A very large misconception among society is that Pagans do not pray. We are godless heathens that are manipulating the forces of nature in the self gratifying pursuit of our own happiness and gain.
In actually, we do pray. We pray when we work a spell, we pray
when we run ritual. And we pray daily to our Gods, though most
of us do not call it prayer, we call it communicating.
Do I pray? No, I do not feel that I pray. Prayer is a plea
in my opinion, and my Gods to not need me to plea, beg or whine.
They just need me to talk to them. So I talk with my Gods daily.
I do not take the role of supplicant, I take the role of what
I am, a child talking to a very patient parent.
For some, it is a one way conversation. For others, when the
time is right, it stops being a one way conversation and becomes
an actual communication with the Gods. No, I am not talking about
sitting there talking to them, and hearing their words large as
life. For each person, it is different. For me, the Lady walks
with me in a dreamscape, and we talk about issues that trouble
me, or things that I need guidance on. The Lord has taken me on
the Wild Hunt many times, and we talk of the never ending cycles
of life, death, conflict and how to address them.
For my wife, when she needs to communicate with the Lord and
Lady, she does it by going back to nature. She will find an area
with woods, and the Gods talk to her through the wind, the sound
of the trees moving in the breeze, the insects. She takes great
comfort in these times.
Prayer is over rated. At some point, someone decided that in
order to speak with a god, it was necessary to bend your knee
in supplication (either physically or mentally) and make a plea
to that god. This was suppose to be the only way that you could
get your god to listen. Then it was labeled as prayer, and it
only worked if you showed the proper amount of respect while doing
it.
I show my respect by actually talking to my Gods. They are
the original mother and father, we are their children. I do not
expect my children to speak to me in pleading tones in order for
me to answer and assist them, so I do not think the Lady and Lord
expect that from us, their children, either.
So talk to your Gods, make it known that you have not forgotten
them, you love them, and they will do the same for you.