There's something interesting I've noticed in my spellcrafting experiments. I do a lot of food magic, turning meals into spells and writing recipes specifically for magical purposes.
When a dish takes more time and effort to create, I find it has a greater magical "punch." Quick and easy dishes done with magic work just fine, of course. I wouldn't do them if they didn't. But their effects don't last as long, I've found, and they tend to not have as drastic results as something that takes a lot of energy.
Once I noticed this in my food magics, I started seeing it elsewhere, too. I tested it with my money bowl by going from a single tea light candle lit once per week to a large taper candle lit every day. Not much else changed about the bowl itself, but I also decided to physically write out a petition instead of just thinking what I wanted during the casting.
It's had drastically different results. Money comes in quicker, easier, and in large quantities. I think it's in part because the set-up of the spell took more effort (the petition) and because it's taking active, concentrated care every day (lighting and babysitting the candle). The energy input matches the output.
Now, I do think this means that low-effort spellwork would yield smaller or shorter-term results. That doesn't mean it isn't worth doing. Performing a bunch of little spells for the same purpose builds up that effort and energy over time, compounding into a bigger and bigger result.
But the effort put in tends to match the results gotten out of spells. The more care taken, the more effort it takes, the more attention it gets, the better it'll do.
Obviously, this is based on observations done on my own spellwork and practice. It makes sense that effort = results in my practice, since I'm pulling fatestrings and so forth, and the harder the pull, the bigger the movement. So YMMV, etc.
I'm curious, though, has anyone else noticed this same thing? And if so, what sort of paradigm are you working with?
