Demons among the ruins

In Masechet Berachot 3a-3b, there is a story of R. Yossi entering a ruin in Jerusalem to pray. Eliyahu comes and guards the door while he prays, and then chastises him for praying there when he is done. R Jose states that, among other things, he learned that one should never pray in a ruin. Eliyahu then asks him what he heard while praying. R Jose replies that he heard a divine voice (בת קול) that was lamenting over the destruction of the temple. The Gemera continues with a discussion of why one should not pray in a ruin. The main reason given is to avoid demons (מזיקין). But if there are two righteous people then the demons will not manifest unless it is a place that is known to be haunted.

The word for Demon is מזיק which derives from the root נזק and means something that causes damage. This offers a relatively simple definition of a demon or bad spirit. It is one who causes us damage. The passage also supplies a relatively simple method for avoiding demons - keep good company when doing spiritual practices. But it is not enough to be with others when opening to the shamanic realm, the others must be כשרים or Kosher! Literally it means that they are proper or fit. To prevent spirits from damaging one needs to be surrounded by people who are upstanding and nourishing.

Places absorb energy from the people who lived there. Depending on the energy, different types of souls will be attracted to that place. In the ruins of Jerusalem not long after the destruction of the Temple, there would be a lot of dark energy surrounding those ruins. The last people who lived there likely died by either starvation or murder or worse. The first thing that he would have felt there would have been that pain. R. Yossi entered those ruins, opened himself to the spiritual world and heard a divine voice mourning the destruction. R. Yossi felt but was not overwhelmed by the sadness and pain. For another person, that pain might evoke fear or pain which makes a person in the spiritual realm more open to negative influences.

R. Yossi's initial prayers had called an exceptionally strong spiritual presence to him in Eliyahu hanavi. The text reads: בא אליהו זכור לטוב ושמר לי על הפתח Eliyahu, of blessed memory, came and guarded me on the opening. The traditional way of reading it is that Eliyahu guarded the door, but one could also read it that Eliyahu guarded the spiritual opening so that R. Yossi could hear the divine voice without being overwhelmed by the pain and sadness of the place or becoming susceptible to the spirits that are attracted to a place like that.

One can contrast this to the demons who do damage. The angels guard and nourish us. When we are with people who we trust and love, then the energy we create draws good spirits to us. When we are with people who's actions and intentions are questionable, the distrust and fear draws bad spirits to us. This is especially true if we are in a place that is full of dark energy. The gemera refers to places that are known to be haunted by demons. These are the dark places of power. Even when we are with trusted companions, we have to be careful in these places before we enter into the spiritual world there.

By and large, who we are determines the spirits that we encounter when we enter the shamanic realm. That's why it's very important to continually work on oneself as one walks this path. R. Yossi teaches us to be careful with our company and where we pray so that each opening into the shamanic realm is not filled with pain but instead we encounter those who guard and guide us even through difficult situations.

Photo courtesy of Callmetim

Truth within the system

I recently had a fascinating reading from a medium named Kurt Leland. He channels a spirit named "Charles" who mainly focuses on people's greater purpose in life. During the reading, I could feel a tremendous amount of power, which is one of my litmus tests. The focus of this post is not on what he said, but how he said it.

The reading was presented in the format of a very advanced version of the Michael Teachings. The basic idea is that the soul develops over lifetimes and goes through seven soul "ages" each with seven levels. Each soul has a primary archetype which remains constant throughout lifetimes. Each incarnation has various overlays which define the personality of that incarnation, and a "chief feature" which is either the greatest blockage or the source of the greatest power in that particular lifetime.

During the course of the reading, he also lead me through a powerful visualization/journey based on the fours worlds as interpreted in the lens of theosophy (of which I will write about in another post).

What he told me was accurate and true, which, according to the Ba'al Shem Tov, is the test of any medium or seer. The format he used was the method in which he conveyed the truth. It's important not to mix up the two.

There are two steps to receiving information from the spirit world. One is receiving it and the other is being able to convey it to the person receiving the healing. Kurt/Charles was exceptional at using the format to convey the reading in terms the I could easily understand and make sense of. My wife also received a reading a few months ago, and I was struck by the differences in wording between the two readings.

Is his system true? Are there seven soul ages and seven levels in each? I can't really say.

Chaim Vital writes about ten soul levels with ten stages in each. They are based on the ten sephirot. Each lifetime we can move up or down levels, but the general progression is upward. He writes about soul roots. That each of our souls grows out of similar roots. So that some people can have a soul root of Cain or Hevel, and others could be King David. The soul roots don't change over lifetimes even as we climb up the sephirot.

What is clear across systems is that souls contain certain elements which remain the same throughout lifetimes, and there is growth across lifetimes. In both Vital's system and the Michael Teachings, the end goal is union with the divine.

It's important to understand the lens of the system to clearly understand the message that's being presented. It's also important that the system is just that: a way of conveying a message so it can be clearly understood. One of the reasons I spend so much time studying Judaism is that it's the system that makes the most sense to me, and most fully explains my experiences. So the better I understand Judaism, the better I understand my relationship with God.

It's also important to realize that the power is in the message, not in the system. The system is worth studying and thinking about so you understand the message, but the power lies in the truth hidden within.

As a fellow healer, I also wanted to give a recommendation to Kurt/Charles. He does readings via Skype, so is available to anyone.  If it sounds like something that might be helpful to you, drop him a line.

Moving back to Boston

I just wanted to apologize for the upcoming month or two when posts will probably be few and far between. Due to personal reasons and several clear messages from the spirit world, I am moving back to Boston in early August. Over the next few months, most of my time and effort need to be focused on the transition between Jerusalem and Boston. I will try to continue to post regularly, but I suspect that I won't have much time until after the Holidays.

Typologies

I recently stumbled across the Michael Teachings. As I read through the different archetypes and personality typings, I became very impressed with the system and it's approach to understanding a person's basic personality. Habitually, I began to compare and contrast it with different systems I know and finding the flaws in this system. It was then that I remembered the advice given to me by my mentor John: If it works, use it, if it doesn't, throw it out.

Typologies are ways of making sense of an infinitely complex world. They give us boxes and labels to help us comprehend the world around us. In a western mode of thought, we are always looking for the one true typology. We argue about the merits and values of each system and which is the best.

The truth is that the world is so varied that some typologies are true now while others are true later. Some are true for some people, and some for others. Judaism itself has many ways of dividing up and understanding people, so much so that it would be impossible to say for sure that there is one true set of Jewish typologies.

In the end, John's advice is best. If it's useful, then learn from it. Take what it's offering and use it as a tool for growth. But if it's not useful, don't get hung up on it and try to force it to work, just look for the next thing that can help you grow.

Photo courtesy of Andreas E J

Processing Fear

There are three facets to using fear for power.

You need to learn to feel/see the fear itself, and not react to it with another emotion - usually sadness or anger. Then you can get used to it so you can identify it in your life. The more time you spend with it, the more you will get desensitized to it so you feel but don't act on it's advice. Finally you feel compassion for yourself for having been so scared and send the fear Love. In that moment, you will reclaim the power of the fear.

Photo courtesy of Dean Ayers

Does fear of God connect us to God?

This weeks Torah portion contains an interesting and very Jewish way of connecting to God. The background: the Hebrews are wandering in the desert. Miriam has just died and they have run out of water (there are many good midrashim about that connection). The people come to Moshe and Aaron and are complaining bitterly of their thirst.

Numbers 20:6:

ויבא משא ואהרן מפני הקהל אל פתח אהל מועד ויפלו על פניהם וירא כבוד יקוק אלקים: וידבר יקוק אל משה לאמר

Moshe and Aaron came away from in front of the community to the tent of meeting. They fell on their faces and they feared the presence of hashem their God. And God spoke to Moshe saying...

The key phrase here is "feared the presence of hashem their God". There are several ways of understanding this phrase. Either he feared to have the presence of God enter the room, or his fear was the way he connected to God.

Moshe was going through a tough time. His sister had just died. The people he had saved from slavery with miracles and wonders were complaining bitterly that he was now going to let them die in the desert. He did not know what to do. He came to the Tent of Meeting, where he normally would go to talk to God and fell down on his face instead of just walking in. Moshe was fed up and exhausted. He wasn't sure he wanted to talk to God. He was scared of what God might require him to do.

Or maybe he was just scared. He was in the middle of the desert and midrash states that Miriam always dealt with finding water (in corporeal or mystical ways). He was scared that he really had no solution for the people's need for water. And that fear connected him to God even though he was in a place where he felt no connection to God.

God had mercy רחמים on him. He told Moshe to talk to a rock and it would produce water. It was a simple thing to do. But Moshe was so emotionally worked up that when he went to the rock, he struck it with it his staff instead of speaking to it. For this he was prevented from entering the land of Israel. Perhaps God knew that Moshe needed to turn from a crisis leader to a leader of peace, from one who can send plagues to one who can talk for his solutions, but Moshe couldn't make the transition.

When we are emotionally charged, we are full of fear. It can lock us into ourselves and prevent us seeing the world around us. Or we can engage with our fear and use it's energy to grow closer to God.

Photo courtesy of Bootload

Joseph: the master at just being

We asked while studying this week: why is it that our forefathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob sacrificed on a regular basis, but Joseph never did? Neither did God speak directly to him, but he did receive messages in the forms of dreams, though they were more metaphors to be interpreted rather than clear words. So what shifted between the first three generations of Jews and the fourth?

My Hevruta asked if God was always with Joseph, so there was no need to build an alter or sacrifice to bring himself closer to God. At that point, I felt the presence of Joseph come into the room and he showed me how he experienced the world.

Joseph was a person who was always open to the flow of energy around him. He could perceive it and used it to make choices that based on where the energy would flow most powerfully. He could perceive it in others and his reactions to them were guided by his energetic perceptions rather than his physical ones. In that sense, God was always with him because he could always perceive God around him and in the world. He had no need to increase the energy around him as he knew that it was always there.

When his brothers threw him in the hole, he didn't fight or run away because he could perceive that it was the correct thing to happen. I imagine he was very puzzled by it, but he went with the flow as he always did.

When Potifar's wife tried to seduce him, he ran because he could see her evil intentions and knew her seduction was a power play rather than an expression of Love. He ran from her because he could see through her.

When he interpreted dreams, he could feel the meanings within them. He could see how the energetics of the dreams matched up with reality.

He was the master of Being. He didn't puzzle about life or try to make things happen. He just went where the flow was strongest. He didn't need to build power to get close to God because he could always perceive God in the world.

Photo courtesy of Joseph Brauer