Gimmel is the Third Letter of the Hebrew Alphabet, and the Second “Double Letter”. In Ancient Times, minus the Dagesh, it was pronounced as the “Z” in the English word “azure” or the “S” in “pleasure”. This sound is commonly referred to as “ZH” in English. With the Dagesh, it was pronounced as in English “girl”. In Modern Israeli Hebrew, it has the hard sound, but it is occasionally used for foreign Words for the “ZH” or “J” sound. The Numerical value is Three.
The Word “Gamal” means “Camel”. This Hebrew Letter is the Source of Greek “Gamma”, also English “C” and “G”. To see the original pictograph of the camel, you have to rotate the Character 90 degrees to the left. The Camel was, and still is, of utmost importance to Life on the desert. The letter Gimmel appears to be a Vav and a Yod. Gimmel is one of the Four Letters on a dreidel.
The linguistic root for Gimmel is [Gimmel Mim Lamed]. An important cognate is “Gomel” (“Benefactor”). Gimmel belongs to the Third Pathway in the “Thirty-Two Paths”, listed there as Path Number Thirteen. The Tarot Card for the Thirteenth Path is The High Priestess, Numbered “Two”. The text of the Thirteenth Path reads:
The Thirteenth Path is named the Uniting Intelligence (literally, “Consciousness of the House of Influx” Sekhel Bet HaShefa ע פ ש ה ת י ב לכש), and is called so, because it is the essence of Glory. It is the Consummation of the Truth of the true completion of the united individual spiritual beings.
This Pathway goes from Keter, at the top of the Tree of Life, through the Abyss, where Da’at (“Knowledge”), the hidden Sefira, lies, down to Tiferet in the middle of the Tree. Thus it is the conduit between the Three Supernals and the lower Seven Sefirot. Also, it is the longest Pathway on the Tree of Life.
The High Priestess is traditionally depicted as standing between white and black pillars, labeled “B” and “J” for Boaz and Yachin. This is because her Pathway is the root of the Middle Pillar.
She wears the Lunar Crown of Isis, and there is a crescent moon at her feet. This should not be surprising, as the Letter Gimmel correlates to Luna. Further down the Tree, right below Tiferet, is Yesod (“Foundation”), which also correlates to Luna. The High Priestess advises to look for intuitive answers. The Knowledge is hidden, and the answers are either Secret, or simply not obvious. Look deep within for the answers.
In Nova Thought, we would link Gimel with the Shadow Principle, the Color Violet, Number Seven, Monday, and the Chakra is the Brow or Ajna, and the three Shadow Runes, (Perthro, Ehwaz, and Ingwaz).
An Affirmation for Gimmel might be:
I have the Knowledge, being given to me by the Divinity, to find answers to all problems; the solution is at hand!
Comments