Qabalah, Cabala, Wherefore the Kabbalah?
AUTHOR’S NOTE: Western occultists of the late 20th Century (or at least those with no prior background in Jewish mysticism) who spent time with the Hermetic Qabalah invariably encountered its progenitor, the Hebraic Kabbalah. This typically occurred (and probably still does) through exposure to the Sefer Yetzirah (Book of Formation) and the numerology of Gematria, or if they were especially courageous and diligent, the Zohar (Book of Splendors) as translated by MacGregor Mathers from Knorr von Rosenroth’s Latin Kabbala Denudata, and perhaps as explained by Arthur Edward Waite in The Holy Kabbalah. There are now more recent translations by modern Hebrew scholars that apparently leave Mathers and Waite in the dust; the key to their value is not so much in the quality of the translation as in the coherent commentary for what I found to be an impenetrable document when approached “cold” with no mentoring.
I’ve been working with the Hermetic texts since 1972 (there is always more to learn), I’m familiar with the Sefer Yetzirah, I have a working knowledge of Gematria, and I’ve attempted to penetrate Mathers’ Zohar translation, Kabbalah Unveiled. I have the intelligence but I must not have the metaphysical chops to grasp its “minute and tedious detail” in a productive way because I glaze over immediately when I begin wrestling with dozens of angelic names. For my exploratory purposes this bottomless pit of intense memorization is undeniably a case of “information overload.” Therefore, I’ve stayed mainly with the Qabalistic writers of the last two centuries and Athanasius Kircher’s version of the Tree of Life (although I’m now aware that there are others more highly regarded by Jewish authorities), applying the correspondences associated with the sephiroth and the paths to various esoteric projects.
I occasionally participate in one of the Facebook pages that bills itself as focusing on “Kabbalah, Qabalah and Cabala” (in other words, something for everyone) and have attempted to participate, but I’m finding that most of the dialogue centers on religious interpretation of the literature. I have little interest in any kind of systematic deconstruction of holy screeds, preferring a more independent, iconoclastic appeal to my own impressions that have been honed over the past 50 years of study and practice. This is, after, all a private pursuit that doesn’t have to make sense to anyone else, so — while I will certainly listen to other opinions — I never swallow them without bouncing them off my own understanding and experience.
The concept of a “Tree of Life” isn’t unique to Hermetic and Jewish mysticism; it appears in many forms as a path to spiritual attainment. The roots nurture the aspirant, the trunk suggests a ladder that can be ascended toward enlightenment, and the branches bear the fruit of that aspiration. The Hermetic Tree was once described by Israel Regardie as a limitless filing cabinet that can hold any idea whatsoever in its ten infinitely-expandable “drawers.” In esoteric space — at least in my own situation — the more arcane books I read, the more insistently their stimulating insights jostle one another for my undivided attention. Pegging them to the applicable sephira on the Tree can aid in getting a bead on them (although I’m hardly aware that’s what I’m doing, and if asked I would be hard-pressed to show where I did so). Then I have to segue them promptly into a blog post before I lose sight of their significance.
If our aim is to transform ourselves into a faithful projection of the Heavenly Man (Adam Kadmon) in the Microcosm, we must become intimately familiar with the celestial anatomy as depicted in the Tree of Life. My chosen way of doing this is in conjunction with the tarot cards, but I steer clear of using the Major Arcana on the paths because I’m not convinced the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn got all of the placements right. (I’ve created my own model that is more acceptable to an experienced astrologer, but I still don’t use it in my daily practice). Interpreting the 40 numbered Minor Arcana with an eye to the sephira ascribed to each card from Ace to Ten in the four suits is an ideal way to incorporate the concept of the Descent of Spirit into Matter and the increasing stability (and concomitant inertia) it imparts to the cards as they proceed down the Tree (e.g. the Aces reflect pure Spirit and the Tens convey exhaustion of the spiritual spark embodied in the different elements).
A great deal can also be learned from the planetary attributions for the sephiroth as they relate to the cards, and from the Pillar of the Tree where the cards intersect with the sephiroth (the Aces, Sixes, Nines and Tens correspond to Kether, Tiphareth, Yesod and Malkuth on the Middle Pillar of Mildness; the Threes, Fives and Eights to Binah, Geburah and Hod on the left-hand (right-hand if standing within the Tree looking out) Pillar of Severity; and the Twos, Fours and Sevens to Chokmah, Chesed and Netzach on the right-hand (alternately, left-hand) Pillar of Mercy. It’s also worth noting that — unlike the conventional sequence of Fire/Wands, Water/Cups. Air/Swords and Earth/Pentacles, the order of the elements in the four Qabalistic Worlds runs Fire, Air, Water and Earth, in the sense that the principle of Fire is the most immaterial in terms of density, Air is second, Water is third and Earth is fourth.
By arranging the cards in this way, a clearer understanding of the archetypal forces investing the Tree can be obtained without having to go much further into the opaque cosmology that can become more of an intellectual chore than a working model. These profound insights can then be brought to bear on the art of interpretation in an orphic setting. The devotions of organized religion are not for me, which also explains why I haven’t delved any deeper into the formalities of Thelema, Wicca or Druidry; I’ve worked with ritual in the past and find that it is best approached as a solitary pursuit, if at all. With divination it can become more a part of what I call the “theater of tarot” than a meaningful adjunct to one’s practice.
Originally published at http://parsifalswheeldivination.wordpress.com on November 18, 2024.
