Prayers for Standing Rock and a time with Native American Prayers in solidarity and with love for all indigenous peoples

Dear Family of Love and Pilgrims on our Journey,

Happy being Thoughtful and Thankful Thursday. It is time to join together and stand with our indigenous brothers and sisters wherever they may be throughout the world. Tonight I ask your prayer for our family members in Standing Rock who are protesting and in opposition of the  North Dakota Access Pipe Line.We pray for an end to violence and the need to remember we are their guests not the other way around. 

Tonight let us do a virtual smudging and candle light vigil in support, love, respect, and honor of all our indigenous family members and especially our brothers and sister who live in this country and Standing Rock. 

Tonight Brothers and Sisters our prayers come from many Native American Tribes as we stand with them in compassion, acceptance, love, and mercy. We stand together for justice and human rights. We stand together in a circle of healing for all tribes and the healing of all sacred lands, waters, and spaces. We pray for a holy circle of protection around everyone at Standing Rock and those who will be making pilgrimage. 

Smudging as a Christian Aboriginal Ceremony

We must stand with our indigenous brothers and sisters and encircle them with love and  their prayers tonight

A Smudging Prayer

 Creator, our Father in heaven, we come to you as your children. We confess that we are weak and broken images of you. We pray for the forgiveness and healing you give in Jesus Christ. May his Spirit clean our spirits, minds, hearts, and bodies. We pray that your Holy Spirit will help us to worship in spirit and truth. We pray in the name of Jesus, so that his Spirit will carry our prayers to you. Amen.

Prayer of  The Four Directions

Chief Seattle

Great Spirit of Light, come to me out of the East (red) with the power of the rising sun. Let there be light in my words, let there be light on my path that I walk. Let me remember always that you give the gift of a new day. And never let me be burdened with sorrow by not starting over again.

Great Spirit of Creation, send me the warm and soothing winds from the South (yellow). Comfort me and caress me when I am tired and cold. Unfold me like the gentle breezes that unfold the leaves on the trees. As you give to all the earth your warm, moving wind, give to me, so that I may grow close to you in warmth. Man did not create the web of life, he is but a strand in it. Whatever man does to the web, he does to himself. 

Great Life-Giving Spirit, I face the West (black), the direction of sundown. Let me remember everyday that the moment will come when my sun will go down. Never let me forget that I must fade into you. Give me a beautiful color, give me a great sky for setting, so that when it is my time to meet you, I can come with glory.

Great Spirit of Love, come to me with the power of the North (white). Make me courageous when the cold wind falls upon me. Give me strength and endurance for everything that is harsh, everything that hurts, everything that makes me squint. Let me move through life ready to take what comes from the north.

The Great Spirit and Mother Earth

The Great Spirit is in all things, He is in the air we breathe. 

The Great Spirit is our Father, but the Earth is our Mother. 

She nourishes us, that which we put into the ground, She returns to us...

 - Big Thunder (Bedagi) - Wabanaki Algonquin

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Native American Prayer

Give us the wisdom to teach our children to love, to respect and to be kind to one another that we may grow with peace in mind.

 - Native American Prayer

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Healing Prayer

Grandfather,

Sacred one,

Teach us love, compassion,

and honor.

That we may heal the earth

And heal each other.

 - Ojibway Prayer

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The Journey

When the earth is sick and dying,

There will come a tribe of people

From all races…

Who will put their faith in deeds,

Not words, and make the planet

Green again…

 - Cree Prophecy

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Earth Prayer

Grandfather, Great Spirit, once more behold me on earth and lean to hear my feeble voice. 

You lived first, and you are older than all need, older than all prayer. 

All things belong to you -- the two-legged, the four-legged, the wings of the air, and all green things that live.

You have set the powers of the four quarters of the earth to cross each other. 

You have made me cross the good road and road of difficulties, and where they cross, the place is holy. 

Day in, day out, forevermore, you are the life of things.

Hey! Lean to hear my feeble voice.

At the center of the sacred hoop

You have said that I should make the tree to bloom.

With tears running, O Great Spirit, my Grandfather,

With running eyes I must say

The tree has never bloomed 

Here I stand, and the tree is withered.

Again, I recall the great vision you gave me.

It may be that some little root of the sacred tree still lives.

Nourish it then

That it may leaf

And bloom

And fill with singing birds!

Hear me, that the people may once again

Find the good road

And the shielding tree.

 - Black Elk 3

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Native American Ten Commandments 

1. The Earth is our Mother, care for her.

2. Honor all your relations.

3. Open your heart and soul the the Great Spirit.

4. All life is sacred, treat all beings with respect.

5. Take from the Earth what is needed and nothing more.

6. Do what needs to be done for the good of the all.

7. Give constant thanks to the Great Spirit for each new day.

8. Speak the truth: but only of the good in others.

9. Follow the rhythms of nature: rise and retire with the sun.

10. Enjoy lifes journey but leave no tracks.

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Give Us Hearts to Understand 
 

Give us hearts to understand;  

Never to take from creation's beauty more than we give; 

never to destroy wantonly for the furtherance of greed; 

Never to deny to give our hands for the building of earth's beauty; 

never to take from her what we cannot use. 

Give us hearts to understand 

That to destroy earth's music is to create confusion; 

that to wreck her appearance is to blind us to beauty; 

That to callously pollute her fragrance is to make a house of stench; 

that as we care for her she will care for us. 

We have forgotten who we are. 

We have sought only our own security. 

We have exploited simply for our own ends. 

We have distorted our knowledge. 

We have abused our power. 

Great Spirit, whose dry lands thirst, 

Help us to find the way to refresh your lands. 

Great Spirit, whose waters are choked with debris and pollution, 

help us to find the way to cleanse your waters. 

 

Great Spirit, whose beautiful earth grows ugly with misuse, 

help us to find the way to restore beauty to your handiwork. 

Great Spirit, whose creatures are being destroyed, 

help us to find a way to replenish them. 

Great Spirit, whose gifts to us are being lost in selfishness and 
corruption, 

help us to find the way to restore our humanity. 

Oh, Great Spirit, whose voice I hear in the wind, 

whose breath gives life to the word, hear me; 

I need your strength and wisdom. 

May I walk in Beauty. 


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Earth Teach Me to Remember 

Earth teach me stillness 

as the grasses are stilled with light. 

Earth teach me suffering 

as old stones suffer with memory. 

Earth teach me humility 

as blossoms are humble with beginning. 

Earth Teach me caring 

as the mother who secures her young. 

Earth teach me courage 

as the tree which stands alone. 

Earth teach me limitation 

as the ant which crawls on the ground. 

Earth teach me freedom 

as the eagle which soars in the sky. 

Earth teach me resignation 

as the leaves which die in the fall. 

Earth teach me regeneration 

as the seed which rises in the spring. 

Earth teach me to forget myself 

as melted snow forgets its life. 

Earth teach me to remember kindness

as dry fields weep in the rain. 


Ute, North American



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Prayer for the White Man 


And now, Grandfather, I ask you to bless 

the White Man. 

He needs your Wisdom, your guidance. 

You see, for so long, 

he has tried to destroy my people, 

and only feels comfortable 

when given power. 

Bless them, show them the peace we understand, 

teach them humility. 

For I fear they will someday destroy themselves 

and their children, 

As they have done so Mother Earth. 

I plead, I cry. 

After all, They are my Brothers.......
 



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Thanksgiving Prayer 

We return thanks to our mother, the earth, which sustains us.

We return thanks to the rivers and streams, which supply us with 
water.

We return thanks to all herbs, which furnish medicines for the cure 
of our diseases.

We return thanks to the moon and stars, which have given to us their 
light when the sun was gone.

We return thanks to the sun, that has looked upon the earth with a 
beneficent eye.

Lastly, we return thanks to the Great Spirit, in Whom is embodied all 
goodness, and Who directs all things for the good of Her children.

 

Iroquois Prayer, adapted
(Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace)

Good Night Dear Ones! Let us keep our family members at Standing Rock in our

 prayers and support them by keeping their struggle known in social media.

I love you and give God thanks for you this day and always.

With love, open hearts, open hands, and gentle feet,

Sara