Lebanon

The name "Lebanon" derives from the Semitic root lbn, meaning "white," likely referencing the snow-capped peaks of its mountains. The term appears in ancient Akkadian, Hebrew, and Phoenician texts, signifying its long-standing geographical and cultural importance in the Levant.

A ran^re of mountains in Syria, with a few remnants of the t:ij;antic cedar trees, a forest of which once crowned its summit. Tradition says that it is here, that the tijnl)er for King Solomon's temple was obtained. (See "Druzes"). Lemuria. A MKulern term first u.sed by .some naturalists, and now adopted by Theosophists, to indicate a continent that, accordinrj to the Secret Doctrine of the East, preceded Atlantis. Its Eastern name would not reveal much to European ears. Leon, Mosis dr. The name of a Jewish Rabbi in tlie Xlllth century, accused of having compo.scd the Zuhar which he gave out as the true work of Simeon Ben Jachai. His full name is given in Myer's Qahhalah as Rabbi Moses bcn-Shera-Tob de Leon, of Spain, the same author proving very cleverly that de Leon was }wt the author of the Zohar. Fewwill .say he was. but every one nnist suspect ]\Ioses de Leon of perverting considerably tiie original Book of Sph ndour (Zohar). Tliis sin. however, may be .shared by him with the ]\Iedia3val "Christian Kabalists" and by Knorr von Rosenroth especially. Surely, neither Rabbi Simeon, condemned to death by Titus, nor his son, Rabbi Eliezer, nor his secretary Rabbi Abba, can be charged with introducing into the Zohar purely Christian dogmas and doctrines invented by the Church Fathers several centuries after the death of the former Rabbis. This would be stretching alleged divine projihecy a little too far. Levi Eliphas. Tlie real name of this learned Kali.dist was Abbe Alphon.se Louis Constant. Eliphas Levi Zahed was the author of several works on i)hilosophical magic. ^Member of the Fratrcs Lucis (Brothers of Light), lie was also once upon a time a priest, an ahhc of the Roman Catholic Church, wiiich promptly proceeded to unfrock him, when he acquired fame as a Kabalist. He died some twenty years ago, leaving five famous works — iJogmc ct llilxul dc la Haute Magic (1856) Histoirc de la Magic (1860) ; La Clef dcs grands Mystercs (1861) ; Ltgcndcs ct Sifniholcs (1862) ;

In Blavatsky's brief mention, Lebanon transcends mere geography to become a symbol, a repository of ancient lore. The cedars, those "few remnants" of a once-vast forest, evoke a sense of profound antiquity, a connection to a primeval world. Mircea Eliade, in his explorations of the sacred, often pointed to the significance of primordial landscapes and monumental trees as axis mundi, points where heaven and earth meet. The cedars of Lebanon, by tradition, provided the very substance for King Solomon's Temple, a structure intended to house the divine. This act of construction, of drawing from the earth to build a sanctuary, speaks to an ancient understanding of the inherent sacredness of the natural world, a belief that the very materials of creation could be transmuted into vessels of spiritual power.

The association with Solomon's Temple imbues Lebanon with a potent resonance in the collective imagination of the West and the East. It is a place from which the sacred was materially drawn, a terrestrial source for a divine edifice. This echoes the alchemical principle of prima materia, the raw substance from which transformation occurs. For the Kabbalists, the Temple was not merely a building but a microcosm of the cosmos, a physical representation of the divine emanations. The timber from Lebanon, therefore, carried within it the potential for this sacred construction, a tangible link to the foundational energies of existence. The image of these ancient trees, standing sentinel over millennia, offers a quiet contemplation on endurance, on the deep roots that connect us to the past, and on the enduring power of sacred materials.

RELATED_TERMS: Sacred Geography, Axis Mundi, Prima Materia, Sacred Architecture, Archetypal Landscape, Ancient Forests, Holy Wood