Directions for Life

One of the Native American prayer ceremonies I have found inspiring and helpful in my life is that of praying in a "medicine wheel" which can be made of stones or simply drawn on the earth, or created with other natural materials. It marks a place to stand (in the center) and face in the four directions: north, east, south, west.

Native Americans will offer prayers to the four directions/winds as well as to "Father Sky" and "Mother Earth" and the Spirit within them. They understand that all of these are manifestations of the one great Creator Spirit, the Great Mystery, for whom they have many names according to their tribal traditions.

This ceremony is a good way to experience being grounded and centered in nature, and reminds us that we are a part of it, not separate. We are completely dependent on this creation in which we live, and it is fitting that we acknowledge its gifts and power in our lives.

Today's passage from the Native American Wisdom tradition is one version of the Medicine Wheel prayers , and is taken from an anthology daily meditation from the spiritual traditions of the world entitled

God Makes the Rivers to Flow by Eknath Easwaran. I recommend it highly to you.

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 let my eyes ever behold the red and purle sunset.

Make my hands respect the things You have made

and my ears grow 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 stgrength not to be greater than my brother or sister

but to fight my greatest enemy, 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.

Great Spirit of love, come to me with the power of the North.

Make me courageous when the cold winds of life fall upon me.

Give me strength and endurance for everything that is harsh,

everything that hurts, everything that makes me squint.

Make me move through life ready to take what comes from the North.

Spirit who comes out of the East,

come to me with the power of the rising sun.

Let there be light in my word.

let there be light on the path that I walk.

Let me remember always that You give the gift of a new day.

Never let me be burdened with sorrow by not starting over.

Great Spirit of creation,

send me the warm and soothing winds from the South.

Comfort me and caress me when I am tired and cold.

Enfold me as Your gentle breezes enfold your leaves on the trees.

And as you give to all the earth your warm, moving wind,

Give to me so that I may grow close to You in warmth.

Great life-giving Spirit, I face the West, the direction of the sundown,.

Let me remember every day that the moment will come

when my sun will go down.

Never let me forget that I must fade into You.

Give me beautiful color.

Give me a great sky for setting,

and when it is time to meet You,

let me come with glory.

And Giver of all life, I pray to You from the earth,

help me to remember as I touch the earth

that I am little and need Your pity,

Help me to be thankful for the gift of the earth

and never to walk hurtfully on the world.

Bless me to love what comes from mother earth

and teach me how to love your gifts.

Great Spirit of the heavens,

lift me up to You that my heart may worship You

and come to You in glory.

Hold in my memory that You are my Creator,

greater than I,

eager for my good life.

Let everything that is in the world lift my mind,

and my heart, and my life to You

so that we may always come to You in truth and in heart.