All magick dogma regarding spells can be broken down into three requirements.
1) Target
2) Intent
3) Energy
Spells work best when they have a bleedthrough point on every plane. And each of these (3) requirements can be broken down and refined to a great degree. By the way, three is the number of manifestation and the triangle. Before I go into breaking down these (3) requirements I need to define what I've termed as bleedthrough.
If you're into astral projection you've probably heard that a dream can become a lucid dream which can then become an astral projection. And you've probably even heard that an out-of-body experience can become a lucid dream which can become a dream. Taking that a step further one could say physical reality becomes a dream every night, and sometimes an astral projection or out-of-body experience. For all these realities exist within each other and ultimately are connected. For a long time occultists have said that using certain visualization techniques one could attract lovers, curse enemies, gain wealth, etc.
Flashback to a few weeks ago I experienced hallucinations shortly after returning to normal consciousness from an out-of-body experience. In one case I heard a loud growl that couldn't be attributed to anything but an auditory hallucination, in another I saw strange words being written on a wall. Interesting, it's as if my realities had something bleedthrough. Several nights later while talking to a friend I had an epiphany; an accurate model of magick was realized - this isn't a one way street, these realities bleedthrough to the physical as well. Just as we see the physical world while having an OBE, or sometimes notice an apparition while in the physical.
This is as far as my mind goes, pondering multi dimensional time-space is a challenge for another Einstein, which I am not. But I can say that it would seem our consciousness originates somewhere out of time-space. That imagination, dreaming, lucid dreaming, astral project, out-of-body experiences, and physical reality are all pretty much the same thing -- the major difference is how bound to time-space they are. What this means for us is how stable and dense a particular reality is, thus determining how we will perceive such realities as real or dream like.
For example, because physical reality is heavily bound to time-space it is also very dense and very stable. This means if you cause change to the physical the change will be permanent (stability) and require a great deal of energy to cause the change (density). On the other end of the spectrum we have imagination, which is unbound or nearly unbound to time-space and is the least dense and most unstable. This means if you create an image of an apple with your imagination it will quickly fade (unstable) and require very little energy to do so (density). With enough energy and time you would increase it's stability and density until it bledthrough into the physical.
If one were to make a crude diagram of various realities it might be ordered like this (from most bound by time-space, most stable, most dense, most "real", to least bound by time-space, least stable, etc):
1) Physical Plane
2) Etheric Plane (OBEs)
3) Astral Plane (AP)
4) Lucid Plane (Lucid Dreams)
5) Dream Plane
6) Imagination Plane
It shouldn't be thought of as planes, or even realities, but all of these should be thought of non-existent dreams. Meaning they are in actuality located nowhere, there really is no "physical" as we comprehend the word. The physical exists in the same place as a dream exists: nowhere. However, for whatever reason it makes complete sense that the physical is real and exists somewhere. Perhaps we are all just part of a multi colored cloud of electromagnetism like the aurora borealis, who knows.
At this point I'd like to come back to the (3) basic requirements for spells Target, Intent, Energy. Let's go over each of these and how they're used in different paths.
TARGET
This is the being, object, or concept you are targeting via magick. You must be able to establish an energetic connection to a target in order to effect it with magick. There are a multitude of ways of doing this, and thus this list will forever be incomplete:
A) Physical Touch
B) Physical Proximity / using human energy system to reach out and feel target
C) Proxy / using something that the target has been in physical contact or proximity of, and/or emotional attachment
D) Focus / using a picture, name, or symbol in order to establish a link to the target
These are very broad concepts, so I'll include some examples to give a better understanding of how this works. You can also read various books on religious and magical paths in order to deduce what is used by others.
Target and Energetic Connection Examples:
Person: if you had a close relationship you may be able to think back to the person and sense / feel their energy. if you had a (hopefully: important and recently in their possession) physical object of theirs you might be able to pick their energetic link up. one of their friends or family members may be a suitable link if you can differentiate their energies. reversing standard magickal processes you may place an already charged object in a path they are likely to walk over or come in close contact with. if you're able to touch the person or physically get close to the person it's even easier. if no other means are available then a picture might do the trick. as a last resort their name works as well, but a symbol works even better.
I've taken for granted that you already know how to establish an energetic link once you have something to work off of, but it's not that complicated. Think back to a loved one in your life (mother, spouse, childhood friend) try to get that warm fuzzy feeling of knowing them. That's a basic energetic link for that moment of time.
INTENT
What you want to happen as the end result of your working / spell. You will be creating a thoughtform or possibly an alternate reality within your imagination. The more vivid the details, the more stable it is, and the more energy you put into it the more effective the end result will be. Because spells are generally used to effect the physical and the physical is very stable and bound to time-space; bleedthrough occurs at a faster rate when it is more aligned to the physical in terms of likelihood and possibility. If you are trying to say find the love of your life with black hair, green eyes, pale skin, who is also into magick, is beautiful, and loves you more than anything, and this and that, then it will require a great deal of energy and time to build the needed thoughtform(s) or imaginary daydreams. Also be careful what you wish for as the person and/or end result could have undesirable traits as well. But then again, the more deal breakers you put on a spell the less likely it is to happen. In all cases you should imagine the event happening and as if it already happened, but more so with the latter.
ENERGY
This is the raw emotional energy used in magick. This can be generated through many ways: pacts with spirits, sex, trance, physical pain, meditation, sacrifice, orgone generators, or anything that raises your emotions and/or energy circuit. After a target is selected, and an imaginary daydream is created and stabilized, both items in relation to each other are held in the mind and as much energy as possible is released in an attempt to push the imaginary scenario to bleedthrough into the physical. Repeated attempts may be needed depending on the desired result, level of energetic link to the target, and energy put into the process. By the way you have to really want it for it to work with any reasonable success rate.
Just as a side note as mentioned at the beginning spells work best when they have a bleedthrough point on every plane. For example part of the ritual may be on the physical, the other emotional/astral, and the other on the spiritual/mental. I'm a bit tired now, but for a post and not a book on the subject I believe this should be sufficient to point you in the right direction even if I've missed some points or hit off the mark a few times.
WARNING
Be careful what you wish for. After one death and two close calls with death as a result of magick I've grown a great deal at an even greater cost. Altering free-will even when you don't mean harm can have deadly side effects. That's why I've vowed to never use magick again. What we are doing here is altering a natural path, we are tiny creatures that cannot predict the reasons and long term effects playing with our destiny can have. But then again, if it's destiny isn't it destined to happen?
Quote from: Steel Hawk on October 04, 2012, 14:44:33
WARNING
Be careful what you wish for. After one death and two close calls with death as a result of magick I've grown a great deal at an even greater cost. Altering free-will even when you don't mean harm can have deadly side effects. That's why I've vowed to never use magick again. What we are doing here is altering a natural path, we are tiny creatures that cannot predict the reasons and long term effects playing with our destiny can have. But then again, if it's destiny isn't it destined to happen?
I just wanna point out that you use "magick" more often than you think. It's a natural. You can't "not" use it.
Anytime you place enough intent towards a wish... wanting something... etc... that's magick.
I don't call it magick myself, cause that term has too much fluff associated with it, but the metaphor stands.
Do what you want with a good intent, and you'll never have to worry. As Tom Campbell says... the more you grow, the less you want to alter anything around you.