Crown Jewel

י"ו בטבת תש"ע
Grael 18

Yesterday I braided a witch ladder while listening to Legends of the Goddess III. This witch ladder is made of earth tones yarn, dark brown hemp cord, nine wooden beads and a spiral Goddess charm. After completing it, I explored several places in my bedroom from which to suspend it for the night. I finally curled it up in a few circles around my fingers and placed it upon a golden hook on the wall over my bed. The Goddess charm was suspended upright upon my witch ladder, her feet pointed toward my bed.

Last night I dreamt.

I was in a public place with several people. A woman was sitting beside an open Torah. The open Torah scroll was sitting in a Torah holder. It was not on the bimah and neither was the woman. It was off the bimah, near the front but among the chairs where the congregation sits. The open Torah was not facing the the congregation or me, it was open toward the side, toward the woman.

With a look of disdain, the woman expressed to me in the presence of those gathered that "you think you know, but you don't know anything." With the Torah open, it was clear that her intention was to show me and everyone gathered that I didn't know anything, and that I wasn't as special as some people thought I was. She didn't like me, that was clear. I didn't respond.

I noted that both the woman and I were set apart somewhat from the congregation - but my separation was a separation within the gathering of the congregation - a small clear space circled around me even as I was among the congregation. We were all standing.

Her separation was different than mine - she was not placed among the congregation, she sat up in front of us, near the bimah. We were all standing up in the back of the room. She was sitting down in a folding chair at the front of the room.

As I began to wake up, but was as yet unawake, I saw that the woman had with magical intention tied my hands and feet together and hung me upside down from a rope. She wanted me to die. She felt I would indeed die. No one was going to help me and, in her mind, I didn't know anything and wouldn't be able to escape her black magic against me.

But, like my witch ladder the evening before (even with my hands and feet still tied), I curled the rope up and around in circles, throwing my body upwards with the process like doing a sommersault in midair. I landed crouched on my feet in the velvety deep garnet middle of a huge royal crown. The perimeter of the crown was like a circle around me. From within the circle of the crown, I easily untied my hands and feet. Then I stood up, straight and tall. I felt like a crown jewel.

A masculine Voice spoke in my mind, telling me that I was standing "like Kaman (כמן)", and "not Haman (המן)."

I woke up.

Images of my Goddess witch ladder (and magical staff) ...

Secrets Of The Name

ט' בטבת תש"ע
Grael 11

December 23, the Celtic calendar day of the secret of the unhewn dolmen, I drew the rune of gestation and energy transformation, Ingwaz. Then, I dreamt a dream (One Name).

Yesterday, on spirit cords, I read in Wheel of the Year, Living A Magical Life (Pauline Campanelli):

The purpose of this cord, like the circle it represents, is to contain power. These cingulums, or cords, are often knotted and are specifically four and a half feet in length, so they can be used as a compass with which to measure inner and outer circles. This cord has an ancient history and appears in some of the earliest Egyptian texts as the oval that surrounds a cartouche, or name, separating it from other hieroglyphics. The oval around a cartouche is in fact a cord tied with a knot, and its purpose is to contain the magical power of the name.

My black handbraided spirit cord (also called a cingulum and a witch's ladder) is as tall as I am. Yesterday, on my spirit cord, I measured to a point of four and a half feet, and marked that point by tying a knot interwoven with handdyed sunset sparkle black ribbon into the cord. With this point now marked, my spirit cord is now prepared to mark the boundaries of a traditional nine foot magic circle.

Last night (the night of the ninth of Tevet) I wore my spirit cord to bed and dreamt.

I was beautiful in my dream. I climbed a ladder to get to a school I was attending - the building of the school was like my old high, state university and grade schools combined. I was sitting in a college physical chemistry classroom (which looked like my sixth grade classroom) and had just completed the college physical chemistry coursework.

It was now time for a new year of classes. I had been scheduled in the system for college microbiology, but I had already taken that class in a past year. So, I left the classroom where I had completed college physical chemistry and went into the hallway (which looked like one in my old high school). I walked across the campus (which looked the campus of the state university I attended) and into the office where class scheduling changes are made. In place of college microbiology (which I had already taken), I took an advanced level course - that course was a Goddess Chemistry course.

After making the change to my schedule of classes, I walked outside onto the campus. I felt a rumbling behind me - someone with power was not pleased that I had signed up for Goddess Chemistry. That person's displeasure was directed at me through a curse upon the campus ground. The curse directed the ground to collapse in upon itself (thereby swallowing me up in it - as Korach was swallowed up in Bamidbar 16:30). But, the ground upon which I stood didn't collapse - I was left standing upon the summit of a mountain floating suspended in midair (like one of the floating mountains of Pandora in the movie Avatar, and as described in the mystical teaching on the hebrew letter yud). I looked around, my floating mountain was among a sea of floating mountains.

I woke up, washed up, got a drink of water, made my bed and drew the rune Ehwaz, the rune which harmoniously unifies dually arrayed forces (such as the body and its souls). Pronounced ay-wawz and ay-woh, Ehwaz has the phonetic values of the English e and Hebrew hei (ה).

Ehwaz is the nineteenth rune in my personal runerow.



Related entries:

Runes 1-3: Transmission of a Sacred Secret
Rune 4: The Wholiness Code
Rune 5: Mysteries of the Staircase
Rune 6: The Ship of Safe Passage
Rune 7: The Ætheling
Rune 8: Communication
Rune 9: The Nature Of My Work
Runes 10-11: Wyrd Shema
Rune 12: The View From My Room
Rune 13: Thurisaz On The Falling Man
Rune 14: Power To Do It
Rune 15: Wyrd Preparation
Rune 16: Mother Of Manifest Blessing
Rune 17: By Force Of Destiny
Rune 18: The Othala Force

Music To My Irish Soul & The 3-Fold Cord

ז' שבט תשס"ט
Imbolgen 7

As I was laying down to sleep last night, one Voice of the Many made itself singularly known. It was the color of music from my new CD Blue Dream which sounded in my ear. It's message was clear - we too blood the cord of my Coven. The Underworld-Faery Tradition of my Celtic-Irish ancestors is also key to my soul, as well as are the Traditions of my Jewish and British/Welsh ancestors. These Voices of my Ancestors have clearly spoken in oath to the Coven - now a Coven of Three Bloods with a threefold cord not easily broken.

Blooding The Cord & The Man In Black

ז' שבט תשס"ט
Imbolgen 7

In follow-up to my entry Will, The Man In Black, an excerpt from the article Blood Rites (in The Crooked Path Journal, Issue 3) by Peter Paddon (British witch and practitioner of Traditional Witchcraft):

Not all British Traditions use a cord or cingulam, but for those who do, it has very special significance. In the Path that I follow, the cord represents the Tradition, the Coven, the lineage and the initiate's connection to them. The Guardian or Man in Black can use the cord to grasp a covener who has 'slipped away' between the worlds and bring them back to where they are meant to be.

At initiation, the Magister and Mistress will blood the cord of the new initiate, to seal the promises made. In my Path, the promises are made to teach and guide the initiate to the best of our ability, to help them find their true Path, wherever it may be, and to accept them fully to our hearth and hearts. Other Traditions have other promises, and possibly other symbolism too, but this is how we do it. The initiate also bloods the cord at that time, sealing their own promise to their Gods and their Ancestors to do their best to follow their Path, wherever it may lead them.

Thus, the Guardian of my Coven is my ancestor Will Grunwald and the two bloods now definitely sealed on the cord of my Coven are the combined Traditions of my Jewish and British/Welsh ancestors.

UPDATE - Music To My Irish Soul & The 3-Fold Cord

Temperance & The River Of Sparks

ו' בשבט תשס"ח
Imbolgen 6

Last night (see Gateway), following my cord ritual and gift of blessing given reishit "with perfect love and perfect trust" (codewords of The Craft) to the elementals, nature spirits and faeries of the crossroads, I dreamt.

It was a perfectly temperate beautiful sunny day. I had moved into a beautiful big house filled with exquisite antiques made of dark wood with my "father". The big house sat at the edge of a peaceful community. A wide sparkling river ran beside it's northern side, shining like many diamonds. The waters of the Great River river flowed peacefully west to east. I went to bathe in the miraculously sparkling pure water in my dream this sixth day of Shevat/Imbolgen (days of the growth of messianic consciousness/days of reclamation).

The house of my father and I was held in awe by the people of the peaceful community. A woman approached me. She wanted to come and stay in the big house by the wide river of sparks with my father and I, to learn the mysteries.

The soul of a person can teach her ... the Baal Shem Tov, tzadik of the Hasidic Traditon

And ultimately, it is only in perfect love and perfect trust that we may abide by the Law ... Karl Lembke, witch of the StarKindler Tradition

Gateway

ו' בשבט תשס"ח
Imbolgen 6

I literally and physically took my spirit cord to the crossroads this motzi shabbat.

Just as there is a 3-shin and a 4-shin in Hebrew, and just as there are 3 and 4 Celtic fire festivals, there is a liminal crossroads of 3 and 4 roads in witchcraft. The crossroads of 4 represents the 4 directions (E-N-S-W), while the crossroads of 3 represents a central locus of consciousness experiencing involutionary (above, surrounding, moving inward, mekabel) and evolutionary (below, projective, moving outward, mashpiya) movements with respect to the central mediating locus of consciousness.

With 7 directions, governed by the Queen of Witches, particularly on this motzi shabbat sixth day of Shevat/Imbolgen, the crossroads is a liminal no-man's land, a chalal hapanui, and a gateway to the extraordinary.

The crossroads ritual was performed with the waxing crescent moon 21% full.

Following the ritual, I gave a gift of blessing to the peaceful elementals, nature spirits and faeries who dwell at the crossroads. The physical vehicle for the blessing gift consisted of dandelion soaked in olive oil from upon my altar, pomegranate seeds, salted bread, myrrh, mugwort and cedarwood.

Two Streams, One Winding Line Of Consciousness

כ"ז בטבת תשס"ח
Grael 28

This Shabbat, the black wax of my main ritual candle was cut quickly and completely down one side like a river cut into the wax (as the deep melted pool of wax drained from around the wick, see graphic, click to enlarge) to the candle holder (over 1-2 inches depending on the perspective of timeline) by the very high radically jumping and leaping flame connected to the wick’s fire. It happened so fast that I only noticed it as the melted black wax was already pouring down the side of my altar. The flame was so unusually high-jumping (I’d estimate it reached 6-9 inches at times), it was so furiously energetic, that I had put it out with a candle snuffer lest it reach over and catch fire the cloth which covered my crystal ball. After putting out the potential fire hazard, I stuck a fingertip into the melted, still warm but cooling, wax on the side of my altar cloth. I’m not sure why I did this. I just did it. I wanted to know the feel of the wax. What was the story it had to tell?

I read a bit of my new book, The Spirit Cord (whose esoteric disciplines I have begun to practice already), before going to sleep.

Following these things, Shabbat night I dreamt.

There was a pervasive catastrophe that devastated the area that included the city of Danville. The devastation bringing death concentrated east (tiferet) of Vermilion Street (which cuts through the center of the downtown business district in Danville). The raging torrent of a mighty river came with the devastating energy, flowing north (gevurah) to south (chesed) down Vermilion Street. Vermilion Street formed the “bed” (choshen mishpat) of the raging river which separated between the camp of life (located on the western side) and the camp of death (located on the eastern side).

Initially in the dream, my children and I lived on the eastern side where the death energy was beginning to concentrate. To escape it, we had to go west (yesod) and across the raging river. Unlike the Ba'al Shem Tov (who used a secret knowledge of Divine Names), I simply gathered up (enfolding involutionary stream) my children, who took the forms of a neutral colored slippery little earth-worm and a leather shoulder bag (like a Benjamin's bag) with a matching leather shoulder strap. I could easily and safely carry these forms with me across the raging river to safety. Before starting across the raging river, as I was about to tell the little earthworm form to get into a clear protective sandwich baggie (so it wouldn’t slip out of my grip as I carried it in the raging water), the little worm did it automatically as if it knew instinctively what it should do or what I was going to tell it. I had dipped the baggie into the river water so that it also contained a manageable amount of water to keep the worm wet and hydrated. As soon as I had done this and/or as I was doing it (simultaneously – tohu - yet distinctly in order - tikun) the worm entered into the clear baggie, which I carried in my hand. Similarly, the leather strapped-purse placed itself/was placed by me upon my shoulder.

Now my family and others who were walking with me toward safety stood together on the eastern bank of the raging river that was Vermilion Street, in the downtown business district. I was going to lead our little band across the raging river. I told everyone to walk carefully, not quickly, and to “feel out” each step each took “for him or herself” as they followed my footsteps across the raging river. They were to feel first before committing a foot to “stepping down” on the floor of the riverbed. The torrential churning current could wipe out the ground underwater and create a hole in the riverbed at any moment between individual steps. I explained, if a new hole arose, they were to take an alternate step than the one I took. "Don’t just step there because I did. See,” I said, feeling a new hole in the riverbed as I “felt” my own way as I started across, “here is a hole, and I am not stepping here (where my foot had originally been directed underneath the water and where those who followed could not see the redirection of my footstep in the churning water).” They indicated they understood. Carrying my children in easy-to-carry forms, one as a slippery worm in a river water-containing plastic baggie and two as the strap and bag of a leather purse, I continued through it, carefully feeling each step of the way. Many others followed my example across the raging river in one long winding single line (this is relevant to the purchase my besom yesterday morning, to the unbroken chain - mi'Sinai - of esoteric transmission, and to messianic consciousness) that extended from beyond the eastern (where death was concentrating in the dream) horizon behind me, across the river and onto the western shore.

I soon stepped centrally upon the western bank of the raging river to safety, as did all those behind me who had followed and were still (on the eastern side of the river) coming to join the “winding line” connected to a proven safe journey out of the camp of death and into the camp of life. I sat down for a moment to rest my aching (but not hurt) left hip muscle that had borne the primary portion of the burden of the workload of making it across.

As my children and I rested there, we “unwrapped” (unfolding evolutionary stream) ourselves in the atmosphere of safety on the western shore. I recognized an acquaintance (no form of any particular person I know in real life) sitting to the north of me who had also made it across the raging river. He appeared emotionally at a loss. Recognizing me as well, he got up from where he was sitting and walked over to me. He told me he had lost his family in the catastrophe and was alone. We reached out to one another simultaneously and placed our hands on the other’s opposite shoulders in a comforting gesture. Then, we leaned forward and touched our foreheads together, also a comforting gesture.

I woke up.

In The Middle & The Cord Of Individuality

י"ט בטבת תשס"ח
Grael 20

Here is an interesting excerpt I read yesterday evening - Scottish magician R. J. Stewart (The Spirit Cord) writes of the Cord of Individuality, the "middle cord" of life:

During our lifetime, we are supported and enabled by a cord. This is, of course, the spinal cord without which nothing could happen in our manifest existence. While the cord of the womb gave sustenance before separation, the cord of the spine gives individuality and operational potential, and the practical ability to move in the individual's separate and manifest life. The Cord of Individuality manifests with the spinal cord as a central core. From there it manifests through the many associated cords and connections of the body that all link into the spinal cord from which they receive their complex instructions that enable life to function in time, space and movement. There is another aspect to this Cord of Individuality, which is transpersonal, and may arise over many lifetimes. We will return to this when we explore ideas about the Cord of Continuity, and the concept of continuity between lives. In this preliminary outline we can recognize this transpersonal quality of intense individuality when we see, or live, dedicated lives that seem to have a strong direction, be it in the arts, sciences, spirituality, or any other field of activity.

Pakistan In Chaos

י"ט בטבת תשס"ח
Grael 20

Benazir Bhutto Assassinated
Thursday, December 27, 2007

RAWALPINDI, Pakistan — Pakistan's paramilitary forces were on red alert Thursday following the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto.

The former prime minister was murdered by an attacker who shot her in the neck and chest after a campaign rally and then blew himself up. Her death stoked new chaos across the nuclear-armed nation, an important U.S. ally in the war on terrorism.

A doctor on the team that treated her said she had a bullet in the back of the neck that damaged her spinal cord before exiting from the side of her head. Another bullet pierced the back of her shoulder and came out through her chest.

She was given open heart massage, but the main cause of death was damage to her spinal cord, he said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Read full story at link above.

Read more about the spinal cord as the middle cord of life here.

More on the Bhutto assassination at CNN:

She Rose & Fell Down Through The Sunroof

The photographer who took images of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto moments before her assassination Thursday told CNN he was "surprised" to see her rise through the sunroof of her vehicle to wave to supporters after delivering her speech.

"And then suddenly, there were a few gunshots that rang out, and she went down, she went down through the sunroof," he said. "And just at that moment I raised my camera up and the blast happened. ... And then, of course, there was chaos."

Axis Of The Land

כ'ו בחשון תשס"ח

Small excerpts from an interesting new book I recently acquired - Secret Signs, Symbols & Sigils by Nigel Pennick:

Writing and symbols, art and architechture, technology and warfare are all structured according to the human body.

The fourfold division of the world, and its further subdivision into eight directions known as airts is derived directly from the structure of the human body and its interaction [emphasis mine] with the physical structure and processes of the planet upon which we evolved and upon which we live. At the centre of this fourfold division is the individual person, the source, fount and origin, the naval, the relic of the point from which each of us developed as an embryo within our mother.

Naval points in the landscape [of feminine malchut, for example - my addition] are known in geomantic terminology by its Greek name omphalos. This terminology, calling the central point a naval, reiterates the slain giant motif of the primal creation of the world, where each part of the human being is reflected in its corresponding structure in the world.

In human beings, the naval is the vestige of the umbilical cord which once connected the unborn baby to the placenta in the mother's womb. Through the omphalos, the material world is linked by a cosmic axis "upwards" to the creative, generative upperworld and downward to its complimentary opposite, the degenerative or destructive underworld.

This pattern of a centre in this world linked by an axis to the upper world above and the netherworld below is the basis for traditional sacred cosmology. It exists throughout the world in different cultural contexts.

It is the stable structure of society without which there is disorder and disintegration.

The determination of such a powerful cosmic centre [the teli - my addition], so vitally important in psychological as well as social terms, was one of the major tasks of the augur or locator - many folk tales recall these arduous quests.

Such is the mystery of the relationship between microcosm and macrocosm, "as above, so below". The central naval of the earth, symbolically represents the fixed point at which other states of consciousness and spiritual evolution may be attained by those attuned to such things by dint of personal effort or divine designation.

The discovery of such a place of symbolic power, its definition and the geomantic act is enshrined in the mythos of dragonslaying in the stories of such luminaries as the Pagan heroes Cadmus, Siegfried and Beowulf, and in the Christian mythology, saints such as Beatus, George, Leonard, Martha and Michael and knights like Lord Lambton [and in Judaic stories such as David and Goliath - my addition].

In each of these legends, the dragon, wyrm or serpent that is killed is often taken to symbolise the earth energies which, sensitive people assert, roam, bewilderingly and dangerously free in the soil and the underlying rock formations beneath our feet.

In traditional society, the determination of the most powerful and appropriate location for the fixation of these geomantic energies was the task of the locator. After long and meticulous scrutiny of the site, [the locator] would decide upon the correct time to undertake the geomantic act.

According to geomantic symbolism, at the designated instant, when the forces were at their most malleable, and when the energies could best be tamed, the locator would drive a peg or staff, or perhaps a lance or sword into the earth as the culmination of the foundation ceremony.

All would be applied with the greatest care to ensure the efficacy of the geomantic act.

Piercing the ground at the optimal location appears to fix these wandering energies permanently in an accessible place ... commonly called a place of power.

Many depictions of the geomantic act show the hero or heroine [emphasis mine] transfixing the dragon with a stave, sword or spear, which frequently runs through the head to pin it to the ground below [like Yael of "a mother in Yisrael" fame in Torah - my addition].

This mystical concept is found in many places, most notably in the epithet of King Arthur's father, Uther Pendragon, high king of Britain. In Northern Tradition spiritual symbolic kingship, the strength and health of the monarch, as head of the nation, is indistinguishable from that of the land. When he or she is strong and worthy, the land flourishes in unity, peace, fruitfulness and prosperity. When he or she is weak or unworthy, the land distintegrates in crime, factionalism, greed and poverty. Also, once these magical aspects of kingship are no longer recognised, distintegration occurs. [My addition - once these magical aspects of kingship are again recognised, reintegration occurs.]

Symbolically, King Arthur's withdrawal of the sword from the stone to assert his right of kingship of Britain, is a reversal of the geomantic act. In removing the sword, Arthur frees the dragon power which, as Pendragon himself, the king can control. It appears to be of no coincidence that Arthur's military successes against the Saxon invader, were [like a wandering Jew - my addition] in mobile calvary warfare, not in static and centered defense.

when the pause is pregnant like a rock of hate against us
truth remains

[lines above from my poem The Torch]

The rulers ceased in Israel, they ceased, until that thou didst arise, Deborah, that thou didst arise a mother in Israel. ... Shoftim 5:7

Ani Vahu - Shem Vayisa Vayet

כ'ד בתשרי תשס"ח

זאת, אז, is the sod of what Chazal wrote: “Michael in one . . . Eliyahu in four” (Brochos 4b). Understand this.

I dreamt a single dream expressed through 4 revealed parts and 1 touching yet not touching part. Understand this.

Part 1. Hu'alam. אתהפכא חשוכא לנהורא

Hidden. On the verge of awareness. At the threshold. Almost. Inside out, outside in. Over the edge into perception.

Part 2. House. Elishaba (אלישבע).

My "husband" and I with our 3 children (beriyah, yetzirah, assiyah) were looking to buy a house to live in. We had just come through some hard financial times. We didn't have any good credit rating built up, so we had little hope that anyone would sell us a house "on time". My husband remembered his friend whom he thought would surely sell us a house. We journeyed (ויסע) to find my husband's friend.

We went up the small bare porch to the door of my husband's friend's trailer, from where he engaged in the business of selling houses. I was holding our baby sleeping soundly in a swaddling blanket. My husband knocked on the door. The friend's wife answered the door, then went to get her husband while we stood on the small porch. Her husband came to the door, spoke in words I could not hear with my husband, slipped a notepaper into my husband's hand, and shut the door on us. My husband indicated to me we should leave. I was perplexed as to why we were leaving abruptly without conducting the business of buying a house.

My husband's friend opened the door, came outside and walked toward us as we were walking toward our red pickup truck. My husband was near the driver's side door of the truck. I was approaching my side door to it. My husband's "friend" approached me. He wanted me to leave my husband for him. I was appalled at the suggestion that I should leave my husband and rebuffed him. He turned and went back inside the trailer. I looked at my husband, we looked at one another (ani vahu) over the roof the red pickup truck as we both stood in front of our respective doors. I had no intention of ever leaving him. We got inside the pickup truck at the same time.

My husband brought out (ויבא) and handed me the notepaper his friend had given him explaining to my husband why he wouldn't sell us a house. The notepaper told my husband "I am in love with your wife." The message had been transmitted from my husband's friend, into the hand of my husband (who read it as he did), into my hand (where it remained folded for safekeeping and unread). [As I write this, it occurs to me that there is more to the "essential message" I received from my husband's hand for safekeeping than meets the eye.]

We were on our own with regard to getting a house. His friend would not sell us a house (ב). We would have to get one ourselves, some other way.

Part 3. Out Of The Mouths Of Babes

The baby my husband and I had was as yet unformed. It had an inverted mouth (chotam hamithapech) with projecting extensions (makeef hakarov, mazon, levush, bayit). Miraculously however, and to the amazement of everyone, our still as-yet unformed baby could talk using the vibrating extensions (ויט) which radiated like cords from it's mouth. Not only could our baby talk in this world, but it talked of and demonstrated an exquisitely brilliant understanding of extremely advanced and complex topics - topics as yet not understood by the most brilliant minds in the world. The truth in our baby's words was recognized by the greatest minds in the world, but the fullness of understanding they did not yet possess. Our baby was an anomaly of brilliance possessing the keys to advancing understanding throughout the entire world.

Our baby discoursed upon space, time, spacetime, how to reverse and move time, and such things in ways no scientist had yet accomplished. Scientists listening to our baby speak discussed among themselves the idea that many thought time could be changed, but no one had actually done it yet. They discussed the impact our baby's words would one day have on advancing knowledge and human development. If they could only understand that being transmitted through our baby more fully, they could make the thoughts of changing time a reality. They waited with anticipation for the day our baby would "form" - to bring down the details needed to accomplish all the wondrous things our baby spoke of.

Part 4. Cloak Of Many Colors

I observed two women, one was powerful and the other walking behind her was her assistant. In a fall festival fair-like environment, a handsome man with long hair (like Samson) came to tempt and bring down the powerful woman, but she was not tempted. The woman's assistant, however, was tempted and went with the handsome man to his place and slept with him. There was no love in this joining. It was purely sexual. The assistant didn't care. Neither did the handsome man. I didn't see the two together, but when they came out of his bedroom together, I saw that he had given her a colorful silky nightcloak. As the man went into the kitchen to fix some food, the assistant used the telephone to call the powerful woman. The assistant "gloated" sweetly to the powerful woman how she herself now had what the powerful woman "should have" had. My feeling was that the powerful woman was nonplussed by the assistant's call. In other words, the powerful woman had not been tempted nor was she "stricken" (the assistant's intent) by the assistant's assertion that the assistant now had something which "should have" gone to the powerful woman. The assistant was gloating in vain. The assistant was the one unable to control her impulses, not the powerful woman. In observing all this, in my mind were the thoughts that the man was intervening in a situation to defend me and that he was a Druid. He was also a friend of my husband. And while the assistant felt she (in the place of the powerful woman) had had the powerful yet totally sexual encounter and had obtained the gift of a beautiful cloak, I knew, by the way she was gloating in vain, that the assistant was clueless as to what the solely sexual experience and the colorful silky cloak brought with them. She wouldn't be gloating soon.

Part 5. Michael Splits The Water

I was with many people playing in the water (מ) of a sea or large river. Suddenly, "in yet behind" the "watery" sky over the watery water, a hole like a wormhole in spacetime appeared. It was separated thinly from the rest of the watery world (ו, made of both the waterywater and the waterysky, seamlessly unbroken) of the dream by a thin sheer veil. Something had emerged from beyond into the watery world. We all backed away from the hole so as not to be sucked up into it or collide with whatever was going to come through it into our watery world.

I looked and saw. A huge movement came through, traveled under the surface of the water and onto the beach, also under the sand. Then, a huge worm-like slug-like whale-sized creature emerged. (It brings to mind a combination of shamir and livyatan.) A Voice in the atmosphere beside me informed me that more like it would be coming. They would invade and settle my planet.

I had to decide what to do about the creature. Was it friend or foe? Did I want this creature here or not? I had to decide what to do. If I did nothing and allowed it to remain, more would come. I just looked at it. I wanted to figure it out before doing anything. I was curious about it. So, rather than do nothing or anything ...

I woke up, doing both in one action.

Vayavo (ויבא) has a gematria of 19, the same as Chavah (חוה). In my dream, I did not unfold the note given to me by my husband. Unfolding the note in a dream, corresponds to eating from the Tree of Knowledge prematurely. I waited, holding the folded message for safekeeping.

ואין חכמה אלא ברכה שנאמר ויברך אלהים את שלמה וכתיב וה' נתן חכמה לשלמה
Sefer HaBahir, verse 3 excerpt

Red Cord Of Unity & The Shabbat River

י"ט בשבט תשס"ז

I had originally planned to tie my Book Of Shadows (BOS) with a 9 to 10 foot braided red cord. But, I changed my mind and decided to bind my BOS when not in use with a witch's cord, also called in the craft a witch's girdle and a cingulum. Many witches also use the cingulum as a girdle-belt to tie our ritual robes. I will also use mine to embrace my BOS.

To make my cingulum, I purchased 3 strands of dark red ribbon-cord each measuring 4 yards (12 feet). Together, the total footage of the 3 strands is 36 feet. The 4 yards correspond to the 4 worlds/universes, the 12 feet to the 12 boundaries [1] of each universe/world, the 3 strands to the 3 lower worlds of creation-formation-making, and the 36 feet to the Essential Unity that still exists between Light and Darkness.

I tied 3 ends, one from each strand, together with a "crown" charm bound up in the knot, then tightly hand braided the 3 strands together. I used a hebrew-english Tanakh as an anchor weight at the bound end as I braided (so that the intertwining would be tight and even). Reaching the other ends, I tied them together with a pentagram charm and knotted it.

By the time the red cord cingulum was completed, it measured 3 yards and 11-13 inches, depending on how tightly or loosely I stretched the cord to measure it (from crown to pentagram). In other words, the entire length of the originally 12 foot single strands was a braided cord measuring 9 feet and 11-13 inches. Eleven [2] is the number of incense spices of Tohu, and represents the rectification and elevation of "evil" back into the realm of holiness (kedushah). Thirteen is the gematria of Echad (אחד).

My witch's cord symbolizes in its construction the first tzimtzum and my trip into existence through the River of Fire (Nahar Dinur). The River of Fire is also called the Shabbat River and the Sambatyon. The braiding symbolizes pivoting over "stones". I still to this day remember the "pivoting everywhichway" through it. The "stones" are the essence of the "letters of creation". We may not all remember the trip, but it is a trip we all made into existence nevertheless.

I do remember "seeing" from "both shores" of the River of Fire. Thus, my red cord is for me a tangible link to both shores of this mystical river which I truly consciously remember, and back into the Malchut of Ein Sof.

Footnotes:

[1] Sefer Yetzirah 5:2

[2] Inner Space, R. Aryeh Kaplan (p. 86)

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Soferet, Ba'alat Magiah On Retzuah Shel Tefillin

If a pair of tefillin was not worn regularly, it is necessary to bring it to a scribe at least twice in seven years to have it checked. Jewish Gates

I dreamt.

My "husband" (whose identity was unknown) and I were moving into a big old mansion of a house of many rooms (see batim) in a small town. The house reminded me of the kind of big old house one sees in scary movies.

It was a huge house with many unique characteristics, nooks and crannies, and hidden places, but it was also a very modest house. It was just big, spacious, unique and full of many rooms. And mostly empty of furniture at this time.

I was going through the house while my husband was away, deciding who would have what room and how to utilize the wondrous spaciousness of the place. The kids each got his or her own little kingdom - in other words, along with the bedroom, each child received extra adjoining rooms around it into which to "expand" his or her domain.

The oldest son got a place of many rooms upstairs, and a rather secluded room in the back of his space, where he could play his loud music, that nobody else in the family liked, just as he pleased and without annoying everyone else. Likewise, the other children got places to fit their unique needs and desires. Everyone would be happy.

There was so much space and so many rooms, allowing me to do this for my kids. And after I finished finding the right rooms and space for my children which brought each joy, there were still many more rooms and much space than I could assign. There was room left for the whole family to expand into. We could even take in guests and boarders, with so much room.

Oddly, I couldn't decide with certainty (see unstable chaos) on which room to take for myself and my husband. (I had to wait until I woke up for it to become clear - see stable chaos- as to why this was so.) The two rooms I considered (see knot and mochin of Leah) first as a single unit wouldn't do at the moment, as I saw these rooms didn't have finished roofs (see tevunah) over them yet and would get wet when it rained [1]. Those two bedrooms were together [2] still being built simultaneously (see the one compartment of the tefillin shel yad).

As I was considering these two rooms together, I saw that outside the windows a lion was lurking. So, the unfinished rooms weren't really safe either.

In the meantime while the roofs were being put on, there were 4 other bedrooms (see the 4 compartments of the tefillin shel rosh) to choose from for my husband and I to dwell safely in (see syag). In the dream, it was a given that my husband and I would need at least two bedrooms (see challah and niddah) for niddah times. And besides, we each needed our own space to expand (2 by 2 = 4, see totafot) into as well as did our children. We had 4 bedrooms (see ul'totafot) we could presently use, plus a big resting room (see hadlakat haner) like a library or personal den [3] where we could relax together.

During all the meandering through our new house, my children came home from school, each happily exploring his or her newly given domain. They were so happy!

The little town, like a small New England town perhaps, liked us too. There were only a few Jews in the little New Englandy town, including us, but we were really wanted there. It felt so good. They liked us. They loved us, in fact.

I explained to my children how we would work the holidays. It was okay to be happy for those of other beliefs. It was okay to say merry christmas to their schoolfriends. It was ok to accept and love their friends as they were.

And their friends did likewise. In my dream, it was truly a situation where everyone appreciated everyone else for his or her uniqueness. I loved this place! Even if there were only a handful of people who were Jewish like me. I absolutely adored this wonderful little town in my dream. We were all going to be truly happy here.

A guest came to our house after my husband came home. He was a friend of my husband's. I ignored him mostly because he was there to visit my husband. But, the guest wanted me to examine (see megihim) his arm, since I was a nurse and it was hurting him. It was his left arm.

He took off his sleeve [1] and I observed that the arm and hand appeared to be badly "coming undone". It was red and swollen yet white [4] and shrunken (see tefillin gassot) at the wrist area like something had been too tight there, squeezing out all the blood (see lifeforce and nefesh). I scanned (see mishmeret STa"M) the arm more closely.

The muscle was windingly coiled (see retzuah) around the arm like cords coming loose and getting ready to fall off [5]. The cords of muscle (see lion syndrome and tiferet) reminded me, even in the dream, of the arm tefillin. His arm was in bad shape. All the muscle was about to fall off. The hand was badly inflamed. It looked burning hot, but it was so raw I dared not touch it lest I make it worse. I didn't have the training or tools to treat his particular ailment myself (da'at, the axis of self-consciousness). He needed to go to the hospital (of divine delight, ta'anug of keter).

I told my husband and his guest that the guest really need to go to the hospital to get his arm and hand medically treated by trained experts at the hospital. It was in seriously bad shape, but if he went now, it wasn't too late to fix it. If he didn't get the arm treated right away, it might require amputation [5] to keep whatever was wrong with the arm from spreading throughout the entire body.

I woke up.

Footnotes:

[1] Tefillin can be damaged by sweat, and Mezuzos by damaged by sun and rain. "Any loss of the squareness may affect the halachic status of the tefillin and therefore if the inner cover on the shel yad gets lost, one should replace it immediately lest the slight daily rubbing of one's sleeve against the bayis damage its shape. Likewise, the author cautions against prolonged exposure to heat, sunlight or moisture." Jewish Observer book review, reviewer R' Lasbish Becker

[2] "The knot of the tefillin of the head is the intermediary between the tefillin of the arm and the head, and the knot is where the mochin of Leah are. And, the tefillin of the arm is where the mochin of Rachel is." R' Eliezer Berland @ Shuvu Bonim. In the dream, the knot is intact and the "roof" (tevunah, comprehension) is being built.

[3] Rectified din if associated with the voice of the shofar, from the same root ספר as sofer (סופר) and soferet (סופרת) - where in this dream, I am a soferet examining the "place" of the tefillin shel yad.

[4] "Harav Moshe Feinstein was asked: How much whiteness on the Tefillin straps renders them invalid? He is quoted (Guide To Practical Halachah, pg. 158) as answering: 'For what is needed for the Shiur, we are stringent - even if a tiny drop is not black the area must be repainted. Beyond that, the amount does not matter unless it is really noticeable.'" R' Doniel Neustadt @ Torah.org

[5] "Reb Elazar Ben Yaakov said that whoever has tefillin on his head and on his arm, tzitzis on his garment, mezuzos on his doors, is assured that he will not sin, as it is stated, 'And a three-ply cord is not easily severed.'" Chazal

artistic credit:
graphic made from woman with tefillin @ Leonard Nimoy Photography

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