Turning Tables

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 "Did Obama Just Take Default Off the Table?"

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(Flashback) Business Insider:  

"Obama Ad, 'Table,' Lays Out President's Vision"

"In a lengthy new television spot, President Barack Obama lays out his pitch to American voters in a direct-to-camera style that has been well-received in the past. In the ad, called 'The Table,' Obama summarizes his four-point plan for a second term...'[I]f I could sit down with you in your living room or around the kitchen table here's what I'd say..." (Source)

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"Table" (definition) "Old English tabule, variant of tabula < Latin: plank, tablet..." (Source). "Tablet" (definition) "early 14c., 'slab or flat surface for an inscription' (especially the two Mosaic tables of stone), ...'slab'..." (Source) "late 12c., 'board, slab, plate,' from Old French table 'board, plank, writing table, picture' (11c.)... from Latin tabula 'a board, plank, table,' originally 'small flat slab or piece' usually for inscriptions or for games, of uncertain origin, related to Umbrian tafle 'on the board.' [Cf.]...the ...Latin word ... mensa...Figurative phrase turn the tables (1630s) is from backgammon (in Old and Middle English the game was called tables). Table talk is attested from 1560s, translating Latin colloquia mensalis. ...The adjectival phrase under-the-table 'hidden from view' is recorded from 1949; under the table 'passed out from excess drinking' is recorded from 1921." (Source)

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("The Tablets of the Law" badge, 1277; Image Source; article here)

"The Tablets of Stone, Stone Tablets, Tablets of Law, or Tablets of Testimony (in Hebrew: ...Luchot HaBrit - 'the tablets [of] the covenant') in the Bible, were the two pieces of special stone inscribed with the Ten Commandments when Moses ascended Mount Sinai as recorded in the Book of Exodus. Exodus  31:18 refers to the tablets as the 'Tablets of Testimony'. According to the Bible, there were two sets. The first, inscribed by God, were smashed by Moses when he was enraged by the sight of the Children of Israel worshiping the Golden Calf; and the second, later cut by Moses and rewritten by God. According to traditional teachings of Judaism in the Talmud, they were made of blue sapphire stone as a symbolic reminder of the sky, the heavens, and ultimately of God's throne. Many Torah scholars, however, have opined that the Biblical 'sapir' was, in fact, the lapis lazuli..." (Source) For more on sapphire, see HERE.

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"[T]he Stele of Revealing [was] an Egyptian tablet that had inspired [Aleister] Crowley during his trip in 1904 to Cairo, where it was object number 666 in the Museum of Antiquities." (John Carter, Sex and Rockets, p. 84).

(John Dee; Image Source)

The so-called "Enochian Tablets," also designated by Crowley by the phrase "the Watch Towers of the Universe" were  communications, alleged to have been from sort of spirit beings termed "angels," received by 16th Century Elizabethan "sorcerers" Edward Kelley and John Dee. "According to Kelley, the angels showed him large tablets bearing unusual letters, which supposedly formed the oldest language of them all: the language of the angels." The language was called "Enochian," the story goes, after the "lost books of Enoch" that the "angels" gave to Kelley and Dee. Also supplied were "...Calls...for summoning angels to the caller...". In his own "magickal workings," Jack Parsons employed some of these materials, for example "the Enochian 'Air Tablet'..." (Carter, Supra., pp. 92, 111, & 119).

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Many people today are now carrying around a sort of modern day "Air Tablet." Amongst the popular brands of "Tablet computer" currently available is the "HTC Air." The so-called "Tablets" run on "Android." "Android is a Linux-based operating system designed primarily for touchscreen mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers. ...Android, Inc. was founded in Palo Alto, California in October 2003 by Andy Rubin (co-founder of Danger),... Rich Miner (co-founder of Wildfire Communications, Inc.),... Nick Sears... (once VP at T-Mobile),... and Chris White (headed design and interface development at WebTV)... to develop, in Rubin's words 'smarter mobile devices that are more aware of its owner's location and preferences'" (Source)

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The Outer Limits: "Blank Slate," (Season 5, Episode 8, 2 April 1999): "This well-manicured man is being change by somebody and is carrying all of his memories in a box." (Source)

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"Rather than just displaying your most recent activities, your profile will become a scrapbook documenting your entire life, all the way back to your birth. Facebook will become a record of your existence: All your memories, your victories and your defeats, your loves, your losses and everything in between." (Source)

"Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon...The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray."

~ Revelation 12:3, 9, NIV

(The "SnapDragon" logo manages to combine elements suggestive of the dragon [lexically] and phoenix [symbolically] on a stylized Taiji [Yin-Yang Symbol]; Image Source)

"Snapdragon is a family of mobile system on chips (SoC) by Qualcomm. Qualcomm considers Snapdragon a 'platform' for use in smartphones, tablets, and smartbook devices. The original Snapdragon CPU...[was] dubbed Scorpion..." (Source)

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Another important sort of table is the "Periodic Table of the Elements." For more on elements, see Here. But let me just make a few points.

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First: "Gold...is a chemical element with the symbol Au (aurum in Latin, meaning glow of sunrise)...". "AU" represents the glow of the Aurora (Source). It also stands for Australia, which has been in the news here, here, and here.

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Second, "Cobalt" has cropped up in some interesting places of late. "Mission Impossible IV" (which I mentioned here) was associated with "The Dark Knight" (e.g., of Aurora notoriety) in several ways. For example: "Paramount is on a mission to redo the 'Mission: Impossible' franchise. ... It's possible that the title won't even include any variation of the familiar moniker (much as Christopher Nolan's Batman sequel was simply titled 'The Dark Knight')" (Source). More importantly, Ghost Protocol sort of introduced the Dark Knight Rises: "...Warner Bros. plans to attach a six minute prologue to The Dark Knight Rises to all IMAX prints of Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol" (Source); Sidebar: See the two "Sabine Moreaus" here and here)

Here's a bit of movie review text that - to my eyes, anyway - is just bristling with Forteana:

After a rash of red-baiting anti-communist films in the early 1950s, the popular cinema of the English-speaking world largely abandoned communist villains in favour of conspiratorial freelance crooks (like "Spectre" in the Bond movies) and trouble-making renegades. This canny practice continues, and in the fourth big-screen spin-off of long-running TV espionage series Mission: Impossible the villain is Kurt Hendricks (Michael Nyqvist), a deranged Swedish nuclear scientist trying to create a third world war by fomenting conflict between the United States and Russia. The plot is much the same as that in the latest Sherlock Holmes [Cf. 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7] picture, though the aim here is the quite literal end of civilisation as we know it so that a newly cleansed world can open up for mankind. (Source)

Now (fairly or not) People magazine summarized "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows" as being about "about a flim-flam man bombing select targets in Europe in an effort to start a world war" adding, parenthetically, that "WWI ignites a mere two decades after the film is set" (Source).

Compare: "Eve of Disaster. Why 2013 eerily looks like the world of 1913, on the cusp of the Great War" (Source).

"Ghost Protocol" (which name evokes specters of the past, does it not?) centers around the efforts of a physicist-cum-terrorist, code-named "Cobalt" to incite a global nuclear cataclysm. "Cobalt is a chemical element with symbol Co..." (Source) "CO" is also the abbreviation for a certain US state, host of shooting tragedies from Columbine to Aurora (See here and here). Physics (particularly in its quantum aspects) has sometimes been called the "new alchemy" (Source).These quantum-atomic alchemical-physical musings are associated with the WWI era...oh, say...around 1911-1912.

(Programming Language: COBOL; Image Source)

The dastardly corporation in Inception is also called "Cobol." One commentator wrote: "Cobal (sp?) - This unseen corporation has a very comic book feel to it. The name sounds like 'cabal' or 'cobalt'" (Source).

An additional worthy mention goes to the notion of the Tabula Rasa or "Blank Slate," perhaps most well known as a facet of John Locke's epistemology, but certainly not without its antecedents. According to this conception, associated with naïve formulations of empiricism, the mind is more or less "empty" (i.e., a "blank slate") until it is "filled" (or, inscribed upon) by sense experience. However, empiricists can (and do) dissent. For example, Francis Bacon is often cited as opposing the tabula rasa position. An overview of certain aspects of the philosophical debate can be glimpsed here. A related discussion, termed the "nature-nurture debate," has taken place in psychology.

"A fly lands on President Barack Obama while he speaks in the White House"

[Larry Downing/Reuters] Source; Image Source Cf. Here

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Thought experiments are often employed when considering issues of this sort. One may appeal to various literary visions to make one's case - pro or contra. For example, "one [might]...envision an...extreme experiment: the depositing of a population of pre-adolescents on a desert island, Lord of the Flies-like. A tabula rasa quickly ceases to be a clean slate (if it ever was...)" (Paul Kerswill, "Contact and new varieties," Raymond Hickey, The Handbook of Language Contact [Wiley-Blackwell, 2012], p. 238).

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"BAAL-ZEBUB [, BEELZEBUB or BEELZEBUL] ...Philistine [god] mentioned in...II Kings i. 2, 3, 6, 16)... As the word stands, it means 'Baal of flies'...the god who expels or destroys flies; though it may also mean the patron or controller of flies. ...A [Zeus Apomyios - APOMYIUS/Apomuios, 'Averter of Flies'/'driving away the flies,' a surname of Zeus at Olympia. On one occasion, when Heracles was offering a sacrifice to Zeus at Olympia, he was annoyed by hosts of flies, and in order to get rid of them, he offered a sacrifice to Zeus Apomyius, whereupon the flies withdrew across the river Alpheius...] was worshiped at Elis in Greece as a disperser of flies...[The name is commonly explained after the Septuagint and Josephus, 'Ant.' ix. 2, § 1, as the 'Lord of Flies'...Plagues [are] often ascribed to the influence of flies...Apollo Apomyios [Cf. HERE, HERE, and HERE - Ed.] [was another Greek] god who dispelled lies...[T]he fly was regarded by the Jews in particular as more or less impure and demonic. 'The evil spirit [ye-er ha-ra] lies like a fly at the doors of the human heart,' says Rab, with reference to 'the flies of death' in Eccl. x. 1 (Ber. 61a and Targ. Yer. to the passage). 'A fly, being an impure thing, was never seen in the slaughterhouse of the Temple' (Abot v. 8), nor did one cross the table of Elisha; which fact, according to Rab, gave proof to the Shunammite woman that he was 'a holy man' (II Kings iv. 9; Ber. 10b). The devil in German folk-lore also appears in the shape of a fly..." (Sources: 1, 2, & 3; For more information, see here and here).

Of (Fortean) interest are the numerous cultural references to the tabula rasa, or "blank slate." Here is a sampling.

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A 2002 work by author Steven Pinker, in the vein of evolutionary psychology, is titled The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature. Wikipedia's summary describes it as "a best-selling...book...[that argues] against tabula rasa models of the social sciences." (Source)

("Amazo," the Android; Image Source)

(Amazon selling Android Tablets; Image Source)

The animated super-hero themed television series called "The Justice League" ran "Tabula Rasa" episode (by a creative team that included Dan Riba and the interestingly named Stan Berkowitz) that aired on October 4, 2003. The plot apparently revolves around two stories. Firstly, "Lex Luthor controls and manipulates a powerful android named Amazo [who has] the ability to copy and collect any superpower... Meanwhile, J'onn questions the nature of humans and struggles with the burden of hearing thousands of their minds in his head at the same time after performing a psychic sweep of the city of Metropolis in a failed attempt to locate Luthor." (Source) Now, just for grins, we could a question. If a "blank slate" episode "wipes" the mind, then with what is that wiped mind filled thereafter? The next "program" of October 11, 2003, titled "Only a Dream," (by Butch Lukic & Stan Berkowitz) involves: "Small time crook John Dee" who "volunteers for an experimental treatment while in prison." However, "[w]hile the authorities are distracted by a mass prison break...John Dee overdoses to become the dream-controlling Doctor Destiny...[who subsequently] takes telepathic control of most of the team [I presume this is a reference to the "Justice League" hero characters -Ed.] in their sleep, leaving Batman and J'onn to save the others. As the League members become trapped in their dreams and unable to wake up, J'onn tries to force them awake, while Batman goes to confront Dr. Destiny." (Ibid.)

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Another series, the Sci Fi Channel show Stargate Atlantis, had a November 2, 2007 "Tabula Rasa" entry. In the plot (created by Martin Wood and Alan McCullough), "[a] deadly disease courses through Atlantis, causing the entire expedition to lose their memory." And two characters must work to reverse, correct, or otherwise remedy this pitiful state of affairs. (Source)

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"The Shulchan Aruch (...literally: 'Set Table')...also known as the Code of Jewish Law, is the most authoritative legal code of Judaism. It was authored in Safed, Ottoman Eyalet of Damascus, by Yosef Karo in 1563 and published in Venice two years later... Together with its commentaries, it is the most widely accepted compilation of Jewish law ever written" (Source; For more information, see HERE.)

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Sefer Sheva Mitzvot HaShem ("The Book of the Commandments of the Name"): Chabad views: A Shulchan Aruch for Gentiles[:] After the late Rebbe of Chabad Lubavitch, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, started his Noahide Campaign in the 1980s, the number of Gentiles willing to keep the Seven Laws of Noah as described in the Torah increased...A codification of the exact obligations of the Gentiles in the spirit of the classical Shulchan Aruch was needed. In 2005 the scholar Rabbi Moshe Weiner of Jerusalem accepted to produce an in-depth codification of the Noahide precepts...The work is called Sefer Sheva Mitzvot HaShem, (The Book of Seven Divine Commandments) published 2008/2009. As it is approved by both Chief Rabbis of Israel, Rabbi Shlomo Moshe Amar and Rabbi Yonah Metzger, as well as other Hasidic- and non-Hasidic halachic authorities like Rabbi Zalman Nechemia Goldberg, Rabbi Gedalia Dov Schwartz and Rabbi Jacob Immanuel Schochet, it can claim an authoritative character and is referred as a 'Shulchan Aruch'... for Gentiles at many places" (Source - Stamped: "This page was last modified on 15 January 2013 at 19:39.")

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"In Judaism, the Seven Laws of Noah (...Sheva mitzvot B'nei Noach) form the major part of the Noachide Laws, or Noahide Code... This code is a set of moral imperatives that, according to the Talmud, were given by God... as a binding set of laws for the 'children of Noah' – that is, all of humankind...According to religious Judaism, any non-Jew who adheres to these laws is regarded as a righteous gentile, and is assured of a place in the World to Come (Olam Haba), the final reward of the righteous... Adherents are often called 'B'nei Noach' (Children of Noah) or 'Noahides' and may often network in Jewish synagogues...The rainbow is the modern symbol of the Noahide Movement, recalling the rainbow that appeared after the Great Flood of the Bible" (Source)

("Over the Rainbow"; Image Source)

(The so-called "awakened Crown Chakra" is here depicted as radiating a Rainbow

Shalila Sharamon & Bodo j. Baginski, The Chakra-Handbook; Image Source URL)

("What you seek, it's a bridge. ...a Rainbow Bridge." ~ Thor; Image Source)

To go further "over the rainbow" see here, here, here, here, and here).

See Maurice Pinay's entries HERE.
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Al-O

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"You were in Eden, the garden of God;

every precious stone was your covering, 

sardius, topaz, and diamond, 

beryl, onyx, and jasper, 

sapphire, emerald, and carbuncle; 

and crafted in gold were your settings and your engravings. 

On the day that you were created they were prepared."

 ~ Ezekiel 28:13 (ESV)

"The Saphire Colour, that Orient Blewe, 

Like in colour to the heavenlie hue, 

Is much fairer than Wann Colour to sight, 

For therein is more of Aier Water and Light" 

~ Elias Ashmole, Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum, p. 65 

"Mrs. Obama dazzles in designer sapphire dress[:] ...All eyes were on the First Lady at the State of the Union address..." (Source); "Like all blue stones, in the East, the sapphire is regarded as a powerful charm against the evil eye", Jean Chevalier & Alain Gheerbrant, Dictionary of Symbols [Penguin, 1996], p. 826). "Michelle Obama Stands Out in Sapphire at the State of the Union[:] There she is, First Lady Michelle Obama, gleaming like a sapphire amidst a sea of navy and black suits at [the]State of the Union." (Source) On Michelle-O compared with Jackie-O (and the black and white Isis), see here.

(Michelle-O: Source)

"Sapphire (Greek: σάπφειρος; sappheiros, 'blue stone'...) is a gemstone variety of the mineral corundum, an aluminium oxide (α-Al2O3). Trace amounts of other elements such as iron, titanium, chromium, copper, or magnesium can give corundum blue, yellow, pink, purple, orange, or a greenish color. Chromium impurities in corundum yield a red tint, and the resultant gemstone is called a ruby. ... Etymologically, the English word 'sapphire' derives from Latin sapphirus, sappirus from Greek σαπφειρος (sappheiros) from Hebrew סַפִּיר (sappir) from Old Iranian sani-prijam, from Sanskrit, Shanipriya (शनिप्रिय), from 'shani' (शनि) meaning 'Saturn' and riya' (प्रिय), dear, i.e. literally 'dear to Saturn'. The Greek term for sapphire quite likely was misapplied, and instead, used to refer to lapis lazuli." (Source) "Lapis is the Latin word for 'stone' and lazuli is the genitive form of the Medieval Latin lazulum, which is taken from the Arabian لازورد lāzaward, meaning 'heaven' or 'sky', since the sky is blue; therefore, it is the 'stone of heaven' or 'sky stone'." (Source)

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"Flying over the unlit side of Saturn's rings, the Cassini spacecraft captures Saturn's glow, represented in brilliant shades of electric blue, sapphire and mint green, while the planet's shadow casts a wide net on the rings. On the night side (right side of image), with no sunlight, Saturn's own thermal radiation lights things up. This light at 5.1 microns wavelength (some seven times the longest wavelength visible to the human eye) is generated deep within Saturn, and works its way upward, eventually escaping into space. ...The northern hemisphere is about twice as bright as the southern hemisphere. (Courtesy NASA/JPL/University of Arizona)" (Source)

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"Saturn at opposition Sunday, 28 April 2013 at 03:14 CDT[:] Saturn will be well placed for observation, lying in the constellation Libra, well above the horizon for much of the night. Regardless of your location, Saturn will reach its highest point in the sky at around midnight, local time, an optimal positioning that occurs when it makes its closest approach to the point in the sky directly opposite to the Sun – an event termed opposition, the exact moment of which will be 03:14 CDT. Since the Sun reaches its greatest distance below the horizon at midnight, the point opposite to it is highest in the sky at the same time. At around the same time that Saturn passes opposition, it also makes its closest approach to the Earth – termed its perigee – making it appear at its brightest and largest in the night sky." (Source)

(Image Source; On Mellons, see HERE.)

"SATURN 2013 Software Architecture Conference[:] In 2013, the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) Architecture Technology User Network (SATURN) Conference will celebrate its ninth year. Each year SATURN attracts an international audience of practicing software architects, industry thought leaders, developers, technical managers, and researchers to share ideas, insights, and experience about effective architecture-centric practices for developing and maintaining software-intensive systems. SATURN 2013 will take place in Minneapolis, Minnesota, from April 29 to May 3, 2013." (Sources 1 & 2)

The Saturnian Liquid: "Let those who aim to purify Mercury by means of salts, faeces and other foreign bodies, and by strange chemical processes, understand that though our water is variousy composed, it is yet only one thing, formed by the concretion of divers substances of the same essence. The components of our water are fire, the vegetable 'Saturnian liquid,' and the bond of Mercury. ...[I]t is a chaos or spirit, because our fiery Dragon, that overcomes all things, is yet penetrated by the odour of the Saturnian liquid, its blood growing together with the Saturnian sap into one body... It may thus be very properly described as chaos... From this chaos I can extract everything -- even the Sun and Moon -- without the transmutatory Elixir. It is called our Arsenic, our Air, our Moon, our Magnet, and our Chalybs: these names representing the different stages of its development, even unto the manifestation of the kingly diadem, which is cast out of the menstruum of our harlot. Learn then, who are the friends of Cadmus; who is the serpent that devoured them; what the hollow oak to which Cadmus spitted the serpent. Learn who are the doves of Diana, that overcome the green lion by gentleness: even the Babylonian dragon, which kills everything with its venom. Learn, also, what are the winged shoes of Mercury, and who are those nymphs whom he charms by means of his incantations. (Thanks to Jim Brandon for the lead, Source; Cf. Here.) 

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Poisoned Jewelry: "Revealed: Children's jewelry that contains toxic cadmium which causes cancer STILL on sale after federal crackdown[:] Federal regulators failed to pursue recalls after they found cadmium-tainted jewelry on store shelves, despite their vow to keep the toxic trinkets out of children's hands...More than two years after the AP revealed that some Chinese factories were substituting cadmium for banned lead...There are no known injuries or deaths due to cadmium in children's jewelry, but contaminated jewelry can poison in two ways: slow and steady through habitual licking and biting, or acutely through swallowing. The CPSC estimates that several thousand kids are treated annually at U.S. emergency rooms for accidentally ingesting jewelry. Once in the body, cadmium stays for decades. If enough accumulates, it can cripple kidneys and bones-- and cause cancer. Contaminated jewelry is surely less prevalent in the U.S. than before its widespread presence was first documented. However, rings, bracelets and pendants containing cadmium and marketed for preteen girls were purchased over the last year." (Source)

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"Sephirot ..., meaning emanations, are the 10 attributes/emanations in Kabbalah, through which Ein Sof (The Infinite) reveals himself and continuously creates both the physical realm and the chain of higher metaphysical realms (Seder hishtalshelus). The term is alternatively transliterated into English as Sefirot/Sefiroth, singular Sephirah/Sefirah etc. Alternative configurations of the sephirot are given by different schools in the historical development of Kabbalah, with each articulating different spiritual aspects. The tradition of enumerating 10 is stated in the Sefer Yetzirah... As altogether 11 sephirot are listed across the different schemes, two (Keter and Daat) are seen as unconscious and conscious manifestations of the
same principle, conserving the ten categories. ... The 'Sefirot' (סְפִירוֹת), singular 'Sefirah' (סְפִירָה), literally means 'counting'/'enumeration', but early Kabbalists presented a number of other etymological possibilities from the same Hebrew root including: sefer (text), sippur (recounting a story), sappir (sapphire, brilliance, luminary), separ (boundary), and safra (scribe)." (Source)

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(Prometheus was said to have worn a "Sapphire Ring": Victoria Finlay, Jewels: A Secret History, p. 257.)

"Prometheus is an inner satellite of Saturn. It was discovered in 1980 ...from photos taken by the Voyager 1 probe... In late 1985 it was officially named after Prometheus, a Titan in Greek mythology. ... It is also designated Saturn XVI (16)..." (Source) Cf. Here, here, and here.)

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In Jewish folklore there is a book named the Sefer Raziel HaMalekh (The Book of the Angel Raziel, 'Secrets of God'). "...The first part states that they were imparted by Raziel to Adam when he was driven from paradise (2a); the third part (34a) says they were communicated to Noah before he entered the ark. The book was engraved on sapphire-stone and handed down from generation to generation until it, together with many other secret writings, came into the possession of Solomon; the Book of Raziel, however, was the best preserved of these works (15, 34a)." (Source)

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"Aaron's Rod[:] A rod which, in the hands of Aaron, the high priest, was endowed with miraculous power during the several plagues that preceded the Exodus. In this function the rod of Moses was equally potent. Upon two occasions, however, the singular virtue of spontaneous power, when not in the grasp of its possessor, was exhibited by Aaron's Rod. At one time it swallowed the rods of the Egyptian magicians, and at another it blossomed and bore fruit in the Tabernacle, as an evidence of the exclusive right to the priesthood of the tribe of Levi... In commemoration of this decision it was commanded that the rod be put again 'before the testimony' (Num. xvii. 10). A later tradition asserts (Heb. ix. 4) that the rod was kept in the Ark of the Covenant. The main fact, however, is thus confirmed, that a rod was preserved in the Tabernacle as a relic of the institution of the Aaronic priesthood. ...It was made of sapphire..." (Source)

("The 182 carat... Star of Bombay, housed in the National Museum of Natural History, Washington D.C., 

is a good example of a blue star sapphire." Source; Image Source)

("The 330 Carat Star of Asia, housed in the National Museum of Natural History, Washington D.C., is an excellent example of a blue star sapphire." Source; Image Source)

("The Star of India is a 563.35 carat...star sapphire, one of the largest such gems in the world. ...It is almost flawless and is unusual in that it has stars on both sides of the stone. ...In 1900, wealthy financier J.P. Morgan donated the Star of India to the American Museum of Natural History on Central Park West in Manhattan." It, along with several other precious stones (including the "Eagle Diamond") was stolen on October 29, 1964, but later recovered. Source; Image Source)

(Closeup of Saturn's Hexagon Source)

("For Hearts Long Lost. And Full of Fright. For Those Alone In Blackest Night. Accept Our Ring and Join Our Fight -- Love Conquers All -- With Violet Light!" ~ Star Sapphire Corps Oath, DC Comics,  Source; Image Source; "Sappho...An ancient Greek poet known for her love lyrics. ...The word lesbian is derived from the island of Lesbos, the birthplace of Sappho..." Source; Cf. here, here, and here.)

("Star Dust": "a song about a song about love"; Source; Image Source; Cf. "'Deep Purple' was the biggest hit written by pianist Peter DeRose, who broadcast, 1923 to 1939, with May Singhi as 'The Sweethearts of the Air' on the NBC radio network. ...lyrics [were added] in 1938: 'When the deep purple falls over sleepy garden walls | And the stars begin to twinkle in the sky | In the mist of a memory you wander back to me Breathing my name with a sigh...' Larry Clinton and His Orchestra recorded one of the most popular versions of the song on 23 December 1938." Source)

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The Alchemical Sapphire Mirror: "The most immediate influence of [Heinrich] Khunrath's alchemical catoptics was on Stefan Michelspacher's Cabala, Spiegel der Kunst und Natur..., consisting of four engravings which present mirrors displaying alchemical visions. ... Apart from this Paracelsian alchemical treatise, Michelspacher also published an Optica... In the Cabala he explains that his visions appeared to him through the power of a radiating celestial fire in three distinct forms. The first mirror was a fiery sapphire, displaying the philosophical Mercury and Salt, while the second showed him the philosophical Sulfur. The third mirror was of a divinely rosy colour, all in flames, in the midst of which there appeared a very great 'arcanum', which was the philosophical fire through which all things come to maturation. Putting together the three mirrors, he made a fourth in which he saw God perfectly..." (Source: Urszula Szulakowska, The Alchemy of Light: Geometry and Optics in Late Renaissance Alchemical Illustration, pp. 99-100).

Following the Libnat ha-Sappir, "The Pavement of Sapphire," just a little bit farther, the traveler may notice the name of a, Argentium Astrum (the "AA" or Silver Star) rite incorporated by Aleister Crowley into his program of "Sex Magick." "The Star Sapphire is a magick ritual written by Aleister Crowley, which first appeared in his Book of Lies, Chapter 36, in 1913. It is a Thelemic version of the Ritual of the Hexagram, developed by members of The Golden Dawn. It is commonly considered to be a thinly veiled instruction for sex magick, although it can certainly be performed as a non-sexual exercise. The Star Sapphire is an official ritual of the A.'.A.'." (Source) On Crowley, see here, here, and here. For more on silver, see here.

(Lucifer-Venus, "Goddes of Love"; (Source)

"How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High." ~ Isaiah 14:12-14 (KJV)

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Iliaster, or Dis-aster? "'Lift up your eyes and look at the cloud and the light within it and the stars surrounding it. The Star that leads the way is your star.' (Gospel of Judas 57:19-20) Every eternal soul is connected with a star - a divine being that exists above this world. Judas is told to gaze on the cloud that is the manifestation of the presence of the Great Invisible Spirit. The stars of the saved...And Judas' star leads them all." (Bart D. Ehrman, The Lost Gospel of Judas Iscariot, p. 139).

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"Paracelsus named [the] cosmic essence the Iliaster, which literally means 'the star in man'" (Dennis Hauck, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Alchemy, p. 159). "[T]he first body, the Yliaster, was nothing but a clod which contained all the chaos, all the waters, all minerals, all herbs, all stones, all gems. Only the supreme Master could release them and form them with tender solicitude, so that other things could be created from the rest." (Source)

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"Aristotle held that the universe was divided into two parts, the terrestrial region and the celestial region. In the realm of Earth, all bodies were made out of combinations of four substances, earth, fire, air, and water,... whereas in the region of the universe beyond the Moon the heavenly bodies such as the Sun, the stars, and the planets were made of a fifth substance, called quintessence." (Source) For more on the Gospel of Judas, see HERE.

("Bombay Sapphire" Gin: The "...sapphire-coloured bottle that 

bears a picture of Queen Victoria on the label." Source, Image Source; 

I almost called it "Victory Gin" by accident.)

("Jan. 18, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Today BECK'S opened a pop-up 'jewelry store' in Beverly Hills to celebrate BECK'S SAPPHIRE, the latest innovation in high-end beer." (Source)  "Beck's logo...[is] a key..." (Source) ; Image Source. On another "Beck" [Glenn], see HERE and here.)

                                     

(Ruby, Sapphire: Aluminum & Oxygen [Al2O3], Chris Pellant, Rocks and Minerals [Smithsonian Handbook], p. 82.)

("Al Green turned down President Obama" Source; Image Source)

"Crowley's comment regarding The Star Sapphire in The Book of Lies states: 'The Star Sapphire corresponds with the Star-Ruby of Chapter 25; 36 being the square of 6, as 25 is of 5. This chapter gives the real and perfect Ritual of the Hexagram.'" (Source)

(Source)

(Source)

"Michelle Obama wows in a ruby red Jason Wu dress at the Inauguration Ball[:] First Lady Michelle Obama wore a Jason Wu dress to the Commander in Chief's ball in Washington, Jan. 21, 2013. ...The chiffon dress with velvet details featured criss-cross ruching in the front that came together in a keyhole..." (Source cf. "[T]he first lady chose a ruby red chiffon and velvet halter gown. ...Jay-Z was...in a Tom Ford suit, tie and a scarf." Source)

(Source)

"Ruby" (definition) "c.1300, from Old French rubi (12c.), from Medieval Latin rubinus lapis 'red stone' (cf. Italian rubino), from Latin rubeus 'red,' related to ruber (see red)." (Source)

(Ruby Star: Source)

(Source)

Speaking of the Wizard of Oz ("Oz" = "strength" or "an he goat", Kenneth Grant, Aleister Crowley and the Hidden God, p. 219), it's a twister (of sorts)! Maybe it's the Wiz himself. "Tropical Cyclone Oswald (South Pacific) 01.22.13[:] NASA Sees Tropical Cyclone Oswald Weaken Over Queensland's Cape York Peninsula[.] NASA's Aqua satellite documented the formation of Tropical Storm Oswald in the Gulf of Carpentaria on Jan. 21 and the landfall on Jan. 22 in the southwestern Cape York Peninsula of Queenstown, Australia. Oswald has since become remnant low pressure area over land." (Source; Thanks to John Cole for this information.)

 (Jack Ruby ["Jack Ruby" = fake ruby, James Shelby Downard] shoots Lee Harvey Oswald, Source)

And now, let's go back to rubies.

(Source)

"The Delong Star Ruby resides in the Natural History Museum in New York City. Weighing 100.32 carats, it is a beautiful deep purplish red in colour, Burmese origin, and has an extremely sharp 6-rayed star effect." (Source) "The Six-rayed Star ...combines the Isis...and Horus...symbolism (the Mother, and the Child of the Mother) in a transcendental unity that is glyphed by the Star of Will (Thelema), which is the Star Ruby and the symbol of the Great Work accomplished" (Kenneth Grant, Aleister Crowley and the Hidden God, p. 57).

("Five views of the Eagle diamond" Source)

"The Eagle Diamond was discovered in Eagle, Wisconsin in 1876 by a man named Charles Wood while he was digging a well." It was later acquired by "... Tiffany’s in New York City for US$ 850. It remained at Tiffany’s until World War I. J.P. Morgan bought the diamond, and presented it as a gift to the American Museum of Natural History, in New York City. It was placed in the J.P. Morgan exhibit along with the Star Sapphire of India and the de Long Ruby until it was stolen on October 29, 1964 by Murph the Surf." (Source)

(Source)

"NOT MY PRESIDENT[:] John Diamond of Arlington, Va., spent part of the day handing out fliers inviting people to a 'disinauguration ball'...'Not my president,' said the fliers, which featured the classic Obama 'O' logo as part of the word 'not.'" (Source)

See also Loren Coleman's post "Gemstones are Forever"

Coming soon: Follow-up post, more sapphire.
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