From Kabbalah 365

Excerpts from Gershon Winkler’s Kabbalah 365: Daily Fruit from the Tree of Life. Forward by Andrew Weil, M.D. Andrews McMeel Publishing: Kansas City, 2004.

DAY 1

When it arose in the Mind of the Infinite to create, the Infinite manifested as Endless Light and encompassed All. In the time beyond time, before there was time, in a moment between moments before there was moment, Infinite Being constricted Its own Essence to allow for the emergence of space. Then, within that clearing, void of Itself, Infinite Being manifested a single ray of Its Endless Light, Its Infinite Presence. And from this single ray, the universe came into being. 1

DAY 2

Were God to fill the universe, the universe could not exist. And were God to not fill the universe, the universe could not exist. It is then through perfectly balanced self-limitation that the Infinite One enables the possibility of existence. 2

DAY 3

All the stars and the planets are beings with soul, replete with knowledge and thought. They are living entities and are conscious of their Creator. Each one, according to their position and greatness, utters praise and gratitude to the Creator in the same manner as the angels. And just as they are aware of God, they are also self-aware. The consciousness of the stars and planets is lower than that of angels and higher than that of humans. 3

DAY 4

In the beginning, the Source of all Powers—Elo’heem—created something from nothing. Who is the Source of all Powers? She is the Great Mother—e’ma d’ila’a—and she created three artisans: Water, Sky, and Earth. And she said to each, “Create something of your essence” and each one did just that. The water made the fish and all the great whales; the sky made the stars, the sun, the moon, and all the planets, the earth made the plants, the trees, and all the animals and birds. 4

DAY 5
When all had been created, the Great Mother said to all of Creation: “I have one more creature I wish to bring forth. But this one none of you can create alone. It will take all of us together.” And so the Great Mother joined with the forces of Water, sky, and Earth and created Human, and blew into its nostrils the breath of the Four Winds from all four directions, and asked each wind to gift the human with a special attribute. 5

DAY 6
In the beginning there was Breath of God. From Breath of God came Wind. From Wind came Water. From Water came Fire. From Fire came Sky. From Sky came Earth. From Earth came North Wind. From North Wind came South Wind. From South Wind came East Wind. From East Wind came West Wind. 6

DAY 7

The Four Winds correspond to the Four Rivers that emerged from the single, unnamed river that flowed through the Garden of Eden: River of Simple Unity, River of Fruition, River of the Mouth of Transformation, and River of the Belly Flow. 7 In each of our life journeys, we are to follow these rivers, blending our life walk with simplicity, realization, change, and passion. Following these rivers will lead us to the unnamed wellspring of all Being.

DAY 8

As living entities, the Four Winds possess their own temperament. The east wind is always good and even quiets the other winds when they get out of hand. The west wind is not that good. The south wind is sometimes one, sometimes the other, and the north wind keeps them all in check. Still, the power of the north wind is effective only during the act of tempering the other winds. By itself it could be destructive “rendering even gold as worthless.” The south wind is more moody than the others, more often manic. The south is the place of [the] River of Diversity. It is tempered, as are all the other winds, by the north wind, the place of River of Simple Unity, or stillness. And when so tempered, the south wind brings blessing to the earth’s yield. 8

…DAY 12

Merkavah is the mystery that carries all existence. It is the mystery that carries you right now, that holds you, that steers you, and guides you. Merkavah is the embrace of the Four Winds, the four breaths that emanate from the one single primordial breath of God that brings all into existence. In this embrace we are carried as we journey through this lifetime. The literal translation of mer’kavah means “to ride,” as opposed to walking or running; it means to ride, as in being carried by something else. It means to have faith that you will get there, wherever, whenever.

DAY 14

Three sounds are inaudible to the human ear and never leave the earth: the sound of the snake shedding its skin, the sound of a soul leaving the body at death, and the sound of birthing. Where do these sounds go? They travel to the canyons where they encrypt themselves in the earth. The sound of your voice in the canyon awakens them from dormancy and evokes their powers. However, to awaken the sound of the snake shedding its skin, you must tap wood to stone. You hear these sounds as “echoes” but know that they are three sounds coming right back to you in the garb of your own voice or drumming, to empower you with shedding your old patterns, to aid you in surrendering to the uncertainty of your next step, and to guide you in birthing yourself anew. 9

DAY 19

Healing is in the West because the west is the place of death, merging, fear, and relationships—items on the list of major things to overcome in order to heal. Reflection is in the South because the south is the place of cleansing, which requires the clarity and discerning power of reflection. Balance is in the East because the east if the place of new beginnings, which happen in a good way when you balance yourself before springing. Vision is in the North because the north is the place of mystery, of the unknown, the place where the Creator steps back, so to speak, in order to create room for you choice, your daring next move in life, which requires clarity of vision and dream.

DAY 22

In the moment of lovemaking between a woman and a man, an image in the likeness of a human forms in the mind of the Sacred Wellspring. This image (dihok’na in Aramaic) is sculpted around the soul that is designated to become the life-result of this lovemaking. It becomes the vehicle for the soul’s journey into the earthly realm and for its journey out of the earthly realm. Very few are capable of seeing this image around the person, which grows with the person as the person evolves and stays with them until the day they die—at which time their soul becomes once again garbed by this image for its journey back to the spirit world. This image is alluded to in the Book of Genesis, as it is written: “And the Source of Powers created the earth being in its image,” meaning not in the image of the Source of Powers but in this image of which we now speak. And as it is also written in the Book of Psalms (39:7): “Only by way of Image shall a person journey.” And indeed it is through the vehicle of this image that we journey in our dream and in our double. 10

DAY 34

Darkness is but a garment of light. 11 It is still light, but veiled; the darker it is the more layers of the veil. Likewise, everything in life is one with its opposite, the extreme of each a veil for the other in varying degrees. If you are feeling anger, know that the anger veils its opposite. Your anger is an extremely thick veil for appeasement, so slowly try to remove the layers until you discover appeasement. If you are feeling hate, remember that hate is a thick layer that veils its opposite, love. But within that very hatred is the possibility of love. And so with everything, all is one. The oneness of all is individuated, but also related one to the other.

DAY 37

When you wake up from a bad dream, think positively, find a positive metaphor for the dream and interpret it for the better, because dreams follow their interpretation. 12