What’s intent good for, then?
Yesterday I wrote a post about how intent really isn’t everything in magic; how sometimes, intent doesn’t even matter.
This post is full of my personal beliefs and opinions, many of which stem from UPG. I present this post as an explanation of how I work my path, which is in no way “standard,” universally compatible, or even helpful or a good idea depending on where you stand.
I think intent has become an umbrella term. I think that when we say intent, it might actually mean different things depending on context.
Intent as a noun: The desired outcome of a work of magic, meditation, or ritual. E.g. “My intent for the spell was to bring a feeling of happiness and peace to my life.” This desired outcome might be crystalized into specific statement, e.g., “My intent for the spell was, ‘I live a life of joy.’”
Intent as a verb: An application of willpower, used to raise, direct, and program energy. E.g. “Remember to maintain your intent for the entire spell.”
I think that if we accept these two definitions, both are necessary aspects of practical magic, but neither are “everything.”
Let me dive into my perspectives on this!
I believe that choosing a desired outcome is a necessary part of practical witchcraft.
I believe that what separates a working of magic from just faffing about with energies is that it has an end goal.
To the extent that practical witchcraft is working towards a desired outcome, that desired outcome is by definition the intent of the spell, whether or not it’s crystalized into a single statement.
In this sense, I do not believe we can ever get around the concept of intent within witchcraft.
However, choosing intent is only a starting point. It’s the shape we’d like reality to take, a wire-frame or a template if you will. It’s choosing the road to travel down.
Once I’ve chosen that road, I still must take action to render that wire-frame; fill out that template; and roll my wheels down the road.
Intent is a necessary starting point, but it isn’t everything.
If a spell is a vehicle, your willpower is the transmission, and this makes your willpower vital.
In an automobile, the transmission is what moves power from the engine to the wheels.
It doesn’t matter how much gasoline you have or how big the engine is. The wheels aren’t going to go unless the transmission is present.
My willpower is the transmission. It is a required mechanism to convert raised metaphysical power into real movement. In this sense, my willpower must be present and can’t be substituted.
This implies, of course, that as the witch you don’t have to be the gasoline.
I do not have a huge amount of personal power. In fact it’s quite limited. So when I do spells, I can’t power them with my personal energy. I mean I could, but then I’d be in bed for a week and a half.
When I was new to witchcraft, when I heard “your will and intent are everything,” I thought this meant everything about my spell relied on me expending as much willpower and focus as possible: that its power relied on my exertions alone.
I tried for a really long time to try to be the transmission and the gasoline. It didn’t work.
I failed to realize the point of my stones, herbs, incense, and candles, were to provide that energy for me.
All I ever had to do was engage my willpower to transfer the fuel I gathered into the wheels of motion :)
So my willpower was always vital, but it was never the only thing involved in powering my spells. There were always external energies present that would readily provide the bulk of the power for the spell itself. In fact, the energy from my willpower might easily be only a fraction of the total power involved in a spell.
I always needed to expend effort and energy, but my effort and energy weren’t everything. Even without them, my spell still had power. The power would just never hit the road and start rolling without me.
I believe that choosing a desired outcome is necessary for spellwork, but once chosen the intent must still be filled up and empowered; and while our own willpower directs energies towards that intent, our willpower itself doesn't need to be the fuel. Given these definitions, intent is always necessary, but it is never everything.