question about a prayer that went wrong

[lord_vampyr]

hey, sorry to bother you again, but I have a question I really need to ask. a few months ago I tried saying a random prayer to all the pagan gods and godesses at once because I thought it was what pagans did and I didn't know any better at the time, and it gave me a huge headache for about a week, I thought I was possessed or something. after that I told my friend what happened and he said that it was a really bad idea to pray to all the gods and godesses at once and I called down way too much energy, does anyone else know what went wrong?

the reason I tried praying like that was because I was raised christian for a long time before I decided to become a pagan, and I was used to praying to the christian god and thinking that things were controlled by fate, so after I denounced christianity I wanted something to pray to. I'd like to find one specific deity to pray to but I'm not sure which one is right for me, does anyone know and deities I can just pray to when I need help so something like that won't happen again?

[Burning Angel]

hey, sorry to bother you again, but I have a question I really need to ask. a few months ago I tried saying a random prayer to all the pagan gods and godesses at once because I thought it was what pagans did and I didn't know any better at the time, and it gave me a huge headache for about a week, I thought I was possessed or something. after that I told my friend what happened and he said that it was a really bad idea to pray to all the gods and godesses at once and I called down way too much energy, does anyone else know what went wrong?

This sounds ridiculous from my point of view - I'm not certain that it's the case, but I could be wrong. Just sounds...silly.


the reason I tried praying like that was because I was raised christian for a long time before I decided to become a pagan, and I was used to praying to the christian god and thinking that things were controlled by fate, so after I denounced christianity I wanted something to pray to because have A.D.D. and I wanted a deity to pray when I was bored or a deity I could rely on, I'd like to find one specific deity to pray to but I'm not sure which one is right for me, does anyone know and deities I can just randomly pray to when I need help so something like that won't happen again?

Okay...first. You can't just randomly pray to deities - sure, you can invoke deities during a spell, and I suppose you could even pray to one, but the kind of relationship you want - a friend, a role model, in short a patron or matron, is best attained through a process of reading up on things and being open to whoever calls. It takes time, and you can't just pick one.

Second, if there's one thing paganism has to say about humans, it's that we are not slaves to the will of the Gods, bandied about by the cruel winds of fate. The Gods give us the tools and the wisdom to solve our own crap, and to harness the energies in the world for our own desires. The Gods are there to help us, but we alone are in control of our destinies - "relying" on a deity like you're talking about sounds very subservient...and also not very metal. :jon:

It's a paradigm shift, I know...but you are no longer a slave to the will of any God. Cherish that fact :thumbsup:

However, I'd encourage you to read about mythology and find some deities that you're drawn to. You may just think they're cool, without any mystical connection...that may be the beginning of a closer relationship, like it was for me and Hekate :) Try praying...listen when you talk, though. See what happens - this is about experience, and doing what works for you. Another new shift - it's not all in a book, but it may end up meaning more to you if you find it first-hand :)

Oh, and another thing. You're not bothering anyone - at least me, anyway. I like teaching the limited stuff I know :)

~Jon :boing:

[MsMollimizz]

...talking to God/dess and ask if there's one whom would best serve you at this point on your path. Ask for a name for you
to call them by; then keep your eye and ears open for the name.
When Isis let me know she was my Diety I heard her name on tv, in books, business' name's, street names...etc. When I asked:
"Isis are you the one getting my attention...?" I got this warm
rush of energy up my spine, I knew :uhhuhuh:
Sometimes it can take a few days, weeks...but it will come.
I wish you luck in your journey and quest...
Gentle Light
MsMolli

[Lunar Raven]

To me..it sounds like you simply got paranoid while praying to a god/goddess you are unfamiliar with. A lot of people have issues stepping away from one religious path and moving on to another..especially if you came from a christian background. So yeah..in my opinion, you probably were just un-easy about it..and, thus..you got a headache. Or..you got a headache and because of your un-easiness you figured it had to do with your prayer :p

Anyway, if you're really serious about it..I suggest looking into different paths, mythology, etc. Read..experiment..experience..

You really should get more accustom to whichever path you're drawn to, rather than just randomly praying to a god/goddess you're unfamiliar with.

[Nachtigall]

I'd like to find one specific deity to pray to but I'm not sure which one is right for me, does anyone know and deities I can just randomly pray to when I need help so something like that won't happen again?
I don't think it's a good idea to just pick a deity randomly and pray to it only when you need help. Research the gods you feel drawn to, honor them, make some offerings to them... and then ask for their help when you need it.

[Lunacie]

hey, sorry to bother you again, but I have a question I really need to ask. a few months ago I tried saying a random prayer to all the pagan gods and godesses at once because I thought it was what pagans did and I didn't know any better at the time, and it gave me a huge headache for about a week, I thought I was possessed or something. after that I told my friend what happened and he said that it was a really bad idea to pray to all the gods and godesses at once and I called down way too much energy, does anyone else know what went wrong?

the reason I tried praying like that was because I was raised christian for a long time before I decided to become a pagan, and I was used to praying to the christian god and thinking that things were controlled by fate, so after I denounced christianity I wanted something to pray to because have A.D.D. and I wanted a deity to pray when I was bored or a deity I could rely on, I'd like to find one specific deity to pray to but I'm not sure which one is right for me, does anyone know and deities I can just randomly pray to when I need help so something like that won't happen again?

I'm not sure this is a serious question by a serious poster - but just in case someone is lurking and isn't sure about all this either, I'll share my opinion.

First - calling to ALL the gods and goddesses for help means you're going to get a whole bunch of answers - all at the same time - and possibly all quite different. Just think if you were in a room full of teachers and asked a question without setting up guidelines about taking turns with answering. You'd be deafened by the sheer volume of that many people speaking all at once - and it would be impossible to pick out any meaningful response from the hubbub. And trying to do so would probably give you a headache, eh?

Second - if someone walked up to me and asked me to put myself out to help them without at least introducing themselves and finding out who I am and how I can help first - that's not very smart either. I could be a serial killer, or a pathological liar, or the kind of person who sends others off on wild goose chases just for giggles. Not everything that answers your random prayer is even going to be a god or a goddess.

Third - I don't know any Pagans who pray "random prayers". We pray when we have a need and are looking for guidance or help. Otherwise what we are given (if anything) is going to be totally random and may not be of any help or guidance to us in any way.

Fourth - I've had ADHD my whole life and I've never prayed to a god simply because I was "bored". That would be disrespectful. And just like a good mom or dad, the diety would tell me to find something interesting to do myself or they'd find me some work that I probably wouldn't enjoy very much.

So, NO, praying random prayers to random gods is not a good idea. Read about the various pantheons to see if any of those speak to your spirituality, and then read about the gods and goddesses that are specific to that pantheon.

Or follow MsMollimizz's very good advice on connecting with a god or goddess who is willing to help you.

[lord_vampyr]

I'm not sure this is a serious question by a serious poster - but just in case someone is lurking and isn't sure about all this either, I'll share my opinion.

First - calling to ALL the gods and goddesses for help means you're going to get a whole bunch of answers - all at the same time - and possibly all quite different. Just think if you were in a room full of teachers and asked a question without setting up guidelines about taking turns with answering. You'd be deafened by the sheer volume of that many people speaking all at once - and it would be impossible to pick out any meaningful response from the hubbub. And trying to do so would probably give you a headache, eh?

Second - if someone walked up to me and asked me to put myself out to help them without at least introducing themselves and finding out who I am and how I can help first - that's not very smart either. I could be a serial killer, or a pathological liar, or the kind of person who sends others off on wild goose chases just for giggles. Not everything that answers your random prayer is even going to be a god or a goddess.

Third - I don't know any Pagans who pray "random prayers". We pray when we have a need and are looking for guidance or help. Otherwise what we are given (if anything) is going to be totally random and may not be of any help or guidance to us in any way.

Fourth - I've had ADHD my whole life and I've never prayed to a god simply because I was "bored". That would be disrespectful. And just like a good mom or dad, the diety would tell me to find something interesting to do myself or they'd find me some work that I probably wouldn't enjoy very much.

So, NO, praying random prayers to random gods is not a good idea. Read about the various pantheons to see if any of those speak to your spirituality, and then read about the gods and goddesses that are specific to that pantheon.

Or follow MsMollimizz's very good advice on connecting with a god or goddess who is willing to help you.

It's a serious question and I'm a serious poster, I can assure you I'm not a forum troll or anything like that, I've just been having trouble getting aquainted with paganism and I just to ask a few questions to people who know about it, sorry if I'm wasting your time or anything.

but now that about it I think I probably just had a headache that week because I ate a lot of food I was allergic to and I barely got any sleep that week, I guess I just freaked out because the church my parents make me go to used to tell a lot of stories about possession and stuff, so I probably should have used common sense and not jumped to a crazy assumption like that. also, I didn't really mean I wanted to say a completely random prayer just because I was bored, I just wanted a deity to pray to about helping my mom get over her anger issues because her my grandpa is sick and my mom has been getting really angry and screaming at me a lot recently, but I'll take your advice and read up on some mythology instead of asking the people here to pick the right deity for me.

this might sound kind of weird but I've also found a website called theisticsatanism.com that interested me, it says that satan is actually the eqyptian god Set, it also has a lot of opinions and veiws I agree with and it doesn't seem like a hoax, and I've also read some of Anton Lavey's teachings and they made a lot of sense to me, I'll go read up about it and see if levayan or theistic satanism is right for me.

[Lunacie]

It's a serious question and I'm a serious poster, I can assure you I'm not a forum troll or anything like that, I've just been having trouble getting aquainted with paganism and I just to ask a few questions to people who know about it, sorry if I'm wasting your time or anything.

but now that about it I think I probably just had a headache that week because I ate a lot of food I was allergic to and I barely got any sleep that week, I guess I just freaked out because the church my parents make me go to used to tell a lot of stories about possession and stuff like that, so I probably should have used common sense and not jumped to a crazy assumption like that. also, I didn't really mean I wanted to say a completely random prayer just because I was bored, I wanted a deity to pray to about helping my mom get over her anger issues, but I'll take your advice and read up on some mythology instead of asking the people here to pick the right deity for me. :)

this might sound kind of weird but I've also recently found a website called theisticsatanism.com that interested me, it says that satan is actually the eqyptian deity Set, it also has a lot of opinions and veiws I agree with and it doesn't seem like a hoax, and I've also read some of Anton Lavey's teachings and they made a lot of sense to me, I'll go read up about it and see if levayan or theistic satanism is right for me.

Sorry, I'm having a rather difficult day, shouldn't take it out on someone who seems very naive. If I thought your question was a waste of time, I wouldn't have wasted more time in responding. I thought it could lead to a rather good discussion for folks who are new to Paganism.

Asking a god or goddess to fix someone else's problem doesn't fit into the Pagan way of thinking at all. Asking for some help in dealing with your mom when she's angry - that would be about you, not about her. Asking for some help that what you say might be able to help her understand how her anger affects you, that's still about how you relate to her, not about fixing her problem. I hope that makes sense.

Paganism is more about taking responsibility for our personal choices and actions and less about worrying about everybody else and what they're doing TO us.

There are apparently a few different versions of Satanism, and I know practically nothing about any of them. It's a very interesting direction to go in after leaving the mainstream church.

Some advice I've heard over the years that makes a good deal of sense to me. You need to know why you're leaving one religion before you begin to follow another. It's like looking for a new girlfriend without understanding why you lost interest in the previous one. You're probably not going to find the relationship that would work best for you unless you understand what you're looking for, and why the last relationship wasn't all that.

Good luck with your journey towards finding personal spirituality.

[Burning Angel]

Asking a god or goddess to fix someone else's problem doesn't fit into the Pagan way of thinking at all. Asking for some help in dealing with your mom when she's angry - that would be about you, not about her. Asking for some help that what you say might be able to help her understand how her anger affects you, that's still about how you relate to her, not about fixing her problem. I hope that makes sense.

Paganism is more about taking responsibility for our personal choices and actions and less about worrying about everybody else and what they're doing TO us.


But you could do Magic for another person, correct? Take things into your own hands and get stuff done :)

And Lord Vampyr - Satanism is some nifty stuff. Take care if you have a bipolar Christian parent, though...I can see that getting crazy as all hell...lol XD...in a matter of minutes :O

I hope that works for you :)

~Jon :boing:

[Lunacie]

But you could do Magic for another person, correct? Take things into your own hands and get stuff done :)

And Lord Vampyr - Satanism is some nifty stuff. Take care if you have a bipolar Christian parent, though...I can see that getting crazy as all hell...lol XD...in a matter of minutes :O

I hope that works for you :)

~Jon :boing:

It really depends on what you're wanting to do, and why you think it's a good idea. In Wicca (as I'm a Wiccan) we most often say "hands off" unless we are asked to do something in particular for someone else. Best to just do things that will affect yourself and let other people sort out their own issues.

Unless of course, their issues are impinging on you - we don't have to be doormats. But the point even then isn't to change them, it's to prevent them from harming you.

[Burning Angel]

It really depends on what you're wanting to do, and why you think it's a good idea. In Wicca (as I'm a Wiccan) we most often say "hands off" unless we are asked to do something in particular for someone else. Best to just do things that will affect yourself and let other people sort out their own issues.

Unless of course, their issues are impinging on you - we don't have to be doormats. But the point even then isn't to change them, it's to prevent them from harming you.

Lol...darn. I wanna use my Magical power to benefit mankind :P

~Jon :boing:

[Lunacie]

Lol...darn. I wanna use my Magical power to benefit mankind :P

~Jon :boing:

Benefit mankind in general? Sure, go for it.

Trying to "fix" other people's lives? Better to fix your own, eh?

[Burning Angel]

Benefit mankind in general? Sure, go for it.

Trying to "fix" other people's lives? Better to fix your own, eh?

Score one for Lunacie...I'm perpetually the silly Padawan XD But yeah...my main use of magic right now is healing my girlfriend. I'm quite happy with my life...sure I'd like a bazillion dollars, and good fortune, and all that other stuff, but that's not necessary to be happy the way I am :uhhuhuh:

So I just cast for her...of course, since she's in Austin, Texas and I'm in Monroe, Wisconsin, I think the spells (basically just energy work right now) has less effect. But I'm also a total noob, and working on everything - I'll figure it all out yet :)

~Jon :boing:

[Lunacie]

Score one for Lunacie...I'm perpetually the silly Padawan XD But yeah...my main use of magic right now is healing my girlfriend. I'm quite happy with my life...sure I'd like a bazillion dollars, and good fortune, and all that other stuff, but that's not necessary to be happy the way I am :uhhuhuh:

So I just cast for her...of course, since she's in Austin, Texas and I'm in Monroe, Wisconsin, I think the spells (basically just energy work right now) has less effect. But I'm also a total noob, and working on everything - I'll figure it all out yet :)

~Jon :boing:

Nope, energy arrives in pretty much the same way it left you, no matter how far it has to travel. The only thing that makes much of a difference in the effect is your own visualization and belief, and the other person's reception of the energy. The energy itself is just energy.

[Burning Angel]

Nope, energy arrives in pretty much the same way it left you, no matter how far it has to travel. The only thing that makes much of a difference in the effect is your own visualization and belief, and the other person's reception of the energy. The energy itself is just energy.

Cooooooool :boing: Kinda like how in the Qabalah everything is connected to everything - my previous experience with magic has been with spells that only have a range of so many feet, and a radius of so many other feet....and you roll dice to see how well you did :P But from reading about the Qabalah I kinda thought it was like that :)

I'll tell ya...in the rush from firing the energy it's sometimes hard to consciously visualize. I can only know that I want things and then try to snap myself into visualizing, but it's a weak impromptu image and makes me lose the energy a bit. This is gonna take training and practice and...time :)

~Jon :boing:

[Dio]

It's a serious question and I'm a serious poster, I can assure you I'm not a forum troll or anything like that, I've just been having trouble getting aquainted with paganism and I just to ask a few questions to people who know about it, sorry if I'm wasting your time or anything.

but now that about it I think I probably just had a headache that week because I ate a lot of food I was allergic to and I barely got any sleep that week, I guess I just freaked out because the church my parents make me go to used to tell a lot of stories about possession and stuff, so I probably should have used common sense and not jumped to a crazy assumption like that. also, I didn't really mean I wanted to say a completely random prayer just because I was bored, I just wanted a deity to pray to about helping my mom get over her anger issues because her my grandpa is sick and my mom has been getting really angry and screaming at me a lot recently, but I'll take your advice and read up on some mythology instead of asking the people here to pick the right deity for me.

this might sound kind of weird but I've also found a website called theisticsatanism.com that interested me, it says that satan is actually the eqyptian god Set, it also has a lot of opinions and veiws I agree with and it doesn't seem like a hoax, and I've also read some of Anton Lavey's teachings and they made a lot of sense to me, I'll go read up about it and see if levayan or theistic satanism is right for me.

That's a good call looking into more mundane, physical reasons for your headache. I agree that's more than likely what happened. :)

It is perfectly okay to pray to all of the gods/goddesses by praying to the Universal Consciousness, or the consciousness that many just call "god". The gods/goddesses are facets, archetypes of the one whole universal energy. They are broken down and seperated into individual archetypes for the sake of human understanding, but they are still connected to and a part of the whole shebang.

The more you research different dieties and paths, you'll find how many of them correspond with each other, like in your Satan/Set finding. Each culture has dieties that correspond with other cultures. So, really, praying to just one or praying to all can't really be wrong. Just do what feels right to you.

[Lunacie]

That's a good call looking into more mundane, physical reasons for your headache. I agree that's more than likely what happened. :)

It is perfectly okay to pray to all of the gods/goddesses by praying to the Universal Consciousness, or the consciousness that many just call "god". The gods/goddesses are facets, archetypes of the one whole universal energy. They are broken down and seperated into individual archetypes for the sake of human understanding, but they are still connected to and a part of the whole shebang.

The more you research different dieties and paths, you'll find how many of them correspond with each other, like in your Satan/Set finding. Each culture has dieties that correspond with other cultures. So, really, praying to just one or praying to all can't really be wrong. Just do what feels right to you.

Some people believe that all the gods are aspects of an uber god, but others believe that they are each individual, distinct dieties. Just saying, no one knows for sure, this seems to be an individual gnosis kind of thing.

[Burning Angel]

Some people believe that all the gods are aspects of an uber god, but others believe that they are each individual, distinct dieties. Just saying, no one knows for sure, this seems to be an individual gnosis kind of thing.

And some of us don't even have an opinion...like me lol XD I can't decide :P

~Jon :boing:

[lord_vampyr]

Sorry, I'm having a rather difficult day, shouldn't take it out on someone who seems very naive. If I thought your question was a waste of time, I wouldn't have wasted more time in responding. I thought it could lead to a rather good discussion for folks who are new to Paganism.

Asking a god or goddess to fix someone else's problem doesn't fit into the Pagan way of thinking at all. Asking for some help in dealing with your mom when she's angry - that would be about you, not about her. Asking for some help that what you say might be able to help her understand how her anger affects you, that's still about how you relate to her, not about fixing her problem. I hope that makes sense.

Paganism is more about taking responsibility for our personal choices and actions and less about worrying about everybody else and what they're doing TO us.

There are apparently a few different versions of Satanism, and I know practically nothing about any of them. It's a very interesting direction to go in after leaving the mainstream church.

Some advice I've heard over the years that makes a good deal of sense to me. You need to know why you're leaving one religion before you begin to follow another. It's like looking for a new girlfriend without understanding why you lost interest in the previous one. You're probably not going to find the relationship that would work best for you unless you understand what you're looking for, and why the last relationship wasn't all that.

Good luck with your journey towards finding personal spirituality.

It's no problem, I hope your day starts going better :)

and thanks for the help everyone.

[Dio]

Some people believe that all the gods are aspects of an uber god, but others believe that they are each individual, distinct dieties. Just saying, no one knows for sure, this seems to be an individual gnosis kind of thing.

Yup. No one does know for sure. That's why I think people should believe what makes the most sense for themselves, as individuals. There's nothing wrong with giving ideas and suggestions. I think that's why the original poster asked the question to begin with, because he's having a difficult time wrapping his brain around it all. I have confidence that he can, and will figure it out for himself. :)

[Toki Wartooth]

a few months ago I tried saying a random prayer to all the pagan gods and godesses at once because I thought it was what pagans did and I didn't know any better at the time, and it gave me a huge headache for about a week, I thought I was possessed or something. after that I told my friend what happened and he said that it was a really bad idea to pray to all the gods and godesses at once and I called down way too much energy, does anyone else know what went wrong?

the reason I tried praying like that was because I was raised christian for a long time before I decided to become a pagan, and I was used to praying to the christian god and thinking that things were controlled by fate, so after I denounced christianity I wanted something to pray to. I'd like to find one specific deity to pray to but I'm not sure which one is right for me, does anyone know and deities I can just pray to when I need help so something like that won't happen again?

1. Possessed my foot. Possession is pretty low on the list of afflictions in terms of how common they occur to people, especially when you just prayed, you know?

2. Well, it may or may not be a good idea. It depends on your intent and behavior. It's possible it was too much energy, or too many types. Perhaps you suffered repercussions for being disrespectful or annoying to those who heard you.

3. While prayer is a great way to connect with the Divine, IMHO it isn't wise to shoot prayers out to who knows who or what. If you're genuinely interested in connecting with a deity with whom you can have contact, perhaps you could start with a simple prayer to the Divine, to let Them know that you're open to receive a deity's help in traveling your spiritual path.

Besides that, researching various pantheons would be a good idea. It may take a while, but perhaps a deity will pop out to you when researching or something.

4. Don't try worrying about praying to deities for help or protection, even from that, if only because you haven't yet formed any relationship with one. Sure, if you send out a general prayer out, perhaps even if you don't know it's a prayer (things like, "OH MY GOD, HELP!" can count as prayers), perhaps Someone will show up to help. But then it's up to you to figure out Who it was and to "meet halfway" so to speak. Forming relationships with deities certainly isn't a one-way street.

Besides, there are some things you can learn to do yourself. There are tons of methods for protecting yourself. Do some studying up and learn how to take care of yourself. You can have a great relationship with the Divine, and Someone can help you, sure, but you need to be independent in some senses as well. IMHO, there are some deities who won't put up with those who act helpless, particularly when they very well can help themselves.


To me..it sounds like you simply got paranoid while praying to a god/goddess you are unfamiliar with. A lot of people have issues stepping away from one religious path and moving on to another..especially if you came from a christian background. So yeah..in my opinion, you probably were just un-easy about it..and, thus..you got a headache. Or..you got a headache and because of your un-easiness you figured it had to do with your prayer :p

Something to take into consideration, definitely.


but now that about it I think I probably just had a headache that week because I ate a lot of food I was allergic to and I barely got any sleep that week, I guess I just freaked out because the church my parents make me go to used to tell a lot of stories about possession and stuff, so I probably should have used common sense and not jumped to a crazy assumption like that....

...........

this might sound kind of weird but I've also found a website called theisticsatanism.com that interested me, it says that satan is actually the eqyptian god Set, it also has a lot of opinions and veiws I agree with and it doesn't seem like a hoax, and I've also read some of Anton Lavey's teachings and they made a lot of sense to me, I'll go read up about it and see if levayan or theistic satanism is right for me.

Mundane reasons are also ones to consider. ;) Good on you for thinking that way.

Try not to jump the gun with paths. Read, explore, but don't commit. You need to take your time, feel things out, and study up. It's doubtful you'll truly know what's right for you until you gain more knowledge and experience. But, for that, you need to let time pass. Don't forget that.

[DoktorSick]

You need to hook up with Bob Dobbs!!! www.subgenius.com
The other deities are old bronze age gods they are not ready for todays space age.Bob is the god of the present and the future.

[OneGreyOwl]

I'd like to find one specific deity to pray to but I'm not sure which one is right for me, does anyone know and deities I can just pray to when I need help so something like that won't happen again?You've had a lot of good advice on this thread and some good ideas. If I may suggest, until you find specific deities or pantheons to work with (which means read, research, rinse, repeat) in addition to the suggestion of praying to the Universal Creative Force, perhaps you might consider prayers to Mother Earth? One of the most comforting things you can do as a pagan is find a place where you can be quiet and reach out to planet Earth itself, which is the source of all life, ergo, the mother of us all.

And learn to meditate :uhhuhuh: I've always loved the saying, "In prayer, we speak out our heart to God; in meditation, He expresses His Heart to us."