6) Key 2

To understand this oscillatory dynamic, let's start with this passage from Chant 30 of the Tao Te King

He who assists the ruler with Tao does not dominate the world with force. The use of force usually bring requital. Wherever armies are stationed, briers and thorns grow.

Do you hear? « Wherever armies are stationed, BRieRs and ThoRNs GRoW ». Don't tell me you’re not seeing the connection with what I've just told you? Remember, we started from the SPiKe and ended up with discord and hostility.

Sorry? Not so big a deal? Well, you're wrong. Haven't you noticed that ThiSTLes (ChaRDons in French) have ThoRNs, like BRaMBLes ? Brambles, RoNCes in French, ṢyR ṢaRab ṢaRPad or even ShaMyR in Hebrew, as in Isaiah 34:13 « Thorns shall grow up in its palaces, NeTTLes and BRieRs in its strongholds. It shall be a home of jackals, An abode of ostriches. » « Yes, ṢyR is also Orange 🟠 and we’ve already seen ShaMyR with the Pink spike 🩷 ». You're right, Polisson, the RoSe STinGs too and grants us SPLiNTeRs and thorns. The French éPiNe (Thorn) comes from eSPiNe, SPiNa- the SPiNe, which is SPiKed and SPLiTs the body in two.

Are you getting the hang of it now? ThiSTLes and STinGing NeTTLes always GRoW where DeSTRuCtion took place. To understand why, we need to go back to the Great FoReST, the Pygmies’ forest. Of course, I imagine you've never entered the Equatorial Forest. You're probably picturing a dense jungle where you cut a path with a MaCheTe. But you'd be wrong.

The interior of the Great FoReST is actually a land of tall TRees with scarce « under-growth ». Tall trees absorb all the light and PLaNTs hardly GRoW below. Only when a SToRM ToPPLes over a tree and tears a gap in the CaNoPy can the sun shine deep into the forest, provoking an explosion of almost impenetrable VeGeTation and BuShes (BRouSSailles in French), the so-called Secondary Forest, which grows mostly at the edge of the Primary Forest. Colin Turnbull wonderfully describes this ChaNGe on page 54 of his wonderful book.

This LuSh, BuShy, ThiCk, full of ThiCkets GReeNery is the Great FoReST, ḤoReSh in Hebrew; as in Isaiah 17.9 « In that day their strong cities, which they left because of the Israelites, will be like places abandoned to thickets ḤoReSh and « under-growth ». And all will be desolation. » « Yes, and we've already seen ThiCk, it's also Pink 🩷 and ḤoReSh is also Brown 🟤 ». Of course, Polisson!

However, before entering the Great FoReST, we must walk through the BuSh, the ChaPaRRal, BoXWooD (BuiS), BoSQuets (French for GRoVes), bushes (BuiSSons), ʔaShuwR and teʔaShuwR in Hebrew, as in Exodus 34.13: « But ye shall DeSTRoy their altars, BReaK their images, and cut down their groves » - where the same verse includes allusions to monuments, destruction and bushes. « Yes, and ʔaShuwR is like ʔaShaR that we've already seen, it's also Pink 🩷 Purple 🟣 Black ⚫ and Light Blue 💎 ».

A BuSh is a ShRuB or shrubbery (RoNCes, aRBuSTe or aRBRiSSeau in French), SiyaḤ in Hebrew, as in Genesis 2.5 « Now no shrub SiyaḤ had yet appeared on the earth and no PLaNT had yet SPRuNG up, for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the GRouND ».

There are also ShooTs (SaRMents in French), SaRyG and BRaNChes, ṢeʕaPah or ṢeʕyF as in Isaiah 17.6 « Yet some gleanings will remain, as when an olive tree is beaten, leaving two or three olives on the topmost branches ṢeʕyF, four or five on the FRuiTful BouGhs, declares the Lord, the God of Israel. » « ṢeʕyF is another one we’ve seen, it's also Pink 🩷 and Light Blue 💎 ». Isaiah, who also makes the connection between the SToRM and the SNaPPing of branches, ṢaʕaF, in 10.33.

Here we are, we've finally entered the Great FoReST. And look, there are oaKs (ChêNes in French), FiRs (SaPiNs), CyPReSSes, BeRowSh in Hebrew, in short VeGeTation, ShaGaRa, as in Surah Al A’raf 7, verse 19 « O Adam, dwell, you and your wife, in Paradise and eat from wherever you will but do not approach this TRee, lest you be among the wrongdoers ». ShaGaRa also appears with the meaning of QuaRReLing in the Sura … of women of course, An NiSaʔʔ! 4 🙂. And of course, in tree BRaNChes circulates the SaP, SèVe in French (or rather sèwe), also seen previously.

The idea might be growing into you that behind the theme of the stake stuck into the ground, the building of the hut made of branches covered with leaves, the storm making a ruckus while ripping up tall trees, and the shrubs and bushes growing and stinging, STaNDs the eNDuRing Pygmies' Great Equatorial FoReST, whose heart still beats in our chests, tens of thousands of years after our aNCeSToRs walked out of it.

« Auprès de mon aRBRe je vivais heuReux, J'aurais jamais dû m'éloigner de mon arbre, Auprès de mon arbre je vivais heureux, J'aurais jamais dû le quitter des yeux » (a famous song by Georges Brassens: I was so HaPPy under my TRee, I should never have left my tree, I was so happy under my tree, I should have never let it out of my sight.)

For hundreds of thousands of years, we lived in the WooDs, surrounded by TRees and PLaNTs - far more, in fact, than by stones and flint. Trees, wood, BaRK and ViNes are still the primary tools of Pygmies in Equatorial Africa. As a species belonging to the primate « BRaNCh », our history is deeply bound up with that of trees, far more so than that of any other mammals.

This memory of our aRBoReal PaST, more than two million years ago, is the reason why TRees are at the HeaRT of all human MyThs; whether the CoSMic tree connecting the different parts of the Universe (the celestial, terrestrial and subterranean worlds) or the tree of LiFe or KNoWledge or the NouRishing tree: they are all uNiVeRSal components of myths. We could talk about trees for hours and hours without covering all there is to say about them. And that's what our ancestors did, as Hesiod reminds us at the beginning of his Theogony: « But why all these words around the oak (ChêNe) and the rock » Yes, why all these words around « Sha » and « TaRa » ?

This is why a STaKe is something you PuSh and ShoVe, but also why a PLaNT that SPRouTs (PouSSer in French) SPuRTs ThRouGh the SoiL. First a STaLK GRoWs out of the soil, and it can also be SeT. Does this expression sound familiar: « s’aSTiQuer la TiGe » (varnishing the pole)? PouSSer (both to push and to sprout) embodies this primordial connection between the pink sex 🩷 and the green forest 🟢. « Yes, and that's not all, PouSSer is also Red 🔴 Brown 🟤 and Black ⚫ and STaLK is also Pink 🩷 and Black ⚫ ».

Other SPRouTing things include GRaSS (ʕaSh ʕeSeB and DeSheʔ in Hebrew), heaTh, LeTTuCe (haSSu in Akkadian), WaTeRCReSS (SiSuMBRion in Greek). Here, even the CaNDeLaBRa sprouts (neBRaShTaʔ in Hebrew).

« I am the GaTe; whoever eNTeRs ThRouGh me will be SaVed. They will come in and go out, and find PaSTuRe. » Remember this amazing sentence from Christ quoted in the Gospel of John, mentioned in my last video? The SPRouTing GRaSS, the « pasture », the DooR, going in and out… Hey Pharisians, are you starting to get it?

« Can I say something Paraklet? » But yes of course Polisson, go ahead! « ʕaSh iTChes too, it’s also Red 🔴 ». Spot on, Polisson. Funny that you mention itchy GRaSS, because if you pay close attention, you'll notice that babies don't like grass, they instinctively curl up their chubby little legs not to be PRiCked. Same thing with itchy sand; babies seldom like it. But we'll come back to that later on.

Now you understand why an eaR of CoRN is STaQus in Greek, and ṢiBoLet or ShiBoLet (remember Sin and Shin?) in Hebrew. By the way, this week's parasha is Miqets, and it mentions ears of corn too: SeVeN beautiful ears full of KeRNeLs GRoWing on the same STaLK that are swallowed up by seven ThiN, WiTheRed ears. Of course, you know this: Pharaoh's dream interpreted by Joseph! Anyway.

At least you understand why ShooT refers to firing, as seen previously, as well as to a SPRouTing thing, a SCioN. And why the SeeD sprouting on its own is ShaḤyṢ in Hebrew, like in Isaiah 37.30.