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Is this a magic spell or prayer, or are they the same thing?
Posted by admin on August 3rd, 2010 at 5:40 pm
If a priest lights a candle and dedicates the flame to God, blesses an amulet (medal) while holding it to the flame, prays that God will use the amulet to protect the wearer, heats the medal in the flame before dousing it in holy water, is that prayer or is that a magic spell? Or are they just 2 different names for the same thing?
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That sounds like a ritual to me, but I could be wrong because I am not religious.
It is all up to personal opinion and what your definition is of each one. Magick is said to be “the ability to cause change in conformity to ones will”. Specifically when this change is brought about by mystical means, as in a ritual like the one mentioned above. So in my opinion yes, they are just two different names given to the same thing. The difference is that Magick has no specific rules as to what it is used for and the Christian rituals follow a certain moral code.
Magic and prayer are essentially the same. If you’d observe the rituals in a Catholic Church, you’d recognize many spiritual, ritualistic moments that easily can be “classified” as working magic. In essence, working magic, especially ritualistic magic, is working a prayer, much like is done in many religions. A lot of people feel the need to invoke a god when working magic, and in a way, when invoking a god in any religion, you could say it’s working magic, as well.
It’s kinda complicated and in the end I suppose it depends on how you look at magic, religion, invoking gods. To me, it feels and looks really similar. I don’t work magic any more, but I do say prayers for God, and I participate in the rituals in church, and it doesn’t feel that different, except that it’s so much more centered on the being of God, rather than on the result you wish to achieve (like in your example, the result being a protective amulet) which is often the focus of working a spell.
Edit: I think you’ll find that a lot of magic circles as well as many magical directions have moral codes, as well.
A prayer is a communication with a deity. It might be a request for something, a statement of gratitude or devotion( statement of faith which is made at regular intervals).
A magic spell is anything which is used to manipulate esoteric energies whether through a deity or not. This can be spoken or not, may include elements of ritual ie lighting candles, burning incense, gestures, etc. and has as its desired outcome some benefit to the spell caster.
The two are not mutually exclusive.
What you described is a religious(because it invokes a deity) ritual, which includes prayer and what would be considered by some people a “spell”.
Spells can include prayers, however they can be mutually exclusive.
I see prayers as more of an appeal for a deity to help/intervene.
Spells are more like taking it into your own hands to help yourself.
Though spells can include prayers for assiance, you can do magic without prayers, and prayers without magic.
If a Pagan did this, it would be considered a spell.
It was definitely magic.
The probability is that a “sigil” was placed on the amulet.
This would not necessarily need to be visible just as the cross being placed on ones forehead when they are baptized with holy water.
It is common that a prayer and or blessing accompanies the use of sigil magic.
@ Bryan, your ignorance of rules among various practitioners of magic and mysticism is not uncommon. One of the predominant differences for the Christians is that the church leadership tends to monopolize the use and prohibits it for its members.
The moral code for many Pagans is much higher being as one is responsible for their actions and there is no concept of forgiveness. In fact various beliefs are that what one does will return to them 3 fold or even 10x.