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

Make 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. 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