Category: Teaching, Learning, and Reflection

August 2021       Elul 5781 

Greetings, 

We are entering the new moon of the Hebrew month of Elul, the time to assess how we have navigated the waves and rapids of the past challenging year before we enter the New Year next month. As we come to the hard realization that life will not return to its previous form and rhythm, we question how we have lived an authentic life in the midst of the chaos and turmoil around us. Have we stayed true to that inner core of our being that defines our essential self despite the unexpected shifts required of us to negotiate new ways of living, working, praying?

The piercing cry of the shofar that we blow each morning during the month of Elul awakens me to the eternal nature of my being. Standing on the rocky shore of the lake with the wide expanse of water and sky in front of me, the primordial sound of the shofar vibrates through my body. It transports me both back in time and forward into a possible future where the dualities that are pulling me and all of us apart in this now moment merge into a newly inspired whole. 

My hope is that we can heed the lessons we have learned from the experience of this past year to guide us forward. When I smell the smoke of the Oregon fires and see the haze that darkens the morning sky and turns the rising sun bright orange here in Michigan, I know we cannot continue to disregard the earth’s warning. When I read that the fourth Capitol police officer who tried to guard the center of our democracy during the January insurrection committed suicide, my heart aches as I sense how traumatic and destructive the denials and untruths have become.

The questions I sit with as we welcome this new month: How can we live together on this sacred planet earth without tearing each other apart?  How can we bring the dualities together into a more harmonious whole, release blame and animosity, and come to a place of deep compassion for each other? Our tradition tells us that It is through forgiveness, the hallmark of this month, that we can transform the negative, divisive energy so prevalent in our political world into a healing balm, uniting the seeming opposites into a new whole.

It is through adversity and challenge that consciousness evolves. This is a global moment where we have all witnessed the devastating effects of disease, ecological disaster, and violent disagreement. This is a pivotal moment that can bring the peoples of the globe together in a new understanding of how to move forward in peace and harmony.

May we each individually add our voice to a new path forward with love in our hearts that can heal the wounds and brokenness of this past year. May we return to our connection with the holy spark of the Divine within ourselves and see the face of the Divine in each other. May we move into the New Year forgiving past transgressions and finding new ways to live and love and appreciate each other and this earth that sustains our every breath. 

Blessings,  

Lucinda

July 2021     Av 5781 

Greetings,    

We are entering the new moon of the Hebrew month of Av, a month of heat, scorching sun, and repeated traumatic experiences for the Jewish people throughout history. These tragedies have often occurred on the same day in the Hebrew calendar, honored as the solemn holiday of Tisha B’Av. Both this day of greatest sorrow and the day of greatest joy, Tu B’Av, are contained within this one month, requiring us to find balance within our own being to temper the intense shifts of emotions that challenge our equilibrium.

In this month, we feel the reverberations of the ancient destruction of our sacred Temples, brought about by internal dissension as well as external forces. Today, as in ancient times, hostility, anger, and grievances are again tearing apart the woven fabric of society. The trauma and disruptions caused by the pandemic more clearly display the gaping holes and tangled knots in the tapestry that has superficially knit together the diversity of people in our country. The collapse of the condo in Surfside is a physical metaphor for the deconstruction of our social cohesion. The infrastructure is no longer holding the physical form.

Sometimes, I feel myself moving too rapidly between my homes in Ann Arbor and Northern Michigan, not being in one place long enough to feel centered. I am pulled between my longing to be with my family, grandchildren, and connection to the natural world and my yearning to be with my spiritual community, Women’s Circle, and clients. Am I stretching the fabric of my life too thin? I settle myself by breathing in the lake and unclouded sky, rocky shore and towering evergreens surrounding me, so I feel protected and nurtured as I acknowledge the seismic shifts around and within me.

We create healing and wholeness in the midst of the chaos and dissolution around us this month by cultivating our ability to listen carefully and hear the deeper truth  of what is being said. This moment of disorder and unraveling is exactly the time when an evolutionary leap can occur, both on the personal and planetary levels.   

If we quiet our minds, withhold judgement, and listen intently, we may be able to hear our inner voice, the rumblings of the earth, and the cries of our sisters and brothers of all colors, religions, genders, and persuasions. With ears wide open, we may hear a new melody riding on the wind and rain. My blessing is that we can be inspired to create a brilliant tapestry of varied hues that better represents the truth of ourselves, our country, and our relationship to the earth and the global community. This is my hope as I listen for my own guidance, quietly sitting each morning with the waves lapping on the shore, knowing that silence can create the sacred space for wisdom to emerge and guide us into a place of greater equanimity and peace. 

Blessings,  

Lucinda

June 2021      Tammuz 5781 

We are entering the new moon of the Hebrew month of Tammuz.This is a time to keep our eyes wide open to our own patterns and to what is unfolding around us; it’s a time of  healing our vision, so we can see more clearly, more accurately. At this moment, as I look at the world around me, it is through foggy spectacles. I look in my closet and don’t even recognize some of the clothes and ask myself where in the world I would wear them now. I don’t recognize some of the behaviors of my fellow Americans that are broadcast on my screens and realize it’s not just my own individual perception that is skewed. Our entire society is searching for some clarity as we collectively swim through the fog.

Perhaps we are blinded by insecurity and fear for our safety and future prospects like the spies Moses sent to view the Promised Land who allowed fear to cloud their vision. Are we seeing giants where there are none? What illusions are we seeing through distorted lenses? What will it take to clear our vision and see this planet as our common reality, the bedrock of our common existence and collective survival? Healing the individual distortions we each carry can help us move toward a more unified vision of the future.

Another hallmark of Tammuz throughout the flow of history is the dissolution of structures, both internal and external, that allows a greater clarity of vision to emerge from beneath the surface. In ancient times, this is the month that the Romans breached the walls of Jerusalem leading to the exile of the Jewish people into the diaspora and the creation of an entirely new way of life. For many of us, the upheaval of the pandemic destroyed the basic structures of our daily lives, our work routines, travel for vacations, visits to our children and grandchildren, doctor appointments, coveted holiday celebrations. 

The only way to create new structures that can serve us collectively for our future and the future of our children, grandchildren and the planet is to do this with clear vision. We are in the midst of a profound moment of transformation. Options for when and where and how we work and play and pray are expanding and challenging old categories and definitions, emboldening us to envision new life possibilities for ourselves. 

Let us use this month to defog our individual vision and co-create a collective vision that can allow us to see each other as part of the same creative Source united by a common destiny as inhabitants of this sacred planet Earth. Let us rebuild structures of our collective life, so we, as a global community, can move toward a future of harmony and sustainability beyond the false boundaries of our differences. 

Blessings,
Lucinda

May 2021   Sivan 5781

Greetings,

With the fragrances of spring awakening our senses and vaccinations in many of our arms, we enter the new moon of the Hebrew month of Sivan, the time to open our hearts and minds and receive with gratitude the myriad gifts here for us to savor.  As the buds open to the beckoning sun, so this month calls us forth to flower, to express our creativity, our new understanding of what we can offer this world even when the way forward may still be clouded with ambiguity.

 This weekend, we celebrate the holiday of Shavuot, honoring the experience of Moses and the children of Israel standing at Sinai to receive the word of God.  We acknowledge and cherish that revelation and also know that in each moment we are capable of receiving revelation, specific guidance for a new approach to our life and the life around us.

What new revelations about our relationship to each other and the earth have emerged during this introspective time of the pandemic, and how can they illuminate our life choices? The dark isolation of the pandemic helped me to midwife a new perspective on my life and gain a clearer vision of my path forward, accentuating the importance of my relationships with family, friends, community, and the Earth that sustains me.

Just this week I attended two shiva minyans, mourning and remembering  the lives of two beloved mothers of dear friends who had reached their late 90’s. I witnessed the outpouring of love and gratitude for lives well spent in love and commitment to family, community, and tradition. The previous week, I was with my 2-year-old grandson in Boston and watched this new soul joyfully exploring what this earth life is bringing him, everything full of potential and possibility. I revel in his exuberance and spontaneity, in his new eyes seeing with fresh vision, unclouded by what has come before.

This great cycle of life, from birth to death that defines our existence as human beings, constantly channels in souls with a higher level of awareness that can perceive and create what we as elders cannot even imagine. This is where hope lies for new perspectives on the challenges before us.  Consciousness continues to evolve and bring forth new interpretations of our holy scriptures as well as new technological solutions and creative masterpieces in all areas of endeavor that may lead us to a healthier relationship with our planet and each other.

The responsibility for blazing a new path forward after this global pause resides within each one of us as we struggle to release old wounds and triggers that keep us confined in limited ways of thinking that prevent us from hearing our inner guidance.   We each are capable of listening intently to the voice within and offering our piece of the larger puzzle of transformation.  We need to trust our guidance and believe in our ability to contribute to the unfolding of creation here and now.

Just as fresh blossoms unfold, promising the fruits and seeds of a new generation, so may we draw upon the wisdom of our elders and their years of life experience along with the new visions of our youth resonating to a new vibratory frequency.  Together we can create new possibilities for personal and planetary healing as we prepare to receive the Torah, the revelation, of this unique moment.

Blessings,  

Lucinda

April 2021  /  Iyar 5781

With gratitude for the uplifting beauty and fragrances of spring that accompany Earth’s rebirth, we enter into the new moon of the Hebrew month of Iyar, the time of healing mind, body, and spirit though connection to our hearts, each other, and the One. What in each of us needs healing before we root ourselves deeply into the awakening earth?

During this past year, many of us have pruned away aspects of our lives not essential to our being, which like a tree enables us to channel our energy back into new growth and evolution. We instinctively respond to the powerful life force calling to us, beckoning us out from the dark, interior places where we have resided this winter. Yet we are tender from the many losses we have individually and collectively witnessed and experienced.

Like many of you, now that I have had my two vaccinations and requisite waiting period, I’m planning visits to two beloveds I haven’t seen in over a year and a half. First, it’s a visit to my 96 year-old aunt, the last living ancestor in my lineage, who miraculously survived a serious battle with Covid but is greatly weakened. My heart aches knowing that this may be my final connection to the many loved ones who have come before me, loved me, and given me life and hope and the resilience to persevere and maintain my strong faith in the One. Then, I visit my two year-old grandson and smile to myself just feeling the vital energy bubbling up from within him and trust that the new generation will lead us through the seemingly enormous challenges we face as a human species, just as the new generation of Israelites found their way across the desert to the Promised Land.

We have the opportunity this month, symbolized by the spiritual practice of counting the Omer, to release old wounds and tap into our deepest longings, freed from many of the restraints of this past year. It’s the energy of compassion, the hallmark of this month of Iyar, that can soften our transition into a greater expansion and allow us to trust our intuition as we sow our seeds, so ripe with potential. Compassion, “Chemlah” in Hebrew, is the new Hebrew name Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi blessed me with to help me heal and thrive. I invite that energy into my life because I long to open to what is with a loving heart, without the need to change it.

When we open our hearts to ourselves and others, welcome in and embrace the full range of our emotions, and release judgement, we can water our roots gently with kindness and compassion. We can come out of this time of isolation with a commitment to be more kind to ourselves and each other and allow compassion to lead us forward. We can transform the ways we interact with each other, both in the small orchards of our lives and in the towering forests of our global community.  

Blessings, 

 Lucinda

March 2021    Nisan 5781

Greetings, 

With hopeful anticipation, we welcome in the new moon of the Hebrew month of Nisan. This month we leave our narrow and confined space of gestation and birth ourselves into a new world. Many of us are stepping out of the safe wombs we created to survive during the pandemic and are taking baby steps toward a new vision of what is possible for ourselves in this changing reality in which we now reside. What does this new landscape look and feel like as we emerge blinking into the light?

It is with trepidation that I gingerly step forward, unclear of the boundaries and space that is appropriate between my body and the bodies of those around me. I know after the second vaccination, I am now able to move toward freedom, but don’t feel comfortable releasing all of the safeguards for healthy interaction. I stick my toe into this water of uncertainty, not quite daring to cross that sea of faces that had been a delight for me as an extrovert just one year ago. How will I cross the threshold and integrate my new learnings, new ways of being?  

This month, in the celebration of Passover, we retell the story of our ancestors fleeing from slavery, leaving behind the landmarks and activities that filled their lives, wandering in the desert of the unknown, exploring new inner and outer territory to sustain them on their journey. In our own way, we, too, have taken an unexpected journey, confronting our own terror, recovering and reclaiming lost parts of ourselves that were buried beneath the daily routines of life, and coming to this moment with new and expanded awareness. 

As individuals and parts of a greater whole, we have an opportunity to navigate this new world in more conscious ways, informed by the quiet and inward time we have had to deepen and listen to the usually muffled inner voice that can guide us forward.  I know that my experience of confusion about how to handle this new freedom is not unique – many of us are feeling these same emotions. Many of us now see even more clearly that we are one human family, inextricably interconnected by the air we breathe, the surfaces we touch, the earth we inhabit.

It is said by our rabbis that Nisan is the doorway to the One, and in this month, it is through our own speech that we can create healing. Can we find ways to re-engage with each other speaking from a place of empathy and compassion; can we find new ways to engage in respectful dialogue that moves us beyond the painful divisions that have wounded the soul of our nation and torn us apart? My blessing for this month is that through healing the ways we speak with and about each other we find new pathways forward to liberation and reconciliation and give birth to new possibilities for hope and renewal.  

Blessings, 
Lucinda

After these past challenging months, we now stand at the threshold of the new moon of Adar, the Hebrew month that celebrates the qualities of joy and laughter, so essential to our healing from this time of division and foreboding. With a new administration in place and vaccines becoming more available, many of us can begin to breath more deeply, release our built-up tension, and enter a time we can more fully experience the energy of Spirit in every part of our material world.      

I had my first vaccination last week after spending days of early mornings sitting in front of a computer screen, waiting impatiently to be granted access to the inner sanctum of the Publix Pharmacy’s website. The physical and mental relief I feel is palpable. I can inhabit my body more fully, more joyfully. We all yearn for joy with our bodies, our hearts, our souls. Joy is an energetic expression that lifts our spirits and allows us to see the beauty and humor around us. In this time of confusion and conflict, of dissolution of consensus, it is critical for each one of us to find what gives us joy, to find our unique purpose for being alive at this pivotal moment of human history when critical decisions are being made that affect the future of humanity and our planet.

Adar invites us, once again, to smile and embrace the miracle of life with gratitude and delight. It’s time to put down the seemingly constant angst that we have been carrying with us like a heavy burden this whole year and embrace the more playful energy that the celebration of Purim this month exemplifies. Costumes, imbibing spirits, singing, dancing, gift giving are the hallmarks of this holiday that celebrates the courage of Queen Esther in daring to speak the truth in the face of mortal danger to herself, actions that could inspire some of our leaders as they face the challenges of today.  

Each one of us is responsible for creating our own reality within the larger cultural and political context in which we reside. If we can embody within ourselves the energetic vibration of harmony through our own experience of joy and satisfaction, we can radiate that energy and help shift the larger structure that is stuck in a divisive either/or imbalance. Finding joy in our own unfolding potential, in our families, in the glory of the natural world, in the beauty of the sunlight reflected through a passing cloud, allows us to see all life as sacred, as imbued with the energy of Creation. While fulfilling our sacred obligation of tikkum olam, repair of the world, we need to stay grounded and centered, not caught up in the churning chaos around us, and residing in the deep and abiding calm and harmony within.

May we experience our material world as a reflection of the love and bounty of the One despite the suffering and trials we confront, and bask in the joy of just being alive on this glorious planet Earth.  

Blessings, 

Lucinda

Like so many people in this country, I was horrified by the violent insurrection at the Capitol this week, deeply shaken by the desecration of the central seat of our democracy. I believe the raw anger and rage that we all witnessed was a quintessential manifestation of the energy of the month of Tevet that I reflected upon in last month’s letter, a dark month when we touch and uproot anger that has been festering within.

As we enter the new moon of the month of Shevat, the energy we experience is likely to shift gradually.  Shevat is a time of inner renewal and nascent creativity when the mystery of the creative process is hidden from our view; it resides deep within seeds, roots of trees, and the awakening mind of humanity, sparking the potential for transformation after release of negative forces that blocked expansion.  

Before the seed of an idea manifests on the physical level, it sprouts within our minds and hearts and carries the powerful energy of our souls into fruition. This is the nature of the creative process. This month, we are invited to trust in the possibility of new beginnings which will be enacted before all the world in the inauguration of our new president and the shift of power within the Senate. Just as the sap of the tree rooted in the earth is rising, so our creative juices are beginning to flow as we receive vaccinations that free us to manifest ourselves more fully, bringing forward the best of ourselves after the dark period of gestation and hibernation. 

The astrological sign for this month is Aquarius, symbolized by the water pitcher. It pours out  life-giving water that represents the abundance and expansiveness that expresses the energy of this month and nurtures the trees in our natural world that we celebrate with the holiday of Tu B’Shevat. 

This internal sprouting is a mysterious and hidden process; we don’t always know which of our ideas, projects and visions will bear fruit. When I lived in Atlanta for 15 years, I was the Founding President of the Georgia Women’s Political Caucus and worked with women all over the state to bring our vision and voices into the political process. Many of these same women put their hearts and souls and bodies into this Georgia election working alongside Stacey Abrams and leaders at the Martin Luther King Center to register new voters, raise funds, get out the vote and ensure a stunning victory of a black minister and young Jewish documentarian. With tears running down my face, I stayed up late enough on Tuesday night to see the momentum turn, to watch the votes come in from the suburbs of Atlanta where I had lived, and to rejoice in the stunning shift in consciousness that had enabled this victory. 

We don’t know what will unfold in the future from our dogged determination to create a healthy, more sustainable, equitable society. But we dare not lose faith in our capacity to create the change that is necessary. As human beings, we have a remarkable ability to influence the direction of creation. Taking responsibility to raise the sparks of energy back up to the One, we can do our part in raising the consciousness of creation.  Even if we cannot live to harvest the fruits from the trees we plant in our orchards, we know we have made a contribution to the health and well-being of our planet and future generations through our clear intentions and conscious actions.  

Blessings,
Lucinda

December 2020   Tevet 5781    

Greetings,

Darkness and light, solstice and returning sun, the wheel touches bottom and begins its slow movement upward. The new moon of the Hebrew month of Tevet ushers us into this liminal space and time where we are suspended, in transition, waiting, watching, wary. I hold my breath and feel the anger that is bubbling up within and around me.   

Tevet is the month that asks us to dive deeply within to root out anger and negative emotions that have been building throughout the year, throughout the four years, throughout the decades and centuries. This deep healing requires us to touch the wounds and begin the process of transformation, so we don’t carry our pain and anger with us into the new year of 2021, into the new administration, the new generation, the new relationships and actions we will take when the pandemic abates and we can step out of our houses with a vision of expanded possibilities.

Rather than looking through a distorted and fragmented mirror that reflects a dark story of fear and malicious intent beamed to so many screens these past weeks, I look into my grandchildren’s  shining faces on these past nights of Chanukah, beaming at me in their little zoom screens delighted that all 13 of us in the family are together, lighting the candles, singing our songs, and then opening the gifts we have lovingly chosen and sent in advance for precisely these precious moments. It is for these little ones and the millions of others being born into this world that I pray for release from the old stories, the old fears and traumas that damage souls. 

During this time of great reckoning when our leaders are but “cosmic crowbars,” helping us leverage a monumental transformation that is emerging, we need to bring in the light of truth and wisdom as strongly and powerfully as we can with our words and actions, to be models of what is possible. At this time of awakening, this light can illuminate the dark places, releasing the toxins, and clearing the way. In this moment, we must trust in the divine unfolding of creation, just as our ancestors trusted as they wandered in the desert, not without questioning, but with ultimate faith in the One. May we align ourselves with the forces of peace, love, and justice and discern the rare beauty in the birth pangs of the new creation struggling to be born into the light. May we be midwives to this new evolutionary creation as we light the final Chanukah candles, seeing possibility rather than destruction reflected back to us, and acknowledge the Divine Mystery that cradles us all.  

Blessings,
Lucinda