If you want more love in your life (and who doesn't!) and you'd like to make your own pusanga, just follow these instructions and romance will come find you. (Shaman's word!)
The Doctrine of Signatures is your guide to gathering the plants you'll need. Pusanga plants for love all share certain traits.
- Their names are often meaningful, like passionflower or honeysuckle ("honey" for sweetness, "suckle" for nourishing).
- Their colors are bright and eye-catching.
- How they grow can also matter (ivy, for instance, winds around other plants so the two entwine and grow close together).
- Their archetypal qualities can also call to you (the rose, for example, is today practically synonymous with love).
- Where the plants grow can carry meaning too (two plants standing together in the sun within an otherwise dark forest can signify a bright future, for example) — and so on.
Look for plants that mean something to you and to the desires you hold. When you find each plant, spend a little time with it, explain what you need, and ask it to offer itself to you before you pick it (you don't need the whole plant — a single leaf, flower or piece of bark will do, since it carries the energy of the whole. Try to avoid taking roots if you can).
Then, when you take a piece, offer your thanks and perhaps a gift of your own, such as corn or tobacco, as is done in the Amazon. All of this matters — it helps you connect with nature and build the right attitude of respect.
Once you have the plants you want, bring them home and place them in a clear glass bottle. If you plan to use the pusanga within a few days, you can fill the bottle with water from "places of power," such as holy water from a church or a spiritual site like Lourdes, or you can use spring or mineral water, or better still, rainwater.
If you'd like to keep the pusanga for longer, it's better to use alcohol rather than water, since it will preserve the plants. You can also add essential oils to your blend, which, in traditional magic, carry their own useful qualities.
To attract a new lover, for example, add a few drops of rose, jasmine and bergamot. For "deepened love," add rose, vanilla and a pinch of gold glitter.
For passion once you've found your partner, add ginger, patchouli and sandalwood.
Finally, add your own prayers to the mix, as shamans do, by blowing three times into the pusanga bottle while telling the perfume what you want it to do for you.
Once it's ready, wear it like a perfume before bed at night and again on waking, and expect more love to find its way into your life.