You will make upon this earth a new altar, for your Goddess, for your peace offerings. You will replant the sacred olive trees for the oil offering and let the living waters of the earth run free and be accessible to all...
In the biblical story, there is an assembly at Sinai that birthed the Jews as a cohesive nation from a disparate group of people escaping enslavement together. Many different ethnic groups from the many Egyptian conquests are enslaved in Egypt at the time, and they all come together, like Fred Hampton’s Rainbow Coalition of the 60s, to rise up against the Pharaoh as a group.
When these newly freed people assemble at the mountain after wandering through desert, they receive, secondhand through Moses, a set of what are called commandments that outline the social norms by which they will all now live together as a unified group.
The current events in Gaza offer another way to view this story. There is a global assembly happening right now as the entire world has entered into conversation about what is happening in Gaza, what is right and what is wrong, what is and is not ethical, and what should and should not be done. While these types of things have happened and are happening other places, Gaza has provoked a global discussion that is attempting to establish and enforce some global norms for our behavior as a planet.
The discussion encompasses the structure of empire, its’ government, economic and military systems, as these systems have power in our world, and as many who were not paying attention have come to realize the power we have let these systems have over us will in fact destroy us all. So we must enact change.
So here is the story of now:
In the 4th month of the siege on Gaza, the people assembled in the Sinai.
They saw the white phosphorous falling and heard the loud blast of bombs dropping on Gaza, not far from where they stood. The ground shook, shook them to their core, and they trembled in fear.
And they heard the voice of God:
“The blood of the land has been calling out to me. Send the journalists of Gaza up to me. The blood of their community has been calling out to me from the ground. They are the prophets of this time.”
The sounds of the drones over Gaza got louder and the rumble of bombs increased.
When God spoke, there were several journalists in Gaza, but now only Bisan is left. She said she would only go if she could livestream it.
The Egyptian army rolled up in tanks, but stopped when they saw Bisan ascending upon the mountain, sat on top of their tanks and shared cigarettes. The Israeli army rolled up in tanks, but stopped when they saw the Egyptian army.
And God spoke, and the hundreds of millions of followers of all the journalists shared the livestreams, and the whole world watched on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube or Telegram.
And God said:
“These are the updated commandments for these days and this time.
1- I have been your God, but my thousands of years are up, and the Goddess is taking over. You will honor Her from now on.
2- You will cease to worship the idols of capitalism and white supremacy, lest your future generations be wiped out from the earth. You will not allow your soldiers to dance idolatrously on TikTok in the occupied territories, and you will smelt down the concept of occupation.
3- You will cease to invoke my name to justify colonialism, misogyny, all the other -isms, exploitation and greed. You will not spill more blood in my name.
4- You will take a rest from war for the forseeable future. You will insure that all work includes a living wage, benefits, time for rest, time for fun, and time for creative activity.
5- You will honor the indigenous elders of the land where you live and they will be your council and judges. You will honor your plant ancestors and fungal ancestors, and include them in your council.
6- You will not bomb children. You will not commit genocide. You will stop killing the trees. You will not spill more blood in my name.
7- You will not steal the futures of your children by taking unsustainably from the earth. Abundance is, always has been and always will be, provided, if you stop allowing greed to flourish. You will not misuse the tithes, steal from the communities to benefit the 1%, and you will not enter into alliances with people that do so.
8- You will uphold all women’s full bodily autonomy and respect all genders and family structures.
9- You will not engage in propaganda about empire, rebel and resistance movements, or humanitarian aid. You will not choose leaders who lie to you about everything all the time. You will not lie to yourself about your role and responsibility in current affairs, locally and world-wide.
10- You will not covet the habitats of animals of the land or waters. You will vacate and dismantle all settlements. You will only engage in fair-trade and not extract resources from the lands or cultural traditions of your neighbors on this planet.
God paused for a moment and there was thunder and lightning on the mountain.
Then they resumed, “Tell those waiting for it that their Rapture is cancelled, the only pardes is here on Earth, which they need to stop desecrating. You will make upon this earth a new altar, for your Goddess, for your peace offerings. You will replant the sacred olive trees for the oil offering and let the living waters of the earth run free and be accessible to all, put bread and honey into the fields, make tikkun and reparations, and live in justice-created peace and harmony with all the inhabitants of this land.
You will strive to become connected to your land and community and self-reflective enough that you do not need a written set of rules to work out how to be in right relationship with your world.
Your tithes will be according to need and ability and no one will turned away for lack of funds. The tithes will be collected and distributed at the harvests and the seventh week festival. Seven weeks after the spring festival, you will gather in sacred space to discuss and review these commandments and distribute the tithes and donations among your community so that all can live comfortably without wage slavery, animal cruelty and other destructive exploitative practices, and so that there is no need to covet, steal, kill or break the commandments to support oneself.
Then you will feast, and when you eat and are satisfied, share blessings, rejoice in each others’ company, in the company of your Goddess, and bless them, v’achalta v’savata u’verachta.”
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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
