How to Do Slow Magic

Did you set any new year's resolutions for 2025? If you're like many of us, your resolve has begun to dwindle by now, if your goals have not been altogether forgotten. New Year's Day is rich with the energy of Capricorn, that goat who looks to the tallest mountain and says, "I can handle that!" But, after a couple weeks, that same goat realizes with horror that the mountain is much taller than imagined, and the climb has only begun. Life is challenging, and motivation difficult to sustain. All the claims on our time and energy, all the unexpected problems and the yearning to rest and renew, all erode the discipline to organize our energy toward goals.

Strengthening and empowering that discipline is the subject of my book, Slow Magic: Cultivate Lasting Transformation through Spellwork and Self-Growth. The phrase "slow magic" evokes two compatible meanings: magic in which we slow ourselves down and take smaller, more achievable steps toward a big goal; and magic that is slow because our timeline for manifestation is further out, to make deadlines more realistic. Not many of us welcome this kind of slowness, but engaging it helps us to succeed at taking the steps we need. With that success, momentum builds, and before you know it you're halfway up the mountain.

Our lives are a node in a web of vast connections with other humans, spiritual beings, and the creatures of the natural world. We have our own personal will, as do they, and we live and work magic within this field of wills large and small. Tying our own desire to a larger current of will lets us ride its velocity and force toward our desires. These larger currents might be the gods, your ancestors, or other beings with whom you have relationship.

Let's look at how we can use this slow magic approach to reinvigorate the potency of your goals. You might pick a resolution that's already lost its vitality, or you can try to imagine a new goal. We'll take seven steps toward the manifestation of desire:

1. Identify what you want.
2. Look at the barriers against what you want.
3. Pick the next step toward desire.
4. Choose the ally of your will.
5. Perform a weekly spell.
6. Welcome adversity and aid.
7. Assess your results.

1. Identify what you want.
This step is trickier than it seems. Desire brings up so much conflict within us. We could spend months searching for what is in front of us. We might know exactly what we want but remain unwilling to confront the reasons we don't have it. Magic helps us to address these issues, but it helps to start by detangling your conflicts and getting clarity on what you're truly seeking.

Take time to quietly slow down your breathing, close your eyes, and imagine yourself seven weeks from now, living a life that is significantly better in some way than how it feels right now. Let the image unfold in its way, and try to pay attention to what is different in this life. How do you act and feel in this better future? What is happening around you? Let yourself really stay with this for a while to get a sense of all that is different.

Once you feel complete, take a moment to document what you've noticed, either with journaling, making art, or a voice memo.

2. Look at the barriers against what you want.
When you imagine that better future and compare it to your life right now, what are the differences? What is in the way of you and your desired future?

I will use the example of going to the gym and lifting weights because it's a goal I've followed and struggled with for years. You don't have to ever want to lift a weight in your life, but my reflections on my own process may illuminate some parallels with your own desire. Let's say I haven’t exercised in years, but I imagine in seven weeks that I'll be bench pressing three hundred pounds. Obstacles on that path of that future could include: not having a gym membership; having no regular exercise practice; no knowledge of how to lift weights effectively and safely; fear of ridicule and failure; and so much weakness that three hundred pounds will take much longer to achieve.

This examination takes courage. Many of us look at these barriers and give up because it feels overwhelming. We're looking at the entire mountain, what it would take to get to the top, and that's a very different experience than climbing it in a slow, steady way—the slow magic process.

What's helped me is to reframe how I think about obstacles. I used to think, "This is in the way of what I want." I’ve started thinking, "This is on the way to what I want."

What is in the way are barriers that block and defeat us. What is on the way are simply stations on a longer journey. We need to face them, move through them, or pass by them on the way to where we want to go, but they don't have to stop us. Even if it's a trial, it doesn't have to be the end.

3. Pick the next step toward desire.
Looking at our barriers helps us to make goals with sober appraisal. We're less likely to set ourselves up for failure with unrealistic expectations. Instead we can focus on the steps we must take, the issues we must address, and the skills we must learn on the path of desire. These are the next steps.

Return to your imagined goal and go deeper. In your vision, what has changed? How are you acting and feeling? What's happening around you? Do you imagine you're engaging in a consistent practice, like budgeting, exercising, or meditating daily? Do you imagine yourself in totally different conditions—on vacation, new job, in a relationship—or do you imagine the same conditions but with greater peace, courage, or stillness?

In my example, if I were somehow able to be benching 300 pounds, what would that make possible? I might feel more confident. I might feel strong in my body. I might feel confident about going to the gym two to three times a week. All of these are achievable even if the three hundred pounds goal is not. Getting a gym membership and starting to go once or twice a week are tasks I could absolutely accomplish in seven weeks.

Pick one of those achievable goals and write it as a declaration. "In seven weeks, I will [take this step.]"

4. Choose the ally of your will.
Now, imagine that you are looking at a vast ocean. Across the way is an island on which your desire lives. Between you and that desire are many currents of force moving in different directions. In a physical ocean, currents move beneath the surface across vast distances, and some sea creatures migrate through riding those currents. In this imaginal ocean of possibility, there are seven currents of force moving in various directions, each a color of the rainbow. One current flows toward the island where your desire lives. See what color your intuition draws you toward.

Each of these currents represents the force of an astrological planet or luminary acting through our world. Each planet offers its own flavor of energy, its own gifts and challenges to our lives. We can actively invite their powers to aid us. We can connect our longing to their action in the world, and make our journeys much easier. Below I will list the five planets and two luminaries of classical astrology, along with their corresponding colors and days of the week. If you had an intuition of a color to aid you, see if it corresponds to one of these. If you had no intuition, then pick the ally that seems like it would help you most with your desire.

Moon

• Day: Monday
• Color: Silver or Light Purple
• Powers: Nurturing, emotional intimacy, and the experience of safety and security.

Mars

• Day: Tuesday
• Color: Red
• Powers: Will, vigor, courage, self-assertion, and the capacity to engage in firm confrontations.

Mercury

• Day: Wednesday
• Color: Orange
• Powers: Intelligence, curiosity, skepticism, and the ability to engage in skillful negotiation.

Jupiter

• Day: Thursday
• Color: Blue or Royal Purple
• Powers: Broad perspective, wisdom, leadership, and the ability to teach others.

Venus

• Day: Friday
• Color: Green or Pink
• Powers: Beauty, fertility, prosperity, and the ability to attract helpful people and resources.

Saturn

• Day: Saturday
• Color: Black
• Powers: Fortitude, endurance, discipline, and the capacity to create solid structures.

Sun

• Day: Sunday
• Color: Yellow or Gold
• Powers: Calm confidence, purpose, spiritual creativity, and the ability to inspire.

5. Perform a weekly spell.
Finally, the fun magic! Thinking and self-reflection are not the most exciting part of the work. Everything leading up to this step, however, has been critical for your magic. You have gotten clarity into your inner and outer conditions so that your spell has a greater chance of success.

Acquire candles in a color associated with the ally you've chosen. I would recommend buying seven small candles that will burn through in one night, or one large candle that could burn in shifts over seven weeks. If you can't find candles in the color of the ally you've chosen, white will serve.

Take your candles and cleanse them with sacred smoke, sunlight, or saltwater. Release their old energies and essences that they may be ready for your intention. Tell your candles their new work. "You will light the path on which I will achieve my desire, which is [The declaration you wrote in step 3.]."

On the day that is sacred to your astrological ally, perform this ritual: Light the candle. Extemporaneously call the name of the whose aid you are petitioning for help and ask it to be with you. Ask for its powers to infuse you and this working. Imagine the powers of this planet gathering in support of you, perhaps becoming a current that lifts and carries you gently on the path toward desire.

Light the candle and meditate upon its fire for about twenty minutes. If you are using smaller candles, you might let them burn all the way through. For larger candles, extinguish them to relight later.

Say thank you to the astrological ally. Pay attention to how it shows up for you in the next week. Then repeat the ritual on the same day for the next seven weeks.

6. Welcome adversity and aid. During the time in between your weekly candle rituals, engage in the tasks related to your goals. Sign up for the gym and start going. Call a coach for help. Send out applications for jobs. Whatever it is you've listed as being on the way to your desire, start working on it.

If your desire is more emotional or spiritual, you might have less to "do" so much as an effort to stay contemplative of the change you are trying to make and continue working on it. Some desires might be to stop doing things, like to quit vaping, but even here you are not simply being and allowing the results to unfold. If help arrives, welcome it with gratitude and find a way to make it work for you.

Eventually, you will encounter struggle or a setback. Things will get hard. You might forget your intention or fall out of the habit. You might experience what we sometimes call "resistance." Honor all of these as validations that you are on your path, for as you'll recall, on the path we encounter many things, including obstacles and foes who might not support our journey.

This is where the work of slow magic is most transformative. Adversities, setbacks, and resistance are all the conditions inside and around you that need your magic and presence so that they can transform in alignment with your desire. These are the experiences that you'll want to meet with the power of your planetary ally. Be kind to yourself, stay firm in your resolve, and continue your rituals of calling for aid. If you "fail," start again.

7. Assess your results.
After seven weeks, take stock of your life and your desire. What have you accomplished? Are you living as you imagined you would? Do you have more clarity as to what needs to happen for your desire to really come to pass? Do you have more clarity on what you want or don't want? Acquiring any of this information is a win.

Consider in what ways you have manifested your desire, even if it seems small or not as grand. But also, consider what your manifestation tells you about your efforts toward realization. Let's say you made no apparent progress toward this goal at all—instead of declaring yourself a failure, take this opportunity for gathering information on what you could try next. What was happening in your life that blocked your flow? Is it possible that the ally you called upon for aid was not the right energy for the job? Are you feeling conflicted about your desire in a way that makes it hard to move? Are there things happening around you, in the world, that made it hard to manifest?

All of this helps refine and enhance your manifestations. Maybe I got to the gym but injured myself because the powers of Mars made me too aggressive. Perhaps I need to back up and call upon the powers of Jupiter to help me find a trainer, coach, or class that will teach me the movements safely.

Now you can choose whether to recommit, renegotiate your commitment, or let go of your goal and open the space for something else to have your energy. You might also turn toward your ally and ask for wisdom around how to continue deepening your relationship with its powers and movement in your life.

Take in your successes with pride. Celebrate that you were willing to ask for and receive support to bolster your own strength. Think about where you want to go now. Perhaps you're curious about another current of force moving through your life, a different ally? Sometimes I do a spell simply because I want to get to know a new spiritual friend. Perhaps when you realized one desire, it became something new? There is so much to explore here, which you can find in my book. Slow magic walks us through the paradox, in which we are both initiator and recipient of our work.