Holy Holy Holy Host

ח' באדר ב' תשס"ח
Raven 9

Tzav, Pakod, Meumah - Holy, Holy, Holy

In Unblemished Mitzvah I brought down the idea that the vulnerability of meumah to blemish (mum) is neutralized by the presence of tzav (command of mobilization), and that materiality neutralized of potential blemish is actualized through the endless action pakod. Remembering.

Interestingly, as mentioned in the earlier entry, meumah and tzav each have a gematria of 92. The digit sum of 92 is 11. Eleven is the number of Temple incense spices corresponding to the rectification of Tohu (the state from which the vessels may shatter and become seemingly disconnected from Wholeness), the elevation of Tohu back into the realm of Holiness, and the "distillation and transformation of all corporeality and physicality into supernal luminescence."

Torah instructs us not to duplicate the Temple incense compound for personal use, lest s/he be "cut off" (shattered and seemingly disconnected). In other words, the duplication of meumah implies that bringing down the power of meumah without tzav (bringing down something from something), may shatter the personality, while the power of meumah tempered with tzav (bringing down something and nothing), does not shatter the personality. The personality remains whole in the case where the 92-compound meumah is not itself duplicated, but tempered through a different 92-compound, namely tzav.

Tzav tempers meumah by adding it's own digit sum of 11 to the 11 of meumah, bringing down the whole essence of the 22 Creation Letters of the aleph-beit.

Thus, meumah is not duplicated for personal use, it is completed in a wholistic bodily realization (a Host) of Intelligent Creative Consciousness.

Importantly, with respect to the upcoming observance of Purim, the word-set tzav-pakod-meumah corresponds to the "holy, holy, holy" descent of my soul through all contractions of the created world, while yet still remaining bound to the Divine Essence.

In The Hands Of The Tongue

Death and life lie in the hands of the tongue ...
Shlomoh HaMelech, Mishlei 18:21
מות וחיים, ביד-לשון

A traditional witch's broom is called a besom. Like besomim (sweet-smelling havdalah spices), the besom concerns "cutting".

The word besomim בשׂמים is from the shoresh בשׂם meaning "cut up" [1]. Words are like thought-pieces cut from the stream of consciousness to communicate that contained within the inner stream to others or to oneself during the process of self-discovery. Words, like spices, can be sweet or foul smelling.

As spices are "cut" from plants like words are "cut" from thought, the besom "cuts" life from death. Like the havdalah spices specifically, the besom "separates" between realities. The havdalah besomim separate between sacred and profane realities. The besom separates between the realities of life and death. How do we know this?

In addition to the "cutting" connection of the besom with its phonetic Hebrew root, there is also a "cutting" connection within the mythology surrounding the witch's broom. In ancient Rome midwives used special brooms to "cut the ties between the world of the living and the realm of the dead after childbirth" [2]. Interestingly, this directly calls to mind within the mythic symbolism the proverb of Shlomoh HaMelech - death and life lie in the hands of the tongue.

The besom-broom even looks like a tongue (held in the hands). Besomim are the words which fill it. When we breathe the sweet-smelling havdalah spices, we are breathing in the essence of good words born of shabbat consciousness, which hopefully will find expression throughout the week. When a witch sweeps out negative energy from her sacred space with her besom, she is "cutting off" evil words before they are even conceived.

The witch's besom in a witch's hand is the "hand of the tongue" crafting a path of life and cutting off the path of death. Besomim are the essence and expression of words the tongue may speak.

Footnotes:

[1] Etymological Dictionary Of Biblical Hebrew, R' Matityahu Clark

[2] Solitary Witch, Silver Ravenwolf; and The Woman's Dictionary Of Symbols And Sacred Objects, B. Walker

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