DIRECTING POWER
.....Elen Hawke

There are several ways of doing this, and first you must raise energy by clapping, dancing, chanting, drumming, and the like. The energy can then be shaped and directed into an object such as a candle or a bowl of seeds, or spun and sent
onto the astral level to grow from seeds of intention into material reality - for this is the place where ideas are shaped into the things we experience in our everyday lives.

The energy within the circle is electric and yet fluid and malleable. Everybody sees it differently, but most people agree that it sis like bright light. Its coloration depends on the predominant element at the time it is raised, but it is often a glowing, brilliant white, as oposed to energy focused through an athame when casting the cirle, which will usually be white, blue, violet, or golden depending on which chakra the person directing it draws it through.

Power sent onto the astral is formed into a sphere or cone by a group visualising themselves pushing it with their linked hands, or just their minds... it is quite difficultto do this on your own. As it spins and picks up speed, everybody "sees" their spell or intention being woven into it. When the cone or sphere is spinning really fast, there comes a point when one or more of a group will feel the climax of power approaching and will give the signal to release the power (usually by breaking the link or by calling "Now!"). Discharging energy like this will leave you feeling exhilarated but tired and you will need to eat and drink soon after to replenish yourself.

Spells of increase require that you spin energy clockwise, while banishing spells need a counterclockwise direction. This is because in the northern hemisphere the sun (symbol of growth) appears to follow a clockwise path through the sky. Below the equator the opposite is the case and there is some debate, especially in Australia and New Zealand, over whether to cast the circle and work in a cockwise diretion as the rest of the world's witches do, or to work with the sun's southern direction.

Directing energy into an object to charge it is less dramatic and can be done alone or by a couple or group of people. You can visualise the energy as a stream of light, or you can let it "suggest" to you how it should look or feel. You can use awand or athame and direct the flow of energy toward the object, or you can cup the object in your hands and draw power from around you and then project it through your fingers. As with the cone or sphere, this stream can be charged withyour magical goals.

There are various other methods of magic; among them writing what you want on a piece of paper, putting it in a box, then burning or burying it, or writing runes orsigils, which you gradually reduce down into simple shapes. Robin once devised aspectacular banishing ritual where we all wrote the things we wanted to get rid
ofon cigarette papers, then wrapped them round tiny pinches of gunpowder (made from an authentic sixteenth-century recipe), lit them, and threw them in a cualdron where they exploded loudly. This probably comes under the "do't try this at home"category and the smell of sulphur afterward was overpowering, but the ritual was extremely satisfying, great fun, and it brought swift and positive results.

Above all, magic should be creative, intuitive, and flexible. You can try spells otherpeople have written, but ultimately your own spells will be best because they have been created for your specific circumstances and needs. And magic works best when it is kept s imple. The basics are: raise energy; form and visualise what you want in your mind; transfer power to the candle, cord, or mental image; then let it go. Candle spells need to be recharged every day because they rely on the force of fire and because the candle needs to be completely consumed. Other spells can be left alone to do their work.

A satisfyingly large number of spells do work, bringing the desired result or something very close to it. Sometimes the spell needs to be repeated at a later date to improve conditions or help it manifest fully. All magic will work in someway, even if it isn't exactly how you planned, though some results are rapid and some arrive just when you had given up hope. However, occasionally conditions aren't right or something within you is blocking the working and it all backfires,bringing you something totally inappropriate (though not harnful), or even no visibleresult at all. In this situation, you must either work out what is limiting the energy, oryou must accept that this idea is not going to come into being and abandon it.
Beethical, be inventive, respect others' rights and free will. Be determined, but also beprepared to accept that the way the spell works out will be best for you, even if theoutcome isn't what you had dreamed it would be.