In a message dated 97-10-18 06:28:34 EDT, you write:
> If, on the other hand, your source is Christian, there is ample later
> literature concerning criminals using incantations written on scrolls
(many
> of them pseudo-kabalistic stuff), and hiding them on their body, as a
> defense against the pain of torture. Tractates on judicial torture warn
the
> judges to have the "patient" properly searched and stripped, otherwise he
or
> she will be immune to torture, and won't confess. I'll look up the proper
> refs if this is anything of value to you. Let me know.
> Cheers,
> Esther Cohen
>
I'm a bit confused about why the Hebrew alphabet shows up so often in occult
or mystical contexts that are essentially non-Jewish. Some packs of Tarot
cards have Hebrew letters on the cards, and I've also seen Hebrew letters in
diagrams in books that were occult but didn't specifically mention the
Kabbalah. What could the Hebrew alphabet possibly have meant to non-Jewish
users of Tarot cards? If an allusion to the Kabbalah, how would they have
known of the Kabbalah, which isn't even widely familiar among Jews?
pat sloane
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