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Creating Bridges: Spirituality & Philosophy:
Kabbalah: "Letters from Heaven:"
Spiritual Guidance from the Hebrew Alphabet
The Healing Hands of God
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by Avigayil Landsman |
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I am taking a break from my usual format to tell you about some exciting insights and experiences I’ve had recently with the Hebrew letters in the realm of healing. Those of you who have been reading my past columns know that the letters derive from even more ancient pictograms. Many of these images were also used as amulets.
Consider the current use of milagros in the Latin world. Milagro means miracle. Milagros come in many shapes such as feet, hands and eyes. They are to be worn for protection against the Evil Eye or for healing of a specific body part. It then naturally follows that the letters, having derived from images of body parts and animals and vital implements that humans use might also be used for healing.
The letter aleph derives from an image of an ox; gimmel derives from an image of a camel; hey derives from a person praying; tet derives from a snake; yud derives from a hand; chaf derives from the palm of a hand; mem derives from water; nun derives from a fish or a snake; samech derives from a fish skeleton; ayin derives from an image of an eye; pey derives from an image of a mouth; koof derives from an image of a monkey; reish derives from an image of a human head; shin derives from a tooth. The other letters derive from tools that people use: beit—house; dalet—door; vav—hook or peg; zayin—weapon; chet—a gate; lamed—an ox goad.
The thirteenth century book Sefer Raziel offers many healing amulets that include various Hebrew letters as well as the letters of the tetragrammaton. Very often, a group of letters representing the first letter in the word of a prayer was used on an amulet. In Eastern Europe, it is common to pin a beaded concentric triangle on a baby’s coat to protect her or him from the Evil Eye. The mezuzah, a decorative case with parchment containing specific passages from the Bible is hung on the doorposts of observant Jews worldwide. Jews also wear replicas of the mezuzah as jewelry. The official purpose is not magical or healing protection but many Jews use them that way. Jews, observant and secular, also popularly wear the six-pointed star and Chai, a Hebrew word, spelled chet, yud meaning life.
You can make your own amulets by drawing or painting a letter on a piece of paper, using your favorite healing color. If the paper is thin, you can laminate it. Make a hole in the top middle to create a pendant to wear around your neck or simply stand the card up on your bookshelf or another place where you are likely to see it. If you want to be more elaborate, try using a letter as a template for needlepoint or mosaics. You can also make a collage of images that reflect the healing energy of the letter. Include a photo or some representation of the person to be healed, the project you are working on or the issue you are tackling. The process will focus your intensions. I believe that making the letter activates its energy in you. Just as walking through a labyrinth or tracing its pattern with your finger soothes the brain, writing a Hebrew letter stimulates brain activity.
The key to using the letters as amulets is to become familiar with their inner meanings. Many people pick up information not by studying the letters but by the forms themselves. I include examples of spiritual and practical applications for each letter through my personal experiences. Keep the letters in mind as you go about your life and you will find that there are zayin experiences, or that you need chet energy, etc. The key words next to each letter should act as a general guide. Of course, there are many other possibilities that apply. You may want to “rename” them as you play with them yourself.
I hope you will find it beneficial and I welcome you to share your experiences with me. You can email me at seektorahtreasures@yahoo.com.
I have been doing readings using the Hebrew letters for several years, addressing a wide range of issues, from personal boundaries to upcoming surgery. I am always impressed and deeply moved by how perfect each spread has turned out for the querent. I learn more about the letters through applying them to the specific issue of the querent. I truly believe that the letters have much guidance to offer us and will reveal more details the more specific we make our request.
A woman once came to me who was having reproductive troubles and the letter samech came up in her reading, the only completely enclosed letter. My illustrated card pictures the supernal pelvis, supporting all of creation. When my querent thought of her pelvis supporting her instead of being weak, she brightened. She saw how the letter samech supported her on her healing journey. I have my illustration of samech in a frame next to my writing area to remind me to be open to the Law of Abundance. (I also write myself Abundance checks; read about them in Pearls of Wisdom in The Meta Arts directory!)
A friend of mine recently went to the hospital due to chest pain. I meditated on her, asking Spirit for guidance in sending healing to her heart. I was instructed to cross my arms across my chest and visualize the letter chaf. The letter chaf derives from a pictogram of a palm of a hand. Healing energy is found in the center of the palm. I considered the Hebrew word for heart, lev, which begins with the letter lamed. When the mirror image is paired next to the lamed, an image very much resembling a heart is created. It seems like a very nice healing amulet for heart problems. When I spoke with her a few weeks later, she said that the image of chaf over her heart felt very healing and she felt a lot of warm, healing energy.
As a deep lover of water, I am thrilled to see so much water imagery make its way into the Hebrew alphabet. The letter nun derives from a fish or snake. Since the fish and snake live in water and kidneys clean the urine, I wonder if nun might be beneficial for kidneys?
I had a woman ask about a neurological problem and zayin came up in her reading. Zayin derives from an image of a sword. In fact, the word zayin means weapon. I intuited that acupuncture might be a helpful modality for her condition. Other people have come to me with personal boundary issues. For them, zayin indicates a need to cut away unhealthy ties that keep them bound to low self-esteem and an inability to move forward in their lives.
I have been very inspired by the line from psalms that says, “I place God (YHVH) before me always.” It can also be translated as, “I dwell in the Divine Presence at all times.” I find this to be a deep teaching. What does it mean to put God before you; most of us dwell on our problems! Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, founder of the Jewish renewal movement, the newest and most progressive approach to Judaism teaches that when the letters YHVH (yud-hey-vav-hey) are written vertically they look like a person: yud is the head; hay, the shoulders and arms, vav is the spine and the lower hay is the pelvis and legs. He suggests that when we look at others, we project YHVH onto them. This is a creative way to affirm that we are truly made in the image of God!
I used this meditation on a friend of mine who was in terrible pain throughout her body. The pain was centered in her spine and radiated down her legs. When she told me it was nerve pain, I focused on the letter vav, which is the pipeline of the divine flow just as the spinal chord is the pipeline for our nerve supply throughout the entire body. I focused my attention on the integrity of the letter’s straight, unbroken vertical because nerves need to be fed directly. Should a vertebrae be out of alignment, the nerve supply can be compromised or cut off. The letter vav represented the straight path of nerve supply from the spine. I energized the four letters with bright, golden light; I put my whole heart into this meditation. The next day, she told me that she felt that something was going on the previous night and she was happily surprised the next morning to wake up feeling pain free for the first time in weeks!
I know someone who is suffering from both physical and psychological pain. The two are very much connected. I started meditating on her by sending the ineffable Name to her and saw a special vision of hey, which reflects so many teachings I have written about in the past. The letter hey has a small opening on the left and a large opening at the bottom.
The rabbis say that the opening on the left allows energy in and the opened bottom allows energy out. The instruction for making the letter emphasizes the importance of insuring that the opening on the left side is large enough to inscribe an eye. This is the eye of God looking for souls who want to return to a life aligned with the Eternal. When I meditated on the upper hey of the Name, I focused on letting the sorrows of her heart run out. The heavy, dark, tarry sadness turned into weightless glitter. The lower hey was the weight that had moved from her heart into her digestive system. The letter hey in this case became a dynamic healing system to flush the system of detrimental debris as well as serving as a loving reminder that the Eternal watches each of us with a loving, compassionate eye, welcoming us to return to safety.
The use of the Name as a meditation devise goes back hundreds of years. A decorative plaque, called a shiviti has been used to adorn homes and synagogues for hundreds of years. It is called a shiviti plaque because shiviti is one of the words from the line in Psalms quoted earlier, “I place God before me always.” (Shiviti Adonay l’negdi tamid). The plaque can be made of any material, whether metal, ceramic or paper. The one criterion is for the Name to be written vertically on it somewhere.
I love the way the Name looks. Recently, I made some “sacred graffiti” by writing the NAME on boulders by the Sawkill creek in Woodstock, using a natural golden chalk that I found by the creek. Then I gathered many flat stones from the creek. I painted the letters of the Name on them so that I could carry the Name with me always as a kind of portable shiviti. I also painted the NAME on pieces of beach glass and taped them on the wall in front of my kitchen table. My kitchen table is the center of activity in my home, serving as an area for socializing, craft making and studying as well as dining! I realized that this would be a good place to display the Name since I spend so much time here. I find that now, as a result of placing the NAME in view, my kitchen table also serves as a meditation space.
If you are interested in buying beaded amulets, a portable shiviti or other Hebrew letters on stone or beach glass, please contact me at seektorahtreasures@yahoo.com .
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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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