The Lovers — VI

 Ah, The Lovers. 

What can be said  about The Lovers?

The word love was discussed in depth in this post,  If You Love Someone. . . (2014).  The word "love" has connection to words having to do with freedom(liberty, liber), and friend(from PIE *priy-ont "loving," *pri- "to love"), the heart(lev/leb), also growth(leaf, life, lobe) in that love amplifies(amour/amore).

The Lovers can definitely be said to contain these themes, because what comes from the lovers is love, however specifically The Lovers card is about the two, opposites or counterparts coming together as one with the divine; the three in one unity, union, partnership, relationship, balance, complementary energies, choices/commiting(choosing), love. . .

 

Shaddowscapes, by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law — Union, balance, energy, flow, love, desire, passion, melding of heart and mind, forming a union or marriage.

The Two as One with Sun(divine Light) overhead

The Lovers is the sixth 6 card in the Major Arcana, therefore it is card number sex "six" in Latin. The English six meaning "one more than five; twice three," is from Old English siex, six, sex, from Proto-Germanic *seks. 

In certain portrayals of The Lovers(such as in the Universal Waite[below]), the biblical creation story found in Genesis is used for its symbolism. In Hebrew the word "six" is made with two shins שש (f.) shesh / ששה (m.)shisha. Six is sometimes called the number of man because it was on the sixth (shishi השש׳) day that God, created "man" adam(not just a single man[Adam], but mankind, i.e. the beings made from the adamah "ground, earth" Gen 2:7. [Therefore this word translated in English as "man," adam אדם, is literally taken out of the word "earth/ground" adamah אדמה. Therefore we could say that Adam means something like "earthling." The word "earth" being from Old English earþe "ground, soil, dirt, dry land"]). 

So God created [the] man[ha-adam "the adam"] in his own image[tselem צלם], in the image of God he created him["eth" את]; male[zakar] and female[u-neqebah] he created them. Genesis 1:27

So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them[eth]; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27 NIV

 

Male[zakar] and female[neqebah] he created them, and he blessed them and named [eth] them Man[adam] when they were created. Genesis 5:2 ESV

Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created. Genesis 5:2 KJV

So these humans/adam/men/earthlings were all made in God's image, perhaps we could say(given the difficulty in translating the meaning of eth an "untranslatable mark of the accusative case"),  adam was specifically with[eth] this image made male and female, or literally [eth] were made in God's image male and female. So it is clear that there is a duality to this singular image of God, and therefore also a duality to the image of the human made in the image of God.

The shin ש on its own is sometimes used to stand for Shadday, which is a name of God, El Shadday אל  שד׳, "God Almighty." The shin can also represent God's presence as flame 🔥, the word for "fire/flame/flaming" being esh אש, as in Ex 13:12 when the LORD[YHWH] went before the Israelites by night beammud  esh "in a pillar of fire," and at the temple dedication,

When Solomon finished praying, fire[אש] came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple. 2 Chronicles 7:1

Notice how a Hebrew ש shin and the Phonecian shin 𐤔‎ (if they were turned to the side), and the Greek Σ sigma, all look similar to the number 3, and 6 is 3 + 3, so two shins(shesh) actually look representitive of six. Three is the only other number name in Hebrew, besides six that contains two shins. For the number "three" there is a lamed between the shins, שלש (f.)shalosh / שלשה (m.)shlosha "three".

If a shin ש is representative of God, that is ש Shadday, the Almighty, then God with an image of God could be represented as שש = six(sex) = 6 = 3 + 3, and the two physical forms manifested of the one image are called sex [2.] , i.e., 

either of the two categories (male and female) into which humans and most other living things are divided on the basis of their reproductive functions.

שש

Universal Waite Tarot —"Attraction, love, beauty, trials overcome"

In the creation story of Genesis it states that God took one tsela צלע "rib, side" from the man / the adam [the being created in the image of God], 

So the LORD God[YHWH Elohim] caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man [ha adam], and while he slept took one of his ribs[mistsalotaw(form of tsela)] and closed up its place with flesh. Genesis 2:21 

Thus introducing two sexes in the form of one kind of being, i.e. humans(man). One side or "rib" of man(adam), we might say, being called male, the other, the rib /side said to be "taken from ha adam," being called female. Furthermore, we might say the meaning of this "closing the place" the rib was taken "with flesh", wayyisgor basar tahtennah, could mean that the "side" taken from adam was "shut/isolated" in the "underparts/beneath" with flesh. Or in other words, one "side" was made with male genitaila, the other with female genitaila.

And the rib[tsela] that the LORD God had taken from the man[ha adam] he made into a woman[isha אשה] and brought her to the man[ha adam]. Genesis 2:22

  שש  

artwork by Tattooist Miss Rie - theblackenedteeth.com

If you consider that a shin ש kind of looks like one side of a ribcage, two shins could be said to represent a man/person. And two ribcages could be called two "ribs" [tselaim], in that the two "sides"[tselaim] of ribs are similar to two leaves/sides [tselaim צלעים ] of a door(which is the same word used, "ribs" = "sides" = "leaves"). 

The" ribs"(leaves) of the door are made of many individual "ribs"(boards)

The two folding "ribs"/ leaves of the door are made out of "ribs"/ boards themselves

He also made two doors out of [*boards of] juniper wood, each having two leaves[tselaim] that turned in sockets. 1 Kings 6:34 NIV

Also, here, the side of the tabernacle is called tsela "rib" of the tabernacle.

Also make crossbars of acacia wood: five for the frames on one side[tsela] of the tabernacle. Exodus 26:26

If you take the "ribs" individually from six שש, the number of man, you get two shins which are found in the words used for אשה isha "woman, wife, female" and א׳ש ish "man, husband, male" as in this cryptic passage from Genesis.

The man[ha adam] said, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called 'woman[isha אשה ],' for she was taken out of man[me ish איש] Genesis 2:23

So these particular words for man(איש ish) and woman(אשה isha) contain in them the word for six, namely two shins (שש) = shesh = six when combined. Therefore if man(adam) = six שש, it makes some sense to say one "side" or "rib" taken out of man is ש (and is therefore left with the other rib ש), and these two sides(ש and ש) describe the two sexes and are both contained in an individual image of God(a man/a woman/a Man/a human/שש), an image(ש) of the Almight(ש), and also together(when two are together as a couple/marriage/one side/flame/image of the eternal light "esh"🔥+🔥"esh" the other flame/image of the eternal light) = an image of the Almighty(ש).  

שש/🔥🔥

A Vampire Tarot, illustrated by Madam Talbot - blackphoenixalchemylab.com

Although the human race and living things typically in general, are divided into two sexes(typically xx[female] sex chromosomes, or xy[male] sex chromosomes), each individual "man/adam" is not simply one "side" or the other(either male or female), insofar as each person is a complete image of God/the All (both masculine/male and feminine/female), in and of themselves, and therefore necessarily have both masculine and feminine attributes to their natures(notwithstanding their apparent "flesh"/ physical sexual presentation or gender). 

In fact, it would be impossible for anything to be entirely only "male" or only "female" in the most universal sense of the words because masculinity and femininity are polarities of being,  like light/dark, hot/cold, motion/rest, active/passive, and we only get things due to the interaction of polarities, that is, anything, because all things are a product of movement, i.e. vibration . . .

All things in our universe are constantly in motion, vibrating. Even objects that appear to be stationary are in fact vibrating, oscillating, resonating, at various frequencies. Resonance is a type of motion, characterized by oscillation between two states. And ultimately all matter is just vibrations of various underlying fields. As such, at every scale, all of nature vibrates. earthsky.org/human word/consciousness

It is true that we get an idea of the nature of these polarities, or two states, the masculine and the feminine, through the expression of sex and gender, because the majority of people(also many animals) called male or female at birth look and act a certain way typical of that sex's gender, and the commonly accepted gender roles further emphasize the differences, but the concept of masculine and feminine is not confined to, nor created by a person's physical sex. This is clear when people say that a person(who identifies as male in gender) with male sexual organs is not acting like a man. If masculinity was necessarily tied to sexual organs and chromosomes, then a "male" with these attributes would necessarily be acting as male and could not do otherwise. Therefore to be male or female is a larger or more universal concept than a person's(man's/the adam's) biological/physical sex. 

Aristotle points out this idea of the universal being more knowable relative to us(in contrast to what is more knowable "by nature" or "without qualification") in his Physics 184a17-184a21, a child might say "father" to indicate any man(whomever they perceive to be male like their father). A child might say, "There is a father," instead of "There is a man," because the particular man they know is called "father."  It's not that the child thinks all men are their father(this is obvious in that most small children are afraid of being held by another random man, but love their own dad) instead, they mistakenly think that "father" is more of a universal term than it actually is(and "mother" conversely). In Aristotle's example, a small child(in Ancient Greece) only knows about what a man is because of their first/primary example of a man which is their father(this would be most true of a child who has not been out and about much, around a lot of people and places, who has only been in the home environment[as would be more common in Ancient Greece where young children were brought up in the Gynaikon "women's quarters"("In most city-states, boys lived in the Gynaikon and were trained by their fathers to master different crafts until they were around the age of six"History for Kids)].

Now what is to us plain and clear at first is rather confused masses, the elements and principles of which become known to us later by analysis. Thus we must advance from universals to particulars[*man/woman  in this example is more universal, and father/mother more particular, i.e. a father is "a man in relation to his child", a man is not necessarily a father]; for it is a whole that is more knowable to sense-perception, and a universal is a kind of a whole, comprehending many things within it, like parts. Much the same thing happens in the relation of the name to the formula. A name, e.g. 'circle', means vaguely a sort of a whole: its definition analyses this into particulars[you can name something as a circle, but you aren't saying what kind of circle it is]. Similarly a child begins by calling all men father, and all women mother, but later on distinguish each. Aristotle, Physics Book I, 184a22-184b14

*a funny story: as a small child, I thought we would need to bring a towel to a shower, but I was informed that we didn't need to bring one for the "baby" shower", and I felt completely humiliated. Apparently, not all showers involve water. Apparently we can "shower" a person with things other than water. 🤷‍♀️

So as humans we more readily know the "confused masses" of what is "the masculine" and what is "the feminine," but in growing in our understanding we can more precisely name and categorize without making unnecessary presumptions about, or being offended by any particular "images of God" which display both, the fullness, of the "eternal light," so to speak,  and also emphasize or highlight different aspects and peculiarities. We all know that light is, in fact, not just "white" light, but can be divided into a vast spectrum of colors both visible and invisible. The nature of light does not change when we are seeing it as red, or blue, or yellow, or any color in-between, and the nature of white does not change when we are seeing it mixed with black as different shades of gray.

Dark Side of the Moon[album cover] — Pink Floyd 

In the larger picture(or "image" of God) we could say that the masculine and feminine principles are what create when working together. Any creative action is brought about through the interaction of the masculine and feminine. One clear image of this interaction of the feminine and masculine working together to create is when an egg(receptive) is fertilized by a sperm(active) and a human embryo is formed. In human reproduction, without an egg(feminine principle) and a sperm(masculine principle) there is no baby, even if we say two women or two men are the parents, even biological parents, of this child. A human with a uterus can identify as male in gender and have a biological child with another male person, therefore it is possible for two men(or two women) to be the biological parents of a baby in this respect, but it is not possible for two men who are born with male sexual organs or two women who are  born with female sexual organs to create a new human being together through sexual reproduction. The biological process of creating life still operates through the combination of a sperm and an egg. Two sperms or two eggs do not combine to make a new human being. 

Out of 23 pair of chromosomes, just 1 pair is sex chromosomes, XX or XY.

There are exceptions, however. Among humans, some men have two Xs and a Y ("XXY", Klinefelter syndrome), or one X and two Ys (XYY syndrome), and some women have three Xs or a single X instead of a double X ("X0", Turner syndrome). There are other exceptions in which SRY is damaged (leading to an XY female), or copied to the X (leading to an XX male). wikipedia/ Y chromosomes /variations

Being and movement(life[and therefore love]) only occur through the interaction of polarity or duality(yang and the yin).

Yin/Yang - Image of the Absolute

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day. Genesis 1:1-4

Whatever was/is prior to creation was/is God. What was God? Not only was God the hovering Spirit(fire)/Mind/Consciousness(air), divine light(yang) . . . God was also the formless, empty "earth[land/foundation/throne]"(feminine), and darkness(yin)/water, or we could say, "sea of infinite potential with contained some sort of preexisting template("earth")/Wisdom." When God spoke(active/yang/light) upon the space(passive/yin/darkness), there was a "baby", i.e., the Light/Creation/Logos. But the created light was an image of the eternal light שש/🔥🔥 . . . which "light" happens to be composed from both God the Father/Light(Yang) and Mother/Wisdom(Yin),  masculine ש + ש feminine. 

Wisdom is the darkness that is not darkness, or the darkness that is reflective or full of light . . . even said to be "superior to the light".

For wisdom is more mobile than any motion; because of her pureness she pervades and penetrates all things. For she is a breath of the power of God, and a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty[Shadday ש]; therefore nothing defiled gains entrance into her. For she is a reflection of eternal light, a spotless mirror of the working of God, and an image of his goodness. Although she is but one, she can do all things . . . 

She is more beautiful than the sun, and excels every constellation of the stars. Compared with the light she is found to be superior, for it is succeeded by the night, but against wisdom evil does not prevail. Wisdom 7:24-27, 29-30

Even though there are two distinct polarities that are present in order to create, there is in actuality, always yin in the yang and yang in the yin(as is illustrated in the image of the Yinyang[above]). For example, a night is one half or "side" of the day(24hrs/one rotation of the Earth), and a night, though dark, contains light(such as moon and stars), and an entire day(24hrs) still contains night, and the part of the day that is light still contains darkness(such as shadow). And even to say night is half of a day is only really true at the equator. Think of the poles during summer/winter solstice which get a "night" with no darkness(24 hrs of sunlight), or a "day" with no light(24 hrs darkness). 

So what does it mean to say "day" and "night" exactly?

God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day. Genesis 1:4-5 NIV

Sometimes "day" can mean 24 hrs, other times it means during the usual hours of light(daytime), or it can even just mean usual hours of daytime even though it is dark.

During the northern hemisphere summer solstice, the area "above" the Arctic Circle —above 66.5 degrees north) — receives 24 hours daylight, while the south polar region is in total darkness. LPI Education/About our Seasons

So too there are equivocations and exceptions when it comes to the labeling of sex. Some "men"(meaning the human species) are men/male, and some "men" are women/female, and of those men and women, some labeled male due to physical sex are female in their gender identity, and some labeled female due to physical sex are male in their gender identity, or could even be "male" chromosomaly, but are born as female due to how they developed in the womb. These exceptions do not negate or change what these concepts "male" and "female" mean, rather they point to different levels of understanding. So we either say there is a day with no night at the summer solstice at the north pole, or we say there is a night, but the night is all light / not dark. But whatever we call something does not change the nature of light and dark. If the day is without sunlight, we could say the light is the time our "light is on," or we are awake(= light). . . although this would be further confused by a person who works a night shift, or only sleeps during the day by choice. . . like a vampire. A vampire might say "night is my day, the light is my darkness," and they would be within their right to say so.

Halloween Tarot. art by Kipling West, by Karin Lee — The Lovers: Can a vampiric visitor corrupt true love? Temptation. Tension. The struggle between love and infatuation. Making choices. Harmony between the subconscious and conscious.

With respect to people it is appropriate to let them decide how they want to be referred to (he/him, she/her, they/them, etc.),  or defined (male, female, neither gender) because gender is not the same thing as specific physicality or appearances. We might say that males who express very masculine behavior, or females who express very feminine behavior are like the day and night at the equator, but the earth is a globe and what is "day" and "night" varies all the way to the extremes at the poles. So it is the same with people and gender. The image of God is not black and white or two dimensional, it is rounded, abundant and full of all variety of life and experience, like the Earth. Creation reveals to us God's "hands" and makes him known. 

The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship[yadaw "his hands"]. Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known. They speak without a sound or word; their voice is never heard. . . Psalm 19:1-4 NLT

So it is just in a certain sense, or particular sense, that each sex is a "side"of a whole man, i.e., adam(just as it is just in a certain sense that night is half of or a "side" of the day, or wisdom is a "side" reflection / image of the eternal light/God), yet also, each individual generally/usually presents or identifies as one particular side or the other, of either masculinity or femininity, in physical appearance or identity. In this way each sex is sex "six," that is, the image of (Shadday)God Almighty, שש  = image of God that is a "man"/a human/person. 

Each individual is a whole/complete image of God(which image contains the masculine and feminine), but are also (usually) presenting as prominently half or one "side" in the expression of their sex. A complete image of God is both masculine and feminine or a marriage of the two halves or sides, and so each sex (male and female) is half of sex "six"  שש.

Then God said, "Let us make man[adam] in our image[betsalme nu (form of tselem צלם)], after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. Genesis 1:26 

So God created "man" with two sexes, from the two "ribs" tselaim, after his/their "image" tselem["image; likeness; phantom("shade")"]. The two "sides" tselaim were,  "light" and its image (tselem) / shade. The Almighty(ש) and his/their "pure emanation"/ image (ש). Quite the mystery. 

Sex(n.),

from late 14c., "males or females collectively," from Latin sexus "a sex, state of being either male or female, gender," of uncertain origin. "Commonly taken with seco as division or 'half' of the race"[Tucker], which would connect it to secare "to divide or cut"

In this way the The Lovers, the two halves, the duo, reveals the sacred mystery of the divine nature of mankind/humans, the creatures that God made in his/their image. An individual is both singularly this image(just as we are each one individual with two distinct hemispheres of our brains[left and right] that need to work together), but can also be one half or side of a couple which together again reflect the singular image of God(two heads are better than one). So this image of God is continually being reflected outward and inward on infinite levels of creation. 

Mandelbrot Set Sequence 

For attraction(movement toward) to occur, at a certain scale[such as the scale of people and things], there has to be some creative interplay between masculine and feminine qualities. Opposites attract. Equality of polarity repels. Without polarity there is stagnancy/stasis/no life; all light/all dark, eternal flame/eternal frozenness.

This concept makes it clear that if two people of the same sex or gender are romantically attracted to each other, they cannot simply be both entirely feminine/female or entirely masculine/male in all respects of their being. There is a spectrum of gender identity in cognitive style, style (looks), mannerism, emotional nature, etc, so one person may identify, act, or look very traditionally masculine in one area and be very traditionally feminine in another, and this is completely natural and normal. It is also natural and normal for certain people to fall towards the middle and not strongly identify with either masculine or feminine gender roles.  

Star Spinner Tarot, by Trung Le Nguyen - The Two as One With Halo of Divine Light and Arrows of Eros

Therefore to say someone is acting against their nature in being naturally attracted to another person is absurd. Attraction is, it exists, because of the interaction of polarity "masculine" and "feminine". What is unnatural is for a person to pretend that they are something they are not just because of how their body looks. God created the whole person, not just the sex (and in certain exceptions to the rule, God even creates people with ambiguous genitalia/sex). 

Spolia Tarot, artist Jen May - The Two as One with God Eros/Cupid(personification of Love) Above

Each person is a complete image of God on their own, and on their own are able creators in their own right, creators of movement, art, thought, music, dance, agriculture, industry, etc[think about how the two hemispheres of the brain, the right and left, work together in an individual person], but also, most people have the desire for relationship, partnership, and particularly the intimacy of another compatible human lover whom they can create with(in many and various ways, not just biologically) and make love with/together.

Then the LORD God said, "It is not good that the man[ha adam] should be a lone; I will make him a helper[ezer] fit[neged "suitable; opposite; counterpart to"] for him." Genesis 2:18 ESV

It is hard to be everything especially when everything contains polarity. Often when a person is good at one thing, or doing one thing, it also necessarily means they are not as good at the opposite thing, or cannot do the other thing at the same time. So, teamwork is very helpful; such as a pilot plus a navigator. They can both preform a single skill at a higher level when they put their time and energy into perfecting and preforming that one skill, compared with the ability of a single person having to do both jobs. This kind of help is mutually beneficial. This is not the relationship of a servant or slave to master. It is a relationship of equals working together.

 Here in this psalm the LORD is named "our help" using the same word, ezer.

Our soul waits for the LORD[YHWH]; he is our help[ezre-nu] and our shield. Psalm 33:20 ESV

Our help[ezre-nu] is the name of the LORD[YHWH], who made heaven and earth. Psalm 124:8 ESV

So this is "help" ezer with a meaning more along the lines of savior than servant. Yet we also know that a savior is a servant, but this is a free choice and done out of love.

Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, "If anyone wants to be first, he must be the last of all and the servant of all." Mark 9:35

So a savior/help/ezer may also serve, and this is indeed what a husband is directed to do for his wife, his counterpart,

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, Ephesians 5:25

So this being a helper goes both ways. 

However, neged can also take on the meaning of "against; ex adverso," and it is true that a suitable counterpart is also a worthy adversary if need be. We are only pushed to be better and our best when we meet our match. When you are on the same team you can help each other to go far, and then also, in the bad times, in the times of adversity, you can push each other to go even farther. 

Me and My Shadow, photo by Julie O. 2014

Who better to nag you than your ezer neged, your opposite, your shadow, your mirror, your equal who knows everything about you(sees you naked) and can hold you accountable? If you serve your counterpart and let it be your savior in this way, even when it feels like it is against you, you will truly know yourself, and not merely yourself as you wish to be or an illusion.

The Lovers can be about finding the balance within one's own self, it is about wholeness within, as well as outside partnership. 

Whole(adj.) is from Old English hal "entire, whole; unhurt, uninjured, safe; healthy, sound; genuine, straightforward," from Proto-Germanic *haila- "undamaged"(source also of Old Saxon hel. . .German heil "salvation, welfare"), from PIE *kailo- "whole, uninjured, of good omen." 

There is something lacking in the created image without the two forms. It is true that the being was a creature made from the earth, i.e. an adam, however when God made them adam, also,

. . . the LORD God formed [eth] man[ha-adam] from the dust of the ground[ha-adamah] and breathed the breath of life[hayyim/chayim(m. pl.)] into his nostrils, and the man[ha-adam] became a living[hayyah/chaya(f. s.)] being[nephesh(f.)]. Genesis 2:7 BSB/

In other words, we could say that God formed Adam[earthling/material being made from the dust of the ground/matter] from the adamah[earth/ground] and God/Elohim(pl.) breathed life[chaim, from chay] into his nostrils and he became a living[chavah = Eva = Eve] being. So, this being was created in two parts. First, the matter = adam, then the breath of life = eve, given to the form of the matter. So, God created the Adam to be Eve, or he created the human as Adam-Eve, that is a being living, and it is therefore not possible to separate the two or have one without thew other. Either you have the image of God in matter(Adam) with no life(Eve), or the image in spirit(Eve) but with no physical form(Adam), however every human is in fact an image of God of both body and soul. Yet since God is infinite; God is both the known and the unknown, the knowable and the unknowable, we can only express in part, each and everyone of us, different and various facets and colors of this one LIGHT. 

And I'll see your true colors shining through. I see your true colors, and that's why I love you. So don't be afraid to let it show. Your true colors. Your true colors are beautiful, like a rainbow. True Colors, by Cyndi Lauper

True Colors, photo by Julie O. 2012 

When a person is embracing this whole, yet unique, image of God that they are, they are honoring both the masculine and the feminine as THE image, and not overly identifying with one sex or gender, as if one side, expression, role, or starting point is better or worse than another, or that who they are (sex, gender, identity) makes them better or a better/more important image than another. Every image is equally the image, but the image is more fully known by us through each and every individual expression, the multitude of individual expressions, because being creatures, i.e. created, we can never experience God(the uncreated) as God(the uncreated), but we can experience God(God's image) as God(God's image).

And the image is so: two people can be The Lovers reflecting the image of God above, and each person attains to be The Lovers reflecting God within, but primarily and ultimately God IS and is The Lovers. So God, the infinite wholeness which expresses duality, is expressed as a single Light that is triune(God[Unity] + God[Light/Active/Father/Creator])+ God[Dark/Passive/mother/Mirror/Wisdom]), and this unmanifest trinity is expressed as the manifest trinity, Father + Son + Holy Spirit, that is the Light 🔥 , and the person is then made to be an image of this Light 🔥(trinity), which is 3 +3 = six = שש, which is sex, which is the story of creation. 

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 1 John 4:8

Ultimately the story of creation is a love story. 

Kala the Wild

In this modern age of smart phones we might think of the word "call" as being a really ordinary word. I make lots of ordinary phone calls. I call people I don't even want to talk to, in order to make appointments for things that I wish I didn't have to, like getting braces for my kids. I call about these things, yet these things do not call to me. Like a wolf howling to the sky at the full moon those things do not summon me. We are animals filled with longing. We long for the beauty, goodness and pleasantness with seems to elude us in this life. The wild softly summons us with its melody to teach us about beauty; a true beauty that is not found in the world, but rather in the fulfillment of the desires of our hearts. The call of the wild in our hearts is tinged a mournful tune until we reach paradise. 

In Old Norse kalla is "to cry loudly," and kaleó καλέω in Ancient / Koine Greek is "call, invite, summon."

Calls can be made with flutes or pipes. Reed pipes are often portrayed in Ancient Greek art. "Reed, reed-pen, measuring rod" in Greek is kalamos κάλαμος (kalama Sanskrit, calamus Latin).

A bird's song is also said to be its call. They are often beautiful songs like the call of the Calandra Lark. Calandra / Kalandra is derived from the Ancient Greek name for the lark, i.e., kalandros. It is a bird found around the Mediterranean and eastwards though the area that was once known as Mesopotamia and north into Scythia, which is Southern Russia. Its habitat is open plains, steppes and pastures. Syrinx is the name for the vocal organ of birds, i.e., the lower part of their windpipe.

Syrinx Σύρινξ was a beautiful wood (in Cornish, celli "wood") nymph who was pursued by the god Pan, though reluctantly. A Pan Pipe, is a type of reed pipe which is called a syrinx. In mythology Pan made the syrinx / Pan pipe from the reeds which Syrinx, his object of desire, was turned into. 

    Pan Pipes/Syrinx

She was turned into reeds to escape Pan. Then when Pan heard the soft sound of the wind whistling / singing over the reeds he made a flute out of them to have her with him. Perhaps the music of the pipes reminded Pan of his yearning for Syrinx and her beauty, kalós "beautiful, good, noble" in Ancient Greek, origin of the name Kala. But perhaps he also thought her callous for refusing his advances.

    Pan and Syrnx, Jean Francois de Troy 1722-1724, J. Paul Getty Museum

Because of Pan's pursuit and desire for her, Syrinx was transformed into a reed (kalamos) quite a calamity for her.

You know Syrinx disregarded fiery Kythereia[Aphrodite], and what a price she paid for her too-great pride and love of virginity; how she turned into a plant with reedy growth substituted for her own, when she had fled from Pan's love, and how she still sings Pan's desire! -Nonnus, Dionysiaca 42. 363 ff

The "place of reeds" in ancient Egyptian mythology was considered to be heaven, the best place, paradise. It was called Aaru and was described as a field of reeds in the east, where the sun rises. Aaru jꜣrw has the meaning of "rushes, reeds" in ancient Egyptian.

For the Greeks the best place, heaven, was called the Elysian Fields, a place of plenty and blessedness. Perhaps it was like Cana, insofar as it was a happy place, like Cana, the location of the wedding festival and Jesus' first miracle in the bible. Cana is from Greek Kana Κανά and is said to mean "place of reeds" likely taken from Hebrew qaneh "reed, stalk, cane, rod, branches." 

This(i.e., reeds being associated with the good), is reminiscent of the ancient Egyptian nefer, nfr hieroglyph. The nefer hieroglyph was used to represent the ancient Egyptian concept of beauty / the beautiful / goodness. The symbol is generally believed to represent a stylized sheep's heart(due to its markings) + trachea / windpipe ("reed"). So we could say it is a symbol with something like a kalamos (reed)," and has a similar meaning to kalós (beautiful / good). But what does this symbol have to do with beauty? 

    nfr - nefer

There is not a clear explanation of the origin of this symbol. However, it had many extended meanings and the specific shape was used for amulets, jewelry and other objects, as well as the hieroglyph. The symbol did not just mean beauty and goodness as a word, it also conferred meaning through its form. So what was it representing through its form?

It seems possible that it could have represented something like *the word of the god expressed from the calling of his heart*.

A word is spoken from the larynx located in the trachea. In Egyptian mythology it was said that the primordial god Ptah conceived of creation in his heart and spoke it into being through his mouth. And it is not just any word that comes from the mouth of God, it is the Perfect word . . . and that Word is the Beautiful and the Good, i.e., nefer. 
It is said that word's come from the wellspring of the heart.

The good man out of the good treasure of his heart produces good(nefer), and the evil man out of his evil treasure produces evil; for out of the abundance* of the heart his mouth speaks. Luke 6:45

The mouth speaks what overflows (*perisseumatos περίσσευματος "abundance, overflow") or comes out of the heart. The heart was viewed as seat of the personality in ancient Egypt. So in this way the heart and trachea can be said to be connected. However, why then a sheep's heart and not a human heart for the symbol?

Khnum/Khnemu ḫnmw (from ḫnm meaning "to join, unite; build"), the god of the waters, and thus also the silt which formed the fertile soil and clay of the Nile Delta region, was the "Divine Potter" who created man out of clay on his potters wheel and placed them in their mothers wombs. He was depicted with the head of ram (ba is "ram" in Egyptian, and ba was also "soul," being one of the five aspects the soul). So the nefer symbol had a ba heart, i.e., a ram's heart, which would also call to mind the ba "soul". 

    The Ba of the dead person hovers over his mummy clutching a shen-ring

In later periods Amun / Amon / Amen-Ra(the "concealed/hidden" one) took prominence as the chief creator god. Amun was also sometimes depicted as a ram, or with a ram's head. So the chief god was depicted as a ram (sheep) therefore it would not be too far out to say that the sheep's heart in the nefer symbol represented the heart of God. Then the whole symbol would represent that which proceeds from the sacred heart, i.e., beauty / goodness.

In Hebrew towb/tobe/tov/tova means "good, better, best, beautiful, pleasant, agreeable, sweet". The Lord(Yah) is Towb where we get the name Tobiah / Tobias(towb + yah). So, towb is used to describe God, and it is also used to describe the knowledge of the tree in the Garden of Eden. The tree in the midst of the garden was called "the Tree of the knowledge of towb and ra'".

Calista / Kalistos, means "fairest, most beautiful" in Greek, she was a nymph who took a vow to remain a virgin, however Zeus disguised himself as Artemis (Diana) to lure her into his embrace. She then became the mother of Arcas and ended up being turned into a bear. 

    Diana and Calysto 1559 Titian, national Gallery of Scotland 

Now Calista resides in the heavens as the Great Bear(momma bear), Ursa Major.

Calla lily means "beautiful flower," also called Arum Lily, "naked flower," Trumpet Lily, and Pig Lily. The Calla Lily, although considered to be neither a true calla nor a true lily, is said to be "naked" achlamydeous (literally "without a cloak") in botany because it is lacking petals and sepals. 

    Calla Lilly, Zantedeshia aethiopica

Calla Lilies are often used at both weddings and funerals. They are generally considered to be symbols of purity and rebirth. Yet they remain somewhat bawdy in their "nakedness". . . or at least alluring. 

Nefertem was the ancient Egyptian god who represented the lotus flower which arose from the primordial waters. He was known as "He who is beautiful" and Water-lily of the Sun," he was the morning aspect of Ra blooming / reborn as the Nymphea cerulea, Blue Water lily / Egyptian Lotus, every sunrise. 

    Nymphea cerulea- Blue Water Lily/Egyptian Lotus

He was associated with the beautiful scents of the lily and other flowers, and with the first morning sunlight. The Blue Water Lilly arises each day out of the murky, muddy depths, beautiful and alluring. 

Calidus  means "warm, hot" in Latin, and calor is "heat", from

PIE root *kele-(1) "warm." Warm is good and beautiful (kala) when you have been out in the cold and finally come in and take a nice soak in the hot tub or cozy up by the fire. Warm is like home.

    The Runaway Bunny, pictures by Clement Hurd- "I will become your mother and catch you in my arms and hug you." - photo by Julie O. /chtonickore

In her more gentle aspects, Kali is a mother goddess. However, she is a mother who is able to fiercely protect her children. Kali means "the dark / black one," she who is "beyond time." She is associated with Shakti "Power, Empowerment" (from shak "to be able", ie., can, from Old English cunnan "be able, know, have power, Old Frisian kanna) and is the goddess of time and change. She is the counterpart of Shiva, the destroyer, who is called Kala meaning "time, black/dark, death. Her name, Kali, comes from kala.  

    The Goddess Kali standing on Lord Shiva

Kali is kind of beautiful (kala) despite being so wild and foreboding. And from the look on Shiva's face I'd say he was enjoying his predicament. Perhaps he finds something about Kali's fiery nature alluring. She is a woman who can get things done. Maybe he's met his match, Caliente!

I am dark but beautiful, O Daughters of Jerusalem- dark as the tents of Kedar, dark as the curtains of Solomon's tents. Song of Solomon 1:5

Lovers yearn for each other. The beloved calls to the beloved. They are consumed by their love for each other. This can lead to the end or destruction of one, or the other. Kaleh in biblical Hebrew is translated as "yearn," from kalah "finished, annihilate, accomplished, been consumed, complete, destruction, devoured, at an end." An encounter with Kali can definitely bring a man to kalah (destruction). Time to meet your maker. But that's not always a bad thing, right? To discover or become the Shiva or Christ within, a certain destruction is necessary.

Amen, Amen I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falling into the ground die, itself remaineth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it unto eternal life. John 12:24-25

Kali is beautiful, yet fierce, like a shrill battle cry that invokes dread or the terrible drone of the bagpipe.
In fact the Old Irish meaning of Caellach (one possible origin of the name Kelly) is "war, strife, lively, aggressive," and Old Norse kalla is "to cry loudly".

Kali seduces you to your destruction.

    Siren with Reed Pipe/Aulos and Cane(?)- Thomas Bulfintch, The Age of Fable, 1897

Sirens were dangerous yet beautiful. To listen to their call meant death. They lured men in with their enchanting mournful song, then the unwary travelers were dashed against the rocks, shipwrecked, or simply driven into a deadly torpor. The voyagers were so high on beauty, they would forget how to do anything, neither steer their boats, nor even eat, to their ultimate demise.

    Seiren, Agent of Death

Siren (Seiren Gk.) is possibly from Greek seira "chord, rope," meaning something like "entanglers, binders." They lure or rope you in with their eloquent song, and  then you wither up and die. Searian is Old English "dry up, to wither". 

Kalupto/Kalypto has the meaning "to cover, veil, hide, conceal, envelope; deceive" in Ancient Greek. Calypso Καλυψώ "she who conceals." 

    Odysseus  and Calypso, Arnold Bocklin, 1883, Swiss Symbolist Painter

Odysseus was seduced and drawn in by Calypso, but after a while came the apocalypse from Greek apokalyptein "uncover, disclose, reveal." After the dis-clothes-ing or unrobing and consummation of his desire he realized that he needed to leave that place and get back home to Penelope. He did not feel called to be Calypso's immortal husband.

Sometimes an unveiling can feel like the end of the world.

Jesus called ("kaleo") his disciples and they left their former lives to follow him. However, he was actually leading them to their death. Was this a good or bad thing? You be the judge of that, but make no mistake, they were never going to be the same. You could say that Jesus was a destroyer (Shiva) and deceiver (Calypso). He lured in his apostles when the mission was concealed (kalypto). He preformed all sorts of wonderful miracles, was eloquent, and was and all round awesome guy . . . then bam-o! He's being crucified, and the apostles are scared out of their wits. Afterwards most of them ended up being tortured and killed. But that revelation (apokolypsis) came after the initial calling / seduction, and then it was already too late. They were hooked.  

Pieter Pierterz the Elder c 1569, Dutch Renaissance painter, Death of St. Peter and St. Paul

However, the purpose of it all was salvation, to partake in Christ and to become God. We are called to share in Christ's nature and become gods.

The only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might make men gods. -St. Thomas Aquinas, Opuscula 57:1-4. From Catechism of the Catholic Church 460

In ancient Egypt the shen hieroglyph was a stylized rope with a loop in it, meaning "protection." In the ancient world the shen-ring was a symbol representing eternal protection. The shen is a place enclosed, like "paradise" from ancient Greek paradeisos "park, garden, paradise," from an Iranian source similar to Avestan pairidaeza "enclosure, park"[OE].

Here is an image of Inanna or some say,  or Lilith (Hebrew "night demon," possibly related to the Babylonian concept of the Mesopotamian Lilitu, a class of female demons) holding two shen rings.

    Queen of the Night/Burney Relief, Mesopotamian terracotta, c.1800-1750 BC, British Museum, London, shown with shen rings

The Hebrew letter ש shin/sin can represent fire (esh / aysh) and Shekinah שכינה‎(from the verb shaken meaning settle down, abide, dwell.") Shekinah is a grammatically feminine name used to denote the dwelling or settling of the divine presence of God. 

Now the appearance of the glory of the LORD was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel. Exodus 24:17

      Letter Shin (reminiscent of a Cala Lily, and also a candelabra, trident, or wings?)

The shin is said to stand for Shaddai "Almighty," one of the names of God that YHWH gave of himself to Abraham, "I am God All Mighty [El Shaddai]; walk before me and be blameless (Genesis 17:1)," from the root shadad "destroyer." It is indicated in the posture of the hands in the Priestly Blessing (Birkat Kohanim).

    Priestly Blessing- Mosaic at Synagogue of Enschede(detail), Netherlands

Why would God come down and dwell with men?

"For the Lord's portion is his people, Jacob his allotted heritage." Deut 32:9

One's dwelling place is his home and his portion. God's home, his heaven, place of rest (shabbat) is with his people. And the home of his people is with God. Heaven is the home of their desire / heart.

"The Lord is my portion," says my soul …  Lam 3:24

Remember heaven is Aaru, the Field of Reeds (aaru). And Cana has the meaning "place of reeds." Late Latin canna is "reed," it also has the meaning "small vessel / gondola." Maybe this is canna in the sense of a safe enclosure, like the haven of the reed barque of Ra, or a home in the eternal abyss / waters.

Papyrus Reed Solar Barque (Barque of Ra), on pt "sky/heaven" glyph, at gateway to Nuit / Nut (goddess who is the starry night sky)

There is something about eternity that is really quite frightening. It's just SO big! We might actually choose to keep / confine ourselves to one portion of it. However, we don't want that portion to be a prison (like Calypso's island). In Hebrew kala also has the meaning of "shut up, restrain, withhold." And from this kala comes the word kele "prison, confinement, imprisonment." When parents try to protect their children they may put their own "shen" protective ring around them, but it can seem a bit like a prison. Maybe more like a lasso rope than the shen. Cloister is perhaps a little more of a benevolent word than prison, being from Latin claustrum "enclosure, place shut in," but still, what we desire is heaven, a paradise, so it would have to be the perfect enclosure; the cloister that is in NO anyway confining, but more like perfection; an un-cloister, or un-prision (more like Disneyland). 

 NASA MODIS compound photo, 2002. Spaceship Earth is our Cloister in the Abyss of Space, but feels like an Un-Cloister. Earth is Not a Prison Planet

Maybe like a perfect / ideal marriage or union, i.e., a binding that does not bind or limit. Instead it is comfort, the heart's desire, beauty (kala, nefer, towb), and protection, i.e., a home, om, eternal dwelling place, where we are "limited," but only to goodness. 

"Behold the dwelling of God is with men. He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away." Revelation 21:3-4

Yes, f*ck the chaos. I would like to retire to a beautiful paradise, or heaven Earth when I'm done with all this.

Amen!