The Elements of Spellcrafting

by Jason Miller

  How Flexible Are You?

  I cannot even begin to tell you how many people have Magical mishaps, failed spells, or just inconvenient results, like my accident, and immediately think that the Gods and spirits are mad at them. No one is mad at you. The spirits aren't playing games. Your Magic is not backfiring. Your life is just not set up to manifest the results that you asked for in a convenient way.

  We know from the first key that Magic is an influence upon reality, not a reality-breaking force (usually). If you do a spell to get money, it is going to manifest through mundane means that have a logical explanation. The spell will have influenced those events, but it is not going to make it rain 20-dollar bills from the sky. If you plan on Magic having a role in your life, you need to be able to maximize the potential for that Magic to manifest in ways that you will appreciate.

  So Ask Yourself: Is Your Life Enchantable?

  Love Shows Up on the Doorstep

  In 1946, noted rocket scientist Jack Parsons and one of his students, L. Ron Hubbard,1 performed a series of Enochian workings in the desert, designed to bring Parsons a lover that he could practice sex Magic with. He specifically was looking for an “elemental women” with fiery characteristics. He came home from the desert and on his doorstep sat the 24-year-old redheaded beauty Marjorie Cameron.2 They were instantly attracted to each other and allegedly spent the next two weeks in Jack's bedroom.3

  This is an awesome story, of course, but most of the time our efforts at love Magic will not be immediately followed by lovers waiting for us on the doorstep, ready and willing to delve into some sex Magic. This seems like the exceptional result that happens with Magic every now and then. But was it that exceptional? Parsons' life was extremely enchantable in this regard. He owned and lived in a boarding house that catered to bohemian residents. It was one of his lodgers who brought Cameron over to the house. If Parsons was just a rocket scientist who spent most of his time in the lab, his efforts at finding his “elemental woman” might have taken longer, had a less spectacular result, or even completely failed. His life, however, was highly enchantable to this result.

  When performing love Magic, there are a lot of ways to make your life more enchantable. The obvious one is to turn off the PlayStation, log off Facebook, and get out places that you might meet people. Unless, like Parsons, you run a boarding house, you will need to go out into the world to meet people. Join a club or organization so you can run into folks of similar interests. Volunteer, so you rub elbows with those who are also into giving their time to worthy causes. Talk to your neighbors or get involved in community activism so that the people you eventually want to spend more time with are a short drive away, rather than a plane ride away. And yes, if you must, join a dating site—no matter who you are, there is probably one that fits you. If there is a FarmersOnly.com, a ZombiePassions.com, and even a SeaCaptainDate.com, I am sure that there is someone out there for you. But when talking love Magic, it's not just getting out of the house that makes your life enchantable. It's you. How do you look? How do you dress? Are you skilled at starting conversations? I am not telling you to become someone else; these are all skills that can be learned. I am also not telling you to become a pick-up artist or anything like that. Just make your life more enchantable by brushing up on social skills and grooming. You do not want your efforts at Sorcery to be thwarted by your lack of effort in the shower.

  In fact let's make that our second rule of thumb: Keep your Magical and mundane efforts pointed in the same direction.

  Financial Flexibility

  So to get back to my story about the comparative money spells, why did my three grand have to be taken out of my car, when 10 years later I was able to conjure more than three times that amount with no ill effects?

  When I did the first spell, I worked for a telecom in a position that did not offer bonuses or any sort of random income. If the company did well one month, I made the same amount of money that I did during months that the company did poorly. Money spells I did for small amounts always found a way to come through things like paid focus groups, short-term side jobs, unexpected gifts, bank errors, found wallets, and so on. In other words, penny-ante bullshit. Spells for larger sums or significant financial changes led to uncomfortably sudden job changes or things like the insurance payment for a car that I never got properly fixed.

  Thankfully, I never experienced the “inheritance result” that so many people worry about as an outcome of money Magic. In fact, I have only ever encountered one person who this might have happened to, and the person who left the inheritance was already in hospice.

  When I did the second spell last year, I worked for myself and drew my salary from the work I did. The path of least resistance for financial Magic is simply to have more customers, higher-paying purchases, or inspiration for a new product. In fact, one of my prior books was an idea that was the result of a money spell.

  There are lots of ways to have flexible income other than running your own company. Some positions offer a combination of salary and commission. Some executives receive bonuses. Investments that pay dividends or day trading can be a great way to add an enchantable dynamic to your portfolio. Many people nowadays have small side businesses in addition to their daytime gigs. The combination of a regular paycheck from a day job with the variable or even passive income from assets and side gigs can be a wonderful way to get the money mojo moving.

  Health Enchantability

  Even in health matters, we have to make sure that our lives are enchant-able. I had someone come to me asking for help with their acid reflux. I did some healing work related to White Tara and made him a talisman to keep under his bed, which is where he would have the attacks. Apart from the Magic, I told him to try to lose some weight, cut back on caffeine, try not to eat too late, and avoid trigger foods and drinks within six hours of bedtime. Most of all, he should see a doctor. A couple weeks later, he wrote back to thank me because his attacks diminished. A couple months later, though, the attacks were back. Sure enough, he was still using the talisman, but he started drinking late afternoon coffee, having after-dinner drinks, and generally not paying attention to any of the other stuff he needed to do. In fact, he started doing all these unhelpful things because he felt like the talisman would let him.

  You might be thinking, “If I have to do all this other stuff to prevent attacks like this, why do I even need the Magic?” I know that's what the client was asking, albeit with more expletives. The answer is that Magic is an influence. It will help make the attacks happen less. It will diminish the severity of the attacks that happen. It will help you make the changes needed to stop them. It will not, however, permanently solve a problem that you keep perpetuating in non-Magical ways.

  How enchantable is your body? How enchantable are your habits? How enchantable is your environment? These are the questions we need to ask when we do healing Magic. Magic, energy healing, and alternative medicine all help, but they are not going to re-write your DNA, replace your gut bacteria, or remove the need for effort and change on your part.

  Dangers of Forcing Magic into an Unenchantable Situation

  A few years back, a friend of mine hired a contractor to re-do her bathroom. She called on St. Expedite to get it done in a very short amount of time—like in a day or two. The problem is, despite what HGTV makes you think, under no circumstances would this have been possible. On day two of the remodel, a tub full of water wound up not in the tub, but in the living room, one floor down. Nutty stuff happens when you force Magic into impossible situations. This isn't “backfiring” so much as it is shooting a bullet into a room where the walls are all bulletproof and it ricochets 100 times.

  A lot gets said about the dangers of Magic. Offended spirits, malefic curses, demonic obsession, and all the bogymen that people warn of can and do happen, but these are not the dangers of Magic that I am most concerned about. Way more problems come from Magic applied in unskilled and counterproductive ways. That, to me, is a much lar
ger danger than Asmodeus being pissed off at the type of incense you used. Try not to force a truly unenchantable situation with Magic.

  When planning Magic, you should think of how your spell could possibly manifest. You don't have to steer it in that direction necessarily, as that would take away from avenues for manifestation that you may not be aware of at the moment. You do, however, have to think about how enchantable your life is toward any goal. If your life is not particularly open to the kind of Magic that you are doing, you need to realize that it may not manifest or perhaps just give underwhelming results. If you force the issue with stronger Magic and insistence, then be ready for life to blow up on you.

  The Take-Away

  In the comic on page 35, Harold wants to be attractive to the opposite sex, but apparently his life is not very enchantable in this regard, so Sal suggests washing up a bit as a start. The problem this key seeks to solve is forcing Magic to manifest in lives that are not easily adapted to enchantment. The solution is not always an easy one. It may require you to open a business, do some serious personal identity work, or even move to a new city where there are more opportunities than your current location.

  My challenge for you is this: Instead of looking at your life through the lens of the Sorcerer who wants something, pretend that you are a demon that has been summoned. What would you have to do to make that happen for the Sorcerer that summoned you? What kinds of things would make your job more effective? Do those things.

  Key 4:

  Everything Matters

  As I mentioned in the introduction, I was offered the deal for my first book, Protection and Reversal Magick, because of an article I wrote on Witchvox. All month, I was reading nuggets of wisdom like “colors of the candles don't matter—only your intention,” “the exact herbs don't matter, only the belief you put into it,” and “spirits and directions are just a focus, you don't actually need any of that stuff.” Some folks even went so far as to suggest that spells didn't really work at all and are just psychological tools. In short, if you were new to the world of Magic and were reading Witchvox that month, you would walk away thinking that there is nothing at all necessary for Magic other than wishes and positive thinking.

  Needless to say, that kind of thinking is crap. People all over the world did not painstakingly record formulas, spirit catalogues, and ritual procedures because “intention is all you need.” Which brings me to the fourth key of successful Spellcraft:

  Everything matters.

  Yes, you read that right. Everything matters. Every damn thing.

  The color of the candle? It matters.

  The herbs you put in the bag? They matter.

  The pronunciation of the names? They matter.

  The incense you use...

  The circle on the ground...

  The wood for the wand...

  The day...

  The hour...

  The direction...

  EVERYTHING MATTERS.

  Everything matters because that's not only how Magic works, it's how life works. If you had a calming tea this morning instead of coffee it affects how you interact with people—it matters. If I phrase this key one way verses another, it will affect your understanding of the points I make—it matters. There is no part of Magic or life that you get to ignore or replace without consequence.

  Hexed by a Hexagram!

  Years ago, a friend started a program of solar invocations every morning. Strangely, the more he did them, the more he felt heavy and depressed and sluggish. Eventually it started to affect his job and relationships in the exact opposite way than he had hoped. He asked me what I thought was happening, so I asked to observe his ritual. I noted that he was using a system of drawing Invoking or Banishing Hexagrams in the air where you invoke a specific planet based on the corner that you start from and the direction you go. The problem was that instead of drawing a solar Invoking Hexagram, he was drawing a Saturn Invoking Hexagram.

  His intent was to invoke the sun. His spoken invocation was to the sun. His ritual actions, however, were invoking Saturn. If it was all in the mind, that shouldn't matter. If it was all about intent, that shouldn't matter. If it was a matter of pure will, that shouldn't matter. But it did matter.

  Indeed, because the invocation was not to Saturn, and thus unable to direct the power toward a useful purpose, that Lead-like Saturnine vibe was dragging him way down. He changed the way that he was tracing his Hexagram in the air and soon things got a lot sunnier.

  Stuff that Someone Else Just Made Up Probably Still Matters

  In the previous example, we are faced with a conundrum. On the one hand, we have a case showing that what we hold in our own brain is not the only thing that matters in Magic—if it did, his belief that he was doing the correct hexagram and his intent for the ritual would have carried him through. On the other hand, are we willing to accept a universe in which hexagrams drawn from a certain point automatically invoke that planet, no matter what? Of course not.

  The resolution of this seeming paradox comes when you understand that what mattered in this case was not his intent or some universal law, but the rules of tradition and ritual that he was operating within. There is no universal constant like gravity that makes the planets correspond to a certain point on the hexagram, or the elements to a point on the pentagram, or the herbs to a specific effect. Colors of the elements vary from tradition to tradition: Yellow indicates Air for Magicians rooted in the Golden Dawn style of practice, but indicates Earth to Tibetan Buddhists.

  What mattered for my friend in the Saturn/solar debacle was that he decided to engage in a ritual style with certain protocols and rules within it. Even though these are not universal or inherently true, they still matter beyond just what he thought or intended. It was true in the current that he was standing in, and therefore true for him whether he willed it or not. This is one reason that some people report that the more they get involved in something like astrology, the more it effects them. They are standing in that tradition, in that current, and are therefore are playing by those rules.

  Stuff that You Were Not Even Aware of Still Matters

  Sometimes things you are not even aware of matter. I was given a text for a Naga Sang, a type of incense-offering ritual for serpent spirits of fresh water, from one of my teachers. These beings are very powerful and Magically useful, but they can be difficult to work with. They are fierce vegetarians to the point that even musk in their incense will drive them into a fury.

  I started doing the offering ritual on the days that it was allowed, and followed all the typical taboos for the Nagas, but I started to experience some problems rather than signs of success. Money started to slow down. Plumbing problems manifested. The Nagas did not seem happy.

  I talked to a fellow Tantrika about it, and they asked if I had eaten eggs in the last 24 hours. I eat eggs almost every morning. Because this offering rite forces a very close interaction with the Nagas than most, it was suggested that perhaps I should obey a further level of cleanliness and not eat any eggs. Also, I should cover my mouth with a Kata (an offering scarf) so that I am not blowing on the offerings when I make them. I made one offering following these rules, and the symptoms ended. Then I dropped this rite and went back to an offering with looser restrictions. Sometimes the hassle is not worth it.

  The point is: Even though I was not aware of this level of taboo, it mattered.

  Materia Matters

  Recently I was doing some financial work for a client who owns a risk management firm. I had created a special oil lamp that contained High John for mastery, gravel root for constant work, licorice root for sweetening and influencing, bay for drawing money, and a host of other herbs, all placed within a bowl inscribed with Jupiter glyphs from financial Sorcery. The bowl is filled with oil and burned all day on the day of Jupiter every week.

  Things worked well for a long period of time, and I would whisper the specific needs of my client to the spirit of the lamp. One month, my client informed
me that they were going to be expanding and were worried about unnecessary expenses as their business worked through these growing pains. I whispered the request to the lamp, but the report from my client that month was unsatisfactory. Expenses were piling up fast.

  I went back to the bowl and did some divination. I determined that although there was plenty of materia in the lamp to aid efforts of bringing in money, attracting new business, and keeping people happy, there was nothing in the mix that supported the goals of constricting costs. Because sassafras leaves are shaped like hands, they have often been linked with the ability to hold on to money. I even carry one in my wallet for this very reason. I went for a hike, gathered some leaves, and added them to the bowl. This time, my request was met with more success. I also added a small Saturn petition to restrict costs. Sometimes the spirits need a hand, and materia really does matter.

  Slave to the Rules?

  So, if everything matters, does that mean we have to follow every instruction in every tradition and every Grimoire? Even the ones that contradict each other?