Oct 17 2023 31 mins
“Dreaming is a necessary complement to our waking life that allows us to rest and integrate and regenerate.”
— Ganga Devi
As home to the holiday of Chanukah, Kislev is a time for celebration, light, and togetherness. But it is also a time for sleeping, for dreaming, and for integrating the teachings of our dreams into our waking lives.
The beauty of the cyclical nature of our Hebrew calendar is that it creates space for us to explore its universal and resonant themes each year as different people, bringing with us new experiences and perspectives that shift and re-shape the ways in which we engage and reflect. This episode of the Living Jewishly Podcasts is a replay of the Kislev episode of Sacred Time, a podcast about the healing art of the Hebrew calendar.
Looking toward Channukah as a time of light, dedication, and grace within a time of darkness, this conversation deeply examines Kislev’s overarching themes of sleep, death, dreams, and light, and moves thoughtfully through the cyclical nature of the rhythms of creation.
“There’s something about this time of sleep and slumber and darkness — we are actually deeply held.”
— Bluth
This episode discusses:
- How dreams inspire, enrich, and borrow from our waking lives — and their connection to prophecy
- How our relationship with sleep can inform and soften our relationship to death
- The symbolic meaning behind Channukah falling across both Kislev and Tevet
Highlights:
00:52 Intro
01:51 Kislev & Samec
05:00 The circle of our daily rhythms
07:46 Dreams, prophecy & waking life
09:58 Death & sleep
12:14 Midrash: Adam & the Garden of Eden
16:09 Living Jewishly Channukah Guide
19:01 Channukah & Kislev
22:01 Darkness & light
24:03 Ganga Devi’s dream work
29:29 Mourning rituals & Waking Life
Links:
Living Jewishly Channukah Guide
https://livingjewishly.org/channukah
Waking Life (2001)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waking_Life
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Shalom!