When I was religious and at a big crossroad in my life, I would pray and get answers. What should I do now instead?

Why can't you just pray?

Prayer is a conversation between YOU and God.

The heavenly father doesn't require ceremony, magic words, spells, or incantations. You don't need an intercessor, medium, channeler, or to "make a deal".

Sometimes God will send angels or spirits, sometimes your own ideas/thoughts will clarify, other times the highest of all things will speak directly, and sometimes you hear nothing.

Nothing is still answer, as well.

Prayers are supposed to be a conversation, ask you will receive.

Good luck on your journey

I believe you were speaking to your spirit guides. If you can put yourself into that state with a mindset of speaking to them, perhaps you can reach them again.

You’ve let organized religion taint your opinion on prayer, just do what has worked for you but use your own mind to define it.

So what changes when you step out of a big group agreement? How much of your prayers being answered were caused by that group agreement? Did you pray to go to the #1 party college according to Playboy's latest survey of the party schools, or did you pray for admissions to BYU?

God is not the only spirit with answers for you. Sorting out who is giving you the answers is one challenge. Not praying won't help you sort that out. It may feel different, now that you're an ex-Mormon. This is OK.

This will be a stretch goal for you but I have every confidence that you can learn to see and talk to god and know that's who you're talking to, and tell the difference between god and the multitude of spirit guides available to you. And even know for certain when it's your inner voice, not someone else, that is telling your the answer to your prayers. You're a spirit, too, and know more than you are aware of.

I'm glad you posted in r/psychic. This is a sign. I have no idea what kind or how big a sign.

Try this. Sit in a chair. Close your eyes. Take a deep breath. Feet flat on the floor. Hands separated and resting palms up on each thigh.

Create a grounding cord. This is a line of energy that connects your first chakra to the center of the planet. Your first chakra is a ball of energy about the size of a quarter that sits just in front of the base of your spine. Your grounding cord attaches to the bottom of that ball of energy.

Grounding makes your body feel safe, so you release energy more easily. Gravity pulls whatever you release, even your own energy, down to the center of the planet. No effort on your part. The center of the planet neutralizes the energy and returns it to whoever owns it. No karma for anyone. A virtuous cycle.

Nearly everyone goes to connect to the center of the planet the first time but stops at the soil, often making roots like a tree. This is a method that is taught in some martial arts styles, but it is not the best option for your spiritual development and healing.

So, notice the seat of your chair. Take a deep breath. Notice the distance between the seat and the floor. Now notice the distance between the floor and the soil below. Breathe.

Now notice the distance between the soil and the water table underneath. Notice the distance between the water table and the rocky mantle. Notice the distance between the mantle and the molten core below that. Deep breath.

Notice the distance between the molten core and the center of the planet. That ball of light at the very center of the planet is where you connect your grounding cord. Deep breath.

Say hello to the center of the planet. Do you get a hello back?

Notice the color and texture of your grounding cord. It may look like a line of energy, or look like something physical; a rope, a wire, a pipe, a tree trunk. Adjust it as needed to be in affinity with your body.

Getting this far means you've already released some energy from your aura and body. Now it is time to fill in the space that was created.

Create a gold sun over your head. Have it call back all of your energy from wherever you left it throughout your day and week. Work. School. Online meetings. Video games. Your fantasies about your future. Your regrets about your past. Wherever you've placed your attention. Just watch the energy come back and see if you notice where it came from.

Have the sun burn up and neutralize your energy. Then bring the sun into the top of your head. It will automatically flow into the spaces you created. Create a gauge to measure when you're full. Like a fuel gauge or oil gauge. You'll run better if you aren't a few quarts low on spiritual oil. If the gauge doesn't read "Full", bring in another gold sun.

Open your eyes, bend over and touch the floor, draining any tension from the back of your neck, then stand up, and stretch.

There is a progression with this technique. After grounding for ten minutes a day for a week or two, notice your grounding cord at the very end, while you're standing with your eyes open. Continue to ground with your eyes open and standing, and bring in another gold sun. Each day, increase the amount of time that you ground standing up with your eyes open.

After a week or two practicing this, add walking while grounded. Just notice your grounding cord as you walk. Say hello to the center of the planet while you walk. Bring in a gold sun while you walk. If you lose your grounding cord, stop walking and recover it. If you have to, sit back down and close your eyes and create a new grounding cord.

After this, you're ready to take your grounding cord with you into your daily life. Shopping. Getting coffee. Wherever you go, you can ground. This, combined with a little amusement about seeing new things on an energy level, will keep you safe and sound.

Now that you're here, at the end of your grounding meditations, create a gold sun over your head. This time, fill it with your highest creative essence, your present time growth vibration, and your affinity for yourself. The first energy is a healing for you. The second is a healing for your body. The third is a healing for your affinity in your fourth chakra.

Bend over and touch the floor. Stand up and stretch. If you're ready for more, sit back down and ground some more. Otherwise, have a nice day!

Note that every image you imagine, the gold sun, the grounding cord, the center of the planet, your first chakra, your body parts, is exercising your clairvoyance. You may be imagining what your tailbone looks like, but you're also creating the image of your tailbone and reading its energy. This is practicing your clairvoyant ability.

But now that I don’t believe in the church anymore, I stopped praying.

You don´t have to be in a church to pray.

Today I was reading the recent People article about David Archuleta stepping away from the Mormon church. He was trying to “pray the gay away” and got an answer that he can’t change that part of himself because that is who he truly is. After reading this, I thought - is this a message from his higher self or a spirit guide? Were all the answers to my prayers from my higher self? How else can I explain the inspiration and answers I received?

Sometimes it´s just logical thinking. And the need to stop beng controlled.

I miss praying, but I gotta find something that can give me the same kind of divine inspiration but without the religious ties to it. Any suggestions on what I can do instead?

I am not religious and I pray, within my ecumenic belief system... you can pray the way you´ve learned.

Just meditate.

Or pray again?

Why wouldn't you keep doing what works ?

Don't worry about where your technique comes from

I use things from alchemy, hermetic philosophy, Taoism, I use tarot and light work meditation, journaling, etc.

I even use bible quotes when explaining to others how human beings are like gods on earth.

What should you do, you ask ? Do nice things for people, help your community, get involved in charities, make good friends , be happy and answers will come to you. You’re a good soul!

Well if it worked why mess with it? Keep praying. It doesn't come with the caveat you have to be Mormon.

Why can’t you pray in a non religious way?

I also come from a very religious background. I also stopped praying when I got out of my Christianity sect/cult. So I understand why you stopped praying… for a long time prayer holds too many weighty connections to the church. For a time, one sort of needs to let go of everything connected to let it all go, let all of that negative energy go and find who you are. Begin discovering who you are without all of the church stuff. So yes, I totally get why you would have stopped praying!!

For me, I also missed praying, but really wanted nothing to do with that, for me it felt like going backwards. So I turned to meditation. Meditation has been amazing and life saving for me. I do what’s called “do-nothing” meditation. I just sit. But there are many ways to meditate, you can find what you like best!

After being out of the sect/cult for 17 years and religion in general for 7 years, I’ve come full circle. I’ve come back to prayer, but it has taken on new forms for me. I’ve come back to God, but God is different, not the God of the Bible. I now know about spirit guides and angels and my higher self. So my prayers are varied depending on my needs and my feelings.

Give yourself time and compassion. Maybe just meditate for now, and let prayer hang out on the sidelines until it carries no more church energy for you.

If you have a question, ask the question during meditation. Many times an answer will “drop in” or occur to you when you’re in that quiet meditation zone.

Great question! It warms my heart to see so many of us are on such similar journeys.

I’ve also been very religious before, and i thought i got very precise and specific answers to my prayers.. when i left, I stopped praying, but ive started again… im thinking im praying/talking to the universe, God, my spiritual guides and my soulgroup… its very interesting and i feel very secure…

You should do the same thing you did then. Pray to the Universe/Divine - that’s who/what you were praying to the whole time anyway. The Mormon beliefs ABOUT the Divine are not synonymous with actual Divinity. There is nothing wrong with who/what you were praying to before, just with the framework your were raised to try to pigeonhole all possible interpretations of those experiences into. It’s okay to figure out what you actually believe about Divinity as you go. The only way to really find that out is to get to know Divinity for yourself on your own terms. 💙

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What's the point in changing when it's obviously worked for you throughout your life?

Praying is fine.

Without trying to be clever. I would say that you should keep on praying. Whatever your religion, or lack of it, prayer was working for you. I'd carry on.

Sounds like prayer worked very well for you! Prayer comes in as many different forms as there are people who pray. I can understand why you’d associate it with the Morman church, but it sounds like you’ve always been spiritually gifted and while things like prayer can stay the same, I’m happy for you to have left that church.

Praying is not just for religions

Just do some praying like you used, to but forget the beliefs that don't fit with reality.

Tarot cards? The Angel ones are wise, insightful and gentle