PEACE PRAYER

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FEBRUARY 2017 -

Years ago I was given a deep lesson from my Teacher. He said: “Life is change. Shamanism is change with power.” Of course, he was not talking about the power of money or armies. He was talking about spirit power, the power of Love. Reading the headlines, hearing “the news” from many places around the world, it is easy to feel that love and wellbeing is not of great interest to many political leaders. Whether or not this is true, it does not absolve us from our duty to shine and make sure Love in the world is strong. And this we can do, together with our spirits, as practitioners of shamanism and as human beings.

A year ago, I was asked to do a ceremony online as part of a program called A Year of Ceremony. Doing sacred work online does not come naturally for me, but my spirits told me that this was something I must do. They said it wasn’t about me and my preferences, it was about us: everyone, seen and unseen, in all worlds, on Earth. They told me to do the ceremony “Watering the Seeds of Peace” which they gave to me two years ago. We did this at the Full Moon in January, just before the so-called inauguration in the US. After finishing the ceremony, I felt as though I had stepped over another threshold. My life is different now.

To help me to do this ceremony, my Teacher gave me some words to say which I should invite the participants to say as well. Later, many from around the world wrote to me to thank me for the ceremony, and one especially thanked me for what she called “The Peace Prayer.” I want to share this Peace Prayer with you:

I embrace my past
I embrace the future
I embrace who I am in this moment
I gather Peace into my Heart
And I feel the seeds grow
I know I can carry Peace with me
Into the World
And I will carry Peace with me
Into the World

Some time ago Zara received a teaching from her Spirits, that Peace is not the absence of conflict, Peace is the attitude with which we face conflict. In the world today we are not helpless because we are not alone. We have each other and we have the help of the spirits. We know that love and peace are the qualities needed to nourish our world today. Together we are many, together we are strong. It’s not a matter of win or lose. It is a matter of how we live. As Thich Nhat Hanh points out, we carry many seeds in our hearts – the seeds of fear, the seeds of love, the seeds of past hurts, the seeds of peace, the seeds of hopelessness, the seeds of trust, and so many more. Which seeds are we watering? Which seeds do we spend time with, which do we nurture, encourage, support? We always have a choice.

Water the seeds of Love and Peace. We are changing the world.

- Jonathan -