The Red Sea - The Reed Sea

[LorrB]

I just posted a link to George Oliver's book Signs and Symbols Illustrated and Explained. In it he wrote...

The characters of this species of symbol were borrowed from the appearance of natural objects and chiefly from the vegetable creation.

"Thus, of a man who possessed an expanded mind, it would be said, he is an oak; of another, who is liable to be intimidated, was irresolute and wavering, he is an aspen leaf; or of a third who was hollow and deceitful, he is a reed."

It has been said that The Red Sea in the bible was a mistranslation and that it should be read as The Reed Sea.

We also have Moses cast adrift amongst the reeds. (It is also hinted at that Moses was the illegitimate son of the princess into whose care he subsequently found himself.)

What if the reed sea was referring to the hollow and deceitful (Egyptians?). Was the parting of the red/reed sea no more than an example of divide and conquer?

If the infant Moses, because of the circumstances of his birth, was not to be seen in royal circles he would needs be cast out into the wider world of the hollow and deceitful common folk.

It was just an ah-ha moment when I had this thought... idle speculation, any thoughts?

The Egyptian forces who were wiped out by the red/reed sea? A house divided brings about its own downfall.

[LorrB]

Mountains - Higher consciousness or realms?
Valleys - Lower consciousness or realms?
Wilderness - normal awareness.

All communications with Gods seem to take place on mountain tops. Jesus final inititiation was at the Place of the Skull - a hill (high place).
The Transfiguration was on a mountain top... cosmic consciousness event where the mind is filled with Light ?

Freemasonry has it valleys, vaults, rainbows, moorings, cliffs, encampments and cedar trees, pomegranates, acacia, lilies, bees, birds, animals...

[jzryk8]

Well, if we look at this - specifically about Moses being cast adrift and the Egyptian people, including ISIS etc that draw amazing parallels regarding that specific myth. If we take the ISIS path then the Reed Sea makes a lot more sense.

[LorrB]

Can you give some examples re the ISIS path and Reed Sea jzryk8?

[maat]

The Reed Sea kept coming to mind last night so I decided to see what I could find on 'reeds' in the esoteric land. Here is one interesting find.

Lord Skanda … was taken out of six lotuses by Goddess Parvati from the Saravanappoigai, the lake where reeds were growing. We know that the supreme spiritual experience or the Aparoksha Anubhuti is attained, in Yogic parlance, through Shat-Chakra-Bheda or by piercing the six plexus. It is the emerging out of the six lower lotuses that finds the Jiva ultimately in a state of perfect (Purna) Yoga or Wisdom in the Sahasrara Chakra. Thus, in Skanda we have the ultimate product of an emergence out of the six lotuses or Shat-Chakras and this we know to be Supreme Wisdom. Therefore, Lord Skanda is a mass of ultimate transcendental Supreme Knowledge that has to destroy nescience, Ajnana or darkness, represented upon the plane of manifest cosmos in the form of the Asuric hosts.

(Personal note: six lotuses are the six officers or six lower chakras? King Solomon and Lord Skanda being the crown chakra.)

The story goes that the sparks which flashed forth from the third eye of Siva rushed through space, which Vayu and Agni carried and dropped into the river Ganga. Ganga, being unable to contain the divine energy, shoved it on to her banks, upon a shrub of reeds known as Sara. There is thus a combination of the ether, air, fire, water and earth principles in the depositing of the Tejas or energy of Siva in the world.

(Personal note: The five pointed star = the four elements and the Akashic ether which underlies them? It also comes to mind that with the FPoF one finds 4 points to the fore and 1 behind)

sivanandaonline.org/graphics/ebooks/swami_sivanandaji/downnload/lord_shanmukha_worship.html

[maat]

Then we have this close analogy with the Moses (Thutmoses?) story.

Scene 2 : Shanmukha , Skanda

Lord with six-faces. The story tells us how from the Tri Netram of Lord Siva, the Divine Sparks flashed out and how Agni and Vayu carried them and dropped them into the Ganga. Ganga took the Rays to Saravanappoigai. Thus we see the combination of all the five elements in the Avatara of Lord Shanmuka. The Light, which stands for the Divine Spirit and source of Life to all beings enters Akasa (space) from its abode into Lord Siva, On reaching Akasa, it was received by Agni ( represented in the Puranas as god of Fire ) and Vayu ( the Wind-god ), who carry the Sparks to Mother Ganga. Ganga here represents the element of water. Taking these Sparks she leaves them in the Saravanappoigai, which stands for the earth ( Prithvi ) element. 'Skanda' means 'One who was ejected' or One who leaped out' and refers to the way of His emanation from the third-eye of Lord Siva

(Personal note: here we find Space and the Four Elements again)

The term 'Skanda' was used by Parvati Devi when she took the newborn babe from the six lotus flowers in Saravanappoigai. 'Skanda' also means 'the joined One', When Parvati Devi took the six babies from the six lotuses , they joined themselves and assumed a single body with six faces and twelve hands. Hence He is called as Skanda - one whose presence is sweet smelling or fragrant.

(Personal note: Saravanappoigai = the lake of reeds!)

www.webindia.com/revathir/omsaravanabhava.htm

[LorrB]

So from 'the reeds' the mighty oak grew

I like the analogy.. because energy ascends in plant life in a spiralling/winding manner.

[LorrB]

Then there is the Field of Reeds ...

www.nilemuse.com/fields.html

... from the Book of the Dead.

[LorrB]

Just a thought.... thinking outside the square...was it a 'sea of blood' as in bloody wars that bought about the downfall of the Egyptians? They were overwhelmed by their own nature? The plagues could be referring to psychological states.

Often the madman does himself in which leaves the way open for meek and mild to pass through.

[LorrB]

I love this little piece on the Red Sea ... Alvin Boyd Kuhn

It can indeed be said that the one sure and inerrant key to the Bibles is the simple concept of fire plunging into water, the fire being spiritual mind-power and water being the constituent element of physical bodies,--as well as the symbol of matter. Soul (spirit) as fire, plunged down into body, as water, and therein had its baptism. Hence soul's incarnation on earth was endlessly depicted and dramatized as its crossing a body of water, a Jordan River, Styx River, Red Sea, Reed Sea. Since the water element of human bodies is the "sea" which the soul of fire has to cross in its successive incarnations, and it is red in color, the "Red Sea" of ancient Scriptures is just the human body blood. When the red fire of spirit-soul was gradually introduced into and permeated the original sea-water which was the bodily essence of earliest living creatures on earth, it changed colorless salt water into its own color, red. The "Red Sea" never could have meant anything other than the human blood. The Scriptures reiterate that "fire descended from heaven and turned the sea into blood." This transformation of course took place in man's body, not in the world oceans. This is a clarification that alone can reillumine all old Scriptures with a flashing new and enlightening orientation of meaning. Egypt said that souls came down to "kindle a fire in the sea," to "create a burning within the sea," verily to set the ocean on fire. This has actually been done, but in man's veins and in his passions, not in the seven seas.

pc93.tripod.com/ESOSTRAL.HTM

(I have always thought that Noah's Ark was representing the resting place of our essence between lives- the place where our rainbow bodies live)

[LorrB]

From the same link

The Hebrew word for father being ab, Ab-ra-m is "Father Ra," as clearly as Hebrew can say it. Ram would be this creative fire immersed in water, matter.

... makes me wonder whether the son that was saved, is our sense of individuality ...

[torence]

I envy the depth to which you have plunged into that ancient Red Sea in order to add value to the familiar story; but the lesson to be learned from Exodus is how He works in mysterious and unpredictable ways.

It is important to note that Moses was made by Him to be the Law-giver for the new nation; and yet Moses (Thutmose) began his adult career as the worst sort of criminal we could consider for the job interview, even by enlightened Masonic standards. Moses was both a traitor and a murderer.

He received the benefit of the Pharaoh’s daughter’s mercy and was rescued; brought up as one of her own and in the lap of luxury with the best of all possible education. As an Apprentice, his path was paved to enter the most envied, best paid, and desirous trade in the society, the Egyptian Priesthood. Being “Royal” he should have had quite the career.

But we have for us to study, the death of the foreman at the hands of this Prince. The story goes that the foreman whipped the bricklayer (we assume that he was overtaxed but it could have been just as likely that he was not pulling his weight) and cursed him with the phrase “Amen-Ra! I will make you work!”

The phrase “Amen” meant “By the power of” and of course “Ra” was the Sun God. The Israelites later adapted the phase to drop the name of Him whose name could not be spoken. We close our prayers with “Amen” and “So mote it be” indicating by our Masonic congregations that with His help and the will and work of the Brethren that the sentiments of the prayer will come true.

Thutmoses then takes the law into his own hands, murders the foreman, and later betrays the nation that provided so well for him. And yet, he is chosen above thousands if not millions of other more righteous men to then impose the Law upon future generations. He doesn’t even translate the message very well. The No. 1 rule that he delivers is to “have no other gods before Him.” That phrase indicates that there are other Gods. Many centuries pass before we have the Christians who can best describe Him as the Trinity (really a Hindu notion – the Trimurti); and many more centuries pass until Mohammed works it out that “There is no God, but God.”

If it takes men six thousand years to get back to the thought that started it all…just one God…then what sort of progress are we making?

What advancements can we as individuals make to set aside centuries of propaganda and spin?

Fraternally,
Torence Evans Ake
Secretary – Auburn Park Lodge No. 789 – Crete, Illinois
PM – Arcadia Lodge No. 1138 – Lansing, Illinois

[torence]

I have taken the time to re-read maat’s posting about Siva. From that culture we learn that the entire universe changes, not often but completely; and we can have no knowing of when this world will be dissolved.

Centuries of mankind’s thought are incorporated into these allegories. To the ancients this universe was composed of the four elements, earth, water, air, fire to which the Japanese Musashi identified a fifth element, the void. Mathematics, and Geometry specifically, identifies three essentials length, breadth and height. Modern string theory describes eight additional components. All cultures personify these characteristics because even the most ardent Atheist among us cannot completely discount the necessary inclusion of Deity.

So much of men’s time, such as we have with Moses’ time in the desert, is misspent in lonely self indulgence when our purpose is clear, to make as many connections as we possibly can. When we join with one another, we join with nature; and, we can identify our reflections being communicated all around us either the strong oak or flimsy reed, the solid rock or whispy sands, the warm breath or raging conflagration.

If we can we will radiate and if we can we will also absorb. But Contact with each other is our mandate and for that conclusion we have all of these examples.

Fraternally,
Torence Evans Ake
Secretary – Auburn Park Lodge No. 789 – Crete, Illinois
PM – Arcadia Lodge No. 1138 – Lansing, Illinois

[Henka]

Nov 1, 2010 20:51:07 GMT 9.5 torence said:

I envy the depth to which you have plunged into that ancient Red Sea in order to add value to the familiar story; but the lesson to be learned from Exodus is how He works in mysterious and unpredictable ways.

It is important to note that Moses was made by Him to be the Law-giver for the new nation; and yet Moses (Thutmose) began his adult career as the worst sort of criminal we could consider for the job interview, even by enlightened Masonic standards. Moses was both a traitor and a murderer.

He received the benefit of the Pharaoh’s daughter’s mercy and was rescued; brought up as one of her own and in the lap of luxury with the best of all possible education. As an Apprentice, his path was paved to enter the most envied, best paid, and desirous trade in the society, the Egyptian Priesthood. Being “Royal” he should have had quite the career.

But we have for us to study, the death of the foreman at the hands of this Prince. The story goes that the foreman whipped the bricklayer (we assume that he was overtaxed but it could have been just as likely that he was not pulling his weight) and cursed him with the phrase “Amen-Ra! I will make you work!”

The phrase “Amen” meant “By the power of” and of course “Ra” was the Sun God. The Israelites later adapted the phase to drop the name of Him whose name could not be spoken. We close our prayers with “Amen” and “So mote it be” indicating by our Masonic congregations that with His help and the will and work of the Brethren that the sentiments of the prayer will come true.

Thutmoses then takes the law into his own hands, murders the foreman, and later betrays the nation that provided so well for him. And yet, he is chosen above thousands if not millions of other more righteous men to then impose the Law upon future generations. He doesn’t even translate the message very well. The No. 1 rule that he delivers is to “have no other gods before Him.” That phrase indicates that there are other Gods. Many centuries pass before we have the Christians who can best describe Him as the Trinity (really a Hindu notion – the Trimurti); and many more centuries pass until Mohammed works it out that “There is no God, but God.”

If it takes men six thousand years to get back to the thought that started it all…just one God…then what sort of progress are we making?

What advancements can we as individuals make to set aside centuries of propaganda and spin?

Hate to break it to you, but there are other Gods, besides the Hebrew tribal war god.

[torence]

> Hate to break it to you, but there are other Gods, besides the Hebrew tribal war god.

No doubt, it took awhile to break-in the Boss; in case you haven't i.d.'d the obvious, I am a Deist of the singular persuasion.

[LorrB]

Moses = son as in Williamson
Thotmoses = son of Thoth, (Teḥuti), the Master of Wisdom and Truth.

Maybe this whole story is allegorical. Maybe the attainment of wisdom and truth produced a better person, one who had managed to slay that part of himself which made ill informed choices and produced ugly work.

[Henka]

Nov 2, 2010 7:32:28 GMT 9.5 torence said:

> Hate to break it to you, but there are other Gods, besides the Hebrew tribal war god.

No doubt, it took awhile to break-in the Boss; in case you haven't i.d.'d the obvious, I am a Deist of the singular persuasion.

Kinda' figured. I be a Zen Witch. ;D

Are Lorr and I the only ones who know how to use the quote feature on here?

[torence]

Nov 2, 2010 8:56:55 GMT 9.5 LorrB said:

Maybe this whole story is allegorical. Maybe the attainment of wisdom and truth produced a better person, one who had managed to slay that part of himself which made ill informed choices and produced ugly work.

In anyone's book a trip to the dessert is tantamount to a trip to hell. Moses did it twice, the first time to have a look around alone, on the second occasion he had thousands in tow. He must have either been quite the charismatic fellow or the Israelites must have been slow on the uptake because it took them 40 years to question their friendship with Moses and whether or not continuing to hang out with him was the right thing to do.

Anyway, Moses went up to God's Convenience Store on Mt Sinai and brought back the fifteen..no ten commandments... he dropped one of the tablets...the one that said "just kidding, do what comes natural"..and the rest is history.

Fraternally,
Torence Evans Ake
Secretary - Auburn Park Lodge No. 789 - Crete, Illinois
PM - Arcadia Lodge No. 1138 - Lansing, Illinois