Praying

Praying is fairly common in regions and faiths. I've noticed the forums looking kinda quiet so here's a discussion starter.

Do you pray? Is there a specific time(s) you prefer to pray? What do you think is acceptable to pray for? What do you think is not acceptable to pray for?

Theologically (that is, from a Biblical perspective, and although I do not take the Bible as a serious book of spirituality, it is plagiarized from a number of previous works on religions that are probably a bit more widely received here anyway), when you pray, God will only listen if you are attuned to his will. By keeping in good faith and following the laws of god, you should be in line with his thoughts and will and desires, and therefore whatever you pray for should be acceptable. The Bible even mentions that god will give you the tongues of angels if you do not yourself know how to pray.

For magickal people that thought can be maintained... As long as you find yourself within the will of the deity you are calling upon, which should happen automatically as you focus more and more on serving / being like / calling upon that deity for wisdom, whatever you will should also be the will of the universe, and thereby it will be done, as long as you have at least a tiny bit of faith that it will (see the Parable of the Mustard Seed).

When I perform rituals, I use ecstatic energy, the actions of the ritual, the right Musick, and often entheogens to put me in the correct mindset. Once I have obtained an altered state of consciousness, I use whatever I might have at my disposal (incantations, sigils, potions... whatever I might have) to enhance my working.

The closest thing to praying that I do is incantation. Let me explain my method:

I first enter the Wizard State, my altered state of consciousness. You may do this a number of ways, but the most common, legal, and recommended way of doing this is through deep meditation and visualization. While in this altered state, I use the actions of the ritual to point me in the right direction, and carefully chosen music that will also be the basis of my work.

I will normally call upon the six elements I work with: Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Light, and Darkness, all of which add up to the seventh element: Spirit. This indicates that my call is out to every represented corner of the Universe, including corners we may not understand exist as human beings.

Over the course of my ritual, usually caught up in the music, a word or words, normally only sounds or syllables and not actual defined words from any known language, will come to me, and I struggle with it to bring it visually up before my eyes. Once I have visualized the sound and a corresponding sigil, I write them in Koine Greek in my Book of Shadows.

When I want to use them again, I bring them up in my book and focus on the Greek letters (which I'm not fluent in, so it gives me just the right measure of understanding without bombarding my conscious mind) and the sigil. I bring them back up before my eyes in a visualization, which sometimes takes a bit of struggle, and once they are clearly before my eyes, there is often a synchronicity in the Musick I am listening to as I chant it like a mantra.

If anybody ever wants me to perform a spell for them, I normally ask that they don't tell me what the spell is for. Rather, I have them think deeply about the subject of their intention and come up with a few short syllables like the ones I use, and maybe a sigil if they're feeling brave, that I can incorporate into my incantation.

I usually pray several times throughout the day, but the ones I am particularly focused on are bed time prayers. I don't think there is right or wrong in prayer, but I figured it would get some discussion going.

You're way of ritual sounds very much like my own, mate. Shockingly alike, actually. I perform a monthly ritual and serve a few deities and entities on that day, but besides that I tend not to be overly ritualistic

I used to be religious, so I try not to pray the way I used to in order to separate out what I used to be from what I'm becoming, but I believe very strongly in the individuality of the practitioner, and that the only wrong way to practice your spirituality is a way that you have no personal investment in.

I wish it would get some discussion going on. It's been a little lonely on here since I joined.

I pray from time to time, I try to reach out when I can to where He is, to reach out of the Hebdomad into the domain of the Pleroma (the Protocosmos or Primordial Heavens) where He lies, I usually ask for the strength to do something since I struggle to bring myself to things, even when I know I really have to, like the will is there but the drive is not. I suppose in that regard I am becoming more Gnostic by the day.

Some of my spirit work and verbal magic could be seen as prayer. While I believe in powerful entities with broad ranges of influence, I don't agree with the idea that deity is a necessary part of magic for everyone. This works for some people, but as it was said, you have to be alligned with the will of the entity to benefit from it.

Believing in prayer generally means believing in a higher intelligence. When people pray to "God" rather than name this intelligence specifically, they will most readily connect with whatever force matches with their idea of god. You can bet a lot of different spirits people have called god will hear your prayer. People often overlook the importance of verifying and learning about the forces they invoke.