"The Turtle Talks Torah" Chapter Six The Shechinah: Holy Tree

       Chapter Six: The Shechinah, The Tree and the soul of the Mother Earth

            Studying with the various Native American medicine elders brought me on a serendipitous path towards understanding the central role of the globe of the Earth in the wisdom traditions. Basically like the individual human being so is the Earth herself a full embodiment of the divine realm with five distinct levels or soul interfaces. However with the Earth the fourth or Chayah/life level of soul is the original mother of life herself, the great Goddess, the sacred Tree. The fifth level of soul called in Hebrew Yechidah, or uniquely singular is who Jews call HaShem or God, the Source of love.The other three "lower" levels of interface are called in Hebrew neshamah/human individual, ruach/emotional-plant spirit and nephesh/animal soul. With the physical manifestation of the world the Earth however was not completely aligned with these upper soul levels and that has been the human work to Tikun or realign ourselves and the Earth with the Tree of Life being and the holy Source. The switch from a geocentric worldview to a heliocentric view with the development of the telescope and astronomy in the 1500’s caused a certain shift to occur in the importance of the earth herself within the majority worldview. The centrality of the Earth as a living being who is a mother to all life is fundamental to the worldview of the Aboriginal Americans.

Turtle carapace shell with the five levels of soul down the center with spots/scutes

The Earth is, within this tradition, not only conceptually alive as in the modern “Gaia Hypothesis”; she is alive as an individual mother who is actively giving and caring. This orientation to the Earth as a being demands that the individual and tribe respect each other and that all individuals live as relatives within a family whose very survival is based on this mutual support.

From the book "LightningBolt" by H.Storm with editor addition of the five Hebrew names of the five soul levels

This is why we hear that there is no word for religion in the Native American languages. Their very life path must demand that they walk in a balanced and beautiful way upon the breast of the being that sustains them in every way. Here is another version of the famous Navajo prayer of “Walking in Beauty” which states the principal of an Earth centered faith.

“In beauty may I dwell

In beauty may I walk

In beauty may it rain on my young men

In beauty may it rain on my young women

In beauty may it rain on my chiefs

In beauty may it rain on us

In beauty may our corn grow

In beauty may our children grow

On the trail of pollen, may it rain

In beauty before us, may it rain

In beauty behind us, may it rain

In beauty below us, may it rain

In beauty above us, may it rain

In beauty all around us, may it rain

In beauty may I walk

With beauty before me may I walk

With beauty behind me may I walk

With beauty above me may I walk

With beauty all around me may I walk

It is finished in beauty (From the Navajo Nightway Chant)

           

The medicine wheel teachings of the Cheyenne that I studied are a means to integrate all the aspects of the natural world from both the outer and the inside dimensions of a person. It was with this circle of Chiefs that I began to come into a relationship to the wheel of the Earth, as she is a sentient being herself. Within the Jewish tradition there is the feminine quality of the divine called the Shechinah, which literally means indwelling of the divine. This is now generally accepted as a quality of the divine. I discovered however that some Jewish ancient Rabbis had related to the Shechinah as a very individual being and further study brought me to the understanding that the Earth Globe like an individual human has five different qualities of soul or being substance. With these guidelines one is able to understand a seemingly complex confusion of feminine qualities and conceptual “archetypal” traditions that truly have a real basis in fact directly related to the Earth as an individual living being.

Demeter and Persephone from Sharath Kamarraju/internet

The tradition of the divine feminine called the Shechinah in kabbalah, as an exiled aspect of the people of Israel searching for there promised home has a direct relationship to the Greek mysteries practiced at Eleusis. These involve the famous legend of Demeter the grain mother/Earth mother who is in mournful search for her lost/exiled daughter Persephone. Persephone is captured by the deity Hades and kept in the under Earth world half the year. Hades had seen her on the surface world, fell enamored of her and brought her with him below. Because she ate three pomegranate seeds she needed to stay below in the kingdom of Hades for half the year ,the winter cycle. When she came above the spring and the growing season ensued, her mother Demeter was joyful indeed. Usually this myth is interpreted in a psychological - archetypal way. However when we look at the story in the light of tradition that perceives the Earth as a being we can come out with a different understanding. If we perceive the Earth as a being with five different “levels” of soul as defined in kabbalah for an individual then Demeter the mother and Persephone the daughter are two different parts of the five part soul of the Earth mother. In the Sepher HaZohar we follow the story of the two matriarchs Leah and Rachel who embody these very same two parts of the soul. Rachel is exiled along the roads of the face of the Earth. She awaits for the people to come back ingathered to their sacred home and united to the divine sovereign on Earth. In fact it is the very earth where the “Queen” and the “King” may join together in a renewed new found love.

Rachel and Leah at the well, "upper" and "lower" mother(from Dante)

This is really a big part of what the biblical book Shir HaShirim, the Song of Songs is about. She is described as the “lower” mother who carries the last letter ‘Heh” of the four lettered unpronounceable name of the Creator Yod-heh-Vav-Heh. The second letter “heh” is attributed to Leah who is known as the upper mother. She lives in the world of the throne or second world, in the scheme of four worlds that parallel the four letters of the divine name and the four of five qualities of the soul being. The third letter is the letter vav which is masculine and is the single letter Hebrew word for “and”. The value of this letter is 6 and it is related to the six depths or omakim that define the spatial world of three spatial continuums explained in  chapter five on the ten depths in kabbalah. So it is the very world we perceive as “space” that joins the lower world of Earth/Rachel(Malchut) (last Heh) to the upper world of eternity/Leah(Binah) (second heh). This upper world is where the fourth continuum of time is born. It contains eternity and is the place where the seat or throne of initiation is seen to exist according to the visions and experiences of prophets and kabbalists. So we can discern here a close parallel to the upper mother and lower mother with Demeter and Persephone, both pairs each were searching for the other for a united completion. In the Christian Gnostic traditions this also parallels the exiled Sophia being reunited with her divine lover. In fact in the Kabbalah this completion of the joining of these two feminine beings is the very magnum opus, the great work of redemption and tikkun olam, the healing and balancing of the world. This is the quest of the initiate of kabbalah, to unite the letters of the divine name within oneself and within the entire world. On the Jewish Sabbath we pray for the Shechinah herself, the united divine feminine to enter into our homes, our lives and our world.

            We will finish this chapter with a return to the beginning of this story in a sense. The coming of the star maiden, called White Buffalo Calf Women, the spirit of the plant world in the Plains Indian teachings. This is the very Demeter - DeMater - the mother who as the grain mother is the spirit of the plants and the sacred Tree. She is the spirit of the seeds and as we discuss in the next chapter even the crystal seeds we call gems. We have spoken about how she is connected to the coming to the Earth with a comet or spirit star. We have discussed how the comets are the interface or messengers with the world of the throne or higher soul world (neshama-2nd heh of divine name)). So we see how the return to the world of the neshama or higher soul of the Earth being to the Earth/Human world by way of sacred comet fulfills the work of joining the upper mother or Corn mother (in the Pueblo tradition) to the lower mother or Corn maiden, the earthy blood soul part of the Earth being called the nefesh in Kabbalah. This being force being found aligned with the red pipestone and the red sacred stone she carried to the Lakota people when she brought them the way of the pipe, the Chanupa, thousands of years ago.

White Bison Calf Woman(from the internet)

 We will here give over a new analogy for the divine creation as a seed and a Tree, the Tree of life or Etz Chaiim in the Hebrew.

The Seed and the Tree:

A world as ours where creative, loving and imaginative unique individuals may be found is a sign for some of us that the ultimate source of this creation also holds all the qualities of a creative unique individual including uniqueness and individuality. Did this world happen by chance from the original mix of forces and elements or is the world a conscious creation? Many of the newer and diverse views of “God” within the Jewish tradition steer away from this idea that the Creator has unique individuality. Some of this has been a reaction against the old man in the sky view of a punishing deity. Also folks have tried to fit their understanding of the divine so as to align more with the scientific views of the origins of the creation and the time/space- matter/energy only shape of the world. With such confusion and differing contrasting concepts and views of the ‘Supreme Deity” here is offered an analogy that may help reveal the true shape of the “Elephant” so to speak (from the legend of the five blind men and the elephant).

If we may conceive of the entire living creation as a vast mighty tree as many ancient cultures have we may also envision her ultimate source as an original seed. The life in the seed is the very divine essence that flows throughout the tree and into every single individual cell. Each individual cell contains the life essence (divine spark) and the complete information within it (DNA) that define all the qualities of the original seed and the entire tree. (We are made in the image of HaShem)  

In this analogy the only spin needed to understand a fit in the conceptual view of an omnipresent, omnipotent and omniscient deity which ancient Jewish tradition ascribes to the Holy One is to understand that the original seed is eternal and unchanging.  This original seed also exists as the ever flowing fount of divine life essence into the great tree that is creation.

We may understand that there is a variegated array of the function of different single cells in the structure of the great tree. There are of course cells as part of the roots, trunk, leaves, flowers, fruits and seeds. Certain cells are destined to themselves become seeds and this state of the individual cell may be understand as that of an “enlightened” individual with the many different names that various religious/spiritual traditions ascribe to a fully present awakened individual. This seed state within the tree may also be understood as an individual that has become so fully cognizant of the array of unique qualities that she carries that she comes into a close relationship and knowing of the original seed (I and Thou).

Different religions and spiritual traditions may have a variation or spin on this analogy that would better fit their own world view, divine view and understanding of the individual in relation to the greater world and the divine.  Some traditional Jews may argue with this analogy and cite the Rambam where he says that the Creator(haBoreh) has no form so how may we conceive of that one in the form of a seed? In the ancient Jewish worldview (from the Sepher Yetzirah) there are three realms- time(shanah),space(olam) and soul(nephesh) unlike the modern view of only time/space. Therefore the original seed may not have to be embodied in a physical corporeal form to exist since the realm of soul is as original as the space/time physical world and as real. Various Buddhist traditions may understand this seed as a state achieved through Buddhist practice but a state that is not to be attached to or understood as having any permanency or hierarchical importance. This would be the greatest difference in Buddhism where the idea of deity is not usually a concern except in relation to the many deities in some traditions as in Tibet. Great secrets may be revealed and I believe have been discovered by folks venturing into sincere loving interfaith comparison (The Jew in the Lotus). Some Christians might believe that the Original seed is like the “Father”, the entire life of the tree like the “Holy Spirit” and the “Son” once appeared embodied in a new seed that started teaching the other “cells” about the original seed. These different spins have become elements of faith and dogma in some instances but how they all fit together might be of interest in further interfaith dialogue.

It is also completely in alignment with the above understanding of the sacred Tree as a being or soul level of the entire Earth that the original mtDNA mother of all humanity carried the root soul that streams through the living tree of our cells and bodies and makes us all relatives. We are one hoop of peoples made of many smaller hoops as Black Elk saw in his incredible vision about the healing of the world.