A Guide to Painless Spell-Writing
Some of the most common emails we get at Crowsbone are questions about how to find and modify pre-witten spells to fit a reader’s given situation. Pre-written spells and rituals can come in handy, particularly if you need a spell right away and don’t feel that you have time to prep, write, and revise one of your own. But there is something extra magical about writing your own spells.
Learning to write your own spells may seem challenging at first, but it is an important skill for most practitioners to have in their witchy repertoire. Being able to create one’s own spells gives a practitioner the power to tailor-make their workings to fit their beliefs, traditions, and preferences. It also allows one to write a spell that is specifically crafted for the situation and the supplies on hand.
A Four-Factor Method
Our pain-free spell-writing method focuses on four elements that go into a spell, breaking the writing process down into manageable steps that practitioners of any experience level can do. It doesn’t rely on any advanced or special skills. You don’t have to be an exemplary writer or poet. And the method is highly adaptable to any belief set, tradition, or type of magic.
This four-step method to writing spells is very symbol-heavy. However, you can use any symbolism you like as the spell’s base—religious, folkloric, tradition-specific, etc. It is not limited to the correspondence systems of Wiccan and neo-Wiccan practices, making it a useful tool to any kind of practitioner.
Identifying the Problem & Deciding on a Spell-Type
The first step in any spell-writing endeavor is to identify the problem you wish to solve. Of course, you probably already know what the problem is. Maybe you have an issue with your love life that you wish to heal, or your home is filled with disharmony. Narrowing down the specific issue doesn’t just help you know what you want your spell to do; it also helps you to determine the kind of spell you want to create.
You can choose what kind of spell you want to use based on a number of factors, such as tradition, preference and what supplies you have on hand. I have also always found it helpful to take my problem into consideration when doing so. This this because the type of spell we choose isn’t just the catalyst for the change we want to create; it can also serve as a powerful, symbolic version of that same change. And—especially when working sympathetic magic—acting that change out with objects can be very helpful when it comes to paving the way for the same change to take place on a larger scale in our lives.
If you have identified the problem you want solve with your spell, but you’re still stumped on how to proceed in choosing your spell-type, have no fear. Here are a few ideas. Bear in mind, this is not a complete list of spell-types. We have merely included it to help our readers get a better picture of how the four-factor writing process works and how it can be applied.
Container Spells: Container spells include all spells that are built within some kind of vessel, such as a bottle, jar, box, or bag. These spells are useful for many occasions. The vessels in these spells are excellent as symbols for the individual spirit, mind, or body, making them ideal for healing spells, workings to change a person’s mind in favor of a certain choice, or baneful magic. They are also well-suited for location-specific magic, workings which are to be kept in the locations they are designed to impact—for example, protection bottles for the home, anti-nightmare bags, or spirit traps to keep a malignant spirit from following a family to a new home.
Knot/Thread Spells: Knot and thread spells are any spell that utilizes knotting or thread as their primary active component. Tying knots can be used to tie elements together, as one might in a love, friendship, or marriage-saving spell; or they can be created to tie magic (such as blessings, bindings, or curses) into the knots. Alternatively, breaking, untying, or cutting knots and thread can be used to break down or break up situations. This can be used to break bad habits, cut ties between two people, or remove connections between yourself and others.
Bath Spells: These are magical baths, which may include the use of magical waters, oils, salts, and herbs. Bath spells and ritual baths are typically associated with spells for cleansing, healing, banishing, and beauty. However, they can also be used break down obstacles and barriers, granting the user better access to opportunity, communication, romance, and abundance.
Fire/Smoke Spells: Fire spells (in this instance) are made up of any spell that uses fire as its main vehicle for creating change in one’s spell curios. These might include candle spells, bonfire spells, and some methods of using sigils. Using fire in a spell is particularly helpful when you want to get faster results. Smoke spells may include smoke cleansings and other spells they require the burning of incense, resins and herbs as the main event (either as smoke or to smoke). These spells are especially useful in cases where you need you spell to permeate a space or carry something away (such as wishes, negative energies, or messages).
Spoken/Focus Spells: These spells are carried out entirely through words, thoughts or visualization. They do not require much in the way of supplies, but may rely on the strength of certain skills. Incantation and focus-based spells can be useful in any situation, for any type of problem.
You can choose your spell type based on the problem you want to solve or based on your preferred spell-casting method. Many practitioners practice a wide variety of spell-types, while many others prefer to focus on one or two types as their expertise.
Identifying the Desired Change & Spell Action
The next step in writing a spell with this method is actually two steps in one. First you want to identify the specific change you wish to make in the situation, and then decide how you want to represent that using the curios and spell components you’ve selected as your spell’s base. This will vary greatly depending on your preferences and your tradition, as well as on the spell-base you have chosen.
With jar, bottle, bag, and other container spells, the change one wishes to create or attract is typically represented by filling the container with various herbs, liquids, and curios that represent the spell’s target and desired impact. Bath and water spells are similar in that the spells are usually charge or infused with curios and components that represent the spell’s desired impact—such as herbs and botanicals, oils, water-safe crystals, pigments or energy from various weather phenomena and astrological events. In knot and thread spells, change can be represented in many ways. Some of these include tying knots (or items) into a thread, ribbon, or cord; cutting or untying knots and string; using knots and string to bind objects together (such as binding the limbs of a doll or poppet or binding two cards together). Spoken spells and focused based spells (which include workings performed through though alone, visualization, and energy/spirit work) are a little more straightforward; the desired spell is typically represented by the practitioner’s words, visualization, etc. Fire and smoke-centered spells are the anomalies of this list. Typically, the burning element of these types of spells are more activations than they are representations of change. In most cases, the desired change in these spells is represented by other elements, such as candle color and dressing, herbs that are burned, or symbols and words that are carved into a candle.
Keep in mind, this is not an exhaustive list of spell types. There are many types of spells which we have not included here. Again, these examples are provided merely as ideas to help you practice spell-writing.
Desired Outcome & Checking Your Work
Finally, you want to identify the desired outcome and final time and double-check your work to see that you have appropriately represented the outcome in your planned working. For example, if you decide that you want to create a Witch’s Bottle to protect your home and to repel any baneful magic back to its sender, you may decide to represent your desired impact by filling a black bottle with protective herbs, thorns, and mirror pieces. Just like you might check your work on a math problem by working backward, you can check the potential effectiveness of a spell by reviewing your desired outcome and “working backward” to verify that, yes, the components and actions you’ve included meet to criteria you need your spell to meet.
Using the example of the protective bottle, one might check to see that they have herbs that are intended to provide protection from negativity, malignant spirits, and baneful magic; sharp elements like thorns, needles, and nails to ward off unwanted intruders (physical, spiritual or magical); and the pieces of mirror to reflect unwanted magic back to its senders. If, for instance, a practitioner also wanted this bottle to attract happiness and warmth to the home, working through the process backward an accounting for the purpose of the spell components and actions would allow them to see that they had not included curios to support that element of their desire, allowing them to revise the spell appropriately.
A Painless Spell-Writing Printable
One way to practice and improve your spell-writing skills is to record the spells you write and perform in your grimoire or other record-keeping method. If you do not have a dedicated grimoire or are looking for a more structure solution to writing and recording your spells, head on over to our Printable Library and download our spell-writing worksheet. Or you can download our new and improved Painless Spell-Writing Worksheet (specifically designed to be used with this method of spell-writing) here.
Disclaimer: Each of the Crowsbone writers and guest bloggers has their own magical background, beliefs, traditions and practices. These post represent the opinions, research and beliefs of the individual writers. We do not believe that they represent beliefs and rules associated with all magical practice or witchcraft; nor do they represent the beliefs and opinions of all of the Crowsbone community.
Editor’s Note: This post was adapted and republished from a post previously featured on Johanna’s now-deleted personal blog.