⛧ First Church of Hypocrisy, Blasphemy, and Self-Righteousness ⛧

I am into chaos magick as well as being a Satanist. Been seeing things on my dash lately lambasting religious people for praying. I kind of understand their point, but I disagree. The thing to remember about prayer is that, like magick, it won't do anything for you if you don't put forth real effort OUTSIDE of the prayer/spell. What I mean is, magick/prayer can increase the odds of an opportunity appearing; the spell/prayer can open the door but YOU HAVE TO WALK THROUGH IT!

It's a simple concept, really. Pray or do spells to win the lottery all you want, and they won't have a snowball's chance on the sun of working if you don't buy a ticket! Hell, there's even a proverb about it: "God best helps those who help themselves."

Also, "actions speak louder than words" applies to magick as well; buying a lotto ticket is at least 1000 times more powerful an act of magick than glorified prayer is. Adding a magick spell or prayer TO the act of buying a ticket is really the whole point of magick; magick is meant to SUPPLEMENT action, not replace it. It increases the odds in your favor, but nowhere near enough to replace action. We don't live in the Charmed universe, after all. Magick in this universe is a lot more subtle.

Also, while the placebo effect has been known to perform miracles for people's health, it still takes a highly unusual level of belief, and if you have any doubt at all, it won't work. So don't rely on healing magick or on prayer; go to the doctor! I wish I could find the source for this Chinese alternative medicine practitioner who admitted his kind of medicine had its limits and Western medicine was superior in many ways, because it is so relevant here. Magick/prayer are only so effective for most people, and miracles are still rare, so GO TO THE FUCKING DOCTOR! TAKE THE MEDICINE! FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS!

Furthermore, the thing most people don't realize about the placebo effect, is that it WORKS THE OTHER WAY, too! So if you believe things that are not good (for instance, that you are going to die), then that makes it much more likely that it will be true. Ever notice that depression causes physical ailments as well? Gee, I wonder if that might be the dark side of the placebo effect at work? "Mind over matter" is always true, not just for positive things. Self-destructive thoughts are - unsurprisingly - self-destructive.