The Jewish Month of Cheshvan: Welcoming the Darkness

Horsetail’s magical properties: boundaries, staying firm to commitments. What a great herb to use to support new year’s resolutions. To affirm the habits we vowed to fulfill in the new year. Image source: Arrow Ami

The Hebrew month of Cheshvan is upon us as the moon’s darkness comes into the light. After a month of holidays and celebration, Cheshvan is often called the “bitter month.” It’s also the Libra time of the year (‘Moznayim’ in Hebrew), when we have the opportunity to balance ourselves and habits before the coming winter months.

Maintaining boundaries, staying firm in our commitments, and the endurance to do so are some of our biggest work living in a capitalist patriarchy. In Cheshvan, we make a descent into the darkness at the center of our beings. We are offered the structure of the darkening days to go inside and experience our depths. Our depth is our line of ancestors, the myriad ancestors we come from.

Horsetail, the plant in the picture above, is one of our ancestors. It’s a plant that’s been around since the dinosaurs, when it grew to the size of large trees. It’s associated with Saturn, the planet of endurance, self-control, protection and overcoming challenges. Back when blacksmiths worked closely with alchemists, horsetail was used to give magical strength to swords and armour. So, use it this month to strengthen your own boundaries and cut through bullshit to get to the heart of the matter. It makes a delicious tea; make sure the plant is from a clean area, since it absorbs pollutants easily.  Though tasty, it can have the flavor of bitterness, but also gives us a sense of balance. I believe our ancestors want this for us and they are living in us as we grow on our path.

My blessing for you: In the darkening days may the beauty of fall lay on your skin and be a protective encasing for the glorious fight you do every day to be more and more of yourself.  

A friend recommended this video of Thich Nhat Hanh exploring the idea that even our thoughts are our ancestors and we have the ancestors of plants in us. Take a look...

Thanks to angelorum.co for the information about horsetail.

Card for the Month: Extinction

(Yiddish: OYS-shtarb)

The last couple weeks, as the moon has waned, I’ve had the urge to get rid of stuff. My grandmother’s pink chair, many of my most treasured items of clothing. I haven’t gotten rid of the chair yet (don’t worry mom, I’ll consult you first), but I am having a strong urge to let go. But I haven’t, yet.

This time of year the natural world is going through her biggest time of letting go. The leaves falling to the ground, dead, are in complete symbiosis with the cycle of life. Their death is necessary for the trees to grow again. We as humans watch the leaves fall in tons; we essentially watch the earth fall from the sky. In witnessing the heavens fall, the dying leaves become our archetype for the connection between heaven and earth. The leaves aren’t afraid to die because they know their death is a part of their life. What would it be like to have a faith like that? To believe that in the letting go of an object, a habit, an emotion, a person, there is power that gives us life.