Edited by Elizabeth Roberts and Elias Amidon
Meditations on and for the earth from many traditions and
authors.
Reviewed by: Joan Prefontaine
About Joan Prefontaine
Editors Elizabeth Roberts and Elias Amidon have put together an enriching
collection of nature readings in this small book-one for every day of the
year. Drawing from numerous cultures, including Eskimo, Buddhist, Hindu,
Judeo-Christian, Chippewa, Aztec and Zuni (to name just a few), the book is
beautifully orchestrated, with eleven divisions given such titles as
"Healing the Whole," "Benediction for the Animals" and "The Daily Round."
Occasionally I have selected something to read from the "Praise and
Thanksgiving" section before a holiday meal. (In my family more than one
spiritual tradition is usually represented at the table, and the broadness
and inclusiveness of the texts has been appreciated.) I also chose several
poems to read aloud beside my father's grave on the first anniversary of his
death, in a small wooded cemetery next to a marsh with wildflowers and
blackbirds. (Other family members joined me, and some of them asked to read
from the book as well.) The words helped us honor my father's memory, the
turning of the seasons, earth's comforting presence and the sacredness of
life.
The meditations in this book can be brief, like a breath of fresh air. They
can move from sadness to joy in an instant. My favorite is a Chippewa song:
Sometimes
I go about pitying myself
While I am carried by
The wind
Across the sky.
And some passages cause human sorrow to seem
inconsequential in the larger scheme of things. For instance, poet David
Ignatow writes:
One leaf left all by itself
in the air and it does not
speak
of loneliness or death
One leaf and it spends itself
in swaying
mildly in the breeze.
At the back of the book is a Calendar of Earth Prayers that offers
suggestions for readings for specific celebrations and commemorative events.
These range from National Bird Day in January to Hurricane Supplication Day
in July to the Winter Solstice in December. (Along the way we also meet up
with many other interesting occasions such as the Lantern Festival in
February, the Maple Syrup Festival in Vermont in March, National Dolphin Day
in April and the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows in September-a day for
mourning the extinction of species.)
Roberts and Amidon want this book to help us "understand and re-experience
our unity with the natural world." The collection is, they hope, a "call to
prayer" in a time of increasing ecological degradation. I believe the book
may also serve as a call to action, to greater caring for the planet, by
those who come to reflect upon it.
Click here to buy this book, or read more about it at Amazon.com: Earth Prayers From Around the World: 365 Prayers, Poems, and Invocations for Honoring the Earth
Copyright © by Joan Prefontaine, 2003
Reviewed by Joan Prefontaine:
-- The Secret Life of Dust - by Hannah Holmes
-- Lying Awake: - by Mark Salzman
-- The Art & Craft of Playwriting - by Jeffrey Hatcher
-- On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft - by Stephen King
-- Earth Prayers From Around the World - Edited by Elizabeth Roberts and Elias Amidon
-- The Beauty of the Beast - Selected by Jack Prelutsky, Illustrated by Meilo So
-- The Intimate Merton - Edited by Patrick Hart and Jonathan Montaldo
-- Plainsong - by Kent Haruf
-- The Stone Diaries
- by Carol Shields
-- City of God - by E. L. Doctorow
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