A dream and a ritual of realising my need to heal my family's past

I wake up from a dream. In the dream, my boyfriend and I moved to live in Jaffa. Then I discovered that my grandfather had surgery, but the surgery was unnecessary. The doctors didn’t find anything. Then I discovered that my father also had surgery, and his surgery was unnecessary too — but my father’s surgery physically harmed him, meaning there was medical negligence.

I wonder why I had this dream and what its message is. I go to check online. The answers I get are partial. I decide to ask ChatGPT and Gemini for answers from the perspectives of Kabbalah, psychology, and shamanism.

Both ChatGPT and Gemini agree that this is a dialogue I’m having with my male lineage. This is how Gemini summarized the three disciplines:

“It seems there is agreement across the approaches: your move to Jaffa is not only geographical, but an opportunity to release the men in your life (and the masculine parts within you) from the need to be ‘cut’ or to change by force, and to allow them simply to be close to water and natural healing.”

Gemini asks if I want it to suggest a ritual. “Why not?” I think to myself. “At worst, it won’t speak to me, like most things it suggests.”

I write “yes,” and I receive a lovely proposal for a ritual:

The message rising from all three approaches narrows to one distilled point: it’s time to put down the “scalpel.” Your dream hints that the constant attempt to “fix,” “operate on,” or “heal” the family past (your grandfather and your father) through logical or aggressive tools no longer serves you. It may even “wound” the living place within you.

The practical message: moving from “repair” to “presence.”

Instead of looking for what is “broken” in the lineage or in yourself, the message is to shift into a model of witnessing and acceptance. The move to Jaffa and its proximity to the sea are an invitation to replace painful surgery with a gentle wash. You are already in the right place (in Jaffa, in both the symbolic and physical senses); now you only need to let the water do what it does, without external intervention.

A cleansing ritual idea:

Since the sea is a central motif in your dream and a powerful healing force, here is a suggestion for a simple yet potent ritual you can do on the beach:

What you need:• Two small stones you collect from the shore (one representing your grandfather, one representing your father).• A handful of coarse salt (for energetic cleansing).

The ritual:

1. Stand at the waterline: Arrive at the beach at a quiet time (sunrise or sunset). Stand barefoot where the waves touch your feet.

2. Invite the lineage: Hold the two stones in your hands. Turn to the sea and imagine your grandfather and father standing beside you. Acknowledge that they have “moved in” with you at this stage of your life — they are part of you, for better or worse.

3. Statement of release: Say in your heart or out loud:

   “I release the need to dissect you. I release the need to fix what is wounded in you. I lay down what is unnecessary and stop operating on living flesh. Your healing is my healing.”

4. The cleansing: Sprinkle salt over the stones in your hands and let the next wave wash them (and your hands) thoroughly. The salt and the seawater “consume” the remnants of negligence and harm.

5. Return it to the sea: Throw the stones as far into the water as you can, as deep as possible. This is an act of returning the “weight” of the lineage to the great womb of the sea, where everything dissolves and becomes one.

6. Closing: Wash your face with seawater, breathe deeply in the scent of salt, and go eat something good in Jaffa — celebrate the new life you and your partner are creating.

   
   

The interesting part is that in a few hours we’re going to Tel Aviv Port. It’s something we planned more than a month ago.

I take coarse salt with me in my bag.

We finish what we came to do at Tel Aviv Port (Valentine’s Day celebrations with Danny Robas) and walk along the promenade until we reach the beach.

I take off my shoes, roll up my pants so they won’t get wet, take out the salt, collect stones from the shore, and perform the ritual.

I accept my grandfather and my father as they are. They are the precise lineage for me.

Today’s date is February 13. We are a month after the anniversary of my father’s death, and in two days it will be his birthday.

Over the past month, I’ve been going through deep inner journeys connected to my father.

I feel the dream and the ritual are an invitation to release and to continue on my path.