Grey Wool and Rue is a banishing sachet spell — nine herbs of parting, a few grains of salt, and dark thread sewn into a square of grey wool, then worn against the skin to draw off what clings to you: a mood, a watching, an ill will that follows you room to room. Dusk is the seamstress’s hour, the hour for stitching shut what should be closed. Carried until the ninth dusk has passed, the charm quietly loosens the clinging shadow until it tires and lets go.
Correspondences for This Spell
- Colour: black, for endings and removal — echoed here in the grey wool and dark thread
- Herbs: sage, rosemary, and garlic or black pepper for driving off; rue, mugwort, hyssop, and vervain make up this sachet’s nine herbs of parting
- Crystal: black obsidian (or black tourmaline)
- Day: Saturday
- Planet: Saturn
- Element: Fire
- Moon: the waning moon — essential, to decrease and diminish what you release
For a fuller table of magical associations, see the correspondences guide.
What You Will Need
- A square of grey wool cloth, large enough to gather into a pouch
- A length of dark thread, black or charcoal
- Nine pinches of banishing herbs — rue, mugwort, hyssop, and vervain among them, with dried sage, rosemary, or a little black pepper if you have them
- A few grains of salt for the heart of the pouch
- A needle, if you prefer to stitch the corners rather than bind them
The Best Time to Cast
Cast at dusk, the threshold hour when the day releases its hold and the first star opens its eye — a natural moment for letting go. Choose a night during the waning moon, when the tide of light is decreasing; magic meant to diminish and remove works with that ebb rather than against it. Saturday, the day of Saturn, lends its sober, boundary-setting weight to any banishing. If the clinging is stubborn, begin on a waning Saturday at dusk for the strongest current of release.
The Working
- At dusk, lay out a square of grey wool and a length of dark thread.
- Into the center place nine pinches of banishing herb, rue, mugwort, hyssop, and vervain among them, with a few grains of salt at the heart.
- Draw the corners up and bind the pouch shut with nine turns of thread, speaking a word of parting on each turn.
- Pass the finished sachet through the dusk air three times, as if wiping something from the space around you.
- Speak the incantation over it, your breath warm against the wool.
- Wear it against the skin, over the heart, until the ninth dusk has passed.
- On the ninth night, unpick the thread and scatter the herbs to the wind, keeping only the empty cloth.
The Incantation
Rue to part and salt to sever,
grey to grey and gone forever.
Nine the turns and nine the nights,
loosen now your clinging hold.
What has followed, follow never;
what has watched, go blind and cold.
Variations & Substitutions
- No grey wool? Any natural, undyed cloth — grey felt, unbleached linen, even an old woollen sock — carries the same muted, colour-drained quality of release.
- Missing an herb? Rue can be sharp on the skin and hard to find; rosemary or sage stand in well. What matters is nine pinches of protective, driving-off herbs, not a fixed recipe.
- Cannot wear it for nine days? Keep the sachet in a pocket, beneath your pillow, or tucked into a bag you carry, so it stays close to you between dusks.
A Word on Intent
Banishing, in the Wiccan tradition, is defensive work — you are releasing what clings to you, not sending harm to another. “An it harm none, do what ye will,” counsels the Wiccan Rede, and a banishing sachet honours that by drawing off a mood, a watching, or an unwanted influence rather than striking at a person. Picture the clinging shadow loosening and dissolving, not a named enemy suffering. When the herbs are given to the wind on the ninth night, let them carry away only the burden, freely released, wishing ill on no one.
Related Banishing Spells
Record your working, the moon’s phase, and how the nine nights unfold in your Book of Shadows, and explore more charms of protection and release in the Grimoire.