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The Hekhalot movement - seven gates of eternal life
- Author(s):
- Serge Kernbach (see profile)
- Date:
- 2021
- Item Type:
- Article
- Tag(s):
- Coffin Texts, Hekhalot Literature, Mesopotamian culture, seven gates
- Permanent URL:
- https://doi.org/10.17613/8q9d-ex76
- Abstract:
- The Hekhalot literature has a history of almost a thousand years and narrates the journey of consciousness into the seven spiritual realms. It is based on the 'archetype of the seven' (seven heavens, gates, bodies, names, gods, spirits, etc.) widespread in Mesopotamian culture, whose first mention dates back to the 26th century BC. Seven 'areas' also appear in other ancient cultures, such as the seven gates of Duat described in the Coffin Texts of ancient Egypt, or the 'seven spiritual dimension-Lokas' known from the Indian Vedas. The influence of the 'seven worlds' archetype on subsequent cultures is enormous: the concept of planetary astrology, the classification of 'subtle bodies', the seven-day week, the seven sacraments and gifts of the Holy Spirit (the number seven appears several hundred times in the Old and New Testaments), etc. This historical survey gives an overview of the Hekhalot movement of different eras and its connection with other religious and philosophical concepts. Particular attention is paid to seven archetypes of the 'journey into the other world' found in myths of ancient cultures. The work explores the mystical side of these techniques, as a way to attain eternal life, practiced in different historical eras.
- Metadata:
- xml
- Published as:
- Journal article
- Status:
- Published
- Last Updated:
- 2 years ago
- License:
- Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
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