14

The Bridge of Sirah

Applied symbolique can be compared to the Bridge of Sirah in the Islamic Qur’an. It is as wide as a razor’s edge; on either side is a yawning gulf of perdition. One precipice is the mentality of logical or mathematical reason, the other is superstition.

R. A. SCHWALLER DE LUBICZ

The metaphoric image quoted above is taken from a book called The Egyptian Miracle: An Introduction to the Wisdom of the Temple, by symbolist R. A. Schwaller de Lubicz.1 It refers to an esoteric Islamic tradition called Surah Baqarah, which describes the processes by which the universe was said to have been created, as they are given in the Qu’ran. These descriptions tell of seven interrelated firmaments of the galactic system that are understood to have emerged concurrently with one another, within a single framework of space and time. By comparison to Dogon definitions, these firmaments would correspond conceptually to the seven material universes created by Amma, and so can be thought of as representing the substantive half of the fourteen paired Dogon universes.2

From a phonetic standpoint, the word surah, or sirah, can be understood in the same way as other key terms of our plan of cosmology, as a compound of two conceptual phonemes. Time and again we have seen the phonetic value si associated with the stars of Sirius, most obviously in the name Sirius itself. We also see it in the name of the Egyptian goddess Isis and in the name of the archaic Indian deity Siva. We even see a possible phonetic relationship to the “si” of Sirius in the name of the Egyptian god Osiris, symbolic of Orion, whose belt stars the Dogon consider to be “deputies” of Sirius. In the Turkish language, the word sira refers to an “ordered sequence,” “progression,” or “lineage.” The word is formed from a phonetic root sir, which means “secret.”

Genevieve Calame-Griaule tells us that the Dogon word si means “family or category” and refers to four categories of principles that relate to the four primordial elements.3 The Dogon term si:re means “to extend or spread out in front of oneself.”4 This same phonetic value si is reflected in the Dogon name for Sirius, sigi tolo, and in the name of the Dogon Sigi festival of Sirius. We likely see a variation on the phoneme in the correlating Egyptian term skhai, meaning “to celebrate a festival.”

The term ra, which we interpret as the second of the compound phonemes of sirah, is a familiar name in our cosmologies for the sun and in the context of galactic symbolism stands for the universe of our sun. The Dogon and Buddhists associate our material universe with a womb, and that meaning is reflected in a Turkish word for “womb,” rahim.

Speaking from the perspective of ancient Egyptian symbolism, Schwaller de Lubicz suggests in his statement that, regardless of which outlook we may entertain regarding concepts of creation, be it primarily a scientific or spiritual one, any search for truth within these ancient mystery traditions may require us to stretch the limits of our own personal philosophy and ask us to allow for possibilities that could extend beyond the expectations of our own familiar worldview. Schwaller de Lubicz’s belief is that answers to the most fundamental questions of creation will ultimately be discovered to lie somewhere in between where a traditional scientist and a strict spiritualist might expect to find them.

There is an ancient esoteric form of Judaism called Kabbalism that addresses many of these same fundamental questions of creation. They are expressed in a philosophy similar to the Islamic Bridge of Sirah tradition, referred to in Kabbalism as the doctrine of N’Sirah or Nisera. The Kabbalah defines two modes of divine energy: one that is “straight, linear, or erect” and is considered to be “masculine,” and one that is “round or curved” and is seen as “feminine.” These definitions correlate well with the symbolism of the square and the circle as they are understood within our cosmology, where the figure of the square defines the concept of “earth” and associates with a male creator-god such as Fu-xi in China, and the circle symbolically defines “heaven” and may relate to a female mother goddess such as China’s Nu-wa. But within this context, the symbolic assignments of circle and square are made on a cosmic level to the nonmaterial and material universes, rather than to the more earth-oriented concepts of “heaven and earth.” However, the focus of this galactic symbolism can be seen once again to center on the notion of reconciling a square with a circle.

In the Kabbalist tradition of N’Sirah, the female energy is understood to surround and enfold the male energy, and so reflects the same essential concept of an embrace that we have seen symbolized in so many other aspects of our cosmology. However in this case the symbolism plays out in relation to a kind of “hugging” relationship that is supposed to exist between the pairs of nonmaterial and material universes.5 The same concept is reflected in the dual nature of the Dogon creator-god Amma, whose name means “to hold firmly, to embrace strongly.”6

The alternating upward/downward motion that characterizes the creation of these universes in the Dogon and Buddhist traditions is conveyed for the Kabbalists during an annual ritual of Judaism that is observed during the High Holy Days, which are celebrated around the time of the New Year. It is expressed through the metaphoric waving of the branches of four species of plants. These include the willow, palm, and myrtle, which are bound together and referred to collectively as the lulav, and a fourth plant, the citron, which is referred to as the etrog. The ritual waving or shaking of these plants symbolizes “vibration or movement” in six directions, comparable to the six spatial directions that define the axis of the Dogon egg of the world. The individual who performs these motions is understood to represent the conceptual center point of that circle and so constitutes a “seventh direction.” Although the numerology of the N’Sirah tradition plays out somewhat differently than it does for the Dogon tradition, these motions end up defining a series of paired universes that are comparable to the universes of Amma and are defined as being alternately spiritual and material in character. The Kabbalist symbolism is given in relation to a sukkah, a traditional hut built from branches and twigs that serves as a kind of conceptual gateway to a higher dimension. (A similar Egyptian term, skhet, means “to erect a shelter made of leaves and branches.”7) This higher dimension relates to a feminine mode of divinity comparable to the feminine energy that is associated with the mother goddesses of the Sakti tradition.8

Snodgrass tells us that in India, Brahmanic formulations of symbolism as they relate to creation are given in terms of an “essential” male principle of manifestation called purusa and a “substantial” female principle that is laid down prior to all other things, called praktri. In mythology, these are personified as the male creator-god Siva and the mother goddess Sakti, or Sati,9 the archaic male and female creator-deities of our Sakti cult in Orissa.

From this perspective in Buddhism, the domains of the nonmaterial and material universes are alternately conceptualized in relation to three component aspects of a dome or hemisphere: the circular dome itself represents the nonmaterial universe and is defined by the symbolic term “heaven,” the flat base of the dome represents our material universe, called “earth,” and the area above the base that is enclosed within the structure of the dome is referred to as “midspace.” The dome itself is defined conceptually as the “upper waters,” and its base is conceptualized as resting on the “lower waters.”10 The suggestion is that, like the natural water cycle of our planet, the upward/downward circulation of these “waters” is essential to life within our cosmic domain of existence.

Within the context of these definitions we find virtually all of the essential symbolic elements of the cosmologies we have been pursuing. Among them we have a female principle that manifests a male principle, who respectively are defined as “heaven and earth” and are characterized as “above and below.” They are given in symbolic relationship to the geometric figures of a circle and a square. Based on this symbolism, any attempt to rationally integrate the relationship of these two universes with the underlying processes of creation is compared metaphorically to the act of reconciling a square with a circle. Within these definitions we also have a view of creation that manifests itself from water, is fundamentally rooted in vibration, is founded on a principle of duality, and begins at the center of a circle and emanates outward in seven directions. These descriptions define galactic creation in terms of seven material universes that are functional counterparts to the seven dimensions of the Dogon egg of the world.

One central idea relative to the creation of the universe that is shared commonly by various traditions we are studying is the tenet that a second nonmaterial universe formed side by side with our material one, as its conceptual twin. This same outlook is expressed in the Vedic tradition in conjunction with the belief that the two universes are destined to someday reverse themselves. Belief in the notion of an eventual reversal between the universes is also expressed in other traditions, such as the Dogon and Kabbalism.

The Dogon priests describe an inherent structural difference between the two types of universes that centers on the timing of how and when membranes appear during the formation of matter. They view this difference as a fundamental flaw in our material universe, one that resulted when one of the later stages of creation took place out of its proper sequence. The Kabbalists also consider our material universe to be inherently flawed, but express the idea metaphorically as myth rather than through overt cosmology. They represent it in terms of the symbolic union of two ancestral beings, Adam and Eve, and the familiar Christian notion of an original sin. Like the formation of the Dogon membranes of matter, the primordial joining of Adam and Eve is also said to have happened prematurely, or before the appointed time. For reasons that are dismissed as “too complicated to explain,” Adam and Eve chose to consummate their relationship on the final day of Sukkot rather than waiting until the proscribed evening of the following Shabbat. This transgression, expressed here through mythic story-line, resulted in an inherent flaw in our universe.

The Kabbalists contend that the ultimate remedy to this flaw lies with the ritual observance of the High Holy Days of Judaism, ten days that are observed annually in conjunction with the New Year, which the Kabbalists say symbolize the progressive stages of creation. Because this remedy must now be carried out in the “real time” of the human sphere, as compared to what is described as the accelerated time frame of the original creation, tradition holds that this remedy will only accomplish its effect after an extended period of approximately six thousand years. It may be worth noting that, as I write these words, the current Hebrew year is counted as 5774.

The general contours of the theme of N’Sirah are evident in the traditions of ancient China, where the opposing but complementary notions of yin and yang are defined symbolically as representing earth and heaven, respectively. Snodgrass defines them as “metaphysical principles that are ‘reflected’ into phenomena,” in much the same way that our material world “reflects” an underlying reality for the Dogon.11 Snodgrass tells us that the notion of yang relates to concepts of essence, while yin corresponds to the notion of substance. Just as the Dogon compare the dynamic relationship between the paired universes to the recurring stages of the natural water cycle, so Snodgrass tells us that the conditions of yin and yang are each understood to “proceed” from the essential nature of the other. The Chinese terms yin and yang might also be compared to two Dogon principles called ana and ya, where ana represents the male principle of creation and ya represents the female.

Finally, the idea of two paired universes conceptualized as twins, which provides the conceptual foundation for the doctrine of N’Sirah, has possible bearing on our previous discussion of the embracing Ganeshas, who are also symbolic of the two universes. The key to what may have been intended by the term twins comes from yet another word entry in Budge’s dictionary that means “to be twins” or “to be friends.” This word is pronounced heter, and so is based on the same phonetic root that we associate with temples or sanctuaries. The glyphs used to spell the word begin with the twisted rope glyph, which calls to mind the drawing of Amma’s multiple universes, and include the hemisphere glyph, which is also the symbol of a womb that has been invoked previously to represent our material universe. The suffix ter calls to mind the Egyptian word ter-ti, which Budge defines as “two birds, i.e., Isis and Nephthys,” who are symbolic of the twin stars of Sirius and the two Sakta goddesses. From our perspective, the word defines a trailing glyph that depicts two figures who stand hand in hand with one another. Like the embracing Ganeshas, the intent conveyed by both the word and the defined image seems to be a most sincere and welcoming one, expressive of warmth, friendship, and mutual support.