A • B • C • D • E •
F • G • H • I • J • K • L •
M
N • O • P • Q • R •
S • T • U • V • W • X • Y •
Z
Hebrew:
Aleph • Beit • Geemel • Dalet •
Hay • Vahv • Zaiyin • Chait • Tait
Yoad • Kaf • Lahmed • Mame • Nune •
Sahmek • Aiyin • Pay
Tzahday • Qoaf •
Raysh • S(h)een • Tahv
Tait
Spelling: tait yoad tahv
The coiled shape of tait recalls a serpent, raised to strike.
It is associated with inversion, and things happening ‘inside’.
The word ‘good’ (tov — tait vahv beit) and the
word ‘taste’ (ta’am
— tait aiyin mame) both begin with tait. The both these terms
have connotations
that we accord to ‘testing’ — to perceive directly
by experiential verification. It is commonly identified with the
primeval potentials
of femininity.
Tait is also understood to symbolize progress or
beneift achieved or sustained through resistance — particularly
of evil or lethargic inclinations. This indicates a unique mode
of containment,
where a portion is expressed and another portion withheld from
expression. When seen as a vessel, the shape of tait implies this
— there is a strange ‘inward hook’ that would capture part of the
contents, reserving them within — perhaps for further fermentation.
As tait is the 9th letter, it signifies relations with 9: A woman
carries her child for nine months, indicating her nature and power
as a living womb. This is the outcome of the joining of vahv and
zaiyin into chait — the marriage that creates new vessels and vehicles
of embodiment and the actualization of formerly undifferentiated
potentials. The primary quality emphasized here is ‘to carry within’,
but a secondary power is the joining of the waters of heaven with
the waters of earth in the female womb. Similarly, heaven and earth
are joined in the incarnation of the child therein carried.
Pregnancy can be taken more generally here, however. In union
with God, everything becomes pregnant with awe, wonder, joy, unity
and peace. Thus through service and attention, we are married to
our source, and become a vessel of unification between the supernal
universe and the terrestrial — whether male or female. Like the
child hidden in the womb of their mother, the spirit of God is
hidden in all the forms and stimuli of the universe around and
within us. The implication is infinitely expanding goodness coiled
within a vessel, growing, and waiting to emerge.
The gifts of the spirit are also 9: The word
of
wisdom,
the
word
of
knowledge,
faith,
the gift of the healer, the working of miracles, prophecy, discernment
of spirits, diverse tongues, and interpretation of tongues. All
of these are invisible and holy — they are ‘held within’, and
not extrinsically signified.
It is interesting that all of these things are related to ‘a snake’,
particularly in light of the constant and common denigration of
this creature. Yet it is a tiny snake-like organism which is transmitted
into the woman during copulation, and its penetration into her
egg results in an entirely new universe of living relation. This
similarity is no mere coincidence. The snake is a messenger of
impregnation, change, and renewal, as well as a creature to be
respected, admired, and perhaps avoided. It is an ancient enemy
of jungle primates, particularly smaller tree-dwellers, and this
probably accounts, at least in part, for our terror and hatred
of this reptile.
o:O:o
o:O:o
Family: Archetypal: A seed or primieval force from
which the existential and supernal are actualized. Existing outside
of space and time. The first 9 letters.
Archetypal: Tahv
Existential: Tzahday
Supernal: (Tzahday-Sophit)
Position: The ninth letter. The fifth of the ‘twelve
elementals’ or simples.
Common associations:
Primary Significations: A snake. Resistance, as in the resistance
a container which protects or collects.
Secondary Significations: Goodness. A great benefit held within
or hidden for a time. Inclination, ‘that which is below’, the staff
of a prophet. Connectivity between the dimensions of heaven and
earth, or the celestial and terrestrial waters.
Body: The left kidney.
Power: Hearing.
Sign: Leo
Archetype / Tribe: Simeon
Element:
Path on the Tree of Life:
Traditional: Chockma / Tiphareth
Hermetic: Geburah / Chesed.
Tait
A • B • C • D • E • F • G • H • I • J • K • L • M
N • O • P • Q • R • S • T • U • V • W • X • Y • Z
Hebrew:
Aleph • Beit • Geemel • Dalet • Hay • Vahv • Zaiyin • Chait • Tait
Yoad • Kaf • Lahmed • Mame • Nune • Sahmek • Aiyin • Pay
Tzahday • Qoaf • Raysh • S(h)een • Tahv
