The Magician's Kabbalah

by Marcus Katz

This representation is a mirror image, she said, of the Ka reaching up to provide a resting-place for the Ba, symbolised by the Hawk. This latter is an emanation of the Hammemmit, and signified the sacrifice of the lower self to the higher self. Again, whilst the language may not be immediately accessible, Farr did offer an explanation.

  In ritual, she explained the process of magic in terms of the above divisions of the soul:

  (a) The symbolism of the ritual is fully recognised.

  (b) The Imagination is extended to encompass this symbolism.

  (c) The Will is concentrated firmly and repeatedly.

  (d) The Ka (Ego) is thus put into tension, and acts on its counterpart in the heart (Ab), which is the vessel of conscious desire.

  (e) This in turn reacts on the Hati (unconscious executant).

  (f) The whole psyche thus in a state of theurgic excitation, the Ba (Divine Link) descended, and the whole body becomes a Khu (Shining One or Augoides).

  (g) This new Being is established in the midst of the Sahu (Elemental Body), and hence by its radiation can awaken corresponding potencies in nature. The Sahu could hence be seen in modern terms as a morphogenetic field.

  (h) For this purpose, the Khaibt is used as the link between the Ego and Non-ego, and the Tet (Spiritual Body) is established.

  These systems are taught and experienced in magical orders such as the Order of Everlasting Day.

  Other models for the psyche include Gurdjieff's scheme of the Octaves, and two other eight-fold systems, being the Psychosynthesis construct of Roberto Assagioli, M.D. and the Circuit Grid model developed by Dr Timothy Leary and expounded by Robert Anton Wilson.

  The Psychosynthesis model has been compared to its Kabbalistic counterpart in Jean Hardy’s A Psychology With A Soul, and it is heartening to find that she states Kabbalah has a more effective model in this instance.[98] The circuit system has been matched to a Kabbalah scheme of YHVH and the tarot by Wilson in his unique workbook Prometheus Rising.

  Contemporary Kabbalah

  In order to guide further studies from this present work, I have somewhat arbitrarily divided the contemporary field of Kabbalah into four categories; the scholarly; the new age; the esoteric and the literary. Whilst there are many overlaps between these categories, it may be a useful beginners guide that should you pursue one of these titles you will expect to be receiving a book full of dense historical information and heavily footnoted, a book focused on using the divine names to cleanse your Chakras, or a book of magical rituals and talismans, or a fictional piece weaving in many strands, all of which find their shelter under the spreading boughs and leafy arches of the Tree of Life.

  The Scholarly

  The most comprehensive overview of Kabbalah is provided by Gershom Scholem (1897 – 1982) in Kabbalah (1974) and other titles including On Kabbalah and its Symbolism (1965). Scholem brought to study of Kabbalah to prominence and also re-introduced it to the non-Jewish world from a historical perspective. The most contemporary writing on Kabbalah from a scholarly perspective is by Moshe Idel, in Kabbalah: New Perspectives (1990). Boaz Huss provides many references for contemporary approaches and studies across many viewpoints in his paper ‘Contemporary Kabbalah and its Challenge to the Academic Study of Jewish Mysticism’.[99]

  The work of Daniel C. Matt includes the latest translation of the Zohar (Pritzker Edition) and annotated extracts for study such as The Essential Kabbalah (2009) and Zohar: Annotated and Explained (2002).[100] Aryeh Kaplan (1934 – 1983) worked to explore science and Kabbalah and his later writings explored Jewish meditation techniques in Meditation and Kabbalah (1982). Authors such as Alexandre Safran have touched upon the relationship of Kabbalah to science, in Wisdom of the Kabbalah (1991).

  The New Age

  Esoteric authors, as we have seen, generally adopted Kabbalah through its earlier delivery by Levi, Mathers, Westcott, the Golden Dawn, Crowley and others. There was a later pickup of the system in a manner similar to the more widespread adoption of Yoga through what could generally be categorised (certainly by publishers) as “New Age” authors. These authors vary in their sources from ‘traditional’ Kabbalah to ‘esoteric’ Kabbalah.

  A representative title in this category might be M. González-Wippler’s A Kabbalah for the Modern World (1987) which features chapters on the Torah, Kabbalistic Magick and correspondences with other systems. Authors such as Will Parfitt in Kabbalah for Life (2006) introduce psychotherapy and counselling into the system, as well as providing exercises to contact extra-dimensional entities.

  The Occult

  The classic occult text on Kabbalah is surely Dion Fortune’s The Mystical Qabalah (1935). Another influential book on western occultists is Gareth Knight’s A Practical Guide to Qabalistic Symbolism in two volumes (1986). Israel Regardie’s Tree of Life (1969) provides a wide-ranging summary of Kabbalah in the context of the Golden Dawn teachings and his work with Crowley.

  Contemporary authors developing earlier esoteric work include Naomi Ozaniec, The Aquarian Qabalah (2003) whose work follows Dion Fortune through Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki. An overview of the Tree of Life in terms of the initiatory ascent narrative can be discovered in Denning & Phillips, Entrance to the Magical Qabalah (1997). The work of Paul Foster Case and the B.O.T.A. organisation is more recently re-presented by Jason C. Lotterhand in The Spoken Cabala (2010).

  The system as a whole is covered in detail in my own work, The Magister (2015). An accessible workbook from an O.T.O. perspective (drawing on the work of Aleister Crowley) is given by Anita Kraft in The Qabalah: Workbook for Magicians (2013).

  The Popular & Literary

  Kabbalah has more recently been popularised by celebrity take-up through the Kabbalah Centre, most notably Madonna.[101] However, it has always been of attraction to those in the circles of imagination, creativity, arts, sciences and any endeavour of discovery. No less than British Poet Laureate Ted Hughes (1930 – 1998) wrote on Kabbalah, notably with regard to Shakespeare, suggesting that the practice of Kabbalah could help explain Shakespeare’s “imaginative development, quite apart from his apparent attitude to religion and his handling of myths”.[102]

  The graphic novel Promethea by Alan Moore extensively draws upon Kabbalah.[103] There is a dense and complex use of Kabbalah in the work of Umberto Eco, particularly Foucault’s Pendulum (1988), which is based on Lurianic Kabbalah and has sections named after each Sephirah down the Tree of Life. A similar use of Kabbalah can be found in the short stories of Jorge Luis Borges, such as Labyrinths (1962).

  Conclusion

  In the opening of this book, we provided a brief quote from a previously unpublished note in the Golden Dawn archives, likely written by one of the three founders of the Order, S. L. MacGregor Mathers. The note was this:

  It was by the knowledge of the attribution of the Paths and the Tarot keys that Daniel deciphered the meaning of the MENE, MENE, TEKEL UPHARSIN.

  This note and the mysterious words refer to the biblical story of Belshazzar’s Feast, where a mysterious hand appeared and wrote upon the wall an undecipherable inscription.[104] It was the prophet Daniel who interpreted the writing, stating that it referred to not only the weights meant by the words, but drew from their sources; to be numbered, weighed and divided. In this, he interpreted that the King had been numbered by God, weighed and found wanting, and his Kingdom would fall and be divided. This came to pass that very night when the King was slain.

  This idea - obviously embraced by the Golden Dawn - is a direct continuation of the first writing on the correspondence of the tarot to Hebrew letters with which we started this present book, as in Comte de Mellet’s essay published in 1781, he stated (erroneously) that the biblical prophets used tarot to decipher dreams and visions. The Order of the Golden Dawn saw that through correspondence, all mysteries could be resolved, both of the past, present and future.

  The note also teaches that we should learn correspondences in order to read the writing on the wall – for it is from this story we d
erive that popular phrase. When we “see the writing on the wall” it means that we are given insight into something that is in front of us, something that is already happening, and is unlikely to be avoided. However, by being able to use the Tree of Life and tarot to see that writing everywhere; the writing of the unfolding of existence, we can better prepare and align ourselves with that creation and in doing so, become truly one with the very word of the divine.

  It is our hope that we have encouraged you a little more in this book to explore the mysteries of creation through Kabbalah and tarot, and we look forward to welcoming you in the Crucible if you decide to further enter the fire with us.[105]

  Appendix: A Kabbalah Study Program

  Whilst there are many ways of advancing your appreciation of Kabbalah and integration of its philosophy and practicality in your life, through both study and exercise, I would like to recommend here several avenues I have found most useful over the course of over thirty years work.

  This is entirely contextualised in the Western Esoteric Initiatory System, so will not be the same as a study program in the context Jewish History or Religious Thought. However, you may find it a useful starting point for further studies alongside the material and exercises in this present book.

  These are given as a few signposts and landmarks in a large landscape of study, and you are encouraged to go exploring as you will far beyond these marker points on the map and neither should you take these in any particular order in your own journey.

  The exercises and reading lists in this present book are reasonably extensive and should be considered a more complete Travellers Guide to this brief list.

  1. Acquire a Hebrew-English Dictionary. Whilst you do not need to learn fluent Hebrew to approach Kabbalah from this perspective, you should be aware of the power of the alphabet and the formation of words in Hebrew for even a basic appreciation of Kabbalah. I use Ben Yehuda’s Pocket English-Hebrew/Hebrew-English Dictionary.

  2. Get a general book on the Kabbalah to accompany your first steps, including The Magician’s Kabbalah from an esoteric perspective [from which this list is taken] and the very accessible The Kabbalah Decoder by Janet Berens-Perkins.

  3. For absolute beginners from the tarot world, we have written Kabbalah and Tarot for Kindle as ‘Andrea Green’.

  4. Learn the Hebrew alphabet, practice drawing the characters and learn their values.

  5. Practice drawing the Tree of Life and learn the spellings and names of the Sephiroth.

  6. Learn the correspondences of the tarot cards to the paths of the Tree of Life. Start with the Golden Dawn system, with a mind to Aleister Crowley’s variation, and later switch to the Waite-Trinick model. This will allow you to first unlock most contemporary esoteric writing which uses the former system and then later develop further through the mind-set change that comes about with moving to a new system.

  7. Study the nature of the Sephiroth, using Y. David Shulman’s The Sefirot.

  8. Study the nature of the Letters, using Edward Hoffman’s The Hebrew Alphabet and Lawrence Kushner’s The Book of Letters.

  9. Build up your awareness of the Sepher Yetzirah as you build up your knowledge of the Letters.

  10. Study the history of Kabbalah in Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism by Gershom G. Scholem and specific ideas in his On the Kabbalah and its Symbolism.

  11. Go deeper with Aryeh Kaplan’s Kabbalah and Meditation and Kabbalah of Prayer by Shulamit Elson.

  12. Learn about the relationship of Christianity and Kabbalah starting with Ernst Benz’s Christian Kabbalah.

  13. Continue to make correspondences between the tarot, the Letters, and their positions on the Tree to your own experience. Begin to read works within Western Esotericism such as Dion Fortune’s Mystical Qabalah to see how the Kabbalah was appropriated into the system.

  14. As you progress, acquire the classic texts of Kabbalah, including the Zohar (annotated) or the full set of volumes such as the Pritzker Edition.

  15. Further classic source works include the Bahir, Gates of Light and the Tanya.

  16. Discover how Kabbalah can be mapped across to psychology in Psychology with a Soul by Jean Hardy and Kabbalah and Psychology by Z’ev ben Shimon Halevi.

  17. As much of Western Esotericism derives from a Lurianic model of Kabbalah, to go back to the original source, see Kabbalah of Creation: Isaac Luria’s Earlier Mysticism, translated by Eliahu Klein.

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