- A chapter from the book 'Genesis' by Stefan Emunds -
Genesis 1.1 "In the beginnings, God Mother separates the earth from the heavens."
LOST IN TRANSLATION Words carry various meanings and translators need to face the agony of choice on a daily basis. Or the fun of choice. Every translation is an interpretation, especially in the case of ancient Hebrew, since it is such a fuzzy, mystical language. It is possible to translate the Genesis’ first verse in numerous ways, for example:
To begin with, Elohim cut the earth off the heavens.
At the summit, Elohim fattened heaven and earth.
In the head, God shaped heaven and earth.
At the source, Powers chose sky and land.
In the first place, Creative Powers formed heaven and earth.
Professor Joe Levinson offers the following translation: "In the beginning of thought is its creating of heaven and earth." Considering the use of vowels introduced in the Middle Ages, the first verse reads "When in the beginning God created heaven and the earth." This is the common Jewish rendering, also known as the dependent-clause translation. Ferrar Fenton (1832–1920) came up with this rendering: "By Periods God created that which produced the Solar Systems; then that which produced the Earth." Which translation is correct? All. How so? Ancient Hebrew is fuzzy on purpose. The purpose: the entertainment of various layers of meanings - social, psychological, mystical, and divine. Truth is relative because what is valid on one level may not be so on another. Hence, religious-spiritual scriptures aren’t concerned with truth, but rather with illumination, meaning access to other realities or states of mind.
B’RESHIT - IN THE BEGINNINGS Jeff Benner’s mechanical translation offers the phrase 'in the summit'. The root of bereshit is rosh, which means head. In that perspective, summit appears to be closer to the original meaning than beginning. However, the head is the place where all activities begin. Jeff Benner defines rosh as follows: 'The head, top, or beginning of a place, such as a river, or a mountain, or a time such as an event. The point at which something starts; origin, principal, foremost, source.' Last but not least, rosh hashanah means 'first of the year'. Why the plural? Jewish mystics believe that the Godness has been engaging in trial and error. The world we live in is not the first and some of the previous worlds didn’t work out that well. Having said that, the Hebrew plural is a fuzzy affair. More about this in a moment. On a side note, bereshit, beginnings, is the Hebrew title of the Book of Creation. The Greek genesis means origin or birth. The title genesis is already an interpretation.
GOD MOTHER God Mother is a free and inspirational translation of the god-name Elohim. Elohim’s gender is controversial for various reasons. 1 Kings 11.5 translates Elohim as 'goddess'. A few mystics pointed out that Elohim is the plural of a feminine word, but has a masculine plural suffix. Wanna bet that this grammatical error is none? Elohim is a god-name and the third word in the Genesis! Likely, this indicates Elohim’s androgynous nature. The author chose the term God Mother to emphasize the Godness’ female side that has been wantonly neglected in Christianity. The term God Mother does not imply that the Godness is Goddess. The Godness is a He-she or She-he, depending on what It is busy with. Think of God Mother as an abbreviation of God, the Mother, whereby Mother is a title. A title denotes authority or power. Mother implies that the Godness performs creation with Her-his female abilities. Women give birth, not men. But don’t think of male and female as genders, but rather as powers. Cosmic genders are abstract, like active and passive, energy and substance, fire and water, spirit and matter, expanding and forming, Yin and Yang, Prakriti and Purusha, etc. On a side note, Elohim’s etymological inspiration is obvious to every Jewish kid, but lost to the English folks. On a second side note, the ancient Jews didn’t give the Godness the title Father. That was a Christian innovation. On a third note, God’s female side is also important for human evolution, indicated by the fact that two of the most important spiritual realities, the (sacred) Ruach[8] and Shekinah, are female words.
THE GOD-NAME ELOHIM The literal meaning of Elohim, usually translated as God, is Powers or Creative Powers as Paul Foster Case proposed. The root word is most likely the Northwest Semitic noun El, [אל]. El carries the meanings of 'strength, fronting something, being in an advance position, or being a binding or cohesive force'. Don’t let the plural vex you. It’s a plural of majesty or plural of excellence. The verbs that accompany Elohim in a sentence are usually singular like in Genesis 1.1. Deu 6:4 puts all minds at ease: "Listen, Israel: Jehovah, our Elohim, is one Jehovah." This is Jeff Benner’s comment on Elohim’s plural: "In all modern languages, the plural is always quantitative while in Ancient Hebrew a plural can be quantitative or qualitative. For instance, the word ‘trees’ refers to more than one tree (quantitative) while in Hebrew the plural word עץים (etsiym – trees) can mean more than one tree (quantitative) or one very large tree (qualitative). An example of this is the word בהמות (behemot or usually transliterated as behemoth in Job 40:15). This word is the plural form of the singular בהמה (behemah), meaning beast, but refers to a very large beast rather than more than one beast. One of the most common uses of the qualitative plural is the word אלהים (elohim) which can be translated as 'gods' (quantitative) or as 'God' (qualitative)." - Jeff Banner, The Ancient Hebrew Lexicon. Having said that, a plural verb accompanies Elohim in Gen 35.7: And there he [Jacob] built an altar and called the place House of El because there, Elohim appeared [plural] to him at the time when he fled from his brother’s face. In Psalm 82.1 Elohim is both plural and singular: Elohim [God] stood in El’s company, among Elohim [gods] did they judge [plural verb]. There are philosophical reasons to consider Elohim plural. One reason is that Elohim’s creative powers are seven - according to the seven cosmic days or phases of creation. More about this later. Let’s agree that Elohim is a mystery - singular-plural and male-female. And so it should be! Who wants a straightforward Godness? On an inspiring side note, the Hindu counterpart of Elohim is the goddess Shakti, who has the title Great Divine Mother. Hindu mystics consider her the divine feminine power of creation. Like Elohim, Shakti means 'power', or 'empowerment'.
CREATION MEANS SEPARATION 'Bara', the Hebrew verb commonly translated as 'create', has various meanings, among which are 'to separate, to choose, to make, to cut, to fatten, to shape, and to form'. These meanings shed various lights on the Godness’ mysterious, creative powers. The author chose separating, because creation begins with a division - the cleaving of the Godness’ primordial unity into the heavens and the earth and ends with the overwhelming splendor of the physical universe where no thing, however infinitesimal, is identical with another. The ability to separate is God Mother’s prime creative power. 'Fattening', a seemingly odd choice, turns out inspiring on a closer look. Why? Because the symbol of evolution is oil. The oiled-one is the literal meaning of Messiah, the Anointed, Christ. Creation fattens (fat is somewhat solid) and evolution oils the machinery. On a side note, only the Godness can 'bara', not people.
THE HEAVENS The Hebrew of Heaven is shamayim and that is a plural too. It can be a plural of majesty or quantitative plural. Your guess is as good as that of the author. Having said that, mystics distinguish seven heavens or heavenly realms; however, they are part of the oral tradition and the Genesis doesn’t mention those.
EARTH In a mystical context, earth is not Planet Earth, but rather the substance of creation. The Hebrew aretz, earth, is a blur as you will see in the coming verses. Besides being the primordial substance, earth can also denote the physical universe, as well as planetary life. In Gen 1.1 it is something abstract, i.e. the Godness’ intention to become something or to make something. In that respect, earth is the alpha and omega because creation begins with the Godness’ want of manifestation and ends with the physical universe - the result. On a side note, mystics distinguish seven earths, analog to the seven heavens, but the Genesis doesn’t mention them either.
EX NIHILO There is nothing in verse 1.1 that suggests a creation out of nothing. Most Jewish mystics agree that 'something' was already in place before creation began, an entire world to be precise. This is the common Jewish rendering of the first three verses: When in the beginning God created heaven and the earth, the earth being void and formless, Elohim said, “Light exist!” This suggests that the 'calling of the Light' was the first creative act and that the first two verses describe the precondition. The issue becomes less sensitive if we stop thinking of nothing as nothing-nothing, but rather as an 'everything-mixed-up-chaos', meaning nothing concrete or nothing perceptible. Actually, that’s exactly what Genesis 1.2 tells us. Anyways, as soon as something exists - which is obviously the case - common sense nothingness becomes an impossibility since nothing cannot coexist with something. But ex nihilo makes sense if we assume that the Godness created out of a chaotic All, which is nothing in our eyes.
Sacred Geometry, 1=2, | | In the beginning, One became Two. Mind that we are told and not shown. The reason: it is an ineffable mystery. Think about it, how can the All-Nothing (One) become something? It can’t reduce Itself. It can’t find a place either since It is omnipresent. The answer surprises: The All-Nothing creates the world in Its Mind. The first thing the All-Nothing did, and that was the only thing It could do back then, was thinking of Itself. And Its ability to think, to have an idea, to differentiate, is Elohim’s creative power. The geometrical symbol of the first verse is the Sacred Parallel, | |, two lines facing each other, extending into infinity. One line is the limitless creative potency and the other is the illimitable adaptive creative substance. Wait, what substance?
Genesis 1.1 "In the beginnings, God Mother separates the earth from the heavens."
LOST IN TRANSLATION
Words carry various meanings and translators need to face the agony of choice on a daily basis. Or the fun of choice. Every translation is an interpretation, especially in the case of ancient Hebrew, since it is such a fuzzy, mystical language.
It is possible to translate the Genesis’ first verse in numerous ways, for example:
To begin with, Elohim cut the earth off the heavens.
At the summit, Elohim fattened heaven and earth.
In the head, God shaped heaven and earth.
At the source, Powers chose sky and land.
In the first place, Creative Powers formed heaven and earth.
Professor Joe Levinson offers the following translation: "In the beginning of thought is its creating of heaven and earth."
Considering the use of vowels introduced in the Middle Ages, the first verse reads "When in the beginning God created heaven and the earth." This is the common Jewish rendering, also known as the dependent-clause translation.
Ferrar Fenton (1832–1920) came up with this rendering: "By Periods God created that which produced the Solar Systems; then that which produced the Earth."
Which translation is correct? All. How so? Ancient Hebrew is fuzzy on purpose. The purpose: the entertainment of various layers of meanings - social, psychological, mystical, and divine. Truth is relative because what is valid on one level may not be so on another. Hence, religious-spiritual scriptures aren’t concerned with truth, but rather with illumination, meaning access to other realities or states of mind.
B’RESHIT - IN THE BEGINNINGS
Jeff Benner’s mechanical translation offers the phrase 'in the summit'. The root of bereshit is rosh, which means head. In that perspective, summit appears to be closer to the original meaning than beginning. However, the head is the place where all activities begin. Jeff Benner defines rosh as follows: 'The head, top, or beginning of a place, such as a river, or a mountain, or a time such as an event. The point at which something starts; origin, principal, foremost, source.'
Last but not least, rosh hashanah means 'first of the year'.
Why the plural? Jewish mystics believe that the Godness has been engaging in trial and error. The world we live in is not the first and some of the previous worlds didn’t work out that well. Having said that, the Hebrew plural is a fuzzy affair. More about this in a moment.
On a side note, bereshit, beginnings, is the Hebrew title of the Book of Creation. The Greek genesis means origin or birth. The title genesis is already an interpretation.
GOD MOTHER
God Mother is a free and inspirational translation of the god-name Elohim. Elohim’s gender is controversial for various reasons. 1 Kings 11.5 translates Elohim as 'goddess'. A few mystics pointed out that Elohim is the plural of a feminine word, but has a masculine plural suffix. Wanna bet that this grammatical error is none? Elohim is a god-name and the third word in the Genesis! Likely, this indicates Elohim’s androgynous nature.
The author chose the term God Mother to emphasize the Godness’ female side that has been wantonly neglected in Christianity. The term God Mother does not imply that the Godness is Goddess. The Godness is a He-she or She-he, depending on what It is busy with.
Think of God Mother as an abbreviation of God, the Mother, whereby Mother is a title. A title denotes authority or power. Mother implies that the Godness performs creation with Her-his female abilities. Women give birth, not men. But don’t think of male and female as genders, but rather as powers. Cosmic genders are abstract, like active and passive, energy and substance, fire and water, spirit and matter, expanding and forming, Yin and Yang, Prakriti and Purusha, etc.
On a side note, Elohim’s etymological inspiration is obvious to every Jewish kid, but lost to the English folks.
On a second side note, the ancient Jews didn’t give the Godness the title Father. That was a Christian innovation.
On a third note, God’s female side is also important for human evolution, indicated by the fact that two of the most important spiritual realities, the (sacred) Ruach[8] and Shekinah, are female words.
THE GOD-NAME ELOHIM
The literal meaning of Elohim, usually translated as God, is Powers or Creative Powers as Paul Foster Case proposed. The root word is most likely the Northwest Semitic noun El, [אל]. El carries the meanings of 'strength, fronting something, being in an advance position, or being a binding or cohesive force'.
Don’t let the plural vex you. It’s a plural of majesty or plural of excellence. The verbs that accompany Elohim in a sentence are usually singular like in Genesis 1.1. Deu 6:4 puts all minds at ease: "Listen, Israel: Jehovah, our Elohim, is one Jehovah."
This is Jeff Benner’s comment on Elohim’s plural: "In all modern languages, the plural is always quantitative while in Ancient Hebrew a plural can be quantitative or qualitative. For instance, the word ‘trees’ refers to more than one tree (quantitative) while in Hebrew the plural word עץים (etsiym – trees) can mean more than one tree (quantitative) or one very large tree (qualitative). An example of this is the word בהמות (behemot or usually transliterated as behemoth in Job 40:15). This word is the plural form of the singular בהמה (behemah), meaning beast, but refers to a very large beast rather than more than one beast. One of the most common uses of the qualitative plural is the word אלהים (elohim) which can be translated as 'gods' (quantitative) or as 'God' (qualitative)." - Jeff Banner, The Ancient Hebrew Lexicon.
Having said that, a plural verb accompanies Elohim in Gen 35.7: And there he [Jacob] built an altar and called the place House of El because there, Elohim appeared [plural] to him at the time when he fled from his brother’s face.
In Psalm 82.1 Elohim is both plural and singular: Elohim [God] stood in El’s company, among Elohim [gods] did they judge [plural verb].
There are philosophical reasons to consider Elohim plural. One reason is that Elohim’s creative powers are seven - according to the seven cosmic days or phases of creation. More about this later.
Let’s agree that Elohim is a mystery - singular-plural and male-female. And so it should be! Who wants a straightforward Godness?
On an inspiring side note, the Hindu counterpart of Elohim is the goddess Shakti, who has the title Great Divine Mother. Hindu mystics consider her the divine feminine power of creation. Like Elohim, Shakti means 'power', or 'empowerment'.
CREATION MEANS SEPARATION
'Bara', the Hebrew verb commonly translated as 'create', has various meanings, among which are 'to separate, to choose, to make, to cut, to fatten, to shape, and to form'. These meanings shed various lights on the Godness’ mysterious, creative powers.
The author chose separating, because creation begins with a division - the cleaving of the Godness’ primordial unity into the heavens and the earth and ends with the overwhelming splendor of the physical universe where no thing, however infinitesimal, is identical with another. The ability to separate is God Mother’s prime creative power.
'Fattening', a seemingly odd choice, turns out inspiring on a closer look. Why? Because the symbol of evolution is oil. The oiled-one is the literal meaning of Messiah, the Anointed, Christ. Creation fattens (fat is somewhat solid) and evolution oils the machinery.
On a side note, only the Godness can 'bara', not people.
THE HEAVENS
The Hebrew of Heaven is shamayim and that is a plural too. It can be a plural of majesty or quantitative plural. Your guess is as good as that of the author. Having said that, mystics distinguish seven heavens or heavenly realms; however, they are part of the oral tradition and the Genesis doesn’t mention those.
EARTH
In a mystical context, earth is not Planet Earth, but rather the substance of creation. The Hebrew aretz, earth, is a blur as you will see in the coming verses. Besides being the primordial substance, earth can also denote the physical universe, as well as planetary life. In Gen 1.1 it is something abstract, i.e. the Godness’ intention to become something or to make something. In that respect, earth is the alpha and omega because creation begins with the Godness’ want of manifestation and ends with the physical universe - the result.
On a side note, mystics distinguish seven earths, analog to the seven heavens, but the Genesis doesn’t mention them either.
EX NIHILO
There is nothing in verse 1.1 that suggests a creation out of nothing. Most Jewish mystics agree that 'something' was already in place before creation began, an entire world to be precise. This is the common Jewish rendering of the first three verses: When in the beginning God created heaven and the earth, the earth being void and formless, Elohim said, “Light exist!” This suggests that the 'calling of the Light' was the first creative act and that the first two verses describe the precondition.
The issue becomes less sensitive if we stop thinking of nothing as nothing-nothing, but rather as an 'everything-mixed-up-chaos', meaning nothing concrete or nothing perceptible. Actually, that’s exactly what Genesis 1.2 tells us. Anyways, as soon as something exists - which is obviously the case - common sense nothingness becomes an impossibility since nothing cannot coexist with something. But ex nihilo makes sense if we assume that the Godness created out of a chaotic All, which is nothing in our eyes.
Sacred Geometry, 1=2, | |
In the beginning, One became Two. Mind that we are told and not shown. The reason: it is an ineffable mystery. Think about it, how can the All-Nothing (One) become something? It can’t reduce Itself. It can’t find a place either since It is omnipresent. The answer surprises: The All-Nothing creates the world in Its Mind. The first thing the All-Nothing did, and that was the only thing It could do back then, was thinking of Itself. And Its ability to think, to have an idea, to differentiate, is Elohim’s creative power.
The geometrical symbol of the first verse is the Sacred Parallel, | |, two lines facing each other, extending into infinity. One line is the limitless creative potency and the other is the illimitable adaptive creative substance. Wait, what substance?