The Western Gate

Solomon and Sheba
Pritchard, James B.
Phaidon Press Ltd

Released in 1974, this is a book that revealed itself to me as I was doing some research on Sheba. It fell off the shelf in front of me, an oft’ tale told by questers as a remarkable occurrence, I include it here simply to say, I am completely indifferent to these occurrences, in fact the less I am impressed by them, the more they happen. I didn’t ask but ‘thine’tis be done….

It was a secondhand book, and it was cheap, £4 if I remember correctly. It reminds me of the sort of books you would find at a secondary school. It is a compilation of all the anecdotes, writings, art, poetry etc regarding this famous and legendary couple and of course their eventual meeting. It is akin to an expanded Wikipedia entry- deluxe version, super deluxe version in fact. It’s all to the point, there’s no authors own for what it’s worth input and subjective intrusion, no conspiracy theories. If Handel wrote a tune or two about them, it’ll be mentioned. If WB Yeats penned a few words, it’ll be in here, ipso facto.
Of course the main body of the work explores the history as known, the lands to which Solomon and Sheba commanded and the cultural layout before we embark on all the legendary stuff and drool over Betty Blythe, nice white flapper depicting an an Ethiopian, ok it’s not correct but we can still drool.
Yes… you see this is where we gaslight the femme. All these nemesis’s of male pride, Cleopatra had a hideous hooked nose, Anne Boleyn had six fingers, Joan d’Arc a schizophrenic , Morgan La Fey and her withered arm… you see, being female, and being perfect and powerful just isn’t cricket, its not allowed, there has to be something ‘flawed.’

The Queen of Sheba has been on my radar for a while, firmly am I of the belief it was her knowledge of the arts that she lent to Solomon’s ear. BUt this wouldn’t do, not even in the Witchcraft community, The Grimoire of Sheba? The Lesser Key of the Queen of Saba ?
BUt, There isn’t much witchery in this book, no, it deals on the whole with the stories as explained in the Bible, The Quran and the Ethiopian Kebra Negast, itself perhaps the only pre-Christian legacy that was not fiddled with by the Roman Empire. We learn from the Jewish Midrashim that Sheba was identified as Lillith herself. That ancient seductress whom Adam couldn’t deal with. Damn her~they did.
This is a good reference book, lots of listed books in the bibliography and though Pritchard is credited, it is in fact a compilation of chapters created by separate authors.

You wont find this new on the shelves, but its over at resources like Abe Books for just a few quid. Many’s the time that old discarded treasure, with scent of history aye the perfume of ghosts: vanillin sighs from yellowed pages, and even the spine creaks a groan that again it has been found. I love new books, new fine bound books, but you just cannot beat that aroma, that nostalgia of a true worn and handled book. I wonder if Betty Blythe touched it (Pictured Right), I’m sure she did!

Solomon and the Witch
By W.B.Yeats
And thus declared that Arab lady:
‘Last night, where under the wild moon
On grassy mattress I had laid me,
Within my arms great Solomon,
Suddenly cried, his body bowed,
“O woman of the starry brow,
Queen of the night, of night’s terror,
I have, and am not satisfied!”
Then, laughing, she rolled on the floor,
And after stretched her arms and sighed,
And straightway took a lute and sang,
“They that have power to hurt and will do none,
That do not do the thing they most do show,
Who, moving others, are themselves as stone,
Unmoved, cold, and to temptation slow—
They rightly do inherit heaven’s graces,
And husband nature’s riches from expense;
They are the lords and owners of their faces,
Others but stewards of their excellence.”
Then Solomon to Sheba sang,
“The years like great black oxen tread the world,
And God the herdsman goads them on behind,
And I am broken by their passing feet.”

During many of book reviews I have done I have veered off the content to add my own thoughts, but its pretty clear that I am wandering off the beaten track, so I should make it clear, the content below IS NOT contained within the book, nor is the authors content.
Notes taken from a page of my own journal, for consideration and contemplation only;-

The concept I had been following as a prelude, being that;-
Following King Solomon’s affair with Sheba he began to indulge in all sorts of occult and pagan dabbling, raising temples to arcane Gods, summoning angels and demons and whatnot. It is not explicitly stated in the original Bible that Solomon used Angels and Demons to create the temple as if often suggested, this idea came via obscure and debatable texts like the Testament of Solomon and various nomadic tales~ Thus we can continue with the argument that Solomon indulged in such maleficent, and magnificent arte after the temple was built and thence after meeting the Queen of Sheba.
Now Solomon, we would be forgiven for thinking is a name derived from “Man of the Sun” viz, Sol, o’ Man. The original title is שְׁלֹמֹה ³⁷⁵ Shlomoh means “peaceful” or “of his (Gods) peace” , Sheba likewise, שְׁבָא ³⁰³, which means of foreign origin, oath, and also seven. The mergence of that which is foreign, to a state of harmony/peace is the mergence of Mystery and Wisdom. It is the union and imagery of the Archetypal King and Queen. מלך ⁹⁰ and מלכה ⁹⁵ , of note to us wayfarers, the combination of these numbers viz Malek and MalKah gives the “abominable” path of;- from an unused root supposed to mean to curse or in other words ללענה ^90+95=185=(wormwood~ hemlock or more appropiatley ~ cursed roots). Indeed it is a tenuous link, between the king and the ‘strange’ Queen.
However, the King and Queen, the Father and Mother of Witchcraft are the fusion of Mystery and Wisdom. Mystery being by its nature foreign to our sense, outside of our awareness. It is the Apple of temptation.

Now, of Saba, It should be noted, the Sabaean kingdom was noted for its production and distribution of Frankincense (לבונה ⁹³) and Myrrh ( לט ³⁹). There is no other purpose for the use of perfume other than promoting a sense other than the natural ambience of the room where the incense is used, usually a temple, for those aromas conjure lofty impressions of that which is sublime. The gematria of each incense being the mirror image of each other, viz 93 and 39.
Frankincense shares the gematria with הכזונה ~ to commit fornication. And myrrh with הלבב this is the inner mind and more synonymous with the mind of the heart.
Where one is ‘lust‘, the other is ‘love‘ (93 being familiar of course to Thelemites). When we talk of Lust we are inferring again to the Mysteries~ Temptation! To eat of the fruit of the tree.
One incense synonymous with Birth Renewal and the Waxing Moon and one with Death, Decay and the Waning Moon, We of course could say, one is a Gift to God, and one to the Devil.
To burn both, negates and 93-39= 54 (39-93=-54) ~דמי =Blood.
The Sabaean kingdom’s other source of natural resource, of course, being Gold ( זהב ¹⁴ ) Thereupon we have the gifts ‘fit for a King‘, as the Queen of Sheba delivered unto Solomon. 14 is the name of ‘David’ ~ beloved and also, as of the Beginning (ואז), but these word play numbers game do exactly what is intended, to create confusion, wonderment, and mystery.
Final mud scramble through gematrias thicket. 93 + 39 + 14 = 146 = עולם ~ Eternity, forever. Olahm. Or in other words, “In the beginning, Wisdom succumb to Mystery , eternity was its offspring.”

That which was at peace sought that which was different.
This is the marriage of Wisdom, which is in itself non-moving and is not created nor adapted but exists in perpetuity of itself, and Mystery, which ever, is the chaos and dynamism by which creation is Duality. Existence, the manifest ~ is Pure awareness, the unchanging witness (see Shiva) and the subsequent Creative power, the kinetic energy of the universe. (see Shakti)
The Will and our desires, forever.

“Aha” said the book burrower, I devise then a new interpretation;-
“In the beginning was the Word (as Chokmah),
and the Word was with the Void (as Binah),
and the Word was devoured—
and from that marriage,
-Time was born.”
And already, the exegesis destroyed the path.

נָּחָשׁ³⁵⁸ The Serpent. מָשִׁיחַ³⁵⁸ Messiah ³⁵⁸החמשה The Five

שְׁבָא³⁰³ Sheba ~ Seven

Header illustration : Edited from ~ Meeting of Solomon with the Queen of Sheba : Fresco, by Raphael (1519)