When to Cast… and When Not to

Why Magic isn’t the cure-all for every problem in life.

When it comes to casting spells, there can sometimes be confusion as to whether or not it is the appropriate course of action. Of course, there is a spell for everything, from quitting smoking, to landing that great job that you really want–but when is it appropriate to incorporate magic into your life and when is it simply overkill? To be honest, it takes a practiced hand to figure out that magic is not always the best course of action for an everyday problem, but an important part of being a witch is knowing when it is and when it isn’t appropriate to cast a spell for something that may or may not deeply affect your life.

Magic is not the cure-all for every problem that we face in life and if it were, then a lot more of us would be living on easy street. Unfortunately, life takes a lot more effort than simply manifesting intent, lighting a few candles, sprinkling a few herbs, and praying to our chosen deities to make it happen. If it were really that easy, don’t you think there would be a lot more people on the financial level of Bill Gates?

Truth be told, we have to be aware of what we are capable of and magic is not always the answer. Honestly, even though I personally would like to incorporate magic into my life more than I already have, it is less of a part of your everyday life than you would expect, as a witch. There are of course the little daily things you can do, trace a sigil into your coffee to make sure you have a pleasant or positive day; lay on a galdrastafur that stands for a night of restful sleep, so that you may wake up feeling refreshed and ready for what is to come–but we cannot foresee the major things that might affect us in our daily trials. We can hope that our efforts sway the results, but in the long run, we have to exacerbate our mundane routes in order to be effective in our every day lives as human beings before we can hope to be successful as witches.

Not only is it impractical to assume that every problem can be fixed by magic, but it is also quite impossible. Magic takes energy to perform and there is only so much energy one person has on a given day, not to mention spells take time and patience to work. They don’t give you the instant return that the movie industry has allowed you to come to expect. In the times of our ancestors, witches were not constantly self-serving, wanting to be thinner, wanting their crush to fall in love with them, or hexing someone who looked at them funny. Witches in the older Norse traditions typically were travelers that visited village after village, healing, speaking prophecy, and assisting in rituals of fertility and bountiful harvest. They sacrificed a normal life for the practice of their magic, knowing they would never be able to settle down or have a family–a traditional völva, as opposed to the modern-day version I am, would never have been able to have the life that most of us can boast.

So, when it comes to having magical workings be a part of your life, instead of immediately wondering, “Is there a spell for this?” first consider, “How can I take care of this in a non-magical way?” When you can honestly say you have exhausted all non-magical methods of fixing a problem, then you can supplement your efforts with a little magical assistance.