Keys To Secrets, Voces Mysticae

The mystical teachings of many traditions contain words or phrases called voces mysticae which seemingly make no sense in the language of the times. To mystics and witches, they are "words of power", "spiritual language", "mystical utterances" or even the "language of the angels". To scholars, they are "gibberish".

An example of a "mystical utterance" in Judaism is the phrase kuzu bemukhsaz kuzu on the mezuzah. The Lesser Hekhalot literature and Sefer HaRazim reportedly contain many such phrases of "gibberish" as well. An example from The Craft is the phrase eko eko azarak, eko eko zomalack.

Many of the ancient voces mysticae are words borrowed from other real ancient languages. Some hide sacred keys to a mystical craftworking.

Mezuzah & Pentacle, Directing Divine Energy

Today I received my first silver pentacle. It looks like the one in the graphic on the left. Now I have both a gold magen David and a silver pentacle. Soon, I will receive the Jewitch star I purchased which combines them both.

Previously I described how the Jewish mezuzah and the Celtic witch's athame (ritual dagger) are both related to the "blood sign" of the exodus through the hebrew letters of mezuzah (מזוזה) and through the mythology of both. Interestingly, the witch's pentacle is even more directly related to mitzvah of mezuzah.

On the back of the parchment within a mezuzah is the esoteric inscription:

KUZU BMUKSZ KUZU
כוזו במוכסז כוזו

Moshe Idel (Language, Torah, and Hermeneutics in Abraham Abulafia) writes regarding this enigmatic phrase and its connection to the pentacle:

In many manuscripts we find a passage that contains a pentagram, and alongside it is written: ‘This is the Maaseh Merkavah KUZU BMUKSZ KUZU’, and under these letters is written: YHVH ELHYNU YHVH.

A pentagram is the star of five points with a five-sided geometrical shape in its center. A pentacle is a pentagram encircled [1]. As the pentagram clearly corresponds to KUZU BMUKSZ KUZU, the pentacle likewise corresponds to YHVH ELHYNU YHVH.

Given the connection of the witch's pentacle to Abulafian hebrew letter kabbalah (which I have uniquely practiced for nearly a decade), I can see now that my interest in Jewitchery is a very natural development of my kabbalistic learning. Moreover, in light of the fact that the witch's pentacle and athame are both connected to the mitzvah of mezuzah, when I acquire my athame later this week, I intend to inscribe upon its blade KUZU BMUKSZ KUZU, in hebrew letters (one side, with a pentacle also) and YHVH ELHYNU YHVH in letters of the celtic ogham (the other side, with a magen David also).

hebrew KUZU BMUKSZ KUZU
כוזו במוכסז כוזו

celtic ogham YHVH ELHYNU YHVH


Note the >-feather (eite) of the ogham line which denotes the "beginning" and direction of writing. This characteristic mark at the left end of an ogham line is like a mystical extention of the tip of the athame. In other words, the essential "energy" of YHVH ELHYNU YHVH is being directed beyond the tip of the blade when used in ritual. Thus, the athame inscribed as discussed above, which as an extention of the witch herself, is used not only to project and direct mystical kavanah, but to direct Divine Energy as well.

Footnote:

[1] The Craft, Dorothy Morrison (p. 84)

Mezuzah & Athame

Rabbi Yosil Rosenzweig writes regarding the mitzvah of mezuzah and the oht (sign) of blood:

The Mitzvah of Mezuzah is actually commanded in Devarim 6:9. But in Shemot 12:3-15 the reason for the Mitzvah is explained: "Speak to the entire assembly of Israel, saying: On the tenth of this month each person shall take for themselves a lamb or a kid, for each household...[on] the fourteenth of this month, the entire congregation of the assembly of Israel shall slaughter it in the afternoon. They shall take some of its blood and place it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they will eat...I shall go through Egypt on this night, and I shall strike every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from man to beast; and against all gods of Egypt I shall mete out punishment. The blood shall be a SIGN for you upon the house where you are; when I see the blood I shall PASSOVER you; there shall not be a plague of destruction upon you when I strike the land of Egypt. This day shall be a remembrance for you and you shall celebrate it..."

An Oht (a sign) is significant because it is a reminder of an act that occurred before the eyes of the entire nation.

The mezuzah (מזוזה), representing the protective blood sign, is spelled with two letters zayin. The two letters zayin united together (זוז) within one word for the Jewish ritual item upon the doorpost is like "one dagger of double edges (זוז) of her (מה)." In other words, the "blood sign" on the doorpost which protects a Jew's home in mitzrayim is a woman's double-edged dagger. The contemplative power to "connect and interrelate all elements within creation", bringing down Divine Will into Understanding, is a function of the letter vav which forms the spine of the dagger of double-edges.

The witch's double-edged ritual dagger is called an athame (pronounced a-tham-ay). Silver Ravenwolf writes regarding the Celtic history of the athame [1]:

We know from Celtic history that, for a time, their weaponry through use of iron was far superior to their contemporaries, and that they were feared because of it. We also know that such folklore practices as hanging a knife above a door to cut any negativity that might enter the home (which means that the knives were not used to physically cut, but to defend on the astral plane) were highly popular in that culture.

A witch's athame is never ever used to draw blood. If it ever does, it becomes ritually unfit and can never be used again. It must be buried. Thus, in ancient Celtic culture the protecting blood sign upon the door was a double edged dagger which never draws blood. In other words, like the mezuzah, it is a protective blood sign which never draws blood.

Putting these ideas together, we can see that the Jewish ritual mezuzah and the Celtic ritual athame both refer to the same essence of spiritual protection - to guard the house from all negative influences that might attempt to enter it. Even the construct of the word mezuzah contains within it the idea of a woman's double-edged dagger as the protective device.

Footnote:

[1] Solitary Witchcraft, Silver Ravenwolf (p. 125)