Blessing the Animals: Prayers and Ceremonies to Celebrate God's Creatures, Wild and Tame

by Lynn L. Caruso (Introduction), Akhenaton (Contribution by), Cecil Frances Alexander (Contribution by), Matsuo Basho (Contribution by), Henry Ward Beecher (Contribution by)

Overview

Celebrate the Mystery, Compassion, Wonder and Beauty of Animals

Take a spiritual journey through this beautiful collection of blessings, prayers and meditations about the creatures, wild and tame, that inhabit our world. These moving contributions about all types of animals—playful dogs and beloved cats, giant whales and powerful elephants, tiny insects and delicate birds—are drawn from many faith traditions, including Native American, Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu and Buddhist.

A special section also provides animal blessing ceremonies you can use to memorialize the loss of a companion animal, offer prayers for an animal suffering illness or injury or simply recognize the spiritual connection we create when we fully appreciate another member of God's creation.

Contributors include:
Akhenaton • Cecil Frances Alexander • Matsuo Basho • Henry Ward Beecher • Henry Bergh • Annie Besant • Ambrose Bierce • Black Elk • Elizabeth Barrett Browning • Martin Buber • Yosa Buson • Isaac Caruso • Chang Chiu-Ch'eng • John C. Chendo • Gilbert Keith Chesterton • Feng Chih • John Ciardi • Jean Cocteau • Rev. Dr. Scott Cowdell • James Dickey • Emily Dickinson • George Washington Doane • Fyodor Dostoevsky • Mark Doty • Johann Eckhart • Mary Cronk Farrell • John Bookser Feister • Rev. Roberta Finkelstein • Eliza Lee Cabot Follen • T. Griffith Foulk • Anatole France • Saint Francis of Assisi • Diana L. Guerrero • Joy Harjo • Stanley Hauerwas • Kathy Heffernan • Jane Hirshfield • Alicia Hokanson • Gerard Manley Hopkins • Victor Hugo • Kobayashi Issa • Francis Jammes • Saint John of the Cross • Naito Joso • Kabir • Galway Kinnell • Rudy Kipling • Laurie Klein • Mukai Kyorai • Laurie Lamon • Lao-Tzu • D. H. Lawrence • Richard Lehnert • Letakos-Lesa • Paul Lindholdt • Kevin E. Mackin • Seumas MacManus • Lauren McLaughlin • Fiona McLeod, (pseudonym of William Sharp) • Sugawara no Michizane • Mirabai • Rev. Gloria S. Moncrief • John Muir • Claire Rudolf Murphy • Gloria Pinsker • Po Chü-i • Sri Ramakrishna • Pam Reinke • Rivage (pseudonym of Mary Newman) • Christina Rossetti • Jalaluddin Rumi • Carl Sandburg • Meghan Nuttall Sayres • Albert Schweitzer • Sir Walter Scott • Masaoka Shiki • Izumi Shikibu • Mark S.Sisk • Christopher Smart • Rabindranath Tagore • Henry David Thoreau • Mark Twain • Miguel de Unamuno y Jugo • Evelyn Underhill • Carl Van Vechten • Walt Whitman • James Arlington Wright • William Butler Yeats

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781594731457
Publisher:	TURNER PUB CO
Publication date:	01/01/2006
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	1.97(w) x 2.85(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Lynn L. Caruso is an inspiring educator, writer, parent/child ad­vocate and mother of three children. A contributing writer to Mothering magazine, her work has been published in many other national journals and magazines. Caruso is also the editor of the first-of-its-kind Blessing the Animals: Prayers and Ceremonies to Celebrate God's Creatures, Wild and Tame and Honoring Motherhood: Prayers, Ceremonies & Blessings (both SkyLight Paths).

Table of Contents

Introduction ix

Part 1: Blessings for Companion Animals
1 Blessings for Dogs 5
2 Blessings for Cats 19
3 Blessings for Other Companion Animals 35

Part 2: Blessings for Wild Animals
4 Animals of the Land 55
5 Animals of the Sky 69
6 Animals of the Stream and Sea 81

Part 3: Blessings from Animals
7 Blessings for Birth 97
8 Blessings for Life 109
9 Blessings in Death 135

Part 4: Rituals and Ceremonies
10 Animal Blessing Ceremonies 159
11 Partings 179
12 Benediction 211

About the Contributors 223
Credits 231
Acknowledgments 237
Editor's Note 237

Editorial Reviews

"A jewel box of comfort and ecstasy, reverence and wisdom. Powerful testimony to the different ways that animals inspire us to worship our Creator."
—Sy Montgomery, author of The Wild Out Your Window

“A threshold to a deeper understanding of God…. Allows us to experience the relationships God has created between creatures in this Sacred Circle of life.”
—Rt. Rev. Mark MacDonald, Episcopal bishop of Alaska

“Delightful … lovely … timeless…. A book that pet lovers will treasure.”
—Diana L. Guerrero, author of What Animals Can Teach Us about Spirituality; founder of Ark Animals

“Gives voice to the unspoken yet eloquent expressions of prayer and praise offered daily in the Animal Kingdom. The sights and sounds of the poetic imagery linger long after we close this book.”
—Nancy Sohn Swartz, author of In Our Image: God's First Creatures and How Did the Animals Help God?

From the Publisher

How do we relate to animals? A far-reaching question. The extent to which our fellow-creatures on this planet, the animals, have been loved and hated, caressed and horribly abused, by our human race causes the mind to boggle.

The great Jewish philosopher, Martin Buber, often cited in this book, spoke of I-Thou and I-it relationships: those based on true intimacy, regarding the other as a real being like oneself; and those that are merely instrumental, considering the other simply as something, not someone, to be used or abused.

In this beautiful little book, Lynn Caruso seeks to raise our awareness that animals, as centers of consciousness and feeling like ourselves, are always entitled to I-Thou relationships. "Animals possess their own intrinsic worth and goodness," she says, "their own unique map of experience." "And in Genesis," she reminds us, "God created animals with the same breath as humans, blessed them, and declared them good. Their blessing was not conditional upon any relation to us." (p. xi) Nonetheless, a freely given and received mutual relationship can exist, for we are kin, children of the same Parent, sharing the same home. After an insightful introduction along these lines, Blessing the Animals consists mainly of poetic and other short pieces by various authors, under the categories of "Blessings for Companion Animals," "Blessings for Wild Animals," "Blessings from Animals," and "Rituals and Ceremonies." While not all are benedictions in the strict sense of the word, all will open minds and hearts to the rich blessings to be received in our lives through openness to animal life, or which we in turn can import to them.

This attractive volume will itself bless many. It would make a wonderful gift.

The Peacable Table Journal - Robert Ellwood

Edited by Lynn L. Caruso. A compilation of animal prayers, poetry and blessings from writers of all faiths and backgrounds.

New Age Retailer Magazine

As the title suggests Blessing the Animals: Prayers and Ceremonies to Celebrate God's Creatures, Wild and Tame is a collection of poetry, prayers and prose from a variety of spiritual traditions on various species of the animal kingdom.

The book is divided into four parts focussing on blessings for companion and wild animals, blessings from animals and rituals and ceremonies.

Each section is preceded by an introduction by Ms. Caruso which provides food for thought in itself. The items are taken from spiritual traditions ranging from those of the Native American Indians to Christianity, Hindu and many other diverse areas.

Blessing the Animals would be a good resource book for parents wondering what to say when their child is distraught over the death of a pet or even a grasshopper, for anyone wanting to hold a service of blessing for pets, and anyone who loves animals and enjoys being stretched in their spiritual life. These poems, prayers and prose provide much food for reflection on nature's creator. In a way we are drawn into looking closely at the animal world (God's creation) and thereby drawn into looking closely at ourselves and our relationship with the one who created us. As we plumb the hidden depths with the poet we are encouraged to plumb the hidden depths of our own being.

Journey

Representing a wide range of faiths, Blessing the Animals aims to take readers on a spiritual journey to show how interconnected humans are with animals and the natural world. It compiles prayers, poems, stories and quotes from people from all walks of life to celebrate animal's contributions to the world.

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