WHY WORDS HAVE POWER

ORIGINS OF MANIFESTATION

We’re all familiar with the idea of manifestation, but how many of us have actually taken the time to research where this line of thinking comes from? Oh sure, we could write it off as a modern construct and pretend we just came up with it yesterday. We could think of ourselves as this evolved version of our ancestors who are light years ahead of them intellectually. We could, but that wouldn’t make it so. Our technology may seem to dwarf the ancients yet we still can’t seem to figure out how they built the pyramids. We certainly hadn’t made any leaps and bounds into tackling the really great questions.

Where do you come from?

Who are you?

What is consciousness?

The great philosopher Plato postulated that all human beings were born understanding reality. He believed we actually forgot the order of the cosmos as we aged becoming distracted by the appearance of things. From his perspective, learning really meant unlearning what we had taken in through the senses.

Plato, like many of the Greek philosophers, had studied Egyptian thought extensively. While many of the metaphysical aspects were removed it can be argued that Egyptians paid huge contributions to the philosophies accredited to Greece. As this debate rages on what we can be sure of is the Egyptians had a vast understanding of numbers.

Way back in 1650 BCE the Egyptian scribe Ames gave the world the Rhind Papyrus. The main symbol of the papyrus has been given many different names, all of which are accompanied by various aspects and levels of understanding. The eye of Horace, the 6 pieces of Seth, and Udja’s eye fractions, are but a few. Now, there is one aspect I find incredibly interesting in regards to manifestation.

While the symbol of the eye was obviously multifaceted and used for everything from measuring medicines to telling bedtimes stories about Horace it’s the measurements themselves that fascinate me. The Egyptian standard unit of measurement was called a hekat. They represented it with the fraction you see above. Now, in order for one hekat to be completed infinity must be attained. Only the great “cosmic mind” held the necessary piece to complete a hekat. As you can see by the fraction what we are talking about here is irrational numbers. The ancient Egyptians believed these numbers held the structure of the universe within them.

Diving a bit deeper, the missing 1/64 was said to represent the hidden name of God. The Egyptian deity Thoth was said to spin matter from mind through some forgotten language of the cosmos which contained that secret name. Legend had it this missing 1/64 was the magic Thoth used to restore the eye to wholeness., literally speaking things into existence.

Here’s where the concept gets really beautiful. In their desire to understand the order of the cosmos they’d unearthed this beautiful concept depicted in the figure above. This system also reveals things can always be divided by half. What if they had continued to divide by half? Would they have continued down through the planck scale? Granted, they couldn’t view molecules like we do today otherwise the Magick of Thoth just might have been represented by a different equation; good old E=hf.

Where I am in awe may make me a bit of dreamer I won’t deny it. Tying in magickal systems of old to the world of quantum mechanics is a bit of a stretch but it does point out how much we have in common. I mean, they were asking some really big questions. They were really pondering the power of their thoughts and their words. Factor in their use of mathematics as away to prove their ideas correct and we see how much alike we actually are.

Once again, science and religion are both searching to understand the world around them. Maybe the metaphysics of the ancients world were right and they aren’t so conflicting. Maybe the two form a more accurate model of reality together.

POETIC JUSTICE

The concept of speaking things into existence isn’t exactly a lofty one. It’s certainly not foreign to our modern minds. In Near-eastern cultures it’s not uncommon for cancer to be referred to as the disease that must not be named. Thoughts of Harry Potter undoubtedly echoed through some of your minds when you read that last bit. That’s because the concept is a throwback to the Saxon magical tradition known as Galdor. The term galdre meaning “if I speak, I am.”

Every religion emphasises the power of the spoken word through prayers and chants. Scientific research even verifies that cancer patients who are actively prayed over have an 8-12% higher chance of survival. Even those who would demean this to simply being the power of positive thinking are still giving credence to something within us affecting the physical world. We allude to this belief when we say things like ”the pen is mightier than the sword” or ”you can’t kill an idea.”

This actually notes a turning point in my own spiritual development. As a lover of words I had long since felt there was something magical about them. Our ability to speak obviously separates us from animals and has allowed us to evolve in a unique way. Words help us define our connection to the world around. Truly prolific phrases become immortalized and resonate within our psyche even when they seem to be lost in translation. Maybe it’s not so crazy to think they wield power.

Naturally I was excited to learn the ancient Egyptians were actively searching for this secret name of God that held the power of creation in it’s utterance. Just say the name and watch your desires materialize before your eyes. I also found it ironic they sought this name while holding the Israelites captive. Here’s why.

Jewish mysticism has long since held the belief that each of the 72 letters of the hebrew alphabet represent an corresponding name of God. By working through Exodus 14:19-21 backwards the Kabbalist can actually line out 72 triplets that describe the basic paradigm for how G-d relates to the world; Gods manifesting power, if you would. So the entire language can be said to have a sort of mystical power.

THE LOGOS

As we carry on our journey let’s segway into the Gospel of John and solidify the framework. John 1:1 states “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Since the Gospel was originally written in Greek we see the Greek terminology come into play a bit. Logos adds another layer of understanding here. The logos was thought of as Divine wisdom manifested in the creation and government of the world. This is often thought of as the second person in the Trinity who represents the controlling principle of the universe. This definition is essentially combining Gods creative words we see in Genesis “And God SAID” with Wisdom, or the Artisan, as Gods instrument of creativity. Greek philosophers coined this power as “the word that shone in the darkness.”

Not only did they agree with the Hebrew belief that God speaks matter into existence but they also believed Gods spirit permeated through the very things He created. As Heraclitus put it, “the Logos was before the Earth could be.” We could write this off as a simple Greek dialectic expounding on Near-eastern mysticism if the power of spoken words were an isolated belief. However it’s not and I’d like to veer East a bit.

THE HUM OF THE UNIVERSE

According to ancient India, every vibration of the known universe has it’s very own corresponding form. Every letter in the Sanskrit alphabet is believed to be the primal sound from which existence came into being. Sound familiar? The base vibration that gives power to each of these forms beneath the ENTIRE cosmos is Om, or the hum of creation. This is also the sanskrit word for God- the vibration of the Supreme. Let that marinate.

Now, before the scientific community tries to sneak out of the room, I’d like to remind them that 434 hz has long since been considered the natural frequency of the universe. A bit of ”Harmonices Mundi,” if you would. Every single piece of the known universe vibrates. Science has proven that so maybe the ancients weren’t so far off.

As you can see this whole subject just lights up my mind with infinite possibilities and puts so many questions on my tongue. Does a specific language have exclusive rights on creation? Is creation the result of the vibration of sound? Does the intention behind the vibration play in at all? Is this entire concept of manifestation the result of our tapping in to the creative power within? Are we truly awakening to the Divine presence in all of us? On and on I go dancing in the mystery of the infinite.

You’re a great dance partner by the way. I really appreciate you revelling in the mystery with me. I hope some questions of your own came into being and I’d love to hear them. Thank you so much for your time.

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