Several years ago, I had a shamanic dream while facilitating annual event A Walk on the Wild Side: Answering the Call of the Wild. I know it was shamanic in nature (rather than falling into the dream category) because I don’t forget the details as time passes—it still holds power and meaning today. As we near the celebration of Thanksgiving I feel guided to share this shamanic dream once again.

In my dream, I was in a generically decorated restaurant where I placed my order for a “happy meal.” As you may be aware, in “real” life the term is a trademarked name associated with a fast-food children’s meal that contains a plastic toy of some kind. Here, the name represented something much more profound.

When it arrived my “happy meal” contained no food that I could see. However it did contain fun things, but rather than focusing on the ones that would make a human being happy, my attention was captured by other unique items such as a rawhide dog chew and a catnip toy.

With a big smile on my face, I looked at the young woman serving me and exclaimed, “How wonderful!” With an answering smile, she agreed.

Placing several more items in the box—ones intended to make different species besides dogs and cats happy—she said, “Yes, and we are adding new ones all the time.”

And I felt joyful that there was finally a place that knew that making animals happy was important, too—and that awareness made me happiest of all.

When I awoke with the dream fresh in my mind I knew I had received a message of validation from the animals and from Spirit. The way we were meeting with the animals during the event—respectfully prepared to listen, learn, and participate in ceremony together—was making a difference. In the larger picture, we’re creating a positive shift toward a world where all live in balance, harmony, and joy.

And even the seemingly smaller moments in life can have a positive impact, especially if many of us mindfully take action at the same time. The yearly celebration of Thanksgiving offers such an opportunity.

Traditionally Thanksgiving is a holiday where friends and family gather to share in a specially prepared communal meal. But before everyone begins to eat the food that smells so tantalizing there is a small ceremony or prayer that is offered—the giving of thanks for what we have received—all that we are grateful for.

In keeping with the message of the shamanic dream, I would like to suggest that this Thanksgiving we not only give thanks for our food and other blessings, but also for the spiritual gifts we continually receive from the animals—gifts of patient guidance, wisdom, unconditional love, and joy in living life to its fullest.

The prayer/ceremony can be any that is heartfelt, and the invitation to participate should be extended to all animal family members as well as people.

If you feel at the loss for words, below is a Native American prayer that honors our connection to the web of life.

Blessings and best wishes
for a very happy Thanksgiving meal with all your loved ones!
Rose De Dan, Manitou and Night Sky
Wild Reiki and Shamanic Healing

Aho Mitakuye Oyasin (Mee-tock-way Oh-yah-sin)…All my relations. I honor you in this circle of life with me today. I am grateful for this opportunity to acknowledge you in this prayer…

To the Creator, for the ultimate gift of life, I thank you.

To the mineral nation that has built and maintained my bones and all foundations of life experience, I thank you.

To the plant nation that sustains my organs and body and offers
healing herbs for sickness, I thank you.

To the animal nation that feeds me from your own flesh and offers your loyal companionship in this walk of life, I thank you.

To the human nation that shares my path as a soul upon the sacred wheel of Earthly life, I thank you.

To the Spirit nation that guides me invisibly through the ups and downs of life and for carrying the torch of light through the Ages, I thank you.

To the Four Winds of Change and Growth, I thank you.

You are all my relations, my relatives, without whom I would not live. We are in the circle of life together, co-existing, co-dependent, co-creating our destiny. One, not more important than the other. One nation evolving from the other and yet each dependent upon the one above and the one below. All of us a part of the Great Mystery.

Thank you for this Life.”

—Lakota Prayer

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Learn how to connect more deeply with animals, restore balance to your life, increase intuitive skills, and help heal the Earth with live Reiki and shamanic teleclasses, available worldwide.

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Originally published 2013, updated 2020. ©Rose De Dan. All Rights Reserved. www.reikishamanic.com

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A WILD WAY TO HEAL
Rose De Dan, Wild Reiki and Shamanic Healing LLC, is an animal communicator, Reiki Master Teacher, shamanic energy healer, and author. Her classes, sessions and ceremonial work are inspired by wild and domestic animals who have issued a call to action for personal and global healing.

Her book Tails of a Healer: Animals, Reiki and Shamanism features heartwarming stories about animals and their role in her evolution as an energy worker and shamanic healer.

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