Shekinah (La Papess) Beth-Moon

Shekinah (La Papess) Beth-Moon

The Grandmothers see the Ehieh-Shekinah as the undifferentiated
primal cosmic force, as the unity of opposites that is the cosmic
consciousness of the divine, or Ain Soph.

Although a unity, we see it as two opposites: Ehieh-Shekinah
is both inside ourselves and out there in the world.

Ehieh is cosmic consciousness, regarded as the positive,
male principle, static and transcendent.

Shekinah is cosmic energy, regarded as the negative,
female principle, kinetic and present in every day life.

*

Shekinah ~ Active and Passive:

In her active state she is the creative movement, bringing forth
the cosmos. She is the driving force of all the manifestations in
our universe. Coming down from the Ain Soph she created the
Sephiroth and rests passively in the last Sephira, Malkuth.

This means Shekinah is passive on the physical level and lower
levels of consciousness. Shekinah is also at rest in the physical
body. But Shekinah can be "awakened" and made to be active.
Then she will guide us up the Tree of life, to be reunited with her
partner, her groom, Ehieh.

There are similarities to Kundalini, and the Tantra...
but perhaps we are seeing the original name of G-d:
The Great Mother of the ancients, the true Goddess.

de l'Artiste Isabel (2001)

"Beith"
Lettre Double
La Femme, le principe féminin, l’intuition.

Une maison, le foyer familial, la matrice, la Matrona, la Mère Suprême,
la richesse intérieure. Elle représente nos racines les plus profondes,
c’est le foyer originel. Beith est le Yin, le féminin. Sa couleur est
le bleu immaculé qui est la pureté de l’âme, de son origine.

Sa Valeur ordinaire est 2, sa Valeur numérique est 2,
correspond à la Lune.

*

"Beth"
Double Letter
The Woman, the Female Principle, the Intuition.

A house, the family hearth, the matrix, Matrona, the Supreme Mother,
interior richness. It represents our deepest roots, it is the original hearth.
Beith is Yin, the female one. Its color is the immaculate blue which is the
purity of the heart, of its origin.

Its ordinary Value is 2, its numerical Value is 2,
corresponds to the Moon.

(please forgive very poorly edited translation)

Shekinah

The reactualization of the femine divine through the symbolism of the Shekinah is, IMHO, one of the greatest achievements of Kabbalistic exegesis, and that which most validates for all its idiosyncracies the worthiness of its study. The concept of the Shekinah incorporates both active and passive, male and female.

The concept of the Shekinah is multifaceted and no one Atu of the tarot major in its symbolism can appropriate to itself the full complexity of the variety of it meanings. For example:

1} the Shekinah is the indwelling presence of the divine. As the transendant G-d is symbolized by the Sun, G-d as 'immanent' [dwelling 'within' creation, the cosmos, world, mundi] is symoblized by the Moon. The Moon is attributed to the letter Tau, and has a correspondence to the symbolism of Atu XXI as a representation of 'Anima Mundi', the soul of the world, the indwelling presence of the eternal one:

2} the Shekinah is the first born 'Metatron', who was with G-d from the beginning, as a craftsmen and builder, the creative state 'bringing forth the cosmos' [beit-house as cosmological model]. Through Metraton/Enoch there is a correspondence with Atu 'I', the magician/cobbler:

3} the Shekinah is conceived as the Knesset Israel, the congregation or body of faithful followers of the law [torah], symbolised by a woman dressed as a bride to the lord, holding the torah, and thus having correspondence to Atu II, the popesse:

4} the Shekinah dwells in the body [cosmos] of the kabbalist, who exists as the chariot of the Shekinah. The chariot is a symbol of the body as a home [dwelling place] and vehicle of the Shekinah, the indwelling spirit of God, as Cancer is the 'home' of the Moon [symbol of the Shekinah]; and thus having correspondence to Atu VIII the 'Chariot.

These I consider the four main, but by no means exhaustive or complete, correspondences between the symbolism of the tarot and multi-faceted aspects of the Shekinah.

So yes the popesse may be interpreted an aspect of the Shekinah, but to declare that the 'popesse' is the Shekinah is to consider only a partial truth. A half truth that whether by ignorance or design renders the whole a foundation for the lies and intolerance of 'one way truists'. Totally anachronistic to the principles of the kabbalists who sought to restore the balance in favour of an equality between male and female as opposed to the patriarchy of the prophets.

Kwaw

Me

Actually it makes sense of the whole thing for me.
Far from prophesying intolerant lies, this is to me
the solution to a lot of old unnecessary confusion.

Malkuth is not Earth, but the Moon's position, and
right up the Pillar of Unity to Kether that provides:

Moon (Malkuth) La Papess
Mem (Yesod) XIII
Aleph (Tifaret) Le Bateleur
Soul (Da'at) Me
Shin (Kether) Le Monde

If I must apologize my views, and bury them under an
overview of every possibility, why bother even caring?

Fulgour said:

"Beith"


"Beth"
Double Letter
The Woman, the Female Principle, the Intuition.

A house, the family hearth, the matrix, Matrona, the Supreme Mother,
interior richness. It represents our deepest roots, it is the original hearth.
Beith is Yin, the female one. Its color is the immaculate blue which is the
purity of the heart, of its origin.

Its ordinary Value is 2, its numerical Value is 2,
corresponds to the Moon.

Click to expand...

There it is, I wish I used the search button more. So it is possible that 'b' is the Amu (desert Beduoin) Baalat -Astarte circa 2000 BC. How fascinating. Disaffected Egyptian army guys with their Almanac/Alphabet/ Cosmos Atlas/Prayer book in 22 letters. I realise others have already come to this possibility- but it is very new to me. Only 21 to go :rolleyes
~Rosanne

Gleanings with a bit of gold, though often
only to be found between the lines...


Author and Curator: Dr. David P. Stern
http://www-istp.gsfc.nasa.gov/stargaze/Sjewcale.htm

MUL.APIN clay tablet Nr. 86378
Is a tablet which tells us more about ancient culture and civilization
than most of the hundreds of thousands of pages written since then.
http://www.lexiline.com/lexiline/lexi180.htm

Jewish Calendar, Hebrew Calendar,
Jewish Calendar History, Hebrew Calendar History
http://www.angelfire.com/pa2/passover/jewishcalendar.html

Invitation au voyage

kwaw said:

So yes the popesse may be interpreted an aspect of the Shekinah, but to declare that the 'popesse' is the Shekinah is to consider only a partial truth. A half truth that whether by ignorance or design renders the whole a foundation for the lies and intolerance of 'one way truists'. Totally anachronistic to the principles of the kabbalists who sought to restore the balance in favour of an equality between male and female as opposed to the patriarchy of the prophets.

Click to expand...

I love the Shekhinah. As a woman, by contemplating her - by feeling her presence within and around me I can at last find myself in G-d. I know that men and scholarly kabbalists might see the Shekhinah differently (they too, after all, are victims of the patriarchal tradition, even those who have made efforts to move away from it): but to me, on a purely personal contemplative level, she is an opening to G-d, even as she is, by her very nature, so ineffable. She is mother and sister and daughter and beyond those categories, she is the Soul of G-d: and whatever part of me is divine dwells in the Shekhinah.

I do see strong aspects of her in the Papess and in the High Priestess. Whatever the historical antecedents of the Papess, what she has come to represent to the imagination and to the soul of those that contemplate her is not worldly or as limited as you seem to imply (or am I misinterpreting you?). We might reach the hem of the Shekhinah as we journey through the Tarot - but I believe that La Papesse - and the High Priestess! - are ways in. She is the secret holder. The Papess has been contemplating the Shekhinah - has been suffused by the Shekhinah - until her very quality has changed and she has taken on the Shekhina's attribute. Contemplating La Papesse can only be the start, for her secrets cannot be prised from her without us taking the whole journey, many times: she is inviting us on a voyage to the Divine.

Helvetica said:

She is the secret holder. The Papess has been contemplating the Shekhinah - has been suffused by the Shekhinah - until her very quality has changed and she has taken on the Shekhina's attribute. Contemplating La Papesse can only be the start, for her secrets cannot be prised from her without us the taking the whole journey, many times: she is inviting us on a voyage to the Divine.

Click to expand...

I have often read your posts Helvetica and noticed your exquisite expressive
views on La Papesse/High Priestess. It is only since I read Fulgours poem has she become a key for me. I am following my very unscholarly trail to her original Hearth, a journey that I am enjoying- the destination shrouded and blurred. This wee journey of mine is aside from my seeking the divine through creation or the Divine on Earth or the breathing pulse of Gaia, but sometimes the two two sides of me are in unison with amazement at the 'yin' of it all. Thank you for your post. ~Rosanne

Thanks Astrid O

Fulgour said:

If I must apologize my views, and bury them under an
overview of every possibility, why bother even caring?

Click to expand...

I want to say thank you to Astrid O (who quoted me as above)
for her comments here earlier~ which seem to've been removed.