Cosmos

Balak on this Full Moon Shabbat

וְהוֹקַע אוֹתָם לַיהוָה, נֶגֶד הַשָּׁמֶשׁ
and raise them up in the face of the sun ... Bamidbar 25:4

Thursday night before an important meeting Friday, with the word-locking warding power characteristic of Vardlokkur, I drew one magical rune out of my rune-pouch to reveal and draw out the energy which would characterize the meeting the next morning. (As always, as with every divination I do using magical alphabets, the act of drawing was made by putting one of my hands into the pouch and drawing out the rune to which my hand is drawn - I do not see any of the runes until after one is drawn and taken out of the pouch. In this particular drawing, I drew the rune out with my left hand, the hand of strength. In note, all of my runes are hand-crafted without electrical tools and hand-pyrographed into hand-cut circles of apple wood of equal size.) The rune I drew was Sowilo.

“Sowilo guides and leads you to the doorway, then waits for your return.” ... rune poem, author unknown

Sowilo, the Sun rune, is also known as the victory rune - it guides to and brings up honor, victory, success, revelation and wholeness. Importantly, Sowilo is a life-giving force. It's driving energy is not one of destruction. It's driving energy is one which activates one's inner Divinity to mobilize action of one's highest values within the given situation to catalyze transmutation of one's highest will and thought into manifest reality. Sowilo makes enlightenment real.

This Shabbat Saturday morning, the day following the meeting Friday, and opposite in time to the Thursday night rune drawing, as Sowilo waited for my return to the runes, I returned, drawing a retroceding rune (such that the two rune drawings sandwiched the Friday meeting, both anteceding and retroceding it, with magical energy). As per my usual procedure as described above, yet this time with my right hand to provide balance, amazingly I drew Isa - the Ice rune force which expertly balances and focuses Sowilo.

“Ice only appears to stop a river’s flow.” ... rune poem, author unknown

Isa wards, focuses and concentrates the success and enlightenment brought up by Sowilo onto and into the target situation and magical working. Isa restabilizes the natural instability surrounding the act of transmutation, brought up both through Sowilo and through the magical Hebrew word וְהוֹקַע in this week's parsha meaning "raise up." Isa freezes, brings to stillness and neutralizes other potential negative meanings (namely, "to condemn" or "to execute") of the word וְהוֹקַע to energetically focus, concentrate and bring into single-minded action the positive meaning of the word וְהוֹקַע - namely, "to raise up."

Isa is also the rune of satisfying, meditative quiet rest. Like Shabbat.

Together, Sowilo and Isa correspond to the elusive soul power of hishtavut (equanimity), the ability to live with harmony in the most profound reality of the Cosmos. One who is shown to possess such equanimity shows oneself to be One with the Cosmos.

The vardlokkur for this Shabbat morning is Cosmos. Oh, how beautifully the Cosmos speaks in me!

Vital Achdut

Chukat

וְנַפְשֵׁנוּ קָצָה, בַּלֶּחֶם הַקְּלֹקֵל
and our soul is sick with poor vitality ... Bamidbar 21:5

This phrase tells us that the singular soul (nefesh, not nefashot) of the bodies (not the individual bodies nor the plural souls), of the complainers was "sick with poor vitality." One can suggest then that the complainers were united in a high level of achdut. In fact, their level of achdut was so refined that their nefesh soul was counted as a singular united organism. Having achieved this high level of achdut, the soul required a nourishment that the manna of the desert no longer provided.

Korach's Argument And Aharon's Magical Staff

Korach

וְהִנֵּה פָּרַח מַטֵּה-אַהֲרֹן, לְבֵית לֵוִי; וַיֹּצֵא פֶרַח וַיָּצֵץ צִיץ, וַיִּגְמֹל שְׁקֵדִים
and behold, the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded, and put forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and bore ripe almonds ... Bamidbar 17:23

The Magical Staff - the Essence Witchcraft, the Old Religion

The almond is native to the Mediterranean region as far eastward as the Indus Valley, the very cradle of human civilization. Inhabited since 470,000 BCE, through the Indus Valley came the essence of Witchcraft, the Old Religion.

The Flower of Korach

In the Old Religion of the Indus Valley civilization of Sind, as in ancient and modern Witchcraft, there was no centralized ordained clergy (page 23). Each person was her or his own priestess or priest. Each home had its own shrine. There were group gatherings and festivals for the Sun, Moon and seasonal celebrations. The people revered the mother Goddess.

The Bud of Celtic Witchcraft

Interestingly, down through the golden threads of sacred time, the ancient figure of Celtic Cernunnos (first photo) bears a striking resemblance to the figure (second photo) of Indus Siva (from which Hindu Shiva derives) found on an ancient seal dated c.2500-1500 BCE excavated at Mohenjo-Daro.

Giving birth to Celtic culture, the sacred mother Danube river was named for the Celtic mother Goddess Danu. Danu is also the name of an early Hindu mother Goddess of primeval waters. The descendants of the Goddess Danu, in both Celtic and Hindu culture, are called Children of Danu.

Mounting evidence, both religious and archeological, clearly links the origin of ancient Celtic culture with the ancient Dravidian culture of the Indus Valley. Evidence also suggests that the earliest civilizations of Mesopotamia, including biblical Ur, the mother city of the Semitic peoples, were themselves colonial outposts of a mother civilization from the Indus Valley.

The Ripe Almonds - People of the Book

As Jews are people of the Torah, as Christians are people of the Bible, and as Muslims are people of the Koran, so too are Witches people of the Book. In a witch's Book of Shadows, Goddess continues to write and weave Her magic down through golden threads of time. Unlike the newer patriarchal religions, the Mother's Old Religion still to this day, unencumbered by caste or rank or political power, bestows priestesshood and priesthood upon each individual who practices it in her or his own dwelling, before her or his own Earthy shrine to the Divinity of which we are all made.

The Argument of Korach and the Magical Staff of Aharon

Importantly, taking all this together, we can see that within the history and modern reality of Witchcraft, both the argument of Korach (containing an element of the idea that everyone among the congregation is a priest/priestess) and the magical staff of Aharon (which flowered, budded and bore ripe almonds to demonstrate chosenness for priesthood - and priestesshood) are One.

So mote it be. אמן

An Ancient Book Of Shadows

Sh'lach

יְהוָה, אֶרֶךְ אַפַּיִם וְרַב-חֶסֶד, נֹשֵׂא עָו‍ֹן, וָפָשַׁע; וְנַקֵּה, לֹא יְנַקֶּה
The LORD is slow to anger, and plenteous in lovingkindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and that will by no means clear the guilty ... Bamidbar 14:18

These midot (measures and character traits) - slowness to anger, lovingkindness and forgiveness of transgression - will not clear, will not clean up, will not acquit guilt.

The question now is, what will human beings do?

The Universe pauses to observe.

The total gematria of the Hebrew excerpt above is 1948, with a digit sum of 22 and a final digit sum of 4.

1948 = the year Israel became a nation
22 = the number of magical letters in the Hebrew alphabet
4 = the door into will

In Torah, an ancient Book of Shadows belonging to Humanity, is recorded an alchemical occult procedure for removing the alien infection of human will. As is every mystery Book of Shadows, the cleansing interpretation of the instructions is protected by encryption of the text. How do we read it and how do we act upon our reading of it?

Related dream - Tzaraat, The Mystery Under The Skin

The Fifth Element, The Elixir Of Life

Beha'alotcha





וְזֶה מַעֲשֵׂה הַמְּנֹרָה
and this is the work of the candlestick ... Bamidbar 8:4

The gematria of the Hebrew phrase above is 13 (echad), with a digit sum of 4 - earth, air, fire and water. The work of the candlestick is to make manifest the fifth element, the elixir of life available to us in unity of being through the lifeblood of the unified Universe. Gypsies call this fifth elemental elixir mi douvals zee - the Zee Energy.

The Zee Energy runs through and permeates the Universe like blood runs through our vascular system and permeates our bodies through an expanding and spreading network of blood vessels and capillaries. Like within our veins and arteries is concentrated the flow of our blood, within the ley lines and dragon paths of the earth is concentrated the flow of the lifeforce of the fifth elemental energy. Understand then that within our own bodies exists magic sympathy with the powerful ley lines and dragon paths of the earth.

Lighting the Lamp of the Sticky Soul

As oxygen and other nutrients are delivered to our tissues through tiny capillaries, so too is the energy of the fifth element brought into our physical being through the interface of our body and our sticky soul (our animal soul and pure child nature). Feri tradition Witchcraft teaches that our sticky soul is very closely aligned with our physical body. Energy 'sticks' to our sticky soul, and through it, energy from the Universe may be drawn into our physical body. Energy may also be stored in our sticky soul like a battery.

Lighting the Lamp of the Body

Also like a battery, Gypsy Witchcraft teaches that within the protected boundaries of our physical body, the energy of the fifth element may be stored like a ball of radiant light. This light may be utilized for magic and should be kept replenished when expended.

Here is a Gypsy technique for bringing in and storing within yourself the light of the fifth element - Zee Energy Meditation [excerpt from Gypsy Magic by Patrinella Cooper]:

Find a place that has a comfortable feel for you, a spot that feels welcoming, preferably outdoors. It is good to lie on the grass, or lean against a tree or rock, but sit on something comfortable if that feels better. If it is more convenient to be indoors, try to fill your room with harmony and life. Have growing things about you. Burn pleasant incense or oil, maybe a candle or two if that pleases you. The main thing is to feel relaxed.

Don't try to clear your mind of thoughts: to try to do so consciously often has the opposite effect of making one tense. Let your mind range where it will. If you feel like looking around, look around! Notice the flowers, the sound of the birds, the wind through the leaves, the distant noise of traffic and people. Gradually your thoughts will quieten.

As your mind becomes still, imagine your body becoming less solid, your skin - the barrier between you and the outside world - melting. Imagine the zee energy shimmering all around you, permeating the earth beneath, the air above you. Feel the zee tingling around your body like electricity.

Take slow, deep breaths, drawing the air down into your stomach. With each breath visualise the sparkling zee being drawn into your body through every pore, through the soles of the feet, palms of the hand, and crown of the head.

Continue in this way until the zee fills your whole body with vibrant glowing energy, and you feel yourself bursting with light. Now gradually close the barriers between you and the world again, to enclose the zee energy within your body. Feel your skin become solid again. Gradually the light drains from the extremities towards the torso. then concentrate the light into a glowing ball situated in the region of the solar plexus. Concentrate your mind for a few moments on the reassuring feel of this ball of light, your own power house of energy, then darken it with an imaginary cover that will keep it safe, deep inside yourself until it is needed.

Do this exercise whenever you can, ideally every day. Don't worry if you can't complete it every time; don't worry if you fall asleep half way through; just sitting quietly for a while is of great benefit to the psyche, so the time is never wasted.

בְּהַעֲלֹתְךָ, אֶת-הַנֵּרֹת, אֶל-מוּל פְּנֵי הַמְּנוֹרָה, יָאִירוּ שִׁבְעַת הַנֵּרוֹת
When you catalyze the lighting of the lamps, at the right time the lamps shall give full light ...

Magic is not only the rituals you do, magic is what you are.

Skin Of The Magical Tachash

Naso

The Bowels of the Earth

and this water that causeth the curse shall go into thy bowels ... Bamidbar 5:22
וּבָאוּ הַמַּיִם הַמְאָרְרִים הָאֵלֶּה, בְּמֵעַיִךְ

The Crusty End

And it came to pass on the day that Moses had made an end of setting up the tabernacle ... Bamidbar 7:1
וַיְהִי בְּיוֹם כַּלּוֹת מֹשֶׁה לְהָקִים אֶת-הַמִּשְׁכָּן

Back to the Future - Reflection on the Skin of the Magical Tachash

כְּסוּי עוֹר תַּחַשׁ
a skin will make haste to cover ... Bamidbar 4:6

Sometimes translated as "a covering sealskin" or as "a covering tachash skin", the Hebrew phrase above may also be translated as "a skin will make haste to cover." When prefixed to a verb stem, the Hebrew letter tav (ת) indicates the future tense. The verb stem, in this case, are the two magical Hebrew letters chet-shin (חש), which together mean to make haste and to hurry.

There is no three-letter Hebrew root תחש (the letters comprising the word tachash), but there are three-letter Hebrew roots where the fiery-letter shin (ש) is substituted with the Hebrew letters in the alphabet before and after the fiery-letter shin. Before the letter shin in the alphabet is the letter reish (ר). The Hebrew root tav-chet-reish (תחר) means to protect. Following the letter shin in the alphabet is the letter tav (ת). The Hebrew root tav-chet-tav (תחת) means place below, being underneath and in place of. Taken together, the Hebrew root tav-chet-shin (תחש), namely the tachash, refers to something being in a place underneath something which protects something.

The tachash (תחש) is a magical biblical creature created specifically in the making of the Mishkan (Tabernacle). Before the moment of its specific singleminded creation, it does not exist. Torah gives us instructions on how to make the Mishkan using the skin of a tachash, therefore, in the future tense - because until it is actually made, the tachash does not exist. Once the Miskhan is actually being made, in the moment of its creation, a tachash too is created ... and a skin will make haste to cover it. It's pure magic!

A Skin Made Haste To Cover It - As I dreamt, it was made - a protective skin covering and holding back the flowing fire for that standing beneath it.

From my earlier entry today [Dreams and Visions on the Divine Feminine Power of Resistance] from Walking On Fire:

Last night I dreamt.

I was visiting a small town to the east of me in the midwest. The small town was not any which inhabits my real life. The entire town consisted of magical practitioners. There was a murdering group loose in the town, but the townspeople suspected among themselves that there was a single murderer and that it was me, because I was not a native of the town. Even though I knew that there was a renegade group as opposed a single individual who was doing the murders, I couldn't identify the individuals who comprised the group. The town was investigating me. I was investigating members of the town. The group of murderers was alert to the murder investigations, and that I had them on my radar. They hid and laid low.

As the investigations proceeded, it became clear that the town was in trouble. The land upon which it stood and to the south of it was shifting due to activity in the earth's core and mantle. A huge wall of molten earth and lava rose up in the south like a tsunami wave. But, as it approached the town, when it saw me, the face of its surface cooled and crusted, forming a wall of crusted earth with molten lava dammed up behind it. For now, the town was safe. I knew that if I left the town at this point in time, the cooled crusty face of the dammed lava wall would melt enabling the wall of molten earth and fiery lava to pour down upon the town.

I began waking up. As I was waking, I saw the land making up the west coast of the United States collapse into the bowels of the earth. Then, the sea poured in and covered over where the land had been.

As I was opening my eyes, words spoke through my mind saying, "your path is diverted." In my mind, I knew that the path of my life, unseen by me, had been leading me toward moving or traveling to the west coast, but now that path had been diverted. My life path is not heading me toward the west coast any longer.

Related entry - Yabok and the Power of Witchcraft

Just a laboratory note for my Book of Shadows - Since around the time this Torah cycle began, my practice is to not read any of the weekly parsha until the moment I am ready to post my commentary on it - in other words (just like the creation of the magical tachash), I don't read a parsha until the moment of the creation of my commentary on it. Also, last night's dream and this morning's vision preceded my reading of and commentary on Naso.

Yabok And The Power Of Witchcraft

Bamidbar

אִישׁ עַל-דִּגְלוֹ בְאֹתֹת לְבֵית אֲבֹתָם, יַחֲנוּ בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל
The children of Israel shall pitch by their fathers' houses; every man with his own standard [input]

מִנֶּגֶד
according to the ensigns [resistor]

סָבִיב לְאֹהֶל-מוֹעֵד יַחֲנוּ
a good way off shall they pitch round about the tent of meeting [output] ... Bamidbar 2:2

On Yabok (יבק), tradition teaches -

Yabok is the name of the river which Jacob transversed upon entering Israel, before his encounter with his brother Esau.

In Kabbalah, Yabok is an acronym for Yichud ["unification"], Berachah ["blessing"], Kedushah ["holiness"]). Of the varying interpretations with regard to the three levels of this most fundamental idiom and teaching of Kabbalah--yichud, berachah and kedushah--the most often cited and expounded upon in the classic texts of Chassidut is that the three concepts correspond to the three general ascending levels of the soul: nefesh, ruach and neshamah; or one's "world" of action--his ability to relate and unite with outer reality, one's "world" of emotion--the blessing of abundant emotive energy, and one's "world" of meditation--the experience of holiness as a transcendent connection with the realm of the Divine.

The word Yabok equals 112 in gematria, the combined value of the two Names (referred to together as G-d's "full Name") Havayah (26)--Elokim (86); and as well the combined value of the three Names: Ekyeh (21), Havayah (26), Adnut (65), which themselves correspond to the three levels of Yabok.

Kedushah - Wholiness

In follow-up to The Healing Feeling of Wholeness and A Year To Reveal All Good, this week's Torah portion tells us how to regulate, direct and amplify the proper flow of blessing so that it is experienced as all good and is not overwhelming to our ability to safely receive it.

The Hebrew word מִנֶּגֶד can refer to the load resistor mechanism like in an amplifying transistor which regulates electrical currents. The gematria of מִנֶּגֶד is 97, with a digit sum of 16, and a final reduced digit sum of 7. Seven is the value for the magical Hebrew letter zayin. Connected to the concept of aur chozer, zayin corresponds to the Divine Feminine Power to resist, reflect, reorganize and redirect. As explained in The Healing Feeling of Wholeness, in my own personal experience, the power of zayin to manage Divine Energy is found in Witchcraft.

Berachah - Blessing

The gematria of the entire Hebrew phrase loading as input onto the resistor is 2819, reducing to a digit sum of 20, and to a final digit sum of 2. The value of 2 pertains to the magical Hebrew letter beit, corresponding to berachah (blessing).

Yichud - Unification

The gematria of the entire phrase following as output from the resistor is 334, reducing to a digit sum of 10, and to a final digit sum of 1. The value of 1 pertains to the magical Hebrew letter alef, corresponding to the perfect balance achieved by moving in rhythm with the flow of one's own inner messianic Divine Spark, and to actualizing Unity in Multiplicity. Now, the blessing flowing out from the resistor mechanism is balanced and remains in essential unity even as the blessing becomes expressed in an amplified multiplicity of ways.

Through zayin, Witchcraft is for me the measure (קבי) through which Divine Blessing is safely made manifest. Witchcraft brings the blessing down into reality in proper measure, making it all good. With Witchcraft, it all comes together.