Tevet: Envision a World of Goodness

Rosh Chodesh Tevet began Monday, Dec. 18. The month of Tevet is about rectifying our sight. The task is to correct our vision, align our perspective, and amend the way in which we look at things, both inwardly and outwardly, in equal measure. We are urged to wrestle with the evil eye.

The Hebrew letter this month is ayin, meaning eye. The letter looks like two eyes joined together at the base. There is an X-shaped structure formed at the point below the brain that is the optic chiasma. There the two optic nerves cross each other. It’s in this center that visual impulses are received and interpreted.

The two eyes of the letter aren’t symmetrical or aligned. What a metaphor for how our internal and external vision can be out of balance. The world seems filled with violence, disregard for human life, and lack of integrity and honor, as if there’s a blindness to Hashem’s watchful presence.

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We’re required to look inward at ourselves, our thoughts and our behaviors. Do we stand in judgment, blame others, speak unkind words or spread the energy of gossip and hatred?

Then we look outward to others and the world. When we observe imbalances, negativity or injustice, do we turn a blind eye, or take some positive action? Do we feel powerless to change the world?

We must see our way through the fog.

Astrologically, this new moon arrives at what is called the galactic counterpoint. It’s a major transition point, a time of endings and completions of a five-year cycle.

Think about what you’ve focused on or wrestled with the past five years. The pieces are about to fall into place.

This is the perfect time to look with one eye to the past and to understand ourselves through the lens of how we have met the challenges of the world, how we’ve responded to stress, how we have embraced or rejected love, and how much or little we have been inclusive of Hashem, our teachings and our traditions.

The other eye looks to the future, which is about to shift into high gear when Saturn enters the sign of Capricorn in January. We’ve been moving toward change and stepping into the mission of our soul, the reason we are here on Earth at this time in these sets of circumstances.

As we look, as if with a magnifying glass, we see the boundaries we must draw around ourselves. Who supports and encourages our lives and dreams, and who does not? Who may have served a major role in our lives yet has completed a connection with us, meaning it is time to part ways?

There is a vision of old systems and organizations crumbling, which brings the feeling that we have never been told the truth or that so much has been hidden from us.

It’s as if we’ve been stumbling around in the dark, and now suddenly the light switch has been flipped on. It’s so bright, though, and we’re not used to it and want to squint and shut our eyes.

It’s going to take some time to adjust.

We mustn’t suffer from myopia going forward. That would result in a lack of creative vision, imagination and insight. It’s a nearsightedness that focuses only on the negativity of our world.

It’s our job to invalidate or nullify the evil eye and take its power away.

We can no longer pretend there is no evil at all or ignore it, and we must do our part to develop the eye that is focused on good. That’s where the inner vision of trusting ourselves, responding with grace, integrity, self-support and love, is vital. We look to Hashem to guide us.

Meditation focus: Quiet yourself and lift your eyes toward the heavens. Now imagine yourself up in an airplane, high above, as Hashem’s co-pilot, surveying all that’s below you. See how the puzzle pieces fit, and notice which ones of yours are missing.

What needs to be reined in or diminished and what needs to be magnified? Observe your own good and evil eyes and develop a clear picture of your vision, corrected.