Doing spells for a while, you’re going to notice that occasionally you get a few duds. It’s not that they don’t work out in the grandeur that you hoped or that they backfired somehow, they just didn’t work. At all.

I guess before I get into the lamenting of how spells don’t work, I guess I should go into how you can tell a spell did work. Usually when I do spells, the most basic way I can tell it worked is through whether it actually did. In detail, usually I notice when things are tilted in my favor, even when I have a severely slim chance. Basically, things just fall into place, no matter the obstacle.

Then there’s spells where simply nothing happens. Everything appears to be business as usual and whatever happens happens. It doesn’t mean the spell makes life more awry or anything, it’s just simply a dud. You thought you did everything right and everything felt like it was going well but nothing of note occurs. There are several reasons why a spell simply does not work and sometimes it is due to the caster, sometimes things just fall apart.

The biggest reason I have noticed (and experienced) for spells simply going ka-put is actually experience itself. When you’re a noob at spell casting, it’s hard to get a feel of things because, frankly, you’re new. It’s hard to learn how to gather and manipulate energy because it’s not exactly like swimming or coding, there’s no visuals or anyone to really go, “No, no, you’re making a mistake,” when you’re in the middle of it all and on the brink to making a flub. It’s all intrinsic when you start out, just something you and only you can really feel…and you probably can’t feel a thing. The only thing that cures that problem is meditation and energy manipulation exercises. Enable to get good at this stuff, you have to practice at it to be better at it. Learn grounding and centering exercises, learn how to pull energy up from the ground or from the universe, so on and so forth. Just keep at it because the more you do it, the more successful spells become because actual energy is being used, directed and charged and a stronger stream of it at that.

Another reason is that if you use any sort of divinity, sprite, elemental, spirit, whatever, in your spellwork, you should have some sort of rapport. You don’t have to have to necessarily have a decadent shrine to each and every thing you ask to aid in your spellwork, just have some type of general rapport, at the very least be respectful. Yes, you could bypass all that and use your own energy but as you read above, it’s just a fast track to burning yourself out.

Then there’s distraction. If you’re not fully focused on the spell while casting it, practicing absolute mindfulness, it’s not going to work as well as it should. That’s different from not having enough energy because the caster could definitely be well skilled but if their mind is scattered or just unfocused due to a rough day or the concern of the situation weighing too heavy on their mind, the spell may never get off the ground. Spells run on intent but if your mind is scattered, there isn’t as much focus on intent as there should be.

Ah, and finally, not knowing what you want. I’ve had spells flat line on me this way. There has been spells where you want tons o’ stuff to happen and trying to cram all that into one spell thinking that it’ll work. For example, you cast a spell to do well in school, get into a good college or to get a good job and to be financially, emotionally and in other forms successful. That’s too much. Casting a spell for good fortune or to do well in school, things of that nature are far more on point rather than trying to do such a catch-all spell. Basic rule of thumb: If you can’t fit the point of the spell into a single, cohesive sentence, it’s too convoluted and needs to be trimmed down.

All in all, sometimes spells don’t work. Don’t feel bad, it happens to everyone at one point or another. Look at it like this, though: at least it didn’t backfire, that’s worse. The only thing you can do is either try again or just fix the problem the mundane way.

Welp, that’s Black Witch for this week! Next week is The Arts!: Presidential Edition. Yeap! There’s going to be an all-around guide about the upcoming American presidential election (sorry, international readers but Black Witch is an American-based blog so it matters). That means there’s going to be:

– The History of the Method of Voting
– Voter ID laws and how to get around them
– The candidates: Democratic, Republican, Independents, the lot!

And after that is Ask Black Witch so send in your questions via the FB fan page, twitter, the comments section, Tumblr or the Ask Black Witch submission form! (Don’t know where those are? Have you tried the Contact Me page up top?)