Dear Mother Earth

Dear Spirit to Spirit friend,

Living in a time of extreme opposites-

a time of both enormous gifts and blessings and a time when our world is deeply entangled in hardship and war- and still... spring, new birth...

is awakening in and around us...

and through everything.

This Prayer to Mother Earth from Thich Nhat Hanh: may it open our hearts ever more deeply to the profound interconnection we have with our beloved Mother... Earth.

"Dear Mother Earth,

I bow my head before you as I look deeply and recognize that you are present in me and that I’m a part of you. I was born from you and you are always present, offering me everything I need for my nourishment and growth. My mother, my father, and all my ancestors are also your children. We breathe your fresh air. We drink your clear water.

We eat your nourishing food. Your herbs heal us when we’re sick.

You are the mother of all beings. I call you by the human name Mother and yet I know your mothering nature is more vast and ancient than humankind. We are just one young species of your many children. All the millions of other species who live—or have lived—on Earth are also your children. You aren’t a person, but I know you are not less than a person either. You are a living breathing being in the form of a planet.

Each species has its own language, yet as our Mother you can understand us all. That is why you can hear me today as I open my heart to you and offer you my prayer.

Dear Mother, wherever there is soil, water, rock, or air, you are there, nourishing me and giving me life. You are present in every cell of my body. My physical body is your physical body, and just as the sun and stars are present in you, they are also present in me. You are not outside of me and I am not outside of you. You are more than just my environment. You are nothing less than myself."

In Gratitude & Love, Joanna