In the near future, there will be
video meditations here
for morning and evening.
Watch for them!
With St. Patrick's Day coming up, this is a good time to use this prayer to tap into the creative artist within. Breastplate prayers were prayers of protection, like armour or a shield. I say it slowly, pausing between lines to let the meaning sink in while I am doing exercises for my joints before I get out of bed. My version is simple and one that suits me and my own beliefs. You may need to change words in your mind (even to the opposite) to fit what you believe. Tapping into your creative spirit helps you find out more about who you are,what you believe, and what is important to you. Sometimes we learn by reading something that we totally agree with. Sometimes we learn by reading something we don't agree with at all.
I say the words out loud and have images of the healing presence of Jesus. Some people get pictures in their minds, some are more sound oriented, and some are more feeling oriented. Just let it be what it is for you.
Sometimes I am called to say Holy Spirit and I feel a wonderful safety and warmth in that presence. Whatever your religion is, however you perceive God, call upon that presence in your own way. After all, God is always already here. This is a reminder of that holy power that surrounds, protects and fills us. And, by the way, even Mother Theresa didn't always feel it.
Sometimes I am called to say Holy Spirit and I feel a wonderful safety and warmth in that presence. Whatever your religion is, however you perceive God, call upon that presence in your own way. After all, God is always already here. This is a reminder of that holy power that surrounds, protects and fills us. And, by the way, even Mother Theresa didn't always feel it.
Christ in front of me.
Christ behind me.
Christ to the left of me.
Christ to the right of me.
Christ above me.
Christ below me.
Christ inside me.
I muse about what this breastplate prayer would look like on paper. How might I create a visual reminder that I am surrounded and filled by the grace of God, the greatest creator, the greatest artist? For some it might be a cross, a star of David, or something else that is representative. It can be whatever comes to your mind, including something that represents a happy memory like your cat! For me it's more about color and a shape. It can be very simple or complex. It's up to you. If this is all new to you, keep it simple to start! Don't set yourself up by expecting a masterpiece. That isn't the point for right now.
I muse about what this breastplate prayer would look like on paper. How might I create a visual reminder that I am surrounded and filled by the grace of God, the greatest creator, the greatest artist? For some it might be a cross, a star of David, or something else that is representative. It can be whatever comes to your mind, including something that represents a happy memory like your cat! For me it's more about color and a shape. It can be very simple or complex. It's up to you. If this is all new to you, keep it simple to start! Don't set yourself up by expecting a masterpiece. That isn't the point for right now.
PRAYER DOODLE
art from the heart
Key: Be curious!
Have paper, pen or pencil and
some colored markers,
pencils, pastels, or crayons nearby.
Arrange things so you will not be interrupted for a little while.
Set a timer if you are concerned about time.
- Read through the instructions. Then, choose either the simple prayer above or the more complex (and controversial, but not to St. Patrick) prayer below. Some things may resonate and some may really irritate you. That's ok. That's how life is, isn't it? Read it slowly, paying attention to your experience and notice what your body responds to the most. It might be a word or a phrase. Let it be what it is without analyzing or judging your own experience. Just notice if you do analyze or judge the experience. Content is differnet than experience. If you judge content, just notice what feelings come up.
- Sit with your eyes closed for five minutes, or longer if you like, and repeat the word or phrase over and over to yourself or aloud. Notice and observe what comes to your mind. When it feels that you are done, write down the things that came to you. You may notice that your mind wanders, judges the exercise,or starts thinking about what you really "should" be doing with your time. That's normal. There are always distractions in life. This is practice for turning within to the creative spiritual center. Because that's what the creative self is, the spiritual center. That doesn't mean it is always beautiful. It is what it is. Just notice and return to the word or phrase.
- When you are done writing, read what you have written. It may feel good or you may find yourself being curious, judging or any number of other things. Just notice what you are experiencing.
- Once again, notice what draws you the most. Maybe there is one line that pops out at you or that has a particularly strong feeling attached to it. Pick up you colored pencils or crayons and paper.
- If there is a particular image that comes to mind, doodle it. This is not the time to plan on a finished piece for exhibit. This is an exercise to begin to connect you to your creative center or to reconnect you. It doesn't matter if you have never done an exercise like this in your life or if you have been teaching creativity forever. Just doodle.
- Appreciate yourself for taking this time to connect with the Great Artist and the mystery of the creativity within.
Here is a part of one version of the original St. Patrick Breastplate Prayer. This prayer is centuries old. Notice what applies to you and what does not. As you read through this prayer, notice which word or phrase grabs you and return to that for your writing (it can be a sentence or pages) and doodle. If you have noticed that I am using the word notice a lot, hm, that's because this journey is like putting on a new pair of glasses and consciously seeing or noticing things inside yourself that you've been too busy or too outer directed to pay attention to before. Tapping into the creative self requires paying attention. Just be curious!
I arise today through God's strength to pilot me, God's might to uphold me, God's wisdom to guide me, God's eye to look before me, God's ear to hear me, God's word to speak for me, God's hand to guard me, God's way to lie before me, God's shield to protect me, God's host to save me from snares of devils, from temptations of vices, from everyone who shall wish me ill, far and near, alone and in multitude.
I summon today all these powers between me and those evils, against every cruel merciless power that may oppose my body and soul, against incantations of false prophets, against black laws of pagandom, against false laws of heretics, against craft of idolatry, against spells of witches and smiths and wizards, against every knowledge that corrupts man's body and soul.
Christ to shield me today against poison, against burning, against drowning, against wounding, so that there may come to me abundance of reward. Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,Christ on my right, Christ on my left,Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise,Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me, Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,Christ in every eye that sees me, Christ in every ear that hears me.
What was this exercise like for you? I'd love to hear.
Leonora
2 comments:
Wouldn't it be a lot easier to say "GOd surround me with goodness and protect me from evil".
That prayer sounds like the person who wrote it was fearful of breathing...life was so precarious. Was it written during the Plague?
To whom do people pray who do not believe in a Western God?
Hi Anonymous!
Thanks for the vote of keeping it simple! That's what works for a lot of people. Lots and lots of people complicate the creative art process by making it complex and difficult. The same is true with the spiritual path.
On the other hand, some people really need more words and more ritual and more study.
The question is WHAT WORKS? At least, that's the question you bring to my mind after reading your comment. I'm guessing (here I go making an assumption) that this is not the first time these thoughts and quesitons have occurred to you. I'd like to hear more about them.
And, thank you very much for bringing up the topic of fear. Your comment guarantees that there will be future posts on that topic, because it is so important, although not an easy topic.
St. Patrick lived circa 385–461 AD.
Times were obviously a lot harder then than they are now, although there are some things that haven't changed. One of them is that as human beings, we sometimes experience fear. It is part of our survival mechanism and built into our DNA. Without it, the human race wouldn't last very long.
Whether it is waiting for test results, worrying about money, or staying up until the kid pulls into the driveway, fear happens. I guess most of us know that how we deal with fear is what makes the difference. Remember the famous Line "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself"? It sounds like that may be what you are saying, and I so agree.
With PTSD, I have to be reminded by my art therapist Andi to keep learning to recognize my fear triggers and ask myself if they are real or imagined. Sometimes they are a very real warning. Sometimes I am getting into old territory that is no longer real or useful.
I appreciate that you bring up seeing so much fear in St. Pat's prayer. It's like St. Patrick named every conceivable thing that could happen, isn't it?
I'm not sure this is at all where you were going, but this is what comes to my mind. Some people think they are best served by always staying focused only on the positive and rejecting any thought that does not fit that model.
Having a positive attitude and maintaining hope is really important. While some will disagree with me (I am not purporting to have someone else's answers and welcome different opinions), I personally believe that it is important to recognize and face our fears rather than stuff them and pretend they aren't there. That is being afraid of fear. Maybe old St. Pat was naming fears of his own or those around them, so they could be acknowledged and then faced. Or, maybe that is an erroneous assumption. Wow is it hard to avoid assumptions! When is an assumption an assumption and when is it something else, I ask myself.
I remember when I got back to my old office the day I had the mammogram that started me on this journey. I told a friend that I had "a gut feeling" the news wasn't going to be good. She immediately said, "oh, don't put that thought out there. You don't want to create it." I do not believe I created breast cancer because I knew something was wrong.
Maybe part of why I started this blog is remembering my dear friend Susan who died twenty years ago (things would be different now), and how she spent the last year of her life trying to figure out how and why she gave herself cancer.
I have read Lousie Hay and dozens of other books that you may have read too about how we create our own reality. There's some really wonderful stuff in some of those books and the techiniques that have come out of that way of thinking. And, in some of them, there is some guilt producing dangerous stuff tht takes us more into fear than away from it.
For me, there is a balance in putting the best we can be out there (and boy does that vary from day to day) and in believing that we can control everything in life. I don't believe I am God, although the word God might not have meaning for you. Communciation, finding the right words, is hard when the subject is so important. I remember #1 of the Four Agreements-- be impeccable. Say what you mean and mean what you say. I am a learner too.
The belief that we create cancer, for example, is very complex. It's one point of view, and beyond this immediate comment to discuss in depth, but some of it is also called magical thinking. Learning to distinguish between denying our internal experience and giving into fear is part of the journey for me.
I believe it is crucial to know how to access an internal safe place, even if we need help doing so sometimes. That's part of what the art meditations are about.
Sometimes, in fact, daily, it is important to remind ourselves of the things we have to be grateful for, maybe as basic as I am alive even if every joint in my body hurts. I think that's different than what a therapist I know named Beverly calls the flight to light. Being afraid of our own shadows is no way to live as far as I am concerned.
Better, for me at least, to find out what it means to find the safe place (and the safe people) so I can face fears and do what I need to do to take care of a situation if that is warranted or to get past them. And, for me, it's important to learn and practice self protection, which is part of what I think the St. Pat's Breastplate Prayer is about.
You make me ask myself what does it feel like to carry a sense of protection with us? How can I put that into words? How do others do it?
Today I've been thinking again of how trees have everything inside they need to grow green. An elm is always going to be an elm and nothing is going to make it a willow even though they need some of the same things to grow green. Air, earth, nutrition, sun.
We all need those things too. I really do believe that, like trees, we have what we need inside to grow into who we truly are. IN our overly stresed, overly stimulating culture, it is sometimes very hard to tap into that part of ourselves. But is is possible.
Beyond that, we are as unique as our DNA, our fingerprints, and our personal histories which color how we see life. Likewise, we all have our own ways of coping and growing. Or not.
Anonymous, you bring up another really important point in how to pray if you do not believe in the western God or Christianity. I am not out to sell anyone on my own beliefs. I believe so strongly in the creative spiritual self, and as a spirtual director I worked with people whose beliefs are very different from my own, including those who are seeking inner peace but do not believe in God. In fact, one of my most important spiritual teachers is not from the Christian faith I practice.
Your question is far too important to gloss over. I hope you will be patient with me. I have got to go to bed.
I am taking your question to heart and will have some ideas and spiritual experiments you might want to try. I believe that we are all spiritual beings and that there are many paths. I hope that you will return to this blog and find something useful even if you have to cull through the things which are not.
When it comes to making art and finding ways to get centered, what works for one does not necessarily work for another. Ghandi was known for his spiritual experiments. Maybe accessing your curiousity (which it sounds like you already have plenty) and trying some of the experiments that will be posted in the days to come will help you find your own answer.
Well, it looks like I've written another book in response to your comment, but you sure brought up plenty of food for this gal's thought. I'm not done with this yet!
I had no idea I'd be laying out my beliefs on such a limb on the third day of blogging! Can I blame it on you? I'm smiling. I'm much more interested in being authentic and encouraging others to safely be authentic themselves than I am in saying things so people will like me. I don't know too many breast cancer survivors whose lives still revolve around doing what other people think they should do or say.
Thank you, Anonymous.
Tonight, I am the flowing from the mouth
Leonora
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