Blessing the Animals

Celebrate the Mystery, Compassion, Wonder and Beauty of Animals

Take a spiritual journey through this beautiful collection of blessings, prayers and meditations about the creatures, wild and tame, that inhabit our world. These moving contributions about all types of animals-playful dogs and beloved cats, giant whales and powerful elephants, tiny insects and delicate birds-are drawn from many faith traditions, including Native American, Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu and Buddhist.

A special section also provides animal blessing ceremonies you can use to memorialize the loss of a companion animal, offer prayers for an animal suffering illness or injury or simply recognize the spiritual connection we create when we fully appreciate another member of God's creation.

Contributors include:
Akhenaton Cecil Frances Alexander Matsuo Basho Henry Ward Beecher Henry Bergh Annie Besant Ambrose Bierce Black Elk Elizabeth Barrett Browning Martin Buber Yosa Buson Isaac Caruso Chang Chiu-Ch'eng John C. Chendo Gilbert Keith Chesterton Feng Chih John Ciardi Jean Cocteau Rev. Dr. Scott Cowdell James Dickey Emily Dickinson George Washington Doane Fyodor Dostoevsky Mark Doty Johann Eckhart Mary Cronk Farrell John Bookser Feister Rev. Roberta Finkelstein Eliza Lee Cabot Follen T. Griffith Foulk Anatole France Saint Francis of Assisi Diana L. Guerrero Joy Harjo Stanley Hauerwas Kathy Heffernan Jane Hirshfield Alicia Hokanson Gerard Manley Hopkins Victor Hugo Kobayashi Issa Francis Jammes Saint John of the Cross Naito Joso Kabir Galway Kinnell Rudy Kipling Laurie Klein Mukai Kyorai Laurie Lamon Lao-Tzu D. H. Lawrence Richard Lehnert Letakos-Lesa Paul Lindholdt Kevin E. Mackin Seumas MacManus Lauren McLaughlin Fiona McLeod, (pseudonym of William Sharp) Sugawara no Michizane Mirabai Rev. Gloria S. Moncrief John Muir Claire Rudolf Murphy Gloria Pinsker Po Chu-i Sri Ramakrishna Pam Reinke Rivage (pseudonym of Mary Newman) Christina Rossetti Jalaluddin Rumi Carl Sandburg Meghan Nuttall Sayres Albert Schweitzer Sir Walter Scott Masaoka Shiki Izumi Shikibu Mark S.Sisk Christopher Smart Rabindranath Tagore Henry David Thoreau Mark Twain Miguel de Unamuno y Jugo Evelyn Underhill Carl Van Vechten Walt Whitman James Arlington Wright William Butler Yeats