As you guys know, years and years ago, well before any of this Starry Ram stuff started, I got a tattoo of the 21st Hebrew letter שׁ on my shin. Although I do appreciate a good pun, I actually got it because of the symbolic associations the letter possesses, some of which can be found at the Chabad site. It has become more significant to me than I could have anticipated when I initially got the ink, though I am not going to go into that here today. 

I am currently reading an interesting (albeit speculative at times) article which argues that the Hebrew alef-bet is ultimately derived from Egyptian hieroglyphs and that the name of Yahweh predates its revelation to Moses on Mount Sinai/Horeb. Russell Jacquet-Acea has this to say regarding the origin of the letter שׁ:

New kingdom texts tell us that the Egyptian term sa-na-ni was for “archer, warrior”. The ancient Semitic name for the “composite bow” was the tann also written as šann in the syllabic alphabet text from Ugarit which would have sounded like “shananu” or “sananu”. This evolved into the proto-Sinaitic Shīn. LeBlanc also points out that the related Egyptian word for brother and sister was a hieroglyphic double-sided arrow that had the phonetic value of “sn” and voiced as “sen”.

Although I have used the name Sannion for as long as I have been online, there was a brief period when I was practicing Kemetic polytheism and had a second name — Sennefer, after the 18th Dynasty Mayor of Thebes and Overseer of the Granaries and Fields, Gardens and Cattle of Amun (as opposed to one of the other Sennefers, all from the 18th Dynasty too) who was laid to rest in the famed Tomb of the Vines. (Which inspired the naming of this blog.) 

Speaking of שׁ here’s something beautiful from Sotah 17a:15:

Rabbi Akiva taught: If a man [ish] and woman [isha] merit reward through a faithful marriage, the Divine Presence rests between them. The words ish and isha are almost identical; the difference between them is the middle letter yod in ish, and the final letter heh in isha. These two letters can be joined to form the name of God spelled yod, heh. But if due to licentiousness they do not merit reward, the Divine Presence departs, leaving in each word only the letters alef and shin, which spell esh, fire. Therefore, fire consumes them.

And another from Menachot 29b:

Rav Yehuda says that Rav says: When Moses ascended on High, he found the Holy One, Blessed be He, sitting and tying crowns on the letters of the Torah. Moses said before God: Master of the Universe, who is preventing You from giving the Torah without these additions? God said to him: There is a man who is destined to be born after several generations, and Akiva ben Yosef is his name; he is destined to derive from each and every thorn of these crowns mounds upon mounds of halakhot. It is for his sake that the crowns must be added to the letters of the Torah.

Moses said before God: Master of the Universe, show him to me. God said to him: Return behind you. Moses went and sat at the end of the eighth row in Rabbi Akiva’s study hall and did not understand what they were saying. Moses’ strength waned, as he thought his Torah knowledge was deficient. When Rabbi Akiva arrived at the discussion of one matter, his students said to him: My teacher, from where do you derive this? Rabbi Akiva said to them: It is a halakha transmitted to Moses from Sinai. When Moses heard this, his mind was put at ease, as this too was part of the Torah that he was to receive.

Moses returned and came before the Holy One, Blessed be He, and said before Him: Master of the Universe, You have a man as great as this and yet You still choose to give the Torah through me. Why? God said to him: Be silent; this intention arose before Me. Moses said before God: Master of the Universe, You have shown me Rabbi Akiva’s Torah, now show me his reward. God said to him: Return to where you were. Moses went back and saw that they were weighing Rabbi Akiva’s flesh in a butcher shop [bemakkulin], as Rabbi Akiva was tortured to death by the Romans. Moses said before Him: Master of the Universe, this is Torah and this is its reward? God said to him: Be silent; this intention arose before Me.

Rava says: Seven letters require three crowns [ziyyunin], and they are the letters shin, ayin, tet, nun, zayin; gimmel and tzadi.

That is Starry as fuck.