Magical Diagnosis
how to choose the right spell for quick results.
The spell hit me hard one morning. It didn’t feel compulsive or defensive. I was certain.
As somewhat of a spell ingredient hoarder, I had everything on hand: black salt, rock salt, chilies, a cauldron, white copal, black fabric, a needle and thread.
The chalky resin sizzled on hot charcoal, smoke filling the room, refracting morning sunlight. I drew a quick circle with a selenite wand and wrote his name down twice, on two separate pieces of paper.
Whispering the banishing under my breath, one paper burned, his name dissolving into ash. I rolled the second piece away from my body, then sewed it tightly inside a black cotton tomb.
I’d done it. I’d made the decision. He’d never be back unless I let him. And never in the same way as before.
The next day, he called and broke up with me. I could breathe again.
Yes, this really happened. And it’s exactly how quickly magic can work when you’re sure of what you want.
Most problems in life can be traced back to a dance between desires. Or, an overwhelm so heavy, it’s hard to take a full breath. In either case, it’s terribly difficult to make a decision and almost impossible to choose a spell.
This post should help.
Why Magical Diagnosis Matters
I think we can all agree that banishing a dude isn’t really about the dude. And this, my friends, is where folk magic and witchery get to be the best and most fun form of self help.
Magical diagnosis matters because we’re excavating your psyche for the thing beneath the thing. Once you know what’s lurking beneath the incessant chatter and “reason” of your mind, it’s easy to send all of your power and energy to the root cause of unrest.
Surely you’ve journaled prompts like “what’s the feeling you want from having a full bank account?” or “What would your life look like if you had 100 million dollars? How would you feel?” All of it’s meant to get to the thing beneath the thing.
You don’t just want more money, you want more time to devote to your art, spend with your kids, or float the Ayung River without worrying how much your dog sitter is racking up.
The same goes for any spell. Once you get clear on what you really want, your vessel expands, your energy explodes into an undifferentiated form, and suddenly, most importantly, you have permission to feel the spectrum of emotion that comes with having said desire. And that is the first step in creating anything new.
Why You’re Avoiding Your Magic
I’ve taught witchery and spellwork for 10 years and still, I’m often caught in the crossfire of my desires. My brain catches on the hangnail of “reason” – the myriad ways I can’t have what I want.
Or, I become so overwhelmed with visions and dreams that I go full armadillo, unable to make a move for days, weeks, or more. This becomes unbearable when you know a little focus and a couple of good spells could change your life.
Instead of casting, I gather: tiny jars, herbs, scraps of cotton and linen. I make sun water, moon water, I dig around for some old glitter, grind herbs into powders.
Notes pour from my pen as I drink my morning coffee. I furiously type half-baked thoughts into the notes app on my phone from the leg press at the gym, at stoplights. I spend hours gathering spells from books with ripped covers, copying and pasting rituals from Reddit threads.
I furiously scribble my longings, my fears, I meditate and pray, all while spell ingredients gather dust on my altar.
You might think to yourself, well what’s the problem? If you don’t have the motivation to complete a spell, maybe it’s just not meant for you.
But that’s not it at all. Sure, there are huge benefits to doing your due diligence before spellwork – understanding your motivations, any possible repercussions, and ensuring full, unadulterated focus…
But it’s just as likely you’re avoiding certain spells because you know they’re going to work. There’s only one thing scarier than staying exactly where you’re at, and that’s getting exactly what you want.
There are thousands of conscious and unconscious reasons that you hold onto smaller versions of yourself. Fortunately, the best way to make some life-changing moves is to get so sick of yourself you just fucking do it. Here we are.
I’ve been so sick of myself so often, that I’ve compiled this fun list of things to do to help me get out of my head and choose a magical direction.
As an aside, this practice is helpful even if you never do a spell in your life. What better way to feel more like yourself than to get incredibly clear on what you want and have the focus to make moves toward a life you love?
Intrigued? Join us live on July 19th at 11am PST in the Sol Society for a live workshop on this very topic.
Three-ish Steps to Magical Diagnosis
Step 1: Get Deeply in Touch With Your Desire
I’ll say it again: magic works best when you’re pretty damn sure of what you want. A strong intention not only feeds your focus, but also provides a clear direction for your energy to flow.
Now, it feels funny to accuse you of not knowing what you want. But I work closely with a lot of really smart, intuitive women and it’s wild how often I hear that they have very little clue.
They certainly know what they don’t want, and while most new age advice would rail against such things (ONLY THINK IN THE AFFIRMATIVE! NEVER MANIFEST FROM THE NEGATIVE – sheesh), I think this is a great place to start.
I actually keep a list entitled “Every Single Thing That Doesn’t Flow / Things That Annoy Me” in the notes app on my phone. I’m just in a phase right now where I’m more motivated by my frustrations (my not-self in Human Design, as it were).
After a few days, it becomes glaringly obvious what needs to change and when I’m just being a spoiled brat.
Other things that help with quick clarity:
Making Space for Magic
I don’t know about you, but I’ve really forgotten how to exist in the quiet moments. I’m big on not shaming myself for scrolling, but sometimes I’ll start my day flipping through reels with my morning coffee and fall asleep that night to New Girl reruns with nary a silent moment in between.
Now, when, exactly, am I supposed to hear the sacred truth of my own heart in all of that?
No one’s asking you to become a monk or otherwise dedicate your life to spiritual contemplation, but a walk without your phone, or a drive across town without a podcast playing can do the trick. (Speaking to myself here.) Even a few deep breaths and a quickie body scan will start to tell you truths you simply couldn’t hear before. You’ll get clarity on your spell and bonus points for a nervous system that’s not on constant high alert.
Breathwork
One thing about me is that I understand what stagnant energy feels like. Just like I know it feels better to drink water and eat vegetables, but still make cheese and crackers an entire food group for weeks, I also constantly forget how much clarity and healing I invariably get from breathwork. It immediately shifts you out of fight or flight, deactivating stress and optimizing how your brain communicates with the rest of your nervous system.
Just 11 minutes on the SOMA app (no affiliation, I just love it) can change your life. Or, at the very least, help you decide which spell to do.
Get Ye An Advisor
I have a couple of advisors for very specific reasons: 1) to keep me in a positive mindset (this is impossibly hard when you’ve been conditioned to auto-resort to negativity and victimhood); 2) to keep me honest (my brain is a liar); and 3) to help with pattern recognition (the best therapists, coaches, and advisors will clock your mental-emotional patterns and read them back to you).
I know it can get pricey, but the right person to hold space and guide you back to yourself is a sound investment, in my experience.
Step 2: Divination to Diagnose
I practice divination on a near daily basis and almost never do so to tell the future. My cards, my pendulum become an extension of my psyche, helping me navigate a complex map of emotions. I ask questions, sure, but they’re never about what color hair my soulmate will have, or if I’ll get a new job this week (spirit is notoriously bad at understanding linear time).
We live in an infinite universe, with layer upon layer of realities at our fingertips. When the next wrong turn or burnt piece of toast could catapult you into a dimension where you meet the love of your life, what are you doing sitting at home asking for concrete details?
The way I practice divination is more…
What’s blocking me from [xyz] goal?
What are my guides desperate to tell me about my own heart?
Is it time for a relationship, or should I focus more on work?
What am I not seeing in [xyz] situation?
Should I do a love spell? [yes or no] Should I do a banishing? [yes or no]
Spend some time on it. Build a relationship with your deck. Talk to it like you talk to your angels. This isn’t a microwave dinner. After a few pulls, you should start to see the light.
Step 3: Uncrossing + Road Opener Spells
Pulled a dozen cards and still at a crossroads? Feeling stuck and stagnant? Not sure what move to make next? Nothing clears the energetic clutter like an uncrossing or road opener spell!
Uncrossing is a more generalized, albeit powerful cleansing to remove any potential negative energies or “crossed” conditions. You’re probably not cursed, but there are all sorts of ways energy gets tangled and confused in the ether. Hyssop, rue, lemons, salt, and black and white candles are all powerful ingredients to get the uncrossing going.
Road openers are slightly more focused, used to clear obstacles that stand between you and a more specific goal. Unlike uncrossing or cleansing spells that wipe the whole slate clean, these zero in on stagnant energy, bad luck, or even your own bad habits to pave a clean path forward. It’s best to have some idea of what you’re paving toward, but it can be more general – for work, money, love, finding a home, etc. and is a great spell if you can’t think of a more targeted one. There are hundreds of road openers online and I have a whole video tutorial in the Sol Society.
Bonus Step: Just Do The Fucking Spell
Listen, at the end of the day, doing something will almost always feel better than staying in decision paralysis. Don’t overthink things too much.
In my experience, the most profound magic exists in every small moment you catch a shitty thought and make a conscious effort to rewrite it in real time. Magic explodes into a cloud of infinite soul glitter every time you choose the difficult thing over the comfortable thing.
In Kabbalah, Satan isn’t a horned demon luring you toward sin and, ultimately, into the fiery pits of hell; it represents a grasping, gasping egoic force that keeps you stagnant in festering comfort at all times. It’s your own self doubt. It’s the thing beneath the thing that if you can let breathe for even a short time, will show you how absolutely stunning and miraculous life is.
Effortlessly Make Life Your Altar
My love, there’s nothing that will drain your energy faster than living between two decisions, or putting your desires on the back burner like this life is just a test run.
When every dream and idea sounds exciting, every spell feels important, and every part of you wants something ever-so-slightly conflicting, it’s easy to spend months chasing half-baked longings.
Magical diagnosis teaches you where your energy wants to go before it gets distracted or fades. It helps you recognize what’s asking for your attention now, what can wait, and what’s simply noise.
Even if you never cast a spell in your life, this practice will change the way you make decisions. And in a world that’s constantly competing for your attention, learning where to place your energy is a kind of magic all on its own.
This is really just the beginning. The Sol Society is where I teach what I’ve learned after years of study, practice, and living this work. Every month we explore a new theme through a thoughtfully designed curriculum, a growing library of lessons, live healing and spellwork demonstrations, seasonal rituals, and practical tools you can weave into everyday life.
It’s my mission to teach you that magic isn’t something reserved for a gifted few. It’s a way of moving through the world that’s available to anyone willing to build a deeper relationship with themselves, nature, and the unseen.
If you’ve been looking for people who speak this language, people who believe life itself can become the practice, I think you’ll feel right at home.
Magic is real, and so is medicine. Nothing I share here is meant to replace mental health care, medical treatment, or the guidance of qualified healthcare professionals. It’s just jazz, baby.
Let’s Connect:
💌 Have questions about magic? Submit questions, feedback, or suggest a topic here.
🌙 Ready to dive into a magical curriculum? Check out the Sol Society.