Magic For Yourself: Understanding Casting Spells For Others

All the techniques and courses I teach are designed for a student’s own benefit and self-practice, not to help others. I do this for many reasons: ethical considerations, experiential concerns, pedagogical ones, and more. This is not to say that it’s never okay to help others through magic, but I do believe that the majority of all magic is best worked for the benefit of yourself, not others.

For starters, casting spells on someone else without their explicit consent is not helping them. It is a type of attack, even if you have the best of intentions. 

Imagine you come home one day to find that someone you know has been in your house while you were out. They decided to redecorate it, just a little, to their taste. They might have replaced your favourite chair with something sleeker, less comfortable but more stylish, they might have painted the walls another colour, maybe they like orange instead of your calming blue...

Even if they had good intentions, even if they thought they had better taste than you did, it still would not feel good. It would feel like what it is: an intrusion into your home, into your privacy, into your right to make decisions for yourself. Your home is your sacred space, and they are defiling it. This is how casting on someone else without their permission works.

Understanding the Concept of "Magical Debt"

But what about using magic to help others with their explicit permission? There are a few essential considerations to keep in mind.

A person who comes to another person asking for magical help obviously believes that magic will help them in their situation. In this case, the most empowering course of action for them is to learn and practice the magic themselves. Magic is the process of interacting with energy and intention.

What a person invests is what they will receive in return from magic. By empowering them to take up their own practice, you’re not only helping with their current situation but also giving them a life skill that will support them for the rest of their lives. You’re also teaching them self-sufficiency and a far more personal connection with their own power than they would get by simply having a spell worked on their behalf.

From a more technical perspective, the only way to get workable, successful results when working magic for another individual is to charge them for it. Offering to work magic on their behalf for free tends to be a very sticky wicket that can create unseen, karmic debts between you.

But even then, if you were to accept payment for magical work, you must be experienced and adept enough to ensure that what you're getting paid for is entirely within your ability. The Laws of magic are natural laws of balance that are always in effect.

When you take money in the name of the Craft, you're agreeing to produce a desired result. If you're not able to accomplish this, the Craft will perceive it as a “short,” and you'll carry a metaphysical debt that must be repaid until the balance is restored.

On the other hand, if you work magic for someone without being paid, then you're allowing them to incur a debt to you. Either way, the situation is unbalanced and can result in more problems than you might imagine.

Working In The Magical Safe Zone

However, when you do magic for yourself, you're always in a safe zone, and this represents ethical magic at its best. This is because working magic for and on yourself ensures your safety, and it can never, ever create a karmic or magical debt. You never have to worry about “blowback.” This is because you're utilizing the forces of Magic for their proper purpose: the betterment and evolution of the Self. 

The moment you start doing magic on or for another person, you risk interfering in their destiny, which is not your concern, and this can result in adverse outcomes for both the person you're trying to help and yourself, since you probably can’t fully understand their entire journey. Keep things safe and powerful. Work on yourself. Focus your magic on yourself. Does this sound selfish? It is in the sense that you are focusing on what you are allowed to have power over, which is your own life. It is not selfish in the sense that you are thinking of yourself regardless of others' needs and well-being. But with magic, the best rule of thumb is to strictly mind your own business.

A Witch's Blessing vs. Spell Casting

"But can't I support other people when they need me?" Of course you can! Support can take on many forms, from words of kindness to an open ear or an act of compassion. Standing by a person can truly change their life. It’s one of the most profound ways you can show love.

"But can't I bless other people who are suffering?" Of course you can! Blessings or prayers are excellent ways to send love and support to someone. Visualizing them happy, healthy, and free in every aspect of their life is an act of love. Blessing others is a powerful act that can be the catalyst for extraordinary results, yet those results are not of your making or under your control.

"But can't I imagine light surrounding someone in need?" Of course you can! In this way, visualization becomes an act of blessing, a way to hold someone in your thoughts and prayers. To visualize the energy around them as uplifting, helping you telepathically soothe their struggles and support their desires. But you're not doing it as an act of will, only to support and bless them.

"But can't I cast spells to benefit others?" I wouldn’t. Save your magic for yourself. Spells are acts of focused will that can produce great results in your life, for your own desires, needs, struggles, and goals. Your Craft is meant for you alone, a sacred empowerment you can use to grow, thrive, and change your own life.

Blessings For Others Instead Of Spells

Blessings are powerful and can make a profound difference in someone’s life. When you bless someone, you’re giving them not just good thoughts but active psychic and spiritual support and encouragement. Blessing someone is not the same thing as working magic to manipulate the circumstances of their lives.

A blessing is about lifting them, and that in itself can be a huge help. The effects of a blessing may be just as substantial as those of a spell, but the perspective involved is entirely different. A blessing is always given with both support and detachment, and blessings in that way can help build a positive feedback loop of support and love. But the outcomes of your blessings are not something you can nor should try to control.

There are always exceptions to rules about working magic for other people, of course. If someone close to you, a parent, a sibling, a child, a life partner, one of those special few who are a part of your inner circle, truly needs you to cast a spell for them, by all means do it. But even in that case, tread lightly. If they need further magical attention, they are still best served by learning to do it for themselves.

Magic is self-empowerment and self-care. It’s you, finding ways to work your way through life in a way that makes sense to you. Healing magic, magic to bring your fondest dreams into reality, magic to protect yourself, magic to grow, empower, and transform your life, all of that is magic for you. Bless the people in your life, but save the spells for yourself.

Trying to “fix” other people or the world through magic often has the opposite effect. Magic creates ripple effects; regardless of good intentions, it’s impossible to control how it will turn out. In my experience, magic aimed at fixing others or the world almost always backfires, causing more problems than it solves. Because of that, I choose not to practice magic in these ways.

Saving Your Magic For Yourself

So I save it for myself. I use my magic to pull myself up, to bring clarity and healing, and growth to myself. I focus on me. I tend to my garden, and I figure out how I want it to grow. If I focus my energy on myself, on nourishing my own life and my own soul, and use magic to help me along, that in itself can have a ripple effect, and it will bring about changes in other people’s lives just as strongly as if I were actually to cast spells for them.

If you were a member of an orchestra, you would practice your own instrument and not interfere with other musicians' practice. This way, when you arrive at your rehearsals and performances, you will be prepared to perform your best and in harmony with all your fellow musicians. This metaphor applies to magic as well. We use our magic for ourselves so we can show up for our lives in the best possible ways.

Bless others, support them, desire the best for them in your mind and in your heart, light a candle on their behalf, but save your magic for yourself. That’s where your magic is meant to thrive.