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How To Remedy Spell Drop

Technically, you don’t have to do anything about spell drop. We have incredibly fine-tuned energy systems that are designed to maintain homeostasis naturally. This means that if you do nothing, eventually your energy will go back to normal. I find that spell drop rarely lasts longer than 24. I tell you this not to discourage you from trying to fix spell drop, but simply so that you can feel comfortable knowing that it isn’t something to worry about. Unless the symptoms themselves place you in a dangerous physical or mental state, there’s no reason to worry about lasting problems.

That said, spell drop is typically quite uncomfortable and I doubt you’re going to want to stay in that state for terribly long. Here’s how you can address spell drop quickly so that you can get back to feeling normal.

1. Take Preemptive Measures

The best way to handle spell drop is to not get it in the first place! This is what magical hygiene was made for. Magical hygiene consists of your basic magical practices designed to maintain a safe and healthy magical working environment, and I highly suggest that all of my students become well versed in these techniques. These include cleansing, grounding, banishing, and warding.

While cleansing will not usually get rid of spell drop, it can help to prevent it by removing any unnecessary energies or beings from your spell casting area. When we work magic, we are acting as a conduit for a lot of energy. This opens up the energy field so that it can interact with our tools, our spiritual helpers, and anything else that we are using in our craft. This also means that our energy fields are open to picking up energy dust bunnies in the general vicinity. Cleansing prevents this.

Warding or casting circles is also an excellent idea as it protects the witch from curious eyes. Sometimes, spell work can catch the attention of wandering spirits who can accidentally become tangled in the open and interactive energy field of a working witch. Now, this does not mean that the spirit is somehow possessing you or that the spirit is still attached to you after the fact. Rather, it means that you can accidentally absorb some of the “flavor” of that spirit’s energy unintentionally. Likewise, depending on the kind of spell that you’re working, sometimes energetic voids can be opened up as a consequence of spellwork. If you are pulling energy from the surrounding area and channeling it into a specific item or goal, it can leave a bubble of low energy density that will pull other energies in to fill the void. Warding prevents this from happening until you are back in a safe and comfortable energetic state.

I would not necessarily suggest using banishing or grounding prior to your spell work. Grounding, in particular, can make it difficult to perform some kinds of witchcraft. It’s best saved for after the spell if you find yourself in an uncomfortable state of spell drop.

2. Eat Something

If you do find yourself with spell drop despite having taken preemptive measures, that’s okay! It’s totally fixable. My first step when I realize that I have spell drop is always grabbing something to eat. I even keep a granola bar or some other kind of on-the-go snack in my witch kit when I’m doing spell work out of the house for just this reason. Putting a bit of food into the body is a great way to jumpstart the natural process of homeostasis. It settles the nerves and communicates to the body that you are safe and that everything is okay. Bonus points if whatever you eat has some sugar in it since quick carbohydrates can help to staunch the release of cortisol in the body, which will make you feel better in a hurry. Personally, chocolate is my go-to after any kind of spell work, astral travel, or spirit work. Chocolate contains magnesium, which calms the nervous system, as well as a bit of sugar and fat to help with cortisol and give you some quick energy.

Hydrating is also a good idea. It’s easy to get lost in your spell work and not realize that it’s been some time since you’ve had a drink of water. While it may not fix the spell drop, it certainly won’t hurt.

3. Grounding

Grounding is one of the fastest ways to get rid of spell drop. There are a ton of different ways to ground yourself, but keeping a simple grounding meditation in your back pocket will allow you to ground quickly and easily whenever you realize that you’re experiencing spell drop. The point of grounding is to equalize your energy. Ideally, you’re able to trade energy with the earth, a body of water, a tree, etc. By allowing this natural and uninhibited flow of energy between you and this other body, your energy is able to return to its optimal state quickly.

This is the core of spell drop. It tends to affect people who have naturally closed off energy. Because they have an energy field that is locked down tight, their system is not able to trade energy as easily with their surroundings. This is super common with people who suffer from anxiety and depression, and it’s nothing to feel bad about! People exist with a range of energy fields from very open, to selectively permeable, to very closed off, and it simply means that you need to find ways to interact with your craft that are comfortable for you. Your energy field is not wrong or bad for being more contained or closed off from the energy around you. In all likelihood, you developed your energy system for a reason! It’s probably kept you safe in ways you don’t even realize.

My favorite ways to ground include standing on bare earth or in the grass, sticking my feet into a natural body of water, sitting underneath a tree, using a grounding meditation where I envision myself as a tree with roots that reach deep underground, and exercising.

4. Adjust Your Energy Directionally

If you’ve been able to identify the kind of spell drop that you’re experiencing, either too much or too little energy, you can find ways to adjust your energy in the necessary direction to help your body return to its natural state.

For those with too much energy, you need to find ways to burn off or use up that excess energy. Exercise is an excellent way to do this! Going for a run, a bike ride, a swim, playing tennis, going to an ashtanga class, or any other vigorous exercise will help to use up the excess energy that you currently have. You can also use this energy for creative expression if that feels good to you. I’ve found that writing while in this amped up state is quite an interesting experience. Having a romp with your partner can be a fun way to burn off energy as well. Even just going for a brisk walk will help immensely.

If you have too little energy, you need to find ways to boost your energy levels. This means eating if you feel hungry and taking a nap if you feel tired. You can also do things like listen to upbeat music, watch movies, especially comedy, have a conversation with someone whose company you really enjoy, curl up with a good book, grab a warm mug of tea, whatever makes you feel comfortable and helps you to recuperate. I will caution you to avoid heavy use of caffeine while you are in this state. The short-term boost from caffeine can feel like a relief, but the caffeine crash afterward will be doubly hard and leave you in a potentially worse state than you started in.

If you find yourself with a lot of emotions that seem to be coming out of nowhere, it can help to let those emotions out in a constructive way. Notice I said “in a constructive way”. If you’re irritable or angry, don’t take that out on your roommate or your family. Journaling is a great way to help get out stuck feelings if you’re a journaling kind of person but you can also confide in someone that you trust, have a good crying session, scream into your pillow, or any other way that feels good for you to vent those feelings. Keep in mind that if you’re feeling a lot of anxiety, exercise is probably going to be a more effective fix for you since the problem is having too much energy.

5. Give Yourself Down Time

Finally, if you know that you’re prone to spell drop, give yourself the downtime that you need to recover from it. Some witches can cast spells and go on about their day as though nothing happened, attending meetings, running errands, and meeting up with friends the same as they would any other day. Some witches really need time to recover after their spell work. Neither is right or wrong. Knowing yourself and what you need in your craft is vital to your long-term health and happiness as a person and as a witch. I mean, you’re going to get burnt out pretty fast if you’re constantly casting giant spells and then trying to force yourself to go on with life as usual despite how horrible you feel. You’re going to start feeling like witchcraft is a chore or a punishment and no witch wants to feel that way about their craft!

Give yourself plenty of time to recover from your spell work. The bigger the spell, the more time and care you will need. You may find that for little spells and sigils you don’t need any downtime at all, but for bigger spells you really need at least one evening between you and work the next day before you can handle the world. There’s nothing wrong with this. Giving yourself the time and space to recover and feel like yourself again after engaging in the energetic alterations that we can experience as witches is not just good self-care, it’s common sense! No one would expect you to run a marathon and then be ready to hit the trail again the very next day. No one expects a mother to give birth and go back to work immediately. What you are doing as a witch can be hard work and you need to give yourself the time and care necessary for you to make a full recovery.

Make spell aftercare a part of your magical toolkit. In the same way that you wouldn’t neglect cleansing or warding as parts of your magical toolkit, make spell aftercare an important and non-negotiable part of your witchcraft practice. Figure out what works best for you, what makes you feel better, what allows you to come back to yourself and to your center in a comfortable way, and make sure that you have access to at least a few of those methods whenever you work a spell. There is nothing wrong with you for having spell drop, and spell drop isn’t going to destroy your witchcraft practice as long as you take care of yourself. After all, witchcraft is supposed to make your life better!

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Updated on July 9, 2024 by Avery Hart