Magic Ninety

Magic Ninety
Pete Seeger turns 90 today, May 3rd and he's still performing; on Tuesday [March 24], poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti turned 90–together they make 180.

Eighteen is Chai/Life and that these two luminaries should both turn 90 on each coast of our country is notable. Pete Seeger famous for his lifetime devotion to the Hudson River and Lawrence Ferlinghetti a lifetime bohemian-poet come to San Francisco after being one of the first people to enter Hiroshima after the atom bomb was exploded, were born only a couple of months apart–twins.

America can celebrate these two soldiers of peace who arise at Chai/Life together like two hands holding our country together in this special time when our president rules whose name translates into Blessed Leader.

The end is over; a new beginning has begun.

Affixer of Names

The writer Carol Ann Duffy was appointed Britain’s poet laureate on Friday, becoming the first woman to take a 341-year-old job that has been held by, among others, Dryden, Tennyson, Wordsworth, Cecil Day-Lewis and Ted Hughes.

The number 340 is gematria Sham/Name. It is considered by the cabalists the naming of a child is prophetic because it is through the name the soul enters into the body; no mater what the process the end is prophetic. It is why we instinctively call out a person’s name trying the revive those passed out. It was customary from the very beginning of the Jewish People for the women to name the children because the women had the power of prophesy more than the men.

It is stated in the Midrash-Book of Metaphor that all the words in the Torah/Teaching are Names of God. The original poet of the Jewish People was Dovid the first king in the line to Moshiach; he was the poet-king who played on his harp melodies and songs to God.

Having a woman take such a coveted position in the naming of names–bringing spirit into the world could only bode well for the world as we finish the 6000 years of man and enter into the thousand years of woman and of peace.

Suicide’s Reward

Nicholas Hughes, the son of poet Sylvia Plath, has killed himself, 46 years after his mother committed suicide and almost 40 years to the day after his stepmother, Assia Wevill, did the same. He was 47.

Suicide is the spilling of one’s own blood thereby cutting short the time given by the Creator to conduct life on earth. Life on earth is different from life in heaven where the consciousness reunites with the soul; on the earth, and only on the earth, there is freedom of choice—in the heavens too much light exists and therefore no choice.

Although suicide is prohibited in the Torah/Teaching, still there are instances where suicide is considered the proper response—for example, if one is confronted with idol worship death, it is preferable to die. But, there is a price to suicide beyond death and that is the imprint on life which is left between parent and child and even from those not directly related as seen form this sad poetic story of those too sensitive for life.

In the Cabala, in particular the Sefer Gilgilim/Book of Reincarnations, much is written about the journeys of the soul—most importantly, the impossibility of escaping this physical world or our spiritual obligation.