Defeating lust of result is the crucial art of achieving psychological and energetic non-interference after a magickal working is complete. It is the deliberate act of releasing the anxious, craving part of the mind to allow the subconscious and the universe to carry out the intended instruction without being sabotaged by conscious doubt. This is achieved through a variety of practical techniques drawn from the psychological, spiritual, energetic, and informational models of magick.
Why Is Lust of Result Harmful for Your Magick?
Lust of result is the obsessive, anxious craving for a desired outcome, an emotional static that actively interferes with the subtle currents of magick. Think of your magickal intention as a seed you plant during a ritual. The ritual provides the perfect soil and conditions. Lust of result is the act of digging up that seed every five minutes to check if it’s sprouting. Your anxiety and impatience will kill the very thing you want to grow. This interference stems from the psychic censor—the doubting, analytical part of the conscious mind—which, if not properly managed, will sabotage the work you’ve delegated to your far more powerful subconscious.
The Psychological Approach to Detachment
From a psychological perspective, defeating lust of result is an exercise in hacking your own cognitive habits to foster a state of non-attachment. The goal is to get your conscious mind out of the way so the enchantment can finalize itself.
- Trust the Subconscious: Frame your subconscious as a powerful, loyal, and literal computer. Once you’ve entered the command (the ritual), you must trust it to run the program. Constantly checking for results is like hammering the ‘Enter’ key over and over; it doesn’t speed up the process, it just crashes the system.
- Cognitive Reframing: Actively reframe your post-ritual feeling. When a thought about the goal arises, consciously shift it from a place of want (“I hope it works”) to a place of certainty (“It is already working”). This transforms the energy from needy anxiety to confident expectation.
- Mindfulness: When the anxious thought (“Is it here yet?”) appears, don’t fight it. Simply notice it, acknowledge it without judgment (“There is a thought of anxiety”), and then let it go, visualizing it as a cloud passing in the sky. Do not engage.
The Spiritual Approach to Detachment
The spiritual approach involves releasing the personal ego’s grip on the outcome by formally delegating the final result to a trusted external force, be it a deity, the Universe, or your own Higher Self.
- Surrender and Faith: This is an act of profound trust. After the ritual is complete, you make a formal declaration, verbally or mentally, that you are handing over the operation. For example: “I have done the work; I now place this in the hands of Hecate to bring to fruition as She sees fit.” Your job is now done. This shifts the emotional burden from your shoulders and transforms personal anxiety into spiritual faith.
- Devotional Sealing: Perform a simple, unrelated act of devotion immediately after your main ritual. Lighting a candle for a patron deity or leaving an offering for local spirits can act as a psychological seal on your working, creating a sense of finality that helps you let go.
The Energetic Approach to Detachment
Energetically, lust of result is a tense, obsessive buildup of psychic energy that gets stuck in your personal sphere instead of being released to do its job. This excess energy must be consciously grounded and redirected.
- Grounding: If you feel yourself obsessing, perform a simple grounding exercise. Stand barefoot on the earth if possible (or just on the floor) and close your eyes. Visualize all the anxious, pent-up energy in your mind as crackling static. Take a deep breath, and as you exhale, visualize that static flowing down your spine, through your legs, and out the soles of your feet, where it is safely absorbed and neutralized by the vastness of the planet.
- Redirection: The moment your ritual ends, immediately and totally immerse yourself in a different, engaging activity. Channel the post-ritual adrenaline into something physical like exercise, something creative like playing music, or something mundane but engrossing like a video game or deep cleaning your kitchen. Starve the anxiety of the energy it needs to grow.
The Informational Approach to Detachment
Viewing magick through an informational model reframes the operation as sending a data packet, making detachment a matter of simple, logical protocol. Your ritual is the act of composing a very clear email or making a phone call to reality. You state your request, provide the necessary energy, and hit “Send”. Lust of result is the equivalent of spamming the refresh button on your sent folder or calling the person back every two minutes to ask “Did you get it? Did you get it now?” The proper protocol is to send the message clearly, trust that the network has delivered it, and then hang up the phone. Await the reply in confidence, don’t jam the line with noise.
Practical Techniques for Daily Practice
Beyond the theoretical models, defeating lust of result requires a toolkit of practical, everyday techniques to deploy when obsession strikes.
- The Laughter Banishing: When you catch yourself in a loop of worry, deliberately think of something utterly ridiculous or watch a genuinely funny video. A deep belly laugh instantly shatters the solemn, tense state of mind required for worry to thrive.
- The Multi-Spell Barrage: If you have one major, important goal, cast several other, unrelated sigils for trivial things (e.g., “Find a cool feather”, “Hear a specific song on the radio”). This spreads your focus and makes it harder to obsess over any single outcome.
- The Mundane Action Plan: Immediately after a ritual for a specific goal, grab a notebook and write down a list of mundane, practical steps you can take to achieve it. Start working on the first step right away. This gives your conscious mind a “job” to do, keeping it busy while the magick works in the background.
- The Vow of Silence: Make a solemn vow not to speak of your working to anyone until after it has manifested. This contains its energy and prevents the doubt or skepticism of others from infecting your own mind.
- Devocation Rites: Ceremonial magick equips you with many weapons, one of them being the practice of devocation. This time, however, instead of devoking an entity, you simply use the very same ceremony to devoke your impatience (the lust of result).
Common Problems and Solutions
Even with the best techniques, certain situations make detachment particularly challenging.
Q: How can I avoid lust of result for an urgent, survival-based goal like needing rent money?
A: This is the ultimate test. The best strategy is extreme misdirection. Throw all of your conscious energy into the Mundane Action Plan. Work every possible angle in the physical world—apply for jobs, sell possessions, ask for advances. The magick will work most effectively as a probability lubricant for your real-world efforts, not as a lottery ticket you’re waiting to be called.
Q: How does lust of result apply to long-term goals like Illumination, and how do I manage it?
A: Here, lust of result manifests as impatience. The solution is to reframe the goal entirely. Fall in love with the process, not the destination. Focus on the satisfaction of the daily meditation, the feeling of a well-performed ritual, or the insights from your journal. The illumination will come as a natural byproduct of the consistent work, not because you are anxiously measuring your progress.
Q: I feel excited and keep looking for ‘signs’ that the spell is working. Isn’t this a good thing?
A: This is a subtle trap. Your “sign-seeking” is a form of doubt; you’re looking for proof because you don’t truly believe the work is done. The solution is to perform an act of “as if”. Act as if you are already the person who has the thing you want. How would they feel? They would feel calm, confident, and grateful, not anxious and searching. Cultivate that feeling of gratitude in advance.
Q: It’s been a while since my ritual and nothing has happened. Should I just recast the spell?
A: Recasting a spell from a place of panic or doubt is like shouting the same garbled command at a computer over and over; it only adds to the confusion. Before recasting, the first step should be a diagnostic divination to ask why the result hasn’t manifested. The answer might be that a different approach is needed, that there’s an obstacle you haven’t considered, or simply that you need to be more patient. Only recast from a place of calm, strategic clarity, not anxious repetition.
Q: What if I think I’m detached, but I suspect I’m actually self-sabotaging because I don’t feel worthy of the result?
A: This is a deep and common blockage where the lust of result is actually a symptom of a core belief issue. If you repeatedly find your magick failing for things you “should” want, it’s a sign that your subconscious is rejecting the command because it conflicts with a deeper program (e.g., “I don’t deserve success”). The solution is to pause this type of enchantment and turn to the work of Illumination. Use introspective meditation, autohypnosis, or other self-discovery techniques to find and rewrite that limiting belief. You cannot successfully enchant the world outside until you’ve dealt with the saboteurs within.