It’s taken me a while to finish this series, and I apologize for the delay. Perhaps you could say that it’s in accordance with the third part of that old saying, the “to be silent” part.

It’s commonly said that when working magick, it has to be done in secret. I’m sure some of this comes from the fact that there are those who don’t believe in magick, or in the power of spells (which are really just prayers). Secrecy is needed to keep people from being persecuted or experience negative consequences to being active in magickal workings. But the “to be silent” part also is borne out of other necessities.

The fact is that our words and thoughts take on a life of their own. If we think it, we’re creating it. So if we were to talk about our magickal undertakings to others, especially those who would doubt, their doubts would be acting against our own work. Our own doubts do the same thing. If we constantly think “Oh, I did a money spell, when’s the money going to come? I’m not getting any money.” then our own doubts are subtly undermining our working, like erosion during a hurricane taking away the beach sand.

We also need to give the universe space to work on our requests. We asked to have our magick spun for the best and highest good of all, didn’t we? Then we need to allow the space for that to happen. Our own ideas of how things should work out may not be what the universe has in store for us or thinks is best. It’s a be careful what you wish for situation. If we don’t allow our wishes to be very non-specific and very much up to the universe/God/Goddess, then we might be setting ourselves up for even bigger problems down the road.

It’s also a test of will, which is the middle pillar of the saying and the glue that holds it all together. Can we be quiet about something? It’s hard. Trust me. I’m a talker. LOL! (Though with the fibro fog, I’m good at keeping secrets because I totally forget them. *grins*) So to not say anything about a spell or ritual or goal is difficult. We want to tell. It’s bursting to get out of us. But, we are silent, for we know the magick has been done and the silence is the fuel that makes it get to work.

Some say that the second part of this saying, “to will”, is the most difficult one to follow. I’m not so sure about that. It’s easy to will things, and then sometimes it can be the most difficult thing in the world. Granted, we all “want” things, but that’s not the same as willing them. Will means you have the power to make something happen. Will means that you are actively working toward a desired outcome.

Think about those two things which we commonly think of as needing a lot of will: losing weight and quitting smoking. It takes an active act of will to do these things, and it’s something that needs to be done on a daily basis. The thought processes which we use to continue to overeat must, for example, be tackled on a daily, sometimes even an hourly or a minute-by-minute basis.

In the case of spellwork and ritual, that will is twofold. First, you must have the will to actually do the spell and craft it in accordance with the purpose of your ritual. You need to do the research and the work to craft your ritual exactly the way you want it. You have to have the will to make the right decisions in performing the spell. This means following the rule of three and harming none.

Secondly, you have to actually have the will to go through with the ritual. Some of our magic is fun, celebratory work. However there are times when we will need to do containment or protective spells, or even banishings. It’s part of the wheel of life and the wheel of the year. We have to have the will to do these things, to take care of problems, and to be active in our solution to them.

Will is the act of performing magick. Will is the action taken when we need to move forward with something. To will it is to make it happen.

So we know what we’re doing (how and why) and now we will it to happen. Next, we’ll discuss the hardest part of all, to be silent.

To know. To Will. To Be Silent. What does it mean?

The phrase might be borrowed or adapted from ceremonial magick, but it holds true in nearly every aspect of our lives, not just our magickal ones. But let’s take a look at this phrase, step by step, piece by piece to see what it really means and how it can apply to our mundane and our magickal lives.

To Know.

What does it mean to “know” something? On the surface, if someone knows something, then it generally means they were taught it or learned it on their own. Someone who knows something is generally seen as a point of contact or expert in sharing and passing on that information. Additionally, someone can “know” something in his or her gut, through intuition. This type of knowing is very important in magickal workings.

When doing a ritual or a spell, it is important to know several things. First, you need to know the actual components of the ritual. The timing, where, when, the components being used, the reason for using those components. You have to know this information in order to have an effective ritual or magick working. You also need to know why you’re doing the ritual. Not just the superficial meaning, though that’s important too, but the deeper one.

And you have to know what kind of an outcome you’re working toward.

There’s a lot of knowing that goes into working rituals or magick. But that’s not all, and we’ll look at the next part of the phrase, “to will” in the next blog.