Gate 12: Aleth-Mem (אם)

א – Aleph – Air, Strength, Silence, Separation, Mirror, and Union.

מ – Mem – Water, Wisdom, Womb, Love, One, and Pregnancy.

אֵם – ’em – Mother of humans, figurative mother of the people (Deborah), mother of animals, point of departure or division
אִם – ‘im – if (conditional), no or not in oaths, if, whether, when, whenever, since, but rather
לְאֹם – leom – a people, nation (Lamed as a prefix is to/for; for the mother, people or nation)
אָמָה – ‘amah – maid-servant, female slave, maid, handmaid, concubine. (Heh as a suffix makes a pronoun; pronoun of mother rather than the mother herself)
אַמָּה – ‘ammah – cubit, distance the length of the forearm, 18 inches. Metaphorically beginning, head, foundation of a thing. “Mother of the Arm”, forearm.
אֻמָּה – ‘ummah – people, tribe, nation
אֲמָם – ‘Amam – their mother
נָאַם – na’am – to prophecy, utter a prophecy, speak as prophet, say
נְאֻם – neum – utterance, declaration, revelation
אָמַן – ‘aman – to support, confirm, be faithful, uphold, nourish, foster-father, foster-mother, nurse, pillars, supporters of the door, to be established, be carried, make firm, sure, lasting, verified, to trust, to believe in.
אָמַן – ‘aman – to take the right hand, to turn right, choose to the right, go to the right, use the right hand
אָמָן – ‘aman – master-workman, artist, steady-handed one, artisan
אָמֵן – ‘amen – verily, truly, amen, so be it
אֹמֶן – ‘omen – faithfulness
אֱמֶת – ’emeth – firmness, faithfulness, truth, sureness, reliability, stability, continuance, true testimony, true judgement, divine instruction, truth as a body of ethical or religious knowledge, true doctrine.
אָיֹם – ‘ayom – terrible, dreadful
אָמִי – ‘Amiy – bond-servant, descendant of Amon, Solomon’s servant.
מָא – ma’ – (Aramaic of Hebrew מָה, mah) what, how, of what king, whatsoever, whatever, how now, why, wherein, whereby, wherewith, by what means, because of what, the like of what, how much, how many, how often, for how long, for what reason, to what purpose, until when, how long, upon what, wherefore, anything, aught, what may
שַׁמָּא – Shamma’ – desert
מֵאָה – me’ah – hundred, 1/100th
מְאָה – ma’ah – hundred, one hundred
מָאן – ma’n – vessel, utensil
מָאֵן – ma’en – to refuse
מָאֵן – ma’en – refusing, unwilling to obey
מֵאֵן – me’en – refusing

The core of the gate is אֵם, ’em, mother. Aleph-Mem, is like Gate 1, Aleph-Beit, Ab, Father, ox-house, strength of the house. ’em, Mother, ox-womb, is strength of the womb. The point of departure or division is the lips parting to reveal the womb, strength of the womb shown in childbirth. Mother. Or, looking differently, Aleph is separation, and Mem the womb, bringing the idea of the point of departure or division. A people or tribe or nation, leom and ‘ummah, is the fruit of the womb and the mother, those that come from her. The use of Aleph-Mem as metaphorical mother, the mother of a thing, is important. We see this in the vocal words, na’am and neum, prophecy and utterance. Speech is the beginning, the mother, of action. “God said…and it was so.” In ‘aman, we find meanings of nourishment, commonly seen as part of what it is to be a mother. A craftsman, ‘aman, can be seen as the mother of his or her art. In ‘amen, so be it, we see the commitment to something, and that commitment is the mother of it. Reversed, the core is מָא, ma’, though this is the Aramaic form. Ma’ is questions and exclamations. This links well with mother, for questions are the mother of discovery, and exclamations bring forth. In a way, ma’en/me’en, to refuse, refusing, unwilling to obey, are the opposite of their anagram, na’am/neum, prophecy, and the opposite of the point of departure/division of ’em. But this isn’t quite true. Refusal and unwillingness to obey is it’s own departure and division from the authority that is refused, and this act is the mother of what comes of it. Ma’n, vessel or utensil, relates well make to the womb, for the womb is a vessel. Mystically, Nun is a servant or vessel of the divine. Ma’n can be seen as “Who is the vessel of the divine?” The vessel of the divine is filled with the divine in the same way the womb is filled with the unborn baby. Or ma’n with the anagramic meaning, ’em, could be the mother of the vessel, or the vessel that is of the mother, the womb. Shamma’, desert, is a bit harder. Shin is the tooth, and symbolically, this is nourishment. But desert? The desert by definition isn’t nourishing. But Shin as a prefix changes a verb into the doer, so Shin-Mem-Aleph, Shamma’, would be One Who Mem-Alephs. One Who Questions? That Which Questions? Does this imply the desert is that which brings questions? I’m not sure. It is interesting that the word is made from the Three Mothers, from Shin, Fire, Mem, Water, and Aleph, Air. Me’ah/ma’ah, hundred/hundredth, is problematic as well.

Aleph (1) + Mem (40) = 41. Or, with the final Mem, Mem is 600, so 601. In addition to ’em, 41 is fecundity, ram, force, hart, My God, to fail or cease, Divine Majesty, terminus, to burn, terror, to go round in a circle. 601 isn’t anything by ’em. 41 reduces to 5, Heh, and 601 reduces to 7, Zayin. Heh is the window, and mystically the first breath. Zayin is a weapon, and mystically marriage. 5 is also mist, vapour, back, food, elevation, top, pit, water-hole. 7 is also lost, ruined, desire, good fortune, was weary, riches, power, fish. Fecundity fits well, productiveness in offspring, vegetation, intellectual pursuits, basically to be good at giving birth. The others are harder. The destructive and ending words from 41 seem to be the opposite of birth and motherhood. Same with many from 7. But marriage fits well. And a water-hole could easily be seen as a womb.

The 12th Gate is definitely the Gate of the Mother. It is akin to the 1st Gate, the Gate of the Father, but a different type of strength. The 1st Gate is about protecting, the 12th about nourishing. While not every male is a protector and not every female is a nourisher (and in fact the reverse can be true), the role of the Father is as protector and the role of the Mother is as nourisher. The Gate of the Mother is the Gate of Nourishment. The lesson to learn, to cross the gate, is how to nourish those things we create, those things we give birth to, in our lives.

FFF,

~Muninn’s Kiss

 

 

Nine Acts of Witchcraft Become the Three Grimr, Part 1, Nourishment…

In 2009 and 2010, I wrote a series of ten posts on the first nine acts of witchcraft.  These posts were an analysis of the nine acts, the nine changes, G-d did at the beginning of Genesis which brought about the creation of the world.  I looked at them in sequential order as they occurred over the seven days in the myth.  I’d like to take another look at these acts by looking at them in a different way.

The nine acts are:

1. Let there be light.  (link)
2. Let there be a firmament.  (link)
3. Let the waters under heaven be gathered.  (link)
4. Let the earth put forth.  (link)
5. Let there be lights in the firmament.  (link)
6. Let the waters swarm and let fowl fly.  (link)
7. Let the earth bring forth the living creature.  (part 1) (part 2)
8. Let us make man in our image.  (link)
9. And he rested.  (link)

People usually focus on there being seven days, but few ever mention that there are nine acts.  The number nine doesn’t occur often in Hebrew texts and thoughts compared to other numbers, but is is very common in Norse and Germanic myth.  Among many other occurances of the number, there are nine worlds, Odin hung on the Tree, a sacrifice by himself to himself, for nine days, and nine of the gods survive Ragnarok.  Also, in Greek myth, there are nine muses.  In Robert Cochrane’s letters, you circle the alter three time three (9) times for the Maid, three times six (18 which is 9 time 2) times for the Mother, and three times nine (36) times for the Hag.  Also, he indicates nine Rites or Knots of the year during which the male and female clans would come together.

But nine is always related to three in myth, as is six.  Six is three sets of twins, and nine three sets of three.  When you look at the nine acts as groups of three chronologically, not much emerges.  In the first trinity, we see separation, separation, coming together.  In the second, we see three things coming forth.  In the third, we coming forth, making, resting.  While these sets are interesting and shouldn’t be ignored, they don’t form any patterns that are common for all three sets.  But if we group them by taking each one in the chronological grouping and put them with each in the next set and so far, some interesting details emerge.

Let there be light.  Let the earth put forth.  Let the earth bring forth living creatures.

Working backwards, we see the the earth bringing the living creature, and the earth putting forth plants.  The connection here between the two is easy to see.  The earth brings forth both.  The interesting thing is there are two words here.  Let the earth put forth uses dasha (דָּשָׁא), but when the earth obeys, it brings forth, yatsa’ (יָצָא).  Dasha is to sprout, to grow green.  Yatsa’ is to put forth, to depart or cause to depart.  So it sprouts, then grows up, out, away from the ground.  But G-d tells the land to bring forth, yatsa’, the living creature.  And all the living things of the earth (not of the water or the air) are brought forth, pushed out of the ground.  And then, it says, G-d makes, ‘asah (עָשָׂה), fashions all of them.  So they come forth, then are formed.

But back to the first triune, the first of the Grimr.  The first two are easily connected, the earth bringing forth.  Out of the earth they come.  But how does that connect to the first?  Let there be light.  To see the connection, we must understand nature and cycles.  Let’s start with the creatures.  To begin with, they only eat plants.  Only later do some eat other creatures.  Plants.  So animals, the third part, eat plants, the second part.  So what do plants live on?  If animals get their energy from plants, where do plants get their energy?  Light.  Ah ha, light!  The first part.  So light feeds the plants and plants feed the animals.  Now this triune starts to make sense and come together.

But there’s another element here.  The plants and animals come out of the earth, but where does the light come out of?  Let’s look back a bit:

1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
2 Now the earth was unformed and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters.
3 And God said: ‘Let there be light.’ And there was light. 

And afterwards:

3 And God said: ‘Let there be light.’ And there was light.
4 And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness.

So, before light, there was the earth, darkness, waters, and the spirit of G-d (The four elements.  Earth and water.  The spirit is wind, air.  The darkness is black fire, see The earth was (tohu va-vohu), chaos and void…)  And it’s the darkness that the light is intermingled with, not the rest.  So it would seem that the light came out of the darkness, just as the plants and animals came out of the earth.  There is a verse somewhere in the Zohar that says that light is brightest that comes out of the darkness.  The black fire of inspiration brings forth light, illumination, Truth.

So the darkness, the fire, brings forth light, and the earth brings forth plants, then animals.  The light nourishes the plants.  The plants nourish the animals.  The three are a cycle, the three become one.  On the first day.  On the third day.  On the sixth day.  The first act.  The fourth act.  The seventh act.

FFF,
~Muninn’s Kiss