Using Emotions in Spellwork
When we do any kind of spellwork we are working with energy. Where that energy comes from can differ depending on the practitioner and the work being done, and it can come from various sources. One of these sources is our own emotions, but there are learned skills that makes the use of emotions in magic more manageable and useful.
Probably the best emotion to use for this purpose is anger or rage as it is extremely potent, so for the purposes of this discourse I will use the example of anger to explain the use of emotions within magic and spellwork. However, this can apply to any emotion and you may want to explore different emotions to apply to different types of Workings.
The first thing we need to do is feel the emotion, and if you are not in a situation where you are not feeling angry, you may ask, well how do I do that? This can be accomplished two ways. Firstly, you may want to get yourself into a situation where you feel the rage building. When that happens stop and examine it. Where do you feel it, what part of the body? Is it in the chest or the stomach? How does it feel, what sensations do you get? Really examine it so that you can later recall it. You may need to ask the person who made you angry to just pause for a while, but that’s ok, they will get angrier and you can suggest they do the same exercise. Now that you know how it feels and where you feel it, try to pull up that emotion at will when you are in a relaxed state.
The second way you can do this is to become the beast. We all have a beast within us, we just tend to cage it and ignore because we are told we cannot expose it to the outside world, it is evil, it is not wanted, but it is there for a reason, usually for protection. The following is a bit of a shapeshifting exercise in that you will become the beast, you feel its rage and its lust for blood. You may even move your body into a form that represent the beast within.
For this exercise make sure you will not be disturbed as you may feel self-conscious to begin with and you don’t want the idea of someone walking in on you to repress the experience. You will also be making noises, so make sure you are really alone. Get yourself into a ritual setting and close your eyes. Start by reaching out to the beast, make contact, and then invite it in. Start to move as you feel the beast would move, whether that is crouched and stealthy or on your belly on the floor and slithering, connect with the beast. Now start to make noises that are the beast. Begin to snarl and then to growl. Open your mouth and release your jaw, circling it. Open up your vocal chords, let them adjust to the sound of the beast. Circle your lower jaw around and open your eyes with the eyes of the beast. You may at this point see differently to what you are used to. Colors may be different. Sniff the air and see what your sense of smell can pick up. Flick your tongue out and hiss if your beast or more serpentine. Then begin to feel the passion of the beast, the rage and hunger that it has. Get on all fours and growl or howl. Whatever your beast leads you to do.
You can do the same thing by invoking the energy of an animal spirit. I once used this to help cure someone’s cancer by calling on Jaguar and using the energy of that beast instead of the beast within me.
By now you should feel the power coursing through you. Take some time to experience it. Feel it flowing and note how it feels, where it runs through your body, how it projects out of your body into the space around you. Now you will need to bring it under your control. All of that energy that is spiking and sparking beyond you body needs to be reigned in. Pull it in and start to concentrate it. Once it is in your body you then begin to bring it into a point, usually in your belly, often in your dan dien, let it ignite the fire within you and cause it to blaze. Once you have it focused and concentrated you may find it difficult to maintain this concentration of such a powerful force within you. Bring the purpose of your working to mind, go through the visualization of the outcome you desire, and then move it from the belly, let it seperate at your solar plexus and course up the right and left side your body and into your arms, running down into your hands and project it at your target. The target may be a talisman, a sigil, a poppet, something that represents your goal. It could be a person you are healing, or someone you are cursing, in which case you point your hands in the direction of the person or straight up. Through the visualization you would add your intention and Will to the energy, giving it purpose, giving it direction. Expel all of the energy, don’t let any of it remain inside you. Let it burst from you.
When you finish you will probably feel completely exhausted. Thank the beast that you summoned forth to help you, and then let it receed. Come back to a normal state.
There is another aspect of using emotions in spellwork that we should spaek about. When doing a spelling you would be feeling emotions for the work you are doing and the outcome that you desire. This is required as without the emotional state you would not have the Will to direct the energy or even do the spelling. You would simply be going through the motions with no outcome. However, those emotions can often get in the way of your spellwork.
As an example, you are financially drained, broke, and in desperate times. You do some spellwork to help you get out of this rut, but the desperation you feel gets in the way and shortcircuits everything you are trying to do. This is the one difficulty with any manifestation technique. You need to bring yourself into a future position so that your attempt at manifestation is already achieved and therefore bring what has now been created in the astral, through into the physical, i.e. manifest the etheric into the material. But when you are feeling emotions that are contrary to your need, that is usually what you are creating because they are prominent.
This is where we need to become the observor, and this is where meditation comes in very handy. Through a regular practice of meditation we become more removed from our reactions, as it is our reactions which stimulate the chemicals in our brain to create emotional states. If we become removed from those reactions, we then observe situations and can choose how to react instead of the knee-jerk reactions we often find ourselves regretting later. When we can do this, then we can get into any magical Working and feel the emotions we need in order to do the work which is required, but not be attached to them so that we do not shortcircuit the Working with our errant emotions, feelings and desires. It is also why we are taught to not “lust after results”. After a spelling we are told we should forget what you did and not think about the outcome. Let the energy go and do what it needs to do, if you think about it, you may start to doubt, and then you will knock it off course.
All of the above and any form of magic and spellwork requires control. We need to remain pointedly focused on the work we are doing and the outcome we desire. If we start to think about a hoard of other things during our ritual then the energy will disperse in various directions and have no power behind it. If we are laser focused on the spell, then we push all of that energy in one direction, and then it has power and force. So, go and meditate.
