Standing Still...
It's a bit based the summer solstice now, but I wanted to write concerning it. I bought a book back a bit called The Jewish Book of Days, by Rabbi Jill Hammer. In the entry for Tammuz 10 (which modern calendars place on July 13th this year, but appears to once have been placed at the solstice), contains the following:
No Shadows
In Genesis Rabbah, the summer solstice is the moment when the sun stands still, shining equally on everything, so that nothing has a shadow. Everything is clear in the light of the sun. The sun warms all things, yet also takes the shadows where we hide. It is as if the eye of heaven peered at us without blinking.
In Sefer Yetzirah (5:8), Tammuz is the month of sight, the month when vision is greatest. Tammuz teaches us to look at ourselves without distortion, arrogance, or self-hatred. Leaving behind our shadows means leaving behind our attempts to be someone we are not. Only then can we blossom. The light of summer draws us out of our hiding places and into a clearer vision of ourselves.
The summer solstice illustrates an important concept: standing still. We are constantly in movement, always going here, or coming from there. When do we stand still? In that one moment when the sun stops, we can see what happens if we stand still. That is an eternal moment, a moment of balance. In that moment, there is no past and no future, only the present, only the Now. It is in the Now that we come to know G-d, because only when we stand still, only when we stop worrying about the past and future, and stop chasing them, can we see the Divine clearly without distortion. All other times, we see the Divine through our own shadows, but in that moment, G-d looks down and we look up and there are no shadows.
Those are the moments of perfect peace and perfect Beauty. This is Tipherah, in perfect balance. This is Silence in Kether aligning with Stillness in Malkuth, balanced in Tipherah. Be still.
~Muninn's Kiss
No Shadows
In Genesis Rabbah, the summer solstice is the moment when the sun stands still, shining equally on everything, so that nothing has a shadow. Everything is clear in the light of the sun. The sun warms all things, yet also takes the shadows where we hide. It is as if the eye of heaven peered at us without blinking.
In Sefer Yetzirah (5:8), Tammuz is the month of sight, the month when vision is greatest. Tammuz teaches us to look at ourselves without distortion, arrogance, or self-hatred. Leaving behind our shadows means leaving behind our attempts to be someone we are not. Only then can we blossom. The light of summer draws us out of our hiding places and into a clearer vision of ourselves.
The summer solstice illustrates an important concept: standing still. We are constantly in movement, always going here, or coming from there. When do we stand still? In that one moment when the sun stops, we can see what happens if we stand still. That is an eternal moment, a moment of balance. In that moment, there is no past and no future, only the present, only the Now. It is in the Now that we come to know G-d, because only when we stand still, only when we stop worrying about the past and future, and stop chasing them, can we see the Divine clearly without distortion. All other times, we see the Divine through our own shadows, but in that moment, G-d looks down and we look up and there are no shadows.
Those are the moments of perfect peace and perfect Beauty. This is Tipherah, in perfect balance. This is Silence in Kether aligning with Stillness in Malkuth, balanced in Tipherah. Be still.
~Muninn's Kiss