Recently, I attended a ceremony. Following the ceremony we have a ‘Giveaway’. This is a moment of honoring each other’s efforts, expressing our gratitude toward each other and acknowledging the blessings we’ve received from each other and from the Spirits/ceremony.

We were given a humble-looking booklet called the Thanksgiving Address: Greetings to the Natural World. The booklet is published by The Tracking Project, an organization whose mission is to promote peace. The Address, which is published in this booklet, is a greeting to all the aspects of life. This greeting is meant to create a bond between people and Nature and between we humans. It is believed that this greeting is a language of peace…one all human beings understand. The Address was written by John Stokes. The Address is recited at gatherings in which people are trying to share wisdom, make decisions together and at meetings and ceremonies which are for making relationship with each other. Establishing connection through the energy of gratitude is a powerful sort of bond and it is believed that this creates and maintains peace among people.

At these Native American gatherings, a speaker is chosen to offer the Thanksgiving Address. Each person who is chosen for this honor offers the Address in his or her own words, according to his culture and according to his or her own heart. No two Addresses are alike. This little publication is meant to merely set down the principles of the Address and it is meant to be a template for others to understand how to engage in this language of peace.

I wanted to provide you a link to obtain this little booklet. (Be sure to surf around that site. They are doing good work there.) It is worth each penny…but more than that, I wanted to offer you my own Thanksgiving address:

I reach out to you in this moment; the only moment we are given in which to live. I pray we live this moment fully and make a connection that leaves the world better for our children’s children’s children. I pray this because it is our duty to care for what is ours only in trust….for we only borrow this world from our children. Let us leave it in beauty and good health. Let us bring our hearts together, full of grace, compassion and gratitude, sending greetings to each other and all of Creation.

Now our minds are One.

Earth mother, full of stones, bones and things which crawl. You are the dark womb from which our food, our shelter and our tools spring. You are the restful womb to which our own bones shall return. You give all that we need to live. May we walk softly upon you and leave obvious trace that we were ever here…that our children might inherit something more graceful than we had. Thank you, our Mother…we send you greetings and blessings.

Waters of the land we see you in our tears. We see you in our blood. We see you fall from the clouds, collecting in rivulets that flow into rivers which flows into the vast oceans of this majestic world. The tears and blood of our ancestors flows in you. Our blood and tears will flow in you some day; our essence feeding the lives of our children millenia from now. You slake our thirst and compose our life. Your mists sooth us with soft dreams. Your body sustains life. Even the rocks drink you in. We send you blessings and greetings. Thank you for our lives.

The Fires of life are all One. The Sun is connected to all the other suns. Every fire is connected to all the sacred fires. Every heart is One Heart. They are all one burning love. We are awed when we feel its heat and know that you sparked us into life. We send you greetings precious being of Light and we thank you for the many blessings which fill us and surround us.

We send greetings to the Four Winds. Oh all pervading air, you give us life. Your breath makes it possible for our souls to inhabit this fragile body. Your movements are manifest indirectly, seen only in the fluttering leaves and the blowing sands. This teaches us that we must trust more than our sight to know what is true. Your movements in the trees speak of change and of renewal. We bless you and thank you for your life giving presence here on this beautiful Earth.

We thank the Trees. You give us lumber for our structures, that we might be warm in winter and cool is summer and that we might be comfortable and safe. You give us medicines, fruits and nuts. You give the lovely birds and small animals shelter. You are so beautiful in your many forms, so full of dignity. You teach us all how to live tall and strong. You are a symbol of peace and wisdom throughout our world, for all can see your royalty of being. You have countless little brothers which also give us beauty, medicines and food. These little brothers, make flowers, fruits, seeds and vegetables…even medicines too. The world over is bountiful with so many glorious types of plants. Thank you Trees. We send you and the other plants greetings and blessings.

We send greetings to the fishes of the waters. You help us to keep the waters clean and you give us food in many varieties. We thank you for this difficult sacrifice and for the many beautiful shapes and sizes that we admire and are made curious by. In recent history you also teach us when we’ve made the water too dirty that we might know that we’ve got our own cleaning to do before you’ll resume yours. Thank you for this great sacrifice also. We send you blessings and healing.

There are many sorts of Animals that walk this land we all share. They are a part of the balance of life. Each one serves a purpose in the web of life and each of you has wisdom to teach foolish humans. You are noble and fierce. You are colorful and camouflaged. You are silent and raucous. You are poisonous and harmless. Such variety and so many sorts of strength. There is much to learn from you. Even you make sacrifice that we might life, giving us food from your own bodies. This great sacrifice is so deeply appreciated. More than words can say. We greet you and send you blessings and thank you for all you each do in making life here on Earth a balanced experience.

Regal Winged ones…you fly so free. You teach us to view more than our own small viewpoint, looking out over the big picture to take in all that can be gleaned. That is wisdom. You are represented by the smallest hungry mosquito, by the zipping, colorful dragonfly, even in the silence of an owl and the most kingly eagle. You are both our prey and our predator. We are awed by your power and your grace. Thank you for reminding us of our place in the web of life. We send you greetings.

Oh Great Thunder Beings…you are one of the aspects of life which we do not yet understand. When you walk over this land, you remind we humans that we are actually quite fragile and this humbling experience is so good for us. You are beautiful and wise, giving us us flashes of insight in the darkness of our confusion and pain. We pray that we use this guidance wisely. We greet you and send you blessing.

Grandmother moon you teach us reflection and you light up the night sky. You teach us that life moves in small cycles also, in which we might fashion renewal for ourselves. You bring movement to the waters of life that they might flow freely and healthy. Your power may be seen in the cycles in women’s bodies and therefore you are an essential part of the life of human beings, reminding us that power is not always direct like that of the Thunder Beings. Sometimes it is gentle, inexorable, cyclical. In this, aspect of your power, you help us mark time. For this and many other things, we thank you and send you greetings.

Like diamonds strewn in the night sky, the Stars lay overhead, wheeling in a vast dance over vast amounts of time. The whole of the universe breaths in the movements you take, like a great wheel of time in the sky, marking the ages of Creation. Even so, there are still points in our sky…and so we may find our way home. Your cool light, born of fire vast distances away, eons ago is a gift from the ancestors, reminding us that wisdom continues even after those who conceived it are gone. Star People, we thank you for our lives. We send you greetings and blessings.

Wise and Ancient Beings, Enlightened Ones, we thank you for the guidance which our ancestors benefited from. We call out to you, sending you greetings and tell you how grateful we are that your words still may be heard in the hearts of those with the ears to listen. Bless you and may your guidance be honored always.

Oh Great Mystery which lives in all things, Creator, Divine Being…one who is known by many names all over the world…We greet you and thank you for our lives. Everything we need you have provided for us here on this good earth and your love and wisdom is therefore manifest for any to see. We stand here, sometimes with difficulty, sometimes with bravery. Sometimes we approach you with foibles and mistakes in our hearts and hands, sometimes with grace. In all ways, we are One with your Life and with each other. For this we are so very grateful.

We have now arrived at the place where we end our words. Of all named here there was no intent to leave anything or anyone out. In our hearts all are One Being and so all songs are heard in the cycles of Life. If something was forgotten, we send greetings and blessing. We thank you in the unique ways that flow from our hearts and minds.

And now all our minds are One.

Shannee Green 2008

I leave you with one final link about Opening the Book of Nature by Lama Surya Das

Top image found at the Tracking Project website. Lower image here.