Confession: When I was a little girl, the most uttered phrase out of my mouth was: “I can do it myself!” or sometimes simply: “MYSELF!”. I was the most determined little child and I had to do it all myself! I truly wanted to learn to do everything myself. Always fighting to master a skill and then moving on to the next one. Mastery of skill can be intense and also fun. I do not know at what point I grew out of this – ok maybe I just grew out of this like 6 months ago – but the point is that I spent a long time focused on what I could achieve on my own.
I now have a sweet adorable daughter who is very much the same way. It is fascinating and, at the same time, humbling to witness her gripping determination and buoyant enthusiasm. During childhood and many times into adulthood, we think the world revolves around us. We focus on our own growth. But at some point we need to be social and function within a community and we realize that life isn’t really only centered around just us. This fruit of being determined and independent in my daughter (and in me) this week has just been illuminated by this week’s Torah reading: YITRO – Exodus 18:1 – 20:23.
FREEDOM! Now what?
Have you ever gotten exactly what you were asking for and then messed it up somehow? You were offered an amazing opportunity and yet you couldn’t grab hold of it? Here we are just after the miracle of the parting of the Red Sea and we as a people are truly FREE. We have what we were yearning for: FREEDOM. Now what? We were birthed as the Jewish people but are basically infants dependent on G-d for our food and water. We are wandering around the wilderness and have no idea how to use our freedom. What is the first thing we do? We COMPLAIN about it. Isn’t that how it happens? Just when you get what you want, you find some reason to find something negative about it? Sound familiar?!
The Jewish people are the only community in history to receive a revelation from G-d as a ‘people’. There wasn’t a lone prophet or person who individually received it. We all did at Mt. Sinai. Yitro is about that moment when we all gathered at Mt. Sinai to receive the 10 commandments and actually experience G-d’s fearsome power together. It is in this moment as the spiritual and earthly dimensions connected that we get a very different feel about G-d than we did in all previous readings from Genesis and Exodus. It was a quiet voice prodding the individual (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) along…it is LOUD, THUNDERING and AWESOME (in the old use of that word not the new one we use it for today). We see the awesome power of G-d and it was so intense and stimulating to all of the Jews standing there that they were only able to hear 2 of the commandments before they handed the reigns over to Moses to experience for them and then communicate later.
When can we receive?
It is interesting to me that the Jews were unable to receive all 10 commandments from G-d Himself as part of a mass consciousness. That they needed an intermediary in Moses. G-d is not everywhere as the parable goes. He is only in the hearts of those humble enough to receive Him. Only when we can have some humility and know we are not the only ones out there acting alone can we truly learn! Wow. It is totally our nature to push aside that little voice telling us what path to follow. I mean there must be a better way: I CAN DO IT MYSELF…right?!
At some point you will find as I did that we are not strong enough to do it all by ourselves and that the world does not revolve around us alone. Not only do we need G-d’s help, we need the help of a support system around us. We need to be a part of a community and all the authority and rules that come with it.
So let’s think about this…What do you feel about ‘people’ in general? No…what do you REALLY feel? Do you feel you can do it better than everyone else? That everyone lets you down? Maybe they ask too much of you? Or maybe you just feel they can’t be trusted or all they do is lie and cheat and steal from you? We have people all around us. People we interact with every single day. What this week’s reading is telling us is that we have to learn to love people in order to truly be free. That we must be able to function within a society and not just focus on ourselves and our own families. How well do you interact with others? Are you a part of your community or just a bystander wishing you were?
We can become a part of a community when we actually work to create that community. You can use Awaken essential oil blend to develop that wholeness in yourself and then it will start to happen around you. When we are in survival mode brought on by past hurts and mistrust, we aren’t in a place to focus on anything but ourselves. When applied with prayer, Awaken essential oil blend brings about a sense of Wholeness and awakens our spirit to that time of being connected to G-d inter-dimensionally.
What better oil to bring out this week than Sacred Mountain? As we receive G-d’s revelation at Mt. Sinai we are most certainly more conscious that we are not alone here in this world and in our lives. Manifesting that mass consciousness is a huge part of what we have to do daily to make our freedom real and Sacred Mountain blend is amazing for this!
How many 2 year olds do you know who like to follow the rules? Difficulty with ‘authority’ is common at this age! So I like to think as we are on a new path of freedom, we most definitely need help to temper our own egos and we can use Spikenard for this to ensure we have some spiritual alignment and understand that the power over us by G-d and all the rules we need to abide by aren’t for our detriment – quite the opposite! All rules and laws have a purpose even if we don’t agree with them.
May you all be blessed to love on the people around you and learn better how to communicate with everyone so that all can be blessed as one community!
Wrap up: Oils to add to your prayers
All oil references to emotions are from this book. I use this book in a variety of ways and explain how in this video.
- Awaken for connecting interdimensionally. The other side of being disappointed is Wholeness (Shalem). Say “I am complete” while applying a drop of Awaken to your lower back (sacrum).
- Sacred Mountain for achieving Mass Consciousness. The other side is Manifesting Consciousness. Say “I am conscious” while applying Sacred Mountain to the solar plexus.
- Spikenard for feeling under the thumb of an Authority Figure. The other side is being spiritually aligned. Say “Spiritual Conductivity” while applying Spikenard to the chest (nerve root).
