This is my personal Book of Shadows. If you find it useful or helpful in any capacity, please consider buying me a Coffee.

Developing Incantations

In contemporary witchcraft, cute little rhyming couplets are both common and fun to work with. But it's also not necessary, or always even practical; you can't always come up with based rhymes on the spot. Nor do you necessarily even have to. You can keep it simple and speak plainly in your everyday language.

Now with that being said, let me ask you something. What's the difference between this:

Creature of fire, this charge I lay: No phantom in thy presence stay! Hear my will addressed to thee; as my word, so mote it be!

And this:

Candle flame, I give you this job: Chase away all illusions, uninvited spirits, and energies that conflict with my intent in this spell. As I command you, you have listened, and my will has been done.

The main difference is really just the aesthetic of it. So it comes down to what you want, and how you’d like your personal craft to look, sound, and feel to you; if you vibe with the thys, thees, and motes, then you should go with the former. If you the clarity of simply telling the candle to do exactly what you want, go with the latter. Either way, they’re both going to pretty much do the exact same thing. There’s nothing wrong with either approach.

On the other hand, however, your words have incredible power and the specific language used can really matter. And in that regard, there is a fairly significant difference between "candle flame, chase away all unwanted spirits" and "candle flame, chase away all uninvited spirits". So it's also about what you want to have happen- and so it's important to consider the implications of your words when developing incantations.

Having a standard format for designing them can really help. Creating a format is a great way to explore your personal path, and can aid in building charms because you're not just starting with a blank slate every time. For example:

  1. Name the influencing powers or energies
  2. State what you want them to do
  3. Describe how your will becomes manifest
  4. Affirm that your will shall be done
  5. Close or seal charm

An end result using the above format may look like this:

Sun and Moon crown my room, and cradle me to sleep. Not the outside world, nor stress, nor nightmares, will touch me while in your keep. My will is spoken, my word complete; by my power, so mote it be

Standard formats can also make memorization easier because you know what part comes next; if you've just finished naming the powers, then you know that every single time, next comes telling them what you want them to do.

You don’t have to come up with your own every time, however. You can simply reuse and repurpose ones you already know, have memorized, or have access to in books or other sources; there is no practical reason why all of your spells or charms must be totally independent and unique in the first place.

Main Sources

  • Tumblr user @windvexer