"Khabs am Pekht" in Sepher Sephiroth
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Yes, 300 was important before Crowley put it in the book.
RVCh ELHIM = Ruach Elohim = The Spirit of God
Sh = the letter Shin -
@Gnosomai Emauton said
"Yes, 300 was important before Crowley put it in the book.
RVCh ELHIM = Ruach Elohim = The Spirit of God
Sh = the letter Shin"Well, sure, but I should have specified "important in a way which pertains to 'Khabs am Pekht' directly". Is there any citation that either of those was linked to KaP by the Golden Dawn?
I can't find a reference to KaP being connected with the number 300, Shin, or Ruach Elohim (in addition to the magick of Google, I just looked at every indexed page under K.a.P. in Regardie's The Golden Dawn).
(Edit to add) If anything, I would have imagined trying to match it to the (Greek isopsephy) value of Konx Om Pax.
Cheers,
--Shawn -
I'm going to write this discretely, with respect to those who haven't passed through certain ceremonies.
In crossing the Path of Shin, 300, there is a certain symbol that the candidate bears. The geometry of that symbol is terribly important and, in particular, is emulated by the key officers' gestures at the moment, in the first initiation, when something happens that is immediately followed/confirmed by KaP.
Does that help?
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It does. Thank you, Jim.
The question remains, though, does anyone know of a "correct" grammatical meaning of BPAHH (בפאהה) in Hebrew which would validate the Sepher Sephiroth entry?
Because if 300 was a "desired" value, then (in the absence of evidence from Jastrow, Strong, Gesenius, or a fair amount of googling, even in old rabbinical texts) it looks like Crowley simply made it up to sound close to "pekht" yet still have the value 300.
I suppose it could be a typo for בהפאה where the "extra" H moves to the front of the word to make it "light in the corner", but it's ungrammatical to use both a b' and a ha- prefix on a word at the same time (not that that would stop a kabbalist).
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I'll have to dig through things - some of which are boxed and stored. Might or might not remember to get back to this thread now that the 'new' tag is gone from this post, so feel free to bump it about Saturday.
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Thanks, Hermitas. I do have Gesenius in my list (the Tyndale Archive one is indeed handy).
I suppose "blow, scatter" is promising (light "scattered around", maybe), but the B' would still be problematic, then, as I don't think that goes right on a participle. Ahh, Crowley.
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@sk4p said
"Well, sure, but I should have specified "important in a way which pertains to 'Khabs am Pekht' directly". Is there any citation that either of those was linked to KaP by the Golden Dawn? "
The reason I highlighted those two is that RVCh ELHIM is the name of God that moved upon the waters, that breathed life into creation, etc, etc. It is, thus, the particular divine name associated with extending the Light into creation. I would guess that it's for that reason (along with it's interrelationship with Shin) that 300 was a desirable value for the magical words announcing that event.
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No, that entirely makes sense. I've just been trying to get citations where possible for "doubtful" entries, so I was hoping for something where some GD knowledge lecture or grade ritual drew a clear tie, like "And here as we initiate you into the path of Shin, the password is Khabs Am Pekht" or something similar.
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But those are secret.
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OK, I found a few moments to look at this...
First, in terms of provenance: There is a very great likelihood that this originated in Allen Bennett's notebooks. A lot of obscure references came straight from there, and this is the sort of thing that he would have worked on. I'm guessing, of course; but I think it's pretty likely.
Now, on the issue of, "What in the world does it mean?"
First try out of the gate: The Hebrew root PAH means to divide, "cleave into pieces," etc. The addition of a Hé at the end is a common enough construction," and the meaning would be "Light in Dividedness" - exactly the meaning intended!
I think there is a good chance that this is what they intended (it seems to be what it means) and that Bennett worked it out (or AC workshopping with Bennett). Either they found it in some old Hebrew reference (Bennett was constantly digging through such things) or one of the composed it to ensure that the phrase came to 300 - the number and idea deeply connected with Khabs am Pekht etc.
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@Jim Eshelman said
"The addition of a Hé at the end is a common enough construction," and the meaning would be "Light in Dividedness" - exactly the meaning intended!"
I found several sources which say that an affixed He is a directional marker, and it can be used with the prefix b', which then becomes effectively "into" instead of just "in" so perhaps that explains it: b'-pa'ah-ah "into division, into dividedness".
All righty. I think I'm satisfied. Thank you (both) for the input!