Witchcraft Rituals

Read The Golden Bough. It's full of examples of real world magic to use as inspiration. Gets a bit repetitive at times though.

Hellebore, nightshade, the blood of a crow, a phoenix's feather if you want to go more fantastic. Things that don't have retarded tryhard names.

>>51942699
I would imagine that god blood is too rare to be involved in a regular ritual.

You could go for either hard-to-get physical ingredients or riddle-like allegorical ones.

For the latter, keep it weird. A Coward's Courage, for example. Could be a drop of blood or a pinch of hair from a cowardly man who stood up to fight back. Or something related to making a save against a powerful fear effect (could be a drop of blood, could be a weapon you used to slay something that cast fear on you - just dip it into the cauldron, whatever). Hell, a bottle of strong spirits would work just as well. Don't specify it and let players figure out an answer, and if it sounds good, roll with it.

Bump for newts and animal trimmings!

teardrops from a statue.

Finely ground stone from below sea level.

One hundred bee stingers

A palm print from the subject of the ritual.

A single human eye.

Various minerals and plants, of course.

Fresh ground black pepper.

An orange peel all in one piece.

>>51942699
Salt, star anise, 88-year-old ginger, rhubarb, fennel, allspice, blood rock, neon jelly, crystal fruit.

>>51942699
Depends on what kind of tone you want to set with these. Generally there's a tie to natural occurances, like having the ritual set during a specific moon phase, or when a star is brightest, or during the turn of seasons. The easiest of these to satisfy would be simple, like midnight when the light is weakest, dawn when the moon and sun cross, sunset when the earth swallows the sun.
Hedgewitches could use strange herbs or request tithes of personal belongings (hair, teeth, nails).
Some interesting rituals for a darker tone involve a play on sacrifice. Hen and her eggs for a minor level, nanny goat and kid as an intermediate, human mother and child for difficult, rare/pure magical creatures like unicorn and foal for the most profane. You can add different components like sacrificing the eldest in the other's viscera, drowning the younger in the mother's milk, I'm sure you get the picture.
More than just a list of ingredients that are reputably evil, to make a really memorable ritual you need to invoke that kind of psychological horror element.

>>51942699
Iron or lead nails, wax, sulfur, something that holds the shape of the person in question (shoes, footprints, portrait, worn clothing or shadow if you're powerful enough to steal it), fur and blood of black animal, last cinders from a bakery still burning.

>>51942699
I tought the weird names of the potions ingredients were to mask the ingredients so non-initiated could't grasp and reproduce them. Like A romans girls tears/menstruals blood woulb be Rosmarinus Officinalis oil or a virgins milk , butter etc.

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>>51942699
My two favorites. I always use them.

1)

>A solitary and condemned spot must be chosen, such as a cemetery haunted by evil spirits, an avoided ruin in the country, the vaults of an abandoned convent, a place where some murder has been committed, a druidic altar or an old temple of idols. A black seamless and sleeveless robe must be provided ; a leaden cap emblazoned with the signs of the moon, Venus, and Saturn ; two candles of human fat set in black wooden candlesticks, carved in the shape of a crescent ; two crowns of vervain; a magical sword with a black handle; the magical fork; a copper vase containing the blood of the victim ; a censer holding the perfumes, namely,
incense, camphor, aloes, ambergris, and storax, kneaded with the blood of a goat, a mole, and a bat ; four nails taken from the coffin of an executed criminal ; the head of a black cat which has been nourished on human flesh for five days ; a bat drowned in blood ;

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>>51951081
>the horns of a goat cum quo puella conciibuerit ; and the skull of a parricide. All these hideous and scarcely obtainable objects having been collected, they must be arranged as follows : A perfect circle is traced by the sword, with a break, or way of issuing, on one side; a triangle is drawn in the circle, and the pentacle thus formed is coloured with blood ; at one of the angles of the triangle a chafing-dish is placed, and this should have been included among the indispensable objects already enumerated; at the opposite base of the triangle three little circles are described for the operator and his two assistants ; behind that of the operator the sign of the labarum or monogram of Constantine is drawn, not with the blood of the victim, but with the operator's own blood. The operator and his assistants must have bare feet and covered heads. The skin of the immolated victim must be also brought to the place, and, being cut into strips, must be placed within the circle, forming a second and inner circle, fixed at four corners by the four nails from the coffin already mentioned. Hard by the nails, but outside the circle, must be placed the head of the cat, the human or rather inhuman skull, the horns of the goat, and the bat ; they must be sprinkled with a branch of birch dipped in the blood of the victim, and then a fire of cypress and alderwood must be lighted, the two magical candles being placed on the right and left of the operator, encircled with the wreaths of vervain.

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>>51951109
2)

>A toad that sat under a cold rock for a month, oozing poison from its pores. Fillet of a fenny snake, Eye of newt and toe of frog, Wool of bat and tongue of dog, Adder’s fork and blind-worm’s sting, Lizard’s leg and owlet’s wing, Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf, Witches' mummy, maw and gulf of the ravined salt-sea shark, Root of hemlock digged i' th' dark, Liver of blaspheming Jew, Gall of goat and slips of yew Slivered in the moon’s eclipse, Nose of Turk and Tartar’s lips, Finger of birth-strangled babe Ditch-delivered by a drab, a tiger’s chaudron, baboon’s blood,

>>51942699

Ingredients:
135g/4¾oz plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
2 tbsp caster sugar
130ml/4½fl oz milk
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 tbsp melted butter (allowed to cool slightly) or olive oil, plus extra for cooking

Ritual:
>Sift the flour, baking powder, salt and caster sugar into a large bowl. In a separate bowl or jug, lightly whisk together the milk and egg, then whisk in the melted butter.
>Pour the milk mixture into the flour mixture and, using a fork, beat until you have a smooth batter. Any lumps will soon disappear with a little mixing. Let the batter stand for a few minutes.
>Heat a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat and add a knob of butter. When it's melted, add a ladle of batter (or two if your frying pan is big enough to cook two pancakes at the same time). It will seem very thick but this is how it should be. Wait until the top of the pancake begins to bubble, then turn it over and cook until both sides are golden brown and the pancake has risen to about 1cm (½in) thick.
>Repeat until all the batter is used up. You can keep the pancakes warm in a low oven, but they taste best fresh out the pan.
>Serve with lashings of real maple syrup and extra butter if you like.