The Horseshoe Magnet Spell — Repel & Draw

There was a horseshoe magnet in my grandmas house — not tucked away in a junk drawer, but kept close, the way you keep a thing you actually use. I didn't understand then why it had to be that shape. I do now. A horseshoe magnet carries both its poles on the same end, and that doubling makes the pull at that end stronger than any straight bar magnet twice its size. She wasn't just fond of the shape. She was using it in place of a lodestone, and she knew exactly what she was doing.

Why the Shape Matters

A lodestone is naturally magnetized rock, and it has carried weight in root work and folk magic for generations — dressed, fed, and set to work drawing luck, money, or love toward its keeper. Not everyone had one on hand. What a lot of Appalachian households did have was a magnet from the barn or the toolbox, and the horseshoe style was the one worth keeping for this purpose. Bend a magnet into that shape and both ends carry a pole, north and south sitting side by side instead of opposite each other. The field concentrates right there at the open end, stronger than a straight magnet could manage. My grandma didn't need the physics term for it. She just knew the horseshoe pulled harder, and pulled harder is exactly what a working like this calls for.

Ends Pointed Away

The magnet becomes a push. Held with the open end facing outward, away from the body, it repels — sending bad luck, ill will, and interference back out the way it came.

Ends Pointed Toward You

The same magnet becomes a pull. Turned so the open end faces back toward the body, it draws — calling good luck, opportunity, and what you're asking for into your reach.

One magnet, two directions. The working doesn't change — only which way you're standing in front of it.

Scripture Beneath the Craft

I went looking for a verse to sit under a working about pushing away and pulling close, and Scripture handed me both halves in the very same breath.

"Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you."

James 4:7–8

Resist and it flees. Draw near and it draws near back. That's the horseshoe magnet in one verse — repel what shouldn't be near you, and call close what should.

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The Working

Hold the magnet in your working hand. Which way you turn it decides which working you're doing.

To Repel — Ends Pointed Away From You

The Return

By this magnet, strong and true,
I cast this out and repel bad luck back to you.
I count it out — one, two, three —
blessed by the Holy Trinity.
As I speak it, so mote it be —
I return this back to thee.

Speak it three times through. This working does not simply push bad luck away from you — it sends it home to whoever set it moving.

To Draw — Ends Pointed Toward You

The Calling

Iron and force, unseen and true,
bring the thing I ask of you.
By north and south, by pull and might,
draw my desire into my sight.
I count this out — one, two, three —
by the power of the Holy Trinity.
What I call, now comes to me;
as I speak, so let it be.

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How It's Carried Out

A horseshoe magnet, held so both poles sit at the same open end, standing in for a lodestone
Ends pointed away from the body to repel — send bad luck back to its sender
Ends pointed toward the body to draw — call good luck and what you're asking for closer
The words counted out one, two, three, and closed with the same intention each time — never rushed, never repeated out of anger

Two directions, one magnet, one grandmother who understood a piece of shop iron better than most people understand a store-bought charm.

From the Hollers & the Crossroads What is turned away, stays away.
What is called home, comes home.
Iron holds no side of its own —
it only answers which way it's facing.