The Griefweaver Letter: Guarding Your Soul This Spooky Season

Inspired by “The Screwtape Letters” by C. S. Lewis

My dear Gloomsprout,

Your last report delighted me immensely. Your “patient” is progressing beautifully toward our goals. Twenty-eight months of trying to conceive, twenty-four negative pregnancy tests, one miscarriage and one chemical pregnancy have prepared the soil magnificently. But do not grow complacent, nephew. The real harvest is just beginning. 

You’ve attacked her identity brilliantly. She no longer sees herself as “beloved daughter”, but as “barren,” “broken” and “less than”. Every baby shower in the parish has become torture, every pregnancy announcement feels like a personal rejection from the Enemy Himself. She sits at Mass, surrounded by the children of others, drowning in envy. The isolation is delicious. She can’t share her rage at the Enemy without appearing faithless. 

You’ve corrupted her prayer life without destroying it. Gone is “Your will be done”. Now it’s bargaining, begging and demanding. “Where is my baby?” The Enemy’s silence, which He intends for her growth in trust, you’ve transformed into evidence of His cruelty and absence. She cannot bear waiting in the darkness of unknowing. 

You mentioned she’s been “resistant to alternative spirituality”. How quaint that you think this matters! The most devout are often the easiest to ensnare. We don’t need her to abandon her faith; just supplement it. A little fertility reading here, a fertility tea blend there (did the herbalist mention she “charges” them under the full moon?), some “energy work” for relaxation. All while she continues attending Mass, of course. 

Enter our masterpiece: the Algorithm. 

Your patient need never search for the occult; we deliver it directly to her vulnerable 2am scrolling sessions. Unable to sleep after another failed month, she opens her phone and sees: 

• “Your fertility angel card reading for November” 

• “Why you’re not pregnant: an energy healer explains” 

• “I manifested my baby in 30 days” 

• “The tea that changed my fertility journey”

She doesn’t search for these things. They appear wrapped in the testimonies of other desperate women, decorated with baby photos. She tells herself she’s “just curious”. The Algorithm notes her pause and replay. Permission granted! Now we flood her feed. 

Start with the fertility readings and angel cards. Frame them as “just another way God might speak to her”. The readings offer what the Enemy withholds: immediate answers, specific timeframes, and the illusion of control. And if she starts asking saints for intercession, muddy the waters! Let her think there's no difference between asking St. Gerard to pray for her and asking “angels” for guidance. Both involve spiritual beings, yes? Perfect confusion! 

Next, introduce energy healing and Reiki. Present these as “scientific” and “working with the energy God created”. The practitioner will even pray over her. See how we blend truth with lies? She’ll feel something: warmth, tingling, temporary peace. Never let her realize she’s opened herself to our influence rather than the Enemy’s healing. 

Manifestation is particularly delicious. Here we twist faith into self-reliance. Instead of trusting the Enemy’s timing, she learns to “create her reality,” to “claim what she desires”. It’s the oldest lie, Gloomsprout, dressed in modern language: “You shall be as gods”.

Your finest work has been in the idol-making department. We use her God-given desire for motherhood against her. The Enemy planted this longing (curse His generosity!), but we’ve taught her to clutch it so tightly it has become her god. The child she longs for has become larger than the Enemy Himself. When motherhood becomes her salvation, then she will reach for any power that promises to deliver it. 

Watch how beautifully this works: she prays “Your will be done,” but her heart screams “My will be done, now!” This is when we strike: “Take control,” we whisper. “God helps those who help themselves” (how I love that misquoted lie!). The fertility cards promise immediate answers. The energy healer offers action she can take today. The manifestation coach says she can create her reality. 

Continue your excellent work. Keep her exhausted, emotional and isolated. Make every pregnant woman a personal affront. Transform every period into a spiritual crisis. Always keep those algorithmic suggestions flowing. 

Your affectionate uncle, Griefweaver

P.S.

Should she wake to our deceptions, immediately flood her with shame that she's "too far gone" for forgiveness. Never let her remember that ridiculous story of the prodigal son. The Enemy's absurd mercy remains our greatest threat.

If she discovers she can unite her suffering to Christ’s cross, it will be a disaster! If she learns her monthly grief can be offered for souls, we lose our primary weapon. Pain without meaning drives humans to us. Pain with eternal purpose drives them to Him. Keep her focused on her suffering as punishment, never as a potential source of grace.

If she realizes her worth isn't tied to her reproductive capacity, it will undo years of work! If she remembers she's made in the Enemy's image, that her dignity comes from being His beloved daughter, our hold weakens catastrophically. Keep her scrolling past pregnant bellies, keep her counting her worth in what she lacks. 

If she finds authentic community with other women who understand, not the toxic comparison groups we've cultivated, but real fellowship, we're in trouble. Women who pray together and speak truth into lies are fortresses we cannot penetrate. Keep her isolated in her shame, convinced no one understands.

If she begins to see her pain as a place where God meets her rather than abandons her, this is perhaps the greatest threat. The Enemy has this infuriating habit of showing up in suffering. If she discovers Him in the darkness, in her tears, through each failed cycle, then our constructed narrative of His absence collapses. She might even (horrible thought) grow closer to Him through this trial than she ever would have with a house full of children.

If any of these occur, double your efforts immediately. Flood her with success stories of manifestation. Increase the algorithmic suggestions. Make her feel that accepting suffering is "giving up" rather than growing in faith.

Remember: despair is useful, but a woman who finds Christ in her cross becomes unconquerable.

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The enemy's strategies are real, but God's power is greater. This letter isn't meant to frighten but to illuminate. Hallowtide reminds us that spiritual dangers are real. This letter reveals demonic strategies, and when we can clearly see the tactics, we can resist them with the truth of Scripture and teachings of the Church.

Scripture warns us explicitly: “There shall not be found among you any one who practices divination" (Deut. 18:10). The Catechism is unequivocal: "All forms of divination are to be rejected […] to ‘unveil’ the future. Consulting horoscopes, astrology, palm reading, [...], and mediums…" (CCC 2116). 

If you've dabbled in these practices, you are not too far gone: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us" (1 John 1:9).

• Confess any occult involvement in Reconciliation

• Dispose of occult objects

• Unfollow problematic social media accounts

• Fill the void with authentic spiritual practices: rosary, Adoration, and spiritual direction

• Remember your true identity: beloved daughter of God, with or without children

The desire for motherhood is holy and God-given. Don't let the enemy corrupt it into an idol or lead you from the One who loves you most.