In The Real Heat of July

We have now entered July, the period of Cancer, or in Kabbalah, the month of Tammuz. There's a quote that begins every month on my Kabbalah wall calendar and this month's quote is certainly one to keep in mind with the energy out there these days: "When we become like God, we dismiss thoughts that cause depression. With a wave of our hand, we live with a grander purpose and become the cause of all our experiences." Mmm... just like magic!


Emotions Run High

According to Kabbalistic wisdom, the month of July and the period of Cancer/Tammuz is the most emotional we will experience all year. The symbol for Cancer is the crab, who hides inside of its shell. Many Cancerians do this with their emotions because they feel them so strongly. They are prone to mood swings, self-pity and sentimentality. We will be exposed to all of these Cancerian emotions this month. The question is: How do we deal with the emotions? The answer lies in the question. We "deal" with them instead of running from them or letting them overpower us.

We are always dealing with and controlling our emotions. Of course! If we weren't, we would simply do whatever makes us feel good all of the time and lead a very selfish existence. The trick lies in using your emotions to elevate you instead of bring you down. Personally, I feel sadness these days because I broke up with my boyfriend and more importantly a long-term friend. So, how do I use the sadness? Do I sit on the couch and eat potato chips and cry all day? (Which, trust! Is sometimes needed! There can be no light without the darkness first, never forget.) Or do I use that sadness to write a song or apply it to some form of creativity? Do I use the sadness to call a friend and be for them what I wish someone would be for me right now? Do I use it to fuel me and throw myself into my work that still must be done? There are lots of positive ways of dealing with seemingly negative emotions because, as we know, within all darkness lies the hidden light. So this month, we want to ask ourselves: Am I using what I'm feeling right now to help me or to hurt me?


Unconditional Love

Love is the strongest of emotions and according to the Zohar, the energy surrounding this month is of that regarding unconditional love. If our love for humanity is not constantly growing towards the unconditional, we are not growing in our connection to the Light and the Creator. One way we all work to achieve this is through "commitment." When we are commited to an individual, be it a friend or a loved one or a family member, we make a vow to low them unconditionally despite the fact that they are human beings. ;-)

The Rav's wife, Karen Berg, over at the Centre, says, "The opposite of love is intolerance." To truly commit yourself to someone, you must be tolerant of their flaws. Instead of saying, "What has this person done for me lately?" or "Why is this person not giving me what I want?," in comittment we must shrug it off and say, "Oh well, I still love you." But how? Kabbalistic astrology says we will be tested with this very issue this month. How can we love someone unconditionally when they consistently throw negative energy our way and when they don't want to change? Here's how.


Our Essence

The one thing to remember here is what we learned last month in Gemini: We all have a light side and a dark side. We are all imbued with Godliness and that is our essence. Our physical form and the actions that we perform are often not spiritual and they are merely layers blocking that true essence -- but it's there! And the answer lies in connecting to that essence of ours so that we can connect to that essence of theirs and maybe, just maybe, it will elevate them. Maybe not. But that is really no business of ours. Being unappreciated is a part of human nature. All we can do to combat it is come at that person with unconditional love. What they do with it should be of no consequence to us. The last thing we want to do is try to get inside someone else's head because that means we are no longer in our own, that we're no longer present, and that is never a good place to be.

This is not to say that having unconditional love for someone means having them in your life at all. Sometimes, in order to remember your love for someone's essence, we have to distance ourselves from their physical nature to feel that love for them. If you feel more love for someone away from them than you do when you're around them, why would you wish that negative energy upon that person's space? Let them go! At least until you can come at them physically with the love you truly hold for them internally. If you can, however, still come at them with unconditional love when you're around them, maybe it is best to keep that person in your life. Then it becomes your test to remember that their negativity can not penetrate your essence and that's a wonderful gift to be recognized, that no matter how much negative energy or sickness is thrown our way, our essence remains pure and healthy. What a gift! Don't waste it! Work that essence! Connect to it!

If you're not dealing with relationship problems, this may pertain to you this month in the form of illness. Remember that sickness is just a result of your physical form. Somewhere within you is your God-like essence, your soul, your purity. That can't get sick. So all it takes to heal is accepting that somewhere within you, you're already healed! All it takes is reaching into that essence, connecting with that Light, with God that is within you which connects you to the all-powerful force of the Light of God outside of you. And with that, friends, anything is possible. Even love of humans. ;-)


Inner Strength

This is a big month for recognizing that in that essence, we hold so much power and inner strength. It's a big month for letting go of needing other's approval and acceptance because we have our own. Personally, I am always surprised that people don't give me the love, the respect, the trust that I give them. It always comes as a great shock to me and I am always excruciatingly disappointed. What I need to recognize is that this behavior and mindset completely negates all of the love, respect and trust that I gave that person. Kabbalah teaches us that the only love that counts spiritually is selfless love. When you give of yourself expecting something in return, you are screwed! You have to trust in the universe, you have to trust in karma, you have to trust in your essence within yourself that you are all that you need. You've got the light of the Creator within you at all times no matter what, so what more could you possibly need from anyone else?! That is inner strength.

It's also just another form of judgment really, to sit back and say, "Hmm... look at all I gave this person and look at what they're not giving me." Now, are they prohibiting your personal spiritual development? Are they affecting your ability to love? Then get them the hell out! But if they are simply a heavily flawed human being, it is not our job to judge them. We do this in the reverse action all the time too, looking at people who help us even and saying, "Yes, they helped me here and elevated me at one time, but look at how negative they are in this other aspect." Not our job. Not our business. Not our path.

Another side of feeling our inner strength this month is that we often associate our strength with our ego. Those two are not healthy friends! They have a hot night out on the town together, but Ego always comes out of it without the hangover. We often need praise, acceptance, approval to feel good about ourselves. That's ego. It's always gonna be there. Don't tell yourself it's not because that just makes it stronger. We all do need to feel praise and acceptance and approval and all of those things. But the idea is to feel them from within. Feel them when you're being good, when you're being bad, feel them because you're you, because your essence is always there. Not because someone gives you a compliment. Not because someone cuts you down. We've got to remember our essence this month and our purity and Godliness and love ourselves unconditionally before we can love anyone else unconditionally.




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Have questions? Need advice? Want to share? EMAIL Jason at jason@jasonsechrest.com