An autumn moon, a golden candle, and a lesson I didn’t expect
It was a crisp autumn evening in 2016, and the sky was glowing with the light from a glorious full moon. I had prepared everything with great attention to detail: a golden candle dressed with abundance oil, a handwritten petition folded in fourths, and a small altar beside an open window, so the moonlight could fall on it while I worked.
I timed the spell perfectly. It was a Monday, and the moon was in Taurus. I’d meditated throughout the day to stay focused on my intentions.
I lit the candle, said my spell, and felt a rush of promise and potential. Then I stepped outside to catch the moon's reflection in a small bowl of water while visualising my intent. Returning inside, I placed the glowing candle on its stand in the centre of the bowl of lunar water.
It felt magical. It felt right.
That night, I felt empowered, witchy, and wonderful.
But weeks passed and nothing changed. No extra income. No windfall. No material support for my latest project (which was what the spell was dedicated to).
I was disappointed. But even more, I was confused. Until I did some reflection and divination and discovered that the problem wasn’t the spell or my execution of it.
The problem was me.
Which, I will admit, wasn't the most delightful discovery I've ever made. But that experience led me to a major revelation, one that I later explored in The Golden Grimoire and return to often: The biggest obstacles to successful money magic are the ones hiding inside the magician.
When financial spells or abundance work fails, look inwards
If your prosperity or abundance magic isn’t working, or works but doesn’t stick, you may be dealing with some hidden pitfalls lurking within your psyche. Internal contradictions, inherited stories, or energetic misalignments can quietly derail your results. You cast the spell but then unknowingly cancel out your own magic.
Let’s talk about some of the most common hidden pitfalls and how you can avoid them.
Proving yourself right in the worst possible way
Pitfall: Allowing subconscious doubts to shape your magic
If you are sceptical about the efficacy or morality of financial magic or prosperity work, you might be tempted to prove yourself right. Many people approach prosperity magic with the subconscious drive to prove to themselves that it isn't ‘right’ or even possible to do magic for material gain.
That kind of internal obstacle is nearly impossible to overcome. When their magic inevitably fails, the magician shrugs and says to themselves, ‘See? I was right all along!’
Solution: Define what ‘wealth’ means to you and work towards that magical goal. Understand what you can do for yourself and others if you find financial stability or increased prosperity. If you ensure your goals align with your greater spiritual beliefs, you will avoid internal conflicts.
Buried beliefs could break the spell
Pitfall: Ignoring your wealth wounds
You can’t attract prosperity while you are haunted by unconscious beliefs like:
- Money corrupts
- Rich people are greedy
- I’m not the kind of person who gets ahead
Growing up, you hear a lot of things about money and wealth and much of it isn't good. Whether your family holds the belief that you can only get ahead through greed and selfishness or you have somehow internalised the idea that you can't ever win, thoughts like these can destroy the most robust spells. Since birth, you have been told things about your wealth, your self-worth, and what you deserve by the way people have treated you (rightly or wrongly).
Many of these negative beliefs aren’t even yours. They’re inherited or come from societal conditioning. But they still lurk inside you, ready to summon up doubts that can conflict with your magical goals.
Solution: Do the internal work to explore these ideas and eliminate them. Also consider ancestral work. Explore your family’s money stories. What did they teach you about ‘deserving’ wealth? Heal and eliminate self-limiting ideas so they don’t interfere with your magical work.
Doing it all without doing anything
Pitfall: Magical overload without magical focus
This one is tricky to talk about, because the last thing I want to do is discourage people from doing more magic. However, there are times when the desperation to see a magical outcome overrides common sense. Instead of waiting and giving the magic that has already been performed time to work, there is the temptation to do just one more spell, apply one more technique, or even scrap your current magical work and start over.
If several spells are worked for similar outcomes, they could work together in harmony and help hasten the accomplishment of a goal. But only if they are carefully planned and you keep your intentions clear.
If clarity is lacking or your intentions are varied, spells may cancel each other out. At the very least, the message sent out to the Universe may be garbled and messy, resulting in partially achieved goals or general confusion.
Solution: Choose one intention. Work consistently, not frantically. The clearest message will travel the furthest and bring the most accurate results.
Magic opens doors but you still have to knock
Pitfall: Not following up in the physical world
You did the spell but what else are you doing to bring about your goal? Did you update your resume? Have you applied for some new jobs? Reached out to that client or to people in your network? Revised your budget?
While it is possible, magic doesn’t often completely override physical reality. It usually partners with it. To see the fastest results, make sure you are doing things in the physical world to allow the spiritual world to work in your favor. Consider each waking-world step you take confirmation and reinforcement of your magical goals. Your spiritual and mundane lives are not separate. They are intimately intertwined. Take advantage of this by working on both levels to achieve your goals.
Solution: After doing the spell, act in accordance with it. Every effort you make after the ritual becomes part of the spell’s unfolding.
Abundance can’t accumulate in a leaky vessel
Pitfall: Ignoring what is draining your energy
Are you perpetually exhausted? Is it a struggle to hold on to any of your resources? If you feel like you are constantly fighting to push back demands on your time, peace of mind, and wellbeing you may also find that any wealth you gain slips through your fingers before you can do what you want with it. I know quite a few people who successfully work abundance magic and then are besieged with car problems, household emergencies, or health issues. Luckily, there’s plenty of money to deal with these problems, but once they are resolved, there isn’t much of that money left.
If you want to become a vessel for prosperity and abundance, start eliminating the things that drain your energy. Examine your life for toxic relationships, clutter (both mental and physical), and other situations that leave you feeling depleted. Then work towards eliminating these issues. The more you protect your physical and mental wellbeing, the more likely you will be able to retain your wealth.
Solution: Protect your energy like it is treasure because it is. Clean your space, cut cords, and set boundaries. Make yourself a solid container for wealth.
Your internal terrain is the map to external success
Working any kind of magic can be a challenge. And prosperity magic highlights all the issues lurking not only in magical work but in our own psyches. What’s the smart magician to do? Give up on it all together? Please don’t!
The good news is that you don't have to completely heal every wealth wound or resolve every internal conflict to see amazing results. All you need to do is be aware of the issues you carry and try to resolve them. Then you can consciously account for those issues when you plan your magic.
So, if your money magic isn’t working the way you hoped, don’t throw the spell away. Go deeper. Look inwards. All the information you need to discover why things aren’t working out as you planned is there for you to discover.
Because the secret to abundance was never outside of you to begin with. All magic is a two-way conversation between your deep inner self and the larger Universe. The seeds for all you need lie within.
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