Hod she'b Hod
הָיום שְׁלוֹשָׁה וְשׁלושׁים יָוֹם שֶׁהֵם ארבעה שָׁבוּעוֹת וְחְַמִשָּׁה יָמִים לָעוֹמֵרֹToday is thirty-three days, which is four weeks and five days of the Omer
Humility in Humility
(also Splendour in Splendour)
Be humble yet examine your humility for its genuineness. Everyone has humility and modesty in their hearts. How and in what manner do you feel it? Cultivate humility by interacting with people who are more refined than yourself, evoking in you modesty and a humility that motivates you to grow.
The thirty-third day of our counting is Lag B’Omer, named from the Hebrew letters that stand for the number 33. This is a special day of celebration during the actual Omer period, a day of great light and rejoicing. According to some mystics, the number 33 is the highest of the numbers in the progression of spiritually significant numbers 11 and 22.1
In this week of Hod, the sefirah called “Glory”, this is the day of Hod in Hod. The Light radiates fully at the left leg. This eighth sefirah symbolises the physical forms through which we perceive and understand our world, so this is a day for celebrating the sensations through which Spirit manifests in our world. Form limits the Force of Spirit, yet at the same time allows it to operate as the expression of Creation. Today we celebrate the Creation that expresses through the forms in which we live, focusing on the form of our sensations.
We are such amazing beings. We can know forces which constrict the energies available to us, and robe the universe with that which we might give it. We can know forms far too great for the energy we realise, and so experience greater and greater levels of frustration. Hod holds the possibility of empirical forms which most joyfully and appropriately express the energy they hold, and it is this possibility which we celebrate today.
Traditionally, this is a day to experience the world of nature, connecting more concretely with our roots in the physical world. When we welcome perceptions of the natural world, there is often an opening, a relaxing of the sensations we habitually contain. This is the day for appreciating such exquisite Glory.
I am a perfect vehicle created by the One Spirit to experience and express Itself in this world. Through me, Spirit expresses Its Life of joy and celebration. The forms of my life—mental, emotional, and physical—expand to reflect fuller dimensions of wholeness through which I am able to celebrate the One that we are.
Footnotes
11 forms two parallel lines, that have to come together for something to happen. 22 form a square, that is foundational. 33 forms a double triangle, the Magen David, the 6 points of the hexagram, and the 6 lower sefirot, appearing in their ↩︎