Here is an Ancestral Clearing® prayer for those who suffer with disordered eating.
Creator, God, Higher Power, Great Spirit, Holy Mother, Divine Being – You are known by many names, and You are One.
For the times of plenty – in food, in shelter, clean water, fair weather, the trees laid heavy with their fruits, crops bountiful in the fields, in companionship and community, and in love for others, us, and You, Creator – we thank You. We ask humbly and gratefully for us and all our ancestors and all their relations:
For the times of scarcity, drought, flood, storms, fire, earthquakes, volcanoes and any other environmental catastrophe, and all the damage wreaked upon us and our communities; for any time the water was fouled, food stores contaminated; for the times the crops laid toppled in the fields and ruined for the year, and for the times we cried out, “How are we to survive in all of this?” or “Where are You, God?” or “Why are You punishing us?” For all the times we waited for an answer from You and weren’t able to hear it or take it in, and for all we made it mean about ourselves, each other, the community, life, and even You, Creator – please help us all to forgive one another, forgive ourselves, forgive all people, and all people forgive us. Please and thank You.
For any time we felt left out, lost connection with the family, with the tribe or community, or with You, for the times our loved ones were lost to us, for the heavy weight of survivor’s guilt, for the times we believed we couldn’t go on, for the times we denied our own experience because it was the only way we knew to survive what happened, and for all the loneliness, depression, and despair we felt because of it – please help us all to forgive each other and forgive ourselves. Please and thank You.
For any time we fell subject to familial or cultural programming
around our identity, weaponized stereotyping, what we should look or sound like, times we just didn’t fit in; for the times we were so hungry for love that we turned to food so we at least could find nourishment in the body, however temporary; for any time we buckled under our powerlessness to help others or ourselves – please help us all to forgive one another and forgive ourselves. Please and thank You.
For any time we missed out on the sweetness in life, for the times of struggle, injustice, for long-lasting hardship, displacement, and exile; for times we experienced abandonment or abandoned others, times we abandoned our hearts, and for the times we searched everywhere and just couldn’t find what we needed – please help us all to forgive one another and forgive ourselves. Please and thank You.
For all hurts and wrongs in thought, word, or action going back into the lineage as far as needed and any hurts and wrongs we did to others, for any hurts and wrongs we did to ourselves; for the times we experienced the harshness, bullying, condemnation, or censure of others, any time we did this to others, and for the times we turned this negativity into us and directed it to ourselves; for the times our reaction to these experiences hardened our hearts to each other or ourselves – please help us to forgive each other and forgive ourselves for everything that happened, no matter what it was, for once and for all. Please and thank You.
Please, Creator, help us tune into Your eternal field of love, deeply and fully experience love within ourselves and cultivate the awareness that love is always within us. Please help us find our way, no matter how troubled the times.
Please and thank You.
Please and thank You.
Please and thank You.
Amen.
With gratitude to Howard Wills, who pioneered this process, and John Newton, who further developed it.
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