Esoteric Mystery School Lesson One, Catechumen Phase

After completing the five lessons of this Catechumen phase you will become an Initiate by experiencing a true water baptism as practiced by the earliest of Kristians, those that studied personally with Yeshua. It is a self-initiation you will perform at home. On this page you will find Catechumen Lesson One. It is somewhat long and has several little sets of questions for you to answer. These studies are designed to show you how to tap esoteric forces and currents to transform your consciousness up the ladder of spiritual evolution. The goal is not to just "make" magik, not to just do spiritual things, but to BE magik, to BE of the Spirit.  After all, esoterica and the "occult" (the inner knowledge of the chosen few, some of it hidden, some of it secret) are not something you do, but something you ARE.   One of the first steps to activating this esoteric knowledge within you is to get a feel for the concept of Sacred Four. The Sacred Four A compass has four directions, each with mystical significance. There are four divisions in our orbit around the sun--the seasons.  The number four is present in biblical magik and Kabbalah in many ways. The Name of the Divine, Y H V H, has four sacred letters signifying four sacred beings: God the Father, the Mother, the Begotten-Son and the Spirit-Daughter. There are four worlds in Kabbalah (we will cover these in the Qabalah course), four winds, four directions, four archangels, four elements, four chambers in the heart, and four Tarot and playing card suits. Four is a very balanced number. Sacred Balance is an important concept in virtually all facets of esoterica, especially when performing the "great work." In the Mystery Schools of the Middle Ages functioning as an Initiate, Adept or Mage, was called "performing the great work." In our Esoteric Mystery School we also refer to functioning as an Initiated Adept as "great-working." Here's a very short article sent in by young Mystery School Initiate, Grace Philosophia:    Four is Fab, Mythically Speaking Associated Press New York Imagine John, Paul, and George making music without Ringo. Ben, Little Joe and Adam running the Ponderosa without Hoss. The Cowardly Lion, the Tin Man and the Scarecrow off to see the Wizard without Dorothy. Unthinkable! Would we have loved the Beatles, the Cartwrights, and the Oz gang as trios? Perhaps. But author Harold Schechter, an expert on myths in popular culture, thinks it's likely some of their magic would have been lost. Quaternity, the mythic union of four characters into a single, cohesive unit, often results in "an invincible psychic totality," says Schechter, a professor of English at Queens College in New York. Swiss psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung defined the special power of four in terms of four functions of consciousness working in balance and harmony: sensation, thinking, feeling, and intuition. "The Beatles spoke of themselves as being four parts of a single personality," Schechter says. Mythically speaking, they were right. "The literate, sardonic, Lennon stood for thinking; Harrison - deeply immersed in Eastern mysticism - for intuition; the romantic, androgynously pretty Paul McCartney, for feeling; and the clownish Ringo, with his puppy-dog charm, for sensation. "Together these four musicians constituted an astonishingly creative and dynamic entity; separated from one another, however, they seem to have lost most of their artistic power." Other famous foursomes break down as follows, Schechter says: Sensation was a function shared by Hoss, the Cowardly Lion, and Scotty, chief engineer of the Starship Enterprise. Thinking was the role of Ben Cartwright, the Scarecrow and the logical Mr. Spock.  Feeling fell to Little Joe, the Tin Man and Enterprise physician "Bones" McCoy.  And intuition was the realm of Adam, Dorothy and Captain James T. Kirk. Initiate Grace Philosophia comments:  Just recently my mother and I were talking about the four characters in the movie, Matrix: Revolutions and Revelations.  They are Link, Morpheus, Neo, and Trinity all on the ship Nebuchadnezzar.  This is what we came up with: Link is sensation, constantly reacting with a certain fear to the happenings; Morpheus, who makes the plans out of the group, is thinking; Neo is feeling since he is always "feeling" the sentinels, energies and is basically running on adrenaline throughout the course of the movie; and lastly, Trinity is intuition, being the only female on-board. ASSIGNMENT: Can you think of any other things in the universe that come in fours?  Make a list of some fours to send to the Mystery School. Sending in your List of Fours is your first assignment. Follow the SUBMITTING ANSWERS INSTRUCTIONS for how to submit answers to this and all future lessons. (Submitting answers is a bit complicated til you get the hang of it, so don't be discouraged!). Member Alatariel writes:  I was a little stuck on the concept of Fours, so I went to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4_(number) I couldn’t believe the number of things that were associated with the number four. Then it dawned on me. The number four is stable – like a chair, a bed, or a table. The number four means stability. +Katia adds:  Yes, and a stable universe is needed for life, mind and spirituality to exist.  This is what Four is all about. Magik & Magi You may have noticed the k in the word magik. Our Mystery School uses this spelling for various reasons, the first of which is because it is close to the original Greek and Persian words.  The word magic derives from the Greek word magikos, meaning "powers of the Magi" but the Greeks took it from the older Persian word which meant "controlling the elements." Spelling it with a k distinguishes the spiritual workings of magik from stage magic with its hats and rabbits. The latter should really be called "illusion," and "sleight-of-hand," but the word magic was erroneously applied to stage illusion to give it more credibility and mystery.  This caused a few true magik-workers to use the -ck spelling (magick) to differentiate between the two, but our School uses an even purer spelling:  M A G I K. This keeps us from being associated with Aleister Crowley, the infamous member of the Golden Dawn who was supposedly the first to use the magick spelling back in the early 1900's.  However, some say Eliphas Levi, the French Occultist, was the first to use that spelling twenty years earlier than Crowley.  Many occult experts accuse all teachers who use Crowley's spelling (magick) of being "Crowley-ites."   Wanting to be as close as possible to the original greek Magikos, and not being Crowleyites in any shape or form, our School spells the word as magik. In the textbook reading assignment for this lesson there is a nice definition of true magik (the author of our textbook uses the -ck) which will make all this clearer. As members of the Mystery School we are each on the path to become a Kristian Mage (male or female), Magus (male), Maga (female). Of course you don't have to refer to yourself as one of these terms, but it is something you may end up becoming. Who were the original Magi? The Magi were a priestly caste in ancient Persia, also called Chaldean Magi. They are thought to have been followers of Zoroaster, the Persian teacher and prophet who lived around 600 BC. Professing the doctrines of Zoroastrianism, the magi practiced a libations ritual, pouring milk, oil, and honey over a flame while chanting prayers and hymns. Gradually, the religion of the magi incorporated Babylonian elements, including astrology, demonology, and magic. (The word magic is derived from the word magi.) By the 1st century AD, the magi were identified with wise men and soothsayers. Thus, the biblical magi who came from the East to worship the infant Yeshua  (see Matthew 2:1-12) were called wise men.  Reference: MSN Encatre article 4-2-01 ************************** There is a noticeable Hindu influence in the ancient rituals of the magi. Pre-Zoroastrian Persia had the same pantheon of Gods as India (Indra and Mithra etc.). The Zoroastrian magi converted over to worshipping the one wise God preached of by Zoroaster (Ahura Mazda is the name of this one god) but in their rituals they still used milk and honey over a flame, just as the Hindus did 10,000 years ago and still do today. Hinduism really influenced a lot of cultures, languages and religions.  The terms Indo-European and Indo-Persian indicate some of these important blendings and mergers. Later the semitic Jewish people, the Hebiru or Eberu ("Hebrews"), adopted concepts like dualism (a good god and an equal and opposing evil god), the devil and perhaps this "milk and honey" motif from Zoroastrianism via Hinduism.  Early on Judaism evolved into non-dualism, (the evil entity is not a god, not equal with the one God, but is still a pain in the arse). Just so, Hinduism evolved into Advaita (Non-dual) Vedanta religion for the "elite" but still Dvaita (Dual) Vedanta for the "masses." Overmind Thinking Overmind thinking is God-Thinking. Organizing and thinking about your universe (or multi-verse) in fours encourages your mind to wrap itself around the big picture, around everything-at-once. Overmind thinking is big-picture thinking. Perhaps the Divine processes information (thinks) this way. Don't be dismayed if you are not sure what we are talking about here. Just keep reading. Each lesson is supposed to take a week to complete, so it's a good idea to get into the habit of reading over the lesson each day, even if it seems easy. The spiritual-magikal parts of your mind are empowered by repetition. The more times this information travels over the highways and by-ways of your mind, the stronger and more substantial those pathways become. Physiologically, you are training your neural synapses, those tiny little connections in your brain, to light up more quickly. Psychically, repetition activates your Overmind thinking, getting you warmed up to expand your spiritual-magikal life. Every time you review your magik studies, you are getting your mind ready for god-thinking. Back to Top Making the Sign of the Cross If you were not raised Catholic or Eastern Orthodox, you may still have seen people from those religions crossing themselves. They hold the fingers of their right hand (always the right hand!) in a certain hand shape, then touch their forehead, chest and shoulders. What are they doing? This sign is nowhere described or even mentioned in the Bible. Yet the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches are the oldest Christian churches on the planet, tracing their roots back to the earliest Kristians, the direct followers of Yeshua. Maybe they "remember" something the rest of Christianity doesn't. Over the centuries, many of the original Kristian teachings and traditions have been warped, suppressed and violently removed. But making the sign of the cross, the equal-bar cross (not a crucifix) is indeed an ancient practice. It has its roots in Kabala, ancient Jewish mysticism, hinted at in the Old Testament (or Hebrew Bible) and taught by Jesus/Yeshua.  There is little doubt that Master Yeshua himself taught the making of the cross to his pupils. You will almost certainly recognize the words that go with this magikal making... Starting position: Hold your RIGHT hand in the air just above your forehead, and with your index finger, point up toward the heavens 1 Bring your finger down and touch your forehead. Say, "Ah-tah" (For Thine...) 4 Touch Left Shoulder "Vih-G'dew-Lah" (and the Glory) 5 Clasp hands together (like praying hands) in front of chest. Say, "Lih-Oh-Lahm  Ah-Mane" (Forever, Amen) 3 Touch Right Shoulder "Vih-G'boo-Rah" (and the Power) 2 Move hand down torso, hold over abdomen/groin, pointing downward toward the center of the earth. "Mol-Koot" (is the Kingdom) Note:  the G sound in Vih-G'dew-Lah and Vih-G'boo-Rah is a hard G as in "good", not a soft G as in "George." If you know a little bit of Hebrew and are wondering about the Hebrew inconsistency above, read this. Passwords & Occult Sign Language This hand-gesture, making the sign of the cross, is one of the oldest occult sign-language forms.  The words to this hand gesture are your first password in the Esoteric Mystery School, and were used as a password by none other than the early Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Churches.  Feel free to memorize the words in Hebrew, too, but you are only REQUIRED to know the password in English.  The phrase, "for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, amen"  is often called "the Catechumen password."  In ancient days, when Kristianity was an underground movement punishable by death, someone might casually say to you in conversation or during a business transaction, "Lead us not into temptation."  You would then be expected to immediately respond by saying the above password.  If you didn't, they would know you weren't one of them and would carefully refrain from discussing Kristianity. Besides as a password sign, why Make the Sign of the Cross? The soul is said to anchor itself in the chest. The chest cavity is also called the soul cavity in esoterica. When you make the sign of the cross over your soul cavity, you are affirming your link to the four corners of the Universe (or multi-verse). You are also protecting yourself from negative energies and entities. You may have heard terms like, "making the sign against the evil eye," and "warding off evil." These were everyday phrases in the Middle Ages, showing an ever-present fear of both inner and outer "demons," fear of evil and fear of the negative aspects of the personality. When you cross yourself, you are "warding off evil," actually protecting your soul. When you perform certain rituals or affirmations you are communicating with the higher, deep and ordinary minds, as well as announcing to the universe.  When making the sign of the cross you remind all aspects of your self to utilize the sacred marriage between head and heart (we touch the head first and then heart). Touching your shoulders then makes it clear to all and to the Universe that you plan to put into action that marriage of head and heart.  The arms are a symbol of the Work.  We have been called to service, to the holy Work.  We make a circuit, a polarity, when we unite head and heart (mind and emotion, intellect and compassion).  We show we really mean it when we put that knowledge (gnosis) and conviction to work.  Just like your grandmother said, actions speak louder than words.  Thus making the sign of the cross is an ancient affirmation reminding us to actualize the sacred marriage, to use our spiritual know-how in a hands-on way.   Hand Positions Making the sign of the evil eye means crossing your fingers, like people do when they say, "cross your fingers," or "jinx." Making a special hand gesture and then hoping all will be well is an ancient practice steeped in the occult. An old sect of the Russian Orthodox church, called the "Old Believers" actually cross their fingers almost in the "jinx" position when they make the sign of the cross. Three hundred years ago the Russian Church tried to stop them from doing this. When Tikhon, the Russian Pope (called the Patriarch), learned that the crossed fingers were a "pagan" hand gesture, the entire empire was forced to switch to a newer hand position:  the thumb-pad touching the pads of the first two fingers, with the ring finger and pinky folded toward the palm. All those who didn't switch to the new way were persecuted, and many were even executed. A few held firm, fled the country or hid out in the hills.  Thus the Old Believers still exist today in Canada and remote parts of Russia. The new hand position is still used by the entire Eastern Orthodox Church: Russian, Greek, Coptic, Antiochian, Serbian, Ukrainian and Armenian. These are some of the oldest Christian Churches in the world, older than the Roman church by centuries. Roman Catholics hold the right hand flat and all four fingers together as they touch forehead and shoulders. In Kabbalah, the Bible magik system studied by Jewish and Christian occultists, there is yet another finger/hand position. Kabbalists hold the hand with index finger in the pointing position, as given in the exercise above. Another difference in the way Catholics and Eastern Orthodox make the sign of the cross is which shoulder is touched first. Catholics tap their left shoulder first, Orthodox their right. In Christian and Judaic Kabbalah, it is customary to tap the right shoulder first, though some schools do teach left-first. Touching the left shoulder first is a sign that a school's teachings aren't as accurate. Many instructors will deliberately teach pupils the "mainstream" left-shoulder-first method in order to keep the ancient way for inner circle students only. Occult Sign Language Hand Gesture: There is much symbolism and meaning in all these hand gestures. The Crossed-fingers hand sign of the Old Believers is believed to be the way the earliest Christians held their hand while they crossed themselves. It is possible that Yeshua and the Magdala (Mary Magdalene) instructed their followers in this way. This hand gesture is not easy to make and ancient children as well as Old Believer Russian children today were/are carefully taught. To make the crossed-fingers position, hold the index finger straight up as if pointing to heaven, and then bend your middle finger in half so that the two fingers make a little cross. The thumb is also held straight and makes a V shape with the index finger. The ring finger and pinky can either bend in half like the middle finger or to be very occult correct, can also make a sort of cross as shown in the picture above. Yeshua is often shown in classical art with his hand in blessing posture in this cross-fingered hand position. HIS ring finger and pinky are lowered to touch the palm, making the finger cross stand out (and for other significant reasons which we'll explore in later lessons). Such finger and hand positions are called mudras (MOO-drahz) in Sanskrit, the sacred language of ancient India. Please try all of these hand positions when you cross yourself. See which one(s) seem best for you. The gestures can all become part of your sign language vocabulary, each one to be used at different times, for different purposes. Be sure, however, to touch the right shoulder first. This will identify you as an adept of the esoteric Way, a member of Yeshua's Church of the Way. Back to Top Basic Magik:  A Practical Guide Time for a little textbook reading.  Please click here and read the first excerpt (pp. 3-13) from Basic Magick: A Practical Guide by Phillip Cooper. For a reminder on How To Submit your Answers, click the blue button above. ASSIGNMENT: Please copy and paste the following 8 questions onto your Catechumen Lesson "Discussion" on your Ning Member Files page. Insert your answers and click on "Add Reply". Cat 1, Basick Magick answers from __________ (your spiritual name) True or False 1.  T or F?  There is no such thing as being "unworthy."  There is enough energy for everyone. 2.  T or F?  You are the servant of your subconscious mind. 3.  T or F?  The secrets of magik can be found in books if you know where to look. 4.  T or F?  Magik is the art of getting to know about energy and learning how to use it. 5.  T or F?  The subconscious mind is nothing like a computer. Fill in the Blanks 6.  Magik is concerned with the giving of  instructions to what part of the mind? _____________ 7.  Magik without __________  is quite pointless. 8.  With what kind of language do we communicate with our internal computer/subconscious? _____________ A Touch of Tarot      Back to Top Tarot 1 Tarot is a deck of cards each with a symbol on it.  It is a tool you use to communicate with your subconscious mind and connect with the Divine.  For the past 750 years, all western Mystery Schools have required the study of Tarot because of its ancient symbolism and ability to convey the mysteries. If you need help choosing a deck and/or want to take an offsite free online Tarot course (19 lessons) visit this website:  Learning the Tarot.  Don't forget to come back here, though, to finish this Catechumen Lesson! Supplies needed:  A 78 Card Tarot deck and a regular playing card "Poker" deck.  Set the playing card deck aside. Separate your Tarot deck into two piles:   Small pile: The Major Arcana, the special 22 "trump" cards.   Large pile: The 56 minor arcana: all the kings, queens, swords and cups, etc.   Hold the larger of the two piles in your hand. From this 56 card deck came the current 52 card playing deck. The 22 Trumps, the Major Arcana, were removed when the playing card deck was made. They were too hot to handle, their symbols too powerful. But actually, one and only one of the Major Arcana did survive.  The Tarot card called the Fool is in every pack of playing cards you buy, although they don't call it the Fool anymore. This sole surviving Tarot card is not used in most playing card games. But when it is used in card games it is always the most powerful card, trumping (literally triumphing over) any other cards. For a reminder on How To Submit your Answers, click the blue button above. ASSIGNMENT: Please copy and paste the following three questions onto your Catechumen Lesson "Discussion" on your Ning Member Files page. Insert your answers and click on "Add Reply". Cat 1, Tarot answers from __________ (your spiritual name) 1.  What is the name of the card in the modern playing card deck that used to be the Fool in the 22 Tarot trumps?  (Hint: think silliness, goofiness) 2.   How many total cards are in a Tarot deck? ____ How many cards are in the playing card deck? ____ 3.  Fifty-six is four more than fifty-two.  When the playing card deck was created from the minor arcana of the Tarot deck, four cards were removed.  What were they?  (Hint: Jack was a slang word for Knight. The Knights, called "Jacks," are still in the playing card deck, so that is not the answer.) Now please sort your deck into the following five piles: Interesting Tarot Trivia: The four removed cards were originally females, but in most Tarot decks they have been replaced by male characters. Enchanted Tarot and other decks include them accurately as Princesses or Ladies. The Knight is balanced out by his Lady, the King by his Queen.  The four face-cards are Kings, Queens, Knights and Princesses. Here we see the sacred four again.  Two males, two females.  Two rulers of a parental nature, and two vivacious active members of the younger generation. After taking this lesson, a member asked this question:  Is there a reason the card is called a Page if it was originally female, because historically we know pages were males? Or were they just using the word Page to hide the fact that it was in fact a representation of the goddess daughter? Tarot Master Jonathan answers:  There have actually been a lot of theories as to why the "Princesses" and the"Pages" have often been interchangeable or why the Pages have replaced the Princesses in most decks altogether. One theory holds that the various Tarot artists sought to create a "believable" order among the court cards. While the correct placement should be: Yod=Kings; Heh=Queens; Vav=Knights; and Heh (final)=Princesses, in actual court life, no princess would ever be placed in an "inferior" role to a mere knight. This theory presupposes that the cards are to be understood as following an ascending order, just as Medieval courts did. (I don't know if I personally buy this theory, but there it is...) As the Tarot has long been steeped in "romance" many artists have sought to emphasize the "neophyte" status of the Pages, linking them to the aspects of the self that are immature but in the process of growing. Perhaps a more interesting (if rather insulting and sexist) theory holds that though the Pages are male in gender, because of their youth they are more or less asexual--meaning that they correspond to the "Daughter" in some way. While the Kings and the Knights bear a close relationship among the court cards, the Queen and the Page also share a relationship, forming a collective "Yin" to the "Yang" of the Kings and Knights. This conceptualization has never made sense to me, but, again, I offer it as one of many theories. It might be interesting to note that throughout history, there have been numerous versions of the Tarot, some with as many as 140 cards. The standardization of the current 78-card deck is a relatively recent phenomenon. Some decks from the Middle Ages included Pages, Princesses, Princes, and even lesser nobility. I'm not sure how much any of the artists who created these decks even knew or thought about achieving "balance" among the court cards. Really, it seems as though it was the members of the Golden Dawn and other esoteric groups who started to make connections between the cards and Kabbalistic thought. Maybe you've seen some of the "alternative" decks out there, such as Aleister Crowley's Thoth deck, which does have Princesses rather than Pages. I'm not actually sure anyone was trying to "cover up" any goddess/female-link. Rather, I suspect that more recent occultists have attempted to "uncover" and highlight it.  Blessings, Jonathan * * * * * * * * * * There are many theories about the origins of Tarot cards. Some say they came from ancient Egypt or were created by the Jews during their capture in Babylon, thus giving the Tarot a Kabbalah basis. But no matter their ancient origins, the Tarot deck as we know it today was created by Esoteric Christians in the Middle Ages who were desperately clinging to their "pagan" and occult Kristian traditions and were forced to mask their teachings. The earliest modern decks were created in France and were used to teach occult students. Each deck contained a pope, and papess (lady pope, now called the High Priestess), a hanged man and other symbols hinting at Christianity but clearly alternative, non-mainstream, therefore heretical, therefore called "pagan."    When we look at the Tarot with Esoteric Christian eyes we see that the four face-cards in each suit, the King, Queen, Knight and Princess/Lady point to God the Father, God the Mother, Yeshua the Begotten Son, and Mary Magdalene the Daughter of Zion.   If the subject of Mary Magdalene and the Tarot really interests you, you would enjoy Margaret Starbird's book on Tarot,  The Tarot Trumps and the Holy Grail.   One of the textbooks we use in our in-depth Tarot course is Metaphysical Meditations on the Tarot: A Journey Into Christian Hermeticism, by Anonymous, translated by Robert Powell. The 56 Minor Arcana As you know from the piles in front of you, the minor arcana has four suits. These suits became the four suits in the playing card deck as shown in the chart below. Each suit has a special meaning relating to different areas in your life--love, emotions, work, occupation, money, prosperity, conflicts and strategies (and war). If you often draw cards from one suit more than the others, that means the cards are trying to tell you something about that area of your life. If you are particularly attracted to one suit, that means your personality is naturally "slanted" toward that area, and possibly that your mission in life involves that realm. Some Basic Magik Supplies Needed:  Pen and paper, or preferably your own Magikal Notebook/Journal (Your journal can also be kept online at your Ning MemberFiles page as a "blog", for instance. Blogs are after all, the techno-age name for "journal" and "diary") Please read excerpt pages 14-20 in Basic Magick: A Practical Guide before you begin this section Chanting a Mantram Please turn to the section on page 18 called The Breath Mantram.  A mantram is like a magik word or chant. It's a phrase of only a few syllables or words that can be repeated silently over and over.  This repetition distracts the ordinary chattering mind and allows your higher mind to take control and give instructions to your powerful internal computer, your subconscious mind. A mantram is also called a mantra (which is actually the plural form of mantram) or an affirmation or a prayer-word. It can be your greatest friend when you're stressed or alone or frightened. The mantram works great for anxiety attacks and insomnia, too!  If you can't sleep, why not use the time to communicate with your mental computer and connect with your higher self (god- goddess-self.) Chanting in rhythm with your Breathing In the portion of Basic Magic we just read, the author Phillip Cooper mentions breathing in time to the syllables you are internally chanting. This is an ancient practice used in virtually all spiritual traditions in the world. The act of breathing in and out while chanting a special word or syllable is like typing instructions into your computer. Your fingers tap in a rhythm up and down sending signals to the deep hidden recesses of the computer. In just the same way, repeating a mantram to the rhythm of your breathing sends powerful signals to the hidden recesses of your subconscious, allowing your higher mind to "connect" with it and give it instructions. Cooper suggests a famous Eastern breath mantram. If this Eastern mantram doesn't appeal to you, it won't work, so you may wish to choose another. There are many esoteric Judeo-Christian, pagan, and ancestral mantras to choose from. If you want a good Pagan-Christian mantram, simply chanting the names of the members of the Godhead works well. Yeh-SHOO-ah, Meer-ee-AHM-nee, Ah-doe-NYE, Sheh-KEE-nah. We will go over these and other esoteric Judeo-Pagan-Christian mantra in the next lesson. Now before we get to the last little assignment in Catechumen Lesson One, here's a quick preview of the next lesson:  The most powerful and probably the most ancient Judeo-Christian mantram is the Tetragrammaton, the holy Ineffable Name. It is based on the four letters, YHVH. When people try to pronounce this ineffable name, they come up with inaccurate god-names like Yahweh and Jehovah. The individual letters are from the ancient Hebrew alphabet (which incidentally has 22 letters that match the 22 major arcana cards in the Tarot deck).  The Hebrew letters are pronounced as follows. Try saying them in your head as you breathe in and out. Y = "yahd," * Take an in-breath H = "heh" Breathe out V = "vahv"       Breathe in H = "heh."       Breathe out *Some kabbalists pronounce the Y as "yud" or "yod" A whole system of Bible Magik is based on the secret names of the Godhead, both male and female members, contained within the YHVH. That system is a major part of the work of our Order of Melchizedek. There are body positions and hand signals that match the sacred letters. So much can be said about this Ineffable name, and we will cover this topic fully in future discussions. Please click YHVH The Ineffable Name  to read the section describing the YHVH in the public section of our website. For a reminder on How To Submit your Answers, click the blue button above. ASSIGNMENT: Please copy and paste the following seven questions onto your Catechumen Lesson "Discussion" on your Ning Member Files page. Insert your answers and click on "Add Reply". Catechumen Lesson One, More Basic Magick from ___________ (your spiritual name). 1. A prerequisite for successful magikal work is the ability to become ____________. 2. _____________ is the enemy of ritual because it blocks access to your subconscious mind. 3.  I tried at least once, the Relaxation exercise on page 14/15 4.  I performed the Relaxation exercise 3 or 4 times this week 5.  I plan to do this exercise once a day, or at least before any magikal workings I attempt 6.  I tried, or plan to try, the ritual bath exercise on page 18 7.  I have completed the Needs & Desires exercise described on pages 19 and 20 Back to Top © 1999 -Present Esoteric Theological Seminary  All Rights Reserved