Dear friends,
What an inspiring week we have ahead of us. This is a 7-day period that I believe can leave us with a clearer head, a purer heart, and a
closer connection to the Creator.
This week is the biblical portion of Chukat, which opens with the
story of the red heifer and how it served as a source for spiritual
cleansing. The red heifer itself was a female (which we know from
the kabbalists to be the energy of “receiving”) and it was completely
red (also the energy of “receiving”). It was a total physical
embodiment of the Desire to Receive for the Self Alone, as it had no other
elements within it. By taking the ashes of the red heifer that was sacrificed
by fire, which in essence represents our own sacrifice of the Desire to Receive
for ourselves alone, and combining it with water, which is the form of mercy, a
unique mixture was created that cleansed even the most spiritually impure,
bringing them back to a state of wholeness.
The portion of Chukat is also famous for the story of Moses and the rock that
provides water for the people.
There are so many lessons for us here, but what came to my awareness at this
time is the common element that exists in both stories. Water was the means for both supernatural and miraculous
spiritual events to take place. It’s also interesting that the portion of
Chukat always falls during the month of Tammuz, which itself is a water
sign.
The Zohar teaches that water is the nearest earthly
manifestation of the Light of the Creator. It is an expression of the sefira,
or emanation, of Chesed, also known as: Loving-Kindness. From this, we can begin to understand why water was an essential
ingredient in the story of the red heifer, and the spiritual cleansing
that came from it.
Love and kindness have the power to dissolve negativity. You may have seen that
I posted this on Twitter recently, and though the sentiment is true, it is so
much deeper and so much more profound than 140 characters could afford. Love is a spiritual capacity, a spark of Light, that each of us have been
imbued with, and when we give it to others, it brings our soul back to
it’s place of wholeness. In this life, we each have a little bit of the red
heifer inside of us. It is how we were made. We all have selfish desires. We
all do things that we may not be so proud of. Yet, we also carry within us
the essence of the Creator, Loving-Kindness. The more love we give, the more we
spread the Creator’s Light in the world. Given both qualities, our choice is to
at least strike the balance, and hopefully more than that we can be the cause
that will tip the scales towards more love in the world.
In the coming seven days, may our mouths speak words of encouragement and may our hearts flow outward with acts of kindness to loved ones,
strangers, and maybe most especially those who perhaps have not been so kind to
us.
This week, let love be your
true North.
Have a blessed week,
Karen
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