Today is Summer Solstice in the Northern hemisphere, the longest day of the year, on which people gather to greet the sun at sacred sites such as Stonehenge. As I stand in my wild garden today, I see and hear dozens of bees conducting their age-old sacred dance in and out of the flowers.
But this year, at the same time earthy people are celebrating the energy of the sun, we are grieving as oil spills like the Earth’s blood into the Gulf of Mexico.
It’s easy to blame BP, but we are the ones who use oil-based products, and far more of them than we need. We need to live more simply, we need to do our bit.
I was moved by a post last week by The Pollinatrix, which you can read in full here. In it, she quotes a prayer request by Chief Arvol Looking Horse of the Wolakota Foundation.
Here is some of what he says:
The dangers we are faced with at this time are not of spirit. The catastrophe that has happened with the oil spill which looks like the bleeding of Grandmother Earth, is made by human mistakes, mistakes that we cannot afford to continue to make.
I ask, as Spiritual Leaders, that we join together, united in prayer with the whole of our Global Communities. My concern is these serious issues will continue to worsen, as a domino effect that our Ancestors have warned us of in their Prophecies.
I know in my heart there are millions of people that feel our united prayers for the sake of our Grandmother Earth are long overdue. I believe we as Spiritual people must gather ourselves and focus our thoughts and prayers to allow the healing of the many wounds that have been inflicted on the Earth.
As we honor the Cycle of Life, let us call for Prayer circles globally to assist in healing Grandmother Earth.
We ask for prayers that the oil spill, this bleeding, will stop. That the winds stay calm to assist in the work. Pray for the people to be guided in repairing this mistake, and that we may also seek to live in harmony, as we make the choice to change the destructive path we are on.
As we pray, we will fully understand that we are all connected. And that what we create can have lasting effects on all life.
So let us unite spiritually, All Nations, All Faiths, One Prayer. Along with this immediate effort, I also ask to please remember June 21st, World Peace and Prayer Day/Honoring Sacred Sites day. Whether it is a natural site, a temple, a church, a synagogue or just your own sacred space, let us make a prayer for all life, for good decision making by our Nations, for our children’s future and well-being, and the generations to come.
My hope on this Solstice day is that the disaster in the Gulf will finally bring people together, will finally encourage us to change our lives and live as part of the Earth, not as if we are in charge of her. Perhaps it’s a futile hope, but I choose to think it is not. So today, 21st June, is a day upon which people all over the world are invited to gather in prayer for the healing of the Earth.
Will you join us?
Image by vintagedept
Elsewhere:
Treehugger is a good place to keep up to date with the oil spill, and all kinds of other environmental matters. A lot of our over-use of resources is because we think we have no time. Sally Lever has some good questions about The Tyranny of Convenience.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Thank you for this post. What a wonderful thought on this first day of summer. I get sick whenever I see clips of the Gulf disaster.
Thank you, thank you, Tess, for bringing this important message to me and to others.
I join in this global plea for the healing of Grandmother Earth and a change in the way we as individuals and as nations choose to live upon her.
Hugs!
To whales, dolphins, pelicans, fishes, shellfishes, planktons, corals, algae and all creatures in the Gulf of Mexico:
“I am sorry.
Please forgive me.
Thank you.
I love you. ”
This prayer for the gulf found at Inspired.
So, glad you are in my circle of friends. You offer so much wisdom and care for the larger world that I sometimes find too painful to view. Your words speak to me in ways the media cannot. Thank you! xoxo
It seems like the scandal with smoking, the way the tobacco companies purposely increased nicotine in order to addict their users. The same thing with the automobile romance and sexy car commercials on TV, luring in more and more unnecessary use of polluting vehicles, especially the environmental disaster in the US with SUVs. The automobile is the single most anti-environmental obsession we all have. I don’t own one, don’t drive at all, but still fascinated by gorgeous sports cars and all of that, going back to Nancy Drew and her roadster with running boards, and Janice Joplin’s Mercedes Benz (oooh). If we can disconnect oil from automobiles we can save the world, but it’s the last thing the oil industry wants to see happen.
Thanks for reposting this, Tess. It’s good to see this spreading around the blogosphere. It’s kind of funny that we both linked to each other today.
I have had a frustrating evening of trying in vain to find a belonging in my stuff-filled house, so your statement that we need to live more simply really resonates with me tonight. I know it’s not really this simple of an equation but right now it strikes me that stuff = chaos.
Tess – thank you for this post…..as Lucy said your words often bring more immediacy and life to words that are blasting us from newspapers and public media.
xo
Thank you all for these comments, and yes Polli, I love the synchronicity of linking to each other on the same day.
Lucy and SS: I find it very difficult to read the media on this topic. So much hatred. Lucy, I so resonate with your phrase about it being sometimes too painful to view.
kigen, yes there’s a whole push/pull thing for me around the automobile. I think that for women, there’s a sense of freedom and liberation around the car. I still have one but try to use it really thoughtfully. Anyway, here’s a treat for you: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fd-Qqwg4D60
It is so nice to be in with all of you on this and to feel linked somehow however far we may be physically. A transformative world wide web exists which, at its level, does want to help grandmother Earth, mother Gaia survive our onslaught of consumerism.
Thank you, Tess. Thank you, all.
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