Further Explorations of the Word MA

Prior post on the topic: "Ma." Hola darlings! On this Good Friday, I'm going to write what Barbara Walker had to say about Maat in "The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Legends": Maat Egyptian Goddess as personification of "Truth" or "Justice"; the original name based on the universal Indo-European mother-syllable meant simply "Mother." Maat's symbol was the feather against which she weighed each man's heart-soul (ab) in her underground Hall of Judgment. Thus the Plume of Maat itself became a hieroglyph for "truth."(1) The same feathers of Truth were worn by other aspects of the Goddess, such as Isis, who was the same lawgiving Mother. The gods themselves were constrained to "live by Maat." Her law governed all three worlds ruled by her trinity as "Lady of heaven, queen of the earth, and mistress of the underworld."(2) As the lawgiver of archaic Egypt, Maat was comparable to Babylonian Tiamat who gave the sacred tablets to the first king of gods. Maat's laws were notably benevolent, compared to the harsh commands of later patriarchal gods, backed up by savage threats like those of Deuteronomy 28:15-68. An Egyptian was expected to recite the famous Negative Confession in the presence of Maat and Thoth (or Anubis) to show he had obeyed Maat's rules of behavior: I have not been a man of anger. I have done no evil to mankind. I have not inflicted pain. I have made none to weep. I have done violence to no man. I have not done harm unto animals. I have not robbed the poor. I have not fouled water. I have not trampled fields. I have not behaved with insolence. I have not judged hastily. I have not stirred up strife. I have not made any man to commit murder for me. I have not insisted that excessive work be done for me daily. I have not borne false witness. I have not stolen land. I have not cheated in measuring the bushel. I have allowed no man to suffer hunger. I have not increased my wealth except with such things as are my own possessions. I have not seized wrongfully the property of others. I have not taken milk from the mouths of babes.(3) Those who lived by the laws of Maat took a sacramental drink, comparable to the Hindus' Soma or its Persian counterpart Haoma, which conferred ritual purity in the same sense as the Christian "washing in the blood of the Lamb." Egyptian scribes of the 3rd millenium B.C. wrote: "My inward parts have been washed in the liquor of Maat." Like baptismal water of life, Maat's potion brought life after-death to the peaceful, but death overtook violent persons.(4) Egyptian moral precepts were of a high order, many of them turning up centuries later in the Bible: Take heed not to rob the poor, and be not cruel to the destitute.... If thou canst answer the man who attacks thee, do him no injury. Let the evildoer alone; he will destroy himself. We must help the sinner, for may we not become like him?...Crusts of bread and a loving heart are better than rich food and contention.... Learn to be content with what thou hast. Treasure obtained by fraud will not stay with thee; thou hast it today, tomorrow it has departed.... The approval of man is better than riches.(5) Under the feudal disorders of the 12th dynasty [c. 1991 - 1783 BCE], old rules began to break down along with the matrilineal clan system that supported them, and educated Egyptians deplored the disruptions of society. A Heliopolitan priest wrote: "Maat is cast out, iniquity is in the midst of the council hall.... [T]he poor man has no strength to save hmself from him that is stronger than he."(6) Sometimes kinsman murdered kinsman, in violation of the clan's most sacred rule. One writer unfavorably compared his countrymen to the Maat-worshipping tribes of Nubia: "The Matoi, who are friendly towards Egypt, say: 'How could there be a man that would slay his brother?'"(7) Maat was more than a judge of the dead. She was a stand-in for all Egyptian Goddesses, including Hathor, Mut, Isis, Neith, Nekhbet, etc. The sun god was told: "The goddess Maat embraceth thee both at morn and at eve." As a birth-giver, she was sometimes Metet, the Morning Boat of the Sun, translated "becoming strong" and corresponding to the Greco-Roman mother of the dawn, Mater Matuta.(8) She was worshipped in lands other than Egypt. Northern Syria was called by the Hittites, Mat Hatti: that is, Mother of Hatti.(9) Egyptian priests drew the Feather of Maat on their tongues in green dye, to give their words a Logos-like power of Truth so their verbal magic could create reality.(1) Similarly in northern Europe the divine bard Bragi had this power because of the runes engraved on his tongue by the Goddess Idun. African Pygmies still know Maat by the name she bore in Sumeria as "womb" and "underworld": Matu. She was the first woman, and the mother of God. Like her Egyptian counterpart she was sometimes cat-headed.(11) Notes: (1) Budge, E.L., 68. (2) Budge, G.E 1, 418. (3) Budge, D.N., 254; Hallet, 411. (4) H. Smith, 49-51. (5) Budge, D.N., 258-60. (6) H. Smith, 50. (7) Erman, 43, 107. (8) Budge, G.E. 1, 323, 417. (9) Mendenhall, 157. (10) Seligmann, 39. (11) Hallet, 95. **************************************************************************** Wow! Where do I even start to comment? How about this: THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, the movie which I remember from earliest times watching every Easter Sunday, will be on commercial television TOMORROW NIGHT, instead of Sunday Night! Darlings, this is absolutely, positively the END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT. Watching THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, with Charleton Heston as Moses, Anne Baxter as the best Neferteri I ever saw, and that incredibly sexy, magnetic Yul Brynner as Rameses, is a must see for everyone. Indeed, there's something in this movie for everyone, which is why so many people continue to watch it year after year. Anyway, tomorrow night at 6:00 p.m. will find me comfortably ensconced in my recliner (yes, I have one - go suck Easter Eggs if you're laughing) with a large supply of Wine and Fritos close to hand, to once again watch the Grand Epic and laugh at Charleton Heston's really bad acting. But I have to give it to the man, he was a hunk back in his day. Whoa! From THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, we now turn to THE TEN COMMANDMENTS - the real ones (allegedly), which were passed to Moses by Yahweh himself. While I certainly believe that anyone and everyone can experience supernatural events/happenings/revelations, or whatever one wishes to call such an event, I do not believe how THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (I think they were originally referred to as THE TEN WORDS) mysteriously multipled whilst residing in the Ark of the Covenant and turned into several thousand burdensome and petty rules, governing the minutest part of life. As a consequence, the followers of Yahweh became a people of rules rather than what Yahweh intended them to be, a people guided by a short list of principles to live by. Rules come and go, but principles are forever. Perhaps this is a lesson we need to revisit these days in the USA. I am pretty sure that if we had been a people of principles rather than legalistic rules, the CRASH OF 2008 would not have happened. Well, be that as it may, anyone who reads Abovethelaw.com these days and who absolutely HATES lawyers or wannabe lawyers is laughing their butts off! If you thought Wall Street types were totally self-absorbed, you haven't yet been introduced to the world of the 3L. Goddess, to think that I was once in that world - but thank Goddess, I wasn't like that - Maat, I've got a positive negative confession to make! That's why I got the hell out of the profession after five years. Overall, I haven't regretted it, but I sure wish I could figure out a way to make a lot of money without selling my soul to SATAN. Ha! That's not gonna happen, darlings. And just as well. I think I have a Napoleonic Complex... So glad the Goddess thumped me on the head one day and said - ENOUGH! And, cutting things short here because I've been at work all day and it's nearly 8 PM and I'm hungry and I want to make a casserole and TOP MODEL is coming on, I am SO glad I finally know where that famous saying came from - about taking the milk out of the mouth of babes. We STILL use it today. WOW! Ancient Egypt - the Negative Confessions - the Goddess Maat! ROCK ON MAAT!

Further Explorations of the Word MA

We've touched upon the meaning of the word in prior posts regarding Mary, Ma, Mari, etc. [compare Mera, Meri, Ta-Mera, etc.] Tonight we're going to explore further. Here is what Barbara Walker "The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets" has to say under the entry "Ma:" Basic mother-syllable of Indo-European languages, worshipped in itself as the fundamental name of the goddess. the universality of the mother-wird (not shared by words for "father") indicates either that the human race carried the same word from its earliest source [Merritt Ruhlen's theory that all language can be traced back to one "mother" tongue] to all parts of the earth at a period previous to the discovery of fatherhood; or else that all human beings instinctively say something like "ma" as the first verbal sound and associate it with the mother's breast, consequently with emotional dependence on a divinity perceived as a milk-giving mother - notwithstanding the absurd reference of Moses to a "nursing father" carrying the sucking child in his bosom (Numbers 11:12). "Ma-Ma" means "mother's breasts" in nearly all languages.(1) "All around the world, from Russia to Samoa, and in the ancient languages of Egypt, Babylon, India, and the Americas, the word for 'mother' is mama or some minor variation of this word."(2) In ancient Anatolia the Mother was Ma-Bellona; in Sumer and Akkad the Great Goddess was often called Mama, Mami, Mammitu, etc. In Central and South America the Goddess had such names as Mama Cocha, Mama Quilla, Mama Cuna.(3) In the Far East, the maternal blood bond that joined members of the matrilineal clan was mamata, "mine-ness."(4) Its sacred letter Ma, in pictographic form as the Spark of Life (bindu or vindu), was said to be "in the Great Yoni."(5) This scripture referred to a mystic essence uinting all the souls in a matrilineal kinship group. Ma or mamata expressed the idea that descendants of the same mother shared the same blood and couldn't injure one another without injuring themselves; therefore the concept of the maternal clan was a practical instrument of peace. In Indo-European root languages, Ma was often defined as "intelligence," the maternal force that bound elements together to create forms at the beignning of the world.(6) ancient Egypt gave this maternal force such names as Ma-Nu, Maa, or Maat, the Great Goddess of the All-Seeing Eye and the spirit of Truth.(7) The primitive Iranian Moon-Goddess Mah (or Al-Mah, the Moon) was another form of the same deity. Arabs called her Qis-Mah, "Fate," which the Turks corrupted into kismet. She gave birth to a series of Messiahs, each one called the Mahdi, one guided or given by Mother Mah. Persians made her name a sacred Word, formed of the letters Mourdad-Ameretat, "Death-Rebirth."(8) The ideogram MA was said to mean a state of immortality brought about by drinking the milk of the Goddess's breast, which brings one back to the original Ma-Ma. In Hebrew the same sacred letters MA made the Mem-Aleph, combining ideographs of "fluid" and "birth." This holy sign was credited with great productive power, and was written on Jewish amulets dating from the early 9th century B.C.(9) It could have been comped from either the Persians or the Egyptians, whose Mother Isis wore an "Amulet of Ma," a vase representing her own fountains of nourishing fluid.(1) Or again, as Ma-Nu, the Primal Deep, she was symbolized by three caldrons.(11) Even today the Tantric Goddess as a personification of "fertilizing water" is named Mamaki.(12) [Is there where the biblical references to "Waters of Life" spring from???] In Egyptian myth, a reversal of the Ma-Ma of nourishing breasts produced the female Devourer in the underworld: Am-Am, eater of souls. In the cyclic fashion of the elder religions, the giver was transformed into the taker.(13) Ma, the Great Goddess of Comana, was "worshipped by a whole people of hierodules in the ravines of the Taurus and along the banks of the Iris. Like Cybele she was an ancient Anatolian divinity and personified fertile nature."(14) She was taken to Rome where she merged with the war goddess Bellona, who personified fighting spirit as indomitable as that of a mother defending her young. Today the divine implications of the syllable Ma are recognized only in obscure semi-magical cults like voodooism, where a priestess embodies the Goddess's spirit and is known as mamaloi or mambo.(15). However, Ma is still a universal synonym for "mother". See Motherhood. Notes: (1) Potter & Sargent, 229. (2) Farb, W.P., 317. (3) Larousse, 443. (4) Bardo Thodol, 219; Campbell, Or.M., 216. (5) Mahanirvanatantra, css. (6) d'Alviella, 240. (7) Budge, E.L., 55. (8) Larousse, 311, 317. (9) Albright, 198. (10) Elworthy, 125. (11) Book of the Dead, 205. (12) Tatz & Kent, 164. (13) Budge, E.M., 171. (14) Cumont, O.R.R.P., 54. (15) Martello, 160. More tomorrow night.

The Goddess and the Palm Tree

From Barbara Walker's "The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets." (Image: 12th century CE, Byzantine representation of Inanna, the Tree of Life -- a date palm) Palm Tree In the Babylonian myth of the primal garden, the palm tree was the Tree of Life, a dwelling-place of the Goddess Astarte. The Hebrew version of her name was Tamar, "Palm Tree."(1) Her male counterpart was Baal-Peor, or Phoenix, the god of Phoenicia whose name meant "Land of the Palm." As a phallic deity, Baal-Peor was symbolized by a palm tree between two large stones. Sexual orgies in the temple celebrated his union with the Goddess in Phoenicia and in Israel until priests of Yahweh killed the celebrants in the midst of their rites (Numbers 25:8): [Here's the story in the Bible, from the "Living Bible" translation: Numbers 25:1: While Israel was camped at Acacia, some of the young men began going to wild parties with the local Moabite girls. (2) These girls also invited them to attend the sacrifices to their gods, and soon the men were not only attending the feasts, but also bowing down and worshipping the idols. (3) Before long, all Israel was joining freely in the worship of Baal, the god of Moab; and the anger of the Lord was hot against his people. (4) He issued the following command to Moses: "Execute all the tribal leaders of Israel. Hang them up before the Lord in braod daylight, so that his fierce anger will turn away from the people." {such a kind, loving god, ahem...} 5) So Moses ordered the judges to execute all who had worshipped Baal. {If ALL of Israel was joining freely in the worship of Baal, who would be left to continue the nation of Israel after Moses had them all killed??? - What is being talked about here is the MEN of Israel, that is, dudes old enough to copulate.} (6) But one of the Israeli men insolently brought a Midianite girl into the camp, right before the eyes of Moses and all of the people, as they were weeping before the door of the Tabernacle. (7) When Phineas (son of Eleazor and grandson of Aaron the priest) saw this, he jumped up, grabbed a spear, (8) and rushed after the man into his tent, where he had taken the girl. He thrust the spear all the way through the man's body and into her stomach. So the plague was stopped, (9) but only after 24,000 people had already died. {Okay, so after ordering Moses to have his priests kill the Israelites because they had ALL SINNED, Yahweh changes his mind - without telling Moses - and decides to kill the Israelites more slowly, with a plague, and they were gathered around the Tabernacle praying for their lives as Yahweh was no doubt sitting on his throne up on Jupiter or wherever laughing his butt off; and then one Israelite dude decides to bring a girl into camp to screw in his tent, right under the eyes of everyone??? Yeah, right. If they were that stupid, it was better their genes were killed than passed on to children!

What I want to know is why the priests did not carry out Yahweh's orders to kill ALL of Israel immediately after the order was issued? Did their arms get tired? And is Moabite the same as Midianite? Moses MARRIED a Midianite woman himself!} (10, 11) Then the Lord said to Moses, "Phineas (son of Eleazar and grandson of Aaron the priest) {I guess the Lord had to let Moses know just who the good guy was in case Moses didn't understand which Phineas killed the bad guy and his gal} has turned away my anger for he was angry with my anger, and would not tolerate the worship of any God but me. So I have stopped destroying all Israel as I had intended. (12, 13) Now because of what he has done - because of his zeal for his God, and because he has made atonement for the people of Israel for what he did - I promise that he and his priests shall be priests forever." (14) The name of the man who was killed with the Midianite girl was Zimri, son of Salu, a leader of the tribe of Simeon. (15) The girl's name was Corbi, daughter of Zur, a Midianite prince. (Emphasis added). [Summary: Yahweh got his BLOOD SACRIFICE of both an Israelite prince and a Midianite princess, and thus his blood lust was temporarily satisfied. This is classic substitute king sacrifice, in this case, the "king" being Moses, who was raised in the Egyptian rites. Being a relatively new Hebrew religion, the priests added the "bad girl" into the blood sacrifice because she represented a much older tradition of the Temptress Goddess, which was a great threat to the upstart god Yahweh's authority, and therefore she had to be diminished in some way. What better way than to kill her off with a "spear" (phallic symbol) through her "stomach" (a euphenism for her female parts) while she was copulating with the sacrificial male victim, who himself was a substitute for the very same god that ordered his death?] Still, the feminine connotations of the palm tree remained. The Goddess was often embodied in a Mother-palm, giving the food of life in the form of coconut milk or dates. A complicated biblical myth shows Tamar the Palm-tree as the mother of a slain "firstborn of Judah;" and as a veiled sacred harlot decorated with the signet, staff, and bracelets of the nation of Judah; and as a widow (Crone) to whom offerings of goats were made; and as an idol "by the wayside," whom priests of Yahweh wanted to burn (Genesis 38). She gave birth to the rival twins Pharez and Zarah, Hebrew counterparts of Osiris and Set. The spirit of the palm tree was still the Great Mother in the tradition of early Christians, who gave the title of Holy Palm (Ta-Mari) to the virgin Mary.(2) Yet Egyptians continued to call a man's penis his "palm tree."(3) Notes: (1) Graves, W.G., 197. (2) Hughes, 55. (3) Book of the Dead, 518. Compare Ta-Mari to this Walker entry on Ta-Mera: "Land of Waters," an old name of Egypt. Mera or Mara was an archaic name for the Goddess of the primordial sea [thus, for instance, all those "Mares" {"sea of"} names on the face of the Moon and Mars - named by male scientists, by the way, lol!] In Egypt she was even coupled with the sun god as an androgynous deity, Meri-Ra. Among the meanings of Mera were such female symbols as a water-course, ditch, pit, sea, and lovingness.(1) Notes: (1) Budge, E.I., 76. ********************************************************************** Just why is it that female horses are called MARES, and in xiang qi (Chinese chess) the horse is called "ma?" It couldn't have anything to do with "sea horses," could it? And I'm not talking about those cute little critters one keeps in an aquarium. Staunton's model for his knight was reputedly the horses of the Elgin Marbles stolen from the Greek Parthenon. But we all know where the Greeks got their inspiration from...