Style of spells?

[loona wynd]

This is a personal preference discussion. Every one who practices a form of magic has a preferred style of casting spells and working magic. This thread will serve as a place to discuss different approaches to magic as well as different ways of working magic. There are many different styles of magic out there and everyone has a way that they prefer to work.

Ritual magic:Some people prefer to work full rituals with sacred space creation, deities, and offerings with the working. Here ceremonies are practiced, It is very structures. There is a high use of tools and physical work in order to make the spells work. Altar setups are an essential component to this work.

Elemental magic: Other people prefer to do more simple symbolic energetic workings through the elements or other things. These spells can be worked with the elements. Fire spells can be candle spells, incense, burning petitions and much more. Water spells could be potions and oils, baths, and spells involving bodies of water. these spells are simple and involve use of the actual elements in symbolic fashion to acomplish the goals and desires.

Kitchen magic/Witchcraft: Kitchen witchcraft as a magical practice is one where the caster and practice believes that through internal change (the foods we eat) our spells and goals can manifest. The energy is raised and directed within to cause a change without.

Summoning magic: Some people prefer to contact spirits and have spirits and thought forms (spirits created by the user to do a specific work) do their spell work. Here the spells can take place entierly on and in the spirit realsm and worlds. They can also be elaborate spells from tomes like the Goetia where specific spirits are called for specific works.

Quabblah: This is a form of magic and mysticism tied to Jewish lore and practices. There is a tree of life and various paths ways that can be worked for specific goals and for spiritual work.

These are just a few sample styles and systems of working magic. There are several more. What is your personal preference and why?

If you use a combination of styles feel free to explain and expand on why you use the different systems. Do you use them seperatly or combined? How do you know or decide what style of working to use for each situation?

After a few people post I will post my own insight and workings in the discussion.

[random417]

Alright, I guess I'll go first. Being inspired quite heavily by the Golden Dawn, I use quite a bit of ritual in anything I do. For me, the Quabblah is an important spiritual road map so to speak. The symbolism there doesn't always make it in ritual, but it's always in the back of my mind. "Summoning magic" or evocation is something I'd love to do more than I do, but it can be dangerous, so I don't do much. I also inject quite a bit of invocation work of various kinds, channeling godforms within myself, and while it is quite separate from my other practices, I'm quite the kitchen mage, and also alchemist.

Hopefully that is clear

[loona wynd]

Alright, I guess I'll go first. Being inspired quite heavily by the Golden Dawn, I use quite a bit of ritual in anything I do. For me, the Quabblah is an important spiritual road map so to speak. The symbolism there doesn't always make it in ritual, but it's always in the back of my mind. "Summoning magic" or evocation is something I'd love to do more than I do, but it can be dangerous, so I don't do much. I also inject quite a bit of invocation work of various kinds, channeling godforms within myself, and while it is quite separate from my other practices, I'm quite the kitchen mage, and also alchemist.

Hopefully that is clear

It seems like you've done a lot of different things over the years. This is cool. I mean I could have added herb spells, candle spells, Hoodoo, Sigils, Poppets, and a lot more types of spells and ways of working magic. I just thought the list I started with was a good list of different ways of working magic.

So you do alchemy? Do you follow the wet path or the hot path?

[random417]

At home, I work a kind of hybrid kithen magic/ alchemy that follows the dry path pretty closely, although at lower heat of course. My Order has a full lab, which I do a bit of both in, although lab time is hard to find

[loona wynd]

At home, I work a kind of hybrid kithen magic/ alchemy that follows the dry path pretty closely, although at lower heat of course.

How do you feel the combination of kitchen magic and alchemy works?

My Order has a full lab, which I do a bit of both in, although lab time is hard to find

Interesting. If you had the equipment at home would you do more of both?

Would you be willing to go into how you work alchemy and what it means to you as a spiritual and magical practice?

[Echo_of_shadows]

I use a mix of ritual magick, elemental magic, sympathetic magick and a dash of kitchen magick. I'm rather eclectic. I like using tools and having an altar set up. Usually, for sabbats I've have all the usual altar tools, but when I'm doing specific spells, I'll just have things on my altar that correspond with my goal.
I work with what feels right for each situation. I often don't know what tools I'm going to work with until I open my box and start taking things out. I was pleasantly surprised that my mind was so adamant about wanting to use candles and stones on my altar for Imbolc. My magick is like my cooking, I use things that feel right.
I follow a bit of a ritual format. I do pretty much the same thing as far as set up goes, but as for any words, they're all spoken directly from my heart. The Lord, Lady and the guardian spirits get some empty pauses and "Ums..." from me during ritual, but they get my real thoughts and feelings, not something that's mono-toned and emotionless.

[YanaKhan]

I am an eclectic witch and like working with deities from different cultures and religions. I also enjoy candle magick and sometimes kitchen magick. I use herbs and oils and set up altars. Just like Echo I use what feels right for the moment and ask the deities for their help. Most of all I feel connected to Greek and Indian gods and goddesses and usually work with them, but I have also been helped by spirits.
I also like working with runes. I sometimes make talismans.
I also like working with sigils - it's an easy way to express desire. I carve them on my candles or burn them. For the sigils I usually use a different alphabet like Glagolitsa or Pope Honoruis' alphabet. It charges them better.
I just like keeping it simple.

[Isis3Anubis]

Trance work and gem magic. Ritual is good for honoring deities.

[Akairyuu]

Being eclectic, I work with a whole bunch of different forms magick.
Here's a list of things that I like to do.

• I often cast circles and call the elements in my rituals as in Witchcraft and Wiccan practices
• I often work with rune magick, and often make spells and planetary talismans with them.
• Crystals are a huge part of my magickal practices. I heal with them, make talismans with them and I just generally love collecting them
• I sometimes work with herbs in potions and talismans
• I have also worked with Sigils which have worked.
• I am beginning to work with ceremonial magick, where I have learned to do the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram.
• I would also like to learn about Alchemy but I do not have the time, privacy, money or space to practice it; I am reading about it however and I find it very interesting being a biology student in real life
• I also practice a little Reiki
• And last but not least, I also work with the middle eastern chakra system

[-Dark-Moon-]

I work from a Chaos magic perspective which probably translates to eclectic practice. I'm a solitary natural witch. My practices are based on my own needs. I am concerned with techniques that work. I borrow from many traditions. There are no covens anywhere near where I live so I have no choice. The birds and the trees make wonderful teachers, anyway, as do the spirits, so my situation is workable.

Blessings.

[loona wynd]

I use a mix of ritual magick, elemental magic, sympathetic magick and a dash of kitchen magick. I'm rather eclectic.

My question now is how do you know what to do for each spell?

I like using tools and having an altar set up. Usually, for sabbats I've have all the usual altar tools, but when I'm doing specific spells, I'll just have things on my altar that correspond with my goal.

How do you feel about doing spell work as part of sabbat rituals? There are mixed opinions on this. I've personally seen some rituals that work with spells involved so long as they are tied into the direct theme of the sabbat (new opportunities on Imbolc, Growth on Ostara, love/relationship Beltaine etc) as then it becomes also a way of celebrating and actively working with the sabbat energies.

I work with what feels right for each situation. I often don't know what tools I'm going to work with until I open my box and start taking things out. I was pleasantly surprised that my mind was so adamant about wanting to use candles and stones on my altar for Imbolc. My magick is like my cooking, I use things that feel right.

I've done this once when I was making an incense to burn during a reiki ceremony for my fiance. I just went through my herb stash and grabbed the ones that called out to me for this work. I only wrote down what I used after the incense was crafted and made. I don't remember the actual measurements but again I just let my mind work and my instincts go. This was and remains a very powerful healing incense. It became the first item I crafted and sold in my etsy shop.

So do you decide how you are going to work with the items once they are all out or do you only know what you are doing when its going on?

I follow a bit of a ritual format. I do pretty much the same thing as far as set up goes, but as for any words, they're all spoken directly from my heart. The Lord, Lady and the guardian spirits get some empty pauses and "Ums..." from me during ritual, but they get my real thoughts and feelings, not something that's mono-toned and emotionless.

I can respect that. I personally like to write my spells ahead of time or at least in that moment. This way I have something to record in my spell book. For me this allows me to look at what I have on hand and then make the decision as to what sort of working I am going to do. A lot of the time it involves paper and some ribbon of some sort. Sometimes its candle work and sometimes its gem work. I just like to look at what I have and work with it.

If I am doing a magical prayer where I'm basically burning an incense for that purpose and then lighting a candle and speaking to Gods and spirits I go from the heart. For me prayers can be magical and spell like but they are not necessarily spells. I do think that the two can be combined effectively for work though. That doesn't mean that seperatly they are the same thing.

Sabbat rituals are often a mixture. I've found when I write out a full sabbat ritual it becomes long and elaborate. There is a lot of power in those rituals though as the process of writing the ritual is part of the ritual prep and thus part of the ritual. Sometimes I will perform the entire ritual in my mind or in my astral temple. I through my body's tightening of focus release and raise energy that way. Sometimes I also just do a toast to the Gods over a blessed drink. It really depends on how much energy I feel like putting into honoring the Gods on the sabbats. To me so long as they are honored in some fashion I figure that it works. It also depends on which Gods I am honoring on each sabbat.

[loona wynd]

I am an eclectic witch and like working with deities from different cultures and religions.

That's the great thing about being an eclectic. We don't have to limit ourselves to a specific culture or tradition if we dont want to. That also doesn't mean that we might not have one culture we draw from more than others. Do you have a favorite culture you've explored? Have you ever looked into the magical traditions of those cultures and tried to include those in your work?

I also enjoy candle magick

What about candle magic do you like? Do you work with colors and oils? Do you have a specific style/type of candle you like to work with? Do you ever work with scented candles?

I actually have not worked much candle magic. I have two reiki candles that I have inscribed for healing that I use in my reiki rituals but that is about it. I have a collection of small candles that I think would work excellent for candle magic. I just need to look at them and work with them a bit more.

I'm also thinking about working with and creating herbal candles where the dried herbs are in the candle working both herbal magic and candle magic in the spell. This is something that I need to look at getting the proper supplies for though. It seems like it would be an effective way to work multiple correspondences into a single spell with one tool.

and sometimes kitchen magick.

How do you work kitchen magic?

I'm looking at studying more about the herbs and spices my fiance and I use frequently in our cooking. Garlic is a big one, onion is as well. Oregano, Basil and Thyme work frequently as well. Black pepper is another one we use a lot of. I know there have to be quite a bit of magical options from those herbs right there. Now if I can just learn those properties I can work come effective magic and cook us a nice dinner at the same time.

I've done one really effective kitchen magic spell. I was baking bread for use in a welcome home party/Lugdhasah ritual. My fiance was ending his work contract and would be out of work for a while. So I charged the bread for succsess, prosperity, and employment. It worked. He was only out of work for a few weeks before he landed a new jobs (now his former job).

I use herbs and oils and set up altars.

Do you make your own oils?

Just like Echo I use what feels right for the moment and ask the deities for their help. Most of all I feel connected to Greek and Indian gods and goddesses and usually work with them, but I have also been helped by spirits.

Have you ever worked spells and magic without the assistance of deities?

I also like working with runes. I sometimes make talismans.

Have you worked with Odin then? Odin is the one who gave mankind the runes. Even if you don't worship him constantly its important in runic lore to at least give him a nod for his sacrifice in learning the runes. Its also a part of the culture they come from.

I used the runes once in spellwork with out proper study and sacrifice and it worked but it caused many problems. That was Odin's way of saying don't mess with these unless you want to study diligently. I had a basic reference guide that I worked with that gave you the bare magical concepts to work with. It worked but too effectively and with a downside in my mental health.

I also like working with sigils - it's an easy way to express desire. I carve them on my candles or burn them. For the sigils I usually use a different alphabet like Glagolitsa or Pope Honoruis' alphabet. It charges them better.
I just like keeping it simple.

Interesting. My sigil work is composed of using planetary symbols. I work with the magical associations of the 9 planets the moon and the sun. I combine them together for working a specific purpose. I occasionally burn them on paper. I once drew it in the space over the oven as bread baked for an effective spell as well
.
I've never been able to use the letter style where you remove each repeated letter from your desire and are left with the letters to work together in a sigil. I always end up finding more letters I missed when I look over the work. That's when I decided to try and work with something I did know in sigil fashion.

Sorry for the questions I just want to see how you and others in this thread create and cast your own spells. It helps me understand each of you a bit better the more I learn and discuss with you types of spells, workings, beliefs, etc. In some ways it also helps me understand my own practices as I have to look at what I do when I look at peoples answers. So I understand you better and myself better at the same time.

[loona wynd]

Trance work and gem magic.

You consider trance work to be magic? How do you work with gems?

Ritual is good for honoring deities.

I agree. I also think that it can be a good way to raise power effectively too though. That's why I said this is a thread about personal preferences. Everyone has their own way of working spells effectively.

[loona wynd]

Being eclectic, I work with a whole bunch of different forms magick.

Magic comes in many different styles and forms. That's one of the reasons I started this thread. I wanted to see how we all practiced differently. I wanted to have a place where we could discuss the way and styles of working magic.

[*]I often cast circles and call the elements in my rituals as in Witchcraft and Wiccan practices

Do you have a steady and stable circle casting ritual you use or do you different castings in each ritual?

[*]I often work with rune magick, and often make spells and planetary talismans with them.

That's an interesting combination. How did you come to those combinations?

[*]Crystals are a huge part of my magickal practices. I heal with them, make talismans with them and I just generally love collecting them

I use them in my reiki work. I actually believe reiki is a specific type of magical energy which is used in a specific style of healing. I've started to use them in some of my magical work as well. I for example put a few related crystals on the lid of the jar containing my tinctures to add to the charging of the tincture.

[*]I sometimes work with herbs in potions and talismans

How do you define a potion? I define potions as any liquid spell that can be applied to the skin or injested (drank).

[*]I have also worked with Sigils which have worked.

How do you work with sigils?

[*]I am beginning to work with ceremonial magick, where I have learned to do the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram.

We'll probably be having a thread about that soon. I've been trained in the LBRP as well. How do you feel when you work it?

[*]I would also like to learn about Alchemy but I do not have the time, privacy, money or space to practice it; I am reading about it however and I find it very interesting being a biology student in real life

Alchemy as I understand it basically takes two paths. There is the wet path and the hot path. One path is more about crafting things and the other path is the distillation of oils and the like for use. Its an interesting practice for spiritual development and attunement.

[*]I also practice a little Reiki

I'm attuned to the first degree. I want to get higher though. Reiki is wonderful. For me it seemed to enhance my own natural abilities as well. I have always had a natural hands on healing ability. Reiki just allowed me to really focus and develop it. Plus I enjoy the flow of the energy. I was incredibly sick the day I had my atunment but was fine the day before and after. My instructor said that it happens from time to time and is a part of the body preparing to receive the energy.

[*]And last but not least, I also work with the middle eastern chakra system[/list]

I work with the chakras basically only in my work with Reiki. I was trained that the placement of my hands on the body in a reiki treatment correspond to the chakra energy work. I also use crystals attuned to specific chakras in my reiki/chakra work. How do you work with chakras?

[Akairyuu]

[*]I often cast circles and call the elements in my rituals as in Witchcraft and Wiccan practices

Do you have a steady and stable circle casting ritual you use or do you different castings in each ritual?

I have a general, stable circle casting ritual that I use for most of my rituals. I add bits on if I am doing an important one for a particular time like the full moon.

[*]I often work with rune magick, and often make spells and planetary talismans with them.

That's an interesting combination. How did you come to those combinations?

Well for the talismans, what I do is I first start by working with a planet of interest for a particular area (i.e. Jupiter for career prospects) and on one side of the talisman, I draw the astrological, character and intelligence signs of the planet along with the table. On the other side, I draw runes to state what I want from the talisman; I do this by gladoring the runes in a particular order, as though I'm making a sentence with them. I then combine the energies of the talisman during consecration. I will give an example of a talisman that I made later on in the witch crafts section with full ritual and reasoning.

For spell work, I've really only done one in an example I gave in a topic called "Sowilo Sun Spell". Basically what I do in this spell, is galdor the Sowilo rune into an imaginary ball of energy, let the galdored ball of energy float up into the sky and state it's purpose. I have done this once before and it did work.

[*]I sometimes work with herbs in potions and talismans

How do you define a potion? I define potions as any liquid spell that can be applied to the skin or injested (drank).

Well, that is generally what I see potions in general as too. My potions generally consist of herbal infusions as I don't have the time, money or privacy to try other methods (My favourite being Mint and Basil). I bet you could even turn a plain bottle of water into a magickal potion with some energy and intent if you really wanted to.

[*]I have also worked with Sigils which have worked.

How do you work with sigils?

I generally write a statement of what I desire and turn it into an affirmation. I then do the whole removing the vowels, removing the repeated letters before morphing the remaining letters into an unrecognisable shape and casting them.

[*]I am beginning to work with ceremonial magick, where I have learned to do the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram.

We'll probably be having a thread about that soon. I've been trained in the LBRP as well. How do you feel when you work it?

I have to admit, I feel good when doing it I have been doing it almost a month now and have noticed some good results such as having a generally peaceful and protected state of mind, and better visualisation skills. I have felt really good in the middle of doing them where I feel like I'm in this void of space while bringing down the light while doing the Qabbalistic Cross, the energy when doing the pentagrams, the feeling of the angels around me... just really good

[*]And last but not least, I also work with the middle eastern chakra system[/list]

I work with the chakras basically only in my work with Reiki. I was trained that the placement of my hands on the body in a reiki treatment correspond to the chakra energy work. I also use crystals attuned to specific chakras in my reiki/chakra work. How do you work with chakras?

It really depends on what I want to do at the time. I work usually with chakras by first grounding and then bring up energy through each chakra by doing Mudras, Mantras and visualisation, and other times I use Reiki. Sometimes I do a chakra layout with my crystals so that I'm practically covered in them lol and sometimes I use binaural beats; I even made my own set of frequencies for myself.