Post by Senbecc on Jun 10, 2007 19:43:35 GMT -5
"Qabalah" is the spelling generally used to indicate the use of Kabbalah as an occult and practical magical system. In it's modern form it is the creation (or adaptation) of Eliphas Levi, and even more so S. L. "MacGregor" Mathers, the co-founder of The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. This was a magickal organisation which incorporated Judaic Kabbalah, Egyptology, Rosicrucianism, ritual magic, astrology, tarot, and the Indian tattwa system (as interpreted through Theosophy).
Two of the later Golden Dawn members, Aleister Crowley (1875-1947) and Dion Fortune (born Violet Firth - 1891-1946), although very different in personality, outlook, and teachings, each further popularised magic and Kabbalistic cosmology. Others who have added to the rich symbolism of the Hermetic Tree are Frater Achad, Kenneth Grant; Gareth Knight, and Bill Heidrick, to name just a few.
Qabalah and Kabbalah
In Judaic Kabbalah, the ten essences refer to the ten aspects of the Divine Personality. They make up the world of Atzilut, high above the phenomenal world. As in the Christian cosmology, there is an unbridgable ontological gulf between even the knowable God (the ten Sefirot) and the Creation. The Kabbalist devotes himself to understanding the Sefirot, and by doing so he arrives at an understanding of, and an approach to, the nature of God.
In Hermetic, magickal, Qabalah in contrast, the ten sefirot ("sephiroth") pertain to ten aspects of what could be called the astral or magical world. In contrast with dualistic theism, but in keeping with a neoplatonic and emanationist understanding, they are the ten intermediate stages between the indescribable infinite or Absolute (En Sof, or "Ain Soph") and the mundane reality. They are identified with ten grades of magical initiation, the seven planets of traditional astrology (with the lowest sefirah, Malkhut, representing the Earth, and the two highest the fixed stars and the sphere of God) and with a numerological analysis of the numbers one to ten. The twenty-two paths which link the ten sefirot are identified with one of the twenty-two Hebrew letters and twenty-two Major Arcana tarot trumps). Thus, not only each sefirah has a particular archetypal meaning, but each path as well, making thirty-two archetypes altogether. By the proper means therefore it is possible to invoke any of these fundamental essences. To this end, the Golden Dawn occultists from Mathers on drew up long and elaborate tables of correspondences, listing the precise colour, animal, perfume, precious stone, mythological beings, and so on. Crowley's book "777" (which may or may not be a plagiarisation of a manuscript circulated by Mathers, with Crowley's additional notes) give a comprehensive list of these tables of attributes.
The Ten Sefiroth
According to the teachings of Mathers, Fortune, Crowley, and others, the cosmos is divided into ten fundamental archetypal essences; the ten sefirot (or "sephiroth"), which are organised in three pillars.
The Sefirot as understood in the Golden Dawn system are not so much attributes or structures of the body of God (only remnants of the original Jewish theology remained), as occult or psychic powers or archetypes, which were secondarily located within the human body.
Mathers also divided the Sefirot into three triads, which he called the "astral", "moral", and "intellectual", the lowest sefirot meanwhile representing the physical world.
This system of ten sefirot and twenty-two paths is used as a stylised "map" of consciousness in ritual magic of the "Golden Dawn" tradition And while this form of Qabalah is certainly a workable magical system, it bears little similarity to the original Jewish metaphysic from which it was ultimately derived during the Renaissance.
Traditional spelling Golden Dawn
(Qabalistic) spelling Meaning position on body Astrological correspondence Magickal image Jungian and pseudo-Jungian Archetypes (Dion Fortune etc)
Keter
1. Kether Crown crown Prime Mover (God)
[later, Neptune] venerable bearded old man - face seen in profile Godhead, God,
the Self
Hokhmah
2.Chokmah Wisdom left side of face Fixed stars [later, Uranus] wise old man, Yang, male polarity
animus
Binah
3. Binah Understanding right side of face Saturn Great Goddess,
old hag Yin, female polarity
anima
Daat Daath Knowledge none
[later, 3rd eye or throat] none [later, Pluto] none none
Hesed
4. Chesed Mercy, generosity Left arm Jupiter King seated on a throne
Gevurah
5. Gevurah Strength, power Right arm Mars Warrior
Tifaret
6. Tiphareth Vision of Higher Self Heart, breast Sun Child, King, Sacrificed God (e.g. Christ) Ego, self,
Netzah
7. Netzach Emotions, spontaneity Loins, left hip, left leg Venus anima
Hod
8. Hod Intellect Loins, right hip, right legs Mercury
Yesod
9. Yesod Astral plane, the unconscious Genitals Moon Hermophrodite
Malkut
10. Malkuth Physical reality (as seen through the imagination) Feet, anus Earth Maiden
Two of the later Golden Dawn members, Aleister Crowley (1875-1947) and Dion Fortune (born Violet Firth - 1891-1946), although very different in personality, outlook, and teachings, each further popularised magic and Kabbalistic cosmology. Others who have added to the rich symbolism of the Hermetic Tree are Frater Achad, Kenneth Grant; Gareth Knight, and Bill Heidrick, to name just a few.
Qabalah and Kabbalah
In Judaic Kabbalah, the ten essences refer to the ten aspects of the Divine Personality. They make up the world of Atzilut, high above the phenomenal world. As in the Christian cosmology, there is an unbridgable ontological gulf between even the knowable God (the ten Sefirot) and the Creation. The Kabbalist devotes himself to understanding the Sefirot, and by doing so he arrives at an understanding of, and an approach to, the nature of God.
In Hermetic, magickal, Qabalah in contrast, the ten sefirot ("sephiroth") pertain to ten aspects of what could be called the astral or magical world. In contrast with dualistic theism, but in keeping with a neoplatonic and emanationist understanding, they are the ten intermediate stages between the indescribable infinite or Absolute (En Sof, or "Ain Soph") and the mundane reality. They are identified with ten grades of magical initiation, the seven planets of traditional astrology (with the lowest sefirah, Malkhut, representing the Earth, and the two highest the fixed stars and the sphere of God) and with a numerological analysis of the numbers one to ten. The twenty-two paths which link the ten sefirot are identified with one of the twenty-two Hebrew letters and twenty-two Major Arcana tarot trumps). Thus, not only each sefirah has a particular archetypal meaning, but each path as well, making thirty-two archetypes altogether. By the proper means therefore it is possible to invoke any of these fundamental essences. To this end, the Golden Dawn occultists from Mathers on drew up long and elaborate tables of correspondences, listing the precise colour, animal, perfume, precious stone, mythological beings, and so on. Crowley's book "777" (which may or may not be a plagiarisation of a manuscript circulated by Mathers, with Crowley's additional notes) give a comprehensive list of these tables of attributes.
The Ten Sefiroth
According to the teachings of Mathers, Fortune, Crowley, and others, the cosmos is divided into ten fundamental archetypal essences; the ten sefirot (or "sephiroth"), which are organised in three pillars.
The Sefirot as understood in the Golden Dawn system are not so much attributes or structures of the body of God (only remnants of the original Jewish theology remained), as occult or psychic powers or archetypes, which were secondarily located within the human body.
Mathers also divided the Sefirot into three triads, which he called the "astral", "moral", and "intellectual", the lowest sefirot meanwhile representing the physical world.
This system of ten sefirot and twenty-two paths is used as a stylised "map" of consciousness in ritual magic of the "Golden Dawn" tradition And while this form of Qabalah is certainly a workable magical system, it bears little similarity to the original Jewish metaphysic from which it was ultimately derived during the Renaissance.
Traditional spelling Golden Dawn
(Qabalistic) spelling Meaning position on body Astrological correspondence Magickal image Jungian and pseudo-Jungian Archetypes (Dion Fortune etc)
Keter
1. Kether Crown crown Prime Mover (God)
[later, Neptune] venerable bearded old man - face seen in profile Godhead, God,
the Self
Hokhmah
2.Chokmah Wisdom left side of face Fixed stars [later, Uranus] wise old man, Yang, male polarity
animus
Binah
3. Binah Understanding right side of face Saturn Great Goddess,
old hag Yin, female polarity
anima
Daat Daath Knowledge none
[later, 3rd eye or throat] none [later, Pluto] none none
Hesed
4. Chesed Mercy, generosity Left arm Jupiter King seated on a throne
Gevurah
5. Gevurah Strength, power Right arm Mars Warrior
Tifaret
6. Tiphareth Vision of Higher Self Heart, breast Sun Child, King, Sacrificed God (e.g. Christ) Ego, self,
Netzah
7. Netzach Emotions, spontaneity Loins, left hip, left leg Venus anima
Hod
8. Hod Intellect Loins, right hip, right legs Mercury
Yesod
9. Yesod Astral plane, the unconscious Genitals Moon Hermophrodite
Malkut
10. Malkuth Physical reality (as seen through the imagination) Feet, anus Earth Maiden