Secret Of Shalhevet

א' בטבת תשס"ח
Grael 2

1 part midsummer's sabbat balefire ash
1 part shabbat incense ash
1 part fine gold sparkles
1 part dark amber resin
1 pinch Dead Sea salt (Israel)
1 pinch Flower of the Ocean (hand-harvested Celtic sea salt)

Pentacle, Time & Geulah

The number eight figures significantly in Jewish tradition. On the eighth day, a baby boy is circumcized. The eight days of Chanukah transform darkness to light. Eight, the value of the letter chet (ח), is associated with the soul of mashiach and messianic consciousness.

Interestingly, the witch's pentacle is also associated with the number eight:

The pentagram is actually the geometric design depicting how the planet Venus moves in the heavens, and it is from this design that they believe the people of the Euphrates-Tigris region drew the first pentagram 8000 years ago. The pentacle is reflective of Venus' pattern in the sky from our point of view and the circular motion of Venus around the sun.

If we chart Venus synodic orbital time in the zodiac, we find she moves through 5 positions as the Morning Star, which takes exactly 8 years plus 1 day [1] - and forms the design of the pentacle in the vault of the heavens. [2, quote]

In Jewish kabbalah, the planet Venus planet corresponds with both the power to actualize potential and the archetype of Moshe Rabbeinu, the first and the final redeemer.

Taking all these ideas together, we can see within the pentacle symbolism the mystical dynamic - from 8 (assiyah) to 8000 (atzilut) - of brit milah, transformation, messianic consciousness and geulah.

Footnotes:

[1] suggests a day of "im hakolel" surrounding the 8 years

[2] Solitary Witch, Silver RavenWolf (p. 309)

Instruments Of Divine Experience

Chatzot Of The Year, 29 Kislev 5767
Erev Rosh Chodesh Tevet, 5th Chanukah candle
new moon in Sagittarius Wednesday morning, 8:01 a.m. U.S. CST

According to Sefer Yetzirah, Wednesday is ruled by the planet Venus. The Hebrew and Celtic archetypes corresponding to Venus are Moshe and Rhiannon, respectively.

Moshe is an archetype of messianic consciousness whose name means "drawing out". In Celtic mysticism, Rhiannon is an archetype of the "great mother" whose name means "great queen".

Transliterated phonetically into Hebrew letters, Rhiannon רי ענן suggests the concepts of "clarifying and consciously experiencing" (ר) the concentration of something "infinite within the finite" (י) of a cloud (ענן), where the cloud represents the manifestion of the yud (י) of Hashem's Name. Taken together with the name of Moshe, the two archetypes (masculine and feminine side by side) correspond to the ability to clarify, experience (Rhiannon) and draw out (Moshe) the concentration of something "infinite within the finite" to reveal that concealed within a cloud (of consciousness). In other words, together Rhiannon and Moshe are instruments enabling revelation and experience of the Divine Glory.

What is the function of "the cloud" contained within the name of Rhiannon?

Rabbi Efrayim of Lunshitz, author of the Kli Yakar commentary, explains:

"The cloud covered the Tent of Appointment, and the Glory of God filled the cloud" (Shemot 40:34) - from this it appears that the Glory of God is not the cloud, but rather the fire and the light, i.e. the Glory of God was seen from within the cloud; were it not for the cloud, it would have been impossible to gaze upon it, for man cannot gaze into the light of the sun, kal va-chomer he cannot look at the brilliance of His Presence. Therefore the holy light was always seen from within the cloud ...

Divine Feminine, Druidry & Chanukah

In follow up to my post on the Oak Of Asherah where I wrote:

The goddess archetype Asherah is associated with the oak tree ... Some of the meanings of the shoresh (root) אלה include: master, combine elements for control, G-d who combines all natural force ... the gematria of the physical oak tree אלון in reality is 87. This value is the gematria of Elohim אלהים plus 1 (im hakolel).

One could posit that the "oak tree" symbolizes the "place"where "complete unity of multiplicity" may be actualized in nature.This "feminine" actualization would be a powerful transcendental yet simultaneously immanent "feminine force" to be reckoned with, a unified field even - a unification of all physical forces of nature - on par with Havayah.

and also in follow up to my post about my dream this morning where I was initiated as Celtic-Jewish hybrid Druid priestess, I note two related ideas. First, chanukah is coming up later this week. With respect to both chanukah and the concept of "initiation", Dave @ Balashon writes on the etymology of the word chanukah חנוכה:

This article by Prof. Stefan Reif shows how the basic meaning of the root חנך is "to begin, initiate". He writes that the places where the verb חנך is used in regards to the Mishkan or Beit HaMikdash (Bamidbar 7:10, Divrei HaYamim II 7:5-9) a good translation would be "initation" or "starting upon their course of beneficial service". ...

Rashi on Bereshit 14:14 writes that "the word חנך signifies introducing a person or a thing, for the first time, to some particular occupation in which it is intended that he should remain".

Second, on the etymology of the word Druid:

Druid comes to English from Latin druides (pronounced /dru'i.des/), which is the same as the term used by Ancient Greek writers, the first to discuss the Celts: Δρυίδης[3] (Druides), associated by folk etymology with drus (δρύς, pronounced /drys/ meaning "oak tree") and -ides (-ιδης meaning "the son of" as per Aristides). The Latin and Greek terms trace via Proto-Celtic *druwid (also reconstructed as *druwis and *druwids) to the Proto-Indo-European roots *deru- and *weid-.
*deru-[1] is reconstructed as meaning "to be firm, solid, steadfast".

The defining "Druidic" characteristics of firm and steadfast were evident in another recent dream, Key To The Temple, and also discussed here, Binyamin & The Dark Feminine.

Taking all this together, we can see that all the ideas of:

1. being initiated as a Celtic-Jewish Druid priestess
2. unifying the Divine Feminine into a configuration on par with Havayah
3. building the Mishkan and/or Beit HaMikdash
4. Chanukah as a time of mystical initiation

are all intimately related.