| Using the Mother's name instead of the Father in asking for a healing for someone. The underlying assumption that using one's mother's name as opposed to the father's is a mechanism to cheat Satan is indeed superstitious, but I have not come across this reasoning before. There are several reasons as to why we prioritize the name of the mother when praying for those who are ill. A practical suggestion is that the parentage of the mother is by definition more certain than that of the father and so, when it comes to life and death matters, one wants to be as accurate as possible. While this reason might have made sense in times of overt persecution and mass rape, it resonates less with us today, and some might even find it offensive. Another reason is based on the mystical belief that one's soul's essence is determined by the mother (the same reason is given for the halachic principle of matrilineal descent in determining one's Jewishness.) According to this logic, it makes sense to use the mother's name when praying for one who is ill as the mystically inclined supplicant is essentially asking for renewed energy to issue forth from the soul. While the mother's name takes precedence when praying for healing, it is the father's name that counts when one is called up to the Torah. This is because one's rank within the Jewish people (Cohen, Levi or Yisrael ) is determined by the father. | 
