The Kabbalah of eight !

In Jewish thought the number seven symbolizes the routine cycles of our lives and the patterns that we follow on a regular basis both good and bad.We base this on the seven day-creation cycle which is built in and ongoing. The number eight on the other hand symbolizes the interrupting of habit and a venturing beyond the shelter of our neat and familiar comfort zones. In the language of Kabbalah Seven refers to the seven emotional powers or Sefirot-pre packaged into the human Soul.All of our routine behavior patterns are fashioned and stem in some form from these seven characteristics. When we talk about reaching for the number eight in Kabbalah this symbolizes reaching one step above the seven emotional soul powers into the higher realms of the contemplative world,the world of Bina,or understanding.This is also why circumcision is performed on the eight day,gifting the newly arrived soul with the future ability to live higher and deeper. This is the miracle of Chanukah as well and the Kabbalistic significance of the eight days. On Chanukah we are in eight day mode,Hasmoneans searching for pure oil-new life paradigms that have been sealed off from us,little high priests discovering new frontiers of experience that have been buried for us! Tonight we might ask ourselves where are the areas of my life where I've become immobilized in seven day syndrome of being? As we light the candle tonight we might imagine fearlessly wrestling ourselves free of those patterns,igniting eight day consciousness,reaching upwards beyond ordinary awareness to imagining and realizing new and better ways of being in the world!