The Talmud states "Fifty Gates of Understanding were created in the World, and all of them were given to Moshe (Moses) except One". It is said that the knowledge of these Fifty gates is tantamount to the perfect knowledge of creation itself. The person said to have come closest to this is the law-giver himself, Moses. The connection with Moses ties in to the ritual of the "Counting of the Omer". An Omer (AaVMR 316) is a measure of a sheaf of wheat. On the second day of Passover, the Israelites were comanded to offer a freshly harvested sheaf of wheat (perhaps symbolizing the reaping of the First-born) and to count a week of weeks (49 days). The following day shall be a Festival of thanks for the Harvest (redemption). By tradition, it was on the 50th day after fleeing Egypt that the theophany on Mount Sinai occured and the Israelites were given the Torah. Kabbalistically - the Fifty Gates represent the revelation of the seven Sephiroth of Creation (Chesed though Malkuth) expressed within themselves - that is the first is the "Malkuth of Malkuth", the second the "Hod of Malkuth" up through the end of the first week the "Chesed of Malkuth". Day eight would be the "Malkuth of Hod" and so on and so on till day forty-nine - the "Chesed of Chesed". The fiftieth day would be the ascension through the Abyss to the embodiment of Understanding itself - Binah.
Baphometrically these fifty Gates are thought to be "within" Binah and that the 50th itself would be more tantamount to the "Knowledge" of Da'ath. It should be notes as well that in the Baphometric system, the Letter-path that connects Binah to the lower Seven Sephiroth is indeed the letter Nun (NVN 50) and the Tarot associated with that path is Death.
term kabbalahThe 231 Gates refers to the number of possible combinations of two Hebrew Letters, exclusive of doubles and reversals (one cannot have AA, and if one has AB, then one cannot also have BA). First described in the Sefer Yetzirah, the number of combinations can be derived by taking the number of possible first letters (22) and multiplying that by the number of possible second letters (21 - remember, no doubles!) and the dividing that result by 2 (eliminating the reversals). 22 x 21 = 462. One half of 462 = 231. Or as the form N x (N-1)/2 where N is the number of letters in the alphabet. That being said... there are a lot (like a lot a lot) of different ways to derive a set of 231 combinations. The process is intimately tied with the creation of the Golem...
kabbalah term praxisABA אבא (4) "The Father". Abba is one of the main Partzufim - personifications of specfic Sephirah or groups of Sephiroth at different levels of the Tree of Life. In all cases the Partzufim of Abba is always centered on Chokmah. The complement to Aima, The Mother centered on Binah .
term entity kabbalahABGD אבגד (10) is a Kabbalistic cipher method of Temurah (permutation) that substitutes the first letter of the alphabet for the second, the second for third and so on, jg zpv hfu nz esjgu. Unlike other forms of Temurah like Atbash or Albam, Abgad has a different valuation for each letter as opposed the former examples in which the letter swaps are reciprocal (A equals Th and Th equals A and so on).
term kabbalah praxis referenceAn Abjad is a form of proto-alphabet in that it consists only of consonants, with vowels only being implied or (as is often the case) shown with diacritical marks that are not part of the formal letter system (called "impure" abjads). The name is derived from the first for letters of the Arabic alphabet. Hebrew, Arabic, Aramaix and Pahlavi are all examples of abjads of various levels of impurity, all based on the orginal Phoenician (and even earlier) Proto-Canaanite alphabets... er, abjads.
ABRHM אברהמ (248). The first of the OG Hebrew Patriarchs. Originally hailing from the city of Ur in Mesopotamia (or so the legend goes). First guy to make a covenant with IHVH specifically, which involved him cutting off his foreskin in exchange for having his descendents be beloved and chosen. Sort of credited with Monotheism in general. 10th in generational descent from Noah the Arkwright.
In Hebrew Aggadah Abraham was skilled in the Magic of the Stars, learning the secrets of Creation direct from Noah himself. In his early years he was an antagonist of Nimrod the Tower of Babel (MGDL BBL 111) builder (and Abraham's cousin several times removed). Apparently there was a prophecy that Abraham would bring down Nimrod, so Nimrod had him cast into a furnace (much as Abraham had burned his father's Chaldean idols). Turns out Abraham was the Mother of Dragons, the Tower fell, Abraham ended up with the Hebrew language, and went on to have some children very late in life. One of whom he also tried to burn. Break the cycle people!
Known as being a really kind and righteous guy nonetheless. Father of Isaac and associated Kabbalistically with the Sephirah of Chesed. Purported author of the Sefer Yetzirah.
1240 - 1291(?)
Abraham Abulafia was an early Spanish Kabbalist who founded his own strain of the practice known as "Ecstatic" or "Prophetic" Kabbalah. After traveling to Israel in order to find the Ten Lost tribes, but being forced to cut his stay short becaise of the Crusades, Abulafia ended up in Southern Italy and began an in depth study of the pre-eminent Jewish philospopher of his time, Maimonides and his masterwork "The Gude For the Perplexed". However, as opposed to Maimonides, who attempted to reconcile Judaic practice with Aristotlean rationalism, Abulafia was a devoted Kabbalist. His focus though was not on the Theosophic Kabbalah teachings that revolved around the Sephirothic Tree and speculations on the emaations of the Divine that were predominant in Southern Europe, but more in line with the letter-number mysticism of the German Ashkenazi Hasidim, particularly the works and methodology of Eleazar of Worms.
In his thirties Abulafia began to develop his particular style of letter-number combinations paired with a rigorous breathing regimen and formalized movements of the body and head, a practice that has often been compared to both Sufic and Yogic systems. Intense concentration on the permutations of letters paired with the breath control were intended to free the mind of the practitioner to intuit the nature of Diety directly, and become open to prophetic visions. He also developed a methodology of "skipping", a free-wheeling whirl of associations based on Gematria and different forms of Temurah. He also came to believe that he might possibly be the Messiah.
This didn't go over too well with a number of his more conservative co-religionists and he was often under the censure of Herem - ChRM חרמ (248, the same as his First Name) - excommunication. Nonetheless, he attracted a number of reknowned students, including Joseph Gikatilla. The main point in Abulafia's favor, was that his methodology worked. Following his praxis does lead to an alteration of consciousness and heightened awareness. Let's hear it for radical Deconstructionism! Suck it Derrida! You got beat out by seven centuries.
As should be clear - the praxis developed by Abulafia is near and dear to the methodology of Baphometrics.
entity kabbalah historyADM אדמ (45). Usually referred to as "Mister Chavah", Adam was the First Golem (or half-golem along with Lilith, per Genesis 1), being formed from the red clay of Earth (per Genesis 2), was husband of Chavah, and is generally ascribed to being the semen donating side of the generation of Mankind as a whole. The name means "Red" (or feasibly "I Will Bleed") and is used to also mean a Person or Humans in general. In Lurianic Kabbalah the Adam Qadmon (Primordial Adam - presumably the one made in the image of Elohim) is the blueprint for all Creation, the perfection that preceded the Shattering of the Vessels.
entity religion kabbalahA technical term that has been defined as the process of "voluntary, desired and curative possessions" (Jean-Michael Oughourlian). Sort of an opposite corrollary of an excorcism. This delightful term, to me at least, is really at the heart of my magickal practice - the intentional drawing down or interiorization of aspects of the universe (which in some cases could be certainly considered as separate entities from one's self, or possibly an archetype or exemplar of a given trait or state of being) to affect change within one's own nature. This can either be a permanent or temporary process.term magick
AIMA אימא (52) "The Mother". Aima is one of the main Partzufum - personifications of specfic Sephirah or groups of Sephiroth at different levels of the Tree of Life. In all cases the Partzufim of Aima is always centered on Binah. (It is said that every Sephiroth contains all other - so there will be an Aima for the group as a whole, and for each individual Sephirah. Each Partufim also includes all the Sephirah and all the Partufim as well... wheels within wheels within wheels...). The complement to Abba, The Father centered on Chokmah .
term entity kabbalahAIN אינ (61). Ain has the meaning of "Nothing", "Not" or "Without". It is the term given to the ultimate nature of the Godhead in Kabbalistic thought. The "true" nature of the Divine is so utterly beyond comprehension that absolutely nothing can be said of it. It has no quality, not even of existence, for to have quality is to imply differentiation, which it also does not have. It is the paradox that underlies reality. It is not. It is No Thing.
term kabbalahAIN SVP אינ סופ (207). The word Soph means "limit" or "end". Ain means "without" so AIn Soph is without limit, which is usually interpreted as The Infinite. This is the aspect of the Ain, that while still completely unfathomable, undifferentiated, total and complete, is capabable of being referred to in a meaningful sense. It is an exact cognate to the Pleroma (fullness) of Greek and Gnostic thought. In Kabbalah this is what is referred to as "God".
term kabbalahAIN SVP AVR אינ סופ אור (414) is the Light With No Limit, the Infinite Light of the Godhead that pervades and surrounds all of Creation. It is this Light which is that which is emanated in the unbroken chain of existence from the undifferentiated Unknowable Concealed of Concealed down to our finite and separated mundane Universe. In Lurianic thought it is within this light that the primordial Tzimtzum (restriction) takes place, creating an empty space in which to pour out the effux of Creation.
term kabbalahAIQ BKR איק בכר (333). Aiq Bekar is a Kabbalistic method of Temurah (permutation) in which the numerical value of a letter is reduced to its lowest possible root value by adding the digits together until a number from 1 to 9 is arrived at. For example Tzadde has the value of 90. Add the digits of the value together (9+0) and you get 9. Hence Aleph, Yod, and Qoph all have the Aiq Bekar value "1", Beth, Kaph, and Resh equal "2", and so on. Also known as the "Kabbalah of the Nine Chambers", as the process when laid out in a grid can be used to form a graphic alphabetical cipher as well.
term reference kabbalah praxisALBM אלבמ (73) is a Kabbalistic method of Temurah (permutation) in which the first letter (A) is exchanged for the twelfth (L), the second (B) for the thirteenth (M) and so on. This results in 11 reversible pairs of letters as opposed to a system like Agbad that produces 22 distinct letter permutations.
term reference kabbalah praxisAhskenazi refers to the group of Jews who settled primarily in Germany and then spread throughout Central and Eastern Europe. It is to them that the general stereotypes of Jewish dress (all in black, long beards and curls, etc. etc.) are attributed. The name is a reference to Ashkenaz ben Gomer, a purported descendent of Noah. In ancient times Ashkenaz was a referent to the lands of the Scythians. From the 10th Century CE or so the term referred to the Jews of the German Rhineland. It is unknown why the moniker was applied, though there is a long tradition of referring to different nations by reference to those in the Tanakh (e.g. "Edom" for Rome). The consonants of the word Germany are similar to those of Gomer as well. Thus the Jews there would be the Sons of Gomer - Ashkenazi. Over many centuries there have been attempts to link the Ashkenazi with the short-lived conversion of the Khazars to Judaisim, but the Ashkenazi genome clearly reflects descent from Near Eastern and Southern European Jews, which accords exactly with the history of the reknowned Kalonymus family of Ashkenazi Hasidim - who moved to the Rhineland from Italy in the early 9th Century CE. In modern times the vicious anti-Semitism of Europe drove millions of Ashkenazi to emigrate to the United States. The Ashkenazi were the primary victims of the Holocaust.
things religionThe Ashkenazi Hasidm were a mystical aescetic group from the German Rhineland prominant in the 12th and 13th Centuries. The movemnet was commensurate with and somewhat associated with the beginnings of the Kabbalsitic movement, or at least strongly influenced later Kabbalisitic development, especially Abraham Abulafia and the Kohen Brothers.
The movement centered around the Kalonymos family which traced roots back to early Jewish settlement in Northern Italy. Much of their mysticism (and to be frank, magical practices) were ascribed by family legend to an 8th Century Babylonian scholar (and wizard) Abu Aharon after he traveled to Italy after being expelled from Babylon by his father as a punishment for turning a lion into a donkey (the lion had eaten his donkey and he was unable to finish plowing his field). Also by family legend the Family was encouraged to move to Mainz in Germany by Charlemagne himself.
The Family and Movement produced a series of eminent scholars, Rabbis and poets. Particularly the father and son Rabbinical leaders Samuel and Judah the Pious, who detailed the exoteric system and authored many books on Halakah (law) and theology and their relative Eleazar of Worms, who developed the system into an advanced religious-mystical cum magickal system heavily dependent on the workings of Gematria and direct revelation.
Earlier scholarship distanced the group from the contemporary Kabbalistic movements of Provence and Gerona, as there isn't any direct relationship to the Theosophic movements developed there - but the impact of the Hasidim is strongly evident in the the work of Abulafia and his Ecstatic/Practical Kabbalah, whose own impact on the development of Kabbalah as a whole cannot be measured.
things religion history kabbalahAShMDAI אשמדאי (356) Asmodeus in Jewish Aggadah is the King of the Demons. The name most likely derives from some form of the Aventan word Aeshma, the Zoroastrian demon of Wrath.
By various legends Asmodeus is the Son-in-Law of Samael having married his daughter the Younger Lilith (like most legends of Divine Marriage [see Heiros Gamos] there is a deliberate blurring between entity and avatar... and a lot of incest, as there isn't a lot of difference between Lilith the Elder and Lilith the Younger), or possibly King Solomon's half-brother from David and Agrat Bat Machlat. In the Talmud Asmodues is credited with knowledge of the whereabouts of the Shamir, the myterious rock (or worm) that Solomon used to carve the stones for the Temple.
In Christian Solomonic Grimoire traditions (and onward to Hermetic Qabbalistic usage), Asmodeus becomes one of the 72 Infernal Demons allegedly controlled by Solomon (usually number 32) and one of the eight Demon Kings of Hell.
entity kabbalah magickAaShIH עשיה (385), also known as Olam Assiah - the World of Doing or the World of Action - is the fourth (or fifth if you count Adam Kadmon) of the four (or five) spiritual worlds that form the descending chain of existence from the ultimately unknowable Infinite (Ain Soph). Assiah, stemming from the Hebrew root AaShH meaning to make or to do (or even to create) is the lowest of the spiritual worlds. As such it also encompasses our Material Universe - the stars, the planets, the Earth, and ourselves. It is the realm of Humankind as well as the Divine presence - the Shekinah, the indwelling of the most High. While all the Worlds contain all of the Sephiroth, in Assiah the sephirah Malkuth predominates. The Kingdom. While last in Emanation, Assiah, as home of the Shekinah, was first in thought. This is a secret never to be forgotton.
kabbalah termThe Atbash Cipher is a Kabbalistic method of Temurah (permutation) that substitutes the first letter of the alphabet for the last, the second for the second to last on so on. The name is from the first two substitutions. Aleph becomes Tav, Beth becomes Shin. אתבש. (And vice-versa)
The examples of usage in the Tanakh are relatively scarce - the primary examples is the use of the word Sheshach ששכ for Babel בבל (Babylon) in the Book of Jeremiah (making it one of the very earliest examples of cryptography) - but it became more prevalent in Talmudic on through Kabbalistic exegesis. The Ashkenazi Hasidim and Abraham Abulafia made extensive use of ciphers as a way of encoding additional layers of meaning to their analyses.
In Baphometric practice Atbash is one of the generators of the Golem Derivations, along with Abgad and Albam, etc. (and their inverses).term kabbalah praxis
ATzILVTh אצילות (537), or Olam Aztiluth - the World of Emanation - is the first (or second if you count Adam Kadmon) of the four (or five) spiritual worlds that form the descending and unbroken chain of existence from the ultimately unknowable Infinite (Ain Soph), The Most High, all the way down to you picking your nose and feeling a little gassy. Atziluth literally means "nobility" or "magnamity", it is the Emanation of, and thus absolutely commensurate with, the Divine. Everything about Atziluth is ethereal and pure, unsullied even by Creation - it is in all ways perfect. While all of the spiritual Worlds contain all ten Sephiroth, the World of Assiah is the special realm of the highest - Kether (though often both Chokmah and Binah are included under the aegis of Atziluth), being closest to the light of the Most High.
AaZAZL עזאזל (115) was the name of one of the main leaders (along with Shemyaza) of the Fallen Angels (the Watchers) who alit upon Mount Hermon and swore a mighty oath to defy God and bring the fire and knowledge of Heaven to mankind. And to "cohabitate" with those fine Earth women. The children of the Angels and the Daughters of Cain were the Nephilim, the "Mighty Men" or ravenous giants that ransacked the Earth, eating everything in sight and practicing every form of sexual perversion. IH "The Man" VH got all upset about this, being unable to let his freak flag fly, and ended up drowning every living thing on Earth (overkill much?). In particular, Azazel was blamed, being he to whom "all sin is ascribed".
Azazel also is the name of the entity or Desert God/Demon referred to on the absolutely most Holy of all Holy days of the Jewish religion, Yom Kippur. Two goats, perfect and identical, are selected and a lot is drawn to choose between them, one goat for IHVH and one for Azazel. The one for IHVH is sacrificed by burning, which apparently cleanses the High Priest enough to be able to utter the name of God, and the goat for Azazel is released into the desert bearing the sins of the people (the Scapegoat). Being very strongly against cruelty to animals in any form, we here at Baphometrics.com are very firmly on Team Azazel. What the fuck did the goats ever do to you IHVH?
Traditionally Azazel taught mankind the use of Metals and of Cosmetics/Chemistry and has been associated with Tubal-Cain the first blacksmith (and brother of the inestimable Na'amah, who may have also been Azazel's human girlfriend), the Greek Titan Prometheus, and the Greek God of the Wilderness, Pan (Azazel is known as the Lord of the Se'irim, Goat demons of the Desert - the Hebrew root AaZ means both "strength" and "goat" - which are equivalent to the Satyrs of Pan). The Zohar explicitly calls Azazel an alternate name of the most High of All Demons Samael (one of whose wives is the aforementioned Na'amah, and whose other wife Lilith is mentioned as hanging out with Azazel in the Tanakh). Azazel is known in Islam as Iblis, the King of the Shaitan. Eliphas Levi associated Azazel as well with the Goat of Mendes, and the Divine Androgyne itself - Baphomet. This too, is a key.
entity religion baphometBHIR בהיר (217). Sefer ha-Bahir or Book of Splendor, or Book of Illumination was most likely written (or complied) in the late 12th or Early 13th Centuries CE and is widely considered to be the first book that can completely be described as Kabbalistic. General scholarship seems to point to the work being comprised of writings of the circle around Rabbi Isaac the Blind, the first person to self-referential describe himself as a Kabbalist, and of a series of much older writings comprising a (now) lost book Sefer Raza Rabba and other works of the Geonimic period (8th to 11th Centuries CE). The Book is traditionally ascribed to Rabbi Nehunya, who lived around 100 CE.
The Bahir takes the idea of the unnamed and purely ordinal Sephiroth from the much older Sefer Yetziroth and transforms them into the named and slightl Gnostic emanations that we know and love today. Also the first instance of decribing the Sephiroth in the form of a Tree. Gnomic in the extreme, the book is a Midrash on the first few verses of Genesis 1, the nature of the Hebrew Alphabet and the Sefer Yetziroth, the Sephiroth, the power of Holy (magic) Names, and the Mysteries of the Soul and reincarntion. The Book describes the Universe as being emanated (and thus commensurate) with an Eternal and uncreated God.
things kabbalah historyThe Divine Androgyne. First attested to in the trials of the Knights Templar in the early 14th Century. Allegedly a deity they worshipped, sometimes in the form of a large black cat, sometimes as that of a bearded woman, and also as a large bronze head with the inscription "Caput LVIII"... (were there 57 previous heads?).
Pretty obviously in the context of the trials the name is a mangled bastardization of Mohammed. Apparently Medieval Christians were under the impression that Moslems worshipped idols or something.
In the 19th Century Eliphas Levi used Baphomet as a symbol of the Divine Androgyne - the uniter of opposites. A goat-headed man-woman seated upon a cubic throne. The imagery he used was a direct allusion to the Marseilles Tarot card "The Devil". He explicitly linked Baphomet with the Serpent, The Goat of Mendes, Satyrs, Pan and the Scapegoat of Yom Kippur (Azazel 115). In his later years when he returned to Catholicism, he distanced himself from the "satanic" aspects of the image.
The Magical name of Aleister Crowley in his role as X° O.T.O. His spelling (or rather,one of his spellings) of the name (and associated etymology) is the rather strained BAPVMIThR, with the general meaning "Father Mithras". Ostensibly, in his writings this spelling was due to direct revelation, and he felt that it was important that it had 8 letters and had the gematria value of 729 (93, get it?). But as that spelling actually adds to 739, the next attempt was BAVAaMIThR, using the conceit that a Vav, being the 6th letter of the Hebrew alphabet, could be substituted by an "F"... and apparently pronounced in the English manner as well... this of course has no connection whatsoever to anything remotely sensible in Hebrew (or English), but does in fact add to 729.
Other possible etymologies include a backwards sort of mishmash Ab Op Tem (or such variants), I guess maybe having something to do with the Temple? Maybe? Or there is a sort of bastardized Greek Bapho Metis - vaguely meaning baptism of wisdom.
The spelling used for the Tree 528 is BPVMTh... which, in a stroke of luck (and the Lightning Path), adds up to 528! Who knew? This version was suggested by Hugh J. Schonfield, one of the translators of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Run through the Atbash cipher the result is SVPIA (397)- a phonetically good (though not particularly grammatically accurate) transliteration of the Greek word and Gnostic entity for Wisdom - The divine Sophia... lux interior luceat nobis omnia...entity kabbalah magick
Baphomet ArticlesRabbi Bar Hama was a 3rd to 4th century Amoraim (a group of Rabbinic scholars most responsible for the Talmud). He is one of the most quoted Rabbis in the Talmud - always being referred to by the acronym Rava (RBA). His decisions on religion, law, and Jewish lore were deemed absolutely authoritive. He was also known as a great mystic and is credited wth the creation of a Golem.
entity religion1892 - 1940
German Jewish philosopher and literary critic and essayist. One of those people whose influence is unmistakeable on the zeitgeist of his time. His interesst covered Idealism, Romanticism, mysticism, Marxism, and literary theory He always seemed to be involved with the avantest of the avant gard of his time. Friends with Bertolt Brecht and Gershom Scholem, a relative of Hannah Arendt, he wrote essays on Baudelaire and Goethe, Kafka and Proust and the sublime "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" (a must read). In 1948 he killed himself to evade capture by the Nazis. Fuck Nazis.
entity philosophyBRIAH בריאה (218), also known as Olam B'riyah - the World of Creation - is the second (or third if you count Adam Kadmon) of the four (or five) spiritual worlds that form the descending chain of existence from the ultimately unknowable Infinite (Ain Soph), downwards, each world coming "closer" to that of our own. Briah literally means "Creation". The concept of multiple descendent emanatory worlds is found throughout the history of Kabbalah, but became refined primarily in the works of Isaac Luria and the Safed school. Briah is traditionally associated with the Sephira of Binah, the divine Mother, the first Heh of the Tetragrammaton, and the aphelion of human rationality. On the Baphometric tree, Briah is linked with both Chokmah and Binah (it does indeed sometimes take two to tango, if you know what I mean. In the sheets like. Doing it. Sex. I mean sex.) kabbalah term
A designation of the strain of Kabbalah that developed in the Renaissance after Hebrew Kabbalah was introduced in 1486 to the wider European public in Pico della Mirandola's 900 Theses. Characterized by the adaption of Kabbalistic themes to promote the divinity of Christ, Christianity in general and as a tool for the conversion of Jews.term history
QIN (160). Qayin, or Cain was the first born child of the orginal Golems - so technically, the first Human (though there is the consideration that perhaps his father was the Serpent or "the Rider of the Serpent"). Cain was a noted vegetarian and an avid gardener. The story goes that when he came in second to his brother at the County Fair, he became insanely jealous and it a fit of anger killed his brother Abel and buried his body. After being informed by the Management that there was such a thing as the sin of Murder, he was exiled to the Land of Nod with his sister Awan AVN (sometimes known as Aclima, Kalmana or Luluwa) , wherein he started Civilization. This is just what they want you to think however. He had a long line of notable and illustrious children including the ever famous Tubal-Cain and his sister Naamah. It is the position of Baphometrics.com that the Enoch who became Metatron was his son, and that the whole "Sethite" line was a cover-up.
Esoterically, the line of Cain is associated with the usage of Magick.
entity religion kabbalah history1875 - 1947
Aleister Crowley (Edward Alexander Crowley) was one of the main pillars of modern Western Occultism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. An accomplished mountaineer, ceremonial magician and poet, he was an early member of the Golden Dawn. His profligate drug use and bisexuality (and what the general puplic viewed as Satanism) earned him the moniker of "the Wickedest Man in the World", which by all appearances he seemed to rather relish. In 1904 on his Homeymoon in Cairo, he received or channeled The Book of the Law (Also known as Liber AL) - dictated to him by the entity know as Aiwass - which laid out the basis of a new religion which Crowley called Thelema, the Greek word for "Will". The main precept being "Do What Thou Wilt is the Whole of the Law".
Crowley was a prodigious author and publisher, and whether one likes him or not - the body of work is definitely impressive. Through his publication of many of the Golden Dawn's secret teachings, the development of Thelema, the formation of the magickal order A∴A∴ and his induction into and eventual control of the German esoteric order The Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O), Crowley made an indelible mark on direction and popularization of the Occult in Modern times.
entity magick thelema golden dawn historyThe Demiurge, from the Greek δημιουργός meaning "Creator" or "Artisan" was first used as a philopsophical term in Plato's Timaeus (c. 360 BCE). Plato's Demiurge was the completely benevolent and the creator of the physical world we reside in. Later Platonists described the Demiurge variously as the "mind" or consciousness of God, an uncreated "second" emanation and the Dyad. In many of the Gnostic traditions, especially that of Valentius, the Demiurge becomes the leader of the Seven "Archons" - a figure of pure duality, and in that, while still the Creator God, the source of all Evil. It is in this framework that The Demiurge is specifically identified with IHVH, the Hebrew God and the inherint evil of the Material World, literally tantamount to the "Satan" of the Christians.
The Demiurge has had many names - Yaldabaoth (most likely meaning "Child" or "Begetter" of Chaos), Samael, Saklas (The Fool), the Son of Sophia (Achamoth), IAO, and Yahweh.
entity religion philosophy term913 -982
Greek/Italian Jewish physician, poet, and astrologer. He wrote an extended commentary on the Sefer Yetzirah that focused almost entirely on astrological exposition (one of the earliest for Hebrew writers). He experimented freely in his writings with acrostics (Notarikon) and ciphers. His influence can be seen in the works of the Ashkenazi Hasidim.
entity magick science historyADVM אדומ (51) Edom was a nation to the South of the Ancient Kingdoms of Israel/Judah stretching roughly from the bottom of the Dead Sea down to the Gulf of Aqaba. The word Edom in Hebrew means "Red" and traditionally Edom is associated with Esau, the first-born son of the Patriarch Isaac who settled there after his little brother refused to feed him until he sold his birthright and tricked their Dad into giving him the Magickal mojo insted of Esau. Another name for Edom was Se'ir (ShAaIR 580), which means both "Hairy" (apparently Esau had a thick red pelt) and "Goat", specifically the type of Goats that were associated with Azazel - basically the equivalent of the Greek satyrs.
According to the Torah there were Kings in Edom before there were Kings in Israel. These Kings have been associated with the legends of Worlds that were created and destroyed before ours and with the Qliphoth of the Sitra Achra. A theme in Baphometrics, if one were to mythologize, is that the magickal current of Samael and Azazel runs through Edom/Esau - an older religion if you will...
things term religion1176 - 1238
A member of the famed Kalonymos family of Ashkenazi Hasidim, Eleazar of Worms was known for his great piety, ethical works of great erudition, and publishing the family secret workings of magickal-mystical Gematria, Notarikon and revelatory theology. Before that the system was a heavily guarded secret, only to be disseminated to the elite of the elite.
It is possible that what prompted his decision to write down what was previously held so secretly was that in 1196 his wife Dulca and his two daughters Belet and Hannah were murdered in front of him by two Crusaders who forced their way into his house, and also wounded him and his son Jacob (who died a few years later from his injuries). Eleazar at this time was the head Rabbi of the entire region. The shock of their deaths and the subsequent loss of his son and heir (and primary disciple) seemed to galvanize Eleazar to disseminate his mystical and practical system of miracle working (magick). His influnece is especially noticeable in the work of Abraham Abulafia, Moshe of Burgos and the Kohen Brothers.
entity religion history kabbalahALHIM אלהימ (86). Elohim put shortly is God. Specifically it is the God of Genesis 1, who like all of us, was just working for the weekend. The name is an interesting structure as it is a masculine pluralization (the IM) of the feminine singular noun for "Goddess" (the ALH). So technically while it is traditionally regarded as singular, it more properly would be properly translated as a hermaphroditic "Gods" (it did say "Let us make Man in our image" and all). Elohim Kabbalistically is associated with the Left-Hand side under the aegis of the Sephirah Binah. Baphometrically Elohim is to be considered a union of Binah and Chokmah.
entity religionChNVK חנוכ (84). In Genesis Enoch was the name of both the son of Cain and from the Sethian line, the son of Jared. Now, it is the opinion of the Baphometrics.com editorial staff that, unless one assumes that everybody in the Sethian line were just unable to come up with their own names and just copied the names of their Cainite relatives in more or less the same order, it would be more likely that the two lines were indeed, one and the same, there not being all that many people around at the time. But whether the builder of the first cities or not, as legend has it, at the ripe old age of 365 (technically pretty young for a Patriarch), Enoch walked with God "and was not" (VAINNV 123), being taken by Elohim bodily up to Heaven where he was taught all the secrets of the Angels and was transformed (per 3 Enoch) into the archangel Metatron.
Kabbalistically and Magickly this is a pretty big deal - to wit - a person (human) can, in certain cases, be transformed into a semi-divine mystical being, knowing (and thus controlling) all.
His best-selling trilogy covers the period of the descent of the Watchers, the mating with the Daugters of Cain, the birth of the Nephilim, and the destruction of the Earth by the vengeful IHVH.
entity kabbalah religionAaShV עשו (376). The Firstborn of the Hebrew Patriarch Isaac and thus by the usual um... patriarchal system that the ancient Hebrews seemed to wholeheartedly subscribe to, the intended heir - and thus the intended recipient of the BKRH (227) Birthright and by Tzeruph, the BRKH Blessing, of his father. Esoterically this is deemed to be the reception of the mysteries of the Kabbalah and the mastery of Nature itself. However, he was cheated of this by the trickery of his mother and his brother Jacob, who would go on to have some fame himself.
In Hebrew lore Esau was the progenitor of the people of the land of Edom, lying somewhat South-East of Israel (around modern day Petra in Jordan, where it thought that the IHVH cultus probably originated, which even makes sense if one takes the biblical stories at face value). The Edomites would ever be the brother/antagonists of the Israelites. In later times the term was used as an epithet of many of Israel's enemies, particularly for Rome and the Christians.
Kabbalistically, Edom (also known as ShAaIR Se'ir, 580) represents the dark and demonic side - the Sitra Achra (the Se'irim were also a type of goat demon), and the unstable and chaotic Worlds that, like the Kings of Edom of Genesis 36:31-43, existed and then died (all except one...), the Qliphoth, the dark side of the Tree.
Baphometrically, Esau is linked to the fallen Angel/demon/scapegoat Azazel (Lord of the Se'irim) and to the Sephira Da'ath. The Dark Sun/Son - the hidden one. The Light Bringer.
ChVH חוה (19). Eve, or Chavah really, was the First Woman... or second if you go with the Female half of the Image of Elohim of Genesis 1 being Lilith. Chavah is the Giver of all Knowledge to Mankind, wisely heeding the Serpent and defying the Demiurge, the second "Creator", who apparently liked to keep his Golems stupid and malnourished. For her bravery of sharing Knowledge with her husband she was punished (though again - if IHVH was supposedly so "All Knowing" and smack, then he would have known what would happen, and as Chavah would have had no idea what a "Sin" was, not having any context for that, it was a pretty dick move) by the sufferings of childbirth. We are very proud of Chavah. Thank you, Mother of All That Lives. Thank you.
entity religion kabbalahExodus, more properly called "Names" (ShMVTh), is the second book of the Torah and describes the travails of the Hebrew people as slaves in the land of Egypt, the story of the prophet Moshe who meets God and leads them to Freedom, and the reception (somewhat self-referentially) of the Torah itself. Literally the defining moment of making the Jews the Jews. Basically though, it is a long running Wizard Battle between Moses and his brother and the Pharoah's magicians - rivers of blood, staffs (staves?) that turn into snakes, parting of seas, magic foodstuffs, talking fires, purifying water, a tent that kills the profane, stopping time - it has it all. And plagues. Lots of plagues (including Frog!).
The Movement of the People.
religion thingsEzekiel is one of the prophets featured in the Tanakh. By legend at around the age of 25 he was caught up in the Babylonian Exile (c. 598 BCE), his father being a kohen (priest) of the Temple, and at the age of 30 had a series of six vision that are recorded in his eponymous Book. The prophecies contain warnings against the nation of Judah and Jerusalem, warnings to other nations, and a vision of a new and rebuilt Holy Temple. Most prominent is the first vision in which Ezekiel sees the visage of God in the center of a storm as a mighty warrior astride the Divine Chariot - the Merkabah - which is drawn by the Four Holy Living Creatures, with their faces representing the Cardinal signs of the Zodiac, and angels that in the form of "wheels within wheels" with rims full of eyes...
entity kabbalah religion1890 - 1946
Born Violet Mary Firth, Fortune was a member of the Theosophical Society and the Alpha et Omega lodge (Mather's successor organization to the Golden Dawn). She apparently was not a huge fan of the very involved Ceremonial Magic system, but delved deeply into a Hermetic/Theosophical version of Qabalah, authoring numerous books on the subject. In the 20s she joined a Christian Theosophical organization, but left because they weren't Jesusy enough.
Jesus notwithstanding, Fortune's books "Psychic Self-Defense" and "The Mystical Qabalah" are pretty solid, and her fiction novels, while somewhat prudish and dated, have some of the best descriptions of applied magickal procedures written.
magick entityThe Four Worlds (sometimes five) also know as the Seder Hishtalselut (The Order of Descent) is a Kabbalistic conception describing the the unbroken chain of emanation from the unknowable Godhead of the Ain Soph to the Universe we reside in. In older Rabbinical and Kabbalistic thought there is a notion of "Worlds That Had Been Created and Destroyed" before the creation of our world (sometimes associated with the Kings of Edom). In the Kabbalah of Isaac Luria this idea was integrated into a tumutuous primordial cosmology wherein the the originally emanated Sephiroth were arranged in a linear fashion and as such could not contain the unending awesomeness that was the Light of the Divine - the Ain Soph Aur. The pecipitated their destruction (the "Shattering of the Vessels"), which is the ultimate cause of both our world and the existance of Evil (and the possibiity of Redemption). After the Shattering, the broken Sephiroth reconfigured themselves into a series of descending ontological categories that are know as the Four Worlds. (The reconfiguration as a whole is sometimes referred to as a Fifth World known as Adam Kadmon). Each World "contains" all of the Sephiroth, as well as (like the related conception of Partzufim) being associated with specific Sephiroth as they progress down the Tree.
The names of the Four Worlds are derived primarily from Isaiah 43:7 "All that is called in my Name and for my Glory, has been Created and Formed (by me). I have made it." (Pretty fucking humble huh?) They are in decending order: Atziluth (Emanation) centered on Kether, Briah (Creation) centered (in the Baphometric system) centered on Chokmah and Binah combined, Yetzirah (Formation) centered on the six Sephiroth from Chesed to Yesod, and Assiah centered on Malkuth.
term kabbalahGematria is a Kabbalistic exegesical methodology of using the underlying numerical, ordinal or reduced numerical values for letters, summing up the word or phrase in question and then comparing the resultant value to other words and phrases that have the same value. Probably the most famous example is that of MShICh משיח (Messiah) and NChSh נחש (Serpent), both of which have the Gematrical Value of 358.
The practice is undeniably ancient, though apparently sparesely used until the 2nd or 1st Centuries BCE or so, when it began showing up regularly in both Jewish and early Christian texts. It's usage in Kabbalah is myriad, especially among followers of the practices of the Ashkenazi Hasidim and especially, those of Abraham Abulafia.
There are a lot of different formulations of Gematria - the face value of the letters of the Alphabet, the values of each letter spelled out in plene (in full) (A-L-P 111 for the letter Aleph instead of just 1, the value for B-I-Th for Beth, etc.), the value of just the "hidden" letters of the name of the letter (just the L-P ot I-Th part), the ordinal values of the letters from one to twenty-two, the value of each letter of a word or phrase being added in sequence with the preceding letters, the triangle (or summed) value of each letter based on it's ordinal position - Gimel for example being the third letter would get the valuation of 1 + 2 + 3, or 6 instead of the face value of 3, and so on.
The resulting analysis forms the heart of the Number List. All things are number. All numbers are infinite.
erm kabbalah reference praxis1248 - 130(?)
Joseph ben Abraham Gikatilla, also known as Joseph Ba'al ha-Nissam (Master of Miracles), was one of the most pre-eminent of the early Kabbalists. Originally a student of Abraham Abulafia (who lavished him with praise), Gikatilla also went on to study the Theosophic Kabbalah and was an influence on Moses de Leon and the development of the Zohar.
He most well known works were Ginnat Egoz "A Garden of Nuts", based on Abulafia's system - the word Ginnat (GNTh) is Notarikon for Gematria, Notarikon and Temurah, the three main aspects of Kabbalistic letter-number mysticsm - and for Sha'are Orah "Gates of Light", which is a comprehensive catalog of pre-Zoharic Theosophic thought detailing the aspects of the Sephiroth and the theories of Emanation from the Divine godhead.
entity magick science historyThe Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was an occult Magickal order founded in the late 19th Century in England. Loosely based on the hierarchial grade systems of Speculative Masonry, though unlike the Fraternal Orders, women were admitted to the Golden Dawn as equal members. The teachings of the Golden Dawn were a systemic attempt to codify all extant forms of magick, divination, alchemy, scrying, Hermetic Qabalah, et al, into a unified overarching philosophy and practice of magic and development of the Human potential. The three founding memebers were William Woodman, William Wynn Wescott (who was the primary driving force of the original Order), and Samuel Liddell Macgregor Mathers (who succeeded as Head of the Order after Westcott had to pull out of the organization on pain of losing his position as Coroner).
Early members of the Order included the poet Yeats, the authors Arthur Machen and A.E. Waite (of Tarot fame) , actress Florence Farr and a young Aleister Crowley. Like most Magickal Orders, disagreement flourished, power plays were made, oaths were broken and the organization eventually splintered. The influence of the Golden Dawn on modern Western occultism and neo-paganism (like Wicca) cannot be overstated.
things magick history secret societyFrom the Hebrew root GLM גלמ (73), meaning Raw or Unformed. In Psalms 139:16 the usage is GLMI with the sense of "my substance" or "my unformed being". In Rabbinical Judaism, there was a connotation that the body of Adam, formed from the dust was at first Golem, before the Neshamah, the breath of life, was breathed into it. In the Talmud Rabbi Abba ben Joseph Bar Hama (always referred to by the acronym RBA), created a Golem as an experiment and sent it to talk to his buddy, Rabbi Zeira, who, immediately discerning that this was not actually a man, sent it back to the dust from whence it came.
The methodology of creating a Golem has always been assumed to revolve around manipulations of the Hebrew Alphabet, usually using the 231 Gates as described in the Sefer Yetzirah.
Other descriptions of the Golem are equatable to the Astral Body or the Body of Light. In Jewish folklore, the Golem became an object of defense and revenge for the persecuters of the Jews.
things kabbalah praxis1924 - 2011
Author and Occultist. At one point the personal secretary of Aleister Crowley and a practioner of Thelema. After Crpwley's death he was appointed head of the Theleic order Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O). In 1954 he founded the New Isis Lodge and started inculcating other occult strains into Thelema, such as the works of H.P. Lovecraft and the work of the occult artist Austin Osman Spare (AOS). After the death of the American head of the OTO Karl Germer Grant declared himself as the Outer Head of the Order. This was um... bitterly disputed.. and Grant ended up starting his own order - the Typhonian O.T.O. and continued developing his brand of Typhonian Thelema. Grant is fascinating and weird, and I think much more captures the spirit of what Crowley set out to do than the inheritors of the orginal O.T.O. His gematria is pretty terrible, but the Typhonian Trilogies should be required reading for all Occultists, whether you partake of the current or not. entity magick
1866(?) - 1949
George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff was a Russian/Areminian/Greek mystic and spiritual teacher the developed a unique blend of Western and Eastern yogic/spirtual practices known as "The Work" or "The Fourth Way". Student were taken through an increasingly complex series of "movements" designed to tone a control the body and bring the awareness of consciousness to be immediately present at all times (wake the fuck up motherfuckers!). Wrote a series of rather well written and often mind-bogglingly confusing books. A unique mixture of psychology, yogic practices, mysticism and will. Very modern. Definitely an influence on the Baphometrics editorial staff.
entity magickHadad was the Storm God of the Canaanite pantheon. Often referred to as Ba'al Hadad. Ba'al means "Lord" and was applied to many gods or used on its own - usually as a referrent to Hadad. The cross pantheon equivalent would be to Zeus (Greek) or Jupiter (Roman). Cognate to the Babylonian Bel. In the Ugartic "Ba'al Cycle" there are numerous epithets of Ba'al Hadad that are also applied to the Hebrew basic equivalent of IHVH.
entity religionThe eighth King of Edom is Hadar HDR הדר (209) who ruled over Edom from his city Pau PAaV פעו (156), and unlike the others Hadar did not die. Hadar was married to Mehetabel MHITBAL Kings - מהיטבאל (97) , who in Jewish folk-lore was the Mother-In-Law of Asmodeus. Was Hadar himself a demon? If there are seven paths under Binah, why were there eight kings? Could it be Hadar represents the hidden Sephirah of Da'ath? For is not the Qliphoth of Da'ath MSVKIAL מסוכיאל (167) and does not 209 and 167 add to 376 which is the value of AaShV עשו - Esau, who is Edom? Huh? Huh? What do you make of that?
Hadit is a God of Thelema, the Religion founded by Aleister Crowley after the channeled reception of the Sacred Text The Book of The Law in 1904.The center of the infinite circle, he is the manifestation hidden within his mate/consort, Nuit. Hadit is vaguely patterned after the Egyption God Horus. Is is the coiled serpent within all reality, the Secret Seed, He is All Stars.
entity religion magickHekhalot (HIKLVTh 471) Literature referes to a genre of Jewish Mysticism stemming from the First Century BC describing the process of ascending through the seven Celestial Palaces in order to come to the presence of the Godhead. The literature is closely related to the practice of the Descent of the Merkabah ("Chariot"). The process combines rigorous meditative and purification practices and the possesion of the Divine Names, Seals, and Invocations with which to pass the Gaurdians of the gates of each successive palace - and woe to the hapless Rabbi who does not know the password...
term religion kabbalahCoined by Grant Morrison, a hypersigil amplifies on the idea of a sigil - which was originally thought of any magical symbol in general, and as such have been in use since Neolithic times, but in Chaos Magick as a specific praxis of utilizing the unconscious to achieve magical aims. The hypersigil is an extended or virally self-replicating form of a sigil, usually localized within a work of art. As such, the definition blurs into the Chaos Magick notion of the Egregore.
term magick praxis1947 -
Emeritus Max Cooper Professor of Jewish Thought at Hebrew University Jersulem. One of the preeminent current scholars of Kabbalah in the world. One of a newer generation of scholars that challenged some of Gershom Scholem's basic notions about the the nature of Kabbalistic thought. One of the most authortitave scholars of Abulafia working. Probably the most cited author here at Baphometrics. entity
Mid to Late 13th Century
Isaac ha-Kohen and his brother Jakob (The Kohen Brothers) were two of the most pre-eminent Kabbalists of the pre-Zoharic era. They have been classified as belonging to the "Gnostic" school of Kabbalah - in that they wrote extensively on the origins of Evil and the Sitra Achra, incorporating a large range of demonology not seen in other works (though like all Kabbalists, the doctrines they promulgated were not a form Gnostic Dualism, in that the source of Evil is, ultimately, directly a part of the Divine proecess). He is the author of the "Treatise on the Left Emanation". He and his brother were teachers of Moshe of Burgos.
entity magick science history1160 - 1235
Isaac ben Abraham of Posquieres, also known as Isaac "Sagi Nahor" (an Aramaic phrase meaning "He who has sufficient light"), Isaac the Blind, or simply as "ha-Hasid" - "The Pious One", is considered to be the first "official" Kabbalist. He was the first to publicly disseminate Kabbalistic teachings and the first to call himself by that name. It is likely that the naming conventions of the Sephiroth derive from his work. Some scholars believe he was the author of the Bahir (though this is hotly disputed), but even if not, he was involved with the circle that worked with its teachings. He was the son of Rabbi Abraham ben David (the Rabad) who was credited by the later Joseph Gikatilla with designing the format of the Kabbalistic Tree of Life as a symbol.
entity magick science historyThe Iyyun Circle is a descriptor for a large group of anonymous Kabbalists writing in the early 13th Century CE in Western Europe (the word Iyyun - AaIVN 136 - means "Contemplation"). The texts are definitely the work of many different Kabbalists but generally utilize a pseudonymous "Rabbi Hammai" as the purported author. The main texts are The Books of Contemplation, The Fountain of Wisdom and the Book of Unity [ed. note: See Mark Verman and Joseph Dan].
The group drew heavily on the much older Merkabah traditions of a millenia earlier and the works of the main transmitters of those traditions, the Ashkenazi Hasidim, thus serving as a conduit for both streams into the burgeoning Kabbalistic centers in Spain and Provence.
entity religion1886 - 1950
Jones was a Ceremonial magician who was a member of the Argentium Astrum using the name Frater Achad. Hailed by Crowley as his magical son (of his bowels no less) and the discover of the secret Key to the Book of the Law (spoiler alert - it's 31). As a neophyte he took the Oath of the Abyss and immediately became a Magister Templi of the Inner Order - thus raising Crowley himself to Magus. The two eventually had a falling out and Jones was expelled from the Order. Ostensibly the cause was Jones's attempt to rectify the Tree of Life. entity magick
1150 - 1217
Judah ben Samuel the Pious, or Yahudah Ha-Hasid was a leader of the Ashkenazi Hasidim, a Jewish mystical movement centered in Germany from the 10th to 13th Century. Born in Speyer, Yahudah was a member of the influential Kalonymus family (originally from Northern Italy) the Ahskenazi Hasidim preserved the traditions of the Merkabah mystics and developed an intricate system of letter-number mysticism that slightly predated and then ran concurrantly with the earliest of the Kabbalistic schools centered in Provence and Castille. His students included Rabbi Eleazar of Worms and through him, the work of Abraham Abulafia and the brothers Ha-Kohen.
entity kabbalah historyQBLH קבלה (137) A catch-all term for a type of Jewish Mysticism developed in the Late Antiquity period. From the root QBL "to receive".kabbalah term
Kabbalah ArticlesKVNH כונה (81) Intention, meaning . The interiorization of thought and prayer utilized by the Ashkenazi pietists, early Kabbalists and Abulafia. Refined later by Luria. Refers to the activization of the inner world and is the supreme duty of ecstatic prayer. The mystical intention and concentration of thought during performance of ritual.
"Kavannah came to include a contemplative ascension of thought and sometimes of the soul which would cleave to and thus unify the godhead. … The early kabbalists understood kavannah as follows. The practice would begin in the human domain, with the visualization of the letters of a name in the heart or imagination.... The elevated thought would then penetrate the divine realms, where it would unite with the divine name or versions of the divine names embodied in the Sefiroth and in the ‘divine letters’. The unification of the divine name and the metaphysical letters and the unification of the divine realm would thus be accomplished through the union of the divine and the human. Once the mystical union is established, divine power would ‘flow’ from the higher realms to the lower, from the higher Sefiroth to the lower ones, and ultimately into the human mind, into mundane reality and into human history . … The mystical notion of kavannah, then, was viewed as an attempt to elevate the human thought up the ladder of divine emanation and eventually to join human thought with the higher aspects of the godhead, especially to the triad of the Noetic Sefiroth and to the ‘metaphysical’ letters of the Tetragrammaton." - See Letter Permutation Techniques, Kavannah and Prayer in Jewish Mysticism. Adam Afterman.
Leap into the Abyss.
term kabbalah praxisGenesis 36:31 - 39 is a listing of the Kings of Edom who reigned before there were Kings in Israel. Seven Kings, one after another are named, given a brief description, and then it is noted that they died. The last, King Hadar is not mentioned as experiencing death. In Kabbalah these Kings are variously ascribed to the Worlds that were Created and Destroyed before our world, assorted demonic entities or Qliphoth, and the Paths below Binah - generaly conceived as the following seven Sephiroth. Even though there are Eight Kings.
1602 - 1680
German Jesuit scholar and Polymath. Among myraid studies, he claimed to have deciphered (erroneously) Egyptian Heiroglyohis, was the first to observe microbes through a microscope, determined that the plague was spread through and infectuous microorganism, and invented the megaphone. In Oedipus Aegypticus, 1652, Kircher developed a syncretic theory of comparitive religions, attributing Kabbalah to Adam and thence on to the Egyptians and ancient Greeks, taken up in corrupted form as used by the Jews and finally perfected in the apotheosis of Christianity. It is here that he printed his version of the Tree of Life, which is (for the most part) the form of the Tree used in later Hermetic Qabalah, and is by far the most prevalent version of the Tree in use today in magickal circles. The particular order of the letter-paths on the tree that is commonly in use, seems to stem from his depiction of the Tree rather than from any orignal Hebraic sources.entity history
1810 -1875
Born Alphone Louis Constant, Levi was a French esotericist and ceremonial magian. He initially trained to become a Catholic priest, but left in his 20s to pursue occult studies and a brief foray into Socialist political activism (he would do this periodically over his career, and was imprisoned several times for his writings). He joined and then left the Feemasons. At the age of 40 he began writing on Occultism and Kabbalah. As opposed to nearly every other practitioner ever, Levi never claimed to be part of some ancient tradition or secret society - just a scholar of the Occult. His writings on Kabbalah were very heavily influenced by the Christian Cabala of the Renaissance period and in general by the Martinists and the Occult revival of the 18th Century. He envisioned Magic as the one true Science - underlying all religions, orders and sects... hidden and secret for the masses were not ready for the Truth. He maintained however, that the exoteric face of this secret was held by the Latin Catholic Church.
Levi was the first to associate the Trumps of the Tarot with the 22 letters of the Hebrew Alphabet. His influence on the the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and hence Crowley and ceremonial magic in general is immeasurable.
It is his drawing of that loveable goat-headed, breasted and bedicked Baphomet, incorporating a range of Hermetic, Alchemical and Kabbalistic imagery that has become the standard of all Baphometric depictions.
Solve et Coagula!
entity magick historyThe term "the Lightning Path (or Flash)" most likely stems from the prophecies of Ezekiel (Ezek 1:14) by way of the Sefer Yetzirah 1:6, where the Sephiroth are described as a vision with "the appearance of lightning". Crowley used the term to describe the zig-zag descent of the Sephiroth from Kether to Malkuth. The values of the letter-paths linking the Sephiroth in the Kircher/Golden Dawn/Crowley version of the tree add up to 777 (hence the title of his Book on the subject), if one takes the path connecting Kether and Tiphareth as connecting Binah and Chesed across the Abyss. The Kircher Tree, as well as the Baphometric Tree both use the layout of Sephiroth and letter-paths that do not have a direct connection between the two.
The value of the Lightning path on the Baphometric Tree is of course 528.term kabbalah
לילית (480). The name Lilith undoubtedly stems from the Hebrew word for Night, Laylah (LILH) with the meaning "Lady of Night", and it may or may not be connected (there are a lot of arguments for both opinions) to the ancient Akkadian (also a Semitic language) name for spirits in general (usually of a malevolent sort), the male lili and female lilitu and/or the even older Sumerian (not a Semitic language and not etymologically related) lili which seem to have been wind demons... or maybe just owls. But is only in Hebrew mythology that Lilith becomes an individual. The name is only mentioned once in the Tanakh (Isaiah 34:14) in contect of the fate of Edom, reclining in a dark oasis attended by Satyrs.
In later legend and Aggadah Lilith assumes various guises, a demoness killer of children and miscarriage in the Talmud, "The First Eve" of Midrash and eventually officially the first Wife of Adam - his co-equal Golem, created from the same Clay. At first they are happy in connubial bliss, but then Lilith wants to shake things up in the bedroom, and they have a fight, and this leads to that, and finally she dumps him.
In Kabbalistic works Lilith becomes the Queen of all Demons (Heaven?) and mate of the arch-Demon (Angel?) Samael - birthed from the primordial Tohu (as we all are) in a direct parallel to the later Humans of the Garden - or even the primordial blueprint of Azazel and Na'amah. Is it a coincidence that SMAL + LILITh has the same value as the Torah itself?
entity kabbalah1534 - 1572
Palestinian Rabbi whose teaching forms the core of modern Hebrew Kabbalah. Know as HARI, the Lion or ARIZL, Ari of besed Memory, and sometimes simply as "The Rebbe". Founder of the Safed School, he took the inspirations of the Zohar and forged a new understanding of the relationship of Kabbalah, the Sephiroth, the Tree of Life and many other key concepts such as Tzimtzum. His work was promulgated primarily through his student Rabbi Hayyim Vital and in a slightly different manner after his death by Israel Sarug who brought the teaching to the wider Ashkenazi populace of Germany and Northern Europe, which eventually resulted in the development of the modern Hasidic movement of the Baal Shem Tov. After the circle of the Zohar, the Safed School was the most influentual movement in Kabbalah in the Renaissance era.entity history kabbalah
1865 - 1928
Moina Mathers, born Mina Bergson was a talented artist, and a formidable medium and occultist. Her elder brother was the French philosopher Henri Bergson. At the age of 22 she married Samuel Mathers, one of the Founders of the Golden Dawn. From that point till his expulsion from the group she took the role of High Priestess. While her background was Jewish it is does not appear that Mathers contributed to the Qabalah of the Golden Dawn in a significant fashion.
magick entity1854 - 1948
Mathers, along with William Westcott was one the founders of the Golden Dawn of which he lead from 1891 until his expulsion in 1900. He was a prolific author and student of Magic and produced translations of some of the most famous Magical tomes and grimoires, making the study of Magic accessible to the General Public - his influence on Modern Western Occulture can not be minimized. Unfortunately, his translations were not always of the best quality. He inducted Aleister Crowley into the Golden Dawn in 1898 (which ultimately presaged his ouster from the organization). He was married to the High Priestess extraordinaire Moina Mathers, the sister of the philosopher Henri Bergson.
magick entityMerkabah (MRKBH 267) is a Hebrew word meaning "Chariot". The Merkabah Mysteries were one of the earliest forms of Jewish mysticism. The first works stem from the 1st Century BCE, florished from the 2nd to 7th Centuries CE, and were still mentioned in the works of the the Ashkenazi Hasidim up through the 13th Century.
The practices centered on the experiences of the prophet Ezekiel. His visions of the figure of fire which was the "Likeness of a Man" within the malestrom and the Four Living Creatures that drove his Chariot, each having four wings and four faces - that of a Man, a Lion, an Ox, and an Eagle (The Cardinal signs). The practice was closely tied to the related Hekhalot ("Palaces") literature regarding the ascent to through the seven Celstial palaces (Heavens) to experience the presence of the Godhead using specific Names of Power and meditation techniques. The Four who Entered the Orchard were practitioners of the Descent of the Chariot. What goes down arises....
term religion kabbalahMetatron (MTTRVN 314), also known as the "Lesser IHVH" is an angel that first appears in the Enoch literature (3 Enoch), is discussed at several points in the Talmud and is prevalent in Kabbalistic discourse. He/it is known by many names - "The Youth", The Prince of the Presence", "Prince of the World", "King of Angels" and is linked to the name Shaddai (ShDI) by Gematria (as God allegedly says, "My Name is in Him"). By legend he is the antediluvian patriarch Enoch who lived a year of years and then "walked with Elohim, and Was Not", being bodily transformed to Metatron and taken to Paradise. In the Zohar he is said to be the ruling Archon of the World of Yetzirah. Man made God?
entity religion kabbalahMidrash can be considered as a methodology of religious exegesis, as well as the actual literature produced by the process. The word means basically to Seek or to Enquire. The literature forms the backbone of the Talmud(s) - opinions and essays about different point of religious law and interpretation, that includes both direct commentary on the Tanakh and then a vast array of supplemental history and folk lore as well as (in a very Jewish manner) commentary upon the commentary.
things religion1463 - 1494
Giovanni Pico della Mirandola was a Renaissance era Italian Count, philospoher, and proponent of Universal humanism. He is considered the father of Christian Cabala, utilizing numerous Kabbalistic concepts and themes in his "900 Theses", a fervent defense of religion, natural philosophy and magic. The Theses were the first printed book banned by the Church. Mirandola also penned the Oration on the Dignity of Man, known as the Renaissance Manifesto and the Hermetic Reformation.entity history
c.1230 - 1300
Moses ben Solomon ben Simeon of Burgos was a student of the Kohen Brothers and was widely regarded as one of the greatest Kabbalists of his time. He was known for his volumnous writings that encapsulate a majority of pre-Zoharic thought and for his Treatise on the Left Pillar and demonology of the Sitra Achra.
entity magick science historyNAaMH נעמה (165) whose name means "Pleasant", is the fourth named female figure in the Torah, being seventh in descent from the Mother of All that Lives, Chavah (Eve) from the line of Cain. She is the daughter of Zillah and sister of Tubal-Cain. In Jewish Aggadah she is credited with being the source of singing and dancing. In legend she was also the mate of the Fallen Angel Azazel, and/or the wife of the Arch-Demon Samael (who also might be known as Azazel).
Na'amah is also the name of the only identified wife of King Solomon. As such she is possibly the subject of the love poem The Song of Songs, a text declared intrinsic to the practice of Kabbalah. Esoterically the Song is a paean to the Goddess known as the Shekinah, the embodiment of the Divine. The point of the entire Baphometric system. נעמה המשיח!
The Name of 72 is a name of God derived from the verses of Exodus 14:19-21. It is considered one of the most Holy names and has been used as a methodology of magic, mysticism and contemplation for at least 2000 years. It is one of the Shem Ha-Mephorash.
The Name is derived by arranging the verses boustrophedonically (say that 10 times fast), and reading the thus paired three letter sequences from top to bottom. (That is, the first letter of the first verse gets paired with the last letter of the second verse and the first letter of the third verse, and so on). Since each verse is 72 letters long, that results in 72 separate three letter sequences, for a total of 216 letters.
Use of the name is said to allow the wielder the power to cast out demons, heal the sick, strike down one's enemies, part inconvenient seas, and in the radical decontruction of Abraham Abulafia, unleash the power of prophecy itself. In Jewish folklore (and possibly Abulafia) it is used in the methodology of animating a Golem.
In Christian Cabala Johannes Reuchlin appended the suffixes Yah or El to the names, and considered them to be angels. This influenced the later Hermetic Qabalists to pair them with the demonology of the Solomonic Traditions to come up with the famous 72 Demons in the 17th Century (See Rudd). The Golden Dawn extended the usage to inculcate astro-magical and Tarot correspondences as well. things term kabbalah praxis
(1643 - 1680)
The prophet of the "False Messiah" Sabbatai Tzevi. Nathan was an extremely highly regarded thinker in Halakhah (a term for Jewish law, philosophy and practice), especially in the promulgation of the Kabbalistic thought of Isaac Luria (mid 16th century).. the driving force of the most prevalent stream of modern Jewish Kabbalah.
The Messianic movement of Tzevi was an event in Judaism not seen since the advent of Christianity. It swept the Jewish world and threatened to cause a major schism. The abrupt end of the movement, with the Aposty of Tzevi and his conversion to Islam was devastating to his followers.
Nathan's attempts to reconcile what happened led to some extremely profound philosophy on the nature of faith and our relationship to the world. The repercussions of the Aposty led both to the modern Hassidic movement and in some peripheral ways the Judaisation of the occult Masonic world up to and including the Golden Dawn.entity kabbalah religion history
NQVD נקוד (160) has the meaning of "dotting" or "pointing". It refers to a system of diacritical marks used to indicate the correct vowelizations of the consonants of the Hebrew Aphabet, as Hebrew does not have letters that represent vowels like English or Greek (Hebrew is an Abjad rather than an Alphabet). The usage is also called Masoretic Text or Tiberian Hebrew and is the basis for the standardized translations of the Tanakh. It is usually dispensed with in modern written Hebrew as the vowels are implied by the context. In Kabbalistic usage, the vowels were considered the "soul" (Neshemah, the Breath of Life) of the Alphabet and were give various spiritual and theosophic meanings.
Notarikon is a Rabbinical and Kabbalistic exegetical practice of deriving new words from the initial letters (or last letters, or middle letters, or all of the above) of a phrase. Alternately, it can be conceived of as a form of acronym, wherein the letters of the word all stand for the first letters of a longer phrase. The sacred name AGLA is a notarikon of the phrase Atah Gibor Le-Olam Adonai (Thou art Mighty for Eternity, Lord).
kabbalah term praxisNuit is a Goddess of Thelema, the Religion founded by Aleister Crowley after the channeled reception of the Sacred Text The Book of The Law in 1904. Nuit is based on the Egyptian Goddess of the Sky, Nut (though by a rather blatant Notarikon "I am Infinite Space and the Infinite Stars thereof", it is possible that she is intended to be Isis as well) . She is described as an infinite circle whose circumference is nowhere and her center everywhere [though really stylisticlly it should be the opposite, and the general idea is treated as such in Baphometrics - ed.]. She is "The Hiding of Had", her mate/consort Hadit. She is extension and immanence and as such, Kabbalistically is a cognate of the Shekinah and somewhat as Binah. Her narrative is the first chapter of the Book of the Law. (Our favorite of the three).
entity religion magickNQBH נקבה "The Female". Nukvah is one of the main Partzufum - personifications of specfic Sephirah or groups of Sephiroth at different levels of the Tree of Life. She is, in all cases, across all Worlds, centered on the Sephiarah of Malkuth. She is the Daughter. The complement, Sister and Bride to the Partzufim of Ze'ir Anpin, the Bridegroom and Son. She is the Lower Mother. She is the Completion of the Universe.
The OTO was originally a German esoteric initaory order founded at the start of the 20th Century. The grade system and structure was quasi-Masonic, was somewhat intended to be a revival of the Bavarian Illuminati and utilized advanced forms of Sex Magick in it's higher degrees (a little spot of the 13th°, anyone? Hmmm?)
In 1910 Crowley was admitted (ostensibly by publishing the secrets of the order in his Book of Lies, though Crowley claimed he had come to the comnclusion on his own). Two years later he was advanced to the 10th° and placed in charge of the Order for Great Britain and Ireland. During his tenure he wrote numerous rites and manifestos and developed the "Gnostic Mass". (The OTO has a religious order known as the Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica - the Gnostic Church). He also began including symbolism from Thelema in the workings of the Order.
In 1923 Crowley was (contentiously) appointed the Outer Head of the Order whch he remained as till his death in 1947.
magick thingsPRTzVPIM פתצופימ (506) are personifications of arrangements of the Sephiroth primarily found in the Kabbalah of Isaac Luria. In this conception, the Sephiroth were originally arranged in a linear fashion. As the divine light of Creation filled each in order, only the first three were able to withstand its super powerful awesomeness, while the rest of the Sephirothic Vessels shattered. This is known as the World of Tohu, the Chaos. The shards of the broken vessels were then reconstituted as the emenatons of the Tree of Life, descending down through the four worlds of Atziluth, Briah, Yetzirah, and Assiah - Emanation, Creation, Formation and Action.
Concurrent with this rectification, the Sephiroth (each one containing the other nine) also arrange themselves as Partzufim - personas - refelective of their position on the Tree and in the Universe. As the sytem developed, there were levels of male and female Partzufim applied to the different groupings of Sephiroth. The main set of Partzufim are: Atik Yomin (the Ancient of Days) and Arich Anpin (the Long of Face/Macroprosopus) of Kether, Abba (the Father) for Chokmah, Aima (the Mother) for Binah, Ze'ir Anpin (the Short of Face/Microprospus) comprising the next six Sephiroth, and Nukvah (the Female) centered on Malkuth.
kabbalah termA Perfect Number is a positive number which is equal to the sum of its divisors (including 1). The Pythagoreans thought them to be Divine. The first 4 perfect numbers are 6, 28, 496, and 8128.
term scienceA Penis. Male genitalia. Schlong. Dick. Man Meat. Whang. Pecker. Trouser Snake. Love Torpedo. Prick. Tool. One-eyed Wonder Worm. Cock. Root. Willy. Wiener. Manhood. Pizzle. John Thomas. Shaft. Knob. Johnson. Gross Protuberance. Chode. Salami. Joy Stick. Wood. Beef Swelling. The Girdershape of Desire. Ramrod. Peen.
Member.
term thingsGreek Titan. "Forethought". Sometimes referred to as the Titan God of Fire. Occasionally credited with creating humanity out of clay. Takes the role of the Trickster God. Known for stealing the Fire of the Olympians and giving it to Mankind. This fire is symbolized as Occult Knowledge and thus Prometheus can be considered a cognate of the Fallen Angel (or Djinn, or demon or Satan) Azazel. Defier of the Gods. All around cool dude.
entity religionA designation of the strain of Kaballah that came to be known as "Hermetic". An offshoot of the earlier Christian Cabala expanded to include references to Hermeticism in general, themes from gnosticism, the Greek Magical Papyri, alchemy and Rosicrucianism and myriad other pantheons and magical systems. term kabbalah
QLIPVTh קליפת (626). Shells, Husks, Peels. The source of evil. The averse representations of the Sephiroth. In the Zohar, the qlippoth represent impure spiritual forces that stem from the side of evil - the Sitra Achra. Three are named and referred to specific sephiroth, and six others are named without referent. In Lurianic Kabbalah, the concept is developed with an analogy to the shell of a nut, or the peel of a fruit - they encase the holiness of immanent Divine. This protects the divie spark, but it also allows for Evil to flourish. There are three purely evil qlippoth in each "shell" and one intermediate qlippoth referred to as NVGH נוגה (64).
The names of the attributions of the Qlippoth in Hermetic Qabalah are completely different. It is unclear what the source for the names or attributions given are. Mathers associated them with the Kings of Edom (drawing from ha-Kohen, Moshe of Burgos and the Zohar ), while Crowley came up with his own names and attributions (see his 777). A few of these are based off of Rabbi Isaac ha-Kohen's masterwork Treatise on the Left Emanation, but it is unclear from where the remainder stem, outside of Crowley's work itself. The list of ten Qlippoth in general usage is from Crowley.
term kabbalah1455 - 1522
German scholar of Greek and Hebrew who, after Mirandola was the greatest populizer of Christian Cabala. Author of De Verbo Mirifico and De Arte Cabalistica, both which combined Reuchlin's understanding of Kabbalah with his profound love of Pythagorean and Greek Philosphy, along with a desire to convert Jews to Christianity. Came up with the notion of the 72 Angels (derived from the Name of 72), which led to the 72 Demons of the later Solomonic grimoires. entity
Safed is a city in Northern Israel near the Golan Heights. One of the Holy Cities of Judaism. Known for being the home of one of the most influential schools of Kabbalah headed up by Isaac Luria. After the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492, Safed became the primary center of Kabbalistic thought for the next several centuries.thing place history kabbalah
SMAL (131) Traditionally Samael is an archangel, and one of the Host of Heaven. The name means "Poison of God" and Samael was an Angel of Death and punishment. The name first appears in the apocryphal Books of Enoch as one of the fallen angels known as the Watchers. In the Pirkei de Rabbi Eliezer he described as the Chief of the Fallen Angels and his role is to act as a Satan (accuser) for God as well as the "Rider of the Serpent" of the Garden of Eden fame.
It is in Kabbalah however that Samael rises in prominence. In the Treatise on the Left Emanation, Samael along with his mate Lilith are presented as the rulers of all Demons, the parents of Asmodeus, as well as a cthonic alternative to the Earthly Adam and Eve. In the Zohar, Samael is the Lord of the Sitra Achra, along with his mates Lilith, Eisheth Zenunim (The Woman of Fornication), Agrat bat Machlat and of course our Lady and Salvation, Naamah. It is also here that Samael is called by the name Azazel...
In Baphometrics Samael can be conceived of as that which precedes and instigates all Creation. The Vision of the Bride. The Lord of the World of Tohu, as well as that which ties the World of Atziluth to the fullness of the pleroma.
entity religion magick kabbalahSNDLPVN סנדלפונ (280). Sandalphon is an Archangel kabbalistically associated with the sephirah of Malkuth, and is traditionally thought as being the transfigured prophet Elijah, re-risen as an angel, much in the manner of the angel Metatron (who is considered to be his twin brother-angel) is the transformed Enoch.
It should be noted that Sandalphon, through Gematria could be considered as the union of the Fallen Angel/Demon/Djinn/Satan Azazel and the Divine Bride (sister?)/Daughter of Cain/Messiah Na'amah. entity religion magick kabbalah
SPR ITzIRH ספר יצירה The Book of Formation, or Creation. The first book to mention the Sephiroth or the 32 Paths of Wisdom in any context. Hands down, the most Kabbalistic of non-Kabbalistic books. Anonymously written sometime between the 3rd and 9th centuries CE, with the 4th seeming the most popular, though traditionally attributed to the Patriarch Abraham. After the Torah, Tanakh, or Talmud, probably the most commented upon Book in Hebrew literature. If you didn't have a commentary on the SY, you were nothing, bupkis.
While hailed as a masterpiece of gnomic mysticism, it is unclear whether the book was intended to be a mystical gudebook to achieve unity with the Godhead or scientific treatise describing the establishment of the Universe. Possibly a Golem assembly blueprint. Source of an untold number of key Kabbalistic concepts and formulations. Definitely an absolute must for any aspiring Kabbalist.
thingsThe Septuagint is a collection of manuscripts in Ancient Greek dating from roughly the Third to the Second Centuries BCE that are the earliest known translation of the Torah and remaining books of the Tanakh. By the third Century BCE, Hebrew was only really spoken and read by the religious elite, and Koine Greek and Aramaic were the languages spoken by most Jews. The Septuagint was thus an approved Targum ("Translation") of the Tanakh to make it more accessible to the wider porpulation.
There was, and is, wide disagreement in the applicability of a translated text as being suitable for religious use (what with God speaking Hebrew and all that), especially in regards to the Torah, in that the sequence of manuscripts and translation of passages does differ from the Hebrew in many cases. It was however adopted for use by the Early Christians and numerous schismatic Jewish sects, probably because they could read it.
things religion historyNChSh נחש (358). It is the position of Baphometrics.com, that perhaps the Serpent has gotten a bad rap. All the Serpent did was to point out certain inconsistancies in the Management's policies and in the distribution of readily available resources, keeping the workers in the dark, and generally acting in an arbitrary and vindictive manner. As Serpents aren't really known for being all that chatty, it is often surmised that the Serpent had a Rider, that it was a vehicle (Merkabah?) for another... To whom should we owe our debt of gratitude to? Who is that wonder worker whose first utterance demonstrated the totality of the sephirothic schema (1234)?
The Rider of the Serpent and/or the Seprent itself has variously been named as Samael, Gamaliel, or Lilith (the triumvirate of the top three Qliphoth)... or perhaps the Rider and the Serpent are actually one? As the Zohar (1:153a) says... "...there is the line where the male and female principles join, forming together the rider on the serpent, and symbolized by Azazel..."
Or was it the Messiah?
entity religion kabbalahThe Shamir (ShMIR 550) by legend was a powerful magickal tool, or perhaps a kind of worm, or possibly a seed that could be used to carve any substance that was "shown" to it. When not in use it would need to be wrapped in wool and stored in a container of lead. It is said that the Shamir was one of the ten wonders created just before the eve of the First Sabbath (a liminal time reserved for objects of miraculous powers and possibly demons). The Shamir was used by King Solomon (which he obtained from his half-brother Asmodeus) to carve the stones for the Temple lest they be contaminated by the hands of Man, as well as the mystical gemstones of the breastplate of the High Priest, the Urim and Thummim.
things religionShKINH שכינה (385). The Shekinah is the indwelling, Presence, or immanence of the Divine. Referenced several times in the Tanakh as that part of God that can be interacted with. - the Burning Bush, the Cloud upon Sinai, the Pillar of Fire. It is the Glory (KBVD כבוד [32] of God). It is deemed Kabbalisticaly to be Feminine. She is the Bride, the Daughter, that which resides in the Temple. She is considered to be the first thought in the mind of the Creator and thus the last to be Emanated. She is the Sabbath and she is the Sephirah Malkuth. She is that which was divided and that which allows union. She is the Point of the Universe.
entity kabbalahShM HMPRSh שמ המפרש Shem HaMephorash means "The Explicit Name". The term comes from Tannaitic works of the first few centuries CE and for the next millenium or so was used to refer solely to the Godname IHVH. In Kabbalistic usage, the term was applied to a number of different formulations of the Divine names - the various Names of four letters, assorted instances of Names of eight, twelve, twenty-two or forty-two letters, and very directly for the Name of 72.
religion term kabbalahShemyaza (the Hebrew spellings of the name are Legion), whose name probably means "He That Sees the Name" or "He That Sees the Heavens" was one of the two main leaders of the Fallen Angels known as The Watchers along with Azazel. Descending to Mount Hermon in Lebanon, they swore a mighty oath to defy God and give mankind the knowledge of the Angels - reading, writing, science, basic sanitation... those kinds of things. After their children (they had mated with the human Daughters of Cain), the Nephilim started causing a ruckus; partying, staying out late, being disrespectful to their Elders - you know how kids be - IHVH decided he had enough and sent the Archangels down to brutally slaughter them all and bring the Fallen Angels back to Heaven to face punishment. After being forced to watch his children be murdered, Shemyaza repented and (in legend) was punished to hang upside down in the sky halfway between Heaven and Earth for all eternity as the constellation Orion. IHVH went on to kill every living thing on the face of the Earth by drowning them.
Also known by the acronym Rashbi, bar Yochai was one of the most eminent 2nd Century CE Tannaitic scholars. He was the star pupil of Rabbi Akiva (one of the Four Sages said to have gone to Paradise [ed. note: See Pardes Moi? The Four Who Entered the Orchard], and the only one that returned unscathed, and by legend and attribution, the main protagonist and author of the Zohar. He authored numerous works on Religious law, ethics and mysticism - including legends of the Sword of Moses.
entity religion history kabbalahSTRA AChRA סטרא אחרא (480) is an Aramaic term that means "The Other Side". In Kabbalah, particularly in the Zohar and work derived from that, the Sitra Achra is the source of all Evil, the Left Hand of God, the place of Demons and the Qliphoth. The domain of Samael SMAL סמאל (131) and his bride/consort Lilith LILITh לילית (480). It is strongly associated with the Sephirah of Geburah
term kabbalah things10th Century BCE (hypothetically)
ShLMH (375). Shlomo ben David was the third king of united Israel and Judah according to the Tanakh. He was primarily known for building the Temple - literally the House of God, being the wisest man that ever was ever, and having 1000 wives and concubines. During his reign the worship of many Gods flourished. In legend his wisdom was so great that even the Queen of Sheba deigned to meet with him. (Ahhh sweet sweet heiros gamos).
He was said to speak the language of animals and to have mastered all Demons by use of his magic ring and seal... though it also said that he was Asmodeus's half-brother by way of his no good cheatin' father and Agrat bat Machlat (one of the wives of Samael), so perhaps he had a legitimate claim to that Crown too... He was the possessor of the mysterious weapon/tool/worm the Shamir which he used to carve the stones of the Temple and to inscribe the Urim and Thummim. It is said he nightly flew on a throne of light perched on an eagle to the dark mountain chasm where Azazel was chained to learn from him the mysteries of the Universe.
His wife was of course, Na'amah.
This all may be an extended allegory.
entity religion magick kabbalahThe Song of Solomon, properly known as the Song of Songs (ShIR HShIRIM) is unique in the Tanakh in that it is not about God, or rules, or the history of Israel or its peoples. It is a love poem. A very explicit and erotic love poem, reveling in the sexual delight of an unnamed woman and her Dream Lover and of Solomon and his Beloved (either the same or different) - the sacred marriage, the Heiros Gamos, of man woman god and goddess.
The poem has been dated anywhere from the 10th to 2nd centuries BCE - with general consensus settling at sometime in the 3rd century BCE. Some four or five hundred years later, it was accepted into scripture. There was disagreement whether this frank depiction of lust and joy should be considered holy - but Rabbi Akiva (one of the Four Who Entered the Orchard), declared the poem not only holy, but the Holy of Holies of all the Writings.
The overt sexuality of the poem found resonance in many Kabbalistic schools - especially those surrounding the Zohar. The poem is allegorized as the eternal copulation of the Sephirah Malkuth (the Shekinah) with her Bridegroom, the Sephirah Tiphareth. Baphometrically however, the figure of Solomon would more properly be represented by the "Sephirah" Da'ath.
religion magick kabbalah thingsSophia Σοφíα is the Greek word for Wisdom, personified in Gnostic sytems as a Feminine aspect of God (and occasionally the syzygetic twin/bride of the Christ guy). She is usually conceived as the one responsible for the creation of the material world by becoming separated from the divine Pleroma in some way or another - either deliberately, or through ignorance or pride or passion, or maybe she just wanted to step out for a bit, ok? Fuck, why are men so goddamned controlling all the time?
She is often referred to by the epithet "Achamoth" which is a transliteration of the Hebrew ChKMVTh חכמות (474), the plural form of Chokmah - which also means Wisdom. As 474 is the value of Da'ath, the import to the Baphometric becomes abundantly clear. Sophia is the Daughter. She is the intent of Creation. She is the Shekinah. Of course Sophia is also the solution to the mystery of the Baphomet itself, for the transliteration SVPIA שופיא (397), is the Atbash of BPVMTh (528).
kabbalah magick philosophyThe Talmud (or Talmuds, as there is both a Babylonian and Jerusalem version) are an extensive (really really extensive) collection of originally oral teachings on the Torah, the Tanakh, Aggadah, points of Law and Practice that form the basis of all modern Judaic thought - there are opinions (and arguments) on absolutely everything in there. After the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans in 70 CE, a massive reorganization of the religion ensued - trying to answer how to adhere to the edicts as laid out in the Tanakh in a world without a Temple. Both Talmuds were compiled and edited in the first five centuries of the Common era. The Jerusalem Talmud slightly predating its Eastern corrolary. It is the Babylonian Talmud however that has formed the backbone of Modern Jewry.
things religionThe Tanakh is the Hebrew Bible. The word ThNK תנכ is an acronym for the three major divisions - the Torah ("Law"), Nevi'im ("Prophets") and Ketuvim ("Writings"). The Christian series of books, The Old Testament, bears some resemblence to the Tanakh, but has a number of different books depending on the denoimination of the publishers, and is quite radically rearranged (the Old Testament sticks the Prophets at the end, especially Malachi, which calls for the coming of the Messiah. The Tanakh ends with the ending of the Babylonian exile and a call to return home to Israel). In addition, the Christian Old Testament, even orginally as the Vulgate, was a translation of a translation (the Septuagint). Unfortunately along the way, it appears that a lot of nuances were lost during the game of Jesus Telephone....
It is unknown exactly when the Tanakh was composed and then compiled, or exactly by whom, but general consensus seems to place at least the beginning of the compiling upon the return to Israel after the Babylonian Exile (c. 537 BCE). According to the Talmud, that was finished by around 450 BCE. Though there are ranges suggested the back that to the 7th Cenury BCE up to the 2nd Century CE. As to the writing itself - the ranges vary wildly - from back to 800 BCE or so to around the 2nd Century BCE. It is generally thought that the stories were in any case based on an older oral tradition.things religion
The Tannaim were a group of late Second Temple to early Common Era ( 0 - 200 CE) Rabbinic sages that disseminated what was known as the "Oral Torah", teachings that gave context and background to Biblical Exegesis, Jewish interpretations of Law and intermediaries before the Roman occupation. After the destruction of the Temple by the Romans in 70 AD, these teaching became the core of what would develop into the more modern Rabbinic Judaism and became the core of what was codified in the Talmud.
By legend, the original author of the Zohar was the Tannaitic sage Shimon bar Yochai.
term religion historyTemurah is a Kabbalistic exegesical practice (along with Gematria, Notarikon and Tzeruph) in which a letter of the Hebrew Alphebet is exchanged with another, in a set manner like a simple substitution cipher. As Hebrew is an Abjad (not having vowels), there is a greater range of substitutions that will make sematic sense, as opposed to an alphabet with vowels, such as Greek or English. Also used as a methodology of generating Magick or Holy names.
There are myriad forms of Temurah, some of the more common ones (generally named for the first four letters of the substitution method) are Atbash, Abgad, Albam and Aiq Bekar. term kabbalah praxis
Tetragrammaton is a term from the Greek meaning "having four letters". It is used specifically for the Hebrew name of God IHVH. The name IHVH dates back at least to 840 BCE. The name is of uncertain etymology, in general all arrangements of the letters of the Name connote some form of the verb "to Be". Traditionally the name is not to be spoken aloud except by the High Priest in the Temple on Yom Kippur (The Day of Atonement) after the Azazel ritual. In Masoretic texts (Hebrew with a series of diacritical marks to indicate vowel sounds), the vowel pointing for either Adonai or Elohim is most commonly used, indicating that one is to use the indicated name instead of IHVH. It is, however nearly universally determined that the pronunciation would be Yahweh. In Kabbalistic usage the Tetragrammaton has been associated with the Abulafian praxis of trance inducing prophetic Tzeruph and with theories of the Four Worlds. Baphometrically IHVH is viewed (when one is persnifying such things) as a sort of monster of pure Id, trapped in the endless recursion of "I Am" and thinking that that is all there is.
term religionThelema θέλημα is the Greek word for "Will". In a magickal context it is the name of the philosophical/religious system developed by Aleister Crowley after his reception of the channeled text The Book of the Law. The religion incorporates adaptations of Gods from the Egyptian Pantheon, draws heavily on Hermetic Qabalah, yogic practices and Ceremonial Magick, and is focussed on the development of the "True Will" and development of the "Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel" - a daimon or personification of that Will.
The main precepts of the Religion are: "Do What Thou Wilt is the Whole of The Law", "Every Man and Every Woman is a Star", and "Love is The Law, Love Under Will". Thelema is the guiding principal of the Ordo Templi Orientis a hierarchial intitiatory order that Crowley at one point was the Outer Head of.
magick religionTVRH תותה (611) The Torah is the first five books of the Tanakh, the Hebrew Bible. This is the absolute core of Judaism. Also known as the Books of Moses, these were given to Moses straight from God itself. Consists of the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. In both Rabbinical exegesis and in Kabbalistic thought, the Universe was predated by and createed by way of, the Torah.
While the Torah is absolutely regarded as the actual words (or at least direct dictation) of God itself, as opposed to the way Christianity and Islam regard their holy texts, the Torah is regarded to be able to be interpreted in an infinite variety of ways. Concurrent with the Written Torah (which is regarded Kabbalistically as embodied by the sephirah Tiphareth, there is also a methodology of understanding known as the Oral Torah, (represented by the sephirah Malkuth) which was compiled and written down after the destruction of the Second Temple in the Talmud and Mishnah.
It is said that the letters of the written Torah are comprised of black fire written upon white fire, and the oral Torah are letters of white fire written upon black fire.
things religionA Triangle Number is generated by first representing every positive integer as a series of dots. 1 = *, 2 = * *, etc. To determine the Triangle number of a certain integer you would then start making rows of dots, starting with one, the next row having two, and so on until you reach the integer you have chosen. To determine the triangle number you would add up all the resultant dots. In effect this is like taking any given integer and adding all of the integers leading up to that number. For instance, the Triangle Number of 6 would be 21: 1+2+3+4+5+6 = 21. The usage of Triangle Numbers traces back to Pythagoras, whose school attributed mytic properties to the practice. The first ten Triangle Numbers are 1, 3, 6, 10, 15, 21, 28, 36, 45, and 55 - representing the Triangle numbers of the integers from one to ten.
term reference scienceThVBL QIN (598) Tubal-Cain most prominantly was the brother of the illustrious Na'amah. He is known as the first blacksmith and forger of all weapons of war of bronze and iron. Esoterically he was the avatar of the Fallen Angel Azazel, Lord of Witchcraft. By legend he and his brothers and sister inscribed all the knowledge of the world upon two pillars (yes those pillars), to save it from destruction by the wrath of the Demiurge. He is consonant with the Greek Hephaestus or Roman Vulvan as a god of the Forge.
entity religion magickTzeruph (TzRVP 376) meaning "to join", "to compine", or "to permutate", is a methodology of exegesis in which the letters of a given word or phrase are rearranged to form a new word or phrase (or Barbarous Name of Power). It was one of the main techniques used by Abraham Abulafia in his prophecy-inducing manipulations of the Name of 72. Indications of its usage are alluded to in the Torah referring to the widom of Bezalel (BTzLAL "In the Shadow of God") who constructed the Tabernacle, of who it is said had the "knowledge of how to join (LTzRP) the letters from which Heaven and Earth were created". In the Sefer Yetzirah Tzeruph is used to form the 231 Gates, combinations of the Hebrew Alphabet that were used by the Divine in the Creation of the Universe (or Man, or a Golem), and manipulations of reality, noting that there is "There is nothing in Good that is higher than delight (MAaNG) and nothing in Evil lower than affliction (MNGAa)". You have been warned.
term praxis kabbalah1626 - 1676
ShBThI TzBI (814) Sabbatai Tzevi, also known as the "False Messiah" was the leader of the greatest schismatic movement in Jewish history. Born in Smyrna, Tzevi was a Rabbi of some talent, and a respected Kabbalist, especially of that of the Zohar and the teachings of Isaac Luria. Possessed of a magnetic personality (and apparently a lovely singing voice) Tzevi grew (in)famous for his odd behavior, swinging rapidly between a devout asceticism and wildly anomian self-indulgence. Behavior so odd, that even in his own time he was considered to have a mental disorder, what would now be diagnosed as a form of manic-depressive mania.
In his manic phase Tzevi would start to evince Messianaic fervor, declaring that the laws of the Torah could now be abrogated and a new set of laws established. He spoke the name of God aloud, ignored kosher dietary restrictions, celebrated the holidays out of order and even conducted a wedding with the Torah scroll as his bride (he subsequently married Sarah, a survivor of the Polish Chmielnicki massacres who had been orphaned and sent to a convent from which she escaped and survived as a prostitute). Despite this (or perhaps because of it), he began to attract a large number of followers, drawn to his promise of a new and better World. (The 17th century was not a happy time for the Jews).
This all would have probably run its course had not the immensely respected Kabbalistic Scholar Nathan of Gaza declared quite openly that Tzevi was the promised Messiah - this put an imprimatur of respectability on the Movement and it spread rapidly throughout Europe and the Holy Land. A new religion was forming, one that celebrated its defiance of tradition - a new redemption was born, a Redemption Through Sin.
In 1666 Tzevi traveled in grand pomp and style to Constantinople, with the intention of converting the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire to his new religion. The Sultan however had a counter proposal. Tzevi would publically convert to Islam, or be beheaded. Tzevi graciously took up the Sultan's offer and he and about 300 of his most devoted followers converted. This apostasy shocked the Jewish World. Denunciations flew swift. Recriminations were harsh. The movement was crushed...
However, there were still a core of true believers - in Turkey known as the Donme. Various successor Messiahs to Tzevi made claims as the movement went underground... accusations of prominent Rabbis being "hidden" Sabbataens were made. Secret Societies were formed. Some were even said to work magick...
entity religion kabbalah historyTzMTzVM צמצומ (266) "Reduction" or "Constriction" is Kabbalistic term to describe the process of how finite Creation came to be in the presence of the completely unified and undifferentiated infinite totality of the perfect Godhead. First developed in the Zohar as an aspect of the strict judgment assoicated with the Sephirah Geburah, the source of evil and separation as opposed to the beneficent light of Chesed (the Ain Soph Aur). An ongoing and everpresent process that allows our world to exist.
In the Kabbalah of the Lurianic Schools, the Tzimtzum is a primordial event, a catalyst prior to the emanation of anything - a contraction of the light of the Infinite to a point, creating an empty space within the itself to give room to the incipient Creation. It is within this hollow caused by Tzimtzum that the vessels of the Sephiroth were given room to emanate. The Baphometric view is that Tzimtzum is both prior to Creation (and thus a transcendent and purely atemporal "event") as well as immanent in every aspect of the ongoing process known as the Universe.
term kabbalahThe Urim and Thummim are thought to a system of divination - whether gemstones, or disks of some sort - to determine the truth of the matter by selecting one or the other by lot. They are said to be part of the accoutrement of the High Priest of the Temple. The referents to them are from the earliest strata of the Tanakh in the prophecies of Hosea that are thought to date back to the 8th Century BCE.The etymology of the two words is uncertain, the general current consensus is that they are from the root words for "Cursed" and "Innocent". It is said that the stones, or lots, or possibly words written upon them, were carved by Solomon the Wise himself, using the Shamir.
things religion1857 - 1942
A.E. Waite was one of the original members of the Golden Dawn, an eminent scholar of the Occult and the History of Magick, though without formal training, and one of the creators of the near-ubiquitous Rider Waite-Smith Tarot deck. Out of any of the original members of the Golden Dawn, Waite's understanding of Hebrew Kabbalah was much more thorough than that presented by Mathers or Fortune, who both focussed more on the syncretic aspects of Christian Cabala and Hermeticism. Unfortunately he was somewhat of a blow-hard, and his writing style makes pedantic seem like the height of breathless action. He is also noted for a thoroughly reciprocated hatred of Aleister Crowley.
magick entityThe Watchers are first mentioned in the Book of Daniel as a class of Angels (generally associated with Divine Judgment). In the First Book of Enoch they are associated directly with the "Sons of God" (BNI ALHIM) of Genesis 6:4, who came down to Earth and saw that the Daughters of Man were fair and had children with them - the mighty Nephilim. In legend there were 200 fallen angels who came down to Mount Hermon and swore a mighty oath to defy the Most High and bring knowledge to the Humans. Their leader was Shemyaza, but the "crime" that they committed - their sin - that was ascribed to Azazel, the Scapegoat of Yom Kippur. After IHVH forced them to watch the murder of their own children, Shemyaza repented and as punishment was hung upside-down in the sky as the constellation Orion, while Azazel was chained deep in a fiery pit for all eternity by the archangel Raphael. Azazel's human girlfriend was the inestimable Na'amah. It is said that Solomon learned his wisdom by flying every night on the back of an eagle to the prison of Azazel to hear the secrets of the Universe.
term kabbalah religion magick1848 - 1925
William Wynn Westcott was one of the orginal founders of the Golden Dawn and a Supreme Magus (fancy!) of the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia. He was a renowned Freemason, Theosophist and Ceremonial Magician. He was professionally employed as Coroner in London. Apparently he was not a suspect in the Jack the Ripper investigations.
magick entityITzRH יצרה (305). Yetzirah, or Olam Yetzirah - the World of Formation - is the third (or fourth if you count Adam Kadmon) of the four (or five) spiritual worlds that form the descending chain of existence from the ultimately unknowable Infinite (Ain Soph). You know. Creation. Yetzirah is the place that the stuff of Creation from the previous world Briah takes on Form. The stuff of creation become intelligible. Yetzirah is the realm of Zeir Anpin, the Lesser Countenance, the "Son", the Bridegroom. It is here that (in Kabbalistic thought) resides IHVH, the personal God of Israel. Generally associated with the Astral or Ideal world, the blueprints if you will of the following world - Assiah which, while still a emanation of the singular Divine, comprises our own World as well. The World of Yetzirah is generally conceived to be dominated by the six Sephiroth of Chesed through Yesod; the six Days of Creation.
ZAaIR ANPIN זעיר אנפינ (478) an Aramaic term first found in the Zohar literally means "Short of Nose" or "Small Face" (ha ha, Small Face, nerd). It also has the title of Microprosopus - which definitely sounds more imposing. Originally denoting the revealed aspect of the Utmost - the aspect of God called IHVH, the God of Israel. Z.A. in Lurianic Kabbalah becomes one of the Partzufim, the personifications of the Sephiroth. Z.A. (and this is actually a common abbreviation in Kabbalistic manuscripts) is centered on the six Sephioth from Chesed through Yesod, particularly on the sephirah Tiphareth, the erstwhile center of the Tree. Z.A. is the face of the World of Yetzirah, the World of Formation. Ze'r Anpin is the Bride Groom, the son/male force of transcendence that seeks only to be united with its opposite - NQBH Nukvah, "The Female" (the Partzufim of the following World of Assiah). It is their fucking, or as it is usually termed, "being face to face" (ahhh yeah), that maintains the Universe for it stimulates the fucking of the Supernal Partzufim of Abba ("Father") and Aima ("Mother") and the um... er... release, of the Divine um.. efflux - the Shefa ha-Chokmah ShPAa HChKMH שפע החכמה (528), the Outpouring of Wisdom that underlies all of existence.
entity kabbalahThe Zohar is one of the Primary texts in Kabbalistic History. Written in a slightly pidgin Aramaic, it purports to be a recording of the teachings of the Tannaitic Scholar and Rabbi (and Mystic) Simeon ben Yochai from the early second century CE. However, it was undoubtedly a product of 13th Century Castillian Kabbalah, either written by, or derived from a circle of initiates around Rabbi Moses de Leon. Whatever its souce, upon publication, it blew people's fucking minds.
While there are many many different schools of Kabbalah, the Zohar and the teachings derived from it, became the central focus of theosophic Kabbalah. It influenced nearly every other school of Kabbalistic thought and was the basis for the Kabbalah of the ARI, Rabbi Isaac Luria in 16th century Safed, which afterward dominated Kabbalistic practice, and thence into the mainstream of Jewish practice. The Zohar is the source text, or main point of dissemination of almost every form of Kabbalistic cosmology - Tzimtzum, the Four Worlds, the different levels of the Soul, the mystical import of The Garden, etc. etc. etc. The influence of the book cannot be overstated.