BALAK.

THE BIG IDEA

According to the Torah Omens this is an excellent time to explore the reality of hatred and jealousy in your life. Imagine, in this exact moment, someone ‘out there’ is trying to put a curse on you or family or your community, actively wishing for you to fail ( the way Balak, the king of Moav called upon the most powerful shaman in the land to curse the Israelites in the desert). 

During this meditation, rest in knowing that just as Bilam was unable to curse the Israelites, no matter how hard he tried, it is impossible for an outsider to do anything to you. Feel safe in knowing,

Whoever blesses you will be blessed.

Whoever curses you will be cursed.

The week’s energy confirms that those that project negatively will live in a soup of shame and frustration, making this a favorable time to affirm the blessing that comes with a commitment to serving goodness, justice, love and light, and find safety and trust in knowing nothing outside your own practice can hurt you. 

THE BIG IDEA Part 2 

Now that you are feeling safe and protected from any outside negative forces, take some time to look at the places negativity is able to be drawn into your blessed life. Find thoughts and actions with which you ‘curse’ yourself or your community. (like the Israelites in the desert, who, after surviving flaming snakes and winning incredible battles, participate in orgies of sex, meat, and the worshipping of a god famous for desiring child sacrifices from his followers, thereby bringing deadly plague upon themselves).  

Look within and locate the spiritually unproductive temptations you indulge, and try to note the consequences of your actions.

Do not try to rehabilitate those parts or reason with them in therapy. If you are brave enough, take out a flaming sword of light and kill the snake within that pulls you astray. (the snake is most often fueled by jealousy and/or hatred) Jealousy and hatred (and the actions that follow) must not be tolerated in a practice of oneness.

Trust that it is these poisonous energies, not any one person or people curse you, and prevent the complete awakening to the constant ever-present blessing of now. 

DEEPER DIVE

For some context on Balak, I love this video that compares Abraham and Bilam.

And the punch line at the end of this video.

There is a lot that can be said about the narrative of Balak, (the name of the Moabite King trying to gain advantage over the Israelites by hiring a powerful light worker named Bilam to curse them).

Firstly, this week’s narrative is written in an (almost) entirely different style of language from the rest of the Torah. It is filled with talk of curses, a magical donkey, angels with swords, and a king that promises riches. It is through this narrative we learn the way _ _ _ _ speaks and works with spiritually connected people outside of the Abrahamic covenant, and the way they, in turn, must respect the spiritual voice of oneness.

And so, if you are the type of spiritual person that feels connected to Source Energy, YES! this week confirms that you do not need to be a member of the covenant to hear the voice of _ _ _ _.

And if you are a Torah person that lives with the feeling that someone is trying to actively curse you or your people, YES! This week confirms that these things happen, someone might actively be trying to have you cursed.

And if you are either of these people, rest assured there is nothing to worry about. Balak is the proof that no one can succeed in cursing anyone that is blessed by the true Source of Energy. Blessings bestowed by the Source Energy of the Universe cannot be revoked. And anyone working with the Source of One True Energy will learn that. So just relax into that knowing.

Any negative energy directed at you will be turned into a curse for those that speak it. The blessed will always stay blessed.

Which is not to say that being blessed means a lifetime in La La Land filled with sunshine and happy cakes.

Blessed people are blessed by their obligation to walk in strict spiritual alignment AT ALL TIMES, held completely accountable for their actions to the exact Source Energy that they called upon. This ‘blessing’ protects them only in so far as they keep their spiritual obligation to do all _ _ _ _ commands and fulfill their eternal cosmic debt for a life filled with awareness.

Make no mistake, o jealous among the nations, this tribe is cursed by it’s own inner corruption and misaligned desires. There is no need to try to curse the ‘blessed’, it is possible for the blessed to destroy itself by our own hand.

Also, cursing won’t help.

The blessing is to be disciplined by God directly and exclusively. And, as history has shown both within the Torah and by those that have lived it, this nation does a great job defying spiritual law and cursing itself. So haters can stop hating, and focus instead on the immense weight of the blessing instead.

INNER WORK GUIDE

Let’s not lose the snake, now that we spent all last week trying to catch him/her/it/them. 

Remember the questions that snake through you and disturb your inner peace. See them running through your body, heart and mind, slithering their doubt wherever they go.

Now imagine a bigger snake is attached to your snake of thoughts, and that snake is plugged into a huge energy field of Jealousy or Hate or both.

How are your inner doubts, or disruptive questions ignited by the two poisonous energies: jealousy and/or hatred?

When you are ready, summon the courage of Pinchas, son of Elazar the high priest, and cut off the head of your snake entirely (just as Pinchas speared the couple fornicating in front of the holy tent and stopped the plague from spreading further).

Be sure to journal your explorations. Perhaps before and after in order to maximize your integration of your insights.

#2

Allow yourself the belief, “ someone hates me out there. Someone is actively trying to curse me and see me fail.”

Allow yourself the belief, “ I am special. I am cherished. I am blessed. I am safe. I am protected.”

Which feels more true?

How do the two beliefs relate to one another?

Wishing blessing on those who bless,

And spiritual awakening on those who curse,

May we, together, walk into a world that is filled with Light and Love of Good.  

Please _____ help us see presence as it is, in every sacred moment, of this very sacred life.  

shabbat shalom.