Spirit Forces in Hebrew Amulets - Part 2

The names of literally hundreds of angels can be traced in Hebrew amulets, and I thought we might investigate the primordial powers of some of the most important Spirit Entities listed in my "The Book of Seals & Amulets," and also recognise their purpose within the scheme of creation. In some instances this could be quite a complex matter, especially when primary sources are not as comprehensive as one would like them to be, and when there are differences regarding the basic functions of Spirit Intelligences.

For example, in the "Key of Solomon" we are informed that (Bari’el) is the angel of the "fourth pentacle" of the planet Jupiter, the one which we are told "serveth to acquire riches and honor, and to possess much wealth." However, this Spirit Intelligence is another amongst the angels said to be in charge of thunder, [Zacutto, M.: Shorshei ha-Shemot, Hotzaat Nezer Shraga, Jerusalem 1999.], and, as noted in "The Book of Sacred Names," is associated with the set of five tri-letter portions of the "Name of Seventy-two Names" employed to "open the heart" to "spiritual teachings." Of course it could be said that all of these aspects are in harmony with the "expansive" qualities of Jupiter (Jovial) as reflected in the said Spirit Intelligence.

Be that as it may, the same angel is listed amongst a set of Spirit Forces aligned with (Sanoi), (Sansanoi) and (Semangelof) in the following most acclaimed amulet from the Sefer Raziel. These three Spirit Intelligences were sent to stop Lilit, the killer of infants, in her tracks, and hence their names are included in amulets protecting women during childbirth, as well as in those safeguarding infants. In this regard, we are told the following Kamea has been tried and tested for the protection of pregnant women and infants. It is also meant to protect a mother during birth against bad magical spells and the Evil Eye, so that no evil or injury may befall her or her baby.

Besides the central images of the three famous Angels of protection, the upper portion of the amulet incorporates a written adjuration aimed at Lilit, the “first Eve.” According to Moses Zacutto the adjuration should read:

Transliteration:

Ashbe’it alecha Chavah rishonah beshem yotzrecha v’b’shem shloshet malachim sheshalach yotz’recha bish’vilcha v’matz’ucha b’iyei ha-yam v’nishbata la’hem b’makom shetimtza shmotam shelo taziku otah v’lo achat mimachanotecha v’meshartecha v’lo l’kol mi shisa shmotam lachen b’shmotam v’b’chotamam ha’k’tuvim poh ani mashbi’acha v’et machanotecha v’meshartecha shelo taziku et ha-yoledet [.....Plonit bat Plonit.....] v’l’ha-yeled shenolad la lo b’yom v’lo b’lailah lo b’ma’achalam v’lo b’mishtam lo b’rosham v’lo b’libam v’lo b’shnei m’ot v’arba’im v’shmoneh evreihem v’lo b’shlosh m’ot v’shishim v’chamisha gideihem b’koach ha-shemot v’ha-chotamot ha-eleh ani mashbi’acha v’et machanotecha v’meshartecha

Translation:

I adjure you First Eve in the Name of your Creator and in the name of the three Angels your Creator sent to you, and they found you on the islands of the sea, and you vowed to them, that in a locale where their names are found, there will be no harm from you and neither from anyone of your faction, and your servants, not to any who carry their Names. Therefore in their Names and seals written here, I adjure you and your faction and your servants, not to bring harm to the pregnant woman [.....fill in the Name.....] and the child which will be born to her, not by day and not by night; not when eating and not when drinking; not in the head and not in the heart; and not in the 248 organs and 365 tendons, in the power of these Names and seals I adjure you and your faction and your servants.

There is also a list of seventy angelic Names at the bottom of the Kamea. These Names are listed in the amulet, with slight variation from their appearance in the Sefer Raziel. However, once again the following version is said to be correct:

Transliteration:

Micha’el, Gavri’el, Rafa’el, Nuri’el, Kedumi’el, Malchi’el, Tzadki’el, Pedei’el [Padiel], Tumi’el, Chasdi’el, Tzuri’el, Rema’el, Yofi’el, Saturi, Gazri’el, Vadri’el [Udri’el], Lehari’el [Lahari’el], Chazki’el, Rachml’el, Kadshi’el, Shva’el, Barki’el, Aki’el, Chani’el, L’aha’el, Malchi’el, Shebni’el, R’chasi’el, Rumi’el, Kadmi’el, Kad’el, Chochmi’el, Ram’el, Kadshi’el, M’ni’el, Azri’el, Chacham’el, Machni’el, K’nei’el, Gadi’el, Tzurtak, Ofifi’el, Rachmi’el, Sansinyah, Udragziyah, Rasasi’el, Rumi’el, Snei’el, Tohari’el, Azri’el, Neryah, S’mach’el, Ayin’el, Tasiryah, Ron’el, Tzuryah, Pesis’yah, Iveri’el, Smachia, Machneyah, Kinunyah, Yeru’el, Tutrusyah, Choni’el, Zachri’el, Va’ari’el, Dani’el, Gedi’el, Bari’el, Ahani’el

The central portion of the amulet comprises graphic presentations of the angels Sanoi, Sansanoi and Semangelof, accompanied as usual by the earlier mentioned phrase Adam v’Chavah chutz Lilit (Adam and Eve away Lilit). The following is another stylised graphic portrayal of the said celestial entities.

The central portion of the amulet comprises graphic presentations of the angels Sanoi, Sansanoi and Semangelof, accompanied as usual by the earlier mentioned phrase Adam v’Chavah chutz Lilit (Adam and Eve away Lilit). The following is another stylised graphic portrayal of the said celestial entities.

We are told the name of the first Angel, (Sanoi [Sana’ui according to Moses Zacutto]), was derived from the initials of three words in Exodus 30:34 reading (samim nataf ush’chelet—“sweet spices, stacte, and onycha”). In turn the appellative of the second Spirit Intelligence, (Sansanoi [Sansina’ui according to Moses Zacutto]), is a variant of the word (b’sansinav—“of the boughs thereof”) in Song of Songs 7:9 [8]. The third name, (Semangelof) is said to have originated from the words (samim ul’vonah zakah—“sweet spices with pure frankincense”), also found in Exodus 30:34.

(More to follow)

The "Name of Seventy-two Names": A Biblical Spin-off - Part 8

I have basically concluded posting the promised portion of "The Book of Sacred Names." However, I thought I should add a brief "addendum," as well as a list of reference works which I employed in the shared portion from the "Shem Vayisa Vayet" chapter of my mentioned publication on Divine Names.

To start with, the “Name of Seventy-Two Names” is employed in “Practical Kabbalah” for designs quite different from the previously listed meditational uses. Further applications of this special “Name,” for example in prayer, “dream invocation,” prophecy, etc., can be found in works like “Sha’arei Tzion” by Nathan Neta ben Moshe of Hanover. Of course, since a “Divine Name” is for Kabbalists the strongest focus of Divine Energy in manifestation, the “Name of Seventy-Two Names” is highly favoured for its great potency. Yet, Moses Cordovero informed us regarding the power of the “Shem Vayisa Vayet,” that “Some of the ancients commented that by the combination and permutation of the Name of Seventy-two or other names, after a great concentration (Hitbodedut), the righteous man.....combines the forces and unites them and arouses desires in them, each to his brother as the membrum virile of man and his companion until there is poured upon him a great influx, with the condition that he who deals with this will be a well-prepared vessel and worthy of receiving the spiritual force. For if it is not the case, it will become cruel to be turned into a ‘degenerate wild vine’.”

Keeping that admonition in the back of our minds, we note that the “Shem Vayisa Vayet,” considered “holy and awesome,” and most powerful, has been employed for a variety of “magical” purposes, sometimes to the great indignation of Rabbinical authorities. As it is, Abraham Abulafia himself vociferously voiced his disapproval and dismay at the magical usage of the “Name of Seventy-two Names.” In fact, in his denigration of such magical uses, he unwittingly shared a rather unsavory magical practice involving the “Shem Vayisa Vayet.” He wrote:

“I have found in one of the books, whose title I would like not to mention [explicitly]: ‘Whoever wants to bring a woman to him so that she will love him, let him pronounce the name of VHV YLY SYT ALM, frontward and backward seven times, in the night of Wednesday, during the first hour of night, which is the time of Saturn, and let him conjure Kaftziel, that is the angel presiding over that planet, by that name. At that time let him write four names on a parchment of a deer, without interrupting the writing by any speech. Then, let him put the amulet on his neck as an amulet and then the woman, whose name and the name of her father he has pronounced, will love him a great love, by the virtue of that name.’ Similar things I have found in great numbers, and they are almost infinite; and these things have spread and reached the hands of great Rabbis, but they hide them in a scrupulous manner and they think that their treasury is replete with pearls. And they are very reverent [awesome] while studying the names when they need them.....”

Abraham Abulafia’s objection notwithstanding, the “Name of Seventy-Two Names” has been put to extensive magical usage over the centuries, as expounded in a variety of Jewish magical writings. It is said that Kabbalists employed it in the construction of a Golem, and that the generation of the force that animated this artificial anthropoid, was the fully expressed and perfectly enunciated “Shem Vayisa Vayet.” In fact, the Sefer Raziel, a famous mediaeval Kabbalistic magical text, claims no magic is successfully worked without the support of this Name.

The Name is used in exorcism and other matters of a similar ilk, and thus it is understood that “whoever pronounces this name against a demon, it will vanish; at a conflagration it will be quenched; over an invalid, he will be healed; against impure thoughts, they will be expelled; if it is directed against an enemy, he will die, and if it is uttered before a ruler, his favour will be won,” etc. Yet, the same voice extolling its magical virtues, is also telling us that “whoever pronounces this name while he is in a state of uncleanness and impurity will surely be struck dead.” Of course, included in this last statement of “uncleanness” and “impurity” are unclean thoughts involving any cerebration of ill intent, as well as feelings of the same. Therefore it is necessary that the practitioner should be mentally, emotionally and physically in a state of Hishtavut or equanimity, in order to employ Divine Names of this nature.

Now, I personally believe that before one can enact any of the practical applications of the “Shem Vayisa Vayet,” one needs to be mentally and emotionally aligned with all associated aspects. In this regard, I have found this easy to achieve with the seventy-two triplets by simply vocalising the entire set every day in the form of a simple chant. However, we have to follow different routes when it comes to the associated elements, e.g. biblical passages, “Spirit Intelligences,” etc. As it is, the seventy-two letter triplets comprising the “Name of Seventy-Two Names” are respectively associated with seventy-two verses from the “Book of Psalms,” all said to be arranged by Rabbi Moses Isserles (Rama), in accordance with the “revealed truth” which Rabbi Moses Nachmanides (Ramban) passed on to his students. Each verse is constructed from seven words only, comprises the Ineffable Name (Adonai in one instance), and reveals, in exact order, the letters comprising its associated triad from the “Shem Vayisa Vayet.” I have listed and elucidated these in "The Book of Sacred Names."

As it is, these seventy-two verses from Psalms not only aid one in becoming fully aligned with the “Shem Vayisa Vayet,” but are also collectively employed to invoke the “spiritual forces” inherent in the Name. The “Name of Seventy-two Names” is said to open spiritual “gates of goodness and purity,” and is often employed in its entirety when requiring spiritual assistance, or needing relief and rescue from stressful circumstances. In this regard, the associated biblical verses constitute an awe-inspiring prayer-incantation, which is equally employed for these exact reasons. Whilst it was oftentimes employed as a prayer of protection prior to undertaking a journey at sea or when travelling into deserts, or for travels in general, it was recommended that one utters this prayer every day, in order to protect oneself against anything disadvantageous happening to oneself during the day. However, it is worth noting that the great benefit of this prayer-incantation is that it purifies the soul.

As can be expected, I have included an extensive delineation of the magical employment of the "Name of Seventy-two Names" in "The Book of Sacred Names," however, as said, this comprises an enormous chaper which I simply cannot publish in its entirety on this blog, hence I will conclude this partial excursion into the "Shem Vayisa Vayet" with the mentioned list of references which I have employed in writing the relevant material posted on this blog.

(References/Bibliography to follow)

Tracing the Bet - Part 1

In "The Book of Self Creation" I addressed certain practical workings based on the set of permutations of the Ineffable Name termed the “Twelve Banners” in Joseph Gikatilla’s “Gates of Light” as indicated in the following table:

These permutations have been attributed to the twelve months, the twelve signs of the Zodiac, and the twelve ancient Hebrew Tribes. They have also been divided into four groups, each attributed to an “Element,” “Direction,” etc. However, there is again no consensus to be found in primary Kabbalistic literature regarding these attributions. For example, Aryeh Kaplan noted that the permutations attributed to Elul and Adar are interchangeable. It would seem that Gikatilla’s delineation of the “Twelve Banners” was fairly standard amongst the older Kabbalists, and that the switching occurred specifically in Lurianic Kabbalah, i.e as shown in “Or Levanah” by Shalom Sharabi, Lurianic Siddurim (prayer books); etc. We might also note that much of the practical techniques of pre-Lurianic Kabbalah were dismissed out of hand as “bad” and even declared taboo by the Lurianic faction.

Having investigated the related sets of permutations in, amongst others, “Chayei ha-Olam ha-Ba,” “Mafteach ha-Shemot,” "Sefer Raziel," and "Shorshei ha-Shemot," all of which align with the “Sha’arei Orah,” I personally subscribe to Joseph Gikatilla’s attributions, as shown in the following illustration. It certainly offers the clearest sequence of attributes in terms of the practical workings we are addressing:

To facilitate a better understanding of the associated practical applications, we need to consider additional details, i.e. besides the alignment of the “Twelve Banners” with months, Zodiac signs and Hebrew Tribes, each permutation is respectively associated with a verse from the Tanach (Hebrew Bible), in which the initial letters or final letters of the component words spell the related permutation, like this:

(More to follow)