THE
ARCANE
ARCHIVE
a cache of usenet and other text files pertaining
to occult, mystical, and spiritual subjects.


TOP | RELIGION | JUDAISM | KABBALAH | QABALAH

Qabala and Magic

To: alt.magick.tyagi,alt.magick,alt.divination,alt.pagan.magick
From: hara 
Subject: Qabala and Magic
Date: Tue, 10 Dec 2002 03:00:37 GMT

50021127 VII

333 quotes "Magick"'s ToC:
>> ...here is the Table of Contents
>> of "Magick in Theory and Practice" (Part Three of "Book Four") 
>> by Aleister Crowley, derived from that in "Magick" edited by 
>> John Symonds and Kenneth Grant, Arkana Books, 1973:
>> 
>> ... 
>> 
># PART III (aka "Magick in Theory and Practice")
># 
># 	0 The Magical Theory of the Universe
>#  
># 	  *Describes and explains the magical alphabet, and
># 	   the correspondences of the Qabalah as a convenient
># 	   system of classification of the Universe.*

>   Crowley describes the Qabala as convenient, while also describing 
> it in other works as Holy and Sacred. A true revolutionary would 
> create a new system, 

this is an interesting point. in fact, it seems Crowley worked on
what appears to be a system of English gematria using a trinary (or
perhaps quaternary) code, though its composition appears to be only 
in a single brief essay that he notated with some of his poetry
(Liber Trigrammaton Sub Figura XXVII, which may be found at:

  http://www.luckymojo.com/crowley/027trigrammaton.txt  )

'creating a new system' could include all kinds of things, but 
if you are just talking about gematria, it seems to me that the 
revolutionaries did their work elsewhere. there is an extensive
history beyond Crowley's meager efforts to create revolutionary 
reworkings of Judeochristian constructs in reflection of Greek 
and previous cultures. expositors such as Eisen (in his "English
Cabala"), JStratton-Kent (lately and online with his "EQ" or 
"English Qaballah"), and numerous others before them have 
contributed to it, though sometimes with particular ends in mind 
(e.g. adhering to Liber Al vel Legis as a scriptural derivative, 
or maximizing the results in variation of the cipher).

the primary opposition to a 'magical alphabet' being made of the
English alphabet, it seems, is that its letters derive from the
older languages upon which it draws (rather than being composed of
individual letter-words that double as numbers extending back prior
to conventional historical accounts of their origins) and that these 
are not generally considered identical with numbers as such (compare
the Greek alphabet and Jewish alephbeth). 

to this end I have prepared what I think is a reverse-engineering 
document using the Ulian Schemata and the English alphabet (ay-bee;
revised and expanded with the help of Frater AShTON VQ'QL) uploaded to:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/thelema93-l/files/SUPPLEMENTAL/englishgematria-ny.txt
 
in which the same principles would apply, but the legends concerning
the sacred origins of the letters and numbers would be consigned to
metaphor while the operational procedures would remain largely the
same in a new 'alphabetic' (aybeesic?) context. other 'revolutionary' 
trajectories could be undertaken, as I'm sure you are aware.

> but instead he chose to use a system that 
> weighed down his efforts due to religious baggage inherited through 
> its adoption. The use of Qabala simultaneously as an instrument of 
> magick and religion creates a dilema in defining the underlying 
> nature of magical effects. Are such effects a product of cause and 
> effect, or arbitrary results due to interaction with non-human 
> beings?

wonderful analysis. it would seem his choice was based on his training
with the Golden Dawn and his Christian upbringing (imposing both
tradition-adhering and tradition-destroying tendencies upon his mind),
drawing primarily from von Rosenroth as regards Kabbalistic ideas.

of course Pico della Mirandola and others pioneered 'Christian Cabala'
prior to the Golden Dawn, who drew on these extending competitive
systems to make their ceremonialism. integral to this appears to be 
the idea expressed at least in Jewish mysticism that the letternumbers
of Hebrew were provided by the divine directly and constitute therefore
a unique and nonreplaceable element to the gematrian construct within
Jewish Kabbalah and much Christian Cabala reflecting off of it.

description of the underlying nature of magical effects is influenced
by the cosmological and metaphysical baggage which may accompany any
magical system selected. I'm unsure that what was chosen, as you have
described it, REQUIRES any accompanying baggage per se, though in 
order to remain *convincing* to a good number of Judeochristian 
occultists, it may have to come in an attractively-traditional wrapper.

others who move beyond Hebrew or Greek have sometimes attempted to
optimize the results rather than remain stuck on any particular cipher).
 
corrections welcome.

333
 nagasiva@luckymojo.com

The Arcane Archive is copyright by the authors cited.
Send comments to the Arcane Archivist: tyaginator@arcane-archive.org.

Did you like what you read here? Find it useful?
Then please click on the Paypal Secure Server logo and make a small
donation to the site maintainer for the creation and upkeep of this site.

The ARCANE ARCHIVE is a large domain,
organized into a number of sub-directories,
each dealing with a different branch of
religion, mysticism, occultism, or esoteric knowledge.
Here are the major ARCANE ARCHIVE directories you can visit:
interdisciplinary: geometry, natural proportion, ratio, archaeoastronomy
mysticism: enlightenment, self-realization, trance, meditation, consciousness
occultism: divination, hermeticism, amulets, sigils, magick, witchcraft, spells
religion: buddhism, christianity, hinduism, islam, judaism, taoism, wicca, voodoo
societies and fraternal orders: freemasonry, golden dawn, rosicrucians, etc.

SEARCH THE ARCANE ARCHIVE

There are thousands of web pages at the ARCANE ARCHIVE. You can use ATOMZ.COM
to search for a single word (like witchcraft, hoodoo, pagan, or magic) or an
exact phrase (like Kwan Yin, golden ratio, or book of shadows):

Search For:
Match:  Any word All words Exact phrase

OTHER ESOTERIC AND OCCULT SITES OF INTEREST

Southern Spirits: 19th and 20th century accounts of hoodoo, including slave narratives & interviews
Hoodoo in Theory and Practice by cat yronwode: an introduction to African-American rootwork
Lucky W Amulet Archive by cat yronwode: an online museum of worldwide talismans and charms
Sacred Sex: essays and articles on tantra yoga, neo-tantra, karezza, sex magic, and sex worship
Sacred Landscape: essays and articles on archaeoastronomy, sacred architecture, and sacred geometry
Lucky Mojo Forum: practitioners answer queries on conjure; sponsored by the Lucky Mojo Curio Co.
Herb Magic: illustrated descriptions of magic herbs with free spells, recipes, and an ordering option
Association of Independent Readers and Rootworkers: ethical diviners and hoodoo spell-casters
Freemasonry for Women by cat yronwode: a history of mixed-gender Freemasonic lodges
Missionary Independent Spiritual Church: spirit-led, inter-faith, the Smallest Church in the World
Satan Service Org: an archive presenting the theory, practice, and history of Satanism and Satanists
Gospel of Satan: the story of Jesus and the angels, from the perspective of the God of this World
Lucky Mojo Usenet FAQ Archive: FAQs and REFs for occult and magical usenet newsgroups
Candles and Curios: essays and articles on traditional African American conjure and folk magic
Aleister Crowley Text Archive: a multitude of texts by an early 20th century ceremonial occultist
Spiritual Spells: lessons in folk magic and spell casting from an eclectic Wiccan perspective
The Mystic Tea Room: divination by reading tea-leaves, with a museum of antique fortune telling cups
Yronwode Institution for the Preservation and Popularization of Indigenous Ethnomagicology
Yronwode Home: personal pages of catherine yronwode and nagasiva yronwode, magical archivists
Lucky Mojo Magic Spells Archives: love spells, money spells, luck spells, protection spells, etc.
      Free Love Spell Archive: love spells, attraction spells, sex magick, romance spells, and lust spells
      Free Money Spell Archive: money spells, prosperity spells, and wealth spells for job and business
      Free Protection Spell Archive: protection spells against witchcraft, jinxes, hexes, and the evil eye
      Free Gambling Luck Spell Archive: lucky gambling spells for the lottery, casinos, and races