For a good introduction to Qabalah, kaballah, etc
Read
Dion Fortune, an initiate of
Alpha et Omega, wrote the seminal book
The Mystical Qabalah, widely considered one of the best general introductions to modern Hermetic Qabbalah.
further reading
Tree of Life
Hermetic Qabalah (From the
Hebrew קַבָּלָה "reception", usually transliterated with a 'Q' rather than a 'K' or a 'C', to distinguish it from
Jewish Kabbalah and
Christian Cabbalah) is a Western esoteric and mystical tradition. It is the underlying philosophy and framework for
magical societies such as the
Golden Dawn,
Thelemic orders,
mystical societies such as the
Builders of the Adytum and the
Fellowship of the Rosy Cross, and is a precursor to the
Neopagan,
Wiccan and
New Age movements.
[1] The Hermetic Qabalah is the basis for Qliphothic Qabala as studied by
left hand path orders, such as the
Typhonian Order.
Hermetic Qabalah draws on a great many influences, most notably:
Jewish Kabbalah,
Western astrology,
Alchemy,
pagan religions, especially
Egyptian and Greco-Roman (the latter being from which the term "Hermetic" is derived),
neoplatonism,
gnosticism, the
Enochian system of angelic magic of
John Dee and
Edward Kelley,
hermeticism,
rosicrucianism,
Freemasonry,
tantra and the symbolism of the
tarot. Hermetic Qabalah differs from the Jewish form in being a more admittedly
syncretic system, however it shares many concepts with Jewish Kabbalah.
Internet Book of Shadows, (Various Authors), [1999], at sacred-texts.com
http://www.sacred-texts.com/bos/bos073.htm
Footprints in the Chamber - Towards a Quantum Qabbala by Fra.: +0-
The Qabbala has through the ages been used as a directory towards
the understanding of the universe and man`s relationship to it.
Since former Aeons of magick have had their perceptions rooted in
the observance of simple cause and effect relationships, the Qabbala
itself, having attained its nascence in the earlier traditions, was
unfortunately bogged down by this limited apprehension of the
universe. Here mathematics as used in a more or less Pythagorean
context provide a sort of key with which to approach the
unfathomable nature of human consciousness.
To this very day there are groups which still adhere to and openly
practice the more traditional ramifications of Qabbalistic
principles which are still firmly rooted in the mire of Nineteenth
Century Newton-sewed-it-all-up-there-are-no-more-mysteries physics.
But of course, owing to the leaps and bounds acquired by a very
unpredictable but consistent quantum model of reality as observed in
our laboratories, this simplistic view is necessarily obsolete. We
no longer live, we have learned (if indeed we ever did) in a simple
cause and effect universe where the source can always be gleaned
from observable effect. For the same reasons, Newtonian-based magic
must give way to a more quantum model. Newton`s apple must now take
into consideration Heisenberg`s Uncertainty Principle. The secret
wisdom must follow suit towards quantumization.
Another unfortunate tendency of some modern practioners of Qabbala
is to continue to regard everything from the standpoint of the
Demiurge, Yahweh, which of course is the basis of the now obsolete
(and dangerous) Judeo-Christian foundation of religious thought
which has held western civilization in its thrall for about two
thousand years. Personally I find it amazing that modern
practioners, who despite no real Semitic disposition still practice
an unmistakably orthodox Jewish mysticism. It was Aleister Crowley,
that great Qabbalistic agent provocateur, who initiated the process
of liberating the Qabbala from its otherwise Judaic orientation.
(This is not anti-semitism but a necessary step towards individual
development. It must also be stated that a Qabbala had been in use
centuries earlier by the Egyptians. The Jews merely adopted it to
their own religious precepts. They didn`t invent it. The actual
origin most likely predates Egyptian history.)
Crowley emphasized that the enlightened magician must, after careful
study and application of his knowledge, develop his own Qabbalistic
framework. By virtue of this the magician has arrived at a more
chaotic paradigm in opposition to a purely empirical view. Crowley,
by adapting the Qabbala to a Thelemic context initiated that first
leap forward into the quantum age. Thus, the foundation for a more
quantum/chaotic system was lain.
