Giving Thanks
I have been introduced to Sweat Lodges a while back through a yogi friend. It is a Lakota spiritual purification ceremony of rebirth, rejuvenation and awakening - it is a sacred communion and reconnection with The Creator.
After the rounds of prayers and spiritual work, we usually eat Buffalo Soup together and someone always says a blessing before we start to nourish our body.
This time I heard the most beautiful prayer and asked William Fargosa (a Native American, Purple Heart Veteran & Elder) the next morning to recite it, so I can write it down and pass it on to you during the season of special celebrations. He learned it on a walk from Panama to DC from monks who walked in solidarity of the Natives:
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Ahoy Creator, Tunkashila, ancient ones, ancestors of these lands, grandmothers, grandfathers, mamas, papas, spiritual leaders: past, present and future - of all tribes!
Giving Thanks for our lives today and pray for life everywhere.
Pray for water. Giving Thanks for the water of life. May it be clean, clear, healthy and happy within us and all life.
Giving Thanks for this food from our Mother the Earth and all elements, plants, animals and people; all that went into creating it for us.
We ask grandmothers and grandfathers that those who didn't have enough to eat may eat as well.
Thank you for the blessings of this day and blessings going out to those who really need it.
Giving Thanks for our lives.
The best that we feel within our hearts may surround all those in our bloodline and heart circle as well as all creations.
Peace and harmony for all creations!
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