Native American Prayers &  Sayings

O' Great Spirit,
 Whose voice I hear in the winds,
 And whose breath gives life to all the world,
 hear me! I am small and weak, I need your
strength and wisdom.


Cherokee Prayer

O'Great Spirit, help me always to speak the truth quietly,
 to listen with an open mind when others speak,
 and to remember the peace that may be found in silence.


Sioux Prayer

Grandfather Great Spirit All Over The World
The Faces Of Living Things Are Alike.
With tenderness, They Have Come Up Out Of The Ground.
Look Upon Your children That They May Face The Winds
And Walk The Good Road To The Day Of Quiet.

Grandfather Great Spirit
Fill Us With The Light.
Give Us The Strength To Understand And The Eyes To See.
Teach Us To Walk The Soft Earth As Relatives
To All That Live.


Let me walk in beauty, and make my eyes
ever behold the red and purple sunset.

Make my hands respect the things you have
made and my ears sharp to hear your voice.

Make me wise so that I may understand the
things you have taught my people.

Let me learn the lessons you have hidden
in every leaf and rock.

I seek strength, not to be greater than my
brother, but to fight my greatest ememy, Myself.

Make me always ready to come to you with
clean hands and straight eyes.

So when life fades, as the fading sunset,
my spirit may come to you without shame.

seven Sacred Prayers

 Great Spirit, who art before all else and who swells in every object, in every
person and in every place, we cry unto Thee. We summon Thee from the far
places into our present awareness.

Great Spirit of the North, who gives wings to the waters of the air and rolls
the thick snowstorm before Thee, Who covers the Earth with a sparkling
crystal carpet above whose deep tranquility every sound is beautiful. Temper
us with strength to withstand the biting blizzards, yet make us thankful for the
beauty which follows and lies deep over the warm Earth in its wake.

Great Spirit of the East, the land of the rising Sun, who holds in your right
hand the years of our lives and in Your left the aopportunities of each day.
Brace us that we may not neglect our gifts nor lose in laziness the hopes of each
day and the hopes of each year.

Great Spirit of the South, whose warm breath of compassion melts the ice
that gathers round our hearts, whose fragrance speaks of distant springs and
summer days, dissolve our fears, melt our hatreds, kindle our love into flames
of true and living realities. Teach us that he who is truly strong is also kind, he
who is wise tempers with mercy, he who is truly brave matches courage
with compassion.

Great Spirit of the West, the land of the setting Sun, with your soaring
mountains and free, wide rolling praries, bless us with knowledge of the peace
which follows purity of striving and the freedom which follows like a flowing
robe in the winds of a well-disciplined life. Teach us that the end is better than
the beginning and that the setting Sun glorifies not in vain.

Great Spirit of the heavens, in the days infinite blue and amid the countless
stars of the night season, remind us that you are vast, that you are beautiful and
majestic beyond all of our knowing or telling, but also that you are no further
from us than the tilting upwards of our heads and the raising eyes.

Great Spirit of Mother Earth beneath our feet, Master of metals,
Germinator of seeds and the Storer of the Earths unreckoned resources, help
us to give thanks unceasingly for Your present bounty.

Great Spirit of our souls, burning in our hearts yearning and in our
innermost aspirations, speak to us now and always so that we may be aware of
the greatness and goodness of Your gift of life and be worthy of this priceless privilege of living.

Sayings

We have not inherited the earth from our fathers.
We are borrowing it from our children.

You must speak straight
so that your word may go as sunlight into our hearts.
~ Cochise, Chiricaua Apache ~

Your mind must be like a tipi.
Leave the entrance flap open so that fresh air can enter
and clean out the smoke of confusion
~ Chief Eagle, Teton Sioux ~

There can never be peace between nations until it is first known
that true peace is within the souls of men.
Oglala Sioux

When a man moves away from nature
his heart becomes hard.
Lakota

Nothing is so strong as gentleness;
nothing so gentle as real strength.


A Blessing

May the warm winds of heaven blow softly on your house.
May the Great Spirit bless all who enter there.
May your mocassins make happy tracks in many snows.
And may the rainbow always touch your shoulder.

Some Authors Unknown.. Gathered over the years.


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