My teacher has described spells as a witch's prayers. They are active, and directed with intent and personal will, but as a means to place a spell within a spiritual context that someone who doesn't know anything about Wicca can understand, it is a useful analogy. There are petition spells, wherein you ask the gods and/or goddesses to deliver something to you or to manifest something for you. There are as many types of spells as there are needs to be fulfilled, just as, I'm sure, there are many types of prayers uttered by those of Christian or other faiths. What does one do then, when prayers go unanswered? When our spells do not work?

In the text we are using in my class to learn spell craft there is a list of reasons why a spell may not work. These include an improperly worded spell, or a poor choice of time and lunar or planetary energy, and other practical issues of this nature. But there is also the issue of the spell not serving our highest good. When we cast a spell, we say to the gods/goddesses that we ask that it be for our highest good, harming none. This includes ourselves. But when we have been working magick toward a particular goal, in many forms for many months, with strongly directed will and carefully chosen words and a deeply heartfelt desire to make our will manifest, and yet our spells still do not work, what are we to accept as the reason?

This is something that I am experiencing at the moment. My magick has been for something deeply personal that is very important to me. Since the full moon before Ostara I have been pouring all of my energy into one particular goal. I have meditated on it, I have worked different sorts of spells, I have made offerings to gods and goddesses, I have practiced wishcraft and visualization. My teacher tells us that intent is more important than perfection of a spell. My intent has been focused and full of conviction. Even so, I have been conscientious about how I have worked my magick. And yet, I have failed. For me this represents the first intense crisis of faith since I have begun this spiritual path.

Am I a bad witch? Is it that what I'm trying to manifest is not for my highest good? And is that just something we tell ourselves so that when our spells don't work there is an explanation other than that magick simply doesn't work? Among all of the questions I am struggling to answer for myself tonight, these are weighing heavily on my mind.

What do we do in a crisis of faith?

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 10:19 PM