Michael Wynn's Occult Reference Library
THE ZOHAR

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balah, the student was taught to make it a point of learning to write these letters correctly. it is not the intention of this lesson to teach you to write the hebrew letters correctly, but within this grade you are given a list of the hebrew alphabet with some of its correspondences to memorize in preparation for the higher grades, as well as a lesson teaching you to draw the hebrew alphabet."in the zohar there is a pretty legend, rather long-winded but eloquent, about each letter of the alphabet, and how beth, the second letter of the alphabet, came to be used as the first letter of the first word of the bible bereshith, meaning in the beginning. the zohar is a literature of the qabalah under the section known as the dogmatic qabalah. there are many interesting documents and manuscripts

hebrew word qbl, meaning an oral tradition, the esoteric and mystical division of judaism. the qabalah presents a symbolic explanation of the origin of the universe, the relationship of human beings to the godhead, and an emanationist approach to creation, whereby the infinite light (ain soph aur) manifests through different sephiroth on the tree of life. although the central book of the qabalah, the zohar, was not written down until around 1280 a.d. probably by moses de leon, the qabalah has spiritual links with gnosticism and other early mystical cosmologies. in the qabalah, all manifestations are said to have their origin in ain soph aur, and the successive emanations of the godhead reveal aspects of the divine nature. the system is thus monotheistic in essence, but allows for the tenfo

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es. it is also called the gate of the garden of eden and the inferior mother, and in christian symbolism, it is connected with the three holy women at the foot of the cross. the tenth path of the sepher yetzirah which answereth to malkuth is called the resplendent intelligence, because it exalts above every head and sitteth upon the throne of binah. it illuminateth the splendor of all the lights, the zohar me-ou roth and causeth the current of the divine influx to descend from the prince of countenances, the great archangel metatron. frater (name) before you can be eligible for advancement to the next grade of theoricus you will be required to pass an examination in certain subjects. 1) the names and alchemical symbols of the three principles of nature. 2) the metals attributed in alchemy

4 7 INITIATION CEREMONY

ah and severity, and the waters of chesed or mercy, and hence it is said in the new testament, that it is a type of christ, the reconciler. and the serpent is of brass, the metal of venus, whose sphere is called nogah or external splendor, as shown further in the alchemic symbol of the planet venus, wherein the circle of the sun is exalted above the cross of corrosion. and therefore it is said in the zohar, that alone of the shells is the serpent nogah found in holiness, and he is called the bilanx of justice. why then is he called the external or false splendor? because he indeed uniteth the paths but comprehendeth not the sephiroth. nevertheless he is also the celestial serpent of wisdom. but the serpent of temptation is the serpent of the tree of knowledge of good and evil and not that

ALEISTER CROWLEY LIBER 777

of aeshma deva, an evil spirit from persian mythology. line 8. belial. said to be the chief of the evil spirits in some late jewish apocalyptic literature (e.g. the testament of the 12 patriarchs, but in the old testament the name was a mere term of abuse meaning masterless or worthless. line 9. lilith. she gets everywhere. line 10. naamah. the sister of tubal-cain (see masonic symbolism; but in the zohar she gets turned into another version of lilith. col. cix. rather than use planetary symbols to distinguish the kings and dukes as in the printed edition, i have split this column. for daath add king bela son of beor (rwub b ulb) and dukes timnah (uamt, alvah (hwlu) and jetheth (tty. col. cx. line 1. ruach elohim chayyim, the spirit of the living gods. the first edition of 777 had as a su

ALEISTER CROWLEY MEDITATION

a smell which is not any particular smell, but is the archetypal smell, of which all actual smells are modifications. it is "the smell which is "not" a smell" this is the only reasonable description; for the experience being contrary to reason, it is only reasonable that the words describing it should be contrary to reason too<zohar "the head which is above all heads; the head which is "not" a head> similarly, concentration on the tip of the tongue gives the "ideal taste; on the dorsum of the tongue "ideal contact "every atom of 41 the body comes into contact with every atom in the universe all at once" is the description bhikku ananda metteya gives of it. the root of the tongue gives the "ideal sound; and the phary

ALEISTER CROWLEY THE QABALAH

l deal with the esoteric teachings of it, as frater p. was able to understand them. and of these we shall give examples, showing the falsity and absurdity of the uninitiated path, the pure truth and reasonableness of the hidden way. for the student unacquainted with the rudiments of the qabalah we recommend the study of s. l. mathers introduction to his translation of the three principal books of the zohar,3 and westcott s introduction to the study of the qabalah. we venture to append a few quotations from the former document, which will show the elementary principles of calculation. dr. westcott s little book is principally valuable for its able defence of the qabalah as against exotericism and literalism. the literal qabalah is. is divided into three parts: ayrfmg, gematria; wqyrfwn, not

whom god says, my name is in him. with regard to gematria of phrases (gen. xlix, 10, hlyc aby, yeba shiloh= 358, which is the numeration of the word jycm, messiah.4 thus also the passage, gen. xviii. 2 hclc hnhw, 3 i.e. the kaballah unveiled. as scholem (major trends in jewish mysticism) and others have pointed out, the three tracts translated by mathers are actually fairly minor in the scheme of the zohar (a reasonably complete english translation of which occupies five quarto volumes) t.s. 4 the quote from genesis, in jacob s blessing to judah, is generally taken as the earliest reference to the messiah. other meanings of 358 are discussed later in this article t.s. liber lviii 7 vehenna shalisha, and lo, three men, equals in numerical value laprw layrbg lakym wla, elo mikhael gabriel ve

ies t.s. 22 according to some, the qlippoth or shells are the remnants of these primal worlds t.s. liber lviii 14 of edom who reigned before the monarchs of israel. in this sense, edom is the world of unbalanced force, and israel is the balanced sephiroth (genesis xxxvi, 31. this important fact, that worlds were created and destroyed prior to the present creation, is again and again reiterated in the zohar. now the sephiroth are also called the world of emanations, or the atziluthic world, or archetypal world, twlyxa \lwu, olahm atziluth; and this world gave birth to three other worlds, each containing a repetition of the sephiroth, but in a descending scale of brightness. the second world is the britic world, hayrbh \lwu, olahm ha-briah, the world of creation, also called aysrwk, korsia

an argument of a universe insensible, the latter becomes sensible in mind as soon as the argument is accepted, and disappears with its rejection. 31 see 777. liber lviii 20 nor is the qabalah dependent upon its realism, and its application to the works magical but i am defending a philosophy which i was asked to describe, and this is not lawful. a great deal may be learned from the translation of the zohar by s. liddell macgregor mathers, and his introduction thereto, though for those who have latin and some acquaintence with hebrew it is better to study the kabbala denudata of knorr von rosenroth, in despite of the heavy price; for the translator has distorted the text and its comment to suit his belief in a supreme personal god, and in that degraded form of the doctrine of feminism which

is in malkuth, or that which is below is like that which is above or simply yod (the foundation of all letters having the number 10, symbolising malkuth. the answer of the adept to the second form of the problem is for the christian all the familiar teaching of the song of songs and the apocalypse concerning the bride of christ* for the qabalist it is a long complex dogma which may be studied in the zohar and elsewhere. otherwise, he may simply answer h (the letter alike of mother and daughter in hwhy. see liber 418 for lengthy disquisitions on this symbolic basis. the answer of the adept to the third form of the problem is given by p, implying that an infinite factor must be employed. for the qabalist it is usually symbolised by the rosy cross, or by such formul as 5= 6. that they concea

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQ I 5

eal with the esoteric teachings of it, as frater p. was able to understand them. and of these we shall give examples, showing the falsity and absurdity of the uninitiated path, the pure truth and reasonableness of the hidden way. for the student unacquainted with the rudiments of the qabalah we recommend the study of s. l. mathers "introduction"1 to his translation of the three principal books of the zohar,2 and westcott's "introduction to the study of the qabalah" we venture to append a few quotations from the 71 former document, which will show the elementary principles of calculation. dr westcott's little book is principally valuable for its able defence of the qabalah as against exotericism and literalism. the literal qabalah. is divided into three parts: gmtria, gematria; nvtriqvn, no

solomon meir ben moses, a jewish qabalist, who embraced the christian faith in 1665, and took the name of prosper rugere. these have all a christian tendency, 72 and by their means prosper converted another jew, who had previously been bitterly opposed 1 weh note: plagiarized entire from ginsburg's "the kabbalah. 2 weh note: better: his purported translation of three of the more obscure books of the zohar. 3 weh note: this observation led mathers to miss-identify a picture of moses as metatron in his edition (not translation, the mss were in english) of "the greater key of solomon" to christianity. the first is, bn rvch ab shlvshthm ichd thmim, ben, ruach, ab, shaloshethem yechad thaubodo "the son, the spirit, the father, ye shall equally worship their trinity" the third is bkvri rashvni

by the unbalanced force and destroyed. these primordial worlds are called the "kings of ancient time" and the "kings of edom who reigned before the monarchs of israel" in this sense, edom is the world of unbalanced force, and israel is the balanced sephiroth (gen. xxxvi. 31. this important fact, that worlds were created and destroyed prior to the present creation, is again and again reiterated in the zohar. now the sephiroth are also called the world of emanations, or the atziluthic world, or the archetypal world, ovlm atziluth, olahm atziloth; and this world gave birth to three other worlds each containing a repetition of the sephiroth, but in a descending scale of brightness. the second world is the briatic world, ovlm hbriah, olahm ha-briah, the world of creation, also called kvrsia, kh

he sensible is said to be an argument of a universe insensible, the latter becomes sensible to mind as soon as the argument is accepted, and disappears with its rejection. nor is the qabalah dependent upon its realism, and its application to the works magical- but i am defending a philosophy which i was asked to describe, and this is not lawful. a great deal may be learned from the translation of the zohar by s. liddell macgregor mathers, and his introduction thereto, though for those who have latin and some acquaintance with hebrew it is better to study the kabbala denudata of knoor von rosenroth, in despite of the heavy price; for the translator has distorted the text and its comment to suit his belief in a supreme personal god, and in that degraded form of the doctrine of feminism which

in malkuth" or "that which is below is like that which is above" or simply "yod (the foundation of all letters having the number 10, symbolising malkuth) the answer of the adept to the second form of the problem is for the christian all the familiar teaching of the song of songs and the apocalypse concerning the bride of christ.8 for the qabalist it is a long complex dogma which may be studied in the zohar and elsewhere. otherwise, he may simply answer "h (the letter alike of mother and daughter in ihvh. see liber 418 for lengthy disquisition on this symbolic basis. the answer of the adept to the third form of the problem is given by pi, implying that an infinite factor must be employed. for the qabalist it is usually symbolised by the rosy cross, or by such formulae as 5= 6. that they con

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQUINOX EQ I 3 3

oodcut portrait on title, slight stain in a few margins, hf. old calf, rare, s.l.typ.et a, 15. 35s. qabbalah_ the philosophical writings of ibn gebirol, or avicebron, and their connection with the hebrew qabbalah and sepher ha-zohar, with remarks upon the antiquity and contents of the latter, and translations of selected passages from the same; also, an ancient lodge of initiates, translated from the zohar, and abstract of an essay upon the chinese qabbalah, a translation of part of the mystic theology of dionysus, the areopagite, etc. etc, by isaac myers, ll.b. royal 4to, large paper, with diagrams and illustrations, cloth, t. e g, others uncut, philadelphia, 1888. 35s. nostrodamus_ the true prophecies and prognostications of michel nostrodamus, physician to henry ii, francis ii, and char

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQUINOX EQ I 4 3

towers of ireland- mystic christian figures and talismans- the rosy cross in indian, egyptian, greek, roman, and mediaeval monuments- the great pyramid- connexion between the templars and gnosticism- astro-theosophical system of the rosicrucians- robt. fludd- the holy greale- the round table- alchemy- the outline of the kabbalah, etc, etc. the kabbalah unveiled, containing the following books of the zohar (1) the book of concealed mystery (2) the greater holy assembly (3) the lesser holy assembly, translated into english from the latin version of knorr von rosenroth, and collated with the original chaldee and hebrew text, by s. l. macgregor mathers. new and cheaper edition. demy 8vo. 7"s" 6"d. net" the bible, which has been probably more misconstrued than any other book ever written, cont

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQUINOX EQ I 4

e body it may by certain practices which we will now discuss, be utilized in not only strengthening but in prolonging this life to an indefinite period.98 these practices are called the mudras, they are to be 94 "shiva sanhita" chap. v. it does not follow that missionaries are yogis. 95 compare "from the skull of the ancient being wells forth dew, and this dew will wake up the dead to a new life- the zohar "idra rabba "i will be as a dew unto israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as lebanon- hosea, xiv. 5. 96 this is according to the "shiva sanhita "the hatha yoga pradipika" places the sun in the svadisth na chakkra. the manip ra chakkra is however probably the correct one. 97 "hatha yoga pradipika" p. 53. 98 fabulous ages are attributed to many of the yogis. see flag

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of the craft and the high grades. ii. development of the high grades in respect of the ancient alliance. iii. of the new alliance in freemasonry. iv. the masonic orders of chivalry. v. of alchemy in masonry. vi. of magical and kabalistical degrees. vii. of the mysteries on their mystical side, and of this subject in its relation to masonry. the kabbalah unveiled, containing the following books of the zohar (1) the book of concealed mystery (2) the greater holy assembly (3) the lesser holy assembly; translated into english from the latin version of knorr von rosenroth, and collated with the original chaldee and hebrew text, by s. l. macgregor-mathers. new and cheaper edition, demy 8vo. the bible, which has been probably more misconstrued than any other book ever written, contains numberless

AN INTRO TO STUDY OF THE KABALAH

sicrucian society. yet the kabalistic books are so numerous and so lengthy, and so many of them only to be studied in rabbinic hebrew and chaldee that i feel to-day less confident of my knowledge of the kabalah than i did twenty years ago, when this essay was first published, after delivery in the form of lectures to a society of hermetic students in 1888. since that date a french translation of "the zohar" by jean de pauly, and a work entitled "the literature and history of the kabalah" by arthur e. waite, have been published, yet i think that this little treatise will be found of interest to those who have not sufficient leisure to master the more complete works on the kabalah. the old testament has been of necessity referred to, but i have by intention made no references to the new test

rest to those who have not sufficient leisure to master the more complete works on the kabalah. the old testament has been of necessity referred to, but i have by intention made no references to the new testament, or to the faith and doctrines taught by jesus the christ, as the saviour of the world: if any desire to refer to the alleged reference in the kabalah to the trinity, it will be found in the zohar ii, 43, b: and an english version of the same in "the kabbalah" by c. d. ginsburg. wm. wynn westcott, m.b, etc. the kabalah it must be confessed that the origin of the kabalah is lost in the mists of antiquity; no one can demonstrate who was its author, or who were its earliest teachers. considerable evidence may be adduced to show that its roots pass back to the hebrew rabbis who flouri

arranged by him from the oral traditions of his time: but other parts have certainly been added by other hands at intervals up to the time when it was first published as a whole by rabbi moses de leon, of guadalajara in spain, circa 1290. from that time its history is known; printed editions have been issued in mantua, 1558, cremona, 1560, and lublin, 1623; these are the three famous codices of "the zohar" in the hebrew language. for those who do not read hebrew the only practical means of studying the zohar are the partial translation into latin of baron knorr von rosenroth, published in 1684 under the title of "kabbala denudata; and the english edition of three treatises-"siphra dtzenioutha" or "book of concealed mystery "ha idra rabba "greater assembly; and "ha idra suta" lesser assemb

r are the partial translation into latin of baron knorr von rosenroth, published in 1684 under the title of "kabbala denudata; and the english edition of three treatises-"siphra dtzenioutha" or "book of concealed mystery "ha idra rabba "greater assembly; and "ha idra suta" lesser assembly" translated by s. l. macgregor mathers. these three books give a fair idea of the tone, style and material of the zohar but they only include a partial view: other tracts in the zohar are--hikaloth--the palaces, sithre torah--mysteries of the law, midrash ha neelam--the secret commentary, raja mehemna--the faithful shepherd, saba demishpatim--the discourse of the aged--the prophet elias, and januka- the young man; with notes called tosephta and mathanithan. in course of publication there is now a french t

pplemented them by two parallel series of works of literature; the one, talmudic, being commentaries based upon thirteen rules of argument delivered by moses to illustrate the old testament, and supply material for teaching the populace; and the other a long series of treatises of a more abstruse character, designed to illustrate their secret doctrines and esoteric views. the sepher yetzirah, and the zohar or book of splendour represent the kernel of that oral instruction which the rabbis of the olden times prided themselves upon possessing, and which they have even claimed as being "the secret knowledge" which god gave to moses for the use of the priests themselves, in contradistinction to the written law intended for the masses of the people. one of the principal conceptions of the kabal

--divine theologians possessed of thirteen rules by which they are enabled to penetrate the mysteries with which the scriptures abound. many kabalists claimed that their doctrines and methods were brought down from heaven by angels to primeval man, and they all believed that the first four books of the pentateuch enshrined their peculiar doctrines as well as narrated histories and laid down laws. the zohar says--if these books of the torah contain only the tales of, and the words of esau, hagar, laban and balaam, why are they called--the perfect law, the law of truth, the true witness of god--there must be a hidden meaning "woe be to the man who says that the law (torah) contains only common sayings and tales: if this were true we might even in our time compose a book of doctrine which wou

in six days, and the planting of trees by god--as figures of speech under which a recondite sense is concealed. origen granted a three-fold meaning--somatic, psychic, and pneumatic; or the body of scripture, its soul and its spirit. nicholas de lyra who died in 1340 accepted four modes of interpretation; literal, allegoric, moral, and anagogic or mystical. in this he nearly follows the scheme of the zohar ii. 99: in which paragraph there is a parable comparing the sacred law to a woman in love who reveals herself to her friend and beloved: first by signs, ramaz; then by whispered words, derush; then by converse with her face veiled, hagadah; and at last she reveals her features and tells all her love, this is sod, association in secret, a pe p 80 tzaddi tz 90 qoph q 100 resh r 200 shin sh

the metals: and there is a special rabbinic volume named "asch metzareph" entirely concerned with alchymy; its name in english meaning is "cleansing fires (my english translation can be obtained) a. e. waite in his work on the kabalah states that rabbi azariel ben menachem in his "commentary on the sephiroth" allots a particular colour to each one, but these do not agree with the colours given in the zohar, where we find kether called colourless, tiphareth purple, and malkuth sapphire-blue. these ten sephiroth are thought of as being connected together by "paths" twenty-two in number, shown on the diagram; they are numbered by means of the letters of the hebrew alphabet, each of which being equally a letter and a number. the 22 trumps of the pack of tarot cards (tarocchi) are also related

thee, do not force me into this foul body, for i am a spirit' the holy one, blessed be he, answers 'the world i am about to send thee into is needed for thee, it is to pass down through it that i formed thee from myself' and so the soul is forced to incarnate and sink into the world where matter will imprison him, where he must suffer, but where he may overcome and from whence he must rise again. the zohar adds the statement "and whatever the man learns and displays on earth life, he knew before his incarnation" this is a parallel doctrine to the buddhist scheme of re-incarnation with karma as god--eternal law, relentlessly compelling the individual ego to a new earth life. christian ginsburg states that a "transmigration of souls" was the belief of the pharisees in the time of josephus; a

he nephesh leads down to physical enjoyment. in another form of symbolism the kabalist tells us a man has two companions, or guides; one on the right, yetzer ha tob, to good acts, he is from the higher sephiroth; and one on the left, yetzer ha ra, encouraging the appetites and passions, temptations to evil, is an agent of samael and of the beast. man is in a very unfortunate position according to the zohar 95 b, for it is there said that the evil angel joins him at birth, but the good angel only at the age of 13 years. as to death, as we have already learned, the man's ego or soul, unless the life has been superexcellent, has to be re-born in another form, but at death, as all religions agree, great changes occur. according to the kabalah, the visible material body, the guph, decays, and t

BLAVATSKY H P ANTHROPOGENESIS

ltar, and on the south by an upheaval to which the sahara owes its existence. the shores of this former sea of sahara are still marked by the shells[[footnote continued on next page[[vol. 2, page] 9 pre-tertiary giants. and was followed by the submersion of plato's little atlantic island, which he calls atlantis after its parent continent. geography was part of the mysteries, in days of old. says the zohar (iii, fol. 10a "these secrets (of land and sea) were divulged to the men of the secret science, but not to the geographers" the claim that physical man was originally a colossal pre-tertiary giant, and that he existed 18,000,000 years ago, must of course appear preposterous to admirers of, and believers in, modern learning. the whole posse comitatis of biologists will turn away from the

d. the hermes-sarameyas of the greeks is closely related to the hindu saram and sarameya, the divine watchman "who watches over the golden flock of stars and solar rays" in the clearer words of the commentary "the globe, propelled onward by the spirit of the earth and his six assistants[[footnote(s* copernicus wrote his theories on the "revolution of the heavenly bodies" in the xvith century, and the zohar, even if compiled by moses de leon in the xiiith century, states that "in the book of hammannunah, the old, we learn. that the earth turns upon itself in the form of a circle; that some are on top, the others below. that there are some countries which are lightened, whilst others are in darkness; these have the day, when for the former it is night; and there are countries in which it is

wn in one of the oldest carvings as double-sexed (vishnu and lakshmi) standing on a lotus-leaf floating on the water; which water rises in a semicircle and pours through the svastica "the source of generation" or of the descent of man. pythagoras calls sukra-venus the sol alter "the other sun" of the "seven palaces of the sun" that of lucifer venus is the third one in christian and jewish kabala, the zohar making of it the abode of samael. according to the occult doctrine, this planet is our earth's primary, and its spiritual prototype. hence, sukra's car (venus-lucifer's) is said to be drawn by an ogdoad of "earth-born horses" while the steeds of the chariots of the other planets are different "every sin committed on earth is felt by usanas-sukra. the guru of the daityas is the guardian s

t, and light of christos in the west. it is the light of the logos, the direct reflection of the ever unknowable on the plane of universal manifestation. but here is the interpretation thereof given by the modern christians from the kabala. as declared by the author just cited "to the fulness of the world in general with its chiefest content, man, the term elohim-jehovah applies. in extracts from the zohar, the rev. dr. cassell (a kabalist, to prove that the cabbalah sets forth the doctrine of the trinity, among other things says 'jehovah is elohim (alhim. by three steps god (alhim, and jehovah become the same, and though separated each and together, they are of the same one" similarly, vishnu becomes the sun, the visible symbol of the impersonal deity. vishnu is described as "striding thr

during the later races helios, the sun, as apollo karneios* for instance, who was the "sun born; osiris, ormazd, and so on, were all followed by, and found themselves transformed later on into still more earthly types: such as prometheus, the crucified of mount kajbee, hercules, and so many others, sun-gods and heroes, until all of them came to have no better significance than phallic symbols. in the zohar is it said "man was created by the sephiroth (elohim-javeh, also) and they engendered by common power the earthly adam" therefore in genesis the elohim say "behold man is become as one of us" but in hindu cosmogony or "creation" brahma-prajapati creates viraj and the rishis, spiritually; therefore the latter are distinctly called "the mind-born sons of brahma; and this specified mode of

erodach, or satan, in the astral waves. in the hindu puranas, brahma, the creator, is seen recommencing de novo several creations after as many failures; and two great creations are mentioned* the padma and the varaha, the present, when the earth was lifted out of the water by brahma, in the shape of a boar, or "varaha avatar" creation is shown as a sport, an amusement (lila) of the creative god. the zohar speaks of primordial worlds, which perished as soon as they came into existence. and the same is said in midraish, rabbi abahu explaining distinctly (in bereschith rabba, parscha ix) that "the holy one" had successively created and de[[footnote(s* these two must not be confused with the seven creations or divisions in each kalpa (see book i "the seven creations. the primary and secondary

d in genesis i. 31, though in disfigured terms, as usual. the chaldean fragments of cosmogony on the cuneiform inscriptions, and elsewhere, show two distinct creations of animals and men, the first being destroyed, as it was a failure. the cosmogonical tablets prove that this our actual creation was preceded by others (see "hibbert lectures" p. 390; and as shown by the author of "the qabbalah" in the zohar, siphrah dzeniouta, in jovah rabbah, 128a, etc, etc. the kabala states the same (b) oannes (or dagon, the chaldean "man-fish) divides his cosmogony and genesis into two portions. first the abyss of waters and darkness, wherein resided most hideous beings- men with wings, four and two-faced men, human beings with two heads, with the legs and horns of a goat (our "goat-men* hippocentaurs

31) from hoa, himself, is ab, the father; and from hoa, himself, is ruach, the spirit; who are hidden in the ancient of days, and therein is that ether concealed (432) and it was connected with a light-bearer (a planet and its angel or regent, which went forth from that light-bearer of insupportable brightness, which is hidden in the bosom of aima, the great mother* now the following extract from the zohar* also deals with the same mystery "the pre-adamite kings 'we have learned in the siphrah d'tzniootha: that the at-tee'kah dat-tee'keen, ancient of ancients, before he prepared his form, built kings, and engraved[[footnote(s* see mr. mather's "kabbalah unveiled* translated in i. myer's qabbalah[[vol. 2, page] 84 the secret doctrine. kings, and sketched out kings (men, the kings of the ani

tion- at least they ought to be so. the fact that mankind was never more selfish and vicious than it is now, civilized nations having succeeded in making of the first an ethical characteristic, of the second an art, is an additional proof of the exceptional nature of the phenomenon[[vol. 2, page] 111 the shells of sheba hachaloth. the entire scheme is in the "chaldean book of numbers" and even in the zohar, if one only understood the meaning of the apocalyptic hints. first comes en-soph, the "concealed of the concealed" then the point, sephira and the later sephiroth; then the atzilatic world, a world of emanations that gives birth to three other worlds- called the throne, the abode of pure spirits; the second, the world of formation, or jetzira, the habitat of the angels who sent forth th

el of death, who is also the seducing serpent satan; but that satan is also lucifer, the bright angel of light, the light and life-bringer, the "soul" alienated from the holy ones, the other angels, and for a period, anticipating the time when they would have descended on earth to incarnate in their turn "the souls (monads) are pre-existent in the world of emanations (book of wisdom viii, 20; and the zohar teaches that in the "soul "is the real man, i.e, the ego and the conscious i am 'manas "they descend from the pure air to be chained to bodies" says josephus repeating the belief of the essenes (de bello judaeo, 11, 12 "the air is full of souls" states philo "they descend to be tied to mortal bodies, being desirous to live in them (de gignat, 222 c; de somniis, p. 455; because through, a

e angels? finally, it is shown in every ancient scripture and cosmogony that man evolved primarily as a luminous incorporeal form, over which, like the molten brass round the clay model of the sculptor, the physical frame of his body was built by, through, and from, the lower forms and types of animal terrestrial life "the soul and the form when descending on earth put on an earthly garment" says the zohar. his protoplastic body was not formed of that matter of which our mortal frames are fashioned "when adam dwelt in the garden of eden, he was clothed in the celestial garment, which is the garment of heavenly light. light of that light which was used in the garden of eden (zohar ii 229 b "man (the heavenly adam) was created by the ten sephiroth of the jetziric world, and by the common pow

ential matter, pregnant per se with that animal consciousness of a superior kind, such as is found in the ant and the beaver, which produces the long series of physiological differentiations. apart from this his "ancient and general process of creation" from proto-organisms is as occult as any theory of paracelsus or khunrath could be. moreover, the kabalistic works are full of the proof of this. the zohar, for instance, says that every type in the visible has its prototype in the invisible universe "all that which is in the lower (our) world is found in the upper. the lower and the upper act and react upon each other (zohar, fol. 186) vide infra, part ii "esoteric tenets corroborated in every scripture- 20. their fathers were the self-born. the self-born, the chhaya from the brilliant bod

BLAVATSKY H P COSMOGENESIS

tcome of these- entirely lost to the world now, except in its disfigured sabeanism as at present rendered by the archaeologists; then, passing over a number of religions that will be mentioned later, comes the jewish, esoterically, as in the kabala, following in the line of babylonian magism; exoterically, as in genesis and the pentateuch, a collection of allegorical legends. read by the light of the zohar, the initial four chapters of genesis are the fragment[[footnote(s[[footnote continued from previous page] known causeless cause" is the oldest dogma in occultism, millenniums earlier than the pater-aether of the greeks and latins. so are the "force and matter, as potencies of space, inseparable, and the unknown revealers of the unknown" they are all found in aryan philosophy personified

jective standpoint, parabrahmam appears to it as mulaprakriti. of course this mulaprakriti is material to it, as any material object is material to us. parabrahmam is an unconditioned and absolute reality, and mulaprakriti is a sort of veil thrown over it (theosophist, vol. viii, p. 304[[vol. 1, page] 11 proem. of a highly philosophical page in the world's cosmogony (see book iii, gupta vidya and the zohar) left in their symbolical disguise, they are a nursery tale, an ugly thorn in the side of science and logic, an evident effect of karma. to have let them serve as a prologue to christianity was a cruel revenge on the part of the rabbis, who knew better what their pentateuch meant. it was a silent protest against their spoliation, and the jews have certainly now the better of their tradit

shown in the orphic theogony as being also a generated god or agent. at this stage of the re-awakening of the universe, the sacred symbolism represents it as a perfect circle with the (root) point in the centre. this sign was universal, therefore we find it in the kabala also. the western kabala, however, now in the hands of christian mystics, ignores it altogether, though it is plainly shown in the zohar. these sectarians begin at the end, and show as the symbol of pregenetic kosmos this sign[[diagram, calling it "the union of the rose and cross" the great mystery of occult generation, from whence the name- rosicrucians (rose cross! as may be judged, however, from the most important, as the best known of the rosicrucians' symbols, there is one which has never been hitherto understood eve

ciate correctly the full meaning of non-being, which, as explained, is absolute being. sooner or later, all that now seemingly exists, will be in reality and actually in the state of paranishpanna. but there is a great difference between conscious and unconscious "being" the condition of paranishpanna, without paramartha, the self-analys[[footnote(s "mother of the gods" aditi, or cosmic space. in the zohar, she is called sephira the mother of the sephiroth, and shekinah in her primordial form, in abscondito[[vol. 1, page] 54 the secret doctrine. ing consciousness (svasamvedana, is no bliss, but simply extinction (for seven eternities. thus, an iron ball placed under the scorching rays of the sun will get heated through, but will not feel or appreciate the warmth, while a man will. it is on

ire, lightning and the sun" cosmically; and as having been taken in the earth, the atmosphere, and the sky; also as the "three steps" of the dwarf (vishnu's incarnation, though more philosophically- and in the astronomical sense, very correctly- they are explained by aurnavabha as being the various positions of the sun, rising, noon, and setting. esoteric philosophy alone explains it clearly, and the zohar laid it down very philosophically and comprehensively. it is said and plainly demonstrated therein that in the beginning the elohim (elhim) were called echod "one" or the "deity is one in many" a very simple idea in a pantheistic conception (in its philosophical sense, of course. then came the change "jehovah is elohim" thus unifying the multiplicity and taking the first step towards mon

nd the ratio of 20612/6561 feet for cubit measure gives the great pyramid measures" etc, etc. three, five and seven are mystical numbers, and the last and the first are as greatly honoured by masons as by the parsis- the triangle being a symbol of deity everywhere (see the masonic cyclopedia, and "pythagorean triangle" oliver) as a matter of course, doctors of divinity (cassel, for instance) show the zohar explaining and supporting the christian trinity. it is the latter, however, that had its origin from the[[diagram] of the heathen, in the archaic occultism and symbology. the three strides relate metaphysically to the descent of spirit into matter, of the logos falling as a ray into the spirit, then into the soul, and finally into the human physical form of man, in which it becomes life*

ame no ani naka nushi no kami "divine monarch of the central heaven (2) taka mi onosubi no kami "exalted, imperial divine offspring of heaven and the earth; and (3) kamu mi musubi no kami "offspring of the gods" simply. these were without form or substance (our arupa triad, as neither the celestial nor the terrestrial substance had yet differentiated "nor had the essence of things been formed" in the zohar- which, as now arranged and re-edited by moses de leon, with the help of syrian and chaldean christian gnostics in the xiith century, and corrected and revised still later by many christian hands, is only a little less exoteric than the bible itself- this divine "vehicle" no longer appears as it does in the "chaldean book of numbers" true enough, ain-soph, the absolute endless no-thing

(bythos or buthon of the gnostics, called propator) is only periodical. the latter is brahm as differentiated from brahma or parabrahm. it is the depth, the source of light, or propator, which is the unmanifested logos or the abstract idea, and not ain-soph, whose ray uses adam-kadmon or the manifested logos (the objective universe "male and female- as a chariot through which to manifest. but in the zohar we read the following incongruity "senior[[vol. 1, page] 215 one parent flame, countless flames. occultatus est et absconditus; microprosopus manifestus est, et non manifestus (rosenroth; liber mysterii, iv, 1) this is a fallacy, since microprosopus or the microcosm, can only exist during its manifestations, and is destroyed during the maha-pralayas. rosenroth's kabala is no guide, but v

sephiroth, has still another, a sub-occult meaning in it, then and then only the occultist will be ready to pass the palm of perfection to the kabalist. until then, it is asserted that, as jehovah is in the abstract sense of a "one living god" a single number, a metaphysical figment, and a reality only when put in his proper place as an emanation and a sephiroth- we have a right to maintain that the zohar (as witnessed by the book of numbers, at any rate, gave out originally, before the christian kabalists had disfigured it, and still gives out the same doctrine that we do; i.e, it makes man emanate, not from one celestial man, but from a septenary group of celestial men or angels, just as in "pymander, the thought divine[[vol. 1, page] 231 the differentiation of the "one" stanza vii- con

to the jewish. in the case of the last-mentioned, the kabalistic works offer abundant proof of this statement. the entire system of the kabalistic numerals is based on the divine septenary hanging from the triad (thus forming the decade) and its permutations 7, 5, 4, and 3, which, finally, all merge into the one itself: an endless and boundless circle "the deity (the ever invisible presence" says the zohar "manifests itself through the ten sephiroth which are its radiating witnesses. the deity is like the sea from which outflows a stream called wisdom, the waters of which fall into a lake named intelligence. from the basin, like seven channels, issue the seven sephiroth. for ten equal seven: the decade contains four unities and three binaries" the ten sephiroth correspond to the limbs of m

ook of numbers, not as misrepresented by its now disfigured copy, the kabala of the christian mystics--the kabala and the archaic esoteric vidya, is very small indeed, being confined to unimportant divergences of form and expression. thus eastern occultism refers to our earth as the fourth world, the lowest of the chain, above which run upward on both its sides the six globes, three on each side. the zohar, on the other hand, calls the earth the lower, or the seventh, adding that upon the six depend all things which are in it "microprosopus" the "smaller face" smaller because manifested and finite "is formed of six sephiroth" says the same work "seven kings come and die in the thricedestroyed world (malkuth our earth, destroyed after each of the three rounds which it has gone through "and

point in which it has become the germ, so to speak, of the[[footnote(s* the introductory chapters of genesis were never meant to represent even a remote allegory of the creation of our earth. they embrace a metaphysical conception of some indefinite period in the eternity, when successive attempts were being made by the law of evolution at the formation of universes. the idea is plainly stated in the zohar "there were old worlds, which perished as soon as they came into existence, were formless, and were called sparks. thus, the smith, when hammering the iron, lets the sparks fly in all directions. the sparks are the primordial worlds, which could not continue because the sacred aged (sephira) had not as yet assumed its form (of androgyne, or opposite sexes) of king and queen (sephira and

CASE PAUL F THE BOOK OF TOKENS

re as beads of white and black strung upon a thread; and this thread of perpetual change is mine own changeless life, which bindeth together the unending series of little lives and deaths [131] comment on nun* n u n, pronounced noon. transcribed as" n. the number 5o. meaning: fish. the imaginative intelligence. 1 the quotation "he had his dwelling in the great sea, and was a fish therein, is from the zohar, or book of splendor. the great sea, of course, is binah. 2 the prophet is jonah, i v n h, signifying "a dove. note well that the dove is the bird of venus, and that the "great fish" mentioned in jonah 1: 17 is dag gedul, d g g d v l, for which the numeral value is 50, the same as that of the letter nun. furthermore, the zodiacal sign scorpio, relating to reproduction, and ruled by mars

CHRONOLOGIA RORISPERGIUS

4-1494 angelo poliziano buys ficino's manuscript of tracts i-xiv of the corpus hermeticum and leaves it to the biblioteca medicea laurenziana. 1456 first p.v. vulgate bible by gutenberg. 1456 12 men petition henry vi of england for a license to practise alchemy 1458 nicholas of cusa "de beryllo" 1460-1540 peter galatinus(galatino) de arcanis catholicae veritatis, illustrated his research into the the zohar showing that the zohar supports the major doctrines of christianity. 1460 brother leonardo of pistoia brings the greek manuscript of the corpus hermeticum from macedonia to the ruler of florence, cosimo de medici, knowing that he was a serious collector of greek manuscripts 1460 1493 elijah delmedigo translated kabbalistic works into latin for pico della mirandola. 1461-62 nicholas of cu

ublished. lefevre d'etaples ed. of ficino's pimander in france. 1495-1563 john bale. influenced by the twelfth-century monk joachim of fiore. bale envisioned three laws of nature, bondage and grace encompassing seven ages of world history. 1496 giovanna(zuana) veronese born aka venetian virgin had francesco giorgi as confessor at the convent of st. francesco della vigna; she explained passages of the zohar to guillaume postel 1549-1550 who believed her to be the holy spirit embodied. together working among the poor at the ospedaletto of venice, which was operated by a confraternity. 1499 (d. after) ibn abi jumhur..12th or, hidden imam, is the pole during the period of occultation" 1499 hypnerotomachia poliphili (written before 1467) 1500 "sefer yetzirah "r" paris 809 (2, foll 93a,-94a. ita

44 postel in rome- he published his work de orbis terrae concordia (concerning the harmony of the earth) advocated universal religious peace, to be achieved by convincing jews, moslems, and pagans of the truth of christianity. 1545-1608 joseph duchesne (quercetanus) 1546 "absconditorum a constitutione mundi clavis" gillaume postel. the "key of hidden things" is david's key. 1548 postel translates the zohar. 1548-1600 giordano bruno 1549-1550 postel journeys to the orient(he claimed to have walked all the way to china) 1550 rosarium philosophorum published. de subtilitate- girolamo cardano, an encyclopedic work of natural philosophy. joannes pantheus-voarchadumia('gold twice refined' derived from a chaldean word for "gold" and a hebrew phrase meaning "out of two rubies).john dee( 23) meets

DICTIONARY GLOSSARY OF OCCULT TERMINOLOGY

ic order of the golden dawn (q.v) from a cipher manuscript. he was responsible for the interpretation and eventual publication of many classic grimoires (q.v) of ceremonial magick (q.v) including the sacred magic of abramelin the mage, the greater key of solomon the king, the goetia of the lesser keys of solomon the king, and the armadel of magic. additionally, s.l. mathers translated portions of the zohar and commentaries upon the kabbalah entitled, the kabbalah unveiled. maya: illusion. a sanskrit word which does not mean, as many people believe, that the world is an illusion. actually, it means that our interpretation of the world around us is an illusion. the world is not totally what we perceive it to be. meditation: 1) the act of quieting the small voice of the conscious so that you

DION FORTUNE MYSTICAL QABALA

nism of the planes of form. when, however, consciousness has been exalted to the point where it transcends thought, it receives from the "primal glory 'the power of comprehension of the first principle; or in other words "then shall we know even as we are known" iii 18. eheieh, i am that i am, pure being, is the god-name of kether, and its magical image is an ancient bearded king seen in profile. the zohar says of this ancient bearded king that he is all tight side; we do not see the magical image of kether full-face, that is to say complete, but only partially. there is an aspect which must ever be hidden from us, like the hidden side of the moon. this side of kether is the side that is towards the unmanifest, which the nature of our manifested consciousness prevents us from comprehending

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF OCCULTISM AND PARAPSYCHOLOGY VOL 1

t the right side and the heart of the foolish at the left. this proverb parallels the ancient hindu yoga concept of the anahata chakra, or subtle heart center, which yogis have experienced as slightly to the right side in the body. heat and light (journal) american spiritualist journal published in boston in the 1850s. the heavenly man a concept of the jewish mysticism of the kabala. according to the zohar, the heavenly man was the first of the sephiroth or divine emanations. before the creation, god was without form, above and beyond all attributes. but after he created the heavenly man, he used him as a chariot in which to descend. and desiring to make himself known by his attributes, he let himself be styled as the god of pardon, the god of justice, the god omnipotent, the god of hosts

max. the rosicrucian cosmo-conception. oceanside, calif: rosicrucian fellowship, 1909. the rosicrucian mysteries. oceanside, calif: rosicrucian fellowship, 1911. the rosicrucian philosophy, questions and answers. oceanside, calif: rosicrucian fellowship, 1922. simplified scientific astrology. oceanside, calif: rosicrucian fellowship, 1928. hekalot according to the jewish mysticism of the kabala, the zohar, the seven halls of the world of yetsirah, the divine halls into which the seekers for the chariot( merkabah) strive to enter. here dwell the angels, presided over by the angel metatron, as well as the souls of men not especially noted for their piety (the souls of the pious dwell in the world of beriah) hel (or hela) in teutonic mythology, the goddess of death, one of the offspring of l

scholarship of gershom scholem, the greatest kabala scholar of this century. sources: abelson, joshua. jewish mysticism: an introduction to kabbalah. new york: sepher-hermon press, 1981. achad, frater [charles s. jones. the anatomy of the body of god: being the supreme revelation of cosmic consciousness. chicago: collegium ad spiritum sanctum, 1925. new york: samuel weiser, 1969. bension, ariel. the zohar in moslem and christian spain. new york: sepher-hermon press, 1932. berg, phillip s. kabbalah for the laymen. new york: research center of kabbalah, n.d. franck, adolphe. the kabbalah. new hyde park, n.y: university books, 1967. reprint, new york: citadel, 1979. gaster, moses. the origin of the kabbalah. new york: gordon press, 1976. halevi, z ev ben shimon. an introduction to the cabala

urt publishing, 1903. rauchlen, johannes. on the art of the kabbalah. translated by martin goodman and sarah goodman. new york: abaris books, 1983. scholem, gershom. kabbalah. new york: quadrangle, 1974. on the kabbalah and its symbolism. new york: schocken, 1960, ed. zohar.the book of splendor: basic readings from the kabbalah. new york: schocken, 1963. sperling, harry, and maurice simon, trans. the zohar. 5 vols. new york: rebecca bennet publishing, n.d. waite, arthur e. the holy kabbalah. new hyde park, n.y: university books, 1960. new york: citadel, 1976. kabbalist, the (journal) quarterly journal of the international order of kabbalists, devoted to study of hebrew mysticism, occultism, and related kabbalist, the encyclopedia of occultism& parapsychology. 5th ed. 846 subjects. address:

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF OCCULTISM AND PARAPSYCHOLOGY VOL 2

park, n.y: university books, 1963. preliminary report of the commission appointed by the university of pennsylvania to investigate modern spiritualism. philadelphia: j. b. lippincott, 1887. richmond, a. b. what i saw at cassadaga lake; a review of the seybert commissioners report. n.p, 1888. shaddai according to the mysticism of kabbalah, this was one of ten divine names in the angelic hierarchy. the zohar speaks of three supernal degrees or divine hypostases (that which stands under, the first being kether. when the world of manifest things was in the condition of tohu, god revealed himself in the hypostasis shaddai; when it had proceeded to the condition called bohu, he manifested as the hypostasis tsabaoth, but when the darkness had disappeared from the face of things he appeared as elo

sources: legge, james, trans. the i ching. new york: dover publications, 1963. y-kim (or i ching, book of a chinese mystical book attributed to the emperor fo-hi and ascribed to the year 3468 b.c.e. it consists of ten chapters and was stated by eliphas levi in his history of magic to be a complement and an appendix to the kabalistic zohar, the record of the utterances of rabbi simeon ben jochai. the zohar, according to levi, explains universal equilibrium, and the y-kim is the hieroglyphic and ciphered demonstration thereof. the key to the y-kim is the pentacle known as the trigrams of fo-hi. in the vay-ky of leon-tao-yuen, composed in the som dynasty (about eleventh century, it was recounted that the emperor fo-hi was one day seated on the banks of a river, deep in meditation, when to hi

anner that there arose in his mind a synthesis of sciences compared and united with one another through the harmonies of nature. from this synthesis sprang the tables of the y-kim. according to eliphas levi, the numbers of fo-hi are identical with those of the kabala, and his pentacle is similar to that of solomon. his tables are in correspondence with the subject matter of the sephir yesirah and the zohar. the whole is a commentary upon the absolute that is concealed from the profane, concluded levi. since levi s time, much scholarship has been expended on the symbolism and mystical significance of this important work under its more generally expressed title of i ching. sources: legge, james, trans. the i ching. new york: dover publications, 1963. levi, eliphas. the history of magic. lond

FELDMAN DANIEL QABALAH THE MYSTICAL HERITAGE OF THE CHILDREN OF ABRAHAM

caused a sensation in christian intellectual circles and ignited an interest in this previously unknown esoteric jewish tradition that spread across italy, germany, and france. in the sixteenth century ce, the appearance of qabalistic texts in latin translation enhanced attempts to draw further parallels between esoteric jewish doctrines and christianity. guillaume postel translated and published the zohar and sefer yetzirah into latin even before they were published in hebrew. latin texts in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were influential in standardizing cabala as the spelling commonly associated with the christian perspective to qabalistic doctrines.21 in the seventeenth century ce, the center of christian cabala moved to england and germany, where its status was boosted by th

d upon the following primary texts: e the sefer hatorah (books of the law, so-called five books of master mosheh) e the sefer hashmoth (book of the names) of master adam e the sefer yetzirah (book of formation, manual on the hebrew letters written by master abraham e the sefer hazohar (book of splendor, five volume exegesis on the torah dictated by rabbi shimeon ben yochai; and more specifically, the zohar s innermost core texts, the sifra detzniyutha (book of that which is concealed, the idra rabba qadusha (greater holy assembly, and the idra zuta qadusha (lesser holy assembly) 03' 8: h" 2: 2 2:e 8% e the ma aseh merkabah( work of the chariot) material from the nabiyim (the prophets, the remaining remnants of the seferim hachanokh (books of enoch ben yared, and the shi r qoma (measure of

eation of the work of the chariot trust. for a series of nights, he would awaken in the early hours and record the succession of sinatic hebrew divine names and trees of life he would see as intense light patterns, using the level of psychic mediation described in the sefer hazohar (book of splendor) as one-twentieth cloudy mirror (the various designations regarding the mirror of consciousness in the zohar refer to different degrees of vision. clear mirror denotes the consciousness of messiah. dull or cloudy mirror denotes the vision of prophets. one-twentieth cloudy mirror denotes" f" 2' 8: 4 the conscious dream state and one-sixtieth cloudy mirror the normal dream state) he assembled the sequence of names into a book as he was instructed, with one name on each page. the names are followe

depth, terseness, and obscurity of its language, and for its wealth of mystical allusions. for a mystical qabalist, the book s power and value are valid independent of academic considerations regarding its origins. the full range of ideas and allusions presented in the sefer yetzirah will be discussed in the course of this book,'0( the sefer hazohar (book of splendor, often referred to simply as the zohar) is a five-volume mystical exegesis written in rashi aramaic on the five books of the torah. like" f" 2' 8: 4 the sefer yetzirah, the date and original author of the zohar are subjects for academic debate. many qabalistic scholars, such as gershom scholem, believe the zohar to be a new work produced by moses de leon, circa 1250 ce in spain.15 others believe that it was dictated by its pi

lieve that it was dictated by its pivotal figure rabbi shimeon ben yochai to his son rabbi abba in the first century ce, while they and their group of rabbis hid in caves for thirteen years in piquin, israel to avoid roman persecution. hence, there are also those who would take the intermediary position that de leon redacted and published a work that had a much earlier time of origin. the text of the zohar is presented as a series of dialogues among a group of rabbis. these rabbis were the embodiments of the various sefiroth (spheres) on the tree of life. hence, the flavor of the respective sefirah (sphere) colors each rabbi s remarks and questions. like the sefer yetzirah, the zohar has its own distinct set of names for the sefiroth, most of which come from the sefer hashmoth, and are lat

zohar has its own distinct set of names for the sefiroth, most of which come from the sefer hashmoth, and are later echoed in the torah and ketuvim (writings. those names may be described as various qualities of the divine, such as wisdom, beauty, glory, and mercy. the zoharic names for the sefiroth are the most commonly known and used among all types of qabalists. the body of the five volumes of the zohar emanates from a core of three extraordinary texts. the innermost layer and heart of the zohar is a small text called the sifra detzniyutha (book of that which is concealed. this book contains the single greatest exposition on the negatively existent mysterious unknown (called ayn, and also the not) among all written works of the mystical qabalah. the next layer of the core of the zohar i

th ascending the tree. the most prominent merkabah sections describe the ascension and transformation of enoch ben yared into metatron, known as the youth (rn, nar) to whom the lord hvhy revealed the deepest secrets, and whom the lord hvhy made the operational manager of this universe.19 metatron, chief of the angels, is referred to in the tanakh (notably in proverbs 22.6 and job 32.6, as well as the zohar (i.223b. iii enoch, the hebrew book of enoch, contains a long discourse on the ascension of the celestial chariot by rabbi ishmael, the last high priest before the destruction of the first temple of jerusalem. the ascension of rabbi ishmael drew vigorous protests from some of the high angels, who objected to the admission of his relatively impure human spirit to the supernal world of ema

n safed in israel. he is widely known as haari (the lion. the expulsion of the jews from spain in 1492 set into motion a tide of momentum that led to safed becoming a center for the revitalized study of the jewish kabbalah, in which luria was a central figure. rabbi luria dictated the etz hachayyim (tree of life) to his student chayyim vital. it is composed of ten branches and is deeply rooted in the zohar (book of splendor. it is clearly the most intellectually complex of the principal works of written qabalah, and attracts the lion s share of interest amongst present-day (nonoccult) qabalists. the text of the etz hachayyim describes the emanation of the smooth and simple light of the endless (rva [vc ]ya, ayn sof or, from its unmanifest condition into the pattern of the sefiroth of the t

together we call them the mystery. where the mystery is the deepest is the gate of all that is subtle and wonderful. 2 8, in all mystical traditions, the mysterious unknown at the roots of all things is spoken of as having both inactive (impersonal) and active (personal aspects. these two aspects are called faces in qabalah. when referring to the inactive aspect, represented by the letter ayin i, the zohar (book of splendor' 8: h" 2: 2 2:e 8% speaks of vast face(]pna ;yra arikh anafin, also ,ypa ;yra arikh afim. it is also known as al (li lit. upon, shomer (rms, witness, guardian, atiqa (aqyui, hidden one, supernal israel, the ancient of days, and other names found in the sefer hashmoth and the torah.3 in the sefer yetzirah (book of formation, the ayin i is alluded to as the organ of naked

e stations in the consciousness of this small face iness. when the immense i-ness is centered in sefirah knowledge/ first, it has the singular awareness that i am nothing; when centered in sefirah beauty/last that i am all. the composition of the tree and the four worlds will be discussed in further detail in subsequent sections of this chapter, when referring to the active aspect of the not (al, the zohar speaks of small face(]pna ryiz ze ir anafin, also ,ypa ryiz ze ir afim, represented by the letter alef a. small face is the power of the ayn(]ya) to superimpose billions of illusory universes (and their apparent sustenance and dissolution over time) upon the vast face of the deep. the generation of universes is brought about by the balanced tension between vast and small face, or between

. 2" 2' 8 +5 a pattern of ten circles connected by lines is superimposed upon the three columns (see figure 3.5. the circles are known individually as sefirah (sphere) and collectively as sefiroth (spheres. 2 f #0 ten intangible sefiroth there are two very different sets of names for the same sefiroth. one rarely used set comes from the sefer yetzirah, and one widely known and used set comes from the zohar. so that the reader will get familiar with the parlance of both books, the 5' 8: h" 2: 2 2:e 8% sefiroth will hereon be referred to by both sets of names. the zoharic name of each sefirah will be given first, followed by the one from the sefer yetzirah. the yetzirathic names are each preceded by the qualifying phrase depth of (omehq, but for the sake of brevity this designation will usua

rocess information from the waking and astral states simultaneously as a matter of course, the three columns of the tree and their respective sefiroth are said to emanate from or be anchored in the substratum of the unmanifest, undifferentiated negatively existent roots. the central column emanates from the negatively existent roots through a single point in the uppermost sefirah, called crown in the zohar and above in the sefer yetzirah. in the initial event at the genesis of the universe, the unmanifest light of the endless enters the tzimtzum (circular contraction) through that point in the supernal world of atziluth (emanation, triggering a quantum fluctuation that generates the big bang and subsequent inflation of the universe. it then descends through the successive three worlds, the

FRANCIS A YATES GIORDANO BRUNO AND THE HERMETIC TRADITION

al magic' pico, opera, p. 105. 2 ibid, loc. cit. 3 ibid, p. 107. 4* 91 pico della mirandola and cabalist magic the cabala' as it developed in spain in the middle ages had as its basis the doctrine of the ten sephiroth and the twenty-two letters of the hebrew alphabet. the doctrine of the sephiroth is laid down in the book of creation, or sefer yetzirah, and it is constantly referred to throughout the zohar, the mystical work written in spain in the thirteenth century which embodies the traditions of spanish cabalism of that time. the sephiroth are "the ten names most common to god and in their entirety they form his one great name- they are "the creative names which god called into the world",3 and the created universe is the external development of these forces alive in god. this creative

ther hierarchies. there are also bad angels, or demons, whose hierarchies correspond to those of their good opposites. the theosophical system of the universe on which the infinite subtleties of cabalist mysticism are based is connected with the scriptures through elaborate mystical interpretations of the words and letters of the hebrew text, particularly the book genesis (on which large parts of the zohar are a commentary. the hebrew alphabet, for the cabalist, contains the name or names of god; it reflects the fundamental spiritual nature of the world and the creative language of god. creation from the point of view of god is the expression of his hidden self that gives itself a name, the holy name of god,4 the perpetual act of creation. in contemplating the letters of the hebrew alphabe

ary.1 he had a number of learned jewish friends, of some of whom we know the names elia del medigo, for example, and flavius mithridates. these and others supplied him with the necessary books and manuscripts, and he had probably read the hebrew scriptures in their original language, together with many commentaries, including cabalist commentaries and works. he seems to have had some knowledge of the zohar and of the mystical commentary on the song of solomon. and g. scholem has pointed out that he seems to refer to abraham abulafia's techniques of letter-combinations.2 the pious and enthusiastic young man above all valued his hebrew and cabalist studies because he believed that they led him to a fuller understanding of christianity, and certified the truth of the divinity of christ and th

tiens inuoquans le premier principe, qu'ils appeloyent tenebres au dessus de toute cognoissance commc l'ensoph des hebrieux, ou la nuict d'orphee.3 to pico's conclusion on the orphic nox being the same as ensoph in cabala, mornay has added, as the same, the egyptian (that is hermetic) teaching on the darkness above reason, the no name above the names. he has a good deal more on cabala, mentioning the zohar of which he evidently has some knowledge.4 mornay is making the familiar synthesis between hermetism and cabala, but it is emphatically not magia and practical cabala of which he is speaking. the synthesis is entirely mystical and theological. he states most emphatically later on that cabala is not magic, that moses was not a magician, and that all magic is wrong and vain.5 mornay's work

he knew the alphabet which he uses on some of his diagrams. but when he speaks of the structure of cabalism, of the names, sephiroth, orders of angels, and so on, he is getting his material direct from his bible, that is to say from the occult philosophy of cornelius agrippa. he also knew trithemius's steganographia, and possibly reuchlin's de arte cabalistica, and he may have known something of the zohar.2 he knew the works of pico della mirandola, no doubt, but the librarian of st. victor confided to his valuable diary that bruno (who must have held forth a good deal to that man) had said that he "despises picus mirandulanus and all the philosophy of the jesuits"3 (rather a curious combination. the sources of bruno's magic may have been somewhat meagre, for it is curious to see what int

FULLER J F C SECRET WISDOM OF THE QABALAH

their heads, and countries in which all is inverted, in which the trees and plants grow from the top to the bottom. we find the germ of that error among the philosophers who have claimed that the earth is round.5 st. augustine held a similar opinion.6 long before copernicus wrote his book, revolution of the heavenly bodies (about a.d. 1542, we find that the medieval jews had buried this secret in the zohar, in which may be read: in the book of hammannunah the old we learn. that the earth turns upon itself in the form of a circle; that some are on top, and others below; that all creatures change in aspect, following the manner of each place, keeping however in the same position, but there are some countries of the earth which are lightened, whilst others are in darkness; these have the day

merged into daylight. this word is a curious one: its value is 70, which is, as we have seen, the numerical value of sod (dvs= 4+6+60) and gwine h (oyy= 50+ 10+ 10) and also of gnight h (lyl= 30+ 10+ 30) and gbe silent h (hsh= 5+ 6o+ 5. therefore it may be said to mean: gthe secret which intoxicates, which is as dark as night and which must not be divulged. h the fountain-head of this doctrine is the zohar, or book of splendour, a vast jumbled commentary on the pentateuch, written partly in aramaic and partly in hebrew. tradition asserts that its author was rabbi simeon ben yohai, who lived in the second century a.d; of it ginsburg says: it was first taught by god himself to a select company of angels, who formed a theosophic school in paradise. after the fall the angels most graciously co

at the time of the destruction of the second temple. after his death his son, r. eliezer, and his secretary, r. abba, as well as his disciples, then collated r. simon g. jochai's treatises, and out of these composed the celebrated work called sohar (rhz) i.e. splendour, which is the grand storehouse of kabbalism.10 turning from tradition to history: though here again evidence is none too secure, the zohar is attributed to moses de leon, a qabalistic writer of the thirteenth century, and quite possibly parts of it were written by him. the whole compilation covers a vast ground and comprises: 1. the sefer ha-zohar, the book of splendour11- the main commentary. 2. the sifra-di-tseniuta, the book of the veiled mystery.12 3. the sitre torah, secrets of the torah. 4. the ra'ya mahemna, the true

splendour11- the main commentary. 2. the sifra-di-tseniuta, the book of the veiled mystery.12 3. the sitre torah, secrets of the torah. 4. the ra'ya mahemna, the true shepherd. 5. the midrush ha-he'lam, the recondite exposition. 6. the tosefta, additions. 7. the hekaloth, halls or palaces. 8. the idra rabba, the greater synod.13 9. the idra zuta, the lesser synod.14 the first printed editions of the zohar appeared almost simultaneously at mantua and cremona in 1558- 60. later editions are those of lublin, 1623; amsterdam, 1714 and 1805; constantinople, 1736; and venice. of translations, knorr von rosenroth produced his kabbalah denudata in 1677-8, a latin version of the sifra-di-tseniuta, the idra rabba, and idra zuta, which in 1887 were translated into english by s. l. macgregor mathers

ater editions are those of lublin, 1623; amsterdam, 1714 and 1805; constantinople, 1736; and venice. of translations, knorr von rosenroth produced his kabbalah denudata in 1677-8, a latin version of the sifra-di-tseniuta, the idra rabba, and idra zuta, which in 1887 were translated into english by s. l. macgregor mathers under the title of the kabbalah unveiled. in 1906, a complete translation of the zohar into french was made by m. jean de pauly. besides these, there is also the soncino edition of the sefer ha-zohar; this appeared in english between 1931 and 1934. of books dealing with the qabalah there is a large number, of which the following is a small selection which may be useful to the student. qabbalah, the philosophical writings of solomon ben yehudah ibn gebirol or avicebron, isa

avicebron, isaac myer, 1888; la kabbale ou la philosophie religieuse des hebreux, ad. franck, 1889. the kabbalah, its doctrines, development, and literature, christian d. ginsburg, second impression, 1920. the holy kabbalah, a. e. waite, 1929. the secret doctrine of israel, a. e. waite, 1913. the history of magic, eliphas levi, 1913. the book of formation or sepher yetzirah, knut stenring, 1923. the zohar in moslem and christian spain, ariel bension, 1932. a garden of pomegranates, israel regardie, 1932. q.b.l. or the bride's reception, frater achad, 1922. the anatomy of the body of god, frater achad, 1925. secret wisdom of the qabalah page 11 chapter i the wisdom of the qabalah the qabalah the qabalah is not a holy book as are the vedas, the bible, and the koran. it is not a book at all:

exists a still more precious thing, which is the soul. the wise, the servitors of the supreme king, those who inhabit the heights of sinai,3 are occupied only with the soul, which is the basis of all the rest, which is the thorah itself; and in the future time they will be prepared to contemplate the soul of that soul [i.e. the deity] which breathes in the thorah.4 this idea is again set forth in the zohar in the following allegory: secret wisdom of the qabalah page 12 like unto a beautiful woman hidden in the interior of a palace who, when her friend and beloved passes by, opens for a moment a secret window, and is only seen by him; then again retires and disappears for a long time; so the doctrine shows herself only to the elect, but also not even to these always in the same manner. in t

he first, no more than the shell of an egg- lifeless substance- has a relationship to the yolk within it- living substance. that the israelites will find the promised land in the conquest of the world is a lie, a lie which protects a sublime truth- the reabsorption of the world into the pure spirit of god. to the masses of the jewish peoples such a statement will be considered blasphemous. yet in the zohar we read: with his ordinary understanding, man cannot understand the revelation of mysteries. all that i am about to reveal to you can be revealed only to the masters, who know how to keep the balance because they have been initiated. 12 the shell, the white, and the yolk form the perfect egg. the shell protects the white and the yolk, and the yolk feeds upon the white; and when the white

white is the food of the second, the accumulated wisdom of the world centring round the mystery of growth, which each single individual must absorb before he can break the shell. the transmutation of the white, by the yolk, into the fledgling is the secret of secrets of the entire qabalistic philosophy. gknow that all the upper and the lower worlds are comprised in the image of god h, we read in the zohar.13 here we have (1) a unity- the image of god (2) a duality- the upper and lower worlds (3) a trinity- the upper and lower worlds and the image of god; and (4) a quadruplicity- the knower, the upper world, the lower world, and the image of god. yet this quadruplicity is in itself a duality- the knower and the image of god; because this image includes the upper and lower worlds. the absor

lity; but before this final curtain can be lifted, a host of intellectual curtains- the white of the egg- have to be dissolved by transmutation into spiritual energy. spiritual deliverance, or attainment, is consequently an act of creation. finally we come to this conclusion: it is not god, or the universe, which is the supreme mystery, but man, man himself, the link between god and the universe. the zohar says: as soon as man appeared, all was achieved, both in the upper and in the lower worlds. for all is contained in man. he combines within himself all the forms.23 again the zohar says the essence of the supreme wisdom is composed of earth and of heaven; of divine and of human; of material and of immaterial, even as man is composed of body and soul. man is the synthesis of all the holy

pends the perfection of faith. that which we call heavenly man, or the first divine manifestation, is the absolute form of all that is, the source of all forms and ideas: supreme thought. man is the central point around which all creation revolves. he is the noblest figure of all those that are harnessed to the chariot of god. 24 in nature, man is the centre and the world is the periphery of what the zohar calls the garment of god, 25 and the removal of this garment mysteriously does not disclose what lies behind it, but what lies within ourselves. it is not that we are absorbed by god, but that god is absorbed by us- the ocean of quicksilver merging into the minutest globule of this same metal. this unclothing is accomplished through equilibrium, not of opposite, but of complementary forc

stence called life. when the positive equals, or balances, the negative, the result is equilibrium. perfect equilibrium is zero, that is no-thing- bliss. equilibrium equilibrium is the fundamental law, or mystery, of the qabalah; in fact the bulk of the qabalistic doctrines are but a commentary upon it. there is the upper and the lower, the real and the apparent, the invisible and the visible. in the zohar we read: all that which is found [or exists] upon the earth has its spiritual counterpart also to be found on high, and there does not exist the smallest thing in the world which is not itself attached to something on high, and is not secret wisdom of the qabalah page 16 found in dependence upon it. when the inferior part is influenced, and that which is set over it in the superior world

GILBERT THE MAGICAL MASON

ve, is like that which is below. kether is in malkuth, and the idea of kether is the malkuth of human intelligence. god creates the soul of man, and the human soul evolves the existence of god.parturit homo deum.infinite justice equilibrated by infinite goodness, and infinite goodness sustained and inspired by justice, form the ideal of the beauty which we call the splendour of god, the shekinah, the zohar, the light of the glory, the tiphereth. it is in the midst of the sun of human intelligence, that the incommunicable nameihvh,the tetragrammaton, is written; the name which is never read, but is spelledlod,he, vau, he, the jahouvahou, theie0u a, from which we form the word [ehova by replacing the four mystic hebrew letters by the fivethe ten sephirothiiivowels of our modem languages.'rhu

lodge and seven to make it perfect, these are the hebrew seven double letters, parallel emblems to seven planets and seven lower sephiroth. three, five, and seven amount to fifteen, which is equivalent to jah, god, yod, and he, ten and five; every hebrew word is also a number, and the reverse. these seven persons, again, are typical of the seven most learned rabbis who held the assembly named in the zohar, idra suta, in which the essenceof deity is discussed as a holy mystery.thestill more holy assembly of rabbis, the idra rabba included three more, these formed the keepers of the veils of the original r.a. chapter, for whom the lower offices oftreas, i.g, and sentinel are now substituted; some very learned patron of the order caused this change to be made, fearing that it might be a blas

GLOBAL FREEMASONRY

enced by the kabbalah and that the kabbalists possessed a secret that could be traced back to the ancient egyptian pharaohs. according to eco, some prominent jews learned certain secrets taken from the ancient egyptians, and later inserted these into the first five books of the old testament (pentateuch. but, this secret, which was transmitted secretly, could be understood only by the kabbalists (the zohar, written later in spain, and forming the fundamental book of the kabbalah, deals with the secrets of these five books) after stating that the kabbalists read this ancient egyptian secret also in the geometric measurements of the temple of solomon, eco writes that the templars learned it from the kabbalist rabbis in jerusalem: the secret what the temple already said in full is suspected o

GNOSTIC STUDIES THE GNOSTIC HANDBOOK II GNOSTIC THEURGY

ttempted to grab him, hoping to ascertain his real form, proteus was sleeping as a stone. on being touched he became a plant, when approached again he became a serpent and then transformed into a man and finally a spirit, at which time he flew off into the sky. here we clearly have a classical myth being used to outline the esoteric teaching of reincarnation as taught within the greek traditions. the zohar, a hebrew mystical and kabbalistic text, tells us that all souls must undergo reincarnation and that the souls of men revolve like a stone that is thrown from a sling that has been spun many times before finally being let go. those souls that have reached perfection stay in their holy places, only those which have not completed their perfection are subject to the wheel of reincarnation o

HELENA BLAVATSKY THE KEY TO THEOSOPHY

ed to the series of other innumerable incarnations of the ego, like the remembrance in our memory of one of a series of days, at the end of a year. will you bind the infinitude you claim for your god to finite conditions? that alone which is indissolubly cemented by atma (i.e, buddhi-manas) is immortal. the soul of man (i.e, of the personality) per se is neither immortal, eternal nor divine. says the zohar: the soul, when sent to this earth, puts on an earthly garment, to preserve herself here, so she receives above a shining garment, in order to be able to look without injury into the mirror, whose light proceeds from the lord of light. moreover, the zohar teaches that the soul cannot reach the abode of bliss, unless she has received the "holy kiss" or the reunion of the soul with the sub

lly, of course, have never entertained such an idea; and, moreover, they believed in reincarnation, as we do. q. can you give me some instances as a proof of this? a. most decidedly i can. philo judaeus says: the air is full of them (of souls; those which are nearest the earth, descending to be tied to mortal bodies, palindromousi authis, return to other bodies, being desirous to live in them. in the zohar, the soul is made to plead her freedom before god: lord of the universe! i am happy in this world, and do not wish to go into another world, where i shall be a handmaid, and be exposed to all kinds of pollution. the doctrine of fatal necessity, the everlasting immutable law, is asserted page 54 the key to theosophy- hp blavatsky.txt in the answer of the deity "against thy will thou becom

rnal and unchangeable, save the concealed deity. nothing that is finite-whether because it had a beginning, or must have an end-can remain stationary. it must either progress or recede; and a soul which thirsts after a reunion with its spirit, which alone confers upon it immortality, must purify itself through cyclic transmigrations onward toward the only land of bliss and eternal rest, called in the zohar "the palace of love; in the hindu religion "moksha; among the gnostics "the pleroma of eternal light; and by the buddhists "nirvana" and all these states are temporary, not eternal. q. yet there is no reincarnation spoken of in all this. a. a soul which pleads to be allowed to remain where she is, must be preexistent, and not have been created for the occasion. in the zohar, however, the

INFERNAL UNION

who truly seek the flame of luciferian becoming. because he is the perfect union of both the sun and moon, he is therefore baphomet. it is the sexual-magickal union of demonic opposites that is ritually re-enacted in the rite of infernal union that we may become more fully developed as baphomet and according to our own individual wills. the union of samael and lilith is made possible according to the zohar by the presence of tanin ver or the blind serpent, leviathan, who represents by its nature the violence and chaos of the vast oceans of the unconscious, the depths of the mind touched upon in sexual union. leviathan like the endless ocean is the immortal essence which joins the sun and moon in establishing the eternal perfection of the union and balance of both in the individual, the mag

ISIS UNVEILED

'king mesnah' the male principle of wisdom, and the latter on the third sephiroth, from the chaldaean kabala* and even from the hindq brahmi and sara- svatt" and the pagan dionysus and demeter. and here we are on firm ground, if it were only because it is now proved that the new tehameni never appeared in its complete form, such as we find it now, till 300 years after the period of apostles^ and the zohar and other kabalistic books are found to belong to the first centtuy before our era, if not to be far older still. the gnostics entertained many of the essenean ideas; and the esaenes had their 'greater' and 'minor' mysteries at least two cen- turies before our era. they were the itarim or initiates, the descendants of the egyptian hierophants, in whose country they had been settled for s

ect and blasphemy to jehovah; whose name, moreover, by mutual and secret agreement they accepted as a mbitiijiie for yah, or the mystery name lao. alooe the initiaud knew of it, but later it gave rise to a great confusion among the utiiniiialed. it would be worth while were it not for lack of niace to quote a few of the many passages in the oldest jewish authorities, such as rabbi a'qtbah, and in the zohar, which corroborate our assertion 'hokhmah-wisdom is a male principle everywhere, and binah-yehovah, a female potency. the writings of irenaeus, lleodoret, and epiphaoius, teeming with accusations agamst the gnostics and 'herestea' repeatedly show simon hagus and cerinthus nuucing of binah the feminine divide spirit wlucb inspired simon. biuah is serbia, and the sophia of' gnostics is sur

tatum dinwsitionis transitque per eum a capite usque ad pedes ejui: ttineo ett figtaa kominit (kabbala dtnudaia, ii. p. 246. 536. zolmr. i. p. 51, aout cd. digitizecoy google the kabausnc sheehinah 223 archetypal heavenly man, adam eadmod, is likewise a trinity; for he is body, soul, and spirit "all that is created by the 'ancient of the ancients' can hve and ^st only by a male and a female" says the zohar" he alone, to whom no one can say 'thou' for he is the spirit of the whrre-hiian in whom the tbbee heads are united, is uncreated. out of the subtle fire, oq one side of the white head, and of the 'subtle air' on the other, emanates shekhinah, his veil (the femininizcd holy ghost "this air" says idrah rablxih "is the most occult [occitlhssimus] attribute of the ancient of the days* the a

ear- ance of a man. above the throne. and the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about* thefitebeing"thegloiy of the lord" fetahil is son of the nuin, the third life' and his upper part is represented as white as snow, while standing near the throne of the living fire he has the appearance of a fiame. all these 'apocalyptic' visions are based on the description of the 'white head' of the zohar, in whom the kabalistic trinity is united the white head "which conceals in its cranium the spirit" and which is environed by subtle fire. the "appearance of a man" is that of adam kadmon, through which passes the thread of li^t represented by the fire. fetahil is the vir noneaimus (the newest man, the son of abatur' the latter being the 'man' or the ihird life* now the third personage o

e vdhanaa (or vehicles) of their chief gods; as likewise we might easily attribute the respect paid to them to the kabalistic wisdom, which nevertheless the church rejects with great horror. but we cannot resist the temptation to remind the reader that he may easily ascertain the several significances attributed to these cherubs by reading the kabala "when the souls are to leave their abode" says the zohar, holding to the doctrine of the pre-existence of souls in the worid of emanations "each soul separately appears before the holy king, dressed in a sublime form, with the features in which it is to appear in this worid. it is from this sublime form that the image proceeds* then it goes on to say that the types or forms of these faces "are four in number those of the angel or man, of the l

e churches (irenaeua: agtt. herttia, iv, ti, f 2. when tertullian borame a montamat be rejected it, aita having aiteritd ita divinity de ni- twiw, zvi. digitizecoy google 244 isis unveiled tau^t in the fourth gospel, he omits to state that nearly everything ex- pressed by the pseudo-hennas in relation to his parabled conversauon with the 'lord' is a plain quotation, with repeated variations, from the zohar and other kabalistic books. we may as well compare, so as to leave the reader no difficulty in judging for himself "god" says hermaa" planted the vineyard, that is he created the people and gave them to his son; and the son. himself cleansed their sins, etc; i. e, the son washed them in his blood, in commemora- tion of which christians drink wine at the communion. in the kabala it is sho

iftdrtua 'hmitha. 625. cod x namraeui, hi. p. 61. 626. similitude k, s12; we tcott: on ifc canon, pp. 177. j. 627. voi.ii,p.57. 628. l. prdi r: orua. mj/tkni. i, p. 4s6i k. o. muller; bitt. lit. anet. onece. p. 238; f. c. hotcts: die phsnixier, i, pp. 547, j. digitizecoy google 2 isis dnvbilbd one particularly for that purpose, which was called' the gate of dionysos' asd that of 'the purified' in the zohar the k&balists are told that the work-master, the demi- urge, said to the lord "let us make man after our image* in ute original texts of the first chapter of getunt, it stands "and the euaim [translated as the supreme god, who are the highest gods or powers, said: let us make man in our] image, after our ukeness" in the veda* brahmft holds counsel with parabrahman as to the best mode to

^ mn, he "used it as a vehide wherein to descend" says tbe kabala. thus adam kadmon is the avatar of the concealed power. after that the heavenly adam creates or engenders by the combined power of the sephiroth, the earthly adam. the work of creation is abo begun by sephira in the creation of the ten sephi- roth (who are tbe prajapatis of the kabala, for they are likewise the lords of all beings. the zohar asserts the same. according to the kabalistic doctrine there woe worlds zoliar, 111, p. 292 b; amsterdam ed. everything will return some day to that from which it first proceeded "all things of which this world consists, spirit as wdl as body, will return to their principal, and the roots from which they proceeded (zoaor, n, p. 218 b. the ksbalists also maintmu the indestructibility

ent, but the creative force, thou^ also eternal, as it has been in the former from 'no beginning' yet must be subject to periodical cycles of activity and rest; as it had a beffinnin^ in one of its aspects, when it first emanated, therefore it must also have an end. thus the evening succeeds the day, and the night of the deity approaches. brahma is gradually falling asleep. in one of the books of the zohar we read the following "as moses was keeping a vigil on mount sinai, in company with the deity, who was concealed from his sight by a cloud, he felt a great fear overcome him and suddenly asked 'lord, where art thou. sleep- est thou, o lord' and the spirit answered him 'i never sleep; were i to fall asleep for a moment before my time, all the creation would crumble into dissolution in one

on; and then, appearing in the dwarf of humanity, it shows paratu-rdma physically a p^ect, spiritually an undeveloped entity, until it carries mankind, personified by one god-like man, to the apex of physical and spiritual perfection a god on earth. in krishna and the other saviors of the worid we see the philosophical idea of the progressive dual development understood and as dearly expressed in the zohar. the 'heavenly man' who is the protogonos, tikkun, the first-bom of god, or the universal form and idea, en- genders adam. hence the latter is god-bom in humanity, and endowed with the attributes of all the ten sephiroth. these are: wisdom, intelligence, justice, love, beauty, splendor, firmness, etc. they make him the foundation or basis 'the mighty living one\ t 7k, and the crown of cr

is god-bom in humanity, and endowed with the attributes of all the ten sephiroth. these are: wisdom, intelligence, justice, love, beauty, splendor, firmness, etc. they make him the foundation or basis 'the mighty living one\ t 7k, and the crown of creation, thus placing him as the alpha and omega to reign over the 'kingdom' malkhuth-"man is both the import and the highest degree of creation" says the zohar "as soon as man was created, everything was complete, including the upper and nether worlds, for everything is comprised in man. he unites in himself all forms" but this does not relate to our degenerated mankind; it is only occa- sionally that men are bom who are the types of what man should be, and yet is not. the first races of men were spiritual, and their proto- plastic bodies were

material d^radation in which the divine spark (soul, a comiscation of the spirit) was to begin its physical progression in a series of imprisonments from a stone up to a man's body if he but exercise his will and call his deity to his help, man can transcend the powers of the angel "know ye not that we shall judge angels" asks paul (1 corinihiana, vi, 3 "the real man is the soul (spirit, teaches the zohar'"the mystery of the earthly man is after the mystery of the heavenly man. the wise can read the mysteries in the human face (ii. p. 76 a. this is sull another of the many sentences by which paul must be recognised as an initiate. for reasons fully explained, we give far more credit for genuineness to certain epistles of the apostles, now dismissed as apocryphal, than to many suspicious p

KARR DON NOTES ON EDITIONS OF SEFER YETZIRAH IN ENGLISH

st recent reprint of collectana hermetica, a series which westcott edited 1893-1911 (weiser, 1998. westcott was an occultist who, with s. l. m. mathers, was a founding member of the hermetic order of the golden dawn. both westcott and mathers put several magical and mystical texts into english in the late 1800s and early 1900s. most pertinent to kabbalah are mathers kabbalah unveiled (sections of the zohar after the latin of knorr von rosenroth) and westcott s sy, which, in spite of the claim on the title page that the work was translated from the hebrew, appears to have been totally dependent on a latin version. a. e. waite, in his introduction to the stenring translation (discussed below, says of westcott s sy it is based on the text of rittangelius, compared with some other versions. it

ook of creation. a verse by verse analysis. denver: brotherhood of the white temple, 1941. listed in sheila spector s jewish mysticism: an annotated bibliography of kabbalah in english (new york/london: garland publishing, inc, 1984) under the history of kabbalah, f. merkabah mysticism and jewish gnosticism; doreal= f15) raskin, saul. kabbalah in word and image, with the book of creation and from the zohar. new york, academy photo offset, inc, 1952* listed in aryeh kaplan s sefer yetzirah [discussed below] under translations/ english; and in spector s bibliography, where it is listed twice (1) under introductory surveys= c7 (2) under the history of kabbalah, f. merkabah mysticism and jewish gnosticism= f17* waite s version of the thirty-two paths can be found in the holy kabbalah, pp. 213

n the holy kabbalah, pp. 213-219* this item came up for sale on ebay (november 2004; the display page provided numerous images of the cover, text, and illustrations, which, alas, are rather adolescent. a passage from what is almost certainly this book is used to introduce the section on abraham abulafia in meltzer s secret garden, pp. 117-119. there, the book is called kabbalah, book of creation, the zohar, but the date is the same. the ebay images confirm the title as given by spector and kaplan. 20073 9 the more recent cycle of sy translations that of the last few decades begins with an obscure, homespun production: work of the chariot. book of formation (sepher yetzirah. the letters of our father abraham [wc #1b. 2nd edition, hollywood: work of the chariot, 1971 [also at www.workof thec

etation, has been written more for the thinker or seeker than for the academic. alas, his historical and conceptual summaries are often misleading and frustratingly lacking in nuance, e.g, his statement, the knowledge that we call kabbalah is based on the doctrine and teachings of isaac luria, who was born in jerusalem during the 16th century( ancient secrets, page 87; reiss does go on to mention the zohar and moses de leon. in an excerpt from an interview with the author of ancient secrets of creation: sepher yetzira, the book that started kabbalah, revealed* dr. reiss begins to understand why god chose the aleph, mem, and sheen to be the mother letters of creation, we have to know three things. the first is that the author of sepher yetzira understood that the scroll of the five books of

urope than did any other work prior to the studies of scholem. the publication data above indicate that franck s book has had a wide circulation, and one would rightly infer that it has had a great influence. chapters 2 and 4 in particular deal with sy. while its appearance preceded much scholarship and many discoveries, franck s kabbalah is still considered a worthy survey and analysis of sy and the zohar. franck s treatment of sy is rational: insightful, even if skeptical. his synopsis is straightforward, supported by quotes from the text itself and by passages from judah halevi s commentary on sy. but now, having been made aware by more recent scholars of the errors of franck, we are inclined to approach this book more to see how far franck was able to get than to pursue it as a source

the form in which they have been presented until now for example, in the widely read book of adolphe franck no longer merit serious scholarly discussion (origins of the kabbalah, p. 6) 20073 18 tishby: franck s book, particularly in the way it expounds kabbalistic ideas, contains a great deal of material that is still of value, although there are a considerable number of mistakes in it (wisdom of the zohar, p. 48) idel: the sources of important concepts of kabbalah, according to franck, were chaldean and persian, that is zoroastrian. notwithstanding this basic assumption on franck s part which was rejected by subsequent research he regarded kabbalah as a uniquely important jewish phenomenon. this diagnosis of the role of kabbalah is strikingly similar to scholem s famous perception of the

israel as unfolded by sons of the doctrine for the benefit and consolation of the elect dispersed through the lands and ages of the greater exile. london: williams and norgate ltd, 1929; reprinted new hyde park: university books, 1960. this title incorporates a. the doctrine and literature of the kabbalah. london: theosophical publishing company, 1902. b. the secret doctrine in israel. a study of the zohar and its connections. london: wm. rider and son, 1913. waite discusses sy at some length in the following sections of the holy kabbalah: 1. book ii, i: date of the book of formation 2. book iii, ii: the book of formation 3. book iii, iii: connections and dependencies of the book of formation. in the first section, waite gives a survey of the issues concerning fixing a date to sy. he defer

pment of the golem legend, in journal of jewish studies, vol. xlvi, nos. 1-2 (spring-autumn 1995. 20073 22 other articles: finkel, asher. the exegetic elements of the cosmological work, sepher yesirah, in mystics of the book: themes, topics, and typologies, edited by r. a. herrera (new york: peter lang, 1993) kiener, ronald. the status of astrology in the early kabbalah: from the sefer yesirah to the zohar, in jerusalem studies in jewish thought, vol. 6, nos. 3- 4: proceedings of the second international conference on the history of jewish mysticism: the beginnings of jewish mysticism in medieval europe, edited by joseph dan english section (jerusalem: the hebrew university, 1987. langermann, y. tzvi. introduction to a new redaction of sefer yesira? in kabbalah: journal for the study of je

KARR DON NOTES ON THE STUDY OF EARLY KABBALAH JEWISH MYSTICISM IN ENGLISH

ity press, 1997: chapter thirteen. gsefer ha-bahir. h 20081 4. idel, moshe. ascensions on high in jewish mysticism: pillars, lines, and ladders. budapest/new york: central european university press, 2005: chapter 2, 3, gthe pillar in the book bahir h. krzok, paul. ga look at the bahir, h in the hermetic journal, number 22, edited by adam mclean (edinburgh: winter 1983. neubauer, a. gthe bahir and the zohar, h in jewish quarterly review, original series, vol. 4 (1892. schafer, peter. mirror of his beauty: feminine images of god from the bible to the early kabbalah. princeton and oxford: princeton university press, 2002. scholem, gershom. kabbalah [articles from encyclopedia judaica. jerusalem- new york: keter publishing house/times books, 1974; rpt. new york: dorset press, 1987 (article) gs

in rashi 1040-1990: congres europeen des etudes juives, ed. by gabrielle sed-rajna (paris: editions du cerf, 1993. verman, mark. gthe evolution of the circle of contemplation, h in gershom scholem fs major trends in jewish mysticism 50 years after, edited by j. dan and p. schafer (tubingen: mohr siebeck, 1993. 1. c. gerona (catalonia: the most prolific circle of kabbalists from the period before the zohar was that of gerona, which followed up on the teachings of r. isaac the blind. the primary figures of this group were (1) r. ezra ben solomon and (2) r. azriel, who established a school which included (3) r. moses ben nahman (nahmanides) and (4) r. jacob ben sheshet. on the gerona circle, see ek (pp. 34-36, ok (pp. 365-475, and moshe idel fs article, gsome remarks on ritual and mysticism

phy and mysticism (ithaca: cornell university press, 1969. includes excerpts from r. ezra ben solomon fs perush eal shir ha-shirim and a letter to r. abraham on god fs garments.in english. brody, seth. commentary on the song of songs= perush eal shir ha-shirim. kalamazoo: western michigan university, 1999. along with r. ezra fs commentary are the ghidden midrash to the book of lamentations h from the zohar hadash and r. bahya ben asher of sargossa fs commentary on genesis 1:1-2 (composed 1291. 20081 6. gavarin, martelle. grabbi ezra ben solomon of gerona, h part 1, in kabbalah (newsletter) vol. 1, no. 2 (jerusalem: winter, 1985-6; part 2: gannotated bibliography: source texts and criticism, h in kabbalah (newsletter) vol. 2, no. 3 (spring 1986 [on-line at http//queensu.ca/jewishstudies/kab

nnotated translation, in (idem) sex of the soul: the vicissitudes of sexual difference in kabbalah. los angeles: cherub press, 2005. scholem, gershom. kabbalah. pp. 409-11 and other citations. 2. c. isaac of acre (or acco: isaac of acre is of particular interest given that he drew from both the abulafian ecstatic school and the catalonian/castilian theosophic school, which included nahmanides and the zohar. fenton, paul. gsolitary meditation in jewish and islamic mysticism in the light of a recent archeological discovery, h in medieval encounters, volume 1, number 2 (leiden: brill, october 1995. fishbane, eitan. gauthority, tradition, and the creation of meaning in medieval kabbalah: isaac of acre fs illumination of the eyes, h in the journal of the american academy of religion, vol. 72, i

2000. idel, moshe. the mystical experience in abraham abulafia. numerous references to isaac of acre throughout. studies in ecstatic kabbalah, especially chapter 7, ghitbodedut as concentration in ecstatic kabbalah. h. kaplan, aryeh. meditation and kabbalah. grabbi isaac of acco, h pp. 137-154. 2. d. moses ben shem tov de leon: listed here are items which fall distinctly outside the discussion of the zohar and take up de leon fs other works. fishbane, eitan p. gmystical contemplation and the limits of the mind: the case of sheqel ha-qodesh, h in the jewish quarterly review, vol. 93, nos. 1.2 (philadelphia: university of pennsylvania, july.october 2002. kaplan, aryeh. meditation and kabbalah. pp. 122-4 (excerpt of shekel ha-kodesh. koren, sharon faye. gkabbalistic physiology: isaac the blin

n: jason aronson inc, 1993. dan, joseph. ggershom scholem fs reconstruction of early kabbalah, h in modern judaism, vol.5, no. 1 (1985; and in gershom scholem [modern critical views, edited by harold bloom (new york. new haven. philadelphia: chelsea house publishers, 1987. gershom scholem and the mystical dimension of jewish history: chapter 6. gthe early kabbalah h and chapter 7. gfrom gerona to the zohar. h. jewish mysticism and ethics. seattle: university of washington press, 1986; 2nd enlarged edition, northvale: jason aronson, 1996: chapter 2. gphilosophical ethics and the early kabbalists. h. gkabbalistic and gnostic dualism, h in binah, vol. 3: jewish intellectual history in the middle ages, edited by joseph dan (westport: praeger, 1994. gsamael and the problem of jewish gnosticism

gconcepts of messiah in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries: theosophical forms of kabbalah. h. gon european cultural renaissances and jewish mysticism, h in kabbalah: journal for the study of jewish mystical texts, volume 13, edited by daniel abrams and avraham elqayam (los angeles: cherub press, 2005. kiener, ronald. gthe status of astrology in the early kabbalah: from the sefer yesirah to the zohar, h in jerusalem studies in jewish thought, vol. 6, nos. 3-4: proceedings of the second international conference on the history of jewish mysticism: the beginnings of jewish mysticism in medieval europe, edited by joseph dan (jerusalem: the hebrew university, 1987. laenen, j. h. jewish mysticism: an introduction, translated by david e. orton [original dutch: joodse mystiek. een inleiding

nd c. evans (sheffield: sheffield academic press, 1993. lewy, hans (ed. gphilo: selections, h in three jewish philosophers (new york/philadelphia: jewish publication society/meridian books, 1960. niehoff, maren r. gwhat is in a name? philo fs mystical philosophy of language, h in jewish studies quarterly, vol. 2, no. 3 (tubingen: j. c. b. mohr [paul siebeck, 1995. werblowsky, r.j. zwi. gphilo and the zohar h parts 1 and 2, in journals of jewish studies, vols. x and xi (1959 and 1960. winston, david. gwas philo a mystic? h in studies in jewish mysticism (1982. on neoplatonism. goodman, lenn e (ed. neoplatonism and jewish thought. albany: state university of new york press, 1992* charles f apot includes two items not in charlesworth: gpirke aboth h and gthe fragments of a zadokite work. h g[

the devotional ideals of ashkenazic pietism, h in jewish spirituality i: from the bible through the middle ages, edited by arthur green (new york: crossroad, 1986. gexegesis for the few and the many: judah ha-hasid fs biblical commentaries, h in jerusalem studies in jewish thought, vol. viii [proceedings of the 20081 23 third international conference on the history of jewish mysticism: the age of the zohar, edited by joseph dan (jerusalem: hebrew university, 1989. ghasidei ashkenaz private penitentials: an introduction and descriptive catalogue of their manuscripts and early editions, h studies in jewish mysticism (1982. gthe historical meaning of hasidei ashkenaz: fact, fiction or cultural self-image? h in gershom scholem fs major trends in jewish mysticism 50 years after (1993. gjudah th

tical testimonies (new york: schocken books, 1977. 20081 30 for full bibliographic information on various stages of jewish mysticism, refer to my series on sources in english. gnotes on the study of merkabah mysticism and hekhalot literature in english h. with an appendix on jewish magic. gsefer yezirah in english h. gnotes on the study of early kabbalah in english h [the current paper. gnotes on the zohar in english h. gnotes on the study if later kabbalah in english: the safed period and lurianic kabbalah h. gthe study of christian cabala in english h these papers can be accessed on-line at http//www.digital-brilliance.com/kab/karr. gpopular h books on kabbalah and jewish mysticism are numerous and quite varied in their quality and purpose. for readable, well-researched accounts, see. la

LAITMAN M BASIC CONCEPTS IN KABBALAH

each in the obligation would create a vacuum in society because someone would remain without help. the bigger the number of violators, the more the rule that every member of society is obliged to observe would be breached. all are responsible for one another, both for observing the laws and for violating them. another ancient sage, elazar, the son of rashbi (rabbi shimon bar-yochai, the author of the zohar, has an even greater surprise for us. he says that not only every nation, but all of humanity, every living being, is responsible for each other. elazar states that all nations will have to observe this rule, and in so doing the entire world will be corrected. the world cannot be completely corrected and elevated unless everyone embraces the comprehensive law of the universe. 30 c h a p

entered a new phase that of the final correction. in kabbalah, this period is also called the time of deliverance, when humanity is destined to come out of the lowest state. b a s i c c o n c e p t s i n k a b b a l a h 48 rashbi and his disciples ascended all 125 levels. this is why they were able to write the book of zohar, which encompasses all 125 levels of the worlds. it is therefore said in the zohar that the book will be revealed only at the end of days, meaning on the eve of the end of correction. other generations couldn t reach the end of correction. thus, they could not understand this book because they were unable to surmount all 125 levels from which the book of zohar is written. in our generation, we can all reach the 125th level; at that time, we can all understand the book

ingly absurd language of kabbalah becomes the language of actions, thoughts, and sensations; the concepts that are opposite in our world then unite in the single supernal root. 54 c h a p t e r 9 f r o m t h e p r e fac e t o t h e z o h a r the book of zohar was concealed from the uninitiated from the day of its creation. now, the conditions have ripened for its disclosure to the public. to make the zohar accessible to every reader, we must precede it with some explanations. first, it should be noted that everything described in the zohar is an order of ten sefirot: keter, hochma, bina, hesed, gevura, tifferet, netzah, hod, yesod, malchut, and their combinations. in the same way express any thought with a limited number of letters in the alphabet, so are the combinations of the ten sefiro

in the alphabet, so are the combinations of the ten sefirot sufficient to describe every spiritual action or object. however, there are three clear boundaries one should always keep in mind, connected to the four levels of perception (or attainment) in our world: matter, form in matter, abstract form, and essence. these four levels of attainment also exist in the ten sefirot. the first boundary: the zohar researches only matter and form in matter, but it in no way concerns itself with abstract form and essence. the second boundary: all that was created consists of three levels: 1. the world ein sof (infinity; 2. the world atzilut; 3. the worlds beria, yetzira, and assiya (bya. the zohar studies only the three last worlds bya. it does not study the worlds ein sof and atzilut in and of them

e world beria; the six sefirot, from hesed to yesod, collectively called tifferet, correspond to the world yetzira; sefirat malchut corresponds to the world assiya. all that exists above the world atzilut refers to sefirat keter. however, each of the above worlds is also divided into ten sefirot. even the most infinitesimal object in any of the worlds is divided into (or consists of) ten sefirot. the zohar ascribes a specific color to each sefira (drawing 2 on next page: white corresponds to sefirat hochma; red corresponds to sefirat bina; green corresponds to sefirat tifferet; and black corresponds to sefirat malchut. b a s i c c o n c e p t s i n k a b b a l a h 56 drawing 2 although the light that fills the sefirot is colorless, receivers see it with its corresponding hue. thus, in all

and its form, when analyzed in conjunction with matter, yield true and sufficient data about the researched object. in the spiritual worlds bya every object is attained only in its matter and form. colors (red, green, and black) in these worlds constitute matter, and we attain them atop the white background of f r o m t h e p r e f a c e t o t h e z o h a r 59 the world atzilut. readers studying the zohar should remember the necessity to restrict themselves to the two types of research available to us. as previously mentioned, all the sefirot are subdivided into four levels of attainment. thus, sefirat hochma constitutes the form, and bina, tifferet, and malchut constitute the matter dressed in the form. only sefirot bina, tifferet, and malchut are examined in the zohar. the book does not

r world. the inanimate level in the spiritual worlds is called heichalot; the vegetative level is called levushim; the animate level is called mala'achim; the human level is called human souls in a particular world. the ten sefirot in each world are considered the creator s parts in it. the human souls in each world are its center and receive their sustenance from the other levels. those studying the zohar should constantly bear in mind that all objects are viewed only with regard to their interaction in a given world. all research boils down to the study of the human soul and what comes into contact with it. since the zohar studies only souls that are clothed in bodies of this world, ein sof is also studied only in that respect. in other words, the book researches the influence, program

the book, he understood why he had been exiled and how he could return there. that kingdom is the spiritual world, where everything is fine for those who observe the laws of the great king. the land of exile is our world. the book through which everyone can remember the forgotten, find the homeland of the soul, realize why he or she had been expelled, and finally return to the original place, is the zohar! yet, if the zohar is so important that it can help us attain the upper worlds, to see and feel the world of souls and the creator himself, why was it concealed for so many years from the time it was written until the appearance of the ari s kabbalistic method? the answer to this question is found in kabbalah: for 6,000 years of its existence, the world has been structured as ten sefirot

ght of ruach fills the first group. these 2,000 years, following the darkness period, are called the torah period. the third group of sefirot, netzah, hod, and yesod, takes the last 2,000 years. the light of nefesh descends here from the second group, the light of ruach descends from the first group to the second, and the light of neshama enters the first group. the entire wisdom of kabbalah, and the zohar in particular, was concealed until the emergence of the third group. the ari revealed the zohar to us, and his commentaries showed us the path to attain the spiritual world. the ari passed away before the end of that period, meaning before all the light had entered the third group. hence, at that time only special souls could study kabbalah without revealing its essence to the world. tod

world. the ari passed away before the end of that period, meaning before all the light had entered the third group. hence, at that time only special souls could study kabbalah without revealing its essence to the world. today, as we are approaching the end of the third period, we are ready to receive the comprehensive. b a s i c c o n c e p t s i n k a b b a l a h 84 sulam (ladder) commentary on the zohar, and a systematic textbook on kabbalah entitled talmud eser sefirot (the study of the ten sefirot. although the souls who lived during the first and the second 2,000 years were highly exalted and corresponded to the upper sefirot (hochma, bina, and daat, netzah, gevura, and hod, they could not receive the appropriate light because it had not yet reached our world. now, the lowest souls a

e (intention) refers to the light entering the souls. the same reverse dependence exists between the sefirot (souls) and the light: the creation starts with the upper sefirot, filled with the lower lights, and ends with the lower sefirot (souls, filled with the upper light. thus, it is the low souls that reveal the upper light, but only if they engage in the proper study of kabbalah. the study of the zohar, and kabbalah itself, is a starting point in the correction of the entire world and the achievement of absolute peace and happiness. 85 c h a p t e r 11 f r o m t h e i n t r o d u c t i o n t o t h e s t u dy o f t h e t e n s e f i r o t in the introduction to the study of the ten sefirot, baal hasulam (rabbi yehuda ashlag) explains that his principal desire is to break the iron wall t

closer and more significant, particularly through the temple and the services conducted there. as the moral level of society declined, we became unworthy (i.e, different in qualities) and lost our ability to sense the spiritual worlds. hence, the temple was destroyed and the exile period began. kabbalists continued studying secretly and made kabbalah inaccessible to the unworthy. it is written in the zohar that the creator s desire was to conceal his wisdom from the world, but when the world approaches the days of the messiah, even children will reveal his secrets. they will be able to foresee and study the future, and at that time he will reveal himself to all. rashbi was the last kabbalist of the pre-exile period; hence, he received permission from above to write the book of zohar. kabba

LAITMAN M FROM CHAOS TO HARMONY

e still, vegetative, and the animate, the good attitude of an element toward the system is expressed at the material level. with man, the level that requires correction is the level of thoughts and attitude toward others. the book of zohar, one of the seminal books in the wisdom of kabbalah, written some 2,000 years ago by rabbi shimon bar-yochai, defines it thus: all is clarified in the thought (the zohar, part 2, item 254).17 our inherent resistance to bond with other people into a single whole is an expression of our egoism. altruism is the opposite; it is an intrinsic motion of a person, 80 from chaos to harmony from within one s heart and one s desire, toward sensing others as part of oneself. thus, to balance between us and nature s law of altruism, we are required to be in a state w

ough the book of zohar was written before the people went into exile, it states that this book will be discovered only at the end of the exile. that is, its arrival will bring with it the end of the spiritual exile: because israel is destined to taste from the tree of life, which is this book of zohar, in which they will come out of the exile with mercy (the book of zohar, parashat naso, item 90. the zohar also writes that toward the end of a 6,000 year period allotted to the correction of the ego, the book will be revealed to all of humanity: when it is near the days of the messiah, even infants in the world are destined to find the secrets of the wisdom, and to know in them the ends and the calculations of redemption. and at that time it will be revealed to all (the book of zohar, parash

the secrets of the wisdom, and to know in them the ends and the calculations of redemption. and at that time it will be revealed to all (the book of zohar, parashat vayira, item 460. thus, immediately after it was written, the book of zohar was concealed. the next time the book appeared israel s role 165 was in 13th century spain. then, in the 16th century, about 1,400 years after the writing of the zohar, the ari (rabbi isaac luria) appeared in zephath, a city of kabbalists in the north of israel. in a systematic, scientific language he revealed the zohar s correction method. he also described in great detail the phases of the correction of the ego, leading to balance with the comprehensive nature. his writings contain depictions of the structure of the higher world, and explain how one

lah and its essence, he wrote, i am happy to have been born in such a generation when it is already permitted to publicize the wisdom of truth. and if you ask me, how do i know that it is permitted? i shall reply that it is because i was given permission to disclose. 166 from chaos to harmony baal hasulam s primary compositions are the sulam commentary on the book of zohar, in which he translated the zohar from aramaic to hebrew, and interpreted the words of the zohar. he also wrote the study of the ten sefirot, in which he described the writings of the ari. in addition to these enormous works, baal hasulam wrote many essays that clarify how to establish a human society that is balanced with nature. he explained he was able to do so in response to that generation s need for a clear, system

and philosophers will delight in its illumination, laymen will also enjoy the satisfying answers to the riddles of life that only authentic kabbalah provides. now, travel further reading 205 through the pages and prepare for an astonishing journey into the upper worlds. introduction to the book of zohar: this volume is a required preparation for those who wish to understand the hidden message of the zohar. among the many helpful topics dealt with in this text, readers are introduced to the language of roots and branches, without which the stories in the zohar are mere fable and legend. introduction to the book of zohar will certainly furnish readers with the necessary tools to understand authentic kabbalah as it was originally meant to be, as a means to attain the upper worlds. wondrous w

i really? and why am i on this planet? this book is an absolute must. 207 a bo u t b n e i b a ru c h bnei baruch is a non-profit organization that is spreading the wisdom of kabbalah to accelerate the spirituality of humankind. kabbalist rav michael laitman, phd, who was the disciple and personal assistant to rabbi baruch ashlag, the son of rabbi yehuda ashlag (author of the sulam commentary on the zohar, follows in the footsteps of his mentor in leading the group toward its mission. laitman s scientific method provides individuals of all faiths, religions, and cultures with the precise tools necessary for embarking on a captivating path of self-discovery and spiritual ascent. with the focus being primarily on inner processes that individuals undergo at their own pace, bnei baruch welcom

LAITMAN M KABBALAH REVEALED

e end of the 20th century, humankind s egoism will soar to unprecedented intensity. as we have seen before, the more we want, the emptier we feel. therefore, since the end of the 20th century, humanity has been experiencing its worst emptiness ever. the book of zohar also writes that when this emptiness is felt, humanity will need a means to cure it and to help people become fulfilled. then, says the zohar, the time will come to present kabbalah to all of humanity as a means of acquiring fulfillment through similarity with nature. the process of acquiring fulfillment, the tikkun, will not happen all at once and not simultaneously for everyone. for a tikkun to occur, a person must want it to happen. it is a process that evolves out of one s own volition. correction begins when a person real

n da r i e s i n l e a r n i n g k a b b a l a h first boundary xwhat we perceive in his preface to the book of zohar, kabbalist yehuda ashlag writes that there are four categories of perception x matter, form in matter, abstract form, and essence. when we examine the spiritual nature, it is our job to decide which of these categories provide us with solid, reliable information, and which do not. the zohar chose to explain only the first two. in other words, every single word in it is written either from the perspective of matter or form in matter, with not a single word from the perspectives of abstract form or essence. second boundary xwhere we perceive as we ve said before, the substance of the spiritual worlds is called the soul of adam ha rishon. this is how the spiritual worlds were

tract form or essence. second boundary xwhere we perceive as we ve said before, the substance of the spiritual worlds is called the soul of adam ha rishon. this is how the spiritual worlds were created. however, we have already passed the creation of these worlds, and are on our way up to higher levels, though it doesn t always feel like it. in our state, adam s soul has already broken in pieces. the zohar teaches that the vast majority of the pieces, whose reality is reality? 97 99 percent to be exact, were scattered to the worlds beria, yetzira, and assiya (bya, and the remaining one percent rose to atzilut. since adam s soul makes up the content of the worlds bya and has been scattered throughout these worlds, and since we are all pieces of that soul, clearly everything we perceive can

he spiritual worlds, which is why we don t feel them. it is as if two people are standing back to back and going in opposite directions. what are their chances of ever meeting each other? but when we correct ourselves, we discover that we are already living inside the worlds bya. eventually, we will even rise along with them to atzilut and to adam kadmon. third boundary xwho perceives even though the zohar goes into great detail about the content of each world and what happens there, as if there is a physical place where these things occur, it is actually referring only to the experiences of souls. in other words, it relates to how kabbalists perceive things, and tells us so 98 kabbalah revealed that we, too, can experience them. therefore, when we are reading in the zohar about events in

d, and the sense of total anonymity. the difference between the first two examples and the latter two is that in the latter pair i am reporting personal experiences, and in the first two, i am speaking of impressions that everyone will experience while in manhattan, though everyone will experience them differently. whose reality is reality? 99 when we talked about the first boundary, we said that the zohar speaks only from the perspectives of matter and form in matter. we said that matter is the will to receive, and form in matter is the intention for which the will to receive actually receives xfor me or for others. in simpler terms: matter= will to receive; form= intention. the form of bestowal in and of itself is called the world atzilut. bestowal in its abstract form is the attribute o

f itself is called the world atzilut. bestowal in its abstract form is the attribute of the creator; it is totally unrelated to the creatures, who are receivers by their nature. however, the creatures (people) can wrap their will to receive with the form of bestowal, so it resembles bestowal. in other words, we can receive, and in so doing actually become givers. it is imperative to remember that the zohar shouldn t be treated like a report of mystical events or a collection of tales. the zohar, like all other kabbalah books, should be used as a learning tool. this means that the book will help you only if you, too, want to experience what it describes. otherwise, the book will be of little help to you, and you will not understand it. remember this: understanding kabbalistic texts correctl

ator in a state called equivalence of form. whose reality is reality? 101 to reach that goal, kabbalists carefully defined which parts of reality we should study, and which we shouldn t. to determine these two paths, kabbalists followed a very simple principle: if it helps us learn more quickly and more accurately, we should study it. if it doesn t, we should ignore it. kabbalists in general, and the zohar in particular, caution us to study only those parts we can perceive with absolute certainty. wherever guesswork is involved, we shouldn t waste our time, as our attainment would be questionable. kabbalists also say that of the four categories of perception x matter, form in matter, abstract form, and essence x we can perceive only the first two with certainty. for this reason, everything

he zohar in particular, caution us to study only those parts we can perceive with absolute certainty. wherever guesswork is involved, we shouldn t waste our time, as our attainment would be questionable. kabbalists also say that of the four categories of perception x matter, form in matter, abstract form, and essence x we can perceive only the first two with certainty. for this reason, everything the zohar writes about is desires (matter) and how we use them: whether for ourselves or for the creator. kabbalist yehuda ashlag writes that, if the reader does not know how to be prudent with the boundaries, and takes matters out of context, he or she will immediately be confused. this can happen if we don t limit our study to matter and form in matter. we must understand that there is no such t

nternational levels. t h e da r k b e fo r e t h e dawn the darkest time of night is right before the dawn. similarly, the writers of the book of zohar said, almost 2,000 years ago, that humanity s darkest time will come right before its spiritual awakening. for centuries, beginning with the ari, author of the tree of life, who lived in the 16th century, kabbalists have been writing that the time the zohar was referring to was the end of the 20th century. they called it the last generation. they did not mean that we would all perish in some apocalyptic, spectacular event. in kabbalah, a generation represents a spiritual state. the last generation is the last and highest state that can be reached. and kabbalists said that the time we are living in xthe beginning of the 21st century xis when

in its illumination, laymen will also enjoy the satisfying answers to the riddles of life that only authentic kabbalah provides. now, travel through the pages and prepare for an astonishing journey into the upper worlds. introduction to the book of zohar is the second in a series written by kabbalist and scientist rav michael laitman, which will prepare readers to understand the hidden message of the zohar. among the many helpful topics dealt with in this companion text to the science of kabbalah, readers are introduced to the language of roots and branches, without which the stories in the zohar are mere fable and legend. introduction to the book of zohar will certainly furnish readers with the necessary tools to understand authentic kabbalah as it was originally meant to be, as a means t

tioning who am i really? and why am i on this planet? this book is an absolute must. about bnei baruch bnei baruch is a non-profit organization that is spreading the wisdom of kabbalah to accelerate the spirituality of humankind. kabbalist rav michael laitman, phd, who was the disciple and personal assistant to rabbi baruch ashlag, the son of rabbi yehuda ashlag (author of the sulam commentary on the zohar, follows in the footsteps of his mentor in leading the group toward its mission. laitman s scientific method provides individuals of all faiths, religions, and cultures with the precise tools necessary for embarking on a captivating path of self-discovery and spiritual ascent. with the focus being primarily on inner processes that individuals undergo at their own pace, bnei baruch welcom

LAITMAN M KABBALAH ATTAINING THE WORLDS BEYOND

the same level as abraham. thus, the kabbalists understood how- 82- attaining the worlds beyond abraham responded to isaac, since in their spiritual state they were like abraham. in his lifetime, the kabbalist rabbi yehuda ashlag reached all 125 levels. from this exalted place, he dictated the kabbalah, which we are now able to enjoy in this generation. from this level, he wrote his commentary to the zohar, the master text of kabbalah. each of the 125 levels exists objectively; all those who perceive each of them see the same things, just as all those who inhabit our world see the same surroundings if they are in the same place. as soon as we attain the smallest altruistic desire, we can embark on a path of spiritual ascensions and descents. at one moment, we are ready to nullify ourselves

ed wisdom" children love to hear legends because they have the imagination and brains to envision everything, not just what others see. if a child grows up and still sees what others do not, he becomes wise and clever, and "acquires wisdom" because children see what others do not, they know that imagination is real. they remain as a "wise child" as is written in the greatest, oldest magical book "the zohar" there once was a magician, great and noble and goodhearted, with all the attributes usually given in children s books. but because he was so goodhearted, he did not know who to share his goodness with. he did not have anyone to- 218- pour his affections on, to play with, to spend time with, to think about. the magician also needed to feel wanted, for it is very sad to be alone. what sho

is possible only if the person reached the outermost limits of patience and suffering. only then does the creator send help, and this help always arrives unexpectedly. an individual can never know in advance which tear will be the last one; all tears should be shed as if they were the last. as for the help of the creator "yeshuat hashem keheref ay in" it appears suddenly and always unexpectedly! the zohar is considered by many to be a moral teaching based on kabbalah, since it is written in the language of the commandments, prescribing what an individual should do. it is clear that by defining the book of zohar in such way, people attempt to deny its mystical, concealed essence. the authors of the zohar have written this book, which deals only with the composition and the operation of the

how to live in the reality that is spread before us. it is a systematicmethod that has evolved over thousands of years through a handful of unique individuals in every generation. during all that time it was concealed from the public eye that was not yet ready to receive it, until the current generation the generation, for which this method was specifically developed. that is why it is written in the zohar, that from 1995 onward kabbalah will become a way of life, open to all with no restrictions. why our generation? because the souls that descend to this world and dress in our bodies evolve from generation to generation, until they come to a state where a question awakens in them about the meaning of their very existence. if we contemplate reality as it is described in the books of kabbal

LAITMAN M KABBALAH SCIENCE AND THE MEANING OF LIFE

om the russian academy of science and an msc in bio-cybernetics from the polytechnic institute of st. petersburg. he was the disciple and personal assistant to rabbi baruch ashlag (1907-1991) for twelve years. during those years, rav laitman acquired the sulam method, teachings passed on to his mentor by his father, rabbi yehuda ashlag (1884-1954, known as baal hasulam for his sulam commentary on the zohar. rav laitman has written thirty books on kabbalah, which were translated into ten languages. his daily lessons are broadcast live and recorded on cable television in the us, in israel, and on the internet to tens of thousands of students worldwide. in recent years, rav laitman has become a frequent speaker at scientific conferences and conventions in europe, east asia and north america

s if it were outside of us. the concept i am presenting here was described by the greatest kabbalists thousands of years ago, and is both fascinating and awesome in the richness of experiences it provides. it is written in the book of zohar (the book of radiance) that only when we understand that perception, experience it, and master it will we understand the writings in the kabbalah books and in the zohar itself. once we have recognized the limits of our perception, kabbalah can teach us how to discover what really exists outside of us. through kabbalah, we can transcend our natural qualities, build new tools of sensation, and through them fully experience the external reality. pa r t i: k a b b a l a h m e e t s q ua n t u m p h y s i c s 24 when we are liberated from the chains of our i

the ari (1534-1572. he presented his method in his books, and today the wisdom of kabbalah is founded on the lurianic kabbalah (the kabbalah of the ari. lurianic kabbalah relates to kabbalah as a science there is no meditation, chanting, charms, amulets or magical drawings of letters. rabbi yehuda ashlag (1884-1954, known as baal hasulam (owner of the ladder) for his sulam (ladder) commentary on the zohar, paved the way for our generation. his writings enable all of us to connect to the ancient, authentic sources that the past giants left behind. the kabbalah that we study today contains the same knowledge that was passed on from abraham through all the generations. i was privileged to spend twelve years beside baal hasulam s eldest son and successor, kabbalist rabbi baruch shalom ashlag

sight of the peoples--rabbi hillel shklover in the name of the vilna gaon, the voice of the turtle-dove, p. 115 concerning the study of the seven teachings, our rabbi had told us: the messianic revelation comes hand in hand with the revelation of the wisdom of the torah, and appears through the disclosure of the secretes of the torah and the opening of the seven teachings this is what is meant in the zohar (vayera, 117) that in the year 1840 the gates of wisdom will open from above k a b b a l i s t s w r i t e a b o u t k a b b a l a h 203 and the springs of wisdom from below, with the commencement of the gradual messianic revelation. the voice of the turtle-dove, p. 117 he would often sigh heavily and say, why should the nations say, where is the wisdom of israel? he would often whisper

n its illumination, laymen will also enjoy the satisfying answers to the riddles of life that only authentic kabbalah provides. now, travel through the pages and prepare for an astonishing journey into the upper worlds. introduction to the book of zohar: is the second in a series written by kabbalist and scientist rav michael laitman, which will prepare readers to understand the hidden message of the zohar. among the many helpful topics dealt with in this companion text to the science of kabbalah, readers are introduced to the language of roots and branches, without which the stories in the zohar are mere fable and legend. introduction to the book of zohar will certainly furnish readers with the necessary tools to understand authentic kabbalah as it was originally meant to be, as a means t

rom, and where he is going after he completes his life in this world. 220 a b o u t b n e i b a ru c h bnei baruch is a non-profit organization that is spreading the wisdom of kabbalah to accelerate the spirituality of humankind. kabbalist rav michael laitman, phd, who was the disciple and personal assistant to rabbi baruch ashlag, the son of rabbi yehuda ashlag (author of the sulam commentary on the zohar, follows in the footsteps of his mentor in leading the group toward its mission. laitman's scientific method provides individuals of all faiths, religions, and cultures with the precise tools necessary for embarking on a captivating path of self-discovery and spiritual ascent. with the focus being primarily on inner processes that individuals undergo at their own pace, bnei baruch welcom

LAITMAN M THE KABBALAH EXPERIENCE

sands of years, taught by a handful of unique individuals in every generation. their task has been to ensure that the truths of kabbalah would be given to those ready to receive them. during all that time, kabbalah was concealed from the public (which was not yet ready to receive it, until the current generation; it was this generation for which this method was specifically developed. that is why the zohar, the ari and baal hasulam (rav yehuda ashlag, the author of hasulam (the ladder, a commentary on the zohar) reveal that from this time forward, the kabbalah will become a simple and genuine way of life, open to all, with no restrictions. this approach originated in 1995, and we are currently in the midst of this process to expand the reach of kabbalah. why our generation? because the sou

and for the first time in history, the system of the worlds was described in a literary tongue. kabbalists use four languages to describe the upper world to humanity: the language of the bible (history, the language of the halacha (jewish law, the language of agada (legends and tales, and the language of kabbalah. without exception, they all speak about the upper world. for example, when you open the zohar, you find an explanation of the text of the torah, but in a different language--that of the kabbalah. the zohar is the interpretation of that torah (writing the same thing under a different label is called interpretation- perush. so we see that the only difference between the torah and the zohar is the language. everything that happens in the upper world, descends v in due time v to our

ople in our world that connect by the types of their soul and t h e k a b b a l a h e x p e r i e n c e 70 their desires (in fact, this is how nations and peoples are formed. because the jews must be the first to correct, there is pressure on them from above, by the upper guidance--the creator- in order to bring them to correction. the creator uses all the means of this world (see introduction to the zohar, item 66 through the end. because the souls that are called jews must be corrected before all other souls, then in our world, in groups of people with a jewish type of soul there are kabbalists. those are people who came out to the spiritual world and express their impressions and the method of correction in their own mother tongue. that is why kabbalah is expressed in the language of th

only optimal religion is love thy neighbor as thyself, since it leads to uniting with the creator. what we call religion is nothing more than a way to create feelings of stability and comfort within our shaky existence. m e a n i n g o f k a b b a l a h q: what are the sources you usually cite regarding the meaning of kabbalah? a: the kabbalist rav yehuda ashlag, author of the sulam commentary on the zohar, begins his article, the essence of the wisdom of kabbalah, with the following definition: k this wisdom is no more and no less than a concatenation of roots that descend by way of cause and consequence, with fixed, determined rules, that combine to one exalted goal being the the revelation of his godliness to his creatures in this world. g e n u i n e b o o k s q: what do the books of k

s can only exist in one s own attainment of the higher world. t h e w i s d o m o f k a b b a l a h 73 t h e b o o k o f z o h a r q: what is the source of the name- zohar? a: zohar means splendor, as it says: the righteous sit with their crowns on their heads, and delight in the splendor of divinity. the sensation of the creator (the light) in the collective soul is called divinity, according to the zohar. in any place where the books of kabbalah say, so it was written in the book k this always refers to the zohar. all the others are seemingly not considered books because the word book (sefer in hebrew) comes from the word sefira, which comes from the word sapphire, radiance, a revelation (of the light, the creator. this is found only in the zohar. q: there have been many debates about th

oks because the word book (sefer in hebrew) comes from the word sefira, which comes from the word sapphire, radiance, a revelation (of the light, the creator. this is found only in the zohar. q: there have been many debates about the zohar over the years. what is the essence of these universal secrets? how can it be written in familiar books, but still remain a mystery? when will i be able to buy the zohar at a bookstore, read it and discover its secrets for myself? a: when we speak of spiritual concepts, we must first understand that they are unbounded by time and space, and that there are no words to describe them. this is because everything we feel is bounded by time, space and motion. once movement stops, our lives also stop. we cannot picture something motionless, disconnected from ti

space. if we take it out of that space, there will be a void and we will not be able to describe it. in spirituality, there aren t any bodies, there is no time, there is no distance and therefore spirituality is disconnected from the descriptions and inventions of mankind; spirituality is also disconnected from our structure, our nature and our senses. q: why can t i study kabbalah directly from the zohar? a: the zohar is an important kabbalistic book, but it is written in a concealed way, making it impossible to understand until a person is in t h e k a b b a l a h e x p e r i e n c e 74 the spiritual world. because of that, today we do not start with the book of zohar. instead, there are introductions and books of baal hasulam that teach us how to understand what is written in the zohar

hose who have already attained spirituality. in order to understand it properly, we need to study several other books first, such as: preface to the wisdom of kabbalah, introduction to the book of zohar, preface to the book of zohar and foreword to the book of zohar. without first acquiring clear and correct knowledge through those introductions, the book will remain completely abstruse to us. q: the zohar was written in the second century bc, but was first discovered in approximately the 13th century. why did it take so long to be discovered? a: baal hasulam relates to this question in the introduction to the book of zohar (item 61: we must also ask why was the commentary to the zohar not revealed before the time of the ari. why was it not revealed to his predecessors? and most perplexing

discovered in approximately the 13th century. why did it take so long to be discovered? a: baal hasulam relates to this question in the introduction to the book of zohar (item 61: we must also ask why was the commentary to the zohar not revealed before the time of the ari. why was it not revealed to his predecessors? and most perplexing of all, why were the words of the ari and the commentary to the zohar not revealed until today? in order to make it easier to understand, let me explain the words of baal hasulam in simpler words. first, why was the zohar hidden? the answer is that the world has gone through three phases of development during its 6000 years of existence. the first 2000 are called, tohu; the middle 2000, torah; and the last 2000- the days of the messiah. during the first 20

ouls of the first generations were higher than those of the last, but the greater the correction that is needed, the greater the consequent attainment and adhesion. during the last 2000 years, especially from the time of the ari, the souls that descend to this world become increasingly coarser and more egotistical. they must therefore study and implement kabbalah for their correction. q: why does the zohar have only stories and fables in it, and why is the language so old fashioned if it was intended for us? a: the zohar was written like that on purpose, as the book itself will tell you. only people who have already grasped the spiritual reality can know what is written there and see the text as a cohesive story. they see the pictures and identify the picture and the story as one. we canno

old fashioned if it was intended for us? a: the zohar was written like that on purpose, as the book itself will tell you. only people who have already grasped the spiritual reality can know what is written there and see the text as a cohesive story. they see the pictures and identify the picture and the story as one. we cannot do that because we still don t have the spiritual vision, which is why the zohar appears to be a bundle of fables and stories. the writings of the ari, however, aim at more developed souls from later cycles, and therefore appear different to us. but the most suitable for us are the writings of baal hasulam. these are intended for our generation, which is why they appear to us as systematic textbooks, as in any science, much like the ones we study at university. they

nce involved, and today it can be revealed to anyone who seeks it. 85 c h a p t e r 3. t h e s t u dy o f k a b b a l a h i n t r o d u c t i o n kabbalah has always been taught through books. the first books about kabbalah were written thousands of years ago. adam ha rishon (the first man) wrote the book, the angel raziel, and abraham the patriarch wrote the book sefer yetzira (book of creation. the zohar was written some 1900 years ago. all of these books are still for sale today. through them, we can study the wisdom of kabbalah. the principal, fundamental book that we study by is called talmud eser hasefirot (the study of the ten sefirot. it consists of six volumes and more than 2000 pages that depict the laws of the system of creation in scientific terms. when we study them, we receiv

LAITMAN M THE PATH OF KABBALAH

or on each and every one of us. hence, to discern the actual picture of the world, we must find what we read inside us, as we read the torah, because every written word exists within us it just hasn t been discovered. pa r t o n e: t h e b e g i n n i n g 11 we feel what the books speak of in accordance with our spiritual growth, hence the importance of the study from genuine sources of kabbalah: the zohar, the writing of the ari, and the writings of ashlag. this is the safest way to attain the correction of our feelings and attributes, and our spiritual ascent. the best way to make progress is to study while remembering that these books actually speak of what is within me, that all this already exists somewhere inside me. all these worlds and partzufim are things that i must discover with

and in fact, the entire reality one attains with one s senses. even in our world, below the spiritual world, there are degrees of attainment. at the beginning of our preparation period for spirituality, we begin to understand the connections and relationships between spiritual properties, although this understanding cannot be compared with the actual sensation when spirituality is attained. when the zohar says, go and ask rabbi shimon and rabbi abba, it means that you should ascend to their degree and ask why they present things the way they do. when the zohar writes that a certain person met rabbi shimon, it means that that person rose to the degree pa r t o n e: t h e b e g i n n i n g 21 of rabbi shimon, and can therefore see and understand what rabbi shimon can. this is how a degree g

e kabbalah, and all the holy scriptures were written by people who climbed the spiritual ladder and wrote their instructions from there. many kabbalists climbed these steps, but there are conditions that limit the number of people permitted to write. there are only three kabbalists who attained the final degree and were permitted to describe the system. they are rabbi shimon bar-yochay, author of the zohar, the ari, author of the tree of life, and rabbi yehuda ashlag, author of the sulam commentary on the zohar and the study of the ten sefirot. these books were all written after their authors ascended to the degree of the creator in every property and capability. when one acquires the attributes of the creator, one becomes free. such a person is not limited in any way, but is above everyth

to the degree of the creator in every property and capability. when one acquires the attributes of the creator, one becomes free. such a person is not limited in any way, but is above everything. kabbalah rarely mentions one s ascent in the degrees, though it is the most important thing for us. the books speak primarily of one s descent from the worlds above. the descent is described in detail in the zohar, in the writings of the ari, and in the study of the ten sefirot. we learn about the ascent from below from letters and articles that baal ha- sulam and rabash (rav baruch ashlag) wrote to their students. there seems to be a shortage of material that describes the ascent. but the reason is that the complementary material should only serve to encourage us to attain the state of this world

we actually have, how to use it, and who possesses it. we will see that we are all servants of our own egoism and that only the kabbalists who climb the spiritual degrees have real freedom. furthermore, the more they correct themselves, the greater is their capability to lead the world. we learn about the descent of the light from the creator down to our world in the study of the ten sefirot, in the zohar, and in the writings of the ari. the other part of kabbalah, which talks about our ascent from our world back to the degree of the creator, is described quite vaguely in the books. this work is called the work of god, a work by which we equalize our form (properties) with those of the creator. pa r t o n e: t h e b e g i n n i n g 51 q: is kabbalah the only way to feel the creator, and i

ee that there is nothing as logical or scientific that provides a fuller picture of our world, and places all the sciences and other wisdoms in their place. there is nothing more realistic than kabbalah. thus, now that science has reached a dead end, the only true wisdom of creation appears from above. that is why kabbalah is referred to as the wisdom of truth. q: will kabbalah save the world? a: the zohar states precisely that this is so. what is kabbalah? it is a spiritual force that rules our world. we will attain correction only if we draw the force down here for that purpose. q: certain mystical things are, in fact, a kind of drug that people try in order to escape their problems. drug addicts are normally very quiet people, but the entire world seems to be against them. why? a: the r

ning in the upper world in a state of calmness, eternity, completeness, and peace. that spiritual degree (at the end of correction) is not described anywhere in kabbalah or the torah, simply because there is no language with which to describe it. beyond the end of correction is a realm that is not described anywhere. it is there that we find the secrets of torah. there are subtle hints of this in the zohar and in the talmud. that spiritual state is called maase merkava and maase bereshit. but those are all very subtle hints. it is actually impossible to describe these spiritual feelings in words because the words and the letters in our language are valid only in the correction zone (until the world of atzilut, since that is from where they are taken. we cannot feel anything above the syste

ter we obtain spiritual attainment do we begin to understand the entire system of creation and the calculation that brought the worst events that happened to us. we will then understand why tragedies are necessary for our existence and correction. unfortunately, it is the lack of understanding of the necessity for spiritual evolution that brings such tragedies upon us. this is spoken of openly in the zohar and in the books of the ari. if we do not start studying the books of kabbalah, the wisdom that guides our spiritual evolution, we will not evolve to attain the purpose of creation. our people and the whole of mankind will be pushed ferociously to the realization of the necessity of spiritual development. there will be no way to escape it. that is why we place such emphasis on the circul

ses depends on the kinds of souls that descend to this world. there were other forms of study before the ari, but from the discovery of his method, it became possible for everyone to study, provided they had a strong enough desire. baal hasulam did not make any fundamental changes in the ari s method, but only enhanced and deepened it. he wrote a detailed commentary to the books of the ari and to the zohar. thanks to this commentary, anyone who wants to study the wisdom of kabbalah and enter the spiritual world can comprehend the inner meaning of the text and find the true meaning of the books of the torah. souls that came down to this world before the ari, received their spirituality on a superficial level. after the demise of the ari, the souls that descended to the world studied and ana

is to feel him through a correct performance of his will and his counsel. man s purification is the torah s real goal, and the observing of mitzvot is only a means to attain it. if the performance of mitzvot is not directed toward this aim, but is out of habit that has become a need, then it will not bear the right fruit. it is as though one who operates without this intent simply does not exist! the zohar writes that a mitzva without an aim or purpose is like a dead body (a body without a soul. therefore, one must obtain the desired aim. only then can one understand why one exists. the intention to attain the purpose of existence, to sense the creator, and to unite with him must be authentic. it is the only reason for doing anything. anything one does with this aim in mind is considered a

arn anything that will help to acquire the right aim. that is what kabbalah books teach and nothing else! c h a p t e r 3. 3 t h e s t ru c t u r e o f t h e u p p e r wo r l d s f o r e wo r d t his course is based on the article, preface to the wisdom of kabbalah, written by rabbi yehuda ashlag. rabbi ashlag wrote this article as one of his introductions to the sulam commentary that he wrote on the zohar. according to the method of the kabbalah, one learns about the extension of existence from above downward, from the creator down to this world. consequently, students acquire the means for spiritual elevation from below upward, exactly like those degrees of progression from above downward that they learn about. this is in accordance with the definition of kabbalah: this wisdom is no more

nd only afterwards does one attain the remaining portions of the torah, and only in the end does one attain the revealed torah (the vilna gaon, the siddur. i have seen it written that the prohibition from above to refrain from open study in the wisdom of truth was only for a limited period, until the end of 1490, but from then on the prohibition has been lifted and permission was granted to study the zohar. since 1540 it has been a great mitzva (commandment) for the masses to study in public, old and young and that is because the messiah will come because of that and not because of any other reason. therefore, we must not be negligent (rabbi azulai, introduction to ohr hochma. woe unto them who make the spirit of messiah vanish from the world, so as never to return, make the torah dry, wit

LEADBEATER CW GLIMPSES OF MASONIC HISTORY

y) through various latin works, the chief of which are baron knorr von rosenroth s kabbala denudata, the oedipus aegyptiacus of athanasius kircher, the de arte cabalistica of reuchlin and a latin translation of the yetzirah. as bro. a. e. waite, our chief authority in this field, has pointed out: 301. the written jewish tradition presupposes throughout a tradition which did not pass into writing. the zohar, for example, which is its chief memorial, refers everywhere to a great body of doctrine as something perfectly well-known by the circle of initiation for which the work was alone intended(*secret tradition in freemasonry, i, 64) 302. the skeleton of this body of doctrine has reached us in the symbolism of masonry, although along so different a line; and in the kabbala we may find a clue

ll-known by the circle of initiation for which the work was alone intended(*secret tradition in freemasonry, i, 64) 302. the skeleton of this body of doctrine has reached us in the symbolism of masonry, although along so different a line; and in the kabbala we may find a clue to much that is obscure in our modern rituals. 303. the spiritualization of the temple 304. two mystical concepts found in the zohar relate directly to our subject- the spiritualization of the temple of king solomon, and the doctrine of the lost word, both of which have their roots in the egyptian mysteries, as we have already seen. king solomon s temple formed the physical basis for a vast structure of mystical speculation and inquiry; for its measurements and proportions were held to have a relation to those of the

LEWIS JAMES SATANISM TODAY AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGION FOLKLORE AND POPULAR CULTURE

hey are not viewed as independent powers in revolt against god. by the middle ages, they were sometimes portrayed more as mischiefmakers, though this image alternated with a much more sinister one. the book of the pious (sefer hasidm, one of the most influential texts of the medieval period, mentions demons frequently, and there are many discussions of exorcism in its pages. demons also appear in the zohar and in other cabalistic literature. the jewish satan was never as sinister as his christian counterpart. initially, in fact, satan was not a being at all, but was, rather, an accusatory or adversarial role assigned by god. specifically, the earliest satans were angels, sent by god for the purpose of obstructing or blocking the acts of human beings. thus, for example, in the story of bala

ith with such amulets, and sometimes magic circles were drawn around the bed in order to protect the newborn child. it was believed that if a child laughed in its sleep, it meant that lilith was present. she could be sent away by tapping the child on the nose. it was further claimed that lilith was assisted by succubi and by her demon lover sammael, whose name means left or sinister. according to the zohar, the source of the cabala, lilith is at the height of her power when the moon is in its waning phase. because of her refusal to accept a one-down position with respect to the first male, contemporary feminists looking back on lilith have reinterpreted her story, seeing in lilith a strong-minded woman reacting against patriarchal oppression. see also demons; incubi and succubi; judaism fo

el of death. in the secrets of enoch he represents the prince of demons and a magician. sammael is mentioned in a number of sources, such as talmud yalkut, where he represents esau s guardian angel, and in sotah, where he is regarded as edom s angelic prince guardian. he is equated with the serpent who tempted eve and, by seducing her, became the father of cain in the sayings of rabbi eliezer. in the zohar he is the dark angel who wrestled with jacob at peniel. sammael is also cited in waite s the holy kabbalah, as the severity of god, and as fifth of the archangels of the world of briah, where he corresponds to the sefira geburah. in baruch iii and in the ascension of isaiah, sammael and satan are used interchangeably. sammael also has a literary presence, as in longfellow s lengthy poem

LIBER 777

of aeshma deva, an evil spirit from persian mythology. line 8. belial. said to be the chief of the evil spirits in some late jewish apocalyptic literature (e.g. the testament of the 12 patriarchs, but in the old testament the name was a mere term of abuse meaning masterless or worthless. line 9. lilith. she gets everywhere. line 10. naamah. the sister of tubal-cain (see masonic symbolism; but in the zohar she gets turned into another version of lilith. col. cix. rather than use planetary symbols to distinguish the kings and dukes as in the printed edition, i have split this column. for daath add king bela son of beor (rwub b ulb) and dukes timnah (uamt, alvah (hwlu) and jetheth (tty. col. cx. line 1. ruach elohim chayyim, the spirit of the living gods. the first edition of 777 had as a su

LIBER LVII

deal with the esoteric teachings of it, as frater p. was able to understand them. and of these we shall give examples, showing the falsity and absurdity of the uninitiated path, the pure truth and reasonableness of the hidden way. for the student unacquainted with the rudiments of the qabalah we recommend the study of s. l. mathers .introduction. to his translation of the three principal books of the zohar,3 and westcott.s .introduction to the study of the qabalah. we venture to append a few quotations from the former document, which will show the elementary principles of calculation. dr. westcott.s little book is principally valuable for its able defence of the qabalah as against exotericism and literalism. the literal qabalah is. is divided into three parts: ayrfmg, gematria; wqyrfwn, no

the name of the deity, ydc, shaddai, each make 314; so the one is taken as symbolical of the other. the angel metatron is said to have been the conductor of the children of israel through the wilderness, of whom 3 [i.e. the kaballah unveiled. as scholem (major trends in jewish mysticism) and others have pointed out, the three tracts translated by mathers are actually fairly minor in the scheme of the zohar (a reasonably complete english translation of which occupies five quarto volumes. t.s] 6 liber lviii god says .my name is in him. with regard to gematria of phrases (gen. xlix, 10, hlyc aby, yeba shiloh= 358, which is the numeration of the word jycm, messiah.4 thus also the passage, gen. xviii. 2 hclc hnhw, vehenna shalisha .and lo, three men. equals in numerical value laprw layrbg lakym

unbalanced force, and destroyed.22 these primordial worlds are called the .kings of ancient time. and the .kings of edom who reigned before the monarchs of israel. in this sense, edom is the world of unbalanced force, and israel is the balanced sephiroth (genesis xxxvi, 31. this important fact, that worlds were created and destroyed prior to the present creation, is again and again reiterated in the zohar. now the sephiroth are also called the world of emanations, or the atziluthic world, or archetypal world, twlyxa \lwo, olahm atziluth; and this world gave birth to three other worlds, each containing a repetition of the sephiroth, but in a descending scale of brightness. the second world is the britic world, hayrbh \lwo, olahm ha-briah, the world of creation, also called aysrwk, korsia

the sensible is said to be an argument of a universe insensible, the latter becomes sensible in mind as soon as the argument is accepted, and disappears with its rejection. nor is the qabalah dependent upon its realism, and its application to the works magical.but i am defending a philosophy which i was asked to describe, and this is not lawful. a great deal may be learned from the translation of the zohar by s. liddell macgregor mathers, and his introduction thereto, though for those who have latin and some acquaintence with hebrew it is better to study the kabbala denudata of knorr von rosenroth, in despite of the heavy price; for the translator has distorted the text and its comment to suit his belief in a supreme personal god, and in that degraded form of the doctrine of feminism which

in malkuth. or .that which is below is like that which is above. or simply .yod (the foundation of all letters having the number 10, symbolising malkuth. the answer of the adept to the second form of the problem is for the christian all the familiar teaching of the song of songs and the apocalypse concerning the bride of christ* for the qabalist it is a long complex dogma which may be studied in the zohar and elsewhere. otherwise, he may simply answer .he (the letter alike of mother and daughter in hwhy. see liber 418 for lengthy disquisitions on this symbolic basis. the answer of the adept to the third form of the problem is given by p, implying that an infinite factor must be employed. for the qabalist it is usually symbolised by the rosy cross, or by such formula as 5= 6. that they con

LUCIFERIAN SORCERY

through intense nostalgia and focus, often appearing in bestial forms. athame the blade of holy magick or greater black magick workings, used in ceremonial or solitary practice. pathally a black handled knife. azazel called the guardian of the goat, azazel is one of the 200 original fallen angels, according to lore. it is considered that azazel is the same as shemyaza, the leader of the watchers. the zohar makes reference (in vayeze 153a) about the rider upon the serpent is the evil azazel. in islamic lore, azazel is the same as eblis and considered by other lore as the first star (in reference to any angels) which would reveal him as lucifer. azoth the beginning and end in its spiritual aspect, azoth is a form of life and death. from between comes the possibility of manifestation. ba- the

MANLY P HALL THE SECRET TEACHINGS OF ALL AGES

avenly dew, was sundered by the breath of god, and upon the two parts were drawn in black fire the figures of the law. these precious inscriptions, aglow with celestial splendor, were delivered by the lord on the sabbath day into the hands of moses, who was able to read the illumined letters from the reverse side because of the transparency of the great jewel (see the secret doctrine in israel or the zohar for details of this legend) the ten commandments are the ten shining gems placed by the holy one in the sapphire sea of being, and in the depths of matter the reflections of these jewels are seen as the laws governing the sublunary spheres. they are the sacred ten by which the supreme deity has stamped his will upon the face of nature. this same decad was celebrated by the pythagoreans u

although it is by far the oldest of the qabbalistic books, it was probably from the pen of the rabbi akiba, a.d. 120. the sepher ha zohar presumably was written by simeon ben jochai, a disciple of akiba. rabbi simeon was sentenced to death about a.d. 161 by lucius verus, co-regent of the emperor marc aurelius antoninus. he escaped with his son and, hiding in a cave, transcribed the manuscript of the zohar with the assistance of elias, who appeared to them at intervals. simeon was twelve years in the cave, during which time he evolved the complicated symbolism of the "greater face" and the "lesser face" while discoursing with disciples rabbi simeon expired, and the "lamp of israel" was extinguished. his death and burial were accompanied by many supernatural phenomena. the legend goes on to

enomena. the legend goes on to relate that the secret doctrines of qabbalism had been in existence since the beginning of the world, but that rabbi simeon was the first man permitted to reduce them to writing. twelve hundred years later the books which he had compiled were discovered and published for the benefit of humanity by moses de le n. the probability is that moses de le n himself compiled the zohar about a.d. 1305, drawing his material from the unwritten secrets of earlier jewish mystics. the apocalypse, accredited to st. john the divine, is also of uncertain date, and the identity of its author has never been satisfactorily proved. because of its brevity and because it is the key to qabbalistic thought, the sepher yetzirah is reproduced in full in this chapter. so far as is click

at the sacred books were not historical documents, but that the kings, sages, prophets, and saviors whom bible students ham revered for ages as once-existing personalities are in reality only personified attributes of man himself. p. 114 known, the sepher ha zohar has never been completely translated into english, but it can be obtained in french (s. l. macgregor-mathers translated three books of the zohar into english) the zohar contains a vast number of philosophical tenets, and a paraphrase of its salient points is embodied in this work. few realize the influence exerted by qabbalism over medi val thought, both christian and jewish. it taught that there existed within the sacred writings a hidden doctrine which was the key to those writings. this is symbolized by the crossed keys upon t

d to be threefold, and from this threefold nature the powers and elements of creation were reflected into the abyss left by the motion of ain soph towards the center of itself. the continual motion of ain soph towards the center of itself resulted in the establishment of the dot in the circle. the dot was called god, as being the supreme individualization of the universal essence. concerning this the zohar says "when the concealed of the concealed wished to reveal himself he first made a single point: the infinite was entirely unknown, and diffused no light before this luminous point violently broke through into vision" the name of this point is i am, called by the hebrews eheieh. the qabbalists gave many names to this dot. on this subject christian d. ginsberg writes, in substance: the do

a part. the qabbalists also established a mysterious universal man with his head at a 1 and his feet at d 10. this is probably the secret significance of the great figure of nebuchadnezzar's dream, with its head in the world of atziluth, its arms and hands in the world of briah, its generative system in the world of yetzirah, and its legs and feet in the world of assiah. this is the grand man of the zohar, of whom eliphas levi writes "it is not less astonishing to observe at the beginning of the zohar the profundity of its notions and the sublime simplicity of its images. it is said as follows 'the science of equilibrium is the key of occult science. unbalanced forces perish in the void. so passed the kings of the elder world, the princes of the giants. they have fallen like trees without

, is translated here by way of interpretation. the author makes it plain that the human form which he ascribes to deity is only an image of his meaning and that god is beyond expression by human thought or representation by any figure. pascal said that god is a circle, of which the center is everywhere and the circumference nowhere. but how is one to imagine a circle apart from its circumference? the zohar adopts the antithesis of this paradoxical image and in respect of the circle of pascal would say rather that the circumference is everywhere, while that which is nowhere is the center. it is however to a balance and not to a circle that it compares the universal equilibrium of things. it affirms that equilibrium is everywhere and so also is the central point where the balance hangs in su

tithesis of this paradoxical image and in respect of the circle of pascal would say rather that the circumference is everywhere, while that which is nowhere is the center. it is however to a balance and not to a circle that it compares the universal equilibrium of things. it affirms that equilibrium is everywhere and so also is the central point where the balance hangs in suspension. we find that the zohar is thus more forcible and more profound than pascal* the zohar is a genesis of light; the sepher yetzirah is a ladder of truth. therein are expounded the two-andthirty absolute symbols of speech--being numbers and letters. each letter produces a number, an idea and a form, so that mathematics are applicable to forms and ideas, even as to numbers, in virtue of an exact proportion, and a p

umbers and letters. each letter produces a number, an idea and a form, so that mathematics are applicable to forms and ideas, even as to numbers, in virtue of an exact proportion, and a perfect correspondence. by the science of the sepher yetzirah, the human mind is rooted in truth and in reason; it accounts for all progress possible to intelligence by means of the evolution of numbers. thus does the zohar represent absolute truth, while the sepher yetzirah furnishes the method of its acquisition, its discernment and application (history of magic) by placing man himself at the point d 10, his true constitution is revealed. he exists upon four worlds, only one of which is visible. it is then made evident that his parts and members upon the material plane are, by analogy, hierarchies and int

and the prophet was ordered to eat of a scroll which the hand held forth. according to the mystics, the wheels supporting the throne of god represent the orbits of the planets, and the entire solar system is properly the mercavah, or chariot of god. one of the divisions of the qabbalah--that dealing with the arts and sciences of those planes which are under the heavens--is called the mercavah. in the zohar it is written that the celestial throne or ezekiel's vision signifies the traditional law; the appearance of a man sitting upon the throne represents the written law, philo jud us in describing the cherubim upon the ark of the covenant declares that the figures are an intimation of the revolutions of the whole heavens, one of the cherubim representing the outer circumference and the othe

ed 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. samuel bar nahman (third century, said, when god created adam, he created him facing both ways; then he sawed him in two and made two backs, one for each figure. the zohar holds the concept of two adams: the first a divine being who, stepping forth from the highest original darkness, created the second, or earthly, adam in his own image. the higher, or celestial, man was the causal sphere with its divine potencies and potentialities considered as a gigantic personality; its members, according to the gnostics, being the basic elements of existence. this ada

of jehovah and the god of israel was no longer pleased with his chosen people. the jews learned astronomy from the egyptians, and it is not unlikely that the twelve jewels of the breastplate were symbolic of the twelve constellations of the zodiac. these twelve celestial hierarchies were looked upon as jewels adorning the breastplate of the universal man, the macroprosophus, who is referred to in the zohar as the ancient of days. the number twelve frequently occurs among ancient peoples, who in nearly every case had a pantheon consisting of twelve demigods and goddesses presided over by the invincible one, who was himself subject to the incomprehensible all-father. this use of the number twelve is especially noted in the jewish and christian writings. the twelve prophets, the twelve patria

MASTERING WITCHCRAFT

etals [of the earth] and the art of working them. semjaza taught enchantments, and root cuttings, arma-ros the resolving of enchantments, baraqijel astrology, kokabel the constellations, ezeqeel the knowledge of the clouds [weather lore, araqiel the signs of the earth [husbandry, shamsiel the signs of the sun, sariel the course of the moon) according to that collection of ancient cabalistic lore, the zohar, great azael and his cohorts had had to assume tangible bodies in order to descend upon the earth. because of their revolt against higher authority and the ties with this world which they had subsequently formed, they were unable to divest themselves of these material forms and re-ascend into the heavenly spaces again "book of noah" from charles canon, book of enoch, london, society for

, and died, that race who hated the ruler of us all, and received judgement from his hands, surging waves that found them wherever they fled] beowulf, translated by burton raffel (mentor books u.s.a. 1963- we again find traces of this lore in the norse legend of the giants' revolt, and similarly in greek mythology concerning the gods' dealings with the rebellious titans. it is a persistent theme. the zohar intimates, however, that though most of the giants yielded up their lives in the flood, many of their spirits partaking as they did of the angelic nature of their fathers, proved indestructible, and lived on, invisible yet powerful even in their disembodied state. on occasion, these shades are said to gain access to the world of men by reincarnating in human shape, and are referred to as

MICHAEL W FORD THE VAMPIRE GATE

e spirit or deific mask, symbolically devouring and consuming the association of the spirit into the self. may be attributed to the inner practices of the black order of the dragon. a ritual published in luciferian witchcraft, the ritual of druj nasu is a vampiric or predatory rite utilizing ancient persian sorcery inversions and techniques of sorcery for strengthening consciousness. qlippoth- as the zohar attributes the qlippoth as being a result of the separation from creation it seems by mere definition that the qlippoth is indeed inherent of the concept of the black flame, or gift of samael. between two separate things, there is a concept of separation which essentially is the concept of shells or peels being the aspects the sorcerer must fill and in turn devour in the process of becom

MICHAEL W FORD NOX UMBRA

e inspiration and sensuality. the daemonic feminine is therefore essential to the development of man and woman. it is also the gateway to the sabbat- the dreaming conclave of the luciferian (empyrean, of the light) and infernal. lilith in her dark and fiery aspect is one part of the adversary, the opposing force which initiates through antinomianism and self-deification. in a work which pre-dates the zohar, it is suggested that lilith and samael were born by an emanation beneath the throne of god. their shape was an androgynous being, double-faced and thus revealed as a part of the adversary (the opposer, shaitan. samael, in hebrew legend has twelve wings, which integrates azazel (the djinn of fire, shaitan) and samael as lucifer, the force related to the noon-tide sun. samael is thus the

d the creative/solar force of the sun. lilith joined with samael through leviathan, the great dragon. ashmodai was said to be another mate of lilith, whom was said in some hebrew legends to be two aspects of the same goddess. the son of lilith and ashmodai was called sariel, the sword of ashmodai. his face flames with fire. sariel had kept a sealed book of secrets, a grimoire with words of power. the zohar itself explains that lilith is nourished by the water (ocean) and the south wind spreads her influence, from which places her as the queen of beasts. they (the beasts) are found chanting to her in the dark of night. lilith went forth to the desert to become the queen of zemargad (the desert domain, she then joined with samael and gave birth to thousands of liliam, lilitu, the demon succu

RABBI AMIRAM MARKEL MARKEL THE KNOWLEDGE OF G D VOL 1

nd total singularity. nonetheless, we cannot say that the ten sefirot do not exist there, because if they do not, where did they come from? rather, we must say that they do exist there, but that their existence is in a way of a heyulie an ability. they have no actual existence apart from g-d s quintessential singularity, and are totally indistinguishable from him. about these sefirot it states in the zohar "he is wise, but not with a knowable wisdom, he is understanding, but not with a knowable understanding etc. he is not of any of these qualities altogether (patach eliyahu. now, the difference between the essential singularity of the ohr ein sof and the essential singularity of the human soul, is as follows; since the human soul is limited, therefore its heyulies are limited, whereas, si

hich the "arms" of arich anpin (emotions of desire) are enclothed. this is a type of revelation of the world of tohu (chaos. intellect influenced by netzach, hod and yesod of arich anpin the third level is when influence comes from netzach, hod and yesod of arich anpin into abba and imma. in order to understand this, we must understand exactly what netzach, hod and yesod of arich are. in general, the zohar calls these three sefirot "the righteous scales (moznei tzedek. this is because these sefirot generally measure how to bring out the influence. they decide whether it will be through netzach, which means to explain it until the person sees things your way, whether it will be through hod, which means acceptance on the part of the person solely by force of acknowledgment and submission, or

e that binah relates to yom tov. binah is an intermediary level between chochmah which is separate and holy, and the emotions and action (the sefirot from chesed through malchut (it is specifically because of this that chochmah is called "pleasure" whereas binah is called "fiery joy. in the same way that pleasure is introverted, and only "drops" of it can trickle out, so is it with chochmah which the zohar calls "a thing unto itself. in contrast, binah is tangible comprehension, which can be felt and expressed. in contrast to the introspective pleasure of chochmah, binah is a fiery joy, which is felt and expressed) this is because, as mentioned above, chochmah is how the concept is in its source before it comes into comprehension, whereas binah is how the concept becomes tangible within co

chmah rather than in a way of binah. on the level of insight he knew he was right but he hadn t yet brought it down to a comprehendible explanation on the binah level. nehi"y of abba and imma the third level of the intellect has two aspects. firstly, it determines how to bring the intellectual influence out, as explained before. secondly, it represents the matter of strong mindedness, as follows: the zohar calls the sefirot netzach and hod "the two thighs (or legs. this is because the legs hold up the entire body. likewise, in the mind, the sefirot netzach and hod are the strength of mind that uphold the intellect. as seen from the example of rav above, he remained firm in his opinion even though he could not come up with a logical argument to prove it. it was his strength of mind and inte

(the "determination and resolve" with the "conclusion of the therefore) that gives rise to heartfelt emotions which are rooted in reason. lights and vessels now, before we can continue to explain the various parts of the emotions and their interrelationships with each other, the intellect, the desire and the self, we must first understand several important matters in regard to lights and vessels. the zohar states that "he and his life force are one" and "he and his organs are one "he and his life force are one" refers to the lights of the sefirot, and "he and his organs are one" refers to the vessels of the sefirot. the sefer yetzirah calls the lights of the ten sefirot "the ten sefirot without whatness (esser sefirot blee mah. in other words, the lights themselves are beyond form or descr

rather floated up to heaven. what was burned was merely the "clothing, the external letters which may be changed or exchanged. the essential letters of the torah itself remained intact. from this we understand that although letters which are "vessels" and the letters which are "clothing" look exactly alike, they, nonetheless, are two separate matters. souls taken from the clothing it is stated in the zohar "he made clothing for them (the sefirot) from which the souls of human beings come out" now, according to what was explained above, how is it possible that from a totally separate thing, like clothing, the essence of the human soul can come out? it must therefore be understood that what is considered to be a "garment" on one level can become the essential light of another level. this may

they become his essential inner motivation and intellect. it is also understood that the external speech of a political or spiritual leader becomes the inner motivation and intellect of his devoted followers. from this it is clear, that what is an enclothement relative to one level, may be an essential desire and motivation relative to the next level. we may now understand the above statement of the zohar that what may be regarded as the essential soul relative to one level, may be regarded as a separate "garment" relative to the level above it. the two types of thought before we continue to explain the enclothements of thought, speech and action, it must be understood that there are different types of thought, each of which exists on many levels. the first type is thought which is desire

he is thinking how to articulate his thought, he is not thinking how to combine and formulate the words at all. rather, he is analyzing the idea in his mind, tearing it apart and dissecting it. only then can he speak. this is the meaning of the statement in zohar that "the mother (binah-understanding) lends the clothing (the five gevurot) to the daughter (malchut-speech (this is also explained in the zohar on the verse "v kol hator nishma b artzeinu the voice of the dove is heard in our land. the word "tor" means "dove, but it is also the masculine form of torah. this is referring to the giver of the torah. the zohar explains that "aretz (land) refers to malchut (speech. from this we understand that when one speaks the words of torah, the voice of the giver of the torah is heard in his spe

the power to combine is higher than the comprehension of binah. the five organs of speech of the mouth (the throat, palate, tongue, teeth and lips) divide the letters of speech exactly according to how they were divided and combined in thought (this is as explained above that "the mother (binah) lends the clothing (the five gevurot) to the daughter (malchut" etc) nonetheless, it is also stated in the zohar, that "the father (chochmah-insight) founded the daughter (malchut-speech. in other words, whereas the power to divide the letters comes from binah, the power to combine them comes from chochmah. furthermore, this comes about automatically, as explained before, that the flash of intuition which brings everything together, comes about automatically. for example, if while dismantling a wat

though the child may have thought, and be able to comprehend the difference between one thing and another, he cannot think in combinations of letters until he is able to speak in combinations of letters. therefore, when we said before that "a child does not have thought, we were specifically referring to the letters of thought. that which is higher up, comes lower down from the above statement in the zohar "the father (chochmah) founded the daughter (speech, we see that the source of speech is actually higher than the source of thought (binah, only "lends the clothing to the daughter) why then does thought precede speech? furthermore, a human being is called a "speaking soul" or "speaking spirit. why is this so if we see that thought precedes speech by several years? the reason for this is

eeds to do, as mentioned above. the essential heyulie "speech of thought" is that he estimated within himself, in potential, everything that will come out in the entire creation process. this is similar to what was mentioned earlier about the "speech of thought" in a human being, in which he thinks what to speak immediately before actually speaking. this is what is meant by the first statement in the zohar, that "in the beginning of the rule of the king, he engraved an engraving in the upper purity "in the beginning of the rule of the king, is malchut (speech, however, the "beginning of speech" is "speech of thought, as mentioned before. the zohar continues "he engraved an engraving. this is to say, an engraving of letters in "speech of thought" of everything that will come out after tzimt

dmon, to arich anpin, and to the intellect and external emotions of zeir anpin, all the way to the external vessels and compositions of fire, water and vapor of the external "breath of the heart" of zeir anpin. this is the meaning of the verse "i am first and i am last "i am first" refers to the essence of the infinite light before the tzimtzum, and "i am last" refers to malchut of atzilut, which the zohar calls "the end of all levels (sof kol dargin. as previously stated, yesod is the "giver" or "influencer" and is called "kol (everything, as in the verse "ki kol bashamayim u baaretz, which means "everything in the heavens and the earth" and which translates into aramaic as "he unites the heavens and the earth. the reason yesod is called "kol (everything) is because all the influence gath

RABBI MOSHE WISNEFSKY APPLES FROM THE ORCHARD THE ARIZAL ON THE PARASHAH

he torah. in the words of our sages, gall is according to the beginning. h this letter, beit, refers to the world of beriah both because its numerical value is 2 and because it is the initial of the word beriah. it is also known that gima nests in the [world of the] chariot. h1 this is another reason why the torah begins with the letter beit, for beit is the first letter of binah. it is stated in the zohar that abba nests in the world of atzilut; ima in the world of the chariot; z feir anpin in yetzirah, and nukva d fzeir anpin in asiyah. beriah is called here gthe world of the chariot h because the divine chariot that figures in the vision of ezekiel is identified with this world. the partzufim referred to here are the partzufim of atzilut; the meaning is that abba of atzilut nests in atz

ft to pursue its analysis unchecked, it is likely to stray far afield from the idea of the initial insight and arrive at spurious conclusions; it must therefore be.at least periodically.reviewed and compared with the original insight. the ideal condition, thus, is for chochmah and binah to be constantly in a state of gunion, h i.e, mutual cross-fertilization. this is referred to in the imagery of the zohar as gthe point [i.e, chochmah] in its palace [i.e, binah. h therefore scripture uses the verb gcreated, h alluding to beriah, and the name elokim, which refers to ima. furthermore, the numerical value of the name elokim [alef-lamed-hei-yud-mem, 86] is the same as that of the word for gthe throne h [hakisei, hei-kaf-samech-alef, for gima nests in the [world of the] throne, h as above. thes

phrase [referring to the gman h of asiyah, it is said, gin our image, after our likeness, h while in the second phrase [referring to the gman h of beriah, it is said only gin his image. h this is because the words [of g-d] issued from z feir anpin and nukva of atzilut, and he was only consulting [with the heavenly court] concerning the gman h of asiyah, who was destined to sin. as is mentioned in the zohar, it was about this that [g-d] consulted [the heavenly court when he made man, saying] glet us make man in our image, after our likeness. h this statement was made by ima of beriah to abba of beriah, via the clothing of z feir anpin and nukva of atzilut in them. to be continued c .translated from likutei torah 21 parashat bereishit [third installment] we continue the discussion of the ope

eness, h all referring to asiyah. as was stated previously, the verse glet us make man in our image, after our likeness h1 refers to the gman h of asiyah, while the following verse, gand g-d created man in his image, h refers to the gman h of beriah. thus, the gman h of asiyah contains both the image and the likeness, while the gman h of beriah contains only the image. even though it is stated in the zohar that gthe eimage f exists in the male, h this refers to the gimage h in z feir anpin of asiyah, and gthe elikeness f exists in the female h of asiyah. the terms gmale h and gfemale h usually refer to z feir anpin and nukva of atzilut, but in this case they refer to z feir anpin and nukva of asiyah. 1 genesis 1:26. the arizal on parashat bereishit (2) 22 nonetheless, all this occurred thr

memory h of the intellect that spawned them. subsequent levels must take the inspiration of the intellect but gforget h the idea itself in order to concentrate on getting the conclusion of the idea out into the world. ima, the partzuf of binah, is associated with the left axis of the sefirot, and thus its drive toward expression is the source of the gevurah-aspect of nukva. this is the meaning of the zohar fs statement that in the flood gthe lower waters mixed with the upper waters. h the meaning is also that the states of gevurah in her grain h mixed with the states of gevurah in ima. in the flood, the gevurah-states of nukva could not, as we saw, be gsweetened h by her ghusband, h z feir anpin, so they had to return to their source in their gmother, h ima, to be rectified. the flood was

life-force indicated by these iterations of the name havayah from the world* when noah came out of the ark after the flood, g-d re-articulated the seven noahide commandments to him. included in this is the prohibition of tearing the flesh off a living animal, which generalizes to causing unnecessary pain to animals. the arizal on parashat noach (2) 44 regarding killing animals, it is mentioned in the zohar9 that no creature was created purposelessly. it is [therefore] forbidden to kill it purposelessly. as the sages state: gall that the holy one, blessed be he, created, he created only for his honor, as it is written, eall that is called in my name and for my honor, i created it, i formed it, i even made it. f h10 we will see now how the arizal took this statement to extreme conclusions, c

ug, even the smallest and lowliest, such as fleas, lice, flies, and the like, even when they bit him. we know what the sages say, commenting on the verse, ghis enemies will also make peace with him, h11 that some say this refers to the dog and others say this refers to the snake, and still others say this refers to the flea.12 this idea is the answer of rabbi elazar to rabbi chizkiyah recorded in the zohar,13 where the mystical meaning of the verse, gwill the snake bite without whispering? h14 is explained. rabbi elazar and rabbi chizkiyah were walking and came across a snake. rabbi chizkiyah was about to kill it, but rabbi elazar told him not to. when rabbi chizkiyah protested, saying that it is a dangerous creature, rabbi elazar quoted the above verse, interpreting it to mean that a snak

se animals are neither pure nor impure. they are alluded to by the phrase, gfrom the animals that are not pure h; this implies [animals that on the one hand are not pure] but it does not say gimpure h [either. it is not entirely clear what animals are being referred to here. to explain: whatever extends [too far] below on the axis of gevurah becomes evil. this is the gdross of gold h mentioned in the zohar,5 which is black. dross is the rust that forms on the surface of molten metal. even though they are derived from gevurah, which is red, when they are manifest below, they become black. this is the meaning of our sages statement that gblack is a defective form of red. h6 5 2:203a. the arizal on parashat noach (2) 52 in contrast, the states of gevurah that descend on the right axis always

the] letter hei was already alluded to in [abraham fs name, it is no longer necessary to allude to it in isaac fs or jacob fs name. as explained previously, abraham refers to the maturation of chochmah of z feir anpin, isaac to the maturation of binah of z feir anpin, and jacob to the maturation of da fat of z feir anpin. furthermore, it is known that abraham, who personified chesed, is known [in the zohar1] as gthe day that accompanies all other days. h the seven midot correspond to the seven days of creation. in the phrase, gg-d will command his chesed by day, h2 the word for gby day h is yomam, which can be translated gtheir day. h chesed is thus seen as the gday, h or midah, that accompanies all the other gdays. h this means simply that chesed is the fundamental emotion, the basis of a

nders all other emotions, for if a person does not care about another person or thing, he will have no emotions toward it, positive or negative. he is the one that transfers the five states of chesed to the mouth of ima. although da fat and binah are separate gbrains, h the abstract intellect of ima also possesses latent, innate tendencies toward emotional response. thus, da fat is referred to in the zohar as being present gin the mouth of ima, h3 poised to be expressed as emotions through speech.4 therefore, the five states of chesed [of da fat] are alluded to in his [name] by the letter hei [whose numerical value is 5, and not in the names of isaac and jacob. since isaac and jacob allude to gevurah and tiferet, which do not fulfill this role. we will now explain the name of sarah [abraha

the two names kel on the two cheeks, we have 2 x 185= 370. this yields 8 names kel, which together equal the numerical value of abraham. six on the two sideburns and two on the two cheeks. in our discussion of the 175 years of abraham fs lifetime in parashat chayei sarah, we will explain this at greater length. 6 exodus 34:6. 7 micah 7:18. 8 sha far hakavanot, va fya favor 6 and 7. 9 a passage of the zohar, found in 3:132a. see sha far ma famarei rashbi ad loc. the arizal on parashat lech lecha 65 the numerical value of the name isaac [yitzchak] is 8 times that of the name havayah [26. yitzchak: yud-tzadik-chet-kuf= 10+ 90+ 8+ 100= 208= 8 x 26. these eight [names havayah] are the eight states of gevurah of isaac, each one corresponding to one name havayah. the explanation of this is as fol

nd shrinkage, thus exhibiting the properties of life. the numerical value of the three states of gevurah that remain in it, which are three names havayah, is 78. together with 1 for each of them, this sums to 81, the numerical value of yesod with the kolel. 3 x 26= 78. yesod: yud-samech-vav-dalet= 10+ 60+ 6+ 4= 80. another reason [this sefirah] is called yesod is the following. what is written in the zohar1 about the verse, gremember the sabbath day, h2 concerning the seven names, is well-known. they are called gseven pearls, h and the sabbath is called kah adni. we have discussed these seven names (that issue from the names yud-hei-vav and ekyeh) previously (in the third installment of parashat tetzaveh. we saw there that these seven names are associated with the seven blessings of the sa

REGARDIE ISRAEL THE COMPLETE GOLDEN DAWN

last century. sapere aude and non omnis moriar were the two mottos used by dr. westcott, an antiquarian, scholar, and coroner by profession. s. r m. d. or s'rhiogail ma dhream was the motto of s. l. macgregor mathers, the translator of the greater key of king solomon, the book of the sacred magic of abramelin t h e m e, and thekabbalah unveiled, which latter consisted of certain <19> portions of the zohar prefixed by an introduction of high erudition. he also introduction 17 employed the latin motto deo duce comite ferro. s. d. a. was the abbreviation of the motto sapiens dominabitur astris chosen by a fraulein anna sprengel of nuremburg, germany. such were the actors on this occult stage, this thedramatis personae in the background of the commencement of the order. more than any other fi

<87> the art of invocation, is intact. so that the unwise editing that they have received in the past several years has not actually damaged them; all that has been removed are a few items, more or less important, of qabalistic knowledge. if the reader feels that these might be value to him, and for the sake of tolerable completeness would l i e to have them, by studying such qabalistic texts as the zohar and the sepher yehirah both of which are now in english translation, or some such work as waite's holy kaballah, he will be in possession of the fundamental facts. it is in other parts of the order work that injudicious tampering has been at work. most of this is now restored and i believe that this book is an accurate representation of the whole of the order work from neophyte to theori

eburah or severity, and the waters of chesed or mercy-and hence it is said in the new <166> testament that it is a type of christ, the reconciler. and the serpent is of brass, the metal of venus, whose sphere is called nogah, or external splendour, as shewn further by the alchemical symbol of venus, wherein the circle of the sun is exalted above the cross of corrosion. and therefore it is said in the zohar that "alone of the shells is the serpent nogah found in holiness" and he is called the balance of justice. why, then, is he called the external or false splendour? because he indeed uniteth the paths, but comprehendeth not the sephiroth. nevertheless, he is also the celestial serpent of wisdom. but the serpent of the temptation is the serpent of the tree of knowledge of good and of evil

it is also called "the gate of the garden of eden" and the inferior mother, and in christian symbolism, it is connected with the three holy women at the foot of the cross. the tenth path of the sepher yetsirah which answereth to malkuth is called "the resplendent intelligence, because it exalts above every head and sitteth upon the throne of binah. it illuminateth the splendour of all the lights (the zohar me-ouroth) and causeth the current of the divine influx to descend from the prince of countenances, the great archangel metatron. frater. before you can be eligible for advancement to the next grade of= a,yo u will be required to pass an examination in certain subjects. a manuscript on these will be supplied to you. when you are well satisfied that you are well informed on these, no* the

tual, he is referred to as "the light of the cross"and this latter is pictorially shown as "i, cxx, which is 120. the light of the cross, cxx, is of course the lvx, the light of the supernals. now 120 reduces to 12, and it is interesting to note that 12 is also the numeration of the great angel i-iua who is invoked to overshadow the aspirant when he is bound to the cross of obligation. hua is, in the zohar, one of the mystical titles of kether, the crown of the tree. analysis of the name expands the idea considerably. the name is composed of three letters, heh, vau, aleph. heh is 5 in number, the pentagram which is the three chiefs 2 77 also the symbol of the microcosm. vau is 6, the hexagram, the symbol of the macrocosm, the greater world. aleph is unity. thus the whole name symbolises th

RITUEL ET DOGME DE LA HAUTE MAGIE BY ELIPHAS LEVI PART I

we bequeath to the patience and good faith of scholars. according to ptolemy, the sun dries up and the moon moistens; according to the kabalists, the sun represents strict justice, while the moon is in sympathy with mercy. it is the sun which produces storms, and, by a kind of gentle atmospheric pressure, the moon occasions the ebb and flow, or, as it were, the respiration of the sea. we read in the zohar, one of the great sacred books of the kabalah, that the magical serpent, the son of the sun, was about to devour the world, when the sea, daughter of the moon, set her foot upon his head and subdued him. for this reason, among the ancients, venus was the daughter of the sea, as diana was identical with the moon. hence also the name of mary signifies star or salt of the sea. to consecrate

RITUEL ET DOGME DE LA HAUTE MAGIE BY ELIPHAS LEVI PART II

been the doom of the human mind, blinded by insensate passions, to realize literally the allegorical history of the hebrew hercules: by over-throwing the pillars of the temple, it has been buried itself under the ruins. the masonic associations of the present time are no less ignorant of the high meaning of their symbols than are the rabbins of the sepher the triangle of pantacles 27 yetzirah and the zohar concerning the ascending scale of the three degrees, with the transverse progression from right to left and from left to right of the kabalistic septenary. the compass of the g a and the square of solomon have become the gross and material level of unintelligent jacobinism, realized by a steel triangle: this obtains both for heaven and earth. the initiated divulgers to whom the illuminat

e paschal candle and the annual remnants of holy chrism; scapulas and medals, are all true talismans. one such medal has become popular in our own day, and even those who are devoid of religion suspend it from the necks of their children. moreover, its figures are so perfectly kabalistic that it is truly a marvellous double pantacle. on the one side is the great initiatrix, the heavenly mother of the zohar, the isis of egypt, the venus-urania of the platonists, the mary of christianity, throned upon the world and setting one foot upon the head of the magical serpent. she extends the septenary of talismans 47 her two hands in such a manner as to form a triangle, of which her head is the apex; her hands are open and radiant, thus making a double triangle, with all its rays directed towards t

eign of raphael, angel of mercury, angel of science and of the word, of intelligence and industry. then letters were invented, the first language being hieroglyphic and universal, a monument of which has been preserved in the book of enoch, cadmus, thoth and palamedes, the kabalistic clavicle adopted later on by solomon, the mystical book of the teraphim, urim and thummim, the primeval genesis of the zohar and of william postel, the mystical wheel of ezekiel, the rota of the kabalists, the tarot of magi and bohemians. the invention of arts began, and navigation was attempted for the first time; relations extended, wants multiplied and there folthe science of the prophets 127 lowed speedily an epoch of general corruption, preceding the universal deluge, under the reign of samael, angel of m

SATANGEL

e, metatron is identified as the demiurge, the prince of darkness who is the creator of the material universe. thus he is identified as satan, or ha-satan, and as abraxas. the holiness or unholiness of the metatron is undecided, thrown backwards and forwards by the argumenets of theologians, priests, magicians and rabbi. as such it is a most paradoxical name to conjure with. shekinah according to the zohar the creation of the world was the work of the shekinah, who is the female aspect of the metatron. the shekinah was exiled after the fall of adam and eve, and according to rabbinical lore the entire purpose of the torah is to lead the shekinah back to god and unite her with him. micha-el originally a chaldean deity, the name micha-el translates as who is as god. along with gabriel he is o

hn the baptist, and again in daniel to tell him of the coming of a messiah, a message she repeats to mary in the annunciation. gabri-el lead the second war in heaven and was thus expelled like lucifer, but later forgiven and reinstated. during this time gabriel was replaced by the angel dobiel. rapha-el originally known in chaldea as labbi-el, the name rapha-el means the shining one who heals. in the zohar it is said that he is charged to heal the earth. the earth which furnishes a place for man, whom he also heals of his illnesses. in enoch i he is declared to be one of the four presences set over all the diseases and all the wounds in the children of men. he heals abraham of the pain of his (belated) circumcision, and in the prayer of joseph heals jacob of his wounded knee, sustained whi

dubbiel).once the guardian angel of persia who stood in for gabriel when s/he was in disgrace. patron devil of terror, who guards the gates of hell. dreqi (albanian, from the latin draco, meaning dragon. a name for the devil. drug (vedic. demons of falsehood attributed to *ahriman. they dwell in a dark cave. dumah (egypt, hebrew. one of the seven princes of hell. angel of the silence of death. in the zohar, chief of all demon princes in gehenna and guardian of egypt during the escape of the hebrews. eisheth zenunim angel of prostitutes, one of satan s three brides. eligos (goetia, 25th spirit. duke commanding 60 legions. appears as a goodly knight carrying a serpent, and an ensign. discovers hidden things, foretells the future, especially with regards to war, causes love of lords and great

SEPHER YETZIRAH WESTCOTT

unity and harmony, and that such universal concord could only arise from the rule of a supreme unity" according to isaac myer, in his quabbalah (p. 159, the "sepher yetzirah" was referred to in the writings of ibn gebirol of cordova, commonly called avicebron, who died in a.d. 1070. eliphas levi, the famous french occultist, thus wrote of the "sepher yetzirah" in his histoire de la magie, p. 54 "the zohar is a genesis of illumination, the sepher jezirah is a ladder formed of truths. therein are explained the thirty-two absolute signs of sounds, numbers and letters: each letter reproduces a number, an idea and a form; so that mathematics are capable of application to ideas and to forms not less rigorously than to numbers, by exact proportion and perfect correspondence. by the science of th

s: each letter reproduces a number, an idea and a form; so that mathematics are capable of application to ideas and to forms not less rigorously than to numbers, by exact proportion and perfect correspondence. by the science of the sepher jezirah the human spirit is fixed to truth, and in reason, and is able to take account of the possible development of intelligence by the evolutions of numbers. the zohar represents absolute truth, and the sepher jezirah provides the means by which we may seize, appropriate and make use of it" upon another page eliphas l vi writes "the sepher jezirah and the apocalypse are the masterpieces of occultism; they contain more wisdom than words; their expression is as figurative as poetry, and at the same time it is as exact as mathematics. in the volume entitl

SIFRA DETZNIYUTHA

constitute the first two letters of the name hvhy, indicating the action described is in the world of creation (b riyah. the yod y corresponds to world of emanation, upper heh h to the world of creation, the vav v to the world of formation, and the lower heh h to the world of making. 13 hidden within the hidden is atiqa ha atiqim in aramaic. hidden one (atiqa) is a prominent name of vast face in the zohar. 14 the skull of vast face. 15 the envelope is the skin. 16 the pure wool (sufim ,ypvc) are the hairs which hang from the skull. 17 the will(]vor ratzon) corresponds to the forehead. 18 the open eye is the eye of providence, the ayin i (vast face. 19 the hollow pillar is an allusion to the nose. 20 spirit xvr ruach. 21 torah b reshith 1:1. 22 the six are the directional sefiroth, the cha

SPENSER THE CULT OF THE ALL SEEING EYE 1960

nations of antiquity of the worship of stones as the representative of deity. in almost every ancient temple there was a legend of a sacred or mystical stone. the mystical stone there has received the name of the 'stone of foundation "10""and the scribes who had come down from jerusalem said 'he has beelzebub' and 'by the prince of devils he casts out devils) alfred edward waite, in his study of the zohar (the cabalistic textbook of the 14th century, entitled the secret doctrine of israel (occult research press, n. y, 191, wrote (p. 62) of "a mysterious stone called schethiya" which was cast by jehovah "into the abyss, so to form the basis of the world and give birth thereto. one might say otherwise that it was like a cubical stone or altar, for its extremity was concealed in the depth, w

STEINER RUDOLF CHRISTIANITY AS MYSTICAL FACT

ation, so as to establish the exact degree to which the logos had been brought to life within such a person. a higher stage of maturation was considered to be a step higher in spiritual development, with its roots in a preexisting spiritual life. likewise the present life was seen as the stage of preparation for a spiritual phase of development in the future. jewish esoteric teaching preserved in the zohar asserts the strict conservation of the soul s spiritual energy, which continues forever: the essence of christianity 145 nothing is lost in the world, nothing falls into the void not even the words and the voice of a man. everything has its place and its destined part to play.163 a particular personality was only one possible manifestation of the soul, which transformed its identity agai

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ead person will be happy, or else his or her ghost might return to punish the family. annually, the chinese festival, ching-ming, is held to pay tribute to and honor the deceased. sources: mayled, john. death customs. morristown, n.j: silver burdett press: 1987. chinese taoist journey to the next life and accept this dogma with acclamation as the truth of it has been incontestably demonstrated by the zohar, and all the books of the kabbalists. in religion and immortality, g. lowes dickinson presents his view that reincarnation offers a really consoling idea that our present capacities are determined by our previous actions and that our present actions again will determine our future character. such a philosophy, dickinson observes, liberates people from the bonds of an external fate and pl

e and legend (1994: transmigration gave a new meaning to many aspects of life. the deaths of young children were less tragic, since they were being punished for previous sins and would be reborn in a new life. proselytes to judaism were jewish souls which had been incarnated in gentile bodies [transmigration] also allowed for the gradual perfection of the individual souls through different lives. the zohar (hebrew for splendor, the main work of the kabbalah, describes the esoteric reality that lies behind everyday experience, and insists that the real meaning of the torah lies in its mystical secrets. although tradition declares rabbi simeon ben jochai (c. 80 c.e) as its author, later scholarship acknowledges the contribution of rabbi moses de leon (1240 1305) and other hebrew scholars in

lendor, the main work of the kabbalah, describes the esoteric reality that lies behind everyday experience, and insists that the real meaning of the torah lies in its mystical secrets. although tradition declares rabbi simeon ben jochai (c. 80 c.e) as its author, later scholarship acknowledges the contribution of rabbi moses de leon (1240 1305) and other hebrew scholars in the thirteenth century. the zohar states that since the human soul is rooted in the divine, the redemption of the world will be achieved when each individual has undergone the process of the transmigration of souls and completes his or her task of unification. because humans cannot know the most high s plans for each individual, they cannot know how they are being judged at all times, both before and after coming into th

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d to obtain choice fruits and viands. the romans were noted for their hospitality. nothing was too rich or too costly for the entertainment of their guests. the ancient israelites gave great feasts on special occasions, but their hospitality extended to strangers and to the poor as well as to important guests and to friends who would be likely to reciprocate. when the holy one loves a man, states the zohar, genesis 104a, he sends him a present in the shape of a poor man, so that he might perform some good deed to him, through the merit of which he may draw to himself a cord of grace. in deuteronomy 15:11, it is written that you shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy, and to the poor in the land. based on a cursory examination of hospitality from the historical perspective

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glory in heaven. after a period of intense preparation, including fasting, meditation, chanting, and the recitation of certain letter combinations and the names of angels, the adept of maaseh merkavah sought to attain a vision of the divine throne of god and to become transformed from human to angel. combined with the maaseh merkavah and the maaseh bereshit to form the bible of the kabbalists was the zohar (hebrew for gsplendor h, which was ascribed to the followers of simeon bar yochai, who was said to have recorded the mystical teachings of elijah during the years the prophet spent hiding in a cave. moses de leon who claimed to possess a copy of the ancient manuscript, published the zohar in the thirteenth century. after de leon fs death, however, his wife admitted that he had attributed

lijah during the years the prophet spent hiding in a cave. moses de leon who claimed to possess a copy of the ancient manuscript, published the zohar in the thirteenth century. after de leon fs death, however, his wife admitted that he had attributed his own writings to simeon bar yochai in order to assure sales to those interested in such ancient magical texts. modern scholars concede that while the zohar splendidly depicts the spiritual reality that lies behind everyday experience in the material world, there are many passages that betray the influence of spanish culture of the thirteenth century and were likely written at that time by de leon. the influence of the kabbalah on mystical judaism, as well the european alchemists, scholars, and philosophers of the middle ages, was powerful a

THE KEY TO THE MYSTERIES

ented this alphabet by seventy-two names, written upon thirty-six talismans. eastern initiates still call these the "little keys" or clavicles of solomon. these keys are described, and their use explained, in a book the source of whose traditional dogma is the patriarch abraham. this book is called the sepher yetzirah; with the aid of the sepher yetzirah one can penetrate the xiii hidden sense of the zohar, the great dogmatic treatise of the qabalah of the hebrews. the clavicles of solomon, forgotten in the course of time, and supposed lost, have been rediscovered by ourselves; without trouble we have opened all the doors of those old sanctuaries where absolute truth seemed to sleep- always young, and always beautiful, like that princess of the childish legend, who, during a century of slu

t gives birth, and changes the superabundance of life into immense destruction. it is, then, the infernal serpent of the ancient myths, the typhon of the egyptians, and the moloch of phoenicia; but if wisdom, mother of the elohim, puts her foot upon his head, she outwears 202 all the flames which he belches forth, and pours with full hands upon the earth a vivifying light. thus also it is said in the zohar that at the beginning of our earthly period, when the elements disputed among themselves the surface of the earth, that fire, like an immense serpent, had enveloped everything in its coils, and was about to consume all beings, when divine clemency, raising around it the waves of the sea like a vestment of clouds, put her foot upon the head of the serpent and made him re-enter the abyss

of those who, voluntarily or not, are in nervous sympathy with the medium? the things accomplished by mr. home prove that all this is possible. now, let us reply to those who think that they see in these phenomena manifestations of the other world and facts of necromancy. we shall borrow our answer from the sacred book of the qabalists, and in this our doctrine is that of the rabbis who compiled the zohar. axiom the spirit clothes itself to descend, and strips itself to rise. in fact: why are created spirits clothed with bodies? it is that they must be limited in order to have a possible existence. stripped of all body, and become consequently 219 without limit, created spirits would lose themselves in the infinite, and from lack of the power to concentrate themselves somewhere, they woul

THE MAGICIAN S KABBALAH

cal words or appropriate names of the gods to be spoken before each door is passed and each palace entered. three classical texts formulate the basic structure of traditional kabbalah, being; the sefer-ha-zohar; book of splendour- first printed 1558-60 and 1559-60 the sefer yetzirah; book of formation- first printed in mantua 1562 the sefer-ha-bahir; book of light- first printed in amsterdam 1651 the zohar was written around 1280-86 by moses b. shem tov de leon in guadalajara, north-east of madrid, spain, where there was a lot of kabbalistic activity at this time. many of the later kabbalistic schools are formed about these books, finding in them interpretation and meanings revealing the work of god and creation. the school formed at safed in the sixteenth century produced many of the lead

t metamap for early hermetic thinkers. christian mystics began to utilise its structure for an explanation of their revelations, the most notable being jacob boeheme (1575-1624. however, the most notable event in terms of our line of examination is undoubtedly the publication of christian knorr von rosenroth's (1636-89 "kabbala denudata" in latin in 1677 and 1684, which provided translations from the zohar and extracts from the works of issac luria. it was this work which, when translated into english by macgregor mathers (1854-1918) in 1887 as "the kabbalah unveiled, alongside already existing translations of the sepher yetzirah, provided the kabbalistic backbone of the golden dawn society, from which issued many of the more recent occult kabbalists, such as dion fortune (1891-1946, who s

ace" of god, to the "aborted" worlds which preceded our own and referred to as the "kings of edom (see the later chapter on the klippoth. again, we can make a parallel of this concept to modern physics, and the "cophenhagen interpretation" with its many "observer-created" worlds. the final outcome of the variations of the many-worlds doctrine came around the 14th century, but is also mentioned in the zohar, and was developed by the lurianic school (amongst others) in the 16th century. this version depicted four worlds (a) olam ha-azilut, the world of emanation (the sephiroth (b) olam ha-beriah, the world of creation (the throne& chariot (c) olam ha-yezirah, the world of formation (the angels (d) olam ha-asiyyah, the world of making (the terrestrial sphere) the four worlds obviously can be

he divine name yhvh, the four quarters, the four elements, and other quaternary systems. sedir, quoted by papus, gives the nature of each world as (a) azilut, the world of emanations, at which level that which renders possibility becomes real (i.e. the thirty-two paths of wisdom (b) beriah, the world of creation, at which level the spirit is moved to general manifestation without differentiation. the zohar calls this world the pavilion which veils the point (c) yetzirah, the world of formation, the level at which the general spirit is broken down into a crowd of individual minds (d) assiyah, the world of production. at each level the practical kabbalist works with a different mode of personification of the divine, in that at the world of assiyah he works with the elemental spirits, in the

t also represents a boundary, which could be described as malkuth being the ultimate boundary of kether, or mark, in that malkuth is the visible aspect of kether. numerically, malkuth values 496, which totals to 19 (4+9+6, which totals to 10 (1+9, which can be broken down to 1 as well. thus, malkuth (10) and kether (1) are within the value of malkuth itself. kether, on the other hand, values 620 (the zohar speaks of the 620 pillars of light, which breaks down to 8 (6+2, the number of the sephirah hod (an interesting attribution in respect of the initiatory experiences associated with hod in the grade of practicus of the golden dawn system. a full cross-referencing of the sephiroth by their numerical reduction is given in figure 2. a final point of gematria is that the value of the word swa

uld but be aware of it. resh in binah resh refers to consciousness and light through the tarot card of "the sun, and in the context of binah affirms that the three supernal sephiroth reside in the "white head (resh means "head) of kether. the hemispheres of the brain may be divided into chockmah and binah, whilst the crown of the head is of course kether. the greater and lesser holy assemblies of the zohar elaborate on this symbolism at length. resh is also (via the sun card) allocated to the sephirah tiphareth, which is to say "consciousness" and is the state of mind dealt with physically by the "front of the head (a more accurate translation of resh. it can be deduced from this current attribution that "understanding" is a transcendent form of consciousness (the sun of tiphareth arising

creativity. obviously, if chesed were not constrained by a correctly functioning geburah, life would become dysfunctional in the opposite extreme, with chaos and anarchy without point. it is the work of the adept grades in the initiatory system to learn to balance these states both within and without, to ensure that tiphareth, the pivotal point of the tree, is maintained in a dynamic equilibrium. the zohar puts it that the "left arm draws the immensity of space in rigour, and that geburah is associated with the "repentance of god" and the archangel samael. it also points out that mercy and severity are united in tiphareth. the sepher yetzirah states "the fifth path is called the radical intelligence, because it is more similar than any other to the supreme unity and emanates from the depth

rmed in the gravitational collapse of stars and the first formation of galaxies. in kabbalistic terminology "the left hand of god traced the firmament. in the book of the law, by aleister crowley, a similar model is utilised in symbolism: iii.72. i am the lord of the double wand of power; the wand of the force of coph nia- but my left hand is empty, for i have crushed an universe& nought remains. the zohar describes this development in terms of malbush, a "garment, whose folds create the matrix of manifestation as the letters of the hebrew alphabet recombine as the folds overlap. this mirrors modern cosmology, as it is stated in kabbalah that an "umatched yod" remains once the combinations have taken place, which then transmits the light of ain soph aur into the creative process and manife

THE MIDDLE PILLAR

umber of gnes that comprise the pentagon) is sixty-five, the number associated with adonai (737k. it is also the number formed by the latin letters for "lightu-lvx (l= 50, v= 5, x= 10. the whole of the figure can be described as a sigil of the name of adonai or the light of lvx. the pentagram 189 sixty-five is also the number associated with the hebrew words hekel( b n, meaning "temple or palace (the zohar tells us that adonai is the palace of yhvh; has (b "to be silent" dumiah (n9i317 "silence; and gam yechad('in ?x "together in unity" the long segment of each line of the pentagram is eight units in length. the number eight corresponds to the sephirah of hod, the sphere of intellect, communication, words of power, and magic. it also corresponds to the hebrew letter cheth (n) which means "

THE PATH OF KABBALAH

e influence of the creator on each and every one of us. hence, in order to feel the actual picture of the world we must find what we read inside us, as we read, because every written word exists within us, it just hasn t been discovered yet. we feel what the books speak of in accordance with our spiritual growth, hence the importance that is ascribed to the study from genuine sources of kabbalah: the zohar, the writing of the ari, and the writings of ashlag. this is the safest way to attain the correction of our feelings and attributes and spiritual ascent. the one means for progress is the study with the thought that these books actually speak of me, that all this exists somewhere inside me. all these worlds and partzufim are things that i must discover inside me, they are my own properti

creator, our every thought, desire and in fact, the entire reality we attain with our senses. even in our world, below the spiritual world, there are degrees of attainment. at the start of the time of preparation for spirituality we begin to understand the connections and relationships between the spiritual objects, although it cannot be compared with the actual sensation once you get there. when the zohar says, go and ask rabbi shimon and rabbi abba it means that you should ascend to their degree and ask why they present things the way they do. when the zohar writes that a certain person met rabbi shimon it means that that person rose to the degree of rabbi shimon and because of that can see and understand what rabbi shimon can. this is how a degree gets its name, and when a person climbs

balah, and all the holy scriptures, were written by people who climbed the spiritual ladder and wrote their instructions from there. many kabbalists climbed these steps, but there are conditions that limit the amount of people permitted to write. there are only three kabbalists who attained the very last degree and were permitted to describe the system. they are rabbi shimon bar-yochay, author of the zohar, the ari, author of the tree of life, and rabbi yehuda ashlag, author of the sulam commentary on the zohar and the study of the ten sefirot. these books were all written after their authors ascended to the degree of the creator in every property and capability. if a person acquires the attributes of the creator, he becomes free. such a person is not limited in any way, he is above everyt

d to the degree of the creator in every property and capability. if a person acquires the attributes of the creator, he becomes free. such a person is not limited in any way, he is above everything. kabbalah hardly ever mentions one s ascent in the degrees, though it is the most important thing for us. the books speak primarily of the descent of the worlds from above. it is described in detail in the zohar, in the writings of the ari, and the study of the ten sefirot. we learn about the ascent from below from letters and articles that baal hasulam and rabash (rabbi baruch ashlag) wrote to their students. there seems to be a shortage of material that describes the ascent. but the reason is that the complementary material should only serve to encourage a person to attain the state of this wo

lly have, how to use it and who possesses it. we will see below that in fact, we are all servants of our own egoism and only the kabbalists who climb the spiritual degrees have real freedom. furthermore, the more they correct themselves, the greater is their capability to lead the world. we learn about the descent of the light from the creator down to our world in the study of the ten sefirot, in the zohar and in the writings of the ari. the other part, which talks about our ascent from our world back to the degree of the creator is described quite vaguely in the books. this work is called the work of god a work by which we equalize our form (properties) with those of the creator. q: is kabbalah the only way to feel the creator, and if so, how can that be proven? a: yes, it is. but you wan

hing as logical or scientific that provides a fuller picture of our world, and places all the sciences and other wisdoms in their place. there is nothing more realistic than kabbalah. thus, precisely now that science has reached a dead-end, the only true wisdom of creation appears from above. that is why kabbalah is referred to as the wisdom of truth. q: will kabbalah save the world? 36 of 273 a: the zohar states precisely that. what is kabbalah? it is a spiritual force that rules our world. we will attain correction only if we draw the force down here for that purpose. we cannot pull ourselves out of the mud by our own hair. q: certain mystical things are in fact, a certain kind of drug that people try to use in order to escape the problems they are faced with. drug addicts are normally v

tate of calmness, eternity completeness and peace. that spiritual degree (of the end of correction) is not described anywhere in kabbalah or the torah, simply because it is indescribable in words. there is no parallel to it in our language. beyond the end of correction there is a realm that is not described anywhere. it is there that we find the secrets of torah. there are subtle hints to that in the zohar and in the talmud. that spiritual state is called maase merkava and maase bereshit. but those are all very subtle hints. it is in fact impossible to describe these spiritual feelings in words because the words and the letters in our language, are valid only in the correction zone (until the world of atzilut, since that is where they are taken from. we cannot feel anything above the syste

n spiritual attainment do we begin to understand the entire system of creation and the calculation that brought to the worst events that happened to us. we will understand why tragedies are necessary for our existence and correction. unfortunately, it is the lack of the understanding of the necessity of the spiritual evolution that brings such tragedies on us. it is spoken of completely openly in the zohar and in the books of the ari. if we do not start studying the books of kabbalah, the wisdom that guides our spiritual evolution, we will not evolve to attain the purpose of creation. the creator will push every single one of us forcefully and painfully. our people and the whole of mankind will be pushed ferociously to the realization of the necessity of spiritual development. there will b

kind of souls that descend to this world. there were other forms of study before the ari, but starting from the discovery of his method, it became possible for everyone to study, provided they had a strong enough desire. 100 of 273 baal hasulam did not make any fundamental changes in the ari s method, but only enhanced and deepened it. he wrote a detailed commentary to the books of the ari and to the zohar. it is thanks to this commentary that everyone who wants to study the wisdom of kabbalah and draw nearer to the spiritual world, can comprehend the inner meaning of the text and find the true meaning of the books of the torah. souls that came down to this world before the ari received their spirituality on a superficial level. after the demise of the ari, the souls that descended to the

municate in a spiritual language and perform spiritual acts. anyone receives and suffers according to the level he is in. turning the anguish into something spiritual requires a screen. that cannot be given just like that; such a demand creates a barrier, a separation. that is why the wisdom of kabbalah is also called the wisdom of the hidden (for those who have not attained it. in the preface to the zohar, baal hasulam depicts four levels of recognition: matter, form dressed in matter, abstract form and essence. our science can only deal with what concerns the matter and the form dressed in the matter. a form without a matter is a completely abstract concept that cannot be clearly analyzed. the essence, the thing that brings life to objects, or creates responses, is completely incomprehen

a correct performance of his will and his counsel. man s purification is the torah s real goal, and the observing of mitzvot is only a means to attain it. if the performance is not directed toward this aim, but is done automatically, out of habit that has become a need, then it will not bear the right fruit. it is as though a person who operates without this intent in mind simply does not exist! the zohar writes about it, that a mitzva without an aim and without a purpose is like a dead body (a body without a soul. therefore, one must obtain the desired aim. only then will he attain the purpose of his existence. this intention to attain the purpose of his existence, the sensation of the creator and unification with him must be a real one. it is the only reason for doing anything. anything

vot, he should learn anything that will help him in acquiring the right aim. that is what kabbalah books teach and nothing else! 104 of 273 chapter 3.3 the structure of the upper worlds foreword this course is based on the article "preface to the wisdom of kabbalah, written by rabbi yehuda ashlag. rabbi ashlag wrote this article as one of his introductions to the sulam commentary that he wrote on the zohar. according to the method of the kabbalah, one learns about the extension of existence from above downward, from the creator down to this world. consequently, the student acquires means for spiritual elevation from below upward, exactly like those degrees of progressions from above downward that he learns about. this is in accordance with the definition of kabbalah: this wisdom is no more

THE STAR IN THE WEST BY CAPTAIN FULLER A CRITICAL ESSAY ON THE WORKS OF ALEISTER CROWLEY

tems of thought is as old as thought itself. the great system of the qabalah is one of emanation. a type of spiritual monism, an attempted explanation of the nature of the deity, within the limitations of mind. its correspondence with the talmud is more of method than material. that it was of slow growth is very certain, that it is a conglomerated mass of a multitude of efforts is also most sure. the zohar is its corner-stone, and the date of its construction extends probably from the second to the seventh century of the present era. much of its logic, psychology, metaphysics, philosophy, and theology, is drawn directly from the midrash. to make it superior to profane literature its simplicity has at various times been cloaked in a truculent obscurantism, many of its students delighting in

ophyte, h and in gtannhauser. h many of the poems in gsongs of the spirit h and gthe holy of holies, h hold fast to this idea; and it is this ideal, the progression from the kingdom to the crown, from malkuth to kether, which constitutes one of the most beautiful doctrines of the older and simpler qabalah *songs of the spirit, vol. i, p. 40. the qabalah guides us to a divine theurgy. according to the zohar it is impossible to know god, herein the qabalah is agnostic, it forbids the representation of god, herein it is rational. the ain soph is the gallpervading, h the gnon ens h dwelling in the gnon est, h it is inscrutable to man fs mind; this vast pleroma, corona summa, the all, is formless, and is symbolized by a circle, it is nothing. as the ain soph is the closed eye of the unknown dar

conception of prana or life spirit of ancient india; the atharvaveda says: greverence to prana, to whom the universe is subject, who has been lord of all, on whom all is supported. h prana is the purusha or aum, the totality of brahman, vishnu, and siva, of past, present, and future. the wisdom of the book of proverbs, and the later book of wisdom; it is also the same power as the eden illa-ah of the zohar, the be f raisheeth of many qabalists and talmudists, the logos of philo and st. john, and the sophia of plato. all the above are absolute ideals, and so can bear only a relationship and no proportionate value whatever to our finite understanding, they can only be watched, and have never been realized; and for this reason is it that they have never been appreciated by the mass of their s

ar as our ignorance, and because it is above wisdom itself. h *zohar, iii, fol. 2886 (meyer. gnot only does the qabbalah repudiate the adage ex nihilo nihil fit, i.e, efrom nothing, nothing is made, f that is, nothing can come from nothing, but it does not believe in the absolute annihilation of anything which has ever existed. ethere is not anything new under the sun. f*1. enot any thing, f says the zohar, eis lost in the universe, not even the vapour which goes out of our mouths, as all things, it has its place and destination, and the holy one, blessed be it! makes it concur to its works; not anything falls into the void, not even the words and the voice of man, but all has its place and its destination. h*2 *1. but crowleyanity may be new, for it is not under the sun *2. qabbalah. isaa

TYSON DONALD NEW MILLENNIUM MAGIC

etz) the tetragrammaton (ihvh, called by kabbalists "the distinctive excellent name" to distinguish it from all lesser names of god, occurs for both binah and tiphareth. in the case of binah, it is pronounced "elohim" and in the case of tiphareth, it is pronounced the more common "adonai" two separate names are given for yesod: shaddai (almighty) and el chai (living god. the first form appears in the zohar while the second is given by the kabbalist joseph gikatilla. malkuth also has two separate names: adonai malekh (lord and king) and adon- ai ha-aretz (lord of earth. at first glance the arrangement and numbering of the sephiroth (the circles that stand for the emanations) seems arbitrary. this is not so, but it is left to the insight of the magus to see the pattern in them. the true basi

TYSON DONALD THE POWER OF THE WORD

d of the letters of ihvh. only three letters of the name are employed, not all four, because it is possible to permute three letters in six different ways, and in three-dimensional space there are six fundamental directions-up, down; before, behind; left, right. this is sufficient, because there are only three different letters in the name, the h being repeated. in the later kabbalistic theory of the zohar, which was written centuries after the sepher yetzirah, the relationship between tetragrammaton and the creation of the world became more complex and specific. to understand this relationship, it is necessary to say a few words about the doctrine of emanations. kabbalists hold that creation, all forms of creation of being from nothingness, occurred and continues to occur through the medi

here solomon found it when he cut the fish open. by means of the power of the ring he regained his kingdom. he captured sakhar, tied a great stone around his neck, and threw the demon into a deep lake. throughout the stories about the ring runs a swallowing motif. ashmodai swallows the ring to keep it from solomon. in the arab version, it is the fish who swallows the ring. according to a story in the zohar, solomon would ride on the back of an eagle to the dark gathering place of evil spirits, where the fallen angels uzza and azael lay bound in vast iron chains that were fastened to the roots of the abyss. solomon would put his seal ring into the mouth of the eagle and hide under its left wing, and the power of the name upon the ring would force the dark angels to tell him all the secrets

acred name was 252 tetragrammaton prohibited at the death of the high priest simeon the righteous. when it is said that the pointing of adonai or elohim is substituted by massoretic practice for the lost vowels, this does not mean that there was an attempt to pronounce the name with their aid but that one of the alternatives was to be used instead. it will be remembered that god is made to say in the zohar: my name is written yhvh but is read adonai (the holy kabbalah 119291 [new hyde park, new york: university books, 19751, p. 617) israel regardie the father is given the letter "y" of this name, and the first" h is attributed to the mother. from the union of the y and the h flow the rest of all created things. in other words, from consciousness and its vehicle are all things formed, and e

WAITE ASPECTS OF MASONIC SYMBOLISM

ystery of law which is at the root of the secret tradition in israel. this is outside our subject, not indeed by its nature but owing to limitations of opportunity. i will say only that it offers another aspect of a fatal loss in israel and the world- which is commented on in the tradition. that which the temple symbolized above all things was, however, a house of doctrine, and as on the one hand the zohar shows us how a loss and substitution were perpetuated through centuries, owing to the idolatry of israel at the foot of mount horeb in the wilderness of sinai, and illustrated by the breaking of the tables of stone on which the law was inscribed; so does speculative masonry intimate that the holy house, which was planned and begun after one manner, was completed after another and a word

WEOR SAMAEL AUN ESOTERIC COURSE OF KABBLAH

world and the extraordinary play3 of the sephiroth in god and in man through the thirty two paths of wisdom. the entire science of the sephiroth is hidden within the sexual mysteries. the soul has three aspects: 1. nephesh, the animal soul. 2. ruach, the thinking soul. 3. meshamah, the spiritual soul. the sephiroth are the substratum of these three aspects of the souls. the sephiroth are atomic. the zohar insists on these three principle elements which compose the world. these elements are: fire (shin, water (mem, air (aleph. these elements are the perfect synthesis of the four manifested elements. the powerful mantra i.a.o. encompasses the magical power of the triangle of these principle elements: i ignis fire a aqua water o origo spiritual principle i. a o is the supreme mantra of the a

en la magia blanca. la sal debe combinarse con el alcohol. si se coloca ente un recipiente alcohol y sal y luego se pone al fuego, se obtiene un sahumerio maravilloso. esto s lo se debe utilizar para invocar a los dioses de la medicina cuando se necesita curar alg n enfermo. entonces ellos acudir n al llamado. 24 the sulfur (fire) totally burns without leaving any residuals. sulfur is the shin of the zohar. the water (the ens-seminis) is the mem of the zohar. by means of successive transmutations, fire and water are reduced to the kabbalistic aleph (this is what the alchemist calls alkaest4. this is how the i.a.o. is performed, and this is the way to open the twelve faculties of the soul. the soul is christified, the kundalini blooms upon our fertile lips made verb. the ternary5 is the wor

animales. perseo para cortar la cabeza de la medusa (el yo psicol gico o adam terrenal) con su espada flam gera. todos los grandes maestros de la humanidad tales como: hermes, budha, jes s, dante, zoroastro, etc, tuvieron que pasar por la prueba m xima. en el p rtico terrible de la novena esfera est escrita aquella frase que cierra el paso a los profanos "lasciate ogni speranza voich entrate. 64 the zohar emphatically warns us that within the depths of the abyss lives the adam protoplastus, the differentiating principle of the souls. with this principle we have to dispute victory to the death. this fight is terrible, brain against sex, and sex against brain, and what is even more terrible and more painful is heart against heart, you know it. the sign of the infinite is resplendent within

WESTERN MANDALAS OF TRANSFORMATION SR AL

venus. this transformation is allegorically portrayed in tarot by nun, death, which, since it is connected to scorpio, rules the sexual organs. in the image developed by dr. case, the skeleton figure in this tarot key has a crook in his neck to represent the change in energy flow at the venus chakra. dr. case tells us this mystery is also connected to the number 700, thought to be very sacred in the zohar. this joining of the forces of mars and venus is the true nature of the alchemfigure 9-m ical great work. figure 9-n: the pillars figure 9-o: agrippa's kamea in hebrew correspondences: the magical names and numbers of netzach/venus asterisks) denote god-names 7: number of sephira 7: the number of vertebrae in the human neck (godwin *7: aha, a name of god attributed to nogah. initials of

owley) 175: iniqh: suction 175: lmolh: on high("and the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat" ex 25: 20) 175: ikin-bvoz, johkin-boaz: the two pillars 175: honn: the (shekinah) cloud (gen 13: 22) 1125: theosophic extension of kamea 1225: othiqa-dothiqim, authiqa-de-athiqin: the ancient of ancients 700: kprth: the mercy-seat 700: mystical number of sexuality in the zohar 700: nun final *700: chi ro living from that will, supported by its unfailing wisdom and understanding, mine is the victorious life (pattern on the trestleboard) chapter 10 the kamea of hod/mercury the magical numbers of mercury are eight, sixty-four, 260, and 2080. mercury, the eighth sephira, is known as the ogdoad. in it is concealed the mystery of the completion of the great work; an

WILLIAM WESCOTT NUMBERS THEIR OCCULT POWER AND MYSTIC VIRTUES

f hermes and egyptian magic. i have added in this edition many notes on the notions of the rabbis of israel, both from those who contributed to the mishnah and gemara of the talmuds of jerusalem and of babylon, and from the rabbis who made a special study of the kabalah. only a few talmudic treatises have as yet appeared in the english language, and hardly any kabalistic tracts, except three from the zohar or book of splendour, viz, the siphra dtzenioutha, the idra rabba and the idra suta. many talmudic and kabalistic quotations may, however, be found in j. p. stehelin s rabbinical literature of 1748; in john allen s modern judaism, of 1816, and in works on the kabalah by adolph franck and christian ginsburg, while hershon has published hebraic lore in his talmudic miscellany, and genesis

as many 10 dimensions. there are 10 bible names of god, 10 canticles, and 10 necessaries for man s life. ecclus. 39. 26. there were 10 pythagorean virtues of initiation and the buddhists teach 10 paramitas of perfection. numbers--th eir occu lt power an d mys tic vir tu es by w. wyn n wes tcott in the alchymico-kabalistic tract called aesch metzareph referred to by eliphas levi and collected from the zohar of knorr von rosenroth and translated into english, and forming volume iv of my collectanea hermetica, will be found 10 names for gold all extracted from the old testament; they are there related to the sephirah geburah. the hindu puranas tell us of the 10 avatars of the god vishnu, the preserver of the brahmanic religion; they are periodical incarnations of the god and are as follows. 1

WOLFSON ELLIOT ALEF MEM TAU KABBALISTIC MUSINGS ON TIME TRUTH AND DEATH

p. v xxii. 141. it is of interest to mention here the following comment in a work (shem olam, p.12) attributed by some scholars to the colorful and controversial eighteenth- century figure jonathan eybeschuetz: the words of the ari, blessed be his memory, attest that the emanation was in time [bi-zeman. if this is so, then the beginning of the name yhwh is also in time. this is not the opinion of the zohar or pirqei rabbi eli ezer, which prove that the name yhwh is eternal in its primordiality [qadmon be-qadmuto] and it does not fall under time [we-eino nofel tahat zeman, god forbid. see ibid, p.159: the emanation, which [consists of] the garments [ha-malbushim, was not from eternity [mi-qedem, for they fall under time, as the ari, blessed be his memory, wrote. ibid, p. 245: if you say tha

1. this is not to deny that some kabbalists expressed a monistic orientation, but, in my judgment, those who did so were more inclined to an acosmism that denies the independence of the world vis -vis god, rather than to a pantheism that undermines the transcendence of god vis -vis the world. 192. novalis, das allgemeine brouillon, cited in weeks, german mysticism, p. 222. 193. liebes, studies in the zohar, pp. 130, 135 138. 194. abulafia, sha ar ha-razim, p. 58. 195. karo, sefer maggid mesharim, pp. 53 54. 196. ibid, p. 245. 197. for reference, see n. 162, this chapter. 198. that is, following the oral tradition of the masoretic reading (qeri, we-lo ehad ba-hem, and to him one belongs, as opposed to the orthographic tradition (ketiv, we-lo ehad ba-hem, and not one of them. 199. haver, pit

balistic gnosis, it seems to me, is conveyed by the vedic wisdom expressed in the maitrayana-brahmana-upanishad, 6:14, cited in m ller, the upanisads, vol. 2, p. 317: he who worships time as brahman, from him time moves away very far. 219. menahem azariah of fano, yonat elem, ch. 38, in sefer ma amerei ha-rav menahem azariah mi-fano, vol. 1, p. 48. 224 notes to pages 89 94 220. liebes, studies in the zohar, pp. 89, 107, 111, 112, 114 115, 119, 123, 126 134. 221. babylonian talmud, mo ed qatan 28a. 222. david ben yehudah he-hasid, book of mirrors, pp. 266 267. on keter as the source of time, see the comment of david ben yehudah, op. cit, p. 194. i will not concern myself with the aspect of temporality linked to the kabbalistic conception of cosmic cycles (shemittot. for a brief background o

by the godhead is depicted as comprising three configurations (parsufim: arikh anpin (or atiqa qaddisha, ze eir anpin, and haqal tapuhin qaddishin, which correspond to the hybrid of ein sof and keter (represented in some passages by the image of three heads, the sefirotic edifice from hokhmah to yesod, and malkhut. see scholem, major trends, p. 270; tishby, wisdom, pp. 245 246; liebes, studies in the zohar, pp. 170 171 n. 65; wolfson, constructions, pp. 46 53. on the correlation of these configurations and the three obligatory meals of sabbath, see zohar 2:88b. the link between this zoharic pas- notes to pages 118 119 233 sage and the trinity in sabbatian theology was noted by tishby, studies in kabbalah, p. 955. on the triadic representation of the godhead, see the account of the arraymen

it must be recalled that in kabbalistic texts from the zoharic period the highest aspect of god is designated by the term arikh anpin and the lower aspect by ze eir anpin (see n. 7, this chapter. according to some sources, the latter term is applied to shekhinah, 244 notes to pages 130 133 which is the feminine persona. see idel, kabbalah: new perspectives, pp. 119 and 135, and liebes, studies in the zohar, pp. 110 114. 91. on the distinction between tehillah, praise, and tefillah, prayer, see bahir, 46, p. 143. 92. vestiges of what i assume is a much older myth that has had a profound impact on the formation and evolution of kabbalistic symbolism can be found in the bahiric anthology. see bahir, 12, p. 123 (in that passage, the parabolic image of the king preparing a crown to rest on the

49 350. 47. bahir, 42, p. 141. 48. see wolfson, circumcision, secrecy, pp. 59 61. 49. i have translated the passage as it appears in midrash otiyyot de-rabbi aqiva ha- shalem, p. 112. this version is based on the edition of the two recensions published by wertheimer in battei midrashot, 2: 343 418. regarding this passage, see adler, un fragment, pp. 129 130. 50. zohar 1:2b. 51. liebes, studies in the zohar, pp. 154 158. 52. wolfson, circumcision and the divine name. 53. the point is sharpened by the reading preserved in ms vatican or. barb. notes to pages 145 147 251 110, which is transcribed in bahir, p. 230: the closed mem. what is it made like? like a female, as the womb from above. 54. see, however, bahir, 25, p. 131. in that context, the open mem is associated with the aspect of the h

world [tiqqun ha-olam] and his opening overflows. 56. this is the locution of paul in galatians 4:4. see dunn, christology, pp. 38 44. 57. mopsik, body of engenderment, pp. 49 73. 58. zohar hadash, 72b c. see also zohar 1:34b; 3:155b, 236b (ra aya meheimna; zohar hadash, 120b (tiqqunim; hebrew writings, pp. 36 37. for a similar analysis based on a different zoharic passage, see liebes, studies in the zohar, pp. 146 152. 59. zohar hadash, 72c. 60. ibid. 61. an interesting exception is found in the sabbatian teaching promulgated by israel hazzan, disciple of nathan of gaza, in his perush tehillim, ms budapest- kaufmann 255, fol. 110a: in the account of the chariot itself, in the beginning of its existence, there is an allusion to the closed mem, that is, the two heitin that are joined togeth

t, the messiah, who is designated the ruling archon (sar hamoshel, is linked symbolically to the closed mem in the middle of the word lemarbbeh (isa 9:6) and to the final mem of adam. see zohar 1:34b. 63. martin, pugio fidei, pp. 531 532; see also p. 452. the thematic link between the passage from pugio fidei and the bahir, as well as some passages from zohar, are duly noted by liebes, studies in the zohar, pp. 148 149. for a lucid exposition of the historical and literary background of pugio fidei, see chazan, daggers, pp. 115 136. for a later formulation indebted to martin s exegesis of the closed mem as symbolic of mary s virginity, see epistle of secrets, pp. 12 14. on the marian interpretation of the closed mem in nicholas of lyre and the trinitarian approach proffered by pico della m

of redemption [sod ha-ge ullah, and all of them are at the end of the word except for the closed mem in the expression le-marbbeh ha-misrah. the connection established between the five double letters and the secret of redemption is based on yet another aggadic tradition cited by azriel from pirqei rabbi eli ezer, ch. 48, 116a. see perush ha-aggadot, pp. 49 50, already noted by liebes, studies in the zohar, p. 233 n. 45. on the nexus of mem and the secret of redemption (sod ha-ge ullah) from another thirteenth-century kabbalistic source, see abulafia, imrei shefer, ms munich, bayerische staatsbibliothek 40, fol. 244a (printed edition, p. 90. see also the hebrew composition by the author of tiqqunei zohar referred to in n. 58, this chapter. 67. for further discussion of this motif, see wolf

magination, pp. 46 48, 52 53, 68, and references to other scholars cited on p. 197 n. 25. 30. the polemical dimension of the rabbinic dicta is developed further by liebes, studies in zohar, pp. 235 237 n. 56. 31. as oron, narrative, pp. 100 101 notes, according to the earlier sources, the case that tau presents before god rests on its standing at the start of the word torah, whereas, according to the zohar, the case rests on the fact that tau terminates the word emet. the shift underscores that the link between truth and death is paramount in the zoharic text. 32. this is precisely the problem heidegger deals with in being and time, sec. 47, pp. 221 224. the transition from being-there to no-longer-being-there cannot be experienced. consequently, the experience of one s own death is access

wise, translated by simon critchley. in re-reading levinas, edited by robert bernasconi and simon critchley, 3 10. bloomington: indiana university press, 1991. lieberman, saul. greek in jewish palestine. 2nd ed. new york: philip feldheim, inc, 1965. liebes, yehuda. studies in jewish myth and jewish messianism. translated by batya stein. albany: state university of new york press, 1993. studies in the zohar. translated by arnold schwartz, stephane nakache, and penina peli. albany: state university of new york press, 1993. liesen, jan. full of praise: an exegetical study of sir 39, 12 35. leiden: e. j. brill, 2000. lloyd, genevieve. being in time: selves and narrators in philosophy and literature. london: routledge, 1993. loewald, hans w. the essential loewald: collected papers and monograph

y gary smith, 175 209. chicago: university of chicago press, 1989. tillich, paul. mysticism and guilt-consciousness in schelling s philosophical development. translated with an introduction and notes by victor nuovo. lewisburg: bucknell university press, 1974. tishby, isaiah. studies in kabbalah and its branches: researches and sources. vol. 3. jerusalem: magnes press, 1993 (hebrew. the wisdom of the zohar: an anthology of texts. translated by david goldstein. oxford: oxford university press, 1989. trompf, g. w. the idea of historical recurrence in western thought: from antiquity to the reformation. berkeley: university of california press, 1979. turetzky, philip. time. london: routledge, 1998. turnbull, robert g. the parmenides and plato s late philosophy. translation of and commentary on

WORKBOOK FOR GRADE 0 VOID AND THE ABYSS

of deceit shall their will becomes flesh. this is the very model of the sorcerer from which the luciferian becomes the magus of leviathan, time itself. one obtains the essence of samael through the study of liber oz, from which the study of sex and death, known as thanateros, is understood and made manifest positively in the sorcerers own life. samael himself is attributed to the serpent, when in the zohar for when samael mounted eve, he injected filth into her, and she conceived and bare cain. tubal-cain is the father of witchcraft, the first of the witch blood in the circle of initiation. upon earth, in flesh, the mythological linage comes from this spirit. 21 lilith is one of the hebraic sources of evil, reflective of the female ability to not only produce children, but to their very na

ted, is an important step in awakening through sexual congress, from which one seeks union with the dreaming body of the gnosis. the lilitu is the gate towards one discovering the holy guardian angel (an alternate path of the witches sabbath) and the evil genius. seek union with the lilitu, within and without. one mystery of the two is that they are called the eternal couple and are symbolized in the zohar as the evil couple (evil is therefore described as the left hand path approach, isolating the self which was contrary to many of the founders of religious christianity. samael is then revealed as asmodeus and lilith the mother of fornication. samael and lilith are the keys of infernal, or daemonic union. it is by the combination of these forces which are the sun and moon respectively tha

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