Truth is eternal, hence perennial (the great year is
its period or cycle). Qabbalah is rooted in Merkavah, which
defines Sefirot based on the great vision
of truth described by Ezekiel—based on a clear grasp of man’s true state, in other words.
Indeed something definitely happened during or just after the Captivity: square-Hebrew was born. Based on direct influence of Aramaic, it embodies the deepest knowledge the mysteries possessed concerning physiology. Its shapes are based on letters’ physiological stations, as is clearly apparent once they are aligned correctly with the original tradition (deducible by triangulation from Jewish
and Keltic sources, both decayed originals).
AmounrA said:
This thread reminded me of one a few years ago;
http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=10736
My view is that this is the origin of what has become the tree of life, but not kabaala
Forgive me if I pull some of your comments on that thread over to this one and respond, as they seem relevant. But first, I want to say (in case it might be of some help) that Professor Stecchini in his appendix to Peter Tompkins’
Secrets of the Great Pyramid concerning ancient Egyptian weights and measures and geodesy mentions that a design exactly like the ‘Tree’—alternating polarities and unities connected by vertical, horizontal, and diagonal ‘paths’—is found in meaningful context in ancient Egypt. (I’ll try to get you the quote if I can.) Now, from that other thread:
AmounrA said:
I wonder if gematria and the tree of life map are deeply connected?
Perhaps, but according to Scholem (and me) gematria has little to do with Qabbalah and results, rather, from influence of German
Hasidim.
Or is it another example of the all-embracing symbol of the tree?
‘The all-embracing symbol of the tree’
is ultimately what is behind the link between Semitic letters and the Keltic tree-alphabet, preserved in Irish lore. You cited a site:
This site has an interesting series of very old Assyrian trees of life;
http://www.zyworld.com/Assyrian/Assyrian sacred tree of life.htm
. . . from which I quote:
“Judging from the ancient Assyrian monuments, the Assyrians appear to have a variety of these trees, some thing like four or five: -
The Date-tree.
The Vine.
The Pomegranate-tree.
The Fir-tree; and not improbably.
The oak.”
In the Keltic tree-alphabet, M is muin the vine, “mm” meaning ‘sweetness’ (of grape) and ‘interconnectedness’ (of vine). Judaism bows before this sweetness: intermediate mem shows a knealing worshiper, and mem-sofit (its final form) pictures the rectangular container of the Ark.
The palm is hypothesized by Graves (in
The White Goddess) to be AA, since A’s name—ailm, silver fir—also signifies palm, this to extend the twenty surviving letters of Keltic ogham to twenty-two originals (which is confirmed by yod, II the mistletoe or loranthus, being suspended in air in square-Hebrew). AA’s equivalent in the Mediterranean region was teyt-theta, alchemical symbol for the earth (cross inscribed in a circle),which stands for the equator (diurnal cycle) or equatorial region: its rune is
named ‘day’ and shows an hourglass on its side, signifying ‘today’—the present instant (instant of turning the hourglass over, a chronometer being required to measure longitude). Bardic vowel AA is a consonant in all alphabets
but the Keltic, yet that it is hardened from vowel status follows from its being the fire breath, link between palm and phoenix (born in flame).
A-alef-ailm-fir signifies the initial rising-up of
anything (as in ‘bringing
up a subject’): that which gets our attention (I LeBateleur). For the fir limits its lateral growth to redirect energy towards height, alef-the-ox turns the pump
lifting water from the water table for irrigation, and the eagle or Egyptian vulture (alef’s hieroglyphic equivalent) rides thermals to great altitudes.
D-dalet-duir-oak signifies reach or extent or domain: it is the regal or heroic waxing year, sacrificed in its flower at summer solstice. This is the door whose
wood is oak, in Phoenician its shape the jib of a ship: both swing, symbolizing compass, for D’s station is the outer horizon (or rim of the ‘Cauldron’ or bowl curving from ‘out’ through ‘down’ to ‘in’). It is the limit of sight or fire (hence lightning’s tree), which is one’s
ultimate ‘compass’.
What led me to the possible Egyptian geodetic layout of the letters on earth’s surface was the fact that if libra resided at Giza, the letters associated with or next to that sign formed important words for ‘Egypt’ (
ta-mera, and the root
khem), while the tree-letters at the inner and outer horizons (or rims of the ‘Cauldron’) are considered the ‘tree of life’ of their respective regions: B-beyt-beth-birch in central Asia, inner horizon being the Kirghiz-Kazak steppe, and D-dalet-duir-oak in Europe, outer horizon being the north slope of the Alps.
what have you seen?