Dear Soul Arcanum:
I’ve read your articles on how to use creative visualization, the law of attraction, etc. to manifest what you want in your life. Do you believe in the power of prayer? If so, then can’t we just pray for what we want? Also, to whom would you pray? My mother prays to different saints and angels for various different matters. Does it matter whom we pray to?
– Elena
Dear Elena:
“I believe that divine help is always available, and that it’s our right to have that help. We are powerful beings, with a natural magic of our own, but others stand ready. Angels will come to assist you if you need them, but usually come only if invited.” – Jonathan Dickau
I absolutely believe in the power of prayer. We have the power in and of ourselves to work magic in our lives WHEN we are connected to the stream of pure, positive energy. When we’re caught up in problems or confusion, it’s hard get into that powerful state of connection. We all need a little help from our friends sometimes, and prayer is calling upon our friends in Spirit, whether those friends are our personal angels, archangels, guides or God.
I turn to prayer to connect to a very high spiritual vibration when working with clients, and in order to shed anger or other negative thoughts or emotions. I will pray to be cleansed of all negativity and to be filled with light and peace. In the course of “praying” like this, I will also visualize myself as I want to be. I will summon the emotions I associate with the state of consciousness I desire, and I will call upon “Spirit” to help me. I personally don’t call upon specific entities such as angels, archangels, saints, etc., for I trust that if I set a clear, positive intention, help will come to me in whatever way and from whatever source is for the highest and the best.
I recently had a wonderful little experience of the power of prayer. I was traveling to Florida with my parents, husband and children. I had my cell phone in it’s rugged holster, which was tightly clipped inside an outer pocket of my purse. While on the plane, I stowed my purse under the seat. When we got to Florida, we took a shuttle to the rental car agency. While waiting in the long line there, I suddenly had a “feeling,” and I began to look for my cell phone. It was gone. I knew it had been there when the plane took off, for I’d had to turn it off. This was a brand-new, expensive cell phone. I had spent hours learning how to use it and programming in all the phone numbers from my old phone. The clip on the holster is so tight that you have to pry it open to secure it onto something, so I couldn’t understand how it had come loose.
I tried to tune in to “feel” where it might be, but I was too upset to really connect. I wanted to race back to the terminal before the plane left again, but it took ages to rent the car. When we finally got back to the airport, there was a family in front of us with five children under the age of eight trying to check in. They had three car seats and a mountain of luggage like nothing I have ever seen before. My mood was growing darker by the minute.
When I finally spoke to the woman at the counter, our plane had left for Atlantic City. We knew that the plane would have been thoroughly searched, so she called the gate, and was told that no cell phones had been found. She took my contact information and said she’d call if anything turned up.
I left the airport in a foul mood. This was no way to start a vacation. My children opted to ride with my parents (can’t blame them there), so we took all the luggage, backpacks, etc. and moved them from their car into our backseat. My lucky husband had my grumpy presence all to himself for the forty minute drive to our destination. As I stared out the window, it suddenly hit me that sinking into depression over a phone was silly. It would only ruin the day for all of us, and more importantly, it would keep the phone from coming back to me. The more I wallowed in my LACK of my phone, the more lack of phone I would get.
Nevertheless, I couldn’t snap out of it, so I decided to pray. I silently said, “Okay, Spirit. I know I have a LOT of friends up there. I need your help. I really want my phone back, but I recognize that it is just stuff. I want to feel happy with all I am blessed with: a wonderful family on a wonderful day, beginning a wonderful vacation. Please purify my heart and mind and help me reconnect with joy. I choose joy regardless of whether or not I get the phone back, though it would be lovely if that could be arranged!” I then let it go. I trusted that all would work out for the best.
When we got to the hotel about fifteen minutes later, my little girl came to get her backpack out of our car while the grown-ups checked in. We then drove around to our entrance, and everyone piled out to load the luggage onto a dolly. In the two-minute drive from the office to the entrance, something had happened in their vehicle. My parents and kids emerged with strange smiles on their faces. My daughter came up to me grinning, and from behind her back produced – my cell phone in its holster! I was just astounded.
She said that she had found it clinging to the excess strap that dangled below her backpack. You would have had to have been there to fully comprehend how impossible this was. Even my usually skeptical father was stunned speechless. I then blurted out how I had been praying in the car, and this divine feeling washed over everyone. It was like supercharged goose pimples. (This is the mark of Spirit!) Suddenly, I was more joyful and grateful than I had been for months! No one could explain how my phone could have come unclipped from my purse and then clipped ON to her backpack, when I hadn’t even touched her backpack nor her my purse. Further, she had lugged the backpack all over the place, and my husband had tossed it from one car to another. If the phone been attached all along, it would have been flopping around near her knees as she walked through the airport, and either noticed or lost. While everyone tried to find a “rational” explanation, I knew that my prayer had been answered.
Whenever you’re feeling low, just pray. The more we “travel the pathway” from low to high vibration, the better our souls know the way there. Instead of viewing visualization and similar exercises as separate from prayer, incorporate those practices into your prayers. When we pray wisely, instead of “begging for help,” we work WITH Spirit to shift our own energy. This generates powerful magic!
Prayer is powerful. I have a friend who made more than a million dollars in her business last year. This was a goal she had set for herself, and at the time she set it, most people would have said she was “dreaming.” She says she did it almost entirely by going to work every morning, lighting a candle, writing down her prayers, putting them in an angel box to turn them over to her angels, and then just going home.
If you’re skeptical, I encourage you to try it for yourself. You’ve got nothing to lose, and your highest dreams to gain!
– Soul Arcanum