Nailed It
Spikes, Shadows, and the Power to Stick
Hola, Miracles ~
While much of magic is concerned with change and transformation, there are also times in life when what we are seeking is less change, less movement, and more stability. More certainty. Times when we want to nail something down and keep it there.
My favorite example of this from childhood is Peter Pan’s need to fix his shadow back to himself. Wendy with her needle and thread, stitching the shadow to the boy so it wouldn’t slip away again. That is a storybook case of nailing something down. And like most good fairy tales, it points to something real.
Outside of fairy tales, when we encounter a situation we want to stabilize and keep fixed to ourselves—a great new job, a piece of land we feel called to protect, a hard-won state of health, a sense of identity we’ve fought to reclaim—then we are ready to enact this kind of magic.
But as Sacred Artists and soulful seekers, we always begin our outer magical work with some inner questions. This helps us gain clarity about what we are actually trying to accomplish and enables us to write the best petition for our ritual work once we are ready to move forward.
Before nailing or pinning anything down, it is important to get clear on what exactly you want to nail down and why.
For instance, you may want to nail down a piece of land that has been in your family for many generations, one that a sibling now wishes to sell. If your intention is to nail down that property and then live on it or maintain it in perpetuity, then all is well. But if your intention is to nail it down now and then sell a few years later at a higher rate, be aware: once you have nailed down something, it is deeply connected to you. Selling, getting rid of, or exchanging the nailed-down item for something else may become quite complicated.
This is because when we magically work to nail something down, we are expressing through ritual a deep and abiding commitment to whatever it is we want to stabilize and secure. That commitment works both ways. If done properly, the nailed-down item will be stabilized and secured. And you will also be on the hook, responsible for it going forward.
For this reason, it makes sense to only nail down things that you really can consistently show up for and be committed to.
What Can Be Nailed Down
Land and Homes
In the oldest rites for nailing or pinning down something—rites which we can find the world over in various forms—land, and later homes, are usually the first items that are secured. A piece of land may be nailed down so that it remains in a specific community or family line forever. A home may be nailed down so that it remains connected to a specific piece of land, individual person, entire community, or specific family line.
Because in so many cultures even today obtaining “ownership” or stewardship over a piece of land is a mark of success and viewed as the beginning of a new and better life, the act of nailing down a piece of land or any dwellings upon it is still quite popular. During the housing crisis in America, I saw a spike (pun 100% intended) in my own practice of people asking to have their land or property nailed down so that it would not go into foreclosure—or so that, if it had, they could get it back.
Jobs
Like land and homes, many of us have an ideal job, and once we attain it we may choose to stabilize the situation by nailing it down. This is usually performed with high-earning jobs or dream jobs.
It is not advisable for jobs where there is room for promotion and advancement, because when you nail down a job you nail down that specific job and position, often making later advancement more difficult for yourself. In certain cases, the intention may be not only to nail down the job but also to nail down the moment when the individual is at the height of their earning potential. So if you love your job and know that you are making as much money as you can possibly make from it, then you might consider nailing it down.
Relationships
There are some relationships that can very much benefit from being nailed down. Typically these are not romantic in nature but beneficial in some specific way—such as a mentor/mentee relationship, or a relationship between a source of spiritual support (like a minister or priestess) and an individual who is unstable and trying to become more stable, such as someone in recovery.
Another situation where I have seen relationships positively nailed down is between individuals who are chronically ill or differently abled and a medical team that they have a great rapport with.
The risk that nailing down a relationship runs is that the relationship becomes stagnant, outdated, and then difficult to move on from when the time is right. For this reason, while nailing down relationships that need to be fixed and stable is tempting, I always prefer (and advise) that people work with something less coercive, like a sugar jar.
Health
Good health can be nailed down, as can a certain level of fitness, youth, or even an ideal weight. Again, think carefully and feel into the situation before taking action.
If you are one of those people constantly seeking to improve your health, appearance, or waistline (I’m looking at you, Virgos - with love!!!), then nailing down a specific moment in time will frustrate you as it becomes difficult to improve upon it. If, however, you have just come out of cancer treatment and received the good news that you are cancer free, then you may well want to nail down that moment.
Finances
One of my friends used to run a hedge fund on Wall Street, and he told me that everyone should have a number. A financial, monetary number that, once reached, is enough. Everyone’s number is different of course, depending on what your needs actually are, but everyone should have one.
If you know your number, then when you attain it you may want to nail it down, ensuring that you do not dip beneath it.
Identity
While in most cases a sense of semi-fluid and shifting identity is beneficial and keeps us from becoming overly fixed into a single way of being or too rigid, in some cases an individual really will benefit more from a definite and fixed sense of identity.
This can be a very useful magical support for people who experience a regular loss of a sense of self due to external events that they only have limited control over, or internal situations (such as mental disequilibrium) that they are actively working with and treating.
For minority and disenfranchised groups, there is a great deal of work to be done around reclaiming a healthy and proper sense of personal as well as group identity. So when that work is done and an individual feels that they have really uncovered and reclaimed their true, essential self, they may want to nail that down as well.
Mastery
Skill building and development, when practiced consistently, can lead to mastery. While true masters are the first to tell us that they never stop learning, there are certain times when individuals may want to nail down a specific skill that they have mastered so that they have access to it going forward.
The challenge with this is that it can keep you from expanding your knowledge and learning even more.
Accountability Situations
A new exercise regime, nutrition plan, daily practice, or any kind of situation where you want to be disciplined and accountable is also game for being nailed down.
Again, the limitation here is that if the system stops being supportive or needs to be changed in some way, it becomes much harder to do that.
Baneful Situations
Occasionally in our lives we experience malevolent energies, evil situations, or people that need to be nailed down not so that they are stabilized but rather so that they are immobilized and cannot harm any longer.
Some traditions refer to this as binding, and it can be done as a literal binding. But in situations like this we can also work with nails to great effect.
Tools for Nailing Down
Old Railroad Spikes
These are the big spikes used to connect and nail down railroad tracks. They are worked with almost exclusively in nailing down pieces of property or physical dwellings.
Railroad spikes are especially valued for this kind of magic because they are made of iron, which is an incredibly magical material with deep protective qualities. You cannot pry them out of railroad tracks because that will make trains derail. You can pick them up alongside the tracks, although technically that is illegal unless you have the permission of the railway company. You can also purchase them from some spiritual suppliers.
Old Iron Nails (usually square cut)
These are old-fashioned nails used primarily in woodworking that can still be found at a good hardware store, on the web, and in stock with certain spiritual suppliers. They are usually made of iron, which as stated above is beloved for its magical, specifically protective, qualities.
Iron nails can be worked with in place of railroad spikes when the land or dwelling that needs to be nailed down is smaller or the nailing down needs to be more subtle.
Pins or Needles
Pins or needles can be worked with in nailing down items from all of the above categories with the exception of land or dwellings. Silver pins and needles are the best to work with, but any kind can do in a pinch.
Coffin Nails
These are exactly what they sound like: nails that were used in the construction of a coffin.
Coffin nails are worked with when a baneful situation is being addressed or when someone wants their ancestral lines to support them in their work.
Techniques for Nailing Down
Land and Homes
When it comes to nailing down land or a physical dwelling, the process is pretty straightforward.
In the case of a physical dwelling, you will need to note every corner of the dwelling. Many houses have four corners, but some have more depending on the shape and size of the house. You are looking at the outer corners of the home, the ones you can see when you walk around the building.
In the case of a piece of land, you need to note the exact shape of the lot and how many corners it has.
Once you know how many corners you are working with, procure that number of railroad spikes or iron nails.
During sunrise, go out and begin placing spikes in the ground at the corners you have noted. The spikes need to go into the ground and should be driven in all the way so that only their tops are flush against the ground. This may take some preparation on your part, as you may need to deal with materials like concrete or asphalt that cannot have spikes driven into them with ease.
There is no workaround for this. If you want to nail down the property or dwelling, the spike or nail needs to go directly into the ground.
As you nail in each spike, recite your petition or prayer. You can pray straight from your heart or you can use the following petition:
Blessed Ones in whom I live, move, and breathe. From you all emerges and unto you it shall return. Aid and assist me as I work in nailing down [name whatever you are nailing down] so that it is safe, secure, stable, and bound to me as I am bound to it ever more. May it be so. Amen.
Move in a clockwise manner until all nails have been driven into the ground.
Within the now-nailed perimeter, find a healthy tree and make an offering of fresh water to the tree, thanking the land spirits for working with you.
At this point, cultivate calmness and then go into a light trance and ask the land spirits if there is anything they need from you to keep the land or property safe. They may ask for something specific. If they do, and if you agree to provide it to them, then you can leave a bit of the offering on each of the nail heads. For instance, if the spirits of the land ask for tobacco, you can leave a pinch on each nail head. If they ask for water, you might pour a bit over each nail head.
Activate the protection and permanence of the nails by sprinkling some of your urine on each nail. This may sound unpleasant, but it is an old school and still widely practiced (believe me here) way of marking a specific territory as yours.
Note: In my experience and the experience of my clients, you will have the best working relationship with a piece of nailed-down land or property if you go into that relationship with the attitude that you are a caretaker or tender as opposed to owner.
Everything Else
In all of the other cases, the nailing-down process is slightly different.
You will need a picture of yourself and then something on a piece of paper that represents whatever you wish to nail down. So for instance, if you want to nail down a job, then you need a current picture of yourself and the job title written out. You will do this work at the base of a healthy and vital tree.
Write your full legal name over your picture three times.
Align your picture with the paper that has the image or words describing whatever you are nailing down on it so that your picture faces inward towards the image or words describing your target. (Pro tip: use a bit of honey to stick the two pieces of paper together so that there is sweetness.)
If you have personal concerns you want to work with for this, such as hair or nails, then you would place them in between the two pieces of paper.
Place the papers on the ground in front of the tree. Once you are ready, pray out loud or use the petition given above.
If you are working with an iron nail, then drive one single iron nail through the center of the papers until the nail is all the way into the ground.
If you are working with pins or needles, drive one down in each of the four corners of the papers and then a fifth in the center of the paper until they are all the way down in the ground.
Cover up the paper packet with dirt. You may work with graveyard dirt from an ancestor if you would like to include your ancestors in on the work.
Cover up the area so that the papers are well and truly buried in the ground. Thank the tree and make an offering of fresh water to it. Cultivate calmness and then go into a light trance to find out if there is anything else the land spirits might need or ask of you before you depart.
Baneful Situations
If you are nailing down a baneful situation or toxic person, then the intention is to restrict and immobilize said situation or individual, so your petitions and prayers will be modified to reflect that.
This is where you would employ coffin nails if you wish to call on the aid of the Beloved Dead to assist and support you in incapacitating the predator or predatory situation. In this case you would not work with an image of yourself (or any of the victims of the individual or situation). Rather, you would work with an image or written description of the situation, and you would take the paper to a graveyard.
For work like this, I was taught to seek out the aid of a departed spirit who was a soldier in their living life—a good soldier, or in some cases an honest law enforcement officer. If you have ancestors in your family line who were either, then you can work directly with them. If not, then you will need to do some research and feel into the various spirits at the graveyard to determine who is willing to work with you and what they might want in return.
Once you have done that work, you can take the paper to the grave of the spirit you are working with.
If you have personal concerns, fold them up into the paper, then place it on the ground approximately where the departed person’s feet would be. This placement is symbolic of your spirit helper bringing the individual or situation you are seeking to immobilize “to heel.”
Drive a coffin nail into each corner of the paper and then one into the center of the paper until the nails are flush against the ground.
Cover over the paper with extra dirt from the graveside.
Leave an offering of fresh water, plastic or fresh flowers, and coins to thank and pay the spirit for helping you in your endeavor. If anything else was promised to the spirit, then make sure you pay it.
After this kind of work, it is always a good idea to follow up with a spiritual bath.
Timing Your Work
As with all magic, timing matters.
For nailing down work that is about stabilizing, securing, and protecting—land, homes, jobs, health, finances, identity, mastery, relationships, accountability—work during the waxing moon (when the moon is growing from new to full) or on the full moon itself. This is the time of increase, of building, of making things solid and substantial.
For nailing down work that is about restricting, immobilizing, and stopping harm—baneful situations, toxic people, predatory circumstances—work during the waning moon (when the moon is shrinking from full to new) or on the dark moon. This is the time of decrease, of binding, of bringing things to heel and to a halt.
If you can align your work with the appropriate moon phase, do so. If the situation is urgent and you cannot wait, proceed anyway. The magic will still work. But when you have the luxury of time, let the moon be your ally.
Working with spikes, nails, pins, and needles is often considered more coercive magic. There is an edge to it, a forcefulness that some do not appreciate or approve of. I can understand the hesitation.
But I love this kind of magic precisely because it makes us get really clear about what our intentions are and why we are doing what we are doing. There are moments and places and times where we need to be more solid, fixed, stable, and sure-footed. Where we need to know that we are both protected and stabilized.
This is the magic that speaks to those needs. It is old. It is simple. It is deeply practical. And it is accessible to all.
So don’t be afraid to go out and nail it.
xoxo,
Bri
P.S. If you’re drawn to this kind of practical, rooted magic and want to go deeper, I send out a monthly missive to my Milagro Roots subscribers that dives into a specific theme, explores how each Sacred Arts Archetype meets with it, and concludes with a practice or ceremony. If you want in, make sure you’re subscribed to that list right HERE. If you don’t know your Sacred Arts Archetype, you can get that information (and discover your ideal daily practice) right HERE.
And if you’re dealing with a baneful situation that needs more than a nail—if you need ongoing, fierce protection with teeth—you can always join the Venom Vessel.
How do you undo this kind of work?