What is spellcasting? Is it harmful? Discover how and why spells work and what you can do to improve to cast more powerfully and confidently.
I’ve been facilitating spiritual connection for modern mystics since 2006, and what I’ve seen keeping most would-be lightweavers stuck is:
>> Overwhelm: Feeling like there is too much to learn and you can’t handle it all (plus the illusion that you are bound by linear time) means you can’t get your head on straight enough to figure out what to do.
>> Research mode: Endlessly looking for the “right way” to do it all before you even take one step because you want to get it perfect the first time.
>> Low confidence: You don’t think you have enough information or knowledge to decide what you are doing next so you just don’t feel good enough to proceed.
Perhaps all of the above, at once. I can tell you that these feelings are commonplace, normal and utterly human.
Does Casting a Spell have Negative Side-effects?
So… you may really like the idea of wielding magick and creating what you desire at will. But what kind of side-effects can this drive throughout the quantum field?
We have all heard the urban legends about the girl that cast a love spell who then met the perfect man only for the relationship to be short-lived and end traumatically.
Or the one about the guy who cast a money spell and his father died in a car crash the next day so he received his inheritance.
Based on those cautionary tales, I can’t blame newcomers to the Craft for experiencing some hesitancy and anxiety when you consider casting your own spells.
The short answer
Only if you believe that what you are asking for will have a negative side-effect or if you deem what you are doing as “wrong” from the outset.
The long answer
There are a number of factors to take into account that affect the vibrational space you cast your spell from that is, the energy your request is born from.
When you cast a spell it is like blowing bubbles. You touch the very essence of its form with the life force you breathe into it at the time you cast it into the universe. Manage that breath well and experience high-quality results.
Ways to curtail negative side-effects
• Engage in a form of divination to see what effect magick will have on a situation; you could consult an oracle like the Tarot, Lenormand cards or Runes for this kind of forecast.
• If you just need a straight yes/no regarding the employ of a spell; use a pendulum, muscle test, ask for a clear sign from your Spirit Helpers or flip a coin with heads indicating go ahead and tails meaning “NO.”
• Don’t cast a spell when you are feeling sick or unwell in general. Your energy is imbalanced and needs to focus on restoring wholeness within you first.
• Don’t cast a spell when you are having a frothy (angry, frantic, frustrated, annoyed etc.)
Why?
1) You may change your mind later
2) You may not have all the facts immediately
3) Frothy energy is weak compared to full, grounded, calm, centered energy
4) Your head and heart space are not clear on what result you really seek
➜ If you need to cast in an emergency situation E.G. protect someone from an abusive/dangerous situation, locate the missing family pet et al. Take three deep breaths, ground and centre, wait two minutes and then approach your altar.
➜ Don’t cast a spell when you are intoxicated (on any substance).
➜ Don’t haphazardly invite in energies (discarnate, incarnate or symbolic) you know nothing about.
➜ Cleanse any new or second hand items you bring into your space.
➜ Maintain your focus during the spell. Concentrate on the task at hand and don’t multi-task by attempting to cast two diverse spells simultaneously.
➜ Take the time to sit down with yourself and get clear on what it is that you really want, sometimes it helps to dig deeper to see if there is an underlying insecurity or misconception on your part.
➜ Old wounds are best made whole rather than creating the same results repeatedly by ignoring them and hoping a spell will fix you. Resolve your “issues” first so your spell stems from a place of wholeness.
➜ If it sets your mind at ease, include a safety clause in your spell, such as “I ask for this under grace and for the highest good of all concerned.”
The detail of the matter is that you don’t inflict harm on anybody.
If you have been wronged and seek justice (you need not specify the means by which it is delivered) it is that person’s own thoughts and feelings about what they have done that engulfs them.
Likewise you don’t cause another’s death. It is their time when they go. No one dies “before their time” or “too young.” It is a soul level choice. Whatever you do, make sure you feel comfortable asking for it and are willing to explain why you did it, in the case of casting for vengeance, to Source (or your preference).
People like to insinuate that “magick comes with a price.” Knowledge is power and yes, power comes with a “price” — the choice of how to wield it. The energy you are shaping is neutral. It is the wielder who decides to use it to create or destroy.
How to Cast a Spell That Doesn’t Cause Harm To Anyone
What is known as positive (good) magick is essentially the practice of casting spells that do not incur harm. If this is something that you are concerned about read on…
A common enquiry entering my email inbox is about the ethics and repercussions of casting spells.
In the sense of shaping circumstances to suit you, are you taking what is rightfully another’s? Or are you bringing grave misfortune upon those close to you?
Magick and spells are not manipulative or harmful. You are simply working with your own subconscious and changing what you accept as true about something. You end up with the result or outcome that you believe in.
Some mega myths about magick making include…
• I can’t get anything without suffering.
• Magick makes me get what I want faster, but I have to give something up in return.
• I must use protection for myself and my family when working magick to keep them safe from unexpected bad events.
• Dabbling in even simple good spells can wreak havoc on people’s lives.
• Experimenting with good spells to help someone can hurt the people around the spell by manipulating situations for the spell to work.
First, the above nonsense makes my blood boil because it discourages you from taking a proactive solution-oriented approach solely based on the premise of fear. Fear that you will suffer, fear that your loved ones will suffer or fear of causing strangers to suffer.
Sounds like rules based on fear of punishment to me… this smacks of the influence of the old patriarchal paradigm that is deader than a doornail as you read this.
“Shut up and take what we hand you because we know something you don’t know.” Yes? I’ll tell you what they know…
They know that you are a powerful, peace-loving, compassionate human being; a custodian of the planet’s wellbeing and all life on it. They know that when you fully come to understand and accept that, they are toast.
Now, I don’t mean to say that the people endorsing these myths are doing so deliberately to keep you from expanding into your fullest potential. Some might be, but others have unwittingly been indoctrinated with this misinformation and don’t even realise they themselves have been duped.
Lead will play its role until the world has no further need for lead and then lead will have to turn itself into gold in order to match the higher frequencies.
Second, if you believe it to be so, then you will experience it as such because your consciousness is your filter through which you perceive your reality. It doesn’t have to be that way. If you are drawn to something “so wrong”, because it feels “so right” then honour yourself enough to explore your soul wisdom and creative inner fire.
• We are a part of an abundant infinite cosmos.
• There is no cause and effect, only what we perceive to be such.
• The universe is not against you or for you, Creation is totally neutral.
• The intention behind energy is what shapes it.
All possibilities and scenarios occur in all possible ways in all possible worlds. You are NOT taking from one to give to another ~ this is a fallacy.
Five Steps to a Spell That Doesn’t Harm
1. Take these 4 steps before you start any ritual or energy crafting activities.
2. Avoid ritual magick when you are intoxicated or in a very emotional state.
3. Don’t haphazardly invite in entities (discarnate, incarnate or symbolic) you know nothing about.
4. Cleanse any new or second hand items you bring into your personal space.
5. Incorporate the magickal script below to conclude your rite:
I call for this now and bring it into this moment and dimension in accordance with my highest good. I open to receiving this under grace and in a perfect way.
I release anything I may have said or done through all time that no longer serves me that may be blocking my ability to receive this. All my needs are met for I am already whole.
I invite my Personal Interdimensional Support Team (or your preference) and overlighting Soul Self to regulate the spiral of magick so that it flows at the most appropriate and beneficial rate for all involved.
I relinquish any attachment to this now and place it firmly in the hearts and influence of the Ancient Ones (or your preference) for fulfilment.
And so it is.
The Secret to Real Spells That Work
Feeling awkward and unnatural or perhaps questioning who you think you are to be wielding magick and blessings around like you’re someone special? What is the very first step in casting a circle?
Reader Question: “I can never remember all the words for the spells and cannot find all the herbs… I feel stupid stopping halfway to consult a book to find out which direction to turn and what to do next.”
Another Reader Question: I feel very weird casting a circle, like it’s not natural for me at all and this messes with the whole flow. Like if I feel ridiculous at the beginning, how am I going to have the confidence or be in the right mindset going forward with everything?
Sound familiar?
In that case, you will find my personal brand of Source-ry to be a good fit, because telling you exactly where to stand and what to say at precisely the right moment is something I don’t do.
Why?
Because it simply isn’t a deal breaker. Do what feels right for you.
Thanks to Hollywood and some other channels of misinformation, many new magick makers think that if they don’t do a spell just right from a book, that things will go horribly awry.
In truth, your spell is built of your energy. You are imbuing it with life force and so your heartfelt intention, mindset and vibrational signature is what counts.
Certainly, specific “ingredients” like botanicals hold a particular energy frequency that compliment your spell’s desired result but it isn’t the be all and end all if;
a) You substitute with another that is similar in frequency E.G. Cinnamon corresponds with sun energy, so does Bay.
b) You skip it out altogether E.G. You draw the astrological symbol for the sun on a piece of paper, in the air or on a candle instead.
Less Fuss More Verve
Magick makers use what is available in their immediate environment or what is relatively easily attainable ~ thanks to modern interwebs! Working with the Spirit of the Land (and yes that includes your local health shop, supermarket, private yard or public park).
You don’t have to seek out some obscure, rare item.
The magick comes from within you.
That is the obscure, rare ingredient!
Trust your innermost magickal aspect to guide you, improvise and substitute in ways that follow your flow of “feel good” and your spells will be powerful.
How Do I Know If I Cast A Spell Right?
How to make your magick feel more real if you are having trouble wrapping your rational mind around an invisible concept.
Reader question: “The hardest thing for me is not knowing if I am doing things right. I could do a spell, but is it enough?
How do I make my practice of magic feel magical rather than just acts to perform?”
You have probably heard that after many years of meditation and/or ritual practise a person will be able to shift their consciousness into alpha state just by engaging in the thought of starting the process.
Your subconscious mind is many times more powerful than your conscious mind and it communicates with and through symbols and images i.e. the right brain. Your left brain correlates to logical thought and your conscious awareness.
When you perform a spell or ritual gesture you are merging both left (sacred feminine) and right (sacred masculine) hemispheres of the brain, the intangible and the tangible, projecting and receiving.
Everything is made of energy which connects us to the living essence within all of Creation. We are part of One unified field of energy.
When you acknowledge this you understand that you are not attracting something external to yourself but drawing on what is already inherent within you and flowing around you to create an experience.
The physical world of form and the pervasive world of spirit are not separate from each other.
When you spend time fuelling a spell or ritual energy form with your attention, you are making it more real to your body on a cellular, physical level.
That is why you use your senses in ritual and workings getting clear on what the outcome looks like, feels like, sounds like ~ they all integrate into your molecular resonance filtering in from your soul essence.
A thought is potential energy.
When a thought is fuelled with emotional currency and life force (via placing your attention on it) that thought crystallises, essentially converting into a sacred geometric pattern within inherent in every single cell of your body.
This frequential signal is then transmitted from within your being throughout your subtle bodies into the hologram of this Earth-based reality incurring change in your perceived experience.
Please know that a random “bad” thought about someone or something that pops into your head does not cause anything bad to occur to another or in your own life. I am referring to a consistent building of electromagnetic momentum over a sustained period of time that is amplified by personal resonance to create a vortex of energy that expands out into the infinite field.
A thought is potential energy. It is your life force that sets things in motion. The universe doesn’t respond to your thoughts alone, it responds to your vibration.
How to Make Your Magick Feel More Real
Imagine sitting (or standing) in a stream of energy. I sense it synchronising with my pulse and breath, dissolving into the unified field that flows around me and through.
Then when I cast my spell or perform my ritual I perceive myself doing it in this vortex that is timeless and primordial, free of any restriction or limitation, ripe with infinite potential. I am literally weaving it into the fabric of Creation.
By doing this I feel the energy “click” for what I am doing occurring on all three body-mind-soul levels, confirming that I have done it “right” because I experience it so fully.
A spell or ritual creates an etheric portal for a result to enter into physical form. You pour your best into it and then let go. Your role is following up on synchronicities, signs and messages that Spirit utilises to guide you in your actions afterwards.
Lightly expect evidence of a shift, staying open to perceiving subtle patterns without obsessively trying to force things along. Support your workings with matching thoughts and speech and most importantly trust that there is magick afoot behind the scenes, even if you just don’t see it yet 🙂
It is also helpful to be mindful of what energy you approach your ritual magick with for example; asking or influencing, hoping or certainty, yearning or expecting. (More about this farther down about how to get your spells to work).
Did My Spell Work?
My top tips for spellcasting success; why they fall flat and how to prevent this.
It is common for new mages to be weary of doing something wrong during a casting.
They are concerned that perhaps by not reciting each word perfectly or executing each gesture in the right manner, using the “right” ingredients or selecting the best timing that it won’t work.
This imbues the whole spell with a wavering and timid energy so your intentions are carried forth into the matrix on a diluted frequency.
Similarly, being wand shy (fearfulness that you will cause harm to another or suffer some negative backlash from your spell) will only hamper your working or in effect become a self-fulfilling philosophy because if you think that what you are doing is “bad” and will have undesirable consequences you will create circumstances and experiences in your life to verify this belief for you.
The other and most essential criterion for a successful spell casting is confidence. When you step up to your altar and get your magick making on you know without a doubt that you are creating ripples throughout all time and space and that a result will manifest.
How to Get Your Spells to Work
Notice when you enter your sacred space and enter alpha state if your heart centre feels closed and small with a meek aura about you or if your heart centre is open, powerfully flowing constant and expansive aura about you.
Determination that you are going to witness a result that will improve or resolve the situation is key. You may not necessarily know how things will come about (because that is not your job, leave it to the ether) however, your confidence in your ability to incur change is what lends certainty to the process. Put your best into it and then let go.
Check your personal frequency
• Are you asking for some kind of change to happen or are you influencing quantum waves to rearrange differently? E.G. find employment
• Are you hoping that things will shift or are you sure they will? E.G. new romance
• Are you yearning for transformation or are you expecting it? E.G. healthier body
The matrix responds to you once you emit the “there you are!” vibration, that is, knowing what you seek is already here and confidently calling for it to make its presence known.
Versus…
Vaguely entertaining the idea while going through the motions and wondering if it will work or flinging out a request from a desperate “OMG I neeeeeed this! Where is it?” frequency.
After Casting a Spell: Disposing of Ritual Remains
You don’t always have to dispose of the item(s) you have utilised. It depends on your intention (as with everything). If you are attracting something to you and made a talisman, then you want to keep it on your person, in a special place or somewhere significant for it to draw your desire to you.
On the other hand if you are banishing something you want to symbolically move it away from you and right out of your life The only time this does not count is if you made an amulet to ward off something, then you keep it on your person or someplace significant to you.
Some examples:
Attracting/Increasing:
• Bury biofriendly items at your front door such as in pot plants, under a welcome mat, in the doorframe or near the front doorstep to bring new love, career opportunities, life experiences and health to you. It’s convenient if you happen to be repaving your driveway at the time.
• Bury biofriendly items in your backyard to stabilise a long-term committed relationship, finances, tranquil home and protection i.e. things you want to keep in your life forevermore.
• Store the item in a container under your bed, or in the area that corresponds with your intention such as a home office for work related spells etc.
• Store the item on your manifesting altar or on an East-facing window sill to be charged with sunrise energy.
• Plant the item beside a seedling (or sapling) for your intention to “grow” with it. Imagine cultivating a literal garden of wishes!
• If you empower something you can actually ingest such as a meal or even charge a glass of water, you can physically consume it to take the energy into your being.
Banishing/Decreasing:
• Bury biofriendly items in a graveyard to literally lay a matter to rest from your life (and yes, you can do this in daylight if it creeps you out to go there at night!)
• Bury biofriendly items at a crossroads (to scatter the energy in all directions).
• If you are comfortable with the element of fire, you can burn items and scatter the ashes to the wind.
• If you used paper, you can tear it up into tiny pieces/run it through the shredder and toss it in the recycle bin (to symbolically return to Source for transmutation).
• If it’s biofriendly, drop the item(s) in a MOVING body of water (stream, river, ocean) so that it flows away from you.
• Store the item on your manifesting altar or on a West-facing window sill to wane with sunset energy.
• Toss it out with the trash ~ good riddance!
• Flush it down the toilet (if it is something that won’t disrupt your plumbing).
{If you are engaging in hexing or cursing work of any kind, always dispose of the ritual remnants off of your own property and take a different route to return home. You don’t want to accidently step in any of that!}
Offerings:
When you complete a spell it is often customary to leave an offering to the beings you have asked for assistance from, such as guardians, ancestors, angels, guides, elementals, Source etc. This could be offerings made to the land for example, with thanks; vegetables, herbs, fruit, nuts, mead, wine, whisky, beer, water, fertilizer, seeds, shells, crystals, incense, tobacco, fragrant oils, flowers.
If you are indoors you can offer any of the abovementioned items on a plate or in a glass, which you usually dispose of outside or discard in the trash after 24-72 hours.
For those who are artistically inclined, you can create a devotional piece of art, play or compose a piece of dedicated music, or choreograph a dance from the heart as an offering. Creating a simple chant or poem is a valid offering as well. The point is to honour Creation in some way.
After Casting a Spell: Alignment and Making Space for Results
What to do during that eager time lapse after you have performed a ritual or spell and you’re anticipating the result!
Like attending a formal dinner party at a prestigious establishment, you’re feeling really excited but you know you have to tone it down a notch to vibe serene for gracious admission.
Sometimes you have difficulty detaching from your wants and can’t stop thinking about when you will see it take effect or projecting all the potential scenarios through which it can come to be. Then you need to breathe and make etheric space for cosmic winds to twirl around you.
Sometimes your circumstances don’t budge (expand) until you make space in other areas of your life which creates a variety of pathways along which your manifestation can be delivered to you. How do you craft “space” in your life? By taking action of course!
Visualise roads opening and blocks dissolving. Chant uplifting mantras, exercise to move energy through you. And then there is good old house magick; rearrange the furniture, clean out cupboards, organise your desk etcetera.
Switch the weave in strands of the web
Blaze astral pathways
Open unseen doors
Take your body and mind on a Spirited adventure
On recognising patterns… start noticing recurring dreams or imagery and playfully leaning into the potential messages for you. Look up number sequences that keep showing up like 1222 or 1414.
Logical scrutinising can only take you so far, sometimes you just have to surrender into feeling and intuition. Get present in the present and practice letting go of self-judgement whenever it surfaces.
How to align, allow and receive after ritual magick
>> Ask yourself, “what will make me lighter going forward?”
>> The less you reach for results the better things go.
For example, don’t let fear define your actions, as in worrying about missing out. “If I do go I might…” or “what if I don’t go and…” Just lean into it and listen to that still, sure voice within for guidance.
Avoid trying to will it to happen or push things into place. Relinquish controlling the storyline (and timeline). The best approach is to consciously “forget about it” and carry on as if it already happened and matter is just catching up with spirit.
And while you’re calibrating to your new self, take some time out to do the things you love and enjoy. Relax, spend time with your family, get a massage, read books you’ve been hoarding for “one day” and generally have a good time regardless 😉
Because frequently, the universe tends to deliver when you’re not looking or through the secret door you didn’t even know existed. Hence, magick far greater than you can imagine.
Do this just once every day and you will already be further than most:
• Utter thank you for everything in your life, even the flashpoints.
• Say “I love you” to yourself speaking directly to your heart centre.
• Savour simply being here and getting to play human in Gaia’s vast array of treasures.
Conjure >> Detach >> Allow your wellbeing = Open to receiving
What Else You Need To Know About Magick
Magick is part of a spiritual path. Magick is not about doing, it is about being.
Your thoughts, feelings and experiences as a consequence indicate where your energy frequency is. That is, who you are being. Magick entwines intellect, imagination and intuition.
Spellcasting, prayer, ritual and ceremony are all a means of expression designed to transmit your desires into form. Any thought, visualisation or structured objective is a form of magick.
This does not exempt the practitioner from taking action on a mundane level, you still need to take everyday action, follow through on hunches and presented opportunities to open avenues for the energy to travel toward you along the path that meets the least resistance.
Opportunities may be disguised at first and only once you seize them do you realise the snowball effect they had in taking you to the perfect place at the best moment.
It is also common to only notice the magick that unfolded in retrospect. Sometimes results are instant, sometimes they aren’t. Everything is constantly unpredictable.
There is no separation between reality and spirituality. Be prudent. Stop and think for yourself, question what you are told. Dogma makes ruling the masses a whole lot easier. Extract yourself from the illusion.
Aligning to your will and not that of anyone or anything external aligns you with All That Is (whichever way you wish to view it) which is embodied and integrated in all Life.
In living consciously you become more aware of the flow of possibilities and synchronicity within the present moment.
This conscious awareness gives you power of choice, perceptive vision and the ability to exercise discernment and wisdom in all your dealings.
It also brings greater clarity about your unique path that instils reverence, heartfelt gratitude, happiness and blessings untold.
Spellcasting skeptics may take some bark, seeds or leaves and haphazardly scatter them around then sneer because nothing happened. No surprise there.
That is because you have a number of goals, dreams and objectives swirling through your consciousness at any one time. When you hold back from focussing in on what it is that you want precisely, they keep swirling around you until they become a hazy fog.
It’s as vague as saying, “Oh, I’ll take a handful of this and a pinch of that, now go get me that stuff I want”.
Until you commit to a specific direction you would like to take things in an area of your life, your frequency bears that of hesitancy, which makes for manifesting more ambiguity.
Why?
Because all your thinking and conceptual possibilities about a matter channel energy toward it but without clear direction it becomes diluted, scattered and returns to the greater field of consciousness because it has not got a clear direction of what to fill (or fuel).
Free will consists of two components:
1) The power of independent choice (thought)
2) The power of independent action (deed)
When you choose to consciously create differently or better for yourself, you hold a vision while you structure a foundational framework for that which you wish to take form.
Thought >> Hold a vision with enough solid focus to allow the strands to begin knitting together for that which you wish to take form.
Deed >> Decide wholeheartedly what you are going to create then ground that into practical action.
Take the bark, roots, seeds and leaves…
Hold them in your hands and charge them fervently with your exact intentions, vision and supporting emotional tides until you feel the life force within them stir, then cast them about your space.
AND THEN go do something that will bring you closer to what you are asking for.
For Example
Thought:
• What do I want? (Get a hold on the general picture. Then explore it further to increase the detail).
• I want another job ~ I want to move to a location where there are more opportunities ~ I am scared of making a mistake by resigning from my current position.
• Precise answer: I want to feel supported in my decision to relocate and secure a more stimulating career.
Deed:
• Perform a ritual asking your Spirit Helpers for their guidance and assistance in your decision, seek out divination to examine the potential outcome of your decision. Forewarned is forearmed so you can adjust anything that may be out of step before it unravels all your plans.
• Cast a spell to find fulfilling employment. Polish up your résumé, search adverts, sign up at a recruitment agency, prepare for the interview so that you shine.
• Cast a spell for the smooth and swift sale of your home. Wash the windows, apply a coat of fresh paint, get a professional to market it.
Conclusion
When you plant seeds you let them grow. Tugging at the shoots won’t make them grow any faster.
Similarly, when you place an order in a fancy restaurant you don’t keep sending the waiter back and forth to hurry the Chef and find out when the dish will be ready. You place your order nonchalantly with confidence that you will get what was listed on the menu and expect to be served timeously.
Surefire Source-ry involves stepping into a paradoxical space where you know with your entire being that you already hold the result you are intending. This knowingness does not imply that it is going to happen. It is an unwavering confidence that it has already happened and matter is just catching up.
Nurture your intention during its gestation period by finding peace/ relief/ joy, whatever you have set out to cultivate more of, in the present moment because your vibration is your ticket to craft your energy to become what you seek before it can be.
Needing, yearning or obsessing directs your attention and therefore you energy to what is missing from the present moment, emphasising lack and thus creating more lack of whatever you think is lacking in your life.
You cannot successfully craft energy for a specific purpose if your head and heart are misaligned.
Boil, stew and brew well-being and appreciation for what is around you now, while you alchemise your reality and acclimate to it. Take inspired action when it presents — you never know where the cosmic current will carry you…
✶ Your body is energy (spirit) in material form by becoming aware of and intentional with your magick-wielding capabilities you can create long-lasting positive change in your life.