MYSTICISM: ITS ROOTS AND HERITAGE
Robert S. Herring
Rough Draft Version 2.0
History of the Modern Kabbalah: A Jewish Heritage
The origins of the Kabbalah are rather obscure. There are actually two interpretations. One is legendary and the other appears more factual, although scattered and hard to trace. "The origins of the Qabalah are primeval: they are
lost in the mists of legend, magic, and folklore. They have grown through a process of mystical integration until they have absorbed all of the great myths of the world (Fuller, pg. 33)."
According to Jewish legend the Kabbalah was taught to some angels by God Almighty . When the angels fell some of them took the knowledge of the Kabbalah with them. After humanity was created and fell, the angels taught it
to Adam so that humankind could redeem itself. From Adam it was passed down to Noah, and then Avraham
(Abraham), who took it to Egypt with him. It is said that he revealed pieces of knowledge to the Egyptian priests.
Moses was initiated into the Kabbalah in the land he was born in, although it is not said by whom. He mastered it
during his 40 years in the wilderness where he devoted the entire time to it. He was also tutored by an angel. Moses
laid down the Kabbalistic principal in the pentateuch, but purposefully withheld it from Deuteronomy. An example of
this is the purification rituals and the laws of the priests when the Ark of the Covenant are concerned ( book of
Leviticus). He also instructed the 70 elders into its mysteries. They in turn passed it through successful generations until
David and Solomon. It is said that David and Solomon were initiated most deeply. Since it is known that Solomon
was a mystic (legend shows him being taught magic by the angel who bestowed wisdom on him) and wrote several
treatises on the subject of magic, this is taken as a truth in both the mystical and factual history of the Kabbalah.
Solomon taught Kabbalah and magic to his son, Roboam, and that is where the legend stops and history begins to
record things more objectively.
Factual History of The Kabbalah
The remains of some ritual sights have been found in different places in Israel. Probably the most famous sight
has been that of Qumran. It is in the many caves near the ancient Essene city of Qumran that the famous (infamous)
Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in the early 1940's. The scrolls, which are called both "The Dead Sea Scrolls" and
"The Qumran Scrolls", contain the many of the oldest existing Jewish documents. The manuscripts that have been
found in the area of Israel (not limited to Qumran) were written in Hebrew, Aryan, Chaldean, and there were some
found in Egyptian hieroglyph (there are several kinds of heiroglyphs, but none were found at the Qumran sight). Scien-
tists know that Kabbalah style ( Jewish) mysticism existed at least 2,000 B.C.E., due to the religious writings and ritual
sights that have been carbon dated. According to J.F.C. Fuller, there are some Babylonian influences in Kabbalistic
writings and some hints of Kabbalah in later Babylonian religious writings. It has been proven by archaeological digs
that the Essenes were Kabbalistic in respect to the literature present and the ritual baths and meditation or worship
rooms.
When Israel was dispersed and the Jews went all over the world so did the Kabbalah. After the defeat of the
Jewish rebellion in 70 C.E., the Roman government destroyed the Temple and either expelled or executed the Jewish
population that would not accept the total political and religious control of Rome. The Jewish people migrated
throughout Eastern Europe and have been called Ashkanezic Jews. In Spain, the Jewish peoples were given religious
freedom and gained political and financial power until 1492 C.E. when the Castellan government (King Ferdinand and
Queen Isabella) proclaimed that all Jews must convert to Catholicism or leave Spain. The Spanish Jews were called
Sephardic Jews. In modern Israel, Sephardic Hebrew is the official language, while Ashkanez is the second largest
dialect. In Asia, Kabbalah was absorbed into Eastern religions, and in some places a strong Kabbalistic undertones can
be seen in Eastern writing after the Jewish exile form Israel. This integration happened more frequently away from the
Orient's religious centers than in mainstream religious literature. When taken into Asia-Minor, the Hindu and Buddhist
religions accepted and integrated these Jewish beliefs into their own religions. The Kabbalah was taken into England
close to the time that Jews settled in Spain. It is in per-modern England where most of our knowledge of the Kabbalah's
factual history, post Spanish expulsion, has been found.
When it was brought into Brittian, the Druids immediately absorbed it into their tradition, since it paralleled their
own in many ways. Medieval magic was most likely a mixture of both the Druidic and Kabbalisitc systems. This
occurred well before Brittian was united, because the Christians found the druids practicing the syncrotism of both
systems when they arrived and were reported to be very fearful of the power that the druids had. In legend Merlin
supposedly taught many Kabbalistic lessons to Arthur while Arthur was a child. It is strongly believed that Merlin was a
druid, and what was written about him around medieval times is almost taken as proof that he did exist. The legend of
Arthur is hard for historians to believe, but it is agreed that Merlin and Arthur existed sometime during early medieval
Brittian. Among scholars that believed that much of the druids high magic was Kabbalistic was a man named John
Dee. Dee has become famous in occult circles for translating the Enochian Magical System. Dee wrote about and
practiced the Kabbalah extensively. Dee was born in 1527, and in 1583 toured Europe studying the Kabbalah and
worked for Queen Elizabeth as her personal astrologer and mystic until her death in 1603 (Schueler pg . ). This shows
that in Brittian, by the later 16th century, the Kabbalistic system was used in the royal court.
In Spain historical documents show a major theological fight between two groups of Jews. These documents
are 14th century court documents, and reflect the division between the mystics and the rationalists. This fight was over
some theories of Kabbalistical practice, according to Moshe Idel, associate professor of Jewish Thought at Hebrew
University, Jerusalem. There is also proof that several Kabbalistic communities survived until the Spanish expulsion.
The primary mystical community that is documented extensively was Safed. There have been many rabbis that
contributed much to Kabbalistic thought that came from Spain during the middle ages through the expulsion.. Much
work was done after the period of the expulsion, from the 17 century through the 19th century.
In France during the renaissance, it was recorded that the Zohar had only been known since the late 12th
century (Idel, pg. 3). The Zohar is probably the most important Kabbalistic book in public printing. It was not
publicized publicly until 1558-60, when it appeared almost simultaneously in Mantura, and Cremona. After this, many
editions continued to be printed. Many scholars in Europe began to study and work on translations of this work.
Probably the best non-Hebrew version of the Zohar was translated in Latin in the years 1677-8. The book,
"Kabbalah Denudata", by Knorr von Rosenroth, contained translations of Sifra-di-Tseniuta (Book of Concealed
Mysteries), the Idra Rabha (The Greater Holy Assembly), and the Idra Zutra (The Lesser Holy Assembly), which are
books contained within the Zohar. Like the Talmud and other biblical commentaries, the Zohar is a mystical
commentary on the Torah (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy). The Zohar also is a
commentary on the Talmud (Jewish Rabbinical writings and commentaries on the Torah). At that time, many
students of medicine and other highly educated fields of study still spoke latin. This book was used as the basic text for
non-Jewish theologians for a couple of hundred years. During the 18th and 19th centuries there was a marked interest
in the Kabbalah which could be due to the availability of books and discontent with the religious state Europe was in.
"In 1843 the Kabbalah was considered, in one work, the 'heart and soul' of Judaism (Idel, pg. 8)." The Kabbalah
Denudata was translated into English in 1877. The translation by S.L. MacGregor Mathers was published in 1888.
Mathers collated the Latin work with the original Hebrew and Chaldean texts used to make the latin version. It was
reprinted in 1926 with an introduction done by Mathers's wife, who also practiced the Kabbalah. Mathers along with
several of his friends formed a group called "The Golden Dawn" right after the publication in 1887. Several of the
members have translated, and written much about the Kabbalah.
During the early 20th century there was a major resurgence in esoteric studies and organizations. There are a
few of these esoteric organizations still around today. The Golden Dawn still has a few temples spread over the entire
globe, and the Order of Arum Solis has temples in many of the larger cities in the world. Some of the knowledge of the
Kabbalah has been lost over the past 8 thousand or so years. Some of it still remains hidden in old manuscripts and
others remain to be discovered. There are parts of the Kabbalah that have been kept secret for one reason or another.
Much of this information has been released in the past 10 to 15 years, and more will surely follow.
There are many rifts in Kabbalistic thought and understanding. Portions of the Jewish community still do not
even publicly acknowledge it exists. Many orthodox Jews will not discuss it with anybody of other faiths. Others argue
the authenticity of authors and manuscripts and their dates, while seeking an understanding of this ancient core of their
religion. There has been much more open discussion among Jewish scholars in the fast few years. There seems to be
coming to a time when the Jewish community finally breaks with tradition and shows the world the awesome
revelations the Kabbalah brings to man, religion and science.
Archaeology and Jewish Development
As with all religions the Jewish belief system has grown with its culture. Religion is both personal and
sociological. Society develops gradually and religion develops parallel to the society in which it is contained in. The
contact any religious group has with other cultures and religions effects and adds new ideals into the group. As with all
religions, Judaism was a cult that began with a single individual. In the case of Judaism, this first "believer" was
Avraham ( in Hebrew the b in the name "Abraham" is a soft Beth, and is translated correctly into English as the letter
"v"). This conversion and Avraham's subsequent journey into his own land occurred in approximately 3000
(Armstrong, 1993, pg. 11) through 1900 B.C.E. (Epstein, L., 1994, pg. 121). This date means that the actual religion
of Judaism is at least 4,000 years old, but possibly 6000 years old (at least the cult began then).
The text of the Jewish "bible", the Tanakh, goes back much further in its commentary even though it was
written many centuries later. Tanakh, the name of the Jewish "bible" contains the 39 books that the Christian church
later canonized into its "old testament". The word "Tanakh" is actually and acromyn. The acromyn is representative of
the first letters in the words Torah (Teaching), Nevi'im (Prophets), and Kethuvim (the Writings). The letter Aleph, the
Hebrew "a" is added to the acromyn to make it pronounceable: thus Tanakh stands for the Teaching, the Prophets and
the Writings. The text of the Tanakh incorporates ideas that existed in writing during the Late Bronze age, which began
about 1600 B.C.E., and appears to be used in the education of reading and writing (Ben-Tor, 1992). The text
discussed now is the "Epic of Gilgamesh", which is an ancient Akkadian myth that is typical of the "Flood" mythology
like in the biblical story of Noah. Therefore, the legend of Noah probably dates to around the same period which
means that it could easily outdate the "call" of Avraham.
Per-agricultural society existed in the area on Canaan (Avraham's Promised Land) in 11,000 B.C.E. and
developed through 6000 B.C.E. (Ben-Tor, 1992). Ben-Tor dates the city of Jericho to at least 8,300 B.C.E., which
puts it being settled in the Per-Pottery , Neotithic A period. In discussing archaeological finds that date to that time
elsewhere: "This resembelence of finds seems to indicate the existence of a uniform Neolithic culture, ranging perhaps
as far as the Damascus Plateau, with a developed system of beliefs (Ben-Tor, 1992, pg. 30). Ben-Tor also comments
that the story of creation found in several sights resembles the creation story in both Sumerian and Babylonian beliefs,
and surmises that the "complex world of beliefs known from later periods had its roots in Neolithic societies (Ben-Tor,
1992, pg. 29).
Since it is agreed upon by religion scholars that mysticism is the most original form of religion, and there were
alter sights found, that mysticism was practiced widely at this time. This means that while Kabbalah was probably not
practiced in a form that resembles the modern form, its roots were practiced during that time and in that area. In
speaking about the Hebrew people that lived before Avraham and about the area after his "call", Karen Armstrong
makes a wonderful statement. "It is accurate to call these people Hebrew pagans who shared many of the religions and
beliefs of their neighbors in Canaan. They would certainly believed in the existence of such deities as Marduk, Ba'al,
and Amot (Armstrong, 1993, pg. 14)." The religions that followed these deities were mystical, and widespread. Some
of the deities worshiped during this period are mentioned in the biblical text, such as Ba'al, Tiamat, Amot and others.
According to the history provided by Epstein: By the early 12th century B.C.E. the Jewish people were
captured by the Egyptians and were led to freedom by Moses. The Era of the Judges was around 1000 B.C.E. The
dynasty of King David and Solomon lasted from 1004-922 B.C.E., with the First Temple being finished in 928 B.C.E.
Ezekiel the prophet lived about 590 B.C.E. (at the very latest). Between 550 and 444 B.C.E. the Torah was finished
and read (444 B.C.E.), and the Temple rebuilt in 515 B.C.E.. The Dead Sea Scrolls were copied about 100 B.C.E.,
and the Jerusalem Talmud was finished in 400 C.E., about 330 years after the destruction of the second Temple in 70
C.E.
A Basic Look At Kabbalah and its Principles
The ancient scripts of Kabbalah can give much knowledge and insight to mankind. Kabbalah comes from the
root (in Hebrew) QBL, which means "to receive". Kabbalah is a complex system of mystical practice aimed at union
with God, which is personal enlightenment. When the word Kabbalah is read it should be understood that the word is
the name of a system of beliefs and a libraries worth of literature. The Kabbalah is the main source or foundation of
Jewish mysticism. The wisdom of the past developed into, and out of, the Kabbalah. This work contains many a
masterpiece of metaphysical literature but some of its ideals seem strange to many western people. The use of the
Kabbalistic system for the purpose of enlightenment and mystical union is very important. Most people in the west use
its philosophy as a manual for this. Although enlightenment is extremely good, it should not be considered the sole
purpose of this holy philosophy. According to the Sutra of Wei Lang:
The Wisdom of Enlightenment is inherent in every one of us. It is because of the
delusion under which our mind works that we fail to realize it ourselves, and that
we have to seek the advice and guidance of the highly enlightened one before we
can know our essence of mind. You should know that so far as Buddha-nature is
concerned, there is no difference between an enlightened man and an ignorant
one. What makes the difference is that one realizes it, while the other is kept in
ignorance of it (Regardi, 1938,pg1).
Kabbalah is a path to the realization of the universe and the beginning of the road to enlightenment. Although the
Orient and Occident have many different beliefs, the schematic of the Kabbalah is universal.
The schematic mentioned above is the famed "Tree of Life" from the text of the Bible (Genesis 2: 9). From
later texts, in the Tanakh, the Talmud, and in the Christian testament, it is known that this "tree" is the gift of eternal life.
What is not mentioned in this text is that the "tree" is the working, or picture of the Creator and the creation. The Tree
of Life is very complex and cannot be explained in detail. There are many books and articles explaining the symbolism
and uses of the tree.
The "Tree of Life" is a cosmological model of the universe. In its macro-form, it refers to the universe called
the Macroprospos. The Tree also has a micro-form named the Microprospos by the ancients. Thus exists a Tree that
relates to man and the universe, which also shows the relation between the two. Each particular part of the Tree
represents something on every level of existence. The understanding of this and how to use this for benefit is the
purpose of "Practical Kabbalah", which is the basis of the Occidental high forms of magic.
According to Donald Kraig, "It is composed of ten circles forming three triangles: the highest one points up,
then two triangles pointing down, and finally a single circle hanging pendant to the triangles at the bottom (Kraig, 1990,
pg. 65)." The diagram of the Tree is not yet complete. Circles hanging around by themselves are not that profound.
What makes this outline have meaning are the paths connecting these circles. A copy of the Tree in its most basic form
can be seen in table 1. The paths are numbered 11-32 and the circles are numbered 1-10.
The circles, or sephiroth ("sephira" for singular), are representations of the stages of divinity during the creation
and are now presently the sustaining forces in the universe. Creation must be constant in order that deterioration does
not take over and all be destroyed. This creation/deterioration idea also brings up the major importance of the Tree.
Balance is the expression of the divine.
The creation of the universe was done through the Tree. The Divine Being came out of nothingness into
being by an overflow of energy. This overflow caused the formation of the first sephira on the Tree, Kether. Kether is
a Hebrew word meaning "crown." This crown is the crown of God. Kether overflowed into the sephira Chokmah, or
"wisdom", which is the power giver to the universe. Chokmah overflowed into the sephira Binah, or understanding,
which is the giver of form. These first three points on the Tree form what is known as the "Holy Trinity" by most
Christians.
The next three sephiroth still are only in the spiritual plane. The flow of power from Binah goes as follows:
Binah to Chesed, or Mercy; from Chesed to Giburah, or strength; from Giburah to Tiphareth, or beauty. The sephira
named Tiphareth is the part of the Tree that is synonymous with Jesus Christ (in the Christian interpretation), or the
savior to come.
The next three sephiroth, and Yesod (Foundation) in peticular, form the "astral world". This term is not
understood by most people and basically means a world that cannot be seen and is in constant change. "This Sifirah is
called All, since through it must flow all spiritual sustenance. This Sefira also parallels the sexual organs in man. It is
through the sex act that new human beings are born (Kaplan, 1979, pg. 101)." Therefore, it is called the world of
creation. It has also been termed the "world of illusion" since it reflects all of the spiritual light entering the world. It is
called illusion because as in any mirror image, the image is just an illusion representing the true source. As the power
from the first sephiroth goes down the Tree, it becomes more tangible. At this point ,there is seen a change in the
power. From Tiphareth the power goes to Netzach, or victory. From Netzach the power is focused to Hod, the
splendor of God. After Hod the power takes on the semi-tangible form of the astral world. The sephira of Yesod, or
the foundation, is also the plane of dreams. Anything denser than this is in the plane of matter, or the plane of the Earth.
The final sephira is named Malkuth, or the kingdom. Malkuth is the prime material plane, or the plane of the
senses. All that man can see without the use of spiritual vision is in this plane. Notice that the word "senses"
(representing the 5 senses: tasete, smell, touch, hearing, and seeing) is used. Thoughts are not part of this world nor is
the intellect. Neither of these can be seen. This final expression of the creation contains death. Death is the return of
energy to the Creator, or the entrance into bliss. "After sucessfully seperating from the physical realm, it is through this
translucent , postmortem body that the discarnate being expiriences the torments of Gehenna and the trancendental bliss
of Gan Eden (Raphael, 1994, pg. 297)." In this sephira we find the beginning of the journey back to God. After death
the power flows back up the Tree to rejoin with the Divine existence which is in the spiritual Eden (Gan Eden).
The paths are also very important to the functioning of the tree. "Each Path is said to represent the equilibrium
of the two sephiroth it connects, and we have to study it in the light of our knowledge of these Sephiroth if we are to
appreciate its significance (Fortune, 1935, pg. 72)." In this statement Dion Fortune explains the basic idea of the Paths
better than any other simple definition. Each of the Sephiroth are complex treasure-houses of symbolism. This
symbolism makes up what is called its correspondences. The correspondences of the tree are what makes it universal.
All of the gods in all religions and mythology find a home on the tree. In relation to the tree, everything has a place of
existence. Due to the vast relationship of everything to the tree a whole new way of thinking, needs to be incorporated
to use it.
The Kabbalah is not only a way of thinking but a way of life. Kabbalah presents a balanced and singular God.
The precept of monotheism is one of the basis of Jewish religion. Over the centuries a dualism and poly theism
(tritheism in the case of Christianity) has grown. This has made the understanding of the Torah impossible. The Torah
states the God is One, and that God is all. This means that nothing exists other than God. The basic tenent of the
Jewish religion is that there is one single God. The Kabbalah teaches that this God, whose name in this world is
YHVH ( but called Adoni in It's place) created everything out of Himself by emmination. The professions of many
modern religious denominations present God as three different "beings" that are all the same God (Christianity), or
believe in many different gods and goddesses ( i.e. Hinduism). To the Kabbalist, this idea is ridiculous. The Torah
plainly states that there is one God and He is One. In his translation of the Zohar (a 12th century or earlier Kabbalistic
work), MacGregor Mathers gives a good introduction. In this he expresses his feelings on this subject by boldly saying:
I say fearlessly to the fanatics and bigots of the present day: You have cast down
the Sublime and Infinite One from His throne, and in his Stead have placed the
demon of unbalanced force; you have substituted a deity of disorder and of
jealously for a God of order and of love; you have perverted the teachings of the
crucified One (Mathers, 1968, pg. 72).
This statement seems to have a Christian idea to it, although he never states a belief in Christ directly. Mathers was the
first to translate parts of the Zohar into English. He also started a religious organization that has given the world much
knowledge about ancient Hebrew writings. Throughout Jewish thought the oneness of God is paramount. Migene
Gonzales-Wippler explained it simply by reciting an ancient Hebrew prayer. "Shema Israel! Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai
Echad! (Hear O Israel! The Lord Our God is the Eternal. The Eternal is One!) (Gonzalez-Wippler, 1990, pg.126)."
This prayer is traditional and is supposed to be sain everyday to remind Israel that their God is the only God, and that He
is One (everything, total unity, and nothing exists outside of Him).
The names of God refer to particular aspects of God. These aspects can be thought of as emotions or part of
the personality of God. They present different attitudes that God has and how He acted in different situations (or in
different stages of creation). Ancient Jewish priests meditated on the names of God. They would also meditate when
praying. Perle Epstein, a Jewish Kabbalist, described part of an ancient meditation like this: "Regarding his body as the
Tabernacle containing the Divine Spirit, the Kabbalist meditated on the fragrant-smelling citron, visualizing it at his
heart's core (Epstein, 1978, pg.61)." Epstein goes on to say "The singular pillar extending from heaven to earth which
led the Israelites through the wilderness became synonymous in his mind with the Lulav visualized as his spine (Epstein,
1978, pg. 61)."
Kabbalah is a path to the understanding of God and His laws. The knowledge of Kabbalah gives mankind a
key with which to gain understanding of the Torah. The mystic ideals expressed in Kabbalistic teachings show
mankind how to seek God. They also show God's laws and intentions. To understand the Torah is to understand
Kabbalah. To understand Kabbalah is to get a glimpse of the understanding of the Divine.
The Creation According Jewish Mystical Doctrine
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." This is one of the most quoted biblical verse, or
one could say the most misquoted. Zondervan Bible Publishers take it a little farther in their Amplified Bible by tran-
slating the verse thus: In the beginning God (prepared, formed, fashioned,) and created the heavens and the earth. This
better translation is still vague. It seems odd that the Bible goes into so much detail on other acts of God but not this one.
I feel this strangeness and vagueness was on purpose; not only on the part of the translators of the King James version
(of who only 3 could speak Hebrew, and 2 of them died before proverbs was complete) but the original writers. The
core concepts of God and His mystery, not to mention the pattern of Kabbalah, was too important for heathen or
uneducated individuals to learn about. This, in turn, protected the mystical tradition from being learned by the priests of
the other religions of the time, and thereby preventing the blasphemy and desocration of the "One Holy God". This
was done by using metaphore and ommiting all (any) vowels. Vowel pointing was most likely in existance but not
used.
Ancient Hebrew texts were written without vowels. The pointing only came into wide use in about 500-600
C.E. There was another very popular method of writing which used acronyms. This and another system called
Notarikon (actually there are several forms of this system but only two are used enough to have major impacts on
translation) has confounded non-Hebrew (and many Hebrew) speaking people for thousands of years. Add this to the
debate of evolution vs. creation and one sees the entire scope of this misunderstanding.
"Misunderstanding?" many people ask. Yes, the modern understanding of the creation as told in the Torah is
wrong. With the original Hebrew and the knowledge of the ancient grammatic techniques there is an entirely different
picture of the beginning of space and time. Using this knowledge of Hebrew the first sentence of Genesis's true
meaning is as follows (Genesis 1: 1):
The Spirit of God brought into continuous expression the dual principle of life and
death by "containing" it in an infinite array of cosmic manifestations. This creation
is a perpetual precess by means of which the Cosmic Principle is eternally brought
into realization. Through this initial manifestation the first nine archetypes of
existence came into being. The creation was dual, for in the process of creating the
material universe, the Cosmic Principle brought Itself also into manifestation.
(Epstein, 1978, pg. )."
This does not at all sound like the Genesis 1:1 that most people from the West know. The concept that needs
to be understood is that each letter in Hebrew is also a word, generally a noun. There is also a concept or idea attached
to each letter that goes back to the time when the Hebrew alphabet was used as heiroglyphs before it developed into a
fully written language. If the notarikon is used, another translation can be made: In the beginning God saw that Israel
would accept the law (Epstein, 1978, pg.21). This has an entirely different meaning altogether. If used simultaneously
as these techniques are designed to be used we see that "The Spirit of God brought into continuous expression... and in
the beginning God saw that Israel would accept the Torah (law)."
The Jewish mystic understands to a deep degree the creation, but there is a major difference now. The
Kabbalistic doctrines teach that the first creation went wrong. They state plainly that the first creation was a mistake that
God made. To the modern Christian following, this idea seems ridiculous. But there is proof in Genesis 36:31-43.
According to ancient doctrine the kings of Edom were the first mistake. The kings that ruled before a king reigned in
Israel, shows that something existed before the law. This also shows that it was "destroyed" before the law was created
and creation was perfected. Kaplan makes the statement that the unbalanced archetypes of the tree of life were the
kings of Edom. In discussing the skewed creation in which "God created universes and destroyed them (Midrash,
Berashit Rabbah 3: 7)," Rabbi Kaplan said "It is also alluded to in the Torah in the account of the Kings of Edom, at the
end of Genesis 36 (Kaplan, 1978, pg. 90)."
This concept is known as the "Breaking of Vessels (Kaplan, 1978, pg. 89)." Rabbi Kaplan explains this in his
explination of Bahir 2. The following is a condensation of Rabbi Kaplan's explination:
God gives existance to all things, and is therefore the untimate giver. Creation, on the other hand
must receive its very existance from God, and is there fore the untimate reveiver. Every concept that
is necessary for creation must therfore also be created. In Kabbalistic terminology, the concept of
giving is refered to as "Light." while that of reveiving is called a "Vessel." Both Tohu (Chaos) and
Bohu (desolation) allude to to these primeval Vesseles (Genesis 1: 2). Tohu refers to the first
Vesseles, which were shattered, and Bohu refers to the Vesseles after they were restored and
rectified. The original Vesseles consisted of the Ten Sefirot in their most primitive form. In this state,
they could not interact with each other, and hence, could not give anything to each other. All they
could do was receive from God. This presents a difficulty, however. If God is the ultimate Giver,
while the Vessel only receives, the two are then absolute opposites. Therefore, in order for a vessel to
properly receive, it must also give. In this state, the Vesseles ( primitive Ten Sefirot), could receive
God's light but could neither give nor interact. Insofar as they did not resemble God, these Vesseles
were incomplete, and therefore could not hold the Light. Since they could not fulfill their purpose,
they were onerwhelmed by the Light and "shattered." What is therefore needed is a vessle that gives
as well as reveives. The ultimate Vessel is mankind. Before he can do this, however, he must
resemble God by having both free will and free choice, and this is only possible when both good and
evil exist (Kaplan, 1978, pg. 88-90).
When God brought the unbalanced mistake into balance He did so with the law. To do this the Cosmic
Principle created mankind. Kaplan goes on to say that the way mankind gives is to observe the laws. These laws are
the laws of the Torah (and Talmud). This is theway in which mankind was created in God's image, we can both
receive and give by obeying God's law. The purpose of mankindis to bring balance to the original skewed creation and
interact with both God and creation, which the shattered Vessels could not do. This is the reason Israel is God's chosen
people, they accepted the law and therefore rectified the Ten Sefiroth by receiving Light and then giving Light back to
the Sefiroth , and ultimately God, thereby interacting with both the Creator and the Creation. God saw that Israel would
accept the law so he created mankind and chose Israel and separated it from the unbalanced universe and brought
creation into what He later called "good" by giving Israel the law and perfecting His creation.
This act of accepting the law by the Jews brought balance and righted the mistake of the initial creation. This
is an ongoing process according to the Baal-Shem-Tov, who believed that every time a Jew does something good or
holy (obey a mitzvah (divine commandment))that it releases a spark of the original creation to return to God. He
believed that when all the sparks were united with the Creator that the messianic age would then come into being.
Now lets look at the initial unbalanced creation. This has been called the "shells" (shattered Vesseles), "the
Kings of Edom" and even the "world of demonic influence". The proper term for this unbalanced creation is the
Qlippoth ("Qliphoth": Mathers spelling) which refers to the "evil" tree of life. The Qlippoth is the adverse tree,
meaning that it exists along side the tree of life. I propose that they will exist together until the messianic age. The
Qlippoth houses within it the negative religions around the world. The Satanic and Voo-doo systems use this tree
basically the same as the Jews and esoteric Christians use the positive tree. Voo-Doo is a combination of Aferican
religions and Catholicism. It is known as Santeria in both Cuba and Puerto Rico (it has moved into the United States by
immegrants and citizens).
As in the tree of life the Qlippoth has ten sephiroth. The analogy of Qlippothic sepiroth could be described as
follows:
Imagine a pyramid of champagne glasses. Each glass represents a sephira. As the
liquid is poured into the first one there is balance. As this glass becomes
overflowing or out of balance the liquid flows into a glass below it. This
unbalanced state, or to be more exact, this extreme expression is equal to a qlipp-
hotic sephira.
This sephira is a harsh form of the corresponding sephira of the tree of life. A good example of this is the
sephira of Severity. Severity is needed to execute judgement and keep law and order. The unbalanced severity or qlip-
hotic severity is sadism and/or the abuse of power for personal pleasure at others expense. There is one adverse sephira
for every good sephira.
Since mankind is a balance of spirit and element, they have an innate choice to make. This choice is what we
refer to as free will. Anyone can choose to do anything regardless of the consequences or morality involved. We can
choose to bring about the balancing action of following the law, or we can bring about unbalance and defeat the
Cosmic Principle's attempt to let us become the way He intended. The interesting part is that if you follow the law you
release sparks to be united with God and benefit all of creation. But, if one chooses unbalance they do no harm to
anybody but themselves; as physics states, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction (the law of cause and
effect). This idea is relatively the same as the concept of karma in the Buddhist and Hindu religions. Although the path
to destruction is wide it is also solitary, and yet the path of the law is narrow it is full of the souls of those who traveled it
before and they will welcome you every step of the way. In the Kabbalah, the souls of past holy men are supposedly
waiting to help instruct the initiate. In other religions "saints" and the souls ofenlightened people await to help. In the
Westery Esoteric traditions a Holy Gaurdian Angel awaits, and the higher self is found in the "new age" circles.
Why Mysticism: "2nd Genesis", Genesis Revisited.
The concept of the creation is at least 6,000 years old (Armstrong, 1993). It was developed into the basic
Genesis we know today, when legend has it, Moses wrote the Torah. This view survived the massacre and expulsion
of the Jews in 70 C.E. To the thanks of the newly founded Christian faith that took many Jewish writings across the
Dead Sea, there were a few copies of the Old Testament that survived the massacre. This new faith grew, and with it
did the belief in the creation story.
When the Christian movement replaced Hellenism, the creation was accepted as the absolute truth and there
should be no challenge. There was not any serious challenges for almost 1000 years. When Galileo began to track the
stars, planets, and the Sun on their orbits and explore the sky with a telescope he found a helio-centric solar system. This
challenged the authority of the Old Testament and was dismissed as a joke by the Catholic Church. The new
development of the printing press brought Galileo's new discovery to the attention of many astronomers and scientists of
the day. After enough momentum was gained in this new belief, the church decided to declare all of Galileo's work
heresy and excommunicated him and place him under house arrest.
To say the least, it was too late. The new helio-centric solar system had caught on in other parts of Europe.
The first challenge to Genesis had been accepted: now that the Earth was no longer the center of the universe, what is
the universe and how big is it? The new advances in science had brought many new ideas that were not in line with the
creation story. Fossils were being discovered that showed great creatures had lived on Earth at one time. There were
also human remains and cave paintings that seemed extremely old. The invention of carbon dating showed humans
alive 20,000 years ago. This was bad enough, but when fossils were dated they came back 500,000,000 years plus!
Five hundred million and older, this theory definitely challenges the 6,000 year old Earth theory.
This already seemed to disprove the Judaic tale of creation, but it got worse. Charles Darwin, in his epic The
Origin of The Species begun to drive a nail into the heart of the creation story. The idea of evolution has been the
longest and most heated debate that the western religious community has had in recent centuries. The religious zealots
are losing the fight. There is enough scientific information to prove that the creation 6,000 years ago did not happen, at
least the way the old testament explains it.
The realization that the universe is at least 15 billion years old, and it begun with a "Big Bang" whose echo can
still be heard, finally separated the scientific community from the religious one. The "Big Bang" can be heard easilty by
C.O.B.E., the cosmic background detector satellite. Add that to the redshift (when an object (star or galaxy) is traveling
away from the Earth, a shift in the light waves to the red end of the spectrum measures the rate it is traveling) and the
distances provided by these objects, the relative age of the universe can be guaged. This "age" changes quite often so it
is not going to be inserted here, but these measurements helped astronomers find (and revise) the Hubble Principle
which is what is used to determine the relative age. Now arises the question: Does God exist? Many in the scientific
community say " no, God has been disproved." Frankly, I do not know how they arrived at this conclusion, the
scientific data presented is totally irrelevant to the existence of God. It simply cannot be proved that God does not exist.
Yet we can remember that there has been no "hard evidence" that God does exist. Who is right? Does it really matter?
The battle between science and religion is absurd. I feel that they are different ways to explain the same thing,
i.e. the world around us and its relationship to us. The simple fact is that neither the scientific nor the religious
community will admit that any other way exists. The are both drudging through the old traditions that state only one
answer is right. When I say I feel religion and science are essentially the same, its done with sincerity and proof.
What is the proof? How can science and religion be consolidated? The answer is simple: MYSTICISM.
Mysticism is the science of the religious and natural world. It explains both. More exactly, Jewish mystical doctrine
describes the creation virtually identical to the modern scientific creation. The wording is completely different and the
presence of God is absent from the scientific one, but the story is the same.
The Big Bang theory states that the universe was contained in an energy ball trillions of times smaller than an
electron. This energy ball had no definable mass or volume but contained all the universe. For some unknown reason
this energy ball exploded into the known universe. At first there was only one force: Quantum Gravity. This force was
the beginning of the big bang. Quantum gravity was the only force in existence at this point, and it is also unexplainable
and unpredictable. When the universe exploded it expanded and cooled; the single force split into two forces: The
Unified Force, and Unified Gravity (Unified Attraction). These forces reigned for a while, but like the first one were
unstable. After more cooling and expanding these forces split into four forces. These forces are the four forces that we
know today in the laws of physics. They are: Gravity, Electromagnetic, Strong Nuclear Force, and Weak Nuclear
Force. Here we have the evolution of the universe.
Creation begun again on a smaller level. The particles and space cooled, while gravity brought matter together.
Galaxies formed from gas clouds, and stars begun to form and burn. Planets formed and became solid and remained
in a stable orbit. Gravity again brought gasses to the planets and atmospheres formed. Evolution began on Earth and
life grew more complex until humans arrived and became conscious of ourselves and the world around us. That is the
creation on a scientific level. What does this have in common with the mystical Kabbalistic creation? The answer is
amazingly enough -- quite a bit!
The idea of evolution was embraced by Jewish philosophers thousands of years ago. The idea of human
evolution was never explained in detail but none-the-less some is mentioned. The idea that Heaven and Earth evolved is
prevalent although not overtly written. This evolution is described by the Torah in the first chapter of Genesis. The
days ascribed to different acts of creation are not actually days. They represent stages of creation in the same way days
show the stages of the week. The days also show creation on different levels: a universal and a Earthly. I believe the
creation explained by mystical interpretation is as follows:
Stage 1. The Supreme Being, not yet expressed in a form understandable to us, contained in Him the whole
of existence. From this state of balance and equilibrium, He wanted to be affirmed that there was none other than He.
The best to fulfill this was to create innumerable variations of living and non-living objects. This resulted in the highest
variation of the human. Being that the human has a consciousness of its own, and one of the divine, it is the best to
recognize the oneness of the Supreme and affirm Him by seeking Him. Therefore, He expressed Himself as a
primordial point, known as Kether, in this universe but still not completely understandable.
Stage 2. He then caused a rushing forth from this primordial point. This gave rise to energy in the truest
expression, called Chokmah. This energy being boundless, needed to be contained for the purpose of balance.
Therefore, within this force a change occurred. This was the beginning of the movement toward formation, called
Binah, but still a part of the original force.
Stage 3. Now the original force, present and starting to change form divided into two forces. The first of these
was still an incredible energy but less intense than the original. This force was called Chesed. The second force was one
of form and tamed the energy into a lesser more material form. This force was called Geburah.
Stage 4. The forces of Chesed and Geburah were not stable There was still not enough form to balance the
original energy. Therefore, they split into four forces. The first, Tiphareth, was a potent force. It still was not material
and acted as a mirror to reflect the potence of the Supreme One who was expressed as the primordial point. It was like
the primordial point of the actual expression of material, and was the balance between the world of energy and the
world of form. Hod, the next force, was the beginning of the form filled creation. Netzach, a less potent energy was
more tangible than the proceeding ones, but still powerful. The balance of the forces of material and the force of
material is Yesod: the foundation of matter. This is always changing and is the expression of the material and energy
forms not yet in total expression in form. The final force, that of form in its truest sense, is called Malkuth, or the
kingdom of matter. The completion of the universal creation, a world ruled by matter, or our physical universe.
Notice that there are seven forces. These refer to the seven days of creation. There are 10 points of creation
and they refer to the expression of the deity at these stages of the creation. The first three are all one force, though and
represent the balance of the original force and make up what we understand as "God."
Now lets compare the creation from the aspect of the scientist and the Jewish mystic. Notice how well they
compliment each other.
Scientific Mystical
1. The universe is an unmeasurable ball. All the
material contained in the universe is present. An
explosion occurs and the universe expands and cools
under the control of Quantum Gravity. God expresses Himself as a primordial point. This
point contains all that will exist. There is a rushing
out of energy, Chokmah. The force remains the
same but changes toward form, Binah. All occurs
under one force.
2. The universe expands and cools more; Quantum
Gravity splits into two forces. These are the Unified
Force and the Unified Gravity, or attraction. The
universe expands more and cools. Energy begins to
gather in clouds and cools more. Seeking to balance the original force, it changes into
two forces. Chesed and Geburah cause a slight
dimming of the original force and start to make
existent a more tangible creation.
3. After expanding and cooling more, the two
forces split into four. Gravity, Electromagnetic,
Strong Nuclear force, and Weak Nuclear force rule
the universe. They cause atoms to form. These
atoms form dust clouds and those in turn form
galaxies. The galaxies cool and stars ignite and burn
while planets form and atmospheres gather. The
possibility for life now exists. The forces of Chesed and Geburah split into four.
Thiphareth, Hod, Netzach, yesod. These bring the
world of form and matter into existence. Yesod
continues to solidify into Malkuth our physical
universe. Now that the physical universe exists,
galaxies, stars, and planets begin to evolve. The
possibility for life now exists.
LIFE: The evolution of life on Earth moves from
stage to stage until humans evolve and become
introspective and wonder about their origin and
purpose. The creation of the seven days happens again but on
Earth. The planet is prepared for life. Life evolves
from stage to stage represented by a couple of the
days. Humans evolve and wonder where they
come from and what they are here for.
As can be seen the sages of the past were much wiser than ever thought of before. This is why mysticism is so
important. The information of the past that is contained in the ritual, literature, and wisdom of the mystic is a bridge between
religion and science. The knowledge gained in the past 6,000 years only supports the basis of religion. Science and religion
must go hand-in-hand to bring an understanding of the world around us and our purpose. The most important of these in
the past was religion. The people of the present are ignoring religion. For science to survive it must be based on its original
foundation, that of religion.
Science is important for our race to evolve and grow more intelligent. We cannot grow to our full potential without
religion. Religion in the modern sense is failing. It is not attracting new believers or satisfying the needs of those it has. To
return religion back into its true purpose we must rely on the basis of our religious systems. Being Jews, we must remember
that the Great Holy One created our world and our reason for being here. We must remember the practices of our fathers
and return to the mystical life for the rebirth of our nation in this "brave new world."
The Christian and others must learn the true roots of their religions. There is a mystical background in all religions.
Without them they would have withered away thousands of years ago. It may be extremely hard to find these roots, but it
can be done. Once we understand our own religion in the detail and trueness it had in its beginning, we can begin to
understand the value of science. Science is the greatest threat to religion, but is also going to be its greatest defense against its
end. Mysticism shows the validity of religion and religion shows the true nature of science. Progress of our race cannot be
accomplished unless our spiritual and physical beings progress together.
THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE
TWO BRANCHES OF KABBALISTIC
MYSTICISM
AND PSYCHOLOGY
The philosophy of Esoteric Judaism has survived in two forms; the purely Jewish form and the form that is the
basis of the Western esoteric movement. The two have much in common but differ considerably on the doctrine of
religion. The Western esoteric movement has brought about many discoveries and much information into the Jewish
tradition. If the theology of religion is stripped away, both traditions have much in common. The difference between
religion and mysticism must now be stated. Religion would not exist without mysticism, but mysticism can exist without
religion. Religion is a social institution that interprets the mystical, trancendent reality and expresses it in symbolic and
moral structure. Religion has doctrine that seperates it from other religions. The doctrine dictates what is considered
ethical and proper behavior and the correct way to approach and worship the divine. Religion is cultural in origin and
nature, and in the past was confined geographically. Mysticism is, in essense, spirituality and not determined by religion
or geographic region. Mysticism is expiriental, and based on personal contact with the divine and transcendent reality.
Mysticism in all religious traditions, past and preasent are essentially the same. The only real difference is terminology
and practical method. In this case, Christianity, Judiasm, and Pagan religions are being discussed. In the modern Pagan
religions, there is a mixture of Christian and Jewish ideals mixed with ancient religions (i.e. Greek and Egyptian). The
literature one uses in each tradition, Jedao-Christian and Western Esoteric, is the same and most of the practices are the
same, the difference is in the belief in Supreme Being(s) and their importance and worship.
A distinction must be made between the two traditions, or the future generations will believe them to be the
same. A person with a minimal amount of education in the field of mysticism will automatically assume that they are
the same. In fact, the two traditions are similar enough that unless someone practiced Judaism, they probably would
never know that the two traditions differed at all. The Western tradition and the Jewish tradition have both given birth to
a new idea. This new idea is psychology. Psychology has used the mystical tradition to develop many of its techniques
and goals.
The following article is divided into three parts. Each part briefly describes one of the traditions. The section
on psychology contains not only the information about esoteric tradition, but also contains a part of the author's theory of
personality. This theory is based heavily on the traditional Jewish interpretation of the mystical ideals and the realm of
analytic psychology.
THE WESTERN MYSTERY TRADITION AND ESOTERIC JUDAISM
The Western mystical tradition has been around for many years. It did not mature into the form it is today until
the late 1800's. The prime catalyst in this maturation was a man named S.M.L. MacGregor Mathers. Mr. Mathers
was a freemason that was interested in the philosophy and spiritual side of ritual. He found several other masons that
were interested in the same ideas and formed a group intent on discovering the secrets of ritual.
They did not have to look past the rituals of freemasonry to discover the foundation of all the masonic
teachings. Freemasonry is based on an ancient tradition known by the Jews as Kabbalah. This doctrine was, at that
time, very obscure and denied. Together with Mathers, W.W. Westcott and Dr. William R. Woodman began to
unravel the mysteries surrounding this tradition. The group began to prosper. They somehow came in possession of a
cipher from a Rosicrucian order. This order was comprised entirely by freemasons, like Mathers' group. Therefore,
the groups communicated until it was decided that Mathers and his friends would form a semi-public occult orga-
nization in England. This organization would be a ritual organization based on Kabbalistic principles.
During this time, Mathers and Westcott became fluent in the languages needed to translate Kabbalistic
doctrines. In 1887, Mathers published The Kabbalah Unveiled. This was a translation of the Latin work Kabbala
Denudata, which basically means "New Information on Kabbalah". The Kabbala Denudata was a Latin translation of
the Zohar, a thirteenth-century document that has become the single most important document on Kabbalah in both
mystical traditions.
Mathers and his group founded "The Golden Dawn", the esoteric society that they were trying to organize.
The members translated an unimaginable number of documents from Egyptian, Hebrew, Aramaic, Latin and Greek.
They took all of their information and founded a system of rituals and magic that has lasted over one hundred years.
The system they developed was based primarily on the Jewish tradition of Kabbalah. To this they added Egyptian and
Greco-Roman pantheons. Their goal was to form a single system that could be followed no matter what religion the
practitioner followed. The system was designed to be a system much like freemasonry; one which did not demand
anything other than moral character and a belief in a supreme force or god.
The Christian community attacked the group until damage levels became inordinate. The reason the group
survived was that the freemasons stood behind their members and protected them. When Mathers counter-attacked,
the Christian community did not know how to defend itself. Mathers had in his possession ancient manuscripts that
backed his position. The Christians only had their personal interpretations of what the Bible stated. The conflict was
dropped and not much more has happened directly between the two groups.
Like freemasonry, the Golden Dawn was based on initiatory stages. The ceremonies of initiation of the two
groups are very similar. It can easily be seen that Mathers and the others based their rituals on the three masonic rituals.
In some places the wordings are identical. Having the indirect support of the freemason community, Mathers recruited
many practitioners. It should be noted, though, that freemasonry does not use ritual in the same way as the Western
movement. Freemasonry does not have any religious symbolism other than what the individual wants and understands
it to be. Freemasonry is not part of the Western tradition, nor will it ever be. It is just that in constructing their rituals,
Mathers and his group (being masons) used the basic form of the masonic initiations because it was the only set of
initations they knew. All of the rituals that the Golden Dawn and other mystery schools performed are outside of
freemasonry and have no connection with freemasonry whatsoever. As stated before, freemasonry is not a part of the
Western mystery tradition.
The Golden Dawn system was printed well after the deaths of the founding members. Israel Regardi, in his
work, The Golden Dawn, put into print all of the rituals and main lectures that were used by the group. The Golden
Dawn uses the philosophy of the sephiroth as the core of its teaching and like the Jews consider the Hebrew letters
sacred.
The Hebrew Qabalists referred the highest and most abstract ideas to the Emanation of Deity or
Sephiroth. They made them ten in number. Each one is a Sephira, and when arranged in a certain
manner they form The Tree of Life. Hebrew letters are holy symbols. They must be carefully
drawn and square (Regardi, 1990, pg. 51).
The information in the lectures had to be completed with satisfactory proficiency before one could proceed to
the next "grade" or level of initiation. The rituals of the order were of the utmost importance. From the first initiation,
lectures and rituals are taught. The rituals are dominated with Hebrew words and names of God. The Kabbalistic
Cross and lesser ritual of the Pentagram is the first learned. It is performed thus:
Take a steel dagger in the right hand. Face East. Touch thy forehead and say ATEH (thou art).
Touch thy breast and say MALKUTH (the Kingdom). Touch thy right shoulder and say VE-
GEBURAH (and the power). Touch the left shoulder and say VE-GEDULAH (and the glory).
Clasp thy hands before thee and say LE-OLAM (for ever). Dagger between fingers, point upward
and say AMEN.
The ritual continues:
Make in the Air toward the East the invoking Pentagram, bringing the point of the dagger to the
centre of the Pentagram, vibrate the deity name YOD HE VAU HE, imagining that your voice
carries forward to the East of the universe.
The name Yod He Vau He is the name of God that should not be pronounced by man unless in the right context and
with the purity of mind, body and soul. The true pronunciation is supposedly lost. Pat Zalewski gives it as Yahvah, and
is the only author known that gives this sacred name where it can be pronounced, eventhough it is not entirely correct.
Zalewski is a high ranking member of the Golden Dawn today. The ritual concludes as follows:
Holding the dagger out before you, go to the South, make the Pentagram and vibrate the deity name
ADONAI. Go to the West, make the Pentagram and vibrate EHEIEH. Go to the North, make the
Pentagram and vibrate AGLA. Return to the East and complete the circle by bringing the dagger
point to the centre of the first Pentagram. Stand with arms outstretched in the form of a cross and
say: Before Me Raphael. Behind Me Gabriel. At My Right Hand Michael. At My Left Hand,
Auriel. BEFORE ME FLAMES THE PENTAGRAM--BEHIND ME SHINES THE SIX-
RAYED STAR. Again make the Qabalistic cross as directed above, saying ATEH, etc (Regardi,
1990, pg. 53-54).
The Hebrew names of the arch-angels are given as protection at the end. These arch-angels correspond to
particular sephiroth. There is also a color scheme that goes with the sephiroth. The names of the sephiroth, the arch-
angels and the colors are all used in meditation. The idea is that meditation on these will give the person the underlying
meaning to the particular object. This, in turn, teaches the mysteries of God and the universe from the standpoint of
experience and contact.
Many of the objects of meditation have been kept secret, thus the term occult has been applied, in an effort to
safeguard the people who are not able to accept these truths. Warnings and threats of insanity have been a stern
reminder in all of these texts of the dangers inherent if one is not careful. This is the reason for the secrecy. The
potential for abuse also preempted a solomn vow of silence. Until the past fifty years these secrets have been carefully
guarded. Today, most of these occult teachings are published, making them known and not occult.
The color scale, as mentioned above, was not printed in total correctness until 1993. The scale is one of the
most guarded parts of the system. This is due to the way in which color affects the mind and emotions. The use of
color makes the ritual use and meditations much more powerful and exact. The color scale of the King, that is in the
spiritual world, is as follows:
1. Kether - brilliance
2. Chokmah - pure soft blue
3. Binah - crimson
4. Chesed - deep violet
5. Geburah - bright orange
6. Tipareth - clear pink rose
7. Netzach - light amber gold
8. Hod - violet purple
9. Yesod - indigo
10. Malkuth - bright yellow (Zalewski, 1993, pg. 56-57)
The above scale has been secret for over 115 years. It is the scale of the Yod, or King, in the unmentionable name of
God. The other letters have scales of their own. Each letter in that name of God represents a "world" of divine
expression. Each sepiroth represents a Divine archetype, or basic ideal not polluted with human action, that is used to
effect change in various levels of human existence.
Meditation is seen as an Eastern tradition. This is not true. Jewish mystics have meditated on the names of
God and during prayer for thousands of years. Many Eastern people, though, think meditation is a religious path in
itself, while the mystic traditions in the West use it as a tool. The Golden Dawn has special topics that the student should
meditate on. These include the meditation of the tarot deck.
The modern tarot cards have symbolic grouping that combine all equivalent symbols from as many pantheons
as possible. This gives the student a varied background of contact and contemplation on the different systems. In
different tarot decks there is a domination of the pantheon that the designer uses and likes best. That is not to say that
they do not have the Hebrew, because the Hebrew tradition is inescapable in mystical workings. An example of the
different domination of symbols is this: In Alister Crowley's Toth Deck, the Egyptian symbolism is dominant and most
noticeable. In the Enochian Deck, the Enochian symbolism is dominate. In the Golden Dawn Deck, the Hebrew
system is the most dominate, but it incorporates all of the various symbolism about equally.
Visualization has been a core concept in the Western Mystery Tradition. The concept of visualizing
something on the astral level and grounding it into the physical world is pervasive. They even go as far as to rise to
higher planes to begin the process, and thus, make the operation much stronger. This is also a difference between the
two traditions. The Western tradition seeks to gain power over the environment, and ones self. This control is used to
effect changes in the world as the individual sees fit. This steps into the realm of magic; a realm that the Jews view as
risky at best. Although many Jewish magicians have practiced and flourished, it is generally not looked upon as
desirable.
The effectance of archetypes on the human world is done by the practice of magick. Magick takes its power
from the mind of the practitioner and the archetypes used. Ritual is magick on a personal or interpersonal level. Ritual
works by first changing the archetypal system in the mind of the person. In doing this, it changes behavior and
expectations so as to promote the purposeful outcome of the ritual. The next step is to manipulate archetypes on the
different planes of existence. This is complicated. The methods of plane travel and expression are some of the only
parts of the Golden Dawn still secret. Various works explain how this is done and what to expect. This is not for the
beginner in the field and should only be done by experienced practitioners. Therefore, it will not be discussed on the
practice level, just let it be known that this is how magick functions.
The goal of the Western mystical tradition is adepthood. Adepthood is a state of mastery over the physical
plane, and a personal understanding of God in his many forms and functions. The adept know themselves and the
world around them, both seen and unseen. The adept are in control of their environment and proficient at the shifting
of planes and their uses. The term Magus, or Magician has been used to describe the adept. The Earth would
definitely be a different place if everybody were adepts. The growth of the human race into a race of adepts is, in their
view, the goal of creation. They feel that the mystery tradition is just an accelerator of the growth process.
With the recent discovery of the Qumran scrolls, the Western mystery tradition is starting to reconstruct the
ancient rituals of the Jewish past. This has already been done with the Egyptian and Greco-Roman religions. Paganism
has benefitted greatly from this tradition. All of the ancient pagan religions have had a rebirth. The Western tradition
has sought to revive these lost traditions and seek the values taught by them. The practitioners hope to do away with
singular religion and unite humanity within a common religious practice.
There are Egyptian temples now erected to Isis all over the world. The Greek and Roman religions have been
started again. Ancient Babylonian and Assyrian religions are starting up again. The Western mystical tradition has
brought the past back to the present. There is much to be learned from these religions. From a Christian, or in this case
a Jewish perspective, the same world has once again turned to its own ways. The Jew who practices the esoteric
tradition sees this as being a result of "pearls being thrown to swine." The Jewish esoteric tradition does not follow these
precepts at all. The Western tradition has stolen Jewish tradition and used it to worship idols, and the discerning Jew
finds horror in this act. If it were not for the true Jewish mystical tradition, the esoteric state of this world would be in
complete blasphemy accorning to Jreiwh and Christian theology, or at best, in total disarrey.
THE JEWISH TRADITION OF KABBALAH
The purely Jewish tradition is one that most Judao-Christian people could practice with a clear conscience. It is
not polluted with other religious systems. In fact, many of the 18th and 19th century Kabbalistic authors were Christian.
Since the Christian religion is rooted in Judaism, it is generally safe to say that a Christian can participate without breaking
their religious vows and beliefs.
This should be taken into account by the Jewish practitioner. In many of the texts written by Christians, there
are Christian themes that have no place in Judaism. These themes must be recognized before any study should begin.
The Christian themes can be very beautiful and fitting, but they are not Jewish.
The Jewish mystic has a goal of feeling (expiriencing) God. They seek to "walk with God." The ultimate
attainment in Jewish mysticism is a reconciliation and union with God. The union with God means a loss of personal
identification and dual existence. The mystic simply ceases to exist physically and is absorbed by God. To achieve the
total attainment, Jewish mysticism requires physical death, a price that most are not willing to pay. This death is not
suicide and usually occurs at the natural time of death, but there is record of a few who achieved this state while living.
Two of the most notable were: Moses, in Deuteronomy 34:1-8, went on the mountain and was never seen again, and
Enoch, in Genesis 5:24, "walked with God and was no more, because God took him." Both accounts were of people
so close to God that they achieved the mystical union and joined God, and even for these two, it happened very late in
life.
Jewish mysticism requires that the knowledge gained must be of practical application. They do not seek to
manipulate the environment like the practitioners of the Western movement do. Instead, they seek to make peace with
the world and learn better how to serve God and be righteous Jews. The Jewish mystic hopes to use their knowledge to
teach the people and help Israel. There have been cases where magick was used to do this, like King Solomon, who
used magick to build the Temple and fight wars. Solomon's system of magick is ancient. It is strongly debated by
scholars if indeed he did use the system or it was credited to him by a later mystic.
Solomon's magical system drew very heavily from Enoch's writings on angels and demons. The system
described how and when to employ these spirits to do human bidding. Even though the information is there, it is
believed by many Jews to be an area of profound danger. It is much better to stay away than to tempt God or to
accidentally worship an idol. This attitude seems very realistic and logical and must be reckoned with before any
magical activity should be considered.
Jewish esoteric philosophy is based on the creation of the universe and man. An idea of the two containing
each other is at the basis of this concept.
In Jewish mystical philosophy there is a profoundly holistic image of man. To some extent this is ex-
pressed by the microcosm--macrocosm apposition in which the universe--macrocosm--is regarded as
a reflection and manifestation of the archetype--man--while simultaneously man reflects and
manifests the structure of the universe. The theory underlying this reciprocal relationship is that every
aspect of the universe is a revelation of Divine creative energies. Hence at every level of the
cosomogenic process there is expressed a pattern of the same Divine creative energies--
"homeomorphism"--at the level of the individual, human society, and the totality of the universe
(Branover & Attia, 1994, pg. 131).
This corelational manifestation of all the levels of the universe contained within the all encompassing Divine creative
process is what makes mysticism possible. A descent into the world of matter leaves open a retracing of these steps, or
an accent, to join the spiritual energy of the Creator. This concept is called Ratzo V'Shov, which symbolizes mystical
reunion, and the descent into physical being. This philosophy permeates Jewish mysticism and symbolizes the unity of
everything which forms the basis for its practices.
In Jewish mysticism the ultimate dialectic of the physical universe is described as a continuous process
of Ratzo V'Shov. "Ratzo" signifies the mystical union of the finite with God--the loss of identity,
sense of self, and ultimately voiding of the physical which accompanies a spontaneous plunge into the
Infinite Transcendent Source of the universe. "Shov" signifies the return to physical reality, the
coming back down into the material universe, as a differentiated entity brought into being by the
dictates of the Divine Will. Of course, the ultimate unity of all things as manifestations of Divine Will
is the central image of Jewish mysticism. Thus, the physical and spiritual--matter and energy--are
both manifestations of the Divine Will underlying reality and hence can be freely interchanged and
transformed (Branover & Attia, 1994, pg. 129).
This idea of matter and energy, or matter and spiritual, delves into the universal aim of Kabbalah. The
personal reasons described are practical. The universal ideal is the repair of the upper world, and in so doing, to fixing
our own. The theory is that when God created the universe, there was chaos before order. When mankind sinned,
they caused an imbalance in the emanations of God, the sefirot, and much of that energy was trapped in matter, or
shells. The mystic believes that every time a good deed is done or the laws of Torah are followed, it frees a "spark" of
the Divine energy from the matter prison of the shell.
Although not pantheistic, Kabbalah--more than any other strain within the tradition--emphasizes the
intimate interconnection between divine and human realms. According to Kabbalah, everything
within our world contains divine "sparks" (nitzotzot) imprisoned within "shells" (klippot) of matter.
The goal of study and practice of Kabbalah is to liberate these sparks in order to effect tikkun, the
repair of the upper world, and hence our own (Frankel & Teutsch, 1992, pg. 87).
Hasidic Judaism has, over the years, taken much of the mystery and symbolism away from Kabbalah and
formed a branch of Judaism in which everyone can participate. To protect the masses, much of the transcendental
practices and theory has been watered down. Any student with the superior qualities needed to practice the art can be
instructed in the mysteries if they want to. Hasidim has provided many Kabbalistic works that are easy for the average
person to understand. They believe that every time one of them performs acts that follow the Jewish laws or perform
charitable and good acts that it frees one of the sparks. The goal of Hasidim is to free enough of the Divine sparks to
usher in the Messianic age.
The Kabbalist desires to achieve "devekuth," or attachment to God. This is done by contemplation, prayer,
good deeds, and rituals designed to teach the inner workings of the universe and man. Like the Western mystery
tradition and freemasonry, the Jewish tradition is initiatory. Although not set out in degrees or levels of status, the teacher
monitors the progress of the student and 2makes sure they do not overstep their understanding. The various methods
of achieving this state of devekuth and freeing Divine sparks are numerous. For consideration here, the most common
in the past and present will be discussed.
The practice of permutating letters is very old, stemming from at least the mid-13th Century. The theory is
based on the text Sepher Yetziarh. This system takes the Hebrew letters and allows their natural attributes (numbers,
symbol, and sephirotic position), and teaches the student to experience the letter. The system gives an angel to each
letter on the mental level. The power of the letter comes from the pure spirit that is present in the letter. Since God
created the world through letters, each letter contains all of creation in a sense, and meditating on the totality of a letter is
paramount to meditating on all of creation. The Sepher Yetzirah is a manual of the letters that was called ancient in the
year 1290 C.E. The Sepher Yetzirah is a commentary on the Genesis creation and how the letters of the Hebrew
alphabet were used.
In thirty-two wonderful paths of Wisdom did Jah, Jehovah Tzabaoth, the God of Israel, the Elohim
of the living, the king of ages, the merciful and gracious God, the exalted One, the Dweller in eternity,
most high and holy--engraved his name by three Sepharim--Numbers, Letters, and Sounds. Ten are
the ineffable Sephiroth. Twenty-two are the Letters, the Foundation of all things; there are Three
Mothers, Seven Double and Twelve Simple Letters (Westcott, 1893, pg. 11).
The Sepher Yetzirah then gives a description of the sephiroth. It continues with the description of the letters as follows:
Second; from the Spirit He produced Air, and formed it in twenty-two sounds--the letters; three are
mothers, seven are double, and twelve are simple; but the Spirit is first and above these (Westcott,
1893, pg. 12).
The text describes the formation of the other elements (water, fire, and earth or "mire and clay"). The text then
describes how God sealed the universe with letters to form His names.
He selected three letters from among the simple ones and sealed and formed them into a Great
Name, IHV, and with this He sealed the universe in six directions. Fifth; He looked above, and
sealed the Height with IHV. Sixth; He looked below, and sealed the Depth with IVH. Seventh; He
looked forward, and sealed the East with HIV. Eighth; He looked backward, and sealed the West
with HVI. Ninth; He looked to the right, and sealed the South with VIH. Tenth; He looked to the
left, and sealed the North with VHI. Behold! From Ten ineffable Sephiroth do proceed--the One
Spirit of the Gods of the living, Air, Water, Fire; and also Height, Depth, East, West, North and
South (Westcott, 1893, pg. 13).
There are many more symbolic themes given to each letter. The basic idea is derived from the text above. If
the true spirit of the letter is derived, then the spirit of the One who created them will also be there. The method was to
learn the correspondences of the letters. A student was given two weeks to learn each one. They were then told to
forget all of what they had learned. This was done to keep the conscious mind at rest and let the mind be free to explore
and leave the bounds of logic. The student would then meditate on a paradox from the Torah. They were told to read
it repeatedly until it was a blur and made no sense. They were to then continue until a burst of information rushed into
them and then to follow this wisdom until it was finished. This insight would cause a state of ecstacy. In this state
visions and then the clam of the Spirit of God would descend on the person. From here the key was to be able to return
to the mundane world with the energy and wisdom gained while in the higher world.
There are many other practices that ancient Kabbalists followed. It is a shame that very few of their methods
are known and even fewer details survive. The major modern movement is Hasidim. Hasidim is based on the
Kabbalah but only recognizes one method of mysticism. This was surely done to protect the masses from experiences
they, the uninitiated, were not ready for (like the forces of the universe that can cause insanity if not prepared for). This
was noble and a right decision. What was wrong was to lose the knowledge and understanding gained in the past.
Prayer is the only method that Hasidim uses openly. It is sure that a select few have been given knowledge of past
methods, but this is done in extreme secrecy. "When you are so engrossed in prayer that you do not feel a knife thrust
through your body, then you are offering prayer aright" (Epstein, 1978, pg. 114.). Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, a great Hasidic
teacher said:
With every word and expression that leaves your lips, have in mind to bring about a unification
[yichud]. Every single letter contains universes, souls and godliness, and as they ascend, one is bound
to the other and they become unified and attached to form a word. They are then actually united
with the Divine Essence, and in all these aspects, your soul is included with them (Epstein, 1978, pg.
114.).
The doctrine of prayer has the strongest hold on mainstream Judaism today. In the past, there were true
mystics; ones that tread where angels fear to go. They founded and matured a tradition that has lasted at least 8,000
years. Even with the fear that the average Jew might have in practicing the tradition, it has left its mark on the Rabbinic
Literature and the Torah.
Kabbalah will continue to grow in strength. There has been much more information published in the recent
past. The Jewish tradition will have to bring its knowledge to light or be consumed by the Western tradition. In many
minds, the two are the same and have the same precepts. As has been shown, this is not true. The Western tradition
has stolen the Jewish ideals and used them for their own bidding. This is what the ancient masters were trying to
prevent. In light of this fact, it is imperative that the Jews of today restate their beliefs and bring Kabbalah into the open
light of the world. This is not to say that they should give all the secrets of the past away, but at least enough to prevent
people from going astray.
The doctrine of prayer should not be forgotten. It is an effective and appropriate way to worship and also
practice the mystical tradition at the same time. Prayer is like a sweet- smelling incense rising to the nostrils of God. It is
a suiting sacrifice and gift from humans to their God. Ending this section would only be right by citing a quote about the
Baal Shem Tov, the great Hasidic Master and its most significant leader.
The Ball Shem Tov taught that to become one with prayer was to become one with God. Reaching
such exalted levels of consciousness, the Hasid lost all sense of physicality; no extraneous thoughts
came to disturb him; no fear or constriction intruded his joy. He was, as the Baal Shem Tov
described it, "like a small child whose intellect has just begun to develop." Achieved through the
words of prayer, the Hasid's devekuth was extended by love, for, like a lover, he held them fast and
did not want to let them go. "Because of your attachment to each word," wrote the Baal Shem Tov
in a letter to his brother-in-law, "you draw it out." Having thus removed the barrier between himself
and the Divine, a man came to see that there had been no barrier in the first place, no evil but the illu-
sion constructed by his own thoughts. In the Hasidic version, Ezekiel's vision of the souls who "ran
and returned" was analogous to the human soul that wishes to run to its source but must nevertheless
live in a body that eats, drinks, and earns a living and so returns to its earthly quarters (Epstein, 1978,
pg. 114).
QUMRAM (DEAD SEA) SCROLLS AND MYSTICISM
The task of providing enough evidence that would prove the practice of mysticism before the mystical
revolution in the fourteenth century seemed to be hard. It was not until the Qumran texts were analyzed that the
quantity of evidence needed was found. It was a joyous surprise to first read the entire scroll that contains one of the
best mystical descriptions ever written. This text being written during the second century B.C.E. made it an even more
momentous occasion.
All of the texts from the Qumran Scrolls, unless otherwise stated, have been taken from The Dead Sea Scrolls
in English, third edition (ISBN #1-85075-151-X), 1987, by Geza Vermes, published by Sheffield Academic Press
(phone # 1-800-666-2211). This book is the only one in English that has published if not all, then most of the translated
fragments. The key to identifying the text fragments is as follows:
TITLE: 11Q 5-6. The first number, 11, is the cave number in which the text was found. The "Q" refers to the
fragment being found at the Qumran site. "5-6", refers to the sentences of the fragment that are present. The presence
of a number after the "Q" refers to the fragment number of the text it was found on. If there is no number after the "Q"
it means that this is a small fragment that has not been paired with the rest of its text. Any text in "()'s" means that these
are translations that are implied by the form of the original word or the word has no English equivalent so this reflects the
best translation. Words in "[]'s" have been damaged or are missing and have been reconstructed as best as possible.
Parts of the text marked with "..." designates part of the text that is lost and cannot be reconstructed.
As an example, this is fragment 11Q 5-6:
11Q 5-6
...their [mar]vellous marvels by the power of the God of [eter]nity; and they shall exalt the mighty
deeds of the G[od]... From the four foundations of the marvellous firmament they shall pr[oclaim]
soundlessly (?) a divine oracle... wall. They bless and praise the God of gods...
THE SCROLLS AT QUMRAN SHOW THAT JEWISH MYSTICISM WAS
PRESENT AND PRACTICED BEFORE THE COMMON ERA.
The mystical tradition of Judaism has been one of much debate. There is much evidence that it has always
been practiced but the extent to which it has been practiced is unknown. There was a period of about 1,000 years,
when not much was discussed or written about the tradition. This leads many scholars to think that the mystical
following in the ancient past was minimal. They feel that mystical mainstreaming did not come until the 13th - 14th
centuries C.E. During this time the Zohar was published for the first time in the form that it is basically in today. The
Zohar is probably the most important single book teaching the mystical tradition in modern mainstream judaism.
The Zohar does, in language and phraseology, seem to be much older than the 13th century C.E., but there is
no known older document describing the Kabbalistic mystical tradition. The Qumran scrolls have brought more light
onto the subject of mysticism in the past 50 years than anything in the past 200 years. Although some of the Zohar and
a few of the fragments from the caves sound very similar, there have been no documents linking the two directly. In
fact, it is almost 100% probable that the Spanish writers of the Zohar had no idea that the Qumran documents existed.
It would be upsured to think that the Spanish jews knew the scrolls existed after 1,100 years.
In the light of the scrolls there has been an amazing accuracy in translating and copying of documents found.
Torah passages today are about 90% to 95% matched to the same texts of Qumran. Since this is true about the
masoretic text then it should be true of all of the different texts. If there were copies of the mystical documents at
Qumran taken into Spain with the jews, this would account for the similarities in descriptive phrases. With the aid of
computer technology, scholars in the near future will be able to answer these questions in days, whereas it would take
years to do it by hand.
The Zohar sounds much like a commentary on the texts found at Qumran. The texts based on Ezekiel are
basically a commentary on a paraphrased version of the vision of Ezekiel. The Zohar seems to be a commentary about
the same topic. The Zohar seems to draw on other themes that are not in the book of Ezekiel, but were present at
Qumran. This could mean that there are other versions of the mystical texts of Qumran still not found or hidden
carefully by the Kabbalistic jews. This also may allude that the jews in Spain during the 13th century had copies of
these or similar documents to write a commentary on, but destroyed or hid them when they were expelled from the
country.
Nevertheless, the texts found near Qumran are unique as being the oldest version of Hebrew manuscripts in
their original semantic languages. The beauty and eloquence of these texts renews a pride in the jewish religion and
venerates the old documents that have been called holy. Whether or not they prove who wrote the biblical texts is a
moot point; what is important is that the masoretic texts have not changed in over two thousand years. This could mean
that the Torah that is used today is at least 80% the same as the Torah used by Moses and the jews at the time of
Exodus.
There are many good examples of Qumran literature that was based on Ezekiel. These fragments expound
much of his vision in the terms of mystical practice. This passage seems to be some of the literature that the Zohar drew
upon in its commentary:
4Q405 23ii
... At their marvellous stations are spirits, many-coloured like the work of a weaver, splendid engraved
figures. In the midst of a glorious appearance of scarlet, colours of the most holy spiritual light, they
hold to their holy station before [the K]ing, spirits of [pure] colours in the midst of an appearance of
whiteness. The likeness of the glorious spirit is like a work (of art) of sparkling fine gold. All their
pattern is clearly mingled like the work (of art) of a weaver. These are the Princes of those
marvellously clothed for service, the Princes of the kingdom, the kingdom of the holy ones of the
King of holiness in all the heights of the sanctuaries of his glorious kingdom. The Princes in charge of
offerings have tongues of knowledge, [and] they bless the God of knowledge among all his glorious
works...
The Zohar discusses in many areas the color schemes of the sepiroth. Each "Prince" represents a sephira and the many
colors represent the color of the sephira in the different worlds of heaven and earth. The "stations" of the "spirits" are
the arch-angles and their sephiroth of action, according to the Zohar. The "King of knowledge" is a description of God
in the Zohar and other jewish documents from the 13th century. The Zohar does seem to be a commentary on an
exposition much like the ones found at Qumran. This does prove that the residents of Qumran were aware of the
mystical tradition. There are many other fragments that also can be analyzed and definitely refer to the mystical
tradition.
4Q405 14-15 i
...tongue of blessing from the likeness [of the gods] issues a [v]oice of blessing for the King of those
who exalt, and their wonderful praise is for the God of gods... their many-coloured... and they sing...
the vestibules by which they enter, the spirits of the most holy inner Temple... [And the likene]ss of
the living `gods' is engraved on the vestibules by which the King enters, luminous spiritual figures...
[K]ing, figures of a glorious l[ight, wonderful] spirits; [amo]ng the spirits of splendor there are works
of (art of) marvellous colours, figures of the living `gods'... [in the] glorious innermost Temple
chambers, the structure of [the most ho]ly [sanctuary] in the innermost chambers of the King,
design[s of `go]ds'... likeness of... most holy... [the Temple] chambers of the Ki[ng]...
This passage taken from Qumran cave 4 gives the first glimpse that the tradition of mystical practice was active
at that time, roughly 200 B.C.E. It resembles the jewish mysticism of today. The concept of the sephiroth, and the
Tree Of Life, in Kabbalistic literature is noticed almost immediately. "Vestibules" is an excellent description of the
sepiroth, and the term "many-coloured" denotes the color scale that has been used to attribute color to the sepiroth. The
phrases "gods" and "living gods" most likely describe the arch-angels that are given a station in particular sepiroth; this
explains "[And the likene]ss of the living `gods' is engraved on the vestibules by which the King enters, luminous spiritual
figures..." The term "luminous" is a descriptor of the sepiroth used to mislead the uninitiated. The phrase "luminous
spiritual figures" shows that the sephiroth have "spiritual figures" or angels assigned to them. Tradition teaches that every
sephira has an arch-angel and an order of angels ascribed to it (the first three do not have arch-angel correspondences).
In the book of Enoch, Enoch describes "the courses of the heavenly luminaries". He names the Sun, Moon,
planets, zodiac and stars. Hebrew astrologers and mystics ascribe heavenly objects with their corresponding sephira (ie.
the Moon with Yesod, the Sun with Tipareth, the Zodiac with Chokmah, Saturn with Binah and so on). Enoch
describes how to use the heavenly luminaries to keep track of time and the laws that govern them. This is all very
interesting and important in dating some of the events described in the scrolls.
There are three horoscopes in the scrolls. These horoscopes are not done like they are today. The horoscopes
are basically done by dividing a person into nine parts and assigning these parts with "light" or "darkness" in so
determining the good or evil in a person. There are also references to zodiac signs in the text. There is one horoscope
of interest. This fragment is 4QMessAr, or `Horoscope' of the Messiah or an Account of the birth of Noah":
4QMessAr
...of his hand: two... a birthmark. And the hair will be red. And there will be lentils on... and small
birthmarks on his thigh. [And after t]wo years he will know (how to distinguish) one thing from
another. In his youth he will be like... [like a m]an who knows nothing until the time he knows the
three Books. And then he will acquire wisdom and learn und[erstanding]... vision to come to him on
his knees. And with his father and his ancestors... life and old age. Counsel and prudence will be
with him, and he will know the secrets of man. His wisdom will reach all the peoples, and he will
know the secrets of all the living. And all their designs against him will come to nothing, and (his) rule
over all the living will be great. His designs [will succeed] for he is the Elect of God. His birth and the
breath of his spirit... and his designs shall be forever...
Enoch makes vague references to the luminaries as more than just the visible objects in the heavens. It is not
until he describes the Sun does he show that astrology was based on the sephiroth. Enoch does not outright state this. It
is a fact that in Kabbalistic tradition the sephira of Tipareth (astrologically the Sun) is directly controlled by Kether. As
will be shown later, Kether, (the throne of God with God (the Ain) seated) is on top of Chokmah and Binah (the
chariot of Ezekiel). It is also taught that Kether is the Vast Countenance and Tipareth the is Lesser Countenance and the
point of transmutation from the spiritual to the material. Therefore, it is logical to assume that the Sun is controlled by
God who rides a chariot while seated on His throne, and that the Sun would be seen as having a chariot of lesser
countenance than that of the vast chariot of God. The chariot is not mentioned in the Torah or other texts except in
reference to God's chariot. Enoch states that the Sun is led by a chariot thus:
1 ENOCH LXXII: 4-5
4. And first there goes forth the great luminary, named the Sun, and his circumference is like the
circumference of heaven, and he is quite filled with illuminating and heating fire. 5. The chariot on
which he ascends, the wind drives, and the Sun goes down from heaven and return through the
north in order to reach the east, and is so guided that he comes to the appropriate portal and shines in
the face of heaven.
As to the sepiroth themselves, none are given by name. This is not in itself surprising. The secrecy of the
mystical tradition was of the utmost importance. The Mishnah even goes as far as forbidding the use of Ezekiel's
passage on the chariot and throne from being read as prophetic literature in synagogue (Megillah iv, 10). It even
prohibits the discussion in private of the passages unless in the presence of a sage familiar in the subject (Hagigah ii, 1).
This refers to the Merkabah mystical tradition which is so ancient that knowledge of it has been lost completely (unless it
has been hidden that successfully for the past 5 thousand years). After the merkabah tradition arose, the Kabbalistic
tradition began to take form and grew into the system known today. There are many scholars that believe that the
merkabah tradition evolved into the Kabbalah existent today.
There is a good argument for this reasoning. The Egyptian captivity radically changed the practices of
Judaism. This led to the revamping of religious laws and ideals. It should be considered that the merkabah tradition and
the Kabbalistic tradition existed simultaneously since Egyptian references have described Kabbalah, and Kabbalah
affected some of the Egyptian religious development of that time. The two traditions were probably combined and the
merkabah hidden deep within the Kabbalistic symbolism and practice. The reason it was hidden was that it was
supposedly the most powerful and quickest form of mysticism that has existed. The secrets of God and the universe
were too readily accessible if a heathen or uninitiated person found out the methods.
The documents discussed here were also found at Masada. It should be noted that Qumran predates Masada
and that the people of Masada were, if not Essenes themselves, familiar with the literature and laws of Qumran. It is
most likely that if not all of the residents of Masada were Essene that a few were. There are some scholars that believe
that the residents of Masada found the caves near Qumran and hid there before the eventual retreat to Masada. This
would mean that the people of Masada found the texts and valued them enough to carry them while fighting a war, to
their last stand.
The text of 4Q405 19ABCD gives a description of the first three sephiroth. The text does not call them by
name but uses some of the most common descriptors of the sephiroth:
The figures of the `gods' shall praise him, [the most] h[oly] spirits... of glory; the floor of the
marvellous innermost chambers, the spirits of the eternal gods, all... fi[gures of the innermost]
chamber of the King, the spiritual works of the marvellous firmament are purified with salt, [spi]rits of
knowledge, truth (and) righteosness in the holy of [ho]lies, [f]orms of the living `gods', forms of the
illuminating spirits. All their [works (of art)] are marvellously linked, many-coloured [spirits], artistic
figures of the `gods', engraved all around their glorious bricks, glorious figures on b[ri]cks of splendor
and majes[ty]. All their works (of art) are living `gods', and their artistic figures are holy angels. From
beneath the marvellous inner[most chamber] comes a sound of quiet silence: the `gods' bless...
The spirits of "truth", "knowledge", and "righteosness" refers each to one of the first three sephiroth. These
sephiroth are separated from the rest of the sephiroth by an abyss. These three are the first representation of God that
the human mind can comprehend. Truth, knowledge, and righteosness are the ultimate qualities of God and these
sephiroth are the first "creations" or "gods" (Elohim) that were existent in this universe. Beyond the point of the first
three spehiroth is the Ain, or nothingness, the ultimate existence of God which humans cannot comprehend or
understand. Truth refers to Kether, righteosness to Chokmah, and knowledge to Binah; there are some scholars that
believe that Chokmah and binah are the chariot that Ezekiel saw and that Kether is the throne on God. There is not any
evidence that can be cited for or against this, but the similarities in the descriptions in ancient Jewish texts make this idea
very plausible. This could very well be an infusion of the merkabah tradition. At the very least it should be considered
that the first three sephiroth are in the "innermost chamber" of the holy of holies, if not the holy of holies itself (it would
seem more likely that Kether is the innermost chamber and the three make up the holy of holies).
There are descriptions of seven other "princes". The name of "prince" has been given to the seven lower
sepiroth for centuries. The text describes the power, knowledge and understanding. The amount of each is most likely
due to its position in the Kabbalistic Tree Of Life. Therefore, the "princes" closest to the first three sepiroth contain
more power (truth), knowledge, and understanding, and the further away they are the less of these virtues and the more
they are material or earthly.
4Q403 Iii, 20-29
Extol him, O sovereign Princes, in his marvellous portion, praise [the God of gods, O you seven
priesthoods of his inner Temple]. ...height, the seven wonderful domains by the precept concerning his
sanctuaries. The sovereign Princes of the [wonderful] priest[hood]... The seven priest[hoods] in the
wonderful sanctuary for seven councils of holiness... the Prince, the angels of the King in the wonderful
dwellings. The knowledge of their understanding is for seven... Prince from the priest of the inner
Temple. The Princes of the congregation of the King in the assembly of... and praises of exaltation to
the King of glory and a tower of... for the God of gods, the King of purity. The offering of their
tongues... the seven mysteries of knowledge in the wonderful mystery of the seven domains [of ] the
Ho[ly of holies]... [The tongue of the first shall be seven times stronger than the tongue of the second;
the tongue of the second shall be] seven times [stronger] than the third: [the to]ngue of the thi[rd shall
be] seven tim[es] stronger [than that of the fourth; the tongue of the fourth shall be seven times stronger
than the tongue of the fifth: the tongue of the fifth shall be seven times stronger than the tongue of] the
sixth; the tongu[e of the sixth shall be seven times stronger than the] t[ongue of the seventh tongue; the
tongue of the seventh...
The phrase "the seven mysteries of knowledge in the wonderful mystery of the seven domains..." definitely seem
to allude to the lower seven sephiroth. This passage is followed by 4Q405 14-15 i (on page one of this article), and even
though fragments are missing seems to conclude this passage with a further description of the sephirotic concepts. Passage
4Q405 14-15 i is then followed by 4Q405 19 ABCD (pages 12-13 of this article) and then proceeds to describe the first
three sephiroth and their superior strength by designating them "in the holy of holies", whereas, the remaining seven are "the
seven domains of the holy of holies." This would follow Kabbalistic tradition in that the lower sephiroth existed in the higher
sephiroth before being brought into existence.
There are many more fragments that relate to the mystical tradition. Today the tradition is Kabbalah. At the time
of the Qumran scrolls the name could have been different. It even could have been merkabah. The name of the tradition
is only important in tracing the development of jewish mysticism. What is important to the matter at hand is the number
of fragments on mysticism.
From the quantity of texts and fragments found at Qumran and the archaeological finds of ritual baths it seems
very likely that the whole community practiced the jewish mystical tradition. Just the amount of literature alone leads to the
conclusion that until the end of the jewish revolt and expulsion from Israel, the mystical tradition was a part of everyday
worship and religion. The tradition would not have survived over 1,000 years of secrecy and silence if it were not a vital
part of judaism. The resurgence of Kabbalah only follows suite to the growing strength of judaism within an information
hungry world. The people at Qumran could not have foreseen the horrors and triumphs of the jewish people over the past
2,000 years. Thanks to them modern judaism has once again found its roots and has begun to fulfill the ancient covenant
that Moses brought down from Mt. Sinai. The jews were chosen because they would accept the law, and within that law
was the esoteric knowledge that is now known as the mystical tradition. The formation of Israel has not only brought
judaism together in the Promised Land but given jews a spiritual Zion in which to practice the core of jewish religion, the
mystical tradition.
MYSTICISM, RELIGION AND PSYCHOLOGY
The esoteric branch of Judaism uses much of psychology in its practice. In fact, much of modern psychology
is based on (or parallel to) the mysticism of the past. The idea that a philosophical system developed into a religion and then
into a science shows the power in the philosophy. Many psychologists have used esoteric philosophy, both in the Jewish
and Western traditions. The new techniques of meditation and visualization are based on these traditions. Psychology is
greatly needed in the Jewish community today. Mixed marriages, holocaust survivors and their children, and anti-semitism
all have resulted in a need for trained mental health personnel. The different schools of psychology have different methods,
some of which are better for the Jew than others. A mixed form of therapy will in the end prove to be the most beneficial.
The resolution of a Jewish identity is the most important step in having a healthy life. It is impossible to escape the
Jewish heritage; and, therefore, a value of the past must be learned. The Jewish religion and culture are almost inseparable.
To be one is almost like being the other. A Jew is a Jew whether or not they follow the tradition of Judaic religious beliefs.
The person must deal with the Jewish identity and find a system of beliefs that are not in contradiction with this identity.
The development of religious belief is a psychological process. The philosophy of esoteric Judaism contains ideas
that have become popular in modern psychology. The psychological formulation of a religious philosophy and religious
identity is based on the developmental processes of religion itself.
The following are the stages of religious development that the author has developed. These form a core part of
the author's psychological theory of personality, which is heavily influenced by the philosophy of esoteric Judaism.
Religious Development
Religion is a system of moral, experiential, and legal guidelines with actualization as a goal. The term "religion" is
not limited to those who believe in spiritual ideals. There are three basic forms of religion. These different forms of religion
are deitific, multifacet, and societal. 1. Deitific religion is a system where there is a belief in a singular god. This god is the
central theme in all constructs of experience and order. 2. Multifacet religion is a system in which there is more than one
god/goddess. There could be a trinity of personalities for a particular deity or even a dual "good" and "evil" force.
3. Societal religion is a system not based on a deity but on the structure and function of a society or a culture. To the
individual, the values of that particular society or culture are seen with the same importance as the deitific or multifacet values
are to their practitioners. The ritual of societal or cultural life functions as religious ritual. All the human needs that religion
fills are met by society or culture.
The development of religious belief is closely based on the moral development. Although the values of religion
in the West are not immediate as are the moral and legal implications of actions, there are ramifications. The religious
morality is caused by a fear of the consequences of immorality in many religious persons. The religious development in
most people rarely achieves a state where the fear of "hell", be it spiritual or societal, is not the main reason for following that
belief.
The stages are thus explained:
1. Nonadoptive - the nonadoptive stage begins at birth and goes through about age 4. This stage is marked by the child not
accepting a religion or the ability to recognize any symbol or norm for that religion. The child is simply oblivious
that there is any such thing as religion.
2. Adoptive - the adoptive stage begins at about age 5 and lasts through age 7. During this stage, the child follows the
religious activities of its family or culture. There is a knowledge of the name and even some minor recognition of
symbols. The child learns from family or culture and does not question these actions nor does the child know that
there are other ways of believing. This is the first stage of indoctrination.
3. Primary - the primary stage begins at about age 8 and continues through about age 11. During this stage, the child views
the religion as concrete and its principles as not wavering. The child actively participates in learning and in worship
in a relatively autonomous way. Religious acts are performed primarily for the sake of belief, but the individual
still seeks to please the culture or family by these actions. Religious law is seen as "black and white" with no grey
areas. The beliefs of peers and others is recognized, but not taken seriously.
4. Secondary - the secondary stage begins at about age 12 and lasts until adolescence. This stage is marked by an interest
in the beliefs of their peers and other cultures without any threat to their own beliefs. Questions begin being asked
that require meaningful responses and proof as to their authority. Religious activity is autonomous and the child
seeks to participate in religious activities without parental or family involvement.
5. Religious Identity - the religious identity stage begins during the early years of adolescence. This stage lasts into young
adulthood for many people. During this stage, there is a marked interest in the beliefs and practices of other cultures
and religions. This reaches a head after leaving the home to pursue a life of their own. In many ways, this is an
identity crisis and is usually addressed during the identity crisis. There are two outcomes of this stage: a) the person
adopts a new belief or b) the person reaffirms their original belief.
6. Active Religiousness - active religiousness begins after the dilemma of the religious identity stage has been resolved. This
stage shows a devotion to the practice and doctrine adopted during the previous stage. This is the stage of normal
religious life that lasts until middle age.
7. Religious Crisis - the religious crisis stage becomes evident during middle age. When the progress of life and its goal and
direction is questioned (as in a midlife crisis) so is religion. Religion goes through another identity phase that
resembles the stage of religious identity but is marked by an emotional state of mind. Many people feel that their
religion is not worth the effort and either a new outlet is found to express religious energy, or another religion is
sought. Atheism, agnosticism and societal or deific systems are examined closely at this time, as answers to this
dilemma.
8. Religious Involvement - this stage begins during the end of the midlife years (after the crisis stage). This marks the final
religious choice made by most people. The belief system chosen will be a major influence on the remainder of
the person's life. This stage shows a dedicated involvement in religious life and the continuation of the religious
doctrine to the next generation(s).
9. Religiousness - religiousness is a state which is usually achieved in old age that is marked by a heavy involvement in the
religious community. According to their culture, people function with a great deal of dedication and are
comfortable with their life and feel good about death. This stage is where mortality becomes an issue and is
compensated by a zealous adherence to religious codes and belief. There is a deep involvement with the religious
community and much time is devoted to the teaching of future generations. This stage remains effective until
death.
The mystical traditions, unless taught from birth, become popular during two stages. The religious identity stage
and the religious crisis stage are times of questioning in the religious life of the person. This leaves a deep need for some kind
of understanding. At this time, the need may best be filled by a mystical tradition. This shows the danger inherent at these
times in life.
It is also during these times that people can become trapped by a cult or dangerous religious leader. During middle
age and adolescence there is a higher percent of people joining various cults and Satanic cults. This does seem logical due
to the psychological processes at these times, but the new doctrine will usually cause more problems later in life. As
members of a religion that has a mystical tradition, it is the duty of all members to make the tradition available to people who
seem to be turning toward this style of religion. There is nothing wrong with following a mystical branch of one's religion
but it is unhealthy to follow most cults and radical religious systems. Cults generally use methods of mental manipulation
to indoctrinate its membes. The cult situation is also not a good setting for mystical expirience. The interpretation of the
expirience is often almost as important as the expirience. Formal religions have developed over many, many years and have
methods of integrating these expiriences in socially, and religiously acceptable ways. A mystical expirience is extremely
dangerous if it can be construed to mean something different than it does, or toward the total control of the individual.
One philosophy, that both religion and esoteric tradition are based on, has become a root idea in psychology. Most
modern people have heard the term "archetype." This term is widely used but is generally misunderstood. The best idea
of the true meaning of the word comes from the man who "coined" the term, Dr. Carl G. Jung.
The term "archetype" is often misunderstood as meaning certain definite mythological images or
motifs. But these are nothing more than conscious representations; it would be absurd to assume
that such variable representations could be inherited. The archetype is a tendency to form such
representations of a motif--representations that can vary a great deal in detail without losing their basic
pattern (Jung, 1964, pg. 57).
The archetype holds an important place in the practice of esoteric traditions. The philosophy behind this goes back
to the idea that God is everything. This theory states that matter and spiritual energy can be exchanged much like matter
and energy in physics. This means that an archetype is nothing but a pure concept made up of energy. Archetypes are not
existent in the physical world but are expressed in the physical world. Many scholars refer to the Sephiroth of the Kabbalistic
system as archetypes. This is a mistake.
It is said that the Sephiroth are emanation from God. These form the basis for everything that exists. This would
mean that the Sephiroth are the basis of archetypes also. They are like the archetypes of the archetypes. Therefore, it is
unfitting for a emanation of God to be compared to a concept derived from the emanation, so a new title must be given to
the Sephiroth: the Megatype. The term megatype denotes a power of form greater than that of an archetype. A megatype
is the most pure form of energy that has been created or extended into this universe. They draw their energy from the un-
imaginable power of God.
The Sefirot were regarded not merely as powers created by God, but as emanations of the Divine Spirit
itself, a mystic unfolding of Gods cosmic being from the "Ein Sof" (literally: the Infinite), the primal
Godhead, into the material world (Frankel & Teutsch, 1992, pg. 146).
The Megatypes, given the names of the Sephiroth, are given below, along with their virtues and vices as explained in
Hebrew texts.
Kether - VIRTUE: actualization (attainment); VICE: deviance (nonacheivement).
Hokmah - VIRTUE: devotion or father (phallic); VICE: abandon.
Binah - VIRTUE: silence or mother (womb); VICE: avarice and secretiveness.
Chesed - VIRTUE: obedience, love or mercy; VICE: tyranny, bigotry, and gluttony.
Geburah - VIRTUE: strength or courage, and energy; VICE: cruelty and destruction.
Tiphareth - VIRTUE: beauty and devotion; VICE: pride.
Netzach - VIRTUE: victory and unselfishness; VICE: unchastity and lust.
Hod - VIRTUE: truthfulness; VICE: falsehood or dishonesty.
Yesod - VIRTUE: independence and vision; VICE: idleness.
Malkuth - VIRTUE: discrimination (healthy); VICE: prejudice.
Having been derived from God as the primal structure of the universe, each megatype or Sephiroth must have both a
positive and negative aspect. If this were not true, then there would be only good or evil, not a mixture of both. When
mankind first sinned they learned to draw energy from the evil aspect of the Sephiroth, and in doing so, trapped the energy,
or light, that was spilled by the "Shattering of the Vessels" in shells of matter.
To be both psychologically and religiously healthy, there must be a balance. If the mind of the individual is out of
balance then it is not like the Will of God. God is balanced in his creation and expressions. Therefore, to be healthy and
"pure" before God, all humans must be balanced.
Megatypes are the most universal and basic forms of all ideals and thought. All megatypes are inborn and present
in all humans because humans are reflections of the universe. They form the virtues and vices that have affected mankind
throughout the millennia. Megatypes have been the root of wars and rebellions but have also empowered great leaders and
thinkers. All of human experience and action can be delineated to one of the megatypes. The cultural society puts heavier
value on one particular megatype while viewing others as less optimal. A difference in the gender value is also present which
leads to what are termed "role models." Thus, culture has an impact in all archetypal and symbolic acquisitions. Each
megatype has both positive and negative aspects, which causes the ten to function as if there were twenty. The ten
megatypes have values of their own and as a group. In all cultures, they function the same. The value put on each by
society may change the perceived worth of the megatype but the need for equilibrium is the same. Equilibrium occurs in
two ways; balance and centralization.
Balance denotes an equilibration of the positive and negative aspects of the megatypes. Too much of either is
detrimental to the human condition. A balance between the positive and negative brings balance in the human for
understanding, expression, and rationalization. Centralization is an aspect of balance between the megatypes themselves.
While either positive or negative in excess is harmful, so is an imbalance of particular megatypes in relation to the others.
For example: the megatype of love and mercy would become spoiling or leniency, if out of centralization. The megatype
of independence would become anarchy without centralization. Therefore, it must be said that a balance between not only
the individual aspects but the megatypes themselves must be maintained for the growth and well-being of society, as well
as the individual. For religious growth, and the mystical lifestyle, the person must be balanced or none of their actions will
bear any fruit.
The archetype is still an important part in both esoteric Judaism and psychology. Archetypes are the universal
symbols of ideas that cannot be defined or understood completely by the conscious mind. The world of the archetype is
one of symbolic representation that conveys messages and meanings to our conscious mind by way of the ego. The ego
recognizes these as truths. The conscious mind cannot work with symbols; it relies on programming from the ego. The
most basic human ideas and the propensity for certain motifs and understanding is the structure of the archetype. The
conscious mind can only deal with the apparent present (the recent past, present and the probability of the future).
Therefore, it is not able to comprehend a possibility for becoming, which is a spiritual ability used when referring to God.
The possibility for becoming is the function of the Divine Will as expressed by an archetype. It directs the development of
thoughts and ideas with its propensities.
The archetype is a symbol whose residence is in the collective universal unconscious mind of man. The archetype
in this area is only a predisposition for certain patterns to take place. This is not, as of yet, affecting the individual. For an
archetype to affect the individual, it must become a focal point in the individual unconscious mind. To do this, it must
connect with a symbolic complex that is present in the individual unconscious mind. This connection makes the symbolic
complex an archetype with the pattern of the archetype in the universal unconscious mind but elaborated with the motif and
representations of the symbolic complex.
The development of symbolic complexes is relatively a matter of conditioning or the frequency in which ideas and
symbols are encountered. A person generally follows the motifs of their culture because they have experienced that culture
more than any other competing factor. This is also true with religion. The person is limited to the symbolic stimuli of that
particular culture. This builds in the cultural unconscious as the constants which will act as a filter to incoming and outgoing
information and accentuate a judgement on the information in accordance with the filters contents.
The development of archetypes and symbols in the human occurs in seven stages. The seven stages are thus explained:
1. Symbolic Acquisition - A symbol is transmitted to the cultural unconscious and individual unconscious mind by the
senses. The frequency in which this occurs determines the speed in which it builds into an archetype.
2. Symbolic Structuring - After being perceived many times, the symbol collects related ideas and a common factor
dominates the symbol. It grows in energy and importance.
3. Symbolic Complex - The amount of energy in the symbol and its structural detail grows enough for it to affect conscious
perceptions. The symbolic complex becomes an unconscious focus of energy.
4. Symbolic Empowerment - The psychic energy stored in the symbol reaches a prime point. The energy attracts
archetypes in the universal unconscious mind. When an equivalent archetype is found, an "arc" or spark con-
necting them occurs. The archetype in the universal unconscious sends universal energy into the symbolic complex
in the individual unconscious mind. At the same time the symbolic complex sends individual energy into the
archetype in the universal unconscious mind. These sparks continue until greater energy is stored up.
5. Archetype Connectedness - The archetype in the individual unconscious has gained enough universal energy to become
a major issue in the functioning of the unconscious mind. This causes the pattern of the archetype to become the
"rules for functioning" in the unconscious mind. Information processing and the unconscious processes follow
the directional pattern of the archetype. This in turn raises the energy of the archetype.
6. Archetypal individuation - The archetypes in both the universal unconscious and individual unconscious exchange energy
through sparks. Each time this occurs, more energy is exchanged and the frequency of the contacts increases due
to a lesser amount of energy that is needed to cause the spark. As energy crosses between the archetypes, they each
gain attributes of the other. The effect is an individualness perceived in the individuality archetype. For example,
the worshiper of a god or goddess views them as a personal deity capable of human interaction and contact and
that they possess human qualities.
7. Archetypal functioning - The archetypal connection and individuation is strong enough that it forms the basis in which
the ego deals with reality. Therefore, the archetype affects the personality and conscious functioning. The
archetype asserts ideas and energy where it sees fit to cause the "ideal pattern" to always be in control in order for
its actualization to be achieved. The archetype integrates the personality into itself (as opposed to the personality
integrating the archetype).
It is in the same manner that these symbolic complexes and the eventual archetype develops in chosen or positive
areas that the negative forms. Any misplaced energy or "unfinished business" grows in strength in proportion to its repetition.
This also occurs with evil actions or sins. The energy causes an imbalance within the energy system in the psyche. This
causes a "bad link" with the spirit and leads to spiritual problems. The complex continues to form according to the seven
stages of archetypal development. When this complex reaches stage 5, it surfaces as unhealthy behavior or an emotional
problem. Here is found the religious views of many cult leaders. They are immersed in bad connections with spiritual forces
and translate this into a unhealthy and mislead cult. If not treated and the complex reaches stage 7, that of a functioning
archetype, it will be expressed as a psychosis or personality disorder. It is always expressed as a negative energy drive and
separates the individual from the true self creating a "evil" dominated lifestyle and is many times expressed in Satanic or other
destruction-based cults and religions.
The reason for acquiring archetypes that are not seen or perceived in a person's natural culture is that there is a
propensity for archetypal cross-association. This is due to the functioning of the mind. Particular symbols are linked to one
another and therefore can be adopted into a complex. A symbolic complex will attract archetypes of both similar and
opposite (positive and negative) forms. The reason for this is at the core of the complex, because there is an innate balancing
force in the universe. The megatype that forms the underlying ideal of the complex will connect with either the positive or
negative form of that megatype. This will cause the detail structure of the complex to take on different meanings. Example:
The archetype of the savior (be it Jesus, Osiris or Ishtar) all have the same underlying core of symbols. The detail of these
complexes are different due to the different energy found in the particular motifs. An archetype can be charged by
meditation, focusing or sheer repetition of its presence. This is where the danger of mystical or esoteric traditions comes into
3play. The charging of an archetype that should not be charged will throw the person, both spiritually and psychologically,
out of balance.
Meditation is also a means of balancing the archetype in nature. If archetypes could not accept charges there would
only be positive or negative energy in the universe, not a system of the two. A change in the charge of an archetype will
cause the detail to change in proportion the change in the charge. H.P Lovecraft was raised in a Judao-Christian atmosphere
but became very connected to an ancient arabic motif: the Necronomicon. This was due to the similarity in much of its
symbolism with that of other motifs. The difference was caused by an archetype with a charge different enough to cause
the transformation of some of the detail contained within the complex, which in turn caused an attraction of this particular
motif. The Necromonicon is an ancient mystical tradition that focuses on the negative aspects of the Sephiroth. Lovecraft
wound up suffering from terrible dreams and hallucinations. At the end of his life, he went into an insanity that can only
be explained as the work of the esoteric tradition he followed.
With this idea, the circle is complete. The philosophy of Esoteric Judaism has been used for thousands of years.
The two main branches today are the Western Mystical Tradition and the Jewish tradition called Kabbalah. Both traditions
share much common information and are derived from many of the same ideas and texts. The only pure tradition is the
Hebrew Kabbalah. The Western tradition has incorporated other religions and their gods into the Jewish tradition. For the
pagan or a non-religious person, this could be fine. To a Jew or even a Christian, this idea is horrid.
The only tradition a Jew or Christian can follow with a clear conscience is the Kabbalah of Judaism. The
philosophy of Esoteric Judaism is based on the love and understanding of God. To follow the tradition a person must follow
the Torah with all of their heart and mind. The philosophy of Esoteric Judaism is simple: follow the Law and seek God
with all your might. The tradition and symbolism involved are ancient and complicated. If this is overwhelming, then use
the Hasidic tradition. This was created to take the confusion and misunderstanding out of the mystical tradition. In the phi-
losophy of Esoteric Judaism there is room for all believers, no matter what level or age. There are two modern philosophies
to follow, and which one is right for each individual depends on the individual. Do not let somebody else make up your
mind; it is a free choice and should be made cautiously and wisely.
Freemasonry
The flaming star is a Masonic symbol which represents the absolutes in being, truth, reality, reason, and
justice.
Among the mysteries of Masonic initiation, there is a mysterious, even esoteric, legend that is quite ancient. The
legend sheds more light onto the high philosophy of the Gospels which tells of the eternal marytrdom of the righteousness
for ever oppressed by evil, but forever trimphant over it. In this legend it is envy, cupidity and pride which are the three heads
of the infernal deman, but this demon is the spirit-genius of perverse men, represented by the three traitors. This ideal is
described by the legend of Hiram.
Masonic philosophy, along with Kabbalistic philosophy, is firmly against cults which constitute outrage to nature
and the order of Grand Architect Of The Universe. Its basis is eternal order. Masonry is built on charity, fortitude,
discrimination (between good and evil), morality and the love of all living things as creations of the Creator. Its guiding
principle is the immutable justice, based in strength, which presides over the laws of the universe. It rejects all idea of caprise
and privilege; it teaches equality within a group but recognizes the need for a system of government or rule. It regards the
necessity of the degrees of initiation and the classification of brothers by order of knowledge and merit. It admits, finally,
all religious and political beliefs, but rectifies them through faith in the eternal order.
Among its symbols, it admits the cross, sign of sacrifice and death, but united with the rose, which represents love
and life. The square, whereby we may square our actions by the square of virtue, and the compass, whereby we may
circumscribe our desires and keep our passions in due balance with all mankind. These represent justliness united with
justness. Masonic philosophy points out the dogmas which divide priests, pastors, rabbis, and other religious leader who
exist ostensibly to bring unity to mankind. It preaches to all charity and goodwill.
Freemasonry is the first attempt at universal synthesis of peoples and beliefs. It disreagrds sectarian ideals and brings
all races and religions to a point of equality. Masonry does not dictate beliefs or persuade political motives, except that
morality and justice tempered with mercy is a must for order in this world. Masonry has been attacked by governments
who oppress their people. It teaches democracy, and was the original democratic organization. All its members are equal,
but they must for uniformities sake, choose by election a temporary government. Religious factions have attacked Masonry.
These attacks are made out of ignorance and malice. These factions charge Masonry with attempting to undermine religion
and a belief in "God". Where religion is concerned, it is up to the individual the religious affiliation and conviction. All
Masonry requires is a believe in a Supreme Being.
As stated by Masonic law, the following are the requirement for Masonic initiation:
Qualification of candidates, State of New Mexico.
The qualifications which are essential in those who apply for initiation into the mysteries of Freemasonry are of two
kinds, internal and external. The internal qualifications of a candidate are those which lie within his own bosom, and are
not known to the world. They refer to his particular disposition toward the initiation, his motives and design in seeking an
entrance into it, and his attitude towards the Deity. Hence they are known to himself alone; and a knowledge of them can
only be acquired from his own solemn declarations. The internal qualifications of every candidate are as follows: He must
come of his own free will and accord, uninfluenced by mercenary motives. He must believe in the existance of a Supreme
Being. The external qualifications are those which refer to the outward fitness of the candidate for initiation. The person
who desires to be a Freemason must be a man, at least nineteen years old (in the Jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of New
Mexico, other jurisdictions vary), and of asound mind and body. He must be of good moral character, temperate and
industrious, capable of reading and writing, and earning an honest livelihood.
According to ancient edicts a candidate must be free born. Freemasonry has only allowed solicitation of members
in the past few years. This was only approved due to the decline in membership over the past thirty years. This is due to
the competition of organizations, like Freemasonry, with economic conditions, television, video games, and even drugs and
gangs. For a fraternal organization like masonry to survive it must appeal to the potential members. Potential members are
abundant. But the targeted group must be young if the organization is to survive with strength. The age group starting at
the minimum age agoing throught the early fourties. Do not make it unappealing for candidates of all ages, but most people
join before their fifties.
Modern times will require changes in the public presentation of Freemasonry. P.R. should be a priority in this
mass-media, information society. People are bombarded all day with advertisements and the rush of society. In this
enviroment it is hard to notice a quiet society. This lack of P.R. has made the secrecy of masonry a silence. Silence means
death in this world. Charity is the foundation of the organization but masons do not get any credit for our generosity. If
the Lion's or Rotarians give time or money they get a write-up in the newspaper or a TV news story. Is masonry so secretive
that it is willing to see Freemasonry grow old and die? After several thousand years of loyal service and generosity to
mankind, it is only masonry's just rewards to receive some credit for our actions. Blue lodge should be "advertised", without
solicitation, at all Shrine and other masonic based orgazational activities. The Shrine presence at parades, circuses and their
many other activities must make it known that they are Freemasons. Many people do not even know the groups are related
in any way.
Freemasonry has an angle to gain new candidates. It is the only organization based on morality, friendship and
brotherly love. Other than religious groups and congregations Freemasonry is the only moral organization. Not only is
morality required, but it is encouraged and tought. Morality has declined to the extent that many men are starving for it.
By offering this precious commodity the group is in a position to double membership in a couple of years. The trend in the
world today is a return to the beliefs that masonry holds dear. A belief in a supreme being, morality, and the importance
of family values and family relations have been the core of masonic beliefs. These are also becomming politically and
socially important issues. It is again time for Freemasonry to attract infleuential and zealous candidates. Masons must again
take a stand for what they believe in and do it in the view of the public.
By making morality and responsibility synonomous with the charity and comrodery of Freemasonry, there will
not be a need to solicit members. An occasional TV news story and frequent newspaper articles will make our views and
morality known. Today few people under the age of 40 know a mason and most young adults have never heard of
masonry. Freemasonsry has to much to offer the world to have its members play dead. Masonry is needed and must again
answer the need of society as it has for the past few thousand years. Therefore, it is a social duty to promote any
organization that makes it possible to find good, honest, and moral friends to replace the drug abusers and drug dealers that
are many modern childrens' friends (if you can call them that). Freemasonry makes good men better.
Masonic tradition teaches its origins began with the building of the first Temple. It claims its first leader was King
Solomon. The following extracts are from An Eighth-Century manuscript. It is in the posession of a Masonic government
in Europe. Spain and England, if not mistaken, both have copies.
THE LEGEND OF HIRAM
Solomon, the wisest king of his time, wanting to build a Temple to the Eternal, assembled together in Jerusalem
all suitable workers for the construction of this edifice. He had and edict published throughout his kingdom and which
spread thence over the entire world; that whoever wished to come to Jerusalem to work on the Temple would be recieved
and recompensed, on the condition that he be virtuous, full of zeal and courage and not subject to any vice. Soon Jerusalem
was filled with a multitude of men who were aware of the nobel virtues of Solomon and who asked to be inscribed as
workers on the Temple. Solomon, having thus assured himself of a large number of workmen, made treaties with all the
neighboring kings, in particular with the King of Tyre, to the effect that he might select from the mount of Lebanon all the
cedears and other woods and materials necessary.
The work was already under way when Solomon remembered a man named Hiram, in archetecture the most
the most knowledgeable man of his time, and wise and virtuous as well, one who, because of his fine qualities, had found
favor with the king of Tyre. He noted also that so great a number of workers could not carry on thier work without a great
deal of confusion; thuss the Temple's progress was begenning to be greatly hampered by the discussions which took place
among them. Solomon resolved, then, to give them a chief capable of maintaaining order, and chose this man Hiram, an
Ethirian by nationality. He sent deputies loaded with gifts to the king of Tyre, asking him to send the famous architect called
Hiram. The king of Tyre, delighted with the esteem Solomon showed him, accorded his request, sending him back Hiram
and his deputies burdened with riches and instructed to tell the ruler that beyond the treaty they had made together, he
accorded Solomon an allience for ever, placing at his disposition all that might be found in his kingdom which could prove
useful. The deputies arrived in Jerusalem, along with Hiram, on 15 July..., a beautiful summer day. They entered
Solomon's palace. Hiram was received with all the pomp and magnificence due his great virtues. The same day Solomon
gave a feast for all the Temple workers in honor of his arrival.
The next day Solomon called together the Chamber of Advisers to settle matters of importance; Hiram was among
them and recieved with favor. Solomon said to him before all present: "Hiram, I chose you as cheif and head architect for
the Temple, as I chose each of the workers. I give you full power over them, your decisions will be final; thus I regard you
as my friend to whom I would confide the greatest of my secrets." Next they left the council chamber and went to the
Temple's site where Solomon himself said in a loud and intelligible voice to all the workers, showing Hiram to them: "Here
is the man I have chosen as your chief, it is he who shall guide you; you will obey him as you would me. I give him full
power over you and over the work. All dissentions as regards my orders or his shall be punished in whatever manner he
sees fit." Then they made a tour of the work that had been done; and all was put into Hiram'a hands, and Hiram promised
the King that all would soon return to order.
The following day Hiram called together all the workers and said to them: "My friends, the King, our master, has
put me in charge of maintaining order among you and of regulating all the work on the Temple. I have no doubt that all
of you are filled with zeal to execute his orders and mine. There are those among you which deserve distinguished salaries;
each of you may acheive this, proof will be in your work. It is for your own peace of mind and to honor your zeal that I
am going to form three classes out of all of you: the first will be composed of apprentices, the second, of fellows, and the
third, of masters. The first will be paid accordingly and will recieve its salsry at the gate of the Temple, coloum J. Likewise
the second at the gate of the Temple, coloumn B. Likewise, the third, in the sancturary of the Temple."
Payment was higher according to rank, and each of the workers was happy to accept the authority of so worthy
a chief. Peace, friendship and concord reigned among them. The good Hiram, wanting that all remain workers, applied
to each signs words and tokens by which its members could be recognized. They were prohibited from confiding these
without due trial, strict exanimation and permission from the King or of thier chief, and the masters. Thus they received their
salaries and were paid as masters. The fellows were paid as fellowes and the apprenticies were paid as bearers of burden,
or apprientices. In accor
dance with a prefect system each contributed in peace and worked progressively as SOLOMON had desired.
No organization, even that of King Solomon, could exist without hint of revolution or disorder. Three fellows of
the craft motivated by avarice, envy, and greed, desired to receive the pay of masters, resolved to learn the necessary token
and gesture; and that they could only obtain it from Hiram, thier respectable master, it became thire plot and design to get
the token and signs from their master Hiram. Either willingly or by force they plotted to extract the knowledge from the
man. Sine Hiram, the righteosous, the honorable and just, went into the Holies of the sancturary three times daily, the last
towards sundown in order to pray to the IHVH TZABOATH, the ELOHIM of the Living, the ADONI ECHAD, the
Dweller in Eternity, the three men devised a revolution, a design against the system, to obtain the information form thier
master Hiram. The men, the allies of Asazal, agreed to obtain it from him by force if not willingly. Since Hiram went thrice
daily into the sancturary of the Temple to make prayesr to the most Holy Divine, they gaurded the three gates into and out
of the Temple. The three doors, to the East, West and South, they positioned themselves each at one door, being three of
them and three doors. They were armed individually with a measuring rule of twenty-four inches, an iorn rod, and a mallet
or hammer, the men waited.
Hiram Abiv, the master, having finished his prayer, went about his normal routine. When he went to leave by the
southern door he met and was stopped by the first man who demanded, by the pain of the ruler, to know the master's word.
Hiram, astonished by the threat of the twenty-four inch gauge, pointed out quickly that is was not in this way that he might
obtain and wield the secret, and that he would rather die than to give it out unlawfully. The traitor, infiriated by he defiance
and justice of the rufusal, struck him about the neck with the rule. Hiram stunned by the bloew ran back into the Temple
and ran toward the western door. There Hiram met the second villian. The traitor also demanded of him the information
of the master just as the first traitor. Hiram remained in his refusal and so angered the second man who struch him a blow
with the iron rod. Hiram, confused by the blow, ran back into the Temple, assured in his escape ran to the eastern door.
Certain he would get away he was astonished again by the third villionous traitor. The third traitor demanded the same
deman and was more voilent in his demeanor. Hiram declined prefering death to disjustice and was rendered dead by a
blow by a hammer, the mallet of the third evil traitor. The third man killed Hiram, outright with a single blow. As it was
still daylight, the evil traitors took the body of Hiram and hid it in the rubble of the Temple, towards the north, a place of
darkness. Then they waited for nightfall. And when accordingly, when it was night, nearing the striking of twelve, they
carried the body out of the city to a high mountain where they burried it. There they plotted to carry it further away some
day soon. Therefore; they planted a twig of acacia, a branch, so as to be able to recognize the place of burrial. They
returned to Jeursalem.
The great and honorable Hiram was in the habit of going daily, in the morning, to Solomon to account of the
progress and to receive orders for the day. Not seeing Hiram, Solomon, kong of Israel, sent his officers to find Hiram. The
man returned saying he had searched everywere and nobody had seen or heard Hiram. Solomon, saddened by this
information, ordered a search of the city to be made. Solomon himself went to look for Hiram, who was a man of honor
and justice. The third day, Soplomon, who had made his way to the Temple to pray, came out by the eastern door,
suprised to see a few traces of blood. He followed them to a pile of waste on the building's northern side, and had it
searched. Nothing was found. The only clue was that the waste had been recently moved or disturbed. He trembeled with
horror and concluded that Hiram had been murdered. Solomon went back into the sancturary to mourn the loss of so great
a man as Hiram. Then he went out to the court of the Temple where he called together all of the masters. He said to them
"My brothers, the loss of your cheif is a certainty." At the sound of these words each of them fell into deep saddeness and
despair, which brought about a long period os silence, that was at last interrupted by Solomon. He said that nine from
among them must go in search of Hiram's body. His body must be found and brought back inside the Temple at once.
Solomon has scarcely finished speaking when all the masters voiced their desires to go, even the oldest without
regard for difficulty of the surrounding roads. Seeing thier zeal, Solomon decided that the nine woulded be decided by vote.
Those whom chance selected for the search were so transported by joy that they undid thier sandles so as to be more agile
and set out directally. Three took the road to the South, three the road to the West, and three that to the East, promising one
another to meet in the North on the nineth day of thier search. Eventually one of them sat dowm to rest, being tired, layed
on the ground. Upon standing, he took hold of an acacia tree, and lo, it gave away. This of course, suprised him, and it was
then that he found a rather rather large plot of newly turned earth. He deduced that Hiram was buried beneath in this place.
His strength renewed by courage, he rejoined the other masters who came together, explained what had happened,
and they all began to dig in the ground, enlivened with a single purpose. The body of the master, the good Hiram was, in
fact, buried in the same spot, and when they uncovered it at last, they recoiled in horror. The sorrow took hold of thier hearts
and they wept a long time: but at last they found again thier courage. One of them went into the grave and took hold of
Hiram [...] thinking to raise him. His flesh was in a state of decompisation and foul smelling, which made him fall back.
Another took hold of him [...] thinking to raise him and the same thing to him.
The masters held a consultation. Since they did not they did not know that in dying, Hiram had preserved the
secrecy of the knowledge of the masters, they would have to change it. Deciding that the [...] when the body was raised
[...]. Then the oldest of them entered the grave and gripped [...] lifed Hiram from the grave. Then they repeated [...] ...then
they carried the body fo the good Hiram back to Jerusalem. They arrived in the middle of the night, but the moon was
exceedingly bright, and they entered the Temple where they set the body down. Informed by thier arrival, Solomon came
to the Temple, accompinied by all the great masters. All attired in aprons and white gloves, wherre they gave the last honors
and rights to the good and great Hiram. Solomon had him buried near the sancturary and had a gold plate, of a triangular
shape, placed on his tomb. The triangular plate had engraved on it the Hebrew name of the Eternal. Then Solomon
rewarded the masters with compasses of gold which they attached to thier garments by means of a blue ribbon, and they
exchanged new tokens and gestures.
Having laid Hiram's body to rest in the sanctuary, as close to the Holy of Holies as Jewish law allows, with all due
pomp and magnificance, Solomon called all the masters together and said "My brothers, the traitors who commited this
murder must not go unpunished. Their identity can be discovered, this is why I command you to carry out a search with
all the secrecy and care possible, and leave no area unsearched. When they are discovered, I wish no harm to befall them:
they should be brought to me alive so that whatever vengence is undertaken, it will be mine. I command twenty-seven of
you to carry out this search, taking care to obey my orders exactally." Each of them wished to be included, but Solomon,
just and moderate in his desires, repeated that only twenty-seven were needed and that nine would take the East road, nine
the South, and the oyhers the West and ordered them to be armed with clubs and daggers to protect them from all dangers
that might befall them. He had them named directally by general vote. Those who were chosen left immediately caring
only to execute the king's orders and venerate Hiram's name.
Three traitors, having resumed work following thier crime, and then seeing Hiram's body had been discovered,
felt certain that Solomon would proceed with an investigation in order to determine who the murderers were, which is
exactally what occured. They left Jeusalem at nightfall, splitting up so that if they were discovered they would be less
suspect. Each went thier own way and into foreign lands.
The fourth day of walking found the nine masters fatigued in anrocky valley at the foot of the Lebanon Mountains.
Night was falling so the decided to rest, and that each should take turnes at gaurd, a little aways ahead of the others. The
first went on watch. The watch he was keeping caused him to walk a distance ahead of the others. He percieved a light
in the distance; he was suprised and trembled. At last he took courage and ran to the place where the light was comming
from to find out what it was. As he drew near, he again took courage and made ready to enter what turned out to be an
enterance of a cave. The enterance was narrow and low so that he had to bend over, with his right hand extended before
his head to protect himself from the points of rock, placing one foot ahead of other and making as little noise as possible.
In this way he came finally to the heart of the cave where he saw a man laying asleep. He recognized him immediately as
one of the workers from the Temple in Jerusalem, one of the class of fellows, and certain that he had come upon one of
the assassigns, the desire to avenge Hiram's death made him forget the order of Solomon, and took a dagger at the mans
feet and cut off his head. Having done this, he felt himself thirsty and took a drink from a spring that bubbled in the cave
and quinched his thirst. Then he left the cave with the dagger in one hand and the man's head in the other, holding it by the
hair.
He rejoined his companions, who were seized with horror at the sight. He told what happened in the cave and
how he came upon the traitor who sought refuge there. His comrads explained to him that his overzealousness had caused
him ti disobey the order of the king. Realizing his fault, he stood speachless. Familiar with the goodness and mercy of the
king promised him to obtain his pardon. They immediatly took the road back to Jerusalem, accompinied be he who still
held the head in one hand and the dagger in the other. They arrived nine days after their departure, at the moment when
Solomon, as was his custom, had closed himself in the sanctuary with the masters to mourn for the good and worthy master
Hiram. All nine went in; the last one carying the head and dagger in his hands, and they cried three times "vengence."
Solomon trembled at the sight and said: "Wretch! What have you done? Did I not tell you that all vengence was mine?"
Immediately all the masters placed one knee on the ground and cried: "Be merciful to him!" explaining that it was
his too-great zeal and in the heat of passion which had caused him forget his orders. Full of kindness, Solomon pardoned
him and ordered that the traitors head should be displayed in sight of all workers, atop an iron rod. This was immediately
carried out and attention was directed to the discovery of the other two traitors.
Seeing that the traitors had split up, Solomon believed it to be too difficult to find the other two. He had an edict
published throught his kingdom, and those of his allies, prohibiting them from opening thier door to a stranger and promising
huge rewards to those who might bring these traitors to Jerusalem; and the same to anyone bearing information on the
traitors whereabouts. A worker in the mines of Tyre was well aquainted with a foreign man who had taken refuge in a cave
near the quarries and confided his secret, making the worker promise to gaurd it with his life. Since the man came daily to
the next village to procure food for the fugitive in the cave, he was in the village at the exact moment that Solomon's edict
was displayed and read. He thought long about the rewards mentioned and the promises to those who assisted the search
and capture of the murders of the famous Hiram. Personal and family interest, because the man was realitively poor,
eventually moved the man and won out over the fidelity to the promise made with the fugitive. At that very moment he
started out on foot to Jerusalem.
After a short time he met up with the nine masters that Solomon had sent to find the guilty men. Seeing them the
man became fearful and trembled. The masters, seeing this, inquired from where he was comming from and as to his
destination. He made a gesture as to tear out his tongue and placed one knee on the groung and kissed the right hand of
his interogator, and said: "I believe you to by the envoys of Solomon seeking the traitors who murdered the great architect
Hiram, who was working on the temple. I have something to say, thought I am breaking my word and honor by telling
you, but I cannot do other than follow the orders of my king, Solomon. He has made knowledge known to us through an
edict and I am bearing news as to location of one of the traitors spoken of. One of the traitors you seek is hiding in a cave
near the quarries of Tyre and next to a large bush, but there is a dog stationed at the enterance of the cave as to warn of the
approach of anyone. The cave is about one-days walk from here.
Hearing this, the masters commanded him to lead them to the cave. He obeyed and took them to the quarries of
Tyre, pointing out the place the traitor lay in hiding. They had been gone from Jerusalem fourteen days when they found
the traitor. Night was falling and the sky was overcast and a rainbow appeared above the bush making it appear to burn.
As they stared, they became aware of the enterance of the cave. They drew closer, saw the dog asleep, and took off thier
shoes so as not to be heard by him. A few of them went into the cave where they found the traitor asleep. They bound
him and took him, with the man who found him, back to Jerusalem.
They arrived on the eighteenth day following thier departure just at the time work on the Temple was ceasing.
Solomon and all of the masters were in the sancturary, mourning Hiram as was thier custom. The nine went in, presenting
the traitor to Solomon, who questioned him, and made him admit his guilt. Solomon passed sentence that his body be laid
open, his heart torn out, his head cut off and placed on the end of a metal bar, like the first in view of all the workers. And
his body was thrown on a pile of rubbish heap to serve as fodder for scavangers. Solomon then rewarded the quarrie
worker and sent him, satisfied, bnack to his country. Attentioned turned for the search for the third and final traitor.
The last nine masters had begunto despair of ever finding the third and final traitor. When, on the twenty-second
day of thier search, found themselves lost in a forest in Lebanon and obliged to cross over several perilous places. They had
to spend the night there; they naturally chose spots that they were assured protection from the wild beasts that roam the
countryside. The next morning as day was beginning to break, one of them set out to explore this place they were. From
a distance he spied a man with an axe who lay at the foot of a large rock. It was the traitor they were looking for, who,
having learned of the arrest of his accomplices, was fleeing into the desert to hide. Seeing one of the masters from the
Temple in Jerusalem, he got up thinking he had nothing to fear from a single man. After noticing the other eight further
off, he turned and fled with all his strength, which proved his guilt to the masters, indicating that, in fact, he was the man they
were seeking.
They gave persuit. At last the traitor, fatigued by the difficult terrain he was obliged to cross, could do nothing but
wait resolsutely, determined to defend himself and diee rather than be taken alive. As he was armed with an axe, he
threatened to spare none of them. Paying no aattention, the masters themselves armed, drew closer to him and telling him
to surrender. Stubborn in his resolve, the traitor jumped into the misdt of them and defended himself furiously for a long
time, without wounding any of them because the masters only warded off his blows, wishing to bring him back alive to
Solomon in Jerusalem. To this end, half of them rested while the others fought.
Night was beginning to fall when the masters, fearful of lest the darkness allow the traitor to escape, attacked him
in full force, seizing him at the very moment he wished to jump from the edge of a high rock. Then they disarmed him,
bound him, and led him back to Jerusalem where they arrived on the twenty-seventh day folowing thier departure, at the
same time Solomon and the other masters were in the sancturary, praying to the Eternal and mourning Hiram. The
returning masters went in and presented the traitor to Solomon, who questioned him and found him to be unable to justify
himself. He was condemed to have his stomach opeened, his entrails torn out, his head cut off and the remainder of his
body burned and the ashes spread to the four corners of the Earth. All these things being accomplished, Solomon directed
the work on the Temple wwith the aid of all the masters, and peace and harmony was restored.
The History of the Kinght of the Lion
It is said that when Solomon had pardoned the fellows who had considered revolt and had made certain they had
returned to thier duties, one of these same fellows could not forget the punishment handed out to his three companions,
finding it unjust, decided to make an attempt on the life of Solomon. He entered his palace with a dagger and killed one
of the king's officers who tried to stop him. He then fought with Solomon who forced him to take flight and to flee to a
hiding place in the mountains. Solomon's gaurds spent twelve days in persuit of him with no success. One of them, named,
Boece, saw a loin dragging a man into its lair. He fought with the lion and killed it and recognized the man to be the one
they were seeking, choked to death by the lion. Boece cut off his head and took it to Solomon, who rewarded him by giving
him a ribbon, a symbol of virtue, from which he hung a golden lion, a symbol of valour; and in its mouth the lion held the
cugdel with which it had beed killed.
After the completion of the Temple, several workers placed themselvees under a single leader and worked for the
reformation of moral behavior, building spiritual edifices and gaining a reputation for their charity. They were called the
Kadosh Fathers, which means "detached by the holiness of their lives."
They did not last too long a time, however, for they forgot their duty and their obligations and aravice made them
hipocrites.
The Ptolemy Philedelphians, kings of Egypt, princes of astrologers, were among the most celebrated and constant
friends of the truth; they ordered that sixety brothers work on translations of the Holy Scriptures.
The Kadosh Fathers soon strayed from their duties by over-reaching the limits of decency. Nevertheless, the order
was preserved, for several of them, devoted followers of the law they originated, with drew to themselves. They elected
a Grand Master for life; one part remained in Syria and Sicily, centering their lives on good works; the other part went to
live in the lands which they held in Lybia and Thebaid. These same places were later inhabited by recluses known as
Fathers of the Sesert; once again they were called "Kodesh", meaning holy or seperate.
Neither Jews or Christians have ever daid anything bad about them. Thier Grand Master was named
Manchemm. After the destruction of the Temple, several embraced Christianity, adopting it because they saw nothing in
it which was not in conformity to their way. They formed groups, members of a larger family. All they posessed became
common property. Alexander, patriarch of Alexandria, was the movement's greatest partisan and ornament. They passed
their lives praising and blessing God and helping the poor whom they considered their own brothers. It is in this way that
this respectable order matintained itself until near the end of the Sixth Century, and all brothers today seek to enhance its
honored reputation.
Key to Masonic Parables
Solomon is the personification of supreme knowledge and wisdom. The temple is the realization and image of
the hierarchic reign of truth and reason on the Earth. Hiram is man, come to power through knowledge and wisdom. He
governs with reason and order, giving each according to their works.
Each degree of the order has a word which expresses its capacity for understanding. There is only one word for
Hiram; this word can be pronounced three diferent ways: one is for apprentices; and is pronounced by them--it
signifies nature. It is explained through work. Another way is for fellows, and with them it signifies-- thought,
explained through study. Still another way is for the masters. In thier mouths, the word signifies truth and is explained
through wisdom.
There are three degrees in the heirarchy of beings. There are three gates to the temple. There are three rays in a
beam of light. There are three forces in nature. These forces are symbolized by the measuring stick which unites, by the
metal rod or lever which elevates, and the mallet which steadies and makes them firm. The rebellion of brute instinct against
the autocracy of wisdom arms itself successively with these three forces. There are three rebels: the rebel against nature,
the rebel against knowledge, and the rebel against truth. They are symbolized in the hell of the ancients by the three heads
of Cerberus. In the Bible they are symbolized by Corea, Dathan, and Abiron. In Masonic legend they are designated by
symbols whose Kabbalistic combinations vary according to the degree of initiation.
The first, ordinarily called Abiram or murder of Hiram, strikes the Grand Master with the measuring stick. It is
in this way that so many were sacrificed in the name of the law. The second, named Miphiboseth, from the name of an
absurd pretender to David's throne, strikes Hiram with the iron rod. It is thus that the popular reaction to tyrrany becomes
another tyrrany and proves even deadlier to the reign of wisdom and virture. Finally, the third puts an end to Hiram with
the mallet, as do the brutal restorers of so-called order, who ensure their authority by crushing and oppressing intelligence.
The acacia branch on Hiram's grave is like the cross on the alters of Christ. This can also be attributed to the
Magan David. This is the symbol of knowledge which survives knowledge itself and which for ever protests against the
murders of thought. When man's errors have disturbed the order of things, nature intervines, like Solomon in the Temple.
The death of Hiram must always be avenged, the murders may go unpunished for a while, but thier time will come. He
who struck with the measuring stick provoked the dagger's blow. He who struck with the iron rod will die by the axe. He
who was momentarily victorious with the mallet will fall victum to the force the he misused and will be choked by the lion.
The murder of the measuring stick is unmasked by the very lamp which gives him light and by the spring where he
quenches his thirst, that is, he cannot escape retaliation. The murder of the iron bar will be taken by suprise when his
watchfullness fails, like that of a sleeping dog. The lion who devoures the murderer of the mallet is one of the formes of
the Sphinx of Oedipus; and he who conquorers him deserves to suceed Hiram.
The prutrified body of Hiram shows that dead, exhausted forms are not resurrected. Hiram is the only true, the
only legitimate king of the world, and it is of him one shopuld speak in saying:
The King is dead!
Long live the King!
Freemasonry has as its goal the reconstitution of Hiram's monarchy, and the spiritual rebuilding of the Temple.
Then the three-headed dragon will be bound in chains, then the shadows of the three murderers will be confined in
darkness. Then the living stone, the cubic stone, the golden cube, the cube with twelve doors, the new Jerusalem will come
down to Earth from Heaven, according to the Kabbalistic prophecy of St. John and those of the original covenent.
The spring, flowing near the first murderer, shows that the rebellion of the first age was punished byu the flood.
The burning bush and rainbow which lead to the discovery of the second murderer represent the holy Kabbalah which rises
in opposition to the hyprocritical, idolatrous dogmas of the second age.
Finally, the vanquished lion represents the triumph of mind over matter and the submission of brute force to
intelligence, which is to be a sign of consummation and of the coming of the sanctum regnum.
Since the beginning, by creative mind, of work on the building of the temple of truth, Hiram has been killed many
times, and always resurrected:
Hiram is Adonis killed by the bear,
He is Osiris, murdered by Set,
He Pythagorus outlawed,
He is Orpheus torn to pieces by the Bacchantes,
He is Moses, buried, alive perhaps, in the caves of Mount Nebo,
He is Jesus, murdered by three traitors; Caipous, Judas Iscariot, and Pilate,
He is Jacques de Molay, condemed by a Pope, denounced by a false brother, and burned by order of a king.
The work of the Temple is that of Messianism, that is, the accomplishment of Israelite and Christian symbolism. It is order
maintained through the equalibrium of duty and right, unshakable foundations of power. It is the re-establishment of
heirarchic initiation and of the ministry of thought, ruling the monarchy of strength and intelligence. EVERYTHING
THAT IS DONE IN THE WORLD WOULD LACK MEANING IF THIS WORK WERE NOT SOME DAY
ACCOMPLISHED.
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