From tyagi@bjt.net Mon Dec 30 07:51:03 1996 Return-Path: tyagi@bjt.net Received: from kudonet.com (kudonet.com [165.227.52.1]) by bitsy.hollyfeld.org (8.7.4/8.7.3) with SMTP id HAA04531 for ; Mon, 30 Dec 1996 07:50:59 -0500 Received: from kudo20.kudonet.com by kudonet.com (SMI-8.6/SMI-SVR4) id DAA18237; Mon, 30 Dec 1996 03:34:23 -0800 Received: by kudo20.kudonet.com (SMI-8.6/SMI-SVR4) id DAA27886; Mon, 30 Dec 1996 03:26:01 -0800 Date: Mon, 30 Dec 1996 03:26:01 -0800 Message-Id: <199612301126.DAA27886@kudo20.kudonet.com> To: tyagi@hollyfeld.org Subject: Magick/9612.lbrpjew.rr From: tyagi@houseofkaos.abyss.com (nagasiva) Reply-To: tyagi@houseofkaos.abyss.com (nagasiva) X-Status: Status: O >Path: kudonet.com!news.scruz.net!noos.hooked.net!www.nntp.primenet.com!nntp.primenet.com!newspump.sol.net!newsfeeds.sol.net!mr.net!news.mid.net!news.cjnetworks.com!topeka!lilitu >From: lilitu@cjnetworks.com (Renee Rosen ) >Newsgroups: alt.magick,alt.magick.tyagi >Subject: Re: LBRP Origins >Date: 29 Dec 1996 23:05:56 GMT >Organization: Capital Journal Networks >Lines: 110 >Message-ID: <5a6tgk$ava@topeka.cjnetworks.com> >References: <32BA3EF6.62CA@lan2wan.com> <5a0ho9$9sj@news2.cais.com> <5a2dbh$of1@topeka.cjnetworks.com> <32c5e17f.1763257@nntp.ix.netcom.com> <32C68582.7072@flash.net> >NNTP-Posting-Host: topeka.cjnetworks.com >X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2] >Xref: kudonet.com alt.magick:77830 alt.magick.tyagi:8610 Bob \"Ravenwren\ (bjankusk@flash.net) wrote: : A.Pe.S. wrote: : > : > lilitu@cjnetworks.com (Renee Rosen ) wrote: : > >Although the oldest known is from Babylonia, the version that the GD most : > >probably borrowed it from is the Jewish prayer, the Shema (I *think* it's : > >the evening Shema--Rabbi would know, if he's reading this). It's almost : > >the same as the LBRP formula, except the angels are in a different order, : > >which I don't remember off the top of my head. : > : > I saw someone once post a piece of the Shema. It did not seem to : > resemble the LBPR very much. Does anyone have the whole thing to post : > (or at least the fragment that is supposed to resemble the LBRP)? It's only in one version of the Shema--like I said, it's the night one, I think. Unfortunately, the only Jewish prayer book I have is a Reform one, and it's at my parents' house. (It didn't have the version I was looking for anyway.) Michael Dinowitz (aka Rabbi) found it for me, but I don't remember which one it was. The prayer is listed in the Kabbalah FAQ which is online--I don't have the URL handy, but it's easy to find on the web. Even though I don't have the exact quote from the prayer, I do have a reference to it in _Jewish Magic and Superstition: A Study in Folk Religion_ by Joshua Trachtenberg, which is one of the standard books on the subject. Here's a section on how Jews would protect themselves from demons: However the provident man fortified himself with one or another of the many petitions especially composed for such needs--prayers which besought protection against demons, illness, magic, the evil eye, the whole catalogue of perils that beset the superstitious-- prayers that concentrated on only one of these dangers, or, more often, lashed out against all of them together, in long-winded, iterative suplication. The Kabbalists, towards the close of the period, were especially proflific of such prayers. Already in the pages of the Talmud we read that "the demons keep away from everyone who recites the Shema' before retiring." There grew up an increasingly elaborate scheme of prayer around this nocturnal recitation of the Shema' to reinforce its protective powers, and coupled with straightforward pleas for deliverance from "the terrors that threaten by night" were potent Biblical verses and Psalms, magic names, appeals to the angels, three- and sevenfold repetitions, prayers with obscure mystical connotations, etc. There was no attempt to disguise the purpose of this prayer-service; it was frankly admitted time and again that "it exists only because of the demons. This night-prayer offers an interesting illustration of the tenacity of magical and superstitious forms. One of its constituents invoke the protection of the angels: "at my right Michael, at my left Gabriel, before me Uriel, behind me Raphael." This is nothing more than a Jewish version of the ancient Babylonian incantation, "Shamash before me, behind me Sin, Nergal at my right, Ninib at my left," or "May the good Shedu go at my right, the good Lamassu [note from Renee: the ss's have the upside-down karet thing above them that I can't do in ascii--like ^ upside-down--pronounced like "sh"] at my left," etc. And across millenia and continents Ireland provides us with a dogerrel Catholic version: O! Holy Mary, mother mild. Look down on me, a little child, And when I sleep put near my bed The good Saint Joseph at my head, My guardian angel at my right To keep me good through all the night; Saint Brigid give me blessings sweet; Saint Patrick watch beside my feet; Be good to me O! mother mild, Because I am a little child. [from _Jewish Magic and Supersition_ by Trachtenberg, p. 156] The end note in the book lists many sources, too many to type out here. It even comments that the literature on the uses of the Keriat Shema' are extensive, too extensive to list there. I'd recommend if you're seriously interested in pursuing it to check out Trachtenberg and look through the other sources. : > : > The Babylonian influence seems more likely, from what I have seen. : > Corrections (with references, of course) are always welcome. Is this enough of a reference? *grin* Even if it *weren't* in the Shema' (and, as I've said before, it's only in one version of the Shema', the evening version), it has been used in Jewish folk magick between the time of the Babylonians and modern times--it's on at least 2 of the Babylonian demon bowls. "Incantation for Marutha d. of Duda, to be protected by four angels on all sides," which is Bowl 22 in Naveh and Shaked's _Magic Spells and Formulae: Aramaic Incantations of Late Antiquity_ (the second volume of transcribed and translated incantation/demon bowls, amulets, etc., from around the time of Christ), contains this formula: On her right hand is Harbi'el, on her left hand is Michael, in front of her is Susi'el, and [abo]ve her is the Shekhina of God and behind her is the word of Qaddish'el. . . . [page 131] : You can find the whole thing, as much as I know is there in MODERN : MAGICK ELEVEN LESSONS IN THE HIGH MAGICKAL ARTS By Donald Michael : Kraig. : Let me know if you don't have access to that book and I will e-mail : and/or post it for you. While the LBRP is definitely in Modern Magick, I don't remember the Shema being in there. I have a copy of that book, though, and if you give me the page number, I will look it up. --'--,-{@ --,--'-{@ --'--,-{@ Renee Rosen "Das Leben beginnt lilitu@cjnetworks.com und das Leben endet. Goddess in Training Die Energie geht weiter, Astrud and Astrudel on irc wohin man sich auch wendet." http://www.cjnetworks.com/~lilitu --Nina Hagen @}-,--'-- @}-'--,-- @}-,--'--