I like that whole paragraph :)

May the long time sun shine upon you,
All love surround you,
And the pure light within you
Guide your way home.

I first heard this in UU youth worship services, and it also turns up in a song by the Incredible String Band. Depending which Google link you follow, it's either Sikh, Irish or from Kundalini yoga. :-)

I'm not sure I have a favorite. But one of my defaults is "Y'varech'ha adonai v'yishmareha, ya-er adonai panav eilecha v'yichuneha. yisa adonai panav eilecha v'yitem l'cha shalom." Roughly translated: "May God bless you and protect you, may God's face and grace shine upon you, may God's face be turned to you, and bring you peace."

Also known as The Lord bless you and keep you. One of the more common versions of this song was one my (secular) high school choir sang every year at the end of the very last show. It was one of my favorite pieces to sing, a cappella every time.

(nods) I knew it for years as a Hebrew prayer before learning that the English has its own canonical existence, and still tend to think of it in Hebrew.

I use this one, in english, all the time. And with variations.

May peace prevail on earth.

SF Reclaiming also has a song called "Let it begin now" that's one long blessing and contains many small blessings that I love, including "may all the forms of love be blessed."

I'm also a fan of "God bless the whole world. No exceptions," and the Jewish blessing, "who divides holiness from holiness."

(Having read yours, these are much less personal, and I have longer thoughts on things about being a witch have to do with other wordings I would choose if I wanted to bless a person, but they're too long and unformed for this comment :->)

I don't have one that's my favorite, or even one that I use regularly. *ponders what this may mean*

::empathetic pondering::

that's a beautiful blessing. thank you.

May your glass be ever full. May the roof over your head be always strong. And may you be in heaven half an hour before the devil knows you're dead.

Mine is "Namaste", which I was once told means "I honor the infinite within you, which is also within me."

Oh you're right, that does count as a blessing!
That's totally my favorite blessing, as much for its verbal simplicity as for the accompanying gesture, which beautifully embodies the meaning of the blessing.

I have several favorite toasts, but no favorite blessing. I am contemplating what that says about me. :)

I also like:

Go out into the world in peace, seeing God in the face of each person you greet.

I intially understood what you were asking in a different way, and so thought, "perspective".

"I wish you every strangest kind of luck, with the hope that you won't need any of it."

Edited at 2009-05-01 01:22 am (UTC)

Gesundheit!

The only other one that comes to mind is "may the road rise with you".

I'm not sure this is exactly right, but I'm thinking of a poem by Fredrick Laidlaw

For those we love
and those who love us
may we be truly thankful.

which I think is the perfect grace before meals for Thanksgiving.

Recently I have been liking
You are a child of earth and starry heaven, holy and complete unto yourself.

But the first that popped to mind was in Hebrew asher bara sasson v'simcha, chattan v'chalah, gila, rina, ditza v'chedva, ahava, achva, shalom u'reut... one of the traditional wedding blessings that roughly translates "who created delight and happiness, bride and groom, pleasure and joy and friendship, love and unity, peace and freedom ... "

May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face;
the rains fall soft upon your fields and until we meet again,
may God hold you in the palm of His hand.

That's something from my childhood memories as having been on a plaque in our house as long as I can remember; for all my Mom tried to remind us we were Americans, there was a lot of stuff reminding us that we came from Bronx Irish.

Babylon 5 brought this one to my attention:

God be between you and harm in all the empty places you walk.
which seems to be a good one for me to write to my newly commissioned Lieutenants.

This one isn't exactly a blessing, but if I ever hear it sung again, I guarantee I'll break down crying in joy and sorrow:

Ishq Allah Mahabud Líllah,
Ishq Allaht Mahabud Líllah
and
All I ask of you is forever to remember me as loving you.

the first is a Sufi zikr, the second a refrain by Gregory Norbert OSB.

Uncle Dave's Grace

I don't know many blessings, and, like many people here, I'm pondering what that means about me...my Catholic family had mostly Catholic prayers, but sometimes at night, someone would say,

"Lord, lay us down like rocks and raise us up like loaves."

Yes, I know "Lord" is objectionable in many contexts, but I like the alliteration: Lord, Lay, Loaves.

One I heard recently:

"May your bread be crusty and your dough always rise."