Prayer

How do you pray? Do you start off with a certain phrase? End it with one? What are some tips for a connected prayer for you?

I write my own prayers and hymns to recite during worship.

I am influenced a bit by Saint Teresa's TheInterior Castles. So, almost every prayer or hymn I write for personal use ends with "May you forever be praised." Like most people, I'm a convert. I am use to a standard ending.

This is just a general tip: focus on the love for the God, the experiences, their images, what they mean to you. Prayers can be traditional Hymns, something someone else writes, or something of your own creation. The words are not important. Your love and reverence, the actions and feelings, are more important than the words coming from your mouth. Why they are said, not what is said. Again, this isn't for every single case, just a general tip.

I tend to re-write something that does not exactly fit or flow after a period of time. Since my worship is structured, I get to feel the words more and more with each recitation. So, I come up with something new or change something that doesn't work.

I have a poem that I've written for my Gods, and I fully intended to write poetry for Death as he indicated he liked it (along with the decaying poinsettia plant). However, I have never actually prayed to my Gods. I've asked them for help, but it's pretty much either straight asking the question or explaining the situation and then the possible solutions while "listening" to their opinions and feelings on the matter.

Mostly, I bug my spirits instead of my Gods. I figure the Gods have things to do instead of being bothered by trivial matters and I've not been in a situation that has called for prayer. I'm truthfully just not the praying type.

I'm the opposite. lol I prefer praising, which is what I mean by the hymns, poems, and prayers, but I do try to avoid petitions, or at least, petitions that are bigger than "may you smile upon me."

I have a weird concept of divinity.

YWhen I pray to my dieties I carry on a conversation. Kind of like I would if I were talking to someone I love and respect...