Witchcraft or Wishful Thinking? The Surprising Power of a Spell
Anyone can perform a spell. All you need is the ability to focus your mind. And perhaps the correct colour candle…
Some might’ve called me a witch growing up. Or at least bordering on one. Yes I had performed the odd ‘spell’ or two back then, and I did have a black cat and owned a mini (ornamental) cauldron, but I wouldn’t class myself as a witch, at least not in the stereotypical sense.
The type of spells I’ve used were healing spells for loved ones (including pets) and a couple of money and love spells. (what can I say, I was always a very shy girl growing up!) But before you all start shouting ‘burn her!’, let me tell you something.
The funny thing about these spells — there really wasn’t any magic involved!
Let’s take the spell for ‘finding romance’ as an example.
Focus No 1: Planning for the Big Event
You are supposed to do this spell while the moon is waxing (becoming full) as this is the time when you attract things into your life. It is also best to do it on a Friday evening between 6–7pm. This helps you focus by setting a date and plan in your mind.
Focus No 2: Thoughts of You
The first thing you need to do is draw your ideal partner. If you can’t draw, write down attributes of the type of person you’re looking for, such as tall, dark, likes black cats, etc. This part therefore obviously forces you to think about what you really want. Straight away you’re also tuning your mind to focus on the suggestion that you will find your ideal partner. It’s really important to be honest with yourself though. [I didn’t have a clue what I really wanted, so although I did meet someone, it only lasted for two months. Either I wasn’t ready or I asked for something I only thought I wanted. So be clear and honest with yourself.]
Focus No 3: Keeping in Touch
Next you need to tie a willow twig into a knot. A love knot if you will. This becomes your symbol; a reminder to yourself that you’ve performed the spell. You hold this knotted twig while lighting a white candle and then will keep it with you (and so it’ll keep reminding you) for the next 24 hours.
Focus No 4: Smell You Later
According to the spell instructions the white candle must be anointed with coriander oil before you light it as above (I couldn’t find any oil so just rubbed the candle with fresh leaves — I don’t really believe you need either you could burn a scented candle instead) and left to burn down completely. This obviously helps you to focus using your sense of smell. The power of your sense of smell is often underrated when actually it’s the most primitive of all your senses. It’s also fantastic for memory recall. How often do you get a whiff of something and are instantly transported back to a moment from years ago?
Focus No 5: Nice to Meet You
You must stare at the candle while it burns down and imagine the moment you meet your mate. (Do not leave a candle unattended! You don’t need to let it burn down completely. If you’re in a rush you could even use a small birthday cake candle! Make a wish!) Think about what would you say? What might s/he say to you? What are the sights and sounds around you? You can imagine anything you want, so aim for the stars. If you let yourself get super excited about the vision and imagine every detail and more importantly every feeling, you’ll have a better chance of planting the idea of meeting someone firmly in your head.
Get Chrish’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
24 hours later you untie the willow twig love knot to ‘release’ the spell and then within a week romance is supposed to find you.
Ta Dah!
Performing a spell, and involving most, if not all, of your senses, means you turn your mind to focus completely on your desire. This all can’t help but really open your eyes and actually look for what you want. And believe me, you do look. In fact you expect.
Strip away the candles, moon phases and willow twig, and there’s an interesting psychological idea underneath: when we clarify what we want, we become more attentive to opportunities to pursue it.
For example, someone who has thought carefully about the qualities they want in a partner might become better at recognising compatibility — and incompatibility — when they meet people.
Someone who visualises meeting new people might feel more motivated to go out, start conversations or join activities where they could meet someone.
Desire and expectation are important to the Law of Attraction, which is a whole other topic I’ll discuss another time. The basic idea is that once you know what you really, really want and believe it’s possible, you’re more likely to focus on making it happen. Whether the universe actually delivers what you ask for is another question entirely! But you could argue that a spell is simply a prop to help you focus on that desire and take steps towards it.
Happy spelling, my little witches and wizards!
