Created by Arielle Sabot, rabbinic intern Aya Baron & Kohenet Shamirah
Monday, April 8, 2024 will be a solar eclipse visible throughout the Americas. Have you set aside time for a ritual? Shamir Collective can help!
When the world is blanketed in snow – we pause, we see what it wakes up in us. When the sun is cloaked by the moon – we deserve to let ourselves experience its magic and medicine, and the earth and cosmos deserve to be seen by us.
There’s beauty in the eclipse falling on a Monday – how often do we miss the magic, the midday magic, the Monday magic? This is an invitation into a different kind of week, a different kind of Monday. Step into the darkness, let our fear become awe, through presence. The gateway of witness and experience, of noticing how the cosmos speaks for us and ushers us through the portals we are beckoning.
Pause – approach, experience, release – we practice day by day. This is the moment we practice for: cosmic ritual. We do not need to do more than be here for it, show up to it – we needn’t build an altar (though altars are welcome), instead create an ambiance to welcome the eclipse – for it is Here.
Download here!
Additional Resources
- Rays of Awe Soundcloud Playlist: A curated playlist with tunes to guide your ritual
- Book of J Singing “Once there Was No Sun” from 2017: Watch this rendition of Bessie Jones’ “Once there was no sun, I heard the angels singing” featuring: Jewlia Eisenberg (of blessed memory) and Jeremiah Lockwood.
- Primary texts from Jewish tradition about eclipses: Sefaria text sources
Gratitude and Credits
This guide was compiled and written in Adar 1 & Adar 2, 5784 by the Shamir Collective team: Arielle Sabot, Aya Baron, and Sarah Chandler.
We are grateful to the following online resources that supported us in our weaving process:
- “A Little More Darkness” by Kendra Saperstein, Svara Rabbinic Intern
- Rabbi Joshua Heller’s “Blessing to Be Said Upon Witnessing a Solar or Lunar Eclipse” from the Rabbinical Assembly
- Open Siddur Project: Blessings and a Prayer for Witnessing a Solar Eclipse by Rabbi David Seidenberg
- Prayers, blessings, and study texts for the Eclipse from NeoHasid.org
- The Hebrew Wikipedia article on solar eclipses
- ”A Solar Eclipse Deserves a Blessing” by Roger Price for RitualWell.org
- For those interested in indigenous and native relationships to eclipses, we recommend this article: American Indian Beliefs about the Eclipse
Eclipse Safety
Reminder: do not look directly at the sun anytime, especially during solar eclipse. Please read Nasa’s page about how to be safe during the 2024 eclipse.
Flow of Abundance
We offer this resource as a gift - and if you appreciate it, please consider a tax deductible donation to Shamir Collective of $18 - use this link to donate securely at any level.