I'm probably going to get downvoted for this, because the response to this is usually negative, but I'll post it anyway. Skip to TL;DR if you want the short version.

I have no idea what deity or deities, if any, exist. I make no claim to know, or to have any way of knowing with certainty, ever, even if one appeared right now and gave me concrete proof it existed in front of thousands of people.

I tried prayer first. Praying for bad things to stop happening, for good things to happen. Specific things. I didn't see much of a result, if any. Doesn't mean it wasn't there, just that I didn't see it. This went on for some time.

I tried praying for bad things to happen, for good things to stop happening. Specific things. Different beings, clearly, but specific things. Same general results, or lack thereof.

Felt silly, and ashamed. Tried to go back to living a good life, not that I had really stopped. Fixed some issues, did some soul searching. The targeting of bad things and cessation of good things were, in my mind, mostly targeted at acceptable targets. Justifiable.

I try to be logical, most of the time. All things have a cause, scientific method, etc. etc. Still, I love stories. Dragons, gods, demons, whatever. Magic is probably one of the things I dream about the most. Read some books. Circles this, planets that, names have power, hierarchies, etc. Many variations, some overlying themes. So I decide to test at this point. I set up an altar, candles, did the meditation, the declaration of intent for tools, the purifying before rituals and focusing of will, and I started cutting.

Immediate "results". Psychological results (air of menace, of something watching, some sounds quieter, some louder, some banging that could be heating or in my head). I keep cutting, as these results are worth jack and shit. I pick a target, an asshole, a cancer in my social group, and basically let out a "sic 'em but no serious harm." Next few days, target is out of sorts, angry, more of an asshole. Girl trouble.

I keep up. Candles, meditation, no cutting. I go to an event with a person I liked where the target was also present. Target's house, actually. Shit breaks. Guitar amp is all distortion, TV is fucky (can't connect to digital or something), bedframe actually fucking snaps and sags when he sits on it. It's like some bullshit out of those low budget horror films, and I'm sure that's exactly what people will call this. Go ahead, as I'm not trying to convince you. I'm just answering the question.

Party is almost over, I cut my head pretty bad. Lots of blood. The blood I hadn't been spilling. No stitches, thankfully.

I consider it success of a sort. Could all be coincidence. I pack the stuff up, decide to let time pass and try again later on to verify. Stuff is packed up, out of sight, and of course I kept this to myself because I don't want people to think I'm fucking crazy. I have some cuts, but I'm also into pain, so no indication there. I have a friend over, no way of them knowing what I was up to. They keep hearing someone walking in the very small house I was in. Just us, no drugs, person is a preaching atheist. "God is fake, everyone who disagrees is an idiot", all that. Footsteps, constantly. We put it down to the house settling. We have sex, and she was like a whole other person. Teeth, clawing.

Of course I bled again.

She says "I'm sorry, I'm not like this usually!", spouts some bull about me bringing out the animal in her. I say I like it (I did), she goes home.

The whole house feels hostile and hungry. My mom gets home, she's in a fighting mood. No fucking reason at all.

I try tossing stuff out, banishing rituals, cleansing, sage, etc. The feeling is mostly gone.

Stuff goes to shit in my life. Contacts turn hateful, love withers up. Could all be in my head.

More banishing, invoking of protection, etc.

Stuff gets better in my life, slowly, with a lot of work on my end. Asshole is less of an asshole to me now for reasons I think I understand but can't be sure of.

Years later, I question all of this. Coincidence, fool to believe it, what logical person would?

Altar, candles, knife.

I got bad. I have a layer of scar tissue on an arm of mine that looks like a ladder from months of daily bloodletting. Now I felt the hunger, and a good portion of the time, my requests would go unanswered, but when they were answered, it seemed concrete. But I had to keep going, because a little evidence is one thing, but a bunch?

The few times I tried to prove it to someone, leading with "I keep having this weird dream where [insert thing I'm trying to make happen, even some mundane thing]", fucking NOTHING. But when I wouldn't notify anyone, shit gets dropped in my lap. Money on the ground, attention from people who were probably out of my league, all that. Fun stuff. Addiction.

I stopped eventually because I stopped being hungry for results and started being hungry for the knife. The results had stopped mattering. Predictably, life kicked me in the nuts again after that.

You know, I'm glad I answered this. I make it a point to lie rarely, but when I do lie, it's to cover one of two things up, and this thing is one of them. People who know me know me as a questioner, not as a believer, and I even act like that on here. It's an act.

And now I'll get the downvotes, and the angry PMs, and people calling me a liar and an asshole and all sorts of stuff. I don't care. This reddit account is getting a little long in the tooth, and I might just keep this post up and start anew. Maybe be a little less argumentative on my next account.

TL;DR: Blood sacrifice got results. Didn't like it, would not recommend.

And a preemptive "fuck off" to the lot of ya.