Skip to content
how to know if my spell casting works

Why Didn't My Spell Work?!

You’re totally sure you did everything right. You bought every herb the book said, your house looks like you’ve taken up crystal mining, the fire marshall better not drop by cuz candles are everywhere, you stirred that cauldron until you’re pretty sure you gave yourself a hernia, you wished on every star and sent your energy forth into the Universe on the right phase of the moon. You even checked the planetary hour (go you! not even I remember to do that most of the time!).

And... Well, the Universe seems to have given you bupkiss. Whole lot of nothing. Maybe things have even gotten worsethan since you did your working. At this point, nobody could blame you for wondering: What in tarnation is going on with my spell?!

I’ve been practicing for over ten years, and while I can’t say that I’ll be able to warn you away from every pitfall out there, here are some common reasons why a spell might not work - or might not seem to have worked:

Timing. As Mariah put it, love takes time, and magic is no exception. Let’s say you’ve just cast a money manifestation spell. It’s not really practical to wake up the next day knowing beyond the shadow of a doubt that you’re going to have a sudden windfall. It could happen, don’t shut your mind to the possibility of course, but it’s really important that you set proper expectations of the time frame your magic may take to fully manifest in your life. Everything worth doing takes time!

Overfocusing. I almost put this one under “timing,” because they’re super related, but we’ll broaden the term here because overfocusing takes many forms. In our money manifestation spell example, waking up the next day thinking about how you did the spell and you know it’s going to work and any minute now it’ll work and oh hey here’s my bestie let me fill her in on it and get her take hmm I wonder if... Breathe! The old saying I remember from when I started out practicing was “do the work and forget about it,” and they weren’t wrong. Once you’ve raised energy and sent it towards your goal through spellwork, giving that working any more of your energy - especially worried or anxious energy - can actively muddle the matter and delay or sway your result. Instead, keep some notes on when you’ve done which magical working, and compare them on a regular routine (hint hint - maybe the New Moon?), so you can see what has and hasn’t transpired and adjust accordingly.

Are You Doing The Work? That’s in bold and italics for a reason, folks. It’s very simple, but it is one of the quickest ways I’ve seen people mess with their manifestation - without even intending to!

But, from a certain point of view, that’s the problem. You may have had all of the best intentions when you cast your spell, but what have you done in the meantime to make it happen for yourself? It’s in very rare cases indeed, and by that I mean “movies and TV shows,” that someone casts a spell and BLAM, whatever they wanted is immediately available. (I spent my formative years practicing my Sabrina point way before the new show, to no avail except that I’m now really good at quirkily indicating where things are. Not exactly a resume line item, is it?)

Going back to our money spell example, then: You’ve done all of your magical work, and you just might have cast the best and strongest prosperity spell out there, but if you don’t take real action - now, today - to manifest that for yourself, more than likely, it won’t be happening. I’m not telling you this to discourage you, by the way; quite the opposite. When you get into the rhythm of doing your spellwork and busting your ass like you didn’t do a single spell to help out, you’ll be amazed what you can bring about in your life.

There are tons of stories to back this up from antiquity, by the way, and “the gods help those who help themselves” is but the tip of the iceberg. Almost every culture out there has a myth about the dangers of the easy way, and we are honestly no exception. Everyone remembers the story of the man who prayed every day to win the lottery, right? Remember what his God said to him when he got up to the afterlife and asked why on Earth he hadn’t won, when he’d prayed every single day?

“My son... you never bought a ticket.”

Magic is a tool in your arsenal to help you craft your life today into the life you really want for your future. Just remember, it’s only one of these tools! When I get sick, I use the home remedies that my partner’s grandmother shared with us, as well as what my mom and grandmother passed down, and I also cast a small healing spell if I’ve got the energy reserves, and I go to the doctor if it’s bad enough. That’s what I’m saying. The more things you do and try, the more likely you are to be successful! Make sure your physical efforts support your magical efforts and you will be amazed at the turnaround.

None of these apply? Yeah, this is a fun one. File it under "hard pills to swallow"... Sometimes the Universe doesn’t give us what we want, even if we’ve asked as nicely as we dare. Over my years of keeping a journal, I’ve come to learn that this is usually because something even greater is coming around the corner for us... and that the outcome we wanted with our spellwork wouldn't have allowed that possibility into our lives.

Trust the timing of the Universe. You’re in good hands here.

Previous article Candle Magic For Beginners
Next article Modern Moon Rituals III: Some Odds and Ends