Look up just about any spell and you’ll be given list of ingredients: herbs, candles, incense, an egg, salt, sea-shells, hair, red thread, coffin nails, whatever. But there are a few ingredients that should be a part of every spell, from crafting a love charm to evoking a spirit, from sigil magick to sex magick.

Intent: The desire for results and the will to acheive them. Intent is the seed from which a spell flourishes, the genesis of magick, and the impetus behind the ritual. Don’t enter into a ritual will some nebulous idea of what you want your outcome to be. Instead, be capable of stating your intent clearly, keep it in focus through your rite, write it down, draw it, symbolise it. Polish it until it shines with clarity and can act as a beacon for that which you desire.

Knowledge: Not just knowledge of the ritual or spell you are doing, not just knowledge of witchcraft or magick, but also knowledge of yourself. Know your capabilities, your strengths, and your limitations. No one is all-powerful, know what you can do and what you can’t. Build on your strengths and use them to help you push past the boundaries that limit you. Have a clear sense of your thoughts and feelings about magick and how it works. Know what appeals to you, and what repulses you and be willing to explore why. Sometimes knowing yourself takes the greatest courage, but realise that everyone, from the beginner to the master magician, still has plenty of room to grow and learn.

Values: Everyone has their own set of moral standards, based on belief and experience. You can’t leave those outside the circle. If you start acting against your personal morality, as if magick doesn’t apply to the rest of your life, then magick won’t apply to the rest of your life, i.e., it will cease to work. A good rule to follow is the golden one, Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. If you wouldn’t want to be manipulated by magick, then don’t try to manipulate others. Don’t throw around curses if you wouldn’t want to be cursed.

Yes, morals are flexible. Some morals are based on an outside code dictated by others - the bible, the rede, whatever. I personally believe the strongest morals are those informed by experience, knowledge and personal philosophy. Yes, these things change over the years, but this only serves to hone our sense of morality. Set standards for yourself. Live by them. In the circle and out.

Imagination: Remember how powerful your imagination was as a child. Everything around you was wondrous, everything fascinating. There wasn’t much of a barrier between “reality” and “fantasy”. Many of us had imaginary friends who were as real to us as our parents, our siblings, and our school chums. But adults have a way of discouraging imagination. Oh stop it, its just your imagination and you’ll never amount to anything if you don’t do something about your imagination.

Well its time to do something about your imagination. Its time to get it back. Rabbi Lamed ben Clifford (the alter ego of magician Lon Milo Duquette) once said, The spirits are both real and imaginary - but most of us do not know how real our imagination is.. Imagination is real. There is a natural continuum between our the outer landscape and the inner landscape, but most people have tuned out the inner landscape, deeming it of less importance. But this inner world is the source of our drives and our desires - precisely that which moves us to act, to shape our outer world and it is important to gain a clearer understanding of that inner life that sets us in motion.

Belief: Belief shapes our perception, and perception shapes our reality. For instance, the narrow-minded bigot who thinks homosexuality is a sin will look at a gay pride rally and see debauchery, perversion and iniquity. He will feel threatened, disgusted and outraged. Whereas a person who believes in the beauty of diversity will see community, love, and self empowerment. Two different beliefs, two different perceptions, two different realities. If you believe in the devil, then he’s behind everything thats bad in your life, and you structure your actions accordingly. If you believe in a “loving” god thats going to cast you into hell if you don’t do as he says, then every pleasure becomes a temptation, and you guard yourself against the seductions of the world.

Belief can be shaped. That in itself would take an entire article (or book) to cover. To do magick it is important to develop the confidence that is the belief in one’s own abilities.

Gnosis: This one is kind of obvious to chaos magicians, but maybe not so much to other traditions, however I tend to think all forms of magick incorporate some form of gnosis. Now I’m not talking about the revealed knowledge that is the central aspect of some gnostic religions. I’m referring to the trick that is used to bypass the censorious aspect of the rational mind - the little voice that whispers “magick isn’t real, silly”.

Like belief, gnosis would require an entire article of its own, but some examples of gnosis are orgasm, pain, fear, or rage. These are all methods used in chaos magick to facilitate the ritual. But I think anything that sets the ritual out of the ordinary and creates sacred space is a form of gnosis. Putting on the robes or stripping off the clothes, for instance. The light of candles and the smoke of incense, the use of tools set aside especially for magick, repetitive rhymes or mantras, a bubbling cauldron, a magick wand, herbs gathered by moonlight with a crescent sickle. Any of these things can contribute to gnosis - even if it isn’t called gnosis - and facilitate your spell.

The above list of magickal ingredients is by no means exhaustive. One might add such elements as creativity, courage or intuition. But I wanted to show that magick is more than just chants and fancy robes, burning candles and mysterious sigils. The most important ingredients to magick are the things we already possess - that which we carry inside us.