It is the circle of life, and it moves us all, through despair and hope, through faith and love, ’till e find our place, on the path unwinding’

—Elton John, British musician and composer, born 1947

No symbol is more profound than the ancient Ouroborus.   Dating back to 1600 BC, supposedly around the time of Moses, the concept of Ouroborus comes from the Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus of ancient Egyptian times.  The idea of the Ouroborus shows up continuously across the world as a symbol of duality in all of its forms.   Ancient Greeks named the Ouroborus, but the same symbology appears in Aztec, Chinese, Hindu and Gnostic philosophies as well.   The Ouroborus swallows his tail in a never ending circle.  The Ouroborus is known as the tail swallower.   Some beleive that the Ouroborus is a depiction of a star and cloud configuration in the center of our Milky Way Galaxy.

Numerous peoples say we may be living in the end days of a great cycle.  The Maya called a cycle a Baktun.  The Mayan calendar ends abruptly on December 21, 2012, indicating the end of this cycle and the beginning of the next. The Hindu cycle is a called Yuga as they speculate periods of relative darkness and light.  The cycles together form one “Great Year” as our solar system winds its way across our galaxy circling the central sun of the Milky Way.  Today, we are leaving the midst of the Kali Yuga, or deepest period of darkness.  The dark ages.  Still.

Fundamentalist Christians claim that we are in the end days of our current cycle and that we should expect the Rapture as some leave this earth in a catastrophe.  Others believe that the return of the Messiah is imminent.  Some religions and believers expect us to enter a Messianic age, the Age of Aquarius.  Some people speculate fearful scenarios with fire, earthquakes, and plagues that represents the end of the world as we know it.  Other speculations are spiritual ecstasy theories.   No one really knows.

I will not posit a theory as it is just conjecture stemming from my own intuition and mind.  But, I will say that I believe that we are a part of this great cycle and that we are observing considerable awakening, invention and positive growth starkly contrasted by serious issues of greed, war and poverty.

The Ouroborus is a representation of the change and is the symbol of the great cycles of time on a grand scale.  Birth and Death.  Night and Day.  Creation and Destruction.  Light and Dark.  Good and Evil.  Male and Female.  Ouroborus represents the bringing together of duality in all of its forms.

Perhaps some of this duality would be alleviated in a great return to wholeness.  Androgeny.  A blending of both sides.  All is one again.  What would that be like?  Where this earth represents a little bit of heaven, born from nature, “As above, so below.”

Perhaps we are very, very lucky to be living on this earth at this time, despite all of its problems. Because we are living here now to see what will happen next in this great drama playing here called life.  Each of us has taken our role, each of us has a seat in the theater with a unique view.  And, there have never been more people alive at one time as now.  As if we all wanted to come to this particular show.   But, what?

It is clear that there have been great cycles before us even though we have no recorded history for them.  Rumors of a previous civilization destroyed in a great flood about in every culture and in the Bible’s 5 Books of Moses.  The cave men roamed the earth and the dinosaurs before them.  And we know very little about what went on because our history only goes back 5 or 6 thousand years.

Born from nature, we are brought here with nothing, remembering nothing.  And then we grow, change and age and as we do we go back through the same process nostalgic for the life we led.  If we are lucky to live long enough, we may lose our faculties again, memory, wet our pants, need help dressing and walking and then leave this world, as we came, alone with no possessions.

The incredible predicament that the world find’s itself in today does not meet the criteria that the doomsday sayers thought….it is economic. And driven by greed.  The greed of a few today is no different that the greed that fueled the French or Russian revolutions in the past.  Despite the various mechanisms provided for distribution of wealth in different nations, all of them are failing.  The Chinese Communist system has a huge disparity between rich and poor now that they have the fastest growing economy in the world.  The Russian system of government has made billionaires of a few, leaving the masses in poverty.  In Africa, the same.  And the American system of government is clearly breaking down.   Economics affect everyone, everywhere.

At the end of any cycle we see the effects of aging and entropy.  Systems that once worked break down.  Today, we see all sorts of systems breaking down.  From individual people to corporations, governments, and belief systems the toll is mounting.  Some people resist the change and fall prey to depression as they cling to the remnant of the past. The closely held ideas of how life should be has not come to pass.

Generally speaking, there is not much we can do when the circle of life comes to pass before our eyes.  So grand is the scheme upon which the universe is pinned.  Humans look frail and small beside these great works.  We do not own the system:  we do no control the workings.  We are a part and parcel of the dynamic that is in play. As said Hermes Trismestigus, “Speak not of this to men who have not the mind of God, for to them we seem as liars and charlatans.”

As said Hermes Trismestigus, “Speak not of this to men who have not the mind of God, for to them we seem as liars and charlatans.”

Love the animals, love the plants, love everything.

If you love everything, you will perceive the divine mystery in things. Once you perceive it, you will begin to comprehend it better every day. And you will come at last to love the whole world with an all-embracing love.

—Fyodor Dostoyevsky, author 1821-1881

There was a time when ancient wisdom was considered blasphemy.  People were forced into religious systems without their permission, or else.  Many brave individuals were put to death for their beliefs–including Jesus.  So we have been through a tremendous dark age, forgetting our heritage, forgetting our place.

There was a time when pagan works were very threatening to the emerging but violent Western civilizations.  The Egyptian Library at Alexandria founded by Ptolemy I and its smaller library at the Serapheum were destroyed by degree of Thodosius in the third century AD destroying much of the written history of civilization and most of the works of Hermes, known as the God Thoth or Mercury, scribe of heaven.

Perhaps some of these works are still with us, moved, buried, not destroyed. Hopefully this goal is not wishful thinking.  Wouldn’t it fill in the gaps in our knowledge of our selves and our history if perhaps one day we rediscover this lost material?  What a loss we have suffered. What a tremendous find it would be if this ancient wisdom is finally revealed.  Some guardians of secrets are deliberately releasing information and making it public after years of secrecy.

Considered on of the oldest books of all time, The Sefer Yetzirah, or the Book of Creation was probably written by the father of Judaism, Abraham, according to oral history. The tradition called the short book “The letters of Abraham, our father”.  History places the date of Abraham at 1800 BCE, around the time of the writing of the Vedic texts in India.

This Book of Creation is the most mysterious of all the texts of the Kabbalah.   It reads as an obscure manual.  However, when understood properly by an initiate of the mystery schools, it is an instruction manual, consistent with alchemy of Hermes, that is supposed to aid in concentration and to develop telekinetic and telepathic powers. This and other similar works, especially the Vedas and the Emerald Tablet from Hermes Trismegistus, form a body of wisdom that has been penetrated by mystics, religious scholars, magicians, and mystery schools for centuries.

Supposedly this wisdom traveled in the steps of our forefathers–from Adam it passed to Noah, from Noah to Abraham who emigrated with it to Egypt, where the patriarch allowed a portion of this mysterious doctrine to ooze out.

It is possible that it was in this way that the Egyptian, Hermes Trismestigus obtained knowledge of it.  But, history is so confusing insofar as there is a Hermes senior and a Hermes junior…so perhaps historians are only guessing.  As I have mentioned before, some believe that it is possible that Hermes and Moses are actually only one person.

Moses was learned in all the wisdom of Egypt as he was raised by the royal family and was initiated into it in Egypt, all of which is well documented. Moses became more proficient in the use of the magical powers of creation during his 40 years of wandering in the desert.  Moses initiated seventy Elders of the tribe into the secrets of this doctrine during the sojourn in the desert and since then, they have transmitted secrets from person to person.

Jewish mystics claim that Moses ascended Mount Sinai three times, remaining in the presence of God forty days each time. During the first forty days the tables of the written law were delivered.  The Ten Commandments.  During the second forty days he received the soul of the law, the Mishnah. During the last forty days God instructed him in the mysteries of the Kabbalah, the soul of the soul of the law.

Moses concealed the secret instructions that God had given him in the first four books of the Pentateuch, and for centuries students of Kabbalah have studied the Old Testament for codes about the secret doctrine of Israel.  And there are numerous scholars still seeking to understand what is hidden there in the codes supposedly given to Moses by God himself.

As if spirituality is a problem to be solved, there is a riddle.  Just as the spiritual nature of man is concealed in his physical body, so the unwritten law is concealed within the written teachings of the bible as a code.  And this key comes from the Sefer Yetzirah, one of the primary books of the Kabbalah.

Kabbalah means the secret or hidden tradition, the unwritten law, and according to an early Rabbi, it was delivered to man in order that through the aid of its principles he might understand the mystery of both the universe and the universe within him.  As above, so below.

According to the Sefer Yetzirah, there is a Tree of Life within us.  And this contains 10 Sephiroth, 32 mystical paths of wisdom, 221 gates, and 72 names of God from permutations of the 22 original Hebrew letters.   The Tetragrammaton, or name of God, is formed by re-arranging the four letters of the Great Name, י ה ו ה, (I H V H), in the form of the Pythagorean Tetractys, then, the there are 72 permutations or versions which represent various powers that this Great Name manifests.  The Tetragrammaton appears 6800 times in the Old Testament.

Understanding this system of thought can become the study of a lifetime.  Here is an example of one paragraph of the first chapter:

“Ten Sephirot of Nothingness
ten and not nine
ten and not eleven
Understand with wisdom
Be wise with understanding
Examine with them
and probe from them
Make each thing stand on its essence
And make the Creator sit on His base”

This excerpt discusses the will of man, the faculty of the highest Sephira, Keter, meaning Crown.  As a mystic reaches the highest levels of consciousness, he may be fooled into thinking that he is reaching for God, himself, but the Sefer Yetsirah says, ten and not eleven, because we cannot ever reach that level of the Infinite, the Ain Sof–it is beyond our grasp.

From this and related books, many secret or arcane traditions have sprung up using the wisdom handed down.  Astrology, gematria and the Tarot are based upon the systems articulated here.  All arcane.  All undeniably old and ridiculed by the practical science of our modern world.  Forgotten knowledge?

If you study either the Kabbalah or the Tarot, you will find the most gracious links to the wisdom presented in the Sefer Yetzirah.  Actually, it is amazing how the Tarot has boiled down much of the information into a visually presentable style.  There is much more to Tarot than you might think at first blush.

The Sefer Yetzirah is perhaps the one of the most dense but detailed and enlightening informational books ever written.  On the other hand, this was written by the guy who came back from Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments.  Those are similarly dense and important.

The Book of Creation is so short that I am going to give you a reproduction of it here in case you are interested….now, it would take a lifetime of study and hundreds of pages to examine these contents, but it is totally cool to see the real thing.

Then, if this text peaks your interest as it has mine, you can buy a book or 100 books to learn how to interpret this.  If you are interested in reading a great analysis of the theories behind this important book, it has relatively recently (10 years ago) been translated into English by Aryeh Kaplan, naturally called the Sefer Yetzirah.

The Short Version of the Sefer Yetzirah, Book of Creation

Chapter 1

1. With thirty two mystical paths of Wisdom engraved YAH, YHVH of Hosts, God of Israel, the Living God, God Almighty, high and exalted, dwelling in eternity on high, and his name is Holy, and he created his  Universe with three books, with text, with number, and with communication.  They are Ten Sephirot of Nothingness and 22 foundation letters:  three Basics, seven Doubles, and twelve Elementals.

2. Ten Sephiroth like the number of ten fingers, five opposite five.  The singular covenant is directly in the middle, like the circumcision of the tongue in the mouth, and like the circumcision of them membrum.

3. Ten Sephiroth of Nothingness, ten and not nine; ten and not eleven. Understand with wisdom, probe with understanding. Discern with them and probe from them. Make a thing stand on its essence and make the Creator sit on His base, for He alone is the Former and Creator and there is none beside Him. And His measure is ten and they have no end.

The ten ineffable Sephiroth have ten infinitudes, which are as follows:

The infinite beginning and the infinite end;

The infinite good and the infinite evil;

The infinite height and the infinite depth;

The infinite East and the infinite West;

The infinite North and the infinite South;

and over them is the Lord Superlatively One, the faithful King.He rules over all in all from His holy habitation for ages of ages.

6. The appearance of the ten spheres out of Nothing is as a flash of lightning or a sparkling flame, and they are without beginning or end. The Word of God is in them when they go forth and when they return. They run by His order like a whirlwind and prostrate themselves before His throne.

7. The ten Sephiroth have their end linked to their beginning and their beginning linked to their end, co-joined as the flame is wedded to the live coal, for the Lord is Superlatively One and to Him there is no second. Before One what can you count?

8. Concerning the number of the Sephirot out of Nothing, seal up your lips and guard your heart as you consider them, and if your month opens for utterance and your heart turns towards thought, control them, returning to silence. So it is written: “And the living creatures ran and returned.”  And on this wise was the covenant made with us.

9. These are the ten emanations of number out of Nothing:

1st. The spirit of the living Elohim, blessed and more than blessed be the living Elohim of ages. His Voice, His Spirit, and His Word are the Holy Spirit. 2nd. He produced air from the spirit and in the air. He formed and established twenty-two sounds–the letters. Three of them were fundamental, or mothers; seven were double; and twelve were simple; but the spirit is the first one and above all. 3rd. Primordial water He extracted from the air. He formed therein twenty-two letters and established them out of mud and loam, making them like a border, putting them up like a wall, and surrounding them as with a rampart. He poured snow upon them and it became earth, as it reads: “He said to the snow be thou earth.”  4th. Fire. He drew forth from the water. He engraved and established by it the Throne of Glory. He fashioned the Seraphim, the Ophanim, and the Holy Living Creatures, as His ministering angels; and with these three He formed His habitation, as it reads: “Who made His angels spirits, His ministers a flaming fire.” 5th. He selected three consonants (I, H, V) from the simple ones–a secret belonging to the three mothers, or first elements; א מ ש (A, M, Sh), air, water, fire. He sealed them with His spirit and fashioned them into a Great Name and with this sealed the universe in six directions. He turned towards the above and sealed the height with י ה ו (I, H, V). 6th. He turned towards the below and sealed the depth withה י ו (H, I, V). 7th. He turned forward and sealed the East with ו י ה (V, I, H). 8th. He turned backward and sealed the West with ו ה י (V H, I). 9th. He turned to the right and sealed the South with י ו ה (I, V, H). 10th. He turned to the left and sealed the North with ה ו י (H, V, I).

10. These are the ten ineffable existences out of nothing; From the spirit of the Living God emanated air; from the air, water; from the water, fire; from the fire, the height and the depth, the East and the West, the North and the South.

Chapter Two

1. There are twenty-two basic letters. Three are the first elements (water, air, fire), fundamentals, or mothers; seven are double letters; and twelve are simple letters. The three fundamental letters א מ ש have as their basis the balance. At one end of the scale are the virtues and at the other the vices, placed in equilibrium by the tongue. Of the fundamental letters מ (M) is mute like the water, ש (Sh) hissing like fire, א (A) a reconciling breath between them.

2. The twenty-two basic letters having been designed, appointed, and established by God, He combined, weighed, and exchanged them, and formed by them all beings which are in existence, and all which will be formed in time to come.

3. He established twenty-two basic letters, formed by the voice and impressed upon the air by the breath. He set them to be audibly uttered in five different parts of the human mouth: namely, Gutturals, א ה ח ע; Palatals, ג י כ ק; Linguals, ד ט ל נ ת Dentals, ז ש ס ר ץ; Labials, ב ו מ ף.

4. He fixed the twenty-two basic letters in a ring like a wall with two hundred and thirty-one gates, and turned the sphere forward and backward. Turned forward, the sphere signified good; when reversed, evil. Three letters may serve for an illustration: There is nothing better than ע נ ג (O, N, G), pleasure (joy), and nothing worse than נ ג ע (N, G, O), plague (sorrow).

5. How was it all accomplished? He combined, weighed, and changed: the א (A) with all the other letters in succession, and all the others again with א (A), and all again with ב (B); and so with the whole series of letters. Hence it follows that there are two hundred and thirty-one formations, or gates, through which the powers of the letters go forth; every creature and every language proceeded from One Name and the combination of its letters.

6. He created a reality out of Nothing. He called the nonentity into existence and hewed colossal pillars from intangible air. This has been shown by the example of combining the letter א (A) with all the other letters, and all the other letters with א. By speaking He created every creature and every word by the power of One Name. As an illustration, consider the twenty-two elementary substances from the primitive substance of א. The production of every creature from the twenty-two letters is proof that they are in reality the twenty-two parts of one living body.

Chapter Three

1. The first three elements (Mothers, א מ ש) resemble a balance, in one scale virtue and in the other vice, placed in equilibrium by the tongue.

2. The three Mothers, א מ ש, enclose a great, wonderful, and unknown mystery, and are sealed by six wings, namely, air, water, fire–each divided into an active and a passive power. The Mothers, א מ ש, gave birth to the Fathers, and these gave birth to the generations.

3. God appointed and established three Mothers, א מ ש, combined, weighed, and exchanged them, forming by them three Mothers, in the universe, in the year, and in man.

4. The three Mothers, א מ ש, in the universe are: air, water, and fire. Heaven was created from the elementary fire, ש, the earth, comprising sea and land, from the elementary water, מ, and the atmospheric air from the elementary air, or spirit, א, which establishes the balance among them. Thus were all things produced.

5. The three Mothers, א מ ש, produce in the year heat, coldness, and the temperate state. Heat was created from fire, coldness from water, and the temperate state from air, which gives equilibrium to them.

6. The three Mothers, א מ ש, produce in man breast, abdomen, and head. The head was formed from the fire, ש; the abdomen from the water, מ; and the breast from air, א, which places them in equilibrium.

7. God let the letter א (A) predominate in primordial air, crowned it, combined it with the other two, and sealed the air in the universe, the temperate state in the year, and the breast in man.

8. He let the letter מ (M) predominate in primordial water, crowned it, combined it with the other two, and sealed the earth in the universe, coldness in the year, and the abdomen in man.

9. He let the letter ש (Sh) predominate in primordial fire, crowned it, combined it with the other two, and sealed heaven in the universe, heat in the year, and the head of man.

Chapter Four

1. The seven double letters, ב ג ד כ פ ר ת (B, G, D, K, P, R, Th), have a duplicity of pronunciation, aspirated and not aspirated, namely: פּ ת, רּ ר, פּ פ, כּ כ, דּ ד, גּ.  They serve as a model of softness and hardness, strength and weakness.

2. The seven double letters symbolize wisdom, riches, fertility life, power, peace, and grace.

3. The seven double letters also signify the antitheses to which human life is exposed. The opposite of wisdom is foolishness; of riches, poverty; of fertility, sterility; of life, death; of power, servitude; of peace, war; and of beauty, deformity.

4. The seven double letters point out the six dimensions, height, depth, East and West, North and South, and the Holy Temple in the center, which sustains them all.

5. The double letters are seven and not six, they are seven and not eight; reflect upon this fact, search into it and reveal its hidden mystery and place the Creator on His throne again.

6. The seven double letters having been designed, established, purified, weighed, and exchanged by God, He formed of them seven planets in the universe, seven days in the Year, and seven gateways of the senses in man. From these seven He also produced seven heavens, seven earths, and seven Sabbaths. Therefore He loved seven more than any other number beneath His throne.

7. The seven planets in the universe are: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, and Moon. The seven days in the Year are the seven days of the week. The seven gateways in man are two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, and the mouth.

8. In the central triangle are the three Mother Letters from which come forth the seven Double Letters–the planets and the heavens. Surrounding the black star are the signs of the zodiac symbolized by the twelve Simple Letters. In the midst of this star is the Invisible Throne of the Most Ancient of the Ancients–the Supreme Creator beyond definition.

1st. He caused the letter. ב (B) to predominate in wisdom, crowned it, combined each with the others, and formed by them the Moon in the universe, the first day in the year, and the right eye in man.   2nd. He caused the letter ג (G) to predominate in riches, crowned it, combined each with the others, and formed by them Mars in the universe, the second day in the year, and the right ear in man.  3rd. He caused the letter ד (D) to predominate infertility, crowned it, combined each with the others, and formed by them the Sun in the universe, the third day in the year, and the right nostril in man. 4th. He caused the letterכ (K) to predominate in life, crowned it, combined each with the others, and formed by them Venus in the universe, the fourth day in the year, and the left eye in man. 5th. He caused the letter פ (P) to predominate in power, crowned it, combined each with the others, and formed by them Mercury in the universe, the fifth day in the year, and the left ear in man. 6th. He caused the letter ר (R) to predominate in peace, crowned it, combined each with the others, and formed by them Saturn in the universe, the sixth day in the year, and the left nostril in man. 7th. He caused the letter ת (Th) to predominate in grace, crowned it, combined each with the others, and formed by them Jupiter in the universe, the seventh day in the year, and the mouth of man.

9. With the seven double letters He also designed seven earths, seven heavens, seven continents, seven seas, seven rivers, seven deserts, seven days, seven weeks, and in the midst of them His Holy Palace. There is a cycle of seven years and the seventh is the release year, and after seven release years is the Jubilee. For this reason God loves the number seven more than any other thing under the heavens.

10. In this manner God joined the seven double letters together. Two stones build two houses, three stones build six houses, four stones build twenty-four houses, five stones build 120 houses, six stones build 720 houses, and seven stones build 5,040 houses. Make a beginning according to this arrangement and reckon further than the mouth can express or the ear can hear.

Chapter Five

1. The twelve simple letters ה ו ז ח ט י ל נ ס ע צ ק (H, V, Z, Ch, T, I, L, N, S, O, Tz, Q) symbolize the twelve fundamental properties: speech, thought, movement, sight, hearing, work, coition, smell, sleep, anger, taste, and mirth.

2. The simple letters correspond to twelve directions: east height, northeast, east depth; south height, southeast, south depth; west height, southwest, west depth; north height, northwest, north depth. They diverge to all eternity and are the arms of the universe.

3. The simple letters having been designed, established, weighed, and exchanged by God, He produced by them twelve zodiacal signs in the universe, twelve months in the year, and twelve chief organs in ` human body.

4, The signs of the zodiac are: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces. The months of the year are: Nisan, liar, Sivan, Tammuz, Ab, Elul, Tisri, Marcheshvan, Kislev, Tebet, Sebat, and Adar. The organs of the human body are: two hands, two feet, two kidneys, gall, small intestine, liver, esophagus, stomach, and spleen.

5.  As to the arrangement of properties:

1st. God caused the letter ה (H) to predominate in speech, crowned it, combined it with the others, and fashioned by them Aries in the universe, the month Nisan in the year, and the right foot of the human body. 2nd. He caused the letter ו (V) to predominate in thought, crowned it, combined it with the others, and fashioned by them Taurus in the universe, the month liar in the year, and the right kidney of the human body. 3rd. He caused the letter ז (Z) to predominate in movement, crowned it, combined it with the others, and fashioned by them Gemini in the universe, the month Sivan in the year, and the left foot of the human body. 4th. He caused the letter ח (Ch) to predominate in sight, crowned it, combined it with the others, and fashioned by them Cancer in the universe, the month Tammuz in the year, and the right hand of the human body. 5th. He caused the letter ט (T) to predominate in hearing, crowned it, combined it with the others, and fashioned by them Leo in the universe, the month Ab in the year, and the left kidney of the human body. 6th. He caused the letter י (I) to predominate in work, crowned it, combined it with the others, and fashioned by them Virgo in the universe, the month Elul in the year, and the left hand of the human body. 7th. He caused the letter ל (L) to predominate in coitus, crowned it, combined it with the others, and fashioned by them Libra in the universe, the month Tisri in the year, and the gall of the human body.  8th. He caused the letter נ (N) to predominate in smell, crowned it, combined it with the others, and fashioned by them Scorpio in the universe, the month Marcheshvan in the year, and the small intestine in the human body.  9th. He caused the letter ס (S) to predominate in sleep, crowned it, combined it with the others, and fashioned by them Sagittarius in the universe, the month Kislev in the year, and the stomach in the human body.  10th. He caused the letter ע (O) to predominate in anger, crowned it, combined it with the others, and fashioned by them Capricorn in the universe, the month Tebet in the year, and the liver in the human body.  11th. He caused the letter צ (Tz) to predominate in taste, crowned it, combined it with the others, and fashioned by them Aquarius in the universe, the month Sebat in the year, and the esophagus in the human body.  12th. He caused the letter ק (Q) to predominate in mirth, crowned it, combined it with the others, and fashioned by them Pisces in the universe, the month Adar in the year, and the spleen in the human body.

6. He made them as a conflict, He arranged them as provinces and drew them up like a wall. He armed them and set one against another as in warfare.

Chapter Six

1. There are three Mothers or first elements, א מ ש (A, M, Sh), from which emanated three Fathers –primordial air, water, and fire–from which issued the seven planets with their angels, and the twelve signs of the Zodiac.

2. To prove this there are three faithful witnesses: the universe, the year, and man. There are the twelve, the balance, and the seven. Above is the Dragon, below is the world, and lastly the heart of man; and in the midst is God who regulates them all.

3. The first elements are air, water, and fire; the fire is above, the water is below, and a breath of air establishes balance between them. The token is: the fire carries the water. The letterמ (M) is mute; ש (Sh) is hissing like fire; there is א (A) among them, a breath of air which reconciles the two.

4. The Dragon is in the universe like a king upon his throne; the celestial sphere is in the year like a king in his empire; and the heart is in the body of men like a king in warfare.

5. God also set the opposites against each other: the good against the evil, and the evil against the good. Good proceeds from good, evil from evil; the good purifies the bad, the bad the good. The good is reserved for the good, and the evil for the wicked.

6. There are three of which each stands by itself: one is in the affirmative or good, one is in the negative or evil, and the third provides equilibrium for them.

7. There are seven divided three against three, and one provides balance in the midst of them. Twelve stand in warfare: three produce love and three hatred; three are life-givers and three are destroyers.

8. The three that cause love are the heart and the two ears; the three that produce hatred are the liver, the gall, and the tongues; the three life-givers are the two nostrils and the spleen; and the three destroyers are the mouth and the two lower openings of the body. Over all these rules God, the faithful king, from His holy habitation in all eternity. God is One above three, three are above seven, seven are above twelve, yet all are linked together.

9. There are twenty-two letters by which the I AM, the Lord of Hosts, Almighty and Eternal, designed and created by the three Sepharim of Numbers, Letters, and Sounds. His universe, and formed by them all creatures and all those things that are yet to come.

10. When the Patriarch Abraham had comprehended the great truths, meditated upon them, and understood them perfectly, the Lord of the Universe appeared to him, called him His friend, kissed him upon the head, and made with him a covenant.

First, the covenant was between the ten fingers of his hands, which is the covenant of the tongue; second, the covenant was between the ten toes of his feet, which is the covenant of circumcision; and God said of him, “Before Abraham bound the spirit of the twenty-two letters upon his tongue and God disclosed to him their secrets.”

God permitted the letters to be immersed in water, He burned them in the fire and imprinted them upon the winds. He distributed them among the seven planets and gave them to the twelve zodiacal signs.

We believe that electricity exists, because the electric company keeps sending us bills for it,  but we cannot figure out how it travels inside wires.

—Dave Barry, American humorist

Benjamin Franklin ran out in the electrical storm with a kite and a key in 1746.  Can you imagine his wife running after him saying “Come back in here, you crazy guy, you’ll catch your death out there!”

Franklin was a busy and intensely curious individual.  His natural interests led him to question whether lightning was a natural occurring electrical current.  Franklin is considered to be the first American physicist because he characterized two kinds of electric charge, which he named positive and negative.

Other inventors, Michael Faraday with the electric motor and generator, and Thomas Edison who of course invented the electric light bulb, were also interested in electric phenomena.  Edison invented the first light bulb in 1879 utilizing a carbon filament which burned for only 40 hours.   Just two years later, Edison used a bamboo filament and it the bulb burned for 1400 hours.

Franklin, Faraday and Edison were men who were curious about this amorphous element, light, and they studied light as did Einstein, Planck, Bohr, and Shockley.

The study of light has not just given us more time to stay up at night, but most recent inventions can be traced to this series of critical discoveries.   Fundamentally, light has changed humanity and our living conditions within and without.  The understanding of light, electrons and related physics has taken us from the dark ages into a whole new era.  Maybe even toward the famous Age of Aquarius.

It was only 100 years ago when we first got electric generation for industrial and home use.  Before that, water wheels were used as a primitive power source.  If you wanted electricity in your home in the early days, you had to have your own generator.

Before electricity heated and lit our homes we used kerosene lamps or candles, ice boxes or no refrigeration for our food, rooms (or caves) were warmed by coal or wood…  There was reading by candlelight or stories from the elders, singing and the study of the stars.  Time moved more slowly.  We were closer to nature, to the food we ate, the land.

But still, we understood plenty and invented more.  We had silence.  So, with that pressing silence we gazed at the stars, wondered at the sky, watched animals and horticulture.   We invented music, art, mythology.

We invented agriculture, astronomy, writing, navigation, mathematics, architecture, and science.  We searched deeply for the mysteries of the universe, of God and the origin of life.  The study of human existence led us to analyze morals and invent codes, religions and belief systems.

People watched the stars diligently and calculated the precession of the equinox and understood its mathematical precision.   They invented calendars and clocks to measure infinitesimally small increments of time because they felt it was deeply important.

There were mysteries to be solved and mystery schools for the initiates of deeper wisdom.  The wise ones thought it best to keep their universal secrets to themselves until they feel that mankind was ready for it.

There are still artifacts of ancient civilizations who call out to us that they were here.  Some believe that there were very advanced civilizations before the biblical flood who may have had much of the same or even better technologies than we have today.   It is hard to say, and even harder to prove when there are few traces left.

It is clear that even this antediluvian generation of mankind is older than the 5000 years of recorded history.  The cave paintings widespread in Eurasia date to 20,000 BC.  Agriculture in the fertile crescent dates to before 10,000 BC.  By 8700 BC they were metalworking in Mesopotamia.  And at 7000 BC we have discovered that people used cloth woven from flax.  In 5000 BC beer and bread were a mainstay of the diet in Egypt.  Archaeologists uncovered a stone paved street dating to 4000 BC.

The earliest use of clay bullae in Sumeria date to 3500 BC where we have found envelopes bearing marks corresponding to clay tokens inside. This is thought to be the precursor of the Sumerian writing system.  The earliest cuneiform markings representing words are traced to 3100 BC in Sumer, giving us the first language-based writing system. Sharpened reeds are used to mark clay tablets, which are then dried in ovens. While cumbersome, many survive today.  In Egypt, the earliest instances of hieroglyphic writing appear on slabs of slate in chapels and tombs dating to 3000 BC the same time rice was first cultivated in India.

In 2800 BC the Egyptians introduced the lunar calendar of 365 days.  The earliest known pyramid was built in 2640 BC, a step pyramid.   Ink is in use for writing in both Egypt and China by 2500 BC.  A shipyard in India was in use by 2400 BC.  Currency is used for trading by 2000 BC.

The earliest known samples of Chinese writing date to 1800 BC.  The Babylonians were using an early form of the abacus to count and keep track of numbers in 1800 BC.   By 1500 BC the water clock was used in Egypt, cementing the idea of consistent and linear time into human affairs.  In 1500 BC we find the earliest organization of the Vedas, an orally transmitted collection of sacred literature, chants and hymns in Asia and India.  The Chinese were using primitive books made of wood or bamboo strips bound together with cords by 1800 BC.  The earliest surviving Phoenician inscriptions, an early alphabet, probably the ancestor of the Greek alphabet date to 1800 BC.

1000 BC brings us the first pen used by Chinese calligraphers. In 750 BC. Brahmin, the ancestor of modern Indian writing systems springs up.  The first examples of Greek writing are found around 750 BC.  In 710 BC. the Egyptians invent the sundial as a means to keep time. A library was organized in Ninevah in 660 BC. marking the first systematically organized repository of written works anywhere, born in the Middle East. By 500 BC. the pre-Columbian civilizations are using paper, and have developed simple mathematical notations.

360 B.C.- Aristotle’s school, the Lyceum, becomes a center of philosophy but he ends up executed by the State for a sort of heresy.  Early Hebrew dates to 300 BC.  In 280 BC. the museum in Alexandria was founded by Ptolemy. The Library of Alexandria gradually became the most important center of gathered knowledge until the Renaissance.  The Julian calendar was perfected in 50 BC by lengthening the Egyptian solar calendar of 365 days to 365 1/2.

In 105 AD the Chinese developed a process for making paper which reaches Central Asia by 751 and Baghdad in 793. Paper is not introduced to Europe for another 1000 years. Parchment is developed in Asia Minor in 160 as a response to an embargo on exported papyrus from Egypt. The Mayans invent a system of hieroglyphics in 300.  The earliest “illustrated” Chinese scroll, the forerunner to the narrative type, are used to depict moral lessons in 350.  The Chinese develop block book printing by 500, carving the proofs for pages in wood.  The astrolab is developed in 550, reaching Europe from the Islamic world, and proves among the most versatile and important instruments. By 700 wood engraving is widespread in China.  Musical notation was first developed in Europe about 750.  830 sees the foundation of the Bayt al-Hikmah (House of Wisdom) in Baghdad, an academy which contains a library with a large collection of materials on a wide range of subjects. In China, the first printed book came out in 868, the Buddhist Diamond Sutra, and is produced using carved blocks of wood. Talmudic academies in Babylon and Palestine complete an authentic text of the Old Testament that synthesizes oral tradition.

In the next millenium, 1000, the French introduce a type of abacus, in which numbers are represented by stones bearing Arabic numerals.  By 1050, Europe introduces the system of Arabic numerals, which greatly facilitate mathematics and started the first University at Bologna, the oldest in Europe. The magnetic compass is in use in China and the Mediterranean by 1190.  The Inca are using the quipu, an elaborate accounting apparatus by 1200.  THe quipu consists of a long rope that carries a number of knotted cords representing units, tens, and hundreds.  Cartography begins with the Portolan chart in 1296 which plots coastlines in a way that will allow navigational distances to be measured by means of rhumb lines. The first recorded patent for an industrial invention is granted in 1421. Guttenberg produces the first printed bibles in 1455. The Mercator projection allows cartographers to plot navigational bearings as straight lines in 1569. The Gregorian Calendar was introduced in 1578 maintaining the coincidence of calendar and seasons

1600 -Galileo performed fundamental observations, experiments, and mathematical analyses in astronomy and physics; discovered mountains and craters on the moon, the phases of Venus, and the four largest satellites of Jupiter: Io, Europa, Callisto, and Ganymede 1608- A Dutch lens grinder Lippershey applies for a patent on the telescope. 1614- Scotland publishes the first table of logarithms, based on the principle that addition and subtraction are easier to compute than division and multiplication. 1627- Kepler establishes a schema of planetary positions later used for the tables calculating planetary orbits. 1675- The Greenwich Observatory is founded for navigational purposes to establish longitude by star positions. It is the first scientific institution established in England. 1687- Newton developed theories of gravitation and mechanics, and invented differential calculus

1710- John Locke publishes a Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge. 1765-  Semaphore towers, set ten miles apart, carry messages from Lille to Paris in two minutes using telescopes and flagbars. 1783–Flight in a hot air balloon. 1795- France adopts the metric system. 1798- Noah Webster undertakes the compilation of a book to be called A Dictionary of the American Language. It appears in 1828 in its final form as An American Dictionary of the English Language.

1804- France devises an automatic loom in which the woven pattern is controlled by punched cards. The locomotive becomes a phenomena creating cities out of nowhere. 1814- The Times of London is the first newspaper to begin printing newspapers on a steam powered flatbed press, which permits production of 5,000 copies an hour. 1820- The first commercial calculator, the arithmometer, is produced in France. 1822- Charles Babbage builds his difference engine, a computing machine based on finite differences. 1825- Joseph Henry performed extensive fundamental studies of electromagnetic phenomena and devised the first practical electric motor1826- Niepce produces the first permanent photograph from nature and Morey invents the internal combustion engine. In 1834 we got the early refrigerators. In 1837 Morse gave us the telegraph. 1830- English mathematician invents the first slide rule.  In 1849 we get the telephone.  And in 1873 Levi Strauss give us jeans.

Now about here comes electric generation and light in 1880.  After this, look at the explosion into the industrial age.  It is as if time itself has sped up.  We make more progress now than ever.  People’s lives are forever changed, hopefully for the better.  By 1888, Max Planck had formulated quantum theory and explained wavelength distribution of black body radiation.  In 1889 Daimler and Benz invented the automobile with a 1.5 horsepower gasoline powered internal combustion engine.

The 20th century was filled with drama, violence, change and progress. Just about the beginning of the century was when Albert Einstein explained Brownian motion and the photoelectric effect, then later he contributed to theory of atomic spectra and formulated theories of special and general relativity.  In 1903 the Wright Brothers took the first manned powered heavier than air flight.  Niels Bohr was given a Nobel prize for his contributions to understanding the nature of atoms, their nuclei and their physical and chemical structure in 1922.  His concept of complementarity shows how deeply the changes in the field of physics have fundamentally affected our scientific outlook.  The consequences of this change of attitude reach far beyond the scope of atomic physics and touch the whole spectrum of human knowledge. In 1928, we get antibiotics. In the 1930s were new materials like nylon and rayon. By 1940 William Shockley co-discovered the transistor.  From here we get the semiconductor and it produces radio, television, computers, high speed networking and instrumentation. 1953 starts the human biology explosion affecting medicine and pharmaceuticals when Francis Crick discovered the double helix structure of DNA forever changing cell biology.  And the laser comes along in 1960, another derivative of the use of light.  Packet switching fuels the growth of communications in 1971 with the amazing Arpanet which later then becomes the commercial Internet by 1990.

And now we have all this stuff.  Miniature devices.  Cellular.  Microwave.  Xray.  Spectrometry.  Television captivates some. Social networks replace personal relationships.

Time speeds up.  We are so busy with our lives.  We can’t keep track of all of the inventions.  And we have practically destroyed our earth with pollution, greed and disregard for nature.  The world is still at war and poverty and suffering is all around us.  We are in some ways farther away from our natural roots than ever.  Are we advanced, or more primitive?  It is hard to say.

Now it is all rock and roll.   And it was all because of light.