Magickal Inks

The pen and paper is the medium for making language physical.  It is the only way to turn this intangible into permanence, and through this process can turn the magick within the spoken word into a magickal item.  This can be done through sigil work, pictures, or through simple words.  We adorn our altars with specially anointed candles, home made athames, wands carved by our own hands, and all manner of spiritually meaningful items.  It is my belief that if we're doing all of this, then it only seems natural to want a handmade or spiritually meaningful ink to be the medium for converting the power of the spoken word into a tangible item to be used in our spellwork.


There are a few ways to make your own inks and I'm not going to go into all of them mainly because there's just wayyy too many possible ways to do it.  I will give you a few ideas that are easy for the normal person to do and don't require you to special order some nonsense from a small village in western Siberia.


India Ink
1 part lampblack
1 part gum arabic
10-15 parts alcohol (depending on how thick you want your ink)


This is the classic ink that we've heard of in history books and in movies.  Lampblack is simply the carbon (soot) that comes off of a candle in the smoke.  To "catch" it, simply hold a spoon over the candle and let the smoke hit it.  Every so often, you have to "scrape" the spoon clean.  I would suggest using two spoons or a spoon and a fork (wow this sounds like some kind of messed up instructions on eating lunch), one spoon for catching and the other for scraping the lampblack into the container you're going to use.  Once you have a good amount of lampblack, just add the alcohol and then the gum arabic.  Gum arabic is a thickening agent sold at Hobby Lobby and pretty much any craft stores (look for it near the paint section).  


You can also crush up berries or boil them and use this as an ink, or you can use the ink sacs from squid or cuttlefish.  Add a little gum arabic to thicken these up if you need it thicker for your writing utensil.


Currently, there are only three regularly referenced "magickal inks":  bat's blood ink, dove's blood ink, and dragon's blood ink.  Here are the recipes for them if you're interested.


Bat's Blood Ink
2 parts dragon's blood resin
1/2 part myrrh resin
2 drops indigo color
2 drops cinnamon oil
12 parts alcohol
1/2 part gum arabic


One tip on the creation of this ink is to make sure to dissolve the resins in the alcohol first.  This takes a lot less time than waiting for them to dissolve once you have the rest of the ingredients in.


This ink is supposed to push for chaos, discord and all things not so pleasant.  I'm not sure how useful it is since I've never made it.  


Dragon's Blood Ink
1 part dragon's blood resin
15 parts alcohol
1 part gum arabic


This one is for power and strength in spellwork.


Dove's Blood Ink
1 part dragon's blood resin
2 drops cinnamon oil
10 parts alcohol
2 drops bay oil
1 part gum arabic
2 drops rose oil


This ink is used for love, giving thanks, and all things that come from the heart or are born from a place of innocence.


Now onto my personal spin (you knew it was coming, didn't you?).  I typically don't used any of the marketed inks, but that's simply because I like the process of creating something of my own.  You can put any kinds of incense, oils, or gemstones in the ink.  One unique way that I add my own touch is to crush up actual herbs or gemstones and put them into the ink.  Granted that these will not be suspended or put onto paper, but you put bay leaves in a stew even though no one actually wants to eat them.  The idea's the same.  More than likely these inks will sit for a while and their "tastes" will intermingle.  In truth, simply adding these personal touches to a craft store bought ink is better than using the ink by itself if for no other reason than because when we create something, a part of ourselves is put into our creation.


Also, if you want to a bit more power to it, you can always put a drop or two of blood into it.  There are some things you might want to think about before you do that though.  Check out a few of my precautions in Blood, Power and Magick and Blood, Power and Magick Pt. II.