QABALAH
(a guide for the confused )
most people not actively involved in the study and practice of
the qabalah would most likely turn away from it with the same
gusto as a schoolboy bunking off latin or algebra, but those who
have worked with this ancient and powerful system of spiritual
development have learn't to love and respect it.
The study of qabalism mainly centres on two books, the first
being the 'sefer yetzirah' which means the book of creation, and
the 'sefer ha zohar' which means the book of splendour.
The exact date when the sefer yetzira was written is'nt known,
although it was in use during the tenth century, it may have been
written several centuries before.
The zohar was written in the late thirteenth century by a spanish
jew by the name of moses de leon, although it was first thought
to have been written by a second century rabbi called simeon ben
yohai, who supposedly lived in a cave with his son, for thirteen
years, in hiding from the romans.
The word qabalah comes from a hebrew word QBL which means from
mouth to ear or received which would indicate an oral tradition.
The qabalah originally developed from an earlier form of hebrew
mysticism known as merkabah, it was the goal of the merkabah
mystic to see the face and throne of god.(the word merkabah
comes from the name of god's throne in hebrew).
It was the mystics task to travel astrally through seven planes
or palaces, gaining entry to each one through contact with the
guardians of each plane, finally after many years of meditation
and astral travel, it would be hoped that the mystic would
receive his illumination while looking upon the face of god.
The modern qabalah is quite a complicated system consisting of
ten sephiroth (spheres) and twenty two paths which connect the
sephiroth( pronounced sefiroht).
The glyph of the tree of life can be meditated upon as it
represents the macrocosm or universal body of god which in turn
represents the microcosm or physical body of man in the form a
miniature universe within each of us.
As we examine the tree of life we will notice that it forms four
parts the first being the supernal triangle, containing the
spheres of kether, (pronounced keter), chokmah(pronounced hokma)
and binah (pronounced beenah), before we go any further i'd better
mention that the word sephira (singular of sephiroth) would best be
translated as a divine emanation, as above the sphere of kether
are three symbolic veils known as ain, ain soph and ain soph aur
which can be translated as no-thing, without limit and limitless
light, as it is through these veils that god's power is initially
manifested into the first sephira of kether and from which the
divine power flows down the tree in a zig-zag pattern known as
the lightning flash.
The main title of kether is the crown which can symbolise many
different things, as it is through meditation on the spheres and
paths which will bring about true illumination, not being told by
anyone what a particular sephira ought to symbolise, another
title of kether is the first swirlings, symbolising a rather
nebulous stirring of blinding white light before any creation can
take place.
The power experienced in the sphere of kether is raw energy and
cannot be tamed by us in our present state of spiritual
evolution. The crown of kether could be compared to the crown
chakra of yoga, the thousand petalled lotus of pure illumination
that if not kept in check and controlled during it's arousal
could cause us more harm than good.
From the sphere of kether the power flows into the sphere of
chokmah, this sephira is at the top of the pillar of mercy, there
are three pillars on the tree of life one positive, one negative
and the middle pillar which balances the energies of the other two.
Chokmah's main title is wisdom, but could better be described by
one of it's other titles of supernal father, as it is in this
sephira that the power of kether is given the first expression of life.
From the sphere of chokmah, the energy flows across the tree to
it's opposite on the pillar of severity, here we find the sphere
of binah who's main title is understanding but could better be
described as the great mother,as we look at the qabalah, we must
get used to the idea of pairs of opposites rather than individual
spheres functioning separately, although each sphere has its own
qualities which we will encounter during meditation or ritual, we
will find that to understand the sephiroth on the pillar of severity
we should examine their opposites on the pillar of mercy.
The energy now flows back to the pillar of mercy, where we
encounter the sphere of chesed (pronounced hesed), who's main
title is mercy, we could think of chesed as a wise ruler and law
giver, all beneficent sky gods and bestowers of wealth can be
contacted in this sephira the planetary power of this sphere is
jupiter and anyone who has studied astrology will probably know
that jupiter is the major benefic,as binah just before it is
ruled by saturn, the major malefic.
As we descend into the sphere of chesed we enter the ethical
triangle, this part of the tree is often associated with mystical
consciousness, as the triangle above it is associated with
spiritual consciousness.
From the sphere of chesed we now move across the tree to the
sphere of geburah (pronounced geboora) the main title of this
sephira is strength, and as chesed represents the wise king on
his throne, geburah represents the war lord in his chariot.
This sephira is associated with mars,the minor malefic and
all war gods can be contacted in this sphere.
From geburah the flow of energy now passes into the middle pillar
and enters the sphere of tiphareth (pronounced tifaret) the main
title of this sephira is beauty, the power of the sun is in
evidence in this sephira, tiphareth has many attributions
assigned to it, in particular those gods of sacrifice,
vegetation, healing, sun gods and divine children, here we
encounter the christ energy in several guises, first as divine
child of promise who is born in conjunction with the suns rebirth
at the winter solstice (sun god), as a healer, then later
fulfilling the role of vegetation god in the symbolic sharing of
bread and wine and finally as sacrificed god/hero of the
crucifixion.
From tiphareth the power flows downwards into the astral triangle,
this is the triangle of psychic consciousness and the first sephira
on the pillar of mercy we encounter in this area is netzach
(pronounced netzak), who's main title is victory. This is the realm
of all natural and instinctive magic, where feeling rules over
learning.The energies of venus are active in this sephira, as venus
is a minor benefic we will find that all works of love and
pleasure are associated with this sphere and all goddess's of
love are to be found on this part of the tree.
From the sphere of netzach the power moves across the tree to the
pillar of severity where we will find the sphere of hod (guess
what! this word actually sounds more or less how it looks).
The main title of this sephira is glory, and it's planetary power
is that of mercury.
As netzach is associated with natural magic, hod is associated
with ceremonial magic, as well as all types of learning,
especially that of a magical nature, hod is the sphere of
communication and all gods of language, writing and magic can be
contacted in this sphere.
From the sphere of hod the flow of energy now moves back to the
central pillar, to the sphere of yesod (sounds the same), the main
title of this sephira is foundation, this is the moon sphere,
where all psychic activity takes place, especially the works of
creative visualisation, astral travel and dreaming, it is in this sephira
where all that happens on earth originally takes shape.
All luner deities can be contacted in this sephira.
From the sphere of yesod the power travels straight down the
middle pillar to the sphere of malkuth (pronounced malkoot), this
is our earth plane and its title is kingdom.the power of the four
elements is in evidence in this sphere, this is the fourth part
of the tree which stands alone as a single sephira. Malkuth is our
home base from which we are striving to spiritually evolve, to
do this meditations on the various paths and sephiroth are
recommended.
The tree of life consists of four worlds where each sephira
exists in four different states of density, so as we delve deeper
into the realms of qabalism we will find the highest world contain
the various names of god, where each sephira has a different
divine name and power that we may use in various forms of
meditation and ritual, this world is known as atziluth
(pronounced atziloot) which is the architypal world.
The next world down is that of the archangels, this world is known
as b'riyah (pronounced breeyah)and is the world of creation.
The next world is that of the choirs of angels and is called
yetzirah (pronounced yetzeerah)this is the world of formation.
The lowest world is our own, which is known as assiah (same
pronunciation), this is the world of action, each sephira is
given planetary attributions in this world.
As we examine the tree of life even more it can be found that
each sphere also has a different set of colours attributed to it
in each of the four worlds,as well as correspondences for
perfumes, animals, birds,numbers, experiences even the characters
on the magic roundabout can be fitted quite nicely onto the tree of
life, such is the scope of this vast subject.
As we approach the end of this introduction to qabalah you might
now be thinking 'yes all very interesting but how can i work with
this system '.
Well i am now going to teach you an exercise which will help
balance your magical and spiritual energies, this exercise can
be used on a daily basis, and is called the middle pillar ritual.
First of all,each of the sephiroth on the tree has it's
counterpart on the human body, and to do this exercise properly
you must visualise yourself standing with your back to the tree
and merging with it, if you are visualising this correctly kether
should be above your head, and imagined as a sphere of brilliant
white light, the god name of kether is EHIEH (pronounced
ayeehey), and as you visualise the sphere of white light, you
must vibrate this name of god several times either aloud or in
the mind, now visualise the flow of white light descending from the
crown in a beam of light to the throat where we vibrate the god
name YHVH ELOHIM,( pronounced yaweh eloheem) this in fact is the
divine name of binah,
although it is used here to create a link between the higher self an the
consciousness .We can say the name YHVH in several ways,
first of all we can take the individual letters in their hebrew form
of yod heh vau heh, or as one word pronounced yaweh
( the letter v in hebrew was originally said as a soft w).It was often
believed that to say the holy name out loud would bring misfortune
and so other words were often substituted such as tetragrammaton
and ha shem,because of these name substitutions over the course of years,
the exact pronunciation of YHVH has been lost.
After vibrating the above name several times, visualise the white
light descending further down the body until the solar plexus is
reached, visualise another sphere of white light creating a
miniature sun within the body, here the name to be vibrated is
YHVH ELOAH V'DAAHT (pronounced yaweh elohah ve'daht), from the
solar plexus the light descends into the groin area where a ball
of light is visualised as you vibrate the divine name SHADDAI EL
CHAI (pronounced shadd eye el chai), this area represents the
lower self. From this area visualise the white light descend to
the feet, the ball of light should be half above the ground and
half below it, this area represents the physical self and the divine
name vibrated here is ADONAI HA ARETZ(pronounced adohnye ha ahretz),
by now all five centres should be illuminated by spheres of white
light, you may meditate like this for as long as feels comfortable
although when you feel ready you can visualise the light fading
and becoming invisible.This has been just a short taster of what
can be learned when studying the qabalah, this is by no means all
of it and i hope this article might dispel some of the fears and
confusion surrounding this endless source of wisdom.Until next time blessed be
SUSAN LEYBOURNE