Chodesh Tov. Welcome the month of Tevet, beginning Saturday evening at sunset on December 24th until sunset Sunday December 25th. We enter this new month of Tevet with lighting candles for the last days of Chanukkah. Scroll down to see new 5 minute meditation videos)
According to kabbalah, every Hebrew month offers unique spiritual opportunities and blessings. Just as there are fluctuations in the weather, so there are changes in the spiritual energies available. Those who are attuned to these energies are aware of these changes and know how to use this knowledge for their personal growth and success.
As often the darkest and the coldest month of the year, Tevet brings challenges that force us to tap into our inner resources and become stronger as individuals and as a people. On the inside level, this month of Tevet is a time of great light, a time of transformation and redemption. The light of Tevet is hidden in the darkness. As the Baal Shem Tov said, that because God's light is so powerful it needs to be concealed in darkness. The letter for Tevet is Tet, which is also the first letter of Tov which means " good".
According to Kabbalah, the month of Tevet is devoted to the purification of negative emotions, particularly anger and jealousy. There is nothing more limiting than the emotions of anger and jealousy. The feelings of jealousy and anger are indicators of a need for greater connection with ourselves and God. The inner work of Tevet asks us to be grateful for what we do have, and take responsibility for what shows up in our lives. Do not be surprised if you witness around you or even within you greater anger this month. Emotions often are coming up as they are being released. It is important that we observe, feel and release anger and jealousy rather than re- afflict ourselves or others with them.
The Hebrew letter Ayin ( eye) is associated with this month. The ability to see the good in every person and in everything that happens is a worthy goal for this month and one that will offer protection. Jealousy, the root of so much suffering and anger personally, communally and globally, comes from the incorrect perception that someone can have something that is meant for you. This is not possible. We can only have what we have the vessels to receive.
Take care, and always pause to breathe if you find yourself becoming angry or jealous. Are you expecting others to be different than they are? Are you expecting yourself to be different than you are? Much suffering is self afflicted because you expect others to show up differently than they usually do. Before we cast judgement on ourselves or others, we need to be aware that our eyes may deceive us. What we see may not actually be true. On a personal level, it is important to remember that often times the reason the qualities of a person bother us so much is that they are mirroring something within ourselves needing healing. When we judge others in a negative light, we are often simply projecting our own negative qualities onto them. Projection is a defense mechanism used to protect oneself from the experience of one's own vulnerability. Our freedom comes from moving from being reactive blaming ourselves and others to making conscious loving heart centered choices in the face of challenge.
On the first days of Tevet, and the last days of Chanukkah, when we are still lighting Chanukkah lights we must consciously shine the Chanukkah light, the light of unconditional love, the light of eternal truth, into those places within us that call out for healing, light and love. The last days of Chanukkah offer us the most healing and transformational blessing of teshuva. Teshuva means to return, to return to who we really are, to the experience of our true most glorious beautiful souls that shine so brightly within our bodies like Chanukkah lights.
The challenge and the spiritual opportunity this entire month is to cultivate patience, practice forgiveness, and continually remember that nothing happens by accident. There is goodness within each challenge. Everything that is happening to us, what appears as good and what may feel as not so good, is designed to take us forward in life. We will know how we are progressing spiritually by observing our anger level. Becoming angered easily is a sign we need to purify ourselves.
We must make a decision to let go of anger because being stuck in anger has so many negative consequences. It renders us victims who are powerless and unable to go forward in our lives. Anger blocks the flow of divine blessing into our lives. When we are angry we are not free. We are slaves to our emotions. We are out of control. We lose contact with our own souls when we blame other people or events for our own unhappiness. Interestingly enough, the Torah portions of this month are about Jewish bondage in Egypt.
While it is not helpful to be angry and reactive, it is also important that in the face of conflict that we not become doormats or passive. It is not healthy to stuff our feelings inside. Denial does not in itself make the anger go away. Anger continues to occupy psychic space within us. whether we are conscious of our feelings or not.
It is therefore important to create safe venues for oneself to process, feel and release anger particularly this month. Give yourself time to feel, rather than avoid or deny your negative feelings. Your feelings are beautiful, even your angry feelings. It is really okay to feel your feelings. It is safe and healing to do so. Yet feeling one's angry feelings is quite different than acting upon them and dumping them on another person. A person exploring anger will often find that underneath the anger they feel is hurt, and a call for greater love and acceptance. This is the month of loving ourselves and all our feelings unconditionally. The anger we feel within will dissolve when we give ourselves the love, acceptance and forgiveness we are seeking.
This month of Tevet is a time of great light, for the greatest light is hidden in darkness. Everything is a mirror. Whatever we see is reflected back to us. If we see the good, the good is reflected back to us. If we see the negative, the negative is reflected back to us. So let's see the good in others and in ourselves, particularly this month.
May we take the light of Chanukkah into the entire month of Tevet so this month is a time of greater inner light and freedom, no matter what is happening externally around us. Chodesh Tov. Love and blessings, M
