Real Magic Spells
In popular culture a magic spell is believed to be the operative term for "doing magic". I think if you asked most people about this, they would answer that someone who "knows magic" casts spells when they want to "do magic".
I am not poking fun or being mean-spirited when I say this is not a good representation of the facts. The simple reality is, if a person is not involved in an activity we can't expect them to comment accurately about aspects of that activity.
The easiest and most direct explanation of a magic spell...
The written or spoken part of a magical act or operation; words charged with specific energy and used to create a magical effect.
A magic spell is the verbal component of a magical act.
When someone who studies and practices magic commits to a magical act or magical operation, the spoken or written words involved in that work are the spell. In the present day the spell is often called the incantation.
Sometimes the spell or incantation can be a magical act by itself. Other times the words are added to other techniques or procedures and this combination creates the magical effect.
The how-to for a magic spell depends on the nature of the magical work being undertaken, which in turn is determined by your intentions - what you seek to accomplish with the magical work.
A spell is a type of...
MAGICAL ACT A single, simple magical procedure or action usually involving one intention and thus creating one magical effect.
or...
MAGICAL OPERATION A more complex magical procedure consisting of two or more magical acts; generally resulting in a more complex or multi-faceted magical effect.
After you learn a few basic concepts, the building blocks of active magic are: magical techniques, magical acts, and magical operations.
The building blocks of magical work are:
Techniques are the basic building blocks for actual magic. These are the simplest of magical executions and processes that are put together to make a complete magical act.
Examples of techniques in magic include but are not limited to:
Magical techniques may create an observable magical effect, or they may initiate processes and set forces into motion that require additional techniques to produce some kind of effect taking place either within you, in the world around you, or in both you and the world.
Two or more techniques combined to produce a magical effect constitute a magical act. These are often short and simple and can take as little as a few seconds to perform. They can sometimes be more complex and take more time, up to a few minutes.
Most magical acts can produce an observable or experienceable magical effect. These effects can range from simple to complex.
Examples of simple magical acts include:
Notice how the example acts above expand on the simple techniques in the previous section.
A magical operation is a more complicated procedure composed of two or more magical acts. This is the true workhorse of magical work, used to produce the most complex magical effects or to create simple effects with maximum efficacy and impact.
A magical operation might involve these steps:
This is just one of many examples of how an operation could be constructed. Some operations are ritualistic and others are more freestyle or spontaneous.
Often times instructions for magical acts and operations will be given explicitly. Sometimes these are not stated specifically, leaving the magician with only a framework he or she must decide how to enact. As you learn to develop your own spells and magical procedures (acts and operations) you will of course need to determine the workflow yourself.
A magical workflow is the order in which you complete the steps of a magical working. More than a sequence, the workflow is also a map of energy channeling, placement of will, and the moving of forces that deliver your instructions to the magical agent.
Before you get started learning magical techniques you of course need to do a quick checklist to be sure you have a few basic assets in place. I don't mean money - I'm talking about the fundamental intentions and movements that allow you to practice magic.
The good news is, if you don't have these right now you can acquire them over the next few days with a little patience and practice.
The ground-level, basic abilities you need to begin magical work are not psychic abilities or a sixth sense. These are great but they are not required for successful magic.
TO BEGIN LEARNING MAGICAL TECHNIQUES:
You need to be able to...
These are all intentions but they are also movements because they involve the moving of thoughts and emotions, which are energies and which also affect the physical state.
These fundamentals are made of the following qualities, which are good to cultivate and grow more of if you can:
Additional movements that are helpful are listed below. If you are unable to enact the following movements due to physical conditions don't give up. If you can read and understand this page you have the baseline needed to enact magic regardless of your physical capacities. If you are unable to perform any of the physical suggestions on this page improvise or contact me if you need suggestions.
People of every physical ability level can enact magic . There is always a workaround or alternative method.
I've been talking next door about the magical state of mind and body needed for magical work. Feel free to check it out then join me back here if you like.
What is the magical state like? How does it feel and how do you know when you are in the correct state for magical work.
This will be different from person to person but there are some common traits of the baseline altered state for magical work.
You might notice some of these characteristics when you enter the magical state.
People often report greater access to their creative side, a fearless willingness to try new things, a flow of new ideas, or even greater clarity of the five senses. I personally find that ideas flow unrestrained and doubt vanishes; I am less attached to winning or losing and feel good just being and doing.
Study the brainwave frequencies and take note of alpha in particular. This state aligns with the baseline of what I call the magical state. Gamma aligns with pea performance and theta is linked to trance and deep states used for astral projection and spirit communication.
Any time spent learning about the brainwaves hierarchy is time well invested. Any form of meditation is also highly beneficial for magical work.
You will know whether you are in the proper state for magic by the way magical energies respond to your attention. It may take a little practice for you to become aware of the forces in motion and the energies that define the quality of your experiences with magic.
It's also possible you will sense these mystical and magical currents right away. This will depend on your level of psychic sensitivity.
A high degree of psychic sensitivity is not required for magic. Psychic abilities and senses are different phenomena from magical forces. Practicing magic will, however, elevate your psychic sensitivity simply because magical work puts you in regular contact with subtle energies - these are frequencies and vibrations that cannot be observed directly with the five senses nor measured with physical devices.
Subtle energy is the currency of magic, psychism, and mysticism.
The chakras, the aura, raw elemental energies, and planetary influences are some examples of subtle energies. They can be directed in a way that affects material space and reality but they are not physical energies. This gets complicated so I'll cover it on another page.
The Bonus Points list of exercises all deal with subtle energy in a basic way. Any of those activities will increase your awareness of subtle currents.
You must be able to see your desires very clearly and you must believe they can be fulfilled.
Desire is the pressure point that compels action, the fire that sustains effort and willpower, and the beacon that directs your intention. A weak desire will not generate sufficient motivation or power of will. A vague desire is difficult to aim for. An unrealistic desire can drain your energy and discourage you. It is critical that your desire be clear, strong, and believable.
You must:
Know exactly what you wish to receive, experience, or become (have, do, or be) as a result of the magic. Desire in detail but remain open to something even better or currently unknown.
Be certain you really want the thing you claim to desire. You can't truly desire something you "should want" nor can you desire a thing for yourself on behalf of another.
Be willing to pay a price or make a sacrifice to get what you desire. Everything is transactional.
Believe the fulfilment of your desire is possible. Magic cannot do the impossible.
This sounds obvious enough but people regularly entertain half-hearted, ambiguous, lazy, and unrealistic desires. We must guard against this in the practice of magic lest we waste time and energy, subject ourselves to failure, and damage our intention-belief apparatus, making successful magic difficult over time.
Most things are amplified and elevated in a magical context. The "magical version" of desire is necessarily more pure and potent; it is also unforgiving.
You may walk into an ice-cream parlor with haphazard desire, but this approach to magical work is fruitless and can even be dangerous. If you don't have a burning desire leave the magic out of it.
The key is to enjoy the process of desire. Play. Have fun wanting the minutia but don't grasp or clutch and be open-minded to potential surprises.
Mystical pursuits like astral projection and astral travel are highly beneficial to the practitioner of magic.
Antaia - also called Hecate, Cerridwen, and Enepsigos among others, is the initiator and personification of magic who finds those called to magic. I do not know if she is the caller or just the messenger.
The purpose of a magic spell is of course to create a magical effect.
A magical effect can mean many things, but in this context it means the desired result of the magic being enacted. Magic is used to bring about specific results the user desires.
EXAMPLE MAGICAL EFFECTS/RESULTS
Look at the items on the list above. They can all be placed into one of three categories used to describe magical effects.
Magic is used to:
You can enact magic to create new feelings, ideas, opportunities, circumstances, and conditions. This includes the acquisition of material items and objects, as more money - for example - is a new condition.
Magic can be employed to alter the current state of something to a new state. This can take either constructive or destructive form, as either can be transformative. To destroy an enemy's will to fight is certainly changing a condition. In the example of gaining money, you could aim magic at transforming your state of lack to a state of plenty.
Using magic to prevent change or maintain the current state of something usually takes the form of protection. Protective magic to insure a safe journey protects your current, safe state and prevents it from being changed. Continuing with the example of using magic to gain money, you could place magic at the end of a money spell to protect your objective and prevent your attitude or the magic you unleash from being harmed by opposing forces.
Magic can be used to create something new, change something into something else, or preserve something as it is.
To create a magical effect within yourself or in the world around you it is necessary to employ the Great Magical Agent. This agent is the magical force or set of forces that operates within higher realities or planes (sort of like other dimensions) to create your magical result and lower it into this material realm.
I have an easy formula for creating magical effects and I'm gonna share it with you for free. Before I do that, however, there are two prerequisites you need to understand. In other words these are two things you must get a handle on before you can create a real magical effect.
Your everyday state of mind and physiology are not suited for magical work. The consciousness and physical state you use to work your job, pay your bills, run errands, choose an insurance plan, and deal with tech support is an important aspect of your being but it cannot be used to connect with the subtle energies and magical forces that drive magical results.
Likewise your magical persona (explained shortly) is lousy for tackling the day-to-day tasks that make up your mundane life. If you try to go about your mundane business in a magical state you will likely end up daydreaming and or becoming emotionally exhausted in short order.
The mundane world and the magical realm are two distinct realities. You must approach them as such, being your everyday self for day-to-day living and assuming your magical persona to engage with magical energies and do magical work.
The first step to becoming your magical self is attaining a magical state of mind and body. Another term for this is "altered consciousness". Just like the shamans and Druids and Magi of old, we must enter an altered state of consciousness to successfully connect to the magical continuum or contact the magical agent.
SPOILER ALERT: This does not mean you are required to use drugs or mind-altering substances to enact magic. You have that option and there are a range of different herbs, liquids, resins, etc. that will create an altered state but people often find it difficult to create a stable, productive experience with such methods. Simply put, the "high" or mood-altering effect becomes distracting and makes it difficult to focus or concentrate on the intended work.
There are many ways to enter a magical state so you can connect to magical forces and I cover a few of them on this very site.
Words like state and condition can be interchanged and kicked around easily. In magical discussion it is very important to be clear about the meaning of words.
For our context I will define these two words as follows:
CONDITION: This is the state you are in mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually*
CIRCUMSTANCE(S): This is the state and nature of your current situation, which can include the present setting (this moment) and overall status in terms of finances, living arrangements, relationships & social milieu, health, and so on.
You may have heard or read the magical axiom...
Many people only recite the first line, which is fine. The complete axiom consists of three lines but the truth is contained in any single line. This simple passage tells us A LOT about reality but for right now what you need to understand is simply that while your circumstances effect your condition, it is equally true that your condition affects your circumstances.
If you can absorb and actualize that last statement you will have mastered magic before casting your first spell.
Your state, from your thinking and emotional output to the way you feel in your body can absolutely affect the circumstances of your reality. In this way entering a magical state of consciousness (which includes mind and body) is both a prerequisite for magical work and an initiating magical act.
There are many magical states ideal for different types of work. The baseline state is a condition artists and athletes call the "flow state"; a condition old people like me once called "the zone" or "being int the zone" and a state neurologists refer to as "alpha-brain" or "alpha-brainwaves".
There is a ton of info online on how to achieve alpha state. Regular meditation is the best approach, and you can even take magnesium supplements if you like. Artistic activity, music, sports, physical exercise, martial arts practice, sex, and burning incense like mugwort, wyrmwood, vervain, frankincense, witch hazel, lavender, rue, and myrrh are all ways to attain a baseline magical state.
(May take longer the first time or two you try it.)
Before you begin intend, plan on, commit to, tell yourself your are going to ATTAIN A MAGTICAL STATE OF MIND AND BODY. Do this and believe it. Calmly know you have told the truth.
If you actually, honestly perform this exercise you will almost certainly be in an altered state of mind and body close or identical to alpha-brain or the flow. This is your baseline state for engaging with real magic.
The magical state is also the foundation of your magical self and the development of your magical persona. As you study and practice magic you will be creating another version of yourself.
Part of this process involves bringing new forces into your aura, mind, and body. Some of the work of forming a magical persona will involve awakening dormant aspects of yourself.
Think of the magical persona as a compartment of your mind whose job it is to communicate with your soul and parts of your spirit that exist on higher planes. As your physical body performs the material work involved in making magic, parts of you on higher planes participate in the process by working on those planes with the materials and energies native to those states or realities.
These different aspects of you merge to form a unified magical persona that interacts with the magical reality. This is the basis of the naming traditions in some schools of magic or traditions of witchcraft, where initiates take on a new name for their magical self.
One definition of the Great Magical Agent is the fluid or substance on the astral plane from which a magical creation is molded and formed so it can be lowered into the physical world.
Once you are in a magical state you can contact the magical agent. Another way of saying this, as you have read above, is that i a magical state you are able to interact with mystical energies and magical forces.
Like much of what yo learn in magic studies, the Great Magical Agent is a concept used to guide your mind, intentions, and subtle energies during magical work. It is like a partner for the magician, existing on a higher plane of reality and executing the will of the magical operator.
You can connect with and work with the magical agent by:
Once you get into the mechanics of your magical techniques, acts, and operations you won't need to focus on the agent the entire time and control its every movement. After the initial conscious contact is made with the agent at the beginning of magical work, your unconscious mind will coordinate with it and with the higher aspects of your being on behalf of your conscious will.
The magical agent is believed by many to be the non-physical substance on a higher plane (the astral plane for example) that forms the perfect likeness or image of your desired magical work and then works as a model used by magical forces to bring your intentions into this material world. Some schools of thought teach the magical agent is an intelligent force existing in all times and spaces that acts like a conductor and organizer of intention and subtle energies to produce a magical effect from your magical efforts.
These are only two versions of the magical agent, among many others. I like to conceptualize the agent as both of the above. Ultimately it does not matter what the agent truly is, or even if it exists at all. When we practice developing a connection with the agent and focusing our will through it reality behaves as if the agent is real and provides the magical effect we seek.
After you practice some fundamental movements and intentions and have learned some magical techniques it's really not that difficult to cast a magic spell or enact magic in another way. There are many possible methods for creating a magical effect
This four-step procedure is a straightforward starting point.
This is called a magical workflow and it guides you through the attitudes and postures you will use to execute a set of magical instructions, i.e. magical acts and magical operations.
There are two ways you may use this workflow:
OPTION ONE: Practice this routine often to build magical posture and habits. Then when you execute magical acts and operations be loosely aware of this format while you work through the instructions of the act or operation.
OPTION TWO: These four steps can be applied to a single magical act or operation by breaking the procedure down into four parts that match these steps. For longer operations you may need to place multiple steps from the magical spell, ritual, etc. within each of these four steps. Or you could treat every individual act within an operation with this four-step process, cycling through the four steps multiple times until the end of the operation.
As I add spells in the online grimoire I will place this or other processes alongside the spells so you can see how the various operations may be divided into this and other workflows.
Expand your mind outward from your body to fill the room or area you are in. Close your eyes and imagine your awareness moving out in all directions to encompass the building you are in, then the entire property including the air above and deep into the ground below.
Send this expanding awareness out across everything, everywhere in a flash. (To get good at this practice moving your awareness out in six directions: up, down, forward, back, left, right.) Dwell for a moment on the vastness of reality/the universe and recognize in this unlimited potential you ca choose and create as you will.
Let go of your expanded awareness and return to your body in the present moment. Focus on your solar plexus and imagine a ball of fire forming there. Cause this area to heat up until you feel it glowing.
Bring energy from above down into the center of the top of your head then guide it down along your spine to the base. From the base of your spine let the energy radiate out and fill your body and aura.
Next imagine the scene of your victory. See the thing you desire happening and place yourself in that moment. Form a scene as vivid as life and immerse yourself within it; see the sights, hear the sounds, touch the objects and environment, engage any smells and tastes and smile at the people present. BE THERE and FEEL the thrill and triumph of your success. Then send the energy gathered in or around you up to this point into the the scene; use your willpower to impregnate your scene with your personal power and magical forces until you feel you have sent all the available energy where it needs to be.
Command what you desire to take shape and form in your reality. Send the charged scene and your intentions into the causal continuum and then let it all go. Maintain your will and command until you feel depleted and then release your work into the magical process. Conclude your work, leave the area, and forget all about what has been done. Get on with the rest of your day feeling as though you have put in your end of the work; your unconscious mind, the magical agent, and any relevant spirits will now finish what you began.
Words have power to inspire, compel, persuade, bring joy, instill fear, cause laughter, guide, command , teach and more. The words that mean "magic spell" in many languages are connected to many potent uses of verbal communication.
The modern, English "Incantation"
which means the spoken or written part of magical work, i.e. a magic spell, derives from Latin roots that mean sing or chant.
In Europe during the Middle Ages almost nobody could read or write. Literacy was seen as a magical ability by many, and of the few who could read or write in any kingdom many did in fact practice magic. Their books on proper magical grammar, spelling, and magical procedures were known as Grimoires. Today their are entire magical traditions based on the handful of magical grimoires surviving from the period between the 13th and 17th century in Europe.
Although linguistically inaccurate, people in the present day say "magic spell" to reference any kind of magical operation. In reality the "spell" is the verbal - written or spoken - component of magical work.
There is very little coherence within the vocabulary of magic. The lexicon is filled with misnomers and poorly used terms. Hell we can't even agree how to to spell magic, as some insist on adding a "k" to placate stage tricksters and illusionists.
Therefore the use of the word "spell" to mean any kind of magical work is likely here to stay regardless of the inaccuracy of that definition. In common usage "a magic spell" can be one part of a magical procedure or it can be a complete magical action by itself.