The Mystical Kabbala

"The Qabalah may be defined as being the esoteric Jewish doctrine. It is called in Hebrew QBLH, Qabalah, which is derived from the root QBL, Qibel, meaning 'to receive'. This appellation refers to the custom of handing down the esoteric tradition by oral transmission, and is nearly allied to 'tradition'."

"The Qabalah was first taught by God himself to a select company of angels, who formed a theosophic school in Eden. After the Fall the angels most graciously communicated this heavenly doctrine to the disobedient children of earth, they furnish the protoplasts with the means of returning to their pristine nobility and felicity.

From Adam it passed over to Noah, and then to Abraham, the friend of God, who emigrated with it to Egypt, where the patriarch allowed a portion of this mysterious doctrine to ooze out. It was in this way that the Egyptians obtained some knowledge of it, and the other Eastern nations could introduce it into their philosophical systems. Moses, who was learned in all the wisdom of Egypt, was first initiated into the Qabalah in the land of his birth, but became most proficient in it during his wanderings in the wilderness, when he not only devoted to it the leisure hours of the whole forty years, but received lessons in it from one of the angels.

By the aid of this mysterious science the law-giver was enabled to solve the difficulties which arose during his management of the Israelites, in spite of the pilgrimages, wars, and frequent miseries of the nation. He covertly laid down the principles of this secret doctrine in the first four books of the Pentateuch, but withheld them from Deuteronomy. Moses also initiated the seventy elders into the secrets of this doctrine, and they again transmitted them from hand to hand."

     - McGregor Mathers, Introduction to The Kabbalah Unveiled

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The Kabbalah, in one form or another, is the system of dividing the Universe into ten main worlds or areas of reality ( ref. diagram above ). There is an eleventh world or sefirah as they are known in kabbalism called Daath which means something like 'the Abyss' but it is generally thought that this is merely a shift from the lower and mid section to the higher upper section.

Crowley wrote extensively about the Kabbala and based many of his workings and ideas on it. His most famous work on the Kabbala is the book 777 which lists the many correspondences to each sefirah and each path to the sefira. Some of the correspondences are listed below.

Sefirah	Meaning	Astrological	Colour	Greek Gods
Kether	crown	-	White	Iacchus *
Chockmah	wisdom	Zodiac	Silver	Uranus
Binah	understanding	Saturn	Black	Kronos -Rhea
Daath	void?	abyss?	Grey	Hades?
Chesed	mercy	Jupiter	Blue	Zeus
Geburah	strength	Mars	Red	Ares
Tiphareth	beauty	Sun	Yellow	Apollo
Netzach	victory	Venus	Green	Aphrodite
Yesod	splendour	Mercury	Orange	Hermes
Hod	foundation	Moon	Purple	Artemis
Malkuth	kingdom	Earth	various	Demeter

* Iacchus = Iak Sattet? Yog Sothoth?

The Golden Dawn used the Kabbala extensively in their rituals and one such working included a rite dedicated to Hermes Tristemticus, thrice great Hermes, the legendary father of all magick and sorcery, the contemporary of the archetypal mage, Thoth. ( pron. Tehowteh )

Such a working consisted of using all the correct correspondences to Hermes, i.e. the sefira Yesod. An eight angled octangle was drawn in orange chalk, ( the colour of Yesod ) and eight orange candles burned at each point of the octangle. A triangle drawn again in orange chalk was drawn in the direction where the planet Mercury was at that time and at each angle of the triangle incense appropriate to this sefira was burned. The smoke from the incense was said to be what the image of the being manifested would be made of.

The rite would be performed on Wednesday as this is the day of Woden, the Norse counterpart to the Hellenic Hermes and preferably at a certain point of the day allegedly to be ruled by the planet Mercury. Images of the god Hermes or tolls associated with him would be placed near or within the triangle. The caduceus, a tool better known now as being associated with medicine, a wand with two serpents intertwined, would be used to channel the magickians thought-energy or mana to cause a 'presence' to be made of the god Hermes. Suitable evocations would be intoned, probably in Greek as Hermes is a Greek god, but English would do just as long as the right meanings are said in the words.

Crowley performed such a working to evoke Hermes, the god of commerce and communications, to supply him with money and in doing so made Hermes 'charge' an orange phallus, a suitable symbol of Hermes the bountiful, with mana ( mystical energy ) in much the same way as one would do with a battery.

Of course such magick workings are only aids to a magickian, it is only the concentration of pure will that can achieve anything in life, whether magickal or otherwise. By simply drawing a few shapes and saying a few words, the power of the gods would NOT automatically manifest it self, it is only through the mind of the individual could such feats be attempted.

The Kabballa is based upon a sacred pattern drawn similar to that of a tree. The tree is a very popular religious symbol amongst many cultures and races and is usually associated with shamanism, such as the Ygdrasil of the Norse myths. Ygdrasil it self means Ygrs' Steed and is a reference to the Norse god of magickians, ( shamans ) Woden, in one of his forms as Ygr, the giant god ( this name is where the common word Ogre comes from ). Shamanism is based on the idea of the shaman entering a trance and leaving this world - reality and going beyond to seek wisdom from the gods, this is true for the kabbalist who utilises the same principle except in a more elaborate manner.

At the root of the world tree in the Norse myths lies Nidhog, the great serpent that gnaws at it trying to stop it growing, this corresponds very closely to the idea of the Qlippoth, the twisted spawn of the worlds. Legend has is that when Ain Soph, the Infinite Light, God, created the tree with all its worlds, some of the matter ( seeds ) from the worlds overspilled and caused a 'counter tree' to be created. This counter tree gave birth to the Qlippoth, demonic dwellers of the spaces between the worlds. Each sefira too has its own group of Qlippoth, Malkuth, Earth, is represented as a beautiful young queen on a throne, the archetypal Kore fertility maiden, the qlippothic counter to this is said to be Lillith, the old hag of Talmud legend. The link between the Qlippoth and the Great Old Ones is expressed quite clearly in this quote from the Necronomicon :

Let all who read this book be warned thereby that the habitation of men are seen and surveyed by that Ancient Race of gods and demons from a time before time, and that they seek revenge for that forgotten battle that took place somewhere in the Cosmos and rent the Worlds in the days before the creation of Man, when the Elder Gods walked the Spaces, the race of MARDUK, as he is known to the Chaldeans, and of ENKI our master, the Lord of Magicians.

The Qlippoth inhabit the places beyond normal time and space and are ever trying to come to the earth reality, some of the Great Old Ones were too imprisoned in parrallel universes and strive for the day 'when the stars are right' and they can walk ( or crawl ) freely upon the once sane world of Man. Certainly the likes of Kenneth Grant have tried to incorporate creatures from the Cthulhu mythos with the workings of Crowley et al, with some success I dare say.

The kabbala has experience quite a recent revival in the wake of the so-called 'new age' movement. It should however be noted that it is a very seroius and ancient religous beleif not to be confused with neo-fad culture of feng shui and other half baked idiocies.

On each page there is a list of correspondancies related to each sefira and a brief description of its assets and virtues. Kabbalism is only one version of magickal workings, it is a good basis but its worth is entirely up to the individual.