The Jewish New Year: Under the Blanket of Tishrei

View fullsize

Image of a 1400 year old ginko bilboa tree in Xi'an, China c/o TheDailyMail.com

On Rosh Hashanah morning this year, I woke up to go to services. But something kept me from getting out of bed. I stayed under the blankets, pet my cat for awhile in the dull morning light, happy to be alive. I felt myself wanting to fall back asleep, which I never do, but that morning, I did. During that second slumber I had the most wonderful dream where I felt completely lucid and awake. In the dream, I looked out the window of my apartment to a soft pink hue and a huge ginkgo tree with huge bright orange leaves. The leaves were the color of California poppies and glowing. Their luminosity hung from the tree and the fallen leaves made a pattern on the ground. I awoke feeling I had been visited.
 
Of course ginkgo biloba trees don’t turn orange when they turn; it’s more of ayellow. I did a little research and found that some living ginkgo trees in China have been dated back 3000 years, making them the oldest living specimen in the world. They also bloom at night and shed their blossoms quickly as if they are celebrating the wonder of life in secret. And, they grow breast looking bumps on their trunks. (.)(.). So of course I became fascinated by this ancient tree. 
 
I take ginkgo everyday in my herbal tincture but had never before dreamt of the tree. It’s good for memory, and  it made me think about wisdom. What humans consider wise now and what we’ve considered wise at other times in history. I believe the plant came to me to remind me the wisdom of who we really are. That on the birthday of the world my brain, in collaboration with the ginkgo was reminding me of the ancient DNA that makes up who I am and all of creation. That the secret of life is not complicated, and is in the simplicity of a tree that stands steady, blossoming in secret, nurturing with it’s trunk and creating a blanket of leaves that will return to nourish the soil. It’s a truth the tree stands for, but also what we can stand for.

The theme for this month is coming back to your truth. I listened to my truth and went back to bed and dreamt about this healing remedy. By listening to my truth I received the medicine I needed. 

My blessing for this month:

May you listen to your waking and sleeping dreams and allow them to whisper to you the antidote you need.

Card for the Month:
The Impossibility of Conformity
(Yiddish: um-MEG-LEKH-keyt fun mit-halt-eray)

We are all striving for a sense of belonging, a sense that we are part of something greater.
 
Conformity and belonging are distinctly different. But capitalism banks on their similarities to conspire to make you and all your friends feel like shit. That’s why developing and nurturing a sense of belonging within ourselves is a revolutionary act and pairs well with self-love.

The reality is: it’s impossible to conform. As much as we try, we can’t. To face up to the reality of conformity is to admit our humanity. We are each a completely unique imprint on the universe. Yet, we all have the same DNA, so essentially we’re exactly the same.
 
In Judaism, now is the beginning of our lunar year. With the moon guiding us, we begin again. How might we counter capitalism’s grip? By looking to each other’s faces, feeling each other’s distinct hugs and seeing diversity, appreciating the quality we feel somatically with each individual in our lives, and then looking to the moon to remember: we all look at that moon, we all feel her rhythms inside of us.