i don't know the answer to that. I do
something
like…uhhh, Asking? Asking Nothing in Particular, but rather The ALL of Whatever It IS? i ask.
i say….could this happen? and let it Fly.
Came home from work away
added
took away
looked. a print out in black and white
put with Tay's reWorked Basket Piece….a collaboration
a small print out…placed in Patricia's Walnut dye breathing basket followingthread.wordpress.com
what is a "prayer" basket here
Ask, tell, wait for an answer, hold onto, let go: prayer basket for you, altar for me: each perhaps holding things that bind us to our inner selves, things that give us outer strength from the energy and love that enfolds each item. Here I am speaking about what I gather on my altar; family photos, collected rocks from places that hold spirit, candles to warm the way of questioning nested in a round glass holder with 7 circles to hold 7 days, the candle holder made from recycled green glass that comes from the land of my parents, Spain; a map of a place that need prayers and hope (Nepal), a dried blossom from the first plant that I came to know when we moved here to New Mexico,(4 wing salt bush)… most of all, a stitched altar cloth, squares of raggedy recycled white cotton turned into soft rainbow colors made from dyeing with the land gifts that speak to me of inner and outer landscape, all of these, the backdrop to the daily dialogue that I engage in when I rise each day, to talk to spirit(s), asking for a blessing on the day in whatever way it is meant to be, that to me is what I call praying.
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yes
yes.
this is called praying. yes. oh, yes.
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Marti says it so well, as do your cloths Grace, each one is a prayer, the making is a prayer… sometimes I don’t know what the prayer is for but the thing that gets made has an urgency and I find out later… this happened with the Touch Stone I made on the Mother’s Day weekend then a few days ago got the news… a beautiful friend, a fiercely loyal Scotswoman had passed away on Mother’s Day. I sent the Touch Stone to her husband for comfort, it felt warm like a heart in the envelope…
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Prayer is any attempt to reach beneath the surface, any method that opens the heart. Your cloth on Tay’s basket, on Patricia’s baskowl, and with the Dalai Lama is a prayer each time.
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you just made me realize prayer is a constant daily ritual for me
i really was not aware of how much
its in stitches, any and all art i make, prayer flags for all the canyon creatures
human and otherwise, the spinning ring with mantra on it, , the prayers in dr.’s offices, for all who are suffering, the bedtime prayers for this holy planet of ours, even now for those who are reading this.
wow…….this was a sign for me grace, you are an important spiritual connection for me and my art.
and i thank you for your gifts
ps: the oddest thing was i walked away from the computer and instead of what i was reading when i returned ,your header……” what is Praying” was on my page. wow.!!
namaste
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I don’t know where prayers go,
or what they do.
Do cats pray, while they sleep
half-asleep in the sun?
Does the opossum pray as it
crosses the street?
The sunflowers? The old black oak
growing older every year?
I know I can walk through the world,
along the shore or under the trees,
with my mind filled with things
of little importance, in full
self-attendance. A condition I can’t really
call being alive
Is a prayer a gift, or a petition,
or does it matter?
The sunflowers blaze, maybe that’s their way.
Maybe the cats are sound asleep. Maybe not.
While I was thinking this I happened to be standing
just outside my door, with my notebook open,
which is the way I begin every morning.
Then a wren in the privet began to sing.
He was positively drenched in enthusiasm,
I don’t know why. And yet, why not.
I wouldn’t persuade you from whatever you believe
or whatever you don’t. That’s your business.
But I thought, of the wren’s singing, what could this be
if it isn’t a prayer?
FROM: http://www.onbeing.org/blog/mary-oliver-reads-her-poem-i-happened-to-be-standing/7276
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(((Mary Oliver)))
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the Altar here…not so much about praying. It is just as it Is.
It is for me a reminder that at the bottom, the root, nothing changes, but remains…Remains
i looked, look more at the Altar here this altar being more about
a constant love, a gratitude than the Asking thing i am thinking about now……that’s something different
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the Touch Stone…a kind of prayer
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beneath, but also UP…it is a gesture UP, outfrom, up, away, Out, Up
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and namaste back…back to you
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Mary. Mary, dearest Mary…and no. I don’t think the cat, the opposum, the sunflowers, the old oak, no…i don’t think they
Pray.
i think they just live in a way that we don’t understand, and so we
pray
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After the fact–having thought about this on and off all day into the mid of night…I pray when I curl to sleep pulling ted the bear under my neck, and when I rise and hear the first chortle from the pigeons, and when I bathe I’m sure I’m praying with each bucket of water I douse on my head, and I pray when the neighbors are unkindly living loud without a thought of me, and when i cut onions and peel garlic I’m praying, and when I worry till I’m tired of worrying, that’s a sort of prayer and an answer in one. I pray when I sit but there are no words, I pray when I chant the names in Sanskrit. Sometimes I pray when I write. This is a prayer that asks nothing. If I send love, it’s a prayer that love be.
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this is so beauty FULL and really, the truth, isn’t it…
i just forget all the time and maybe that’s a kind of
praying too….?…..
Thank You so MUCH for the above…
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So, i love all the answers yesterday,I had to wait until today to put my own feelings into words.i always say i love everything but it’s true because so much in life makes my heart swell with love it’s all i think.
I feel pretty much in walking meditation all day in my work and life. But at night when i go to bed I can relax and connect with all energies and feel them.
i talk to creator energy, i call it Mother Father God for I feel it’s both feminine and masculine energy, All that Is. First I thank all the light beings in my life for helping me along, in healing, in learning and for their guidance in helping me find my purpose here in this life time. I feel such gratitude for the help from them and many people in my life.
Then i also ask for them to keep me company and please keep helping me in their ways to grow and find ways to keep healing physically and other ways, and telling them I hope they enjoy the work I do as much as I do.
It feels so good to connect with the Universe and Earth and all the special light beings, i just feel so lucky and grateful.
I love how the discussions help me delve deeper into my beliefs and knowing I feel so similar to others.
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it’s better than Mary
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“then i also ask for them to keep me company”
“and telling them I hope they enjoy the work”
I just LOVE, like really really LOVE these words, the sense they give to a very intimate connection with Spirit
Thank you so much
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Listened to your poem twice this morning Mary, oh so so wonderful.
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windthread 
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