Practical Witchery! by John Stormm (ebooks children's books free TXT) 📕

The charm of fascination is an old spell with many variants. It draws the attention of the mark, and holds it. What's to be accomplished with this fascinated individual in this state, will be the determining factors as to how deeply or lightly we will have to apply our spellwork. The candle light dinner will keep our "intended's" attention within the confines of its warm, dim light. The sparkle of the firelight in our eyes will keep their attention in a manner so bewitching, that will create the desires in them that we wish to experience. It can be overdone as well. Too much can be as bad as too little. When working spells, we need to find the appropriate balance or "limitations" for our project.

A simple and easy example of the charm of fascination is as follows: Richard was having a terrible time meeting girls in school. He wasn't as "cool" as some, nor as athletic as others, nor did he have the characteristic dimples the latest boy fad had. But he wasn't a bad guy at all, if the girls could only "see" him.

Therein the problem lies -- getting the chance to be seen. I listened to him and prescribed a charm of fascination. An ancient charm with modern applications. I took to crafting him an unusual and mysterious looking amulet on a short chain, as to be a choker (not too tight). I had informed him that I would require his help in the crafting of this artifact by the next full moon. Purposely, I muttered my thoughts in Latin and some Gaelic as we crafted.

He was to wear it constantly, and when asked, he could only reply that it was a secret, or the magick would falter. Before the next school week was out, Richard had many conversations with young ladies. By the next full moon, he was dating regularly.

The major influences of this charm were as follows: his belief in the effectiveness of the magicks involved bolstered his self-confidence to a point where he actually followed through in a conversation past the initial "hello." My Latin and Gaelic mutterings were little more than me voicing my intentions out loud. This reinforced his belief that magick was being worked. It was. The charm was something rarely seen or understood by the general populace and worn in plain view. It caught the eye as a "fascination" should. When asked; it was a secret.

At this point, I have a more confident Richard, ready to socialize. I created a conversation piece to draw the eye, and a mystery to hold the attention. When someone asked him about his curious neck charm, they got a mysterious answer and, naturally want to know more. In the process, they got to know Richard, giving him a chance at romance.

The point? There are many types of influences that can be applied to any specific problem. Would a wise person use a bazooka to get rid of a pesky mosquito? It's possible, but not "wise." Likewise, when the television set starts acting poorly, one might grab their magic screwdriver and start poking around in the back of the set. But if they're not knowledgeable about the forces they are dealing with, namely volts, amps and ohms, they will end up creating a bigger problem. The same rules hold true in spellcraft. We should consider our problems in light of the influences we know well, that we can bring to bear, to achieve our goals. As our world expands with our understanding, we'll have a larger selection of forces to work with in our craft. As the saying goes: "Knowledge is power".

The Benefits of Structured Spellcraft

Given all I've said about Spellcraft so far, one could begin to understand my distaste for "generic spell books." In traditional witchery, a foundation must be laid to the principles of the craft foremost and an understanding of the forces or influences involved. A "real" witch cannot reasonably expect the average person to grab a book off the shelf, open to a page with the appropriate spell they want to cast, and start waiving knives, swords and wands around and commanding the powers-that-be into submission, to get their laundry done. If the reader has been one of the unfortunate masses, that has been duped into believing how this works and the spell failed... there is a real good reason why it failed. If the situation got much worse for the meddling, there was also a good reason why that happened as well.

First, there is no generic answer for everybody. Because each of us is unique in so many ways, that no single solution will suffice for ALL. This lad may have a short temper: don't expect him to react patiently to something that may try his patience. He may require a few adjustments, to get him to the desired goal. Remember, the purpose is to achieve a desired goal. A person with noticeable deformities, is going to have to perform a different type of fascination charm, to get noticed in a good light, than one of average or better cosmetic traits. They still can be done, but not in the same way, nor with the same influential forces.

The woman that is displeased with her husband's poor behavior, and requiring him to sleep alone on the couch is, in fact, casting a "spell" in the most generic sense. She is using rejection and loneliness, as an influence for a period of time to bring about his acceptance of a moral rule. If he's not so enamored with his wife to begin with, this separation can backfire on her, and attract him more strongly to the "other woman." When manipulating circumstances with spellcraft, it is important to consider the causes of the events to begin with, to better judge the effects and influences, that we want to bring to bear on them. If there IS indeed another woman, the better influence would be to offer a better choice of woman, because the rascal will need to choose only one. Or after a good examination of this situation, we may come to the conclusion that we'd rather the lecher chose the other one, and quit darkening our lives with his treacherous ways. Remember, no single spell for an unfaithful spouse, will do the trick. Witchery is the "craft of the wise" and will required wise methods.

My next chapter: “Spellcraft 102 - a prayer of sorts” gives the reader a bit of insight as to what was going on, what was decided about the problem and the steps I used to construct the appropriate spell to bring about a desired change. I rarely need to get “ceremonial” about my every need of the moment. The best spells often don’t require much wand waving or chanting. As my daughter would say: “The best spell for keeping warm on a cold day is a good coat.” But when things escalate to the point where I am getting hit from all sides and stress begins to weigh heavily on my shoulders, the structure of a little ceremonial magick helps me get my focus back.

If one draws Deity or merely a higher power of any sort into the realms of Spellcraft, it is called invocation. This requires that we consider a couple things. First, if this is a religious figure... what standing do we have personally with this entity? Because, they are personages too, they have agendas of their own, and we have just brought them into a personal involvement with our affairs. If I’ve been playing the field as a bad boy, then I can pretty much expect that invoking the name of Jesus, is going to put me in a place where I’m going to have to reconsider my behavior on a deeper level... which could well be the solution to my problems... or put me into a position where things will get worse, until I knuckle down and get with the program, so to speak. The same can be said of any other entities. What’s in this for them? Why should they enlist their aid to your cause? What is it in your cause that would concern them? For this, we need to consider things from the perspectives of others.

The benefit of the structure of the spell in my previous example, was that in choosing my components over a period of time, I considered my choices and meditated over all of them. Step by step, I slowed down my pace, instead of rushing headlong into a rash decision. I thought about my problems and I thought about the appropriate influences, that I wanted to bring to bear upon them. We can see by the description that many things in nature, human society, my family and myself were effected. So I appealed to forces that influenced as many of the effected points, as I could identify, and then set myself indicators that only such forces could effect, to provide me a clue that I was heard. In this I saw so much going awry in nature in my woods, and I know that nature moves in cycles, and most of these are lunar. Even in dealing with people, they respond differently in certain times of the month, than in others (no surprise there). So I chose the Blessing Moon, and my lunar birch parchment, as the medium for my petitions. I chose salt because of its properties for fighting corruption and decay and the promotion of healing. I chose silver for its lunar fae affinities, and it is a personal gauge for me of my own spiritual standing. Frankincense, to bring up a sweet savor with my prayers as I invoked the name of God. I was striving always to do good by Him. I meant no one any harm, and if there was something that I needed to know, to correct some error in my judgment that might have brought on all this woe upon myself.  I knew that I needed to be in a place where I could get that knowledge, and gentle correction.

In this instance, the time and the structure of the ceremony gave me pause to reflect on many things concerning my problems, and to be able to pick and choose through possible solutions. Sometimes we require invoking supernatural help, and at other times, a banishment to sleeping on the couch will suffice nicely. In all of this we need to consider the problems in depth and the possible solutions in the same detail. Also, it is essential to remember that “supernatural” aid, is not to be confused with “un-natural”. But I will expound on this later on.