Cinnamon is the dried inner bark of an East Indian tree. In addition to its use as a condiment, cinnamon has been credited with amatory implications.
The Atharva Veda is a Sanskrit text dealing with thaumaturgic procedures, magic formulas, incantations, and prescriptions affecting various emotional circumstances. A magic invocation, intended to excite feminine passion in a particular woman, runs this:
With the all-powerful arrow of Love do I pierce thy heart, O woman! Love, love that causes unease, that will overcome thee, love for me! That arrow, flying true and straight, will cause in thee burning desire. It has the point of my love, its shaft is my determination to possess thee!
Yea, thy heart is pierced. The arrow has struck home. I have overcome by these arts thy reluctance, thou art changed! Come to me, submissive, without pride, but only longing! Thy mother will be powerless to prevent thy coming, neither shall thy father be able to prevent thee! Thou art completely in my power.
O Mitra, O Varuna, strip her of will power! I, I alone, wield power over the heart and mind of my beloved!
A woman, on the other hand, may secure a man’s love by the following supplication:
I am possessed by burning love for this man: and this love comes to me from Apsaras, who is victorious ever. Let the man yearn for me, desire me, let his desire burn for me! Let this love come forth from the spirit, and enter him.
Let him desire me as nothing has been desired before! I love him, want him: he must feel this same desire for me!
O Maruts, let him become filled with love. O Spirit of the Air, fill him with love. O Agni, let him burn with love for me!