On May 13, 2006 new member from the Netherlands, Gilraen, writes:

I have a question about the sign of the cross, and specifically about the words that go with it. Not the English words but the other ones. I'm thinking they're Hebrew, at least the text seems to suggest they are. But if I look up the Lord's Prayer in Hebrew, the words are different. Why is this? It's the same text, right? So aren't these words Hebrew or is there another difference?

Katia writes back:

Hail Gilraen:

Yes, they are all Hebrew words. The problem is that the Lord's Prayer doxology part (for thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory) is what we want to be saying when we touch corresponding spheres on the Tree of Life. Because the Tree of Life spheres each have so many different names, it makes things entirely too confusing. When the Golden Dawn Kabbalists designed the Kabbalistic Sign of the Cross they went with the two middle spheres Geburah (Judgement or Severity) and Hesed (Mercy or Love, sometimes spelled Chesed). Hesed is also called Gedulah, the latter meaning Magesty/Greatness and Glory in Hebrew, even thought a lower sphere, Hod, definitely means Glory! Anyway, as a result of choosing those slightly higher spheres, Geburah and Gedulah, they ended up saying, For thine is the kingdom, the judgement and the magesty/glory. It's not quite right!

To correspond to the Lord's prayer we are supposed to say the names of the two spheres BELOW Geburah & Hesed when we touch our shoulders. Those two lower spheres are "Power" (aka Victory, Netzach in Hebrew) and "Glory" (Hod). [Blinking spheres shown on right] Those spheres make much better sense. Yet, the Golden Dawn kabbalistic cross creators want those Hebrew words in there, v'Geburah (and the power) & v'Gedulah (and the glory). The Golden Dawn is considered "the" authority on making the sign of the Kabbalistic Cross, so I deferred to their tradition when we put it in the first lesson. Now I think we might should change it.

I just gave a lecture this past Sunday in Hollywood, CA where I taught making the sign of the cross while touching parts on the body that correspond to the Tree of Life's spheres. I had Tipharet for the forehead instead of Crown, then Kingdom for abdomen as usual. But I do Netzach and Hod for Power and Glory. We are symbolically kneeling at the base of the Tree when we "touch" those spheres on our body. Later we stand up and wear the Crown at the top. By the way, when we are symbolically standing up, we can touch other spheres at our shoulders because our shoulders are "higher", not kneeling. I know it sounds goofy, but it's pretty cool. Especially when you "touch" the two top spheres, Wisdom and Understanding, the latter of which is also called Marah one of whose meanings is "beloved" in ancient Egyptian. So you are saying, for thine is the Beauty (Tipharet becomes the abdomen sphere, not Malkut anymore), the Sophia (Hokmah), and the Beloved (Binah). You are talking to the Divine Feminine.

Actually, and this was the point of my lecture, we are already possibly talking to the Divine Feminine when we say the doxology ending part of the Lord's Prayer. This is because Power can be the Goddess Shakti and Allah's daughter-goddess Uzzah (Arabic, Aramaic, Hebrew for Power), and Glory can be translated as Shekinah, known as the "Glory of God". Kingdom is already a feminine word, Malkut, also known as the "daughter".

Back to that Catechumen Lesson 1. We should really change the v'Gedulah and v'Geburah to the proper Hebrew syllables. The Golden Dawn can do it their way, we want accuracy in our Hebrew! It's not accurate the way we say on that page that v'Geburah means "and the power" and v'Gedulah means "and the glory". Did you say you found the Lord's Prayer in Hebrew online somewhere? It would save me time if you could send transliterations for the two Hebrew phrases "and the power," "and the glory". If so, I will go change the webpage right now and bye-bye to v'Geburah and v'Gedulah. I don't care if it's been that way for six years online now. <laugh> The Golden Dawn needs to correct themselves, too. So there. <grin>

You know, we can even include all of the above to help explain the switch. You and I have been writing a lesson here today! I must thank you for pointing this out. Nobody else in all the hundreds of people who have taken that lesson has done so. Oh wait -- a guy from Israel, fluent in modern Hebrew, pointed it out once back in 2001, I think it was. I need to find his file, he's no longer with us, and see if he gave proper transliterations for "and the power" & "and the glory". Now I am worried if "li-olam" might not mean "forever" like we think it does! See why I wish I had learned Hebrew myself? <laugh> I have Hebrew linguist colleagues, including one who is a staff-member here at the Mystery School. I will ask him if you and I can't come up with something from the Hebrew Lord's Prayer you found.

Or I could get off my duff and look it up myself!

Most Sincerely,

Adepta Kristyana, AKA Katia