Golden Dawn Hebrew before c. 1900

Ross G Caldwell

Does anyone know if the Golden Dawn lecture material before 1900 knew of Aleph as Ox and Gimel as Camel (the modern philological meanings)?

I ask because I although scholarship had known this since at least the late 18th century, Levi and his school follow Kircher (Aleph as "doctrine" and "essence", Gimel as "fullness" (plenitude)), and it seems the GD did too. Crowley knew the standard philological meanings by 1907, in "777", but I wonder whether they appear earlier in the Order's teachings. My knowledge and materials are limited.

These two meanings are important to Crowley's understanding of the letters, and hence his Tarot, but in my reading of the GD lecture materials, including that on Tarot, I can't find any reference to these definitions of these two letters.

I know that the First Knowlege Lecture appears with a chart giving those definitions, but I wonder if this chart does not date after 1900. The earliest I know of it is from Regardie's Golden Dawn, but I believe his sources are not "original" pre-1900 sources. It is important in that the original GD Tarot would not therefore have incorporated these meanings into their teachings of the cards and paths.
 

kwaw

Not sure if it was part of the original pre-1900 GD documents (wasn't regardie's later GD material later rectified against an original GD members copies - frederick something or other I admit I have often been confused by Regardie's GD material as to which is original and which belongs to later offshoots) - but I should think it was known by the founders. For example, Westcott, as a member of the Theosophical Society familiar with Blavatsky's works:

quote:

"A —The first letter in all the world-alphabets save a few, such for instance as the Mongolian, the Japanese, the Tibetan, the Ethiopian, etc. It is a letter of great mystic power and “magic virtue” with those who have adopted it, and with whom its numerical value is one. It is the Aleph of the Hebrews, symbolized by the Ox or Bull; the Alpha of the Greeks, the one and the first the Az of the Slavonians, signifying the pronoun “I” (referring to the “I am that I am”). Even in Astrology, Taurus (the Ox or Bull or the Aleph) is the first of the Zodiacal signs, its colour being white and yellow. The sacred Aleph acquires a still more marked sanctity with the Christian Kabalists when they learn that this letter typifies the Trinity in Unity, as it is composed of two Yods, one upright, the other reversed with a slanting bar or nexus, thus— a. Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie states that “the St. Andrew cross is occultly connected therewith”. The divine name, the first in the series corresponding with Aleph, is AêHêIêH or Ahih when vowelless, and this is a Sanskrit root."

This is from the Theosophical Glossary by H.P. Blavatsky, 1892 - to which Westcott was an acknowledged contributor.
 

Ross G Caldwell

Thanks very much for pointing this out, Steve.

I see under "G" - "The present letter, called in Hebrew gimel and symbolised by a long camel’s neck, or rather a serpent erect, is associated with the third sacred divine name, Ghadol or Magnus (great)."

So indeed the founders must have known this. The chart in the First Knowledge Lecture really could be original, then.

The philological scholarship on the meaning of the Hebrew letter-names was settled by the middle of the 19th century, but Levi's school missed it (as far as I know, I haven't checked as far as Wirth yet); it accounts for some of their attributions.

One strange thing about Crowley's knowledge of Aleph is that he knows it means "Ox", but he believes this is derived from its shape resembling either a yoke or a ploughshare (see 777, notes on column II (p. 49 if you have a bound copy), and Book of Thoth p. 53), while the scholarship that would have given him that information would have shown him that it really does mean ox, boeuf, Rind, bos, etc. because it is a bull's head. This suggests to me that he got his information from a chart such as the GD knowledge lecture then, and not directly from philological sources.
 

Aeon418

I'm not sure about the GD lectures. But FWIW the standard meanings appear in tables in two of Mathers' books published pre-1900. Abramelin and The Kabbalah Unveiled.
 

Ross G Caldwell

I'm not sure about the GD lectures. But FWIW the standard meanings appear in tables in two of Mathers' books published pre-1900. Abramelin and The Kabbalah Unveiled.

Indeed they do, thanks Aeon.

That's one uncertainty clarified, then (although I'm not sure where "Duke" and "Leader" come from... it doesn't seem to be Levi or Kircher; perhaps it is just because it is first).

I'll have to see if I can figure out how much these meanings are conflated with the French school's traditional meanings (stemming from Kircher based on Jerome, who probably reflects Jewish teaching of the time on the meaning of the letters).
 

kwaw

I don't think, if recollection serves me right, that any emphasis on the association with 'yoke' was made much of in either the GD or French esoteric schools - at least, not with the importance that Crowley gave to it. However, the connection of Aleph with Yoke is certainly pre-1900.

The Aleph as yoke appears in Jewish literature - and as a pictogram of such was used to teach the letter to children. For example the poet Hayim Nahman Bialik (1873 - 1934) recalling his school day explains how the teacher showed him a card with with the letter Aleph on it: “Do you see here the wooden yoke with two buckets?” “Yes, I see.” “Well, that is called ‘Aleph’. Repeat: what is the name of this symbol?” “Marrusya,” answered the child. As it happened, just at that moment when he recognizes the wooden yoke and the buckets, he also sees the Polish water carrier Marrusya, who handles such an instrument, and the teacher was helpless to persuade the child to connect the word “Aleph”, which has no meaning for the pupil, with this symbol.”

My Gaze is Turned Inward: Letters 1938-1943 by Gertrude Kolmar p.65

A search of pre-1900 books on google gives several English* sources that describe the letter Aleph as representing ox horns with yoke - and the relevance of the yoke (the vau between the two yods - or the crossbar of the Roman 'A' considered as inverted horns 'V') is linked/associated with meanings to do with guidance, learning, teaching, teacher, leader.

Aleph as chief, leader, duke etc., can be found in numerous pre-1900 biblical Hebrew dictionaries, lexicons, commentaries. For example see Gen. 3:18 (Variously translated as Duke (KJV) or chief). Aleph also means one thousand, and as a Roman 'centurion' was leader of a 'century' (tribe, group of soldiers), so was an 'Aluph' a 'thousander' chief/leader/father of a tribe/clan/family.

Word: אלוף
Pronounc: al-loof'
Strong: #H441
Orig: or (shortened) talluph al-loof'; from 502; familiar; a friend, also gentle; hence, a bullock (as being tame; applied, although masculine, to a cow); and so, a chieftain (as notable, like neat cattle):--captain, duke, (chief) friend, governor, guide, ox. #H502
Use: TWOT-109b Adjective Masculine
GR Strong: #G172 #G747 #G1016 #G1319 #G2231 #G2232 #G2233 #G3609 #G5384 #G5506

1) tame, docile
2) friend, intimate
3) chief

Kwaw
* In French sources too:
La première lettre de l'alphabet s'appelle aussi de ce nom parce que c'est une tête ou un joug de bœuf qui a servi de type primitif à ce caractère.
Encyclopédie théologique, Volume 7, Issue 2 by J.P. Migne, 1846.

Gebelin too, in Monde Primitif 1773** says that (in western languages, derived from the semitic) there is a character representing the Ox under the yoke, representing nature and the work of the plow (or the ploughman - my French isn't quite up to it so I may have misconstrued the gist) :

quote
"Celui-ci n’est donc qu’une épithète, une allusion, mais des plus naturelles, qui peint le Bœuf comme un animal dompté & réduit à l état de domesticité par l’homme qui lui aprit à plier sous le joug & à le seconder dans l’Art par excellence. C’est toujours par cette idée qu’on peint le Bœuf, & que le caractérisent les Poètes dans les tableaux ou ils peignent la Nature & les travaux du Laboureur."

(It is therefore not (?) an epithet, an allusion, but more naturally, that image of the Ox as tamed & reduced to domesticity by Man, who taught him to bend under the yoke & assist in the art par excellence. It is always with this idea that the Ox is painted, and that the Poets characterize in tableau or paint Nature & the work of Plougher.)

He also mentions the meaning of understanding/learning, in both senses of to instruct/teach and to be instructed/learn (which is associated with the meaning 'yoke', the young untamed ox being yoked with an older tamed ox to learn from the lead of the trained Ox):

quote:
"A ne sut donc pas à la tête de l’Alphabet, parcequ’il désignoit un Bœuf, mais il désigna un Bœuf parce qu’étant à la tête de l’Alphaber , il signifioit aprendre, dans les deux sens d’instruire & d être instruite."

(It was not known at the head of the alphabet because it designated an ox, but because, being appointed at the head of the Alphabet, the Ox signified learning, and that in both senses of to instruct/teach & to be instructed/learn.)

In Grand dictionnaire universel du XIXe siècle: Français, historique ..., Volume 1 , 1864
by Pierre Larousse, under an article on the history of the alphabet, the names and meanings of the Hebrew letters are given by and large much as the GD:

Aleph - bœuf, éléphant
Beth - maison
Ghimel - chameau
Daleth - porte
Hé - trou
Waw - clou
Zaïn - arme
Khet - clôture (de bétail)
Teth - serpent, main, poing
Iod - main
Caph - creux de la main
Lamed - garrot
Mim - eau
Nounn - poisson (dialecte araméen)
Samech - appui
Ayn - œil
Phé - bouche
Tsad - pêcher chasser hameçon, hibou
Qof - nuque (en arabe colline)
Resch - tête
Schin ou Sin - dent
Tau - signe en croix, joug

**NB: 1773 volume of Monde Primitif - not to be confused with the later volume in which the essays on tarot appeared.
 

kwaw

Adolphe Bertet*, as a disciple of Levi's, followed the fool as 21st position. However, in one place least, he does seem to, albeit indirectly, make an association between the fool and the ox with neck bent under the yoke (references to follow - the dogs are barking for their walk!).

kwaw
*most famous probably for his Apocalypse du bienheureux Jean dévoilée, ou, Divulgation de la doctrine secrète du christianisme*,(which, according to some sources, led to him being silenced by his contempories), in which he uses kabbalah and the tarot to undertake a verse by verse exegesis of St. John's Revelations.
 

kwaw

Adolphe Bertet*, as a disciple of Levi's, followed the fool as 21st position. However, in one place least, he does seem to, albeit indirectly, make an association between the fool and the ox with neck bent under the yoke (references to follow - the dogs are barking for their walk!).

... ou fléchis le cou, comme le bœuf, pour recevoir son joug; ou prête ton dos, comme l âne, pour recevoir le bât et le porter triomphant dans sa cité de vérité.

Contemple ton image dans le fou du tarot, allant sans savoir où, ne se servant plus de son sceptre dérisoire, que pour porter sur son dos, sans les voir, ses vices et ses ridicules, tandis que le chien lui déchire et lui arrache par derrière les derniers lambeaux qui recouvraient encore sa nudité!

(...or with neck bent, like the Ox, to receive his yoke...

...Behold thine image in the fool of the tarot...)

Le papisme et la civilisation au tribunal de l'Evangile éternel, par le paysan de St Pierre p.460

(In context he is indulging in some polemic similes - there is no direct relation to the letter Aleph made.)
 

Ross G Caldwell

Thanks for Bertet, Steve. I've scanned through it, but I don't find what you are alluding to.

Coincidentally, I thought of the Grand Larousse as well, but of course Levi couldn't have availed himself of that, since it hadn't been published yet in 1861. The article on the alphabet seems to have been written by a different person than the articles on the letters at the beginning of each section. It is very up to date and competent, while those on the letters themselves are less coherent. For instance in the letter A the author only offers "bizarre" meanings. Under "Aleph" you don't get a meaning, but have to read that for "Alpha" to get that Hebrew Aleph means "boeuf".

In any case, what is important to me is that Levi follows Kircher, and the Tarotists following Levi don't seem to have cared about modern philology, unlike the founders of the GD, who took their Hebrew meanings from the standard established by Gesenius already in 1817, and widely translated into English. I'm still trying to work out why this might have been the case for the French - was is that the study of the Bible was less important, that the information on the Hebrew language not as accessible? Looking for pre-1850s French information on the Hebrew alphabet leads to grammars, such as the Grammaire comparée des langues bibliques. Application des découvertes de Champollion à l'étude des langues dans laquelles ont été écrits les livres saints (1853) which repeat and justify the traditional, Jerome style interpretations, and are not in keeping with what was commonplace in German and English philology - as represented in the Larousse "Alphabet" article, for instance.

I'm trying to develop a list of esoteric and specifically Tarotist French writers of the second half of the 19th century, so with Bertet in 1861, then Christian in 1863, then Papus in 1889, which I have checked, we find no hint at all that they had tried to incorporate the Hebrew meanings of the letters, as established by modern philology, into their interpretations. In Papus, you wouldn't even know Levi's traditional meanings existed. It is not until the 20th century, with Wirth's Le Tarot des imagiers du Moyen Âge (1927) that you get a chart actually giving simple meanings (p. 105), which are not exactly standard, but show that he had some modern source ("mud" (boue) for Teth, and "monkey" (singe) for Qoph, are his preferred readings, for instance. Larousse is obviously not his source). But these meanings are incidental for Wirth, they don't even make it into his very full descriptions of the cards, while for the GD and Crowley the "hieroglyphic" meaning of the Hebrew letters was crucial - Crowley typically mentions it in the first sentence of his descriptions.
 

Ross G Caldwell

... ou fléchis le cou, comme le bœuf, pour recevoir son joug; ou prête ton dos, comme l âne, pour recevoir le bât et le porter triomphant dans sa cité de vérité.

Contemple ton image dans le fou du tarot, allant sans savoir où, ne se servant plus de son sceptre dérisoire, que pour porter sur son dos, sans les voir, ses vices et ses ridicules, tandis que le chien lui déchire et lui arrache par derrière les derniers lambeaux qui recouvraient encore sa nudité!

(...or with neck bent, like the Ox, to receive his yoke...

...Behold thine image in the fool of the tarot...)

Le papisme et la civilisation au tribunal de l'Evangile éternel, par le paysan de St Pierre p.460

(In context he is indulging in some polemic similes - there is no direct relation to the letter Aleph made.)

Ah, it was a different book, I see why I couldn't find it.

I'll have to regard that as not very indicative. The metaphor of a yoked ox, like a laden donkey, is enough of a commonplace and useful metaphor that appealing to some knowledge on Bertet's part that Aleph means "yoke of an ox", through the Fool of Tarot, seems pretty far-fetched.

That he goes on to describe this "Fool" as merely wandering about, his one-time sceptre now just a stick (I presume), with his back laden with vices (recalling the image of the ass, not the ox), shows that he didn't have Aleph=Ox=Yoke=Fool in mind. He's just a fool, and the Fool of the Tarot is a good picture of him.