Frater Barrabbas - Magical Qabalah for Beginners - Inglês (2024)

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© Paul B. RuckerAbout the AuthorFrater Barrabbas is a practicing ritual magician who has studied magic andthe occult for over thirty-five years. He is the founder of a magical ordercalled the Order of the Gnostic Star and an elder and lineage holder in theAlexandrian tradition of Witchcraft. He lives in Minnesota.Please visit his blog, fraterbarrabbas.blogspot.com.Llewellyn PublicationsWoodbury, MinnesotaCopyright InformationMagical Qabalah for Beginners: A ComprehensiveGuide to Occult Knowledge © 2013 by FraterBarrabbas.All rights reserved. No part of this book may be usedor reproduced in any matter whatsoever, includingInternet usage, without written permission fromLlewellyn Publications, except in the form of briefquotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.As the purchaser of this e-book, you are granted thenon-exclusive, non-transferable right to access andread the text of this e-book on screen. The text maynot be otherwise reproduced, transmitted,downloaded, or recorded on any other storage devicein any form or by any means.Any unauthorized usage of the text without expresswritten permission of the publisher is a violation ofthe author’s copyright and is illegal and punishableby law.First e-book edition © 2012E-book ISBN: 9780738732695Cover background texture: iStockphoto.com/PeterZeleiCover design by Adrienne ZimigaInterior illustrations by Llewellyn Art DepartmentLlewellyn Publications is an imprint of LlewellynWorldwide Ltd.Llewellyn Publications does not participate in,endorse, or have any authority or responsibilityconcerning private business arrangements betweenour authors and the public.Any Internet references contained in this work arecurrent at publication time, but the publisher cannotguarantee that a specific reference will continue or bemaintained. Please refer to the publisher’s website forlinks to current author websites.Llewellyn PublicationsLlewellyn Worldwide Ltd.2143 Wooddale DriveWoodbury, MN 55125www.llewellyn.comManufactured in the United States of AmericaContentsone—Why Study the Qabalah?Part One: Theoretical Qabalah:Basic Elementstwo—Essential Qabalah in Five Partsthree—A Brief History of the Qabalahfour—Qabalah of the Ten Sephirothfive—Qabalah of the 22 Pathssix—Creation, Unmanifest Godhead, and the Nature of Evilseven—Four Worlds and the Four Subtle BodiesPart Two: Practical Qabalah:Qabalistic Magic Simplifiedeight—Overview and Cosmological Frameworknine—Techniques of Mind Controlten—The Art of Pathworkingeleven—Godnames: Explanation and Usetwelve—Spiritual Hierarchiesthirteen—Theurgy and Invocationfourteen—Systems of Correspondencefifteen—Systems of Numerologysixteen—Ascension, Transformation, Wisdom, and Gnosis:Putting It All TogetherEpilogue: A Qabalistic MageGlossaryBibliographyAoneWhy Study the Qabalah?long time ago, when I was just sixteen years old, I got to visit the localinfamous occult bookstore in the city of Milwaukee, not too far fromwhere I lived. I thought that this store, called Sanctum Regnum, was thecoolest place on the planet. I had just recently started calling myself a Witchand affecting all sorts of weirdness and silliness, including wearing blackclothes, sporting occult jewelry, and doing other “Witchy things.” As I wasyoung and inexperienced, it was still a rather superficial preoccupation onmy part.Sanctum Regnum was a very gothic occult bookstore. It was black andred on the outside and inside, with shelves of obscure and hard-to-findbooks, swords, daggers, crystal balls, Tarot cards, jewelry, and herbs. Iteven had a moveable throne in the back, which functioned as a door to thebasement where Tarot card readings and other psychic things were goingon. It was, in a word, a repository of everything having to do with theoccult, magic, and Witchcraft. Needless to say, I was deeply enthralled withit!Anyway, here I was, at this very special place with strange-lookinginhabitants, just soaking it all in as much as I could. I attempted to interactwith some of the other customers, and I am sure that I was probably prettyannoying and obnoxious, being an overexcited teenager. I approached twomysterious individuals with long hair, beards, and hippie-style clothing, who were quietly discussing a book that they hadopened and were examining together. I walked up to them and said, “So, doyou guys know anyone around here who is practicing Witchcraft?”They turned and coolly appraised me, and my exuberance was quicklysquashed. One of them asked me, “Do you know of the Qabalah?” It was anawkward moment for me, and I wanted to lie and say, “Sure, I know lots ofstuff,” but I didn’t. Instead, I said, “Well, actually, no, I don’t.” At the mereutterance of that admission, they turned their backs to me and continuedwith their quiet conversation, completely ignoring me.Needless to say, I felt like a complete schmuck. My feelings were hurt,and I felt crushed. That was my first experience with the Qabalah. I took itupon myself from that moment on to learn and master that arcane subject, toprove to them and anyone else that I could do it, but it was a path and apreoccupation that took many years. Now, nearly forty years later, I can say,“Yes, I do know of the Qabalah!”Because of that traumatic experience, I can easily understand that theword Qabalah evokes all sorts of fantastic and imaginary things. It is aword that is often used to label things that are mysterious, obscure, overlycomplex, uniquely trendy, and incapable of being understood by ordinaryfolk. Many are put off by the word itself, since it is a foreign word whosemeaning is obscure to English speakers. Also, there are a number ofdifferent spellings for this word, as the variations of Qabalah, Qabala,Cabala, and Kabbalah would indicate. Merely the fact that this word hasdifferent spellings, which would seem to indicate different things todifferent people, adds to the overall confusion associated with this subject.Western occultists tend to use the spelling Qabalah, but Cabala wouldindicate a decidedly Christian or archaic spelling, and Kabbalah is thespelling preferred by scholars and Jewish adherents. Therefore, the spellingitself indicates a different perspective in terms of how the topic is to bepresented. Because I am using the spelling Qabalah, you can assume that Iam taking a nonsectarian and modern occult perspective. We’ll take that asa given for the rest of this book.Defining the QabalahSo what is the Qabalah, and why is it important? Why bother to learn it, andwhat benefit will you gain from studying it? These are very seriousquestions, and if I am going to engage your mind and imagination, they hadbetter be answered in the first few pages or I will lose your interestaltogether. I won’t stultify you with complex definitions, long and drawn-out history lessons, or attempts to regale you with all sorts of mysticmumble jumble. The Qabalah is actually quite simple and succinct—believeit or not! It has some very specific uses that are revolutionary andremarkable, allowing the average occultist to comprehend and master allsorts of diverse spiritual ideas, systems, and theological aspects. In fact, itcan organize and give meaning to nearly everything that is concerned withmysticism, occultism, religion, and magic. If you think that sounds likequite a tall order to fill, you are correct, but the Qabalah does that and muchmore.Qabalah comes from the Hebrew verb root QBL, which means “to receiveor accept instruction, to undertake.” What that means is that the Qabalah isa kind of mystical knowledge that is directly received or apprehended fromthe source, which is the Godhead. Ironically, the word qabalah in ModernHebrew is a very common term because it is used to denote a kind ofbusiness receipt or transaction (something received, or giving information).Yet to really understand what the word means, we haveto Scholem, produced two opposing but notcompletely distinct disciplines, one based wholly on speculation (QabalahIyyunit) and its associated mystical practices such as meditation andcontemplation, and another based wholly on practical or magical techniques(Qabalah Ma’asit). Those who pursued the practical applications wereconcerned with determining the names of angels and Godhead attributes,and they promoted occult methods of theurgy, practical spell work, andGoetic (demonic) magic.These two disciplines diverged probably sometime around the 14thcentury, so, before that time, magic and theurgy played an important part inthe formation and development of the Qabalah. That Scholem admits theprimacy and importance of magical practices and occult speculation to theformation of the Qabalah appears to be quite unique, since many otherauthors seem to either deny this possibility or to denigrate the obviouspractical applications of the Qabalah as a divergent and unimportant laterdevelopment.The fact that historians have any clue about the evolution of the Qabalahis due primarily to the voluminous literature that was produced over thecenturies. That literature can also be condensed down to several strategicmanuscripts, books, and authors representing specific milestones in thedevelopment of the Qabalah. The origins of the Qabalah are veiled inspeculation and conjecture, but the appearance of these manuscripts andbooks gives a credible timeline for its development.We know that by the time the first in a long series of manuscripts waswritten and disseminated (i.e., the Sepher Yetzirah), the various ideas andconcepts of the Qabalah had already achieved a certain level of maturityand refinement. This fact reveals that the Qabalah had already beenundergoing many centuries of development before this first milestone wasachieved. In fact, it would seem that the Qabalists were attempting tolegitimize their knowledge by producing their own versions of thisliterature.What seemed to have been taking place was a kind of shadow process inwhich various Qabalists sought to mimic what was being done by variousJewish rabbinical schools. In order to understand the evolution of theQabalah, we need to first document the evolution and development ofJewish biblical literature, since it would seem that the two are linked.Jewish Biblical LiteratureIn order to proceed with developing a history of the Qabalah, let us firstexamine the corresponding history of the Hebrew Bible and Jewish biblicalliterature. I will define terms such as Midrash, Mishnah, and Torah anddemonstrate that Qabalists used these works as models for developing theQabalah.The Hebrew Bible is called the Tenakh, and it consists of three essentialparts.6 The first and most important part is called the Torah, which means“instruction.” The Torah contains the first five books of the Hebrew Bible:Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The second part,in sequential order, is called the Khetuvim, which are the lesser books, suchas the Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Songs, Ruth, and others, and the thirdpart is called the Nevi’im, which are the books of the Prophets, includingJoshua, Kings, and Judges. The word Tenakh is an acronym for Torah,Nevi’im, and Khetuvim, or TNKh. The canon of the Hebrew Bible wasformulated and finalized sometime during the last two centuries BCE,during the Hasmonean kingship.In addition to the Hebrew Bible, there was also a considerable amount oforally transmitted lore regarding various legal considerations, traditions,and even folklore. This oral lore was finally written up after the Bar Kokhbarevolt in Judea (132–136 CE), because the religious leaders of the dayfeared that this knowledge would be lost if it weren’t committed to writing.Therefore, a new religious literature was redacted and completed around200 CE by Judah ha-Nasi and his followers, and it was called the Mishnah,which means “repetition” (derived from the verb root ShNH, which meansto “study and review”). Many rabbinical scholars worked on the Mishnah,and Judah ha-Nasi was only the last in a long line of multigenerationalscholars, called the Tannaim, or teachers.Once the Mishnah was committed to writing, there were many commentsand additional considerations that began to be associated with it, and thesewere compiled into another book, called the Gemara, which consisted ofwritings that presented a deeper and more thorough analysis of the contentsof the Mishnah. The combination of the Mishnah and the Gemara wascalled the Talmud, which also contained a lot of historical information andfootnotes about the associated scholarship (annotations, controversies, andarguments) that went into the canonization of the Tenakh and the finalformulation of the Mishnah.Rabbinical scholars of the Gemara were called the Amoraim, whichmeans “those who say or tell about [the Laws].” Additionally, there weretwo Talmuds that were developed: the first in Palestine, which was calledthe Jerusalem Talmud, and the second in Babylon, which was appropriatelycalled the Babylonian Talmud. Of these two Talmuds, only the Babylonianis complete, while nearly half of the Jerusalem Talmud was supposedly lost.———Another important book in the body of Jewish biblical lore that was beingdeveloped during the same time frame as the Jerusalem and BabylonianTalmud was the Midrash, which means “to investigate or study.” TheMidrash was a body of written lore that consisted of many homileticcommentaries (sermons) and an in-depth analysis of various passages of theTorah.7 These textual analyses consisted of two kinds: those that wereconcerned with Jewish religious law (halakha) and those that wereconcerned with non-legal and homiletic themes (aggadah).Also, the Midrash was not a single book, since it was considered more ofa process than a theme developed by a single author. The various books ofthe Midrash were each focused on a single book of the Tenakh, and thesewere ultimately grouped together as ten Midrashim called the MidrashRabba, or Great Midrash.Qabalah was powerfully influenced by strategic verses in the HebrewBible. Its tenets were formulated by a religious worldview of Judaism,which was also shared by Christianity and Islam. Despite the fact that theQabalah was founded in the holy scriptures of the Torah, it also freelyincorporated methodologies and philosophic concepts that were alien tobiblical teachings: the occult practices and philosophies of the Greco-Roman pagan world. The occultic nature of the Qabalah made it a perfectsystem and methodology for those who espoused an esoteric or theurgicspiritual perspective, yet it was European occultists who adopted and madeit into a modern occult tool.History of the Qabalah in Nine PhasesAfter considering the evolution of Jewish biblical literature, we can nowdetermine a historical timeline consisting of nine phases for thedevelopment of the Qabalah. Each of these phases, except for the first, hada specific literary work representing the ideas, practices, and beliefs currentduring that period. None of the historians that I have researched have tiedthe evolution of the Qabalah to specific literary works, but it is implied inall of them, since it is the literary products that these historians have turnedto in order to base their conjectures.It is my theory that as this Jewish biblical literature evolved, so did thecorresponding Qabalistic literature. The location and centers for thedevelopment of this Jewish biblical literature became the centers for theQabalah as well. So, during the time when the Jewish rabbis in Palestinewere assembling the Mishnah and building up the Jerusalem Talmud, theQabalists in the same area produced and built up the Sepher Yetzirah. Whenthe focus of religious academia shifted to Babylon and produced theBabylonian Talmud and the Midrash, so too did the Qabalists. Then, whenthe focus for rabbinicstudies moved to Provence and then again to Spain,the centers for Qabalistic development followed suit. At each majorlocation, the Qabalists achieved a literary milestone that produced anadditional manuscript (or a series of manuscripts), thereby adding to thelore of the Qabalah.These nine phases are represented by eight milestone literary creationsthat profoundly shaped the development of the Qabalah. These worksconsist of the following list of books or authors: Sepher Yetzirah, RazaRabba (Great Mystery), Sepher Bahir (Book of Illumination), Sepher Zohar(Book of Splendors), the writings of Moses Cordovero and Isaac Luria,Qabalah Denudada (Qabalah Unveiled) of Christian Knorr von Rosenroth,The Mystical Qabalah by Dion Fortune, and the writings of Dr. Philip S.Berg and Z’ev ben Shimon Halevi. Each of these books and author’swritings represents a specific period in the timeline of the Qabalah. I wouldpropose that these stages be grouped in the following manner:• Esoteric origins (occurring several centuries before the third centuryCE, Judea)• Sepher Yetzirah (third–fifth centuries, Judea)• Raza Rabba (sixth–ninth centuries, Babylon during the Talmudicperiod)• Sepher Bahir (ninth–11th centuries, Provence)• Sepher Zohar—Classical Spanish Qabalah (12th–16th centuries,Spain)• Moses Cordovero and Isaac Luria (mid-16th century, Safed)• Qabalah Denudata—Christian Qabalah (late 17th century,Germany)• Mystical Qabalah—Occult Qabalah (1935, England)• Berg and Halevi—Jewish resurgence (1970s–1990s, United States)These nine levels consist of particular periods of development, such asthe origins of esotericism (Merkabah and Heikhalot mysticism), the time ofthe Sepher Yetzirah and Qabalah Ma’asit, then the period of the Talmud, tothe time of the classical Spanish Jewish Qabalah, followed by a period oftransition during which the Qabalah became the provenance of Christianoccultists, and then its final metamorphosis into the modern system used byoccultists and modern Jews today. To complete this historical analysis, weshould briefly examine each of these periods of the Qabalah. What we willfind is that the Qabalah changed over time to become the focus andphilosophy of different groups of individuals, some of whom would hardlyagree or realize any affinity with those who came after them. (See Figure4.)Esoteric Origins—Merkabah and Heikhalot MysticismThe process of expressing an otherwise invisible and unknowable Godbegan to be conceptualized in a mythical and theosophical format. Somescholars believe that the seventh century BCE was the point in time whenmonotheism began to be formulated in Judaism, while others believe that itwas more firmly established after the first exilic period. Regardless of theexact timing, these speculations began to build a body of mystical insightsand ideas, causing the exoteric history and laws of the Jews to become asecret and esoteric universal doctrine.Perhaps the most striking speculation developed out of one of the moreobscure books of the prophets, Ezekiel, who saw a vision of the Throne ofGod that was placed within a chariot and surrounded by protective angels(Seraphim). One could compare this motif with the Chariot card in themodern Tarot. The Chariot Throne, also known as the Merkabah, fueled agreat deal of imaginative speculation. So, too, did Jacob’s ladder, and theBereshith of Genesis, which produced speculation about the nature of divinecreation. (Bereshith is Hebrew for “In the beginning” and is part of the firstsentence as well as the chapter name of the biblical book of Genesis.)Figure 4: Timeline for the QabalahThe Palaces of the House of God were as important as the ChariotThrone, known as the Heikhalot. Supposedly, there were seven of thesepalaces arranged in ascending order, which made them analogous to theseven heavens or celestial spheres. The Heikhalot mysticism would play animportant role in forming the practical Qabalah, since obtaining access tothe various palaces would require ecstatic and magical techniques, and alsooccult knowledge. The first Book of Enoch has an excellent example of thisHeikhalot structure.A system of detailed exercises was established to produce magical andecstatic effects used to attain the spiritual state of ascent that would allow aseeker to commune directly with the Deity. It was a sequential process inwhich the adherent would first access the various Palaces of the House ofGod, and then he would move on to the very Chariot of God itself. Oncethese palaces were accessed, he would seek to command spirits through theuse of various secret names and seals, and by those same mechanisms, tocast out demons. These practices may be similar to those practiced by theEssenes and other itinerant magical/mystical practitioners.Most important from this period was the introduction of a body ofesoteric literature that discussed in great detail all of the attributes of thevarious levels of the heavenly palaces (Heikhalot) and the various angelicbeings and spirits that reside there, especially their hidden names. Most ofthese writings exist in a fragmentary form, but one of the most importantwas the Reuyot Yehezkel (Vision of Ezekiel).8 The main emphasis of theseworks was not an analysis of the passages found in the scriptures, but theywere based instead on actual direct experience with the divine symbols andapparitions of the Godhead.Examinations of the Bereshith passage, which triggered speculation aboutcosmology (known as ma’aseh Bereshith) and even speculation about thesupposed measurements of the various limbs of the mysterious ChariotDriver, are given full expression in esoteric literature. The Shi’ur Komah9(measuring of the body) was a collection of speculation that sought tomeasure the Glory of the Godhead. It was linked to esoteric interpretationsof the biblical book Song of Songs, particularly the descriptions of thebeloved, which was called the Body of the Divine Presence (guf ha-Shekhineh).10There occurred at this time a blending between the mystical literature ofthe Merkabah and the Jewish theurgistic literature. The grimoire SepherRaziel ha-Malach was produced at this time, and it is a prime example ofangelic magic based on Heikhalot mysticism, as was the Harba de Moshe(Sword of Moses).Sepher Yetzirah and Qabalah Ma’asitThe advent of the Sepher Yetzirah saw the establishment of the primaryconcept of 32 emanations with Mystical Names of Power. The practicalQabalah became a system of theurgy based upon an occult epistemology.The influences of Greek Neoplatonic philosophy is apparent in the use ofemanationism and represents a borrowing and reinterpreting of both thetraditional Hebrew sources and Greek philosophy. Although, according toScholem, specific Neoplatonic ideas, such as emanationism, deliberatelyfound their way into the Qabalah at a later time.11 The influences pervadingthe Sepher Yetzirah would appear to be more associated with JewishGnosticism and its incorporation of various Greek philosophical elementsand influences, such as the philosophy of Pythagoras.The Sepher Yetzirah (Book of Formation) is a product of the fulfillmentof the esoteric speculation of the ma’aseh Bereshith (work of creation),from which it produced a detailed cosmology and cosmogony. It isconsidered by scholars to be the earliest text that contains detailed andsystematic thought on matters that had previously been either unwritten orknown only to a select few. As a book, it was brief and concise; yet itsinfluence was to have a massive impact on all subsequent Jewish mysticaland occult speculation. Divine wisdom was an important theme for theSepher Yetzirah, since the creation of the cosmos was evidentlyaccomplished through 32 secret paths of wisdom. These 32 secret pathswere defined as consisting of ten numbers and 22 elemental letters, andrepresented the foundation for all creation.12An important occult and magicalconcept is implied in the writings of theSepher Yetzirah. If creation was accomplished through numbers (geometry)and letters (grammar), then the laws of creation would also be the laws ofmathematics and language. This idea would have tremendous implicationsin the application of magic and various occult speculations.The time period for the origin and composition of the Sepher Yetzirah hasbeen variously given as between the third and sixth centuries CE. Thereason for this approximate date is based upon the style of Hebrew that wasused to write this book.13 So the original core manuscript can be attributedto this time period based on the writing style, but other post-Talmudicelements were added later in its evolution. (As of yet, there has been noactual archaeological find that would definitively determine the date of thiswork.)Raza Rabba and Talmudic MysticismThis was a period of great creativity for the Qabalah, but it did notsubstantively alter the fundamental tenets or produce any new or originaldoctrines, except perhaps for the invention of Gematria (arithmology). Itwould seem that the Sepher Yetzirah had become the primary focus forthose who espoused a Qabalistic spiritual perspective. Mystical and magicalactivity shifted from Palestine to Babylonia, but some activity continued inPalestine for some time. Yet in the area of the practical Qabalah andtheurgy, a great deal was developed and expanded upon. Practical magicexisted side by side with the contemplation on the chariot.Toward the end of this period, the various sources began to be assembledfor the next great leap forward. The book Raza Rabba (Great Mystery)appears to have been written at this time, which contained a great deal ofmagical and occult material. The angelology of this book appears to be asynthesis of an earlier form of Gnostic metaphysics, such as the Aions andthe Pleroma (Greek for Source). Aions, also called Aeons, and the Pleromawere analogous to the Sephiroth of the Tree of Life. The Pleroma was thetotality of the Aions, producing a distinct world that was whole, complete,and separate from the material world. The Greek word Aion, which means“time,” was promoted as a form of Godhead by Neoplatonists and Gnostics.Three trends can also be traced to this final period of flowering before thecenter of Qabalistic thought migrated to the West (Italy, Germany, andProvence), and these are the inclusion of Neoplatonism, the transmigrationof souls, and the invention of Gematria.14The transmigration of souls, obviously appropriated from Neoplatonism,was integrated into a Jewish eschatology, and so acquired a distinctlyJewish character. Gematria, and other systems of numerology, weredeveloped to show a link between sacred names, words, and phrases fromthe scriptures and liturgy; these techniques became known as the theory ofnames.15Sepher Bahir:Beginning of the Classical QabalahCompared to any period previous to it, this period saw the greatestdevelopment of the Qabalah. It was during this period that the Sepher Bahirwas assembled and written; the Sepher Zohar was written and disseminated;and the structure of the Tree of Life was determined. Many other elementsof the Qabalah that would be recognizable today can trace their origins tothis era.The Sepher Bahir (Book of Illumination) was written as a classicalMidrash, and many of its paragraphs began with an attribution to thesayings of a Talmudic sage on a specific passage of the scriptures. Onlycertain passages were examined in this manner—only those that werepertinent to the Heikhalot and Merkabah mystical speculations, such as thepassages from the books of Ezekiel, Song of Songs, and Genesis. Inaddition, the book analyzed and expounded extensively on various passagesof the Sepher Yetzirah, which functioned as the primary source ofterminology and inspiration.16 Much of what had been speculated uponduring the Talmudic period found its way into the assembled writings of theSepher Bahir. This included the newly acquired belief in the transmigrationof souls. It is assumed by scholars that the bulk of the development of thisbook has its origin in the preceding centuries, so that it became a highlyspecialized and unique expression for synthesizing various Qabalisticbeliefs and practices.———Three locations became centers of the Qabalah in their time, and thesewere Provence (11th century to the early 13th century), Spain (12th centuryto the late 15th century), and Safed in Palestine (16th century). Provence iswhere the Sepher Bahir was assembled and where the Qabalah was firstreferred to by its actual name. Provence was also where rabbinic cultureachieved a high state of development, and many pagan philosophical workswere translated, most notably by Judah ibn Tibben.17 Many of thesetranslated works were from Neoplatonic sources. It is here that Gnosticspeculation was fully wedded with Neoplatonic philosophy within a Jewishmystical framework.In Spain, there were two different schools of the Qabalah, one centered inGerona and Toledo, and the other in Castile. These two schools promoteddifferent perspectives in regard to the Qabalah; Gerona and Toledo adopteda more mystical and philosophic perspective, and Castile adopted a moreGnostic, theurgic, and occult perspective.Gerona (a Catalonian town near Barcelona) was the first location toflower, establishing the basic structure and tenets that became the ClassicalQabalah. It was in Gerona that ecstatic tendencies were renewed andpropagated.From this foundational school, two other opposing perspectives began todominate the practice and teachings of Classical Qabalah. On the one sidepresided what could be called the rational school of Qabalah (founded byIsaac ibn Latif), whose adherents sought to describe it through a morephilosophical and mystical interpretation, removing the obvious occultelements and seeking to use a system of devotion and contemplation torealize its various tenets.On the other hand, in Castile, the Qabalah was characterized by a school(headed by Isaac ha-Kohen) declaring the opposite perspective, that ofGnostic theosophy, occult speculation, and the deliberate practice oftheurgy.18 It is from this more occult school that the speculations of a Treeof Evil (demonic emanations) began to be developed, which included thecreation of a more systematic hierarchy of angelic and demonic spirits, aswell as equating the Logos (as found in Greek philosophy) with a new angelcalled Metatron.Sepher ZoharThe Sepher Zohar (Book of Splendor) was the first successful attempt atproducing a Qabalistic Midrash; prior to that great achievement, no onewould have dared to have undertaken such an ambitious endeavor. It isapparent that Moses ben Shem Tov de Leon wrote this monumental workduring the period between 1280 and 1286 as an attempt to distill at least twodifferent philosophical schools (Gerona and Castile) into a single unifiedone, producing a work that merged rational philosophy with Gnostic andoccult insights and tenets.19However, even to this day there is some speculation as to who actuallywrote this great work. Because this book was characterized as a series ofconversations between a rabbi of the Tannaic period (first century CE)named Simeon ben Yochai and his associates, some Qabalists have believedthat he was the real author.This work consisted of a vast multivolume set of homiletics (sermons) onthe Torah, and the biblical books Song of Songs, Ruth, and Lamentations.Like the Sepher Bahir, these were not comprehensive commentaries, butinstead they focused on strategic passages. However, much of the text of theTorah was examined and commented upon, making it a far greateraccomplishment than what had been done previously. The Zohar had theeffect of producing a kind of uniquely Jewish mystical-based theology, eventhough it was also wedded to tenets that were particularly uncanonical.A few of the mostimportant books of the Zohar can be listed here with abrief description: 20• Midrash ha-Ne’lam (Esoteric Midrash)—The Esoteric Midrashfunctions as a subset of the main Midrash (the first book in the series),and consists of a mixture of short Hebrew and Aramaic expositions onstrategic verses in the Tenakh. It includes mostly sections from Genesis,compares the lives of the Prophets to the general fate of humanity, andincludes the books of Ruth and the Song of Songs. This book waswritten mostly in medieval Hebrew and parts of it may have beenwritten before any of the other books.• Idra Rabba (Greater Assembly)—This book consists of a discussionof the mysteries of Adam Kadmon, the primordial and first-created man.The dissertation is conducted by Simeon, with comments and questionsinserted by his companions. According to Gershom Scholem, this bookis of a superior quality and is the most structured and detailed discoursein the entire Zohar.• Idra Zuta (Lesser Assembly)—This book tells of the death ofSimeon ben Yochai and expounds on the closing words to his followers.Scholem has compared this book with a Qabalistic version of the deathof Moses. This book was often considered the final book of the Zohar,since it deals with the death of its main protagonist.• Heikhalot (Palaces)—This book expounds on the detaileddescriptions of the Seven Palaces in the celestial Garden of Eden. Thesepalaces can be accessed through meditation and prayer, and is the finalresting place for the religiously pious after their death. It includesspecial prayers and the angelology associated with the seven palaces.There is also a brief exposition of the seven palaces of uncleanliness,which would represent the domains of Hell.Despite its irregularities and peculiar writing style, the Zohar helpedoverall to bring the Qabalah into the mainstream of Jewish thought. Thisdid not happen immediately, since the Zohar was fragmented for over ahundred years into various books and sections until it was reassembled andmade available to Qabalists a few generations after Moses de Leon hadpassed away in 1305. The Zohar later became an important foundation forthe work that was to come. Those who came afterwards owed a great debtto the obscure but daring writings of Moses de Leon and his greatmasterwork.Moses Cordovero and Isaac LuriaWhen the Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492, some of them found theirway to Palestine, where they built a new home. Safed in Palestine was thelocation where some of the greatest Qabalists from this era lived andworked. This is where Moses Cordovero and Isaac Luria lived out theirlives, evolving the discipline of the Qabalah from the point where it hadbeen developed in Spain and refining it into a modern religious system. It ishere that the Tree of Life glyph was developed, and the problems ofcreation from nothing and the existence of evil and material imperfectionwere brilliantly resolved. Most of what we know about the Qabalah todayhas its origins in the writings of Moses Cordovero and Isaac Luria.Moses CordoveroMoses Cordovero (1522–70) was a lifelong resident of Safed in Palestine.Little is known about Cordovero’s actual birthplace, but his family likelycame from somewhere in Spain, and this is attributable to his family name.Cordovero was something of a remarkably intelligent man, having writtenhis first monumental work when he was only 27 years old. His teacherswere Joseph Caro and Solomon Alkabez, but he soon eclipsed them in hismastery of the arcane subject matter of the Qabalah. The great works of theMiddle Ages wrought by the Gerona, Castile, and Toledo Qabalistic schoolswere brought to a whole new level of refinement and synthesis, and one ofthe leading minds in that work was Moses Cordovero. He wrote two majorworks, the Pardes Rimmonim (Garden of Pomegranates) and the ElimahRabbati (Great Elm). These works were finally published in the 1590s inCracow, likely promoting and preserving Cordovero’s work among theHassidic communities in Eastern Europe.21 One can also assume that theseworks were read and studied by Christian scholars as well.While Cordovero and his work are well known to scholars of Jewishhistory, he is little known and unappreciated by occultists. This is likelybecause his student, Isaac Luria, became so famous that Luria altogethereclipsed him. Luria and his teachings became so popular, in fact, that fewoutside of the more hardcore adherents of the classical Jewish Qabalah hadever heard of Cordovero. It is also likely, although disputed, that many ofIsaac Luria’s ideas were based on or taken directly from Cordovero’steachings and writings. Whereas Luria sought to promote a sensationalizedversion of the Qabalah, Cordovero was more interested in quietly tacklingall of the various different perspectives and speculations in the SpanishQabalah, and then building a synthesis that united them all into a singledoctrine. Cordovero was the great bridge-maker and synthesizer whobrought the Qabalah from out of the medieval epoch and into the brillianceof the Renaissance. Cordovero created a speculative Qabalah that had morein common with a philosophical system than a religious creed.Some of Cordovero’s ideas include the notion that the ten Sephiroth actedas a bridge between the Deity and the world, and that the emanations camedirectly from the Godhead. He tackled and resolved one of the moredifficult controversies in the Spanish Qabalah, which revolved aroundwhether the Sephirah were imbued with the substance of the Godhead orwere merely instruments, devoid of any of the substance of the Deity.Cordovero determined that both approaches were correct, which meant thatthe Sephiroth were instruments but they also were imbued with the essenceof the Godhead.He also taught that the emanations were forms of light that came directlyfrom the source of all, the Ein Sof. While preserving the immutability of theGodhead, Cordovero also argued that the essence of the Godhead was in allcreated things, thus establishing a powerful link between the humblestaspects of creation and the Deity. It is also very likely that Cordoverodetermined the Three Pillar structure of the Tree of Life and the linearstructure of the paths. In fact, he developed at least two different versions ofthe Tree of Life, and one of them, which was missing the lower pathsbetween Malkuth and Hod, and Malkuth and Netzach, was adopted andpromoted by Luria in his work.Isaac Luria AshkenaziIsaac Luria Ashkenazi (1534–72), known as the “Ari,” or Lion, is creditedfor bringing all of the various strains of the Spanish Qabalah together,synthesizing them into a powerful modern religious system. However, somewould say that Luria borrowed heavily from his teacher, Cordovero.Although Luria left very little writing to posterity, the bulk of his teachingswere written by his students, most notably Chayyim Vital. It was also likelythat his students distilled ideas from both Luria and Cordovero butattributed them to Luria. However, many of the troubling idiosyncrasies andphilosophical problems in the Qabalah were brilliantly and completelyresolved exclusively by the teachings of Luria.22It was the Ari who developed the concept of the Sephiroth as divinepersonalities, arranging them into Three Pillars (thereby creating acosmogonic dialectic), and saw them as the dynamically changing andevolving manifestation of the will and mind of the Deity. He also developedthe notion of the Four Qabalistic worlds, and resolved the issue of how theinfinite unmanifest Godhead was able to create a finite material worldthrough the mysterious artifice of contraction, concealment, and veiling,which he theorized as the necessary generation of a vacuum of empty spaceprior to creation.Isaac Luria also developed the speculation that later became the Qliphoth,which he described as the shattering of the six Sephiroth above Malkuth.This shattering (shevirah)allowed for the incursion of evil into the world,and it caused the dispersal of all those points of light from the shards of thebroken Sephiroth that ultimately became the souls of humanity. It was alsothe source of a mythic and psychological drama associated with therestoration (tikkun) of those spiritual sparks that had become individualhuman entities, now divided into four specific parts of the soul. With thedispersal of those sparks of light, a process of restoration was alsodetermined by the Deity, made possible through the agency of a cosmicmessiah.23Luria’s teachings had a powerful messianic quality, particularly when hepredicted that the cosmic messiah was imminent, and that the event ofrestoration would also begin the ending of the world, as the messiahcollected all of the spirits of humanity (as the myriad points of light) anddelivered them up to the Deity. After his death, Luria’s teachings, for atime, eclipsed all other teachings and became part of the Jewishmainstream. The messianic tensions found in his teachings, along with hisvarious vague apocalyptic pronouncements, ultimately produced theheresies of the aborted Shabbatai Zevi messianic crusade.Qabalah Denudata:Rise of the Christian QabalahThere are many indicators that Christian intellectuals had been distilling theJewish Qabalah since the time that it had emerged into Europe during theMiddle Ages. An examination of Cornelius Agrippa’s work, the threevolumes of the Occult Philosophy, demonstrates that by 1531 the entirecorpus of the practical and occult Qabalah had already been thoroughlytranslated and dispersed by academics throughout most of Europe. Thiswould lead one to conclude that the various contents of the Zohar and thewritings of Isaac Luria and others had been leaked or deliberately sharedwith sympathetic Christian scholars and occultists. We need to keep in mindthat the Qabalah was an initiatic tradition that was discreetly propagatedwithin the Jewish community. The fact that this knowledge became knownto Christian circles is quite an amazing story by itself, and one that certainlyneeds to be told. It was also likely that various Jewish magical practices andtechniques had also been appropriated by individuals in Christian circles.How and when this actually occurred is unknown, but it was likely theimpetus for the development of the Solomonic system of ceremonial magic.Frances Yates identified Pico della Mirandola as the primary teacher andpromoter of the Christian Cabala in the late 15th century.24 Mirandolagreatly influenced Johann Reuchlin, who happened to be a ClassicalHebrew scholar. Thus, it was Reuchlin who likely found great use for theItalian Jewish Qabalistic literature of Rome available to those who couldread Hebrew and Aramaic. He also published a work in 1516 entitled DeArte Cabalistica, which likely helped to promote the Qabalah amongChristian scholars. Also in the early 16th century, Cornelius Agrippapublished his Three Books of Occult Philosophy. What was still missing forscholars who could not read Hebrew or Aramaic were translations of theactual foundational documents of the Qabalah. That process began later inthe 16th century, when the first Latin translation and commentary of theSepher Yetzirah was written and published by Guillaume Postel of Paris.25More published works were to follow in the 17th century, which was tobecome one of the greatest periods for both the Jewish and ChristianQabalahs.Another early published book on the Qabalah was the OedipusAegypticus, written by the brilliant Jesuit scholar Athanasi Kircher in 1652.This book was important because it contained an engraving of the Tree ofLife from a previously published but obscure Cordovero source. It is alsolikely that this illustration of the Tree of Life was the one adopted by theGolden Dawn for its version of the Qabalah.However, it was not until the year 1671 that Christian Knorr vonRosenroth translated and published four books of the voluminous Zohar inLatin: the Qabalah Denudata (Qabalah Unveiled), making it available tonearly anyone who had at least a rudimentary education. Additionally, VonRosenroth published other translated Qabalistic writings, and these includedworks by Luria.26 It is also possible that the spread of the Qabalah withinthe Christian community also facilitated the spread of Qabalah within theEuropean Jewish community.Decline of the Jewish QabalahThe Jewish Qabalah reached its ascendancy in the century after the death ofLuria, becoming the active theological arm of Judaism. However, theJewish Qabalah began to decline after the failed messianic mission ofSabbatai Zevi, who had been declared as the Qabalistic Messiahprophesized by Isaac Luria. (We will discuss more about this event later, inchapter 6 of this book.) After this peak event, the Jewish Qabalah began tolose popularity in the 18th century, and by then it was no longer consideredan authoritative theology by mainstream Jewish rabbis. It would seem thatthe harsh lesson of the apostate Sabbatai Zevi, and the obvious heterodoxicnature of the Qabalah, caused it to become increasingly rejected by variousorthodox groups, with the exception of Hassidic Jews, among whom itcontinued to be practiced into the 20th century.Mystical Qabalah of Dion Fortune:Occult QabalahIn the mid- and late 19th century, the scholarship of Éliphas Lévi and S. L.MacGregor Mathers established the current structure of the Qabalistic Treeof Life (based on Kircher’s illustration), and attributed the Tarot trumps tothe 22 letters associated with the Pathways. Mathers reintroduced thediscipline of the practical Qabalah and translated the works of VonRosenroth into English. Mathers’ co-chief, W. Wynn Westcott, alsoproduced a number of Qabalistic documents, including a translation of theSepher Yetzirah into English. The teachings of the magical fraternity thatthey founded (the Golden Dawn) have influenced many subsequent studentsof the Qabalah.Mathers’ and Westcott’s groundbreaking work was taken up anddeveloped by other occultists, who brought it into the mainstream of occultbeliefs and practices of the 20th and 21st centuries. Most notable for theircontributions were Aleister Crowley, Dion Fortune, and Israel Regardie,who distilled and advanced the basic Qabalistic knowledge of the GoldenDawn so that it became more of a meta-system than a repository of JewishGnostic and Theosophic speculation. Like Mathers, these individualsintrinsically wedded the Qabalah to the practice of Western magic(following the precedent established by Agrippa). Aleister Crowley was thefirst to publish the Golden Dawn Qabalistic writings on Gematria and tablesof correspondences, as well as his own writings and interpretations.Dion Fortune blended many extensive theosophical and modernpsychological speculations into the Qabalah and in 1935 wrote an importantbook specifically dedicated to the Qabalah, entitled The Mystical Qabalah.Paul Foster Case wedded the Tarot with the Qabalah so that the Tarot wasdefined and given its meaning solely through Qabalistic symbolism. W. E.Butler and Gareth Knight, who were both students of Dion Fortune,produced a correspondence course on the Qabalah, and Knight later wrote avery popular book, A Practical Guide to Qabalistic Symbolism, that manymodern occultists have read and studied.William Gray wrote a concise work, The Ladder of Lights, andestablished himself as one of the truly gifted occultists of the 20th century.He went on to write many more books about ceremonial magic and theQabalah. Israel Regardie developed and refined the Golden Dawn teachingsof the Qabalah first put forward by Mathers and Westcott. Kenneth Grantsought to develop and integrate the Qliphoth with the Sephiroth, calling itthe backside of the Tree of Life. His books showed the integral relativity ofboth the left-hand and the right-hand occult paths. (Left-hand occultism isbased on an inversion of the rightful order and lawfulness as established bystatus-quo spirituality, so it is often seen as a form of diabolism ordemonolatry.)Modern occultists are divided as to whether the Qabalah should be usedfor meditation and contemplation only, or included with the practice ofritual and ceremonial magic. Certainly Mathers and Crowley proposed thefull incorporation of the Qabalah when they wrote their books, formulatedtheir rituals and ceremonies, and taught these practices to their students; butothers have moved away from the practice of magic, considering it to be toocontroversial and prone to heretical practices and derivations. Still, forpracticing ritual magicians, the Qabalah is of critical importance.Philip S. Berg and Z’ev ben Shimon Halevi:Jewish ResurgenceDuring the sixties and seventies, a noted Israeli historian and scholar namedDr. Gershom Scholem began to publish books on the Qabalah and thehistory of the Jewish religion. His books successfully restored the Qabalahto a specifically Jewish religious study, and he became the scholarlyauthority that presaged a Jewish resurgence of the Qabalah. It is likely thatsuch a thorough historical analysis on the part of a world-renowned scholareither precipitated or augmented an already established renewed interest inthe Qabalah by Jews. Dr. Scholem gave creditability and respectability to ascholarly study, and later, to a practice of the Jewish Qabalah.Needless to say, not long afterwards, other authors and teachers began tosurface from the various concentrated locations of the Jewish diaspora. Oneof these was Scholem’s friend and protégé, Isaiah Tishby, who translatedand wrote commentaries on the Zohar, along with many other books.27Another notable individual was Rabbi Judah Ashlag, who was one of themain religious promoters of the Qabalah. Rabbi Ashlag lived in Jerusalemduring the first half of the 20th century, and was one of the foremostauthorities on this obscure subject. His work became the basis for a modernJewish interpretation of the Qabalah.Some factions of the Jewish religious tradition, most notably theHasidim, had never abandoned the study and practice of the Qabalah. OtherJewish religious scholars sought to redeem and reinstate a modern Jewishstudy of the Qabalah. While much of the source works had not yet beentranslated into modern languages, this renewed interest began a period ofintensive translation and publishing that continues to this day. Perhaps thestrongest motivation for this task of translating the source works of theQabalah is that Jewish adherents are seeking to re-establish it in the shapeand manner that it existed before Christians, and later, occultists, maderevisions and additions to its lore.While there are many schools and organizations that promote a Jewishversion of the Qabalah, there are basically three major schools of thoughtthat have emerged from this renewed engagement among Jewish students ofthe Qabalah, and these can be encapsulated by certain personalities andgroups.Dr. Philip S. Berg, who leads the Kabbalah Centre (of Madonna and thered string bracelet fame), has written numerous books and runs a verysuccessful organization located on the West Coast of the U.S. He teaches adecidedly Jewish form of the Qabalah, but has made it available toeveryone. Dr. Berg was taught by an eminent rabbi and student of theQabalah named Yehuda Branwein, who was his father-in-law and the leaderof the prestigious school “Yeshiva Kol Yehuda,” located in modern Israel.Since Rabbi Branwein’s death, Dr. Berg has claimed to be the head of thatschool, although the deceased rabbi’s son has disputed his claim. Dr. Berghas also incorporated many of the writings and teachings of Rabbi Ashlaginto his school.Z’ev ben Shimon Halevi (Warren Kenton) lives in the United Kingdomand has founded his own school of the Qabalah. He has also written anumber of books on the subject since the late 1980s, and travels the worldteaching a course called the “Way of the Kabbalah.” When I was living inSanta Fe in 1994, I attended a lecture given by Halevi, and overall I found itquite informative. Halevi teaches that only those of the Jewish faith shouldpursue a study of the Qabalah, which is unlike Dr. Berg, but his books andlectures are attended by people of all faiths. Halevi has merged modernJungian psychology with a Toledo variant of the Qabalah to produce a freshperspective. A number of artists and musicians have credited Halevi and hisliterary work as a source of personal inspiration.Jewish scholars and Jewish students of the Qabalah, most notably thosewho are part of the academic and religious organizations in modern Israel,have harshly criticized both Dr. Berg and Halevi as New Age popularizersof what they believe is an exclusive domain of Jewish theology andmystical philosophy. Individuals and groups belonging to this factionbelieve that the Qabalah should only be studied by men who are practicingJews. While scholars in this group seek to study the history and content ofthe Qabalah in a secular but respectful manner, the Jewish followers whopractice the Qabalah believe that only properly authorized and recognizedrabbis should teach this discipline to others, and then only to properlyschooled Jewish men. As a group, these two factions have taken it uponthemselves to be the arbiters and critics of the various teachers and authorsof Jewish Qabalistic books and materials.It remains to be seen what will come from this renewed interest andpractice of the Qabalah from adherents of modern Judaism, yet theoutpouring of translated source works (such as the multivolume PritzkerZohar) and various other scholarly writings will greatly assist everyone whohas an interest in the Qabalah, helping them to further refine and developtheir understanding of that discipline.———I hope this brief historical analysis has assisted you in realizing that theQabalah is an ever-evolving discipline, which has undergone considerablechange and revision over the centuries. Still, the overriding theme of theQabalah through the ages has been its continual engagement with Gnostic-inspired theosophy and practical applications of theurgy. While someadherents may divorce their tradition from these considerations, I believethat the Western occult version of the Qabalah should keep them intact.[contents]5. Scholem, Kabbalah, 5.6. See Barry Holtz, ed., Back to the Sources: Reading the Classical Jewish Texts, pages 33 and 34,where the Tenakh is discussed, along with its age and component books.7. Holtz, ed., Back to the Sources, 177. The period of development for the Midrash was 400 CE to1200 CE.8 . Joseph Dan, Kabbalah: A Very Short Introduction, 15.9. Scholem, Kabbalah, 16.10. Dan, Kabbalah: A Very Short Introduction, 17.11. Scholem, Kabbalah, 21 and 27.12. Dan, Kabbalah: A Very Short Introduction, 19.13. Scholem, Kabbalah, 26.14. Scholem, Kabbalah, 31.15. Scholem, Kabbalah, 32–33.16. Dan, Kabbalah: A Very Short Introduction, 22.17. Scholem, Kabbalah, 44.18. Scholem, Kabbalah, 52–53.19. Dan, Kabbalah: A Very Short Introduction, 31–32.20. Scholem, Kabbalah, 214, 215, and 217.21. Scholem, Kabbalah, 401–2.22. Scholem, Kabbalah, 420–23.23. Sanford Drob, Symbols of the Kabbalah, 14–16.24. Frances Yates, Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition, 94–102.25. Dan, Kabbalah: A Very Short Introduction, 68.26. Scholem, Kabbalah, 416.27. Dan, Kabbalah: A Very Short Introduction, 110.TfourQabalah of the Ten Sephirothhe core of the Qabalah consists of the ten emanations called theSephiroth. Each of these Sephirah has a specific name, title, and set ofcorrespondences. The Sephiroth represent the stages of creation, from themost abstract to the most dense and material levels of being. The names anddescriptions of the ten Sephiroth were first revealed in the Sepher Yetzirah,yet, over time, each of these emanations wereelaborated upon andadditional attributes were added to them.Qabalistic correspondences for each of the ten Sephiroth found here aremeant as a brief synopsis of the Sephiroth in the Tree of Life, and do notrepresent a deep or detailed explanation of them. For a more thoroughunderstanding, I recommend that you at least read Gareth Knight’s book APractical Guide to Qabalistic Symbolism. You can also look over the bookslisted later, in chapter 16 and in the bibliography.1. Kether (the Crown), God-name: Ehieh (I am); Archangel: Metatron;Order of Angels: Chaioth he-Qadesh (Holy Living Ones); Body Part: crownof head; Symbol: swirling swastika. Description from the Sepher Yetzirah:The First Path is called the Admirable or the Concealed Intelligence(The Highest Crown)—for it is the Light giving the power ofcomprehension of that First Principle which has no beginning, and it isthe Primal Glory, for no created being can attain to its essence.28Kether is the first manifestation of being that emerged out of non-being,yet it is non-dual and whole, and it is the pure and undiluted source fromwhich all other Sephiroth emanate. Kether is called the Crown of Creation,but it was created by the vast and unknowable (unmanifest) Deity, and so allof the ten Sephiroth are equal in their importance. The unity of Kether iswithin all of the emanations, thus representing the unity of the Deity itself.Where Kether is the indivisible One, the Unmanifest Godhead behind it isthe indivisible None. Kether can therefore be seen as the confluence andmanifestation of the invisible veils that wrap the Tree of Life in a perfectembrace, containing the pure essence and expression of the One TrueBeing.2. Chokmah (Wisdom), God-name: YHVH or Yah; Archangel: Raziel;Order of Angels: Auphanim (Wheels); Body Part: right side of head;Symbol: Zodiac. Description from the Sepher Yetzirah:The Second Path is that of the Illuminating Intelligence it is the Crownof Creation, the Splendor of the Unity, equaling it, and it is exalted aboveevery bead, and named by the Kabbalists the Second Glory.Chokmah is the active expression of the unity within Kether, the will tocreate multiplicity from unity. It is an expression of the archetypalmasculine, where Kether is the union of All. Chokmah is also wisdom, theexpression of the mind of the Deity as the first thought, and that expressionis the impulse to apprehend that unity and reflect upon it. It is the naturalprocess of spiritual wisdom having achieved its highest expression.Chokmah is also the vision of God (as Kether) face to face, and the directbrilliant illumination of unity that results from that vision.3. Binah (Understanding), God-name: YHVH Elohim; Archangel:Tzaphkiel; Order of Angels: Aralim (Thrones); Body Part: left side ofhead/face; Symbol: Saturn. Description from the Sepher Yetzirah:The Third Path is called the Sanctifying Intelligence the Foundation ofPrimordial Wisdom: it is also called the Creator of Faith, and its rootsare in Amen. It is the parent of faith, whence faith emanates.Binah is the reception or formulation of the unity within Kether; thereception of the creative power of Chokmah into the patterns that reflect theunity of the source. Development implies limitation, and so the passivefeminine power of Binah establishes the first archetypal pattern andstructures, and the first laws. For Binah is the arbiter of all cause and effect,and is the judge of fate. The formulation of wisdom is found inunderstanding and in faith, and this is required before there can be apractical application of wisdom into the world of forms.4. Chesed (Mercy), Godname: El; Archangel: Tzadkiel; Order of Angels:Chasmalim (Brilliant Ones); Body Part: right arm; Symbol: Jupiter.Description from the Sepher Yetzirah:The Fourth Path is named Measuring, Cohesive, or Receptacle; and isso called because it contains all the holy powers, and from it emanate allthe spiritual virtues with the most exalted essences: they emanate onefrom the other by the power of the primordial emanation (The HighestCrown), blessed be it.Chesed is called the receptive intelligence, since it receives the wisdomand understanding from the supernal triad, thus causing them to coalesceinto conscious forms that will prepare them for the ultimate process ofmanifestation. Chesed is the highest level of conscious formation, so itestablishes the patterns that lead to mental forms and the creation ofphysical matter. It is also the underlying process that begins the incarnationof beings, which are a combination of both mind and matter. Chesedrepresents the forces of divine love (as compassion) and also the will toexist, and these two forces join together to determine the divine destiny forall subsequent creation. This destiny is the ultimate realization of theinternal spiritual source, and its call to return to the greater glory of theunity of all being (Kether). Chesed is the power that redeems, and it investseverything that passes through it with the memory of the source. This isbecause it is the bridge between that spiritual source and all ofmanifestation. Chesed is the platform that exists before a great chasm calledthe Greater Abyss, which also represents the process of the translation frompure archetype to the formulation of the universal mind and the source of allconsciousness.5. Geburah (Power), Godname: Elohim Gebor; Archangel: Khamael; Orderof Angels: Seraphim (Fiery Spirits); Body Part: left arm; Symbol: Mars.Description from the Sepher Yetzirah:The Fifth Path is called the Radical Intelligence, because it is itself theessence equal to the Unity, uniting itself to the Binah or Intelligencewhich emanates from the primordial depths of Wisdom or Chokmah.Geburah is power, and the disciplined will to use it wisely and justly.Geburah is the Sephirah that takes the understanding of Binah and fashionsit into archetypal truths and spiritual values, purging from forms andattributes all that is an illusion or is defective. Geburah and Chesed,together, forge only the perfect images as derived from the source, and soGeburah acts as a governor to the boundless creative energy received fromChesed. The realizations of the limitation of fate found in Binah areadjudicated in Geburah, and so Mercy/Compassion (Chesed) andSeverity/Judgment (Geburah) preserve the creation of pure mental formsthat are redacted from spirit so that they remain balanced and integral.6. Tiphareth (Beauty), Godname: YHVH Aloah ve-Da’ath; Archangel:Raphael; Order of Angels: Malachim (Kings); Body Part: heart; Symbol:Sun. Description from the Sepher Yetzirah:The Sixth Path is called the Intelligence of the Mediating Influence,because in it are multiplied the influxes of the emanations; for it causesthat affluence to flow into all the reservoirs of the Blessings, with whichthese themselves are united.Tiphareth occupies the very center of the Tree of Life and reflects thelight of Kether (unity) into the plane of mind, becoming the Logos, or Word(divine directive of the Absolute). The thoughts and the actions that sustainit are joined together into a synthesis. Thus this Sephirah is called themediating intelligence and the heart (core) of the Deity. The divine plan ofthe supernal triad is brought into a harmonious manifestation in Tiphareth,and so it is also called beauty, representing the perfect mental reflection ofthe Deity in all its grace and perfect symmetry. Tiphareth symbolizesregeneration and rebirth, as associated with the upward process ofevolution, and it is the final expression of perfect unity before the fall intothe lower realms of manifested being, which is the downward path ofinvolution.7. Netzach (Victory), Godname: YHVH Tzabaoth; Archangel: Haniel;Order of Angels: Elohim (Gods); Body Part: right leg; Symbol: Venus.Description from the Sepher Yetzirah:The Seventh Path is the Occult Intelligence, because it is the RefulgentSplendor of all the Intellectual virtues which are perceived by the eyes ofintellect, and by the contemplation of faith.Netzach is the source of all mysteries, being the occult intelligence andthe first emergence of the lower mind or intellect, which is the creativeimagination and also inspiration. Netzach consists of the balance of theforce and form that drives creation, producing the vision of beautytriumphant, which is its spiritual experience. Beauty is the perfection ofform and essence, and it is within the influence of this Sephirah that thearchetypal mental pattern receives its ideal form—the domain of platonicideals. Netzach is, in essence, the activation of the magic of transformationand translation; since from these two methods of reconciling spirit andmatter, all physical manifestation proceeds, and the idealization of matter asart assists in the inspiration of the archetype as perceived (by humanity)within the material world.8. Hod (Glory), Godname: Elohim Tzabaoth; Archangel: Michael; Order ofAngels: Beni Elohim (Sons of the Gods); Body Part: left leg; Symbol:Mercury. Description from the Sepher Yetzirah:The Eighth Path is called Absolute or Perfect, because it is the meansof the primordial, which has no root by which it can cleave, nor rest,except in the hidden places of Gedulah Magnificence, which emanatefrom its own proper essence.Hod is where the idealized form of Netzach becomes realized in theconcrete forms of mental perception. Whereas Netzach is perceived as art,Hod is science, since it concerns itself with the concrete apperception of thematerial universe. It is also analogous to the great complexity and symmetryof the domain of the mental world. Hod is the great lens through which onecan realize that the underlying structures, principles, and laws of the greatercosmos are the same as those operating at the subatomic level. It is also thefirst ordering principle through which pure ideals are structured within theholistic hierarchy of ascending and descending levels of conscious being.9. Yesod (The Foundation), Godname: Shaddai El Chai; Archangel: Gabriel;Order of Angels: Cherubim (Strong Ones); Body Part: genitals/anus;Symbol: Moon. Description from the Sepher Yetzirah:The Ninth Path is the Pure Intelligence so called because it purifies theNumerations, it proves and corrects the designing of theirrepresentation, and disposes their unity with which they are combinedwithout diminution or division.Yesod is the underlying structure that embodies the entire materialuniverse. It can also be found in the animating vitality and dynamicqualities associated with living beings. This Sephirah represents theintegrating forces that link the idealized forms and mental structures withthe actual material world. This fusion of ideation and structure representsthe occurrence of the laws of limitation and probability, which seek toconfine the boundless potential found in the higher Sephiroth. Yesod is thegreat physical organizing principle, the lattice or skeletal structure uponwhich all manifestation depends. It is the domain that drives the activatedlaws that govern all physical objects in space and time. Yesod is the creativeintelligence that imbeds the potential of physical evolution and superioradaptation, regulating those impulses that cause some life forms to survive,evolve, and awaken into consciousness, and others to become extinct.10. Malkuth (The Kingdom), Godname: Adonai ha-Aretz; Archangel:Sandalphon; Order of Angels: Ashim (Souls of Fire); Body Part: feet;Symbol: Sphere of Elements. Description from the Sepher Yetzirah:The Tenth Path is the Resplendent Intelligence, because it is exaltedabove every bead, and sits on the throne of Binah (the Intelligencespoken of in the Third Path). It illuminates the splendor of all lights, andcauses a supply of influence to emanate from the Prince of countenances.Malkuth represents the physical universe and all it contains, thus it is theobjective and exterior world of the senses. It is the Sephirah of both space(matter) and time (change) that locks all energy and matter into a finiterepresentation. For all things of Malkuth are born and then decay and die, orchange into other forms less complex. The principle agent or power ofchange is entropy (balanced by the higher agent of union called synergy),and this force reduces all things to their simplest and most inert forms. InMalkuth, evolution and involution have achieved their highest level ofexpression, since all of the pure essence of Spirit has been potentialized intomatter, making it ready for immanent evolution and the return to the sourceof all Spirit.Note: Da’ath and Paroketh are the gates of the Greater and Lesser Abysses,respectively. To complete the system associating body parts with theSephiroth, a point is assigned to each: to Da’ath is the throat, and toParoketh is the solar plexus.Sephiroth Da’athDa’ath is not a member of the classical ten Sephiroth, and it was notmentioned in the Sepher Yetzirah. Still, it was later hinted about, and overtime it became a kind of hidden or obscured Sephirah that had certainattributes which caused it to become related to the gateway of the GreaterAbyss and the Qliphoth that resided on the other side of that doorway. (Thenature of the Qliphoth is covered below, and the Greater Abyss is dealt within chapter five, regarding the 22 Pathways.)11. Da’ath (Knowledge)—Magical Image: Head with two faces lookingboth forward and backward (analogous to the Roman God Janus, or anyother liminal Deity); Godname: YHVH & YHVH ALYM (YahwehElohim); Archangel: Four Archangels of the Cardinal Directions; AngelicChoir: Nechasim (Serpents); Body Part: throat; Symbol: Sothis/Sirius (DogStar). Various titles: Invisible Sephirah, hidden or unrevealed cosmic mind,union of Chokmah and Binah, Nominal (Negative) reflection of Kether.Considering all of its symbology, it would seem that Da’ath is obviouslya liminal or threshold junction in the Tree of Life, representing the union ofChokmah and Binah, the archetypal masculine and feminine. Fourarchangels would characterize the wards for this portal, and the angelicchoir of the Nechasim would symbolize the raw forces that emanate from it.Interestingly enough, the verb root for Nechasim is (NChSh), which means“to practice sorcery or divination.” With the addition of the Dog Star andthe pagan Deity Janus, one could see this Sephirah as functioning in a veryambiguous manner, symbolizing the qualities of “otherness” and “alien”that have become attributes of dark and forbidden spirituality. SuchGodheads as Typhon, Set, Samael, or even Shaitan could easily representthe divine aspects of this Sephirah. One could also see it as symbolizing thesupernal triad as seen through a mirror darkly, revealing all of the attributesof the negative or unconscious aspects of the operative Deity.Ten QliphothA number of occultists have, over the last few decades, written about theQliphoth, or Qliphah (singular), and some have stipulated that there is aTree of Evil or Death in addition to the Tree of Life, acting as its reverse ornegative image. This seems to be a theme expressed by some adherents ofthe left-hand path, and some have proposed a Tree of Evil, and through itassign a quasi-hierarchy for the various lists of evil spirits and devils thatsupposedly populate the material world. Having two such trees allows astudent the duality of choosing one or the other, or perhaps going from oneto the other.According to Genesis there were two sacred trees in the Garden of Eden:one was indeed the Tree of Life, but the other wasn’t its opposite. The othertree was the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Since humankind atefrom the latter and not the former, we have the power and potential ofknowing truth on all levels of being, but we are not immortal. Yet thescriptures never mention a Tree of Evil, so one would have to assumethat itis apocryphal or even a recent urban myth. Some of these themes arediscussed more fully in chapter six, where the origin of evil is examined. Itis likely that the problem of explaining the occurrence of evil caused someof the Spanish Qabalists to conjecture on a Tree of Evil. However, there isanother way of interpreting the Qliphoth and determining how they fit intothe overall scheme of the Qabalah without having to propose two opposingtrees.The word Qliphoth or Qliphah comes from the Hebrew root QLPh, whichmeans “to peel off,” and the noun means “husk,” “shell,” or “rind.”Qliphah, therefore, means in Hebrew a “shell or the outer covering of somekind of fruit or nut.” When applied to the Qabalah, it has been variouslyinterpreted as a kind of afterbirth or discarded element. It could even bedefined as a previously failed attempt at creation (an abortion), but only ifone doubted the perfection of the Godhead.Still, there is another meaning to the word that would allow it to mergeinto the Tree of Life, but only if we can overcome the basic prejudice builtup by the previous definitions. The Qliphoth could simply be the outer shellor husk of the corresponding Sephiroth, and in actuality, it would functionmore like a socket or the bottom foundation of a specific Sephirah. In otherwords, the Qliphoth are the backside or unconscious dimensions of theSephirotic Tree of Life.Based on this revelation, the Qliphoth are neither evil nor the negativepartners to the Sephiroth in the Tree of Life. The troubling Tree of Evil orDeath disappears, and in its place is the night side and light side of the oneHoly Tree. Just as we human beings have a light and dark side, so, too, doesthe Tree of Life; but that dark side represents neither a duality nor a splitbetween good and evil. As the glyph of the Tree of Life is outwardlydefined, all of the elements contained within it are seen as a unified whole,and that includes the Sephiroth, Pathways, and even the Qliphoth.I have found it most productive to see the Qliphoth as the arisingpotential for Sephiroth. They are, in a word, the unmanifest potential firstlaid down by the emanations of the Negative Veils. The fusion of Sephirahand Qliphah is seamless, but each represents a different kind of spiritualquality and hierarchy. One can’t enter into the corresponding Qliphah fromthe Sephirah, since through the Sephirah, they are both perfectly united.The backside of the Tree of Life can only be accessed through the portalof the gateway of Da’ath, which is also the gateway of the Greater Abyss.Therefore, the individual Qliphah can be acquired and realized only bysomeone passing through the gateway of Da’ath, otherwise their influencesare nearly invisible except through the periodic subtle dark emanationscoming from the abysmal gateway. (Some have called these darkemanations the heartbeat of darkness itself.)It is my belief that the Qliphoth contain all of the unknown and invisiblechthonic proto-elements of our spiritual, mental, and physical worlds.Atavisms, archaisms, and dark inner Pathways connect the backside of theTree of Life, like the endless tunnels of the catacombs underneath Rome orParis. The light side of the Tree of Life has only 22 Pathways, but thebackside has as many possible permutations for Pathways as there areSephiroth. Thus all of the Sephiroth are interconnected with “wormholes”below the surface and at the level of the Qliphoth. The underworld domainof the backside of the Tree of Life is populated with dead ancestors, godsand goddesses of the underworld, and the various demonic and sub-elemental spirits and powers.Aleister Crowley, Kenneth Grant, and other occultists have taken someincomplete information from Jewish Qabalistic sources and have givennames, qualities, and rulers to the ten anti-Sephiroth of the Qliphoth. I havefound their work to be quite weak and incomplete, based as it is upon adecidedly Jewish monotheistic mystical bias, which I think is contrary toany practical magical workings with these forces. These anti-Sephiroththemes likely originated in the 13th century from the Castile (Isaac ha-Kohen) school of the Qabalah, which was more occultic, Gnostic, and basedwholly within the art of theurgy.I would recommend that the forces and spirits of the Qliphoth and theirwormhole Pathways be examined as merely the negative source potentialsfor the obverse Sephiroth and glyph-determined Pathways. If they have anynames or qualities, it would not be just a reversed mirror image of thesurface structures of the Tree. They would be the veritable archaic sourcesfor those structures. The backside of the Tree of Life is without morals andspiritual values, and is therefore, beyond good and evil.See the table of correspondences of the ten Sephiroth and Da’ath on thefollowing pages.Table of Correspondences of the Ten Sephiroth and Da’athSephiroth English Name Godname Archangel Angelic Choir1 Kether Crown AHYH Metatron Hiyoth Haqadesh2 Chokmah Wisdom YH Ratziel Auphanim3 Binah Understanding YHVH ALHYM Tzaphkiel Aralim4 Chesed Mercy AL Tzadkiel Chasmolim5 Geburah Strength ALHYM GBVR Kamael Tarshishim6 Tiphareth Beauty YHVH ALHYM VDOTh Raphael Malakim7 Netzach Victory YHVH TzBAVTh Haniel Elohim8 Hod Splendor ALHYM TzBAVTh Michael Beni Elohim9 Yesod Foundation ShDY AL ChY Gabriel Alim10 Malkuth Kingdom ADNY MLK Sandalphon Eshim11 Da’ath Knowledge YHVH / YHVH ALHYM Four archangels NechasimNote: * indicates my own selections or variations. Body Points are based on my own deductions.Rest of correspondences derived from Liber 777 and The Complete Magician’s Tables.Table of Correspondences of the Ten Sephiroth and Da’athSephiroth English Name Cosmic Attribute Greek Gods Roman Gods Egyptian Gods1 Kether Crown Primum Mobile Iacchus-Dionysus Fascinus Ptah2 Chokmah Wisdom Zodiac Athena Minerva Nuit-Maat3 Binah Understanding Saturn Demeter Ceres-Juno Nephthys4 Chesed Mercy Jupiter Zeus Jupiter Amoun5 Geburah Strength Mars Ares Mars Horus6 Tiphareth Beauty Sun Apollo-Helios Sol-Invictus Ra7 Netzach Victory Venus Aphrodite Venus Hathor8 Hod Splendor Mercury Hermes Mercury Thoth9 Yesod Foundation Moon Artemis Diana Isis10 Malkuth Kingdom Earth Poseidon Saturn, Lares-Penares Osiris11 Da’ath Knowledge Underworld Double GatewayHades-Persephone Janus Set-AnubisNote: * indicates my own selections or variations. Body Points are based on my own deductions.Rest of correspondences derived from Liber 777 and The Complete Magician’s Tables.Table of Correspondences of the Ten Sephiroth and Da’athSephiroth English Name Metals Gems Perfumes Magical Weapons1 Kether Crown Uranium* Diamond Ambergris Swastika2 Chokmah Wisdom Magnesium* Turquoise Musk Lingam3 Binah Understanding Lead Sapphire Myrrh Yoni4 Chesed Mercy Tin Amethyst Cedar Wand5 Geburah Strength Iron Ruby Dragon’s Blood* Sword6 Tiphareth Beauty Gold Topaz Olibanum Lamen7 Netzach Victory Copper Emerald Rose Lamps or Cincture8 Hod Splendor Mercury-Cinnabar Fire Opal Storax Pentacles or Words of Power9 Yesod Foundation Silver Pearl-Moon StoneJasmine, LavenderPerfumes or Sandals10 Malkuth Kingdom Antimony Quartz-Beryl Dittany of Crete Magical Circle, Altar and Shrine11 Da’ath Knowledge N/A Obsidian N/A Triangle-GatewayNote: * indicates my own selections or variations. Body Points are based on my own deductions.Rest of correspondences derived from Liber 777 and The Complete Magician’s Tables.Table of Correspondences of the Ten Sephiroth and Da’athSephiroth English Name Body Point Colors1 Kether Crown Crown of Head White2 Chokmah Wisdom Right side of Head Gray3 Binah Understanding Left side of Head Black4 Chesed Mercy Right Shoulder Blue5 Geburah Strength Left Shoulder Scarlet6 Tiphareth Beauty Heart/Solar Plexus Yellow7 Netzach Victory Right Hand Green8 Hod Splendor Left Hand Orange9 Yesod Foundation Genitals Violet10 Malkuth Kingdom Legs and Feet Citrine, Olive,Russet, and Black11 Da’ath Knowledge Throat ColorlessNote: * indicates my own selections or variations. Body Points are based on my own deductions.Rest of correspondences derived from Liber 777 and The Complete Magician’s Tables.Figure 5: Table of Correspondences of the Ten Sephiroth and Da’ath[contents]28. All quotations for the Sepher Yetzirah were taken from the public-domain translation made by W.W. Westcott (1887) found on sacred-texts.com: www.sacred-texts.com/jud/yetzirah.htm (accessedFebruary 2012). (See The Thirty-two Paths of Wisdom, Appendix to the Sepher Yetzirah.)WfiveQabalah of the 22 Pathse have already examined the basic elements of the Qabalah, whichinclude the ten Sephiroth and the basic structures of the Tree of Life.We have also examined the history and some of the uses that the Qabalahhas had throughout its long period of evolution. Yet the most important partof the Qabalah, in my opinion, concerns itself with the methodology ofspiritual ascent, which is formulated from the symbolic correspondencesand analogies of the 22 Pathways. (See Figure 6.)Ascension is the ability to use the Qabalah so that an individual mightexperience complete and total spiritual transformation and union with theGodhead. Knowledge of the Qabalah assumes that the occultist will seek toknow and master the various higher planes, beings, and the Godhead itselfthrough direct experience. Truthfully, there are few other occult systemsthat incorporate so many diverse methodologies and approaches, all ofwhich aid the student, whether mystic or magician, to achieve full spiritualmastery.The ten Sephiroth are concerned with the cosmic processes of emanationand spiritual involution, yet the 22 Pathways are focused on the process ofspiritual ascent and evolution for the individual occult seeker. It is said thatthe Pathways, which were responsible for the manifestation of all materialthings through a form of word magic, can also aid the seeker to transformand consciously evolve into the One. By reversing the sequence that causedthe creation of the material world, and applying that to one’s psyche, amystic or magician may wield the power of spiritual ascension. This is doneby using the special words of power and the various names of the Godheadassociated with the veritable sacred letters of the alphabet of creation.Figure 6: Comprehensive Tree of LifeAt the macrocosmic level, the process of emanation also represents aform of transformation, but only on a cosmic level. It is concerned with theultimate and collective destiny of entire classes of beings. All individualbeings partake of this process, but it is a slow and evolving one, whichspans the life cycle of an entire species. For the individual being, theprocess of emanation is too subtle and too vast to be directly perceived,even though it is constant and dynamic. However, an individual canexperience the entire destiny of his or her collective species in a singlemoment through the power of transformation as deployed through thePathways. Thus, we know that the ten Sephiroth represent the cosmic cycleof emanation and involution, and the 22 Pathways characterize theindividual cycle of spiritual transformation and personal evolution.Each Pathway on the Tree of Life consists of a corridor between twoSephiroth, representing a transition from one state of emanation to the nexthigher (or lower). Using the structure of the Tree of Life that consists ofSephiroth and Pathways, and starting in the lowest Sephirah Malkuth, oneproceeds up the two sides and central pillars of the Tree, moving from thedensest spiritual aspects to the most sublime. Examining these connectingPathways between the Sephiroth, the student will notice that not all possibleconnections are employed. There is an intrinsic logic associated with thesePathways, and one can especially see this occurring in the area of the Treethat is above Tiphareth. For instance, there are no Pathways connectingBinah to Chesed or Chokmah to Geburah; instead, these Sephiroth areconnected through Tiphareth, which represents the center, heart, or core ofthe Tree. (However, these two Pathways are actually implied by a moresubtle process encountered when performing the pathworking application ofascent and descent.)There is also an order to the Pathways that is associated with thesequence of the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet, which is in descendingorder: from Aleph to Thav, from the Pathway between Kether and Chokmahto the Pathway between Yesod and Malkuth. The winding and twistingcircuit by which the Pathways wend their way up and down the Tree of Lifeis represented by the Serpent of Knowledge, and this mythic entity offers tothe aspirant the promise of both enlightenment and eternal life. This isbecause the Tree of 32 emanations includes both the symbolic Tree of Lifeand the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. It is inconceivable thatone could be mastered without the other, and it would be foolish for anyoneto assume that human nature has an innate monopoly on being able tochoose good over evil.In the traditions of magic, the 22 Pathways symbolize the process ofpersonal transformative initiation. Therefore, using the methods of guidedmeditation or magical imagery, an individual may progress up the Tree andexperience the revelation of Spirit in his or her personal sphere. Thistechnique of ascending and descending the Pathways of the Tree is calledpathworking. It represents one of the most potent visual tools in the arsenalof the ritual magician or the mystic.Like the ten Sephiroth, the 22 Pathways have their own set ofcorrespondences, and these correspondences are almost as endless as thoseof the Sephiroth. The correspondences of the paths, while based on theHebrew letters, include the 22 trumps of the Major Arcana of the Tarot.Adding the attributes of Tarot trumps to the Pathways represents aconsiderable advancement for their overall meaning and significance. Othercorrespondences include the seven planets, the 12 signs of the zodiac, andthe four elements, with Saturn sharing the attribute of the element of Earth.The zodiacal, planetary, and element attributions of the Pathways wereestablished early in the history of the Qabalah, but the attribution of theTarot trumps is a recent innovation. Extending the meaning of the Pathwaysto include the trumps gives greater depth and significance to them. It alsocauses them to be more like distinct and separate domains, analogous to theSephiroth to which they connect.Tarot trumps didn’t become associated with the Pathways of the Treeuntil at least the middle of the 19th century, and the final form that we usetoday was derived toward the end of the 19th century. Influenced by thewritings of Court de Gebelin in his book Le Monde Primitif (1781), theoccult scholar and romantic Éliphas Lévi took these associations anddeveloped them in his writings. What he ultimately came up with wasunsatisfactory, due to inconsistencies and obvious erroneous associations.Mathers produced the final corrected version of the attribution of Pathwaysand the Tarot, and wrote them up in an order document entitled “Book T”(1887). Variations of that text have been adapted for use by the manydescendants of the Golden Dawn. So the Tarot of the Golden Dawn becamethe prototype for most subsequent books written about the Tarot and theQabalah, as well as being the primary influence for the symbolic depictionof many of the Tarot decks in use today. That is why it is important toexplore each of the 22 Pathways in detail and to analyze their distinctivesymbology, since knowledge of the Pathways will also unlock a deeperknowledge of the Tarot.I invite you to read through these 22 brief definitions of the QabalisticPathways, beginning with the last path and proceeding in ascending (andreverse) order up the Tree to the first path. While performing this mentaloperation I wouldto penetrate deeperinto its more esoteric meaning. So the esoteric definition of the wordQabalah indicates a kind of oral tradition or knowledge, passed from masterto student. That is the meaning which we will use in this book.Often, arcane books on the subject divide the Qabalah into the mystical orspiritual Qabalah, which is a form of occult speculation, and the practicalQabalah, which is a form of magic or occultism. Since the very beginningof its inception, the Qabalah served the purposes and functions of occultspeculation, practical magical applications, and ecstatic spiritual practices.We will be focusing exclusively on the occult speculation and practicalmagical applications.The Qabalah has the following basic functions and uses in modernoccultism. Keep in mind that these are just the basic functions, so there arelikely many more, and with a lot more detail, too. We are going to stickwith the basics because this is a book for beginners.Qabalah is a model of the various spirit worlds and how they aresymbolically structured.This modeling is accomplished through a diagram that is called the Treeof Life. It also helps to have a really good imagination and to understandthat the spirit world is not quite in the same place as the material world thatwe interact with on a daily basis.Qabalah is a meta-system and a system of meta-knowledge. It assistsin the organization of other religious, spiritual, and occult systems, andit reveals the relationships between those different systems. Meta-knowledge is a form of abstracted knowledge that gives meaning anddefinition to other attributes of knowledge; in other words, it is a kind ofknowledge about knowledge.What kind of knowledge, you might ask? The knowledge of reality, of theself and the world in which it exists—this is called ontology (the study ofreality). This meta-system and meta-knowledge are represented by what isknown as “tables of correspondences,” where the attributes of the Qabalahare compared to the attributes of every conceivable category in anyspiritual, occultic, or religious system. That declaration might seem to be abit vague or grandiose, but as we proceed together in filling out the detailsabout what the Qabalah is, it will make a lot of sense. I will definitely haveto explain all of that in much greater detail later in the book, since it is alsoa key concept.Qabalah is a system of cosmology and cosmogony.Cosmology is the evolution, structure, and constituent parts of theuniverse. The cosmology of the Qabalah is based on a more spiritualperspective of the universe, so it concerns itself with the phenomena ofSpirit and its domain, and how it interacts with the worlds of mind andmatter.Cosmogony is the theory or model about the origin of the universe orhow it was created. Keep in mind that the Qabalah promotes the “mindbefore matter” model with regard to cosmogony, as opposed to the “matterbefore mind” model that science promotes. What this means is that, like thebiblical and other creation myths, consciousness existed as a unified fieldbefore the material universe unfolded, and that it had a direct part to play inthat unfolding. We would call this unified field of consciousness thatexisted before any material thing the Universal Mind or the Monad (firstbeing, or the One) that engaged itself with the design, fashioning, andensouling of the spiritual and material universes.Both the occult/religious model (mind before matter) and the scientificmodel (matter before mind) are correct. They just represent two differentperspectives. The occult model is a meta-physical system that promotes theidea that matter is imbued with consciousness and, as a result, sentience andspirit are innate to physical matter. The occult model does not attempt todetermine how the material universe was actually formed, since science hasdone a good job explaining the origin of the universe and everything in it.Problems arise when the mythic concept of creation in the occult model isconfused with the actual evolution and derivation of the material universe.As occultists, we need to have a foot in both the scientific and the religiouscamps, and realize that our perspective changes the way things are definedbut not determined. We also need to understand that something that is amyth is neither false nor based on ignorance. Myths are powerful allegoricalsymbols that explain our reality in a deeper and more spiritual manner.These are very important points, since they act as the foundation forunderstanding and making sense out of occult beliefs and practices, and theway that spiritual and paranormal phenomena appear to function in thematerial world. What is defined by this perspective is a living, knowinguniverse, endowed with a meaningful destiny and guided by a unified superintelligence. That stands in stark contrast to the random, soul-less,meaningless, materialized, and autonomous universe that science promotes.We will get a lot deeper into these concepts later on.Qabalah is a practical methodology that makes itself very useful forthe practice of magic and what is called “theurgistic ascension.”What might sound like a complex term simply represents a system ofpractical magic that allows the practitioner to ascend through the planes ofthe spirit world and obtain union with the One. We will discuss theseconcepts in greater detail later on, but one thing you should keep in mind isthat the Qabalah has many important practical applications. It isn’t just a lotof philosophy or mystical speculation.Magicians use the Qabalah to fashion sigils, talismans, word formulas,acronyms, and ciphers, and to determine the intrinsic numerologicalrelationship between words and phrases. It is also an occult map of theInner Planes and a system of correspondences. A practical Qabalist is often,but not always, a practitioner of ritual or ceremonial magic who usesmeditation, contemplation, and theurgy to ultimately achieve full and totalenlightenment, or at-one-ment, with the Godhead. This is the purpose of theQabalah, and it is also the purpose of most forms of higher magic as well.To recap the uses of the Qabalah, we can say that it has the following fivefunctional applications:• Map or model of the Spirit world• Meta-system and meta-knowledge system• Cosmology and cosmogony• Practical system of correspondences, formulas, acronyms, ciphers,sigils, and numerology• System of magic, meditation, and contemplationNow that you know what the Qabalah can be used for, I should furtherexplain its importance and why it is critical that an occultist not only knowand understand it but also, over time, even master it.Importance of the QabalahCertainly, you could forgo studying or using the Qabalah, and you wouldstill be able to meditate, contemplate, and even work forms of magic.However, because the Qabalah is a powerful meta-system, it can help youput all of the pieces together. It is a system that can help you organize thevarious occult systems and religions that you have adopted along with themystical experiences that you might have had. It can even help youunderstand other religious systems that you might want to grasp withouthaving to become an adherent. In fact, the Qabalah is one of the few meta-systems available to the practicing occultist. It is not the only meta-system,but it is one of the more common meta-systems currently in use.There are lots of books written about the Qabalah from any angle youcould possibly imagine, and perhaps some even beyond your imagination.All of these books will become immediately accessible to you if youmanage to learn the basics first. In other words, having a basic knowledgeof the Qabalah opens doors that might not be open to those who lack thisknowledge.Additionally, other occult systems are related to the Qabalah, such as theTarot, astrology, alchemy, hermetics, magic—the list is almost endless. Inshort, nearly everyrecommend that you visually imagine your own ascent upthe Tree of Life, so that you can perform a kind of preliminary pathworking.Doing this, you will notice how the powers, attributes, and overallsymbolic transitions change in the most striking and meaningful manner,beginning with the densest levels of being and on up to the most evolvedand purely spiritual. After this practice ascent, you may want to visualizethe attributes of the paths in reverse, beginning with the 11th path andproceeding down the Tree to the 32nd.By the way, the first Pathway is always numbered the 11th path becausethe ten Sephiroth precede the 22 Pathways (in the Sepher Yetzirah). Eventhough the first ten paths are referred to as Sephiroth (numbers), they arealso considered to be paths of wisdom (but consisting wholly of the greateremanations). Each Pathway association is self-explanatory and is followedby some strategic correspondences that will aid you in conceptualizing theascent up or down the Tree of Life.22 Pathways32nd Path(Malkuth to Yesod—Thav—Saturn/Earth): The 32nd Path is the path ofentry into the domain of the unconscious mind. It also represents thethreshold of inner exploration, and it is the stage where one first becomesconfronted by a deeper reality, which is a hidden world that exists behindeveryday experiences. This transition is like a preliminary initiation into thedeeper structures of one’s personality, and it is also a path of entry into thelower astral plane. The 32nd Path is often associated with underground orcavern imagery. It is also characterized by the mythic abduction ofPersephone by Hades, who captured and took her from the surface worldinto his dark domain in the underworld—a place of mystery and death. Thearchangels of this path are Sandalphon (Malkuth) and Gabriel (Yesod). TheTarot trump is the Universe (World)—XXI. (Note: Tarot trumpstraditionally have a Roman numeral sequence instead of an Arabicnumeral.)31st Path(Malkuth to Hod—Shin—Fire): The 31st Path reveals the inner motivationsthat move and push individuals to perpetual action and reaction. These innermotivations become transparent, revealing the specific lusts, desires,passions, and needs that determine a person’s present and future disposition,thereby showing not only what is, but also what will become—the futureactions invested in the present. Therefore, ascending this path gives theseeker an insight into the nature of the world, stripping it of its outer opacityand revealing all of the secret inner forces that seem to be in constantconflict with each other. Everything is laid bare and nothing is hidden; thisis the nature of perfect and impartial judgment. To gain true peace andpeace of mind, the seeker must learn to live in strict accordance with hisspiritual principles, since in the powerful light of spiritual judgment; anyother course would be shown to be hypocritical. This is the trial by fire, andthe trial of truth, balance, honor, and living through a spiritual discipline.What descends from this Pathway is either retribution or reward; the choiceis entirely up to the individual. The archangels of this path are Sandalphon(Malkuth) and Michael (Hod). The Tarot trump is Judgement—XX.30th Path(Yesod to Hod—Resh—Sun): The 30th Path is a path through which greatwisdom can be attained. This is because the Sephirah Hod is the meansthrough which one may contact the illuminated masters of spiritualevolution. These are the great teachers who are eternally employed with theguiding and teaching of humanity, and whose main sphere of influence isultimately found in Chesed. Because there is a powerful link betweenChesed and Hod (through Tiphareth), the teachings from these high spiritualsources are projected down the planes to form a pool of instruction, as itwere, in Hod. The Sephirah Hod is typically referred to by Qabalists as theWater Temple because of its symbolic use as a pool in which the higherwisdom may be seen as reflected light. Because of the influence of theMoon in Yesod, and Mercury in Hod, the combination of these twoSephiroth in this Pathway produces the source of great occult wisdom,which confers complete freedom and joy in those who have received andrealized its gifts. Such a confluence of occult knowledge and wisdom is likethe brilliant light of the sun (Solar Logos), which illuminates everythingnear and far. The archangels of this path are Gabriel (Yesod) and Michael(Hod). The Tarot trump is the Sun—XIX.29th Path(Malkuth to Netzach—Qoph—Pisces): The 29th Path represents thebiological and vital forces of all living things, including their innate basicfunctioning and instincts. As is true with all of the lower paths on the Treeof Life, this path has both a higher and a lower attribute. The lower attributehas much to do with the functions of living bodies, their need to survive byfinding food, eating, and reproducing their numbers. The higher attributecould be compared to a simplistic but intense belief in the spiritualization ofall life, as a kind of pantheism or nature mysticism, where nature itself isrevered and worshiped as the source of all life. Thus the highest expressionof this path is where nature is deified and idealized as being the perfectexpression of the material manifestation of Spirit; in many ways, this is agreat but simplistic truth.Nature has many faces, and it can be seen as being harsh, showing itselfas the rule of the strongest and the survival of the fittest, and expressingitself in the brutal cloak of bared fangs and sharp claws. Yet it can also beseen as the mother of necessity and the ever-efficient balance of life anddeath. Ascending this path reveals the vitality and even the beautifulwisdom of all manifested life, and descending it brings forth the power ofthe life force that can regenerate and heal all living things. This path can beviewed as being pitiless and cruel, showing the dark primitive aspects ofhuman nature that society seeks to represses, but which are also an integraland undeniable part of the human animal. It is also a path that teachescaution and probation, where the seeker must face and master the darkpowers that are hidden in the recesses of the human heart. The archangels ofthis path are Sandalphon (Malkuth) and Haniel (Netzach). The Tarot trumpis the Moon—XVIII.28th Path(Yesod to Netzach—Tzaddi—Aquarius): The 28th Path is a conduit ofinspiration and revelation, for through it the pure forces of the creativeimagination pour into the unconscious mind, producing the impetus for allcreative endeavors. This path is the perfect channel for all artisticinspiration, whatever its medium or manner of expression. It can alsoexpress itself as innovative discoveries in the sciences, theoretical orapplied. The key to mastering this path is to learn to form a kind ofreservoir with the mind, so that the glory and higher inspirational aspects ofthe soul will gather and accumulate in this container, where they willcollectively produce great ideas, discoveries, and creative expressions.Otherwise, these inspiring forces will rapidly pass through the mind,dissipate, and then quickly be forgotten. One needs to gather theseinfluences together and let them steep, like a cup of exquisite tea, and not betempted to taste it prematurely.Ascending this path is like the quest for that essential but forgotten thing—never realized until it is given form and substance, yet it awakens one tothe most essential elements of creativity and invention. Descending thispath unleashes the creative emanations echoing from the source of all spirit,where form and imagination magically merge to produce things of hauntingbeauty and astonishing ingenuity. The symbol for this special issue ofcreativity and discovery is the Star, which is unique yet has no intrinsicmeaning, but represents all things to all people; it is, in fact a symbol of asymbol. The archangels of this path are Gabriel(Yesod) and Haniel(Netzach). The Tarot trump is the Star—XVII.27th Path(Hod to Netzach—Peh—Mars): The 27th Path is the main girder of thepersonality, linking the creative power in Netzach to the center of theconcrete intellect found within Hod. Therefore, this path is concerned withthe structure and the balancing of the components of the personality. Thesepsychic components are the very ideals which act as tools for thepersonality to understand itself and describe the outer world. Knowing thesetools, or archetypes, allows one to understand the nature of the psyche andto reveal the inner aspirations and motivations that move one to act. Thefoundation of one’s perception of reality is revealed in this path (asontology), and also the ability to determine inner truth from falsehood. Thisis also a path of converging forces, which are characterized by the eternalconflict of the sacred and the profane, faith and knowledge, magic andscience. It is where all ideals and beliefs are fully tested by the greaterspiritual power of the Godhead and the lesser power of material limitations.Human nature is caught in the crossfire between divine and infernal forces,although in truth, they are one and the same. The secret wisdom of this pathis to find the middle point of balance, and to adhere to it despite all calamityand outrageous fortune. The archangels of this path are Michael (Hod) andHaniel (Netzach). The Tarot trump is the Tower—XVI.Note: The three paths leading upward to Tiphareth cross a veil that iscalled by Qabalists, Paroketh (PRKTh—a curtain), which is known as theveil of illusion. Below this veil are the so-called illusory manifestations ofphysical reality and their various worldly concerns, and above this veil isthe domain of the essential world, the place where the super-symbolicstructures of the archetypal world reside. Between these two opposingperspectives of reality is a gulf, which is referred to as the Lesser Abyss.Crossing it is the task of the adept. This gulf is a gap, wall, or dam thathinders exchanges between the domains of the lower and Higher Self. Itmust be bridged in order for a true flow of spirit to be released, flooding theself and causing it to be fully integrated within spirit, mind, and body. Thisgulf could also be called the omega-point between the personalitydominated by the mind and the Higher Self of the Spirit. On the 26th Path,the intellect can facilitate a transformation of the mind into spirit. On the25th Path, the will, memory, and instinct associated with the lower self mustbe set aside before the virtues of charity, faith, and hope can become trulyrealized. And on the 24th Path, ego death has to be undergone before onecan be reborn into a higher state of consciousness.26th Path(Hod to Tiphareth—Ain—Capricorn): This path, like the 27th, is a verydifficult one to cross because it tests the intellect of the seeker as he goesthrough an intense transformative process. When the seeker passes fromHod to Tiphareth, or from self-awareness to spiritual self-illumination, hismind becomes radically changed so that he is able to briefly perceive hisown spiritual source—the Higher Self. The ascent of this path is a processof personal transition, where the ego-based mind experiences the profoundperception of its own godhood reflected in the Higher Self, and this causeschanges of a permanent nature to occur. In descending this path, the HigherSelf reveals itself to the mind, soul, and body of the seeker, and immersesitself in the dreams and illusions of the material world. The exchangebetween the rational intellect and the mysterious Higher Self produces aspecial kind of spiritual wisdom and insight, which can be used to transformthe material world, and also to translate the spiritual one.Therefore, the underlying meaning of this path is that it represents aprofound challenge to the seeker’s integrity. Through it, the seeker meetshis internalized and personal Godhead, and that apparition emerges throughthe veil of his intellect, causing it to be either distorted or crystal clear. Howthe seeker perceives and then deals with that revelation will determine if heis able to evolve past his limitations, or succumb to self-idolatry. It willeither powerfully transform him or it will ultimately destroy him. This greattest is called an initiation by some, and it can either exalt the seeker with atrue realization of the self as Deity, or utterly confuse him with delusion.The archangels of this path are Michael (Hod) and Raphael (Tiphareth). TheTarot trump is the Devil—XV.25th Path(Yesod to Tiphareth—Samek—Sagittarius): On this path, the seekerexperiences the first glimmerings of the purely transcendent consciousness,the ineffable union of being, experienced fully through the emotional body.Paradoxically, this path also produces the terrible experience known as theDark Night of the Soul. Symbolically, the soul engages this path as if shewere traversing the endless wasteland of the desert, having left behind thefancies and delights of the material world to seek the truth in the stark butpristine world of self-denial. She walks this featureless Pathway withoutlight, blinded by the darkness and the monotonous terrain.The mysterious key to this path is to call upon the inner light of one’sfaith, that through steadfast prayer and meditation, the seeker will find thepath that leads her to the blessed oasis and personal salvation. It is by faithalone, and by the will, that the soul will overturn the darkness and find itsway. Even so, the passage is difficult and long, and the powerful emotionsof defeat and despair are always hovering around the seeker. The ordeal ofthis Pathway is actually the second stage of personal transformation, but itis not the hardest, since that is to be found in the 18th Pathway. However,this path shares with the 26th and the 24th Paths the threefold ordeal oflife’s first major passage. Ascending this path, the seeker will find a worldof apparent darkness and aridity, where her soul will aspire to the light ofhigher consciousness, sustained only by the power of faith and will.Descending, the seeker shall experience the downward flow of life, light,and love from the Higher and Illuminated Self, seeking to make andestablish contact with its incarnated double. The archangels of this path areGabriel (Yesod) and Raphael (Tiphareth). The Tarot trump is Temperance—XIV.24th Path(Netzach to Tiphareth—Nun—Scorpio): The experience of this path is oneof complete physical transformation, perceived as an inexorable andunavoidable change, which is symbolized by both death and rebirth. Theascent of the 24th Path initiates a form of death or powerful transition of thelower self as the false ego, which jealously guards the self fromexperiencing true spiritual revelations. This “death” of the lower self canalso precipitate other changes as well, including a near-death or actual-deathexperience. Generally, this path is characterized by the transformation of thepetty ego, where the seeker experiences a radical transition that is triggeredby a general collapse of the self and its many props, defense mechanisms,and illusory values. What causes this transformation is the revelation thatdeath or change is imminent (a kind of spiritual truth), which cannot beavoided or rationalized. With the “death” of the petty ego is alsoexperienced the rebirth and regeneration of the self assisted through anintervention of one’s Higher Self, which helps the seeker to create a truthfuland non-dual transcendental identity. In this type of internal death andrebirth, the seeker’s outer appearances may remain unchanged, yet his innerbeing is completely transformed.Often, when such an inner change becomes fully stabilized, outwardchanges occur as well, since the light of the Higher Self is allowed to shineforth through the lower self and the body, producing glamour and anextended charisma. Achange in personal motivation and aspiration mustalso occur. Before this event, the seeker was very much concerned withpersonal ambitions and basic self-fulfillment; afterwards, he has become aservant of his greater spiritual process. No longer can he selfishly seekphysical gratification and personal ambition without first fulfilling hisspiritual avocation. This is because of the fact that within this path, theneeds of the many do indeed outweigh the needs of the few or the one—spiritual service thereby becomes paramount. Therefore, the seeker isirreparably transformed, but in the process he loses the naivety that allowedsuch childlike pursuits as selfish gratification and blind ambition. Thearchangels of this path are Haniel (Netzach) and Raphael (Tiphareth). TheTarot trump is Death—XIII.23rd Path(Hod to Geburah—Mim—Water): Passage through this Pathway forces theseeker to use her mental powers to eliminate the superfluous andconcentrate on what is truly important and decisive in regard to spiritualevolution. The key to this path is to become as one-pointed as possible, andto discard all extraneous beliefs and false propositions. This process is akind of powerful mental purification, which is a necessary precursor toachieving an intellectual bond with the Godhead. This is because theSephirah of Geburah is the testing place for all beliefs and self-definitions,and the powers that reside within it have a very low tolerance for thesuperficial and the irrelevant.This path inverts all of the seeker’s values and beliefs, thereby testingthem, and places a great pressure on all of the components of her being.There is a sense of suspension and timelessness, and also an ending of theworld that was previously known and taken for granted. It is the path ofself-sacrifice, where the seeker offers up herself for the redemption of herwhole being. This is the primary Mystery of the Dying God, whichsymbolizes the self-inflicted martyrdom of the illusory self. The activationof this mystery dispels all illusions and deceptions, making room solely forthe inner truth, since it alone can assist the seeker who has dwelt indarkness until this moment. The key concept here is not to cling tofalsehood, but to ardently seek the revelation of self-truth, and bravelyundergo its ordeal. The archangels of this path are Michael (Hod) andKhamael (Geburah). The Tarot trump is the Hanged Man—XII.22nd Path(Tiphareth to Geburah—Lamed—Libra): This path is generally known asthe path of balance and the adjustment of fate. This is a path where theseeker undergoes whatever is necessary to bring about equilibrium, and thisbecomes his ongoing and essential discipline. However, the kind ofequilibrium that is suggested by the merging of the harsh forces of Geburahand the gentle sagacity of Tiphareth is one of inner strength and self-restraint. There is a need for a reduction to the basic essentials that are anecessary part of this stage of spiritual growth, and the process ofrefinement and reduction is well represented by this path. Yet there ishealing wisdom here, and also spiritual guidance to assist and help theseeker. Through this ordeal, the seeker experiences compassion andbenignity.The seeker also understands the need for balancing the self betweenextremes, a process that is omitted in the previous path. Through the ordealof this Pathway, the seeker must learn to master his more basic instincts andtemper his desire to indulge and dissipate himself. Achieving this goal takesvoluntarily action, so the seeker adopts the techniques of self-control andthe ethics of a spiritual discipline to completely master the lower self. Whenthe lower self is fully integrated into the Higher Self, the seeker is trulyprepared for the more stressful processes of spiritual enlightenment. Thearchangels of this path are Raphael (Tiphareth) and Khamael (Geburah).The Tarot trump is Justice—XI.21st Path(Netzach to Chesed—Kaph—Jupiter): The 21st Path characterizes thepotential of becoming fully actualized and, therefore, forever steppingoutside of the boundaries of the capriciousness of good and bad fortune (theeternal cycle of the wheel of birth and death). The forces of the benevolentGodhead of infinite abundance and goodness bestow upon the intrepidseeker the grace and material salvation that removes, for all time, thepossibility of loss and privation. The power of the Deity is so vast that itcompletely elevates the seeker from out of the state of constant need andwant, and bestows upon her the favor of a seemingly charmed existence.Still, this grace and abundance must be earned through a perfect andseamless connection or conduit between the seeker and the brilliant light ofthe Godhead; any doubt or disbelief will thwart that tenuous connection. Itis only through perfect faith that the seeker is able to channel the grace ofthe Deity, and then, only selflessly and abundantly for all. The Sephirah intowhich the influences of Chesed flow via the 21st Path is Netzach,representing the creative imagination and higher emotions within thepersonality. Thus, the effects of this path are responsible for the ideals andaspirations that capture the imagination of humanity. Foremost of these, inthe Western Mystery tradition, is the ideal for the Quest of the Holy Grail—that rare and precious restorative of perfect grace. This quest greatly affectsthe heart and the emotions (romance), becoming that single-most yearningfor what is missing, which impels men and women to undergo the spiritualquest. Also within this path is the concept that the Quest for the Grail willforever alter and transform the seeker, and even bar those who are unworthyof its revelation. The archangels of this path are Haniel (Netzach) andTzadkiel (Chesed). The Tarot trump is the Wheel of Fortune—X.20th Path(Tiphareth to Chesed—Yod—Virgo): The 20th Path symbolizes themysterious hidden light of wisdom and the intuitive knowledge of the Deitytaking root in the self, which is the inspired heart of the seeker. Therefore,this path represents the process of illumination whereby the secretknowledge of one’s Higher Self is fully revealed and made conscious andknowable. Yet such a profound translation of the self requires a period ofwithdrawal from the material world as a form of ascetic monasticism, andby a deep, sustained, internal contemplation on the nature of one’s spiritualessence. That spiritual source of the self, which is ardently and passionatelysought by the seeker, is found only deep within the core of his being, and allthat exists external to this source is but a poor reflection of that which iswithin.It is therefore critically important for the seeker to realize the futility ofany outward search for truth, and the importance of surrendering himself tothat inward revelation. The Higher Self cannot be approached withoutspiritual love, so the seeker must first develop and realize that hallowedstate. The second requirement is that the seeker must forsake all otherachievements as illusory, and thereby empty himself of all expectations andpremeditated beliefs—one must be completely open and without bias. Allthe myths about the true self must by this time be purged and abandoned,and also any ambitions or expectations that one would subsequently placeupon it. The heart is purified by a renunciation of all vanity and falseglamour, and by the surrendering of all the cares and concerns of thematerial world. The seeker has placed himself completely at the mercy ofthe Deity, and therein the Higher Self emerges through the refined gatewayof the heart. The marriage of heart with spirit connects the seeker with thespiritual source that is pure and essential. The archangels of this path areRaphael (Tiphareth) and Tzadkiel (Chesed). The Tarot trump is the Hermit—IX.19th Path(Geburah to Chesed—Teth—Leo): The 19th Path is another principal girderor connecting structure for the HigherSelf. As noted above, Chesed is theSephirah associated with the compassion and spiritual love of the HigherSelf and what it seeks to become in the mundane sphere. Geburah is theSephirah associated with actions, the fate of the Higher Self, or the workthat it is destined to do. The tension between these two modes of being,which is the tension of attempting to fulfill a spiritual ideal in the materialworld, is the essential ordeal of this path. Basically, the challenge of thispath is to accept everything that has happened during the seeker’s completelife cycle. The seeker must accept her fate as it exists, without any evasionsor excuses. Acceptance is the key to this path, and the seeker must acceptnot only her true nature, but also her destiny, which is the union of theessence and the motivation of the Higher Self. The necessity of balancingSeverity and Mercy within the core of oneself so as not to be dominated byeither one represents a virtue of complete self-mastery. The other Pathwaysbelow this one have helped to determine the nature of the seeker’s innerDeity, and now she must assume that inner Godhead and fulfill her personaldestiny. It is because of the fact that this ordeal, as splendid and magnificentas it may seem, is only a precursor to the supreme ordeal, which is thecrossing of the Greater Abyss. The archangels of this path are Khamael(Geburah) and Tzadkiel (Chesed). The Tarot trump is Strength—VIII.Abysmal CrossingAll of the paths that lead to the supernal triad of Kether, Chokmah, andBinah (Paths 18 through 15, and 13) must pass over a great barrier that isknown as the Greater Abyss. This chasm is similar to the Lesser Abyss orVeil of Paroketh, which was previously mentioned. The Greater Abyss isthe barrier that isolates the seeker’s individual conscious being from theabsolute Godhead; yet this barrier isn’t insurmountable, representing thefact that human nature and the nature of the Deity are more closely relatedthan most realize. The barrier is really a wall consisting of super-consciousness and the at-one-ment of perfect conscious union, whichseparates the One from the many. Whichever spiritual path the seekerundertakes, whether it is the path of the mystic, the magician, or thephilosopher, crossing the Greater Abyss represents the most exaltedtransformation, where he is wholly dissolved within the achievement ofunion with the One. The successful passage of the Abyss is characterized bya total awareness of the divinity that is now awakened within oneself. Thatthe Godhead is alive and connecting all sentient beings into itself fosters theimpression that the seeker as God is one with all things, and all things areone with him.18th Path(Geburah to Binah—Cheth—Cancer): The 18th Path is the place where theconfluence of the dynamic and ever-moving spiritual powers merges intothe peaceful, still, and pure intuitive wisdom of the Deity. It is where thespinning wheel of the cosmic spiral and the chalice container of the infinitesource unite into a single expression—the Merkabah or chariot, the HolyThrone and the grail as the Well of Souls. Thus, force, form, and source arejoined together to produce the ineffable mystery of this Pathway, which isthe embodiment and empowerment of the Feminine Archetype (Binah) asthe primal creative female—the Great Goddess.The spiritual light that ascends this Pathway reveals the primal forces ofcreation, where the One is refracted and distilled to become the greatpotential for the myriad of individual souls. Conversely, the descent of thissupernal light is the creation of the souls of the living. The seeker whofollows this path discovers that essential key to all mysteries, which revealsthe primal motive for her individual creation and the creation of all beings,occurring beyond all time and space. The 18th Path, as all the pathsassociated with the supernal triad, represents a mystery of being, and as thefeminine polarity of the Tree of Life, it is the feminine mystery of creationand formation. The archangels of this path are Khamael (Geburah) andTzadkiel (Tiphareth). The Tarot trump is the Chariot—VII.17th Path(Tiphareth to Binah—Zayin—Gemini): The 17th Path is the mysteriouscorridor that fosters the union between the Higher Self and the ultimateaspect of the Godhead, who are known as the mysterious twins (Dioscuri)—one mortal, and the other immortal. The mystery of this Pathway is found inthe alchemical wedding between the lower self, the Higher Self and theDeity, where dual aspects of the self are merged into a perfect unionthrough the Mediation of Absolute Spirit. Perfect union has many attributes,but is represented in alchemy as the manifestation of the philosopher’sstone and the universal medicine. The conduit between Binah and Tipharethsymbolizes the power to create, regenerate, and exalt all living things,which represents the very end and beginning of all spiritual and magicalaccomplishment. This path represents the mystery of the Marriage of theHoly Spirit, which occurs through the joining of the Archetypal Femininewith the Divine Son as Mediator. The archangels of this path are Raphael(Tiphareth) and Tzaphkiel (Binah). The Tarot trump is the Lovers—VI.16th Path(Chesed to Chokmah—Vav—Taurus): The 16th Path is where wisdom andgrace join to formulate the perfect illuminating power of the activeGodhead, manifesting its beauty and charisma into the world through themediation of the avatar, which is the physical representative of the Godheadamong all sentient beings. This Pathway, as the masculine refection of the18th Path, is a fulcrum of creation and love, wisdom and compassion,emanating perfectly from the Greater Wisdom of the Godhead so that itshines both above and below, illuminating everything with its brilliant light.Emanating in a descending arc, this illuminating light becomes theenlightened mastery of the messiah achieving the Great Work, and it is theinspired word of the Deity. Ascending upwards, it is the words of power assacred invocations that cause the light of the Godhead to be realized in themind of human beings and to reverberate through the material world. Thedescent is symbolized by the Horn of Plenty, the manifestation of all grace.The key to this Pathway is that through the divine word, or Logos, allthings are created in both heaven and earth, and that the avatar or messiahholds the key to unleashing and using the divine word. This path representsthe integration of the cosmogonic cycle with that of the individual cycle ofinitiation, thus seamlessly blending the individual into the infinite. Thearchangels of this path are Tzadkiel (Chesed) and Raziel (Chokmah). TheTarot trump is the Hierophant—V.15th Path(Tiphareth to Chokmah—Heh—Aries): The 15th Path symbolizes theincarnation of the holy anointed leader as the temporal representative of theDeity in the mundane world, who is guided by the wisdom and foresight ofthe Higher Self. This Pathway is the conduit of divine kingship, wherethrough a mortal mediator the powers and wisdom of the Godhead arebrought into harmonious union with the earth. Thus all things are balancedand made perfect through the harmonious interaction of heaven and earth.The key to this Pathway is that the mediator as divine leader must be aperfect channel for the expression of divine wisdom and power, and he orshe must be completely unbiased and without prejudice, since anyinterference with the Deity will destroy the delicate balance of heaven andearth. Such a divine leader is given the power and authority of the Deity touse with justice, wisdom and compassion, since what is given can easily betaken away. Wisdom flows down from Chokmah to assemble in the heart ofthe Higher Self in Tiphareth, and in order to channel this wisdom, theseeker must mediate selflessly and without any interference. Only in thismanner is the will of the Deity brought into perfect alignment with the willofthe leader, and in perfect harmony with the kingdom. The archangels ofthis path are Raphael (Tiphareth) and Raziel (Chokmah). The Tarot trump isthe Emperor—IV.14th Path(Binah to Chokmah—Daleth—Venus): The 14th Path is the cross-path orgirder for the triad of Spirit, as the 27th Path is to the personality and the19th Path is to the Higher Self. The 14th Path is the first path that iscompletely within the supernal triad, so it exists within the world of ideaswithout form. It is the gateway or doorway that guards the domain of theAbsolute Spirit, signifying that individual consciousness may not passthrough this point. This path unites the archetypal masculine (Chokmah)with the archetypal feminine (Binah), so that the full light of perfectillumination is joined with the receptive and formative intuition, thusbecoming the first cause of the manifestation and creation of all things.Within this unified field of consciousness, the thoughts of the One seek toformulate the perfected state of being in all its glory and simplicity. Thearchangels of this path are Tzaphkiel (Binah) and Raziel (Chokmah). TheTarot trump is the Empress—III.13th Path(Tiphareth to Kether—Gimel—Moon): The 13th Path is the Pathway of theMystic, where the brilliant and pure light of the Deity is directly andperfectly received in all its terrible majesty. The mystic seeks not theredemption of himself or the world, but only the pure and unadulteratedrevelation of the Godhead. The mystic performs this action selflessly,grounded in humility and wholly absorbed, since he only seeks to behold it.The method of spiritual achievement through this path is the slow andpainful elimination of all that might act as a barrier between oneself and theDeity. The first stage is the revelation of the Deity within oneself, and thesecond is the realization of the unity of everything within the Godhead. Theworld and its concerns, including the needs and the wants of the self, havelong been eliminated, so that nothing interferes with the simplicity andpurity of the experience of blissful spiritual union. The final stage isachieved through the annihilation of the self as container and the totalidentification of the self with the Deity, so that there is no part of the seekerthat is not a part of that Unity. The archangels of this path are Raphael(Tiphareth) and Metatron (Kether). The Tarot trump is the High Priestess—II.12th Path(Binah to Kether—Beit—Mercury): The 12th Path is called the OccultIntelligence (Prophecy), because it represents the revelation of all things(archetypal forms) as they truly are, but seen as if in a vision. All veils arecast aside and the Pure Light of the Absolute Spirit is allowed to beperceived by the intuition instead of the mind, so the nature of divineprophecy is revealed. Divine prophecy is defined as the illuminating visionthat reveals the manifestation of the ultimate inner mechanism of divinefate, showing everything that ever was and will ever be as a singlesuspended moment. It is also true that the seeker may find herself fullyconscious in that vision, directing the manifestation of the universe throughher being and acting as a cosmic channel. Through the power of this paththe seeker is able to comprehend and work through the Godhead, investingall time and space with the essence of herself, and therein creating auniverse. The experience of the Godhead is softened by dreams and visions.The manifestation of the feminine archetype personifying the AbsoluteSpirit represents the activation of the powers of creation, and also thequalities of compassion and preservation. In this manner the love andwisdom of the Deity is expressed for all created things, and this symbolizesthe perfection of all magic. The archangels of this path are Tzaphkiel(Binah) and Metatron (Kether). The Tarot trump is the Magician—I.11th Path(Chokmah to Kether—Aleph—Air): The 11th Path is the corridor whereone receives the vision of the Absolute Spirit, face to face, as co-equals.The power of the Absolute Spirit engenders itself; therefore it gives birth tothe First Principle that is its reflection. In this fashion was Spirit mademanifest as an ideal, thereby causing its own dissemination. Yet the Lightthat comes from the Primal Source is blinding and when one is exposed toit, the singular sense of being-ness becomes an illuminating self-knowledgethat annihilates all else. It’s like a circular mirror reflecting the light of theDeity in all directions at once. A devotee of this Pathway is one who isdivinely mad, denoting that the expression of pure genius is without regardto form or process. The key to this path is that it represents the introductionof a singular paradox into the unified domain of the One. It is the mysteryof the self and the reflected not-self. That paradox is also found within thenature of the Divine Fool, who is simultaneously wise and giddily foolish.The Fool is the one who expresses wisdom in its most essential andsimplistic form, but who cannot speak anything but nonsense. The pureexpression of Spirit causes the Fool to become ecstatic and wild, where heis released from all concerns and limitations, and so is truly free and whole.The archangels of this path are Raziel (Chokmah) and Metatron (Kether).The Tarot trump is the Fool—0.Pathway Patterns and ConsiderationsThere are several different patterns when examining the structures that thePathways produce in the diagram of the Tree of Life. While there are theobvious and subtle geometric patterns found in the Tree—such as apentagram, heptagram, crosses, triangles, and a hexagram—these I willleave to others who are more interested in the details of sacred geometry.Sacred geometry, and a detailed analysis of the patterns in regard to thestructures that the Pathways produce, could easily fill a book, so we willconcern ourselves instead with just a few of the more important patterns andleave the esoteric anatomy of the body of the Godhead to those moreinclined to occult minutiae. The Tree of Life in its classical illustration hasthree horizontal paths, seven vertical paths, and 12 diagonal paths, which issimilar to the division of the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Still, thereare just four major patterns that should occupy the essential Qabalist, andthese are the lightning flash, Three Pillars, Four Worlds, and the Serpent’sAscent.As a side note, Moses Cordovero included an illustration of his Tree ofLife design in the book Pardes Rimonim (Garden of Pomegranates) and thatbecame the classical design most recognized today; but another version(without the two lower Pathways) was illustrated in the same work. So, atleast two versions were promoted by Cordovero. The second versionwithout the lower Pathways became the version lionized by Isaac Luria, andis now the version used by many Jewish Qabalists.Lightning FlashThis is an emblem of the process of emanation and involution, where theunmanifest and unknowable Godhead created the first Sephirah, and fromthat foundation-point in the manifested universe, it created the otherSephiroth. The Pathway of emanation and involution follows whatQabalists have called the lightning flash, since the process of creation wasinstantaneous and proceeded from the highest level to the lowest. In fact,because the process of emanation is not something that occurred just once,but is an ongoing and continuous process, the lightning flash is a patternthat is also continuously occurring, although less dramatically than the veryfirst time it occurred. The lightning flash is a zigzag pattern that movesdown and to the right, connecting all ten of the Sephiroth. Many of theconduits of this flash coincide with Pathways on the Tree of Life, except forone, which is a noted hypothetical Pathway but where no actual path exists.That hypothetical Pathway is from Binah to Chesed, where the lightningflash must pass if it is to follow the most directpath from Sephirah toSephirah. The other points of the angular path of the lightning bolt coverspecific Pathways in the Tree of Life, marking them as uniquely associatedwith the direct emanation of the Godhead.A curious thing about the implied Pathway from Binah to Chesed is thatthere were once thought to be two crossing Pathways, which included yetanother implied Pathway, and this one was from Chokmah to Geburah. Sothere are actually two implied Pathways that cross in the area of the GreaterAbyss, although in the modern Qabalah, these Pathways don’t really exist.In an 18th-century diagram of the Tree of Life (an example can be found inGershom Scholem’s book Kabbalah, page 146), the crossed Pathways thatdirectly connect Binah with Chesed, and Chokmah with Geburah, areplainly shown; but the two Pathways connecting Malkuth with Hod andNetzach are missing. This diagram of the Tree of Life was known as theSephed Tree, and as previously stated, was originally designed byCordovero.There can only be 22 Pathways because there are only 22 Hebrew letters,so some possible Pathway connections must be omitted for the sake ofestablishing others. What we can assume by this small revelation is that theimplied Pathway associated with the emanating flash of Lightning is one ofperhaps a few other implied Pathways. However, the cross-paths from thesupernal triad that are missing and only implied do have a subtleimportance, and should be the subject for further meditation andinvestigation.Pathways associated with the lightning flash are: 11, 14, Binah to Chesed(implied), 19, 22, 24, 27, 30, and 32. There are nine paths associated withthis pattern, but only eight are actual Pathways out of a total of 22. ThesePathways are uniquely qualified as being on the direct route of the divineemanations, and when meditating on the 22 paths, this should be animportant point to consider. (See Figure 7.)Figure 7: Tree of Life lightning flashThree PillarsIsaac Luria was the master scholar who first organized the Tree of Life intoa dialectic arrangement (thesis, antithesis, synthesis) between Three Pillars:that of Mercy, Severity, and the Middle Pillar. One could also consider theleft hand (Severity) to be feminine, and the right hand to be masculine(Mercy), with the Middle Pillar representing the synthesis of the twopolarized extremes—a place of Mediation. The differentiation between lefthand and right hand can also be interpreted as the difference between theleft-hand and right-hand spiritual paths. Thus the Sephiroth Binah, Geburah,and Hod make up the Pillar of Severity, and Chokmah, Chesed, andNetzach make up the Pillar of Mercy, while the Sephiroth of Kether,Tiphareth, Yesod, and Malkuth make up the Middle Pillar.Additionally, there are three groups of Pathways in this configuration:those that make up the Three Pillars and those that cross-connect the pillars.By far, the cross-connecting Pathways make up the larger share of overallPathways, showing that the Tree of Life is mostly concerned with thesynthesis and mitigation of the polarities of Severity and Mercy, therebyensuring overall harmony and balance within the framework of the Tree.Pathways of the Pillar of Severity: 23 and 18.Pathways of the Pillar of Mercy: 21 and 16.Pathways of the Middle Pillar: 32, 25, and 13.Cross-connecting Pathways: 31, 29, 30, 28, 27, 26, 24, 22, 20, 19, 17, 15,14, 12, 11. (Of these fourteen paths, which cross-connect the Three Pillars,only three actually connect the Pillars of Severity directly with Mercy, andare considered the main girders of the structure of the Tree. These are Paths27, 19, and 14; the rest bind the middle with the two outlying pillars.)When analyzing the qualities of the Pathways, special considerationshould be given to those Pathways that are part of the Three Pillars, andthose that cross-connect the Three Pillars (especially those that join Severitywith Mercy), thereby resolving and harmonizing the evident polarities. (SeeFigure 8.)Figure 8: Tree of Life as Three Pillars with PathwaysFour WorldsThe Qabalistic Four Worlds structure is often considered a separate way ofexamining the process of creation through emanation and involution. Infact, Qabalistic scholars have shown that each of the ten Sephiroth can beshown to contain each of the Four Worlds, as is aptly demonstrated inWilliam G. Gray’s ingenious book The Ladder of Lights. Thus, using thisparadigm, one could conceivably show a complete Tree of Life structureencapsulated by one of the Four Worlds, therefore making a total of 40Sephiroth and 88 Pathways, which would make most Qabalistic speculationquite complicated to say the least. Still, there is another way of comparingthe Tree of Life with the Four Worlds29 to produce a method of dividing theTree into these specific domains.The highest world is Atziluth, which represents the archetypal world ofpure ideals, which are unchanging and immutable, but dynamic rather thanstatic. This world would be the exclusive domain of the Sephirah Kether.Briah is next highest world, which represents the ideals or archetypes inmotion, thus representing the impulse of creation, where form and ideationcome together into a synthesis. This world would be the domain of the twoSephiroth Chokmah and Binah.Figure 9: Tree of Life as Four WorldsBelow the supernal triad is the Qabalistic world of Yetzirah, the formativeworld, where the aspects of personality and individuality merge toformulate individual entities, which are spirits and souls. Despite theformulation of individuals and the establishment of limitations, all of theentities of this world are still consciously connected to the one. This worldwould be the domain of six Sephiroth: Chesed, Geburah, Tiphareth,Netzach, Hod, and Yesod.Assiah is the lowest world, where souls merge with material bodies topopulate the physical world and to animate it with life. This world would bethe exclusive domain of Malkuth.Pathways that cross between the Four Worlds can be considered theimportant conduits of creation and illumination. They should be given thatspecial consideration when they are examined. Therefore, the paths thatconnect Assiah to Yetzirah would be 32, 31, and 29; the paths that connectYetzirah to Briah would be 18, 17, 16, 15, and 13; and the paths thatconnect Briah to Atziluth would be 12 and 11. These bridging Pathwayscould be considered the veritable portals between worlds. (See Figure 9.)(Another variation would be where Kether and Chokmah would beAtziluth, and Binah, alone, would be Briah, such as depicted in Crowley’sNaples arrangement.)Serpent’s AscentThis pattern of Pathways represents the slow and meticulous ascent up theTree of Life, where the guiding rule is to always proceed from left to right,and from lower to higher, so that the paths of the lower Sephirah areconsidered before the paths of a higher Sephirah. The Ascent also followsthe opposite direction used when reading Hebrew (left to right instead ofright to left). This cyclic pattern is useful for performing pathworkings,which is a topic that we will examine in chapter ten.The Pathway pattern for the Serpent’s Ascent consists of the followingpaths in the following sequential order: 32, 31, 29, 30, 28, 25, 27, 26, 23,24, 21, 22, 20, 17, 13, 15, 18, 16, 14, 12, 11. (See Figure 10.)Crossing PathsOne of the most interesting things about the Pathways on the Tree of Lifeare the specific points where they cross. For whatever reason, there isnothing mentioned about it in any of the books that I have read. While thisphenomenon does not commonly occur, pathworkings, as well as analyzingthe qualities of a specific path, are performed in isolation of any other paththat might cross the one being considered. In order to determine the natureof a specific Pathway, we must, of course, examine the two Sephiroth that itconnects, but nothing is ever said of the Pathways that it intersects.Certainly, if two paths cross each other, then it would seem obvious that thisincidence should have some kind of effect. Curiously, I have seen somediagrams of the Tree of Life where the crossing Pathways are shown toactually pass over and under each other, so that they never actually meet.At some point, a Qabalist can discover some additional insights whenconsidering those Pathways that cross each other. It is my belief that thisjunction of two paths is particularly significant, symbolizing that theconfluence of Pathway correspondences meet and briefly merge at thispoint. Crossing paths make a sign of the cross in the structure of the Tree,so I believe that we should examine the nature of the paths and where theycross.Curiously, there are five points where paths cross each other, and theseoccur at the three bridging Pathways that join the Pillars of Mercy andSeverity. There is one cross-path between Tiphareth, Yesod, Hod, andNetzach, which occurs with the Paths 25 (Samek—Temperance) and 27(Peh—The Tower). This cross-path would seem to symbolize an aspect ofthe crossing of the Lesser Abyss and the realization of initiatic adepthood.Figure 10: Tree of Life and Ascending Pathway SerpentThe other four cross points occur at the threshold of the Greater Abyss.Path 19 (Tet—Strength), which is the girder of personality (and the HigherSelf) is crossed by three paths, which are Paths 17 (Zayin—Lovers), 13(Gimel—High Priestess), and 15 (Heh—Emperor). These three pathsrepresent the three points of transition from Tiphareth to the supernal triad,which would symbolize a series of profound transformations, where theindividual becomes one with aspects of the Godhead. Additionally, Path 13(Gimel—High Priestess) also crosses Path 14 (Daleth—Empress),signifying that the final perfect mystical union of the seeker and theGodhead occurs through the aegis of feminine mediators, since Path 13penetrates not only the Greater Abyss, but the supernal triad itself.These strategic points where paths cross and connect could also beconsidered nexus points, since they are also important stages of transitionand transformation for the seeker. At any rate, a lot more thought andconsideration can be applied to these mystical points. Certainly, throughmeditation and magical envisioning, additional subtle insights might also berevealed. I have found in my own inquiries and discoveries that the crosspoints actually indicate hidden additional Sephiroth, which are not part ofthe canonical considerations of the classical Qabalah.Crowley and the “Tzaddi Is Not the Star” ControversyIf you continue your studies of the Tarot and the Qabalah, at some point youwill notice differences between the sequential numbering between Tarotdecks and their associated placement on the Pathways of the Tree of Life.To deal with these differences, and the fact that they are sometimes notexplained, I decided to address a couple of the discrepancies here.The first difference has to do with the placement and sequentialassociations with the cards/paths of Strength and Justice. I have decided tomaintain the traditional sequence and placement of the Tarot cards to thepaths as set down and used by the Golden Dawn, and these become readilyapparent when examining the Tarot Roman numerals used for Strength(trump VIII—path 19) and Justice (trump XI—path 22). The pathnumbering is easily derived by adding 11 to the Roman numeral. A cursoryexamination of the Rider-Waite-Colman Tarot will verify the sequence ofthese cards. However, other decks, such as Crowley’s Thoth Tarot, use theRoman numerals XI for Strength (Lust) and VIII for Justice (Adjustment),but their placement on the Tree of Life is preserved. This difference couldcause some confusion for the beginner.Whatever the sequence of Roman numerals used in either Crowley’sTarot or in the traditional Golden Dawn, the position of these two cards onthe Tree of Life is identical. Yet Crowley’s choice of numerals for Justiceand Strength are not uniquely his own invention. They are the same as theTarot of Marseilles, which has been dated back to the late 15th century. Sothere would appear to be more than one traditional sequence to the Tarot.Perhaps it would be more significant if the associated paths were changed,but, in fact, the placement of paths is the same between the two systems.This has the effect of making the differences less strategic (and important)than they might otherwise be.Not to be outdone, Aleister Crowley has also determined another changein the attributes of the Tarot trumps. I am referring to the controversy overthe attributions of the Tarot trumps of the Star and the Emperor. He haswritten that the Hebrew letter Tzaddi is not to be associated with the Tarottrump the Star (XVII), and it would also mean that the Tarot trump theEmperor, which is its zodiacal opposite, would exchange its associationwith the letter Heh, with that of the Star card, Tzaddi.What this means is that the Tarot trumps associated with the paths areswapped, but the path associations and their corresponding Hebrew letterswould remain the same. So, the letter Tzaddi would become associated withthe Emperor Tarot trump and the 28th Path (Yesod to Netzach), and Hehwould become associated with the Star Tarot trump and the 15th Path(Tiphareth to Chokmah). The astrological signs would remain the same andso would the sequence of the letters, but the two Tarot card associationswith the two paths would change. I believe that this alteration would havequite a dramatic effect on the way in which the Tarot cards might bedepicted, which is a reasonable assumption.Crowley’s defense for making this switch was based on the famousDouble Loop in the zodiac, where the signs of the zodiac are associatedwith specific Tarot trumps. As already noted, Crowley had previouslychanged the numbering of the Tarot trumps Strength (XI—Leo) and Justice(VIII—Libra) also based on the Double Loop, and these changes have beenpretty much accepted by many occultists.Still, even Crowley’s Tarot deck, the Thoth Tarot, didn’t seem to reallyincorporate this change to the Emperor and Star cards, which still appear tohave the old associations. One would think that these two cards would alsoradically change in how they were depicted if they indeed becameassociated with a different Hebrew letter and relative position in the Tree ofLife.The inspiration for this change occurred in the transmission of Crowley’sBook of the Law, which Thelemites accept as the truly channeled andinspired pronouncements of the Godhead of the New Aeon as revealed byCrowley’s higher self, Awaiz. It would seem that this alteration has not beenuniversally adopted by others who don’t share the beliefs of Thelema. Sofor this reason I have chosen to present the 22 Pathways using theirtraditional correspondences and associations, even though I find myselftentatively agreeing with Crowley in this matter. I might even go furtherand seek to change the associated astrological signs, which was somethingthat Crowley and his fellow Thelemites didn’t do.However, what would the Tarot trump, the Emperor or the Star, look likeif they used a different Hebrew letter and associated astrological sign, not tomention their place in the structure of the Tree of Life? I have given this alot of thought and consideration over the years and have come up with someideas that might help this new variation become more accepted.If the Emperor Tarot trump was changed to the 28th Path (Yesod toNetzach) and associated with the Hebrew letter Tzaddi, and the astrologicalsign of Aquarius (which I believe goes with the letter Tzaddi—a fish hook),then what we would get would be something more akin to the Fisher Kingof the Grail Myth instead of the imperial and majestic power associatedwith the 15th Path.Likewise, the Star Tarot trump, if it was changed to the 15th Path(Tiphareth to Chokmah) and associatedwith the Hebrew letter Heh, and theastrological sign of Aries, then we would get something akin to the star ofdoomsday, which would show that the Fire of the Godhead was preparing todescend upon the world and engulf it in a final conflagration. That same starcould represent a sign of the immanent appearance of the avatar as son ofthe Godhead (like the Star of Bethlehem).Of course all of this is speculation, and Crowley did leave the astrologicalsigns in place on the Pathways, so the change wouldn’t be quite asdramatic. Crowley does talk about the Fisher King in regard to the Emperortrump, but employs a rendition of Nuit as the Seven-starred Goddess who isengaged in drawing forth and pouring fluids from one cup into another,which is analogous to the Aquarius theme, but with the difference ofchanneling the majesty of Chokmah into the domain of Tiphareth. I willleave making any kind of determination one way or the other to you, myreaders, depending on whether you accept the teachings and inspirations ofAleister Crowley or not.Table of Correspondences of the 22 PathwaysPathNo.HebrewLetter Meaning Attribute Tarot Trump Queen Scale Colors Path Positions—Sephirah to Sephirah11 Aleph Ox Air 0: Fool Sky Blue Kether—Chokmah12 Beth House Mercury I: Magician Purple Kether—Binah13 Gimel Camel Moon II: High Priestess Silver Kether—Tiphareth14 Daleth Door Venus III: Empress Emerald Green* Chokmah—Binah15 He Window Ares IV: Emperor Red Chokmah—Tiphareth16 Vav Nail Taurus V: Hierophant Deep Indigo Chokmah—Chesed17 Zayin Sword Gemini VI: Lovers Pale Mauve Binah—Tiphareth18 Cheth Fence Cancer VII: Chariot Maroon Binah—Geburah19 Teth Serpent Leo XI: Strength/Lust Deep Purple Chesed—Geburah20 Yod Hand Virgo IX: Hermit Slate Gray Chesed—Tiphareth21 Kaph Palm ofHand Jupiter X: Wheel of Fortune Violet* Chesed—Netzach22 Lamed Ox Goad Libra VIII: Justice/Adjustment Blue Geburah—TipharethTable of Correspondences of the 22 PathwaysPathNo.HebrewLetter Meaning Attribute Tarot Trump Queen Scale Colors Path Positions—Sephirah to Sephirah23 Mim Water Water XII: Hanged Man Sea-green Geburah—Hod24 Nun Fish Scorpio XIII: Death Dull Brown Tiphareth—Netzach25 Samek Prop Sagittarius XIV: Temperance/Art Yellow Tiphareth—Yesod26 Ayin Eye Capricorn XV: Devil Black (Flat) Tiphareth—Hod27 Peh Mouth Mars XVI: Tower Scarlet* Netzach—Hod28 Tzaddi Fish Hook Aquarius XVII: Star Azure* Netzach—Yesod29 Qoph Back ofHead Pisces XVIII: Moon Ultra Violet* Netzach—Malkuth30 Resh Head Sun XIX: Sun Gold-yellow Hod—Yesod31 Shin Tooth Fire/Spirit XX: Last Judgement/Aeon Vermillion/Deep Purple Hod—Malkuth32 Tav Tau Cross Saturn/Earth XXI: World/Universe Jet Black/Amber Path joins Yesod - MalkuthNote: * Indicates that the color was adapted from the King Scale or other selection to ensure uniqueness of colorSelections are taken from Traditional Golden Dawn Correspondences via Liber 777 and The Complete Magician’s Tables.Figure 11: Table of Correspondences of the 22 Pathways[contents]29. See chapter seven for a complete discussion of the Four Qabalistic Worlds.JsixCreation, Unmanifest Godhead, and theNature of EvilIn the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earthwas a formless void, there was darkness over the deep, and God’s spirithovered over the water. God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there waslight. God saw that light was good, and God divided light from darkness.God called light ‘day,’ and darkness he called ‘night.’ Evening cameand morning came: the first day. —Book of Genesis, ch. 1, v. 1–5 30ewish theology proposed that God created the world and all it containsin six stages (called days), and at the end (the seventh stage), he rested,marking this point as the cosmic Sabbath. Christianity and Islam have bothadopted this creation myth, so it has powerfully impacted our culture andthe thoughts and imagination even of modern people. Some will perceivethis as a myth; others, as the literal truth.Whether one believes in physical evolution or divine creation, the storyof the creation of the world is generally taken as an allegory by mostrabbinic scholars and religious academics. This is because they believe thatthe allegory veils the greater truth, which can’t ever be known. In myopinion, more can be learned by seeing this story as an allegory thanattempting to somehow explain the actual creation of the physical universeusing mythic themes and symbols, rather than scientifically provabletheories. This is where taking a literal approach to biblical interpretation canlead one terribly astray; the Bible should be accepted as the written wisdom,myth, and folklore of a specific people, adapted and extended to become thesacred scriptures of three world religions. This is also where the occultisthas a particular advantage, since the Bible is then seen as containing manylayers of myth and meaning, with an added hidden inner layer of spiritualsignificance, obscured and veiled by the obvious plot and story.The basic assumption found in the biblical creation myth is that alimitless, unknowable, infinite, and unmanifested Deity was the sole authorof everything that has a material form, mind, and conscious being (soul andspirit). In other words, an infinite God created a finite world out of nothing.The Qabalah deals with this allegory by explaining how a being that isinfinite and unmanifest could create a material world that is finite andbounded by limitations.Our perception of the Godhead is through the lens of our materialexistence, so we can never truly know or understand a being that is not partof our material nature. The barrier is nearly insurmountable between what ismanifest and what is unmanifest, but still the unmanifest Godhead exists asan entity. Yet despite this handicap, Qabalists have been able to describe notonly the nature of that Deity, but also how it was able to create a finitematerial universe using itself as a model and a conduit for creation. So theysought to describe and talk about what existed before the first act ofcreation, when light was commanded to be, and then it was used to separatethe darkness into day and night.Let us also keep in mind that not everyone will believe that the world wascreated by a Being that was completely separate from its own creation,particularly since many Pagans believe in exactly the opposite—that Deityand creation are inseparable. They also won’t accept that the barrierbetween Deity and humanity is insurmountable, and in fact, to them, theDeity is immanent in all spiritual, mental, and material things, eveninanimate objects. Yet despite these points of disagreement, the Qabalisticperspective has a great deal of relevance to those who are of a Paganpersuasion. I will try to explain why I think this is true.The Qabalah clearly shows that due to the Sephiroth and Pathways of theTree of Life, the attributes of the Deity are included in all manifested realityas well as the unmanifest. Also, these attributes represent an aspect of Deitythat is finite, and it is only from the standpoint of the One that Deitybecomes transcendental. Therefore, the Qabalah, perhaps unlike puremonotheism, demonstrates that the Deity is engaged in and very much apart of creation. So, the beliefs of the modern Pagan are not that farremoved from either the Qabalist or, for that matter, the Neoplatonist ofantiquity. The key for the Pagan is to come to the conclusion that the Deityis not something that can be strictly defined as this god, goddess, or animalspirit, without also looking at it as being possibly inclusive of all aspects ofGodhead. This is a paradox, and one that is sometimes difficult tocompletely embrace, but I found that after much deliberation, many Paganscan admit that this is a true condition.Once this truth can be realized, then all of these different groups can seethe Deity as being an expression of the greater union of the One, and thatthe One was the original author and source of the spiritual and mentaldimensions of all sentience. This is the point where all three of thesedifferent perspectives can come together and meet, and it is also why someaspects of the Qabalah are troubling to the true adherents of monotheism.To the Pagan mind, the Sephiroth Godhead attributes are like separate anddistinct deities, like a pantheon, and I suspect that many monotheists see thesame thing and reject it.Some of the questions that the Qabalists sought to answer, which couldnot be answered from the wisdom found in the Torah, Midrash, or Talmud,are:• What is the nature of the Deity, specifically the unmanifest andunknowable Being that existed before creation? How is that Beingrelated in some manner to what became created?• How did an infinite Deity create a finite world out of nothing? Whatwere the stages of that creation and how did it proceed?• If the Deity created the world and everything in it, then how did eviloccur?• Why is the material world imperfect and inherently defective if theDeity who created it is perfect and incapable of error?As you can see, these are very perplexing questions. They are not onlydifficult to answer, but the answers themselves stretch the very fabric ofcoherency and rational thought. Yet the Qabalah, over time, managed toanswer these questions, though only in a mystical, and at times, verytheosophical manner. This represents the one great truth about the Qabalah:that it consists of many speculations, intuitions, and veiled insights becauseit is a product of the rational mind attempting to know what is essentiallytrans-rational and unknowable.Nature of the Ein Sof (AIN SOPh)Early Qabalists of Provence and Gerona31 (particularly Isaac the Blind andAzriel, in the 12th century) coined a term that succinctly expressed theinfinite nature of the unknowable and unmanifest Godhead, and that termconsisted of the Hebrew words Ein Sof (without end or limitless nothing),which taken together means “infinite.” This phrase became an expression ofthe unknowable Godhead itself, even though it was used as a technical termdivorced from the actual name or quality of the Deity, a being that had noreal name or identity. Thus Ein Sof became the identifying name andquality of the unknown Deity, describing the manner that it existed beforeanything was created. Yet this quality of the infinite had within it the natureof a kind of emptiness that was without end, even though the nothingnesswas, in actuality, a kind of something.This may seem a little confusing, but what it actually refers to is anattempt to explain a phenomenon that is indefinable and indescribablethrough the use of double negatives, such as “endless nothing.” These kindsof paradoxical concepts are common in many forms of mysticism, from theJewish Qabalah to Vedanta, Taoism, Zen Buddhism, and many others. It isan attempt to arrive at a concept by creating an anti-concept, like thefamous Zen koan of the “sound of one hand clapping.” By coining a termthat negates itself, the mind is momentarily freed of misconceptions andprejudices, seeing, through intuition, the true nature of a thing. Therefore,we should see the Ein Sof as clouds or veils of negative existence that hidethe unknowable and pre-existent unmanifest Deity. It is a kind of absolutereality that is unreal and unimaginable, at least to anything that is theproduct of creation and imbued with the stuff of the material world.Ein Sof can also be seen as a progression that occurred just beforecreation. The Ein is the void that the Spirit of the Creator passed over, andthe Ein Sof is the Spirit of that Deity, passing over that void. The final partis called the “Ein Sof Aur” (Limitless Light), where the Deity, through anact of will, caused there to be light, thus separating the darkness. Even so,the material world has not yet been created, since these three wordsconstitute what is called the three veils of negative existence. Even so, thelimitless light might be perceived by the spiritual eye of humankind in thedeepest state of contemplation. Interestingly enough, these three wordscontain three letters each, making nine letters total (AIN SOPh AUR). Theletters of these three words are broken up into the stages of the pre-creativeformulation, and these are arrayed in the following pattern:AINAIN SOPhAIN SOPh AURThe numbers for this progression are 3, 6, and 9, and these three wordscan be placed on a flower arrangement with three petals in the center, thensix surrounding the three, and then nine surrounding the six, creating adevice consisting of three concentric circles.32 (See Figure 12.)This device is used in other Qabalistic structures, most notably in thedivision of the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin/English alphabets (for the creationof sigils), but it also symbolizes the prototype design of creation. The EinSof Aur is conceived of as a circle consisting of an endless line that is self-contained, without beginning or ending, timeless, without dimensions orspace. It is, in a word, all of the potential to be and nothing more. It remindsone immediately of the definition of the Deity as pronounced byEmpedocles (the Greek philosopher who first spoke of the four elements):“God is a circle whose center is everywhere and whose circumference isnowhere.”33Figure 12: Ein Sof Aur flowerSo, if the Godhead is something that is nothing, then how did creationproceed? How was everything in the material world created from nothing?That would almost seem like an absurd notion, known generally tophilosophers as creatio ex nihilo, or “creation from nothing.” From a logicalperspective, you can only create nothing from nothing. So it would seemthat the act of creation was a phenomenon that focused on somethingmaterial—in other words, creating something out of something else, whichseems to be what the Genesis account of creation in the Bible is actuallydiscussing. In other words, the Deity creates the material world from withinitself (creatio ex materia, where that material is some kind of pre-existingmatter), by acting on an inner aspect of itself, since in the beginning therewas nothing but God. The nihilistic naming conventions of the Deity as theEin Sof is nothing more than a device to ensure that the Godhead isindefinable and unknowable—a complete and unfathomable mystery.Therefore, creation ensues from the Ein Sof Aur, where the Deitywithdraws into itself, then creates through a combination of will, thought,absolute nothingness (as a pre-existing matter or chaos), and the innerradiation of the supernal lights of the Negative Veils, called “splendors”(tzachtzachot), which are higher than any emanation.34 That the Godheadmanifests itself in the Sephiroth (in a sequential manner) completely withinitself shows that the Deity is both the Ein Sof and a manifested Beingwithin the emanations of the Sephiroth. Both of these perspectives areparadoxically true, depending on one’s point of view. So this wouldrepresent that the Godhead is both a manifested part and the original sourceof the manifested world. All things are a part of God, but God is both a partof manifestation and also beyond it.This paradox is the manner in which the modern Pagan, Neoplatonist, andJewish Qabalist can feasibly arrive at the same point or perspective.Through the knowable and manifested aspect of the One, a person canknow the unknowable and unmanifested Deity (the None); therefore, thereexists a powerful bridge between all aspects of the Godhead and humanity,which is what we would expect from a practical Qabalah.Thus, the Three Negative Veils, through an act of thought and will, andacting upon the proto-matter of chaotic nothingness, condense into themanifested form of the One, as the first Sephirah, Kether, the Crown ofCreation. The three invisible lights of the Ein Sof Aur become the singlestellar light of the manifested “I Am”(Ehieh), which represents thebeginning and the first expression of the manifested Deity as the primalspirit, or Ruach—the breath of the Living God. Once the One becamemanifest, it initiated a process of emanation that caused the branchingcreation of the Many. We can integrate the sequence of creation as it isdepicted in the Sepher Yetzirah, which only now makes complete sense.35Emerging from the first Sephirah, Kether, came forth, through emanation,the three primal elements as the three Sephiroth, which are Chokmah,Binah, and Chesed. In this manner, Spirit (as Kether) gave birth to Air (theprimary element as Chokmah), which in turn created the spheres of Water(Binah) and Fire (Chesed). In the Hebrew metaphysical system, there arethree elements and not four, and the element of Air is considered morerefined than Fire or Water, since it is less dense and does not rely on anymaterial substance. From Air was created the 22 divine Hebrew letters, outof Water was formed the greater cosmos, and through Fire was the Throneof Glory and all of the hosts of angelic spirits created. One interesting pointto consider is that the angels were created out of fire, but demons werederived from the winds, so perhaps they might be different in regard to theirorigins. Then you have the fallen angels, and references to the infernallords, so fire and air are both attributes of the angelic and demonic spirits.The final five Sephiroth (minus Malkuth), were precipitated out of thefirst four Sephiroth, perhaps being produced through the artifice of thelightning flash that exploded from Kether and proceeded downward intomore dense material formulations. There is a great deal of speculation aboutwhether Malkuth was created, made as a mirror image of Kether, orwhether it was precipitated out of the supposed fall, which is a topic we willattempt to expound upon later. One can see that the first four Sephiroth(Kether, Chokmah, Binah, and Chesed) were perfect in their formulation,and that the lower six were less perfect, and therefore subject to error anddeviation from the divine plan.Still, the ten Sephiroth established the modes of existence and the 22Pathways established the experience of consciousness, from the level of thedivine to the level of individual material sentience. The Three Pillars(Mercy, Severity, and Mediation) represent the possibilities ofmanifestation, with their root firmly entrenched within the Three NegativeVeils and the lights shining from within them. From the vantage point ofcreated beings, the totality of the Tree of Life seems perfect and complete.However, this does not explain the fact that the material world is imperfectand that evil not only exists but also is allowed to freely corrupt and destroyall things within the lowest world of Assiah. In order to fully understand theworldview of the Qabalah, we should seek out the answers to the otherquestions in our list.Origin of Evil in the QabalahWe come now to the difficult considerations about how and why evil existsin the world, and why we need ethics and morality to determine good fromevil. How did this state come to be when the guiding architect for thecreation of the world was inherently perfect and incapable of error? Thisissue is referred to by philosophers as theodicy, which is the justification ofthe goodness of the Deity in the midst of obvious evil and human suffering.It has been one of the main controversies since the days of the ancientGreek philosophers, and has continued in Christian and Jewish theologicaldiscussions. (Of course, if the Deity is perceived as being finite and fallible,then the whole issue is readily resolved.)What this question brings to light is that either evil was created by theOne as part of its overall plan, or that evil somehow crept into the creationof the world and infected it. The former consideration would seem toindicate that the Deity is capable of fomenting evil, since it had designed itinto the creation of the world. The latter consideration would show theDeity as being incompetent or capable of committing an error. Either ofthese considerations would be troubling, since the operant theory of the One(as far as Neoplatonists and Qabalists were concerned) is that it representsall that is perfect and good. The real solution to this conundrum will be atruly fascinating dance between a belief in a sinister Deity, or one that isdefective (finite).The earliest considerations associated with this thorny issue occurredduring the advent of the Spanish Qabalah, and those who followed itfocused on the nature of the first Sephirah that emerged outside of the fourthat were part of the initial and perfect creation, and that was Geburah. Theword Geburah comes from the root (GBR), which means “to become strongor mighty,” and with the addition of a feminine noun ending it is translatedas “strength,” “power,” “force,” “courage,” or “victory.” The martialqualities of this Sephirah are easily seen in an examination of its name.However, there is also a negative connotation associated with it, and that isfound in the concept of excessive force, such as violence, murder, andwanton destruction.So, for this reason, the Sephirah of Geburah was called the “left hand ofthe Holy One,”36 representing the forces of extreme judgment. In time, thisquality became a separately manifested attribute, known as the sitra achra,or the other side, which could be considered a euphemism for the left-handpath. The phenomenon that caused Geburah to become the source of evilwas believed to have occurred in the latent power and then rapid growth ofjudgment (din) divorced from its opposite, which is Mercy and compassion.Therefore, harsh and extreme judgments, even if they were considered just,were associated with evil if they were not equally balanced by compassion.According to this idea, evil was the result of unbalanced and aggressivejudgment, as that which emerged from the Sephirah Geburah. Since thisSephirah was the first of the six, and ruled the left side or pillar of the Treeunderneath the supernal triad, it became the seed of the left, givingsustenance to all that was unbalanced and destructive (evil) inmanifestation. The flow from this current went down and away from thedivine qualities of Geburah, following its true nature, and collected in thelower realms, where it became a counter-force to the forces of creation andgood. From this dark current and counter-force was born a negativehierarchy, resulting in the demons and evil forces that plague all those whoreside in the material world.Another theory, which came from the Zohar, stipulated that evil arosefrom the leftover residue of worlds that were destroyed in an earlier attemptat creation.37 Another theory (from the same source) defines evil asoriginating in and being analogous to the outer covering or the shed bark ofa tree—in this case, the Tree of Life, thus functioning as a discarded outerhusk or covering (shell), so it was called the Qliphoth.38 This covering wasalso called the ha-ilan ha-chitzon, or the “outer tree,” and it was also calledthe “mystery of the Tree of Knowledge.” According to one legend, the Treeof Life and the Tree of Knowledge were once bound together into a singleorganism, and they weren’t distinct until Adam came and forcibly separatedthem, thereby giving substance to evil, which materialized at that momentas the “instinct to do evil” (yetzer ha-ra).All of these theories about the origin and nature of evil would seem toindicate that it occurred due to an imbalance of judgment, as the aftereffectsof creation (residue), or because of the actions of humanity (precipitation ofthe fall from grace and the expulsion from paradise). Yet evil is neither apart of the superior architecture of the Godhead nor is it due to any flaws inthat process of creation. It could be seen as an unavoidable derivative of theimperfections of the material world, oroccult system in the Western Mystery tradition isaffected or touched in some manner by the Qabalah. Even though I wasgoaded into studying the Qabalah many years ago, I also found referencesto it, whether direct or oblique, in all of the other occult books and materialsthat I read and studied.What might turn some people off to the Qabalah is the assumption that itis somehow deeply intertwined with the Abrahamic faiths, and that it istherefore irrelevant to anyone who is a Pagan or a Witch. Once again, this isproven false by the fact that the Qabalah is a meta-system that means manythings to many people; it is not the inherent property of any exclusivereligious faith. As an occult system, it is part of the Western spiritualtradition, so it is as much a part of our cultural heritage as rock-and-roll andblue suede shoes. We can engage with the Qabalah on our own terms, sincethere is no absolute, correct, or proper way to interpret or use this system. Itbelongs to all of us! All we have to do is to figure out a way of sensiblyinterpreting it, and then using it.Some Historical NotesExamining the history of the Qabalah also shows that it was not just theproduct of Jewish mystical speculation, although that certainly doesrepresent its earliest expressions. Qabalah has its origins in a kind ofoccultic and magical speculation that began with the late prophetic book ofEzekiel, wherein the first chapter the prophet writes about his vision of the“Glory of God,” which appeared as a fiery heavenly chariot with a throne inits midst. The name for that chariot with a throne placed in its center was“Merkabah,” and a lot of speculation was centered on the nature of thatdivine chariot of God.Other speculations were centered on the multiple domains of the Palacesof God, such as what was represented in the visionary section of theapocryphal first book of Enoch (known as “1 Enoch”). The palaces withmany domains were called the “Haikhalot” (palaces) in Hebrew. Thismany-tiered palace appeared to be synonymous with the levels of theheavens, and perhaps even of hell. This is similar to the many levels ofheaven and hell that Dante later wrote about in his epic poem the DivineComedy. There was also speculation about the very first Hebrew word inGenesis, Bereshith (“In the beginning”), which spawned an entirecosmogony.These topics were considered mystical and also as occult speculation, yetthey had, from the very beginning, a practical and magical side, too. In fact,as the Qabalah developed, it also spawned magical traditions and evengrimoires (magical how-to books). However, the first real exposition ofwhat would later be called the Qabalah in the 12th century was found in asmall book called the “Sepher Yetzirah” (Book of Formation), which waswritten in Palestine somewhere between the third and sixth centuries CE.This book pulled all of the ideas together about the Merkabah, Haikhalot,and Bereshith mystical speculations and added to it ideas that wereimported from Greek philosophy, such as Neoplatonism andNeopythagoreanism. There were even Jewish Gnostic elements in thefounding book of the Qabalah, so it was already by this time becoming arepository of classical and mystical thinking that went far beyond what ithad started out to be.As an aside, the terms that I am using, such as Neoplatonism,Neopythagoreanism, Gnosticism, etc. can be found in the glossary at theback of this book. Any concept that I am presenting which might be obscureor based on a foreign word will be succinctly defined in the glossary.Qabalah, unfortunately, lends itself to an elaborate nomenclature, and aglossary is a very handy tool to keep everything properly defined.If we consider the history of the Qabalah, how it evolved, and who wasusing it, we can find that it went through a number of stages, with differentpeople finding great value from it at different times. From the period of thethird century to the 13th century, the Qabalah was built up by individualswho were nominally Jewish occultists, since it continued to gather andharness ideas and speculation that were outside of the mainstream ofrabbinic Judaism. It reached its height during the 16th century and laterbegan to experience a period of decline, as scholarly rabbis began toquestion and reject some of its more unorthodox notions.In the 16th to 18th centuries, the Qabalah became the focus of EuropeanChristians, who took up this discipline and brought it into a secular butChristian discourse, thus melding it with astrology, medicine, cosmology,alchemy, nearly all esoteric speculation, and, of course, ceremonial magic.By the 19th century, science had dropped the study of the Qabalah, butoccultists continued to develop it. It was in the late 19th century that the 22paths were associated with the Tarot, and the Tree of Life got its finalrendition, the very one that we are familiar with today. In the 20th century,the Qabalah became fashionable and interesting to mainstream Jews, whopicked it up from where the 19th century occultists had taken it.You could almost compare the Qabalah to a piece of taffy. It started outwithin one religious domain (Judaism), then it was pulled over to anotherreligious domain (Christianity), then to another (Christian occultism), andnow it is being pulled back by some adherents of Judaism while others arepulling it toward Paganism and Witchcraft. After all that pulling back andforth, the original piece of taffy has gotten quite large and wide, not tomention that each group that has mutated it has put their particular stamp onit. In our present postmodern world, the Qabalah is still current, relevant,and in wide use by many different people who have many different spiritualand religious perspectives.The Qabalah is many things to many people; it can be relevant even tothose who are Pagans or Witches. The power of employing this meta-system in your personal religious speculation and magical work makes it avery compelling discipline to study and master. All you have to do isremember that there is more than one Qabalah being studied and used in theworld.Learning the Qabalah is a lot like learning how to drive a car and gettingyour license. It may seem initially very intimidating and daunting, but notdoing it makes one dependent on others or the public transportation systemin order to get anywhere, especially for destinations that are too far to walk.You can avoid learning how to drive and thereby find other ways of gettingaround, or you can learn to master your own “transportation destiny”—thechoice is yours, of course.Similarly, you can learn to master the Qabalah and acquire the symbolickey to all religions, occult systems, and high magic, or you can make dowith your own finite domain, perhaps relying on others to help you makesense out of everything that you might experience in your occult practice.All of this seems so limiting when you consider that with just a little bit ofyour time and some effort you will understand many religions and theoccult in a more organized and unified manner.———Now I believe I have answered many of the questions about what theQabalah is, how it is used, and why it is important. I hope that you have apretty good idea about this subject, and that many of the cobwebs, illusions,and misinformation have been swept aside. In their place we have somepretty solid concepts on which to build our discussion of this supposedlyarcane topic.Are you excited about learning more? Is this topic starting to make senseto you? Do you see why you should learn about the Qabalah? If the answeris yes to these questions, then I have successfully concluded the firstchapter. I’m sure you want to know what is in the rest of this book and whatwe’ll be covering in the chapters ahead.This book is divided into two major parts: in the first part, the basictheoretical parts of the Qabalah are covered; and in the second part, thepracticalit was due to the negligence andflaws inherent in human nature. What this means is that evil is a temporarymanifestation or a fluke in the process of creation, which will be eliminatedas that process moves inexorably to its ultimate conclusion—theredemption of the material world.Lurianic Doctrine of CreationIsaac Luria’s contributions to the Safed Qabalistic community were bothprofound and far-reaching, even though he lived in Safed for only two ofthe last years of his life. Among his many teachings and ideas (as written byhis disciples), his approach to solving some of the most puzzling questionsabout the nature of creation and the manifestation of evil were eminentlybrilliant. Many of these ideas were later incorporated into the occultvariation of the Qabalah of the 19th and 20th centuries without eitherquestioning their significance or citing the sources where they were found.However, after examining some of Luria’s ideas and thoughts about thesequestions here, it will be fairly obvious that the scholars of the later occultversion of the Qabalah took many of their ideas from his teachings.Much of this speculation has to do with the mythic concept of the fall ofhumankind, and the overall impact that event had on the spiritual andmaterial nature of the world. This is not a new concept or one particular toJudaism and Christianity. Many ancient cultures believed in a previousGolden Age that occurred not long after the origin of the world, and thatsubsequent ages have resulted in a kind of devolution, particularly in thedisposition of the human race and the manifestation of the material world.This is a major part of the “mind before matter” metaphysical theory ofcreation. (As you recall, science takes the opposite view, seeing physicalevolution as an upward progression and overall advancement of humanity.)The Golden Age was idyllic and perfect compared to life today. In theGolden Age there was no sickness or death, and humanity lived in a kind ofpeaceful stasis with all creatures and the Godhead itself. This was the fabledGarden of Eden, from which place humanity, as Adam and Eve, wereexpelled, ending the time of idyllic perfection and beginning the time ofsuffering, trials, sickness, and death.Even Greek myth had such a devaluation of ages: from gold, to silver, tobronze, and then to iron, which is our current and much-devalued age. Ateach stage of devaluation, the world became less perfect and humanitybecame less ennobled and idealized. This process continued until humannature had been completely debased in nature as to be indistinguishablefrom it. Mythic worldviews from most cultures talk about the fall ofhumanity from a greater estate. This fall also produced a chasm betweenhumanity and the various Deities, and allowed for the inclusion of manydisharmonious elements, such as sickness, death, evil, and worldlycatastrophes, all of which didn’t happen when humanity was in its originalsublime state. One need only consult the myth of Pandora’s box to see howthe Greeks perceived the intrusion of darkness into the world, as well as itsredemption through “hope.”Perhaps one way to imagine this epochal devaluation is to see it as anintrinsic attribute of the process of emanation, where the continual copyingof less perfect copies ultimately produced images that were degraded andcorrupted. This would be analogous to making Xerox copies using eachcopy to make another copy instead of the original. Eventually, theimperfections will become so greatly amplified as to completely obscure theoriginal image.Humanity’s fall from grace would then seem to be a way of explaininghow the world became imperfect, and why suffering, sickness, and deathappears to be the fate of all living things. Yet another way of looking at thisprogression is to see it as the natural process of incarnation within a worldwhere Spirit and Mind existed before matter, and that the fall was actuallythe process by which humanity acquired a physical existence. Life has bothits positive and its negative aspects, such as the pleasures and joys of living,experiencing, growing, acquiring wisdom, and ultimately rejoining with theDeity at the end of life. The negatives, of course, would be the pain,suffering, disease, misfortune, and the unavoidable event of death.One of the first problems that Luria tackled was the one associated withthe act of creation performed by the Godhead. If the Deity was all thatexisted, even though it was in a state where it was unmanifest, how could itcreate anything if there was not any space for that creation to occur? Beforeone can create something, there has to be empty space for that something tooccupy.Luria proposed that the Ein Sof contracted (tzimtzum) into itself, andtherefore produced an empty space (a kind of vacuum), which made roomfor creation.39 Another issue involved how an infinite Deity could becapable of creating a limited and finite material world. This was resolvedthrough a process in which the Deity imposed upon itself a kind of self-limitation. A third issue was the fact that the act of creation would revealthe Deity in all of its mystery and splendor, which would be impossible foran unmanifest and unknowable Godhead. Luria proposed that the act ofcreation was done through a cloak of deliberate concealment, so that theunknown and unmanifested Deity would remain invisible and unknowable.Thus, according to Luria, the Deity contracted, established boundaries, andcloaked itself in order to create the universe and not violate its ownintegrity.The Deity’s will to create generated and transmitted the letter Yod, as aformulation of power and organization, imprinted with Divine Mercy,which created the first manifestation. It should be recalled that Yod is thefirst letter of the Tetragrammaton, which is the secret name of the Deity.What was first created was a manifested expression of the Deity itself,which was the proto-man known as Adam Kadmon.40 This proto-man asGod was a necessary first step, since humanity later was created in theimage of the Deity according to scriptures; therefore, the Godhead musthave an image. Another attribute for this proto-man was called the Glory ofthe Godhead, who was the driver that sat upon the Throne of Glory in theDivine Chariot, or Merkabah.This primary phase of creation produced a geometric world consisting ofconcentric circles, but also simultaneously one that had a linear structure,which formulated the outer skeleton of Adam Kadmon. The combination ofthese two processes (circles and lines, inner light and outer light, substanceand vessels, direct light and reflected light) produced the dialectic processwhereby all creation was made manifest, bringing forth the Tree of Lifethrough the Three Pillars of Mercy, Severity, and Mediation.41 Thus linesand circles joined together to fashion the Tree as we know it. The lines weredefined as emanations of the divine Ruach, and the circles were emanationsfrom the divine Nephesh, and combined they produced the body and soul ofthe proto-man, Adam Kadmon. The three lights of the Ein Sof Aur wouldhave functioned as the Yechidah part of the soul for this macrocosmic being.(We will cover this in more detail in the next chapter, where we will discussthe four parts of the human soul.)Breaking and Restoration of the VesselsLuria’s Qabalistic speculation answered questions associated with how aninfinite and unmanifest Deity was able to create a limited and manifestedworld, but he also attempted to explain the nature of evil—howimperfection caused a catastrophe to occur and how the Deity sought toredeem and rectify that cosmic disaster afterwards.Luria explained how the great fall from grace occurred, what happenedafterwards, and how everything that was affected by it was supposed to beredeemed. Luria not only discussed the nature of that redemption, but healso talked about when it might occur and who would beits agent in thematerial world. That agent would be the Messiah, yet it would not be amilitary or political leader who would liberate the Jewish people, but acosmic spiritual agency that would redeem all of humanity—beginning, ofcourse, with the Chosen People.Luria taught that the fall from grace was not the fault of humanity, but aninherent weakness in the creation of the lower vessels (kelim) or Sephiroth.This inherent weakness was fostered in the subtle effects of what was called“reshimu,” or residual remnants of creation, particularly, the leftoverjudgment (from Geburah) and the imperfectly reflected or refracted lightsfrom the Ein Sof. This produced what Gershom Scholem called, using aGnostic term, a kind of “hylic” substance, or matter divorced from Spirit.42That hylic substance had left behind trace elements in the lower sixSephiroth, thus weakening them. The residual matter, and the periodicleaking transmission of negativity from Geburah, as the sitra achra, joinedat the lowest levels of manifested being, where it formed a kind of pool—inchoate and completely inert. Therefore, there was imperfection in theSephirotic vessels and a chaotic potential building in the nether realmsbelow the Sephirah Malkuth.The outer form of the Sephiroth were perceived as acting like vessels,which, like a cosmic chalice, could contain the flowing form of a liquidlight cascading down from the Ein Sof, and these were formed out of thecircles and lines that made up the body of the Adam Kadmon. The light thatfilled these vessels had its origin in the light of the Negative Veils, so it wasa pure emanation of the Ein Sof that continuously flowed through them.However, because of the inherent flaw in the vessel of the SephirahGeburah (due to the potential excess of judgment), the flowing of lightdown from the Ein Sof caused the vessel to shatter, creating a cascadingevent that proceeded down the Tree of Life, all the way to Malkuth.Another theory was that the light was too great for the lesser Sephirah tohold, and so, due to their inherent flaws and the stresses that wereoverwhelming, they shattered.All six of the lower Sephirah shattered (shevirah), but the lowest,Malkuth, wasn’t broken into pieces and cast down into the nether realmsbelow as were the rest. Instead, it was broken, cracked, but still managed tofunction. Some of the light was deflected and returned to its source, but therest fell down to where the shards of the vessels had fallen and was trappedthere. These shards became known as the Qliphoth, the dark forms of thesitra achra that held the lost light in captivity. Yet the supernal triad of Will,Wisdom, and Understanding alone remained intact.43This catastrophe profoundly affected the world, from Chesed (which wasalso impacted by the flaw in Geburah, even though it was slightly above it)down to Malkuth (with the epicenter of the catastrophe in Geburah), andallowed for the generation of evil forces to infect all of the lower Sephiroth.Humanity did not bring forth this calamity, since it was due instead toforces and designs that were far greater. Yet the release of evil into theworld that this event caused had many ramifications, including theexpulsion of humankind from the Garden of Eden and the release of evilinto the lower worlds. It was the fall of a greater portion of the macrocosmand the creation of a great chasm between the Godhead and much of themanifested world that changed everything—and this chasm would be calledthe Greater Abyss. The event of shevirah was even said to be the ultimatecause of the destruction of the Temple and the dispersal of Jews around theworld.Despite this terrible calamity, the core of the Adam Kadmon wasn’ttouched by it; only the lower outer vessels were affected. Therefore, theproto-man, as Adam Kadmon, took steps to redeem what had been brokenand to restore what had been lost: namely, the lost light of the emanations.This restoration of the world, which was called Tikkun ha-Olam, firstemerged as a light shining from the forehead of Adam Kadmon. That lightwas the medium through which the chaos that had been unleashed would becalmed and reorganized, and the shattered vessels replaced by a newformulation. The attributes of the affected Sephiroth would be merged withthe power and majesty of the Adam Kadmon, and new, inviolable vesselswould thus be created, and these were called “faces” (parzufim).44Therefore, through this intercession, the lower six vessels were replaced orrepaired, and the light from the Ein Sof continued to flow uninterruptedfrom level to level. However, the final restorative task was to be the mostdifficult, for that entailed gathering up all of the points of light that hadfallen to the lowest level and been held captive by the Qliphoth.The task of collecting the various points of light was made more complexbecause they had also found their way into the souls of individual humanbeings and other entities as well. This was not a task that the AdamKadmon could perform, but instead was a role for the Messiah. Such abeing was supposed to be a special incarnation created in the likeness ofAdam Kadmon, but it would also be a mortal man living in the world.Therefore, as a godlike messianic figure, he would gather together all ofthose lost points of light until none were left in the material world. Then,having absorbed these points of light into himself, he would ascend again tothe greater Adam Kadmon, and there return these lights to their source.When this happens, of course, the life of the material world will becomebereft of the lights of emanation, thus marking an end to the race of manand the ensouled world through a process called gilgul, which is thereincarnation of the divine thought as the Primordial Man. Thus the cycleends where it begins.45A cosmic Messiah has the central role in the Lurian Qabalah, and whenhe manifests in the world, it will represent that the end times have arrived.The Lurian Qabalah merged both messianic aspirations along with a beliefin an apocalypse, and this was a very intoxicating combination, particularlysince Luria believed those end times were imminent.46 It was only a matterof time before someone would claim this role as cosmic Messiah, and thatsomeone was Sabbatai Zevi (1626–76). Not only did he not turn out to bethe Messiah, but he likely helped to invalidate the Qabalah as a serious formof Jewish theology. His apostasy (conversion to Islam after being threatenedby the Turkish sultan) signaled the beginning of the end of the Qabalah,which had all but disappeared from mainstream Judaism by the advent ofthe 19th century.Final ConsiderationsWe have examined the tenets of the Spanish and Safed Qabalah with regardto the nature of creation and the occurrence of evil and the imperfectionsfound in the natural world. There are a number of different directions thatone can mentally travel with these many speculations. The question is howthe modern occult Qabalist will use these different perspectives, and thatdepends on whether one is a Christian, Jew, or Pagan.Those who are Christians, Jews, and Muslims can rely on their owntheologies and spiritual teachings to determine the nature of creation andthe occurrence of evil and imperfection in the world. However, from thestandpoint of the Pagan, these considerations are more difficult to resolve.Because most Pagans reject the concept of a Devil, or that the world is abattleground between the forces of good and evil, one of the few ways toexplain these things is to consider that the nature of evil and imperfection inthe natural world, although real and quite compelling, is in fact ultimatelyan illusion.Another perspective is that the natural world is perfect, and that evil isjust the way that humans relate to things they object to or find threatening.Certainly, animals don’t appear to subscribe to a concept of good and evil,so it would seem to be an attributewholly within the human sphere. Thereason why evil and imperfection could be considered illusory is becausewhatever becomes a living part of the One is wholly vested in that which isintrinsically good and perfect. Whatever is evil or imperfect is actuallydivided against itself, so it is also diminished and not part of the One. Thus,that which is evil has no absolute reality since it is fleeting and temporary.Qabalah teaches us through the Lurian concepts of shevirah (shattering)and tikkun (restoration) that evil is a form of imperfection that pervades allthings. That it is found even in the Deity and resides at the core of allthings. This imperfection can’t be morally judged since it is just a naturalpart of the material and spiritual world. The universe is temporarily shiftedinto a polarized duality for the ultimate sake of union; thus evil is aprecursor to the final and perfect restoration.This is another way of saying that something that is negative anddualistic, and therefore evil, only exists in the moment and will perish as allphysical things perish. Evil has an innate tendency toward complete self-destruction; whereas good draws all things to it, forming a greater union inemulation of the One. As time is allowed to take its natural course,eventually evil will cease to exist and only good will survive. However,once that happens, then good will cease to exist as well, and all that will beleft is the One. I think that is a good general approximation of what theQabalists were attempting to teach from the standpoint and perspective of aPagan.Adopting this perspective will in no way diminish or put aside the manyconcerns that self-aware beings have living in this world. There are amultitude of problems to solve, and they will not solve themselves if weignore them or pretend that they don’t exist because they are somehow“illusory” in the long term. The Qabalah teaches us that the material worldin which we reside is important and sacred. This is because Kether isreflected in Malkuth, and vice versa. What that means is that we have aresponsibility to our spiritual selves as well as our bodies and the world thatwe live in. Life and the material world are precious gifts given to us, andhow we treat them will ultimately demonstrate our true worth as humanbeings.Therefore, based on these considerations, we could further state that anenlightened person would be more sensitive to the needs of every livingbeing, the environment through which they exist and the world itself. Aperson who is closed off and completely self-absorbed is the opposite ofwhat would be considered a fully and spiritually awakened person. To beaware of the moment and everything that is contained in that moment, fromthe most sublime to the most mundane, is to be truly awakened and engagedwith the One.[contents]30. The Jerusalem Bible (Doubleday, 1968).31. Scholem, Kabbalah, 88–90.32. Gareth Knight, A Practical Guide to Qabalistic Symbolism, 55.33. This quotation has been variously attributed to Voltaire, St. Augustine, and others, but rightfullybelongs to Empedocles. See “God Is a Circle,” ThinkExist.com (accessed November 12, 2011),http://en.thinkexist.com/quotation/the_nature_of_god_is_a_circle_of_which_the_center/173078.html.34. Scholem, Kabbalah, 91.35. Scholem, Kabbalah, 24.36. Scholem, Kabbalah, 122–23.37. Scholem, Kabbalah, 124.38. Ibid., 125.39. Drob, Symbols of the Kabbalah, 120–21.40. Scholem, Kabbalah, 130.41. Scholem, Kabbalah, 131.42. Scholem, Kabbalah, 130.43. Drob, Symbols of the Kabbalah, 297.44. Scholem, Kabbalah, 140–41.45. Drob, Symbols of the Kabbalah, 393–95.46. Scholem, Kabbalah, 245.TsevenFour Worlds and the Four Subtle Bodieshe Four Qabalistic Worlds represent the four basic planes of being thatexist within the domain of the Tree of Life and the continuous processof emanation and creation. If we wanted to somehow use the structure ofthe Tree of Life to define these Four Worlds, we could draw a line aroundthe highest Sephirah of Kether, and then another just below the pair ofSephiroth of Chokmah and Binah. The last line would divide the lowestSephirah of Malkuth from the rest of the Sephiroth. These divisions couldbe considered analogous to the Four Worlds, representing an absolute planeof origination, a plane of creation, one of formulation, and finally, one ofmaterialization. These Four Worlds would be called by their Hebrew names:Atziluth (Origination)—World of Archetypes, source of all material andspiritual reality—ideation of Godhead (Deity); Godhead element letter:Yod; Name: ALHYM (Elohim)Briah (Creation)—World of Creation, where archetypes join with meaning,relationship and signification—activation of Spirit (archangels); Godheadelement letter: Heh; Name: AL (El)Yetzirah (Formation)—World of Formation, where meaningful ideation isstructured and given form and duration—building up of networkingstructures and the establishment of boundaries and limitations (angels);Godhead element letter: Vav; Name: YHVH (Yahweh)Assiah (Expression)—World of Materialization, where archetype,significance, and structure join together to formulate the material reality(vital force, chakras, and elements); Godhead element letter: Heh-final;Name: ADNI H-ARTz (Adonai ha-Aretz—Lord of Earth)As you can see, I have additionally applied the four Godhead elementletters and the four Godnames to the Four Worlds. In this configuration,these worlds characterize a kind of element attribute and division of theuniverse. This configuration also links the four archetypal elements with thefour letters of the Tetragrammaton, where the Yod = Fire, Heh = Water, Vav= Air, and Heh-final = Earth. The term Tetragrammaton is a Greek wordmeaning a four-letter word, used to describe the name of the Hebrew Deitythat is not pronounced (YHVH).I would also propose that the Four Worlds consist of the word concepts ofGodhead, Spirit, Mind, and Body, representing the cosmic being of thegreat Adam Kadmon, the archetypal man as the manifested expression ofthe unmanifest and unknowable Godhead (Ein Sof). Since human beingswere created in the image of the manifested Deity, then these four levelsalso apply to each and every person.The Four Worlds can be compared to the seven planes in the Eastern andtheosophical systems, where those seven planes are grouped together toform just four. The seven planes are known in English as the Absolute,Spirit, Mind, Higher and Lower Astral, Etheric, and Physical planes. TheAstral, Etheric, and Physical planes would correspond to the World ofAssiah, and the rest would correspond one to one with the higher threeWorlds. So the following list could be created to show how these twosystems relate to each other:• Atziluth—Absolute plane• Briah—Spirit plane• Yetzirah—Mental plane• Assiah—Astral (Higher and Lower), Etheric, and Physical planesWe should keep in mind that these comparisons are useful analogies, andthat they can show some interesting additional information otherwise noteasily seen. For instance, the world of Briah is associated with the Spiritplane, but spiritual entities can and do function in the lower world ofYetzirah, even though it is associated with the Mental plane. This wouldrepresent that there is a soft boundary between these two planes, and thatmental structures can also function as autonomous spiritual beings, and viceversa.Additionally, the Mental plane houses a greater cosmic intellect, which iscalled the Universal Mind. This construct would seem to be better placed inthe world of Briah, and in fact it resides in both worlds, with its roots in theabsolute plane in Atziluth. Another thing to consider is that all of theelements in the top three worlds and planes exist within a unified field ofspiritual consciousness that has its source in the absolute plane. This is notthe case with the lower three planes and their associated world, Assiah,where thereis division, uniqueness, and individuation operating within thedomain of matter.The dream worlds of the Higher Astral plane, and the emotional tides andstorms of the Lower Astral, are both associated with the physical body, butcan blend into the Mental plane, although there is a strict barrier betweenthe Spirit and the Etheric/Physical planes.You can imagine this model of the planes and worlds being representedby a rainbow, where the divisions in the colors can be only be seen andcompared between distinct areas, but the borders consist of a gradualblending.I believe that this combined structure shows the difference between thephysical, mental, spiritual, and Godhead levels of being, all of which existin the same space. However, the higher planes are not so restricted by spaceand time as the lower, so they often seem timeless and fluid when oneexperiences them. Also, the planes above the Mental could be consideredthe domain of the Inner Planes, but the upper reaches of the Mental Planemight be perceived as occupying that area as well. As you can see, theboundaries between planes and worlds are not dramatic but blend into eachother, and aspects of one can also be emergent into another that is higher, soour use of boundaries is limited to uniquely defining and understandingthem.Four Bodies of the Individual Human BeingAs these Four Qabalistic Worlds represent the worlds in which all thingsreside, they are also found within the division of different bodies withinhuman beings.47 These different bodies are concurrent, but they representthe qualities of the physical body, mind, and spirit. Since there is anabsolute plane associated with the totality of all being, then there is,paradoxically, an absolute plane in each human being. This would becomparable to what is known in Indian metaphysics as the Atman. Indiansages differentiate between the One that is God, as associated with thecosmic Brahman, and the individual One that resides within a person, whichis called Atman. The Atman is the Godhead within an individual person,and that Godhead is actually undifferentiated from the greater Godhead,Brahman, but only appears to be unique from the standpoint of individualhuman beings.This Godhead within a person would be analogous to the absolute planeor the world of Atziluth. The Qabalists call this aspect of the self theYechidah, which is the individual Monad or Atman within a person. Belowthe Yechidah is the individual spirit, which would be analogous to the worldof Briah, and it is called the Neschamah, or intuitive self. Below theYechidah and the Neschamah are the Ruach and the Nephesh, which are thelevels of intellect (mind) and the emotional body (animal soul),respectively. These two lower levels would be associated with the worlds ofYetzirah and Assiah. Some authors, such as Israel Regardie, have stipulatedthat there is a physical body aspect, called the Guph (body), but that level orattribute would normally be seamlessly joined to the Nephesh.We could easily create a table that shows how these four levels of theintegral human being exist and interact. (We should keep in mind that thesecomparisons are analogies that are used to help make these basic definitionsmore informative.)• Yechidah—Monad—Absolute plane (Atziluth)• Neschamah—Intuitive Self—Spirit plane (Briah)• Ruach—Intellect—Mental plane (Yetzirah)• Nephesh—Animal Soul—Astral/Etheric/Physical plane (Assiah)In addition to the Yechidah, there is also an element called the Chiah (lifeforce), which represents the active element that functions as the power ofthe Monadic self. Another element is called the Zureh, which is the conduitthat exists between the Yechidah and the Neschamah. These two additionalelements are joined to the Yechidah and are typically not seen as distinctbodies.Ruach, which functions as the empirical ego, actually consists of fivedimensions that make up the active intellect of a person. These fivedimensions are Memory, Will, Imagination, Desire, and Reason, and theyare ordered from the highest expression of the mind to the lowest. Thissequence of qualities also seems to be related to the five Sephiroth, fromChesed (memory), Geburah (will), Tiphareth (imagination), Netzach(desire), and Hod (reason).[contents]47. Israel Regardie, A Garden of Pomegranates, 92–105.Part TwoPractical Qabalah:Qabalistic Magic SimplifiedTeightOverview and Cosmological Frameworkhe most basic and essential elements of the practical Qabalah are thatthe various tables of correspondences and the Tree of Life structureconsist of symbols. Symbols are the foundation of the Qabalah, but thesesymbols are very much alive. We have already covered this in the secondchapter, where I wrote:“Symbols are conscious markers for deep-level psychic processes thatare transcendental and transpersonal, and, I might add, usuallymysterious to most people. Focusing on symbols can give one access todeeper layers of meaning and collective significance. Sources of symbolsare numinous, archaic, and inexplicable.”Accessing the symbols of the Qabalah is the primary exercise of thepractical Qabalah, since it is through accessing them that they become aliveand reveal their greater significance and power. Minutely examining thesesymbols and forming various tables of correspondences or variations on theTree of Life glyph will have a profound effect on the consciousness of theoperator. It could even be said that merely attempting to organize thesymbols of any religious or occult system will produce correspondingvisions and insights, as if the symbols as a whole were capable of sentientcommunication. Many occultists have reported this phenomenon, but in myopinion the ultimate visionary structure of all mystical and magical systemsis the Qabalah itself.When I first approached studying the Qabalah, it was only when itbecame alive and sensible to me that I truly discovered its power and abilityto directly affect my inner self and my outer world. If an occultist does nothave a unifying structure and system like the Qabalah, then working withthe symbology of an occult system will likely produce one at some point.All of this hinges, of course, on the greatest power that any spiritualseeker has at his or her fingertips, and that is the power of the imagination.It is the imagination that makes the symbology of the Qabalah come alive.It also allows the seeker to discover new perspectives and insights throughthe power of analogy. Analogy is the ability to play the “as if” game withyour mind; it allows for the creation of new frames of reference, which inturn produces new insights and realizations. This process of analogy is thefoundation of Qabalistic speculation. It is the basis for all practical work inthe Qabalah. The imagination fuels the other methodologies of practicalwork, such as meditation, contemplation, pathworking, and theurgy.The power of analogy allows us to group, configure, and compare variousdisassociated religious symbology to create a unified field where everythingis connected to everything else. Creating connections in this manner causessymbols to become triggered, activating them so that they reveal theirimportance and meaning. In the art of magic, causality is believed to beabsolute, which means that everything is linked. Therefore, by creating orrealizing existing connections within tables of correspondences or byreconfiguring the Tree of Life, one is working a form of powerful magicthat directly affects the mind and soul of the seeker.This line of thought leads me to a rather humorous story. Years ago, I wasexperimenting with putting together different variations on the Tree of Life,attempting to see if I could discover a new way of encoding the 32 elementsof the Qabalah. I was talking to a friend of mine about what I was doingwhile we were both visiting the local occult bookstore, when an old manwith a white beard overheardwhat I was saying. He turned to look at meand gave me one of those disapproving looks, mixed with a certain amountof shock and disbelief. Then he came over and interrupted my conversation,sternly rebuking me while shaking a gnarled finger in my face, sayingemphatically that manipulating the Tree of Life was not only very impiousbut also downright dangerous. I could screw up the whole universe bymucking around as I was supposedly doing. (Who in the heck did I think Iwas, after all?)Of course, my friend and I smiled at this rude interruption, and we justnodded to the old codger, as if to acknowledge that we heard him, butoffered no comment. He turned around and stormed away while mutteringto himself, and we collectively shook our heads and sighed, then continuedwith our discussion as if nothing had happened. To this day, I can’tremember the guy’s name or even exactly when and where this sceneoccurred, but I remembered it as being quite silly.However, now that I have come up with this very fascinating and evenstartling perspective on the nature of occult symbols and how they functionin the Qabalah, I not only remembered this conversation, but it also doesn’tseem so absurd as it did many years ago. If organizing and shaping thestructure of the tables of correspondences or formulating a glyph whichcontains them will have some kind of impact on the one doing it, then thatold codger wasn’t really too far off.Will the world end if I turn the Tree of Life upside down? No, of coursenot! But it might have some impact on how I see and perceive things withinmy own magical and spiritual perspective. The impact is individual andvery subtle, but it does exist—the very nature of magic makes it so. Makingsuch topical and graphical changes has an even greater effect when they areaccepted by other practitioners.Ironically, that old guy was right, but perhaps if he had explained himselfinstead of acting like a cranky old fart, I might have learned something thenthat I have only realized now. Then again, maybe he was as clueless as Ihad first thought he was back then.———Strategically regrouping, restructuring, and reconfiguring the varioussymbology of the Qabalah produces four different categories that are veryimportant domains where the practical work is to be performed. These fourgroupings are: Tables of Correspondences, Maps of the Inner Planes, Mapsof the Sacred Body, and Realizing the Great Cycle. Let us examine each ofthese four domains.Tables of CorrespondencesNot all symbologies are important or relevant to the work of the Qabalist.At some point, he or she needs to choose which symbols are important andfocus solely on them. How a Qabalist chooses is based on the spiritualdiscipline that he or she employs as the foundation of the work. If theQabalist is a Pagan or Wiccan, then some symbols will be relevant andothers will not, such as a table containing the Greek, Roman, Egyptian, andCeltic gods and goddesses instead of theological aspects of Christianity orBuddhism. Once these various tables of symbols are selected, they arejoined together to become attributes of a larger overall structure thatrepresents the specific spiritual discipline of the Qabalist. Organizing such aselected and relevant list of tables would also cause the religious symbologyof that practicing Qabalist to become enlivened and powerfully awakened.Maps of the Inner PlanesThese maps would consist of specialized tabular structures (matrices) oreven glyphs, using various groupings of symbols. Inner Plane maps consistof symbolically defined domains that contain a specific set of spiritualentities. Knowing the qualities and the defining elements of these matrixcells would greatly aid the Qabalist in gaining access to the domain and thespirits contained within it. An example of such a map would be found intables of the four elements, Four Qabalistic Worlds, seven planets, 12zodiacal signs, 16 elementals, 28 Mansions of the Moon, 36 zodiacal decans(10 degree segments), 72 zodiacal quinians (5 degree segments), etc. Thenumber of lists is endless.Maps of the Sacred BodyThis is where the macrocosmic symbology of the Tree of Life is applied tothe microcosmic archetypal human body. As you can see, this is a typicaluse of the power of analogy, and it creates a potent bridge between thematerial and spiritual worlds as centered on the human anatomy. It is alsowhere the Four Qabalistic Worlds are mapped to the body to facilitatecontrol of the spiritualized body-mind.Realizing the Great CycleThe two great cycles found in the doctrine of the Qabalah consist ofinvolution and evolution. Involution is where the manifested One creates,though emanation, the various elements of the greater cosmic Spirit, Mind,Soul, and Body. Involution causes the imbedding of Spirit within theelements of matter for the purpose of its conscious awakening and self-realization. However, the other half of this cycle is where the consciouslyawakened individual proceeds through the long process of spiritualawakening, illumination (awareness of the God/dess Within), and theultimate spiritual union with the One. The Qabalah assists the seeker inunderstanding the latent legacy within all living things, and then it aids himor her in mastering the art of spiritual ascension to the One.These four groupings of the symbology of the Qabalah represent thefoundation for the practical work of the Qabalah. This practical work isachieved through the use of the basic toolkit, which consists of eightessential skills. These eight skills are: study, analysis, contemplation,meditation, pathworking, theurgy, adopting a basic discipline, andperforming bodywork. These eight skills cover the entire spectrum ofpractical Qabalistic work, from the highest forms of mystical speculation toessential forms of bodily exercises, posture, and diet. This is why theQabalah is considered a comprehensive spiritual and magical discipline.In addition to these eight skills, there are also some basic practices thatthe aspiring Qabalist will need to consider. These additional practices are:empowered faith, where one’s spiritual faith is empowered by one’semotions and feelings; performing acts of spiritual devotion; engaging inactive forms of prayer; and spiritual service. There is a need to follow aspiritual path in order to divest the self of worldly concerns and personal(ego-based) self-importance. Also, a faithful engagement with one’spersonal and public religious practices (as a form of piety) is important.Overall, these practices might seem a bit alien to the typical Pagan orWitch, especially prayer. Yet prayer is nothing more than developing aninternal dialogue with one’s Deity, which is certainly not something that isexclusive to monotheistic religious traditions. Prayers can also consist ofreciting to oneself any inspirational or spiritual writing that is personallysignificant and meaningful. Christians and Jews recite psalms, but Pagansand Witches can find other important material to use in a similar fashion,such as the Homeric or Orphic hymns, for example.• Study—Examine all of the symbolic elements of the Qabalah. Thisis accomplished through exhaustive research and also by deeplyscrutinizing these symbols while meditating. Look at them in isolationand also how they relate to other classes of symbols. Because everythingis by analogy joined to everything else, then how different symbolsinterrelate is part of the greater mystery of the Qabalah. Master the fiveessential elements of the Qabalah (covered in chapters two throughseven of the first part of this book) but also expand this research toinclude other materials and books.• Analysis—Actively build up analogies, comparisons, and groupings,and then use them to create new structures. Creative analogy is the mostimportant key to making the Qabalah come alive in one’s mind. The keyto creative analogy is the use of divergent andconvergent thinkingskills. Divergent thinking is where the student maps various associationsby making notes and pictures on paper, allowing for a stream ofconsciousness to be documented. Then these notes and pictures areexamined, grouped into patterns, and then compared with actualresearch, and the end result is that a new body of lore is developed.Included in these skills would be various systems of arithmology, whichwe will cover later on in chapter fifteen.• Contemplation—Using the techniques of discursive meditation,intently focus and reflect on various Qabalistic materials, such as aconcept, short paragraph, or symbolic emblem. Observe any and allthoughts and sensations regarding that focused subject matter. Once thisis accomplished, use a form of effective prayer to rejoice in thisrevelation and to thank one’s Godhead for it.• Meditation—Emptying the mind of any thoughts or concerns andfocusing on being in the moment of one’s spiritual element. This iswhere the meditation session is completed by its opposite state, which isrelieving the self of all thoughts and just absorbing the beauty andmajesty of the Godhead. (Emptying the mind is done passively by justletting go, and is not actively enforced by the will.)• Pathworking—Using the power of visualization, the Qabalistcreates an inner experience of the Sephiroth and Pathways of the Tree ofLife. This technique is called “Walking the Tree of Life.”• Theurgy—Performing rituals that invoke the spiritual hierarchy ofthe Godhead as associated with the various elements of the Qabalah.This often includes forms of Godname-vibrating and even Godheadassumption.• Basic discipline—Performing daily and weekly practices andexercises. These exercises would include bodywork (posture, breathcontrol, prayer, and meditation), study and analysis, and special theurgicworkings, as well as engaging in one’s exoteric religious celebrations.• Bodywork—This involves the basic six methods of mind control(posture, breath control, meditation, contemplation, concentration,assumption of ecstatic trance) as well as other foundational practices,such as diet, cleanliness, and maintaining a spiritual environment, bothwithin the mind and in one’s home. (I will defer to the individual tastesand needs of the seeker rather than impose my own expectations inregard to these practices.)These eight practices are dealt with and elaborated on in the followingchapters. However, I have sought to include and incorporate them in a moretraditional format, associated with the sacred workings of theurgy andritual/ceremonial magic. From my perspective, magic and occultspeculation, as well as religious based practices, are the foundation for thepractical Qabalah. Let us now examine how the second part of this bookwill be configured so that we might learn to adopt what has been expoundedon in the first part into a spiritual and magical discipline.Basis of Practical WorkHaving covered the basic information about the Sephiroth and Pathways inthe first part of this book, I will now present the practical uses of theQabalah that will aid you in mastering ceremonial or ritual magic. Thisparticular discipline is known as the Practical Qabalah (Qabalah Ma’asit),and is thought to be associated with the esoteric practices of theurgy that theJewish Qabalists had derived from a rich source of Middle Eastern mystical,Gnostic, and magical beliefs and practices, as well as Greek philosophicalpractices.Qabalistic magic was born long ago in obscurity. It was developed over along period of time, and it evolved to become a monumental system ofoccultism. It was passed down from teacher to student, but obviously onlyto those chosen few who saw its importance and merit. Those individualscopied and added new ideas to this lore, causing it to grow and expand, sothat by the time of the Age of Enlightenment, it had become quite vast andall-encompassing. The Qabalah revolutionized the practice of magic. Itassisted Jews and Christians in experimenting with contacting andchanneling the wisdom and power of the Deity through its varioussurrogates (spirits) for the purpose of directing and implementing divinechange in the world. The magical formulas that were used to create wordsof power and the revelation of the secret names of the Deity were derivedfrom specific Qabalistic techniques, and these formulas and words of powerwere even used to create ritual patterns, saturating the liturgical structuresof ceremonial magic with the authorities and insignia of the Godhead.The later derived structure of the Tree of Life assisted Qabalists inmapping the Inner Planes and the Pathways, providing a system of guidedimagery. The associated correspondences between the Sephiroth andPathways helped Qabalists to build a meticulous categorization of thevarious characteristics of the spirits. The Pathways, as represented by theHebrew alphabet, also established a direct relationship between numbersand words, creating various numerological systems that assisted in thegeneration of formula-words and semantic linkages between the generatedmagical powers and the defined target, using a system of operant links. Thisrelationship between numbers and letters also allowed for the formation ofmagical sigils or signatures, which assisted the magician in uniquelyidentifying a spirit for the purpose of conjuration. It also producedspecialized words of power that helped to empower magical rituals.Therefore, it can be seen that the practical Qabalah can be defined asrepresenting the following ten techniques (based on the eightfold toolkitdiscussed above):• Cosmological framework for the Inner Planes• Mind control and the experiential Qabalah• Pathworking• Godnames and their use• Spiritual hierarchies• Theurgy and Invocation• Systems of correspondences establishing the relationships betweenvarious different spiritual entities and qualities• Systems of word manipulation consisting of a letter numerology thatassociates words with numerical values• Building of word formulas as acronyms• Creation of sigils from names and word formulasThese ten different methodologies represent the core discipline andapplied lore of the Qabalah, and are essential for the practice of Qabalisticor high magic. However, it is important to keep in mind that all of theseexercises are empty of meaning, power, and significance if the symbols ofthe Qabalah remain opaque and dormant for the seeker. They must be madeto come alive in the mind and soul of the operator by using the powers ofthe imagination and analogy.We will now proceed to discuss each topic in much greater detail andelaborate upon them. The practical Qabalah consists of the most importantset of methodologies, beliefs, and techniques that the spiritual seeker couldpossibly wield, even if he or she were to employ nothing else in theirregimen.Cosmological FrameworkWe have already discussed the Sephiroth and Pathways of the Tree of Lifeas representing a glyph for the Inner Planes. The system of pathworkingestablishes Inner Plane connections, which are important to one’s personaland spiritual evolution. Pathworking, where the initiate traverses either upor down the Tree of Life or intensely focuses on just one of the paths,represents an integral practice in magic that assists the aspirant in spirituallytransforming and consciously evolving.The symbology of each path powerfully impacts the mind, body, andspirit of the magician. The magician, by practicing pathworking, directlyencounters the Deity and experiences the vision and the power of thatGodhead affecting the material world. This vision reveals the essential truththat a magician may represent and act as a surrogate for that Deity.The structure of the Tree of Life when viewed through the multipleoccurrences of the Four Qabalistic Worlds becomes analogous to thestructures associated with the magician’s magic circle and the domainof thefour Watchtowers of the elements. Each Watchtower is the ward for a hostof spirits and forces whose correspondences are described by the Tree ofLife. Furthermore, the Four Worlds each have a Tree of Life structurewithin them, and so the ultimate organization and structure of theWatchtowers are formed around each Tree. (See Figure 13.)This multiple Tree of Life scheme represents one of the more importantstructures of the Inner Planes, which the magician can make accessible toher mind through the artifice of creating a visual model. This model is alsorepresented by the 40 Pip (Naib) cards of the Lesser Arcana of the Tarot(Ace through 10 of the four suits), and also by the mechanism of the 36Decans (ten degree segments) of the zodiac and their associated spiritualhierarchies. Using these models, the magician constructs ritual structuresthat allow for the manipulation and expression of these forces andintelligences, which through the corresponding association of the InnerPlanes to the earth plane, allows the magician to directly cause changeswithin her mind and in the physical world, according to her will and intent.This is one plausible definition of how magic might be performed utilizingthe Tree of Life.Figure 13: Diagram of the four Trees of Life with a common root[contents]BnineTechniques of Mind Controlecause we have previously discussed the Four Worlds and the FourBodies, I can now present some simple techniques that will help youto acquire the necessary altered states of consciousness to do Qabalisticwork. These techniques will help you to fully experience the symboliccorrespondences and the allegorical domains of the Inner Planes, and themental and spiritual dimensions of the various levels and models of theoperant Qabalah. As I stated previously, it is very important that you gaindirect access to the various descriptions and symbolic expressions of theTree of Life and the Four Worlds, particularly the higher mental, spiritual,and Monadic levels. Entering into the Inner Plane domains of the Qabalahwill help you cross the boundaries of the microcosm and enter into themacrocosm, allowing you to realize the symbology from a personal andcosmic level simultaneously.The techniques available to the Qabalist are meditation, contemplation,visualization, and simple forms of ceremony. He may fashion and make awand and a dagger, as well as acquire an unadorned white robe. He mightalso collect various Qabalistic diagrams and posters and hang these at aneasily viewable height in a room that can be used primarily for meditationand study. Salt water is useful for ablutions and blessings, and so are specialpure extracts of perfumes and the herbal gums of burnable incense. Asimple incense burner that can accommodate burning charcoal will easily beable to dispense a scented aura of sacredness whenever required.Sessions that involve meditation and contemplation should be formalizedwith a special bath, anointing with perfume, donning a clean white robe,and then sequestering oneself in the designated room, with incense burningand the dim illumination of oil lamps. The foundation for all Qabalisticwork should be simple, efficient, and easily within one’s means. There isn’tany need for assembling all of the paraphernalia associated with highceremonial magic, since the Qabalist relies more on the power of Qabalisticsymbolism and associated Godhead attributes. Therefore, the operatorshould keep things simple, easy to remember, and, more importantly,modest.There are five essential operations that a Qabalist will perform in order tomake her discipline one that is experiential. These five operations are thebasic meditation session, contemplation session, pathworking, ceremonialinvocation, and Godhead assumption. There are also five basic states ofalignment employed as simple ritual expressions, which are used in thesefive operations. These are Self-Crossing (Mantle of Glory), the MiddlePillar exercise, Opening of the Self, Closing of the Self, and Grounding theSelf. We will discuss each of the five operations below, but first I would liketo discuss the five basic states of alignment.A state of alignment refers to the disposition of the operator’s bodilyenergy field and its associated state of consciousness. Each of these simplerituals works with several points on the body, which is analogous to thesame points on the Tree of Life. Just imagine the Tree of Life as if it weresuperimposed over the body. Therefore, the following 11 points of the bodywould represent the ten Sephiroth of the Tree of Life and Da’ath, and theircorresponding word and/or Godname (see Figure 14):• Kether—crown of head (Atah [unto thou]—Ehieh)• Chokmah—right side of head• Binah—left side of head• Da’ath—throat (Yahweh Elohim)• Chesed—right shoulder (ve-Gedulah (and Mercy)—El)• Geburah—left shoulder (ve-Geburah (and strength) —ElohimGebor)• Tiphareth—heart (le-Olaham Ve-eid (forever)—Yahweh Aloah ve-Da’ath )• Netzach—right hand• Hod—left hand• Yesod—genitals (Shaddai El-Chai)• Malkuth—feet (Malkuth (Kingdom)—Adonai ha-Aretz)Arms and hands are typically not used as power centers in most systemsof body points, and they are not used as such in these five simple rites ofalignment. They are utilized instead to direct or focus the energy. These fivesimple alignment exercises use the head, throat, shoulders, heart/solarplexus, genitals, and feet as representations of the six Sephiroth applied tothe body to energize points of power, or, as the Eastern tradition calls them,chakras. The operator touches the power point with the right hand,vibrating the word or name, and then feels an energy pass into that pointwhile breathing in the force and imagining it as the specific Sephirahblazing forth on an imaginary body of light, which is superimposed overone’s own.Figure 14: Tree of Life as human bodyFour of these bodily power points can be used to connect to the four partsof the human soul. The crown of the head, which is also associated withKether, is the point where the practitioner may connect to the highest aspectof the self—the Yechidah (self as Godhead). The heart, attributed withTiphareth, would be associated with the Ruach (rational mind), and thegenitals, attributed with Yesod, would be associated with the Nephesh(emotional body). The Neschamah, which is the individual spirit, would bedefined as a combination of Chokmah (right side of head) and Binah (leftside of head); therefore, it would be centered at what the Eastern traditionscall the third eye. Since the Yechidah is typically inaccessible to thepractitioner, it can be accessed only through the third-eye power point,invoking the part of soul associated with the Neschamah. The practitionerwould contact the Neschamah through an intense period of meditation,where the Godnames for Chokmah and Binah would be alternately vibratedand the focus of the practice would be on the third eye. This technique isnot part of the basic regimen for the practicing Qabalist, but could easily beadded to any of the exercises below.The following exercises show how these power points are used to createspecific states of bodily alignment:1. Self-Crossing or Mantle of Glory (similar to Qabalistic Cross)—Used for self-empowerment and protection. Operator can be seated orstanding, using the right hand, or clasping the dagger by the hilt(forming a cross). He then touches the forehead (with the butt end of thedagger, if used), and vibrates “Atah,” pauses, then visualizes the energygoing down through the genitals to the feet, touches genitals andvibrates “Malkuth,” pauses, then touches the left shoulder, vibrates “ve-Geburah,” pauses, touches the right shoulder, vibrates “ve-Gedulah,”pauses, and then touches the heart, vibrates “le-Olaham ve-Eid. Amen.”Operator should visualize an illuminated cross aligning the power pointsof the body and creating an impregnable shieldover it, while thinkingthe words “Unto thee (is) the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory,Forever. Amen.”This exercise may be similar to the Qabalistic Cross, but the rightshoulder is aligned to Chesed, and the left, to Geburah. This is differentfrom what is practiced in the Golden Dawn. I always felt that it wasimportant for these two Sephiroth to line up with the proper right andleft shoulders of the body, instead of how they are traditionally aligned.Also, le-Olaham by itself is incomplete, so I added the ve-Eid so that itwould be a complete, meaningful sentence (it is Hebrew for “forever”).2. Middle Pillar exercise—Used for centering. Operator can beseated or standing, using the right hand to charge the power pointswhere possible. Start with eyes closed, visualizing the qualities of theSephirah as it is fully activated on the body, and then perform a cycle ofslow and continuous breathing. To begin, the operator circles the headwith her hand and then touches the crown, vibrating the Godname“Ehieh,” pausing for a short period, then proceeding down to the nextpoint, which is the throat. She then vibrates the Godname “YahwehElohim,” pauses, then proceeds down to the next point, which is theheart. At this point, she vibrates the Godname “Yahweh Aloah ve-Da’ath,” pauses, then proceeds down to the next point, which is thegenitals. Lightly touching the genitals, she vibrates the Godname“Shadai El-Chai,” pauses, then focuses on the energy as it is pusheddown to the feet. At the last point, she vibrates the Godname “Adonaiha-Aretz.” She then remains in her position for a short period of time,feeling all of the energy flowing from the crown of the head to the feet,producing a feeling of complete relaxation and mental regeneration.3. Opening of the Self—Used in order to be more receptive and opento spiritual impressions and sensations. Operator is typically seated inthe restful but alert posture (using a chair, or on a pillow, legs crossed,back straight), and engages in a short period of breath control. Thentaking his right hand, he touches his forehead and vibrates the Godname“Ehieh,” pauses, touches the left shoulder, vibrates the Godname“Elohim Gebor,” pauses, touches the right shoulder, vibrates theGodname “El,” and then touches the forehead for a second time tocomplete the circuit, but doesn’t vibrate the Godname. He then crosseshis arms over his breast (with hands held in a fist), pauses for a moment,uncrosses them, then brings them forward so that they form right anglesto the body and with the palms facing up and open. This is the posture ofreceiving. While the operator is doing this alignment, he should imaginethat a gateway has opened in his heart for anything that is positive andspiritual to enter. (Note: This action should not be performed until afterthe self-crossing has been done.) To give greater emphasis to thisexercise, the operator can also use the wand to touch the points of thebody, and also to draw an invoking spiral before him. (Invoking spiral:clockwise, outer to inner.)4. Closing of the Self—Used in order to break off any connectionsand to close the self from all impressions and sensations. Operatorbegins with the posture of the Opening of the Self, with arms at rightangles to the body and the palms up and open. Then with the right hand,she touches the right shoulder and vibrates the Godname “El,” pauses,touches the left shoulder and vibrates the Godname “Elohim Gebor,”pauses, touches the genitals and vibrates the Godname “Shadai El-Chai,” pauses, and then touches the right shoulder for a second time tocomplete the circuit, but doesn’t vibrate the Godname. She thenrepositions her arms in the receiving posture, but then moves her armsso that they are crossed over her breast (with hands held in a fist). Whilethe operator is doing this alignment, she should imagine that a gatewayhas been closed in her heart which will protect it from anythingattempting to enter. To give greater emphasis to this exercise, theoperator can also use the wand to touch the points of the body, and alsoto draw a banishing spiral before her. (Banishing spiral:counterclockwise, inner to outer.)5. Grounding the Self—Used in order to project any energy held inthe body into the earth. Operator begins in the closed-self posture, thenuncrosses his arms and extends them forward with the palms open andfacing down. Then he touches the floor in front of him with the palmspressed to the floor while vibrating the Godname “Adonai ha-Aretz,”and imagines all of the excess energy flowing from his body into theearth. (It is also a good idea to extend the grounding by gettingsomething to eat and drink, and also taking a complete break fromwhatever activity required the grounding.)We have now gone over the five simple alignment exercises, and theseshould be committed to memory so that they can be performedautomatically whenever needed. Do not be too concerned if some of theactions that are supposed to be done in these five alignment exercises areeither a bit vague or haven’t yet been defined (like the breathingtechniques). These will be covered in greater detail in the text that outlinesthe five basic operations, which we will be covering next.———Meditation SessionThe operator begins with a comfortable but wakeful posture, sitting with theback straight, and begins the meditation session with a period of controlledbreathing. This is a simple process of just counting the breaths and makingcertain that they conform to a specific count. For instance, I typically usewhat I call the four-fold breath counting technique, where I count to fourwhile inhaling, then hold for a count of four, exhale for a count of four, andthen hold my lungs empty for a count of four.In another breathing technique, the operator will relax and slow down hisbreathing until the period of inhalation is exactly the same as the period ofexhalation, and the transition between them is almost nonexistent; in otherwords, the breathing is continuous, which is why it is called continuousbreathing. These are the only two breathing techniques that you will need toput yourself into a splendid altered state of consciousness. It is a state ofmind that is deeply relaxed and yet also completely awake.Once a period of controlled breathing has been accomplished, theoperator can add either a vibrated or intoned prayer or choose instead tostare fixedly at a picture, poster, or diagram.To use the intoned prayer technique, the operator must first choose a setof words that are significant or meaningful. This can be a phrase or even asingle word, or it might be one of the special Godnames or other suchsymbolic terms as are found in the Qabalah. This word or phrase is slowlyand verbally pronounced, hummed, and vibrated in the nasal passages withthe mouth closed until it almost seems to have a ringing quality. Theoperator performs this vibrating and intoning over and over again for manyminutes until the sound just appears to drone in the mind and the actualmeaning of the word seems to disappear. The key is that operator mustfocus on the sound of his voice and not allow any other thoughts orimpressions to invade his mind.The same is also true for staring fixedly at a poster or picture. Whilecontinuing the controlled breathing cycles, the operator will stare and seekto eliminate everything from her mind except for the image that she isseeing. The image might waver or become distorted; the eyes might water,perhaps even burn a little; but the operator continues to stare fixedly as longas possible, pausing to briefly blink, as little as possible.The meditation session should always be performed for a fixed period oftime, and once that period is over the exercise should be closed. I wouldalso recommend that the operator perform this meditation session at aroundthe same time during the day or night and, when possible, to do it every daywithout fail. The operatorcan vary the routine, but the time for meditationis most important, and like a critical event, it should be performed withoutfail. To perform any operation for a fixed time period, the operator can useany kind of timing device with an alarm, as long as the alarm itself isneither loud nor jarring.Contemplation SessionThe operator begins the contemplation session by performing a short butintense meditation session, and then once within that optimum state ofmind, she can then begin the contemplation session. While the objective ofthe meditative session is to empty the mind of all extraneous thoughts untila state is produced where there are no thoughts occupying one’s mind, acontemplation session is used to focus the quiescent mind upon a singletopical concept, word, or idea—and nothing more. This single thought thenoccupies the mind fully and completely, and the operator dispassionatelynotes all that transpires within her mind during the period of contemplation.However, any extraneous thoughts, sensations, or intruding emotions thatare not directly attached or associated with the contemplative target will bedispassionately suppressed.The operator should be able to identify a relevant chain of thoughtassociated with the target word from one that is irrelevant or extraneous. Iwould recommend that the period of contemplation be rather short at first,perhaps ten minutes, and then lengthened as the operator gets used to doingthis for longer periods. After this period is completed, then the operatorshould reflect on what was received and perform an inner kind ofthanksgiving to the Godhead.I am using the term contemplation as it is used in a modern context. Idefine contemplation in a manner that was previously used to define whatwas called discursive meditation, or meditation on a specific subject,paragraph of words, or symbolic emblem. Often, the period of discursivecontemplation would be followed with an affective prayer, which would bea spontaneous reaction in response to the reflections received duringmeditation (think of it as a kind of internalized thanksgiving).Contemplation, as it is classically defined, is where the mind is emptied ofall thoughts and impressions to create a state of inner quiescence. SinceEastern systems of yoga and meditation have become popular, meditationhas come to mean emptying the mind, and contemplation is where aspecific topic is intensely focused on for a period of time. You can useeither definition or approach, just as long as what is done is represented bythe above techniques applied in a consistent manner.PathworkingI will be covering pathworking in the next chapter, in which it will bethoroughly explained. However, I would advise that the operator shouldbegin this operation with a deep meditation session, to be followed with themantle of glory (self-crossing), and then the Opening of the Self exercise.Once the pathworking is completed, the operator can perform the Closing ofthe Self exercise, followed by the Grounding the Self exercise.InvocationThis operation is covered in chapter 13, so there is no need for me toexpound upon it here. Still, two key activities that should be performed inthis operation are the exercise of the Mantle of Glory (to protect oneself),and the operation of Godhead assumption, which we are going to covernext.Godhead AssumptionThis operation is similar to the contemplation operation, except that thetarget is one of the specific Godnames as found associated with the tenSephiroth. The operator should spend some time elaborating on thatGodhead, associating it with Pagan gods or goddesses, heroes, or avatars ifhe is Pagan, or specific Christian or Jewish themes if he is a follower of oneof those traditions. The more information that he gathers about the targetGodhead, the better the assumption will be. Additionally, the operatorshould approach this Godhead with love, devotion, and service. I wouldrecommend that he actually assemble a small shrine to that Deity and makeofferings of flowers, incense, and anything else that would seemappropriate. This period of devotion should last a while (a couple of weeks),making the target Godhead into an object of the operator’s aspirations andspiritual desires. Then, when that Being seems to come alive in theimagination of the operator, the time for assuming the Godhead has arrived.The operator performs the following steps to acquire a type of Godheadassumption within a Qabalistic framework:1. Begin with a long and extended meditation session with the shrineof the Godhead as the focus of the meditation.2. Perform the Middle Pillar exercise.3. Perform the Opening of the Self exercise. The operator should feelhimself completely filled with love and desire for the Godhead. (This isa necessary precursor to the assumption.)4. Perform a contemplation session while in the Opening of the Selfposture. The focus should be only on the Godhead, with the object tomake full contact with that entity. Once contact is made, draw it intooneself slowly but completely, perhaps by breathing it in or feeling itenter into the heart. Touching and focusing on the heart power pointduring this exercise would also be very helpful. Allow the Godhead tocompletely occupy the self and to reside there for a brief time. (This canbe facilitated by vibrating the Godname as a kind of mantra.)5. Perform the Closing of the Self exercise. The operator should feel anecessary regret at being parted from the Deity, knowing that there willbe other opportunities for assumption and union at a later time.6. Perform the Grounding the Self exercise.7. Spend some time immediately afterwards writing down all that wasexperienced during the assumption.We have now covered all of the exercises and operations that you will needto fully activate your studies of the Qabalah. This section should guide andassist you in being able to tangibly experience all of the theoretical,occultic, and philosophical notions as found in the study of Qabalah.[contents]NtenThe Art of Pathworkingow that we have discussed in detail the various elements of the 22Pathways (and the ten Sephiroth), we should discuss how the studentcould go about assembling these components together to formulate what isknown as the Art of Qabalistic Pathworking. This methodology is a ratherrecent innovation, particularly since the Tarot trumps were only recentlyassociated with the paths, giving them a greater depth of symbolism thanwhat they would otherwise possess. The purpose of this technique is toemulate the process of ascent, using the combination of the ten Sephirothand 22 Pathways to aid the seeker in creating as real a transformativeexperience as possible. What this means is that Qabalistic pathworking isnot just a form of simple guided visualization or dry meditation. It is insteada system of magical envisioning, where the various symbols are used tobuild up in the imagination the actual inner domain of the Sephirah and itsassociated Pathways.The basic components for a pathworking exercise are the two Sephirothand the associated Pathway that connects them, which would also includeall of their relevant correspondences. Typically, the operator will performjust one pathworking exercise at a time, seeking to reveal unique insightsand psychic occurrences to be followed with later meditations on thosespecific revelations. The technique employed to facilitate pathworking iscalled astral clairvoyance, but that actually consists of using one’s creativeimagination with or without an accompanying partial trance state.Pathworkings are often performed over a period of weeks or months, wherethe operator will incrementally ascend up the Tree of Life. He or she willuse the Serpent’s Ascent sequence of paths, following them up the Tree ofLife to its summit. It is important that the operator ensures that the entireTree of Life is explored in this manner consistentlyover a period of time,and it is even better if each of these pathworking sessions are scheduled inadvance and given a specific time limit.It is also a good idea for the session to be performed in a temple or aplace where the operator will be undisturbed for the allotted time.Purification exercises, ablutions, anointing, donning vestments, and thenstretching the body and emptying the mind are all excellent preparations forthe pathworking session—so is establishing sacred space and setting amagic circle. In fact, in the Order of the Gnostic Star48 we have a specificmagical ritual that can be used to perform a ritualized pathworking,deploying a double gateway and an underworld crossroads for this purpose.Needless to say, the more that one puts into this working, the more dramaticand profound the results. Of course, the operator should also keep thisworking focused and brief so it does not become so elaborate that it is toocumbersome to perform. I would also advise the operator that such apathworking exercise must ultimately accommodate 22 distinct sessionsover a given period of time. An overly elaborate pathworking exercisewould become unendurable over the long run, and this could cause one toquit before all the paths had been explored.To begin this working, the operator may want to use special incense,colored candles, and some kind of colored banner or altar cloth associatedwith the correspondences of the starting Sephiroth, creating, as it were, akind of simple inner temple based on those attributes. The operator canenvision or perhaps even portray in his temple a facsimile of the basetemple, such as having a central altar adorned with an oil lamp, and somekind of twin pillars (right—white, left—black) on either side. Most of theeffort of pathworking is done in the mind of the operator.At the end of the imagined Sephirah temple is a doorway or gateway thathas a veil before it, which represents the access threshold into the targetpath. To fully establish the Sephirah temple, the operator will intone andvisualize the associated Godname and archangel. He may even assume anassociated Godhead into himself for this domain, as well as visualize anyother pertinent symbols and correspondences for the base Sephirah. Oncethis is done, then he will mentally advance to the gateway, open thethreshold, and enter into the Pathway using the associated Tarot card as asymbolic key. Once immersed within the path, the operator may intone orvisualize any Godnames, archangels, color schemes, or other relevantsymbolic attributes. The Hebrew letter should be intoned, and the symbolicaspect (element, planet, or astrological sign) should also be visualized. Theoperator will keep his mind completely open and seek to see, sense, andperceive things within the Pathway domain.Beyond the path will be the next Sephirah, warded by another veiledgateway, and the operator may open the threshold and enter into thisdomain (or not), and intone the Godname and archangel to complete thetransition. Some writers have stated that the pathworking should onlyprogress to the point just before the destination Sephirah, but I believe that acomplete transit to the destination should be envisioned. Then the operatorcan retrace her steps back again to the base Sephirah where she started,performing a closing exercise and completing the pathworking.While the operator is undergoing this process, she should note downeverything that is seen, sensed, or perceived in the vision. These notes willbe used for additional contemplation sessions that will aid her in fullycomprehending the nature of the symbols and their internal meaning andsignificance. An electronic voice recorder might be a very handy tool to usein this work. Keeping a record of what happens will greatly assist theoperator in fully internalizing and thereby realizing the Qabalah in a veryliteral and psychic manner, giving it life and dynamically empowering itwithin herself.A more elaborate system of pathworking would group together thosepaths that are associated with a single base Sephirah, actually visualizingthem as veiled gateways at the points where they occur in the actualSephirah. For instance, the Sephirah of Yesod would have one veiledgateway to the back or rear of the temple (Path 32), and then three in thefront, positioned so that one would be on the left-hand side (Path 30), one inthe center (Path 25), and the other on the right-hand side (Path 28), just asthey are in the actual Tree of Life diagram.Using this methodology, the session might be made longer so as to allowfor three contiguous pathworkings, or the magician might start in the baseSephirah three times, one for each Pathway. This methodology of using animagined temple for a specific Sephirah with all of its paths representedwithin it is similar to the initiation temples of the different grades of theGolden Dawn. An enterprising student could use this approach and performa kind of complete transformative initiation cycle, since the symbols andspiritual hierarchy associated with the Sephirah and the Pathways arepowerful enough to trigger internal transformations.Additionally, the magician can use some of the other patterns forselecting and experiencing the Pathways, such as the Serpent’s Descent(exact opposite of the Serpent’s Ascent), the lightning flash, or otherpatterns. Each of these directions and methodologies would teachsomething unique and direct to the operator, helping her to completelymaster the Tree of Life in all of its intricacies.[contents]48. See www.gnosticstar.org.OelevenGodnames:Explanation and Usene of the most important keys to the Qabalah is associated with thevarious Godnames attributed to the ten Sephiroth. These Godnamesare used to unlock the ten attributes of the Deity, and to either communewith or harness them for occult purposes. In addition to the ten Godnames,there are also other names, aspects, and attributes for the unknown,unmanifest, and nameless Deity that is responsible for the fusion of theworlds of Spirit, Mind, and Matter. In order to understand these variousnames, we need to examine them in detail and determine their source.Doing so will show us that the Qabalah appears to espouse a theologicalsystem that is polytheistic rather than monotheistic. For the sake of clarity, Iwill make a few points about monotheism just to ensure that we are all onthe same page.Monotheism is a very recent adaptation, and it is an important part of thedoctrines of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. However, Christianity is onlyloosely regulated by a monotheistic doctrine, since it proposes a trinity asthe foundation for the One (as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost), and it allows(in Catholicism and Orthodox Christianity) the display of icons depicting amyriad of saints, angels, disciples, the Virgin Mary, and even Jesus Christhimself. In contrast, Judaism and Islam allow no human images or icons torepresent any aspect of their religious creed. So it would seem that whileJudaism and Islam are strict monotheistic religions, Christianity is morerepresentative of a synthetic mixture of Hellenic paganism and Judaism,thus allowing for the use of idols, icons, relics, and many other tropes thatare patently pagan in origin. However, the supposed supremacy ofmonotheism in Judaism hides and represses a very recent pagan past.Much of the Old Testament is a battle royal between the singular Deity,Yahweh, and his proponents, and the indigenous Hebrew people, who weredepicted as continuously falling into the habits of idolatry and pagansuperstition.49 In fact, all of the tragedies inflicted on the Chosen Peopleoccurred solely because of their unfaithful intransigence. The followers ofYahweh were the victors in this war; therefore, they got to write the history,which later became the stories of the Bible. All of the proponents of themany different and alternative pagan gods and goddessesaspects of the Qabalah are revealed. The first part is divided intosix chapters; and the second part, which is longer, is divided into ninechapters. There is this introductory chapter, which you are already reading,and the epilogue, which of course comes at the end. The following listcontains the chapter headings and contents for Part One and Part Two:Part One1. Qabalah in five parts. These are: Ten Sephiroth, 22 paths, FourWorlds and the Four Subtle Bodies, Three Negative Veils, and the Treeof Life.2. A brief and succinct history of the Qabalah in nine parts. We willalso examine the history and development of Jewish literature.3. Ten Sephiroth, in greater detail.4. 22 Paths, in greater detail.5. Creation, Unmanifest Godhead, and the Nature of Evil: A thoroughdiscussion of the creation of the spiritual and material universe, thenature of the unknown and unmanifest Deity, and the nature of evil andthe imperfection of the material world.6. Four Worlds and the Four Subtle Bodies: A presentation of the FourQabalistic Worlds and the Four Basic Subtle Bodies that are associatedwith them.Part Two7. Practical Qabalah: This part is divided into nine chapters,expounding on the topics of practical exercises, using tables ofcorrespondences, and explanations of Gematria, Notariqon, andTemurah, pathworking, theurgic ascension, and a brief explanation ofQabalistic magic.8. Epilogue—wrapping it all up.In addition, there is a glossary defining all of the more important termsused in this book, and a bibliography in which I have listed all of the booksthat I consulted to write this work. I have also listed some additional booksthat you might want to read to further your studies in chapter 16, where Italk about how to learn the Qabalah.So, let’s start the journey and begin our grand tour of the venerableQabalah. You are invited![contents]Part OneTheoretical Qabalah: Basic ElementsItwoEssential Qabalah in Five Partsn this chapter we will succinctly define the Qabalah, and this will helpyou to realize that it is not beyond your ability to grasp and use. Often,breaking a topic down into its more essential parts makes it much easier tocomprehend than attempting to take in the whole thing. Disassembling thistopic doesn’t mean that we are going to be leaving it that way, however. Iwill also show you how all the parts fit together to create a seamless whole.I think that this is the best way to approach any complex topic: to organizeand break it down into smaller related parts.Unfortunately, this chapter is probably the toughest one in the book, sinceI am going to attempt to establish some precise definitions before actuallygoing over the details of the things I’ve defined. I felt that it was importantto write down these definitions before we get into the details so that theycould help you organize and determine the scope of the following chapters.I would recommend that you read over this chapter slowly and carefully.One other thing that I want to bring up as we delve into the details of theQabalah is the methodology that I will use to represent Hebrew letters usingthe English alphabet. At times I will just spell out the words phonetically (inlower case), and other times I will use capital letters to show how the wordis spelled in Hebrew.I felt that it would be easier to dispense with using the iconic Hebrewalphabet for this work since that would force the reader to regularly consulta table of Hebrew to English letters. I have also tried to make certain thatmy spelling corresponds to what is traditionally found in books on theQabalah. However, there are some peculiarities that we need to note here.First of all, there are no vowels in the Hebrew alphabet. Vowels aredetermined by a system of pointing, or marks, placed on, above, or belowthe Hebrew letter. So that means that all 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabetare actually consonants. The letter Aleph is a glottal stop; the letter Ain is alaryngeal (from the larynx) voiced fricative (which I indicate by the letters“a’a,” denoting the voiced laryngeal constriction, like in the word Da’ath);and the letter Thav is an aspirated “t” sound.Chet is a voiceless laryngeal fricative (not like an English “ch” sound, butmore like the Scottish loch), and the letter Vav can be either a silent vowelholder (for “o” or “u”) or similar to the English “v.” Beth can have a hard“b” sound if at the beginning of a word, or a soft “v” sound when it occursin the middle of a word, unless it is doubled (indicated with a point placedin the center of the letter, called a dagesh). The same is true for the letterPeh, which can sound like a “p” or an “f.”The letter Tzaddi sounds like an inter-dental aspirated “t,” which can besimulated by a combination of a “tz” or “ts” in English. Qoph is like theletter Kaph, but without the aspiration, so its sound is softer and deeper inthe throat. The rest of the letters are similar to the English consonantalsounds. Hebrew is typically spoken with an emphasis on the last syllable.It is really easy to understand the Qabalah if you can look at it reduced toits most essential parts, and there are only five. Those five parts make upthe overall structure of the Qabalah, and they can allow us to view it eitheras a whole structure or each part separately. These five parts are:• Ten Sephiroth• 22 Pathways• Origin from nothing and the Three Negative Veils• Four Worlds and the Four Subtle Bodies• The Tree of LifeAll of these concepts and themes have their origin in very specific andstrategic verses found in the Old Testament, which is called the HebrewBible or the Tenakh. Don’t let this revelation turn you off, because thesource material, although extracted from the Bible, was greatly modifiedand joined with ideas that have their origin in Greek philosophy. From thebeginning, the Qabalah has always been a mixture of different metaphysicalperspectives, which joined traditional Jewish, Gnostic, and Greekphilosophical streams together into a holistic discipline.Ten Sephiroth, 22 Letters, and EmanationismFirst off, the word Sephiroth needs some explanation before we get anyfurther into discussing these five basic concepts. This word is written in theplural form based on a feminine noun in Hebrew, where the singular form isSephirah. This word means “number” in Hebrew (not “sphere”), although itisn’t the typical Hebrew word used for that word. Hebrew writers wouldtypically use the word misparim to denote the word numbers.1 BothSephiroth and misparim have the same Hebrew root, which is SPhR (towrite, to tell, to count, to number), and for that matter, so does the Hebrewword sepher (book). However, the word Sephirah, which is atypical, wouldrepresent a special or esoteric use of the word for number. Therefore, theten Sephiroth are known as the ten special numbers through which thestructure of the world was created.The use of the Decade as a mystical concept of creation was likelyderived from Greek philosophy—most notably, from the teachings ofPythagoras, although there are other native Jewish sources as well.2 Thenumber ten is important simply because the two human hands together haveten fingers. It is, therefore, a universal system for human numeration. Oneof the earliest counting systems was based on ten, and the number tenbecame associated with the ideas of completeness and wholeness. So havingten Sephiroth could be construed as possessing a set of numbers that wascomplete and represented the source of all other numbers and numeration ingeneral.In addition to the ten numbers, there are also 22 letters, which are theletters of the Hebrew alphabet. According to early Jewish sources (SepherYetzirah), the 22 Hebrew letters were used to formulate the material world,since to them, a word is a powerful symbol of the thing it represents;through that symbol, a material thing can be made manifest. So numbers(geometry) and lettersindigenous toancient Palestine were either completely subsumed or shown to be false,hollow, and empty deities. There are echoes of these many gods to be foundin the writings of the scriptures, and from them we can gain an idea of whatactually happened over 3,000 years ago. Archaeologists have alsouncovered the clay tablets of other indigenous people who were not part ofthe monotheistic tradition (or the Chosen People), and whose translatedvoices, until recently, were silent and unheard.Many scholars have determined that monotheism was actually the resultof a desire for political uniformity and social identity, instead of beingbased solely on a theological or religious revelation.50 The temple of KingSolomon had representations of many gods and goddesses invested withinits holy of holies, and later kings appeared to celebrate more than just thesingle insular god known as Yahweh. The kings of Israel and Judearepresented a large conglomeration of peoples, some of whom had beenliving in Palestine long before the Hebrews arrived, such as the Canaanites.Therefore, it would seem only prudent that the royal temple housed all ofthe gods and goddesses of these people. It was only much later that the kingand elite members of the kingdom decided to eradicate polytheism in favorof the one god, which they believed to be their ancestral Deity. Thisprobably began to occur during the reign of King Josiah in the seventhcentury BCE, but was radically hastened during the first exilic period andimmediately afterwards (when the books of the Tenakh were formallyassembled). Some of the old Godnames survived, to be alternative names ofthe Deity, and others were suppressed, stamped out, and declared as falsegods.This process of political coercion met with mixed success, so othersupports were brought into place, such as the feigned discovery of the lostbook of Deuteronomy (which had only recently been written, according tosome historians), and the assembling of the Torah into a book of strict lawsand practices. The Hebrew religion was in this manner remade into amonotheism, but prior to that time, it was a loose polytheistic religion.Because of that fact, the monotheism of the Old Testament was tenuous andonly skin-deep, hiding and obscuring polytheistic habits, whilewhitewashing the brutal immorality and savage behavior of an archaic tribalDeity.When the Qabalah was invented many centuries later, the habits andingrained natural tendencies of polytheism began to emerge. This had theeffect of subtly influencing the attribution of the One Deity into tendifferent aspects, which didn’t at first include the behind-the-scenes entitywho was the invisible and unknowable source of everything. WhereasJudaism sought to keep the lid on any re-emerging pagan tendencies, theQabalah seemed to encourage them. Everything was allowed in the ensuingspeculation, and the sole God of Judaism seemed to spawn many attributesand aspects, some of them barely recognizable as coming from Yahweh.This problem with polytheism becomes obvious with the ten Godnamesof the ten Sephiroth. A pious interpretation would be that the ten Sephirothare just emanations of the One; however, the hypostatization of theseattributes unwittingly made them into separate but linked deities. Thenames of the ten god aspects actually consist of the roots of a handful ofarchaic and simpler Deity names, and we should first attempt to examinethese roots before seeking to define how they were incorporated into theGodnames for the Sephiroth.Two basic names of the God of Israel that are found in the scriptures arethe names Yahweh (YHVH) and Elohim (ALHYM). Scholars believe thatthese two names once represented two different gods, and in fact Elohim,which is a plural proper noun (supposedly indicating a kind of “pluralismajestatis” or majestic plural), is from Eloah (ALVH) and El (AL). So itwould seem that the original Godnames were Yahweh and El.From El we get Eloah (ALVH—a God) and Elohim (ALHYM—Gods),and the name El is preserved in the name Shaddai El Chai (ShDY AL ChY—Almighty Living God). In ancient Canaanite mythology, El is the singularfather of the gods, analogous to Zeus, but more remote to the averageworshiper. Other gods and goddesses were much more active in thatpantheon: most notably, Baal Hadad (Zebul), or Lord of Heaven—a stormgod. El’s wife was Asherah, the mother of the gods, and Baal’s sister wasAnath, a virgin warrior goddess. Since the god Baal stood in directcompetition with the tribal god, Yahweh, who was also a storm and firegod, he was eventually supplanted and shown to be a false Deity in thescriptures. Asherah continued to be worshiped for a long time until theadvent of the great reform, when she was also dropped. What eventuallyremained in this diminishing pantheon was Yahweh and the god El, andboth of them became conflated, becoming the combined name YHVHALHYM, or Yahweh Elohim, which is often found in the Hebrewscriptures.One of the oddities of the name Elohim is that it was written in a pluralform in which the name literally means “gods.” Yet this, as I have said, wassupposed to be understood as being a form of the majestic plural, such aswhen a king or queen uses the phrase “we” to indicate a seamless bondbetween the subjects of a nation and the ruler. Jews do not consider thisword to be interpreted as a plural noun, and it is treated as an alternate namefor their God; but such an interpretation is obviously contrived. It is one ofmany indications that Judaism was grounded in polytheism despite theprotestations of the scriptures and believers alike.Yahweh was an obscure storm-and-fire Deity who was worshiped, amongothers, when the Hebrew people were a group of loosely organized desertnomadic tribes.51 It is likely that this god aspect was an ancient relic of theoriginal sparse pantheon of these desert people. While other deities weresupplanted by the more sophisticated Canaanite deities, the storm/fire godYahweh maintained a certain currency among some of the elite tribalfamilies. Centuries later, when the Jews were well established in ancientPalestine, this Deity hearkened back to an earlier and pristine mythic timewhen the ancient Hebrews were desert wanderers.Thus Yahweh came to represent a political movement that sought to unitea people who were actually fragmented and only loosely allied. All of theoral legends and stories, as well as the laws of the people, were writtendown and assembled into the Holy Scriptures, thereby rewriting history anderasing all mention of the earliest members of that pantheon, except thestorm god named Yahweh, who now assumed sole power and authority. Anew religion was invented and a new Godhead was developed. The manydeities and their myths were appropriated and associated exclusively withthe Godhead known as Yahweh, and in this manner was the first truemonotheistic religion born. (As a side note, I don’t count the occurrence ofthe Egyptian god Aten, as established by Akhenaton, as a true monotheism,but that is whole different matter for discussion.)To further hide the origins of this Godhead, it was forbidden to verbalizehis name, and all characteristics and qualities of this archaic Deity wereeliminated—since it was determined that he had neither an image nor alikeness, being invisible and unknowable to everyone except the priesthood.Yahweh, the ancient storm-and-fire god, who likely had an image that wasmade into an idol and who had characteristics and a known personality,became a distant and absolute Godhead who no longer had anycharacteristics or qualities.In my opinion, and based on scholarly theories and speculation, this ishow I think the Jewish Godhead was developed. Even as an invisible andunknowable God with an unpronounceable name, some polytheisticelements survived, since Yahweh was a jealous god, masculine, fearless,angry, vengeful, and at times completely ruthless (whichis what you wouldexpect of a storm/fire god). He was a Deity who must be obeyedunconditionally, or one would suffer the consequences. All of these themesdescribe a Deity that is very human-like taken from an obvious paganpantheon, yet most of the other elements associated with such a pagan godwere erased.Jewish theologians and Qabalists would declare that the apparentcharacteristics of their Godhead had more to do with the human habit ofanimating metaphors and giving human qualities to a Being that is beyondall manifested qualities and characteristics. However, since monotheism andthe various mythology of the One God was something that was brilliantlycontrived, the various pagan themes were evident, although subtle and attimes nearly invisible. The fact that this Godhead had two different names(and possibly two different personalities), and that it maintained the nameEl, a god of the previous pagan pantheon, clearly demonstrates thatmonotheism was not the original condition of the ancient Hebrew religion.Another important attribute of the One God was the spiritual entityknown as the Shekinah (ShKYNH), which means “dwelling” or “setting,”so it came to be known as the indwelling Spirit of the Godhead when it wasresident in the temple Holy of Holies. However, the Shekinah had definitequalities that seemed feminine in contra-distinction to the One God, andwould come to represent the subtle manifesting spiritual presence orinvisible face of that Being.Possibly, the Shekinah took on qualities that had once been representedby the goddess Asherah, and whose elimination created a void that had tobe filled with something. As time went on, the Shekinah became more of adistinct entity or being, particularly after the destruction of the temple inJerusalem. It also became more associated with the missing feminine side orattribute of the Godhead. To the Qabalist, the Shekinah became the muse orspiritual mistress of the One God. She was also called the Sabbath’s Bride,and symbolized the tangible spiritual manifestation of God in the world. AQabalist would prepare himself and his meditation space for themanifestation of the Shekinah as if he were preparing for a wedding, inwhich he would marry himself to the Spirit of God and become her devoteeand disciple.Other attributes of the One God were to be found in the personification ofthe name Chokmah, or Divine Wisdom. This name, which becameassociated with the supernal triad of the emanations of the One God,represented another feminine spiritual form that was attached to theQabalistic attributes of the Deity. Divine Wisdom, or Gnosis, could haveoriginally been inspired from the Gnostics and their veneration of a Deityaspect named Sophia. Even so, Chokmah soon became synonymous withthe state of enlightenment associated with achieving a kind of union withthe Godhead, a merging that was poetically written as a suitor courting andseeking his bride, in which the Chosen People were that bride, and the OneGod, the suitor. Other attribute names of the ten emanations seemed tocontinue the process of qualifying the Godhead, making it more accessibleto the purified and elected seeker.Ten Qabalistic GodnamesWe will now explore the ten Qabalistic Godnames associated with the One,realizing that these aspects can be perceived as being separate finiteattributes of Deity, acting as a polytheistic pantheon. We can compare themto attributes of known pagan deities and understand the holy names to beassociated with the Qabalistic mechanism used in that pantheon. From thisperspective, the One God is actually the hypostasis of the One, the Good,and the Union of All, as defined in Neoplatonism. Each of these ten namesand their meanings are sequentially equivalent to the ten Sephiroth of theTree of Life.1. AHYH—Ehieh, “I Am.” This phrase, lionized as one of the names andattributes of the One God, was uttered by the entity when asked to identifyitself to Moses. This famous event occurred when he was up on themountain heights of Sinai ready to receive the Law. The Godhead replied,“Ehieh Asher Ehieh,” which in Hebrew means, “I am [present imperfect]who I am [present imperfect].” There is a future tense implied by thisstatement, which would make it, “I will be whom I will be.” The Godheadaspect of “I Am” is the Identity of the manifested One, the unity that uniteseverything into itself, but it is also above and beyond that unity. The truthbehind this title is that a synergetic union is always greater than the sum ofits parts, and this would be a useful approximate definition of this Godheadaspect. The One is also perceived as entirely good, so that the source andfinal destination, the Alpha and Omega, of all of the emanations wasexpressed through the essence of that goodness. Idealized perfection,balanced harmony, grace, love, bliss, compassion, and the essence of lifeare all attributes of this entity. Thus, the One is both within us and withoutus, and represents the beginning and final disposition of all of the Gods andhumanity.In a Pagan pantheon the One is often disguised as the Son who willreplace the Father, such as Horus (Egyptian) or Dionysus (Greek).2. YH—Yah. This name represents a shortened version of theTetragrammaton (YHVH), consisting of the masculine Yod and thefeminine Heh, which could be seen as both the first and final Heh in thename of the Godhead. Yod is fire and spirit (also, phallic), and Heh couldtherefore be both water and earth, symbolizing the ground upon which thefiery force of the Godhead imprinted its willful desire for creation. Thesetwo letters combined also symbolizes the joining of the archetypalmasculine and archetypal feminine, which produces the perfect emulationof the One. Knowledge of this process is the wisdom that leads toenlightenment and personal perfection.This is the All-Father God in Pagan pantheons, the progenitor of all theother gods and humanity, though often he is seen as the leader of the godsinstead of their creator.3. YHVH ALHYM—Adonai (Yahweh) Elohim. Combing the two namesof the Godhead of the scriptures into a single word symbolizes the joiningof the two factions of the Hebrew people into a single, unified populace.From a purely occult perspective, the Tetragrammaton, which is notpronounced, is called Adonai, or Lord, representing the primal creation ofthe material world through the Four Qabalistic worlds. Therefore, Yod isFire (Atziluth); Heh (Briah) is Water; Vav (Yetzirah) is Air; and Heh(Assiah) is Earth, thereby representing the creation of the universe throughthe unified four-fold expression of the Godhead. Elohim symbolizes that themany gods are unified to become the One, and through the four elements(YHVH), all things are made manifest, in terms of the Gods, humanity, andthe many domains in which they reside. Therefore, this attribute of theGodhead demonstrates that through the One are the many represented,which not only validates a polytheistic perspective but also shows how themany blend back into the One.The attribute of the divine feminine is the Pagan aspect of this Godhead,so it is represented by a mother goddess. This Deity can be either thepartner of the Father in creation and realization or she can be conceived ofas being the sole creator of all things, having accomplished this act merelythrough an extension of herself. (This is very similar to how Qabalists sawthe creation of the world by the Deity.)4. AL—El. The root name of the Godhead is El, who was once the Fatherof the Gods in the Canaanite pantheon. As the source of compassion,happiness, and well-being, this aspect of the Godhead can be seen as themost positive attribute of the God of Plenty, often portrayed as a quality ofjustice (compensation) and mercy (compassion). Pagan deities that areassociated with justice, mercy, and abundance could be consideredattributes of this Godhead.5. ALHYM GBVR—Elohim Gebor, “Mighty God.” Geboris a word thatsignifies warrior or hero, so as a Godname it represents the Deity as afighter or powerful warrior who is able to help win battles and overcomeenemies. This characterizes the distinctly martial aspect of the Godhead,which would seem to exemplify many of the attributes of the ancient stormgod Yahweh. Also, because this Godhead stands in the feminine Pillar ofSeverity, it could be characterized by a feminine archetype, a warriorgoddess protecting home and hearth.6. YHVH ALVH VDOTh—Adonai (Yahweh) Aloah ve-Da’ath, “LordGod of/and Knowledge.” The word Da’ath means “knowledge,” and with aconjunctive Vav, it would have to indicate God (Aloah) and Knowledge(Da’ath). This is the aspect of the Deity that is the great illuminator whoheals and makes right through harmony, balance, and knowledge of allthings. Analogous Pagan deities would be various solar gods andgoddesses.7. YHVH TzBAVTh—Adonai (Yahweh) Tzabaoth, “Lord of Hosts.” Theword Tzabaoth means “hosts,” “armies,” or “troops,” but in this context itwould mean the hosts of angels and stars that accompany the Godhead. ThisGodname is similar to the one for the next lateral Sephirah, which is Hod.In this situation, the difference is with the use of Yahweh or Elohim,perhaps representing that these Deities had a different host to accompanythem. Another way of looking at this name and its difference is that in thecase of Yahweh, it represents that the hosts are unified into a single essenceto ensure victory, and in the case of Elohim, it is broken out and multipliedto characterize an attribute of the Deity that is a glorified multitude.From the perspective of a Pagan pantheon, the hidden significance of thisSephirah is that it is linked with the planet Venus. It can be characterized asboth a warrior and a love-goddess aspect, despite the fact that it occupiesthe masculine Pillar of Mercy. Such a Semitic goddess would be Astarte,Ishtar, and Anath, but in the West she would become purely a love goddess,such as Aphrodite or Venus.8. ALHYM TzBAVTh—Elohim Tzabaoth, “God of Hosts.” I havealready discussed the distinction of this Godname compared to the lateralSephirah, Netzach. This Godname would be characterized in a Paganpantheon with a Deity of knowledge, such as those that are associated withthe planet Mercury. Gods of writing and civilization would characterize thisSephirah and Godname.9. ShDY AL ChY—Shaddai El Chai, “Almighty God of Life.” ThisGodname symbolizes the powerful qualities of the God that gives Life to allliving things—the creator, nourisher, and even healer. This is the attribute ofthe One that has formulated the vital force in its essence, and who hasdirected the actual physical formulation of all living and ensouled things.From the perspective of a Pagan pantheon, this would be the MotherGoddess in her attribute as the giver of life to all creatures, includinghumanity. Such a goddess would characterize the Moon and its power in theworld, as reflector and refractor of the pure light of the Sun and beyond. So,a lunar mother goddesses would be the perfect analogue of this Godname.10. ADNY MLK—Adonai Melek, “Lord King.” The lord of the materialworld and all it contains is the attribute of this Godname. Here, the Deity isthe eternal shepherd king of all that lives on the earth. By transposition, onecould also consider this Godname to represent what is below the earth aswell, as a kind of underworld master of wealth and the continuance of life.The ten Sephiroth and their Godnames can be readily compared to otherPagan-based pantheons and perceived as attributes of the One. Using thiskind of approach to the ten Godnames, you can see how the Qabalah isreadily used by both Pagans and adherents of monotheism. They will notagree how these attributes of the One should be characterized and used, butboth can approach them through their own spiritual perspective. This showshow broad and powerful the Qabalah is, and why some monotheists havecondemned it and banned its use. However, for occultists, the Qabalah hasthe ability to be flexible and adaptable to many different spiritualdefinitions. One could say that there are many qabalahs, and that there ismore than one way to define and work with the aspects of Deity that lie atits core.Other Godnames and the Mysterious GrammatonsQabalah incorporates words that are characterized by the grouping ofletters; some of them are significant and meaningful, but not all of them. Ihad discovered this possibility when thinking about and modeling variousfour-letter words (such as AGLA), as based on the Tetragrammaton,YHVH. Extending these groups to include other letter combinations led meto determine a whole cast of various lettered sacred words. I laterdiscovered that a number of other Qabalists had come to the sameconclusion.These sacred words are intuitively known by terms such asmonogrammata (single letter), digrammata (two letters), tetragrammata(four letters), and then other exotic constructs, such as the octagrammata(eight letters), decagrammata (10 letters), duodecagrammata (12 letters),and then on to the 14, 22, 33, 42, and finally the great 72-letter name(known as the Shem ha-Mephorash). The “a” ending is the plural form ofthe word (example: tetragrammaton—singular; tetragrammata—plural).We can briefly look over these different constructs, since they can beinteresting and useful, especially in the work of magic.Monogrammata are single letters that represent singular attributes of thename of the Godhead; most are based on the Tetragrammaton, which isYHVH. Therefore, such letters as Yod or Heh can represent a singularpower of the Godhead, but also the first letter Aleph, which can be shown tobe the combination of two Yod characters on either side of a diagonal Vavcharacter, which produces the word YVY. This specially derived word isnumerically equal through Gematria to the Tetragrammaton (both are equalto 26). Many other designs and structures can be determined using thismethodology.Digrammata are two-letter words of God that have a singular meaningand power. Examples of this kind of two-letter word would be YH (Yah),AL (El), and ChY (Chai). The ChY combination is very popular amongmodern Jews and it is often worn as a gold pendant on women’s necklaces.We have already covered the significance of YH and AL.Tetragrammata are four-letter words, typically YHVH, which is theprimary unpronounceable name of the Hebrew God. There are many otherfour-letter words, such as A.G.L.A. (Ateh Gibor Le-olam Adonai—Thouart mighty forever, Lord) and I.N.R.I., and all of them are considereddifferent interpretations of the unified expression of the four elements increation. Many of these four-letter words are derived by using Notariqon,which is a mystical word system of expanding and contracting acronyms.Octagrammata are eight-letter words. One of the examples of this magicalname of God is to interleave and combine the letters of the four-letternames ADNY and YHVH, creating a hybrid word YAHDVNHY(Yahdunahai). Of course, this is a magical and mystical name of God, so itdoesn’t have any specific meaning by itself. Combining two four-letternames will produce an eight-letter name, but the trick is interleaving them(using the first letter of one, then the other, then the second, etc.).Decagrammata are ten-letter words. This word can be created bysequentially adding the letters of the names of first three Sephiroth of theTree of Life. The ten-letter word KThRChKMBYNH is produced if onedrops the intermedial Heh belonging to the word Chokmah (otherwise, itbecomes an 11-letter word).Duodecagrammata are 12-letter words. Like previous letter formulations,this one is based on a composite of words, such as YHVH spelled out threetimes, or by using the first letter of each of the 12 tribes of Israel.The largest and most arcane of these numbered letter words are the 72names of God (or 216 letterednames of God), which are known as theShem ha-Mephorash. This word construct is derived from three verses inthe biblical book of Exodus, chapter 14, verses 19 through 21.From these three verses are extracted letters that are formed to produce72 words consisting of three letters each. The method of extraction is totake the first letter from each word in the first verse, then the last letter fromeach word in the second verse, and then the first letter again from the wordsof the third verse. To these three-letter words are added either YH or AL togenerate the names of 72 angels, known as the angels of the Ha-Shem.Other Qabalists have used the 72 tri-literate words as special names of God,but these words, in my opinion, are greatly enhanced and empowered whenthey are used as the names of angels.As you can see, there are a lot of various formulated words of spiritualpower that can be derived using important and strategic words as found inthe sacred texts. I have only listed a small sample that shows how thesewords can be structured and used, but I think that you are now able tounderstand their significance and importance. I suspect that some of thesespecial words would have more meaning to a practicing occultist whohappened to be Jewish, but in learning the technique, other formulations canbe made to represent words of significance and power to other religionists,such as Christians and Pagans.Using the Power of the GodnamesNow that we have reviewed the various Godnames and mysteriousgrammata, and shown how they can be compared to Pagan pantheons, wecan review the use of these names in a kind of magical system devoid ofritual or ceremony. This is an internalized kind of theurgy, so it would bemore like a form of Hermetic magic, such as that espoused by the likes ofGiordano Bruno. Yet this system of magic, however simplistic and direct,requires a far greater connection to the Godhead than any other system,because it is performed through the Godhead and calls on the specificchannels of emanation.The basic premise for this magical system is that the vibration of thevarious Godnames can produce a powerful effect if done periodically for aspecific mundane purpose. That purpose would, of course, have to becompletely ethical and unselfish. Performing this kind of magic for purelyselfish and unethical means could either foment a terrible backlash or causethe student to damage or destroy his all-important alignment to the One.Either situation would be catastrophic for the student, representing aprofound setback of months or even years of patient work. As it isunderstood in most folklore, even the greatest sage does not take up thename of the Deity in vain, but only does so with the purest intent and for thegreater good.Most systems of magic that summon spirits rely on the use andintercession of intermediaries. Calling directly on a Deity to perform somework is mostly a religious or liturgical operation, often performed by atrained priest. A Qabalist intimately knows the various aspects andattributes of the Godhead, so she is perfectly capable of using that divinebond to force certain kinds of things to manifest. By pulling the levers ofthe Sephiroth at the highest point of the represented Godhead, the Qabalistcan powerfully determine the outcome of many of life’s struggles. Thisability and privilege must not be abused or overused. Still, any true Qabalistmust engage her community and perform good works, and that wouldinclude using her knowledge and ability to heal, seek justice, and givebounty, compassion, and light wherever it is needed. In a greater sense, sucha practical Qabalist is helping to do the work of the Deity in the materialworld.The ten Sephiroth and their associated Godnames and qualities representthe kinds of positive changes and life-altering work that the Qabalist mayemploy on behalf of the Deity that he serves. These actions must becompletely warranted and properly associated with the correct Sephiroth inorder to be truly effective in the material plane. Since this is a deliberate useof the Qabalah to make near miraculous changes in the world, it cannot beconsidered solely an act of the Deity, but one that is mediated andchanneled by the Qabalist. It is therefore to be considered as nothing lessthan magic and, in some circles, would be considered highly impious.Regardless, the font of good that the Qabalist may bestow upon the worldcan be summed up in the following ten categories (to be sequentiallycompared to the ten Sephiroth):1. Blessings of the One2. Wisdom and insight3. Realization and acceptance4. Compassion, spiritual healing, spiritual love5. Justice and judgment6. Removal of sin, guilt, and self-deceit, spiritual awakening7. Physical healing and emotional redemption8. Knowledge and personal freedom9. Freedom from fear, emotional and psychic security and integrity10. Charity, hope, divine grace, regeneration, and healingAs you can see, these powers represent strategic positive changes that canbe made to occur in those whose need is truly great. These are selflesspowers that benefit the many much more than the one, and it would bedifficult to use them to advance the greed and avarice of the individual. Theten Sephiroth and their associated powers do not aid the greedy or theslothful, so they would be useless to anyone who is seeking their own self-aggrandizement. However, in times of great need, such powers as thoselisted above can make a tremendous difference for individuals or groups ofpeople.So how does the Qabalist go about activating one of these Sephiroth forthe benefit of someone who is in need? First of all, I must assume that thepracticing Qabalist has a steadfast, advanced, and regular spiritualdiscipline that consists of a mastery of the five operations, which aremeditation, contemplation, pathworking, invocation, and Godheadassumption. The experienced Qabalist has gone up and down the Tree ofLife, exposing himself to many of the more powerful and holy angelicspirits. He has explored the deeper symbolic structures of the Qabalah anddeveloped a very personal and intimate relationship with the ten Godheadattributes of the ten Sephiroth. A person with this degree of knowledge,experience, and spiritual discipline could readily use the power of theSephirah Godhead to intercede and change the fate of an individual or eventhe population of a town. The manner that this could be done is found in thefollowing four steps:1. Perform a series of contemplation sessions to explore theramifications of a given material request. (The request is refined, left asis, or abandoned due to a greater realization.)2. Determine the proper outcome or response, and connect with theGodhead to discover if the request can be properly given and receivedthrough divine mediation.3. Assume the specific Godhead of the Sephirah and seek to engagethat aspect of Deity with the task. Whatever the Deity requests orrequires of the Qabalist should be done as an offering and ademonstration of good will.4. Perform periodic and continuous meditation sessions with theGodname and a simple prayer being repeated as a mantric chant.For a more simplistic and direct effect, the Qabalist can just perform step4, although this would be employed to merely seek a blessing and themanifestation of a quality of goodness. Simply doing step 4 would be theway that the Qabalist would request or seek something for herself, and oftenit would produce a powerful vision or a true realization.This simple but highly powerful and direct manner of transforming theworld, either for the solace of the individual or a group of people, isprobably one of the greatest tools of the practicing Qabalist. Yet theQabalist must be experienced, disciplined, and deeply engaged with herpractice in order for such a magical methodology to work. Certainly,performing ritual or ceremonial magic is much less demanding, butthe endresult of a true Qabalistic working would be far more stupendous andamazing.[contents]49. Raphael Patai, The Hebrew Goddess, 30–31.50. See Niditch, Ancient Israelite Religion, 27–32, where she describes the background of theHebrew Bibles, its writers, stories, and bias.51. See Niditch, Ancient Israelite Religion, page 37, for a description of Yahweh.StwelveSpiritual Hierarchiespiritual hierarchies are important for one single reason: they giveimportant information to ceremonial magicians and Qabalists so thatthey might summon spirits within them. The Tree of Life is overpopulatedwith spirits, so summoning and establishing relationships with them is aprofoundly important event. These kinds of operations are not beyond eventhe most inexperienced practitioner, especially when armed with thenecessary knowledge and experience that the Qabalah can provide. Thetools for performing invocations become available to you throughexamining these hierarchies and combining them with their associatedcorrespondences in the Tree of Life. This is why I feel that we need todiscuss these spiritual hierarchies and determine an optimal set that anyreader of this book could summon and fully experience for herself orhimself. I consider invocation to be just as important as pathworking,contemplation, and vibrating Godnames; but before one can think abouthow to perform an invocation, one also needs to know exactly whom toinvoke.Hierarchies of spirits have long been associated with the Qabalah, and infact it is very likely that the Qabalah helped to facilitate the access andinvocation of these various entities. The most subtle relationship betweenthe Qabalah and spiritual hierarchies is their common relationship tovarious tables of correspondences. It is in these tables of correspondencesthat a multitude of diverse elements can be compared and relatedthroughout the symbology and meaning of that occult system. It isspecifically through the ten Sephiroth and the 22 Pathways that all of theseelements have their common connection.Spirits associated with the Qabalah consist of various levels anddenominations of angels, but could also include Goetic demons, Olympianspirits, Enochian spirits, Islamic jinn, demigods, nature spirits—the list isnearly endless. Because this is a book for beginners, we should pare downthis list to just the essentials. This will not, however, water down what weare seeking to accomplish.Normally, the typical system of Qabalistic correspondences would consistof the four elements, seven planets, and 12 zodiacal signs. For the sake ofsimplicity, we will only concern ourselves with the four elements and theseven planets—this will keep our focus on just the Sephiroth of the Tree ofLife. The four elements can stand alone and be used as a rudimentary set ofcorrespondences with a wealth of attributes. Examine any book on magic(or perform a search on the Internet), and you will find quite a few differentsets of comparative correspondences for the four elements. However, basedon what we have covered previously, the Sephiroth of Chokmah (Air),Binah (Water), Chesed (Fire), and Malkuth (Earth) could also be used asrepresentations of the four elements on the Tree of Life. The only problemwith this attribution is that Chesed would function as both the element ofFire and the planet Jupiter.The seven planets are represented by seven of the Sephiroth of the Tree ofLife, and include all of the various correspondences associated with them.We saw this in the previous chapter on the ten Sephiroth. However, inregard to determining a hierarchy of spirits, we will use another way ofdividing spirits into groups, and that will be the Four Qabalistic Worlds.The key is to break up the four elements and the ten Sephiroth into groupsof spirits, each relating to the Four Qabalistic Worlds.Using the Four Qabalistic Worlds gives us the basic structure of aspiritual hierarchy, and this hierarchy can be established in the followingmanner. The spirits associated with each level of the Four Worlds aredivided by the levels of Godhead, Archangel, Angel, and Spirits of theEarth. The following example will show how various spirits might begrouped within these four levels:• Atziluth—Absolute plane—Abstract Godhead and associatedattributes (or attendants)• Briah—Spirit Plane—Individual Pagan Deities, archangels,demigods, avatars• Yetzirah—Mental Plane—angels, planetary and zodiacal spirits,spirit servitors, angelic choirs, various Enochian spirits, Goetic demons• Assiah—ancestor spirits, nature spirits, spiritualized natural forces(elder gods), spirits of place or location, heroes, some demonic (infernal)spirits, ghosts, mythic creatures, and household and doorwaygods/spiritsAs you can see, this is quite a large list, and it certainly is not exhaustive.Compiling a list of all of these spirits and filling in their characteristics andattributes would fill a book by itself. A pared-down approach, which is whatI have recommended here, would use just the worlds of Atziluth, Brian, andYetzirah, omitting Assiah. The reason why I would omit Assiah is that thesekinds of spirits are particular to a specific belief system and are notuniversal, since they can be associated with a specific geographic location.Looking over the list of spirits associated with Assiah, you can see how thisis true. This logic should be applied to both the ten Sephiroth and the fourelements. What we will concern ourselves with are the Godhead aspects,the archangels, and angelic choirs, and this will give us more than enoughspirits to invoke and interact with.You will also notice that I have included Goetic demons in the plane ofYetzirah, and I need to mention that this is not universally accepted as beingtrue. Since we are not going to be discussing the nature of these spirits, Iwill leave the argument as to why I have made this assumption for anothertime.One further issue before we get to the actual spirit lists is to discuss theproblem of projecting the four elements through the Four QabalisticWorlds. There is no problem with projecting the Four Worlds through theSephiroth, but it gets more complicated when attempting to do the samething through the four elements. Dividing up a spiritual hierarchy using theFour Worlds and elements does not work very well in practice once theelement Godheads are defined. This is because in some occultorganizations, archangels were assigned to the elements to establish thelevel of Briah (Spirit Plane), and this was very likely a modern adaptation.Once we get to the level of Yetzirah (Mental Plane), the system breaksdown because there isn’t much usable traditional lore to determine the fourangels or choir of angels for the elements on this level.To begin our analysis, let us look at the traditional assignment of the fourarchangels to the four elements:• Fire—Michael• Water—Gabriel• Air—Raphael• Earth—UrielThe first thing that occurs to anyone who has some experience whenlooking at this list is to notice that three of these elemental archangels arere-used from the correspondences of the ten Sephiroth; the exception isUriel. It would also seem that the assignment of the archangels to the tenSephiroth makes more sense than the artificial re-assignment to the fourelements, especially since three of these four were originally associatedwith planets instead of elements.52Michael is associated with the Sephirah of Hod (Mercury); Gabriel, withYesod (Moon); and Raphael, Tiphareth (Sun). It is hard to reconcileMichael to Fire when it is assigned to Mercury; or Raphael to Air, when itis assigned to the Sun. Uriel has no Sephirah base association, but is oftenconsidered to be one of the Seraphim and associated with Fire and Earth.The only association that would make any sense is for Gabriel, if by somechance we can equate the Moon with Water. Anyway, the more we ponderover these associations, the moreproblematic they become. If you findthese attributions of element to archangel acceptable, then you can use themwithout any further considerations. If, on the other hand, you would likesomething that doesn’t duplicate or change (without any reason) theattribution of these archangels, then an alternative list can be proposed.The clue for how to proceed is that Uriel is associated with Earth, and heis considered one of the fiery Seraphim, which are angels directlyassociated with the throne of the Deity, as opposed to being more distantintermediaries. Examining the book A Dictionary of Angels by GustavDavidson, we find 13 different lists for the Orders of the CelestialHierarchy, from St. Ambrose to Francis Barrett, and there is a lot ofvariance between them.53 If you don’t have a copy of this book, you cantake my word for it. When we look at the various traditional lists of theangelic hierarchy, one thing that many seem to agree on is that the Seraphimand the Cherubim were at or near the top of these lists, and that thearchangels and angels were at the bottom. What this means is that therewere groupings of angels who were considered closer to the Godhead levelthan the archangels, and that the Seraphim and Cherubim groups could beused to fill out an element angelic list for the elements adjacent to theelement Godnames instead of using the four archangels.Then there is another important table in Davidson’s book, called “TheRuling Princes of the Nine Celestial Orders,” which lists the angel namesassociated with each of the different orders.54 If you examine all of thesedifferent lists, looking at the different groups and at the proposed list ofangels in each group, you will see a lot of duplicate names and differencesin the ordering of the hierarchy of groups. Sometimes, one or two will beomitted or there might even be new ones added. For instance, the ArchangelMichael appears in at least three of these groups simultaneously, Gabrielappears in five, Raphael appears in two, and Satan used to belong to four ofthem before he was cast out. However, for the sake of simplicity, we canconsolidate all of the groupings for the Cherubim, Seraphim, Thrones,Dominions, Powers, and Virtues (and also Principalities) into two sets offour angels who would, as direct links to the Godhead, express all of thesevariations at once. We can do this because the different celestial ordersseem redundant and repetitive from a functional standpoint.If simplicity and uniqueness are the driving factors, then the Seraphimand the Cherubim have famous names and represent distinct angelicpersonalities. We could assign to these two sets of angels, which I call superarchangels, a distinct functional grouping. The Seraphim, whose fierynature is defined as a combination of inspiration and ardor, would representthose angelic beings that would channel the direct powers of the Deity,representing the light, power, and dominion of that Deity (Powers andDominions). The Cherubim, who are obviously temple or throne guardians,would ward the Deity and act as intermediaries (Thrones, Principalities, andVirtues), determining the worthiness of a supplicant (as guardians) and alsoacting as teachers or translators (guides).The Seraphim would represent the inner circle of four super archangelsclosest to the Godhead, and the Cherubim would represent the outer ring ofthe four super archangels. Together, they would effectively channel theemanations of the element Godhead and act as guardians, filtering thosewho would approach the Deity for grace and favor. The Seraphim and theCherubim combined would represent the top-tier world of the Godhead(Atziluth) and would function as attendants to the Deity, and the archangelsand angels would attend and serve the super archangels, representing thelower two worlds of Briah and Yetzirah, just above Assiah, but associatedwith the ten Sephiroth. We could also use the archangels and angelic choirsof the four element Sephiroth as determiners for the lower spirits.Therefore, for the four elements we could start with the QabalisticGodnames and add to that list the four Seraphim and Cherubim. This newstructure, which is a simplified derivation but not one that goes counter toestablished tradition, would satisfy our need for determining a spiritualhierarchy for the four elements. There is, however, a single duplicationfound in this list. The Seraphim angelic name for the attribute of Water,which is Metatron, is also the archangel for the Sephirah Kether. This couldbe easily explained by the fact that because Metatron is the chief of thearchangels (occupying the position of Kether), he would also be a memberof the super archangel Seraphim, representing a bridge between the twostructures.The three levels for the ten Sephiroth are taken from traditional (GoldenDawn) assignments, which establish the Godnames, archangels, and angelicchoirs. You can find further details associated with these spiritual entities inany number of occult and metaphysical resources, so they need not bedescribed here. As for the Godnames, these have been already covered inthe previous chapter.A table of the four elements and the associated Godnames, Seraphim, andCherubim are on the next page.A table of the ten Sephiroth and the associated Godnames, archangels,and angelic choirs are on the page after that.Table of Element SpiritsElement Hebrew letter Godname Seraphim CherubimFire Yod Ha-Shem (Ehieh) Seraphiel RikbielWater Heh Shaddai (El Chai) Metatron KerubielAir Vav Elohim Yahoel AuphanielEarth Heh-final Adonai Ha-Aretz Uriel YophielFigure 15: Table of Element spiritsTable of Sephiroth SpiritsSephiroth Godname Archangel Angelic choir1 Kether AHYH Metatron Hiyoth Haqadesh2 Chokmah YH Ratziel Auphanim3 Binah YHVH ALHYM Tzaphkiel Aralim4 Chesed AL Tzadkiel Chasmolim5 Geburah ALHYM GBVR Kamael Tarshishim6 Tiphareth YHVH ALHYM VDOTh Raphael Malakim7 Netzach YHVH TzBAVTh Haniel Elohim8 Hod ALHYM TzBAVTh Michael Beni Elohim9 Yesod ShDY AL ChY Gabriel Alim10 Malkuth ADNY MLK Sandalphon EshimFigure 16: Table of Sephiroth spirits[contents]52. Gustav Davidson, A Dictionary of Angels, 338–39.53. Ibid., 336–37.54. Ibid., 339.IthirteenTheurgy and Invocationwould like to propose a simple system of theurgy and invocation thatcould be used by a practicing Qabalist. I will incorporate the classical fivestages of magical evocation into this methodology to build up a modernsystem. While this is not the specific methodology that I employ to performthis operation, it is one that would work quite well, based as it is on asystem that I developed early in my studies.One important consideration that I would like to declare beforecontinuing is that this method would work more efficiently with the variousangels associated with the Qabalah than with the evocation of demons.Therefore, I will concentrate on producing a system that addresses thatneed, while the student can consult with other grimoires to fill in the blanksto work with the goetic demons, if that is his or her desire.First, let us examine the five classical stages of magical evocation, whichwere the implied but seldom written-down steps that a magician in theRenaissance would have performed. These are associated with the Latinwords Consecratio, Invocatio, Constrictio, Ligatio, and Licentia.55Consecratio, or Consecratio Dei, represented all of the activities that themagician performed to prepare for the work, including sacred baths,asperging the temple and tools with lustral water, burning incense, andreciting psalms, prayers, and orisons to achieve the favor and benediction ofthe Godhead—a required state prior to performing the work. Theseactivities would be performed even after the magician had sealed himself upin the magic circle, and might include the preparation and sanctification ofthe circle, vestments, tools, and temple area, as well as the fumigation,reciting psalms and prayers, and engaging in a final bout of contemplativeprayer.Invocatio were the invocations and incantations that the magiciandeclared once he was safely ensconced in the magic circle, fully vested andprepared for the work. All preparations had already been minutelyaddressed and successfully accomplished, and all that was required at thispoint was to summon the angel.However, it was assumed that if the preparations were correct, the timingauspicious, and the integrity and faith of the magician impeccable, then thespirit invoked would materialize in some form or another. The magiciancould use his talismans and protective lamen to assist in adding greaterforce to the invocation, but if, after a time, the spirit failed to appear, thenthe magician had to perform either a single or several exorcisms, burnobnoxious herbs, and generally banish anything that might have beensummoned before breaking the magic circle and leaving the work place.Constrictio was where the magician sought to constrain the manifestingspirit. He also had to verify the spirit’s identity, ensuring that it was exactlywhat the magician had summoned in the first place. Constraining a spiritwas a requirement when summoning a demon; but often the magician hadto validate an angelic entity as well, at least to verify that he was not beingdeceived by some lesser spirit or demonic influence. The magician used hisspecial ring, talismans, pentacles, and various words of power to constrainthe spirit. Once this was accomplished, the invocation process wasconsidered to be stable, and the magician could move on to the objective ofhis work.Ligatio was the act of binding the spirit, usually with an oath, words ofpower, or threats, to urge it to perform a task suited to its nature and to beaccomplished in a specific time frame. Binding a spirit could be considereda kind of pact, except that there was no quid pro quo. The spirit obeyed themagician because of his acquired holiness and because of his assumedauthority granted by God and his angels. The constraint was performed in aless severe manner with an angel (or not at all), and was extremelyimportant and quite severe with any other spirit, especially a demon.Licentia was the license to depart that the magician gave to the spirit onceit had been properly bound. It was important for the magician to realize thatthe spirit was to be treated with dignity and respect, and that he would notperform any kind of banishing action if the binding of that spirit wassuccessful. The idea was to conditionally allow the spirit to return to itsnatural abode, there to await future summons and willed appearances. Thelicense to depart was therefore quite different from performing a banishingor an exorcism, which would only be performed if the magician had eitherfailed to manifest the spirit or failed to constrain it.All of the verbiage of these various invocations, constraints, licenses todepart, exorcisms, and banishments would be kept in the magician’spersonal grimoire (the infamous black book). Although the magician shouldmemorize all aspects of the operation, he may not have recourse to all of theactions contained in the book, and he might also find himself under extremeduress or supernatural attack. Thus having the words written down wouldbe a form of insurance, and it would also be a form of magic itself.As you can see, these five stages would require quite a bit of time andresources to successfully achieve. However, through the use of the Qabalah,the above five steps can be made into an almost foolproof methodology forperforming a theurgistic invocation. The key to this whole process is thatthe Qabalistic magician already knows the spiritual hierarchy and the matrixof correspondences that will greatly assist this procedure, and ensure that itproduces the expected results.One of the first things that a Qabalistic magician needs is a symbol thatrepresents his spiritual beliefs, authority, and power. This symbol is calledthe magician’s lamen, and it traditionally consists of some kind ofpentagram or hexagram device drawn on leather, parchment, or fabric, oretched on a piece of precious metal and worn on the person of the celebrant.This lamen should also be consecrated in some manner, either beingtouched by incense smoke and lustral water, blown upon by one’s breath, orblessed with sacred words and signs, or a combination of all of these forms.The lamen should be a personal creation and not look like anything elsethat is in print. Basic geometric forms that can be used are the pentagram,hexagram, septagram, octagram, eneagram, Vesica Pisces, or whatever ispersonally significant. The geometric form should be decorated with sigils,characters, symbols, or other elements that are personally meaningful to themagician. The design can also be colored, using specific symbolic colorsthat the magician finds important and symbolically representative. Themagician draws from various sources, including Qabalisticcorrespondences, to build up this design. The most important element forthe lamen is that it should have the magician’s magical name or mottoinscribed within it, either using a foreign or magical alphabet, or fashioningit into a sigil form.Once completed, the magician’s lamen represents the power and authoritythrough which she operates, and it becomes the foundation for all magicalworkings. To help the magician align her spirit and will to this newlydeveloped and crafted design with the mind, she should spend quite a bit oftime gazing fixedly at the lamen until its form and structure are completelyabsorbed into her memory. The magician should be able to project theimage of this lamen from her memory onto a blank wall just by staring andfocusing her mind.Two tools that the Qabalistic magician will need to build and design arethe dagger and the wand. These can be made to any specification or taste,purchased and customized or made completely from scratch. I will leave thespecifics to the imagination of the magician, but there are many examplesof these specific weapons. Basically, the dagger is used to aggressivelyprotect and ward the magician, and the wand is used to summon and callspirits. Also, it would be prudent for the magician to have exclusive use of aroom.Other items that the magician will need are incense, an incense burner orbrazier, charcoal, lamps and lamp oil, a gallon container filled withconsecrated salt water (called lustral water), vestments (robe), jewelry,perfumed oil, and a colored cloth scarf to wear around the neck andshoulders. These items should round out the necessary things needed towork simple Qabalistic magic. All of these things must be blessed,consecrated, and kept clean and completely apart from any mundanebelongings; they should also be exclusively used for the work and nothingelse. To bless the vestments and tools, the magician should use the samesimple method used to bless the lamen. Incense, lustral water, making signs,and breathing one’s breath into the item should suffice.The first thing that the celebrant must determine in order to perform aworking is to choose a specific angel to invoke. Then a time must beselected for the operation, with certain basic auspices determined inadvance, such as that it should be performed at night and with the moonwaxing. The operation should also be done during a period of three daysand nights, and the magician will have to be completely sequestered duringthe time of the actual operation.Once an angel is chosen, then the magician will determine the entire lineof the spiritual hierarchy associated with that entity, particularly theGodname of the Sephirah. All of the symbolic correspondences should benoted, particularly the color (for the scarf), incense, perfume, and anythingelse that would be pertinent. The imagery, symbology, characteristics, andquality of the spirit would also be noted down for useby the magician. Asigil, seal, or character combination also needs to be crafted that canuniquely identify the target spirit, and this should be constructed with paintor ink on a piece of parchment. I use alphabet wheels to craft a sigilrepresenting the name of the spirit that I want to invoke. You can find thesealphabet wheels on pages 299 and 300.Preparation (occurring for at least two of the three days) would includeall of the obligations and tasks associated with the first stage of classicaltheurgy and evocation, which is Consecratio Dei. The focus of this firststage should be upon the spiritual hierarchy, most notably the qualities andcharacteristics of the Godname. The magician should employ a partial fast,pray, meditate, contemplate, and essentially commune with the Spirit of thisGodhead, and thereby become totally immersed within that entity. Otherspirits who reside in that linear hierarchy may also be called and communedwith once the magician has successfully connected with the specificGodhead.You can see that learning to master the technique of forging a deepinward connection with aspects of the Deity is quite important to anyQabalistic work, but it makes the process of an invocation far more certainthan it would be if this step were omitted. Ensuring that all of thesepreparations are completed is critical for the next step to be successful. Themore time and effort spent in preparation, the better the overall outcome.The key to this operation is acquiring a powerful link with the Godheadassociated with the target spirit’s hierarchy. Unless or until that link isforged, the invocation should not be performed.At the appointed time, the magician will perform her final ablutions bytaking a bath in consecrated water, anointing herself with the correctperfume, donning the robe with the correctly colored scarf draped over hershoulders, and the lamen worn prominently on her person. The room wherethe operation is to take place has already been prepared, with the floorcarefully cleaned and the circle consecrated with a light misting of lustralwater. The consecrated sigil of the angelic spirit is placed in the center ofthe circle. The lamps are lit, and the magician proceeds to fumigate the areawith the proper incense. Then she enters into the circle and proceeds to prayand meditate for a period of time, focusing on that all-important connectionwith the Godhead.When the moment is right, the magician will begin with the invocations,knowing that they are being done through that sacred link with theGodhead. It will seem to the magician as if the Godhead itself is speakingthrough her, instead of the magician acting and speaking her words in vain.The magician should focus now on the qualities and characteristics of thespirit, concentrating on the sigil wherever it has been placed in the circle.Between each of the three basic invocations, the magician should pause fora period of time to gauge its effect. If it is successful, then she will proceedto the next of three stages; if not, then she must abort the working andperform a thorough banishing. This will not be necessary if the magicianhas successfully contacted and established a powerful link with theGodhead associated with this spirit, since such a connection will make therest of the invocation process successfully assured.Whatever transpires between the celebrant and the target spirit should benoted in a notebook kept for that purpose. If there is a specific task that themagician is seeking, then he should write this desire down on parchment,including a specific period for this thing to be accomplished. The taskshould be given as a command through the Godhead link (during the ligatiostage) to ensure that it will be done without prevarication or deception. Themagician should also make certain that such a command is given in a clearand concise manner, making certain that any ambiguity is carefullyeliminated. Often, though, it is just as well to seek knowledge and advice ora blessing directly from the spirit, especially if from archangels and superarchangels.Crafting a set of powerful invocations is also an important requirement.The magician should consult the old grimoires to find the proper kind ofword choice and tone. I would recommend the Heptameron as a goodprimary resource, but other choices and select grimoire material wouldwork as well. (The Heptameron is one of the earliest known grimoiresdealing with angel magic.) The Heptameron is typically bundled withAgrippa’s Fourth Book of Occult Philosophy, and that book is still in printin a number of different editions. I have listed the Fourth Book of OccultPhilosophy in the bibliography, edited by Stephen Skinner. There is somedispute as to whether Agrippa had anything to do with this book, but thisversion includes the Heptameron. The magician may choose to use words ofpower, such as the infamous barbaric words of evocation (verba ignota), orshe may even choose to use a sacred language, such as Latin, Greek, orHebrew.When using a foreign tongue, it is very important to know exactly whatyou are saying, so having a good translation as well as knowing how tophonetically pronounce the words is quite critical. Care should also begiven to the selection of the various Godnames and the religious tone of theinvocation, since each religion would verbalize such pronouncementsdifferently. You may replace the Christian or Jewish elements of a knowninvocation with elements of your own spiritual pantheon. This action willnot in any way destroy either the intent or the power of that invocation. APagan or Wiccan practitioner could also use Pagan gods and goddesses asadditions to the abstract Godhead for a specific Qabalistic correspondence.The most important element of Qabalistic theurgy is that the magicianuses the innate hierarchy of the Tree of Life to formulate the invocation,and that the highest level, the Godhead, is the primary empowered link for asuccessful magical outcome. The Qabalist has some advantages over thesorcerer because he is able to make this effective spiritual connection beforeattempting a magical operation. There is less guesswork and a greaterpossibility of success, at least in my opinion. If you add to this techniquethe methodology of Qabalistic pathworking, then you will see that it can bedone in a completely comprehensive manner, where the spiritualmechanisms of personal transformation are also harnessed.[contents]55. David Rankine and Stephen Skinner, The Goetia of Dr. Rudd, 91–94.IfourteenSystems of Correspondencen the earlier sections of this book, certain correspondences were given tocharacterize each of the ten Sephiroth and 22 Pathways of the Tree ofLife. These correspondences can also join various unrelated occult items,qualities, and substances together to create a matrix of symbolicassociations. Magicians use such a matrix to gather specific spiritualcharacteristics that they wish to express or realize for an operation, such asan invocation.Correspondences of the Qabalah represent the qualification of variousingredients or components used to write rituals that would build a unifiedexpression out of those individual qualities. These correspondences are usedto inform magicians of the relative components that they may select toconstruct a ritual, creating a tight set of related symbols and qualities thatdefine the spirit’s characteristics. These same correspondences are also usedto link spirits within various locations of the Inner Planes.To make contact with any of these entities, the magician would select anduse in a ritual some of the associated correspondences of colors, sounds,herbs, incense, qualities, and characteristics to create an environmentattractive for such entities. Then the magician would perform a ritualscrying session, an astral projection, or the greater techniques of invocationand evocation. The magician enters into the domainof the spirit and alsochannels its powers and knowledge into the mundane world. Thecorrespondences set the tone of the energy signature or character of thespirit, and the structure of the Inner Planes functions as the domain for thehierarchy of spirits and beings. But there is yet more to this kind ofworking, and the use of talismans, sigils, magical diagrams, and ritualformulas represent the other disciplines incorporated to complete this work.Qabalah and Tables of CorrespondencesPerhaps one of the most difficult topics to either explain or show byexample is the systematic use for the many published versions of theQabalistic tables of correspondences. This shouldn’t be a difficult topic tomaster, considering the fact that we are talking about using published worksas a reference and not having to build these many tables of informationourselves. The work has been done for us, but the problem is that theprimary version (and for a while, the only available version) was AleisterCrowley’s book Liber 777.It has been said that if any student can sit down and make perfect senseout of Crowley’s book, then he or she has become very clever and quiteadept in understanding the various abstruse symbology of the Qabalah. Itcould also be said that such a person has tremendous patience and is evenable to read Hebrew marginally well. One could fault Crowley for creatinga book that only a bright student could make use of without trouble, exceptfor the rumor that he actually purloined this book in manuscript form fromMacGregor Mathers (along with a rudimentary Sepher Sephiroth).What I can say about Liber 777 is that it is a bit too obscure and requirestoo much background to make much use of, forcing anyone who regularlyuses it into a regimen of distracting precision. A student also has to accept anumber of Crowley’s personal choices and occult tastes, since he could bequite opinionated, and some of his choices were rather obscure. Anotherproblem that the student will encounter is that Crowley’s book is poorlyorganized with regard to its subject matter. The columns have archaicRoman numerals, and he has the habit of forcing everything into the 32categories of the Sephiroth and Pathways of the Tree of Life, whether thoseitems fit that pattern or not. The use of a notation such as “31-bis” and “32-bis” because these two paths have the unfortunate role of possessing twomeanings (31—Fire and Spirit, and 32—Earth and Saturn) seems rathercontrived and artificial to me. I would suggest that these occurrences merelyprove that the data does not fit the pattern.I can’t tell you how many hours I have spent using a magnifying glass toensure that I have correctly spelled the Hebrew words for various angelicand demonic names. I had to print the planetary or astrological signs inpencil next to some of the tabular rows so that it would be more useful tome (and to make certain that I didn’t make any mistakes). A regimen ofstudying and using the book 777made certain that extractingcorrespondences was always a tedious and troubling affair, and one that wasfraught with the potential for producing errors. Other books have beenpublished since, but they typically were not as comprehensive as Crowley’slittle book. I would purchase one of these books with the expectation that Icould wean myself away from this torturous tome, but, alas, I would soonfind myself once again consulting it.That is not to say that any of these new books lacked something, but thatI typically would like to see, if possible, something tying thecorrespondences back to the Tree of Life. I know that this can’t always bedone, but I think that it should be done where possible, since my reason forconsulting such a reference is to acquire a matrix of correspondingsymbolic information. Because I typically perform an invocation through amatrix of symbolic correspondences, having such a handy reference isstrategically important to my work as a magician.My little careworn but carefully kept hard-copy edition of 777 is nolonger in print, and in fact it is probably worth a lot of money to a collector.However, there is a paperback edition of this book, entitled 777 and OtherQabalistic Writings of Aleister Crowley, which is still being sold for amodest sum. This is not one of the more simplistic books authored byCrowley; even so, it is a worthy tome to have on one’s library shelf, alongwith Book Four, Magic in Theory and Practice, Magic Without Tears, andGems from the Equinox.One book that I have found quite useful for occult and magical referencesis The Magician’s Companion by Bill Whitcomb. This book is highlyuseful, but I have found myself, at times, forgetting that it is even on mybookshelf. I regret to say that it is easily eclipsed by another book, which, Imight add, is as comprehensive and relevant as Crowley’s book. That workis by far the best reference book that a magician could buy, and could easilysupplant Crowley’s book. It is written by Stephen Skinner and is entitledThe Complete Magician’s Tables. A hardcover version of this book is stillavailable at a modest cost. I have found myself going back and forth, fromSkinner’s book to Crowley’s book, and I have found them to be equallyinformative. However, Skinner’s book is far easier to use than Crowley’sbook, and while it conserves the comparison of symbols to the elements ofthe Tree of Life, it structures the tables according to the requirements of thesymbolic category. It also groups the tables by an overall topic, making itrelatively easy to find a specific correspondence. I must admit thatSkinner’s book seldom finds itself on a bookshelf, since it is too valuableand too often consulted.Another valuable book is A Dictionary of Angels by Gustav Davidson,which I find myself often consulting. Since this book contains an alphabeticlisting and brief synopsis of the characteristics of all the angels and demonsever mentioned in the sacred texts, commentaries, folklore, or literature, itrepresents a powerful and comprehensive collection of occult lore. Thisbook has been instrumental in assisting me in developing the imago (imageor face) of a specific spirit, so it is one of my most important referencebooks. The appendix also contains a lot of fascinating lore about theorganization of angels and demons, and other interesting information. Asfar as I am aware, there isn’t a better book for cataloguing and descriptivelycategorizing all of the various angels and demons encountered in occultpractices.I should also include on my list a book that helps me keep astrologicalmeanings and definitions clear and sharp in my head, which is highlyimportant for anyone working planetary or zodiacal magic. That book isHoroscope Symbols by Robert Hand. In that book is a concise definition forthe planets, signs of the zodiac and the houses. I often find myself goingback to it to ensure that I have the correct definition of any of theseelements in my mind. (It’s surprising to me how easy it is to take thesecomplex but succinct definitions for granted, considering how far they strayfrom their original meaning.)Not to be considered a narrow-minded occultist, I often consult a fewother books as well. I am usually interested in the mythic motifs of certainGodnames, heroes, heroines, fabulous monsters and mythic creatures, andother cultural icons. It’s not unusual for me to find more value in examiningthe mythic meaning behind certain symbols than comparing them to theTree of Life.My reference of choice that I use to examine the myths, legends, andcultural symbols found interlaced in occult studies is the redoubtable two-volume set Dictionary of Mythology, Folklore and Symbols by GertrudeJobes. This is an excellent set of books, and one that I find myself oftenconsulting at various times. Unfortunately, these books were published backin the early 1960s, so they are out of print and now quite expensive. Thereis a thirdedition that came out in the 1990s, but I don’t know if this is acondensed version of the two-volume set, or just an index. Since the two-book set lists its subjects alphabetically, I have never found myself needingan index.Another lesser book in the same line (and one that is still available) is ADictionary of Symbols by J. E. Cirlot. I will usually consult this book fromtime to time, but only when the two volumes by Jobes are unable to fulfillmy quest for a specific insight or answer.Last, but not least, are the resources of a good library or the Internet.Since I have quite an extensive personal occult library, and quite a fewbooks on history, archaeology, anthropology, philosophy, and psychology, Iseldom have to make a trip to the local library. However, my collection iscertainly not exhaustive, so I do once in a while travel to a large-city library,consulting the electronic catalogue to find the more obscure answers that Iam seeking. The Internet is also useful and quite convenient, but itunfortunately mixes a lot of good, solid information with poor scholarshipand even urban myth. If I find a significant reference on a site such asWikipedia, I often attempt to examine the cited references for more solidinformation. I have found many websites, including Wikipedia, to be full oferrors and unsubstantiated information. Still, I suspect that in the future,more and more of the important books and reference materials will bemigrated to online facilities for easy use, and that hoarding books willeventually become inconvenient and even unsustainable.Now that I have discussed the books that I use to gather informationabout specific symbols of correspondences, what are the kinds ofinformation that I am usually searching for when consulting these books?The following list (which is actually derived from Skinner’s topical table ofcontents) should pretty much demonstrate the kind of information that I findmost helpful in writing and composing rituals, and building up a symbolicmatrix through which to invoke a spirit:• Alchemy—symbology (as it relates to the Tree of Life)• Angels, demons, and various spirits• Astrology—planets, zodiacal signs, and their variouscorrespondences• Basic symbols—colors, emblems, seasons, parts of the human body,mind, and soul• Gematria of various alphabets (sometimes involves examining theoccult values of words)• Gods, goddesses, heros and heroines, and fabulous creatures• Grimoires—tying various symbology to the spirit lists of the famousgrimoires• Natural magic—animals, plants (herbs), precious stones, metals,perfumes, and incense• Qabalah—Qabalistic tables and symbolic correspondences• Religious philosophies and theologies• Tarot—trumps, court cards, Naib cards and their variouscorrespondencesIn addition to compiling this information in various related tables (relatedby topic or to the Tree of Life), I also like to gather background myths,legends, and other lore to help me fill out my categories, and this is wherethe ancillary reference books are very helpful.While tables of correspondences can have as many rows as required tomake them intelligible, there is a pattern to the structures that I have foundmost useful in my work as a writer, and to the work of a practicing ritualmagician. These structures are based on the numbers 4, 7, and 12, and canalso include multiples of those numbers, such as 16, 21, 36, and 48. Also,these four basic structures are subsets to the ten Sephiroth and the 22Pathways of the Tree of Life, which can often (but not always) pull themtogether. Four is the number of the elements, seven is the number of theplanets, and 12 is the number of zodiacal signs. Still, there are many othercorrespondences that can link to these three table structures, or arevariations of them, and many of these correspondences can link back to the32 elements of the Tree of Life.I have found this universe of corresponding and linking symbology to beone of the more fascinating things about the occult, which excites myintuition and curiosity at all times and in all places. It signifies to me thateverything is linked into a unified web of meaning and significance, whichhas at its center the union of all being as the One. I believe that magic couldnot work or function as efficiently and nearly miraculously as it doeswithout this unified field of meaningfulness, which lies at the core of alloccult insights and teachings.[contents]TfifteenSystems of Numerologyhe concept that letters are also numbers may be foreign to our presentuse of systems of counting and computing, but that was not the caseless than two millennia ago. The numbering system that we use today, ofIndo-Arabic origin, was also derived from letters, but with the brilliantaddition of the zero. It has supplanted earlier and more primitive systems ofnumeration. However, the Greeks, and then the Hebrews (as well as others),used their alphabets as systems of numeration as well as alphabets. It ispossible that this relationship was only deliberately manipulated later on,but a form of letter occultism was developed by the philosophic literati ofthe time, using specific examples of that obscure relationship betweennumbers and words, since only certain strategic examples were meaningful,and the rest, merely absurd.To perform this methodology, broadly called arithmology (study ofnumbers),56 an occultist had to merely add up the numeric value of theletters in a given word to establish the numeric value of that word. It wasalso believed that words that had the same numeric value also had the samecorresponding meaning. The Greeks were the first to use this kind of word-number interchange, and they called this specific technique isopsephos. Theword means “equal pebbles” (iso + psephos), since the Greeks originallyused differently colored pebbles to teach arithmetic. It is very likely thatthis system of equating words to numbers was in wide use by the Greekslong before it was picked up by the Jews. In fact, the Greeks developed akind of mysticism that they associated with numbers—hence the termarithmology.As an illustration for the method of performing this kind of word-to-number exchange in Hebrew, let’s look at a few famous examples. TheHebrew word AHBH (beloved), which has the individual letter values of 1,5, 2, and 5, and when added together equals 13, assigns the numeric valueof 13 to that word. Also the Hebrew word AChD (unity), which has thevalues 1, 8, and 4, also computes to the value of 13 when added together.Having revealed this numeric congruency, the occultist would thencontemplate upon the subtle relationship between the words beloved andunity, noting that they could be interchanged as keywords or formulas in aritual.Additionally, the number 13 is also given the qualification of the twowords (beloved and unity), whose numeric values are equivalent, so it nowhas additional attributes. An occultist would then, using this art ofarithmology, produce a book consisting of numbers and their associatedwords (Sepher Sephiroth, or concordance index). Such a book would showthe numeric values of all of the important strategic words or phrases, suchas would be found in various Holy Scriptures, as well as the names of theGodhead, angels, demons, and other spirits.This method of determining the numeric values of words to form numericcorrespondences was called by Jewish Qabalists Gematria, from the Greekword grammateia, meaning “tabulation” (originally used to denote anaccount book or domestic inventory), or geometria (geometry). There isn’tan agreement as of yet about which root definition is the correct one.In addition, there are two other systems of numerology that are used inQabalah. Notariqon is from notarius—an ancient method of shorthandwriting that Qabalists used to create or define acronyms. Temurah is amethod of permutation that substitutes letters so as to encrypt or decode(words of power) were used by the Godhead to createthe material and spiritual worlds. They represent an integral part of theQabalah and the source of everything that exists. Creation is often depictedas occurring through a process called emanation (to issue from a source),which was a term coined in Greek philosophic circles in late antiquity. Thefirst emanation was called the One, or the Monad, since it represented thefirst thing that was manifested in the mysterious process of creation.The basic premise of creation, as found in the Qabalah, is that the Monad,through its innate desire to create, caused a series of emanations3 to occurthat evolved in waves, manifesting as the spiritual and material worlds. Thismethod of creation, from highest to lowest, is a process called involution,which is a word representing that the highest form as Spirit came to residein a lower form (mind and body). The corresponding ascent by individualsto the One would be considered evolution. Thus, creation happened,beginning from the most abstract state of being (as the One), then on downto the plurality of spirits and material forms that exist in our world today.This process of emanation was grouped together into three levelsconsisting of dialectic triads, in which the final emanation, as the materialuniverse, became the tenth point and also the fourth level. A dialectic triadis the basic philosophic foundation for determining anything, consisting ofthesis, antithesis, and synthesis. A harmonious union between two opposingideas is found in a third, which blends the previous two together; this is thenature of how everything was created in the Qabalah. These dialectic triadsare found repeated in each level of Spirit, Mind, and Soul, and they arecalled the Sephiroth. The tenth point, which represents the level of thematerial universe but is not represented by a triad, is also one of theSephiroth. It exists below, alone, and by itself, in emulation of the One. Youcould say that the One is reflected in the Many because the lowest level ofmaterial existence is modeled on the Monad itself (see Figure 1).Figure 1: Simple diagram of the Tree of LifeEmanation has the mysterious quality of being continuous because it isnot limited by either space or time, which means that it occurssimultaneously and everywhere at once. Even though the process ofcreation through emanation appears continuous, there are still strategicbarriers or veils that come between the levels of Spirit and Mind. Thesebarriers are known as the Greater Abyss, which acts as a chasm between theSpirit and the Mind, and the Lesser Abyss, which acts as a wall between theMind and the Soul. The Greater Abyss is more notable than that LesserAbyss because it represents a more formidable gap between states. Yetthese barriers are paradoxical in that they exist for those individual spiritsseeking ascension and reunification with the One, but don’t impairemanations descending from the One. It is for this reason that they arecalled a ring pass-not, because they allow emanations to pass through, butdeflect the ascension of souls. So they are temporary barriers relatingspecifically to the state of one’s conscious development.We can easily recognize in the Sephiroth, as depicted by the progressionof numbers from 1 to 10, a kind of mathematically ordered sequence thatextends from the One to the Many. Each recognizable stage functions as alower order copy of the previous higher level, with its overall structure andessential integrity having been inherited from its predecessor. Some havecalled this progression the Great Chain of Being, and it is just another wayof labeling this process.Examining the ten Sephiroth, we can see the influences ofNeopythagorean and Stoic philosophies.4 Neopythagoreans mixed upPythagoras’s concept of divine numbers with Plato’s concept of ideals, sothat pure numbers were equated as the thoughts (ideals) of the Godhead. Inaddition, emanation occurred as a mathematical process, in which numbers,as pure ideals, emerged in a gradation of divine forms through a process ofsacred geometry. Only in the final expression did matter become built upthrough a condensation of those ideals. So the idea of numbers beinginvolved in the act of creation through emanation can be seen to have itsorigin in Pythagorean philosophy. This would particularly include thetheory of binary opposites and their resultant union in a harmonious third(dialectic triads), which is a result of the perfect union of the pair. Thesesyzygies, which is derived from a philosophical term syzygy that means“pairs of opposites,” are shown to exist as three pairs in the planes of Spirit,Mind, and Soul, each with a mediating offspring as the resultant third, andthis formulation was an apparent deliberate adaptation of Greekmathematical philosophy.The concept of emanationism was not new when the early Qabalists firstused it. The Neoplatonists in the third and fourth centuries had fullydeveloped this idea. It was taken on by Gnostics of the same or later periodand used to produce a very elaborate system of emanations. Gnosticism wasan early form of religious occultism that practiced techniques to acquire asecret or divine knowledge, which they called gnosis (intuitive wisdom).All this occurred two to three centuries before the writing of the firstdefinitive book of the Qabalah, called the Sepher Yetzirah.But whatever the form, emanationism as a concept denotes a process thatcould be imagined as waves flowing forth from a perfect source, circling inever-widening circuits or spheres of lesser incarnations and then, ultimately,returning to itself.One additional point that I need to make is that in this process of creation,the higher level does not lose any of its powers or become in any waydiluted by the process of creating a lower form. It, in fact, remains intact,isolated, and perfectly whole. This is not to say that the higher level isunaware of its product. It is indeed very much aware of it, but it doesn’tneed to engage with that lower level in order for it to be fully alive anduniquely self-aware. So there are ten Sephiroth or numbers representing thisprogression from the One to the Many, and these ten stages could beconsidered the attributes of the One, or the Deity, which is how they areperceived in the Qabalah.Monism and CreationThose who are Pagans will doubtlessly point to the concept of the “One”and say that it represents a kind of monotheism or monism that is alien tomodern Pagan perspectives. If you are an ardent polytheist, then the conceptof a single universal Godhead would be antithetical to your beliefs. Yet thewhole concept of Deity is really complex, and in fact it is paradoxical. Whatdo I mean when I say that Deity is paradoxical? Let me explain.It is quite possible to speak of a Deity as being a finite individual with aknown set of characteristics. Often one of these characteristics is gender,since the Deity is known to be masculine or feminine, or have some kind ofbias in one direction or another. A gendered Deity can also be compared ormade relative to either the archetypal masculine or feminine aspects ofDeity based solely on the criterion of gender. Proposing a duo-theologicalpair of God and Goddess (such as in Wicca) ultimately leads one to the ideaof their joining, where they form a union that is greater than themselves,which I would call the One. In some circles of Witchcraft, this Unity isreferred to as the Dryghton of ancient provenance.If we admit that the nature of Deity is paradoxical, then that would makeperceiving a distinct god or goddess, a collective god or goddess, or theunion of all as the One as simply variations of the same thing—a situationin which they would be coexistent within the mutual concept of theGodhead. Even holding a non-polarized perspective of Deity, such as inanimism, would do nothing more than collectively emulate thatwords or phrases. There are said to be at least 22 different methods ofsubstitution, one for each letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Temurah is alsoused to create signatures and sigils from formula words or important names.These are used particularly in the rituals of invocation and evocation. Wewill now individually explore each system in greater detail.GematriaRefer to the table (Figure 17) depicting the Hebrew alphabet. You willnotice that each Hebrew letter has a numeric value, and that a few have asecond value associated with them. The five letters Kaph, Mim, Nun, Peh,and Tzaddi have different shapes when they occur at the end of a word, sothey are given a different and higher numerical value. These are called theterminal numerical values, which are used for the terminal form of the letter(as it looks when it occurs at the end of a word).Having two values for these special five letters allows for the assignmentof numerical values of the hundreds, thereby giving some continuity to thisarchaic system of numeration. In order to examine the possible numericcongruencies that these accumulated values for words and phrases possess,it is necessary to either generate a tabular index from an analysis ofhundreds of strategic Hebrew words, or purchase a book in which the workhas already been accomplished.I would recommend the latter approach, since doing this manually is notonly difficult but also rife with error. I have already discussed one book thatis in print that can help the student build a proper Sepher Sephiroth, and thatis the one Aleister Crowley first published years ago, and is now included inthe book 777 and Other Qabalistic Writings of Aleister Crowley. (Anothergood book on Hebrew Gematria is Godwin’s Cabalistic Encyclopedia,published by Llewellyn.)You can use the Hebrew alphabet for deriving the numeric values of anyor all specific words whatever the language, or you can use other alphabetsfor a specific language, such as Greek, Latin, or even the English alphabet.Hebrew Letters and ValuesHebrew Letter Meaning Initial Value Terminal ValueAleph Ox 1Beth House 2Gimel Camel 3Daleth Door 4He Window 5Vav Nail 6Zayin Sword 7Cheth Fence 8Teth Serpent 9Yod Hand 10Kaph Palm of Hand 20 500Lamed Ox Goad 30Mim Water 40 600Nun Fish 50 700Samek Prop 60Ayin Eye 70Peh Mouth 80 800Tzaddi Fish Hook 90 900Qoph Back of Head 100Resh Head 200Shin Tooth 300Tav Tau Cross 400Note: A large Aleph = 1,000Figure 17: Hebrew alphabetMy simple advice with Gematria is to use it sparingly and for strategicwords or phrases where congruity has already been determined throughresearch or other means. This is one method that can be easily abused.NotariqonNotariqon consists of two different methods, one for the creation ofacronyms, and another for the explosion of acronyms.In the first example, every letter of a word is used to determine anappropriate word that starts with that letter, so that from the letters of aword, a sentence or phrase is created. In Greek, the letters of the word forfish IChThUS become the initial letters for the words of a phrase,specifically Iesous Christos Theou hUios Soter (Jesus Christ, Son of God,the Messiah). So the word Ichthus (fish) becomes an acronym or symbol forthe whole Christian creed. A Christian could use the sign of the fish todenote this specific theological concept of Christian belief, and itfunctioned in antiquity as a secret symbol known only to other Christians.The second method is the reverse of the first, in that the first letters ofeach word in a phrase are broken out and used to create an acronym. InLatin, the phrase Iesus Nazarenis Rex Iudeae (Jesus of Nazareth, King ofJudea) becomes the acronym I.N.R.I. This acronym has been usedextensively in Christian iconography, theology, and even magic, but it ismeaningless without the attribution of those four words.Creation or reduction of acronyms gives the Qabalist a method to unifyvarious word-components and to create word-formulas by associatingwords with the letter components of words or phrases. These two methodsof Notariqon are used extensively in the creation and definition of word-formulas, which are used to establish a magical link, and also in unifying allof the ritual components of a magical ceremony into an integral whole. Ihave found these two methods to be extremely important in my ownpersonal work in developing and writing rituals.TemurahTemurah is a system of permutation that uses letter substitution. TheHebrew alphabet can be easily cut in half with pairs of 11 letters, which canbe substituted to form different word associations or to act as a cipher toobscure word-formulas. The simplest form is the following:A B G D H V Z Ch T Y K (Known as the Atbash Cipher)Th Sh R Q Tz Ph O S N M LFrom this cipher, it is possible to derive the true name of the God of theTemplars; substituting the letters for BPhVMTh (Baphomet) with theiralternate pair; the word becomes ShVPhIA (Sophia = Wisdom). Anothercipher is the ALBTh, as follows:A B G D H V Z Ch T Y KL Th Sh R Q Tz Ph O S N MThere are exactly 24 different ciphers altogether, and in addition there arealso tables of permutation consisting of 484 squares (22 × 22).57 The ciphersare less useful than the systems of Notariqon and Gematria. This is becausewriting with a cipher was necessary for added security measures during theage of the Inquisition, when writing about occult subjects was fraught withrisk. Today, these ciphers are no longer deemed important in ourenlightened times, but they could be helpful when attempting to uncoversecret occult notations that were written in the past age, such as thederivation of Sophia from Baphomet. Still, this method of Temurah can beused by modern magicians to find alternate formulas when they are needed,therefore assisting one in making a permutation of an existing formula andfinding a replacement for it that is analogous.AIQ BKR: The Qabalah of Nine ChambersThe second and more useful method of Temurah is called the AIQ BKRtable because its name describes the first two of the nine chambers of thetable associated with this system. The AIQ BKR is a table for collapsingnumerically associated letters to units of ten, therefore making each lettercapable of being associated with the magic squares of the seven planets.The AIQ BKR table is shown on the next page (Figure 18). Once theletters of a spirit’s name are reduced to the common values in the cell(usually the lowest values), the name can be made into a sigil by beingtraced on a magic square. The sigil acts as a unique signature of the spirit,and can be used as a magical link to invoke that spirit into manifestation.An example: The Spirit of Saturn is ZAZL, which has the followingnumerations: 7, 1, 7, and 30. The value for Lamed (30) is reduced to thevalue of Gimel (3) so that the name can be traced on the square of Saturn,where the highest number is 9.Figure 18: AIQ BKR tableOn the next page is an example (Figure 19) of what that sigil would looklike drawn on the square of Saturn.AIQ BKR requires the use of what are known as magic squares, and thesesquares are associated with the seven planets: Saturn (3), Jupiter (4), Mars(5), Sun (6), Venus (7), Mercury (8), and the Moon (9).Each of these planetary squares is a table consisting of an exact numberof cells across and down as the number associated with the planet. Thatnumber is directly equal to the numeration of the Sephiroth, from Binah(Saturn—3) to Yesod (Moon—9). An excellent rendition of these squarescan be found in Donald Tyson’s translation of Cornelius Agrippa’s OccultPhilosophy, particularly Appendix V (pages 733–51).Figure 19: Saturn square sigil of ZAZLContinuing with our brief discussion, as one looks over the otherPlanetary Squares, it will be noticed that there are numbers that do notappear on the AIQ BKR table. For instance, the squareunionwhere all polarities are ultimately joined together. Additionally, all of thesediverse and different ideas about Deity are readily dealt with and easilyconceptualized in the Qabalah. So the Qabalah verifies that all of theworld’s religions and their concepts of Deity are simultaneously valid,authentic, and correct.The Monad, which is the first thing that manifests, also has a source, andthis is where the authors of the Qabalah discussed the mysterious creationof the One from that which is nothing. This is a difficult concept to address,and we will return later to discuss it in greater detail (chapter 6). The Jewsbelieved in a concept of Deity that was unnamed, unknowable, and invisible(not manifest), and it was this unmanifested Deity that was the originalsource of all that was created, including the One.Thus the One, although apparently self-begotten and self-determined, hadas its mysterious source a triple pre-existing nothingness, called the ThreeNegative Veils, which were named Ein (Nothing), Ein Sof (LimitlessNothing), and Ein Sof Aur (Limitless Light). The creation of the One fromnothing is a controversial occult concept, and certainly one that has beendisputed by the hard sciences until very recently. The Three Negative Veilsenshroud the One and its products, and they exist as the mysterious andineffable source that is also nothingness.While the ten numbers were involved in the creation of everythingthrough the power of the emanation of the One, the 22 letters of the Hebrewalphabet represent the Pathways where evolved (individuated) beings mayreturn back to the One. Since these letters are the very devices with whichholy scriptures, such as the Hebrew Bible, were written, it is believed thatthey contain the secret knowledge and the power of creation, and they canalso aid in the reunification of individual souls with the One. Some believethat the holy scriptures were actually directly written by the mind of theOne for the express enrichment and enlightenment of the many; othersbelieve that they were inspired works written by people.Therefore, the 22 Pathways are the means through which the holy seekeris able to slowly and spiritually evolve through a process of transformativeinitiation. Whereas the emanation of the divine numbers is symbolized bythe lightning bolt that falls from heaven to earth, the circuitous path of the22 letters, returning through all of the divine numbers to the One, issymbolized by a great serpent. One major change that the occultists of the19th century made to the Qabalah was to associate the 22 trumps of theTarot with the 22 Pathways. This association was actually quite brilliant,and became one of the many contributions that the Golden Dawn (a magicalorder of late-19th-century Britain) made to the modern occult revival.Four Worlds and the Four BodiesIn addition to the ten numbers and 22 letters, there are also the Four Worlds.These Four Worlds represent the larger stages of emanation, which can beperceived as consisting of the groupings of the ten numbers or Sephiroth intriadic forms, with the tenth hanging down below. They can also be seen asentire worlds, where each contains their own expression of the tenSephiroth. Either approach is meaningful, but most Qabalists believe thatthe Four Worlds are distinct.These Four Worlds can be seen as representing separate planes of being,where the highest is the plane of the Absolute or World of Emanations; thenext is the plane of archetypal meanings; the third is the plane of Mind(Thought) or the World of Formation; and the final is the plane of Matter orWorld of Action. In some systems of occultism, the four Trees are seen asfour distinct levels of being, such as mineral, vegetable, animal, and human,each with its own cycle of involution and evolution. This is a systemproposed by the French occultist Jean Dubuis in his works on Qabalah andspagyric alchemy. Variations on this theme can be found in other Europeanoccult systems as well.We can also see the Four Worlds as representing the four elements, wherethe absolute plane is Fire, Archetypal plane is Water, Mental plane is Air,and the Material plane is Earth. From this association of element to world,one could assume that the progression of the four elements occurred in thissequence. Yet to avoid any additional confusion, the Jewish Qabalists(based on the Sepher Yetzirah) saw the progression of the four elements tobe the same as the creation of the first four Sephirah. Therefore, the Monadwas considered to be analogous to Spirit, and they referred to it using theHebrew word for spirit, Ruach, which also means “breath.”From Spirit emerged the second Sephirah, which was Air, and thiselement was thought to be the primal element because it was formless andinvisible like the creator. Then Air begat Water and Fire, and the first fourSephiroth were thus made manifest. The primal element of Air created the22 letters, Water created the cosmos, and Fire created the Throne of Gloryand the hosts of the angels. The 22 letters were then used to create allmaterial things. This progression of the four elements is quite different fromwhat I just wrote above, and it remains one of the paradoxes associated withthem. Both perspectives could be considered correct and accurate as long asone uses them consistently.The ten numbers or Sephiroth are also projected through the Four Worlds,producing a kind of graduated spectrum where each Sephirah is defined asbeing encapsulated by each one of the worlds. You can imagine this conceptas a Tree of Life structure existing in each of the Four Worlds, or whereeach Sephirah of the Tree of Life is divided into four levels. The keywordsfor these Four Worlds are emanation, creation, formation, and action. (SeeFigure 2.)Figure 2: Four Worlds and the Tree of LifeBecause the ten Sephiroth are projected through the Four Worlds, theyleave an imprint upon each world. What this does is to produce a total of 40Sephiroth. If that seems a trifle bit much, you could also consider that the22 Pathways could also be projected through the Four Worlds, producing 88total Pathways. Add that number to the 40 Sephiroth, and we are talkingabout a total of 128 correspondences! Thankfully, according to theQabalists, we are only capable of comprehending the 32 correspondences(10 Sephiroth and 22 Pathways) of the lowest world of the Material plane.So that is where we will focus our work.As you can see, this comprehensible limitation represents the extent ofthe supposed chasm that exists between us and the Absolute Spirit in termsof levels of conscious evolution. But within each human being is also agodlike entity, and that God/dess within is the primary means to communeand connect with the Source of All. This brings us to our next topic, whichconsists of the Four Subtle Bodies.Since there are Four Worlds, it would seem only natural that there shouldalso be Four Subtle Bodies operating in every human being. The FourSubtle Bodies are similar to the Four Worlds, except that the Subtle Bodiesare a miniature version of the four cosmic worlds. The difference betweenthem is said to be the difference between what the Qabalists call themacrocosm and the microcosm, which are completely distinct levels ofbeing; one is on a cosmic level and the other is on the same level asindividual beings. Often, Qabalists will elaborate on the number of SubtleBodies, increasing their number to seven or even 11, but for our purposes,there are just four.A person’s Godhead is called, in Hebrew, the Yechidah, and it representsthat aspect of Deity which lives inside of us. Think of it as our link to theabsolute plane. The next level is the human spirit, which is calledNeschamah, or intuitive self. The mind is called the Ruach (vital animatingforce) and the emotional body is called the Nephesh. These Four SubtleBodies are relative to the Four Worlds. We will not only examinethem ingreater detail, but we will also learn how to sense and realize these SubtleBodies using specific meditation techniques and bodily focus points calledchakras by the Eastern traditions.Tree of LifeA succinct device that integrates the ten Sephiroth, the 22 Pathways, theThree Negative Veils, and the Four Worlds together into a single structuraldesign is called the Tree of Life. This model is sometimes called a glyph,since it is like a letter or character; it has an intrinsic shape and design,which has a specific meaning.Legend tells us that the current Tree of Life was originally designed byMoses Cordovero in the mid-16th century, and in fact he supposedly cameup with more than one version. That is why if you study the Qabalah fromJewish sources, you might notice a version of the Tree of Life that issomewhat different from the one typically found in modern occult books.We will get into the details of these versions and what they mean later on,but keep in mind that the Tree of Life is only a model of what all of theseQabalistic elements might look like if they were presented in a unifiedform. We should never confuse a model for what it represents, just as weshould never confuse a map for the specific territory that it is symbolicallydepicting (see Figure 3).The usefulness of the model of the Tree of Life is that it is able toencapsulate all of the five elements of the Qabalah. It can also be used as amap for the mysterious Inner Planes, that place where spirits and aspects ofthe Deity reside. We can use the Tree of Life to ascend and descend the fourplanes of being, and also to understand how thought becomes form andform becomes thought—or how a symbol translates into a material object,and vice versa.Knowing this secret will aid us in attaining ascension to the One and howto manifest our desires into physical reality. We can also imagine the Treeof Life superimposed on our bodies to help us master our own personalspiritual and magical dimensions. So the Tree of Life is a very importantand useful tool. In fact, it can be the only actual tool that the Qabalisticmagician possesses.———We have now covered the five essential parts of the Qabalah, and exceptfor a few mind-bending explanations on creation, emanation, and the originof everything within nothing, I am hopeful that you have found this chaptercomprehensible. Once you break something down into its basic elements, itis pretty easy to understand. The rest of the first part of the book will bespent explaining these five essential parts in greater detail.Still, I wanted to expand on the topic of the usefulness of the Qabalah andexplain what I meant previously by calling it a meta-system, or that itcontains meta-knowledge. I think a few other points should also be made toexplain what the Qabalah actually contains with regard to its practicalapplication and why it is important for occultists to master. Some of this hasbeen covered in the first chapter, but not to the level of detail that I thinkany serious student should know. I may have convinced you to read the restof this book, but I need to show you just how ingenious and important theQabalah really is.Figure 3: Basic Tree of Life, including PathwaysDefining a Meta-System and Meta-KnowledgeMy focus for this section is really about the nature of a meta-system andmeta-knowledge as they pertain to occultism. Defining these two terms willalso show how the Qabalah is able to function and what any otherreplacement system must contain in order to be as effective. As a beginner,I am certain that you have no interest or desire whatsoever in fashioning areplacement for the Qabalah. In fact, you might not be convinced that it iseither important or even useful. So I will focus on just the essentials of thedefinitions and not get any deeper than that.Some of the concepts that I am going to use to define the Qabalah mightbe a bit difficult to understand, and they might even include elements thatwe haven’t yet covered. If I happen to discuss anything in this section thatis unfamiliar to you, then all I ask is that you persevere and move forwardfor now. You can look up unfamiliar terms in the glossary located in theback of this book. I promise that they will be covered with enough detail forthis discussion to make perfect sense to you when you have completedreading this book.First, I want to tell you there are some very compelling reasons why Ivalue and use the Qabalah. I would like to precisely define the function ofthe Qabalah to show you why it is good enough just the way it is. Still, thebasic foundation for the Qabalah is language, particularly the mysticism ofletters and numbers, and their interchangeability in strategic words andphrases.The Jewish Qabalah has as its foundation the Hebrew language—specifically, Classical or Biblical Hebrew. The reason for using Hebrew issimple: the Qabalah is vested in the sacred scriptures of the Hebrew Bible.Recently, some occultists (beginning with Aleister Crowley) have shownthat the Hebrew language can be substituted with any other sacred tongue.That might be wonderful for someone who has an advanced knowledge ofthe Qabalah and a facility for languages, but anyone who might attempt thistask should be aware that there is an important factor associated withchoosing a replacement language.A replacement language for Classical Hebrew should be based on somekind of body of sacred writings that would give it certain mystical andoccult affiliations. As I have already pointed out, the numbers 10 and 22 arestill important to the Tree of Life model, so any alphabet that has more than22 letters would have to be somehow accommodated.Therefore, we can add Greek, Egyptian (Coptic), Arabic, and even Latin,Sanskrit, and English to the range of possible foundational languages usedto build a different Qabalah. Once we depart from the dual structures of theten Sephiroth and 22 Pathways to facilitate building a system with analphabet, we would then have to change the structure of the Tree of Lifeitself and even the corresponding number of trumps in the Tarot. So thereare built-in limitations if a student wants to fashion a Qabalah using adifferent alphabet.Other elements that are found in the Qabalah are a cosmology,cosmogony, occult metaphysics, and the various practices and techniques ofthe practical Qabalah. Practical methodologies, which we will cover lateron, would consist of building tables of correspondences, establishingvarious spiritual hierarchies, determining the interrelationships of a word-based numerology (called arithmology in Greek), and the creation ofacronyms, ciphers, and sigils. Some of these practical techniques are notcritically important, such as the crafting of acronyms and ciphers, whoseusefulness would completely depend on the sophistication and knowledgeof the occultist or magician.I have found all of these practical techniques to be useful and importantin my studies at some point, so I would have to completely replace them if Ichose to replace the Hebrew Qabalah with something else. I will coverthese more sophisticated techniques later in this book (chapters eightthrough sixteen), but for now I want to focus on the nature of a meta-systemand meta-knowledge.What is a meta-system and what is meta-knowledge? I will admit that Iam neither a computer scientist nor a mathematician, so my definitions willnot be as precise (nor as confusing) as theirs might be. I will use imprecisewords to define these terms as they would be used in defining the nature ofthe Qabalah. Besides, it helps to keep things simple.A meta-system is a system that is described by attributes that arethemselves abstract objects with their own properties and attributes. Theinterrelationship between these attributes would form what is looselydefined as a meta-system. It is, therefore, simply a system that is used todescribe or organize a system.For instance, we could use the seven planetsof antiquity to qualify several of the Sephiroth of the Tree of Life, but thoseseven planets are independent symbols with their own meaning and context(such as in astrology or planetary magic). This is how a system is used todefine a system in the Qabalah.When you think of a meta-system, you can just conceive of it as a hugefiling cabinet filled to capacity with various folders and papers containing amyriad of occult, religious, and mystical symbology from every spiritualsystem in the world. Imagine this massive filing cabinet with ten drawers,one for each Sephirah, and a folder divider in each drawer representing theassociated Pathways. The folders in those divisions in each drawer wouldcontain all of the symbology associated with that Sephirah and its specificPathways. That is probably the easiest way to imagine the Qabalah as ameta-system.This definition, as it applies to the Qabalah, provides the basis for thetables of correspondences and the ordering of the various attributes aroundthe associated qualities of the ten Sephiroth and the 22 Pathways, making aseries of tables with at most 32 rows. It could also be applied to the varioushierarchies and lists of spirits and gods, which would also be included as asubset of the tables of correspondences. The tables can also be reduced tofocus on just the ten Sephiroth, or attributes of the four elements, sevenplanets, or 12 signs of the zodiac.Meta-knowledge is defined roughly as information about information,including the added dimensions that we should consider: (1) it has astructural organization (modeling and organizing); and (2) it is a way ofdefining specific attributes (called tagging). Applying this to the metaphorof the filing cabinet, you can think of tagging as putting labels on thevarious folders and organizing them in some kind of overall sequence. Themethodology used for the tagging and organizing would be called the meta-knowledge of the Qabalistic meta-system.Additionally, this definition would specifically show how the model ofthe Tree of Life relates to the various attributes associated with theSephiroth and Pathways, and also how it could be organized intorelationships and attribute qualifiers. Relationships would be specificallythe interconnectivity of Paths and Sephiroth on the Tree of Life. Attributequalifiers are all of the symbols that are grouped with these Pathways andSephiroth, giving them greater meaning than they would otherwise possess.So there are two ways to represent these inherent qualities of the Qabalah:the glyph of the Tree of Life and the tables of correspondences (as the bigfiling cabinet).The model of the Tree of Life also establishes a spiritual hierarchy andorganizes the attributes of the Sephiroth and Pathways, showing the extentand the limitation of their interrelationships. (Not all Sephiroth areconnected to each other with Pathways, and the Pathways represent specificqualities associated with the Sephiroth that they connect.) The quality oftagging is to be found in the associations that match meta-data (planets,elements, signs of the zodiac, etc.) to the Sephiroth and Pathways, so it isshown in both the Tree of Life and the tables of correspondences.A key concept here, and one that is probably the most important point ofall, is that the Qabalah is not just a bunch of lists or an interesting-lookingglyph. The Qabalah encapsulates symbols, and these symbols are eitherreligious or occultic in nature, or both. Symbols should not be confusedwith signs, which is a common mistake that we all make. Signs arerepresentative; they are, in fact, simple placeholders, like a stop sign or arailroad-crossing sign. On the other hand, symbols such as the Wiccanpentacle, the Christian Calvary cross, or the Jewish hexagram called theMagen (Shield of) David are dynamic living processes or functions.Symbols are conscious markers for deep-level psychic processes that aretranscendental and transpersonal, and, I might add, usually mysterious tomost people. Focusing on symbols can give one access to deeper layers ofmeaning and collective significance. Sources of symbols are numinous,archaic, and inexplicable. With these concepts in mind, we can saysomething about the collective symbolism of the Qabalah, which containsthe symbology of all the religions of the world. The religious symbology ofthe Qabalah is a living, breathing aggregation of functions, almost like aliving body itself.To access the Qabalah, we need only to access the various symbols of theQabalah, and we do that through the techniques of meditation,contemplation, pathworking, and various forms of theurgy. Thismethodology of accessing the symbols of the Qabalah is called the practicalQabalah, and it makes the symbology come alive in our minds. Also, if weaccept that the symbolism of the Qabalah is alive, then even organizingthese symbols into groups or structures, such as the Tree of Life, will havean unintended and powerful effect.Therefore, the functional qualities of the Qabalah (such as the definitionby attributes and organizing information as a model with specific attributetagging) would be defined by the terms meta-system and meta-knowledge.These two concepts are the most important aspects in determining the valueof the Qabalah, and they would also function as important qualities for anysystem that would be used to replace it. A replacement system would haveto have the following six elements:• Stages or phases of emanation (analogous to the Sephiroth) based onpure number• Alphabetic system of interrelationships (analogous to the Pathways)• A glyph or symbolic model depicting the structure of the emanationsand Pathways along with an implied hierarchy and interrelationships• Foundational language—typically a sacred tongue of some kind• Spiritual hierarchy• Various tables of correspondences—important occult attributes andtheir associated tagsIn addition to the above list of elements, a meta-system and meta-knowledge would be used to determine a cosmology and cosmogony,produce a structure of the inner spiritual planes, and aid the occultist todefine a kind of esoteric epistemology (nature and scope of knowledge) andontology (nature of reality). It would also define the relationship betweenthe ultimate Godhead as the One, and individual human beings as the Many.Emanation and evolution are both implied by this hierarchy as well as bythe definition of the macrocosm and the microcosm. This structure is alsorecursive, since the glyph of the Tree of Life applies to the cosmicemanations of the Godhead as well as to the psycho-spiritual structure ofindividual human beings. I would also include the Four Worlds asrepresenting a more direct model of the groupings or structures of the InnerPlanes.More specifically, a system of the Qabalah would also function under thetheorem that mind existed before matter. Therefore, if one were to omitusing the Qabalah, then some of these qualities would have to bedetermined using some other kind of philosophical mechanism. Thankfully,we won’t attempt such a massive enterprise.SummaryWe have broken down the Qabalah into five distinct elements and havebriefly covered each one. Yet there is much more detailed informationassociated with them. I will therefore be presenting a more detailedpresentation on each of these elements in the later chapters of this book. Toreally understand the Qabalah, we need to examine each of the tenSephiroth, the 22 Pathways, the Three Negative Veils, and how creationoccurred, as well as discuss the nature of the Four Worlds and the FourSubtle Bodies and how all of these elements fit together to form the Tree ofLife.The mysterious process of creation has also been discussed, and I haveshown that the underlying forces set forth by the Monad are calledemanation (involution) and evolution. Emanation is the mechanism ofcreation,where a unique unified source dispassionately replicates itself intoa lower order. Evolution is the methodology through which individualspirits ascend and ultimately achieve union with the One.We also examined probably one of the most difficult topics in the study ofthe Qabalah, and that is its fundamental definition, which we havecompared to a meta-system and meta-knowledge. A meta-system is nothingmore than a system that describes a system. That definition is succinctlystated as:A meta-system is a system that is described by attributes that arethemselves abstract objects with their own properties and attributes.Qabalah is a meta-system because the elements that are used to describeits various qualities are themselves defined as parts or attributes of anothersystem. Therefore, the Qabalah appears to pull other distinct systemstogether into itself—such as elements, planets, astrological signs, and manyother qualities. We compared this to a huge filing cabinet, which has tendrawers, inner-drawer dividers, and uses a specific methodology fororganizing and labeling the folders, dividers, and drawers.We also examined the definition of meta-knowledge, which is simplyinformation about information. It is a methodology for organizing andidentifying information (tagging). The Tree of Life is a perfect example ofhow meta-knowledge is established and ordered in an occult system.A couple of other words to be used during the discussion are meta-dataand meta-hierarchy. Meta-data is a specific description (or set ofdescriptions) about a certain data element. Meta-data defines the type orclass of data (planets, elements, signs of the zodiac, etc.), and it also definesthe relationship between these various elements to the Qabalah. A meta-hierarchy is a hierarchy that pulls other unique and distinct hierarchiestogether into a single larger hierarchy. Such a meta-hierarchy is found in thecombination of the ten Sephiroth and the Four Worlds, where differentclasses of spirits are associated with each level and Sephirah combination.These definitions help to thoroughly define the nature of the Qabalah.They also define what would be required if someone were ambitious (orcrazy) enough to attempt to replace it with another system. I have provideda list of six elements that are essential to a functioning Qabalah, and I havealso shown how many different attributes can be linked to the Qabalahthrough tables of correspondences.We will be revisiting all of these various concepts again in the laterchapters of this book, so if some of them seem a little vague, they willbecome very familiar as we examine the numerous details of the Qabalah. Itmight even be helpful if you were to re-read this chapter once you havecompleted digesting the whole book. I suspect you will then find that theseconcepts are much clearer and perhaps even quite obvious.[contents]1. Gershom Scholem, Kabbalah, 23.2. Scholem, Kabbalah, 21.3. R. T. Wallis, Neoplatonism, pages 61–65.4. Scholem, Kabbalah, 26.BthreeA Brief History of the Qabalahefore we get too far into the details of the Qabalah, we should examineits history and learn how this system was invented and evolved overtime. History can be a very dry subject and often seems not very relevant toan occult topic. Yet the Qabalah is steeped in history, and knowing thathistory will help you understand the why and the how of the present-dayQabalah. Knowing the historical evolution of the Qabalah will help you toaccurately realize the basic elements of the Qabalah, and that is why we aretaking this historical tour.We begin our story well before the time of Christianity, so for the datingregimen I will use the historical notation of BCE, and forward from thatpoint in time, CE. Most modern historians don’t use the typical BC and ADnotations, and neither will I. Legends tell us that the Qabalah was given toMoses when he received the Ten Commandments, or that Adam was taughtthe Qabalah by either God or his angels. However, the real history is thatthe Qabalah was invented by human ingenuity over the course of twothousand years.Qabalah is a system of thought that has a long history, whose roots existcontemporaneously with some of the later books of the Old Testament andthe early Palestinian Talmud. When we examine the evolving timeline ofthe Qabalah, we’ll get a better idea about how much this system hasactually changed through the centuries.Sources for the Qabalah are found from an early period, perhaps as earlyas the seventh century BCE, when various forms of mystical speculationattempted to fill in the blanks that were not part of the Jerusalem sacrificialcult. Certain themes from the scriptures lent themselves to this kind ofspeculation, such as the magical creation of the world and the variousmysteriously recurring manifestations of an unnamed and unknowableGodhead. These speculations occurred centuries before the books of theHebrew Bible were assembled and made into an authorized religious canon.Yet the first major milestone in time was when the book called the SepherYetzirah was written, which was likely in the Galilee area in the third tosixth century CE. The time of the origin for that book has already beendetermined by historians, although definitive evidence is lacking. Thensometime after the inauguration of that first milestone, this body of lore wastaken to Babylonia in the seventh century, and then, later in the earlyMiddle Ages, to Italy, Germany, and the Provence region of southernFrance, where it acquired the name of Qabalah in the 12th century.Adherents of the Qabalah migrated to Moorish Spain because it was afriendlier environment and, once there, the Qabalah truly flowered.European, and then Palestinian, Jews later adopted and promoted theQabalah after they were expelled from Catholic Spain. They spread itthroughout Europe, where it reached its peak in the 17th century. It wasthrough the writings and teachings of Isaac Luria (16th century) that theQabalah came to its place of ascent and universal acceptance; after that, itbegan to decline.Yet even as the Qabalah declined in Jewish circles, it underwentresurgence within various Christian intellectual circles, until the late 18thcentury when it changed hands with Christian occultists, who brought it intoa distinctly occult formulation in the 19th century.Dion Fortune and her group, as well as the Golden Dawn (Mathers andWestcott), Aleister Crowley, and Israel Regardie, added their particularstamp to this body of lore. Occultists have continued to work with it, and ithas also recently found resurgence in some Jewish circles as well.The history of the Qabalah has been researched and brilliantlycorroborated by the late Gershom Scholem in his wonderful bookKabbalah. I am deeply indebted to the writings of Gershom Sholem, whowas one of the few great academic historians on Jewish history and also oneof the first to explain the origins of the Qabalah. Unlike many authors,Scholem has admitted that the Qabalah and its various antecedents wereemployed in occult and magical practices from the very beginning, and thatonly later were such practices disassociated from the main body of mysticalspeculation. A useful quote from his book, found in the introduction, setsthe whole tone of his rather straightforward work:From the beginning of its development, the Kabbalah embraced anesotericism closely akin to the spirit of Gnosticism, one which was notrestricted to instruction in the mystical path but also included ideas oncosmology, angelology, and magic. Only later, and as a result of contactwith medieval Jewish philosophy, the Kabbalah became a Jewish‘mystical theology,’ more or less systematically elaborated. This processbrought about a separation of the mystical, speculative elements from theoccult and especially magical elements, a divergence that at times wasdistinct but was never total.5This divergence, according