Intro:
This is how I view spell crafting. If anyone disagrees with something I say, please tell me, and explain your reasoning. If you don’t explain, how can anyone learn? And learning is the point of my writing this.
Part One: Writing
When writing your spell, you need to keep the following things in mind:
1) The phrasing of the spell.
2) The literal meaning of the words you use.
3) The figurative, or symbolic, meaning of the words you’re using.
1) The phrasing is important, as it determines accuracy. For example, you use as your spell the following sentence: “Love will come into my life.” Right away, we have several major problems.
First, you fail to claim when love with enter into your life. As such, it could be the next day, or the next year. More importantly, you’ll have no idea if any love that comes into your life is a result of your spell, or a result of fate or coincidence.
Second, you say not what form of love you with to enter into your life. By using this spell, you could very well curse yourself with unrequited love, thus leading you to love someone with whom you’ll be. Or, this spell could cause you to meet someone new, who shares love with another. Thus, love would be brought into your life, but you would not benefit from it.
2) Next, look at the literal meaning of each word you’ve used. For example, you use the following phrase as part of your spell “…Steal from him joy, ‘till at last it is that he stands at my side…” In this context, your spell would take form your target any joy he would naturally feel, and give it to you. Yet the transfer of joy would be unlawful, morally wrong (for the word “steal” means to unjustly take) Worst yet, a literal interpretation of this spell means that once the target stands at the caster’s side, the spell (or at least part of it) is void, no longer valid.
Literal meanings of words are important, both in use and understanding. For if you understand the definition of each word, you can better insure you use the proper phrasing, and thus help avoid mistakes. In addition, by knowing the literal meaning of a word, you can better craft your spell to fit your needs.
3) Lastly, you must look at the symbolic meaning of the words you use. Dove, literally, refers to a type of bird. Yet it is a symbol for peace, and it is a sacred animal of Aphrodite (Thus, if you are a Hellenistic Pagan, a Dove would symbolize love, or a peaceful love.)
By using symbolism, you can add a more abstract power to your spells. If you can find a word that means what you need it to, and also symbolizes something that holds reference with regards to you desired goal, your spell will be more useful.
In general a long spell would hold more power, because it would have the complexity needed to both ensure accuracy, and a large basis for abstract power. However, long spells present a problem: The longer the spell, the more difficult it would be memories. If this is the case, the caster would have to read the spell while speaking it. Doing this splits concentration, making it more difficult to complete a spell. As a result, the caster may lose the needed focus, resulting in a complete, or partial, failure of a spell. It, therefore, is important to balance length, complexity, accuracy, and simplicity.
Part Two: Miscellaneous.
As you write your spells, also consider what items, if any, you plan to utilize as you cast your spell. Decide if you wish to make reference to your object within your spell (“With this candle, tall and red, I now fill with…”) or do you simply use it. If the latter is your choice, you need to decide where in the spell you wish to employ your item.
I agree with your post except the strong emphasis on phrasing and literal meaning especially. The main thing that powers a spell is will and intent. A spell you chant is merely away to focus ones mind in my opinion. If the spell is worded wrong it could stir the wrong type of image in ones mind but I feel if you don't intend to do something such as still joy literally from them then it isn't likely to happen as that isn't your intent or will no matter how you say it. Now I could be wrong about that and I think phrasing a spell well helps, but I just don't think saying something wrong or phrasing it wrong is going to cause as such problems if your focusing on your true intent when you cast the spell.
Thank you for sharing your post, i also have trouble writing out spells at times, because i can never seem to figure the right content or words to put in a spell. And i really do like my spells to ryhme even know they dont have too. Thanks for posting.
Wonderful post. I do agree that when writing a spell that you should take care to use proper symbolism, and take care with your wording. One problem I have noticed is that people often use words that they are trying to take focus from lol. A prime example of such would be doing a chant to make you feel warm, and stating that you won't feel cold anymore. You always want to focus on what your trying to achieve, and leave out that which you do not want.
