Welcome to a new writing project. In an effort to bring a regular writing practice back into my life I have decided to take some inspiration from a practice I was invited into eight years ago, which has consistently been amongst the most meaningful in my life. In that practice, that takes place during the Omer (a 49 day period in the spring between the Jewish holidays of Passover and Shavuot) we are asked each day to reflect on a pairing of sefirot (a set divine characteristics in the Jewish mystical tradition). Through eight years of engaging with that practice in a shared google doc alongside an ever changing and also constant community, we have come to see the depth that these sefirot carry in the many different interpretations of these ancient characteristics we have found ourselves responding to.
The sefirot I will be working with in this new practice are known as the lower sefirot, the ones that are mapped on to the body below the neck. They are: Chesed, Gevurah, Tiferet, Netzach, Hod, Yesod, and Malkhut/Shechinah. Each week, I will choose an interpretation of one of these sefirot and write on what comes up for me when reflecting on the week through the lens of that characteristic/value.