08/01/2019 running and returning « Ecclesia Pistis Sophia – South Africa Study Group

Hitbodedut: Running and Returning Through the Tree

of Life
By Tau Malachi

The Holy One renews creation each and every day, as though all creation arises as for the first time as in the beginning
(Bereshit); likewise, each day the Holy One restores your soul to your body after its flight in sleep and dream, as though you
are entering into a new life, a new incarnation. In a similar way, each evening, when night comes, it is as though all creation
dissolves and returns to the Holy One of Being, and so also your soul passes from the body and ascends to commune with the
Holy One, reintegrating with the Light Continuum, Yahweh. Thus, each day there is a running and returning of creation and
souls, descending and ascending, moving and moving-not, coming in and going out, and the blessings of Yahweh Elohim flow
throughout, and therefore all who invoke and bless the Holy Name are uplifted and blessed with light and life in Ruach Ha-
Kodesh, the Holy Spirit.

If we are aware of this running and returning, the emanation, creation, formation and completion of the heavens and the
earth, and souls each day, and of the dissolution, ascension and reintegration of all in the culmination of the day, and if we
take up this play of running and returning in prayer and worship, greater tikkunim of our soul and radical transformations of
our consciousness become possible – incredible leaps in the evolution of consciousness and realization of the soul become
possible through Divine Grace.

There is a way of hitbodedut, secluded prayer, that takes up this play of running and returning. It is prayers of the heart
through the Tree of Life, descending through the Holy Sefirot in the morning, ascending through the Holy Sefirot in the
evening, and in the afternoon, remembering the invocations of the morning, calling upon the Blessed Name, and invoking
those Holy Sefirot needed for adjustment and balance, or the “mitigation of judgment.” This is the practice through the three
times of prayer, morning, evening and afternoon, corresponding with mercy, compassion and judgment; and in this practice
these three times are called “descending,” “ascending” and “abiding,” respectively.

In the morning prayer this practice of hitbodedut begins with primordial meditation, going within, opening to the Holy Light
from above, and abiding in the presence of the Holy One within and all around us, and ever beyond us; and at the outset of
prayer, praise and bless the Holy Name, and invoke the Holy Name. As you invoke the Holy Name, begin with El Elyon, then
descend through the Middle Pillar, Eheieh, Yahweh Elohim, Yeshua Messiah, El Shaddai and Adonai, and then invoke the
Names of the Pillar of Mercy joined to the Names of the Pillar of Severity, Yah-Elohim, El-Elohim Givor, Yahweh Tzavaot-
Elohim Tzavaot, and intone Ararita and AGLA. When you have called upon the Holy Name in this way, focus upon Keter, and
the mysteries of Keter, and invoke Eheieh, Metatron and the Hayyot Ha-Kodesh, and let prayers of your heart as inspired by
Ruach Ha-Kodesh in the moment arise, prayers for yourself, for those you know, and for your community and the world, all
your relations, invoking the shefa, spiritual and material bounty, corresponding with Keter. Then, following the Path of the
Lightening Bolt, through Hokmah, Binah, Hesed, Gevurah, Tiferet, Netzach, Hod and Yesod, to Malkut, do the same, invoking
the Name, Archangel and Order of Angels, and praying corresponding prayers of the heart. When these cycles are complete,
if there is another meditation you are called to take up, such as giving and receiving or union with partzuf, we take it up, that
or abide a while in primordial meditation, listening and hearing, waiting upon the Spirit of Yahweh. This is the morning session
of hitbodedut descending through the Tree of Life.

Remembering and keeping this continuum of hitbodedut, running and returning in this way, very often we will awaken with
hitbonenut, a contemplation of mysteries of Torah and Gospel from the night, or with influences from luminous dreams and
visions in the night. These we will let influence and shape our morning hitbodedut, and indeed all of our prayers and life
throughout the day, carrying the inspirations and illuminations we have received in sleep and dream with us, always
interpreting our dreams in a positive way, and speaking of them only in prayer and to those who love us.

Praying through the Tree of Life in the morning in this way we invoke the shefa, spiritual influx, of all of the Holy Sefirot from
Keter to Malkut, invoking the fullness of all blessings and generating the greater glory of the Holy Shekinah, and we give
greater strength to the prayers of living tzaddik and to the holy angels of God, drawing the influence of the kingdom of
heaven into the world on that day.

In the evening the practice is the same, but instead of descending through the Holy Tree we ascend. Thus, just as in the
morning we begin with primordial meditation as taught, but when we praise and bless the Holy Name, and call upon the Holy
Name, we ascend the Middle Pillar, beginning with Adonai, and then invoking Shaddai El Hai, Yeshua Messiah, Yahweh Elohim
and Eheieh, and then we invoke the Names of the Pillar of Severity joined to the Names of the Pillar of Mercy, Elohim
Tzavaot-Yahweh Tzavaot, Elohim Givor-El and Elohim-Yah, and then we intone El Elyon. (In the evening prayers Ararita and
AGLA are not intoned.) Once we have invoked the Holy Name in this way, then we pray from Malkut to Keter in ascent,

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08/01/2019 running and returning « Ecclesia Pistis Sophia – South Africa Study Group

invoking the Name, Archangel and Order of Angels, and praying corresponding prayers with each Holy Sefirah, each Divine
Attribute. In completion, if there is another meditation we are called to take up, we take it up, but if not, then we abide in
primordial meditation for a while, waiting upon the Spirit of Yahweh. This is the evening session of hitbodedut ascending
through the Tree of Life.

Essentially, in the evening prayer we are uplifting our soul and all creation to the Holy One, praying for the great resurrection
and ascension of this good earth, and so of all our relations, and we are uplifting all that has happened in the day, good or
bad, enacting a “life review,” as it were, and offering all to the Holy One. It is a prayer of dissolution and reintegration,
returning to the Holy One, just as all has emanated from the Holy One in the beginning.

In the afternoon, at some point we will remember our morning prayer, and considering our energy, the energy of others
around us, and the flow of what’s happening that day, for a few moments we will remember the Blessed Name of Adonai
Yeshua Messiah, and we will remember the holy sacrifice of the Lamb of God, and if there is a need for adjustment, we will
invoke the corresponding Sefirah, or Sefirot. Simply remembering the Blessed Name, and calling upon the Blessed Name, is
often enough, however, for the power of all the Holy Names, Archangels and Angels is in the Name of Adonai Yeshua
Messiah.

This is the continuum of hitbodedut descending and ascending, running and returning, through the Tree of Life.

Joined to this practice of hitbodedut there is often a practice for going to sleep and for waking up. When going to sleep we
will pray, “Abba, into your hands I commend my spirit,” that, or we will recite the Shema; as we are awakening in the
morning, we will pray, “Adonai, blessed are You who renews creation each day, and who has restored my soul to my body,”
that, or we will recite the Shema. According to great mekubalim, these prayers going to sleep and waking up can bring about
great tikkunim of our souls, specifically tikkunim at night as in the World to Come.

There is also another practice that a few initiates join to this during certain periods of life, as taught in the Zohar. During
certain cycles, when they seek to invoke greater movements of the Continuum of Light Transmission, or seek to breakthrough
into a higher level of spiritual realization, they will arise at midnight for the study and contemplation of the Holy Torah and
Gospel, taking up a practice of hitbonenut, or spiritual contemplation in the night.

If and when there is time during the day, as for example on the Holy Shabbat, the practice of hitbonenut, spiritual
contemplation of mysteries of the Torah and Gospel, can be added to this practice of hitbodedut, drawing out greater
blessings from the Holy Shekinah and Ruach Ha-Kodesh; in the Life Divine hitbodedut and hitbonenut go hand-in-hand,
empowering one another, just as do kavvanah-concentration and devekut-cleaving.

In this practice of hitbodedut, of course, devekut is most essential; hence, right attachment to the Messiah and Shekinah of
the Messiah, or to our heart tzaddik and root tzaddik, for the Divine Grace that flows from Hayyah Yeshua and the prayers of
our holy tzaddik or apostle strengthen our prayers. All of our spiritual practices, in truth, are empowered by our devekut, right
attachment, to the living tzaddikim and our desire to stand among the living ones.

This practice, of course, assumes knowledge of the Holy Sefirot and their correspondences, and it is empowered by our
experience of initiation, Light Transmission, and our reception of Ruach Ha-Kodesh, the Holy Spirit. When this is in place, this
way of hitbodedut proves very powerful, great blessings and wonders transpire through it. As you might imagine, over the
years, tending this continuum of hitbodedut, an initiate will become intimately acquainted with the Holy Sefirot, and acquire
insights into deep mysteries of the Holy Sefirot, deep mysteries of the Holy Torah and Gospel, and experience various grades
of spiritual illumination and nearness to the Holy One. Truly, this way of secluded prayer can lead to great tikkune and create
the conditions for higher levels of spiritual realization; in and of itself it is a practice that can facilitate a breakthrough into
Supernal Realization, the dawn of Supernal or Messianic Consciousness, for it is a practice of hitbodedut generated from the
experience of Supernal Realization.

Here we may speak an open secret concerning this practice of hitbodedut, one reflecting its generation from the experience of
Supernal Realization. Essentially, it is an expression of the spiritual power of Hayyah Yeshua, the Risen Messiah, appearing in
the resurrection and disappearing in the ascension; hence, an invocation of the Supernal Influx manifest in Hayyah Yeshua.
As such, it is an invocation of the second coming of the Messiah, the full outpouring of Ruach Ha-Kodesh and the reception of
the Holy Bride, New Jerusalem.

O Adonai, may we be blessed and empowered in our running and returning; if and when our heart runs, may it
swiftly be returned to its place. Amen.

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