Invocation to Shekhinah-Lilith-Ishtar …
She of all knowing, dark wisdom … She of the deep abyss, snake’s descent, owl’s knowing … woman of the dark, the light.
We praise You, we stand in awe, marveling at the myriad surprises you hold in store for us
always respectful of your power, your M/mystery.
Shekhinah-Lilith-Ishtar, we worship you, in all your aspects; we sing your name.
Walk with us as we yearn to see you, to feel you, to exchange the divine sparks we both need to live … Never let us forget your P/presence in, around and through us, as we seek to proclaim and praise you in every corner of the world, in your many guises, by every name.
Walk with us as we love you, when we are angered by you, when we fail to comprehend you and when we renew our resolve to serve …
Be patient with us as we must be with ourselves, and each other, holding your Presence even when we are in doubt or despair.
Let us recognize and hold this as a time of healing … of creating new roles for ourselves … weaving new threads of oneness and wonder as together we continue to forge new paradigms.
Ishtar, LilithIn the midrash (rabbinic story about the Torah story), Lilith is imagined as Adam's first wife. Because she wanted equality, she wss ultimately banished, and God provided Adam with a more obedient wife. Lilith, according to tradition, lives on as a kind of demon, causing men to have wet dreams and stealing infant boys from their cribs. Today, Lilith has been reclaimed by Jewish feminists as a symbol of women's equality., ShekhinahThe feminine name of God, expounded upon in the rabbinic era and then by the Kabbalists in extensive literature on the feminine attributes of the divine. … keeper of the Mystery
Be with us through ecstasy and harmony
through death and destruction
through reawakenings and rebirths.
You whose actions lead us to create both praises and lamentations, you who teach us to hold paradox. Today we may rejoice, yet tomorrow we may have cause to want to tear at our hair.
In the eye of wisdom which rises forth from the power of your being, your foresight, your intent … how is it we ever got lost, taken over, subsumed?
Allow us always to remember our inner strengths, to come from a place of understanding and so standing in our own power, to feed and celebrate our ruakhLit. Spirit. Some new versions of blessings call God "Spirit of the World" (Ruakh Ha’olam), rather than "King of the World" (Melekh Ha'olam)., our neshamahSoul, our lifeforce.
Let us not be swayed from our goals.
Work with us, inspire us, protect us as we weave your work—our work.
Help us, sweet dark lady of the night, holy winged figure of the light—rageful, wise judge, warmest heart, soulful visionary, You who dwell within each of us, You who holds the key to our heart, our mafteyakh ha-lev.
Highest priestess of the Temples and the Cosmos, to whom every knee must bend and every tongue give homage.
For it is your word we write now upon the doorpost of our house and upon our gates,
Your word, acts, images and stirrings we share, grow mad at, delight in and weep with … your Divine embodiments, holy sparks from which we can learn much, if we only pay attention.
It is you who makes rise our greatest laughter, happiness, peace and compassion, and you who also sees and gives us our greatest anger and storm, humility and confusion.
Holy Mother, Source of All, Goddess of earth and sky, rivers and mountains, night and day, highest and lowest planes of our existence, and beyond,
We seek to embody your sacred passion, your wisdom, your strength.
Be with us now.
