Writing your own spell

I was wondering and maybe others were too that how and why you should write your own spell

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The why is simple. Firstly a spell is made by an individual to help them with a certain situation, your situation my not be the same as theirs and so tailoring your own spell can bring about a more desired effect that borrowing someone else's. Secondly different people prefer different styles of magic and use different energies so even if the situation matches perfectly the style may not and if you doubt the style you doubt the spell, if you doubt the spell it wont work.

The how takes a little bit of practice though. It's not too difficult but I'd recommend you learn a decent amount about magic first. Sooner or later you start developing your own preferred styles and energies and that's how the whole thing begins. Once you've learnt the basics of how to cast a spell writing your own is as easy as just applying your knowledge and coming up with something. I personally like incense, candles and elemental magics so that's where most of my spells are based. If however you don't feel confident enough to write your own spells then you can always tweak someone else's whilst you're still learning to better suit you and your needs.

This thread has been moved to General Info from Introduce Yourself.

Intro:
This is how I view spell crafting. If anyone disagrees with something I say, please tell me, and explain your reasoning. If you don?t explain, how can anyone learn? And learning is the point of my writing this.

Part One: Writing
When writing your spell, you need to keep the following things in mind:
1) The phrasing of the spell.
2) The literal meaning of the words you use.
3) The figurative, or symbolic, meaning of the words you?re using.


1) The phrasing is important, as it determines accuracy. For example, you use as your spell the following sentence: ?Love will come into my life.? Right away, we have several major problems.

First, you fail to claim when love with enter into your life. As such, it could be the next day, or the next year. More importantly, you?ll have no idea if any love that comes into your life is a result of your spell, or a result of fate or coincidence.

Second, you say not what form of love you with to enter into your life. By using this spell, you could very well curse yourself with unrequited love, thus leading you to love someone with whom you?ll be. Or, this spell could cause you to meet someone new, who shares love with another. Thus, love would be brought into your life, but you would not benefit from it.


2) Next, look at the literal meaning of each word you?ve used. For example, you use the following phrase as part of your spell ??Steal from him joy, ?till at last it is that he stands at my side?? In this context, your spell would take form your target any joy he would naturally feel, and give it to you. Yet the transfer of joy would be unlawful, morally wrong (for the word ?steal? means to unjustly take) Worst yet, a literal interpretation of this spell means that once the target stands at the caster?s side, the spell (or at least part of it) is void, no longer valid.

Literal meanings of words are important, both in use and understanding. For if you understand the definition of each word, you can better insure you use the proper phrasing, and thus help avoid mistakes. In addition, by knowing the literal meaning of a word, you can better craft your spell to fit your needs.

3) Lastly, you must look at the symbolic meaning of the words you use. Dove, literally, refers to a type of bird. Yet it is a symbol for peace, and it is a sacred animal of Aphrodite (Thus, if you are a Hellenistic Pagan, a Dove would symbolize love, or a peaceful love.)

By using symbolism, you can add a more abstract power to your spells. If you can find a word that means what you need it to, and also symbolizes something that holds reference with regards to you desired goal, your spell will be more useful.

In general a long spell would hold more power, because it would have the complexity needed to both ensure accuracy, and a large basis for abstract power. However, long spells present a problem: The longer the spell, the more difficult it would be memories. If this is the case, the caster would have to read the spell while speaking it. Doing this splits concentration, making it more difficult to complete a spell. As a result, the caster may lose the needed focus, resulting in a complete, or partial, failure of a spell. It, therefore, is important to balance length, complexity, accuracy, and simplicity.

Part Two: Miscellaneous.
As you write your spells, also consider what items, if any, you plan to utilize as you cast your spell. Decide if you wish to make reference to your object within your spell (?With this candle, tall and red, I now fill with??) or do you simply use it. If the latter is your choice, you need to decide where in the spell you wish to employ your item.

I'd firstly check the sticky thread in other spells discussion, "Designing Rituals".

My tip is this. Take time to logically define your situation. Write this down on paper. Make an evening of it - this step is very mundane, i know, no witchy, incense smoke, magic secrets here, but leave it out at your own risk. You will use the answers to help solidify your magical intent. It's also helpful to research the magical correspondences specific to your unique situation. Fortunately the internet makes this easy. Google "magical correspondences" or something like "(money, success, protection,love, etc) spell correspondences." Alternatively, you may come across a spell kit you ressonate with. Researching correspondences is important because we are doing natural magic here, thus we need all the help from our magical world as we can get.

As for an additional information about the thread. Common correspondences include: Auspicious times (for our above situation of return of a lover: morning, Fridays, Venus, Taurus); Symbols (heart, initials, doves, flowers, peace signs); Colors (pink, light blue); Herbs and Natural Items (Balm of Gilead, Violet, Rose, Lodestones); God/desses, Saints, if you so choose (Aphrodite, Hera, The Magdeline, The Holy Family, etc.); Prayers, check out Beliefnet (Peace Prayer of Saint Francis, A Love Song, by Saint Teresa of Avila); Incense (Rose, Sandalwood).
Make a list. Find correspondences for: Timing of Spell, Astrological affinities, Symbols, Colors, Herbs/Plants/Roots/Flowers, Minerals, God/desses, Saints, Prayers/Chants/Scripture, Incense.

I say simply decide what you want to include and what not. It can be a simple energy directing as well. Think about how you wish to design it and eventually you'll get to it.