Everyone needs a little Magick in their life.
Everyone needs a little Magick in their life.
If you’re reading this you may have already experienced a spell success or two. Loads of witches I speak to come into their magick because of some crisis in their life. Something big goes down and every ordinary solution they try fails. Then, somehow, they stumble upon magick and decide to give it a go. Maybe you can relate?
A lot of these raw spells, cast in a moment of desperation with little to no magickal experience, actually work, which is incredibly exciting when you’re just starting out. (Heck, I still get a buzz every time my spells work!) But then these same budding witches, raw spell caster extraordinaires, run into the dread moment all beginners are afraid of; spells that just don’t work.
Eek!
Anyone who has experienced this, which I’m here to tell you is all witches, knows that it’s a massive blow to your confidence. A spell failure at the beginning of your magickal career can have you questioning if you should even bother. Maybe it would be better to just give up the witching game, leave it to those who are “born” with the gift? After all, the spells natural witches cast always work. Right…?
Not so, my magickal friend!
Not even the most experienced, powerhouse witches out there are successful 100% of the time. But witches who have been around the block a few times manifest a lot more often, and that is because they understand some of the simple magickal principles that point a spell in the right direction, supercharge it, and make it work.
If you’re interested in mastering some beginners’ witchcraft techniques, read on my friend. Before you know it, you’ll be experiencing all kinds of mind blowing magickal success!
Casting a spell on a clean, uncluttered altar.
Casting a spell on a clean, uncluttered altar.
The very first step in casting spells that do what you want them to is creating a clear, focused intention. Now for those of you who are like, “yeah, yeah I know the thing,” take a beat before you skip ahead. This is something that trips up a lot of witches, even ones that have been practicing for years.
For those of you who don’t know, an intention is the aim or purpose of whatever spell you are casting. Basically, it’s your magickal desire. When we cast a spell, we focus on this intention the whole time, so it needs to be simple and concise. One or two sentences at most.
I like to think of intent as the rudder of a spell, it steers that fabulous magickal boat right where it needs to go. Without a clear intention magick sort of zigzags all over the place, which as you can imagine makes it pretty tough for your spell to manifest in the way you hope it will.
So, what are some of the things that make a good spell intention? I’m so glad you asked!
If you’re a parent you’ve witnessed the bizarre phenomenon we’re going to talk about right here. Did you know that when someone gives us a command, our brains (no matter our age) sort of skips over the words don’t, or not. So, when mum shouts, “Honey, stay on the footpath!” your brain hears stay on the footpath. But when mum yells, “Darling, don’t cross the road!” your brain often hears, cross the road. Weird right? This is called feature-deletion if you want to look it up for yourself.
So, based on this idea you get way better results if your spell is framed positively, rather than negatively. Say your magickal aim is to fix up your finances, instead of your intention being to “not be in debt”, try instead something like, “all my debt is cleared”. Side note: all you parents just hearing about this, it changed my life!
When casting for good time loving, instead of saying, “I will find the man of my dreams”, say “the man of my dreams is coming to me”. It’s a subtle difference, sure, but babe magick is all about the subtleties! The first intention suggests that one day in the future your lover will get around to being found by you, while the second suggests he’s on his way to you right now. I know which I’d prefer.
When figuring out a solid intention, it can be helpful to first write out a paragraph or two. This let’s you get all the details of what you want out onto paper, so you can pick out the bits that really pop and boil that baby down into a punchy sentence or two. Remember, you focus on your intention the whole time you cast a spell, so make it a sentence not a sonnet!
Now that you have a great intention worked out, you’ve got to put some volts into it. We need this to be powerful, right? After all, a perfectly framed intention with a limp delivery, well darling, that’s not fun for anyone.
There are three important aspects to powering an intention, which I’ve coined the Triangle of Intent. A little uninspired maybe, but I think the visual helps! The three points of our proverbial triangle are confidence, emotion and focus.
It was science that first taught us that the strongest and most sturdy shape is the triangle (not the square as many imagine!). In the same way, when each point of our Triangle of Intent is activated, girl have we got ourselves one potent magickal intention!
Check it out.
Here’s what a Magical Triangle could look like when setting your intentions of the spell.
Here’s what a Magical Triangle could look like when setting your intentions of the spell.
Emotion
The first thing your intention needs is your passion! Emotion is absolutely the juice of your intention. You have full permission to immerse yourself in all the feels. To be a successful spell caster you are encouraged to really go there. Laugh, cry, get mad, look a little nuts; do whatever it takes to conjure the emotion that matches your spell.
By the way, strong emotion is part of the reason why untrained witches can cast raw spells that work so darn well.
As an example, when you cast a job spell, take the time to build up a really strong sense of absolute confidence. You are successful, not just that, you’re impressive, and of course that bloody job is yours. You’re amazing!
On the other hand, when you’re performing a love spell, make sure you invoke all kinds of delicious lusty feelings. Notice the brush of your clothes against your skin (or the tickle of air if you get down sky clad style, all power!). Awaken sensation. in the mood you would be in if your ultimate lover was in the room with you at that moment, doing all the things you want to be doing them.
Emotion is the jetpack of your intention. Successful witches, as batty as it might make them feel (don’t worry, you get used to it), really go there.
Confidence
In her fabulous book Magical Power (an amazing resource for all budding spellcasters, do yourself a favor), Deborah Lipp says, “doubt has no place in a magical working. Doubt pulls your focus away from the goal.”
Setting aside doubt is really tricky when we are casting for something we cannot see, and all evidence in our life points to a thing not being true. But I mean, why else would we bother casting a spell?
To cast a successful spell, we’ve got to enter a sacred space of believing. Even if what we desire seems utterly impossible, we leave that doubt out of the room for the time we are working. I’m not going to lie, this skill does take practice, but you don’t have to be perfect at it to get results. What you will discover is that a regular meditation practice will help you develop this ability so much faster. So, if you’re struggling to set aside doubt while you cast, give yourself a leg up and meditate for 3-5 minutes a day.
Confidence holds your intention and that emotional power steady. So, cast with absolute confidence. Know that in this time and this space, your will is so!
Focus
The final point of our wonderful Triangle of Intent is fixed focus. Keep your intention firmly in your mind as you cast your spell.
Once again you don’t need to be some mountain dwelling yogi, demonstrating meditative perfection. We all get distracted by little thoughts and mental images. The key to focus (and indeed meditation) is each time you notice your mind has wandered, you bring it back to your intent. As with all things the more you practice the better you’ll get at it.
Now every witch has their own theory on how long you need to focus on your intention to get your spell singing, and some will really chew your ear off about it! In my opinion quality is better than quantity. Start small, with whatever bouts of focus you can manage for about a minute or so, then extend that time as your skill increases.
Focus lines up your intention to hit its target, so don’t skimp on this step!
Most witches cast a majority of their spells with some kind of tool or ingredient. As this is a visual aid and focal point of a spell, it’s important we choose the right ones for the job at hand. If you’re a relatively new witch, don’t worry, this isn’t as daunting as it might sound.
There are essentially two ways to choose your magickal tools; intuitively, or by-the-book (i.e. what other witches advise you should use). Both have their merits.
When it comes to choosing your tools based on “the book”, know first that there are many books, and even more opinions about what you should use in your spell. Why? Because witchcraft is a highly individualized craft and everyone’s got a true-blue experience they can share with you, to back up why their way works best.
My recommendation is that you slap on a lab coat and get your hands dirty. Experimentation is the order of the hour my love! Try anything and everything that sounds like a good idea to you (we modern witches’ term this what “resonates”). Over time you will discover the tools, ingredients, and methods you like, hate, and the ones that really work for you.
If you find a spell another witch has created, as much as they may say otherwise, you don’t need to use the same tools or ingredients they have. When a spell creator says you simply must have a certain tool, what they’re actually saying is, “when I cast this spell I use this particular tool, and since the spell works for me I think you should use it too.”
It doesn’t matter who they are or how many credentials they have under their belt, when it comes to magick you are allowed to substitute. Magick is art darling, and all the best artists break convention!
Casting a spell using your book of shadows (or another spell book) is totally fine!
Casting a spell using your book of shadows (or another spell book) is totally fine!
If you’re right at the beginning of your magickal journey, it can feel pretty daunting to come up with substitutions on your own, so I’ve included a list here to get you started. Here you’ll find some of the more popular items found in witchcraft, with a few substitution ideas for each.
Wands – this may be one of the most recognizable witch tools. You can purchase gorgeous artisan wands in metaphysical stores or online, but most witches will tell you that often their favorite wands are those they find in nature and/or make themselves.
Instead use sticks, bones, metal rods, crystal points, a pencil, your hand, or a pointed finger.
Cauldrons – this ancient magickal tool began its days as nothing more than a cooking pot!
Substitute with saucepans, frying pans, bowls, saucers, or depressions in the ground.
Candles – these delightful tools are often the focal point, or an addition to spell workings.
If a spell calls for a certain kind of candle, you can use any other kind of candle instead (including tealights. or birthday candles). All candle colors can be substituted with white, which is a shade that contains all colors.
Instead use battery operated candles, fairy lights, sunlight, moon light, an image of a candle, a fireplace, or a bonfire.
Statues – when connecting with Deity or other Spirits it can be really helpful to have a representation of them to look at.
Instead of a statue you can use a printed or drawn image, objects associated with that being (either traditional choices or your own intuitive ones) such as animals, tools, colors and so on.
Mortar & Pestles – a very practical tool, the mortar & pestle is used to grind herbs, botanicals, resins, bones and other curios into smaller chunks or powders.
Instead use a coffee grinder (make sure you have a separate one for magickal use, or only use it for edible herbs).
Now if you’re really feeling frisky, you can let that gorgeous witch hair down and choose your tools intuitively. This just means going with your gut. As you look around your garden, your local grocery or craft store, your kitchen; what jumps out at you? What tools and ingredients do you sense might be a good fit for your intention?
If you practice going with your gut, or acting on the impulses you feel around your magick, you won’t be steered wrong. After a while you will begin to feel really confident in this natural sense. At that point you’ll be whipping ingredients off the shelf left, right and center; concocting all manner of marvelous magickal mayhem!
Before using a tool for magickal purposes, many witches like to do a special ritual called a blessing or consecration. This process takes the object from being an ordinary, everyday thing and makes it sacred.
In this little video I show you how you can consecrate any object and magickally transform it into a powerful tool for spell casting.
It’s important to note here that you don’t need any tools to cast a spell, you can do it all right inside your mind with the power of visualization. For more on that… head over to our Facebook Page and YouTube Channel for on visualization and substitution for Magickal Tools in Casting Spells and do a quick search. 🙂
Tools aren’t necessary, they simply help us to focus our magickal intent. But more than that they make spellcasting a lot of fun!
And for our final spell success secret of the day, now that you have your intent figured out, and the right tools for the job, you need to do a little something called raising and sending energy. This is the part where you build up lots of magickal energy and shoot it off into the ether to do whatever it is that you want to do.
You may remember, back just a few mouse scrolls ago, that we explored the Triangle of Intent, with one of our three points being all about invoking lots of passionate emotion. That’s a super important part of raising energy, but there’s a few more tricks you pull out of your witchy sleeves to really get your cauldron bubbling…
Magickal Tools – each tool and ingredient you use lends its own energy to your spell. Crystals, herbs and botanicals, animal parts, pop culture figurines, your favorite incense, all of these are a source of energy. Keep in mind that when you have built a relationship with a tool or ingredient, meaning that you have been using it regularly over time, it becomes even more powerful for you. (Which FYI is often why we hear from witches that this or that ingredient is the best one to use, because in their experience it has come to be the best, for them.)
Deities – if you’re so inclined you can call on a God or Goddess to empower a spell for you. Check out this video to discover one way you can grab the attention of the Gods and ask them to help you out…
Ancestors and other Spirits –similar to Deity work, you can ask your Ancestors or other Spirits to empower your spells for you too. These other Spirits might include Guides, Animal Spirits, Faeries, Angels who whoever else you connect with.
The Earth – one of the best ways to charge up your spells is with the energy of the Earth itself. To do this you first connect to the earth’s energy through a technique called grounding (if you aren’t sure how to do that go through it in the video just above). Then you draw this abundant source of pure, beautiful energy up into your body, and direct it into your spell, but more on that part in a moment.
Movement – dance and other forms of movement are a great way to build powerful energy for spellcasting.
Sex – yes peeps, just like general movement we’ll call it, sex builds a lot of energy. You can raise energy this way with a partner, or all on your own!
Sound – all sound is vibration, which is just another form of energy. Play some music, do some drumming, sing your heart out, hum, pray, speak your desire, or do a little chanting.
Wherever the energy you harness comes from, once you’ve got it you need to send it. The thing that receives your spell energy is called a target. Depending on the kind of spell you cast your target may be a person, yourself or someone else, it may be a location, or it may be a little more difficult to define. I know a lot of witches who send spell energy out into the Universe. The idea here is essentially that the Gods (or whatever you believe in) will then take care of it.
Who or whatever the target of your spell is, hold it firmly in your mind’s eye (whether this is by seeing, remembering it, hearing it, feeling it, or simply knowing that you are doing so). Then when the energy you have raised is at its crescendo, imagine that energy shooting out of you and the spell working you are doing, and travelling to that target. The spell is done.
My dear witches, today we have covered some of the important foundational aspects of casting spells that really work. If you apply each of these secrets to your spell casting; setting strong intentions, choosing the right tools (for YOU), and raising and sending energy, you’re going to bump your witching game up to a whole new level.
I look forward to chatting with you again. Until next time I’m sending you loads of love, blessings and MAGICK!
Owlvine xx
5 Pagan Goddesses To Work With: For Witches And Mystics
blog.simplemysticmiracles.com
his post will cover how to work with pagan goddesses as a witch or wiccan. It also covers the topic of the Divine feminine and answers the question what is the goddess in wicca? This includes how to f...
5 Pagan Goddesses To Work With: For Witches And Mystics
blog.simplemysticmiracles.com
his post will cover how to work with pagan goddesses as a witch or wiccan. It also covers the topic of the Divine feminine and answers the question what is the goddess in wicca? This includes how to f...