Writing Your Own Spells

[Rustig]

ABSTRACT

This will be a one-shot class, unless I get a lot of interest in the idea I've got going -- basically, it's to teach you practical magick that can be carried across to any system whatsoever. The aim of this lesson is to teach you how to write up your own spells and rituals using a simple set of ideas. Bear in mind this lesson is my own work, and, while I don't think it needs to be said, it doesn't reflect the beliefs of anyone I affiliate myself with. Believe it if you like, I've found it to be pretty useful, if you don't like it, say so. Always looking for improvements. :B

LESSON PLAN

1) Writing Your Own Ritual
I: The Statement Of Intent
II: Concepts
III: The Five Key Components
IV: Steps
2) Closing

WRITING YOUR OWN RITUAL

So you've read all the spellbooks, grimoires and internet archives filled with nifty rituals like Drawing Down the Moon, the Invocation of Baphomet, the Give Him AIDS Curse and what have you, and you want to know how to write your own spells. Well, I've worked out a pretty comprehensive framework that can help you flesh out pretty much whatever you need, with some practise (which you'll be getting later. :B) Grab a sheet of paper and a pen, cause you might be doin' a lot of scribbling.

I: THE STATEMENT OF INTENT
This is what you want to happen, the outcome you want to acheive, the thing you wish for, and so on. Think long and hard about it, then write it down on a bit of paper. For some psychologically-related reason, it seems it's better to begin it "I will" rather than "I want"; for example, "I will get a new car" rather than "I want to get a new car". As well as that, /don't/ write out your intent with negatives, for example, use "I will be healed" rather than "I will not be sick anymore". The reason for this is apparently the conscious mind has trouble not imagining things its been told not to imagine. Don't think of a glass of purple water, for example. Once you have it down, nice and perfect, that's you committed to what it is you want this spell to do.

II: CONCEPTS
Look at your statement of intent; there'll be different areas that your intent could fall under; for example, a spell to heal someone would come under the concept of Healing; a ritual to make time seem to pass faster could fall under Time and Illusion; a hex to make someone feel paranoid could come under Fear, Paranoia, Madness, Darkness, or any range of things. Consider what concepts you think arise from your Statement of Intent -- if you're having trouble trying to understand these concepts, think of them as anything that there could be a god of. There're gods of Knowledge, Water, Travel, Love, Wisdom, Sex, Divination and Prophecy, for example.

III: THE FIVE KEY COMPONENTS
To me, a spell is a symbolic act that manifests a desire. As such, you have to make everything you do in your spell symbolise what it is you want to happen -- I've divvied all the possible things you could think about into five areas; Physical, mental, verbal, somatic, and symbolic. Each of these things (to me, anyway) should be represented in a spell to give it the oomph! that's needed. I've assigned each of these (rather unoriginally) to the elements, to give you an idea of what you're going for -- bear in mind everything you do in each of these areas should be symbolically tied to your intent in some way.

[Earth] Physical
Physical is about space, area, tools, and so on. Things to think about here would be:
Placement: Is there somehere you can go to make your spell a wee bit more effective? For example, it'd be easier to summon a bunch of dryads in a natural place such as a forest, rather than in, say, a factory.
Sound: Would it be appropriate to use music during the ritual? Maybe ambient background music would help, or Buddhist chanting?
Lighting: What kind of lighting will you use? Candlelight? Moonlight? Natural-light only, or maybe tinted lightbulbs?
Circles: Is a circle necessary or desirable? Generally speaking, you won't need a circle unless you're calling s**t up, but it's good to play it safe.
Equipment/Tools: What equipment will you need? If you're using a circle, probably the ol' Pentacle-Athame-Wand-and-Chalice shtick. What objects could work as a focus in your spell? For example, a "get a new car" spell could utilise a toy car as a focus. Maybe you could even use some sensory cues, like incense.
Clothing: Is ritual clothing needed? If not, could you colour-coordinate your clothing to tie in with the spell, for example, wearing white for a healing spell?

[Air] Mental
Mental's all about your mind - this includes astral sight and psionics.
Visualisation: Picturing your success in a spell is usually a vital ingredient; even imagining or meditating on something related to your spell will work. For example, in the "get a new car" example, you could visualise the exact kind of car you want.
Astral/Psi Sight: Will you need it? Are you going to be prancing about on the astral plane? Will you be making some sort of psi-object that you need keen psychic vision for?

[Water] Verbal
While not all spells require an incantation, they're always fun to have. Perhaps write up some sort of rhyming chant that will help you focus on the thing you're wanting.
Intonation - How do you want to sound when you say your incantation? Forceful and commanding? Meek, humble, and petitioning? Sexually alluring, husky and with a come-hither growl? How you say the words is almost as important as the words you say. Bear in mind that you may be talking to higher powers, demons, gods, or whatever, so how you present yourself could be the difference between Loki putting nails in your enemies' tires, or yours.
Incantation/Chant: Mantras are especially useful in getting your focus going; as such, chanting a simple phrase or poem will help keep your intent clear. Is there a phrase, word or poem you could continually chant?

[Fire] Somatic
Actions! Almost all spells are made up of actions of some kind. While there're no subdivisions here, that's only because there's a whole range of things you could do; from tying someone's hair around an appletree branch seven times, to burying the ashes of a bit of paper, to simply snapping your fingers.. The objects you selected in the Physical section may play a part here.

[Spirit/Quintessence] Symbolic
This is probably the most important part - whip out your favourite table of correspondances for this one. Crowley's '777' may help, but I much prefer Bill Whitcomb's 'The Magician's Companion' (Buy it now! Supercheap! 8D!). Basically, build up as many symbolic ties as you can. There're a wide range of symbols, far too many for me to subdivide this section into, but you're looking at the likes of deities, days of the week, moonphases, colour, astrological correspondance, essential oils, and so on. Make sure the symbols resonate for /you/, specifically -- it won't do you any good if you're using a green candle in a healing ritual when you personally think blue is a more effective healing colour.

IV: STEPS
If it's just a quick, on-the-fly kind of spell, everything can be done at once - holding an image in your mind, intoning a two-line incantation, concentrating on the intended target and snapping your fingers or something.

With a bigger spell, work out a set of steps to take. Most rituals follow a series of steps like: cast circle (physical), invoke gods, concentrate on image (mental), perform action (somatic) while saying incantation (verbal), banish gods, close circle. The steps for Symbolic aren't there simply because everything you're doing should be symbolic of your intent.

CLOSING

Well, that's all from me. If you've any questions or feedback, I'd greatly appreciate it. =3  

[~zzang~]

I appreciate the tutorial but I'm not sure if I'm quite ready to go out that far on my own.

 

[Rustig]

~zzang~

I appreciate the tutorial but I'm not sure if I'm quite ready to go out that far on my own.

Well, you're the authority on you, so it's entirely up to you to decide if you're up to something or not. I'd say give it a whirl to see if you're ready. X3  

[Zehaden]

Does necromancy fit in there anywhere?  

[Rustig]

frostking55

Does necromancy fit in there anywhere?

Depends what you'd want to do with it. You can write a ritual for pretty much any system ever using those guidelines.  

[Elfshaman]

What symbolozism would be good for say.. putting a protective sheild on a girl that i like? I am a little new to ritual magic so i don't really know how. Please help! crying  

[Rustig]

Sengem

What symbolozism would be good for say.. putting a protective sheild on a girl that i like? I am a little new to ritual magic so i don't really know how. Please help! crying

Depends what you want to protect her from really. General purpose symbols of defense would be good - a shield, a soldier, a lock, a wall, a numberpad and door, that kind of thing.  

[Elfshaman]

is it possible to make any pain to her be converted to me getting tired?  

[Rustig]

Sengem

is it possible to make any pain to her be converted to me getting tired?

Kind of maybe. I doubt you could convert all of her pain into fatigue for you, since if she gets thrown into a woodchipper, she's going to be experiencing a lot of pain and there'll be ******** all you can do about it, even if you are willing to fall into a three year coma.
You could, however, just perform a simple healing spell on her whenever she hurts - why you'd want to remove her pain and also make yourself tired is beyond me, though -- care to explain?  

[Elfshaman]

I don't think I'm skilled to heal everything. But if her pain goes away and instead I get tired or feel said pain then she'd be okay. Is it do able? If so how?  

[Rustig]

Sengem

I don't think I'm skilled to heal everything. But if her pain goes away and instead I get tired or feel said pain then she'd be okay. Is it do able? If so how?

It's probably possible, though I can't say for sure. If you're desperate for one, I could write you up a ritual to quell some of her pain at least. Check out my store over on the MPRILC.  

[Elfshaman]

I pmed you about my ritual  

[gypsy_phoenix]

i do rite my on spells most of the time. so far they have all worked.the latest one was working but the subject is putting up a bit of a fight now, so i think we r going to have to kick it up a notch. im just riting this to let ppl no that spells work but u have to watch ur wording and make sure u dont wish any physical harm to anyone or ull pay a price for it.so keep on writing those spells, practice makes perfect.  

[Mistreena]

I could have sworn I'd posted here before.

Oh well, it's an interesting thing, and I'll definitely be back to check it out, and write my own spells later on. Thanks for posting it!  

[Diana Ishtar]

I've already cast one spell that worked but it was extremly simple and didn't involve any invocations. I'm afraid to cast any spells involving invocations, I don't want to offend any spirit or divinity. Should I avoid invocations until I do research on the entity? Also I'm afraid of attempting a sabbat for the same reason, should I wait until i find a wiccan to mentor me?