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[iakkos]

Tau Malachi,
In your book you mention an inner discourse on nun with regard to the fish. I was wondering if that is something you can expand on here or, as you've referred to it as secret, only within your circle of initiates.
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rise and drink your bliss, for all that lives is holy
-blake

[Tau Malachi]

Salutations in the Light of the Spiritual Sun, the Messiah!

We can, indeed, say something more of the Eighth Saying in the Gospel of St. Thomas – if we recall that Yeshua spoke of making his disciples “fishermen” fishing for souls then we may take this saying to speak of the harvest of souls.

You may notice that two key aspects of the soul in our experience begin with Nun, which as a word means “fish,” sometimes also “serpent,” the nefesh and neshamah. Nun is spelt Nun-Vau-Nun, and Vau corresponds with the other key aspect of the soul in our experience, the ruach; thus, Nun indicates the three aspects of the soul most prominent in our experience of incarnation – the vital soul (nefesh), human intelligence or spirit (ruach) and the supernal soul or divine nature (neshamah).

Now, in the present human condition most ordinary individuals live from their nefesh – largely nefesh behamit, the bestial soul, some acquiring nefesh elokit, the godly soul, indicating the faithful on an exoteric or outer level; here and there some access ruach, and the influence of ruach is in their lives, but relatively few access neshamah, drawing in the influence of their supernal or heavenly soul.

Individuals living from the nefesh are represented by the little fish, which are rightly cast back into the waters, the cycles of incarnation, until they grow and evolve, but individuals living from the neshamah are the big fish, those ripe and mature for the harvest – these are souls for whom the tzaddikim fish, seeking to teach and initiate them in the path to enlightenment to draw them out of the gilgulim, drawing them up in the Great Ascension.

Until a soul is ripe and mature it is not ready for the harvest – therefore on an esoteric level the tzaddikim seek those who are ready.

There is something of a pun in Nun and Tzaddik, for the letter Tzaddi, which begins Tzaddik, as a word means “hook,” as in a fishhook!

In the process of teaching and initiating individuals, of course, the tzaddik seeks to “fish out” the neshamah – they seek to help the person draw out their supernal soul, their greater energetic being.

Nun represents the Netivah or Path that goes between Netzach and Tiferet – Netzach is the Bright Morning Star and is the Everlasting Door, and Tiferet is the Sefirah of the Messiah or Christ, the Spiritual Sun; in terms of secret teachings regarding the Light Transmission and where it comes from this is significant, for it has been said that it passed into this solar system from the solar system of Sirius, and that the transmitter is Nogah-Venus, the Bright Morning Star. More significant, however, as mentioned in the book, Nun and this Netivah represent the process of mystical death and rebirth, the “door” through which we come to the Messiah.

If we are to open to the influence of our neshamah and embody our neshamah we must pass through a mystical death and be reborn of water and Spirit, as Yeshua teaches in the Gospel of St. John – Nun representing the power of this spiritual conversion; and so we witness in the Gospel, for the Risen Messiah is revealed by way of death from which he is raised by the grace of the Most High, Elyon.

Here, too, we may remind of the association of the Messiah with the fish in both Greek and Hebrew – the name Yeshua is “Joshua,” and in the Old Testament we are told that the name of Joshua is Joshua ben Nun; hence, Yeshua son of Nun. This saying, then, indicates the soul cleaving to the Messiah, the Messiah being the big fish – of course, the very essence and nature of neshamah is the Messiah, the One Anointed with the Supernal Light of God.

*Here we might recall the parable of the “pearl of great price,” understanding the meaning to be the same.

As much as speaking to different gradations of souls and the harvest of those who are ripe and mature, this also speaks to various gradations of tzaddikim, and points to the Messiah as the Perfect Tzaddik; indeed, as a holy tzaddik Adonai Yeshua is incomparable to any in the stream before him.

If we are to speak of the mystical death and drawing in the influence of our neshamah we must understand that contact with neshamah turns our world upside down – naturally so, for we have lived in the surface consciousness and the ego, and we have lived in the pursuit of the ego’s desires, and when we come into contact with our divine nature, our true and natural being, the world of the ego tends to get shattered, for it is of Klippah Nogah, the false light.

Nun also has a close correspondence with Binah or Imma, the Divine Mother, for Nun equals fifty, and there are Fifty Gates of Understanding; Binah is the Sefirah associated with neshamah, and if we are to be reborn, we are reborn of the Divine Mother’s womb, Nun indicating that Holy Gate of our rebirth.

All of this implies the process of a spiritual alchemy – the process of a self-transformation and self-realization.

In this regard we might recall what Adonai Yeshua says to some of the Pharisees: “There will be no sign given to this generation, save the sign of Jonah” a prophet who spent some days in the belly of a big fish, Nun, and whose name has Nun in the center of it!

(We might also note that Jonah means “dove,” and would be Hebrew for the name John.)

Now we may also point to a most esoteric teaching associated with Nun – perhaps you might recall the Book of Job and the most curious praise given to a great fish, sea monster or dragon called “Leviathan,” meaning “destruction”; according to Job, Leviathan is the greatest of all God’s creations, the great fish or dragon that “sports in the sea” devouring ships, hence a devourer of souls!

In the tradition there is a profoundly esoteric teaching on Nun about what is called the “Great Dragon” or “Black Dragon” – it is said that there is the Spirit of Yahweh and Spirit of the Dragon (Leviathan or Teli), and that there is the Baal Shem, Master of the Name, and Baal Teli (or Leviathan), Master of the Dragon; this is rather like the modern “Star Wars” mythology speaking of the “Force,” and the Light Side and Dark Side of the Force. Of course, the Spirit of Yahweh and Spirit of Leviathan are one and the same – they are the Force; unlike the radical dualism of the mythology of Star Wars, however, the “Dark Side” is not simply evil, but is also the admixed, and when uplifted it is the wrathful emanation of the Divine in service to the Divine. Thus, in the teachings on the Great Dragon it is said, “The Master of the Dragon is not a Master of the Name, but the Master of the Name is a Master of the Dragon.”

On one hand, the Dragon is the Force moving through all things in creation, but moving in ignorance of the Source – a power that may be drawn upon for any form of magic, good, admixed or evil; on the other hand, the Dragon is the power of the Wrathful Palace of Yahweh – a power called upon for the shattering of the dominion of the klippot, the dominion of the demiurge, archons and demons.

Nun represents this Great Power.

Now, on a most esoteric level drawing out the biggest fish may be taken to indicate the mastery of the Dragon by the mastery of the Name of God; likewise, it may be taken to mean rooting out the cause of sorrow and suffering, or death and destruction from within oneself – in a manner of speaking, “Don’t worry about sin, rather seek to dispel the cause of sin, ignorance.”

Teachings on the Great Dragon are limited outside of circle because the vocabulary is meant to explain something experiential in our work with the Continuum and the Force flowing through it – so it is a rather esoteric teaching in the Christian Kabbalah, one we do not delve too far into outside of circle; it leads into the wrathful practices of the tradition, which are only shared as needed in advanced spiritual work – all wrathful practices correspond to the “Dragon,” Nun.

Here we may say, recognizing the emptiness of fire, we may fight fire with fire. Of course, to do so requires a very strong recognition of the Ain Nature, otherwise playing with “fire” one will get burnt!

The same teachings of wrathful practices for the liberation of spirits and souls from extreme circumstances of bondage could become the empowerment of a sorcerer or black magician – thus they are never openly discussed, but only in private with close friends who are known to be established in the Sacred Heart.

This, however, does indicate the various levels of interpretation of this saying among Sophian Gnostics…there are quite a few different levels, inspiring a vast spectrum of teachings and practices.

May we acquire the Divine Gnosis of Yeshua son of Nun; amen.

Blessings & shalom!
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Tau Malachi
Sophia Fellowship
Ecclesia Pistis Sophia