Hidden in Plain Sight & Shoftim

In the midst of what can feel like relentless darkness and bad news, it’s important to lighten things up once in a while.

Here’s something that makes me smile—and even elicits a little chuckle—each time I think of it: A Discovery of Witches.

It kept coming up in my Netflix feed, and I finally gave in to it.

Now, it’s a little scary, so be careful. You know; witches, vampires, demons…

The vampires tend to be violent and bloody, as we know, and live hundreds of years (but can be killed!). They have a hard time controlling their sexual urges, which seem to play out as an attack at the neck. They come on quickly, so you have to be on your guard—both as a lover and a TV viewer.

The witches are mostly kind, but can be violent and fiery. They’re not only hunted by humans, but will also kill their own kind!

The demons, interestingly, are the least scary of all. In fact, I’m in season 2, and I haven’t yet seen one attack or do anything truly evil.

But the series (based on the books) is about the mystery of power.

It’s also about racism. The “creatures,” as they call themselves, made a covenant hundreds of years ago, not to “cross-mate.”

If they fall in love (did I say this was a love story, too?), a rare event due to prejudice, they must keep it hidden or face severe punishment.

But they are learning that it is possible to be born of demons, say, and give birth to a witch!

They also learn from each other, slowly, as they cross barriers, that they hold beliefs about each other that just aren’t true.

But most of all, they live hidden in plain sight among humans.

The humans don’t believe in their existence, so they…well, they literally get away with murder.

Just as importantly, they are losing their powers over the centuries.

One of our main characters believes she has no powers at all. She must learn how to use them and control them. This takes her a long time, but in the process, she learns that she actually has greater powers than anyone has seen in centuries.

Which everyone wants a part of, because they’re all just trying to survive as a species.

As you can tell, this series really has me thinking.

They’re not new thoughts, more like reminders.

Reminders from energy healers and Qi Gong instructors I’ve worked with.

Reminders that we each have power, and way more than we think.

In this week’s Torah portion, we receive the injunction not to “find among us” soothsayers, augurs, diviners, sorcerers, ones who cast spells or consult with ghosts or inquire of the dead.

Prophets, however, are allowed, as long as they were “true” prophets and not false ones. How will we know the difference? Because they will make an oracle in the name of God, and it will come true—or not. (The delayed awakening to reality is problematic, don’t you think?)

Clearly, people believed in these things during biblical times. Really only until recently, was it completely acceptable—at least to believe.

We have handed all our ancient beliefs over to history, and put all our trust in—oh, I don’t know, modern medicine and doctors?

But what about the mystery of our own hidden powers?

Like the fact that we only use a tiny portion of our brain’s capacity? Or like the influence of our thoughts on reality. Or the capacity of our hands in healing?

It’s like we’re just discovering that humans have magical powers that we’d had all along, only now it’s being proven scientifically.

Let’s not give up, or give away, our power.

Whether to a political cause we imagine is lost, to prevent climate disaster from taking over—or maybe even ourselves.

Let’s not give up our capacity to have a literal hand in healing.

Let’s recover, or re-discover, as our ancient rabbis believed was possible, our power to heal ourselves and others.

Let’s take our power and make peace in the world, heal our planet, and survive as a species.

Our power is only hidden in plain sight.

May it be so, and say Amen.