A friend came into possession of this, and is wondering exactly what it is.
In the center seems to be a Chi Rho, a symbol of Christianity. Perhaps that’s an omega below it.
I showed it too an Israeli friend, but he couldn’t make sense of the apparently Hebrew writing around the outside. Perhaps it’s some other language, such as Aramaic (I doubt it would be Yiddish, since it seems to be a Christian thing).
Any ideas?
It may be something designed for ceremonial magic rather than straight religion. Some of the inner symbols appear to be zodiac signs (Taurus on the left side, Pisces on the right, and the “omega” may be Leo). A lot of the 19th/20th Century magical societies (like the Order of the Golden Dawn or Order of the Eastern Temple) used mixed Christian/Jewish symbolism.
Yeah, it’s Hebrew lettering but it’s basically jibberish. Lots of אש and ראש and what looks like אח(ו)ר in there – respectively, “fire” “head” “behind” (but not the body part back) – but I have no idea what it’s on about.
I got a handbag once that had some Hindi lettering on it. It was the same thing - it was Hindi letters, but they were just random ones, and put together it didn’t mean anything. Would it have been so hard to even find someone to write down the word “bag” in Hindi and have them use those letters?
It looks like a protective talisman from one of the Western Esoteric religions to me. Possibly Golden Dawn or one of their offshoots, but I’m not certain. Combining Christian and Hebrew symbols and the bits about “fire” “head” and “behind” come up a lot in such magicks. The upward pointing triangle on top could be a Fire element symbol (although they’re not usually boxed in like that.)
It’s something to keep something away, probably by the powers of YHVH and Fire, which equals Will in this system. It’s a magickally flamboyant piece, sort of a bragging, boasting one.
Whatever it was originally meant to be, it’s a cheap pewter reproduction made to make the maker money, at this point.
It’s possible that the original purpose was to protect against fire or some malady or entity associated with fire, and the box is symbolic of limiting or containing the element.
ETA: I do agree that it’s a cheap knock-off…the magical societies were/are pretty big on precision and craftsmanship, as being symbolic of magical control, and the amulet in question seems kind of slapdash.
Very possible, indeed.
I have not been around SD for a while, and saw this. Hope someone is still interested. My Hebrew and Aramaic are good. This is clearly an amulet, and reminds of some of the angelology found in e.g. Shiur Komah, which contains mixtures of Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and other languages.
here is what I discern:
Echad ve echad ve esh achva – “One and One and fire together”
Ha esh YY (Adonai) tokh dam tochar. I think tochar might be an error of the amulet maker, who misspelled “tohar” - "purity, so the rest is something like:
“the fire of God within the purity of blood.”
It is mixture of Aramaic and Hebrew, with atrocious syntax.
I have made some choices how to read obscure letters and how to combine those obscure letters into recondite phrases, but perhaps my tentative reading and translation can inspire a better reading and translation.
Very interesting - thanks!
