Practical Prosperity Magick, by Ellen Dugan

work at this store. The atmosphere was toxic, and I hoped the manager would just go away, leave me alone, and let me do my job in peace. I even energetically sent a little nudge toward that outcome.

Damn it. I know better than that.

With the stress of the writing projects and working more hours sooner than I had anticipated, I simply did not think—I only reacted.

And I believe that the gods were listening because the next day, the store manager tearfully announced that she had to take an unplanned medical leave starting a week before Thanksgiving and would be out for at least six weeks.

I was so relieved. Working retail over the holiday season is always horrible, but working with that manager breathing down my neck would have been ghastly. I also realized very quickly that I should have been more careful with my wishes and energy nudges, but there was nothing I could do about it after the fact.

On the plus side, the atmosphere at work was much better with the manager on leave. I had started taking the pay from all the extra hours I was working and stashing it in my savings. Maybe the original money spell had worked out okay after all? The cash was certainly flowing…

A replacement manager from another store was assigned to us a few days later, and he and I got along very well. I cranked out hundreds of holiday floral designs and told myself to enjoy being creative in a different way with the silk flowers. It was busy, chaotic, and insane. It took me over and I was simply on autopilot: get up, go to work, bust my ass, deal with or dodge store dramas, be polite to insane holiday shoppers, come home, scrape off glitter, and repeat.

When it was time for the replacement manager to go back to his own store, he gave me a hug and his cell phone number, and told me that he would love it if I worked in his store’s floral department. When our store manager returned from medical leave in early January, she stormed in, stopped, and glared straight at me. To say she was hostile toward me after her return was an understatement. Hello, karma. Note to self: watch those wishes and energy nudges, Ellen. introduction 7