בונן, Blind Affirmation & Open Sesame

כ"ג בשבט תשס"ז

Yesterday afternoon at the grocery store, checking out the spice section for organic rosemary, my eye kept going back to the black sesame seeds. I kept trying to shake the inclination, as I hadn't investigated the correspondences to sesame. Consequently, to buy them would be buying them blind of any potential magickal use. Nevertheless, try as I might, I just had to have them. The inclination to purchase them won out over the inclination to ignore the inner curiosity which kept striking at my consciousness. So, I bought the black sesame seeds wondering what in the world I would ever use them for. I even put another item back to make the purchase, as I had a limited cash supply with me.

Of course, when I got home, I looked up sesame seeds. Interestingly, one folk name for sesame is bonin [1]. In Hebrew, bonin is בונן from the shoresh בנן meaning "understanding", "causing understanding" and "instructing" [2].

The attribute of understanding corresponds to both the sefirah Binah and to the world/universe of Tohu. Consequently, this "blind affirmation" caused me to understand that I am on the right track toward even greater understanding. Writes Mr. Cunningham regarding the folk history of sesame:

The infamous magickal command "open sesame!" refers to the plant's legendary powers to discover hidden treasures, reveal secret passageways, and open locked doors.

This fits well with my recent dream linked to hidden treasure (where black corresponds to the aspect of hidden essence), an older mystical dream revealing a secret passageway (wormhole), and an even older poem about David's secret door.

I plan to open my new sealed jar of black sesame seeds during the transcendental void course of the moon February 17, the date of the Dark Moon and a day of shabbat.

open sesame! ...

Footnote:

[1] Encyclopedia Of Magickal Herbs, Scott Cunningham (p. 228)

[2] Etymological Dictionary Of Biblical Hebrew, R' Matityahu Clark (p. 28)

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