Anyone familiar with spell jars? I found one while metal detecting...
I metal detect for exercise & sanity.
Now on to the Q...
This was a jar buried under a tree. It was intact & inside were long thin sticks-bound by knotted chord. It was old & the chord/sticks were starting to decay. But it was obviously a spell jar. I put it back & re-covered as I don't want to mess with mojo.
I found a 1/2 dollar coin about a foot away just after. It may or may not have been associated with the jar but it was going in my pocket. So I put a candy cane treat on the jar and again covered it with soil. Found a silver 52 quarter soon after so my luck was intact...
Just curious if it was a binding spell or what. It didn't seem malicious.
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The 1st time I found one it was probably a bad mojo spell. I was on a beach on the Columbia river. A cast iron mini pot was sitting on the beach. To my surprise it was sealed with concrete/shells on the top & was buoyant enough to have washed ashore.
I detected for a hour before curiosity got the better of me. I took the pot & cast it against a rock easily shattering it. It was ugly inside-a mix of fluids & herbs/ nuts and 2 bandanas. I cleaned it up as best possible & tossed it in the garbage.
Detecting further I came back to the area I broke the kettle & found a coin-that looked like it had been in the kettle. And then another...
I went back to the garbage can & emptied the contents. Inside were more coins-including a silver dollar from the early 1800's. But it was rusty-a dead giveaway & it stuck hard to my magnet. If real that coin would be over $40K...
The rest of the coins were common change & fairly recent.
I posted that one on a metal detector forum & the consensus was very bad mojo meant to harm...
That was many years ago and as a innocent finder I was unaffected knock on wood...
= new reply since forum marked as read
He got a good detector (maybe $600 new) and was in touch with university experts to help pinpoint estimated landing areas of meteorites. After 2 or 3 years of occasional hunting he discovered that his detector was still set on the factory default--he'd never changed to the correct setting for detecting meteorites. 
Response to underahedgerow (Reply #3)
Jar spells are a "thing" in some traditions, but they seem to exist in some form or another in just about any of the folk magics. Some folks do them for healing or protection, some do them up to "bind" or prevent harm from somebody else's bad intent or even share bad intent, sometimes it is for love or to attract money--just depends on what the need is at the time.
Spell jars are sometimes used to concentrate the intent or to keep it going for a while (for example, they'd use them in a love spell to keep the love strong or a money spell to keep the wealth around for a while.) Sometimes they are a way to get rid of bad luck or an evil wish. Cast that negative into running water or bury it in the earth where it is neutralized, so to speak. My sister in law was an anthropological archaeologist, and she used to get really excited to find old latrines because people would throw stuff like this or stuff they wanted to hide into the crapper. (Nobody spends much time poking around there--ya know?)
My guess is that anything you are finding with a metal detector probably is long past its intended use.
Laura
And I have a privy probe myself....
I come across bottle dumps at times. Most are not very old-20's to 50's era. I'm in the Portland Oregon area & the true settlement areas are mostly gone.
But where that jar was found is one of the last old dirt hunting spots. And I have done well there with patience. And I have definitely come to have great admiration for those who lived there. I have dug up a lot of the items from daily life as the easy pickins silver is long gone.
I'm in it for exercise & definitely love the hobby.
Privies-I've never found a old one. But when I find a bottle intact I -by coincidence-I slow down & maybe fetch my probe. Bottles are cool but around here rarely old.
I got so excited when I found my 1st mason jar. I was sure it would be intact & full of coins. Not so much. I've found hundreds-many with the milk glass lid intact if I dig carefully. But coins stashed-not my luck as of yet. Not going to stop trying however.
Individual drops I've found my share & then some. But no cache or humongous diamond. It can & does happen however so I can dream.
And having a hobby that has such a connection to history-I just wish I had done this years ago. I started due to a sleep disorder & needed a steady exercise. It has been a godsend.
Thanks for the reply. The jar is still there & will likely go to dust where it was lain. I respect the traditions & such. The kettle pot one-not so much. Creepy serious creepy.
Thanks!
