LESSONS FROM HONI
So how do we use Honi as an example, as a teacher for us? I think there are three practices we can take from these stories.
Draw a circle and pray for what you want. A circle creates a sacred space and focuses intention. Invoke the power of the circle and/or the angels of the four cardinal directions. There are different systems with different directions, but the four angels are Michael (Who is like God), Raphael (Healing like God), Gavriel, Heroic like God) and Uriel (Light like God). Choose something you really want and that you have some agency of facility with, as Honi did with rain. Spend time sitting or standing in the circle and praying for that thing.
Find a land ethic akin to Honi’s mysterious partner. How can you be rooted in your place? What can you do that will at least slow the ecocide/suicide that we humans are perpetrating? I had previously proposed four actions that I believe I can implement. https://earthbasedjudaism.org/philosophical-reflections/right-relationship-with-the-more-than-human-world
Raising more of my own food through a commitment to gardening
Putting more food by that is grown locally for the winter months
Eating more locally—that means, for instance, getting wheat that is grown relatively locally more directly from farmers, finding a local source of grass fed dairy products etc.
Preparing more of my own food
What can you do?
Pray for a good death. Honi recognizes that people are not meant to live forever. Our deaths are a question of when, not if, even if we live in a society that says stupid things like 60 is the new 40. Hint, it’s not. A good death, to my way of thinking, includes living the life that we were meant to live as much as possible. It includes creating space for others, so that our deaths (literal or metaphoric), create opportunities for others, just as others’ deaths created opportunities for us. It includes being as complete as possible with significant people in our lives.
All these are lessons and practices we can learn from Honi. What do you think you can learn from this esteemed teacher? Please add your responses in the comments.
