Chapter 1: What Is a Spell?

CONTENTS

Disclaimer ix

Acknowledgments xi Introduction 1

Part One: Getting Started

Chapter 1: What Is a Spell? 7 Chapter 2: Ethics and Laws of Magic 19 Chapter 3: Magical Timing 57

Part Two: Magical Bits and Pieces

Chapter 4: Symbols and Sigils 85 Chapter 5: Correspondences 111 Chapter 6: The Four Elements 137 Chapter 7: Incantations and Energy 147 Chapter 8: Preparing for Magic 157

Part Three: Types of Spells

Chapter 9: The Most Common Spells 167 Chapter 10: Potions and Kitchen Magic 195 Chapter 11: Amulets and Talismans 201

Chapter 12: Thoughtforms 207 Chapter 13: Magic with Natural Objects 223

Part Four: Spells for Every Need

Chapter 14: Quick Spells 231 Chapter 15: Spells for Healing 235 Chapter 16: Spells for Transformation and Letting Go 255 Chapter 17: Protection Spells and Wards 267 Chapter 18: Spells for Love and Beauty 275

Conclusion: Before You Go 281

Appendix: Spell Ingredients 285 Glossary 301 Bibliography 305

DISCLAIMER

This book is presented solely for educational and entertainment purposes. The author and publisher are not offering it as medical advice. For diagnosis or treatment of any medical condition, readers are advised to consult or seek the services of a competent medical professional.

While best efforts have been used in preparing this book, the author and publisher make no representations or warranties of any kind. Neither the author nor the publisher shall be held liable or responsible to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damages caused, or alleged to have been caused, directly or indirectly, by the information contained herein. Every situation is different, and the advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation.

In the following pages, you will find recommendations for the use of certain herbs, essential oils, incense blends, and ritual items. If you are allergic to any of these items, please refrain from use. Each body reacts differently to herbs, essential oils, and other items, so results may vary from person to person. Essential oils are potent; use care when handling them. Always dilute essential oils before placing them on your skin, and make sure to do a patch test on your skin before use. Perform your own research before using an essential oil. Some herbal remedies can react with prescription or over-the-counter medications in adverse ways. Please do not ingest any herbs if you aren’t sure you have identified them correctly. If you are on medication or have health issues, please do not ingest any herbs without first consulting a qualified practitioner.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

There are very many people with whom I have discussed the topics covered in this volume, and I am grateful to each and every one of you. No one named and no one forgotten.

The Woolston-Steen Theological Seminary faculty members all have influenced my thinking on many magical topics, and I much appreciate the effort, deep thought, and enthusiasm that they put into their work.

I wish especially to thank KerrO’Wen, who convinced me to pick up and finish writing this book when it had gone dormant due to too many priorities being juggled, and then cheered me on through to the finish.

This was not anywhere near the book it is now before the inputs of the fantastic editing staff at Llewellyn, especially Heather Greene and Nicole Borneman. My heartfelt thanks, Heather and Nicole!

INTRODUCTION

Magic is not miracles. Magic is making the possible probable.

When first thinking of using magic, most people want to go the easy way, so they buy a spell book full of spells written by someone else or purchase spell kits with ready-made incantations and items to use in the spell. Depending on the skill of the person who crafted the spells and how well you execute them, such spells may or may not be effective for you.

Maybe you are already practicing magic, but your magic is not working right. Perhaps you use cookbook formulas, but you do not understand how they work. Or you may already be working magic just fine, but you could use some inspiration for new spells. In any case, once you have finished reading this book, you will know how to create your own powerful spells from scratch, and if you are already a seasoned spell-crafter, you will have found new inspiration.

In this book, you will gain an understanding of what a spell is and isn’t, the theory behind how to create spells, when to do magic and when not to, the importance of Acting in Accord, and how to manifest your goal. You will also learn some valuable symbols for spell work, as well as some magical correspondences and why you may want to use them. You will learn to write your own incantations, and I will provide specific spells as examples of the methods presented.

This book you hold in your hands is not a cookbook of readymade spells. Instead, it teaches you how spells work and how to create spells for yourself, for your specific intents and purposes. It teaches you how to Act in Accord to manifest your goals. This is powerful magic. This is magic that works!

I like to think of my magic work as “spells without hocus pocus.” This refers to the fact that some grimoires and old spell books are filled with incantations that contain mysterious words, e.g., names of spirits and beings about whom you know little or nothing. A great example of this is a thirteenth-century spell for healing by Albertus Magnus, which uses the incantation:

Ofano, Oblamo, Ospergo Hola Noa Massa Lux, Beff, Cletemati, Adonai Cleona, Florit. Pax Sax Sarax. Afa Afca Nostra. Cerum, Heaium, Lada Frium1

1. Gaynor, Witchcraft Collection Volume Two, chap. M.

I do not know what this means, nor do most people, as far as I know. What I do know is that it could very well backfire! Sending out intent when you do not know what it is may be useless and is also potentially dangerous.

What you are reading now, on the other hand, strives to leave nothing unexplained. The goal is for you, the reader, to understand the underlying mechanics of spell work so that you yourself become proficient in writing spells, so you are no longer forced to rely on the sometimes-dubious work of others. You will be able to write spells specific to your exact wants and needs, and you’ll know all the necessary steps to take to make them manifest. You do not need to worry about whether the person who wrote the spell knew what they were doing, because you will know what you are doing. Knowing this puts all the power in your hands.

Magic is not an inherited skill or something into which you need to be born. Anyone can learn to cast spells! Once you have learned the steps required to create a spell, understand how to plan for the best timing, and know how to use correspondences and other tools that power your magic, you have all the necessary knowledge. All you need to add is the focus and intensity of emotion that is required.

This book also contains examples of complete spells, all written according to the principles explained here. You may use these as they appear here if you so choose. However, my real intent was to include them to illustrate the principles with actual examples so that you understand how to create your own spell.

You will find that some of the material in this book is written in a Wiccan context, draws on Wiccan principles, or has Wiccan references. This is not, however, an “introduction to Wicca” textbook, and you do not have to be Wiccan to learn the spell craft presented here. I am a third-degree British Traditional Wicca High Priestess, and that

is why there are the occasional Wiccan flavors. Wicca is a religion that honors both the feminine and the masculine in the Divine, and thus you will find both Gods and Goddesses discussed. Incidentally, today many Wiccans also honor the entire gender spectrum in the same way. Many Wiccans also perform spells as part of their religious practice, as I do. In my case, I started doing magic and manifesting my intents in my teens, long before becoming a Wiccan in 2003.

My life experiences have influenced my spell work. I have been traveling to India regularly since 1986, when I married into an Indian Hindu family. I also lived in India for nine years. There, I was immersed in the culture and religion of Hinduism and the worship of Hindu deities. Thus, there are some Indian cultural concepts and Hindu religious concepts included among the principles. For example, one way that living in India has influenced my Witchcraft is that I incorporate the chakra system into my magic.

Similarly, I have a strong connection with the Norse Old Gods and myths because I was born and raised in Sweden. As a child, when we studied the Norse Æsir and the Vanir Gods in school, I was fascinated and always wondered how the belief in the Old Gods came to be entirely eliminated. As I grew older, I started working with these Gods as part of religious magic, a concept that will be explained in detail later on.

It is my hope that on every single page, you will find something that you can use in your own magical workings. I have often been frustrated by books that purport to teach a subject but turn out mostly to be a lot of words with little substance. In such books, you have to hunt and peck for any information that is actually useful in practice. My aim and hope here are that you will have a very different experience with this book, one where you find yourself thinking Oh! I can use this! Oh, this is useful! as you read through the chapters.

Part One

GETTING STARTED

Chapter 1

WHAT IS A SPELL?

When you hear someone talk about spells, you might picture a witch in sweeping black or purple robes standing with a wand in her hand, reading from an aged leather-bound book and mumbling a long incantation of mysterious words over a bubbling cauldron. You might see the room as lit only by candles; maybe a fire in the fireplace. Her black cat is by her side as she casts her spell…This beautiful setting, of course, happens, and yet this is not the way most spell workers cast spells. First of all, witches are of any gender. Rather than spells being cast in the enticing metaphysical setting that is often pictured, it is considerably more common to cast spells in much more mundane surroundings. The content of the spell and the words of the incantation are what is important. As you have already learned, the words should be clear and precise rather than mysterious.

Chapter 1

Some of the most powerful spells are created specifically for the situation and the purpose of the spell, and that is precisely why they have so much power. These spells are tailored to the exact conditions at hand and the specific goal that the spell worker wants to manifest. They possess the personal power of the practitioner and are personalized to their exact needs. These spells cannot be found in spell books, where you will only find relatively generic spells. Some spells you may create at the spur-of-the-moment, e.g., adding love to a meal while cooking it or saying a spell of protection when the airplane you are in hits some turbulence. Other spells are carefully crafted, using many layers of symbols and correspondences, and executed at specific times in the lunar cycle, astrological configurations, and planetary hours. Again, these types of spells will not be found in a book of prewritten spells.

Here is my definition of a spell: a spell is a mechanism for making the possible probable. Remember, magic is not miracles.

In order to be successful, what you wish to manifest must first be created on the astral plane. You will learn how to do this later in this chapter. You will also learn what is required for a spell to work and what often causes magic to fail.

The Planes of Existence

There are many planes in our existence. This book will be concerned with the physical plane, where you experience mundane life, and where a chair is a chair that you can touch and feel, and also with the astral plane, where all consciousness and universal unconsciousness resides, and where a chair is a chair that only the astral body can move.

In order for anything to manifest on the physical plane, it must first exist on the astral plane. Some things come into existence on