What To Do When Your Spell Doesn’t Work

When a spell doesn’t work as expected, it’s still working, and the smart witch will cooperate.

If you have cast a spell that is what I would call clean and focused – not trying to harm or control anyone else and focused on the key parts of your outcome without unnecessary detail, I believe you have to trust that whatever happens as a result is part of the process of getting what you want. 

Basically, the gods can see and know stuff I don’t, and I’m going to trust them. The process can be a bit of a wild ride at time, and I struggle between not wanting to upset my applecart too much and still wanting positive change, knowing that the gods will sometimes clear the decks if they need to to get the job done. 

Let me give you an example: I cast a strong, formal spell about a month ago for ‘living a life I love, and loving my life’. It’s clean and focused on what is important. Check. It seems very innocuous, right? One would expect new and good things to flow into your life, right? Things to optimize and click in positive ways? 

Here’s what happened in the space of two weeks after I cast my spell:

The following two weeks reads like a real life game of snakes and ladders. 

I bought an ebike in preparation to going car-free, with savings I’d allocated, despite the fact that my self-employment work is slow in the summer. I love it. It was a great decision. This is living my best life. 

My sink blocked up. After four days of trying various things, I finally learned the correct way to snake a drain. In the meantime, having a blocked sink led to some events that brought things to a head with a woman who had been courting me, enough that I decided nope, not going there. 

My car died – remember the car I was going to sell to go car free? My neighbour happened to be an autoshop teacher and diagnosed it as a dead battery, and got it going enough for me to get to the mechanic, who duly replaced my battery, which had simply worn out. 

I called a plumber to look at a blocked storm drain, who discovered a big issue that has been putting my house foundation at risk for years. Blocked pipes, and pipes going no-where releasing Vancouver’s abundant rains right next to my foundation. 

Getting that drainage done made it possible to go ahead and get my garden shaped up and a friend offered to come and help me do that, which she did.  I began having talks with another old and dear friend about sharing the house together by forming two suites in it, something that definitely fits my community and interconnection ideal for a life I love. 

While driving my car to visit that friend and return some heavy items to her that didn’t work with my ebike, I got a flat tire. I discovered the dandy tire repair and inflation thingy that smart cars some with and used it to make my way to a tire store, where I let myself get talked into buying four new tires. Did I mention my work is slow and I really can’t afford any of this? 

After that, my tail light burnt out on my car. Then my head lamp. Not at the same time of course, so I could get them fixed at the same time. 

I went to my doctor and got some long-term health conditions on the way to getting sorted out. She was great. I already feel better. I will be finally getting help to lose weight and a long term skin condition is now in remission. Whew. 

I decided to do a ‘small repair’ on my chest freezer, which turned into a big repair as the problem was not the blocked drain tube I’d thought, but damaged insulation underneath that led to the bottom of the freezer turning into a sheet of ice that constantly dripped in addition to wasting energy. I was appalled at what had been going on ‘under my nose’ all this time, dripping water and damaging my floor. 

One of my friends who also wants to go mostly car free approached me about sharing a car. 

One of my existing clients approached me to do a big job for them, providing some desperately needed money. 

What does all of this have to do with my spell?  Lots.

Let’s look at what they all have in common – completing maintenance that had been long delayed, and which had been invisibly causing long slow damage, unknown to me. Blockages clearing – improving the energy flow into my life by improving the energy flow out of my life. Improving my grounding – my floors, my plumbing, the literal foundation of my home. Even as I am about to sell my car, investing in it may lead to getting a much better price for it, or maybe it will be a good fit to share with another family.  

All in all, magically, the message I am getting about living my best life is to take responsibility for maintaining what I have, unblocking the flow of energy and trusting in that flow. In order to let in, I have to release.  I have been spending money, as my own reserves get short, but am trusting that with an improved flow of items needing to be let go out of my life, I will have an improved flow of the good into my life. 

How do I know all of this is because of the spell? 

Because it’s all too much, too connected, too similar, in too short a time span, beginning right after I cast my spell. It feels connected, guided. I’m not even upset about it, it just feels necessary. That’s how I can tell something is mystical. It’s all part of getting me to my best life, a life I love. 

So what do we do with a spell that is working in an unexpected way?

Find and embrace the message. I am learning to take responsibility for what I have, and improve the flow out of my life – relationships, sewage, storm water, to improve the flow of good into it. I am aligning myself with that message and the good is starting to flow. 

So the next time you cast a spell that you think is not working, look for the pattern, and see what the universe or the gods are teaching you about how to find or create what you are casting for.

Photos by Joanna Kosinska