I Will Pray For You (She Said Sinisterly)

Last updated on: July 28, 2012 at 1:55 pm by Star Foster

I Will Pray For You (She Said Sinisterly) 2012-07-28T13:55:43-04:00 Star Foster

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First of all, I FEEL BETTER! Whatever bug I had has vamoosed, and in the way things go I am amused at how the universe always seem to kick you when you’re down, and at how all sorts of things happen while you are lying abed with a bug. How weird the wide world is!

I know there are Olympics, and Catholics using smarmy quoting practices and Lammas and about a gajillion blog posts that could be responded to but today I want to talk about doing magick for other people.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that magick-workers used to work magick for each other and request magickal aid from each other pretty frequently at the beginning of the Pagan movement. Then suspicion crept into our lives. Witch wars and diversity. We were no longer all practicing the same Craft or same set of closely related magickal currents.

Thus came about a culture of simply sending energy undirected and without purpose. The magical equivalent of a bolt of lighting with only the limitation that it Harm None. As if a person in ICU can direct the energetic equivalent of a transformer to their best advantage on their own.

What makes it so fascinating is that it’s not malevolent magick most of us are worried about. We are worried about misguided helpful magick. We are worried that people will “pray for us.”

In the saccharine sweet South, one of the nastiest things you can do is tell someone you will pray for them with just the right inflection. Said properly, what it really means is praying against you, and anyone with an Evangelical background is aware of spiritual warfare. The intent is not technically evil or malevolent, but it is strictly at cross-purposes with you. It wants to see you fail, stumble, fall, or break down, all for your own good. All so you can see the “Light.”

I’ve known mother-in-laws to pray against their son’s wives getting a job even though the couple needed the money, simply because they believe women should be at home with the children. I’ve known church members to pray against each other. I have family that prays against me, all for my own good.

Recently a friend approached me asking for my magickal help. No one has ever asked me for that before. I was beyond flattered and honored that they trusted me so much.

It was with full knowledge of that trust that I set to work carefully weaving spells of sanctuary, prosperity,health and joy for them, ending it with turning ownership of those spells over to them. I did the work as a guest invited into their life, who left the work entirely at the end. I worked that their desires may come to fruition, not mine. I worked deliberately with specific intent and energies. I didn’t just hurl a blob of white light like a big gob of astral Cool Whip at them.

I can only assume what I did worked well, or at least didn’t put stumbling blocks in their way. What I do know is that in that strange way that magick works, it had a profound effect on me. It felt really good to be able to do something for a friend that was important and regarded their basic well-being. It felt good to practice my Craft for the benefit of someone other than myself, and to notice the marked difference in my Craft when I am working for others. It felt good to remind myself that my Craft isn’t tied to a physical location, even if I am.

As much as it is still uneasy territory, and no one likes to be “prayed for,” I think we should work for each other and our communities more often. It’s a good thing to do. A pious thing to do. Just as much as we should donate our mundane energies to making our communities a better place, we should also devote our spiritual energies to that same good cause.

Happy Lammas/Lughnasadh to you all!

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