I have a lot of people asking about the online handle I use: Shekhinah. In recent years, I was looking for a name to use on Twitter, and recalled a beautiful moment I had with God in 2012. I was recovering from a massive bout of Hepatitis. As I was researching many parts of Egypt, for my first tour I was planning I was aware of the presence of God in my midst. He had been with me since the horrendous experience I had had with domestic violence the year prior, guiding every moment.
I was also aware of other negative entities around me at that time – familiar spirits, demons, and entities that were trying to push me in various directions and make decisions that were not necessarily aligned with my path. I was sitting at my study, one afternoon, aware of the silence around me and feeling so incredibly overwhelmed. In a moment of frustration, I expressed out loud ‘so who am I!!!’
Years before, I had been part of some wellbeing retreats. A lot of people had taken on ‘spirit names’ – WhiteFeather, RunningStream, RainbowGladiator and so on… they were endearing, but nothing felt authentic to me. “How do you get those names?” I asked a friend “oh, they come to you, at the right time” and I didn’t think another thing of it. I guess they had regular names like Tom and Jane and Louise, and a replacement name was appropriate. In my own case, I have a complex and unusual name. I spent a lifetime embracing it, though that was difficult at times. I was mocked and made fun of a lot at school and in different social circles for having such an unusual name. Running away from it didn’t feel right.
But that afternoon, in my study as I put my head in my hands, God spoke with a long whisper in an answer to my question… and I heard the sound of a feminine voice saying “sssssskkkkkkeeennnnahhhhh”…. odd. It was as clear as a bell. “S-ek-kennah’ what is that? I thought. I felt it was a phonetic spelling and I looked it up. There wasn’t much there but I felt it was endearing, a beautiful reference to the Jewish people. I didn’t know much about them, as I had not travelled there. I said to God ‘what do you mean’? He said to me “this is your name”. And I took it on, privately, and didn’t do another thing about it.
In 2019, when I last travelled to Egypt it was the day before I was about to leave a 7 week sabbatical I had taken. I was stressed, overworked, and feeling immensely shifted from impending change that was about to sweep the world. I couldn’t say what but this was a feeling I could not shake no matter what I did. Little did I know what was unfolding. Wandering through a tomb I had not visited before, with my regular Egyptologist, named Ed (Mohamm-Ed), I communed with God in my heart as I usually did if I am visiting a tomb. I actually don’t like visiting the places of the dead all that much as I find it is disrespectful, but I am so grateful that there are those we are able to visit.
God said to me “ask him what the word Priestess is, in Arabic”. You see, in the days prior, God had insisted that I make time for myself – no tour – and visit the region of the Step Pyramid again. I didn’t really understand why this was so important. I said to him suddenly…. “Ed, what is the name of the Egyptian Priestess in Arabic?” He said “oh, Kehennah” hmmmm … I said to him “is that like Shekhinah, as in the Shekhinah glory in the Bible?” He said exactly!
So it was not until 2020, and as a born again Christian that I truly understood what it was. Having overcome my aversion to the Word, and allowed myself the healing that the Holy Spirit brought into my world in August of 2020 I learned of references to the Shekhinah. I was absolutely stunned. What??
Diving deeper, I was able to learn that the Shekhinah, though not specifically referenced in the Bible refers to the Hebrew name of ‘dwelling’ or ‘one who dwells’ Shekinah Glory means ‘he caused to dwell’. It means the Divine Presence of God.
Read more here: What is the Shekinah Glory?