ARE YOU OVERTHINKING IT?!
Yeah, okay, we all overthink a lot of things in the craft especially when we first start out. We have no idea what we are doing and rely a lot on our peers or other witchcraft communities for guidelines and shit that, for the most part, may not even be needed.
Here are some frequently seen pitfalls that we can fall victim to and how to overcome them.
"I saw a (insert random thing here). Could that be a sign?"
Nobody knows for sure, we weren't there and we're not you. Maybe it's magical, maybe it's just mundane. Always take into account other external factors in your mundane world before going directly to "it's a sign!"
Maybe that flock of birds isn't a sign, maybe it's just migratory season for that bird.
Maybe all those spiders you are seeing aren't a sign, maybe it's just spider breeding season.
You get where I'm going with this? You can also ask for signs that are specific. BE SPECIFIC with the universe. You aren't asking too much, the universe will answer you. You can ask for a specific sign that is a Color + Noun like an Orange Cat or a Blue Rose, something like that. If you're not expecting a sign about a specific thing, let the Universe know what your standards are. "I will read things as a sign only if (blank)."
--------Too Many Spell Factors--------
More spell factors, generally, helps hone and amplify a spell. You can also go overboard. If you're exhausting yourself trying to find the exact moment the astrological hour, moon phase, and relevant constellations all line up with you having specific rare ingredients, memorizing a chant in another language, blah blah blah, you usually don't need to go that hard. Just pick two or three you can reasonably achieve and do what you need to do.
-------Overprotection--------
Protection is what everyone preaches, but there is such a thing as "too much" protection. Yes, always layer your protections like an onion and have a lot of GOOD protections up, but that's not necessarily what i mean by that.
Yeah, sometimes magical shit can affect us and bring us down seemingly for no reason, but if you set up protection after protection to keep you from all harm and all negative shit, how are you supposed to grow and learn? How are you supposed to learn lessons that the universe has in store for you? Oftentimes what we see as "negative" is just a learning opportunity and isn't bad in the grand scheme of things. I will always layer all of my protections as strong as i can manage but i will always give them a boundary of sorts that is "of my highest good"... Protect me from XYZ and all this shit that is NOT of my highest good. Anything that is meant to get in, anything that is meant to be learned from or experience gained from them are allowed in, but nothing that will harm me for no damn reason. Giving wards limits are important as hell.
-------- Needing Second Opinions --------
Sure, we all need help now and again with spell ingredients, interpretations, deity signs, or anything else, but don't solely rely on these other opinions for things in your own craft and practice. Your craft is your own, it is no one else's. It's important that you gain a sense of independence and learn to trust your gut. Your brain will overthink everything that your gut is trying to tell you, so yeah, you may need someone to bring reason into it all, but you got this. Don't freak out, and just go with it. You live, you fuck up, you learn. That's how it works.
-------- Mundane over Magical --------
Not everything is gonna be magical (see the first entry about signs and birds and shit). Sometimes it just is what it is with no magic attached to it. Sometimes your cat just rubs against your legs to show affection, that does not mean it is your familiar. Sometimes you don't need to perform a binding and or banishment on someone when blocking them on social media works just as well.
Figuring out if someone likes you romantically can be a question for the cards, or you can just ask them (Yes, that's super nerve-wracking. You can do it, I promise).
Not everything has to be magical. As witches, we still need to retain logic and skepticism to remove magical bias that we may fall into. Some things can be as they are with no magical connotations tied to them.
-------- Getting Lost in Research --------
"I'm not ready to cast this spell until I __." Research and prepping yourself properly are important, but it takes years to become a true "expert" (and even then, "experts" are never done learning and growing). At some point, we need to be confident in ourselves and actually take the jump. Don't overthink it. Just go for it.
Stop waiting for the right moment to do XYZ or the right sign or the right anything. You will figure it all out when you just take the leap and do it. Follow your gut but don't forget to bring reason and logic into it all as well. You're gonna do great. I promise.
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