Bat Qol
Do I have any mystical readers out there who can tell me about bat qol, the daughter of the voice of the Lord? She sounds awfully familar.
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Update: Maybe I should be more clear. I know the definition of the term, and I can google it up for myself. Thanks.
But (after Art and Spirit) I've been thinking around about the link between creativity and spirituality. And accounts I've read of listening for (or to) the bat qol resonate with my own experience of inspiration. (A great word, that: it means to breathe into: "with His breath in us / we sing like bottles")
I'd like to learn more. But knowing little about Jewish mysticism – my only encounter with it having involved the number-crunching types – I'm not sure where to start. I'm hoping someone can point me towards Jewish mysticism 101. A book, a person to talk to, what have you.
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From the Oxford reference Online site: Bat Kol or Bat Qol (Heb., �daughter of a voice). A divine voice which reveals God’s will. After the cessation of prophecy, it became for Jews the only direct means of communication between God and human beings and occurred at the death of martyrs and occasionally in dreams
Bat Qol (Bath Qol, Beth Kol) - An Angel, often spoken of as female, whose name means “heavenly voice.” This Angel is said to have been the voice heard by Cain asking “Where is thy brother, Abel?” after Cain murdered his brother. Bath Qol is also said to have visited the famous second-century A.D. Rabbi Simion ben Yohai (the supposed author of the Jewish mystical work the Zohar) while he was imprisoned. In the sense of Bat-Qol, she can represent the divine voice that announces the will of God. — from an online dictionary of Angels.
Scholem, Gershom G. On the Kabbalah and its symbolism Routledge & Kegan Paul: London, 1965. (Honestly, pretty much anything by Scholem will be your best start.)
You might also find something in these books (I’ve only read the one on Jewish and Christian mysticism, myself.)
Cohn-Sherbok, Dan & Lavinia. Jewish & Christian mysticism : an introduction. New York: Continuum, 1994.
Rappoport, Angelo S. Myth and Legend of Ancient Israel, with an Introduction and Additional Notes by Raphael Patai, 3 vols. New York: Ktav, 1966. (Reprinted: London: Senate, 1995, 2 vols; I: 77-79.)
Dictionary of the Bible, ed. James Hasting and John A. Selbie. Edinborough/New York: Scribners & sons, 1909.