The Hebrew Alphabet and it's Occult Meanings and Symbolism

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Re: The Hebrew Alphabet and it's Occult Meanings and Symbolism

Post by Spiritwind »

I'll have to look up Neil Gaiman as I have not heard of him. Sounds very interesting Naga. I like the idea that some souls are able to cross into different realms even though they try to keep us in the ever repeating loops of this realm. I'm a bit late getting the images out there, but here they are:

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The Star in Tarot of the Old Path



Image

The Star in the Rider Waite deck
I see your love shining out from my furry friends faces, when I look into their eyes. I see you in the flower’s smile, the rainbow, and the wind in the trees....
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Re: The Hebrew Alphabet and it's Occult Meanings and Symbolism

Post by Spiritwind »

Qoph - back of head - sleep
18. The Moon
Sphere 7 - 10 (Netzach to Malkuth)

Image

The moon is the next key up on the tree, and the meaning of the Hebrew letter Qoph is back of head. The back of one's head is where one can be vulnerable, and the moon is much like a mirror; though you see a reflection, it is often a distorted image from what one can see in the full light of the sun.

I love walking in the light of the full moon, for it feels quite mysterious, almost seductive in its charm. The energy of the moon, for me, feels like the dangerous dark mother image. Deep, alluring, almost magnetic in nature, but not so warm and fuzzy. No, there is definitely risk to be found here, and unforeseen traps that look like beckoning enticements that can be hard to turn down. And maybe these seeming errors in judgement are not always mistakes that we should have known to avoid, for how would we learn but through our own very personal experiences with situations, people, and relationships outside our "knowing".

We all have parts of ourselves where the sun has not shone in so long we no longer even know these places exist. But when the moon is full, the werewolf has the potential to come out in all of us. To know oneself is paramount. And to know how to read the signs of what your environment, both inner and outer, are telling you. I know for myself that most of the time, in retrospect, when I look back on a situation in which I have found myself feeling over my head due to unforeseen circumstances, that there were signs along the way, maybe small and seemingly inconsequential at the time but nonetheless there, that I chose to ignore or overlook due to a sense of pressure or fear.

Of course, the fear and pressure I feel is often actually a program running that is part of the structure of lies that so much of my life has been dictated by. But the road to responsibility never lets me off easy. I have to look in the mirror, without the distortion of triggered emotions, and be honest about what I see. I don't have to tell anyone else, I just have to allow the filters to come off enough to see truth. My inner sun will only shine in the light of truth. No dark murky areas can hide if one is truly willing to do whatever it takes to see, and then live that truth.

This is all part of honing ones intuition, and learning to trust in the self. When you can still sense your environment even with a blindfold on, then you will know you have made progress. Other associations with the moon have to do with the past, mass consciousness, our inner emotional nature. I have known many very intellectual people fall apart in an emotional situation. Brain smart, but emotionally dumb. I know all about this myself, being a person who often wondered how I could be so book smart, and yet emotionally retarded almost. Trying to be Spock in a fully human body doesn't really work out very well. Them pesky emotions will eventually catch up with even the most stoic, if even only on their deathbed. And the other thing about emotions is they have no sense of time. They can hang out in your field indefinitely, just waiting for the right moment to come to the surface, as if no time had past at all. I have found it best to acknowledge them, all of them, as they surface, without judgement (if possible, definitely a learned skill) and watch them float away and pop like bubbles from a bubble wand.

Ok, I've just went way off track here, but in the strangest way, this kind of illustrates the energy of this key. For you can be on the path, talking to your friend as you are walking along, and all of a sudden realize you don't even know where you are any more. You forgot to pay attention to where you were going. And this is how the energy of the moon can sneak up on you. You may not even know where you got off the path. I have had this experience numerous times in the dreamstate. It is interesting that sleep is the function attributed to this tree.

"Until the bodily organs are evolved to the extent that higher forms of consciousness can manifest through them it is impossible to experience such conscious states." Highlights of the Tarot - Builders of the Adytum

In the Rider Waite deck you see the wolf, still wild and untamed, and the dog that has been domesticated (bred and programmed for specific functions). Also two towers in the background. Getting out of either or thinking, and into a neutral space in between, holding opposite energies in balance with precision and skill, or lack of it, depending on where you have focused your attention over time. Have you always lived with your focus only on what you can physically see, with your main motivation survival, gaining your sense of security solely in the physical realm? Or, have you made an inner pathway to that which is not apparent only on the surface of things? Each focus will take you to a different place, and this becomes more and more apparent over time.

In Tarot of the Old Path this key is called Illusion, and the zodiac sign of Pisces also has a connection to this key. We are in the process of moving from the Age of Pisces to the Age of Aquarius and it's easy to look back at the many ways this energy has manifested over the last couple thousand years. The entertainment industry, fashion, glamor on a fish hook, is thrown out for all who are willing to bite. Saviors of all kinds being peddled like merchandise, and a few millennia of learned helplessness to boot. Definitely time to look closely in the mirror, dust off the crumbling remnants of all that is shown to be patently false, and pernicious even, because of our inability to identify the necessary greed at the core. That wanting to have more than your neighbor. Oh so subtle it is. The often unspoken pressure to conform to a standard set for all the wrong reasons. And anyone with their intuition even slightly intact can clearly see this. That is what keeps us spellbound, in fact, because we all instinctively know we are in collusion with the very perpetrators of this false worldview, belief system even, that causes us to ravish our planet with such willful abandon.

I still contribute to many things that perpetuate the demise of the natural world that would, even now, start making a comeback if we stop all invasive and harmful practices. Everyday I try to find even little ways to stop buying those products, and ideas, that run counter to how I want to live on this planet. And that is with respect and honor for all the life I am surrounded by. To recognize the sacredness in all matter, as well as our consciousness, our mind, that which allows us to even contemplate that we are somehow completely separate from our environment. We may indeed have a component of ourselves that exists independent of the form we find ourselves interfacing with. But all life, and the forms it inhabits, should be treated in a sacred manner.

Interesting to think about the idea that man was made in God's image. No matter what that conjures up for you in your mind's eye, it implies that although like this perfected being's image, we were not created with the same level of so-called perfection. I personally feel this story can be read from either direction. In one way it implies that we were some how purposefully created to be less than our creator. On the other hand, it could be just as valid to consider that something more is gained when one has to exert effort to make self improvement in this world, this reality. For choosing the more difficult, yet more richly rewarding path, one can attain heights not realized by those who only want to please the senses in a never ending chase for pleasure in this house of magic mirrors, nothing is as it seems, kind of social overlay. True freedom of choice, by its very nature, comes with varying degrees of risk.
I see your love shining out from my furry friends faces, when I look into their eyes. I see you in the flower’s smile, the rainbow, and the wind in the trees....
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Re: The Hebrew Alphabet and it's Occult Meanings and Symbolism

Post by Spiritwind »

Image

Illusion in Tarot of the Old Path



Image

The Moon in the Rider Waite deck
I see your love shining out from my furry friends faces, when I look into their eyes. I see you in the flower’s smile, the rainbow, and the wind in the trees....
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Re: The Hebrew Alphabet and it's Occult Meanings and Symbolism

Post by Naga_Fireball »

This thread is tremendously cool. Lol shivers. @@

Thanks for doing this work , i really like the imagery
Brotherhood falls asunder at the touch of fire!
He finds his fellow guilty of a skin
Not coloured like his own, and having power
To enforce the wrong, for such a worthy cause
Dooms and devotes him as his lawful prey.
~William Cowper
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Re: The Hebrew Alphabet and it's Occult Meanings and Symbolism

Post by Spiritwind »

Resh - head and face - vibration/radiation
19. The Sun
Sphere 8 - 9 (Hod to Yesod)

Image

The sun, the giver of life, and the bringer of light.

When I think of the sun, I think of warmth. I feel energized during the long days of summer. Growth is stimulated with the right amount of sun. I think maybe that is the key. Too much sun, too hot of sun, scorches and burns. Too little, and things grow spindly and die.

The Hebrew letter, Resh(sun) means head and face, the opposite of Qoph(moon), represented by the back of the head. Both Tzaddi and Resh are stars, one more universal, the other more personal. In astrology the sun often refers to the physical body. And the life force contained within.

The back of head is where you have to use your intuition to know what is going on. With your face, though, you use your eyes, in addition to your other senses. The danger is in forgetting that there is much more to our reality than just what we can see. The best way is a balanced approach that uses all our senses.

Summer is usually a busy time, with many outdoor activities. Much to draw our attention to the outer world. This key is a reminder to pay attention to our inner landscape, not forgetting to shine equal light there as well.

From a purely personal level, when I think about the sun, I think about our spirit container, our soul. Both the sun and our soul's inner light continue shining, regardless of the outer weather. The light we see is not the sun itself; it is the result of deep inner processes that produces light, warmth, and energy. But the mind has the capacity to create any kind of reality it wants. Even though the sun is still shining, we do not see it on cloudy rainy days. In the same way, it is good to remember our inner light still shines, regardless of the outer circumstances we encounter. But the mind can even create distortions that can make us think otherwise.

So, to me, this key is also really about connecting with that inner sun, so that it can continue to shine from within no matter what is going on in our lives. There is so much in this reality we have co-created that can be very painful at times, and even seriously depressing. Especially as one begins to wake up to the deceptive manner in which the mind has been entrained from the time of our physical birth into this "reality". If one does not have their inner sun fully ignited, the judgmental nature here can make one almost feel gobbled up by its pernicious grip. This world seems to operate on a partially hidden set of hierarchical rules, where the winners are generally chosen by a skewed but highly functional intellect, accompanied by pathological greed. And then it has been bred into a certain grouping of families who "imagine" themselves to hold the keys to our reality here (the keys, or tablets of Destiny that have been fought over, even whole planets destroyed for). But they only have as much power as we, the rest of the plebs, give them.

And this key is where I realize I have diverged from the script that was written for me, so that I can take back the reins and write my own script, thank you very much. I appreciate the lessons along the way, but eventually the student must be able to go off on their own. And this kind of captures the essence it this key. For its true, we may sometimes play the fool, but we can never know ourselves until we trust ourselves enough to let go of the programming, to really start creating the reality we consciously want to experience. Even though it was hijacked, it was always only in our minds that we allowed this to happen. The sun shines anyway, waiting for the clouds of distortion to blow away, to reveal the truth of who we are.

We, too, are like stars.
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Re: The Hebrew Alphabet and it's Occult Meanings and Symbolism

Post by Spiritwind »

Image

The Sun in Tarot of the Old Path



Image

The Sun in the B.O.T.A. deck



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The Sun in the Rider Waite deck
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Re: The Hebrew Alphabet and it's Occult Meanings and Symbolism

Post by Spiritwind »

Shin - tooth - pressure
20. Judgment
Sphere 8 - 10 (Hod to Malkuth)

Image

Getting very close to the end here. This path has given me much to think deeply about, as it's very name, Judgment, is a term that means different things to different people. And my own view has changed much over time. It's actually kind of mentally taxing to try and break down it's impact, the energy of the Holy letter Shin, into something meaningful and applicable to our daily life experience, and yet, it is an Integral part of it.

Even if you perceive yourself as a non-judgmental person, there is so much overlap with the meaning of several other closely related terms, that one cannot honestly say they never pass judgment on anyone or anything. We all do it all the time, every day of our lives.

Grist for the mill comes to mind, and the two churning creating energy and friction, which is the very basis of our cosmos, in simplified terminology. Then I think of the symbol of the tooth for this key, about the very act of biting into things, applying pressure. Just being in this reality will cause one to encounter various life pressures, just to stay alive in this physical form. And one will also have to apply pressure, in one form or another, to the outer world.

Contemplating the deeper meaning of this key has taken me to some deep places. As I read through my various sources, several of which I will quote from, I couldn't help wondering how we got so far off track. Where only a few avenues of these teachings are officially sanctioned, and through systems that follow contradictory teachings in a way that almost seems to run counter to what the true meaning of these keys were trying to convey. Teachings that are intended to keep people in line through fear, separatist ideologies, and a false sense of loyalty to a war God of the ancient past (or maybe not so ancient).

I remember even as a child attending church with parental figures, and being taught that God is Love. Okay, I got that part. But I could not get how that could possibly be the same God spoken about in later scriptures where death and destruction of whole people's seemed the order of the day. This was an angry vengeful God, not at all loving. So I long ago figured out something went astray somewhere along the way. After so much study on these concepts and way of spiritual learning, which is really self learning, I can't help but think that in their original form, before all spiritual systems of merit got hijacked, that they could lead to a sense of self liberation and inner freedom.

But not the way it has become, all watered down, and without acknowledging the vital part the individual plays, in doing their own reflection, meditation, and self observation.

Related terms to contemplate:
Choice, decision, discrimination, assess and determine course of action, assumptions acted upon, decree, form an opinion, conclude, decide

I can't honestly believe I am having such a hard time finishing this key. But that is because there is more to glean. Upon deep reflection, I realized that some of my struggle has to do with judgment of a very personal nature. The judgments against the self are often buried quite deep. I realized that I still needed to look closely at some of those self judgments that I have not let go off. It has been a very long process, this letting go.

According to Paul Foster Case in the Tarot: A Key to the Wisdom of the Ages, "we may understand this symbol of the power which tears down limitations of form, as teeth break up food. As the serpent's fang, it represents the power which kills the false personality and its sense of separateness."

What do you do as you begin to wake up to whole new levels of awareness, and fully realize the damage that has been done during your ignorance. I am not the same person I was, even earlier in this lifetime, let alone the many other lives and experiences that have been had. I have had some pretty clear memories of beliefs, assumptions, and so on, and the subsequent behavior they produced. And some of it has been very hard to look at, let alone feel deeply into, so as to finally truly let it go. There are shades of self recrimination. And sometimes self forgiveness is the hardest of all. I could have, should have done this, not done that, or whatever. Even mean things I did as a kid come back to me, and make me shake my head that I am different now. But these memories, they are still a part of me. If I do not own them, I am likely to project them into my outer reality in some way. I do not want to give energy to recreating circumstances from my past. Genocides, wars, inquisitions, and so on.

It's in our DNA, our blood, these memories of the past. To heal them is to reveal them. I won't dwell too long here, other than to give voice to what has been plaguing me for some time now. So many judgments have been made, in the name of being's who have no right to rule at all. Time we stop playing their game, and pull our energy from the death cult, and death producing memes, and put it back into life, to love, to singing our world back to health and wellness.

I am ready to release that which no longer serves me. I do not need to punish myself anymore. Time to release those chains that have bound me, so that I can enter this world sovereign and free. Time to let that inner star shine, with all the brilliance I can muster! Almost like being born again, but with a higher perspective.

Having stated the above, it seems like a good time to introduce what The Hebrew Alphabet: A Mystical Journey by Edward Hoffman has to say on this letter. Shin "begins the word shalom, meaning peace - not simply an absence of strife, but the presence of wholeness and prosperity. It also opens the word Shabbat, the Sabbath, which demarks for us an experience of rest and sacred time, during which all is in harmony. For this reason, the sages have always associated the Shin with the rhythms of change in everyday life, ultimately leading to a peaceful existence." It is interesting to note that this letter also "begins the Hebrew word for two" and that part of our task here is to "overcome dualities in our thinking."

"The world as we know it is still moving towards wholeness." And I thought it was quite intriguing that the Sefer Ha-Temunah "teaches that one letter is currently missing from the Hebrew alphabet. Every seeming defect that we see in the cosmos is mysteriously linked to this missing consonant, which will become manifest in the future."

And this seemed like good parting wisdom when contemplating this letter, "try to be as happy as you possibly can. Search for your good points in order to make yourself happy. The main source of strength within us is joy."

This key makes me think of how the innocence of childhood gets lost often times. The joy of just being alive, and the wonder of letting the imagination go. Sometimes you have to go a long ways to come back a short distance (the zoo story).
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Re: The Hebrew Alphabet and it's Occult Meanings and Symbolism

Post by Spiritwind »

Image

Karma in Tarot of the Old Path


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Judgment in the Rider Waite Deck
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Re: The Hebrew Alphabet and it's Occult Meanings and Symbolism

Post by Spiritwind »

Tav - sign of cross - limitation
21. The World
Sphere 9 - 10 (Yesod to Malkuth)

Image

There are three keys that funnel their energy into Malkuth, The Moon (Illusion), Judgement (Karma), and the one that comes straight down the center, The World. When I think about it, it feels to me like the equilibrium that is reached between two opposites, which is what working through the tree is all about. The Moon can be viewed as the boundless imagination, whereas Judgement can represent the choices we make. Between these two, one is engaging in a form of limitation. I say yes to this, but no to that. Each choice has an energetic consequence, that leads to more choices, and so on. It is fluid and dynamic, one could almost say like music and dancing.

Having studied the language of astrology for long before I knew anything about Kabbalah, and having bought my first, only, and well used tarot deck around the same time, the first thing I note when looking at the image is the four images in the corners, representing the four fixed signs of the zodiac, (going clockwise from the left hand upper corner) Aquarius, Scorpio, Leo, and Taurus the Bull. So it indicates time and a wheel, or cyclical movement of these archetypal energies. And the oval wreath made of leaves indicates numerous things (the numbers are important too), from the relationship to nature and growing things, to the idea of the egg, and the cycles of life. When in the egg one often doesn't know that there is an outside, let alone a way to get there. It's only under extreme pressure and uncomfortable circumstances that one must peck its way out of its previously safe warm comfortable environment.

The being is suggestive of being androgynous (in the BOTA version) from the way it is shown, and holds two spirals, one in each hand. Always the path has shown me, over and over again, it has been about harmonizing and balancing the dualities within my own psyche, plumbing the depths so it were. These forces can and do get out of hand, as can be clearly seen in our collective outer rendition of reality. But, I also know that where we are in the larger cosmos indicates being in a more highly charged area of space. The heat has been turned up. And the whole idea of as above, so below, as within, so without. It IS all connected. It isn't about being right or wrong, for me anymore, nor is it about being good or bad. It is about knowing my inner self enough to not allow myself to get stuck in the matrix, this cube, this construct, because of what I do not want to see in myself. The whole journey has also been about going through that forbidden door, my inner Daath, my inner scary hell of fears, to find the true gold hidden within. This journey has been a freeing one, from the cube of space I became entrapped in, much like a bug caught in a spiders web. The more you struggle, the more you fear, the more they got you.

Which in a way ties in with the connection of this key with the planet Saturn. In this reality, apparently, you will experience limitations, restrictions of freedom, and unpleasant authority figures. And that is even if you are at the top of the capstone, a member of the chosen few, who at least get to appear to lord it over us. Guess what folks, they too are controlled and do not experience true freedom. But their lords and masters, who we do not physically see, did hijack a system of spiritual growth and turned it into a system of control. By using our hidden Daath, our subconscious dungeons, against us, we have come to a place where the Cabal rules, or at least thinks they do. The true battle is for our minds, to control what we think, and how we perceive our world.

Which is what this card, this key, this particular Hebrew letter, is all about. What kind of mind constructs do we actually operate our life from? This has been one of the deep teachings for me. I realized, as I engaged in this exercise, that I was operating my life from many false constructs. It has been a process of identifying and dismantling, to make room for the real me. Which is not what I thought, in a good way. Much of the limitations, upon deep self reflection, have been self imposed. I didn't have to buy what they were selling, but I did. I've had to choose not to buy certain products, certain beliefs, attitudes, and judgments about myself and others.

According to Paul Foster Case, in The Tarot: A Key to the Wisdom of the Ages, "in the cube of space the letter Tav is the interior center, the point where the three coordinates which correspond to the three mother letters cross one another. This center is that point which is the fifth dimension. In it all spatial relations are united in a single 'here', and all time relations in a single 'now'. The realization of this one point is the culmination of concentration."

He goes on to say "Saturn is the planet corresponding to Tav. According to Mythology, Saturn ate his own children. He represents that which absorbs its own expressions back into itself." While at the same time, this key is sometimes referred to as "the Universe". How can it be the Universe, and yet also indicate that which limits? Because, once you realize your own inner divine nature, limitations fall away. Life becomes a dance, a movement to the music of life itself. It was not meant to be experienced as years of drudgery and engaging in mind numbing activities, simply to grow old and die. We are all here for the experience of "it", of life in a physical form, all so we can get strong enough to grow our wings back and fly.

According to Rabbi Isaac Luria, "sparks of holiness are lodged in all things. In order for Creation to occur, shards of the divine fell into the world of matter, and it is the task of each person to redeem and liberate the sacred that lies in everything. For stones, and plants, animals, ourselves, and one another, a heavenly exile exists until the Light returns unbroken to the Source" (The Hebrew Alphabet: A Mystical Journey by Edward Hoffman).

It is a process of reassembling our true selves.
I see your love shining out from my furry friends faces, when I look into their eyes. I see you in the flower’s smile, the rainbow, and the wind in the trees....
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Re: The Hebrew Alphabet and it's Occult Meanings and Symbolism

Post by Naga_Fireball »

I saved this post for last so your thread would be first, ;)

Cannot express how humbled I am by the depth and scope of your knowledge of the tarot and alphabet.

This is one of my favorite sections to read; amazing work.
Brotherhood falls asunder at the touch of fire!
He finds his fellow guilty of a skin
Not coloured like his own, and having power
To enforce the wrong, for such a worthy cause
Dooms and devotes him as his lawful prey.
~William Cowper
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