LEARN OD INA SaoLEARN GREEK IN A WEEK (A spiritual approach to Language) by DIMITRIS SPENTZOSAbramelin the Mage warns the reader of the Book of the Sacred Wisdom with the following counsel: “In the commencement of the Operation there appea- reth a Man of Majestic Appearance, who with great affa- bility doth promise unto thee marvelous things. Consider all this as pure vanity, for without the permission of God he can give nothing”. Itis, therefore, with the permission of God that we offer this Method to you and with the best intention of helping you increase your knowledge of our common heritage. For, according to the testimony of every wise man of old, knowledge is given to man by God and without his grace no one can learn anything.6" he CONTENTS Introduction The Method The Key of Metathesis The Key of Permutation The Key of Aspiration The Key of Diphthongs The Key of Declensions Short Forms The Letters The Prepositions EpilogueINTRODUCTION Man has not developed his language in order to secure the means for a better life —which by the way does not de- mand a special love for logos— but in order to express ab- stri notions that explain his relation to the Universe. His presence in a fantastic and miraculous world on one hand and his predicament for the transient and casual nature of his existence on the other, inspired him to develop the powers of his mind to organize and communicate his thoughts in a language that could explain his rapport to the Cosmos. For this reason, from the beginning of man’s or- ganized life on earth, the formation of language had a direct relationship to his spiritual orientation. To confront the cruel forces of Nature and use them for his benefit, man arrayed his own spiritual weapons. The aluation and classification of the cosmic forces resulted in the formation of the Alphabet, which is the back bone of every language. The shaman, in order to use effectively the e principles of Sympathetic Magic, established certain key- symbols which express these forces or spirits, and with the persistent use of Evocation, those lettersymbols combined so that they may express more complex combinations of forces, forming unities, or words, which explain abstract conceptions. Those keyideas eventually found their thesis and antithesis on the Cycle of Taro, or the mystical astro- logical map, which at the time explained the mechanism of the forces of the Universe and provided the method to evoke them. (Noah’s Are with the pairs of opposites is an al-R LEARN GREEK IN A WEEK legory of this knowledge). Later, the highpriests of nations perfected this accumulated wisdom into a mathematical system, the Science of Number, which has been responsible not only for the great monuments of ancient civilizations, but for the ingenious, everlasting structure of all languages. The Greek Language was born out of this spiritual ne- ity and was formed under two different influences. The first was the Mystical knowledge of the Vedic texts which influenced its literary form, and the second was the Magical knowledge of the ancient Egyptians which influenced main- ly its mathematical structure. The first signs of the Sanskrit influence are noted in the adaptation of Hindi words, expressing specific spiritual concepts which pertain to the method of Yoga, or union with God. The ancient aphorisms of Patanjali that propose the spiritual yoke (yoga-Cuyé<) of human and universal consciousness are spread with such examples. It is apparent tions — that the Greek Language owes the use of the Prepos this priceless multi-faceted diamond of language— to the Sanskriti, since philosophi Paramatma, et 1 terms like Prajna, Samadhi, » are responsible for the adaptation of the prepositions 796, abv, map&, respectively, in Greek. And many other Sanskrit terms of this spiritual method of yoga passed in our languages, like the Klesas-Kaicetc, the incli- nations towards mate pleasures, and Pouna-Ilévoc, the pain that goes hand in hand with pleasure. While many such identicals are quite obvious, others need a special kind of spiritual predisposition in order to work out their origin, like the preposition 620-homo from OM, the designator of the divine power, aspirated because it is pronounced like Spvoc-hymn, which denotes the %20" éuotwey (as above so below) relationship of God to man. The derivatives of ho- mo, human, ete. are indicative of this spiritual cohesion. seINTRODUCTION 13 This influence is very well known to linguists who con- sider the European languages branches of the Indoeuro- pean tree. However, when we speak of “indoeuropean in- fluenc in western tongues we must understand Hellenic influences because an indoeuropean living language per se the total expression of the existing knowledge of a specific civilization, and the first advanced civilization that flourished in Europe was the Hel- never existed, since a language lenic. Therefore, every indoeuropean influence attributed to western languages is in fact a Hellenic influence, or one through the Greek tongue. Neither is it reasonable to sume that this influence affected the western languages through Latin, because the Romans had no science, art, re- ligion, or philosophy and by necessity resorted to the Hel- lenic miracle of the Mind, the Greek Language, to formulate their own, and not to the abstract Indoeuropean dead letter. We shall have the opportunity to cite hundreds of examples that support this “thesis” — a word borrowed directly from Greek instead of the Latin “posit”, which also comes from torobeté (M) More important influence for the formation of the Hel- lenic Language, however, has been the Egyptian one, buried though it was for many centuries along with the Sphinx in the sand desert of ignorance. Fortunately, the Hebrew tra- dition, or the Qabala, leads us to certain revealing conclu- sions. From the Egyptian hieratic knowledge, both Hebrews and Hellenes inherited the Alphabet and the simultaneous recognition of the Letters as symbols, sounds and images of an idea. Today, the musical harmony of words may escape us, but the mathematical structure according to which each letter has a correspondance to a cosmic sphere (Element, Planet, or Constellation) and a specific numerical value, is quite apparent. For instance, the numerical value of AA-“ LEARN GREEK IN A WEEK AA=1331 is not accidental, but it denotes the notion of dA- daxyh, or change (but). Now, the Egyptian sages as well as the Pythagorians attributed to number 13 the symbol of Death or Change (whereof the superstition), which accord- ing to the hieratic way of recognition is read both ways 1331, or AAAA, according to the Greek numbers, and ex- s the double notion that Death is the beginning of a press new life. The ancient symbolism of the Letters is very useful to us when we examine the formation of words and a very ac- curate way of verification, as for example the word IIYP, which according to the Pythagorians is a symbolic glyph of Tl: Mars, or energy, Y: Tauros, or power, P: Sun, or har- mony. Thus ITYP, or the power of the energy of the sun, passed into Old English with FYR, in order to retain its numerical value, but later became unrecognizable in the Middle English FIRE. This is an important attestation and offers ample proof that the Greek influence for the devel- opment of European tongues has been prehistorical. In our Method, we shall give many examples of Greek words of current use, which also appear in Old English, like: "Ey eiyat (Gr.) Ie eom (0.E.) I am (M.E.), Kowéc-Cyn-Kin, Noxca-Niht-Night, "Eap-Yeare-Year, Movay6c-Munue- Monk, 1Aé-Lief-Love (M), etc., that support this argu- ment These considerations lead us to the conclusion that a viv- id spiritual luminence emitted from the Hellenic nation, which enlightened the minds of the most distant European peoples to formulate their tongues in a definite way. Basic notions in man’s life like HEALTH come from H AA@AIA, the ancient Greek goddess of health (&A0aive is to cure) whose fame and rituals had reached the Druids. It also proves that this linguistic influence was not the result ofINTRODUCTION i" mercantile interactions, or other materialistic considera- tions, but a basic need among European nations to adopt al- ready established spiritual ideas. To further illustrate this theory, we should go back to the Sanskrit tradition at the time when Logos depended on memory, as writing was not yet developed. According to this tradition, a kind of recitative form of short, poignant carying the essence of the narrative was used to phras keep record of the sacred teachings. These phrases, or aphorisms, were called Sutras. Now, sutra in Sanskriti also means thread, which explains the sequential nature of the narrative of the Sutras. The Greek transcribed from Sansk- riti the word Sutra to express both meanings: ovety, thread, and istopt«, narrative. In fact, the word ioropia is acontraction of %avpty (M). We dare say this because the English, who borrowed from the Greeks the word history, also preserved the word Story (without the Greek article 4), which is a metathesis of Sutra. They also expressed the se- condary meaning of Sutra with the word string-suptjy (M). The above explanation is based on a rather novel and revolutionary linguistic theory, which upholds that the process of adaptation was dictated by strong spiritual influ- ences presiding over a common cultural background shared by all European people. This theory we shall have the op- portunity to prove again and again in our Method, until the Student is totally immersed into the light of this spiritual tradition of our tongues. The dependence of Europeans on the Greek Language as a mother tongue was inevitable. The Hellenes had expanded the limits of language on every conceivable region of knowledge as a result of their spiritual evolution, and it was logical for the primitive European peoples of that epoch to adopt intact words that accomodated their spiritual needs.le LEARN GREEK IN A WEEK The fact that later on the Christian dogma was initially propagated to the same peoples through the Greek Lan- guage is a proof of how necessary it was to express the most refined theological concepts of this religion in a language which had already imposed its philosophical prototypes on the then known world, in spite of the fact that the Latins had already copied every Hellenic idea under the sun and notwithstanding the fact that-at that time the Romans ex- erted a universal political and military domination. There is no doubt that the Greek Language is the EZTIA of the spir- itual light for all European people, much like the East is the point of orientation of all ancient religions. Of course, the recognition of this beneficial linguistic influence is indisputable, but its extent many times is un- derestimated on account of the maltreatment that Greek words suffered during the process of adaptation, as for ex- ample the appelation of the father of the Greek gods EY TIATEP (good father) common to all Mediterranean people, that became JUPITER (pronounced Yupiter by the Latins), with the result to be considered today a Roman deity. On the other hand, while the linguistic influence of the Bible is monumental, as we shall find out in our Method, one must bear in mind that the adaptation of Greek words was not an easy matter. The Greek Language has a propensity to pho- netic changes mainly due to a “pathetic” tendency all let- ters have to change into others, as we shall explain in great detail when we deal with each letter separately. But the cor- rupted forms which cause most of the confusion resulted from the liberties taken in the transcription of the Greek texts, which was mainly carried out by semi literate copy writters during the Dark Ages. transliterations and other anomalies arising from the inher-INTRODUCTION i ent difficulty of rendering the sounds of one language into the other. Consequently, one must be prepared to accept certain indiscrepancies as inevitable when, for example, certain letters change into others in the effort to render the approximate sound of a word at the expense of its ortho- graphy, as it happens in the adaptation of: oxepdc. Tpdwoc-tremor, xxpmd¢-crop, xoTteté-crap, etc; or their to- tal disappearance, as in froth-d@p6c, in spite of the familiar association to "Agpodtty, the goddess born out of the ary, ocean’s surf, since dppéc is surf by metathesis. One should then develop some kind of flexibility when seeking out the Greek origin of an English word, otherwise one is bound to miss many identicals. On the other hand, the above theory does not necessari- ly hold that the influence of the Greek Language was fined only to spiritual matters. In this process of adaptation all regions of knowledge and every field of human activity was affected, from the art of war to the act of love. For ex- ample, from BéAog (arrow) the English extended velocity, from Sépu-rod (M), while from xépvy (whore) fornication ses, when con- (II=0) and from xortéa-coition. But for our purp identicals present a weak case it is expedient to resort to the the ar- spiritual background of a word in order to reinforce gument. For instance, it may not be very convincing that the word Fountain comes from [Tévtov (I=) until we re- mind the student that [lévrog was the Spirit of the Element of Water, which according to the mystical tradition, as well as the scientific one, is the Font of life. To recapitulate, the Hellenic Language holds an unique position in the efforts of Europeans to organize their tongues, and has become the principal instrument for the advancement of their civilization; because the Europeans had no other reference, affinity, or resort other than the18 LEARN GREEK IN A WEEK Greek Language for their spiritual orientation; for in this Language the most fecund minds of humanity expressed the greatest truths. It is therefore wiser to uphold this method on the identical linguistic traits of the common spiritual tradition of our people, than to adhere to the existing bor- ing, pseudoscientific approach. To compare the Hellenic Language to the immortal col- lective spirit of the European people is the best approach to investigate this most ancient yet most everpresent of Euro- pean tongues. Because Language has only spiritual sub- stance and like the Soul incarnates successively in different persons. Language also depends on memory in order to sur- vive and to be transfered to other lives, much like the soul incarnates, carrying the memories of the experiences of previous lives. This has been common knowledge to Hesiod, Homer and all the great poets of antiquity, who evoked Mynwoosva, or the Collective Memory of Man and Mother of the Muses (all inherent qualities of letter M), in order to sing in a language touching the divine, the endeavours of the human race and the deeds of the gods. Language then is man’s tool for the investigation of his past, and, according to the mystical beliefs, his past lives, for it sustains memory, without which the human mind would be but a maze of irrelevant images. Consequently, as man makes a superhuman effort with his memory to pene- trate his past lives in order to recognize the experiences of the collective memory of his immortal soul, so the Euro- pean can make a retrospective investigation of his linguistic tradition, in order to verify the immortality of the Hellenic Language and the everlasting effect it has on his present thought. As man can use the knowledge of his past expe- riences to ascertain the ultimate content of his Will and go ahead and do it, so with the deep knowledge of his linguisticINTRODUCTION 19 past and tradition can he recognize the content of the Di- vine Will and go ahead and serve it. And let no one think that our Method lacks in scientific weight, since we often deal with imponderable quantities. It has been proved that the human mind responds eagerly to certain linguistic universalities, much like man’s esthetic criterion responds to certain harmonies in music, sculpture and other modes of expression. These universalities, or harmonics, are responsible for the similar characteristics of the various civilizations — in spite of their diversities due to the specific conditions under which each culture flour- ished. It is logical, therefore, to concentrate this compara- tive study on the common linguistic universalities, as we necessarily focus our attention on the cultural similarities for the comparison of two civilizations. The idea is not new. The greatest living linguist Noam Chomsky first expounded the theory that the human mind responds to certain intrinsic linguistic prototypes inherent in the genes. However, the ingenious professor and his fol- lowers were lost in the labyrinth of genetics and never rec- ognized these structural universalities as the very Powers inherent in the symbolism of the Letters, or the use of the Prepositions, or the law of Metathesis. These universalities, or Universal Keys as we call them, constitute the essence of our Method and when assimilated by the Student, they will open the door of his understanding of the Greek Language. Even of a deeper Understanding. To use the words of an eminent yoga scholar, I.K. Taimni, “the necessity of strug- gling with the words and ideas and digging out their hidden meaning ensures a very thorough assimilation of knowledge and develops simultaneously the powers and faculties of the mind, especially that important and indispensable capacity of digging out of one’s own mind the knowledge which lies buried in its deeper recesses”.