Create Your Shield

This article was previously published in 2018.

The month of Capricorn is unique in that the month begins on the seventh day of Chanukah. The preceding month of Sagittarius was a time when we had the ability to draw miracles into our lives. That ability derives from the cosmic event of Chanukah, the channel for miracles, which now continues into Capricorn.

“The Zohar refers to the Shechinah as our ‘protective shield.’”

Why does this happen? To understand the gifts and the challenges that are available for us in this month, Rav Berg explains from The Zohar that there are three months in which a great deal of judgment and negativity prevails. These are the months of Cancer, Leo, and Capricorn. But it is not correct to see Capricorn simply as a month of judgment.

There is a deeper, more powerful, and more important understanding given in the section of The Zohar concerning this month. Rather than being a negative month, it is a month with an overabundance of Light.

Rav Ashlag has also discussed this principle. As he has written, during this time the Shechinah, the female aspect of the Creator present in our world, is not revealed. The Shechinah is not something that we can detect with our five senses, but The Zohar refers to the Shechinah as our “protective shield.” Simply put, when the Shechinah is in place, it prevents us from receiving an overdose from the Lightforce of the Creator.

Just as Earth needs the ozone layer to protect it from the sun, we also need protection from the infinite power of unfiltered Light. So rather than an absence of Light in this month, there an absence of the protective shield that usually limits the amount of Light that comes into our world.

With this understanding, we begin to have an inkling of what this month is about. It is a month with no filter and an overabundance of the revelation of the Light of the Creator. This is a very positive opportunity, but it is also a time to be careful. The full impact of the Lightforce of the Creator creates too much Light, too much heat, which can result in all forms of destruction.

“We must foster an over-abundance of sharing.”

The Rav has often made the point that, throughout history, Capricorn has influenced people in negative ways. This is because people have succumbed to intolerance and hatred for no reason during this month. For those who practice intolerance, for those who do not share, for those who are selfish, this is a month when there is nothing to stop them. There is no filter preventing people who are disconnected from the Light from bringing judgment into their own lives.

All in all, this is a very serious month in which there is great opportunity but, at the same time, great danger. When a tremendous infusion of Light comes into an unprepared Vessel—into a person who is not ready for it, or who is acting with a lack of human dignity or with a lack of love towards another person—that Light causes a short circuit. That Light causes negativity.

How can we make sure that our experience of this overflow of Light is positive? How can we be certain it will bring blessings into our lives? The answer lies in our own consciousness and our own behavior.

In this month, we must match the overabundance of Light with an overabundance of human dignity bestowed on others. We must foster an overabundance of sharing. We must have overwhelming love toward other people. In this way, we can connect to Capricorn in a positive way and make positive use of its overabundance of Light.