A friend of mine shared a meme with me, thinking it would make a good blog post, and she was absolutely right! The meme said: Witches should treat themselves like magical scientists. I see way too many comments asking "could I also use this for..." and not enough "I'm going to try this and see." Stop asking for permission from creators online to experiment. Your magic advances when you get messy.
Now, I definitely agree with the overarching sentiment of this (thought there are a few points I want to unpack within it). Magic didn't appear fully formed into the world, the way we learned what things 'work' and what don't is through trial and error...and paying attention to what works and doesn't work. It's basic scientific theory! You see something that seems to work, you test it out and verify if it does or doesn't.
I've talked before about the difference between universal correspondences and personal ones, but the basics are that universal correspondences are the ones that have been generally accepted by a population (this is often cultural), and thus have built up a lot of energy because so many people believe in them. Think about how black cats are seen as omens of bad luck.
But personal correspondences are based on your own personal history. Instead of drawing on the power of the masses, you are tapping into your deep personal connection, which is often highly charged with emotion.
When it comes to magical experimentation, you can test out either universal or personal correspondences. There are two ways to approach experimentation. You can start with the desired outcome or you can start with a potential ingredient.
***Quick safety note*** We live in the information age. When it comes to experimentation, there is no excuse to not check for basic safety first. Anything you are ingesting, breathing in, putting on your skin should be checked first to make sure it's not toxic. Of course we all might have a personal allergic reaction (so always pay attention when you are trying things new to you), but definitely rule out actual poisonous or not-safe items first! Remember, we are working energetically, so if you feel a particular plant might fit well but it's not safe to consume, you can use a picture or call on it's spirit without actually using a dangerous plant.
Starting with the desired outcome would be where you want to do some work to increase your health, and so you think about all of the things that you associate with good health. This might be white (from the doctors robes), or maybe every time people send you 'get better' cards they are all bright pink, so pink might feel like it links to health for you. Once you have a list of things that you feel could work for health, you can start working with them, and see which ones bring you the best results.
Starting with a potential ingredient might mean that you decide you want to work more with cat, for example, and so you brainstorm things that cat could help you with. Like before, once you have your list of ideas, you can start trying them out, and seeing which ones seem to give you the most gains.
Sometimes, we have a theory, based on an experience we had or something we noticed. Maybe you start noticing that there are dandelions nearby whenever you hear bad news. Testing to find this connection might involve keeping a log of what you see and what happens afterward.
This is one place where I think great record keeping comes into play. It's something I'm not really good at, because I find a lot of record keeping highly tedious, but if you are wanting to do some magical experimentation, logging what you try and how it turns out is highly helpful (especially if you are like me and have horrible memory, so you don't remember which things you tried when...or how they worked).
I think one important thing to mention here is that most of the time magical experimentation will be benign. If you are trying things (remember to check for actual dangerous ingredients first!), and they don't work, then it's not a big deal. If I am trying out a new combination of ingredients for a prosperity spell, and it's not effective, the most likely outcome is that I just won't be extra prosperous. It's almost impossible for my 'failed' spell to backfire on me or create some other kind of disastrous effect.
It's also worth noting that failure is a part of the experimentation process, so if you try out spells and they don't work, that's fine! That doesn't mean you aren't a good witch, or that you won't be able to work future spells....just that this one didn't pan out. Make some notes on what you did and what didn't happen, and try something else!
Returning to the meme for a moment, I think that the bit where it mentions 'asking permission from creators online' is something to take note of. It doesn't actually say asking about historical precedent (and while 'what worked in the past' is a great place to start, it shouldn't be a limiting factor!), instead it mentions online creators. And if you think about it, that implies that you are asking someone else for things they created (which also implies they experimented until they found something that worked). The underlying thought here is that you are accepting the idea that they are a better witch than you, which is really tricky territory.
Of course, someone who has been practicing for fifty years probably has a bit more experience than someone who just started, but the way you gain that experience is trying things. Even if you only work with spells that other people swear by, some of them won't work for you, for a variety of reasons. It is by trying things that we figure out what works.
Which brings us to the final line of the meme, that you get advances when things get messy. This I absolutely don't agree with. I don't deny that sometimes mistakes are great teaching moments! I don't deny that failures can lead us to success (honestly that's what the scientific method is based on...failing until you succeed). What I do take exception to is that this implies that doing things yourself is the only way to get ahead. And that's just not true.
This may seem like a complete contradiction to this whole blog post...but you can absolutely be a great witch by only using spells that other people have suggested. Honestly, your path is so personal to you that you are the only one who knows what works best for you (and sometimes we don't know what works best for our selves, and that is fine too). But if the idea of experimenting and building your practice from the ground up sounds exhausting and terrifying...you don't have to! I just don't like the fact that some of the witchy community has created this terror around trying things, as if you might 'fail' on a spell and accidentally burn your town down or cause your loved ones to catch a horrible disease. It just doesn't work like that.
I guess what I really want to end with is a simple reminder that magic isn't inherently dangerous. It's okay to try things out, it's okay to fail, and it's okay to make stuff up and see if it works for you. Don't assume that people online who are speaking with authority have actual credentials...no matter how sure they sound or how many followers they have or how pretty their pictures are. Try stuff and see!
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