#kabbalism

[catsconflictscopicsandchamomile]

ok yknow what? The Winchesters panel is tomorrow, the PILOT is NEXT WEEK, I don’t want to wait til november/til i can format this to work with ao3. Here yall go. Sorry for the long post, I fixed the entire finale.

Sam and Dean Winchester are not human beings. It’s hard to say if they ever were, but they definitely aren’t anymore. This may sound strange, but hear me out: many sources agree that descendants of Cain are not human, by definition. Even aside from that, if a person repeatedly dies and more or less physically fights their way out of every variety of Christian afterlife, it would be a considerable stretch of logic to still consider them a fully human being. Unfortunately for anyone trying to figure out exactly what Sam and Dean are, the only instance of a confirmed Descendant Of Cain is Grendel, from Beowulf. (source: Beowulf, translation by Seamus Heaney, lines 100-110)

“Grendel was the name of this grim demon Haunting the marches, marauding round the heath And the desolate fens; he had dwelt for a time In misery among the banished monsters, Cain’s clan, whom the creator had outlawed And condemned as outcasts. For the killing of Abel The Eternal Lord had exacted a price: Cain got no good from committing that murder Because the Almighty made him anathema, And out of the curse of his exile there sprang Ogres and elves and evil phantoms And the giants too who strove with God Time and again until He gave them their final reward.”

In terms of appearance, Grendel is never described in the text. He has been referred to as an archetype, a monster, an evil or corrupted human, a demon, or a forest spirit. In Beowulf, Grendel was immune to iron weapons ( Beowulf lines 986-989) but the only other widely accepted canon source on the subject, the book “Grendel” by John Gardner, puts forward the idea that that specific power comes from the outside source of The Dragon (Gardner, 75).

When Grendel was killed, his mother (also a monster of some sort) came back the next night for revenge/further murdering. While this is not a 1:1 comparison, it seems a fair guess to say that these creatures (I will be referring to them as Grendels from here onward) usually come in pairs and have strong familial loyalty. In Supernatural, the dynamic is a bit reversed: while they are siblings, Dean did essentially raise Sam. Despite this, Dean takes the main-Grendel role of initiating melee combat, while Sam takes the role held by the original Grendel’s Mother, as the more cautious and magic-focused backup/range fighter (Or at least, Sam SHOULD be doing that. Instead he lives his life like a dnd wizard trying to play a tank, refusing to learn actual magic and getting KO’d in every fight.)

                                                                              ----------  

Moving on, let’s talk about Cas, or Cassiel in the actual Lore (but also spelled Castiel, Kafziel, Qafziel, etc). Yes, Cassiel is a real angel, thought he is not mentioned in the bible at all. In fact, he mainly exists in Kabbalistic studies, some extra-canonical Christian texts, various esoteric beliefs, and, randomly, as a tragic main character in a fairly obscure German Art House film about angels (Faraway, So Close, dir. Wim Wenders). Cassiel’s history of use as a tragic (and ultimately doomed) figure in modern media is likely due to certain aspects of his lore: *note: for this and following sections, I have opted to use screenshots directly from the source material

(Of course he likes crocodiles. It's the perfect level of random)  

(Still not sure how Supernatural managed to totally flip the color scheme)

                                                                                -------------

It is extremely ironic that Cassiel, an angel that Kripke has said he chose “at random” as a name for the character in Supernatural, followed the lore so perfectly that many things about Cassiel work to fill in some much-needed context/backstory for Our Cas. Setting this aside, however, let’s look at the part that is most relevant to the finale. 

Though he is also associated with Cybelle and Proserpina/Persephone, due to his rulership of the planet Saturn, Cassiel has much stronger ties to the god Saturn, the zodiac sign of Capricorn, and the new year, all of which only strengthen his connections to the archetypes of death, rebirth and time.  

Cas, in a way, is Saturn, or at least a different version/manifestation of that being. The Lord Of Time, an uncommonly isolated spirit of midwinter and the new year, associated with agriculture and the harvest, the dude who Saturnalia is for, the Lord of Misrule in his chaotic aspect, etc, etc....  

Also, Saturn is the Roman version of the titan Kronos. We meet Kronos one time in spn canon, in Season 7 episode 12. He was largely forgotten as a monster-of-the-week encounter, but after Cas’ final death in season 15, the fandom took renewed notice of Kronos, specifically his dying foretelling the futures of Sam, Dean and Cas:

Coincidentally, in this episode, Kronos was killed by the Winchesters for Doing Bad Guy Things in order to protect a human who he’d fallen in love with, in defiance of that human being fated to die-  A parallel to Cas & Dean’s relationship that only becomes more apparent as the series progresses

In Greco-Roman mythology, Saturn/Kronos is overthrown by the gods, Zeus (his son) becomes king in his place, and Kronos is chopped to pieces and, as he is immortal and unable to be fully killed, thrown into the pit of Tartarus:  

Tartarus is by far the best match I’ve seen to what, and why, The Empty is. Note that Tartarus, like The Empty, is both a place and a primordial deity at the same time.

*fun fact- even though Saturn was FAR more respected in Rome, his statues’ feet were still bound with wool to symbolically “bind” the god’s chaos, and were only unbound during Saturnalia, when social roles were meant to be overturned

                                                                          --------------

Before detaling the actual events of the finale, here’s a rundown of the other major characters:  

-Jack is Jack. Literally. A “Jack” is a folkloric archetype from northern Europe, think of Jack The Giant Killer, Jack Frost, Jack And The Beanstalk, Jack O’ The Lantern. Stories often portray all of these Jacks as some variation of the same person. “Jack” as a character is usually young, either naive or “foolish”, bold, impulsive, and unshakeable. In fact, Jack in folklore is often found interacting with God and Satan, tricking and/or humiliating them both, usually within the same story. In many endings of the tale, Jack finds himself banned from Heaven AND Hell for his actions, and, depending on the story, either tricks his way back into heaven in a way that makes it impossible for him to be kicked back out, or, more commonly, convinces Satan to give him one of Hell’s embers to see and keep warm by, and wandering forever with that light, becomes Jack O’ The Lantern. This does mean that our Jack will likely not last long as God. Jacks, no matter how much power they get, rarely manage to keep it. However, could there be any better choice than Jack Kline to be in charge of Halloween?

(The answer is no. This is perfect.)

-Baby/The Impala, is, as much of the fandom has theorized for years, a sentient creature that can take human form. Weirdly, I have found no Human!Impala theories or fics that references Baby’s ability to travel impossible distances (such as Kansas to LA in less than a night), which make it very obvious that Baby is not a car. Specifically, Baby is a Pooka, a type of Fae shapeshifter known for taking equine form:

While John Winchester did buy a Chevrolet Impala, it is doubtful that this car lasted long into Sam and Dean’s childhood. It’s more than likely that John wrecked the original car driving drunk, since the most common way in which someone can encounter (and possibly control) a Pooka goes as such: 

John probably used the above-mentioned horsehair bridle method used to gain control of her, specifically by wrapping the hairs around the car‘s keyring, as the keys to a car are the closest equivalent to a horse’s bridle. Additionally, while the car itself has been heavily damaged in-canon, the keys have remained intact. John never told Sam and Dean about the change to their car, but then again, he never told them a lot of important things.  

Whatever Baby may have thought of John Winchester, I imagine that having two baby Grendels constantly left in her “care” was more than enough for her to feel some bond or responsibility towards Sam and Dean from fairly early on.  

Also, Dean took REALLY good care of her, talked to her, and almost definitely left a few Playboy magazines in the car-  an unwittingly amazing gift for a shapeshifter who often appears as a human with rabbit ears.

Lastly, Fae really, REALLY, don’t like pet dogs. Remember this. It is going to be extremely relevant.  

*last minute edit: Bobby is a Tanuki. This is relevant to absolutely nothing, but is very funny. Balls

                                                                         --------

Now, as for the actual events of the finale:

-Cold Iron has been a long-running concept throughout spn canon, primarily for its ability to cancel magic and either weaken or insta-kill all sorts of things, including demons and Fae. In America, cold-wrought iron was phased out of use as a construction material towards the end of the 1800s. Coincidentally, the barn from the finale episode matches the construction of barns from the mid-late 1800s. In case I’m not being clear here: Dean is not human. Dean is a Grendel (*last minute edit: even if he still was still somewhat human before s15, Sam and Dean worked with Michael and Lucifer in 15x19. Dean had just lost the love of his life, the entire human population of the world had vanished, and he was about to literally fight god. He would have easily been desperate enough to agree to let Lucifer kill/turn him on the spot in exchange for Cas/returning everyone who got thanos snapped/the ability to win a fistfight against Literal God). With no angels, Pookas or other beings alive to magically protect him, and no idea that he had to/was able to protect himself, Dean was not immune to iron. Staking a demon or Fae through the back with cold iron will kill it.

That’s Dean’s death explained. What about Sam? ...Buckle up, because this is where it gets wild.  

-Féar Gortach/Hungry Grass is definitely an obscure cryptid. It is an Irish spirit/phenomena that takes the form of a patch of grass or field that (depending on the telling) has been cursed by Fairies, covers a grave, is related to the famine, or any combination of these things. There are not many accounts of it, but this one is one of the most well known, and also extremely relevant here. It’s a short read, but I have included screenshots of the relevant section below:

(*Last Minute Edit: it could have been a different Fae- lots of more malevolent Fae or Fae-aligned creatures use this method to harm or kill humans., but I personally would bet on this one)

Earlier in spn canon, Sam and Dean defeated, but did not kill, the four horsemen of the apocalypse. Their encounter with Famine was unique, both because of Famine’s method of preying on the individual weaknesses of each person, and because of the encounter’s clear open-endedness.  

Many, many stories exist of people who are abducted by Fae or similar creatures and, while under that creature’s power, experience a whole lifetime within the space of a day (or a day over the course of a whole lifetime, but the first version is the one relevant here). If this person can escape the illusion, they are often drastically physically aged due to the experience.

This is the last image we see of Sam in the flash-forward, before he dies.

This is the horseman of Famine 

This is Sam before the finale 

And THIS is how Sam’s “Son” appears at Sam’s death in the flash-forward.  

So, as a play-by-play:

-Cas, seemingly like every other entity with rulership over Saturn, got sucked into Tartarus.  

-Chuck (whether or not he regained power in Heaven later) gives Sam and Dean a final “fuck you” by sending them a pet dog, which, while definitely a Good Boy, interferes with Baby’s ability to protect them from most Fae magic, including their own weakness to Cold Iron.

- In the final fight with the mimes, Dean is shoved over an iron stake, and, since neither Sam is not aware of his and Dean’s true nature, Dean dies before Sam can figure out what is happening. (*last minute edit: Dean probably asked Sam not to bring him back bc 1) where do Grendels even GO when they die, 2) they might go to Tartarus, and Dean is obviously extremely okay with that, and most importantly 3) he does not want his little brother’s last memory of him to be finding out that he’s a demon/bringing him back and possibly having to kill him)  

-Sam walks out of the barn to get whatever you need to get in that situation, and, since he’s grieving and desperate, he’s an easy target for the hungry grass, which is waiting in the cornfields surrounding the barn. My best guess is that the grass used its illusions to appear as either Eileen, or someone else that Sam trusted, and led him deeper into the field by promising a way to have Dean back. By the next morning, Sam is dead in the cornfield less than 50 feet from the barn, and Famine, having drained every last bit of magic/energy/life force from Sam, now appears as the young man we see in Sam’s final moments.

-Sam and Dean are haunting the bridge from the final scene (ironic). (*last minute edit: at least Dean is. he’s obviously still there. where tf is Sam. is he on the bridge also, just stuck in a DIFFERENT time loop? if so that’s fucked up, but if not. WHERE IS HE)

-Jack is probably back on earth and/or already having a great time as The New King Of Halloween (*last minute edit. before anyone says he should be working on saving Sam/Dean/Cas. he’s FIVE YEARS OLD. LET HIM BE A KID IN WHATEVER WAY HE CAN)

-Baby is either bothering Adam/Michael (as she still serves the Winchester family line), or has been captured by Famine, if he took the keyring when he killed Sam.  

*Also, despite this scene being the butt of many fandom jokes, Dean got to heaven and immediately started driving because the LAST time he ended up in heaven, he got out by following the highway, and found out he was dead by hearing Cas talk to him over the car radio (s5 ep16).  

Now, how can this be fixed?

For Sam and Dean, there are two options. The first assumes that there is at least some echo of them haunting that bridge. I am admittedly unsure as to whether this would mean that part of Heaven is linked to the bridge, or that, like many ghosts, Sam and Dean are stuck to one physical location while believing that they are able to move freely. While there is very little written on how to reverse the effects of Cold Iron OR the Hungry Grass, it is widely accepted that running water can be a source of healing for some Fae, and harm for others. As the original Grendel lived in a lake, I’m assuming that Grendels are the type to be healed by water.  Also, it has an easy point of access in current canon, and is hilarious.

The other option works no matter where their spirits/souls are, and involves finding and healing their bodies. Healing (or more lore-accurately, “freeing”) Dean would likely consist of finding a way to release the cold iron’s hold on his physical body, and then using some method to wake him up. I do imagine that, since Cold Iron reveals a creature’s true form as well as trapping it, Dean can only come back as a Demon at this point. He might not like it, but it’s that or be dead.  

Sam is way more straightforward- in the episode where they fought Famine, he used Sam’s craving for demon blood at the time to taunt him. Now, Famine literally drained Sam dry. ...Therefor, demon blood. Not a pretty process, involves killing several demons beforehand, Sam didn’t handle it too well last time, but, again, it’s the best way to have him not be dead.  (*last minute edit: found an alternative re: this weird old poem called “The Goblin Market”. appears to describe a young woman who was attacked and rapidly aged in a very similar way, but is healed by eating fairy/goblin fruits. idk how to get that but we already know a Pooka so that’s a start)

TLDR, any way to have the Winchesters not be dead will have to involve them being demons, permanently.  

Now, for Cas, there are three main options, leading to a slightly different mythological primordial void (*last minute edit: assuming that Heaven has given up trying too brainwash or control Cas, and are keeping him locked up in The Empty/Tartarus when they don’t need him. They obviously did let him out for a bit recently, though, as the Queen of England did die and Cassiel is the angel in charge of that shit) 

The Greco-Roman route is Cool and finally forces some of the Actual Cassiel Lore into spn canon.

(*last minute edit: discovered some Lore abt heaven’s methods of memory erasure. has heavy connections to myths abt Tartarus. tldf if The Empty= Tartarus, it is likely that Cas has lost some or all of his memories, Because Magic Greek Hell Rivers. Apparently)

The Norse route is a fairly uncommon choice of underworld in modern fantasy, relatively unguarded, and definitely interesting.  

And of course the Christian route is familiar to the point of predictability, allows plenty of opportunities for old characters to return for an episode or two, works as a road trip story arc that I’m shocked hasn’t been done in canon already, and ends with Sam, Dean and Cas hiding out in Purgatory, providing a scenario with high potential for emotional reunions/soft Destiel moments/hurt-comfort with an emphasis on comfort, and a chance for Sam and Dean to explore purgatory now that they themselves are demons. 

(Technically there IS a fourth route, consisting of going back to the earthside entrance to Lucifer’s Cage and trying to break through to whatever’s on the other side of The Cage... but that feels both too simple to be good storytelling, and WAY too risky if something goes wrong. Still, it’s worth considering)

---------

....anyway.  I’m seriously impressed with anyone who reads this far- this is A Whole Entire Fucking Lot All At Once. Am I just posting it now bc I’m worried that  I might be right (specifically about the Grendel Thing), and I won’t look as cool if The Winchesters beats me to the punch? ....yes. I am that petty. 

Signed,  

-Jamie (He/She/They)  

Sources:  

Beowulf, translation by Seamus Heaney

Grendel by John Gardner

http://www.archangels-and-angels.com/aa_pages/correspondences/angel_planet/archangel_cassiel.html

https://mythology.net/angels/cassiel/  

https://www.theblackfeatherintuitive.com/who-is-archangel-cassiel-the-archangel-of-duality/  

https://supernatural.fandom.com/wiki/Chronos

https://www.history.com/news/history-of-the-jack-o-lantern-irish-origins)

https://www.yourirish.com/folklore/irish-pookas#:~:text=A%20Pooka%20is%20a%20shapeshifter,mane%20and%20luminescent%20golden%20eyes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C3%BAca  

https://britishfairies.wordpress.com/2019/12/01/the-hair-of-the-dog-fairies-dogs/

https://wizzley.com/fear-gortha-the-irish-hungry-grass/ , https://obscurban-legend.fandom.com/wiki/Hungry_Grass

https://supernatural.fandom.com/wiki/Dark_Side_of_the_Moon

[artofthemindblog]

Karin Valis on Magic and Artificial Intelligence – The Secret History of Western Esotericism Podcast (SHWEP)

A House with Many Rooms Interview 2

We are delighted to speak with Karin Valis, machine-learning engineer and esoteric explorer, on the vast subject of how the fields of artificial intelligence and magic overlap, intertwine, and inform each other. We discuss:

The uncanny oracular effects and synchronistic weirdnesses exhibited by large language models,

Conversations with ChatGPT considered as invocation,

AI as the fulfilment of the dream of the homonculus (with the attendant ethical problems which arise),

AI as the fulfilment of esoteric alphanumeric cosmologies (and maybe, like the Sepher Yetsirah, this isn’t so esoteric after all; maybe it’s just science),

And much more.

Interview Bio:

Karin Valis is a Berlin-based machine learning engineer and writer with a deep passion for everything occult and weird. Her work focuses mainly on combining technology with the esoteric, with projects such as Tarot of the Latent Spaces (visual extraction of the Major Arcana Archetypes) and Cellulare (a tool for exploring digital non-ordinary reality for the Foundation for Shamanic Studies Europe). She co-hosted workshops, talks and panel discussions such as Arana in the Feed (Uroboros 2021), Language in the Age of AI: Deciphering Voynich Manuscript (Trans-States 2022) and Remembering Our Future: Shamanism, Oracles and AI (NYU Shanghai 2022). She writes Mercurial Minutes and hosts monthly meetings of the occult and technology enthusiasts Gnostic Technology.

Works Cited in this Episode (roughly in the order cited):

The homonculus passage in the Pseudo-Clementines: Homilies 3.26; cf. Recognitions 2.9, 10, 13–15; 3.47.

On the Book of the Cow/Liber vaccæ: see e.g. Liana Saif. The Cows and the Bees: Arabic Sources and Parallels for Pseudo- Plato’s Liber Vaccæ (Kitab al-Nawams). Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, LXXIX:147, 2016.

‘The Measure of a Man’, Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 2, Episode 9, first aired 13 February, 1989.

Doctor Strange, dir. Scott Derrickson, 2016 Marvel Studios.

Recommended Reading:

Karin has a substack where she posts interesting things. Her recent essay Divine Embeddings is particularly relevant to the discussion of alphanumericism in the interview.

[tarot-tree]

My new tarot book is out!

Find it everywhere it’s available at this link. (It’s also available in print: just search ISBN 9798201381684)

Within these pages, a Kabbalistic and Numerological interpretation of the tarot deck is explored. An understanding of the symbolism within the Tree of Life enhances the interpretation of each card within a spread, and this book is meant to be a helpful, in-depth resource for ascertaining a multi-layered approach to the cards of the tarot deck. The cards can be invaluable as a "mirror for the subconscious"—a way to better understand ourselves and inner tendencies. As we explore the deck, may our relationship with ourselves become richer.

[sorrowlovingbirds]

I found the Kabbalah symbol in The Owl House S1 Episode 13 (it’s thing behind the guy with the origami in his hand), and o.o. My former Zohar obsessed self is screaming.

[dubhdove156]

Everything (אין סוף אוך), is the kinetic application of the infinite potential (אין סוף), of Nothing (אין).

[thesorcererstemple]

[dagonet]

Kaamelott, Livre II, Les Esclaves

[kabbal]

et aussi 29 pour tes blorbos de cod ^^

29 - In relief

Soap finds him in the rubble, not too far from the place he’d seen him fall. Worry made him fast, jumping down his vantage point right into the fray, even with bullets still flying in the air.

Ghost’s a smart fucker, not that anyone ever doubted it. He’s pulled himself against a piece of wall, shielding his injured side. The fall and crawl have coated him in dust, so much that he looks as pale as the name he’s chosen for himself. He points his weapon at Soap when he hears him, before his arms slackens as awareness steps in.

“Not dead yet,” he croaks. “Go back to your position or you won’t be so lucky, sergeant.”

Soap waves him off, kneeling right next to him, on the side Ghost’s trying to hide. “Gaz has me covered.” Or so he supposes. Gaz is reliable, he’ll pull it off.

Ghost most probably knows Soap’s talking out of his arse, but he lets it slide. Because of the pain or because Soap is God’s favourite soldier, that remains to be determined. Seeing how weakly he’s trying to bat away Soap’s hand, the former’s more likely.

“Lemme look, come on, ye bastard.” He pats down the dusty kit, getting his fingers almost bitten off in the process. “Oi! The quicker I assess ye, the quicker I’m gone! Don’t be a bitch when I worry about ye!”

Ghost coughs. “I’m good.”

“Could’ve fooled me.”

“I’m good. Looks nastier than it is, I swear down.”

“Why the blood, then?”

“Not mine, obviously. You should know better at this point, Johnny.”

And worst of all, the fucker might be right. Soap can’t feel any wound under his palms, and Ghost’s been talking clearer and clearer as the seconds pass. It would be exactly like Ghost, to get gunned down and walk off with only a graze. Fucking typical.

“Good. Thank god.” Soap makes a point to wipe his dusty hands on Ghost’s thigh, just to be a bitch, and he probably would have done worse if it weren’t for Ghost lifting up his mask and coughing up what seems to be a shovelful of dirt. It’s gross, and what’s even more gross is Soap’s fucked-up mind playing dirty tricks on him and pushing him towards that mouth to taste that breath for himself.

Kissing him is like sticking his tongue to a piece of drywall – his lips are torched up, hard and thinned out. Soap can taste the blood spilling out of them, a million tiny wounds under caked-up dust, opening and fluttering under his tongue.

It should say something, that there’s hurting even in their loving. That even relief tastes like iron, when they meet each other in this way.

It says so much more that Ghost opens up under him like he’s water and sky, drinking in the saliva and blood until Soap too feels dry in the mouth. They have to stop for Ghost to cough some more but then they’re at it again, dry lips upon dry lips, getting drunk on relief and adrenaline.

In the end, Ghost pushes him back. His lips are screaming red. “You’ll make it up to Gaz for making him pick up your slack, sergeant. Now go, back to your position.”

“Yes sir,” Soap says. He does almost kick the bastard as he goes.

[frenchwitchdiary]

La marelle : un jeu initiatique ?

L’autre jour en me baladant en ville, j’ai croisé un jeu de la marelle peint au sol. Je n’en avais pas vu depuis mon enfance, où j’y jouais à la cour de récré.

Et puis ce jour là, des années après, une pensée m’a frappé : est-ce que le jeu de la marelle serait en fait une référence à l’arbre des Sephiroth de la Kabbale depuis le début ⁉️

Sur ce modèle-ci, on peut diviser les différents Sephiroth en 4 parties, comme celles dans la pastille en bas sur l’image ci dessus.

L’arbre de la Kabbale peut être appréhendé sous 4 paliers : le monde de l’action (qui correspond au corps physique, malkuth/le royaume de la matière, c’est notre point de départ), le monde de la formation (qui correspond au cœur, iesod/hod/netsah), puis le monde de la création (correspondant à l’intellect, tipheret/geburah/hesed), et enfin le monde des émanations (l’âme, binah/hokmah/kether, l’ain soph aur, l’infini, l’absolu, enfin vous voyez le topo).

En cherchant d’autres « patterns » du jeu de la marelle, je suis retombé.e sur celui de mon enfance :

Et l’association de chaque case à une séphira de la kabbale se révèle encore plus évidente sur ce schéma !

Même Daat, la séphira *cachée* dans laquelle toutes les autres sphères sont unies, y a sa place.

Cependant, une des curieuses différences entre l’arbre de la kabbale et notre jeu de la marelle est l’inversion des nombres :

Kether (la couronne) est sensée être la sphère 1, celle dont a émané toutes les autres, et Malkuth, la dernière, celle où nous sommes piégés dans la matière.

La marelle nous offre au contraire Malkuth comme la case 1, car c’est notre point de départ. Il s’agit de remonter l’arbre des sephiroth en sens inverse, jusqu’à la source.

Mais au fait, d’où ça nous vient la marelle au juste ? 🤔

L’origine de ce jeu est ancienne et prends ses racines à divers endroits du globe : des traces furent retrouvées en Grande-Bretagne, en Égypte et Grèce antiques, sur le forum de Rome, jusqu’en Inde d’où elle semble prendre sa source. Elle est entre autre mentionnée dans les Dialogues de Bouddha, au Vème siècle avant J.C., et même en Chine vers 2357 avant notre ère, sous le nom de jeu du dragon.

Dans l’empire romain, on en fit un exercice militaire, afin d’entraîner les soldats au saut à cloche-pied en cas de blessure.

À l’origine, le dessin comprenait 7 cases (comme sur la première photo que j’ai partagé) et progressivement de nouvelles versions à 10 cases ont vu le jour. Je n’ai pas pu trouver d’explications ou de sources sur pourquoi le nombre de cases a évolué au fil du temps, mais les premiers écrits kabbalistiques remontent à l’an 1130, donc après l’invention de la marelle elle-même.

On pourrait alors questionner un potentiel syncrétisme entre les deux, qui expliquerait pourquoi son évolution colle si bien à la répartition des sephiroth de l’arbre de vie.

Le jeu apparaîtrait alors comme un moyen d’apprentissage hermétique, une première étape initiatique pour se familiariser avec les concepts plus profonds de la Kabbale. L’agilité physique et l’équilibre reflétant la discipline mentale nécessaire à cette remontée. La marelle nous montre aussi que le chemin ne peut se faire qu’en remontant les cases dans l’ordre : pas de raccourci possible pour réussir l’ascension, chaque case (ou sephiroth symbolique) marque une étape nécessaire.

Pour celleux qui font preuve d’attention, on peut identifier des restes d’un passé ésotérique très influent qui survivent un peu partout dans les petites choses de notre quotidien, dans ces couches subtiles qui forment le socle commun de notre culture.

Et vous, aviez-vous réalisé ce rapprochement entre les deux ? 😉

[ouroboros8ontology]

The legend of the Jew as sorcerer supreme was of Gentile making, fashioned after the latest pattern of the up-to-date thaumaturge, but like most ready-made fables it fitted the truth none too closely. For if Jews were not the malefic sorcerers that Christian animosity made them out to be, they still possessed an ancient and honorable tradition of magic which had been solicitously nourished until in the Middle Ages it reached its highest stage of development. Sheltered from Christian eyes by secrecy and the impenetrable wall of a strange tongue and an even stranger mystical vocabulary and method peculiar to itself, there flourished in Jewish circles a magic lore as extensive and potent as any known to the non-Jewish world, yet markedly different in character and technique.

Joshua Trachtenberg, Jewish Magic and Superstition: A Study in Folk Religion; The Truth Behind the Legend: Jewish Magic

[kaantt]

A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY DEAR FRIEND @kabbal

Here's my gift 🎁

Dans cette anthologie publiée en avril 2022 le théoricien Eugène Molozay, spécialiste de la légende arthurienne et de la littérature du Haut Moyen-Âge, s'intéresse à la représentation de la relation entre le roi de Bretagne Arthur Pendragon et le pirate Venec.

Dans cette anthologie il présente des textes historiques, des extraits de romans et des œuvres de fanfictions traitant de la question. Il propose également ses analyses de leur relation et de l'évolution de leur représentation dans les objets culturels et dans la tradition historiographiques.

Editions Kaanttomime - Collection TM

[secular-jew]

The Hamsa is a kabbalistic amulet and as an important symbol in Jewish art. It is difficult to pinpoint the exact time when Hamsa emerged in Jewish culture, though it is clearly a symbol of Sephardic nature. Jews might have used the Hamsa to invoke the hand of God, or to counteract the Evil Eye with the eye embedded in the palm of the hand. Some Hamsas contain images of fish, in accordance with Rabbi Yose son of Hanina’s statement in the Talmud that the descendants of Joseph, who received Jacob’s blessing of multiplying like fish in Genesis 48:16, are protected from the Evil Eye like fish. He explains: “the water covers the fish of the sea so the eye has no power over them (Berakhot 55b).”Other icons besides eyes and fish have also found their way into the Hamsa, including the Star of David, prayers for the traveler, the Shema, the blessing over the house, and the colors of red and blue, both of which are said to thwart the Evil Eye.The symbol of the hand, and often of priestly hands, appears in kabbalistic manuscripts and amulets, doubling as the letter shin, the first letter of the divine name Shaddai. This mapping of the human hand over the divine name and hand might have had the effect of creating a bridge between the worshipper and God.

[neshimah]

Mes chers frères et sœurs, voici mon message du jour.

Voici le lien : https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ydBcpHazqMI#searching

[already-14]

Anselm Kiefer: à l’origine, le livre

Shevirat Ha-Kelim (Le Bris des vases), 2011, collection Thaddaeus Ropac Paris/Salzbourg ©Anselm Kiefer, photo ©Avraham Hay .

larepubliquedelart.com

[garnetrena]

URL music game

@kabbal m'a taggé.e pour faire mon URL en chansons, ce qui risque d'être rigolo parce que mes goûts musicaux vont de Bob Marley à Within Temptation, en passant par Rebecca Sugar. Essayons donc !

Règles : Faites votre URL Tumblr en chansons (un artiste différent par lettre)

*

Gods and Monsters - Lana del Rey. Une chanson que j'associe à Viviane de Kaamelott après son bannissement

Ameno - Era . Un morceau sur lequel j'écris souvent

Radioactive - Imagine Dragons. A longtemps été ma chanson préférée !

No Woman, No Cry - Bob Marley. Quand j'ai vu que la bande-annonce de Black Panther 2 en avait utilisé un remix, j'étais refait !

Ease my Mind - Hayley Kiyoko. Par Lesbian Jesus <3

Terre du Nord - Eric Mouquet (album Thorgal). J'adore cette chanson mais personne ne la connaît !

Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) - Kate Bush. Je n'ai pas regardé Stranger Things en entier, en fait j'aimais déjà cette chanson avant et je l'associais à Holly Short dans Artemis Fowl (surtout dans le tome 8)

Everything Stays - Rebecca Sugar (Adventure Time's OST). Une chanson vraiment magnifique et qui m'émeut énormément

Never-ending Story - Within Temptation. Une chanson que j'associe à L'Histoire sans Fin, bien entendu, mais également au roman Espoir du Cerf d'Orson Scott Card.

Abraham's Daughter - Arcade Fire. Hunger Games, évidemment !

Et je tagge @blatterpussbunnyfromhell , @chonaku-things et @pingou7 ! Ne le faites que si vous en avez envie, pas de pression :)

[pierre-hector]

Révolution française, géopolitique et mystique russes.

Où l'on apprend que, tant en Orient qu'en Occident, la mondialisation est en marche avec, en haut lieu, une lutte pour un monde unipolaire d'une part et multipolaire d'autre part. Dans les deux cas, une même optique religieuse, messianique, anti-chrétienne, qui passera par le chaos et le sacrifice humain. Pierre Hillard retrace le parcours historique de la mise en place de la géopolitique mondiale (avec de nombreuses citations de sources).

‣ Chaîne Youtube « Media en 4-4-2 », « Pierre Hillard : Révolution française, géopolitique et mystique russes », pub. 4 avr. 2024, (sans espace) https: // www . youtube . com / watch ? v=jPSNCf7Px10 (cons. 6 avr. 2024).