Although I don't use spells, I'm still interested in them. Back in the day when I actually cast them, I found that improvising works best. I sometimes got ideas, and more often, correspondences, from other spells and rituals, but I almost always changed things, and made things up that fit me and my circumstances. I had several tools, including an athame, a broom, and a wand, which I sometimes used. I subscribe to an idea that I've heard in many places, which is that tools are just helpers, not powerful in themselves. My wand was just a twig in the hand of anyone who didn't know how to direct energy through it. Also, I've heard that power, energies, can be stored in tools. Although I've never done this, I believe it. After all, energy can be stored in a battery, right? And when that energy is used, it's power. It's pretty easy to find descriptions of Wiccan tools on the web. I find tools, lighting, wardrobe, and setting help set the mood, and make workings easier. I'd like to say more productive, but I can't prove that.
The difference here might be obvious to some people, but it isn't to me, so I'm going to explain my take on it. The key difference between the two is in the purpose. A ritual is done in order to contact a deity, to give praise or thanks, or to connect with various energies (whether they be the energies of the season, or the energies of a recent crisis like Sept. 11th, or the energies of another world). In all cases, the ritual is done in order to attune the witch with something/one. Something is invoked or evoked.
A spell on the other hand, has a much more specific purpose, and that purpose is usually a change in the environment, or sometimes the self. For example, there are healing spells for other people, and healing spells for the self, but they're all healing spells. No outside sources need to be utilized. The witch has all the power she needs, although she may call for assistance.
Ritual- absorbing energy. Spell- directing energy.
So... that's how I think of spells and ritual. Moving on, I've got a couple ideas on how spells work. No proof, no expertise, just ideas upon which I invite criticism or comment.
I think that in a way, spells are like prayers. Or rather... Prayers are really spells in disguise. In a prayer, one calls on God to grant a favor (change the environment or self), or to send good fortune or prosperity or some kind of more general goodness (positive energies). In addition, some people pray to thank God or to confess to him, but thanking God would fall under ritual, and confessing would fall under asking for a favor (forgiveness).
When someone prays for the health of a friend, I see it as positive energy being sent out. When someone prays for a promotion, I see will (energy) being directed into an astral plane (Heaven) in order to bring about a specific goal. Prayers direct energy. They focus a desire and send it out to get caught up and (hopefully) realized.
Why do some spells work and some not? The best spell is one that works WITH the laws of nature. Say you cast a spell that a video tape of you drunk at a dorm party will disappear. And then two days later, you hear it got eaten in a VCR. What's more energy efficient for the Universe? To blink something right out of existence? Or to use a process that already exists to do the work?
I find that when spell casting, it's more effective to be specific about the goal, and general about the means. I think that a person would have more luck focusing their energies on the idea that the video will go away, as opposed to focusing their energies on a specific means to that end. Let the Universe decide the means. We're only human, we can't consider ALL the factors that are working in a situation at any one time. And if it doesn't happen, maybe there's a reason for that. Maybe that video contains footage of a girl being forced into a room which will later be used in a rape trial. We're human. We don't know how things will come together. I'm not that smart, and I doubt you are either.
Perhaps magick isn't about sparkle and glitter (although that's fun and all), but instead about the Laws of nature. Maybe magick that works, works always through natural means.
Perhaps it's an undiscovered science. Both magick and science are ways of interpreting the Universe. I cannot say which one is better or more accurate. Check out my "Hermetic Principals" page for some suggested Laws of the Universe. :)
