The world has eclipse fever: even conspiracy theorists have gotten in on the fun! Next week, passing through the communities that I support in Kanata (Canada) and in Kentake (Kentucky), there will be a solar eclipse passing over Turtle Island (Mexico, USA, Canada). Much has been said about this phenomenon, with many believing that it predicts a significant shift in the universe, and possible disaster or potential global awakening. Astrological interpretations and religious ones abound, and many are simply motivated by FOMO or “eclipse mania“.
The eclipse before Passover
According to Jewish calendar time, this eclipse is falling at a very spiritually significant time Jewishly. The weeks leading up to Passover (which will be April 22nd, register here to attend the virtual seder I am leading) are supposed to be a time of spiritual preparation for the liberation that this holiday represents. Personally, I have been reflecting upon the larger symbolism of such an eclipse at a time when the universe feels plunged into a deep darkness.
The darkness of our world reminds me of the biblical plagues of Mitzrayim (the narrow place that is translated as ancient Egyptian bondage), where first there was the plague of darkness and then the death of the first born. In so many ways, I feel like this represents our own day: the darkness of narrow interpretations of religion, the darkness of trauma and propaganda and hate, the darkness of war and violence and destruction, the darkness of shame and compassion fatigue and burnout, the darkness of economic injustice and racial inequality, the darkness of colonization and the exploitation of this planet’s resources leading us to the risk of global extinction. And this darkness is leading to the deaths of the children of this planet: to war, starvation, violence, trauma, overdoses, suicide…
And it is hard for that darkness not to infect us, for indeed it is a plague that is soul-crushing and heart-wrenching, activating deep internal and intergenerational trauma. No less than a sponge plunged in water will become wet, it is unrealistic to not expect that we will be impacted by this world. Denying its impact is the biggest danger of all: this is how the darkness become obscurity. And yet, denial is not always a conscious choice. Denial is a defense mechanism against fear. Often, it has unconscious components, as a way of trying not to feel anxiety, which for some of us, can be more severe than others, depending upon how much trauma we may already have. The differences in how we process these depends upon our intersectionality and positionality, which is to say, our different identities and the ways that each part of us have been uniquely privileged or hurt.
That darkness hurts us all in intersectionally unique ways: depending upon our positionality, certain aspects of it will affect us more than others… and depending upon our positionality and trauma, we may or may not recognize any of this. Trauma causes unconscious reactions. Unconscious reactions happen when our conscious mind can’t tolerate reality. There are different words for this: trauma, dissociation, psychosis… they are all reflective of the same dynamic, but they are on a continuum. The more traumatized we feel, and the less internal resilience, the more likely we are to become detached from reality. This helps us to stay numb and not feel. The biblical text calls this “hardened heart“.
And the pharaohs (literally in Hebrew: peh rah/the evil mouth/the false speakers) of this world (internal and external) speak lies and call it truth. The process of the hardening of the heart and the false speech is related: the more we cling to false understandings of reality, the less connected to reality we are. This is trauma: it creates altered states of perception (a narrowing of what we see). The rabbis call this narrowing “Mitzrayim” which is usually mistranslated as Egypt. When we translate to geographical places, we miss out on the spiritual messages and we focus on “this world” which is to say the world that is not real according to Kabbalah. This world is supposed to be a portal for the next world: and our task is to go beyond what we see. This is the world of death and division: there is only One True Reality and it is G!d. When we can see that G!d is everywhere and in everyone, then we will see clearly with spiritual lenses.
This is the upside down world (olam hafuch) where those who are good are treated badly and those that hurt them seem to be rewarded. This is the world of illusions. The tragedy is when we allow this world of illusions to control us: then fear, trauma, grief and death reign… as indeed we see in our world today. The tragic consequence of believing illusions (propaganda, flags, labels) is that we can cause real suffering and traumatic reenactment. The Jewish mystical tradition (Kabbalah) teaches that what we see is not real, but the vibrations of our thoughts and feelings are real. When we let this world control our thoughts, feelings and decisions, then we cause real world implications that have universal and enduring consequences of cosmic proportion. Understanding this is the first part to learning how to heal this world and redeem it (tikkun olam) which is our purpose if we can just remember this. Remembering our purpose and essence is only possible once we begin to see the world for what it is: healing the world begins with healing ourselves.
The spiritual practice of blessing and eclipse
Many believe that this is a time for a consciousness shift. Everything is a miracle if we open ourselves to recognizing this Truth. Understanding this will inform how we respond and react… The is coming Eclipse before Passover is (if we choose to embrace it as such) a miraculous opportunity to be reminded of this Sacred Torah/Wisdom. Here are some prayers or resources to help or perhaps this is a chance to create your own or just reflect: what do you want to stop seeing and what do you want to begin to see? How does seeing influence your reality? What stands in the way of your being able to see Light? What is blinding to you?
An eclipse happens when one celestial body passes in front of the other, causing the other one to be obscured. Awakening is a consciousness shift to understand that the darkness is not real. Like the dawn that follows even the darkest night, Light will always return and darkness is just a temporary illusion of this world. The spiritual task is not to give it power through our own fear. Fear is what happens when our awareness narrows and we can no longer see the big picture.
The spiritual practice of reciting blessings is one way to open ourselves to this awareness and remember our purpose: to be Light while the world is dark and to keep one another safe and whole as we journey through this world.
Too often, human awareness is like the earth that passes between celestial bodies and thinks that darkness or light is real. Too often we fail to understand how we impact one another. Our unhealed trauma and pain are like spiritual scar tissue that causes us to harden our hearts and the Light can’t shine through us. Our wounds and our ego can get in the way. Then our words or actions reflect the pain, rather than the Light that is our essence. Miscommunications are like human eclipses: our good intentions can get twisted and misunderstood. Then we begin to try to defend ourselves instead of trying to see things from the perspective of the other…. this leads us even further down the path of what can quickly become an argument. This can happen in big ways, like in the political realm, and in little ways, like in interpersonal communication. For example, a friend might say something that is reminiscent of words that someone else has used hurtfully, and we may react to that friend and unleash our traumatic reaction upon them… despite the fact that they are not the ones who hurt us.
When we are traumatized, all we can see is our trauma. We react, not to the person in front of us, but to what they are triggering. They are reminding us of a trauma that happened previously, at the hands of someone else. Without therapy or mindfulness, it is easy to unleash our anger that belongs to someone else upon that person. This unconscious trauma response is called projection and transference. It is very common, and the best way to deal with it is to stop and reflect, whenever we have a strong reaction that others might suggest is disproportionate to the situation. If my reaction is very strong: am I reacting to this situation, or to something earlier and traumatic that I may have repressed (=believed I had healed or gotten over)? When we can recognize that our trauma has earlier antecedents, we have the beginning of the healing path that is unearthed for us. Such communication eclipses are like nature is trying to help us expel the toxins of our pain: like a boil that needs to be lanced… our woundedness can explode on others in ways that we don’t mean… When we are traumatized, we can easily become traumatizing. But if we can awaken and recognize this -which requires not being blamed or shamed or defensive- then, this is an opportunity for healing.
Taking time to pause and reflect is helpful in moments of miscommunication. No less than an eclipse, if we stop, breathe and try to see things from the perspective of the other person… and think about the unhealed parts of ourselves that reacted and need to be healed, then we have a chance of reconnecting. Like the sun that returns after the eclipse, it is possible to turn an argument into an opportunity for healing, for learning and unlearning, for growing closer together and for recognizing the ways in which most arguments are really not about their stated content. Arguing about content only pushes us further apart: content is like an eclipse. What matters is the relationship and whether we can discern the intent and trust that the person with whom we are disagreeing is someone that is safe… someone we care about… someone with whom we want to stay in relationship. If we can get to that level, and understand our own part in the argument, then we have a chance to heal and perhaps even create a better relationship: one where each can see each other more clearly… because we can see from the perspective of the other, in addition to our own.
Spiritual awakening: Light is returning
There are many spiritual practices that can help us remain mindful and focused on healing. It is also very important to explore trauma-focused therapy. It is not an either/or: spiritual healing requires holistic healing of body, mind, heart and soul. Increasingly, the decolonizing lens to trauma studies understands that trauma is a “soul wound”. Until we heal this, we will keep wounding ourselves and one another. Because religion is often associated with our traumas in one way or another, many people just shut down their connection to their soul. This contributes to the soul wound, leading to burnout, a lack of compassion and further dissociation.
Jewish mysticism understands that there are many levels of consciousness, which we refer to the five levels of the soul. Trauma blocks that spiritual evolution that many religious theorists recognize as essential to maturity and well-being. Modern medicine focuses upon the brain, and most mental health techniques focus on cognitive or physical (biological, behavioral and somatic) interventions. But such practices are not adequate: meditation, mindfulness, prayer and spiritual practices are essential for neurodecolonization and holistic healing. The spiritual practice of reciting blessings is one way to remind ourselves of our place in the Universe and to help us open ourselves so that we can become vessels of Light and Healing in a world where most people’s trauma causes spiritual eclipses that lead to the brokenness that we must work together to heal.
Sanctifying Hidden Light
Eclipses remind us that G!d’s Light can seem hidden, but that it remains and will return. Night was created for the same reason. The story of Esther teaches us the same thing. Hanukkah and Shabbat and holiday candle lighting try to remind us that when G!d is hidden, our job is to make G!d visible by becoming Light or kindling Light. Just in case our religious traditions got confused and the message was not clear within the religious realm (as too often happens to religion in this world: it quickly turns to idolatry as soon as gold is involved), next week’s eclipse can remind us of this Truth (Torah).
Jews are commanded to kindle Light when it is dark: we begin every holiday at sunset and light candles and recite blessings. These physical acts are meant to convey deeper truths: if we think that by lighting a candle we have done our duty, we run the risk of idolatry/missing the deeper message. Our religious task is to sanctify hidden Light: when we can look at the darkness and recognize that Light is present, then we will have learned how to become amongst those who kindle Light and keep it burning. Jewish tradition commands us to recite blessings as we kindle Light: so we remember that the fire is not ours to burn wantonly.
It is not by accident that Moses’ revelation was from a bush that burned unconsumed. This is the miracle: to experience Light without being blinded or burned… to teach us to experience darkness without becoming blind/blinding or burned out/explosive. When we feel fires of emotion burning inside of us: can we recognize these as opportunities for revelation/insight or redemption/healing? Can we pause and wonder what is being triggered and what needs repair- within ourselves? When we can recognize this, we will have “found religion”. May this time come soon and speedily.
What will we do to transform next week’s eclipse into an opportunity to awaken and become a vessel of Light and Love and Joy and Authenticity and Healing Blessings? Because Light is returning: no one can hold back the dawn as Noah Aronson sings in this beautiful song… I share this video of that song that features one person doing a folk dance alone… hoping for more to join in… I share it because it represents that hope that many of us have… as we keep moving forward, waiting for more people to awaken and join us… join us in decolonizing and healing and advocating for Life and Love and perhaps that is what it will take for Light to return: we must begin to join hands and do what we can to cultivate Joy and Life and Hope and Light… in ourselves, in one another and in our world.
Emerging Torah as Rabbi Nachshon emerges 