The Order of Melchizedek
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93,
Melchizedek is so elusive a character that it's easy to project onto him anything you want, and build up your doctrines from there. His greeting Abram in Genesis 14:18 is seen by Christians, including Christian Cabalists, as prefiguring Jesus' instituting what's now called Holy Communion, at the Last Supper. Mormons have a Melchizedek Order of Priesthood to which, essentially, all adult men in the church belong, and which supposedly confers certain powers of healing and prophecy. And so on.
This "construct your own prophet" tendency even seems to underlie the passage in Hebrews 7 where Paul (or whoever actually wrote that epistle) speaks of Melchizedek as "without father or mother or genealogy, and has neither beginning of days nor end of life." Some people take this as a licence to say he was an extraterrestrial, rather than embodying a spiritual principle.
I personally put him as a manifestation or embodiment of Chesed, but then I don't have much faith in ETs. I don't think one particular human being can be said to be the founder of the One True Order.
Judaism isn't a 'rip-off' of anything. Like all religions, it was heavily influenced by everything else around. It was only in the past couple of hundred years that syncretistic teachings (such as those of Thelema) began to be organized systematically, rather than simply arising from the pressures and conditions, both inner and outer, that affected the people who developed the faiths that evolved in response.
The idea of 'copyright' didn't exist three thousand years ago.
93 93/93,
EM
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@Edward Mason said
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I personally put him as a manifestation or embodiment of Chesed, but then I don't have much faith in ETs. I don't think one particular human being can be said to be the founder of the One True Order."I have to apologize... I didn't mean para-human but praeter-human.
Edward, I have a question... you are saying that one human can't be the founder of the One True Order, but what about a praeter-human... not in the sense of an "alien", but an entity beyond this physical plane?
I am not sure if one entity is the "founder" but something more like a "caretaker"
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Metzareph, 93
Caretaker? Yes, I could see that. I just see "the" Order as having its origins in a point or space or plane beyond human action. I don't think any one specific entity caused a bunch of people to get together and say, "Hey, let's do, like, a ceremony to the Cosmic Thing!"
Gareth Knight has, or had, a strong interest in Melchizedek - ditto William Gray at one point. As a Warden of "the" Order, and maybe the inspiration of specific group serving that Order, I think the imagery and concepts around Melchizedek could work well for parts of the Mysteries. Though how he would fit into a New Aeon perspective is harder to see.
93 93/93,
EM -
"Though how he would fit into a New Aeon perspective is harder to see. "
You mean that Melkizedek would be irrelevant in the New Aeon? I'm not sure. If any, an entity like Him would be instrumental in moving humanity into the New Aeon... right?
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@Metzareph said
"an entity like Him would be instrumental in moving humanity into the New Aeon... right?"
I would think so too. The name in hebrew is MLKITzDQ. MLKI shares the same root as MLAK which roughly translates to 'My Angel' or 'My Messenger' & TzDQ is the root of TzDIQ which means 'Righteous One'. TzDIQ is used to denote a Partzuf or 'embodiment' of Yesod. In The Lesser Holy Assembly of the Zohar, Yesod is likened to the Upright Phallus of the Lord. If a broad enough interpreataion is allowed for, MLKITzDQ might just as well be read as 'My Angel(MLAK), My Dwarf Self(TzDIQ)'.
616
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@KRVB MMShCh said
"I would think so too. The name in hebrew is MLKITzDQ. MLKI shares the same root as MLAK which roughly translates to 'My Angel' or 'My Messenger' & TzDQ is the root of TzDIQ which means 'Righteous One'. TzDIQ is used to denote a Partzuf or 'embodiment' of Yesod. In The Lesser Holy Assembly of the Zohar, Yesod is likened to the Upright Phallus of the Lord. If a broad enough interpreataion is allowed for, MLKITzDQ might just as well be read as 'My Angel(MLAK), My Dwarf Self(TzDIQ)'.
616"
Thanks for the gematria!
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For some reason, I've always "pictured" the Hermit of the Tarot to be essentially an image of Melchizedek.
The corresponding path for the Hermit (Yod) bridges Chesed and Tiphareth. Chesed was mentioned above, and the fact that Jupiter is TzDQ also strengthens the connection with this "priest-king." Tiphareth is the solar center of the Tree... what better place to have this prototypical "Secret Chief" linked into?
But for the New Aeon? Liber AL II:24 seems to revalue the concept of "Hermit" in a way that I think is also very consistent with this connection between Chesed and Tiphareth ("Love one another with burning hearts!"). But it does seem to evolve away from what is known about Melchizidek from the Bible...
Steve
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@Steven Cranmer said
"But it does seem to evolve away from what is known about Melchizidek from the Bible..."
...but so little is known about him - & where he is mentioned his attributes indeed appear to be praeter human. In Genesis 14 he is referenced as being an Initiator & in Hebrews 7 he is stated as being "without father or mother or genealogy" - this certainly, to me, sounds like an Initiate of the Great White Brotherhood.
616
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@KRVB MMShCh said
"MLKI shares the same root as MLAK which roughly translates to 'My Angel' or 'My Messenger'"
MLK, melekh, "king," comes from the identically spelled trilteral root MLK, pronounced malakh, and meaning, "to reign." In contrast, MLAK, mal'akh, meaning "messenger" or "angel" ("angel" is just the Greek word for "messenger"), comes from the root LAK, "to depute, a minister or servant, etc.," - LAK is actualy an Arabic root unused as a stand-alone in Hebrew. (The word MLAK is M-LAK, "of or from deputation," more or less.)
I know the sound similarity is attractive as a bassis of comparison, and I'm not saying relationships shouldn't be postualted - I'm only addressing your statement that they come from the same root.
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@Jim Eshelman said
"I'm not saying relationships shouldn't be postualted - I'm only addressing your statement that they come from the same root."
Thanks for the clarification Jim...etymology is not exactly my forte.
616
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Well, you have to have the right references
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@Jim Eshelman said
"the right references"
I presume you mean books ... or perhaps you have a goetic servitor that tells you these things?
Actually, Strong's Bible Concordance, available at numerous addresses on the internet, is a great reference.
cf.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H04442&t=kjv -
@gmugmble said
"Actually, Strong's Bible Concordance, available at numerous addresses on the internet, is a great reference."
This is a bit off subject, but your mention of Strong's Concordance has me thinking. To your knowledge, has anyone ever put together a Class A Concordance? Cross-referencing the Holy Books is a task I have been at for some time now - & a concordance would save a great deal of my time...if not, maybe that's what I should be doing!
616
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@gmugmble said
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@Jim Eshelman said
"the right references"I presume you mean books ... or perhaps you have a goetic servitor that tells you these things?
"Either is acceptable
But yes, I meant books. Strong's is good as far as it goes, but isn't so hot for Heew etymology.
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@KRVB MMShCh said
"This is a bit off subject, but your mention of Strong's Concordance has me thinking. To your knowledge, has anyone ever put together a Class A Concordance? Cross-referencing the Holy Books is a task I have been at for some time now - & a concordance would save a great deal of my time...if not, maybe that's what I should be doing!
"I did one i nthe early '80s. Had a single print-out of itr. Left the job where I did the work, didn't keep a copy, lost the paper copy.
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Is there a program that will search multiple libri for a single reference?
616
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@KRVB MMShCh said
"Is there a program that will search multiple libri for a single reference?"
I don't know of any - except that I have most of them in Microsoft Word files on my computer and can just use that program's Find feature.
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I think you might find a lot of reference to this in Rituals of freemasonry.
( Especially the York Rite...from the roots, right to the answer to your question).This is from a speculative point of view, and is based on old testament allegory/ symbolism, as well as the "Sumerian" roots:-)
I do like Jim's qabalistic approach as well.
93 93/93.'.
Shachdar
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@KRVB MMShCh said
"To your knowledge, has anyone ever put together a Class A Concordance?"
In my far-off youth I compiled a concordance of CCXX and mailed a copy to some Thelemites I was corresponding with at the time. (The only ones I had managed to find, and the only ones I encountered for decades -- they were in Florida and I was in Kentucky). They said they had no idea what it might be used for.
Sadly, I no longer have it. Even more sadly, I no longer have the very fine edition of CCXX that I used. I have no idea what happened to either of them.