This is a quandry I've had for a bit. When I go to the table for a Working, I have a need. It's usually a pretty big need that I need some (fairly) immediate results on. As a result, I tend to want to throw fucking everything but the kitchen sink at it.
Case in point #2: X has been down with a swollen mouth due to a wonky wisdom tooth for 4 days now. On Saturday I "tried" for him using a pow-wow charm from Pow-Wows; or, Long Lost Friend by John George Hohman and techniques I learned from Lee Gandee in Strange Experience. This was my first time. I was a little intimidated, but I tried. The results seemed to be almost immediate. The swelling started to decrease & X said it seemed that the site was draining (gross, I know, sorry) but the pain persisted so he continued with medication. By Saturday night his face seemed to be close to normal. We were excited & hopeful. By Sunday morning, however, the swelling had returned. Not as bad as it had been Friday night, but still... so I "tried" for him again. Then, not satisfied that the pow-wow was sufficient, I carved & charged a candle to take it away as well. He spent the day on the couch popping pain pills & rubbing his jaw with a piece of hematite trying to draw it out. Last night, again, the swelling seemed to be greatly reduced & this morning it did not look as bad as it has days past.
Maybe I'm impatient. Maybe I'm magickally ADD. Who knows, but I wonder if this is a bad habit. It's so scatter shot that I'm afraid nothing could be as effective as it should be. This year, I'd really like to focus on one method at a time. I think this will be part of the "fine tuning my Craft" that I spoke of. So, the question becomes, how do I do this? Perhaps the best thing to do is to practice on the in between, when my need is not so urgent. Experiment & record results, or lack thereof.
Thoughts? What are your experiences? Help? lol