BethSheba Ashe

Author & Researcher in the Original Gematria and the Precursor to the Tree of Life

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Archives for July 2017

Scientists of the Art – Artists of the Science

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An eclectic collection of mixed media.

Shematria is a dedicated biblical gematria calculator.

Type in Hebrew, Greek or Roman or look up a number.
Works with Strong’s references.
Look up bible verses in Hebrew or Greek.
‘The Book of the Law’ by Aleister Crowley, now searchable.

Letter Symbolism and Merkavah imagery in the Zohar’ by Eliot R. Wolfson.

Living Thelema – Cognitive Therapy for Magicians (2012)
This track from episode 29 is from the Living Thelema series by Dr. David Shoemaker. This particular segment is about Cognitive Therapy for Magicians.

“Was deciphering the MDW NTR necessary to formulate the Ancient Hebrew Abjad?”

This is an excellent video lecture by ‘Divine Prospect’ (Ron Shields).  Discusses the work of Professor Douglas Petrovich as he traces the migration patterns of the Israelite people through the ancient near east.  Have a note book handy because DP gives you a lot of work to go and research for yourselves afterwards.

“Ancient Egyptian Calendars: How Many Were There?”
[Abstract]  “In 1950, Richard A. Parker hypothesized that pharaonic Egypt had three separate calendars: origi-nal lunar; civil; later lunar, of which the most ancient was the original lunar. l To be fair, it should be noted that Ludwig Borchardt first discussed the idea of a second lunar …”

Publisher: JSTOR
Publication Date: Jan 1, 2002
Publication Name: Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 39: 241-250

Heaven on Earth: A Tour of Solomon’s Temple through Near Eastern Eyes [Video]

Victor Avigdor Hurowitz presented “Heaven on Earth:
A Tour of Solomon’s Temple Through Ancient Near Eastern Eyes.”

“Talking About Ritual Magick”

“This blog is used to discuss various issues and topics pertinent to ritual magick and ritual magicians as proposed by Frater Barrabbas Tiresius – author, witch and ritual magick practitioner.”

Is Quantum Physics Necessary for the Account of Consciousness? The Lecture of Stuart Hameroff

One of the most comprehensive lectures on the Orch OR theory of consciousness to date. It was held at the Moscow Center for Consciousness Studies in October 2016.

“The nature of consciousness, the mechanism by which it occurs in the brain and its place in the universe are unknown. In the mid 1990’s Sir Roger Penrose and I suggested that consciousness depends on biologically ‘orchestrated’ coherent quantum processes in collections of microtubules within brain neurons, that these quantum processes correlate with, and regulate, neuronal activity, and that the continuous Schrodinger evolution of each such process terminates in accordance with the specific Diosi-Penrose (‘DP’) scheme of objective reduction (‘OR’) of the quantum state. ‘Orchestrated’ OR activity (‘Orch OR’) is taken to result in moments of full conscious awareness and/or choice. The DP form of OR is related to the fundamentals of quantum mechanics and space-time geometry, so Orch OR suggests a connection between brain biomolecular processes and the basic structure of the universe. I will review Orch OR in light of criticisms, presenting experimental evidence for 1) hierarchical microtubule quantum resonances (terahertz, gigahertz, megahertz, kilohertz), and 2) anesthetics preventing consciousness through quantum actions on microtubules. Further novel Orch OR suggestions include 1) topological quantum bits (‘qubits’) intrinsic to microtubule geometry, 2) interference ‘beat frequencies’ of fast (e.g. megahertz) microtubule vibrations producing slower electro-encephalographic (EEG) correlates of consciousness, 3) mental state alterations caused by brain stimulation with megahertz mechanical vibrations (ultrasound), and 4) OR-based primitive feelings prompting life’s origin and evolution. Orch OR is rigorous, consistent with neuronal-level approaches and better supported experimentally than other theories of consciousness. Reference: Hameroff & Penrose (2014) Phys. Life Rev., 11(1):39-78”

“The Visions of Aleph” by Doctor T. (1797)‎.
Published in ‘The New York Magazine, Or Literary Repository’.

Author of mysterious Voynich manuscript was Italian Jew, says scholar.  – News feature from the Guardian.com

Illustrations of the book that has confounded code-breakers and scholars for more than 100 years may offer key clues about authorship

Chicago Library Seeks Help Transcribing Magical Manuscripts

Three texts dealing with charms, spirits, and all other manners of magical practice are now accessible online

Among the library’s collection of rare Bibles and Christian devotional texts are a series of manuscripts that would have scandalized the religious establishment. These texts deal with magic—from casting charms to conjuring spirits—and the Newberry is asking for help translating and transcribing them.”

 THE 100th MONKEY PRESS
Ex Scientia Adhevo Sapientia
– has an impressive collection of reproductions of the original works of Aleister Crowley.

Origins of the ancient constellations: The Mesopotamian Traditions. By John H Rogers.

THE BRAZEN SERPENT

A personal explication of the Thelemic Qabalah, by Soror N.’.O.’.

The Great Clock: -3- The Sirian Year

The Ancient Egyptians used a Sirian Year of 365.25 days which was neither the Tropical year of 365.242, or the Sidereal Year of 365.256 days. We explain the manner of discovering this unique astronomical cycle and go through some ideas about Sirius as a neighbor star to the Solar System.

“The fact is that Sirius is the only star in the night sky that is not affected by the precession of the equinoxes as the rest of the stars are. The Egyptians would signal their New Year’s Day when Sirius became visible again after about 70 days of absence in the night sky. As the Sun moved through the neighboring Zodiac constellations of Gemini and Cancer, Sirius would not be seen because of the bright sunlight in front of it by day, but as soon as the sun advanced around the year and entered Leo, Sirius became visible again. On the day when it became visible again, it would rise at morning right before the Sun in what is known technically as heliacal rising.

Right at the break of dawn, Sirius would become visible again after 70 days of invisibility for the ancient inhabitants of the Nile, and being the brightest of stars, it would appear over the horizon just before the Sun with a flash indicating New Year’s day for the ancient Egyptians. But why did they choose the heliacal rising of Sirius for their New Year?”

[Pdf] Beholders of Divine Secrets:
Mysticism and Myth in the Hekhalot and Merkavah Literature
by Vita Daphna Arbel

An examination “of the mystical notions present in the enigmatic Hekhalot and Merkavah literature, the manner in which these are expressed through mythological imagery, as well as the possible social-cultural and ideological affiliation of members of the Hekhalot and Merkavah mystical circle.”

[Podcast] from the Washington James Information School on the text ‘The exhalation of Inanna’.

“‎1-12. Lady of all the divine powers, resplendent light, righteous woman clothed in radiance, ‎beloved of An and Uraš! Mistress of heaven, with the great diadem, who loves the good headdress ‎befitting the office of en priestess, who has seized all seven of its divine powers! My lady, you are ‎the guardian of the great divine powers! You have taken up the divine powers, you have hung the ‎divine powers from your hand. You have gathered up the divine powers, you have clasped the ‎divine powers to your breast. Like a dragon you have deposited venom on the foreign lands. ‎When like Iškur you roar at the earth, no vegetation can stand up to you. As a flood descending ‎upon (?) those foreign lands, powerful one of heaven and earth, you are their Inana…”‎

Sumerian is the first language for which we have written evidence and its literature the earliest known.

The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL), a project of the University of Oxford, comprises a selection of nearly 400 literary compositions recorded on sources which come from ancient Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) and date to the late third and early second millennia BCE.

 [Review]Reviewed Work(s): Sexual Symbolism and Merkavah Speculation in Medieval Germany: A Study of the Sod ha-Ezog Texts by Daniel Abrams
Review by: Joel Hecker
Source: The Jewish Quarterly Review,
Vol. 90, No. 1/2 (Jul. – Oct., 1999), pp. 202-206
Published by: University of Pennsylvania Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1455412

“Sod ha-Egoz, the Secret of the Nut, is an esoteric teaching with ancient roots that reached its fullest expression in Germany in the 12th-13th centuries. Emerging as an exegetical expansion on Song of Songs 6:11, I went down to the nut grove, the doctrine of the nut marks an early attempt by Jewish mystics of medieval Europe to speculate upon the divine chariot as imagined in the book of the prophet Ezekiel. In the various documents relating this mystery, the anatomy of the nut, with its shell, fruit, and various chambers, corresponds to the diverse aspects of the chariot. While speculation upon the chariot is a prominent theme in pre-kabbalistic and kabbalistic writings, its representation as a nut, an English or Persian walnut to be precise, is among its more novel expressions.”

Death and afterlife in Ugarit and Israel
By Elizabeth Bloch-Smith and Mark Smith

Abstract: “The background of the New Testament concepts of resurrection and afterlife has been studied intensively in the last two decades, largely under the impetus of the Ugaritic tablets from Ras Shamra. In the book under review, the author undertakes a comprehensive study of afterlife and “resurrection” in Northwest Semitic literature.”

The Use of the Hebrew Bible in Early Jewish Magic

“This study seeks to enumerate the extensive and variegated use of the Hebrew Bible in early Jewish magic. The survey focuses mainly on the key Jewish magical corpora from late antiquity and the early Middle Ages – Palestinian Amulets, Babylonian magic bowls, assorted magical texts from the Cairo Geniza, and several magical handbooks deriving from Babylonia and other indeterminate locations. The article is divided into three substantive sections. The first treats numerous methodological pitfalls tied to the use of the terms ‘magic,’ ‘Jewish magic,’ and ‘Hebrew Bible.’The second and third sections are devoted, respectively, to the two broad formal categories into which magical use of the Hebrew Bible may be divided, citations of biblical verses and biblical historiolae.”

LIEBERMAN, STEPHEN J. “A Mesopotamian Background for the So-Called Aggadic ‘Measures’ of Biblical Hermeneutics?”

Hebrew Union College Annual, vol. 58, 1987, pp. 157–225.

Genesis 1-11 and Its Mesopotamian Problem

Cultural Borrowings and Ethnic Appropriations in Antiquity, ed. E. Gruen (Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2005), pp. 23-36.

The Micro-Zodiac in Babylon and Uruk: Seleucid Zodiacal Astrology,
“Abstract: in ed. J. Steele, The Circulation of Astronomical Knowledge in the Ancient World, 2016.”

“When God Abandoned the Garden of Eden: A Forgotten Reading of Genesis 3:24“, Vetus Testamentum, 2015

Abstract
“Genesis 3:24, the final verse in the Eden Narrative, states that God stationed “the cherubim and the spinning-sword-flame” east of the garden of Eden, from which he had recently expelled Man. Or so it does in its masoretic version. Four Targumim, however, reflect an ancient, divergent vocalization of the verse’s fourth word. In this vocalization, the verse must be read as stating that God himself settled east of the garden. This divergence profoundly affects the meaning of the entire Eden Narrative. The targumic reading is grammatically and stylistically sound, and, conceptually, it fits well in the verse’s textual setting. Moreover, a deliberate alteration from it to the masoretic reading would fall squarely into an independently identified pattern of theologically-driven changes in vocalization. The targumic reading may therefore be closest to the original authorial intent.”
Abstract
 The Zohar, a compilation of Kabbalistic texts which were written in the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries, was bestowed an authoritative and sacred status in many Jewish communities. Together with its central role in Jewish culture, the Zohar stimulated considerable interest in Christian Kabbalistic and Western esoteric circles. In recent years, a newly awakened interest in the Kabbalah and the Zohar has been evident in many circles both in Israel and all over the world. The interest in the Zohar stimulated its translation into different languages, each created according to different motivations and within diverse theological and ideological frameworks. This article offers a review of the history of translations of the Zohar and discusses the historical contexts and ideological frameworks in which these were created.
 Don Karr’s Bibliographic Surveys    –   Updated 1st. May 2017
Its Meaning and Historical Context
“It has been shown that the notion of synthesis and harmony that underlies Lévi’s Baphomet can only be comprehended against the background of the socialist doctrines he articulated in his writings of the 1840s.”
THE SCIENTIFIC COMPATIBILITY AND UNIQUENESS
OF HEBREW COSMOLOGY AMONG ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN LITERATURE
By Joe Miller
Origins of the Alphabet, by Orly Goldwasser 2015.
ABSTRACT
“An increase of cross-cultural learning as a consequence of increased travel and migration between Egypt and the Levant during the Iron Age occurred after millennia of migration in earlier times. The result was an Egyptian-Levantine koine, often not recognized as relevant by historians due to an uncritical reproduction of ancient myths of separation.However, the cultural exchange triggered by migration is attested in the language, in the iconography of the region,in the history of the alphabet, in literary motifs, in the characterization of central characters of the Hebrew Bible and,last but not least, in the rise of new religions, which integrated the experience of otherness in a new ethos.”
 Vol. 47 (2006), pp. 403-431Published by: National Association of Professors of Hebrew (NAPH)Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27913811Accessed: 24-12-2016 00:35 UTC

 Pleiades in Ancient Mesopotamia

Lorenzo Verderame
”Sapienza” Università di Roma
“In this paper I will analyse the different features of the Pleiades in the astronomical, astrological, andcalendrical interpretation as well as their mythical and cultural background in ancient Mesopotamia.According to cuneiform sources, the Pleiades are among the most important stars. They are simply known in Sumerian as ―the Stars‖ (MUL.MUL), while their Akkadian name, ―the Bristle‖ (zappu), links them to the imagery and the cultural context of the ―Bull of Heaven‖ constellation (Taurus), to which they belong.  Pleiades are frequently depicted as seven dots or seven stars, and identified on a mythological level with
groups of seven divine beings. In fact, the Sumerian ideogram for ―seven is used as an alternative name for the Pleiades.”
FUTHARK RUNES, GREEK MYSTERIES & ALCHEMICAL ALPHABETS
A paper looking at the alphabet;
from its paleo-Hebrew beginnings to the Futhark Runes of Northern Europe, by Judith Dillon.

Comments on the Historical Background of the Abraham Narrative

Between “Realia” and “Exegetica” – Israel Finkelstein/Thomas Römer.

Cogito – A short film by Russell W.B Kirkby
Tag Line: “How do you know what you think you know?

A man narrates his personal deconstruction of his reality as he journeys to an audition to discovers that he is an actor auditioning for the film he is already in.
“A post modern interpretation of Descartes Meditations.”

 “Did I Not Bring Israel Out of Egypt?” 

 Biblical, Archaeological, and Egyptological Perspectives on the Exodus Narratives.
“In Islamic mysticism and theurgy, the Seven Seals represent in graphic form the Greatest Name of God; in Jewish Kabbalah, the Seals bear individual Divine Names which collectively form a “Great Name.” We review and compare the primary interpretations and secondary associations for each Seal in Islam and Judaism, from which it is clear that the two traditions have developed largely independent understandings of the individual symbols. Nevertheless, points of convergence – such as the interpretation of the fourth Seal as a ladder and an ascent to/of goodness – do exist. Conversely, the attributes of the third Islamic and seventh Jewish Seals have a surprising amount in common.”
 Biblehub – for all your interlinear necessities – featuring topical, Greek and Hebrew study tools, plus concordances, commentaries, dictionaries, sermons and devotionals.

‘Aleister Crowley e a contracultura’ by Vitor Cei Santos.  [Portuguese]

ABSTRACT: “The main objective of this article is discussing Crowley´s doctrine of the New Aeon, thinking about its historical constitution, its values and consequences to the postmodernism. The occultist was a mythical and controversial writer, poet of the unrestricted freedom and of the will as a maxim sovereign, besides being a defender of the use of sex and drugs to magical purposes. His esoteric discourse stimulated existential trajectories of great refutable power, making him the counterculture guru.””

 Esoclassics Plus.  

90 books, pamphlets, documents, conferences, letters, etc. including the Sepher Bahir, The Egyptian Book of the Dead, and the Magical Ritual of the Sanctum Regnum.

“Stellarium is a free open source planetarium for your computer. It shows a realistic sky in 3D, just like what you see with the naked eye, binoculars or a telescope.”  It is being used in planetarium projectors. Just set your coordinates and go.

“With the rapid advances in the technological environment that significantly expand options for preservation, presentation and access to digital content, the National Library of Israel initiated the renewal of its collection of copies of Hebrew manuscripts. This enterprise, undertaken in partnership with the Friedberg Jewish Manuscript Society (FJMS) is designed to make Jewish manuscripts widely available. The International Collection of Digitized Hebrew Manuscripts will enable global centralized digital access to the complete corpus of existing Hebrew manuscripts. The images will be preserved long-term using state of the art technology, and the collection will be accessible to international communities of researchers and users from the comfort of their own institutions and homes.

The International Digital Library of Hebrew Manuscripts is made possible through the generous support of the Friedberg Jewish Manuscript Society (FJMS) and the Landmarks Heritage Program in the Prime Minister’s Office, created to preserve national heritage.”

Author Bio:  Henryk Drawnel is Professor of Second Temple Literature and Jewish Studies in the Biblical Studies Institute at the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Poland. His published works include articles and monographs on the Qumran Aramaic texts, including An Aramaic Wisdom Text from Qumran: A New Interpretation of the Levi Document (Brill, 2004) and The Aramaic Astronomical Book (4Q208-4Q211) from Qumran: Text, Translation, and Commentary (Oxford, 2011).

Jewish Worship, Pagan Symbols:
Zodiac mosaics in ancient synagogues.

Walter Zanger   •  06/09/2017

A concise set of notes on Gematria, the Merkabah and the Torah.

Abstract

Alleging parallels between Scripture and other ancient Near Eastern texts has always been a matter of controversy. The controversy has resulted from criticism of the comparative method by those who accuse its users of being overly simplistic or reckless when applying their particular approaches to the texts. This recklessness has resulted in alleged connections that are now considered very loose, unjustified, and harmful to the context of Scripture. In order to avoid the dreaded “parallelomania” that has resulted from hasty conclusions in comparative studies, it is necessary to approach alleged comparative units in a more concrete fashion, synthesizing the best of past approaches and cautiously utilizing those approaches when arriving at conclusions. The comparative element under discussion in this paper is that of divine cloud-riding, and the texts under consideration are Psalm 104:3 and the Ugaritic Epic of Baal. Both the Hebrew Bible and the Ugaritic texts describe Yahweh/Baal as a rider of the clouds. The mythopoetical motif of cloud-riding can be seen in many ancient Near Eastern texts where a storm god races through the heavens on his or her angelic cloud-chariot. This is true also of portions of the Hebrew Bible that describe Yahweh as one “who makes the clouds his chariot, who walks on the wings of the wind” (Ps 104:3). Since Ugarit is, in literature, Israel’s most significant Canaanite neighbor, it becomes a matter of interest when Baal is called repeatedly “the Rider of the Clouds” in his respective texts. Is there a legitimate parallel between the Yahwistic motif of cloud-riding and the northern Canaanite expression “Rider of the Clouds”? If so, what is to be made of this parallel and what were the psalmist’s intentions by including Baal-like language in his description of Yahweh?

The Brazen Serpent by Helen Kirby.

Published by Nephilim Press.

“In The Brazen Serpent, Helen Kirkby offers a far-reaching and thoughtful exploration of the philosophical, psychological and practical aspects of the Qabalah. Keep an eye on this promising new author!”

—David Shoemaker, author of Living Thelema, The Winds of Wisdom and other writings

The Brazen Serpent is an advanced treatise on the Hermetic Qabalah from a unique Thelemic perspective. It is NOT a beginner’s guide. The Brazen Serpent expects the reader to be familiar with the Thelemic paradigm and have working knowledge of the Tree of Life.

Red Flame; A Thelemic Resarch site

A website about Grady Louis McMurtry’s branch of the Argentium Astrum.

Conformations of the Tree of Life

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“…Such an one is that man who ‎can neither institute the union of the Holy Name…” – The Book of Concealed Mystery.

The Tree of Life – showing Malkuth being added to Yesod – Portae Lucis, Augsberg 1516.

The Seven Palaces were hidden under the cipher of the Tree of Life and finding them required a student that was curious enough to ask themselves “I wonder what the original conformations of this diagram looked like?”

The first picture to be published of the Tree of life that wasn’t just a series of concentric circles, ‎was featured on the front cover of the Portae Lucis magazine in 1516[1].

Within a few centuries – new versions of the Etz haChayim (עץ החיים) [The Tree of Life] were popping up across Europe.  New paths were added to the Tree or the positions of the paths were altered.  Sometimes entire Sephiroth were added – no matter what the Sepher Yetzirah said[2]. Issac Luria and other later Kabbalists put much effort into this hermeneutical past-time, and they were joined by Western Occultists such as Frater Achad. These students redistributed the letters into something that was more pleasing and attuned to their personal view of the cosmos.

In it’s own private sphere this is a worthy inquiry if it assists the student to understand themselves somewhat better, but that isn’t the only motivation that people have when they start tweaking at the tree.  The Zohar contains an admonition in the ‘Book of Concealed Mystery’ that says “…derive the Supernals[3] into the position required…“ which is an open invitation to change the tree.

Notice that only one ‘position’ is mentioned. The word ‘position’ is not a plural, and Da’ath is not a Sephiroth, but ‘the position’.

The Seven Palaces – 5th knowledge lecture – The Complete Golden Dawn. Bill Heidrick noted the Golden Dawn diagram “This is the traditional depiction of the moment of the opening of the 50th Gate of Understanding, although there is little evidence that the matter was understood by the G.’. D.’. as such.”

When the supernals are combined in the position of Da’ath then the top half of the Seven Palaces are seen. When Malkuth is drawn back up into Yesod then all the Seven Palaces can be seen.

The Seven Palaces were hidden[4], and finding them required a student that was curious enough to ask themselves “I wonder what the original conformations of this diagram looked like?”  The first step in solving any really good puzzle or riddle is to take yourself out of the equation completely.  It’s not about what you think: it’s about what the writer means.  In a sense, it is a spiritual test… *to see* the Merkabah you have to first leave your ego at the door.

Students of the Golden Dawn had a slightly easier time of finding the original conformation of the Tree of Life because a picture of the Seven Palaces was given to initiates with their fifth knowledge lecture.  It’s a starting point but this diagram is devoid of any paths running between the palaces and it was mis-attributed as “the Seven Palaces of Assiah” (the lowest of the Kabbalistic four worlds).  Essentially the Golden Dawn lumped the Seven Palaces into the same category as the Qlippoth, without taking into account the ancient near east view of the cosmos with its Seven Heavens, Seven Earths and Seven Hells.

The idea of seven heavens originated in ancient Mesopotamia.  Sumerian incantations of the late second millennium BCE make references to seven heavens and seven earths. One incantation is: “an-imin-bi ki-imin-bi” (the heavens are seven, the earths are seven) and the Hebrew word for “heavens” was Shamayim (שָׁמַיִם 93).

What are the ten kings? They are the seven voices and three sayings (Amarim). – The Bahir.

To really comprehend the origin of the Tree of Life, you have to be a bit of a sleuth on an investigation – rather than an inventor at the potters wheel.  In a sense, you have to attack both the Torah and the Zohar as if they were cryptic crossword puzzles; analyzing every word to see if it has a second meaning.  Unlike a cryptic crossword the sources themselves require investigation and this can be especially difficult with translation.  Even the recent Pritzker edition has been ‘corrected’ with the Aramaic word for ‘Supernals’ having been replaced with another one for ‘Spheres’.

The Seven Palaces
The Seven Palaces

The phrasing of the full Zoharic admonition itself is a barrier to understanding;

“‎11. But what is to be understood by that ‎passage
“And they that despise Me shall be ‎lightly esteemed?”
Such an one is that man who ‎can neither institute the union of the Holy Name,
nor bind together the links of truth,
nor derive ‎the supernals into the position required,
nor ‎honour the Name of his Lord.
Better were it for ‎that man had he never been created,
and much ‎more for that man who doth not attentively ‎meditate when he saith Amen!”
– Chapter III – ‎Verse 11, ‘Kabbalah Unveiled’.

The line “and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed” is lifted from Samuel 2:30 and it reads:

“Therefore the LORD God of Israel declares,
I did indeed say that your house and the house of your father should walk before Me forever;
but now the LORD declares,
‘Far be it from Me – for those who honor Me I will honor,
and those who despise Me will be lightly esteemed.

The theme of honour is repeated later in the verse; “…nor ‎honour the Name of his Lord…” but the word ‘honour’ in Samuel is מְכַבְּדַ֥י while the word used for ‘honour’ in the Zoharic verse is ‘הדר‘ which (according to Strong’s concordance) also carries the meanings of ‘to honor, adorn, and perhaps also ‘to swell’.   The word comprises three letters that appear on four of the seven palaces (the daleth appearing on two palaces).

In Deuteronomy the word ‘honour’ הדר is used in a very different context:  בכור שורו הדר ל֗וֹ  “As the firstborn of his bull honour to“, which makes a fascinating link with the bull god.  הדד ‘Hadad’ was the bull god son of the supreme Father of the Gods and creator deity אל El (31) and the three letters of the lowest Palaces form his name.  According to the Ba’al cycle texts found at Ras Sharma from Ugarit (6000 BCE – 1190 BCE)- Hadad lived in the Seven Palaces of his Father.

The next line of the riddle is “Such an one is that man who ‎can neither institute the union of the Holy Name.”  At the top of this page you’ll see a diagram that illustrates how – when the letters of the Seven Palaces are correctly attributed to the right Paths and Palaces; they coalesce to form values that are identical to the names of ancient biblical deities and major characters in the narrative. When placed in a logographic arrangement the numbers of the Seven Palaces recur and reflect around the structure.  For example:

Biblical Gematria

7 x 31 = 217.
2 + 3 + 5 + 7 + 200 = 217.
2 + 1 + 200 + 1 + 5 + 4 + 4 = 217.
197 + 20 = 217.
(5 + 3 + 4 + 90 + 100 + 4) + (2 + 8 + 1) = 217

200 + 40 + 8 = 248
217 + 31 = 248.

5 + 3 + 4 + 90 + 100 + 4 = 206.
217 – 11 = 206.

One cannot help but come away from a mathematical enquiry of the Seven Palaces, thinking that the interplay of the numbers upon each of the faces – with each depending on the others for support and existence – conveys a sublime insight into the interdependent functioning of the cosmos.

“…bind together the links of truth…“

What are the links of truth…?  One word for ‘link’ may be ‘qarse’ קַרְסֵ֥י with the value 370:
ועשית קרסי נחשת חמשים והבאת את־הקרסים בללאת וחברת את־האהל והיה אחד – Exodus 26:11.
“And you shall make 50 bronze clasps and put the clasps into the loops and couple together the tent that it may be one.”

Another word for ‘link’ might be עֲנָ֖ק Anaq (220) chain; a necklace, which shares its value with words such as ‘HaTorah’ and ‘Bereshith’, as well as with an arrangement of five of the six ‘inner paths’ that connect with the centered palace of the Resh.  These five paths never change their placement when the Tree is reformatted into the Seven Palaces.  They remain right where they are.  However the sixth path to connect with the Palace of Resh (from the Beth) is made of paths that were once connected to the three Supernals, and just as the Supernals went to make one Palace above, the connecting paths are bound together to make one interconnecting path comprised of the letters ג Gimel ה Heh and ז Zayin.

“50. We have learned (Proverbs 25:2), “The glory of God is to hide a word.”
What is “a word”? That of which it is written (Psalm 119:160), “The Beginning of Your
word is truth.”  [It is also written] (Proverbs 25:2), “It is the glory of kings is to research a word.”
What is this “word”? That of which it is written (Proverbs 25:11), “A word spoken in its
proper place (Aphen-av)”, do not read “its proper place” (Aphen-av), but “its wheel”
(Ophen’av)” – The Bahir.

Insight into how to arrange the letters from the lost paths of the Tree and onto the palaces are given in a Zoharic essay ‘The Mysteries of the Alphabet’.  In this narrative, God is deciding on what letter to begin the creation of the world with, and eventually he decides to begin with the letter Beth, yet he calls to the Aleph twice “Aleph!  Aleph!” and declares that his influence upon the earth shall only be expressed through the Aleph.  This is why the Beth is to the Seventh Palace (at the top) and the Alephs flank it on the palaces at either side.  The Bahir adds this insight into the location of the Daleths upon the Palaces:

“36. His students asked: Why is the letter Daleth thick on the side?
He replied: Because of the Segol which is in the small Patach.
It is thus written (Psalm 24:7), “The openings (pitchey) of the World.” There He placed a
Patach above and a Segol below. It is for this reason that it is thick.
37. What is the Patach? It is an opening (Petach).  What is meant by an opening? This is the direction of north, which is open to all the world. It is the gate from which good and evil emerge.” – The Bahir.

Daleth means ‘door’ – and the two doors on the Palaces are the Doors of Light and Darkness; Life and Death. Between the Palaces of the Doors is the Path of Peh, which begins the words ‘Petach’ and ‘Pitchey’.

A careful study of the Tanakh throws up a wealth of commentary on the conformations and qualities of the Seven Palaces.  Ezekiel is especially forthcoming about the conformations of the Seven Palaces.  For instance in Chapter 44:1-3:

1  Then He brought me back by the way of the outer gate of the sanctuary, which faces the east; and it was shut. 2  YHVH said to me, “This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall enter by it, for the YHVH God of Israel has entered by it; therefore it shall be shut. 3  “As for the prince, he shall sit in it as prince to eat before YHVH; he shall enter by way of the porch of the gate and shall go out by the same way.”

[This means that no-one may may exit life via the same gate they were born (through the Palace of the Daleth in the East).  The ‘porch’ is the path of Peh – which was represented at the temple by a porch, and ‘the Prince’ is ‘Hadad’ (son of El) who lives in the Palaces of his Father according to the Ba’al cycle texts.]

Scattered among the early Kabbalistic texts, there are plenty of cryptic aids to assist in the discovery of the Seven Palaces. Unfortunately there have been few students who are even aware that they should have been looking for them.  Aleister Crowley was a different sort of man, and from his time with Scottish freemasonry he was quite clear that he should know about them.   From his accounts in ‘The Confessions of Aleister Crowley’ we can date the time of his discovery of the Seven Palaces to 1900.  His accounts make it explicitly clear that he was searching for the ‘Lost Word’ of the Freemasons; the word that was reputably only spoken by the High Priest within the presence of God in the tabernacle, and only once a year.

It’s fascinating that Crowley chose the verse he did to prove his assertions to knowledge of the Lost Word.  He gives an example from Genesis 17:5 – a verse that corroborates biblical gematria when shin = 3 and tav = 4 (as it does on the Seven Palaces).  ‘Abraham’ = 248 and המון גוים נתתיך “of many nations I will make” = 248.  By ‘standard’ gematria the sum total of המון גוים נתתיך is 1040.  It’s one of the rare examples in the Torah where the text directly verifies the gematria result.

“This exegetical method is not a modern invention.  When Jehovah selected a family to be the father of Israel, he changed the name (אברם (243 = Abram Father of Elevation into (אברהם (248 = Abraham Father of a multitude; and by way of compensation changed (שרי (510 = Sari Nobility to (שרה (505 = Sarah, Princess. There are several other similar stories in the Bible. A change of name is considered to indicate a change of nature.  Further, each name is not arbitrary; it is a definite description of the nature of the object to which it is attached. By a similar process, I am certain of my results in the matter of the Lost Word, for the Found Word fulfils the conditions of the situation; and furthermore, throws light on the obscure symbolism of the entire ritual.”

By 1904 he was using the gates of the Seven Palaces as a checksum for the riddle of Liber Al vel Legis and thereafter he keyed (or otherwise based) several of his best A.’.A.’. works to the Palaces – in effect creating a hidden system for the Inner Order of the A.’.A.’. and hiding the whole thing in plain sight.

It can be successfully argued that Aleister Crowley was just the latest of a long line of people who have attempted to create a systematic approach to initiation, but at least he had the virtue of of fully understanding the basis of the older system before he set out to create a new vehicle.

[1] The Tree of Life – showing the number ten being added to Yesod – by Paulus Ricius, Portae Lucis, Augsberg 1516.
[2] “Ten are the numbers, as are the Sephiroth, and twenty-two the letters, these are the Foundation of all things…[]…Ten are the numbers of the ineffable Sephiroth, ten and not nine, ten and not eleven. Learn this wisdom, and be wise in the understanding of it, investigate these numbers, and draw knowledge from them, fix the design in its purity, and pass from it to its Creator seated on his throne.” – 1:2-4, The Sepher Yetzirah.
[3] The Supernals are the top three Sephiroth of Kether, Chokmah and Binah.
[4] The Seven Palaces are at the core of Merkabah literature and Judah the patriarch forbade people to speak about Merkabah to one another.  Kabbalah came about largely in response to this prohibition upon free study; as a consequence the Seven Palaces was derived into the Tree of Life so that students could discuss the Merkabah in an enciphered fashion.

Liber Arcanorum Part II

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Tarot Correspondences to the Seven Palaces

 

The cards of the Major Arcana on the Seven Palaces

In Part II we’ll be covering the paths corresponding to the Major Arcana from Kaph to Samekh.

To review the Order of the Tarot click here.
To return to Part I please click this link.
 Let’s crack on then…

 

Fortune (20) Kaph כ

  1. Now then the Father of all issued as a mighty wheel; the Sphinx, and the dog-headed god, and Typhon, were bound on his circumference.

[ This path falls between the Aleph and the Daleth on the right hand side of the Seven Palaces, and traditionally it represented the return of the spirit to its fundamental simplicity; represented by the Palace of the Aleph.  The Palace of the Dalet received the souls of the dead, and those souls who would no longer be reincarnated upon the earth enter this path.  This path exists on the circumference of the wheel and represents simplification or destruction rather than creation.  Creation is the principle business of the Mem and takes place on the opposite side of the wheel.

“The lightnings which destroy, also beget;
and the wheel may be regarded as the Eye of Shiva,
whose opening annihilates the Universe,
or as a wheel upon the Car of Jaganath,
whose devotees attain perfection at the moment that it crushes them.”
A.C.  – The Book of Thoth.

When its gate is added to the opposite gate of Mem (Aleph + Mem + Daleth) + (Aleph + Kaph + Daleth) = 70 which is the value of the Ayin; thus symbolising that the moment of creation is the moment of destruction and vice versa.  This interplay between creation and destruction was thought by the ancients to be the cause of earthquakes and so the letter Kaph is associated with the trembling and quaking.

“As [Kaph] stood trembling with excitement before the Holy One,
two hundred thousand worlds together with the throne itself
were seized with a sudden tremor and seemed ready to fall.

“Kaph, Kaph!” cried the Holy One, “what hast thou done?
I will not create the world by thee, for thou beginnest Kala (ruin, loss).
Return at once to thy place on the throne of glory and abide there!”
Then Kaph retired and went back to its place.”
– ‘Secrets of the Letters’ (Sitrei ‘Otiyyot).

The Goddess ‘Anat’.

This is typological to the depiction of the Goddess Anat in stories of the Ba’al cycle from ancient Ugarit:

‎”Anath stamped with her foot,
and she rose from the ground.
Then she set her face
towards El at the source of the rivers,
in the midst of the channels of the two deeps,
she arrived at the domain of El, and came
to the abode of the king, Father of the Years.
She broke in, and entered the domain,
the bases of the pavilions quake.
Bull El, her father, lifted up his voice,
and hid himself in seven chambers,
inside eight enclosures.”‎
‎- The Epic of Baal – Bronze Age texts found at Ugarit (Ras Shamra).

The symbolism of the Sphinx, Anubis and Typhon are linked by Crowley to the 3 Gunas; sattva (goodness, constructive, harmonious), rajas (passion, active, confused), and tamas (darkness, destructive, chaotic).

Gematria:
The gate of the path of Kaph is 25 (Aleph + Kaph + Daleth).
When its gate is added to the opposite gate of Mem (Aleph + Mem + Daleth) + (Aleph + Kaph + Daleth) = 70.

אֲבִ֕י כָּל The Father of all (63); Abi Kal
אוֹפַ֣ן Wheel (137); Ophan
63 + 137 = 200 = Resh.

“The Sphinx is composed of the four Kerubs, shown in Atu V,
the bull, the lion, the eagle and the man”~ A.C. Book of Thoth.

Sphinx Σφίγξ = 293
The Bull הַפָּ֔ר = 285
The Lion הָֽאֲרִי֙ = 216
The Eagle הַנֶּ֙שֶׁר֙ = 258
and the Man והָאִישׁ֙ = 25
Hermanubis Ἑρμανοῦβις =‎482
Typhon Τυφῶν = 157 ]

Calculations:
Circumference is a loan translation from the Greek word ‘periphery’ περιφέ = 220.
285 The Bull +  25 and the Man = 310
216 The Lion + 25 and the Man = 241
258 The Eagle + 25 and the Man = 283
285 The Bull + 258 The Eagle + 157 Typhon = 700
241 The Lion and the Man  + 482 Hermanubis + 157 Typhon + 220 Periphery = 1100.

 

Adjustment/Justice (30) Lamed ל

Adjustment
  1. Also the lady Maat with her feather and her sword abode to judge the righteous. For Fate was already established.

[ This path connects the Palace of the Aleph (on the left) with the Palace of the Resh.  The feather of Lady Ma’at represents a weightless quality to both light and thought alike.  This quality proceeds from the Palace of the Aleph to beget the Palace of the Sun (Resh) in a grand mating of the essential dualism of thought itself.  On this path, the thought of light becomes manifest in Palace of the Resh.

The sword of Ma’at is also a symbol of mind, with each side of the blade representing the  quintessential duality of thought.  To understand any concept the mind must have some degree of comparison.  A has to be contrasted with A before there can be a B.  The first verse about the Fool (the Aleph) says “the one ran and returned”; a comparison must be made at the moment a thought enters our awareness.

The Palace of the Resh is the point where thought of light becomes light.

One of the popular modern explanations for consciousness has been developed by Professors Stuart Hammeroff and Roger Penrose[1].  The theory is called “Orchestrated Objective Reduction” and I hope I don’t misrepresent them as I give a brief account of their work.  They explain that the point at which there is a flash of consciousness (and this is approximately 60 times a second) is a moment when the objective reduction of the waveform happens followed by its collapse.

Hollan Roden Justice (Tarot Card)
by Mirine13

This collapse of the waveform occurs in an organised manner in respect of all living beings that are said to possess consciousness, and this is distinctly different from the generalised objective reduction of the waveform that is happening everywhere, all the time.

The Sun (or any other star) is essentially undergoing the same quantum process that generates our awareness, but it’s difficult to see how this process could be organised without the medium of microtubules.  What organisation the Sun possesses, arises from the cycles of its magnetic fields as matter is converted into pure energy and light.  At the point of the objective reduction of the waveform the sun possesses consciousness but we don’t know whether it thinks any thoughts or whether its awareness simply exists in an endless and undifferentiated ‘now’.

Equally, inside every candle flame there is a microdiamond right at its heart, and pervading the influence of this small centre of gravity is the medium of awareness.  At the heart of each flame, a window is opened between the quantum universe and the macrocosmic universe.

The collapse of the waveform creates the experience of consciousness, even though time doesn’t actually exist at the pre-material level of the universe.  Particles can be at two different places at the same time, or in two different times at the same place; the fundamental principles at the pre-material level of the universe are not the same as they are for the material universe.  “Fate was already established”, may allude to the fact that, by the time we become aware of ‘it’, ‘it’ has already happened and the matter has already been decided one way or another.

“If they’re thinking about it now –
they’ve probably already done it somewhere else.”

In the Minor Arcana, we may see these themes reiterated in the Six of Swords.  The theme of the card is the fulfilment of organised thought – ‘thinking’, and therefore ‘judging’; making comparisons and composing our awareness into an organised network of relationships between qualia.  This is fundamental to our experience of reality; as fickle and unpredictable a mistress as the harlequiness.  She is the personification of samsara to the Buddhist mind, but Thelema insists on a more positive perspective;

“Remember all ye that existence is pure joy;
that all the sorrows are but as shadows;
they pass & are done;
but there is that which remains”
– Liber Al vel Legis II;9.

This path has the main gate value of 231 Resh + Lamed + Aleph, and there are also the gates of Aleph (1)  א + Lamed (31) ל and Lamed + Resh (230) ר.

אל Aleph + Lamed = El.
El is “is a Northwest Semitic word meaning “god” or “deity”, or referring (as a proper name) to any one of multiple major Ancient Near East deities”, such as the supreme god of the Canaanites.

The texts of the Ba’al cycle discovered at Ras Sharma, say that El makes his Temple in the mountains and that his temple has Seven Palaces.  His son ‘Hadad’ (one of the Elohim or ‘children of El’) lived in the Seven Palaces of his Father.  We see that statement in logographic terms on the Seven Palaces when we realise that the three bottom palaces of Heh + Dalet + Dalet spell Hadad (13).

Gematria:
‘Ma’at’ can be spelt in two ways in Hebrew.  There is ‘מעת’ Moth in the Hebew.  This word means a cycle or more literally it means ‘from Time’.  It conveys the meanings of eternity and perpetually; a world without end.  The word comes from the word ad עַד; meaning a cycle or long duration; forever.  ‘Ad’ comes from the word adah, meaning to adorn, and also to pass by or take away.

The other word is מָעַט Maat which means to be or become small, diminished, or few.

Egyptian Goddess Ma’at
Source: TatooArtists.org

“And having known these,
there are the wings of Maut the Vulture.
Thou mayest draw to an head
the bow of thy magical will;
thou mayest loose the shaft
and pierce her to the heart.”
– A.C.  ‘Benshrur and Tolga’.
(December 12, 1909.
7-8. 12 midnight).

Ma’at can also be valued from the transliterated word, giving Mem + Aleph + Aleph + Tav = 46
אל Aleph Lamed = El = 31.
Bow = קרך = 320
Feather נוֹצָה = 110
Sword חָ֫רֶב 210
Abode חָצִיר = 308
Judge אֶשְׁפֹּֽט = 93.  Also the value of ‘Thelema’ – written upon the shaft of the bow seen in the Hierophant card, for the shaft of the arrow is the “the quanta of Will.”
Righteous צַדִּ֛יק = 204
Wall קָר = 300.  To ‘go to the wall’ is to face your fate. The chance or accident has קרה happened.
Established נוֹסָד = 120

Calculations:
3 x 31 = 93.
Righteous 204 – Judge 93 = 111.
אלף ‘Aleph’ = 111.
Ma’at (46) + El (31) = 77.
Feather + Abode = 418.
Feather 110 + Sword 210 = 320 the same as Bow קרך]
Feather 110 + Sword 210 + Bow 320 = 640 = 64 Established x 10

 

The Hanged Man (40) Mem מ, ם

The Hanged Man
  1. Then the holy one appeared in the great water of the North; as a golden dawn did he appear, bringing benediction to the fallen universe.

In traditional Tarot packs, the figure of the Fool is seen hanging upside down from a tree branch that resembles a Daleth.  This is ‘Adam’  אדם(45), and he personifies the entire species.  We all have to wait before we get born and the hanged man represents a period of pre-birth and gestation.  The rope that Adam is tied to is the umbilical cord and he is suspended in the womb of his mother, in the waters of her amniotic fluid.  The letter Mem represents the element of water and the preborn Adam is upside down, ready for his journey down the birthing cannal.

Besides the first man, the Fool may also represent Abraham (248) as there are 248 days in 9 anomalistic lunar months.  Astronomical cuniform texts written in the Seleucid Period (312 BCE to 63 BCE) exhibit the relationship: 248 days = 9 ‎anomalistic months, but given that 248 is a multiple of 31 (El) the number was probably known many generations earlier and across the ancient near east and by every midwife and doctor.

Ancient Tarot of Liguria-Piedmont

248 = 8 x 31

Kabbalistic tradition[2] holds that souls descending from this path are pure and innocent; they have never been born before and are ‘new souls’.  Souls that are reincarnating take their aleph with them on their journey through life and their return to a birth canal through the path of the Ayin after passing through Nun and the Palace of the Resh.

In this verse, the holy one is Osiris who is represented by the Aleph at the top of the path of the Mem.  North is up and South is down, however left is east and right is west.  When he enters the great waters of the North the gate of אֵ֥ם Aleph+ Mem (41) is created, meaning ‘mother’.

Below the Palace of the Daleth the fallen Universe awaits the benediction of a new birth, symbolised by the new Sun that rises each day at dawn.  Included in the meanings of this card is the idea of spiritual initiation as rebirth.

The main gate of this path is 45 and a combined gate is made with the opposite path of the Kaph to make 70.  Like a Bhavacakra, time on the seven palaces is a period of pre-birth, life, the afterlife – the cycle of reincarnation.

Gematria:
Note that from door to door (dalet to dalet) around the circumference of the Wheel is:
ד + ר + ה + ש + ת + צ + ק + ד = 410
לָרָקִ֔יעַ =410 “of firmament” (Genesis 1:7)
אֲרָרָֽט ‎ – ‘ararat’(410); mountain that Noah’s ark ‎landed on after the Flood.‎
410 = אם Mother = 41 x 10
410 – The gate of Mem 45 = 365 (days a year).

 

Death (50) Nun נ, ן

  1. Also Asar was hidden in Amennti; and the Lords of Time swept over him with the sickle of death.

This path connects the Palace of the Daleth (on the right) with the Palace of the Resh.

Khenti-Amentiu was depicted as a jackal-headed deity at Abydos, who stood guard over the city of the dead. His name means “Foremost of the Westerners” or “Chief of the Westerners”, and  ‘Westerners’ is a reference to the dead.

Amennti was the realm of the dead in ancient Egyptian mythology.  Amennti is more usually referred to as the Duat.   Asar (Osiris) was the lord of the underworld because he personified life after death and rebirth.

The dead had to undergo a number of obstacles before coming to the Duat to be judged in the “Weighing of the Heart” ritual (depicted in Spell 125).

In the presence of Osiris the dead person swore that he had not committed any sin from a list of 42 sins and this was known as the ‘Negative Confession’. The dead person’s heart was weighed on a pair of scales such as is featured in the justice card for the opposite spoke, against the feather of the goddess Maat.  If the deceased’s heart owned to any sins they may have committed in life then ‘Ammit, the Devourer’ stood ready to eat the heart and put a swift end to their hoped for afterlife, and against this possibility the ancient Egyptian took extensive magical precautions during the course of his lifetime.  If the scales balanced and the deceased had known a good life then he was taken to Osiris to become the ‘maa-kheru’ – meaning ‘vindicated’ or ‘judged’ or sometimes ‘true of voice’.

Biblical Gematria

“…both the skeleton and the scythe are
importantly Saturnian symbols.”
 A.C. ‘The Book of Thoth’.

Saturn was identified by the Romans with the Greek Lords of Time; Cronus and Kairos.  Cronus (Κρόνος) personified the quantity of Time whereas Kairos (Καιρός) represented the quality of Time.

“Pherecydes of Syros in his lost Heptamychos (the seven recesses),
around 6th century BC, claimed that there were three eternal principles:
Chronos, Zas (Zeus) and Chthonie (the chthonic).
The semen of Chronos was placed in the recesses and produced the first generation of gods.” – Wiki

Gematria:


The gate of  this path is 254:  Dalet (4) + Nun (50) + Resh (200) = 254.
מות Mot (50) is the personification of Death in Ugaritic Myth.  He is the son of El and the brother to Hadad, Yam and Anat.  Mot had seven portions cut up for a feast Hadad was hosting and he took with him seven servitors when he went into the earth.
The Adam (50) האדם because the Heh prefix indicates the definite article.  As all men all born, all men are also subject to death.
מָ֗וֶת Mawet Death (50)
לִשְׁחֹ֖ט ‘Lishot’; to Kill (50)
לשחתה ‘Lesahathah’; to Destroy (50)
יָ֔ם Yam; West or Sea (50)
Sickle δρέπανον (360)
Bone עֶ֚צֶם or Skeleton (200)
Cronus Κρόνος = 510
Kairos Καιρός = 401

“The middle interpretation of this sign is given by the serpent,  who is, moreover, the main theme of the sign.
[The Qabalists embodied in the Book of Genesis, Caps I and II, this doctrine of regeneration.

NChSh, the Serpent in Eden, has the value 358: 50 also MShICh, Messiah.  He is, accordingly, in the secret doctrine, the Redeemer] ” – A.C. ‘The Book of Thoth’.

הגאולה The Redemption = 50
נֹ֔חַ Noah = 58
הַמַּבּ֥וּל The Flood = 93
מַ֙יִם֙ Water = 90
NChSh; the Sepent in Eden = 61
MShICh; Messiah = 61
אַ֫יִן Ain; Nothing, naught = 61
נון Fish; the letter Nun = 106 (See Liber 500)
[  מִשֹּׁ֤רֶשׁ נָחָשׁ֙ Root Serpent = 307 (See Isaiah 14:29)
צֶ֔פַע Viper = 240
שָׂרָ֥ף מְעוֹפֵֽף Flying Serpent = 559 ]

Calculations:
93 The Flood + 90 of Water = 183 (see Genesis 6:17)
182 + 183 = 365
61 (See above) x 3 = 183
Root Serpent + Viper + Flying Serpent = 1106
1106 = Fish; the letter Nun (106) + the large Aleph (1000).

“Of course, the Fish is identical in essence with the Serpent; for Fish=NVN=Scorpio=Serpent.”
– A.C. ‘The Book of Thoth’.

 

Art/Temperance (60) Samekh ס

  1. And a mighty angel appeared as a woman, pouring vials of woe upon the flames, lighting the pure stream with her brand of cursing. And the iniquity was very great.

This path connects the Palace of the Resh with the Palace of the Heh.  It is placed opposite to the heavenly divine residence.  In terms of architectonic gematria: it connects the Royal Palace of King Solomon with the Temple.  Thus part of the path enters into the compound associated with the Garden of Eden – which is within the Inner courtyard, while part of it traverses the outer courtyard to the Kings Palace.  Thus – it functions to connect the spiritual with the mundane.

The gate name of Sarah (SRH = 265) is immediately apparent but corresponding value of the name of her husband Abraham only appears on the wheel by the process of magnification referred to in Genesis 12:2;  when Abrahams name is magnified tenfold and the Beth upon the Wheel is given the value of 2000 rather than 2, then the name of Abraham is the same as the sum total of the gates above and below which is 2,480.

Abraham's name magnified.
“And if I make a great nation and if I bless and magnify your name then you shall be a blessing.” – Genesis 12:2.

It has been argued that the attention God pays to Sarah is rather more intimate than would usually be expected, and this had led to speculation in some quarters that Sarah might be the personification of Asherah.  The name Asherah translates as “she who moves across the water” so we can identify her as the spirit of God that moved across the face of the deep in the very beginning of creation (1:2).  According to Midrash Genesis Rabbah – during Sarah’s life – a lamp was continuously alight from Sabbath eve to Sabbath eve.  Her dough was magically blessed so she could feed as many visitors that came to her tent, and the door of her tent was always open.

The Canaanites believed that Asherah was constantly cheating on her husband EL with his son Hadad.  This is the second manifestation of the Goddess on the Wheel of the Chariot.  As ‘Elat’ she appears on the cross beam between the two Alephs, but just as EL manifests lower down on the Wheel through the agency of his son Hadad (who is but another form of the Father) – the Goddess manifests as Asherah to join with Hadad in a mundane sense upon the earth.  Unfortunately the uninitiated came to regard Asherah as a wanton harlot because of a misunderstanding over the nature of the God and Goddess as they manifested both above and below in different guises, and this was used as an excuse to suppress Goddess worship in ancient Israel. In Kabbalah, the Goddess Asherah is the Shekinah – the feminine grace and face of God that manifests upon the earth.

In the Midrash Genesis Rabbah we learn that a cloud was constantly stationed over the Sarah’s tent signifying the presence and loving attention of God.  Once Sarah died the miraculous happenings surrounding Sarah’s tent stopped – however when Rebecca married Isaac and entered the tent they re-manifested, which suggests that the woman Sarah was acting as a priestess would to allow the presence of the Goddess to manifest through her, and it was this that drew the attention of the God to her.

There are parallels between the tent of Sarah and the House of God in Jerusalem; the doors of both were open day or night; bread in the Temple remained fresh for a week just as Sarah also always had fresh bread; and in both Sarah’s tent and the Temple there was a continuous light from the Menorah.

Asherah - Ivory box cover from Ugarit.
Asherah – Ivory box cover from Ugarit.

The Tarot Card ‘Art’ has a solar background to the angel, and there is the suggestion of the ‘Sea’ (of the Temple courtyard) via the golden cauldron.  The angel is dressed in Green appropriate to Venus because for 265 days, Venus appears over the horizon after the Sunset, and 265 is the number of the primary gate of this path.

Gematria:
הַשָּֽׁמֶשׁ – ‘The Sun’ = 51
גָֽדְלָ֤ה has become great = 42
ר֧וּחַ ‘Spirit’ (angel) = 214
הָאֲשֵׁרָ֑ה ‘The Asherah’ = 214
מיטטרון ‘Shekinah’ = 324 (See Liber 500).
מַלְאָךְ֙ ‘Angel’ = 91
אשים Angels of Malkuth; burnt or incense offering; “The flames” = 54 (See Liber 500)
אִשָּׁ֔ה ‘Woman’ = 9
סֵ֫פֶל ‘Bowl, vial’ = 170
חֵץ ‘Arrow’ = 98
אוֹי ‘Woe’ = 17
א֖וֹרִי ‘Lighting’ = 217
הַנָּ֑חַל ‘The Stream’ = 93
טָהוֹר ‘Pure, clean’ = 220
ארר ‘Cursing’ = 401
נושא ‘Iniquity’ =60 (See Sepher Sephiroth).

Calculations:
When the sentence is reduced to only the nouns and adjectives it reads “And a [mighty] [angel] appeared as a [woman] pouring [vials] of [woe] upon the [flames] [lighting]”: 42 Mighty + 324 Shekinah  + 9 Woman + 170 Bowl/Vial + 17 Woe + 54 The Flames + Sun 51 = 667; The Number of the Scarlet Woman.

Aleister Crowley

the [pure (220)] [stream (93)] with her brand of 
 [ארר Cursing. (401)] + 265 (SRH) = 666.

And the [iniquity = 60] was very great.
60 x 10 = 600.

“Good old A.C. … couldn’t resist scrawling his and SW’s number into his work.  lol.”

The primary gates from this path are:  Heh + Samekh (65); Resh + Samekh (260); and Samekh + Resh + Heh (265); and the combination of this gate with the one above it (217 + 265 = 482).

In Genesis 6:2 we arrive at the number 265 through the marriage of the Sons of the Elohim and Daughters of the Men:  בני־האלהים את־בנות האדם; Bni 62 + Halhim 91 = 153; BnvTh 62 + Hadm 50 = 112; 153 + 112 = 265‎

Specific to this card and path is: 214 Asherah + 51 The Sun = 265
214 Asherah + 51 The Sun + 217 Lighting = 482
170 Bowl + 98 Arrow + 9 Flames – 17 Woe = 260

The gate of ‘Heh + Samekh’ (65) most likely represents the requirement to be silent before YHVH.

* * *

In Part III of Liber Arcanorum we’ll be covering verses 15 to 21; from the path of Ayin ‘The Devil’ to the path of Tav ‘The Universe’.

[1] ‘Is Quantum Physics Necessary for the Account of Consciousness?’ Lecture by Stuart Hameroff.  https://youtu.be/2_sgFETJzak

[2] “On the Mystical Shape of the Godhead: Basic Concepts in the Kabbalah” by Gershom Scholem, page 204.

Liber Arcanorum, Part I

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Sigil of the A.'.A.'.Tarot Correspondences to the Seven Palaces.

Liber Arcanorum τών ATU τού TAHUTI QUAS VIDIT ASAR IN AMENNTI sub figurâ CCXXXI [231] was first published in 1909 by Aleister Crowley.  It is a Class A paper and students of the mysteries have found it to be one of the more accessible and understandable papers of the A.’.A.’.[1] given that it is concerned with the Major Arcana of the Tarot; a topic that Crowley gave a very thorough treatise on in his ‘Book of Thoth’.

That said, most students err in trying to attribute the verses of Liber Arcanorum to the Tree of life instead of the Seven Palaces, largely because that’s just how the correspondences are given in the Book.  The Tree of Life is the public face of the highly secret Seven Palaces, but an adept of the Inner Order understands that when his peers say something like “…the Hierophant, which, on the other side of the Tree of Life, brings down the fire of Chokmah…” he’s actually saying “…the Hierophant, which, on the other side of the Palaces, brings down the fire of Seventh Palace…”.

Crowley hints in the Book of Thoth of “a complete qabalistic system of greater depth and sublimity than any other”, and goes on to explain “The details of this system have not yet been revealed. It has been thought right, nevertheless, to hint at its existence…”  He was talking about the Seven Palaces.  In this system (which is far older than any other extant) the supernal sephiroth of Kether, Chokmah and Binah are rectified into one combined supernal Palace, and Yesod and Malkuth are brought together as the first Palace.

Just as the Tree of Life is at the core of Kabbalah, the Seven Palaces is the basis of the Merkabah, and indeed the study of Kabbalah may be considered the enciphered study of the Merkabah because the Tree of Life was derived from the Seven Palaces.  These Palaces are not to be confused with the Qlippoth nor the Seven Hells as they are things that were themselves derived in their construction from the Tree of life; and are an averse depiction of the purity and sanctity of the former.

The Seven Palaces
The Seven Palaces

Originally, the silence and secrecy that has traditionally surrounded the Seven Palaces was due to a prohibition by Judah the Patriarch[2] that forbade Jewish people from speaking about the Merkabah.  The reasons for the prohibition were likely threefold; there was the Jewish desire to reclaim the land of Israel; there are pantheistic elements of the Seven Palaces such as the Goddess Elat and the Elohim of Hadad on its paths and palaces; and there appears to have been some concern over the spiritual welfare of students to the Merkabah, as evidenced by the stories of Rabbi Akiva and the Pardes.

The silence and secrecy of Occult orders on the matter has another source; either they are wholly ignorant of the Seven Palaces through some break in the proper transmission from adept to adept, or they are seeking to preserve knowledge that they have judged to be proprietorial to the wise; something that is (in their view) not to be seen with the eyes of the profane.

Crowley’s work with the Palaces was not a mere reiteration of the Merkabah.  He took it upon himself to create an entirely new syncretic system upon it that was fit for the new Aeon as he saw it.  His own silence about the Seven Palaces may have been because of Oaths to magical orders that he made[3], and equally – if he had revealed the Seven Palaces openly to the world at any time after he had published the Book of the Law, he would have given away the solution to the Riddle of Liber Al vel Legis.

There is however, no point in keeping something so secret that knowledge of it dies out completely and there is a break in transmission.  Therefore I have absolutely no motivation to keep any of the system secret, and unlike Crowley I have made no oaths to anyone that would prevent me from doing so[4].  Rather – I shall throw it open and let the latter day students of the mysteries have at it, and judge for themselves whether it is an effective vehicle for individual transformation and enlightenment – or not – from their results.

A fellow adept once remarked to me that when it comes to the mysteries, there is little need for formal secrecy as it is the limit of the students understanding that draws a veil of secrecy over matters such as these in any case.

Notes – The Gematria used here is biblical (paleohebrew) Gematria.  Shin = 3 (not 300) and Tav = 4 (not 400).  Also there is no final values for Ashuri final letters.  Also the Isopsephy used here is one that adjusts the Greek letters to match their Paleohebrew counterparts.  This link HERE takes you to the Isopsephy table.

The cards are keyed to Liber Arcanorum according to the value of their Hebrew letters, with the exception of the Shin and the Tav which appear at the end of the pack according to tradition.  See ‘Tarot Correspondences’ for more information about the ordering of the pack.

The Fool (1) Aleph

The Fool0

 0.  A, the heart of IAO, dwelleth in ecstasy in the secret place of the thunders. Between Asar and Asi he abideth in joy.

[This card is attributed to the two Palaces of the Aleph.

“Wherefore I solemnly affirm
This twofold Oneness at the term.
Asar on Asi did beget
Horus twin brother unto Set.”
– The Twins, by A.C.
[Dedicated to Austin Osman Spare]

There is an essay “The Visions of Aleph” by Doctor T. – which was published in ‘The New York Magazine, Or Literary Repository’ in 1797 that may be of  interest: https://tinyurl.com/ya8xwgja

The Aleph appears twice on the Seven Palaces.  It is attributed to two of the Palaces themselves, at either side of the Seventh Palace.  The Rabbis were wont to say “Aleph is never less than Beth” and this is figuratively true in respect of the Seven Palaces.  The Alephs received the influx from the letter Beth above them, for God began the creation of the World with the letter Beth[5].  The influx flows around the circumference to the twin Palaces of the Dalet below which are doors; one opening to allow the spirit to incarnate in the world below (the Palace of the final Heh) and the other allows the return of the spirit through its door once the earthly body is deceased.

What is united in the Palace of the Beth (2), is thus divided in the Palaces of the Alephs (1), and we may recall Crowleys equation “2 = 0”.

Asar is thought to be Osiris, and Asi – Isis. In the Palaces of the Alephs, they are primal forces that beget Horus the Sun God – (dwelling in the central Palace of the Resh) and all things on earth.

The Magician (2) Beth

The Magus
The Magus
  1. The lightnings increased and the Lord Tahuti stood forth. The Voice came from the Silence. Then the One ran and returned.

[Tahuti or Thoth is the Egyptian version of the Greek Hermes.  He represents the wisdom and the word of the aeon.  This card is attributed to the highest Palace which is the private abode of the creator divinity.  In the heavens this Palace corresponds to the Pole Star.  In Canaanite literature this card and it’s Palace corresponded to the God אל (EL).

In the Middle ages the this Palace was split into three to become the supernals of Kether, Chokmah and Binah on the Tree of Life.

Gematria:
The Palace of Beth forms 3 primary gates and 5 small gates from the paths around it.
There’s something very compelling about the initial alphebet of numbers – and by that I mean how each number essentially relates to each other spatially.  By the term ‘The inital alphabet of numbers’ I mean all the really interesting stuff happening down at the level of single digits.

The most important permutation is the number base you intend to use.  That determines the limit of how many units are accounted for in each cycle of the base number.

Now imagine that each base was a palace, that housed an infinite amount of numbers in each palace.  Is there an infinite amount of numbers or is there Seven infinitive amount of numbers?

The seventh palace uses a binary number base;  it is the light and the dark; the 1 and the 0; the positive and the negative; and yet, they exist as indivisible united parts of the whole.  “What is above the abyss exists in unity and what is below the abyss exists in division.”  And yet that is an inadequate description because by trying to describe divinity we can only say what it is not; ergo.  God is not a number.  God just made everything have a number through the very act of perceiving a difference… and even that shall remain a matter of eternal speculation.  Are we all just quantum sparks going off in the quantum night of the pre-material world?  Is every man and woman a quantum star?

Essentially we can only speak in numbers because all other qualia is absent on the subject of God.  Ought said about God is instantly a thing of speculation only.  The symbols of divinity and ancestor worship in both the old and new aeons share essentially the same quality; that they insist upon a God or a state of consciousness that cannot be named, nor described through the medium of words nor numbers.  There is a semantic employment of the symbol of the veil being cast over something without form, nor measurement nor localized position in time or space.  We can talk around the matter only by making a separation between the creator and the created, and yet that again is a matter of speculation only… the butterfly wing of a quantum fluctuation in the space-time continuum that is everywhere and nowhere and possibly there all at once.

God + Not God + God
אללאאל = 93
31 = אל
31 in base 10 is 11111 in binary.

The following is a list of permutations in their logographic placement of the letters in their mathematical relationship to each other, and to the Beth.  There is little else to say, because the rest is God, united and at one with the universe; an all pervading, and everywhere experience of consciousness itself throughout a near infinitely long time period.

 The High Priestess (3) Gimel

The High Priestess
  1. Now hath Nuit veiled herself, that she may open the gate of her sister.

[The path associated with this card joins the Palace of the Beth with the Palace of Resh.  It is the heavenly Holy of Holies between the abode of the Father and the abode of the son (and the Sun).  Its gate value of 217 using all the letters is identical to the gate value of all the palaces when added together; thus representing that everything in the Macrocosm is both begat and extant from the manifestation of divine generation.

“Turn it this way, turn it that way, everything is in it” – Ben Bag-Bag.

“The card represents the most spiritual form of Isis the Eternal Virgin; the Artemis of the Greeks. She is clothed only in the luminous veil of light. It is important for high initiation to regard Light not as the perfect manifestation of the Eternal Spirit, but rather as the veil which hides that Spirit. It does so all the more effectively because of its incomparably dazzling brilliance. Thus she is light and the body of light. She is the truth behind the veil of light. She is the soul of light. Upon her knees is the bow of Artemis, which is also a musical instrument, for she is huntress, and hunts by enchantment.

Now, regard this idea as from behind the Veil of Light, the third Veil of the original Nothing. This light is the menstruum of manifestation, the goddess Nuith, the possibility of Form. This first and most spiritual manifestation of the feminine takes to itself a masculine correlative, by formulating in itself any geometrical point from which to contemplate possibility.”  – The Book of Thoth, by A.C.

The third sister is Nephthys who creates in the dark and the silence.  In the Palace of the Aleph there is only Isis (Asi) but the triune goddess is represented on this path.  Isis veils herself with light.  Nuit veils herself with the possibility of form and Nephthys veils herself in dense darkness as she creates.

When the Gimel (3) is added to the Zayin (7) and to the Palace of the Resh (200) then the gate of Nephthys is revealed: 210 for N.O.X.

The Empress (4) Dalet

The Empress
  1. The Virgin of God is enthroned upon an oyster-shell; she is like a pearl, and seeketh Seventy to her Four. In her heart is Hadit the invisible glory.

[The Palaces of Dalet (4) on the left of the Wheel connects with the paths of Mem, Ayin, Peh and Resh.  Ayin is 70 and the path of Ayin transmits the fertile and creative force and fire of the Sun from the Palace of Resh at the axis of the Wheel.

Not alluded to in Liber Arcanorum is the Palace of the Dalet on the right, probably because that would have been either too confusing or too revealing to the student.  Traditionally, the Palace on the right is like a weigh station that receives dead souls from the underworld.  In Sumerian literature this is called the ‘Palace of Ganzer’ which is visited by the Goddess of Inanna as she descends to the underworld, and it is connected to the paths of Kaph, Nun, Peh and a path of four letters below (Tsade, Qoph, Shin and Tav – QShTh spells ‘rainbow’ and pearls have an iridescent rainbow hue commonly associated with dissolution or purification).

From ‘Strong’s Concordance’ we learn that the word Ostrakon means both “oyster shell” and a potsherd; i.e. Terra cotta, earthen-ware; by implication, of earth or earthen.  This Palace of Dalet on the left is the doorway (for the letter Dalet was a pictogram of a door) to Life or Rebirth; where the soul was clothed in the material flesh before entering into the world.  When connected with the path of Mem above, the Daleth forms the word DM – which means ‘blood’ and when topped with the Aleph we have the spelling for ADM which means mankind – the Adam.  Aleph ‘spirit’ + Mem ‘water’ + Dalet ‘earth’, with the solar light being ejaculated from the Ayin and the fire added from the Peh to form the human being.

When the Dalet joins with the Resh (of the solar barge) below then it forms the word DR which means pearl, or mother of pearl in Hebrew.  See Strong’s Hebrew: 1858. דַּר (dar):  http://biblehub.com/hebrew/1858.htm

The Star (5) Heh

The Star
  1. Now riseth Ra-Hoor-Khuit, and dominion is established in the Star of the Flame.

ה‍לא־אלוה גבה שמים וראה ראש כוכבים כי־רמו

“Not is God in the height of the heaven
and behold the head of the stars – how high!”
– Job 22:12.

[ There is a lower Heh attributed to the 1st (bottom) palace and there is an upper Heh attributed to the path connecting the top (7th) Palace of the Beth with the Palace of the Resh at the axis of the Wheel.  This upper Heh joins Gimel and Zayin on the path.  The upper Heh is the first Heh of YHVH while the lower Heh is the final Heh of this name.  The upper Heh of the name represents the gate of this path:  Beth + Gimel + Heh + Zayin + Resh.  Heh = 5 but the two Heh’s together total to 10, which is the value of גֹּ֣בַהּ ‘height’.

“He said: There is an upper Heh and a lower Heh” – The Bahir verse 29.

The lower Heh on the palace represents the earth in motion, and with time passing, but the upper Heh made up part of the home of God in the heavens; his heavenly temple in the stars – the chief or ‘head’ of them being the pole star at the Palace of the Beth.  The lower Heh of the name represents the Palaces of the Alephs, the Daleths as well as the Palace of Heh.

הַמְשֵׁ֣ל ‘hamsel’ means the ‘Dominion’ and is seen in verse 25:2 of Job:

המשל ופחד עמו עשה לום במרומיו

“With dominion and fear he makes peace in his heights”

המשל hamsel is 78; the same number as the number of Tarot Cards in the pack, and 78 is the gematria vale of איואס – ‘Aivas’ the Angel of Ra Hoor Khuit (see Sepher Sephiroth).  78 + 15 (Gimel + Heh + Zayin) = 93.

Also  כּוֹכָ֜ב שלהבה ‘Star [of the] Flame’ = 93 ( See Sepher Sephiroth); symbol of the macrocosm.]

The Hierophant (6) Vav

The Hierophant
  1. Also is the Star of the Flame exalted, bringing benediction to the universe.

[The left hand of the Hierophant is open in benediction, and he points towards the bottom right of the star where the card of the Universe would be if the star were placed over the figure of the Seven Palaces.

The sign indicates the number 4, because there are 4 letters on the path thus indicated and also because the Universe card is attributed the letter Tav which has the value of 4.  Essentially the hierophant is counting;  starting with a closed fist and putting the thumb out for 1; extending the forefinger for 2; extending the middle finger for 3 then closing the thumb across the base of the fingers to make 4.  The shape of three fingers also recalls the letter Tav itself; ת.

The Vav on of the name YHVH represents the 6 paths of the circumference of the Palaces ; Vav, Cheth, Mem, Resh, the fourfold Shin/Tav/Tsade/Qoph path, and the path of Kaph.  ]

The Lovers (7) Zayin

The Lovers
  1. Her then beneath the winged Eros is youth, delighting in the one and the other. He is Asar between Asi and Nepthi; he cometh forth from the veil.

[Youth = Y(10) O (70) U (6) Th (4) = 90 + Gimel (3) = 93.
217 (this path’s gate number) – 93 -93 = 31 (אל AL in Thelema or EL traditionally.)
Ὄσιρις ‘Osiris’ = 396 – 93 – 93 = 210 (N.O.X.)

This card is the last of the 3 cards on the path between the Palaces of Beth and Resh.  When the Zayin is united with the Palace of the Resh then 200 + 7 = 207 = אוֹר ‘Light’.  When Resh (200) is united with the Beth (2) through the medium of the Heh (5) this also sums to 207.  Aristophanes (c. 400 BC) writes of Eros:

“At the beginning there was only Chaos, Night (Nyx), Darkness (Erebus), and the Abyss (Tartarus). Earth, the Air and Heaven had no existence. Firstly, black winged Night laid a germless egg in the bosom of the infinite deeps of Darkness, and from this, after the revolution of long ages, sprang the graceful Love (Eros) with his glittering golden wings, swift as the whirlwinds of the tempest. He mated in the deep Abyss with dark Chaos, winged like himself, and thus hatched forth our race, which was the first to see the light.”

Nepthi/Nephthys is the Egyptian name of Nyx/Nox = 210
Gimel (3) + Zayin (7) + Resh (200) = 210
מַ֖יִם לָמָֽיִם = 210 waters from waters (See Genesis 1:6).

Gimel (3) + Heh (5) + Resh (200) = 208
In the Torah: שָׂרָ֖ה – ‘Sarah’ (208); הָגָ֖ר – ‘Hagar’ (208); יִצְחָ֑ק – ‘Isaac’ (208)
Also Eros Ἔρως = 191.  191 + 26 (YHVH) = 217.

One Zayin (7) + Two Heh’s (10) + Three Gimels (9 – one for each goddess) = 26 (YHVH). ]

The Chariot (8) Cheth

The Chariot
  1. He rideth upon the chariot of eternity; the white and the black are harnessed to his car. Therefore he reflecteth the Fool, and the sevenfold veil is reveiled.

[  This card corresponds with the path of Cheth that joins the Palace of the Beth to the Palace of the Aleph.  The Palace of the Aleph is corresponded with the card of the Fool; thus the Charioteer reflecteth the Fool.

Merkabah in Hebrew means ‘Chariot’.
Liber 500 gives notes that Eternity ‘דּ֣וֹר דּוֹרִֽים’ means literally a ‘cycle of cycles’, and while this word is more usually translated as ‘generations’ the primitive root of דור properly, is to gyrate (or move in a circle) and it also means to remain or dwell (through cycles of time).

The design of this card appears to have been heavily influenced by Zechariah 6:1-7:

ואשב ואשא עיני ואראה והנה ארבע מרכבות יצאות מבין שני ההרים וההרים הרי נחשת׃
במרכבה הראשנה סוסים אדמים ובמרכבה השנית סוסים שחרים׃
ובמרכבה השלשית סוסים לבנים ובמרכבה הרבעית סוסים ברדים אמצים׃
ואען ואמר אל־המלאך הדבר בי מה־אלה אדני׃
ויען המלאך ויאמר אלי אלה ארבע רחות השמים יוצאות מהתיצב על־אדון כל־הארץ׃
אשר־בה הסוסים השחרים יצאים אל־ארץ צפון והלבנים יצאו אל־אחריהם והברדים יצאו אל־ארץ התימן׃
והאמצים יצאו ויבקשו ללכת להתהלך בארץ ויאמר לכו התהלכו בארץ ותתהלכנה בארץ׃

1 And I turned and lifted up my eyes and looked and behold, four (273) chariots (272) were coming from between two (63) mountains (260); and the mountains (266) mountains (215) of bronze (65).
2In chariot (279) the first (264) – horses (176) red (95) , and in chariot (285) the second (72) horses (176) black (261),
3And in chariot (279)the third (55) horses (176) white (132), and in chariot (279) the fourth (291) horses (176) spotted (256) bay (181).

4And I answered and said to the angel that spoke in, “What these, my Lord (lit. Adni)?”
5And answered the angel and said to me, “These four spirits of the heaven, go forth from standing before Lord (lit. Adun, (אֲד֥וֹן (61) all the earth,
6That in the horses black go forth to north land, and the white ones go forth to after, and the spotted go forth to the south land.
7“And the bay went out, and sought to go to patrol in earth.” And He said, “Go, get you here, walk to and fro in earth.” And they walked to and fro in earth.”

We cross reference against Crowley’s notes from the Book of Thoth:
The “amber coloured armour” of the Charioteer corresponds to the Bronze mountains.
“Upon his armour are ten Stars of Assiah, the inheritance of celestial dew from his mother”: this detail was inspired from the spots on the horses.  The amber-coloured cobblestones underneath the Chariot reinforce this earthly facing attribution; to the North are the heavens and to the South is the Earth; so when the spotted horses go forth to the south country in Zechariah we may understand that they are going forth towards the earth.
“The scarlet wheels represent the original energy of Geburah which causes the revolving motion.”  On the Seven Palaces; the Energy of Geburah is unveiled as the Energy of the Palace of the Aleph that begins the motion of all things, and this is represented in the biblical text by the red horses.  Note that the red horses travel in no direction!
“This chariot is drawn by four sphinxes composed of the four Kerubs, the Bull, the Lion, the Eagle and the Man.”  These are corresponded to the four spirits of heaven.  The Bull and the Lion are coloured black like the black horses of Zechariah, and the Eagle and the Man are coloured white like the white horses of the biblical prophet.  The inspiration to use Kerubs instead of horses probably came from Ezekiel 10:14-15:

As for the Wheels, they were cried the wheel in my hearing.  And each one had four faces.The first face was the face of a cherub, the secondface was the face of a man, the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.

On the canopy on the chariot is written Abrahadabra, which Crowley referred to in the Book of Thoth as ‘the Cypher of the Great Work’.  ABRHD; the letters used to compose the word Abrahadabra are all the letters of the Palaces too.  The eleven letters of Abrahadabra suggest the gate of this path, which is 11.

לְבָנִ֑ים White + וּשְׁחֹרִֽים and Black + מֶּרְכָּבָ֥ה Chariot = 666
מַסְוֶֽה a Veil = 111
666 + 111 = 777 “and the sevenfold veil is reveiled”.]

Lust/Strength (9) Teth

Lust
  1. Also cometh forth mother Earth with her lion, even Sekhet, the lady of Asi.

[  This card is attributed to the path between the two Palaces of the Aleph.  The card was traditionally called ‘Strength’, and the path and was the domain of the Canaanite goddess Elat, and possibly her daughter Anat (daughter of El and Goddess of War and Fire).  Sekhet is the Egyptian counterpart of Anat and her name means “the powerful one”.  She is depicted as a lioness and she is a goddess of healing, but she can be enflamed by bloodshed and so festivals were celebrated at the end of battle to pacify the lust of Sekhet for war and conquest.

“In a myth about the end of Ra’s rule on the earth, Ra sends Hathor as Sekhmet to destroy mortals who conspired against him. In the myth, Sekhmet’s blood-lust was not quelled at the end of battle and led to her destroying almost all of humanity, so Ra poured out beer dyed with red ochre or hematite so that it resembled blood. Mistaking the beer for blood, she became so drunk that she gave up the slaughter and returned peacefully to Ra.”[6]

The Hermit (10) Yod

The Hermit
  1. Also the Priest veiled himself, lest his glory be profaned, lest his word be lost in the multitude.

This card corresponds to the path of the Yod between the Palace of the Aleph (on the right) and the Palace of Resh.  Crowley makes an equivalence between the figure of this card and spermatozoa.  The figure of the priest resembles the phallus with the hair of streams of semen.  The Yod of this card is part of the name:  YHVH, and the paths of Teth, Lamed, Nun, Samekh and Ayin are also represented by the Yod in the name.

Gematria:

כֹּהֵן Kohen meaning ‘Priest’ (75)
לָ֑יְלָה Layelah meaning ‘Night’ (75)
אֹ֖הֶל – Ohel meaning covering, dwelling-place, home, tabernacle, tent (36).  Ohel is from the primitive root word Ahal יאהיל; shine – to be clear (56).  The two Yod’s are removed from Ahal to make Ohel.
75 + 36 = 111 מַסְוֶֽה a Veil.

The primary gate number of this path is 211 (Aleph + Yod + Resh), but gates are also had at either side such as Aleph + Yod = 11 and Resh + Yod = 210.

Fortune (20) Kaph

Fortune
  1. Now then the Father of all issued as a mighty wheel; the Sphinx, and the dog-headed god, and Typhon, were bound on his circumference.

[  This path falls between the Aleph and the Daleth on the right hand side of the Seven Palaces.

Gematria:
The gate of the path of Kaph is 25 (Aleph + Kaph + Daleth).  When it’s gate is added to the opposite gate of Mem (45) the total is 70.

אֲבִ֕י כָּל The Father of all (63); Abi Kal
אוֹפַ֣ן Wheel (137); Ophan
63 + 137 = 200 = Resh.  The Sun is the axis of the Wheel of the Seven Palaces, and the letter Resh is attributed to the Palace at the center.

And I’ll be covering the second part of the tarot pack soon in Liber Arcanorum Part II.

  • Bethsheba Ashe 11th July 2017.

[1] Although there remains much imaginative speculation over what name these initials represent, it is probably true that they represent no name for the Order at all; being simply the two Alephs of the Seven Palaces.

[2] See ‘The Faces of the Chariot’ by David Halperin.

[3] “I had been most solemnly sworn to inviolable secrecy. The slightest breach of my oath meant that I should incur “a deadly and hostile current of will, set in motion by the Greatly Honoured Chiefs of the Second order, by the which I should fall slain or paralysed, as if blasted by the lightning flash”. And now I was entrusted with some of these devastating though priceless secrets. They consisted of the Hebrew alphabet, the names of the planets with their attribution to the days of the week, and the ten Sephiroth of the Cabbala” – ‘The Confessions of Aleister Crowley’, pg 177.

[4] On one occasion when I was a young woman, my HGA actually intervened to prevent my initiation into one of the outer Orders.  I stood before my well intentioned would-be initiators with the hood over my head and heard her calmly announce “I am sorry, but this may not be.  You may not proceed”.

[5] So sayeth the Zohar.

[6] Lichtheim, Miriam (2006) [1976]. Ancient Egyptian Literature, Volume Two: The New Kingdom. University of California Press. pp. 197–199

Liber DCCCXIII vel ARARITA sub figura DLXX

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Liber 813 vel Ararita sub figura 570

Liber Ararita was written for the use of the Philosophus (4=7) in 1907 by Aleister Crowley.
In Sepher Sephiroth, Crowley tells us that Ararita (ARARYThA) is a name of God and a Notariqon of the hebrew “One is His Beginning; one is His Individuality; His Permutation One”.

AChD RASh: AChDVThV RASh YYChVDVThV: ThMVRThV AChD = 777
In standard gematria this numbers to 813 but in Paleohebrew (biblical) gematria it sums to 777.
[For more information of the original gematria of the alphabet please see ‘Chariot’.]

In Sefer Sephiroth, Crowley also references the sum of the third verse of Genesis which is 813 in both Biblical and the ‘Standard system’ of gematria.

VYAMR ALHYM YHY AVR VYHY AVR = 813.
This translates as “And said Elohim Let there be light (207) and there was light (207)” and this accounts for the sub figura number of 570 because 777 – 570 = 207.

‎The text of Liber Ararita is laid out in 7 chapters of 14 verses, but it is designed to be studied as 14 chapters of 7 verses each, and so it is presented below in its reordered form with commentary.  Once reordered, each chapter is attributed to one of the 14 paths of the Seven Palaces for meditation.  Each line is contrasted with the former line until any concept of form has disappeared.

Crowley writes “The use of this Name and Formula is to equate and identify every idea with its opposite; thus being released from the obsession of thinking any one of them as “true” (and therefore binding); one can withdraw oneself from the whole sphere of the Ruach. See Liber 813, vel Ararita. Contrast each verse of Cap. I with the corresponding verse of Cap. II for the first of these methods. Thus in Cap. III (still verse by verse correspondence) the Quintessence of the ideas is extracted; and in Cap. IV they are withdrawn each one into the one beyond it. In Cap. V they have disappeared into the Method itself. In Cap. VI they reappear in the Form appointed by the Will of the Adept. Lastly, in Cap. VII they are dissolved, one into the next until all finally disappear in the Fire Qadosh, the Quintessence of Reality.” – Note from ‘The Cry of the 22nd Aethyr’ (The Vision and the Voice), by Aleister Crowley.

Each of the 14 chapters has been ordered quite simply by the total of the letters attributed to the paths (low to high numbers) rather than by their gate numbers (presumably because two of the gates = 11).  Therefore they follow the order:‎

Chapter 0: Vav (6)
Chapter 1: Cheth (8)
 Chapter 2: Teth (9)
Chapter 3: Yod (10)
Chapter 4: Gimel, Heh & Zayin (15)
Chapter 5: Kaph (20)
Chapter 6: Lamed (30)
Chapter 7: Mem (40)
Chapter 8: Nun (50)
Chapter 9: Samekh (60)
Chapter 10: Ayin (70)
Chapter 11: Peh (80)
Chapter 12: Shin, Tav, Tsade & Qoph (197)
Chapter 13: Resh (200)


Liber Ararita Reformatted for Meditation. 


Chapter 0.  The Path of Vav.

‎1. O my God! One is Thy Beginning! One is Thy Spirit, and Thy Permutation One!‎

[The entire verse totals to 777.  The path of Vav (6) connects the Palace of Beth (2) with the one of the Palaces of Aleph (1).  When the word ‘Aleph’ is numbered then it totals to 111:  A(1)L(30)P(80).

7+7+7= 21 and when the word ‘Vav’ is numbered it totals to 12: Vav(6)V(6), and these two numbers are symmetrical suggesting the Beth and Aleph once again.  12 is also the number of ‘חַ֣ד’ (Had) which is the short version of echad.  Both words mean ‘one’.]

2. Now then I saw these things averse and evil; and they were not, even as Thou ‎art Not.

[If we read the numbers from Beth to Aleph in sequence we may write 2, 6, 1 or 261. The word דֵּרָאוֹן meaning aversion or abhorrence numbers to 261. Also, in early biblical Hebrew the “Vav + suffix conjugation” was called “the Vav of reversal”.  It turns Past to Future, and Future to Past; from something done, into something that will be done.

When the word Beth is numbered then it totals to 16 which is the reverse of the number 61.  The word ‘Ain’ has this gematria number and its meaning in Sepher Sephiroth is “negative, non-existent; NOT” and in the Book of Lies (Chapter 61) as “nothing”.  Another way of saying ‘Not’ in Hebrew is simply to reverse אל to spell לא ‘Not (31), and as there are two nots in the verse then 31 x 2 = 62 which could also be read as 6, 2 which is Vav, Beth.]

3. Say thou that He God is one; God is the Everlasting One; nor hath He any Equal, ‎or any Son, or any Companion. Nothing shall stand before His face.‎

[ה֣וּא אֱלֹהִ֑ים אֶחָֽד; ‘He God (Elohim) [is] one’ = 111.

אלהים העוֹלָֽם אֶחָֽד; ‘God [is] the Everlasting One’ = 250, but as in Chapter 1, verse 3 this requires a conversion of the number base; 250 in base 7 is 111 in base 11.

The wife or companion of God is found on the path of Teth (and she is Elat).  The Son of God (HDD – Hadad the Son of El) is found on the bottom 3 palaces.  The paths of Yod and Ayin (80) are equal by number to the paths of Lamed and Nun (80).  So there is a process of elimination happening with the end of this verse, allowing the reader to narrow in on which path is being discussed.

In the Tarot, the aleph is attributed to the card of the Fool, which is card 0.]

4.  Also the little child, the lover of Adonai, even V.V.V.V.V., reflecting the glory of ‎Adonai, lifted up his voice and said:‎

[See the little dancing child in the centre of the pentagram (itself within the hexagram) that is drawn on ‘The Hierophant’ of the Thoth Tarot.  This card is attributed to Vav and the child symbolizes “the law of the new Aeon of the Child Horus which has supplanted that Aeon of the “Dying God” which governed the world for two thousand”.  The child is also centred over the heart of the Hierophant who Crowley describes in the Book of the Thoth as the ‘Manifestor of the Mystery’ and here as Adonai (אֲדֹנָי 65).  All of these symbols and V.V.V.V.V (5 sixes’) concern the union of the Microcosm and the Macrocosm and this union is personified by the figure of Adonai as the Hierophant.]

5.  In the place of the cross the indivisible point which hath no points nor parts nor ‎magnitude. Nor indeed hath it position, being beyond space. Nor hath it existence ‎in time, for it is beyond Time. Nor hath it cause or effect, seeing that its Universe is ‎infinite every way, and partaketh not of these our conceptions.‎

[In this verse, the child Horus is telling us that in the new aeon the symbol of the cross – which represented the dying god of the old aeon – is to be replaced with the ‘indivisible point’; essentially the new formula for initiation shall have no symbol.]

6.  Deeper and deeper into the mire of things! Farther and farther into the never-‎ending Expansion of the Abyss.‎

[The ancients conceived of the world as being surrounded by water, and the word for heaven translates as ‘the fiery waters’.  This imagined expanse of water that we now call space, was also namedתְּהֹמֹ֖ת  / תְה֑וֹם ‘the Deep’ or ‘the Abyss’.  There is no end to space.  The universe is an ongoing explosion without end that continues to expand in all directions.  There is no thing that is outside the universe; all one’s thinking is done inside of it and as part of it.  When the water of heaven is mixed with earth you get mud – the mire!

This path and the path of Cheth traditionally denote the two waters around the earth that were separated by God; one to the east and one to the west.  (See Genesis 1:6)]

7.  Then in the might of the Lion did I formulate unto myself that holy and formless ‎fire, which darteth and flasheth through the depths of the Universe.‎

[The might of the lion is the Kerub shown on the card of the Hierophant, and his force is the Solar fire of the Sun – the light itself.]

——————————————

Before I move on to the next chapter, I’d like to make a few notes about the paths of Vav and Cheth when taken together, but first a few final notes about Vav:

The gate of Vav is 9 – i.e. Beth + Vav + Aleph = 9.  This may be why the Hierophant card has nine nails in the illustration.  Its opposite counterpart on the Wheel (below) is Resh, which has the gate number of 209 – i.e. Heh + Resh + Dalet.  Together they make a combined or secondary gate of 218.  However, Resh is attributed to both a path and a palace and if they (the two Reshs) are taken together (as one Sun) then the total for this gate would be 418.

Crowley tells us that 418 is “the number of the word of the Aeon, ABRAHADABRA, the cypher of the Great Work”.

Regarding Vav and Cheth:
When all the letters from the top of the Wheel’s circumference are counted from Aleph to Aleph then: Aleph + Cheth + Beth + Vau + Aleph = 18 and the word אחבוא means ‘Hidden’ or ‘Hiding’.  Cheth is attributed to the Tarot Card of the Chariot, and Crowley writes of the Charioteer “the vizor of his helmet is lowered, for no man may look upon his face and live. For the same reason, no part of his body is exposed.”  ‎

Chapter 1.  The Path of Cheth.

 

‎1. Let me extol Thy perfections before men.‎

[The explanation for this verse is that the various perfections of the Cheth attributed to this section of heaven are above the path of Mem, and the gate of Mem is Aleph + Daleth + Mem = 45 ‘Adam’ which means ‘mankind’.

The Path of Cheth connects the Palace of Beth and the Palace of Aleph.
The word ‘Cheth’ is spelled Cheth, Yod, Tav = 22.
“The rabbis ascribed special sanctity to the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The Psalmist’s declaration that “By the word of God were the heavens made” (Ps. 33:6) was taken to indicate the power of the letters, which form the “Word” of God. Bezalel succeeded in the construction of the tabernacle because he “knew how to combine the letters by which the heavens and earth were created” (Ber. 55a).” – sourced from:
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/hebrew-in-ancient-jewish-scriptures

The gate of this path is Beth, Cheth, Aleph = 11.
The first two letters of the word ‘Cheth’ are Cheth, Yod = 18 and mean ‘life’.

A secondary gate number is made with the opposite path on the wheel (below) that totals to 217: 206 + 11 = 217.
217 is 7 x 31 (אל).
It is the total of all the letters of the Palaces when added together; Beth + Aleph + Resh + Aleph + Heh + Dalet + Dalet =217 (Bara Hdd).
It is the gate number of the first Heh of YHVH (Beth + Gimel + Heh + Zayin + Resh = 217), and this is the ‘holy of holies’ or abode of God.

It is also the sum total of the order of the alphabet when the 22 letters are placed in their proper order of 20 places.  Gimel(3) and Shin(3) share the third place, and Dalet and Tav share the 4th place. Thus:
1 + 2 + 3 + 3 + 4 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 + 8 + 9 + 10 + 11 + 12 + 13 + 14 + 15 + 16 + 17 + 18 + 19 + 20 = 217

The sum total of the gematria of all the letters is 802 and 8:02 minutes are 482 seconds; 482 is the sum of the two gates in the middle of the Wheel:
217 (Beth + Gimel + Heh + Zayin + Resh) + 265 (Heh + Samekh + Resh) = 482.

[[Note – Base 60 has been used since early Babylonian times to count minutes and seconds, and it is also the basis of geometry (360 degrees in a circle / 6 = 60).]]

Another interesting pairing that occurs with the gate of Cheth is with the gate of Resh:
11 + 209 = 220, which is the gematria sum of the words Bereshith and HaTorah, and it brings us around again to the sum of 220 when written out:  מָאתַ֔יִם עֶשְׂרִ֑ים ‘two hundred twenty’ = 418.]

2.  I saw the twin heads that ever battle against one another, so that all their ‎thought is confusion. I saw Thee in these.‎

[This probably refers to the Qlippoth; Crowley writes that Thaumiel have two contending heads so as to deny the unity of Kether, and they are called ‘the Twins of God’.   The three supernals of Kether, Chokmah and Binah are reunited into a singular palace of Beth on the Wheel.  This Palace is a harmony of the Indivisible Point that all things revolve around (analogous to the Pole star), and Wisdom and Understanding all at once.

The Thaumiel would therefore represent the averse of these qualities, being stupidity and misunderstanding; but as all things come from God; are set in motion by God, and are God, then these two qualities may also be appreciated as aspects of God’s greater unity.]

3.  Even for five hundred and eleven times nightly for one and forty days did I cry ‎aloud unto the Lord the affirmation of His Unity.‎

[Here, Crowley uses different number bases that require conversion.  511 in decimal is 777 in base 8 and 41 in decimal ‎is 56 in base 7; and the word יוֹם (56) ‘Yom’ means ‘Day’.‎

A misunderstanding may be eliminated here.  In Sepher Sephiroth the World of Shells (i.e. the Qlippoth) totals to 777, but only in the standard gematria that has been degraded from its original beauty and purpose.  All words that contain a shin or a tav are miscalculated by standard gematria, so while it may have some truth to it, it’s really only suitable for cipher and bluff.  עולם הקליפות ‘The world of shells’ = 381 by biblical gematria and 381 is 3 x 127.  127 has many correspondences but Crowley only gives us the word ‘מוטבע’ – which leads to quite an amusing meditation on the shells however.  381 is the sum total of the first 3 words of Proverbs 25:2:   כבד אלהים הסתר: “[It is the] glory [of] Elohim to conceal.”]

4. Glory to God, and Thanksgiving to God! There is One God alone, and God is ‎exceeding great.  He is about us, and there is no strength save in Him the exalted, ‎the great.‎

שבינה ] = 88 Gloria cohabitans [vide K.D. L.C.K. p. 711]; the Glory of God.
הוֹד֤ו לַֽיהוָהּ֙ = 77 ; Thanksgiving to God. ]

5.  So wrote the Exempt Adept, and the laughter of the Masters of the Temple ‎abashed him not.‎

[ The Exempt Adept’s focus on this path comes from the Palace of Aleph.  He is concerned with the One but the Master of the Temple has no attachments, not even to the one, or the 2=0, and so all the universe appears as a cosmic joke. ]

6.  The great goddess that bendeth over the Universe is my mistress; I am the ‎winged globe at her heart.‎

[ The Goddess Nuit is here identified and the winged globe is the Holy Grail seen in the Tarot card of the Chariot.  Crowley writes of this “the central and most important feature of the card is its centre – the Holy Grail. It is of pure amethyst, of the colour of Jupiter, but its shape suggests the full moon and the Great Sea of Binah.  In the centre is radiant blood; the spiritual life is inferred; light in the darkness.” ]

7.  At the touch of the Fire Qadosh the earth melted into a liquor clear as water.‎

[ The Fire Qadosh means the Holy Fire of the Solar force.  Earthly attachments are transmuted into their abstract forms becoming as the light of the stars in the heavens.  ]

Chapter 2.  The Path of Teth.

‎1. In the Image of a Sixfold Star that flameth across the Vault inane, let me re-veil ‎Thy perfections.‎

[  This path connects the two Palaces of the Alephs.  Before 1190 BCE when the city of Ugarit fell, the wife of the God ‘El’ (or ‘AL’ in Thelema) was the Goddess Elat, and this is her path.  She is the face of the Heavens; the roof of the Temple that lends it strength and stability; and she prevents the waters outside from rushing in to flood the earth; and she is the veil before the tabernacle.

Although there is little record of her in the Torah, references to her crop up here and there.  Her word is אתה (9) ‘You Are’ seen in Psalm 90:2 ‎as ‘You are El’ (40).  Also אַטֶּ֣ה ‘to incline’ or to ‘stretch’. אט means ‘slowly’ or ‘softly, in reference to her slowly moving face, and is associated with words indicating gentleness or secrecy.  Words that end with the אט suffix tend to indicated covering or containing.  The Paleohebrew letter was shaped as a wheel, and this is why we have the famous biblical references by Ezekiel to ‘a Wheel within a Wheel’.Constellation of Draco laid over the Tarot Card: Lust

The gate of this path is 11, and when added to the gates of Vav (9) and Cheth (11) they total to 31 for the number of El.

In Thelemic theology, this path is the abode of the Goddess ‘Babalon’, and she is seen in the Tarot card called ‘Lust’ (formerly named ‘Strength’) riding upon a Lion-Serpent.  The stars of this lady are the circumpolar constellation of Draco that can be seen all year round from Northern Latitudes.

2. I saw the darkeners of wisdom, like black apes chattering vile nonsense. I saw ‎Thee in these.‎

[  These are of the Qlippoth.  – The path of Teth is entirely creative and represents the original marriage, so the Qlippoth of this path would be entirely destructive and heedless of consequence.

We might think of a capitalist with a large factory that shows neither foresight nor beneficence towards the life of the planet, but poisons the Ozone layer for a slight increase in his profits today.  Yet God is all, even in these and they stimulate the nurturing beneficence and activism of goodly people to thwart and erase such destructive and unwise elements.

These are (perhaps) the ‘Flaming Ones’, but whose flame has went out leaving the black shell of the apes?  They are (perhaps) all that remains of the Saints once they have poured their entire blood into the cup of Babalon?  They are (perhaps) the Nephesh cut off from its spiritual source above? ]

3.  Also did I glorify His wisdom, whereby He made the worlds.‎

4.  Thus did V.V.V.V.V. become mad, and wend about naked.‎

[  Crowley writes in the Book of Thoth “The woman is shown as more than a little drunk, and more than a little mad; and the lion also is aflame with lust. This signifies that the type of energy described is of the primitive, creative order; it is completely independent of the criticism of reason.  ]

5.  Nor was he ashamed, hearing the laughter of the little dogs of hell.‎
6.  I contract ever as she ever expandeth;‎

[  The interplay of Hadit and Nuit. ]

7.  At the touch of the Fire Qadosh the water smoked into a lucid air.‎

This path draws down (and along) the holy fire through the water from the left; and the light of the solar fire from the right to create the medium of the air through which the light continues its travels.

Chapter 3.  [ The Path of Yod ]

1. Thou hast appeared unto me as an aged God, a venerable God, the Lord of ‎Time, bearing a sharp sickle.‎

[  The Path of Yod falls between the Palace of Resh and the Palace of Aleph.  It has a gate number or 211, but when the letters are attributed to the Seven Places by order – rather than by gematria value, then this palace has the gate value of 31.

In the oldest representations of the Hermit card we see the personification of Saturn as the Father of Time, holding an hourglass. In later representations he holds a lamp and this may be related to the practise of using special lamps to measure the hours with.  Saturn is the most closely associated deity to El, and he is sometimes represented as holding a scythe. ]

End of Part II.  03/07/2017