This is a portion of an ongoing series which seeks to chronicle the occult, magickal and mystical alchemy roots of the transgender and postgender movements from secret societies and mystery religion sources. I have chronicled these in the Postgender Androgyny, Hermaphroditism & Beyond section.
That man was primarily androgynous is quite universally conceded and it is a reasonable presumption that he will
ultimately regain this bisexual state.
Thus wrote Manly P. Hall in his 1928 AD book, The Secret Teachings of All Ages chapter Qabbalistic Keys to the Creation of Man:
When the plural and androgynous Hebrew word Elohim was translated into the singular and sexless word God, the opening chapters of Genesis were rendered comparatively meaningless. It may have been feared that had the word been correctly translated as “the male and female creative agencies,” the Christians would have been justly accused of worshiping a plurality of gods in the face of their repeated claims to monotheism!
Hall is overlooking the fact that the “im” ending in “Elohim” is a masculine plural ending (as opposed to the feminine plural ending “ot”). Hall has his own occult, particularly Freemason friendly, perspective which clearly taints his views. For example, he states, “The plural form of the pronouns us and our reveals unmistakably, however, the pantheistic nature of Divinity.” But what has plurality have to do with pantheism (a theology according to everything is the divinity, a part of the divinity, the divinity is everything, everything is the divinity, etc.)
As to our particular context, Manly P. Hall continues:
Further, the androgynous constitution of the Elohim (God) is disclosed in the next verse, where he (referring to God) is said to have created man in his own image, male and female; or, more properly, as the division of the sexes had not yet taken place, male-female. This is a deathblow to the time-honored concept that God is a masculine potency as portrayed by Michelangelo on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. The Elohim then order these androgynous beings to be fruitful. Note that neither the masculine nor the feminine principle as yet existed in a separate state!…
To put it as simply as does the Bible, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them” (Genesis 1:27). This gives us the newspaper headline version of that which happens and Genesis 2 gives us the elucidation of that event.
And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him. And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; and the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh (Genesis 2:20-25).
As far as we are concerned, Adam was tasked to name the animals for the specific purpose that he would note that there was nothing like himself. Then, Eve is created so as to be his mate; he being male and she being female.
Hall is reading gender into the text so that if Adam and Eve are androgynous male-female then YHVH must be as well. Yet, there is no reason to restrict the text to this one issue. For example, theologians have also applied the concept of “in his own image” to YHVH’s communicable attributes (such as having volition, a mind, etc.).
Genesis 1 is simply telling us that YHVH created humans “in his own image” and that the humans were, respectably, male and female.
Thus, “the division of the sexes…in a separate state” took place at the onset in that there was no division from a once androgynous being. The Bible tells us that YHVH created, both, males and also females in His image.
Further comments by Hall:
The word ADM signifies a species or race and only for lack of proper understanding has Adam been considered as an individual. As the Macrocosm, Adam is the gigantic Androgyne, even the Demiurgus; as the Microcosm, he is the chief production of the Demiurgus and within the nature of the Microcosm the Demiurgus established all the qualities and powers which He Himself possessed…
Hall references “ADM” due to the Hebrew letters אָדָם (Strong’s H120) the root for which is the same letters with a different vowel sound (Strong’s H119) meaning red, reddish or ruddy.
It seems that the general term ADM was employed for “species or race” (both unbiblical terms) and then also of “an individual.” Thus, the male ADM was also named ADM. Genesis 2:23 states:
And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
This is stating that ADM stated that the other being was to be called ‘ishshah (Strong’s H802) as she was taken out of ‘iysh (Strong’s H376). Here, woman and man are different than the different category of male zakar (Strong’s H2145) and female nĕqebah (Strong’s H5347) in the same way that in English we have just those terms: man, woman, male and female.
Genesis 3:20 states:
And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.
So, the female ADM was a woman and was named Eve Chavvah (Strong’s H2332).
This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him; Male [zakar] and female [nĕqebah] created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created (Genesis 5:1-2).
Thus, there was the male, man, ADM “Adam” and the female, woman ADM “Eve.”
Also, there seems to be that which someone is “called” qara’ (Strong’s H7121) and their “name” shem (Strong’s H8034) and there is also the cases in which a person is called by a name.
Referencing Genesis, Jesus stated:
…Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female (Matthew 19:4)
But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female (Mark 10:6)
Manly P. Hall delves into deep esotericism via the Kabbalah (or, with a “Q” as he spells it):
According to the Isarim, the secret doctrine of Israel taught the existence of four Adams, each dwelling in one of the four Qabbalistic worlds…The second Adam…was androgynous …The third Adam—likewise androgynous—was clothed in a body of light…The fourth Adam was still considered as a single individual, though division had taken place within his nature and two shells or physical bodies existed, in one of which was incarnated the masculine and in the other the feminine potency…
Clearly, these things are being stated so as to buttress mystical notions and not so as to elucidate Biblical theology. In case it may be of interest, see Were Adam and Eve beings of light?
Hall then references George Foote Moore’s book Judaism which:
…describes the proportions of the Adamic man:
“He was a huge mass that filled the whole world to all the points of the compass. The dust of which his body was formed was gathered from every part of the world, or from the site of the future altar.
Of greater interest is the notion that man was created androgynous, because it is probably a bit of foreign lore adapted to the first pair in Genesis. R. [Rabbi] Samuel bar Nahman (third century), said, when God created Adam, He created him facing both ways (דיו פרעופים); then He sawed him in two and made two backs, one for each figure…
Moreover, Midrash Rabbah is, as its title implies, a compilation of homiletic commentaries. Bereshith (Genesis) Rabbah was compiled circa the early 5th century AD. It states:
Rabbi Yeremiah, the son of Elazar, said, “When the Holy One—blessed be He!—created Adam, He created him an androgyne, for it is written (Gen. v. 2), “Male and female created He them.”
Of course, this is followed immediately with the likewise incoherent statement:
Rabbi Sh’muel bar Nachman said, “When the Holy One—blessed be He!—created Adam, He created him with two faces; then He sawed him asunder, and split him (in two), making one back to the one-half, and another to the other.”
Again, this is merely Kabbalistic speculation towards mystical ends.