Turtle Talks Torah and Sings with the Song of Songs

ה  שְׁחוֹרָה אֲנִי וְנָאוָה, בְּנוֹת יְרוּשָׁלִָם; כְּאָהֳלֵי קֵדָר, כִּירִיעוֹת שְׁלֹמֹה.	5 'I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon.
	א  אֲנִי חֲבַצֶּלֶת הַשָּׁרוֹן, שׁוֹשַׁנַּת הָעֲמָקִים. 1 I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the Depths.

Known to the ancients of America as the sacred "Smoking Mirror" the total eclipse of the sun by the moon is an opening to what the Mekubalim/kabbalists of old called the Earth Shaarim or soul gates. The Levanah, the Moon Chieftess appears at Zenith and turns the day into the night which is a way of saying, "I am in charge folks". May we heed the call of the immense silence who is the "Still Small Voice" that is the very Source of Love. She is the root of the Tree of Being, and the original holy darkness called the Choseyhk in the book of Bereshit/Genesis. Also known as the Etz Chaiim/tree of Life, and the Shechinah.  She spoke to the ancient Hebrews as in the Song of Songs as well as to the early gnostic mekubalim here in this amazing poem dug up at Nag Hammadi in the 1940's.

"I was sent forth from the power,

and I have come to those who reflect upon me,

and I have been found among those who seek after me.

Look upon me, you who reflect upon me,

and you hearers, hear me.

You who are waiting for me, take me to yourselves.

And do not banish me from your sight.

And do not make your voice hate me, nor your hearing.

Do not be ignorant of me anywhere or any time. Be on your guard!

Do not be ignorant of me.

For I am the first and the last.

I am the honored one and the scorned one.

I am the whore and the holy one.

I am the wife and the virgin.

I am and the daughter.

I am the members of my mother.

I am the barren one

and many are her sons.

I am she whose wedding is great,

and I have not taken a husband.

I am the midwife and she who does not bear.

I am the solace of my labor pains.

I am the bride and the bridegroom,

and it is my husband who begot me.

I am the mother of my father

and the sister of my husband

and he is my offspring.

I am the slave of him who prepared me.

I am the ruler of my offspring.

But he is the one who begot me before the time on a birthday.

And he is my offspring in (due) time,

and my power is from him.

I am the staff of his power in his youth,

and he is the rod of my old age.

And whatever he wills happens to me.

I am the silence that is incomprehensible

and the idea whose remembrance is frequent.

I am the voice whose sound is manifold

and the word whose appearance is multiple.

I am the utterance of my name.

Why then have you hated me, you Greeks?

Because I am a barbarian among the barbarians?

For I am the wisdom of the Greeks

and the knowledge of the barbarians.

I am the judgement of the Greeks and of the barbarians.

I am the one whose image is great in Egypt

and the one who has no image among the barbarians.

I am the one who has been hated everywhere

and who has been loved everywhere.

I am the one whom they call Life,

and you have called Death.

I am the one whom they call Law,

and you have called Lawlessness.

I am the one whom you have pursued,

and I am the one whom you have seized.

I am the one whom you have scattered,

and you have gathered me together.

I am the one before whom you have been ashamed,

and you have been shameless to me.

I am she who does not keep festival,

and I am she whose festivals are many.

I, I am godless,

and I am the one whose God is great.

I am the one whom you have reflected upon,

and you have scorned me.

I am unlearned,

and they learn from me.

I am the one that you have despised,

and you reflect upon me.

I am the one whom you have hidden from,

and you appear to me.

But whenever you hide yourselves,

I myself will appear.

For whenever you appear,

I myself will hide from you.

I am Peace,

and war has come because of me.

And I am an alien and a citizen."

( Translated by George W. MacRae)

And here hidden in the ancient Hebrew text called the Sepher HaBahir: The Book of Brilliance this first beingness called the Chosehyk which word holds the related shoresh/root for Shechinah the indwelling-Woman Lover in the Song of Songs and the darkness that holds a keshet/rainbow of brilliant colors also know in the circle of aboriginal initiates: as the moonbow:
1. Rabbi Nehuniah ben HaKana said: One verse (Job 37:21) states, "And now they do not see light, it is brilliant (Bahir) in the skies…[round about God in terrible majesty]." Another verse, however, (Psalm 18:12), states, "He made darkness His hiding place." It is also written (Psalm 97:2), "Cloud and gloom surround Him." This is an apparent contradiction. A third verse comes and reconciles the two. It is written (Psalm 139:12), "Even darkness is not dark to You. Night shines like day"

 As you may know from previous blog pots here we each as humans have five levels of soul/being or souls that connect us to the sacred Tree. The Mekubalim(kbbalists) call them Nephesh,Ruach,Neshamah(individual soul),Chaiah and Yechidah. The Earth IS an embodiment of the divine and the heavens and also has five souls. The Shechinah- is the CHAIAH or life soul of Earth/Eretz, Source of Life and the root of the Tree of Life. She is the moon pulling and controlling the oceans, all growth,gestation and all the waters of being. The Yechidah(uniquely One) soul of the Earth is who we call HaShem- the Source of Love and Life and the whole enchilada. You may see the five souls(scutes) down the center of the turtle's back in this image below. The turtle is living EARTH!