When magick fails there’s always something you can do to get it working.
Keep doing your magick, rather than worrying.
Magick works for many people, so if you ever get a failure it could be that you were requesting too sudden or dramatic a change. It could also be that your concentration was off, or your desire was not focused. It may be down to you worrying, being impatient or lusting for result. Often, though, I have found that people are worrying too much about the details, rather than getting on with the magick. This is one of the best ways to make magick fail.
In my books I always aim to simplify everything, so you get just what you need to get results, but the downside to this is that some people want much more detail. I can understand that people may want to know exactly what it is they’re getting into, and the history of every spirit we employ, and how we came to use them along with the way we devised our methods. But most people aren’t interested, and these details would make the books long and impractical. Most people just want to do magick and that is the best approach.
I am not suggesting you should have no interest in the occult. I read endlessly on the subject, but you learn more doing an hour of magick than you do in a week of reading about the history of an obscure occultist.
Don’t worry too much about the details. Most of the emails I receive are about how to print sigils, pronounce words, when to do magick, whether rituals can be combined, whether to use astrology, whether a certain image is right, how exactly to stand or think or breathe and so on. These details barely matter compared to just having a go at a ritual.
It is far better to do magick a little bit wrong, for eleven days, than to spend eleven days perfecting a ritual and performing it once. Repetition isn’t always important, but it can certainly help. Repetition gives you the opportunity to experience the magick.
In short, don’t overthink, don’t overplan and don’t worry about results.
I am not somebody who believes that magick needs to be practiced every day. I know some occult authors who spend hours every day giving offerings and prayers. I would rather go for a walk and enjoy myself more.
I do enjoy magick, but not so much that I want to do it every day, or so that I feel continually tied to spirits and living my whole life in the service of magick. Magick is there for me to use. I am not its servant. Most of the time I use magick to shift circumstances and get what I want. When these times come, I do the magick and I do it often until I get a result.
Above all else, when you want magick to work, do magick. If it doesn’t work, do it again. if it still doesn’t work you might want to change something or try a different magickal approach. Use your intuition. Again, don’t overthink. Instinctively feel for what might help, and then experiment.
Do the magick boldly and often, for the results you really want, and you should get your magick working.
Mr. Brand,
I do hope to read the last two parts of this series before you take your well-deserved break. 🙂