This article on the portion of the week was originally published in 2019.
Can you remember a time in your life when you felt someone truly saved your life? Was it a teacher, mentor, parent, or a friend? Perhaps it was words of wisdom from a favorite book or poetry. Some even feel that music helped them through their difficulties. Throughout life, we meet angels every single day guiding and assisting us. We do not walk alone in this world, it takes a team of angels for each of us. Support from another during one of life’s challenging moments can literally save a life. The right act of love can enter our lives at the precise moment preventing us from losing our footing or making a choice we might later regret. Like a hand that comes to lift us up out from darkness, these everyday angels come at the times we need them most. When the world seems bleak and we cannot seem to move forward anymore, help comes to move our feet along so we may take another step. This week, we build to the monumental cosmic event that begins on Friday evening, a time known as Passover, or Pesach in Hebrew. This is a universal window of opportunity for every soul on earth. For the Creator comes to us this week, and with His great love, sends down His hand to lift us from the darkness.
"This is a universal window of opportunity."
Our portion for the week is found inside the portion of Bo, often read during the month of Aquarius. On the holiday of Pesach, we read a small portion of Bo that explains the exact moment of Pesach in which the Israelites are released from their bondage in Egypt. The Torah is shrouded in stories in much the same way clothing surrounds the body. The purpose of the Torah is to provide humankind with vital energy. However, this energy is concealed inside the stories we read. It reminds me of the parable of the prince who waited day and night outside the castle just to get a glimpse of his beloved when she walked by the window. He waited for hours only to see her beauty for a brief moment as she past in the light. Our spiritual work is much like the story of the prince. The Creator did not hand us our answers. Our spiritual work is to find the answers ourselves and assemble the pieces like a puzzle. The stories of the Torah hide within them the greatest treasures, secrets, and answers to life. The story of the actual exodus is what we read on the holiday of Pesach, but the story is not what we connect to. We connect to the energy inside. Like a diamond in a cave, we must be open to seeing beyond what we think we see. This small section of portion Bo describes the moment the Israelites placed the sacrificial lamb’s blood on their doorpost before the final plague from the Creator occurred. The killing of all first-born children was the final plague designed to force Pharaoh to release the Israelites from captivity. Those with the lamb’s blood upon their door were spared. The Angel of Death literally passed over their homes. After this final plague, Pharaoh finally released the Israelites. With matzah in hand and after 200 years in slavery, they left and were, at last, free. What does this story offer us today in the 21st Century? What is the hidden energy that we come each year to hear? What opportunity does this week and the holiday of Pesach offer you and me?
"For the Creator comes to us this week."
The answers to these questions are found within if we are open to taking the time to reflect upon our lives. We come to this beautiful world, yet we are crying as we leave the womb. Life is full of joy; however, it is also full of challenges, growing pains, and fears. We do come to this world with baggage from our previous lifetimes and a correction to make, otherwise we would not be here. Each of us has a purpose to fulfill, but we need help in this spiritual mission. We cannot do the work alone. The process of opening our hearts and becoming like the Creator who made us is the goal, however, within that framework exists endless possibilities that each of us has been designed and created to experience. Where in life do we seem to repeatedly stumble? With whom do we find it hard to share? What do we often try to avoid? Where do we find our hearts closing up and turning cold? Where do we stop our love from pouring from our hearts? These questions point to our mission in this body and in this lifetime. It is in these dark areas from which Pesach is able to lift us. Pesach is that help and loving hand coming into our darkest moments and most difficult challenges, where we feel we cannot go any further. The Creator’s hand comes to lift us up and place us back on our spiritual path for the coming new year. We are renewed and given the energy we need to reach our destiny. Pesach is always found in the first month of the astrological year. It is our yearly gift to pull us out from the areas in life that we are stuck and give us the needed boost to continue on our path towards love. Where we are lost, on Pesach we are found. Where we need mending, on Pesach we are healed. Where we are closed and our hearts are hardened, Pesach opens us and allows the Light to enter our lives. The strong hand of the Creator comes to us, like a loving teacher or friend, and gives us the strength, wisdom, and energy to continue on.
This week in our meditations, we prepare for our own sacrifice. We are embarking on a new year, and now is the time to release the baggage that no longer serves us. Make a list of the areas of your life where you feel lack and do not feel fulfilled. Write down what scares you. Write down whom you may have negative feelings towards. It is important before Pesach to become aware of your own personal bondages so the Light available this Friday night may vanquish it. You are the only person who will benefit from improving your life, and you are the only person who will have to deal with the challenges if you do not. Be unafraid to let go of the past. Be unafraid to take this great leap into the Light. Be unafraid to open your heart and love like you have never loved before. The hand of the Creator is reaching down this week to pull you out from the darkness. You need only to reach out and grab it.