This is the start of a project to rewrite the mythic stories of Torah.
The Red Thread: Huldah, Eshet Shalem
As with most stories, the story of Huldah, Eshet-Shalem bat-Tikvat, Daughter of the Red Thread, Weaver of the Fabric of Peace, does not start with her. We can follow the thread that winds back in time to the true beginning, where we meet Rahab, Eshet Yarikh, Weaver of the Red Thread of our Origin and Destiny.
Rahab could be found in a workshop tucked into the wall of the City of the Moon, away from the hustle of peoples’ daily lives. There she made powerful protective amulets that were especially effective with expectant and birthing mothers, as with young children. It was said that she could close the door on the Angel of Death, and although it is impossible to live without death, it is sometimes possible to evade it for a while. People would journey long distances for her magic, so she was not surprised when the group of strangers knocked at her door at the city’s edge. She was surprised at what they asked, for protection for themselves, not for their women, but she made them protective amulets. Then they claimed that her protection allowed them to kill the people without blood-guilt, and they went up and down the country, killing without cease, until the blood ran in streams that touched all the corners of the land. They were acting like they didn’t know that eventually a thread could circle around and destroy them, that there are two ends of a red thread, one that leads into life and one that leads out. She told their leader, “You will not live to see what destruction you have wreaked, how you have torn the fabric and ripped the threads,” and he rejoiced in his success at evading truth.
Huldah, Wholeness born of Hope, She Who Sits in the Place of Peace, could be found in the Temple in Jerusalem, where she wove visions and noted destinies. She was able to see the threads that weave the collective fabric of our lives, so could as easily see the past as the future. When the king of Jerusalem burned the asherot, defiled the ba’amot, and massacred the priestesses of the high places, she saw how their blood flowed down the hills into the City of Peace, and out into the future. When he went to Huldah to ask for a cleansing of his blood-guilt, she said, “Just as you cannot see where this red thread of bloodshed began, you will not live to see what destruction you have wreaked, how you have torn the fabric and ripped the threads.”
But we all see the red thread that winds still in the hills and streets of Jerusalem, through the stones and paths of Jericho, snakes outwards into all the corners of the land, do we not? And more importantly, do we see the other threads, those that were ripped, are frayed but still there, wiggling in the wind, waiting for tikkun?
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D’vorah K’lilah (Deb Apple) is an ordained psychic healer and Kohenet, initiated Shakta Tantrika, writer, liturgist, and lover of the moon who was parented by redwoods and rivers.
Insta: @bee_flower_moon
Excerpted from Water, Wine, Tree & Vine ©D’vorah K’lilah
This is the start of a project to rewrite the mythic stories of Torah. There are several of these vignettes in my book Water, Wine, Tree & Vine. These pieces are meticulously researched and include Talmudic commentary, archaeological evidence, and cross-references to several Ancient Near East cultural stories.
