Hey there Occulties,
Sorry for the obnoxious level of times we discuss things like these. If people asked me different questions, it would come up less. ;)
So, what reasons are the most common of reason that a spell seems to not be working? Let's review:
*You haven't given it enough time to work.
For example, if I ask you to write me a 45 page paper, annotated, with a very-strong bibliography, and you agree, and then I ask "Why isn't that paper done?" the moment that you agree, this is similar to the person who is complaining that a spell isn't working within a day or so. Or, perhaps if you planted a seed, and then 2 hours later, upon not even seeing a sprout, you complained "This isn't working! It's a dead seed!" This is similar to you complaining a spell isn't working a few days (or even immediately after) after you cast the spell.
In today's world of instant gratification, all too often, people assume that they will be instantly awarded with whatever thing the spell was supposed to impart, and that is rarely (very incredibly extremely rarely,) how spells work. I would tell you the amount of times I've seen it happen in 30 years of spellcasting (which includes 15 of those years working for others, so I cast A LOT OF SPELLS,) but you would be very discouraged (hint, it might be under 10 times.) So, if you're pissed nothing is working a few days later, the problem may be your impatience.
As a weird side note, when people ask me "how long will this take to manifest?" it virtually always takes approximately 2 weeks longer than I would have originally have estimated before they asked that question. Don't ask me why, it is just a weird thing I've noticed over the years. Actually, I have a theory, and that is that people more prone to behaviors that fall under lust for results (described below) are more prone to asking that question, AND they also set a "death clock" or "fail date," (both of which I will describe below.)
A lot of the time frame will depend on how big of a change needs to be made, if it involves a person currently biased against the desired result (like romantic issues), and also can be based on certain dates (example, you want a job but they only hire on the first and fourth tax quarters.) Relying on the faulty 3/3/3 system proposed by another occultist some years ago (three months, three weeks, three days,) would be like me altering that to 4/1/2 (4 days, 1 year, 2 weeks,) and having a boatload of people actually think I didn't make that up. Sure it sounds slick, but it's not true. I have heard the slightly more relevant "mooncycle" (a period of 28-30 days or so is normal in certain cases,) but I'd just say, in most cases you will have visible movement (not necessarily full manifestation) within 2-8 weeks. If you're saying "Wow, that's a ridiculous difference," well, you're basically asking me something like "Cat, how long does any injury of any kind take to heal," and expecting that things like a papercut will heal in the same time frame as a broken leg with multiple fractures. The reality is there is no blanket answer to how long will this take, and the unfortunate (but entirely accurate) answer is "As long as it needs to." People don't like that answer. So, I guess start getting itchy and plaintive by the 8th week if TOTALLY NOTHING IS HAPPENING…but of course, then you run the risk of the next point….
*You set a date to fail by.
As much fun as it is to say "death clock," and "fail date," (they are the same thing) it isn't something fun. What is this? It's a weird phenomena that occurs when someone says (to themselves, generally, and usually repetitively) "If x thing has not happened by (specific date,) the spell has failed." What ends up happening here, is, thanks to that nifty law of attraction, they actually put out "X spell will fail/not manifest by (specific date.)" It's a bizarre thing, but I've seen it a lot.
Let me give you an example… While I haven't heard from him in years, and he was a nice fellow, so that's a shame, an old client of mine was like Mr Textbook with this stuff (ha,) and so he had asked about a particular lady friend in a reading and when would he hear from her. They had been out of touch for awhile. "Well, by (whatever date but a specific one,)" I reply, and so this date comes and goes. He asks me for a reading the day after this date when I'd said she'd contact him, and I schedule him in for a day after. So that means, I'm speaking to him 2 days past the date I'd mentioned for when this lady friend would contact him. When I call him, he's like "Oh, Cat, oh my, I almost made a huge mistake!" So I ask him what's that, and he said "I scheduled this reading because (lady friend) hadn't called me 2 days ago when you said she would and she just called me an hour ago! Hahaha," and I was like "If you ever tell me off for something like that, I'll hang up on you well before you have finished speaking a single sentence in a rude tone, so that was a bad idea." Then I explained "fail dates" and "death clocks." See, he'd put so much into that "Cat's an asshat if (ladyfriend) doesn't call and I will have to be a jerk to her, if (ladyfriend) doesn't call by (specific date), because if she doesn't call then, she won't ever call," that he literally pushed that outcome off that date. He released all his emotions/expectations, and WHOOSH she called.
This isn't a specific single-time event. I see it A LOT right around birthdays and the Winter Holiday season. There's a reason I actually feel readings are self-defeating and over-used with certain people, and that reason is "death clocks." People get so wound up about a specific incident happening, that their anxiety couples with the law of attraction, and creates a delay. And the moment they are like "Well, that failed, this is all screwed up," the desired incident happens a handful of days later.
Now a sort of interesting inverse form of fail date was a situation where a client, for their own reasons, could not bear the idea of being the one to break up with their partner so they asked me to use magic. After a bit of saying that it was much easier to be direct with the person and break up with them, I accepted the case. On Christmas Eve, I get "Well, (target) just told me that (target) is done with us and wants to break up! My ex-spouse broke up with me on Christmas Eve, and (target) knows that! You have to stop it! Any day but TODAY, this is horrible! (Target) knows this day, this specific day, is like scarring to me! Please stop the break up!" And I said I could not. That even if I reconciled the situation that the spell had manifested and I could not unmanifest it, so I would be reconciling a person that they didn't want, and the reconciliation would happen after Christmas Eve, when it was no longer really relevant about it being a hurtful date to break up on.
That person so feared that the break up would occur on this date where their ex-spouse had left them, that it actually manifested on that date. Which is a bit weird. I want to say I did the work about six weeks before Christmas (it was years ago, but I remember them fussing more and wondering why the delay, and just assumed the target wanted to wait til after Christmas to break things off.) So the nature of that kind of work would not have led me to believe it would happen on or after Christmas but before. I did not know my client's ex left them on Christmas Eve. But the client knew. And the client had set it up that as long as it DID NOT happen on Christmas Eve, the client was fine with the situation. While telling me of this might have avoided that outcome, it actually drew the date to…Christmas eve.
Remember what I say all the time…we should all fear becoming successful billionaires, because what you fear, you draw to you.
Ah, and when I said I had discussed this in a previous article to Q&A: Terms and Conditions, just so you know, that's because I started writing this article before that one, the other just got published first. 
*You lack something necessary in acquiring what you desire
What? Shouldn't the spell make you have all the necessary things for getting what you want? Well, no. If you have no arms, you cannot punch yourself in the face. You can try all you want, but you can't do it. So, if you do not have the training to be a surgeon, if you, in fact, even lack a high school degree, you cannot be a surgeon. If you want someone who is gay, but you are not the same sex, you do not have the required genitalia to get that person to feel romantic love for you.
These are all kind of obvious things, of course, and while I do get requests where people want to have a job they can never get (or at least would need to train years to get,) or want to make someone at least bisexual because the person is not orientated to desire the person who wants them back, it is only a handful of people who have made these requests over the years. In fact, the above is a bit less subtle than having to tell someone who is tone-deaf with a lousy voice that they are not likely to become the next pop-star (though with auto-tuning, one never knows,) or someone who has a horrible sense of balance that they are probably never going to become a prima ballerina no matter how many spells they cast.
At some point, we must accept our own obvious limitations. I am a short woman. I will likely never play professional basketball, not least of all because I also have bad knees (it's inherited,) and suck at sports (my sports ability may not be inherited, ha,) but also because I am of an age where the best pro-ball players are retiring or have recently retired.
Don't get me wrong – people break through in industries where they should have had no chance, but, realistically if you need a degree for something, if you need a license as well…these are not going to be things that lighting a candle once will fix. If you've always lacked a sense of gracefulness, I don't believe that magic is apt to ever fix that. And as far as loving someone who can't love you because they are straight or gay, and you play for the "other team," – well, as fluid as some people have made their sexuality at this writing, there are still plenty of people who don't feel comfortable with that, and no amount of spellcasting will "turn someone gay" or "turn someone straight" or "suddenly make a person bi." I'm sorry. It just won't.
*Lust for results/Thinking the Spell to death:
I have discussed this so much, I've actually come to realize that I might have to create a category, just so people can read all about it (and probably tell me that no, I am mistaken, or that I am so wrong and this is not an actual problem, etc, etc.) This right here is the NUMBER ONE REASON FOR SPELL FAILURE. It doesn't matter if you don't like that or you don't want to believe that it is the number one reason for spell failure. If I decide that I think, say, that you can't gain weight once you've stopped growing (taller,) that doesn't mean that it's true and that I will remain the same weight I was at 14-15 or so when I stopped growing taller (and that's a good thing…I could NOT gain weight in my teens to the point of looking emaciated, but still eating like a field hand.) If I decide that I don't believe earthquakes exist, they still happen. Deciding something doesn't exist or is some "convenient excuse," doesn't stop the reality of it being so when it becomes your problem.
It is, unfortunately, very difficult to see how deeply one is experiencing lust for results when you are the one experiencing it. I would guess that it is like many mental illnesses in that respect. You might have some idea there is a problem, but the depth of it escapes you whilst maladjusted. Believe me, kids, I too have gotten sick with this problem before, and looking back on my own self, I had some idea that I had some lust for results, but it is hindsight that revealed how greatly I underestimated my own problem. And that can be a problem….because it's going to affect your spellwork, and it can affect your life and personal relationships, too.
While you may wish to read this article, and this one, and heck if you're in a love relationship, this one, you might have lust for results if:
You react to everything with lengthy crying sessions or finding yourself completely immobilized even by a relatively trivial event (grief and upset over a situation should NOT snowball or escalate over time – with lust for results, you often see a scale of heightening reaction as time passes,) for example, someone not reading your text causes you to be upset (even crying) for hours.
You find yourself thinking about the situation you're spellcasting on, as well as the people involved SEVERAL times a day. Often the spell, the situation, and the people involved take up at least 1/4 of what the person thinks of every single day.
You blame "blameless" parties for trying to antagonize you or cause you more distress (example: a "rival" for someone's attention who does not know who you are posting pictures where they are with your intended target on social media, your phone for not ringing when you put it on "do not disturb," as being some Apple/Android based conspiracy to make you miss a call, someone flirting with you in the same room as your desired target for reconciliation who is unaware that you want your ex or that your ex is present, et cetera…and those are all actual examples I have witnessed numerous times.)
You concoct frequent "what if" scenarios in your mind to mentally prepare yourself for several situations, many of which are not likely to ever happen. (Example "What if I run into (target) when I'm walking out of the supermarket looking like crap?" when you have never run into this person in this store at any time in the past, or "What if when I go out on this date, my ex shows up," when you have never run into your ex at a particular restaurant, "What if my boss asks me to do something I was never trained to do when it is not part of the job description for the job I'm trying to be promoted to?" etc).
You feel that you need to "control" the situation, and that spying on someone is "controlling" the situation or "being in control." (Many people with lust for results do a lot of stalking.)
You deflect responsibility for your own mental state and/or problems onto everyone else, or call being wholly out of control of your own behavior/actions as "understandable" when multiple hours/days/weeks/months of unstable/irrational behavior clearly are not "normal."
Those might be some of the most extreme examples, but if you're easily anxious and emotional, spellcasting can sure suck. The best way I know to handle it is to 1.) accept the situation (this may even require a period of grieving,) and acknowledge you can't GO BACK, only FORWARD, so attempting to keep something "just like it was," is going to impede PROGRESS. One example might be if my ex cheated on me, and that caused our break up. I can't reverse his cheating. I can't reverse our break up. I can progress to a reconciliation, to being healed from the pain the cheating caused, etc. 2.) Remember you must act a certain way to get what you want, not get what you want to act a certain way. Example, "I will calm down when he texts me," is wrong. It should be "I will calm down SO he texts me." Another example "I will stop acting so angry and vindictive towards people when they start acting nice to me," should be "I am going to be nice to people so that they are nice to me." See, the problem with saying you'll behave or act right when x thing happens is it often is blind to the fact that your own behavior is causing whatever you feel is worthy of your antagonism. This seems to be clearer in a non-emotional context: "I will stop buying things I can't afford when I have enough capital to be secure," should be "When I have enough capital to feel secure, I would be able to buy things I currently can't afford." I can't tell you the numerous times I've dealt with someone who legitimately felt it was acceptable to act like a batshit crazy person because someone wouldn't be nice to them, despite them in no way being nice or encouraging kindness towards this party…and they EXPECTED the other person to play nice first. Nope. If you don't like how someone is acting, change the way you act towards them. 3.) As I said in another article, attitude is everything. How would you feel if this thing you want was part of your life. Not the moment you received it (you wouldn't walk around for the rest of your life super-elated,) but if it was part of your life already. If the answer is "I'd be an anxious emotional mess who cries at the drop of a hat, stalking this same person on social media," then congratulations, you're already there. If it's "I'd feel much more secure, less defensive, and I would feel a sense of contentedness," then you need to try to make that your attitude now. Your emotions are energy, – they can repulse or attract things you desire. 4.) Live in the present – not the past, not the future, the present. Anxiety and depression tend to arise when someone does not live in the present. So even if yesterday was shitty, and you don't know what tomorrow holds, you can handle what is happening RIGHT THIS MINUTE. Maybe it isn't exactly what you wanted, but I assure you, by doing your best to handle right now, you're going to have a better future. Example: If Sally broke up with Bob last week, and keeps thinking how awful she was to him which is upsetting, but thinks if she just imagines a perfect future instead of dealing with what's going on right this second, she is likely to be anxious, upset, and depressed. If Jim knows he still feels sad about his break up last week, but works on how he handles his emotions and behavior today, he is usually feeling a lot more stable.
Look all of that can be confusing, and it's not even a whole list of possible ways to handle lust for results. Let's just be clear, it's a huge spell killer. It's basically obsessive anxiety. It sucks. If you think you're falling into this trap, you need to find a way out as fast as you can. I can suggest a few different things, but if you really can't get out of that pit, you might need a psychiatrist, not a psychic. Mental health is physical health.
You need a different spell:
Sometimes we think we are using the "best route" to what we want and we aren't. I tell my clients this story, and no doubt I've shared it here, too. Many many years ago, when I was a very young woman, a friend of mine broke my heart. He did it in a very very rotten way, because he was also very young, and sucked at handling things well. About 8-9 years later, he contacted me and asked me out on a date. I told him off and made it clear that he was a piece of shit and didn't he remember all those things he'd said/done when we were young, and that he'd broken my heart, and I no longer respected him. It was literally like all the vile feelings I forgot I had rose to the surface and vomited all over his face. He was mortified, and excused himself from the convo. But, I was like "how could he forget that!?" so I did a spell to make him feel guilty for the pain he'd caused. A lot of time passed without me hearing a peep about it. I forgot about the spell. Years later, I had to tell him about the passing of a mutual friend, and he invited me to see him. We'd been very close when younger, and it wasn't an odd request. When we finally bring up "the big fight," I came to realize my spell REALLY WORKED. He'd felt terrible FOR YEARS after I cast the spell…but he wasn't the type of person to discuss that sort of thing unless he was one-on-one, in your presence. (I completely inwardly facepalmed.) Yes, we remembered certain parts differently, but this is a pretty tough cookie, and he told me I hurt him to his soul. That he thought all of the time for a long time what I'd said and felt absolutely terrible. He asked me to "forgive [him] for being a 22 year old boy," because that was the biggest cause of his bad behavior and he could see how I felt it was more malicious in nature.
So, had I been very invested in getting that apology, while my spell did work, I would say I didn't know so for years….and I'd be disappointed if all I ever needed was the apology. I would have had to use something else to get him to fess up earlier.
People get very disappointed when one spell works rapidly in one situation, but falls flat in another. Don't be! This is no different than the fact Aleve works wonders for Mr NinjaCat, and does nothing for me, while Advil is the only OTC painkiller that works on me, and Aleve and Tylenol do jack and shit. Is one of us broken or something? NO! It merely means that sometimes you need to find a different solution, even if it's for the same problem. This doesn't mean it's an ass backwards solution. It means…sweetening up one target might make them want to reconcile while using controlling work makes them combative VS another target reacting well to controlling reconciliation and hardly reacting to sweetening work.
*You have unseen obstacles.
I am a big, big, big fan of roadopener work. I add it to most of my spellwork. It breaks down little unforeseen problems in manifestation. I highly recommend it.
Hopefully this has been enlightening and not too repetitive. I legitimately am working on 3 other articles (2 of them SPELL articles,) so I'm sorry for all of the review. Sometimes when I get inundated with a lot of the same types of questions, review is the way to go.
Best,
~Cat
Cat’s Rants: Confessions of an Occult Mastermind 
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