Can You Even Magic? Not if You’re Lazy

I periodically (and by periodically I mean A LOT OF TIMES) get emails and Facebook messages from people who lead in with What A Powerful Witch they are, and then by the second paragraph they’re begging me for spells. This weird juxtaposition tells me a couple of things.

First, it means they’re not as Oh So Powerful as they think they are, and more importantly that they actually think Powerful is something that can be measured, when really what matters more than Powerful is Effective. I’d much rather be effective – and I am – than so-called powerful, which is all relative anyway.

The second thing it tells me is that they’re lazy. There are a floppity-million spells out there, already created by people (including me) that are just out there for the asking. I guarantee that whatever it is you think you need a spell for, someone has already written it, or something very close to it that you can tweak for your own purpose. And if they haven’t, then YOU should write one.

If you can’t Google “magic spell for [whatever]” or “how do I write a magic spell,” then you’re lazy. A caveat to that is if you’ve already researched, and done your homework, and honest to dog, there’s REALLY NOTHING OUT THERE ANYWHERE, then your message should include “Look, I’ve tried all of the following searches and I can’t find anything, what other ways can I try to locate the information I need?” Not I need u 2 give spell 2 me now.

And the third – and possibly most valuable – thing it tells me is that you may just not have what it takes to do spellwork.

Hold on… before you send me nasty messages telling me YOU CAN’T TELL ME HOW TO MAGIC, hear me out. Here’s the thing, y’all. Spellwork consists of two parts: spell + work. Yeah, we all get the spell part, that’s covered in every single one of the Wicca 101 books. But the work part… well, that’s a whole ‘nother bucket of fish.

Work. Yes. As in, you probably have to read some stuff. You have to research. You have to do homework. You have to go out and find supplies that aren’t sitting on your bookshelf. You have to exercise patience. You have to stay up late or get up early. You have to make mistakes and learn from them. You have to make sacrifices. You have to do things that are outside your normal routine. You have to get dirty, bloody, or hungry. You have to be uncomfortable.

You have to work your ass off, because if spellwork were easy, everyone would do it.

Are you willing to do all of those things? Are you willing to accept that shit isn’t just going to be handed to you on a silver platter? Because if you’re not, then I stand by my original statement, that you may not have what it takes.

But if you’re willing to put the work into spellwork, there’s nothing in the universe that you can’t do.