When researching witchcraft you will of course come across and want to cast spells. Most spells make use of tools and ingredients, and commonly include a spoken component. But magic isn’t cookery; you cannot simply throw together a bunch of herbs, light a candle, chant a rhyme and expect a spell to work. What is crucial to making magic work is your energy.
Raising energy
There are many various ways of raising the energy required for your magic. The way I raise energy is to close my eyes and engage or tense every muscle in my body that I can. As you begin, regulate your breathing - breathe in through your nose nice and deep, hold the breath, and breathe out through your mouth, and just when you’ve breathed it all out, exhale just a bit further to get all of that oxygen out of your lungs. Continue this breathing as you begin to engage your muscles. Start at your feet by clenching your toes and tensing your feet. Travel up your legs, tensing you calves, thighs, and gluteus. Abs on nice and hard now, tense your stomach as hard as you can. Continue up the torso to your pectoral muscles, then up to your shoulders and traps. Engage your triceps and biceps, your forearms, and then finally tensing your hands and fingers. Hold This. Feel it. Every muscle in your body is engaged; your body is as taut and tight as a spring. Feel the energy, the tension in your muscles. Hear the blood coursing through you, pounding in your ears. It can help to visualise a glowing blue energy spreading throughout your body as you do this. Do not be surprised or disheartened if it takes you several tries at this before you feel successful. Practice it until you can feel the power surging within you. And above all, remember to keep breathing. Other effective visual methods of raising energy that I use are summoning and balancing the four elements within yourself, or to imagine yourself being filled with energy like water filling an empty glass. Other various methods of raising energy exist and are effective, but these are the methods that work best for me.
Visualisation
Now that you’ve raised this energy, what are you to do with it? Put it to work. Direct it toward your goal, into the spell. Hands down the easiest and most effective way to do this is visualisation. Eyes open or closed, see the energy you’ve raised flow into your spell to fulfil your goals. Physically push the energy out of your body. See it and feel it expel from your hands, see it bend and flow, and push it into where you want it to go. Use your imagination for this. You will not see this with your eyes, but rather with your mind’s eye. Imagine a coloured mist or light flowing out of your hands. Know that just because the energy has left your body that that does not mean it has left your control. You control the energy, it is driven and shaped by your will, your intent, and your focus. Again, you will not be perfect at this on the first try. The level of focus and the visualisation or imagination skills that are required will take time and patience to develop. Give yourself that time and be patient with yourself.
Grounding
Sometimes even when you’ve directed energy into a spell, there will be some left in you, a residue or left-over. And if, as you should, you have raised energy without the intent of magic but rather purely for practice, you will want to dispel this energy. When you have raised energy you will likely feel elated, euphoric, tense, and light-headed; this is certainly what I experience. Grounding is a technique we use to literally send that excess energy into the earth and safely out of ourselves, similar to earthing electricity, which incidentally is a fantastic visualisation to use. Again, various methods, spells, and chants exist to ground yourself. For me, grounding is standing, barefoot on bare earth if I can but isn’t necessary, and pushing that excess energy out through my feet and down into the earth, where it is dissipated and nullified. Push the energy out of yourself, the same way as when you direct the energy into a spell. Visualise it flowing into the earth, deep into the soil, leaving your body. Feel yourself return to normal out of that heightened, energised state. It is not uncommon to feel somewhat drained after this. Sit down, have something nutritious to eat and drink, and let yourself come back down to earth.
Shielding
A powerful and effective tool of protection using your energy and visualisation alone. Shielding can protect you from spiritual and psychic attack, and from the negative emotions and vibes of those around you. It is an effective and favoured tool for psychics, mediums, and empaths to ‘switch off’, so they are not constantly bombard by psychic information and influences. As with all energy work, visualisation is the key. You are erecting a shield of energy around yourself, a wall, a forcefield. Visualise that, see it in your mind’s eye. A glowing, powerful ball of light that surrounds you and protects you. Nothing can get past it, nothing can escape it that you do not desire. Raise your energy and push it into your shield, feel it pulse around you, feel your skin tingle with it. Shields are not permanent. Over time they will weaken and disappear, so it is necessary to keep coming back and repairing them, if you sill. Again, practice practice practice. You will not be able to shield if you do not try.
It is this energy, your energy, that is the true source of your magic. Tools, herbs, and crystals will enhance your magic, but without that spark that you prove, they are simply tools, herbs, and crystals.
DISCLAIMER: this is how I started as a beginner witch, not how everyone starts. A dozen different witches will give you a dozen different ways to begin. This is merely how I do things.
