Chodesh Ram Cheshvan Tov!

Chodesh Ram Cheshvan Tov!

The Jewish Year is one whole, two halves, four quadrants, 12 months associated with 12 Tribes/12 Houses. We've just rounded the corner into the Northwestern Quadrant - Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius (Tishrei/Cheshvan/Kislev) corresponding to Ephraim, Menashe and Benyamin - "Rachel's Boys" (Ephraim and Menashe were the sons of Joseph, the son of Rachel, and this Quadrant of the year is the most intense "Rachel Energy" of the entire Jewish Year ).
Each of the 4 Quadrants are made up of 3 Signs, always in the same progression: Cardinal (Initiating), Fixed (Establishing) and Mutable (Transforming). That is the archetype for all energetic progressions, internally and externally.

It's Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan today. Fixed Water - Establishing Emotion. We're going to spend the next month diving into the deepest, darkest depths of our feelings and if we do our work correctly, we'll emerge from this month like a pearl diver coming up for air with the biggest, most pure and beautiful translucent pearl he found in the depths of the sea and the dregs of the bottom of the ocean.
 
Cheshvan is sometimes called "Mar" (bitter) Cheshvan but we call it Ram (the highest!!) Cheshvan - for even though there are no holidays aside from Shabbat during this month, Ram Cheshvan is destined to become the highest when the 3rd Temple is inaugurated during this month as it is prophetically destined to happen - may it be soon!

The Flood began and ended during Cheshvan, it's also the month of the yartzeit of Rachel Imanu and of Reb Shlomo Carlebach, who, like Rachel our Mother, constantly cried for the Children of Israel to return again, return again, return to the Land of our souls.

Cheshvan/Scorpio/Menashe is EXTREMELY INTENSE. Intensely emotional, intensely deep, as far from superficial as East is from West. We have the "klee", the container to be able to use this intensity right now for applied spiritual growth and the development of emotional wisdom.

The "Rachel" Quadrant of the Jewish Year is about relationships. Tishri is about the marriage and partnership relationship, Cheshvan is about the sexual relationship and the relationships between ourselves and those with whom we share resources. Kislev is about sharing inspiration, sharing philosophies and ideas and religious constructs and ideologies. 

We're in the Northwest Quadrant ("Rachel's Boys") Part of the Jewish Year

Rosh Chodesh Ram Cheshvan certainly got off with a big bang as we welcomed it with a New Moon/Solar Eclipse/Venus Conjunction yesterday, and on Saturday Mercury leaves his Retrograde period and will station Direct. On Sunday, Mars moves from fiery, inspirational (possibly fanatical) Sagittarius into practical and pragmatic Capricorn. 

It's going to be a week of energetic changes but it will feel "right", in fact it will feel more than right, it will feel right on time as well. We're going to dive deep - make sure your oxygen mask fits you correctly and you know how to use it!

Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan - Sharing is Caring

It's Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan and the New Moon in Libra (Sun and Moon Conjunct at 11 Degrees Libra). It's that "overlap" time between Zodiac Signs that happens when the Hebrew calendar and the English Calendar fluctuate in their cycles. Cheshvan is associated with Scorpio, with the Tribe of Menashe, and the energy of Fixed (Establishing) Water.

Libra, of course, is associated with the Month of Tishrei, the Tribe of Ephraim and the energy of Cardinal (Initiating) Air. These next 13 days between when Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan begins (today) and when the Sun actually goes into Scorpio (October 23) is what I call "Libra/Scorpio," meaning the Sun is still in Libra but the energy is already very much pulling towards Scorpio.

It's a time of intense passions, intense longings, and the impetus to protect what you believe belongs to you (Scorpio) while at the same time attempting to be "fair" to others (Libra). In a big way it's about SHARING - sharing love, sharing ideas (Libra), sharing resources, sharing intimacy (Scorpio).

What do we do with children who won't learn to share? We send them to their room to be alone and think about how they're hurting themselves and others. Thus the Universe will do to those who resist the impetus to share, until they grow up and learn that not everything is all about them.

It's important to remember Libra/Scorpio is Ephraim/Menashe. The brothers, the sons of Yosef haTzadik, the grand-sons of Yacov and Rachel. When Yacov went to bless his grandsons and reversed his hands to give the Eldest's blessing to the Youngest, the danger was jealousy (as had been played out in the generation before via the story of Yosef and his brothers). Ephraim and Menashe stand out in Jewish history as the first time our family (B'nai Yisrael) ever demonstrated that they had learned HOW TO SHARE.

Ironically I see this played out on a large scale in the conflict between women and other women at the Kotel this morning during Rosh Chodesh services - they don't want to share space, power, privilege, and they sure as heck don't want to share in who is "right."

Erratic, individualistic Uranus in aggressive Aries makes an exact Opposition to this New Moon, making everybody even more entrenched in their sense of self-righteousness and sure that their position is the one and only true and legitimate one. Squaring the New Moon is passionate, possessive, smoldering Pluto in materialist Capricorn, reflecting the blind spot (a Square is after all, a corner - and who can see around a corner without a mirror???) that keeps each group embedded in only their own reality and blinds them to the fact that other realities exist which are not their own. Expansive Jupiter in security-conscious, nurturing Cancer also makes a hard Square to the New Moon, thus completing the "Cardinal Grand Cross" of Planets that takes place today. Jupiter could reflect either the urge to expand one's consciousness (let's hope so) OR it could simply blow up Cancer's already possessive nature, making everyone guard their turf even more.

It's said that "Israel is 'above the zodiac.' This is true of our NATIONAL destiny, but as individuals it's true only as far as each member of Claal Yisrael takes personal responsibility to develop their own midot (personal characteristics such as kindness, patience, etc.). For those who choose to forgo personal growth and self-awareness, you're just stuck inside of Mobile with the Memphis blues again.

It's time to take a page from Ephraim and Menashe's playbook. SHARING IS CARING.