Many cultures around the world sense that the veil between the living and dead is thin at this time of the year, and so prayers to and for the ancestors are common.
Who are the ancestors that you are holding close today?
Opening Ourselves
“Source of stars and planets and water and land
Open our hearts to all of our neighbors
Open our souls to a renewal of faith
Open our hands to join together in the work ahead.”
-Lyn Cox
How can you open yourself today to something new and possible?
Searching
“We bow our heads in order to imagine not one path, but many. We imagine a path forward for those who cannot imagine any path forward, because of poor health, financial hardship, family crises, and other roadblocks we cannot begin to understand or imagine.” -D. Scott Cooper
What pathway are you searching for today? How can you imagine it into being?
Trust
“Spirit, I would really rather not learn this.
Didn’t think I needed to.
I thought someone else could do it. Thought a leader was coming to do it. Thought the young people could do it. Or the elders could do it. Or the professionals.
Or I don’t want to learn it ‘cause it means letting go of something I hold dear.
Letting go of being someone who knows the answers.
Letting go of being someone who doesn’t know.
Letting go of the way I see the world.
Letting go of how I might have to change.
Letting go of certainty, of logic, of facts, of control.
Of the myth that you can live on this earth and not harm.
Or the myth that I can’t learn anything new.
Help me to learn it. Please.
And then help me to live what I have learned.
And do right by the gift of being taught.”
-Elizabeth Nguyen
What do you need to trust enough to let go of today?
Protection
“From your watchful gaze, we are fully seen and known. From your enduring presence, we are never left behind. We will fall short of honoring your intention for our lives, and yet somehow your hope for us remains as boundless as the sea, and in your hand we are forever held fast. May all…know the peace of your blessing. Call us by name. Claim us as your own.”
-Susan Maginn
Imagine yourself being wrapped in a blanket of protective love. Feel it claim you as worthy and known.