What do you see as the difference between a spell and a prayer?

Question

I see no difference.

Answer 1

I see non either, especially in my belief system of Voodooism. If there is a will, and you are asking the right "being" for help, they are one in the same.

Just as you light a candle in church for the dead, you light candles in spells. Just as you say incantations in church, you say in spells. Just as you use oils and scents in church, you use them in spells.

Answer 2

Technically there are three aspects of wicca,
Incantations
Potions
Spells.
C4ndyGirl, Open your eyes, and look at the bigger picture.
The same way prayers don't FIX problems, Spells don't either.
The spell would be a mixture of an incantation, and a potion. Spells are more ritualistic.

But the differance in incantations and prayrs is purely religiouse. The fact that they come from different religions is the only differance.

When a christian prays to God, it comes from the heart. There are set prayers, like the lords prayer, or the rosery prayers. And then there are the ones that come from your heart. Purely one on one with God.

An incantatiopn is the same thing. A message to God ( weather you call him The lord and lady, Divine Sprit or God) It is a messafge, a request or anything that you want to bring to the celestial spirits. Usually they are in rhyme form, but not all the time. It comes from the heart.

They both are requests that come from the heart.

What you guys need to learn and realize is there is NO wiccan out there that would bend the will of another, ie: love spells, curses, money spells.

Those "spells" are dablers trying to controll life. They aren't real spells, they don't work in anyother way but to give BAD karma.
and theoretically don't you think if a wican DID a love spell and God did NOT intend for the love match he would abolish the attempt?
Wiccan's know this, God gave us free will, we don't try and controll what is not ours to controll.

Wiccans know we cannot controll life, we live and let live. Harm ye none and DO AS YE WILL!!!!!


All the definitions that you gave goeas the COMPLETE oposite of what wiccan's live by. So do a little research, and don't believe rumors harbored by dablers.

Answer 3

A prayer is a request from a divine entity. A lot of people ask for things for themselves in prayer that are petty and in this sense, a prayer can resemble a misguided attempt at casting a spell. However, prayer is supposed to be a special state of mind, a way to approach one to the divinity. It is not intended as a personal request line to God - more like religious meditation, if you will. If you're a skeptic, you may believe this to be entirely futile, but whatever the reality underlying prayer, psychological studies have shown prayer benefits the prayer both emotionally and mentally.
As for spells, they belong to older religions and are usually based on the ideas underlying magical thought. That if you do something in the microcosm (Say in a bowl), you will influence the world at large, and that specific incantations, and so forth, can bring about specific effects.
These two ways of thinking sometimes do get mixed up. But there is another basic difference, in that the prayer is a request. People don't usually expect guaranteed results from prayers, thus, for example, 'thy will be done', in the Lord's prayer.

Answer 4

To me, prayers are to talk with my deities. I may ask them for blessings, but usually I use prayer to thank them. If I ask a deity for a favor, I can hope that it will be granted. I may ask a deity to work through me (as in healing) but that, to me isn't spellwork because I am not actually casting any spells. The main purpose of my prayers is to develop a deeper relationship with my deities.

I see spells a little differently than prayers. When I cast a spell, I am not asking for an entity to grant me something, nor am I giving praise to a deity. I am actively causing the change that I want by raising and directing energy towards my goals. I am responsible for the spell working or not. Occasionally, I may ask for blessings on my spellwork, but the responsibility still lies with me. To me, spells aren't wishes or requests. Spells are gathering the energy that surrounds us and then directing it to achieve a specific result. To "hope" that you will get the results that you want implies doubt. There is no room for doubt in spellwork. Belief is a cornerstone to success.

Answer 5

Spells are demonic. Prayers are prayed to God.
The devil wants you to go to HELL. God wants you to go to HEAVEN.
If you still don't see the difference, the Devil is winning. If this doesn't matter to you, think about this... Your body won't live for ever, but your mind will. Whether you believe that or not, IT'S A FACT. Think of the worst, most frightening thing that you can think of having to endure...Think of it happening over and over and over, and never being able to escape from it. This will be YOUR HELL. Everlasting torment. Nothing remotely good ever happening again.
On the other hand, if by some chance you should find yourself in HEAVEN, nothing remotely bad will ever happen again. See the difference?

Answer 6

By definition, a ...

* Spell is a word or phrase that is believed to possess magical powers

while a ...

* Prayer is the act of communicating with a diety.

Answer 7

The difference as I see it may not be there, depending on your mode of spellcasting, but to me it is that when casting spells you are focusing on yourself, to change within yourself, which you have the power to do if you choose; and in prayer you are appealing to something outside of yourself and far away which may or may not respond. The difference as it see is where you believe the source of power to be - and it's a powerful difference in your world view.

Answer 8

I tend to agree with you. After a little research I found that in "casting spells" a person is more or less asking a higher power to grant them something. Prayer is more or less the same thing directed at your god, so i see your point.

Answer 9

A spell is trying to force something to happen by calling on nature or Satanic powers.

A prayer is a request made to God, and many times it is for others, or world situations.

Answer 10

A prayer requires nothing but faith in God. He will answer prayers according to the faith of the one doing the praying, if they are praying with pure motives....
Spells, on the other hand, usually require all sorts of paraphanalia, from candles to owl's blood, and who knows what...and spells are rarely done from pure motives. Spells are done generally for selfish reasons, and the person doing the spell is relying on his/her own power over the spirits/beings they are "conjuring".
Oh, yeah, those "spirits/beings" do exist...and if you do the spell correctly, they may even grant your wish...but they do NOT have your best interests in mind...rather, they are trying to take you far from God, and when they involve themselves in your "spells" they are doing exactly that.
(Sorry 'bout the owl's blood thing, that was facetious.
....
I
...
...
hope!!)

Answer 11

A prayer is a petition and a spell is using you own suposed power to do something.