Stunning Golden Measures Which Regulate

כ״ה בתמוז תשע"א
Faunus 27

In follow-up to previous posts (Ner Tamid, Travellers' Sphere of Protection, Goldener Apfel) on this blog and my shoppe blog, I note that just a few days ago, during the infamous Three Weeks, it was announced that an ancient Golden Bell from the Kohen Gadol's garment was excavated near the wall of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem (HT - Mystical Paths for pointing this out today).

This is interesting, given the announcement's synchronicity with my new Golden Candles (see first line end-links above) and the fact that the priestly Golden Bells are associated specifically with a Kohen Gadol embarked upon a traveling expedition (see first line middle link above).

Usually translated as 'a Golden Bell,' the Hebrew phrase פַּעֲמֹן זָהָב may alternatively be translated as 'a Golden Metronome.' The word metronome derives from Greek metron (meaning 'measure') and nomos (meaning 'regulating'). The Hebrew word from which both translations (bell and metronome) derive comes from the shoresh פעם which can mean several things, including 'stunning' and 'to surge' (emotionally or psychically). Certainly, my Golden Candles are beautifully stunning and surge with mystically magical emotive fire.

Also, in synchronicity, the Hebrew Torah phrase not only mentions "Stunning Golden Measures which Regulate," but also, the next phrase in the Torah text following "a golden bell" is וְרִמּוֹן - "and a pomegranate" - a new candle set also posted on my shoppe blog the same day as the Golden Apple, see my stunning Midnight Pomegranate votives and tapered pillar here and here.

So, synchronicities keep piling up.

Tzaraat, The Mystery Under The Skin

כ״ג בסיון תש"ע
Mab 24

Last night I dreamt.

Too normal.

Something like in the television series V, there were aliens among us with a plan to infiltrate and destroy humanity. Though the V aliens and the aliens in my dream were of the same intent - to destroy humanity - there was a critical difference between them, and it had to do with what was under the skin.

Unlike the aliens in V, the aliens in my dream weren't like us only skin deep. The aliens in the tv series are completely alien underneath the human skin they grow and cover themselves with to look like us on the surface. Underneath their skin, the V aliens are completely reptilian.

In my dream, alien intelligences infiltrated and infected human bodies. Once a human body was infected by an alien intelligence, it completely took over that body - the human being once in it was no longer there, but driven out. The human body completely became an avatar of the alien. The avatar body of the alien was completely human - there was no way one human could tell if another humanoid being was human or alien by just looking at it or through any medical, surgical or radiologic procedure. Either a human being or an alien being could inhabit any particular human body. The aliens looked so normal, too normal perhaps. Real human beings are just not normal. None of us are normal really, we are all flawed in some special, distinguishing way. There was nothing biologically to distinguish the aliens from us, either on the surface of their skin, in their DNA, or in their internal structure - for their bodies were human bodies emptied of the human being.

But, sometimes a human being would come to suspect that another person in his or her group might actually be an alien intelligence. There was nothing he or she could put their finger on - the person was obviously normal, but there was also something just under the surface, something not obvious, something just not normal about the person. The person seemed just a bit too normal to be a real human being. Real human beings are not really completely normal. We are all missing at least a few screws somewhere.

The Mystery of Tzaraat

When a human suspected that another might be an alien intelligence, the suspected person was brought into a special room hidden in a special place. The room was a hidden scientific laboratory set up by humanity in which an antidote to the alien infection was sought. There was also a special seeing device in the room through which it could be visualized (like a near-infrared or ultrasound device helps locate veins for vascular access) if the suspected humanoid brought to the attention of the scientific team in the room was an alien or a human being.

The scientific team leader looked at the suspect standing in the special place. If the humanoid was alien, the leader could see just under the skin thin white patches. These thin white patches scattered underneath the skin were visualized by the leader as patches of dense, highly concentrated areas of energy swirling so fast that to anyone else, they were invisible (like electrons in an electron cloud). The white patches were pancaked like a thin flat white electron cloud of vibrating energy underneath the surface of the alien humanoid's skin.

Kehunah

Humans could not be distinguished from the aliens sent to destroy us by the appearance of our skin, genetically or by the internal constitution of the body. It was only by the presence or absence of these thin white patches of vibrating energy just underneath the skin that human beings could be distinguished from the alien intelligences infiltrating to destroy us.

I saw the white patches under the suspect's skin. He was an alien with an intent to destroy us.

I woke up, wondering what we were going to do now that we had that knowledge and had made a clear distinction. Being human beings, what would we do now?

Pagan Priestess

כ"א ברמחשון תש"ע
Phasma Priscus 22

In follow-up to Mystery of the White Bull and The Constant of Kinna Ha-Katuv, I note that I faced the tornadic waves of ocean water. The man I also faced opened his eyes while standing in the pouring rain. Interestingly, these two facts of trivia also connect to the mysteries of Lost and to my Torah commentary for last week, The Demon Dance.

The four-toed statue under which Jacob finds protection through time is the Mistress of the Innundation (particularly that at Khenu כנו), the horizon (the future), magic and mystical mountains, Taweret. Guardian of the north, fierce Taweret is an awesome protectress, both in the world and out of it simultaneously. Even standing on one foot.

in velt ouis velt

Elder Staff

כ"ט כסלו תשס"ט
Shamash 30

The twenty-nineth shaman stone in my Temple Collection represents the spirit of Elder Staff, the card I drew last evening in a Hidden Path divination. On Elder Staff it is written [1]:

In ancient times, among some tribes it was believed that trees were the dwelling place of a god or goddess. This is one reason why sacred groves were established. A branch was taken from the tree and carried by the priestess or priest as a sign of her or his connection to the diety of the grove.

This is particularly interesting to me given that this divination occurred in the evening of the morning that I had my waking vision encounter with a tree and it's faerie door. Thus, for me, Elder Staff represents both my own inner Druid Priestess and my link to other Elder Druids throughout all time.

On Elder Staff it is also written [1]:

The Elder Staff informs us that the path we walk takes us through worlds not known by the average person in life. The message of this card is to live and walk the chosen path with lasting devotion and represents the inner mystery that light is at home in the darkness, and that enlightenment is found by passing through the night.

The appearance of Elder Staff officially marks my rite of passage from the dark night of the soul into a period of enlightenment.

As the shaman stone for Elder Staff I have designated an exquisite specimen of agatized coral. The fossilized skeletal remains of a sea creature, coral contains the "life essence of the Mother Goddess who dwelled in the ocean in a tree of coral." [2] Coral's powers include healing, peace, wisdom, regulating menstration, agriculture, and protection (against the evil eye, demons, furies, succubi, incubi, phantasma and all manner of ills, accidents, violence, theft, poison, possession, shipwreck and sterility).

Footnotes:

[1] The Seeker's Guide to the Hidden Path, Raven Grimassi and Stephanie Taylor

[2] Crystal, Gem and Metal Magic, Scott Cunningham

Related entry - Transformation of a Demon Creature

Priestess Principle

י' חשון תשס"ת
Phasma Priscus 12

Designated today, the tenth shaman stone in my Temple Collection is a blood red garnet (my birthstone), corresponding to the Fire Spirit. The Spirit of Fire epitomizes the Priestess Principle of the soul which wyrdly and wholistically links together lifetimes. Her alchemical animal totem is the phoenix, symbolic of Eternal Lifeforce.

Chayyah, The Garnet Fire Faerie


Related entry: Fire By Night, The Divine Torch

Otherworld Mystery Of The Generations

witch alder in autumn

ג' חשון תשס"ת
Phasma Priscus 5

Be careful that you choose for yourselves proper individuals, and they should be members of the society who have been screened. When you come and stand before the door of the Sixth Chamber, show three seals to the guardians of the door. Show two seals to Katzpiel ... [from the text of Heikhalot Rabbati ]

Missing

Three dreams I dreamt of events concerning my purse, which in dreamspeak oftentimes symbolizes one's "identity" and material blessings. I just woke up from the third dream.

Two nights ago I dreamt - among the complexity of moving everbody's office locations around, my purse became missing. I feared it might have been stolen, because I couldn't find it. I and everyone else with me looked for it. Was there a thief among us? The question remained unanswered in the dream.

Last night I had two dreams, waking for a short time between them.

Kaphtziel, Maat's Feather, Found

First of the two, I dreamt I was going to visit another world. I packed my luggage for the trip as did a friend of mine. We went together with a group. Before we went to the station of departure to the Otherworld, we were lodged overnight in hotels. I never saw the hotel(s) where others in the group stayed. I stayed apart from the group in a separate hotel. The hotel I stayed in was exquisite and elegant. The pool area was an elegant garden, like one might find a palace garden to be. The water in the pool was sparkling clear. After resting, I rejoined the group and we continued on our way.

The trip could be fatally dangerous for one not of proper energetic alignment. It was an entirely safe trip if one's energetic structure was made of a nature aligned with that of the World to which we were going. Those of us making the trip were a small select group of people chosen because of our likelihood to survive the trip safely. We had been prepared to make it.

We went up into the skies to get to the Otherworld. We were instructed by the Navigator on how to make the jump. The jump and drop down was a most dangerous time. We were above a boundary over the Otherworld. We had to each drop as individuals through the boundary. It could shatter and tear an unprepared soul apart. Looking down from the station in the sky from which we would "drop" into the Otherworld, I saw a blanket of dense clouds. Suddenly, a path through the clouds for each of us parted and we each jumped out the door of Samhain Sabbat Shabbat.

I dropped, picking up speed and falling very fast in the greater mid portion of my descent after an initial slow fall. As I came nearer to the ground of the Otherworld, my descent steadily slowed, until I landed very gently like a feather upon the receiving station in the Otherworld.

The group gathered there and we were each met by an Otherworldy being who would escort us from the receiving station into the New World. We each gathered our luggage which had also arrived and prepared ourselves to continue on into the New World. I looked around for my purse - I hoped I hadn't lost it. Before continuing on, I searched my luggage for the presence of my purse. Opening one of my large suitcases, there was my purse safely tucked away among my clothes in my suitcase. "Thank God! Thank Goddess!" I said very quietly upon finding my purse, embracing the witch in me. I found it! One among the group of travelers and Otherworldly beings said quietly "sorry Father" after hearing me add "thank Goddess", as if apologizing for me, as if my saying "thank Goddess" had offended the Divine. He meant well, but the apology was unnecessary. The Divine has no problem at all with "thank Goddess." We came together as a group, and turned as one to step into the New World. I woke up.

The second of the two dreams last night had many connected scenes, the last two I remember.

Katzpiel, Attempted Theft

First remembered scene - my magic rug (carpet) was accepted into the game. The players on the playing field took it from me as I held it out to them through the fence behind which the spectators watched the game. They ran with it around the field holding it up like a banner. They ran the entire space of the field with it, as if my magic carpet-banner was casting a spell for our team's victory. After completing the covering run, the players brought my magic carpet-banner back to me, handing it over to me through the fence as it had been given.

Second remembered scene - as a nurse (I don't work as a staff nurse any longer at this point in my real life), I was being sent over from my home unit to help out on another unit. A male doctor observed me walk over to the other unit with my purse. When I arrived at the other unit, a female doctor was sitting at the nurse's station while the regular nurses of the unit were preparing to work their shift. I asked where I could lock up my purse while I helped them out. The nurses pointed to the rows of lockers along the concrete wall. One of the nurses said to me, "you can put your purse in one of the lockers." There were many open and available lockers, but none of them had a lock. The nurses and the female doctor wanted me to put my purse into an unlockable locker and go out onto the floor and work. I wasn't going to do it. "I need somewhere where I can lock up my purse while I work,", I said. I was told there were no locks here for me to use with which to secure my purse. They were "pushy", trying to make me leave my purse unsecured. They rolled their eyes and became agitated with me, trying to make me think I was being paranoid as opposed to being responsible for wanting to secure my purse in unfamiliar and unsecured public surroundings. When I refused to put my purse in an unsecured location, they became subtly but clearly hateful toward me. They were angry that I would not leave my purse where it could be stolen. I knew then that someone there wanted to steal my purse and as a group, were trying to make me feel to be the unreasonable one for expecting to be able to lock up my purse. They also tried to make me feel to be a failure as nurse because of my reluctance to go to work (and help them and the patients out) without first securing my purse while in the public place. I told them I was going back to my home unit to get the lock off my own personal locker because I wasn't going to work there with my purse unsecured as I worked. I turned and walked away with my purse in hand.

I woke up.

Last evening before going to bed on Samhain night, I performed a divination using the Hidden Path. The Triformis card was drawn. Symbolism of this card includes:

The number 3 - corresponding to the three purse dreams, containing for me the trifold message of lost, found and attempted theft of my purse (symbolizing identity of soul and material blessings).

One key in the card hangs from the Goddess's left arm, symbolizing the Core Principle from which all mysteries originate, and the role of the Divine Feminine as gatekeeper to and revealer of the mysteries. The key of the card confirms that the attempted theft of my "identity" was foiled. I have the key and my purse is secure.

The lunar crown of the Goddess, worn upon her forehead in the card, symbolizes the Unified Nature of the Triangle of Manifestation. As such, the crown of the Goddess corresponds to the Worlds of Emanated Manifestation (Atzilut, Beriyah and Yetzirah - including the origin of the Keter/Da'at-Malchut of Assiyah in Ateret Hayesod) and the World of Unified Nature (Kadmon) united in completeness (Unity throughout Multiplicity). Kadmon contains "three general levels of Divine Essence in life." Within the physical vessel of the witch herself rests the Malchut of Malchut, and through her the Malchuyot of all Worlds are United.

I wore one of my crowns and went as the witch that I am to work yesterday for Samhain. It was great fun!

The three purse dreams are the three seals. The two dreams occurring on Samhain, where the second dream of Samhain during the Torah portion of Noah, consists of two remembered scenes (two by two) are the two seals.

Sabbath Soul From The Mist Of Ab Duir

כ"ו תשרי התשס"ט
Blodlessing 27

Sabbath Soul From The Mist of Ab Duir at Garden Of The Dark Moon Jubilee

The Holy Half-Shekel & Removal Of Death Tumah

כ'א באייר תשס"ח
Mab 22

The night before last night (Saturday night following Shabbat), I dreamt. There is more to this dream than I am going to blog, but here is the end of the dream.

I was with a rabbi, believe it or not. I'm not sure exactly what our connection was, but he had taken me up for some reason, like a teacher or advocate or something.

He took me into the inner outer court of "the temple" (which was like a makeshift diaspora shul) covered within the folds of his cloak or robes of some sort. After we were inside, I came out from among the folds and stood there within the midst of the room.

There was a long table in the middle of the room where judges sat. The head judge sitting at the middle of the table was a woman.

A large group of people came into the room from the outside. I was now surrounded by a large group of Christians whom had agreed to pay $50 per person for the opportunity to see inside the temple. Some of them began to secretly and quietly sing Christian hymns around me, which seemed to try to incorporate me as one "lost" in the crowd among them. I didn't feel they were doing this specifically to me, but to the temple room itself (as if trying to imprint the walls with the presence of their song). I felt so unseen and marginalized standing there surrounded by people to whom I did not belong. I could hear them because I was surrounded by them. The others inside could not. I wanted them to go away, I was feeling smothered and suffocated by the covert singing of hymns by some of them.

The head woman judge spoke to the crowd who had each agreed to pay $50 to be there at that moment, surrounding me, and told them that their $50 worth of time was over now, to bring the money forward to pay for their visit, and directed them that it was now time to leave the shul-temple. Visiting time was over. Each one was to bring his or her $50 to the person at the end of the table collecting the money for the visit.

The head woman judge looked at me. "I don't have $50, I didn't agree to pay $50," I said. "I'm not one of this group. I came in with him," I said, pointing to the rabbi who was standing away from the whole fiasco. The rabbi acknowledged me. The group left and I stayed behind in the room.

We all went into another less formal room. Everyone was now chanting Hebrew prayers and such things. The head woman judge said to me, "Do you think you could fit here?" "I don't know", I said, "I haven't said the prayers in a long time."

The scene changed. Now the rabbi was using me as a divining tool of some sort. He was holding me around the waist and I was leaning out from the waist, like we were attached at the waist. My arms and hands were free floating out into the space in front of us, as if my fingertips were "smelling" the air. I did not consciously direct the movement of my arms/hands, they moved as if they were a sense organ seeing what could not be seen, leading us toward something.

My fingertips touched different places in space and we all followed were they led. Suddenly, my fingertips turned around and I touched myself.

We were then inside a cave where a woman had been held captive for a long time. At first, the cave appeared empty. Again, I was used as a divining tool. There was dirty iron pot sitting on the ground near one corner of the back wall where waste had once been collected during her captivity. The rest of the cave was immaculately clean and well kept for a cave. She had been held prisoner here for a long time. Where was she now?

I looked and found a shallow grave, like a bump in the floor shaped like a body. Her body was still in it, protectively covered over by tightly woven soil (held together by fine plant roots) like an earthen shroud. With my hand, and my face near her face, I was able to poke through into the woven soil around her face, into the space in front of her face, and then started to pull back all the woven soil which protectively covered and sheltered her from the deathly dankness of the cave. As I did, exposure to the fresh air (we had brought with us by finding and opening to enter the cave) agreed with her. She didn't disintegrate like a mummy or once-enshrouded dead body exposed to air might have. Instead, death left her body and she came back to life. The shroud made of woven soil had kept safe her life.

We had to get her to the surface, and did quickly. Once on the surface, she was me I think. I could make no distinction between us. The rabbi pulled something away from us. It looked like a huge slate blue rock the size of a small boulder covered with a filmy luminescent membrane like that which covers a newborn. The thin membrane isolated the bulk of the rock from contact with everything else and held it congealed together like a ball. I knew what it was - it was death tumah. He threw it out into the water which was flowing like a river, to be carried away in the current of running water.

I woke up.

Coarse Grains Of Redemptive Blessing

י'ד בניסן תשס"ח
Annwyn 15

In follow up to Transformative Pesach Prophecy, several elucidating ideas emerge from Ceridwen's cauldron of transformative prophecy.

Pesach-Beltaine Connection

Pesach Sheni is May 19 (Iyar 14, corresponding to the time we count the 30th day of the Omer) and astrological Beltaine (Beltaine Sheni) is May 4 (Annwyn 30) this year of 5768. Consequently, both Pesach Sheni and Beltaine Sheni come together through a "time" value of 30.

Ceridwen is associated in Celtic witchcraft with Beltaine. Yet, Ceridwen delivered to me a prophecy associated with Pesach. Taken together, Ceridwen represents for me stepping above the time of both, transcendently joining together Pesach and Beltaine.

As a lunar goddess, Ceridwen is linked with blessings bestowed through Yesod into Malchut. Pesach Rishon this year is April 20 (Nissan 15). The full moon of the witches' month of Annwyn is called the Drawing Down The Moon full moon, also on April 20 (Annwyn 16), suggesting a time through which the redemptive blessings are bestowed is April 20, which is the date of both Pesach Rishon and the Drawing Down full moon of Annwyn.

Grains Of Redemptive Blessing

The blessings bestowed from Ceridwen's cauldron are redemptive, drawn down from the powerful full moon which marks redemption from Mitzrayim, which is Pesach in Jewish tradition.

In Celtic tradition, six sacred grains of spellcraft were brewed as a grael in Ceridwen's cauldron. In terms of middot (measures), 6 grains = 388.79346 milligrams.

388 is the gematria of למשיח meaning "belonging to Mashiach"

79346 represents the five letters ודגטז, where five identifies the Divine Feminine of both Binah and Malchut. The five letters have a combined gematria of 29 - the same gematria as a Torah word used in Bereshit 48:16 to bestow blessing upon both children of Yosef, namely וידגו meaning "and let them grow".

And Yisrael blessed them saying, "let my name be named in them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth."

Taken together, Ceridwen's cauldron contains and "bestows the receptive" blessing "belonging to Mashiach" and "of Yisrael", suggesting that Ceridwen is the unified feminine archetype corresponding to masculine Yisrael. Importantly, Ceridwen represents she who bestows the blessing which ignites messianic consciousness, causing it to grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth, as waters cover the sea. Within the letter-sets of both blessings are the letters of the sha'ar (gate) דג, implying quick multiplication in great numbers.

The word וידגו (of Yisrael's blessing) begins with the letter ו, with a value of six, like the six grains of spellcraft brewed in Ceridwen's cauldron. Similarly, the letter-set ודגטז (of Ceridwen's blessing) also begins the the letter ו.

Yet differently, the word of Yisrael's blessing ends with a ו (the letter of connection) while the letter-set of Ceridwen's blessing ends with a ז (the letter of selection). Thus, Ceridwen's blessing represents the extension of Yisrael's blessing into manifest reality. Also, his blessing contains the letter י (a letter of projective energy, שפע), while her blessing contains the letter ט (a letter of receptive energy, קבל).

Ceridwen (Boudicca) and Yisrael (Yaakov) are parallel quantum coarse grains (one primarily an involutionary stream and one primarily an evolutionary stream of consciousness), who together, decohere consciousness into manifest history as described in my poem Coarse Grained Histories, Dialog With The Divine.

Related entry: Ceridwen Candle Dressing Oil

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

Dreams "Of Five"

כ'ז בתשרי תשס"ח

I'm not the only one dreaming in a set "of five" over the holy days. My "dream of five" occurred on the shabbat on the heel of Simchat Torah. Judah HaKohain's "dream of five" occurred Hoshanah Rabbah.

My dream of five was structured as one dream in five seamlessly connected parts (like the five books of Torah) over a single night. I did not awaken between the parts, nor was there any break of consciousness between them.

Judah's dream was one dream repeated five times over a single night. Judah HaKohain writes about his "dream of five":

I would not give the dream too much thought except for the fact that I kept waking up from it, falling back asleep and then I dreamed the same dream all over again. This happened five times in the same night.

That two individuals experienced "dreams of five" over this year's holy days is interesting, I think.

Two Goats, Nogeáh V'eino Nogeáh

ט' בתשרי תשס"ח

In follow-up to my previous entry (Mind On The Mountaintop) for Erev Yom Kippur, I noted in the comments to that entry my dream from a day or two earlier:

I had a dream. I accidentally drove over a cliff on a curving mountain road. It wasn't a scary dream. I was very objective through it and thought "I'm not going survive this." So, I said the Shema in the dream. Then I woke up. I had been driving down the mountain from the top.

Michael Berg, of the infamous Kabbalah Centre, writes about A Great Secret Of Yom Kippur:

There is a first part of the reading. It speaks about the death of Nadav and Avihu, the two children of Aaron. Why do we read about the death of the two children of Aaron on Yom Kippur? We know there are no coincidences. There is a reason this story precedes the discussion of the process of Yom Kippur.

Rabbi Berg goes on to write:

We also know today is the death anniversary of Rabbi Akiva, the death anniversary of Rav Ashlag. All those three are not a coincidence.

How do we understand that and how do we put it together? It says that when Rabbi Akiva was about to leave this world, it was a time when the Romans ruled the land of Israel. They did not want Rabbi Akiva to continue to teach, but he did, and was captured by the Romans.

The story is the Romans took combs of steel and were scraping his skin from his body to make his death what they thought was the most torturous possible.

As this process was happening, Rabbi Akiva began to say the Sh’ma. As he was beginning the process of leaving this world, his students said, don’t continue the prayer. Because they knew if he completed the prayer he would leave this world.

Rabbi Akiva said, all my life I have been waiting and worried about this verse, which speaks about giving over ourselves completely. When will I be able to completely do this process? Now I have the opportunity. How can I give it up?

Rabbi Akiva ended the Sh’ma and, as he said the word echad, his soul left.

So why did I wake up after saying the Shema in my dream? ס

The kabbalists teach a very interesting concept, that every action we do of sharing, of connection, is an action that has within it the power to achieve complete dvchut, complete union with the Light of the Creator. Not only that, the truly righteous, the true kabbalists, did that. When they came to the morning connection, they would put all of their life force into that connection. So how did they stay alive after the prayer?

The kabbalists teach that within the action itself is Light that returns the soul to the body. Because it’s a day to talk about truly high concepts, the true kabbalists completely gave themselves over in every connection that they made. They made that union, that dvchut, in every action of connection. Their entire being, their entire soul, went into that action.

The only reason their soul came back to their body is because the Light shines back to them. This is a battle for true righteous people to hold themselves back and keep their soul in their body. When they made that connection to the Light within the action, their soul wanted to connect completely. For a kabbalist, a truly righteous person, the physical body limits their ability to connect to the Light. They never want to return to their body after they make a connection, but the Creator says, you still have a job to do in your body.

As I wrote when describing my story in the comments over at DovBear:

This story isn't over yet.

It has newly begun. Walking On Fire is a living witness to that which began over a decade ago, and to the brilliantly transformative power singularly tied to the higher service (mesirut nefesh) of the goat for Azazel - אתהפכא חשוכא לנהורא.

The two goats are One on the mountain of paradox, walking the earth yet hovering the summit, touching yet not touching. חי

My vision of the Mountain of Paradox, like a visionary brit milah, occurred on the eighth day of Tishrei. I wrote of and elucidated it on the ninth day of Tishrei. I woke up from my dream, so I imagine that unlike Rabbi Akiva at the hands of the Romans centuries ago, I will awaken still among the living tomorrow on the tenth day of Tishrei as well. חי

Hashra'ah & Prophetic Imagination

ג' בתשרי תשס"ח

Earlier this evening when I began posting my Rosh Hashanah vision (Wrestling, Redeeming & Sanctifying Truth) my technorati blog "authority" was still 33. I just now noticed after posting my newest original "prophetic" incense recipe (Cauldron Of Creation) that my blog "authority" has "sharpened/focused" into 30.

Interesting. A synchronicity of details with the universe.

Thirty is the gematria of the Hebrew letter lamed (ל), containing among its mystical meanings the following:

*Divine inspiration (hashra'ah)

*the higher Shechinah

*prophetic imagination breaking into the rational intellect

*malchut

*creating a new heavens and a new earth

Imhotep & Kriat Yam Suf

י"א באלול תשס"ז

I dreamt.

My little group and I were fleeing pursuers set on destroying or enslaving us. We came to the sea. If we can just get past the creature of the sea, we thought, we will have safely escaped. Those pursuing us wouldn’t be able to get past the creature of the sea, and if they followed us into the sea, they would be slowed down, swallowed up by it, and drown.

We stood on the shore facing into the sea. The waters piled up and created a (paradoxically) distinct yet indistinct place for us to walk through. The creature of the sea was of the waters that piled up, making our walking place. One thing is indistinctly yet distinctly clear, the creature of the sea was neither a fish nor a creature “distinct” from the sea. In other words, the formless creature of the sea was formed of the piled up waters of the sea (another paradox), much in the same manner as Imhotep’s face was formed of the waters which tried to swallow up those in the flying machine in “The Mummy” (or “The Mummy Returns”) movie. The creature of the sea was a male essence, not a female essence like Lilith or Tiamat (as I have read in the midrash and various other mythologies).

We walked into the midst of the sea (guarded by the mouth of the creature of the sea), and emerged safely on the same side of the shore from which we had entered. Yet, we were not in the same place, even though we were in the same place. Another paradox. We were on a different level now and no longer in any real danger. In other words, we were immune to the danger that still existed at the lower level we had left behind and no longer occupied. It was as if our pursuers were now completely immaterial and no longer even existed for us. They were mere illusionary figments of disappearing vapor in a dream. And magic poof – they were gone, not one of them remaining.

I woke up.

James Henry Breasted says of Imhotep (whose name means "the one who comes in peace"): "In priestly wisdom, in magic, in the formulation of wise proverbs; in medicine and architecture; this remarkable figure of Zoser's reign left so notable a reputation that his name was never forgotten. He was the patron spirit of the later scribes ..."

Interestingly, yesterday evening I chose the new Egyptian style solid silver finger stylus and solid bronze (like the Temple laver depicting the basin of the Yam Suf) dipping inkwell (a semi-sphere) I will use to scribe within the pages my Book of Shadows, Sefer Tzelem. Although an expense for me, I decided on sight that these scribal tools were an expense worthy of my Jewitchery, even though only today as I blog this entry am I discovering the symbolism inhered within the tools I chose.





And this is the (Temple pathways knotwork) vessel I chose to keep my small container of scribal ink within.



Related entry:
2-3 Berries From The Uppermost Bough

Distinctive Cover

כ"ח באב תשס"ז

This afternoon the dark moon is new in Leo, the lion. The Temple is referred to as "the lion". With a soul-quality of Chochmah (Wisdom), the lion symbolizes the intellectual experience of new intuitive vision, the Hebrew letter tet, and through tet, to the bed upon which one rests.

In Celtic mysticism, the goddess Ceridwen is the keeper of the Holy Cauldron of transformative inspiration and Wisdom.

Transliterated into Hebrew letters, Ceridwen is שׂרדון. From the shoresh, שׂרד meaning "being distinctive", the root is employed in Shemot 35:19 to describe the distinctive cover [1] over the holy place worn by the Kohen Hagadol. The suffix "ון" implies continuity of action, perpetuation and everlasting, eternal faithfulness [2].

Thus, the name Ceridwen is a name of eternal faithfulness which distinctively covers the Holy Cauldron and brings down new intuitive Wisdom and visionary inspiration.

In observation of the dark new moon in Leo this afternoon, I will be kindling a 7.5" X 2" herbally charged black pillar, inscribed with the words לשׂרדון בקדש, dressed with Witch's Brew oil and sprinkled with Delight incense, on my altar. A Celtic incense blend will be burned in parallel.

Footnotes:

[1] See the new distinctive cover I recently purchased for my bed, Tree of Life Tapestry.

[2] The Wisdom In The Hebrew Alphabet, R' Michael Munk

Related entries:
Perspective On Ceridwen Transliteration
Shamanic Vs. Modernist Mindset

Shown Shamir

י"ג באב תשס"ז

I dreamt a many-faceted dream this morning.

In much of the dream, I was like a demon-buster. I was taken to places to drive out demons and send them back to their source (which I did). Yet, in the midst of all the action, there was one point where I was walking alone to some place, and as I walked, I came upon a huge worm-like living creature also "walking" alone and returning to its lair after doing whatever it had been doing in the world I found myself in.

The worm-like living creature was the shamir as described in midrash regarding Solomon. I knew it.

I was shown Shamir.

On the shamir, Immanuel Velikovsky writes:

The names of the twelve tribes were inscribed on the twelve semi-precious stones of the Urim and Tummim, the breastplate of the High Priest, not by carving, but by writing with a certain fluid and “showing” them to Shamir, or exposing them to its action. In the opinion of modern authors, the expression “was shown to Shamir”—“clearly shows it was the glance of a living being which effected the splitting of wood and stones.”2 It is admitted, however, that “in the Talmudic-Midrashic sources it is never explicitly stated that the Shamir was a living creature.”3

Indeed. In addition to dreaming this morning explicitly about the shamir, yesterday afternoon I received my witch's order which included the new spellcraft materials of aloeswood (used to intensify power of tikun-tohu blends) and a ritual candle for the upcoming Sabbat, Llughnasadh (initiating the harvest season, corresponding to "joy" as found in the final hei of the tetragrammaton). The Llughnasadh ritual candle contains within the top of the yellowgold wax a tiger eye stone, a stone of well-being. שלום

In addition to the tigereye stone I now have, on my altar is a green stone of abundance, transformation and healing, chrysoprase. שלום רב

Tzitz Of A Flame

י"ג באב תשס"ז

While the melting wax of last evening's black ritual candle wakes up a witch, the melting wax from this shabbat morning's black ritual candle inscribed with the words "happiness nes נס" and dressed with Feminine Clarity shabbat oil created the form of a 3-shin with a "bud" (tzitz ציץ) on the right flame of it. It is good.

The appearance of a tzitz on a 3-shin in the wax over the wax of the waking witch indicates that the witch's waking is at the stage of manifest potential called koach. This stage immediately precedes actualization into reality. Actuality is called poal.

Blessings Descend Upon Covered Eyes

ח' בתמוז תשס"ז

In my previous entry I discussed Bilaam's experience of prophecy with uncovered eyes, correlating "uncovered" to "unprotected", while Ibn Ezra posits "uncovered" to mean "open" in terms of "open" to receive prophecy.

"Openness" would make sense in terms of receiving prophetic cursing, which Bilaam was hired to do.

In contrast to prophetic cursing, reception of prophetic blessing depends on "covered" eyes. Rabbi Yaakov Asher Sinclair writes regarding the "prophetic" blessings which flow from the Kohanim:

In the time of the Holy Temple, when the kohanim would bless the people, they would raise their hands over their heads and make a space between the third and fourth fingers of hands. When they recited the blessing using the ineffable Name of G-d, the Shechina, the Divine Presence, would rest on their hands. Although the Shechina no longer rests on the hands of the kohanim, to this day they still cover their heads and hands with their prayer shawls when they recite the blessing.

But maybe we could also understand a different symbolism behind the covering of the kohens hands.

Our Sages teach us that blessing only descends on things that are hidden from the eye, that the eye doesn't see.

Thus, we can understand that blessings descend when, like the hands of the Kohanim, the eyes are covered. Consequently, the kruv which covered my lifted eyes this past Shabbat during the tarot reading, also brought to me blessings, which at that time were hidden from my "covered" eyes, where the Presence of the blessings only today I now see.

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

Kav B'Emtza

א' בתמוז תשס"ז

I've discovered yet another explicit connection between this week's parashah (Chukat) and my shabbat experience this past Friday night.

זאת חקת התורה

The word chukat (חקת) is the 9th word of the Torah portion Chukat. The number 9 corresponds to the Hebrew letter tet and symbolizes a bed. While at first I tried to sleep in the bed this past shabbat, I ended up sleeping on the floor before/beyond (depending on perspective) a door in room 6.

In my previous entry, I posited a seder of events:

the shabbat preceding the portion Chukat
chukat as a door
the reality of a vav-Torah

This past Friday night (zayin-et), I moved from the bed (chukat as the 9th word) to before/beyond the door (the final digit sum of chukat) in room 6 (where 6 corresponds to the central letter vav of haTorah).

In other words, my explicit reality incorporates the entire phrase זאת חקת התורה and it focused that night into the central letter (kav b'emtza) of a vav-Torah.

Reish. Today, I clarified it.

Hei. And expressed it in writing.

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

Shamanic Heartwalk - Unifying Covenants

ל' בסיון תשס"ז

Last night following my father's cardiac surgery yesterday morning, my mother and I were hosted in the hospital's Guest House for families of ICU patients who live out of town. The Guest House was so clean, everyone had to wear surgical booties over their shoes to walk in it.

We slept in room 6 (as my father slept in the cardiovascular ICU on the 8th floor). The Guest House was elegant and the beds were gorgeous, but I couldn't sleep. My mind was occupied. It was too quiet. I tossed and turned for a few hours.

I normally sleep to the hum of a fan. There was no fan in the main room, but there was an exhaust fan in the bathroom. The bathroom with the humming fan in it was off to the side beyond a small alcove next to the room's door.

The room had a large window seat with an equally large cushion on it. So, I pulled the cushion from the window seat and placed it on the floor by the door, across from the alcove outside the bathroom. I slept there on the window seat cushion on the floor by the door. Then,

I dreamt.

I was walking as one among a group of travelers to The "Place of Making" Requests. The roadway was dark and tunnel-like. Moving on, branches joined to the main arteries of travel. There were checkpoints along the way where travelers were assessed to determine who could travel on beyond that particular point toward The "Place of Making" Requests and who couldn't. There was no actual procedure of assessment, but each person was judged by the atmosphere in the environment, sort of. There was an assessment but no assessor. A person either could or could not move on beyond that point. If a person couldn't move on, it was as if it was put into the person's mind to drop out of the journey. At each checkpoint, some in the group would drop out, while the rest of us would move on. At each checkpoint, the group got thinner and thinner.

Finally, we came to the checkpoints where few and fewer could go beyond and most dropped out of the journey. The dark main roadway curved around and up like a rampway, like an aorta or an interstate exit ramp might. At the base of the upwardly curving road, as one stepped up onto it, one had to pass through a light sensor made of a rainbow. Very few were able to pass through the rainbow and enter upon the curvature where the darkness of the main road began to lift.

I stepped through the rainbow and upon the lighted curvature that was now the road. With each step, more and more dropped out of the group, but I continued on. Curving around, I came to a place on the right hand side called The Place of The Kohen. It was another checkpoint. There may or may not have been anyone else in the group with me now. I was not alone, but I was not cognizant of any particular others being there. I passed through this checkpoint and continued on beyond it. Passing beyond The Place of The Kohen, the road curved further around and into The Light of The "Place of Making" Requests. I stepped forward into The Light of the "Place of Making" Requests.

I woke up.

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