Blake Tarot ~ X Whirlwind

4 And I looked, and, behold, a sweeping wind came from the north, and a great cloud on it, and there was brightness round about it, and gleaming fire, and in the midst of it as it were the appearance of amber in the midst of the fire, and brightness in it.

5 And in the midst as it were the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance; the likeness of a man was upon them.
6 And each one had four faces, and each one had four wings.
7 And their legs were straight; and their feet were winged, and there were sparks, like gleaming brass, and their wings were light.
8 And the hand of a man was under their wings on their four sides.
9 And the faces of them four turned not when they went; they went everyone straight forward.
10 And the likeness of their faces was the face of a man, and the face of a lion on the right of the four; and the face of a calf on the left of the four; and the face of an eagle to the four.
11 And the four had their wings spread out above; each one had two joined to one another, and two covered their bodies.
12 And each one went straight forward: wherever the spirit was going they went, and turned not back.

13 And in the midst of the living creatures there was an appearance as of burning coals of fire, as an appearance of lamps turning among the living creatures; and the brightness of fire, and out of the fire came forth lightning.
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15 And I looked, and, behold, the four had each one wheel on the ground near the living creatures.

16 And the appearance of the wheels was as the appearance of beryl: and the four had one likeness: and their work was as it were a wheel in a wheel.

17 They went on their four sides: they turned not as they went;
18 neither did their backs turn: and they were high: and I beheld them, and the backs of them four were full of eyes round about.

19 And when the living creatures went, the wheels went by them: and when the living creatures lifted themselves off the earth, the wheels were lifted off.

20 Wherever the cloud happened to be, there was the spirit ready to go: the wheels went and were lifted up with them; because the spirit of life was in the wheels.

21 When those went, the wheels went; and when those stood, the wheels stood; and when those lifted themselves off the earth, they were lifted off with them: for the spirit of life was in the wheels.

22 And the likeness over the heads of the living creatures was as a firmament, as the appearance of crystal, spread out over their wings above.

23 And their wings were spread out under the firmament, reaching one to the other; two wings to each, covering their bodies.

24 And I heard the sound of their wings when they went, as the sound of much water: and when they stood, their wings were let down.

25 And lo! a voice from above the firmament

26 that was over their head, there was as the appearance of a sapphire stone, and the likeness of a throne upon it: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as an appearance of a man above.

27 And I saw as it were the resemblance of amber from the appearance of the loins and upwards, and from the appearance of the loins and under I saw an appearance of fire, and the brightness thereof round about.

28 As the appearance of the bow when it is in the cloud in days of rain, so was the form of brightness round about.

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Enoch was the son of Jared, whose worship of angels and nature, according to the ancient rabbis, began the spiritual degradation of humankind. While there is no biblical reference for this, yared in Hebrew means “to descend,” and this may have been the rabbis’ way of explaining why he bore that name. In the minds of Jews, his son Enoch became not only a human who conversed with angels, but a human who became the most powerful angel of all, Metatron, the Lesser YHVH.

…God said, “Henceforth my servant Metatron will reign over all my princes in heaven, only those angels bearing my name are exempt from his rule. Any angel desiring to speak to me will speak to him instead. Metatron will convey my will.Whatever he commands is to be done, but do not worry, for the two angels called Wisdom and Understanding are his advisors. They will make known to him the customs of earth and heaven, and fill him with the knowledge of the present and the future.”

The transformation of Enoch into Metatron was fierce: his flesh turned to flame, his bones to glowing coals, his eyes shone with starlight, and his eyeballs became fiery sparks. His entire being was a consuming fire. To his right flames danced, to his left torches gleamed, and all around him swirled gale and tornado, hurricane and thunder.

This is what the angels feared: that a human would rule over them. Not a human in its lowly and alienated state of achad, but the fully realized human who has left behind the narrow ego-centered mind and is transformed by God into one who knows the ways of heaven and earth.

Metatron, whose name may come from the Greek meta, “beyond,” and thronom, “the throne [of God],” is, as his name suggests, beyond the throne realm of even the angels and resides just below God in the theological hierarchy of the rabbinic imagination. Metatron is served by the angels of wisdom and understanding, so he himself surpasses these. His is greater than the godlike status promised to Adam and Eve by the serpent if they would eat of the Tree of Knowledge. Enoch/Metatron is immortal not in the sense of living forever in the endless stream of time, which is what eating from the Tree of Life would provide, but in the sense of having transcended time altogether.

Metatron is not an angel only, nor is he only human. He does not die or lose his body. He is not the spirit of Enoch or the soul unbound by the body. Enoch is taken to heaven both body and mind, and turned into fire, pure energy, while yet still maintaining both body and mind.

This myth of Enoch/Metatron is telling us that in some way the human embraces the cosmos. While describing this as a physical encompassing of the cosmos, the myth more likely is pointing to a level of psycho-spiritual awareness—God-centered consciousness— that sees all things as aspects of the divine. This is the I-I awareness that knows the universe as the body of God.

In his new form Enoch grew 72 wings, one for each of the 72 Hebrew Names of God, opened 365,000 eyes that he might see all that happens daily, and was transubstantiated from flesh to pure fire. He was then given a crown similar to that worn by God, and established in a heavenly Temple paralleling the Temple in Jerusalem. This heavenly Temple was called the tabernacle of the Naar, literally the Youth, referring to the Lesser YHVH that was Metatron, and it was from there that Metatron offered the souls of the righteous as penance for the Jewish people during their exile (Numbers Rabbah, 12:12).

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