Different things work for different people - how come?

[süsü_]

I was reading a post on shem hamephorash ritual on here and the question was about if one method could work better or nah or whats up with that and the answer was "try one and see if it works" and "different styles of magic work for different people"
And I see this same response almost everywhere
But why, how come different styles of magic work for different people? Based on what?
If it were only about the psychological side of the story I would get it like some people probably feel better using more a serious approach or prefer more lighthearted ways of doing stuff and the person manifests it better that way or whatever thats general chaos magick is about but what about the other side?
A type of ritual that is not about manifesting the result by the "person's own power" but using external forces like angels' help or anything similar should not have a variable of personal compatibility

 

[Robert Ramsay]

My opinion is that there is a physical mechanism behind magic, but there are an infinite number of ways of implementing it, which depend on the psychology and experiences of each individual practitioner.

When you talk about 'external forces' you are assuming that those things function independently of the practitioner. I don't believe they do. You can get them to act as if they do, because that's how you treat them. The more you treat them as independents, the more independence they will display. This, IMO, is the difference between a god and a servitor. If you treat it like a god, it will behave like one. And the same for a servitor. Peter Carroll set out to create a goddess, Apophenia, but he used the same kind of methods as you use to make a servitor or an egregore. The difference was how he and his group treated her.

 

[Lurker]

Here is the explanation that resonates most deeply with me:

Everything we do during a ritual – every sound, every gesture, patterns of breathing, choices of correspondences, everything – is a symbolic encoding of intent for our unconscious mind. It’s the unconscious mind which is able to transcend the individualistic limitations of the conscious, intellectual mind to work magic on the broader levels of existence than those perceived by the conscious mind. Because the unconscious mind contains the symbolic and emotional imprints of our lives as individuals, this allows for some degree of individuality in rituals.

This is why people should pick rituals which speak to them on an emotional level. The symbolism is resonating with their unconscious minds.

 

[Digiquo]

Here is the explanation that resonates most deeply with me:

Everything we do during a ritual – every sound, every gesture, patterns of breathing, choices of correspondences, everything – is a symbolic encoding of intent for our unconscious mind. It’s the unconscious mind which is able to transcend the individualistic limitations of the conscious, intellectual mind to work magic on the broader levels of existence than those perceived by the conscious mind. Because the unconscious mind contains the symbolic and emotional imprints of our lives as individuals, this allows for some degree of individuality in rituals.

This is why people should pick rituals which speak to them on an emotional level. The symbolism is resonating with their unconscious minds.

To a degree I think this is true, but ancient grimoires like the Key of Solomon would not be so highly regarded to this day if there were not evidence that they work exactly as described by countless practitioners over centuries of implementation. Surely these magicians' minds are not so identical that they all happened to have the same exact degree of personality and life experience in order to effectively utilize said grimoires.

 

[Lurker]

To a degree I think this is true, but ancient grimoires like the Key of Solomon would not be so highly regarded to this day if there were not evidence that they work exactly as described by countless practitioners over centuries of implementation. Surely these magicians' minds are not so identical that they all happened to have the same exact degree of personality and life experience in order to effectively utilize said grimoires.

I didn't say they need to be exact, only that whatever symbolism in the rituals resonates with them. That only means similarities, not exactitudes. This really boils down to matters of taste. For example, why do some people like rock music and others C&W? Something about those styles of music speak to people differently, but both have large followings.

 

[Beyond Everything]

Briefly, discrepant results stem from

-the state of development of one's energy body complex

-what sorts of thoughtforms/programming inhabit one's person

-outside forces of various kinds