Prayers

Sharing a gift...MOTHER EARTH PRAYER

By Kiiskee N’tum

Mother Earth hear your child, as I sit here on your lap of grass, I listen to the echoes of your voice In my brother the Wind, As he blows from all corners and directions.

The soft and gentle raindrops are the Tears you cry for your children Teach me the lessons you offer: To nurture my children, as you nurture yours,

To learn the lessons of the Four Kingdoms, that make up this World of Physical Things, and to Learn to Walk the Path chosen so long ago.

Mother Earth hear your child, Be a bond between The Worlds of Earth and Spirit.

Let the Winds echo the Knowledge of the Grandfathers. Who await, unseen, yet visible if I only turn my eyes to their World.

Let me hear their voices, in the Winds that blow to the East.

From the East: I seek the lessons of childhood: To see with the trusting innocence of a small one, The Lessons of Spirit, Given in Love by our Creator.

From the South: To Learn the Ways of Questioning: The Fire and Independence of adolescence, The Truths, and how they help us grow along this Path.

From the West: where the Grandfathers teach us Acceptance of Responsibility That come during the years of Marriage and Family. That my own children grow Strong, and True.

From the North: where the Elders, who by their long lives Have learned and stored Wisdom and Knowledge. And learned to Walk in Balance and Harmony with our Mother, the Earth.

Mother Earth, hear your child. Hold my hand as I Walk my Path in this World. Guide me to the lessons I seek, bring me closer to Our Creator, Until I return to the Western direction, to once again enter the World of Spirit, Where the Sacred Fire Awaits, and I rejoice the Council of the Elders, In the Presence of the One Who Created-All.

KiiskeeN’tum- she Who Remembers

O' Great Spirit,
Whose voice I hear in the winds,
And whose breath gives life to all the world,
hear me! I am small and weak, I need your
strength and wisdom.

Let me walk in beauty, and make my eyes
ever behold the red and purple sunset.

Make my hands respect the things you have
made and my ears sharp to hear your voice.

Make me wise so that I may understand the
things you have taught my people.

Let me learn the lessons you have hidden
in every leaf and rock.

I seek strength, not to be greater than my
brother, but to fight my greatest ememy,
Myself.

Make me always ready to come to you with
clean hands and straight eyes.

So when life fades, as the fading sunset,
my spirit may come to you without shame.

Burial Poem

THE SEVEN SACRED PRAYERS

· Great Spirit, who art before all else and who swells in every object, in every
· person and in every place, we cry unto Thee. We summon Thee from the far
· places into our present awareness.


· Great Spirit of the North, who gives wings to the waters of the air and rolls
· the thick snowstorm before Thee, Who covers the Earth with a sparkling
· crystal carpet above whose deep tranquility every sound is beautiful. Temper
· us with strength to withstand the biting blizzards, yet make us thankful for the
· beauty which follows and lies deep over the warm Earth in its wake.


· Great Spirit of the East, the land of the rising Sun, who holds in your right
· hand the years of our lives and in Your left the aopportunities of each day.
· Brace us that we may not neglect our gifts nor lose in laziness the hopes of each
· day and the hopes of each year.

· Great Spirit of the South, whose warm breath of compassion melts the ice
· that gathers round our hearts, whose fragrance speaks of distant springs and
· summer days, dissolve our fears, melt our hatreds, kindle our love into flames
· of true and living realities. Teach us that he who is truly strong is also kind, he
· who is wise tempers with mercy, he who is truly brave matches courage
· with compassion.

· Great Spirit of the West, the land of the setting Sun, with your soaring
· mountains and free, wide rolling praries, bless us with knowledge of the peace
· which follows purity of striving and the freedom which follows like a flowing
· robe in the winds of a well-disciplined life. Teach us that the end is better than
· the beginning and that the setting Sun glorifies not in vain.


· Great Spirit of the heavens, in the day’s infinite blue and amid the countless
· stars of the night season, remind us that you are vast, that you are beautiful and
· majestic beyond all of our knowing or telling, but also that you are no further
· from us than the tilting upwards of our heads and the raising eyes.


· Great Spirit of Mother Earth beneath our feet, Master of metals,
· Germinator of seeds and the Storer of the Earth’s unreckoned resources, help
· us to give thanks unceasingly for Your present bounty.


· Great Spirit of our souls, burning in our heart’s yearning and in our
· innermost aspirations, speak to us now and always so that we may be aware of
· the greatness and goodness of Your gift of life and be worthy of this priceless
· privilege of living.

Copyright 1996 Noel Knockwood, B. A. Elder

THE CIRCLE

ON A MOUNTAIN, IN A FOREST THERE SAT AN OLD WOMAN AND HER GRANDDAUGHTER ..

THEY WAIT THE SUN RISE

THE VALLEY AND MEADOWS BELOW THEM ARE COVERED BY A BLANKET OF MIST. EACH TREE AND BLADE OF GRASS IS ADORNED BY DEW DROPS, LIKE PURE DIAMONDS EVERY CREATURE OF THE GREAT MOTHER EARTH AWAITS THE SUN-THE NEW DAY A NEW LIFE.

THE SILENCE IS LOUD

THE OLD WOMAN, AN ELDER LOVED BY ALL WHO KNEW HER, DRAWS THE GIRL CHILD UNDER HER BLANKET AND FOLDS IT AROUND HER LITTLE BODY

THEY SHARE THE WARMTH OF AN EVERLASTING MOMENT OF LOVE

THE OLD ONE SPEAKS SOFTLY AS THE SUN RISES IN CELEBRATION OF THE NEW DAY.

SHE SPEAKS OF HAPPINESS,HEALTH,ABUNDANCE FOR ALL PEOPLE.

SHE SPRINKLES THE GOLDEN POLLEN ON THE SWEET EARTH AS AN OFFERING TO THE SACRED KEEPERS AND SINGS HER SONG OF BEAUTY

SHE LOOKS INTO THE EYES OF THE CHILD AND SAYS

"WHERE DO YOU BEGIN AND I END? WHERE DO YOU AND I BEGIN WE ARE ONE WE ARE THE CIRCLE, THE CIRCLE IS ALL.

I LIVE THERE NOW INSIDE YOU, EVEN WHEN YOU DO NOT SEE ME ANYMORE

I AM WITH YOU, WE ARE ALWAYS

REMEMBER...

YOUR GRANDFATHERS AND GRANDMOTHERS ARE INSIDE YOU.

THEY ARE THE BLOOD THAT FLOWS THROUGH YOU.

THEY SPEAK TO YOU.

LEARN TO HEAR THEM.

THEY PASS THEIR WISDOM OF TO HELP THROUGH YOU.

ALL PEOPLE HAVE GOOD MEDICINES, AND THEY PASS IT TO THE NEXT GENERATION OF THEIR PEOPLE.

ONLY THAT WHICH IS PURE IS KEPT AND PASSED ON

LISTEN AND BRING BACK THE VALUES

HONOR ALL LIFE, ALL PEOPLE, ALL THE EARTH AND THE SKY NATIONS.

YOU MY CHILD, ARE ALL THESE AND MORE.

REMEMBER ------ REMEMBER

TELL THE CHILDREN OF THE PEOPLE THIS..REMEMBER US AROUND THE FIRES, AND WHEN YOU SIT IN THE CIRCLE AND WALK THESE PATHS-REMEMBER

TELL THEM FOR US

AUTHOR UNKNOWN

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