Received by Seneca Elder, Grandmother Twylah Nitsch
This prayer is appropriate for opening a Medicine Wheel or sacred circle.NOTE: When opening a circle or Medicine Wheel it is vital to call in the seven directions. This allows you to tap into the power of the wheel for reverent and focused communion with Spirit. The directions will always respond when you call them, which may feel like energy coming into your hand or arm or showering down through your crown. People often report feeling "chills" and "goosebumps". Sometimes it is just a knowing that Spirit, your ancestors, animals and guides are now surrounding you.
In preparation you will need to take some cornmeal (or tobacco) and go out as soon as you can, at or just after sunrise. The right hand is used in these ceremonies to make an offering.
Begin by facing East and holding some cornmeal in your outstretched right hand and say:
"To the East: to the new day, to the Light Within/Without. To golden eagle. To illumination. East, Gate of the Morning, thank you for the moving airs, for the awakening of life. May my eyes lift to see the freedom of the birds. May my thoughts be in awareness of the gifts of each moment.
To the East: I call for your power and spirit to come in."
Drop a few grains of cornmeal on the ground. Then wait for a response.
Turn to the South and say:
"To the South: to Trust and innocence. To the Little Mouse. To white tailed deer, to the good road home. South, sacred fire of creativity, I seek your vitality in healthy alliance. Thank you for the teachings of relationship; for music, dance and art, those things that carry joy and communion. I pray that my life may unfold in harmony with my kin in all realms.
To the South: I call for your power and spirit to come in."
Drop some grains on the Earth. Wait for response. Face West and say:
"To the West: to the Dark Waters of Looking Within. To black bear, brown bear, to raven. To the medicine path. West, power of places between the worlds, I turn to you seeking passage into the depths of knowing and unknowing. Thank you for the lightening and the cleansing rain, for those things that teach compassion and nourish understanding. Thank you panther, for the medicine of solitude and the silent stalking for truth.
To the West: I call for your power and spirit to come in."
Drop some grains on the Earth. Wait for response. Face North and say:
"To the North: Home of the old ones and those gone by. To the wisdom place, place of White Buffalo and Snow Leopard, Moose and Beaver. North, Spirit’s mountaintop, I turn to you for wisdom. In the place free of shadow I seek perspective and a path of service. Thank you for the gifts of lodge and sustenance. I pray to live upon this gracious earth with remembrance of gratitude and with respect for my elders in all realms.
To the North: I call for your power and spirit to come in."
Drop some grains on the Earth. Wait for response
Lean down and place your hands on Mother Earth. Offer some cornmeal in a circle on the ground and say:
"To Mother Earth, enfolding all beings with the beauty of compassion, nurturance creativity and peace. Hear my prayer for the two-leggeds and the four leggeds, for those who fly and crawl and swim and walk and run, for all children of the Mother."
Stand (facing East again) and raise your right arm up to the sky:
Now envision yourself in the center of a circle and make a sun-wise circling gesture above your head (like using a lariat), starting in the East, 3 times, offering cornmeal as you say
"To Father Sky, encircling all beings with the light of protection, warmth, clarity and vision. Hear my prayer and grant me the courage to bring the radiance of my true Self out into the world, and the humility and self-esteem to foster the radiance of others."
Now face the center of the circle (if you are in a group, or in a medicine wheel)
Hold both hands over your heart, as you say:
"To that place within my being where the 6 directions meet. May I live today from this center of wholeness and balance."
End with these words:
"Thank you for this day. Thank you for this opportunity to serve. "
If you are alone, or if the group will continue with silent individual prayer, you may hold the cornmeal to your heart and speak your words to Great Spirit:
"Great Spirit, hear me. This one calls to you."
Then speak what is in your heart.
When finished, breathe your prayer into the cornmeal and gently place it on the Earth, or you can let the wind people take it.
Notes on the Medicine Wheel Prayers:
When you address the Directions, you call into wakefulness those particular aspects of Spirit reflected in yourself. You participate more fully in life. By asking for blessings from the Directions you begin to explore what these realms really mean to you: what things you actually associate with Sky, Earth, and the Directions. You deepen your understanding of these realms and thus your relationship with the forces of life they embody. When your prayers come from your own sense of relationship, the wheel becomes a true spiritual locus for you. Feel free to make these prayers your own. Working with the wheel is a way of remembering the sacred hoop and making it your sacred space of spiritual practice. (some of this wording is from Loren Cruden in her book "The Spirit of Place")
by: Anam Cara Center: Home of the EarthSong SoulFriend Community & Jeanne Marie Merkel, M.Div.
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