Moon of Fullness (June/July)
Tammuz is the month of claiming personal sovereignty and risking success, failure, and change.
Want to share this? Use short link: https://bit.ly/devotaj-tammuz
Basics
- Linear Month: 10
- Torah Month: 4
- Season: Summer
- Holidays: Tzom Tammuz
- Offerings1: Red Ribbons, Jerusalem Stone
- Element2: Mayim (מים) Water within Eish (אשׁ) Fire
- Spiritual Focus3: Creativity through Divine Connection
- Netivah: Immah (אםא) Mother
- Constellation: Sartan (סרטן) Cancer/Crab
- Letter: Chet – ח
- Tribe: Reuben (ראובן)
- Sense: Sight
- Symbol: Heart
- Tarot Card4: Chariot
- Soul Trait5: B’lev Shalem (בלב שלם) Wholehearted
Note: Letter, Tribe, and Sense are derived from the Sefer Yetzirah
See NOTES for additional information on sources of these all correspondences.
Love the work? Help support it! (click to find out how)
Become a Premium Subscriber
Access exclusive content including additional Resources, Rituals, and Mussar Guides when you subscribe to the Devotaj Sacred Arts Substack for only $36/year.
Key Dates in Tammuz
| 1st | Rosh Chodesh Tammuz New Moon Birth and Death of Yoseph ben Yaakov vRachel (traditional) |
| 3rd | Yehoshua “stops the sun” (Joshua 10:12) (traditional) |
| 15th | Full moon |
| 17th | Fast of Tammuz to commemorate 5 Tragedies: Moses breaks the Tablets (traditional) Temple sacrifices discontinued before destruction of first Temple (423 BCE) Jerusalem walls breached by Romans (69 C.E.) — The Roman general Apostomus burned the Torah — placed an idol in the Holy Temple Beginning of Bein ha-Mezarim |
| 29th | Dark Moon Yartzheit of Rashi, R’Shlomo Yitzchaki (1105 CE) |
Shabbat Torah/Haftarah Readings
Note some months the parshiot fluctuate and in others it is always consistent.
Netivah Readings
These readings were selected by Kohenet Ketzirah HaMa’agelet to pair with the weekly Torah portions.
- Genesis 3:15-4:26 – The Mother of all the Living This month we read the story of Chava, mother of all the living. Chava is the woman and mother named in the Torah. Her choice to eat the fruit was the first choice of humanity. Like most mothers, we have a complex relationship with her, so read her story this month of Tammuz to honor our first mother.
- Genesis 29:32-30:24 – Mothers of the Tribe The month of Tammuz is connected directly to Rachel Imeinu because it is said she could be heard wailing for her children during the destruction of the Temple. To honor the Netivah of the Mother this month we will read the story of all the Mothers of the 12 Tribes: Leah, Rachel, Bilah, and Zilpah.
Notes
1: Offerings & symbols were developed by Kohenet Ketzirah haMa’agelet for use as physical offering practices or in artwork.
2: Elements follow R’Jill Hammer’s elemental system as explained on her website www.telshemesh.org and her book The Jewish Book of Days. See pages 16-19 for explanation of elemental system.
The interpretations of the Sephirot are also from Rabbi Jill’s teachings. Specifically, they are from her Omer Calendar of Bibilical Women.
3: The spiritual focus is my own concept of sustainable spiritual practice. It is based on my interpretation of the wheel of the year and the Jewish holidays, as taught by many. The specific focus is for a season, as based on the element have/need system taught by R’Jill Hammer in the The Jewish Book of Days, as referenced above. For example Autumn is the time of Air within Earth, we have Earth we need Air and is the spiritual focus of Community (Air) within Resources (Earth) or more simply: communal resources.
4: While tarot is not intrinsically Jewish, it is a derivative of Kabbalah and a can be a useful tool for self discovery and exploration. Tarot correspondences here follow Kabbalistic tree of life by Issac ben Luria, the Ari, as opposed to some of the more common Christian systems.
5: The soul-traits for each month are based on Kesharim K’doshim Mussar, developed by Kohenet Ketzirah HaMa’agelet.