A Safe Home For Gargoyle

כ"ח כסלו תשס"ט
Shamash 29

The twenty-eighth shaman stone in my Temple Collection represents the spirit of Gargoyle (Golem). Once a demon creature magically sent to destroy, yet compassionately transformed and given a safe home instead, Gargoyle is an ever-faithful and loyal guardian.

A traditional witch's familiar derived from occultism in general, the stone designated for Gargoyle is carnelian. Of projective energy and elemental fire, carnelian promotes peace and harmony, dispels depression and negativity, prevents skin and blood diseases, prevents insanity and mental instability, stills anger and envy, confers eloquence and patience, bolsters confidence and courage, strengthens the voice and astral vision, and guards against malicious enchantments and storms.

Protected Treasure

ה' באדר ב' תשס"ח
Raven 6

Last week, before the recent terrorist attack in Jerusalem and the murder of Eve Carson, I wrote of a "treasure from the hidden world" which I discovered in my astrological natal chart. In Celtic folklore and many other cultural traditions, like the Golem of Jewish tradition, Gnomes are elemental earth spirits who guard hidden treasure. Gnomes would thus be earth elementals in charge of guarding and protecting my treasure of the hidden world.

Following the recent Jerusalem massacre and the murder of Eve Carson, yesterday Foxnews reported on sightings of a "Gnome" in South America:

Gnome Caught on Video 'Stalking' Streets of Argentina Town
Tuesday, March 11, 2008

A town in South America is living in fear after several sightings of a 'creepy gnome' that locals claim stalks the streets at night, The Sun reports.

The little person — who wears a pointy hat and has a distinctive sideways walk — was caught on video last week by a terrified group of youngsters.

Teenager Jose Alvarez — who filmed the gnome — yesterday told national newspaper El Tribuno that they caught the creature while larking about in their hometown of General Guemes, in the province of Salta, Argentina.

Alvarez added that other locals had come forward to say they had spotted the gnome.

Read the full article at link above.

Faeries, Nature Spirits, Elementals

The Golem Watcher, A Wizard's Familiar

Researching defensive magick, I came across this about "familiars" in Mastering Witchcraft (Paul Huson) which sounds amazing like the magical golem of Jewish tradition.

There are several types of familiars, or magistelli, to give them their more correct title. Basically, there are three types of magistellus.

The third type, and to the individual witch (or wizard), most important type of magistellus is that of the magical servant. This may be a demonic entity who has been "bound" to some magical instrument such as a show stone or mirror, permanently or temporaily. It may also be an elemental creature formed by the combination of your witch (or wizard) power and some natural phenomenon. This type of magistellus becomes the protective spirit or Watcher, a magical guardian of the home. They take time to formulate, but really can prove to be of tremendous value. For unlike the general Earth spells which are effective to guard your home from general bad vibrations, to guard against out-and-out magical attack, a magistellus is ideal; it possesses a definite will of its own, the entire aim of which is to protect the house and those that dwell in it from all offensive sorcery. As such, it is really a magical type of vigilant robot, programmed solely to watch over the safety of the home. A sorcerer's watchdog, in fact.

Interestingly, in Jewish tradition, the term golem (a creature created "artifically" by magical means) is also used to describe newbies to the tradition and Torah study. In other words, ba'alei teshuvah and converts are often used as golems, magistelli and familiars are used. They are "simple" people, in terms of Torah scholarship, and are eagerly looking for acceptance into a community. Consequently, they can easily be used as watchdogs and to "bide the issue" as discussed in a previous entry on Craftwork Of A Jewitch regarding lost curses, where a wizard or witch uses the uniformed to absorb the "cost" of curses that misfire or fail to find the intended victim.

In my own way of thinking, a wizard or witch ought to be willing to take full responsibility for his or her magic. If he or she isn't willing to do this, then something is terribly wrong with the kavanah and/or magic of the wizard or witch, and clearly he or she suspects that the magic may have a cost that he or she is unwilling to pay.

Technorati tags: Torah Talmud Torah Judaism Kabbalah jewish mysticism mysticism jewish meditation meditation shamanism jewish shamanism kabbalah iyunit kabbalah maasit jewitchery witch jewitch jewish woman sacred feminine divine feminine shechinah lilith spiritual development spirituality kosher spirituality golem magistellus

Torah Nistarah & Kli Kibbul

In this post, I discussed a dream involving a golem with a white head. The golem corresponds to a novice Torah scholar. The white head corresponds to the white light of the flame of chochmah and the 3-headed shin (of the tefillin shel rosh) of this world where (The Inner Dimension):

In the flame of a candle one sees three levels of light: the "dark light" around the wick of the candle, the white flame encompassing it, and an amorphous aura around the white flame itself. Each of these three levels of revealed light manifests a dimension contained within the invisible flame present in the coal. In general the flame symbolizes love, as is said: "as mighty as death is love...the flame of God." The dark light corresponds to the love of Israel, souls enclothed within physical bodies. The white light corresponds to the love of Torah. The aura corresponds to the love of God. These are the three essential manifestations of love as taught by the Ba'al Shem Tov.

In this post, I discussed Torah Nistarah in the hidden ark of the keltoi, corresponding to the 4-headed flame of the future world [1] where (The Inner Dimension):

The fourth head of the shin of the future - the revelation of the essence of the coal itself - corresponds to the love of the Land of Israel and, as our Sages teach: "the Land of Israel will in the future spread to incorporate all the lands of the earth."

where subsequently Chaim B. at Mishmar reminds us, the aron and the luchot are one unit:

Ramban assumes that the aron is defined by its place and function in the Mishkan, but according to Rashi, the aron can exist independent of the Mishkan and as an essential component of the luchos themselves.

and where Chaim B. further points out:

R' Soloveitchik explained that the other kelim were sanctified based on their utility in the mishkan; once the mishkan was disassembled, their status as klei kodesh was negated. Only the aron by virtue of its intrinsic connection to the luchos retained its status even when the Mishkan was disassembled and required kohanim for transport. The gemara (Yoma 72b) derives halachos of how a talmid chacham should act from the construction of the aron - just as the physical aron held the luchos, a talmid chacham holds within him the Torah learned. Just as the luchos could not be given without the accompanying aron, a person cannot absorb Torah without first transforming him/herself into a proper "kli kibbul" to receive that Torah. The gemara (Shabbos 32b) writes that amei ha'aretz, the uneducated, are punished for calling the aron kodesh by the name "arna", meaning just a box (see Rashi, maharasha).

Taking all this together, while some may choose to mock me, do not mock my Torah.

Footnote:

[1] The 4-headed shin of binah/imma -> tevunah and imma ila'ah, In the writings of the Arizal it is explained that "the coming world" refers to the level called tevunah, whereas the "future to come" corresponds to the level called imma ila'ah, which is higher. (R' Yitzchak Ginsburgh, The Alef-Beit).

technorati tags: Torah Kabbalah Judaism mysticism jewish mysticism shechinah sacred feminine luchot kil kibbul

It's An Old Halachah

I dreamt.

There is more to the dream than what I'm going to report, which is merely the end of the dream. A master kabbalist, like a combination Jedi warrior-king, was in retirement. He had a son who sat at a medieval-like table in the main receiving hall observing all that was about to transpire. There was no woman or mother to the son around. The Jedi and his son were the only members of his immediate family unit. He and his son comprised his entire core family unit.

A golem came to his place and sought an audience with the retired master Jedi. An audience was granted.

As the golem approached the Jedi master, he picked up the master's hand off a plate (like a scepter might rest on) and handed it to the master. The master Jedi put his hand back on for the audience with the golem. It was like a scepter hand of some sort. He would talk with the golem, Jedi to Jedi.

The golem was trying to convince the retired Jedi-warrior king to come out of retirement for the upcoming war with the aliens. The Jedi-king was reluctant. He had suffered much in battles of the past. His heart was wounded. He wanted to maintain his peaceful retirement. He felt the battle couldn't be won in this time.

The golem was persistent against the Jedi-king's refusal to reenter service as a Jedi warrior. The Jedi-king felt it would likely be futile to try to explain his reluctance to the golem. How could a golem possibly understand his thinking and feeling on the matter!? the Jedi wondered to himself - yet nevertheless, he went over to the golem to try and demonstrate why it was futile for him to even try ...

He put two long thin alien-like fingers on the golem's white [1] robot head. What if the aliens have two fingers? the Jedi asked the golem, as if the two fingers tracing all over the golem's white robot head were a torture of some sort that the golem hated. The golem was silent.

What if the aliens have 3 or 4 fingers? the Jedi upped the trial of the golem, putting 3 and 4 fingers on the golem's white robot head - now the golem broke a heavy sweat. The Jedi put 5 and 6 fingers on the golem's white robot head, saying: what if the aliens have 5 or 6 fingers!? The golem was now sweating profusely, indicating its weakness as a golem. It was having a hard time not breaking out in phobic terror to the 6 fingers on its head. The Jedi was confident that the golem could now see its weakness and the futility of fighting the upcoming battle.

The golem did not deny its achilles-heel weakness, so the Jedi removed the fingers from the golem's sweating terrified head. But, the golem was not perturbed away from its mission to draw the Jedi-king back into service for the upcoming battle, despite its recognition of its own flaw. The golem knew it could not fight the aliens like a seasoned Jedi-warrior king, but it could accomplish what it came to this master Jedi to accomplish - to draw him out of retirement and back into service.

The Jedi had moved away from the golem, sure now that he golem could see the futility of his plea to the Jedi. But the golem had a wild card that the Jedi master could never have imagined - and he played it.

Ok, the golem said, offering up this final wild card argument. The golem's white robot head spit out a piece of paper toward the Jedi - what about this! - the golem challenged as the piece of paper drifted like a feather, falling to the floor between the master Jedi-kabbalist and the golem.

The Jedi-master froze, recognizing the slip of paper. He was astounded, absolutely astounded! He stood frozen with amazement for a moment looking at the slip of paper before picking it up. As the Jedi's fingers picked up the slip of paper, the memory flooded back.

He remembered the prophecy a black woman had delivered to him during his youth, when he was a young Jedi warrior. She hadn't understood the prophecy, but she had delivered to him this note with the message-prophecy (which consisted of some old obscure halachah that not many people remembered) written on it for sometime in the future - the contents of the note may have been sent to him from his Jedi superior officers at the time.

I could hear the words she had said to the Jedi-warrior as she had handed over the note to him in that ancient time ... it's an old halachah ... she had shruggingly told the Jedi-warrior, handing over the note with the prophecy-halachah written on it.

As he had looked down at the same slip of paper the woman had delivered so long ago as it had lain on the floor at his feet, the Jedi-king knew! the prophecy was true!

The golem knew his mission was a success. He could read the Jedi's reaction. The Jedi-warrior king, in picking up the slip of paper, was leaving retirement and reentering service as not only a Jedi-warrior, but now, as a Jedi-warrior king.

I woke up, with the words - it's an old halachah - reverberating in my mind.

Footnote:

[1] The white flame corresponds to the love of Torah. The Inner Dimension on the letter shin ש.

technorati tags: Torah Kabbalah Halachah

Secret Of Aharon's Staff

As mentioned in the previous post, the teli (תל-י) is an awesomely chaotic creative yet destructive force when unrestrained by proper middot. In contradistinction, a talmidah (תל-מידה) chachamah has brought down and incorporated the power of the teli in "proper measure". So, in reality, the teli is just another name for the "staff" of a "new" golem; in other words, a beginning student of Sitre Torah.

Rabbi Dovid Rosenfeld writes:

The Hebrew word golem literally means an unfinished object, such as a utensil which has been shaped but not polished. (This term is more famous for the artificial humans created via kabbalistic means -- who too are not- fully-functional creatures.) Thus, our mishna is comparing the qualities of a "finished", mature scholar to one of less advanced scholarship.

teli -> golem -> talmid -> talmid chacham
mateh -> perach -> tzitz -> shkedim

technorati tags: talmud torah torah kabbalah chassidut Judaism kehunah golem