Isilion

Among other things the Sepher Yetzirah groups the Hebrew letters by a simple but effective phonetic system based on how and where in the mouth the sounds are formed: in the throat, against the palate, tongue on the of the mouth, tongue against the teeth and with the lips. The first letters of each group–Aleph, Gimel, Daleth, Zain, Beth [ אגדזב ]–are pronounced ah-ga-dah-zah-bah. If you say it as a word, even silently, you can feel the progression from within your throat out to and through your lips. It works like a subtle mouth yoga if you say it repeatedly.

ah-ga-dah-zah-bah
ah-ga-dah-zah-bah
ah-ga-dah-zah-bah
ah-ga-dah-zah-bah
ah-ga-dah-zah-bah

It works best at a moderate pace, but you can play around with it, varying the speed. It gets more interesting if you ponder the symbolic meanings and association with the letters. Doing it backwards is an out-to-innish sort of thing. It doesn’t work that well with bah-zah-dah-ga-ah, but other combinations do.

If I figured right, given that there are four throat letters, four palate letters, five tongue to roof, five tongue to teeth and four lip letters, there are sixteen-hundred combinations. Quite enough to build a Golem if one goes in for that sort of thing. At any rate it is an interesting exercise in neurophysiology from the inside out.

I’m off Gian Mind in the morning… but it is mostly just to do yard work around my camp site for Drum ‘n Splash next week. I love summer.

Should I say I walk through a goodly chunk of Imperial City each morning on my way to my post by a telephone servicing customers? I pass street musicians, especially around the Metro stop. A fellow in with long dreads, a drum machine, a battery powered amp, an effects peddle and beautifully baroque chorusing flanged guitar sparks drifting around the arched ceiling and bouncing off the shining morning walls. An old Chinese man playing what almost seems to be washtub bass, but with high mournful warbles as he drags his long bow over its one string. Sometime I drop a buck or two or twenty. Some days I’m just in too much of a hurry to even notice.

Anyway, I was just listening to this song.

FOR FREE
Artist: Joni Mitchell
Album: Ladies of The Canyon

I slept last night in a good hotel
I went shopping today for jewels
The wind rushed around in the dirty town
And the children let out from the schools
I was standing on a noisy corner
Waiting for the walking on green
Across the street he stood
And he played real good
On his clarinet, for free

Now me I play for fortunes
And those velvet curtain calls
I’ve got a black limousine
And two gentlemen
Escorting me to the halls
And I play if you have the money
Or if you’re a friend to me
But the one man band
By the quick lunch stand
He was playing real good, for free

Nobody stopped to hear him
Though he played so sweet and high
They knew he had never
Been on their T.V.
So they passed his music by
I meant to go over and ask for a song
Maybe put on a harmony…
I heard his refrain
As the signal changed
He was playing real good, for free