Historical Veritas / V-Society Magick Articles archive
Article metadataArchival notice: This is an archival republication of a historical forum article. The text is preserved for research, citation, and continuity; authorship remains with the original forum author where identifiable, and dates/replies/views reflect the surviving capture or Wayback-era ledger where available.
- Author: Veos
- Original post date: May 01, 2007, 04:08:23 PM
- Author quote / captured profile/signature line: Veritas Moderator / A Familiar Feature
- Article title: Hermetics and the Kabbalah
- Length: 4009 words (~18 min read)
- Replies / views: 7 / 826
- Last visible board activity: May 02, 2007, 11:40:35 AM
- Source archive: Forum topic archive
- Local capture source: res/Hermetics and the Kabbalah.rtfd
- Archival flag/tag: historical archive; Veritas Society; Magick Articles; preserved forum post
Additional archival context
- Archivist abstract: An article examining the relationship between Hermeticism and Kabbalah/Qabalah, likely emphasizing cosmology, symbolic structure, and initiatory use.
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Concerning the integration of Kabbalah into Modern Hermetics, and the work of the Magician upon the Tree of Life.
By Fra.Veos
Table of Contents:
Introduction
Section I. History of Modern and Traditional Hermetics
-Egypt
-Origin of Hermetics: Hermes Trismegustus
-The Ordo Rosae Crucae
-Modern Hermetics: The Golden Dawn, Aleister Crowley, Franz Bardon
Section II. The Otz Chiim as an explanation of the Universal forces and Natural Laws
-Perfection of the Tree of Life both theoretically and practically
Section III. The spiritual anatomy of Man adopted by Hermetics from the Kaballah
-Nephesh, Ruach, Neshamah
-Yechidah and Chiah
Section IV. Tree of Life utilized as initiatory system in Hermetics
-The Serpent Nehushtan and the Sword of the Cherubim
-Levels of Consciousness
-God manifest in the Flesh. The Archetypal Adam in the Garden of Eden
Introduction
As promised, here is the Article. This article has 3 main goals: 1) To Educate the reader on the Use of the Tree of Life in Hermetics. 2) To Educate the reader on the Tree of Life as a Universal Glyph. 3) To introduce the Reader to the concept of practical working in the Universal Glyph. Should these three goals be achieved, then the author has served his purpose with this article. I had originally intended for this article to have a practical section as well, dealing with the sephiroth. However, prophecy has written already on the entering of the Sephiroth for magickal purposes, and the part on Pathworking I was going to included will be part of my Skrying article next week, as it falls under that category.
Most of the information presented here is the result of two things, namely, years of laborious studying, and the results of practical experience by both Prophecy and I with the Otz Chiim and Hermetics. We have found the Tree of Life to be a completely coherent structure in itself, applicable to a slew of religious pantheons. However, it is important that the reader keep in mind the Origin of the Kabbalah, in that it is innately a Jewish-Mystical system that was intended to represent the Creation of the Universe through 10 emanations, which are the ten times we see the phrase “God said…” in the 1st Chapter of Genesis. As such, the Sephiroth are the result of the Creative Word of God, and there are 10 different aspects of His Glory that govern and embody the 10 different Sephiroth, which are the Ten Divine names. Within the Tree of Life is the Schem hamephoresh, the Mem-Beth, The Biblical Patriarchs, the chambers of Heaven, the Anatomy of the Garden of Eden, and the mystical secrets that were thought by the Old Rabbis to have been encrypted into the Torah. As such, the Torah plays a huge role in the conception of the Tree in its original state, though it has been forgotten in modern Hermetics. The 22 letters of the Torah make the 22 paths that connect the 10 sephiroth, and represent different obstacles that must be surpassed, and different forces that must reconciled within the magician.
Before proceeding any farther, it is an absolute must that the reader be familiar with Prophecy’s three lectures on the Kabbalah, so as to better comprehend the teachings contained herein. As a final note, though this article may seem somewhat complex, I assure you, it contains only elementary teachings on the Kabbalah and Hermetics. All of the teachings contained herein are extremely condensed, to keep us from ending up with a massive article that no one would read. The article may seem exceedingly long, and a great deal of the readers will most likely skip to an interesting part, or skip all the theory and proceed straight to the practical section. This is fine by me, because I did not write this article for such people, but for those who honestly seek to better their understanding of the Divine Science.
~Fra. Veos
Section I: History of Modern and Traditional Hermetics
Before discussing the means in which Hermetics utilizes the Tree of Life today, we need to first direct our attention to Hermetics before it received such a heavy influence from the Kabbalah. The first obvious place of examination is Ancient Egypt, considered by most to be the origin of ceremonial magick.
The original magickal ceremonies of the Egyptians were done for strictly religious purposes, as a means to gain better understanding and connection with the Gods. Thoth became revered as a the God of Wisdom, from who all magickal teachings were derived. He is said by some of the earlier cults to have played an important part in the Osirian myth, by helping Isis (Osiris’ sister-wife) restore the body of Osiris and conceive Osiris’ son Horus. Osiris was seen as a god of fertility and crops before his resurrection, but afterwards was seen as a Solar Diety who represented the After Life, and spiritual sacrifice. Most ceremonial magick that still has traces of the early Egyptian teachings revolve around this Osirian myth, in which Osiris, Thoth, Set (Osiris’ brother), Isis, and Ra are the main characters. The passage of Ra through the Underworld every night, and the Resurrection of Osiris became symbolic of different stages of life and Initiation.
It was Pharaoh Thutmose III who would be the first Egyptian authority to institute the first Mystery Schools, in which only those who had been chosen and had passed certain rigorous tests could be admitted to. In these schools it is said they were taught about spiritual vibrations, the other realms, and the after life. Most of these initiates became High Priest. From these so-called Mystery Schools did magick cultivate for the first time into a definitive system of spiritual practice, long with Alchemy. These teachings were later transmitted to Greece, and eventually Rome, in which time they became heavily influenced by Roman and Alexandrian culture. Of the things magick received during this time period, perhaps the most important was the Idea of the 4 elements with the 5th being that of Spirit.
From here it later spread throughout the Arab nations, becoming quite distinct from its predecessor as a form of Arabian magick. While this occurred, the more traditional Greek teachings passed into France, and then into Germany. At this time is when the Rosicrucian Brotherhood was allegedly formed by Fr. CRC, teaching mainly the traditional Egyptian magick along with some Arabian influence. From them would come a man that would change magick quite definitively, and even have this particular branch of magick named after him. This man was Hermes Trismegustus. Now there is considerable controversy as to who he really was. Some say he was a Egyptian Pharaoh, some said an Arab, others just an Egyptian Magi or Rosicrucian. However, the man that Hermetics was named after most likely lived in the 15th or 16th century, and was a prominent Alchemist. Thus we finally come to the original Hermetics….Alchemy.
However, this Alchemy was both physical and spiritual, revolving around the creation of the Philosophers Stone. Among all of the Alchemist of the 16th and 17th centuries, the Rosicrucians would come to reign supreme in the world of magick, establishing themselves as the protectors to the true Creation of the Philosopher’s Stone.
Now, there was already plenty of room for the Kabbalah to slide into effect in Hermetics’ formative years, but it refrained until the 19th century. The original hermetics utilized rituals and initiations that revolved around symbolic alchemical operations performed by the magician so as to create the Philosopher’s Stone within himself.
Kabballah merges into Hermetics
Sometime between the 16th century and the 19th century, the Kabbalah became emerged into Hermetics. This most likely happened as a joint effort between the constantly growing and evolving Rosicrucian Order, and the teachings of the Free Masons, which revolved around the construction of the Temple of Solomon, which was largely a Kabbalistic theme. In the 19th century we then experience an Occult Revival with the writings of Eliphas Levi. He presented Hermetics and the Kabbalah as two inseparable doctrines. Why? Because the Kabbalah completed the Alchemical teachings of Hermetic Magick. It included its own cosmogony, and presented the Universe in a concise and self coherent manner. It was only a matter of time before the Golden Dawn appeared on the scene, and created was is now usually referred to as modern Western Occultism.
Section II: The Otz Chiim as an explanation of the Universal Forces and Ntural Law.
Now we can pass on to an examination of the Otz Chiim as a Universal Glyph. As Prophecy has said, there are 10 sephiroth that compose the Tree of Life. These 10 sephiroth are manifest in four Worlds; Assiah (physical), Yetzirah (Astral), Briah (Archetypal) and Atziluth (Heavenly). Of the 10 sephiroth, the 1st one is seen as unknowable, the second is the Zodiac, the next 7 are the planets, and the last one (Malkuth) contains the elements.
Each force that is depicted on the Tree is 4 fold, just as the Sephiroth themselves are. It may also be said here that each sephirah contains a whole tree of life within itself, thus making 400 sephiroth. However, the truth of this matter is too complex to cover in an elementary article. As each sephiroth is in each world, so do its forces manifest in a different manner on each plane of existence. Thus, Yesod manifests as the moon in the Physical world, the energies of Luna in the Astral realm, The diety “Levanah” or the Archangel Gabriel in the Briatic (archetypal realm), and as Shaddai El Chai in the Heavenly realm. Such a hierarchy allowed the magician to now have a valid means of approaching different, distinct levels of the same force through the proper use of ritual and meditation.
Aside from just having a cosmogony to finally work with, Hermetics also now had a definite, infallible means of categorizing spirits, and testing them as well. Through ritual, meditation, and clairvoyance, the Hermetic magicians saw that the different forces operated with different colors on the 4 worlds. These four different scales of color became known as the King Scale, Queen Scale, Prince Scale, and Princess Scale, named after the Tarot Card suits, with which they matched. With these Color Scales, they could use colors as both a visual aide in practical magick, and a means to test the validity of a spirit based on its appearance. Each color also has a complementary color that it “flashes” with, creating the impression of a subtle flashing to the eyes. This flashing creates an invoking swirl of corresponding energies when charged by the magician, and this of course only proved the perfection of the system that was developing.
Already, the benefits that emerged from blending the Kabbalah with Hermetics can readily be seen. There now emerged a system that not only perfected the Soul through alchemical symbolism and initiation rituals, but there was now a valid means of identifying and working with multiple levels of forces simultaneously.
Section III: The spiritual anatomy of Man adopted by Hermetics from the Kabbalah
Until the Kabbalah was merged with Hermetics, the human being was looked at as 3 fold: Physical, Intellectual, and Spiritual, as Agrippa taught in his three books of Occult Philosophy. With the new integration of a 4-fold universe into Hermetics, there also had to be a 4-fold man, and so the traditional belief had to be done away with, and a new, more practical one had to be established. Luckily, the Kaballah already taught about the anatomy of the human being spiritually, and so Hermetics relied on it yet again to provide it with a workable new understanding of Man.
There are four aspects of man Kabbalistically; physical, Astral, mental, and heavenly. The Astral Body is called the Nephesh, the Mental body is called the Ruach, and the Heavenly body is called the Neshamah. Biblically, the word Nephesh (NPSh) is Hebrew for “living” and is used when denoting animals or animalistic behavior. As such, it is seen as the so-called “animal soul” or instinct. This is dominant in most people who care very little about the more subtle aspects of life, and so live their life fulfilling the requirements of any animal…to reproduce.
The next, more subtle body is the Ruach. This literally means “Spirit” in Hebrew, and is the soul that God breathed into Adam in Genesis. The Ruach is the single most important aspect of our spiritual make-up, seeing as how it is the main principle that separates us from animals, and allows us to intellectualize the way we do. For the Aspiring magician, it is the Ruach that he focuses his spiritual evolution around, as we shall focus more on in our next section.
The Heavenly body of man is three fold. It consists of the Neshamah, the Yechidah, and the Chiah. Of these three, only the Neshamah is recognizable by the Ruach, the other two are too divine to be seen as anything other than foreign during our incarnations. As such, the magician is only really concerned with the Neshamah, being the immortal soul, and a spark from the essence of God.
In the Order of Evolution, the Neshamah was created first, followed by the Ruach, the Nephesh, and finally the physical body. These three bodies, along with the Yechidah and Chiah can all be depicted on the Tree of Life as such: the Neshamah is in Binah across the Abyss, the Ruach is in Yesod, and the Nephesh is in Malkuth of Yetzirah, while the Astral body is in Malkuth of Asiah. The Ruach, however, is technically in two sephiroth, since it has two divisions, the conscious mind and the sub-conscious mind. The conscious mind is in Yesod, while the sub-conscious mind dwells in Tiphareth while lying dormant.
The task of the person on the path to Enlightenment is to unite these bodies in a manner that they are not currently established in, but were meant to be in. First, the Nephesh must be conquered by the Ruach, so that the magician has control, and not the animal instincts. After this, the magician must raise the Ruach to meet with the sub-conscious Ruach, while the Neshamah descends to illuminate the latter. Once this has been achieved, the magician has now reached Adepthood, and the only task left is to cross the Abyss and allow the Neshamah to fully unite with the Ruach. These processes as carried out in initiation on the Tree of Life will be examined more in-depth in the next section.
So then, we see that there are three main stages of initiation. First is becoming an initiate (conquering of the Nephesh with Ruach), next is Adepthood (illumination of Ruach with Neshamah) and last is the highest attainment in enlightenment (Crossing the Abyss to unite with the Divine Soul). This whole process can take several lives to complete. There are of course many other stages of initiation and levels of consciousness, especially when you consider that the 22 paths and 10 sephiroth all constitute different levels of awareness, thus resulting in 32 levels of consciousness attainable on the Tree. Many of these are covered by eastern systems of mysticism in their own paradigm.
Section IV: The Tree of Life utilized as a system of Initiation in Hermetics.
Initiation on the Tree of Life serves two main purposes. The first is to proclaim the magician’s right to work in the sphere, and the second is to carry out the above process of uniting the Nephesh, Ruach, and Neshamah. What is the advantage to being initiated into the Sephiroth, opposed to just the planetary forces and elements?
We shall discuss this.
Each Sephiroth represents not just one level of influence and force, but multiple levels of the same force in different and higher levels of existence and manifestation. As such, an initiation into the actual sephiroth itself sets into course the creative energies of that sphere within the magician, giving him authority over the whole sphere, and not just one aspect of it, such as the planets or elements. With each Sephiroth you are initiated into, a new level of awareness and consciousness results. There are a considerable amount of magickal Orders, like the Golden Dawn, that initiate their members into each sphere on the Tree of Life. This is up to the individual as far as self-initiation is concerned, as long as the three most important initiations are not forgotten. These three are the Sephiroth of the Middle Pillar, which directly influence the progress of the Magician on the path towards spiritual illumination. If you are wondering who will initiate you into the different Sephiroths, there are three options: 1)A magickal Order/Guru. 2) A spirit with enough authority to initiate you into the Sphere (this is the most fruitful). Or 3) You initiate yourself whenever you feel like it. This is the least effective, but unfortunately is done more than the other two options.
The Initiation of Yesod:
The first initiation on the Tree of Life is into the Sphere of Yesod. As a side note, Malkuth is not forgotten about, but is the starting place of the magician. Most Orders initiate the magician into Malkuth as the initiation into the Order itself as a member. Once the magician has worked his way for several months through the four elements in Malkuth, and has gained a steady mastery of the elements through invocation and evocation, he is ready to ascend to Yesod. Yesod is very important, because this initiation is symbolic of the conquering of the Nephesh by the Ruach. As such, this confers the title of Initiate to the magician. Many times the initiation into Yesod also encompasses an initiation into Hod and Netzach as well, with the focus still remaining on the Triumph of the Ruach. A majority of Magickal Orders choose this format.
Once the initiation has been completed, the magician should then spend the next year in practice (at least) to prepare for his next initiation into Tiphareth.
The Initiation into Tiphareth:
Most Orders do this initiation as one into the Second Order, and it usually comprises of Tiphareth, Geburah, and Chesed. The most important part of this initiation is the middle pillar sephiroth of Tiphareth, just as the middle pillar Sephiroth of Malkuth and Yesod were the most important previously, all having to do with the Nephesh and Ruach. As such, Tiphareth now represents the illumination of the Ruach by the Neshamah through an operation such as the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel. Most teachings hold that the Holy Guardian Angel is actually the Neshamah itself, and the invocation brings it into the magician’s sphere of Tiphareth to illuminate the sub-conscious and unite it with the conscious Ruach. The reason it appears as a foreign entity is because it has to cross the abyss to descend into Tiphareth, and anything that is perceived from across the abyss seems foreign until the magician himself has crossed it. For those who are unaware of what the Abyss is, it is symbolized on the Tree of Life as the path of Daleth that horizontally connects Binah with Chokmah.
The attainment of Tiphareth is the achievement of Adepthood, and is usually as far as a person will go in a lifetime, whether they like it or not. Now, it must be remembered that this does not mean the magician can’t work with the spheres of Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn (Geburah, Chesed, and Binah respectively). It does mean however that the magician will most likely not be able to achieve a higher state of consciousness embodied by the whole Sephirah. The magician should spend the next few years mastering the 7 lower sephiroth below the Abyss, along with the 7 planets and 4 elements. Once this has been done, then it is perhaps now time to cross the Abyss.
God Manifest as Man:
Although the Neshamah has descended to illuminate the Ruach, it was not bound to it. Such is the task of the Adept who has spent years of practice in mastery of the self and the universe. This final initiation is not received by a spirit, or another person. One could say that it is received from the Neshamah, or God itself. There is no set routine to follow to find the bridge across. There is no ritual for it. Only those who truly desire it and who truly deserve it shall receive it. It will simply be there one day. All of the sudden everything will make sense, and everything is at peace in the mind and soul. This is Samadhi, this is Nirvana, this is Enlightenment, this is the dissolving of the Ego into the divine. No....it is something more! The magician now becomes the Neshamah, the spark from God, a piece of the Divine. Tell Michael he need not open the Gates, for they shall open themselves! Let Adam prepare the Wedding Feast. The Tabernacle has been constructed by Moses, and none shall take it from the King again, for Behold! Two angels reach out from the entrance of Eden to show you the way. You have been anointed in the oil from the River of Eden that flows from beneath the Holy Throne, and once you pass through those gates, through the Cave of Macpelah into that Supernal Eden, Jerusalem rebuilt, you shall see a brilliant light, and from that light shall emerge a hosts of angels and prophets, all gathered around a table. In the middle of the table sits One Like the Son of Man who holds out his hand in invitation saying “I told thee I would not drink of the fruit of the Vine until I drank it anew with thee in Heaven”. As you reach out for his hand…the eyes start to close….the pulse starts to fade……no physical body can withstand perfection….Thou art Adam.
Forgive me, but I no of no other way to write about such an achievement. Very few will ever attain this.
Epilogue:
There it is. Once again, this is an elementary examination of some basic Kabalistical teachings as adopted by Hermetics. There may be some confusion for those of you who aren't familiar with the Kabbalah, so I highly recommend reading Prophecy's articles first.
For those of you who are familiar with the Golden Dawn system of magick, it may seem wrong that the highest attainable Sephiroth is in Binah. I assure you this is the case, regardless of what others may claim. Prophecy mentions that there are Sephiroth within each Sephirah. The entire Tree of Life that the magician works through in initiation is within Malkuth. The easiest way to view this is to distinguish between a big Tree of Life, and a little One. The Big Tree is inconceivable in size, where as the little Tree is within Malkuth of that larger tree. Thus, draw a Circle, and then 7 smaller circles within that one. The larger outer circle is Malkuth of the Bigger Tree, and the 7 smaller circles are the 7 chambers within Malkuth, traditionally called the “7 kingdoms of Assiah”. These are the 7 Sephiroth below the abyss, excluding Malkuth. Why is Malkuth excluded? Because it is already manifest in the structure of the Larger Malkuth itself. Thus, to “cross the Abyss” is to Ascend from Malkuth of the Large Tree to Yesod of the Large Tree. Malkuth is the only Sephiroth that contains physical manifestation in it, and so to Ascend out of Malkuth on the Larger Tree into Yesod, is to transcend physical manifestation. Thus is what creates that final achievement of the Magician.
I hope you have enjoyed the article. As I said earlier, it is an immense amount of information that needs at least 100 pages to do it any justice. As such, it has been extremely condensed and simplified, but I hope it still serves its purpose to educate.
Peace be with you.
~Veos
« Last Edit: May 03, 2007, 11:11:46 AM by Prophecy »
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