Potions and spells...

No, I am not recommending either! Yet, just today, after I received an e-mail, I clicked a link which took me to a story of use of a Wiccan love potion. I've already written elsewhere about the dangers of what I class as Gnostic, yet there was a passion and longing the woman who wrote this story expressed which reminded me of a lack we often can experience in the Christian life.

I do not know if it is rooted in an excess of being rational or a fear of emotion, but there are ways in which Christianity is presented which make it seem that petitions for one's own needs are taboo. (I well remember one of the nuns telling us that it was a sin to not retain one's composure. I knew then I was doomed...) During my childhood, RC kids had the strong message that prayers could be offered for souls in purgatory or the intentions of the Holy Father - but to pray for oneself (unless it was to discern a vocation, ask forgiveness, or otherwise not speak of temporal needs) was hardly encouraged.

It varies between classes, but, as a working class kid, I am of the generation whose parents often had grown up in extreme poverty, then began working, under dreadful conditions, in the 1930s - and were young adults, often recently married, during the War. We were far from prosperous, but indeed were better off than our parents had been, and advances in eliminating communicable diseases also meant that we had a far better chance not only of living to adulthood but of not having deafness, a damaged heart, and other such souvenirs of bouts of illness. I'm sure our parents wanted us to have gratitude, and much reminded us of how much we had compared to 'their day' - but it sometimes came across as if they rather resented our 'easier' lives.

By the time I was a young adult, those of us who were 'churchy' tended to be very committed to social justice. Wonderful thought that is, it had another 'down side.' We were very conscious of the pains of the third world or of areas torn by war (we were not old enough to remember major war ourselves). But prayers of petition had to be for the entire world - not for oneself. As I mentioned in my pre-Christmas commentary, too many people forgot that, in recognising one's advantages, gratitude, not guilt, fosters a healthy spirituality.

I've written before about my mother's simple faith, which I so envy. I believe that more of that 'folk approach' would enrich us immensely. I am both too intellectual and too afraid! :) I was raised (not at home, but at school) to see Christ as one who sent his friends suffering (and we'll not even think of what he did for his enemies... justice, of course, was the point, but it did leave a bizarre picture of Jesus as vengeful which the gospels do not support.) Heaven knows that I knew the children of Fatima not only had to give their water to the sheep but had to endure all sorts of suffering for poor sinners... and little Jacinta begged Mary not to have to die all alone. Shudder! Considering that I always had a disposition towards friendliness with the Almighty, I wondered what suffering he'd have to cook up to show we were on good terms.

There often were devotional emphases which made it appear that one had to inflict suffering on oneself for a prayer to be heard. Ascetic practise was seen more as punishment than as the wealth it is.

I am rambling, I know, so I shall try to make my point. :) I am not recommending spells, potions, and the like, but such practises do express a longing of the heart that 'offer it up,' and even 'your grace is enough for me' can deny. I wonder if, at times, those who fall into non-Christian practise merely are hoping for a source of strength which involves help with one's needs and desires right here on earth. (Not that I would consider the old Celtic and Norse gods to be especially congenial... Jesus of Nazareth definitely was a more compassionate sort, but it is not Jesus that I am speaking of as the 'inflicter of suffering,' but images of him that others created later.)

After I read that story, I went to a nearby church and prayed before a statue of the Infant of Prague. (He was very well turned out - rich gold for Christmas.) Perhaps, here and there, a bit of use of sacramentals, or prayers offered (simply, for our own needs) with a hope of a compassionate answer... and the prayer offered without the undertone of "how could you help me... your people are dying in the streets?"

Now, will my readers please pray for me, that I get out of this rut and write an insightful post, with wit and humour, within the next week or so?