When To Cast a Spell—and When Not To

You can pretty much cast a spell any time you feel comfortable doing so. However, there are a few things to keep in mind. You must:

• Have a valid need or desire, clearly delineated

• Be in the correct frame of mind

• Be in the proper state of health

If you cannot aim your spell as a clearly defined goal, then you have no concept of what you truly wish to manifest as a result of that spell. Apart from being a waste of energy, this can create more problems as the energy your spell casts out into the world bounces randomly like a pinball around and through the issues in your life. With no clear goal or need, a spell becomes dangerously unpredictable.

Your mental state is crucial to your success. Being distracted or worried will weaken your focus and your subsequent effects. States of high emotion can also be dangerous. Emotion is one of the energy sources that fuels spells. This might sound ideal to you, and in one respect, it is: the ability to feel intense emotion during the casting process can help you a lot. However, that intense emotion should be summoned and accessed during the process. If you fire off a spell as an emotional reaction to something, you are guilty of not thinking the situation through. You are not in proper command of yourself, which you need to be in order to cast a focused and well-aimed spell. Spells are a method of controlling yourself and your life, and to cast like this is not only irresponsible, it undermines the whole principle of creating positive change in your life.

Your state of health is also vitally important. When you are ill, your personal energies are unbalanced, and your handling of outside energies will be affected. Every spell, no matter how many other power sources you pull in such as components and correspondences, uses your own personal energy to guide it. Casting while ill can worsen your physical health, leaving you low on vital energy. Raising energy is a crucial step within the spellcasting process, and it takes energy to raise energy. Remember, spells don’t replace work: they are work. Many practitioners feel like they’ve run a marathon after casting a spell. If you had the choice, would you run a marathon if you were sick? Probably not: in fact, most of us want to stay home from work as soon as we experience the first warning signs of a cold. Casting while ill is irresponsible, as it counters the principle of creating beneficial change. It is somewhat hypocritical to attempt to create beneficial change in your life when you’re making yourself more ill by doing so.

What about casting a spell to regain your health? This is the one and only exception to the rule about performing spells while ill. However, make sure the spell you craft or use isn’t too taxing, and choose a gentler method of raising energy.