Magick Not Working? Think Bigger

Note: I prefer the spelling "magick" to discuss the spiritual and occult practice in order to distinguish it from "magic," the art of illusion.

Magick is the art of creating change in accord with our will, even if the change seems impossible. Strike that. Especially if the change seems impossible.

As a courtesy to spirit, we turn to the occult after we’ve exhausted the usual ways of getting things done. As the adage goes, the gods help those who help themselves. No magick spell ever cleaned the dirty laundry.

Magick is a partnership with spirit. And spirit has no genuine interest in helping you where you should be perfectly able to help yourself. Where’s the fun in that?

At the risk of stating the obvious, magick wants to be magickal. It wants to spark awe. As a result, we’ll often find it easier to manifest the impossible than the reasonable.

An example from my journals

Around 1990, I received a newsletter from the World Wildlife Fund that included an unattributed article with the title, “Rare Eagle Rediscovered in Madagascar.” The unknown author stated that the Madagascar Serpent-Eagle, believed extinct by 1930, had recently been spotted by some students in a northeastern reserve:

“One of the six rarest birds in the world… the Madagascar serpent-eagle can resemble another bird, the Henst’s goshawk. However…”

There was no “however” as far as I was concerned. Never mind the students might be wrong, and the maybe-extinct eagle might not even exist. Never mind, I lived on the other side of the globe in Louisiana.

Beyond that, my anxiety was so severe I often made excuses to get other people to drive my car over bridges. Flying places, much less flying across an ocean, was not a thing. The cherry on top was the mountain of money I owed on all my maxed-out credit cards.

I clipped the article. “I will see this bird.”

I claimed the trip for my future self, then released the whole idea. Such an expedition couldn’t happen. Not for me. Easy to put aside the clipping and forget all about it.

Then, one day in November 2007, I found myself perched on a mossy log, head thrown back to gaze into the tall trees of a green forest. From below, the nest looked like nothing more than any other clump of bromeliads. And then, suddenly, an enormous bird swooped low to see what odd strangers visited.

She circled low and slow, golden eyes turned to meet mine. Madagascar Serpent-Eagle.

The impossible had become a reality.

After I returned home, I found the old clipping on my bulletin board. To this day, I keep it there, tacked in place with an old-fashioned brass tack. A reminder we can manifest almost anything if we only let the magic work things out as it will.

Letting go of limits

So often we try to control our magick. Indeed, beginners are often told to practice manifesting small things, rather than big things. That’s upside-down, though, isn’t it?

Small magick often fails. You’re haggling with the universe in advance. I’m not asking that much, am I? You can give me this one little thing.

Haggling energy is anti-magickal. Spirit isn’t interested in being reasonable or cutting deals. Spirit wants to create awe — a sense of wonder.

Oh, I realize why people tell you to start small. After all, big magickal asks fail too — and, often, for the same reason, small ones do. That haggling energy.

Please. I’m desperate. I need this one thing this one time.

Whatever you think of him, Aleister Crowley spoke the truth when he said magick happens when we work “without lust for results.” Easier said than done, of course.

When I think about the things I truly desire, I can’t help but experience a certain amount of lust for a certain outcome. Who the heck doesn’t?

Releasing that lust is often the missing step in our magick. There’s a reason so many traditional spells include a step that involves destroying or hiding magical objects. You can’t keep digging up a seed and expecting it to grow.

My spells work best when I make some small gesture to signal my trust in spirit. I release any control over how the magick plays out. See, the whole point is I don’t know how my intention can possibly manifest. That’s why I’m doing magick in the first place.

Spirit doesn’t need us breathing down its neck saying what to do and when to do it. Spirit needs us to clear out of the way to let the magick happen.

In the case of well-done magick, you completely forget you ever worked the spell until it comes true. And then you stand amazed.

Easy ways to signal your trust in spirit

Let’s look at examples of how this works in practice.

One of my favorite money spells came from Scott Cunningham, author of Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Crystal, Gem, and Metal Magic. By the way, this classic book is absolutely crammed with crystal folklore concerning the most familiar stones. I highly recommend it to all.

This spell is super simple. Manifest money by casting away an emerald. It’s practical too. Cheap Brazilian emerald crystals can be literally a dime a dozen for tiny, occluded stones. You can sometimes buy an entire pound of pea-sized specimens for a few dollars.

I walk alone in a forested area to perform this spell. In a quiet, weedy area, I throw the stone away. Forget about it. It’s gone. The spell is done.

The symbolic nature of someone being rich enough to cast away emeralds isn’t lost on the universe.

Another type of spell involves writing out your magical intention or creating sigils on a piece of paper. Those spells invariably end with the burning of the paper. Your intention is released from the physical to the metaphysical.

You can also bury magickal items or parchment in the soil, in medicine bags, or some other dark place. There’s nothing wrong with getting creative. Whatever works for you will work. No magick book on the planet ever suggested you put a talisman on your bulletin board and then bury it under a thousand other pieces of paper.

But, what the heck. It worked for me.

Give spirit a chance to surprise you

When we craft magick spells, we often spend so much time focusing on our will — our magickal intent — that we forget about the step where we have to let go.

The universe never works magick while you’re looking. Stop looking. Allow yourself to be awed and amazed.

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