Humans have been associating and comparing things with one another since the dawn of our existence, and that is not different for the witch of yesterday and today. We are constantly associating colours, symbols, places, smells, and god knows what else with other things. Some of the associations are overlapping, meaning that in one culture or society one symbol might mean one thing and in another culture or society it means something completely different. This alone creates a boundary in comparing associations with one another, though it doesn't make things complicated if common ground is found, often through way of discussion with others. If you could imagine a world we all had the same world view it would be a daunting task to create and embark on magic for it is a unique brand fit to each individual. How you perform your magic, why you perform your magic, and the way you view your magic will result in the type of result you may achieve.
Grade nine science teaches us that everything is made of energy and everything created requires energy. So how does one create a spell? It is a process of putting together energy, intent, will, and purpose varying, positivity or negativity. To get to my point I'm going to break down that sentence. Each one of us views everything differently from another person, so it's only rational to conclude that we would see and experience energy differently and eventually the well devoted practitioner will develop their own methods for working with energy. Because I feel very connected to the land I live on, I'm constantly gathering energy for my spells and rituals from the foliage around me and the large population of wildlife always nearby. Although I don't often put myself in a meditative trance anymore for spell casting, I would suggest a person new to spell casting to meditate before their actions so that they can both clear and focus their mind on their objective. Once you're familiar with energy, you should almost be able to pick it out as easy as remembering a smell such as vanilla or cinnamon. Your intent is what you want to happen. If you can develop a method in which you intertwine your intent with the energy around you and take control of that energy because it has something to it that is a part of you. Your will and intent go hand in hand. If you intent is there but your will to do it isn't, your magic won't work. When it comes down to the negativity and positivity side of the spectrum, this is usually where society has come to dictate what is good and what is bad. The type of energy you'd look to create for your spell would be solely dependent on what type of spell you're looking to cast. If you're looking to get revenge on someone who has done you wrong, your energy might feel heavy and dark for you have poured and intertwined your intent with it. As soon as your intent has become intertwined with the energy, you decide if it's good or bad which will determine how the spell manifests itself.
There are entire practices devoted to aligning colours to varying degrees of magic, most common I have found is correspondence work. There are traces of the use of colour in practices and traditions dating back to well before the Christian church. Some have argued that there is no colour in magic, and while I don't personally hold with that statement, I do believe it has truth to it. As I mentioned above, there is a process from which energy that was not in use, or raw energy, turns into useful energy which can be visualised in any colour that the individual finds suitable. Not only are colours useful in spell casting, but also in craft making, and ritual work among a huge number of practices that have recently become modernly popular. Though tools such as candles have been used for centuries, with different colour candles for different ritual intent.
Have you ever gotten a whiff of something and for a moment it takes you away to another time and memory? That's because you remember what you associated that energy with. It's amazing what we can unlock with a little bit of association and correspondence, isn't it? Well not really but let me explain. If we started comparing and associating everything with something we begin to hit walls of a breakdown where no one would understand why someone would associate that with that, if that makes sense. There would be no peer corraborated gnosis for a number of things and we'd all be UPG (unverifiable personal gnosis) practitioners on a number of levels. This complicates how magic is taught because everyone wants to put in their two cents.
As witches and practitoners we each observe the world around us differently, but all of us are aware of the energy. We realise how much it is to us and we completely forget what it was like to be ignorant of the energy around us, it becomes something that we can just look for and feel naturally with little effort once you've become comfortable with it. Different types of energy will attract different types of people, though within that context we are all the same, from the same source. We each have our own stamp to our aura or energy, and that also helps decide the course that we take through magic.
Energy is such a vast and complex force that it truly profounds me when I think about it on any deep level. How it ebbs and flows, creating life here and taking life there. The things that we can associate with energy is infinite as it is a natural force and everything becomes natural when you boil it down to the raw basics. The turth is that energy is alive and it's around us every day, living and breathing. Energy is who we are and energy is what our lives are made of to the very core, and learning how to control, manipulate, associate, and properly use magic is often easier than most people realise. Unlocking the door of energy work will be the first of many doors for you the practitioner to unlock. It will offer you a basic understanding of magic and many practices or paths are centered around some sort of energy, such as a deity. So as you see, energy is constantly around is, swirling and carrying the energy waves of others, and it is easy to be blind of something that is so natural we nearly take it for granted without our knowledge.