The Cold Spring is a protection bath spell — a new-moon cleansing that washes the residue of ill-will from your skin and seals your edges anew in salt and dark water. New moon water is a black mirror with no light to trouble it, and in such water the old cleansings run deepest. Here you do not merely wash; you drown what has followed you home, then rise sealed, your name returned wholly to yourself.
Correspondences for This Spell
- Colours: black to repel and turn away harm, with white as an all-purpose cleanser and shield.
- Herbs: rosemary, sage, and basil — the old guardians of the threshold.
- Crystal: black tourmaline, or obsidian if you have it, to absorb and ground what is lifted away.
- Day: Saturday, the day of walls and boundaries.
- Planet: Saturn, ruler of protection, limits, and firm edges.
- Element: Earth, steady and enclosing.
- Moon: the full moon marks the peak of protective power, but this is a releasing bath and so is worked at the new moon (see below).
For more on how these threads weave together, see the correspondences guide.
What You Will Need
- A bowl or basin deep enough to hold the water, or a drawn bath.
- Fresh water — spring, rain, or tap water left to stand beneath the new-moon sky.
- Protective herbs: rosemary, sage, and basil, fresh or dried.
- A generous handful of salt — sea salt or plain table salt both serve.
- A dark protective crystal: black tourmaline or obsidian.
- A towel set aside, for how you dry matters as much as how you wash.
The Best Time to Cast
Cast on the new moon, and on a Saturday if you can align the two. The dark of the moon is the tide of release and banishing — the time to shed and strip away rather than to draw in — and so it suits a bath meant to loosen what clings. Saturday belongs to Saturn, keeper of boundaries and walls, lending the working its firm defensive edge. Together they make this the quietest and most thorough hour for a cleansing.
The Working
- On the new moon, fill a bowl with fresh water and let it stand a while beneath the empty sky.
- Steep protective herbs in the water until it darkens and its green scent rises.
- Dissolve a handful of salt into the bath, stirring against the turn of the sun.
- Set a dark protective stone at the bottom of the water to anchor the working down.
- Sink beneath the surface, or pour the water over you slowly, from crown to heel.
- As it runs off, feel each clinging thing loosen its grip and fall away into the dark.
- Speak the incantation, then let the water drain fully away before you dry.
The Incantation
Black water of the moonless night,
take from my skin what does not belong.
Salt to strip and stone to keep,
herb to make the thin place strong.
Down and off and out and gone,
every cold hand, every eye.
I rise up sealed and set apart,
my own again beneath the sky.
Variations & Substitutions
- No tub? Work it in the shower — steep the herbs and salt in a bowl, then pour that water slowly over yourself from crown to heel while the shower rinses away the rest.
- No black tourmaline? Obsidian, jet, smoky quartz, or even a dark river stone gathered with intent will anchor the working just as well.
- No loose herbs? A strong rosemary or sage tea, cooled, can be stirred into the bath instead — try hyssop or a bay leaf as further protective additions.
A Word on Intent
This is defensive magic, and the Wiccan Rede holds it steady: an it harm none, do what ye will. The Cold Spring cleanses and seals you; it does not strike back at whoever sent the ill-will your way. Wash to release and to shield, never to return harm. What you lift off is grounded into salt and dark water and let go — not sent to any door. Sealed in yourself, you need nothing more.
Related Protection Spells
Keep this working in the Grimoire and copy it into your own Book of Shadows, where the old cleansings are kept close and ready.