Leviathan

The name "Leviathan" likely derives from the Hebrew root l-w-y, meaning "to twist" or "to coil," suggesting a serpentine or dragon-like form. It appears in various Semitic languages and is prominent in biblical accounts, particularly in Job and Psalms, as a symbol of immense, untamable power.

In biblical esoterieism. Deity in its double manifestation of good and evil. The meaning may be found in the Zohar (II, 346.) "Rabbi Shimeon said: The w'ork of the beginning (of 'creation') the companions (candidates) study and understand it; but the little ones (the full or perfect Initiates) are those who understand the illusion to the work of the beginning hy the Mystery of the Serpent of the Great Sea (to wit) Thannccn, Lrviathan." (See also Qahhahih, by I. Myer.)

Blavatsky’s inclusion of Leviathan, particularly through the lens of the Zohar, directs us toward a profound understanding of duality not as simple opposition, but as an inherent characteristic of the creative impulse. The "Serpent of the Great Sea" is not just a biblical beast; it is the primordial chaos, the undifferentiated potentiality that precedes form. Mircea Eliade, in his studies of myth and religion, frequently explored the concept of the primordial chaos, the ur-zeit or "time of the beginning," from which the ordered cosmos is born. This chaos is not inherently evil in the modern sense, but rather a state of pure, unmanifest possibility.

The Zohar's interpretation, linking Leviathan to the "illusion to the work of the beginning," suggests that the very act of creation, the imposition of order, is itself a form of illusion, a veiling of the infinite potentiality from which it sprang. The "little ones," the perfect initiates, understand this illusion, implying a mastery over the perceived boundaries between chaos and order, good and evil. This resonates with Carl Jung’s concept of the shadow, the repressed aspects of the psyche that, when integrated, can unlock immense creative energy. The Leviathan, then, becomes a symbol for confronting and understanding the primal forces within and without, acknowledging the immense, untamed power that underlies all existence, a power that can be both terrifying and profoundly generative. It calls us to recognize that the abyss is not merely an emptiness to be feared, but the very source from which all being emerges, a fertile darkness that makes the light possible.

RELATED_TERMS: Chaos, Primordial Waters, Dragon, Serpent, The Great Mother, Shadow, Creation Myth, Duality