Tail in the Head: The Elusive Serpent
by tillerofthesoil
Who tells from the first the last, and from old what is not yet done (Isaiah 46:10).
“Ten sefiroth belimah—their end is embedded in their beginning like a flame bound to a burning coal. For the Lord is singular, He has none second to Him. Before one, what do you count?
Ten sefiroth belimah—their measure is ten yet they have no limit: depth of first and depth of last; depth of good and depth of evil; depth of above and depth of below; depth of east and depth of west; depth of north and depth of south. And a singular Lord—God, steadfast King—reigning over them all from His holy dwelling for ever and ever” (Sefer Yetsirah §§6–7).
There is a thing of which one would say, “See this, it is new.” It already has been in the eons that were before us (Ecclesiastes 1:10).
That which was already has been, and what is to be already has been, and ha-Elohim seeks out the pursued (Ecclesiastes 3:15).
“Rabbi Ḥiyya opened, saying, ‘That which is has already been called by name, and what is to be [… already has been] (Ecclesiastes 3:15, 6:10). That which is has already [been]—corresponding to what we have learned: Before the blessed Holy One created this world, He created worlds and destroyed them, until the blessed Holy One entertained the desire to create this world, and He consulted the Torah. Then He was arrayed in His adornments and adorned with His crowns, and He created the world. All that exists in this world was already in His presence, rising before Him, arranged before Him“ (Zohar 3:61a–b).
“Gravings of engravings, like the appearance of a long serpent, extending here and there—tail in the head, head behind the shoulders, pregnant and furious, guarded and hidden” (Zohar 2:176b, Sifra di Tsni’uta).
“תְּלִי (Teli)—a spark rendered as an illusory serpent. Its tail clinging to orbs, surrounding them. In its might it darkens the seven planets” (Berit Menuḥa: The Second Way, The Way of Love, Eighth Vowel).
The elusive Serpent (Job 26:13).
אוּרוֹבוֹרוֹס (Urovoros), uroboros, is numerically equivalent to טַבַּעְתּוֹ (taba’eto), His ring (Genesis 41:42).
הַטֶבַע (Ha-teva), The nature of, אֱלֹהִים (Elohim), God, אוֹר … חֹשֶׁךְ (or hoshek), light and darkness (Isaiah 45:7), כְּגַלְגַּל (ke-galggal), like a wheel. Each word, or phrase is numerically equivalent.
A permutation of אֱלֹהִים (Elohim)—God’s Name of Judgement—is מְלֹא יָהּ (melo Yah), full of Yah, God’s abbreviated name of Compassion: the strict judgments of אֱלֹהִים (Elohim) belie that they are full of compassion.
“The תְּלִי (Teli), the Wheel, and the Heart” (Sefer Yetsirah, §59a, cf. Genesis 27:3; Job 26:7, 13; Zohar 1:125a).
“Rabbi Berekhiah sat and expounded: What is the תְּלִי (Teli)? This is the likeness that is before the blessed Holy One. As is written, His locks are תַּלְתַּלִּים (taltallim), curled (Song of Songs 5:11). What is the Wheel? It is the בֶּטֶן (beten), belly [‘Mother of the World,’ Binah, see Bahir §104. On the ‘wheel,’ cf. BT Shabbat 151a]. What is the לֵב (Lev), Heart? Heart of the heavens (Deuteronomy 4:11). In it are the ל״ב (thirty-two) paths of Wisdom” (Bahir §106).
Before I fashioned you in בֶּטֶן (beten), the belly, I knew you, and before you came out of רֶחֶם (reḥem), the womb, I consecrated you (Jeremiah 1:5). Cf. קֶבֶר (qever), “womb,” with it’s Mishnaic Hebrew sense of “grave” in BT Niddah 21a; Shabbat 129a.
“Come and see: In the middle of the sky, a lustrous path is woven—Celestial Serpent—all gossamer stars clustered with, mounds upon mounds [cf. BT Menakhot 29b], encharged with requiting the deeds of inhabitants of the world. Similarly, numerous bands of dazzling demons issue from this supernal, primordial serpent—by whom Adam was seduced—and they are all encharged with requiting deeds of the world” (Zohar 1:125a, cf. Rabbi Shabbetai Donnolo, Sefer Hakhmoni, on Sefer Yetsirah 6:1).
“From the outset, as of old, ordained: last in deed, first in thought” (Rabbi Shelomoh Alkabets, Lekha Dodi).
“תְּלִי גַלגַל לֵב (Teli, galgal, lev), Teli, Wheel, Heart—I will greatly rejoice in YHWH, my soul תָּגֵל (tagel), shall exult, in my God (Isaiah 61:10)” (Sefer Peli’ah 45d).
YHWH reigns—let the earth תָּגֵל (tagel), exult, let the many islands rejoice (Psalms 97:1).
Another’s secret do not תְּגָל (tegal), reveal (Proverbs 25:9).
“And this is the place of the sorcery of the world, in the ingathering of the powers of the Teli in the wheel in the edifice of its moon and in [its] entrails and in the likeness of the form of the serpent in its revolving, and, in its placing of its collected tail, its body will proceed until the tail will return to the midpoint of the wheel of its body, and its head is the beginning of its wheel. And it is known that its movement is to its two sides, and thus sometimes it will stand straight in the likeness of a rod, and from this he who understands will understand the secret of Eve’s serpent and the secret of the rod of Moses and the secret of the brazen serpent. And this secret is the joining of this aforementioned course according to the elements air, fire, water, earth; fire, air, earth, water…. One must join this with this until this is acted upon by this and this is acted upon from this. Therefore it will be at the hands of the ministers which are the seven roving stars which are intermediaries between the constellations and the elements” (Rabbi Avraham Abulafia, Mafteah ha-Tokhahot, MS Oxford-BL 1605, 25b–26a).
And each flung down his staff and they became serpents, and Aaron’s staff swallowed their staffs (Genesis 7:12).
In that day YHWH with his hard and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the fleeing serpent, even leviathan that coiled serpent; and he shall slay the monster that is in the sea (Isaiah 27:1).
“Rav Yehudah the Indian related: Once we were travelling on board a ship when we saw a precious stone that was surrounded by a sea monster. A diver descended to bring it up. The sea monster came and sought to swallow the ship, [when] a raven came and bit off its head and the waters were turned into blood. Another sea monster came, took and hung it and it revived. Again it came and sought to swallow the ship. Again a bird came and severed its head. [Thereupon the diver] took the precious stone and threw it into the ship. We had with us salted birds. [As soon as] we placed [the stone] on them, they took it up and flew away with it” (BT Bava Batra 74b).
“The אוֹזֶן (ozen), ear, is shaped like א (alef) and alef is head of all the letters [like a אַלוּף (aloof), head, chieftain]. Moreover, alef causes all the letters to endure and א (alef) is shaped like the brain. What is alef? When you recall you open your mouth, so too the thought [is opened and expanded] when contemplating לְאֵין סוֹף ותַכְלִית (le-ein sof ve-takhlit), endlessly and limitlessly. And from the אָלֶף (alef) all the letters emerge. Do we not see that she is at the outset? But it is said, YHWH at their head (Micah 2:13). It has been established that every name written with [the letters] יוד הא ויו הא (Yod He Vav He), the blessed Holy One is unified and sanctified in holiness. What is ‘in holiness?’ This is the Holy הֵיכָל (heikhal), Temple [numerically equivalent to אֲדֹנָי (Adonai)]. Where is the Holy Temple? Ah, say in thought, that is, אָלֶף (alef). This is what is written, I have heard of Your renown; I am afraid (Habakkuk 3:1)….
It is written, Nor the ear filled with hearing (Ecclesiastes 1:8). It is also written, The eye is not sated with seeing (ibid.). This teaches that both draw from thought. What is thought? A king that is needed by all things created in the world, above and below.
Why do we say, ‘It arose in thought’ and we don’t say ‘It descended’? Indeed, we say: He who prays through the vision of thought [first] descends and then ascends. We use the expression [of descent] there because we say, ‘He who gazes into צְפִיָּת (tsefiyyat), a vision, of the Chariot’ (Heikhalot Rabbati §81). The Targum renders צְפִיָּה (tsefiyyah), lookout, as סָכוּתָה (sakhutah), covering, as is said, And he shall call out, a lion on מִצְפֶּה (mitspeh), the lookout: ‘My Lord [I stand perpetually by day and on my watch I am stationed all through the nights’] (Isaiah 21:8). However, צְפִיָּה (tsefiyyah), a covering, cannot envelope thought, for it has no limit whatsoever, and anything that has no end or limit does not descend. People therefore say, ‘So and so descended to the end of his knowledge.’ One can reach the end of his knowledge, but not the end of his thought.
Rabbi Amora sat and expounded: Why is it written סְגוֹל (segol)? Because סְגוּלָּה (segullah), ‘treasure,’ is her [proper] name, as it is [she] on top, following זַרְקָא (zarqa). What is zarqa? Just like its name it is (1 Samuel 25:25) נְבָרֵך (nevarekh), ‘blessed’ [possibly a euphemistic antonym for ‘cursed,’ see 1 Kings 21:13; Job 1:5, 11; 2:9; M Sanhedrin 7:5. Cf. Bahir §133]. Like something נִזְרַק (nizraq), thrown away, but in its wake comes, סְגֻלַּת (segullat), the treasure, of kings and provinces (Ecclesiastes 2:8). But what is zarqa? It is written: Blessed be YHVH’s glory from His place (Ezekiel 3:12), because there is none who knows His place. [Sandalfon says:] We recite a name over the coronet, and She goes and rests on the head of the Owner, as is written, Possessor of heaven and earth (Genesis 14:19). As She goes She is like a zarqa with a segullah, treasure, following Her, and She comes to be head of all letters. And why is [the zarqa written] at the end of a word and not at its beginning? To teach that this תַּגָּא (tagga), coronet, ascends above, above. And what is the import of this coronet? She is a precious stone, set and adorned, as is written, The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone (Psalms 118:22). She ascends to the place from which She was hewn, as is written, from שָׁם (sham), There, feeds Israel’s Stone (Genesis 49:24)” (Bahir §§70; 87–91).
Elder and honored, they are the head, prophet and false teacher, they are the tail (Isaiah 9:14).