Blessing for Rosh Chodesh Elul

May we turn and return
    to glimpses of beauty and truth

May this month and the year ahead
    be a time of compassion and grace

May healing show the way
    may our footsteps show the way
        may new melodies guide us

May we lend each other faith
    as if it was a cup of sugar (because it is)

May we bake muffins of kindness
    pies of gentleness
        brownies of generosity

May this year be so sweet that
    it inspires a new profession
        spiritual dentistry

May we be well-midwifed this year
    may we be the ones that our shadows
        have been waiting for, this year

May we tend altars of forgiveness
    and drink often from their waters

May our breadcrumbs feed the birds of transformation

May there be a week in the coming year
    when all we read is children's books

May these next 40 days be a time
    when we clean all of our own and each other's mirrors
        so that we may then celebrate our own place
    in Creation and in Torah 

May we then dance about and around the Torah of our own lives
    and may we write and live
the Torah of our own lives

May moonlight shine upon our
    joy and celebration and blessed sleep this year
May the sparks of liberation
    and the yuntif candles burn away any last bits of regret
        and shame and disconnection

May we enter into this turning time whole
    may it be a time of mending quilts
and returning long-borrowed books

May it be a time of flowing ink from the pens of wisdom
    and flowing tears from the eyes of hope

by Kohenet Ilana Joy Streit