"When will my spell work?" - "What makes some spells fail?"
Some people say wait 3 months for a spell to work. Admittedly, it has been my observation that the ones who say this are usually selling spells through Ebay or Paypal. 90 days just so happens to be the deadline for filing a return claim. Coincidence? Three is an important number in magic, but the fact that I so rarely hear this number from any other source leads me to be suspicious.
One thing that I can say is far from helpful when spellcasting, or having spells cast for you, is to sit there rubbing your palms anxiously, waiting for your result. Spells are terribly shy things: too much enthusiasm scares them easily. The hiring of professional spellcasts is often motivated by desperation, admittedly: perhaps this is why even reputable casters seem to rarely have more than a 50% success rate, according to my research. (Side note: beware anyone who promises 99% success rates; and REALLY beware anyone who swears to 110% success!)
One thing about magic, is it's rarely a certain thing. Divinations can take out some of the mystery, but to assure something will work or when it will work is a matter generally beyond human control. The universe has been around billions of years; your week spent in wait means nothing to it.
WHAT MAKES SOME SPELLS FAIL?
I recently got an email from a client whose spellwork, honestly, has not been going well. He asked me what makes some of the spells fail.
It's hard to say what really makes a spell work or not. Of course some things just aren't possible even in the best conditions, but even a goal that seems feasible and reasonable sometimes might not come to pass. I have seen that certain practices (like thinking or talking about the spell while still waiting for it to manifest) seem to make things fail more often. I also think that in spells on other people, they 'work' without succeeding a lot of the time -- the spell works in that it produces an effect on the person that makes them consider performing the action desired, but everyone still has free will and it's usually not possible to force them to follow through -- especially in modern societies where people don't so readily think that God is speaking to them any time they have a strange thought. (See Julian Jaynes, "Origin of Consciousness" for more on this.) Contrary to certain ideas being passed around the internet, it's generally not regarded as possible in serious magical literature to actually overtake someone's free will, unless you're making some form of Haitian-style zombie; which wipes out the personality altogether and is not, in general, what anyone's actually hoping to achieve.
There are some other things to take into account as well. If you want something rare (like a lottery win or a specific person's love or the Mona Lisa) it's harder to get because there's not much to go around.
Then some people think that if you're not really ready for what you ask for, that will also prevent you from achieving it. For example, if you want a high-paying job that you would be totally unskilled and unsuited toward, or if you want a hot wife but you're still living in
your parents' basement and wouldn't have anywhere to put her, then you won't get it. (The reasoning varies that either God or The Universe knows you wouldn't be able to use what you asked for and so denies it, or alternately that your own subconscious mind is aware of this and so ignores and rejects opportunities. See, again, Julian Jaynes' work for why these can be one and the same.) This last point also links up to a problem I often see of people basically ruining their own spellwork by refusing or forgetting to perform important elements they've been assigned. That's what I think is meant by many people when they claim that you have to do the spell with faith -- it's not just some vague "faith in God" but the ability to faithfully follow instructions and faithfully make any lifestyle changes that it may require.
Then there is finally just the predestination factor. While I tend to disapprove of people saying that a spell won't work because it "wasn't meant to be" (Umm, if it were already meant to be then why would we need a spell to achieve it?) there is the matter that, if you believe in predestination and the will of God or gods -- as do traditional African religions from which Voodoo, hoodoo and Santeria evolved -- then despite your efforts to use rituals and magic to change the divinities' minds about what you should have, they still might refuse. This is probably the most religious of the explanations and so might only appeal to certain people.
Overall, though, the thing to keep in mind about magic is this -- if it were reliable, there wouldn't be so much skepticism about whether or not it really exists. It's like gambling with those scratcher cards, you might get lucky and win something, but the rewards are usually small and aren't anything you should use for planning your whole future. Spells are your assistant, not your slave -- if you demand too much from them, they'll refuse to work.
"When will my spell work?"
By my experience, usually a single spell will do whatever it's going to do within a month (could be the day after casting, could be 4 weeks after casting.) This of course assumes your spell works at all. If more than 31 days go by and you've seen little to no movement or change, you'll probably have to try again. From time to time this deadline is extended, particularly if you're dealing with some longterm item like a mojo hand or amulet; but for your average candle spell, ritual bath, etc. -- this is your guideline. One month.
Some people say wait 3 months for a spell to work. Admittedly, it has been my observation that the ones who say this are usually selling spells through Ebay or Paypal. 90 days just so happens to be the deadline for filing a return claim. Coincidence? Three is an important number in magic, but the fact that I so rarely hear this number from any other source leads me to be suspicious.
One thing that I can say is far from helpful when spellcasting, or having spells cast for you, is to sit there rubbing your palms anxiously, waiting for your result. Spells are terribly shy things: too much enthusiasm scares them easily. The hiring of professional spellcasts is often motivated by desperation, admittedly: perhaps this is why even reputable casters seem to rarely have more than a 50% success rate, according to my research. (Side note: beware anyone who promises 99% success rates; and REALLY beware anyone who swears to 110% success!)
One thing about magic, is it's rarely a certain thing. Divinations can take out some of the mystery, but to assure something will work or when it will work is a matter generally beyond human control. The universe has been around billions of years; your week spent in wait means nothing to it.