Succoth - Connecting to Our Ancestors

More than just an ancestral holiday of "glamping" in a make-shift hut or booth, the hebraic holiday of Succoth reconnects us to our original nomadic monotheistic roots. During this festival, we welcome the wisdom of our ancestors into our lives. Colette taught that the "dead" come to heal the living. On Succoth we can imaginally connect to them to counsel us. (Click Here to read the full blog)

Here is Colette's imagery exercise done each night of the seven day celebration:

• Close your eyes and breathe out three times slowly.
• Imagine waiting at the door of your sukkah-booth to greet a special guest who is arriving from the Beyond. 
• As you see this guest approach, you open the gate of the house and the door of the sukkah. 
• Invite the guest respectfully to sit down, and sit near him/her.
• Ask him/her to give you three pieces of advice. Hear the answers. 
• We have the right to ask one more question. Your guest answers and then has to leave. 
• Accompany him/her to the door and look at him/her leave until s/he disappears at the horizon.
• Breathe out and open your eyes.

*adapted from Empowered to Heal by Simcha H. Benyosef