'Pagans don't pray! We never kneel down for anyone!' Or do we? Such things are heard all the time in the playgan community, so this episode is on the fact that prayer is the most common pagan spiritual expression, and on the importance of prayer in daily pagan spiritual practice. We also guide you through a good structure of Indo-European pagan prayer, so you can integrate it into your daily life.
Of course pagans pray! Nothing could be further from the truth that they wouldn’t. In fact, the most common form of pagan religious expression is prayer. In this episode I’ll talk about the importance of prayer in our daily spiritual practice, and the structure of Indo-European pagan prayer, so you can integrate it into your daily life.
Prayer is actually the spiritual expression that we have the most information about. And the most reliable sources on how the ancient pagans prayed are the prayers recorded by the pagans themselves.
It’s true that recorded sources of Norse and Germanic prayer are scarce, but we do find them:
Birth was seen as extremely dangerous for mother and newborn. Thus, rites of birth were common in the Germanic societies. In the Viking Age, people would pray to the goddesses Frigg and Freyja, and sing ritual galdr-songs to protect the mother and the child.
In Sigrdrifumál 3-4 we see prayer to day, night and the gods in general
In Ynglinga Saga we see how the Swedes anew started praying to Odin
In Tacitus’ Germania we see how the priests of the state offer prayers to the gods before divination
We also have Frankish testimony that the Saxons prayed before divination
We also know that the Norse would perform animal sacrifices while talking or praying to the gods.
So the scarcity of evidence of Norse and Germanic prayers most likely has to do with the fact that they didn’t record much at all rather than that they didn’t pray.
In the writings of our other Indo-European ancestors, we find huge numbers of prayers. We have epigraphic evidence from inscriptions on offerings, temples and walls. We have all the epic, tragic and lyric literature written in Greece and Rome. We have inscriptions left by the ancient Celts. And of course, the immense amount of Vedic literature – the four Vedas and many other Vedic works are essentially long prayer books. A touching statement of faith from ancient times comes from the Roman practice of vowing to set up an altar when a prayer is answered. Hundreds of these have survived, each inscribed with a prayer of thanks.
In Greece libations were part of everyday life, and libations together with a prayer were often made at home whenever wine was drunk.
Each Roman home had a household shrine at which prayers and libations to the family's domestic deities and spirits were offered.
And prayer features prominently in the works of Homer. It is in fact Polyphemus’ prayer to Poseidon to interfere with Odysseys that’s setting the stage for the rest of the Odyssey.
So we certainly don’t lack information on pagan prayer.
But why do we even pray?
Well, one thing is for sure: Pagans don’t pray just to please a jealous god or out of blind faith. Pagans don't believe in blind faith and external salvation – the gods help those who help themselves. The word prayer itself stems from the PIE root prek – to ask for or to request. And as I’ve brought up so many times – IE spirituality and life is reciprocal. The rule is a gift for a gift.
For those of you who haven’t listened to episode 5 on the Ghosti principle, I highly recommend you to do so. Indo-European spirituality is reciprocal. The world tree feeds the well with its falling fruit, and in return the well gives the tree nutrients up through its roots. Yemo agrees to be sacrificed by his twin brother Mannus so that both land and mankind arises from him. In return Yemo becomes the first priest and ruler of the death realm, and also becomes an upholder of dharma. Paganism is an eternal gift giving cycle. It’s in our true nature to want to sacrifice and act selflessly. Through that we create order and beauty. And it is honorable actions that prolong the branches of the world tree. And in return we get blessings and gifts with which we can create even more order and beauty.