Smart Spells

When crafting a simple or off-the-cuff spell, it’s tempting to work from a simple statement of intent. I want more money. I want a blue car. Sometimes even simpler, such as a single word: love, prosperity, etc. These sorts of vague statements communicate little more than ideas. It’s hard for magick to work them. Think about it. Go to a car dealership and tell the sales person “I want a car.” You can expect a lot of follow-up questions. What kind of car? What color? What sort of budget do you have? New or used? Without at least some of this information, they can’t show you the car you want or need. Such an approach wastes the time of everyone involved will likely produce a disappointing outcome.

Crafting a spell and setting a goal share many similarities. Vague and poorly-worded goals give us vague and poorly-realized results, if any results at all. “I’m going to lose weight.” Well, sure you will. Eventually we’ll all become little more than a pile of dried bones and dust. There you have it, weight lost. No, we need some guidelines to set goals (and craft spells) that come to fruition while we still live to appreciate the results! Luckily, a simple framework already exists: SMART Goals.

SMART is an acronym:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Attainable
• Relevant
• Time Bound

Specific, as in give me some details! Measurable, as in how will you know when it works? Attainable– for a person 4 feet tall, becoming a pro basketball player is technically possible, but not likely. Realistic–“Move Mt. Fuji six feet to the left” is unrealistic. Time Bound–give it a time limit. You’ll notice that these all overlap with each other. It’s probably not realistic to work a spell for a million dollars in the next 42 minutes. You’ll have a greater chance of success if you either shoot for less money, or extend your time frame.

Here’s an example: “It is my will to acquire $500 in the next 7 days.” The amount of money is both specific and measurable, and unless I just sit on the couch for a week it is also attainable and realistic. A week seems a reasonable time period given my particular life-context, but more or less time might seem more reasonable for yours.

I admit, it feels a bit scary giving my spell work a time limit. But if you don’t, it becomes easy to say it just hasn’t happened yet when the spell doesn’t work at all. This can drag on and on. With a time limit, when a spell doesn’t work it’s actually great feedback! Try it again after making some changes to the parameters of the spell. Add a little time, or pull back a bit on your desired outcome. Change your method of casting. If you used a bit of candle magick, try a sigil. Try again when the planets align in a particularly auspicious way while sticking your tongue out of the left side of your mouth and standing on your right leg. A big spell, with big outcomes, might work better with some group work.

Keep trying until it works, and then take note of what you did that time. And then do that next time.