The pomegranate's tough coat is the only inedible skin of all the species in this remedy. And yet, the deep red seeds and juice concealed within are as sweet as can be. This is the nature of the physical plane, where every spark of soul is surrounded by a skin or shell that marks it out from every other piece of reality. It is this trait that connects pomegranate to the sefira of Consensus ( Hod ). The work of peacemaking and conflict resolution requires a tough skin. One cannot have a sensitive ego that reacts to insult or demands honor. To inspire trust a mediator must be harmless, and have a high tolerance for frustration. A child first acquires the awareness that enables speech when it begins to ingest wheat. Kabballa explains that this is because the numerical value of the Hebrew word for wheat (chitah) is 22, the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet. This Kabbalistic fact connects wheat to the sefira of Insight for it is there that the capacity for conscious awareness first appears. Not only do letters enable speech, they are also required for thought. These rarified letters that glimmer in the mind as the source of our creative insights are the spiritual root of wheat. |