Saturday, September 4, 2010

The Lord's Frustration, The Lady's Understanding

Nitzavim-Vayeilech

פֶּן-יֵשׁ בָּכֶם, שֹׁרֶשׁ פֹּרֶה רֹאשׁ--וְלַעֲנָה
lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood ... Devarim 29:17

The Lord definitely wants to find this root and to curse it.

But thankfully, the Lady understands the Lord and says otherwise.

The Hebrew root from which the translation "gall and wormwood" is derived, namely לען, means "bitter" and "to give bitter oil." Yet in Witchcraft, the wormwood plant is a protective essence which counteracts poisoning and guards against malevolent magic. It is also used to call up ancestral and nature spirits as collaborative allies in the Sacred Feminine Arts. It appears then that the bitterness may be a male patterned experience of "wormwood" because the female patterned experience of it is quite different.

So, how can the Lady's witches understand the Lord's experience?

The Hebrew word translated as "gall and wormwood," namely וְלַעֲנָה, has a gematria of 161. The word היקום meaning "living substance" also has a gematria of 161. The word היקום comes from the root קום (meaning "rising", "reasserting denied rights," and "standing in opposition to") and is found in Bereshit 7:4 where the Lord informs Noah that He is going to "blot out every living substance from off the face of the earth." Oh, the Lord's in that (bitter) mood again!

The Lady says to the Lord "no, You can't do it. I'm so (not) sorry. Here, why don't You try a tea concoction with my sweet wormwood in it instead to soothe Your anxiety a bit. It's called Aphrodisia. I promise - You'll be glad We're not all blotted out. This is what You really want to do anyway."