When You Need Special Prayers, Chants, or Rituals, make your own!

Good luck on your spiritual path!

Ever wondered if you should make your own spells or use historical ones? Crafting your own spells is not as difficult as you may worry after you understand the basic principles behind traditional ones. After all, every prayer, spell, or chant was once said for the first time!

As spirituality becomes more relevant, so does the interest in spells and traditional practices and whether spells and practices from past centuries. But getting historical information is not always accessible (especially in the branch a person specializes in: there are more Abrahamic grimoires than Spanish folk magic records, for example), nor necessarily desirable. Since the moral code of past ages was different, old spells may use ingredients that modern people (hopefully) have no access to. What does the modern alchemist do? Either limit oneself to historical sources or make new ones. For this, one should understand:

1. What spells are
2. How spells were made
3. What do you need for a spell
4. How to tie it all together

At the end of this article, there are 3 tips for making it more efficient and streamlining your process. 

What spells are & How they’re made

The context of modern Spellcraft, and how the spells appeared

Most people want to get original spells. “Ancient, real ones that work.” With all the content now, finding reliable sources and translations seems difficult, and   I could see more material on the subject than ever in the last few years,  and it has been more easily accessible than ever before.  So there has been more confusion too, since people do not have a unitary, simple approach. 

Sifting through books of modern magic, (which are typically spellbooks written after 1960) we can see the same traditional approach. These books were mostly filled with modern spells, although many claim their magic is traditional. However, most traditional spells are found in libraries and scientific documentation, and few books link to sources. Something else that makes me question their claims of authenticity is that the modern spells do not share many characteristics with the old ones.

The new spells rely on modern values and are less likely to try to control another person or harm animals in the process. The ingredients in modern books have an international feel, while true traditional spells use locally-available ingredients from the region they originate in – they couldn’t get those otherwise! We can safely say this created a new branch of magic, one fit for our times – and that’s a great thing!

Witches, warlocks and healers in history

It used to be like this: the greatest masters had secret, and sometimes sacred books that students could only access as part of a structured learning program. It was unthinkable that Percival off the street could see such text, not that he was likely to be able to read it anyway. A great allure of reverence, mastery, and mystery has been surrounding the whole tradition, which was often intentionally cultivated by both the secretive society (to project an image of power as the makers of miracles and holders of ancient wisdom), and their rivals and enemies (to make them look like a sinister, unnatural and shady cult).

They would theoretically burn the books when death was close and no worthy heir was found. Unsurprisingly though, many of them were not burned, as there is much less incentive for a religion to destroy its own sacred texts than someone else’s, not to mention many of the most influential and respected leaders of spiritual movements lived in times when their practice was accepted, and even embraced: ancient Greek and Egyptian texts and rituals served as the basis for many later European practices. So, despite the persecution and time, we still have some veritable ancient scrolls, books, and tomb engravings of wisdom, as well as some amulets, spell bottles, and remains from that time. Here are some of them.

What do you need for a spell?

Magic has always evolved from, and alongside the beliefs and practices of the local cultures: We see mentions of angels and demons in Jewish mysticism, spells involving the Norse Gods in Scandinavia, and so on. Every magical culture has mentions of their local gods, ingredients, and a mechanism by which it would work.

How does this work? Ancient cultures often believed that names had power, supernatural entities exist, and they can both influence the mortal world and be controlled or at least summoned by their true names.  This sigil can be traced back through the Key of Solomon to those beliefs, and in context, it makes sense. The person using it is supposed to get their help (goal) from the demon (which they believed existed) by using something they believed had power over said demon to compel him. (a “mechanism of action” for the spell).

All you need is a target, a power source, and a mechanism of action. After these are established, essentially, one uses correspondences to each of these to make the final spell. Something to represent the target, something to draw power (be it your own focused energy or other spiritual entities one believes in). Finally, something to represent the desired outcome. The same principle applies to divination too. Check out this list of Pendulum Correspondences, if you are interested in this divination method.

How to tie it all together

Find your target

Once you decide that you need a prayer, chant, or ritual, you should decide who, or what it is going to affect. Start with the end goal figured out.

Choose what will power the spell

Since many people follow many spiritual paths, each person has their own view of what is out there and how the world works. While some people choose to call on a higher power, others may want to use their own energy as the driving force of their practice. Your path is a reflection of your belief, so whatever you choose, it must feel true to yourself.

Prepare the correspondences

You may put more or less effort into it, depending on how important this practice and goal is to you. Learn correspondences from books and lists from the internet, or get them from something relevant that happened in your life. You may want to get a correspondence for the target, one for what you want to achieve. Then, do something symbolic of how you want to achieve it.

The correspondence should reflect your life and practice. A Wiccan may call upon the Triple Goddes, a Christian on a Saint or Archangel, and a follower of the Norse Gods on Odin. Their devotion may lead each of them to choose another correspondence to represent their power, while a non-theistic witch can choose a personal item. The timing itself may be a correspondence – do you choose to meditate, pray or do the ritual on a religious feast, moon phase, or your Birthday?

Do it!

Once you decided on the proper goal, timing, and ingredients (if you use any), prepare to actually do it. You might write it down in your Book of Shadows, if you have one, make spell cards, compose the poetry for your prayer, or whatever you feel is right for you. And just do it!

A Word of Advice

Know what you’re looking for

Start with a clear objective in mind, and make the spell as a solution to the problem you are trying to fix. For example, in a spell for clearer tarot readings could be approached as: “How could I connect more with my tarot deck?” or “What could I do to improve my intuition?” Each one would yield different approaches, and help you stay focused. Remember to decide on an objective and keep true to it.

Don’t overcomplicate

When making your own spells, try to use as few ingredients as possible, and simplify your ritual. It’s easier to keep track of fewer things and stay true to the original context and concept. Find a target, power source, and mechanism of action. Draw correspondences for each, and you are done! In the example before, you may choose to simply place a moonstone over your tarot deck on the night of the full moon. Your tarot deck identifies the target, the stone placement serves as a mechanism of action, and by the correspondences in timing and crystal choice, the spell draws power from the moon!

Stay true to your principles

There is no need to go this far with simplification. Use as many aids to your concentration and focus as you need, ideally not more, but you need to feel comfortable with what you are doing, so you may use personalized correspondences, or a more complex meditation before. It has to feel true to you, after all, to have a place in your life!

Wishing you all the best!