The Magic of Merit

A little theory and some praxis.

Jun 22, 2025

Merit is the metaphysical credit for a good deed done or correct action taken. How these are defined varies but my experiential understanding is that merit can be created by anything from making your family a nice meal, to doing your job without complaining, to elevating the dead, lending a kind ear to a friend, or commonly giving to charity or doing volunteer work.

Some Catholic novenas suggest giving alms in the name of the saint or angel one is petitioning and, as we will see, this is a normal part of many magical procedures worldwide. Doing an act of good in the name of a spirit will probably not be a new concept to most of you, however within this context of merit we can see some finer metaphysics at play and gain a more complete understanding of how we are engaging with the spirit world, hopefully opening the door to more ways of engaging with this idea.

The concept of Merit appears in both Judaism and Christianity, however in the latter has fallen out of vogue due to abuse and over-complication during the age of indulgences. Within the former it resides culturally and religiously nestled in the specificity of following the Torah. In Mahayana Buddhism however, merit is a prominent aspect of daily practice on the road to enlightenment and has been well defined for centuries.

It is a fairly standard practice following Buddhist ceremonial work to offer the merits created from said ritual engagement with the divine to “all sentient beings” for the sake of their enlightenment and eventual ease of their Samsaric suffering, however in some cases a specific ancestor or group thereof might be especially troubled and influencing the living. In these cases merit may be created specifically for their elevation and offered exclusively to them for the sake of their elevation, to calm their restlessness and ease their afterlife.

You might worry about giving away all your credit to others, but interestingly the Buddhist scriptures state that when we offer merit the act of kindness that is giving then creates merit in equal measure.

In Southeast Asia many ajarns and monks accumulate great amounts of merit through a variety of means. Daily ceremonies, chanting and meditation, giving back to the community, and even the positive impact caused by the amulets made by these masters in the lives of those who possess them are all means of accumulating merit.

Giving is heart work. Doing good cleans off the calcified bits and gets the heart energy flowing and open once again. This is a great boon to our stability and perception as it tends to clear away emotional obstacles which cloud our vision, but there are other reasons to make merit and while in this post I am speaking in terms of magical uses, which at times can sound a bit dry or mechanical, it’s crucial to remember that the amount of merit created by any given act is directly related to the quality of the intention. Making merit purely for the sake of magical ends will net less than making merit because it’s a good thing to do.

Some Thai amulets contain the remains of deceased humans who died violent deaths. Whether the bodies of those who die prematurely are charged with the intense energy created by the trauma usually associated with such a death, or the energy from their remaining lifespan which was cut short is unclear but I have heard both as explanations. These spirits can be highly dangerous and volatile, often causing problems for the living. In order to harness and transmute this power the volatility of these ghosts is tempered by various means by magicians and monks. Charm plants, ritual tools, incantations, bindings, and protections all may go into this process of elevating and transforming these ghosts into helpful companions, but a crucial aspect in this process seems, from what I can gather, to be large amounts of merit.

In practice, merit almost takes on the palpable feeling of being an energy field subsisting of compassion or goodness in its refined ambrosiac form. As mentioned, regular offerings of merit can eventually heal lineages and restless dead though I would suggest additionally calling in angelic or saintly assistance in these processes.

Merit can demonstrate to other beings what we’re about. If we are in fact about giving, reciprocity, and goodwill towards other beings then it will become self-evident through our practice, reducing potential for magical interference and expanding the retinue of beings who are sympathetic or fond of us. Who doesn’t want that?

The experienceable fact that the universe keeps record of our good deeds, that it actually cares when we are helpful and kind, and that we truly get credit for these actions was astonishing at first, and has never since ceased to inspire me. When you feel an entire graveyard receive your merit offering and suddenly the mood goes from heavy as lead to holy holy holy it changes you. It clicks that this is real.

Servitors and spirits can be offered merit to imbue them with a sense of cosmic morality. With the discernment between helpful and harmful instilled therein, a type of intelligence may emerge that may not have been present otherwise. This works the same for humans - our hard edges can be softened by a courageously loving person who won’t give up on us. Whatever the substance of merit actually is, there are concepts, ideas, even experiences embedded within that field and offering enough merit to other beings (or even objects) can imbue them with these qualities, either through sufficient quantity or over the course of time.

There are many Thai amulet descriptions that confirm that in Thailand merit is not only considered a factor in one’s karma, but also their good fortune, luck, and wealth, with many stating that the degree to which one can gain from an amulet may only reach the capacity for which their own level of accumulated merit allows. Essentially, this means that at least some Thai amulets will not help you past a certain point unless you are earning it. From what I can tell this attribution of merit to good fortune and the like seems to fall more under the heading of local folk belief than under the umbrella of Buddhism in general. More orthodox Buddhist views might parse these as separate, unrelated affairs but that does not in any way suggest that this de-legitimizes the idea. Contrarily, animist folk beliefs often contain practical wisdom which is more rooted in everyday, practical needs, traditions, and observations than that of the priesthood and are often survivals of local beliefs that come from before the adopted religion arrived.

Some Thai magicians and monks offer ceremonies which can be purchased, in which the monk or ajarn will light candles and make offerings of material goods as well as merit on behalf of the client to clear away bad luck, ill fortune, or karma. This concept is meant to open the way for good things to enter our lives through the ajarn or monk paying some of our more urgent karmic debts on our behalf, but in order for this to work the practitioner must have accumulated a great deal of merit themselves.

In Sepher Raziel it states, “…the first which fastesth & giueth teithings to the Creator, & therefore they trust that they attayne that they desire & it is sothe.” As we can see there is very much a precedent for this idea of giving to charity and performing virtuous action as a means of fortifying our requests to spirits within the Western magical tradition.

Along these Western lines, there are also prayers and conjurations which end with “by the merits of Jesus Christ” and it is here that the practicality of working with Jesus can be experienced. Simply by uttering these words we are citing the merit created by self-sacrifice, an act which in a metaphysical framework that includes merit and the law of karma becomes all the more profound, we can employ this great reservoir of merit for our own work in order to persuade, elevate, pay debts, and even charge materia and workings.

As far as how to offer merit, there are methods involving the pouring of water and chanting, however it can be done simply by stating it aloud and patiently, gently thinking of the goodness of the act, then radiating it out to the spirits in your mind with a feeling like giving flowers to your grandmother or something similar.

So in case this has peaked your curiosity, here’s my own personal method of merit-making. I prefer to pray for the dead, as they are sorely neglected in the West and this is a time-friendly way of making a boat load of merit. It takes about fifteen minutes depending on your prayer speed.

As always, I want to hear about your experiences. That is, if you would like to share them.

Merit Bomb

Archangel St Michael, Prince of the Church of Jesus Christ, I ask that you and all angels who are willing and able, along with all my honored ancestors of blood and practice, join me in prayer for and elevation of the dead at this time, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and through the merits of Jesus Christ,

YESERAYE (x3)

Amen.

O Lord God Almighty, I pray Thee, by the Precious Blood which Thy Divine Son Jesus shed in the garden, deliver the souls in Purgatory - and especially that soul amongst them all who is most destitute of spiritual aid - and vouchsafe to bring them to Thy glory, there to praise and bless Thee forever. Amen.

Our Father…

Hail Mary…