Barbelo the Shekina

Once again I find myself looking upward towards the great expanse as Levanah scales the twilight sky all silver and haze in Her Vernal Glory.

 

Lately I have been keeping company with the idea of Barbelo, otherwise known as ‘Shekina’, both the second and the final letter to the Tetragrammaton.

 

Barbelo, the Mother and simultaneously the Daughter of the Powers of Powers, second only to the Yod that makes up the Holy name of the Ancient of Days, pretty heavy principles right?

 

But what are they? What can they mean? Is there any point in attempting to decipher something that has its roots in origins stranded millennia ago on the forgotten shores of time?  

 

Sure there is! The Ancestors would have been alluding to something that is so sacred it is hidden in plain sight. This is how it has always been, the most profane mysteries are the simplest ones.

 

Many old school Rabbis, with a few modern ones also, maintain the reason and the solution to everything is right under our noses;  between our bottom lips and our noses to be more precise.  The answer to all the world’s questions is hidden in the act of Breathing.

 

Inhale and notice the sharp, near silent ‘ii’ sound that accompanies our breath? That is the fabled Yod.  Next exhale and focus on that sound.  Yes a melodic ‘hhaa’.  Both of these principles, in essence the act of one breathing cycle, is the closest thing we will get to experiencing God. 

 

The process of inhaling, the very first thing we do when we exit the womb, is the beginning of our Life, whereas the act of exhalation is the product of processing the initial inhalation, and so to does Life cascade into the rivers of time.

 

And yes, the initial the Haa, or Hey as it is known, is the first cyclical act we collectively take, it does not translate to anything coherent so to speak, but it is the foundation of existence.

 

Next up is the Vav, the Son or the Bridegroom.  It is an elongated Yod , the Flame that descends upon the initial process of the first breath and consequently birth, the first source of positive understanding that we are alive.  Prior to this everything is questionable, but the second portion of the Tetragrammaton  verily confirms the act of Life, with the final exhalation of Hey being the one that confirms consciousness; I AM and I AM ALIVE, and so in agreement with the scrolls and the books, the first and second Hey are Spirit and Consciousness accordingly. 

 

In support of what has just been written, on the Tree of Life Keter, the Head or Crown of the Tree has the holy name of IEHIEH, I AM THAT I AM, whereas Malkuth, the Kingdom, has the holy name of AHER ASHER AHER, translating to ‘I will be what I will be’, birth being the first act, consciousness the second. ‘I am and I will be’, and this completes the closed circuit of any individuals’ life.

 

Shekina or Barbelo, both referenced in the Old testament and many other texts and gnostic scrolls, is also known as ASHER whose roots finds it’s way to an ancient Sumerian Deity, the counterpart of Baal. Asher was the keeper of understanding and wisdom, divine influence so to speak, but notice how ASHER also seems to reflect the holy name of Malkuth, AHEI ASHER AHEI?  Indeed wisdom seems to have made Her presence known in many religions throughout the Aeons, and perplexingly enough she seems to have taken very similar sounding names and features.

 

What were the scholars trying to convey?  Why did they expend lifetimes trying to decipher and record meditations and studies often involving rigorous fasting, abstinence, isolation and many times persecution? What was so compelling ?

 

My prolonged isolation and contemplation suggests to me that it might perhaps be the other way round, that the Shekina is attempting to connect with us, on an individual and a collective level, Her experience transpersonal but also a numinous and ongoing process, a flickering flame waiting to baptize all of us in the exact holy fire that descended on the Apostles, the one that burned brightly in the bush Abraham so readily and willingly would have sacrificed his son to. In my opinion another metaphor for cutting away with childish things and embracing spiritual maturity resilient enough to endure what was to proceed ie Death.

 

The sparks of flames that Barbelo ignites glow within all of us but perhaps it is up to the individual to keep the embers alive and maybe this is why old age seems so cold, because we forget to breathe. We forget Shekina and sound of Her Voice, what some might refer to as conscience, but She is conscience and consciousness all in one breath and we know and understand this process intimately when we first begin to glean what is ‘Good’ and what “Bad’ although we have not yet been concretely taught these principles by our parents.

 

Shekina is also known as Kundalini, the Serpent, coiled at the base of our spines waiting to join Her Bridegroom as She ascends the stairway to Heaven, more esoteric principles to baffle, but perhaps not.  Both King David and Solomon the Wise sung about the effects of the Shekina and the mystical Alchemical marriage that happens once all the doors of perception have been opened.  

 

Very sexually suggestive and not isolated in their salacious and libidinous cantsicles, the intense erotic and sensual nature of Barbelo seems to be consistent throughout the scriptures, often building an atmosphere of carnal tension that the Jews have to satiate conjugally every SABBATH at precisely 3 am whilst employing a series of Mantras known to them, in an effort to ejaculate by meditating on being the Bridegroom and the Bride simultaneously.

 

Heavy stuff right?  But there are legions of religions that base their most sacred rituals around this principle.  Brother Crowley dedicated most of his fortune in an attempt to create the fabled ‘Moon Child’ through such practices. 

 

Perhaps it is during such rituals, which nearly the whole of humanity partake in when we fuck, that we all come closest to facing the Shekina, for it seems that within that moment of surrender and release that we all know splendor in its most purest forms; the potential spark of life waiting to seed another Tree.

 

At 50 without any offspring and with no inclination to execute further said ritual but I feel Barbelo within me burning brighter than ever before.  The more I abstain the more Shekina awakes and sends shivers up and down my spine.  Sometimes I feel Her wanting to gush through my legs and with a quick inhalation I send Her spiraling like a tornado made of flames, a twirling sword made of fire, up my spine, piercing my senses, reminding me to push higher, push the Dragon toward the Citadel of the Crown, do not let the Water and Fire escape, return it home and transubstantiate it into a Jewel.

 

It is then that Barbelo returns with more force than ever, a ten mile high tsunami, a black wave of immense proportions that annihilates my memories, my ego, my life, everything I ever believed to be important and real.  She fills me with the Knowledge that everything is perfect as it is, no Good, no Evil, just ‘Is’.

 

It is in that ‘Is’ that the Crown Jewel may be found, the origin of Her existence, Dante’s Heaven from Hell. Shekina originates and returns to the cycle of the flames of Yod.  A Perfect point in the Universe rotating upon Itself constituting the Axis Universum, Her coming's and going’s keep the Point twirling.

 

Look closer toward the tip of the Flame a terrible vision awaits you, it is NO-THING that is the Originator and NOT;  this contradiction of sanity is what maintains NO-THING and ALL.