TAMUZ - New Moon in Cancer

We just entered this new Hebrew month of Tamuz, which comes after 3 intense months of creation.

Indeed, we had Nissan with Passover that guided us to the concept of leaving the state of slavery in all its forms, Iyar that guided us through the concept of freedom through the commitment, working on our character traits, in order to be worthy to receive the Torah, the light, and to unify our binary nature during Sivan.

Tamuz is known as a "hard" month, a month of "tragedies". Most known tragedies are the break of the firsts tables (with the "commandments") after the fault of the golden calf, and the destruction of the second temple of Jerusalem - well, big bad stuffs happened during that month. And as the Hebrew calendar is a lunar & solar calendar, the astrology stars and planets align and tragedies keeps on going during that period of time. But nothing to worry, as we are learning that we are the ones actually that are judging a situation or a thing as being "hard" or as being a "tragedy", when in reality, these are only opportunities to get to know ourselves deeper. Let's take a closer look.

We see for instance that the break of the firsts tables allowed in the second tables with the 10 commandments for a new Hebrew letter to appear over there, the letter ט Thet, which represents the self-awareness, the power of introspection, it is the letter that makes us complete (as the first time we see this letter in the Torah is to create the word טוב which means "good" but in terms of completion, of perfection - the opposite being "not good" לא טוב, in terms of not finished, not complete, and not as we could expect "bad"). We see it also with the shape of the letter, as if it was rolling up, like a bucket, a recipient - it actually symbolizes this inside-out fertility space, just like its numerical value (gematria) is 9, like the 9 months of pregnancy.

The element of this month is water, both with the Hebrew month of Tamuz in Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism) and in astrology with the sign of Cancer. With this information, we understand even better this idea of knowing ourselves deeper for this month. Indeed, the water is the symbol of communication. In science we see that water can carry information as they are vibratory in nature - maybe you have heard of the expression "water memory" (here is a documentary movie about it). Everything is vibratory, everything is information, and everything is in movement. Everything is about communication: the right circulation of the information, the right interconnection between every vibrant entities.

Within our bodies, our 40 billions of billions of cells are circulation, communicating, passing information to our whole body through a specific plan, so the whole would work in harmony, as a whole! If a cell is not fulfilling its purpose, not passing the information, it degenerates. When an organ does not receive the right information it cannot work in harmony with the rest of the body and starts to degenerate as everything is interconnected. This degeneration has a name: cancer. Cancer, same name as the astrological sign of this month. Same game of words in French, and same game in Hebrew "Sartan" סרטן - and we find our letter ט here again. Sar means to withdraw oneself and Tan comes from the root Tina the gratuitous hate. The hahamim associate this gratuitous hate with this sign but also with the disease, cancer, characterized by a crazy division of cells.

When the information is circulating right, it is easy to notice, it feels harmonious, you feel the balance, no need of any explanation.

Life is naturally organized like this, everything is balanced, like the Yin and the Yang, like the hermetic saying "as above so below". During the past month we received so much, we received the Torah, there was so much creation. This month those forces are balanced. Well, it does not mean that we must have destruction to balance this creation.

If I tell you that you will feel as much sadness as you will feel joy, I'm not sure you will be satisfied with that! Who wants to be sad! But that is actually judging our emotions and living them passively.

To be active about our emotions is about acknowledging and welcoming each emotion, considering them as opportunities to know ourselves better, and therefore seeing the beauty in each one of them. Being in joy or being sad is as much beautiful, deep and human. It reminds me the movie Inside-Out that I highly recommend you to watch!

But the opposite of joy is not necessary sadness, just like we said that the opposite of טוב (tov) "good" is not "bad" but "not good". Or for instance the opposite of light is not darkness but the absence of light.

It also reminds me a French poem Je te souhaite assez "I wish you enough", that I translated and would like to share with you here:

The departure of the plane had been announced at the airport.

Very close to me a father and his daughter kissed each other and the father said "I love you and I wish enough."

The daughter replied "Dad, our life together has been more than enough. Your love has been all that which I needed. I wish you enough, too, dad." Then they split their ways.

The father walked over to the window where I was sitting before boarding. I could see that he was on the verge of tears. I tried not to impose myself and to respect his privacy, but he asked me :

- "Have you ever said goodbye to someone knowing that you will never see each other again?"

- "Yes, but let me ask you why you think you will never see her again?"

- "I'm old and she lives so far... the reality is that her next trip will be for my interment ".

- "When you were saying goodbye, I thought I heard you say, 'I wish you enough.' Can I ask you what that means?"

He started to smile.

- "This is a wish that comes to us from several generations that have preceded us. My parents used to tell everyone." He paused for a moment as he looked ceiling, as if trying to remember where it came from... When we say "I wish you enough" we wish the other person to have a life filled with just enough good things to be happy."

So, turning to me, he shared the following as if reciting a memorized text:

I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun even more.

I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive and eternal.

I wish you just enough pain that even the smallest of joys can seem great.

I wish you enough gain to satisfy your needs.

I wish you just enough loss to appreciate all you have.

I wish you enough love to be at peace.

I wish you enough goodbyes to allow you to make it to the final goodbye.

He then allowed himself to cry and then walked away.

- Unknown author.

---

It's like in surf - you must enjoy the excitement of being on top of the wave as much as when you are waiting for the waves to come, this rest and calmness are necessary for the effort and excitement to exist. But we judge. We judge those situations as good or bad, as exciting or boring.

It is said that this month is a month of judgment. But judgment is actually a wrong translation for this month divine emanation of the "Gevurah", which is about having boundaries, being limited. In the Kabbalistic Sefirot Tree of Life, the Gevurah is balanced with the divine emanation of the "Chessed" the kindness, which in opposite is abundant, limitless. The Chessed cannot exist without the Gevurah. Let's take the example of money: let's say Chessed is infinite money, everybody can get as much money as they want, then the money won't have any value, that would be inflation. The Gevurah is like a sink regulating the water flow of the Chessed.

As we said, everything is balanced. In the past month, we received the infinite light of the Torah. This month we are observing limits. And we should not judge it by saying it is a hard month, just as we said that without the Gevurah, the Chessed cannot exist.

Therefore, this month we should pay more attention this month on how we perceive and judge things. Avoiding self-pity, seeing the beauty everywhere. Indeed, in Kabbalistic astrology, this month sens is the spiritual sight (and not physical).

All is a question of perception and it takes work, just like a muscle, to always see the good, how everything is working for the טוב Tov. Meditation, mindfulness practices of Loving-Kindness and gratitude are ways to practice.

As we apprehend this world and communicate through words, this month I invite you to pay more attention in your words and how you communicate with them, especially when they are used to judge such as in our self-talk. Also learn about non-violent communication principles.

Words hold vibrations, and vibrations shape the matter, they have the power of creation and destruction. They can help us to estimate, understand, feel ourselves. But words are so general whereas our emotional world is so individual and specific. What does it mean when you say "I am sad"? What do you really feel, within your body? Frustration, deception?

Words are delimiting, defining, refining our perceptions, our spiritual sight, our overview about ourselves and the world beyond appearances. This month is the opportunity to communicate better, to see the beauty and welcome our inner emotional world, to enrich our perceptions, at a deeper level.

Happy Rosh Hodesh Tamuz!