This was a very convenient but non-durable method of recording information. Hieroglyphics, as you likely know, are small pictograms from Egypt that were painted on sheets of papyrus paper with simple paints. It was an incredibly cumbersome, yet durable method of recording information. Cuneiform is a wedge-shaped lettering from Mesopotamia that was impressed into wet clay tablets and then baked after the manner of bricks. The oldest forms of written communication on our planet are called Cuneiform (Kew-nay-ih-form) and Hieroglyphics (Hi-row-glif-iks). The only letter that had refrained from urging its claims was the modest Aleph, and God rewarded it later for its humility by giving it the first place in the Decalogue. He said, “ Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” And He created His world through Beth, as it is said, “ Berashith (In the Beginning) God created the Heaven and the Earth.” Amen, and Amen.'” The Holy One, blessed be He, at once granted the petition of Beth. They stood round about God, and one after the other spake and entreated, “Create the world through me!”Īfter the claims of all the letters had been disposed of, Beth stepped before the Holy One, blessed be He, and pleaded before Him: “O Lord of the world! May it be Thy will to create Thy world through me, seeing that all the dwellers of the world give praise daily unto Thee through me, as it is said, ' Blessed be the Lord forever. When God was about to create the world by His word, the twenty two letters of the alphabet descended from the terrible and august crown of God whereon they were engraved with a pen of flaming fire. (Western occultism would not challenge this assumption until John Dee received his Angelic Language in 1583.) By the time of the Middle Ages, Hebrew was understood to be the true language of the Angels. (Both Judaic and Christian.) Once established as a sacred language, the letters earned even further correspondences and interpretations- many of which we will cover below. This, combined with the fact that the Old Testament was written in Hebrew, made the Semitic language the choice par excellence for Medieval and Renaissance mysticism. Hebrew also enjoyed the honored status of "dead language" for thousands of years- including the time during which the Western Hermetic traditions were born. Each letter encompasses hieroglyphic, phonetic, and numerical values. As we shall see, the Hebrew alphabet was the first true alphabet among humankind. If the student questions why we should bother with Hebrew as a "sacred language", it is my hope to fully answer the question in this lesson. However, you will be working extensively with the letters of the alphabet (or Aleph-Beth), and certain words and phrases in Hebrew will become as familiar to you as any word in your native tongue. This does not mean it is necessary to speak or read fluent Hebrew. In order to understand the Western Hermetic tradition, it will be necessary to understand the use of Biblical Hebrew as a mystical language. Return to Aaron's Homepage Introduction to the Hebrew Alphabet
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