  " The foundation of many of these teachings rests with the tradition that descended from Enoch, the seventh generation from Adam, carried through Abraham who was perhaps the first Jewish shaman and Essene."
--Rav Gabriel Cousens
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Articles, Poems, Commentaries
Ecstatic
Mystical
Judaism
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By Rav Gabriel Cousens
After many years of intense spiritual practices and meditation it has become clear that the Jewish path if appropriately understood and practiced is a powerful, sophisticated, and successful path of Devakut. Devakut is the continuous attachment and cleaving to the Divine. It implies a constant communion with the Divine and overwhelming awareness that YHWH is the sole reality. If one were a yogi this would be called Self-realization; a Buddhist would call it Buddha consciousness. For a variety of reasons this focus on Devakut as the primary spiritual value seems to have disappeared from modern Judaism. As one who lives in the world of Devakut it has become a spiritual mission to rediscover and share this authentic way to liberation (continuous Devakut.) The writings of the Bal Shem Tov, especially in his wondrous book, Tzava At Harivash make Devakut the ultimate spiritual value and focus of Chassidism. Although the Bal Shem Tov states that meditation and prayer are seven times more important than study of the actual physical Torah, he points out that the study of the physical Torah is essential for achieving Devakut. Torah study strengthens the soul and serves as an antidote to the yetzer hara (evil inclination). He points out that God and Torah are one. The deeper study of the Torah is as the living principle of Truth, as the recognition of the ONE in meditation, prayer, physical Torah study, and in our mundane engagements. These ideas are not a new creation of the
Bal Shem Tov. The Talmud points out that the ancient sages would pray three times a day, but would meditate one hour before and one hour after in order to remain in Devakut as long as possible. Nine hours per day is an impressive amount of time and certainly does not create a lot of time for physical practices of Torah study. My path also took me to the ways of the Ecstatic Kabbala such as practiced by the thirteen century mystic Abraham Abulafia, the fifteenth century Kabbalists Moshe Cordovero and Elijah de Vidas of Safed, as well as Yizhaq of Acre as they literally described my own ecstatic Devakut world. The foundation of many of these teachings rests with the tradition that descended from Enoch, the seventh generation from Adam, carried through Abraham who was perhaps the first Jewish shaman and Essene. They continued through the prophets such as Samuel who overtly gave the prophetic smecha Ruach HaChodesh energetic initiation and created a model for prophetic meditation. The Essenes who were the intense prophetic, shamanic, Kabbalists of the desert then carried it on. It is unfortunate that today many Jewish people think the Essenes were Christians because Jesus was raised in the Essene tradition. The Essenes tradition goes back way before Jesus to at least to 600 B.C. where it is noted in the biography of Pythagorus that he trained with the Essenes on Mt. Carmel and came down enlightened and also a raw food vegetarian. Incidentally, it was from the writings of Pythagorus that the raw food movement in the 1800¹s in Europe began. In alignment with these potent spiritual streams of awakening in our tradition, I was inspired by living in the essential vibration of the land of Israel during my last teaching tour in Israel in January 03, to put together the sishya yeshodot (six foundations) to support sincere people in their awakening to these mystical experiences that takes one to the world of Azilut (Devakut). They include building the spiritual life force energy through the first three points:
(1) Spiritual nutrition, which is primarily vegan life food nutrition. The Bal Shem Tov points out ³When the body ails, the soul too is weakened, and one is unable to pray properly even when clear of sins. Thus you must guard the health of your body carefully.² A vegan life food diet not only increases the spiritual energy but has been proven to decrease the incidence of many chronic degenerative disease and enhances physical endurance by two to three times. The spiritual nutrition teaching includes a demonstration of how to make the best live food Challah in the world;
(2) Kali Ray TriYoga, the Ophanim (the energetics of the Hebrew letters), and
(3) Ruach ha Chaim (aromatic breathing exercises) activate and move the life force energy.
(4) Wisdom study of the Kabbala and Torah as well as the living Truth of the Torah as we experience it in nature and in our ceremonies (this is the shamanic component as our people were a people of the earth) strengthen and build our spiritual foundation. Included in this experience will be a shamanic Shabbat and an understanding the eco-kosher lifestyle exemplified by the Essenes.
(5) The fifth foundation, which the others have prepared us for, is the Ruach haChodesh mediation and Devakut (the prophetic initiation given by Melchizedek to Abraham, Moses to Joshua, and Samuel to King Saul and David. The sixth foundation is Tzedaka.
(6) Tzedakah is significantly more than giving money in charity. It is living in the world in a way that all our actions create a healing in the Upper Worlds as well as the lower worlds. We invite you to join us on the Autumn Equinox of September 19-21. 2003 for a powerful experience of this ecstatic mystical way.
Please call the Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center in Patagonia, AZ 520-394-2520, or email Leslie Goldman at Essenes@Cox.net 619-582-9669, for further information on this special experience.
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| What is an Ecstatic Mystical Feeling?
 Leslie Goldman
Enchanted Gardener
At the Whole Being Weekend, one of the greatest outpourings of ecstatic community held once a year in Southern California, the weather was overcast.
I brought one of my favorite plants, the cactus that is the logo for this web site. The plant flowers for 24-48 hours once a year. I brought the cactus with me on stage. The plant had a closed bloom.
I told the group that sometimes we have to be the sunshine for each other so that we can help each other bloom.
Then I read a poem. The cactus opened during the ten minutes I was on stage in front of 400 people. I, and others fully experienced this incident. There were swells of mystical energy in the room in the moment as word and action became one. We had an Ecstatic Mystical feeling all together, the kind that I has the potential
to happen at An Essene Ecstatic Mystical Gathering.
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