One of the first questions a beginner witch will ask, pretty much without fail, is: “how do I know if my spell worked?”
More experienced witches will say, “you’ll just know.” And while that’s definitely true, it isn’t always helpful to beginners.
I’m one of those students who needs concrete guidelines. I learn from structure, so it was really important for me to figure out exactly how I would know if a spell was successful or not.
Here are 3 easy ways to tell if a spell worked, plus what to do if it didn’t!
1. You’ll Feel Powerful As The Spell Ends
The actual ingredients of any spell are always important, but the most important piece of spellwork is your own concentration. You need to have not only mental focus, but emotional focus.
When you’re focusing so intently on a spell (I typically do it with my eyes closed and my hands outstretched while I chant), you will start to feel the energy buzzing. This feeling will grow the longer you do it.
The energy will build as the spell progresses. If you feel this energy grow extremely powerful as the spell ends, there’s a good chance your spell worked.
99% of the time, this can be accomplished with a lot of focus, plus the desire for the outcome you’re trying to achieve.
Keep in mind that while this means that your energy went somewhere, if you didn’t visualize the spell correctly or used ingredients that don’t match your intention, you may have accidentally done a different spell.
This is why it’s super important to focus very clearly on what you want and use ingredients that align with your desires. However, I find that when you feel this intense energy, it always has to go somewhere, so you definitely did something magical!
2. You’ll Feel Tired Or Complete Afterwards
After this culmination of energy, you might feel a little wiped. If it’s a super large spell, I take a nap, but most of the time I just need to chill out on the couch for a bit.
That’s a clear indication that your spell worked!
Sometimes, I’m not tired at all, but I do feel as though the spell was completed. I know this because I’m not interested in thinking about the topic anymore and feel very clearly that it’s time to move onto another activity.
This is another good indication that your spell is working while you go about your day!
3.You’ll See The Effects Of Your Spell Within 1-2 Months
Most spells take 2 months to work, max. Unless you did a spell for something huge or something long-term (such as a new job, a fertility spell, etc.), then odds are you’ll reap the rewards within 1-2 months.
If your spell was clearly short term (or had no timeline specified) and you don’t notice any change at all within 1-2 months, then your spell either didn’t work or the energy was misdirected in a way you didn’t foresee.
So, what if the spell didn’t work?
First, look to see if anything has happened that you may have caused inadvertently. The Universe always takes the path of least resistance, so your spell may have technically worked in a way you didn’t foresee. This happens quite a lot with love spells and money spells, but it can occur with any type of magic
If your spell had an unintended effect, you can either reverse the spell (if you don’t like what it has done) or cast another that works alongside the current spell (if you don’t mind the effects of it).
However, if there are no unintended effects and nothing has happened at all, then there are two possibilities:
- You didn’t gather enough energy, so the spell didn’t have enough power to work. You will need to do the spell again using different (or more) ingredients, cast a more powerful circle calling on the elements, and spend more time concentrating on focusing your energy during the spell.
- The Universe will not allow your spell to work. Sometimes (though very rarely), a spell is blocked because of karma. In this case, the energy probably dispersed. If you feel in your gut that this is true, then there’s nothing else that can be done at this time. If you’re unsure, using divination tools (such as tarot cards or a pendulum) can help you figure out what happened. Keep in mind that this is super rare and only happens about 1% of the time, for me at least.
Related: 2 Easy Money Spells That Work + Money Spell Troubleshooting
