Magical wishing

 We often say that wish magic is the first magic we do as children, whether it's blowing out the candles on our birthday cake, wishing on a star or blowing a dandelion puff.  And yet, as adults, even witchy adults, we are often told that wishing is less desirable.  

From a magical perspective, wishing is often seen as fanciful and 'not doing the work'.  Wishing is often very spur of the moment, you are taking advantage of some fleeting situation (like finding a loose eyelash), and making a spontaneous wish.  It's not a deeply thought out desire (like what we might use for the focus of our other magical workings), it's often not highly defined (again in comparison to other magical workings), and it rarely involves any actual work (other than some kind of activation, often involving blowing).

And yet, wishing is in some ways more magical than some of our other works, exactly for those same reasons.  We are really calling up our inner child, and their pure and simple belief in the power of wishing, and we are giving them the reigns.  Often the things we wish for, when we aren't given time to think about it, are very basic desires that are dear to our heart.  They may be things that are simple and materialistic (maybe we wish for a piece of pie or a pretty new stone), or they may be more idealistic and dreaming (we might wish for happiness or peace).  They might even be things that we are told not to work on magically (like wishing for a romantic partner or money).

Wishes are somewhat similar to dreams, but wishes are even more ephemeral.  Wishes are often things we don't want to admit we are wishing for.  They may seem trivial or too big, they may seem selfish or controlling, they may be silly or unrealistic.  The power of wishes is that when we wish for something, we not only admit that we want a thing, but there is also an unspoken understanding that it might not happen...or it may happen slightly different than we envisioned.

I feel very strongly that all magic works on our intent, and sometimes when we sit down and plan things out, we get bogged down in the details.  When we wish, we are stripping away most of the mechanics and just keeping the desire.  What is it that we wish for?  

I actually think wishes shine when we use them for huge or tiny things.  I don't find myself wishing for reasonable stuff very often...when I want reasonable things I do other workings towards them.  Wishing is something that I think of as 'magic for stuff I wouldn't do magic for.'

 

Wishing is great for all those 'impossible' things that we dream about in our perfect world.  Wishing for world peace or global awareness, or for people to let other people just be happy.  Wish for those crazy over the top things that make you giggle just a bit for even thinking about it:  a home on a private island, a zillion dollars, to be young forever.

Wishing is also wonderful for trivial things.  I wish that package I ordered will come in today.  I wish there will be snow.  I wish my husband would suggest tacos for dinner.  Just fun little random things that honestly wouldn't bother me if they didn't happen...but would delight me if they did.

I put wishing a bit in the superstition category.  I don't always wish because I think my wishes will come true, but I definitely wish because it makes my heart happy to wish.  I think the simple act of making a wish is delightful and it brightens my day.  It's one of those things (kind of like meditation actually), where the act of doing it is the whole purpose for doing it (to me).  

I really do think that wishing is important though as it's a way to build up our sense of wonder and encourage magic into our lives.  Every time we make a wish, we are inviting magical happenstance to bless us with our wish.  We are affirming that we believe things can happen just because we wished for them.  We are accepting that wishes aren't actions, they don't lead to a particular result all the time, they aren't certain...but they open the door and invite magic in.

If you struggle with wishing, I encourage you to pick one method of wishing that seems the most fun, and challenge yourself to practice it whenever it appears in your life.  Maybe you want to start small and just make a wish once a year on your birthday.  Or maybe you decide to toss a coin into any wishing wells you find.  You can even make up your own lucky trigger for wishing.  Perhaps you will make a wish whenever you see a lady bug.

Most of all, have fun with it.  Wishing is all about joy and wonder, so tap into your inner child and let go of all expectations.  Give yourself permission to wish for anything and everything.  Whatever pops into your mind when your wish trigger happens, embrace it!  Let yourself wish for purple house slippers or a double rainbow.  Let wishing be a way to allow your inner child to play!