by Rishe Groner

A Feminist Prayer for Yom Kippur

On this Yom Kippur day
I pray
I ask for forgiveness

Please forgive me
Divine Mother
Shechinah
Spirit of the Universe
Cosmic Creator

Forgive me
For not recognizing the body You’ve given me as Divine
for disrespecting the earth that is Your body
Strewing it with styrofoam and plastic trash
As I’ve strewn my own body with self-loathing, judgment,

Dear Goddess
Please forgive me
For not embodying You
And behaving with compassion
Communicating with my heart
Instead of my head

To the Supernal Divine
Infinite Mystery
That fills the universe
Forgive my errors in judgment
Of harshness and rashness
As I’ve failed to recognize
That I too am divine
As are You
And You are within me

Forgive us
As a society
For telling boys to man up
For criticizing women who are too needy
And boys who are too emotional
For calling that girl a slut
For telling that woman to shut up
For competing with her in the workplace
For failing to articulate my own needs
For neglecting my own feelings and emotions
Or suffocating others with my need to serve them

Oh Shechinah
Feminine presence in the universe
Broken and battered
Tattered in clothing
Please forgive us

For rape culture
For gaming culture
For internalized misogyny
For corporate hierarchy
For religious patriarchy
For jealousy
For mansplaining
For homophobia
For abusing our trans siblings
For deflecting responsibility
For dieting excessively
For eating mindlessly
For trying to place a value on a body
That is already determined by You
To be divine

Forgive us
Divine Mother
and grant us all that You embody

Grant us compassion
Grant us collaboration
Grant us communication
Grant us the ability to listen
Grant us the ability to receive
Grant us the ability to feel
Grant us the opportunity to heal
Grant us the opportunity to express ourselves
Grant us the opportunity to cry, as the darkest depths move us through to the other side

Dear Mother
You are the Presence on this planet
You are Queen
You are Moon
You are Earth
You are
Creative
Expressive
Effusion
From
The center of our being

Forgive us Mother
Forgive us Father
For not recognizing that without your Divine Partner, what are You
For failing to notice that only with synergy can we make it through

Let the Divine Feminine lead
Let the wounds within us be healed
Let the string turn from red to white

May this year bring compassion and connection to us all. May we experience true divine mercy and mercy upon ourselves. May we learn to release old wounds and transmute them into something better than anything we’d ever imagined. May it be a year of non-hierarchy as we manifest a real shift from patriarchy into a society of mutual cooperation towards a unified whole. May we learn to give as we receive and receive as we give, and birth a world of balance together.

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