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Creating Bridges: Spirituality & Philosophy:
Kabbalah: "Letters from Heaven:"
Spiritual Guidance from the Hebrew Alphabet
A Journey through the letters: Part 2
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by Avigayil Landsman |
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Last month we looked at the derivations, meanings and applications of the first three letters of the aleph-beit (Hebrew alphabet): aleph, beit and gimmel. This month we will continue our journey through the aleph-beit with the letters: dalet, hay and vav. Italicized words indicate a word that begins with the featured letter.
Dalet-- openings
Derivation: door, tent flap, breast, pubic triangle
Numerical value: 4
Sound: “d” as in “door”
Words: dalet—door; derech—way; d’var—thing, word; dodi—my beloved friend
Finding an opened door
Leads the Way to
My Beloved Friend
Dalet derives from images of a door but also of a breast or the pubic triangle. The top horizontal line rests on a slanted vertical line. This posture indicates humility. It is important to understand that humility is not synonymous to being humiliated. Humility is an awareness of what skills and talents we posses. Our humility lies in acknowledging that what we are made of comes from God.
The numerical value of dalet is four. There are four seasons (based on two equinoxes and two solstices), four cardinal directions, four fixed astrological signs, and four elements (fire, earth, air and water). The four cardinal directions give you four perspectives with which to express yourself. Your ideas change when you face a new direction.
The paper we write on, the homes we live in generally have four sides. When we think of our bodies, we think of four: right, left, front and behind. I am looking at my writing on a four-sided monitor!
The four-sided square is the alchemical symbol for the earth. But remember, we don’t have to be “boxed in” by dalet because within it’s physicality; four has a door to open! This teaches us that our physicality can lead us to our spirituality. There are four letters in the Holy name of God, known as the tetragrammaton.
Dalet becomes the entryway to full material form as well as a doorway from the material to spiritual levels of experience and understanding.
Spiritual practice: the “way”/derech. When we walk on a physical path, we are aware of the four directions: north, east, south and west. When we take a spiritual journey, our soul journeys through the four worlds, or levels of creation: action, formation, creation and essence. The humble dalet teaches us to take direction from our inner compass that leads us to our spiritual self. On our mission to the sacred, we learn that “physical reality becomes a gateway to the sacred.” (Rachel Pollack, The Shining Tribe, p197) There are many choices and it is important to find our authentic path. No one way is the only way to be, but there is one that most closely reflects who we truly are. It is our sacred duty to find it and stay true to it.
Practical application: Take care of your body. Open the door to the world… and take a walk! Notice the possibilities the other directions offer. Where would you wind up if you turned to the south, north, etc.?
D’var—word, thing Take note of the words you use to express your feelings and thoughts. What word pictures do you make?
Hey- aliveness
Derivation: person praying
Numerical value: 5
Sound: “h” as in “how”
Words: ha—the; hallelujah-- praise God; hinayni—here I am!;
havayah-- THE experience
Song to hey
The power of Your being
Is the Experience
Here I am!
For all that You were,
Are and will be
I am too
The ancient derivation of hey is a figure with upraised arms or supplication or prayer.
Hey is the letter of aliveness. Four is our structure and five helps us become aware of our physical self and surroundings through our five senses. Hey is present in the Holy Name of God, yud-hey-vav-hey [The name is unpronounceable because to name something is to give it form. In fact, the name is not a name, but a verb]. The letters of this name can be rearranged to spell is, was, will be which comprise one’s full experience of life. Dalet is a door that we enter with our body; hey is the window that we enter with our eyes. Think of how enthralling the sunrise is from one’s window, how our windows open up the limiting enclosure inside our homes. Metaphorically, our home is our body, the window our eyes.
Spiritual practice: Hallelujah! Praise God in all that you do, from all you experience. When our senses are excited and our hearts are opened, we naturally flow with praise for the Eternal. The word literally means praise (hallel) God(yah). Interesting that the derivation of the letter hey was a pictogram of a person praying! This is wonderful example of how we can embody the letter! Throw up your arms and shout Hallelujah! Read Psalm 150 that says “Praise God with drums and writhing dancing.”
Practical application: Seek ways to enhance your senses: take a bubble bath, take time to examine patterns in tree bark the next time you take a walk, be silent and count the sounds you hear; eat chocolate very slowly; enjoy the softness of an animal’s fur or special fabric; smell your food before you eat and try to identify all the spices. After each experience make a prayer of gratitude for being alive to experience what you did.
Vav: connection
Numerical value: 6
Sound: “v” as in “very”
Words: v’—and
Love
Laugh
Sing
Sigh…
Connect!
The letter vav’s ancient derivation is a peg or a nail. A nail connects things. The letter vav serves as the conjunction, “and.”
Once we are aware of the power of living in the world, we feel a need to connect with others. We intensify our experience when we share it with others. Six is the number of communication and vav acts as the pipeline for the divine flow, bringing the energy of the cosmos to earth. Vav is one of the letters in the Holy Name of God. (see hey for more on the Name) Vav acts as the pipeline that brings the energy from above to below, connecting heaven and earth. Vav is the connector: between God and humanity and between people. Bond in love, reaching Vav is also a conduit. Meditate on what you bring to others and how your presence affects them. Remember, connection is a two-way street.
Spiritual application: Remember that humans are the links between heaven and earth. Vav teaches that the External’s presence is mirrored in our lives. When we are connected to the Divine Flow, we are kind, considerate, thoughtful and trusting of others. When we lose that connection, we are callous, hurtful, vengeful and fearful. Take note of how your feelings reflect your connection to the Divine.
Practical application: Remembering that the letter vav derives from a peg or nail, hang up some pictures that have special meaning for you. Check the wire connections of appliances and computers, keeping in mind that nothing works without connection to the infinite source of power!
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Avigayil Landsman,
Torah Scholar, Calligrapher, Teacher & Creator of the "Letters From Heaven" Deck
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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
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