Counting the Omer
The seven week period between Passover and Shavuot was originally a period of some anxiety, as the all-important wheat crop matured. In the days of Jerusalem Temple, an omer, a specific measurement of wheat, was offered on the altar each day.
For the kabbalists, this period became an ideal time for introspection and self-perfection, with each week in the process dedicated to one of the sephirot, or cosmic aspects of being - Pure Giving; Boundaries; Balance; Eternality; Ephemerality; Bonding; and Manifestation.
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What is the Omer and why do we count it? | The Mystical Meanings
What's Happening This Year? | Our plans for Counting the Omer 2023
Counting the Omer is normally a deeply personal Journey. An opportunity to see what is stopping you from receiving the divine flow of the day.
We often release weekly emails to help us align ourselves with each new week and each new type of divine energy. Often special classes are offered during this time.
Please check back again later to see what we will offer in 2023!
A Little History | So what is the Omer and why do we count it?
Counting the Omer is a tradition that goes back to our agricultural roots. Passover is the holiday of the Barley Harvest, Shavuot is the holiday of the wheat harvest. 49 days fall between when barley is ready for harvest and when wheat is ready. This counting was so important that it was commanded in the Torah (Leviticus 23:15-16).
As time passed and we were forced from the land we were so connected to our practice and purpose around this counting shifted and evolved along with us. For the kabbalists, this period of time between the liberation of our people (Passover) and the receiving of divine revelation (Shavuot) was ideal for self-work, a period of time to ready ourselves to receive divinity anew each year. As we count each night from the second night of Passover to the night before Shavuot 49 nights pass, seven sets of seven days. The ten sephirot, also called the tree of life, represent ten different aspects of the divine. the lower 7 are aspects that we experience on an intimate level each day and have more immediacy in our daily lives. It is said that each sephirah contains within it all the other sephirot. During the the 7 cycles of 7, go through each sephirah one by one, and examine how the other divine aspects interact with the main one of the week. Please reach out to us by email if you'd like to learn more!
The Mystical Meanings | Some Psycho-Spiritual Meanings and Themes
Counting the Omer, like all Jewish Holidays, has a myriad of themes to connect to on a psycho-spiritual level. Each holiday has the ability for interpretation and reflection. Each year the holiday can mean something else because, as the years pass we change, and how we see the holiday changes with us. Here are some themes that you may want to work with this year or in years to come.
- What type of divine energy is raining down on us today? What is inside you that blocks you from receiving it?
- How do you feel these divine attributes in your daily life? Where do you notice them?
- It is said that each of these 49 days represents the 49 stops the Hebrews made while wandering in the Desert for 40 years. Where have you stopped along your own path in this life? Reflect on your own journey.
- What do you need to do to prepare to receive the divine in your life? What in you needs clarifying?
- What is the purpose of freedom? What will you do with this gift? How will you answer the call?
- And more! Come up with your own. share them with others and with us!