From thelema93-l-owner@bitsy.hollyfeld.org Wed Dec 6 17:21:32 1995 Received: from nova.unix.portal.com (nova.unix.portal.com [156.151.1.101]) by jobe.shell.portal.com (8.6.11/8.6.5) with ESMTP id RAA16602 for ; Wed, 6 Dec 1995 17:21:31 -0800 Received: from bitsy.hollyfeld.org ([198.70.189.30]) by nova.unix.portal.com (8.6.11/8.6.5) with ESMTP id RAA05632 for ; Wed, 6 Dec 1995 17:21:27 -0800 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by bitsy.hollyfeld.org (8.6.12/8.6.9) id TAA10924 for thelema93-l-outgoing; Wed, 6 Dec 1995 19:49:59 -0500 Received: from bcfreenet.seflin.lib.fl.us (bcfreenet.seflin.lib.fl.us [198.78.48.20]) by bitsy.hollyfeld.org (8.6.12/8.6.9) with ESMTP id TAA10920 for ; Wed, 6 Dec 1995 19:49:52 -0500 Received: (from f901030k@localhost) by bcfreenet.seflin.lib.fl.us (8.6.12/8.6.12) id TAA22769; Wed, 6 Dec 1995 19:48:51 -0500 Date: Wed, 6 Dec 1995 19:48:51 -0500 (EST) From: Jeffrey Smith Subject: Re: Abrahadabra To: thelema93-l@bitsy.hollyfeld.org In-Reply-To: <199512062232.OAA22719@jobe.shell.portal.com> Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-thelema93-l@HOLLYFELD.ORG Precedence: bulk reply-to: thelema93-l@bitsy.hollyfeld.org Status: RO Zack, could you provide the exact reference in Kaplan? A cursory, and very tired, search did not pick it up. [I work for a department store. Scrooge had a point.] "Abracadabra" could involve the words for create and speech, although I would reverse the order you cite from Kaplan. BaRA means create, DiBaR means speak; put in the first person, it could mean something like "As I create, so I speak" or "I create according to my words". Ke (Coph-yod, gematria 30) means like, according to, etc, and is the particle which lies at the base of the syllable -ca- in abracadabra. Abrahadabra replaces this with Heh--which, besides its various duties as an independent letter, also serves as the definite article ("the"). It replaces similarity with identity. ["What I create is what I speak".] The mage who speaks abrahadabra is implying greater power in his acts. The difference is between someone who says, "I will write a book"--and then writes it; and someone who says "I write a book"--and by the act of speaking that sentence, brings the book itself into being. Much more divine, and much more like the actual meaning of BaRA, which is reserved from Divine Creation. [Human acts of creation are normally referred to by the word YoTZeR, which is usually translated formation. An artist yotzers his artwork, but God barahs the Universe.] BTW, with a change of vowels, BRA means "to cut down a tree or trees". I am too tired to apply that to the Tree of Life, but you are welcome to. And DBR is the root of a complex of words meaning speech, word, and thing--recalling the idea that Divine Speech is the source of existence for each individual thing, and the whole series of ideas which revolve around Platonic Ideas and the Logos. Which I am definitely too tired to follow up on tonight. May the Divine Compassion be upon you and upon us all. Jeffrey Smith f901030k@bcfreenet.seflin.lib.fl.us Political correctness is the antithesis of artistic enquiry. ---I. Stern