Accelerating Witchcraft
A Guide on How to Safely Hasten Spells, Rituals, and Magick
What does it really mean to practice witchcraft?
If we strip back all the ritual and mystery behind it we are left with the definition that witchcraft is simply a lifestyle and practice that consists of multiple ways for a person to garner the outcomes that they seek. Of course there are various nuances and ‘styles’ of witchcraft that make it such an expansive subject with varying methods, but really we witches are all working towards the same goal, which is manipulating our energy, our environment, and the energy of those around us to create a life that is close to what we picture as being perfect for us.
This is often a positive endeavour, we fill our year with various rituals to attract abundance, create potions to cure our child’s tickley cough, or ward talismans to protect us on long drives… even in the deepest darkest of practices, where we slip iron nails into the limp muscle of a cow’s tongue to stop malicious gossip, we are doing so to control a very changeable and often stressful life. The life of a witch is an intensive one where we are always on the lookout for signs, opportune moments, messages and ‘feelings’ that point us in the right direction and also put us in the right space at the right time.
Magick takes time, but much like we sow our seeds in early Spring and enjoy the rewards of either fruit or flower in late Summer, Magick also follows a pattern of growth and fruition, and sometimes even dormancy is needed to get a certain result. So what happens when a witch needs to speed things up… what happens when something is urgent, perhaps even a case of life and death or at least feels that way… can we do anything to hasten, to accelerate, to bring something to fruition sooner?
In this (rather lengthy) post I am going to share with you some examples of things that can be done, and materials that can be used to ‘hasten’ spells and magickal outcomes, then we’re going to take a look at the ethics of this subject and think carefully about the pros and cons so that you can come to a comfortable and informed decision whenever you feel the pull to hit the fast forward button. There is a time, and a place, and a reason to be in a rush, but the more informed you are the more confident you are going to be choosing those times, and those places.
Types of Accelerators:
The Witch:
The most potent energy comes from the witch, magick runs through their blood, tingles in their neurons, and sheds off of them with their skin cells, but how is it possible to strengthen spells and rituals when the energy of a witch seems so inward? You’ll be familiar of the historic use of bodily fluids in witchcraft, peeing into bottles with various things inside and then sealing it is a tried and true method of ‘personalising’ spells, but what about speeding them up?
Think of a spell as being sentient… before you put a spell together it is just a jumble of seemingly random things, it is only when you start bringing things together that they form something and begin to work with each other energetically. Much like what happens when we make a cake, flour, eggs, sugar, butter come together to make a delicious sponge… but it is the use of something like baking powder that gives it ‘rise’, a key ingredient that takes it further, and makes it fluffy, quickly.
When combined your spell can tell what it is that you’re trying to accomplish by the ingredients that you have mixed together, it gets confirmation and is kicked into action by your intention so what you have written down on a bay leaf, or what you have whispered through an incense wrapped bottle… but it really understands how urgent something is when you give a physical part of yourself to the spell, when your DNA is added.
This can be done through urine, through spit, blood, hair, and different scenarios and levels of urgency call for different additives (its best for you to research which one can be used for what scenario otherwise this post is going to be very very long!). In a scenario where haste is an issue I would use spit, saliva is quick, often spat out during fast talking or (in theory because we’re not rude) spat directly at something or someone you disapprove of. When using saliva to hasten a spell speak your reason for swiftness, give a detailed account of what is happening and why you need results fast, and then spit into the vessel you are combining ingredients into, your words will have mixed in with your saliva and then into the spell itself.
The Elements:
In spells and rituals we should be utilising all the elements so we have all of our bases covered, but when it comes to quickening the outcome of magick it is best to pick one element that fits the urgency of the scenario. With the elements we should recognise that each one has two parts, one that is nurturing and gentle, and one that is deadly and destructive. Fire warms us, but it also burns down our houses, we need water to live, but also too much of it drowns us, Earth is what we grow our food in, but what buries us in landslides, and then there is air, our breath, our life force that we can give to others to bring them back from the brink of death, but also comes in the forms of life-taking winds that can wipe out an entire town. Working with the elements should never be taken lightly, they need concise instruction and deep respect, especially when it comes to using them to accelerate magick.
Fire:
The best element for bringing something to an end quickly, and permanently. If you are in a dangerous scenario where you need to cut ties with someone quickly (by dangerous I don’t mean physical harm, that is a job for the police, not witchcraft) then fire is the best element to use. Transformation is also the key part of the element of fire, from flame to ash is a process that happens very quickly, so a lot of spells that you do on paper such as sigil work and petitioning work quickly when fire is used.
Air:
Use air when you want to move something away from you that’s not working for you anymore. This could be something that you previously wished for and even did rituals to bring it to you, nothing is ever irreversible in magick and the universe understands the fickle wants and needs of us humans… it just takes a bit more effort to ‘send something back’. You can use breath, or utilise a windy day by sending something back to the universe swiftly. Air is also a wonderful element to use in grief magick, whereby you stand in a secluded area on a windy day and shout your woes into the wind so they are carried away from you, making you feel a little lighter for a while. The faster the wind, the faster things leave, but also you can flip this and use it to bring things to you with the same speed, by standing facing into the wind and calling in the energy you need you can receive it very quickly.
Water:
Water is a life giver, a soft addition to spells that want to nurture and bring about a still peaceful environment. As witches water can be easily imbued with properties and energies, such as energy from the moon during particular phases, or bundles of herbs, and then used in a variety of ways to benefit our craft. But water can also destroy, drown, submerge, and is best used in baneful or protection spells when you want to ‘drown out’ someone’s noise or influence. Freezer spells are the best for stopping a barrage of abuse from someone that you can’t easily cut ties with, such as a family member or a colleague.
Earth:
We use earth to grow and nurture and feed ourselves. This energy is grounding and grounding and growth both take time and are not immediate. In gardening we use accelerators to make things grow more quickly or with more vigour, we add fertilisers to crops, or compost to our garden beds, and the same can be done with our spells. If you are using things like crystals to boost energy in your spells and rituals, this is a form of acceleration, as crystals are of the earth. Charging specific crystals during certain moon phases can bring a swiftness to the results of rituals, or charge magickal tools more quickly.
Plants:
Certain plants already have an energy of haste about them and can be used to produce swift results under the right circumstances…
Nettle:
Nettle is great to use when you want to inflict a short, sharp, shock with your magick. If you have someone who is copying you to the point where it is damaging to your work or reputation, creating a spell in which the person stealing credit for your work is duly punished is made better by using Nettles to hasten the ‘sting’. With copycats the aim of your spell is to either out them as such, or make it so that each time they copy from you there is a transaction in energy where they take a financial hit and you see financial gain, Nettles speed up that process, and add a little pain in the process.
Bay Leaf:
Bay is a wonderful herb to use when wanting to communicate quickly and clearly in a ritual. Writing on a bay leaf and then burning it is a common practice for witches, and its messages are swiftly transported because the leaf burns so quickly. Bay is also a good example of a ‘slow growth for quick results’ plants… Bay Trees are fussy and take a lot of looking after to get them to grow, I have had my Bay Tree for about 15 years and it is still a sensitive skinny little thing, but by slowly nurturing this tree it has spent many years with me, and much time getting to know me and my energy. As a result its leaves, when picked, can anticipate my needs and my energy, which means communication between plant and ritual/spell happens even more quickly than if I was just using Bay Leaves I has bought from the supermarket.
Mugwort:
I recently wrote another bumper post about The Magick of Mugwort, which is full of interesting magickal and horticultural facts about this wonderfully witchy plant. In terms of hastening this plant is great at forming very quick connections with our unconscious, especially whilst we are sleeping. Using Mugwort in sleep rituals opens us up for unconscious messaging, and gives us the ability to better spot signs and messages in our dreams.
Knots:
Knot magick is a cornerstone of practical magick and can be used for everything between bonding and binding (there’s a big difference). You may think of knot magick as being one of the slowest and most time-enduring forms of magick, but in the right context knot-magick can be looked at as one of the most instantaneous of energies.
When you create a knot, either to bind something (or someone) or to fix something in place, you are creating an energy that exists exactly at the moment the knot is tightened. When you pull the string together you are making a decision that says ‘right now’, and through compression the magick/energy is activated, it is the tension that puts the energy into work. It seems obvious to say but the knot itself is the most important part of knot magick, what I mean by that is how it is tied… tight, taut, with no give is a sign that the witch means business, it’s going to take a long time for this knot to break down or unravel, whereas a loose knot suggests flexibility, it can still be undone whether by the witch herself, or through the passage of time and wear and tear. Either way bringing knot-magic into your spells and rituals is one of the quickest forms of accelerators.
Timing:
We witches bang on and on about moon phases, the wheel of the year, the season, even the days of the week… I might even go as far as saying that sometimes I’ll save a ritual depending on the time of day it is. Timing is everything to a witch, and the same applies when it comes to hastening magick, time is already a thing in motion, a river that is coursing forward and uninfluenced by any earthly restraint, it is there for us to use as a tool in our craft.
Moon Phases:
When working with the phases of the moon for acceleration it is best to approach it from an emotional direction. The moon is the ruler of our emotions and we can work with it to speed up our manifestations, desires, and the rate at which we work through energetic issues. Let’s take a look at how each phase of the moon will help us speed our magick up…
Waxing - This phase helps us build up energy quickly, we are usually more receptive to energy during this phase and can more easily recognise signs that lead us in a better direction, getting rid of indecisive feelings.
Full - We are at peak pressure during this phase and our intuition is heightened, we have a great deal of clarity, and with this energy we can release a lot of what isn’t working for us. Shedding emotional burdens makes us lighter and quicker.
Waning - After that process of releasing and letting go we are now free to tie up any energetic loose ends, shedding negative or heavy energy and leaving us free to look forward to what we can bring in.
New - Now is the time for planning, and best laid plans help us get to our destinations much more quickly. A new moon is the perfect time for bringing in positive and vibrant energy ready to propel us forward in a task.
The Seasons:
Each seasons has a kind of momentum that is unique to it, The Wheel of the Year is a wonderful tool for the modern witch or pagan to feel in tune with the seasons and its messages as we move through the year, but saving spells and rituals for specific times of the year is a tried and tested way to match the speed and intensity with which our seasons move life along.
Spring:
New beginnings are synonymous with Spring, as is cleansing and preparing the earth for growing. Spring is also a time of rapid acceleration, in nature we see the leaves of bulbs popping up from the ground, the buds on trees exploding into a froth of blossom, the bees emerge, the birds are busy… it is an industrious time. Ideas or plans for your magick conceived at this time receive a natural boost thanks to the kinetic energy we see at this time of year, now is the best time to think about how to start planning your rituals and spells for the year.
Summer:
In Summer we are making sure we are maintaining magick so that it doesn’t stagnate. In our gardens we are watering our plants in the hopes that we get beautiful flowers or crops, birds are feeding their babies around the clock to ensure their survival, and heavy Summer storms roll in to refresh the land. All around us maintenance is taking place, to avoid lengthy rituals stagnating or stopping altogether, use the energy of Summer to keep things moving forward at speed.
Autumn:
Autumn is the conclusion of events of the year, you should be looking at harvesting or wrapping up your year-long rituals or spells. Plants that you have grown that are now producing seed should be kept an eye on, when you collect their seeds you are already thinking of the spells that need to be done ahead of time, you are time-travelling. You may notice that the results of spells that are done in this month arrive more quickly, nature favours conclusion at this time of year, if you want a spell to come to an end quickly then Autumn is the time to do it.
Winter:
Winter is often seen as the time when we witches do nothing but rest and enjoy the warmth of our homes after a long year of witching, but really Winter serves is purpose as an accelerator but in a different way. There are less variables in Winter, less sporadic growth and change and weather to contend with, what you see is what you get with Winter. For magick this means that we should be working on binding spells, and rituals that require quiet and stillness. Winter offers a protective quality that bolsters magick that in order to happen quickly, requires very little distraction from the noise of birds, the creaking of growing tree limbs, and the lowing of cattle in the pasture.
The Days of the Week:
Culturally the days of the week means different things for different people and places, the names of the days of the week come from gods and goddesses, and their meanings derive from stories attached to them. In the spirit of not turning this post into an actual book you can look up the lore associated with the days of the week in order to interpret what each day means for magick.
In terms of the modern day our days of the week already hold a lot of meaning to us, Sunday (whether you are religious or not) is seen as a lazy, cosy, day of rest for a lot of people, so I would advise that little is done in the way of haste on this day.
Whether you choose to adhere to the folklore of the days of the weeks when it comes to working your magick, or if you like to work with your own schedule, some days are better than others when it comes to accelerating magick.
The Times of the Day:
The same point applies to the times of day, but with a little more structure…
Dawn - The day has begun, nothing is set in stone and any spells or rituals done during this hour have a wealth of energy to pick and choose from. In terms of hastening this is a slow start, and best left for magick that you want to unfold and adapt slowly.
Midday - A confident time, our energy hasn’t waned and we are at peak efficiency during this time of day. Hastening magick done at this time will move through and work with energy confidently.
Dusk - My favourite time of day, and one of the more liminal points which makes it the perfect time for magick that focuses on transformation. The shift from light to dark happens quite quickly so this is the time for quick magick, and divination.
Midnight - Under the cover of darkness we move swiftly to get things done we would rather not be seen doing. A lot of witches like to bury the spent ingredients of their witchcraft, or work with runes or bones under the cover of night because it is seen as the ‘weirder’ or less acceptable part of witchcraft to those who don’t practice. Really the darkness acts as a shroud, it protects, conceals and makes sure that the energy of those that would look upon us and sneer, or spy, cannot reach us. It works well with acceleration magick because at night, there are less interruptions for us to contend with.
The Ethics of Acceleration:
I know it’s been a lengthy post already, and I hope that you’re finding it interesting, but here is where I really need you to lock in and prick up your ears so that you can choose to act on all the wonderful facts and folklore I just shared with you…
As with most things in witchcraft, one must consider the pros and cons, and the ethics involved in manipulating any sort of energy. Time is an energy, and when we choose to adapt it to benefit us in anyway we must be prepared to pay the costs energetically, the majority of witchcraft comes in the form of some kind of trade.
What we are accepting when we accelerate magick is less control, less freedom, and that we enter into the bargain of causality (causality is the principle that a process or an event directly influences another process or event, basically a change in one thing leads to a change in another which can be good, but also could be bad). Basically we are saying
‘Hey universe, I’m in a bit of a rush and I don’t really trust the process here so I’m going to ask to speed things up.’
and then we sit and hope that the universe behaves itself.
Like with any ethical argument, let’s take a moment to looks at the pros and cons…
The Benefits:
Ethically the argument for using accelerators in witchcraft is strongest when urgency is at the forefront of the reasoning behind using them.
If delay could cause someone harm, like protection magick, or in boundary creation, then the universe will see us as acting swiftly to prevent a terrible outcome. You might be warding your sister from an abusive ex, and need a protection talisman to work quickly because she’s only visiting you for the weekend, or you might be facing a bully at work who is chipping away at your energy and you need to do a quick boundary spell over the weekend so you can start fresh on Monday.
Being honest about the results you want is also a way to garner favour when hastening magickal outcomes. If you are doing a money spell under the pretence of being very hard up and needing a flurry of cash to pay your rent, when really you want to just have a big splurge at Sephora, you’re not being intentional in your magick, and it will backfire. Sure you might get a flurry of cash really quickly, but a bill or a sudden expense will snatch that money right out of your purse quicker than you can say ‘kaching’.
Sometimes magick works best when it is done quickly, and not when it is revisited over and over. Cord cutting spells are a great example of this, they are very swift and very final, especially when it comes to severing ties with another person. If a person wants to finally cut ties with an ex they just can’t stop gravitating towards, cord-cutting works incredibly well, whereas doing a love-spell over and over again to try and manipulate and change the outcome of a doomed relationship is folly and won’t work. Staying trapped in a cycle is worse than working quickly to get rid of something that isn’t working out, it prevents years of energetic struggle.
Some situations can happen so quickly that we have no choice but to respond at the same pace. Confidence spells are done over a long period of time, slowly building up a person’s confidence is something that is done little by little, so that after a period of time they are naturally braver… but what if you suddenly have to interview for a job, and their only availability is the next day? Your anxiety spikes, you can’t stop shaking, you can’t think of what you want to say despite being qualified for the job, you need confidence and you need it now! You can adapt the spell to match the hurry that is needed, the results might be short lived but if you acknowledge that then it isn’t too much of an issue.
The Costs:
When we look at the ethical issues with accelerating magick we have to use a mirror, we have to look at ourselves and our motives to see if what we are planning to do is honest, if it aligns with our values, and if it is going to cause some sort of imbalance in our life that is going to cost more energy to correct in the long run.
First and foremost, acceleration magick should not be used to bypass lessons that we can learn through intense emotion. When my father died in 2022 I tried so many spells to ‘distract’ myself or move myself through my grief more quickly, I couldn’t stand to sit with the intense pain that his death had caused… but the hastening of grief only caused the lessons I needed to learn from it to delay, the grieving process became more confusing, it lasted longer, my emotions were more volatile than if I had just allowed the natural progression of grief to consume me as it was supposed to. Emotions are there to be felt, not to be rushed through, we’re going to experience them either way, no magick can stop that.
With emotions in mind I’ll draw attention to how fickle human emotions can be. When bad things happen we often see a surge in emotion that makes us act like an absolute idiot… how many times have you had someone cut you up in traffic and you’ve beeped your horn and flipped your middle finger? How many times have you listened to a friend cry about a partner who has treated them terribly and you get the intense urge to key their car?
We act very impulsively in the moment, a couple of times in my witchy life I have responded in anger to something that has been done to me or a family member, and I’ve stormed to the altar ready to wreak revenge and havoc upon the wrongdoer. Speed can sometimes be the enemy when all of sudden you might get new information about a situation, someone hasn’t been honest about what has happened, a person apologises or the couple make amends… haste reduces the space for error, and the ability to take something back at the same speed.
I spoke about causation earlier, where simply put one thing will lead to another… this applies in hastening magick because if you blindly try to speed up an outcome without specifics you might end up getting another one. The quickest way isn’t always the most desirable. We should always be striving towards growth, but what if the outcome of your speedy spell sets you back, or leads to loss?
Impatience or boredom is not the same thing as desperate need. If you already have quite a few resources at hand, like money, time, space, relationships etc… then you choosing to accelerate outcomes for no apparent reason puts you in a position of greed, which isn’t rewarded in the same way as need. You are taking over and dominating energy that could be put to good use by helping others who have less.
When you use accelerators in magick you are consenting to the outcome being more erratic than you might be prepared for, and the lesson being much harsher and more long-lasting, you must be willing to accept that the outcome might look different to what you expected.
The question of whether or not to use accelerating tools is a simple one that can be broken into two answers…
Accelerating will succeed best when the intention is to restore agency, the witch accepts that the universe controls the outcome, and that the witch is acting to restore balance and relief of suffering.
Accelerating will not succeed when the outcome of the magick benefits the witch at the expense of an innocent (someone who has not harmed them or others), or when the witch seeks to control the outcome, or at the expense of a lesson that must be learned.
Some Parting Thoughts…
I don’t believe in the ‘threefold law’ (the principle that insists that any energy that is sent out into the world via witchcraft is returned to you three times as much, this applies to both good and bad energy), it is a highlight and a moral compass for a lot of Wiccans and other pagan practitioners but personally I see it as a bit of a tether, and that it can sometimes paralyse a witch’s agency. If I want to hex, it is because of a good reason, it is to balance out an injustice that is happened and I am the person who is best placed to decide the intensity and the duration.
But this doesn’t mean that I’m not careful.
Throughout this essay I’ve offered warning about ‘being honest’ and working with the universe in a way that is truthful and sincere, and you should understand that any negative analysis that I’ve given on acceleration spells does not come from a place of fear of repercussion… it is that if you aren’t honest with yourself, with your witchcraft, with the universe, your magick simply will not work the way you want it to.
Simply put, I don’t want to waste my time, or my energy., and nor should you.
I hope this post gave you some food for thought, as with all my deep-dive essays they consist of well-researched suggestions rather than demands or rules. Whatever works best for you and your craft is best, I hope you feel more informed and confident when it comes to speeding things up a bit if needs be.
My next post is a spell for self love, if you enjoy exploring the many nuances of witchcraft please do consider subscribing, following, or sharing my Substack!
Until next time,
Laura
Thank you for this wonderful read. It's given me a lot to think about; not just about causality, but about timing and taking ownership for your decisions and the results. Definitely marking this to refer to later ☺️
Thank you for this. I have been mulling over a ritual to cut ties with a situation, and usually work with knots and red thread. This has given me the reminder I needed to incorporate body fluids, using the earth to bury what is cut and transform it into something beneficial; i.e., what is rotted away becomes rich soil for growth.