Victoria Slotto, our writing prompt author, notes how the Judeo-Christian story gives words the power of creation and life. God spake and the Universe came into being; the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. I remember listening with fascination to a Biblical scholar, Vickie Garvey, explain the Hebrew verb for God’s love for us. ‘Chesed’ is often translated as loving-kindness. (n.b. Victoria Slotto has corrected me: without looking up my notes, I cited the wrong word. The word ‘rachamim’, compassion, is related to ‘rechem’, womb.) However, she discovered that it is closely related to the word for womb. God ‘wombs’ us. When I show compassion, I am ‘womb-ing’. My mind and body both leaped for joy. I know just what this means! I have felt it! Â
As co-creators — living, sentient beings (amid many others) — we know the joy of sending ripples of action skimming across the universe. May our lives be, beget, generate, produce, compose, fashion, formulate, perform and work wonders!Â
Yes! I find these exercises – and Victoria is so good at them – are great for re-evaluating my work from a fresh viewpoint.
Exercise and practice…always worth it!
How very beautiful, Priscilla. Isn’t the study of Hebrew Aleph Bet and word origins incredible. The Hebrew word for compassion (rachamim) is derived from the word for womb, rechem. That line, “God wombs us” is going to stay with me today. Your post is so thought-provoking. Thank you for sharing it with us.
If you haven’t read it, Richard Seidman’s book, The Oracle of Kabbalah, goes through each of the 22 letters and incorporates their meaning and the words derived from them. Kabbalah in this book refers to mystical Judaism, not the magical that’s the rage among celebrities. It is quite deep and touches on multiple spiritual traditions including Christianity and Buddhism..
Thank you, Victoria, for finding the proper Hebrew word! I didn’t bother to dig through my notes from years ago, so I Googled the wrong term. Yes, compassion/womb! And thank you also for the book recommendation. Definitely something to put on my study list.
scillagrace 
A charming, ethusiastic and right-on response. I love it and the video is great, Priscilla. Well done …
Jamie
I looked over some pivotal poems from my past writing and found such limp verbs there! I am going to be paying much closer attention to that.
Yes! I find these exercises – and Victoria is so good at them – are great for re-evaluating my work from a fresh viewpoint.
Exercise and practice…always worth it!
How very beautiful, Priscilla. Isn’t the study of Hebrew Aleph Bet and word origins incredible. The Hebrew word for compassion (rachamim) is derived from the word for womb, rechem. That line, “God wombs us” is going to stay with me today. Your post is so thought-provoking. Thank you for sharing it with us.
If you haven’t read it, Richard Seidman’s book, The Oracle of Kabbalah, goes through each of the 22 letters and incorporates their meaning and the words derived from them. Kabbalah in this book refers to mystical Judaism, not the magical that’s the rage among celebrities. It is quite deep and touches on multiple spiritual traditions including Christianity and Buddhism..
Thank you, Victoria, for finding the proper Hebrew word! I didn’t bother to dig through my notes from years ago, so I Googled the wrong term. Yes, compassion/womb! And thank you also for the book recommendation. Definitely something to put on my study list.
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I absolutely love this post Scilla.. one of your very best 😀 .. I am a fan of Alan Watts and this is such a cute little video!
One of my best…and it doesn’t even contain a photo! Alan Watts is certainly enlivening (and enlightening).
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I enjoyed this!
Thank you! I’m glad. 🙂