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Date:         Sat, 19 Dec 1992 20:41:27 EST
From:         "Spawn of a Jewish Carpenter (Cindy Smith)" <cms@DRAGON.COM>
Subject: Re: A Mystical Interpretation of Song of Songs

                    Song of Tiferet and Malkhut
                                or
                         Song of the Virgin

Malkhut:  Let him kiss me with kisses of his mouth,
          Spirit joined to Spirit, let us sing and shout.
          We illumine one another, light flowing in and out.
          As Jacob kissed Rachel, and Abraham Sarah,
          We became one amidst Hod and Netsah.

        More delightful is your love than vessels of wine,
        Flowing down the River, crushed from the Vine,
        Show me your brightness, let your love shine.
        Your name spoken is a spreading perfume,
        Come to me, Tiferet, my holy Bridegroom.

        We see each other through fire of love,
        I am dark as a raven, white as a dove.
        You are sweeter than wine, than perfume from above.
        We come to our chambers, rejoicing with joy,
        Our love is a Garden we will enjoy.

        Draw me, oh, draw me, closer to your heart!
Sefirot:        We will follow you eagerly, Mercy's Counterpart.
Malkhut:  Bring me, Tiferet, to your chambers set apart.
Sefirot:        With you we rejoice and exult,
                We extol your love, here is the result.

Sefirot:        Your love is beyond wine, how rightly you are loved!
Malkhut: I am darkness, blackness, absence of light, yet beloved!
         The stars and worlds stare at me from the heavens above,
         For the Sun has burned me.  The sefirot are angry with me,
         For I tend the sefirot, but I have not tended me.

        Tell me, Tiferet, whom my heart loves, where do you keep
        All the sefirot who are in the pasture your beloved sheep,
        Where you give them rest at midday within your heart deep.
        Tell me, lest I be found wandering after each sefirah,
        So I can rest within you, my love, my Yahweh-yireh.

Tiferet:        If you do not, O among women most beautiful,
        Follow the tracks of the Flock into your Garden full,
        Pasture the young sefirot with wings of a Mother Gull,
        Then pasture them near the Shepherd's [Tiferet's] camp,
        Guide them to you by the light of my firelamp.

        To the mares of Pharaoh's chariots, I liken you, Malkhut;
        I liken your cheeks to pendants made of fruit.
        Your neck has one jewels, and silver is your root.
        For my banquet, you rest in my bosom a sachet of myrrh.
        My lover is a Cluster from the vineyards of her.
                       ^^ all sefirot

        Ah, you are beautiful, my beloved, ah, you are beautiful.
        Your eyes are doves, the light of my eyes, love's pinnacle!
Malkhut:        Ah, you are beautiful, my lover, ah, you are beautiful.
        Our couch, too, is verdant, for you make me Green,
        Our house beams are cedars, cypresses our rafters, I have seen.

        I am a flower, a rose from Sharon,
        A lily of the valley, blooming in the dawn.
Tiferet:        As a lily among thorns, a delicate running fawn,
        So is my Malkhut among women,
        So I come to her again and again.

Malkhut:        Tiferet is an apple tree amidst trees of the wood.
        I rest in the shadow of his holy lifeblood.
        I yearn to receive from him his holy flood.
        So is my lover among men,
        So is He among the Ten.

        The fruit of Tiferet is sweet on my tongue,
        He brings me to his hall at his table long.
        I am crowned with Tiferet -- to him I belong!
        My apples [sefirot] strengthen me,
        I am faint with love when Tiferet I see.

        He holds his left hand under my head,
        His right arm embraces me -- our passion unsaid.
        Tiferet, I am the wellspring, you the Fountainhead.
        I am the Branches, you are the Tree,
        With Chesed, with Gevurah, we are Almighty.

        I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem,
        Though to love you must succumb,
        By the gazelles and hinds of the field adventuresome,
        Do not arouse love before its own time,
        Do no stir up Chesed before his own time.

        Hark!  Here comes Tiferet springing across the mountains,
        Leaping over the hills, spouting forth like fountains.
        He is a gazelle or a young stag -- like a cup that overruns.
        Tiferet, Tiferet, your Chesed overflows.
        Upon you, Netsah and Hod Yesod bestows.

        Here stands Tiferet behind our wall,
        Gazing through the windows tall,
        Peering through the lattices.  He doth call:
Tiferet:        Arise, Shekhinah, my beautiful one;
        Come!  For, see, the rains are over and gone.

        The winter of our separation is past,
        The flowers appear on earth at last!        [The sefirot
        Vineyard pruning has come at last.             are happy]
        The song of Bina is heard in our land,
        The fig trees in figs and vines in bloom grand!

        All of us in bloom give forth fragrance.
        Arise, Malkhut, with all of us dance.
        Come, my beautiful Shekhinah, let us romance.
        Oh, my dove, in the clefts of En-Sof,
        In En-Sof's secret crags is hidden our manna loaf.

        Let me see you, let me hear your voice,
        You are lovely, you voice sweet, your fruit choice.
Malkhut:        Catch us the foxes, the little foxes,
        The forces of sitra achra, the husks,
        That damage our vineyard in the dusks.

        My Tiferet belongs to me and I to him;
        He browses among the lilies, I browse among his limbs.
        Until Day breathes cool and shadows lengthen,
        Roam, Tiferet, like a gazelle or stag on snow and ice
        Of the highest mountains -- the Mountains of Sacrifice.

[Tiferet and Malkhut separate and Christ, the visible manifestation of
En-Sof as Tiferet whose limbs connect all the sefirot, is about to be
begotten of the Blessed Virgin Mary.]

Malkhut:        I sought him on my bed at night,
        My heart loves Tiferet -- I took afright.
        I sought but found him not without Light.
        I rise and go search about the city;
        I seek him on streets and crossings, filled with self-pity.

        I sought Tiferet, but him I could not find,
        The husks came upon me -- surrounded me from behind!
        Have you seen Tiferet, tell me, be so kind?
        I had hardly left them when I found my heart.
        I took hold of him and kept him, my stag, my hart.

        I brought him in joy to my Mother, Bina,
        I brought him with me to the Palace of Yah.
        Daughters of Jerusalem, look to Leah.
        Do not arouse Chesed before his time.
        Upper Mother, Lower Mother, up and down Tiferet climb.

Virgin Mary:    What is this coming up from the desert?
        A column of smoke around me doth girt.
        Frankincense plumes and myrrh doth spurt,
        Perfume covers me from every exotic dust;
        In Malkhut I receive Tiferet -- in God I trust.

        I am the litter of Solomon all sefirot surround,
        Sixty angels near me abound,
        Valiant angels of Jacob/Tiferet come round,
        Angels expert in battle and swordplay,
        Swords at their sides, a fearsome array.

        They guard me against dangers in the watches of the night;
        I am Hokhma's carriage, I carry Wisdom in flight,
        My columns made of silver, surrounding the Nazirite.
        My roof is made of gold, of purple cloth my seat,
        My framework laid with ivory -- Wisdom's holy seat.

        Daughters of Jerusalem, sefirot of the Endless,
        Come forth and gaze upon me incredulous;
        I am Mother of the Endless, holy and blemishless;
        With Bina and Shekhina, I crown him with Keter,
        On the day of his marriage to Malkhut the Fair.

        This is the day of the joy of his heart.
Tiferet:        Hail, Mary, full of Chesed, full of my heart,
        I, Tiferet, am within you, of you I am a part.
        Malkhut is with you, and you are most blessed,
        Blessed above all women, most sorrowful yet happiest.

        Your eyes are doves behind Malkhut,
        Your hair a flock of goats -- like soot
        Streaming down the mountain like music from a flute.
        Your teeth of flock of ewes to be washed and set,
        All of them, like you, big with twins -- Malkhut and Tiferet!

        You neck is like David's tower, O daughter of David,
        Girt with battlements where a thousand bucklers hanged,
        With shields of the valiant to repel the arrowhead.
        Your breasts are like twin fawns that dwell among the lilies;
        I nurse at your breasts until I am full of milk and at ease.

        I go to the mountain of myrrh, for I am the Anointed.
        I go to the hill of incense, for I am the Anointed.
        I go to the Sacrifice -- where Heaven and Earth are conjoint.
        You are all beautiful, my beloved Mother, you are perfect.
        There is no blemish in you, for you are holy and immaculate.

skip to 4:15 [the Crucifixion]

Malkhut:        You are a garden fountain, Tiferet, a well of water,
        Flowing fresh from Lebanon to cleanse your Israel.
        Arise north wind!  Come south wind!  Blow upon El
        That his perfumes may spread abroad.  I am Malkhut.
        Come, Tiferet, to your Garden, eat of my fruit.

Tiferet:        I have come to my Garden, my sister, my bride,
        I gather my myrrh, frankincense, and spice.
        I eat honey and sweatmeats when stabbed in the side,
        I drink my wine (Malkhut) and milk (sefirot) and rise.
        Eat, friends, of my Body, drink freely of my Love.

5:7 (as Jesus rested in the world of the dead on Shabbat)

Malkhut:        The husks of sitra achra came upon me
        As they made their rounds of the city.
        They struck me and wounded me,
        And took my mantle from me,
        The guardians of the walls of the city.

        I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem,
        If you find Tiferet, what shall you tell him?
        That I am faint with love for him.
Sefirot:        How does your lover differ,
        What sets him apart from any other?

6:1 (at the Resurrection)

sefirot:        Where has your lover gone, O most beautiful Shekhina?
        Where has he gone, that we may seek him too with Bina.
Malkhut:        Tiferet has come down to his Garden, he who is Yah,
        To the beds of spice; to browse and gather lilies.
        We belong to each other; together we gather lilies.

6:8  (All the sefirot sing to the Virgin Mary)

sefirot:        There are sixty queens, eighty concubines, and maidens
        Without number.  One alone is my dove of all heaven's citizens
        She is perfect, immaculate, her supernal mother's Chosen,
        The dear one of her parent, Anne.
        She will inherit the Promised Land.

        The daughters saw her and declared her fortunate,
        Queens and concubines sang her praises without regret.
        Who is this that comes forth like the dawn,
        As beautiful as the moon, resplendant as the sun,
        As awe-inspiring as bannered troops on the run?

        We came to the nut Garden who is Shekhina
        To look at the fresh growth of the valley of Yah,
        To see if the vines were in bloom in Bina,
        If the pomegranates had blossomed in the Blessed One.
Virgin Mary:    My immaculate heart made me blessed of my kinswomen.
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