HOW TO PUT TOGETHER A SPELL

by Lady Bridget, © 1998


Boil everything down to it's barest essentials, to do that - eliminate the people. Don't involve any people in your spell itself - this doesn't mean you have to work alone, this means don't put spells on people! Remember, the only person you can work on is yourself! The only person you have the right to try to change is yourself - work on being the person you always thought you would be.

Get down to the nitty-gritty, what do you want? Be exact: "I want a job where I make X dollars an hour, I enjoy what I am doing, I get along with my co-employees and my employer, I work only 9-5 weekdays, I have Holidays off and other time off as needed, etc." Now I don't say exactly what or who I will work for, I leave that to the Universe (and/or God/dess) to manifest that for me. This is being "generally specific" by saying what I want but not how it has to present itself.

Also plan to read the want ads and go on job interviews, you need to put yourself in a place or position where your spell CAN manifest. If you don't look, you won't find.

Now, fine tune your spell by adding more ingredients in the way of colors, day of the week, time of the day, runes (if any), herbs, oil, soap, candles, cycle of the Moon, incense, etc. The more vibrations you tune in to your spell, the more fun Younger Self has with it. Also the more energy and thought and research you are putting in, the more you will get back. Remember to construct your spell in rhyme, as a chant works best, and be positive (say what you want, not what you don't want). See as happening NOW, not tomorrow or some time in the distant future. Your subconcious mind only knows HERE and NOW.


BASIC SPELLCRAFT CORRESPONDENCE LISTING

To help you get all the ingredients you want into your spellcraft I have provided the following listing. This is similar to what you can find in a magickal diary, and should be the elements you want to include in your book of shadows. Writing everything down including the results, will help you to see how effective your magick is, and will help you to fine tune your skills.

I have tried to make this list as complete as possible, but feel free to add any ingredient that you wish to work with that may not be listed here in the space provided for "other". The first step, then, is to fill in the list with all the elements that correspond to your desire, whether or not you intend to actually use them. After you have compiled the complete listing of all ingredients you could use, then you can go back and decide exactly which ingredients you choose to use. You can use them all. People normally will choose what they have readily available, and work with those. You may find something by doing this research that you hadn't thought of before, but that will fit so perfectly into your ritual that you want to include it, and that is the beauty of making this list. Choices should always be thoroughly explored before beginning the magick itself.



Fill out this list using resources and books that you may have on hand, and also using your own intuition. "The Spiral Dance" by Starhawk has many useful Tables of Correspondences in the back of it, as do many books on the Craft. Do the research, do the work, it is worth the effort, for what you put out is what you will get back in terms of magickal energy.

Now go back and decide which of these elements you choose to incorporate into the spell itself. Remember to keep you numerology as consistent as possible. See what substitutions you may have to make. For example, in Cunningham's "Wicca for the Solitary Practitioner", he gives substitutions for plants and herbs that may not be available in your area. You don't have to use what is listed in a book, either, if it feels wrong to you. Go with your own feelings, for this spell is for you and about you, and you are the most important element in it. It must feel right to you to be the most effective.

Decide what KIND of spell you are going to do, candle magick, poppet magick, etc. What kind of energy raising do you want to use for this spell? Chanting, dancing, and physical activity, or do you wish to raise energy through meditation and visuslization? This depends entirely on your own expertise and comfort. It's better to go with the method that is appealing to you until you have perfected which method you like best. This is work, and raising and sending the energy successfully takes practice.

What words will you use for your purpose? Remember that chanting is better done in rhyme for younger self. A method that works well and is fairly simple to remember is to make a couplet, or two line rhyme about your purpose. To say, "I want a wonderful, fulfilling job that is exactly perfect for me" is an excellent statement. To say the same thing in a rhyme, something like, "When the Moon is at her peak, The perfect job is what I seek" is easier to get into, has a good beat for chanting, and will help you focus your energy. This is an example of translating your desires into rhyme. Play with it a bit. Avoid the temptation to write long verses for this, keep it simple and easy to remember, since you really don't want to be reading all this while you are trying to raise the energy.

Now that you have the basics down, it's time to write what you plan to do. I recommend highly that you take a spiritual bath first, and that you do cast a circle or some kind of protected, sacred space. So include those items in your plan. Use an appropriate bath salt, or herbs and oils in your bath to coincide with your magickal working. Write down all the supplies you will need for your magick. If you plan to inscribe your candle in circle, write down the tool you will use to do that on your list too! Make this a recipe for your magick, and list EVERYTHING you will need. It is very distracting to be right in the middle of working only to find that you forgot something and you have to leave the circle area to get it.

Read your ritual aloud. Does it make sense? Does is sound good to you? Does it sound like too much work? Seriously, sometimes people get so carried away with the writing of the ritual that they include lots of readings and lots of activities to be done over a series of days, and then when it gets right down to doing it, they haven't the time to complete it because there's just too much! Be realistic in what you WILL be able to do. You can include a lot of elements to fine tune the ritual, but still keep the basic magick itself simple and focused. Like anything else, it comes with practice.

So after all this, you may say to yourself, "Why don't I just use some one else's ritual who has already done all this work for me?" That's a really good question! And here's "my" answer: Spells that we write for ourselves have so much more impact and work better in our own lives than any spell someone else could write for us. This doesn't mean that you can't use someone else's rhyme, or use someone's idea, or their choice of Goddess or whatever you like. Go ahead! You can always borrow ideas from other people, that's how we grow and learn. And you can use other people's spells as well, and they can be very effective.

My point is simply, if you don't do the work for yourself, you don't get the chance to learn and grow. Since that is always my goal, that's how I teach. Spellcraft is an art and takes time to learn. If you don't wish to learn the art, then just use any spell that looks good to you out of a book and it will be effective to a certain degree. You must do what makes YOU happy, and what you are able to do. The only wrong thing there is, in my opinion, is to force your will on another person, which is harm. "An it harm none, do what ye will."


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