At its core a spell is words spoken with a strength of will and confidence that it will indeed come to pass but what makes is active is the things we do alongside. It might be something as simple as lighting a white candle and speaking words with the clear and visualised intent that what is spoken will come to be or a carefully timed, multi-step process with an elaborate set of tools and correspondences. Let’s take this through one step at a time.
Set your Will / Intention and Goal
Before putting pen to paper, it is important that you establish what you will actually is and the form it will take in the real world; aka your Goal. These two things go hand in hand but each come with particularly things to keep in mind.
Your statement of Will is a statement which sets the scene. It should be a single sentence, maybe no more than 10 words if you can help it, fewer if you would like to be able to easily create a sigil of the intent. This usually takes the form of an positive “I am” statement such as I am calm, I am attractive etc. rather than saying something dismissive or negative such as I am no longer stressed, I am not ugly.
Equally the statement should be cast in the present tense rather than something intended for the future. This is because your statement of will is intended to make changes here and now so instead of saying “I will be strong and brave” say ” I am strong and brave”.
In the case of cursing, hexing and banishing the wording of a statement of intent can be seen contentious. “I am” statements are not always as applicable in these situations and the purpose is not always easily expressed as a positive. I personally see no issue in saying “I hex… I remove… I banish” when writing statements of intent in these situations, and usually avoid follow up conjunctions like “…so that …” as such things usually constitute a second follow up spell which is by its nature a positive for you.
From setting your intention your goal should follow. This should be an achievable outcome, something that can reasonably expected to manifest itself in the real world. The advice is always that your goal should be specific but not too specific. If your goal is to have a car to get you to and from work you need to make sure you are specific enough that you manifest a car rather than a regular lift from a colleague but not so specific that finding a 2019 Mazda3 Matchbox toy in the street could be considered an answer to your request.
If you are wanting to attract a lover don’t describe them, if you want a cash injection dint set a dollar amount. Rather make them general but measurable goals of finding a loving and respectful partner or the funds to meet your financial commitments.
If this goal represents a commitment from you, for example your intent it to be calm and your goal is to have time to meditate each day make sure that you are actually committed to working that time into your schedule each day. If your day is utterly jammed packed then maybe the goal of time to meditate is unreasonable and one of letting go unnecessary commitments is a better one. Diagonal thinking may result in a better magical outcome.
Correspondences
With your will and goal in mind it is now possible to build a set of correspondences which align with them. These might include coloured candles, crystals, herbs and scents and other items which might become part of a constructed item during the magical action phase. It is also now that you might finalise whether or not you will work with deity or planetary energies, or some other entity, and incorporate symbols and imagery such as runes and tarot cards.
You can be highly structured in this process, using books like The Magician’s Tables: The Complete Book of Correspondences by Alan Richardson or Llewellyn’s Complete Book of Correspondences to identify the correspondences to use but you can also use items that resonate with you. Particularly with respect to scents and colours you may feel drawn to using items which fit your own individual associations with a given intent and goal and this is perfectly acceptable. So long as the item is reinforcing your will it can be there. This is also useful when you don’t have access to many (or exotic) correspondences. You should also keep in mind that there are such things as universal correspondences, such as white candles, clear quartz, natural stones (i.e. not crystals), and that kitchen herbs and spices will cover most of your magical needs.
Finally, remember that there is no better correspondence than a physical representation of your goal. This might be a picture of someone meditating, a school book or some other item which beings brings your goal clearly to mind. Whatever correspondences you use or include as part of your magical action always keep firmly in mind that the aim is to reinforce and amplify your will.
Raising Energy
When raising energy in a magical setting you are working to first ensure that there is sufficient energy to achieve the desired outcome. Energy raised becomes energy available for the spell in an energetic exchange. Whether you view this as an exchange between you and the universe or you and a deity is entirely dependent upon the nature of the spell. The other purpose to raising energy is to morph the frequency of energy around you to match to quality of your will and goal. The purest way to do this is to clearly visualise your intended goal whilst engaging in activities such as dancing and movement, or you could sing, chant and make music/sound.
The nature of the energy raising activity should complement the intent/goal. You don’t want to mix an aggressive or fast paced activity with a goal/intent which requires calm or careful deliberation. You may also want to make the energy raising activity part of your magical action, such as stirring herbs and ingredients, with visualisation but this should not constitute the magical act in its own right. If you are working with deity, you may also find ways of raising energy which also serve as an exchange of fidelity between man and God.
Magical Action
The magical action is any action performed within ritual which is made with the intent to influence or change the current of energy. It may be a mundane action but when such acts are made in a higher state of mind it takes on a more complex and deeper meaning. You might burn, scratch, hit, freeze, drop or bind … essentially you are verbing your magical intent in a way which is consistent with your will though the most common action you will find is combining ingredients together or the anointing of an amulet/talisman. Again, your choice of magical action will be heavily influenced by your will, though
Whatever action you choose the act itself should come at the peak of the energy raising process.
Other Considerations
Intention(will), goal, correspondences, raising energy and magical action are the key elements of a magic spell but there other things you can use to increase the effectiveness of your spell. These other considerations may impact on the finer detail of your correspondences and magical action, depending on the space, privacy and permissions as well as your need to cast the planned spell…
Timing
Timing is something that can be used to further amplify your will, and is something that might influence your correspondences. There are many ways to time your spells. Relatively straight forward methods, which occur frequently, include timing according to the planetary day and hour, the daily station of the sun (dawn, midday, sunset etc.) or the phase of the moon. For more complexity, or less frequently occurrences, you could consider the lunar mansions, the zodiac sign of the sun and/or moon and even the position of the planets in relation to each other or your natal chart. Sometimes it is possible to line up a number of auspicious timings, but that does not mean you need to wait until that one in a million alignment of sun, moon, planets and stars. If performing your spell on a Wednesday afternoon, or during the next waxing of the moon is soon enough that’s fine. If you need to knock that spell out asap then ditch timing all together and go for it. Timing is as important as you want or need to make it. Speaking personally, I usually try to pick a planetary day and hour auspicious to my will and let it go at that, that means at most I have to wait a couple of days, a week at most, unless I need more time to organise.
Another timing element to consider is repetition. Seven-day spells are the most common example of this, where the same spell is performed over seven consecutive days either with the same correspondences and tools or with slight amendments to reflect the day of the week. Variations on this theme include three days, nine days and spells performed on the same moon phase over a number of cycles (with three, seven and nine all being auspicious numbers) or until a desired outcome has been achieved. As before, if your goal is something that can be achieved in a one and done spell casting then you don’t need to consider this but for larger, project like outcomes, regular repetition should be considered. You may also consider adapting the spell slightly, amending wording and correspondences to reflect the stages of the project’s development but at this stage you may well consider treating each stage as an individual spell in a series rather than repetition.
Working Space
The space in which we work can also serve to strengthen our will, becoming either part of our correspondent set or the magical act. A high windy place is the perfect setting to work with the element of air and for scattering intentions to the wind and if you have the freedom of transport and travel then consider these elements in your spell planning and preparation.
That being said the nature of your working space may impact on what is possible, particularly with regard to raise energy and magical action. Keep in mind whether or not you’ve got space to dance, the privacy to meditate, the ability to burn candles and plan accordingly. If you do go out in to nature then it is highly important that you consider what you are leaving behind and the risk to local fauna and flora and don’t be the reason the moors catch on fire.
Record Keeping
Witchcraft is results drive process but it is also a process of experimentation. If a spell worked well the first time will if work better with slightly different set of words or an amended set of correspondences. Conversely, we need to know when things don’t work, or don’t produce outcomes as intended so that if we come to perform a similar spell, we can take our previous experience into consideration. For this reason, people will make a big deal about writing your spells and observations down in a Book of Shadows or Book of Mirrors.
That being said, I am a bad witch. I don’t keep a physical spell journal and have a tendency to misplace my electronic records in a rather disorganized filing system. This is a habit partially developed as seeing spell work as performed at the point of need and individual to any given situation. Unlike ritual I see no reason to repeat the same process over and over, unless the spell was written to be performed over a number of consecutive days or weeks. I tend to take each need for a spell as an opportunity to incorporate recent research and experience with current praxis, resulting my in own unique approach to witchcraft.
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Knot Magick 