 |
 |
| |
| Departments |
Home
Columns, Special
Topics & Features:
The Columns:
Angels, Guides, &
Loving Spirits:
Angel Blessings:
with Dr. Doreen Virtue
Ask Valerie Morrison,
Internationally
Acclaimed Psychic
Trust Your Vibes
By Dr. Sonia Choquette, PhD.
Internationally Acclaimed Psychic Healer & Author
Astrologer's Notes:
Carin Martin,
Astrologer
Donna Cunningham, MSW, Astrologer
Basil Fearrington,
Astrologer
Diana Stone,
Astrologer &
Huna Shaman
Jeff Jawer
Astrologer
Glenn Perry,
Astrologer
Ray Merriman,
Financial Astrology:
MMA Market Week
Noel Tyl,
Astrologer
Daily Aspect Calendar
by Care
MoonWatching with Dana Gerhardt and Friends
Creating Bridges:
The Spiritual &
Philosophical
Act of Power
Discovering the Key to Living Your Sacred Dream
by Lynn Andrews
Avant-Gardening:
Insights
by Frank & Vicky
Giannangelo
From The Heart:
Alan Cohen
Teachings from the Western Mystery Traditions: The Esoteric "Paths of Return"
by Jacquelyn Small, Eupsychia
Spirituality in Daily Life: by Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron
The Conscious Column
by David Ault
Spiritual Mastery
for the 21st Century
Dr. Gwen MacGregor
Pearls of Wisdom:
with Care & Aeon
Encounters on the
Shaman's Path with
Dr. Hank Wesselman, PhD.
Anthropologist, Zoologist, Author, Shamanic Healer & Teacher
The Divine Human
by Ornesha De Paoli
Awakenings
by Karen Johnson
Worshipping by Wondering with
Sankara Saranam, MA Founder of the Pranayama Institute
A Woman's Beauty
by Robin Rice,
Shaman & Author
Wisdom Walks
In Circles
Margaret Lewis,
Shamanic Practitioner
The Awakening Generation
by Ann Marie Judge
Divination Systems:
Be Your Own Oracle
By James Wanless, Ph.D.
Creator of the Voyager Tarot Deck
Feng Shui & Chinese Metaphysics:
Inside Chinese Metaphysics
by Barbara Finch,
Feng Shui &
Chinese Astrology
In Practice:
Juliet's Marketing Wisdom
by Juliet Austin, MA Marketing Coach, Author & Consultant
Kabbalah:
Kabbalah Revealed:
Rav Michael Laitman, PhD, Kabbalalist
"Letters from Heaven:" Spiritual Guidance from
the Hebrew Alphabet
by Avigayil Landsman
Pet Care:
Dr. Carson's Holistic Animal Care
by Dr. Kathleen Carson, D.V.M.
Tarot:
Moment to Moment
by Gigi Miner
Author, Tarot Consultant, & Teacher
Reviews:
Tarot, Cartomancy,
Oracle Decks,
Books, & Software.
by Bonnie Cehovet,
Tarot Master
Humor:
Wake Up Laughing.Com:
Swami Beyondananda
Features:
Blessings & Messages
Event Calendar
Historical Notes & Data
The MetaPersonals
Opinion-Editorial
News Briefs
Symbols, Seals,
Amulets & Talismans
The What in the
World Department
Trivia & Life's Other
Novel Moments
Interviews:
Watch for Upcoming Announcements
Healing & Alternative
Health:
Living in Harmony-Astrology, Yoga & Ayurveda:
Venkat & Christine Machiraju
"Spirit and Practice
of the Wise Woman
Tradition"
By Susun Weed
Tai Chi & Qigong
by Bill Douglas
The Holistic Mystic,
by Lonny Brown
Medical Intuition: Tune
in to Your Body and Improve Your Health
by Caroline Sutherland, Sutherland Communications
Transformational Healing through the Violet Flame!
by Eva Kettles
Herbs for Health
with Kami McBride
Lose Weight Permanently: Stop the Endless Cycle of Dieting
Rena Greenberg,
Practitioner of Neuro Linguistic Programming & Hypnotherapist
The Directory
The Book Nook
Archives:
Past Issues
|
|
|
|
|
|
Creating Bridges: Spirituality & Philosophy:
Kabbalah: "Letters from Heaven:"
Spiritual Guidance from the Hebrew Alphabet
A Journey
Through The Letters:
Part 4
Letters From Heaven: Mem, Nun, Samech
|
|
|
by Avigayil Landsman |
|
|
We continue with the overview of the letters, focusing this month on mem, nun and samech. For each letter, we will learn the sound, the numerical value, and several words (beginning with that letter) that illuminate its meaning. We will consider how to apply the letters’ meanings to our daily lives.
Mem: questioning
Numerical value: 40
Sound: “m” as in “mother”
Words: mayim—water; mah-- what
Derivation: waves on water
Just as water fills any shape
your soul fills the shape of your life.
The top part of the letter mem looks like a wave. The letter derives from a symbol representing the waves on water. Mem is the initial letter of mayim, which means water. Torah is called water because both the Torah and water sustain life.
Mem’s numerical equivalent is forty, the number of years that the Hebrews spent wandering in the desert. Mem is the initial letter of midbar, Hebrew for desert. The number forty appears in other dramatic moments in the Torah. Noah spent forty rainy days in the ark. Moses spent forty days and nights on the mountain to receive the Torah. There are forty weeks of gestation of a human. These seemingly unrelated events are deeply connected, as the time inside the ark and the time on the mountain was a kind of incubation period.
The word for water, mayim, contains the word mi, meaning “who.” Mi appears frontward and backwards in the word mayim. From this we see that the letter mem questions identity. Mem is also the initial letter in the words for interrogatives: what—ma?, why—madu-a?, when—matay?.
Another word that begins with the letter mem is manna, the food God sent from heaven for the Hebrews to eat while traveling through the wilderness. The word can be translated as “what’s this?” The word manna is spelled mem-nun-hey. The letter nun follows mem in the aleph-beit. We can interpretively read this word by using the spiritual meanings of each letter: What (mem) is coming up from the depths (nun) with full aliveness (hey)? My friend, Robert Esformes mused that, “Every time I allowed myself to really investigate what was coming into my life/consciousness at that moment, I was receiving manna. Every time we ask, ‘what is this?’ we are eating manna, and can realize that everything that descends to us from heaven is sustenance of pure chesed (love).”
Spiritual lesson: mah, what is the fundamental question in life. There are no stupid questions. When someone asks a question that takes you off guard, instead of disregarding it, see how their question reflects a deeper level communication. Allow yourself to be surprised by WHAT is revealed!
Practical application: When life gets hectic remember that beneath the turbulent waves on the water is a deep place of calm. Find the calm place in the midst of the crazy turbulence of your life.
If the turbulence is in a relationship ask someone to have a cup of tea or a glass of wine, etc. Connections made through water can go deep.
Nun: emergence
Numerical value: 50
Sound: “n” as in nothing
Words: neshama—soul; niggun—wordless melody
Derivation: snake or fish
Live life as a song
Love life as a miracle
Interestingly, after the watery mem, nun follows with a fish tale. The derivation of the letter nun is a snake. In Aramaic, the word, “nun” means fish. The fish swims in the hidden depths of the water.
The letter nun can mean hidden. Forthcoming life is hidden in the depths of the birth waters. The neshama, Hebrew for soul is hidden within our physical body, emerging on the wings of a niggun, Hebrew for a wordless melody. A niggun repeatedly sung over and over again can be spiritually transporting.
Fifty has great significance in the Torah. There are fifty gates of wisdom. The fiftieth year is known as the jubilee. The decade of forty, mem is one of teaching. The decade of fifty is one of emergence, when one feels the fullness of one’s identity; one comes fully into one’s own.
Spiritual application: Take the opportunity to discover your deep hidden truths. You will emerge fresh, alive and enthusiastic!
Practical application: When you find yourself happily humming a melody, focus on how it makes you feel and then use it later when you need to lift your spirits. The love of what you are doing can transcend all pain.
#2 If you like swimming, nun is the letter that tells you to honor your fish self and go for a dip.
Samech: support
Numerical value: 60
Sound: “s” as in “song”
Words: samach—put, support; smicha-- ordination
Derivation: tree with branches or skeleton of a fish
May every ending be a beginning
filled with blessings!
From a fish that emerges from the depths, we come to the structure that supports the fish. The letter samech derives from the skeleton of a fish or the infrastructure of a tree. The skeleton is the inner support of all living vertebrates.
The letter samech is the only fully enclosed letter of the twenty-two letters of the aleph-beit. The letter reminds us of an ouroboros, a snake swallowing its own tail. This symbol is found throughout most early cultures. It suggests that the beginning is embedded in the ending. Samech is the eternal, loving embrace of HaShem.
Throughout the world, many rituals take place in a circle. A sacred circle represents the spiritual support where the ritual can take place. The bride and groom exchange wedding rings in a wedding ceremony. This magic circle carries a feeling of love, connection and endless support.
As you will remember, vav, whose numerical value is six, has the energy of connection. If you were to bend the letter vav so that the top of vav would touch its bottom, the resulting letter would be samech.
The next time you give someone a hug, realize that you are making a samech with your arms. When two friends support each other with love, their egos disappear and there is no beginning or end to the energy of love that cycles between them.
The Talmud, a commentary on the Torah, says that, “Sleep is one sixtieth death, dreaming is one sixtieth prophesy. Fire is one-sixtieth hell, honey is one-sixtieth manna. Shabbat is one sixtieth the World to Come.” It is also written that when you visit the sick, you take one sixtieth of the illness away from them.
The letter’s shape embodies the phrase, “sovev v’mamaleh,” surrounding and filling, two ways to relate to creation. We read in Isaiah 6:3, “The entire earth is filled with His Presence.” God’s love eternally surrounds us as we constantly evolve. Sovev v’mamaleh makes me think that God is constantly giving birth to us, like a giant mother, both surrounding us with her body and filling us with her tender mercy.
Spiritual application: Open your heart to the unending love of the Shekinah with the knowledge that you are constantly supported on your journey!
Practical application: Show a loved one you care—give him/her a big, supportive hug.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Avigayil Landsman,
Torah Scholar, Calligrapher, Teacher & Creator of the "Letters From Heaven" Deck
|
 |
Avigayil has been a serious student of Torah for the last ten years and has written many d'vrai Torah(Torah lectures). She is the creator of Letters from Heaven, a Jewish divination system that incorporates the mystical meanings of the Hebrew letters, her chiddushim (new insights into Torah) and their application to the challenges of daily life. Her LFH readings offer seekers of all persuasions spiritual direction in finding one's authentic voice.
Avigayil is a multi-media artist who is best-known for the beaded breastplate that adorns the Woodstock Jewish Congregation's Torah. She creates personalized ketubot, beeswax Shabbat candles, shiviti plaques and other judaica as well as secular art in Sculpey, paint, and shadow boxes that combine disparate objects such as feathers, beads and wood.
Her Judaica (beeswax Shabbat and havdallah candles, havdallah spice boxes, shiviti plaques) and calligraphy cards are available for purchase at the Woodstock Jewish Congregation's judaica shop, Miriam's Well and her home. She also does private commissions.
Avigayil has taught enrichment classes in calligraphy for the Woodstock Jewish Congregation's Hebrew school. She prepares children and adults for becoming Bat/bar-mitzvah with humor and deep wisdom that come from her own unique way of living through the lessons of Torah. She has also given workshops and lectures on the spiritual meaning of the Hebrew letters and Letters from Heaven at Omega.
"Avigayil Landsman's interpretations of the Hebrew letters are original, witty, steeped in scholarship, and above all a genuine opening to our own spiritual wisdom." Rachel Pollack, creator of Shining Tribe Tarot Deck
www.rachelpollack.
com
Avigayil is available for art commissions and LFH readings in person or on the phone. She may be contacted by e-mail at:
Avigayil1@earthlink.net
Website:
www.jewish-wisdom
-and-art.4t.com
|
 |
You'll find it in
The
Directory! |
|
|
|
|
