"Or it can blow up in your face," you say, remembering your little 'incident' in high school.  "So what's the third thing that can happen?"

        "Nothing."

        "Nothing?"

        "Sometimes people, especially novices, haven't practiced enough to tap effectively into their Magickal Self.  Or sometimes the Divine has other plans.  Or sometimes the spell worked in a way which we fail to notice or don't discover until much later.  But as I've been telling you, there are steps toward increasing the effectiveness of a spell."

        "Right," you say.  "So what's the third step?"