Journey from Shevat (Star) to Adar (Moon) to Nisan (Emperor), illustrated by the The Transparent Tarot
The moon, the card of Adar, is the card of lunacy, which makes sense. The traditional Waite-Smith card shows a remote landscape at the edge of civilization with a dog, a wolf and a crustacean howling at the moon. There is a long path ahead in this card and it is not an easy one. We’ve passed the Star (Shevat), the card of Adar which restored our sense of wellbeing and guided us to this place. Now the moon is the brightest object in the sky. This is a month of lunacy and heightened sensitivities. While loaded with humor, it is also fraught with dangers. As the Story of Esther
In this month of Adar, use humor wisely. Be perceptive to the things that are hidden from plain sight. Be aware of the things you should not be revealing just yet. Use stagecraft and good planning to ensure that you, and your community, flourish and prosper.
~ Excerpt from Rosh Chodesh Guide for Adar. Like what you see? Subscribe and get this and much more ~
Tags: adar, esther, jewish, judaism, Purim, Wheel of the Year
Water Fire Air Earth (cc) Gunjan Karun
In a previous post, I began talking about the four elements of a sustainable spiritual practice — at least from my perspective. I believe that these do work across any tradition, at least in concept.
It’s important to understand that my system is based, like most, on the foundations of others. So to understand one, you need to have some frame of reference in what it is built on. There are layers and layers and layers that are influencing anyone’s work. The elements seem so simple, and yet, it’s the correspondences around them that give them power as symbols for us. So let me begin by helping you experience my worldview and how the elements fit into it.
Key to my work, is the Sefer Yetzirah, many traditional Jewish sources, and the work of RK’Jill Hammer (whose work is also built from traditional Jewish magick and mysticism). Just to establish that the elements truly are part of Jewish tradition, let me quote a few passages that illustrate this clearly.
In the Sefer Yetzirah it says:
Three mothers are in the year: fire, water, and breath. Fire is for the hot season, water for the cold season, and air for the season of abundance, balances between them. (source)
The Zohar says:
Fire, earth, air and water are the sources and roots of all things above and below, and on them all things are grounded. In each of the four winds these elements are found: Fire in the North, Air the East, Water in the South, Earth in the West. (source)
Abraham Ibn Ezra wrote:
Everything under the sun is composed of four elements, from which all things come forth, and to which all return. These elements are fire, air, water, and earth. (source)
Even Maimomedes:
There are four bodies (gufim), and they are fire (eish), air (ruach), water (mayim), and earth (afar). They are the foundation of all that is created beneath the firmament. (source)
RK’Jill uncovered her own unique understanding of the wheel of the year and how the four elements are within it. In an article on her website, she explores the idea that each season has an inner and outer element:
…the Sefer Yetzirah places fire in the summer, water in the winter, and air in the spring and fall. Gershon Winkler places fire in the summer, earth in the autumn, water in the winter, and air in the spring. Contemplating these two systems, I came to feel that there were two wheels of the seasons; an outer one and an inner one. On the inner wheel, which correpsonds to the element we most need at each season, fire (the fire of the hearth) is the spirit of winter and water (the quencher of thirst) the spirit of summer, earth (the spirit of harvest) is the spirit of autumn and air (the freshness of the breeze) the spirit of spring. On the outer wheel, which corresponds to the element we have most abundantly at each season, fire (heat of the sun) is the spirit of summer, air (the call of the shofar, the storm, and the coolness of wind) the spirit of autumn, water (rain, snow and ice) the spirit of winter, and earth (growing and planting) the spirit of spring. This outer wheel matches with the Talmud’s statement that the winter months are the “days of rain” and the summer months are the “days of sun.”
She distills all of this into the following set of seasonal/elemental correspondence found in her book, The Jewish Book of Day
Autumn:
- Outer Element = Have = Earth
- Inner Element = Need = Air
Winter:
- Outer Element = Have = Water
- Inner Element = Need = Fire
Spring
- Outer Element = Have = Air
- Inner Element = Need = Earth
Summer
- Outer Element = Have = Fire
- Inner Element = Need = Water
There are many other correspondences I considered before I settled on the associations for a sustainable spiritual practice. I’ll save those for a later post.
From all of this I distilled things down to the following four elements of a sustainable spiritual practice:
- Earth = Resources You Consume
- Air = Community
- Fire = Personal Connection to the Divine
- Water = Creative Expression (Creativity)
I’ve already seen others creating their own versions of this, which is very exciting. In Part II, I’ll discuss in more depth the specific thoughts around the elements of a sustainable spiritual practice, as I see them.
I’d love for this to be a discussion, so please share your thoughts!
Image courtesy of NASA/Visible Earth Project
This is the question I’m seeing asked a lot by theologians and anyone with blog and an opinion. My morning paper this morning presented me with this question as answered by several columnists from Washington Post’s “On Faith” column.
The responses I saw in my paper to the question “Does God hate Haiti” infuriated me enough that I need to answer the question myself.
The answer is a resounding, “NO!”
Tags: deity, divinity, Go(d)dess(s)(es), haiti, job, life, love, nature, theology, truth
Photo Credit: D. Sharon Pruitt (c) Creative Commons Attribution
As I work to introduce my version of Sustainable Spirituality to the world, I’m trying to also better incorporate it into my own life. A big part is looking at what I’m working on and ensuring that there’s not too much in anyone area. Balance and rotation are really important.
Last year, I focused way too heavily on earth and manifestation, being a big ole Virgo — not too surprising. This was reactionary to a long period of time that I felt I hadn’t “DONE” anything. Lots of thinking and learning, but not enough doing. So I swung way in the other direction. When I started thinking about 2010 and what I wanted to do, I tried to apply a little of my own theory.
I was feeling like I had a jumble of things I wanted to work on in 2010, but with a little thought I realized they fit into the four elements of sustainable spiritual practice quite well. By paying attention to different aspects of spiritual practice, I can help to ensure balance and create cohesion in otherwise disparate work.
Tags: elements, goals, planning, spirituality, structure, sustainable spirituality, system
Left to Right, Journey from Tevet (Devil) to Shevat (Star) to Adar (Moon) illustrated by the Transparent Tarot
~ Excerpt from Rosh Chodesh Guide for Shevat. Like what you see? Subscribe and get this and much more ~
“There’s a light at the end of the tunnel
The inside might be as black as the night
But at the end of the tunnel there’s a light.” (Starlight Express)
Shevat (שְׁבָט) is a breath of fresh air. We may have a way to go, but we can see the light at the end tunnel. We are released from the bonds of Tevet (טֵבֵת) and get our first promise of the spring to come with the holiday of Tu b’Shevat
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