The Keys to the Kingdom

The Salmon of Wisdom Chant

MUSIC HAS BEEN utilized in religious rites across the world for thousands of years with each culture drawing upon on theoretical concepts to give it deeper meanings.

The magnificence of wisdom is mirrored in the sunrise depicted on Key 13 of the BOTA deck. In the chant the word “leap” rises stepwise in pitch to an E natural, given the association of the colour yellow by Maryon and tied to Key 1—The Magician by Case, a card which is predominantly yellow, to confirm the tonality of G major for the first time in the chant. The earlier pitches could be from G minor or the Mixolydian Mode, an intentional means of representing the hidden nature of wisdom. The fluid, ever-changing and developing current of knowledge is again represented in Maryon’s colour and the symbolism of key 13. The Hebrew letter Nun (meaning Fish) is a perfect representation of the Salmon of Wisdom.

The Salmon of Wisdom lives in a well surrounded by nine hazel trees which are incorporated into the chant through its time signature (9/8) and its length of nine bars. If one wanted, the chant could be repeated nine times giving a total length of 81 bars which can be reduced back to nine to further utilise this symbolism.

The full article cand be found in The Witches' Almanac 2019-2020 Issue 38 click here  to purchase