Hello,
And welcome to this healing prayer.
If you're here,
It's because you too are praying for healing for yourself or for someone else.
Something's not the way you want it to be.
And so I join you in that prayer.
You know,
This summer I was faced with a loved one who was in need of a prayer for healing.
And I felt desperate,
And I felt like I wanted to find the words to offer up a prayer for his healing.
And I,
You know,
I was brought up,
When I was a little girl,
I remember learning about something called a spiritual bouquet.
And what I learned from that was that there are so many different ways to pray.
And I've spent my life exploring lots of different ways and finding lots of comfort and healing in these different vibrant,
Colorful ways of offering up a prayer.
Spiritual bouquets are offerings that are really offered up to express love,
Support,
And appreciation.
And so when we're looking for that support for healing,
It can be found in many different traditions of different faiths and different cultures.
And so this summer,
I have heard about the Lakota prayer for healing.
I've heard about it from a long time ago.
But this,
It's called the Lakota prayer to the four directions.
It's from the Native American tradition.
And it's really beautiful.
And it really came to life for me this summer as I was praying.
And so what helped for me was to envision my loved one and to picture,
You know,
His body laying there.
And in this prayer,
The four directions are,
You know,
North,
South,
East,
West.
And so in this tradition,
If we think about,
You know,
Our loved one and we think about their head as the north and their feet as the south and then the east and the west,
You know,
Both sides of their body.
And as you kind of envision this,
You know,
It's based on the medicine wheel,
Which is,
If you can imagine a circle that's divided into four quadrants,
There's one of the quadrants is white,
Another is yellow,
Red and black.
And those are the four quadrants of the medicine wheel,
Which is used for healing.
And so the one that,
You know,
There's a lot of different interpretations.
This is from the Ojibwe,
An Ojibwe elder,
Their interpretation of the medicine wheel.
And so I'll just take the time to explain what that is.
So in the east,
When you're imagining the east,
It's the direction of the sunrise,
And it represents the birth of new things,
The spring,
The fire of life,
And it's associated with matters of the soul.
This is often represented by the color yellow.
So when you think of the east,
You can kind of imagine that color yellow.
And in the south,
It represents youth,
Sweetness,
And the water element.
And it's most often associated with our emotions and the season of summer.
And it's often represented by the color red.
So then when we think about the west,
The direction of the sunset,
It represents adulthood,
Reaping the harvest of hard work,
The earth and stones,
And entering the dark cave of hibernation and creativity.
It's associated with our physical body and the season of autumn.
And it's often represented by the color black.
So finally we have the direction of north.
North is the direction of the ancestors and the wisdom of our elders,
Both alive and deceased,
The realm of the great return to spirit.
We look to the north for inner healing and insight from those who have walked before us.
It's associated with our mind and the season of winter.
North is often represented by the color white.
So there was a beautiful prayer that a person named Vera Derry created that I'm going to read to you now.
And as you do,
You can imagine yourself or your loved one,
Whomever it is you are praying for healing,
And imagine these four directions associated with them,
Their head,
Their feet,
Their side,
The side of each body.
And the colors that go along with those directions.
And as we,
As I kind of read through it,
The prayer,
I'll partner with you with the prayer that you're praying to for healing.
Creator,
It is I.
Thank you for today's sunrise,
For the breath of life within me,
And for all of your creations.
Creator,
Hear my prayer and honor my prayer.
As the day begins with the rising sun,
I ask Spirit Keeper of the East,
Brother Eagle,
Be with me.
Fly high as you carry my prayers to the Creator.
May I have eyes as sharp as yours,
So I'm able to see truth and hope on the path I have chosen.
Guide my step and give me courage to walk the circle of my life with honesty and dignity.
Spirit Keeper of the South,
Wolf,
Be with me.
Help me to remember to love and feel compassion for all mankind.
Help me to walk my path with joy and love for myself,
For others,
For the four-legged,
The winged ones,
The plants,
And all creation upon Mother Earth.
Show me it is right for me to make decisions with my heart,
Even if at times my heart becomes hurt.
Help me to grow and nurture my self-worth in all ways.
Spirit Keeper of the West,
Brown Bear,
Be with me.
Bring healing to the people I love and to myself.
Bring into balance the physical,
Mental,
And spiritual so I am able to know my place on this earth,
In life and in death.
Heal my body,
Heal my mind,
And bring light,
Joy,
And awareness to my spirit.
Spirit Keeper of the North,
White Buffalo,
Be with me.
As each day passes,
Help me to surrender,
With grace,
The things of my youth.
Help me to listen to the quiet and find serenity and comfort in the silences as they become longer.
Give me wisdom so I am able to make wise choices in all things which are put in front of me.
And when time comes for my change of worlds has come,
Let me go peacefully,
Without regrets,
For the things I have neglected to do as I walked along my path.
Mother Earth,
Thank you for your beauty and for all you have given me.
Remind me never to take from you more than I need,
And remind me to always give back.
More than I take.
May it be so.
