The Qabalah - Secret Tradition of the West [part 1]
Whether or not the Tarot has its roots in the Jewish
Qabalah as Eliphas Levi assumed, there is no doubt that this Jewish secret
tradition, however spelled, has long and almost universally been regarded as a source
of esoteric wisdom in the West.
It was not for nothing that S.L.MacGregor Mathers
went to the trouble of translating the Latin of Knorr von Rosenrath’s Kabbalah
Denudata (The Kabbalah Unveiled) into English, even if the veil might still
seem pretty opaque. Or Gérard Encausse rendering the ancient Sepher Yetzirah
(Book of Formations) into French, making an early appearance in L’Initiation
magazine in 1887. His academic
biographers André and Beaufils find it difficult to understand how he managed
this without any proven knowledge of the
original language and hint that he might actually have done it from an already
translated Spanish version.
Be this as it may, in 1892 he came out with a book
on the subject, called La Kabbale – for which he sought the blessing of
Adolphe Franck, (1809-1893) a distinguished scholar who had produced an
academic work on the subject back in 1843. The gentleman concerned, perhaps
slightly surprisingly, came back with an encouraging letter, although one in
which he kept his options open by saying he had not yet had time to study
Papus’ work in detail.
I accept with the greatest pleasure the
dedication you wish to offer me in your book on the Kabbale, which is not an
‘essay’ as you choose to call it, but a book of great importance.
I have only been able to run through it
quickly, but I know it enough to tell you that, in my opinion, it is the most
curious, instructive, and knowledgeable that has appeared so far on this
obscure subject.
As Papus remarked at the head of his translation of
the Sepher Yetzirah: “All the scientific, philosophical or religious teachings
of the Kabbale are taken from two fundamental books, the Zohar and the Sepher
Yesirah. It is translated into Latin in the Kabbala denudata and
into English in the Kabbala Unveiled of M.A.Matthers.” (sic) It is interesting to see this acknowledgement
by Papus of one of the founders of the Golden Dawn, even if mispelled.
Papus’ book of
1892 was succeeded, in 1903 by a much expanded version, retitled La Cabbale,
Tradition secrete de l’Occident (Secret Tradition of the West) considerably
augmented by contributions by friends and colleagues such as Stanislas de
Guaita, Paul Sédir, Marc Haven and others – of whom more later.
It included an interesting set of personal lessons
from the pen of Eliphas Levi, recently discovered, and which seem interesting
enough also to reproduce here. Letters 1
and 2 include a list of Levi’s symbolic
correspondences which devoted symbolists may like to ponder.
The numbers 1
to 10 accord fairly well with generally accepted attributions of the ten
spheres of the Tree of Life, but when it comes to the Hebrew alphabet there is
plainly a difference of perspective between adepti on one side of the English Channel
and the other. Rather than taking sides you may find profit in meditating on
what your own might be – and why! You can then start calling yourself a
Kabbalist!
But whatever
your conclusions, there is much good sense in the general teaching of Eliphas
Levi who was far more experienced mystically and magically than most of his
contemporaries and many who came after. It is certainly worth pondering.
ELEMENTS OF THE KABBALA
FIRST LESSON
Dear Sir and Brother,
I can address you like this since you seek the truth
in the sincerity of your heart and are ready to make sacrifices.
The truth is not difficult to find, being the essence of all that is. It is within us and
we are within it. It is like a light that the blind cannot see.
Being is. That is, incontestable and
absolute. The exact idea of Being is truth; its knowledge is science; its ideal
expression is reason; its activity is creation and justice.
You want to believe, you say. For that, it is enough
to know and to love truth. For true faith is the unshakable adherence of the
spirit to the necessary deductions of science in the conjectured infinite.
The occult sciences alone give certainty, because
they take reality for their base and not dreams.
They make true and false discernable in each
religious symbol. Truth is the same everywhere, but the false varies according
to place, time and people.
The occult sciences are three in number: the Kabbale,
Magic and Hermeticism.
The Kabbale, or traditional science of the
Hebrews, could be called the mathematics of human thought. It is the algebra of
faith. It solves all problems of the soul by identifying the unknown, like
equations. It gives to ideas the clarity and rigorous exactitude of numbers;
its results are infallible for the spirit (relative, all the same, to the
sphere of human consciousness) and peace profound for the heart.
Magic, or the science
of the magi, has had for its representatives in antiquity the disciples and also
perhaps the Zoroastrian masters. It is
the knowledge of secret and particular laws of nature that produce hidden
forces. The magnetism, whether natural or artificial, that can exist beyond the
world of metals. In a word, to use a modern expression, it is the science of
universal magnetism.
Hermeticism
is the science of nature hidden in hieroglyphs and symbols of the ancient
world. It is research on the principle of life, with the dream (for those who
have not yet arrived) of accomplishment of the great work. The reproduction, by
man, of the natural and divine fire that creates and regenerates beings.
There you have, sir, the things that you wish to
study. Its circle is immense, but the principles are so simple that they are
represented and contained in the forms of numbers and letters of the alphabet.
“It is a labour of Hercules that is like a children’s game” say the masters of
the sacred science.
The dispositions to be successful in this study are:
great rectitude of judgement, and great independence of spirit. It is necessary
to abandon all prejudice and all preconceived ideas, which is why Christ said:
“If you do not come with the simplicity of a child, you will never enter
Malkuth,” which is to say, into the kingdom of knowledge.
We will start with the Kabbale – which can be
divided into Bereshith, Mercavah, Gematria and Lemurah.
Yours in the holy science, Eliphas Levi.
SECOND LESSON
THE KABBALE – AIM AND METHOD
That to which one aims in studying
the Kabbale is to arrive at peace profound through the tranquillity of the
spirit and a peaceful heart.
Tranquillity of the spirit is a consequence
of certainty; peace of heart of patience and faith.
Without faith, knowledge leads to
doubt; without knowledge, faith leads to superstition. United, the two give
certainty – but uniting does not
mean confusing them. The object of faith is a hypothesis, and it becomes
a certainty when the hypothesis is necessitated by evidence or by the
demonstrations of science.
Science consists of facts. The
repetition of facts suggests laws. The generality of facts in the presence of
this or that force demonstrates the existence of laws. Intelligent laws are
necessarily wanted and directed by the intelligence. Unity in laws leads us to
suppose the unity of a legislative intelligence. This intelligence, that we are
led to suppose because of its manifest works, is impossible for us to define.
It is what we call God!
You receive my letter, which is an
evident fact. You recognise my writing and my thoughts, and conclude from that
that it is truly me who has written to you. This is a reasonable
hypothesis, but the necessary hypothesis is that someone has
written that letter. It could be counterfeit, but you have no reason to suppose
that. If you suppose it anyway, you make a very doubtful hypothesis. If you
claim that the written letter has fallen from the sky, you make an absurd
hypothesis.
Here then, following the kabbalistic
method, is how certainty is formed:
Evidence....................................................certainty
Scientific
demonstration............................certainty
Necessary hypothesis................................certainty
Reasonable
hypothesis..............................probability
Doubtful
hypothesis..................................doubt
Absurd
hypothesis.....................................error
In following this method the spirit
acquires real infallibility, since it affirms what it knows, believes what it
must necessarily suppose, admits reasonable suppositions, examines doubtful
suppositions, and rejects absurd suppositions.
All Kabbale is contained in what the
masters call the thirty two Paths and fifty Doors or Gateways.
The thirty two paths are thirty two
absolute and real ideas attached to the signs of the ten arithmetical numbers
and the twenty two letters of the Hebrew alphabet.
Here are these ideas:
NUMBERS
1 Supreme power
2 Absolute
wisdom
3 Infinite
intelligence
4 Good
5 Justice or
rigour
6 Beauty
7 Victory
8 Eternity
9 Fecundity
10 Reality
LETTERS
Aleph Father
Beth Mother
Ghimel Nature
Daleth Authority
Hé Religion
Vau Liberty
Dzain Propriety
Cheth Repartition
Theth Prudence
Iod Order
Caph Force
Lamed Sacrifice
Mem Death
Nun Reversability
Samech Universal
Being
Gnain Equilibrium
Phè Immortality
Tsade Shadow and reflection
Koph Light
Resch Recognition
Thau Synthesis
1 comment:
The keyword for Tsade jumped out, and did provoke a very valid internal reference. I've bookmarked, shared, and saved this for continual reference :) Thanks Gareth!
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