What is a Magic Spell?

What is a magic spell, indeed? We get questions all the time about magic spells, what they are, how to create them, how to cast them, and so forth. In fact, it seems to be a subject of such fascination that we have decided to write an entire series of newsletter articles about it.This series of articles will really dig into the process of creating and casting spells, and could aptly be named, "The Anatomy of a Spell"!

What is a Magic Spell: The Definition
But first ... the definition. What is a magic spell? Here is our official word on the matter:

"A spell is any psychic or magical operation that combines a number of elements (air, fire, water and earth) and/or program factors that produce a particular result over a period of time. A spell could also be defined as a formalized intention that is carried out over time until completion. We use spells when we are unable to directly affect a situation or condition, especially when dealing with complex factors or barriers which require a lot of force to overcome."

So there you have it. This gives you both a formal and an informal definition of a magical spell--a technical definition and a layman's approach of "a formalized intention." Simple, right?

The Anatomy of a Magic Spell
While the definition of a magic spell may certainly be simple--or at the very least, straightforward--the actual workings of a spell can get a little more complex. The ingredients that go into a spell can take a bit more planning and time and effort than the average Joe may think. Whilst a simple Sun Candle spell can be done with much less effort than what we are about to define in the following section, the spells that are meant to address more complex topics can require much more from the practitioner. This is appropriate as spells are like anything else in life: you get out of them what you put into them.

If we were to break down the anatomy of a spell, we might separate it into these parts:

1. Define what is wanted
2. Decide the type of spell to cast (for instance, single candle spell, multiple candle spell, Tarot spell, or spells using archetype technology)
3. Convert desired outcome into Directors and Limiters (formalized statements of what the spell will and will not do)
4. Do Tarot readings on Directors and Limiters to determine whether they and the chosen type of spell will achieve the desired outcome
5. If the Tarot readings are not favorable, revise either Directors and Limiters or spell type or both, then lather, rinse, and repeat until the readings are favorable
6. Design the spell's necessary ingredients, such as verses, candle carvings, Tarot changes (for Tarot spells), and chosen time to cast spell
7. Perform Tarot readings on the above ingredients and revise until readings are favorable
8. Prepare the spell ingredients (i.e., carve the candle or write out steps to Tarot layout changes)
9. Cast spell at the appropriate time
10. Perform follow-up Tarot readings at appropriate intervals to determine progress
11. Make spell adjustments if necessary, up to and including spell take-downs (for spells gone awry)
12. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the results of your spell!

Whew! That does sound like a bit of work, doesn't it? On the other hand, if you consider that a spell can achieve almost anything you can imagine, then the above-specified level of effort may well be worth it!

In future articles we will take each step in this anatomy of a magic spell and dig in. We will define, explore, explain, and generally give you the gist of each step so that you have an idea of what goes into a solid spell that is not only effective, but also follows the operational laws governing magical practice. So stay tuned!

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Healing Magic: Simple Powerful Flower Essence Recipes

Are you ready for some healing magic to recover from the tough year 2012? If you survived the chaotic year 2012, congratulations, many people didn't and chose to leave the planet. Others had a great year, but many more had a very rough time and took a lot of physical "hits" and are now looking for magical recovery and healing magic. In our Energy Healing for Self and Others ebook, one of the topics covered is flower essences and how to make them. Here we will give you a few flower essence remedies that are helping people recover from the year 2012.

A Few Things About Flower Essences
Before looking at individual remedies, there are a few things to know about how flower essences work as healing magic. Flower essences provide emotional and transformational support, but do not have the power to change you. Only you can do that. They give support to ease the discomfort or pain that sometimes make change too difficult. Flower essences give us the use of vibrational frequencies and qualities of the plant used in making them. They are especially useful in helping to heal our non-physical or subtle bodies.

Remedies As Healing Magic
Star of Bethlehem – can be used to open the healing fields for any kind of trauma. The gift it brings from its source plant is that it comforts all traumas.

Elm – can be used for grounding when overwhelmed with present events or an overall sense of well-being when overwhelmed. The gift it brings is feeling capable, responsible and able to cope well with change.

Honeysuckle – can be used for an overall sense of well-being when your energies are depleted or grounding when finding yourself sulking and giving up or exhausted. The gift it brings is support during loss, and replenishing depleted energies.

These are just a few of the flower essences that can be used in healing magic. To learn more about flower essences, take a look at our Energy Healing for Self and Others ebook in the school store.
To see how to make your own flower essences check out our article HERE. There are many more that can be used for conditions such as loneliness, despair, emotional cleansing, fear, uncertainty and many more. Making your own flower essences allows you to connect with the source plant and honor it for sharing its healing properties and make your formula more individualized to yourself. Formulas can vary from person to person, and your formula can change as you change. Making your own flower essences instead of buying a pre-made one gives you the edge with making the changes you need to personalize it.

Whether you are recovering from a difficult last year, facing personal difficulties this year or going through a period of transformation within yourself, flower essences are a great way to tap into the healing magic of plants and develop a relationship with them from a perspective of we are One together in nature with them.

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Improve Your Psychic Abilities with the Perimeter Game

Using your psychic abilities allows you to gather information that is not directly available to the five senses. Divination techniques are part of using the psychic abilities and allow us to discover influences, energies and probability lines active in our lives so that we can more accurately and knowingly exert control in our own lives. Remember though that when exploring the future it is not set or pre-destined and divination shows you the probabilities of what will happen based on the assumption that the current influences are not changed. Any change in the present will change the future. That is why divination and using our psychic abilities are so useful. Don't like what you see coming? Make a change and the future changes.

One of the exercises taught in our Psychic Development ebook that can help with increasing your psychic abilities is an exercise we call the Psychic Perimeter Game. This exercise helps develop your psychic abilities by giving you practice at shutting off one of your five senses so you can concentrate on receiving psychic information around you.

Here's how to play.

• Set up a 10 to 20 foot energetic or psychic perimeter around yourself in a public place by closing your eyes and imagining an energy circle around you. 
• Keep your eyes closed and tell yourself to "notice" whenever someone steps inside your circle.
• When you sense someone has entered your circle, open your eyes to confirm it. 
• When you are getting accurate results, gradually increase the size of your circle.

Going to a noisy place to practice this exercise will also help take your sense of hearing out of the equation. Don't worry if you aren't getting perfect results in the beginning. Just like when learning any new skill, developing your psychic abilities takes practice. The more you practice, the more sensitive your psychic abilities will become. One of the keys to success in developing your psychic abilities is learning to ignore the outcome. Just practice your abilities and don't worry about whether you are right or not. The "art of ignoring" or selective perception is one of the key principles in magic and in developing your psychic abilities. You are accessing information in another realm, so you have to learn to focus your attention in that realm. That takes practice, just like learning to speak a new language takes practice.

Try this exercise out for yourself, keep it light and enjoy the process. For lots more exercises on developing your psychic abilities, look for our Psychic Development ebook in the school store. There are people who are naturally gifted in the area of psychic abilities, but for most people the difference between people who are psychic and people who are not is often just a matter of practice.

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How to Do Voodoo: The Tools You Will Need

In our How to Do Voodoo ebook, you will learn a lot about this esoteric branch of magic which first emerged from Africa. There are many things that voodoo magic is uniquely suited for. For example, you can use it for protection, self-defense, and to attract desired situations into your life. You can even use two voodoo dolls and a wand in a ritual to stop two gossiping people from talking to each other or do the reverse and bring two people who refuse to speak with each other back into conversation.

Voodoo dolls are what most people think of when they think about how to do voodoo. The use of voodoo dolls has become well-known in popular culture mostly through movies, books and television. Through these mediums, voodoo has quite often been portrayed as a dark, mysterious, and often morbid tradition. Actually, voodoo is simply a West African religion, also known as Vodun, Vodoun, Vodou, Vudu, and Voudou. The practices include much more than the use of dolls. They also involve circle rituals, dancing, singing, drumming, and ancestor worship. A voodoo doll is simply a simulacrum or an object that is a likeness of something. In voodoo or simulacra magic you can affect a person without being in physical contact with them by choosing an object that resembles the person and making a psychic connection between the object and the person. The Law of Similarity dictates that the greater the likeness, the greater the psychic connection, which make photographs a good choice in many instances.

Besides simulacra, there are other tools needed when learning how to do voodoo. Here is a list for the beginning practitioner.

• firebowl with sage, pine resin, charcoal burner disks and paper or wooden matches.
• Sun Yellow Candle
• Wisdom and Protection candles (taper candles of Sun Yellow, white or sky blue color)
• keyed Wand (Air Tool)
• keyed Athame (Fire Tool)
• keyed Chalice (Water Tool)
• keyed Plate or Pantacle (Earth Tool)
• keyed and well-trained pendulum
• aluminum foil and scotch tape (for protective voodoo magic)
• Book of Shadows (to record all your voodoo actions and spells, in case you need to take them back down)

Many of these tools you will be able to find easily or get online and are not expensive. Others you will make yourself such as with the Wand. The How To Do Voodoo ebook covers all you need to know about gathering these tools and/or making and keying them if you don't already have them, so no worries there. Learning how to do voodoo or simulacra magic can give you a variety of useful techniques and magical skills to add to your treasure chest of magical knowledge. As always, enjoy the magic!

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Protection Magic: Useful Talismans and Passive Shields

Sometimes we need active protection magic in our lives to preserve sacred space. Everyone has the right to sacred space and to practice magic and protection magic may be necessary to insure these rights. This type of protection magic falls under the category of self defense. In daily life, however, we often need passive protection magic against random psychic blasts from people, places or things. We often run into people carrying a lot of angry or negative energy, and by law of contagion we can pick up this energy if we don't have any passive shielding.

Often talismans can be worn as passive protection magic and passive shields. A talisman can be any object that is used for protection or to bring good luck. They are usually objects small enough to wear as a necklace or ring or carry in your pocket. Talismans have been used since ancient times and have been associated with many different religions, organizations, and spiritual societies. The word talisman comes from tilasm (Arabic) meaning "a magical image" and teleo (Greek) which means "to consecrate".

Some people have talismans without really realizing it. A piece of jewelry inherited from a beloved family member, a photograph always carried in the wallet, a lucky penny or rabbit's foot could all be seen as talismans. Native American traditions often use talismans with animal representations to bring in animal totem medicine. The consistent use of a prayer, affirmation or incantation could also be considered a talisman.

Many people choose talismans of strength, such as Thor's shield, as a form of passive protection magic. In our school, we use keyed sun and moon shields. We feel it is important to key the talisman to your own personal and unique energies. Keying is a simple technique that makes a magical connection between the object and the person making it personal and work specifically for that person. Our sun and moon shields come with directions on how to key the shield to work specifically for you as a form of passive protection magic.

So, if you are feeling overwhelmed by negative energies in your environment, looking to bring a particular characteristic into your life or in need of protecting your sacred space, magical talismans are a good tool to have. We have many you can browse through in our school store or consult your guides and higher powers for one that would be right for you. 

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