AN ALCHEMY OF ALPHABETS - INCLUDING HEBREW, RUNES & OGHAM This a book about ...

321 Pages·2016·28.71 MB·English

AN ALCHEMY OF ALPHABETS - INCLUDING HEBREW, RUNES & OGHAM

This a book about several magical alphabets including ancient Hebrew,
Germanic Runes, and Celtic Oghams also known as the Celtic Tree Oracle. My
interest is in why specific symbols were chosen to represent the letters of these
alphabets. Why, for instance, was an Ox (Aleph) chosen as first Hebrew letter
while ancient Celts chose a Birch tree? Why does Mercury, the youngest (and
oldest) of Greek gods, initiate a pack of Tarot cards promising enlightenment
while an androgynous Vulture leads an Egyptian alphabet? And why does a fey
Bull (Fe) promise money as the first rune?
The choice of ancient alphabet symbols lies in a pattern inherited by
numerous traditions: They include the alchemy of turning a dark earth to gold, a
black night into a shining new day. Unlike other scholars of early alphabets, I
found the choice of symbols was never arbitrary. Comparison of mythic attributes
of a number of alphabet and divination traditions reveals the commonality of a
widespread numerical placement of symbols. Number truly underlies everything.
Once the alphabet was invented and transmitted, simple people used the
new technology to record business transactions. The deeper reason for the
ordering of objects in ancient alphabets was forgotten. The secrets underlying the
symbols, the number magic, was passed on only to a few. As the alphabet
spread widely throughout the ancient world, Mystery Traditions followed along.
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For the wise, travel through the unfolding Spell of letters promised the initiate the
wealth of the material world as well as an enlightened return from the dark.

"Heaven rained down ripe grain the day that (letters) were first invented." (H. N.
Humphreys, Origin and Progress of the Art of Writing, 1853)

The choice of each alphabet letter was determined by its numerical
placement in the series. The pattern was faithfully followed by many later
alphabets and divination traditions. I juxtapose traditional sayings, poems, and
stories from the various cultures to show they are using the same number magic,
though not necessarily toward the same ends. Our oldest alphabet, patterned
upon the seasons of Earth mirrored by her reflection in the Sky, contain the
promise of resurrection empowering what became later heresy. "I am a son of
Earth and starry Heaven." (Orphic tradition promising a return into the circle)
Closely related in time and space, our oldest alphabet Phoenician c. 1050
BCE, is ancient Hebrew. Preceding Judaism’s One God, it shares the memory of
the world being created through the correct use of the alphabet. Using
Hebrew/Phoenician as the original template, each letter has a number of themes
specific to the number of each symbol. There seem to be three families of letters:
the world of Earth, the Underworld, and the Heavens.
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PART ONE
Part One introduces several ancient alphabets and traditions associated
with divination and magic. I compared them to unravel stories of resurrection
hiding among our letters. My interest is on how peoples remember the origins of
writing rather than its linear history. I include original quotes from a number of
ancient texts describing qualities attributed to each symbol.
Introduction p. 7
1. Alphabet Calendars as Rosaries p. 13
2. Astronomy & Calendars p. 18
3. Anatolian, Mesopotamian, Egyptian, & Early Semitic Scripts p. 27
Anatolia (Catal Huyuk c. 7500-57000 BCE, Vinca c. 5500-45000 BCE)
Proto-Sinaitic/Phoenician (c. 1800 BCE)
4. The 24 Hieroglyphic Alphabet p. 37
5. Phoenician (c. 1050 BCE) p. 45
6. Hebrew, Kabbalah, & Various Western Traditions p. 50
Kabbalah (c. 200 CE)
Tarot (c. 1300 CE)
Alchemy - Six Keys of Eudoxus, (c. 350 BCE)
Misc. traditions including palmistry and Mother Goose
7. Celtic Ogham (c. 300 CE) p. 57
Lists Of Ogham Series: Tree, Bird, Assistant, Fort, & Water (Lin)
Comparison of Phoenician and Milesian Scripts
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8. Germanic Runes (c. 150 CE) p. 67
9. India's Brahmi (c. 200 BCE), Sanskrit, & Chakras; Japan's Hiragana p. 74
10. China. p. 81
I-Ching and the Tao Te Ching
11. Transition Between Part I And Part II p. 88

PART TWO
FIRST EIGHT LETTERS - THE WORLD OF EARTH
The first family describes the natural year: an undivided earth splitting apart,
being purified and plowed, planted, delivery through the delta of the 4th position,
a sharing of the harvest, and finally a dying back before rising through the gate
(Heth/gate) of the eighth letter.
1. Aleph (Ox) - A Guide At The Gateway p. 89
2. Beth (House) - Adolescence & The Purification of the Virgin Spring p. 106
3. Gimel (Camel or Rope) - Impregnation & The Bonds Of Time p. 126
4. Daleth (Door) - Deliverance From Knots & Bonds p. 142
5. Heh (Aspirate H or Window) - Teachings, Pupils, & A Gift Of Tongues p. 154
6. Vau (Hook/Nail) - Marriage of Heaven and Earth & The Throne of God p. 171
7. Zain (Weapon) - Floods, Apocalypses, & Pregnant Pauses p. 180
8. Heth (Gate) - Happy Gate of Heaven p. 192
NEXT EIGHT LETTERS - THE UNDERWORLD p. 203
These letters guide the hero's journey through the Underworld. It begins with
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9th letter, the labyrinth of Teth (translated coil or clew as ball of yarn) and
continues through judgments and death, hanging upside down until finally the
serpent-fish of the 14rh letter (nun) travels safely over the waters of death of
Letter 13 (Mem/water). After growing stronger, he once emerged into the light of
day through the opening eye of the sun (Ain/16th letter).
9. Teth (Coil or Ball of String) - Entering The Labyrinth p. 205
10. Yod (Hand) - Judgments Of Fate p. 216
11. Kaph (Palm of hand) - Visionaries And Payment Of Debts p. 225
12. Lamed (Ox goad) - Upside Down Teacher & L's Name of God p. 234
13. Mem (Water) - Breaking Waters & The Deluge p. 241
14. Nun (Serpent-fish) - Return Of A Messiah & Allotment Of Fortune p. 249
15. Samekh (Prop or Fish) - Devas, Devils & Protection p. 258
16. Ain (Eye) - Opening Eye Of The Sun p. 266

Egyptian Eye of the Sun with emerging
serpent spitting 16 charms
LAST EIGHT LETTERS - THE HEAVENS
The last section hints at astronomical cycles, beginning with control of the
North Star: Pi as 17th Greek letter, Pe (command), 17th Hebrew. The Star is 17th
card of a Tarot deck.
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17. Pe (Command or Mouth) - Pi's Control Of The Circle p. 275
18. Tsade (Fishhook or Hunt) - Tsadiks, Moons & Midwives p. 284
19. Qoph (Monkey) - The Number Of The Sun p. 288
20. Rosh (Head) -New Year After Sun/Moon/Mercury 19 Year Cycles p. 293
21. Shin (Tooth) - A Triangular Number Of A Potent Moon God (Sin) p. 295
22. Tau (Mark) - A Return from Death p. 298
FIRST & LAST LETTERS - A REVIEW p. 300

APPENDIX OF DIVINATION PATTERNS & CELESTIAL CYCLES p. 306
MOTHER GOOSE-BLACKBIRD DIVINATION
PALMISTRY - FIVE FINGERS
I-CHING TRIGRAMS- EARLY HEAVEN SEQUENCE
EMPEROR OF CHINA'S TWELVE SYMBOLS
CHINESE ZODIAC
CALENDAR CYCLES
TWELVE SIGNS OF THE WESTERN ZODIAC
BIBLIOGRAPHY P. 318
I have included a number of j-peg images to illustrate the stories. They are either
common domain or I have received permission for their use. Tarot from Rider-
Waite Tarot Deck reproduced by permission of U.S. Games Systems, Inc,
Stamford, CT 06902 USA Copyright 1971 by US Games Systems, Inc.
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PART ONE

Our alphabet, the ABC's we learn almost as soon as we chant Pat-a-cake,
may have begun life as a calendar for celebrating rituals: a star-guided
mnemonic for the timing of seasonal chants. There remains a memory trickling
down from this long ago world that by following the correct order provided by our
alphabet, the proper sequence of the 'Spell' would renew both Earth and the
fragile butterfly souls of her children. Charms spelling out this promise hold
Earth's gift of life, her secrets of spinning new gold from worn straw if we can but
remember their names.
Early alphabets used pictures to represent sounds: An ox head (Aleph) as
letter A, for instance. I began wondering why creators of ancient alphabets chose
their particular symbols to represent the orderly letters of our ABC's. Investigating
physical and mythological qualities associated with each symbol, I uncovered a
story. Before embarking on our journey through the alphabet, I must describe
several traditions I compared to unearth this wide spread Mystery.
A picture is not confined to a single language. Each user can pronounce
the word according to his language. Our numerals, for instance, are pictograms.
Seeing the shape '3', we might say three, but a Frenchman would say 'trois'. The
shape gives no hint of the sound, but if we write 't-h-r-e-e' we pronounce three.
True writing is a way of visualizing speech: Sound represented by symbol. The
magic of oral enchantments eventually evolved into the spells of writing.
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Objects becoming our letters described a 'Spell' long before they began to
write linear history. Our earliest alphabets recall verses sung for the creation and
re-creation of each New Year. Although my journey is about the discovery of a
path there are few literal paths to follow, only numerous clues derived from
seemingly unrelated stories. They include Mother Goose rhymes and carefully
guarded recipes for gold, magic, bread, and vinegar, which begin like all Earth's
magic with a Mother.
Originally enchantment, letters were eventually engraved or inscribed:
"Writing … like incantation had magic power. The transference of this power
from the chanted word into the written word represents the second stage."1
Enchantments maturing with the magic of Time eventually evolved into proper
Spells.
This is a book of measurements and calendars couched as myth and
magic. I tease apart secrets of ancient sky-watchers marking the changing
seasons passing over earth and sky. Recognizing as above, so below,
observations led to measurements. Becoming more complicated, our ancestors
needed a way to record their calendars. I believe these calendars were encoded
into our alphabet and at its root, the order of our letters hide this spell. That is,
objects chosen to represent ancient letters were determined by their position in
the series: first, second, third, etc. A number magic underlies the revolving
Creation associated with the alphabet. Proper spelling mandates letters follow a

1 Maurice Boisson, Magic, E.P. Dutton, 1961, p. 99.
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proper order. Adepts of Mystery traditions have long recognized the relationships
between their various practices.

“Human society, the world, and the whole of mankind is to be found in the
alphabet. Freemasonry, astronomy, philosophy, all the sciences find their true,
albeit imperceptible, beginnings there: and so it must be. The alphabet is a
wellspring.” (Victor Hugo, 1839)2

This is not a history of writing in the usual sense: a linear story of the
transformation of speech into symbols to record that speech. I am more
interested in why the symbols themselves were chosen. I found that there is
wisdom and reasoning behind the choice of objects representing early letters.
Evolving story rather than random selection mandated choice of symbol in each
position.
I researched several early traditions and compared their symbols. I offer
quotes from sources of such diverse people as alchemists giving obscure
instructions for turning dross to gold and a god creating a glowing world out of
darkness in six days. I include the orderly attributes of gods manifesting as the
fingers of the hand and of gods regulating the days and months of our calendars.
These comparisons helped me uncover the stories hidden in each position.

2 Quoted, George Jeans, Writing, Abrams, 1997, p. 195.
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At some point in time, a poetic genius ordered random symbols into a
pattern. Order is important to our story: it is ABC rather than ZBD. In creating or
adapting early alphabets, I found two things were considered. First, the symbol
must represent a sound in the language: A is for Apple. But our first A is not for
'apple' rather it was for an (androgynous) ox as Aleph. As we shall explore, cows
and sky bulls are associated with the gift of writing in many traditions. The
second consideration is that symbols represent attributes determined by its order
of appearance, by its number in the series. I will describe these qualities letter by
letter in the second part of the book. First and last letters reflecting each other,
the last symbol revolves back to the first
Many early adaptors of the alphabet chose from their own hoard of
symbols to represent the sounds of their languages but they followed a common
pattern. The traditions I compare appear in an unvarying order. The order and
symbols of our alphabet were not chosen by chance; the order of a properly
'spelled' charm was never arbitrary. Early writing was too special, too sacred, for
symbols to be carelessly determined.
"God drew the Hebrew letters, hewed them, combined them, weighed
them, interchanged them, and through them produced the whole Creation."
(Sefer Yesirah, c. 500 CE)3 Discussed later, Hebrew remembers a tradition that
God created the alphabet (A-T) before creating Heaven & Earth (Genesis I).

3 Gershom Scholem, Origins of the Kabbalah, Princeton, 1990, pp. 24-29.