Blessed Bruja
Tonight I was chatting with my friend Lior and she says the Hebrew for "Blessed Be" said by Israeli Pagans is היי ברוכה hayi b'rukhah. The first thing I noticed was the feminine word for 'blessed' in Hebrew, b'rukhah, is a homonym of the Spanish word for 'witch', bruja.
Then I remembered my Arabic translation of "blessed be" which is literally مباركة كوني mubârakah kûnî in the feminine singular form... and thought: If I ever have a need for an Arabic pseudonym, Mubarakah Kuni would do nicely.
Speaking of homonyms, I just discovered that although kûnî means 'be' in Arabic, in Persian it's a very vulgar word for 'faggot'. Hmmm...!
While I was looking up the conjugation of the Hebrew verb היה 'to be', I also came across a nugget of oft-repeated Kabbalah lore... the Tetragrammaton YHVH is interpreted as an anagram of יהיה yihyeh - הווה hoveh - היה hayah 'he will be - he is - he was'. Those old Kabbalists sure had their way with... letters. I find it curious however that this instance of kabbalization runs time backwards...? This would also explain how the Tetragrammaton came to be pronounced yi-hov-ah or "Jehovah"... like it's made from those anagrammed letters in the tenses of the verb 'to be'.
Anyway I'm a feminist Witch and have had enough from authoritarian patriarchal deities. Rena has an interesting story about that, but you'll have to ask her to tell it.
Then I remembered my Arabic translation of "blessed be" which is literally مباركة كوني mubârakah kûnî in the feminine singular form... and thought: If I ever have a need for an Arabic pseudonym, Mubarakah Kuni would do nicely.
Speaking of homonyms, I just discovered that although kûnî means 'be' in Arabic, in Persian it's a very vulgar word for 'faggot'. Hmmm...!
While I was looking up the conjugation of the Hebrew verb היה 'to be', I also came across a nugget of oft-repeated Kabbalah lore... the Tetragrammaton YHVH is interpreted as an anagram of יהיה yihyeh - הווה hoveh - היה hayah 'he will be - he is - he was'. Those old Kabbalists sure had their way with... letters. I find it curious however that this instance of kabbalization runs time backwards...? This would also explain how the Tetragrammaton came to be pronounced yi-hov-ah or "Jehovah"... like it's made from those anagrammed letters in the tenses of the verb 'to be'.
Anyway I'm a feminist Witch and have had enough from authoritarian patriarchal deities. Rena has an interesting story about that, but you'll have to ask her to tell it.