Welcome.
This is a guided meditation on the Kabbalistic Sfira,
The divine aspect of Chod.
So go ahead and find a comfortable place to sit.
If you're holding anything,
You can simply let it go and just gently close the eyes.
And we start by simply observing the breath.
The breath guides us into presence.
So we allow this inhale and the exhale to bring us into the here and now.
This Sfira of Chod is the eighth Sfira.
It is on the feminine side associated with the left leg or the left feet.
And it is often translated as splendor,
Humility,
Diversity.
It is the aspect of creation that takes the quality of Netzach and expands it.
So Netzach is all about the eternal truth,
The essential truth that never change as everything else does.
And Chod takes those essential truths and expands them into many forms,
Infinite forms,
Diverse ways of being,
Diverse forms of creation.
So just as a flower is a flower,
Yet there can be many forms of flowers,
Tulips,
Roses,
That is through this quality of Chod.
Chod takes this notion of a flower and expands it into multiplicity.
And we find that throughout all of creation,
That there are these patterns that are expanded into multiple forms through nature,
Through the body,
Through all of life.
This is part of why Chod is associated with prayer.
It shows up all over the liturgy of Shabbat,
Of Jewish prayer,
Because when we are so expanded,
When the expansion of forms of multiplicity is so wide,
We cannot help but surrender and let go into the infinite.
This is a place of prayer,
That place of surrender,
When we can honor the infinite nature of God,
Of creation,
That is constantly creating the many forms of being.
So we are in reverence to that,
That supports our prayer.
Chod is also splendor,
Majesty,
Because it is this quality of rejoicing,
Of celebrating the many forms.
It awakens awe within us as we observe the infinite.
Sometimes it's helpful to think of Chod as multi-dimensionality.
We are multiple beings in one.
So what is it like to permission that multiplicity,
That expansion within you?
Perhaps you can think of it as the many yous that are with you now,
The child self,
The teenage self,
The adult self.
These are all forms of you.
Or perhaps the various sides of you,
The artist,
The teacher,
The sister,
Whatever qualities of you.
Notice what it's like to invite this multiplicity,
This expansion.
There's no one way,
But there are many ways.
And there's that celebration in it.
This is how we teach spirituality as well.
That there are these essential truths that point to the same infinite source,
Yet there are multiple paths that guide us to the truth.
There are multiple traditions,
Multiple channels or avenues we might explore.
So what is it like to feel the celebration of that diversity,
Of that multiplicity?
There's not one way,
But there are many ways.
Notice what that's like in the body to really feel into that.
This quality of Chod,
It's like a fractal mirroring the same essence in diverse ways.
Take a moment and just harvest whatever wisdom came up through you,
Through the body for this quality of Chod.
What wants to be remembered,
What wants to be carried through from this meditation.
And gently in your own timing,
Return to the breath,
To the here now and then slowly open the eyes,
Stretch around and take a moment to reflect on how this meditation has moved you.
