tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22654490.post6856774528794856166..comments2023-10-04T03:19:35.371-07:00Comments on StoneFlower Kabbalah: Leviathan/"Black serpent" the Oil disaster and Tikkun OlamMichael Margolishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07394542267081079163noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22654490.post-84787442139572914842010-07-07T07:18:24.904-07:002010-07-07T07:18:24.904-07:00Thanks much for your comment. I hadn't thought...Thanks much for your comment. I hadn't thought of prophecy as the place that intersects these dimensions.<br /><br />And the white woman, from the hair of the white serpant, who speaks a truth that calms, then enrages - who is she and what is her message? A discovery of the white serpant that evil is illusion?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22654490.post-34800805067959397732010-07-06T07:42:18.942-07:002010-07-06T07:42:18.942-07:00thanx for these ideas and connections js. what the...thanx for these ideas and connections js. what the mythkeepers like Graves, Jung and Cambpell called "archetypes" do have validity especially if we apply the five continuum worldview of the mekubalim and see the patterns and images that arise in the mind/body as connected to the more complex dimensionality of soul/being. then we impinge on the makom/place of true prophecy!Michael Margolishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07394542267081079163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22654490.post-60425370963101843032010-07-01T03:38:41.684-07:002010-07-01T03:38:41.684-07:00Seem to recall that Robert Graves (perhaps others?...Seem to recall that Robert Graves (perhaps others?) believe that all “story” falls into a single, repeated pattern – that there is only one myth in the human unconscious – one “psychological archetype of the human soul”. Usually The Story is about a fall from grace, a descent into tribulation and exile during which critically important lessons are learned and incorporated, followed by an ascent usually depicted as a return home a more enlightened being. It is really quite incredible how often and for how this basic pattern colors the human imagination. Touches something very important about meaning, purpose in the human condition – a response to the imperative of death maybe and/or a belief in redemption – maybe even something about our species' origins.<br /><br />In any case, it struck me that the Iroquois prophecy is a version of The Story, with strong parallels in Jewish tradition (as you point out). Here perhaps is how it might play out in more specifically Jewish terms: The white serpent is b’nai Esav (Edom/chesed?) and the red serpent is b’nai Yishmael (gevurah?). The observers/“other” are the Jews, who like the Indian people in your story, have been taught that their story is part of a much larger story, have experienced descent and exile and a hoped-for return home. The Edomites maintain their grip on the Jews until they are shaken by the specter of an ascendant b’nai Yishmael, whereupon the Jews are (partially) released and a very significant ingathering “in the hilly country” begins. A great struggle ensues between b’nai Yishmael and b’nai Esav in the North – tzafon – the shoresh of the hidden place and also conscience. The destruction that you say was avoided may be of a different and less literal kind, and has perhaps not been avoided at all – a high-stake struggle over beliefs and hegemony in which all of nature, the shechina herself, becomes instrument – a means to an end – as if the trees are leafless. <br /><br />Perhaps the black serpent is Amalek – symbol of all that would turn belief into stone – the blank response to even the hint that transcendence is possible. Greed, yes as you write, but I prefer “addiction” – a state of being trapped so firmly in the physical world that imagination withers, no thought beyond the source of next fix, a living death,being willing to engage in violence to protect the supply line, even though the supply line delivers death. Your connection to the oil spill makes so much sense – as in the story of the quail, the earth has responded, “you want oil; I’ll give you oil”. We should be looking for a global “12-step” program – or perhaps that’s what you are attempting?<br /><br />The great light comes from the East. Of course – as in The Story – redemption involves an ascendant return… kedem as both future and past.<br /><br />The woman is important, but I don’t understand her yet in this story. (She returns in your next post, but haven’t had time to think about that yet.) In any case, we often forget that Moshe and Aharon accomplished what they did because their sister formed the third leg of the stool.<br /><br />Sweet and hopeful in either version. Thank you.<br /><br />jsAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com