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Through the Gates: The Second Omer Journey
In the sequel to Through the Gates: A Practice for Counting the Omer, poet Susan Windle, aka Shoshana Asiel, continues her journey through daily life sustained and guided by the Jewish practice of counting the Omer. The format is familiar—daily epistles to spiritual companions and an original poem chosen to evoke the divine qualities delineated for each week and each day of the seven-week period. The season is the same, as the Omer count is always in the spring months, the forty-nine days between the early spring festival of Passover and the summer festival of Shavuot.
The letters span the years of 2016-17. The political crisis in the United States has erupted in a disastrous presidency and the call to action has increased in urgency. With the help of the divine dynamics offered through the counting, Susan navigates the tricky currents of contemplative life, political action, familial bonds and devastating loss in a spirit of gratitude and openness to grace. Through the crucible of her daily life in the Philadelphia neighborhood where she walks and wonders, the poet turns the gifts she receives into love-offerings. This is a hopeful book in the midst of a troubled and troubling world, an invocation to wisdom and to the joy that breaks through an open heart.
In the second volume of Omer musings, Susan Windle, again takes your arm, as if you were her dearest friend, and gently guides you through the many facets of this ancient awareness practice. With a poet’s eye, a lover’s heart, and a prophetic spirit she crafts a seven-week soul journey to be savored, day by day.
Through a Kabbalistic lens, Susan Windle teaches about the unique nature of each day of the Omer count and seals each message with one of her lyrical poems, some written long ago but just for this moment. During the creation of this second volume of Through the Gates, I was blessed to receive the poet’s daily guidance throughout the seven weeks of the Omer in a recorded voice message. And now I encounter those same wise and loving letters in print! What a blessing to be able to return to them any day of the year.
I highly recommend Susan Windle’s Omer journeys as guides—for any day of the year—and especially as a map through the spring months of the Omer. Susan’s prose is soulful and inspiring. Her teachings and poetry unleash my imagination and catalyze my journey to live each moment with a fully open heart. As I strive to live a life of love and justice, Through the Gates: The Second Omer Journey is a gateway to wisdom. Susan Windle is an ecumenical spiritual master for our times.
