Tuesday, September 1, 2009
The Sacred Names IHVH and Men-Kheper-Re
"The master-key to the Hebrew wisdom is the "name" translated "Lord" in the Authorized Version of the Bible, and Jehovah" in the revised versions. It is a verbal, numerical and geometrical formula; in Roman letters corresponding to Hebrew it is spelled IHVH."
"This is a noun form derived from the Hebrew verb meaning "to be". Correctly translated, it means "That which was, That which is, That which shall be." That not He. Thus, it is a perfect verbal symbol for the One reality- for that Something which has always subsisted behind all forms in the eternity of the past, for that Something which really is behind all the appearances and misunderstandings of the present, for that Something which will be the foundation for all the changing forms of life-expression in the eternity to come."
-Paul Foster Case The Tarot: A Key to the Wisdom of the Ages
So the major name for the Hebrew God means "That which was, That which is, That which shall be." It has three letters and one which repeats itself. I-H-V-H, or Y-H-V-H are the most common spellings.
Now let us examine a sacred Ancient Egyptian cartouche to find some correlations between it and the Sacred name of the Hebrew God, IHVH.
"Men-kheper-re (Lasting is the Manifestation of Re) is the general understanding of this sacred name.Yet, through some esoteric understanding of the evolution of the aspects of the Egyptian God/s one finds a hidden meaning for Min Kheper Ra.
"According to ancient sources, Menes or King Men was the founder of the first unified Kingdom in Egypt, the first king of the 1st Dynasty. Actually, Menes is the Greek form of the name provided by the third century BC Egyptian historian, Manetho. Alternative forms include Min (provided by Herodotus), Minaios (provided by Josephus), and Menas (provided by Diodorus Siculus), and there are other variations as well. Menes or King Men is said to have founded the city of Memphis (Mn-nfr), and the first Unified Kingdom of Egypt. It has been theorized that King Menes was possibly a mythical king, similar to Romulus and Remus, the mythical first rulers of Rome." King Menes is immortalized on the main Frieze on the US Supreme court building as the builder of the first law and first civilization.
Men is also the same symbol used in the name Amen, Amen was a new manifestation of the God of Generation (Min) of whom the Egyptians worshiped from predynastic times. "Min was always a god of fertility and sexuality. He was shown as a human male with an erect penis. In Egyptian times, he was usually an ithyphallic bearded mummiform man, standing with both legs together, an arm raised holding his symbol or a flail and wearing the same low crown with twin plumes as Amen. The fertility god was associated both with Horus the Elder (Min-Horus) in the Middle Kingdom and with Amen (Amen-Min) in New Kingdom times to show the creative force of both gods. At times, even some goddesses have been shown with the body of Min!"
So, MN/Men/Min is the past, the Elder, the foundation, and "that which was".
"The word Kheper means scarab, and as the animal was associated with life and rebirth, so was Khephri. Patron of the sun, creation, life, resurrection. Early in Egyptian history the beetle also came to represent the soul rising from death—resurrected, transcendent, fully formed and ready to make its journey and face its judgment in order to live in the Afterlife. By the New Kingdom (1539-1070 BC), the funerary texts from the papyri portray a scaraboid form as the most powerful symbol of life's victory over death."
So as a Manifestation of creation and resurrection Kheper is the Future or "That which shall be".
"Ra was the almost universally-worshipped king of the gods and all-father of creation. A sun god, he was said to command the chariot that rode across the sky during the day. A king, he was the patron of the pharaoh. Ra is the most central god of the Egyptian pantheon. Patron of the sun, heaven, kingship, power, and light.
Ra's hieroglyphic also means Day, as in To-Day, the present moment, or "That which is".
So, Men-Kheper-Ra just as IHVH means "That which was, That which is, That which shall be."
Now we have three sacred symbols that correlate with the sacred Hebrew name for God, IHV as in IHVH. The final piece is with the monad or the sacred solar symbol of Ra. It is positioned in front of the word Men/Min, yet is pronounced at the end after Kheper, like Men-Kheper-Ra, not Ra-Men-Kheper. Most of the time Ra is positioned as the first symbol in a cartouche, yet pronounced at the End. So, what we have here is a symbolic representation of the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End. In reality there are 4 symbols in the sacred name Men-Kheper-Ra, the first symbol is used at the end instead of the beginning, moving it from the first position to the last. This is very similar to the positioning of the two letters of Heh (H) in IHVH.
Heh on the Qabalistic Tree of Life connects Chokmah (Wisdom of God) to Tiphareth (Beauty) the Christ or Heart of the Sephirot. "Tiphareth or Tiferet is the force that integrates the sfira of Khesed ("Compassion") and Gevurah ("Overpowering"). These two forces are, respectively, expansive (giving) and restrictive (receiving). Either of them without the other could not manifest the flow of Divine energy; they must be balanced in perfect proportion (by sharing), and this is the role of Tiferet, wherein the conflicting forces are harmonized, and creation flowers forth."
So, the sacred Hebrew name for God "IHVH" and the Sacred name Men-Kheper-Ra hold many of the very same esoteric keys. In addition, Men-Kheper-Ra has 3 aspects of the divine Solar God from the Biblical Temple of On (in Heliopolis) of whom Moses and Joesph the vizier were both a part of.
Now, on to who the Pharaoh Men-Kheper-Ra was.
"Thus was laid the foundation of the Great White Brotherhood"
"It was Thutmose III who organized the present physical form of the secret Brotherhood and outlined many of its rules and regulations. He ruled from approx 1500 B.C. until 1447 B.C. and his reign is unimportant to us except for his establishment of the Brotherhood."
"History relates a very strange occurrence, in the life of Thutmose III, that is mystically important to us. We are told of a great feast which, oddly enough, if that is the term to use, occurred about on the occasion of the Spring equinox. This great festival was being held in the Temple of Amen, one of the prevailing gods of the time, in the great Temple of what is now Karnak at Thebes, Egypt, the then great capital city. We can visualize this ceremony, if we will; the magnificent colonnaded halls of this splendid edifice, the balmy air of a March evening in Egypt, the Nile nearby, swaying palm trees, the heavy shadows, the flickering light of torches, the colorful attire of priests and the assembly, the chanting, the soft strains of the string instruments.
(end pg 40)"
"Thutmose III, as was his custom, was present at the feast. He, with his colleagues, was seated in the Northern Hall of the Great Temple. The chief priests or Kheri Hebs were perambulating and carrying a little image symbolic of the God Amen. As they passed the different groups of personages they were acclaimed. But, strangely, the High Priest would walk over to each group and peer into their faces as though he were searching for someone, and then as if realizing that they were not the ones, he would shake his head in the negative, and cross over to the opposite side and repeat the process. He knew all the time that Thutmose III was present, but finally when he reached the Northern Chamber of the Temple, he acted as though he had suddenly discovered the one for whom he had been searching. He placed at the feet of Thotmose III the image of Amen which depicted, in the customs of the time, that he, Thutmose III, had been chosen instead of his brother to succeed the father upon the throne, and the great assemblage broke forth in acclamation."
"What interests us mostly, and which is recorded in history, is Thutmose III's explanation of his experience upon the occasion. He had no knowledge that he was to be chosen to become Pharaoh, because by right of accession, his brother should have been. But when the image was placed at his feet, he was seen to stand up; however, according to Thutmose III he felt "raised" as though his feet hardly touched the ground, and as though he had ascended into the heavens, and there he tells us God duly appointed him to serve his people. In fact, he felt as though he had been divinely ordained because of the mystical experience, and it became not even necessary for him to journey to Heliopolis where the Sun Temple was located, as been the custom, to be formally coronated.*(*Breasted history of egypt)"
"He appears to have been quite original in his application of the doctrines of mysticism, but held to the existing external form of religion, possibly because of political conditions. Egypt was not free from the danger
of the "grasping hands" of adjoining nations and the life of this ruler was constantly tormented by outbreaks of war; the cooperation of his military forces depended considerably upon his permitting the populace to indulge in all its fanciful beliefs-especially the idolatrous religions. For this reason an immediate change in the fundamentals of their religion-such as was made by Thotmose's descendant, Amenhotep IV, in 1355 with such a reactionary results-did not seem advisable or even necessary."
"A gradual development in the existing mystical beliefs could be more easily and permanently accomplished by establishing a secret school of Philosophy, the students of which would put into practice the high standards selected.(pg43)"
This is taken out of The History of The Order written by Our Honorable H. Spencer Lewis.
Here is the land of Men-Kheper-Ra
There is another name of the Hebrew God which relates to this Idea.
The Incommunicable Name was pronounced "Adonai," and where Adonai and Yhwh occur together the latter was pronounced "Elohim." After the destruction of the Second Temple there remained no trace of knowledge as to the pronunciation of the Name IHVH/JHVH. The commentators, however, agree as to its interpretation, that it denotes the eternal and everlasting existence of God, and that it is a composition of (meaning "a Being of the Past, the Present, and the Future").
The name Ehyeh denotes His potency in the immediate future, and is part of Yhwh. The phrase "ehyeh-asher-ehyeh" (Ex. iii. 14) is interpreted by some authorities as "I will be because I will be," using the second part as a gloss and referring to God's promise, "Certainly I will be [ehyeh] with thee" (Ex. iii. 12). Other authorities claim that the whole phrase forms one name. The Targum Onḳelos leaves the phrase untranslated and is so quoted in the Talmud (B. B. 73a). The "I AM THAT I AM" of the Authorized Version is based on this view.
The name Yah is composed of the first letters of Yhwh. There is a difference of opinion between Rab and R. Samuel as to whether or not "hallelujah" is a compound word or two separate words meaning "praise ye Yah" (Yer. Meg. i. 9; Pes. 117a). The name Ho is declared to be the middle part of Yhwh and an abridged form of the Name (Shab. 104a; Suk. iv. 5).
Elohim denotes multiplied power, that is, the Almighty, and describes God as the Creator of nature. R. Jacob Asheri, the author of the "Ṭurim," in his annotations to the Pentateuch, says the numerical value of the letters in ("Elohim") equals the value (86) of those in ("nature"). Elohim represents the force of "din" (fixed laws), while Yhwh is the modification of the natural laws and the elements of "raḥamim" (mercy and leniency) as reflected in the developed state of mankind.
In the Zohar, R. Simeon says the Divine Name (Yhwh) was mentioned only when the world was perfected, and quotes Gen. ii. 4 (Hebr.)—"in the day that Yhwh made the earth and the heavens." The word "'asot" is interpreted as "perfected," after the Creation (Zohar, Yitro, 88a, ed. Wilna, 1882).
El is part of Elohim, meaning simply "power" (= "mighty"). "Shaddai" is explained as "the selfsufficient" ("she-dai hu lo").
The sacredness of the divine names must be recognized by the professional scribe who writes the Scriptures, or the chapters for the phylacteries and the mezuzah. Before transcribing any of the divine names he prepares mentally to sanctify them. Once he begins a name he does not stop until it is finished, and he must not be interrupted while writing it, even to greet a king. If an error is made in writing it, it may not be erased, but a line must be drawn round it to show that it is canceled, and the whole page must be put in a genizah and a new page begun."
In the Sacred name Ehyeh-Asher-Ehyeh we have two Ancient Egyptian God names. The word EhYeh which is repeated twice, is one of the Egyptian names for Thoth. "Djehuty is sometimes alternatively rendered as Jehuti, Tahuti, Tehuti, Zehuti, Techu, or Tetu. Thoth (also Thot or Thout) is the Greek version derived from the letters ḏḥwty. In addition, Thoth was also known by specific aspects of himself, for instance the moon god Jah-Djehuty, representing the moon for the entire month, or as jt-nṯr "god father". Further, the Greeks related Thoth to their god Hermes due to his similar attributes and functions. One of Thoth 's titles, "Three times great, great" (see Titles) was translated to the Greek τρισμεγιστος (Trismegistos) making Hermes Trismegistus." Thoth is the great scribe of the Gods and he is described in the New Testament in John 1:1.
"IN the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
Here is a web site on Jah. http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/yah.htm
Asher or Asar is the Egyptian name for Osiris, in Mesopotamia he is named Asur. All three names refer to the same "par excellence" Archetypal God. Asar is described as the Shepherd, "the shepherd’s staff was depicted in the hands of Osiris in Egyptian artwork. In literature his epithets sa and Asar-sa mean "shepherd" and "Osiris the shepherd." The term shepherd seems an appropriate title for a beloved spiritual leader whose religion of resurrection promised life after death for the wayward soul."
And the God of the peace, who did bring up out of the dead the great shepherd of the sheep -- in the blood of an age-during covenant -- our Lord Jesus," -Hebrews 15:20
Here is a web site describing Osiris who was known as Asar. http://www.touregypt.net/Osiris.htm
"A spell to come forth by day and live after dying. Words spoken by the Osiris Ani:
O One, bright as the moon-god Iah; O One, shining as Iah;
This Osiris Ani comes forth among these your multitudes outside, bringing himself back as a shining one. He has opened the netherworld.
Lo, the Osiris Osiris [sic] Ani comes forth by day, and does as he desires on earth among the living."
-Chapter 2 Papyrus of Ani
One cannot bring up Osiris without bringing up Horus who's Egyptian name was Heru among others. His name is in the Sacred cities name Jerusalem for his temple was on the mount before any others.
Here is a video on the connections between Horus and Jesus. In addition to these, there are many other connections between Heru and the one they called "The Amen" in the Greek TestAment (Rev 3:14).