Basil in your pocket or on your threshold will attract wealth and prosperity.

With the Congress debating the budget and the “sequester” and all manner of financial matters – together with the financial difficulties in much of the rest of the world as well – I thought that traditional conjurations of prosperity and wealth might be worth considering.

Burning incense made of ground allspice was one way of attracting wealth. A leaf of basil in the pocket or on the threshold will also attract wealth, as will sprigs of alfalfa in a small jar in a cupboard or pantry or an open jar of sesame seeds. Sheaves of wheat placed around the house will do this as well. Keeping buckwheat in the kitchen guards against poverty.

Treasure-hunting was one of the usual accusations made against male witches in the Alps mountain regions. One method of hunting for treasure involved “dowsing” with Y-shaped rods of hazel (although willow or fruit trees might also be used).

These Alpine male witches were not hunting for treasure for themselves, however. They were accused of selling their services as treasure hunters and then cheating their clients who would never come away with the anticipated treasure. It was these disaffected clients who would then bring charges of witchcraft against their guides. Treasure hunting remained popular, nevertheless. It was a sign of the fading of the great witch hunts that these accusations against the treasure-guides began to be considered “fraud” and “swindling” rather than “witchcraft” in the late 1700s. (Manfred Tschaikner published an excellent study of these treasure hunting Alpine witches in 2006, if you want more information on them.)

Ground allspice, burnt as incense, will attract wealth.