Elizabeth Barrette (ysabetwordsmith) wrote,
Elizabeth Barrette
ysabetwordsmith
  • Mood: busy

Safe and Effective Prayers

While I was writing my book Composing Magic, I did some research on prayers: how they are written, what parts they have, how they work, and so forth. Today I found some enlightening links on the uses and abuses of prayer, which you may find useful in refining your skills at writing prayers. (Most of the principles also apply to blessings and spells.)

"Prayer Guidelines" is a vehemently Christian article about which techniques are safe and which techniques are dangerous. It seems that some Christians have been learning this the hard way. I am fascinated by the precision with which certain magical laws can be observed in these accounts, most notably the Rule of Three ("What you do returns to you three times over."). Also in play are the Hawaiian Huna rule, "Energy flows where attention goes," and the Universe's tendency to ignore negative markers in a request (which is why it's better to phrase prayers and spells in positive terms). If you can get past the peppery Christian vocabulary, there is a lot of excellent advice and pointed evidence in there.

A much more congenial (from the author, at least) Christian perspective is found in this blog entry about "Toxic Prayer." It discusses the dangers of prayer meant to manipulate or harm other people. Some traditions hold that using prayer as a weapon is advisable or required; others hold that it is inadvisable, forbidden, and/or dangerous. My research tends to support the latter premise. Of further interest, this particular blog, "MyOutSpirit," specializes in spiritual leadership in the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender community.

So why am I linking to Christian resources while writing about Pagan prayer and magical spells? Because they're the ones who tend to talk about prayer the most. My research on how to write prayers turned up predominantly Christian materials, with a little from Jewish and Muslim traditions, a couple of bits from different Pagan traditions, and a few miscellaneous bits. There's very little out there specifically on prayer writing for Pagans; it's an area begging for further development.
Tags: composing magic, gender studies, magic, paganism, writing
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  • 3 comments
janetmiles

janetmiles

September 14 2007, 19:06:37 UTC 13 years ago

This would be why I almost always default to "Good Thoughts offered for the best possible outcome"; if I do specify, it's usually something like "successful surgery and uneventful recovery". It's also why I won't pray for someone without consent except in a very broad-based way ("those affected by [major event]") or an emergency (a well-wishing whenever I hear an ambulance siren).

The closest I'm willing to get to imprecatory prayer is "may Justice be done" or "may the Universe take appropriate notice of this event".

Can you tell that I was brought up by engineers and legal secretaries, and shaped my world view around SF fandom, Pagans, alt.callahans, and the BDSM community? *grin*
ysabetwordsmith

ysabetwordsmith

September 14 2007, 22:44:41 UTC 13 years ago

Now if only the fundies could be given a tour through fandom, Paganism, Callahan's, and BDSM -- for safety's sake -- that might be an improvement.

Anonymous

September 15 2007, 01:31:43 UTC 13 years ago

There is a turn of the century Christian mystic by the name of Florence Scovel Shinn who wrote very effectively on the topic of prayer. Her seminal work is called "The Game of Life and How to Play It" which sounds for all the world like a gambling text but actually provides some of the finest affirmation and prayer techniques I've ever seen. My husband Sean was exposed to her work early in his spiritual development, which led him to gift me with a clock engraved with the following blessing:

"Ceallaigh, May you always write the perfect thing, in the perfect time, in the perfect way."

I recommend her work to anyone who seeks to approach prayer with greater efficacy.

Also, as an aside, I don't think Pagans should ever offer to make themselves an instrument of their Patron/Matron God's will. It's a favorite prayer among Christians, but our Gods are very old and often have wills that lack modern context and can conflict with our well-being.

Ceallaigh
www.csmaccath.com