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To: Thelema93-L 
From: twilliam@rain.com (Fra. Doubt-Goat)
Subject: Re: English Gematria (long!)
Date: Tue, 27 Jun 1995 03:23:43 -0500

93

Thought I'd bite the bullet and post the article that I wrote on my
exploration of English gematria.  I wrote it with graphics in Word for
Windows 6, so I had to take out the graphics to post here, and have replaced
them with written explanations.  If you would like to have the graphics
(various pictures of the Tree in various states), let me know and I'll try
to privately email them out to those who may want them.

I hold copyright for the article (not the ideas!), so if you would like to
repost, or something, let me know.

Enjoy (or Dread)!

Fra. Doubt-Goat
---------------------

New Aeon English Qabalah: 
An Introduction
by Fra. Doubt-Goat

"Thou shalt obtain the order & value of the English Alphabet; thou 
shalt find new symbols to attribute them unto."
-  Liber AL vel Legis sub figura xxxi,  II:55

A=1  B=20  C=13  D=6  E=25  F=18  G=11  H=4  I=23  J=16  K=9  
L=2  M=21  N=14  O=7  P=26  Q=19  R=12  S=5  T=24  U=17  V=10  
W=3  X=22  Y=15  Z=8

1=A  2=L  3=W  4=H  5=S  6=D  7=O  8=Z  9=K  10=V  11=G  12=R  
13=C  14=N  15=Y 16=J  17=U  18=F  19=Q  20=B  21=M  22=X  
23=I  24=T  25=E  26=P


In approximately 1974, a group of English Magickians doing the 
A.'.A.'. work "discovered'" the solution to the above problem in Liber 
AL.  Called Cipher Six, or New Aeon English Qabalah (abbreviated 
NAEQ6), it is achieved by a relatively simple process.  The following 
is reprinted by kind permission of the Ancient & Primitive Gnostic 
Church.


"NEW AEON ENGLISH QABALAH IN ONE LESSON

	"In the 19th and early 20th centuries, a number of "inspired" Holy 
Books appeared, usually having been channeled in much the same 
manner as the commun-ications from the dead in medium-ship, or 
the messages of the ascended masters in contacteeism and trance 
channeling.
	"The most important of these documents is The Book of the Law, 
Liber AL vel Legis, given to Aleister Crowley by the mystifying 
intelligence Aiwass on April 8, 9, and 10, 1904 for one hour each 
day in Cairo, Egypt.
	"The existence of an occult cipher hidden in The Book of the Law 
is mentioned in several passages.  A single page of the original 
manuscript is written with a unique and mysterious grid overlay that 
has since been discovered to reveal not only the original cipher, but 
many useful variations.  Since this involves reducing words to 
numerical values, and comparison with the text of The Book of the 
Law and other Holy Books, it is better described as a "Cabbalah" or 
"Qabalah" (occult interpretation of a holy text through number 
values) rather than a mere form of numerology.
	"It has been discovered that the often strange names of the 
alleged 'controls' in mediumistic and channeling cases can be 
profitably reduced to cipher, and meaningfully "decoded" by using 
this cipher in connection with the text of The Book of the Law and 
related documents.  Some of these meaningful connections precede 
the discovery of the cipher by over one hundred years.
	"The 1974 Cipher Solution to Liber AL vel Legis followed upon the 
lead of Frater Achad in his BOOK 31.  Studying the strange "grid 
page" in the original handwritten manuscript, along with passages 
that seemed to refer to a cipher, a group of researchers in Britain 
discovered a cipher solution involving lettering across the grid page 
in standard English, and counting down eleven spaces from A.  This 
brings one to L, and eleven more spaces to W, and so on.  A=1, 
L=2, W=3, etc.  This is the original solution, which led to immediate 
discoveries.  
	"Later Frater Lamed of QBLH created a twenty six pointed star 
(one point for each standard letter), and, with mainframe computer 
technology used over a ten year period, developed the Lexicon 
Computer Program which, anchored on the A, can generate many 
thousands of alternate ciphers.  Since then, research has been 
ongoing by a scattered informal network of New Aeon Qabalists."


Gematria

	The use of gematria, reducing words to numbers and comparing 
the results to other number reduced words, looking for correspond-
ences, is very like the use of Zen Koans.  Taking often completely 
unrelated words and finding the same numerical value is a way to 
shock the brain off the normal, rational paths and onto the irrational, 
symbolically meaningful paths.  By dwelling on that which cannot be 
comprehended rationally, other portions of the brain are opened to 
view.
	For an example of NAEQ6 gematria, again provided by The 
Ancient and Primitive Gnostic Church:  THE ORDEAL X = 128 or 
1+2+8=11.  Likewise  BAPHOMET = 128.  BABALON = 65 or 
6+5=11.  SCARLET WOMAN = 128.
	The preponderance of the number 11 is predicated by the 
passage from AL: "My number is 11,  as all their numbers who are of 
us."  I:60.  Eleven is the number of Magick.  The conjoination of the 
6 and the 5, the Microcosm (5, the number of Man), with the 
Macrocosm (6, the number of "God", or Man with the 6th element).  
Also, in the Sephir Yetzirah, it states "The Sacred Sefiroth are Ten 
as are their numbers.  They are the ten fingers of the hands...There 
are ten Sefiroth.  Ten and nor nine; ten and not eleven."  Of course, 
this means that the tree can be considered as having 9 sephiroth, 
Malkuth often being called an appendent to the Tree; or 11 if one 
counts Da'ath.  There are many other interesting things about the 
number 11 that further research and meditation will reveal.



	To easily obtain the Cipher, lay out the English Alphabet.  Call 
A=1.  Count 11 letters thus:  A 1, B 2, C 3, D 4, E 5, F 6, G 7, H 8, I 
9, J 10,     K 11.  The next letter is L.  Call L=2.  Count 11 letters 
thus:  L 1, M 2, N 3, O 4, P 5, Q 6, R 7, S 8, T 9, U 10, V 11.  Next is 
W.  Call W=3, etc.

A=1  B=20  C=13  D=6  E=25  F=18  G=11  H=4  I=23  J=16  K=9  
L=2  M=21  N=14  O=7  P=26  Q=19  R=12  S=5  T=24  U=17  V=10  
W=3  X=22  Y=15  Z=8

1=A  2=L  3=W  4=H  5=S  6=D  7=O  8=Z  9=K  10=V  11=G  12=R  
13=C  14=N  15=Y 16=J  17=U  18=F  19=Q  20=B  21=M  22=X  
23=I  24=T  25=E  26=P

Let's take a few words and see what can be made of them.  LAW 
(the first 3 letters in the NAEQ6 numerical sequence)  L=2  A=1  
W=3,  2+1+3=6.  Six is the number of the sephiroth Tiphereth,  the 
sphere at which Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian 
Angel is accomplished.  Crowley was given Liber AL, the Law, by 
Aiwass, his HGA.  AL = 3.  Three is the number of the sephiroth 
Binah, the first sephiroth that is obtained after crossing the Abyss, 
and is the "Palace" of the Master of the Temple, the one who has 
obtained Great Enlightenment, a bodhisattva.  THELEMA = 102  
1+0+2=3.  1=Hadit, 0=Nuit, 2=RaHoorKuit, 1=the Father, 0=the 
Mother, 2=The Child, the product of their union. The formula is that 
of IAO.  WILL = 30  3+0=3.  LOVE = 44  4+4=8.  "Nothing is the 
secret key of this law.  Sixty-one the Jews call it; I call it eight, eighty, 
four hundred & eighteen."  Liber AL I:46.  


	In order to understand the future, we much have a firm grasp on 
the past.  The gematria that most magickians are exposed to first is 
Hebrew.  The Qabalah as we now know it is inexorably linked with 
Jewish mysticism.  To truly understand Qabalah and it's implications 
one must study the source, the Sephir Yetzirah, the Zohar, and other 
documents of traditional Jewish Qabalah.  Likewise, one should 
study the history of the Hermetic Qabalah to grasp how others have 
taken the framework and adapted it.
	In Hebrew Qabalah, the Hebrew alphabet is laid out in it's 
traditional order.  Numbers are then assigned to each letter in order.  
Aleph=1, Beth=2, Gimel=3, Daleth=4, He=5, Vav=6, Zayin=7, 
Cheth=8, Teth=9, Yod=10, Kaph=20 or 500, Lamed=30, Mem=40 or 
600, Nun=50 or 700, Samekh=60, Ayin=70, Pe=80 or 800, Tzadi=90 
or 900, Qoph=100, Resh=200, Shin=300, Tav=400.  This is the 
Hebrew gematria.  There is also traditional Greek and Arabic 
gematria's, among others.

	The numerical values of the Hebrew are assigned sequentially, 
that is in ascending order, from first to last, smallest to largest.  
Aleph equals 1 because they are both first in their respective orders.  
There is a magickal method involved (albeit a common one): that of 
ascending letters corresponding with ascending numbers.
	Unfortunately, there are not enough letters to handle the 
numerical scheme; five letters are required to do double duty.  In the 
preface to Godwin's Cabalistic Encyclopedia, David Godwin states, 
"That the Hebrew system is de-rivative (from the Arabic), although 
perhaps at a date far earlier than the Middle Ages, may be indicated 
by the fact that the Arabic alphabet contains 28 characters - exactly 
enough to indicate numbers up to 1,999 without the somewhat 
awkward device of using secondary forms of letters such as the 
'finals' of Hebrew."
	In the NAEQ6, the magickal method is that of a himeola pattern, 
11 against 26.  Consider a set of 11 and a set of 26.  Start them 
both off at the same time, the set of 11 counting from 1 to 11 and 
the set of 26 counting from 1 to 26, at a speed ration of 1 to 1.  
When the set of 11 gets back to 1 again, the set of 26 is on count 
12.  In order for both sets to be on 1 at the same time again, the set 
of 11 will have counted 26 full repetitions and the set of 26 will have 
counted 11 repetitions.  It evenly comes out, one number per letter, 
with no shortages or overages.  Now that's what I call a Magickal 
Method.


A simple himeola of 2 against 3 with two full repetitions of the 
pattern:

1   2   1   2   1   2      1   2   1   2   1   2
1   2   3   1   2   3      1   2   3   1   2   3

After 3 sets of 2 and 2 sets of 3 they both link up on 1.
A more complex pattern of 11 against 26:

1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11
1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11

1   2   3   4    5   6   7   8   9   10  11
12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22

1   2   3   4    5   6   7   8   9  10  11
23 24 25 26 1   2   3   4   5   6    7  
etc.

After 26 sets of 11 and 11 sets of 26 they both link up on 1.


	So far, everything I've written has been a rehash, with no original 
work of my own.  Now comes the fun part.



The Tree of Life

	The Tree of Life is the Graphic Interface of Qabalah.  The ten 
numbers and twenty-two Hebrew letters are represented in a visual 
form with the Tree, making many concepts and ideals quicker and 
easier to grasp and manipulate.  Memorizing abstracts is faster with 
a graphic representation.  New ideas and formulas leap out by 
contemplation of the spatial relationships of the sephiroth in a visual 
representation.
	The Tree has had many forms over the centuries of it's existence, 
with a flexible number of paths, although the usual number has been 
22, the number of the letters in the Hebrew alphabet.

(Graphics of 6 versions of the Tree not in this ascii version.)
From 1517 (paths connecting Binah with Chesed, Chokmah with Geburah, no
paths connecting Malkuth with Netzach or Hod), From 1652 (looks like the
standard Tree) From 1708 (no path from Kether to Tiphereth, no single paths
from Chokmah or Binah to Tiphereth but one path forming a "Y" from Chokmah
and Binah to Tiphereth, no path from Chesed to Geburah, no path from Hod to
Netzach, no paths from Malkuth to Hod or Netzach), Tree of Perfection
(Malkuth moved up to the center of the Abyss paths connecting to each
nearest sphere), Hidden Paths (a path from each sphere to everyother
sphere), Tree of the New Aeon (my own alteration based on research, four new
paths, from Kether to Chesed and Geburah, and from Yesod to Chesed and Geburah)

	The idea of the "Hidden Paths" has fascinated me ever since I first 
saw them.  Here were these other paths connecting the sephira, a 
myriad of possibilities.  One could conceive of a path from each 
sephiroth to every other sephiroth.  Every sephiroth would have 9 
paths emanating from it, every sphere would have a direct link with 
every other sphere.
	The sephira have been described as objective experience and the 
paths as subjective experience.  The sephiroth are ten in number, 
but the paths?  That, I think, is another story.
	If we postulate that there are actually forty-five paths, then why do 
we usually only see 22 on the tree?  "There are ten sephiroth as 
there are ten fingers", this is true of all humans.  It is objectively true.  
"There are twenty-two paths",  this is true if the number of paths is 
predicated by the number of letters.  The origin of the Tree of Life as 
we use it is Jewish, thereby it makes sense that if one were to apply 
paths to letters that there would be only 22.  That is, if you are 
Jewish.  It is a subjective truth.
	What if I wanted to apply the English alphabet to the Tree?  I have 
two choices:  1.  I can mutilate the English alphabet, cutting out 
letters to make it fit into a box too small for it, or  2.  I can "activate" 
four of the hidden paths, bringing the number of frequently used 
paths up to 26.
	I have seen attempts at the first solution, but they have always 
seemed somewhat awkward and ungainly to me, like cutting off toes 
to fit a too small shoe.  It can work, but seems overly restrictive.
	I refuse to believe that Hebrew is special beyond all other 
languages.  Twenty-two is not an objective number in the same 
sense that ten is.  I see no reason that twenty-six cannot work just 
as effectively.  Thereby I have chosen the second solution, which, in 
combination with Cipher 6, forms a most eloquent system.
	New subjective experiences are called for.  A New Aeon Is Here 
Now.  "Behold!  The rituals of the old time are black.  Let the evil 
ones be cast away; let the good ones be purged by the prophet!" - 
Liber AL II:5.
	Evolve or Die.
	I have chosen to activate the paths joining Kether with Chesed 
and Geburah and those joining Yesod with Chesed and Geburah.  
One of the titles of Geburah is Will, and a title of Chesed is Love, 
thus forming the Law of the New Aeon, "Love is the law, love under 
Will." 
	The four new paths form a yoni (symbol of Nuit), around Tiphareth 
(the Sun, symbol of Hadit).  The male encompassed by the female, 
the female having the male at her core.  Also, a hexagram is formed 
by the first six sephira, joined by an inverted pentagram formed by 
the 4th through ninth sephira at Tiphareth.  This gives us the symbol 
of "God" (appropriately placed in the "higher" sephira) joining the 
symbol of Man (placed in the "lower" sephira) at the sphere of the 
accomplishment of the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy 
Guardian Angel.  In some systems the hexagram is a male symbol 
and the pentagram a female symbol.  This would describe a formula 
for the attainment of the HGA.  More meditation will grant further 
insights.
	One of the most interesting things about the Tree is that you can 
attribute  anything and everything to some path and/or sephira.  The 
Golden Dawn really went over the top with this concept, attributing 
everything including the kitchen sink to something on the Tree.
	It is the filing cabinet from Hell.
	Now comes the problem of numbering the paths, including the 
newly "activated" ones,  and attributing the English alphabet to 
them.  In numbering the paths, I have broken slightly with tradition 
and have numbered them in exact numerical sequence, highest sphere to the
very next lower, etc.
	In order to lay the English alphabet on the Tree, I could have 
chosen the same route that is used for the Hebrew alphabet, that is, 
linking the numerical ascension with the alphabetic order.  That way 
path #1 would be A, path # 2 would be B, etc.  However, if we 
consider the Tree in it's most archtypical aspects, we find that the 
most basic and important of the concepts involved is number.  Have 
the numbers first make sense and then everything else will follow.  
Accordingly, I chose to link the gematric numerical values and the 
path numbers directly.  This way the number of the path is also it's 
numeric value.  An exact fit is formulated.

(Graphic of the Tree of the New Aeon with Cypher 6 not available in ascii format
Kether to Chomah = #1, A
Kether to Binah = #2, L
Kether to Chesed = #3, W
Kether to Geburah = #4, H
Kether to Tiphereth = #5, S

Chokmah to Binah = #6, D
Chokmah to Chesed = #7, O
Chokmah to Tiphereth = #8, Z

Binah to Geburah = #9, K
Binah to Tiphereth = #10, V

Chesed to Geburah = #11, G  (check it out!)
Chesed to Tiphereth = #12, R
Chesed to Netzach = #13, C
Chesed to Yesod = #14, N

Geburah to Tiphereth = #15, Y
Geburah to Hod = #16, J
Geburah to Yesod = #17, U

Tiphereth to Netzach = #18, F
Tiphereth to Hod = #19, Q
Tiphereth to Yesod = #20, B

Netzach to Hod = #21, M
Netzach to Yesod = #22, X
Netzach to Malkuth = #23, I

Hod to Yesod = #24, T
Hod to Malkuth = #25, E

Yesod to Malkuth = #26, P)

 
The Tarot

	In "traditional" Hermetic tarot, the Major Arcana are laid out on the 
Tree in ascending order,  the path number linking with the card 
number minus one.  In this method, the Fool, card number 0. is laid 
onto path #1;  the Magician, card number 1 is laid onto path #2, etc.  
In this scheme a Hebrew letter is linked with a Trump across their 
respective ascending orders.  Crowley felt a need to transpose the 
order of four of the cards, Strength (Lust) with Justice (Adjustment) 
and the Emperor with the Star.  The reason for this is, I feel, never 
made completely clear, however, it does set an interesting 
precedent.
	I do not feel the necessity of changing the order of the cards 
(though I do use half of Crowley's changes).  What I do feel the need 
for though, is four new Trumps to go with the newly activated paths.  
This is a BIG project that I don't have an answer to at this time, and 
feel I won't for many years of intense study to come.  The closest 
ideas I've come up with so far have been naming the two new paths 
out from Kether as Order and Chaos, and the two new paths out of 
Yesod as some form of Love and Will.  As for images, I really don't 
have a clue at this time.
	The whole idea of new paths, new Trumps, a new gematria, a new 
system adapted to the old time-tested system for use in a new Aeon 
is exciting.
	I do not hold any "copyrights" on the system so far described.  In 
fact, such an idea as "ownership" of any qabalistic concept is sheer 
nonsense.  I would like to invite serious students and researchers to 
investigate the above proposed system, test it, refine it,  add on to it, 
see what makes it tick.  Evolve.
	I know I intend to.


 article Copyright 1994, Fra. Doubt-Goat


                                  
                                   The Horn Of The Doubt-Goat Be Exalted