The Voice of Thunder

And I heard, as it were, the voice of thunder.

One of the four beasts saying come and see,

and I saw, and behold: A white horse.

Before the Hebrew Language took modern script form, it existed as a hieroglyphic-style pictogram alphabet.  The Modern Hebrew letters take their names and meanings from the pictograms which prefigured them.   These meanings have made it into Kabbalah and Golden Dawn Western Magical Symbolism.  In order to study the Hebrew Language more deeply, more visually, I am trying to learn these pictograms.  I am also teaching myself the names and sounds or pronunciations of the modern letters.  Learning the two side-by-sides is a pleasant and intuitive process.  The reference material I am using is called The Ancient Hebrew Language Alphabet, by Jeff A Benner.

Interestingly, Benner chose to end this aforementioned book with a dictionary, or compilation of two-letter combinations of the pictograms, and his interpretation of the meaning of these “words.”   The Ancient Hebrews thought in very physical terms, as in it-is what-it-does.  Modern people think more visually, as in it-is what-it-looks-like.  This is important when making metaphor or analogy. (which is all a language is)   A physical thinker would classify things together under their purpose or nature, whereas a visual thinker would put things that look alike in the same category.  This also brings to mind the adage against not taking something as what it appears to be, but to understand its true purpose.

One of the most important ancient Kabbalistic works is the Sefir Yetzirah.  One way of reading the Sefer Yetzira is as a descriptive narrative of the creation, from scratch, of the Hebrew language.  Language was seen as a Holy thing, a tool of Priests, a key to reveal the mind of god.  Language was still new, elite, and revered.   Just like modern physicists with string theory or geneticists with the human genome, written language was a world changer.

If you pair off the 22 letters of the Hebrew Alphabet two-by-two, and assume that that each two letter combination means something, you have a 484 (22x22) word dictionary.  (Benner’s list of words has 483.)

Sefer Yetzirah takes a similar approach.   It advises the reader to make a ring or circle of the 22 Hebrew letters, and draw a line from each letter, one at a time, to all of the other letters.  These lines form what are called the “gates,” or two-letter word permutations/possibilities.  This gives you your 231 “words.”  This number assumes also that neither symbol points to itself, which it cannot do in a circle.  For example, a the two letter word Aleph-Aleph is eliminated as a possibility.  It also assumes that a two letter combo means the same reversed therefore is not counted.  For example: Aleph-Bet means the same or is a redundant form of Bet-Aleph.  This brings the number of words down from 484 to 231.

In my copy of Sefer Yetzirah, by Aryeh Kaplan, all the charts showing the gates are in Modern Hebrew script.  My chart below shows the pictographic form of letters, and for the most part, Benner has meanings for all these combinations in his book. 

This other chart is organized as instructed by the Sefer Yetzirah.  It has doubles and obverses removed.  These 231 combinations are what the Sefir Yetzirah names “gates.”  I can’t even stress enough how important the original symbols are.  I can, however, show how they help understand some basic Kabbalistic concepts. 

Thinking in Symbols

In my last post I discussed The Universe/The World Tarot card and the “four beast” symbolism.  The chart below shows the pictograms I used to symbolize the four beasts, I tried to make these associations based on the pictographic meanings of the letters, using Crowley’s 777 as a guide as well.

I used the letter Taw or Tau for Mark/Lion because of the meaning of Mark being the same as that of the verb form of the word mark, as in to signify/label/imprint.  When this Resh/Tau/Aleph/Quoph combination is used, it presents some interesting Gematria values.

Tau is not to be confused with Tet, which is a cross with a circle around it.   Benner states that Tau looks like a basket as seen from above and I’ve also discussed the connection between Tammuz, the God of the seed and winnowing or grain baskets.  Tau also looks like a round loaf of bread seen from above, or a “hot crossed bun.”  Salvador Dali is famous for his use of bread as a phallic symbol in his paintings. 

Matthew Human Hebrew Letter:  Resh Pictogram/Proto-Hebrew: The head of a man Meaning: 1st , beginning, top A head reversed The Human form is the Kerub of Air Gematria:  200	Mark Lion Hebrew Letter:  Taw Pictogram/Proto-Hebrew: a cross Meaning: Mark or Signature The Lion is the Kerub of Fire Gematria: 400
Luke Ox Hebrew Letter:  Aleph Meaning: Strong Leader, Power Kerub of Earth Gematria: 1	John Eagle Hebrew Letter:  Quoph Meaning: Horizon, Sun, needle(?) The back of the head Crowley states that Eagle-Snake-Scorpion is the trinity of the Kerub of Water Gematria:100

I could have, just as easily, used Zain/Sword for Air/Gemini, Mem for Water, Shin for Fire and one of many others to signify earth (perhaps even Tau.)  The above chart is by no means the only or best interpretation.

I would like also to discuss some other four-score-symbolism, though, while we’re at it.

The Four Horses of the Apocalypse

These horses differentiated by their color:  white, black, red and green (often called pale.)  The last horse, whose rider is “death” is commonly called the “pale horse” but the original word describing the color of this horse is the Greek word Khloros which means green.

The horses represent four common evils of society.  The first horse, white in color, is usually associated with conquest, which may be interpreted as “false nobility” or simply “righteous war.”   The second, the red horse, carries a sword, and is associated with civil war, or perhaps even oppression or tyranny within one’s own country.  The third horse, the black horse, is associated with famine, the rider of this horse is said to carry weighing scales.  A more modern interpretation of this black horse might be market manipulation which results in unfair trade, and often famine.  The last horse, according to my own opinion, is nature and/or natural death which represent nature’s power to take back what she has put forth.

David Lynch uses a white horse as a representation of the presence of evil in Twin Peaks.  This symbol is also seen in a Blade Runner dream/vision sequences where Deckard is experiencing memories which are ambiguously real.  How does the brain tell dream memories from real ones?  I think it’s amazing that we remember the past at all.  It’s not any more likely that we should remember the past than the future, if you think about it.  Neither exists in real time, they only exist as ideas in our mind.   The past may have never existed and the future may never come into existence.

Sefir Yetzirah discusses the importance of the three mothers and assigns one to each of the three columns of the tree of life.  The three mothers are mem/water, aleph/air, and shin fire.  I found another interesting parallel between the symbolism of the three mothers and another symbol which I have discussed before on this blog, on my post titled “The Great Reconciler.”  That symbol is a snake with a bee at its mouth.  I have previously stated that the bee represents collective, right brain consciousness and the snake represents left brain, ego-driven, individualism consciousness.

According to Sepher Yetzirah, “Mem hums, Shin hisses.”  Shin can be seen as the hissing snake, representing Binah Consciousness and the humming bee represents Chokmah Consciousness.  Aleph is said to be a balance on a scale deciding between the two.  Also indicative of these concepts is the fact that water “gurgles” or hums while fire hisses, and air is silent.

In Castenada’s system these ideas are called Tonal and Nagual.  The words shin and mem spell the word shem which means name.  Therefore a name is a combination of what something is called and what it does.

“The tonal and the nagual are two different worlds, in one you talk, in the other you act.”
–Castaneda

Sources:

www.hebrew4christians.com 

777 –Aleister Crowley

The Ancient Hebrew Language and Alphabet-  Jeff A Benner

Sefer Yetzirah- Aryeh Kaplan
Teach Yourself to Read Hebrew- Simon and Anderson

Dune, Medicine and Mycology

The worm is a spice.  The spice is a worm.

There is a race of people in Dune which is myth-logically synonymous with what is commonly called the “Grey Alien.”  One of the common beliefs among abductees is that the Greys are using human experimentation to try to create “alien babies” to combat their own infertility.  Versions of this theory often state that Grey aliens are “us” from the future, returning to obtain genetic material to fix some future sterility of the human race.  I’ve written before about how I think it’s irresponsible to write aliens out of the Dune myth.  They’re a massive aspect of the Dune storyline, and they’re called the Bene Tleilax.

From Wikipedia:  “The Tleilaxu are described as short, dwarf-like characters with gray skin, hair and eyes, elfin features and pointy teeth.  Tleilaxu Masters control their creations by forcing them into a hypnotic state with some predefined, implanted sound (often a specific humming or whistling noise)”

Tlielaxu are also immortal, have trouble reproducing conventionally, and are experts at cloning.  They have a slave class of servants called “face-dancers” who they use to infiltrate and impersonate important personages, replacing key power positions with their pawns.  Tlielaxu are the inventors of axolotl tanks, which are used for cloning mélange spice and people.  The growth of mélange spice in tanks, implies something about the spice which we could also intimate from the life cycle of the worm:  The spice is a mushroom.


"The thought of that water beneath him was maddening. He imagined it now--sealed off in strata of porous rock by the leathery half-plant, half-animal little makers--and the thin rupture that was pouring a cool stream of clearest, pure, liquid, soothing water into . . .
    A pre-spice mass!"

Mushroom supplementation is common within Traditional Tibetan and Chinese Medicine, selling at thousand dollars a pop for some rare species.  Promising research has linked mushrooms with Cancer treatment, cardiovascular problems, immune support, and even neuroregeneration. 

So, if mélange (spice) had a real world counterpart, what would it be?  There are some likely candidates.  First of which is Cordyceps, or winter worm mushroom.  Cordyceps, in the wild, grows on (and eventually kills) rare Tibetan caterpillar which makes it an Entomopathogenic fungus.  The Cordyceps genus of fungi is especially interesting because it has the ability to turn the host into a “zombie” and modify its behavior.  Cordyceps is used as a performance enhancer in sports  and is believed to enhance oxygen uptake.  Cordyceps is one of many mushrooms being grown in lab environments on media.  Of course, if you can’t get real spice, axolotl-tank-variety is the next best!

The word Axolotl refers to the reproductive tanks in the Dune stories, in real life an Axolotl is a gilled salamander-like aquatic animal native to Mexico.  Perhaps Herbert was making a reference to the aquatic-ape appearance of an undeveloped fetus.  In later novels it is revealed that “Axolotl tanks” are actually human wombs.

Another interesting mushroom I would like to discuss is called Lion’s Mane or hedgehog mushroom.  Lion’s Mane is unique in its potential use as a neuroregenerative, which is the ability to grow/regrow neural tissue.  This places Lion’s Mane at the forefront of my list of possible real world versions of mélange.  In Dune, mélange spice served the purpose of a life-lengthening, mind-expanding, food flavoring, wonder drug.  Is there a real world mushroom that does all of this?  Perhaps no, but visualize mélange as a fictional stand-in for all mushrooms; then we might be on to something.

Neither, then, is the mushroom the only Medicine/Drug within the pages of Dune.  We just have to look a little harder.   

The Fremen warriors, natives of Dune, are famous for their water-conserving stillsuits:

"Properly suited, your forehead cap tight, all seals in order, your major
water loss is through the palms of your hands," Kynes said. "You can wear suit gloves if you're not using your hands for critical work, but most Fremen in the open desert rub their hands with juice from the leaves of the creosote bush. It inhibits perspiration."

Herbert thought of everything, it seems, and even accounted for the loss of water in the form of sweat through the hands and face.  The stillsuit was not perfect; manual labor and practicality still required the Fremen stillsuits to allow use of the face and hands.  Herbert hospitably explains that the Fremen rubbed the oil of the Creosote Bush on their faces and hands which acted as a natural anti-perspirant, preventing water-loss.  Creosote has been used by Native Americans for many different skin issues, mainly for its antibacterial properties.  In the spirit of finding more appropriate real-world analogues of Herbert’s ideas, is there a real world counterpart for this anti-sweat plant?

Sage (Salvia officinalis), common to kitchen use, can be contrasted with Sage(Salvia dorrii) of a more ritually-used type.   Sage is probably the best natural anti-perspirant to be had, it is said to cut perspiration by 50%!  Sage oil is not advised to be taken orally.    

The danger of sage-oil is caused by a certain chemical contained in sage, similar in this sense to Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris) and Wormwood, (Artemisia absinthum.)  Sage oil has an extremely high content of a drug called Thujone.  It is important to note that some chemicals which are highly dangerous orally can be less dangerous when absorbed through the skin. 

Sage(Salvia dorrii) has been a common herb in the Native American tradition, and is often burned for its scent and mild hallucogenic properties.  While both Grocery-market Sage and other taxonomic varieties may contain lesser or greater amounts of Thujone, many spice companies artificially dry Sage at high temperatures, which may reduce Thujone content.  Excessive ingestion of Thujone through the skin or otherwise has been documented to cause dangerous epileptic episodes, especially among those predisposed to seizure-related medical issues.

Were the Fremen based on Native Americans?

Herbert was clearly familiar with Native American Myths, and I believe, Kaballah, which is to say either Western or Hebrew mysticism.  Herbert wrote a book called Soul Catcher which touched upon a quite a few Native American myths.  Clearly Dune uses Islamic-sounding names, which would take some time to completely flesh out.  Thankfully, one website article: Islamic themes in Frank Herbert’s Dune(see source #1, below) makes an effort to explain etymologies according to possible Arabic sources/meanings in a helpful chart format.  Herbert did not restrict himself to a single culture or knowledge base, which I will get back to in a few paragraphs when I discuss the etymology of “Bene-Gesserit.”

In Dune, Paul Atreides has visions of his future wife/concubine Chani before arriving on Dune, he sees her in the water catch basins, calling to him.  Chani’s other, tribal name is Sihaya, which means desert spring.  That Herbert used the Hebrew word Chia or Chiam as a meaningful phonetic basis for Chani’s name is likely.  Chia is a Hebrew word meaning life, as in the phrase Etz Chaim or Tree of Life.

I have discussed the generative womb and it’s symbolic connections with the Sephirah Binah and fountain/Tree of Life symbolism.  Chani also bears some resemblance to the Native American word Cheyenne. 

According to Wikipedia, the name Cheyenne derives from a Dakota Sioux exonym, Sahiyena, meaning “little Sahiya” apparently referring to an ethnic group. 

Chani-Sihaya

Cheyenne-Sahiyena

The Meaning of Bene-Gesserit

According to Islamic/Arabic Etymology:  “The witch sisterhood, or class that Paul's mother belonged to are called Bene Gesserit. The phrase in Arabic means "Sons of the Island/Peninsula". The Arabian peninsula is often called "Al Jazirah" (The Peninsula). Also, the term "Beni" can mean descent from, or a village/town originally inhabited by a tribe/clan. However, an alternative explanation is possible, that the origin is Latin, and means "he/she will do well", or "it will have been well borne". Perhaps Herbert was playing with words, and intended dual meaning here, although I doubt it, since the Bene Tleilaxu share the same prefix "Bene", but seems to be inspired by Central and South American history.” (Source #1)

In a response to my post “The Great Reconciler” a reader had an interesting comment that Djeserit means “Holy Woman” in Egyptian.  To which I responded:  I wonder if the word you mention is related to the Hebrew word for leader or bee?

The Hebrew word Davar means leader, and is also the root word for “speak” “honeybee” and “Deborah.” 

In Egyptian Hieroglyphs, the letter Djed(which may be phonetically and etymologically related to Djeserit) means “spine” and is often written side-by-side with the Tyet hieroglyph, and the two symbols are said to represent Osiris and Isis.  

The prefix “bene” has the connotation of “good” as in Benevolent or Benefactor.  Therefore the new/expanded meaning of Bene-Gesserit would be Good-Leader or perhaps even more appropriately:  Beneficent Matriarch.

Disclaimer:  (Since I’ve been discussing several medical uses of herbs/mushrooms.)  These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Talk to your doctor before trying any of these things!

This is a sequel post, see the original post here: http://wheretimeturnsintospace.blogspot.com/2012/05/dune-planetology-and-mythology-thehorse.html

Source #1:  http://baheyeldin.com/literature/arabic-and-islamic-themes-in-frank-herberts-dune.html

Source #2:  Paul Stamet’s Mushroom Website:  http://www.fungi.com/host-defense-capsules.html

Source #3:  A good Herbal Reference:  http://www.witchway.net/herbal/herbal1.html

Source #4:  http://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Deborah.html#.UQUq5B3BEbA

Source #5:  http://www.inner.org/hebleter/hei.htm

Source #6:  http://myword.info/definition.php?id=bene_1-a

Cordyceps against cancer?
http://www.naturalnews.com/028409_cordyceps_cancer.html