Michael Wynn's Occult Reference Library
ZOHAR

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h, 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 for

ew 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 tenfold s

neschamah the spiritual soul) corresponding to the supernals, especially binah. practitioners of the golden dawn who use the tree of life as a glyph for the unconscious mind sometimes distinguish the magical path, which embraces all ten sephiroth, from the mystical path of the middle pillar, which is an ascent from malkuth through yesod and tiphareth to kether on the central pillar of the tree. zohar: the book of splendor, the principal book of the qabalah. it is thought to have been written by moses de leon and was first circulated around 1280-1290 a.d. in guadalajara. it included commentaries on the torah. gnosticism: gnosis is a greek term for knowledge. the term gnosis applies to certain religious sects that emerged during the early formative years christianity, and which believed in

1 10 INITIATION CEREMONY

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 to t

4 7 INITIATION CEREMONY

nd 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 of t

ALEISTER CROWLEY LIBER 777

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 subtit

ALEISTER CROWLEY MEDITATION

ell 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 pharynx t

ALEISTER CROWLEY SEPHER SEPHIROTH

of mars *myd)m the waters *mymh 656 a lily; a rose (see 706, and cf. 661) n#w# delight, joy nw# a furnace rwnt by day *mmwy 658 a name of god *myhl )wh 660 flashings, scintillations tycycyn zones; members nyr#q a day; the seas; the times *mymy vases, vessels *mylk spice; drug; poison *ms 661 a lily; a rose (cf. 656) hn#w# a storehouse *ms) 662 the garland of god l)yrtk) 663 stones of marble (see zohar, pt. i. fol. 34. col. 134# ynb) songs twrymz prophets *my)bn 665 the womb mxrh tyb 666 the number of the beast. 1-36. 36 is the sum of the letters aleph to cheth (tyx= 418, hence 666 is an expansion of 418. the number of talents of gold received by solomon in one year (i kings 10:14) aleister crowley (rabbi battiscombe gunn fs transliteration) ylwrq ry+syl) ommo satan: the gevil triad h of s

ALEISTER CROWLEY THE QABALAH

al 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, notariq

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-rap

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, the

rgument 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 concealed

ALEISTER CROWLEY THE SWORD OF SONG

christhood-soul in me, risen of late, is now quite clear even of the smallest taint of earth. supplanting god, the man has birth( new birth you ll call the same, i fear) 725 transcends the ordinary sphere and flies in the direction x (there lies the fourth dimension) vex my soul no more with mistranslations from genesis to revelations, 730 but leave me with the flaming star,75 jeheshua (see thou zohar!)76 and thus our formidable pigeon-77 lamb-and-old-gentleman religion fizzles in smoke, and i am found 735 attacking nothing. here s the ground, pistols, and coffee three in one (alas, o rabbi schimeon) but never a duellist no son, no father, and (to please us most) 740 decency pleads no holy ghost! all vanish at the touch of truth, a cobweb trio like, in sooth, the sword of song 24 the read

dition t.s] 652. this, that, the other atheist s death73 their stories are usually untrue; but let us follow our plan, and grant them all they ask. 709. a cannibal.74 this word is inept, as it predicates humanity of christian-hate- christian. j accuse the english language: anthropophagous must always remain a comic word. 731. the flaming star.75 or pentagram, mystically referred to jeheshua. 732. zohar.76 splendour, the three central books of the dogmatic qabalah. 733. pigeon.77 says an old writer, whom i translate roughly: thou to thy lamb and dove devoutly bow, but leave me, prithee, yet my hawk and cow: and i approve thy greybeard dotard s smile, if thou wilt that of egypt s crocodile. 746. lost! lost! lost !78 see the lay of the last minstrel. 759. ain elohim.79 there is no god! so our

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQ I 5

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, notari

omon 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 ashr

he 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, khorsi

ensible 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 is

alkuth" 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 conceal

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQUINOX EQ I 3 3

, 1662. 6s. 6d. agrippa (h. c) the vanity of arts and sciences. small 8vo, old calf, 1684. 10s. 6d. agrippa (henricus cornellus) de occulta philosophia, libra tres. folio, woodcut 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, c

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQUINOX EQ I 4 3

ers 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, contains

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQUINOX EQ I 4

he form of man("i.e, adam qadmon, and the holly one, praised be it! unites them (in the union of sam dhi, that is, of "sam (greek sigma upsilon nu "together "with, and "adhi" hebrew "adonai, the lord. there are three lights in the upper holy divine united in one, and this is the foundation of the doctrine of every-thing, this is the beginning of the faith, and every-thing is concentrated therein("zohar iii" beginning of paragraph "she'meneeh" fol. 36a. 21 it is fully realized that outside the vastness of the symbol this "fall of god" is as impertinent as it is unthinkable. 22 brihad ranjaka upanishad, 2. 4. 12. 23 the illusion of thinking ourselves similar to the unity and yet separated from it. directly the seeker realizes this, a new reality is born, and the clouds of night roll back and

dy 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 flagg's

ALEISTER CROWLEY EQUINOX EQ I 6 2

he 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 obs

AN INTRO TO STUDY OF THE KABALAH

ucian 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 testamen

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 flourished

he planets and the sevenfold division of time, etc: and the twelve simple letters are referred to the months, zodiacal signs and human organs. modern criticism tends to the conclusion that the existing ancient versions were compiled about a.d. 200. the "sepher yetzirah" is mentioned in the talmuds, both of jerusalem and of babylon; it was written in the neo-hebraic language, like the mishna. the "zohar" or" sohar" spelled in hebrew zhr or zuhr "the book of splendour" or of "light" is a collection of many separate treatises on the deity, angels, souls and cosmogony. its authorship is ascribed to rabbi simon ben jochai, who lived a.d. 160; he was persecuted and driven to live in a cave by lucius aurelius verus, co-regent with the emperor marcus aurelius antoninus. some considerable portion o

anged 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 assembly"

e 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 trans

lude 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 translation of the complete zohar, by jean de pauly: this is a most scholarly work. other famous kabalistic treatises are "the commentary on the ten sephiroth" by rabbi azariel ben menachem, 1200 a.d "the alphabet" of rabbi akiba" the gate of heaven; the "book of enoch "pardes rimmonim, or garden of pomegrantes "a treatise on the emanations "otz ha chiim, or the tree of life" of chajim vital "rashith ha galgulim, or revoluti

mented 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 kabalah i

nor prophets into one treatise; ruth they added to judges; ezra to nehemiah; while the two books each of samuel, kings, and chronicles, they called one each. the canon of thirty-nine works was fixed in the time of ezra. returning to the books which illustrate the kabalah, whatever may be the authenticity of their alleged origins, it cannot be denied that those ancient volumes, sepher yetzirah and zohar, contain a system of spiritual philosophy of clear design, deep intuition and far-reaching cosmologic suggestions; that are well worthy of the honour of receiving a special name and of founding a theological body of doctrine--the kabalah. the bulwark and main foundation of the public hebrew religion has always been the pentateuch, five treatises attributed to moses, which proclaim the laws o

BLAVATSKY H P ANTHROPOGENESIS

complexions, whom "the (seven) great gods created" are mentioned. or, as explained in lines 16 and 18 "in the midst of the earth they grew up and became great. seven kings, brothers of the same family" these are the seven kings of edom to whom reference is made in the kabala; the first race, which was imperfect, i.e, was born before the "balance (sexes) existed, and which was therefore destroyed (zohar, siphrah dzeniouta, idrah suta, 2928, la kabbale, p. 205 "seven kings, brethren, appeared and begat children, 6,000 in number were their peoples (hibbert lectures, p. 372. the god nergas (death) destroyed them "how did he destroy them "by bringing into equilibrium (or balance) those who did not yet exist (siphrah dzeniouta. they were "destroyed" as a race, by being merged in their own progen

, 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 conc

a photograph, of the concealed thought. the logos is the mirror reflecting divine mind, and the universe is the mirror of the logos, though the latter is the esse of that universe. as the logos reflects all in the universe of pleroma, so man reflects in himself all that he sees and finds in his universe, the earth. it is the three heads of the kabala "unum intra alterum, et alterum super alterum (zohar, idra suta, sec. vii "every universe (world or planet) has its own logos" says the doctrine. the sun was always called by the egyptians "the eye of osiris" and was himself the logos, the first-begotten, or light made manifest to the world "which is the mind and divine intellect of the concealed" it is only by the sevenfold ray of this light that we can become cognizant of the logos through t

he 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 cons

at "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 constantly day, or in which at least the night continues only some instants (zohar iii, fol. 10a "qabbalah" p. 139[[vol. 2, page] 29 the celestial governors of humanity. gets all its vital forces, life, and powers through the medium of the seven planetary dhyanis from the spirit of the sun. they are his messengers of light and life "like each of the seven regions of the earth, each of the seven* firstborn (the primordial human groups) receives its light and life from its o

n 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 spiri

nd 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 through

escribed as light, that is, they themselves are a function of, indeed, the same as, the manifestation of ain soph; and they are so from the fact that light represents the ratio of 20612 to 6561, as part of the 'words' dbrim, 41224, or as to the word, debar, 206= 10 cubits. light is so much the burden of the kabbalah, in explaining the sephiroth, that the most famous book on the kabbalah is called zohar or light. in this we find expressions of this kind 'the infinite was entirely unknown and diffused no light before the luminous point violently broke through into vision 'when he first assumed the form (of the crown, or the first sephira, he caused 9 splendid lights to emanate from it, which, shining through it, diffused a bright light in all directions: that is, these 9 with his one (which

BLAVATSKY H P COSMOGENESIS

e 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 by

ive 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 traditiona

wn 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 even by

e 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 only "

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 monothe

he 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* orm

heir contradicting each other, a different construction being found in almost every purana and epic poem. read esoterically- they will all yield the same meaning. thus one account enumerates seven worlds, exclusive of the nether worlds, also seven in number; these fourteen upper and nether worlds have[[footnote(s* we are told by a kabalist, who in a work not yet published contrasts the kabala and zohar with aryan esotericism, that "the hebrew clear, short, terse and exact modes far and beyond measure surpass the toddling word-talk of the hindus- just as by parallelisms the psalmist says 'my mouth speaks with my tongue, i know not thy numbers (lxxi, 15. the hindu glyph shows by its insufficiency in the large admixture of adventitious sides the same borrowed plumage that the greeks (the lyin

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, uses

CASE PAUL F THE BOOK OF TOKENS

s 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, is

CHRONOLOGIA RORISPERGIUS

sargis/sergius meets pope innocent iv in italy. 1248-1309 angela of foligno franciscan tertiary. 1248- 1251 oghul ghaymish c.1250 pseudo-joachim's "exposition on the sibyls and on merlin" franciscan joachite commentary on the erythraean sibyl and the sayings of merlin. 1250? liber juratus (sworn book of honorius) compiled by honorius of thebes, son of euclid. 1250-1305 moses ben shem tob de leon. zohar (the book of splendor) 1250/57- 1315 petrus de abano -petrus aponensis- translator of the kabbalistic and astrological books of rabbi ibn ezra. in "astrolabium planum" he interpreted the 360 degrees of the zodiac plus the decans. 1251- 1259 mongke khan 1251: hulegu leads the mongol invasion of persia and establishes the ilkhanate. 1253-1341 ubertino of casale spiritual franciscan joachite le

an order at pest warned friars not to study or teach alchemy. d.1273 jalal al-din al-rumi. 1274 ramon llull's vision on mount randa. d. 1275 peire cardenal troubadour. 1275-1325 menahem ben benjamin recanati italian kabbalist and torah commentator. 1275 nestorian christian monk, rabban sauma travels from beijing to paris. ramon lull ars magna. aurora consurgens possibly written by thomas aquinas. zohar compiled by moses de leon in spain. 1277 guido bonatti: decem continens tractatus astronomiae(astrological compilation. 1279-1340 jedidah ben abraham bedersi ha penini.behinat olam. 1279-1348 abner de burgos(alfonso de valladolid) spanish christian cabalist; divine names. 1280 abulafia's preaching to christians in italy. joachimist-influenced kabbalah absorbed to some degree by beguin/franci

n church of philadelphia that holds "the keys of david: a joachimist/qblhist exegesis of scripture. 1280 ramon martin: pugio fidei discusses the tetragrammaton christologically, discusses how name science and sefirotic science support the notion of the trinity, and calls the messiah by the hebrew letter yod. uses the word cabala by name and mentions his predecessor petras alphonsi. 1280? sefer ha-zohar written by moses de le n but attributed to simon ben yohai. 1280-1340 joseph ibn kaspi kabbalist "menorat kesef" equates the merkabah ladder with jacob's ladder and reintroduces the universal soul as propounded by batalyawsi. 1282-1288 arnald villanova studies hebrew and joachimist literature perhaps meets abraham abulafia. 1283 "ars demonstrativa" ramon llull. on the letters a+ t (prefigure

94 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 cusa "

shed. 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. italy

ostel 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 guil

607 thomas brightman. influenced by the twelfth-century monk joachim of fiore- seven churches prophesied the seven ages of church history. anticipated a jewish kingdom, separate from the church, upon the the conversion of the jews and a "full restoring of the jewish nation; a literal kingdom on earth. 1558 elizabeth i becomes queen of england; giambattista della porta's magia naturalis published; zohar printed in mantua. john dee propaedeumata. 1559 august, postel and other prisoners are freed upon the death of the pope. 1559-1598 edward kelley theatre of terrestrial astronomy. the stone of the philosophers. 1560-1605 heinrich khunrath proto-rosicrucian amphitheatrum sapientiae aeternae "what good are torches, light, or spectacles, to those who will not see" 1560 foxe's book of martyrs. zo

de marseilles 1674 knorr von rosenroth's kabbala denudata 1677 mutus liber; paradise lost/regained by j. milton. 1680 6 hebrew editions of "sefer yetzirah" collected and printed at lemberg. oldest contains the recensions of sa'adya gaon. 1682 gichtel's edition of the collected works of boehme. 1683-1764 rameau,jean philippe. ballet: la naissance d'osiris (1751. 1684 knorr von rosenroth publishes zohar at sulzbach 1686 semiphoras and schemhamphoras salomonis regis 1688 emanuel swedenborg, scientist and mystic, born in stockholm, sweden 1690 publication of the english translation of the chemical wedding of christian rosenkreutz. 1692 salem witchcraft panic 1694 jane leade. enochian walks with god. 1704 comte de saint-germain born, son of a jewish doctor of strasbourg and named daniel wolf?

DAVID ICKE AND THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREE

e humans, the non-jews are no humans, but cattle (kerithuth 6b, page 78, jebhammoth 61 "the non-jews have been created to serve the jews as slaves (midrasch talpioth 225 "sexual intercourse with non- jews is like sexual intercourse with animals (kethuboth 3b "the non-jews have to be avoided, even more than sick pigs (orach chaiim 57, 6a "the birth rate of non- jews has to be suppressed massively (zohar ii, 4b "as you replace lost cows and donkeys, so you shall replace non-jews (lore dea 377,1. and so it goes on and on. so how often do the "anti-racist" protestors demonstrate outside talmudic events? never. exactly. the irony is that the racism of extreme jews and the racism of adolf hitler are both based on a colossal myth. as alfred m. lilienthal, the jewish writer and researcher, said "t

DAVID ICKE THE BIGGEST SECRET

:just the jews are humans, the non-jews are no humans, but cattle kerithuth 6b, page78, iebhammoth 61the non-jews have been created to serve the jews as slaves midrasch talpioth 225sexual intercourse with non-jews is like sexual intercourse with animals kethuboth 3bthe non-jews have to be avoided even more than sick pigs orach chalim 57, 6athe birth rate of non-jews has to be suppressed massively zohar 11, 4bas you replace lost cows and donkeys, so you shall replace non-jews lore dea 377,1but this is not just a grotesque diatribe of racism. look again. it is the very attitudesthat the draco reptilians and their underlings have towards humans. remember thishorrific stuff was not written by judeans or jews as a people. they are victims of thesebeliefs, not the authors. it was written by the

DIABOLUS

devil) of the toad rite. in certain writings, cain is said to have emerged from the seed of samael and eve (by possession by lilith- r. hiyya said "the sons of god were the sons of cain. for when samael mounted eve, he injected filth into her, and she conceived and bare cain. and his aspect was unlike that of the other humans and all those who came from his side were called sons of god- kabbala: zohar 1:37a here we see that the magical act of sexual union creates a god like individual, who in this instance is cain. cain is considered to be a son of satan, a manifestation of that very solar force within man and woman. in religious lore, samael who is the serpent or dragon, was said to have injected filth which spawned cain, his son in flesh- when the serpent mounted eve, he injected filth

DICTIONARY GLOSSARY OF OCCULT TERMINOLOGY

rder 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 can

intellect is looked upon as an obstruction to truth that must be circumvented on philosophical analysis. zodiac: from the old french from the latin "zodiakos" meaning "circle of animals. an imaginary belt in the heavens extending on either side of the apparent path of the sun, the moon, and the planets along the ecliptic divided into twelve sections of thirty degrees each. used in astrology (q.v. zohar: a huge, mystical commentary on the torah (q.v) first written down in the fourteenth (14th) century by the rebbe and kabbalist moses de leon *finis- the encceremonial magic unveiled by dion fortune this article first appeared in the occult gazette in january i933 and has not been available for a wider audience since. it is of particular relevance in revealing d.f's considered opinion about t

DION FORTUNE MYSTICAL QABALA

d to him; some of them were actually members of the order of the golden dawn which he founded. 4. other sources of information are frazer's golden bough; the works of wallis budge; the writings of drs jung and freud; the translations of dr jowett from the greek; the sacred books of the east series, the loeb classical library; the translation of plotinus by stephen mackenna; the translation of tbe zohar issued by the soncino press; and last, but by no means the least valuable source of information, the holy bible. so much for occult secrecy! 5. it will be seen that the symbols assigned to each sephirah are classified in regular order under certain headings. to understand the significance attached to these different sections by the occultist and the use he makes of them it is necessary to ex

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, an

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF OCCULTISM AND PARAPSYCHOLOGY VOL 1

e 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 and

. 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 loki

olarship 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.tre

. the secret garden: an anthology of the kabbalah. new york: seabury press, 1976. pick, bernhard. the cabala. lasalle, ill: open court 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 o

sis (influencing casting of dice) and correlation between physical pain and esp in hospital patients. sources: pleasants, helene, ed. biographical dictionary of parapsychology. new york: helix press, 1964. knorr von rosenroth, christian (1636.1689) german alchemist and mystic who edited kabalistic works under the title kabbala denudata (1677, 1684. this book includes three fragments from the book zohar with extensive commentary, as well as treatises by isaac luria, founder of a kabalistic sect in the sixteenth century, and the treatise on the soul, by moses cordovero. rosenroth translated these hebrew works into latin and thus made them available to non-jewish readers. an english translation of kabbala denudata was published by s. l. macgregor mathers in 1887 (see also kabala) knowles, els

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF OCCULTISM AND PARAPSYCHOLOGY VOL 2

, 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 elohim

s of yin and yang foods, properly prepared (see also china; tao) 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 da

r 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. london:

FELDMAN DANIEL QABALAH THE MYSTICAL HERITAGE OF THE CHILDREN OF ABRAHAM

ed 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 the th

eaks of modern quantum physics.42 some other authors have also speculated on the correlation between qabalistic formulations and the components of particle physics.43 another core idea in modern cosmology that finds its counterpart in qabalistic doctrine is that time is relative and subject to compression and expansion. the first chapter of torah b reshith describes the seven days of creation. in zohar b reshith, it says that the entire cycle of creation is contained in the first verse of torah b reshith. in this light, it can then be said that the hebrew calendar of seven thousand years spans the entire life of this universe in matter, which is currently estimated 8- f e 0 to be twenty billion years. the implication of this idea is that the sequence of events in torah b reshith, all of wh

on 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 the

on 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 followed by

th, 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 pivota

e 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 later e

r 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 is a

scending 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 emanati

FRANCIS A YATES GIORDANO BRUNO AND THE HERMETIC TRADITION

agic' 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 asp

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 alphabet an

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 the do

s 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 ref

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 intense

FULLER J F C SECRET WISDOM OF THE QABALAH

ancient hinges, deer whispers- to the presence which occupies that space within "a thousand thank you's for the dancelathe secret wisdom of the qabalah a study in jewish mystical thought by j. f. c. fuller author of gyoga: a study of the mystical philosophy of the brahmins and buddhists h gthe beings who live below, say that god is on high; while the angels in heaven, say that god is on earth. h-zohar. agnz secret wisdom of the qabalah page 2 preface this small book is in no sense a treatise on the qabalah. instead, it is a speculative study on one of several secret doctrines which it contains, and, i believe, the key-doctrine of all the others. should this be correct, then it follows that, unless this doctrine is understood, the whole symbolism of jewish mysticism must remain obscure, an

r 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 when

ed 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 commun

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 she

endour11- 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 unde

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, isaac m

cebron, 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: ins

dom 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: instead it is a secret traditional knowledge, the hidden thought of israel, which, like gold embedded in rock, is to be found only after much labour in many hebrew works, such as the torah, the talmud, the mishna, midrashim, zohar, and scores of other books, the bewildering nature of which may be recognized in a few minutes by glancing through a talmudic miscellany by paul isaac hershon. the word hlbq (qblh) is spelt in many ways, such as qabalah, qaballah, cabala, kaballa, and even, though quite incorrectly- gabella. it is not derived from such fantastic origins as the name of kapila, the indian philosopher, or from

GILBERT AE WAITE A MAGICIAN OF MANY PARTS

n.4.the symbolism of the fellowshipimplies a doctrine and practiceof mysticalreligion, understood in its universal sense.5.it has a message to thosewhoare prepared in christendom, though the lower grades of the fellowship arenotexplicitly christian grades. 6.thetradition and symbolism of the fellowship are a derivation from the secret doctrine of israel,knownas kabalah and embodied in thesepherha zohar.7.themode of interpretation in respect of kabalistic tradition is a christian mode.8.it is to be understood that the fellowship is similar to other instituted mysteriesworkingunder particular veils, the masonic brotherhood, for example, which uses building symbolism to produce upright and honourable members of the speculativeart,while the fellowship of the rosy cross uses theosophical symbol

GILBERT THE MAGICAL MASON

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.'rhusthe

ge 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 blasphem

world, and man; and the devils dwell in its lowest and most gross layers, seven of them, they are the abodes called hells; and in them dwell also the shells of the wicked dead of mankind.thebiblical satan rules in them under his title of samael. with him in power is his female companion asheth zenunim or the woman of whoredom: as one personality they are the beast, chiva, or chi-yoh of meyer, see zohar ii, 255-259,the devil, and evil spirits 135amsterdam, 1805. like all other forms of being samael proceeded from the one infinite source, and must in the end return to light and purity and to the one fount; at which time samael, smal, will lose his poison sm and remain al, an angel of god: hell will disappear, and with them all sin, and there will be one eternal sabbath of peace.ofthe satan i

GLOBAL FREEMASONRY

d 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 only

GNOSTIC STUDIES THE GNOSTIC HANDBOOK II GNOSTIC THEURGY

pted 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 or gi

ers came forth, pure and bright from the flowing measure of the spark. therefore it is written: the word of yhvh is refined (psalms 18:31, as silver and gold are refined. when these letters came forth, they were all refined, carved gnostic theurgy page 103 precisely, sparkling, flashing. all of israel saw the letters flying through in every direction, engraving themselves on the tablets of stone. zohar:book of enlightenment. trans, daniel matt, paulist press.1983 come and behold the letters by which heaven and earth were created, the letters by which were created hills and mountains, the letters by which were created rivers and seas, the letters by which were created the trees and the herbs. the book of enoch. in the ancient book of enoch it is stated that moses received the letters of the

HELENA BLAVATSKY THE KEY TO THEOSOPHY

e, and would make outsiders believe that they are full-blown adepts. not only is there no scientific and accurate knowledge of occultism accessible in the west-not even of true astrology, the only branch of occultism which, in its exoteric teachings, has definite laws and a definite system-but no one has any idea of what real occultism means. some limit ancient wisdom to the cabala and the jewish zohar, which each interprets in his own way according to the dead-letter of the rabbinical methods. others regard swedenborg or bo hme as the ultimate expressions of the highest wisdom; while others again see in mesmerism the great secret of ancient magic. one and all of those who put their theory into practice are rapidly drifting, through ignorance, into black magic. happy are those who escape f

o 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 substan

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 becomest

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, there i

dvapara-yuga, and finally kali-yuga, the black age-in which we now page 171 the key to theosophy- hp blavatsky.txt are. zenobia the queen of palmyra, defeated by the emperor aurelianus. she had for her instructor longinus, the famous critic and logician in the third century ad (see longinus) zivo, kabar (or yukabar) the name of one of the creative deities in the nazarene codex (see isis unveiled) zohar (heb) the book of splendor, a cabalistic work attributed to simeon ben iochai, in the first century of our era (see for fuller explanation theosophical glossary) zoroastrian one who follows the religion of the parsis, sun, or fire-worshippers. appendix -ooo- the theosophical society: information for inquirers the theosophical society was formed at new york, november 17th, 1875. its founders

HP LOVECRAFT A DARK LORE

a host of standard works which mr. merritt was not too alarmed to envy, embraced nearly all the cabbalists, daemonologists, and magicians known to man; and was a treasure-house of lore in the doubtful realms of alchemy and astrology. hermes trismegistus in mesnard's edition, the turba philosophorum, geber's liber investigationis, and artephius's key of wisdom all were there; with the cabbalistic zohar, peter jammy's set of albertus magnus, raymond lully's ars magna et ultima in zetsner's edition, roger bacon's thesaurus chemicus, fludd's clavis alchimiae, and trithemius's de lapide philosophico crowding them close. mediaeval jews and arabs were represented in profusion, and mr. merritt turned pale when, upon taking down a fine volume conspicuously labelled as the qanoon-e-islam, he found

INFERNAL UNION

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 magicka

ISIS UNVEILED

ng 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 sever

race to the gods whom he hoped to rejoin, or an animal victim. the former [mode of expiation] depended entirely on his own will. at the last moment of the solemn 'new birth' the initiator passed 'the word' to the initiated, and im- mediately after that the latter had a weapon placed in his right hand, and was ordered to strike" this is the true origin of the christian dogma of atonement. 73. see zohar; kabbalu denvdala; siphra dbtniuoua. the oldcat book of the kkbaluu; and milmsn: hitlory of diritfianilg, pp. 212-215, origiiul edition, 1840. 74. milnun; op. cil, p. 280. the kvriot uid kara art mentbned repeatedly by justin martyr; ne/ apol, ch. 64, etc. 75. see okhaubeu: biiliau commttdary on neic tettament, introduction, 1: new york, 1857-60. 76. there i* a wide-spread mperttitum (p, esp

e clejaentiwn, pp. 130, 176 *g; d. suptrn. rd, p*rt iii, i. 451. we will ape&k of this doctrine faiiher on. 452. rosenrath: kabbala dmvdala, n, p. 155. 453. l. minard: hermit trirmtgitu, pp. 89. 90: pkris, i9i0. 454. kleuker: nat. u. uitpr. d. emanatioiuutn b. d. jcomojuint, pp. 10, 11. 455. juatin mutjv: firtt apot, xzziii. 456. dialogue ma trj/pho, cxxvili. digitizecoy google. 196 isis unveiled zohar and the 'heretical' sects, and if jesus mentioned these things, it was not in the offidal synagogs that he learned the theory, but directly in the kabalistic teachings. in the mosaic books very little mention is made of them, and moses, who holds direct communications with the 'lord god' troubles himself very little about them. the doctrine was a secret one, and deemed by the orthodox synago

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 surely

the last which is a zero (o, and to the greatest of the myatery-gods lao. the identity of thia symbol alone, in all the old religions, is sufficient to show their commtm descent from one primitive faith* this term of 'boundless time' which can he apphed but to the one who has neither beginning nor end. is &2s. zokar. iii. p. 292 b, anut ed (ur^ zxtejk, x, ft ^1. 526. btnima rabba, panhs iz. s37. zohar, i. p. 20k. 528 "the sanskrit i" uys max muller "ia teprearated by the zend k. thai the geographical name kapla kendu, which occur* in the atetta, becomes intelliciue if we retraatlate the zend k into the sandoit, for tapla riiulku, or the aeven rivos, is the old vedic name^ india jtself" ckipt, tie, i. p. 81. he avtma is the [nrit of the vedat the esoteric meaning made partially known. digi

m 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 ancie

visible creation. this wisdom was venerated by the ophites under the form of a serpent. so far we see that the first and second life are the two adams, or the first and the second man. in the former lies eva, or the yet unborn spiritual eve, and she is within adam primus, for she is a part of him- self, who is androgyne. the eva of dust, she who will be called in 537. idrah zaua, via, s 219; cf. zohar, iii, 290 a, anut. ed. 53s. idrah rmma) 541-2. 539. ilnd. i 36. 540. ibid, 172. 541. idrah zutah, a) 51. 542. nal. u. urrpr. d. bmmalionmtre. u: v, p. 11. 543. ireiweiu: agaitut beretitt, i, xxz\ 1. digitizecoy google 224 bis unveiled oenesu "the mother of bu that live" is vithin adam the second. and dow, from the moment of ita first manifestation, the lobd mano. the unintelligible wisdom, d

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 of th

KARR DON NOTES ON EDITIONS OF SEFER YETZIRAH IN ENGLISH

ecent 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 was

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. 213-219*

e 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 thechari

ion, 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 mos

e 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 of r

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 role

el 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 defers to

t 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 jewish

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

er four, gsuckling as spiritual transmission in early kabbalistic literature. h gthe texts presented in this chapter, isaac the blind fs commentary on sefer yetzirah, the early kabbalistic volume sefer ha-bahir, and ezra of gerona fs commentary on the song of songs, will be examined in order to reveal the exegetical dynamics and theological concerns that prefigure the powerful imagery of sefer ha-zohar, in which the image of god as a suckling mother expresses an emotionally rich and textured form of spiritual communication. h (p. 167) 20081 3 formative period 1. a. sefer ha-bahir (book of brightness: the earliest work considered gkabbalistic h is sefer ha-bahir. there are substantial discussions of this text in ok (pp. 35-48, 49-198) and dan fs jmii (xiv-lvii, 1-18. see below in gother ref

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) gsefer

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 in g

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/kabbala

ml. green, arthur. gthe song of songs in early jewish mysticism, h in orim: a jewish journal at yale, vol. 2 (new haven: spring 1987. goldberg, yechiel shalom. gthe foolishness of the wise and the wisdom of fools in spanish kabbalah: an inquiry into the taxonomy of the wise fool: in the journal for the study of sephardic and mizrahi jewry, volume 1, issue 2 (october- november 2007, edited by zion zohar, on-line at http//sephardic.fiu.edu/journal. scholem, gershom. gsod eetz ha-da eath h (the secret of the tree of knowledge) in on the mystical shape of the godhead (new york: schocken books, 1991. a passage attributed to r. ezra, on pp. 65-8. travis, yakov m. kabbalistic foundations of jewish practice: rabbi ezra of gerona- on the kabbalistic meaning of the mizvot, introduction/ annotated tr

erona: a phenomenology of individuality h= chapter 6 of mystical union, individuality, and individuation in provencal and catalonian. goldberg, yechiel shalom. gthe foolishness of the wise and the wisdom of fools in spanish kabbalah: an inquiry into the taxonomy of the wise fool: in the journal for the study of sephardic and mizrahi jewry, volume 1, issue 2 (october- november 2007, edited by zion zohar, on-line at http//sephardic.fiu.edu/journal. halbertal, moshe. concealment and revelation: esotericism in jewish thought and its philosophical implications, translated by jackie feldman. princeton. oxford: princeton university press, 2007, chapter 10 gopen knowledge and closed knowledge: the kabbalists of gerona.rabbi azriel and rabbi ya fakov bar sheshet h. pachter, mordechai. gthe root of

versity of new york press, 1988. studies in ecstatic kabbalah. albany: state university of new york press, 1988. jacobs, louis. jewish mystical testimonies. new york: schocken books, 1976: chapter six: gthe prophetic mysticism of abraham abulafia. h. kaplan, aryeh. meditation and kabbalah. york beach: samuel weiser, inc, 1982: chapter 3: grabbi abraham abulafia. h. kiener, ronald. gfrom ba fal ha-zohar to prophet to ecstatic: the vicissitudes of abulafia in contemporary scholarship, h in gershom scholem fs major trends in jewish mysticism 50 years after (1993. meilicke, christine a. gabulafianism among the counterculture kabbalists, h in jewish studies quarterly, volume 9 (tubingen: mohr siebeck, 2002, pp. 71-101. scholem, gershom. kabbalah: pp. 53-9, 62-5, 180-3. shem tov sefardi [de leon

ated 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, issue

LAITMAN M BASIC CONCEPTS IN KABBALAH

our inner vision the unveiling of the spiritual structure that surrounds us, almost as if a mist had been lifted. again, this book is not aimed at the study of facts. instead, it is a book for beginners who wish to awaken the deepest and subtlest sensations they can possess. michael laitman 13 i n t r o d u c t i o n open slightly your heart to me, and i will reveal the world to you--the book of zohar who am i? why do i exist? where did we come from? where are we going? and what is our purpose here? have we been in this world before? why is there suffering in this world and can we avoid it? how can we attain peace, fulfillment, and happiness? from generation to generation, people try to find answers to these painfully insistent questions. the fact that they continue from generation to gen

ut what kabbalah is. kabbalah teaches that the world and we, its dwellers, were created only to fulfill the laws that aim at humanity s spiritual developt h e g i v i n g o f k a b b a l a h 27 ment above our material world. in this way, we may attain similarity and unity with the creator. yet, why did the creator need to create us so corrupted and give us kabbalah for our correction? the book of zohar answers this question in the following way: he who eats someone else s bread is ashamed of looking in the giver s eyes. therefore, the world was created to save us from this shame. by struggling with our own egoism and correcting it, we will earn our future world. to explain this, let s imagine the following situation: a rich man meets his poor friend, whom he has not seen for a long time. h

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 t e

t, completely corrected one: 1. only in the last generation will it be possible to attain all 125 levels. 2. in past generations, only a few people could attain the other worlds. in the last generation, everyone will be able to ascend through the spiritual levels and merge with the creator. the term last generation refers to all human generations from 1995 onward because, according to the book of zohar, that was the time when humankind 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

red 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 of z

d 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 of zohar. the fact that a contemporary kabbalist succeeded in fully commenting on the book of zohar is a sign that we are on the threshold of the last generation, and that anyone can understand the book of zohar. indeed, not a single commentary on the book of zohar appeared before our time. today, we have available to us the clear, complete sulam commentary on the book of zohar written by baal hasulam, just as it should be in the last generation. however, we should understand that spiritua

, their eyes begin to open and other worlds become visible. thus, while still living in this world, they attain all the worlds. for them, the seemingly 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 t

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 themselv

LAITMAN M FROM CHAOS TO HARMONY

ooks and numerous academic essays on the subject, which have been translated into ten languages thus far. rav laitman was the disciple and personal assistant of rabbi baruch shalom halevi ashlag (the rabash, 12 from chaos to harmony the firstborn and successor of rabbi yehuda leib halevi ashlag, known as baal hasulam (owner of the ladder) for authoring the sulam (ladder) commentary on the book of zohar. for twelve years, rav laitman devotedly studied with the rabash, and absorbed from him the teachings of baal hasulam. baal hasulam is considered the successor of the holy ari, author of the tree of life. yehuda ashlag also paved the way for our generation to be admitted into kabbalah. thanks to his methodology, anyone can benefit from the knowledge within the (authentic sources of) kabbalah

ls to be attracted to what benefits them, and repelled from what harms them. the power of thought is even above the force of man s egoistic desires. thus, while in the 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 withi

relationships is the way to do it. humans are the only creatures whose nature grants them an opportunity for free choice; that choice is only at the level of correcting human relations. the comprehensive balancing of all of nature s degrees depends solely on our realization of this choice. 94 from chaos to harmony everything that happens in the world depends on man alone. this is what the book of zohar explains (zohar, vayikra, item 113. it states that everything exists and occurs for man, to help us form the right connection between ourselves and others, and acquire nature s quality of altruism. this will bring the ultimate solution to all the world s problems, and all of nature will exist in a corrected form, in harmony and in perfection. in his manuscripts (p. 170, rabbi kook described

feel where we are and what we need to do (see below drawing. in this process, the unknown that surrounds us becomes something ostensibly known, creating an internal picture of what seems to be the outside reality. in truth, however, this is not the picture of the outside reality. it is only an internal picture. all this has been known to science for a long time, and in his preface to the book of zohar, baal hasulam describes them in these words: take our sense of sight for example: we see a great world before us, and all its wondrous filling. but in fact, we do not see all that except in our own interior. in other words, there is a sort of a photographic machine in our hindbrain that portrays everything that appears to us, and nothing outside of us! 132 from chaos to harmony he says that

one acquires it, it continues to exist even after the demise of the body. those who have sensed their existence in the spiritual system prior to death find that this sensation remains after the body has died, as well. this is the meaning of living in one s soul. the difference between how we now sense life, and the sensing of life that we can feel, is enormous. to try to describe it, the book of zohar compares it to the difference between the glow of a tiny candle and the radiance of infinite light, or between a grain of sand and a whole world. obtaining the spiritual life is the realization of our potential as people, and this is what we should all reach while we are living in this world. o p e n i n g o u r e y e s before we end this chapter, let s try a little exercise. picture yoursel

ery generation. away from the public s eye, these kabbalists continued to develop the method to correct human nature and to adapt it to the growing ego. their task was to prepare the method for a time when israel and humanity would need it. 164 from chaos to harmony t h e e vo lu t i o n o f t h e c o r r e c t i o n me t h o d around the time of the last exile, in the 2nd century ce, the book of zohar was written by rabbi shimon bar-yochai and his disciples. the book describes both the correction method, and everything that one who achieves balance with nature will experience. it also reveals every state that humanity will experience until the final correction of the ego. however, it uses intimations and allegories to do so. it should be pointed out that even though the book of zohar was

of the ego. however, it uses intimations and allegories to do so. it should be pointed out that even though 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

so, 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, 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 revea

LAITMAN M KABBALAH REVEALED

ussian academy of sciences. in 1976, he began studying kabbalah, and has been researching it ever since. in 1979, seeking new avenues in kabbalah, he came across kabbalist rabbi baruch shalom halevi ashlag (1906-1991, the firstborn son, and successor of kabbalist rabbi yehuda leib halevi ashlag (1884-1954, known as baal hasulam for his 10 kabbalah revealed sulam (ladder) commentary on the book of zohar. michael laitman was so impressed with baal hasulam s son, that he became baruch ashlag s closest disciple and personal assistant, spending the bulk of his time in the company of his revered mentor, and absorbing as much as he could of his teachings. today, he is regarded as the foremost authority on kabbalah, having authored thirty books on the subject, translated into ten languages. his li

nal and complete as nature. in that state, even when our 36 kabbalah revealed bodies die, we will feel that we continue to exist in the eternal nature. physical life and death will no longer affect us because our previous self-centered perception will have been replaced with a whole, altruistic perception. our own lives will have become the life of the whole of nature. the time is now the book of zohar, the bible of kabbalah, was written approximately 2,000 years ago. it states that toward the 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 emptines

d 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 realizes

into two groups: 1) animal desires, the first degree, are shared by all living creatures; and 2) human desires, degrees two, three, and four, 48 kabbalah revealed which are uniquely human. the latter group is the one that s brought us to where we are today. but today there is a new desire xthe fifth degree in the evolution of the will to receive. as we ve said in the previous chapter, the book of zohar writes that at the end of the 20th century a new desire will appear. this new desire is not just another desire; it is the culmination of all the degrees of desires preceding it. it is not only the most powerful desire, but it contains unique features that differentiate it from all other desires. when kabbalists talk about the heart, they aren t referring to the physical heart, but to desire

the 21st century, evolution is completing its development of the fourth phase xthe desire to be like the creator. this is why today more and more people are looking for spiritual answers to their questions. u p t h e l a d d e r when kabbalists talk about spiritually evolving, they talk about climbing up the spiritual ladder. this is why kabbalist yehuda ashlag named his commentary on the book of zohar, perush hasulam (the ladder commentary, for which he was named baal hasulam (owner of the ladder. but if we flip back a few pages, we ll find that up the ladder actually means back to the roots. this is because we ve already been up there, but now we have to figure out how to get back there by ourselves. 80 kabbalah revealed the root is our final goal; it is where we are ultimately heading

nd us is really just a tale we want to believe? 94 kabbalah revealed we ve said that creation started from the thought of creation, which created the four basic phases of light. these phases include ten sefirot: keter (phase zero, hochma (phase one, bina (phase two, hesed, gevura, tifferet, netzah, hod, and yesod (all of which comprise phase three xzeir anpin, and malchut (phase four. the book of zohar, the book that every kabbalist studies, says that all of reality consists of only ten sefirot. everything is made of structures of these ten sefirot. the only difference between them is how deeply they are immersed in our substance xthe will to receive. to understand what kabbalists mean when they say that they are immersed in our substance, think of a shape, say a ball, pressed into a piece

t it doesn t work. before something is tested, it s nothing but a theory. 96 kabbalah revealed the spiritual worlds have boundaries, too xthree of them, to be exact. if we are to reach the purpose of creation and become like the creator, we must stick to these boundaries. t h r e e bo u 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 th

t 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 only

LAITMAN M KABBALAH ATTAINING THE WORLDS BEYOND

ashlag, introduction to talmud esser sefirot among all the texts and notes that were used by my rabbi, baruch shalom halevi ashlag, there was one particular notebook he always carried. this notebook contained all the transcripts of his conversations with his father, rabbi yehuda leib halevi ashlag, the rabbi of jerusalem, and a kabbalist. he was the author of a 21-volume commentary on the book of zohar, as well as the author of a six-volume commentary on the texts of the kabbalist, ari, and of many other works on kabbalah. not feeling well on the jewish new year in september 1991, my rabbi called me to his bedside and handed me his notebook, saying "take it and learn from it" the following morning, my teacher perished in my arms, leaving me and many of his other disciples without guidance

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 com

isdom" 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 should

eat. that is what happens when a person wants something very much and cannot find it, and is sad to be alone. but in order to be like the magician wise, great, noble, goodhearted, loving and a friend a wave of the wand is not enough. one must learn to make wonders oneself. so the magician secretly and subtly, gently and innocuously, leads the man to the greatest, oldest magical book, the book of zohar, and shows him the way to the mighty tower. the man grasps it so he can swiftly meet the magician, meet his friend, and tell him "come, we will feel good together, because it is very sad to be alone" yet there is a high wall surrounding the tower, and many guards repel the man, not letting him and the magician be together and feel good. the man despairs, the magician hides- 222- attaining th

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 spi

roceeding in the right direction (talmud, avodah zarah) a human being is born as an absolute egoist, and this quality is so visceral that it can convince him that he has already become righteous and has rid himself of all egoism (talmud, hagiga) the torah is the light of the creator, and only a person who receives this light is considered as learning torah (rather than just acquiring mere wisdom (zohar, metzorah) the torah is concealed. it is only revealed to those who have reached the level of the righteous (talmud, hagiga) when a person, by means of his studies, reaches the level at which he wants nothing but spiritual elevation and at which he accepts only the bare necessities of life in order to sustain his physical existence, not for pleasure s sake, this is the first step of his asce

a long table in a side room. there were four or five white-bearded men at the table. i introduced myself and explained that we were from rehovot, and we wanted to learn kabbalah. the elderly man sitting at the head of the table invited us to join and suggested that we could discuss our issues after the class ended. then, the class proceeded with the weekly reading of the chapter from the book of zohar, with the commentaries of the sulam, and with the muffling of words and with half phrases in yiddish, as people who understood each other from half a glance. seeing them and listening to them i came to the conclusion that this bunch was simply biding their- 438- attaining the worlds beyond time until their old age, and if we hurried, we could still find another place to study kabbalah that e

monthly donations. prompted by a desire to discover everything for myself, and in general being more aggressive, i often got into arguments. all the information about us constantly streamed to the main elder, who, as it turned out, inquired about us quite often. one day, our teacher informed me that after themorning prayer, around 7 a.m, the main elder could study the "introduction to the book of zohar" with me. however, seeing that i did not understand, after two or three lessons, the elder, through our own teacher, announced that the lessons would stop. i would have continued to study, even though i felt that i did not understand anything. i was ready to read everything mechanically with him, prompted by the necessity to understand the meaning deep inside the lines. however, he must have

LAITMAN M KABBALAH SCIENCE AND THE MEANING OF LIFE

he 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, expo

ist. all these processes occur within us and design our perception of the outside world. actually, nothing exists outside of us, but our picture of reality appears as 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

d been disseminated among kabbalists throughout history. i would like to briefly review the key points in this process. the first kabbalist was abraham the patriarch (approximately 1,800 bce. sefer yetzira (the book of creation) is ascribed to him. 500 years after abraham, moses wrote his book of torah (the pentateuch, around 1,350 bce. in the 2nd century ce rabbi shimon bar-yochai wrote sefer ha zohar (the book of splendor. kabbalah thrived in the 16th century israeli town of safed, led by the kabbalist rabbi yitzhak luria ashkenazi, 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 ma

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, and

ully manifests itself, inflicting horrendous ruin in all aspects of life. hence, the wisdom of kabbalah as the means to achieve both our evolution and the purpose of creation should reach all of humanity. the more people engage in kabbalah, and the more we circulate it throughout the world, the better off we will all be. baal hasulam writes about it very clearly in his introduction to the book of zohar. the first researcher to ask about the universe and the forces that conduct humanity was abraham. he was one of many people who lived in mesopotamia (ancient persia, and in those days there was no division into nations. he discovered the method by which we can know the reality beyond our ordinary perception, and described his research and discoveries in his sefer yetzira (book of creation. a

ua l k l i( v e s s e l/ t o o l) 117 it is through its intrinsic reaction that the kli understands and determines what is light, what is a kli, what the light wants of the kli, and what the kli wants of the light. all of these depictions have no connection at all to the phenomenon as it is outside the kli. baal hasulam was very insistent on explaining these matters in his preface to the book of zohar, since kabbalah deals solely with building a kli for the perception of reality: for example, the sense of sight offers us only shadows of the visible essence, according to how they are formed opposite the light. similarly, the sense of hearing is but a force of striking of some essence on the air. the air is rejected because of its force, strikes the drum in our ear, and we hear that there i

, meaning only gas, where any discernment in our five senses has been expired. yet, the essence still exists, because you can once more turn the air into liquid, and the liquid into solid. thus, you evidently see that the five senses do not reveal to us any essence at all, but only incidents and manifestations of operations of the essence--rabbi yehuda ashlag (baal hasulam) preface to the book of zohar, item 12 pa r t i i i: p e r c e p t i o n o f r e a l i t y 118 thus, proper perception of reality is of paramount importance to us. the boundaries are not set to limit or diminish our knowledge or to stop us from engaging in some forbidden matters. on the contrary, when we detach ourselves from the parts we do not control, we spare ourselves confusion. if we limit our field of vision to th

f creation. all creatures, none excluded, are already in that state with all their fillings. our present state is therefore called the imaginary state. we are that unconscious patient; we think that we exist in a certain way, and we are gradually awakening to see the actual reality. at the end of the process, every creature will be fully aware of its true state. in his introduction to the book of zohar, baal hasulam depicts three states that the souls experience in the process of their awakening to their true state. the first state is the beginning of creation and contains everything that will later evolve. the second state is the birth of the souls. the third state is when souls obtain what was already present in the first state. in other words, the first state refers to the souls potenti

LAITMAN M THE KABBALAH EXPERIENCE

s 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 souls t

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 worl

we want to convey our feelings to others, we need to present them in a form that would be understood by the person we want to speak to about our feelings. that form is called a language, and it doesn t matter what language is used. kabbalists chose hebrew and through it they conveyed the information desired. they also made use of aramaic, which was a spoken language in ancient persia. the book of zohar also uses foreign (greek) words that were used very freely in israel, so we, like the kabbalists, use them as well. i, too, asked my rav that same question, and he said that any language can be modified to convey spiritual information, but since kabbalists described t h e w i s d o m o f k a b b a l a h 69 everything in hebrew, they built a dictionary- the link between the root and the branc

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 the je

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 kabba

could the author have possibly known what abraham said, if he never wrote it anywhere? the answer is, he knows it from having attained the same spiritual level that abraham reached when he said it! in fact, the answer to all questions 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

llective 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 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 th

ce. 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. th

LAITMAN M THE PATH OF KABBALAH

n 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 within

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 gets

bbalah, 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 everything

he 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, an

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 if so

hat 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 reaso

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 system of

is world, as this nation was chosen for precisely that purpose. we are chosen precisely in our duty to connect all the nations with the creator. until we do it, both sides the creator and the nations of the world will continue to push us forcefully. as time goes by, the moment of internal (spiritual) and external (physical) salvation approaches, as it is written in the introduction to the book of zohar (items 66-71. just as man cannot exist in our world without knowledge about it, so man s soul cannot exist in the upper world without the necessary knowledge obtained through the wisdom of kabbalah. q: we cannot talk about the thoughts of the creator, but what makes the creator choose one to turn towards him? a: it is certainly not one s virtue that brings one to this place. it is simply tha

LEADBEATER CW GLIMPSES OF MASONIC HISTORY

ists of certain great texts written in hebrew and aramaic, and a mass of commentaries upon them compiled by jews of many lands and many ages. the most important texts are the sepher yetzirah, which explains the mystic meanings underlying the hebrew alphabet, and erects a vast system of mystical and occult speculation upon the combinations and permutations of the various letters; and the sepher ha zohar, or book of splendour, which is a medley of history and legend, of fable and of fact, of mysticism and fantastic speculation which, like all such literature, contains priceless gems of occult wisdom hidden in a mass of rubbish. both these texts claim to date from the second century a.d, but in reality they were not written down until a later period, the former being completed about the tenth

hrough 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 to

nown 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 univ

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

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 balaam s

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 for fu

f 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 the

LIBER 777

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 subtit

LIBER LVII

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, notari

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 wla

alanced 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 is

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 conceal

LIBER LXVII THE SWORD OF SONG

y: the christhood-soul in me, risen of late, is now quite clear even of the smallest taint of earth. supplanting god, the man has birth(.new birth. you.ll call the same, i fear) transcends the ordinary sphere and flies in the direction .x (there lies the fourth dimension) vex my soul no more with mistranslations from genesis to revelations, but leave me with the flaming star,75 jeheshua (see thou zohar!)76 and thus our formidable pigeon-77 lamb-and-old-gentleman religion fizzles in smoke, and i am found attacking nothing. here.s the ground, pistols, and coffee.three in one (alas, o rabbi schimeon) but never a duellist.no son, no father, and (to please us most) decency pleads.no holy ghost! all vanish at the touch of truth, a cobweb trio.like, in sooth, 705 710 715 720 725 730 735 740 mysti

text. t.s] 652. this, that, the other atheist s death73. their stories are usually untrue; but let us follow our plan, and grant them all they ask. 709. a cannibal.74.this word is inept, as it predicates humanity of christian-hate- christian. j.accuse the english language: anthropophagous must always remain a comic word. 731. the flaming star.75.or pentagram, mystically referred to jeheshua. 732. zohar.76..splendour. the three central books of the dogmatic qabalah. 733. pigeon.77.says an old writer, whom i translate roughly .thou to thy lamb and dove devoutly bow, but leave me, prithee, yet my hawk and cow: and i approve thy greybeard dotard.s smile, if thou wilt that of egypt.s crocodile. 746. lost! lost! lost !78.see the lay of the last minstrel. 759. ain elohim.79..there is no god. so o

LUCIFERIAN SORCERY

ugh 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 sou

MANLY P HALL THE SECRET TEACHINGS OF ALL AGES

orphic iynx. g. r. s. mead defines the iynx as "a transmitting intelligence" others have declared it to be a symbol of universal being. over the head of the goddess the throne is surmounted by a triple crown, and beneath her feet is the house of material substance. the threefold crown is here symbolic of the triune divinity, called by the egyptians the supreme mind, and described in the sepher ha zohar as being "hidden and unrevealed" according to the hebrew system of qabbalism, the tree of the sephiroth was divided into two parts, the upper invisible and the lower visible. the upper consisted of three parts and the lower of seven. the three uncognizable sephiroth were called kether, the crown; chochmah, wisdom; and binah, understanding. these are too abstract to permit of comprehension, w

ly 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 under

rom one of the angels* moses also initiated the seventy elders into the secrets of this doctrine and they again transmitted them from hand to hand. of all who formed the unbroken line of tradition, david and solomon were most initiated into the kabbalah (see the kabbalah) according to eliphas levi, the three greatest books of qabbalism are the sepher yetzirah, the book of formation; the sepher ha zohar, the book of splendor; and the apocalypse, the book of revelation. the dates of the writing of these books are by no means thoroughly established. qabbalists declare that the sepher yetzirah was written by abraham. 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 joch

hough 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 rel

ena. 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 to e

ost unusual. as the religious world interprets its scriptures with twentieth-century educational facilities, it becomes ever more apparent that 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

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 dot is

art. 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 roo

MASTERING WITCHCRAFT

s [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 prom

d 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 int

MATHERS MACGREGOR THE GREATER KEY OF SOLOMON VOL 2

shy banks of the nile, and from the waters, he being yet but a child, grant unto me through thy great mercy and compassion that this reed may receive power and virtue to effect that which i desire through thy holy name and the names of thy holy angels. amen. this being done, thou shalt commence with this knife to flay the animal, whether it be virgin or unborn, saying: the key of solomon page 114 zohar, zio, talma, adonai, shaddai, tetragrammaton, and ye holy angels of god; be present, and grant power and virtue unto this parchment, and may it be consecrated by you, so that all things which i shall write thereon shall obtain their effect. amen. the animal being flayed, take salt, and say thus over it: god of gods, and lord of lords, who hast created all things from negative existence, deig

MICHAEL W FORD THE VAMPIRE GATE

irit 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 becoming

MICHAEL W FORD NOX UMBRA

spiration 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 devi

e 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 succubi w

MORALS AND DOGMA

intellect, the light-principle, the light-ether, from which souls emanate, and to which they return. light, fire, and flame, with the ph nicians, were the sons of kronos. they are the trinity in the chald an oracles, the aor of the deity, manifested in _flame, that issues out of the invisible _fire. in the first three persian amshaspands, lords of light, fire, and splendor, we recognize the aor, zohar, and zayo _light, splendor, and _brightness, of the kabalah. the first of these is termed aor mupala _wonderful_ or _hidden_ light, unrevealed, undisplayed--which is kether, the first emanation or _sephirah, the _will_ of deity: the second is nestar _concealed--which is hakemah, the second _sephirah, or the intellectual potence of the deity: and the third is metanotsats _coruscating--which i

RABBI AMIRAM MARKEL MARKEL THE KNOWLEDGE OF G D VOL 1

otal 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, since

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 whe

at 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 compre

h 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 intellec

"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 descripti

er 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 be

y 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. th

use speech forces him to analyze it in his mind. this analysis is the power to divide and dissect the subject. when one is about to speak, as 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) refer

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

orah. 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 atzilut

s is why the world was created in tishrei, which is [an expression of the idea contained in the verse] ghis left hand is under my head. h2 for abba is always [associated with] the right side, and ima the left. the letters of the word for gin the beginning h [bereishit, beit-reish-alef-shin-yud-tav] may thus be rearranged to spell gon the first of tishrei h [beit-alef tav-shin-reish-yud. 1 tikunei zohar 6 (23a. 2 song of songs 2:6. the arizal on parashat bereishit 12 although the world was created on the 25th of elul, the crown of creation was the creation of man, who was created on the sixth day, or the 1st of tishrei. the whole six-day creative process may thus be viewed as a preparation for what happened on the 1st of tishrei, and therefore the world may be spoken of as having been truly

o 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. these tw

se [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 opening

s, 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 through

feir anpin and nukva] to turn face to face in order to couple. adam and eve.and therefore, their spiritual antecedents, z feir anpin and nukva.were initially created as one being, attached back to back. in order to couple, g-d gsawed h them apart so they could turn to face each other. this coupling is what occurred (and occurs) on the seventh day, the sabbath. this is what is alluded to here [the zohar uses the expression] gwhen the sabbath enters c. h6 this [allegorically] refers to how the sabbath enters the act of coupling, like a bride enters the canopy. the arizal now returns to the discussion of the creation of the gman h of beriah and the gman h of asiyah. 5 genesis 1:31. 6 zohar chadash, midrash rut, 7 chambers of purgatory; midrash hane felam, bereishit, na faseh adam. the arizal

: for he caused the sparks of holiness to cling to the forces of evil. giving power to the forces of evil is serving them, which is idolatry. those souls who left him as seminal emissions returned as the generation of the flood, and made things even worse. 8 it is customary not to pronounce the names of angels that are not also names used for people (e.g, michael, gabriel, etc. 9 genesis 27:8. 10 zohar 1:27b. the arizal on parashat noach (2) 32 g-d sought to wipe out the generation of the flood gfor all flesh had corrupted its way on earth, h meaning that they engaged in all kinds of sexual aberrations. therefore the floodwaters were required, in order to wipe out all those [corrupted] bodies. the earth, also, was washed away to a depth of three handbreadths. this refers to the sefirah of

en sub-sefirot each, giving 50 total sub-states of gevurah. the numerical value of the letters hei and yud are 5 and 10, respectively. these are the fifteen cubits [of water depth] that ascended [above the highest mountaintop. the 15 cubits allude to the 5 and the 10 of the name elokim. 5 genesis 2:15. 6 batei midrashot, vol. 2, likutei midrashim miketav yad 4; yalkut reuveini quoting gmidrash h; zohar 1:27a. the arizal on parashat noach (2) 41 the water is the feminine water mentioned above, from which the hei-yud had been withdrawn, leaving alef-lamed-mem of elokim. the states of gevurah within the feminine water, as stated, could not be gsweetened h by the masculine water and form part of the harmonious functioning of the masculine and feminine principles, so they separated from the fem

REGARDIE ISRAEL THE COMPLETE GOLDEN DAWN

t 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 figure

> 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 theoricus

ah 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, and

s 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 off

, 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 the un

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

ience with mystery: it has the keys of the present, past and future! to become initiated into the kabalah it is insufficient to read and to meditate upon the writings of reuchlin, galatinus, kircher, or picus de mirandola; it is necessary to study and understand the hebrew writers in the collection of pistorius, the sepher yetzirah above all; it is essential in particular to master the great book zohar, to investigate the collection of 1684, entitled kabbala denudata, especially the treatise on kabalistic pneumatics and that on the revolution of souls; and afterwards to enter boldly into the luminous darkness of the whole dogmatic and allegorical body of the talmud. we shall be then in a position to understand william postel, and shall admit secretly that apart from his very premature and

id in the divine medium and under the influence of the essential light, its exterior, however, becoming solidified, like wax when exposed to air, in the colder realms of reasoning or of visible forms. these shells, envelopes petrified or carnified, were such an expression possible, are the source of errors or of evil, which connects with the heaviness and hardness of animal envelopes. in the book zohar, and in that of the revolution of souls, perverse spirits or evil demons are never called otherwise than shells cortices. the cortices of the world of spirits are transparent, while those of the material world are opaque. bodies are only temporary shells, whence souls have to be liberated; but those who in this life obey the flesh build up an interior body or fluidic shell, which, after deat

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 thi

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

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 illuminated c

rsion, disorder or madness. now, if magic be a reality, if occult science be really the true law of the three worlds, this absolute sign, this sign ancient as history and more ancient, should and does exercise an incalculable influence upon spirits set free from their material envelope. the sign of the pentagram is called the sign of the microcosm, and it represents what the kabalists of the book zohar term the microprosopus. the complete comprehension of the pentagram is the key of the two worlds. it is absolute philosophy and natural science. the sign of the pentagram should be composed of the seven metals, or at least traced in pure gold upon white marble. it may be also drawn with vermilion on an unblemished lambskin the symbol of integrity and light. the marble should be virgin, that

schal 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 the e

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 mars

SATANGEL

etatron 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 one o

he 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 whilst

iel).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 per

SEPHER YETZIRAH WESTCOTT

he great interest which has been evinced of late years in the hebrew kabalah, and the modes of thought and doctrine allied to it, has induced me to translate this tractate from the original hebrew texts, and to collate with them the latin versions of mediaeval authorities; and i have also published an introduction to the kabalah which may be found useful to students. three important books of the "zohar" or "book of splendour" which is a great storehouse of kabalistic teaching, have been translated into english by s. l. macgregor mathers, and the "sepher yetzirah" in an english translation is almost a necessary companion to these abstruse disquisitions: the two books indeed mutually explain each other. the "sepher yetzirah" although this name means "the book of formation" is not in any sens

f hebrew letters, and their substitution by others, on definite schemes, should also be studied and borne in mind. it is exactly on these principles that the "ground-work idea 'of this disquisition rests; and these principles may be traced throughout the kabalistic tractates which have succeeded it in point of time and development, many of which are associated together in one volume known as the "zohar" which is in the main concerned with the essential dignities of the godhead, with the emanations which have sprung therefrom, with the doctrine of the sephiroth, the ideals of macroprosopus and microprosopus, and the doctrine of re-incarnation. the "sepher yetzirah" on the other hand, is mainly concerned with our universe and with the microcosm. the opinions of hebrew kabalistic rabbis and o

ty 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 the se

ach 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 entitled l

common origin from the word (logos, the holy spirit. so god is at once, in the highest sense, both the matter and the form of the universe. yet he is not only that form; for nothing can or does exist outside of himself; his substance is the foundation of all, and all things bear his imprint and are symbols of his intelligence" hebrew tradition assigns the doctrines of the oldest portions of the "zohar" to a date antecedent to the building of the second temple, but rabbi simeon ben jochai, who lived in the reign of the emperor titus, a.d. 70-80, is considered to have been the first to commit these to writing, and rabbi moses de leon, of guadalaxara, in spain, who died in 1305, certainly reproduced and published the "zohar" ginsburg, speaking of the zoharic doctrines of the ain suph, says t

others suggest it was first written about a.d. 200. graetz however assigns it to early gnostic times, third or fourth century, and zunz speaks of it as post talmudical, and belonging to the geonim period 700-800 a.d; rubinsohn, in the bibliotheca sacra, speaks of this latter idea as having no real basis. the talmuds were first collected into a concrete whole, and printed in venice, 1520 a.d. the "zohar" was first printed in mantua in 1558; again in cremona, 1560; and at lublin, 1623; and a fourth edition by knorr von rosenroth, at sulzbach in 1684. some parts are not very ancient, because the crusades are mentioned in one chapter. six extant hebrew editions of the "sepher yetzirah" were collected and printed at lemberg in 1680. the oldest of these six recensions was that of saadjah gaon (b

SIFRA DETZNIYUTHA

stitute 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 chayot

, the lower heh h is the shekhinah, the divine presence in the worlds of matter. in yvhy, the latter yod y is the shekhinah. 41 ezekiel 1:14. 42 torah b reshith 1:4. 43 isaiah 3:10. 44 proverbs 7:4, say unto wisdom (sefirah wisdom/east, you are my sister, and call understanding (sefirah understanding/north) friend. 45 daniel 7:8, 20. the tongue is the sefirah knowledge (of the ayn)/the first. see zohar ii:123a. 46 isaiah 44:5. 47 these are the first three letters of the name hvhy, extending only through the world of yetzirah. in the sefer yetzirah, the six directions are sealed with permutations of the three letters. 48 torah b reshith 1:14. 49 proverbs 10:25. 50 the hairs of the beard are the atziluthic letters convoluting into divine names. see fig. 51 man sya, ish, pronounced eesh as in

h beauty/the last. 59 proverbs 19:11. 60 the offerings of spices are the jaws. 61 the two apples are the cheeks. 62 fate (mazal lzm ,also alzm; the sanskrit equivalent is karma, which denotes the law of cause and effect. 63 these short hairs are names of vast face. 64 isaiah 55:6. 65 torah b reshith 1:11. 66 torah vayiqra 23:32. 67 torah doverim 3:24. 68 vyytzr, royyv, vayitzer and he formed, see zohar iii:141b. 69 torah b reshith 1:28. 70 jeremiah 1:6. 71 the letters hanging as the hairs of the beard are the convoluting names of the two faces. 72 the wreath is the ayin (i o) of vast face. 73 the left referred to in this line is the column of the left on the tree of life or body. 74 shir hashirim 7. 75 the son is small face. 76 they are the eyes of the small face i.e. judgments. 24 77 tora

oth, see 3rd mundaka 1:1, atharva veda: two birds, united always and known by the same name, closely clinging to the same tree, one of them eats the sweet fruit, the other looks without eating. seated on the same tree, the jiva moans, bewildered by his impotence, but when he beholds the other, the lord worshipped by all and his glory, he then becomes free from grief. 158 seven lower sefiroth, see zohar i: 31a and 186a, also zohar hadash 3a. 159 song of songs 2:8. 160 three columns. the tantras speak of three gunas (qualities--sattva, rajas, and tamas. 161 torah b reshith 5:24. 162 proverbs 22:6. the youth is metatron. see books of enoch; job32:6; zohar i: 223b, 37b. 163 ol (li, lit. upon, name of vast face. 164 zeh (hz, lit. this. 165 torah b reshith 5:24. 26 166 torah vayiqrah 19:35. 167

SPENSER THE CULT OF THE ALL SEEING EYE 1960

ions 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, while

STEINER RUDOLF CHRISTIANITY AS MYSTICAL FACT

n, 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 again an

pp. 79-83; exactly this idea underlies the extraordinary apocalypse of adam, found in the gnostic discovery at nag hammadi in egypt, but having jewish (probably essene) connections. cf. welburn, beginnings of christianity, pp. 44ff. 162. see further steiner, building stones for an understanding of the mystery of golgotha (rudolf steiner press, london, 1985. 228 christianity as mystical fact 163. zohar ii, 110 b. 164. clement of alexandria, miscellanies i, l (citing eph. 4:11-12. 165. steiner here challenges the church s own highly influential myth about its origins, namely that there had been original agreement and orthodoxy, only later degenerating into conflicting views. steiner is remarkably emancipated from this perspective. the diversity of early christianity was first extensively ar

TEXE MARRS CODEX MAGICA SECRET SIGNS MYSTERIOUS SYMBOLS AND HIDDEN CODES OF THE ILLUMINATI

removal of the symbols and created as a replacement for them the familiar hammer and sickle emblems as the u.s.s.r.'s official seal. one of the clergy leaders of the orthodox church in greece wears a pendent of the crowned double-headed eagle as a talisman around his neck. the cross, meanwhile, is relegated to the left side of the satanic talisman. that ravenous dark bird 257 the magical head of zohar is a cabalistic design illustrating the concept of opposites, the principle of "as above, so below" it is widely used by cabalists and jewish rabbis as an instructional device. abraxas, the gnostic rooster god, symbolic of the sun god. notice the two serpent legs, indicating the satanic doctrine of duality. 258 codex magica in tarot card decks, one of the cards depicts "the magician (also ca

THE GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE UNUSUAL UNEXPLAINED VOL 1

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 places

d 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 the

or, 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 the wo

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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, it

THE GALE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE UNUSUAL UNEXPLAINED VOL

y 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 his

h 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 and a

THE KEY TO THE MYSTERIES

d 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 slumber

ves 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. who

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 would be

THE MAGICIAN S KABBALAH

h the mystics ascended. the description of these journeys seems to bear similarities to the journey of the soul into the underworld depicted in the egyptian book of coming forth by day, with magical 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 scho

tamap 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 summa

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 conn

ivine 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 worl

so 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 swan, t

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 from

tivity. 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 depths of

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 manifestat

THE MIDDLE PILLAR

ant and superstitious close the book; they will either see nothing but darkness, or they will be scandalized. the pentagram, which in the gnostic schools is called the blazing star, is the sign of intellectual omnipotence and autocracy. it is the star ofthe magi; it is the word madejlesh..the sign of the pentagram is also the sign of the microcosm, and it represents what the kabalists of the book zohar term the microprosopus. the complete comprehension of the pentagram is the key of the two worlds. it is absolute philosophy and natural science.l6 as will be seen, all mysteries of magic, all symbols of the gnosis, allfigures of occultism, all kabalistic keys of prophesy are summed up in the sign of the pentagram, which paracelsus proclaims to be the greatest and most potent of all signsn17

r 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 "fenc

THE PATH OF KABBALAH

fluence 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 properties

tor, 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 to

h, 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 everything

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 world

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 want me

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 very

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 system of

of the spiritual vessel. one must develop that point into a complete vessel by himself, through the study of kabbalah, to the point where the vessel is able to receive the entire light of the creator, and thus equalize with him. namely, our preliminary state is indeed microscopic compared to our ultimate goal, which is the equivalence with the creator (read more in the introduction to the book of zohar. q: can one know if one is making spiritual progress? a: only when one begins to study kabbalah, meaning spiritual development, do the low and egoistic desires actually appear in him. that is the proof that one has really begun to evolve. q: can a person who has already climbed two or three degrees suddenly come to a halt, or even decline? a: no. he can t fall. he cannot even stop, and will

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

iant. i blame no weaklings, but decline to take their maunderings for mine.*2 *1. the temple of the holy ghost, vol. i, p. 170 *2. sword of song, ascension day, vol. ii, pp. 160, 161. we will now end the poet fs utter contempt for this worn-out old creed with the following: cvex my soul no more with mistranslations from genesis to revelations, but leave me with the flaming star jeheshua (see thou zohar) and thus our formidable pigeon- lamb-and-old-gentleman religion fizzles in smoke, and i am found attacking nothing c *sword of song, ascension day, vol. ii, p. 162. vi the chapter known as the cup in which chapter it is related how the cup held the hnew wine, h and how that wine is quaffed greedily by all; and how to some it tasteth as bitter as gall, and yet to others is as falernian a hun

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 par

te, 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 darknes

eption 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 so-ca

e crown only, which proves the existence of the king, and they say that this crown is heaven. h if so of kether, how much more so of the ain soph! above the crown kether, the first sephirah, is the( ya, i.e, ain, the no- thing. git is so named because we do not know, that which there is in this principle, because it never descends as far 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

akes 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. isaac meyer, p. 124. gall things of which this world is composed, spirit as well as body, will again enter into the principle, and into the root from which they went out. h *zohar, part ii, fol. 218b. the qabalist abram ben dior, says: gwhen they (the qabalists) affirm, that all things have been drawn from no-thing, they do not wish to speak of nothing properly to say, for never can being come from non-being, but they understand by non-being, that, which one can conceive of, neither by its cause nor by its essence; it (the no thing) is in a word, the cause of causes;

THE HOLY BIBLE KING JAMES VERSION

among us: in the choice of our sepulchres bury thy dead; none of us shall withhold from thee his sepulchre, but that thou mayest bury thy dead. 23:7 and abraham stood up, and bowed himself to the people of the land [even] to the children of heth. 23:8 and he communed with them, saying, if it be your mind that i should bury my dead out of my sight; hear me, and intreat for me to ephron the son of zohar, 23:9 that he may give me the cave of machpelah, which he hath, which [is] in the end of his field; for as much money as it is worth he shall give it me for a possession of a buryingplace amongst you. 23:10 and ephron dwelt among the children of heth: and ephron the hittite answered abraham in the audience of the children of heth [even] of all that went in at the gate of his city, saying, 23

e yet lived, eastward, unto the east country. 25:7 and these [are] the days of the years of abraham s life which he lived, an hundred threescore and fifteen years. 25:8 then abraham gave up the ghost, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full [of years] and was gathered to his people. 25:9 and his sons isaac and ishmael buried him in the cave of machpelah, in the field of ephron the son of zohar the hittite, which [is] before mamre; 25:10 the field which abraham purchased of the sons of heth: there was abraham buried, and sarah his wife. 25:11 and it came to pass after the death of abraham, that god blessed his son isaac; and isaac dwelt by the well lahai-roi. 25:12 now these [are] the generations of ishmael, abraham s son, whom hagar the egyptian, sarah s handmaid, bare unto abraha

is sons, and his sons sons with him, his daughters, and his sons daughters, and all his seed brought he with him into egypt. 46:8 and these [are] the names of the children of israel, which came into egypt, jacob and his sons: reuben, jacob s firstborn. 46:9 and the sons of reuben; hanoch, and phallu, and hezron, and carmi. 46:10 and the sons of simeon; jemuel, and jamin, and ohad, and jachin, and zohar, and shaul the son of a canaanitish woman. 46:11 and the sons of levi; gershon, kohath, and merari. 46:12 and the sons of judah; er, and onan, and shelah, and pharez, and zarah: but er and onan died in the land of canaan. and the sons of pharez were hezron and hamul. 46:13 and the sons of issachar; tola, and phuvah, and job, and shimron. 46:14 and the sons of zebulun; sered, and elon, and ja

and unto aaron, and gave them a charge unto the children of israel, and unto pharaoh king of egypt, to bring the children of israel out of the land of egypt. 6:14 these [be] the heads of their fathers houses: the sons of reuben the firstborn of israel; hanoch, and pallu, hezron, and carmi: these [be] the families of reuben. 6:15 and the sons of simeon; jemuel, and jamin, and ohad, and jachin, and zohar, and shaul the son of a canaanitish woman: these [are] the families of simeon. 6:16 and these [are] the names of the sons of levi according to their generations; gershon, and kohath, and merari: and the years of the life of levi [were] an hundred thirty and seven years. 6:17 the sons of gershon; libni, and shimi, according to their families. 6:18 and the sons of kohath; amram, and izhar, and

TYSON DONALD NEW MILLENNIUM MAGIC

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 basis fo

TYSON DONALD THE POWER OF THE WORD

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 mediatio

ing used it to seal the jinn into their prisons. the brass (or copper) vessels were stopped with lead caps into which was pressed the symbol of solomon's ring. some early accounts say that the pentagram was engraved upon its bezel (the enlarged, flat part of a ring. in later accounts, this is changed into the hexagram, but the pentagram is the earlier and more authentic symbol. by other accounts (zohar 3:233a-b, the ring is inscribed with the four letters of tetragrammaton. the seal of solomon-the symbol inscribed upon his seal ring-figures prominently in the many magical books attributed to him. among the many versions of the seal, the most common is that appearing in the accompanying illustration (see page 91, which occurs in manuscripts of the lesser key of solomon. it is said that solo

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 of s

d 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 every

WAITE ASPECTS OF MASONIC SYMBOLISM

but the word did not come back into their hearts; and when divine providence inspired cyrus to bring about the building of the second temple and the return of israel into their own land, they went back empty of all, recollection in this respect. the divine name i am putting things in a summary fashion that are scattered up and down the vast text with which i am dealing- that is to say, sepher ha zohar, the book of splendor. the word to which reference is made is the divine name out of the consonants of which, he, vau, he, yod, we have formed jehovah, or more accurately yahve. when israel fell into a state which is termed impenitence it is said in the zoharic symbolism that the vau and the he final were separated. the name was dismembered, and this is the first sense of loss which is regis

ry 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 of d

WEOR SAMAEL AUN ESOTERIC COURSE OF KABBLAH

ld 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 arcan

xtraordinario de los sephirotes, en dios y en el hombre, por las treinta y dos sendas de la sabidur a. en el misterio de los sexos se oculta toda la ciencia de los sephirotes. el alma tiene tres aspectos: primero nephes, el alma animal. segundo ruach, el alma pensante. tercero mes hamah, el alma espiritual. el substractum de estos tres aspectos del alma, son los sephirotes. estos son at micos. el zohar, insiste en los tres "elementos principios, que componen el mundo. tales elementos son: fuego (schim, agua (men, aire (aleph. estos son los elementos, perfecta s ntesis, de los cuatro elementos manifestados. el poderoso mantram i.a.o. resume el poder m gico del tri ngulo de "elementos principios: i (ignis) fuego; a (aqua; o origo (principio esp ritu) i. a. o. es el mantram supremo del arcano

a 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 word, p

erefore saw his mother and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he said unto his mother: woman, behold thy son! then he said to [john] the disciple, behold thy mother! and from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home. john 19: 26, 27. 4 pronounced al-kah-est 5 ternary: composed of 3 or arranged in 3s. el azufre (fuego) arde totalmente, sin dejar residuo, y el azufre es el schin del zohar. y el agua es el men del zohar (el ens seminis) el fuego y el agua mediante sucesivas transmutaciones, quedan reducidos al aleph kabal stico que los alkimistas denominan alkaest. as se realiza el i.a.o, y as se abren las doce facultades del alma. el alma se cristifica "kundalini florece" en nuestros labios fecundos, hecho verbo. el ternario es la palabra, la plenitud, la fecundidad, la natur

males. 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 the

the double vital current sustains and nourishes the entire planet earth, thus, we (all the living beings) are organized upon this divine archetype. a divine atom exists in the center of the sign of the infinite. the nine spheres of atomic vibration are concentrically focused within this atom of the genie of the earth. the holy eight glows resplendent with glory within the center of the earth. el zohar nos advierte enf ticamente que en el fondo del abismo vive el adam protoplastos, el principio diferenciador de las almas. con ese principio tenemos que disputarnos en lucha a muerte, la victoria. la lucha es terrible, cerebro contra sexo, sexo contra cerebro; y lo que es m s terrible y lo que es m s doloroso es aquello de coraz n contra coraz n; t lo sabes. en el coraz n de la tierra se hall

WESTERN MANDALAS OF TRANSFORMATION SR AL

us. 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 adon

y) 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; and in

WICCA WITCHCRAFT TODAY

nducts one through the underworld. the cord is the 'cable tow' with which the candidate is bound, a willing victim properly prepared for sacrifice. the 'ring' symbolises the 'vesica piscis' of rebirth. witches believe that much of their knowledge came from the east and they think there are witch practices described in the kabbala, notably verses 964-969 of the greater holy assembly of the book of zohar and elsewhere. similar things occurred in most religious cults at the same time, but i think it must have been a kabbalist who pointed these passages out to them. referring to the story the witches told me of their dressing up and riding out to scare people, i mention the following, quoted by miss christine hole. miss burne in her shropshire folklore relates a story told by a little girl who

WILLIAM WESCOTT NUMBERS THEIR OCCULT POWER AND MYSTIC VIRTUES

rmes 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, acc

hra 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, according to the talmud. 8. the midrash ha zohar of d. h. joel, leipzig, 1849, narrates the relation between the kabalah and platonism, neo-platonism, greek philosophy and the zoroastrian doctrines of the parsees. numbers--th eir occu lt power an d mys tic vir tu es by w. wyn n wes tcott perhaps the oldest extant kabalistic book is the sepher yetzirah, or book of formation, an english translation of which has appeared in three editions fro

7 years a male hyena becomes a bat, in another 7 years a vampire, after another a thorn, and after another is turned into a demon. if a man fails to pray devoutly for 7 years, his spine after death becomes a serpent. numbers--th eir occu lt power an d mys tic vir tu es by w. wyn n wes tcott besides those who prophesized for israel, there were 7 other prophets, beor, balaam, job, eliphaz, bildad, zohar, and elihu the son of barachel the buzite. the bava bathra says that 7 men form an unbroken series to this day. adam was seen by methuselah, then shem, jacob, amram, ahijah the shilonite, and elijah, who saw him, and elijah is still alive until today. even 7 years of pestilence will not cause a man to die before his allotted time. this dictum of the treatise sanhedrin is a statement of prede

any 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. fi

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

balistic texts, that serves as the backdrop for the specific analyses in the three chapters on alef/past, mem/present, and tau/future. i drew the material for my textual reasoning in the lectures almost exclusively xi from two anthologies that can be viewed as the bookends of the earliest period of kabbalistic literary activity, the twelfth to the thirteenth centuries: sefer ha-bahir and sefer ha-zohar, the former also transmitted as midrash rabbi nehuniah ben ha-qanah and the latter as midrash rabbi simeon ben yohai. the choice of these pseudepigraphic texts here i bracket the complex question of multiple layers of composition and redaction discernible in the literary landscape of both works, though it should be clear to the reader that i presume in neither case the existence of an origin

biance of medieval kabbalah, language performs this function by expressing the inexpressible, rendering the invisible visible. the symbol, therefore, brings the unknown into relation with the known, but without reducing the difference that binds the two incongruities into a selfsame identity.4 the obfuscation between story and event displayed in sefer ha-bahir, and even more extremely in sefer ha-zohar, represents an embellishment of the rabbinic parable to the point that one can no longer distinguish between signifier and signified, mashal and nimshal.5 in the kabbalistic mind-set, there is no gap between signifier and signified, for every nimshal becomes a mashal vis -vis xii preface another nimshal, which quickly turns into another mashal, and so on ad infinitum in an endless string of

ero s formulation mentioned previously that is, a time beyond the nocturnal/diurnal division, a time that ensues from an act of volition so spontaneous, so fully in the moment, that it can have no past or future and, consequently, no re/presentable present. an allusion to this conception of time-that-is-no-time, the time/less time of the moment that is all-time, is found in a remark from tiqqunei zohar, the literary stratum of zoharic literature, composed in all likelihood in the first half of the fourteenth century in castile. this passage occurs in an exposition of the theosophic principle (well-entrenched by the time of this text s composition) that the various names of god are correlated with different limbs of the imaginal body, a term i have employed to describe the constellation of

mystery of the threefold unity that is a unified trinity, a mystery apprehended as mystery by the spirit carried on the wings of the upward breath, the breath-of-the-heart, that ascends to and vanishes in the impenetrable infinite.215 the conception of temporality proffered in the aforecited passage is enhanced by considering the interpretation of this passage found in the commentary on tiqqunei zohar that purports to transmit the teachings of the vilna gaon: ehyeh is upon hawayah, that is to say, upon being [al mesi ut, for ehyeh connotes being [hu leshon mesi ut, and as the commentators have explained, the verse ehyeh asher ehyeh (exod 3:14) instructs about what was, is, and shall be [moreh al hayah howeh we-yihyeh. that is to say, ehyeh is iterated there three times, as it says, ehyeh

ly that the zoharic interpretation was inspired by the expression esh zarah, strange fire, used in conjunction with nadab and abihu in several verses, as noted above. the strange fire they offered before the lord, rendered symbolically, denotes 100 chapter two their desire to mix the unholy and holy a reading attested in other zoharic passages. for example, the following appears in the stratum of zohar known as sitrei torah: there is a holy fire [esha qaddisha, the feminine [nuqba, and a foreign fire [esha nukhra ah, the strange fire [esh zarah, and thus it is written do not come at any moment to the shrine (lev 16:2, this is the feminine from the evil inclination [nuqveta min yeser ha-ra. the holy spirit [ruah qaddisha] is male [dekhar, and there is a spirit of impurity [ruah mesa ava, wh

heads? because this refers to jesus who took hold of two heads, one of israel and the other of edom, and he went and caused people to err. when the jews saw him they stood over him, captured him, and hung him on the cross. as they interpreted if your brother, your mother s son, entices you (deut 13:7, it does not say your father s son. 49 later kabbalistic sources, as attested in a key passage in zohar,50 combine the bahiric decomposition of saddi into yod-nun with the midrashic interpretation of saddi as a symbolic reference to jesus. it has been suggested that yod-nun in the zoharic text serves as an acrostic for yeshu nosri.51 even if we do not assume this was the bahiric author s intent, can we propose the christological myth as its conceptual underpinning? did the anonymous kabbalist

ture, as the bahir is decidedly silent with regard to the letter that bespeaks the silence of the end. indeed, in the bahiric fragments that have been preserved, there is no reference, implicit or explicit, to tau, a reticence that resonates in the saying of the unsaid, a doubling of secrecy that conceals the disclosure and thereby discloses the concealment. the relevant text is from a section of zohar that recasts several older aggadic themes clustered about the belief that 158 chapter five torah in her capacity as wisdom served as god s confidant, the (female) consort with whom he was bemused and with whom he took counsel prior to creation (images culled from prov 8:14 and 30. insofar as creation is viewed primarily as a linguistic act in rabbinic cosmogony, it makes perfectly good sense

emale) consort with whom he was bemused and with whom he took counsel prior to creation (images culled from prov 8:14 and 30. insofar as creation is viewed primarily as a linguistic act in rabbinic cosmogony, it makes perfectly good sense that torah, which can be decomposed into the twenty-two hebrew consonants, would have been depicted symbolically as god s playmate.18 the narrative preserved in zohar recounts how each of the letters presents itself before god in an effort to be chosen as the primary instrument through which the world would be created. this is based on much older literary sources. particularly relevant is the beginning of the second recension of midrash otiyyot de-rabbi aqiva: these are the twenty-two letters through which torah in its entirety was given to the tribes of

WORKBOOK FOR GRADE 0 VOID AND THE ABYSS

eceit 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 nature

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 that we

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