Women, Cycles, and Time
Have you ever considered why many of the families that have returned to the seventh day Sabbath and YHWH’s festivals began with the prompting of the woman or wife?[1] Or have you ever wondered why there is so much physical preparation (domestic and relational requirements) that a woman must do in order for the family to keep Shabbat and the Feasts? What about the rabbinical ruling that women are “exempt” from certain time related commandments; what is this about? Why do women seem to be associated with TIME again and again? Hopefully, we will begin to answer these questions in this post.
I think I’ve figured out why I’ve struggled to start this next series of posts. They each deal with time. And time, like light, is still very much a mystery to mankind (and modern science). There are several ways that people try to understand time. Some think of it as a linear line with an infinite beginning and end. Each end of this line is constantly moving away from the other. Others view time as a circle with the beginning also being the end. And still others believe that while time is indeed cyclical, that it is much more akin to the double helix of our DNA. It is connected, but with rungs that progress upward on a twisted ladder. Lower parts touch higher rungs repeating the information in new and more dynamic ways with each cyclical step.
The latter view will be the way in which I present this material. This part will present the base line and it will spiral and spread throughout the following posts, but will twist back to touch this post again. To put it simply, I will present this in a “spiral” form of teaching. I just don’t see any other way to do it. (:
Cycles
One thing that I really try to emphasize when teaching others about Hebraic Roots is the difference between Hebrew and Greek thought. We are so accustomed to linear thought that many treasures from the Bible and Creation falls on blind eyes. One thing is certain, the Word and Creation both declare CYCLES to us again and again. Thinking about a linear timeline that moves from the indefinite left and progresses to the indefinite right is not Biblical or logical; especially when we consider the largest and smallest things in the creation. Take a look at the graphic “Cycles in Nature”. Everything we can see moves in CYCLES. And the seen things are meant to teach us about the unseen (spiritual) things. (1 Cor. 15:46)
God’s calendar, His appointed times, are also cyclical. Before we delve into how women are connected to these cycles, let’s first look at how God has revealed time.
YHWH’s calendar is primarily based on the lunar cycle.[2] New months begin with sighting the first sliver of a new moon and mark out the appropriate timing of our festivals, fasts, and harvests. In other words, the moon keeps or guards our weeks, months, and years. The passage below chronicles Day 4 of creation. Those of you that have been following my posts or that are Creation Gospel students will notice that as the fourth day, God is establishing His government or authority in the luminaries. (And in His calendar.)
Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth“; and it was so. God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also. God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good. There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day. (Gen. 1:14-19)
Verse 14 states that one of the governing actions of the luminaries is to serve as signs, seasons, days, and years. I believe “days” and “years” are pretty self-explanatory, so let’s look at the “signs” and “seasons”. The Hebrew word for signs is ot (aleph, vav, tav). It literally means a mark, signal, omen, or flag. The heavenly lights declare not only the glory of God, but give us signals or warnings of things to come. So while they may help us to keep track of time (past), they can also point to or warn us of future events (prophesy).
The Hebrew word for seasons in verse 14 is moedim. I expect that most of my readers will be familiar with this word. These are our feasts and festivals.[3] Notice that in the very Beginning, YHWH established His calendar or His time clock on day four of creation. This is significant because our calendars govern our day to day lives. They dictate when we celebrate, when we rest, when we work, and when we gather together. If the Creator felt that His calendar required the actual sun, moon, and stars to guard, protect, keep, and mark His time, how much more should His people regard His calendar?
These appointments with the Creator give us LIGHT much in the same way that the sun, moon, and stars give us natural light. They truly separate the light from the darkness. If we ignore these appointments, we will have less light, less revelation. Remember, the natural things are meant to reveal spiritual truths. The guardians of God’s calendar speak to every creature on earth summoning us to come and meet with the King. David said it this way:
The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, And night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language Where their voice is not heard. (Ps. 19:1-3)
In the very Beginning, the Creator preordained that we meet with Him certain times of the year. You only need to look up at the majestic sun, moon, and stars to see and know the season. Notice that at night the heavens reveal “knowledge”. This is the Hebrew word da’at. This type of knowledge is an intimate knowing and carries with it the idea of sacrificial love. It is the “bone of my bone and flesh of flesh” that Adam experienced with Chavah (Eve) and she conceived and bore a son. It is the loving knowledge that provoked Yeshua to become the sacrifice for His people. Because of the intimate nature of da’at, it cannot be completed without a woman. This type of sacrificial love needs a vessel to pour itself into and women are the natural imagery of a receiving vessel. (Hopefully, you can see men too in this imagery as part of the Bride.)
There is a cycle at work here that is meant to be a guide to God’s people. For our purposes, we will limit our study to the lesser light of the moon. Both men and women as the people of Elohim can be compared to the moon. But women have a unique association that I’d like to focus on. Since both the male and the female are revealed in The Woman in Scripture, we will see some overlaps in the two sex roles.
Moonbeams
He made the moon for the seasons (moedim)… (Ps. 104:19)
The moon has a special role to play in the guardianship role of the moedim (feasts). It is a master timekeeper of sorts. While the sun and stars also share in this responsibility, the moon beckons us to watch it a little more closely. As the nearest heavenly body to earth, the moon has mesmerized mankind since time immemorial. Sadly, many have fallen victim to the idolization of these heavenly bodies. They have failed to realize that these luminaries serve us, we are not meant to serve them.
The moon’s closeness and the fact that it governs our moedim make it quite mysterious. This becomes even more mystical when we consider that the brightest light in the night sky has no light of its own – it can only reflect the light of the sun. We will come back to this concept in a later post.
Since women’s bodies follow a lunar cycle (menses), the Sages have long concluded that women are uniquely associated with not only the moon and YHWH’s Festivals, but with time itself.[4] Let’s review what we’ve covered so far. As you read through my enumerations, ask yourself if any of these remind you of the role of women.
The moon:
- Sets boundaries for our months.
- Keeps or guards the moedim.
- Warns of things to come.
- Reflects the light of the sun.
I hope some of these facts caused you to think of the neqevah (female) and the ezer kenegdo from the Biblical Role of Women Part I and Part II. Or perhaps even the prophetic nature of women from Part V. One of the more obvious links between women and the moon is seen in the various PHASES in which both continually go through.
The regular arrival of the new moon and its growth to fullness, followed by its soon disappearance has long been a visible symbol of life, death, and rebirth. With every new moon, we see the necessity of being renewed (born again). This rhythmic clock sets our calendars with each cycle marked as a new month (moonth).
Like clockwork, women also go through phases each month. Similar to the moon, a woman’s phases are directly linked to life, death, and rebirth. Each month a woman’s womb prepares its “soil” for life and then sheds it (death) if no viable seed is planted — only to renew itself once again. This cycle repeats again and again. When a woman’s body is in the shedding stage of menses, blood appears. When the moon gives us a warning of judgment (death), it appears red. It’s not a coincidence that we call this a blood moon.
Not surprisingly, there are four primary phases of the moon with more elaborate depictions showing eight (a factor of 4). You can watch a quick video about these phases here. Due to the length, we will examine each of the four primary moon phases and their relationship to the feast days and women’s cycles in Part II.
[1] Obviously, this isn’t always the case. However, in most of the families I have met, this is true. Whether she was home schooling the children and discovered these truths through in-depth Biblical and historical studies or by the gentle prompting of the Holy Spirit, it is usually the wife that first “sees” God’s calendar as relevant for the family.
[2] The Hebrew calendar does take the solar cycle into account to maintain the seasons. For an interesting article about this, click here.
[3] See Lev. 23
[4] These two articles speak to women and the moon. Women of the Wall and Aish. Women being associated with time in general is a two-fold concept. The first is simply what we’ve been discussing. Women are tied to time because YHWH made their bodies to mimic His time clock. Secondly, the rabbis ruled that women are exempt from certain TIME related mitzvot. We will explore this idea in a later post.
GRACE in TORAH 
This is interesting. I would suspect that, as women are described as being the more sensitive gender,” our bodies are more sensitive to the influences divinely in place, such as the moon. We understand via biology that light interacts with the pineal gland which influences hormonal cycles, as women who live in primitive conditions without artificial light have their cycles more aligned with the moon. So, it is not that the moon controls our physical cycles, but that our bodies are more responsive. It seems that female sensitivity can hold both positive and negative connotations.
You are probably aware that moed comes from yaad, which means, “to appoint.” But I would guess that these words are connected to, “ed,”עֵד which means, “witness, evidence, testimony.”
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I always love your insight, Chaya. Some of what you described here will be in upcoming posts. And I believe you’re right about the real issue being our sensitivity. And yes, it is a double edged sword to be sure! 😊
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Kisha,
I really like that you are wrestling with explaining time, could this be, at least in part, what Ezekiel is trying to communicate? The wheel in a wheel, four faces, four sides, four hands, etc.
“I think I’ve figured out why I’ve struggled on how to start this next series of posts. They each deal with time. And time, like light, is still very much a mystery to mankind (and science). There are several ways that people try to understand time. Some think of it as a linear line with an infinite beginning and end; each end constantly moving away from the other. Others view time as a circle with the beginning also being the end. And still others believe that while time is indeed cyclical, that it is much more akin to the double helix of our DNA. It is connected, but with rungs that progress upward on a twisted latter. Lower parts touch higher rungs repeating the information in new and more dynamic ways with each cyclical step.
The latter view will be the way in which I present this material. This part will present the base line and it will spiral and spread throughout the following posts, but will twist back to touch this post again. To put it simply, I will present this in a “spiral” form of teaching. I just don’t see any other way to do it. (:”
Believe me, I am struggling with it also, the DNA model captures the complexity…..Good work.
Barry
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Could four faces = four dimensions? Time is not the same from the divine vantage point. Perhaps, in women being excused from time-related mitzvot, there is a message that goes beyond the practical explanation? Maybe women are given a greater connection to existence outside of the limits of time as we know it? A woman, even prior to birth, carries within her the seeds of the next generation, and the next, beyond her own lifetime.
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Barry,
I definitely believe that “four” indicates authority, government, and by association, TIME… though we still see in part. I’ll be elaborating on this to some degree in this series. YHWH means the One who was, who is, and is to come (past, present, future). And YHWH is His Name that establishes His Oneness and Authority. Hmm. Lots to think about!
I agree with your thoughts on the wheel in the middle of the wheel. I believe that the feasts are this wheel, though this is only part. I can’t wait to read your book on the cycles. I know it will add a lot of great insight to my studies. (Read my response to Chaya, too) 🙂
K
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I think so, Chaya! Time isn’t even the same for humans when we are in different places. My husband loves quantum physics; I’m also utterly amazed with the mysteries of this field as well. For example, God is Light. We don’t understand light. (Nor do we understand God, lol.) Light oddly acts like a particle and wave, something we can’t really explain — we only have theories about why this is true.
Scientists say that that the closer an object reaches the speed of light, the slower time seems to appear to that entity. Could it be when we reach God (Light), we are in some type of eternal present? Does the past, present, and future all happen at the same “time” at the speed of light? Just pondering out loud here. We’ve sent clocks into space and they return with a different time than when they left. The relativity of time is so mysterious.
Regardless, somehow from God’s perspective, time and light are related. “Four”, to me, testifies to this. The natural things that give us light created on day four are linked to time and time keeping.
I’ll be posting how I think women are connected to this too. You’re already thinking in that direction based on your comment! I hope you’ll keep bouncing these thoughts around here. Iron sharpens iron. 🙂
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Maybe your husband can chime in. I wish I had the science background to understand this stuff, which is fascinating.
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I love your insights. And I agree, woman are the first to recognise and want to follow the 7th day Sabbath. Its just frustrating and difficult when the husband is uncooperative!
Lisa
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I would suggest a husband might be more likely to get on board if you can make it enjoyable for him. What’s not to like about a nice dinner, blessing the children, kids telling their stories learned during the weeks, perhaps music/songs? The house is cleaned up and perhaps guests are invited?
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Hi Lisa,
I have known many women that were at odds with their husbands over the Shabbat and the Feasts. But the good news is that most of them eventually joined their wives in this walk. So, please be encouraged to keep pressing forward! It’s not our job to force them or anyone else to come to this realization, and yet there is great power in our faithfulness. As women, I think our struggle is more in how we “deliver” the message to them. (Since we often don’t feel heard, we keep repeating the message, which can come off as nagging — not saying that’s your issue, but I know it has been mine before.)
I pray that YHWH helps you to be His vessel, bringing the message in His Way and in His timing. Do as much as you can to keep the Shabbat with the hindrance of him not participating. May your changed life and joy speak to him what words cannot. You are not alone. There are many patiently waiting for their husbands to join them 🙂
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you need to make some corrections. the spelling of the word Ladder is not the same as the word Latter……. additionally, we are geocentric and not heliocentric. the heliocentric teaching is only to prop up the strong man of the Roman Catholic Pope. Sun worship. Baal worship.
The earth does not spin 1670 kph and neither does it circle the sun. In fact it is the total opposite. The sun revolves around the earth in it’s ecliptic. The bible says so.
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Thanks for the spelling tip, there is a big difference, my mistake. It should be corrected now. I do not follow the Catholic Pope, Sun worship, or Baal. However, I don’t believe that the godlessness that is present in modern astronomy and physics (or other sciences), threatens me, the Bible, or our Elohim. In fact, the natural things are meant to teach us spiritual truths. Looking at the creation from this perspective is expected from us. As to your second paragraph, I’m at a loss for words. Do you really believe that the sun revolves around the earth or were you joking?
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oh i just saw that there are comments here that need replying……. sorry i did not know this was here…. We do not revolve nor spin around the sun….. no i’m not joking at all…. perhaps look at “the principle” on youtube…. revisiting geocentricity…… because it makes total sense… remember that the sun was made after. .the earth.. so why would the earth be spinning around nothing? and get all the world in a jumble…. the math is the exact same both theories.. Tycho Brahe was correct.. and since he got poisoned with mercury and Johannes Kepler ended up with his 30 years of research…. then changed the belief system from geo to helio the scientists scampered to run with that….. and it wasn’t until 1983 that the Roman Catholic Church said…”Maybe Galileo was right…???” sense the lack of support there?? yet, it worked to the scientists benefit to rape the RCC of her leadership.. but guess what is coming around the pike??? the last blood moon and the pope to talk to America….. ahhhhhh…. the RCC rises from the dead from it’s big head wound of doubt! yikes… just wait….for it………… the ppl are prob.. gonna like what that luciferian says……… oh.. it’s ok to be gay and you won’t go to hell…. here is some money to bail you out America… just bow down and worship me……….
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Could I ask, who is, “we,” as in, “we are geocentric?” What biblical (original Hebrew) or scientific evidence can you provide to support your claims?
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hi there other life liver… we as in “the earth is hung, the sun has an ecliptic. ” as for the scientific evidence.. look up michaelson/morely experiment, axis of evil, WMAP and http://www.geocentricity.com.
you see this makes total sense… look at Genesis 1 how the earth was without shape and void … no mention of it being a globe or ball…… earth is eretz…. which means land… level….. check out http://www.theblueletterbible.org and look up earth …. eretz….. it is separate from the sky and separate from the ocean/seas……. now… .look in Genesis.. when does the sun and moon come into play? and why would the bible say that the sun has an ecliptic??? and the earth is hung……. the ecliptic on the earth shown in science books is the sun’s path……. we also are not tilted….. I am in college as an adult and have had two astronomy classes with charlie brown’s teacher.. wahwahwahwah wahing numbers of light years and axis’ up the wazooo.. to get me to regurgitate heliocentricity when it is a theory just like evolution.
you see heliocentricity says the earth wobbles around the sun…. as if we serve the sun?? and that the sun is sooooooo big and is light years away…. no . it’s close. if it were so far… then we would not see sun beams in all directions… it would just be from one direction…… hold onto your hat because i’m going to explode another bomb shell…….
step outside…. do you see us spinning? if so….. how come the people on the outside of the earth are not falling off? oh you say gravity?? ha.. that is another farce.. no.. density is what it is….. the earth part… is flat….. ok…. with the exceptions of hills and valleys.. and mountains.. and some scary holes every now and then…. we are not like an orange.. and the ants are on the outside of the peel…… the australians upside down with the chinese…….. no….. that is ridiculous… just look at the flight patterns of airlines…….
and another.. if i may blow up your mindsets….. we did not go to the moon. no we did not…. it was a race war.. to see who could get there.. and no one has been there….. IF we have the van allen radiation belts like the scientists say……… no one can go past them….. i know… u know. .the moon is not made of cheese….. but…. we did not go there to even kick up the dust.. check out the old fashioned videos of the landing on the moon.. lots on youtube.. they look ridiculous by our standards now…… it was Stanley Kubrick’s movie set. lot’s of videos on that.. and his movies all had some clues in them…. but i’ll leave you to that research…
the best scientific evidence is with the new documentary “the Principle” it revisits the copernicum effect….. copernicus was wrong.. and so was galileao and Einstein and Newton….. i know.. sounds crazy.. but…… have you ever heard of Freemasonry? yeah… and all of the presidents and astronauts have to be a 33 degree one……….. mind blowing…
We are in the special place in the universe in order to survive. look at all those other planets…. do they have life on them… NO. but we do. He holds us together with His word and we are special and not random. Logic even tells us that if we were any closer or further from the sun there would be some heat or cold to pay…… the big bang theory and Copernicus the Freemason….. says that we are random and we are not in a special place in the universe.. but.. check out the axis of evil and WMAP and it will blow the scientific theories out…. that is exactly what the Roman Catholic Church is waiting for……. because the people will be putty in their hands once the cat is out of the bag…
The theory of everything??? black hole? there is no black hole. If Steven Hawkings could eat the mechanical words… well, he does know now…. the “Hubble Telescope” showed other wise….. unless there is no Hubble telescope………………..
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Enoch explains a lot. But I do not understand much in Enoch. Tried to read it and I can’t get round it. Has anyone found some more truths.
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I personally have not found the book of Enoch to cause anything but confusion. But I do appreciate you taking the time to comment. May Abba bless your studies and your home. 😊
Shalom, K
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Thank you so much for these blog posts Kisha! Your information is fascinating and encouraging!
I also ordered and read your book. I am an artist, workshop facilitator, and spiritual director who has always been fascinated with the Cosmos. The hard thing has been that when researching, it nearly always leads to sites of darkness and witchcraft. I have found Biblical information on the stars/constellations, but wasn’t able to find much on the moon, and then here are your posts and book. I’m learning so much. I have referenced your posts and book in a blog post: https://www.valeriesjodin.com/blog/new-moon-rosh-hashanah-yom-kippur
Shalom,
Valerie
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Thanks, Valerie! Your website is beautiful! I look forward to reading more!
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