Summoning

I finished laying down the last of the chalk into the pattern I found in the old book. I'd been poking around my favorite bookstore when I ran across this old book on magic circles. Oddly, it looked just like a trade paperback and had a bar code and everything, at least on the outside. Once you opened it up, however, the pages were quite old. The paper didn't seem like paper per se, maybe vellum? The ink was still dark enough to read, but it appeared hand written rather than printed. I love quirky things I find randomly so I'd brought it home. It sat on my bookshelf for months without a second thought as I worked through my backlog of to-be-reads.
When I finally took it down to read it, it was pretty much by chance. I took it off the shelf when I was actually trying to get the book next to it and figured what the heck. I cracked it open and started reading. At first I couldn't really make heads nor tails of it. It was in English but pretty archaic. After a few chapters I started to understand it better though. It was a book on summoning. It didn't talk about demons or spirits but rather it was about summoning things like confidence, compassion, or empathy.
I have read alot but I haven't ever really heard of anyone summoning those things. They are concepts, right? No things. How can you summon a concept? So I decided, what the heck, I may as well give it a shot. I could certainly use some compassion in my life. Or does it mean I will be more compassionate? Either way, it can't hurt.
The circle in the book was ridiculously complicated. It took me quite a few tries. Luckily I had some sidewalk chalk lying around and I could erase my lines with some water. After quite a few tries, I was ready to give it a go. I took my place in the circle and started to say the words, "I welcome compassion into my life. I open myself to compassion in all it's forms and welcome it to dwell within me. I surrender to compassion." The instructions were to repeat for five minutes at your own pace.
Okay, I get it, it does sound like new age, affirmation stuff more than a spell or something, but it came with directions for a magic circle and the paper and ink were old!
When my timer went off at the five minute mark, I completed the final round I was on and then stepped from the cirlce. Did I feel more compassion? I dunno. Maybe? Maybe not? Would people be more compassionate to me? Would I be more compassionate to them? There was only one way to find out. Grabbing my purse, I headed for the door and out into the day.