Paganistan: Notes from the Secret Commonwealth

In Which One Midwest Man-in-Black Confers, Converses & Otherwise Hob-Nobs with his Fellow Hob-Men (& -Women) Concerning the Sundry Ways of the Famed but Ill-Starred Tribe of Witches.

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Cabalistic Cross, Corrected

Now, I'm neither a Cabalist nor a Ceremonial Magician, but I do speak Hebrew, and I can tell you this much: the Cabalistic Cross, as it has come down from the Golden Dawn, was clearly put together by someone with only the most superficial knowledge of the language. In fact, it's just plain wrong.

Ateh Malkuth ve-Geburah ve-Gedulah, le-Olahm. Amen.

This is supposed to mean (it's the tag-line of the "Our Father" prayer): "For thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory, forever. Amen."

But it doesn't.

1. Atah (to give it the correct vocalization) means "you [masc. sing.]" (or, in this case, "you are").

2. The prefix ve- does indeed mean "and," but in the immediate sound environment of this phrase, it should instead be vocalized oo-. (Hey, I don't make the rules.)

3. "Power," while written geburah, is actually pronounced gevurah. (Sound environment again.)

4.  If you look up le-olahm in the dictionary, you'll find that although it does indeed mean "forever" (literally, "to eternity") in some contexts, no one with even the slightest knowledge of the Hebrew prayerbook would ever end a prayer that way. It would be like ending a story, "And they lived happily ever." The correct expression is le-olam va-ed.

If I wanted to use the Cabalistic Cross with correct Hebrew, I would say: 

אתה מלכות וגבורה וגדולה לעולם ועד׃ אמן׃

Atá Malkhút u-Gvurá u-Gdulá le-olám va-éd. Amén.


"You [masc. sing.] are Kingdom and Power and Greatness, forever and ever. Amen." 

Or, if I wanted to stick more closely to the original English:

לך מלכות וגבורה וגדולה לעולם ועד׃ אמן׃

Lekhá Malkhút u-Gvurá u-Gdulá le-olám va-éd. Amén.


"Yours (lit: to you) is Kingdom and Power and Greatness, forever and ever. Amen."

Being neither Cabalist nor Ceremonial Magician, of course, I'm unlikely to use either of these myself any time soon. But I offer them to those who prefer precision in their magical practice.

For what it's worth.

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Poet, scholar and storyteller Steven Posch was raised in the hardwood forests of western Pennsylvania by white-tailed deer. (That's the story, anyway.) He emigrated to Paganistan in 1979 and by sheer dint of personality has become one of Lake Country's foremost men-in-black. He is current keeper of the Minnesota Ooser.

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