Praying

I have a question. I'm a beginner and I'm curious as to how one would pray to one of the Gods?

First wash, it is proper to be pure before any act of worship. If you can fully bathe, that is excellent, but otherwise it is suitable to purify yourself by aspersion with χέρνιψ – water consecrated with a burning splint or rod.

After that light a lamp or candle, turn your palms toward the focus of your prayer — up to the skies for celestial gods, to the earth for terrestrial gods, and forward if you are facing a cult image.

Then, begin your prayer, asking that it be heard. Address the god by whatever epithets are most suited to the occasion. Then make your request, if you have one. Finally, offer sacrifice in the form of libation and immolation, if you are able to do so - this can be as simple as a splash of wine and a pinch of incense.

End by giving thanks, leaving it up to god to take it from there and enact whatever is meant to be.

Thank you very much! I will do this

I always wash at least wash my hands and face before most prayers and offerings. As Hēsiodos says in his Works and Days:

"Never pour a libation of sparkling wine to Zeus after dawn with unwashed hands, nor to others of the deathless gods; otherwise they do not hear your prayers but spit them back." - Works and Days, lines 724-726.

I recently read a Dutch translation of the work and the author had a note with this section saying that the whole body was supposedly purified by the washing of the hands, as pars pro toto (a part representing/taking the place of the whole). However, using khernips when you're actually starting the ritual/prayers/offerings, like Erodius said, is also always advisable.

Hope that helps :-)

And there should not be miasma in the heart either, that's as important as being physically clean. Do not adress the gods when in anger or in an othervise foul mood. And try to maintain concentration, make sure to not bother your mind with other things while adressing the gods. I know, it's hard to clean the mind, it's never a blank slate, but with training you can empty most of the unnessesary thoughts pulling at your attention.

Good luck and may the Gods bless you.

Erodius wrote:First wash, it is proper to be pure before any act of worship. If you can fully bathe, that is excellent, but otherwise it is suitable to purify yourself by aspersion with χέρνιψ – water consecrated with a burning splint or rod.

After that light a lamp or candle, turn your palms toward the focus of your prayer — up to the skies for celestial gods, to the earth for terrestrial gods, and forward if you are facing a cult image.

Then, begin your prayer, asking that it be heard. Address the god by whatever epithets are most suited to the occasion. Then make your request, if you have one. Finally, offer sacrifice in the form of libation and immolation, if you are able to do so - this can be as simple as a splash of wine and a pinch of incense.

End by giving thanks, leaving it up to god to take it from there and enact whatever is meant to be.

Thanks for sharing this. I still get confused on how to worship and sometimes get it wrong. Though I do advise, and this is just me, to find one epithet and use that. I like using healing, since my back is still reminding me that I damaged it.

SpiritofApollo wrote:though I do advise, and this is just me, to find one epithet and use that.

In many cases there are a variety of potentially relevant epithets. The purpose, in this case, is to address as many of the potentially relevant numina of the deity as possible in order to increase the likelihood of one's petition being delivered to the proper addressee. 

I like using healing, since my back is still reminding me that I damaged it.

Iatric powers are particularly the domain of Apollon, and the Apollinine protégé Asklipios. The title 'Paean (Παιάν)', meaning 'physician/aid' is a general name for these divine iatric powers, applied to deities considered to possess them. 

By extension, 'Paean' also came to mean an ode or hymn in invocation of such a deity, and particularly is used to refer to Apollinine hymns and lyric poetry.

Because he's a god of healing. Thanks.