Rule # 3: If It Sparkles, It Worked
A very important rule from Amorae Oopsworth, resident spellcaster of The Monster Emporium.
Amorae Oopsworth keeps a small notebook.
Actually, she keeps several small notebooks, because she keeps losing her place in the first one, and the second one, and the one she was absolutely certain she left on the windowsill next to the candle that keeps glowing slightly crooked.
In one of these notebooks, the lavender one with the slightly bent corner, she has written, in her careful looping handwriting, a list of rules.
Not rules like you must, or you should or, this is the only correct way.
More like rules the way a warm cup of tea on a cold afternoon is a rule. Gentle. Obvious once you notice them. Impossible to argue with. She calls them her Rules of Magic.
And rule number three is, in her own words, "the most important one."
Rule # Three: If It Sparkles, It Worked.
Here is what Amorae means by this.
She does not mean that everything you make will be perfect. She does not mean that every attempt will land where you aimed it. She does not mean that life will cooperate with your plans, or that your spell will arrive neatly, on time, in the shape you were expecting.
She means something much more interesting than that.
She means that if something came from you, if you made it, tried it, sent it out into the world, wrote it down, drew it, said it out loud, attempted it even halfway, then it left a mark. A shimmer. A small but undeniable trace of the fact that you were here and you tried.
That trace? That's the sparkle. And the sparkle means it worked.
A Brief History of Amorae's Spells Not Going According to Plan
Amorae has been casting spells for a very long time. She will be the first to tell you that approximately none of them have gone exactly as intended.
There was the spell meant to sort the library books by color that instead sorted them by 'emotional weight', which was honestly more useful but took some getting used to. There was the spell for finding lost things that kept finding things nobody had lost yet, small objects appearing on doorsteps before their owners knew they needed them. There was the love note spell that was supposed to deliver one note and instead scattered seventeen of them across the Emporium like confetti, each landing in exactly the right hands.
"Results may vary", she always says, with the particular smile of someone who has made peace with this. If you tried something, and it didn't quite go as planned, she'll always reassure you with murmers like, "Sparkles may appear in unexpected locations" and "This is not a malfunction. This is the spell doing its best."
What This Has To Do With You
You have probably, at some point, decided something you made didn't count.
Maybe it wasn't finished enough. Maybe it didn't turn out the way you pictured it. Maybe you showed it to someone and they were underwhelmed, or you showed it to nobody because you were already sure they would be. Maybe you started it and stopped halfway through and filed it under 'failure' without really examining it first.
Amorae would like to have a gentle word with you about that.
Because here is what she has noticed, in all her years of imperfect spellcasting, in all the notebooks she has lost her place in, in all the spells that shimmered sideways instead of landing straight, "Something always remains."
The half finished painting still changed the afternoon you spent on it. The letter you wrote and never sent still moved something in you in the writing. The project you abandoned halfway through still taught you something about what you wanted, what you were capable of, what direction to point yourself next.
The spell went sideways. But it left something kind behind.
That's worth something. That's worth a lot, actually.
That's the sparkle.
What Amorae Wants You To Do With This
Not much, really.
She is not a demanding monster. She does not assign homework, set expectations or tell you what your spell should look like when it's done.
She just wants you to consider, the next time you make something and immediately decide it doesn't count, did it sparkle?
Did it leave anything kind behind? A feeling. A small shift. A moment of absorption where the world went quiet and you were just, making something, and that was enough?
Then it worked.
Maybe not the way you planned. Maybe not in the shape you were expecting. Maybe it wandered instead of landed, shimmered instead of snapped, left glitter in places nobody asked for it.
But it worked.
"Rule three," says Amorae Oopsworth, from somewhere near the crooked-glowing candle, writing herself another note she will find in a coat pocket three weeks from now exactly when she needs it. "If it sparkled. It worked." (There are no consequences for forgetting this. She will remind you.)
A Quick Note From The Emporium
Amorae Oopsworth is the founder of the Oopsie Spell Club , a monthly membership inside The Monster Emporium where a new friendly monster arrives every month with a full envelope of printable magic.
She hosts February. Mr. Pennington holds down March. Pippa Puddlehop arrived in April in yellow rubber boots, completely soaked, absolutely unbothered.
Each month comes with 8-10 exclusive printables — coloring pages, stickers, activity sheets, love notes meant to be passed on, and small surprises that change with the season.
Join today and all three envelopes are yours instantly.
$9.98 a month. Cancel anytime. The kettle is always on. [ Join the Oopsie Spell Club ]
Or if you'd like to wander first — the shop is always open. [ Browse The Monster Emporium Shop ]
Written from inside The Monster Emporium, where the candles glow slightly crooked and the sparkles show up exactly where they're needed.
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