SHEKINAH AND METATRON

CERTAIN TIMID MINDS, whose understanding is strangely limited by preconceived notions, have been frightened by the title 'King of the World', which they immediately associate with the Princeps huius mundi ['Prince of this world'] of the Gospels. It goes without saying that such an assimilation is wholly erroneous and lacks any foundation. The issue can be laid to rest simply by observing that the title 'King of the World', in Hebrew and in Arabic, is readily applied to God himself;^[1] and this gives us occasion for some interesting observations concerning the theories of 'celestial intermediaries' in the Hebrew Kabbalah, theories that have moreover a direct bearing on the principal subject of this study. The 'celestial intermediaries' in question are the Shekinah and Metatron, the former denoting in the most general sense the 'real presence' of the Divinity. The scriptures that make special mention of this presence are above all those concerned with the establishment of a spiritual center, such as the construction of the Tabernacle and the building of the Temples of Solomon and of Zorobabel. Such a center, constituted in rigorously defined conditions, must be a place of divine manifestation, which is always represented as 'Light'; and it is curious to note that the expression 'a well-illuminated and ordered place', still retained by the Masons, seems to be a vestige of the ancient sacerdotal science that oversaw the construction of the temples, and that furthermore was not peculiar to the Jews, a point we shall take up later. Here we need not enter into the theory of 'spiritual influences' (a better translation of the Hebrew berakoth than the usual ‘blessings', more particularly as it keeps the sense that the Arabic barakah has retained); but even limiting ourselves to this one point of view, it is still possible to explain Elias Levita's statement, as quoted by Vulliaud in his La Kabbale juive, that 'the masters of the Kabbalah hold great secrets on this subject.'The Shekinah is presented under a number of aspects, among which two are primary, the one inward and the other outward; moreover, in the Christian tradition there is an expression that indicates these two aspects in the clearest possible way: Gloria in excelsis Deo, et in terra Pax hominibus bonae voluntatis. The words Gloria and Pax refer respectively to the inward aspect with respect to its relation to the principle, and the outer aspect with respect to its relation to the manifested world; and in considering these words it is immediately clear why they are spoken by the angels (Malakim) to announce the birth of God 'with us', or 'in us' (Emmanuel). Regarding the first aspect, one could also recall the theories of the theologians on 'the light of glory' in and by which the beatific vision operates (in excelsis); and as to the second, we find here again the 'Peace' to which we just alluded, and which, in its esoteric sense, is everywhere indicated as one of the fundamental attributes of the spiritual centers established in this world (in terra). Furthermore, the Arabic term Sakīnah, obviously identical to the Hebrew Shekinah, translates as 'Great Peace', which is an exact equivalent of the Pax Profunda of the Brotherhood of the Rose-Cross; and on this basis one could doubtless explain what the latter meant by the 'Temple of the Holy Spirit', just as one could also give a precise interpretation to the numerous Gospel texts in which 'Peace'^[2] is mentioned, all the more so as 'the secret tradition concerning the Shekinah must have some connection with the light of the Messiah.' Was it only coincidental that in making this last point, Vulliaud said that it concerns the tradition 'reserved for those who pursue the path leading to Pardes, that is to say, as will be seen later on, to the supreme spiritual center?^[3]This leads to a related point: Vulliaud speaks subsequently of a 'mystery related to the Jubilee',^[4] which in turn relates in one sense to the idea of 'Peace', and in this connection he cites the text of the Zohar (III, 52, b): 'The river that flows out of Eden bears the name Iobel,' as well as that of Jeremiah (17:8): 'It is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream'; from which it follows that 'the central idea of the Jubilee is the return of all things to their primordial state.' It is clear that it is this return to the 'primordial state' envisaged by all traditions, a point upon which we had occasion to dwell in our book The Esoterism of Dante; and if we add that 'the return of all things to their primordial state will herald the messianic era,' those who have read the book may then recall what it said about the relationship between the 'Terrestrial Paradise' and the 'Celestial Jerusalem'. In truth, moreover, what is involved here in various phases of cyclical manifestation is always Pardes, the center of this world, which the traditional symbolism of all peoples likens to the heart, the center of the being and the 'divine residence' (Brahma-pura in Hindu doctrine); the Tabernacle, which is made in its image, is therefore called in Hebrew mishkan, or 'dwelling of God', a word having the same root as Shekinah.^[5]From another point of view the Shekinah is the synthesis of the Sephiroth; now in the sephirothic tree the 'right-hand column' is the side of Mercy and the 'left-hand column' is that of Rigor; we should therefore find both of these aspects in the Shekinah, and we note immediately, in connection with what was said before, that, in certain respects at least, Rigor is identified with Justice, and Mercy with Peace.^[6] 'If man sins and strays from the Shekinah, he falls under the jurisdiction of the powers (Sārim) that derive from Rigor,'^[7] and then the Shekinah is called the 'hand of rigor', which immediately calls to mind the well-known symbol of the 'hand of justice'; but if, on the contrary, 'a man approaches the Shekinah, he will be liberated,' and then the Shekinah is the 'right hand' of God, which is to say that the 'hand of justice' becomes the 'hand of blessing'.^[8] These are the mysteries of the 'House of Justice' (Beith-Din), which is yet another designation of the supreme spiritual center;^[9] and it is scarcely necessary to point out that the two sides under discussion are identical to those into which the elect and the damned are separated in Christian representations of the 'Last Judgement'. One could equally well establish a connection with the two paths which the Pythagoreans symbolized by the letter 'Y' (represented exoterically as Virtue and Vice in the myth of Hercules) as well as with the two doors, celestial and infernal, which the Romans associated with the symbolism of Janus, and also with the two cyclical phases,^[10] ascending and descending, which the Hindus similarly associated with the symbolism of Ganesha.^[11] Finally, it is easy to understand from all this what is truly meant by such expressions as ‘right intention' (to which we shall return later) and 'good will',^[12] when one leaves aside all those external interpretations, moral and philosophical, to which they have given rise from the Stoics through Kant. 'The Kabbalah gives to the Shekinah a consort who bears names identical with her own and consequently possesses the same characteristics,^[13] and who naturally also possesses as many different aspects as the Shekinah herself. His name is Metatron, which is numerically equivalent to that of Shaddai,^[14] the 'All-Powerful' (said to be the name of the God of Abraham). The etymology of the word Metatron is most obscure; among the many hypotheses that have been advanced, one of the most interesting is its derivation from the Chaldean Mitra, which means 'rain', and which by its root is also sometimes related to ‘light'. Even if this is so, the similarity with the Hindu and Zoroastrian Mitra does not constitute a sufficient reason to conclude that it represents a Jewish borrowing from foreign doctrines, for it is not in this wholly external manner that the relationship existing between the different traditions should be envisaged; and we shall say the same concerning the role attributed to rain in almost all traditions, insofar as it is a symbol of the descent of 'spiritual influences' from Heaven to Earth. Moreover, it is worth noting in this connection that the Hebraic doctrine speaks of a 'dew of light' emanating from the 'Tree of Life', by which the resurrection of the dead is to be effected, as well as of an 'effusion of dew' that represents the celestial influence communicating itself to all the worlds, which is singularly reminiscent of alchemical and Rosicrucian symbolism. 'The term Metatron conveys the multiple meanings of guardian, lord, messenger, mediator'; he is the 'author of theophanies in the world of the senses';^[15] he is the 'Angel of the Face', and also the 'Prince of the World' (Sār ha-ōlam), this last designation indicating that we have not strayed from our subject. Employing the traditional symbolism that has already been explained, we readily say that just as the head of the initiatic hierarchy is the 'terrestrial Pole', so Metatron is the 'celestial Pole'; the latter has his reflection in the former, with whom he stands in direct relation through the 'World Axis'. 'His name is Mikaël, the Great Priest who is both holocaust and oblation before God. And everything the Israelites do on earth is accomplished according to the archetypes of events in the celestial world. The Great Pontiff here below represents Mikaël, prince of Mercy.... Every scriptural passage that tells of an appearance of Mikaël is also concerned with the glory of the Shekinah.^[16] What is said here of the Israelites could equally well be said of all peoples possessing a genuinely orthodox tradition, and all the more so of the representatives of the primordial tradition, from which all the other traditions derive, and to which they are subordinate, all this in accord with the symbolism of the 'Holy Land', an image of the celestial world, to which we have already alluded. Moreover, according to what was said above, Metatron possesses not only the aspect of Mercy but also that of Justice; he is not only the 'Great Priest' (Kohen ha-gadol) but also the 'Great Prince' (Sār ha-gadol) and 'commander of the celestial hosts', which is to say that in him lies both the principle of the royal power, and that of the sacerdotal or pontifical power to which properly corresponds the function of 'mediator'. And we should add that Melek, 'king', and Malak, ‘angel' or 'messenger', are really two forms of one and the same word; and in addition, Malaki, 'my messenger' (that is, the messenger of God, or the 'angel in whom God dwells', Malak ha-Elohim), is an anagram of Mikaël.^[17] It is proper to add that if Mikaël is identified with Metatron, as we have just seen, he nevertheless represents only one aspect of him; besides the luminous face, there is a dark face represented by Samaël, who is called also Sār ha-ōlam, thereby bringing us back to the point of departure in this discussion. It is in fact this latter aspect, and it alone, that symbolizes in an inferior sense the 'spirit of this world', the Princeps huius mundi referred to in the Gospels; and its connection with Metatron, of whom it is the shadow, so to speak, justifies the use of the one title in a twofold sense, at the same time making clear why the apocalyptic number 666, the 'number of the Beast', is also a solar number.^[18] According to Saint Hippolytus, 'the Messiah and the Antichrist both have the lion for their emblem,'^[19] and it, too, is a solar symbol; and the same could be said of the serpent^[20] and of many other symbols. From a kabbalistic point of view it is again the two opposing faces of Metatron that are here in question; at this point we need not enter into the theories that could be formulated in a general way on this double meaning of symbols, but will only note that the confusion between the luminous and dark aspects is what properly constitutes 'satanism', and that it is precisely this confusion which allows some, no doubt unintentionally and through simple ignorance (an excuse, but not a justification), to believe that they have uncovered an infernal significance in the title 'King of the World'. ^[21]