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

 

[Firetree]

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

Things work differently for different people because people are different from each other . If you hire an electrician , you might get a good or a bad job done , they might use the same materials , and have to follow the same ' ritual' and method , and electricity is a force 'out there' that works the same for everyone ... but one can not leave the operator out of the equation .

 

[Hu96ie]

For me, it's a question of metaphors, both lexical and vibrational.
We and the spirits (entities, gods, etc.) live in different manifestations of different realities, on different astral planes but somehow connected.
Everyone speaks their own language, vibrates differently, feels differently.
We must try to find the metaphors that best allow us to make our body/intent vibrate, making it understandable and transmittable.
A bit like when we manage to find the right metaphor to explain a complex concept (and we understand it from our interlocutor's response), we can also modulate our body/voice/intent to elicit a response from an "other" interlocutor, and we notice it from their response (i.e., from the success of the ritual).
Obviously, the same thing also works the other way around, that is, when we have to "listen."

 

[FireBorn]

This is a really good question, and I wrestled with it for a long time, specifically why no two people seem to experience Lilith (or any spirit) the same way. It used to drive me fucking nuts until I learned more about why.

Here’s where I landed (part of this is what Raziel taught me): Spirit shows up as they actually are. The human brain is the filter between us and them. Inside that filter you’ve got your subconscious, your ego, your shadows, your fears, your upbringing, your religious programming, your desires, your need for certain outcomes, all of it.

Science has already shown that the eye and brain are basically running on assumption more than actual real-time reality. The information hitting your eyeball takes around 800 milliseconds for the brain to process. We’re not even living in real time, we’re reacting to events that already happened. Our memories are deeply flawed. They aren't based on the actual event, they are based on how we felt that last time we remembered it. So we’re already not experiencing “pure” reality. Not like we think we are.

Then you add on top of that our personal narratives, the stories we’ve decided are reality. Your narrative and your filters are going to create a completely different experience than mine. Who’s “right”? The actual experiencer, best I can tell.

So yeah every single person is going to have a different encounter with spirit and with ritual. Books and grimoires can only ever be loose guides (And I mean super loose). Your mileage will vary, and that’s probably a good thing.

Fuck we are messy lol

 

[Darkat]

Everyone has ritual and paths that resonate with them. Choose a path that feels right to you - when you find the right one it should feel like you are coming home and you feel totally comfortable with it.
Books are useful for knowledge, but they only show you a direction and then you follow the path yourself and learn from the entities that you meet along the way.

 

[Keldan]

The term “different styles of magick work for different people” is often repeated because it’s observationally true, but it’s usually explained poorly. Because people aren’t doing the same operation, even when they use the same label. Two people can both say they did an X ritual, but in practice they may differ on the actual method and what they believe they’re contacting (their own psyche, energy, real entity, etc.)

And a lot of “it didn’t work” is actually “it worked differently than expected.” Results can be delayed, indirect, or come through many things people can’t track. Or results are blocked by incompatible goals (“I want X” but also “X scares me”) or overridden by bigger constraints (social, financial situations, other people’s choices, etc.). So people conclude “it didn’t work,” when it has produced something, but not in the fantasy format they expect it.

A ton of methods are just done incorrectly. This is the part people avoid saying truthfully. Many results differ because many people do not have stable technique yet. That doesn’t mean everyone is wrong, it means competence is uneven.

In my experience, when the contact is real and the method is executed correctly, the results are not infinitely variable. I have friends who work with spirits as much as I do, and we independently record similar things with the same types of entities. It means that once you establish stable technique, the spirit side isn’t just random personal psychology, it’s the same.

So yes, people experience differences. But it’s not because reality is purely subjective. It’s because of skill level, and those variables can produce a thousand versions of the same thing until someone stabilizes their practice.

 

[Freestarwins]

Even if you don’t believe that your perception is impacting the magick( as some have touched on ) , then even with spirits ,if we compare them to people , it is known that the same person reacts differently to different people , have different dynamics and want different things from them . So will act differently . If you compare them to like species of animals ( like types of spirits ) some find cats respond well to them but dogs don’t etc . Also situations are differentetc

 

[boymatmat]

I used to get stuck on this too, especially the idea that if spirits are external, then it shouldn’t vary from person to person.
What made it click for me is that even if something is external, you’re still interacting with it through yourself. Your focus, clarity, emotional state, expectations — all of that affects how clean that interaction is.
So two people can run the same ritual, same steps, same words, but one is actually dialed in and the other is distracted or second-guessing. On paper it’s the same method, but in practice it really isn’t.
I don’t see it as “it’s all subjective” or “it’s all fixed and external.” It feels more like a mix of both. There are methods that are stable and tested (like grimoires that have worked for a long time), but how well they work still depends on the operator.
The way I think about it now is something like:
method × operator × context = result
So the “different things work for different people” answer isn’t just about taste. It’s more that everyone has to kind of calibrate how they’re applying the method, otherwise you can run something correctly on paper and still get nothing out of it.