The General Rules of Successful Magick

1. Every action has an equal reaction. This is not a moral law, it is a scientific one, therefore the Witch should think long and hard before doing any magick. To help choose what action to take, many Witches use a divination tool before casting any spell or performing a working ritual. Within this rule lie two others: Never target the innocent, and never use magick to take something from someone else. In both cases the repercussions are vast and rightly cruel. It’s just not worth it, from anyone’s standpoint.
2. The longer you practice magick, the more adept you will become. No one is ever an instant magi. You can’t read one book, do three spells, and become an expert. Practice, study, and hard work makes close to perfect. There are no exceptions.
3. As best you can, keep your thoughts and actions pure. Yes, everyone makes mistakes, everyone gets angry, and everyone has bad days where nothing seems to go their way — that’s life. However, the purer your intentions, the more guarantee you have of success. To teach students about purity and the need for it, the Wiccan religion incorporates such practices as cleansing, consecration, empowerment, circle casting, and sacred space. Learning how to successfully accomplish these procedures also helps you reach the purity of mind needed and enforces the focus necessary to perform fast, accurate magicks when you need them.
4. What you think, you create. Your mind is the key that opens the door to unlimited magickal applications. This is why the Wiccan religion urges you to release negative thoughts on a daily basis, learn to think positively rather than negatively, and teaches its students creative visualization, meditation, and energy work, and tries to concentrate on harmony rather than chaos.
5. What you believe, you will manifest. This rule is linked to the one above. Like my former Pow Wow teacher, Preston Zerbe, told me, “Belief is the key.” You can do all sorts of magick, make petitions to that-which-runs-the-universe, and drum until your arms ache, but if you don’t believe that a change can manifest, it won’t. Belief is a knowing, a certainty, that what you desire will occur. If this is confusing, think about something you truly believe in or about. How do you feel when you think of those things? That Mimi second of comfort ability, that feeling of perfect peace is belief and your connection to the divine, and that’s what you want to capture in each and every spell or ritual.
6. Magick works better if added to a spiritual foundation. In my experience, you will be able to manifest your desires faster if you attach magick to some sort of spiritual anchor — like Wicca, Druidism, Voodoo, Santeria, Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Islam, ect. Some of these religions, like Witchcraft, fit well with magick, where others, like Christianity, require the seeker to wade through a tremendous amount of dogma to find sure footing. This is not to say you can’t be a Christian and work magick — ceremonial magicians do it all the time. The choice is ultimately yours.
7. Magick does not replace hard work. You can’t do a spell and expect the world to bow at your feet. If you want a good grade on your homework, then you have to do the research, write out what is required, and hand it in on time. You can, however, use magick to persevere, find information, and remove any stress associated with that work.
8. Do note use magick for illegal gain, and don’t use anything in the circle that might have been stolen. It literally dirties the magick and will backfire on you.