That’s a very good question! From my personal experience, I always feel that my spells are at their strongest when I’m calm and clear headed, because it makes me more focused on the task - in this case the spell work - at hand. If I’m very emotional, and not just negative emotions like anger, but also happiness, I’m too distracted.
Apart from that, I would be a bit concerned about negative consequences if I did a spell while being angry or sad. It’s a bit difficult to explain, but imagine you’re having an argument with someone, and you’re getting angry; and you say, ok, lets continue our talk later after cooling down for a bit, I don’t want to say anything I’ll regret or make rash decisions out of anger. I feel like this could apply to spell work too!
Sjoe, this is a tough one. I have found that my connection to my ancestors can be extremely intense when my emotions are running high. Thats also when i get into a much deeper trance.
Or me, being calm helps me a lot. I have a brain that scatters really easily, so I have to be calm and focused or else I’m like a magpie with bits and bobs around it. Not paying attention to a single thing but everything and my energy gets scattered.
Great Question @SilverBear, personally I’m Irish and my temper can get a tad “off the rails” . So it would not be ideal for me to do any spells in that emotional state. And if I was sad about something, I’m a true ugly crier so I’m sure that would be difficult too. I practice grounding and getting myself in the focused mindset for anything related to my craft, otherwise who knows what would happen. Lol.
For me, in order to hold true to the intention I must be level headed and heart open.
Blessed Be,
I needed to be calm and grounded. If I know that I am going to be doing some spellwork or a ritual, I like to start with a nice cleansing shower and a meditation in the morning. Then I do my witchy things and ground myself afterwards with crackers and a cup of milk then a barefoot walk to my garden in the backyard.
I feel that if I am too emotionally charged that my judgement and intentions may not be clear and that I may put out the wrong kind of energy into what I’m doing.
This is a great discussion! While it is true that emotions lead to higher levels of energy and passion, I personally think it is preferable to cast spells, rituals, and any other magick asking or dealing with an outside influence with a clear and calm state of mind.
There’s an interesting article called High Emotion Magic: Bonus or Bad News? from the Witch at the Crossroads on Patheos that weighs the pros and cons of emotional magic. It’s a great read, but here’s a quote that somewhat sums up her overall take on this issue:
Neutrality and objective openness allow us to accept all possible outcomes and not feed energy into the worst; therefore, any magic done in the face of fear should come from a position of faith rather than from panic.
On the flip side, I absolutely have used magick- in the form of meditation and visualization- during times of emotional turbulence. The caveat being that I was using these techniques to calm myself down and try to regain a clear sense of mind .
I think that removing yourself from a high-energy situation and retreating to your inner temple can be a great way to both distance yourself from thoughts coming from a natural ‘fight or flight’ response and try to calm your mindset
It can be tempting to turn to magick when we want things to go our way! I think we have a responsibility as witches to always practice responsibility and consider the possible outcomes (and potential regret of emotional casting!).
Really great discussion to have- thanks for bringing it up, @SilverBear!
Personally for me, it depends on the type of spell being cast.
If it’s healing or sending love or friendship, positive thoughts, prosperity or growth I prefer to be in a calm state of mind.
If I am performing return to sender spells, banishing and protection spells, I prefer to cast this with emotion, not necessarily negative emotion but just power from my core and my breath, if that makes any sense? haha. Like casting with “force” I guess. Projecting power and strength.
I saw it being discussed on Facebook of course and it ended up ugly…LOL Kind of ironic since they were talking about emotions! Some people just love the drama. But, I knew I could ask it here…we seem to have a great group over here that actually want to learn and discuss topics. Love this forum!
I agree as others have mentioned that magick should be done when we are in a calm state of mind. (Grounded) Being too emotional or angry could influence the spells in a negative way. I’ve skipped doing a spell here and there because my emotions were too hightened at the time ( angry or upset) Therefore, waited to feel better on another day. As much as we want/try to remain positive and calm, our daily lives can dictate otherwise. Especially now with all that’s going on in the world…
Got home late last night and was having one of those days! So casted a circle and meditated to reach calmness and just practiced on my new tarot cards…Was actually very accurate, which reflected my day. ( I’m still learning and looking up their meanings.) However, after the reading I was completely calm and drank my chamomile tea and slept peacefully…
Emotions will sprout while performing Magic and that is part of the magic itself. I think a good exercise is to try to harness those emotions into the spell, in a rational, directed way.
However, I think it depends on your intention too. For example, I prefer not to use anger as a source of power. Instead, as mentioned above, it’s best to try and cool down.
This is such an interesting topic of discussion!
I like to begin in a calm, meditative state and depending on the spell, I then try to focus my energy on becoming and feeling the emotions I ultimately want the spell to achieve …if that makes sense?
So kinda like @Abs53 was saying
For love, friendship, prosperity etc. I’ll allow myself to feel the comfort, happiness, warmth, excitement and success that I will feel having achieved my goals and put this energy and these emotions into my spells.
Sorry to ramble
. So it would not be ideal for me to do any spells in that emotional state. And if I was sad about something, I’m a true ugly crier 
so I’m sure that would be difficult too. I practice grounding and getting myself in the focused mindset for anything related to my craft, otherwise who knows what would happen. Lol.
While it is true that emotions lead to higher levels of energy and passion, I personally think it is preferable to cast spells, rituals, and any other magick asking or dealing with an outside influence with a clear and calm state of mind.
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Like casting with “force” I guess. Projecting power and strength.
Yep - Virgo! Every single cell in me cries Virgo lol
oh yay! Thank you!