Tammuz: Total Eclipse of the Heart

CHODESH TAMMUZ TOV!

"Sartan" / Cancer the Crab, from the Michael Mahzor, illuminated parchment manuscript, Germany, 1258

Chodesh Tammuz 5779: TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE HEART 

Chodesh Tammuz (July 3 – August 1), associated with the mazal of Cancer (Sartan) the crab, is the only month of the Hebrew calendar whose ruling planet is the Moon. This year the Moon plays an even more important role as Chodesh Tammuz 5779 features two Eclipses! 

This month during “Eclipse Season” light, which is consciousness, is hidden and then re-revealed, and it’s never quite the same as it was before. It’s now upgraded awareness, a higher consciousness. These powerful cosmic events underscore themes of security, family, tradition and respect – all of which are associated with Tammuz’s Tribal ruler Reuven, the emotional and sensitive first-born son of Jacob and Leah. 

The Solar Eclipse / New Moon in Cancer on July 2 initiates “security” issues. Ideas like “food, home, mother, money” trigger powerful, primal gut reactions. The Lunar Eclipse / Full Moon in Capricorn on July 16 is a faceoff and smackdown between the Divine Feminine and old, outworn images of a punishing, patriarchal god. Venus and the North Node join the Sun in Cancer, eclipsed by the opposition of the Capricorn Full Moon with Saturn and Pluto. 

Cardinal Water sign Cancer is concerned with the honor and the memory of the mother as illustrated by Reuven’s relationship with Leah. Mother Earth is powerful this month and disrespecting her brings serious consequences. Honoring the natural creation and respecting her power and majesty honors our Creator and strengthens our own roots! 

What can’t you live without? What’s your absolute red line, your most basic, primal desire? We all need to love and be loved. This month we confront our most essential need during what may turn out to be a total eclipse of the heart. When the darkness lifts, a new light shines – may it illuminate our way during this Moon-month of Tammuz!

Click HERE for Tammuz Horoscopes in The Jerusalem Post

Tekufah Tammuz / The Summer Solstice (Plus Venus-Mars Opposition): It's an Energetic Day!

Modern-Day Druids Celebrating the Summer Solstice at Stonehenge

Tekufah Tammuz / The Summer Solstice today - the turn of the seasons again as we welcome summer ( קיץ), my least favorite season because heat - but everyone else seems to love it, so enjoy. 


The Sun enters Cancer today, though we've been in Chodesh Tammuz for the past week already. We're moving from the Mutable Air (Transformative Thought) sign of Gemini into the Cardinal Water (Initiating Emotion) sign of Cancer. Key words for this month: FOOD, HOME, MOTHER, MONEY. Issues of emotional security are played out in these realms. Ancestors (particularly women), heritage, legacies, nostalgia, family heirlooms both material and emotional (that's called "baggage" in psych-speak) come to the forefront. 

More in celestial news: Transiting Venus in Leo and Mars in Aquarius opposite each other today. Venus in Leo says: "Adore me," Mars in Aquarius says: "Unique is the new sexy." Venus replies, "But I'm so fabulous! Sparkling, charismatic, confident, warm, affectionate - what more could you ask for?" Mars replies: "Something interesting."

Yes, it's that simple, folks. Nothing is more boring to Mars in Aquarius than the expected - and nothing more annoying to Venus in Leo than when Mars ignores or doesn't notice her.  Take my advice and give yourself the attention you deserve and don't go looking for it from other people - that will make you a lot more interesting to yourself and others.

Rosh Chodesh Tammuz Tov! Prepare for the Turn of the Tide!

Image from a Torah binder, Germany, 1858, the Israel Museum, Jerusalem

Chodesh Tammuz Tov!
 
Tammuz is the month of Cancer the Crab and the Tribe of Reuven. It's one of the four Cardinal (initiating) Signs, each of which contains a "Tefukah", or turning point in the year. In the case of Cancer, that's the Tekufah of Tammuz, a.k.a. the Summer Solstice. 

Check out my column on Tammuz in the latest edition of J-The Jewish Weekly of Northern California.  

There are four Tekufot during the year: Tekufah Nissan / Spring Equinox, Tefukah Tammuz / Summer Solstice, Tekufah Tishrei / Autumnal Equinox, and Tekufah Tevet / Winter Solstice. 

Each of the four Tekufot occurs in one of the four Cardinal signs: Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn. Cardinal energy is "initiating" energy: Cardinal signs are "starters". New beginnings! 

The other modalities are the Fixed signs, which is "establishing" energy (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius), and Mutable signs, which is "transformative" energy (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces). 

Tammuz, the month corresponding to Cancer, is Cardinal Water: Initiating Emotion. This quality can clearly be seen in the archetype of Reuven, the Tribal Ruler of Chodesh Tammuz.  

Reuven is concerned with his mother’s fertility (in the incident of the mandrakes) and her honor (in the incident of moving his father’s bed). His sincere but unsuccessful efforts to save his brother Joseph in the pit and to sacrifice his own sons to redeem his brother Benyamin from Egypt reflect Cancerian concerns with family identity, responsibility and status. 

Cancer’s gift to us is sensitivity, loyalty, intuition, pride in our heritage and sacrificial love. The New Moon in Cancer today can help us all initiate heart-centered connection, repair our family ties, and strengthen communal bonds during this Moon-ruled month.

Harnessing the Spiritual Power of Ramadan

Ramadan always begins on a New Moon / Rosh Chodesh  of the Jewish Calendar (Head of the Month). This year (2016), Ramadan begins on Rosh Chodesh Sivan, as it did in 1951, 1952, 1953, 1984, 1985, and as it will occur in 2017 and 2018 as well.

  
The Islamic calendar is a lunar system, and the annual occurrence of the month of Ramadan runs on an approximate 32 year cycle varying as to which Hebrew month it falls in, throughout the years, decades, centuries. Unlike the Hebrew solar/lunar calendar, the Islamic calendar has no feast or fast that must fall in a certain season (as we do with the Month of Nissan, Chodesh Aviv, which the Torah mandates must start in the Spring). 

The Sons of Ishmael enact great spiritual power during the fast of Ramadan. Their zealous devotion in fasting from sunrise to sunset during the entire month of Ramadan functions to stimulate, trigger and if needs be, to provoke the Jewish people, cousins of the descendants of Ishmael, to desire and even envy the Muslim level of devotion, surrender and commitment, stimulating us as we seek to emulate, and indeed, exceed it. 

The area we need to renew our commitment and passion in is indicated by the month Ramadan falls in each year. Last year (2015), Ramadan fell on Rosh Chodesh Tammuz. During Tammuz years, we look at our patriarch Reuven, to which Tammuz corresponds.  

The tikkun of Reuven had to do with filial duty, and proper care for parents. The Jewish people were being provoked by our Ishmalite cousins to do tshuva this past year in the "Chodesh Tammuz" in the areas in our life, where respect and responsibility to our parents and elders are concerned.  

 Were we successful? How did last year go for us (for you, for me, for us as a community) in terms of "Kavod Av v'Am"?

 This year Ramadan begins on Rosh Chodesh Sivan. Sivan is the month during which we're given the Torah (Shavuot is the Chag which falls on the 5th/6th day of Chodesh Sivan). Sivan is associated with the Tribe of Zevulon, the Planet Mercury ("Cochav") and the function of Mutable Air - Transformative Thought.

Zevulon traveled the Mediterranean in ships, interacting and trading and conversing (Mercury / Gemini) with all the peoples and societies around ancient Israel, in order to bring back riches - both spiritual and material - with which to bless and support his brother-tribe, Issachar (those whose time was given to wisdom-learning, such as the Seasons & Times, and Torah study).

An important aspect of Chodesh Sivan is that of the "Ger", the righteous convert, the soul which enters Claal Yisrael to complete the fullness of our common soul-root.  Ruth the Moabitess is the soul associated with Shavuot, and as she is the archetype / soul root of all righteous converts, she is also the great-grandmother of King David, prototype Messiah and King of the Jews. The story of Ruth, who married Boaz and gave birth to Oved, who was the father of Jesse, the father of David, is read during Shavuot. King David, David the "Sweet Singer of Israel", beloved of the Lord, was born and died on Shavuot. 

The tikkun which Ramadan will trigger for us in 2016 is the test of how we treat the convert, how we relate to the one who desires to draw close for the sake of the blessings of belonging. Those who imagine themselves to be righteous in Torah will be challenged to experience transformative thought in relation to the convert. Indeed, anyone who falls outside our ghetto-mind will come under the category of "other" - and we are challenged as a People to transform our thought towards the "other" until we can see the "other" contains something we ourselves cannot be complete without! Just as the Jewish People were not complete until Ruth came to add her spiritual DNA to the mix, producing MOSHIACH in archetype - King David himself - Ramadan during Sivan years challenge us to SEEK that which is MISSING in our Claal, so that we all might be complete and shalem, whole. 

Just as the Hebrew Calendar and the Jewish Year is the manifestation of Sacred Time, our cousins have been given the Islamic Calendar to know the times and the seasons they are to enact their devotions, which are intended to arouse us to a purer and more passionate response to our own spiritual calling. It is a dance of devotion between root souls - Isaac and Ishmael, both sons of Avraham - and in the end, the time of one is the time of both and the time of both is the time of All.

To contemplate / meditate upon which Hebrew Month Ramadan has fallen in since 1930, I present the following data:

Ramadan in Nissan - 1957, 1958, 1989, 1990, 1991
Ramadan in Iyar - 1954, 1955, 1956, 1986, 1987, 1988, 2019, 2020, 2021
Ramadan in Sivan - 1951, 1952, 1953, 1984, 1985, 2016, 2017, 2018 
Ramadan in Tammuz - 1948, 1949, 1950, 1981, 1982, 1983, 2014, 2015 
Ramadan in Av - 1946, 1947, 1979, 1980, 2011, 2012, 2013 
Ramadan in Elul - 1943, 1944, 1945, 1976, 1977, 1978, 2008, 2009, 2010 
Ramadan in Tishrei (Rosh HaShanah) - 1940, 1941, 1942, 1973, 1974, 1975, 2005, 2006, 2007 
Ramadan in Cheshvan - 1938, 1939, 1970, 1971, 1972, 2003, 2004 
Ramadan in Kislev - 1935, 1936, 1937, 1967, 1967, 1969, 2000, 2001, 2002 
Ramadan in Tevet -  1933, 1934, 1966, 1998, 1999 
Ramadan in Shvat - 1930, 1931, 1932, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1996, 1997 
Ramadan in Adar (I and II) - 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995




 

The Spiritual Power of Ramadan in the Jewish Calendar

The Islamic calendar is a lunar system, and the annual occurrence of the month of Ramadan runs on an approximate 32 year cycle varying as to which Hebrew month it falls in, throughout the years, decades, centuries. 

Unlike the Hebrew solar/lunar calendar, the Islamic calendar has no feast or fast that must fall in a certain season (as we do with the Month of Nissan, Chodesh Aviv, which the Torah mandates must start in the Spring). 

Ramadan always begins on a New Moon / Rosh Chodesh  of the Jewish Calendar (Head of the Month). This year (2015), Ramadan begins on Rosh Chodesh Tammuz, as it did in 2014, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1948, 1949 and 1950.

The Sons of Ishmael enact great spiritual power during the fast of Ramadan. Their zealous devotion in fasting from sunrise to sunset during the entire month of Ramadan is intended to provoke we, their cousins, to envy their level of commitment, and seek to emulate, and indeed, exceed it. 

The area we need to renew our commitment and passion in is indicated by the month Ramadan falls in each year. For the Tammuz years, we look at our patriarch Reuven, to which Tammuz corresponds.  

The tikkun of Reuven had to do with filial duty, and proper care for parents. The Jewish people are being provoked by our Ishmalite cousins to do tshuva this Chodesh Tammuz in the areas in our life where respect and responsibility to our parents are concerned.  

Just as the Hebrew Calendar and the Jewish Year is the manifestation of Sacred Time, our cousins have been given the Islamic Calendar to know the times and the seasons they are to enact their devotions, which are intended to arouse us to a purer and more passionate response to our own spiritual calling. It is a dance of devotion between root souls - Isaac and Ishmael, both sons of Avraham - and in the end, the time of one is the time of both and the time of both is the time of All.

To contemplate which Hebrew Month Ramadan has fallen in since 1930, I present the following data:

Ramadan in Tammuz - 1948, 1949, 1950, 1981, 1982, 1983, 2014, 2015
Ramadan in Sivan - 1951, 1952, 1953, 1984, 1985, 2016, 2017, 2018
Ramadan in Iyar - 1954, 1955, 1956, 1986, 1987, 1988, 2019, 2020, 2021
Ramadan in Nissan - 1957, 1958, 1989, 1990, 1991
Ramadan in Adar (I and II) - 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995
Ramadan in Shvat - 1930, 1931, 1932, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1996, 1997
Ramadan in Tevet -  1933, 1934, 1966, 1998, 1999
Ramadan in Kislev - 1935, 1936, 1937, 1967, 1967, 1969, 2000, 2001, 2002
Ramadan in Cheshvan - 1938, 1939, 1970, 1971, 1972, 2003, 2004
Ramadan in Tishrei (Rosh HaShanah) - 1940, 1941, 1942, 1973, 1974, 1975, 2005, 2006, 2007
Ramadan in Elul - 1943, 1944, 1945, 1976, 1977, 1978, 2008, 2009, 2010
Ramadan in Av - 1946, 1947, 1979, 1980, 2011, 2012, 2013