Bind the Spell

This is the critical step in casting a spell, and often not sufficiently understood. 

You have created an image of what you want to achieve, but it is real only within the sacred space "between the worlds" where you have created it. 

Now, with closely focused will, you must perform some symbolic act which will bring the image through to the material plane, and cause it to manifest physically. 

A spell works best if you know specific moment at which it is bound; you should plan in advance when this is to happen, and focus your will on that phase of the spell. 

There are a variety of ways to bind a spell:

Finishing the image: taking the final stitch, placing the final bead, and saying, “It is done.”

A verbal formula: for example,

WITH ALL THE POWER OF THREE TIMES THREE,

THIS SPELL BOUND AROUND SHALL BE,

TO DO NO HARM, NONE COME ON ME,

AS I DO WILL, SO MOTE IT BE.

Breathing life into the image, or empowering it with any of your bodily fluids.

Tying a knot, or the final knot in a predetermined number. An effective kind of spell is the Witch's ladder, a cord in which a magical number of knots are tied (3, 7, 9, 13, or 40) while the witch repeats her intention over and over with each knot.

Burning the image: the magical effect of fire is not to destroy but to transform.

Charging the image with energy conducted through your own body, using your consecrated blade, wand or just your hand: this is done especially with talismans and crystals.

Passing the image through the four elements, earth, air, fire and water. (Be careful not to damage something which you value or intend as a gift, by over-exposing it to heat or salt!)

Placing the image on a pentacle, or inscribing a pentacle on the image: the pentacle symbolizes Earth, and therefore manifestation.

Releasing the power build by the group:  spell will be done when the energy is sent off, either by the decision of a leader or by intuitive consensus.

Orgasm will bind the spell if you have been using sexual energy to raise power. Or, in true tantric tradition, it is especially effective to raise erotic power and then bind the spell by some other means.

A pre-determined natural event: you can program a spell to be bound at the rising of the moon, for example, or by some other event which will naturally and inevitably come to pass.

Reflecting the image in a mirror: a mirror is a gate between the worlds, and so you can bring an image into manifestation in this way.

Passing the image through a hole: if you have created an image on a small piece of cloth or paper, you can pass it through a stone with a hole, or a vertebrae bone, or a Chinese coin with a hole in it.

Note: an effective variation on spell-binding is to perform an initial action to charge the image, and then leave the spell to take effect on its own over a period of time. This is what you do when you light a charged candle, or give someone a charged talisman. It is always advisable to place a time-limit on the charge you give an object.