Cloves have been traded, burned, and worked with in ritual contexts for thousands of years, long before they became a staple of holiday baking. In Indonesian and Chinese trade history, they were among the most valuable spices in the world. In magical and spiritual practice, their value is different but just as consistent: cloves carry a fiery, projective energy that practitioners across traditions have used to amplify intention, accelerate manifestation, and add force to workings that need momentum.
In Western folk magic and Wiccan practice, cloves correspond to the element of Fire and the Sun, which together make them one of the more active and energizing herbs in the materia magica. This is not a plant for slow, quiet workings. Cloves speed things up. They add heat to love spells, authority to protection workings, and confidence to those who carry them. Whether you are working with the whole dried flower bud, the ground spice, or clove essential oil, the energetic character remains consistent: this is a plant with direction and force.
In This Guide:
Below you will find the complete materia magicka for cloves, including planetary and deity correspondences, chakra associations, and 17 documented spell uses across traditions.
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How Can I Use Cloves In Spells?
Whole cloves, clove powder, and clove oil can be used in spells by adding it to an incense blend, adding it to a pouch
, dressing a candle, or turning the dried flower into a charm.Clove incense can also be used to add energy to your spells and sacred space.
What Are The Magical Properties Of Cloves?
The magical effects of cloves give it the power to add energy to your money spells, protection spells, luck spells, love spells, mental health spells, and more! It can also help speed up other spells and make manifestation happen faster!
Complete List Of Magickal Properties Of Cloves
Our complete Materia Magicka contains everything you need to know to work with Cloves in spells, rituals, and healing.
Latin Name
- Syzygium aromaticum
Gender
- Masculine
Elemental Correspondences
- Fire
- Air
Planetary Correspondences
- Sun
- Jupiter
Signs that Rule Cloves
- Aries
Deities that Rule Cloves
- Osiris
- Oya
Chakras that work with Cloves
- Root chakra
- Sacral chakra
- Solar plexus chakra
Cloves’ Magickal Properties & Meanings
Use cloves in:
- Anxiety Relief: Diffuse clove essential oil during meditation and mental health healing rituals.
- Banishing Spells: Boil the whole spice in water for 11 minutes. Forcefully sprinkle the water around your space to banish harmful energies.
- Breaking Hexes: Add ground cloves to ground black pepper. Mix well, then dress and burn a black candle.
- Cleansing Crystals: Make a decoction from whole cloves, let it cool, and use this water to cleanse your crystal ball or water-soluble crystals.
- Courage Spells: Carry three clove buds to fill your aura with courage and strength.
- Divination: Drink clove tea before reading tarot cards, pendulums, crystal balls, runes, and more to increase your psychic abilities.
- Empathy Spells: Dress a pink candle or light green candle with the ground spice to help people better understand emotions and needs.
- Exorcisms: Burn the spice as incense to drive away baneful, harmful energies. This is a great white sage smudge replacement.
- Friendship Spells: To keep friendships strong, add one clove for each friend to a pink bag.
- Longevity Spells: Enchant and drink clove herbal tea while visualizing yourself as protected, internally and externally.
- Love Spells: Steep cloves in wine to add romance to your evening.
- Luck Spells: Create a good luck charm by adding cloves, cinnamon, bay, basil, and your favorite good luck herbs to a green sachet bag. Visualize success!
- Mental Clarity: Create a personal aromatherapy stick by adding salt and clove oil to a small, glass vial. Open and smell whenever you need a boost of mental clarity.
- Money Spells: Add the ground herb to your cinnamon blend in our famous cinnamon money spell to boost its power. You can also dress a green candle in a money candle spell!
- Passion: Surround a red candle with 7 whole cloves and burn to add passion to your life.
- Psychic Shielding: Carry three whole cloves to increase the strength of your psychic shield.
- Protection Spells: Make a decoction from the whole spice and use the water to draw protection sigils on your home.
- Stop Gossip: Baked goods always make friends. Bake a spiced cake with cloves, visualizing gossip stopping as you do. Offer the cake as a gift to those who have been gossiping.
- Wealth Spells: Sprinkle the ground spice into your wallet to pull wealth into your life.
Frequently Asked Questions About Cloves in Magic
What are cloves used for spiritually?
Cloves are one of the most versatile herbs in the spiritual materia magica, used across witchcraft, hoodoo, folk magic, and Wiccan traditions for protection, prosperity, love, psychic enhancement, banishing, and more. Their fiery, projective energy makes them particularly effective in workings that need amplification or acceleration. They are associated with the Sun and Jupiter, both expansive, active planetary forces, which gives them a broad range of applications across spell types.
What deity is associated with cloves?
In the Plentiful Earth materia magicka, cloves are associated with Osiris, the Egyptian god of the afterlife, resurrection, and judgment, and Oya, the Yoruba orisha of change, storms, and the marketplace. Oya's association with cloves reflects her role as a force that sweeps away what is no longer needed and makes space for transformation. Osiris's association connects cloves to themes of protection, transition, and enduring power. Practitioners working within these traditions may offer cloves when calling on either deity.
Can I substitute cloves in a spell?
Yes. If a spell calls for cloves and you do not have them, cinnamon is the most direct substitute, sharing cloves' fiery, projective energy and many of the same correspondences including money, protection, and speed of manifestation. Allspice is another close substitute, particularly for prosperity and luck workings. Bay laurel can stand in for cloves in protection and authority spells. When substituting, match the energetic intention of the ingredient rather than the physical form.
What chakras do cloves work with?
Cloves are associated with the root chakra, sacral chakra, and solar plexus chakra. The root chakra connection reflects their grounding, protective quality. The sacral connection aligns with their use in passion and love spells. The solar plexus association reflects their projective, fire-aligned energy and their use in courage, confidence, and manifestation workings. When using cloves in chakra work, they are most often directed toward the lower three energy centers.
Are cloves safe to burn as incense indoors?
Yes, in reasonable amounts and in a well-ventilated space. Clove incense has a strong, warming, slightly medicinal scent that some people find potent. If you are burning whole cloves on a charcoal tablet, use a small amount and ensure windows are open. Clove essential oil should not be burned directly, but can be diffused. Those with respiratory sensitivities or asthma should use caution with any smoke-based practice.
What is the difference between whole cloves, ground cloves, and clove oil in spellwork?
All three carry the same energetic correspondences but suit different applications. Whole cloves are best for charms, sachets, candle dressings, and workings where you want a specific number of buds as part of the working (such as surrounding a candle with seven cloves for a passion spell). Ground cloves are easier to incorporate into incense blends, wallet charms, and candle dressings where you want the spice evenly distributed. Clove essential oil is best for anointing, diffusing, and any working where you want the scent and energy without physical plant material. All three are equally effective when used with clear intention.
