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To: alt.magick From: YoginSubject: Otz Chaiim/Samael Questions Date: Sun, 15 Jun 1997 15:54:14 -0700 Been doing some work/research on Samael, which has led me to some very basic questions regarding the "tree of life" in QBL. Having found no answers to these questions in other sources, I'm posting them here in order to see if there's something I'm missing. 1) Otz chaiim means "tree of lives". Why the singular in the English translation? 1a) Is there any evidence that "tree of lives" as a term might be linked to some idea of reincarnation between worlds, as in the lokas of Eastern systems (ie, could the sephiroth be abstractions of lokas?) 2) Modern QBL places the serpent and the sword upon the tree itself. In the OT, however, the serpent is in the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, not the tree of life. Also in the OT, the "fiery sword" is not upon either tree, but was placed as a guard "to the East of Eden." These seem like juxtapositions in this light. Has this question been addressed by anyone previously, and if so, how is the seeming contradiction resolved? Any sources which answer this question would also be appreciated. 3) In the Book of Baruch (pseudoepigraphia) it's stated that the Tree of Life is not planted in Eden by Elohim, but by Samael. Baruch even goes so far as to refer to the tree as a "poisonous vine", but Elohim doesn't remove it. The Targum, too, seems to allude to this. In my mind, it seems that the cults of Elohim and Samael may have been competitors for the faithful, but I can't find any historical mention of a Samael/Semyaza cult. Does anyone know if there was a rivalry between two cults, and anything about an ancient Samael cult? Note that Samael itself means "poisoner of god", and the apellation seems to be fulfilled in Baruch, but not elsewhere. As an aside to question 3, I've noticed that every mention of Samael by name was expunged from the Jewish Canon. Every book that mentions Samael (Enoch, Baruch, Sirach) was left out of the recognized scripture. 4) Samael, in later works, is repeatedly refered to as the consort of Lilith, but there doesn't seem to be anything to back up this idea before a single 13th century rabbi mentions it. Does anyone know of an older tradition that maintains this relationship? Any info would be much appreciated. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Tzimon Yliaster Tools of CHAOS Maintainer http://www.crl.com/~tzimon tzimon@crl.com PO Box 26362 San Francisco, CA 94126 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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