What is the title of the Buffy episode where Willow casts a memory-loss spell on the group? Tabula Rasa. In the season 6 episode “Tabula Rasa,” Willow casts a forgetting spell that goes wrong and erases the group’s memories.
Willow initially intends to make Buffy and Tara forget their recent troubles. She uses Lethe’s Bramble, a magical forgetting herb, but accidentally leaves the spell active. When the crystal anchoring the magic is later shattered, the characters’ memories return in a rush.
The resulting story follows Buffy, Willow, Xander, Anya, Tara, Spike, and Giles as they try to work out who they are. Their guesses produce comic misunderstandings, including the belief that Giles and Spike may be father and son. The episode balances that comedy with serious consequences for Willow and Tara’s relationship.
“Tabula Rasa” means “blank slate,” a Latin phrase describing a mind without prior ideas or memories. It is often confused with “Restless,” another dreamlike Buffy episode, or “The Body,” which is the series’ unusually realistic treatment of death. “Tabula Rasa” is specifically the magical amnesia episode.