kwaw
Helvetica said:But what of beit being feminine? Does that not intrigue you? How do you parallel beit and Le Bateleur, which is such a masculine principle?
Beit means house and can refer to any type of 'dwelling place' from a tent to a temple, pigsty to palace, to the whole cosmic creation as dwelling place of the divine 'presence'. As the first letter in the Torah it is first in the building of the 'cosmos', creation. Its value is two, the 'first' number [one, being singular, is not a ‘number’ which by definition is plural, two technically is therefore the first number. The metaphysics of Cusanus makes use of this fact]. In the Sefer Yetzirah it is attributed to Saturn [there are variations in late redactions], significator of architects, builders, craftsmen.
In kabbalah the builder [BNH - BoNeH] is the 'son' [BN] whose mother is 'understanding' [BN 'son', from BNH - Binah, the third sefirah, to which Saturn is also traditionally attributed]. The son is identified with the 'Prince of the World' YHVAL [YHV/IAO + the divine suffix AL, by gematria BN and YHVAL both =52], which is the first [of seventy] names for the Angel Metatron. Metatron designates the 'Active Intellect', a personification or manifestation of the 'divine intellect' and 'father' of the human intellect or 'son' [BN]. Metatron is called the 'youth who is old', as he is the first of all created things, thus the divine name associated with the letter Beit is 'BChUR', which means 'youth' [but he is an elder, not a lad, thus in keeping with the attribution of Saturn]. See my post on ‘the old man called youth’ in this thread:
http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=35808
The builders building blocks, the atomic elements from whose permutations all things are created, are the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The letters are the'stones' from which the House [beit - cosmos, words, the divines name(s) or logoi] are built or constructed. The 'son' is Shem [BN becomes ShM by means of a cipher], who was the son of Noah who according to tradition taught Abraham the secrets of the letters and sacred names [shem in Hebrew means 'name'] as recorded by Abraham in the Sefer Yetzirah. A practicing kabbalist magician is called a Baal Shem, 'Master of the Name'. A biblical example is Bezalel, builder of the Tabernacle, who 'knowing the combination of letters with which heaven and earth were made' was able to build the tabernacle as an exact microcosm of everything in heaven and upon earth. So great was his magical powers, resulting from his knowledge of the creative powers of the letters, that according to kabbalistic tradition that 'for him it would be a little thing to create a man or any living creature.'
The BaalShem [masters of the name], are the Jewish sect of magicians that originated in Baghdad and started ariving in Europe in the 10th century. The Baalshem peddled their magical charms, amulets potions and cures among the gentiles as well as the Jews and Gershom Scholem states that they probably had a major role in giving the Jews a reputation as sorcerors among the gentile. I suspect they had a major role in the formation of kabbalistic ideas as they began to form in Southern France/N.Italy in the 13th century and wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't through them that the Bahir, of which we now only have fragments, arrived in the west from the east.
According to legend the Baalshem were descendants of Enoch, their patriach one of whose symbols is the shoe anvil, which may relate to the image of Atu I as a cobbler:
"The patriach Enoch, who according to an old tradition was taken from the earth by God and transformed into the angel Metatron, is said to have been a cobbler. At every stitch of his awl he not only joined the upper leather with the sole, but all upper things with all lower things. He accompanied his work with meditations which drew the stream of emanation down from the upper to lower, so transforming profane action into ritual action, until he himself was transformed from the earthly Enoch into the transcendent Metatron, who had been the object of his meditations." [On the Kabbalah and its Symbolism, p.132].
The tale of a cobbler who brings together heaven and earth is an old one that exists in various versions around the world, the oldest extent version being a Buddhist tale. In Jewish terms the cobbler is a symbol of the Jews wandering in exile (in which circumstance they wear out a lot of shoes!). By unifying heaven and earth the cobbler hastens the return of the Jews to their homeland.
According to Scholem the earliest reference to this is among the German Hasidism in the 13th century. In the same period there arose in Germany a Christian legend that seems to have mixed this tale with that of Aristeos in Greek myth. According to this version Christ, carrying the cross, rested on the doorstep of a cobbler. The craftsmen told him to go away to which Christ responded "I will go, and fast, but thou will tarry till I come again." The cursed cobbler becomes an immortal witness to the Christ, a wanderer through the nations of the Earth until Christ comes again. According to the legend he ages until 100 when he falls into a trance from which he awakes restored to the age of 30. This tale became very popular from the 13th to the 18th centuries with reports of the appearance of the 'wandering jew' appearing in Europe and America under a variety of names. He appears as Buttadeus in Antwerp in the 13th century, in Milan in 1413 and again in 1415 (bagato in modern Milanese dialect means 'cobbler'), a second time in Germany and the low countries in the 15th century and a third time in Germany in the 16th century. He is reported for the last time in 1774 at Brussels but reappears shortly after in Venice under the name of Gualdi. In France he was called Laquedem, other names under which he was reported to have made himself known are Ananias and Ahaseur. The tale of the 'Wandering Jew' has been adapted to numerous poems and novels over the centuries.
I am a magus of laws new,
A madman whom a star's made blind,
Who strayed far wide to bring to you
The stories of my land.
I among you my burden carry,
In dirt befouled and in laugher scorned,
For woe to him bereft of country
That begs his home to be returned.
The prime experience in the initiation of the Baal Shem in their passage to becoming magicians and prophets is the 'encounter with the self.' The Baal Shem has to invoke his 'self made perfect', his higher self or guardian angel, which appears to them in their own image as his 'shadow' or 'reflection'. This personal guardian angel then teaches the Baal Shem all magical knowledge and enables them to prophesy.
As in astrology Aries in the natural order of the zodiac is associated with 'self', so its opposite, Libra, is associated with this 'perfect self' as 'other'. Libra in the SY is attributed to the letter Lamed, which among other things is said to symbolize the power to direct and control the animal instinct. This is related to the association of Lamed with 'ox-goad' [suggested by the letterform as a 'crooked stick'], a spur to direct the power of the ox, an ancient and biblical symbol of 'Strength'. There is also another indirect correspondence to the concept of 'Strength' in the name Daniel. Daniel means 'judgement' [DN] of 'God' [EL]. DN, Judgement is one of the names of the fifth sefirah, more commonly called 'Strength'.
The guardian angel is symbolised by an angel closing the mouth of a lion, after the Angel who 'shut the mouths of the Lions' protecting Belteshazzar, chief of the magicians, exorcists, Chaldeans and diviners [also known as Daniel] in the Lion's den. According to kabbalisitic texts, possibly influenced by neoplatonic doctrines, this Guardian Angel was Daniel's own 'self made perfect'.
This personal angel is a mediating principle between the magician and the angel Metatron, or the form in which Metatron the Active Intellect can be drawn down. As such another of the names of the angel Metatron is 'one two', symbolising the self and the higher self as other. The attribution of the magician [roman numbered I, one] to Beit [Hebrew two] reflects this name of metatron ‘one two’.
Some Hebrew words beginning with the letter Beit:
Baal Shem – Magician [biblical examples Balaam the evil magician sent by its enemies to curse Israel but whose curses turned to blessings, Belteshezar chief of the magicians of Chaldea otherwise known as Daniel, Bezalel who was chosen to build the tabernacle because he knew the secret of letter combinations and permutations]
BRA – to curse/to bless
BRVQM – rich apparel, many colours
BRVSH – a tree [mulberry, balsam]
BQAY – a coin [worth half a shekel]
BChVR – youth, young man
BD – liar, boaster, charlatan, oracle priest
BDIM - liar, false oracle, conjuror
BGD – deceitful, treacherous dealer
BLY'L – scoundrel
Note: This post is pasted together from other posts I have made in this forum.