Ritual · “Repetition Rewires”
Morrnah's Cleaning Prayer
To take 100% responsibility for a disturbance, ask the Divine to forgive and cut the negative memory, and request that the unwanted energy be transmuted to ‘pure light’ — clearing the problem from within rather than fixing it outside.
Morrnah’s cleaning prayer in 5 lines: When something disturbs you, own it as yours to clear. Address the Divine Creator. Recite: “Divine Creator. if I, my family and ancestors have offended. we ask forgiveness. cleanse, purify, release, cut all negative memories and energies, and transmute them to pure light. and it is done.” Say it four times, aloud if you can. Then let go — the work is internal, the outcome released.
What it is
Morrnah Nālamakū Simeona (1913–1992), a Hawaiian kahuna lapaʻau (healer) honored as a “Living Treasure of Hawaii,” modernized the traditional family-mediation rite of hoʻoponopono (literally “to make right”) into a solo, self-administered spiritual practice she called Self-Identity Through Hoʻoponopono (SITH).
Its most circulated element is a short cleansing / forgiveness prayer: addressed to the “Divine Creator,” it asks forgiveness for any offense by oneself, one’s family, and ancestors, and asks that all the negative memories, blocks, and energies attached to a problem be cleansed, released, and transmuted to pure light.
The core premise: every problem you perceive is a replaying memory inside you, so the work is always done within — you clean on yourself, not on the other person or the situation.
The Method
Morrnah taught the prayer as a deliberate, reverent act done whenever something disturbs you — a person, a worry, a conflict, a physical symptom, a memory:
- Identify the disturbance and take responsibility. Bring to mind the specific problem, person, or feeling that is bothering you. The foundational SITH stance: whatever shows up in your experience is yours to clean — you are not blaming yourself morally, you are accepting that the replaying memory is in you.
- Centre and address the Divine. Quiet yourself. The prayer is addressed to the Divine Creator named as a unity — in Morrnah’s wording, “Divine Creator, father, mother, son as one…” (in the expanded SITH form, the three selves: Aumakua, Uhane, and Unihipili as one — the superconscious, conscious, and subconscious).
- Recite the cleansing prayer. Morrnah’s short form, faithfully: > “Divine Creator, father, mother, son as one. If I, my family, relatives and ancestors have offended you, your family, relatives and ancestors in thoughts, words, deeds and actions from the beginning of our creation to the present, we ask your forgiveness. Let this cleanse, purify, release, cut all the negative memories, blocks, energies and vibrations, and transmute these unwanted energies to pure light. And it is done.” 4. Repeat the prayer four times. Morrnah taught that for whatever you are clearing, the prayer is said four times — quietly or aloud. She held that saying it aloud gives the cleaning greater power, though silent recitation is acceptable.
- Close and let go. End with the sealing phrase “And it is done” (or “Ka maluhia no na mea apau” / “Peace be with all”), then release the outcome to the Divine. You do not chase a result; the act of asking and releasing is the practice. She used this prayer especially for cutting “aka cords” — the felt energetic bonds to people and situations. (Sourcing note: the short prayer wording and the four-times / aloud-for-greater-power instructions are documented from Morrnah’s SITH seminars and her widely reproduced prayer sheet. The three-selves naming is her SITH framework. Wording is a faithful short quote; full SITH training is proprietary to the Foundation of I, Inc.)
Source & Lineage
Morrnah Simeona drew on Hawaiian hoʻoponopono as documented by ethnographer Mary Kawena Pukui (with whom she was associated) — traditionally a group rite led by a kahuna to restore right relationships within a family through confession, forgiveness, and release.
Beginning around 1976 Morrnah adapted it into a self-help practice requiring no facilitator and no other party present, blending Hawaiian concepts with elements she framed in universal, non-denominational terms.
She taught it internationally (including at the United Nations and the World Health Organization) and incorporated Foundation of I, Inc. (Freedom of the Cosmos) to carry it forward. Her student Ihaleakala Hew Len later popularized a stripped-down version, which Joe Vitale brought to a mass audience in Zero Limits (2007). →(originator) and the four-phrase descendant.
The Traditions' versions
Traditional Hawaiian hoʻoponopono — the ancestral group reconciliation rite Morrnah modernized into a solo practice.
- Four-phrase cleaning (Hew Len / Vitale) — “I’m sorry, please forgive me, thank you, I love you,” a radically simplified descendant of this prayer.
- Christian confession / examen / contrition prayer — structurally close: acknowledge fault, ask forgiveness, receive release.
- Catholic intercessory prayer — petition to the Divine, then surrender of the outcome.
- Metta / forgiveness meditation (Buddhist) — deliberate cultivation of release and goodwill toward self and others.
- Cord-cutting / release rituals (various Western esoteric and energy traditions) — the explicit severing of a felt bond, which Morrnah’s prayer also names.
Common refinements
Cleaning to control the other person. If you recite it to make him apologize or to fix her, you’ve turned it into manipulation and miss the point. The target is always your own internal state.
- Skipping the responsibility step. Jumping to the words without genuinely owning “this is mine to clear” leaves it a hollow recitation.
- Treating it as a vending machine. Demanding a specific outcome reintroduces the grasping the surrender step is meant to dissolve. Say it, then release.
- Self-blame distortion. “100% responsibility” is meant as response-ability (what I can work on), not “the abuse was my fault.” If it curdles into shame, you’ve misapplied it.
- Rushing. The four repetitions, said with attention (ideally aloud), are part of the design; mumbling once defeats the ritual effect.
- Using it to bypass action. It is an inner practice, not a substitute for setting boundaries, leaving danger, or getting help.