I have been on a spiritual journey for quite some time. It is ever-evolving as I learn more and more about myself, being human, being spiritual and understanding the universe. I'm taken back to Buddhism time and again. Most recently, I was forwarded an e-mail by an acquaintance about a small meditation circle that meets on Sundays. I've always wanted to learn how to meditate, but never could sit still quite long enough to get in that zone. This group follows the teachings of
Anam Thubten. I was able to read an excerpt from his book "No Self, No Problem" and found it to be very on point, down-to-earth and oh-so-enlightening. He's all about the "Keep It Simple, Stupid" style of teaching. I found that in the 30 minutes of meditating in that group, answers to questions and issues I've had for a long time came pouring through me. I wanted to tell everyone, but, of course, my questions weren't the same as theirs, I'm sure. I felt like I was bursting with joy and just wanted to share it with SOMEONE, but I suppose we are all on our own journey and come to places of wonder individually. It's exasperating to me to try to share what I've learned with someone that's not able to experience my wonder. I truly believe in this saying that I read a long time ago..."When the student is ready, the teacher will come." I find that when someone is ready to hear what I am learning, they will inquire, so there's no point in trying to explain it to someone that's not there yet. I digress. I titled this blog before I started writing. I wanted to record this interesting phrase that came to mind as soon as I woke up this morning, "The 13 Gatekeepers"...it kept repeating in my head, like a song that gets stuck there and won't go away. I decided to look it up to see what in the world is out there about thirteen gatekeepers (other than the haunted house, The 13th Gate, in downtown BR...hmmm...now I wonder where they came up with THAT name). I found this link about the
Thirteen Gates of Necronomicon, which I've never in my life heard of before. I did a google search and found this has to do with the
Anunnaki gods of creation...interesting. Never heard of them either, but definitely want to research this further. It's about the
Babylonian worldview of creation and has been debated about having an influence on the book of Genesis.
This is a dream I'll definitely have to go back into. Very interesting.
Update: Since this dream I have found my birth father and learned of my Jewish heritage. I have had an interest in Kabballah and Jewish Mysticism so I decided to plug that in along with "13 gatekeepers" and came up with this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/13_(number)#Judaism
In religion
[edit]Roman Catholicism
The apparitions of the
Virgin of Fátima in 1917 were claimed to occur on the 13th of six consecutive months.
[3][edit]Sikhism
According to famous
Sakhi (Evidence) or story of
Guru Nanak Dev Ji, when he was an accountant at a town of
Sultanpur Lodhi, he was distributing grocery to people and when he gave groceries to the 13th person he stopped there because in
Gurmukhi and Hindi the word 13 is called Terah, which means yours. And Guru Nanak kept on saying, "Yours, yours, yours..." remembering God. People reported to the emperor that Guru Nanak was giving out free food to the people. When treasures were checked, there was more money than before.
The
Vaisakhi which commemorates the creation of "
Khalsa" or pure Sikh was celebrated on April 13 for many years.
[edit]Judaism
[edit]Unlucky 13
The number 13 is associated with bad luck in some countries, and even has a specifically recognized
phobia, Triskaidekaphobia, a word which was coined in 1911.
Friday the 13th has been considered an unlucky day since the 1800s, as a combination between an unlucky day, Friday, and the number 13. Another theory as to why the date and number 13 is considered unlucky is that, on the day of Friday the 13
th after the final Crusade the pope had sent out men to capture and burn alive the last 13
Knights Templar in order to put an end to the Crusades.
A second theory links the bad luck associated with the number 13 with Jesus Christ's last supper where the persons around the table, counting the Christ and the twelve apostles, was, indeed, thirteen. This would also be the reason why it is considered unlucky to have 13 guests at a table. Noting there has never been any Christian writing or work which states the number 13 as being unlucky. In Christianity the gathering of Jesus Christ and the 12 Apostles is considered very positive.
Another theory states that the number 13 is unlucky because, when in years where there were 13 full moons instead of 12, it made it difficult for the monks who were in charge of the calendars. "This was considered a very unfortunate circumstance, especially by the monks who had charge of the calendar of thirteen months for that year, and it upset the regular arrangement of church festivals. For this reason thirteen came to be considered an unlucky number."
[4][edit]Lucky 13
In
Sikhism, the number 13 is considered a special number since 13 is
tera in
Punjabi, which also means "yours" (as in, "I am yours, O Lord"). The legend goes that when
Guru Nanak Dev was taking stock of items as part of his employment with a village merchant, he counted from 1 to 13 (in Punjabi) as one does normally; and thereafter he would just repeat "tera", since all items were God's creation. The merchant confronted
Guru Nanak about this, but found everything to be in order after the inventory was checked. April 13 also usually turns out to be
Vaisakhi every year, which is the Sikh New Year and the major Sikh Holiday.
Several successful sports figures have worn the number 13.
Ozzie Guillén,
manager of the
2005 World Series Champion Chicago White Sox, has worn the number throughout his
baseball career.
Alex Rodriguez began wearing it upon joining the
New York Yankees (three, the number he had previously worn, is retired by the Bronx Bombers to honor
Babe Ruth).
Dan Marino, an
American football player known for passing the 2nd most yards in
NFL history, wore the number 13. Basketball great
Wilt Chamberlain wore the number 13 on his jersey throughout his
NBA career. Also,
FIBA rules require a player to wear the number in international competitions (only numbers from 4 to 15 could be worn, and as there are 12 players, one must wear 13);
Chris Mullin, who wore #20 in college and #17 in the NBA, wore #13 for both (1984 and 1992) of his Olympic appearances.
Shaquille O'Neal wore #13 in 1996;
Tim Duncan wore #13 in 2004.
Steve Nash is currently wearing it for the
Phoenix Suns.
Yao Ming wore it in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
Mats Sundin,
Pavel Datsyuk,
Bill Guerin, and
Michael Cammalleri wear 13 in the
NHL. One of Iceland's all time best handball players, Sigurður Sveinsson, wore the number 13 when he played for the national team. In
association football, both
Gerd Müller and
Michael Ballack have favoured the number 13, among others.
In
Italy, 13 is also considered to be a lucky number, although in
Campania the expression 'tredici' (meaning 13) is said when one considers their luck to have turned for the worse.
Colgate University also considers 13 to be a lucky number. They were founded in 1819 by 13 men with 13 dollars, 13 prayers and 13 articles.
[5] (To this day, members of the Colgate community consider the number 13 a good omen.) In fact, the campus address is 13 Oak Drive in
Hamilton, New York, and the male
a cappella group is called the Colgate 13.
In the Mayan
Tzolk'in calender, trecenas mark cycles of 13 day periods. The pyramids are also set up in 9 steps divided into 7 days and 6 nights, 13 days total.
[edit]Coperos
The number 13 in the Coperos religion (small culture in brazil) is like a God number. All coperos must know that this number can save the humankind.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_principles_of_faith#Maimonides.27_13_principles_of_faith
Maimonides' 13 principles of faith
13 Principles of Faith:
- I believe with perfect faith that the Creator, Blessed be His Name, is the Creator and Guide of everything that has been created; He alone has made, does make, and will make all things.
- I believe with perfect faith that the Creator, Blessed be His Name, is One, and that there is no unity in any manner like His, and that He alone is our God, who was, and is, and will be.
- I believe with perfect faith that the Creator, Blessed be His Name, has no body, and that He is free from all the properties of matter, and that there can be no (physical) comparison to Him whatsoever.
- I believe with perfect faith that the Creator, Blessed be His Name, is the first and the last.
- I believe with perfect faith that to the Creator, Blessed be His Name, and to Him alone, it is right to pray, and that it is not right to pray to any being besides Him.
- I believe with perfect faith that all the words of the prophets are true.
- I believe with perfect faith that the prophecy of Moses our teacher, peace be upon him, was true, and that he was the chief of the prophets, both those who preceded him and those who followed him.
- I believe with perfect faith that the entire Torah that is now in our possession is the same that was given to Moses our teacher, peace be upon him.
- I believe with perfect faith that this Torah will not be exchanged, and that there will never be any other Torah from the Creator, Blessed be His Name.
- I believe with perfect faith that the Creator, Blessed be His Name, knows all the deeds of human beings and all their thoughts, as it is written, "Who fashioned the hearts of them all, Who comprehends all their actions" (Psalms 33:15).
- I believe with perfect faith that the Creator, Blessed be His Name, rewards those who keep His commandments and punishes those that transgress them.
- I believe with perfect faith in the coming of the Messiah; and even though he may tarry, nonetheless, I wait every day for his coming.
- I believe with perfect faith that there will be a revival of the dead at the time when it shall please the Creator, Blessed be His name, and His mention shall be exalted for ever and ever.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metatron
