A Prayer for Opening Sacred Space

Invocation is used by human beings to call in power, energy, and/or helper beings whenever assistance is needed. Every religious and spiritual system has such a process even while the powers and spirits differ from one to another. No rite, ceremony, healing session, or prayer can be done without first making such a call precisely because we human beings have free will and therefore must ask for help before such assistance can come. When we make such invocations, it is understood that the veil between worlds or dimensions of reality is thus made thinner. This makes it possible for those beings existing in less dense dimensions to interact with the human, physical one and to thus bring in their often more powerful energies to help us.

Western shamanism acknowledges the existence of a creative life force within the matrix of the natural world and the universe that is so vast and mysterious as to be unnamable. In the Q'ero tradition of the Andes in Peru, they call upon Pachakamaq--our Divine Mother-Father--and Pachamama--Mother Earth, the Mother of both time and space.

The whole physical universe is infused with this creative life force and is therefore as alive and conscious as we are. This translates into an understanding that the consciousness of any animal species, for instance, has its individualized expression in physical form on Earth (e.g., a single jaguar) and has a universal, uber-consciousness in magnetic form in non-physical reality (e.g. jaguar consciousness). When we strongly visualize and call forth a jaguar, for instance, we are calling on the very energetic and magnetic resonance of “jaguar mind.” The jaguar is the top of the jungle and has many powerful capacities in his natural habitat: he can track and find prey in the dark, can swim and climb trees, and can become very still and almost invisible. Because the universal matrix is eminently malleable due to our interconnection in the web of life, this means that when we make the call, jaguar essence literally comes with its powers and abilities to assist us: the ability to see into dark places in our individual and collective psyches, to feel our power within our families and communities, and to be flexible in how we navigate through both inner and outer reality. We can similarly call upon the Spirits of the Waters, Fire, or Wind. Or we can call upon the Apus--Great Mountain Spirits.

To this end, we humans can reach out with our minds and emotions to harness these energies to assist us in transformational processes or simply to create comfort in both stressful and easeful times. The keynote of such invocations is the acknowledgment of our dynamic interconnection with everything within and outside ourselves.

There are many ways to open sacred space. You may change the words of the prayers over time to resonate with your understandings of the Wheel.

This invocation can be done sitting or standing. If you stand, you should turn clockwise to face the direction called in. When invoking Mother Earth and Father Sky, you should reach down and up respectively. It is customary in western shamanism to use a rattle to call in the energies and to have some offering to make, such as tobacco, burning sage, or spirit water. The prayer here is written as a personal prayer. When working in a group and opening sacred space, change the first person singular to “we.”

Spirits and Winds of the South,

Grandmother and Grandfather,

Gentle Serpent and Deer Spirits:

I send you so much love and gratitude.

I call upon you to pour your healing into this medicine space.

Teach me to walk gently in my life

As I shed stories of lack, limitation and fear.

So that I may harvest the abundant fruits

Of all the seeds that have been planted,

And give back to All My Relations and Mother Earth

In sacred reciprocity as an Earthkeeper.

Aho. Wado.

Spirits and Winds of the West,

Grandmothers and Grandfathers.

Powerful Jaguar, Raven/Crow and Beer Spirits,

I send you so much love and gratitude.

I call upon you to lead me fearlessly,

With eyes wide open into the darkness and even into the land of death.

So that I may befriend all that is in shadow,

And find the deepest wounds

Ready to be transmuted into gifts

Of light, love, harmony and balance.

Help me walk with integrity,

So that I may walk my talk as a Peacemaker.

Aho. Wado.

Spirit and Winds of the North,

Grandfathers and Grandmothers,

Wise Hummingbird and White Buffalo Calf:

I send you so much love and gratitude.

I call upon you to guide me

That I may sit at the Great Table of the Soul

With the Wise Elders who have gone before me,

That, I may understand the deeper meaning and purpose

Of all that arises in my life and on the planet.

That I may harness the highest dreams and destiny

For myself and all beings as a Wisdomkeeper.

Aho. Wado.

Spirit and Winds of the East,

Grandmothers and Grandfathers,

Great Condor/Eagle/Hawk:

I send you so much love and gratitude.

I call upon you to fly with me

As I fly wingtip to wingtip with Great Spirit,

Rising up above the mountains

Where I can hear the songs of love

And see all things through the eyes of love.

So that I will step into my sovereignty

As a co-creator with- and in-Spirit,

Calling forth a New Life and New Earth as a Spiritkeeper.

Aho. Wado.

Beloved Mother Earth,

Rock and stone people,

Tree and plant people,

All those things that walk, swim, crawl, fly and creep.

The Powers of Nature and the Forces of the Elements:

I send you so much love and gratitude.

I call upon you to dance with me

In this Medicine Space.

Let us dance the dance of sacred reciprocity,

Exchanging the burdens we each carry

And together transmuting them

Into gifts of light, love, wholeness, balance and peace

For one another and our blessed Mother Earth.

Aho. Wado.

Beloved Creator/Spirit,

You who go by a thousand names,

Yet remain nameless.

Grandmother Moon,

Grandfather Sun,

The star nations,

Sisters and brothers,

Great Cosmic Beings,

Luminous Teachers of Light,

Angels and Archangels of the Highest Order.

I call upon you to pour you light

Into this medicine space

So that I may align

With the indestructible light

Within, through and around All That Is.

That I may rest in the vast expanse of the open mind,

In the great oneness

Of which we are all apart.

Aho. Wado.

I call upon all my Guides, Teachers, Guardians, Ancestors.

My I Am Presence.

I pour my love and gratitude out to you

For all the ways you hold and help me.

Come close, come near,

That your wisdom and love

Will pour through me.

That you may heal and teach me.

That you may assist me in manifesting

The life I wish to dream into being.

Aho, Wado.