The Language of Spell Crafting
Spell creation is one of the most personal and individualized part of a magician’s craft.
Between each kind of magician, there are different methods of magic and spell-work. Then, between those kinds, there are sections and lineages who draw their inspirations from different places. Within those lineages, there are individuals who pull from their own life and sense of the world to craft their spells. There can be a lot said about a witch when looking at their spells. The different cultures, the subtle differences in elements or components, the incantation, the ritual action, etc. It’s all very telling of who they are as a practitioner.
Solely relying on others’ spells can take away the identity of the practitioner. Don’t get me wrong; taking spells from books, blogs, websites, etc is not a bad thing. It helps a great deal, especially when you need something specific and they have it when you’re not sure how to get there. I think that’s why I get spell requests so often. I’ll tell you a secret though; not even half of those spells are in the Black Book. They were created there and then for the person who requested them.
But how? How do you connect the ends? I think it’s important that you reread that last line, but in a different light. There is no definite way of creating spells. There are common factors in spells to make them successful, but they do not limit individuality. It’s all individualized and up to the practitioner. The way they make spells, the way they cast spells, and the way they approach spells can help them understand who they are as a practitioner. So I’ll pose the question again. “How do you connect the ends?”
I mentioned before that in most spells, there are common factors. Many witches and magicians use these as guidelines for crafting spells. There are three factors that are the most often encountered in age old spells.
1. Intention/Willpower/Want
2. Incantation (whether spoken aloud or internally)
While the last two components may be interchanged in order, the first must be spread out through the entire operation. To cease the intent is to deprive the fire of oxygen, and thus end the spell before it starts.
These three things are fairly self explanatory.
Before you do a spell, you have to want it. You have to want it badly enough that you’d bend the world to get it. That desire fuels your will, your intent, and seeps into the words you say and the actions you perform. When focused and harnessed, it sets your work ablaze and makes it come true. This want can also be replaced with need, which can quicken a spell faster than almost any other power.
The spoken part of a spell is often what many people mistake for the spell itself. Incantations are only words. When power is put behind them, then they have the chance to make magic. Rhyming has been a popular method of incantation for a very long time, but incantations simply speaking the caster’s intention have been just as popular. Many people like to create their incantations before creating the rest of their spell, some after. Some also speak theirs intuitively in the midst of casting the spell.
The ritual action is often what drags the spell into fruition. The act of ritual mimicry has been used for millennia across every culture in nearly every magical tradition as a way to create change in the world. That which is mimicked is created. Skins and pelts are worn for shapeshifting, stabbing and smashing have been used for curses, wrapping and tying have been used for binding, etc. The ritual action mimics what the creator wishes to bring into the world. For the practitioner, their ritual action should speak to whatever the goal is to them symbolically.
I know of another traditional witch who’s spoken on the subject with the same ideas, here, if anyone else wanted to take a look.
Components and Ingredients
I like to use cooking as a metaphor for spell-work. Why? Because everything has to be cohesive and harmonious. Otherwise, the spell will be haywire or shite.
When you create a spell, you have to take everything into account. Remember, specifics are important. I’m not just talking about incantations. I’m talking about knowing what you want, down to the nitty gritty.
Let’s say that we’re cooking up a love spell. Except, this isn’t your run of the mill love spell. Let’s say that this love spell isn’t looking to inspire lust, or at least not to a large degree, rather strong affections.
One of the first things I think of is what elements or ingredients speak to my goal, based on previously earned knowledge and old folklore. If we’re talking about gentle love, I’ve got a few go-to elements; a small amount of vanilla bean, dried apple flesh, and a pinch of coriander. These components will be bound together and put into a doll or a pouch. The name of the one who is to be charmed is whispered over it and kissed.
What do these components have in common? Sweet things. Vanilla is sweet and warm, and so are apples. They make me think of home and a warm oven, a hearth (or in this case a heart). Coriander is that touch of spice needed to move things along, but it doesn’t overpower the other two. Whispers to a lover’s ear and a soft kiss I also see as sweet things. This is a charm of romance. It’s a delicate thing, though with a simple spell.
It’s incredibly easy to upset it. Adding more things like cinnamon, clove, or allspice, though used in making sweet things and baking, could have turned that lover into a lust addled fool. Using saliva instead of a kiss could’ve also done the same.
What could’ve also harmed the spell is if wildly different ingredients are mixed together. Bleeding hearts, vanilla bean, and orris root would make for a rather unruly, or confused, spell. They are all associated heavily with love and love magic, but each constitutes different subtleties about what love is or what love means, thus each warrants a different use in a different situation. Is there a time when one of those two are married, or maybe even all three? Perhaps. This will be a very specific case, though.
The goal of the spell must be spoken in the actual components of the spell just as much as in the words and the actions. The ingredients are not to be thrown together with general (and sometimes sloppy) associations found in Barnes and Noble witch books. They are to be carefully chosen, handled, and married to produce the most fluent, successful spell. What is done with those components is just as important as the components itself.
Actions and Deeds
Cursing for one person might be pricking a wax image with hot needles, but for another it might be lighting that wax image on fire and watching it burn. Different circumstances, styles, and magicians will make for different approaches. A bone that is crushed and blown on the wind will conjure spirits, but the crushing of the bone itself could also remove influence from spirits in the area. It is the intention, as well as the other factors of the spell, that will decide this.
The physical nature of spells if often written off in New Age methods and modern ways. Traditional spell-casting is tethered to some sort of action that serves as a symbol and a doorway through which the spell enters the world. Are these actions incredibly complex? Absolutely not.
Witches have been calling up winds and storms with nothing but whistling for a long time. Witches also have been reputed to cast spells simply by staring or touching things. This lore is as old as anything and exists alongside witches in many cultures.
An action, no matter how minute, is an intention put forth and succeeded. It breaks the barrier of the mental and causes something to become real. Actions are results.
As with all of the other part of a spell, this needs to be unified with everything else. Harsh, quick motions won’t do for a spell that is to inspire gentle love. It needs a soft hand. What that looks like depends on the magician.
It’s important to remember that when choosing actions for spellwork they must resonate with the practitioner. A protection spell might involve waving a rod of oak over the boundaries of one’s home. It might also be slapping the stick off of the ground around the boundaries of the home. Whatever the intention and style of the practitioner will influence how a spell is cast. It tells a story about who they are, what they’ve done, where they’ve learned, and the nature of their magic. Though the differences might be slight, it shows the individuality of the practitioner.
Bonus: Sacrifices
Most modern practitioners have no idea what this word truly means, let alone how to use it in magic. The word conjures up images of animals being cut open, bloody knives, and killing. Though this is a form of sacrifice, it is not all sacrifice. Simply put, sacrifice is the giving up of something in exchange for something else. That thing you give up, though, has to be something of value to you. It’s not sacrifice unless it stings.
The use of sacrifice in spellwork causes the magic to burn hotter and brighter. It works faster and it becomes stronger. It also tends to make magic a bit more permanent.
It can look like a pin prick on the finger, but it can also be someone destroying gifts from someone to set a spell on them.
It can be offerings, taken from yourself, and given to spirits or deities in exchange for favors. It can be burning a treasured photograph of a lover to make them love you back.
This aspect of spellwork has become increasingly less popular over time, with people not wanting to pay for what they ask. It is not always a necessary part of magic, but the strongest spells have some form of sacrifice behind them. As artists bleed for their passions, so must the magicians for their magic. It makes it real, especially in the practitioner’s eyes. You wouldn’t give something you cherished unless you truly believed in the goal looking to be accomplished.
Individualizing
If there is one thing that I’ve tried to stress in spellcrafting, it’s individualization. A witch’s spells are not their own until they’ve individualized them. Just as all of witchcraft is very personal, so must the spells be. They should speak to your goal, but they should be using your voice to do it.
Read from the folklore, follow the legends, listen to past uses, but make everything your own. Maybe you’ll figure out how to apply the folklore of birch bark in a different way than most witches would. Maybe you’ll figure out how to be-spell a new working tool to do something that most witches don’t know of. Who knows?
The world is quite wide. Methods of spellcasting vary between lands. What lands do you descend from? What can they inform you of spellcasting? Can you join the knowledge of one and the other? Can you make a method that is entirely for you?
Spellcrafting is a trying thing. It is a subtle art and not an easy task to master. It’s also incredibly personal.
It’s a language with thousands of different dialects, and millions of different accents.
How will you speak it?
