Introducation
What is Kabbalah? Kabbalah is an aspect of Jewish
mysticism. It consists of a large body of speculation on the
nature of divinity, the creation, the origin and fate of the
soul, and the role of human beings. It consists also of
meditative, devotional, mystical and magical practices
which were taught only to a select few and for this reason
Kabbalah is regarded as an esoteric offshoot of Judaism.
Some aspects of Kabbalah has been studied and used by
non-Jews for several hundred years.
What does the word "Kabbalah" mean, and how should I
spell it? The word "Kabbalah" is derived from the root "to
receive, to accept, and in many cases is used synonymously
with "tradition." No-one with the slightest interest in
Kabbalah can fail to notice that there are many alternative
spellings of the word, the two most common being
Kabbalah and Qabalah. Cabala, Qaballah, Qabala, Kaballah
(and so on) are also seen.
The reason for this is that some letters in the Hebrew
alphabet have more than one representation in the
English alphabet, and the same Hebrew letter can be written
either as K or Q (or sometimes even C). Some authors
choose one spelling, and some choose the other. Some will
even mix Q and K in the same document, spelling Kabbalah
and Qlippoth (as opposed to Qabalah and Klippoth!). A
random selection of modern Hebrew phrase books and
dictionaries use the K variant to represent the letter Kuf, so
anyone who claims that the "correct" spelling is "Qabalah" is
on uncertain ground.
There has been a tendency for non-Jewish books on
Kabbalah published this century to use the spelling
"Qabalah." Jewish publications are relatively uniform in
preferring the spelling "Kabbalah." We take the view (based
on experience) that the spelling "Kabbalah" is recognised
by a wider selection of people than the "Qabalah" variant,
and for this purely pragmatic reason it is used throughout
this study.
What is the "Tradition?" According to Jewish tradition,
the Torah (Torah - "Law" - believed by Christians to be the
first five books of the Old Testament, but the Jews do not
hold the same belief, although they keep it carefully
concealed from Christians that they hold the Talmud to be
the "Torah" not any books of the Bible) was created prior to
the world and she (The Queen god) advised God on such
weighty matters as the creation of human kind. When Moses
received the written law from God, tradition has it that he
also received the oral law, which was not written down, but
passed from generation to generation. At times the oral law
has been referred to as "Kabbalah" - the oral tradition.
Bible Versus Oral Law (Talmud): The Bible under
Talmudic Judaism is considered to be a collection of simple
tales fit only for fools, women and children. The Talmud
'sages' thus must find new meanings in it by letter and
number tricks which reverse the plain meaning and create
out of it the permission to do otherwise forbidden crimes and
misdeeds. The words of the Bible are continually misused
and misquoted for purposes of blasphemy and reversal.
Stealing for themselves the title of 'Israelites,' the Talmud
'sages' teach that 'God made a covenant with Israel only for
the sake of that which was transmitted orally.' And the
Biblical 'basis' of this is given as Exodus 34:27. But that verse
states, instead: 'And the Lord said unto Moses, Write thou
these words: for after the tenor of these words I have made a
covenant with thee and with Israel.' - the very opposite! The
Talmudic reversal of Moses' written words are said to have
been transmitted 'orally,' and through Moses himself - believe
it or not!
Bearing in mind that the Scribes were the Pharisee
teachers of the Law of Moses, carefully distorted to comprise
the Talmud, note: 'There is greater stringency in respect to
the teachings of the Scribes than in respect to the Torah...so
that a Biblical law may be transgressed.'
The Torah in its narrow sense is the Old Testament, and
in a still narrower meaning the first five books (Pentateuch)
of Moses. it its wider Judaistic use it means the Old
Testament as misinterpreted by the Pharisaic Talmud.
Always with Judaism the Talmud ranks above the Bible in
every way.
A Talmud passage from the Book of Nedarim (vows) of
the Soncino edition of the Talmud states: 'As will be seen on
37a, Scripture was generally regarded as the study of children
only, adults usually investigating the deeper meaning...From
this we see that it was usual to teach the Bible to girls in
spite of the Talmudic deduction that daughters need not be
educated. The opposition of Rabbi Eliezer to teaching the
Torah to one's daughter 'He who teaches his daughter Torah
is as though he taught her lewdness.' - was probably directed
against the teaching of the Oral Law, and the higher
branches of study ...The context shows that the reference is
to the higher knowledge of Biblical law.' The Talmud states:
'A heathen who studies the Torah deserves death for it is
written, Moses commanded us a law for an inheritance; it is
our inheritance, not theirs.'
Reference is also made to the 'Noachian laws' which the
non-Jew may study 'but not laws which do not pertain to
them.' Also: '...(the) objection was to the studying of the Oral
Law...Rabbi Johanan feared the knowledge of Gentiles in
matters of Jurisprudence, as they would use it against the
Jews in their opponents' courts.' Understandably, since all
Talmud laws discriminate against the non-Jew and rank him
a virtual animal, these were apt observations.
The Jewish Encyclopedia is still more open about what is
in Sanhedrin 59a of the Talmud, above, threatening death for
revelation of 'Torah' laws to Gentiles: 'for such knowledge
might have operated against the Jews in their opponents'
courts.' This observation follows a dissertation on the laws on
cheating and getting the best of Gentiles in trade and in
court.
The Torah was (and is) believed, by Jews, to be fit only
for fools and women, and in the same way as the Torah was
accompanied by an oral tradition, so there grew up a secret
oral tradition which claimed to possess an initiated
understanding of the Torah, its hidden meanings, an d the
divine power concealed within it. This is a principle root
of the Kabbalistic tradition, a belief in the divinity of the
Torah, and a belief that by studying this text one can unlock
the secrets of the creation.
Another aspect of Jewish religion which influenced
Kabbalah was the Biblical phenomenon of prophecy. The
prophet was an individual chosen by God as a mouthpiece,
and there was the implication that God, far from being a
transcedental abstraction, was a being whom one could
approach (albeit with enormous difficulty, risk, fear and
trembling). Some Kabbalists believed that they were the
inheritors of practical techniques handed down from the time
of the Biblical prophets, and it is not impossible or
improbable that this was in fact the case.
These two threads, one derived from the study of the
Torah, the other derived from practical attempts to approach
God, form the roots from which the Kabbalistic tradition
developed.
How old is Kabbalah? No-one knows. The earliest
documents which are generally acknowledged as being
Kabbalistic come from the 1st. Century C.E., but there is a
suspicion that the Biblical phenomenon of prophecy may
have been grounded in a much older oral tradition which
was a precursor to the earliest recognisable forms of
Kabbalah. Some believe the tradition goes back as far as
Melchizedek. There are moderately plausible arguments
that Pythagoras received his learning from Hebrew
sources. There is a substantial literature of Jewish
mysticism dating from the period 100AD - 1000AD which is
not strictly Kabbalistic in the modern sense, but which was
available as source material to medieval Kabbalists.
On the basis of a detailed examination of texts, and a
study of the development of a specialist vocabulary and a
distinct body of ideas, Scholem has concluded that the
origins of Kabbalah can be traced to 12th. century Provence.
The origin of the word "Kabbalah" as a label for a tradition
which is definitely recognisable as Kabbalah is attributed
to Isaac the Blind (c. 1160-1236 C.E.), who is also
credited with being the originator of the idea of
sephirothic emanation.
Prior to this (and after) a wide variety of terms were used
for those who studied the tradition: "masters of mystery,"
"men of belief," "masters of knowledge," "those who know,"
"those who know grace," "children of faith," "children of the
king's palace," "those who know wisdom," "those who reap
the field," "those who have entered and left."
If a chemist from the twentieth century could step into a
time-machine and go back two-hundred years he or she
would probably feel a deep kinship with the chemists of that
time, even though there might be considerable differences in
terminology, underlying theory, equipment and so on.
Despite this kinship, chemists have not been trapped in the
past, and the subject as it is studied today bears little
resemblance to the chemistry of two hundred years ago.
Kabbalah has existed for nearly two thousand years, and
like any living discipline it has evolved through time, and it
continues to evolve. One aspect of this evolution is that it is
necessary for living Kabbalists to continually "re-present"
what they understand by Kabbalah so that Kabbalah itself
continues to live and continues to retain its usefulness to
each new generation.
If Kabbalists do not do this then it becomes a dead thing,
an historical curiousity (as was virtually the case within
Judaism by the nineteenth century). These notes were
written with that intention: to present one view of Kabbalah
as it is currently practised, so that people who are interested
in Kabbalah and want to learn more about it are not limited
purely to texts written hundreds or thousands of years ago (or
for that matter, modern texts written about texts written
hundreds or thousands of years ago). For this reason these
notes acknowledge the past, but they do not defer to it.
There are many adequate texts for those who wish to
understand Kabbalah as it was practised in the past.
These notes have another purpose. The majority of people
who are drawn towards Kabbalah are not historians; they are
people who want to know enough about it to decide whether
they should use it as part of their own personal mystical or
magical adventure.
There is enough information not only to make that
decision, but also to move from theory into practice. I should
emphasise that this is only one variation of Kabbalah out of
many, and I leave it to others to present their own variants -
I make no apology if the material is biased towards a
particular point of view.
The word "Kabbalah" means "tradition." There are many
alternative spellings, the two most popular being Kabbalah
and Qabalah, but Cabala, Qaballah, Qabala, Kaballa (and so
on) are also seen. I made my choice as a result of a poll of the
books on my bookcase, not as a result of deep linguistic
understanding.
If Kabbalah means "tradition," then the core of the
tradition was the attempt to penetrate the inner meaning of
the Bible, which was taken to be the literal (but heavily
veiled) word of God. Because the Word was veiled, special
techniques were developed to elucidate the true
meaning....Kabbalistic theosophy has been deeply influenced
by these attempts to find a deep meaning in the Bible.
The earliest documents (100 B.C. - 1000 A.D.) associated
with Kabbalah describe the attempts of "Merkabah" mystics
to penetrate the seven halls (Hekaloth) of creation and reach
the Merkabah (throne-chariot) of God. These mystics used
the familiar methods of shamanism (fasting, repetitious
chanting, prayer, posture) to induce trance states in which
they literally fought their way past terrible seals and guards
to reach an ecstatic state in which they "saw God." An early
and highly influential document (Sepher Yetzirah) appears to
have originated during the earlier part of this period.
By the early middle ages further, more theosophical
developments had taken place, chiefly a description of
"processes" within God, and a highly esoteric view of creation
as a process in which God manifests in a series of
emanations. This doctrine of the "sephiroth" can be found in
a rudimentary form in the "Yetzirah," but by the time of the
publication of the book "Bahir" (12th. century) it had reached
a form not too different from the form it takes today.
One of most interesting characters from this period was
Abraham Abulafia, who believed that God cannot be
described or conceptualised using everyday symbols, and
used the Hebrew alphabet in intense meditations lasting
many hours to reach ecstatic states. Because his abstract
letter combinations were used as keys or entry points to
altered states of consciousness, failure to carry through the
manipulations correctly could have a drastic effect on the
Kabbalist. In "Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism" Scholem
includes a long extract of one such experiment made by one
of Abulafia's students - it has a deep ring of truth about it.
Probably the most influential Kabbalistic document, the
"Sepher ha Zohar." was published by Moses de Leon, a
Spanish Jew, in the latter half of the thirteenth century. The
"Zohar" is a series of separate documents covering a wide
range of subjects, from a verse-by-verse esoteric commentary
on the Pentateuch, to highly theosophical descriptions of
processes within God. The "Zohar" has been widely read and
was highly influential within mainstream Judaism.
A later development in Kabbalah was the Safed school of
mystics headed by Moses Cordovero and Isaac Luria. Luria
was a highly charismatic leader who exercised almost total
control over the life of the school, and has passed into history
as something of a saint. Emphasis was placed on living in the
world and bringing the consciousness of God through "into"
the world in a practical way. Practices were largely
devotional.
Throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
Judaism as a whole was heavily influenced by Kabbalah, but
by the beginning of this century a Jewish writer was able to
dismiss it as an historical curiousity. Jewish Kabbalah has
vast literature which is almost entirely untranslated into
English.
A development which took place almost synchronously
with Jewish Kabbalah was its adoption by many Christian
mystics, magicians and philosphers. Renaissance
philosophers such as Pico della Mirandola were familiar with
Kabbalah and mixed it with gnosticism, pythagoreanism,
neo-platonism and hermeticism to form a snowball which
continued to pick up traditions as it rolled down the
centuries. It is probably accurate to say that from the
Renaissance on, virtually all European occult philosophers
and magicians of note had a working knowledge of Kabbalah.
It is not clear how Kabbalah was involved in the
propagation of ritual magical techniques, or whether it "was"
involved, or whether the ritual techniques were preserved in
parallel within Judaism, but it is an undeniable fact that the
most influential documents appear to have a Jewish origin.
The most important medieval magical text is the "Key of
Solomon," and it contains the elements of classic ritual magic
- names of power, the magic circle, ritual implements,
consecration, evocation of spirits etc. No-one knows how old
it is, but there is a reasonable suspicion that its contents
preserve techniques which might well date back to Solomon.
The combination of non-Jewish Kabbalah and ritual
magic has been kept alive outside Judaism until the present
day, although it has been heavily adulterated at times by
hermeticism, gnosticism, neo-platonism, pythagoreanism,
rosicrucianism, christianity, tantra and so on. The most
important "modern" influences are the French magician
Eliphas Levi, and the English "Order of the Golden Dawn."
At least two members of the G.D. (S.L. Mathers and A.E.
Waite) were knowledgable Kabbalists, and three G. D.
members have popularised Kabbalah - Aleister Crowley,
Israel Regardie, and Dion Fortune. Dion Fortune's "Inner
Light" has also produced a number of authors: Gareth Knight,
William Butler, and William Gray.
An unfortunate side effect of the G.D is that while
Kabbalah was an important part of its "Knowledge Lectures,"
surviving G.D. rituals are a syncretist hodge-podge of
symbolism in which Kabbalah plays a minor or nominal role,
and this has led to Kabbalah being seen by many modern
occultists as more of a theoretical and intellectual discipline,
rather than a potent and self-contained mystical and magical
system in its own right.
Some of the originators of modern witchcraft drew heavily
on medieval ritual and Kabbalah for inspiration, and it is not
unusual to find witches teaching some form of Kabbalah,
although it is generally even less well integrated into
practical technique than in the case of the G.D.
The Kabbalistic tradition described in the notes derives
principally from Dion Fortune, but has been substantially
developed over the past 30 years. I would like to thank M.S.
and the T.S.H.U. for all the fun.
Chapter One
The Tree of Life
At the root of the
Kabbalistic view of the
world are three
fundamental concepts and
they provide a natural
place to begin. The three
concepts are force, form and consciousness and these words
are used in an abstract way, as the following examples
illustrate: (1) high pressure steam in the cylinder of a steam
engine provides a force. The engine is a form which
constrains the force. (2) a river runs downhill under the force
of gravity. The river channel is a form which constrains the
water to run in a well defined path. (3) someone wants to get
to the centre of a garden maze. The hedges are a form which
constrain that person's ability to walk as they please. (4) a
diesel engine provides the force which drives a boat forwards.
A rudder constrains its course to a given direction. (5) a
polititian wants to change the law. The legislative framework
of the country is a form which he or she must follow if the
change is to be made legally. (6) water sits in a bowl. The
force of gravity pulls the water down. The bowl is a form
which gives its shape to the water. (7) a stone falls to the
ground under the force of gravity. Its acceleration is
constrained to be equal to the force divided by the mass of
the stone. (8) I want to win at chess. The force of my desire
to win is constrained within the rules of chess. (9) I see
something in a shop window and have to have it. I am
constrained by the conditions of sale (do I have enough
money, is it in stock). (10) cordite explodes in a gun barrel
and provides an explosive force on a bullet. The gas and the
bullet are constrained by the form of the gun barrel. (11) I
want to get a passport. The government won't give me one
unless I fill in lots of forms in precisely the right way. (12) I
want a university degree. The university won't give me a
degree unless I attend certain courses and pass various
assessments.
In all these examples there is something which is causing
change to take place ("a force") and there is something which
causes change to take place in a defined way ("a form").
Without being too pedantic it is possible to identify two very
different types of example here:
1). Examples of natural physical processes (e.g. a falling
stone) where the force is one of the natural forces known to
physics (e.g. gravity) and the form is is some combination of
physical laws which constrain the force to act in a well
defined way. 2). Examples of people wanting something,
where the force is some ill-defined concept of "desire," "will,"
or "drives," and the form is one of the forms we impose upon
ourselves (the rules of chess, the Law, polite behaviour etc.).
Despite the fact that the two different types of example
are "only metaphorically similar," Kabbalists see no
fundamental distiniction between them. To the Kabbalist
there are forces which cause change in the natural world,
and there are corresponding psychological forces which drive
us to change both the world and ourselves, and whether
these forces are natural or psychological they are rooted in
the same place: consciousness.
Similarly, there are forms which the component parts of
the physical world seem to obey (natural laws) and there are
completely arbitrary forms we create as part of the process of
living (the rules of a game, the shape of a mug, the design of
an engine, the syntax of a language) and these forms are also
rooted in the same place: consciousness. It is a Kabbalistic
axiom that there is a prime cause which underpins all the
manifestations of force and form in both the natural and
psychological world and that prime cause I have called
consciousness for lack of a better word.
Consciousness is undefinable. We know that we are
conscious in different ways at different times - sometimes we
feel free and happy, at other times trapped and confused,
sometimes angry and passionate, sometimes cold and
restrained - but these words describe manifestations of
consciousness. We can define the manifestations of
consciousness in terms of manifestations of consciousness,
which is about as useful as defining an ocean in terms of
waves and foam.
Anyone who attempts to define consciousness itself tends
to come out of the same door as they went in. We have lots
of words for the phenomena of consciousness thoughts,
feelings, beliefs, desires, emotions, motives and so on - but
few words for the states of consciousness which give rise to
these phenomena, just as we have many words to describe
the surface of a sea, but few words to describe its depths.
Kabbalah provides a vocabulary for states of consciousness
underlying the phenomena, and one of the purposes of these
notes is to explain this vocabulary, not by definition, but
mostly by metaphor and analogy. The only genuine method
of understanding what the vocabulary means is by attaining
various states of consciousness in a predictable and
reasonably objective way, and Kabbalah provides practical
methods for doing this.
A fundamental premise of the Kabbalistic model of reality
is that there is a pure, primal, and undefinable state of
consciousness which manifests as an interaction between
force and form. This is virtually the entire guts of the
Kabbalistic view of things, and almost everything I have to
say from now on is based on this trinity of consciousness,
force, and form. Consciousness comes first, but hidden within
it is an inherent duality; there is an energy associated with
consciousness which causes change (force), and there is a
capacity within consciousness to constrain that energy and
cause it to manifest in a well-defined way (form).
First Principle
of
/ Consciousness \
/ \
/ \
Capacity Raw
to take ________________ Energy
Form
Figure 1.
What do we get out of raw energy and an inbuilt capacity
for form and structure? Is there yet another hidden potential
within this trinity waiting to manifest? There is. If modern
physics is to be believed we get matter and the physical
world.
The cosmological Big Bang model of raw energy surging
out from an infintesimal point and condensing into basic
forms of matter as it cools, then into stars and galaxies, then
planets, and ultimately living creatures, has many points of
similarity with the Kabbalistic model.
In the Big Bang model a soup of energy condenses
according to some yet-to-be-formulated Grand-
Universal-Theory into our physical world. What Kabbalah
does suggest (and modern physics most certainly does not!)
is that matter and consciousness are the same stuff, and differ
only in the degree of structure imposed - matter is
consciousness so heavily structured and constrained that its
behaviour becomes describable using the regular and simple
laws of physics. This is shown in Fig. 2. The primal, first
principle of consciousness is synonymous with the idea of
"God."
First Principle
of
/ Consciousness \
/ | \
Capacity | Raw
to take _____________ Energy/Force
Form |
\ | /
Matter
The World
Figure 2
The glyph in Fig. 2 is the basis for the Tree of Life. The
first principle of consciousness is called Kether, which means
Crown. The raw energy of consciousness is called
Chockhmah or Wisdom, and the capacity to give form to the
energy of consciousness is called Binah, which is sometimes
translated as Understanding, and sometimes as Intelligence.
The outcome of the interaction of force and form, the
physical world, called Malkuth or Kingdom. This quaternery
is a Kabbalistic representation of God-theKnowable, in the
sense that it the most primitive representation of God we are
capable of comprehending; paradoxically, Kabbalah also
contains a notion of God-the-Unknowable which transcends
this glyph, and is called En Soph.
There is not much we can say about En Soph, and what
we can say we will postpone for later.
God-the-Knowable has four aspects, two male and two
female: Kether and Chokhmah are both represented as male,
and Binah and Malkuth are represented as female. One of the
titles of Chokhmah is Abba, which means Father, and one of
the titles of Binah is Aima, which means Mother, so you can
think of Chokhmah as God the -Father, and Binah as
God-the-Mother.
Malkuth is the daughter, the female spirit of
God-as-Matter, and it would not be wildly wrong to think of
her as Mother Earth. One of the more pleasant things about
Kabbalah is that its symbolism gives equal place to both male
and female.
And what of God-the-Son? Is there also a God-the-Son in
Kabbalah? There is, and this is the point where Kabbalah
tackles the interesting problem of thee and me. The glyph in
Fig. 2 is a model of consciousness, but not of
self-consciousness, and selfconsciousness throws an
interesting spanner in the works.
The Fall
Self-consciousness is like a mirror in which consciousness
sees itself reflected. Self-consciousness is modelled in
Kabbalah by making a copy of figure 2.
Consciousness
of
/ Consciousness \
/ | \
Consciousness | Consciousness
of ________________ of
Form | Energy/Force
\ | /
Consciousness
of the
World
Figure 3
Figure 3. is Figure 2. reflected through self-consciousness.
The overall effect of self-consciousness is to add an additional
layer to Figure 2. as follows:
First Principle
of
/ Consciousness \
/ | \
/ |
\
Capacity | Raw
to take _____________ Energy/Force
Form |
\ | /
\ | /
\ | /
Consciousness
of
/ Consciousness \
/ | \
/ | \
Consciousness | Consciousness
of ________________ of
Form | Energy/Force
\ | /
\ | /
\ | /
Consciousness
of the
World
|
|
|
Matter
The World
Figure 4
Fig. 2 is sometimes called "the Garden of Eden" because
it represents a primal state of consciousness. The effect of
selfconsciousness as shown in Fig. 4 is to drive a wedge
between the First Principle of Consciousness (Kether) and
that Consciousness realised as matter and the physical world
(Malkuth).
This is called "the Fall," after the story of Adam and Eve in
the Garden of Eden. From a Kabbalistic point of view the
story of Eden, with the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil,
the serpent and the temptation, and the casting out from the
Garden has a great deal of meaning in terms of
understanding the evolution of consciousness.
Self-consciousness introduces four new states of
consciousness: the Consciousness of Consciousness is called
Tipheret, which means Beauty; the Consciousness of
Force/Energy is called Netzach, which means Victory or
Firmness; the Consciousness of Form is called Hod, which
means Splendour or Glory, and the Consciousness of Matter
is called Yesod, which means Foundation.
These four states have readily observable manifestations, as
shown below in Fig. 5:
The Self
Self-Importance
Self-Sacrifice
/ | \
/ | \
/ | \
Language | Emotions
Abstraction_______________Drives
Reason | Feelings
\ | /
\ | /
\ | /
\ Perception /
Imagination
Instinct
Reproduction
Figure 5
Figure 4. is almost the complete Tree of Life, but not quite
- there are still two states missing. The inherent capacity of
consciousness to take on structure and objectify itself (Binah,
God-the-Mother) is reflected through self-consciousness as a
perception of the limitedness and boundedness of things. We
are conscious of space and time, yesterday and today, here
and there, you and me, in and out, life and death, whole and
broken, together and apart.
We see things as limited and bounded and we have a
perception of form as something "created" and "destroyed."
My car was built a year ago, but it was smashed yesterday. I
wrote an essay, but I lost it when my computer crashed. My
granny is dead. The river changed its course. A law has been
repealed. I broke my coffee mug.
The world changes, and what was here yesterday is not
here today. This perception acts like an "interface" between
the quaternary of consciousness which represents "God," and
the quaternary which represents a living self-conscious being,
and two new states are introduced to represent this interface.
The state which represents the creation of new forms is
called Chesed, which means Mercy, and the state which
represents the destruction of forms is called Gevurah, which
means Strength. This is shown in Fig. 6.
The objectification of forms which takes place in a
self-conscious being, and the consequent tendency to view
the world in terms of limitations and dualities (time and
space, here and there, you and me, in and out, God and Man,
good and evil...) produces a barrier to perception which most
people rarely overcome, and for this reason it has come to be
called the Abyss.
The Abyss is also marked on Figure 6.
First Principle
of
/ Consciousness \
/ | \
Capacity | Raw
to take _____________ Energy/Force
Form | |
|\ | /|
| \ | / |
--------------Abyss---------------
| \ | / |
Destruction | Creation
of_____\_____|_____ /____of
Form \ | / Form
| \ \ | / / |
| \ Consciousness / |
| of |
| / Consciousness \ |
| / | \ |
|/ | \|
Consciousness | Consciousness
of ________________ of
\ Form | Energy/Force
\ \ | / /
\ \ | / /
\ Consciousness /
\ of /
\ the World /
\ | /
\ | /
\ | /
Matter
The World
Figure 6
The diagram in Fig. 6 is called the Tree of Life. The
"constructionist" approach I have used to justify its structure
is a little unusual, but the essence of my presentation can be
found in the "Zohar" under the guise of the Macroprosopus
and Microprosopus, although in this form it is not readily
accessible to the average reader. Our attempt to show how
the Tree of Life can be derived out of pure consciousness
through the interaction of an abstract notion of force and
form was not intended to be a convincing exercise from an
intellectual point of view - the Tree of Life is primarily a
gnostic rather than a rational or intellectual explanation of
consciousness and its interaction with the physical world.
The Tree is composed of 10 states or sephiroth (sephiroth
plural, sephira singular) and 22 interconnecting paths. The
age of this diagram is unknown: there is enough information
in the 13th. century "Sepher ha Zohar" to construct this
diagram, and the doctrine of the sephiroth has been
attributed to Isaac the Blind in the 12th. century, but we
have no certain knowledge of its origin.
It probably originated sometime in the interval between
the 6th. and 13th. centuries AD. The origin of the word
"sephira" is unclear - it is almost certainly derived from the
Hebrew word for "number" (SPhR), but it has also been
attributed to the Greek word for "sphere" and even to the
Hebrew word for a sapphire (SPhIR). With a characteristic
aptitude for discovering hidden meanings everywhere,
Kabbalists find all three derivations useful, so take your pick.
In the language of earlier Kabbalistic writers the sephiroth
represented ten primeval emanations of God, ten focii
through which the energy of a hidden, absolute and unknown
Godhead (En Soph) propagated throughout the creation, like
white light passing through a prism. The sephiroth can be
interpreted as aspects of God, as states of consciousness, or
as nodes akin to the Chakras in the occult anatomy of a
human being .
We have left out one important detail from the structure
of the Tree. There is an eleventh "something" which is
definitely "not" a sephira, but is often shown on modern
representations of the Tree. The Kabbalistic "explanation"
runs as follows: when Malkuth "fell" out of the Garden of
Eden (Fig. 2) it left behind a "hole" in the fabric of the Tree,
and this "hole," located in the centre of the Abyss, is called
Daath, or Knowledge. Daath is "not" a sephira; it is a hole.
This may sound like gobbledy-gook, and in the sense that it
is only a metaphor, it is. The completed Tree of Life with the
Hebrew titles of the sephiroth is shown below in Fig. 7.
En Soph
/-------------------------\
( Kether )
/ (Crown) \
/ | \
Binah | Chokhmah
(Understanding)__________ (Wisdom)
(Intelligence) | |
|\ | /|
| \ Daath / |
| \ (Knowledge) / |
| \ | / |
Gevurah \ | / Chesed
(Strength)\_____|_____/__ (Mercy)
| \ | / (Love)
| \ \ | / / |
| \ Tipheret / |
| / (Beauty) \ |
| / | \ |
|/ | \|
Hod | Netzach
(Glory) _______________(Victory)
(Splendour) | (Firmness)
\ \ | / /
\ \ | / /
\ \ Yesod / /
\ (Foundation) /
\ /
\ | /
Malkuth
(Kingdom)
Figure 7
From an historical point of view the doctrine of
emanations and the Tree of Life are only one small part of a
huge body of Kabbalistic speculation about the nature of
divinity and our part in creation, but it is the part which has
survived. The Tree continues to be used in the Twentieth
Century because it has proved to be a useful and productive
symbol for practices of a magical, mystical and religious
nature. Modern Kabbalah in the Western Mystery Tradition
is largely concerned with the understanding and practical
application of the Tree of Life, and the following set of notes
will list some of the characteristics of each sephira in more
detail so that you will have a "snapshot" of what each sephira
represents before going on to examine the sephiroth and the
"deep structure" of the Tree in more detail.
Chapter 2
Sephirothic Correspondences
The correspondences are a set of symbols, associations
and qualities which provide a handle on the elusive
something a sephira represents. Some of the
correspondences are hundreds of years old, many were
concocted this century, and some are my own; some fit very
well, and some are obscure - oddly enough it is often the
most obscure and ill-fitting correspondence which is most
productive; like a Zen riddle it perplexes and annoys the
mind until it arrives at the right place more in spite of the
correspondence than because of it.
There are few canonical correspondences; some of the
sephiroth have alternative names, some of the names have
alternative translations, the mapping from Hebrew spellings
to the English alphabet varies from one author to the next,
and inaccuracies and accretions are handed down like the
family silver. I keep my Hebrew dictionary to hand but
guarantee none of the English spellings.
The correspondences given are as follows:
1).The Meaning is a translation of the Hebrew name of
the sephira. 2).The Planet in most cases is the planet
associated with the sephira. In some cases it is not a planet
at all (e.g. the fixed stars). The planets are ordered by
decreasing apparent motion - this is one correspondence
which appears to pre-date Copernicus! 3).The Element is the
physical element (earth, water, air, fire, aethyr) which has
most in common with the nature of the Sephira. The Golden
Dawn applied an excess of logic to these attributions and
made a mess of them, to the confusion of many. Only the five
Lower Face sephiroth have been attributed an element. 4).
Briatic colour. This is the colour of the sephira as seen in the
world of Creation, Briah. There are colour scales for the other
three worlds but I haven't found them to be useful in
practical work. 5). Magical Image. Useful in meditiations;
some are astute. 6).The Briatic Correspondence is an abstract
quality which says something about the essence of the way
the sephira expresses itself. 7).The Illusion characterises the
way in which the energy of the sephira clouds one's
judgement; it is something which is "obviously" true. Most
people suffer from one or more of these according to their
temperament. 8).The Obligation is a personal quality which
is demanded of an initiate at this level. 9).The Virtue and
Vice are the energy of the sephiroth as it manifests in a
positive and negative sense in the personality. 10). Qlippoth
is a word which means "shell." In medieval Kabbalah each
sephira was "seen" to be adding form to the sephira which
preceded it in the Lightning Flash (see Chapter 3.). Form was
seen to an accretion, a shell around the pure divine energy of
the Godhead, and each layer or shell hid the divine radiance
a little bit more, until God was buried in form and exiled in
matter, the end-point of the process. At the time attitudes to
matter were tainted with the Manichean notion that matter
was evil, a snare for the spirit, and consequently the Qlippoth
or shells were "demonised" and actually turned into demons.
The correspondence I have given here restores the original
notion of a shell of form "without" the corresponding force to
activate it; it is the lifeless, empty husk of a sephira devoid of
force, and while it isn't a literal demon, it is hardly a bundle
of laughs when you come across it. 11). The Command refers
to the Four Powers of the Sphinx, with an extra one added for
good measure. 12). The Spiritual Experience is just that. 13).
The Titles are a collection of alternative names for the
sephira; most are very old. 14). The God Name is a key to
invoking the power of the sephira in the world of emanation,
Atziluth. 15). The Archangel mediates the energy of the
sephira in the world of creation, Briah. 16). The Angel Order
administers the energy of the sephira in the world of
formation, Yetzirah. 17).
Chapter 3
The Pillars & the Lightning Flash
In Chapter 1. the Tree of Life was derived from three
concepts, or rather one primary concept and two derivative
concepts which are "contained" within it. The primary
concept was called consciousness, and it was said to
"contain" within it the two complementary concepts of force
and form. This chapter builds on the idea by introducing the
three Pillars of the Tree, and uses the Pillars to clarify a
process called the Lightning Flash.
The Three Pillars are shown in Figure 8. below.
Pillar Pillar Pillar
of of of
Form Consciousness Force
(Severity) (Mildness) (Mercy)
Kether
/ (Crown) \
/ | \
/ | \
Binah | Chokhmah
(Understanding)__________ (Wisdom)
(Intelligence) | |
|\ | /|
| \ Daath / |
| \ (Knowledge) / |
| \ | / |
Gevurah \ | / Chesed
(Strength)\_____|_____/__ (Mercy)
| \ | / (Love)
| \ \ | / / |
| \ \ | / / |
| \ Tipheret / |
| / (Beauty) \ |
| / | \ |
| / | \ |
|/ | \|
Hod | Netzach
(Glory) _______________(Victory)
(Splendour) | (Firmness)
\ \ | / /
\ \ | / /
\ \ | / /
\ \ Yesod / /
\ (Foundation) /
\ /
\ | /
\ | /
\ | /
Malkuth
(Kingdom)
Figure 8
Not surprisingly the three pillars are referred to as the
pillars of consciousness, force and form. The pillar of
consciousness contains the sephiroth Kether, Tiphereth,
Yesod and Malkuth; the pillar of force contains the sephiroth
Chokhmah, Chesed and Netzach; the pillar of form contains
the sephiroth Binah, Gevurah and Hod.
In older Kabbalistic texts the pillars are referred to as the
pillars of mildness, mercy and severity, and it is not
immediately obvious how the older jargon relates to the new.
To the medieval Kabbalist (and this is a recurring metaphor
in the Zohar) the creation as an emanation of God is a
delicate "balance" (metheqela) between two opposing
tendencies: the mercy of God, the outflowing, creative,
life-giving and sustaining tendency in God, and the severity
or strict judgement of God, the limiting, defining, life-taking
and ultimately wrathful or destructive tendency in God. The
creation is "energised" by these two tendencies as if stretched
between the poles of a battery.
Modern Kabbalah makes a half-hearted attempt to
remove the more obvious anthropomorphisms in the
descriptions of "God;" mercy and severity are misleading
terms, apt to remind one of a man with a white beard, and
even in medieval times the terms had distinctly technical
meanings as the following quotation shows: "It must be
remembered that to the Kabbalist, judgement [Din -
judgement, another title of Gevurah] means the imposition
of limits and the correct determination of things. According to
Cordovero the quality of judgement is inherent in
everything insofar as everything wishes to remain what it is,
to stay within its boundaries."
I understand the word "form" in precisely this sense - it is
that which defines "what" a thing is, the structure whereby
a given thing is distinct from every other thing. As for
"consciousness," we use the word "consciousness" in a sense
so abstract that it is virtually meaningless, and according to
whim I use the word God instead, where it is understood that
both words are placeholders for something which is
potentially knowable in the gnostic sense only -
consciousness can be "defined" according to the "forms" it
takes, in which case we are defining the forms, "not" the
consciousness. The same qualification applies to the word
"force." My inability to define two of the three concepts
which underpin the structure of the Tree is a nuisance which
is tackled traditionally by the use of extravagent metaphors,
and by elimination ("not this, not that").
The classification of sephiroth into three pillars is a way of
saying that each sephira in a pillar partakes of a common
quality which is "inherited" in a progressively more developed
and structured form from of the top of a pillar to the bottom.
Tipheret, Yesod and Malkuth all share with Kether the
quality of "consciousness in balance" or "synthesis of opposing
qualities," or but in each case it is expressed differently
according to the increased degree of structure imposed.
Likewise, Chokhmah, Chesed and Netzach share the
quality of force or energy or expansiveness, and Binah,
Gevurah and Hod share the quality of form, definition and
limitation. From Kether down to Malkuth, force and form are
combined; the symbolism of the Tree has something in
common with a production line, with molten metal coming
in one end and finished cars coming out the other, and with
that metaphor we are now ready to describe the Lightning
Flash, the process whereby God takes on flesh, the process
which created and sustains the creation.
In the beginning...was Something. Or Nothing. It doesn't
really matter which term we use, as both are equally
meaningless in this context. Nothing is probably the better of
the two terms, because I can use Something in the next
paragraph. Kabbalists call this Nothing "En Soph" which
literally means "no end" or infinity, and understand by this a
hidden, unmanifest God-inItself.
Out of this incomprehensible and indescribable Nothing
came Something. Probably more words have been devoted to
this moment than any other in Kabbalah, and it is all too easy
to make fun the effort which has gone into elaborating the
indescribable, so I won't, but in return do not expect me to
provide a justification for why Something came out of
Nothing. It just did. A point crystallised in the En Soph. In
some versions of the story the En Soph "contracted" to "make
room" for the creation (Isaac Luria's theory of Tsimtsum), and
this is probably an important clarification for those who have
rubbed noses with the hidden face of God, but for the
purposes of these notes it is enough that a point crystallised.
This point was the crown of creation, the sephira Kether, and
within Kether was contained all the unrealised potential of
the creation.
An aspect of Kether is the raw creative force of God
which blasts into the creation like the blast of hot gas which
keeps a hot air ballon in the air. Kabbalists are quite clear
about this; the creation didn't just happen a long time ago -
it is happening all the time, and without the force to sustain
it the creation would crumple like a balloon. The force-like
aspect within Kether is the sephira Chokhmah and it can be
thought of as the will of God, because without it the creation
would cease to "be." The whole of creation is maintained by
this ravening, primeval desire to "be," to become, to exist, to
change, to evolve. The experiential distinction between
Kether, the point of emanation, and Chokhmah, the creative
outpouring, is elusive, but some of the difference is captured
in the phrases "I am" and "I become."
Force by itself achieves nothing; it needs to be contained,
and the balloon analogy is appropriate again. Chokhmah
contains within it the necessity of Binah, the Mother of Form.
The person who taught me Kabbalah (a woman) told me
Chokhmah (Abba, the Father) was God's prick, and Binah
(Aima, the mother) was God's womb, and left me with the
picture of one half of God continuously ejaculating into the
other half. The author of the Zohar also makes frequent use
of sexual polarity as a metaphor to describe the relationship
between force and form, or mercy and severity (although the
most vivid sexual metaphors are used for the marriage of the
Microprosopus and his bride, the Queen and Inferior Mother,
the sephira Malkuth).
The sephira Binah is the Mother of Form; form exists
within Binah as a potentiality, not as an actuality, just as a
womb contains the potential of a baby. Without the
possibility of form, no thing would be distinct from any other
thing; it would be impossible to distinguish between things,
impossible to have individuality or identity or change. The
Mother of Form contains the potential of form within her
womb and gives birth to form when a creative impulse
crosses the Abyss to the Pillar of Force and emanates through
the sephira Chesed. Again we have the idea of "becoming,"
of outflowing creative energy, but at a lower level. The
sephira Chesed is the point at which form becomes
perciptible to the mind as an inspiration, an idea, a vision,
that "Eureka!" moment immediately prior to rushing around
shouting "I've got it! I've got it!" Chesed is that quality of
genuine inspiration, a sense of being "plugged in" which
characterises the visionary leaders who drive the human race
onwards into every new kind of endeavour. It can be for good
or evil; a leader who can tap the petty malice and
vindictiveness in any person and channel it into a vision of a
new order and genocide is just as much a visionary as any
other, but the positive side of Chesed is the humanitarian
leader who brings about genuine improvements to our
common life.
No change comes easy; as Cordova points out "everything
wishes to remain what it is." The creation of form is balanced
in the sephira Gevurah by the preservation and destruction
of form. Any impulse of change is channelled through
Gevurah, and if it is not resisted then something will be
destroyed. If you want to make paper you cut down a tree. If
you want to abolish slavery you have to destroy the culture
which perpetuates it. If you want to change someone's mind
you have to destroy that person's beliefs about the matter in
question. The sephira Gevurah is the quality of strict
judgement which opposes change, destroys the unfamiliar,
and corresponds in many ways to an immune system within
the body of God.
There has to be a balance between creation and
destruction. Too much change, too many ideas, too many
things happening too quickly can have the quality of chaos
(and can literally become that), whereas too little change, no
new ideas, too much form and structure and protocol can
suffocate and stifle. There has to be a balance which "makes
sense" and this "idea of balance" or "making sense" is
expressed in the sephira Tiphereth.
It is an instinctive morality, and it isn't present by default
in the human species. It isn't based on cultural norms; it
doesn't have its roots in upbringing (although it is easily
destroyed by it). Some people have it in a large measure, and
some people are (to all intents and purposes) completely
lacking in it. It doesn't necessarily respect conventional
morality: it may laugh in its face. I can't say what it is in any
detail, because it is peculiar and individual, but those who
have it have a natural quality of integrity, soundness of
judgement, an instinctive sense of rightness, justice and
compassion, and a willingness to fight or suffer in defense of
that sense of justice. Tiphereth is a paradoxical sephira
because in many people it is simply not there. It can be
developed, and that is one of the goals of initiation, but for
many people Tiphereth is a room with nothing in it.
Having passed through Gevurah on the Pillar of Form,
and found its way through the moral filter of Tiphereth, a
creative impulse picks up energy once more on the Pillar of
Force via the Sephira Netzach, where the energy of
"becoming" finds its final expression in the form of "vital
urges." Why do we carry on living? Why bother? What is it
that compels us to do things? An artist may have a vision of
a piece of art, but what actually compels the artist to paint or
sculpt or write? Why do we want to compete and win? Why
do we care what happens to others? The sephira Netzach
expresses the basic vital creative urges in a form we can
recognise as drives, feelings and emotions. Netzach is
pre-verbal; ask a child why he wants a toy and the answer
will be
"I just do." "But why," you ask, wondering why he doesn't
want the much more "sensible" toy you had in mind. "Why
don't you want this one here." "I just don't. I want this one."
"But what's so good about that one." "I don't know what to
say...I just like it."
This conversation is not fictitious and is quintessentially
Netzach. The structure of the Tree of Life posits that the
basic driving forces which characterise our behaviour are
pre-verbal and non-rational; anyone who has tried to change
another person's basic nature or beliefs through force of
rational argument will know this.
After Netzach we go to the sephira Hod to pick up our
last cargo of Form. Ask a child why they want something and
they say "I just do." Press an adult and you will get an earful
of "reasons." We live in a culture where it is important (often
essential) to give reasons for the things we do, and Hod is the
sephira of form where it is possible to give shape to our wants
in terms of reasons and explanations. Hod is the sephira of
abstraction, reason, logic, language and communication, and
a reflection of the Mother of Form in the human mind. We
have a innate capacity to abstract, to go immediately from
the particular to the general, and we have an innate capacity
to communicate these abstractions using language, and it
should be clear why the alternative translation of Binah is
"intelligence;" Binah is the "intelligence of God," and Hod
underpins what we generally recognise as intelligence in
people - the ability to grasp complex abstractions, reason
about them, and articulate this understanding using some
means of communication.
The synthesis of Hod and Netzach on the Pillar of
Consciousness is the sephira Yesod. Yesod is the sephira of
interface, and the comparison with computer peripheral
interfaces is an excellent one. Yesod is sometimes called "the
Receptacle of the Emanations," and it interfaces the
emanations of all three pillars to the sephira Malkuth, and it
is through Yesod that the final abstract form of something is
realised in matter. Form in Yesod is no longer abstract; it is
explicit, but not yet individual - that last quality is reserved
for Malkuth alone. Yesod is like the mold in a bottle factory
- the mold is a realisation of the abstract idea "bottle" in so far
as it expresses the shape of a particular bottle design in every
detail, but it is not itself an individual bottle.
The final step in the process is the sephira Malkuth,
where God becomes flesh, and every abstract form is realised
in actuality, in the "real world." There is much to say about
this, but I will keep it for later.
The process I have described is called the Lightning Flash.
The Lightning Flash runs as follows: Kether, Chokhmah,
Binah, Chesed, Gevurah, Tiphereth, Netzach, Hod, Yesod,
Malkuth, and if you trace the Lighning Flash on a diagram of
the Tree you will see that it has the zig-zag shape of a
lightning flash. The sephiroth are numbered according to
their order on the lightning flash: Kether is 1, Chokhmah is 2,
and so on. The "Sepher Yetzirah" has this to say about the
sephiroth: "When you think of the ten sephiroth cover your
heart and
seal the desire of your lips to announce their divinity.
Yoke your mind. Should it escape your grasp, reach out
and bring it back under your control. As it was said, 'And the
living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a
flash of lightning,' in such a manner was the Covenant
created."
The quotation within the quotation comes from Ezekiel
1.14, a text which inspired a large amount of early Kabbalistic
speculation, and it is probable that the Lightning Flash as
described is one of the earliest components of the idea of
sephirothic emanation.
The Lightning Flash describes the creative process,
beginning with the unknown, unmanifest hidden God, and
follows it through ten distinct stages to a change in the
material world. It can be used to describe "any" change -
lighting a match, picking your nose, walking the dog - and
novices are usually set the exercise of analysing any
arbitrarily chosen event in terms of the Lightning Flash.
Because the Lightning Flash can be used to understand the
inner process whereby the material world of the senses
changes and evolves, it is a key to practical magical work,
and because it is intended to account for "all" change it
follows that all change is equally magical, and the word
"magic" is essentially meaningless (but nevertheless useful for
distinguishing between "normal" and "abnormal" states of
consciousness, and the modes of causality which pertain to
each).
It also follows that the key to understanding our "spiritual
nature" does not belong in the spiritual empyrean, where it
remains inaccessible, but in "all" the routine and unexciting
little things in life. Everything is is equally "spiritual," equally
"divine," and there is more to be learned from picking one's
nose than there is in a spiritual discipline which puts you
"here" and God "over there." The Lightning Flash ends in
Malkuth, and it can be followed like a thread through the
hidden pathways of creation until one arrives back at the
source. The next chapter will retrace the Lightning Flash by
examining the qualities of each sephira in more detail.
Chapter 4
The Sephiroth
Malkuth: Malkuth is the Cinderella of the sephiroth. It is
the sephira most often ignored by beginners, the sephira
most often glossed over in Kabbalistic texts, and it is not only
the most immediate of the sephira but it is also the most
complex, and for sheer inscrutability it rivals Kether - indeed,
there is a Kabbalistic aphorism that "Kether is Malkuth, and
Malkuth is in Kether, but after another manner."
The word Malkuth means "Kingdom," and the sephira is
the culmination of a process of emanation whereby the
creative power of the Godhead is progressively structured
and defined as it moves down the Tree and arrives in a
completed form in Malkuth. Malkuth is the sphere of matter,
substance, the real, physical world. In the least
compromising versions of materialist philosophy (e.g.
Hobbes) there is nothing beyond physical matter, and from
that viewpoint the Tree of Life beyond Malkuth does not
exist: our feelings of identity and self-consciousness are
nothing more than a by-product of chemical reactions in the
brain, and the mind is a complex automata which suffers
from the disease of metaphysical delusions.
Kabbalah is "not" a materialist model of reality, but when
we examine Malkuth by itself we find ourselves immersed in
matter, and it is natural to think in terms of physics,
chemistry and molecular biology. The natural sciences
provide the most accurate models of matter and the physical
world that we have, and it would be foolishness of the first
order to imagine that Kabbalah can provide better
explanations of the nature of matter on the basis of a study of
the text of the Old Testament. Not that we under-rate the
intuition which has gone into the making of Kabbalah over
the centuries, but for practical purposes the average
university science graduate knows (much) more about the
material stuff of the world than medieval Kabbalists, and a
grounding in modern physics is as good a way to approach
Malkuth as any other.
For those who are not comfortable with physics there are
alternative, more traditional ways of approaching Malkuth.
The magical image of Malkuth is that of a young woman
crowned and throned. The woman is Malkah, the Queen,
Kallah, the Bride. She is the inferior mother, a reflection and
realisation of the superior mother Binah. She is the Queen
who inhabits the Kingdom, and the Bride of the
Microprosopus. She is Gaia, Mother Earth, but of course she
is not only the substance of this world; she is the body of the
entire physical universe.
Some care is required when assigning Mother/Earth
goddesses to Malkuth, because some of them correspond
more closely to the superior mother Binah. There is a close
and deep connection between Malkuth and Binah which
results in the two sephiroth sharing similar correspondences,
and one of the oldest Kabbalistic texts has this to say about
Malkuth: "The title of the tenth path [Malkuth] is the
Resplendent Intelligence. It is called this because it is
exalted above every head from where it sits upon the throne
of Binah. It illuminates the numinosity of all lights and
causes to emanate the Power of the archetype of
countenances or forms."
One of the titles of Binah is Khorsia, or Throne, and the
image which this text provides is that Binah provides the
framework upon which Malkuth sits. We will return to this
later. Binah contains the potential of form in the abstract,
while Malkuth is is the fullest realisation of form, and both
sephiroth share the correspondences of heaviness, limitation,
finiteness, inertia, avarice, silence, and death.
The female quality of Malkuth is often identified with the
Shekhinah, the female spirit of God in the creation, and
Kabbalistic literature makes much of the (carnal) relationship
of God and the Shekhinah. Waite mentions that the
relationship between God and Shekhinah is mirrored in the
relationship between man and woman, and provides a great
deal of information on both the Shekhinah and what he
quaintly calls "The Mystery of Sex."
After the exile of the Jews from Spain in 1492, Kabbalists
identified their own plight with the fate of the Shekhinah,
and she is pictured as being cast out into matter in much the
same way as the Gnostics pictured Sophia, the outcast divine
wisdom. The doctrine of the Shekhinah within Kabbalah and
within Judaism as a whole is complex and it is something I
don't feel competent to comment further on; more
information can be found in &.
Malkuth is the sphere of the physical elements and
Kabbalists still use the four-fold scheme which dates back at
least as far as Empedocles and probably the Ark. The four
elements correspond to four readily-observable states of
matter:
solid-earth
liquid-water
gas-air
plasma-fire/electric arc (lightning)
In addition it is not uncommon to include a fifth element
so rarified and arcane that most people (self included) are
pushed to say what it is; the fifth element is aethyr (or ether)
and is sometimes called spirit.
The amount of material written about the elements is
enormous, and rather than reproduce in bulk what is
relatively well-known I will provide a rough outline so that
those readers who aren't familiar with Kabbalah will realise
I am talking about approximately the same thing as they have
seen before.
A detailed description of the traditional medieval view of
the four elements can be found in "The Magus." The
hierarchy of elemental powers can be found in "777" and in
Golden Dawn material.
We have summarised a few useful items below:
ElementFireAir
WaterEarth
God NameElohimJehovah
EheiehAgla
ArchangelMichaelRaphael
GabrielUriel
KingDjinParalda
NichsaGhob
ElementalSalamandersSylphs
UndinesGnomes
It is amusing to notice that the section on the elemental
kingdoms in Farrar's "What Witches Do" had been taken by
Alex Saunders lock, stock and barrel from traditional
Kabbalistic and CM sources.
The elements in Malkuth are arranged as follows:
South +
Fire
East +
Zenith Aethyr
West Air
Nadir Aethyr
Water
North
Earth
We have rotated the cardinal points through 180 degrees
from their customary directions so that it is easier to see how
the elements fit on the lower face of the Tree of Life:
Tiphereth
Fire
Hod Yesod
Netzach
Air Aethyr
Water
Malkuth
Earth
It is important to distinguish between the elements in
Malkuth, where we are talking about real substance (the
water in your body, the breath in your lungs), and the
elements on the Tree, where we are using traditional
correspondences "associated" with the elements, e.g.:
Earth: solid, stable, practical, down-to-earth
Water: sensitive, intuitive, emotional, caring, fertile
Air: vocal, communicative, intellectual
Fire: energetic, daring, impetuous
Positive Aethyr: glue, binding, plastic
Negative Aethyr: unbinding, dissolution, disintegration
Aethyr or Spirit is enigmatic, and I tend to think of it in
terms of the forces which bind matter together. It is almost
certainly a coincidence (but nevertheless interesting) that
there are four fundamental forces - gravitational,
electromagnetic, weak nuclear & strong nuclear - known to
date, and current belief is that they can be unified into one
fundamental force.
On a slightly more arcane tack, Barret has this to say
about Aethyr: "Now seeing that the soul is the essential form,
intelligible and uncorruptible, and is the first mover of the
body, and is moved itself; but that the body, or matter, is of
itself unable and unfit for motion, and does very much
degenerate from the soul, it appears that there is a need of a
more excellent medium:- now such a medium is conceived
to be the spirit of the world, or that which some call a
quintessence; because it is not from the four elements, but a
certain first thing, having its being above and beside them.
There is, therefore, such a kind of medium required to be,
by which celestial souls [e.g. forms] may be joined to gross
bodies, and bestow upon them wonderful gifts. This spirit is
in the same manner, in the body of the world, as our spirit is
in our bodies; for as the powers of our soul are
communicated to the members of the body by the medium
of the spirit, so also the virtue of the soul of the world is
diffused, throughout all things, by the medium of the
universal spirit; for there is nothing to be found in the whole
world that hath not a spark of the virtue thereof."
Aethyr underpins the elements like a foundation and its
attribution to Yesod should be obvious, particularly as it
forms the linking role between the ideoplastic world of "the
Astral Light" and the material world. Aethyr is often thought
to come in two flavours - positive Aethyr, which binds, and
negative Aethyr, which unbinds. Negative Aethyr is a bit like
the Universal Solvent, and requires as much care in handling
;-} Working with the physical elements in Malkuth is one of
the most important areas of applied magic, dealing as it does
with the basic constituents of the real world.
The physical elements are tangible and can be experience
in a very direct way through recreations such as caving,
diving, parachuting or firewalking; they bite back in a suitably
humbling way, and they provide CMs with an opportunity to
join the neo-pagans in the great outdoors. Our bodies
themselves are made from physical stuff, and there are many
Raja Yoga-like exercises which can be carried out using the
elements as a basis for work on the body. If you can stand his
manic intensity (Exercise 1: boil an egg by force of will) then
Bardon is full of good ideas.
Malkuth is often associated with various kinds of intrinsic
evil, and to understand this attitude (which I do not share) it
is necessary to confront the same question as thirteenth
century Kabbalists: can God be evil? The answer to this
question was (broadly speaking) "yes," but Kabbalists have
gone through many strange gyrations in an attempt to avoid
what was for many an unacceptable conclusion. It was
difficult to accept that famine, war, disease, prejudice, hate,
death could be a part of a perfect being, and there had to be
some way to account for evil which did not contaminate
divine perfection. One approach was to sweep evil under the
carpet, and in this case the carpet was Malkuth. Malkuth
became the habitation for evil spirits.
If one examines the structure of the Tree without
prejudice then it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that evil
is quite adequately accounted for, and there is no need to
shuffle evil to the periphery of the Tree like a cleaner without
a dustpan. The emanation of any sephirah from Chokhmah
downwards can manifest as good or evil depending on
circumstances and the point of view of those affected by the
energy involved. This appears to have been understood even
at the time of the writing of the "Zohar," where the mercy of
God is constantly contrasted with the severity of God, and
the author makes it clear that one has to balance the other -
you cannot have the mercy without the severity.
On the other hand, the severity of God is persistently
identified with the rigours of existence (form, finiteness,
limitation), and while it is true that many of the things which
have been identified with evil are a consequence of the
finiteness of things, of being finite beings in a world of finite
resources governed by natural laws with inflexible causality,
it not correct to infer (as some have) that form itself is
"intrinsically" evil.
The notion that form and matter are "intrinsically" evil,
or in some way imperfect or not a part of God, may have
reached Kabbalah from a number of sources. Scholem
comments: "The Kabbalah of the early thirteenth century
was the offspring of a union between an older and
essentially Gnostic tradition represented by the book "Bahir,"
and the comparatively modern element of Jewish
Neo-Platonism."
There is the possibility that the Kabbalists of Provence
(who wrote or edited the "Sepher Bahir") were influenced by
the Cathars, a late form of Manicheanism. Whether the
source was Gnosticism, Neo-Platonism, Manicheanism or
some combination of all three, Kabbalah has imported a view
of matter and form which distorts the view of things
portrayed by the Tree of Life, and so Malkuth ends up as a
kind of cosmic outer darkness, a bin for all the dirt, detritus,
broken sephira and dirty hankies of the creation. Form is evil,
the Mother of Form is female, women are definitely and
indubitably evil, and Malkuth is the most female of the
sephira, therefore Malkuth is most definitely evil...quod erat
demonstrandum.
By the time we reach the time of S.L. Mathers and the
Golden Dawn there is a complete Tree of evil demonic
Qlippoth "underneath" Malkuth as a relection of the "good"
Tree above it. I believe this may have something to do with
the fact that meditations on Malkuth can easily become
meditations on Binah, and meditations on Binah have a habit
of slipping into the Abyss, and once in the Abyss it is easy to
trawl up enough junk to "discover" an averse Tree
"underneath" Malkuth.
This view of the Qlippoth, or Shells, as active, demonic
evil has become pervasive, and the more energy people put
into the demonic Tree, the less there is for the original.
Abolish the Qlippoth as demonic forces, and the Tree of Life
comes alive with its full power of good "and" evil. The
following quotation from Bischoff (speaking of the
Sephiroth) provides a more rational view of the Qlippoth:
"Since their energy [of the sephiroth] shows three degrees
of strength (highest, middle and lowest degree), their
emanations group accordingly in sequence.
We usually imagine the image of a descending
staircase. The Kabbalist prefers to see this fact as a
decreasing alienation of the central primeval energy.
Consequently any less perfect emanation is to him the
cover or shell (Qlippah) of the preceeding, and so the last
(furthest) emanations being the so-called material things are
the shell of the total and are therefore called (in the actual
sense) Qlippoth."
This is my own view; the shell of something is the
accretion of form which it accumulates as energy comes
down the Lightning Flash. If the shell can be considered by
itself then it is a dead husk of something which could be alive
- it preserves all the structure but there is no energy in it to
bring it alive. With this interpretation the Qlippoth are to be
found everywhere: in relationships, at work, at play, in ritual,
in society. Whenever something dies and people refuse to
recognise that it is dead, and cling to the lifeless husk of
whatever it was, then you get a Qlippah.
For this reason one of the vices of Malkuth is Avarice, not
only in the sense of trying to acquire material things, but also
in the sense of being unwilling to let go of anything, even
when it has become dead and worthless. The Qlippah of
Malkuth is what you would get if the Sun went out: Stasis, life
frozen into immobility.
The other vice of Malkuth is Inertia, in the sense of "active
resistance to motion; sluggish; disinclined to move or act." It
is visible in most people at one time or another, and tends to
manifest when a task is new, necessary, but not particularly
exciting, there is no excitement or "natural energy" to keep
one fired up, and one has to keep on pushing right to the
finish. For this reason the obligation of Malkuth is (has to be)
self-discipline.
The virtue of Malkuth is Discrimination, the ability to
perceive differences. The ability to perceive differences is a
necessity for any living organism, whether a bacteria able to
sense the gradient of a nutrient or a kid working out how
much money to wheedle out of his parents. As Malkuth is the
final realisation of form, it is the sphere where our ability to
distinguish between differences is most pronounced.
The capacity to discriminate is so fundamental to survival
that it works overtime and finds boundaries and distinctions
everywhere - "you" and "me," "yours" and "mine," distinctions
of "property" and "value" and "territory" which are intellectual
abstractions on one level (i.e. not real) and fiercely defended
realities on another (i.e. very real indeed).
We are not going to attempt a definition of real and
unreal, but it is the case that much of what we think of as
real is unreal, and much of what we think of as unreal is real,
and we need the same discrimination which leads us into the
mire to lead us out again. Some people think skin colour is a
real measure of intelligence; some don't.
Some people think gender is a real measure of ability;
some don't. Some people judge on appearances; some don't.
There is clearly a difference between a bottle of beer and a
bottle of piss, but is the colour of the "bottle" important?
What "is" important? What differences are real, what
matters? How much energy do we devote to things which are
"not real."
Am I able to perceive how much I am being manipulated
by a fixation on unreality? Are my goals in life "real," or will
they look increasingly silly and immature as I grow older? For
that matter, is Kabbalah "real"? Does it provide a useful
model of reality, or is it the remnant of a world-view which
should have been put to rest centuries ago? One of the
primary exercises of an initiate into Malkuth is a thorough
examination of the question "What is real?"
The Spiritual Experience of Malkuth is variously the
Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel
(HGA), or the Vision of the HGA (depending on who you
believe). I vote for the Vision of the HGA in Malkuth, and the
Knowledge and Conversation in Tiphereth. What is the HGA?
According to the Gnosticism of Valentinus each person has
a guardian angel who accompanies that individual throught
their life and reveals the gnosis; the angel is in a sense the
divine Self.
This belief is identical to what we was taught by the
person who taught us Kabbalah, so some part of Gnosticism
lives on. The current tradition concerning the HGA almost
certainly entered the Western Esoteric Tradition as a
consequence of S.L. Mather's translation of "The Book of the
Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage," which contains full
details of a lengthy ritual to attain the Knowledge and
Conversation of the HGA. This ritual has had an important
influence on twentieth century magicians and it is often
attempted and occasionally completed.
The powers of Malkuth are invoked by means of the
names Adonai ha Aretz and Adonai Melekh, which mean
"Lord of the World" and "The Lord who is King" respectively.
The power is transmitted through the world of Creation by
the archangel Sandalphon, who is sometimes referred to as
"the Long Angel," because his feet are in Malkuth and his
head in Kether, which gives him an opportunity to chat to
Metatron, the Angel of the Presence. The angel order is the
Ashim, or Ishim, sometimes translated as the "souls of fire,"
supposedly the souls of righteous men and women.
In concluding this section on Malkuth, it worth
emphasising that I have chosen deliberately not to explore
some major topics because there are sufficient threads for
anyone with an interest to pick up and follow for themselves.
The image of Malkuth as Mother Earth provides a link
between Kabbalah and a numinous archetype with a deep
significance for some.
The image of Malkuth as physical substance provides a
link into the sciences, and it is the case that at the limits of
theoretical physics one's intuitions seem to be slipping and
sliding on the same reality as in Kabbalah. The image of
Malkuth as the sphere of the elements is the key to a large
body of practical magical technique which varies from
yoga-like concentration on the bodily elements, to
nature-oriented work in the great outdoors. Lastly, just as the
design of a building reveals much about its builders, so
Malkuth can reveal a great deal about Kether - the bottom of
the Tree and the top have much in common.
Yesod: Yesod means "foundation," and that is what Yesod
is: it is the hidden infrastructure whereby the emanations
from the remainder of the Tree are transmitted to the sephira
Malkuth. Just as a large building has its air-conditioning
ducts, service tunnels, conduits, electrical wiring, hot and
cold water pipes, attic spaces, lift shafts, winding rooms,
storage tanks, a telephone exchange etc, so does the
Creation, and the external, visible world of phenomenal
reality rests (metaphorically speaking) upon a hidden
foundation of occult machinery. Meditations on the nature of
Yesod tend to be full of secret tunnels and concealed
mechanisms, as if the Creation was a Gothic mansion with a
secret door behind every mirror, a passage in every wall, a
pair of hidden eyes behind every portrait, and a subterranean
world of forgotten tunnels leading who knows where. For this
reason the Spiritual Experience of Yesod is aptly named "The
Vision of the Machinery of the Universe."
Many Yesod correspondences reinforce this notion of a
foundation, of something which lies behind, supports and
gives shape to phenomenal reality. The magical image of
Yesod is of "a beautiful naked man, very strong." The image
which springs to mind is that of a man with the world resting
on his shoulders, like one of the misrepresentations of the
Titan Atlas (who actually held up the heavens, not the
world). The angel order of Yesod is the Cherubim, the Strong
Ones, the archangel is Gabriel, the Strong or Mighty One of
God, and the God-name is Shaddai el Chai, the Almighty
Living God.
The idea of a foundation suggests that there is a
substance which lies behind physical matter and "in-forms it"
or "holds it together," something less structured, more
plastic, more refined and rarified, and this "fifth element" is
often called aethyr.
We will not attempt to justify aethyr in terms of current
physics (the closest concept we have found is the
hypothesised Higgs field); it is a convenient handle on a
concept which has enormous intuitive appeal to many
magicians, who, when asked how magic works, tend to think
in terms of a medium which is directly receptive to the will,
something which is plastic and can be shaped through
concentration and imagination, and which transmits their
artificially created forms into reality. Eliphas Levi called this
medium the "Astral Light."
It is also natural to imagine that mind, consciousness, and
the soul have their habitation in this substance, and there are
volumes detailing the properties of the "Etheric Body," the
"Astral Body," the "Causal Body" [1,2] and so on. I don't take
this stuff too seriously, but I do like to work with the kind of
natural intuitions which occur spontaneously and
independently in a large number of people - there is power in
these intuitions - and it is a mistake to invalidate them
because they sound cranky. When I talk about aethyr or the
Astral Light, I mean there is an ideoplastic substance which
is subjectively real to many magicians, and explanations of
magic at the level of Yesod revolve around manipulating this
substance using desire, imagination and will.
The fundamental nature of Yesod is that of "interface;" it
interfaces the rest of the Tree of Life to Malkuth. The
interface is bi-directional; there are impulses coming down
from Kether, and echoes bouncing back from Malkuth. The
idea of interface is illustrated in the design of a computer
system: a computer with a multitude of worlds hidden within
it is a source of heat and repair bills unless it has peripheral
interfaces and device drivers to interface the world outside
the computer to the world "inside" it; add a keyboard and a
mouse and a monitor and a printer and you have opened the
door into another reality.
Our own senses have the same characteristic of being a
bi-directional interface through which we experience the
world, and for this reason the senses correspond to Yesod,
and not only the five traditional senses - the "sixth sense" and
the "second sight" are given equal status, and so Yesod is also
the sphere of instinctive psychism, of clairvoyance,
precognition, divination and prophecy.
It is also clear from accounts of lucid dreaming (and
personal experience) that we possess the ability to perceive
an inner world as vividly as the outer, and so to Yesod
belongs the inner world of dreams, daydreams and vivid
imagination, and one of the titles of Yesod is "The Treasure
House of Images."
To Yesod is attributed Levanah, the Moon, and the lunar
associations of tides, flux and change, occult influence, and
deeply instinctive and sometimes atavistic behaviour -
possession, mediumship, lycanthropy and the like. Although
Yesod is the foundation and it has associations with strength,
it is by no means a rigid scaffold supporting a world in stasis.
Yesod supports the world just as the sea supports all the
life which lives in it and sails upon it, and just as the sea has
its irresistable currents and tides, so does Yesod. Yesod is the
most "occult" of the sephiroth, and next to Malkuth it is the
most magical, but compared with Malkuth its magic is of a
more subtle, seductive, glamorous and ensnaring kind.
Magicians are drawn to Yesod by the idea that if reality rests
on a hidden foundation, then by changing the foundation it
is possible to change the reality. The magic of Yesod is the
magic of form and appearance, not substance; it is the magic
of illusion, glamour, transformation, and shape-changing. The
most sophisticated examples of this are to be found in
modern marketing, advertising and image consultancies.
Although the changes look cosmetic, those responsible
for creating corporate image argue that a redesign of a
company's uniform or name is just the visible sign of a much
larger transformation. "The majority of people continue to
misunderstand and think that it is just a logo, rather than
understanding that a corporate identity programme is
actually concerned with the very commercial objective of
having a strong personality and single-minded, focussed
direction for the whole organisation, " said Fiona Gilmore,
managing director of the design company Lewis Moberly.
"It's like planting an acorn and then a tree grows. If you
create the right "foundation" (my itals) then you are
building a whole culture for the future of an organisation."
We don't know what Ms. Gilmore studies in her spare
time, but the idea that it is possible to manipulate reality by
manipulating symbols and appearances is entirely magical.
The same article on corporate identity continues as follows:
"The scale of the BT relaunch is colossal. The new logo will
be painted on more than 72,000 vehicles and trailers, as
well as 9,000 properties. The company's 92,000 public
payphones will get new decals, and its 90 shops will have to
changed, right down to the yellow door handles. More than
50,000 employees are likely to need new uniforms or "image
clothing."
Note the emphasis on "image." The company in question
(British Telecom) is an ex-public monopoly with an appalling
customer relations problem, so it is changing the colour of its
door handles! This is Yesodic magic on a gigantic scale.
The image manipulators gain most of their power from
the mass-media. The mass-media correspond to two
sephiroth: as a medium of communication they belong in
Hod, but as a foundation for our perception of reality they
belong in Yesod. Nowadays most people form their model of
what the world (in the large) is like via the media. There are
a few individuals who travel the world sufficiently to have a
model based on personal experience, but for most people
their model of what most of the world is like is formed by
newspapers, radio and television; that is, the media have
become an extended (if inaccurate) instrument of perception.
Like our "normal" means of perception the media are highly
selective in the variety and content of information provided,
and they can be used by advertising agencies and other
manipulative individuals to create foundations for new
collective realities.
While on the subject of changing perception to assemble
new realities, the following quote by "Don Juan" has a
definite Kabbalistic flavour: "The next truth is that perception
takes place," he went on, "because there is in each of us an
agent called the assemblage point that selects internal and
external emanations for alignment. The particular alignment
that we perceive as the world is the product of a specific spot
where our assemblage point is located on our cocoon."
One of the titles of Yesod is "The Receptacle of the
Emanations," and its function is precisely as described above
- Yesod is the assemblage point which assembles the
emanations of the internal and the external.
In addition to the deliberate, magical manipulation of
foundations, there are other important areas of magic
relevant to Yesod. Raw, innate psychism is an ability which
tends to improve as more attention is devoted to creative
visualisation, focussed meditation (on Tarot cards for
example), dreams (e.g. keeping a dream diary), and
divination. Divination is an important technique to practice
even if you feel you are terrible at it (and especially if you
think it is nonsense), because it reinforces the idea that it is
permissible to "let go" and intuite meanings into any pattern.
Many people have difficulty doing this, feeling perhaps that
they will be swamped with unreason (recalling Freud's fear,
expressed to Jung, of needing a bulwark against the "black
mud of occultism"), when in reality their minds are swamped
with reason and could use a holiday. Any divination system
can be used, but systems which emphasise pure intuition are
best (e.g. Tarot, runes, tea-leaves, flights of birds, patterns on
the wallpaper, smoke.
We heard of a Kabbalist who threw a cushion into the air
and carried out divination on the basis of the number of
pieces of foam stuffing which fell out). Because Yesod is a
kind of aethyric reflection of the physical world, the image of
and precursor to reality, mirrors are an important tool for
Yesod magic. Quartz crystals are also used, probably because
of the use of crystal balls for divination, but also because
quartz crystal and amethyst have a peculiarly Yesodic quality
in their own right. The average New Age shop filled with
crystals, Tarot cards, silver jewelry (lunar association),
perfumes, dreamy music, and all the glitz, glamour and glitter
of a daemonic magpie's nest, is like a temple to Yesod.
Mirrors and crystals are used passively as focii for receptivity,
but they can also be used actively for certain kinds of aethyric
magic - there is an interesting book on making and using
magic mirrors which builds on the kind of elemental magical
work carried out in Malkuth.
Yesod has an important correspondence with the sexual
organs. The correspondence occurs in three ways. The first
way is that when the Tree of Life is placed over the human
body, Yesod is positioned over the genitals. The author of the
Zohar is quite explicit about "the remaining members of the
Microprosopus," to the extent that the relevant paragraphs
in Mather's translation of "The Lesser Holy Assembly" remain
in Latin to avoid offending Victorian sensibilities.
The second association of Yesod with the genitals arises
from the union of the Microprosopus and his Bride. This is
another recurring theme in Kabbalah, and the symbolism is
complex and refers to several distinct ideas, from the
relationship between man and wife to an internal process
within the body of God: e.g. "When the Male is joined
with the Female, they both constitute one complete body,
and all the Universe is in a
state of happiness, because all things receive blessing from
their perfect body. And this is an Arcanum." or, referring to
the Bride: "And she is mitigated, and receiveth blessing in
that place which is called the Holy of Holies below." or,
referring to the "member:" "And that which floweth down
into that place where it is congregated, and which is emitted
through that most holy Yesod, Foundation, is entirely
white, and therefore is it called Chesed. Thence Chesed
entereth into the Holy of Holies; as it is written Psalm cxxxiii.
3 'For there Tetragrammaton commanded the blessing, even
life for evermore.'"
It is not difficult to read a great deal into paragraphs like
this, and there are many more in a similar vein. Suffice to say
that the Microprosopus is often identified with the sephira
Tiphereth, the Bride is the sephira Malkuth, and the point of
union between them is obviously Yesod.
The third and more abstract association between Yesod
and the sexual organs arises because the sexual organs are a
mechanism for perpetuating the "form" of a living organism.
In order to get close to what is happening in sexual
reproduction it is worth asking the question "What is a
computer program?." Well, a computer program indisputably
begins as an idea; it is not a material thing. It can be written
down in various ways; as an abstract specification in set
theoretic notation akin to pure mathematics, or as a set of
recursive functions in lambda calculus; it could be written in
several different high level languages - Pascal, C, Prolog, LISP,
ADA, ML etc. Are they all they same program? Computer
scientists wrestle with this problem: can we show that two
different programs written in two different languages are in
some sense functionally identical?
It isn't trivial to do this because it asks fundamental
questions about language (any language) and meaning, but
it is possible in limited cases to produce two apparently
different programs written in different languages and assert
that they are identical. Whatever the program is, it seems to
exist independently of any particular language, so what is the
program and where is it?
Let us ignore that chestnut and go on to the next level.
Suppose we write the program down. We could do it with a
pencil. We could punch holes in paper. We could plant trees
in a pattern in a field. We can line up magnetic domains. We
can burn holes in metal foil. I could have it tattooed on my
back. We can transform it into radically different forms (that
is what compilers and assemblers do). It obviously isn't tied
to any physical representation either.
What about the computer it runs on? Well, it could be a
conventional one made with CMOS chips etc.....but aren't
there a lot of different kinds and makes of computer, and
they can all run the same program. It is also quite practical
to build computers which "don't" use electrons - you could
use mechanics or fluids or ball bearings - all you need to do
is produce something with the functionality of a Turing
machine, and that isn't hard.
So not only is the program not tied to any particular
physical representation, but the same goes for the computer
itself, and what we are left with is two puffs of smoke. On
another level this is crazy; computers are real, they do real
things in the real world, and the programs which make them
work are obviously real too....aren't they?
Now apply the same kind of scrutiny to living organisms,
and the mechanism of reproduction. Take a good look at
nucleic acids, enzymes, proteins etc., and ask the same kind
of questions. I am not implying that life is a sort of program,
but what I am suggesting is that if you try to get close to what
constitutes a living organism you end up with another puff of
smoke and a handful of atoms which could just as well be
ball-bearings or fluids or....The thing that is being
perpetuated through sexual reproduction is something quite
abstract and immaterial; it is an abstract form preserved and
encoded in a particular pattern of chemicals, and if I was
asked which was more real, the transient collection of
chemicals used, or the abstract form itself, I would answer
"the form." But then, I am a programmer, and I would say
that.
We find it astonishing that there are any hard-core
materialists left in the world. All the important stuff seems to
exist at the level of puffs of smoke, what Kabbalists call form.
Roger Penrose, one of the most eminent mathematicians
living has this to say: "I have made no secret of the fact that
my sympathies lie strongly with the Platonic view that
mathematical truth is absolute, external and eternal, and
not based on man-made
criteria; and that mathematical objects have a timeless
existence of their own, not dependent on human society nor
on particular physical objects."
"Ah Ha!" cry the materialists, "At least the atoms are real."
Well, they are until you start pulling them apart with
tweezers and end up with a heap of equations which turn out
to be the linguistic expression of an idea. As Einstein said,
"The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it
is comprehensible," that is, capable of being described in
some linguistic form.
We am not trying to convince anyone of the "rightness" of
the Kabbalistic viewpoint. What I am trying to do is show
that the process whereby form is impressed on matter (the
relationship between Yesod and Malkuth) is not arcane,
theosophical mumbojumbo; it is an issue which is alive and
kicking, and the closer we get to "real things" (and that
certainly includes living organisms), the better the
Kabbalistic model (that form precedes manifestation, that
there is a well-defined process of form-ation with the "real
world" as an outcome) looks.
The illusion of Yesod is security, the kind of security
which forms the foundation of our personal existence in the
world. On a superficial level our security is built out of
relationships, a source of income, a place to live, a vocation,
personal power and influence etc, but at a deeper level the
foundation of personal identity is built on a series of
accidents, encounters and influences which create the
illusion of who we are, what we believe in, and what we
stand for.
There is a warm, secure feeling of knowing what is right
and wrong, of doing the right thing, of living a worthwhile life
in the service of worthwhile causes, of having a uniquely
privileged vantage point from which to survey the problems
of life (with all the intolerance and incomprehension of other
people which accompanies this insight), and conversely there
are feelings of despair, depression, loss of identity, and
existential terror when a crack forms in the illusion, and
reality shows through - Castaneda calls it "the crack in the
world."
The smug, self-perpetuating illusion which masquerades
as personal identity at the level of Yesod is the most
astoundingly difficult thing to shift or destroy. It fights back
with all the resources of the personality, it will
enthusiastically embrace any ally which will help to shore up
its defenses - religious, political or scientific ideology;
psychological, sociological, metaphysical and theosophical
claptrap (e.g. Kabbalah); the law and popular morality; in
fact, any beliefs which give it the power to retain its identity,
uniqueness and integrity. Because this parasite of the soul
uses religion (and its esoteric offshoots) to sustain itself they
have little or no power over it and become a major part of the
problem.
There are various ways of overcoming this personal
demon (Carroll, in an essay on the subject, calls it
Choronzon), and the two I know best are the cataclysmic and
the abrasive. The first method involves a shock so extreme
that it is impossible to be the same person again, and if
enough preparation has gone before then it is possible to use
the shock to rebuild oneself. In some cases this doesn't
happen; we have noticed that many people with very rigid
religious beliefs talk readily about having suffered traumatic
experiences, and the phenomenon of hysterical conversion
among soldiers suffering from war neuroses is well known.
The other method, the abrasive, is to wear away the
demon of self-importance, to grind it into nothing by doing
(for example) something for someone else for which one
receives no thanks, praise, reward, or recognition. The task
has to be big enough and awful enough to become a demon
in its own right and induce all the correct feelings of
compulsion (I have to do this), helplessness (I'll never make
it), indignation (what's the point, it's not my problem
anyway), rebellion (I won't, I won't, not anymore), more
compulsion (I can't give up), self-pity (how did I get into
this?), exhaustion (Oh No! Not again!), despair (I can't go on),
and finally a kind of submission when one's demon hasn't the
energy to put up a struggle any more and simply gives up.
The woman who taught me Kabbalah used both the
cataclysmic and the abrasive methods on her students with
malicious glee - I will discuss this in more detail in the
section on Tiphereth.
The virtue of Yesod is independence, the ability to make
our own foundations, to continually rebuild ourselves, to
reject the security of comfortable illusions and confront
reality without blinking.
The vice of Yesod is idleness. This can be contrasted with
the inertia of Malkuth. A stone is inert because it lacks the
capacity to change, but in most circumstances people can
change and can't be bothered. At least, not today. Yesod has
a dreamy, illusory, comfortable, "seductive" quality, as in the
Isle of the Lotus Eaters - how else could we live as if death
and personal annihilation only happened to other people?
The Qlippothic aspect of Yesod occurs when foundations
are rotten and disintegrating and only the superficial
appearance remains unchanged - Dorian Gray springs to
mind, or cases where the brain is damaged and the body
remains and carries out basic instinctive functions, but the
person is dead as far as other people are concerned.
Organisations are just as prone to this as people.
Chapter 5
The Cabala or Kabbalah,
The Secret Doctrine of The Jews
Christians Were Never Supposed To Learn
The Christian world has been deceived by their leaders;
the Judeo-Christian Clergy of Organized Religion. This book
will show beyond a shadow of a doubt to anyone who will
accept a truth that is presented to them, even though it may
go against everything they have been taught and believed all
their lives. For no man or woman likes to learn they have
been deceived, therefore, many will reject the truth of this
presentation out of hand; but the truth is the truth and it will
never change no matter how many deny it.
God has told us in the Scriptures that His people are
destroyed for lack of knowledge, and that they actually reject
it when presented to them. The following is found in The
Jewish Encyclopedia: "Chazars: A people of Turkish origin
whose life and history are interwoven with the very
beginnings of the history of the Jews of Russia. The kingdom
of the Chazars was firmly established in most of South Russia
long before the foundation of the Russian monarchy by the
Varangians (855). Jews have lived on the shores of the black
and Caspian seas since the first centuries of the common era.
Historical evidence points to the region of the Ural as the
home of the Chazars. Among the classical writers of the
Middle Ages they were known as the 'Chozars,' 'Khazirs,'
'Akatzirs,' and 'Akatirs,' and in the Russian chronicles as
'Khwalisses' and 'Ugry Byelyye.'
The Armenian writers of the fifth and following centuries
furnish ample information concerning this people. Moses of
Chorene refers to the invasion by the 'Hkazirs' of Armenia and
Iberia (another name for Edom or Edomites) at the beginning
of the third century: 'The chaghan was the king of the North,
the ruler of the Khazirs, and the queen was the chatoun.' The
Chazars first came to Armenia with the Basileans in 198.
Though at first repulsed, they subsequently became important
factors in Armenian history for a period of 800 years. Driven
onward by the nomadic tribes of the steppes and by their own
desire for plunder and revenge, they made frequent invasions
into Armenia. The latter country was made the battle-ground
in the long struggle between the Romans and the Persians.
This struggle, which finally resulted in the loss by Armenia of
her independence, paved the way for the political importance
of the Chazars. The conquest of eastern Armenia by the
Persians in the fourth century rendered the latter dangerous
to the Chazars, who, for their own protection, formed an
alliance with the Byzantines. This alliance was renewed form
time to time until the final conquest of the Chazars by the
Russians. Their first aid was rendered to the Byzantine
emperor Julian, in 363. About 434 they were for a time
tributary to Attila - Sidonius Apollitatis relates that the
Chazars followed the banners of Attila - and in 452 fought on
the Catalanian fields in company with the Black Huns and
Alans. The Persian king Kobad (488-531) undertook the
concentration of a line of forts through the pass between
Derbent and the Caucasus. In order to guard against the
invasion of the Chazars, Turks, and other warlike tribes. His
son Chosroes Anoshirvan (531-579) built the wall of Derbent,
repeatedly mentioned by the Oriental geographers and
historians as Bab al-Abwab
In the second half of the sixth century the Chazars moved
westward. They established themselves in the territory
bounded by the Sea of Azov, the don and the lower Volga, the
Caspian Sea, and the northern Caucasus. The Caucasian
Goths (Tetraxites) were subjugated by the Chazars, probably
about the seventh century. Early in that century the kingdom
of the Chazars had become powerful enough to enable the
chaghan to send to the Byzantine emperor Heraclius an army
of 40,000 men, by whose aid he conquered the Persians (626-
627). The Chazars had already occupied the northeastern part
of the Black Sea region. According to the historian Moses
Kalonkataci, the Chazars, under their leader Jebu Chaghan
(called 'Siebel Chaghan' by the Greek writers), penetrated
into Persian territory as early as the second campaign of
Heraclius, on which occasion they devastated Albania.
Nicephorus testifies that Heraclius repeatedly shoed marks of
esteem to his ally, the chaghan of the Chazars, to whom he
even promised his daughter in marriage. In the great battle
between the Chazars and the Arabs near Kizliar 4,000
Mohammedan soldiers and their leader were slain.
In the year 669 the Ugrians or Zabirs freed themselves
from the rule of the Obrians, settled between the Don and the
Caucasus, and came under the dominion of the Chazars. For
this reason the Ugrians, who had hitherto been called the
'White' or 'Independent' Ugrians, are described in the
chronicles ascribed to Nestor as the 'Black,' or 'Dependent,'
Ugrians. They were no longer governed by their own princes,
but were ruled by the kings of the Chazars. In 735, when the
Arab leader Mervan moved from Georgia against the Chazars,
he attacked the Ugrians also. In 679 the Chazars subjugated
the bulgars and extended their sway farther west between the
Don and the Dnieper, as far as the head-waters of the Donetz
in the province of Lebedia. It was probably about that time
that the chaghan of the Chazars and his grandees, together
with a large number of his heathen people, embraced the
Jewish religion. According to A. Harkavy, the conversion took
place in 620; according to others, in 740. King Joseph, in his
letter to Hasdai ibn Shaprut (about 960), gives the following
account of the conversion:
'Some centuries ago King Bulan reigned over the Chazars.
To him God appeared in a dream and promised him might
and glory. Encouraged by this dream, Bulan went by the road
of Darian to the country of Ardebil, where he gained great
victories (over the Arabs). The Byzantine emperor and the
calif of the Ishmaelites sent to him envoys with presents, and
sages to convert him to their respective religions. Bulan
invited also wise men of Israel, and proceeded to examine
them all. As each of the champions believed his religion to be
the best, Bulan separately questioned the Mohammedans and
the Christians as to which of the other two religions they
considered the better. When both gave preference to that of
the Jews, that king perceived that it must be the true religion.
He therefore adopted it.'
This account of the conversion was considered to be of a
legendary nature. Harkavy, however , proved from Arabic
and Slavonian sources that the religious disputation at the
Chazarian court is a historical fact. Even the name of Sangari
has been found in a liturgy of Constantine the Philosopher
(Cyrill). It was one of the successors of Bulan, named
Obadiah, who regenerated the kingdom and strengthened the
Jewish religion. He invited Jewish scholars to settle in his
dominions, and founded synagogues and schools. The people
were instructed in the Bible, Mishnah, and Talmud, and in the
'divine service of the hazzanim.' In their writings the Chazars
used the Hebrew letters.
Obadiah was succeeded by his son Hezekiah; the latter by
his son Manasseh; Manasseh by Hanukkah, a brother of
Obadiah; Hanukkah by his son Isaac; Isaac by his son Moses
(or Manasseh II); the latter by his son Nisi; and Nisi by his son
Aaron II. King Joseph himself was a son of Aaron, and
ascended the throne in accordance with the law of the
Chazars relating to succession. On the whole, King Joseph's
account agrees generally with the evidence given by the
Arabic writers of the tenth century, but in detail it contains a
few discrepancies. According to Ibn Fadlan, Ibn Dastah, and
others, only the king and the grandees were followers of
Judaism. The rest of the Chazars were Christians,
Mohammedans, and heathens; and the Jews were in a great
minority . According to Mas'udi , the king and the Chazars
proper were Jews; but the army consisted of Mohammedans,
while the other inhabitants, especially the Slavonians and
Russians, were heathen. From the work 'Kitab al-Buldan.'
written about the ninth century , it appears as if all the
Chazars were Jews and that they had been converted to
Judaism only a short time before that book was written. But
this work was probably inspired by Jaihani; and it may be
assumed that the ninth century many Chazar heathens
became Jews, owing to the religious zeal of King Obadiah.
'Such a conversion in great masses,' says Chwolson, 'may
have been the reason for the Chazars tot he Byzantine
emperor Michael. The report of the embassy reads as follows:
'Quomodo nunc Jud‘i, nunc Saraceni ad suam fidem eos
mollrentur convertere' .
The history of the kingdom of the Chazars undoubtedly
presents one of the most remarkable features of the Middle
Ages. surrounded by wild, nomadic peoples, and themselves
leading partly a nomadic life, the Chazars enjoyed all the
privileges of civilized nations, a well-constituted and tolerant
government, a flourishing trade, and a well-disciplined
standing army. In a time when fanaticism, ignorance, and
anarchy reigned in western Europe, the kingdom of the
chazars could boast of its just and broad-minded
administration; and all who were persecuted on the score of
their religion found refuge there. There was a supreme court
of justice, composed of seven judges, of whom two were Jews,
two Mohammedans, and two Christians, in charge of the
interests of their respective faiths, with one heathen was
appointed for the Slavonians, Russians, and other pagans.
The Jewish population in the entire domain of the
Chazars, in the period between the seventh and tenth
centuries, must have been considerable. There is no doubt
that the Caucasian and other Oriental Jews had lived and
carried on business with the Chazars long before the arrival
of the Jewish fugitives from Greece, who escaped (723) from
the mania for conversion which possessed the Byzantine
emperor Leo the Isaurian. From the correspondence between
King Joseph and Hasdai it is apparent that two Spanish Jews,
Judah ben Me‹r ben Nathan and Joseph Gagris, had
succeeded in settling in the land of the Chazars, and that it
was a German Jew, Isaac ben Eliezer 'from the land of
Nyemetz' (Germany), who carried Hasdai's letter to the king.
Saadia, who had a fair knowledge of the kingdom of the
Chazars, mentions a certain Isaac ben Abraham who had
removed form Sura to Chazaria. Among the various routes
enumerated by the Arabic geographer Ibn Khurdadhbah (860-
880) as being used by the Rahdanite Jewish merchants, there
is one leading from Spain or France, via Allemania, through
the land of the Slavonians, close by Atel, the capital of the
Chazars, whence they crossed the Sea of the Chazars
(Caspian Sea) and continued their voyage, via Raikh,
Transoxania, and the land of the Tagasga, to India and China.
These merchants, who spoke Arabic, Persian, Greek, Spanish,
French, and Slavonic, 'traveled continuously from west to east
from east to west by sea and by land.' They carried eunuchs,
serving-maids, boys, silks, furs swords, imported musk, aloes,
camphor, cinnamon, and other products of the Far East.
Hasdai ibn Shaprut, who was foreign minister to Abd al-
Rahman, Sultan of Cordova, in his letter to King Joseph of the
Chazars (about 960), relates that the first information about
that kingdom was communicated to him by envoys from
Khorassan, and that their statements were corroborated by
the ambassadors form Byzantium. The latter told him that the
powerful Chazars were maintaining amicable relations with
the Byzantine empire, with which they carried on by sea a
trade in fish, skins, and other wares, the voyage from
Constantinople occupying fifteen days. Hasdai determined to
avail himself of the services of the Byzantine embassy to
transmit his letter to the king of the Chazars, and with that
view he despatched Isaac ben Nathan with valuable gifts to
the emperor, requesting him to aid Isaac in his journey to
Chazaria. But the Greeks interposed delays and finally sent
Isaac back to Cordova. Hasdai then decided to send his
message by way of Jerusalem, Nisibis, Armenia, and Bardaa,
but the envoys of the king of the Gebalim (Boleslav I. of
Bohemia), who had then just arrived in Cordova, and among
them were two Jews, Saul and Joseph, suggested a different
plan. They offered to send the letter to Jews living in
'Hungarin' (Hungary), who, in their turn, would transmit it to
'Russ' (Russia), and thence through 'Bulgar' (probably the
country of the Bulgarians on the Kuban) to its destination
(Atel, the capital of Chazaria). As the envoys guaranteed the
safe delivery of the message, Hasdai accepted the proposal.
He further expressed his thankfulness that God in His mercy
had not deprived the Jews of a deliverer, but had preserved
the remnant of the Jewish race.
Taking a keen interest in everything relating to the
kingdom of the Chazars, Hasdai begs the king to
communicate to him a detailed account of the geography of
his country, of its internal constitution, of the customs and
occupations of its inhabitants, and especially of the history of
his ancestry and of the state. In this letter Hasdai speaks of
the tradition according to which the Chazars once dwelt
near the Seir (Serir ) Mountains; he refers to the narrative of
Eldad ha-Dani, who thought he had discovered the Lost Ten
Tribes; and inquires whether the Chazars know anything
concerning 'the end of the miracles' (the coming of the
Messiah). As to Eldad ha-Dani's unauthenticated account of
the Lost Ten Tribes on the River Sambation, it may be
interesting to note that, according to Idrisi, the city of Sarmel
(Sarkel-on-the-Don) was situated on the River Al-Sabt
(Sambat), which is the River Don. The name for Kiev, as given
by Constantine Porphyrogenitus, is also Sambatas. These
appellations of the River Don and of the city of Kiev point
evidently to Jewish-Chazar influences.
A complete account of the correspondence between
Hasdai and King Joseph has been written by A. Harkavy, one
of the leading authorities on the history of the Chazars, from
which the following is, in substance, an extract:
The Chazarian correspondence was first published in the
work 'Kol-Mebasser' of Isaac 'Akrish (Constantinople, 1577),
into whose hands these documents came while on a voyage
from Egypt to Constantinople. He published them with the
view of proving that even after the destruction of Jerusalem
the Jews still had their own country, in accordance with the
well-known passage in Genesis (xlix.10), 'the septer shall not
depart from Judah.'
Among European scholars Johann Buxtorf, the son, was
the first to become interested in the Chazarian letters, which
he printed together with the text of 'Akrish in his Latin
translation of 'Cuzari' (Basel, 11660).
Buxtorf believed that the letters themselves and the entire
history of the Chazarian kingdom were but fable, for the
reason that no seafarers, merchants, or other travelers had
brought any information concerning such a flourishing
kingdom as that of the Chazars was repted to be. The learned
Orientalist D'Herbelot , misled by a wrong conception of the
'Cuzari' and its relation to the conversion of the Chazars to
Judaism, leaves the authenticity of the correspondence an
open question. One of the greatest scholars of the 17th
century, Samuel Bochart, in his derivation of the name of the
Chazars, introduces the account of Joseph ben Gorion
(Yosippon), and in his notes to the 'Yubasin' of Zacuto gives
information about the Chazarian kingdom and the Sea of the
Chazars obtained from the 'Geographia Nubiensis' of the
Arabian writer Idrisi. Bochart's views, however, are not
important because he had no knowledge of the 'Cuzari' or of
the Chazarian letters. All the skeptics of that time and those
mentioned below had no knowledge of the facts concerning
the Chazars and Chazazrian Judaism as contained in
Slavonic Russian sources, or of the 'Acta Sanctorum,' which
discusses those sources. It is therefore not surprising that the
first author of a comprehensive history of the Jews, Basnage,
who in his 'Histoire des Juifs,' v. 336, Rotterdam, 1707, prints
the Chazarian letters, has the boldness to declare as idle
fancy, not only the kingdom of the Chazars, but even the
existence of the Chazarian people, which was invented, he
considers, by Jewish boastfulness.
About the same time Dom Augustine Calmet issued his
Biblical researches, part of which treats of 'the country
whither the Ten Tribes were led away and where the said
tribes now live.' Calmet considers Media near the Caspian Sea
to be 'the country,' and that it is also identical with 'the
country of the Chazars,' which was glorified so much in the
rabbinical writings. According to them the czar of the Chazars
adopted the Jewish religion in the eighth century. Calmet,
however, considers the whole story a fiction.
Baratier, 'the remarkable child,' also considered the story
of the Chazars to be only a pleasing novel; but it may serve as
an excuse for his opinion that when he wrote his work he was
only eleven years of age . The Danish historiographer
Frederick Suhm, who in 1779 wrote a remarkable work, for
that time, on the Chazars, and who could not free himself
from the view of the Hebraists of the time with regard to the
letter of King Joseph, was the first to give a decided opinion
in favor of the genuineness of the letter of Hasdai. The
ignorance of these writers is accounted for by the fact that
only at the end of the eighteenth century were translations of
the old Arabic writers, Mas'udi, Istakhri, Ibn Haukal, etc., on
the Chazars, issued. The first to make use of the testimony of
the Arabic writers to corroborate the accounts of the Jewish
writers on the Chazars, was the Lithuanian historian Tadeusz
Czacki, who had the advantage of using copies of the Arabic
manuscripts relating to the subject in the Library of Paris.
The Russian historian Karamsin also made use of Mas'udi's
information, given in the 'Chrestomathy' of Silvestre de Sacy,
and of Abulfeda's researches published in the fifth volume of
Busching's 'Historical Magazine.'
The Russian academician Ch. Fr„hn and the Swedish
scholar D'Ohsson collected and published, in the first quarter
of the nineteenth century, all the Arabic testimony on the
subject of the Chazars known at that time. The authenticity of
the letter of King Joseph has, however, since been fully
established by the very material which those scholars had at
their disposal. Fr„hn acknowledges the genuineness of
Hasdai's letter, but not that of Kink Joseph. In the same way
D'Ohsson, although he found the information of the Arabic
and Byzantine writers in conformity with the contents of the
Chazar letters, could not help doubting its genuineness . This
may be explained by the fact that as they did not understand
Hebrew they did not care to commit themselves on a question
which lay outside of their field of investigation.
But the Jewish scholars had no doubts whatever as to the
genuineness of the critical school of Rapoport and Zunz. They
were made use of by many writers in Spain in the twelfth
century; as, for instance, by Judah ha-Levi (1140), who
displayed a close acquaintance with the contents of King
Joseph's epistle , and by the historian Abraham ibn Daud of
Toledo (1160), who distinctly refers to the same letter.
Later on, with the persecutions which ended with the
expulsion of the Jews from Spain, the Chazarian documents,
together with many other treasures of medieval Jewish
literature, were lost to the learned, and were not recovered
until the end of the sixteenth century, when they were found
in Egypt by Isaac 'Akrish. The Jews of that time took little
interest, however, in the history of the past, being absorbed by
the cheerless events of their own epoch. The first reference,
therefore, to the Chazar letters is by Rabbi Bacharach of
Worms, in 1679, who discovered proofs of the genuineness of
Hasdai's letter in an acrostic in the poem which served as a
preface, and which reads as follows: 'I, Hasdai, son of Isaac,
son of Ezra ben Shaprut.'
This acrostic, however, again remained unnoticed until it
was rediscovered by Frensdorf, independently of Bacharach,
in 1836 . Four years later (1840) the genuineness of Hasdai's
letter was absolutely proved by Joseph Zedner. He also
acknowledged the authenticity of the chaghan's letter, but did
not submit proofs. At the same time Solomon Munk gave his
opinion in favor of the genuineness of both letters. Since then
most of the Jewish scholars have adopted his view, including
Lebrecht, 1841; Michael Sachs, 1845; S.D. Luzzatto, 1846-50;
Z. Frankei, 1852; D. Cassel and H. Jolovicz, 1853, 1959, 1872;
Leop. L”w, 1855-74; Hartog, 1857; Jost, 1858; Steinschneider,
1860; Gr„tz, 1860 and 1871; Harkavy, beginning with 1864;
Geiger, 1865; Kraushar, 1866; D. Kaufmann, 1877; and many
others. A comparison of Jewish with other sources, especially
with Arabic, as far as they were then known, must be credited
to E. Carmoly. He began his work with the comparison of the
various sources in his 'Revue Orientale' (1840-44). He
completed it in 1847 Some useful supplements to Carmoly's
works were presented by Paulus Cassel in 1848 and 1877.
The results of these investigations were accepted by the
following Christian scholars; Grigoryev, 1834; Schafarik,
1848; Lelevel, 1851-60; Vivien de San Martin, 1851; S.
Solovyov, 1851-1874; Byelevski, 1864; Brun, 1866-77;
Bilbasov, 1868-71; Kunik, 1874 and 1878; and many others.
Still there were some writers who were misled by the earlier
opinions, and on the strength of them spoke skeptically of the
documents; as Jacob Goldenthal (1848) Dobryakov (1865);
and even the historna Ilovahki (1876).
In 960 Atel (or Itil), at that time the capital of the kingdom
of the Chazars, was situated about eight miles from the
modern astrakhan, on the right bank of the lower Volga,
which river was also called 'Atel' or 'Itil.' The meaning of 'Atel'
in the Gothic language is 'father' or 'little father,' that of 'Itil' in
the Turanian language is 'river;' it is difficult to decide which
of these two words gave the river its name. The western part
of the city was surrounded by a wall pierced by four gates, of
which one led to the river, and by the others to the steppes.
Here was situated the king's palace, which was the only brick
building in the city. According to Mas'udi, the city was divided
into three parts, the palace of the chaghan standing on an
island. The king had twenty-five wives, all of royal blood, and
sixty concubines, all famous beauties. Each one dwelt in a
separate tent and was watched by a eunuch. The authority of
the chaghan was so absolute that during his absence from the
capital, even his viceroy, or corrigent (called "isha," or "bek,"
or "pech"), was powerless. The viceroy had to enter the
chaghan's apartments barefooted and with the greatest
reverence. He held in his right hand a chip of wood, which he
lit when he saluted the chaghan, whereupon he took his seat
to the right of the latter, on the throne, which was of gold. The
walls of the palace were also gilded, and a golden gate
ornamented the palace.
All the other dwellings of the then populous city were
insignificant mud huts or felt tents. The position of the
chaghan of the Chazars was evidently similar to that of the
former mikados of Japan, while the bek, his military
corrigent, corresponded to the shoguns of the latter. Emperor
Heraclius in 626 concluded a treaty with the chaghan of the
Chazars, and Constantine Copronymus, in his description of
the embassy of the Chazars (834), states that it was sent by
the 'chaghan and the pech.' Ibn Fadlan relates that the king of
the Chazars was called the 'great chaghan,' and his deputy
'chaghan-bhoa' ("bey," "beg," or "bek"). The bek led the army,
administered the affairs of the country, and appeared among
the people; and to him the neighboring kings paid allegiance.
It will thus be seen that the extent of the powers of the bek
varied with the times. When the chaghan wanted to punish
any one, he said, 'God and commit suicide' - a method
resembling the Japanese custom of hara-kiri.
The mother of the chaghan resided in the western part of
the city, whose eastern part, called 'Chazaran,' was inhabited
by merchants of various nationalities. The city and its
environs were heavily shaded by trees. The Turkish and the
Chazars languages predominated. The entourage of the
chaghan, numbering 4,000 men, consisted of representatives
of different nationalities. The White Chazars were renowned
for their beauty; and according to Demidov, the mountaineers
of the Crimea contrasted very favorably with the Nogay
Tatars, because they were considerably intermixed with the
Chazars and with the equally fine race of the Kumans. Besides
the White Chazars, there were also Black Chazars (who were
almost as dark as the Hindus), Turkish immigrants,
Slavonians, Hunno-Bulgars, Jews, who lived mostly in the
cities, and various Caucasian tribes, such as the Abghases,
Kabardines, Ossetes, Avares, Lesghians, etc.
The Chazars cultivated rice, millet, fruit, grains, and the
vine. They had important fisheries on the Caspian Sea, and
the sturgeon constituted the main article of food. The Arabic
writer Al-Makdisi remarks: 'In Chazaria there are many sheep,
and Jews, and much honey . From the upper Volga they
brought down from the Mordvines and Russians honey and
valuable furs, which they exported to Africa, Spain, and
France. They supplied the market of Constantinople with
hides, furs, fish, Indian goods, and articles of luxury. The
chaghan and his suite resided in the capital only during the
winter months. From the month of Nisan (April) they led a
nomadic life in the steppes, returning to the city about the
Feast of Hanukkah (December). The estates and vineyards of
the chaghan were on the island on which his palace was
situated. Another city of the Chazars, Semender, between Atel
and Bab al-Abwah, was surrounded by 40,000 vines. It was
identical with the modern Tarku, near Petrovsk, which is now
inhabited by Jews and Kumyks. The latter are supposed to be
descended from the Chazars.
At the Byzantine court the chaghan was held in high
esteem. In diplomatic correspondence with him the seal of
three solidi was used, which marked him as a potentate of the
first rank, above even the pope and the Carlovingian
monarchs. Emperor Justinian II., after his flight from Kherson
to Doros, took refuge during his exile with the chaghan, and
married the chaghan's daughter Irene, who was famous for
her beauty (702). Emperor Leo IV., 'the Chazar' (775-780), the
son of Constantine, was thus a grandson of the king of the
Chazars. From his mother he inherited his mild amiable
disposition. Justinian's rival, Bardanes, likewise sought an
asylum in Chazaria. Chazarian troops were among the body-
guard of the Byzantine imperial court; and they fought for Leo
VI against Simeon of Bulgaria in 888.
King Joseph in his letter to Hasdai gives the following
account of his kingdom: 'The country up the river is within a
four months' journey to the Orient, settled by the following
nations who pay tribute to the Chazars: Burtas, Bulgar,
Suvar, Arissu, Tzarmius, Ventit, Syever, and Slaviyun. Thence
the boundry-line runs to Buarasm as far as the Jordjan. All
the inhabitants of the seacoast that live within a month's
distance pay tribute to the Chazars. To the south Semender,
Bak-Tadlu, and the gates of the Bab al-Abwab are situated on
the seashore. Thence the boundary-line extends to the
mountains of Azur, Bak-Bagda, Sridi, Kiton, Zunikh, which
are very high peaks, and to the Alans as far as the boundary
of the Kassa, Kalkial, Takat, Gebul, and the Constantinian
Sea. To the west, Sarkel, Samkrtz, Kertz, Sugdai, Aluss,
Lambat, Bartnit, Alubika, Kut, Mankup, Budik, Alma, and
Grusin - all these western localities are situated on the banks
of the Constantinian (Black) Sea. Thence the boundary-line
extends to the north, traversing the land of Basa, which is on
the River Vaghez. Here on the plains live nomadic tribes,
which extend to the frontier of the Gagries, as innumerable as
the sands of the sea; and they all pay tribute to the Chazars.
The king of the Chazars himself has established his residence
at the mouth of the river, in order to guard its entrance and to
prevent the Russians from reaching the Caspian Sea, and thus
penetrating to the land of the Ishmaelites. In the same way the
Chazars bar enemies from the gates of Bab al-Abwab.'
Even the Russian Slavonians of Kiev had, in the ninth
century, to pay as yearly tax to the Chazars a sword and the
skin of a squirrel for each house. At the end of the eighth
century, when the Crimean Goths rebelled against the
sovereignty of the Chazars, the latter occupied the Gothic
capital, Doros. The Chazars were at first repulsed by the
Gothic bishop Joannes; but when he had surrendered, the
Goths submitted to the rule of the Chazars.
In the second quarter of the ninth century, when the
Chazars were often annoyed by the irruptions of the
Petchenegs, Emperoro Theophilus, fearing for the safety of the
Byzantine trade with the neighboring nations, despatched his
brother-in-law, Petron Kamateros, with materials and
workmen to build for the Chazars the fortress Sarkel on the
Don (834). Sarkel served as a military post and as a
commercial depot for the north.
In the second half of the ninth century the apostle of the
Slavonians, Constantine (Cyril), went to the Crimea to spread
Christianity among the Chazars. At this time the kingdom of
the Chazars stood at the height of its power, and was
constantly at war with the Arabian califs and their leaders in
Persia and the Caucasus. The Persian Jews hoped that the
Chazars might succeed in destroying the califs' country . The
high esteem in which the Chazars were held among the Jews
of the Orient may be seen in the application to them - in an
Arabic commentary on Isaiah ascribed by some to Saadia,
and by others to Benjamin Nahawandi - of Isaiah xlviii.14:
'The Lord hath loved him.' 'This,' says the commentary, 'refers
to the chazars, who will go and destroy Babel' - i.e., Babylonia
- a name used to designate the country of the Arabs.
The chaghans of the Chazars, in their turn, took great
interest in and protected their coreligionists, the Jews. When
one of the chaghans received information (c. 921) that the
Mohammedans had destroyed a synagogue in the land of
Babung, he gave orders that the minaret of the mosque in
his capital should be broken off, and the muezzin executed. He
declared that he would have destroyed all the mosques in the
country had he not been afraid that the Mohammedans would
in turn destroy all the synagogues in their lands. In the
conquest of Hungary by the Magyars (889) the Chazars
rendered considerable assistance. They had, however, settled
in Pannonia before the arrival of the Magyars. This is evident
from the names of such places as Kozar and Kis-Kozard in the
N¢grad, and Great-Kozar and R czkozar in the Baranya
district/
Mas'udi relates the following particulars concerning the
Chazars in connection with Russian invasions of Tabaristan
and neighboring countries:
'After the 300 of the Hegira (913-914), five hundred
Russian [Northmen's] ships, every one of which had a
hundred men on board, came to the estuary of the don, which
opens into the Pontus, and is in communication with the river
of the Chazars, the Volga. The king of the Chazars keeps a
garrison on this side of the estuary with efficient, warlike
equipment to exclude any other power from its passage. The
king of the Chazars himself frequently takes the field against
them if this garrison is too weak.
When the Russian vessels reached the fort they sent to the
king of the Chazars to ask his permission to pass through his
dominions, promising him half the plunder which they might
take from the nations who lived on the coast of this sea. He
gave them leave. They entered the country, and continuing
their voyage up the River Don as far as the river of the
Chazars, they went down this river past the town of Atel and
entered through its mouth into the sea of the Chazars. They
spread over the coast of Jordjan, the Naphtha country, and
toward Aderbijan, the town of Ardobil, which is in Aderbijan,
and about three days' journey from the sea. The nations on the
coast had no means of repelling the Russians, although they
put themselves in a state of defense; for the inhabitants of the
coast of this sea are well civilized. When the Russians had
secured their booty and captives, they sailed to the mouth of
the river of the Chazars and sent messengers with money and
spoils to the king, in conformity with the stipulations they had
made. The Larissians and other Moslems in the country of the
Chazars heard of the attack of the Russians, and they said to
their king: 'The Russians have invaded the country of our
Moslem brothers; they have shed their blood and made their
wives and children captives, as they are unable to resist;
permit us to oppose them.' The Moslem army, which
numbered about 15,000, took the field and fought for three
days. The Russians were put to the sword, many being
drowned, and only 5,000 escaping. These were slain by the
Burtas and by the Moslems of Targhiz. The Russians did not
make a similar attempt after that year.' ...
Five years after the correspondence between the king of
the Chazars and Hasdai ibn Sharprut (965) the Russian prince
Swyatoslaw made war upon the Chazars, apparently for the
possession of Taurida and Taman. The Russians had already
freed from the rule of the Chazars a part of the Black Bulgars,
and had established a separate Russian duchy under the
name of 'Tmutrakan;' but in the Crimean peninsula the
Chazars still had possessions, and from the Caucasian side
the Russian Tmutrakan suffered from the irruption of the
Kossogian and Karbardine princes, who were tributary to the
chaghan of the Chazars. The fortress of Sarkel and the city of
Atel were the chief obstacles to Russian predatory expeditions
on the Caspian Sea. After a hard fight the Russians conquered
the Chazars. Swyatoslaw destroyed Sarkel (Alans), and so
strengthened the position of the Russian Tmutrakan. They
destroyed the city of Bulgar, devastated the country of the
Burtas, and took possession of Atel and Semender.
Four years later the Russian conquered all the Chazarian
territory east of the Sea of Azov. Only the Crimean territory of
the Chazars remained in their possession until 1016, when
they were dispossessed by a joint expedition of Russians and
Byzantines. The last of the chaghans, George Tzula, was taken
prisoner; some of the Chazars took refuge in an island of the
Caspian, Slahcouye; others returned to the Caucasus; while
many were sent as prisoners of war to Kiev, where a Chazar
community had long existed. Many intermingled in the Crimea
with the local Jews; the Krimtschaki are probably their
descendants - perhaps some of the Subbotniki also.
Some went to Hungary, but the great mass of the people
remained in their native country. Many members of the
Chazarian royal family emigrated to Spain. Until the
thirteenth century the Crimea was known to European
travelers as 'Gazaria,' the Italian form of 'Chazaria.'"
Chapter 6
Magic
Albert Pike, quoting from Transcendental Magic, sums up
the importance of Kabbalism as a key to Masonic esotericism:
"One is filled with admiration, on penetrating into the
Sanctuary of the Kabbalah, at seeing a doctrine so logical, so
simple, and at the same time so absolute. The necessary union
of ideas and signs, the consecration of the most fundamental
realities by the primitive characters; the Trinity of Words,
Letters, and Numbers; a philosophy simple as the alphabet,
profound and infinite as the Word; theorems more complete
and luminous than those of Pythagoras; theology summed up
by counting on one's fingers; an Infinite which can be held in
the hollow of an infant's hand; ten ciphers and twenty- two
letters, a triangle, a square, and a circle, these are the
elements of the Kabbalah. These are the elementary principles
of the written Word, reflection of that spoken Word that
created the world!"
Hebrew theology was divided into three distinct parts.
The first was the law, the second was the soul of the law, and
the third was to soul of the soul of the law. The law was
taught to all the children of the Jews; the Mishnah, or the
soul of the law, was revealed to the rabbins and teachers; but
the Kabbalah, the soul of the soul of the law, was cunningly
concealed, and only the highest initiates among the Jews
were instructed in its secret principles.
According to certain Jewish mystics, Moses ascended
Mount Sinai three times, remaining the presence of God forty
days each time. During the first forty days the tables of the
written law were delivered to the prophet; during the second
forty days he received the soul of the law; and during the last
forty days God instructed him in the mysteries of the
Kabbalah, the soul of the soul of the law. Moses concealed in
the first four books of the Pentateuch the secret instructions
that God had given him, and for centuries students therein
the secret doctrine of Israel.
As the spiritual nature of man is concealed in his physical
body, so the unwritten law, the Mishnah and the Kabbalah,
is concealed within the written teachings of the Mosaic code.
Kabbalah means the secret or hidden tradition, the unwritten
law, and according to an early Rabbi, it was delivered to man
in order that through the aid of its abstruse principles he
might learn to understand the mystery of both the universe
about him and the universe within him.
The origin of Kabbalism is a legitimate subject for
controversy. Early initiates of the Kabbalistic Mysteries
believed that its principles were first taught by God to a
school of His angels before the fall of man. The angels later
communicated the secrets to Adam, so that through the
knowledge gained from an understanding of its principles
fallen humanity might regain its lost estate. The Angel
Razielk was dispatched from heaven to instruct Adam in the
mysteries of the Kabbalah. Different angels were employed to
initiate the succeeding patriarches in this difficult science.
Tophiel was the teacher of Shem, Raphale of Isaac, Metatron
of Moses, and Michael of David.
Christian D. Ginsburg has written: "From Adam it passed
over to Noah, and then to Abraham, the friend of God, who
emigrated with it to Egypt, where the patriarch allowed a
portion of this mysterious doctrine to ooze out. It was in this
way that the Egyptians obtained some knowledge of it, and
the other Eastern nations could introduce it into their
philosophical systems. Moses, who was learned in all the
wisdom of Egypt, was first initiated into it in the land of his
birth, but became most proficient in it during his wanderings
in the wilderness, when he not only devoted to it the leisure
hours of the whole forty years, but received lessons in it from
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."
According to Eliphas Levi, the three greatest books of
Kabbalism 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.
Kabbalists declare that the Sepher Yetzirah was written by
Abraham. Although it is by far the oldest of the Kabbalist
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 relate that the secret doctrines of
Kabbalism 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 Leon. The probability
is that Moses de Leon 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
Kabbalistic thought, the Sepher Yetzirah is reproduced in full
in this chapter. So far as is among many nations it was
customary to spread the arms in prayer has influenced the
symbolism of the cross, which, because of its shape, has
come to be regarded as emblematic of the human body.
The four major divisions of the human structure, bones,
muscles, nerves, and arteries, are considered to have
contributed to the symbolism of the cross. This is especially
due to the fact that the spinal nerves cross at the base of the
spine, and is a reminder that "Our Lord was crucified also in
Egypt." Man has four vehicles (or mediums) of expression by
means of which the spiritual Ego contacts the external
universe: the physical nature, the vital nature, the emotional
nature, and the mental nature. Each of these partakes in
principle of one of the primary elements, and the four
creatures assigned to them by the Kabbalists caused the cross
to be symbolic of the compound nature of man.
The Kabbalah The Blood And Bond of Judaism
The Jews' False Teachings About God
A system of religious philosophy, or more properly of
theosophy, which has not only exercised for hundreds of
years an extraordinary influence on the mental development
of the Jews, but has captivated the minds of some of the
greatest thinkers of Christendom in the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries, claims the greatest attention of both
the philosopher and the theologian. As taken from the
Talmudic Book Sepher ha Zohar.
When it is added that among its captives were Raymond
Lully, the celebrated scholastic, metaphysician and chemist
(died 1315); John Reuchlin, the renowned scholar and
reviver of oriental literature in Europe (born 1455, died 1522);
John Picus di Mirandola, the famous philosopher and
classical scholar (1463-149); Cornelius Henry Agrippa, the
distinguished philosopher, divine and physician (1486-1535);
John Baptist von Helmont, a remarkable chemist and
physician (1577-1644); as well as our own countrymen Robet
Fludd, the famous physician and philosopher (1574-1637),
and Dr. Henry More (1614-1687); and that these men, after
restlessly searching for a scientific system which should
disclose to them "the deepest depths" of the Divine nature,
and show them the real tie which binds all things together,
found the cravings of their minds satisfied by this theosophy,
the claims of the Kabbalah (Cabala) on the attention of
students in literature and philosophy will readily be admitted.
The claims of the Kabbalah, however, are not restricted to
the literary man and the philosopher: the poet too will find in
it ample materials for the exercise of his lofty genius.
How can it be otherwise with a theosophy which, we are
assured, was born of God in Paradise, was nursed and reared
by the choicest of the angelic hosts in heaven, and only held
converse with the holiest of man's children upon earth. Listen
to the story of its birth, growth and maturity, as told by its
followers.
The Kaballah Was First Taught By God
The Jews say, the Kabbalah 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 communicated this heavenly doctrine to the
disobedient children of earth, to furnish the protoplasts with
the means of returning to their pristine nobility and felicity.
From Adam it passed over to Noah, and then to Abraham,
the friend of God, who emigrated with it to Egypt, where the
patriarch allowed a portion of this mysterious doctrine to
ooze out. It was in this way that the Egyptians obtained some
knowledge of it, and the other Eastern nations could
introduce it into their philosophical systems. Moses, who was
learned in all the wisdom of Egypt, was first initiated into it
in the land of his birth, but become most proficient in it
during his wanderings in the wilderness, when he not only
devoted to it the leisure hours of the whole forty years, but
received lessons in it from the one of the angels.
We will pause here and relate what the Scriptures relates
about the life of Moses.
Moses First Wife Was A Negro Woman
But He Never Had Sexual Relations With Her
As you begin to study God's Word and He begins to open
your eyes to His wonderful truths, deceivers will come in and
try to tell you that integration is all right because Moses was
married to a Negro Woman. Well he was. His first wife was
a Negro, but he did not marry her of his own accord, she was
appointed by the people of Cush to be his wife.
Moses never went into her, nor did he ever have zexual
relations with her. He obeyed God and kept himself pure of
the sin of Miscegenation (Race Mixing). The entire story is
related in the Book of Jasher. One of the books, purposely left
out of the Bible because the Jews did not wish for Christians
to learn many truths, which are contained therein. "And
when Moses was eighteen years old, he desired to see his
father and mother and he went to them to Goshen, and when
Moses had come near Goshen, he came to the place where the
Children of Israel were engaged in work, and he observed
their burdens, and he saw an Egyptian smiting one of his
Hebrew brethren. And when the man who was beaten saw
Moses he ran to him for help, for the man Moses was greatly
respected in the house of Pharaoh, and he said to him, My
lord attend to me, this Egyptian came to my house in the
night, bound me, and came to my wife in my presence, and
now he seeks to take my life away. And when Moses heard
this wicked thing, his anger was kindled against the Egyptian,
and he turned this way and the other, and when he saw there
was no man there he smote the Egyptian and hid him in the
sand, and delivered the Hebrew from the hand of him that
smote him. And the Hebrew went to his house, and Moses
returned to his home, and went forth and came back to the
king's house. And when the man had returned home, he
thought of repudiating his wife, for it was not right in the
house of Jacob, for any man to come to his wife after she had
been defiled (had sex with another race). And the woman
went and told her brothers, and the woman's brothers sought
to slay him, and he fled to his house and escaped. And on the
second day Moses went forth to his brethren, and saw, and
behold two men were quarreling, and he said to the wicked
one, Why dost thou smite thy neighbor? And he answered him
and said to him. Who has set thee for a prince and judge over
us? dist thou think to slay me as thou didst slay the Egyptian?
and Moses was afraid and he said, Surely the thing is known?
And Pharaoh heard of this affair, and he ordered Moses to be
slain, so God sent his angel, and he appeared unto Pharaoh
in the likeness of a captain of the guard. An angel of the Lord
took the sword from the hand of the captain of the guard, and
took his head off with it, for the likeness of the captain of the
guard was turned into the likeness of Moses. And the angel of
the Lord took hold of the right hand of Moses, and brought
him forth from Egypt, and placed him from without the
borders of Egypt, a distance of forty days' journey."
Our King James version of the Bible relates the story this
way: "And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was
grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their
burdens: and he spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of
his brethren. And he looked this way and that way, and when
he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian, and hid
him in the sand. And when he went out the second day,
behold, two men of the Hebrews strove together: and he said
to him that did the wrong, Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow?
And he said, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us?
intendest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian? And
Moses feared, and said, Surely this thing is known. Now when
Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses
fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian
and he sat down by a well."
There was a lot happened between the time Moses left
Egypt and when he came to the well at Midian. Following is
what transpired in the intervening forty nine years: "And
Moses was eighteen years old when he fled from Egypt from
the presence of Pharaoh, and he fled and escaped to the camp
of Kikianus, which at that time was besieging Cush. And
Moses was nine years in the camp of Kikianus king of Cush,
all the time that they were besieging Cush, and Moses went
out and came in with them. And the king and princes and all
the fighting men loved Moses, for he was great and worthy,
his stature was like a noble lion, his face was like the sun, and
his strength was like that of a lion, and he was counsellor to
the king. And at the end of nine years, Kikianus was seized
with a mortal disease, and his illness prevailed over him, and
he died on the seventh day. So his servants embalmed him
and carried him and buried him opposite the city gate to the
north of the land of Egypt...And they wished to choose on that
day a man for king from the army of Kikianus, and they found
no object of their choice like Moses to reign over them. And
they hastened and stripped off each man his garments and
cast them upon the ground, and they made a great heap and
placed Moses thereon. And they rose up and blew with
trumpets and called out before him, and said, May the king
live, may the king live! And all the people and nobles swore
unto him to give him for a wife Adoniah the Queen, the
Cushite, wife of Kikianus, and they made Moses king over
them on that day...Moses reigned over the children of Cush on
that day, in the place of Kikianus king of Cush...Moses was
twenty- seven years old when he began to reign over Cush,
and forty years did he reign...And they placed the royal crown
upon his head, and they gave him for a wife Adoniah the
Cushite queen, and wife of Kikianus. And Moses feared the
Lord God of his fathers, so that he came not to her, nor did he
turn his eyes to her. For Moses remembered how Abraham
had made his servant Eliezer swear, saying unto him, Thou
shalt not take a woman from the daughters of Canaan for my
son Isaac. Also what Isaac did when Jacob had fled from his
brother, when he commanded him, saying, thou shalt not take
a wife from the daughters of Canaan, nor make alliance with
any of the chidlren of Ham. For the Lord our God gave Ham
the son of Noah, and his children and all his seed, as slaves to
the children of Shem and to the children of Japheth, and unto
their seed after them for slaves, forever. Therefore Moses
turned not his heart nor his eyes to the wife of Kikianus all the
days that he reigned over Cush. And Moses feared the Lord his
God all his life, and Moses walked before the Lord in truth
(did not mix his seed with that of the Negro Woman), and
with all his heart and soul, He turned not from the right way
(did not mix with another race) all the days of his life; he
declined not from the way either to the right or to the left, in
which Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had walked...And in the
fortieth year of the reign of Moses over Cush, Moses was
sitting on the royal throne whilst Adoniah the queen was
before him, and all the nobles were sitting around him. And
Adoniah the queen said before the king and the princes. What
is this thing which you, the children of Cush, have done for
this long time? Surely you know that for forty years that this
man has reigned over Cush he has not approached me, nor
has he served the gods of the children of Cush. Now therefore
hear, O ye children of Cush, and let this man no more reign
over you as he is not of our flesh (Moses was an Israelite, a
White Man. The cries of the preachers of todays Organized
Religion to the contrary notwithstanding). Behold Menacrus
my son is grown up, let him reign over you, for it is better for
you to serve the son of your lord, than to serve a stranger, a
slave of the king of Egypt. And all the people and nobles of the
children of Cush heard the words which Adoniah the queen
had spoken in their ears. And all the people were preparing
until the evening, and in the morning they rose up early and
made Menacrus, son of Kikianus, king over them. And all the
children of Cush were afraid to stretch forth their hand
against Moses, for the Lord was with Moses, and the children
of Cush remembered the oath which they swore unto Moses,
therefore they did no harm to him. But the children of Cush
gave many presents to Moses, and sent him from them with
great honor. So Moses went forth from the land of Cush, and
went home and ceased to reign over Cush, and Moses was
sixty-six years old when he went out of the land of Cush, for
the thing was from the Lord, for the period had arrived which
he had appointed in the day of old, to bring forth Israel from
the affliction of the children of Ham. So Moses went to
Midian..."
Then we find how Moses happened to be at the well: "So
Moses went forth from the land of Cush, and went home and
ceased to reign over Cush, and Moses was sixty-six years old
when he went out of the land of Cush, for the thing was from
the Lord, for the period had arrived which he had appointed
in the days of old, to bring forth Israel from the affliction of
the children of Ham. So Moses went to Midian, for he was
afraid to return to Egypt on account of Pharaoh, and he went
and sat at a well of water in Midian. And the seven daughters
of Reuel the Midianite went out to feed their father's flock.
And they came to the well and drew water to water their
father's flock. So the shepherds of Midian came and drove
them away, and Moses rose up and helped them and watered
the flock. And they came home to their father Reuel, and told
him what Moses did for them. And they said, An Egyptian
man has delivered us from the hands of the shepherds, he
drew up water for us and watered the flock. And Reuel said to
his daughters, And where is he? wherefore have you left the
man? And Reuel sent for him and fetched him an brought him
home, and he ate bread with him...and he gave him his
daughter Ziporah for a wife."
So we can clearly see that the Kabbalah (Cabala) is a lie
from the very beginning. However, continuing on: By the aid
of this mysterious science the lawgiver was enabled to solve
the difficulties which arose during his management of the
Israelites, in spite of the pilgrimages, wars and the frequent
miseries of the nation.
He covertly laid down the principles of this secret
doctrine in the first four books of the Pentateuch, but
withheld them from Deuteronomy. This constitutes the
former the man, and the latter the woman. 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. No one,
however, dared to write it down, till Simon ben Jochai, who
lived at the time of the destruction of the second Temple.
Having been condemned to death by Titus, Rabbi Simon
managed to escape with his son and concealed himself in a
cavern where he remained for twelve years. Here, in this
subterranean abode, he occupied himself entirely with the
contemplation of the sublime Kabbalah, and was constantly
visited by the Prophet Elasis, who disclosed to him some of
its secrets which were still concealed from the theosophical
Rabbi. "Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in
whom there is no help. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to
his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish."
Here, too, his disciples resorted to be initiated by their
master into these divine mysteries; and here, Simon ben
Jochai expired with this heavenly doctrine in his mouth,
whilst discoursing on it to his disciples. Scarcely had his spirit
departed, when a dazzling light filled the cavern, so that no
one could look at the Rabbi; whilst a burning fire appeared
outside, forming as it were a sentinel at the entrance of the
cave, and denying admittance to the neighbors.
It was not till the light inside, and the fire outside, had
disappeared, that the disciples perceived that the lamp of
Israel was extinguished. As they were preparing for his
obsequious, a voice was heard from heaven, saying, "Come ye
to the marriage of Simon b. Jochai, he is entering into peace,
and shall rest in his chamber!" "And Jesus answering
said...For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither
marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as the angels which
are in heaven."
For a second witness: "And Jesus answering said unto
them, The children of this world marry, and are given in
marriage: But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain
that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry,
nor are given in marriage."
A flame preceded the coffin, which seemed enveloped by,
and burning like fire. And when the remains were deposited
in the tomb, another voice was heard from heaven, saying,
"This is he who caused the earth to quake, and the kingdoms
to shake!"
Here the Jews claim the rabbi has the power of God by
distorting the following verses from the Bible: "God is
jealous, and the Lord revengeth; the Lord revengeth, and is
furious...The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and
the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world, and all
that dwell therein. Who can stand before his indignation? and
who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his fury is
poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him."
But God tells us, that the Jews are Lucifer, the Devil and
Satan's children, when He tells us: "Hell from beneath is
moved for thee to meet thee at they coming: it stirreth up the
dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; it hath
raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations...How
art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!
how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the
nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into
heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God [Israel-
ites]: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the
sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the
clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought
down to hell, to the sides of the pit. They that see thee shall
narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, is this the
man that made the earth to tremble [Quake], that did shake
kingdoms."
His son, R. Eliezer, and his secretary, R. Abba, as well as
his disciples, then collated R. Simon b. Jochai's treatises, and
out of these composed the celebrated work called Sohar
[Splendour], which is the grand storehouse of Kabbalism.
From what has been said, it will be seen that the followers of
this secret doctrine claim for it a pre-Adamite existence, and
maintain that, ever since the creation of the first man, it has
been received uninterruptedly from the hands of the
patriarchs, the prophets, etc. It is for this reason that it is
called Kabbalah (Cabala) [from to receive] which primarily
denotes reception, and then a doctrine received by oral
tradition.
The Kabbalah is also called by some Secret Wisdom,
because it was only handed down by tradition through the
initiated, and is indicated in the Hebrew Scriptures by signs
which are hidden and unintelligible to those who have not
been instructed in its mysteries. From the initial letters of this
name, this theosophic system is also denominated Grace.
Vague and indefinite as this name may seem to the
uninitiated, inasmuch as it conveys no idea whatever of the
peculiar doctrines of the system, but simply indicates the
manner in which they have been transmitted, it is
nevertheless the classical and acknowledged appellation of
this theosophy.
The difference between the word Kabbalah (reception)
and the cognate term Massorah (tradition, from to transmit)
which denotes the traditionally transmitted various readings
of the Hebrew Scriptures, is, that the former expresses the act
of receiving, which in this technical sense could only be on
the part of one who has reached a certain period of life, as
well as a certain state of sanctity, implying also a degree of
secrecy; whilst the latter signifies the act of giving over,
surrendering, without premising any peculiar age, stage of
holiness, or degree of secrecy. The name, therefore, tells us
no more than that this theosophy has been received
traditionally. To ascertain its tenets we must analyze the
system itself or the books which propound it; and to this task
we now betake ourselves.
Chapter 7
The Cardinal Doctrines of The Kabbalah
(Cabala)
The cardinal doctrines of the Kabbalah are mainly
designed to solve the grand problems about (1) the nature of
the Supreme Being, (2) The cosmogony, (3) The creation of
angels and man, (4) The destiny of man and the universe,
and (5) To point out the import of the Revealed Law.
Assenting and consenting to the declarations of the Hebrew
Scriptures about the unit of God, his incorporation,
eternity, immutability, perfection, infinite goodness, the
creation of the world in time according to God's free will, the
moral government of the universe and special providence,
and to the creation of man in the image of God, the
Kabbalah seeks to explain the transition from the infinite to
the finite; the procedure of multifariousness from an absolute
unity, and of matter from a pure intelligence; the operation
of pure intelligence upon matter, in spite of the infinite gulf
between them; the relationship of the Creator to the
creature, so as to be able to exercise supervision and
providence.
It, moreover, endeavors to show how it is that the Bible
gives names and assigns attributes and a form to so spiritual
a Being; how the existence of evil is compatible with the
infinite goodness of God, and what is the Divine intention
about this creation. In our analysis of the Kabbalistic
doctrines on these grand problems, we shall follow the order
in which they have been enumerated, and accordingly begin
with the lucubrations on the Supreme Being and the
Emanations.
The Sephiroth
1). The Supreme Being and the doctrine and classification
of the Emanations, or Sephiroth.
Being boundless in his nature, which necessarily implies
that hie is an absolute unity and inscrutable, and that there
is nothing without him, or that the r•ãƒv is in him, God is
called En Soph == „ãeipo‡ Endless, Boundless.
In this boundlessness, or as the En Soph, he cannot be
comprehended by the intellect, nor described in words, for
there is nothing which can grasp and depict him to us, and
as such he is, in a certain sense, not existence, because, as far
as our minds are concerned, that which is perfectly
incomprehensible does not exit.
To make his existence perceptible, and to render himself
comprehensible, the En Soph, or the Boundless, had to
become active and creative. But the En Soph cannot be the
direct creator, for he has neither will, intention, desire,
thought, language, nor action, as these properties imply limit
and belong to finite beings, whereas the En Soph is
boundless.
Besides, the imperfect and circumscribed nature of the
creation precludes the idea that the world was created or
even designed by him, who can have no will nor produce
anything but what is like himself, boundless and perfect.
On the other hand, again, the beautiful design displayed
in the mechanism, the regular order manifested in the
preservation, destruction, and renewal of things, forbid us to
regard this world as the offspring of chance, and constrain us
to recognize therein an intelligent design.
[Yet] We are, therefore, compelled to view the En Soph
as the creator of the world in an indirect manner. Now, the
medium by which the En Soph made his existence known in
the creation of the world are ten Sephiroth or intelligences,
which emanated from the Boundless One in the following
manner: At first the En Soph, or the Aged of the Aged or the
Holy Aged, as he is alternately called, sent forth from his
infinite light one spiritual substance or intelligence. This first
Sephira, which existed in the En Soph from all eternity, and
became a reality by a mere act, has no less than seven
appellations. It is called:
(1) The Crown, because it occupies the highest position;
(2) The Aged, because it is the oldest or the first
emanation, and this name must not be confounded with the
Aged of the Aged, which as we have seen, is the appellation
of the En Soph;
(3) The Primordial Point, or the Smooth Point, because,
as the Sohar tells us, "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;"
(4) The White Head;
(5) The Long Face, Macroprosopon, because the whole
ten Sephiroth represent the Primordial or the Heavenly Man,
of which the first Sephira is the head;
(6) The Inscrutable Height, because it is the highest of all
the Sephiroth proceeding immediately from the En Soph.
Hence, on the passage, "Go forth, O ye daughters of Zion,
and behold the King of Peace with the Crown!"
The Sohar remarks, "But who can behold the King of
Peace, seeing that He is incomprehensible, even to the
heavenly hosts? But he who sees the Crown sees the glory of
the King of Peace."
And,
(7) It is expressed in the Bible by the Divine name Ehejeh,
or I Am, because it is absolute being, representing the
Infinite as distinguished from the finite, and in the angelic
order, by the celestial beasts of Ezekiel, called Chajoth.
The first Sephira contained the other nine Sephiroth, and
gave rise to them in the following order: At first a masculine
or active potency, designated Wisdom, proceeded from it.
This Sephira, which among the divine names is represented
by Jah, and among the angelic hosts by Ophanim (Wheels),
sent forth an opposite, feminine or passive, potency,
denominated Intelligence, which is represented by the divine
name Jehovah, and angelic name Arelim, and it is from a
union of those two Sephiroth, which are also called Father
and Mother, that the remaining seven Sephiroth proceeded.
Or, as the Sohar expresses it, "When the Holy Aged, the
Concealed of all Concealed, assumed a form, he produced
everything in the form of male and female, as the things
could not continue in any other form. Hence Wisdom, which
is the beginning of development, when it proceeded from the
Holy Aged, emanated in male and female, for Wisdom
expanded, and Intelligence proceeded from it, and thus
obtained male and female vis., Wisdom, the father, and
Intelligence, the mother, from whose union the other pairs of
Sephiroth successively emanated. These two opposite
potencies vis., Wisdom and Intelligence are joined together
by the first potency, the Crown; thus yielding the first triad of
the Sephiroth. From the junction of the foregoing opposites
emanated again the masculine or active potency,
denominated Mercy or Love, also called Greatness, the fourth
Sephira, which among the divine names is represented by El,
and among the angelic hosts by Chashmalin.
From this again emanated the feminine or passive
potency, Justice, also called Judicial Power, the fifth Sephira,
which is represented by the divine name Eloha, and among
the angels by Seraphim; and from this again the uniting
potency, Beauty or Mildness, the sixth Sephira, represented
by the divine name Elohim, and among the angels by
Shinanim.
Since without this union the existence of things would not
be possible, inasmuch as mercy not tempered with justice,
and justice not tempered with mercy would be unendurable:
and thus the second trinity of the Sephiroth is obtained.The
medium of union of the second trinity, Beauty, the sixth
Sephira, beamed forth the masculine or active potency, Firm-
ness, the seventh Sephira, corresponding to the divine name
Jehovah Sabaoth, and among the angels to Tarshishim; this
again gave rise to the feminine or passive potency,
Splendour, the eighth Sephira, to which answer the divine
name Elohim Sabaoth, and among the angels Benei Elohim;
and from it again, emanated Foundation or the Basis, the
ninth Sephira, represented by the divine name El Chai, and
among the angelic hosts by Ishim, which is the uniting point
between these two opposites, thus yielding the third trinity
of Sephiroth.
From the ninth Sephira, the Basis of all, emanated the
tenth, called Kingdom, and Shechinah, which is represented
by the divine name Adonai, and among the angelic hosts by
Cherubim. The table on the opposite page exhibits the
different names of the Sephiroth, together with the several
names of God and the angels, which correspond to them.
From this representation of each triad, as consisting of a
threefold principle, viz., the two opposites, masculine and
feminine, and the uniting principle, the development of the
Sephiroth, and of life generally, is symbolically called the
Balance, because the two opposite sexes, are compared with
the two opposite scales, and the uniting Sephira is compared
with the beam which joins the scales, and indicates its
equipoise.
Before we enter into further particulars about the nature,
operation, and classification of these Sephiroth, we shall give
the Sohar's speculations about the Supreme Being, and its
account of the origin of the Sephiroth, and their relationship
to the Deity. The prophet Elias having learned in the
heavenly college the profound mystery and true import of the
words in Isa. 40:25-26, "'To whom will ye like me, and shall
I be equal? saith the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high, and
behold who hath created these things,' revealed to R. Simon
b. Jochai that God in his absolute nature is unknown and
incomprehensible, and hence, in a certain sense,
non-existent; that this Who (unknown subject) had to
become active and creative, to demonstrate his existence,
and that it is only by these works of creation that he made
himself known to us. It is therefore the combination of the
unknown Who with these visible works that showed him to
be God (which is produced by transposed, and united with).
Or, as it is in the language of the Kabbalah; 'Before he
gave any shape to this world, before he produced any form,
he was alone, without a form and resemblance to anything
else. Who then can comprehend him how he was before the
creation, since he was formless? Hence it is forbidden to
represent him by any form, similitude, or even by his sacred
name, by a single letter or a single point; and to this the
words 'Ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the
Lord spake unto you ye have not seen anything which you
could represent by any form or likeness refer. But after he
created the form of the Heavenly Man, he used it as a chariot
wherein to descend, and wishes to be called by this form,
which is the sacred name Jehovah.
He wishes to be known by his attributes, and each
attribute separately; and therefore had himself called the God
of Mercy, the God of Justice, Almighty, God of Sabaoth, and
the Being. He wishes thereby to make known his nature, and
that we should see how his mercy and compassion extend
both to the world and to all operations. For if he had not
poured out his light upon all his creatures, how could we
ever have known him? How could the words be fulfilled, 'The
whole earth is full of his glory'?
Woe be to him who compares him with his own
attributes! or still worse with the son of man whose
foundation is in the dust, who vanishes and is no more!
Hence, the form in which we delineate him simply describes
each time his dominion over a certain attribute, or over the
creatures generally. We cannot understand more of his
nature than the attribute expresses.
Hence, when he is divested of all these things, he has
neither any attribute nor any similitude or form. The form in
which he is generally depicted is to be compared to a very
expansive sea; for the waters of the sea are in themselves
without a limit or form, and it is only when they spread
themselves upon the earth that they assume a form. We can
now make the following calculation: the sources of the sea's
water and the water stream proceeding there from to spread
itself are two.
A great reservoir is then formed, just as if a huge hollow
had been dug; this reservoir is called sea, and is the third.
The unfathomable deep divides itself into seven streams,
resembling seven long vessels. The source, the water stream,
the sea and the seven streams make together ten. And when
the master breaks the vessels which he has made, the waters
return to the source, and then only remain the pieces of these
vessels, dried up and without any water. It is in this way that
the Cause of Causes gave rise to the ten Sephiroth.
The Crown is the source from which streams forth an
infinite light: hence the name En Soph == infinite, by which
the highest cause is designated: for it then had neither form
nor shape, and there is neither any means whereby to
comprehend it, nor a way by which to know it. Hence it is
written, 'Seek not out the things that are too hard for thee,
neither search the things that are above they strength." '
He then made a vessel, as small as a point, like the latter,
which is filled from this source (the En Soph). This is the
source of wisdom, wisdom itself, after which the Supreme
Cause is called 'wise God.' Upon this he made a large vessel
like a sea, which is called Intelligence: hence the name
'intelligent God.'
It must, however, be remarked that God is wise, and
through himself, for wisdom does not derive its name through
itself, but through the wise one who fills it with the light
which flows from him, just as intelligence is not
comprehended through itself, but through him who is
intelligent and fills it with his own substance. God needs only
to withdraw himself and it would be dried up. This is also the
meaning of the words, 'the waters have disappeared from the
sea, and the bed is dry and parched up.'
The sea is finally divided into seven streams, and the
seven costly vessels are produced, which are called
Greatness, Judicial Strength, Beauty, Firmness, Splendour,
Foundation, and Kingdom.
Therefore is he called the Great or the Merciful, the
Mighty, the Glorious, the God of victory, the Creator, to
whom all praise is due, and the Foundation of all things.
Upon the last attribute all the others are based a well as the
world.
Finally, he is also the King of the universe, for everything
is in his power; he can diminish the number of the vessels,
and increase in them the light which streams from them, or
reduce it, just as it pleases him."
In another place again the same authority gives the
following description of the Deity and the emanation of the
Sephiroth. The Aged of the Aged, the Unknown of the
Unknown, has a form and yet has no form. He has a form
whereby the universe is preserved, and yet has no form,
because he [God] cannot be comprehended. When he first
assumed the form [of the first Sephira], he caused nine
splendid lights to emanate from it, which, shining through it,
diffused a bright light in all directions.
Imagine an elevated light sending forth its rays in all
directions. Now if we approach it to examine the rays, we
understand no more than that they emanate from the said
light. So is the Holy Aged an absolute light, but in himself
concealed and incomprehensible.
We can only comprehend him through those luminous
emanations which again are partly visible and partly
concealed. These constitute the sacred name of God.
Four things must be born in mind with regard to the
Sephiroth.
(1). That they were not created by, but emanated (from,
the En Soph; the difference between creation and emanation
being, that in the former a diminution of strength takes place,
whilst in the latter this is not the case.
(2). That they form among themselves, and with the En
Soph, a strict unity, and simply represent different aspects of
one and the same being, just as the different rays which
proceed from the light, and which appear different things to
the eye, form only different manifestations of one and the
same light.
(3). That since they simply differ from each other as the
different colors of the same light, all the ten emanations alike
partake of the perfections of the En Soph; and,
(4). That, as emanations from the Infinite, the Sephiroth
are infinite and perfect like the En Soph, and yet constitute
the first finite things. They are infinite and perfect when the
En Soph imparts his fullness to them, so that in this respect
these ten Sephiroth exactly correspond to the double nature
of Christ, his finite and imperfect human nature and his
infinite and perfect divine nature.
In their totality and unity These ten Sephiroth are not
only denominated the world of Sephiroth and the world of
Emanations, but represent and are called the Primordial or
Archetypal Man, and the Heavenly Man. In the future, the
Crown is the head; Wisdom, the brains; and Intelligence,
which united the two and produces the first triad, is the heart
or the understanding, thus forming the head.
The fourth and fifth Sephiroth, Mercy and Justice, are the
two arms of the Lord, the former the right arm and the latter
the left, one distributing life and the other death. And the
sixth Sephira, Beauty, which united these two opposites and
produces the second triad, is the chest; whilst the seventh
and eighth Sephiroth, Firmness and Splendour, of the third
triad, are the two legs; and Foundation, the ninth Sephira,
represents the genital organs, since it denotes the basis and
source of all things.
Thus it is said, "Every thing will return to its origin just as
it proceeded from it. All marrow, all sap, and all power are
congregated in this spot. Hence all powers which exist
originate through the genital organs." Kingdom, the tenth
Sephira, represents the harmony of the whole Archetypal
Man. The following is the archetypal figure of the ten
Sephiroth.
The Sephiroth The Heavenly Man of The World of
Emanations
It is this form which the prophet Ezekiel saw in the
mysterious chariot, and of which the earthly man is a faint
copy. Moreover, these Sephiroth, as we have already
remarked, created the world and all things therein according
to their own archetype or in the likeness and similitude of the
Heavenly Man or the World of Emanations.
But, before we propound the Kabbalistic doctrine of the
creation of the world, it is necessary to describe a second
mode in which the trinity of triads in the Sephiroth is
represented, and to mention the appellations and offices of
the respective triads.
The Triads -- Intellectual World -- Sensuous World --
Material World
Now in looking at the Sephiroth which constitute the first
triad, it will be seen that they represent the intellect; hence
this triad is called the Intellectual World. The second triad,
again, represents moral qualities; hence it is designated the
moral or Sensuous World: whilst the third Triad represents
power and stability, and hence is designated the Material
World. These three aspects in which the En Soph manifested
himself are called the Faces (and the two words are identical,
the former being pure Aramaic, and the latter from the
Greek).
In the arrangement of this trinity of triads, so as to
produce what is called the Kabbalistic tree, denominated the
Tree of Life, or simply the Tree, the first triad is placed above,
the second and third are placed below, in such a manner that
the three masculine Sephiroth are on the right, the three
feminine on the left, whilst the four uniting Sephiroth occupy
the center.
The three Sephiroth on the right, representing the
principle of mercy, are called the Pillar of Mercy; the three on
the left, representing the principle of rigor, are denominated
the Pillar of Judgment; whilst the four Sephiroth in the
center, representing mildness, are called the Middle Pillar.
Each Sephira composing this trinity of triads is, as it were, a
trinity in itself.
(1). It has it own absolute character;
(2) It receives from above; and
(3). It communicates to what is below it.
Hence the remark, "Just as the Sacred Aged is
represented by the number three, so are all the other light
(Sephiroth) of a three fold nature." Within this trinity in
each unit and trinity of triads there is a trinity of units, which
must be explained before we can propound the Kabbalistic
view of the cosmogony.
We have seen that three of the Sephiroth constitute
uniting links between three pairs of opposites, and by this
means produce three triads, respectively denominated the
Intellectual World, the Sensuous or Moral World, and the
Material World, and that these three uniting Sephiroth,
together with the one which unites the whole into a common
unity, form what is called the Middle Pillar of the Kabbalistic
tree. Now from the important position they thus occupy,
these Sephiroth are synecdochically used to represent the
worlds which by their uniting potency they respectively yield.
Hence the Sephira, Crown, from which the Sephiroth,
Wisdom and Intelligence, emanated, and by which they are
also united, thus yielding the Intellectual World, is by itself
used to designate the Intellectual World. Its own names,
however, are not changed in this capacity, and it still
continues to be designated by the several appellations
mentioned in the description of the first Sephira.
The sixth Sephira, called Beauty, which unites Sephiroth
IV (Love) and V (Justice), thus yielding the Sensuous World,
is by itself used to denote the Sensuous World, and in this
capacity is called the Sacred King, or simply the King; whilst
the Sephira called Kingdom, which unites the whole
Sephiroth, is here used to represent the Material World,
instead of the ninth Sephira, called Foundation, and is in this
capacity denominated the Queen or the Matron. Thus we
obtain within the trinity of triads a higher trinity of units, viz.,
the Crown, Beauty, and Kingdom, which represents the
potencies of all the Sephiroth.
2). The Creation or the Kabbalistic Cosmogony.
Having arrived at the highest trinity which comprises all
the Sephiroth, and which consists of the Crown, the King,
and the Queen, we shall be able to enter into the cosmogony
of the Kabbalah. Now, it is not the En Soph who created the
world, but this trinity, as represented in the combination of
the Sephiroth; or rather the creation has arisen from the
conjunction of the emanations.
The world was born from the union of the Crowned King
and Queen; or, accordint to the language of the Kabbalah,
these opposite sexes of Royalty, who emanated from the En
Soph, produced the Universe in their own image. Worlds, we
are told, were indeed created before ever the king and queen
or the Sephiroth gave birth to the present state of things, but
they could not continue, and necessarily perished, because
the En Soph had not yet assumed this human form in its
completeness, which not only implies a moral and
intellectual nature, but, as conditions of development,
procreation, and continuance, also comprises sexual
opposites. This creation, which aborted and which has been
succeeded by the present order of things, is indicated in
Genesis 36:41-40.
The Kings of Edom, or the old kings as they are also
denominated, who are here said to have reigned before the
monarchs of Israel, and are mentioned as having died one
after the other, are those primordial worlds which were
successevely convulsed and destroyed; whilst the sovereigns
of Israel denote the King and Queen who emanated from the
En Soph, and who have give birth to and perpetuate the
present world.
Thus we are told: "Before the Aged of the Aged, the
Concealed of the Concealed, expanded into the form of King,
the Crown of Crowns [the first Sephira], there was neither
beginning nor end. He hewed and incised forms and figures
into it [the crown] in the following manner: He spread before
him a cover, and carved therein kings [worlds], and marked
out their limits and forms, but they could not preserve them-
selves. Therefore it is written, these are the kings that reigned
in the land of Edom before there reigned any king over the
Children of Israel.' This refers to the primordial kings and
primordial Israel. All these were imperfect: he therefore
removed them and let them vanish, till he finally descended
himself to this cover and assumed a form."
The notion, however, that worlds were created and
destroyed prior to the present creation, was propounded in
the Midrash long before the existence of the Kabbalah. Thus
on the verse, "And God saw everything that he had made,
and behold it was very good.", R. Abahu submits from this
we see that the Holy One, blessed be he, had successively
created and destroyed sundry worlds before he created the
present world, and when he created the present world he
said, this pleases me, the previous ones did not please me.
This important fact that worlds were created and destroyed
prior to the present creation is again and again reiterated in
the Sohar. These worlds are compared with sparks which fly
out from a red hot iron beaten by a hammer, and which are
extinguished according to the distance they are removed
from the burning mass.
"There were old worlds," the Sohar tells us, "which
perished as soon as they came into existence: were formless,
and they were called sparks. Thus the smith when
hammering the iron, lets the sparks fly in all directions. These
sparks are the primordial worlds, which could not continue,
because the Sacred Aged had not as yet assumed his form [of
opposite sexes -- the King and Queen], and the master was
not yet at his work."
But since nothing can be annihilated: "Nothing perisheth
in this world, not even the breath which issues from the
mouth, for this, like everything else, has its place and
destination, and the Holy One, blessed be his name! turns it
into his service;" these worlds could not be absolutely
destroyed. Hence when the question is asked: 'Why were
these primordial worlds destroyed?' the reply is given:
'Because the Man, represented by the ten Sephiroth, was not
as yet. The human form contains everything, and as it did not
as yet exist, the worlds were destroyed.'" It is added, "Still
when it is said that they perished, it is only meant thereby
that they lacked the true form, till the human form came into
being, in which all things are comprised, and which also
contains all those forms. Hence, though the Scripture
ascribes death to the kings of Edom, it only denotes a sinking
down from their dignity, the worlds up to that time did not
answer to the Divine idea, since they had not as yet the
perfect form of which they were capable."
Chapter 8
The Jews Believe God is Both King and Queen!
It was therefore after the destruction of previous worlds,
and after the En Soph or the Boundless assumed the Sephiric
form, that the present world was created. "The Holy One,
blessed be he, created and destroyed several worlds before
the present one was made, and when this last work was nigh
completion, all the things of this world, all the creatures of
the universe, in whatever age they were to exist, before ever
they entered into this world, were present before God in their
true form. Thus are the words of Ecclesiastes to be
understood 'What was, shall be, and what has been done,
shall be done.'" ; "The lower world is made after the pattern
of the upper world; every thing which exists in the upper
world is to be found as it were in a copy upon earth; still the
whole is one."
This world, however, is not a creation ex nihilo, but is
simply an immanent offspring and the image of the King and
Queen, or, in other words, a farther expansion or evolution of
the Sephiroth which are the emanations of the En Soph.
This is expressed in the Sohar in the following passage:
"The indivisible point [the Absolute], who has no limit, and
who cannot be comprehended because of his purity and
brightness, expanded from without, and formed a brightness
which served as a covering to the indivisible point, yet it too
could not be viewed in consequence of its immeasurable
light. It too expanded from without, and this expansion was
its garment. Thus everything originated through a constant
upheaving agitation, and thus finally the world originated."
The universe therefore is an immanent emanation from
the Sephiroth, and reveals and makes visible the Boundless
and the concealed of the concealed. And though it exhibits
the Deity in less splendor than its parents the Sephiroth,
because it is further removed from the primordial source of
light, yet, as it is God manifested, all the multifarious forms
in the world point out the unity which they represent; and
nothing in it can be destroyed, but everything must return to
the source whence it emanated. Hence it is said that, "all
things of which this world consists, spirit as well as body, will
return to their principal, and the root from which they
proceeded." ; "He is the beginning and end of all the degrees
in the creation. All these degrees are stamped with his seal,
and he cannot be otherwise described than by the unity. He
is one, notwithstanding, the innumerable forms which are in
him."
The Jews Believe in More than Thirty Gods!
Now these Sephiroth, or the world of emanations, or the
atzilatic world, gave birth to three worlds in the following
order: From the conjunction [copulation] of the king and
queen, or the Briatic world, also called the throne, which is
the abode of pure spirits, and which, like its parents, consists
of Ten Sephiroth, or Emanations.
The Briatic World, again, gave rise to, (2). The Word of
Formation, or the Jetziratic World, which is the habitation of
the angels, and also consists of ten Sephiroth; whilst the
Jetziratic World, again, sent forth. (3). The World of Action,
or the Assiatic World, also called the World of Keliphoth,
which contains the Spheres and matter, and is the residence
of the Prince of Darkness and his legions.
Or, as the Sohar describes it: "After the Sephiroth, and for
their use, God made the Throne (the world of Creation), with
four legs and six steps, thus making ten (the decade of
Sephiroth which each world has)...For this Throne and its
service he formed the ten Angelic hosts (the World of
Formation), Malachim, Arelim, Chajoth, Ophanim,
Chashmalim, Elim, Elohim, Benei Elohim, Ishim, and
Seraphim, and for their service, again, he made Sama‰l and
his legions (the World of Action), who are, as it were, the
clouds upon which the angels ride in their descent on the
earth, and serve, as it were, for their horses. Hence it is
written: 'Behold the Lord rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall
come into Egypt.'" There are, therefore, four worlds, each of
which has a separate Sephiric system, consisting of a decade
of emanations.
(1). The Atzilatic World, called alternately the World of
Emanations, the Image (== with prefixed), and the
Heavenly Man, which, by virtue of its being a direct
emanation from God and most intimately allied with the
Deity, is perfect and immutable.
(2). The Briatic World, called the World of Creation and
the Throne which is the immediate emanation of the former,
and whose ten Sephiroth, being further removed from the En
Soph, are of a more limited and circumscribed potency,
through the substances they comprise are of the purest
nature and without any admixture of matter.
(3). The Jetziratic World, called the World of Formation
and the World of Angels, which proceeded from the former
world, and whose ten Sephiroth, though of a still less refined
substance than the former, because further removed from the
primordial source, are still without matter. It is in this angelic
world where those intelligent and incorporeal beings reside,
who are wrapped in a luminous garment, and who assume a
sensuous form when they appear to man. And;
(4). The Assiatic World, called the World of Action and
the World of Matter which emanated from the preceding
world, the ten Sephiroth of which are made up of the grosser
elements of all the former three worlds, and which has sunk
down in consequence of its materiality and heaviness. It
substances consist of matter limited by space and perceptible
to the senses in a multiplicity of forms. It is subject to
constant changes, generations, and corruptions, and is the
abode of the Evil Spirit.
Before leaving this doctrine about the creation of the
relationship of the Supreme Being to the universe, we must
reiterate two things.
(1). Though the trinity of the Sephiroth gave birth to the
universe, or, in other words, is an evolution of the
emanations, and is thus a further expansion of the Deity
itself, it must not be supposed that the Kabbalists believe in
a Trinity in our sense of the word. Their view on this subject
will best be understood from the following remark in the
Sohar: "Whoso wishes to have an insight into the sacred
unity, let him consider a flame rising from a burning coal or
a burning lamp. He will see first a twofold light, a bright
white and a black or blue light; the white light is above, and
ascends in a direct light, whilst the blue or dark light is
below, and seems as the chair of the former, yet both are so
intimately connected together that they constitute only one
flame. The seat, however, formed by the blue or dark light, is
again connected with the burning matter which is under it
again. The white light never changes its color, it always
remains white; but various shades are observed in the lower
light, whilst the lowest light, moreover, takes two directions,
above it is connected with the white light, and below with
the burning matter. Now this is constantly consuming itself,
and perpetually ascends to the upper light, and thus
everything merges into a single unity.
(2). The creation, or the universe, is simply the garment
of God woven from the deity's own substance; or, as Spinoza
expresses it, God is the immanent basis of the universe. For
although, to reveal himself to us, the Concealed of all the
Concealed sent forth the Ten Emanations called The Form of
God, Form of the Heavenly man, yet since even this luminous
form was too dazzling for our vision, it had to assume another
form, or had to put on another garment which consists of the
universe. The universe, therefore, or The Visible World, is a
further expansion of The Divine Substance, and is called The
Kabbalah "The Garment of God."
Thus we are told, "when the Concealed of all the
Concealed wanted to reveal himself, he first made a point
[the first Sephira], shaped it into a sacred form [the totality
of the Sephiroth], and covered it with a rich and splendid
garment that is the world."
(3). The Creation of Angels and Men.
The different worlds which successively emanated from
the En Soph and from each other, and which sustain the
relationship to the Deity of first, second, third, and fourth
generations, are, with the exception of the first (the World of
Emanations), inhabited by spiritual beings of various grades.
"God animated every part of the firmament with a separate
spirit, and forthwith all the heavenly hosts were before him.
This is meant by the Psalmist, when he says, 'By the breath
of his mouth were made all their hosts.'"
These angels consist of two kinds, good and bad; they
have their respective princes, and occupy the three habitable
worlds in the following order. As has already been remarked,
the first world, or the Archetypal Man, in whose image
everything is formed, is occupied by no one else. The angel
Metatron occupies the second or the Briatic World, which is
the first habitable world; he alone constitutes the world of
pure spirits. He is the garment of the visible manifestation of
the Deity; his name is numerically equivalent to that of the
Lord.
He governs the visible world, preserves the unity,
harmony, and the revolutions of all the spheres, planets and
heavenly bodies, and is the Captain of the myriads of the
angelic hosts who people the second habitable or the
Jetziratic World, and who are divided into ten ranks,
answering to the ten Sephiroth. Each of these angels is set
over a different part of the universe. One has the control of
one sphere, another of another heavenly body; one angel has
charge of the sun, another of the moon, another of the earth,
another of the sea, another of the fire, another of the wind,
another of the light, another of the seasons, etc.,; and the
question, however, about the doctrine of the Trinity in other
passages of the Sohar will be discussed more amply in the
sequel, where we shall point out the relation of the Kabbalah
to Christianity.
The Kabbalistic description of Metatron is taken from the
Jewish angelogy of a much older date than this theosophy.
Thus Ben Asai and Ben Soma already regard the divine voice,
as Metatron. He is called the Great Teacher, the Teacher of
Teachers, and it is for this reason that Enoch, who walked in
close communion with God, and taught mankind by his holy
example, is said by the Chaldee paraphrase of Jonathan b.
Uzziel, to 'have received the name Metatron, the Great
Teacher' after he was transplanted. Metatron, moreover, is
the Presence Angel, the Angel of the Lord that was sent to go
before Israel; he is the visible manifestation of the Deity, for
in him is the name of the Lord, his name and that of the
Deity are identical, inasmuch as they are of the same
numerical value (viz.: and are the same according to the
exegetical rule called Gematria, 10 + 4 + 300 = 314; 50 + 6
+ 200 + 9 + 9 + 40 = 314.
So exalted is Metatron's position in the ancient Jewish
angelology, that we are told that when Elisha b. Abnja, also
called Acher, saw this angel who occupies the first position
after the Deity, he exclaimed, 'Peradventure, but far be it,
there are two supreme powers.' The etymology is greatly
disputed; but there is no doubt that it is to be derived from
metator, messenger, outrider, way maker, as has been shown
by Elias Levita, and is maintained by Cassel.
Sachs rightly remarks that this etymology is fixed by the
passage from siphra, the finger of God was the messenger
or guide to Moses, and showed him all the land of Israel. The
termination has been appended to obtain the same
numerical value.
The derivation of it from the angel is immediately under
the divine throne, which is maintained by Frank, Graetz
and others, has been shown by Frankel and Cassel, to be
both contrary to the form of the word and to the description
of Metatron. These angels derive their names from the
heavenly bodies they respectively guard. Hence one is called
Venus, one Mars, one the substance of Heaven, one the angel
of light, and another the angel of fire. The demons,
constituting the second class of angels, which are the grossest
and most deficient of all forms, and are the shells of being,
inhabit the third habitable or Assiatic World.
They, too, form ten degrees, answering to the decade of
Sephiroth, in which darkness and impurity increase with the
descent of each degree. Thus the two first degrees are
nothing more than the absence of all visible form and
organization, which the Mosaic cosmology describes in the
words before the hexahemeron, and which the Septuagint
renders.
The third degree is the abode of the darkness which the
book of Genesis describes as having in the beginning covered
the face of the earth. Whereupon follow seven infernal halls
== Hells, occupied by the demons, which are the
incarnation of all human vices, and which torture those poor
deluded beings who suffered themselves to be led astray in
this world. These seven infernal halls are subdivided into
endless compartments, as to afford a separate chamber of
torture for every species of sin. The prince of this region of
darkness, who is called Satan in the Bible, is denominated by
the Kabbalah, Sama‰l == angel of poison or of death. He is
the same evil spirit, Satan, the Serpent, who seduced Eve. He
has a wife, called the Harlot or the Woman of Whoredom,
but they are both generally represented as united in the one
name of the Beast.
The whole universe, however, was incomplete, and did
not receive its finishing stroke till man was formed, who is
the acme of the creation, and the microcosm uniting in
himself the totality of beings. "The heavenly Adam (the ten
Sephiroth), who emanated from the highest primordial
obscurity (the En Soph), created the earthly Adam." "Man
is both the import and the highest degree of creation, for
which reason he was formed on the sixth day. As soon as
man was created, everything was complete, including the
upper and nether worlds, for everything is comprised in man.
He unites in himself all forms."
Man was created with faculties and features far
transcending those of the angels. The bodies of the
protoplasts were not of that gross matter which constitutes
our bodies. Adam and Eve, before the fall, were wrapped in
that luminous ethereal, substance in which the celestial
spirits are clad, and which is neither subject to want nor to
sensual desires. They were envied by the angels of the
highest rank. The fall, however, changed it all, as we are told
in the following passage: "When Adam dwelled in the garden
of Eden, he was dressed in the celestial garment, which is a
garment of heavenly light. But when he was expelled from
the garden of Eden, and became subject to the wants of this
world, what is written? 'The Lord God made coats of skins
unto Adam and to his wife, and clothed them'; for prior to
this they had garments of light, light of that light which was
used in the garden of Eden."
The garments of skin, therefore, mean our present body,
which was given to our first parents in order to adapt them
to the changes which the fall introduced. But even in the
present form, the righteous are above the angels, and every
man is still the microcosm, and every member of his body
corresponds to a constituent part of the visible universe.
What is man? Is he simply skin, flesh, bones, and veins?
No! That which constitutes the real man is the soul, and
those things which are called the skin, the flesh, the bones,
and the veins, all these are merely a garment, they are simply
the clothes of the man, but not the man himself. When man
departs, he puts off these garments wherewith the son of
man is clothed. Yet are all these bones and sinews formed in
the secret of the highest wisdom, after the heavenly image.
The skin represents the firmament, which extends
everywhere, and covers everything like a garment, as it is
written, 'Who strethest out the heavens like a curtain.' The
flesh represents the deteriorated part of the world ...the
bones and the veins represent the heavenly chariot, the inner
powers, the servants of God...But these are the outer
garments, for in the inward part is the deep mystery of the
heavenly man. Everything here below, as above, is
mysterious.
Therefore it is written: 'God created man in his own
image, in the image of God created he him'; repeating the
word God twice, one for the man and the other for the
woman. The mystery of the earthly man is after the mystery
of the Heavenly man.
And just as we see in the firmament above, covering all
things, different signs which are formed of the stars and
planets, and which contain secret things and profound
mysteries, studied by those who are wise and expert in these
signs; so there are in the skin, which is the cover of the body
of the son of man, and which is like the sky that covers all
things, signs and features which are the stars and planets of
the skin, indicating secret things and profound mysteries,
whereby the wise are attracted, who understand to read the
mysteries in the human face."
He is still the presence of god upon earth [this is where
the humanist religion was born. That man is god!], and the
very form of the body depicts the Tetragrammation, the most
sacred name Jehovah.
Thus the head is the form of the arms and the shoulders
are like the breast represents the Sephiroth from which it
emanates, every soul has ten potencies, which are subdivided
into a trinity of triads, and respectively represented by:
(1) The Spirit, which is the highest degree of being, and
which both corresponds to and is operated upon by The
Crown, representing the highest triad, in the Sephiroth,
called the Intellectual World;
(2) The Soul, which is the seat of good and evil, as well as
the moral qualities, and which both corresponds to and is
operated upon by Beauty, representing the second triad in
the Sephiroth, called the Moral World; and
(3) The Cruder Spirit, which is immediately connected
with the body, is the direct cause of its lower functions,
instincts, and animal life, and which both corresponds to and
is operated upon by Foundation, representing the third triad
in the Sephiroth, called the Material World.
In its original state each soul is androgynous, and is
separated into male and female when it descends on earth to
be borne in a human body. We have seen that the souls of
the righteous, in the world of spirits, are superior in dignity to
the heavenly powers and the ministering angels. It might,
therefore, be asked why do these souls leave such as abode
of bliss, and come into this vale of tears to dwell in
tabernacles of clay?
The only reply to be given is that these happy souls have
no choice in the matter. Indeed we are told that the soul,
before assuming a human body, addresses 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 bond-maid, and be exposed
to all kinds of pollutions."
And can you wonder at this pitiful ejaculation? Should
your philanthropic feelings and your convictions that our
heavenly Father ordains all things for the good of his children,
impel you to ask that an explanation of this mystery might
graciously be vouchsafed to you in order to temper your
compassion and calm your faith, then take this parable: "A
son was born to a king; he sends him to the country, there to
be nursed and brought up till he is grown up, and instructed
in the ceremonies and usages of the royal palace. When the
king hears that the education of his son is finished, what does
his fatherly love impel him to do? For his son's sake he sends
for the Queen his mother, conducts him into the palace and
makes merry with him all day.
Thus the Holy One, blessed be he, has a son with the
Queen [Here the Jews are saying it is alright for a man to
make love with his own mother!]: this is the heavenly and
sacred soul. He sends him into the country, that is into this
world, therein to grow up and to learn the customs of the
court. When the King hears that this his son has grown up in
the country, and that it is time to bring him into the palace,
what does his love for his son impel him to do? He sends, for
his sake, for the Queen and conducts him to the palace."
As has already been remarked, the human soul, before it
descends into the world, is androgynous, or in other words,
consists of two component parts, each of which comprises all
the elements of our spiritual nature. Thus the Sohar tells us:
"Each soul and spirit, prior to its entering into this world,
consists of a male and female united into one being. When it
descends on this earth the two parts separate and animate
two different bodies.
At the time of marriage, the Holy One, blessed be he, who
knows all souls and spirits, unites them again as they were
before, and they again constitute one body and one soul,
forming as it were the right and left of one individual;
therefore 'There is nothing new under the sun.' This union,
however, is influenced by the deeds of the man and by the
ways in which he walks. The soul carries her knowledge with
her to the earth, so that 'everything which she learns here
below she knew already, before she entered into this world.'"
Since the form of the body as well as the soul, is made
after the image of the Heavenly Man, a figure of the
forth-coming body which is to clothe the newly descending
soul, is sent down from the celestial regions, to hover over
the couch of the husband and wife when they copulate, in
order that the conception may be formed according to this
model. "At connubial intercourse on earth, the Holy One,
blessed be he, sends a human form which bears the impress
of the divine stamp. This form is present at intercourse, and
if we were permitted to see it we should perceive over our
heads an image resembling a human face; and it is in this
image that we are formed. As long as this image is not sent
by God and does not descend and hover over our heads,
there can be no conception, for it is written: 'And God
created man in his own image.'
This image receives us when we enter the world, it
develops itself with us when we grow, and accompanies us
when we depart this life; as it is written: 'Surely, man walked
in an image': and this image is from heaven. When the souls
are to leave their heavenly abode, each soul separately
appears before the Holy King, dressed in a sublime form, with
the features in which it is to appear in this world. It is from
this sublime form that the image proceeds. It is the third after
the soul, and precedes it on the earth; it is present at the
conception, and there is no conception in the world where
this image is not present."
All human countenances are divisible into the four
primordial types of faces, which appeared at the mysterious
chariot throne in the vision of the prophet Ezekiel, viz., the
face of man, of the lion, the ox and the eagle. Our faces
resemble these more or less according to the rank which our
souls occupy in the intellectual or moral dominion; "And
physiognomy does not consist in the external lineaments, but
in the features which are mysteriously drawn in us. The
features in the face change according to the form which is
peculiar to the inward face of the spirit. It is the spirit which
produces all those physiognomical peculiarities known to the
wise; and it is only through the spirit that the features have
any meaning. All those spirits and souls which proceed from
Eden (the highest wisdom) have a peculiar form, which is
reflected in the face."
The face thus lighted up by the peculiar spirit inhabiting
the body, in the mirror of the soul; and the formation of the
head indicates the character and temper of the man. An
arched forehead is a sign of a cheerful and profound spirit, as
well as of a distinguished intellect; a broad but flat forehead
indicates foolishness and silliness; whilst a forehead which is
flat, compressed on the sides and spiral, betokens narrowness
of mind and vanity. As a necessary condition of free
existence and of moral being, the souls are endowed by the
Deity, from the very beginning, with the power of adhering in
close proximity to the primordial source of infinite light from
the very beginning, with the power of adhering in close
proximity to the primordial source of infinite light from which
they emanated, and of alienating themselves from that
source and pursuing an independent and opposite course.
Hence, Simon ben Jochai said, "If the Holy One, blessed
be he, had not put within us both the good and the evil
desire, which are denominated light and darkness, the
created man would have neither virtue nor vice. For this
reason it is written: 'Behold, I have set before thee this day
life and good, and death and evil.' To this the disciples
replied, Wherefore is all this? Would it not be better if reward
and punishment had not existed at all, since in that case man
would have been incapable of sinning and of doing evil. He
rejoined, It was meet and right that he should be created as
he was created, because the Law was created for him,
wherein are written punishments for the wicked and rewards
for the righteous; and there would not have been any reward
for the righteous and punishment for the wicked but for
created man."
So complete is their independence, that souls, even in
their pre-existent state, can and do choose which way they
intend to pursue. "All souls which are not guiltless in this
world, have already alienated themselves in heaven from the
Holy One, blessed be he; they have thrown themselves into
an abyss at their very existence, and have anticipated the
time when they are to descend on earth...Thus were the souls
before they came into this world."
(4). The Destiny of Man and the Universe.
As the En Soph constituted man the microcosm, and as
the Deity is reflected in this epitome of the universe more
than in any component part of the creation, all things visible
and invisible are designed to aid him in passing through his
probationary state here below, in gathering that experience
for which his soul has been sent down, and in returning in a
pure state to that source of light from which his soul
emanated.
This destiny of man, the reunion with the Deity from
which he emanated, is the constant desire both of God and
man, and is an essential principle of the soul, underlying its
very essence. Discarding that blind power from our nature,
which governs our animal life [This is where Darwin got the
idea for the origin of the species], which never quits this
earth, and which therefore plays no part in our spiritual
being, the soul possesses two kinds of powers and two sorts
of feelings.
It has the faculty for that extraordinary prophetical
knowledge, which was vouchsafed to Moses in an exceptional
manner, called the Luminous Mirror (speculator), and the
ordinary knowledge termed the Non-Luminous Mirror,
respectively represented in the earthly Paradise by the Tree
of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil; and it
possesses the higher feeling of love and the lower feeling of
fear. Now the full fruition of that higher knowledge and of
that loftier feeling of love can only be reaped when the soul
returns to the Infinite Source of Light, and is wrapped in that
luminous garment which the protoplasts forfeited throughout
the fall.
Thus we are told, "Come and see when the soul reaches
that place which is called the Treasury of Life, she enjoys a
bright and luminous mirror, which receives its light from the
highest heaven. The soul could not bear this light but for the
luminous mantle which she put on. For just as 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. Moses too could not
approach to look into that higher light which he saw, without
putting on such an ethereal garment: as it is written: 'And
Moses went into the midst of the cloud.', which is to be
translated by means of the cloud wherewith he wrapped
himself as if dressed in a garment. At that time Moses almost
discarded the whole of his earthly nature; as it is written,
'And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights'
(ibid); and he thus approached that dark cloud where God is
enthroned. In this wise the departed spirits of the righteous
dress themselves in the upper regions in luminous garments,
to be able to endure that light which streams from the Lord
of Light."
The two feelings of love and fear are designed to aid the
soul in achieving her high destiny, when she shall no more
look through the dark glass, but see face to face in the
presence of the Luminous Mirror, by permeating all acts of
obedience and divine worship. And though perfect love,
which is serving God purely out of love, like that higher
knowledge, is to be man's destiny in heaven, yet the soul may
attain some of it on earth, and endeavor to serve God out of
love and not from fear, as thereby she will have an antepast
on earth of its union with the Deity, which is to be so
rapturous and indissoluble in heaven.
"Yet is the service which arises from fear not to be
depreciated, for fear leads to love. it is true that he who obeys
God out of love has attained to the highest degree, and
already belongs to the saints of the world to come, but it
must not be supposed that to worship God out of fear is no
worship. Such a service has also its merit, though in this case
the union of the soul with the Deity is slight.
There is only one degree which is higher than fear: it is
love. In love is the mystery of the divine unity. It is love which
unites the higher and lower degrees together; it elevates
everything to that position where everything must be one.
This is also the mystery of the words, 'Hear O Israel, the Lord
our God is one God.'"
The Kabbalists and The Ten Sephira
Hence it is that these two principles play so important a
part in the devotions and contemplations of the Kabbalists.
Love is made to correspond to Mercy, the fourth Sephira,
whilst Fear is made to answer to Rigor, the fifth Sephira; and
it is asserted that when these two principles are thoroughly
combined by the righteous in their divine worship and acts of
obedience, the name Jehovah, which comprises these two
principles, and which is now rent in twain by the
preponderance of sin and disobedience, will be re- united.
Then, and then only will all the souls return to the bosom
of the Father of our spirits; then will the restitution of all
things take place, and the earth shall be covered with the
knowledge of God even as the waters cover the sea. This is
the reason why the Kabbalists utter the following prayer prior
to the performance of any of the commandments: "For the
re-union of the Holy One, blessed be his name, and his
Shechinah, I do this in love and fear and love, for the union
of the name into a perfect harmony! I pronounce this in the
name of all Israel!"
In order to represent this union to the senses the words
Fear and Love, are divided, and so placed above each other
that they may be read either across or down. When thus
fulfilling the commandments the pious not only enjoy a
prelibation of that sublime light which shines in heaven, and
which will serve them as a garment when they enter into the
other world and appear before the Holy One (Sohar, ii, 299b),
but become on earth already the habitation of the Sephiroth,
and each saint has that Sephira incarnate in him which
corresponds to the virtue he most cultivates, or to the feature
most predominant in his character.
Among the patriarchs, therefore, who were the most
exalted in piety, we find that Love, the fourth Sephira, was
incarnate in Abraham; Rigor, the fifth Sephira, in Isaac;
Mildness, the sixth Sephira, in Jacob; Firmness, the seventh
Sephira, in Moses; Splendour, the eighty Sephira, in Aaron;
Foundation, the ninth Sephira, in Joseph; and Kingdom, the
tenth Sephira, was incarnate in David.
Hence all the righteous who constitute the emanations,
of the ten Sephiroth are divided into three classes
corresponding to the three principles or Pillars exhibited in
the Kabbalistic Tree, viz.:
(1). The Pillar of Mercy, represented by the Patriarch
Abraham;
(2). The Pillar of Justice, represented by Isaac; and,
(3). The Middle Pillar, represented by Jacob, which is the
connecting or uniting principle.
It is for this reason that the patriarchs are denominated
the Chariot-throne of the Lord. Thus it is said: "All the
prophets looked into the Non-Luminous Mirror, whilst our
teacher, Moses, looked into the Luminous Mirror."
And again: "Also the divine service which is engendered
by fear and not by love, has its merit." But since nothing can
be annihilated: "Nothing perisheth in this world, not even
the breath which issues from the mouth, for this, like
everything else, has its place and destination, and the Holy
One, blessed be his name! turns it into his service;' -- these
worlds could not be absolutely destroyed. Hence when the
question is asked -- 'Why were these primordial worlds
destroyed?' the reply is given: 'Because the Man, represented
by the ten Sephiroth, was not as yet. The human form
contains everything, and as it did not as yet exist, the worlds
were destroyed.'
It is added, "Still when it is said that they perished, it is
only meant thereby that they lacked the true form, till the
human form came into being, in which all things are
comprised, and which also contains all those forms. Hence,
though the Scripture ascribes death to the kings of Edom, it
only denotes a sinking down from their dignity, the worlds up
to that time did not answer to the Divine idea, since they had
not as yet the perfect form of which they were capable."
Chapter 9
The Heavens and The Earth Created by
Letters!
Hence the admonition: "He who has to start on a journey
very early, should rise at daybreak, look carefully towards the
east, and he will perceive certain signs resembling letters
which pierce through the sky and appear above the horizon.
These shining forms are those of the Letters Wherewith God
Created Heaven and Earth..."
Now since it is an absolute condition of the soul to return
to the infinite source from which it emanated, after
developing all those perfections, the germs of which are
eternally implanted in it; and since some souls do not at once
develop these fruits of righteousness, which precludes their
immediate reunion with their primordial source, another
term of life is vouchsafed to them [This is where the idea of
reincarnation came from. It's just another Jewish subterfuge
to destroy some unsuspecting persons' faith], so that they
may be able to cultivate those virtues which they stifled in
their former bodily life, and without which it is impossible for
them to return to their heavenly home. Hence, if the soul, in
its first assuming a human body and sojourn on earth, fails to
acquire that experience for which it descends from heaven,
and becomes contaminated by that which is polluting, it
must re-inhabit a body again and again till it is able to ascend
in a purified state through repeated trials. (This is
Buddahism, who belive and worhip reincarnation) Thus we
are told that, "All souls are subject to transmigration, and
men do not know the ways of the Holy One, blessed be he;
they do not know that they are brought before the tribunal,
both before they enter into this world and after they quit it,
they are ignorant of the many transmigrations and secret
probations which they have to undergo, and of the number
of souls and spirits which enter into this world, and do not
return to the palace of the heavenly king. Men do not know
how the souls revolve like a stone which is their own from
sling; as it is written:-- 'And the souls of thine enemies them
shall he sling out, as out of the middle of a sling.' But the
time is at hand when these mysteries will be disclosed."
Here we can see how the Jews, again and again distort
the Word of God and teach men lies and falsehoods: "And as
it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the
judgment."
The transmigration of the soul into another body,
however, is restricted to three times; and if two souls in their
third residence in human bodies are still too weak to resist all
earthly trammels and to acquire the necessary experience,
they are both united and sent into one body, so that they may
be able conjointly to learn that which they were too feeble to
do separately.
It sometimes, however, happens that it is the singleness
and isolation of the soul which is the source of her weakness,
and she requires help to pass through her probation. In that
case she chooses for a companion a soul which has more
strength and better fortune. The stronger of the two then
becomes as it were the mother; she carries the sickly one in
her bosom, and nurses her from her own substance, just as a
woman nurses her child.
Such an association is therefore called pregnancy,
because the stronger soul gives as it were life and substance
to the weaker companion. According to Josephus, the
doctrine of the transmigration of souls into other bodies, was
also held by the Pharisees, restricting, however, the
metempsychosis to the righteous.
And though the Midrashim and the Talmud are silent
about it, yet from Saada's vituperations against it there is no
doubt that this doctrine was held among some Jews in the
ninth century of the present era.
At all events it is perfectly certain that the karaite Jews
firmly believed in it ever since the seventh century. St.
Jerome assures us that it was also propounded among the
early Christians as an esoteric and traditional doctrine which
was entrusted to the select few; and Origen was convinced
that it was only by means of this doctrine that certain
Scriptural narratives, such as the struggle of Jacob with Esau
before their birth, the reference about Jeremiah when still in
his mother's womb, and many others, can possibly be
explained. With which the history of the creation begins, and
which is also the first letter in the word blessing.
Even the archangel of wickedness, or the venomous
beast, or Sam„el, as he is called, will be restored to his
angelic nature and name, inasmuch as he too, like all other
beings, proceeded from the same infinite source of all things.
The first part of his name, which signifies venom, will then be
dropped, and he will retain the second part, which is the
common name of all the angels. This, however, will only take
place at the advent of Messiah. But his coming is retarded by
the very few new souls which enter into the world; as many
of the old souls which have already inhabited bodies have to
re- enter those bodies which are now born, in consequence
of having polluted themselves in their previous bodily
existence, and the soul of the Messiah, which, like other
souls, has its pre-existence in the world of the Sephiroth,
cannot be born till all human souls have passed through their
period of probation on this earth, because it is to be the last
born one at the end of days.
Reincarnation, or Transmigration of souls, is a doctrine of
the Cabala (Kabbala) Generally. Failing to wash off the
demons of the hands may turn one into a river, says the
Jewish Encyclopedia under "Transmigration of Souls."
The theory is the cause of much degradation in Hinduism.
In the Cabala, each soul corresponds to a part of the body of
the Adam Kadmon universe, some being "lower" organs,
some "higher."
The "dibbuk" or possessing spirit who can only be
expelled by a "Baal Shem" wonder-worker came into the
Jewish press in 1955 when the dibbuk was alleged to have
been seen leaving the body of its unwilling host. The Jewish
press all carried the report. "Zoharic elements...crept into the
liturgy of the 16th and 17th centuries ...the characteristic
features of which were the representation of the highest
thoughts by human emblems and human passions, and the
use of Erotic terminology to illustrate the relations between
man and God, religion being identical with love...sensuous
pleasures, and especially intoxication, typify the highest
degree of divine love as ecstatic contemplation, while the
wine- room represents merely the state through which the
human qualities merge or are exalted into those of the Deity."
There is nothing now there that the pagans who
consulted the oracles, and indulged in booze and sex
degeneracies, to worship the old sex-gods who were the
deities of all pagan civilizations, did not have centuries and
centuries ago. No wonder the unsparing denunciations of the
Prophets have to be "allegorized" away into nothing!
But the Word of God states that Christ: "For whom he did
foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the
image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many
brethren." Thus, again and again the Jews are shown to be
liars.
Making the words of Christ ever more true when He said:
"Ye [Jews] are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your
father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and
abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him.
When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a
liar, and the father of it."
Returning to the Kabbalah. Then the great Jubilee year
will commence, when the whole pleroma of souls, cleaned
and purified shall return into the bosom of the Infinite
Source; and they shall be in "the Palace which is situate in
the secret and most elevated part of heaven, and which is
called the Palace of Love."
There the profoundest mysteries are; there dwells the
Heavenly King, blessed be he, with the holy souls, and is
united with them by a loving kiss. "this kiss is the union of
the soul with the substance from which it emanated." Then
hell shall disappear; there shall be no more punishment, nor
temptation, nor sin: life will be an everlasting feast, a Sabbath
without end. Then all souls will be united with the Highest
Soul, and supplement each other in the Holy of Holies of the
Seven Halls.
Everything will then return to unity and perfection, every
thing will be united into one idea, which shall be over, and fill
the whole universe. The basis of this idea, however (the light
which is concealed in it), will never be fathomed or
comprehended; only the idea itself which emanates from it
shall be comprehended. In that state the creature will not be
distinguished from the Creator, the same idea will illuminate
both. Then the soul will rule the universe like God, and what
she shall command he will execute. (5). The Kabbalistic
view of the Old Testament, and its relation to Christianity.
We have already seen that the Kabbalah claims a
pre-Adamite existence, and asserts that its mysteries are
covertly conveyed in the first four books of the Pentateuch.
Those of us who read the Books of Moses, and cannot
discover in them any of the above-mentioned doctrines, will
naturally ask for the principles of exegesis whereby these
secrets are deduced from or rather introduced into the text.
These principles are laid down in the following
declaration: "If the Law simply consisted of ordinary
expressions and narratives, e.g., the words of Esau, Hagar,
Laban, the ass of Balaam, or of Balaam himself, why should
it be called the Law of truth, the perfect Law, the true
witness of God? Each word contains a sublime source, each
narrative points not only to the single instance in question,
but also to generals."
The notion that the creation is a blessing, and that this is
indicated in the first letter, is already propounded in the
Midrash, as may be seen from the following remark. The
reason why the Law begins with Beth, the second letter of
the Alphabet, and not with Aleph, the first letter, is that the
former is the first letter in the word blessing, while the latter
is the first letter in the word accursed. "Woe be to the son
of man who says that the Tora (Pentateuch - to the Jew it
means Talmud) contains common sayings and ordinary
narratives. For, if this were the case, we might in the present
day compose a code of doctrines from profane writings which
should excite greater respect. If the Law contains ordinary
matter, then there are nobler sentiments in profane codes.
Let us go and make a selection from them, and we shall be
able to compile a far superior code. But every word of the
Law has a sublime sense and a heavenly mystery...
Now the spiritual angels had to put on an earthly garment
when they descended to this earth; and if they had not put
on such a garment, they could neither have remained nor be
understood on the earth. And just as it was with the angels
so it is with the Law. When it descended on earth, the Law
had to put on an earthly garment to be understood by us, and
the narratives are its garment. There are some who think that
this garment is the real Law, and not the spirit which it
clothed, but these have no portion in the world to come; and
it is for this reason that David prayed, 'Open thou mine eyes
that I may behold the wondrous things out of the Law.'
What is under the garment of the Law? There is the
garment which everyone can see; and there are foolish
people who, when they see a well-dressed man, think of
nothing more worthy that this beautiful garment, and take it
for the body, whilst the worth of the body itself consists in the
soul. The Law too has a body: this is the commandments,
which are called the body of the Law. This body is clothed in
garments, which are the ordinary narratives. The fools of this
world look at nothing else by this garment, which consists of
the narratives in the Law; they do not know any more, and
do not understand what is beneath this garment. But those
who have more understanding do not look at the garment
but at the body beneath it (the moral); whilst the wisest, the
servants of the Heavenly King, those who dwelt at Mount
Sinai, look at nothing else but the soul (the secret doctrine),
which is the root of all the real Law, and these are destined
in the world to come to behold the Soul of this Soul (the
Deity), which breathes in the Law."
The opinion that the mysteries of the Kabbalah are to be
found in the garment of the Pentateuch is still more
systematically propounded in the following parable. "Like a
beautiful woman, concealed in the interior of her palace, who
when her friend and beloved passes by, opens for a moment
a secret window and is seen by him alone, and then
withdraws herself immediately and disappears for a long
time, so the doctrine only shows herself to the chosen (to him
who is devoted to her with body and soul); and even to him
not always in the same manner.
At first she simply beckons at the passer-by with her
hand, and it generally depends upon his understanding this
gentle hint. This is the interpretation known by the name.
Afterwards she approaches him a little closer, lisps him a few
words, but her form is still covered with a thick veil, which
his looks cannot penetrate.
She then converses with him with her face covered by a
thin veil; this is the enigmatic language. After having thus
become accustomed to her society, she at last shews herself
face to face and entrusts him with the innermost secrets of
her heart. This is the secret of the Law. He who is thus far
initiated in the mysteries of the Tora will understand that all
those profound secrets are based upon the simply literal
sense, and are in harmony with it; and from this literal sense
not a single iota is to be taken and nothing to be added to it."
This fourfold sense is gradually disclosed to the initiated
in the mysteries of the Kabbalah by the application of definite
hermeneutical rules, which chiefly affect the letters
composing the words. The most prominent of these canons
are:
1). Every letter of a word is reduced to its numerical value
and the word is explained by another of the same quantity.
Thus from the words "Lo! three men stood by him," it is
deduced that these three angels were Michael, Gabriel, and
Raphael, because and lo! three men, and these are Michael,
Gabriel, and Raphael, are of the same numerical value, as
will be seen from the following reduction to their numerical
value of both these phrases. 5 + 300 + 300 + 5 + 50 + 5 +
6 == 701 30 + 1 + 20 + 10 + 40 + 6 + 30 + 1 + 30 + 1 +
10 + 200 + 2 + 3 + 30 + 1 + 80 + 200 + 6 == 701 This rule
is a metathesis of a Greek word, in the sense of numbers as
represented by letters.
2). Every letter of a word is taken as an initial or
abbreviation of a word. Thus every letter of the first word in
Genesis, is made the initial of a word, and we obtain, in the
beginning God saw that Israel would accept the Law. This
rule is denominated, from notarius, a shorthand writer, one
who among the Romans belonged to that class of writers who
abbreviated and used single letters to signify whole words.
3). The initial and final letters of several words are
respectively formed into separate words. Thus from the
beginnings and ends of the words who shall go up for us to
heaven? are obtained circumcision and Jehovah, and
inferred that God ordained circumcision as the way to
heaven.
4). Two words occurring in the same verse are joined
together and made into one. Thus who and these are made
into God by transposing.
The words of those verses which are regarded as
containing a peculiar recondite meaning are ranged in
squares in such a manner as to be read either vertically or
boustrophedonally, beginning at the right or left hand. Again
the words of several verses are placed over each other, and
the letters which stand under each other are formed into new
words. As to the relation of the Kabbalah to Christianity, it is
maintained that this theosophy propounds the doctrine of the
trinity and the sufferings of Messiah. How far this is true may
be ascertained from the following passages.
We have already remarked in several places that the daily
liturgical declaration about the divine unity is that which is
indicated in the Bible, where Jehovah occurs first, then
Elohenu, and then again Jehovah, which three together
constitute a unity, and for this reason he [Jehovah] is in the
said place. But there are three names, and how can they be
one? And although we read one, are they really one? Now
this revealed by the vision of the Holy Ghost, and when the
eyes are closed we get to know that the three are only one.
This is also the mystery of the voice.
The voice is only one, and yet it consists of three
elements, fire [warmth], air [breath], and water [humidity],
yet are all these one in the mystery of the voice, and can only
be one, three forms which are one. And this is indicated by
the voice which man raises [at prayer], thereby to
comprehend spiritually the most perfect unity of the En Soph
for the finite, since all the three [Jehovah, Elohenu, Jehovah]
are read with the same loud voice, which comprises in itself
a trinity. And this is the daily confession of the divine unity
which, as a mystery, is revealed by the Holy ghost. This unity
has been explained in different ways, yet he who understands
it in this way is right, and he who understands it in another
way is also right. The idea of unity, however formed by us
here below, from the mystery of the audible voice which is
one, explains the thing.
On another occasion we are informed that R. Eleazar,
whilst sitting with his father R. Simeon, was anxious to know
how the two names, Jehovah and Elohim, can be inter-
changed, seeing that the one denotes mercy and the other
judgment. Before giving the discussion between the father
and the son, it is necessary to remark that whenever the two
divine names, Adonai and Jehovah, immediately follow each
other, Jehovah is pointed and read Elohim. The reason of
this, as it is generally supposed, is to avoid the repetition of
Adonai, Adonai, since the Tetragrammation is otherwise
always pointed and read.
The Kabbalah, however, as we shall see, discovers in it a
recondite meaning: "R. Eleazar, when sitting before his father
R. Simeon, said to him, we have been taught that whenever
Elohim sometimes be put for Jehovah, as is the case in those
passages wherein Adonai and Jehovah stand together,
seeing that the latter denotes mercy in all the passages in
which it occurs? To which he replied, Thus it is said in the
Scripture, 'Know therefore this day and consider it in thine
heart, that Jehovah is Elohim'; and again it is written
'Jehovah is Elohim.'
Whereupon he [the son] said, I know this forsooth, that
justice is sometimes tempered with mercy and mercy with
justice. Quoth he [the father], Come and see that it is so;
Jehovah indeed does signify mercy whenever it occurs, but
when through sin mercy is changed into justice, then it is
written Jehovah, but read Elohim. Now come and see the
mystery of the word [Jehovah]. There are three degrees, and
each degree exists by itself [in the Deity], although the three
together constitute one, they are closely united into one and
are inseparable from each other."
We shall only give one more passage bearing on the
subject of the Trinity. "He who reads the word One [in the
declaration of the divine unity] must pronounce the Aleph
quickly, shorten its sound a little, and not pause at all by this
letter, and he who obeys this, his life will be lengthened.
Whereupon they [the disciples] said to him [to R. Ilai], he
[R. Simeon] has said, There are two, and one is connected
with them, and they are three; but in being three they are
one. He said to them, those two names, Jehovah Jehovah,
are in the declaration 'Hear O Israel', and Elohenu, between
them, is united with them as the third, and this is the
conclusion which is sealed with the impression of Truth. But
when these three combined into a unity, they are one in a
single unity."
Indeed one Codex of the Sohar had the following remark
on the words "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts"; the first
holy refers to the Holy Father; the second to the Holy Son;
and the third to the Holy Ghost. This passage, however, is
omitted from the present recessions of the Sohar. Some
Jewish writers have felt these passages to be so favorable to
the doctrine of the Trinity, that they insist upon their being
interpolations into the Sohar, whilst other have tried to
explain them as referring to the Sephiroth.
As to the atonement of the Messiah for the sins of the
people, this is not only propounded in the Sohar, but is given
as the explanation of the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah. "When
the righteous are visited with sufferings and afflictions to
atone for the sins of the world, it is that they might atone for
all the sins of this generation. How is this proved? By all the
members of the body. 'When all members suffer, one member
is afflicted in order that all may recover. And which of them?
The arm. The arm is beaten, the blood is taken from it, and
then the recovery of all the members of the body is secured.
So it is with the children of the world: they are members of
another. When the Holy One, blessed be he, wishes the
recovery of the world, he afflicts one righteous from their
midst, and for his sake all are healed. How is this shown? it
is written: -- 'He was wounded for our transgressions, he was
bruised for our iniquities... and with his stripes we are
healed.' 'With his stripes,' healed, as by the wound of
bleeding an arm, and with this wound we are healed, it was
a healing to each one of us as members of the body."
Spirits Hover About The World
To the same effect is the following passage: "Those souls
which tarry in the nether garden of Eden hover about the
world, and when they see suffering or patient martyrs and
those who suffer for the unity of God, they return and
mention it to the Messiah. When they tell the Messiah of the
afflictions of Israel in exile, and that the sinners among them
do not reflect in order to know their Lord, he raises his voice
and weeps because of those sinners, as it is written, 'he is
wounded for our transgressions.' Whereupon those souls
return and take their place.
In the garden of Eden there is one place which is called
the palace of the sick. The Messiah goes into this palace and
invokes all the sufferings, pain, and afflictions of Israel to
come upon him, and they all come upon him. Now if he did
not remove them thus and take them upon himself, no man
could endure the sufferings of Israel, due as punishment for
transgressing the Law; as it is written: 'Surely he hath borne
our griefs and carried our sorrows, etc. When the children
of Israel were in the Holy Land they removed all those
sufferings and afflictions from the world by their prayers and
sacrifices, but now the Messiah removes them from the
world."
That these opinions favor, to a certain extent, the
doctrines of the Trinity and the Atonement, though not in the
orthodox sense, is not only admitted by many of the Jewish
literati who are adverse to the Kabbalah, but by some of its
friends. Indeed, the very fact that so large a number of
Kabbalists have from time to time embraced the Christian
faith would of itself show that there must be some sort of
affinity between the tenets of the respective systems. Some
of these converts occupied the highest position in the
Synagogue, both as pious Jews and literary men. We need
only specify Paul Ricci, physician to the Emperor Maximilian
I; Julius Conrad Otto, author of The Unveiled Secrets,
consisting of extracts from the Talmud and the Sohar, to
prove the validity of the Christian doctrine (Nšrenberg,
1805); John Stephen Rittengal, grandson of the celebrated
Don Isaac Abravanel, and translator of The Book Jetzira, or
of Creation, into Latin (Amsterdam, 1642); and Jacob Frank,
the great apostle of the Kabbalah in the eighteenth century,
whose example in professing Christianity was followed by
several thousands of his disciples.
The testimony of these distinguished Kabbalists, which
they give in their elaborate works, about the affinity of some
of the doctrines of this theosophy with those of Christianity,
is by no means to be slighted; and this is fully corroborated by
the celebrated Leo di Modena, who, as an orthodox Jew,
went so far as to question whether God will ever forgive those
who printed the Kabbalistic works.
The use made by some well-meaning Christians of the
above-named Kabbalistic canons of interpretation, in
controversies with Jews, to prove that the doctrines of
Christianity are concealed under the letter of the Old
Testament, will now be deprecated by every one who has any
regard for the laws of language.
As a literary curiosity, however, we shall give one or two
specimens. No less a person than the celebrated Reuchlin
would have it that the doctrine of the Trinity is to be found in
the first verse of Genesis. He submits, if the Hebrew word,
which is translated created, be examined, and if each of the
three letters composing this word be taken as the initial of a
separate word, we obtain the expressions Son, Spirit, Father,
according to Rule 2 (p. 229). Upon the same principle this
crudite scholar deduces the first two persons in the Trinity
from the words: "the stone which the builders refused is
become the head stone of the corner", by dividing the three
letters composing the word stone, into Father, Son.
In more recent times we find it maintained that the
'righteousness' spoken of in Daniel ix, 24, means the Anointed
of Jehovah, because the original phrase is by Gematria, ==
numerical value, (which is Rule 1, given above, p. 229). So
pleased is the author with this discovery, that he takes great
care to remark: "It is a proof which I believe has hitherto
escaped the notice of interpreters." Such proofs, however, of
the Messiaship of Christ bring no honor to our religion; and in
the present day argue badly both against him who adduces
them and against him who is convinced by them.
Chapter 10
Origin of The Kabbalah
We now proceed to trace the date and origin of the
Kabbalah. Taking the ex parte statement for what it is worth,
viz., that this secret doctrine is of a pre-Adamite date, and
that God himself propounded it to the angels in Paradise, we
shall have to examine the age of the oldest documents which
embody its tenets, and compare these doctrines with other
systems, in order to ascertain the real date and origin of this
theosophy. But before this is done, it will be necessary to
summarize, as briefly as possible, those doctrines which are
peculiar to the Kabbalah, or which it expounds and
elaborates in an especial manner, and which constitute it a
separate system within the precincts of Judaism. The
doctrines, the beliefs of the Jews are as follows:
1). God is boundless in his nature. He [God] has neither
will, intention, desire, thought, language, nor action. He
cannot be grasped and depicted; and, for this reason, is
called En Soph, and as such He is in a certain sense not
existent.
2). He [God] is not the direct Creator of the universe,
since He could not will the creation; and since a creation
proceeding directly from him would have to be as boundless
and as perfect as he is himself.
3). He at first sent forth ten emanations, or Sephiroth,
which are begotten, not made, and which are both infinite
and finite.
4). From these Sephiroth, which are the Archetypal Man,
the different worlds gradually and successively evolved.
These evolutionary worlds are the brightness and the express
image of their progenitors, the Sephiroth, which uphold all
things.
5). These emanations, or Sephiroth, gave rise to or
created in their own image all human souls. These souls are
pre-existent, they occupy a special hall in the upper world of
spirits, and there already decide whether they will pursue a
good or bad course in their temporary sojourn in the human
body, which is also fashioned according to the Archetypal
image.
6). No one has seen the En Soph at any time. It is the
Sephiroth, in whom the En Soph is incarnate, who have
revealed themselves to us, and to whom the
anthropomorphisms of Scripture and the Hagada refer. Thus
when it is said, "God spake, descended upon earth, ascended
into heaven, smelled the sweet smell of sacrifices, repented
in his heart, was angry," etc., or when the Hagadic works
describe the body and the mansions of the Deity, etc., all this
does not refer to the En Soph, but to these intermediate
beings.
7). It is an absolute condition of the soul to return to the
Infinite Source whence it emanated, after developing all
those perfections the germs of which are indelibly inherent in
it. If it fails to develop these germs, it must migrate into
another body, and in case it is still too weak to acquire the
virtues for which it is sent to this earth, it is united to another
and a stronger soul, which, occupying the same human body
with it, aids its weaker companion in obtaining the object for
which it came down from the world of spirits.
8). When all the pre-existent souls shall have passed their
probationary period here below, the restitution of all things
will take place; Satan will be restored to an angel of light, hell
will disappear, and all souls will return into the bosom of the
Deity whence they emanated. The creature shall not then be
distinguished from the Creator. Like God, the soul will rule
the universe: she shall command, and God [Will] obey.
With these cardinal doctrines before us we shall now be
able to examine the validity of the Kabbalists' claims to the
books which, according to them, propound their doctrines
and determine the origin of this theosophy. Their works are
(1). The Book of Creation; (2) The Sohar; and (3). The
Commentary of the Ten Sephiroth. As the Book of Creation
is acknowledged by all parties to be the oldest, we shall
examine it first.
1). The Book of Creation of Jetzira.
This famous document pretends to be a monologue of the
patriarch Abraham, and premises that the contemplations it
contains are those which led the father of the Hebrews [Here
the Jews inadvertently admit that they are not the children
of Abraham!] to abandon the worship of the stars and to
embrace the faith of the true God. Hence the remark of the
celebrated philosopher, R. Jehudah Ha-levi (born about
1086): "The Book of the Creation, which belongs to our father
Abraham...demonstrates the existence of the Deity and the
Divine Unity, by things which are on the one hand manifold
and multifarious, whilst on the other hand they converge and
harmonize; and this harmony can only proceed from One
who originated it."
The whole Treatise consists of six Perakim or chapters,
subdivided into thirty-three very brief Mishnas or sections, as
follows. The first chapter has twelve sections, the second has
five, the third five, the fourth four, the fifth three, and the
sixth four sections. The doctrines which it propounds are
delivered in the style of aphorisms or theorems, and,
pretending to be the dictates of Abraham, are laid down very
dogmatically, in a manner becoming the authority of this
patriarch.
As has already been intimated, the design of this treatise
is to exhibit a system whereby the universe may be viewed
methodically in connection with the truths given in the Bible,
thus showing, from the gradual and systematic development
of the creation, and from the harmony which prevails in all its
multitudinous component parts, that One God produced it
all, and that He is over all.
The order in which God gave rise to this creation out of
nothing, and the harmony which pervades all the constituent
parts of the universe are shown by the analogy which subsists
between the visible things and the signs of thought, or the
means whereby wisdom is expressed and perpetuated among
men. Since the letters have no absolute value, nor can they
be used as mere forms, but serve as the medium between
essence and form, and like words, assume the relation of
form to the real essence, and of essence to the embryo and
unexpressed thought, great value is attached to these letters,
and to the combinations and analogies of which they are
capable.
The patriarch Abraham, therefore, employs the double
value of the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet [It is
for this reason that the Book of Jetzira is also called the
Letters or alphabet of the Patriarch Abraham]; he uses them,
both in their phonetic nature and in their sacred character,
as expressing the divine truths of the Scriptures.
But, since the Hebrew alphabet is also used as numerals,
which are represented by the fundamental number ten, and
since the vowels of the language are also ten in number, this
decade is added to the twenty-two letters, and these two
kinds of signs, the twenty- two letters of the alphabet and the
ten fundamental numbers, are designated the thirty- two
ways of secret wisdom; and the treatise opens with the
declaration: "By thirty-two paths of secret wisdom, the
Eternal, the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, the living God,
the King of the Universe, the Merciful and Gracious, the High
and Exalted God, he who inhabiteth eternity, Glorious and
Holy is His name, hath created the world by means of
numbers, phonetic language, and writing."
First of all comes the fundamental number ten. This
decade is divided into a tetrade and hexade, and thereby is
shown the gradual development of the world out of nothing.
At first there existed nothing except the Divine Substance,
with the creative idea and the articulate creative word as the
Spirit or the Holy Spirit, which is one with the Divine
Substance and indivisible. Hence, the Spirit of the living God
stands at the head of all things and is represented by the
number one. "One is the spirit of the living God, blessed be
His name, who liveth for ever! voice, spirit, and word, this is
the Holy ghost."
From this spirit the whole universe proceeded in gradual
and successive emanations, in the following order. The
creative air, represented by number two, emanated from the
Spirit. "In it He engraved the twenty-two letters." The water
again, represented by the number three, proceeded from the
air. "In it He engraved darkness and emptiness, slime and
dung." While the ether or fire, represented by the number
four, emanated from the water. "In it He engraved the throne
of His glory, the Ophanim, the Seraphim, the sacred animals,
and the ministering angels, and from these three he formed
His habitation; as it is written: 'He maketh the wind his
messengers, flaming fire his servants."
These intermediate members between the Creator and
the created world sustain a passive and created relationship
to God, and an acting and creating relationship to the world;
so that God is neither in immediate connection with the
created and material universe, nor is His creative fiat
hindered by matter. Then comes the hexade, each unit of
which represents space in the six directions, or the four
corners of the world, east, west, north, and south, as well as
height and depth which emanated from the ether, and in the
center of which is the Holy Temple supporting the whole.
The position of the decade is therefore as follows:
(1) Spirit;
(6) North;
(2) Air;
(7) West; Holy Temple.
(3) Water;
(8) East;
(4) Ether or Fire;
(9) South; and
(5) Height;
(10) Depth.
These constitute the primordial ten, from which the whole
universe proceeded. And lastly follow, "The twenty-two
letters, by means of which God, having, drawn, hewn, and
weighed them, and having variously changed and put them
together, formed the souls of everthing that has been made,
and that shall be made."
These twenty-two letters of the alphabet and are then
divided into three groups, consisting respectively of, (1). The
three mothers, or fundamental letters, (2) Seven double and
(3) Twelve simple consonants, to deduce there from a triad
of elements, a heptade of opposites, and a duodecimo of
simple things, in the following manner.
1). Three Mothers, Aleph, Mem, Shin.
The above-named three primordial elements, viz., ether,
water and air, which were as yet partially ideal and ethereal,
became more concrete and palpable in the course of
emanation. Thus the fire developed itself into the earth,
embracing sea and land, whilst the elementary air became
the atmospheric air.
These constitute the three fundamental types of the
universe. The three primordial elements also thickened still
more in another direction, and gave birth to a new order of
creatures, which constitute the course of the year and the
temperatures.
From the ether developed itself heat, from the water
emanated cold, and from the air proceeded the mild
temperature which shows itself in the rain or wet. These
constitute the fundamental points of the year. Whereupon
the three primordial elements developed themselves in
another direction again, and gave rise to the human
organism.
The ether sent forth the human head, which is the seat of
intelligence; the water gave rise to the body, or the
abdominal system; whilst the air, which is the central
element, developed itself into the genital organ. These three
domains, viz., the macrocosm, the revolution of time, and the
microcosm, which proceeded from the three primordial
elements, are exhibited by the three letters Aleph, Mem and
Shin.
Hence it is said that by means of these three letters,
which, both in their phonetic and sacred character, represent
the elements, inasmuch as a gentle aspirate, and as the initial
of air, symbolizes the Air; as a labial or mute, and as the
initial of water, represents the Water: whilst, as a sibilant,
and as the last letter of fire, typifies the Fire: God created,
In the World -- The Fire,
Water, Air.
In Man -- the Head, Body,
Breast.
In the Year -- Heat, Cold,
Wet.
2). Seven double consonants -- Beth, Gimel, Daleth,
Caph, Pe, Resh, Tau.
The three dominions proceeding from the triad of the
primordial elements which emanated from the unity
continued to develop themselves still further. In the
macrocosm were developed the seven planets, in time the
seven days, and in the microcosm the seven sensuous
faculties.
These are represented by the seven double consonants of
the alphabet. Hence it is said that by means of these seven
letters, which are called double because they have a double
pronunciation, being sometimes aspirated and sometimes
not, according to their being with or without the Dagesh,
God created:
In the World -- Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun,
Venus, Mercury, Moon.
In Man -- Wisdom, Riches, Dominion, Life,
Favour, Progeny, Peace.
In the Year -- Sabbath, Thursday, Tuesday,
Sunday, Friday, Wednesday, Monday.
Owing to the opposite == double pronunciation of these
seven letters, being hard and soft, they are also the symbols
of the seven opposites in which human life moves, viz.,
wisdom and ignorance, riches and poverty, fruitfulness and
barrenness, life and death, liberty and bondage, peace and
war, beauty and deformity. Moreover, they correspond to the
seven ends, above and below, east and west, north and
south, and the Holy Place in the center, which supports
them; and with them God formed the seven heavens, the
seven earths or countries, the seven weeks from the feast of
Passover to Pentecost.
3). Twelve simple consonants.
The three dominions then respectively developed
themselves into twelve parts, the macrocosm into the twelve
signs of the Zodiac, time into twelve months, and the
microcosm into twelve active organs. This is shown by the
twelve simple consonants of the alphabet. Thus it is declared,
that by means of the twelve letters, God created the twelve
signs of the Zodiac, viz.: --
In the World: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo,
Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricornus, Aquarius, Pisces.
In Man: The organs of Sight, Hearing, Smelling, Talking,
Taste, Copulating, Dealing, Walking, Thinking, Anger,
laughter, Sleeping.
In the Year: The twelve months, viz., Nisan, Jiar, Sivan,
Tamus, Ab, Elul, Tishri, Cheshvan, Kislev, Tebet, Shebat,
Adar.
The three dominions continued gradually to develop into
that infinite variety of objects which is perceptible in each.
This infinite variety, proceeding from the combination of a
few, is propounded by means of the great diversity of
combinations and permutations of which the whole alphabet
is capable. These letters small in number, being only
twenty-two, by their power of combination and transposition,
field and endless number of words and figures, and thus
become the types of all the varied phenomena in the
creation. "Just as the twenty-two letters yield two hundred
and thirty-one types by combining Aleph with all the letters,
and all the letters with Alph; Beth, with all the letters, and all
the letters with Beth, so all the formations and all that is
spoken proceed from one name." Accordingly, the material
form of the spirit, represented by the twenty-two letters of
the alphabet, is the form of all existing beings. Apart from the
three dominions, the macrocosm, time, and microcosm, it is
only the Infinite who can be perceived, and of whom this
triad testifies; for which reason it is denominated "the three
true witnesses."
Each of this triad, notwithstanding its multifariousness,
constitutes a system, having its own center and dominion.
Just as God is the center of the universe, the heavenly dragon
is the center of the macrocosm; the foundation of the year is
the revolution of the Zodiac; whilst the center of the
microcosm is the heart. The first is like a king on his throne,
the second is like a king living among his subjects, and the
third is like a king in war.
The reason why the heart of man is like a monarch in the
midst of war is, that the twelve principal organs of the human
body, "are arrayed against each other in battle array; three
serve love, three hatred, three engender life, and three death.
The three engendering love are the heart, the ears and the
mouth; the three for enmity are the liver, the gall and the
tongue; but God, the faithful King, rules over all the three
systems. One [god] is over the three, the three are over the
seven, the seven over the twelve, and all are internally
connected with each other."
Thus the whole creation is one connected whole; it is like
a pyramid pointed at the top, which was its beginning, and
exceedingly broad in its basis, which is its fullest
development in all its multitudinous component parts.
Throughout the whole are perceptible two opposites, with a
reconciling medium. In the macrocosm, "the ethereal fire is
above, the water below, and the air is between these hostile
elements to reconcile them." The same is the case in the
heaven, earth and the atmosphere, as well as in the
microcosm. But all the opposites in the cosmic, telluric and
organic spheres, as well as in the moral world, are designed
to balance each other. "God has placed in all things one to
oppose the other; good to oppose evil, good proceeding from
good, and evil from evil; good purifies evil, and evil purifies
good; good is in store for the good, and evil is reserved for the
evil."
From this analysis of its contents it will be seen that the
Book Jetzira, which the Kabbalists claim as their oldest
document, has really nothing in common with the cardinal
doctrines of the Kabbalah. There is not a single word in it
bearing on the En Soph, the Archetypal Man, the
speculations about the being and nature of the Deity, and the
Sephiroth, which constitute the essence of the Kabbalah.
Even its treatment of the ten digits, as part of the thirty-
two ways of wisdom whereby God created the universe,
which has undoubtedly suggested to the authors of the
Kabbalah the idea of the ten Sephiroth, is quite different from
the mode in which the Kabbalistic Sephiroth are depicted, as
may be seen from a most cursory comparison of the
respective diagrams which we have given to illustrate the
plans of the two systems.
Besides the language of the Book Jetzira and the train of
ideas therein enunciated, as the erudite Zunz rightly remarks,
shew that this treatise belongs to the Geonim period, about
the ninth century of the Christian era, when it first became
known.
The fabrication of this pseudograph was evidently
suggested by the fact that the Talmud mentions some
treatises on the Creation, denominated and which R.
Chanina and R. Oshaja studied every Friday, whereby they
produced a calf three years old and ate it; and whereby R.
Joshua ben Chananja declared he could take fruit and
instantly produce the trees which belong to them.
Indeed Dr. Chwolson of Petersburg has shown in his
treatise "on the Remnants of the ancient Babylonian
Literature in Arabic translations," that the ancient
Babylonians laid it down as a maxim that if a man were
minutely and carefully to observe the process of nature, he
would be able to imitate nature and produce sundry
creatures. He would not only be able to create plants and
metals, but even living beings. These artificial productions
the Babylonians call productions or formations. Gutami, the
author of the Agricultura Nabat, who lived about 1400 B.C.
devoted a long chapter to the doctrine of artificial
productions. The ancient sorcerer Ankebuta declares, in his
work on artificial productions, that he created a man, and
shows how he did it; but he confesses that the human being
was without language and reason, that he could not eat, but
simply opened and closed his eyes.
This and many other fragments adds R, from whose
communication we quote, show that there were many works
in Babylon which treated on the artificial productions of
plants, metals, and living beings, and that the Book Jetzira,
mentioned in the Talmud, was most probably such a
Babylonian document.
As the document on creation, mentioned in the Talmud,
was lost in the course of time, the author of the Treatise
which we have analyzed tried to supply the loss, and hence
not only called his production by the ancient name the Book
of Creation, but ascribed it to the patriarch Abraham.
The perusal, however, of a single page of this book will
convince any impartial reader that it has as little in common
with the magic work mentioned in the Talmud or with the
ancient Babylonian works which treat of human creations, as
with the speculations about the being and nature of the
Deity, the En Soph and the Sephiroth, which are the essence
of the Kabbalah.
For those who would like to prosecute the study of the
metaphysical Book Jetzira, we must mention that this
Treatise was first published in a Latin translation by Postellus,
Paris, 1552. It was then published in the original with five
commentaries, viz., the spurious one of Saadia Gaon, one by
Moses Nachmanides, one by Eleazer Worms, one by
Abraham b. David, and one by Moses Botarel. Mantua, 1565.
Another Latin version is given in Jo. Pistorii artis
cabalistical semptorum, 1587, Tom. 1, p. 869 seq., which is
ascribed to Reuchlin and Paul Ricci; and a third Latin
translation, with notes and the Hebrew text, was published
by Rittangel, Amsterdam, 1662. The Book is also published
with a German translation and notes, by John Freidrich v.
Meyer, Leipzig, 1830.
As useful helps to the understanding of this difficult Book
we may mention The Kusari of R. Jehudah ha-levi, with
Cassel's German version and learned annotations, part iv.
chap 25, p. 344, etc. Having shown that the Book Jetzira,
claimed by the Kabbalists as their first and oldest code of
doctrines, has no affinity with the real tenets of the Kabbalah,
we have now to examine:
The Sohar
2). The Book Sohar.
Before we enter into an examination concerning the date
and authorship of this renowned code of the Kabbalistic
doctrines, it will be necessary to describe the component
parts of the Sohar. It seems that the proper Sohar, which is
a commentary on the five Books of Moses, according to the
division into Sabbatic sections, was originally called the
Midrash or Exposition.
Let there be Light, from the words in Gen. i, 4; because
the real Midrash begins with the exposition of this verse. The
name Sohar, Light Splendour, was given to it afterwards,
either because this document begins with the theme light, or
because the word Sohar frequently occurs on the first page.
It is referred to by the name of the Book Sohar in the
component parts of the treatise itself. The Sohar is also
called Midrash of R. Simon b. Jochai, because this Rabbi is its
reputed author.
The Sohar was first published by the Padova and Jacob b.
Naphtali, 3 vols. Mautna, 1558-1560, with an Introduction by
Is. de Lattes. Interspersed throughout the Sohar, either as
parts of the text with special titles, or in separate columns
with distinct superscriptions, are the following dissertations,
which we detail according to the order of the pages on which
they respectively commence.
1). Tosephta and Mathanithan and, or Small Additional
Pieces which are given in vol. i, 31b; 32b; 37a; 51b; 59a; 60b;
62; 98b; 121a; 122, 123b; 147; 151a; 152a; 232; 233b; 234a;
vol. ii, 4, 27b; 28a; 68b; 135b; vol. iii, 29b; 30a; 54b; 55.
They briefly discuss, by way of supplement, the various
topics of the Kabbalah, such as the Sephiroth, the emanation
of the primordial light, etc., and address themselves in
apostrophes to the initiated in these mysteries, calling their
attention to some doctrine or explanation.
2). Hechaloth or The Mansions and Abodes forming part
of the text vol. i, 38a-45b; vol. ii, 245a-269a.
This portion of the Sohar describes the topographical
structure of Paradise and Hell. The mansions or palaces,
which are seven in number, were at first the habitation of the
earthly Adam, but, after the fall of the protoplasts, were
rearranged to be the abode of the beautified saints, who for
this reason have the enjoyment both of this world and the
world to come.
The seven words in Genesis 1:2 are explained to describe
these seven mansions. Sohar, i, 45a, describes the seven
Hells. In some Codices, however, this description of the
Infernal Regions is given vol. ii, 202b.
3). Sithre Tora, or The Mysteries of the Pentateuch, given
in separate columns, and at the bottom of pages as follows.
Vol. i, 74b; 75a; 76b-77a; 78a-81b; 97a-102a; 107b-111a;
146b-149b; 151a; 152b; 154b-157b; 161b-162b; 165; vol. ii,
146a.
It discusses the divers topics of the Kabbalah, such as the
evolution of the Sephiroth, the emanation of the primordial
light, etc.
4). Midrash Ha-Neelam, or The Hidden Midrash, occupies
parallel columns with the text in vol. i, 97a-140a, and
endeavors more to explain passages of Scripture mystically,
by way of Remasim and Gematrias, and allegorically, than to
propound the doctrines of the Kabbalah.
Thus Abraham's prayer for Sodom and Gomorrah is
explained as an intercession by the congregated souls of the
saints in behalf of the sinners about to be punished. Lot's two
daughters are the two proclivities in man, good and evil.
Besides this mystical interpretation wherein the Kabbalistic
rules of exegesis are largely applied, the distinguishing
feature of this portion of the Sohar is its discussion on the
properties and destiny of the soul, which constitute an
essential doctrine of the Kabbalah.
5). Raja Mehemna, or the Faithful Shepherd. This portion
of the Sohar is given in the second and third volumes, in
parallel columns with the text; and when it is too
disproportioned for columns, is given at the bottom or in
separate pages, as follows. Vol. ii, 25; 40; 59b; 91b-93a; 134b;
157b-159a; 187b-188a; vol. iii, 3a-4b; 20a; 24b; 27; 28a-29a;
33a-34a; 42a; 44a; 63; 67b-68a; 81b-83b; 85b-86a; 88b-90a;
92b-93a; 97a-101a; 103b-104a; 108b-111b; 121b-126a;
145a-146b; 152b-153b; 174a-175a; 178b-179b; 180a;
215a-239a; 242a-258a; 263a-264a; 270b-283a.
It derives its name from the fact that it records the
discussions which Moses the Faithful Shepherd held in
conference with the prophet Elias, and with R. Simon b.
Jochai, the celebrated master of the Kabbalistic school, who
is called the Sacred Light. The chief object of this portion is
to show the profound and allegorical import of the Mosaic
commandments and prohibitions, as well as of the Rabbinic
injunctions and religious practices which obtained in the
course of time. At the dialogue which Moses the lawgiver
holds with R. Simon b. Jochai the Kabbalistic lawgiver, not
only is the prophet Elias present, but Abraham, Isaac, Jacob,
Aaron, David, Solomon, and God himself make their
appearance; the disciples of R. Simon are frequently in
ecstasies when they hold converse with these illustrious
patriarchs and kings of bygone days.
6). Raze Derazin, or the Secret of Secrets, Original
Secrets, is given in vol. ii, 70a-75a.
And is especially devoted to the physiognomy of the
Kabbalah, and the connection of the soul with the body,
based upon the advice of Jethro to his son-in-law Moses "and
thou shalt look into the face."
7). Saba Demishpatim, or the Discourse of the Aged in
Mishpatim, given in vol. ii, 94a-114a
The Aged is the prophet Elias, who holds converse with
R. Simon b. Jochai about the doctrine of metempsychosis,
and the discussion is attached to the Sabbatic section called,
Exod. xxi, 1 - xxiv, 18, because the Kabbalah takes this word
to signify punishments of souls, and finds its psychology in
this section. So enraptured were the disciples when their
master, the Sacred Light, discoursed with Moses on this
subject, that they knew not whether it was day or night, or
whether they were in the body or out of the body. "For such
are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves
into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself
is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great
thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of
righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works."
8). Siphra Detzniutha, or the Book of Secrets or Mysteries,
given in vol. ii, 176b-178b.
It is divided into five sections, and is chiefly occupied with
the discussing the questions involved in the creation, the
transition from the infinite to the finite, from absolute unity
to multifariousness, from pure intelligence to matter, the
double principle of masculine and feminine, expressed in the
Tetragrammaton, the andrgynous protoplast, the
Demonology concealed in the letters of Scripture, as seen in
Gen. vi, 2; Josh. ii, 1; 1 Kings viii, 3-16; the mysteries
contained in Isa. i, 4, and the doctrine of the Sephiroth
concealed in Gen. i; etc., as well as with showing the import
of the letters composing the Tetragrammation which were
the principal agents in the creation. This portion of the Sohar
has been translated into Latin by Rosenroth in the second
volume of his Kabbala Denudata, Frankfort-on-the-Maine,
1684.
9). Idra Rabba, or the Great Assembly is given in vol. iii,
127b-145b.
And derives its name from the fact that it purports to give
the discourses which R. Simon b. Jochai delivered to his
disciples who congregated around him in large numbers.
Upon the summons of the Sacred Light, his disciples
assembled to listen to the secrets and enigmas contained in
the Book of Mysteries.
Hence it is chiefly occupied with a description of the form
and various members of the deity, a disquisition on the
relation of the deity, in his two aspects of the aged and the
young, to the creation and the universe, as well as on the
diverse gigantic members of the Deity, such as the head, the
beard, the eyes, the nose, etc.; a dissertation on
pneumatology, demonology, etc. it concludes with telling us
that three of the disciples died during these discussions. This
portion too is given in a Latin translation in the second
volume of Rosenroth's Kabbala Denudata.
10). Januka, or the Discourse of the Young Man, is given
in vol. iii, 186a-19a, and forms part of the text of the Sohar on
the Sabbatic section called Balak, Numb. xxii, 2-xxv, 9.
It derives its name from the fact that the discourses
therein recorded were delivered by a young man, under the
following circumstances: R. Isaac and R. Jehudah, two of R.
Simon b. Jochai's disciples, when on a journey, and passing
through the village where the widow of R. Hamnuna Saba
resided, visited this venerable woman. She asked her son, the
young hero of this discourse, who had just returned from
school, to go to these two Rabbins to receive their
benediction; but the youth would not approach them
because he recognized, from the smell of their garments, that
they had omitted reciting on that day the prescribed
declaration about the unity of the Deity.
When at meals this wonderful Januka gave them sundry
discourses on the mysterious import of the washing of hands,
based on Exod. xxx, 20, on the grace recited at meals, on the
Shechinah, on the angel who redeemed Jacob, etc., which
elicited the declaration from the Rabbins that "this youth is
not the child of human parents"; and when hearing all this, R.
Simon b. Jochai coincided in the opinion, that "this youth is
of superhuman origin."
11). Idra Suta or the Small Assembly, is given in vol. iii,
287b-296b.
And derives its name from the fact that many of the
disciples of R. Simon b. Jochai had died during the course of
these Kabbalistic revelations, and that this portion of the
Sohar contains the discourses which the Sacred Light
delivered before his death to the small assembly of six pupils,
who still survived and congregated to listen to the profound
mysteries.
It is to a great extent a recapitulation of the Idra Rabba,
occupying itself with speculations about the Sephiroth, the
deity in his three aspects, or principles which successively
developed themselves from each other, viz., the en Soph, or
the boundless in his absolute nature, the Macroprosopon, or
the Boundless as manifested in the first emanation, and the
Microprosopon, the other nine emanations; the abortive
creations, etc., and concludes with recording the death of
Simon b. Jochai, the Sacred Light and the medium through
whom God revealed the contents of the Sohar.
From this brief analysis of its component parts and
contents, it will be seen that the Sohar does not propound a
regular kabbalistic system, but promiscuously and
reiteratedly dilates upon the diverse doctrines of this
theosophy, as indicated in the forms and ornaments of the
Hebrew alphabet, in the vowel points and accents, in the
Divine names and the letters of which they are composed.
Hence the Sohar is more a collection of homilies or
rhapsodies on Kabbalistic subjects than treatises on the
Kabbalah. It is for this very reason that it became the treasury
of the Kabbalah to the followers of this theosophy. Its
diversity became its charm.
The long conversations between its reputed author, R.
Simon b. Jochai, and Moses, the great lawgiver and true
shepherd, which it records; the short and pathetic prayers
inserted therein; the religious anecdotes; the attractive
spiritual explanations of scripture passages, appealing to the
hearts and wants of men.
The description of the Deity and of the Sephiroth under
tender forms of human relationships, comprehensible to the
finite mind, such as father, mother, primeval man, matron,
bride, white head, the great and small face, the luminous
mirror, the higher heaven, the higher earth, etc., which it
gives on every page, made the sohar a welcome text-book for
the students of the Kabbalah, who, by its vivid descriptions of
divine love, could lose themselves in rapturous embraces
with the Deity.
The Sohar pretends to be a revelation from God,
communicated through R. Simon b. Jochai, who flourished
about A.D. 70-110, to his select disciples. We are told that
"when they assembled to compose the Sohar, permission was
granted to the prophet Elias, to all the members of the
celestial college, to all angels, spirits, and superior souls, to
assist them; and the ten spiritual substances were charged to
disclose to them their profound mysteries, which were
reserved for the days of the Messiah."
On the approach of death, R. Simon b. Jochai assembled
the small number of his disciples and friends, amongst whom
was his son, R. Eleazar, to communicate to them his last
doctrines, "when he ordered as follows R. Aba writes, R.
Eleazar, my son propound, and let my other associates
quietly think about it."
It is upon the strength of these declarations, as well as
upon the repeated representation of R. Simon b. Jochai as
speaking and teaching throughout this production, that the
Sohar is ascribed to this Rabbi on its very title-page, and that
not only Jews, for centuries, but such distinguished Christian
scholars as Lightfoot, Gill, Bartolocci, Pfeifer, Knorr von
Rosenroth, Molitor, etc., have maintained this opinion. A
careful examination, however, of the following internal and
external evidence will show that this Thesaurus of the
Kabbalah is the production of the thirteenth century.
1). The Sohar most fulsomely praises its own author, calls
him the Sacred Light, and exalt him above Moses, "the true
Shepherd. "I testify by the sacred heavens and the sacred
earth that I now see what no son of man has seen since
Moses ascended the second time on Mount Sinai, for I see my
face shining as brilliantly as the light of the sun when it
descends as a healing for the world; as it is written, 'to you
who fear my name shall shine the Sun of Righteousness with
a healing in his wings.' Yea, more, I know that my face is
shining, but Moses did not know it nor understand it; for it is
written, 'Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone.'"
The disciples deify R. Simon in the Sohar, declaring that the
verse, "all thy males shall appear before the Lord God" refers
to R. Simon b. Jochai, who is the Lord, and before whom all
men must appear.
2). The sohar quotes and mystically explains the Hebrew
vowel points , which were introduced for the first time by R.
Mocha of Palestine, A.D. 570, to facilitate the reading of the
Scriptures for his students.
3). The sohar Faithful Shepherd, (on section iii, 82b), has
literally borrowed two verses from the celebrated Hymn of
Ibn Gebiro, who was born about A.D. 1021 and died in 1070.
This Hymn which is entitled The Royal Diadem, is a beautiful
and pathetic composition, embodying the cosmic views of
Aristotle, and forms part of the Jewish service for the evening
preceding the Great Day of Atonement to the present day.
4). The Sohar quotes and explains the interchange, on
the outside of the Mezuza, of the words Jehovah our God is
Jehovah for Kuzu Bemuchzaz Kuzu, by substituting for each
letter its immediate predecessor in the alphabet, which was
transplanted from France into Spain in the thirteenth
century.
5). The Sohar uses the expression Esnoga, which is a
Portuguese corruption of synagogue, and explains it in a
Kabbalistic manner as a compound of two Hebrew words, Es
== and Noga == brilliant light.
6). The Sohar ii, 32a. mentions the Crusades, the
momentary taking of Jerusalem by the Crusaders from the
Infidels, and the retaking of it by the Saracens.
"Woe to the time wherein Ishmael [see how the Jews lie
again and again - it was Abraham who received the
commandment to circumcise his male children - not
Ishmael!] saw the world, and received the sign of
circumcision! "What did the Holy One, blessed be his name?
He excluded the descendants of Ishmael, the Mohommedans,
from the congregation in heaven, but gave them a portion on
earth in the Holy Land, because of the sign of the covenant
which they possess. The Mahommedans are, therefore,
destined to rule for a time over the Holy Land; and they will
prevent the Israelites from returning to it, till the merit of the
Mahommedans is accomplished. At that time the
descendants of Ishmael will be the occasion of terrible wars
in the world, and the children of Edom, the Christians [Here
again they lie and say Christians are Edomites, when the
Scriptures along with the Jews own writings show it is the
Jews who are the Edomites not the Christians], will gather
together against them and do battle with them, some at sea
and some on land, and some in the neighborhood of
Jerusalem, and the victory will now be on the one side and
then on the other, but the Holy Land will not remain in the
hands of the Christians."
7). The Sohar records events which transpired A.D. 1264.
Thus on Num. xxiv, 17, which the Sohar explains as
referring to the time preceding the advent of Messiah, it
remarks, "the Holy One, blessed be he, is prepared to rebuild
Jerusalem. Previous to the rebuilding thereof he will cause to
appear, a wonderful and splendid star, which will shine
seventy days. It will first be seen on Friday, Elul == July
25th, and disappear on Saturday or Friday evening at the end
of seventy days. On the day preceding [its disappearance,
October 2nd] when it will still be seen in the city of Rome, on
that self-same day three high walls of that city of Rome and
the great palace will fall, and the pontiff ruler of the city will
die."
The comet here spoken of appeared over Rome, July
25th, 1264, and was visible till October 2nd, which are
literally the seventy days mentioned in the Sohar. Moreover,
July 25th, when the comment first appeared actually
happened on a Friday; on the day of its disappearance,
October 2nd, the sovereign pontiff of Rome, Urban IV, died
at Perugia, when it was believed the appearance of the
comment was the omen of his death, and the great and
strong palace Vincimento, fell on the self-same day, October
2nd, into the hand of the insurrectionists.
8). The Sohar, in assigning a reason why its contents were
not revealed before, says that the "time in which R. Simon
ben Jochai lived was peculiarly worthy and glorious, and that
it is near the advent of the Messiah," for which cause this
revelation was reserved till the days of R. Simon, to be
communicated through him.
Yet, speaking elsewhere of the advent of the Messiah, the
Sohar, instead of placing it in the second century when this
Rabbi lived, forgets itself and says: "When the sixtieth or the
sixty-sixth year shall have passed over the threshold of the
sixth millennium [A.M. 5060-66 == A.D. 1300-1306] the
Messiah will appear"; thus showing that the author lived in
the thirteenth century of the Christian era. In perfect
harmony with this is the fact that:
9). The doctrine of the En Soph, and the Sephiroth, as
well as the metempsychosisian retribution were not known
before the thirteenth century..."With the assistance of this
mysterious science a man could master all the spirits that flit
like shadows through the universe: could obtain the services
of the angels, perform the most astounding deeds. Such was
the meaning attached to this science and the awe which the
Kabbalist inspired was far superior to that which the wizard
or magician inspired. For the Kabbalist owed his power to the
knowledge which was vouchsafed to him through the study
of sacred writings, whilst the wizard or magician was
suspected of some unholy compact with the Master of
Darkness. This at once shows that even in the darkest ages
of superstition and blind belief, Kabbala was never associated
with evil purposes, nor the Kabbalist with some mysterious
dark power. He was credited with having penetrated the
mysteries of this world by almost a special grace of God;
through some holy agency the veil that covers everything had
been lifted for him."
The line drawn here between the white Kabbalist and the
black magician is as arbitrary as all attempted classifications
of magic under rubrics are doomed to be; white and black are
continually mingling and fertilizing each other; and the
ineffable names of the Kabbala were used and misused by the
magical confraternity quite as profusely as those of the
divinities of Egypt, Greece and Christendom.
The holier the names, the more powerful they were
supposed to be; and even the divine appellations of the
Kabbalistic Sephiroth did not escape magical pollution. This
fundamental doctrine of the emanations of God from Ain (En)
Soph (the Illimitable One) through Kether, the Crown; Binah,
Understanding; Chokmah, Wisdom; Geburah, Strength;
Chesed, Pity; Hod, Greatness; Netzach, Victory; Jesod,
Foundation; Malkuth, Kingdom, supplied Jewish mystics
with food for enraptured contemplation and their
philosophers with matter for abstruse speculations. But it
also ministered to the insatiable demand for names of power
inherent in the very nature of magic.
By connecting a particular name for God with each of His
emanations (Jah, Jehovah, El, Elohim, Jehod, Eloha,
Sabaoth, Shadai, Adonai), it delivered these sacred symbols
into the hands of sorcerers; and most eagerly of course was
grasped the one about which there seemed to be the most
mystery.
A great and almost impenetrable mystery had indeed
gradually grown up round the name which there seemed to
be the most mystery. A great and almost impenetrable
mystery had indeed gradually grown up round the name
which to us seems the most familiar of all, even though its
pronunciation has shifted in our own day: Jehovah or
Jahweh. Represented by the letters JHVH (Yod He Vau He),
it seems at first to have been openly spoken.
But a time came when, possibly owing to the
mystery-mongering about divine names in Egypt and
Babylonia, the Hebrew priests refrained from pronouncing it,
and substituted Adonai (Lord) when they read the sacred
texts out loud.
The Jewish people followed their lead; and, because of
the absence of vowels from the Hebrew alphabet, the original
pronunciation was finally forgotten and not rediscovered until
A.D. 300 or there abouts.
It was the Kabbalists who emphasized the mystery
surrounding the letters JHVH by referring to the name they
represented as the 'word of four letters,' Tetragrammation,
and this caught on like wild-fire in the magical texts. Few
indeed and far between are those modern rituals in which
that awe-inspiring name does not occupy the place of honor.
It is not one of the many bizarre appellations to be found in
the Sword of Moses, which may have been pre-Kabbalistic in
origin; but this text nevertheless illustrates particularly vividly
the strange hold which cipher-language has always had over
the Jewish mind, and which has rendered the obscurity and
complexity of magical names still more hopeless to
disentangle.
There are well over a hundred and forty divine or angelic
ineffable names in this treatise; but the majority, according
to Gaster, defy transliteration. The following passages,
however, throw some light on the mental gymnastics
involved in composing them: "... and these are the Ineffable
names and their surnames: Spirit Piskonnit, kunya, X;
Atimon, kunya, X; Piskon (?), Hugron, kunya, X; Sanigron,
kunya, X; Msi, Kunya, X; Mokon, kunya, X; Astm, kunya, X;
Sktm, kunya, X; Ihoaiel, kunya, X; Iofiel, kunya, X; Ssnialiah,
kunya, X; Kngiela, kunya, X; Zabdiel, kunya, X. I conjure thee
with these fourteen names, by which all the secrets and
mysteries and signs are sealed and accomplished, and which
are the foundations of heaven and earth. (Kunya is the
surname; X stands for names which have not been
transliterated).
I further call thee with the greatest of thy Names, the
pleasant and beloved one, which is the same as that of thy
Master, save one letter, with which He created and formed
everything, and which He placed as a seal upon all the work
of His hand; and this is its equivalent -- X, and the other in
the language of purity (permutations of the letters Yod, He)
is read so -- X. I conjure thee with the right hand of sanctity
and with His beloved Name, in whose honor everything has
been created, and all are terror-struck by His mighty arm,
and all the sons of the internal heavenly cohort tremble and
shake of His fear, which is X, and its equivalent by means of
JHVH is X...in the name X, Lord, most high and holy, in the
name of the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel's battalions; in
the name of the holy living Creatures, and in the name of the
Wheels of the Chariot, and in the name of the river of fire, Ih,
Ziin, and all His ministers, and in the name of IH, Ziin,
Sabaoth, Z, El Z, Shaddai Z, X revealed Himself on Mount
Sinai in the glory of His majesty."
These names were held to be omnipotent over both good
spirits and evil ones; and to be exceedingly terrible: "And if
you should refuse me, I will hand you over to the Lord God
and to his Ineffable name, whose wrath and anger and fire
are kindled, who honors his creatures with one letter of his
name, and is called X; so that if you refuse he will destroy
you, and you will not be found when searched after." "With
these Names, terrible and mighty, which darken the sun, and
obscure the moon, and turn the sea, and break the rocks, and
extinguished the light I conjure you, spirits, and...Shiddim,
and Satanism, that you depart and disappear from N, son of
N."
The affiliations between Kabbalism and Gnosticism are
notoriously very close, for indeed the Gnosis not only derived
from but also entered into every contemporary doctrine and
religious or mystical system. As regards the Ineffable Name,
it out-clamored (as was its custom) even the Kabbala: "If
anyone knows that Name when he goes out of the material
body, neither smoke nor darkness, neither Archon, angel, or
archangel, would be able to hurt the soul which knows that
Name. And if it be spoken by anyone going out from the
world and said to the fire, it will be extinguished; and to the
darkness, it will disappear; and if it be said to the demons
and to the satellites of the external darkness, to its Archons,
and to its lords and powers, they will all perish, and their
flame will burn them so that they exclaim: 'Thou are holy,
Thou art holy, the Holy of all the Holy.' And if that Name is
said to the judges of the wicked, and to their lords and all
their powers, and to Barbelo and the invisible God, and to
the three Gods of triple power, as soon as that Name is
uttered in those regions they will fall one upon the other, so
that being destroyed they perish and exclaim: 'Light of all the
Lights, who art in the infinite lights, have mercy upon us and
purify us."
Magicians did rather more than borrow ineffable names
from the Kabbala. The Zohar first became known in Europe
in the thirteenth century, when a poor Jew, Moses Leon,
brought it to Spain.
From then onwards Kabbalism has never ceased to exert
an incalculable influence upon occultists of every description.
The Kabbalistic tree, which give the Sephiroth in a tabular
form, and the doctrine that the invisible can be known by
analogy from the visible ('as below, so above') have led to
abysmally abstruse speculations, to the most extravagant
flights of fancy and to the most fine-spun theories; for the
obscurity of the language of Zohar as well as the pantheism
underlying the doctrine of the emanations have had an
almost intoxicating effect on the minds of mystics,
mystagogues and magicians, as the language of Eliphas LŠvi,
who was a combination of all three, amply testifies: 'On
penetrating into the sanctuary of the Kabbalah one is seized
with admiration in the presence of a doctrine so logical, so
simple and at the same time so absolute.
The essential union of ideas and signs; the consecration
of the most fundamental realities by primitive characters; the
trinity of words, letters and numbers; a philosophy simple as
the alphabet, profound and infinite as the Word; theorems
more complete and luminous than those of Pythagoras; a
theology which may be summed up on the fingers; an infinite
which can be held in the hollow of an infant's hand; ten
figures and twenty-two letters, a triangle, a square and a
circle: such are the elements of the Kabbalah. Such also are
the component principles of the written Word, reflection of
that spoken Word which created the world! All truly
dogmatic religions have issued from the Kabbalah and return
therein.
Whatsoever is grand or scientific in the religious dreams
of the illuminated, of Jacob B”hme, Swedenborg,
Saint-Martin and the rest, is borrowed from the Kabbalah; all
Masonic associations owe to it [Kabbala or Cabbala] their
secrets and their symbols.
The Kabbalah alone consecrates the alliance of universal
reason and the Divine Word; it establishes, by the
counterpoise of two forces in apparent opposition, the eternal
balance of being; it alone reconciles reason with faith, power
with liberty, science with mystery: it has the keys of the
present, past and future!"
The hoary (though mythical) antiquity of the Kabbala,
fathered on the fallen angels and also on Moses, was another
reason which recommended it to magicians; for magic,
always conscious of a remote and glorious golden age, seeks
in the distant past and its memorials for the secrets of
knowledge, wisdom and power. This is why magical rituals
have been ascribed, from time immemorial, to sages as far
removed in time as was compatible with the survival of their
memory.
In the fifteenth century books of magical secrets and ritual
processes were attributed to Adam, Abel, Noah, Joseph,
Moses, Solomon, Reuben, Enoch, Zoroaster, Hermes
Trismegistus, Aristotle, Alexander the Great, Virgil and
Mahomet, to mention only the most outstanding and
popular. This custom has persisted until today, and moved
Waite to scholarly but uncritical wrath: "Back-dating and
imputed authorship are the two crying sins of magical hand-
books...There never was a literature so founded on forgery as
Magic... Knavish methods...have ruled the manufacture of
most magical books...A literature which has done nothing but
ascribe falsely..."
These false assumptions and antedatings, if they are
symptoms of the fundamental delusiveness of magic, also
witness to its reverence for age, authority and tradition. The
individual claims are invalid; but the antiquity of magic and
its supremacy in ancient times are matters of historical fact.
Venerable indeed as well as many and diverse were the
strands woven into the rope with which medieval and
modern magicians hoped to draw into their sphere the
unknown powers around them; deities and demons from
Babylon, Egypt, Persia, Palestine and Greece; magic names
spoken in the dawn of time in languages now dead and gone;
others taken from a ghost-speech which had never exited in
reality; ritual processes enacted through countless ages and
fixed in high perfection before the birth of Christ; pagan
practices; Eastern mysticism; Hebrew folk-lore; Christian
theology; apocalyptic angelology and demonology;
Kabbalistic symbolism; neo-Platonic philosophy. All this (not
to mention the considerable part played by astrology in the
rituals of magic nor the presence of ritual elements in the
experiments of alchemy) was assimilated well or ill, partially
or totally misunderstood, mangled, mutilated, corrupted, but
still there in the quasi-modern rituals which have found their
way into print.
Superficially considered, these appear to be a mass of
unintelligible nonsense which it would be a waste of time to
examine closely. But a patient scrutiny reveals much of great
interest buried underneath the rubbish on the top. A
philosophy underlies the rituals; and beneath these mounds
of folly are remnants of ancient civilizations.
Chapter 11
Satanism
In the records of antiquity the result and not the origin
meets the gaze; but the relationship of cause and effect
seems undeniable. The necromantic scene in the Epic of
Gilgamish undoubtedly gives the impression of being based
on ritual ceremonies (notably burial rites) witnessed by the
poet, and so does the raising of Darius in The Persians;
whereas Homer's description deems rather to have been in-
spired by legend or hearsay. The love-charms in Virgil's
Pharmaceutria were deliberately chosen for their poetical
quality, and Lucan's hair-raising account of the rites of
Erichtho illustrates the propensity of ritual to produce fiction,
consummated in Apuleius' Golden Ass.
A less conscious and more organic development can be
traced in the influence of the katabasis on the descent of
Aeneas into the Underworld in the wake of many an
actor-hero in kingship and fertility-rites; and Dante's Divine
Comedy is a poet's vision and interpretation of the journey
through the nether and upper regions constantly undertaken
by magicians in legend because they had done so in the rites.
These two examples show the creative energy in ceremonial
magic transformed into peerless poetry; but the question still
remains as to whether any comparable process has occurred
in more recent times.
Shakespeare's Ariel and Milton's Azael derive from
magical texts and it is just possible that the demonologies
which were such a marked feature of these manuals from
The Testament of Solomon downwards contributed the
notion of a pandemonium to Milton, who crystallized the
floating conceptions generated by the rituals into a superb
pageantry of evil.
But this is speculation and does not admit of proof. One
is on firmer ground with the Greek magical papyri which
show spontaneous development into poetry in many of the
texts, a process also visible in some of Anti-Scot's rituals, in
which magic for magic's sake lords it over practical
considerations, and poetry is achieved.
This however is in the framework of the ceremony itself,
as are also the epic elements discernible in The Testament of
Solomon, which elaborated the legend of the demons
building of the Temple and contributed some items to it,
verging on the territory of folk-lore. The introductions to the
Key of Solomon also used and added something to the
mythical matter about the wise king, and the first part of the
Lemegeton could be described as an amplification and
elaboration of the legend of the brazen vessel.
'Fosts's Magi has epic streaks in it also; the planetary
spirits as well as the presumed author and Mephisto give
autogiographical details, which are also present in the Black
Raven; while the pygmies in Magia and Luridan in Anti-Scot
show affiliations with folk-lore. In all these case the rituals
owe far more to legend than they add to it, and are hardly
more than signs and tokens of a persistent magical tradition
associated with certain well-known names.
Rather less hidebound is The Book of the Sacred Magic of
Abramelin the Mage as delivered by Abraham the Jew unto
his son Lamech A.D. 1458. This mid-fifteenth-century text,
originally written in Hebrew and translated from French into
English by Mathers, has a long autobiographical introduction
describing how the writer became possessed of the secrets
communicated in the manuscript.
Having received instruction in the Kabbala from his father
Simon, Abraham set out at the age of twenty when Simon
died upon a voyage of discovery into the mysteries of the
Lord. He went first to Mayence, where for ten years he sat at
the feet of a Jew called Moses, only to come to the
conclusion that his arts were infidel and idolatrous, whether
deriving from Egyptian, Median, Persian, or Arabian sources.
On February 13, 1397 he therefore embarked for Egypt
and spent two years in Constantinople, learning the sacred
wisdom of Abramelin and copying out his secret books. On
the way home he visited the magicians in all the cities he
passed through and was disillusioned or disgusted with
nearly all, notably with the wizard whom he found in Prague;
"...a wicked man named Antony, who in truth showed me
wonderful and supernatural things, but the infamous wretch
avowed to me, that he had made a pact with the demon, and
had given himself over to him in body and in soul, while the
deceitful Leviathan had promised him forty years of life to do
his pleasure. To this day they sing in the streets of the terrible
end which befell him, for his body was found dragged
through the streets and his head without any tongue therein
lying in a drain."
"They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were
never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be
made free? Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto
you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the
servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth
ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free
indeed. I know that ye [Jews] are Abraham's seed; but ye
[Jews] seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in
you. I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye
do that which ye [Jews] have seen with your father. They
answered and said unto, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith
unto them, if ye [Jews] were Abraham's children, ye would
do the works of Abraham. But now ye seek to kill me, a man
that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this
did not Abraham. Ye [Jews] do the deeds of your father.
Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication [This is
making reference to Judah and Tamar and their twin sons
Pharez and Zarah, whom the Jews believe to have been born
of fornication. This does not make reference to Christ Himself
as the Jews knew nothing about Mary, His mother being with
child of the Holy Spirit until centuries later]; we have one
Father, even God. Jesus said unto them, if God were your
father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came
from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. Why do
ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear
my word. Ye [Jews] are of your father the devil, and the lusts
of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the
beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no
truth in him [Here Christ is saying there is no truth in the
Jews]. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he
is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth,
ye believe me not."
We are warned by Christ. But most of America's so-called
Christians will not, because of lying pastors, ministers, etc.,
listen to His Words: "For many shall come in my name,
saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many." For a second
witness: "For many shall come in my name, saying, I am
Christ; and shall deceive many."
But God will send us ministers, priests, pastors and etc.,
who will: "Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a
solemn assembly: Gather the people, sanctify the
congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and
those that suck the breasts: let the bridegroom [Christ] go
forth of his chamber, and the bride [Israel] out of her closet.
Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the
porch and the altar, and let them say, spare thy people, O
Lord, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the
heathen should rule over them: wherefore should they say
among the people, where is their God? Then will the Lord be
jealous for his land, and pity is people."