Quick answer: Cuffing season is the stretch from roughly October to February when more people look for a steady partner. In 2026, the timing matters: Venus is retrograde until November 13, which favors clearing and preparing rather than drawing someone new. Use the days before November 13 to release old attachments and get clear on what you want. Begin love-drawing work once Venus turns direct.
The days are shorter. The group chat is full of couples' costume photos. Someone has already asked, "So, are you bringing anyone to Thanksgiving?"
And you want more than someone to fill a seat at the table. You want someone who texts back. Someone who makes the cold months feel warm instead of long.
If you have been feeling that pull, you are right on time. You just need to know which part of the work to do first.
What is cuffing season?
Cuffing season is the popular name for the colder months, roughly October through February, when many single people start looking for a committed partner rather than something casual. The holidays, the shorter days and the pull to stay in all make companionship feel more urgent.
There is nothing shallow about wanting that. Wanting to be held through the dark part of the year is about as human as it gets.
Why timing matters for love this year
Venus, the planet of love and attraction, has been retrograde since October 3. Mercury joined her on October 24. Both turn direct on November 13.
During a Venus retrograde, the past tends to return: exes, old feelings, unfinished business. It is a powerful time for reviewing, clearing and healing in love, but traditionally not the best time to draw someone new. Many practitioners wait for Venus to station direct before beginning love-drawing work.
That gives you a clear plan for this month:
Now until November 13: clear and prepare.
November 13 onward: draw new love.
If you start drawing work before you have cleared the old, you can end up attracting the same patterns in a new face.
Organic dried linden flower, traditionally kept in folk practice for gentle love work, luck, protection and peaceful sleep workings. The flowers have a long place in European folk magic and later Western magical practice.
Dried red to pink rose petals, the oldest and most trusted flower in the love worker's cabinet. You'll find them on altars and in baths and mojo bags across Southern conjure and the Western herbal tradition alike.
Rise from the waves radiant. A soft, glowing anointing oil honoring Aphrodite, for beauty, pleasure, magnetic attraction and learning to adore yourself first.
The ocean holds everything. A cool, cleansing anointing oil inspired by Yemaya, Orisha of the sea and motherhood, for emotional healing, nurturing and gentle protection.
Golden, sweet and irresistible. A honey-bright anointing oil inspired by Oshun, the Orisha of sweet waters, love and abundance, for sweetness, beauty and prosperity that flows.
Open Heart is a gentle heart chakra ritual herbal tea for love, compassion, tenderness, and emotional openness. Part of the Seven Sacred Centers collection, this floral blend of rose petals, hawthorn leaf & flower, lemon balm, and lavender was created for rituals inspired by the Heart Chakra (Anahata) and the practice of giving and receiving love with greater softness.
The Inner Fortress Anointing Oil from House of Cleo Devine is a ritual oil created to encourage resilience, emotional steadiness, inner confidence, and the specific quality of remaining genuinely centered during life's challenges rather than simply white-knuckling your way through them.
Love Finds Me is a caffeine-free love attraction ritual tea for new love, romance, openness, and calling more connection into your life. Part of the Love, Romance & Desire collection, this lush floral-spiced blend of rose petals, hibiscus, cinnamon, and orange peel was created for rituals centered on becoming receptive to the love you want to welcome.
Raw Rose Quartz Necklace, worn for self-love, compassion & heart stone. A small everyday talisman you can carry anywhere.
First Bloom — The Maiden is a loose leaf ritual herbal tea inspired by the Maiden archetype, the first figure in House of Cleo Devine’s Maiden • Mother • Crone collection. This blend is designed for new beginning rituals, fresh starts, intention setting, personal reinvention, curiosity, and stepping across the threshold into something new.
Isis Unveiled is a loose leaf ritual herbal tea inspired by Isis—Egyptian Aset, one of the most important goddesses of ancient Egypt, associated with divine power, protection, motherhood, kingship, healing traditions, and formidable magical knowledge. This is designed for Isis devotional practice, goddess altar offerings, divine feminine ritual, personal sovereignty, sacred magic, and self-devotion.
Freya’s Favor is a loose leaf ritual herbal tea inspired by Freya, the Norse goddess associated with love, beauty, desire, fertility, magic, wealth, and precious things. This blend is designed for love and abundance rituals, Freya devotional practice, prosperity work, beauty rituals, altar offerings, and feminine sovereignty.
Aphrodite’s Garden is a loose leaf ritual herbal tea inspired by Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, beauty, pleasure, desire, and procreation.
Honeymoon Phase Crystal Bar Necklace, worn for rose quartz amethyst. A small everyday talisman you can carry anywhere.
Reach for Sweet Submission for chemistry, allure and attention you can feel. One of our house ritual oils, made by hand.
Reach for Adam & Eve for chemistry, bonding, and imtimacy you can feel. One of our house ritual oils, made by hand.
Reach for Soft Life for opening doors and calling your goals closer. One of our house ritual oils, made by hand.
Made for drawing romance, warmth, openness, and real connection, Love Spell is blended by hand in small batches for candle work, petitions and anointing.
The Self First Anointing Oil is a ritual oil created to cultivate self-respect, confidence, emotional healing, and the specific quality of becoming the kind of partner you hope to attract, beginning with the relationship you are already in, the one with yourself.
The Magnetic Heart Anointing Oil is a ritual oil designed for becoming emotionally open, genuinely approachable, and naturally magnetic in the specific way that attracts healthy, mutual, and genuinely respectful relationships rather than the kind that are exciting at the surface and disappointing at the depth.
This is a ritual oil designed for those seeking emotionally aligned, authentic, and deeply compatible romantic connections rather than temporary attraction.
The Honeyed Hearts Anointing Oil is a ritual oil inspired by traditional sweetening work, crafted to encourage kindness, patience, empathy, and more loving communication between people.
Grab our glamour ritual oil crafted to attract love, deepen beauty, amplify creative energy, and invite the kind of harmonious, genuinely reciprocal relationships that the Venus frequency is specifically known for.
A crystal talisman for transformation, protection & heart stone. Lovely alone, beautiful stacked with your favorites.
Divine Feminine is a hand-blended ritual oil for feminine power, beauty and magnetism. Dress a candle or anoint your pulse points to set the intention.
A crystal talisman for self-love heart chakra healing. Lovely alone, beautiful stacked with your favorites.
Pink Tourmaline Cube Bracelet, worn for love, healing & heart chakra. A small everyday talisman you can carry anywhere.
Part 1: Prepare for love now (through November 13)
1. Cut the cords that keep pulling you back
If part of you is still waiting on an old flame, new love has nowhere to land. Notice who you check on, who you compare new people to, and whose name still makes your chest tighten.
If an old connection keeps draining you, Energy Vampire Banishing is worked to break someone's spiritual access to you so you can move forward. If you have felt blocked in love for a long time, Uncrossing Spiritual Cleansing is often chosen before love-drawing work to clear away what has built up.
2. Clear the road
Some people are not missing chemistry. They are stuck in a loop of the wrong people, the near misses, and the dates that never turn into a second date.
The Love Road Opener is worked to clear stalled patterns in your love life so new romantic opportunities have room to reach you. It focuses on opening your path, not on drawing a specific person, so it fits this preparation window well.
3. Write the list, and be honest
On a sheet of paper, write two lists: what you want to feel with a partner, and what you will no longer accept. Be specific. "Kind" is good. "Calls when he says he will" is better.
Keep the list somewhere private. You will use it again on November 13.
4. Come back to yourself
The most magnetic people are rarely the ones trying hardest. They are the ones who feel at home in their own skin.
Anoint your pulse points each morning with Born of Seafoam, our Aphrodite oil for self-love and attraction, or Mirror of Hathor, our Hathor oil for joy, confidence and glamour. Wear what makes you feel beautiful. Go where you love to go. You want new love to find you mid-life, not mid-wait.
5. Release on the new moon
The new moon in Scorpio on November 9 is a natural point for release. Write down the old relationship, pattern or belief you are done carrying, and burn it safely. Our new moon guide walks through the full ritual.
Spiritual cord cutting ritual altar with candle, herbs, and parchment for emotional attachment release
Part 2: Draw new love (November 13 onward)
When Venus turns direct, the energy shifts from looking back to moving forward. This is when love-drawing work traditionally comes into its own.
A simple love-drawing candle ritual
On the evening of November 13, or any Friday after it, since Friday is Venus's day:
Take out the list you wrote.
Anoint a pink or red candle with Honey of the River, our Oshun oil for sweetness and love, or Freyja's Gold for sensuality and confidence. Rub the oil from the ends toward the middle to draw love in.
Place the list under the candle.
Light it and read your list aloud, slowly.
Let the candle burn while you stay in the room, and snuff it when you are done.
Which love-drawing working is right for you?
If you want support beyond your own ritual, each of these works differently:
New Love Attraction Spell opens the way to new romance and compatible partners. It suits you if you are open to possibilities and want more good options.
Come to Me Love Drawing Spell calls new romantic attention and potential partners toward you. It suits you if you are ready to be pursued.
Soulmate Alignment Spell focuses on a deeply compatible, lasting partnership rather than more attention. It suits you if you are done with casual.
Siren Magnetism Spell is glamour work for presence, allure and being impossible to overlook. It suits you if you feel invisible right now.
All four focus on drawing love toward you, not on targeting a specific person. That is deliberate. The goal is love that chooses you freely.
When to book a love working
If you want your love-drawing working timed for after Venus turns direct, send us a private inquiry now and ask about timing. You can also book a Love Road Opener or cleansing working now, while it aligns with the retrograde, and follow it with drawing work after November 13.
Not sure where to start? Send us a private inquiry. Inquiries are answered within 24-48 hours, Monday through Friday.
Frequently asked questions
What is cuffing season? Cuffing season is the period from roughly October to February when many single people look for a committed relationship, often around the holidays.
When is the best time to do a love spell in 2026? Many practitioners wait until Venus turns direct on November 13, 2026, to begin love-drawing work. Before then, clearing and preparation work fits the retrograde better.
Can you do a love spell during Venus retrograde? You can, but retrograde traditionally favors reconciliation, healing and clearing over drawing someone new. For new love, many practitioners wait for Venus to go direct.
What is the best spell to attract a new partner? It depends on what you want. A love road opener clears blocks, a new love attraction spell draws compatible options, and a soulmate spell focuses on a lasting partnership.
What should I do before a love spell? Clear old attachments, get specific about what you want, and do some self-love work. Drawing work tends to be clearer when you are not still tied to the past.
Do love spells target a specific person? Our love-drawing workings focus on opening your path to compatible love rather than targeting or controlling a specific person.
Organic dried raspberry leaf, a humble household herb with a place in folk magic surrounding protection, love and fertility. The leaf is used rather than the fruit.
Organic dried linden flower, traditionally kept in folk practice for gentle love work, luck, protection and peaceful sleep workings. The flowers have a long place in European folk magic and later Western magical practice.
Cut and dried peppermint leaf, sharp and cool. Peppermint has a place in both cleansing work and money work across Southern conjure and the Western herbal tradition.
Dried red to pink rose petals, the oldest and most trusted flower in the love worker's cabinet. You'll find them on altars and in baths and mojo bags across Southern conjure and the Western herbal tradition alike.
Dried hibiscus flowers, the deep red calyces of the roselle plant, organically grown. A Venus herb kept close at hand for love and desire work.
A crystal talisman for self-love, compassion & heart healing pendant. Lovely alone, beautiful stacked with your favorites.
A crystal talisman for balance, growth & heart chakra. Lovely alone, beautiful stacked with your favorites.
Pink Tourmaline Cube Bracelet, worn for love, healing & heart chakra. A small everyday talisman you can carry anywhere.
Grab our glamour ritual oil crafted to attract love, deepen beauty, amplify creative energy, and invite the kind of harmonious, genuinely reciprocal relationships that the Venus frequency is specifically known for.
Use this ritual oil designed to attract new romantic opportunities, encourage meaningful connections, and amplify your natural magnetism when meeting new people.
The Honeyed Hearts Anointing Oil is a ritual oil inspired by traditional sweetening work, crafted to encourage kindness, patience, empathy, and more loving communication between people.
This is a ritual oil designed for those seeking emotionally aligned, authentic, and deeply compatible romantic connections rather than temporary attraction.
The Magnetic Heart Anointing Oil is a ritual oil designed for becoming emotionally open, genuinely approachable, and naturally magnetic in the specific way that attracts healthy, mutual, and genuinely respectful relationships rather than the kind that are exciting at the surface and disappointing at the depth.
This ritual oil is created to support peaceful conversations, mutual understanding, forgiveness, and the gentle, patient work of rebuilding emotional bridges where appropriate.
Reach for this ritual oil designed to nurture committed relationships through trust, loyalty, emotional intimacy, and the specific quality of long-term partnership that is built not in the beginning but in the sustained, daily middle of a relationship that has decided to last.
Made for drawing romance, warmth, openness, and real connection, Love Spell is blended by hand in small batches for candle work, petitions and anointing.
The Golden Hour Anointing Oil is a glamour ritual oil that encourages confidence, optimism, joyful energy, and the natural warmth and charisma that makes other people feel genuinely good simply from being in your orbit. It is built around feminine allure, beauty magic, and the power of being fully, radiantly yourself.
The Pink Moon Anointing Oil is a glamour ritual oil created for glow-up rituals, self-care practices, fresh starts, beauty routines, and the daily, cumulative work of embracing personal transformation with softness and genuine confidence.
This is a confidence ritual oil designed to help you become the leading character in your own life by cultivating courage, self-belief, confidence, and the specific quality of authentic self-expression that makes other people feel like they are witnessing something real rather than watching a performance.
The Come To Me Mojo Bag is a handcrafted love and attraction conjure bag created for drawing new romantic opportunities, meaningful connections, attraction, attention, and natural personal magnetism into your path.
Aphrodite’s Garden is a loose leaf ritual herbal tea inspired by Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, beauty, pleasure, desire, and procreation.
Raw Rose Quartz Necklace, worn for self-love, compassion & heart stone. A small everyday talisman you can carry anywhere.
The Hot Girl Healing Anointing Oil from House of Cleo Devine is a self-love ritual oil created to release insecurities, heal the heart, rebuild confidence from the inside out, and reconnect you with your most radiant self. It is designed to be used alongside the Hot Girl Healing self-love ritual and the heart chakra and self-worth crystal pieces in the collection, refreshing and strengthening their energetic properties with every application so the frequency of genuine self-love stays active rather than drifting back into old patterns of self-criticism and comparison.
Organic dried raspberry leaf, a humble household herb with a place in folk magic surrounding protection, love and fertility. The leaf is used rather than the fruit.