The mysteries of water are many.  There is so much we do not comprehend  of water, yet it is the source and substance not only of our physical being but the container for the energy of our soul in form.  It is and contains an ultimate mystery.  Being in Wonder at water’s many blessings is perhaps one of the simplest  ways for us to connect with both Gaia-Earth and Supreme Creation at once.

This poem reflects one of water’s miraculous abilities…to carry memory over time through generations and DNA.

For those of you who are not Jewish or do not know Hebrew, some of the words may be a mystery.  At the end of the poem are translations, but I suggest you read it a time or three first and let the mystery soak in.  Then read the translations and soak some more.

Shechinah Rises

 

On a tide of tears        

She rises

Oceanic grandmother Spirit

Womb of my foremothers

 

Upwelling Ruach

Sculpts pathways

Over DNA-etched skin and bone

Bearing mitochondrial memory

In water-bourne blessing

From she to me

 

Shechinah memory

Between nameless unknown hers

Re-membered in Ha-shem

 

Seeded nashema-encoded genes

Bear fruit in the flesh of my body

Our Spirits’ longing

Pours from my eyes

As you-we pray 

A long-drowned dream

 

Beseeching

Teshuvah…return

To your-mine-our ancient G-d-ess

 

Shechinah

Kee l’olam hee lee

Forever She is me.

Stephanie K. Nead, 2009                      

The Shechinah is the feminine divine essence. G-d-ess in all the power, majesty, equal strength and needed balance of the feminine, every bit as strong, full, complete and necessary as the masculine aspect or essence of G-d.

 

Ruach can be described as the overarching aspect of soul/spirit. Our personal soul is our nashema. Ruach is “bigger,” less known in any conscious sense to our human understanding. The Holy Spirit is the Ruach HaKodesh in Hebrew. Literally translating as Spirit the Holy.

 

Note: tears carry an inordinate amount of mitochondrial DNA. No one knows why…but it is fascinating.  Mitochondrial DNA is the DNA that comes solely from our mothers and is the fundamental DNA of life.  It ultimately takes us all back to our genetic “Eve.”

 

Hashem means “The Name” in Hebrew. Ha (the) Shem (name). This is one of the most “familiar” names of G-d…like talking to your best friend. It is, to me, a name encompassing a very close, personal love between myself and a beloved who is beyond name. We say Hashem, because G-d’s name is far too sacred to ever be spoken aloud.  So we name the many aspects of G-d, all considered to be names for G-d, without trying to encompass all G-d is within one small word.

 

Nashema means soul. It is the personal soul of each individual.  And it is the part of our soul that may, in part, be passed down from generation to generation, the part that might carry and remember, to resolve or repeat, the experiences of our forebears.

 

Teshuvah means return. It has been mistranslated as repentance. In fact, it means to turn back to G-d, as in to turn one’s face back toward and to move once again toward, rather than away from, G-d. Teshuvah is always done with humility and the recognition of the need for grace and work on oneself, the recognition and acknowledgement that one made a mistake, is sorry for it and ready to learn to do/be differently.

 

Kee l’olam hee lee is translated here as “Forever she is me.”