Hey there my Occulties+,
Welcome to another exciting day at Cat’s Rants.
Today, being relatively uninspired (well, I should say being stuck in a house with 2 people who emulate Mary Typhoid when sick – like coughing on their hand and putting it into a bag of chips and drinking right out of the container of whatever, – which isn’t me being uninspired by this as much as frozen in abject horror at the likelihood of catching their horrid gastroenteritis,) I’m just going to post a little Q&A. 🙂
I know you all love Questions You’ve Asked Me, so let’s get to it! 🙂
Q: If I used the wrong name on a name paper, will my spell not work? For example, if the first name and surname are correct, but the middle name is not, will this render my spell moot.
A: It could. I don’t recommend guessing anything, and I recommend using only information you KNOW about your target.
For example, if I want to do a spell on a John R. Smith, and I decide his middle name is “Rambo,” only to find out it’s something much more common like “Robert” or “Richard,” then this is a little like someone taking your social security number, changing a number, and assuming that’s still going to be you. 😛 So, if you’re suddenly getting mean letters from the IRS because your Social Security number is the one AFTER the one being used and they say “What the hell, close enough, pay so-and-so’s taxes,” would you agree to that? Here’s another scenario. Let’s say you are John Rambo Smith, and you have to go to court the same day as John Robert Smith – John Robert being a mass murderer. So, you, John Rambo, are there on a minor traffic infraction. Seeing as you’re both John R. Smith, would you like to get the death penalty for a traffic infraction just because someone confused you two and said “Close enough, you’re both John R. Smith, after all.”
Am I being ridiculous? 😉
We are named what we are named because that is a method of identifying us. Just like we have fingerprints, and government issued identification numbers, and DNA, and different facial traits, and different histories and etc. All of this little stuff identifies us. I do have friends who have the same name as many other people. This doesn’t make them any less unique of a person, but, should I use them in a spell, I will want to be sure I’m identifying who I’m working with. It is better to PROPERLY name a person than it is to improperly name them. Use what you know. If that’s only an initial in some cases, so be it. If you use the wrong name, then you’re not working on the right person.
The one exception I might take here is using the wrong surname in a situation suchas working with a woman who has changed her maiden name to a married surname of a man she is or is no-longer married to (in some cases using that name instead of her maiden name.) While I personally believe it is BETTER to have someone’s original baptismal name (or birth name, because not everyone is baptized,) when working on them, I believe names they have legally changed still work.
Q: What is a magic wand used for?
A: Most people (if not all) in Hoodoo do not use a wand. However, in some traditions, a wand is used a bit like a pointer stick. It can be used to “trace lines” (so basically to send energy from body, into the wand, to direct it into the making of a magic circle. I have known people to use this implement to literally draw a magic circle out in the dirt.
It is basically an item which energy is sent through, and it is used to direct said energy.
My personal view of it is a cross between a pointer-stick and a maestro’s baton, but as an energy-directing device also.
If you want to Harry Potter it up, if someone is pointing the wand at another person and speaking a chant (assuming actual energy is being sent via will and energy transfer,) they are, technically doing the equivalent of pointing a laser at someone that actually does something – like if I pointed a laser at you and said “ashes” and it bipped out a laser that instantly incinerated you. However, if we go all Disney here, just waving it about and singing a song is not apt to turn pumpkins into coaches or get you all snazzed out in a 1950’s looking ball gown. 😛
As far as tools go, it’s certainly something which has it’s uses in certain paradigms, but it is like a conduit or a wire more than it is like a gun. The wand itself is a device to send the energy, but the energy comes from the mage, not the wand. While a well made wand might send that energy better (that’s a huge argument for another day,) being a novice with a nice wand probably won’t improve your magical ability from 0 to 100. Perhaps thinking of it a bit like a muzzle of a gun with the mage himself or herself being the rest of the gun might be a nice comparison. If the gun itself doesn’t work right, having a nice barrel won’t do too much.
Q: You’ve said “Some things aren’t yours to have” in a few previous posts. Can you expand on this?
A: Yes. I think most of us get that if I’m holding a goose, I can’t wish it into being a duck. A goose is a goose, and if I want a duck, I’ll need to go get a duck. Just praying really hard that my goose turns into a duck *poof* will not make it a duck, and dressing it as a duck won’t make it a duck. We all get this, yeah?
So, sometimes when people come to me, they say “Cat, I love Marvin Sugartitties so much – except he’s dishonest, and uncommunicative, and he cheats, and he isn’t funny, and I don’t like how he laughs, and I think his mama is a bitch, and I think his dog is smelly, and I also hate his political views, but I love Marvin. Can you make Marvin sweet and honest, and communicative, and loyal, and funny, and laugh right, and make his mama be nice, and make his dog die or not smell, and change his political views?” Well, you should go back up to the previous paragraph where I talk about how a goose can’t be a duck. Marvin’s a goose, and you want a duck. I can’t make Marvin someone he isn’t, in other words. In fact, sounds like our theoretical example guy here isn’t who the person wants to begin with. I get that “Marvin” is handsome or has attributes that someone likes, but if so many things do not make you happy, you don’t want Marvin…you probably just want his body. So making Marvin something he isn’t is not possible. In fact, if you work some love mojo on Marvin, he’s just going to still be Marvin, except he loves you lots now. Love spells make someone LOVE you* – so it doesn’t make someone an asshole, it makes an asshole feel love for you.
So making someone into something they aren’t? That’s an example of it’s not going to happen. You want x but it’s not going to happen…
I think most of you get that.
Now, I’m really bad at singing. I could take classes for years, but I’ll never have a melodious voice. Ever. If I do work to try to become a singer, it’s not going to change that I don’t have a nice voice. Physically, I was not graced with a singer’s voice. Even if I learn to hold a tune (also tone-deaf,) I will never sound like an angel. So, having an angelic voice? Not going to happen. I might become like Janis Joplin type of singer, but no one’s going to think I’m say… Karen Carpenter in regards to having a lovely voice – no spell will change that. It’s just how God made me.
I think most of you get that. Some limitations we are born with, and we will likely have regardless of how many spells we do. I’m short. Not growing anymore. I wear heels. I’m too old to grow taller, so that’s as tall as I get. No spell will change that. I’m past the age of growth (positive growth, anyhow, lol, I could get fatter,) so no spell will make me taller.
So….we all get this right? But what’s “Not yours to have,” mean then? Is it the above? In some ways, sure. You’re asking to change what is not yours to change, but that’s not entirely what I mean by not yours to have. Sometimes, for reasons we can’t gather, we don’t get what we want. Maybe I’m in love with someone who’s very compatible with me, who’s not out of my league looks wise, who is a friend, who’s a wonderful person, and no amount of spells makes him budge. And why? Because for some reason only the Universe/God/dess/etc knows, it’s not mine to have. Maybe he has to marry someone else because something big has to happen. Maybe he needs to move to some part of the world that I am not meant to move to. I do think all things happen for a reason, and while it’s a small percentile (very very very small) that we ask for something that SEEMS LIKE it should be easily within our sphere of availability, it’s just not ours to have. The Universe sees your request and rejects it. It’s a very small probability this will happen, but it does.
Q: I heard you like vodka.
A: You heard right. (Seriously, received an email with nothing other than this statement in it.)
Q: How long do you believe is too long to work on a problem? Is there a time limit where you should just say “Well fuck this, I’ve worked too long on this issue and there’s been nothing to show for it!”?
A: Being of a great deal of Irish and Scottish heritage, it’s not in my nature to give up easily or be a quitter. Heck, I’m even related to Robert the Bruce, and I tell myself the story of Robert the Bruce and the Spider when I’m ready to give in. So…for what it’s worth, I understand not wanting to give up on something. However, I also believe that being an idiot is basically defined by doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. So if I cast the same love spell over and over, and get no result, I’m not being smart.
For that reason, I suggest changing your tactics. There is not just one love spell, or one trigger that works to induce feelings of love. Try more than one. Same with money spells, legal spells, job spells, curses, controlling spells – all of these use different elements, different triggers…and maybe you need to cleanse the situation and try again, etc, etc. Change your tactics, adjust your plans, and you might find you’re gaining more traction in the situation than you were before.
However, if you’ve thrown everything and the kitchen sink at a problem spellwise, and it’s been so long that you can’t even remember what it is that you were wanted (what was your need or desire to have thing thing based on) to begin with, it might be time to give up…or maybe even just “put it aside” for awhile. I don’t believe that 10 years of dedication on getting something, when you’ve tried everything and hardly made a dent, is helpful to you. While I can’t give you a set frame of time where if you’ve not gotten something you want, you should just say “Fuck this,” and walk off, I do think it’s reasonable to frequently assess (say every 2 months,) why you want this, how far you’ve gotten in getting this, and how important it is to you to have it. Is it taking over your life? (if so, that’s bad.) Are you obsessed with having it? Do you really NEED this to be happy. It’s okay to give up on something, you know. You can probably return to it at a later time. If it’s valuable to you, it will still be valuable to you. Taking a break from trying to get something you want can be HEALTHY and HELPFUL.
Further, assess what obstacles are there. Maybe I wanted x job, only to realize I need a degree that I don’t have. I didn’t realize this before when I’d started working, and now I have come to the conclusion that I do not want to return to school. There’s nothing wrong with saying “Well, x obstacle came up, and I feel that is more than I wish to overcome – it’s too much to ask for me to get what I want.”
In love matters, if someone’s married and had some kids with someone else since you’ve been together, do you really love them to tear their family asunder just so you can selfishly have them? I don’t think so. But then you probably won’t listen to that. 😉
I guess, in short, it’s not mine to tell you when it’s time to give up. If you’re asking yourself that, then it probably is time to give up – and it’s at least time to reassess if it’s something you still want for yourself. There is no time limit, as far as I’m concerned, but if something is never exactly where you want it to be, you’ve tried everything, and you’re getting sick of trying, ask yourself honestly “Is this worth it, or should I give up?” If you’re ready to give up, then stop spellcasting to that end.
Sorry if this was a brief one, folks. 🙂 Hope you enjoyed it and it was educational. I will try to get another QYAM out next month.
~Cat
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+Still adding my 2014 posts. Sorry. December was overwhelmingly busy – I was working 14+ hour days at the job, which wasn’t leaving much time for writing. 😦
*Love spells can’t make someone compatible with you, but they can make someone feel more lovey towards you. I do not believe in “love zombies” and if it was never compatible, it will just fall apart eventually, no matter how many love spells you do.
Cat’s Rants: Confessions of an Occult Mastermind 