Firestone, Julian and Gluckel

I found the writings of Rabbi Tirza Firestone inspiring and aesthetically appealing. I liked her idea of the wholeness which is created both by the masculine and the feminine, as well as being connected to one’s fire and sensual wisdom. Her idea of bringing women’s life into balance by uniting opposites the practical/spiritual; and purpose/action) to achieve wholeness is definitely a blend of her psychotherapy and religious backgrounds. More about her here.

The image I had read about in Kabalistic texts of a tree with roots in heaven now made sense to me.
Each of us is such a tree. If we could but remember our divine origins we could live both sensually and fruitful on earth while manifesting our holy essence.
I liked this idea as well; it reminded me of the concept of the tree of life, which is important in religions of the East as well. Here is more on the tree of life from all mystical traditions.
See
here and here.

The earliest Indian scriptures, the Vedas and Upanishads refer to it. The Katha Upanishad describes: This eternal asvattha whose roots rise on high and whose branches grow low is the pure, the Brahman, what is called Non-Death. All the worlds rest on it. In Christianity the Tree of Life is first described in Genesis, appears in the Garden of Eden together with the Tree of Knowledge and then in the last Book of the Bible known as "Revelations". In the Muslim world, the Tree of Life motif is found in the prayer rugs of Turkey, Iran and other countries. The carved 14th Century marble screen windows of the Sidi Sayyid Mosque in Ahmedabad, Gujarat are probably the most exquisite examples of the Tree of Life motif in Indian art. In Buddhism, the Tree of Life represents the `Tree at the Centre, the still point of the turning world' beneath which the Buddha attained Enlightenment.

Julian’s devotion to god was intense, she wanted to understand god, through reliving his suffering. The practices she worked on are extremely intense and it conveys a depth and focus that is hard to imagine in the contemporary world.

Secondly, she desired a physical sickness at the age of thirty - to experience the fullness of dying to the point of death, that she and those around her would believe her to be dead, without actually dying. Thus, she could receive all the rites of the Church and be fully cleansed by the mercy of God and go on to lead a more consecrated life to His Glory.

Gluckel of Hameln, was a worldly woman, who ran a family and a business quite efficiently it seems. Her practical advice on love flowing downwards is a universal concept. I have often heard my grandmother remark that love flows stronger downwards then upwards. So she loves her children more than her children love her, but her children will love their children more than their children will love them.