No, really?!

I know this is going to come across as a “well, duh!” to a lot of us who have been practicing for years and know this first hand, but in the hopes that someone new to the craft finds this blog, the title is very true.

Not every spell you perform will work.

(This is one of those “I need to work through something” posts again. It’s an X week at the Pagan Blog Project, so I’m using it as a free pass.)

It could’ve been something simple, or it could’ve been something beautiful and elaborate. You could’ve used candles anointed with oils during a particular moon phase on a particular day. Or you could’ve written something on the sand, or thrown it into the fire.

You may not have raised enough energy, you may not have wanted it enough. There may be something nagging in the back of your mind that altered your state of concentration during preparation. Or, you may not have been ready.

I was asked recently for assistance in a spell to find a job. Personally, those ones annoy me as much as love spells. There is always the probability that maybe the ideal job isn’t out there just yet for you to find. Maybe what you believe is an ideal job really isn’t, and maybe if you do succeed in getting it you’ll be absolutely miserable. Of course, those are all reasons if the spell “doesn’t work.”

I’ve found friends, work, acquaintances, opportunities and assisted health through various forms of spell craft. And, of course, I’ve had many “fail” on me because I wasn’t really ready for it to come to fruition.

The other thing we need to be aware of when writing our own spells (as opposed to those found online or in books) is putting time constraints on the spell. Sometimes we need time restraints on them, so it will last for a certain period. Other times we need to be consciously aware that we don’t want it to only last for a period of time. What if it’s a spell for maintaining health and well being? Do we want a use-by-date on what we’ve created?

Without going into detail, I subconsciously knew that I was putting a use-by-date on some recent spell craft when I utilised a watch for a part of it. So focused on the then and there, it worked magnificently for the period that I was so focused on it working. As other commitments arose and focus was diverted, a use-by-date formed itself.

Kinda not really. Because sometimes there are situations where no matter how much spell craft you through at it, it’s not going to work in the long term. No matter how much you want something to work, especially if it involves aiding another person, their will and their web of life has first say. And if you’re not ready for something to come into your life, if you’re not ready to part from something because you still need to learn lessons from it, then it won’t work.

Spells can find you friends, and get you work. It can strip you of the past when you’re ready to move on, and it can help create a new path for your new future. It can even assist in the health of your loved ones so that things can get done in the then and there.

But in the long run as I’ve painfully realised today with a single phone call, it can’t always help fight off serious medical conditions…and it won’t stop the onset of dementia.

(and it won’t help you block the desire to burst into tears because you really can’t deal with the situation right now. So you suck it up, have that cry, and hug them so tight you won’t let go when you get to see them in a months time.)