So you want to create a spellworking?

The idea of creating a spell can be overwhelming, but I’ve created a simple formula to break it down into manageable pieces, ensuring the highest possibility for success. Your results will vary, but this formula is what I’ve been using for years, and I have been blessed with a high success rate.

Step 1
Exhaust all mundane avenues to your goal

Spellcrafting isn’t a quick fix. It’s really important that you act in accordance on the mundane plane, as well as on the magical plane. If you want to get a promotion, apply for that promotion! If you want to find love, get out there and work on looking for it! Will a spell be successful without the mundane work? It’s possible, but your actions on the mundane plane will definitely affect the outcome. There have been many times where I’ve planned to do a spell, but ended up not needing to, because of the practical energy I put into my goal on the mundane plane.

Step 2
Examine your intent

Ask yourself, “Why am I writing a spell?”

In determining your intent, the specificity is important. You want to be specific enough to minimize the chance of your spell backfiring, but not so specific that the chances of achieving your goal are minimized. Consider all possible consequences (negative and positive) and allow these to help you craft your intent statement.

What is spell backfire/backlash? Spell backfire is when your spell works, but it goes awry in a negative way. A love spell for a specific person causes that person to fall in love with you, but turns them into a stalker. A weight-loss spell makes it so you can’t keep any food down. It’s important that you craft your working carefully, considering all possible consequences.

As an example, let’s look at a spell to get a promotion at work. If your intent is, “Get a promotion at work,” that’s fine, but it’s very vague and you may open yourself up to some possibility of backfire. “A promotion at work,” might include an unwanted move, working more hours than you’d like, or more stress in your life.

You don’t want to be too vague, but you also don’t want to be too specific, either. “Get XYZ promotion at work.” Getting XYZ promotion might mean you are missing better opportunities that the universe is presenting to you. If you aren’t ready or experienced enough for the promotion and you get that promotion, it could lead to a career stall, or eventual demotion.

Instead, we need to find a happy medium. We don’t want to be too vague, nor too specific. One way we could phrase our intent to minimize backfire would be this: I seek a job perfect for me- one where I can use my skillset to the best of my ability, and one where I can grow and learn.
You could add any caveats you’d like- “within 10 miles from my home, where I can make new friends, etc.”

Step 3
Choose your catalysts and your action

I refer to all the fun objects and actions that we use during the actual spell casting as catalysts. These things don’t power the spell- YOU are powering the spell, but each carefully chosen catalyst can add energy to your spell. This is where you’ll begin to research. You can use your intuition, but I also believe in the energy that is attached to the traditional meaning of a catalyst. A correspondence chart or book is really helpful for researching catalysts if you are new to crafting workings. I also suggest cross-referencing several sources – anyone can put anything on the internet- use your discernment to decide what is right for you!

Here are a few catalysts that you may choose to add to your spell:

Herbs
Oils
Candles
Crystals
Cords and knots
Colors
Elements
Sigils

Once you decide what catalysts you’d like to include in your spell, choose the action that you’ll take with them. Use your intuition and get creative!

Here are a few suggestions of action steps associated with catalysts:
Herbs – make a tea, incense blend or roll a candle in it
Oil- dress a candle in it, burn in an oil burner
Candles- dress a candle, choose the color carefully, light candle
Crystals- program a crystal to carry, activate a crystal grid, create a piece of jewelry
Cords and knots- use a cord to create something to wear, utilize traditional knot tying magic
Colors- choose the colors of your other catalysts to enhance your spell, mindfully choose the color of your altar cloth to match your intent
Elements- utilize the elements in your magic- burn something (fire), drink something (water), bury something or use dirt or plants (earth), use smoke (air)
Sigils- create your own personal symbol aligned with your intent to charge during the working

If you are going to petition the gods for their aid, decide on this, as well as who you will be asking for help.

Step 4
How are you going to raise energy?

Energy is what will power your spell. How will you raise and send energy? If you are going to use visualization to help you pull up the energy, what will you visualize? Keep in mind that you can use color association to flavor your energy. Most solitary witches use visualization, but as a solitary one could also incorporate, dancing, chanting or drumming. Think about what you’ll be doing with this energy- will your be sending it out into the universe to fulfill your goal? Will you be sending it into an object? Consider how your energy ties into the action and catalyst(s) you chose in Step 3.

Step 5
Choose your words of power

This is the chant or passage that you will be saying to activate the spell. It doesn’t have to rhyme, although words that rhyme are easy to remember and create a rhythm that I find helps me in concentrating on the energy. If you are writing a short chant to be repeated while doing energy work, I find that it’s really helpful to have those words rhyme. If, instead, you are going to state a longer passage, I don’t find that rhyme affects it much at all. Rather, it tends to limit word choice.

Your words of power should make sense, align with your intent from Step 2, and be meaningful to you.

Step 6
Consider your timing

There are auspicious times of the day, week, month and year, and aligning with these times can greatly increase our chance for a successful spell.

 

Day of the Week

Day of the Week	Planetary Association	Spellwork Aligned With Day
Sunday	Sun	Healing, happiness, joy, wisdom, leadership, new beginnings
Monday	Moon	Marriage, emotional love, family, childbirth, prophecy, women’s cycles, divination
Tuesday	Mars	War, competition, conflict, bravery, honor, transformation, law and justice
Wednesday	Mercury	Communication, education, the arts, writing, music, divination, poetry, healing
Thursday	Jupiter	Money, prosperity, commerce, employment, weather, justice, weather witching
Friday	Venus	Love, beauty, sensuality, sexuality, ecstasy, peace, fertility, magick, creativity
Saturday	Saturn	Endings, banishings, dark magic, death, bindings

Moon Phases

Moon Phase	Magic
Dark Moon	Dark energy: Initiation, divination, psychism, shadow work
Waxing Moon	Building energy: new beginnings, attraction, manifestation, self-improvement
Full Moon	Bright, strong energy: all-purpose, especially psychism, transformation, personal emotional priorities/needs
Waning Moon	Releasing energy: banishing, removing obstacles, honoring sacred endings

 

Determining planetary hours is a process that will allow the practitioner to drill down and find the very best time of the day to cast your spell. Also, you may want to look into the astrological phases of the moon. This is outside the scope of this e-book, but if this interests you, there are many resources available on the internet that will help you. While there are many different ways to align your intent with auspicious times of the day, week, moon phase and year, don’t get caught up in trying to time everything perfectly. Choose one or two alignments and move on to the next step.

Step 7
Putting it together and writing it down

Take everything from Step 1 through Step 6 and write it down. This is your final preparation step. You now have a few choices to make. Do you want to cast a circle? Some witches cast circles before doing any spellwork – this is up to you! Are you going to evoke your personal deity -if any? You’ll want to make a note to ground any excess energy after your spellworking, and you’ll want to decide how to discard whatever you need to discard. If you have anything left to discard, many people use the elements to help with this. Some bury in earth, let go in flowing water, burn in fire, or release on the winds.

Step 8
Divination

This is optional, but I really recommend doing some sort of divination before casting. There are many different divination techniques to choose from. It’s alright if you aren’t proficient in a technique – there’s a reason that most tarot cards come with a little white book to help you.

Ask a few questions during your pre-ritual divination session. I suggest pulling a few cards (throwing a few runes, etc) for each question. Listen to your intuition to see if more questions need to be asked.

What will be the outcome if I do the spell?
What will be the outcome if I don’t do the spell?
Are there any changes I should make to the spell?

Step 9
Plan to Act in Accord

In step 1, we talked about work on the mundane plane. This doesn’t stop once you’ve cast your spell. Continue doing the work that needs to be done – and make a plan for this. Just as the energy raised during your actual working is directed toward your goal, planning creates practical energy that will be directed as well.

And that’s it! You’ve used these nine steps to help you craft a working with a high possibility of success. Make sure that you consider all aspects and consequences of a spell before you create your final draft. If you do find that you need to break a spell, you’ll want to create a spell to break the spell. Start back at the beginning, and try to use any physical catalysts that you used the first time around. Additional catalysts for spell breaking include elemental magic like fire to burn away a spell, cord magick- cutting connections created by a spell, and strong visualization.

I’ve found that the more you put into a spell the more you’ll get out of it. It’s not just about intent, it’s about intent and energy/effort. Following the formula, considering consequences and doing divination are all steps to spell success!