The Amulets
Amulets and good luck charms have existed since the dawn of history.
Their purpose was to provide emotional security for people, success
in their endeavors – mainly hunting, war, success in growing crops,
overcoming illnesses – and, essentially, any and every good thing a
person could want for one's family and oneself. The tribal healers
or wizards gave out the Amulets. With the development of urban
settlement and the changes in the belief patterns and religions,
this role was passed on to religious priests and, in effect, it is
they and people possessing similar special attributes as well, who
still deal with this today. As was said, the Amulet provides the
person with emotional help, which is meant to operate on a
subliminal level. The Amulet solves the issues of a person's lack of
confidence on two levels: the first being a lack of belief in one's
abilities, and the second being a lack of knowledge regarding the
future.
One can distinguish between overt Amulets (which can be displayed)
and hidden Amulets (which cannot be displayed). Another way to
distinguish among Amulets would be the division between those
designed for a person and those designed for a place (a home or
place of business). These Amulets could be uniform – where anyone
may purchase the same Amulet – or they could be personal Amulets,
which can be made to order (each one tailor-made according to a
person's needs) by people with special attributes who are privy to
the secret of their preparation. Unlike the many claimants who
openly declare their knowledge, there are a few, modest persons who
are really privy to the secret of Amulet making. A final distinction
would be between a shaped Amulet and a written Amulet. Most of the
Amulets today are of the written type.
According to Kabbalah, the letters created the world. This indeed is
a sentence that seems logical and clear to us, since without verbal
communication we are unable to get anything done. The story of the
Tower of Babel is a famous one – when work on the tower was halted
and the people dispersed the moment each had his own language and
all communication collapsed.
However, each letter possesses its own unique, powerful energy.
Combining letters, words and sentences gives power according to the
position and content of the words or letters. Finding the letters
and the words, and constructing sentences suitable for the Amulet's
purpose, is the important secret of its composition. An Amulet can
be written on almost anything, but materials that endure over time
and are impervious to environmental conditions are preferable. The
main power of the Amulet is drawn from its written contents, but the
writing surface itself has a value of its own, even if a lesser one.
The texts used by the Amulet writers are mainly those of the Holy
Scriptures such as the Bible, with the emphasis being on sentences
from the Torah (Five Books of Moses), though also from Psalms and
other books, and the texts of various prayers as well. There are
those who use words of a certain meaning relevant to a topic using
direct methods of writing (copying the entire text), or indirect,
such as writing a word composed of the first or last letters of an
entire sentence. There are ways to write a sentence with all the
words joined in order to keep the Amulet incomprehensible to any
person. Because it was God who created human beings and the world,
the paths to the wisdom of creation are common to man and the world.
As a result, these codes provide aid and assistance to the person
when they are integrated into the Amulet.
It can be said that choosing a word or a sentence is done according
to the type and purpose of the Amulet. The names of angels in charge
of the spheres appropriate to the content and purpose of the Amulet
are added to many Amulets.
King Solomon's Amulets are unique among Amulets in several ways.
Solomon was a philosopher-king. There was peace during his reign and
the kingdom prospered and served as a regional cultural center. He
occupied himself with problem solving and assistance through writing
and other forms. As the father of the saying, "He who lives by the
sword shall die by the sword", he viewed every problem in two
contrasting and complementary ways. Many years before the scientific
genius Sir Isaac Newton formulated his Third Law, which states that
for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction, King
Solomon was aware of this fact and used it as the basis for his
doctrine of Amulet design. In addition, he did not believe in one
remedy or solution for all of life's problems, and thus his Amulets
were designed to solve specific problems such as overcoming illness,
finding work, clarity of thought, becoming pregnant, etc. He viewed
the issue of finding work and financial success in the wake of the
job as two separate and different problems. Furthermore, according
to his doctrine, the birth of many descendants requires special
assistance, different from the assistance one needs simply to become
pregnant and so forth. That is why there are so many Amulets
ascribed to him or according to his doctrine. King Solomon’s Amulets
are very ancient and are mentioned in the closing prayer of the Book
of Formation as being of special quality. People of other religions
have also adopted Solomon’s doctrines and indeed, there are
non-Jewish signs on some of the Amulets. The structure of a Solomon
Amulet is an outer layer on which mainly verses from the Torah are
inscribed and an inner part, which is the operating engine. The
outer layer directs the power and contains biblical verses, which
offer two possibilities: success and failure. The inner layer pushes
toward success. The inner layer is composed of Torah verses as well,
be they complete or composed of the first letter of each word alone.
These Amulets are written in the original Hebrew writing in which
the Bible was written and from the period of King Solomon (about
1000 BCE). The reasons for this include: preserving the Amulet's
authenticity, and preserving modesty in the call for help (prayer
and calling for help should be done privately and these letters,
unknown today, preserve the rule of modesty). The original Hebrew is
known for its special powers and thus it works directly on the
subconscious. Many claim that it is the mother script from which all
scripts evolved.
In the Amulet's design, the writing is generally Hebrew but there
are those that use a form of writing called “Kabbalistic writing”
or, by its other name, “Angel” script. The verses and the
combinations are in accordance with the connection to the problem or
request of the person commissioning the Amulet, and the assistance
that the person could gain from the combinations and verses on the
Amulet. The person using the Amulet has an important part – perhaps
no less so than the person writing the Amulet. It is the very desire
for the Amulet and its use, and the belief in it, that help the
Amulet succeed – no less than its writing.
According to Kabbalah, it is forbidden for the person to be familiar
with the content and the meaning of the codes in the Amulet, but
only the purpose for which it is intended. This is for two main
reasons: the first because, “there is no blessing save from what is
hidden from the eye”; and the second because if the person knows the
Amulet's contents and what is written in it, he is liable to try to
interpret it in his own way or disagree with the intention or
interpretation given to it by the person with special attributes. In
this way, the belief in the Amulet's power would be diminished or
cancelled. Thus, the Amulet's power would not work for him because
of the “disturbance” created by the Amulet owner himself.
A person who wants to benefit from the Amulet must be conscious of
the fact that he is bearing an Amulet and “consider” it from the
moment he wears it. The intention here is not that it will assist
him in his thoughts of obtaining his desire, but that he gives the
Amulet a chance to help. In practice, the person must stop feeling
pressured and acting obsessively towards obtaining his goals, and
become aware that there is a new factor involved to which time and
soul must be devoted.
Amulets can be written on any material because the letters are the
active element which creates their power. However, the material has
some influence; obstructing or enhancing. There are pure and
compound materials (alloys), perishable and non-perishable
materials. Gold, silver, leather and copper are pure, non-perishable
materials thus their energy supports the writing. Iron, wood, stone
and alloy of zinc (and others) are perishable materials which
obstruct the energy of the Amulet's letters. So it is important to
consider the material from which the Amulet is made. True Amulets
are made of pure non-perishable materials. Parchment is a
non-perishable material which symbolizes the four elements (air,
water, earth and fire) which are also what man is made of. Water –
the human body is 80% water. Earth – "earth to earth" – the material
part of the body. Air - the oxygen which gives us breath. Fire – the
energy which causes all the systems in our body to function
properly. Parchment is the closest material to the human body
because it comes from a living creature. That is why it is an
excellent platform for Amulets, but the ink tends to fade with time.
Among the metals there are differences between copper and gold and
silver. Silver, from the sphere of Grace (Chesed), helps
unconditionally (as does the moon, which belongs to the same sphere
and reflects the light of the sun). Gold, however, is from the
sphere of law (Din), and helps only to those who deserve help (as
does the sun, which creates its own light which reaches everyone,
but can harm those who are not protected). Gold will either provide
very strong assistance or none at all. Copper (also brass and
bronze) belongs to the sphere of essence (Yesod) which gives and
take equally thus it is a sure platform for writing Amulets. The
alloy named "five metals" is considered wrongly to have special
qualities. The origin of this theory is probably with the medieval
alchemists, not in Jewish Kabalah. According to the Kabalah the
letters are most important and the material is secondary. The
letters have pure, primary and powerful energy since they are the
builders of the universe. The power of the material is of another
kind, much weaker. Its energy is secondary (non creative), since
solid material is a result of an energetic action which changed its
form naturally when created, thus the energy which emanates from a
solid material is weaker (not a creative energy such as the letters
have) than that of letters and its ability to influence positively
or negatively is limited. This is true regarding each and every
material, including minerals and crystals. |
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