Blessing guides
Start with the occasion you're actually facing, or read the overview first if you want the bigger picture.
What Is a Blessing? Meaning Across Christian and Jewish Tradition
What is a blessing, really? How the Jewish berakhah and Christian usage differ, who can give a blessing, and how it differs from a prayer.
Read the guide →Blessing for a Meal: Table Grace Options and How to Write Your Own
Sourced table grace options from a few traditions, plus a structure for writing your own blessing for a meal.
Read the guide →House Blessing for a New Home: A Simple Form to Use Yourself
What a house blessing is across traditions, a room-by-room form you can use yourself, and what it isn't claiming to do.
Read the guide →Blessing for a New Baby: Words for the Arrival, By Tradition
Blessing words for a new baby's arrival, sourced by tradition, and how a blessing differs from a dedication or baptism.
Read the guide →Blessing for a Difficult Season or Illness: Honest Words, No Promises
A blessing for a difficult season or illness — sourced words for grief and hardship that are honest about what they can't promise.
Read the guide →Blessing for a Wedding: Traditional Words and How to Write Your Own
Wedding blessing words sourced by tradition — Christian and Jewish — plus a structure for writing a personal blessing or toast.
Read the guide →Blessing Someone vs Feeling Blessed: Why They Aren't the Same
Blessing someone vs feeling blessed: why the act of blessing and the feeling of being blessed are not interchangeable, and why that matters.
Read the guide →Blessing as a Daily Practice: How to Build the Habit
How to build a daily blessing practice — sourced examples from Jewish and Christian tradition, and a simple way to start.
Read the guide →Glossary, sources and checklists
The terms, the primary sources behind these guides, and the checklists worth working through.
Open the reference →The Blessings Companion: Words for Eight Occasions
Everything on this site's occasion guides, gathered into one downloadable companion — sourced blessing words by tradition, structures for writing your own, and a worksheet for the occasion you're actually facing.