I love watching smoke rise from burning incense. I am mesmerized by the flickering candle flame on the altar. I love drinking ritual wine from my chalice and smelling the scent of a magickal oil. But it’s hard to involve all those things in my day-to-day life, as I’m at work, driving in a car, on a subway or talking with my mother. My teachers taught me that magick is a part of your everyday life, and not only for the nights of the full moon, with closed doors or deep in the woods. You have to find ways of working magick into everything you do, from the high ceremonial acts with fancy tools to the mundane issues of life that come up when you least expect them and are least prepared for them. Everything is an opportunity to exercise your magickal spirituality.

So while I was taught traditional spellcrafting using incense, oils, herbs, and candles, I was also taught how to direct my will, move energy, and create change with no tools at all. I call this instant magick, because you can do it anytime, with little preparation, and because many of the results seem instantaneous, as it’s applied to immediate situations at hand. It’s not a substitution to traditional magick, but a modern interpretation of simple folk magick that compliments any traditional training. Many magickal practitioners already do this, but few books and courses talk about how. Books often talk about how the only magickal tool or ingredient you really need is yourself, but don’t explain fully how to apply your will without ritual and tools. Most assume that once you understand how to work magick in the traditional sense, you will eventually learn how to apply your skills in non-conventional ways. Instant Magick: Ancient Wisdom, Modern Spellcraft is one of the only books to look at spell casting from this no-tools approach.

My first exploration into instant magick started when I was still skeptical about magick, wondering what was coincidence and what was really magick. I had high expectations, and what little results I was getting from my magick left me somewhat unimpressed. One result that did impress me and really opened me to the reality of magick was an instant magick parking spell. At the time, I was attending a university that was notorious for having inadequate parking for its commuting student body. You would either have to arrive ridiculously early for your class to find parking, or park many miles away and take a shuttle bus to the campus. I learned that you could magickally “zap” for a parking space as you were driving to a destination by taking a few moments to visualize a parking space wherever you desired it, even near the door of the building, and imagine yourself pulling into it, as if the space was waiting just for you. I would often say a prayer to the Goddess and God as I did so, silently saying something like, “I ask in the name of the Goddess and God to grant me a parking space that is correct and for my highest good. So mote it be.” When I arrived at my destination, the parking space would be where I envisioned it, or fairly close by. The first time I did this spell, it worked, but I though it was luck or coincidence. The second time was a little more impressive. The third time made me think something was going on. After a semester of consistent parking space success, I was a believer in instant magick. Since then I learned acts of instant magick for fixing machines, keeping warm in cold weather, healing, spirit communication, animal communication, and protection.

When instant magick is taught, one of the problems for some students is the dependence upon visualization. If you are not using tools or physical ingredients, the magick is often described in terms of visualizations. In your mind’s eye, you imagine what you want. Sometimes it’s that simple. But what if you can’t visualize well? Can you still do instant magick? Definitely. By working with my own students over the years, I’ve learned that not everybody visualizes well, and they don’t necessarily need to learn to visualize. There are many ways of applying your will to manifest magickal change. You intention is the most important factor.

In Instant Magick, I outline a system of many energetic correspondences that can be used in place of, or in conjunction with, traditional visualization. Most spell books use physical correspondences, tools to work with to help the practitioner harness a particular energy. If you want to work with the intentions of success and health, which are ruled by the Sun astrologically, you would do magick involving yellow and gold, including candles, stones, and even herbs with a strong solar connection, like sunflowers. Instant magick correspondences use non-physical correspondences. You can build a relationship with energies through other psychic senses to attune with these spiritual forces and manifest your will. To do the same solar magick, you might attune to the feelings of your solar plexus chakra, and direct your solar will from it without visualization. You might petition a solar deity, archangel, or spirit to help you in your goal, using the skills of psychic speaking, rather than visualization, to communicate with the entity. You can use affirmations or magickal words to make your intention clear and carry your will. You can attune to the energies of the elements, planets and your own body to make magick. Quite literally in magick, where there is a will, there is a way.