Vanilla in Witchcraft: Magical Properties, Meaning, and Uses

In witchcraft, vanilla is an ingredient for love and comfort. It belongs to Venus and the element of water, and kitchen witches use it to draw affection, soften a strained relationship, and make a home feel safe.

Vanilla correspondences at a glance

Scott Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs lists vanilla under Venus and water, with the powers of love, lust and mental powers. Friday, Taurus and Libra follow from Venus, which rules all three. The comfort and peace associations are more recent. They come from its scent, which most people know from home baking.

Where the meaning comes from

Vanilla is the cured seed pod of an orchid, Vanilla planifolia, native to Mexico. The Totonac people of Veracruz are credited with cultivating it first, and the Aztecs added it to their cacao drink. Vanilla and chocolate have been paired ever since.

Each flower opens for a single day. Outside its native range the plant has no natural pollinator, so every flower is pollinated by hand. The method is credited to Edmond Albius, a twelve-year-old enslaved boy on the island of Réunion, in 1841. After harvest the pods cure for months. Between the hand pollination and the curing, vanilla is the second most expensive spice after saffron.

The link to love follows from the old planetary system. Sweet scents, pleasure and affection belong to Venus, and vanilla is sweet, fragrant and costly. Its long partnership with cacao, another love ingredient, reinforced it.

Five ways to use vanilla in kitchen witchcraft

1. Vanilla sugar, for sweetening a relationship

Split one vanilla bean lengthwise and bury it in 2 cups (400 g) of sugar in a jar with a lid. Leave it for two weeks and shake the jar when you pass it. Use the sugar in anything you make for a person you want to be on better terms with: their coffee, a batch of biscuits, a cake for the office. Cunningham mentions sugar kept with a vanilla bean for sweetening love infusions. Using it to ease a strained friendship is a modern kitchen extension of the same idea.

2. Friday baking, for love

Friday is the day of Venus. Bake something with vanilla on a Friday for someone you love, or for yourself. As you add the vanilla, stir clockwise and say plainly what you want: “more ease between us”, “a kind week”.

3. A warm cup, for comfort

Warm 1 cup (240 ml) of milk or oat milk until it steams. Stir in 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract and 1 teaspoon of honey. This is the one to make after a hard day, or for a child who cannot settle. For a child over one, use a pinch of vanilla powder in place of the extract. Honey is unsafe for babies under twelve months.

4. Vanilla and cacao, for attraction

For two cups: whisk 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder and 2 tablespoons of sugar into 2 cups (480 ml) of milk over a low heat. When it steams, take it off the heat and add 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract and a pinch of cinnamon.

5. A carried bean, for love or a clear head

Cunningham lists vanilla for love sachets, and notes that a carried bean is said to restore lost energy and improve the mind. For a love sachet, put a piece of cured bean and a spoonful of dried rose petals in a small cloth bag and keep it by your bed. For study, or before a decision you have been putting off, carry a piece of bean alone in a pocket.

Outside the kitchen, a spent bean still has scent. Tuck one into a drawer or a jar of bath salts.

Bean, extract, paste or imitation

• Whole bean. The strongest choice for sachets and vanilla sugar. One bean replaces about 1 tablespoon of extract. Grade B beans are drier and cheaper, and they are the right ones for sugar and for homemade extract.
• Pure extract. Made from real beans. In the United States it must contain at least 35 percent alcohol and 13.35 ounces of beans per gallon. It works for baking and for spell work alike.
• Paste. Extract blended with vanilla seeds, sugar and a thickener. Use it measure for measure in place of extract.
• Imitation vanilla. Synthetic vanillin. It tastes of vanilla and contains none of the plant. Keep it for flavour, and use the real thing when the vanilla is the point of the working.

When to use it

Work with vanilla on a Friday when you can. Use it under a waxing moon to draw love or friendship toward you, and at the full moon for gratitude. Under a waning moon it suits an ending that you want to be gentle. The moon phase cooking guide explains the phases in more detail.

For how vanilla sits beside other ingredients, see the guide to magical correspondences for cooking ingredients.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does vanilla mean spiritually?

Love, comfort and sweetness. Vanilla is tied to Venus and to water, so it is used for affection, attraction, peace at home and kindness toward yourself.

What is vanilla used for in witchcraft?

Love and attraction workings, sweetening a strained relationship, comfort after a hard day, and a clear mind. In the kitchen that means vanilla sugar, baked gifts, warm drinks and small sachets.

Can I use vanilla extract in place of a vanilla bean in a spell?

Yes. Pure extract is made from real beans. Use about 1 tablespoon of extract for each bean. Imitation vanilla is synthetic, so use it for flavour only.

What element and planet is vanilla?

Water and Venus. Its day is Friday, and its signs are Taurus and Libra.

What goes well with vanilla in love magic?

Cacao, cinnamon, rose, honey and cardamom. Cacao with vanilla is the oldest pairing and goes back to the Aztec cacao drink.

What does it mean when you smell vanilla and nothing is there?

There is no single traditional answer. Some people read a sudden vanilla scent as comfort, or as a sign that someone who loved them is near. If it keeps happening, mention it to a doctor, because phantom smells can have a medical cause.

Is vanilla safe for everyone?

Vanilla allergy is rare. Pure extract is at least 35 percent alcohol. For a child’s drink, or for anyone avoiding alcohol, use vanilla powder or the seeds scraped from a bean.

Sources

• Scott Cunningham, Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs (Llewellyn, 1985), entry for vanilla.
• Tim Ecott, Vanilla: Travels in Search of the Ice Cream Orchid (2004), for the plant’s history and Edmond Albius.
• Code of Federal Regulations (United States), 21 CFR 169.175, the standard for vanilla extract.

Hearthlight keeps correspondences like these for every ingredient in your kitchen and shows which ones suit the current moon. See how it works.