Here at the Church of Good Luck we are blessed and Lucky to have a number of members who are also members of the clergy. There is an open invitation to all of these members to provide Guest Sermons. New perspectives and fresh viewpoints are an important part of any church.
The first Guest Sermon is entitled The Psychology of Luck. It was written by Rev. Julian S. Bradford, II, H.P. Rev. Bradford is a well-known witch, and is a High Priest as well as ordained minister. I urge the members to read and reflect on the wisdom contained in his lovely sermon.
The Psychology of Luck
Life has its highs and lows, as we all know quite well. Moments of elation and crushing sadness or frantic desperation come to us with almost amazing regularity.
We call it “luck”, simply put, when something occurs in our life. If we find a $50 bill on the sidewalk, we call it good luck and if we lose our car keys that, to us, is considered bad luck. So far I’ve not told you a thing you don’t already know. But let’s take things a bit further.
These happenstances seem to come in cycles: one or two positive, one negative and so on. Being intensely interested in what takes place in our daily lives, we would naturally prefer to encounter the positive things. And so we want “good luck” to come our way more than it does. This is where “lucky items” often come into play.
One might see a rabbit’s foot on ebay or in a botanica and eagerly shell out our $4.50 or whatever (ignoring the fact that the rabbit’s loss was bad luck for him!), then put it into a pocket or purse or onto a keychain. In moments of contemplation of what we need, we might kiss the fur, stroke it with a thumb, or simply look at the foot. Now if we think of all we’ve heard or read of such an item, we realize that generations of folk have entertained the belief that this little scrap of bone, flesh and fur somehow has the ability to “bring us luck.”
We go through our day happy, calm-eyed, perhaps whistling a scrap of some popular melody, expecting something good to be just about to manifest. And lo and behold! we meet Johnny Jones who says shamefacedly, “Tom, I forgot all about the fact that I owe you $20. Here’s $30. The difference is my way of saying thanks.” Wow – the foot worked!
Did it? Really? Perhaps someone can explain how bone, fur and flesh bring about money (or whatever we might have chanced to glean). Know what? It didn’t, and can’t. But there is a certain magick about that little foot, because it brought about a change in our outlook. Instead of being frantic with worry, or filled with doom-and-gloom-O-woe-is-me, we’re bouncy, happy and expectant. Having a mindset of this nature, we subconsciously put ourselves in those situations more likely to make us happy and fulfilled. We knew that Johnny Jones owed us money and that he usually is on Main Street on his way back from lunch at the corner diner. So without thinking, perhaps, we set our feet onto Main Street, here’s our debtor, and he came through!
A relatively simple example of a deep concept – the expectant person, the person who has a sure and certain KNOWLEDGE that something good is about to pop into his existence, THAT is the person who is going to have “good luck.” Upbeat thinking is the key, and for many persons (yours truly included) having a “lucky item” in his or her possession is going to help bring that state of thought and feeling about.
I’m quite sure that, knowing this, you could simply adjust your thought patterns and have much better luck…but do you want to know something? It’s a lot more FUN to work with the odd rabbit’s foot, or holed coin. It’s far more satisfying to turn your silver when you first see the new moon. You more greatly enjoy that old silver amulet’s weight against your chest under your shirt. Being aware that you’re taking part in a belief system that many thousands of people have taken part in for time immemorial… well, that’s an amazing feeling. You feel that you are part of something very old, very time tested, very magickal.
And thinking that way, how can you help but feel fortunate? How can you avoid having good luck pursue you and catch up with you and bring a smile to your face?
Luck is all around you! Good and bad alike! Want the good? Then feel good, think good, act good. If you have the need to use a “lucky item” then go for it. Hang a few gewgaws about your neck, weigh your pocket down with a lucky dollar or two if you feel that’s what it’s going to take.
There you have it, and here endeth the reading of the morning lesson. Billiken bless you all and bring you smiling to heart’s desire! Amen and amen!
Rev. Julian S Bradford II, H.P.
The second Guest Sermon is entitled The Good Luck Mindset: Yetzer hara and Yetzer hatov. It was written by Witch Doctor Reuben Mizrachi, Spiritual Counselor. He is also known simply as Ruby. Ruby is a witch, a shaman and a psychic. Please take a moment to read about the ancient astral beings that affect our Luck and try out the prayer that Ruby provides in his wonderful sermon.
The Good Luck Mindset: Yetzer hara and Yetzer hatov
LUCK: don’t we all need some GOOD LUCK ? But how can we receive some of that good luck when we really need it? This sermon will focus on the good luck mindset .
The good luck mindset, what is it all about? Every person is ruled by what In Hebrew is called “Yetzer hara” and “Yetzer hatov”. In free translation that’s: “the evil inclination” and “the good inclination.” Both are powerful astral creatures, older then humanity
“The evil inclination” has been known since ancient times as the “Old Imbecile King”. He worries all the time on things connected to his being, and that is how you recognize him. His name – Old Imbecile King – refers to his need for getting respect and be approved by others (King), and the feelings he lives on: “I’m not smart enough, I’m worthless, I cant be loved, I’ll never get what I want, I’m not good enough (Imbecile), and “I’m afraid, I’m old, I don’t have the power to do it like I used too, I’m depressed, I’m desperate, I cant see a way out of this mess” (Old). But since he is older then humanity (just like many daemons) he is one step ahead of human beings!
This “Yetzer hara” also puts paranoid fear in our hearts. It makes you think that everybody is out to get you, making you think that this woman gives you the evil eye, or this man put a curse on you. Although someone might actually put an evil eye on you or curse you it will only affect you because you are comparing yourself to others by thinking :” this man /woman don’t like me, why do they hate me? I never did them wrong…am I that unlovable? Am I that worthless? Am I strong enough to resist the effect of their curse?”
Many mental health problems and the agony that they bring comes from comparing yourself to others. When you compare yourself to other people in order to find where you stand, the only thing it gives you is pride or depression, vanity or anger and hate. All are the work of the evil inclination (that Old Imbecile King). Especially when a man or woman gets depressed, when they fall into despair or weakness because they are comparing themselves to others!
Know this : all the conditions you have in your life right now are there because Spirit wants them to be there for you. Take an honest look at your life now, and you’ll see that the areas in which you have strong faith everything flows great. But in areas in your life that you need to strengthen your faith you experience fears and blocks which are the work of the evil inclination.
Think about it: if you were the only person alive you would be happy with your gains and you would cherish them. But when you compare your life to other people you can never be truly happy. When we fall for the evil inclination scam, it takes us far away from the “good inclination”, so we loose our faith, and become spiritually blocked. Then no good or lucky being is able to come near us, or even hear our prayers.
So what do we need to do? My favorite method is:
- Be resolute about what I think regarding my actions, and refusing to apologize if I know I’m in the right. There is no need to debase oneself if you know you’re doing your best or what’s right.
- Be clear and ask myself: “is this action serving my higher purpose?”
In Hebrew we say “sof ma-ase be-mach-shava te-chila“. That means one must think of the outcome or result before he begins doing any work! For example, let’s say you think you want to learn computer engineering. That’s a nice respectable profession. But wait a minute…hold on…take a deep breath and imagine the outcome! Imagine you are now a graduate in computer engineering, and you finally have a certificate to prove it! You are a computer engineer! Great job, by the way, good money…but… is it making you happy and satisfied? Or are you not really feeling satisfied because you’re in it just for the money and you’ll probably go and learn something else after it?
If you just do it for the money, or for the respect, or maybe for fame and power? Then STOP! NOW! It is not your life purpose!!! It is called “working from pride” or “looking for approval from others “. You should know that the God/Goddess/Ancestors will take care of your finances. They are the only providers and they don’t really need you to make any effort.. They just need you to follow their guidance. So have strong faith that Spirit has “got your back” and choose the profession that you really want to learn. I assure you the Spirits will support you, and provide you with all the goods you need, and much more . This is “sof maase bemachshve tecila” -think of the outcome result before you start.
In conclusion:
- always stay on the “strong faith” mode
- never let “yetzer hara” to get the best of you
- never compare yourself to other people
- think of the outcome before you act
Then you’ll always be lucky and happy and your life will be an easy life . When times are hard and you face “Yetzer hara” then put your hands in prayer position and pray to your Spirit. Pray happy and loud so “Yetzer hara” will hear you loud and clear: “Times are hard and I am thankful for that. Thank you God/Goddess/Spirit! Thank you! I did not receive what I wanted and I am happy and thankful for that! For only you, Spirit, knows what’s best for me, thank you for loving me that much! I know, Spirit, that if you deny me of that thing it was not good for me.”
Only Spirit can see the big picture. That is why Spirit gives you the chance to come in prayer, to strengthen your faith, to say thanks for what you have. To have some “Soul Observance ” about what you say and do ,and to ask for what you want to receive . So you can live my life purpose, and be happy and fulfilled. Now be happy and try to continue with your life. Pray everyday and offer thanks. With your prayer you will nourish Spirit and all the good angels and they will all come to your aid. Remember also to make the right magickal spells to move on quickly to continue your life sans the interference. Let none stop you, or turn you aside! You will see it was all for the best.
That is it for now
Blessings,
RUBY
A new member, Mr. Dalton Williamson contributes his thoughts on the topic of Luck as well. This is from the heart and shows that Mr. Williamson is a true practitioner of the art of changing Luck.
Luck by Dalton
My thoughts about luck are that luck has a lot to do with a strong belief in achieving whatever you set your mind to doing along with a lot of praying.
I also have a lot of superstitions relating to upcoming events which are about to take place in my life. Such as males sneezing in my presence and me hitting my right foot. So, if certain things prove to go down that path then they are more likely not to turn out the way I would have wanted them to. However, this is different for other people, as my mother has the opposite, with female sneezers and hitting her left foot.
Influencing good luck can vary from person to person, from chanting to having a ritual. Also having a certain person or object around you which has proven to be lucky. This can obviously be established when you have good luck and bad just from trying out different things until they work for you. But believing in what you are doing is paramount. When things are working for you, embrace it fully and share your luck with others – especially the good.
But I feel that everyone can always do more to achieve more luck, which is why it is wonderful to be a part of The Church of Good Luck.
Mr. Dalton Williamson
Another new member, Miss Devi Spring, has graced us with not one, but TWO thought-provoking sermons. Please take the time to read and reflect on her writing, and check out the Links page for more information and links to Devi.
Gratitude, Reciprocity, and Tokens of Faith:
Priming the Mind, Body, and Spirit for Receiving Good Fortune
Guest Sermon by Miss Devi Spring
There is one thing that I do my best to do every night before I go to bed – take some time to give thanks. Even if it’s been a terrible day, I try to spend a few minutes thinking of things in my life that I am grateful for on that day. I try to review my day and find those moments of time, or small fleeting experiences that I may have had that brought me some enjoyment and made me feel good. I find that no matter how angry, or irritated, or sad that I am feeling, when I try and take a few moments to dwell on the good things in my life, as opposed to just mentally harping on the bad things, a shift in my internal spiritual and energetic atmosphere takes place…if only for the few minutes that I am giving thanks. My husband, my animal companions, and my lovely home are 3 things that end up on my list each night. Sometimes that’s all I can manage. But some nights I can give thanks almost endlessly for small things that brought me a little bit of joy during that day. That is the practice of Gratitude.
I have found that by training myself to focus, at least for a few minutes each night, on the things in my life which bring joy and comfort that it becomes easier and easier to find joy each subsequent day…and most importantly it becomes easier and easier to NOTICE when something brings me joy and positivity. It’s this noticing which becomes very powerful in changing our fortune. The Buddhists call it ‘awareness’and speak of the process of practicing awareness, ‘mindfulness’. Practicing mindfulness helps to cultivate within yourself the ability to really experience things fully while you are in the moment with them, rather than blindly reacting to something without any real recognition of its presence and effect on your present experience, or without drifting off into reveries of past experiences, or fanciful dreams of the future. This allows a person to really experience their life as it is which has a lot of wide-reaching benefits for general mental and spiritual wellness.
Awareness is a real skill and blessing to have in one’s life – and it’s especially useful for changing your luck, or at least becoming more attuned to its flow through our lives. If you really stop to think about it, how often are you REALLY aware during the day – totally and 100% present in the moment with your life? Then think about how much of your day is spent thinking about stuff that happened in the past, or fantasizing or worrying about things that might possibly in the future. Is there a bit of a discrepancy? How many things happened around you that you simply were not aware of because you were living in your head in that moment, rather than living in the moment?
Luck lives in the moment – and so you should try to dwell more often in that oft-fabled realm too if you want to catch some of it! Luck often manifests itself in our lives through coincidences, or synchronicities. These are often very small, seemingly random happenstances that we often almost miss. Take that $20 bill that you found on the ground for example. What luck! How many other people walked past it before you did? Why were YOU the one that noticed it? Was it because you happened to be more aware of your surroundings and were more positioned in the moment than them? Very likely! Now what more good fortune could you discover for yourself if you actively practiced being more aware and specifically practicing being on the lookout for good things in our day to day lives? Ruminate on that and allow it to percolate inside your lucky skull.
So let’s assume that you’ve established a nightly practice of reviewing each day looking for good fortune, and being thankful for that. As a result you’ve started noticing more and more good things that happen to you during a day when they happen. What is the next step? Reinforcing and strengthening that new skill, and helping to open up other people to the experience of good luck! It’s the skill of “pay it forward”, or Reciprocity.
Luck is rather liquid – its natural state is to flow easily and freely. However it can become blocked and polluted, which makes it harder for it get to people. As someone who has managed to receive some of the refreshing waters of good fortune, it only makes sense to keep the river running through it by helping it travel onwards and bring positivity to more and more people. This practice of Reciprocity helps keep your lucky pipes clean!
If something particularly wonderful happens to you, make something nice happen for someone else – and especially someone in real need of it. I like to make a practice of providing some cash, or some lunch, to the first homeless person that I see after I experience some good luck. Giving a donation to a charity of your choice, or a charity related to the kind of good fortune that you experience is also a great option. This does several things that are beneficial:
- It provides some aid and at least a small portion of luck to someone who could really use the helping hand. And we’ve all been in need of help before!
- It creates a larger positive experience around the luck-kernel that you’ve sewn through your awareness, which helps to reinforce the mental efforts that you are taking to notice fortunate events, making it even EASIER to notice next time!
- If you buy into the whole energetic resonance thing, it helps amplify the “good-luck vibrations” in your personal sphere, and thereby make you all the more attractive to the free floating “good-luck vibrations”, good luck imps, etc, et al, and invites more luck into your life. The Universe seems to know when good luck is hoarded and squandered, and when it is truly appreciated! So get on it’s Good Kids list so you’ll be positioned well for more good fortune in the future.
With all this Gratitude and Reciprocity happening in your life, you’re probably already a Good Luck Saint, and have all your ducks in a row effortlessly practicing perfect awareness 24/7 and basking in your perpetual good fortune. Right? Wrong. We’re all human. We need a little extra help to keep us on the right track. And that’s where Tokens of Faith come in, more commonly referred to as Lucky Charms! These tokens help to remind us to wake up and notice – to be on the lookout for the positive and the joyful. They help us to EXPECT it.
Expectation is a very powerful thing. If you wake up each morning just knowing that everything is going to be horrible, then you will have pre-programmed your mind to seek out any events that fulfill this expectation of yours. We’ve all had days like that. When you wake up on the wrong side of the bed, even the good things that happen to you get minimized and rationalized and framed negatively to help fit your expectations. Sadly, it often seems a lot easier to have our negative expectations filled than our positive ones. It seems to be a common human skill to be able to find the worst in everything. We often need a lot of help turning our expectations around to begin to seek out the positive! Gratitude and Reciprocity can really help start to turn things around, and Tokens of Faith can often act as the catalyst for expedient changes in our overall expectations.
There’s something unbelievably comforting in carrying an object that you truly feel will help change your circumstances for the better. It’s a pretty universal experience judging by the nearly uncountable forms of lucky charms and talismans of good fortune, that cultures the world over have produced and continue to produce. Shamans, rootdoctors, village witches, magicians, and other spiritual innovators have dedicated countless hours to determining which herbs, roots, and stones in the world around us can most effectively aid us in gaining more good fortune. Priests and priestesses from time immemorial have received instructions from On High for ways and words to pray to increase our luck and overall positive circumstances. So why not utilize some of that knowledge, and tap into that current of belief, and grab onto a Lucky Charm that calls out to you? When you have that curio in your pocket you will start to look out for its effects almost immediately! It helps to powerfully change your expectations – and that is a big key to becoming a walking luck-magnet.
Any one of the three practices of Gratitude, Reciprocity, and Tokens of Faith can be enough to shift one’s interactions with the world around them enough to start attracting more good luck into their experience. When combined they can prove to be a force to be reckoned with!
I hope that this information has entertained, and perhaps even inspired you somewhat.
May good luck follow you all the days of your life.
Devi Spring
Cleanliness is Next to Luckiness
Guest Sermon by Miss Devi Spring
Last time I was here I mentioned briefly the notion of one’s “sphere” and “energetic atmosphere” in relation to luck. I’d like to expand on these notions and talk about why the old saying “Cleanliness is next to Godliness” is pretty darn true. For our purposes you could re-translate it “Cleanliness is next to Luckiness” and not have it lose any the original meaning at all.
Some people would refer to the sphere as an “aura”, which is the field of energy that is produced by and surrounds your body (and truth be told is really is more egg-like than perfectly spherical – but that’s really here nor there). It acts as an import/export center for all manner of other influential forces around you – planetary, chthonic, holy, or just plain icky and negative.
You might call an energetic atmosphere one’s home, dwelling, or habitat. These are the places where you live. While you are physically incarnate you’re pretty much stuck living in your body, and your body needs a home-base to nest in when it’s not out hunting or gathering. It is within these two places that luck’s presence can be welcomed or impeded. So knowing how to keep the welcome mat out is very important for staying on a first name basis with good fortune.
Let’s start with your personal sphere. This is a pretty permanent fixture as long as you have your body, so it’s very important to have a good grasp on the basic feeding and maintenance for this companion. It’s sort of like a subtle version of your skin – it absorbs a great deal, is sensitive to stimulation, and is the first line of defense against infection. You don’t HAVE to clean it everyday, but you do have to clean it pretty often or else it gets dingy and stinky and no one will want to be anywhere near you!
When you’re clean and well put-together people naturally approve of you more easily, and it encourages positive and regular interaction. Your sphere is pretty much the same. If you keep it clean and strong, it will be very difficult for anything energetically or subtly unpleasant to affect you very significantly. When good things come your way, they are not met with all kinds of garbage and rusted out old junkers on the front lawn – but instead they’ll find the porch light on and a fresh apple-pie cooling tantalizingly on the window-sill. It invites those good things to sit and stay a spell. What that porch light also does is deter intruders, who much prefer to skulk around where there are deep shadows that they can hide within to do their nefarious deeds. Bad luck is totally wearing the gang colors of those would-be intruders.
So how does one’s sphere get dirty? Well, really anything can contribute to the sullying of your sphere. It can get dusty just from interacting with so many people during a normal workday. Some people that you come in contact with are like Pig Pen from Peanuts, they just get dirt all over everything just by passing through – and that includes your pristine sphere. If you get into a confrontation, or are nearby when one occurs, that angry and irritable vibration can taint your aura. People dealing with illness, sadness, frustrated by the traffic, and even those that have to keep up a manic-pace to get everything done by 5pm, can also kick some sand into your sphere-eyes.
These same factors are at play in the environments in which we spent time. The energetic atmosphere of places becomes impregnated with the qualities of the vibrations that are present within them. The longer an area is exposed to one type of vibration, the more that area reflects back that same vibration and can impose that vibration upon us. It’s all rather viral. Most people have had the experience of walking into a home where things just felt “heavy” or “thick”, only to find out that a great deal of fighting goes on, or that there has recently been a severe illness within the home. This leaves an impression on the place. Many “hauntings” are actually what has been termed residuals, meaning that there is no actual spirit present, but that the energy of a particularly strong event has etched itself so deeply into the place, that it gets re-played and experienced by those who come across it.
All of our interactions have the ability to contribute to the sullying of our personal energetic virtue, or that of the building that those interactions are occurring within. As the air-quality inside our sphere and within our larger atmosphere goes down, it makes it harder for the fresh breezes of good luck to hit our lungs, and it becomes easier for us to start being noticeably negatively effected by the negativity. Lack of spiritual cleanliness over the long-term results in imbalances in our lives, and can even cause physical illnesses.
As a Reiki Master and intuitive energetic healer I see this everyday, and along with performing healings and balancing sessions, part of my job is educating people on spiritual hygiene so they can truly recover from their malady, and not just rely on symptom management. As a conjurewoman and village witch, I see how spiritual cleansing plays a huge role in the amount of luck and good fortune that a person will experience. A big part of my job in that context is also educating people on spiritual cleansing so they can be pro-active about transforming their lives, and not have to rely on the seemingly “random” winds of fate.
Now that you know you’re likely a bit messy, how do you clean up the giant invisible egg that you’re living inside, and the actual roof under which that egg is residing? It’s not quite so straight-forward as taking a washcloth and scrubbing vigorously behind your ears, but it’s also not very different. Bathing is one of the easiest ways to spiritually cleanse yourself, and since you do that pretty often anyway (I hope), it will be very simple to integrate some methods of spiritual cleansing into your already established routine.
Salt is a powerful purifying agent. It also makes for a great exfoliating scrub! Mix some lemongrass essential oil into a jar of sea salt with some table or Epsom salts thrown in for good measure and you’ve got yourself a fantastic spiritually cleansing body scrub (that will also keep your skin feeling smooth and youthful). Add a handful of the same mixture to a tub full of hot water, and you’ve got a lovely spiritual cleansing bath. There are also lots of soaps available out there that have spiritual cleansing qualities if you prefer a good lather from a bar. Florida Water soap is one. And your local health food store just may have some all-natural handcrafted made with essential oils and herbs – if you have a wee bit of knowledge on the magical uses of herbs, it will be simple to pick a bar that has real cleansing OR real luck-drawing power. Voila! Your mundane shower has taken on new dimensions that will prime your sphere for fortune and – with a bit of luck – fame! (You can also find an excellent daily cleansing ritual right here in the Rituals section at The Church of Good Luck that you can easily integrate into your day at ANY time you feel you need it. No shower or bathtub required.) Keeping up this routine will strengthen your sphere and almost act like esoteric Teflon – with negative stuff just beading up and rolling right off of you.
This same idea is extended to one’s environment. Bad luck is like dust bunnies – it likes to accumulate in places that don’t often get tended. So turn your regular housekeeping into an act that invokes good luck and banishes the bad. Remember that salt & lemongrass mixture you made? Put some into that bucket of water before you mop, or dampen your dust rag with some of the mixture dissolved in water. Put that into a spritzer bottle and spray your upholstery, carpets, or curtains (you may want to patch test this just in case). Add some to the rinse cycle of your laundry. Many botanicas and candle shops, such as Lucky Mojo Curio Co, carry spiritual baths and floor washes for all kinds of different conditions. Pop on over to their online catalog and start washing all kinds of good luck and fortune into all the various areas of your life!
When you and the atmosphere around you are clean and full of light, it is so much easier for positivity and luck to find you and make your good acquaintance. Also, when you become accustomed to the light, you get much more sensitive to the dark – even a little shadow will catch your attention, and can quickly escort it firmly away before it can cause a ruckus in the disco of your life!
Luck, light, positivity – all different ways of speaking about the Divine. Since keeping clean allows more luck to come our way, it really is another way of staying just a bit closer to the Source of All Good Things. Cleanliness really IS next to Luckiness.
Devi Spring
Here is a contribution by Church member Ryan Hatfield. Rather than the usual sermon format, Ryan contributes the following poem.
To The Luckless
TO THE LUCKLESS
Ryan Hatfield
Many are adrift in a sea of probability
Drowning in a shower of chance
Torn apart by the winds of fortune
The dice favor them not
To them I say this:
Instead of bracing against the tsunami waves of change
You must float to the top
Instead of thrashing with oars against the tides of luck
You must unfurl your sails
And when confronted with a storm of chaos
Seek ye the eye of the hurricane!
Ready for more? Please click here to read Sermons by our own Rev. Jim!