In some traditions of magic, you may see the word "taglock" used. A taglock is a magical link to an individual. For example, in poppet magic, you would use a taglock inside the doll to identify the person to be targeted by the spell. Ideally, a good taglock is one that is strongly connected to the individual -- but in a magical emergency, you can use other things as well.
Excellent Taglocks:
- Body fluids such as blood, sweat, semen, or urine
- Hair, skin or fingernail clippings
- A photo of the person
- A piece of clothing worn by the person
- Something the person has chewed, smoked, or expelled out of any bodily orifice
- Something with the person's signature on it
Good Taglocks:
- A piece of paper with their name on it
- Something from their trash can, that they've handled
- A piece of dirt that you know they've walked on
Taglocks That Aren't Great, But Will Work In a Pinch:
- A drawing of the person (stick figures are fine)
- A piece of paper that says "that woman who's sleeping with my boyfriend" (or whatever the case may be)
- A business card with their name on it
- A scraping of paint from the side of the person's house or car -- be cautious with this one, you don't want to do anything illegal!
It should be noted that many experienced practitioners of magic never leave their fingernail clippings lying around after a manicure, and some will even take their hair clippings home with them after a visit to the salon, just to prevent any magical mischief!
When doing a healing ritual for her sister, Willow placed a lock of hair in a poppet as a taglock.
