Part 1 of a series
Over my years of practicing witchcraft, the most common thing I see occur is friends and acquaintances struggling with effective and accurate results to their spells.
In this blog series I’ll examine those pieces of spellcraft that make it successful. We will qualify what successful magick means.
What’s the most important piece of spellcraft?
I began by asking friends, all magickal practitioners from various paths, what they saw as most important step for successful magick. Of the respondents, about 50% saw “clear intention” as the most important. Wow. That’s a lot of magical people who feel that intention is the most important work we do! And I agree. Clear, precise intention is critical.
What does that mean though?
When asked, I was told “knowing what you want” or “precision” by only 2 respondents. So why is this?
Per Google, intention is a noun, meaning “a thing intended; an aim or plan.” Merriam Webster refers to it as “a determination to act a certain way”.
Clear, meaning easy to understand or interpret, would then seemingly fit well with this.
Precision, I would say, fits even better because it refers to a measurement of accuracy.
Results may vary.
Why then, do so many witches find, even with a clear intention, their magick doesn’t work as intended? It doesn’t work at all, they have a harmful event happen that creates the opportunity, they get about half a success, or an extreme success that causes more trouble for them.
Looking only at the role of intention today, I would argue that even those who feel they are completely clear in their intention, aren’t. In fact, by focusing on intent, result outcome is often missed.
Getting clear.
Recently in my professional life, I attended a workshop focused on dealing with challenges of influencing change in a work place. We talked at length about the importance of really understanding what results one might want, the challenges you’re facing, and the behaviours needed to reach this outcome. We then looked at how to influence the results we desired in the workplace.
Applying this to magick, because I use what works in my practice, I think witches aren’t all that clear on what they want. Are you clear on what the challenge is? Have you looked within to determine if this is indeed the challenge you’re facing? Sometimes after considering the clear result you want you may realize the challenge isn’t what you think.
For example, at one point I did a weight loss spell. I had a number of goals over a 6-month period and most were achieved, but I struggled in one area: eating to excess when I worked long shifts or had stressful shifts. I didn’t get clear on my challenge with stress eating and it inhibited the flow of magick to the results I wanted because I wasn’t facing a challenging behaviour within myself.
Through clear intentions:
In the workplace, SMART goals have been used since the 1980s to achieve results, and have real clarity on the goal. This acronym stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable or Accurate, Relevant, and Time Bound.
Think about your spells. Do they qualify as SMART intentions?
Let’s look at money and prosperity spells for example, one of the most common reasons witches perform magick. I have had great success with money spells, but only when fully clear on the goal.
A good money spell using SMART intentions would be run through this mnemonic. If at any step the answer is no or you realize the result may require multiple intentions and thus multiple spells, go back to the beginning. In the example below it may take a while to become clear. I suggest getting your SMART intention, and revisiting at least 3 days later to see if it’s accurate to your needs.
For this example, let’s pretend “Alex” wants to get more money to go to university.
Specific: How are you obtaining this money?
Measurable: How much money? How frequently?
Achievable: Is this kind of thing possible? State how (for example, by obtaining a raise, specify increased hours at work, specify increase in clients, etc.)
Relevant: Is this intention in line with the bigger picture? Does it align with the Great Work or your Higher Self?
Time Bound: When will this work be complete?
Alex’s intention, running through this, may create multiple intents. It could include improving grades so they may apply for scholarships. It could include a part-time job with hours that work with their school year. It could include confidence to request a raise by a specific amount that gives enough income to supplement costs of attending school. They likely realize the time they need to get this money, which impacts the ways they can obtain it.
As you can see, using this method can be a bit like programming a magickal construct to do your bidding. We should take our spellcraft this seriously, for we are sending energy into the cosmos in a directed way, and like an arrow missing its mark, it can bring unintended consequences.
Having a truly clear intention means you can see the result you desire, work backwards from that future result to the present, creating the path that will get you there.
Building intention in this manner brings your will into focus, aligning it within your heart and mind.
May your intention be clear, may your arrows of magick strike true.
Jade.
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