During my brief time here, I have noticed that sometimes, someone newer to the craft would ask for a spell for a somewhat trivial goal, such as "I have the flu, can I get a healing spell?" or "I need my friend to change her mind, and forgive me" and oftentimes, some who are more advanced would reply that this is not a situation that needs magic to be applied, therefore, one shouldn't.
This was, at first, a very foreign notion to me, since I apply some kind of magical operation to almost everything. Even if it is divining if I really want it, if it benefits me, and what exactly it is.
I do not consider myself a magical practitioner, precisely because I don't merely practice it, perform a simple operation once or twice a week. I literally live in magic, every day. It is more of a lifestyle than anything else for me.
Don't get me wrong, I didn't just jump into these currents. It was a slow and steady process. I didn't just summon a demon and find myself talking to them all the time, or learn to astral project and found myself bilocating every hour every day. I still don't bilocate 24/7 or talk to spirits 24/7.
But I also realize that most goals can, easily and happily be accomplished by fusions of the mundane and magical level. Some problems can and should be fixed on a purely mundane, or purely magical level, and it does require good judgment to determine the case for either of those two.
But most magical spells are accomplished by also taking steps in the physical, mundane, operations. You can't expect money to come if you don't have the avenues of manifestation, for example.
Likewise, most people who work on something on a mundane level, find they have to shift perceptions, change traits about themselves, or at the very least, believe that they can do it. Try studying with the belief that you're stupid, and see how well that works out for you. THe Law of Attraction, is in itself an intent-based, passive, magical operation, that most people perform at some point of their life, sometimes to their detriment.
Like when you believe you are cursed and you end up cursing yourself?
And one can argue on why we would even need ritual, if anything can be accomplished through "direct" magic. Well, everyone has their reasons. Some like the appeal of rituals, and some don't even do rituals for simple things, and decide to go for more unconscious magic, while still applying conscious magical effort towards "bigger" goals. Even when thoughts become bullets of manifestation, it has its limitations, like being weighed down by mass-observed reality, and other people's opinions, and beliefs.
So if we are performing magic every day, on an unconscious level, why not at least strive to get good at it?
Another argument I've heard is that it wastes energy, whether internal or external. This I do not believe since for one thing, there is a vast and endless infinitude out there. Countless hotspots, springs, leylines, to draw energy from. One can recharge after an operation by pulling energy from the sun, the earth, the moon, etc.
Or one can use their energy instead of personal energy, not wasting their own in the first place. Vampirism is another route, though humans are oftentimes too unclean to draw a ritual's worth of energy from.
The exertion of will is a strenuous act, but it is an important act. It strengthens our desire into the world, it becomes a vehicle for manifestation.
The only commodity magic for trivial goals truly wastes, aside from physical ingredients used which can likely be reacquired, is time. Time is a commodity we all have, and can never truly get back. It is our most valuable thing.
And we waste time, on much less productive things, ever single day. An act which makes the world better, for others, or for yourself, an act which strengthens yourself, and helps you know yourself, or empower yourself, is the epitome of productivity in contrast.
Yes, magic, especially alone, cannot solve everything, but its backup definitely helps sway probability, the things you can't consciously control, the eternal patterns of what ifs, and hows, towards your cause. Even if the operation fails completely, it's a learning experience.
I do not mean any of this offensively, or direct it at personally anyone. I am genuinely curious, then, what prompts you to say,"this is not a situation that requires magic, look for mundane solutions instead"?
Like you said, most of the people asking for spells on the forum are new to the craft. It is much kinder to try to defer them from the idea than it is to tell the honest truth, that any spell we give them has little to know chance of working because of their lack of experience.
It is my personal belief that anyone asking for a spell on a public forum quite obviously is not very accomplished in witchcraft, as if they were, they would write their own spells.
Yes this is a site to learn from but spells are not the right place to start. There are a lot of members on here just looking for a quick fix without putting any effort, time or study into it.
Well, to some people that's what draws them to magic, rather than an innate lust for knowledge or power. A desire for excess and an almost addictive effect of power, and results, brings someone's full potential into fruition.
Other times, the passion for magic is there, but it takes a crisis to avert, or fix, or a strong enough desire to push from a dabbler's armchair to the adept's circle.
So I would not dismiss someone who is looking for quick fixes. That said, notions of spells are very skewed. I am not just talking about unrealistic expectations of the operations or the result, I am talking about those who expect spells to fix everything. Things that magic can fix, but a spell would not.
If you want to become a very wealthy individual, then a candle spell won't do. Not even a full-blown ritual with blood sacrifices would do the trick.
Depending on how you wish to work, a pact with an entity that specializes in wealth(the demon king Belial, the archangel Uriel, the elemental king Ghob, many many deities, that specialize in business, earth, money, etc. related matters) and together, you would work out an action plan, consisting of multiple operations, work on both the spirit's and your part to realize the common goal.
An expression of their power, recognition, energy boosts, devotional art, vessels, anchors, gateways, worship, whatever you agree upon. Some spirits are just happy to know that they were able to do something here, and don't ask for anything more than that you use the power they give you access to, and the things that they teach you.
If someone prefers to work alone, the same thing applies, except without the spirit. Instead, you are doing all the work, making the action plan, planning the operations and rituals, doing all the manifestations.
Regardless, it's not a spell. It's one major ritual, a bunch of smaller rituals, and maybe another major rituals, along with meditations, learning actual real life contents, getting better education, finding the right opportunities. That wealth comes at a cost, and it's not your soul, it's not your parents, or anything so surreal, it's just your time, your attention, and your hard work.
Or let's say you want to change something about yourself. Not procrastinating, beating an addiction, becoming more powerful, general ascent work.
You would meditate on it, perform rituals, etc.
It's not a spell, yet it is magic. I don't know how I diverged so hard onto this topic, but I'm just pointing that out whenever someone wants a spell to fix something.
