Prosperity Magic – Shaping the Wind

When people think of magic, as in fairy tale, in-the-movies magic, they usually think of prosperity magic. Cast a spell and get a magical dress for the ball, or win the lottery. In my experience, it’s not usually dramatic like that, but it can be very deep and far reaching on levels that are about more than money. If you are building a secure and happy life, rather than flashy wealth, using principles of prosperity magic can be a good tool.

I had a student who wanted me to teach her to do prosperity magic. I explained about how magic is like a wind blowing on the sails of a boat. We are the boat. The boat can’t control the will of the Gods, but we can sense the flow of the wind and turn our sails to it. We can put our boat out and raise and lower our sails. We can tack back and forth, moving a little bit forward with each zig zag we go back and forth across the lake against the wind.

The wind can’t make that boat fly (sailboats aside), but it is very useful for getting the boat across the lake.

My student didn’t like it. She thought I was holding out on more powerful spellcrafting that would do magic the ‘real’ way, make her effortlessly win the lottery, drive a Mercedes and live in a fancy house. She was trying all the tricks she thought would get her those things, but they were not working. She didn’t want to hear about asking for something realistic.

‘Realistic’ is more effective magic

Here’s the thing. Realistic could happen naturally. Realistic is likely. This means that the subtle flows and influences, the light nudges where things could go either way that tip them in your favour, can have a stronger and quicker impact.

Magic is a ‘non-linear system’ where a tiny energetic cause can have a large effect. The ‘butterfly effect’ – a theoretical system where a single butterfly beating its wings can cause a series of events that make a hurricane happen a long distance away, is the kind of thing I mean.

You don’t need to bend reality. You just bend chance a little, while being open to guidance.

Based on this, prosperity magic that works is quite simple. Focus on the best possible realistic outcome, and leave any details that don’t matter unspecified

For example, let’s say your income isn’t meeting your bills, but that you otherwise enjoy your job and life. There are many good ways for this to work out for the best. Your income goes up, or your bills go down. Does it matter which? Probably not.

So set your magical spellcrafting for, ‘I comfortably have enough to pay all my bills’ rather than ‘I get a raise’ or ‘I get a fancy new job’. The first intention gives the universe lots of ways of getting the boat across the lake – you could get a raise, or your costs could go down in any area. Your magic can be applied to all of the possibilities for good, rather than just one or two of them, and can pick the easiest path to your goal. Perhaps your friend comes to share your home and pays some rent, or you get a side gig that you enjoy. Or perhaps you get a windfall.

Framing the goal correctly is 90% of the way there.

Casting an effective spell

From there, the rest of the prosperity spell can be done in as simple or complex a way as you like, or in several ways at once.

I might clean my house, consciously making room for good to flow in. I might pray to my Gods, asking for help with my goal, and doing as I am guided to. I might light two candles, one representing myself and the other my goal, and then moving them together gradually over a few days so they burn down into one pool of wax, holding the intention that I and my goal are moving closer and then are one. I might plant mint in my garden and touch it as I enter my home, smelling the scent and feeling my prosperity grow like the mint.

The Good Reality

My favourite spell type is called ‘everything is working out in the best possible way’ or ‘the Good Reality’, after Starhawk’s concept of the same name from the book The Fifth Sacred Thing. Her idea is, that since everything working out for the best is just as likely as everything working out for the worst, that you grab onto that best reality and pull yourself into it.

How I work with this tool is to write down a realistic account of what the Good Reality holds and believe in it.

In the example above I might write: “In the Good Reality, my income increases, and my expenses go down, so that I am comfortably covered. I am relieved and happy. Everything that can go well, does. I get a good rate mortgaging of my house. My work picks up. My happy clients refer more work to me, so I have just the right amount. My home is secure, and all is well.” You’ll notice that this is a lot like an affirmation – present tense and positive. You don’t have to repeat it, but it does need to be something that you can believe could happen if you are lucky.

So remember, as practitioners, think like a butterfly. Our magic is powerful, but subtle, and we can choose when, where and how to beat our wings.