.  

You were that, connected up and linked in, turned on and tuned in fully to the creative process.  

You are, at your very base, a creator.  

All you have to do is think it, match up to it vibrationally, and allow it into your reality.  

That’s it.  

The law of attraction states that we attract what we are.  

So all we have to do is become the thing we want.  

We want love, we become love.  

We want abundance, we become abundance.  

We want joy, we become joy.  

You get the idea.  

So why do we get all caught up in words and ways? Why practice witchcraft at all? Why get caught up in cinnamon and nails in spells? 

Why not just manifest?  

Humans, We Love You So Much 

Because we’re human! 

And we need our rites and rituals to anchor us to our humanity.  

We need constant reminders of our power, of our connection to nature, of our desire, of our will.  

Sure, in our god states we can simply think things into existence, but in our human states we forget.  

How quickly we forget.  

So we need materials to work with using our human hands, and we need words to write down using the language of our affection, and we need to put it all together in ways that feel magical so we can continue to believe in the magic we practice.  

For the same reason so many humans cling to religion, we cling to witchcraft as a way of making the abstract concrete.  

We feel it spiritually, but we also need to feel it physically.  

We start with a small spell, maybe a prayer or meditation, and we watch it manifest, and then we grow our spells to larger and larger castings, watching our power grow alongside our belief in ourselves, and before you know it, we are energetically thriving witches, or manifesters, or god beings having a human experience.  

And sometimes we forget that the power is not in the spell, but in us.  

You are the spell.  

You are the power.  

And when we remember that, whether we are casting a spell or manifesting will vibrations, we know it is all the same because it all comes from the same place.  

Within.  

Nails in Spells 

So throughout history, witches have used various materials for various purposes in various spells.  

Nails play an important role in the ways part of a spell.  

Rusty Nails 

Rusty nails are typically used for dark magic.  

For example, a rusty nail will be placed in a voodoo doll to curse someone to a withering away or rusting away to death.  

Realize the symbolism here. Rust is decay, and so if you use a rusty nail in your spell, you are intentionally asking for decay.  

Of course, and again, you must place that intention into your spell, and you must imbue it with your own dark energy.  

If you wish someone harm, you will have to draw on dark energy inside yourself, as the Universe does not comprehend dark energy.  

Dark energy is a purely human creation, and it is the result of the limitations of our experience. We must have contrast to appreciate what we have and what we want, and as a result of that contrast, some people dwell in the dark.  

Also remember the rule of three, or the threefold law.  

In witchcraft, we say that you must expect all energy you send out to be returned to you three times as powerful.  

In the law of attraction, we know that you attract what you are.  

In order to curse or hex someone using negative magic, you have to become the spell. You have to become darkness.  

You have to embrace death.  

You are riding a very dark line.  

So of course, you will be getting that energy back from. There is no avoiding it. The Universe is not sending you dark energy; you are pulling dark energy in from the dregs of humanity.  

That is just how the law of attraction works.  

The one catch is when you are dealing with mistakes from your past.  

The guilt and shame you feel are the dark energy you have attracted.  

To release it and break yourself out of the darkness, you must forgive yourself and let go.  

It’s not as easy as it sounds.  

On a further note, if you don’t feel bad about sending dark energy to someone, you likewise will not reap the dark energy in return.  

Though sending dark energy without feeling it requires a disconnected person, a narcissist or a psychopath.  

If you’re here, it’s unlikely that’s you.  

Other Nails in Spells 

Rusty nails are not the only use for nails in spells, though.  

You can also use nails to “nail down” a job or a home.  

You can use nails from packing containers or from horseshoes for transportation energy.  

In England back during the plague, nails were nailed into the ground to decay, ideally drawing sick energy from a household and cleansing it in the ground.  

Nails have also been used from coffins to commune with the spirit whose body was placed in the coffin.  

So you see it does not all have to do with dark energy, thank the gods.  

In the end, popular belief can hold a tremendous amount of power in culture.  

Whatever a culture’s belief, be it around iron nails, bent nails, black cats, nail clippings, sharp objects, broken mirrors, and so on, it is likely to affect your way of thinking, and your thoughts are the root of your spellcasting and manifesting.  

As thinking goes, the spell unfolds.  

Your thoughts are rooted in your beliefs, and your beliefs send out your vibration.  

So if you want to work with any material, in the first place you must hold strong beliefs about that material.  

For light magic, you can place a number of nails in glass jars, also known as a witch bottle, according to their energy, and then call on them to travel to see family members or cast preventative measures over a future possible event.  

The reality of course, is that a nail is just a humble nail.  

Your witchcraft practice relies heavily on your magical uses, your witch’s craft, your magical arts, your fixative power.  

You are the spell.  

Never forget to take an in depth look at the very thing that empowers you.  

These are ancient forces at work in these magical practices, flush with negative energies connected to things like rusty nails and god power inextricably linked to all things positive.  

We thus far have tasted on a small measure of the powers available to us.  

Work in the light, with an open hand, and refuse black magic, allowing negative energy to simply pass through you, pass by you, and keep going, and you will reap surprising benefits as a supremely divine soul of the world.  

Happy manifesting!