Spell Crafting and Spell Working

Picture this:
you're having a rather large spell of bad luck- you car has stalled, you spilled coffee on your best shirt, your favorite piece of jewlery is missing, and because you were late, you lost your job.
There's nothing you can do about it right? Wrong. Something is obviously amiss, so maybe you want to appeal to a higher power to send some nice luck your way. But how do you do that?

It's all well and good to run to the computer, or one of those many Pagan or Wiccan books haunting your shelves these days and look for a premade spell. However, if you want a little bang for your buck, you might want to try creating your own personal spell for the occasion. Not only does it give you the chance to learn more about your path, but it's more personal than some spell for $15.95 + S&H and has a greater chance of getting the desired effect.

So, what makes a good ritual or spell?
A good Ritual for the rule of three. In providing for the rule of three, you make sure you don't hurt anyone, and you don't take away form anyone else. In the same vein, a good Spell is one that is either for yourself or for another, with explicit permission from the person, and their enviornment. Morals and Ethics aside, a good Ritual or Spell has a clear purpose and provides for the effect of time, elements, dirrections and the different realms. A good spell or ritual also makes use of ascociated herbs, stones, colors and other respective sources to further your intent.

Most people incorporate poetry, music or dance into their rituals, or a small story or poem (for myself the group of friends i celebrate the sabbats with, the reading of "The Journey" as soon as the circle and quarters are done is a tradition to us that is almost as sacred as the rituals we have created.). Whatever you incorporate, it's your ritual and your spell. It can be as plain or elaborate as you'd like.

So what exactly goes into a spell or ritual? The basic outline for any is as listed below:

Know the Basics: know your magick, how to ground and center, raise and dirrect energy, cast and open the circle and call the elements, gaurdians, towers or whatever else your path may call them.

Know Yourself and Your Partners: Is the spell or ritual just for yourself? If so, make sure you take some time to center yourself and meditate for a bit. If you're doing it others then make sure everyone is working towards the same purpose as much as possible and understand all the aspects of it.

Know the Intent: The purpose of the spell is one of the most important parts. If you have no intent, then the energy you raise has nowhere to focus and will float or cause the wrong effect. The more aware of this purpose you are, the stronger your spell will be because you're focused.

Know When to Work: Should the spell be done during wanning or waxing moon? Is it a Sabbat ritual? If so, what day is it? Day or Night? Though not extremely important to something small, it's critical at some points. One of the most famous examples is "Drawing Down The Moon" in which it is best to perform at night right before the full moon rises.

Know Your Tools: Wand? Athame? Sword? Will I need an altar? Know which tools to use and where they should be placed in the circle, and when you'll need to use them.

Know Correspondents: Herbs, stones, colors, and animals are all powerful parts of Wicca and Paganism. Learn what they mean, what they can be used for and aim to use them to their best within your ritual.

Circle Casting
Quarters/ Gaurdians/ Towers
Lord and Lady Invocations
Statement of Intent
Magickal Working
Communion
Thanks and Release
Circle Opening
Feast

You need to know that all tools and items, including yourself and the space in which you are going to work, need to be clensed and consecrated. This can be done simply by meditating with the items and yourself within the space, or through a spell. There are several way to do this, and none is the right or wrong one.

Now, Lets break the outline down to further understand it.

Casting the Circle- The main part of the ritual or spell, and one of the most important. A "Circle" is both marked and unmarked, physical and spiritual. It is the "Safe Zone" between the realm we reside in, and the spiritual realm from which all energy flows. It both a protection and a "Portal". I usualy take and set large candles in a large circle, lighting them durring the ritual as i cast the etheric circle, and using their light to see as perform. Others may choose to use rocks,chalk, branches or a line drawn in the earth while a decent portion just imagine a circle of light surrounding them. Casting the circle is done many ways as well. You can chant a spell while walking the border, or by simply imagining that it is there as you meditate. No matter how it is done, it must always be done by going clockwise. Just remember, once the circle is cast you must remain in at all times durring the ritual or spell unless a "door" is cut. The circle is always open, but never broken. This must remain so that it can be called again.

Quarters, Gaurdians and Towers: There are many names that paths give the elements. Not everyone calls them to the circle, but a few do. They have corresponding dirrections and colors, flowers and scents in magick, and it is important to incorporate these things if you wish to call th. I choose to set color coded candles and corresponding trinkets at each of the four directions, before I cast the circle and call the Elements, as an offering of thanks for them joining us, and light the candles as i reach that direction and element. Some who call them may ask them to join, some may call them and ask for special attributes over which they reside to help with the ritual. It can be done any way, and like every other aspect of Magick, there is no right or wrong.

Invocations: This is simply to ask the Goddess and God to join you and watch over your ritual. Durring sabbat rituals, it is used to show them that it is in their honor. This can be done by a simple poem or a few words. Anything to get their attention, and is basicaly a prayer to them.You can invoke the seperately, or as a whole. Also, the invokations of certain Gods and Goddessess can help to further your intent.

Statement of Intent: There is no result without a place to focus it. You can imagine the result you want, or simply put it into words. It helps you to focus the energy to where it needs to be, and allows the elements and the Lord and Lady to know what it is so that they can help it along as well. In a ritual it is just that, a Statement of some sort, but in spells, it is often the very spell you wrote.

Magickal Workings: Often the spell of the spell, or special instruction. Such as if a luck spell calls for you to say a chant and then dip a rock in oil, then that is exactly what you would do here.

Communion: often a small piece of bread and some juice will do. Much like Catholic communion in a way, in which everyone present takes a small piece of something such as bread, eats it, and passes it on, then takes a small drik of the respective juice and passes it on. When everyone has had their, the rest often goes into a fire or tha Cauldron as an offering for the attending spirits.

Thanks and Release: Exactly as it sounds. Say a few nice words to thank everything there, spirit or otherwise, and then begin the process of releasing them. It has to go in the order opposit in which you called them though. For example, if you called the quarters, then a certain animal spirit, then the lord and lady, then you would release the lord and lady first, followed by the spirit, and then the quarters. Like walking counterclockwise when you release the circle, releasing everyone is the same.

Opeing the Circle: Can be done many ways, any way you want; If you laid a physical barrier, you may want to open your circle by picking up the object (if they're small enbough) and placing them in a basket of some sort as you say the closing chant. If you laid no physical boundary and imagined the circle, you may visualise the circle slowly fading away. When I use candles for my physical markings, i make sure to use natural, non harmful beeswax candles, blow out the flame when i'm opening the circle, and burying them where they sit as an offering when i'm done. But like i stated in casting the circle, no mater how it was done, you must always Open it by going counter clockwise, from north to north.

Feast: Exactly what it is. A bunch of food. Not important at all to the ritual, but it an integral part none the less. It is often done at the end of rituals such as Handfasting Cerremonies, Initiations or Dedications, and often at the end of a Sabbat ritual.

I hope this information leads you safely on the way to creating your first spell or ritual, but before you go running off to throw one together because you're eager to try it all out, I need you to sit back down in that chair of yours and finish reading the page. There are a few things I need to make sure you know:

Now that we have covered the basics in Ritual and Spell Crafting, we can move on to the more Elaborate stuff that you may find involved in rituals.

The basic ritual follows somewhat of the outline above. But, like I stated, some people like a more elaborate one that involves poetry, song, dance, music or stories. They can all have a huge impact in a ritual, and in some cases, help everyone to know one another.

I mentioned that with the group of people I often celebrate my sabbats with, the reading of "The Journey" was tradition. But that's not the only one, Salix is amazingly sure of herself in ritual, and performed "Drawing Down the Moon" during our last Sabbat, Samhain, in 2007. Auri, is wonderfully versed in mythology and folklore, and often gives us a tale or two about the God or Goddess the holiday focuses around. Like "The Oak and Holly King". Ami and I are both poetic in nature, but it is often Ami who blesses us with verses. I myself often decide on reading a song because i can't quite carry a tune, with or without a bucket. On Samhain in 2007 we all decided to incorporate a few pagan folk songs and we all had a merry time.

So a ritual doesn't have to go by a perfectly structured outline. You can add a little pizaz to it and it doesn't matter how it goes, as long as you have all the basics down where you need them to be.It's your ritual and up to you- Though I do suggest that you make sure everyone is in agreement with a decission to add or remove something like this from a ritual if you are in a coven or celebrating with a group involving more that yourself.

If you want to know more about the elements and their correspondances, you can find all of the information i could scrounge on them on the Elements and Elementals page located in Basics. The same goes for a list of Stones and Crystals, Metals and Alloys, Animals and the like.