The Role of Charms/Spells in Anglo-Saxon Pagan Religion

As the Christians began to gain more and more strength and influence within England, some pagan practices resistsed the ability to change. One of these was their use of magical spells or charms.
Christians attempted to enforce prayer as communing with God to bring on changes in the world. Paganists, on the other hand, believed in prayer as a direct means to change the world around them; the power lay in their magical abilities, not those of some higher diety.
Some of these charms became hybridized with Christian religion, creating a mixture of both religions. There are others, however, that remained purely Anglo-Saxon.

These charms and spells fell into two general schools--animism and dynamism. In animistic rituals, the "spellcaster" communed with the living spirits they felt were present within every object, inanimate or not. These spirits are then manipulated. Dynamism, on the other hand, has the energy originate from the caster. (1)

What is Paganism?

A religion that is based mainly on worshiping religion. Those who follow this religion are known as pagans. (2)

Sources:

1. http://www.english.uga.edu/~mathelie/mathiii2.html#runes

2. http://www.paganfed.org/paganism.php