The Witch's Hat

Tetzaveh

וְשַׂמְתָּ הַמִּצְנֶפֶת, עַל-רֹאשׁוֹ
and set the witch's hat upon his head ... Shemot 29:6

The Hebrew word הַמִּצְנֶפֶת refers to a conical-shaped hat, a witch's hat. On the antiquity of the witch's hat, Carolyn Tully informs us:

According to the magazine 'Biblical Archaeology Review,' a 22 inch-tall, gold, conical object, whose place, date and circumstances of its discovery remain shrouded in mystery, is now thought to be a headdress worn during religious ceremonies. Fragments of leather or felt found inside the cone appear to rule out what was until now the most popular identification of this type of cone: a ritual vessel. But the fragments support the designation of a Hat. A soft lining would have transformed the uncomfortable cone into a wearable headdress. And with a 7 inch diameter at its base, the cone bears the hat size of an average adult male (or female). The cone even has a brim, just like a typical Witches' Hat.¹

In ritual, the witch's hat symbolizes the energy-form generated within a magic circle by the Coven. The brim represents the circle of witches (or the witch's sacred circle within the context of solitary practice), and the pointed cone represents the ritual power raised within the circle through which magic is worked.

The Hebrew word הַמִּצְנֶפֶת (the witch's hat) further connects to a circle of witches through it's shoresh (3-letter root) צנף, which means to 'circle around a center,' as witches do - whether in Coven or in solitary ritual. In terms of kabbalistic meditation, the act of circling (corresponding to the witch's hat) corresponds to siyach meditation.

Footnote:

1. Biblical Archaeology Review. Vol.25. No.5. pp.17-18. (The gold headdress was part of an exhibition in Paris and Athens entitled "Gods and Heroes of the Bronze Age", September 1999 to May 2000.)

Tzinor, The Altar Pentacle

Terumah

וְהָיְתָה הָרֶשֶׁת, עַד חֲצִי הַמִּזְבֵּחַ
that the net may concentrate energy in the middle of the altar ... Shemot 27:5

The channel (tzinor) which collects Divine energy is actually an interwoven network of connected tzinorot (channels). Zohar describes the collecting tzinor as an inversion of ratzon (will). This means that, when the tzinor is closed (encircled), ratzon is detained through the act of a controlled tzimtzum (concentrating restriction) in order to receive light in the five-phased creaturely behina dalet of the human soul.

From the related dream of Mishpatim:

I had to help him survive the judging ordeal by gathering up all the balls (spheres like sefirot) which had been thrown out onto the gym floor and place them all within a high basketball hoop (the net closed at the bottom) within a short time-limited period of time.

As I put the the last ball into the high basket, the chamber opened up ...

Only in the independent human soul is the free will desire to receive Divine energy both restricted and realized simultaneously. Through the pentacle (enclosed pentagram) a witch receives Divine light. Through the pentagram, a witch channels that received according to her will.

Sex Magic And The Real Meaning Of Negative Mitzvah 310

Mishpatim

כ״ט בשבט תש"ע
Keowulf 1
Sabbath Day of the Dark Moon

מְכַשֵּׁפָה, לֹא תְחַיֶּה.
The witch will be/have no beastly-acting beast. Shemot 22:17, Negative Mitzvah 310

כָּל-שֹׁכֵב עִם-בְּהֵמָה, מוֹת יוּמָת.
Whosoever lies with a beast shall be put to death. Shemot 22:18

When the Hebrew letter tav (ת) is prefixed to a verb stem, it sometimes indicates the third person, singular, feminine, future tense - "she will." A tav prefix on a verb also changes it to a noun. Thus, the implication in the above Hebrew verses is that a witch, through the alchemical transformations which naturally come in consequence to the magical practice of real witchcraft, will ultimately herself not be a beastly-acting beast of a woman. Through her magical practice, she will evolve into a fully actualized Human Being acting as an agent of the Divine. Thus, a witch should not be joined to an untransformable beastly-acting beast of a man.

It is in every witch's best interest to choose a mate carefully, wisely and with insightful connection to his truest nature. Without that connection, there is no good future for the two together.

The teaching of the two verses above from Shemot pertains to the critical element of reciprocal connection of a couple to each other's innermost Divine nature to attaining higher level magic. Without it, extraordinary magic (sex magic) within the context of a couple (a ritual coven of two) is impossible.

Tuesday night's dream:

There were two parallel-like realities. I was pulled from existing in the normative one into a special one hidden from the normative world.

I was able to go back and forth between the existent realities at will because of my unique chemistry. Those in the normative reality from which I had come could not enter into the special one, and weren't even aware of its existence. Only few of those who primarily existed in the special one could enter into normative existence without it killing them or cutting off them from re-entering the hidden reality. There was something very unique about my chemistry (and the chemistry of the few others who, like me, could move without damage through either reality). This ability to move equally well in both worlds made me a highly valued person in the special existence, sort of like a special-operations person might be in the military.

Two other women had been pulled into the special reality at around the same time I had. We each arrived and sat down in theater-like seats. In the seats directly behind us, we were each then pulled back into the lap of a male beast-like creature (each which looked something like the beast in the cartoon film Beauty and the Beast, although I was only able to accurately perceive the one directly behind me). I had to decide whether or not to remain with him. I liked him, so I said okay. He felt comfortable and fitting for me.

The scene changed and we were in a small gym-like auditorium. My beast was a leader and he also had to be judged by the judges to be fit for me (of special-operations potential). I had to help him survive the judging ordeal by gathering up all the balls (like nerf balls but hard like rubber) which had been thrown out onto the gym floor and place them all within a high basketball hoop (closed shut at the bottom) within a short time-limited period of time. There were lots of balls to pick up, and the basket was located at a very high place on the wall - it was a difficult test for me as well - to get all the balls in the basket within the short period of allotted time.

The timer started. I started retrieving balls, putting each one in the basket one after another. My beast was in a closed chamber hooked to the gym-like room undergoing some ordeal at the same time I was retrieving balls. One time, the chamber opened briefly and I saw the my beast was less beast-like, but not yet quite human-looking. As soon as I saw this little bit of transformation, the chamber closed back up with him in it.

One of the persons watching our ordeal, trying to thwart our success, came out onto the gym floor and picked up one of the balls still remaining to be retrieved and threw it out the door of the special world into the normative one. Egads! - I knew innately that I couldn't lose touch-contact with special world all during the ordeal or the whole procedure would be disrupted and a failure! Quickly, I got to the door, and with one of my tiptoes still inside the special world, and gripping onto the door with one hand, I went through with the rest of my body into the normative world and pulled the tossed ball back into the special world. I fully reentered the special world. The ball in my hand was the last ball to be put into the high basket.

As I put the the last ball into the high basket, the chamber opened up and dumped out a naked man onto the gym floor. My beast was now a fully human man.

The end-timer never went off, so we had succeeded.

I woke up.

Witch's Tongs From The Altar Of Glowing Stone

Yitro

וְאִם-מִזְבַּח אֲבָנִים תַּעֲשֶׂה-לִּי, לֹא-תִבְנֶה אֶתְהֶן גָּזִית: כִּי חַרְבְּךָ הֵנַפְתָּ עָלֶיהָ, וַתְּחַלְלֶהָ
And if thou make Me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stones; for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast profaned it ... Shemot 20:21

Hewn Stone - Cut Off (גָּזִית) From Reality

The Hebrew word for 'thy tool' in the Torah verse is חרבך from the shoresh חרב which refers to a tool (like a sword, for example) which creates 'ruin' and 'loss of vitality.' This kind of tool is not to be used upon the altar.

Glowing Stone - The Infusion (רִצְפָּה) Into Reality

The Hebrew word for a specific kind of 'tool' in this week's Haftarah (in Isaiah) is בְּמֶלְקַחַיִם (translates as 'with the tongs') from the shoresh לקח which means 'taking', 'receiving' and 'knowledge' - in other words, tongs pertain to a tool for 'taking' and 'receiving knowledge' (as opposed to causing ruin and loss of vitality). The kind of specific tool as found in this week's Haftarah (in contrast to the tool in the Torah portion) is used by the seraph, who "with a glowing stone in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from upon the altar, touched my mouth with it, and said: Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin expiated." In correlation with the meanings of the shoresh לקח, the seraph took to make a witch fit to receive prophetic knowledge. In her cauldron, she brews it, even stirring the deliciously delightful mysteries with the tongs through which she was made fit to receive it. Through one arm of the tongs, one takes (summons) knowledge, and through the other arm of the tongs one receives knowledge.

As posted on Walking On Fire earlier today:

Last night I dreamt.

I was touring Breezee Tower (a tall business building now deserted in my hometown) for an apartment on the upper floor. The halls of the building were busy with people - though deserted in real life, it was not deserted in my dream, but was in use for both business (lower floors) and apartments (upper floor).

The upper floor of the building was also haunted by ghosts. Most people were afraid of the ghosts, but I wasn't. I talked to the ghosts in conversation whenever approached by one.

There was a table in the middle of a side hallway. As I approached the table, I started to dance around the table (like one does at Simchat Torah) and chant a chant made up of words I had not ever learned before. I didn't understand many of the words released from my mouth, but someone at the table recognized them as an archaic specialized dialect of ancient Hebrew that very few people knew. It was a specialized ritual form of Hebrew. Some of the words I myself recognized - for example, Torah was pronounced as a construction of Tarah (tar sounding something like car, ah sounding like ahh - like in haftarah). I knew in my mind the word Tarah was Torah, but an ancient pronunciation of it.

I woke up.

An old kabbalistic poem of mine (originally published on my Geocities website), entitled Cauldron, relates a story of the tongs discussed in the Haftarah connected to this week's Torah portion:

forged without calculation
reverberating with eternal essence, the lifeforce
brewing namelessly under the nostrils, purifying recognition
some thoughtbare combination, a tasty transformation
within a witch's cauldron, over colorless flames darkly
simmering a stew of primeval mysteries
including everything, yet nothing yet
percolating in silence, an utterly female science
patiently pivoting tongs stirring that connection
deliciously delightful
singly unique
sustaining completely, from the timeless time to come
turning history
without equivocation