Daily Signet

Image by Tony Mucci on Unsplash

In apocryphal tradition, the Hebrew women: Eve, Sarah, Hagar, Rebecca and Rachel all knew the heartsong that could bring forth a miraculous wellspring of water in the midst of the desert. Tradition has it that Zipporah, Moses’ wife, taught it to her sister-in-law, Miriam. Together the two women tended this wellspring through the forty years of wandering in the wilderness and were known for their abilities to heal the sick and restore hope to the despondent. The story goes that wherever the people journeyed, the well-traveled with them, and when they camped, it settled opposite the Tabernacle. Twelve crones, one chosen from each tribe by Miriam and Zipporah, would bring their spindles to the well and declare, “Spring up, O Well” and the water would shoot up as high as the tallest date palms, then cascade into great rivers. And each day the people would sail in ships down the rivers to visit one another. The waters emptied into the plains that surrounded the camp, and it nourished the fruit trees under which grew the fragrant herbs that the women used as perfume, as well as the soft mosses that provided beds and pillows for the poor. 

Teri Martin

On This Day…

Conrad Aiken born in Savannah, Ga., 1889, died 1973: poet, writer, Pulitzer Prize recipient
Works: “The House of Dust”, “Blue Voyage”, “A Love for the Gods of Mexico”
Quotes: “All lovely things will have an ending. All lovely things will fade and die; and youth, that’s now so bravely spending, will beg a penny by and by.”
“I love you, what star do you live on?”
“Separate we come, and separate we go, and this be it known, is all that we know.”