Iyyar 5785: Healing ourselves to heal the world
🌒 Moon of Healing 🌒 begins at sundown on April 28, 2025 | Working with the moon of healing to heal ourselves so we can heal the world.
Chodesh Tov,
In this Newsletter
Engaging with Iyyar, Soul Trait Studio update,
Exploring Iyyar, Out and About + Shop Updates
As you may have noticed — I’ve had a bit of trouble engaging with the wheel of the year for the past few months. But there was something about Pesach and especially baking my Shlissel 🔑 Challah that got me back into the swing.
TL; DR on Shlissel Challah
Yiddishkeit practice of baking a challah in the shape of a key, or pressing a key into the challah, on the Shabbat following Pesach. NPR just did a great article on it. And you will find tons of pics on Instagram on #ShlisselChallah.
Iyyar (אייר) is the moon of healing, in my naming of the moons. Iyyar is an acronym for “I am YHVH your Healer” - Ani YHVH Rofecha (אֲנִ֥י יְהֹוָ֖ה רֹפְאֶֽךָ) [Exodus 15:26]. It is a month to explore healing practices for ourselves, our communities, and our world.
I looked back at the last several years of this newsletter, and there hasn’t been a recent time where Iyyar didn’t feel like an incredible challenge. Healing? Now? Really?
HOW?
By following the journey our ancestors set out as a pathway for us.
Who cares if it’s a couple of weeks into the counting of the omer. You can catch up. Maybe you’ll arrive a bit late, but we’re all going to be at Mt. Sinai at the end of it.
We have a 49 day trek through the wilderness between freedom and revelation to help us heal the wounds of enslavement within ourselves and within the world(s). Maybe you don’t feel it this year, but think of future YOU and those who will come after. We need you on this journey.
Soul Trait Studio Iyyar: CANCELED
Apologies all. I’m vending at a Jewish event on the day this was scheduled, and the following Sunday is Mothers Day in the USA. If you are attending the JVP NMM, come by the market and say hello.
Learn more & register for Sivan:
6/1/2025: Sivan | Emet | Truth
https://devotaj.com/soultraitstudio
Given that there’s no session this month — great time to get up to speed on the practice.
Iyyar
Iyyar is the month to find your own balance. It is the month to heal your manifest world by connecting it to the Divine and and heal your spiritual world by acknowledging the necessary connections to the manifest world.
Moon: Healing
Netivah: Meyaledet (מילדת) Midwife
Constellation: Shor (שׁוֹר) Taurus/The Ox
Letter: Vav (ו)
Tribe: Issachar (יששכר)
Tarot Card: Hierophant
Soul Trait: Savlanut (סבלנות) Patience
These correspondences are primarily the ones that I personally have received (aka channeled), with the exception of the Netivah. They have been informed by learning and working with dear friends/collaborators such as Kohenet Bekah Starr, Kohenet Aly Evershine, Rav Kohenet Jill Hammer, and Rav Kohenet Taya Mâ.
Get your Iyyar stickers and Sticker sheets in the shop!
Out and About + Shop Updates
New in the Shop
If you missed the Kickstarter, you can now purchase your own copy (print and/or digital) of Tzitzit: a talismanic guide.
Along with the Iyyar sticker sheets — there are new Iyyar stickers based on my some my original digital collage: Diaspora is not Exile
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May you find healing of body, mind, and soul this Iyyar.
Ketzirah
I love home baked Challah in any shape. I will try creating Shlissel Challah. Sounds like a fun project to try.