I have always been a pagan who prays. Sometimes it is to beg for help, give thanks and share joy, or admitting I have no idea where to begin. When I tested positive for Covid, I prayed to Brigid because she is a goddess of healing. I told her if she kept us from having to go to the hospital, I would donate $50 to a local writer’s organization, because she is also a goddess of poetry and creativity. If no one else in my family got Covid, I would donate $100.
Everyone tested negative, and I made the donation.
A prayer is talking to a god. It is a request, a conversation, or a thanks. The line between prayer and ritual can blur—after all, when you establish a routine of prayer it becomes a ritual in the general sense of the term. But a prayer doesn’t have the energy or intention of a ritual behind it. A prayer can simply be “I am here, what’s up?”
The best I can say is a prayer is a whisper, while a ritual is a declaration.
One problem I think pagans face is there is a lot of Christian baggage attached to prayer. While there can be more bells and whistles attached to prayer in different traditions, the concept behind it is really the same: reaching out to a higher power. There is a huge body of written pagan prayers from Hellenist, Roman, and Thelemic tradition. There are also inscriptions from Celtic parts of the Roman empire. The idea that somehow prayer is a Christian idea when pagan prayers is so common in before Christian times is laughable.
My pagan prayer organically grew from my feminist spirituality but still Christian/ then feminine monotheistic/ pantheistic/ to full blown polytheist. It’s a practice that I have simply done and evolved as I have grown older. To write this I actually have to do a little of reverse engineering and analyze something that feels intuitive to me.
Start With Written Prayers
If you are lucky enough to belong to a tradition that has a body of written prayers that have survived and are available, start there. It can be useful to read ancient prayers even if they aren’t for the specific god you are seeking. The prayers will teach you the conventions of that tradition and often how to approach the deity.
Modern pagan prayers are found in devotional books. There are books of pagan prayer out there, but I don’t have any specific recommendations. Poetry can be prayer if it is framed as such. If a few lines of poetry speak to you or make you think of a particular god, use them.
A written prayer would be a place to start, but don’t feel chained to it. If as you recite it certain words and phrases are awkward and you find better words to replace them, go right ahead. You can always write down an intended prayer first and read from it. I have a couple of prayers I wrote for specific situations, and it brings me comfort to recite a specific prayer for a specific purpose. Repetition also makes it easier. I have some invocations memorized, but often will just go with my heart after that.
You Can Have Props, but Don’t Need Them
If I want to do a longer prayer, or have a long conversation, I like to light a candle at my altar. This is by no means required though. A prayer can be as simple as closing your eyes while outside on a beautiful summer day and giving thanks as wind blows across your face.
Start With an Invocation
An issue for polytheists that monotheists don’t have to face is we have to be clear who we’re praying to. You can decide what god/power to pray to using one of three ways: by specialty (in my example above, praying to a goddess of healing to help my family get through Covid), by relationship, basically what gods are close to or work with, or intuition. By intuition I mean sometimes you have a strong urge to pray to a spirit of a particular place, or a particular god even if you only know a little of them. Trust those feelings if they are intense, especially if you can’t trace it to something specific.
The formality depends on the god you are reaching out to, the situation, and the tradition. Using other names and titles helps make it clear who you’re talking to. Norse has kennings, basically descriptors and titles of gods that relate to lore. Some traditions have set formats for invoking gods. I have said this before, but Thelemic/ Hellenist/ Roman gods have a tradition of very formal rituals, Norse has very informal, and Celts tend to be in between. However, if you are in a situation where focusing on a long prayer is not a good idea, I don’t think the gods will hold it against you.
The purpose of the invocation is to be clear who you’re reaching out to and help yourself focus on that power and their energies. Bargaining with the fey is not the same as praying, you don’t have to cover every loophole if you’re making a simple prayer. Not being clear who you’re reaching out to is more likely to result in the call getting lost than in getting the attention of a being wanting to do harm. If phrasing an invocation wrong summoned a demon, they would be everywhere.
There are some situations when you might not know who to pray to. An open invocation works if you know what you want to pray about but not to who. When a recent historical event happened, I grabbed a bottle of cider, went to the woods where I like to meditate, knelt on the ground and poured the cider, then made a fervent prayer begging for help from whoever would help my country through this. I did address to the gods I work with, but also expanded it to “whoever will help us, please”.
Move on to the Body of the Prayer
What are you asking for? What are you thankful for? I often will give thanks first, to sort of butter up who I am praying to before I move on to asking for something. To me this is the least formal part of a prayer. Once again, don’t be afraid of phrasing something wrong. Often, I find while praying on a large problem the prayer itself helps me organize my thoughts and realize what I actually need help with. That alone can feel like some of the load is being taken off.
Closing
Just a way of saying my prayer is done. Despite not identifying as Wiccan for over a decade, I still close my prayers “blessed be.” In a longer, more formal prayer, I close “O great ___, blessed be, As you will it, so mote it be.” At this point it has become a habit more than anything. A closing is a time to say thanks for listening, repeat what you are thankful for, and say you are grateful for any help they can give.
Answers to Prayers
Rarely is this dramatic. Most of the time, it is a feeling or sensation during the prayer or right after. It can be a sense of warmth, wind blowing at precisely the right time, a song stuck in your head, or a quote or an urge to read a particular book. The act of praying brings me comfort, and like I said above can help me organize my thoughts.
Making A Bargain
“If you help me with X, I will do Y.” this is not bribery, this is reciprocity put into a concrete form. Whoever you are reaching out to can decide whether to give aid or not, you are simply saying what concrete thing you will do in return. But if the aid is given, you must follow through on your end. There are many stories of a temple being built because a god ended a drought/ granted victory/ brought prosperity etc, (even into Christian times).
Making a sacrifice to a god in gratitude for the help they have given is just good manners. My preference is making a monetary donation to a charity that serves their virtues. When my cat was sick I prayed to Bast and made a donation to a cat shelter when she got better. There are times and places for destroying an item as a sacrifice, but that is not the only way. I prefer charitable donations because it is putting resources toward action in this world, and causing ripples to spread in the mundane world. In my mind, it is doubling the work of that sacrifice.
Sometimes, You Just Want to Chat… and That’s OK
If the only time a friend called was to borrow money, would you pick the phone when their name came up on caller id? Polytheism is about relationships, and praying to the gods you are forming relationships is a good practice (and could be made part of a daily practice). A simple thank you prayer can be effective.
Why are only Christians allowed to say they love their god? While in polytheism our relationships with our gods can be quite complicated—and there are several gods who I work with that I wouldn’t say I love. However, the gods I do love I enjoy praying to or doing devotionals to in order to feel their presence. I miss them if I don’t, although its normal to not get a response every time you pray.
I hope this post has been a help. If you would like to offer a suggestion for future posts, or have any feedback, either contact me or leave a comment.