Unique Paths Through The Sea

ט"ו בניסן תשע"א
Annwyn 17

In both Jewish Midrash and Talmud, Rabbinic tradition tells us that each Hebrew tribe walked its own path (netivah) through the Yam Suf (Red Sea, the Sea of Reeds) at the Exodus, and that to accomplish this, the Sea actually parted into twelve unique sections to accommodate the uniqueness of each collective tribe within Klal Yisrael. Now, as a Jewitch, this is an interesting tradition to drill down into. If, as the Rabbis teach, the Sea can part twelve times to accommodate the uniqueness of each Hebrew tribe within the Klal, then the Sea can also part the unique path for me (and likewise for every individual) to accommodate my unique Jewish path as a Jewitch within my tribe and within the Klal.

So mote it be, אמן.

Read an article about a few other Jewitches: Nice Jewitch Girls Leave Their Brooms in the Closet

Full Raven Moon Smudge Wand

י"ו ניסן תשס"ט
Raven 16

In follow-up to an earlier entry about the white sage smudge wand I didn't make, here is an entry about the Full Raven Moon Smudge Wand I did make.

Crafted under the Full Raven Moon during the planetary hour of the Moon, this exotic smudge wand contains buchu leaves and myrrh resin wrapped in leaves of black tang (also known as bladderwrack, seetang, sea spirit, sea oak, meeriche and kelp). All herbs correspond to the feminine power of the Moon and are certified organic.

A messenger of magic and mysticism, Raven is a creative and protective totem, bringing light and fire to ancient humankind in Native American folklore. Raven laughs. She is a keeper of secrets, a heroine and a fool, a juxtaposition of opposites, the creatress of the earth and all its mysteries. Bringing light from darkness (אתהפכא חשוכא לנהורא, in Jewish kabbalistic tradition), Raven is cloaked in black yet brings joy and mischievous humor into life.

Raise the wind, summon spirits, move the power of the hidden sea, experience transformation, dream prophetically and cast protection spells with the strength of the Full Raven Moon. Available at WITCHCRAFTS by Liorah Lleucu.

Pesach Esbat Blessing, Ruach Ha-Olam

Yah Nissan י"ה ניסן תשס"ט
Raven 15

My bedroom is jammed with craft supplies and tools with which I am using to handcraft items for my etsy shoppe WITCHCRAFTS by Liorah Lleucu. My own spell bottle of Passover Protection Ritual Oil stands before me as I compose this entry. I made one for my mother as well who wanted one too as soon as she saw the etsy listing and mine.

Last evening (erev Pesach, a full moon Esbat) as I was puttering around with my supplies, I set several of them on my bed as I was organizing. Among the items I set on my bed was the bowl of ceremonial white sage in pure spring water that I had been softening up to make a shamanic smudge wand. The bowl of sage water became jostled as I was moving things around and I spilled some of it on my bed and on one of my fine long black brocade witch skirts. The particular witch skirt is one a coworker recently remarked to me that it was a "beautiful" skirt, which it surely is. It's so elegant and finely flowing.

Anyway, instead of making a smudge wand with this batch of white ceremonial sage, I decided to offer the softened sage and the sage water to the Land instead. And I did so under the power of the full Raven moon of erev Pesach, offering it to the spirits of the Land right outside the door of the house beside the porch on the right.

Later this morning, I had a waking vision of unseen forces working together trying to pull my bed out the door of the house. The doorframe was bulging as the unseen forces worked together trying to pull it out, but the Force inside the house and door frame resisted, keeping the bed securely and completely inside the house. The manner in which the door frame resisted reminded me of a biological opening, with strong muscles contracting closed. I felt the forces trying to pull the bed out of the house were baneful forces, seeking to steal my blessing in some manner.

The forces trying to pull the bed out of the house through the door were facing and pulling directly opposite the door from upon the concrete sidewalk (in contradistinction to the spirits of the Land on the right side of the door where I had offered my sage and sage water). In other words, the spirits of the Land were in alignment with the Guardian of the house which rested upon the Land. The forces working from the concrete were alien forces.

Clearly, the spirits of the Land and the Guardian of the house are superior in strength to the alien forces which sought to steal my blessing.

There is power in the Land.

Barukh ata Adonai Eloheinu melekh ha‑olam, ha‑gomel lahayavim tovot sheg'malani kol tov.

Brucha at Yah Elohaynu ruach ha-olam, ha-gomelet l’hayavim tovot, sheg’malani kol tov, selah.

Foundation In Time

ט'ו אדר א' תשס"ט
Keolwulf 14

I've made my first product for WITCHCRAFTS by Liorah Lleucu - a very small batch (15-20 mL total) of Passover Protection Ritual Oil. The batch was made today on Purim-Shushan Purim, during the planetary hour of Saturn, with the wishing moon of Keolwulf/Adar I 100% full.

It will remain corked and cold-infusing in the dark until the new Dark Moon of Raven/Nissan (March 26), at which time I will transfer portions into 2 mL spell bottles, charge each portion with a rainbow moonstone, seal each bottle, and adorn each with a star of David.

On March 29, all but the one I will use will be available for purchase at WITCHCRAFTS for Passover.

Coarse Grains Of Redemptive Blessing

י'ד בניסן תשס"ח
Annwyn 15

In follow up to Transformative Pesach Prophecy, several elucidating ideas emerge from Ceridwen's cauldron of transformative prophecy.

Pesach-Beltaine Connection

Pesach Sheni is May 19 (Iyar 14, corresponding to the time we count the 30th day of the Omer) and astrological Beltaine (Beltaine Sheni) is May 4 (Annwyn 30) this year of 5768. Consequently, both Pesach Sheni and Beltaine Sheni come together through a "time" value of 30.

Ceridwen is associated in Celtic witchcraft with Beltaine. Yet, Ceridwen delivered to me a prophecy associated with Pesach. Taken together, Ceridwen represents for me stepping above the time of both, transcendently joining together Pesach and Beltaine.

As a lunar goddess, Ceridwen is linked with blessings bestowed through Yesod into Malchut. Pesach Rishon this year is April 20 (Nissan 15). The full moon of the witches' month of Annwyn is called the Drawing Down The Moon full moon, also on April 20 (Annwyn 16), suggesting a time through which the redemptive blessings are bestowed is April 20, which is the date of both Pesach Rishon and the Drawing Down full moon of Annwyn.

Grains Of Redemptive Blessing

The blessings bestowed from Ceridwen's cauldron are redemptive, drawn down from the powerful full moon which marks redemption from Mitzrayim, which is Pesach in Jewish tradition.

In Celtic tradition, six sacred grains of spellcraft were brewed as a grael in Ceridwen's cauldron. In terms of middot (measures), 6 grains = 388.79346 milligrams.

388 is the gematria of למשיח meaning "belonging to Mashiach"

79346 represents the five letters ודגטז, where five identifies the Divine Feminine of both Binah and Malchut. The five letters have a combined gematria of 29 - the same gematria as a Torah word used in Bereshit 48:16 to bestow blessing upon both children of Yosef, namely וידגו meaning "and let them grow".

And Yisrael blessed them saying, "let my name be named in them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth."

Taken together, Ceridwen's cauldron contains and "bestows the receptive" blessing "belonging to Mashiach" and "of Yisrael", suggesting that Ceridwen is the unified feminine archetype corresponding to masculine Yisrael. Importantly, Ceridwen represents she who bestows the blessing which ignites messianic consciousness, causing it to grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth, as waters cover the sea. Within the letter-sets of both blessings are the letters of the sha'ar (gate) דג, implying quick multiplication in great numbers.

The word וידגו (of Yisrael's blessing) begins with the letter ו, with a value of six, like the six grains of spellcraft brewed in Ceridwen's cauldron. Similarly, the letter-set ודגטז (of Ceridwen's blessing) also begins the the letter ו.

Yet differently, the word of Yisrael's blessing ends with a ו (the letter of connection) while the letter-set of Ceridwen's blessing ends with a ז (the letter of selection). Thus, Ceridwen's blessing represents the extension of Yisrael's blessing into manifest reality. Also, his blessing contains the letter י (a letter of projective energy, שפע), while her blessing contains the letter ט (a letter of receptive energy, קבל).

Ceridwen (Boudicca) and Yisrael (Yaakov) are parallel quantum coarse grains (one primarily an involutionary stream and one primarily an evolutionary stream of consciousness), who together, decohere consciousness into manifest history as described in my poem Coarse Grained Histories, Dialog With The Divine.

Related entry: Ceridwen Candle Dressing Oil

Transformative Pesach Prophecy

י'ג בניסן תשס"ח
Annwyn 14

I woke up in the middle of the night last night with a vision imprinted upon my mind. In the vision, I was sitting at my office desk working on all the extra work that has been put upon me recently (which, by the way, I am successfully making my way through this immense sea of work). Ceridwen, the archetypal Celtic goddess of prophecy and transformation, walked through the doorway into my office. She had a look of controlled anger about her, as if she was restraining herself mightily against some injustice. She also had a halo, like the one she wears in my bronze statue of her cauldron and she (shown, click to enlarge). With Ceridwen's appearance, came the words "warning" and "the writers" (ה-כותבים).

The two messages were one essential communication, each message corresponding to the communication on a different perceptual level.

"Warning" was telepathic and completely encompassing and encircling, like Ceridwen's halo. It was non-local, yet focused sufficiently to be perceived by me. It was sufficient. It was enough. It was Divine Justice (Tzedek, Yesod, Shaddai). The word "warning" contained that sent forth into the world to deliver justice.

"The writers" was spoken telepathically through the archetypal goddess herself. Archetypes are matrices of Beriyah. Beriyah is the universe of discernment, distinction and the letter ה (the letter written in red upon the doorways of the Hebrews in Mitzrayim, and a prefix meaning "the"). Ceridwen, as the archetypal Celtic goddess of prophetic writing, is an archetypal "shoresh" (root) of all writers. Thus, Ceridwen, the root of all writers, spoke like an Elohim of writers, her words "the writers" writing the letter ה upon my doorway(s) as she entered. She was The Writer in my vision.

As well as being the goddess archetype of all prophetic writing, Ceridwen is a goddess archetype of transformation. "Writers" comes from the Hebrew shoresh כתב, meaning "to write" and "to record". A phonetic cognate of כתב is קטב, meaning "killing" and to "die suddenly". The firstborn of Mitzrayim died suddenly, receiving the root קטב as opposed to the root כתב. In my vision, כתב came with a ה. The firstborn who were killed in Mitzrayim had no ה. Thus, Ceridwen transformed קטב (shoresh of "killing") into כתב (shoresh of "writers"), attached a ה, and spoke to me this written message of deliverance.

Related news.

This morning, Illinois experienced a predawn magnitude 5.2 earthquake. In Mount Carmel, Illinois, "a porch collapsed, briefly trapping a woman in her home." CNN reports "she wasn't hurt and was freed quickly." Interesting Mount Carmel connection to Eliyahu, another prophetic archetype.

Two messages of one essential communication.

Two prophetic archetypes delivering one essential communication.

Dilug Sh'lo b'Hadraga

ה' בניסן תשס"ח
Annwyn 6

Googling "dilug" for some clue as to the significance of the quantum jump in consciousness I experienced during dinner Monday (see Dilug At Dinner), I found an interesting connection of my "dilug" (which was a quantized as opposed to a gradual energetic increase) to the observance of Pesach.

At Chabadtalk, I found this on Pesach Sheni and dilug:

See the muga maamor Lehavin Inyan Pesach Sheni, 5738, 2nd paragraph of ois beis.

After explaining that the dilug of Pesach Sheni is both a dilug from a higher place (than Pesach), and the dilug itself is also greater, the Rebbe confronts your issue:

Quote:
According to this it is possible to connect the explanation above that Pesach Sheni is a higher level, which comes after the preparation of the avodah of Pesach Rishon, with the inyan that Pesach Sheni as it is b'pashtus, that it is a tikkun and hashlama for someone that didn't bring a korban Pesach. Because this that Pesach Sheni fixes and repays the lack that resulted from not bringing a korban Pesach comes from the gilui of Pesach Sheni which is a dilug sh'lo b'hadraga, and it has no measures or limitations, not even the measures and limitations of Pesach (Rishon), and through this gilui -- "iz nita kein farfallen."
Endquote.

The phrase dilug sh'lo b'hadraga in this discussion of Pesach Sheni refers to a jump of not a gradual nature but rather, is of a quantum nature (all at once)! like what I experienced Monday at dinner.

I understand the meaning of kein farfallen to be something to the effect of "not doomed", "not fallen", "not collapsed", "not hopeless", "not a lost cause", etc. Iz nita means "there is none here".

Thus, one interpretation of iz nita kein farfallen is "there is no one doomed here".

Death Passed Over

כ'ו בחשון תשס"ח

After my grandmother's passing this past Halloween morning October 31, the date Samhain is typically observed, the festival of death and renewal (of death only in the eyes of some, whereas others consider Samhain to be a festival of scholars) continued to seek out souls to remove from the physical world. While my grandmother's passing was not so unexpected at 92 years of age with failing health (it was an obvious blessing toward renewal of life for my grandmother even as it was a loss for my family), a woman's husband at work died unexpectedly the very next day, Thursday evening November 1 (may she be comforted by the kindness extended to her by our coworkers). Both she and her husband work(ed) at the facility where I work.

I went back to work on Monday, but after additional work was piled onto me, along with work associated with the end of the month close (which was completed Monday morning before it was due Wednesday), with the recent passing of my grandmother, my body developed an allergic cold/flu yesterday, Tuesday morning at work. I sneezed continuously the entire day, despite a second dose of newfangled Actifed, becoming lightheaded, feverish and physically weak. So, Tuesday afternoon, I went home early, loaded up on Robitussin nighttime multisymptom cold medicine and went to bed, where I dreamt.

I dreamt of dark lethal storm clouds passing over my locations, from east to west they were moving even as they filled the sky. At one point there was a small break in the cloud cover, but it was only for a short time, while we took care of business.

I wanted to wait out the storm on the main floor of my house (which was a house trailer at times) - for some reason I wasn't worried that it couldn't weather the storm. Nevertheless, the man with us (somehow a relative, but I'm not sure who exactly this was) convinced me that it was safer to wait underground in the basement while the dark lethal storm clouds passed over. So, we all went down and waited in the basement as the dark lethal storm clouds passed over.

I woke up - to the news of a lethal school shooting in Finland.

From CNN: YouTube Linked To Deadly School Shootings

HELSINKI, Finland (CNN) -- A video posted earlier Wednesday, by "Sturmgeist89", was titled "Jokela High School Massacre - 11/7/2007." "Sturmgeist89" identified himself as Auvinen, and said he chose the name "Sturmgeist" because it means "storm spirit" in German.

At least eight people were killed when an 18-year-old gunman opened fire at a school in Finland Wednesday, according to Finnish police. The shooting appeared to have been planned out in graphic videos posted on Internet file-sharing site YouTube.

At a press conference this afternoon, police confirmed the dead numbered two girls, five boys and the school's headmistress at Jokela High in Tuusula, a quiet town around 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of Helsinki.

The shooter, who police named as Pekka Eric Auvinen, is in a critical condition at Toolo Hospital, Dr. Eeero Hirvensalo told CNN.

Auvinen published a manifesto online demanding war on the "weak-minded masses" and pledged to die for his cause.

YouTube appeared to have removed 89 videos linked to his account, many of them featuring Nazi imagery, shortly after the incident.

Finnish media reported someone posted a message two weeks ago on the Web site, warning of a bloodbath at the school.

The site indicated that the youth appeared to be fascinated with killing. Throughout all of this, the single word "DIE" constantly flashed across the screen. Other video clips included Nazi-war-criminal footage.

In the rambling text posted on the site, Auvinen said that he is "a cynical existentialist, anti-human humanist, anti-social social-Darwinist, realistic idealist and god-like atheist.

"I am prepared to fight and die for my cause," he wrote. "I, as a natural selector, will eliminate all who I see unfit, disgraces of human race and failures of natural selection."

Read the entire news article at link above.

Thank Goddess! for the cold I developed through this 11/7/2007 day, astronomical Samhain.

A Passover Event

ה' בחשון תשס"ח

Interesting bit-o-news in follow-up to my entries, Hidden Treasures Of The Sand and Rosh Chodesh In Gan Eden:

Foxnews reports on another California fatal highway accident:

LANCASTER, Calif. — A dozen vehicles slammed into one another when a blinding sandstorm surprised motorists Tuesday in the high desert north of Los Angeles, killing at least two people and injuring 16.

"I've never seen dust like that," said Valdespino, adding that he drives through the area daily. "I've lived out here most of my life and I've never seen dust that thick like that before."

The accident happened just west of Edwards Air Force Base and at the northern edge of Los Angeles County. The pileup was about 40 miles northeast from the sight of a fiery truck pileup Friday night in a tunnel on the Interstate 5 freeway in Santa Clarita.

Why is this interesting? It is interesting because the fatal accident secondary to sand arose following a fatal accident within a tunnel (an underpass). In my dream of hidden treasures, the sand which saved me from a fatal accident arose right after passing over a bridge (an overpass).

The "difference" and connection is this:

my dream - the news stories
overpass - underpass
sand "following" overpass event - sand "following" underpass event
deliverance to life - deliverance to death

Death has passed over me. Or perhaps more accurately, death has passed under me.

The one over death loves me ... Shir Hashirim 1:3

A Time For Discrimination

ט"ז באייר תשס"ז

Hospitality is an ethic of both Celtic and Jewish culture. Similarly, both cultures have built within their systems times when showing hospitality to strangers is to be avoided. Within Judaism, this time of discrimination where hospitality is not advised is during the Pesach seder. Within Celtic witchcraft, this time of discrimination is during Beltane (Beltaine, Beltaen, Calan Mai-Welsh).

From Kehillas Torah:

“This is the decree of the Pesach-Offering; no ben neichar (gentile) shall eat of it, …no uncircumcised male may eat of it.” (Exodus 12:43,48)

Every year, the Pesach-Offering (korban pesach) was brought in the Bais Hamikdash (Holy Temple); just as it was that very first Pesach when the Jews actually left Egypt; and was distributed to be eaten by the Jewish people. The korban pesach was not to be served to a non-Jew.

From Celtic Well:

Avoidance of strangers and refusal of requests to share from neighbors were a hallmark of Bealtaine. Although the Celtic community ethic was usually one of generosity and hospitality, on Bealtaine to share was to risk having one’s share of prosperity stolen by an unscrupulous neighbor or Otherworld being. In general, Bealtaine was a time to guard one’s luck and belongings against magical theft.

From this we can see that there are legitimate times in both cultures, if not all cultures, when it is advisable to withdraw from sharing with strangers or those not previously known to be within the sphere of an established reciprocally caring relationship.

During Pesach, chesed/din distinctions are made for the coming year at the Yam Suf. One oppressed group traverses the sea in safety. One unscrupulous group is overcome by it. One group's chesed is the other group's din.

Likewise, during Beltane, chesed/din distinctions are made for the coming year, and one needs to guard one's portion from the unscrupulous who seek to steal it, either directly or surreptitiously.

Technorati tags: Torah Talmud Torah Judaism Kabbalah jewish mysticism mysticism jewish meditation meditation shamanism kabbalah iyunit kabbalah maasit witchcraft jewitchery jewitch witch sacred feminine divine feminine shechinah lilith spiritual development spirituality kosher spirituality beltane korban pesach hospitality

Se'or - Sourdough Starter & The Amulet Of Challah

י"ד בניסן תשס"ז

Dave at Balashon posts (via Orrin Tilevitz on Mail-Jewish) regarding se'or and the myth that yeast is forbidden on pesach:

To the extent this myth exists - and I don't know anybody who thinks baking soda and baking powder are inherently not kosher for Passover - it may be a result of the widespread mistranslation of the word "se'or" (see, e.g., Exodus 12:15). Beginning with the King James and continuing through the original JPS and the current Art Scroll translations, the word is rendered as "leavening", which could include baking powder and soda - or, for that matter, egg whites. I once spoke to an Orthodox rabbi who told me that "se'or" meant yeast, and therefore yeast was inherently prohibited on Pesach. (My response was to ask whether he drank wine on Pesach, a question lost on him because he seemed not to understand what fermentation was.) But se'or doesn't mean any of these things. It actually means "sourdough starter" (see, e.g., Rav Saadia Gaon's commentary, and the supercommentary on it, in Torat Chaim), which is a mixture of flour, water and yeast spores from that air, that is left to ferment, in the process of which the yeast grows. AFIK, until recent times sourdough starter was the leavening agent in bread; bakers in chazal's era did not have yeast as a separate product.

Consequently, we can see that all "things of the ego" are not forbidden. Merely those "things of the ego" which ultimately lead to "sourness" are forbidden.

A sour ego, necessarily then, retards development and is an obstacle to psychospiritual redemption. This idea is connected to the fact that my challah tray (the one I've had for nearly a decade) broke this year. It won't be around for pesach.

Challah is from the hebrew root חלה meaning to "retard development", "weaken", "hurting", "hindering well being", "appeasing", "losing control of senses", and an "amulet or necklace against illness" [1]. Thus, and importantly, we can see that the mitzvah of challah acts an amulet against illness, suffering and losing control. Ultimately however, using the amulet of challah to avoid tikun of the feminine retards feminine psychospiritual development.

Thank Goddess my challah tray broke!

There is a well known understanding in The Craft that if one uses a protective amulet or talisman, when the amulet or talisman breaks, this indicates that it is no longer needed, it has successfully fulfilled its purpose of protection, and the danger has passed by. In other words, the danger the device was protecting against has "passed over". A real pesach kinda thing.

Footnote:

[1] Etymological Dictionary Of Biblical Hebrew, R' Matityahu Clark

Technorati tags: Torah Talmud Torah Judaism Kabbalah jewish mysticism mysticism jewish meditation meditation shamanism jewish shamanism kabbalah iyunit kabbalah maasit witchcraft jewitchery jewitch witch jewish woman sacred feminine divine feminine shechinah lilith spiritual development spirituality kosher spirituality challah mitzvot pesach passover

Mezuzah & Athame

Rabbi Yosil Rosenzweig writes regarding the mitzvah of mezuzah and the oht (sign) of blood:

The Mitzvah of Mezuzah is actually commanded in Devarim 6:9. But in Shemot 12:3-15 the reason for the Mitzvah is explained: "Speak to the entire assembly of Israel, saying: On the tenth of this month each person shall take for themselves a lamb or a kid, for each household...[on] the fourteenth of this month, the entire congregation of the assembly of Israel shall slaughter it in the afternoon. They shall take some of its blood and place it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they will eat...I shall go through Egypt on this night, and I shall strike every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from man to beast; and against all gods of Egypt I shall mete out punishment. The blood shall be a SIGN for you upon the house where you are; when I see the blood I shall PASSOVER you; there shall not be a plague of destruction upon you when I strike the land of Egypt. This day shall be a remembrance for you and you shall celebrate it..."

An Oht (a sign) is significant because it is a reminder of an act that occurred before the eyes of the entire nation.

The mezuzah (מזוזה), representing the protective blood sign, is spelled with two letters zayin. The two letters zayin united together (זוז) within one word for the Jewish ritual item upon the doorpost is like "one dagger of double edges (זוז) of her (מה)." In other words, the "blood sign" on the doorpost which protects a Jew's home in mitzrayim is a woman's double-edged dagger. The contemplative power to "connect and interrelate all elements within creation", bringing down Divine Will into Understanding, is a function of the letter vav which forms the spine of the dagger of double-edges.

The witch's double-edged ritual dagger is called an athame (pronounced a-tham-ay). Silver Ravenwolf writes regarding the Celtic history of the athame [1]:

We know from Celtic history that, for a time, their weaponry through use of iron was far superior to their contemporaries, and that they were feared because of it. We also know that such folklore practices as hanging a knife above a door to cut any negativity that might enter the home (which means that the knives were not used to physically cut, but to defend on the astral plane) were highly popular in that culture.

A witch's athame is never ever used to draw blood. If it ever does, it becomes ritually unfit and can never be used again. It must be buried. Thus, in ancient Celtic culture the protecting blood sign upon the door was a double edged dagger which never draws blood. In other words, like the mezuzah, it is a protective blood sign which never draws blood.

Putting these ideas together, we can see that the Jewish ritual mezuzah and the Celtic ritual athame both refer to the same essence of spiritual protection - to guard the house from all negative influences that might attempt to enter it. Even the construct of the word mezuzah contains within it the idea of a woman's double-edged dagger as the protective device.

Footnote:

[1] Solitary Witchcraft, Silver Ravenwolf (p. 125)

Technorati tags: Torah Talmud Torah Judaism Kabbalah jewish mysticism mysticism jewish meditation meditation shamanism jewish shamanism kabbalah iyunit kabbalah maasit jewitchery jewitch jewish woman sacred feminine divine feminine shechinah lilith spiritual development spirituality kosher spirituality athame mezuzah exodus geulah