"It's the most wonderful time of the year....."
Welcome to what is truly one of the most positive times of the year. It is by no coincidence that songs have been written celebrating how good it is to be under the influence of the celestial body of Jupiter and the constellation known as Sagittarius.
Jupiter rules this month and bestows upon us its many gifts. It is said if Jupiter was any larger, it would be its own sun in another solar system. Just as a candle brightens a dark room, so too does the immense positive energy of Jupiter brighten our lives during these long nights of the winter solstice.
The month of Sagittarius is the third month starting from the beginning of the Kabbalistic Calendar. There is a secret there. While the first month of Libra is considered Right Column and the second month of Scorpio is considered Left Column, Sagittarius shines its way into the Central Column position. We know that in the center there is balance. And where there is balance, there is prosperity, expansion, good fortune, and life.
In Hebrew, Sagittarius is known as Kislev. Kislev derives from the word kishet which means arch, or rainbow. A rainbow is primarily composed of three main colors. What does all this tell us? It tells us the month of Sagittarius is the secret of the Three Column system and the great power of Restriction. The earth glows in space because it doesn't take the light but pushes it back – this is called Restriction. We too can shine this month by being able to connect more with the Third Column, which gives us the knowingness that it is so much more fulfilling ultimately to give than it is to receive.
If you have ever known a Sagittarius, you know there isn't a challenge they won't face or a battle they aren't ready to wage and conquer. We too are given this quality this month, but what battle do we choose to fight? What is our true cause?
When we go within, we find the opportunity to battle against our own selfishness and apathy. And it's a battle we can win this month. It's the warmth of the smile that you don't want to show but do so anyway. It's the kind word you normally wouldn't have the time to say, but you make time to stop and say it. It is the friend who needs help and the strength it takes to leave our own world and travel to another's in order to give assistance to someone in need.
This change inside of us creates changes on the outside, and these external changes are called miracles. For laying wait at the end of the month lies the great luminaries of holidays called Chanukah. Situated in the dark of winter, Chanukah is a time we are asked to light candles and rejoice in them -- and nothing more. The accessibility of miracles is available during this month like no other time of the year because we are able to connect to the light that creates them in the first place. Our only task is to open our hearts and love each other more than we ever have before.
This month, we can become stars in the sky and candles in the night. We can offer great light to others, ourselves and, by default, the world. For when we light the Hanukkiah, we direct it toward the opening of the home in order to do just that -- send the light out and rejoice in all that is good. With this action, we send away whatever problem or battle lies before us.
Sagittarians are people who love to travel the world and who my may wait later in life to settle down and find love, but if we turn that energy just slightly, we can travel the world within ourselves instead of the world without. We can love now instead of later. We can find inside the power to create the world we only dreamed was possible. We find inside a universe greater than the universe without. Inside lay all the answers we are looking for. Inside, we find our ability to love more than ever before.
I wish you all the light this month can offer, as well as all the blessings and miracles the Creator has in store for you. It is indeed the most wonderful time of the year.
