Have you ever finished a spell and felt off afterward? You might have felt a little lightheaded or tired, maybe you were moody or irritable, maybe you even developed a headache. This phenomenon, while unpleasant, is quite common! It’s called spell drop, and it’s something that happens to witches of all stripes and levels of experience. Spell drop is actually quite benign.
It might be uncomfortable and unexpected, but it’s not something to be afraid of. In fact, in some cases, it can indicate that your spell is working as planned! If you have ever experienced spell drop yourself, this is for you. Today we’re going to dig into the causes behind this uncomfortable phenomenon and how you can recognize spell drop when it happens to you.
What Causes Spell Drop?
So what exactly is spell drop? What causes these strange and unsettling symptoms after spell work? To put it simply, spell drop is a state of unbalanced energy in your personal energy field.
Spell drop can occur either when your energy field is excessively charged and carries too much energy or the wrong kind of energy, or it can occur when your energy has been drained to a lower level than is comfortable or optimal. When this happens, a whole host of physical, mental, and emotional symptoms can occur. This can make it difficult to diagnose for those who are unaware of what spell drop is! If you are getting migraines after your spell work and a friend of yours is experiencing sudden drops in mood and depression after their spell work, you’re not necessarily going to assume that they each have the same cause. But they do!
Spell drop occurs when, in the course of spell casting, you either take in too much energy from the spell or give too much energy to the spell. As witches, we are essentially using ourselves as a conduit for a vast array of energies in order to work our magic. If we aren’t careful about energy modulation, we can be left in a state that is far from our normal, natural state of being. In the same way that being around a psychic vampire causes symptoms because of an energy deficit, spell drop is often caused by an energy deficit after having used your own energy to fuel a spell. Similarly, in the way that an empath can feel unsettled, emotionally volatile, tired, anxious as a result of the energies that they expose themselves to, spell drop can occur as a result of having absorbed energies that are not native to your personal energy field.
How To Figure Out If You Have Spell Drop
The symptoms of spell drop are wide ranging and how you treat your spell drop is going to vary depending on the symptoms that you experience. The first thing that you’ll want to determine is whether you are currently experiencing too much energy, too little energy, or the wrong kind of energy. Each of these tends to present a different set of symptoms but, as with most things, every person is different and will respond in unique ways.
While it may be quite easy for some to diagnose their spell drop accurately, you may find that your symptoms are inconsistent, inconclusive, or simply confusing. That’s okay! It can take a little while to understand your energy system. All you need to do is keep an eye on yourself and the symptoms you experience. If you struggle with this, I highly suggest keeping notes on your spell drop in your grimoire or wherever you take notes on your spell work. Over time, these can be invaluable for helping you to develop a strong sense of your energy field and its needs.
Excess energy in the personal energy field typically exhibits itself through fidgeting, anxiety, racing thoughts, irritability or easy anger, headaches, the inability to sit still, or a desire for physical contact with another person that is distracting or uncomfortable. Your body will essentially be looking for a way to burn off the excess energy or, in the case of desiring physical contact, it will be looking for a way to trade energy through a natural energy conduit, i.e. physical touch. Handling this type of spell drop requires that you somehow release this excess energy.
Insufficient energy typically causes symptoms such as tiredness, headaches, mood swings, depression, random bouts of crying, lack of focus, brain fog, muscle aches, hunger, a desire for physical contact, and light sensitivity. Typically, the body is looking for a way to raise energy levels through sleep or food but, as was being particularly hungry or after a sleepless night, many of the symptoms are the same. You may not feel hungry or tired, but you may notice the same kinds of mood swings, an inability to focus, or general malaise that comes with not eating or sleeping enough.
When your energy field contains an unfamiliar form of energy, it can be a bit more difficult to pin down. The symptoms of this kind of spell drop tend to be related to the kind of energy that is stuck in your energy field. If you’ve been working with lunar energy, you may find yourself feeling highly emotional, floaty, dreamy, or unfocused. If you have been working with the energy of Mars, you might find yourself feeling quicker to anger, brash, assertive, or calculating. Essentially, this form of spell drop feels like you’re not exactly yourself. It’s marked by changes in personality and how you feel that mimic the energy that you’ve been working with. This can also be accompanied by symptoms from either of the two previous forms of spell drop, since having the wrong kind of energy can also coincide with having too little or too much energy. While cleansing is not a particularly effective tool for the previous two types of spell drop, it does tend to work well for situations where you’ve taken on too much of an external energy. Cleansing can help to remove the external energy so that any underlying excess or insufficiency in your energy can be addressed.
Is Spell Drop Dangerous?
I know I mentioned above that spell drop isn’t particularly dangerous but worries about the dangers of spell drop are among the most common questions I get about this subject so I don’t want to leave you without answering this important question in more detail. In most cases, the fears that we experience in the craft are simply a matter of not having the right information to understand what we’re experiencing. Spirits are scary because we don’t understand the limits of their power, what they could do to us, what they want from us, etc. Even spell casting can be scary for a brand new witch who is under the impression that their spells could backfire and horribly mangle their lives! It is only through receiving the right information that we can arm ourselves against these fears and proceed into our witchcraft with confidence and power.
1. Is spell drop caused by spirit possession?
No! Spell drop is not caused by spirit possession. In fact, full-on possession is super rare. Partial possessions do happen on occasion, but the symptoms are quite different from those that I’ve described above. It’s also unlikely for a partial possession to occur immediately after spell work unless that spell work was specifically summoning a dangerous spirit. Most often, partial possessions occur after a person has experienced a traumatic event such as the death of a loved one or a car accident. These events cause tears and porous holes in our energy field that makes a person an easy target for these kinds of spirits. There’s a specific combination of porous energy and the emotional tangle that can result from shocks to the system that allows partial possession to happen. And even then, partial possessions are still rare! It’s highly unlikely that you’ve acquired some kind of spirit hanging on to you as a result of routine or even strenuous spell casting.
If the weird symptoms that you’re experiencing come in the 24 hours after you’ve cast a spell, assume that it’s spell drop and treat it as such first. If you haven’t cast a spell anytime recently and you’re experiencing strange symptoms, I recommend checking out my Defensive Magic courses, I talk extensively in those courses about identifying and diagnosing a wide variety of spiritual problems.
2. Can spell drop cause lasting damage?
It’s unlikely that spell drop will cause lasting damage unless you have a condition that puts you at risk to begin with. For example, if spell drop triggers and asthma attack for you, that is cause for real concern. Likewise, if spell drop causes you to become so depressed that you begin to have suicidal ideation, that is cause for real concern. I can’t tell you that spell drop is completely harmless because in some instances and for some people, it can be a trigger that leads to further problems. This is why it can be so vital to learn to identify, prevent, and remedy spell drop.
If you’re someone who has an existing condition that might cause problems as a result of spell drop, you probably already know. You may have already experienced those issues during spell drop, but even if you haven’t, you’re likely aware of the ways that the symptoms we talked about previously can negatively impact you. You need to keep these things in mind so that you can safeguard your well-being in your magical practice. How you go about doing this will be highly individual. For some people, it may mean not practicing witchcraft alone. For others, it may mean keeping an inhaler or a medication on hand. For others, it may mean having a friend or therapist on speed dial that you can call when you’re having a mental health crisis. There’s nothing wrong with making accommodations for yourself so that you can stay safe and happy!
If you don’t have any medical or mental health issues that pose a serious threat to your well-being, then it’s unlikely that spell drop is going to be dangerous for you. Spell drop typically lasts less than 24 hours and in most cases, it lasts only 3 to 4 hours. Our bodies naturally want to return to a state of balanced energy and will strive to do so even without help from you. The vast majority of people will suffer no more damage from a bout of spell drop than you would from your average headache. It’s a little annoying and a little uncomfortable, sure, but it’s not dangerous and if you know how to treat it, you can get rid of it quickly and painlessly.
3. I feel like a crazy person!
It can feel really disconcerting suddenly having all of these weird symptoms popping up for no apparent reason. Especially if you get anxiety, depression, mood swings, or irritability, you’re likely to feel like you’ve completely lost control of your feelings. It’s okay. You’re not crazy!
These symptoms are a normal, easily explained reaction to having your energy knocked off-kilter. Would you feel crazy for being in pain if someone walked up to you with a crowbar and smashed it into your leg? Of course not! You would have a perfectly rational, reasonable explanation for why you were suddenly in pain and having a big reaction to that. This is exactly the same. The only difference is that it’s not as easy to trace the symptoms you’re having back to the cause.
In this case, whatever spell work you’ve done recently simply knocked you askew on an energetic level and your body and mind and emotions are having a very reasonable reaction to that. All you need to do is recognize the connection and treat yourself accordingly. Just like you wouldn’t expect yourself to run a marathon after breaking your leg, don’t expect yourself to be able to shake off spell drop like it didn’t even happen.
4. Does spell drop mean that my spell failed or is going to backfire?
Nope! Spell drop is something that happens separate from the success of your spell work. It’s not a sign that your spell has failed, and it’s not a sign that your spell is rebounding on you. The only thing that spell drop is a sign of is that your energy is unbalanced. In fact, in some instances, spell drop can actually indicate that your spell worked. If you have less energy after a spell then you did before the spell, then it follows that the energy had to go somewhere! In all likelihood, it went exactly where you told it to. If you have too much energy, that simply indicates that you did a good job at drumming up and collecting extra energy to power your spell, potentially so much that you couldn’t use it all in the spell itself! These are by no means failures. If you need to, you can think of spell drop as a way to confirm that something happened. Even if you’re not sure that your spell will be a complete success, you can be sure that you definitely did magic and energy was definitely moving.
Spell drop isn’t fun, but with a little knowledge, even the newest witch can learn how to identify it and how to remedy it. In next week’s blog post, we’re going to take a look at exactly how you can prevent and fix spell drop when it occurs in your craft. You don’t have to dread your spell work because you know that you’re going to feel horrible for 8 hours afterward! Spell drop is a common problem, and one that is very easily solved.
Continue to Part 2 of this series: How To Fix Spell Drop When You Crash After Magic >>
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