Voodoo Doll: Rid yourself of someone who is mentally abusing you

If someone constantly gets inside your head, a simple “banishing” may not always describe what you actually want.

Maybe you don’t want revenge.

Maybe you don’t want to hurt them.

You simply want their ability to interfere with your peace to end.

That is where a binding can make more sense.

A poppet gives you a physical representation of the person while the binding establishes a magical boundary around the behavior you want stopped. The goal here is not to control every part of their life. It is to restrict the behavior that is affecting you.

What Is a Poppet Binding?

A poppet is a physical object used to represent a person within sympathetic magic.

For this type of working, the poppet gives your intention something concrete to act upon.

You are not required to believe that the doll literally becomes the person.

Think of it as a magical stand-in.

The important part is deciding what exactly you want to bind.

“Make them disappear” is vague.

“Stop contacting me,” “stop harassing me,” or “stop having influence over my thoughts and emotional state” gives the working a much clearer direction.

When to Use This Working

This type of binding may be appropriate when someone repeatedly:

• insults or humiliates you
• manipulates you
• harasses you
• spreads harmful rumors about you
• repeatedly contacts you after being told to stop
• tries to provoke emotional reactions
• uses intimidation or psychological pressure against you

If the person is physically dangerous, stalking you, threatening you, or controlling you through violence, do not rely on magic alone.

Document what is happening and use whatever practical safety measures are appropriate for your situation.

A magical working can support a boundary.

It cannot replace one.

What You Need

Keep the setup uncomplicated:

• a small poppet or handmade figure
• black thread, cord, or ribbon
• a piece of paper
• a pen
• a candle appropriate to your practice
• a fireproof container if you intend to burn the petition
• a personal link to the person, if you already have one

A personal concern can be useful in sympathetic magic, but it is not the entire working. BWC’s own material on personal concerns describes things such as hair, nails, handwriting, and photographs as traditional links used to connect magical work to a particular person.

You do not need to collect something from someone without their knowledge simply to perform this working.

A name, photograph, or clear mental representation can be enough for many practitioners.

The Poppet Binding

1. Define exactly what you are stopping

Before touching the poppet, write down the behavior you want restricted.

Be specific.

For example:

“I am binding this person’s ability to harass, intimidate, manipulate, or deliberately disturb me.”

If there is one particular behavior causing the problem, name it instead.

The narrower the intention, the easier it is to keep the working focused.

2. Prepare the poppet

Give the poppet a clear connection to the person.

Write their name on a piece of paper and place it with the poppet, or attach the name directly to it.

If you have a photograph or an existing personal concern, you may use that as an additional link.

Then hold the poppet and establish what it represents.

You are not asking the doll to become the person.

You are telling your magical mind:

This represents the source of the behavior I am restricting.

3. Establish your own boundary first

Before binding the poppet, spend a few moments focusing on yourself.

Imagine your personal space becoming closed to the person’s influence.

Their words stop at the boundary.

Their manipulation stops at the boundary.

Their attempts to provoke you stop at the boundary.

This step is important because the working is not only about the other person.

It is about where you stop allowing their behavior to reach you.

4. Bind the poppet

Wrap the cord around the poppet slowly.

As you make each wrap, name something you are restricting.

For example:

Their harassment is restrained.

Their intimidation is restrained.

Their unwanted contact is restrained.

Their ability to disturb my peace is restrained.

Use your own words if those don’t fit your situation.

There is no need to repeat someone else’s ritual language.

The physical act of wrapping the cord is the important symbolic movement: the behavior is being restricted rather than encouraged.

5. Strengthen the boundary

Once the poppet is bound, place it somewhere stable.

Look at it and return to the original intention.

Do not spend this part of the working imagining elaborate punishment.

Instead, picture the person unable to cross the boundary you have established.

They attempt to provoke you, but nothing reaches you.

They attempt to interfere, but the path is closed.

They attempt to pull you back into the same cycle, but there is nothing for them to grab onto.

The emphasis is restriction and separation.

6. Close the working

Take the paper containing your petition and decide how you want to complete the working.

You can tear it up, safely burn it in a fireproof container, or keep it with the bound poppet according to your own tradition.

If using fire, keep the container on a stable, heat-resistant surface and never leave a flame unattended.

Once the working is complete, stop feeding it with constant attention.

Put the poppet away.

Then return to your ordinary life.

Why That Order?

The order matters because this working begins with your boundary, not the other person’s punishment.

First you define the behavior. Then you create the magical representation. Next you establish your own boundary before physically binding the poppet.

That prevents the working from becoming an emotional exercise where you spend the entire ritual thinking about how much you hate the person.

The cord then gives the intention a physical action: the unwanted behavior is being restricted.

Finally, you close the working and step away.

That last part matters more than people sometimes realize.

If you continue obsessing over the target every day, you are still giving the situation your attention.

A binding should create distance, not become another reason to stay emotionally connected.

What About the Dark Moon?

The original BWC version specifically instructed practitioners to perform this working when the Moon was dark.

You can retain that correspondence if lunar timing is part of your practice.

A dark or waning Moon can symbolically fit work involving reduction, withdrawal, removal, and diminishing an unwanted influence.

But don’t turn timing into a rule that overrides your circumstances.

If someone is actively harassing or threatening you, you do not need to wait for a particular lunar phase before establishing practical boundaries.

Do You Need Blood?

No.

The old version included a blood component, but there is no reason to reproduce it simply because it appeared in the original ritual.

A petition, name, photograph, or other symbolic link can serve the purpose without introducing unnecessary risk.

If your tradition specifically incorporates blood magic, that is a separate magical choice and should be treated as such—not as a requirement for every binding.

Binding Is Not the Same as Revenge

This distinction is worth keeping clear.

A revenge working says:

“I want something bad to happen to you.”

A binding says:

“I am restricting your ability to interfere with me.”

Those are different intentions.

You may personally choose more aggressive forms of magic in other circumstances, but there is no reason to turn every protective working into a curse.

Sometimes the strongest magical response is simply:

You no longer have access to me.

What Happens After the Binding?

Don’t spend every day checking whether the other person has changed.

That puts your attention right back where you don’t want it.

Instead, look at your own life.

Are you less reactive?

Are you thinking about them less?

Have you stopped engaging with their messages?

Are your boundaries clearer?

Have you blocked them where appropriate?

Are you no longer giving them opportunities to pull you into the same cycle?

Those changes matter.

Magic and mundane action work much better together when they are pointing in the same direction.

A Binding Does Not Replace Leaving

If you are dealing with emotional or psychological abuse, remember what the working is actually for.

It is not a substitute for leaving an abusive situation.

It is not a substitute for blocking someone.

It is not a substitute for seeking help.

It is not a substitute for creating a safety plan.

The magic is there to reinforce the boundary you are already establishing.

The goal is not to spend another month thinking about the person while repeatedly renewing a spell against them.

The goal is to get your space back.

The Real Purpose of the Poppet

The old version of this article focused heavily on the mechanics of binding the doll. The more useful lesson is what the poppet represents.

You are taking a situation that has been occupying your mind and giving it a defined magical boundary.

You decide what behavior is no longer welcome.

You establish where that influence ends.

You bind the interference.

Then you walk away from it.

That is a much more useful way to approach protective binding than treating the poppet as a toy for revenge.

You are not trying to own the other person. You are reclaiming your own space.