Pesach Sheni - A Cyclical Gift

You know my fascination by now with the cycle of the Jewish calendar.

The Jewish holidays (a central theme in this week's parsha – Emor) are the pinnacles of cyclical wisdom. They follow the moon. They follow the seasons.

Our cycles bring us back to the same points again over and over.

Menstruation. Ovulation. Luteal. Back again.

But is it the same experience every time?

You ever wondered, as a little kid hearing the story of Mitzrayim again every year – Why didn't Pharaoh learn his lesson from last time? Why did he make the same mistakes again if he already knew what happened the previous year?

What if we really do repeat cycles and make the same choices over and over again? Keep living out what's familiar and predictable?

What does it take to break a cycle?

What is healing our past really all about?

It's coming back to the same point and recognizing the signs.

Knowing where we are and having the courage to choose something different.

You see yourself taking on too much, because "how can I tell them no?"

Only to collapse in a heap of PMS and cramps at the end of each month.

You don't honor menstruation as a time of rest – and then wonder why your tank seems to be perpetually empty.

So, you notice the signs and work to improve your self care.

And then what happens?

You notice premenstrually – you're actually feeling calm.

You notice the days after a restful period - you feel refreshed.

Today is Pesach Sheni.

And it expresses something deeply cyclical.

When the Korban Pesach ceremony took place one month before, not everyone met the qualifications to participate. That could have just been their loss.

But Pesach Sheni offered an opportunity:

Come back.

There's another full moon.

Another chance to return whole. And this time, you'll be prepared.

This is exactly what your cycle offers every single month.

A return. To the same phases, the same seasons, but each time, you arrive a little deeper, a little more ready, a little more embodied.

Coming back to the same point in the cycle – but something's different.

YOU are different.

Every Rosh Hashanah we get to reflect who we became since the Rosh Hashanah before. Every Pesach we honor redemption based on who we've become and what we've been able to redeem within ourselves since the previous Pesach. Every cycle, we get to experience the same phase or season with new eyes.

The cycle doesn't change.

WE change.

The cycle becomes the point of reference, the mirror reflecting back to us exactly HOW we've changed – so that we can truly receive what we couldn't the last time we stood here.

P.S. Couldn't access the Breathwork & Cycles talk with Fally Klein on YouTube? I got you! Here's an audio version on Google Drive.