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TOP | RELIGION | JUDAISM | KABBALAHGolems
To: alt.magick
From: mika93@yahoo.com (mika)
Subject: Re: Golems
Date: 14 Jan 2003 10:53:22 -0800
Taliszanna wrote in message news:...
> On 8 Jan 2003, Sun Wu-K'ung wrote:
>
> > Taliszanna wrote in message news:...
> > > On 2 Jan 2003, Sun Wu-K'ung wrote:
> > >> > A 'dybbuk' is not a golem. They are opposites. A dybbuk is a
> bad
> > > > spirit. A golem is a 'souless' person.
> > >
> > > What about the results of your common 'love spell'? They tend to produce
> > > zombies of a sort if they actually work. How do these compare? Is it the
> > > difference between spiritless and soul-less, there?
> >
> > Tali, I really hope that the above paragraph is just a brainfart and
> > not an example of your usual train of thought.
> >
> > -Pilgrim
> >
> Excuse me, but was it your intention to be rude? It is not as
> though golems and dybbuks are common knowledge -- at least not to someone
> in my area of the world. There are few Jews in my city, let alone
> anyone who studies the Kabbalah and, as I understand it, those who do
> study the Book wouldn't permit me to study with them (being as I'm
> female). I know close to nothing about Jewish mysticism as a result and
> that is through no fault of my own. I'm asking an honest question to
> learn. Perhaps it sounds like a newbie question to you, (which I'm
> guessing it must, from your reaction), but perhaps have if you stop and
> put yourself in the shoes of someone who has only heard these words a few
> times now you will see that the question is not so silly. It's like if you
> were to hear about some creature called a 'zybeth'; you've never heard
> that word before (or maybe just once or twice). For someone to talk down
> to you just because you don't know what that is and are trying to find
> something else to compare it to, is terribly uncouth. Manners, please.
Taliszanna,
There are many books available on Jewish Kabbalah that you can read to
learn about it on your own. Personally, I'd start with "God is a
Verb" by Rabbi David Cooper, to give you a flavor of modern Jewish
mysticism. I also highly reccomend "The Sabbath" by Abraham Joshua
Heschel. Aryeh Kaplan wrote many good books, including "Meditation
and the Kabbalah", and interpretations of the Sefer Yetzirah, the
Bahir and the Zohar, which are primary "source material" for Jewish
Kabbalah. Actually, I'm not sure if he has a book translation of the
Zohar in print, but there are others out there too.
The difference between a dybbuk and a golem, simply speaking, is that
a dybbuk has a spirit without a body and a golem has a body without a
spirit (or soul). We can get into a debate about the difference
between spirit and soul in relation to Jewish mysticism and kabbalah,
but the distinction isn't really important for this basic description.
The point is, the golem is basically dirt/clay that is animated
through the will/magick of its creator, it is not animated by an
inborn soul/spirit.
So as far as love spells go, if you think that they work by turning
people into 'zombies' of a sort (I think I get what you're saying...)
it's actually a different issue. If you take the approach that a
spell reprograms someone according to your will, which essentially
turns them into zombies, you're still talking about beings that have
souls or spirits. In the common use of the word 'golem', people
cannot be turned into golems, as far as I understand it. (This may be
a point of religious debate, really, but I'm trying to give a general
overview. Don't take my description as Jewish dogma, it's just my
current understanding.)
Metaphysically speaking, personally, yeah I think 'golem' can be an
appropriate way to describe much of the "walking dead", "domesticated
primates", "robots", "ambulatory meat", euphemism of your choice -
because many people are little more than animated "clay". But that
would be a very very non-traditional use of the word. In a way,
humans are golems created by God, with the ability to self-replicate,
and the *potential* to become something more. We are animated earth
and nothing more, until self-reflection, until we become our own
creators. At least one Jewish Kabbalist's interpretation of creation
is that God tried to create man 3 times - the first time, man was only
of the earth with no spirit, the second time, man was all spirit and
no earth (the angels), neither of which were sustainable (I'll skip
the esoteric details). Finally, a bit of earth and a bit of spirit
combined provided the right conditions. Anyway, tangent....
Hope that helps. Please ask any more questions, I'll see what I can
do or what references might be useful.
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