Lux et Veritas
Divinatory stones used by the High Priest to receive guidance from YHWH.
binary oracular revelation.
A form of technology given to this group of humans in order to communicate with the ET "gods"?
The priestly breastplate or breastpiece of judgment (Hebrew: חשֶן, ḥōšen) was a sacred vestment worn by the High Priest of the Israelites, according to the Book of Exodus. In the biblical account it is called the breastplate of judgment (Hebrew: חשֶן מִשְׁפָּט, ḥōšen mišpāṭ — Exodus 28:15), because the Urim and Thummim (Hebrew: הָאוּרִים וְהַתֻּמִּים, hāʾūrīm wəhattummīm) were placed upon it (Exodus 28:30). These elements of the breastplate are said to carry the judgment (Hebrew: מִשְׁפָּט, mišpāṭ) of God concerning the Israelites at all times.
In the Hebrew Bible, the Urim (Hebrew: אוּרִים, ʾU̅rīm, "lights") and the Thummim (Hebrew: תֻמִּים, Tummīm, "perfection" or "truth") are elements of the hoshen, the breastplate worn by the High Priest attached to the ephod, a sacred garment. They appear throughout the Old Testament — in Exodus 28:30 and Leviticus 8:8, in God’s instruction to Aaron regarding the breastplate; in 1 Samuel 14:41, where King Saul uses them to determine who broke the army’s fast; and in Ezra 2, to determine whether certain individuals were of true priestly descent. Scholars sometimes connect the Urim and Thummim with cleromancy — divination by casting lots — though it is equally possible that no physical casting was involved, and that participants simply waited for a sign revealing God’s will.
Urim (אוּרִים) has traditionally been understood to derive from a root meaning “lights,” a reading reflected in the vocalization of the Masoretic Text. Accordingly, Urim and Thummim has been translated as “lights and perfections,” or allegorically as “revelation and truth” or “doctrine and truth” — the form found in the Vulgate, in St. Jerome’s writings, and in Origen’s Hexapla. Modern Catholic interpretations have linked Urim to the root ירה (“to teach”) and Thummim to א׳מַן (“be true”).
Thummim (תוּמִים) is widely considered to derive from the consonantal root ת.מ.מ (t-m-m), meaning “innocent.” Many scholars now believe that Urim simply derives from the Hebrew אּׁרּׁרִים (Arrim), “curses,” making Urim and Thummim essentially mean “cursed or faultless” — a binary divine verdict of guilt or innocence.
The Assyriologist William Muss-Arnolt connected the singular forms — ur and tumm — with the Babylonian terms ūrtu and tamītu, meaning “oracle” and “command” respectively. In his theory, the Hebrew words employ a pluralis intensivus to heighten their solemnity rather than to indicate multiplicity. Some scholars have further hypothesized that the Urim and Thummim derive ultimately from the Tablet of Destinies worn on the breast of the Babylonian god Marduk.
1 Samuel 14:41 is regarded as a key passage for understanding the Urim and Thummim. It describes identifying a sinner by repeatedly dividing the people into two groups. In the Masoretic Text, Saul and Jonathan are separated from the rest and lots are cast between them; the Septuagint version, however, states that Urim would indicate Saul and Jonathan while Thummim would indicate the people. A preceding verse uses a phrase typically translated “inquired of God,” whose grammatical form implies that objects were being manipulated — taken by scholars as evidence that cleromancy was involved and that Urim and Thummim were the names of the objects cast.
The Book of Exodus describes the Urim and Thummim as being placed inside the sacred breastplate worn by the High Priest over the Ephod. Wherever the biblical text describes an Ephod being used for divine guidance, scholars generally presume the Urim and Thummim were involved. In almost every case the question posed yields a simple “yes” or “no” answer — the two apparent exceptions (1 Samuel 10:22 and 2 Samuel 5:23) are thought by some scholars to have originally been binary as well, elaborated by later editing.
No physical description of the Urim and Thummim is given in the Exodus passage. The text does say they were placed inside the breastplate, implying small objects held in a pouch and withdrawn while out of view — possibly flat tablets of wood or bone. Since Urim likely means “guilty” and Thummim “innocent,” their purpose appears to have been an ordeal to confirm or refute suspected guilt: drawing the Urim indicated guilt; drawing the Thummim indicated innocence.
According to classical rabbinical literature, to consult the Urim and Thummim the inquirer stood facing the fully vested High Priest and voiced the question briefly. Maimonides explains that the High Priest would stand facing the Ark of the Covenant with the inquirer behind him; after the question was asked, the Holy Spirit would overcome the Priest and he would see letters protruding in prophetic vision. The Talmudic rabbis argued that the Urim and Thummim were words inscribed on the breastplate itself. Most Talmudic rabbis and Josephus, following the reading of Urim as “lights,” held that answers came through rays of light shining from particular jewels on the breastplate, each jewel representing a Hebrew letter — the sequence of illumination spelling out a divine response (though with only 12 jewels for 22 letters, the system required supplementation). Two rabbis argued alternatively that the jewels themselves moved to form words.
The first biblical reference to Urim and Thummim appears in the Exodus account of the High Priest’s vestments; the chronologically earliest mention, according to textual scholars, is in the Book of Hosea (mid-8th century BC), where a reference to the Ephod implies that the Urim and Thummim were fundamental to popular Israelite religion. Rabbinical sources held that consultation was permitted for determining territorial boundaries and was required — alongside royal or prophetic authorization — for any expansion of Jerusalem or the Temple. Classical rabbis restricted consultation to the most prominent figures: army generals, senior court officials, and kings, and only for questions concerning the welfare of the whole people. Joshua used the sacred Lots to uncover the sin of Achan. The priest Abiathar joined David, later became High Priest, and served as the king’s counselor — but according to the Jewish Encyclopedia, he was eventually deposed when the Holy Spirit departed from him, without which the Urim and Thummim could not be consulted.
Josephus argues that the Urim and Thummim continued to function until the Maccabean era, but Talmudic sources unanimously agree they ceased when Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians. In the overlapping passage of Ezra and Nehemiah, individuals unable to prove priestly descent after the captivity were required to wait until a priest bearing Urim and Thummim was found — confirming the Talmudic view that they had been lost. Since the priestly source does not appear to know what they looked like, and the deuteronomic history makes no mention of them after the death of David, scholars suspect their use had already decayed before the Babylonian conquest, likely displaced by the growing influence of the prophets.
Maimonides states that in the Second Temple era the Urim and Thummim physically existed but no longer functioned, as the priests no longer possessed the Holy Spirit. Rabbi Abraham ben David disagrees, maintaining they were entirely absent during that period.
According to the ancient apocryphal Lives of the Prophets, after the death of Zechariah ben Jehoiada the priests of the Temple could no longer see the apparitions of the angel of the Lord, make divinations with the Ephod, or give responses from the Holy of Holies.
The Lamen
A lamen (Latin: “plate”) is a magical pendant worn as a protective breastplate around the neck, resting upon the breast over the heart. Most commonly it serves as a symbol of authority and a focus of magical energies.
Aleister Crowley described the lamen as “a sort of coat of arms. It expresses the character and powers of the wearer.” Crowley and Lon Milo DuQuette have proposed that the magical lamen may be a modern adaptation of the priestly breastplate of the ancient Hebrews.