What if prayer was not for devotion, but a tool for connection?
Prayer is framed in many different ways. Due to christian influences and more modern thinking, the most common perspective of prayer is petitioning, followed closely by devotional surrender. It is not that either of these is bad, but it is a very narrow view of what prayer is and could be.
ACTS
I recently came across a great video breaking down the common forms of prayer, which I will share at the end of this article. In it, Kelly-Ann Maddox did a great job explaining the ACTS acronym and how Witches can use it in their practices and Magic.
The types of Prayer according to ACTS
- A = Adoration. Honor, acknowledge, devotional style of prayer.
- C = Confession. Being honest. Feeling what you feel, and expressing those feelings. It is the rawness in transformation by confronting fears or short-comings.
- T = Thanks. Gratitude.
- S = Supplication. Petitioning or requesting aid.
The ACTS give a framework for prayer. Often thought of as separate prayers, for separate purposes, yet you can also combine them when creating prayers. This structure can be applied to any Deity or animistic practice, and give a starting place for those wanting to develop their own prayers.
The format itself, in general terms, is still one of “giving over” to Divine (however you see that) and not as clear as a tool for self-growth. Don’t get me wrong, you can develop it into that depending on how you frame each section, as she explains in the video – but lay people or beginners might not be able to see how to move with it in that way as clearly.
Iamblichus
Iamblichus was a 3rd Century Philosopher who approached prayer from a Theurgy perspective. Theurgy focuses on ritual meditation, ritual competence, and both individual and collective transformation. His approach way very polytheistic and seen in layers. It is more detailed than that, but lets stay focused on the prayer aspect.
Iamblichus saw prayer in three modes: Introductory, Conjunctive, and Perfected/ Unification.
More of a progression or stages of prayer in their format.
- Introduction: In this stage you are making the first connections to divine/spirits. Gaining knowledge of them, through them. The first stages of Illumination and Knowing. So, in short – bond building.
- The second stage Conjunctive: Is communion with divine. Bringing forth the gifts and Guidance of Divine to bring ourselves to wholeness.
- The third stage is Perfected/ Unification with divine: Often called the Divine Fire. It is the union with divine, living as the reflection of and becoming one with the divine.
Together
Putting these two perspectives together, you can gain a framework of how to pray and the road map of why to pray – the goal of prayer.
Prayer as a Tool
In my own experience and practice, prayer is more of a tool, the same as a spell or divination technique, because it is these things. It is spoken magic, weaving – breaking – blending energy with the power of voice and emotion.
Prayer is a way to feed and grow the bond between you and your Guide – whether it is a Deity, Spirit, or element. When we pray, we are giving our focus and attention to the bond between us. We are feeding that bond with the vibrational energy of our voice, that is being fueled with our emotion behind it. Often prayer is seen as just feeding the entity we are praying to, and depending on the type of prayer and the words being spoken, this can be true. A good portion of prayers I see are developed with that goal in mind, and why I feel it is important to write your own. Write prayers that are reflective of the bond between you and your Guide, and where you are in that bond right now.
Prayer can also be a way to enchant the mind. Similar to how a mantra repeated can alter and shift the pathways of the mind, opening new doors and allowing the Soul to be at the forefront of receiving – prayer if written right can do the same. For example: The Priestess Prayer for the Divine Mother in my practice is a blending of Her Black, White, and Red aspects, with the lessons contained in each.
Each section of Her decade beads holds deep understandings of the ways of living and being in companionship with Her. Through the act of saying them out-loud, I am not only searing the words into memory, I am wiring my brain to think and move in those ways. It is directly for my own growth and self transformation – which shapes how I perceive and move in the world, affecting others/ the world around me – while feeding the bond between the Lady of the Bones and myself – which, in all the movements, is feeding Her.
It is a tool of connection, of divination, and of transformation. Prayer, if done well, is a form of meditation/ Trance that opens us up to receive messages, visions, and Knowing from the Soul and what the Soul is connecting to.
To receive messages in this way requires you to trust in yourself. Unlike tarot or other forms of physical divination, there are no physical prompts to this form of divination. You can apply “checks” with physical forms of divination afterwards to help build the trust, something I have shared here and teach in my Personal Journey course. A technique I found very useful in the beginning because I have a very skeptical mind as well.
To receive in this way also requires us to truth in the Deity/ Guide we are connecting to. Prayer, as a way to build and strengthen the bond between you, is extremely useful here as well. It opens the door to feel and experience them in a very tangible way – both in the moment and in our life as a whole.
The format and way we pray also brings in energy spell-crafting – spell work that is solely in energetic and vibrational form without any physical tools or elements. Energetic (Voice alone) spell-crafting is usually seen as advanced practices of spell crafting as it requires energetic levels of understanding the elements you are blending together, breaking apart, or weaving for a specific intention, which is usually gained in connecting to those allies in physical form first – such a spell jars, bags, etc. Petition Prayers though can be viewed as a simplistic form or an Energetic spell-crafting.
A straight petition prayer is asking your Deity/Guide to do the working for you. This is the most common one seen and shared publicly. It is fairly simple and straight forward. You state the desired outcome and give it over to them. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and in some circumstances all you can do. I would not suggest it as a primary mode though. It tends to start taking on the form of “wishing” instead of intention and true spell work. It also can lead to seeing your Deity as a vending machine instead of a cohesive partner in your practice.
In an energetic spell-work, action is needed on the petitioners part. This action can take two forms – Passive or Active:
Passive is focused on the desired outcome, but allowing your Deity/ Guide to choose what energies to weave/shift for the outcome. For example: Your Deity may shift the energies for you, creating the path for your petition to come to fruition, but you still have to walk the path and put it into action. You can’t ask for a new job, and then just wait for it to come to you – you need to fill out an application. Your Deity/Guide can create all the right circumstances for you to run across the job posting, give you the edge in the interview, and weave the right strings to get the kind of job you desire, but you have to work the path.
Active is where the advanced practices come in. It is not just focusing on the end result, but all the steps to get there. In my experience this often leads into a journey. The Mother giving me a blueprint to follow, with each step evolving as I experience it and work through it, deepening my understanding and skills, to reach the desired goal at the end. My current 26 week journey of Devotion is an example of one of those. Another way Active can go, is you knowing all the steps you need to get to the desired goal – what needs to be shifted and changed – and working through each of those with your Deity/ Guide as a partnership. You state the energies needing to be shifted, They help shift them, and you take physical action through them. In this format, you are more leading the work while They support the work and add to it.
Ending Thoughts
There are many ways we can look at prayer and use it in our own practices. I know for some, the word itself can be tricky due to certain religious conditionings. In the end though, prayer has been a practice throughout traditions and practices, even before organized religion became a thing. Just sitting with your Deity/Guide, with a cup of tea, and talking out loud about what is on your mind can be considered a form of prayer. Saying a mantra to get into a trance space can be a form of prayer. Prayer, in my opinion, is a broad term for a variety of practices with the goal of connecting to something beyond just our physical selves. You can even use it to connect to your own Soul or your Ancestral Soul – yes both are a part of yourself, but also different from the physical self of body.
What matters the most is the intention behind it and the intentionality of the action itself. It is a tool of connection, of bond building, growth of the self, and transformation of the world. It is spiritual and magical, all depending on you and how you approach it. It is personal, so craft it to be personal and meaningful to you.
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