Accompanying the Queen

This end-of-Sabbath ritual to celebrate the Divine feminine can be used at any time of the year.

This year on Oct. 29, the Tel Shemesh chavurah participated in a small circle to honor the Shekhinah as she departed from us at the end of Sabbath. Honoring the Shekhinah on Satuday night is a Chasidic custom known as Melaveh Malka, accompanying the Queen. We recalled how on Saturday night the Shekhinah leaves, accompanied by her royal subjects as well as myriads of angels. We also recalled stories of Miriam, and how on Saturday night her well roams through the world giving healing to those in need. And, we mentioned the demoness Igrat bat Machalat. who wanders the world Saturday night with her band of demons, looking for humans to trouble. We discussed the meaning of these three Saturday night legends.

In this particular ritual, we connected these three faces of the feminine to the upcoming holiday of Halloween, a holiday when, according to Celtic tradition, ancestors are remembered and when the veil between the worlds grows thin so that the spiritual world is present to us. Halloween is also a time, according to lore, when the Divine feminine travels to the underworld for the season of winter.

For our ritual we used a chair draped in gauzy fabric as a throne for the Shekhinah, and four symbols of the elements: a candle, a stone, a jar of myrtle leaves (for air) and a cup of water.

Opening song of the event:

B'shem hashem elohei yisrael
miyemini michael umismoli gavriel
umilfanai uriel ume'acharai refael
ve'al roshi, ve'al roshi shekhinat el

In the name of the Name, the Power of Israel:
on my right Michael, on my left Gavriel,
before me Uriel, behind me Raphael,
and above my head, and above my head, the Shekhinah of the Divine.

B'shem hashem elohei yisrael
miyemini sarah umismoli rivka
umilfanai leah ume'acharai rachel
ve'al roshi, ve'al roshi shekhinat el

In the name of the Name, the Power of Israel:
on my right Sarah, on my left Rivkah,
before me Leah, behind me Rachel,
and above my head, and above my head, the Shekhinah of the Divine.

B'shem hashem elohei yisrael
miyemini yamah umismoli lahavah
umilfanai rakiah ume'acharai afarah
ve'al roshi, ve'al roshi shekhinah

In the name of the Name, the Power of Israel:
on my right Her sea, on my left Her flame,
before me Her sky, behind me Her earth,
and above my head, and above my head, the Shekhinah of the Divine.

(First verse, traditional, next two verses, Rabbi Jill Hammer)

We each shared a memory of Halloween and what it meant for us, perhaps as children, or perhaps as Jews in a Jewish school that did not celebrate Halloween, or as a Celtic holiday we learned about as adults. We invited the Shekhinah to be with us by chanting. Each of us took a turn sitting in the throne of the Shekhinah, speaking our truth and also speaking the blessings of the Shekhinah. Each of us chose one or two of the element-tokens (the stone, the candle, the water, or the jar of myrtle) to help us embody an aspect of the Shekhinah’s spirit.

Chant:

We all come from the Goddess, and to Her we shall return
Like a drop of rain flowing to the ocean. (Z. Budapest)

We then each spoke of beloved people we had lost, who had come in the company of the Shekhinah, and invited them to be with us for havdalah.

To close our time with the Shekhinah, we sang “Shechinah, My Sister in the Wind, a song by Rabbi Geela Rayzel Raphael. (see http://sab.judithlaura.com/poems.html)

We made havdalah, using feminine God-language.

Havdalah:

Beruchah at Shekhinah, eloheinu ruach ha’okam, boreit peri hagafen.
Beruchah at Shekhinah, eloheinu ruach ha’olam, boreit isvei vesamim.
Beruchah at Shekhinah, eloheinu ruach ha’olam, boreit me’orei ha’eish.

Beruchah at Shekhinah, eloheinu ruach ha’olam, hamavdila bein kodesh lechol, bein or lechoshech, bein yisrael le’amim, bein yom hashevi’i lesheishet yemei hamaaseh. Beruchah at shekhinah, hamavdilah bein kodesh lechol.

We bless the Shekhinah for wine, sign of life, for spices, sign of the soul, for fire, sign of awakening, and for change, sign of holiness.

Then we sang and danced in company with Miriam the prophetess:

Miriam haNeviah