The Kabbalah: History and Methods

2nd temple Judaism is merely a copy of Zoroastrianism, which is a superior religion in every single way.

By thirty-two mysterious paths of wisdom Jah has engraved [all things], [who is] the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, the living God, the Almighty God, He that is uplifted and exalted, He that Dwells forever, and whose Name is holy; having created His world by three [derivatives] of [the Hebrew root-word] sefar : namely, sefer (a book), sefor (a count) and sippur (a story), along with ten calibrations of empty space, twenty-two letters [of the Hebrew alphabet], [of which] three are principal [letters] (i.e. א מ ש), seven are double-sounding [consonants] (i.e. בג"ד כפר"ת) and twelve are ordinary [letters] (i.e. ה ו ז ח ט י ל נ ס ע צ ק).

These divisions correspond to Jewish concepts such as the 3 letters making up God's name (yud, he, and vav), the 7 days of the Jewish week, the 12 tribes of Israel, and the 12 months of the Hebrew calendar, as well as to early "scientific" or philosophical ideas such as the 4 elements (fire, water, air, earth), the 7 planets, 10 directions, the 12 zodiacal constellations, various human physical functions, and a list of the parts of the human body. The book describes how God used the 10 sefirot and the 22 Hebrew letters in various combinations, and finally (as described in the closing section of the book), how he revealed this secret to Abraham as a covenant with him. God's covenant with Abraham is described as being two-fold:

>Between the 10 toes of the feet is the "covenant of the circumcision" (mila in Hebrew, which also means "word")
>Between the 10 fingers of the hands (also identified with the 10 sephirot) is the "covenant of the tongue" (lashon in Hebrew, which also means "language")

The last sentence describes how God "connects" the 22 letters of the Torah to Abraham's tongue, and reveals its secret to Abraham.

I've been looking forward to this one. Thanks Thoth.

I like Zoroastrainism too.
Enjoy:
mega.nz/#F!dIhi0Y5B!MwSi9d4DWxLerpoLAiPBzQ

According to the Sefer Yetzirah, the first emanation from the spirit of God was the ruach (= "spirit," "air") that produced water, which, in its turn, formed the genesis of fire. In the beginning, however, these three substances had only a potential existence, and came into actual being only by means of the three letters Aleph, Mem, Shin; and as these are the principal parts of speech, so those three substances are the elements from which the cosmos has been formed.

The cosmos consists of three parts, the world, the year (or time), and man, which are combined in such a way that the three primordial elements are contained in each of the three categories. The water formed the earth; heaven was produced from the fire; and the ruach produced the air between heaven and earth. The three seasons of the year, winter, summer, and the rainy season, correspond to water, fire, and ruach in the same way as man consists of a head (corresponding to fire), torso (represented by ruach), and the other parts of the body (equivalent to water).

The seven double letters produced the seven planets, the "seven days," and the seven apertures in man (two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, and one mouth). Again, as the seven double letters vary, being pronounced either hard or soft, so the seven planets are in continuous movement, approaching or receding from the earth. The "seven days," in like manner, were created by the seven double letters because they change in time according to their relation to the planets. The seven apertures in man connect him with the outer world as the seven planets join heaven and earth. Hence these organs are subject to the influence of the planets, the right eye being under Saturn, the left eye under Jupiter, and the like.

I do hope you realize when I make a thread this size I'm just copy/pasting very obscure wiki articles with a splash of commentary.

I encourage folks to follow my citations to their logical conclusions. That link in the OP has a very robust collection of practical, source, and academic materials on Kabbalah.

The twelve "simple" letters created the twelve signs of the zodiac, whose relation to the earth is always simple or stable; and to them belong the twelve months in time, and the twelve "leaders" in man. The latter are those organs which perform functions in the body independent of the outside world, being the hands, feet, kidneys, gall, intestines, stomach, liver, pancreas, and spleen; and they are, accordingly, subject to the twelve signs of the Zodiac.

In its relation to the construction of the cosmos, matter consists of the three primordial elements, which, however, are not chemically connected with one another, but modify one another only physically. Power (δύναμις) emanates from the seven and the twelve heavenly bodies, or, in other words, from the planets and the signs of the zodiac. The "dragon" rules over the world (matter and the heavenly bodies); the sphere rules time; and the heart rules over the human body. The author sums up this explanation in a single sentence: "The dragon is like to a king on his throne, the sphere like a king traveling in his country, and the heart like a king at war."

To harmonize the biblical statement of the creation "ex nihilo" with the doctrine of the primordial elements, the Sefer Yetzirah assumes a double creation, one ideal and the other real.

yes I realize. I just like being spoon fed.

Their name is possibly derived from the fact that as numbers express only the relations of two objects to each other, so the ten Sefirot are only abstractions and not realities. Again, as the numbers from two to ten are derived from the number one, so the ten Sefirot are derived from one "their end is fixed in their beginning, as the flame is bound to the coal". Hence the Sefirot must not be conceived as emanations in the ordinary sense of the word, but rather as modifications of the will of God, which first changes to air, then becomes water, and finally fire, the last being no further removed from God than the first. The Sefer Yetzirah shows how the sephirot are a creation of God and the will of God in its varied manifestations.

Besides these abstract ten Sefirot, which are conceived only ideally, the twenty-two letters of the alphabet produced the material world, for they are real, and are the formative powers of all existence and development. By means of these elements the actual creation of the world took place, and the ten Sefirot, which before this had only an ideal existence, became realities. This is, then, a modified form of the Talmudic doctrine that God created heaven and earth by means of letters (Berachot 58a). The explanation on this point is obscure since the relation of the twenty-two letters to the ten Sefirot is not clearly defined.

The first sentence of the book reads: "Thirty-two paths, marvels of wisdom, hath God engraved...," these paths being then explained as the ten Sefirot and the twenty-two letters. While the Sefirot are expressly designated as "abstracts", it is said of the letters: "Twenty-two letters: God drew them, hewed them, combined them, weighed them, interchanged them, and through them produced the whole creation and everything that is destined to come into being".

>fin, pt 1

I do think my synthesis and commentary helps unite disparate articles that may not be linked.

With the frame of Sefer Yetzirah made, those with some background in these materials should immediately recognize the form of the Tree of Life. BUT, it should be noted that before the Tree, it was a geometric solid, pictured here, and again yanked from Ezekiel. As time went on with exposure to Neoplatonism, concentric circles were used to represent the Sefirot, but this mode only persisted until about 1600 AD.

To finish the transition between old forms and new forms, we must turn to Geniza Egypt where the final surviving Hekhalot literature was found before the establishment of the new Lurianic Kabbalah.

The Cairo Genizah, alternatively spelled Geniza, is a collection of some 300,000 Jewish manuscript fragments that were found in the genizah or storeroom of the Ben Ezra Synagogue in Fustat or Old Cairo, Egypt. These manuscripts outline a 1,000-year continuum (870 CE to 19th century) of Jewish Middle-Eastern and North African history and comprise the largest and most diverse collection of medieval manuscripts in the world. The Genizah texts are written in various languages, especially Hebrew, Arabic and Aramaic, mainly on vellum and paper, but also on papyrus and cloth. In addition to containing Jewish religious texts such as Biblical, Talmudic and later Rabbinic works (some in the original hands of the authors), the Genizah gives a detailed picture of the economic and cultural life of the North African and Eastern Mediterranean regions, especially during the 10th to 13th centuries.

The first European to note the collection was apparently Simon van Gelderen (an ancestor of Heinrich Heine), who visited the Ben Ezra synagogue and reported about the Cairo Genizah in 1752 or 1753. In 1864 the traveler and scholar Jacob Saphir visited the synagogue and explored the Genizah for two days; while he did not identify any specific item of significance he suggested that possibly valuable items might be in store. In 1896, the Scottish scholars, twin sisters Agnes S. Lewis and Margaret D. Gibson returned from Egypt with fragments from the Genizah they considered to be of interest, and showed them to Solomon Schechter "their irrepressibly curious rabbinical friend". Schechter, immediately recognized the importance of the material. With the financial assistance of his Cambridge colleague and friend Charles Taylor, Schechter made an expedition to Egypt, where, with the assistance of the Chief Rabbi, he sorted and removed the greater part of the contents of the Genizah chamber. Agnes and Margaret joined him there en route to Sinai (their fourth visit in five years) and he showed them the chamber which Agnes reported was "simply indescribable".

The Cairo Genizah documents include both religious and secular writings, composed from about 870 AD to as late as 1880. The normal practice for genizot (pl. of genizah) was to remove the contents periodically and bury them in a cemetery. As the Jews considered Hebrew to be the language of God, and the Hebrew script to be the literal writing of God, the texts could not be destroyed even long after they had served their purpose. The Jews who wrote the materials in the Genizah were familiar with the culture and language of their contemporary society. They also demonstrate that the Jewish creators of the documents were part of their contemporary society: they practiced the same trades as their Muslim and Christian neighbors, including farming; they bought, sold, and rented properties.

The find was staggeringly important as it contained an unknown Hekhalot fragment known as the Ozhayah Fragment, the beginning and end of which are now lost. The surviving Ozhayah Fragment consists of a Hebrew narrative text in three demarcated sections. The first (2a 1–2b 24a) is marked with the concluding title “The Seal of the Chariot.” It is a narration by the angel Ozhayah and it includes a number of verbal parallels with the Hekhalot Rabbati and one each with the Hekhalot Zutarti and the Sar Torah. It opens with an obscure and poorly-preserved story involving creation and the Flood, segueing into a mysterious description of a future sage in Babylonia. Ozhayah describes an ascent praxis called “the seal of the descent to the chariot” (2a 25) culminating in the presentation of the heavenly angel called “the Youth,” who greets the successful practitioner at the end of his ascent. This section closes with testimony from R. Ishmael to the efficacy of the praxis. The second section (2b 24b–44a) has the opening title “The Prince of Torah that belongs to it” and is a Sar Torah praxis that apparently is intended to go with the preceding ascent praxis. It quotes R. Ishmael twice and it shares a hymn with Sar Torah §306. A blank space on line 44 indicates the end of this section. The third section (2b 44b–49a) opens with “Anaphel said:” and closes with the title “the might of Anaphel.” It is a variant formulation of material found in Hekhalot Zutarti §§420–421, some of which pertains to the angel Anaphiel. Line 49b begins a new unit with a quotation of R. Ishmael in which he adjures an angel. The rest of the text is lost.

The relevant mystical Genizah fragments are in "Hekhalot Literature in Translation", in the folder.

In Judaic and Christian lore, Uzza has been also used as an alternative name for the angel Metatron in the Sefer ha-heshek. More commonly he is referred to as either the seraph Semyaza or as one of the three guardian angels of Egypt (Rahab, Mastema, and Duma) that harried the Jews during the Exodus. As Semyaza in legend he is the seraph tempted by Ishtahar into revealing the explicit name of God and was thus burned alive and hung head down between heaven and earth as the constellation Orion. In the 3rd book of Enoch and in the Zohar he is one of the fallen angels punished for cohabiting with human women and fathering the anakim. ‘Uzzā is also identified with Abezi Thibod ("father devoid of counsel") who in early Jewish lore is also used as another name for Samael and Mastema referring to a powerful spirit who shared princedom of Egypt with Rahab and opposed Moses to eventually drown in the Red Sea.

According to Easton's Bible Dictionary, Uzza was a garden in which Manasseh and Amon were buried (2 Kings 21:18, 26). It was probably near the king's palace in Jerusalem, or may have formed part of the palace grounds. Manasseh may probably have acquired it from someone of this name. Another view is that these kings were culpable of idolatry and drew the attention of Ezekiel.

Al-‘Uzzá (Arabic: العزى al-ʻUzzá [al ʕuzzaː]) was one of the three chief goddesses of Arabian religion in pre-Islamic times and was worshiped by the pre-Islamic Arabs along with Allāt and Manāt. The Nabataeans equated her with the Greek goddess Aphrodite Ourania (Roman Venus Caelestis). A stone cube at aṭ-Ṭā’if (near Mecca) was held sacred as part of her cult. She is mentioned in the Qur'an Sura 53:19 as being one of the goddesses that people worshiped.

Al-‘Uzzá, like Hubal, was called upon for protection by the pre-Islamic Quraysh. "In 624 at the 'battle called Uhud', the war cry of the Qurayshites was, "O people of Uzzā, people of Hubal!" Al-‘Uzzá also later appears in Ibn Ishaq's account of the alleged Satanic Verses.

The temple dedicated to al-‘Uzzá and the statue itself was destroyed by Khalid ibn al Walid in Nakhla in 630 AD.

Ouza, also Semyaza, Shemhazai, Amezyarak, Azza, Uzza, Semyaza, a major leader of the fall from heaven in Christian mythology, he was also one of the angels that came down from heaven alongside Azazel to interbreed with humans. Ouza before the fall was of the rank of Seraphim. In legend, he is the seraph tempted by the maiden Ishtahar to reveal to her the Explicit Name of God. Often it is speculated that a main reason for Azza's expulsion from heaven is that Azza objected to the high rank given to Enoch when the latter was transformed from a mortal into the angel Metatron. In Solomonic lore the story is that Azza was the angel who revealed to the Jewish king the heavenly arcana, thus making Solomon the wisest man on earth. Of the 2 groups of angels headed by Metatron, one of the groups, the angels of justice, were under the rulership of Azza, who at this time had not yet fallen. Uzza is the tutelary angel of the Egyptians. The name Semyaza means literally "the name Azza."

Semyaza's sons, Hiwa and Hiya, by one of Eve's daughters, were so mighty that they daily ate 1000 camels, 1000 horses, and 1000 oxen.

Azza, according to the rabbinic tradition, is suspended between Heaven and Earth along with Azazel as punishment for having had carnal knowledge of mortal women. Ouza (Azza, Uzza, Semyaza, etc.) is said to be constantly falling, with one eye shut and the other open, to see his plight and suffer the more. It is said that he now hangs, head down, and is the constellation of Orion.

Modern scholars have identified several mystical brotherhoods that functioned in Europe starting in the 12th century. Some, such as the "Iyyun Circle" and the "Unique Cherub Circle", were truly esoteric, remaining largely anonymous.

There were certain Rishonim ("Elder Sages") of exoteric Judaism who are known to have been experts in Kabbalah. One of the best known is Nahmanides (the Ramban) (1194–1270) whose commentary on the Torah is considered to be based on Kabbalistic knowledge. Bahya ben Asher (the Rabbeinu Behaye) (d 1340) also combined Torah commentary and Kabbalah. Another was Isaac the Blind (1160–1235), the teacher of Nahmanides, who is widely argued to have written the first work of classic Kabbalah, the Bahir (Book of "Brightness").

The Franciscan Ramon Llull (1232-1316) was "the first Christian to acknowledge and appreciate kabbalah as a tool of conversion", though he was "not a Kabbalist, nor was he versed in any particular Kabbalistic approach". Not interested in the possibilities of scholarly Jewish influence, which began later in the Renaissance, his reading of newly emergent Kabbalah was for the possibilities of theological debate with the Jews.

Many Orthodox Jews reject the idea that Kabbalah underwent significant historical development or change such as has been proposed above. After the composition known as the Zohar was presented to the public in the 13th century, the term "Kabbalah" began to refer more specifically to teachings derived from, or related to, the Zohar. At an even later time, the term began to generally be applied to Zoharic teachings as elaborated upon by Isaac Luria Arizal. Historians generally date the start of Kabbalah as a major influence in Jewish thought and practice with the publication of the Zohar and climaxing with the spread of the Arizal's teachings. The majority of Haredi Jews accept the Zohar as the representative of the Ma'aseh Merkavah and Ma'aseh B'reshit that are referred to in Talmudic texts.

An early expression of Christian Kabbalah was among the Spanish conversos from Judaism, from the late 13th century to the Expulsion from Spain of 1492. These include Abner of Burgos and Pablo de Heredia. Heredia's "Epistle of Secrets" is "the first recognizable work of Christian Kabbalah", and was quoted by Pietro Galatino who influenced Athanasius Kircher. However, Heredia’s Kabbalah consists of quotes from non-existent Kabbalistic works, and distorted or fake quotes from real Kabbalistic sources.

The Platonic Academy (also known as the Neoplatonic Florentine Academy) was a 15th-century discussion group in Florence, Italy. It was founded after Gemistus Pletho reintroduced Plato's thoughts to Western Europe during the 1438 - 1439 Council of Florence. It was sponsored by Cosimo de' Medici, led by Marsilio Ficino and supported by Medici until death of Lorenzo Medici. The academy would proceed to translate into Latin all of Plato's works, the Enneads of Plotinus, and various other Neoplatonic works.

Lorenzo de' Medici, named "il Magnifico" (piazzale degli Uffizi) Pico della Mirandola became the first Christian scholar to master the Jewish mystical theology of Kabbalah. He was a student of Marsilio Ficino at the Florentine Academy. His syncretic world-view combined Platonism, Neoplatonism, Aristotelianism, Hermeticism and Kabbalah. He attempted to develop a form of syncretism whereby different systems of thought could be harmonized based on shared elements of truth. Pico asserted that even though Platonism and Christianity had different views, they held some truths in common. An important aspect of Pico’s philosophical thought was his defense of the dignity and liberty of the human being, set forth in On the Dignity of Man (1486). Both Ficino and Pico resurrected the humanistic views of ancient Greece. However, the humanism of the Renaissance was more individualistic than the humanism of ancient times.

The biographer John Addington Symonds speculates that Michelangelo Buonarroti spent time among the members of the Platonic Academy during Buonarroti's early years in Florence, fully absorbing its doctrines and later authoring poems and other works demonstrating agreement with their doctrines.

Platonic Academy was in fact dissolved soon after death of Lorenzo Medici in 1492. Poliziano and Mirandola died under very mysterious circumstances in 1494.

Mirandola's work on Kabbalah was further developed by Athanasius Kircher (1602–1680), a Jesuit priest, Hermeticist and polymath; in 1652, Kircher wrote on the subject in Oedipus Aegyptiacus. Though they both worked from within the Christian tradition, both were more interested in the syncretic approach. Their work led directly into Occult and Hermetic Qabalah.

That could not be said of Reuchlin, Knorr von Rosenroth and Kemper.

Johann Reuchlin, (1455–1522), was "Pico's most important follower". His main sources for Kabbalah were Menahem Recanati (Commentary on the Torah, Commentary on the Daily Prayers) and Joseph Gikatilla (Sha'are Orah, Ginnat 'Egoz). Reuchlin argued that human history divides into three periods: a natural period in which God revealed Himself as Shaddai (שדי), the period of the Torah in which God "revealed Himself to Moses through the four-lettered name of the Tetragrammaton" (יהוה), and the period of redemption. The five-letter name associated with this period is the tetragrammaton with the additional letter shin (ש). This name, YHShVH (יהשוה for 'Jesus', though the name's Hebrew version would be יהושוע), is also known as the pentagrammaton. The first of Reuchlin's two books on Cabala, De verbo mirifico, "speaks of the […] miraculous name of Jesus derived from the tetragrammaton". His second book, De arte cabalistica, is "a broader, more informed excursion into various kabbalistic concerns".

Jewish Kabbalah was absorbed into the Hermetic tradition at least as early as the 15th century when Giovanni Pico della Mirandola promoted a syncretic world view combining Platonism, Neoplatonism, Aristotelianism, Hermeticism and Kabbalah. Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa (1486–1535), a German magician, occult writer, theologian, astrologer, and alchemist, wrote the influential Three Books of Occult Philosophy, incorporating Kabbalah in its theory and practice of Western magic. It contributed strongly to the Renaissance view of ritual magic's relationship with Christianity. Pico's Hermetic syncretism was further developed by Athanasius Kircher, a Jesuit priest, hermeticist and polymath, who wrote extensively on the subject in 1652, bringing further elements such as Orphism and Egyptian mythology to the mix.

Following the upheavals and dislocations in the Jewish world as a result of anti-Judaism during the Middle Ages, and the national trauma of the expulsion from Spain in 1492, closing the Spanish Jewish flowering, Jews began to search for signs of when the long-awaited Jewish Messiah would come to comfort them in their painful exiles. In the 16th century, the community of Safed in the Galilee became the centre of Jewish mystical, exegetical, legal and liturgical developments. The Safed mystics responded to the Spanish expulsion by turning Kabbalistic doctrine and practice towards a messianic focus. Moses Cordovero and his school popularized the teachings of the Zohar which had until then been only a restricted work. Cordovero's comprehensive works achieved the systemisation of preceding Kabbalah. The author of the Shulkhan Arukh (the normative Jewish "Code of Law"), Rabbi Yosef Karo (1488–1575), was also a scholar of Kabbalah who kept a personal mystical diary. Moshe Alshich wrote a mystical commentary on the Torah, and Shlomo Alkabetz wrote Kabbalistic commentaries and poems.

Jewish Kabbalah was absorbed into the Hermetic tradition at least as early as the 15th century when Giovanni Pico della Mirandola promoted a syncretic world view combining Platonism, Neoplatonism, Aristotelianism, Hermeticism and Kabbalah. Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa (1486–1535), a German magician, occult writer, theologian, astrologer, and alchemist, wrote the influential Three Books of Occult Philosophy, incorporating Kabbalah in its theory and practice of Western magic. It contributed strongly to the Renaissance view of ritual magic's relationship with Christianity. Pico's Hermetic syncretism was further developed by Athanasius Kircher, a Jesuit priest, hermeticist and polymath, who wrote extensively on the subject in 1652, bringing further elements such as Orphism and Egyptian mythology to the mix.

Following the upheavals and dislocations in the Jewish world as a result of anti-Judaism during the Middle Ages, and the national trauma of the expulsion from Spain in 1492, closing the Spanish Jewish flowering, Jews began to search for signs of when the long-awaited Jewish Messiah would come to comfort them in their painful exiles. In the 16th century, the community of Safed in the Galilee became the centre of Jewish mystical, exegetical, legal and liturgical developments. The Safed mystics responded to the Spanish expulsion by turning Kabbalistic doctrine and practice towards a messianic focus. Moses Cordovero and his school popularized the teachings of the Zohar which had until then been only a restricted work. Cordovero's comprehensive works achieved the systemisation of preceding Kabbalah. The author of the Shulkhan Arukh (the normative Jewish "Code of Law"), Rabbi Yosef Karo (1488–1575), was also a scholar of Kabbalah who kept a personal mystical diary. Moshe Alshich wrote a mystical commentary on the Torah, and Shlomo Alkabetz wrote Kabbalistic commentaries and poems.

The messianism of the Safed mystics culminated in Kabbalah receiving its biggest transformation in the Jewish world with the explication of its new interpretation from Rabbi Isaac Luria (1534–1572), by his disciples Hayim Vital and Israel Sarug. Both transcribed Luria's teachings (in variant forms) gaining them widespread popularity, Sarug taking Lurianic Kabbalah to Europe, Vital authoring the latterly canonical version. Luria's teachings came to rival the influence of the Zohar and Luria stands, alongside Moses de Leon, as the most influential mystic in Jewish history.

Balthasar Walther, (1558 - before 1630), was a Silesian physician. In 1598-1599, Walther undertook a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in order to learn about the intricacies of the Kabbalah and Jewish mysticism from groups in Safed and elsewhere, including amongst the followers of Isaac Luria. Despite his claim to have spent six years in these travels, it appears that he only made several shorter trips. Walther himself did not author any significant works of Christian Kabbalah, but maintained a voluminous manuscript collection of magical and kabbalistic works. His significance for the history of Christian Kabbalah is that his ideas and doctrines exercised a profound influence on the works of the German theosopher, Jakob Böhme, in particular Böhme's Forty Questions on the Soul (c.1621.

The Kabbalah of the Sefardi (Iberian Peninsula) and Mizrahi (Middle East, North Africa, and the Caucasus) Torah scholars has a long history. Kabbalah in various forms was widely studied, commented upon, and expanded by North African, Turkish, Yemenite, and Asian scholars from the 16th century onward. It flourished among Sefardic Jews in Tzfat (Safed), Israel even before the arrival of Isaac Luria. Yosef Karo, author of the Shulchan Arukh was part of the Tzfat school of Kabbalah. Shlomo Alkabetz, author of the hymn Lekhah Dodi, taught there.

His disciple Moses ben Jacob Cordovero (or Cordoeiro) authored Pardes Rimonim, an organised, exhaustive compilation of kabbalistic teachings on a variety of subjects up to that point. Cordovero headed the academy of Tzfat until his death, when Isaac Luria rose to prominence. Rabbi Moshe's disciple Eliyahu De Vidas authored the classic work, Reishit Chochma, combining kabbalistic and mussar (moral) teachings. Chaim Vital also studied under Cordovero, but with the arrival of Luria became his main disciple. Vital claimed to be the only one authorised to transmit the Ari's teachings, though other disciples also published books presenting Luria's teachings.

The Oriental Kabbalist tradition continues until today among Sephardi and Mizrachi Hakham sages and study circles. Among leading figures were the Yemenite Shalom Sharabi (1720–1777) of the Beit El Synagogue, the Jerusalemite Hida (1724–1806), the Baghdad leader Ben Ish Chai (1832–1909), and the Abuhatzeira dynasty.

One of the most innovative theologians in early-modern Judaism was Judah Loew ben Bezalel (1525–1609) known as the "Maharal of Prague". Many of his written works survive and are studied for their unusual combination of the mystical and philosophical approaches in Judaism. While conversant in Kabbalistic learning, he expresses Jewish mystical thought in his own individual approach without reference to Kabbalistic terms. The Maharal is most well known in popular culture for the legend of the golem of Prague, associated with him in folklore. However, his thought influenced Hasidism, for example being studied in the introspective Przysucha school. During the 20th century, Isaac Hutner (1906–1980) continued to spread the Maharal's works indirectly through his own teachings and publications within the non-Hasidic yeshiva world.

The spiritual and mystical yearnings of many Jews remained frustrated after the death of Isaac Luria and his disciples and colleagues. No hope was in sight for many following the devastation and mass killings of the pogroms that followed in the wake of the Chmielnicki Uprising (1648–1654), the largest single massacre of Jews until the Holocaust, and it was at this time that a controversial scholar by the name of Sabbatai Zevi (1626–1676) captured the hearts and minds of the Jewish masses of that time with the promise of a newly minted messianic Millennialism in the form of his own personage.

His charisma, mystical teachings that included repeated pronunciations of the holy Tetragrammaton in public, tied to an unstable personality, and with the help of his greatest enthusiast, Nathan of Gaza, convinced the Jewish masses that the Jewish Messiah had finally come. It seemed that the esoteric teachings of Kabbalah had found their "champion" and had triumphed, but this era of Jewish history unravelled when Zevi became an apostate to Judaism by converting to Islam after he was arrested by the Ottoman Sultan and threatened with execution for attempting a plan to conquer the world and rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem. Unwilling to give up their messianic expectations, a minority of Zvi's Jewish followers converted to Islam along with him.

Many of his followers, known as Sabbatians, continued to worship him in secret, explaining his conversion not as an effort to save his life but to recover the sparks of the holy in each religion, and most leading rabbis were always on guard to root them out. The Dönmeh movement in modern Turkey is a surviving remnant of the Sabbatian schism.

The following century produced Athanasius Kircher, a German Jesuit priest, scholar and polymath. He wrote extensively on the subject in 1652, bringing further elements such as Orphism and Egyptian mythology to the mix in his work, Oedipus Aegyptiacus. It was illustrated by Kircher's own adaptation of the Tree of Life. Kircher's version of the Tree of Life is still used in Western Kabbalah.

Adorján Czipleá (1639–1664) was a Hungarian Christian Kabbalist and mystic. Not much is known about his life except for the fact that in 1662 – after some years of formal education in his native country – he journeyed to England in order to continue his philosophical and theological studies. There is no knowledge regarding the circumstances of his death, which occurred within two years after his arrival.

While in England, Czipleá wrote a controversial short treatise entitled De ente et malo (On Being and Evil) which circulated among a narrow group of prominent European intellectuals including, among others, Henry More, Joseph Glanvill, Thomas Vaughan and Franciscus Mercurius van Helmont. Although this work appears to be lost, records of its radical views (indictable for heresy at the time) survived in contemporary accounts of it. Probably the most detailed of these accounts is found in Méric Casaubon’s letter to Edward Stillingfleet, dated September 1670:

*
>Kircher's version of the Tree of Life is still used in Western Kabbalah.
(The previous configuration wast the Lurianic version, pictured here).
*

"One such queer scholar was Mr. Adorján Czipleá, who held that the fallen angels did nevertheless not fall from Being since they possesse the attribute of intelligence which is, according to Plato, equivalente to that of existence. From this he deriv’d the preposterous idea that the first emanation, or Intelligence, or Being, is compromis’d withe the fallen ones: esse (sive intellectus) est diabolus. Being is thus always torn, in perpetual strife, between Satan and the Lord’s angels. The Kabbalah, the Magyar claim’d, is the only one capable of discerning the two sides, and therefore delivering us from the grasp of Being towards Union to the One and Only God, for it alone can accesse His angels through His Word and climbe to the mystical Presence of God."

Scholarly interest in his idiosyncratic mysticism has only recently begun to emerge. Speculation regarding Czipleá’s Hermetic and Kabbalistic sources ranges from John Dee, Pico della Mirandola and Johann Reuchlin, while attention has been drawn to his possible influence on the Cambridge Platonists and Metaphysical Poets.

Johan Kemper (1670–1716) was a Hebrew teacher, whose tenure at Uppsala University lasted from 1697 to 1716. He was Emanuel Swedenborg's probable Hebrew tutor.

Kemper, formerly known as Moses ben Aaron of Cracow, was a convert to Lutheranism from Judaism. During his time at Uppsala, he wrote his three-volume work on the Zohar entitled Matteh Mosche ('The Staff of Moses'). In it, he attempted to show that the Zohar contained the Christian doctrine of the Trinity.

This belief also drove him to make a literal translation of the Gospel of Matthew into Hebrew and to write a kabbalistic commentary on it.

Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto (1707–1746), based in Italy, was a precocious Talmudic scholar who deduced a need for the public teaching and study of Kabbalah. He established a yeshiva for Kabbalah study and actively recruited students. He wrote copious manuscripts in an appealing clear Hebrew style, all of which gained the attention of both admirers and rabbinical critics, who feared another "Shabbetai Zevi (false messiah) in the making". His rabbinical opponents forced him to close his school, hand over and destroy many of his most precious unpublished kabbalistic writings, and go into exile in the Netherlands. He eventually moved to the Land of Israel. Some of his most important works, such as Derekh Hashem, survive and are used as a gateway to the world of Jewish mysticism.

Rabbi Elijah of Vilna (Vilna Gaon) (1720–1797), based in Lithuania, had his teachings encoded and publicised by his disciples, such as Rabbi Chaim Volozhin, who (poshumously) published the mystical-ethical work Nefesh HaChaim. He staunchly opposed the new Hasidic movement and warned against their public displays of religious fervour inspired by the mystical teachings of their rabbis. Although the Vilna Gaon did not look with favor on the Hasidic movement, he did not prohibit the study and engagement in the Kabbalah. This is evident from his writings in the Even Shlema. "He that is able to understand secrets of the Torah and does not try to understand them will be judged harshly, may God have mercy". (The Vilna Gaon, Even Shlema, 8:24). "The Redemption will only come about through learning Torah, and the essence of the Redemption depends upon learning Kabbalah" (The Vilna Gaon, Even Shlema, 11:3).

Post-Enlightenment Romanticism encouraged societal interest in occultism, of which Hermetic Qabalistic writing was a feature. Francis Barrett's The Magus (1801) handbook of ceremonial magic gained little notice until it influenced the French magical enthusiast Eliphas Levi (1810-1875). His fanciful literary embellishments of magical invocations presented Qabalism as synonymous with both so-called White and so-called Black magic. Levi's innovations included attributing the Hebrew letters to the Tarot cards, thus formulating a link between Western magic and Jewish esotericism which has remained fundamental ever since in Western magic. Levi had a deep impact on the magic of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Through the occultists inspired by him (including Aleister Crowley, who considered himself Levi's reincarnation) Levi is remembered as one of the key founders of the 20th century revival of magic.

One author it's incredibly worthwhile to read is Scholem.

There's one issue, he doesn't like to give exegesis in his footnotes. He'll drop a bit of lore and not expound upon it.

Gerhard Scholem who, after his immigration from Germany to Israel, changed his name to Gershom Scholem (Hebrew: גרשם שלום) (December 5, 1897 – February 21, 1982), was a German-born Israeli philosopher and historian. He is widely regarded as the founder of the modern, academic study of Kabbalah, becoming the first Professor of Jewish Mysticism at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His close friends included Walter Benjamin and Leo Strauss, and selected letters from his correspondence with those philosophers have been published.

Scholem wrote his doctoral thesis on the oldest known kabbalistic text, Sefer ha-Bahir. Drawn to Zionism, and influenced by Buber, he emigrated in 1923 to the British Mandate of Palestine, where he devoted his time to studying Jewish mysticism and became a librarian, and eventually head of the Department of Hebrew and Judaica at the National Library. He later became a lecturer at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Scholem taught the Kabbalah and mysticism from a scientific point of view and became the first professor of Jewish mysticism at the university in 1933, working in this post until his retirement in 1965, when he became an emeritus professor.

Another author, one much more practical, is Aryeh Kaplan. I've got some of his books as well; Jewish Meditation, his translation of Sefer Yetzirah, his Bahir, Inner Space, and a couple others IIRC.

Kaplan produced works on topics as varied as prayer, Jewish marriage and meditation; his writing was also remarkable in that it incorporated ideas from across the spectrum of Rabbinic literature, including Kabbalah and Hasidut. His introductory and background material contain much scholarly and original research. In researching his books, Kaplan once remarked: "I use my physics background to analyze and systematize data, very much as a physicist would deal with physical reality." This ability enabled him to undertake large projects, producing over 60 books. His works have been translated into Czech, French, Hungarian, Modern Hebrew, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.

Finally there's David Chaim Smith.

He's got a scholarly/exegetical work, "Kabbalistic Mirror of Genesis" which is stellar. And advanced practice (which results in the artwork in the first portion of the thread) in "The Blazing Dew of Stars", and finally an outline of basic practical exercise in "The Awakening Ground".

Also, I was having a decent conversation with in the last thread. If you're around I was wondering if you wanted to continue our chat.

After the Sefer HaShmoth (Book of Names) and ancient portions of the Torah that pre-date Master Mosheh, the Sefer Yetzirah (Book of Formation) is the oldest book of the written Mystical Qabalah, dating to the times of and attributed to Master Abraham. The Sefer Yetzirah is a manual on the mystical nature of the Hebrew alphabet recorded by Master Abraham in the original Sinatic Hebrew alphabet. The Sefer Yetzirah presents a number of unique forms of the Tree of Life.

The first of the six chapters of the (Sefer Yetzirah) begins: “By thirty two wonderful paths of wisdom hy, hvhy of Hosts, Elohim of Israel, Living Elohim, and Eternal King, El Shadai, Merciful and Gracious, High and Uplifted, Who inhabits Eternity, Exalted and Holy is His Name, engraved. And He created His universe by three signs: by border and letter and number.”

The “thirty-two paths” which comprise the Tree of Life are the ten Sefiroth (tvrpc, lit. Spheres) and the twenty-two release gates interconnecting the Sefiroth. The gates are the twenty-two Hebrew letters (see Diagram). Spheres The first verse above is immediately followed in the second verse with the five root phrases that serve as the “skeleton” upon which the body of the book hangs. One or another of these root phrases lead into most of the verses throughout the rest of the text.

“There are Ten Intangible Sefiroth (hmylb tvrypc rsi, Eser Sefiroth Belimah) and Twenty-Two Letters are the Foundation (dvcy tvytva ,ytsv ,yrsi, Esrim Ooshtayim Autiot Yesod): Three Mothers (tvma sls, Shalosh Imote) and Seven Double Letters (tvlvpk ibs, Shevah Kuhfoolote) and Twelve Simple Letters (tvuvsp hrsi, Esrae Puhshootote).” (Sefer Yetzirah 1:2)

...

Atziluth— Archetypical
The first and highest of the Four Worlds, corresponding to Fire of the elements, Chiah of the soul, and Yod of the Tetragrammaton, is called Atzilut. Atzilut is usually translated as "Emanation", but literally means "closeness". This is the "World", or primordial Substance which is the first emanation out of God's unique and pure Essence, and is therefore the "World" closest to Divinity. This Substance corresponds to Philosophic Fire, which - as opposed to literal fire - is best described as "living light". The Substance of "living light" is intangible and has no definite, specific Form, but its dynamic qualities of vitality and illumination are distinguishable. Life and light are the two qualities that must be postulated as being prevalent in any Divinely creative act. Since these qualities can be discerned as having existence distinct from Essential Divinity, the emanation of the primal "living light" (Substance) is the preliminary phase of Divine Creation. This phase is what is called Atzilut. As this is the primal spiritual Substance from which all other matter evolves, it corresponds to that which is called Chiah in the evolution of souls.

Briah— Creative
The next phase, corresponding to Water of the elements, Neshamah of the soul, and the first Heh of the Tetragrammaton, is called the World of Briah, which translates as "Creation". Like Neshamah, the function of Briah is to define specific Form and function in the amorphous energy of Atzilut. This is the evolutionary stage where matter begins to condense, "solidify", and to acquire specific, distinguishable qualities of it's own. This is because the Divine Unity is indivisible. Specification, which is division from that Unity, cannot be classified as Divine because the condensation of primal Substance into specific Form begins to occur at this stage. Thus, Briah corresponds to Neshamah, the stage where the human soul acquires individual personality and identity.

Yetzirah— Formative
It must be understood that Briah is a stage where specification and differentiation are applied only in an abstract sense, identifying the potential function of specific Forms and forces. The actual separation and division of these different qualities occurs in the next phase of evolution, called Yetzirah, which literally translates as "Formation". The world of Yetzirah corresponds to Air of the elements, Ruach of the soul, and Vau of the Tetragrammaton. As Air is generally associated with the intellect, this is the stage where differentiation of qualities (analysis) is applied to matter, and where these qualities are combined (synthesis) and Formed into archetypal conceptual compositions with a view towards various specific applications. This is the function of the intellect with which an individual theoretically experiments with various courses of action with the intellect and comes to a decision that the individual thinks will best serve the primal motivation or desire. Yetzirah corresponds to Ruach in that this is the stage where a specific compound is identified and given personal existence in the same way that an individual human personality necessitates a physical vehicle.

Assiah— Material
Here we come naturally to the fourth and final stage of development, called Assiah, which translates as "Action". The World of Assiah corresponds to Earth of the elements, Nefesh of the soul, the human body, and the final Heh of the Tetragrammaton. Assiah is the actual physical universe in which all things live and carry out their functions. This is the final proving ground where all the preceding Worlds and Spheres are actualized. The results are judged according to how well they perform their intended purpose, which is conceived in Briah and gestates and takes Form in Yetzirah. In correspondence, the human body is the proving ground of the soul, where the soul is evaluated according to how well it fulfills it's intended purpose/

The Kabbalah posits that the human soul has three elements, the nefesh, ru'ach, and neshamah. The nefesh is found in all humans, and enters the physical body at birth. It is the source of one's physical and psychological nature. The next two parts of the soul are not implanted at birth, but can be developed over time; their development depends on the actions and beliefs of the individual. They are said to only fully exist in people awakened spiritually. A common way of explaining the three parts of the soul is as follows:

Nefesh (נפש): the lower part, or "animal part", of the soul. It is linked to instincts and bodily cravings. This part of the soul is provided at birth.
Ruach (רוח): the middle soul, the "spirit". It contains the moral virtues and the ability to distinguish between good and evil.
Neshamah (נשמה): the higher soul, or "super-soul". This separates man from all other life-forms. It is related to the intellect and allows man to enjoy and benefit from the afterlife. It allows one to have some awareness of the existence and presence of God.

The Raaya Meheimna, a section of related teachings spread throughout the Zohar, discusses fourth and fifth parts of the human soul, the chayyah and yehidah (first mentioned in the Midrash Rabbah). Gershom Scholem writes that these "were considered to represent the sublimest levels of intuitive cognition, and to be within the grasp of only a few chosen individuals". The Chayyah and the Yechidah do not enter into the body like the other three—thus they received less attention in other sections of the Zohar.

Chayyah (חיה): The part of the soul that allows one to have an awareness of the divine life force itself.
Yehidah (יחידה): The highest plane of the soul, in which one can achieve as full a union with God as is possible.

Sefer Raziel HaMalakh, (Hebrew ספר רזיאל המלאך Book of Raziel the Angel), is a medieval Practical Kabbalah grimoire, primarily written in Hebrew and Aramaic, but surviving also in Latin translation, as Liber Razielis Archangeli, in a 13th-century manuscript produced under Alfonso X.

The book cannot be shown to predate the 13th century, but may in parts date back to Late Antiquity. Like other obscure ancient texts such as the Bahir and Sefer Yetzirah, the work has been extant in a number of versions. The tradition around the book attributes it to have been revealed to Adam by the angel Raziel. The title itself is mentioned in another magical work of late antiquity, The Sword of Moses. Critical historians regard it as a medieval work, most probably originating among the Chassidei Ashkenaz, as citations from it begin to appear only in the 13th century. Sections of it are no doubt older. The likely compiler of the medieval version is Eleazer of Worms, as "Sefer Galei Razia", which developed to what we have now as "Sefer Raziel HaMalakh", including more writings written by people of various theological opinions.

fuck traitor lore and stolen tech.
this is what they destroyed robed and drove to ruin along with all of us.
after the war there was nothing left of earth .
there armada rained fire down from the heavens killing us all.
I will rise to kill yhwh.
the revenge of earth will be soon ,

>WE WUZ, etc.
C'mon, mate, at least put in effort.

...

FAR IN THE DISTANCE
IS CAST A SHADOW

...

An Ramiel a day keeps the Reifags away

...

...

It makes me cringe how the alt-right has somehow appropriated anime. It really makes no sense to me. Also Misato is a shit choice.

Thanks, Thoth. Good thread.

Anime was cringe to begin with. Also right wing boards on the internet liking anime and cartoon was well established so it's not like progressives were the original fans.

...

Very welcome.

And what the fuck does this have to do with anything I posted?

Guys, keep it on the DL but I think the anthology I'm writing for just locked in the memelord from my pic to contribute.

Bump for Kabbalah.

...

I wonder how many replies I'd get with a thread starting a slapfight about Justification in the NT?

How necessary it is to know hebrew to understand kabbalah? Hermetic kabbalah more precisely

>Hermetic kabbalah more precisely
I mean, that depends.

You need to be able to at least recognize and sound out the letters. You don't need to be able to recite the Masoretic text by heart.

As you advance you'll pick up bits of the language mostly via exploring gematria:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gematria
numberman.net/
billheidrick.com/works/hgemat.htm

For example:
Nachash (Hebrew, NChSh, "serpent") signifies the serpent of the Tree of Knowledge, and has a particular role in Kabbalistic symbolism. In Kabbalistic gematria the numeric value of Nachash is 358, equaled to MShICh, Meshiach or Messiah.

Yeah i was also wondering about gemateria. How important would you say it is? My esoteric background is mostly a combination of shamanism/neoplatonism/hermeticism without almost any focus on kabbalah or gematria. I do know the basics of kabbalah but have lately been thinking of trying to really get a grasp on it

Are Kabbalah and Orthodox Christianity compatible?

Moreover there are indices of symbolism in some of Crowley's works (777) which were elaborated upon (Complete Magician's Tables by Skinner) that outline some basic correspondences with like Godnames, etc., in a 3...3? No 34 rows, each relating to one of the 10 sefira or 22 paths in various subjects (Names of God, names of angels, tarot, plants, animals, minerals, elements, body parts, etc., etc., etc.).

>How important would you say it is?
Integral. Get ready for exploring texts with a calculator handy. This is straight up Bible Code shit, minus the fuckcrazy fundamentalist idiocy.

>shamanism/neoplatonism/hermeticism without almost any focus on kabbalah or gematria.
You'll be fine. It's ahistorical as fuck, but there are enough natural correspondences in Greek to use it as a gematria base as well, hence why Numberman carries a calculator for Greek as well.

>I do know the basics of kabbalah but have lately been thinking of trying to really get a grasp on it
You seem like the sort of dude who'd get a lot out of Aryeh Kaplan.
David Chaim Smith has kept some concepts from Hermetica but thrown most out in favor of reconstructing early Hebrew mystical contemplation (Iyyun), and is rather advanced in terms of philosophical outlook. That said, "Kabbalistic Mirror" is just great if you want a sorta intro through Berashit.

Iunno.

>The first echoes of what is recognizable as Kabbalah come from the book of the prophet Ezekiel

>According to Matthew Henry a Bible commentator who flourished in the 17th century, Ezekiel is also believed to have been known as Nazaratus Assyrius, a teacher to Pythagoras.
>In the book "Pythagoras: Greek philosopher" it states; "Nazaratus, the Assyrian, one of Pythagoras' masters, was supposed to be the prophet Ezekiel, and Thomas Stanley's Life of Pythagoras says that Ezekiel and Pythagoras flourished together.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ezekiel
Thoughts?

>Thoughts?
Pretty early and rough 'sources'. I'm not sure of any further scholarship on this. I'd be inclined to dismiss it unless I can find anything more stiff in terms of validation.

Contemporaries? Maybe. Guru/chela? Doubtful.

I know david chaim smith, but what is aryeh kaplan about? Got his stuff in your library?

>aryeh kaplan about
>Another author, one much more practical, is Aryeh Kaplan. I've got some of his books as well; Jewish Meditation, his translation of Sefer Yetzirah, his Bahir, Inner Space, and a couple others IIRC.
>Kaplan produced works on topics as varied as prayer, Jewish marriage and meditation; his writing was also remarkable in that it incorporated ideas from across the spectrum of Rabbinic literature, including Kabbalah and Hasidut. His introductory and background material contain much scholarly and original research. In researching his books, Kaplan once remarked: "I use my physics background to analyze and systematize data, very much as a physicist would deal with physical reality." This ability enabled him to undertake large projects, producing over 60 books. His works have been translated into Czech, French, Hungarian, Modern Hebrew, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.

Some user someday said that kabbalah traces its roots to babylonian/egyptian mysticism. I have not been able to confirm this, any ideas if thats the case? The absolute origin may lie in some common shamanistic practice, but is there any reason to consider kabbalah as a continuation of babylonian/egyptian mysticism?

>its roots to babylonian/egyptian mysticism
Its roots are not in Egyptian mysticism and are only Babylonian in the vaguest sense.

It's my personal opinion that the seeds were planted in early Canaanite henotheism.

There's no reason, in my view, to consider the Kabbalah as a continuation of Egyptian materials (this should be fairly clear going through materials like the Pyramid Texts and Coming Forth by Day).

Is numerology significant in Kabbalah? I've heard a bit about Jewish numerology and its relation to the Hebrew alphabet but I never went very deep. Great thread, by the way!

Yes, see:

The mystics of spirit declare that they possess an extra sense you lack: this special sixth sense consists of contradicting the whole of the knowledge of your five. The mystics of muscle do not bother to assert any claim to extrasensory perception: they merely declare that your senses are not valid, and that their wisdom consists of perceiving your blindness by some manner of unspecified means. Both kinds demand that you invalidate your own consciousness and surrender yourself into their power. They offer you, as proof of their superior knowledge, the fact that they assert the opposite of everything you know, and as proof of their superior ability to deal with existence, the fact that they lead you to misery, self-sacrifice, starvation, destruction.

They claim that they perceive a mode of being superior to your existence on this earth. The mystics of spirit call it “another dimension,” which consists of denying dimensions. The mystics of muscle call it “the future,” which consists of denying the present.

Next time please reply with a refutation from a philosopher and not a welfare leech, please and thank you.

Bump.

>888 is a gematria result for Christ

>888
that's funny. I've been using this number for years in my online nick. As a teenager I liked it for edgelord reasons, I thought 8 was number of chaos, so triple 8 is turbo uber chaos. It turns out it quite the opposite, it's the Logos in it self

If you don't learn something new erry day, you're life unfit for life :^)

"The brain appears to be made up of matter in electrocolloidal
suspension (protoplasm).
Colloids are pulled together, toward a condition of gel, by
their surface tensions. This is because surface tensions pull
all glue-like substances together.
Colloids are also, conversely, pushed apart, toward a
condition of sol, by their electrical charges. This is because
their electrical charges are similar, and similar electrical
charges always repel each other.
In the equilibrium between gel and sol, the colloidal
suspension maintains its continuity and life continues. Move
the suspension too far toward gel, or too far toward sol,
and life ends. "

To quote ole dirty hippy

youtube.com/watch?v=AH9ufx-Wq3w

Telemachus Sneezed - that's actually fucking funny : D

>Atlas shrugged
>Uranus Itched

youtube.com/watch?v=jF6JkaF2oxY

...

on a more serious note, is 358 why rosicucian cross variation has snake on it?
>besides nehushtan
>besids john 3:14
SUDDEN REALIZATION:
“I, Jesus, have sent My angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the bright Morning Star.”
Revelation 22:16
Nahash = Meshiach
Helel = Jesus?????

Shhhh, don't let the normies hear you.

>It was midnight, and the Devil came down and sat in the midst; but my Fairy Prince whispered: “Hush! It is a great secret, but his name is Yeheswah, and he is the Saviour of the World.” And that was very funny, because the girl next me thought it was Jesus Christ, till another Fairy Prince (my Prince’s brother) whispered as he kissed her: “Hush, tell nobody ever, that is Satan, and he is the Saviour of the World.”~Crowley, “The Wake World”

Is this what Albert Pike ment by infamous: "Yes, Lucifer is God, and unfortunately Adonay is also god. [...] Thus, the doctrine of Satanism is a heresy; and the true and pure philosophical religion is the belief in Lucifer, the equal of Adonay; but Lucifer, God of Light and God of Good, is struggling for humanity against Adonay, the God of Darkness and Evil."
That actually makes a lot of sense considering why Old Testament God is so...vile

So that's what those wacky gnostics were all about

In particular, in his book, Woman and child in Universal Freemasonry, de la Rive wrote three paragraphs that he laid to Albert Pike, which he sourced in a footnote to Diana Vaughn, Léo Taxil's fictitious creation. This writing is part of the texts that Clarin de la Rive recanted, and said that they should not be considered to have ever existed. The text in mention:

>That which we must say to the world is that we worship a god, but it is the god that one adores without superstition. To you, Sovereign Grand Inspectors General, we say this, that you may repeat it to the brethren of the 32nd, 31st and 30th degrees: The masonic Religion should be, by all of us initiates of the higher degrees, maintained in the Purity of the Luciferian doctrine. If Lucifer were not God, would Adonay and his priests calumniate him?

>Yes, Lucifer is God, and unfortunately Adonay is also god. For the eternal law is that there is no light without shade, no beauty without ugliness, no white without black, for the absolute can only exist as two gods; darkness being necessary for light to serve as its foil as the pedestal is necessary to the statue, and the brake to the locomotive....

No actual edition of Morals and Dogma contains this. Or the WWIII bullshit either.

In all seriousness, tho, there's some nuance here. Early Hebrew sources have Satan not as all powerful. Some don't even have him with Samael as the angel of life, death, and fortune.

Azra'il is the angel of death, lifted up from a mortal, like Enoch was, named Azra (Ezra).

It's doubtful the OT "Morning Star" passage means anything about Satan.

Apocalypse might actually be a story of equilibrium, Christ becoming the Morning Star, and Israel (Maybe Sophia or Barbelo) going to Babylon to redemption.

My foken brain got ejected into outer realms from mindfuck. I had enough thinking for today. Goodnight Ape, here have cat doing tikkun olam, one spakly at the time

Any other takers?

Nobody has satan as all powerful, because he is not.

Enoch was raptured directly from life into heaven.

He's talking about the horrible job Jerome did at translating "Helel ben Shachar" into "Lucifer", when it should be "Shining One, Son of the Dawn". An angel.

Jesus is the bright and morning star.

The NIV conflates the two, and is to be avoided at all costs.

Satan already has your soul, and you got nothing in return. Sad.

>Satan already has your soul, and you got nothing in return. Sad.
Yup, full blown reprobate.

How come when I pray to Jesus or God my life becomes worse off? Also, what's a good book to start out with? I won't say what I would like to start with but seeing as you're a very bright mind I'd like you to interpret a starting point from your own experiences. Please

Crowley's Liber 65, the book of the Serpent Braided Heart.

Thanks for the reply. Care to take a stab at my first question? I'm not trying to provoke anything I just want to hear your thoughts and opinions.

God's tests.
Baptism of tears.
Fasting of the heart.

I get gods tests and fasting of the heart but what's the deal with the baptism of tears?

There is no birth without blood.

youtube.com/watch?v=5CZfpDlRC4A