Iyar
Seeking beauty and staying present
The light has shifted. The air has thickened. The sunny South is living up to its name right now with hours of daylight pouring down blazing heat. While I can be grateful that it is not yet sweltering humidity, that is so only because we are in drought again. I am grateful for the respite that shade offers instead of relentless humidity. This is my time of slowing down, even as the world is bursting into bloom. I feel it in the drag of the afternoon, my lack of energy, in the heat that presses against my chest. My nights are restless and the heat never really leaves my bones despite ac, fans and nothing but a sheet.
And yet, the world offers stunning beauty in my small corner. I dragged myself out to the porch this morning, and my morning prayer is the cacophony of birdsong and the family of bluebirds nesting in my yard. The parents dart back and forth, beaks full, tending to their small and hungry offspring. I am so grateful for the privilege of peace and beauty. Of enoughness when so many are doing without.
Iyar offers so much wisdom to us. Jenna Zadaka writes, “The Sages teach that in this month, healing is more available through sunlight (Nedarim 10a), and the plants carry more potency. If one is to begin a healing protocol, Iyar is considered the most supportive time (Rabbi Pinchas Kortez, 1726–1791). Tradition also teaches that the manna (angel food from heaven) began to fall on the 16th of Iyar (Rashi on Exodus 16:1:1), nourishing the Israelites in the desert—symbolizing miraculous sustenance and healing from above. This is also the month when Miriam’s Well emerged—a source of healing that rises from below, from within." Also in Iyar is when Moses prays El na refa na lah, “Please, God, heal her” for his sister Miriam when she is struck with tzara’at, which is described as a ritual/spiritual condition, diagnosed by priests and carrying social isolation as punishment. Hmmm. It happens, I must add, because she dares to challenge male authority. So much more that could be said about that!
We are in the third week of counting the Omer now, counting days that seem to blur and yet keep accumulating. We begin Iyar in Tiferet, beauty and harmony. Tiferet itself is a harmonizer on the tree of life, nestling between Chesed / lovingkindness and Gevurah /strength and boundaries.
I remember the feeling of waiting in 2020; like a breath in-held. I feel that way now with the wars going on, with the maniacs at the helm. Just waiting. Closer to home we are also awaiting a transition of my beloved mother-in-law. Ana El Na for her is a prayer for a different kind of healing - that of release and peace.
The work is to stay present and aware; attuned to wherever beauty may be around you and maintaining strong boundaries so the energy of the world doesn’t take you down. Elu v’elu, this and also this. That’s the harmonizing gift of Tiferet - we can be alive, aware, present and engaged and witness and work against the evil in the world.
So each evening we count, numbering our days with gratitude, seeking beauty, fighting injustice, seeking harmony.
This is the practice.
To stay.
To witness what is hurting without turning away.
To ask for healing in simple words.
To receive what comes from outside.
To listen for what rises from within.
And to keep counting, marking that we are still here in it.
Here’s two beautiful songs - one a version of the healing prayer for Iyar and one for Tiferet.
May you walk in beauty and seek it out everywhere you go.
Shine on,
mckenzie
You can get your own deck of cards for counting the Omer here and you can get a journal to dive more deeply into the Tree of Life here.
