


                                                                             201


          I.   The Board shall meet regularly, at least four times per year,  at
               a time  and place  to be  fixed by the  Board. Additionally,  The
               Chair  or any two Directors may call  a Board meeting upon giving
               at least 7 days notice to all Directors by  U.S. Mail, or upon at
               least 2  days  notice given  by telegram.   Said  notice will  be
               deemed delivered when  deposited in the U.S.  Mail with the  last
               known address of the Director and proper postage thereon prepaid,
               or  when the  given to  the telegram  company.  Any  Director may
               waive notice of any meeting.  The attendance of a Director at any
               meeting shall  constitute a  waiver of  notice,  except when  the
               Director attends the meeting for the express purpose of objecting
               to  the transaction of business because  the meeting has not been
               lawfully called  or convened.   The notice  of meeting need  only
               contain the date, time, and place of the meeting.   
          J.   The  Board may  make  rules  to govern  the  conduct  of its  own
               meetings.  
          K.   All  Board  Meetings  are  open   to  the  membership  of   DAWN.
               Accordingly,  any Director  is  required  to furnish  information
               regarding dates,  times, and places of upcoming Board meetings to
               any DAWN member upon request.  

     II.  STEERING COMMITTEE
          A.   The  Steering Committee shall be composed  of the Directors,  one
               representative   from  each   member   coven   and   proportional
               representation  for such  DAWN members  as do  not belong  to any
               member coven (hereinafter referred  to as Solitaries). The method
               of  choosing a coven representative is  left to the discretion of
               the individual coven.   A method for choosing representation  for
               Solitaries  will be  determined  by said  Solitaries, subject  to
               approval  by  the Board.    There  shall  be  at  least  one  (1)
               representative  of the Solitaries, who is  not a Director, on the
               Steering Committee.
          B.   Steering Committee members  must commit to serve for at least six
               (6) months.  They  may serve as  long as their constituents  wish
               them to serve.  
          C.   The Steering Committee shall elect a Speaker, Deputy Speaker, and
               Clerk of the Committee from among its members.
          D.   A quorum of  the Steering Committee for  the purpose of  amending
               the  Bylaws  or Constitution  shall  be two-thirds  (2/3)  of the
               committee.   A quorum for  other business shall  be a majority of
               the Committee.  
          E.   Steering Committee members will not have alternates.




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                                                                             202


          F.   The Steering Committee  may make rules to  govern the conduct  of
               its own meetings.  
          G.   Decisions made by the Steering Committee shall be referred to the
               Board  for action,  except  as otherwise  provided  for in  these
               Bylaws.  
          H.   Any recommendation that dues be levied or changed must receive at
               least  two-thirds  (2/3)  of  the  votes  cast  by  the  Steering
               Committee, ten (10)  days notice having been given that dues will
               be discussed.  
          I.   The  Steering Committee shall meet regularly  at a time and place
               to  be fixed by the Committee.   Additionally, the Board may call
               Steering  Committee  meetings with  15  days  notice should  such
               meetings be necessary.  

     III. OFFICERS
          A.   Chair - duties shall include:
               1.   Presiding over meetings of the Board.  
               2.   Presiding over meetings of the general membership of DAWN.  
               3.   Preparing an agenda for Board meetings.  
               4.   Preparing an  agenda for meetings of  the general membership
                    of DAWN.  
          B.   Vice-Chair - shall perform the duties of the Chair when the Chair
               is absent or incapacitated.  
          C.   Secretary - duties shall include: 
               1.   Maintaining accurate and current  minutes of all meetings of
                    the Board and all business  related meetings of the  general
                    membership of  DAWN.    All  such minutes  are  to  be  made
                    available,  upon reasonable  notice, to  all members  of the
                    body  so  recorded,  and are  to  be presented  at  the next
                    meeting of the Board for
                   approval.  
               2.   Handling  correspondence  other  than  the   newsletter  and
                    general announcements.  
               3.   Maintaining  an accurate  and  current list  of members  and
                    friends  of  DAWN.    The  Secretary  may  NOT  release  the
                    addresses,  phone  numbers,  or  full names  of  any  person
                    associated with  DAWN, except as noted in this paragraph, to
                    any person,  without specific permission  from said  person.
                    The  Secretary  will share  this  list  with the  Newsletter
                    Editor.  When leaving this job, the Secretary will turn over
                    all  copies of  the membership  list,  in whatever  form, to
                    their successor in these duties.  




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                                                                             203


          D.   Treasurer  - is  responsible  for maintaining  all the  financial
               records  of DAWN.    The Treasurer  is also  responsible  for the
               safekeeping    and  expenditure of  the  monies held  by  DAWN as
               directed by the Board.  
          E.   Speaker - shall  preside over meetings of the  Steering Committee
               and prepare an agenda for said meetings.  
          F.   Deputy Speaker - shall perform the duties of the Speaker when the
               Speaker is absent or incapacitated.  
          G.   Clerk of the Committee - is responsible for maintaining  accurate
               and current  minutes of all  meetings of the  Steering Committee.
               All  such minutes are to be  available to members of the Steering
               Committee, and are to  be presented at  the next meeting of  that
               body for approval.  
          H.   Newsletter Editor - duties shall include: 
               1.   Providing  timely announcements of  meetings and  other DAWN
                    functions.
               2.   Providing  a   regular  newsletter  in   keeping  with  DAWN
                    policies.  
               3.   Maintaining an  accurate  and  current  list  of  newsletter
                    recipients.    The Newsletter  Editor  may  NOT release  the
                    addresses,  phone  numbers,  or  full names  of  any  person
                    associated with DAWN, except as noted in this  paragraph, to
                    any person,  without specific  permission from  said person.
                    The  Newsletter Editor will share  the mailing list with the
                    Secretary.   When  leaving this  job, the  Newsletter Editor
                    will  turn over all copies of  the mailing list, in whatever
                    form, to their successor in these duties.  
          
     IV.  AMENDMENTS
               In orderto amendthis document, theproposed change mustreceive the
     votes of  at least two-thirds  of the Directors  and must receive  at least
     two-thirds of the votes cast at a proper meeting of the Steering Committee,
     both  bodies having  received  at least  20  days  notice of  the  proposed
     amendment. 












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                                                                             204

      
     V.   ELECTIONS
               Onthe secondSunday in October,The Steering Committeeshall meet to
     hold an  election.    At  this  time, the  Steering  Committee  will  elect
     replacements for Directors whose term is  expiring.  Names will be taken in
     nomination, consent  obtained from  those nominated, and  one ballot  cast.
     Each Committee member, including retiring and interim Directors, shall have
     as many  votes as there  are vacancies.   The qualified candidate  with the
     most votes will fill the first vacancy - two year terms being filled first.
     As each vacancy is filled, members  of the successful candidate's coven are
     stricken from the list.  If only one vacancy remains and either part  I.A.2
     or part  I.A.3  of the  Bylaws  has not  been  fulfilled, then  only  those
     candidates who meet  the criterion can be selected; otherwise, the position
     will  remain vacant  to be  filled by  the Board, as  soon as  possible, by
     appointment.   If a tie exists  between equally qualified candidates, where
     all  may  not  serve,  a  runoff  election  shall  be  held  between  those
     candidates.     Misspellings  shall   not  invalidate  ballots   where  the
     appropriate person can  be discerned; nor  shall voting for fewer  than the
     number  of vacancies.  Voting for too many candidates shall invalidate that
     ballot.  No individual  shall vote more than one time  for the same person;
     therefore duplicate  names on a single ballot shall count as only one vote.
     All elected persons take office at the first meeting in November.

     VI.  Roberts Rules of  Order Newly Revised (copyright 1970) will  govern in
     any  circumstances not  covered by  the Rules,  Bylaws, or  Constitution of
     DAWN.

     VII. DISTRIBUTION OF FUNDS ON DISSOLUTION
               In theevent of dissolutionof theorganization, all remainingassets
     will be delivered to  a tax-exempt organization to be chosen at the time of
     dissolution by the Board of Directors.
















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                                                                             205

                       GLOSSARY OF TERMS COMMONLY USED IN WICCA
                Copyright 1992 by Rowan Moonstone and Durwydd MacTara

     AKASHA- the spiritual ether (or Aether); the omnipresent
     fifth occult element which embraces the other four- earth,
     air, fire, and water; and from which they stem. This is the
     realm of "pattern" or causality, from which the realm the
     normally thought of "five senses manifests.  Some define it
     is the "other" of the "two worlds" that the witch or
     magician walks between.

     ARADIA- Daughter of the Goddess Diana, and a name for the
     Goddess used by Italian Witches or Strega, commonly used in
     many Wiccan traditions today.

     ASPECTING- Any advanced magickal activity in which a practitioner
     manifests a particular aspect of the Goddess or God, in thought,
     feelings, behavior, appearance, etc.;  Often as a direct result of a
     "Drawing Down".  Often a minor variation of this phenomena occurs with
     the selection of a "Magical Name", of Craft Name.

     ASPECTS- Forms, facets, or personas of Deity:  for example, Brighid,
     Iseult,Eos, and Kore are all aspects of the Maiden, and the Maiden
     is an aspect of the Goddess.

     ATHAME- black handled, double edged dagger. Principally used
     to cast and dissolve the circle, for which purposes it is
     interchangeable with the magic sword. A tool of the
     "Element" of Fire in the Georgian Tradition and some others.

     BELTANE- May Eve festival. One of the Ancient Celtic "Fire
     Festivals." on this night, the cattle were driven between
     two bonfires to protect them from disease. Couples wishing
     for fertility would " jump the fires" on Beltane night. Also
     the traditional Sabbath where the rule of the "Wheel of the
     Year" is returned to the Goddess.  This Festival also marks
     the transition point of the threefold Goddess energies from
     those of Maiden to Mother.

     BOOK OF SHADOWS- Traditionally hand copied book of rituals,
     recipes, training techniques, guidelines, and other
     materials deemed important to a Witch or a coven. Each
     tradition has it's own standard version of the Book and each
     Witch's book will be different as he or she adds to it with
     time from many different sources. Only another Witch can see
     your book of shadows. Also, traditionally, it may never
     leave your hands or possession until death, when it should
     be destroyed, or (in some traditions) returned to the coven
     to be disposed of.

     BURNING TIMES- a term used by some Witches for the period of
     persecution in the Middle Ages and later. It is in fact a
     misnomer in some places, as Witches were only burned in
     Scotland, and on the continent of Europe. In England and the
     U.S., they were hanged.




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     CANDLEMAS- Festival held on Feb. 1. One of the 4 Celtic
     "Fire Festivals. Commemorates the changing of the Goddess
     from the Crone to the Maiden. Celebrates the first signs of
     Spring. Also called "Imbolc" (the old Celtic name).  This is
     the seasonal change where the first signs of spring and the
     return of the sun are noted, i.e. the first sprouting of
     leaves, the sprouting of the Crocus flowers etc.  In other
     words, it is the festival commemorating the successful
     passing of winter and the beginning of the agricultural
     year.This Festival also marks the transition point of the
     threefold Goddess energies from those of Crone to Maiden.

     CARDINAL POINTS- North, South, East, and West, marked in the 
     Georgian Tradition by candles of green, red, yellow, and 
     blue, respectively. The Circle is drawn to connect these 
     four points. 
      
     CHALICE- one of the tools of the Witch. Placed on the altar 
     to represent the element of Water. 
      
     CHARGE OF THE GODDESS- The Traditional words of the Goddess 
     to her followers, or "hidden children". Normally declaimed 
     by the HPS at every coven Circle. 
      
     CIRCLE- the area in which the magickal worship and spells 
     takes place. Can also be used to designate a particular 
     group of Witches or Pagans such as "Silver Acorn Circle". 
      
     CONE OF POWER- power raised in the circle by the Witches 
     assembled, and sent out into the world to work magick, is 
     usually visualized as being retained and built in the form 
     of a "cone" prior to release. 
      
     COVEN- an organized group of Witches, led by a High 
     priestess and/or a High Priest who meet regularly for 
     worship and fellowship. The traditional membership is 13, 
     but in fact most covens number considerably less. 3 is the 
     minimum in the Georgian Tradition. In Middle English, 
     "Covin" a group of confederates;  In Old French "Covine" a 
     band or group with a single purpose; Latin "Com"-together, 
     "Venire"-to come or move. 
      
     COVENSTEAD- regular meeting place for a coven. Usually the 
     home of the High Priestess or High Priest. 
      
     COWAN- a non-Witch. Formerly used in a very derogatory 
     manner.  Still used in Masonic Ritual to indicate the non 
     initiate and/or pretender to "real craft".  Not often used 
     today among most Witches. 










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     COYOTE ENERGY- trickster energies. Named for the American 
     Indian Trickster, Coyote, who tricks man into learning what 
     he needs to learn. Applies to one who constantly jokes and 
     clowns.  Also applies to the concept of "Holy Fool" in many 
     traditions. 
      
     CROSS QUARTER DAYS- The modern name for the Celtic Fire 
     Festivals of Samhain, Imbolc, Beltane, and Lammas. 
      
     DEOSIL- clockwise, or sunwise. Traditional direction for 
     working "building" magick. 
      
     DRAWING  DOWN THE MOON- Ritual invocation of the spirit of 
     the Goddess into the body of the High Priestess by the High 
     Priest. 
      
     DIVINATION- magical method of exploration or inquiry into a 
     situation via such methods as Tarot cards, runestones, I- 
     Ching, etc. 

     ELEMENTS- Earth, air, fire, and water, plus spirit, which 
     includes them all. These are regarded as realms or 
     categories of nature (both material and non-material) and 
     are not to be confused with the physicists table of 
     elements, which the modern witch, of course, accepts. 
      
     ESBAT- weekly or biweekly meeting of a coven. Traditionally 
     held either on the full moon or the new moon. 
      
     FAMILIARS- Either a Witch's pet animal which has been 
     trained  to be a magickal helper, or an artificially 
     created "elemental"  which performs the same functions as 
     the animal friend. 
      
     FIVEFOLD KISS, FIVEFOLD SALUTE- The Witches' ritual salute, 
     with kisses; (1) on each foot, (2) on each knee, (3) above 
     the pubic hair, (4) on each breast, and (5) on the lips- 
     really 8 kisses in all. It is only used within the Circle, 
     but the words that go with it are the origin of "Blessed 
     Be." 
      
     GARDNERIANS- Tradition of Witchcraft descended from the 
     teachings of Gerald Gardner. 
      
     GNOMES- an "entity" or "elemental" that dwells in the plane 
     of Earth or is associated with the EARTH Element. 
      
     GREAT RITE- The rite which is the main feature of the third 
     degree initiation, and which is also laid down for certain 
     festivals.  It is sexual in nature, but may be `actual' 
     (and private to the couples concerned) or symbolic, as the 
     participants wish. 
      
     HALLOWS- name used by some traditions for Samhain, or 
     Halloween 



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                                                                             208

      
     HANDFASTING- Wiccan equivalent of a wedding. It can be made 
     legal if the Priestess and/or Priest are registered as 
     clergy with the local authorities, or it may only be 
     considered binding within the coven. 
      
     HIGH PRIEST/ESS- Technically speaking, a Witch who has 
     received the 3rd. degree initiation. More usually, the male 
     and female leaders of a coven. 
      
     IMBOLC- Celtic name for Candlemas. 
      
     INVOCATION- The ritual "calling-in" of an entity (or 
     energies) higher than human, either for communication with 
     the caller through a medium or by visible manifestation or 
     else to enter into a human body as in the Drawing Down the 
     Moon. In some traditions, a Prayer. 
      
     LAMMAS- August 1st. Witch Festival. The Old Celtic name for 
     this festival is Lughnassadh. It is the Festival of the 
     First Fruits, and is the first of the 3 harvests. This 
     festival also marks the change of the Threefold Goddess 
     energies from that of Mother to Crone. 

     MAIDEN- An appointment held by one of the women of the 
     coven. She is virtually the assistant High Priestess. This 
     term is also the descriptive term used to describe the first 
     of the aspects of the Threefold Goddess Energies (Maiden, 
     Mother, and Crone).  It is traditionally associated with the 
     Waxing Moon, and the period from Imbolc (Candlemas) to 
     Beltane (May eve) where the energies are those of 
     initiating, beginning, and creation. 
      
     OLD RELIGION- another name for the Craft. 
      
     PAGANING- Presentation of an infant to the Circle and to the 
     Gods. 
      
     PENTACLE- a disc shaped talisman; in particular, the metal 
     disc which represents the earth element among the witch's 
     working tools. 
      
     PENTAGRAM- The five-pointed star. With a single point 
     uppermost, it represents the human being. Inverted, with two 
     points uppermost, it can have Satanist associations; but not 
     necessarily. Some traditions of Wicca use the inverted 
     pentagram to signify an initiate of the second degree. 
      
     QUARTERS- The North, East, South, and West parts of a 
     magickal circle or other ritual area. (See also 
     "Watchtowers") 
      
     REDE- rule or law. 






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     SABBAT- one of the Eight festivals or high holy days of 
     Wicca. 
      
     SALAMANDER- an entity that dwells in the realm of Fire. 
      
     SAMHAIN- The festival of remembrance for the dead, held on 
     the eve of Nov. 1st. It is the last of the three harvests. 
     This festival also marks the transition of rulership of the 
     "Wheel of the Year from that of the Goddess to that of the 
     God. 
      
     SCRYING- divination, usually using such methods as crystal 
     gazing, or divination via incense smoke, or water as opposed 
     to tarot or other manipulative means. 
      
     SPELL- a prayer, or verbal direction of magickal energies 
     toward the accomplishment of some goal. 
      
     SUMMONER- The male officer of the coven who corresponds to 
     the Maiden. He is the assistant High Priest. 
      
     SYLPH- an "entity" or "elemental" that dwells in the plane 
     of Air or is associated with the AIR Element. 
      
     TRADITIONS- any of the various "sects" of Wicca such as 
     Gardnerian, Alexandrian, Georgian, Seax, etc. 
      
     UNDINE- an "entity" or "elemental" that dwells in the plane 
     of Water or is associated with the WATER Element. 

     WAND- A rod or staff that is prepared so that it may be used 
     for magickal or psychic purposes, usually to project some 
     form of power. 

























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                                                                             210

      
     WARLOCK- a term coined in the Burning Times . It was used to 
     denote a traitor to the Craft, or one who had betrayed the 
     followers of the Old Religion. It's origin is Scottish. 
     Because of the negative connotations, it is not used by most 
     Wiccans today. 
      
     WATCH TOWERS- Originally from the Enochian branch of 
     Ceremonial Magick, now incorporated into many "Traditions" 
     of Wicca, these are the four elemental "directions" or 
     "quarters" (corresponding to the appropriate points on the 
     compass) called to protect the Circle during its 
     establishment. Each of them have a correspondence between 
     the compass point, an element, and (varying amongst 
     different traditions) color associated with them. 
      
     WICCA- the name most modern day Witches use for the Craft. 
     It comes from the Anglo-Saxon word Wicce, meaning to bend or 
     to shape. This is the root word from which we get wicker. 
      
     WIDDERSHINS- counter clock wise. Used for "tearing  down" 
     OR BANISHING magick. 
      
     WHITE HANDLED KNIFE- the working knife of a Witch. It is 
     used to carve candles, and for fashioning the other tools. 
     Traditionally, it can only be used in a Circle. 
      
         Copyright 1991 by Rowan Moonstone and Durwydd MacTara.

     Permission to reprint for educational purposes at no cost is hereby granted
     to all and sundry, provided the text is not altered in any way. 




























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                                                                             211

                                        MOON WEB 
                                 C/O Michael Harismides 
                      PO Box 4538, Sunnyside, New York  11104-4538 
                               Subscription $3.00 a year 
      
                 RITUAL FOR THE HEALING AND PRESERVATION OF RAINFORESTS 
      
                                     May 24th, 1988 
                                    8 pm local time 
      
     (Individual version): 
      
     Cast a circle 
      
     Invoke  elements by calling upon  them in protective  aspects (for example,
     you might invoke Watchfires or Beacons in the South).   
      
     Chant  the names  of  the  Earth  Goddess,  beginning  with  your  personal
     favorites, then naming as many as you can think of.   
      
     Take a piece of green string.  Begin to tie knots in it, while chanting:   
                         Tying the Cord, Renewing the Earth; 
                         We are Her Children, bringing Rebirth. 
      
     (The  knots may  be simple  or elaborate,  but leave  enough string  to tie
     together  at the  end.)   As  you  chant, see  the world  as  a network  of
     connected systems.   Breathe the air  that comes from the  jungles of South
     America.  Feel the living fire of an ocelot's power.  Taste the rain on the
     leaves at  the tops of the trees.  Feel  the delicate structure of the soil
     at the forest floor.)   
      
     Tie the cord  together in a loop; hold it up, strung around your two hands,
     and begin chanting:   
      
                         We are the Flow and we are the Ebb; 
                         We are the Weavers, we are the Web.   
                          
     As  you  chant,  see yourself  standing  guard  over  the  borders  of  the
     rainforest.  See yourself  with others, protecting rainforest as  you would
     protect yourself,_because that's what you're doing._   
      
     Bury  the cord in a container of earth.  Earth the power; thank the Deities
     and elements;  open  the circle.   Later  bury the  cord in  the forest  if
     possible.   
      














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                                                                             212

      
     (If circumstances make the above impossible): 
      
     Sit quietly and see:  the network of ecosystems that make up the world; the
     rainforests thriving;  plants and  animals breeding;  the Earth,  green and
     filled with life; yourself, standing guard.  Breathe, and know that the air
     comes  from the sea  and the jungles  of Brazil.   Drink and know  that the
     water has  been around the  world, and  circulates through you  as it  does
     through the air, land, and sea.  Stand up and stretch; the strength of your
     body is the Earth's strength.   
      
      
                                         RITUAL 
                            FOR THE HEALING AND PRESERVATION  
                                     OF RAINFORESTS 
      
     (Group version):   
      
     Facilitators give  each participant a slip of  paper containing the name of
     an Earth Goddess and a Nature God.   
      
     Facilitators invoke elements,  stressing protective/preservative aspects of
     each one and  ending with "Into this circle I call  the Element Air! (Fire,
     Water,   Earth.)"    After  each  such  invocation,  a  dancer  or  dancers
     representing the particular element  come into the circle from  outside and
     do an elemental dance.   
      
     A  facilitator says:   "We  now  call upon  the Earth  Goddess by  her many
     names!"   Participants call  out the Goddess  name on their  slip of paper,
     then  any other Goddess  names they wish.   This ends on  a signal from the
     drums.   
      
     A facilitator says: "We now call upon the God of Nature by his many Names!"
      
     The God is invoked in  the same fashion as the Goddess, ending  with a drum
     signal.   
      
     The elemental  dancers go to the  quarters and begin passing  out pieces of
     green   string,  while a  facilitator explains  that the  condition of  the
     rainforests  affects us all,  that all things  are connected,  and that the
     worldwide climate is changed every time another acre of rainforest is lost.
     S/he explains  that these  sections of  cord  represent parts  of the  Life
     Circle of Earth, and that they must be joined to protect her.   
      
     When the above speech has been made and all the cords have been passed out,
     a facilitator ties  the first knot, saying that tying  the cord is renewing
     the  Earth, that we are  her children, bringing  her rebirth.   This is the
     signal to begin the chant:   
      
                         Tying the Cord, Renewing the Earth; 
                         We are Her Children, bringing Rebirth. 
      







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                                                                             213


     Clockwise  around the circle,  one by one,  each cord is  tied to the next.
     When  the circle is complete, the elemental  dancers go to the quarters and
     hold  the cord  aloft (participants  should  not let  go yet).   The  chant
     continues until the facilitators begin a second chant:   
      
                         We are the Flow and we are the Ebb; 
                         We are the Weavers, we are the Web.   
      
     (Since  this  is to  the  same  tune, the  transition  should  be easy  and
     seamless.)  When  this chant begins, the elemental dancers  begin to gather
     in  the  cord, gently  pulling it  away from  the participants,  who gently
     release it.   The  elementals bury the cord in  a container of earth in the
     center  of the circle, then return to the outside to lead a spiral dance in
     to  the center  and back   out  (once) as  the chant  continues.   When the
     participants are standing in a circle once more, the chant builds to a cone
     of power and fires.   
      
     The  Deities and  Elements are thanked,  the power  is earthed,  the circle
     opened, hugs exchanged.  Later bury the cord in the woods.   
      






































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                                                                             214

                                  WHAT ARE RUNES
                                  ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
                                       LOKRIEN 

         In  the  most mundane  sense, runes  are an  alphabet  much as  our own
     alphabet and others such  as the Greek and Cyrillic alphabets.   Each  rune
     represents a sound and was/is used to write words with.
      
       But that is in the most MUNDANE of senses.
      
       Runes were used long before the concept of writing was around.  Each rune
     is an archetype of a force.  People had concepts for such  things as Fire,
     Honour, Birth, et.al. and each of these concepts were  given names to make
     them easier for us to comprehend.  In this way,  runes are very similar to
     the Hebrew alphabet.  Each  'letter' not  only has a sound and  a name, but
     is a complete word with all  associated concepts.
        This similarity with Hebrew extends even farther.  Each hebrew word  is
     made of several Hebrew letters, therefore each Hebrew word is made  of
     several Hebrew words.  The initial letters of several words in a  sentence,
     or of the first letters of each sentence or paragraph may  be gathered to
     form a new  word that  is used to  help explain  and  expand  upon what  is
     already written.  The same can be done with  runes.
        Runes lend themselves readily to numerology.  The Runic alphabet is 
     properly shown as three rows  of eight letters.  Therefore each letter  can
     be identified by row:column number.  Additionally, each rune has  it's
     sequential number  identified by it's placement in the alphabet.  Much like
     us numbering A as 1, B as 2, ... , and Z as 26.
        Each rune can be placed in position on a tree pattern much like the 
     traditional Qabbalah.  They may represent the different worlds or  paths of
     the tree and can be expanded and expounded upon as much as  the Qabbalah
     itself is.  In fact, Runic Qabbalah is quite intriguing  and does contain a
     life of study (as do all other facets of  Runework).
        Runes can be used for fortunetelling.  They can be drawn and placed  and
     read  much  like  tarot  cards.    The  can  be  cast  or  strewn  and  the
     relationship  of groupings, distance and  angles and patterns  formed  will
     tell the caster what he wishes to know.  
        Runes are also entities in and of themselves.  Much like the  angels,
     princes,  demons,  sylphs,  undines  and  watchtowers  of the    ceremonial
     magician.  Each rune can be invoked  or evoked and the  power harnessed  to
     work ones will to enlighten the intellect.  They are a fantastic meditation
     tool and will always increase ones  knowledge.
        Much as the primal elements of Earth, Water, Air, Fire and Spirit,  each
     rune also has it's part in the manifestation of all things  manifested. 
     Chaos, grass, people, sunlight, honour, dragons, hopes,  and sex are all
     replete with runes are could not ever exist without  the runic force that
     creates, shapes, releases, destroys and changes  them.
        I have equated runes to many other branches of esoteric, occult, 
     phsycological and intellectual pursuits.  This is in the hopes that  if you
     are already familiar or interested in one of these, you will  realize that
     runes  are already familiar to  you or that you  are  already interested in
     them and don't yet realize it.
      
        May you approach the Well of Wyrd and may your sip there only  increase
     your thirst.
      
                                         Lokrien @ The Sacred Grove
      
                                                   (206) 634-1980 (WA)

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                                                                             215

                                      MODELS OF MAGIC 
                               by Frater U.'.D.'. (Germany) 
           
               In the  course  of  exploring  the  possibilities  of  new,  more
          efficient   techniques   of  magic   I was  struck by the  fact that a
          structuralist view  of the  history of magic  to  date   might   prove
          helpful.   After  all, magicians  have always  aspired to  restate the
          theory and practice of magic in  the language of their times  i.e.  in
          different models pertaining to current world views. 

                    There is,  however,  some risk involved in such an approach:
          models  do  not  really   explain   anything,   they   are   only 
          illustrations  of  processes,  albeit rather useful ones.  What's 
          more,  over-systematization  tends  to  obfuscate  more  than  it 
          clarifies  and  one  should not mistake the map for the landscape 
          anyway, a fallacy a great many kabbalists seem to be prone to. 

               Thus,  the following five (or rather: four plus one)  models 
          of magic should be seen as a means of understanding the practical 
          possibilities   of   various   magical  systems  rather  than  as 
          definitive theories and/or explanations of the way magic works. 
           
          It has proved effective in  practice  to  view  magic  under  the 
          following categories: 
           
          THE SPIRIT MODEL 
          THE ENERGY MODEL 
          THE PSYCHOLOGICAL MODEL 
          THE INFORMATION MODEL 
          THE META-MODEL 
           
                                        *** 
           
          THE SPIRIT MODEL 
           
          This  is purportedly the oldest model of magic though it may very 
          well have come into existence after or  simultaneously  with  the 
          energy  model.  We  can find it worldwide in shamanic cultures as 
          well as in many religions.  Its basic premise is the existence of 
          an  otherworld inhabited by more or less autonomous entities such 
          as spirits, angels, demons,  gods etc.  The shaman or magician is 
          someone who can enter this otherworld at will,  who has travelled 
          widely in it,  knows  its  language  and  customs  and  has  made 
          friends,  smitten  enemies  and/or  acquired allies and servitors 
          there.  This is important as all  magic  is  of  these  entities' 
          making. The modern German word for witch, "Hexe" (f.) illustrates 
          this rather neatly if we take a closer look at its etymology.  It 
          derives from Old High  German  "hagazussa"  which  translates  as 
          "fence  rider".  The  hagazussa  is riding the "fence between the 
          worlds" i.e. she is at home in the world of everyday life as well 
          as in the magical otherworld of spirits. 








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               In the spirit model magic is seen as being effected by these 
          entities who are usually  invisible,  at  least  to  the  average 
          punter,  and  it  is the shaman's or magician's task to make them 
          put his will into effect. This may be done by prayer,  by barter, 
          by  cajoling  or  even  -  vide  medieval  demon  magic  - by the 
          application of magical force, threats and pressure. 
               The otherworld may have its own geography but it is  usually 
          considered to coexist with the world of everyday life. The key to 
          entering  it  is  an  altered state of consciousness,  controlled 
          trance or ecstasy of which the shaman is an expert. 

               The spirit model has prevailed in traditionalist or Dogmatic 
          magic until today,  some of its most noted exponents being  Franz 
          Bardon and, at least to a great extent, Aleister Crowley. 
           
          THE ENERGY MODEL 
           
          The  rise  of the energy model in the West is marked primarily by 
          the appearance of Mesmerism towards the end of the 18th  century. 
          Anton  Mesmer,  who was not an occultist but who was on the other 
          hand regarded by his contemporaries to be a "miracle  worker"  of 
          sorts,  rediscovered  amongst  other  things  the ancient healing 
          disciplines of hypnosis and magnetism.  He popularized his theory 
          of  "animal magnetism" which he saw as a subtle force inherent in 
          organisms,  but he also made  heavy  use  of  metal  magnets  for 
          healing purposes. 

               While  the French Revolution put a temporary end to Mesmer's 
          movement, his ideas were not lost. They were taken up by a number 
          of  others,   primarily  occultists,   who  drew  on  them  while 
          developing their own theories of magic. One of the first to do so 
          was  Bulwer Lytton of the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia (SRIA), 
          who postulated the existence of a subtle energy which  he  termed 
          Vril,  possibly  deriving from Latin virilitas or "force,  power, 
          strength". (This was actually the model for the naming of Bovril, 
          from Latin "bovis" or "ox",  and Vril or "life  force".)  We  can 
          observe  interesting  parallels  to  this concept in the vitalist 
          theories of biology which emerged around  the  same  time.  Other 
          exponents  of the energy model of magic (not then so termed) were 
          Reichenbach with his concept of Od,  Eliphas Levi and his  Astral 
          Light and Mme.  Blavatsky, who adopted the theories of Prana from 
          Yoga physiology.  This was also the time  when  anthropology  and 
          ethnology  discovered  the Polynesian concept of Mana and Asiatic 
          scholars began to concern themselves with the  Chinese  principle 
          of Ki or Ch'i (Chi).  The latter two go to show,  of course, that 
          the idea of subtle energies utilized by magic is far  older  than 
          the  18th  century.  In fact,  we can observe it already in early 
          shamanic cultures.  Shamanic magic is very frequently  a  mixture 
          between  spirit and energy model,  e.g.  the shaman may call upon 
          his spirits or gods to give him "power" or he  may,  vice  versa, 
          use his power to extort favors from them. 








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               In its pure form,  however, the shaman or magician is not in 
          need of spirits and other entities.  The world is viewed as being 
          "vitalized"  by  subtle  forces  or energies and his primary task 
          consists in mastering the  art  of  perceiving  and  manipulating 
          them.  As  all  phenomena are basically energetic in nature,  the 
          existence of an otherworld is not strictly  required.  Thus,  the 
          magician  is  more  of an "energy dancer" than a "fence rider" or 
          go-between. But even here the key to the perception, charging and 
          general utilization of these forces is again the  magical  trance 
          or, as Chaos Magic terms it, gnosis. 

               Theories and practices pertaining to the energy model can be 
          found  with many magical authors but it has seen its real,  large 
          scale popularity only since the seventies of our century when the 
          general influx of Eastern thinking  (pace  the  Hippie  movement) 
          made  concepts  such  as  chakra and kundalini work a mainstay of 
          most occult disciplines. Strong energy model elements can also be 
          found in  Franz  Bardon's  system  of  "electromagnetic  fluids", 
          "condensators" etc. 
           
          THE PSYCHOLOGICAL MODEL 
           
          Sigmund Freud's theory of the subconscious revolutionized Western 
          thinking  in  general  and psychology (which he did not,  as some 
          people are wont to believe, invent all by himself) in particular. 
          Suddenly,  man was seen as  a  being  which  was  only  partially 
          conscious  and  in  control of itself.  While psychology is still 
          fighting for its academical recognition  as  a  science,  it  has 
          stamped its mark on therapeutic disciplines - and on magic. 

               The psychological model of magic does not purport to explain 
          how  magic works,  its only premise is that the subconscious (or, 
          as Carl Jung later retagged it,  the unconscious) will do the job 
          if  it  is  properly addressed and/or conditioned.  This again is 
          achieved by magical trance,  suggestion and the  use  of  symbols 
          (i.e.  selective  sensory input) as tools of association and as a 
          means of communication between the magician's conscious will  and 
          his subconscious faculty responsible for putting it into effect. 

               Aleister  Crowley  dabbled a great deal in the psychological 
          model which comes as no surprise as he not only tried to keep  up 
          with  all  major  academic  disciplines  of  his time but thought 
          himself to be the world's greatest psychologist into the bargain. 
          But all considered he remained a traditionalist exponent  of  the 
          spirit   model:   after  all  Aiwass  was,   in  his  belief,   a 
          preternatural entity.  Nevertheless  he  did  have  a  knack  of 
          explaining magic in psychological terms to make it sound sensible 
          to the skeptics of his time. 











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                                                                             218

               A  more  radical  approach  was  taken by Austin Osman Spare 
          whose sigil magic rests on the basic tenets of the  psychological 
          model.  Spare's  brilliant system is in principle an inversion of 
          Freud's theory of complexes: by actively suppressing his will  in 
          the  form  of  a graphical sigil and forgetting it,  the magician 
          creates an artificial "complex" which  then  starts  to  work  on 
          similar lines just as suppressed, subconscious traumas will cause 
          neurotic behavior etc. 

               The  psychological  magician  is a programmer of symbols and 
          different states of consciousness.  He is not necessarily in need 
          of  a transcendent otherworld or even subtle energies,  though in 
          practice he will usually work on the assumption that one  or  the 
          other  (or  both)  do  in  fact  exist and can be utilized by his 
          subconscious. 

               Authors such  as  Israel  Regardie,  Dion  Fortune,  William 
          Butler,  Francis  King,  William  Gray  and  to  some extent Pete 
          Carroll subscribe to the psychological model which  seems  to  be 
          the  primary  domain  of  the English speaking world of magic and 
          which has become the prevailing paradigm ever since the seventies 
          of this century. 
           
          THE INFORMATION MODEL 
           
          The information model of magic is  being  developed  since  about 
          1987  and  there is still considerable debate about the direction 
          it shall ultimately take.  Its basic  premises  to  date  are  as 
          follows: 
           
               a)  Energy  as  such  is "dumb": it needs information on 
               what to do;  this can be so called  laws  of  nature  or 
               direct commands. 
               b) Information does not have mass or energy. Thus, it is 
               faster  than  light and not bound by the restrictions of 
               the Einsteinian spacetime continuum. It can therefore be 
               transmitted or tapped at all times and at all places. In 
               analogy (but of course only as such!) it may be  likened 
               to    quantum   phenomena   rather   than   relativistic 
               mass-energy. It can, however,  attach itself to a medium 
               e.g. an organism or any other memory storage device. 
           
          At the start of the theoretical debate it was still believed that 
          the  postulation of morphic (or,  more precisely,  morphogenetic) 
          fields as hypothesized by Rupert Sheldrake had to be an essential 
          factor by way  of  explaining  the  mode  of  actual  information 
          transmittance.  This,  however, while still being discussed, does 
          not appear to be strictly prerogative though  it  cannot  be  not 
          ruled  out  that  an  act  of  information  magic may create such 
          fields. It does seem more probable,  though,  that the concept of 
          information  matrices  will prove to be the most promising theory 
          in the long run. 







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                                                                             219

               The application of the as yet evolving information model has 
          led  to  the  discipline   I   have   termed   Cybermagic   (from 
          "cybernetics"  or the "science of control systems").  Contrary to 
          the other models described above,  Cybermagic does  not  rely  on 
          magical trance to achieve its effects.  Rather, the Cybermagician 
          activates either his own main  memory  banks,  namely  brain  and 
          spine  (the  Golf-club  chakra,  so-called  because  of its shape 
          reminiscent of a golf-club) or those of the  target  person.  The 
          desired  information  is  then  called  up  and transmitted quite 
          similarly to a copy command  on  an  MS-DOS  computer.  The  copy 
          command analogy holds good insofar as the information (not having 
          mass)  is not actually "lost" in the process (as energy would be) 
          but rather is duplicated. This is an important point as it allows 
          for the magician to perform his magic even in a state of very low 
          physical power, possibly even when almost completely intoxicated, 
          as long as his basic  "life support systems" are still functional 
          and the command syntax is employed correctly. 

               It is,  however,  obvious that this technique demands a fair 
          control  of what used to be termed kundalini effects and practice 
          has shown  ever  and  again  that  a  good  amount  of  Yoga  and 
          meditation experience is a great help in achieving to Cybermagic. 

               Unfortunately,  the  full  theory and practice of Cybermagic 
          cannot be described here due to lack of space and will thus  have 
          to be the subject of a separate article to be published later. To 
          date the main experimental research work is being done within the 
          Magical  Pact  of  the  Illuminates  of Thanateros (IOT) and some 
          quite astounding results have already been  achieved,  especially 
          in  the  field  of  language  and  knowledge  transfer as well as 
          magical healing. 

               In spite of its very modern,  untraditionalist  outlook  the 
          basic  principles  of  Cybermagic may in truth well be the oldest 
          form of magic extant. For we can,  for example,  find a number of 
          reports  in the East to the effect of a guru transferring all his 
          knowledge to his successor before his  death,  which  is  usually 
          achieved by an act of long, mutual meditation. 

               This  goes  to show that magic as a whole has always existed 
          in many,  coexisting models.  What has changed,  however,  is the 
          stress laid on one model or the other in the course of time. 
           
















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          THE META-MODEL 
           
          The  meta-model  of  magic  is  not a model as such but rather an 
          instruction on the use of the others.  For its only advice to the 
          magician  is:  "Always use the model most adequate to your aims." 
          This may sound a bit trite but we will see that it is  not  quite 
          as  self evident  amongst  magicians  as  one might expect.  It is 
          rooted in Chaos magic's assertion "Nothing is true. Everything is 
          permitted",    which   ultimately   boils   down   to   pragmatic 
          utilitarianism.  Before this aspect is enlarged upon, though, let 
          us look at an example of the models presented here as applied  in 
          practice. 
           
          We shall take the situation of magical healing to demonstrate how 
          these models differ from each other. 
           
          In  the  spirit model healing is regarded as an exorcism: illness 
          is caused by "evil" or,  at least,  undesired entities which have 
          to  be negated.








































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                        The Eight Paths and other Wiccan miscellany 

          Dogs in the Temple:
            The "dogs" were MALE Canaanite temple prostitutes
          (normally eunuchs, as I understand it), with whom male worshippers had
          intercourse in order  to obtain various boons from the  gods, of which
          the  fertility of  themselves, their  herds and  their crops  were the
          chief.    A  "dog"'s  earnings  couldn't  be  contributed  to  Yaweh's
          treasury.  (Nor  could that of  a FEMALE temple  prostitute!)  Now  if
          they were doing the Great Rite with male priests way back when TO make
          things   more fertility, why should Stewart Farrar have a cat over gay
          men and lesbians  being involved in  the Craft  now?!?  (Although,  in
          fairness  to him,  I'll bet  he's never  thought of it  that way!   He
          strikes me as a reasonable man, all in all... ) 

          As for the Paths:  

               Meditation  is  the first  and--in  my  opinion--the most  basic,
          because you use it to get to or enhance some of the other Paths.  
          Trance work is the second, which includes astral projection exercises.
          Perhaps it's the  most important, because  it gets us  where we go  to
          exercise the power or obtain the wisdom that we want to.  

          Dancing is a Path that I personal can't use because I'm lame; but I've
          been  told by  able-bodied Pagan  friends that  it's great  because it
          engages  the whole self--and especially  it helps you  be grounded AND
          Elsewhere at the same time.  Binding with cords and other forms of
          sensory  deprivation are good for  helping the mind  travel beyond the
          body's limits because one  wishes to escape the tedium  and discomfort
          of them.   (I'm sorry, but  even a flotation  tank gets  uncomfortable
          eventually!)  Scourging and other repetitive acts also use tedium as a
          release but  are more  stimulating than being  bound or floating  in a
          tank.   (They do NOT use pain.   If they're being done THAT intensely,
          they're being done incorrectly... ) 

          Chanting and mantras use  repetitive sound and the inherent  nature of
          some sounds to produce altered states of consciousness.  

          Drugs  (which  normally  means  incense  and  MAYBE  alcohol  but  NOT
          hallucinogens  and such)  variously  stimulate,  relax, disinhibit  or
          otherwise change one's mental state.  

          And  that brings us  back to  the Great  Rite and  other forms  of sex
          magick, which attempt  to involve all levels from the  physical to the
          Divine Within at one time.  That's VERY thumbnail; but if anyone wants
          to know more, I'll be glad to elaborate on the ones I use or have seen
          used.   Oh, and I can--and  should--add that the various  Paths can be
          used in combination as well as separately, that there's some variation
          from one tradition to another as to what the Eight Paths are, and that
          not ALL traditions have Eight Paths per se!  
                             Bright blessings!  Granny Spider








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                              Balance of the God and Goddess 
                                         Adrienne

          I  see the God  as That is  Created and Destroyed; the  Goddess is the
          Creator and the Destroyer.   His knowledge is experiential and he sees
          the cycle  of rebirth from  the unique  perspective of the  being that
          experiences  it. He  understands, more  so than  the Goddess,  how the
          cycle shapes the world of the living.  His life cycle of birth to full
          power  to age  to death  to rebirth  parallels our  own lives  on this
          earth.    The Goddess  loves Her  children,  the God  understands His.
          Through the  love they bear  for each  other, they share  in both  the
          knowledge  of  the  mystery of  rebirth  and  in  the  power, but  the
          knowledge remains His province and the power rests in Her.

          --- Maximus-CBCS v1.02
           * Origin: Pandora's Box, Ottawa, Ontario (93:9630/1)











































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                                 Where do we go from here? 
                                     By Pete Carroll 

          Occult revivals occur when the social, economic or intellectual 
          status quo is disturbed by the unexpected. Affluence combined 
          with the collapse of the Roman state religion caused one revival. 
          The rediscovery of classical knowledge in the Renaissance brought 
          about another. Dissatisfaction with catholic hellfire 
          christianity spawned spiritualism, theosophy, the Golden Dawn and 
          Crowley. In our own time anti-semitism, affluence, drugs and 
          oriental ideas spawned another outburst. 
           
          Occult revivals are stimulated by economics and by the availability, 
          rather than the creation of ideas. Roman culture was subject to a 
          huge influx of ideas, cults and philosophies from conquered peoples. 
          Written material surviving from this synthesis appeared again 
          as hermetics in the Renaissance. The revivals of the late 
          nineteenth century and the nineteen-sixties owe much to the 
          availability of scientific ideas and oriental philosophies. It is 
          probably more useful then, to look for impending changes in the 
          general situation rather than within the occult itself if we want 
          to second guess the next revival. The period between one revival 
          and the next is shortening rapidly and we are probably due for 
          another around the turn of the century, give or take a decade. 
          I`d like to try and identify some of the factors which may help 
          shape it. 
           
          Firstly the millennium. Christianity is unfortunately not yet 
          completely extinguished and humanity will have to cope with a 
          rising tide of apocalypse mania as the calendrical millennium draws 
          closer. Right wing christian fundamentalists in America may even be 
          in a political position to inaugurate a real Armageddon by then. 
          I hope that whatever courage and imagination there is in the occult 
          is put to good use in undermining this sort od idiocy. Those 
          occultists who do jump on the millennial bandwagon have only 
          disaster or ridicule to look forward to. 
           
          Economics has a powerful effect on the occult climate. A fairly 
          rapid increase in affluence will often provoke a revival as leisure 
          time becomes available and some minds turn to higher things. 
          Conversely, a decline in living conditions will sometimes make 
          people seek what they have lost, or a substitute, by occult means. 
          Boom propelled revivals are usually much more fun than slump 
          propelled upsurges. In this country, any increment in occultism 
          arising from socio-economic desperation, is likely to be some 
          species of neo-nazi mystic nationalism. As with millennium madness, 
          the greater honour will, in the long run, go to those occultists who 
          oppose such nonsense. However, the metaphysical fallout from the 
          sixties may yet carry us through to the next boom revival and these 
          problems may not yet arise. 
           








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          It seems unlikely that anthropology or archaeology will be able to 
          make fresh ideas available for cannibalization by the occult in the 
          next revival. Computerized libraries, satellite photography and 
          global communication systems leave few stones unturned. There seems 
          little chance lost ancient manuscripts, magical tribes or forgotten 
          occult civilizations coming to light nowadays. So it is to science 
          itself that I think we should turn for fresh ammunition. 
          There are already discernable strains of space mysticism in some 
          quarters of the occult. Questions about the reality or otherwise of 
          supposed visits by aliens should not distract us from recognizing 
          that UFO-mania itself is a mystico-religious phenomena. The 
          UFO-ologist wants to personally receive wisdom for the whole of 
          humanity from some superhuman being. Seeking angels in space suits 
          is to repeat humanity`s perennial mistake, pretending to look 
          outside for what is really inside ourselves. 
           
          Quantum physics has been quietly undermining the whole basis of 
          mechanistic cause and effect type science for nearly sixty years. It 
          has been said that if you are not shocked by the implications of 
          quantum physics then you have not understood it. This may be 
          perfectly true for the scientist but for the magician, quantum 
          physics provides elegant confirmation of many of his theories. A 
          quantitative approach to quantum physics is beyond all but the best 
          mathematician. Many of the principles are enshrined in equations for 
          which we have few verbal or visual analogies. Because of this very 
          few laymen or philosophers have been able to appreciate what has 
          been going on. 
           
          Briefly in qualitative terms, we now have hard experimental evidence 
          which strongly implies that physical process are, at root, acausal; 
          they just happen out of themselves and that consciousness, or at 
          least the decisions of the observer, can modify or control what 
          happens. Secondly it would seem that pure information can travel 
          anywhere instantaneously and perhaps persists indefinitely, 
          providing there is some sort of affinity, or magical link as we 
          would call it, between that which emits and that which receives. 
          Very few liberties need to be taken with quantum physics to fit in 
          virtually the whole of parapsychology. It remains to be seen if 
          quantum physics can be presented in sufficiently accessible form to 
          provoke another occult revival. 
           


















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          A quantum based revival would effectively demolish the spirit 
          hypothesis. A "spirit" would have to be recognized as nothing more 
          than the information that a phenomenon emitted about itself when it 
          existed physically. Anything else would have to be put down to the 
          creativity of the observer`s subconsciousness. Thus the "tree-ness" 
          of a tree or the quality of a thought is just an extension of the 
          object itself on the plane of non-local information. If you talk to 
          Egyptian gods your subconsciousness is, at best, simply animating 
          the general personality characteristics of the gods projected by 
          their worshippers millennia ago. Spirits cannot be gaseous 
          vertebrates with powers of independent discursive thought. On the 
          practical level quantum physics implies that the medium of magic is 
          not some sort of nebulous psychic energy or force, it is simply a 
          transfer of information. Magical healing or attack is accomplished 
          by long range telepathic suggestion not by astral bandages or 
          thunderbolts. The quantum paradigm forces a re-examination of 
          reincarnation. There is no reason why anybody should not be able to 
          tap the memories of any historical person. Conversely we can all 
          look forward to fragments of our ideas and personalities manifesting 
          in other people in the future. 

          Telekinesis and related phenomena can be accommodated within the 
          quantum paradigm if we allow intent to expand upon the small degree 
          of fundamental uncertainty, or more properly indeterminacy, in the 
          position and momentum of any object. Prophecy is always the most 
          doubtful of the magical arts although short term prediction or 
          precognition can often be impressive. The quantum model allows for 
          this providing the operator later observes the precognised event. 
          Such apparent nonsense as astrology and homeopathy begin to make 
          more sense in a quantum paradigm which suggests that expectation can 
          have real effects via what one might call a magical level. This is 
          quite over and above the purely psychological effects of expectation 
          that materialists usually invoke to explain away these things. 
           
          I`ve heard the quantum occult paradigm described as Big Bang 
          Mysticism and Electro Gnosis. I rather like this, for it implies 
          that the universe is being viewed as a self-created magical organism 
          and that magic itself is a technology we can potentially master 
          because it is a part of the nature of ordinary reality. Of course, 
          what is missing in this scheme are the pseudo certainties of belief 
          in gods and higher powers or even a benign cosmic mind. It throws us 
          back on our own powers and ingenuities, but isn`t this what the best 
          occultism has always been about anyway ? 
           















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          (811)   Mon 29 Apr 91  3:26
          By: Madoc
          To: Chris Anderson
          Re: What's this "Right" stuff, anyway?
          St:
          ------------------------------------------------------------
          @PID: RA 1.01
          @MSGID: 8:7703/8 4dba2fe8
          >What would a Wiccan provide as an explanation for behavior that was
          >"contrary"  in the  sense that  you've given?   We've all  seen folks
          behave in a way that is *apparently* inconsistent with stated beliefs,
          even  those that are closely held.   What do you  believe is the basis
          for the difference between  a "positive direction along the  Path" and
          actual behavior that is  contrary to this  by one who earnestly  seeks
          "the Path"?   The  answer  is stated  clearly  enough for  many  other
          religions, but I've  never had  the opportunity to  hear a Wiccan  add
          his/her windage on this  topic.  Flip Wilson's answer  obviously isn't
          going to apply, so where do we go with it? ;)

          Chris,  sorry for the delay in answering your question. I have written
          and re-written my response, and although I still may not have answered
          your question herein, I feel that I must reply at last.

          First, I must stipulate that what follows is my own interpretation of
          Wiccan belief, and my own sense of "morals." You know, the usual
          disclaimer.

          Second, I wish  to deal briefly with the concept  of separation of Law
          and Moral.  What I am writing  here has absolutely no  relation to the
          practice of law. I do not advocate murder, for example, nor do I think
          that murder  should go unpunished  by the State.  I recognize that  we
          live in  a society which  must have  rules in order  that the  maximum
          amount of  freedom may be enjoyed by  all. I would not  hesitate, if I
          were a  juror, to vote to send  a proven criminal to  jail, or even to
          death, if the situation warranted it.  Therefore, let none who read my
          words  mistake my moral convictions with my beliefs about our judaical
          system - I  am not in disagreement  with the majority  of our laws  as
          they exist.

          Finally; the point:

          To save space, I'll  omit the dictionary definition of  'sin.' I think
          we all understand that Christians believe  in sin, Wiccans do not.  As
          you have stated, members  of other religions have their  rules clearly
          stated,  so that  one may  easily decide  if one  is in  error or  not
          (although it's often not  quite *that* easy). Wiccans claim  to follow
          only the Rede, which states, "An it harm none, do as thou shalt."

          You have asked how a Wiccan can stray from such a path. The answer is
          complex and far-reaching, and even  delves into (ugh) philosophy. I'll
          try to keep it succinct.








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                                                                             227

          If one  thoughtfully examines  the Rede,  it quickly  becomes apparent
          that almost  every action has  the potential to harm  some creature in
          some  way.  Drawing breath can kill micro-organisms that float unseen,
          in  the  atmosphere. Drinking  water does  the  same thing.  One could
          choose to marry,  and ultimately  bring pain and  suffering on  future
          generations of children by way of an unhappy union. There is literally
          no way that  one could  possibly foresee all  circumstances and  avoid
          harming  anyone.  Yet, that  is  what the  Rede  demands. What  is the
          answer?

          In my opinion, the answer is obvious. The Wiccan must choose. Each and
          every  Wiccan  is  responsible for  their  own  actions,  and will  be
          accountable to themselves for the results of those actions. The wheels
          turns, and  each Wiccan reaps what they have sown. No Godly mandate or
          indulgence can  save us from the  results of our own  actions, be they
          good or bad. But, with ultimate responsibility comes ultimate freedom.
          No God can shackle  my soul or subject me to that which I do not Will.
          I am supreme  within myself, and I am the "captain of my soul." I have
          chosen to obey  certain of society's laws and mores.  I have chosen to
          be a "good" man. Mine is the reward for choosing such action, and mine
          will  be  the   punishment  if   I  fail  to   meet  my   self-imposed
          responsibilities. As you jested, I cannot claim Flip Wilson's
          famous defence. Nor do I claim that such things as I do well stem from
          my Creator -  in ultimate hubris, I claim that "As  I Will, so mote it
          be."

          Every day,  I am met with  new decisions. I make  those decisions, and
          then I live  with the consequences of my actions.  In my opinion, that
          is what makes me human, what sets me apart from the animals. Man alone
          can  choose,  man  alone  is  not  chained  to  genetically  imprinted
          behavior.

          I have been asked why, if there is the possibility  that the Christian
          deity exists, do I not choose Christianity  on the possibility that it
          is  correct? This  is  Pascal's famous  wager.  If I  wager that  (the
          Christian) God exists and I  am correct, then I win all. If I am wrong
          and  God does  not exist,  then I  have lost  nothing, and  have lived
          (hopefully)  a  good and  productive life  in  the bargain.  Why would
          anyone not  accept this wager? My  answer to that is that  I would not
          willingly serve any  God that  would choose one  of His/Her  creations
          over another,  the good over the bad, the shriven over the heathen. If
          I had  definitive proof  that such  a  God existed,  I would  actively
          oppose  Him/Her. I would rather  suffer the cold  comfort of damnation
          than continue to  exist in a hereafter peopled with  only the "saved."
          This is my choice, and again, as I Will, so mote it be.














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          >What  do  you believe  is  the  basis for  the  difference  between a
          "positive  direction  along  the  Path" and  actual  behavior  that is
          contrary to this by one who earnestly seeks "the Path"?

          A fine, difficult  question, Chris. As you've  stated elsewhere, we've
          been dancing all around this one for some time. Here goes:

          I cannot  determine what any one  individual's Path is. I  am not even
          sure of my own. I often follow forks in  the road until they come to a
          dead end, and  have to double back. Of course,  that's the problem one
          faces in  following one's own Will,  and not a set  of directions laid
          down by God. My concept of the Path is that it is like many roads, all
          of  which lead  eventually to self-knowledge  (enlightenment, Godhead,
          nirvana, and so on). In my theology, my ultimate goal is to become one
          with the  God of my creation  by gaining divine  knowledge, or gnosis.
          We've  discussed the concept of "hidden knowledge"  in the past, yet I
          feel that my understanding of gnosis differs from yours.

          The entire concept  of the  ancient mystery religions,  and of  modern
          "occult" (which mean only 'hidden' after all)  religions and practices
          was based on  the concept of the  inverted filter. Each  person passed
          through   successive  layers   of  filters,   gaining   knowledge  and
          understanding at each  stop, until they could  absorb no more (and  so
          could  not pass through the next layer  of filter). Of course, at each
          level,  the  initiate  was given  to  believe that  they  were  now in
          possession of secret knowledge, and ultimate truth. If they could find
          legitimate questions that led  them to reject or doubt  those 'truths'
          and seek deeper meaning, then they passed through to the next level of
          understanding. If they did not question, then they were satisfied that
          they had gained truth.

          This 'hidden knowledge' can be obtained outside of the constraints of
          organized religion; in fact  it originally was obtained independently.
          Just as Newton's  Laws could  eventually be  figured out  by a  person
          ignorant  of his discoveries, one  could find a  Path to enlightenment
          separate  from  any of  the mystery  religions.  However, just  as one
          attends school  to learn that which  is already known,  so one pursues
          illumination  from the teachings  of those  who have  already achieved
          more than oneself.

          Further,  I do not  believe that there  is one 'right'  Path. I accept
          that the OTO has valuable knowledge to impart. I accept that Christian
          Mystics,  Jewish Quabalists,  Muslim Sufis,  and so  on all  have some
          piece of the puzzle, and that all will eventually converge on the road
          to wisdom. I  know because I  have been to  that intersection once  or
          twice,  although I  am not there  now. My Path  is my own,  and as Van
          Morrison said, I have "No teacher, no guru, no method."

          Can  I  move in  a direction  that  is contrary  to  positive movement
          towards  the Laughing  Light?  You bet.  The tough  part  is that  the
          definition of what is or is not 'positive' is not  static. An example:
          it might  be proper that I  learn what it means to  take another human
          being's life by killing an intruder in my home. It might not be proper
          that I learn that lesson by following the orders of a superior officer
          in time of war. OR VICE VERSA.  I must choose at every instance, and I
          might  not immediately know  if my choice  has given or  taken from my
          search for truth.


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          There are also times when I might know that I am actively choosing to
          deviate  from my Path.  I might choose  to sooth a  feeling of anxiety
          about whether or not  I can pay the rent  this month by yelling  at my
          wife.  I'm not  using this as  an example because  it is traditionally
          "wrong,"  but  because  I know  that  I  cannot solve  my  problems by
          transferring my anxiety to others.  If  I choose to ignore what I have
          already learned, then not only have I lost ground, but I  will have to
          deal with the anger that I've given out at some point.

          In conclusion, I believe that I am responsible for my own actions, as
          others are for theirs. I also believe that if I commit an action which
          may  seem 'right' to me, but  which society has deemed  to be a crime,
          I'll be  punished by society  for breaking  that law.  I would  punish
          those who break the laws which are meant to hold our society together,
          such as prohibitions on murder, burglary, and so forth. I believe that
          my moral convictions are  binding only on myself,  not on others,  and
          that I'll ultimately  deal with  the consequences of  my thoughts  and
          deeds.  I believe that I  have no right to judge  the moral content of
          another's actions. I believe in the  Wiccan Rede, "An it harm none, do
          as  thou shalt,"  and I further  believe that  it is meant  to make me
          consider  my  actions  and their  consequences,  and  to  make my  own
          decisions, rather than as a prohibition against any specific action.

          There  is much that I  do not know  about Godhead; much that  I do not
          know about Right and Wrong. I  have only my instincts and intellect to
          guide me, but I trust myself to make the right decisions eventually.

          Madoc































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                                        Sex & Magic 
                                      Fra.: Apfelmann

          In this article I would like to address the issue of sex and magic.
          I am quite aware of the fact that this is a loaded subject. It is
          one of the oldest disciplines in occultism and virtually every magic
          tradition applies it somewhere down the road. Yet it has always been
          regarded as the innermost secret discipline. Witches, Shamans,
          Runesters, Yogis and Magicians of all varieties work with it in one
          form or another.

          To build up, strengthen, direct and aim this powerful energy is an
          awesome magical tool, as anyone who has ever worked with it knows.
          Being limited in time and space, but having such a wonderful and
          eclectic medium to work with, I want to give you a few unbiased
          ideas on the subject.

          No discipline of magic has attracted as much mumbo jumbo or
          misinformation as sex magic does. Nothing stirs the mind more than
          the left and right of the so-called middle path quite as vividly.
          Nothing is more ancient, powerful and misunderstood as Sex magic.
          Yes, the market on Tantra is booming, as a visit to any occult book
          shop will show you. Yet well researched, practical introductions
          into sex magic are virtually non-existent. Male sexist tunnel vision
          abounds.

          One of the reasons being that the general approach towards sexuality
          and women is steeped in Judeo-Christian hang ups.
          The most common approach seems to be: "Just lay down and be the
          altar dear, you are going to love it." Even such revolutionaries as
          Aleister Crowley have done very little to improve this. Louis
          Culling even dares to state in his contemporary work (1971), that a
          frigid woman is more conductive to sex magic practice than a sensual
          or, mind you, sexually aggressive one. For this would surely disturb
          ones concentration on the Great Work.
          No wonder that there are few women attracted to these kinds of
          partners! You will always get what you want in magic and the
          so-called true will does reveal itself in strange ways. Doing some
          soul searching and clarifying your motives is quite effective.

          Now, regarding literature on this subject there is hope. My german
          friend Fra.: U.D. has written a comprehensive, pragmatic book on sex
          magic. It`s title is "Secrets of the German Sex Magicians"
          (Llewellyn) and he told me last weekend that it is available in the
          States right now. (I hope he will give me some extracts to post them
          here...) It beats everything that has ever been published on the
          subject. Get it!











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          Now let me point out, one more time, that magic is a practical
          science. Merely reading about it or going to a workshop will not get
          you anywhere.
          The multitude of sexual expressions is just as great and manifold as
          human behavior in general. Here, like everywhere in Chaos Magic, it
          is useful to keep in mind that if it works for you, use it!
          Remember, the real sex magicians, male and female, have always known
          that and discarded social conditioning and taboos, right along with
          the do`s and don`ts of dogma.
          We do magic to liberate ourselves. So if it is possible for one
          thing to be sacred we logically conclude that everything else can be
          sacred too.

          Auto-, Hetero- and Homosexual expressions are equally valid in
          sex magic. It is more about expanding ones horizons that about
          finding a certain "right" way, partner or ritual to do it. The Chaos
          Magical paradigm kicks right in: Nothing is True, and Everything is
          Permitted!

          The next issue I want to address is the Auto-erotic practice. So let
          me state this loud and clear: Without auto erotic practice it is
          impossible to achieve anything in Sex magic!
          Auto-eroticism is of central importance because it is the ideal
          practice and playground. It constitutes a powerful technique in
          itself, and it makes us independent of partners. Especially in the
          beginning it is much easier to explore, prolong and amplify orgasmic
          trance states. For this very same reason it is possible to do
          effective sex magic with a partner who knows nothing about it but
          working with a partner who is equally trained in this art is ever so
          much more effective. Most amateurs believe that sexual magic is
          something that solely happens between partners in a ritual, but in
          reality the vast majority of sex magical arts are performed
          auto-erotically.

          Regarding the physical aspects of the sexual magical training first
          thing to consider is that your body is really _your temple_. And for
          it to be your ultimate tool and asset it has to be in peak
          condition. Physical and mental dependencies, be it alcohol,
          stimulants or even tobacco, will interfere with your ability to
          develop and direct this tool. I do not want to project a moral
          attitude on this, or any other subject, but mind, spirit and body
          are deeply intertwined. And the more you alter your mind from the
          outside by using drugs of any sort, the harder it gets to focus your
          will and physical reaction. If you are in a frizzy condition, you
          will get frizzy results! Here, as in all magic, the borders are
          fluid. A good training in practical magic will greatly enhance your
          sexual magic and vice versa.












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          A lot of physical exercises in sex magic derive from Tantra Yoga.
          The only point of disagreement appears to be the way of using the
          orgasm. In particular, the "traditional" Tantra authors seem to cling
          to the idea that there is only a limited amount of sperm available
          to men. Therefore this precious substance is carefully guarded, held
          back and reassimilated when spent. Western magic does not agree
          with this belief. Its approach is rather like: the more you spend -
          the more you get! This applies to male magicians, women have always
          been pretty much inexhaustible in their orgasmic capacity. What
          joins both is that the intent in Sex magic is much more result
          oriented and concrete than in Tantra, where it is mainly
          transcendental.

          The longing for transcendence seems to be inherently natural in
          human behavior. Yet being western magicians living in the nineties
          we know that we have to handle the "real world", our physical
          reality first, and then we can move on to the loftier goals.

          A good manual for your physical preparation and training is
          "Stalking the Wild Orgasm" by Christopher Scott Kilham. Hie work not
          only includes some excellent yoga exercises, but also gives you some
          great clues regarding nutrition and aphrodisiacs.
          When you get going in this direction you will find that it soon
          penetrates into many other areas of your magical work. You will be
          in better physical shape, more relaxed, focused and grounded. Magic
          is a gut level art. We have to remove it from the intellectual
          stuff. Trust your own experiences. Strive to conduct your magic work
          from this part of your body where all magic originates - your loins.
          Have fun!

          With fractalic greetings and laughter  * Fra.: Apfelmann *




























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                               THE RIDDLE OF THE TRICKSTER
                                a cross-cultural overview
                                            by
                               Thunderspud of Dragonfhain 
           
          Who  is  this trickster  archetype, the  one  who inspires  such mixed
          feelings   and  brouhaha?    Trickster  has  been  with  us  from  the
          beginning.   Trickster will  be there at  the ending. (If  there is an
          ending,  Trickster will probably trigger it).  Trickster is a creator,
          a transformer, a joker, a truth teller, a destroyer.
           
          Whoever has created a  dance, a song, written a ritual,  tailor-made a
          job, birthed a  child or invented a game has  partaken of a controlled
          Trickster  energy.     After  all,  in  Northwest   Native  and  Inuit
          tradition, Raven  created the world; Loki  is known to the  Norse as a
          co creator (and the bringer of Ragnarok); Anansi  the spider-trickster
          among  the Ashanti  of  Ghana and  Nareau  the spider  in  Micronesia;
          Coyote  among the Southwest Natives --these are the creator aspects of
          this  wild and  uncontrolled energy.   Trickster  often begins  in the
          void, desiring  to bring Order  out of Chaos;  once Order is  imposed,
          however, Trickster represents the breaking free of negative power 
          from the Universal Order of things.
           
          As a  shape-shifter, Trickster is  all things  to all  people, at  one
          time or another,  and often simultaneously.  Of  course Trickster is a
          creator  and a  destroyer.   Sure he's  a family  man and  a vagabond.
          Naturally he gives fire  to humans and then  steals their food  before
          they  can  cook  it.    This  is  his  style;  when  he  acts  out  of
          selfishness,  everyone benefits --  Maui of the  Thousand Tricks might
          snare the Sun to slow it  down, making life easier for humans,  but he
          did it so his  mother would have more time  to cook for him.   When he
          acts  out of altruism, there's most always a negative effect --Marawa,
          a Lou Costello prototype  from Banks Island carved human  figures from
          wood and put  them in the  ground so  they would grow  and be  strong;
          however,  they merely rotted and death  came into the world of humans.
          This  shape- shifter  not only  moves  from shape  to shape,  but from
          world to world.  Number Eleven suffered at the hands  of death to free
          his  brothers; his  brothers  then took  his  lifeless body  away  and
          revived him.   In the Winnebago cycle, Trickster dies  three times and
          returns to  life  three times.    In  just one  collection  of  Coyote
          stories, Giving Birth  to Thunder, Sleeping With  His Daughter, Coyote
          dies of  a snake bite, a  gunshot, an arrow  wound, a broken  heart, a
          rock-fall and a drowning; this resembles nothing so much as a 
          Roadrunner cartoon.
           














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          Trickster fuzzes  the lines between  Male and Female,  between cunning
          and  stupidity (in  one  story Coyote  steals a  horse, in  another he
          almost  drowns  trying to  eat some  berries  reflected in  a stream),
          between wisdom  and stupidity.  Trickster tells us the truth about our
          selves,  showing us with truth and wit the sides of our nature that we
          may be more comfortable not acknowledging;  he's the one who points at
          the Emperor's nakedness, he's Lenny Bruce and Ashleigh  Brilliant, Ken
          Kesey  and Uncle Remus, Opus,  Geech, Tom Robbins,  Abbie Hoffman, Don
          Becker,  Weird Al Yankovich and  David Letterman, holding  up a skewed
          mirror of reality  for us to look into.  Among  the Aztecs, as serious
          a culture  as this continent  has ever  seen, Ueuecoyotl, a  funny and
          outrageously unacceptable  clown figure; in the  Southwest, at serious
          rituals,  he's the  Koshare speeding  around the circle  with tickling
          feathers and rattle, being ignored completely by the priest.
           
          Trickster shines on as  a culture bringer: Prometheus steals  fire for
          his poor stunted creations, and pays  a terrible and eternal price for
          his  philanthropy.  Loki  also steals fire  for humans,  as do Anansi,
          Raven,  Coyote,  Maui; so  far  I have  found  no less  than seventeen
          stories  from  different  cultures  on  this  theme.   Anansi  tricked
          Nyankopon the Sky-God out of his stories and gave them to the humans. 
          Clat, from Banks Island, taught humans how to sleep.
           
          In the stories of the Ashanti, Anansi invented the tar-baby  as a ruse
          to  trap  an elemental  spirit, but  in  the Native  American stories,
          Coyote  is trapped  by a  tar-baby set  up by  a farmer.  Actually the
          farmer  had caught  a rabbit  with his  tar-baby, but  Coyote happened
          along and asked  Rabbit what he was doing there.  "The farmer who owns
          this  field got mad  at me because  I wouldn't  eat his melons,  so he
          stuck me  here and  said  he'd come  back and  make  me eat  chicken."
          Rabbit  replies, "But I told him I wouldn't do it."  Of course, greedy
          Coyote extricates Rabbit  and wraps himself around  the tar-baby where
          he still his when the farmer comes out and shoots him.
           
          So this is the Trickster,  the energy that  allows us to  break out of
          our  stereotypes,  whether  they've  been imposed  by  ourselves,  our
          families, our  culture.  This  is the energy  that opens the  world of
          limitless possibilities and it  behooves us all to work with it before
          it destroys us, to touch the Trickster as he touches us.
                              ...........from RMPJ, Oct.'86   



















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                   Notes on Kabbalah (a continuing series of many parts) 

                                 Copyright Colin Low 1991


           Chapter 1.: The Tree of Life

                At  the root of the Cabalistic view of the world are  three
           fundamental  concepts and they provide a natural place to  begin.
           The  three concepts are force,  form and consciousness and  these
           words  are  used in an abstract way,  as the  following  examples
           illustrate:

                -  high  pressure steam in the cylinder of  a  steam  engine
                provides a force.  The engine is a form which constrains the
                force.

                -  a  river runs downhill under the force  of  gravity.  The
                river channel is a form which constrains the water to run in
                a well defined path.

                - someone wants to get to the center of a garden  maze.  The
                hedges  are a form which constrain that person's ability  to
                walk as they please.

                -  a  diesel engine provides the force which drives  a  boat
                forwards.   A  rudder  constrains  its  course  to  a  given
                direction.

                -  a  politician wants to change the  law.  The  legislative
                framework  of  the country is a form which he  or  she  must
                follow if the change is to be made legally.

                - water sits in a bowl. The force of gravity pulls the water
                down. The bowl is a form which gives its shape to the water.

                -  a stone falls to the ground under the force  of  gravity.
                Its  acceleration  is constrained to be equal to  the  force
                divided by the mass of the stone.

                - I want to win at chess.  The force of my desire to win  is
                constrained within the rules of chess.

                - I see something in a shop window and have to have it. I am
                constrained  by  the conditions of sale (do  I  have  enough
                money, is it in stock).

                - cordite explodes in a gun barrel and provides an explosive
                force on a bullet. The gas and the bullet are constrained by
                the form of the gun barrel.

                - I want to get a passport. The government won't give me one
                unless I fill in lots of forms in precisely the right way.

                - I want a university degree.  The university won't give  me
                a  degree unless I attend certain courses and  pass  various
                assessments.
           In all these examples there is something which is causing  change

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                                                                             236

           to  take  place ("a force") and there is something  which  causes
           change to take place in a defined way ("a form").  Without  being
           too pedantic it is possible to identify two very different  types
           of example here:

                1.  examples of natural physical processes (e.g.  a  falling
                stone) where the force is one of the natural forces known to
                physics (e.g.  gravity) and the form is some  combination
                of physical laws which constrain the force to act in a  well
                defined way.

                2.  examples of people wanting something, where the force is
                some ill-defined concept of "desire",  "will",  or "drives",
                and  the form is one of the forms we impose  upon  ourselves
                (the rules of chess, the Law, polite behavior etc.).

           Despite  the  fact that the two different types  of  example  are
           "only  metaphorically  similar",  Kabbalists see  no  fundamental
           distinction  between  them.  To the Kabbalist there  are  forces
           which  cause  change  in  the  natural  world,   and  there   are
           corresponding psychological forces which drive us to change  both
           the world and ourselves,  and whether these forces are natural or
           psychological they are rooted in the same  place:  consciousness.
           Similarly,  there  are  forms which the component  parts  of  the
           physical  world  seem  to  obey  (natural  laws)  and  there  are
           completely  arbitrary forms we create as part of the  process  of
           living (the rules of a game, the shape of a mug, the design of an
           engine, the syntax of a language) and these forms are also rooted
           in the same place:  consciousness. It is a Cabalistic axiom that
           there is a prime cause which underpins all the manifestations  of
           force  and form in both the natural and psychological  world  and
           that prime cause I have called consciousness for lack of a better
           word.
                Consciousness is undefinable.  We know that we are conscious
           in different ways at different times - sometimes we feel free and
           happy,  at other times trapped and confused,  sometimes angry and
           passionate,  sometimes  cold  and restrained -  but  these  words
           describe  manifestations  of consciousness.  We  can  define  the
           manifestations  of  consciousness in terms of  manifestations  of
           consciousness,  which is about as useful as defining an ocean  in
           terms  of  waves  and  foam.   Anyone  who  attempts  to   define
           consciousness  itself tends to come out of the same door as  they
           went in. We have lots of words for the phenomena of consciousness
           - thoughts,  feelings, beliefs, desires, emotions, motives and so
           on  -  but few words for the states of consciousness  which  give
           rise to these phenomena,  just as we have many words to  describe
           the  surface  of a sea,  but few words to  describe  its  depths.
           Kabbalah  provides  a  vocabulary  for  states  of  consciousness
           underlying the phenomena,  and one of the purposes of these notes
           is to explain this vocabulary,  not by definition,  but mostly by
           metaphor  and analogy.  The only genuine method of  understanding
           what  the  vocabulary  means is by attaining  various  states  of
           consciousness in a predictable and reasonably objective way,  and
           Kabbalah provides practical methods for doing this.





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                                                                             237

                A fundamental premise of the Cabalistic model of reality is
           that  there  is  a  pure,   primal,   and  undefinable  state  of
           consciousness which manifests as an interaction between force and
           form.  This is virtually the entire guts of the Cabalistic  view
           of  things,  and almost everything I have to say from now  on  is
           based  on  this  trinity  of  consciousness,   force,  and  form.
           Consciousness  comes first,  but hidden within it is an  inherent
           duality;  there is an energy associated with consciousness  which
           causes   change  (force),   and  there  is  a   capacity   within
           consciousness  to constrain that energy and cause it to  manifest
           in a well-defined way (form).

                                  First Principle
                                        of
                                /  Consciousness   \
                               /                    \
                              /                      \
                          Capacity                   Raw
                          to take  ________________ Energy
                           Form
                                     Figure 1.

           What do we get out of raw energy and an inbuilt capacity for form
           and structure?  Is there yet another hidden potential within this
           trinity waiting to manifest? There is. If modern physics is to be
           believed we get matter and the physical world.  The  cosmological
           Big  Bang  model of raw energy surging out from  an  infinitesimal
           point and condensing into basic forms of matter as it cools, then
           into  stars and galaxies,  then planets,  and  ultimately  living
           creatures,  has  many points of similarity with  the  Cabalistic
           model. In the Big Bang model a soup of energy condenses according
           to  some  yet-to-be-formulated  Grand-Universal-Theory  into  our
           physical  world.  What Kabbalah does suggest (and modern  physics
           most  certainly does not!) is that matter and  consciousness  are
           the  same  stuff,  and  differ only in the  degree  of  structure
           imposed  -  matter  is consciousness so  heavily  structured  and
           constrained  that  its behavior becomes  describable  using  the
           regular and simple laws of physics.  This is shown in Fig. 2. The
           primal,  first principle of consciousness is synonymous with  the
           idea of "God".



















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                                                                             238


                                  First Principle
                                        of
                                /  Consciousness   \
                               /         |          \
                              /          |           \
                          Capacity       |           Raw
                          to take  _____________ Energy/Force
                           Form          |
                              \          |           /
                               \         |          /
                                \        |         /
                                       Matter
                                     The World

                                     Figure 2

           The glyph in Fig.  2 is the basis for the Tree of Life. The first
           principle of consciousness is called Kether,  which means  Crown.
           The  raw energy of consciousness is called Chockhmah  or  Wisdom,
           and  the capacity to give form to the energy of consciousness  is
           called Binah, which is sometimes translated as Understanding, and
           sometimes  as  Intelligence.  The outcome of the  interaction  of
           force and form,  the physical world,  called Malkuth or  Kingdom.
           This  quaternery  is  a Cabalistic  representation  of  God-the-
           Knowable,  in the sense that it the most primitive representation
           of God we are capable of comprehending;  paradoxically, Kabbalah
           also  contains  a notion of God-the-Unknowable  which  transcends
           this glyph,  and is called En Soph.  There is not much I can  say
           about En Soph, and what I can say I will postpone for later.
                God-the-Knowable has four aspects,  two male and two female:
           Kether and Chokhmah are both represented as male,  and Binah  and
           Malkuth are represented as female.  One of the titles of Chokhmah
           is Abba,  which means Father,  and one of the titles of Binah  is
           Aima,  which means Mother,  so you can think of Chokhmah as  God-
           the-Father,   and  Binah  as  God-the-Mother.    Malkuth  is  the
           daughter, the female spirit of God-as-Matter, and it would not be
           wildly  wrong to think of her as Mother Earth.  One of  the  more
           pleasant things about Kabbalah is that its symbolism gives  equal
           place to both male and female.
                And  what  of God-the-Son?  Is there also a  God-the-Son  in
           Kabbalah?  There is, and this is the point where Kabbalah tackles
           the interesting problem of thee and me.  The glyph in Fig. 2 is a
           model of consciousness,  but not of self-consciousness, and self-
           consciousness throws an interesting spanner in the works.














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                                                                             239

           The Fall

                Self-consciousness  is like a mirror in which  consciousness
           sees itself reflected.  Self-consciousness is modelled in Kabbalah
           by making a copy of figure 2.

                                   Consciousness
                                        of
                                /  Consciousness   \
                               /         |          \
                              /          |           \
                         Consciousness   |      Consciousness
                              of  ________________   of
                             Form        |       Energy/Force
                              \          |           /
                               \         |          /
                                \        |         /
                                   Consciousness
                                       of the
                                       World

                                     Figure 3

           Figure 3.  is Figure 2. reflected through self-consciousness. The
           overall  effect  of self-consciousness is to  add  an  additional
           layer to Figure 2. as follows:

                                  First Principle
                                        of
                                /  Consciousness   \
                               /         |          \
                              /          |           \
                          Capacity       |           Raw
                          to take  _____________ Energy/Force
                           Form          |
                              \          |           /
                               \         |          /
                                \        |         /
                                   Consciousness
                                        of
                                /  Consciousness   \
                               /         |          \
                              /          |           \
                         Consciousness   |      Consciousness
                              of  ________________   of
                             Form        |       Energy/Force
                              \          |           /
                               \         |          /
                                \        |         /
                                   Consciousness
                                       of the
                                       World
                                         |
                                         |
                                         |
                                       Matter
                                     The World
                                     Figure 4

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                                                                             240


           Fig.  2  is  sometimes  called "the Garden of  Eden"  because  it
           represents a primal state of consciousness.  The effect of  self-
           consciousness as shown in Fig.  4 is to drive a wedge between the
           First Principle of Consciousness (Kether) and that  Consciousness
           realized  as  matter and the physical world  (Malkuth).  This  is
           called "the Fall",  after the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden
           of Eden. From a Cabalistic point of view the story of Eden, with
           the  Tree  of Knowledge of Good and Evil,  the  serpent  and  the
           temptation,  and the casting out from the Garden has a great deal
           of   meaning   in  terms  of  understanding  the   evolution   of
           consciousness.
                Self-consciousness    introduces   four   new   states    of
           consciousness:  the  Consciousness  of  Consciousness  is  called
           Tipheret,  which means Beauty;  the Consciousness of Force/Energy
           is  called  Netzach,   which  means  Victory  or  Firmness;   the
           Consciousness  of Form is called Hod,  which means  Splendor  or
           Glory,  and  the Consciousness of Matter is called  Yesod,  which
           means  Foundation.  These  four states  have  readily  observable
           manifestations, as shown below in Fig. 5:

                                      The Self
                                   Self-Importance
                                    Self-Sacrifice
                                /        |         \
                               /         |          \
                              /          |           \
                           Language      |         Emotions
                         Abstraction_______________Drives
                            Reason       |         Feelings
                              \          |           /
                               \         |          /
                                \        |         /
                                 \   Perception   /
                                     Imagination
                                      Instinct
                                    Reproduction

                                      Figure 5

           Figure 4.  is almost the complete Tree of Life,  but not quite  -
           there  are  still two states missing.  The inherent  capacity  of
           consciousness  to take on structure and objectify itself  (Binah,
           God-the-Mother)  is  reflected through  self-consciousness  as  a
           perception of the limitedness and boundedness of things.  We  are
           conscious of space and time, yesterday and today, here and there,
           you  and  me,  in and out,  life and  death,  whole  and  broken,
           together and apart.  We see things as limited and bounded and  we
           have a perception of form as something "created" and "destroyed".
           My  car was built a year ago,  but it was  smashed  yesterday.  I
           wrote an essay, but I lost it when my computer crashed. My granny
           is dead. The river changed its course. A law has been repealed. I
           broke  my  coffee  mug.  The world changes,  and  what  was  here
           yesterday  is  not  here today.  This  perception  acts  like  an
           "interface"   between  the  quaternary  of  consciousness   which
           represents  "God",  and the quaternary which represents a  living
           self-conscious  being,  and  two  new states  are  introduced  to
           represent this interface. The state which represents the creation

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                                                                             241

           of new forms is called Chesed,  which means Mercy,  and the state
           which  represents  the destruction of forms  is  called  Gevurah,
           which   means  Strength.   This  is  shown   in   Fig.   6.   The
           objectification  of forms which takes place in  a  self-conscious
           being,  and the consequent tendency to view the world in terms of
           limitations and dualities (time and space,  here and  there,  you
           and me,  in and out,  God and Man,  good and evil...) produces  a
           barrier to perception which most people rarely overcome,  and for
           this reason it has come to be called the Abyss. The Abyss is also
           marked on Figure 6.

                                  First Principle
                                        of
                                /  Consciousness   \
                               /         |          \
                              /          |           \
                          Capacity       |           Raw
                          to take  _____________ Energy/Force
                           Form          |            |
                             |\          |           /|
                             | \         |          / |
                         --------------Abyss---------------
                             |   \       |        /   |
                        Destruction      |        Creation
                            of_____\_____|_____ /____of
                           Form     \    |     /    Form
                             | \     \   |    /    /  |
                             |  \     \  |   /    /   |
                             |   \ Consciousness /    |
                             |          of            |
                             |  /  Consciousness   \  |
                             | /         |          \ |
                             |/          |           \|
                         Consciousness   |      Consciousness
                              of  ________________   of
                           \ Form        |       Energy/Force
                            \ \          |           / /
                             \ \         |          / /
                             \  \        |         /  /
                              \    Consciousness     /
                              \         of           /
                               \     the World      /
                                \                  /
                                 \       |        /
                                  \      |       /
                                   \     |      /
                                       Matter
                                     The World

                                      Figure 6









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                                                                             242

           The  diagram  in  Fig.   6  is  called  the  Tree  of  Life.  The
           "constructionist"  approach I have used to justify its  structure
           is  a little unusual,  but the essence of my presentation can  be
           found  in  the "Zohar" under the guise of the  Macroprosopus  and
           Microprosopus, although in this form it is not readily accessible
           to  the average reader.  My attempt to show how the Tree of  Life
           can be derived out of pure consciousness through the  interaction
           of an abstract notion of force and form was not intended to be  a
           convincing exercise from an intellectual point of view - the Tree
           of  Life  is  primarily  a gnostic  rather  than  a  rational  or
           intellectual  explanation  of consciousness and  its  interaction
           with the physical world.
                The  Tree is composed of 10 states or  sephiroth  (sephiroth
           plural,  sephira singular) and 22 interconnecting paths.  The age
           of  this diagram is unknown:  there is enough information in  the
           13th.  century "Sepher ha Zohar" to construct this  diagram,  and
           the  doctrine of the sephiroth has been attributed to  Isaac  the
           Blind in the 12th.  century,  but we have no certain knowledge of
           its  origin.  It  probably originated sometime  in  the  interval
           between the 6th.  and 13th.  centuries AD. The origin of the word
           "sephira"  is unclear - it is almost certainly derived  from  the
           Hebrew word for "number" (SPhR),  but it has also been attributed
           to the Greek word for "sphere" and even to the Hebrew word for  a
           sapphire (SPhIR).  With a characteristic aptitude for discovering
           hidden meanings everywhere, Kabbalists find all three derivations
           useful, so take your pick.
                In the language of earlier Cabalistic writers the sephiroth
           represented  ten primeval emanations of God,  ten  foci  through
           which  the energy of a hidden,  absolute and unknown Godhead  (En
           Soph)  propagated  throughout  the  creation,  like  white  light
           passing  through  a prism.  The sephiroth can be  interpreted  as
           aspects of God,  as states of consciousness,  or as nodes akin to
           the  Chakras  in the occult anatomy of a human  being  .
                I  have left out one important detail from the structure  of
           the  Tree.  There is an eleventh "something" which is  definitely
           *not* a sephira,  but is often shown on modern representations of
           the  Tree.  The Cabalistic "explanation" runs as  follows:  when
           Malkuth "fell" out of the Garden of Eden (Fig.  2) it left behind
           a "hole" in the fabric of the Tree,  and this "hole",  located in
           the center of the Abyss,  is called Daath,  or Knowledge. Daath is
           *not* a sephira; it is a hole. This may sound like gobbledy-gook,
           and in the sense that it is only a metaphor, it is.

















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                                                                             243

                The  completed  Tree of Life with the Hebrew titles  of  the
           sephiroth is shown below in Fig. 7.


                                      En Soph
                            /-------------------------\
                           /                           \
                          (            Kether           )
                                  /   (Crown)    \
                                 /       |        \
                                /        |         \
                               /         |          \
                           Binah         |        Chokhmah
                       (Understanding)__________  (Wisdom)
                        (Intelligence)   |           |
                             |\          |          /|
                             | \       Daath       / |
                             |  \   (Knowledge)   /  |
                             |   \       |       /   |
                          Gevurah \      |      /  Chesed
                         (Strength)\_____|_____/__ (Mercy)
                             |      \    |    /    (Love)
                             | \     \   |   /     / |
                             |  \     \  |  /     /  |
                             |   \   Tipheret    /   |
                             |   /   (Beauty)    \   |
                             |  /        |        \  |
                             | /         |         \ |
                             |/          |          \|
                            Hod          |        Netzach
                          (Glory) _______________(Victory)
                         (Splendor)     |       (Firmness)
                            \ \          |           / /
                             \ \         |          / /
                             \  \        |         / /
                              \  \       |        /  /
                              \   \    Yesod     /  /
                               \    (Foundation)   /
                                \                 /
                                 \       |       /
                                  \      |      /
                                   \     |     /
                                      Malkuth
                                     (Kingdom)

                                      Figure 7













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                                                                             244

           From  an historical point of view the doctrine of emanations  and
           the  Tree  of  Life are only one small part of  a  huge  body  of
           Cabalistic speculation about the nature of divinity and our part
           in  creation,  but it is the part which has  survived.  The  Tree
           continues  to  be used in the Twentieth Century  because  it  has
           proved  to be a useful and productive symbol for practices  of  a
           magical,  mystical and religious nature.  Modern Kabbalah in  the
           Western   Mystery  Tradition  is  largely  concerned   with   the
           understanding and practical application of the Tree of Life,  and
           the following set of notes will list some of the  characteristics
           of each sephira in more detail so that you will have a "snapshot"
           of  what each sephira represents before going on to  examine  the
           sephiroth and the "deep structure" of the Tree in more detail.

           Chapter 2.: Sephirothic Correspondences

                The correspondences are a set of symbols,  associations  and
           qualities  which  provide  a handle on the  elusive  something  a
           sephira represents.  Some of the correspondences are hundreds  of
           years old, many were concocted this century, and some are my own;
           some  fit very well,  and some are obscure - oddly enough  it  is
           often  the most obscure and ill-fitting correspondence  which  is
           most  productive;  like a Zen riddle it perplexes and annoys  the
           mind  until  it arrives at the right place more in spite  of  the
           correspondence than because of it.
                There  are  few  canonical  correspondences;   some  of  the
           sephiroth  have  alternative  names,   some  of  the  names  have
           alternative  translations,  the mapping from Hebrew spellings  to
           the  English  alphabet varies from one author to  the  next,  and
           inaccuracies  and  accretions  are handed down  like  the  family
           silver. I keep my Hebrew dictionary to hand but guarantee none of
           the English spellings.
                The correspondences I have given are as follows:

                1.  The  Meaning is a translation of the Hebrew name of  the
                    sephira.

                2.  The  Planet in most cases is the planet associated  with
                    the  sephira.  In some cases it is not a planet  at  all
                    (e.g.   the  fixed  stars).   The  planets  are  ordered
                    by   decreasing   apparent   motion  -   this   is   one
                    correspondence which appears to pre-date Copernicus!

                3.  The Element is the physical element (earth,  water, air,
                    fire,  aethyr) which has most in common with the  nature
                    of  the Sephira.  The Golden Dawn applied an  excess  of
                    logic to these attributions and made a mess of them,  to
                    the  confusion  of  many.   Only  the  five  Lower  Face
                    sephiroth have been attributed an element.

                4.  Briatic  color.  This is the color of the  sephira  as
                    seen in the world of Creation,  Briah.  There are color
                    scales  for the other three worlds but I  haven't  found
                    them to be useful in practical work.

                5.  Magical Image. Useful in meditations; some are astute.



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                                                                             245

                6.  The  Briatic Correspondence is an abstract  quality
                    which  says something about the essence of the  way  the
                    sephira expresses itself.

                7.  The  Illusion characterizes the way in which the  energy
                    of the sephira clouds one's judgement;  it is  something
                    which is *obviously* true.  Most people suffer from  one
                    or more of these according to their temperament.

                8.  The  Obligation is a personal quality which is  demanded
                    of an initiate at this level.

                9.  The  Virtue and Vice are the energy of the sephiroth  as
                    it  manifests  in a positive and negative sense  in  the
                    personality.

                10. Klippoth  is a word which means  "shell".  In  medieval
                    Kabbalah  each sephira was "seen" to be adding  form  to
                    the  sephira  which preceded it in the  Lightning  Flash
                    (see Chapter 3.). Form was seen to an accretion, a shell
                    around  the pure divine energy of the Godhead,  and each
                    layer  or  shell hid the divine radiance  a  little  bit
                    more, until God was buried in form and exiled in matter,
                    the end-point of the process.  At the time attitudes  to
                    matter  were  tainted  with the  Manichean  notion  that
                    matter   was  evil,   a  snare  for  the   spirit,   and
                    consequently the Klippoth or shells were "demonised" and
                    actually turned into demons.  The correspondence I  have
                    given  here restores the original notion of a  shell  of
                    form  *without* the corresponding force to activate  it;
                    it  is the lifeless,  empty husk of a sephira devoid  of
                    force,  and while it isn't a literal demon, it is hardly
                    a bundle of laughs when you come across it.

                11. The  Command  refers to the Four Powers of  the  Sphinx,
                    with an extra one added for good measure.

                12. The Spiritual Experience is just that.

                13. The Titles are a collection of alternative names for the
                    sephira; most are very old.

                14. The  God  Name  is a key to invoking the  power  of  the
                    sephira in the world of emanation, Atziluth.

                13. The Archangel mediates the energy of the sephira in  the
                    world of creation, Briah.

                14. The Angel Order administers the energy of the sephira in
                    the world of formation, Yetzirah.

                15. The Keywords are a collection of phrases which summarize
                    key aspects of the sephira.






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                                                                             246

           =================================================================
           Sephira: Malkuth                   Meaning: Kingdom
           -------                            -------
           Planet: Cholem Yesodeth            Element: earth
           --------(the Breaker of            -------
                    the Foundations, sphere of the elements, the Earth)

           Briatic Color: brown              Number: 10
           ------------- (citrine, russet-red,------
                          olive green, black)

           Magical Image: a young woman crowned and throned
           -------------
           Briatic Correspondence: stability
           ----------------------
           Illusion: materialism              Obligation: discipline
           --------                           ----------
           Virtue: discrimination             Vice: avarice & inertia
           ------                             ----
           Klippoth: stasis                   Command: keep silent
           --------                           -------
           Spiritual Experience: Vision of the Holy Guardian Angel
           ------
           Titles:  The Gate; Gate of Death; Gate of Tears; Gate of Justice;
           ------   The Inferior Mother;  Malkah,  the  Queen;  Kallah,  the
                    Bride; the Virgin.
           ------
           God Name: Adonai ha Aretz          Archangel: Sandalphon
           --------  Adonai Malekh            ---------
           Angel Order: Ishim
           -----------
           Keywords:the  real world,  physical  matter,  the  Earth,  Mother
                    Earth,  the physical elements, the natural world, sticks
                    & stones,  possessions,  faeces, practicality, solidity,
                    stability, inertia, heaviness, bodily death, incarnation.
























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           =================================================================
           Sephira: Yesod                     Meaning: Foundation
           -------                            -------
           Planet: Levanah (the Moon)         Element: Aethyr
           --------------                     -------
           Briatic Color: purple             Number: 9
           -------------                      ------

           Magical Image: a beautiful man, very strong (e.g. Atlas)
           -------------
           Briatic Correspondence: receptivity, perception
           ----------------------
           Illusion: security                 Obligation: trust
           --------                           ----------
           Virtue: independence               Vice: idleness
           ------                             ----
           Klippoth: zombieism, robotism      Command: go!
           --------                           -------
           Spiritual Experience: Vision of the Machinery of the Universe
           --------------------
           Titles: The Treasure House of Images
           ------
           God Name: Shaddai el Chai          Archangel: Gabriel
           --------                           ---------
           Angel Order: Cherubim
           ----------
           Keywords: perception, interface, imagination, image, appearance,
                     glamour, the Moon, the unconscious, instinct, tides,
                     illusion, hidden infrastructure, dreams, divination,
                     anything as it seems to be and not as it is, mirrors
                     and crystals, the "Astral Plane", Aethyr, glue,
                     tunnels, sex & reproduction, the genitals, cosmetics,
                     instinctive magic (psychism), secret doors, shamanic
                     tunnel.

























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           =============================================================
           Sephira: Hod                       Meaning: Glory, Splendor
           -------                            -------
           Planet: Kokab (Mercury)            Element: air
           ------                             -------
           Briatic Color: orange             Number: 8
           -------------                      ------
           Magical Image: an hermaphrodite
           -------------
           Briatic Correspondence: abstraction
           ----------------------
           Illusion: order                    Obligation: learn
           --------                           ----------
           Virtue: honesty, truthfulness      Vice: dishonesty
           ------                             ----
           Klippoth: rigidity                 Command: will
           --------
           Spiritual Experience: Vision of Splendor
           ------
           Titles: -
           ------
           God Name: Elohim Tzabaoth          Archangel: Raphael
           --------                           ---------
           Angel Order: Beni Elohim

           Keywords: reason, abstraction, communication, conceptualization,
                     logic, the sciences, language, speech, money (as a
                     concept), mathematics, medicine & healing, trickery,
                     writing, media (as communication), pedantry,
                     philosophy, Kabbalah (as an abstract system), protocol,
                     the Law, ownership, territory, theft, "Rights", ritual
                     magic.



























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                                                                             249

           ===============================================================
           Sephira: Netzach                   Meaning: Victory, Firmness
           -------                            -------
           Planet: Nogah (Venus)              Element: water
           --------------                     -------
           Briatic Color: green              Number: 7
           -------------                      ------
           Magical Image: a beautiful naked woman
           -------------
           Briatic Correspondence: nurture
           ----------------------
           Illusion: projection               Obligation: responsibility
           --------                           ----------
           Virtue: unselfishness              Vice: selfishness
           ------                             ----
           Klippoth: habit, routine           Command: know
           --------
           Spiritual Experience: Vision of Beauty Triumphant
           ------
           Titles: -
           ------
           God Name: Jehovah Tzabaoth         Archangel: Haniel
           --------                           ---------
           Angel Order: Elohim
           ----------
           Keywords: passion, pleasure, luxury, sensual beauty, feelings,
                     drives, emotions - love, hate, anger, joy, depression,
                     misery, excitement, desire, lust; nurture, libido,
                     empathy, sympathy, ecstatic magic.






























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                                                                             250

           ================================================================
           Sephira: Tipheret                  Meaning: Beauty
           -------                            -------
           Planet: Shemesh (the Sun)          Element: fire
           --------------                     -------
           Briatic Color: yellow             Number: 6
           -------------                      ------
           Magical Image: a king, a child, a sacrificed god
           -------------
           Briatic Correspondence: centrality, wholeness
           ----------------------
           Illusion: identification           Obligation: integrity
           --------                           ----------
           Virtue: devotion to the Great Work Vice: pride, self-importance
           ------                             ----
           Klippoth: hollowness               Command: dare
           --------
           Spiritual Experience: Vision of Harmony
           --------------------

           Titles: Melekh, the King; Zoar Anpin, the lesser countenance, the
           ------  Microprosopus; the Son; Rachamin, charity.

           God Name: Aloah va Daath           Archangel: Michael
           --------                           ---------
           Angel Order: Malachim
           -----------
           Keywords: harmony, integrity, balance, wholeness, the Self, self-
                     importance, self-sacrifice, the Son of God, centrality,
                     the Philospher's Stone, identity, the solar plexus,
                     a King, the Great Work.




























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                                                                             251

           ================================================================
           Sephira: Gevurah                   Meaning: Strength
           -------                            -------
           Planet: Madim (Mars)
           --------------
           Briatic Color: red                Number: 5
           -------------                      ------
           Magical Image: a mighty warrior
           -------------
           Briatic Correspondence: power
           ----------------------
           Illusion: invincibility            Obligation: courage & loyalty
           --------                           ----------
           Virtue: courage & energy           Vice: cruelty
           ------                             ----
           Klippoth: bureaucracy
           --------
           Spiritual Experience: Vision of Power
           --------------------
           Titles: Pachad, fear; Din, justice.
           ------
           God Name: Elohim Gevor             Archangel: Kamael
           --------                           ---------
           Angel Order: Seraphim
           -----------
           Keywords: power, justice, retribution (eaten cold), the Law (in
                     execution), cruelty, oppression, domination & the Power
                     Myth, severity, necessary destruction, catabolism,
                     martial arts.






























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                                                                             252

           ===============================================================
           Sephira: Chesed                    Meaning: Mercy
           -------                            -------
           Planet: Tzadekh (Jupiter)
           --------------
           Briatic Color: blue               Number: 4
           -------------                      ------
           Magical Image: a mighty king
           -------------
           Briatic Correspondence: authority
           ----------------------
           Illusion: being right              Obligation: humility
           --------  (self-righteousness)     ----------

           Virtue: humility & obedience       Vice: tyranny, hypocrisy,
           ------                             ----  bigotry, gluttony
           Klippoth: ideology
           --------
           Spiritual Experience: Vision of Love
           --------------------
           Titles: Gedulah, magnificence, love, majesty
           ------
           God Name: El                       Archangel: Tzadkiel
           --------                           ---------
           Angel Order: Chasmalim
           -----------
           Keywords: authority, creativity, inspiration, vision, leadership,
                     excess, waste, secular and spiritual power, submission
                     and the Annihilation Myth, the atom bomb, obliteration,
                     birth, service.

           ================================================================
           Non-Sephira: Daath                 Meaning: Knowledge
           -----------                        -------
           Daath has no manifest qualities and cannot be invoked directly.

           Keywords: hole, tunnel, gateway, doorway, black hole, vortex.






















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                                                                             253

           ================================================================
           Sephira: Binah                     Meaning: Understanding,
           -------                            -------
           Planet: Shabbathai (Saturn)
           ------
           Briatic Color: black              Number: 3
           -------------                      ------
           Magical Image: an old woman on a throne
           -------------
           Briatic Correspondence: comprehension
           ----------------------
           Illusion: death
           --------
           Virtue: silence                    Vice: inertia
           ------                             ----
           Klippoth: fatalism
           --------
           Spiritual Experience: Vision of Sorrow
           --------------------
           Titles:   Aima, the Mother; Ama, the Crone; Marah, the bitter
                     sea; Khorsia, the Throne; the Fifty Gates of
                     Understanding; Intelligence; the Mother of Form; the
                     Superior Mother.

           God Name: Elohim                   Archangel: Cassiel
           --------                           ---------
           Angel Order: Aralim
           -----------
           Keywords: limitation, form, constraint, heaviness, slowness, old-
                     age, infertility, incarnation, karma, fate, time,
                     space, natural law, the womb and gestation, darkness,
                     boundedness, enclosure, containment, fertility, mother,
                     weaving and spinning, death (annihilation).


























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                                                                             254

           ==================================================================
           Sephira: Chokhmah                  Meaning: Wisdom
           -------                            -------
           Planet: Mazlot (the Zodiac, the fixed stars)
           --------------
           Briatic Color: silver/white       Number: 2
           -------------   grey               ------

           Magical Image: a bearded man
           -------------
           Briatic Correspondence: revolution
           ----------------------
           Illusion: independence
           --------
           Virtue: good                       Vice: evil
           ------                             ----
           Klippoth: arbitrariness
           --------
           Spiritual Experience: Vision of God face-to-face
           ------
           Titles: Abba, the Father. The Supernal Father.
           ------
           God Name: Jah                      Archangel: Ratziel
           --------                           ---------
           Angel Order: Auphanim
           -----------
           Keywords: pure creative energy, lifeforce, the wellspring.
































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                                                                             255

           ==================================================================
           Sephira: Kether                    Meaning: Crown
           -------                            -------
           Planet: Rashith ha Gilgalim (first swirlings, the Big Bang)
           --------------
           Briatic Color: pure white         Number: 1
           -------------                      ------
           Magical Image: a bearded man seen in profile
           -------------
           Briatic Correspondence: unity
           ----------------------
           Illusion: attainment
           --------
           Virtue: attainment                 Vice: ---
           ------                             ----
           Klippoth: futility
           --------
           Spiritual Experience: Union with God
           --------------------
           Titles:   Ancient of Days, the Greater Countenance
                     (Macroprosopus), the White Head, Concealed of the
                     Concealed, Existence of Existences, the Smooth Point,
                     Rum Maalah, the Highest Point.

           God Name: Eheieh                   Archangel: Metatron
           --------                           ---------
           Angel Order: Chaioth ha Qadesh
           -----------
           Keywords: unity, union, all, pure consciousness, God, the
                     Godhead, manifestation, beginning, source, emanation.





























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                                                                             256

           Chapter 3: The Pillars & the Lightning Flash
           ============================================

                In  Chapter  1.  the  Tree of Life was  derived  from  three
           concepts,  or  rather  one  primary concept  and  two  derivative
           concepts which are "contained" within it. The primary concept was
           called consciousness,  and it was said to "contain" within it the
           two complementary concepts of force and form. This chapter builds
           on  the idea by introducing the three Pillars of  the  Tree,  and
           uses the Pillars to clarify a process called the Lightning Flash.
                The Three Pillars are shown in Figure 8. below.

                          Pillar      Pillar       Pillar
                            of          of           of
                           Form    Consciousness   Force
                        (Severity)  (Mildness)    (Mercy)

                                       Kether
                                  /   (Crown)    \
                                 /       |        \
                                /        |         \
                               /         |          \
                           Binah         |        Chokhmah
                       (Understanding)__________  (Wisdom)
                        (Intelligence)   |           |
                             |\          |          /|
                             | \       Daath       / |
                             |  \   (Knowledge)   /  |
                             |   \       |       /   |
                          Gevurah \      |      /  Chesed
                         (Strength)\_____|_____/__ (Mercy)
                             |      \    |    /    (Love)
                             | \     \   |   /     / |
                             |  \     \  |  /     /  |
                             |   \   Tipheret    /   |
                             |   /   (Beauty)    \   |
                             |  /        |        \  |
                             | /         |         \ |
                             |/          |          \|
                            Hod          |        Netzach
                          (Glory) _______________(Victory)
                         (Splendor)     |       (Firmness)
                            \ \          |           / /
                             \ \         |          / /
                             \  \        |         / /
                              \  \       |        /  /
                              \   \    Yesod     /  /
                               \    (Foundation)   /
                                \                 /
                                 \       |       /
                                  \      |      /
                                   \     |     /
                                      Malkuth
                                     (Kingdom)

                                      Figure 8



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                                                                             257

           Not surprisingly the three pillars are referred to as the pillars
           of  consciousness,  force and form.  The pillar of  consciousness
           contains the sephiroth Kether,  Tiphereth, Yesod and Malkuth; the
           pillar  of  force contains the  sephiroth  Chokhmah,  Chesed  and
           Netzach; the pillar of form contains the sephiroth Binah, Gevurah
           and Hod.  In older Cabalistic texts the pillars are referred  to
           as  the pillars of mildness,  mercy and severity,  and it is  not
           immediately obvious how the older jargon relates to the  new.  To
           the  medieval Kabbalist (and this is a recurring metaphor in  the
           Zohar)  the  creation  as  an emanation  of  God  is  a  delicate
           *balance* (metheqela) between two opposing tendencies:  the mercy
           of  God,  the outflowing,  creative,  life-giving and  sustaining
           tendency in God, and the severity or strict judgement of God, the
           limiting,   defining,  life-taking  and  ultimately  wrathful  or
           destructive tendency in God. The creation is "energized" by these
           two tendencies as if stretched between the poles of a battery.

               Modern  Kabbalah makes a half-hearted attempt to remove  the
           more  obvious  anthropomorphisms in the  descriptions  of  "God";
           mercy and severity are misleading terms,  apt to remind one of  a
           man with a white beard,  and even in medieval times the terms had
           distinctly  technical meanings as the following  quotation  shows
           [1]:

                "It must be remembered that to the Kabbalist, judgement [Din
                - judgement,  another title of Gevurah] means the imposition
                of limits and the correct determination of things. According
                to  Cordovero  the  quality  of  judgement  is  inherent  in
                everything  insofar as everything wishes to remain  what  it
                is, to stay within its boundaries."

                      I understand the word "form" inprecisely this sense - itis
          that which  defines *what* a thing is,  the structure whereby a  given
          thing is distinct from every other thing.

                As for "consciousness",  I use the word "consciousness" in a
           sense so abstract that it is virtually meaningless, and according
           to whim I use the word God instead,  where it is understood  that
           both  words are placeholders for something which  is  potentially
           knowable  in  the  gnostic  sense only  -  consciousness  can  be
           *defined* according to the *forms* it takes, in which case we are
           defining   the  forms,   *not*  the   consciousness.   The   same
           qualification applies to the word "force". My inability to define
           two  of  the three concepts which underpin the structure  of  the
           Tree  is a nuisance which is tackled traditionally by the use  of
           extravagant  metaphors,   and  by  elimination  ("not  this,  not
           that").












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                                                                             258


                The classification of sephiroth into three pillars is a  way
           of  saying  that each sephira in a pillar partakes  of  a  common
           quality  which is "inherited" in a progressively  more  developed
           and  structured form from of the top of a pillar to  the  bottom.
           Tipheret,  Yesod and Malkuth all share with Kether the quality of
           "consciousness in balance" or "synthesis of opposing  qualities",
           or but in each case it is expressed differently according to  the
           increased degree of structure imposed. Likewise, Chokhmah, Chesed
           and   Netzach   share  the  quality  of  force   or   energy   or
           expansiveness,  and Binah,  Gevurah and Hod share the quality  of
           form,  definition  and limitation.  From Kether down to  Malkuth,
           force  and  form  are combined;  the symbolism of  the  Tree  has
           something  in common with a production line,  with  molten  metal
           coming  in one end and finished cars coming out  the  other,  and
           with  that  metaphor we are now ready to describe  the  Lightning
           Flash,  the process whereby God takes on flesh, the process which
           created and sustains the creation.

                In  the beginning...was Something.  Or Nothing.  It  doesn't
           really matter which term we use,  as both are equally meaningless
           in this context. Nothing is probably the better of the two terms,
           because  I can use Something in the  next  paragraph.  Kabbalists
           call  this  Nothing "En Soph" which literally means "no  end"  or
           infinity,  and  understand by this a hidden,  unmanifest  God-in-
           Itself.

                Out of this incomprehensible and indescribable Nothing  came
           Something.  Probably more words have been devoted to this  moment
           than  any other in Kabbalah,  and it is all too easy to make  fun
           the effort which has gone into elaborating the indescribable,  so
           I  won't,   but  in  return  do  not  expect  me  to  provide   a
           justification for why Something came out of Nothing. It just did.
           A  point  crystallized in the En Soph.  In some versions  of  the
           story  the En Soph "contracted" to "make room" for  the  creation
           (Isaac  Luria's  theory of Tsimtsum),  and this  is  probably  an
           important clarification for those who have rubbed noses with  the
           hidden  face of God,  but for the purposes of these notes  it  is
           enough  that a point crystallized.  This point was the  crown  of
           creation, the sephira Kether, and within Kether was contained all
           the unrealized potential of the creation.

                An  aspect of Kether is the raw creative force of God  which
           blasts into the creation like the blast of hot gas which keeps  a
           hot air balloon in the air. Kabbalists are quite clear about this;
           the creation didn't just happen a long time ago - it is happening
           all  the time,  and without the force to sustain it the  creation
           would crumple like a balloon. The force-like aspect within Kether
           is  the sephira Chokhmah and it can be thought of as the will  of
           God,  because  without it the creation would cease to  *be*.  The
           whole of creation is maintained by this ravening, primeval desire
           to  *be*,  to  become,  to  exist,  to  change,  to  evolve.  The
           experiential distinction between Kether,  the point of emanation,
           and Chokhmah,  the creative outpouring,  is elusive,  but some of
           the  difference  is  captured  in  the  phrases  "I  am"  and  "I
           become".



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                                                                             259

                Force by itself achieves nothing;  it needs to be contained,
           and the balloon analogy is appropriate again.  Chokhmah  contains
           within it the necessity of Binah,  the Mother of Form. The person
           who  taught  me Kabbalah (a woman) told me  Chokhmah  (Abba,  the
           Father) was God's prick,  and Binah (Aima,  the mother) was God's
           womb,   and  left  me  with  the  picture  of  one  half  of  God
           continuously ejaculating into the other half.  The author of  the
           Zohar  also makes frequent use of sexual polarity as  a  metaphor
           to describe the relationship between force and form, or mercy and
           severity  (although the most vivid sexual metaphors are used  for
           the  marriage of the Microprosopus and his bride,  the Queen  and
           Inferior Mother, the sephira Malkuth).
                The sephira Binah is the Mother of Form;  form exists within
           Binah  as a potentiality,  not as an actuality,  just as  a  womb
           contains  the  potential of a baby.  Without the  possibility  of
           form,  no thing would be distinct from any other thing;  it would
           be impossible to distinguish between things,  impossible to  have
           individuality  or  identity  or  change.   The  Mother  of   Form
           contains the potential of form within her womb and gives birth to
           form  when a creative impulse crosses the Abyss to the Pillar  of
           Force and emanates through the sephira Chesed.  Again we have the
           idea of "becoming", of outflowing creative energy, but at a lower
           level.  The  sephira  Chesed is the point at which  form  becomes
           perceptible  to the mind as an inspiration,  an idea,  a  vision,
           that  "Eureka!"  moment  immediately  prior  to  rushing   around
           shouting  "I've got it!  I've got it!" Chesed is that quality  of
           genuine  inspiration,   a  sense  of  being  "plugged  in"  which
           characterizes  the  visionary leaders who drive  the  human  race
           onwards into every new kind of endeavour.  It can be for good  or
           evil; a leader who can tap the petty malice and vindictiveness in
           any  person  and  channel it into a vision of  a  new  order  and
           genocide  is  just  as much a visionary as  any  other,  but  the
           positive  side  of Chesed is the humanitarian leader  who  brings
           about genuine improvements to our common life.

























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                                                                             260

                No  change  comes easy;  as Cordova points  out  "everything
           wishes to remain what it is". The creation of form is balanced in
           the sephira Gevurah by the preservation and destruction of  form.
           Any impulse of change is channelled through Gevurah, and if it is
           not  resisted then something will be destroyed.  If you  want  to
           make  paper you cut down a tree.  If you want to abolish  slavery
           you have to destroy the culture which perpetuates it. If you want
           to  change  someone's  mind you have  to  destroy  that  person's
           beliefs about the matter in question.  The sephira Gevurah is the
           quality  of strict judgement which opposes change,  destroys  the
           unfamiliar,  and  corresponds  in many ways to an  immune  system
           within the body of God.

                There has to be a balance between creation and  destruction.
           Too much change,  too many ideas,  too many things happening  too
           quickly  can have the quality of chaos (and can literally  become
           that), whereas too little change, no new ideas, too much form and
           structure and protocol can suffocate and stifle.  There has to be
           a  balance  which  "makes sense" and this "idea  of  balance"  or
           "making  sense" is expressed in the sephira Tiphereth.  It is  an
           instinctive  morality,  and  it isn't present by default  in  the
           human species.  It isn't based on cultural norms; it doesn't have
           its roots in upbringing (although it is easily destroyed by  it).
           Some people have it in a large measure,  and some people are  (to
           all  intents and purposes) completely lacking in it.  It  doesn't
           necessarily  respect conventional morality:  it may laugh in  its
           face.  I  can't  say  what it is in any  detail,  because  it  is
           peculiar  and individual,  but those who have it have  a  natural
           quality   of integrity,  soundness of judgement,  an  instinctive
           sense of rightness,  justice and compassion, and a willingness to
           fight or suffer in defense of that sense of justice. Tiphereth is
           a  paradoxical  sephira because in many people it is  simply  not
           there.  It  can  be developed,  and that is one of the  goals  of
           initiation,  but for many people Tiphereth is a room with nothing
           in it.

                Having  passed through Gevurah on the Pillar  of  Form,  and
           found its way through the moral filter of Tiphereth,  a  creative
           impulse picks up energy once more on the Pillar of Force via  the
           Sephira Netzach,  where the energy of "becoming" finds its  final
           expression  in  the form of "vital urges".  Why do  we  carry  on
           living?  Why bother?  What is it that compels us to do things? An
           artist  may have a vision of a piece of art,  but  what  actually
           compels the artist to paint or sculpt or write? Why do we want to
           compete  and  win?  Why do we care what happens  to  others?  The
           sephira  Netzach  expresses the basic vital creative urges  in  a
           form we can recognize as drives,  feelings and emotions.  Netzach
           is pre-verbal; ask a child why he wants a toy and the answer will
            be  "I just do".  "But why," you ask,  wondering why he doesn't want
          the  much more  "sensible" toy you  had in mind.  "Why don't you  want
          this one here."
                "I just don't. I want this one."
                "But what's so good about that one."
                "I don't know what to say...I just like it."





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                                                                             261

           This  conversation  is  not fictitious  and  is  quintessentially
           Netzach.  The structure of the Tree of Life posits that the basic
           driving  forces which characterize our behavior  are  pre-verbal
           and non-rational; anyone who has tried to change another person's
           basic  nature or beliefs through force of rational argument  will
           know this.
               After  Netzach we go to the sephira Hod to pick up our  last
           cargo of Form.  Ask a child why they want something and they  say
           "I  just  do".  Press  an adult and you will  get  an  earful  of
           "reasons".  We  live  in a culture where it is  important  (often
           essential) to give reasons for the things we do,  and Hod is  the
           sephira  of form where it is possible to give shape to our  wants
           in  terms  of reasons and explanations.  Hod is  the  sephira  of
           abstraction,  reason,  logic,  language and communication,  and a
           reflection  of the Mother of Form in the human mind.  We  have  a
           innate  capacity  to  abstract,   to  go  immediately  from   the
           particular  to  the general,  and we have an innate  capacity  to
           communicate these abstractions using language,  and it should  be
           clear    why   the   alternative   translation   of   Binah    is
           "intelligence";  Binah  is  the "intelligence of  God",  and  Hod
           underpins what we generally recognize as intelligence in people -
           the ability to grasp complex abstractions, reason about them, and
           articulate this understanding using some means of communication.

                The   synthesis  of  Hod  and  Netzach  on  the  Pillar   of
           Consciousness  is  the sephira Yesod.  Yesod is  the  sephira  of
           interface, and the comparison with computer peripheral interfaces
           is an excellent one. Yesod is sometimes called "the Receptacle of
           the  Emanations",  and it interfaces the emanations of all  three
           pillars to the sephira Malkuth,  and it is through Yesod that the
           final abstract form of something is realized in matter.  Form  in
           Yesod  is  no  longer abstract;  it  is  explicit,  but  not  yet
           individual  -  that last quality is reserved for  Malkuth  alone.
           Yesod  is  like  the mold in a bottle factory -  the  mold  is  a
           realization  of  the  abstract  idea "bottle" in  so  far  as  it
           expresses  the  shape  of a particular  bottle  design  in  every
           detail, but it is not itself an individual bottle.
                The final step in the process is the sephira Malkuth,  where
           God  becomes  flesh,  and  every abstract  form  is  realized  in
           actuality,  in the "real world". There is much to say about this,
           but I will keep it for later.


















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                                                                             262

                The process I have described is called the Lightning  Flash.
           The Lightning Flash runs as  follows:  Kether,  Chokhmah,  Binah,
           Chesed,  Gevurah, Tiphereth, Netzach, Hod, Yesod, Malkuth, and if
           you  trace the Lightning Flash on a diagram of the Tree  you  will
           see  that  it has the zig-zag shape of  a  lightning  flash.  The
           sephiroth are numbered according to their order on the  lightning
           flash:  Kether  is  1,  Chokhmah is 2,  and so  on.  The  "Sepher
           Yetzirah" [2] has this to say about the sephiroth:

                "When  you think of the ten sephiroth cover your  heart  and
                seal  the  desire of your lips to announce  their  divinity.
                Yoke your mind.  Should it escape your grasp,  reach out and
                bring it back under your control.  As it was said,  'And the
                living  creatures  ran and returned as the appearance  of  a
                flash  of  lightning,'  in such a manner  was  the  Covenant
                created."

           The  quotation within the quotation comes from  Ezekiel  1.14,  a
           text   which  inspired  a  large  amount  of  early   Cabalistic
           speculation,  and  it  is probable that the  Lightning  Flash  as
           described  is  one  of the earliest components  of  the  idea  of
           sephirothic emanation.
                The   Lightning  Flash  describes  the   creative   process,
           beginning with the unknown, unmanifest hidden God, and follows it
           through ten distinct stages to a change in the material world. It
           can be used to describe *any* change - lighting a match,  picking
           your  nose,  walking the dog - and novices are  usually  set  the
           exercise   of analyzing any arbitrarily chosen event in terms  of
           the Lightning Flash.  Because the Lightning Flash can be used  to
           understand  the inner process whereby the material world  of  the
           senses  changes  and evolves,  it is a key to  practical  magical
           work,  and because it is intended to account for *all* change  it
           follows that all change is equally magical,  and the word "magic"
           is   essentially   meaningless  (but  nevertheless   useful   for
           distinguishing   between  "normal"  and  "abnormal"   states   of
           consciousness, and the modes of causality which pertain to each).

                It also follows that the key to understanding our "spiritual
           nature"  does  not belong in the  spiritual  empyrean,  where  it
           remains  inaccessible,  but in *all* the routine  and  unexciting
           little  things  in life.  Everything is  equally  "spiritual",
           equally  "divine",  and there is more to be learned from  picking
           one's nose than there is in a spiritual discipline which puts you
           "here" and God "over there". The Lightning Flash ends in Malkuth,
           and it can be followed like a thread through the hidden  pathways
           of  creation  until  one arrives back at  the  source.  The  next
           chapter  will  retrace  the  Lightning  Flash  by  examining  the
           qualities of each sephira in more detail.

           [1]  Scholem,  Gershom  G.  "Major Trends in  Jewish  Mysticism",
                                       Schoken Books 1974

           [2]  Westcott, W. Wynn, ed. "Sepher Yetzirah". Many reprintings.






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           Chapter 4: The Sephiroth
           ========================
                This  chapter  provides a detailed look at each of  the  ten
           sephiroth  and  draws together material scattered  over  previous
           chapters.

           Malkuth
           -------
                Malkuth  is  the  Cinderella of the  sephiroth.  It  is  the
           sephira most often ignored by beginners,  the sephira most  often
           glossed  over in Cabalistic texts,  and it is not only the  most
           immediate of the sephira but it is also the most complex, and for
           sheer  inscrutability  it  rivals Kether -  indeed,  there  is  a
           Cabalistic aphorism that "Kether is in Malkuth,  and Malkuth  is
           in Kether, but after another manner".

                The  word Malkuth means "Kingdom",  and the sephira  is  the
           culmination of a process of emanation whereby the creative  power
           of  the  Godhead is progressively structured and  defined  as  it
           moves  down the Tree and arrives in a completed form in  Malkuth.
           Malkuth is the  sphere of matter,  substance,  the real, physical
           world.   In  the  least  compromising  versions  of   materialist
           philosophy (e.g. Hobbes) there is nothing beyond physical matter,
           and from that viewpoint the Tree of Life beyond Malkuth does  not
           exist:  our  feelings  of  identity  and  self-consciousness  are
           nothing  more  than  a by-product of chemical  reactions  in  the
           brain,  and the mind is a complex automata which suffers from the
           disease   of  metaphysical  delusions.   Kabbalah  is   *not*   a
           materialist  model  of reality,  but when we examine  Malkuth  by
           itself we find ourselves immersed in matter, and it is natural to
           think in terms of physics,   chemistry and molecular biology. The
           natural  sciences provide the most accurate models of matter  and
           the physical world that we have,  and it would be foolishness  of
           the  first  order  to imagine that Kabbalah  can  provide  better
           explanations  of the nature of matter on the basis of a study  of
           the  text  of  the  Old Testament.  Not  that  I  under-rate  the
           intuition  which  has gone into the making of Kabbalah  over  the
           centuries,  but  for  practical purposes the  average  university
           science  graduate knows (much) more about the material  stuff  of
           the  world than medieval Kabbalists,  and a grounding  in  modern
           physics is as good a way to approach Malkuth as any other.

                For  those  who are not comfortable with physics  there  are
           alternative,  more traditional ways of approaching  Malkuth.  The
           magical  image  of Malkuth is that of a young woman  crowned  and
           throned.  The woman is Malkah,  the Queen, Kallah, the Bride. She
           is  the  inferior mother,  a reflection and  realization  of  the
           superior mother Binah. She is the Queen who inhabits the Kingdom,
           and the Bride of the Microprosopus.  She is Gaia,  Mother  Earth,
           but of course she is not only the substance of this world; she is
           the body of the entire physical universe.








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                Some care is required when assigning Mother/Earth  goddesses
           to Malkuth,  because some of them correspond more closely to  the
           superior  mother  Binah.  There is a close  and  deep  connection
           between  Malkuth  and Binah which results in  the  two  sephiroth
           sharing   similar  correspondences,   and  one  of   the   oldest
           Cabalistic texts [1] has this to say about Malkuth:

                "The  title of the tenth path [Malkuth] is  the  Resplendent
                Intelligence.  It is called this because it is exalted above
                every head from where it sits upon the throne of  Binah.  It
                illuminates  the  numinosity  of all lights  and  causes  to
                emanate  the  Power  of the  archetype  of  countenances  or
                forms."

           One of the titles of Binah is Khorsia,  or Throne,  and the image
           which  this  text provides is that Binah provides  the  framework
           upon  which Malkuth sits.  We will return to  this  later.  Binah
           contains the potential of form in the abstract,  while Malkuth is
           is the fullest realization of form,  and both sephiroth share the
           correspondences of heaviness,  limitation,  finiteness,  inertia,
           avarice, silence, and death.

                The  female quality of Malkuth is often identified with  the
           Shekhinah,  the  female  spirit  of  God  in  the  creation,  and
           Cabalistic literature makes much of the (carnal) relationship of
           God and the Shekhinah.  Waite [7] mentions that the  relationship
           between God and Shekhinah is mirrored in the relationship between
           man and woman,  and provides a great deal of information on  both
           the  Shekhinah and what he quaintly calls "The Mystery  of  Sex".
           After  the  exile  of the Jews from  Spain  in  1492,  Kabbalists
           identified their own plight with the fate of the  Shekhinah,  and
           she  is pictured as being cast out into matter in much  the  same
           way as the Gnostics pictured Sophia,  the outcast divine  wisdom.
           The doctrine of the Shekhinah within Kabbalah and within  Judaism
           as a whole is complex and it is something I don't feel  competent
           to  comment further on;  more information can be found in  [3]  &
           [7].

                Malkuth   is  the  sphere  of  the  physical  elements   and
           Kabbalists  still  use the four-fold scheme which dates  back  at
           least  as  far  as Empedocles and  probably  the  Ark.  The  four
           elements correspond to four readily-observable states of matter:

                         solid     -     earth
                         liquid    -     water
                         gas       -     air
                         plasma    -     fire/electric arc (lightning)

           In  addition  it is not uncommon to include a  fifth  element  so
           rarified  and arcane that most people (self included) are  pushed
           to say what it is;  the fifth element is aethyr (or ether) and is
           sometimes called spirit.







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                The  amount  of  material  written  about  the  elements  is
           enormous,  and  rather than reproduce in bulk what is  relatively
           well-known  I will provide a rough outline so that those  readers
           who aren't familiar with Kabbalah will realize I am talking about
           approximately the same thing as they have seen before. A detailed
           description of the traditional medieval view of the four elements
           can  be  found in "The Magus" [2].  The  hierarchy  of  elemental
           powers can be found in "777" [4] and in Golden Dawn material  [5]
           - I have summarized a few useful items below:

                Element        Fire          Air       Water       Earth

                God Name       Elohim        Jehovah   Eheieh      Agla

                Archangel      Michael       Raphael   Gabriel     Uriel

                King           Djin          Paralda   Nichsa      Ghob

                Elemental      Salamanders   Sylphs    Undines     Gnomes


           It amused me to notice that the section on the elemental kingdoms
           in Farrar's "What Witches Do" [6] had been taken by Alex Saunders
           lock,  stock  and  barrel  from traditional  Cabalistic  and  CM
           sources.

                The elements in Malkuth are arranged as follows:

                                       South
                                       Fire



                        East          Zenith Aethyr+    West
                        Air           Nadir  Aethyr-    Water




                                      North
                                      Earth

           I have rotated the cardinal points through 180 degrees from their
           customary directions so that it is easier to see how the elements
           fit on the lower face of the Tree of Life:

                                     Tiphereth
                                       Fire


                        Hod           Yesod          Netzach
                        Air           Aethyr          Water



                                     Malkuth
                                      Earth


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           It  is important to distinguish between the elements in  Malkuth,
           where  we  are talking about real substance (the  water  in  your
           body,  the breath in your lungs),  and the elements on the  Tree,
           where we are using traditional correspondences *associated*  with
           the elements, e.g.:

                Earth: solid, stable, practical, down-to-earth

                Water: sensitive, intuitive, emotional, caring, fertile

                Air: vocal, communicative, intellectual

                Fire: energetic, daring, impetuous

                Positive Aethyr: glue, binding, plastic

                Negative Aethyr: unbinding, dissolution, disintegration

           Aethyr or Spirit is enigmatic, and I tend to think of it in terms
           of the forces which bind matter together.  It is almost certainly
           a coincidence (but nevertheless interesting) that there are  four
           fundamental forces - gravitational, electromagnetic, weak nuclear
           & strong nuclear - known to date, and current belief is that they
           can  be unified into one fundamental force.  On a  slightly  more
           arcane tack, Barret [2] has this to say about Aethyr:

                "Now   seeing   that  the  soul  is  the   essential   form,
                intelligible  and incorruptible,  and is the first mover  of
                the body, and is moved itself; but that the body, or matter,
                is of itself unable and unfit for motion, and does very much
                degenerate from the soul, it appears that there is a need of
                a more excellent medium:- now such a medium is conceived  to
                be  the  spirit  of the world,  or that which  some  call  a
                quintessence;  because it is not from the four elements, but
                a  certain first thing,  having its being above  and  beside
                them. There is, therefore, such a kind of medium required to
                be,  by which celestial souls [e.g.  forms] may be joined to
                gross  bodies,  and bestow upon them wonderful  gifts.  This
                spirit is in the same manner,  in the body of the world,  as
                our spirit is in our bodies;  for as the powers of our  soul
                are communicated to the members of the body by the medium of
                the spirit,  so also the virtue of the soul of the world  is
                diffused,  throughout  all  things,  by the  medium  of  the
                universal  spirit;  for there is nothing to be found in  the
                whole world that hath not a spark of the virtue thereof."

           Aethyr   underpins  the  elements  like  a  foundation  and   its
           attribution to Yesod should be obvious,  particularly as it forms
           the  linking  role between the ideoplastic world of  "the  Astral
           Light"  [8] and the material world.  Aethyr is often  thought  to
           come in two flavors - positive Aethyr, which binds, and negative
           Aethyr,  which  unbinds.  Negative  Aethyr  is  a  bit  like  the
           Universal Solvent, and requires as much care in handling ;-}






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                Working with the physical elements in Malkuth is one of  the
           most  important areas of applied magic,  dealing as it does  with
           the basic constituents of the real world.  The physical  elements
           are  tangible and can be experience in a very direct way  through
           recreations such as caving,  diving,  parachuting or firewalking;
           they bite back in a suitably humbling way,  and they provide  CMs
           with an opportunity to join the neo-pagans in the great outdoors.
           Our bodies themselves are made from physical stuff, and there are
           many Raja Yoga-like exercises which can be carried out using  the
           elements  as a basis for work on the body.  If you can stand  his
           manic intensity (Exercise 1:  boil an egg by force of will)  then
           Bardon [9] is full of good ideas.
                Malkuth is often associated with various kinds of  intrinsic
           evil,  and to understand this attitude (which I do not share)  it
           is necessary to confront the same question as thirteenth  century
           Kabbalists:  can  God be evil?  The answer to this  question  was
           (broadly speaking) "yes",  but Kabbalists have gone through  many
           strange  gyrations  in an attempt to avoid what was for  many  an
           unacceptable conclusion.  It was difficult to accept that famine,
           war, disease, prejudice, hate, death could be a part of a perfect
           being, and there had to be some way to account for evil which did
           not contaminate divine perfection. One approach was to sweep evil
           under  the  carpet,  and  in this case the  carpet  was  Malkuth.
           Malkuth became the habitation for evil spirits.
                If one examines the structure of the Tree without  prejudice
           then  it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that evil is  quite
           adequately  accounted for,  and there is no need to shuffle  evil
           to  the periphery of the Tree like a cleaner without  a  dustpan.
           The  emanation  of  any  sephirah  from  Chokhmah  downwards  can
           manifest as good or evil depending on circumstances and the point
           of view of those affected by the energy involved. This appears to
           have  been  understood  even at the time of the  writing  of  the
           "Zohar", where the mercy of God is constantly contrasted with the
           severity  of God,  and the author makes it clear that one has  to
           balance  the  other  -  you cannot have  the  mercy  without  the
           severity.  On the other hand, the severity of God is persistently
           identified  with  the rigors  of  existence  (form,  finiteness,
           limitation),  and while it is true that many of the things  which
           have  been  identified  with  evil  are  a  consequence  of   the
           finiteness of things, of being finite beings in a world of finite
           resources governed by natural laws with inflexible causality,  it
           not  correct  to  infer  (as  some  have)  that  form  itself  is
           *intrinsically* evil.

               The notion that form and matter are *intrinsically* evil, or
           in  some  way imperfect or not a part of God,  may  have  reached
           Kabbalah  from  a  number  of  sources. Scholem comments:

                "The  Kabbalah  of  the early  thirteenth  century  was  the
                offspring  of  a  union between  an  older  and  essentially
                Gnostic tradition represented by the book "Bahir",  and  the
                comparatively modern element of Jewish Neo-Platonism."







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           There  is  the possibility that the Kabbalists of  Provence  (who
           wrote  or  edited  the "Sepher Bahir")  were  influenced  by  the
           Cathars,  a  late form of Manicheanism.  Whether the  source  was
           Gnosticism,  Neo-Platonism,  Manicheanism or some combination  of
           all three,  Kabbalah has imported a view of matter and form which
           distorts the view of things portrayed by the Tree of Life, and so
           Malkuth ends up as a kind of cosmic outer darkness, a bin for all
           the  dirt,  detritus,  broken  sephira and dirty hankies  of  the
           creation.  Form is evil,  the Mother of Form is female, women are
           definitely and indubitably evil,  and Malkuth is the most  female
           of the sephira,  therefore Malkuth is most definitely evil...quod
           erat demonstrandum. By the time we reach the time of S.L. Mathers
           and  the  Golden Dawn there is a complete Tree  of  evil  demonic
           Klippoth  *underneath* Malkuth as a reflection of the "good"  Tree
           above it.  I believe this may have something to do with the  fact
           that  meditations  on Malkuth can easily  become  meditations  on
           Binah, and meditations on Binah have a habit of slipping into the
           Abyss,  and once in the Abyss it is easy to trawl up enough  junk
           to "discover" an averse Tree "underneath" Malkuth.  This view  of
           the  Klippoth,  or Shells,  as active,  demonic evil  has  become
           pervasive,  and the more energy people put into the demonic Tree,
           the  less  there is for the original.  Abolish  the  Klippoth  as
           demonic  forces,  and the Tree of Life comes alive with its  full
           power of good *and* evil.  The following quotation from  Bischoff
           [10] (speaking of the Sephiroth) provides a more rational view of
           the Klippoth:

































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                "Since  their energy [of the sephiroth] shows three  degrees
                of  strength  (highest,  middle and  lowest  degree),  their
                emanations group accordingly in sequence. We usually imagine
                the   image  of  a  descending  staircase.   The   Kabbalist
                prefers to  see this fact as a decreasing alienation of  the
                central  primeval  energy.  Consequently  any  less  perfect
                emanation  is  to him the cover or shell  (Klippah)  of  the
                preceding,  and so the last (furthest) emanations being the
                so-called material things are the shell of the total and are
                therefore called (in the actual sense) Klippoth."

           This is my own view;  the shell of something is the accretion  of
           form  which  it accumulates as energy comes  down  the  Lightning
           Flash. If the shell can be considered by itself then it is a dead
           husk  of  something which could be alive - it preserves  all  the
           structure  but there is no energy in it to bring it  alive.  With
           this interpretation the Klippoth are to be found  everywhere:  in
           relationships,  at work, at play, in ritual, in society. Whenever
           something  dies and people refuse to recognize that it  is  dead,
           and cling to the lifeless husk of whatever it was, then you get a
           Klippah.  For this reason one of the vices of Malkuth is Avarice,
           not only in the sense of trying to acquire material  things,  but
           also  in the sense of being unwilling to let go of anything, even
           when it has become dead and worthless.  The Klippah of Malkuth is
           what you would get if the Sun went out:  Stasis, life frozen into
           immobility.

                The  other  vice  of Malkuth is Inertia,  in  the  sense  of
           "active resistance to motion;  sluggish;  disinclined to move  or
           act".  It is visible in most people at one time or  another,  and
           tends  to  manifest  when a  task  is  new,  necessary,  but  not
           particularly exciting, there is no excitement or "natural energy"
           to keep one fired up, and one has to keep on pushing right to the
           finish.  For  this  reason  the obligation  of  Malkuth  is  (has
           to be) self-discipline.

                The  virtue  of Malkuth is Discrimination,  the  ability  to
           perceive  differences.  The ability to perceive differences is  a
           necessity  for any living organism,  whether a bacteria  able  to
           sense  the gradient of a nutrient or a kid working out  how  much
           money  to  wheedle out of his parents.  As Malkuth is  the  final
           realization  of  form,  it is  the sphere where  our  ability  to
           distinguish between differences is most pronounced.  The capacity
           to  discriminate  is  so fundamental to survival  that  it  works
           overtime and finds boundaries and distinctions everywhere - "you"
           and  "me",  "yours" and "mine",  distinctions of  "property"  and
           "value"  and "territory" which are intellectual  abstractions  on
           one  level  (i.e.  not real) and fiercely defended  realities  on
           another  (i.e.  very real indeed).  I am not going to  attempt  a
           definition  of real and unreal,  but it is the case that much  of
           what we think of as real is unreal,  and much of what we think of
           as  unreal  is real,  and we need the same  discrimination  which
           leads  us into the mire to lead us out again.  Some people  think
           skin color is a real measure of intelligence;  some don't.  Some
           people  think gender is a real measure of  ability;  some  don't.
           Some people judge on appearances;  some don't. There is clearly a
           difference between a bottle of beer and a bottle of piss,  but is
           the color of the *bottle* important?  What *is* important?  

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          What differences are real, what matters?  How much energy do we devote
           to things which are "not real".  Am I able to perceive how much I
           am being manipulated by a fixation on unreality?  Are my goals in
           life "real",  or will they look  increasingly silly and  immature
           as I grow older?  For that matter,  is Kabbalah "real"?  Does  it
           provide  a  useful model of reality,  or is it the remnant  of  a
           world-view which should have been put to rest centuries ago?  One
           of  the  primary  exercises  of an initiate  into  Malkuth  is  a
           thorough examination of the question "What is real?".

                The  Spiritual  Experience  of  Malkuth  is  variously   the
           Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel  (HGA),  or
           the Vision of the HGA (depending on who you believe).  I vote for
           the  Vision  of  the  HGA  in  Malkuth,  and  the  Knowledge  and
           Conversation  in Tiphereth.  What is the HGA?  According  to  the
           Gnosticism  of  Valentinus each person has a guardian  angel  who
           accompanies  that individual throughout their life and reveals  the
           gnosis;  the angel is in a sense the divine Self.  This belief is
           identical  to  what  I was taught by the  person  who  taught  me
           Kabbalah,  so  some  part of Gnosticism  lives  on.  The  current
           tradition concerning the HGA almost certainly entered the Western
           Esoteric Tradition as a consequence of S.L.  Mather's translation
           [11]  of  "The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin  the  Mage",
           which  contains  full details of a lengthy ritual to  attain  the
           Knowledge  and Conversation of the HGA.  This ritual has  had  an
           important  influence  on twentieth century magicians  and  it  is
           often attempted and occasionally completed.

                The  powers  of Malkuth are invoked by means  of  the  names
           Adonai ha Aretz and Adonai Melekh, which mean "Lord of the World"
           and "The Lord who is King" respectively. The power is transmitted
           through the world of Creation by the archangel Sandalphon, who is
           sometimes referred to as "the Long Angel",  because his feet  are
           in Malkuth and his head in Kether, which gives him an opportunity
           to chat to Metatron,  the Angel of the Presence.  The angel order
           is  the Ashim,  or Ishim,  sometimes translated as the "souls  of
           fire", supposedly the souls of righteous men and women.

           In concluding this section on Malkuth,  it worth emphasizing that
           I  have  chosen  deliberately not to explore  some  major  topics
           because there are sufficient threads for anyone with an  interest
           to  pick up and follow for themselves.  The image of  Malkuth  as
           Mother  Earth  provides a link between Kabbalah  and  a  numinous
           archetype with a deep significance for some. The image of Malkuth
           as physical substance provides a link into the sciences,  and  it
           is  the  case  that at the limits of  theoretical  physics  one's
           intuitions seem to be slipping and sliding on the same reality as
           in Kabbalah.  The image of Malkuth as the sphere of the  elements
           is  the key to a large body of practical magical technique  which
           varies  from yoga-like concentration on the bodily  elements,  to
           nature-oriented work in the great outdoors.  Lastly,  just as the
           design of a building reveals much about its builders,  so Malkuth
           can reveal a great deal about Kether - the bottom of the Tree and
           the top have much in common.





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           References:

           [1]  Westcott,  W. Wynn, ed. "Sepher Yetzirah", many editions.

           [2] Barrett, Francis, "The Magus", Citadel 1967.

           [3] Scholem,  Gershom G.,  "Major Trends in  Jewish  Mysticism",
                                       Schocken 1974

           [4] Crowley, A, "777", an obscure reprint.

           [5] Regardie, Israel, "The Complete Golden Dawn System of Magic",
                                  Falcon, 1984.

           [6] Farrar, Stewart, "What Witches Do", Peter Davies 1971.

           [7] Waite, A.E, "The Holy Kabbalah", Citadel.

           [8] Levi, Eliphas, "Transcendental Magic", Rider, 1969.

           [9] Bardon, Franz, "Initiation into Hermetics", Dieter
                               Ruggeberg 1971

           [10] Bischoff, Dr. Erich, "The Kabbala", Weiser 1985.

           [11] Mathers,  S.L.,  "The Book of the Sacred Magic of  Abramelin
                                  the Mage", Dover 1975.
































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          Chapter 4: The Sephiroth (continued)
          ========================
               This  chapter  provides a detailed look at each of  the  ten
          sephiroth  and  draws together material scattered  over  previous
          chapters.

          Yesod
          -----

               Yesod means "foundation",  and that is what Yesod is:  it is
          the  hidden  infrastructure  whereby  the  emanations  from   the
          remainder  of  the Tree are transmitted to the  sephira  Malkuth.
          Just as a large building has its air-conditioning ducts,  service
          tunnels,  conduits,  electrical wiring, hot and cold water pipes,
          attic  spaces,  lift shafts,  winding  rooms,  storage  tanks,  a
          telephone exchange etc,  so does the Creation,  and the external,
          visible   world  of  phenomenal  reality  rests   (metaphorically
          speaking)   upon  a  hidden  foundation  of   occult   machinery.
          Meditations  on  the nature of Yesod tend to be  full  of  secret
          tunnels and concealed mechanisms, as if the Creation was a Gothic
          mansion  with  a secret door behind every mirror,  a  passage  in
          every wall,  a pair of hidden eyes behind every portrait,  and  a
          subterranean world of forgotten tunnels leading who knows  where.
          For this reason the Spiritual Experience of Yesod is aptly  named
          "The Vision of the Machinery of the Universe".

               Many  Yesod  correspondences  reinforce  this  notion  of  a
          foundation,  of something which lies behind,  supports and  gives
          shape to phenomenal reality.  The magical image of Yesod is of "a
          beautiful  naked man,  very strong".  The image which springs  to
          mind  is that of a man with the world resting on  his  shoulders,
          like  one  of  the misrepresentations of  the  Titan  Atlas  (who
          actually held up the heavens,  not the world). The angel order of
          Yesod is the Cherubim, the Strong Ones, the archangel is Gabriel,
          the Strong or Mighty One of God,  and the God-name is Shaddai  el
          Chai,  the Almighty Living God.

               The idea of a foundation suggests that there is a  substance
          which lies behind physical matter and "in-forms it" or "holds  it
          together",  something less structured, more plastic, more refined
          and rarified,  and this "fifth element" is often called aethyr. I
          will  not attempt to justify aethyr in terms of  current  physics
          (the  closest  concept  I have found is  the  hypothesized  Higgs
          field); it is a convenient handle on a concept which has enormous
          intuitive  appeal to many magicians,  who,  when asked how  magic
          works,  tend  to  think in terms of a medium  which  is  directly
          receptive  to  the will,  something which is plastic and  can  be
          shaped through concentration and imagination, and which transmits
          their  artificially  created forms  into  reality.  Eliphas  Levi
          called  this  medium the "Astral Light".  It is also  natural  to
          imagine  that  mind,  consciousness,  and  the  soul  have  their
          habitation in this substance, and there are volumes detailing the
          properties of the "Etheric Body",  the "Astral Body", the "Causal
          Body" [1,2] and so on. I don't take this stuff too seriously, but
          I do like to work with the kind of natural intuitions which occur
          spontaneously  and  independently in a large number of  people  -
          there  is  power  in these intuitions - and it is  a  mistake  to
          invalidate  them  because they sound cranky.  When I  talk  about

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          aethyr  or  the  Astral Light,  I mean there  is  an  ideoplastic
          substance  which  is subjectively real  to  many  magicians,  and
          explanations  of  magic  at the level  of  Yesod  revolve  around
          manipulating this substance using desire, imagination and will.
               The fundamental nature of Yesod is that of  *interface*;  it
          interfaces the rest of the Tree of Life to Malkuth. The interface
          is  bi-directional;  there are impulses coming down from  Kether,
          and echoes bouncing back from Malkuth.  The idea of interface  is
          illustrated in the design of a computer system: a computer with a
          multitude  of  worlds hidden within it is a source  of  heat  and
          repair  bills  unless  it has peripheral  interfaces  and  device
          drivers to interface the world outside the computer to the  world
          "inside"  it;  add  a keyboard and a mouse and a  monitor  and  a
          printer  and you have opened the door into another  reality.  Our
          own senses have the same characteristic of being a bi-directional
          interface  through which we experience the world,  and  for  this
          reason  the  senses correspond to Yesod,  and not only  the  five
          traditional senses - the "sixth sense" and the "second sight" are
          given  equal  status,   and  so  Yesod  is  also  the  sphere  of
          instinctive psychism,  of clairvoyance,  precognition, divination
          and  prophecy.  It is also clear from accounts of lucid  dreaming
          (and personal experience) that we possess the ability to perceive
          an inner world as vividly as the outer,  and so to Yesod  belongs
          the inner world of dreams,  daydreams and vivid imagination,  and
          one  of  the titles of Yesod is "The Treasure House  of  Images".


































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               To  Yesod is attributed Levanah,  the Moon,  and  the  lunar
          associations of tides,  flux and change,  occult  influence,  and
          deeply   instinctive   and  sometimes   atavistic   behavior   -
          possession,   mediumship,  lycanthropy  and  the  like.  Although
          Yesod is the foundation and it has associations with strength, it
          is  by  no means a rigid scaffold supporting a world  in  stasis.
          Yesod  supports the world just as the sea supports all  the  life
          which lives in it and sails upon it,  and just as the sea has its
          irresistible currents and tides, so does Yesod. Yesod is the most
          "occult"  of the sephiroth,  and next to Malkuth it is  the  most
          magical, but compared with Malkuth its magic is of a more subtle,
          seductive,  glamorous and ensnaring kind.  Magicians are drawn to
          Yesod  by the idea that if reality rests on a hidden  foundation,
          then  by  changing the foundation it is possible  to  change  the
          reality.  The magic of Yesod is the magic of form and appearance,
          not   substance;   it  is  the  magic   of   illusion,   glamour,
          transformation, and   shape-changing.   The  most   sophisticated
          examples of this are to be found in modern marketing, advertising
          and  image consultancies.  I do not jest.  My tongue is not  even
          slightly  in my cheek.  The following quote was taken  from  this
          morning's paper [3]:

               Although  the changes look cosmetic,  those responsible  for
               creating  corporate  image  argue  that  a  redesign  of   a
               company's uniform or name is just the visible sign of a much
               larger transformation.

               "The majority of people continue to misunderstand and  think
               that  it is just a logo,  rather than understanding  that  a
               corporate identity programme is actually concerned with  the
               very commercial objective of having a strong personality and
               single-minded,    focussed    direction   for   the    whole
               organization, " said Fiona Gilmore, managing director of the
               design company Lewis Moberly.  "It's like planting an  acorn
               and then a tree grows.  If you create the right *foundation*
               (my  itals)  then you are building a whole culture  for  the
               future of an organization."

          I don't know what Ms.  Gilmore studies in her spare time, but the
          idea  that it is possible to manipulate reality  by  manipulating
          symbols and appearances is entirely magical.  The same article on
          corporate identity continues as follows:

               "The scale of the BT relaunch is colossal. The new logo will
               be  painted on more than 72,000 vehicles  and  trailers,  as
               well as 9,000 properties.
               The  company's 92,000 public payphones will get new  decals,
               and  its 90 shops will have to changed,  right down  to  the
               yellow door handles.  More than 50,000 employees are  likely
               to need new uniforms or "image clothing".

          Note  the emphasis on *image*.  The company in question  (British
          Telecom)  is  an ex-public monopoly with  an  appalling  customer
          relations  problem,   so  it  is  changing  the  color  of   its
          door handles! This is Yesodic magic on a gigantic scale.




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               The  image  manipulators gain most of their power  from  the
          mass-media.  The  mass-media correspond to two  sephiroth:  as  a
          medium of communication they belong in Hod,  but as a  foundation
          for our perception of reality they belong in Yesod. Nowadays most
          people form their model of what the world (in the large) is  like
          via the media.  There are a few individuals who travel the  world
          sufficiently  to have a model based on personal  experience,  but
          for most people their model of what most of the world is like  is
          formed by newspapers,  radio and television;  that is,  the media
          have become an extended (if inaccurate) instrument of perception.
          Like  our  "normal"  means of perception  the  media  are  highly
          selective in the variety and content of information provided, and
          they  can be used by advertising agencies and other  manipulative
          individuals to create foundations for new collective realities.

               While on the subject of changing perception to assemble  new
          realities,  the following quote by "Don Juan" [4] has a definite
          Cabalistic flavour:

               "The next truth is that perception takes place," he went on,
               "because  there  is  in  each of  us  an  agent  called  the
               assemblage   point  that  selects  internal   and   external
               emanations for alignment.  The particular alignment that  we
               perceive  as  the world is the product of  a  specific  spot
               where our assemblage point is located on our cocoon."

          One of the titles of Yesod is "The Receptacle of the Emanations",
          and  its function is precisely as described above - Yesod is  the
          assemblage  point which assembles the emanations of the  internal
          and the external.

               In  addition  to the  deliberate,  magical  manipulation  of
          foundations, there are other important areas of magic relevant to
          Yesod.  Raw, innate psychism is an ability which tends to improve
          as more attention is devoted to creative visualization,  focussed
          meditation (on Tarot cards for example),  dreams (e.g.  keeping a
          dream  diary),   and  divination.   Divination  is  an  important
          technique  to  practice even if you feel you are terrible  at  it
          (and  especially  if  you  think  it  is  nonsense),  because  it
          reinforces  the  idea  that it is permissible  to  "let  go"  and
          intuits  meanings into any pattern.  Many people have  difficulty
          doing  this,  feeling  perhaps  that they will  be  swamped  with
          unreason (recalling Freud's fear, expressed to Jung, of needing a
          bulwark  against the "black mud of occultism"),  when in  reality
          their minds are swamped with reason and could use a holiday.  Any
          divination system can be used,  but systems which emphasize  pure
          intuition are best (e.g.  Tarot,  runes,  tea-leaves,  flights of
          birds,  patterns on the wallpaper,  smoke. I heard of a Kabbalist
          who  threw a cushion into the air and carried out  divination  on
          the  basis  of the number of pieces of foam stuffing  which  fell
          out).  Because  Yesod  is a kind of aethyric  reflection  of  the
          physical world,  the image of and precursor to  reality,  mirrors
          are an important tool for Yesod magic.  Quartz crystals are  also
          used,   probably  because  of  the  use  of  crystal  balls   for
          divination,  but also because quartz crystal and amethyst have  a
          peculiarly  Yesodic quality in their own right.  The average  New
          Age shop filled with crystals, Tarot cards, silver jewelry (lunar
          association),  perfumes, dreamy music, and all the glitz, glamour

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          and  glitter  of a demonic magpie's nest,  is like a  temple  to
          Yesod.  Mirrors  and  crystals are used passively  as  foci  for
          receptivity, but they can also be used actively for certain kinds
          of  aethyric magic - there is an interesting book on  making  and
          using magic mirrors which builds on the kind of elemental magical
          work carried out in Malkuth [5].

               Yesod  has  an  important  correspondence  with  the  sexual
          organs. The correspondence occurs in three ways. The first way is
          that when the Tree of Life is placed over the human  body,  Yesod
          is positioned over the genitals. The author of the Zohar is quite
          explicit about "the remaining members of the  Microprosopus",  to
          the  extent that the relevant paragraphs in Mather's  translation
          of "The Lesser Holy Assembly" remain in Latin to avoid  offending
          Victorian sensibilities.

               The  second  association of Yesod with the  genitals  arises
          from  the  union  of the Microprosopus and  his  Bride.  This  is
          another recurring theme in Kabbalah, and the symbolism is complex
          and  refers  to several distinct  ideas,  from  the  relationship
          between  man and wife to an internal process within the  body  of
          God: e.g [6].

               "When  the  Male  is  joined  with  the  Female,  they  both
               constitute one complete body,  and all the Universe is in  a
               state of happiness, because all things receive blessing from
               their perfect body. And this is an Arcanum."

          or, referring to the Bride:

               "And she is mitigated,  and receiveth blessing in that place
               which is called the Holy of Holies below."

          or, referring to the "member":

               "And  that  which floweth down into that place where  it  is
               congregated,  and  which is emitted through that  most  holy
               Yesod,  Foundation,  is entirely white,  and therefore is it
               called Chesed.
               Thence  Chesed entereth into the Holy of Holies;  as  it  is
               written Ps.  cxxxiii.  3 'For there Tetragrammaton commanded
               the blessing, even life for evermore.'"

          It  is  not difficult to read a great deal into  paragraphs  like
          this,  and there are many more in a similar vein.  Suffice to say
          that  the  Microprosopus  is often identified  with  the  sephira
          Tiphereth,  the  Bride is the sephira Malkuth,  and the point  of
          union between them is obviously Yesod.

               The  third and more abstract association between  Yesod  and
          the  sexual  organs  arises because  the  sexual  organs  are  a
          mechanism  for perpetuating the *form* of a living  organism.  In
          order to get close to what is happening in sexual reproduction it
          is worth asking the question "What is a computer program?". Well,
          a  computer program indisputably begins as an idea;  it is not  a
          material  thing.  It can be written down in various ways;  as  an
          abstract  specification  in set theoretic notation akin  to  pure
          mathematics,  or  as  a  set of  recursive  functions  in  lambda

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          calculus;  it  could be written in several different  high  level
          languages - Pascal,  C,  Prolog,  LISP, ADA, ML etc. Are they all
          they same program? Computer scientists wrestle with this problem:
          can we show that two different programs written in two  different
          languages  are  in some sense functionally  identical?  It  isn't
          trivial  to do this because it asks fundamental  questions  about
          language  (any  language)  and meaning,  but it  is  possible  in
          limited  cases  to  produce  two  apparently  different  programs
          written   in  different  languages  and  assert  that  they   are
          identical.   Whatever   the  program  is,   it  seems  to   exist
          independently of any particular language,  so what is the program
          and  where is it?  Let us ignore that chestnut and go on  to  the
          next  level.  Suppose we write the program down.  We could do  it
          with  a pencil.  We could punch holes in paper.  We  could  plant
          trees in a pattern in a field.  We can line up magnetic  domains.
          We can burn holes in metal foil.  I could have it tattooed on  my
          back. We can transform it into radically different forms (that is
          what compilers and assemblers do). It obviously isn't tied to any
          physical representation either.  What about the computer it  runs
          on?  Well,  it  could be a conventional one made with CMOS  chips
          etc.....but  aren't there a lot of different kinds and  makes  of
          computer, and they can all run the same program. It is also quite
          practical  to build computers which *don't* use electrons  -  you
          could use mechanics or fluids or ball bearings - all you need  to
          do  is  produce  something with the  functionality  of  a  Turing
          machine, and that isn't hard. So not only is the program not tied
          to any particular physical representation,  but the same goes for
          the  computer itself,  and what we are left with is two puffs  of
          smoke.  On another level this is crazy;  computers are real, they
          do  real things in the real world,  and the programs  which  make
          them work are obviously real too....aren't they?
               Now apply the same kind of scrutiny to living organisms, and
          the mechanism of reproduction. Take a good look at nucleic acids,
          enzymes,  proteins etc., and ask the same kind of questions. I am
          not  implying  that  life is a sort of program,  but  what  I  am
          suggesting is that if you try to get close to what constitutes  a
          living  organism  you  end up with another puff of  smoke  and  a
          handful  of  atoms which could just as well be  ball-bearings  or
          fluids  or....The thing that is being perpetuated through  sexual
          reproduction is something quite abstract and immaterial; it is an
          abstract  form preserved and encoded in a particular  pattern  of
          chemicals,  and if I was asked which was more real, the transient
          collection  of chemicals used,  or the abstract  form  itself,  I
          would answer "the form". But then, I am a programmer, and I would
          say that.














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               I   find  it  astonishing  that  there  are  any   hard-core
          materialists left in the world.  All the important stuff seems to
          exist at the level of puffs of smoke,  what Kabbalists call form.
          Roger Penrose,  one of the most eminent mathematicians living has
          this to say [7]:

               "I  have made no secret of the fact that my  sympathies  lie
               strongly  with the Platonic view that mathematical truth  is
               absolute,  external and eternal,  and not based on  man-made
               criteria;  and  that  mathematical objects have  a  timeless
               existence of their own,  not dependent on human society  nor
               on particular physical objects."

          "Ah  Ha!"  cry  the  materialists,   "At  least  the  atoms   are
          real." Well,  they  are until you start pulling them  apart  with
          tweezers and end up with a heap of equations which turn out to be
          the linguistic expression of an idea. As Einstein said, "The most
          incomprehensible   thing   about  the  world  is   that   it   is
          comprehensible",  that  is,  capable of being described  in  some
          linguistic form.
               I am not trying to convince anyone of the "rightness" of the
          Cabalistic  viewpoint.  What I am trying to do is show that  the
          process  whereby  form is impressed on matter  (the  relationship
          between  Yesod  and Malkuth) is not  arcane, theosophical  mumbo-
          jumbo;  it is an issue which is alive and kicking, and the closer
          we  get  to  "real things" (and that  certainly  includes  living
          organisms),  the better the Cabalistic model (that form precedes
          manifestation, that there is a well-defined process of formation
          with the "real world" as an outcome) looks.

          The  illusion of Yesod is security,  the kind of  security  which
          forms the foundation of our personal existence in the world. On a
          superficial level our security is built out of  relationships,  a
          source of income, a place to live, a vocation, personal power and
          influence etc,  but at a deeper level the foundation of  personal
          identity  is  built  on a series  of  accidents,  encounters  and
          influences  which  create the illusion of who  we  are,  what  we
          believe  in,  and  what we stand for.  There is  a  warm,  secure
          feeling  of knowing what is right and wrong,  of doing the  right
          thing,  of living a worthwhile life in the service of  worthwhile
          causes,  of having a uniquely privileged vantage point from which
          to  survey  the problems of life (with all  the  intolerance  and
          incomprehension of other people which accompanies this  insight),
          and conversely there are feelings of despair, depression, loss of
          identity,  and  existential  terror  when a crack  forms  in  the
          illusion,  and  reality shows through - Castaneda calls  it  "the
          crack in the world".  The smug,  self-perpetuating illusion which
          masquerades  as  personal identity at the level of Yesod  is  the
          most astoundingly difficult thing to shift or destroy.  It fights
          back  with  all  the  resources  of  the  personality,   it  will
          enthusiastically embrace any ally which will help to shore up its








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          defenses   -  religious,   political  or   scientific   ideology;
          psychological,   sociological,   metaphysical  and   theosophical
          claptrap (e.g.  Kabbalah); the law and popular morality; in fact,
          any  beliefs  which  give it the power to  retain  its  identity,
          uniqueness and integrity.  Because this parasite of the soul uses
          religion (and its esoteric offshoots) to sustain itself they have
          little  or  no  power  over it and become a  major  part  of  the
          problem.
               There  are  various ways of overcoming this  personal  demon
          (Carroll [8],  in an essay on the subject,  calls it  Choronzon),
          and the two I know best are the cataclysmic and the abrasive. The
          first method involves a shock so extreme that it is impossible to
          be  the  same person again,  and if enough preparation  has  gone
          before  then it is possible to use the shock to rebuild  oneself.
          In  some  cases this doesn't happen;  I have  noticed  that  many
          people  with  very rigid religious beliefs  talk  readily   about
          having  suffered  traumatic experiences,  and the  phenomenon  of
          hysterical conversion among soldiers suffering from war  neuroses
          is well known.  The other method,  the abrasive,  is to wear away
          the demon of self-importance,  to grind it into nothing by  doing
          (for  example) something for someone else for which one  receives
          no thanks, praise, reward, or recognition. The task has to be big
          enough  and awful enough to become a demon in its own  right  and
          induce  all  the  correct feelings of compulsion (I  have  to  do
          this),  helplessness (I'll never make it),   indignation  (what's
          the point,  it's not my problem anyway),  rebellion (I  won't,  I
          won't, not anymore), more compulsion (I can't give up), self-pity
          (how  did  I get into this?),  exhaustion (Oh  No!  Not  again!),
          despair  (I can't go on),  and finally a kind of submission  when
          one's  demon hasn't the energy to put up a struggle any more  and
          simply gives up.  The woman who taught me Kabbalah used both  the
          cataclysmic  and  the  abrasive  methods  on  her  students  with
          malicious  glee  -  I will discuss this in  more  detail  in  the
          section on Tiphereth.

               The virtue of Yesod is independence, the ability to make our
          own foundations,  to continually rebuild ourselves, to reject the
          security  of comfortable illusions and confront  reality  without
          blinking.

               The vice of Yesod is idleness.  This can be contrasted  with
          the  inertia of Malkuth.  A stone is inert because it  lacks  the
          capacity to change,  but in most circumstances people can  change
          and can't be bothered.  At least,  not today. Yesod has a dreamy,
          illusory, comfortable, *seductive* quality, as in the Isle of the
          Lotus  Eaters - how else could we live as if death  and  personal
          annihilation only happened to other people?

               The  Klippothic aspect of Yesod occurs when foundations  are
          rotten  and  disintegrating and only the  superficial  appearance
          remains  unchanged - Dorian Gray springs to mind,  or cases where
          the  brain is damaged and the body remains and carries out  basic
          instinctive  functions,  but the person is dead as far  as  other
          people are concerned.  Organizations are just as prone to this as
          people.




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          [1] A.E.  Powell,  "The Etheric Double",  Theosophical Publishing
                              House, 1925

          [2] A.E.  Powell,  "The Astral Body",  Theosophical Publishing
                              House, 1927

          [3] "It's the Image Men We Answer To",  The Sunday  Times,  6th.
                                                  Jan 1991

          [4] Castenada, Carlos, "The Fire from Within", Black Swan, 1985.

          [5] N.  R.  Clough, "How to Make and Use Magic Mirrors", Aquarian
                               1977

          [6] S.L.  Mathers, "The Kabbalah Unveiled", Routledge & Kegan Paul
                              1981

          [7] Roger Penrose,  "The Emperor's New Mind",  Oxford  University
                               Press 1989

          [8] Peter J. Carroll, "Psychonaut", Samuel Weiser 1987.

          Copyright Colin Low 1991



































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                  Footprints in the Chamber - Towards a Quantum Qabbala, 
                                       by Fra.: +0- 
           
          The Qabbala has through the ages been used as a directory towards 
          the understanding of the universe and man`s relationship to it. 
          Since former Aeons of magick have had their perceptions rooted in 
          the observance of simple cause and effect relationships, the Qabbala 
          itself, having attained its nascence in the earlier traditions, was 
          unfortunately bogged down by this limited apprehension of the 
          universe. Here mathematics as used in a more or less Pythagorean 
          context provide a sort of key with which to approach the 
          unfathomable nature of human consciousness. 
           
          To this very day there are groups which still adhere to and openly 
          practice the more traditional ramifications of Qabbalistic 
          principles which are still firmly rooted in the mire of Nineteenth 
          Century Newton-sewed-it-all-up-there-are-no-more-mysteries physics. 
          But of course, owing to the leaps and bounds acquired by a very 
          unpredictable but consistent quantum model of reality as observed in 
          our laboratories, this simplistic view is necessarily obsolete. We 
          no longer live, we have learned (if indeed we ever did) in a simple 
          cause and effect universe where the source can always be gleaned 
          from observable effect. For the same reasons, Newtonian-based magic 
          must give way to a more quantum model. Newton`s apple must now take 
          into consideration Heisenberg`s Uncertainty Principle. The secret 
          wisdom must follow suit towards quantumization. 
           
          Another unfortunate tendency of some modern practioners of Qabbala 
          is to continue to regard everything from the standpoint of the 
          Demiurge, Yahweh, which of course is the basis of the now obsolete 
          (and dangerous) Judeo-Christian foundation of religious thought 
          which has held western civilization in its thrall for about two 
          thousand years. Personally I find it amazing that modern 
          practioners, who despite no real Semitic disposition still practice 
          an unmistakably orthodox Jewish mysticism. It was Aleister Crowley, 
          that great Qabbalistic agent provocateur, who initiated the process 
          of liberating the Qabbala from its otherwise Judaic orientation. 
          (This is not anti-semitism but a necessary step towards individual 
          development. It must also be stated that a Qabbala had been in use 
          centuries earlier by the Egyptians. The Jews merely adopted it to 
          their own religious precepts. They didn`t invent it. The actual 
          origin most likely predates Egyptian history.) 
           
          Crowley emphasized that the enlightened magician must, after careful 
          study and application of his knowledge, develop his own Qabbalistic 
          framework. By virtue of this the magician has arrived at a more 
          chaotic paradigm in opposition to a purely empirical view. Crowley, 
          by adapting the Qabbala to a Thelemic context initiated that first 
          leap forward into the quantum age. Thus, the foundation for a more 
          quantum/chaotic system was lain. 
           







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          I would like now to redefine the secret wisdom in terms of 
          quantumization as follows: 
          "The Qabbala is a table of observed synchronicities wherein multi- 
          dimensional potentia overlap into the field of perception implying a 
          correlation/interaction as perceived on a three-dimensional plane." 
          The sum of the parts of the whole is determined by conceptual 
          visualization and the observer`s ostensible observation thereof. It 
          is therefore merely a perceptual tool for perceiving hidden meaning 
          in the world determined entirely by the perceived-perception of the 
          perciper (in the language of Satre), which will alter its form and 
          content (via expansion and contradiction) according to the 
          percipere`s own innate tendencies. 
           
          The qabbala is no longer merely a mathematical construct of an 
          ordered universe as conceived by divine will. Instead it becomes a 
          kind of computerized network of extra-sensory information. Even the 
          idea of a prima causa itself may be inadequate as well. This idea is 
          based solely upon a linear time frame and is therefore a corollary 
          of our erroneous perception of time whose actual nature may tend 
          more towards the cyclical. Primitive man, for example was very well 
          aware of this fact, and acted in accordance with it. (This may have 
          to do with primitive people being more in tune with their own 
          circadian rhythms. This expresses a more lunar-intuitive cycle 
          rather than our own solar one.) If perception of time is based upon 
          natural rhythms which effect the body coupled with our observance of 
          nature, then our concept of time is entirely contrary to what nature 
          itself is telling us. We are thus unaligned with a proper time 
          framework. Since a cycle is essentially a circle, no beginning or 
          ending can be found. And, it is already been theorized that there 
          are other dimensions of reality in which time as we know it (in a 
          durational, linear sense of perception) simply cannot exist. 
           
          The universe has again and again defied our attempts a definable 
          order upon it. Yet, mysteriously it does seem to act intelligently, 
          even though this cannot be grasped by a rigid point A to point B 
          structure. What emerges is a kind of chaotic mandala structure, and 
          it is the task of quantum qabbalism to apprehend, as much as is 
          possible, the interior of this structure. This opens the doors to 
          practical mysticism as opposed to impractical mysticism. The qabbala 
          must then be updated to accommodate this vital realization in regard 
          to its properties of being able to regulate perceptive awareness via 
          interacting forces springing from more or less hidden dimensions 
          whose effect is known but not the cause. 















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          The understanding of the intention of creation is a product of the 
          mind of the qabbalist himself. The fabric of reality is thereby 
          flexible, effected by his own experience of it, and in turn, this 
          experience determines his perception of it, which is altered by the 
          interaction of these elements, more clearly understood as a 
          transaction. In other words, one perceives his environment and that 
          environment by virtue of one`s perception of it begins to act 
          accordingly to the reality model which is believed to be true. This 
          could be described as a kind of Copenhagen Interpretation as applied 
          to qabbalistic principles. The qabbalist then shares a unique 
          position of receiving qabbalistic impressions via observable 
          systematic synchronicities by means of inclination represented in 
          his own psyche. These impressions will translate back as meaningful 
          data insofar as the transaction between observer and the observed 
          becomes enacted. His perception modifies the universe and in turn, 
          the universe modifies his perception. (This can serve as a 
          representation of the union of microprosopus and macroprosopus.) The 
          feedback of this required information will be meaningful to him 
          alone as it is a byproduct of his own psychic field. He becomes a 
          kind of decoder of esoteric information which he has learned to 
          process. 
           
          From this quantum/chaos framework the qabbala can be regarded as a 
          four (or five) dimensional transaction as revealed in the mundane 
          world, whereby an enriched quality of information provides the key 
          to a higher understanding of the universe and of oneself, provided 
          the person in question is capable of processing this information. 
          From this perspective, ghosts, poltergeists, and other enigmas of 
          paranormal phenomena can be understood as failed communication or 
          remnants of a highly coded system which hasn`t been solved. The 
          problem arises when one dimension fails to adequately "translate" 
          into another. You might term this the Tower of Babel Effect. The 
          information being received is misinterpreted due to inadequate tools 
          of reception and perhaps an inability to use tools properly. There 
          is also a basic misunderstanding of what this information means and 
          to what extent the source can be determined. This is a little like 
          trying to demonstrate fourth dimension physics by a purely three 
          dimensional means. The instances of paranormal phenomena as 
          described above, may be due to a discrepancy of overlapping 
          dimensions which allows for a greater margin of error which impedes 
          effective communication between the dimensions themselves. One is 
          reminded of Plato`s parable of the cave, wherein the shadows of the 
          things observed on the wall of the cave are mistaken for reality 
          itself. Granted, a shadow does resemble the object projecting it, 
          but it is hardly the object itself. It is the task of the quantum 
          qabbalist to make allowances for this margin of interpretive 
          miscalculation by preparing for it in advance and thus integrating 
          this possible glitch into his qabbalistic computer. He makes 
          allowances for this possible occurrence of organizational entropy and 
          thus he is able to use it to his advantage. 








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          The idea of a qabbala based upon an exploration of prima causa is no 
          longer valid in the quantum age. The quantumized qabbalist learns to 
          regard himself in the mirror of chaos. For him, the old Gnostic 
          dictum of "there is no part of me which is not of the gods", is 
          literally true. His "Tree of Life" is based squarely upon the 
          apprehension of his own enigmatic existence. He is more interested 
          in a practical application of his qabbalistic ideas and principles 
          for himself and others, than a cosmological game of hide and seek 
          wherein one searches for a prima causa "God" figure. But even for 
          this, he has an explanation: By careful observation of himself 
          within the mirror of chaos he has learned that the miracle of 
          creation is somehow a byproduct of his own consciousness and that he 
          has played an inexplicable role in the very act itself. ("Did ye not 
          know that ye were gods?") Joyously he has found that the tracks of 
          God etched across the illimitable sands of time in the accelerated 
          particle chambers of his own expanding consciousness. Thus has he 
          learned to adore the divine mystery of existence donning the masks 
          of creation. 








































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                                The Dark Night of the Soul 
                                      Fra.: Apfelmann

          "The Dark Night of the Soul" is the name given to that experience of
          spiritual desolation that all students of the Occult pass through at
          one time or another. It is sometimes characterized by feelings that
          your occult studies or practices are not taken you anywhere, that
          the initial success that one is sometimes granted after a few months
          of occult working, has suddenly dried up. There comes a desire to
          give up on everything, to abandon exercises and meditation, as
          nothing seems to be working. St.John of the Cross. a christian
          mystic, said of this experience, that it;
           "...puts the sensory spiritual appetites to sleep, deadens them,
           and deprives them of the ability to find pleasure in anything.
           It binds the imagination, and impedes it from doing any good
           discursive work. It makes the memory cease, the intellect become
           dark and unable to understand anything, and hence it causes the
           will to become arid and constrained, and all the faculties empty
           and useless. And over this hangs a dense and burdensome cloud,
           which afflicts the soul, and keeps it withdrawn from the good."

          Though the beginner may view the onset of such an experience with
          alarm (I know I did), the "Dark Night" is not something bad or
          destructive. In one sense it may be seen as a trial, a test by which
          the Gods examine our resolve to continue with occult work, and if
          you are not completely whole-hearted about your magical studies, it
          is during this period (at its beginning) that you will give up. The
          Dark Night of the Soul should be welcomed, once recognized for
          what it is (I have always received an innate "warning" just before
          the onset of such a period), as a person might welcome an operation
          that will secure health and well-being. St.John of the Cross embraced
          the soul`s Dark Night as a Divine Appointment, calling it a period
          of "sheer grace" and adding;
           "O guiding Night,
           O Night more lovely than Dawn,
           O Night that has united the lover with his beloved
           Transforming the Lover in her Beloved."

          When entering the Dark Night one is overcome by a sense of spiritual
          dryness and depression. The notion, in some quarters, that all such
          experiences should be avoided, for a peaceful existence, shows up
          the superficiality of so much of contemporary living. The Dark Night
          is a way of bringing the Soul to stillness, so that deep psychic
          transformation may take place. All distractions must be set aside,
          and it is no good attempting to fight or channel the bursts of raw
          energy that from time to time may course through your being. This
          inner compulsion to set everything aside results in the outer
          depression, when nothing seems to excite.











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          The only thing to do is obey your inner voice and become still,
          waiting for the inner transformation, (which the "Dark Night"
          heralds), to take place. You may not be aware for a very long time
          of the results of that inner change, but when the desire to work
          comes again and the depression lifts, the Dark Night has (for a
          moment) passed. No one can help during this time, and in many cases
          there is hardly anyone to turn for advice. One must disregard the
          well-meaning advice of family and friends to "snap out of it" this
          is no ordinary depression, but a deep spiritual experience which
          only those who have passed through themselves (in other words to a
          magical retreat) but for many, as the routines of everyday life
          prohibits this, all you can do is cultivate an inner solitude, a
          stillness and silence of heart, and wait, (like a chrysalis waits
          for the inner changes that will result in a butterfly) for the
          Transformation to work itself out. There are many such "Dark Nights"
          that the occult seeker must pass through during the mysterious
          process of mitigation. They are all trials but experience teaches
          one to cope more efficiently.

          With fractalic greetings and laughter  * Fra.: Apfelmann *







































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                                       Weaving Webs 
                                      Fra.: Apfelmann

          The Mantra Web is a very simple and effective technique for using
          sonics in a group. Choose a mantra with a number of syllables
          corresponding to the numbers of operators, eg. IAO for 3 people. The
          operators should link hands, left palm up and right palm down, and
          slowly start to circle clockwise, each vibrating their syllable. As
          this is done the operators should each project a thread of light
          from their Solar Plexus (Manipura chakra) to a central focal point.
          The color(s) of the threads of light should be determined before
          the operation according to its purpose and the current beliefs of
          the operators. As the speed and resonance of the mantra is built up
          over a period of time, so the web is empowered, until a climax is
          reached and the web energy directed by a pre-specified operator to
          its purpose. This is just a sketchy outline of the technique, which
          obviously can be used for much more than this. Some of the more
          common uses for this technique include healing (with the individual
          in the center at the focus, crystals would also boost the energy
          levels); sexual magick (with operator(s) in the center and, if
          possible, the climax timed accordingly); empowering sigils, and so
          on.

          If the operators vibrate their syllable alternately instead of
          together, the mantra will spin around the circle and have a
          positively disorienting effect on the operators.
          It is important that the operators visualize their thread of light
          continuously, and not just when vibrating their mantra syllable. I
          particularly recommend this technique for outdoor use, especially at
          suitably aspected power sites. However, if you are using a stone
          circle or any other site of magick, please do think about what
          aspects the site has, and preferably visit beforehand to achieve
          some rapport with the site.

          With fractalic greetings and laughter  * Fra.: Apfelmann *
























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                                Supradimensionality Part I 
                                     by Fra. Forovius

          The Quest for Unknown ENNEAD:
          Supradimensionality itself cannot be experienced directly; our
          senses are not equipped for it. We are used to aligning our
          consciousness with the three space dimensions, and these proceed
          along the dimension of time.  Whereas we can move freely in  space, we
          experience the dimension of  time as a continuum that  goes inevitably
          in one direction  - from past to future, with  no return. People often
          lay all  their hopes and  theories on  some new, fourth  or fifth,  or
          whatever,  dimension,  when  they  are  confronted  with  supernatural
          phenomena and ask themselves where it all came from. At the very least
          science fiction novels tend to overstress supradimensions; as a source
          of UFOs, for example,  or of inexhaustible energy sources  and similar
          things.  In  this article  I  would  like to  try  out  a little  mind
          experiment with you to see if we might get a feeling for what it could
          be like if a gate opens to other dimensions. Let`s take a look:

          In answering the question  about the meaning of the  word "dimension",
          we  should leave  out all  overburdened explanations,  be it  SciFi or
          traditional mathematics. Mathematics is a perfect symbolic language(!)
          for  the  relationships  of numbers  and  quantities,  as  it is  very
          accurate and gives exact  results where normal language gives  up. But
          not everything is  true that can be proven by  mathematics, it is just
          conclusive. Let`s use our imagination first...

          For the  following we begin at  the simplest point. Try  to experience
          your surroundings as  a one-dimensional  being. You can  use all  your
          senses  as in  hot/cold, hard/soft,  light/dark, silent/loud.  You can
          move only along one  line in one direction - forward. So,  now you are
          sitting in your easy-chair and start to  move as a tiny speck of dust.
          At  first the world is soft and  comfortable; the room`s center gets a
          bit more cool,  although light;  then, at  the wall,  it is  extremely
          hard, dark  and uncomfortable, and so on. For every section of the way
          you  have  gone you  have  a single,  irreversible  impression. Sounds
          familiar doesn`t  it, like we think  of the "eternal flow  of time and
          aeons". But let`s steer clear od speculation that would not be apt for
          a speck of dust.

          Resume: when every section of this way has it`s own distinct
          characteristic (not  affectable by time, because  time doesn`t exist),
          it is inconceivable  for us that in some places other conditions along
          the same length in same sector may exist, just to the right or left of
          the way. Don`t forget - right/left have not been invented yet!














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          Were it able to move left or right, if only slightly, it might be
          able to experience different conditions on the same spot of its
          one-dimensional  axis (on  a border, a  corner, a  different surface).
          But what lies outside its one-dimensional paradigm is unknowable.  The
          model  for this paradigm is, therefore, that along the dimension there
          can only be one condition at one spot.
          Let`s shift now to  a 2-dimensional paradigm. Now the  first dimension
          and the 2nd can  be used, and  the room presents itself  to us like  a
          section  with an  even surface.  Along the  first dimension  there are
          still  the same  conditions as  before, but  to the  side (left/right)
          there are some more.

          The model is changed as follows: along dimension 1 (length) there
          can  be different conditions, but  at different levels  of dimension 2
          (width).  This new being acts in a  more familiar manner as, like maps
          for example, it orients itself according to a horizontal and
          vertical axis.

          You can guess  how the riddle continues.  We learn to move  or grow up
          and  down. Now different conditions  are possible on  the same surface
          coordinates but at different  heights and depths. In the  new paradigm
          there is only one condition at one point in space.

          Finally, we  shift to our normal  paradigm by adding time.  We can now
          observe different conditions at  the same point of space  at different
          times, and can formulate the paradigm as follows: At the same point in
          space only  one object  can exist  at the  same time.  This is  a long
          established model of physics,  matching perfectly our mechanical world
          and our senses.

          In this mental experiment we have learned 2 things:

          1,  Moving along a dimension,  one can recognize  differences. This is
          the characteristic of a dimension, not its definition.
          2, After  each shift to the  next dimension, the model  (dogma) of the
          preceding one is superseded. Generally, the most recent dimension is a
          continuum, ie., a  dimension that goes irreversible  in one direction.
          Our own paradigm model  consists of the (old)  3 space dimension  plus
          the (new)  time as  a  continuum. How  could a  world  look like  that
          contains one dimension more, the  fifth one, called "E" or Ennead  for
          example?  (I  think Ennead  is an  expression  from a  science fiction
          novel,  but the  Ancient Egyptians  had a  similar expression  for the
          place where all possibilities exist that  don`t exist here;  or  where
          all the possibilities manifest that are kept by us from manifesting in
          this world here.)

          You can construct the new model dogma by yourself: at one and the
          same point of space and time there CAN be different conditions
          (objects, colors, temperatures...), but at a different Ennead(!!).










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          BUT: at the same point  of space at the same time and Ennead, there is
          again  only  one  condition  (object  etc.)  possible! This  game  can
          theoretically  be  continued  forever, but  soon  gets  uninteresting,
          because everything becomes far-fetched.

          The step to  the next  dimension implies  several interesting  changes
          because:
          - first of all it calls for the parallel existence of different
          things and events, side-by-side and at the same spot of the
          space/time-paradigm. This sounds very much like the sometimes
          incomprehensible reports of mystic experiences, whether from
          contemporary times like the Seth-books, or long ago, like Meister
          Eckhart, Tauler or Seuse. It  is also similar to the picture of  the 4
          worlds of the Kabbala  which exists inside  one another, and it  makes
          certain Egyptian mysteries understandable.
          - it makes a huge number of connections possible that we normally
          would not think of. Numerous events inexplicable by rational
          thinking may have their roots here, because causality is only valid in
          the exact  space/time paradigm  and loses  its ultimate  character the
          moment a new dimension is brought in.
          - most probably, and here all thinking and imagination stops, it
          replaces  the time  continuum with  a ubiquitous time  dimension (like
          length, width and  height in our  paradigm) where  we can move  freely
          forwards and  backwards - but  always at the same  Ennead. Again, this
          dimension shift doesn`t  free us completely, it just  opens a gate and
          makes the next border visible.

          The question about the quality or sense of this new E-dimension
          remains  unanswered. But our familiar dimensions also have no state or
          sense or quality; they just exist and make us  feel that they exist by
          limitations of  our sense of  movement etc. Although  we live in  this
          system, we cannot  give a real definition  of it (should  we really?),
          only some more or  less mathematical explanations. We  just experience
          that  along  a  dimension  something changes.  Dimensions  let  things
          happen. We feel something has changed along a dimension and we measure
          it by looking for  regular changes. We  measure time by observing  the
          regular movements  of the sun and  the earth, but with  no feeling for
          their pure quality.

          Also, a new dimension E would not change our world radically; its
          only effect to our paradigm would be that some additional things
          happened - miraculously side-by-side in time. But as we have no
          sensors for this, it would be totally imperceptible. And should a
          short impression slip  through, it  would be instantly  erased by  our
          mind`s censor. Moreover, if some of us should get to this dimension it
          would  prove  nearly impossible  to explain  it  to others;  having no
          common language, comparisons or symbols for it.

          This mental experiment has done its job, if we have achieved a
          feeling for what supradimensionality could be. Our paradigm is not the
          ultimate possibility, others exist - in between!








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          Other Forms of Existence:

          Anyone used to observing nature from the heart, will have seen
          that it doesn`t like to have  jumps in it; especially when it  is only
          to  be fitted  into an  artificial theoretical  system   of  the human
          brain`s. Therefore, it is  not consequent to assume that  our paradigm
          of a space+time-continuum is  the only valid system. The  motto cannot
          be: "either you are with us in our system, or you are non-existent!"
          - a logical chain that we tend to follow  all too often.  If there are
          more  simple   dimensional  systems,  they  will   surely  have  their
          inhabitants.  However, the  creative amongst  you should  refrain from
          designing flat monsters  for a 2-dimensional  world now. As  explained
          before, this all exists in our world, one in the other!

          Again a  little mental experiment may  show us the  way. Let`s imagine
          the following:
          1, We put away all conditions related to the last dimension, the
          continuum. At  the same  time the  last-but-one dimension becomes  the
          continuum  automatically,  as  explained   before,  because  the  last
          dimension  always  is a  continuum (!!).  It  is interesting  that our
          time-continuum  physically is  related only  to movement,  which means
          that  everything able  to move  freely can experience  time.(As stated
          here, the gift  that our space+time  paradigm gives  to us is  motion.
          Now, in Ancient Egypt, a very important symbol was  the Ankh, meanings
          originally  a sandal`s belt (scientists  say). So, the  meaning of the
          respective  hieroglyph means "TO  WALK". On Egyptian  pictures, when a
          GOD gives life  to a HUMAN  he hands an ANKH  to him, i.e.  giving him
          LIFE = TO WALK = MOVEMENT.)
          So we  ignore everything that has  to do   with motion. And  the space
          becomes continuum.
          2,  We look for forms  of existing lacking  exactly that last paradigm
          element, ie., (in our case) time and movement.
          That means we  are looking for something that fulfills  the picture of
          this reduced paradigm. In our previous example: something that
          doesn`t move, but spreads in space continuously and irreversibly.
          Just let the picture grow before thinking further; that`s it -
          GROWING! Anything that grows steadily and cannot shrink
          deliberately.

          We may think of  plants growing, clouds rising, micro-organism,  fungi
          etc. For  example, a tree  starts from  an exact point  in space  (the
          seed)  and spreads evenly according to a distinct blueprint. Its size,
          especially the section rings  of its stem, correlate exactly  with its
          age;  that  means spatial  growing and  age  match exactly.  It cannot
          shrink definitely; it  is able to  drop leaves  or branches, but  they
          soon grow  back to make it fill  the same space occupied  before.  The
          process  of spatial growth is irreversible. A harrowing thought - most
          probably we "grow" through time  in the same manner! Maybe,  even like
          some  herbs or  grass that  die off in  Autumn and  grow again  in the
          Spring - a picturesque allegory of death and rebirth!

          For our next example we again take one dimension less. Now there is no
          free  (active) motion  and no  growth in space.  The continuum  is the
          surface. A  much more  tricky paradigm.  Something existing here  must
          have the tendency  to spread in surface as much  as possible and never
          contract  again deliberately.  Hmmm..  what`s the  biggest surface  on
          earth? Of course, water! Water, as a liquid, can be  formed freely, as
          it has no fixed form and will mould itself to fit any surface.  But it

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          cannot  be  compressed, and  has  the tendency  to fill  a  space from
          beneath with  the maximum of even  surface at the same  time. The gain
          with  this form  of existence is  in the  changeability of  form - its
          flexibility and adaptability. The  picture for this is the  ocean, the
          river, or organisms like lichens which exist in clumps or patches.

          Our  next move is  one more step  towards reduction  of existence. Now
          there  is no area  and no spreading  over a surface.  The continuum is
          dimension  1, the line, and everything else is fixed. In this paradigm
          all solid objects exist. Changes, if  any, are only allowed along  one
          line and  are irreversible as in  falling towards a center  of gravity
          for  example, or rolling down a slope.  This dimension 1 does not have
          to  be a  straight line,  but is  the most efficient  and best  way of
          coming nearer to the center of attraction. Irreversible.

          It`s interesting to see  that we humans still align our orientation in
          space  according to these same systems as described. The vertical line
          is  a  solid object  hanging  down,  the  plumb-rule;  the  horizontal
          surface, the level, is adjusted  by hydrostatic balance (with water!).
          And the  only  independent (ie.,  not geodetic)  system for  measuring
          height is an instrument derived from a barometer (the
          altigraph), which works on the basis of the expansion and reduction of
          a specific gas volume in a sealed shell.

          These thoughts  are certainly a  little bit hard  to chew on,  but I`m
          sure they give enough themes for meditation.

































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          Here`s  an example for a  simple meditation; freestyle  of course. Get
          yourself  into  a  trance-journey  somehow.  You  may use  a  shamanic
          technique or jump through a Tattwa sign or whatever you prefer and are
          best used to. Let`s take the  water element for example.  According to
          classical technique,  you imagine  the horizontal  syrinx sign  and go
          through  it (but in silver and not in  green as usual when you want to
          explore the  water world) and become  the water yourself.   Try to let
          the feeling flow  freely. Flow  down, spread, split  into drops  while
          breaking on a stone that lies in the water way; flow down as a torrent
          etc.; trickle to the ground; evaporate  to the sky;  experience  total
          passivity in the  respect of  controlled growth or  active motion.  Be
          totally  passive!  It  is  important  to  collect  oneself  after this
          meditation  and   perform  a  thorough  earthing.   This  exercise  is
          comparatively easy with the water element. It is also possible with  a
          3-dimensional system (plant or  cloud), but more complicated,  or with
          1-dimensional  system (solid object), but the latter takes a long time
          in my experience.

          The purpose of this exercise is to get a feeling for the structure and
          physical  reality of  other dimensional  existence and  their relation
          with other systems, and to comprehend that these need not be projected
          to distant universes,  but really exist in our world  and that we meet
          them every day.

          For people dealing with magic it is of immense value to get the
          right feeling of the existence of one universe in the other, and to be
          able  to shift  from a  low dimensional  system to  a supradimensional
          system and vice versa. This is because we face many phenomena reaching
          into our paradigm from other systems. For  example, severe distortions
          of  reality go  hand-in-hand  with  deep  trance, (lucid)  dreams  and
          precognition. These  all make our  reality and our  normal environment
          appear  more or less different  from normal experience:   for example,
          when  we experience our home in dream  reality or on a mental journey,
          the table in the room isn`t where it normally used to  be or maybe the
          window  is on another wall and  looks into a different landscape etc..
          All this is due to distortions along the 5th dimension  (the Ennead as
          I named it provisionally).






















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          Let`s continue our little mental experiment, but this time in the
          forward direction. At first we see no differences, when we go from our
          paradigm to a  4+1 dimensional system. Obviously we  have no sense and
          no feeling for what`s happening when we go beyond our 3+1 (space+time)
          system. So  the new mental experiment leads nowhere.  It`s worth it to
          demonstrate that no practical model comes  from mental speculations in
          this direction. But we can derive a description from our "experiences"
          with  low-dimensional systems.  Keeping the last paradigms in mind and
          adding  a new dimension, the Ennead, we can formulate the new paradigm
          by same method as follows:

          "At the same place in space at the same time there ARE different
          conditions possible at different E-dimensions."

          Exactly  like the  addition of a  "new" time-dimension to  the old 2+1
          (area+space) paradigm makes free movement possible for the first time,
          so also the addition of a new dimension E to our 3+1 paradigm makes it
          possible (at least theoretically) for the following to exist:
          - the one-inside-the-other-existence of different entities and
          conditions
          - parallel worlds
          - events occurring simultaneously in time
          - time travel (forward and backwards).

          The key  to all this seems  to be the existence  of "parallel worlds",
          and I want to take  a little look into how our ability  to distinguish
          objects function. If different  things exist on the  same spot at  the
          same time this implies that the  same things exist in different worlds
          (systems,  universes etc., it`s  all the  same!). The  explanation for
          this you will find in the section Other Forms of Existence. Things are
          distinguishable for  us by their presence (POSITION in space+time) and
          their QUALITY  (that we  check by our  senses). They are  different if
          they  have different position and/or  quality. Example: sheep  A is as
          dull as sheep B, looks the  same, sounds the same, smells the same.  I
          know  they are  different  as one  stands  beside  the other  (ie.  at
          different positions at the same time). If there are enough sheep  that
          are so  similar and  they  run among  each  other, I  can  distinguish
          nothing. That  is unless I mark  them to make them  look different; or
          one  has changed its appearance, by having been sheared, for instance.
          Then it looks different at a different time,  but still is essentially
          the same. In  all these cases  we orient according to  differences and
          coherence of existence,
          and not very reliably at that.  I want to show with this  shaggy sheep
          tale that  the question  of continuous existence  throughout different
          positions  and  qualities is  not  easily resolved,  and  therefore we
          should  be carefully before we discount all talk of "double existence,
          parallel worlds etc.".












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                                                                             295

          Existence is hard to imagine and contradicts with experience and
          commonsense  unless we postulate  the existence of  parallel worlds in
          which all possibilities at least potential exist. But only one
          possibility becomes  reality. By taking  this thought further,  we see
          that  all these parallel worlds contain the possibilities of life, and
          we move  through all  this, making  reality out  of one  of them  - by
          DECISION or free  will, call it  as you like.  A picture that we  also
          find in some of Castaneda`s books.

          Outlook:
          The question remains unanswered is:  What makes these parallel  worlds
          manifest  (ie. how  often do  "I" exist)  or just  remain hypothetical
          assumptions. But this is without importance for us at the moment. In a
          simple  and subjective  way, only  that which  we experience  actually
          manifests.  For me  it  appears  dimly that  out  of Ennead  only  the
          parallel worlds  through which we  pass by our  subjective experience,
          our  acting and our reality  become reality and  sharply outlined. All
          else remains dim  and unreal but  may be experienced  by others -  who
          knows? This is  similar to a widespread network of  rails in a railway
          shunting  station, with  numerous railtracks  linked by  switches, but
          only ONE track being used by a train. The switches stand for important
          decisions which open  this or that way. According to  our decisions we
          pass a  track leading more "up" or "down", more "ahead" or "back" (all
          seen from Ennead), or we just shuttle back and forth in the middle. To
          help to understand this we can look at certain games, like chess, that
          show how  the chain of events  is predetermined by  decisions that lie
          far back in  the past. By  playing chess you  can get  an idea of  the
          reality of fate, and that some errors taken in the past can  hardly be
          set right whilst some may  easily be. These causal chains may  be very
          long in any case.

          The previously described Ennead system could work in a similar
          fashion  to this: exactly like  our space+time paradigm  enables us to
          move,  so the jump into the space/time+ennead paradigm opens the gates
          to potentiality  and its  network of connections.  Although we  cannot
          take part  in this because of  our limited senses, and  we cannot jump
          into the next dimension and its  adherent paradigm, we can take a peek
          behind  the  curtain and  at  least  get a  feeling  for  the kind  of
          interference  therein. It  may  open a  new  view on  things  hitherto
          believed  to be inevitable:  the passing of time,  all our actions and
          interactions, and  on fate  itself. Are  we just  "programmed" towards
          another  target or direction, that  can only be  seen from above, from
          Ennead, from  the next  dimension? Do  we "move"  in  Ennead with  our
          decisions (and  this implies things like  character, mental attitudes,
          views and opinions, by which we decide on this or that way)?














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          However, for a  being fixed and rooted  in his/its paradigm, there  is
          not  much difference how  it decides. A  root or a  branch can grow in
          this  or that way, and reacts to  certain stimuli like light or water,
          but remains fixed and not suited for free movement. The more simple an
          animal is organized, the more unidirectional its reactions are:
          "lurk  - snap - gorge"  and suchlike. The  (occasionally) more complex
          motivations of  men lead me conclude  that we may be  on the threshold
          before   the  door  to  the  next  paradigm.  (Similar  to  plant-like
          organisms,  corals for example, that  are fixed to  the ground but can
          push out and pull in their tentacles... Hagazussa already?).

          We can "move" in this way - and this is certainly the most noble
          expression of  "do what thou  wilt" and Thelema  - by  influencing our
          position  in  Ennead consciously  and  constantly,  and without  mercy
          giving our decisions a  certain orientation and thereby  "moving" with
          this  through  Ennead  and  the  parallel  worlds.  (If  our  personal
          "thelema" was not a nonsense ie. Choronzon.) I`m sure many of you have
          experienced that  after somebody changed their  attitude and opinions,
          sometimes their  environment also  begins to  change, but  without any
          causal  reasons! Just the right people appear; some lucky (or unlucky)
          opportunities  open up; old friends  seem to withdraw  and appear more
          and more  strange... Maybe a  new parallel  world has opened,  and you
          move in? But besides these speculations and as a last consequence this
          means we bring  all that we face  by our own  decisions, and we  blame
          nobody else  but our own  good selves for  "all the bad luck  and hard
          days we  suffer from". On  the other  hand we are  not responsible  to
          anything/anybody/anygod for all the shit we are in... its our own hard
          way! All that has to do  with character building starts here. Here and
          now and in our own earthbound and mortal life and in our own paradigm,
          we have the  chance to move  in a certain  direction, perhaps "up"  or
          "down"  or maybe  recognized only  from aside/above/from  Ennead. Even
          from the next paradigm maybe. But
          we have the chance NOW. Possibilities are numerous. Let`s use them for
          maximum experience.

























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                          CELTIC CRAFT READING LIST - 6 JULY 1991 
                                      Rowan Moonstone

          *** Marks especially good books. Read these FIRST!!  Keep in mind,
          this is simply a listing of the books that I have found useful.
          Question everything.

          A.E.(GEORGE RUSSELL); "The Candle of Vision", Quest Books,
          Theosophical Pub. 1975

          ALFORD, VIOLET; "The Hobbyhorse & Other Animal Masks", Merlin Press
          1978

          AMERICAN CONFERENCE FOR IRISH STUDIES; "Guide to Irish Studies in
          the U.S.A." 1987

          ANWYL, EDWARD; "Celtic Religion in Pre-christian Times", Archibald
          Constable & Co. 1906 ***

          ARTOS, ALLEN; "Arthur, The King of Light", Lorien House 1986

          ASHE, GEOFFREY; "The Ancient Wisdom", London 1977

          BAIN, GEORGE; "Celtic Art: The Methods of Construction", Dover Pub.
          1973

          BARBER, CHRIS; "Mysterious Wales", Paladin Press 1983

          BOASE, WENDY; "Folklore of Hampshire & the Isle of Wight", Rowman
          & Littlefield 1976

          BONWICK, JAMES; "Irish Druids and Old Irish Religion", Arno Press
          1976

          BORD, JANET & COLIN; "The Secret Country", Grenada 1978 ***

          BORD, JANET & COLIN; "Mysterious Britain", Grenada 1974 ***

          BORD, JANET & COLIN; "Earth Rites", Grenada 1983 ***

          BORD, JANET & COLIN; "Sacred Waters", Paladin Books 1986 ***

          BREFFNY, BRIAN DE, ed.; "Ireland, A Cultural Encyclopedia", Thames
          & Hudson 1983

          BREFFNY, BRIAN DE; " The Irish World", Thames & Hudson 1986

          BRIGGS, KATHERINE; "Abbey Lubbers, Banshees, & Boggarts", Pantheon
          1979

          BRIGGS, KATHERINE; "Nine Lives; Cats in Folklore", Rudledge & Kegen
          Paul 1980

          BROWN, PETER, ed. & selected by; "Book of Kells", Alfred A. Knopf
          1980

          CAMPBELL, J.F. & GEORGE HENDERSON; "The Celtic Dragon Myth",
          Newcastle Pub. 1981

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                                                                             298

          CARMICHAEL, ALEXANDER; "Celtic Invocations", Vineyard 1972

          CASTLEDEN, RODNEY; "The Wilmington Giant", Turnstone 1983

          CHADWICK, NORA; "The Celts", Pelician 1970

          CHANT,JOY; "The High Kings", Bantam 1983

          CHMELOVA, ELENA; "Celtic Tales", Exeter Books 1982

          CLARE, T.; "Archelogical Sites of Devon & Cornwall", Moorland Pub.
          1982

          COGHLAN, RONAN; "Dictionary of Irish Myth and Legend", Donard Press
          1979

          COHANE, JOHN PHILLIP; "The Key", Crown Pub. 1969

          COLLUM, PADRAIG; "Treasury of Irish Folklore", Crown Pub. 1967

          COLLUM, PADRAIC; "Treasury of Irish Folklore", rev. ed. Killenny
          Press 1967

          COLLUM, PADRAIC; "The King of Ireland's Son", McMillian & sons 1933

          CONWAY, D.J.; "Celtic Magic", Llewellyn Pub. 1990

          COOKE, GRACE & IVAN; "The Light in Britain", White Eagle Pub. Trust
          1983

          COSMAN, MADELEINE, PELNER; "Medieval Holidays and Festivals",
          Charles Scribmer & Sons 1981

          CROSSLEY-HOLLAND, KEVIN, ed.; "Mabon of the Mabinogion", Thorsen
          Pub. 1984

          CUNLIFFE, BARRY; "The Celtic World", McGraw Hill MCMLXXIX ***

          CURTAIN, JEREMIAH; "Myths and Folk Tales of Ireland", Dover Books
          1975

          DAMES, MICHAEL; "The Avebury Cycle", Thames & Hudson 1977 ***

          DANAHER, KEVIN; "The Year in Ireland", (Leinster Leader, Ltd. 1972)
          Mercier Press 1972 ***

          DANIEL, GLYN & PAUL BAHN; "Ancient Places - The Prehistoric &
          Celtic Sites of Britian", Constable 1987

          DAVIDSON, THOMAS; "Rowan Tree and Red Thread", Edinburgh 1949
          DAVIES, EDWARD; "The Mythology and Rites of the British Druids",
          J. Booth 1809

          DELANEY, FRANK; "The Celts", Little Brown & Co. 1986

          DILLON, MYLES; "Early Irish Literature", University of Chicago
          Press 1948


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                                                                             299

          DINNENN, REV. PATRICK S.; "Irish- English Dictionary", Irish Textes
          Society 1927

          DUGGAN, COLM; "Treasures of Irish Folklore", Mercantile Marketing
          Consultants, Ltd. 1983

          DYER, JAMES; "The Penguin Guide To Prehistoric England & Wales",
          Penguin Books

          EVANS-WENTZ, W. Y.; "The Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries",
          Universtiy Books 1966 ***

          FELL, BARRY; "America, B.C.", Wallaby Books 1976

          FITZPATRICK, JIM; "The Silver Arm", Paper Tiger Press 1981

          FITZPATRICK, JIM; "The Book of Conquests", E.P. Dutton 1978

          FLOWER, ROBIN; "The Irish Tradition", Clarendon Press 1947/1978

          FORDE, JOHNSTON J.; "Prehistoric Britian & Ireland", W.W. Norton
          & Co. 1976

          FRAZIER, SIR JAMES GORDON; "The Golden Bough", (The Macmillan
          Company, 1951) Avenel 1981

          FRENCH, J.M.F.; "Prehistoric Faith and Worship", London 1912

          FROUD, BRIAN & ALAN LEE; "Faeries", Harry M. Abrams 1978

          GANTZ, JEFFERY; "Early Irish Myths & Sagas", Penquin 1982

          GERALD OF WALES; "The History & Topography of Ireland", Penquin
          1982

          GLASSIE, HENRY; "Irish Folk History", University of Pennsylvannia
          Press 1982

          GREGORY, LADY AUGUSTA; "Visions and Beliefs in the West of
          Ireland", Colin Smythe 1920/1979

          GREGORY, LADY AUGUSTA; "Gods and Fighting Men of the Celts", John
          Murray 1913 ***

          GUARD, DAVID, "Dierdre: A Celtic Legend", Celestial Arts 1977

          HERM, GERHARD; "The Celts", St. Martin's Press 1975

          HIGGINS, GODFREY; "Celtic Druids", Philosohpical Research Society
          1977

          HOPE, MURRY; "Practical Celtic Magic", Aquarian Press 1987

          IRISH TEXTES SOCIECTY; "Poems of Egan O'Rahilly", Rev. P.S. Dinnenn
          & T.O. Donough 1966




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                                                                             300

          IRISH TEXTES SOCIECTY; "Duanaine Finn", Vol VII, part 1, ed. &
          trans. Eoin MacNeil

          IRISH TEXTES SOCIECTY; Keating, "History of Ireland, Vol 1-4,
          1902/1987

          IRISH TEXTES SOCIECTY; "Adventures of Suibhne Geilt", ed. & trans.
          J.G. O'Keefe 1913

          IRISH TEXTES SOCIECTY; "Poems on the Marcher Lords", ed. Anne
          O'Sullivan & Padrain O'Riain 1987

          IRISH TEXTES SOCIECTY; "Labor Gabala Erenn", parts 1-4, Trans.
          R.A.S. MacAlister 1941 ***

          JACKSON, KENNETH HURLSTONE; "A Celtic Miscellany", Penguin 1980

          JACKSON, KENNETH HURLESTONE; "The Oldest Irish Tradition; A Window
          on the Iron Age", Cambridge 1964

          JACOBS, JOSEPH; "Celtic Fairy Tales", Dover 1963

          JONES, GWYN & THOMAS; "The Mabinogion", Dragon's Dream 1982 ***

          JOYCE, P.W.; "Social History of Ancient Ireland", Vol 1 & 2
          Benjamin Blum Pub. 1968 ***

          KERR, MILDRED L., HARNES, ELIZABETH & ROSS, FRANCES; "Giants &
          Faires", Charles E. Merrill Co. 1946

          KINSELLA, THOMAS; "The Tain", Oxford Univ. Press 1969 ***

          KNEIGHTLY, THOMAS; "The World Guide to Gnomes, Fairies, Elves, and
          Other Little People", Avenel Press 1978

          KNIGHT, GARETH; "The Secret Tradition in Arthurian Legend",
          Aquarian Press 1983

          KRUTA, VENCESLAS & VERNER FORMAN; "The Celts of the West", Orbis
          1985

          LEAMY, EDMUND; "Golden Spears", Desmond Fitzgerald 1911

          LEHMANN, RUTH P.M.; "Early Irish Verse", University of Texas Press
          1982

          LOGAN, PATRICK; "The Old Gods", Apple Tree Press 1981

          LONSDALE, STEVEN; "Animals & the Origin of the Dance", Thames &
          Hudson 1982

          LUCY, SEAN; "Love Poems of the Irish", Mercier Press 1977

          MACALISTER, R.A.S.; "Tara; A Pagan Sanctuary of Ancient Ireland",
          Charles Schribner & Sons 1931 ***

          MACCANA, PROINSIAS; "Celtic Mythology", Hamlyn Pub. 1970


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