Theos-Talk Archives (May 2001 Message tt00186)

Daniel,

I was just having a look in Ralston Skinner's "Source of Measures" this
evening and came upon what might be a relevant passage to your question
about the slight changes in the spellings of those hebrew words in your post
re the SD.

Having discussed the very slight changes in way the Deity name J'hovah is
written he sums up:

"Thus, while it may be said that none but a very slight change has been made
in the word forms, as to their meanings, a very marked change has been made
NUMERICALLY, which was the purpose of the change. The great power of the
kabbala rest upon this kind of play, and is thus derived" (Page 8-9)

He goes on to qoute from Green's "Hebrew Grammer":

======
"The signs (of the alphabet) thus far described represent all the sounds of
the Hebrew language. Its stock of words is formed by combining these in
various significant ways. The laws of such combinations, and especially the
mutations to which they are subject, next demand attention. WHEN A
PARTICULAR IDEA HAS BEEN ATTACHED TO A CERTAIN COMBINATION OF SOUNDS, ITS
DIFFERENT MODIFICATIONS MAY NATURALLY BE EXPRESSED BY SLIGHTLY VARYING THOSE
SOUNDS. This may take place

1. By substitution of one letter for another of like character, and for the
most part of the same organ.
2. By transposition of letters.
3. By the addition of a letter.

Such literal changes as those just recited not only SERVE TO EXPRESS NEW
SHADES OF MEANING, but even where the meaning remains precisely the same,
THEY MAY REPRESENT DIVERSITIES OF OTHER SORTS."
(qouted in Source of Measures, p9. CAPS added.)
=======

Looking at the meaning context within which our slightly altered words
appear below, the above would seem to be a relevant explanation for the
changes. I would have though it would certainly be important not to alter
them, or reduce them all to the same spelling, just for the virtue of
EXOTERIC consistency.

I wonder - is it not possible that HPB, as a trained Occultist,
instinctively had a feel for variation in spelling and emphasis of words and
important terms and used these to portray the many shades of meaning of the
associated ideas?

I also wonder, would it not be wise to leave these 'variations' as they are.
Some might be errors, but all of them?

...Peter

-----Original Message-----
From: Peter Merriott [mailto:nous@btinternet.com]
Sent: 23 May 2001 18:16
To: theos-talk@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: Theos-World Hoping for more light on sacr' / sacr / Zachar,
n'cabvah / n'cabrah / Nakobeh


Daniel,

This is just a quick response from a flick through the pages references you
give.

(1) vol 1 page 5, == sacr' n'cabvah == the context here is a reference to
the hidden spirit Principle fructifying nature. Hence the reference in the
footnote to the real meaning of the word "sarc'" from which "sacred,"
"sacrament".

(2) vol 1 page 390 == sacr' and n'cabrah == (text says the literal
meaning is phallus and yoni) The context here is the symbolism of time
periods. Solar and lunar time, but especially LUNAR.

(3) vol 2 page 127 == Zachar va Nakobeh == is said to mean the "male and
female" which together are the one Adam created by God. The "one Adam" is
here a reference to the "Divine Hermaphrodite". It is interesting the
spelling is different here because the Divine Hermaphrodite would be PRIOR
the stage symbolised in 390 above (ie sacr' and n'cabrah, solar and lunar,
phallus and yoni). Adam and Eve (whatever they symbolise) are not separated
yet. This ADAM is sexless.

(4) vol 2 page 467 == sacr and n'cabvah == (note again the emphasis in
text on literal translation or lingham (phallus) and yoni. We are back
talking about GENERATIVE powers here. And the reference to Adam is a
different stage to that above (SD II 127) where he was the Divine
Hermaphrodite (sexless) created by God. This time the context is Adam
himself as creator and "progenitor of the Race". In the text we have
another reference to the MOON, the Lunar. (This may well be because the
reference to Jehovah links to the Lunar Pitris who 'created' the astral form
around which the physical was built.)

Daniel, while no.1 above is a reference to Ralston Skinner, I believe 2, 3,
and 4, are all passages from Ralston Skinner's work. Now, he knew a thing
of two about the occult significance of numbers and letters. See his
suggestive remark in SD II 467:

"He who is a Kabbalist and accustomed to the incessant permutation of
Biblical names, once they are interpreted numerically and symbolically, will
understand what is meant."

Well, we certainly have some permutations of sacr' and n'cabrah in his
works as used in the SD, and each permutation is used to symbolise a
different meaning, as can be seen. It would be interesting to look at the
numerical values of those different spellings, permutations to see if they
added anything deeper to the meanings and stages symbolised above. He gives
out some of these values in his work. But I suspect many are blinds.

So, I really don't understand why de Zirkoff felt compelled to alter the
spelling of the words in question. I think I would have left well alone.

...Peter


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Blavatsky Archives [mailto:info@blavatskyarchives.com]
> Sent: 23 May 2001 15:57
> To: theos-talk@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: Theos-World Hoping for more light on sacr' / sacr / Zachar,
> n'cabvah / n'cabrah / Nakobeh
>
>
>
>
> As a student of HPB's writings, I am always trying to understand what
> she is writing about. Many times I have to try to grapple with a
> word that I don't understand and I try to ascertain what is the
> meaning of the term, etc.
>
> Take the words on the following pages of the SD:
>
> QUOTATION A: sacr' n'cabvah SD, I, 5
>
> QUOTATION B: sacr n'cabrah SD, I, 390
>
> QUOTATION C: Zachar Nakobeh SD, II, 127
>
> QUOTATION D: sacr n'cabvah SD, II, 467
>
> Are we to conclude that there are only TWO Hebrew words under
> discussion and on these pages of the SD we have 3 variant English
> spellings of each Hebrew word?
>
> Hebrew Word 1 = sacr' = sacr = Zachar
>
> Hebrew Word 2 = n'cabvah = n'cabrah = Nakobeh
>
> What is the significance (if any) of the differences in spellings?
>
> I assume Boris de Zirkoff concluded that the subject matter involved
> only two Hebrew words and that for whatever reason(s) variant
> spellings had crept into the SD manuscript. He probably consulted
> with Anava Kantor about this matter. See Vol. I p. [79] in CW
> edition of SD. Following guidline 3 on p. [77] Vol. I he corrected
> all spellings to "zakhar" and "negebah". [He was not totally
> sucessful in these corrections since there is still one variant
> spelling in the CW edition!]
>
> If anyone believes that there is some significances to these variant
> spellings I would like some feedback on what these variant spellings
> are intended to convey that is not apparent to the "scholarly eye".
>
> Also I do not completely understand what HPB is trying to convey in
> the following quotation:
>
> ". . . With the races of our Fifth Race it became in symbology
> the
> sacr', and in Hebrew n'cabvah, of the first-formed races;* then it
> changed into the Egyptian . . . ." SD, I, 5
>
> What does the first "it" stand for?
>
> Specifially, what does this phrase mean:
>
> "in symbology the sacr', and in Hebrew n'cabvah"
>
> One student has emailed me saying that he believes HPB is writing in
> this phrase about only ONE Hebrew word; not two.
>
> I notice in the Boris de Zirkoff edition that Boris has not only
> changed the spelling of the two Hebrew terms but has also rearranged
> and changed some of the other words in the sentence. Why was this
> done????
>
> Daniel
>
>
> Daniel H. Caldwell
> info@blavatskyarchives.com
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