Post by artanaro on Apr 24, 2006 13:33:24 GMT -5
" The first sentence of Genesis in the Bible can be transliterated from Hebrew as "Beranutsh Bera Elohim Ath Ha Shamaim Va Ath Ha Aretz.' This can be very roughly translated as "In the Beginning God created the heaven and earth". Once we start looking at these first words of Genesis from a Qabalistic viewpoint, however, we find they contain a lot more than is apparent at first dight. The words in the first four books of the Bible are attributed to Moses, writing under divine inspiration. It is not surprising, therefore, to find much more hidden within these simple words. There are many way to 'read' these words Qabalistically, one version being : ' Out of the universe the light of the sun brought the duality of existence into manifestation, expressing, the Spirit through male and female principles. The Mother-FAther Deity expressed itself through the cosmic principles represented by the first nine spheres of the Tree of LIfe and heaven and earth were created '
If wee look at this in more detail we can start to understand how the Qabalah shed light on our understanding of this creation myth. The first word of the sentence in Hebrew is Beranutsh, 'In the Beginning'. All Hebrew letters have a special meaning attributed to them, and a number. Let us consider the meaning of the letters in Beranutsh, or BRAnuts.
Beth = a house or container (the universe)
Resh = the sun
Aleph = beginning, duality - positive and negative
Shin = Spirit
Yod = male principle
Teth = female principle
Put this together and we have : ' Out of the universe the light of the sun brought the duality of existence into manifestation, expressing the Spirit through the male and female principles.'
Of course, there are many other ways of putting these words together, creating different nuances of meaning. Other possibilities might include, ' the magician with the secret of the universe created the sun in the beginning to bring the Spirit of life through the secret gate of initiation into the manifest universe', or ' The Spirit of god expressed the dual principle of life and death through cosmic manifestation. From this dual principle the first nine spheres of existence were created.' It is not that there is a right or wrong way to understand this word Beranutsh, more that each individual Qabalist can come to his or her own understanding of the meaning.
If we now consider the word 'Elohim', usually translated as "God", we find a very interesting mystery. The word ALHIM in Hebrew is composed of a feminine singular ALH with IM, which is a masculine plural, added. The word thus expresses the uniting of male and female principles. This is why I prefer to use the term "the Mother-FAther Deity', for in Ch. 1 of Genesis, when the word 'Elohim' is used, this is closer to what is intended. It is only in Ch. 2 of Genesis, after the creation is fully manifest, that IHVH, Jehovah, is used for 'God'.
Even the word ATh in Hebrew, composed as it is of two letters Aleph and Teth, and simply translated as 'the' contains a mystery. The letter Aleph is the first Hebrew letter, numbered 1, as is Kether, the first sphere on the Tree of LIfe. The letter Teth is the ninth Hebrew letter, numbered 9, as is Yesod, the ninth sphere on the Tree. Thus the simple word 'ATh' can be taken to represent the whole Tree minus the final manifestation in Malkuth, when the world itself is formed. This has led some scholars to beleive that Genesis refers only to creation in potential. Exodus is concerned with the 'actual' manifestation, after Malkuth is created and when the 'Mother-Father Deity' has formed itself into IHVH, Jehovah, a God with a special message for mankind.
So the creation of the universe as understood Qabalistically is not about a single male God creating everything, but rather a complex unfolding of principles and energies originating from a source that includes both male and female energies. It is worth stressing that this interpretation is not the product of some strange, esoteric fantasy, but is very closely based on the original Hebrew text. Let us read it once more : ' Out of the universe the light of the sun brought the duality of existence into manifestation, expressing the Spirit through male and female principles. The Mother-Father Deity is seen as pure immanence, present in everything, manifest and unmanifest. When this Deity created the manifest universe that we know through the words ' let there be light' it was creating a duality - for if there is light then implicitly there is also dark, and it was through this duality that everything else could come into being. The Mother-Father Deity is present in both the light and the dark, in the unmanifest and the manifest, in everything at all times. The creation was an act of love, for the purpose of this original division was so that each part or polarity could realize itself as divine through recombining with the opposite polarity. All opposites are in harmonious balance with each other and whenever they unite they mirror the original creation of the universe.
Everything in the Qabalah is seen, however, in terms of trinities rather than dualities. The Mother-Father Deity is simultaneously Female and Male and the creation is the Child, thus creating a threesome. When Christians talk of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit they are referring to the same trinity, for the Hebrew word for 'Holy Spirit' is RUACH, which is a feminine noun. Thus the Trinity is FAther, Child, and Mother. This is also expressed in the Gnostic Deity name IAO, where I is the Male principle, O the Female principle and A their offspring. The letters I and O are interestingly suggestive of male and female. In the Qabalah the female principle of the Deity is very important and is also known as Shekhinah. Although the Jewish religion ( and its Christian offshoot) may have become patriarchal in its current form, its secret inner teachings, as expressed through the Qabalah, are equally inclusive of both male and female.
If wee look at this in more detail we can start to understand how the Qabalah shed light on our understanding of this creation myth. The first word of the sentence in Hebrew is Beranutsh, 'In the Beginning'. All Hebrew letters have a special meaning attributed to them, and a number. Let us consider the meaning of the letters in Beranutsh, or BRAnuts.
Beth = a house or container (the universe)
Resh = the sun
Aleph = beginning, duality - positive and negative
Shin = Spirit
Yod = male principle
Teth = female principle
Put this together and we have : ' Out of the universe the light of the sun brought the duality of existence into manifestation, expressing the Spirit through the male and female principles.'
Of course, there are many other ways of putting these words together, creating different nuances of meaning. Other possibilities might include, ' the magician with the secret of the universe created the sun in the beginning to bring the Spirit of life through the secret gate of initiation into the manifest universe', or ' The Spirit of god expressed the dual principle of life and death through cosmic manifestation. From this dual principle the first nine spheres of existence were created.' It is not that there is a right or wrong way to understand this word Beranutsh, more that each individual Qabalist can come to his or her own understanding of the meaning.
If we now consider the word 'Elohim', usually translated as "God", we find a very interesting mystery. The word ALHIM in Hebrew is composed of a feminine singular ALH with IM, which is a masculine plural, added. The word thus expresses the uniting of male and female principles. This is why I prefer to use the term "the Mother-FAther Deity', for in Ch. 1 of Genesis, when the word 'Elohim' is used, this is closer to what is intended. It is only in Ch. 2 of Genesis, after the creation is fully manifest, that IHVH, Jehovah, is used for 'God'.
Even the word ATh in Hebrew, composed as it is of two letters Aleph and Teth, and simply translated as 'the' contains a mystery. The letter Aleph is the first Hebrew letter, numbered 1, as is Kether, the first sphere on the Tree of LIfe. The letter Teth is the ninth Hebrew letter, numbered 9, as is Yesod, the ninth sphere on the Tree. Thus the simple word 'ATh' can be taken to represent the whole Tree minus the final manifestation in Malkuth, when the world itself is formed. This has led some scholars to beleive that Genesis refers only to creation in potential. Exodus is concerned with the 'actual' manifestation, after Malkuth is created and when the 'Mother-Father Deity' has formed itself into IHVH, Jehovah, a God with a special message for mankind.
So the creation of the universe as understood Qabalistically is not about a single male God creating everything, but rather a complex unfolding of principles and energies originating from a source that includes both male and female energies. It is worth stressing that this interpretation is not the product of some strange, esoteric fantasy, but is very closely based on the original Hebrew text. Let us read it once more : ' Out of the universe the light of the sun brought the duality of existence into manifestation, expressing the Spirit through male and female principles. The Mother-Father Deity is seen as pure immanence, present in everything, manifest and unmanifest. When this Deity created the manifest universe that we know through the words ' let there be light' it was creating a duality - for if there is light then implicitly there is also dark, and it was through this duality that everything else could come into being. The Mother-Father Deity is present in both the light and the dark, in the unmanifest and the manifest, in everything at all times. The creation was an act of love, for the purpose of this original division was so that each part or polarity could realize itself as divine through recombining with the opposite polarity. All opposites are in harmonious balance with each other and whenever they unite they mirror the original creation of the universe.
Everything in the Qabalah is seen, however, in terms of trinities rather than dualities. The Mother-Father Deity is simultaneously Female and Male and the creation is the Child, thus creating a threesome. When Christians talk of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit they are referring to the same trinity, for the Hebrew word for 'Holy Spirit' is RUACH, which is a feminine noun. Thus the Trinity is FAther, Child, and Mother. This is also expressed in the Gnostic Deity name IAO, where I is the Male principle, O the Female principle and A their offspring. The letters I and O are interestingly suggestive of male and female. In the Qabalah the female principle of the Deity is very important and is also known as Shekhinah. Although the Jewish religion ( and its Christian offshoot) may have become patriarchal in its current form, its secret inner teachings, as expressed through the Qabalah, are equally inclusive of both male and female.