Resources Rituals Prayer in Ásatru, Heathenry and Norse Paganism
Prayer in Ásatru, Heathenry and Norse Paganism
Summary
Historical sources show the Pagans in pre-christian times prayed, knelt and prostrated themselves before the Gods.
By all accounts, Norse Pagans loved their Gods, felt loved and protected by their Gods and had as fierce a faith in their Gods as any Christian at the time would have had in Jesus Christ.
Do you pray in Norse Paganism?
There has been some debate as to whether or not pre-Christian Heathens prayed.
Most of this debate is not based in historical fact but rather in feeling that “our ancestors would NEVER have prayed to a God because they were tough and rugged and independent!” This is much the same as the idea that the pre-Christian Pagans did not kneel or prostrate themselves before the Gods, because that’s something Christians do.
It’s all nonsense.
Pagans prayed to the Gods and the spirits before the conversion and we still pray to this very day. Anyone telling you otherwise needs to put down their copy of Conan the Barbarian.
Historical sources show the Pagans in pre-christian times prayed, knelt and prostrated themselves before the Gods.
By all accounts, Norse Pagans loved their Gods, felt loved and protected by their Gods and had as fierce a faith in their Gods as any Christian at the time would have had in Jesus Christ.
“To pray” means nothing more than simply “to ask.” The word that the Old Norse used for prayer was “bón” or “biðja.” Biðja is related to the modern English word “to bid” which just means “to ask” or “to petition.” The notion that people would ask the Gods to help them is far older than the conversion period. That doesn’t mean Christians “stole” prayer from Heathens. It just means that both Christians and Heathens had similar ideas about what it meant to pray.
The Prayer of the Kievan Rus’
The main source for Viking prayer is the account given by ibn Fadlan in his travel diaries when he was with the Kievan Rus’. He observed a few different religious practices, but one in particular was the observation of a Rus’ trader praying for a good market. He says that:
§ 85. When the ships come to this mooring place, everybody goes ashore with bread, meat, onions, milk and intoxicating drink and betakes himself to a long upright piece of wood that has a face like a man’s and is surrounded by little figures, behind which are long stakes in the ground. The Rus prostrates himself before the big carving and says, “O my Lord, I have come from a far land and have with me such and such a number of girls and such and such a number of sables”, and he proceeds to enumerate all his other wares. Then he says, “I have brought you these gifts,” and lays down what he has brought with him, and continues, “I wish that you would send me a merchant with many dinars and dirhems, who will buy from me whatever I wish and will not dispute anything I say.” Then he goes away.
–ibn Fadlan
It should be noted that as a Muslim, ibn Fadlan would have himself prostrated when he prayed (as part of the standard Muslim prayer) so he could have been, like Tacitus, imposing his own experience on the Rus’ that he observed. Regardless, this account is as good as we get of Viking prayer. It confirms that it happened and under what circumstances.
The Prayer in Víga-Glúms Saga
A similar direct request appears in Víga-Glúms saga 9 (ÍF 9, p. 34): Thorkel, who is being driven from his land by his adversary Glúmr, brings an ox and directly asks Freyr for a favor in return:
“Freyr,” sagði hann, “er lengi hefir fulltrúi minn verit og margar gjafar að mér þegit ok vel launat, nú gef ek þér uxa þenna til þess, at Glúmr fari eigi ónauðgari af Þverárlandi en ek fer nú. Ok láttu sjá nǫkkurar jartegnir, hvártú þiggr eða eigi.”
“Freyr,” he said “for a long time you have been my fully-trusted one (fulltrúi) and have received many gifts from me and repaid them well. Now I give you this ox, so that Glum may leave Thverarland no less unwillingly than I leave now. And let some signs be seen of whether you accept or not.”
The ox immediately bellows and drops dead, which Thorkel takes as a sign that Freyr has accepted his gift and his prayer will be answered—as indeed it is, in time.
“Lo, there do I see my father”
In the movie 13th Warriror, based on the Michael Crichton book “The Eaters of the Dead” (a novel he wrote based on a mix of Beowulf and the accounts of ibn Fadlan), there is a depiction of a Viking funeral. In the funeral, they show the death of a slave-girl who is sacrificed to accompany her master on his way to Valhalla. During the ritual, she appears to say a prayer.
The movie renders the prayer she says as follows:
Lo there do I see my father;
Lo there do I see my mother and my sisters and my brothers;
Lo there do I see the line of my people, back to the beginning.
Lo, they do call to me, they bid me take my place among them,
in the halls of Valhalla,
where the brave may live forever.
While many pagans think this is an example of an authentic Viking prayer, this is a little bit more Hollywood magic than it is genuine history.
How it was reported by ibn Fadlan
Ibn Fadlan’s account doesn’t render the prayer this way. Here is the whole passage for context. You’ll see the lines of the “prayer” in his description of the events.
She spoke some words and they lowered her again.
A second time they rasied her up and she did again what she had done; then they lowered her.
They raised her a third time and she did as she had done the two times before.
I asked the interpreter what she had done. He answered:
“The first time they raised her she said, ‘Behold, I see my father and mother.’
The second time she said, ‘I see all my dead relatives seated.’
What’s interesting about ibn Fadlan’s account is that his account of Paradise as beautiful and green and full of servants resembled the description of Paradise in the poetry of the Qu’ran. As ibn Fadlan was a highly educated man and had a deep familiarity with the Qu’ran and subsequent Islamic literature and poetry, he may have interpreted what was said to him through that lens.
“Lo, there do I see my father” appears to be less of a prayer and more a part of a ceremony where we don’t fully understand the greater context, and we don’t understand it precisely because our observer, ibn Fadlan, also doesn’t fully understand what’s going on.
The Valkyrie’s Prayer in the Sigrdrífumál
There is a poem in the poetic Edda which tells the story of Sigurd (Sigfried) and the dragon. In the story, Sigrdrífa the Valkyrie awakens and says this:
Heill dagr,
heilir dags synir,
heil nótt ok nipt;
óreiðum augum
lítið okkr þinig
ok gefið sitjöndum sigr.Heilir æsir,
heilar ásynjur,
heil sjá in fjölnýta fold,
mál ok mannvit
gefið okkr mærum tveim
ok læknishendr, meðan lifum.
The passage is noteworthy because it’s different from the verse around it, and appears to be some kind of benediction or even an example of a prayer. Henry Bellows translates the verse as follows:
Hail, day!
Hail, sons of day!
And night and her daughter now!
Look on us here
with loving eyes,
That waiting we victory win.Hail to the gods!
Ye goddesses, hail,
And all the generous earth!
Give to us wisdom
and goodly speech,
And healing hands, life-long. (Bellows, 1936).
One thing to remember about this verse is that it takes place in a work of drama, so the verse could be in a different form because it’s trying to say something about the character of Sigrdrifa.
Heroic Literature rarely reflects the average day-to-day life and speech of common people, and Epic poems are even less likely to be accurate in that regard. Everyday prayers may not have been so eloquent, as we can see in the case of the Rus’ Trader in ibn Fadlan’s account.
Óláfs Saga Helga
In Chapter 113, when a great gilded idol of Thor is carried out of the temple, the Heathens:
“þá hljópu þeir allir upp og lutu því skrímsli”
“they all leaped up and bowed to the monstrosity.”
Færeyinga Saga
In chapter 23, Jarl Hakon is pleading at the feat of his idol of Thorgerd Holgabrud:
jarl kastaði sér niður fyrir fætur henni og lá lengi,
“the jarl cast himself down before her feet and lay for a long time.” (ÍF 25, pp. 50-51)
Kjalnesinga Saga
Búi, the protagonist of the Saga, doesn’t worship the gods because he considers it “unmanly” to creep (hokra) before an idol (ch. 3), and he kills his enemy Thorstein while Thorstein lá á grúfu, “lay groveling,” before the idol of Thor in a temple (ch. 4).
Harðar saga og Hólmverja
In Chapter 38, Thorstein falls down and prays before the stone harrow in his hof. The Langobards were said to have bowed in adoration before an idol, to which they sacrificed a goat’s head (Gregory, Dialogues III.28, transl. Zimmerman, p. 162).
In volume 1 of Teutonic Mythology, Grimm analyzes the terms used for acts of worship.
The oldest documented word is the Gothic inveita, which seems to be an act of adoration involving some kind of inclination of the body, although it is not clear whether this meant bowing the head or bending the knee (p. 29).
Why do Norse Pagans Pray?
Prayer isn’t wish fulfillment. It is not a transaction. If you prayed for a cookie and got it, that’s no more proof that the Gods did it for you than if you didn’t get a cookie is somehow proof They don’t exist. The Gods aren’t a snack machine where you put in offerings and get a divine Snickers.
Prayer isn’t about wish fulfillment. It’s about faith.
I know. I know! The word “faith” feels icky to say. And many in Ásatrú do not like that word at all. After all, words like “faith” “worship” or “theology” were words they used to use when they were some other religion. But stay with me on this.
Prayer, Sacrifice and All Other Acts of Worship are Relational Acts, and so There Must be Someone We Are Relating to
In order for prayer and sacrifice to be meaningful relational acts, we must believe that there is someone out there we are relating to. We must believe that the divine is not only at least somewhat intelligible by us, but we are capable of entering into a relationship with it. Prayer is not proof.
You pray not because you need proof of the existence of the Gods, because in that act of prayer, you believe. You are expressing that faith. That faith is in more than just the existence of the Gods, but it’s a faith in the particular way they exist.
If you are praying to the Gods, you believe that they care about you, you believe they understand what you’re doing, and you believe that they are benevolent. In trusting their benevolence, you leave the worry over your fate in their hands.
Let’s dig into that.
Offerings are not transactional.
The Gifting Cycle is not about negotiating with the Gods where you feed them like a Pokemon and then they give you something in return. The Gifting Cycle is the foundation of a harmonious relationship with the Gods and the spirits in the world around us. It is reflecting to Them the goodness that is their divine nature is also within us: we know how to return a gift for a gift. We understand reciprocity, kindness and grace.
There is some thought that offerings are how we get the attention of the Gods, and that the more offerings we make, the more attention, theoretically, they will pay to us. This, too, is transactional. We give offerings and expect the Gods will reward us with favor and attention.
The only way to truly understand the gift cycle in a way that is not transactional is to presume that the gifts we give each other we give from the same benevolence. We are both giving without expectation. We are both giving out of our own goodness. The more we engage in this way with the spirits and the Gods, the more we come to identify with and participate in that essential goodness that comes from sharing and giving.
The gifting cycle is not transactional, it is reciprocal because we are calling to one another: the Gods to humankind and humankind calling back to the Gods. We are calling each other from the deepest part of our nature: our generosity, our compassion, our will to do good. Prayer and sacrifice are affirmations of the goodness within us and the benevolent nature of the divine.
Our prayers for help are part of the expression of faith in the reciprocal relationship we have with the Divine.
Prayer is not an attempt at using the power of the Gods to control our lives, it is letting go of that which we cannot control.
The real power of prayer is in the fundamental acknowledgement that there are some things that are beyond our control. We give up the worry of what we could do differently and leave it in the hands of the Gods, knowing their goodness, wisdom and power are far beyond our full understanding. And in giving this up, we transform our relationship to our fates.
Prayer is not just another way we assert control over our lives by bargaining with the Gods and providing them with gifts to bribe them into doing what we want. Prayer is accepting that which we cannot control. It is accepting our fate as it is as the consequences of action unfold in the world around us.
Prayer to the Gods is not about changing your fate, it is about changing your relationship to the world–including your own fate. Through our relationships to the Gods, in our faith, we face our fates not with grimness or anxiety, but we face it with the transformative belief that their nature is expressing itself through us: through our pursuit of wisdom, our care for others, and our generosity towards those in need.
And we shouldn’t be ashamed of that or want to change it. Prayer is something that so many religious people share in common. We share it with Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Zoroastrians and Buddhists. Heathens shouldn’t be ashamed or offended that we share some common practices with other religions. On the contrary, the fact that we have similar practices is a potential bridge towards understanding and friendship with others.
We are a part of the family of faiths in the world. We always have been.
What can we learn about how to pray as a Norse Pagan from the historical sources?
- Prayer happened not just at major rituals, but as a part of daily life.
- Prayer has a particular structure (we will get to that in a moment)
- Prayer involved kneeling or prostrating before an image of the God
Prayers offer praise and may go on to relate a deity’s great qualities and recount mighty deeds that the deity has done.
Two stanzas from the skalds Vetrliði Sumarliðason and Þórbjǫrn dísarskáld praise Thor’s mighty deeds, particularly his killing of jotuns. Vetrliði’s verse (Skáldskaparmál 4, verse 57) is:
Leggi brauzt þúLeiknar,
lamðir Þrívalda,
steyptir Starkeði,
stóttu of Gjálp dauða.
You broke Leiknar’s legs,
you bashed Thrivaldi,
you knocked down Starkad,
you stood over the dead Gjalp.
Þórbjǫrn dísarskáld’s verse is another catalogue of destroyed giants (Skáldskaparmál 4, verse 58):
Ball í Keilu kolli,
Kjallandi brauzt þú alla,
áðr draptu Lút ok Leiða,
léztu dreyra Búseyru;
heftir þú Hengjankjǫptu,
Hyrrokkin dó fyrri;
þó var snemr in sáma
Svívǫr numin lífi.
You bashed Keila in the head,
You completely broke Kjallandi,
First you killed Lut and Leida,
You made Buseyra bleed;
You fettered Hengankjopti,
Hyrrokkin died first;
But earlier, Svivor’s life
Was taken in the same way.
John Lindow notes that as far as we can trace the myths that these poems alluded to, they have cognates in Indian and Irish mythology, in which a hero fights monstrous beings that embody chaos. He notes that the verses themselves resemble prayers from ancient Greece and Vedic India.
In all of these, the deity was praised for great deeds and then asked for a favor.
The favor that Thor was asked for is not preserved, but Lindow suggests that the missing half of Vetrliði’s verse was a request that Thor kill the missionaries Thangbrand and Gudleif, who are thus put into the roles of chaotic, disruptive giants (“Addressing Thor”, p. 131-133).
This would not be the only time that praise of a god’s mighty deeds was deployed against missionaries. The priestess and skald Steinunn, squaring off against Thangbrand, makes a verse praising Thor for smashing Thangbrand’s ship in a storm while “Christ was not watching” (Kristni saga 9, transl. Grønlie, p. 44).
In another version of their encounter, Steinunn boasts to Thangbrand that Thor has challenged Christ to a duel, and Christ is too scared to accept the challenge (Njáls saga 102).
Magical charms also invoke deities in a similar way, listing their epithets and retelling their significant deeds, followed by a request or an affirmation that matters will turn out now as they did in mythic time.
The Old High German “Second Merseburg Charm” is an excellent example; presumably it was used to heal an injured leg, and it begins with a myth in which Balder’s horse sprained its leg:
Phol and Wodan went to the wood.
Then Balder’s horse sprained its foot.
Then chanted Sinthgunt, Sunna her sister;
then chanted Frija, Folla her sister,
then chanted Wodan, as well he knew how to.
Thus be the bone-sprain, thus be the blood-sprain, thus be the limb-sprain,
bone to bone, blood to blood, limb to limb:
thus be the binding.
An interesting case of a “rule of three”
In that “Prayer of the Valkyrie” she asks for three gifts from the Gods, which are as follows:
-
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Mannvit: Wisdom
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Mál: (Good) Words
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Læknishender: Healing Hands
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Part of what is interesting about this particular set of stanzas is this little list of things, because they follow a similar pattern to the Zoroastrian religious principles of “Good Thoughts, Good Words, and Good Deeds.”
- Humata “Good Thoughts”
- Hukta “Good Words”
- Huvarstha “Good Deeds”
There is also an interesting parallel in this form of three principles in Celtic or Gaulish Polytheism.
- Dugie Dêuûs – “Honor the Gods”
- Gneie ne drucon – “Do no evil”
- Delge āxtam – “Hold your behavior”
Finally, a last parallel that we find in some forms of Hinduism is another repetition of three (sometimes four) principles:
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Daya: Compassion
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Dana: Generosity
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Dama: Self-Control
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Ahimsa: No-Harm
While we aren’t going to suggest that Norse Paganism was just a Northern form of Zoroastrianism, or that it’s the same as Gaulish Polytheism, or that it’s some sort of Northern Hinduism, it’s interesting to note the similarities here between the poem and a religion that has a distant familial relationship to our own (much like Avestan, Gaulish, Sanskrit and Old Norse have a distant relationship linguistically).
How do you Pray as a Norse Pagan?
We’ve gone through some examples of how people have prayed in the past, but how do we pray right now? You probably didn’t come here just for a history lesson. You can to figure out how to pray.
There is no one right way to pray. You can really pray any way you like. Prayer is about creating a moment where you have some kind of contact with the Gods or other kinds of spirits, like Ancestor spirits, Land spirits or House spirits. It can be incredibly formal or very simple.
Part One – Invocation
When you invoke a God, you may want to include epithets or other names the God has that gives some idea of why you called that God specifically.
Important to note: invocation is not summoning or conjuring
People who come from more magic-oriented traditions sometimes think of invocation as a kind of “divine summons” where we call the Gods to come and be present with us while we worship. This isn’t necessary, and you can assume that wherever you are praying, whenever you are praying, the Gods and the spirits to whom you are addressing your prayer are there.
Think about something like the Lord’s Prayer: “Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name” is an invocation. It’s actually a pretty good one too!
In fact, Pagan prayer would go a little bit further. Instead of just “Our Father” it might be something like “Our Merciful Father” or “Our Bountiful Father” indicating something about the “Father” that is the particular reason you’re praying. And examples we have from ancient Greece indicate that more than a few epithets were used in a given prayer.
“Who art in Heaven” is another great reference to where the God lives.
In Paganism, we could reference where the God lives, or something the God has, or an aspect of the God’s personality, or an action the God has taken. “Who art in Heaven” could be something more like “who dwells in Valhalla” or “who feasts in the Halls of the Slain” or “bearer of the bright light of Brisingamen.”
“Hallowed be Thy name” is a good way to end the “Our Father” invocation.
Many Pagans choose to end the invocation with an actual call for the deity’s presence. “Come and join us.” But this isn’t necessary.
Again, this isn’t a summons or a conjuring. We aren’t summoning a demon with whom we need to make a bargain. Our Gods are simply present. Simply saying “hallowed be thy name” is actually a fine way to end an invocation and proceed to the next part.
Part Two – Offering (optional)
This is where you could make an offering to whomever you are praying. Generally, when you pray you are either asking for something or you are saying you are grateful for something that has already been given.
Offerings are not required when you’re praying. You never know when you might want to pray, so just carrying around offerings isn’t very practical. You can always promise an offering later, if you like.
Offerings also aren’t a “payment” or a “divine bribe” to get the Gods to do what you’re praying for. Think about the absurdity of what we have in our power to offer versus what the Gods have in their power to offer. What, you think I’m going to pay for a job promotion that can change the course of my entire life with a bowl of oats?
I can make some pretty yummy oatmeal, and I can brew a decent mead, but nothing that approaches the power of the Gods. So when the Gods make their gifts to us, their offerings, they do so without any thought to an equitable payment in return.
This is how the Gods give, and so it is how we give.
Our offering is made as theirs are made. It is our reflection of their divine goodness. It is our faith in and our affirmation of that goodness.
More on that later.
Blót
This is just about prayer. Blót and prayer are not the same thing. Blót is our word for “sacrifice” and there are a few ways that you’ll see that word applied in the Heathen community. Some will use Blót to refer to all their offerings, and others use it to refer to only specific offerings. Specifically, they refer to offerings made to the Gods Themselves. We have another resource about Blót that goes into the different schools of thought, but suffice to stay for now that while Blót has prayer, not every prayer is a Blót.
Part Three – Request/Gratitude
This is where you ask the God for whatever it is you are praying for. If it’s for luck in business, then ask for luck in business. You can be as specific or as general as you like. You can also express gratitude for a gift that you believe has already been given. If you asked for luck in business and you feel like you got what you needed, then you can thank the Gods in your prayer.
The request isn’t really important. In fact, you may not request anything at all. You may just be in a moment of general distress, or a moment of deep appreciation. Prayer is something we can do for any reason, at any time. Whatever the situation is for you.
Some Heathens are very formal and others are casual and talk to the Gods like they are friends or peers.
If you’re not feeling up to composing poetical prayers and praises yourself, a template for modern prayers to the gods might look like this:
Hail (best-known name), (descriptive epithet),
Child of (parent), lover of (spouse),
You who dwell in (name of hall),
You who (summarize several relevant deeds)
With your (characteristic tool or weapon)
Come swiftly to aid me
As I (summarize problem being addressed).
KG’s Threefold Prayer
Here I am going to take you through a simple prayer ritual start to finish. This is my common practice and you’re welcome to copy it, modify it, change it, however you feel like and whatever way makes you feel comfortable. Make it your own. Just remember that everything with this revolves around the number three. Why three? Because it’s easy to remember. That’s the only reason.
The best thing about this is that you don’t need a thing. You don’t need to be wearing anything special. You don’t need to have an altar, idols, clothing, or anything. You can do this with an offering or without. Bet let’s say you want to go all out.
Give yourself some space for all the kneeling and prostrating. Preferably you’re not doing this outdoors in the dirt. If you are I suggest you get a mat or get very comfortable with getting up close and personal with said dirt.
If you like, you can have an altar, an idol, some items. I’d suggest having some incense, and offering bowl full of water or a small brazier for a little fire (please be safe if you’re using fire). You may also like to have a bell or chime or something you can ring.
Some like to have special ritual clothing like a hood or a head scarf. I like those personally because they cover up my terrifying bald spot. The Gods don’t need to see that. If I have one, I’ll usually pop a scarf on or a hood as a head covering. Some people have a belt they wear or some other item.
I know some people like to wear weapons but I highly discourage the practice. Weapons and tools of violence do not belong in the presence of the Gods or in any Holy spaces. That’s my opinion and it just happens to be backed up by hundreds of years of Heathen precedent.
You may also want to have an offering. I suggest dried fruit, flowers dried or fresh.
If you have an offering, place it in front of you either in the bowl with water or burn it in the brazier or other safe fire-container. Light incense and the candles if you have them and come back to standing. If you’d like to play some music, you should hit that now.
You may begin by standing facing your altar. In absence of an altar, simply face East if it is the morning and North if it is the evening or night.
If you have a bell or chime, ring it three times to clear the air. If you don’t have a bell, just clap your hands together three times. (There’s your first three).
Bow before you come to kneeling. (That’s one bow so far, you’ll see where we are going soon)
Now that you’re kneeling, we start by doing what I call the Three Blessings.
Touch your hand to your forehead and say (you can say them in your own language or Old Norse or whatever old language you like. Relax, it’s not a magic spell or anything. You’re not going to lose your teeth if you say it wrong).
“Vigi hugi” (Bless my thoughts)
Touch your hand to your throat and say
“Vigi ráð” (Bless my words)
Extend your hands out in front of you and say
“Vigi hendr” (Bless my deeds)
Bring your palms back together at your chest.
Now here comes the fun part. This is where you get to bring in some of your own stuff. You speak three prayers here (there’s another three!) but there is no set kind of prayer you are supposed to make or supposed to follow. I’ll show you how I made my first one. I started by using the “Hail Day” stanzas from the Sigdrífumál to start the scaffolding upon which I built the rest.
From kneeling, press your palms together.
Hail, day!
Hail, sons of day!
And night and her daughter
Look on us here with kind eyes,
That waiting we win.
Turn your palms out and prostrate before the altar or in your chosen direction. That means you go from kneeling to full face down to the ground. Hands go out in front of you. Palms down.
If you didn’t bring a mat to pray on, I hope wherever your face is right now is nice. Maybe there is some grass? Some flowers? OK come back up again. Take a breath. Palms back together.
Now do this part:
Hail to the gods!
Hail the goddesses!
Hail the ever giving earth!
Grant us good words and wisdom
And healing hands, life-long!
Prostrate before the altar. Once again, face to floor. Hands out. Palms down. Getting real familiar with the floor here.
You don’t have to spend a ton of time down here. Just come back up to kneeling. Palms together again. Now for this next one we are going to name another specific God for this just so you can see how we do it.
Hail Njord
Hail Luck-Father
Hail his Son and his Daughter
Grant us good fortune,
Kindness, and friendship life long.
Prostrate one last time before the altar. You did it! This is the last one! Come back to kneeling when you’re done sniffing dirt. You can put your hands on your lap or press your palms back together at your chest in “prayer hands.”
This is the part where some folks like to sit awhile, and they’re welcome to do that. It’s no more pious or impious to sit and dwell in this moment. Maybe you want to meditate quietly. Maybe you want to chant some galdr or poetry for a few hours. You can stay here for as long as you like. Some of us have things to do. Kids to pick up at school.
When you’re ready, let’s stand up again.
Now you just need to leave the space. Which is easy enough to do. Just be sure all your candles are blown out and any fire or incense has been snuffed. Once that’s done, just come back to standing. Before you leave the space, bow two more last times (what did I tell you about that final bow!) in the direction of the altar or whatever chosen direction you had.
And you’re all done!
Now go do whatever else you wanted to do today.