Four Prayers For the Land and a Seed Blessing Charm

Sometimes words are all we have. Sometimes it’s hard to have our own words, or to come up with what to say at all. I offer these words up to all of you in case you are in need of some.  Especially when we are wearing masks and practicing social distancing, it’s important to pay attention to the world around us.  Take some time to notice the birds near your house, or get out and go for a walk in a local park.  Now is a great time to work on your connection to the non-human people we all live with.

Four Prayers for the Land:

Ancestors in the Land Prayer

There are many traditions that believe that people can become part of the land.  As an animist I believe we are part of the earth, walking and talking. It makes sense to me that when we die, the energy and carbon that was us will become parts of other living beings, so I honor the ancestors as the world around me.

Ancestors living in the land
I give you thanks and praise
Sister in the pale birch
Brother in the winding river
Mother in the sacred spring
Father in the growing grain
Your days are past, ours begun
May you aid and make us strong.

Waters of Life Prayer

I use this as part of blessing rituals, and to remind myself that we are all connected by the waters of life.  May you never thirst.

All Waters are one.
The water that flowed from this tap
Is the water that flowed from the pipe
Is the water that flowed from the aquifer
Is the water that flowed from the river
Is the water that flowed from the ocean
Is the water that flowed from the sky
Is the water that flowed from the sacred well where the ancestors reside.
All Waters are one.

A Prayer For Transplanting

This is meant to be a chant to be sung or spoken over transplants as you’re planting them into the garden.  It can also work for seeds, but the rhythm is specifically designed with the two-part effort of moving down a row digging holes and planting small plants in them. 

Life light live, right way give
Root be true, deep down through

Blessed me and blessed you
Blessed birth and earth blessed too.

Invocation For the Spirits of the Land

Many of our most common religions and philosophies put humans at the apex of a pyramid of species.  We are supposed to be better than and different from other animals. We have souls, they do not. We have minds, they do not. I disagree and this invocation is meant to help us all unwind that knot in our psyches that believes we’re better than other People. 

I am alive, my mind knows this, my body feels this, my soul lives this.
I am energy formed and maintained against chaos and entropy.
I am the cycle of breath.

With my eyes I see fur and feather,
With my hands I feel bark and leaf,
With my nose I smell earth and flower,
With my ears I hear all the myriad being calling to one another.

I am one being among many,
I am of the human people and I honor all the peoples.
I honor the tree people, wise and ancient,
I honor the fish people, from the primordial seas,
I honor the bird people, dinosaurs transformed,
I honor the furred people, so much like me,
I honor all beings as people worthy of respect and reverence.

All the species of the Tree of Life are ensouled and know their sacred power.
I give thanks for my place among them,
Not above them.
My job is not to command them.
Just let me be with them.
Let me be wise enough to listen, friend.

Seed Blessing Charm

For this blessing you will need:

• a candle
• a bowl of water
• a lighter or match
• some incense
• the seeds to bless

The Charm:

Sit before your altar or table with the candle and incense unlit and the bowl of water and the seeds in a bundle or basket that you can pick up and hold aloft.

Light the candle and say:
The fire of life is before me

Hold hand near fire and say:
The warmth of the sun returning

Hold hand to heart and say:
The fire burns within me.

Dip fingers in the water and say:
The water of wisdom is before me

Touch fingers to forehead and say:
The flowing waters of fertility.

Hold hand to heart and say:
The tide rises within me.

Light incense and say:
Blessed by water and fire, I light this incense that it may be blessed and make holy in turn. So the smoke rises up, and so the blessings rise up and through these seeds.
Move seeds through the smoke and then say:
Let the air and fire and water bless and purify these seeds of the earth.
Let them sprout strong and well!
Let them grow tall and swell
With fruit and leaf and stem.
Let labors love well end.
I ask: a bountiful harvest to send.
As above, so below
Let it be so.

 

May these prayers inspire you to use them or write your own.  Let me know in the comments if you’ve found them useful or consider becoming a Patreon and supporting my work.  Thanks so much and may your connection to the spirits bring you peace and joy.