Brainstorming work

 

One of the things that I think takes the longest to get comfortable with is creating your own spells and rituals (or any practice really).  As much as I feel like Paganism embraces individualized and personalized practice, most books only go into the bare bones on how to build a working from the ground up, and many 101 books don't really talk about doing your own thing at all.  They just include a handful of premade spells and rituals, and often those don't really fit (because we are all individual, and we might live in a different country or time period from where the spell originated, which also makes things complicated).

 

I've always been a big fan of making your own spells (and for ease of wording, I'm going to say spells for the rest of this post, even though the same process can be used to build any spiritual working, from rituals to protections to Sabbats!), or at the very least tweaking the bits that don't work in spells you find out in the wild.  In my very early days I did work with spells straight out of books, and while it has a certain comfort level (because it's very easy to doubt your own capabilities), it was always like wearing hand-me-down clothes....they feel like they don't quite fit most of the time.

 

But writing your own spells can feel daunting, and for many people even figuring out where to start is an issue.  It's one of those weird things that feels like it should be talked about everywhere, and yet it's not, and when it is talked about, it's in a very bare bones kinda way (I mean even this blog post won't be as complete an explanation as might be wanted, but it's more extensive than a lot of the 'how to write your own spells' sections we see in books). 

The start is always the why...why are you doing a spell.  Note, I don't start with what you want to seek, because I feel like the why is always more important than the what.  The why will lead to the what (and sometimes, as you explore the why, you discover that you are actually needing to work towards a different what than you thought you did!)

So start by asking yourself why, and really dig in here.  If you wanted to make a spell to get a job, why are you looking for a job (do you want money, more excitement in your life, a chance to do something creative, or are you just bored).  Notice, that all of those things could be reasons to find a job...but many of them lead to very different types of jobs.  Knowing the why of your spell will help inform every step of the process!

Sometimes the why will be straightforward, like if you have a friend who is sick and you want to do something to help them heal.  You care about your friend and you want them better, that is your why.  But sometimes the why is more elusive, like if you want to loose weight, your why might be that you want to be healthier, but it might also include wanting to look better (and feel sexier or more confidant) and that you want to be able to play soccer without feeling winded immediately.  You don't have to pick just one why, in fact exploring the many reasons behind your spell can help you create a much more inclusive working!

If you are struggling with understanding your why, it can be helpful to get outside advice.  This might mean turning to your favorite divination method, and spending some time journaling out your whys, or it might mean asking a trusted friend or loved one for their input.  Just remember, if you are talking to other people, that you want to not only ask someone who you trust (and who knows you), but also someone who isn't going to try to talk you out of doing your work (sometimes you can get advice on your why without explaining what specifically you are planning on doing, so take our job example, you might ask a friend what type of job they think you would enjoy without telling them you are planning on doing a spell for it).

Once you have your why, you can start to think about the main shape your spell will take.  There are tons of types of spells out there, from candle spells to jar spells to bag spells or simple fire and forget spells.  This is one place where reading examples (especially examples that are similar to what you are planning, so if you are wanting to heal a friend, looking at a selection of healing spells can give you a sense of what other people have found works, and that is a great place to start!).  You might also just like one method over another, and prefer to use it, and that's perfectly fine too!

Almost every spell includes correspondences of some sort, whether they are physical items, representations or simply words to be called upon.  This is where your whys really come into play.  You will want something to represent all of your whys, so if I am wanting to loose weight (to be healthy, to look sexy and to be able to enjoy soccer more), then I should have at least one thing to represent each of my whys.

I sometimes think of deities as a way to include more correspondences.  I have a pretty wide group of deities I work with, so I have a lot of choices for deities that will fit my spell.  And sometimes you can work with multiple deities for the same spell, though this can often require more planning (and some deities just don't work well together, so understanding how they interrelate is important too).  You don't have to call on a deity for your spells, and some people have a patron deity that functions like a catch-all for them, when it comes to calling on deities in a spell.

I also want to note that spell creation isn't necessarily something that needs to be done all at once, in one sitting or quickly.  It can be, and learning to create on the fly is somewhat of a different skill, but for the purposes of this blog post, don't feel like you need to rush the process.  Sometimes, I will let an idea stew in my head, and that helps me come up with connections and ideas that I might have otherwise missed.  If you are planning your spell like this, having a notebook or some spot to jot down your ideas and thoughts as they come can be really helpful!

And, your actual 'spell work' doesn't have to be done in one setting either.  Sometimes, we ritualize the prep, especially if you are making any kind of herbal blend, poppet, totem or amulet/talisman (which might need to be prepared ahead of time).  Your spell might also extend into the future (like when you burn a 7 day candle for a spell), or have reactivation activities (like shaking a jar spell when it needs a boost or charging a ward every full moon).  

With any spell work, I think it's important to not pressure yourself too much over the results.  You aren't a bad witch/Pagan if you do a spell and it doesn't work out.  It's not even necessarily that the spell didn't work...sometimes our spells are like trying to hold back the push of the ocean with just your hands....you might not have enough force to create the change you are working towards.  But every spell you do (especially those you create) help you become better at them in the future!

One thing that I think can be important (but often overlooked) when talking about spell creation is reflecting on, and adjusting, the spell after the fact.  Especially for something (like a healing spell) that you might want to use again in the future, taking the time to think about (and make some notes on) what went well and what didn't go as well as you would have liked, along with how the spell felt as you did it and the results afterward...these all help to let you refine the spell for future use.

 

Creating your own spells isn't as hard as it first seems, and the benefits are countless.  Not only does it give you the ability to tailor your spells to your exact needs, but it also gives you complete control over what you use to do your spell, what deities (if any) you choose to work with, and how complicated or simple you prefer your work to be.  I highly recommend anyone who hasn't made their own spells give it a try...it's not as scary as it sounds!

Complicated coorespondences

 

Correspondences are something that we use all the time in ritual and magic, and I have talked before about how there is a difference between universal associations (like how the heart symbol is understood to represent love), cultural associations (in the US green is associated with money, but not in all countries, especially if their money is another color), and then personal associations (white is not a good color for me).  But when we talk about correspondences, we typically are talking about categories.

What I mean by that is that if we think about apples as a correspondence, it often doesn't matter which apple.  Some people will differentiate between different types of apple (a green granny smith might give you different vibes than a red delicious, for example), but very rarely do we talk about individual meanings (if you have a bag full of all Fuji apples, are they really all the 'same').  

 

I always thought it was interesting, in a spirituality that personifies the world around us, we generalize and often act as if "all apples are the same' when it comes to their magical properties.  That's kind of like expecting "all people to be kind" or something ridiculous like that.

 

I know that it's all based on archetypes.  When we work with an apple, we are using that specific apple as a representative of the archetype of perfect 'appleness', and we have decided that the concept 'apple' means certain things, and that is how we use an apple.  But we can expand our understanding of apples (or whatever we are using), by looking for the qualities that the specific apple we are using exhibits.

 

 This is a bit of a crossover with mindfulness practice.  A very common mindfulness exercise is to eat an apple, but to pay attention to every aspect of the process.  First you look, and touch and smell, and as you eat you taste and listen.  And while there are many common factors, ways in which eating this apple will be similar to other apples you have eaten in the past, there are also always unique things to experience.

With magic, being able to notice those individual aspects opens the door to really being able to tailor our works to our needs.  Because we have the archetypal apple that we can always call on, the qualities of our specific apple can be added (or not) as we desire.  

But let's say, for example, our apple is like the one in the center of the picture at the top.  It has patterns on the skin that we can find images in.  We can examine the stem, look for blemishes, count the seeds inside....there are a ton of ways to explore an apple and find things that remind us of other things (and honestly, that is all a correspondence is...something our brain links to something else).

We could easily extend this process in reverse too, so when we are looking for an item to use in ritual, we can not just grab any apple, we can look for an apple that fits what we are doing.  I feel like many of us do this already, seeking out the 'perfect' item for spiritual use, but when we put active thought into it, we can recognize that 'perfect for this purpose' is different from an idealized version of what perfect means.

Like many things, this is something that becomes easier with use.  As we build up our personal associations, we learn to notice more with less effort.  We learn how to know what we need, and as we look at our choices, we can pick through them and feel for the one that best suits us.

Like any other mindfulness practice, this starts by slowing down and paying attention.  When you use items in your practice, really look at them.  Look at what makes them like others of their kind, and what makes them different.  Seek out those imperfections, and ask yourself what they mean to you.  The more you do this, the easier it will become, until it is almost second nature.

We often have a choice of what to use for our practice.  If you want to add another layer to your correspondence use, why not try taking the time to really look at your choices.  See each apple as unique, as an individual, and find the one that fits best. 

Balancing your practice

There is an old saying, "The witch who can not hex, can not heal."  And I think it's such a great example of the balance that we need in our lives, and our practices.  I also think it's interesting to note that it doesn't say that you SHOULD hex anyone, just that if you don't know how that hinders your ability to heal.  

Look, I'm not saying that in order to have a healthy spiritual practice that you need to delve into all the horrible things that are out there in the world (because we know that people do horrible things, often in the name of spirituality), but I am saying that if you refuse to see the darkness that is present in yourself and in your practice that you are keeping the blinders on and you can't be fully formed if you refuse to see all that there is to see.

All things in life have two sides, and much like a coin, there is no line separating the two....it is one coin, all that changes is your perspective...both sides are a part of the whole.  In every horrible thing, there is some spark of light, and in every wonderful thing there is some potential for badness.  It is by recognizing and accepting that bit that we can truly embrace the whole.

For most of us, shadow practice fills this role in our path.  It is a way we can work with the darker parts of ourselves..in a way that allows us to maintain our boundaries and remain in control of our actions.  But I also feel that doing shadow work on ourselves helps us to see those broken bits in other people...and to have compassion and understanding when dealing with behavior that is less than ideal.

It sucks, but sometimes we have to be the bigger person, and part of that is recognizing when someone is acting from a place of hurt.  It doesn't mean we have to accept their actions, but it definitely helps us balance our own mental health when we can see that the behavior isn't always intended, but sometimes a reaction to something else.  If we never look inside and seek out those broken bits of ourselves, we can't see them in other people either.

One of the things I've always loved about Paganism is that there is a place for the dark and the light in it.  We work with the cycle of the year, and with nature, and both have a time for growth...and a time for death.  There is darkness, harshness and pain in the natural world, but there is also light and joy and wonder.  Even our deities often have both good and bad sides to them, embracing both the positive and negative aspects of themselves.  And having complicated deities like this allows us to better accept that complexity in ourselves...because if even the Gods have dark sides, then ours don't make us bad people....just people.

When it comes to working with both the light and dark in your practice, I definitely think that turning to nature is very helpful.  We can look at the world and see how the things that we might have turned away from initially just fit.  Death, violence, fear...these things all have a place in the natural world.  Death creates change, which combats stagnation, and makes room for new growth.  Violence can be used for aggression, but also for defense, and among animals can help maintain social order and weed out those who can't work with the group.  Fear can be a tool to avoid violence or a way to encourage survival (animals often fear dangerous things like fire).

On a more personal level, learning to be grateful for things that are sometimes seen as negatives can help bring a more balanced perspective to your path.  When I do gratitude work, I am not always grateful for only things that are traditionally 'good'.   I am grateful for the bright spots in my life, but I am also grateful for the darkness.  At the start, I was mostly grateful for the ways my negative traits could benefit me (like I am pretty stubborn, and that means that once I get my head set on a thing, I'll work until it's done), but I have learned to be grateful for even the most rough parts of myself...simply because they are part of me.  I have a lot of mental struggles, but even though my life would be much easier without them...I wouldn't be me, so I am grateful for those hard parts of my self, and how they fit with the rest of me.

One thing to remember, is that balance doesn't mean equal.  You can find balance in all kinds of ways.  Balance might mean working the whole of a cycle, releasing or banishing something, then building up something new.  It might mean doing work to fight back against people who are trying to take advantage of you (especially if they are counting on the fact that they think you won't fight back).  It might mean forgiving yourself for allowing bad behavior towards you while reinforcing your boundaries so that it doesn't happen in the future.  It might mean cutting out people who refuse to accept their own darkness (because we aren't responsible for other people's work, only our own boundaries).

The world is full of both darkness and light, and without either one it would be a much worse place.  Finding a place for both the good and the bad (and sometimes the ugly) in our practice is one more way to embrace all that life has to offer.  Accepting the easy and hard parts of ourselves gives us the room to grow and become the amazing, incredible person we are meant to be and it also grants us the ability to see the complexity in other people and to accept them without compromising ourselves.  It is well worth it to explore what balance means to you, and to work that into your practice.  Because if your practice doesn't reflect all of you, and if you aren't whole inside....how can it meet all your needs?

Magical play

 

 Paganism definitely has a history of needing to defend itself as a serious practice.  Many people look at witchcraft as some form of make-believe, as if we all think that everything works like it does in movies and stories, where we can cast a spell and make something appear out of thin air or control people.  And I understand the desire to want to show that this is something deeply personal, highly meaningful and important to us.

But I don't feel that play detracts from the impact our faith has in our life.  And play is a great way to not only learn better, but to find joy in things that already have deep impact on our lives.  It can be a way to access that sense of childhood wonder that we often loose in adulthood.  Plus play is simply fun!  And there is no rule that says that important, meaningful things can't also be fun.

A lot of the practices and tools we use can also be used for play.  Something I've been doing as long as I can remember, far longer than I have been Pagan is daydreaming.  Now I might call it visualization, but sometimes it is literally just sitting and letting my brain play with fun ideas.  It's like playing a game of what if with yourself:  what if I was a cat, what if I could fly, what if I was three inches tall.  But daydreaming is also a great way to practice visualization in a simple and stress-free way.  Because if you can't quite picture it clearly, that is okay, there are no consequences (whereas if you are working to visualize something as part of a ritual, your goal might be harder to reach if you can't visualize what you want clearly enough).

I also think of reading (fiction) and watching shows as a form of play, and often this gives me ideas of things that I later incorporate into my practice.  Especially because I love watching/reading magical content, so if it has witches or magic in it, I am probably going to want to experience it.  Even stuff that doesn't specifically focus on magic can create connections between things that I can use in my practice, like when people have an in joke and it becomes a symbol for them...but now I can also use that symbol to represent something that I might not have connected it to before.  It's a bit like learning from old teaching stories....you might just love hearing the stories, but you still learn stuff.

Arts and crafts are another big play practice for me.  There is a reason why art therapy is such a big thing.  Simply making something, out of your own creativity, even if no one else understands the meaning you put into it...there is something magical about it.  The process of creation is one that many people don't have enough of in their lives, and taking time to embrace the creative process can be hugely empowering!  For me, art play is all about letting my inner child out, so I really lean into that idea, and I love breaking out crayons or simple kids paints and just picking whatever colors I feel and not worrying about whether or not it looks like what it is supposed to.  Coloring books can be a great place to start, especially for anyone worried about their artistic ability (but remember, it's play, so it's not about making the perfect thing, it's about having fun making something).

I personally find writing a super fun thing to do, and it is one of my favorite creative outlets.  With writing, I can create anything I want, and it can be a powerful way to explore things that I am unsure of.  It can also be a great way to vent about things that are upsetting me!  When I think of writing, in terms of play, it's definitely about putting words on the page, and not about finding the perfect words.  Often, when I write for fun, I'll give myself a limit (either time or word count), and that helps me let go of the idea of perfect.  And if you struggle to get ideas, there are tons of fun writing prompts out there, that will give you a little nudge and help you get started.  

And then there are tarot games!  These range from more traditional card games (either takes on solitaire or a trump taking kind of game) to more creative games (which might mimic RPG style games).  There are also lots of ways to gamify reading tarot cards, from pulling cards about your stuffed animals to trying to predict what will come next in a show you are watching.  You can draw cards as art/writing prompts, or simply have a conversation with a deck (drawing cards for it's response).

I think the biggest thing to keep in mind about magical play is that the play comes first.  Though I firmly believe that all of these activities can benefit our lives and our practice, the whole point is to have fun...the other benefits are icing on the play cake.  So when you engage in magical play, really let yourself play.  It's fine if you want to reflect after, but in the moment, try to just enjoy what you are doing.

I absolutely believe that play is necessary for happiness.  And we all have different definitions of what play is and how we find our fun.  So you might have to try a bunch of things, to find what really clicks for you, but it is SO worth it.  I encourage everyone to find ways to work play into their practice, and I think you will find that not only is it a lot of fun (which can help our mental health!), but I think you will be surprised to find that it deepens your practice without much effort...because it's play after all!