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Kabbalah:
Letters
From Heaven:
Chet
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by Avigayil Landsman |
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Chet: GRACE
Derivation: Gate
Numerical value: 8
Sound: “ch” as in “Bach”
Meaning: Missing the mark
Words: chayt—missing the mark, chesed—over-flowing love, chayn—grace; chupa—wedding canopy
"Open to me, Your gateways of Righteousness
Yes, let me come in, and give thanks to the Source of LOVE (Psalm 118:19)
Derivation:
The ancient form of the letter chet looked like a gate. A gate is a barrier that can act as either an obstacle or a protector.
Form:
Through time, as writing developed and people wrote the letter differently, the vertical bars of the gate turned to become horizontal. Later forms of the letter omitted several rungs in order for chet to become two vertical lines with one top horizontal.
Numerical Value:
Turned on its side, the digit eight is a lemniscate, sign of infinity. When you are strong, you feel as though you can go and go forever. We see this concept illustrated in the traditional Tarot’s Strength and Magician cards. The Strength card is card number eight in the series so its connection is obvious. The Strength card shows a woman opening the mouth of a lion, which takes great strength indeed! The Magician’s hat is also a lemniscate , an indicator that creation is an endless activity, going on in every moment.
Words:
The letter chet is also the Hebrew word, chayt, which means mistake though “missing the mark” is a better meaning for this archery term. A more useful conception of chayt is that it brings you to an awareness about yourself that will compel you to look deeper into yourself so that you can make amends and change your behavior. Mistakes are part of the dynamics of life because they provide opportunities for learning. In this way, our blunders become our gateways to the divine. In the moment we recognize we’ve missed the mark and strive to change our behavior and realign ourselves a gate opens: the gate that when turned ninety degrees, becomes a ladder to heaven.
When we open to divine love, we experience what the psalmist wrote: “Open to me, Your gateways of Righteousness/Yes, let me come in, and give thanks to the Source of LOVE (Psalm 118:19). A righteous person responds to life in a loving way; they strive to make things right.
Chet is the letter of patience, we pause when we come to a gate. Patience and eternity go hand-in-hand because a patient person knows that a goal will eventually be reached. Taking time means the security that one knows one has time. A momentary experience of grace is to touch eternity.
Expanding on Chet:
We encounter other gates in the world. Scientific research has shown that certain geometric patterns create specific effects in the brain. I can’t believe that when I was a young teen, I had a four-foot, black and hot pink op art poster in my bedroom for many years. I think it was called, “Boink! (That could explain quite a lot!) Similarly, when we meditate on certain images, we can be transported to new states of dimensions of thought. This multi-dimensional aspect of images is the power behind Tarot and Runes, as well as other divination systems and symbols. It is also the power behind the Hebrew letters. I have had students who just look at a letter with no previous knowledge of its meaning and they have intuitive insights. When they looked at the letters for a few minutes they were transported to highly spiritual domains.
When we speak of gates to the divine, consider that each Hebrew letter is a gate with its particular energy.
Personal Experience #1:
I was walking on the Saugerties Lighthouse trail in upstate New York one beautiful autumn day; I mainly focused on the sandy path ahead of me. There is a wide assortment of interesting debris embedded in the sand, including water chestnuts and driftwood. The path is a bit closed in due to the high walls formed by pampas grass and other wild plants. I shifted my focus when I came across a flimsy, yet delicate ladder of sorts dangling from a tree branch. It was loosely constructed of twigs and string, gently swaying from the slightest breeze. It acted as a window through which I saw the river and the sky. The ladder transported me through the elements: from the sandy earth to the river (water) and the blue sky (air). My thoughts traveled from the material to the ephemeral, making my soul dance. As I gazed through this hand-made ladder I thought of the Biblical account of Jacob’s ladder, with angels going up and going down. There were no angels on my ladder, but perhaps an angel had gently touched my shoulder so that I would look up at it.
Personal experience, #2:
I was married to a man whom I later divorced because I did not love him the way I originally thought I should. Several years after the divorce, he died at a relatively young age. I was surprised and confused to find myself grieving. I thought grief was an emotion that resulted from losing someone you deeply loved. I had witnessed people in deep grief for they had truly loved another person; their intimate bond became a gateway to the Divine. We can experience the divine in solitude and there is a special shared experience of the divine with another person.
The truth was that I had lost the idea of loving someone; I had lost the dream of being in a loving relationship. I had spent many years feeling angry with myself for making the mistake of marrying my husband and I was angry with my ex-husband for not being who I thought he was (the man I would love all my life).
The truth was that I was sad that I had missed out on a loving marriage. His death made this truth more poignantly real. I finally felt the appropriate grief instead of the long-standing anger. I accepted my life on its own terms and within that acceptance I entered a state of grace.
Personal Experience #3
My friend, Miryam Sarsheen and I went to see the Gates Project, developed by Christo and Jean-Claude in Central Park, New York City in February 2005. The title itself stimulated my Jewish imagination because the concept of gates is ubiquitous in Judaism. There are fifty gates of wisdom and many psalms include passages of walking through the gate of righteousness. Not surprising, the structure of the frames for the Gates project strongly resembled the letter chet itself!
As I walked towards the Gates Project (for photos and essays, check out: www.nyc.gov/html/thegates/home.html), I considered the significance of a gate. A gate keeps unwanted beings out and holds wanted beings inside, therefore, a gate is a boundary. In a spiritual sense, a gate marks a rite of passage. One passes through a gateway of birth into life, and through death into pure essence. There is a gate to the heart, a gate into a new year, a gate into a holiday. Each gate we enter requires a change of consciousness.
From a block away, I saw a bunch of orange drapes suspended from orange frames. Just as I was about to step under my first gate I breathlessly exclaimed to Miryam, “Look! We’re entering the birth canal!” From that moment on, I saw one metaphor after the other.
Jewish households have mezuzahs on the doorposts of their homes. A mezuzah is a decorative container for the prayer of divine unity, known as the Shema. It is customary to stop a moment and touch the mezuzah before entering a home. Some Jews take a moment to kiss the mezuzah as a way to express gratitude for God’s presence in their lives. Kissing the mezuzah gives one the opportunity to take a sacred time out. As I walked through the Gates and sensed the sacredness within the project, I thought that it would be appropriate to have a mezuzah on each frame to encourage the sense that we are entering into the dwelling of the divine.
I noticed that no one ran through the Gates. People came to the Gates with a respectful and welcoming attitude. The expanse of saffron breaking up the gray landscape, the gently fluttering fabric overhead created a kind of shelter that brought out people’s good will. People weren’t exactly meditating, but the Gates generated an atmosphere of reverence.
The Gates marked regulated space, which keenly sharpened my appreciation of every moment, especially since the moments spent under the gates were so pleasant and transporting. What I learned from this was that each moment in our lives we walk through a gate. In between each moment is the silence of the Holy Presence. Each moment contains an opportunity to experience God’s miracles, God’s love for us. Unconditional love is as close as this moment.
Spiritual Application:
Shabbat begins by lighting two separate candles, the ritual welcoming the beginning of the Jewish Sabbath. I meditated on the space between the two-- the candles acted as gates into Shabbat consciousness, a day where time and space are suspended because it is the one day in the week of complete rest. Every time you light a candle to meditate, do so with the intention of spiritually walking through a gate to the divine. Use your spiritual practice as a gateway to living more fully.
Practical Application:
We all make mistakes; learning from them makes us wise. Let your mistakes become gates of inspiration! Fred Hunt, a Floridian painter said, “All art is fiddlin’ around. You take what you’ve learned from all your mistakes into the next picture.” The next time you are dissatisfied with a project, pay attention to what you need to do next time to improve. We have infinite opportunities!
Image:
Here is the tree of life-- a lively tree! The tree is the Shekina, hiding under a veil of leaves, reminding us of the veiled bride at a wedding. This tree also acts as a wedding chupah (canopy) for the avian bride and groom perched on her branches. The bird on the right is singing praises to God with gusto, while the shy bird to the left is silent, but nonetheless feeling deep emotion. |
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Avigayil Landsman,
Creator of the "Letters From Heaven" system for spiritual direction
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Biography: Avigayil grew up in upstate New York and graduated from Tulane University with a major in fine art. She has spent her life applying her creative imagination in a wide variety of visual arts including: painting, assemblage, calligraphy, beading, collage, decoupage, wood sculpture as well as spinning, knitting and crocheting. Many of her projects combine a few of the above.
She is blessed to be a mother of three amazing, creative children, two of whom pursue a career in the arts despite her warnings.
Avigayil’s love of the Hebrew letters began in Hebrew school as a child. When, as an adult she learned that the letters contained hidden meanings, her curiosity was heightened and she began her search and inquiry into the wide range of possibilities the letters possessed. This began a lifelong practice of study and self-reflection. With the knowledge she gained, combined with her creative imagination, she began developing a system of using the Hebrew letters for spiritual direction, which included illustrated “portraits” of the letters as well as writing a monthly column for the Meta Arts several years ago.
Avigayil's
Healing Hamsa
"The hamsa is an old Middle Eastern amulet of protection for luck, health and good fortune. It is known as the hand of God. When you “high five” someone, the resulting image contains two opposable thumbs. When we do our best work we are connected to God through the Divine High Five.
Think of looking up at the sunlight coming through the pine branches in the woods and feel its healing presence.
The gold beads are the sun’s rays and the surrounding wooly locks represent pine branches in the woods where we often feel God’s presence most keenly. The spiral is an ancient symbol of the cosmic force and is associated with the feminine as the doorway to life.
I made this piece for healing, so when you look at it know that I am sending you healing blessings."
Artwork by Avigayil
Photography by Andy Wainwright
To order, contact me at heart2handart@gmail.com
The following article will be gathered together with others into a book, Letters from Heaven, accompanied by a set of Hebrew letter cards. Reproduction of articles is strictly forbidden.
4x6 copies of her illustrations are available from the author.
Contact her at : heart2handart@gmail.com
Please write “meta arts” in the subject box.
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