To Baptize a Witch’s Doll or Poppet

Choose a time appropriate for your practice and your working—midnight, a time related to the working you wish to use your witch’s doll in, or the time of your target’s birth. Set up your workspace before a mirror or in the threshold of an open door. Prepare your workspace with: your doll[1], personal items associated with your target (hair, nails, fabric from clothing, their handwriting, or their name/photo), a bowl of spring water, cord, a blade or pin, natural fabric (to wrap your doll up in until and after your working), and incense.

Hold the doll in both hands and breathe upon its face three times. Whisper the name of the target each time. If you don’t know the target’s name, use a nickname or title (such as “Hiring Manager” or “Man in House Number 318”). Then say aloud[2]:

This is no mere doll of rag and thread,
But flesh and blood and soul instead.
By breath and name, by tongue and thought,
The link is forged, the knot is caught.

Place the personal concerns inside the poppet (or stitch them into its chest or head). If you are working with a doll of wax or clay, these items may already be within the doll. I recommend either making clay/wax dolls as you baptize them or saving a strand of hair, a scrap of fabric, or something small to lay upon or around the doll during this rite. Speak directly to the target’s spirit, saying:

What I place within, is placed in thee—
Thy hair, thy name, thy heart, thy key.
Within, without; above, below.
Thy spirit in this shape shall go.

Dip your fingers in the bowl of water. Sprinkle the doll three times—head, heart, and feet—saying each time:

[Target’s Name], I call thee by breath, blood, and bone.
In this form, thou art now known.
By spring and spirit, I do thee bless:
Be now the flesh that I address.

Some practitioners may wish to immerse the poppet fully while holding it firmly, intoning:

As Maiden marked by river’s rite,
I name thee here in witch’s sight.
No priest shall claim thee, no god condemn,
Thou art thyself, and mine therein.

Wind the red thread or black cord around the poppet, starting at the head and ending at the feet. With each winding, chant:

What’s bound in thread is bound in soul,
From skin to skin, from hole to hole.
With cord I call, with cord I tie,
What’s done to thee, to [Name] shall apply.

Tie off the thread with three knots. With each knot, name the target aloud, binding your will to your target through the doll. Light the incense and pass the doll through the smoke, saying:

By flame and ash, by smoke and spark,
Awake, O doll, thy tethered mark.
Bear the weight of charm and bane—
The spell is cast, the link is lain.

If you are not ready to work with your doll just yet, wrap it in its cloth and tuck it away wherever it will live until you are ready to work with it. When it is time to work your magic, prick the poppet with the pin or blade at the crown or heart, not to harm but to quicken the spirit, saying:

I open thee that thou may feel,
And through thy form, my will shall steal.
Awake! Awake! From shape to shade,
Be soul and sinew now remade.
Take up the name, take up the face,
And walk for me in time and place.
By thread and thorn, by craft and flame,
I call thee forth in [Target]’s name.

After your working, keep your doll in a safe place or dispose of it as dictated by your practice or your working.

[1] There are many varieties of witch’s dolls available to use in magical workings—made of materials including fabric, wax, sticks, corn husks, yarn, etc. Use a doll that resonates with your own beliefs and practice.

[2] If you are using other materials than fabric, rags or yarn, you may prefer an alternate incantation, such as: “Not mere doll, nor idle shape, / But vessel bound to (Target’s Name)’ fate. / By spit and smoke, by name and thread, / I make thee live who was not bred.”