What’s in a name? BELLADONNA, Valued and Feared

Known in Latin as Atropa Belladonna, and by other names, such as Deadly Nightshade and Witch’s Berry, Belladonna means both death and beauty. It can ease many ills if heavily diluted, but in strong concentrations it can kill. The Latin word, belladonna means "beautiful woman." The first part, Atropos, is the name of one of the Greek Fates who was responsible for the determination of when a person would die. Belladonna has ancient associations with the Greeks and European witches. It was used in small amounts in wine as an aphrodisiac by the Greeks and incorported into love potions by European witches. But Belladonna is associated with dark spirits and used in charms and amulets for dark purposes. Women who worshipped Dionysis became extremely depraved from using it, often murdering male followers.

Truly a plant of extremes, it has been called sacred. It deserves the highest respect. The berrys are attractive but extremely dangerous. Small amounts can can be valuable and large amounts deadly. So it is with the Night. As someone I know recently mentioned, "You can love your shadow, but do not drown in it."


Pic from an anime wesite, forgot to get link :(
It's called Belladonna.

Vanderman

Cradling seductions in one arm and cold flasks in the other, Vanderman boasted of his juggling knack, baring a grin mingled with sly and genuine. “Do I balance or toss, Madeline?” He asked his morning companion, not waiting for an answer before freeing his hands for other endeavors. “Come close to me,” he careened to meet her halfway. She rose and went near. He turned her to the mirror and held his right hand over her face as they both studied her half image. Using his left hand he revealed the opposite view, amused at the findings. “There are no secrets in life, Madeline. The story speaks its tale everywhere, and we are character to everything.”

“That is why I adore you, Vanderman. You are an eternal experience.”

Vanderman continued without tasting of her compliments. “Did you notice the artistry in the two sides of your face?” He took her hands into inspection. “Look at the unique design of your hands. My hands.” He held them out. “Our feet. Ah! I am never bored with human art.”

Vanderman wasn’t a man of many choices. He had but one. He desired everything. People who stood far off called him mad and suggested he was too hungry to ever satiate. They were unaware that he never fed off of life. He never drained any other. He had mastered a way of tapping into the vast flux and influx. Women loved him for it. There was something beyond magnetic about his type of fragrant living. He catered to none and no human catered to him, although they tried. He wouldn’t allow it. It was a wonder how he so cunningly pulled life into himself although he was already full of life living in him.

“Your right side lites with emotion and your left in a serious science. The lines in your forehead speak of pathways into fields of the imagination. Brilliant genetic strokes.”

“Why, thank you.” Madeline was flattered.

“Ah, I do not compliment you my dear, but the Master designer. Your beauty is certain, but you can take no credit.”

Madeline hung her head, ashamed at her pride.

“Do not rearrange your joy into a shattered catastrophy," he told her. "Even so, your frown is a phenomenal work as well.”

She became halves again, uncertain of which side to play a role within. A humble character emerged, partly shy by shame and partly awed by his nature.

Isha Trivia

The journal started with a post called "What's in a Name."

As the Garden became delighted with the story of Isha, and I searched for a picture suitable to her nature, an interesting revelation occured on the letter combinations of I S H A in the search and find program.

"What name is in a word?"


Hebrew

Elisha - El(isha)

Jewish Astrology - Jew(isha) strology :)

A(isha) Qad(isha) = A.Q. or A.K.

Hinduism

Adishakti - ad(isha)kti
Upanishads - Upan(isha)ds
Vishnavi - V(isha)navi
Malinishakti - Malin(isha)kti
Kundalinishakti - Kundalin(isha)kti

Yoruba Tradition

Orisha - Or(isha)

"What's in a Name?"

Gematria
AIShA (312) - West. To renew; hence=a new moon, a month. 26 x 12

IShA - Yod, Shin, Aleph ?

Islamic Glossary

Isha - the obligatory salaah, prayer, after sunset later in the evening.
Other Commonly Used Spellings: ISHAA











A'(isha)h, A(isha), Ay(isha)h is an Arabic name meaning - Living, prosperous.
Another site says Aisha means "woman" in Arabic.
Yet another site says that it means "life, vivaciousness."

A(isha) Siddiqa was the youngest and the favorite wife of the Muhammed, Prophet of Islam.

Isha Upanishad

Isha - Isha Upanishad. Isha also means a goddess of power in Hindu context.












Fantasy

Isha is a fictional character from Warhammer Fantasy. The mother of all Elves, Isha is the Goddess of harvest and nature. Depicted as an Elf of life and beauty, the Elves of Averlorn follow her. Winter never blemished the glades of Averlorn with her blessing. The Elves were taught by Isha to farm and take care of the land.

Isha's symbol is an eye shedding a tear. In the beginning it was Asuryan who decided that Elves would die as all things do. They still lived for hundreds of years, but they would still die. This tear is for the tears that Isha wept for her mortal children.












A Tear in My Eye© Kevin A. Mau

The Garden of Delight

Somewhere deeper then flesh lay an inner delight. More stimulating then the human emotion of joy is the ecstatic world of the subtle vibrations beneath the flesh. It is suggested that before skin, there was a life in the Garden of Eden (delight) before Humans entered the World of Pleasure and Pain. Some call her the Bride of Fire. What could this place be -- a Garden where a woman marries fire. Could it be soul reflections, a burning that we all carry within us for the ultimate delight? This delight is mentioned with the woman again in Biblical text. Later, in Chapter 8 of the Book of Proverbs, she is called God's Delight and Wisdom, a delight that was with him when the earth was created. This delight was there before matter and forms and humanity.

In another place, it is suggested that there is a woman named Isha who stayed in the Garden and a woman named Eve who sojourned with Adam on earth. Isha generally translates as 'woman or wife' and Eve (Hheva) generally translates as 'life giver'. What is the difference between these two women? The root of the name Isha is 'fire'. Hheva's root is 'breath'. Where is my fire and where is my breath within the smaller universe of the body? Where can one find these sacred feminine aspects?

Man too is spoken of in a similar way, as Ish and Adam. Ish means 'fire' and Adam means 'ruddy or blood'. Where is man's fire and where is man's blood. In the Garden was 'fire' and 'delight'. Out of the Garden was 'breath' and 'blood'. Some seek flowers in Gardens and lush green flora. Where is this Garden of fire/delight?

Orat, Taro, Tora, Rota...

Is there an evolution and a cycle within the letter
scrambles "Orat, Taro, Tora, Rota"?

I asked myself this question and surmised, (for now) after further contemplation, that the oldest element might be the Oracle. The Oracle being the messages that come without books and recorded history. Even before words, there was an understanding that led human life forward, a comprehension that had no description. Some call it instinct, but was it more then an animalistic trait? Was there an attribute with human kind before we stumbled into babble. Can we return to this place through a rotation that brings us to the end at the beginning, and hear, once again, the messages that came from the Celestial, the Natural and the Inner Voice, even if they all are parts of the whole of consciousness?

I placed Tarot second because it is symbolic. Torah is said to relate to a law that assists human beings into correction. This seems to be a correction of interpretation of symbols. Man came upon a time of deciphering what things meant. He thought he figured the code hidden in the symbols. Could it be that we are in need of erasing what we thought? I have a science buff friend who is fond of using the comment, "The Universe won't allow it." There are certain boundaries that exist in Universal Law. Is the cycle one where we stretch to outer boundaries and then return?

I could be wrong that the Law would come first. But, humanity is usually focused on self and has to learn to be communal, which is why the Law was given. But, did the individual have an idea of his mind's inner workings? We could say he did when we look at the scarab beetle of Egypt, supposedly representing the mind's make-up. Then there is mystic code in letters, and mystic code in pictures? Again hieroglyphics wins. If I follow history, then I have to see Tarot first and Torah next.

One may then ask how a Wheel of Life or a Tarot Wheel of Fortune could possible be last in the cycle as a concept of the letter combination, Rota/Rotation. It is actually first in my schematic. The end is always found at a new beginning. I placed the ROTA last because at the end of a cycle there can be a rotation to a new beginning. If evolution works with a spiral, then within the continuations there are repetitions: Hearing the Oracles, Symbolic Interpretation, Legalism of the Persona, and then the realization of cycles. These can all be constant tools in the continuing evolution of human psyche. Listening to an inner voice; deciphering the meaning of symbols in relation to above and below and inner and outer reflections; the PaRDeS of Torah study; to the rotational aspects of the Wheel of Fortune/Life. The rise, the reign and the fall teach us humility, make one wise, and reveal what the rise is really about.

And then there is this mention: “The psychological and spiritual development of mankind is dependent on the evolution of femininity.”

What's in a Name

People have many reasons for the names they give their children. I do not know of many who consider what is being invoked or the potential that lay in the letters of the name. I am sure they exist. Of course, it may not matter one bit. This view could be absolute fantasy. But I wonder what the world would be like with a higher consciousness of names and letters. What were human temperaments like before labels and titles? Have words done anything to change the inherent ways of humanity?

I once read a story of an indigenous tribe having an elder speak to a fetus when it was seven months in gestation. Supposedly, the fetus told the elder who it was and what was its purpose in this life it was now entering into, and who it had been in a past life. If this can truly be done, what would change in modern times? Would the true essence of an individual be lived instead of a life of searching to answer that generally ever plaguing question: "Who am I?"