This title is stolen from a brief article i read about the use of amulets and talismans in contemporary Islam in Cote d'ivoire. I have been reading a lot about the invocations of various talismans and amulets across time in europe and the middle east and it has made me feel so lucky to be a part of an embodied spiritual practice. The accounts of invoking these amulets are so magically seductive, as they detail the medicinal and spiritual efficacy of consuming the words of God in a glass of water, that I feel a yearning to consume God myself. But then i remembered that that is exactly what Communion is; every week, i do get to consume God, and I do get to feel the divine within me and washing over me. And initially i felt so stupid for not remembering that and being envious of this magical embodiment of devotion, but i don't actually think that such absent-mindedness is a bad thing. It is actually a blessing. To be able to interface with the metaphysical in a subliminal and corporeal way is something that is deeply comforting. I have gone through periods of intense spirituality and fervent devotion at various times in my life. They have been incredibly exhausting and strenuous. It takes a great toll on the body to weep at Gods beauty at every turn. This exhaustion is why I could never be a mystic, something that i do feel deeply mournful about. But I feel incredible gratitude to be able to have faith that does not demand constant laborious meditation and scholarship to be efficacious; i can consume the divine and reap its rewards in my body and in my soul, even if my mind is clouded.