Elements of a Sustainable Spiritual Practice: Part II – Autumn

Symbol of Community, photo by Jeff Kubina. Used by Creative Commons permission. Back in January I wrote “Four Elements of a Sustainable Spiritual Practice: Part I” — then I wrote a few posts around that topic and hosted a workshop, but never really picked the thread back up again.   I think it’s time to begin [...]

The Importance of Fringes

In the traditional morning prayer service, it is a common practice to gather the fringes (tzitzit) of the prayer shawl into your left hand while saying the Shema — the central statement of faith.  This practice came to mind after I read what I felt to be a poorly informed, fear-based blog post about Kohenet [...]

Tishrei: The Lessons of Ephraim

Excerpt from the Wheel of the Year Guides: subscribe to receive the full guide! ~ Tishrei begins at sundown on September 8th, 2010 ~ As I begin this fourth year of the Wheel of the Year Guides, I am wondering if I have more to say.  Thanks to the input of the community that reads [...]

A Gift for You in 5771

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about the Wheel of the Year Guides I’ve been creating for the past three years.  I love doing them because I learn a lot every time, but they really are a lot of work.   My feeling when I started is that they were high effort enough that [...]

Elul: Turning Inward

(Excerpt from the Elul 5770 Rosh Chodesh Guide – Take a Quick Survey to help with the 5771 Guides!) In Av we explored the meaning of Strength.  Now in Elul with the Hermit, we must find the strength to Journey alone.  Elul is a month of private reflection and inward turning.  We turn inward, so we [...]

Netivot Prayer Beads

At the Becoming 2010 Membership Retreat we made prayer beads. Thankfully, I knew we were doing this in advance, so I had time to think about what I wanted to do. I’ve thought about doing prayer beads before, but never actually done it. I’ve considered making prayer beads of the whole morning prayer service, or [...]

Choosing a Focus

It may sound odd, but I’ve always had a problem being in a niche.  Even though everything I do seems to be a niche-focus.   Every time someone has said that I should choose, I’ve said, “no!”  My work with the concept of sustainable spirituality is one of the ways I’ve tried to work with this.  [...]

Av: What is Strength?

It’s very interesting to me that the months of Av and Elul, I have in previous years assigned different cards and/or Netivot.  In theory, I’ve been using the same system for several years — but for some reason these months were reassigned. I don’t think there is any one system, so I could simply make [...]

Tammuz: Harnessing Potential

~ an excerpt from the Tammuz 5770 Rosh Chodesh Guide ~ The Tarot card for the month is the Chariot (מֶרְכָּבָה), also associated with the sign of Sartan (סַרְטָן) or Cancer.  The Chariot is a challenge.  It says, quite literally, take the reins.  You have all the power and ability, but will do you do [...]

Existance Strategy

It’s not how your earn your income It’s about how you earn your keep Each day ����Each moment ��������Each breath ������������Each step It’s not about how you pay your bills It’s about how you live your life Each smile ����Each frown ��������Each laugh ������������Each tear It’s not about your job It’s about your work Each [...]