Shiviti is a Jewish mandala, an artistic image to spiritually concentrate the mind. In many traditional synagogues a shiviti is placed before the prayer leader. They are also hung in homes as folklore protection. The word and the phrase comes from Psalm 16. In context, the Psalmist rejects those who go after false gods and speaks of trust in YHVH. The Talmud (Sanhedrin 22a) in the name of Rabbi Shimon the Pious teaches, “A person who prays should regard himself (or herself) as though the Shechinah (God’s accessible, feminine dimension) were before him (or her)” and then quotes Psalm 16:8, “ I have placed (Shiviti) Adonai before me always… .
