Cleaning the Pot

We've entered the sixth week in the the counting of the Omer, the potent seven-week period of spiritual practice that connects the season of liberation, Pesach, with Shavu'ot,  the festival that commemorates the receiving of Torah at Mt. Sinai. Each of the seven weeks is associated with one of the seven "lower" sefirot, the Divinely Emanated Qualities that comprise the Kabbalistic Tree of Life. As each day is counted, we focus on embodying that week's quality, in combination with each of the seven--49 permutations in all. This week we find ourselves steeping inYesod, ​Foundation or Tzadik, examining and refining the ways we channel love and discipline, will and humility, purpose and receptivity, into relationship. I've always found the Omer period--which originated in Biblical times as a theurgic rite, a kind of daily agricultural mindfulness practice to support the growth and abundance of the all-important spring wheat crop--an extraordinarily creative time. Many inspiring Omer counters, volumes of poetry, and art projects have welled forth from this attention to keeping count and applying the lens of two particular spiritual qualities to each day of this seven-week journey. Today, the 37th day of the Omer, combines the qualities of Gevurah (strength, boundary, discipline) with Yesod (the foundation of right relationship). That recipe inspired the poem below.  

Cleaning the Pot
The pot of oatmeal
that almost boiled over,
which would have 
become encrusted, 
hard to scour clean,
had I left it
to sit on the stove
after pouring out 
the cooked oats,
rinses easily
when I 
pour in warm, 
soapy water
right away
and rub lightly with a sponge--
same as those
boiling words,
spilled out between us, 
which would’ve 
stuck and hardened
and made for a 
messy clean-up,
maybe stayed caked that way
for decades,
had we not poured on
the cleansing waters of remorse,
forgiveness,
and rubbed a bit
with a light touch.
 
                     ––Diane Elliot, Gevurah sheh’b’Y’sod , 5782
 

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