I have been playing with words lately, words that have lost their true meaning along the way words that have been tainted by meanings that are negative and repressive, words that lose their healing messages along the way.  I started playing with words whose meanings escape me and where I cannot connect to their value in my life. 

 Forgive

Judgment

Righteousness

Justice

If you notice, these are words used in the bible quite a bit, and I think that is where they first lost their true meaning.  When the leader wants to control the flock they manipulate the words and give them new meaning that perpetuates the propaganda that promotes their way of thinking.  Let’s erase that history and start looking at the root of the words and garner their true and original meaning. 

Forgive – it seemed to be the spiritual buzz word of 2011 and is propelling itself into 2012 with the same status, but what does it really mean?  Meditate on forgiveness has been the spiritual prescription bantered about online and in the recently published.  Forgive yourself is a big one in my life and the theme of many healing sessions.  Yet my question remains the same – what does forgiveness really mean? 

Modern gurus talk about letting go of the hate and anger, filing your heart with God and letting yourself float free of this feeling.  Yet others talk about forgiveness as a type of absolution, asking for healing for the other party.  These are all large goals, but don’t give a starting point that your emotions can grab onto.  To give myself (and you) a starting point I looking into the root words, the etymology of forgive.

“for” – it is the front, beginning, before – but it also holds the root meaning of away, opposite and completely. 

“give” – taking, holding, influencing is one meaning, as is to yield, run out, break down and even announce. 

If you look at these root meanings forgive is a movement of sort, it is a bending away from what is in front of you.  It is before one is influenced or before one takes hold.   To forgive is to remove the influence that has hurt you, going back to a time before that influence took hold and bending out of the way.  

In other words, it’s about not taking it personally.  When you forgive, you release the hold you have on the energy that is harming you – whether it is your energy or someone else’s.  When you refuse to forgive, you are holding onto that energy and allowing it to define you.  When you forgive, you choose your own personal definition of who you are.

Judgment –  This used to be one of my nemesis tarot cards.  When this card came up I cringed because I just couldn’t wrap my brain around it.  I always think of the negative side of judgment; when you are a chubby, geeky, awkward kid you are always feeling judged by others.  To me Judgment meant that I would never measure up to what I “should” be. 

When I looked up the root words for judgment I was freed a bit by understanding that this is not what I needed to measure up to, but what was the culmination of experiences.

“judge” – law, opinion, officiating, presiding over

“ment” – and act, condition, result of an action

Judgment feels like law and punishment.  When you look at law really as a collective agreed upon opinions about behavior that changes the meaning once again.   Based on it’s origin, Judgment is casting an opinion on a series of actions – so the judgment of others don’t matter because they can never understand the whole of you.  To judge another is just your opinion, so stop taking yourself so seriously.

When you are in judgment of yourself you are assessing your own actions and behaviors and coming to a conclusion. (Sometimes your logic is flawed and you need a new perspective.)  When you free yourself of that idea that once cast, judgment can never be reversed; you are also free to forgive past behaviors and choices.  Today you have a new piece of information that lends a new perspective.

Righteous – This word sends shivers down my spine.  I hear preachers talk of the righteous and I think, someone is about to be cast as evil to balance out that word!  Through the centuries the righteous felt that eradicating the evil they saw what their duty and right making this word ripe for perversion.

Today this word is defined as free from guilt, moral and virtuous. The etymology for righteous comes from the Old English rihtwīs, meaning right wise; where is doesn’t necessarily mean guilt free.

“right” – rules, laws, being morally correct (or opposite of left) is the first meaning, but the meaning goes further back to mean it fits, settles in, proper and straight. 

“-ous” – this suffix is about abundant.  To add this to a word means it is full of, abounding, having, in possession of and qualities like.  

When we look at righteous in this new (or shall we say original) light, its meaning is filled with personal empowerment.  It is about fitting into your own moral code and being filled with your own power.  I can see how this word can quickly turn onto something that is oppressive.  When you are being righteous, it really only applies to you.  When a leader is being righteous, it means that they are connected to and promoting the virtues and wishes of group.  Of THAT group, meaning that other groups will be righteous in their own morals. 

Righteous can be a very healing word if used to find your own core self and follow your own destiny, it can be destructive when you use that word against others with misplaces judgment.

Justice – Again we think of the law, any law and the justice it wields.  Many people make justice synonymous with vengeance, and in many ways it can be.   To look at the root of the word you will find a different story.

“just” – comes from the root junct, to join.

“-ice” – means to act.

Justice means joining in action, it does not mean “joining in action to perpetuate a punishment that would make you feel better about the hurt you are experiencing.”   Conversely when things are feeling un-just, you are feeling left out.  Justice is the sweet acceptance of others that hold a similar moral code or righteousness.   When you are energetically seeking justice, you are searching for the divine inclusion into your life to set things right.  But once the deed is done, can anything ever be set right.   This is how we wrap ourselves full circle back to Forgive.  

Justice is when we join in action, making Justice more of a cultural word than an individual one. 

These words teach us that all the power to change our own world, lies in our own hands.  These words show us that when we apply our moral code to our own actions we are empowered, yet when we apply them outside of ourselves, we can quickly turn to oppressors. 

Happy word-ery!

Jacki Smith

Founder & Enchantress Coventry Creations

Author – Coventry Magic

Read more: http://www.keepitmagic.com/index.php/en/media/articles/coventry-creations/jackis-journal/213-the-root-of-it-changes-everything-what-is-in-a-word.html