Magickal Improvisation: A Necessary Skill For The Eclectic

In most good magickal texts, you'll often run across a detailed list of spell ingredients and instructions for any particular spell. The problem is, (and I admit this is true with my own books as well as with others), sometimes it can be difficult to find specific components and in some cases, the instructions have a way of getting lost at the wrong time during your ritual/spell work.

Perhaps your town has a total population of two thousand people, half of whom are fundamentalists, and five out of the six book/gift shops are Christian-oriented. Or maybe you already know that you can buy what you need on-line but you don't own a credit card so that option isn't viable. Or you started a spell and you need an ingredient now, you don't have time to wait for your mail-order package to arrive. Or perhaps you have access to good magickal shops but you just don't have the cash or the time to run out to pick up some Lilac Oil and Wormwood. Or you get to the Circle and realize you left your entire portable Witch-Kit some twenty miles back at home and you have nothing but a hastily cut willow branch with which to lead the ritual.

So what do you do? Well, if the texts really are good, somewhere in the book, they will advise you to substitute and/or improvise when you need to. Very few spells can only be worked with a select few ingredients and while certain rituals are meant to be done only in a certain manner, there is no real reason why you shouldn't improvise when necessary.

It's up to you, however, to familiarize yourself enough with the deities, herbs, oils and other elements we call upon and use so that you can substitute when necessary. After all, if you are willing to take the responsibility for casting the spell, you should be prepared for the unexpected chaos that always seems to filter into our magickal Circles.

Read the full article