New Moon Meditations: Sivan 5775
By Dr. Terry Segal / tsegal@atljewishtimes.com
Rosh Chodesh Sivan begins Tuesday, May 19. This is the month that we receive the Torah. We’ve been preparing ourselves to walk in balance so that we can carry its wisdom forward with steady steps.
The subtleties to uncover this month involve joining our humanness with the transcendent light of the Creator to bring G-d’s essence into our daily lives.
According to the Sefer Yetzirah (Book of Formation), Sivan’s Hebrew letter is zayin, Zodiac sign is Gemini, tribe is Zebulun, sense is walking, and controlling limb is the left foot.
On Rosh Chodesh Sivan, we’ll have been counting the Omer for six weeks and three days since the second night of Passover. This count continues until the night before Shavuot, when we hit the seven-week or 49-day mark on the 6th of Sivan. G-d prepares to give us the Torah, and we’ve been preparing ourselves to receive it.
Many people muddle through the middle ground of daily life, consumed with their own needs and desires. The sanctity of the divine is above us, and the impurity of life disconnected from G-d is beneath us. We must seek G-d and bring the divine wisdom to the middle ground through our actions.
As we yearn for peace in the world, we recognize that it will require a connection to a shared home base that is impenetrable. G-d is the rock and the mountain that is greater than we are as individuals. The challenge is, how can we bring ourselves to G-d to receive the wisdom available to all of us? When we unite with G-d, we unite with others who unite with G-d, regardless of the path taken.
Sivan’s Hebrew letter, zayin, is created with a vav that has a crown on top. It is said that every Jewish soul receives a crown at the giving of the Torah.
Twins represent the Zodiac sign of Gemini, so we look for twins this month. Within us, we have the warring, archetypal twins of Jacob and Esau. We also have the twin tablets, originally the Ten Utterances, now known as the Ten Commandments.
The first five, like Esau and the yetzer tov (inclination to good), unite us with G-d and others, instructing us to “love thy neighbor as thyself.” The second five are likened to Jacob and the yetzer hara (inclination to evil) and are concerned with “shall nots.”
The Torah commands us to “love G-d with all of your heart,” meaning the integration of both energies. Herein lies the power of two becoming one, as in heaven and earth and the upper and lower worlds.
Mercury is the ruling planet. In Greek mythology, Mercury is the messenger who gives and receives. The element of air supports the transformation of dense energy into thin wisps at this time, which allows us to receive and integrate thoughts quickly.
The tribe of Sivan is Zebulun. This tribe and Issachar share Leah as their mother and follow each other, as do Nisan and Sivan. Issachar contains the scholars, and Zebulun has the merchants and seafarers.
Those born under the sign of Gemini are good communicators and often go into sales as merchants. They are able to change perspectives and see things through two sets of eyes. They value information more than material possessions and, at a soul level, are on a quest for deeper connection and fulfillment as they maneuver through their relationship with the opposing twins of the material and spiritual worlds.
The sense is walking, which connects to the controlling limb of Sivan, the left foot. The left side of the body is physical, and the right is spiritual. If we were to walk only using the left foot, we would not get very far. Sometimes we get stuck and run in circles, as if we have one foot tacked to the floor. We need the balance of the right and left feet to move us forward in a grounded way.
Sivan is about bringing G-d into our daily lives, walking in balance between two worlds, integrating opposing forces and elevating ourselves mindfully in all of our relationships.
Meditation Focus
What has kept you from deepening your relationship with G-d? How can you bring G-d’s presence into your most mundane tasks?
Terry Segal is a licensed marriage and family therapist and a hypnotherapist, holds a doctorate in energy medicine, and wrote “The Enchanted Journey: Finding the Key That Unlocks You.”
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