Merkabah Rider: Have Glyphs Will Travel (61 page)

It was Westport and the Iron Brigade
was driving them back across Brush Creek, Liver-Eating Johnston yelling curses
in the face of that shrill almost Indian yell. The lead zipping through the air
like clouds of horseflies. He couldn’t find Gabriel and Dick was yelling next
to him, telling him to run back to the streets if they had to, cursing their
own artillery. Men dropping dead all around, the blue wool going dark on
Johnston’s arm even as he snapped off a shot with his Sharps. All the grey
coats, all the angry, wild faces, the bulging eyes, the sabers waving in the
sun, the bugles blaring, the splash of that freezing October creek water around
his thighs.

His feet were so cold.

Black wings unfurled and dove at him
out of the morning sun.

Numerous
Hebrew, Yiddish, Aramaic, Spanish, Ethiopian, and Apache terms necessarily find
their way into the chronicles of the Rider and his comrades. An alphabetized
and updated lexicon is here provided for the convenience of the reader.—E.M.E.

Aleinu
—
‘It is our duty.’ A traditional prayer recited at the end of daily
services. It reads in part:

‘It is our duty to praise the Master
of all, to acclaim the
greatness of the One who forms all creation.’

arel
— ‘uncircumcised.’ A disparaging term for a non-Jew.

beinoni
(plural:
beinonim
) — ‘The
intermediate ones.’ The bulk of humanity. The undecided, who are neither wholly
good nor wholly evil.

belimah
—
(‘silence’) The cosmic silence that existed prior to God’s first words, ‘Let
there be light.’

Birkat
ha’mazon —
‘Blessing on Nourishment’. A blessing recited following a meal of bread.

Brit
mallah —
‘covenant of circumcision.’

challah
—
A braided bread eaten on the Sabbath and holy days.

Chihine
Dine —
A band of the Chiricahua Apache. The Red Earth People.

chumash
—
A book bound copy of one or more of the Five Books of Moses, the
Pentateuch.

corvée
—
Forced, unpaid labor.

Dine
— The Apache word for themselves. (pronounced Di-nay)

dybbuk
(
plural:
dybbukim) —
The
departed soul of an evil or sinful person, imprisoned in
Gehenna
.

farkocktah
— Yiddish. A colorful adjective literally translated as ‘becrapped’.

Gai
kukken afen yam!
—
Yiddish. ‘Go
shit in the ocean!’

Gan
— Apache mountain spirits, revered in dance.

Gehenna
—
Hell. One of the four precincts of
Sheol
.
A place of torment reserved for wicked souls.

goy
(
plural: goyim
) —
Non-Jew.

Gut
shabbes —
Yiddish for ‘Good
Sabbath’.

hamotzi
—
A blessing said over bread.

Havdala
—
The ceremony enacted to mark the close of the Sabbath, on Saturday night,
when three stars appear in the sky. A braided, two-wicked candle is lit while a
prayer is recited and the person gazes at the light reflected in his
fingernails. A box of aromatic spices are passed around, and finally, wine.

hekhalot
—
‘palace.’ One of the seven holy halls a mystic must pass before
approaching the Divine chariot.

Igzee’abihier
—
‘Lord of the Universe.’ Ethiopian name for God.

izze-kloth
— A sacred Apache bandolier strung with lightning struck wood and bits of
stone.

kaddish
—
In this use, the Mourner’s Kaddish. A prayer over the dead.

kelipot
—
‘husks.’ Shells of evil which encase the scattered sparks of Divinity
which existing in all things.

kiddush
—
The blessing said over wine on the Sabbath or holy days.

kockeputzi
—
Yiddish word meaning mishmash.

kosher
-
Conforming to Jewish dietary laws.

Luz
—
Said to be the only indestructible bone in the human body, possibly a
vertebrae, where the deeds of a man are recorded. When the body decomposes, the
Luz remains, and it is from this bone that God will resurrect every man at the
end of time.

Meshuggenah
— Yiddish. ‘Crazy.’

mikvah
—
A naturally fed ritual bath used for purposes of purification.

minyan
—
A prayer quorum of ten Jews. Required for public prayer and some
obligatory ceremonies.

moser
— ‘
Traitor.’

nazirite
—
An aesthetic described in the Book of Numbers. A nazirite abstains from
wine, grapes, and vinegar, cutting one’s hair, and who avoids graves or corpses.

Olam
ha-Tohu —
‘World of Chaos.’ The universe which existed prior to the
creation of light.

payot
—
Curls worn by Hasidic men on either side of the face.

ranchito
—
Spanish for ‘little ranch.’

rebbe
(plural rebbes) —
A teacher in a Jewish school. Also a term of respect for
a Hasidic leader

rekel
(plural
rekelech
) — Black wool frock
coat worn by Hasidic Jewish men. Buttoned right over left.

ruah/ruhin
—
‘spirits.’ Demonic entities without perceivable physical forms, dedicated
to the destruction and corruption of mankind. They are the children of Lilith
and the succubi, who mate with mortal men through erotic dreams. Capable of
possessing physical bodies for a time.

Sanba
adma’I —
Beta Y’srael/Falashan term for the Sabbath.

Sar-ha
Cholem — ‘
Prince of Dream.’ An angel who specializes in dream visions.

Sefer
ha-Chayyim —
‘The Book of Life.’ The heavenly book in which the names of
Jews are recorded for life in the coming year. Not being recorded means a
person will die in the next twelve months. In the Merkabah Rider series, the
tzadikim nistarim
of the
Sons of the Essenes
maintain and actual,
earthly Book of Life which contains the true names of their members.

Sefer
Torah —
The Torah in scroll form, handwritten on calfskin and produced to
various exacting ritual specifications. It is treated as a living thing, never
simply discarded.

seraph
—
(plural:
sepharim
) The ‘burning
ones.’ Fiery six winged angels who surround the Throne of God.

Shabbat
shalom —
A greeting used on Sabbath.

Shalom
Aleichem —
‘Peace be unto you (ministering angels).’ A song traditionally
sung at the start of Sabbath on Friday night.

shed
(
plural:
sheddim) —
Half mortal
half demon, physically conceived and born from the union of a mortal man and a
succubus. Able to perceive the spirit world, but cannot enter or affect it.
They are faster, stronger, and more personally magnetic than mortals. They are
nearly immortal themselves and cannot be killed by normal physical means. They
sustain themselves on a diet of water and slime.

Sheol
—
The netherworld. A formless realm where departed souls (the
rephaim
) await the coming of the
Messiah either in comfort (sometimes called the Bosom of Abraham — particularly
by Christians) or in torment. (see
Gehenna).

shinnui
shem —
‘changing of a name.’ A custom of changing the name in the hope that
it will change that person’s fate.

shofar
—
A ritual trumpet made from the horn of a ram.

Shomer
negiah —
A person who abides by the commandment forbidding contact with an
unmarried member of the opposite sex who is not a relative.

Shomrei
shabbos —
Persons who observe the commandments associated with the Sabbath.

The
Sons of the Essenes
— A secret mystic order of Jewish scholars who claim
descent from the Essenes, an ancient Hebrew monastic sect mentioned by Philo of
Alexandria and Pliny The Elder from around the time of Christ. Their central
teachings culminate in the
Merkabah
Riders
. There are nine enclaves located in cities across the world, with
the main enclave located at Ein Gedi in Palestine.

tallit
katan —
‘small prayer shawl.’ A four-fringed poncho like undergarment worn
beneath the shirt.

tatelah
—
Yiddish for ‘little man.’

tefillin
— Prayer phylacteries. Black leather straps which are wrapped around the
arm (
shel yad
) and head (
shel yosh
) and bear two small leather
boxes containing parchment scrolls inscribed with Bible verses.

tikkun
—
‘Repair’ or ‘rectification.’ — The notion that adherence to the
commandments will repair the imperfect cosmos and strengthen the Divine.

Tishri—
The first month of the year in the Hebrew calendar (corresponding to
September-October in the Gregorian calendar).

Torah
— (‘teaching’) The Pentateuch — the five books of Moses (Genesis, Exodus,
Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy) in the
Tanakh
(Bible).

Tsath-yo
—
The script used by the prehistoric Hyporboreans.

tzadik
nistari/tzadikim nistarim —
‘hidden righteous one.’ One of the fabled 36
Hidden Saints. Every generation there are born 36 righteous Jews whose presence
in the world justifies the continued existence of mankind in the eyes of God,
even in the face of barbarism. It is said that if even one of the Nistarim dies
the world will end. Tradition holds that a tzadik is not aware of his own
nature. In the Order of The Sons of the Essenes, the ruling
rebbes
of each enclave are bestowed the
title
tzadik
and are thought to be
actual Nistarim, although there are only thirty two.

tzi-daltai
—
An Apache fetish charm, carved from a tree struck by lightning
(thunderwood) and into the shape of a man. They vary in markings and
adornments, and are often prayed to, possibly as they represent the
Gan.

Tzohar
—
A luminous stone containing the primordial light of creation. It
illuminated the ark of Noah, hung from the neck of Abraham (and could heal the
sick), and was given to the righteous of each generation.

Yenne
Velt —
The ‘other world.’ The astral plane perceived and navigated by
mystics. A shadowy spirit world mainly inhabited by lost ghosts, a reflection
of the physical world, but not heaven, not hell.

yeshiva
—
An academy instructing young Jewish males in sacred texts.

Yeshiva
shel Malah —
‘The Academy on High.’ The place where the righteous dead will
study Torah under the tutelage of the angel Zagzagel.

Yom
Kippur —
The Day of Atonement, traditionally the day Moses received the Ten
Commandments from God. The holiest day of the Jewish year, a time of repentance
aond confession. On this day the angels read from the Book of Life, and those
whose names are not recorded within, die.

yored
merkabah —
A merkabah rider who successfully reaches the Divine Throne.

Zei
gezunt —
Yiddish. ‘Be well.’

Edward M. Erdelac was born in
Indiana, educated in Chicago, and lives in the Los Angeles area with his
family. His various works and ruminations can be found on his blog,
Delirium Tremens
, over at
emerdelac.wordpress.com
.