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From Elul Through Rosh Hashanah & Yom Kippur to Sukkot & Simchat

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From Elul Through Rosh Hashanah & Yom Kippur to Sukkot & Simchat From Elul through Rosh Hashanah & Yom Kippur to Sukkot & Simchat Torah An Inward Pilgrimage of Walking, Meditation, and Journaling from Maggid Andrew Ramer www.andrewramer.com We come to the month of Elul as spiritual pilgrims, wandering slowly toward Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, then on to Sukkot, our harvest festival. What follows is an outline for a journey of meditation, walking, and journaling, all the way through the month of Elul to Sukkot, which in this challenging time you may want to hold as an inner harvest, of joy, hope, sorrow, loss, regret, gratitude, and a time of unfolding possibilities. Consider going on this journey with others, and please play with and change any element of this in any way that you care to, in order to deepen your own spiritual journey. And all through this – if it’s meaningful to you – you may hear a shofar blowing, you may feel an energy of change and new beginnings vibrating within and around you. And please know that you can go on this journey every day, once a week, on Shabbat, or………??? First week of Elul Imagine that you’re standing at a gateway, about to begin an inward journey of release and healing, as we move toward a new year. Picture this gateway in your mind, and when you’re ready, feel yourself step through it. As you do so, walking indoors or out, look back on all of human history and ask yourself – “What do I carry from the past that I want to release, and what do I carry that’s a blessing?” You can do this silently, as a meditation, you can do this in a conversation with someone else, and you can do this as a journaling exercise. Each day imagine that you’re taking a step closer toward the present, and each day ask yourself the same two questions about burden and blessing. Imagine this as a form of Selichot, of reciting penitential prayers, and also a form of reciting the traditional morning prayers of blessing, any time of the day. And as you continue on this journey know that you’re slowly moving toward Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, when you’ll have the chance to work on what you’re discovering inside. Second week of Elul This week as you to walk, indoors or out, look back at our entire history as a people, all the way back to Sarah and Abraham. And ask yourself – “What do I carry from the past that I want to release, and what do I carry that’s a blessing?” You can do this silently, as a meditation, you can do this in a conversation with someone else, and you can do this as journaling exercise. Each day imagine that you’re taking a step closer toward the present, and each day ask yourself the same two questions about burden and blessing. Feel as you continue on this journey that you’re a little bit closer to Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, and that you can now see in the distance, in your imagination, a sacred space where you’ll have the chance to work on what you’re discovering inside. Third week of Elul This week as you to walk, indoors or out, look back at your own family history, your family by adoption, of birth, of choice, going back as far as you can into the stories you know, feeling them in your body. And ask yourself – “What do I carry from the past that I want to release, and what do I carry that’s a blessing?” Again, you can do this as a silent meditation, in a conversation with someone else, and as a journaling exercise. Each day imagine that you’re taking a step closer toward the present, toward a broad flight of wide stairs that you will slowly begin to ascend as you walk toward your inner temple of renewal. As you approach it, each day ask yourself the same two questions about burden and blessing, and feel as you approach the temple that you’re a coming closer to the Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, when you’ll have the chance to work on what you’ve been discovering. Fourth week of Elul This week as you to walk, indoors or out, imagine that you are now ascending that broad stairway of your temple of renewal. This week as you ascend, look at your own personal history, going back as far as you can into the stories of your early years, going back into your memories and experiences right up to the present; all your sorrows and joys, your regrets and delights, feeling them in your body, and asking yourself – “What do I carry from the past that I’m ready to release, and what do I carry with me that’s a blessing?” You can do this meditating, in conversation, as a journaling exercise. Each day imagine that as you climb those inner steps you’re coming closer to the present, and each day ask yourself the same two questions about burden and blessing. And feel as you continue on this journey that as you get closer to Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur that you step through an outer gateway, and on the final day of Elul feel yourself stepping into the outer courtyard of your own most sacred imagined space, where you’ll have the chance to work on what you discovered within during your Elul pilgrimage. Rosh Hashanah However you celebrate Rosh Hashanah, alone or with others, going to services or walking, inside and or out, spend time sitting in a quiet place, reading through everything you’ve recorded about the things that you want to release that you carry from our human past, our Jewish past, your family’s past, and your own individual life. Alone or with others, imagine that you’ve stepped from the outer courtyard right into the front chamber of your holy temple, however you imagine it, and take some times to talk about it if you’re on this journey with others, and give yourself some time to write about it in your journal. Now that you’re in the your sacred space, sitting comfortably, lovingly massage your body from head to toe, wherever you can reach, and as you massage yourself, feel everything inside you that you want to let go of. With each touch feel that you can loosen it, free it up, in the energy field around you, and from your brain and your bones, from all of your inner organs, going all the way down into all of your cells, shifting these burdens, getting ready to let go of them. Imagine now that you are standing beside a stream or a river or the ocean. See and feel the water flowing, moving, and as you stand there, feel and know that you can breathe out into these living waters everything that you’re ready to let go of, and as you exhale feel and know that the waters will receive this energy, in fact draw it out of you and take it away, wash it away, transmuting it, in a Tashlich of the soul. As you’re releasing these burdens from the past, thank them for anything and everything they may have taught you, and feel yourself getting lighter and lighter, both lighter – that you weigh less energetically, and lighter – that you’re beginning to glow from the very depths of your soul out through and in through all of your cells. And know as you get lighter and lighter, that you are clean and pure and blessed and a blessing in and to the world, that you are new and renewed, and that you bring to the world and receive from the world, all the joyous possibilities of a new year. End this session by talking and/or writing about this experience. Yom Kippur In the ten days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, continue walking, talking, and journaling. Use this time to see if anything else comes up in you that you want to release, and breathe it out of you. And continue to explore all of your blessings from our human past, our Jewish past, your family’s past, and your own individual life and your own past, at the beginning of a new year. However you celebrate Yom Kippur, give yourself some time on this day to read through everything you’ve written about your blessings. Set aside some time on this holy day to sit quietly, alone or with others, and feel and know that just like the high priest in days of old, that you are about to step from the front chamber of your inward temple into the inner chamber, the holy of holies. Feel and see yourself stepping into it, into the very deepest part of yourself, into the living heart of your very soul. Now that you’re there, sitting or standing quietly, feel your breath rising and falling in your body, feel your spine undulating, as all of your sacred body gently rocks. The high priest wore a sacred robe on this day. Feel that you are too, a robe woven through with all of your many blessings. Focus on your breath now, and feel all of your blessings, in the energy field around you, in your skin, your bones, your inner organs, going all the way down into all of your cells. Feel the shining light of soul-deep gratitude shining through and out of you, as you get lighter and lighter, more and more luminous.
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