Turkey and Gratitude

By Rosemary Beam ~ 11/26/2009

The Give-Away, Turkey and Gratitude: Thanksgiving

I was reading about turkey today and thinking of gratitude, what that means for me and how I show gratitude. I was thinking of how the native people of the Americas see it as the “Give-Away Eagle” or “South Eagle”: how it freely gave of itself so the people could nourish themselves and how they did so in ritual.

Then I started to ponder on this day of Thanksgiving how I could show my respect for the bird I was cooking and gratitude for everyone in my life. And I was thinking, “EVERY ONE” of those people who brought me joy, laughter, excitement, bliss, pain, resentment, sadness, anger, and all the other emotions I could possibly conjure up that I have experienced in my life."

I had decided before I even put the bird in the oven that I was going to prepare a traditional Peruvian fire ceremony taught to me by my teachers of Laika Lineage. This fire ceremony is a beautiful one wherein you honor all the directions by calling them in and calling on Mother Earth (Patchamama) and the creator (“the one known by 1000 names and yet who remains nameless"). Then you light this beautifully made Southern Cross fire.

You then offer olive oil to the directions and ask for a blessing as you give the oil to the fire. You do this for the earth and the creator; then finally you ask for a blessing of all the people who have come to the fire to connect the circle, giving oil to the fire each time. Then you wait, allowing the fire to become friendly and inviting you in for prayer and to give gratitude.

I had decided on this day I was asking for nothing! No help, no consoling, no prayers for healing. What I was there for was to give my thanks for EVERYONE in my life: to express to the universe to the fire that carries my prayers up to the heavens how grateful I am for everything I have experienced.

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