Taliesin now has a blog! Check out "Taliesin's Book of shadows" by clicking on the logo below... Taliesin is pleased to announce the formation of the Paranormal Network, a new social-networking site dedicated to connecting those interested in paranormal and psychic topics. To find out more or sign up, click the logo below: ******************************************** A note from Taliesin... Hello there... I'm currently at home, resting and doing the final preparations for the launch of my second publication. It's going to be a booklet based on my article "How to Find A Healthy Coven", and I'm finishing up the cover art and proofreading the final text layout. I hope to have it available in the next week or so. Those in the Akron area should come out to Any Witch Way on Saturday, August the 8th, and join me for a discussion on the basics of Wiccan ritual. There will be a drum circle following the discussion, so bring something to beat on as well. Be sure to check out the current featured article on spellcrafting below. Until next time, Blessed Be, Taliesin

While many might think that this is the simplest part of the spell...after all, it is the reason you're doing the working in the first place...it is also the part with the most room for errors. An intent that is too broad produces insufficient results, while one that is too restrictive can cut off avenues for the magick to work. Finding the right balance is important.

Be Specific!

The biggest problem that I see with many published spells is a lack of specificity in their wording. For example, if you want help in paying your bills, you might think that doing a spell to "get all of my bills paid" would be sufficient. However, this ignores the fact that magick tends to take the path of least resistance, and wording a spell as such might just lead to getting manditory overtime at work...sure, you get more money to pay your bills, but you have to work your behind off to get it! If you're OK with this, fine, but I try to make my magick work for me, not create work for me. Never mind the fact that such a broadly-worded spell might make old bills...ones you've forgotten about...re-surface and add to the list of demands on your resources.

If you want to do a spell to gain enough money to pay all of your bills without having to do more work than you're doing right now, then say so! Don't worry that your stated intent doesn't sound "cool"...there's a time an place for poetry, and it isn't here. The stated intent of a spell is a precice, technical set of instructions for the universe to delivier upon...as Issac Bonewits once said, "warm, fuzzy magick produces warm, fuzzy results!"

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First, allow me to tell you one thing that magick is not...it's not prayer. Aiming for simplicity, some Pagans have tried to pass off magick to non-Pagans as being "like prayer", but really it's quite different. Granted, some magickal traditions (such as those stemming from Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and other faiths) use prayer as an integral part of their magickal system, it's not required. Prayer, even for Pagans, is very different, and I'll get to that in a moment.

With that out of the way, let's give a definition of what magick is.

Magickal History

The best definition, and the most accurately discriptive, would be the one given by famed occultist Aleister Crowley: "Magick is the art and science of causing change to occur in conformity with the will". No matter what context one practices magick in, this definition fits.

And what does this mean? Magick...an art and science? This will probably send some of the more scientifically inclined around here right out of their gourd, but for the magickal practitioner this is accurate. Magick is an art...it uses our imagination, our creativity, and our emotions. Magick is a science...we as magickal practitioners manipulate a set collection of variables in pursuit of a theorized end result. We seek to cause "change to occur in conformity with the will"...to cause a change to occur in our environment in accordance with our wishes.

It's really this last part that's the most important to magickal practice: to bring our will to reality. I saw one person on this blog discribe magickal practitioners as "will workers". This is entirely accurate. The will is the single most important piece of the magickal puzzle, and one that, if missing, will render the entire exercise useless.

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