[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
great Problem. And he may conceive, as various Schools of Adepts in the ages
have conceived, this problem in three main forms.
1. I am not God. I wish to become God.
This is the Hindus conception.
I am Malkuth. I wish to become Kether.
This is the qabalistic equivalent.
2. I am a fallen creature. I wish to be redeemed.
This is the Christian conception.
I am Malkuth the fallen daughter. I wish to be set upon the throne of Binah
my supernal mother.
This is the qabalistic equivalent.
3. I am the finite square; I wish to be one with the infinite circle.
This is the Unsectarian conception.
I am the Cross of Extension; I wish to be one with the infinite Rose.
This is the qabalistic equivalent.
The answer of the Adept to the first form of the problem is for the Hindu
Thou art That (see previous chapter, The Yogi ); for the Qabalist Malkuth
is in Kether, and Kether is in Malkuth, or That which is below is like that
which is above or simply Yod. (The foundation of all letters having the
number 10, symbolising Malkuth).
The answer of the Adept to the second form of the problem is for the
Christian all the familiar teaching of the Song of Songs and the Apocalypse
concerning the Bride of Christ.*
For the Qabalist it is a long complex dogma which may be studied in the
Zohar and elsewhere. Otherwise, he may simply answer Hé (the letter alike
of mother and daughter in ). See Liber 418 for lengthy disquisitions on this
symbolic basis.
The answer of the Adept to the third form of the problem is given by p,
implying that an infinite factor must be employed.
For the Qabalist it is usually symbolised by the Rosy Cross, or by such
formulæ as 5 = 6. That they concealed a Word answering this problem is also
*
This Christian teaching (not its qabalistic equivalent) is incomplete. The Bride (the
soul) is united, though only by marriage, with the Son, who then presents her to the
Father and Mother or Holy Spirit. These four then complete Tetragrammaton. But the
Bride is never united to the Father. In this scheme the soul can never do more than
touch Tiphareth and so receive the ray from Chokmah. Whereas even St. John makes
his Son say I and my Father are one. And we all agree that in philosophy there can
never be (in Truth) more than one; this Christian dogma says never less than four.
Hence its bondage to law and its most imperfect comprehension of any true mystic
teaching, and hence the difficulty of using its symbols A.C.
45
ON THE QABALAH
true. My discovery of this word is the main subject of this article. All the
foregoing exposition has been intended to show why I sought a word to fulfil
the conditions, and by what standards of truth I could measure things.
But before proceeding to this Word, it is first necessary to explain further in
what way one expects a number to assist one in the search for truth, or the
redemption of the soul, or the formulation of the Rosy Cross. (I am supposing
that the reader is sufficiently acquainted with the method of reading a name by
its attributions to understand how, once a message is received, and accredited,
it may be interpreted.) Thus if I ask What is knowledge? and receive the
answer I read it the door, matter, darkness, by various columns of
777 (To choose the column is a matter of spiritual intuition. Solvitur
ambulando67). But here I am only dealing with the trying of the spirits, to
know whether they be of God.
Suppose now that a vision purporting to proeed from God is granted to me.
The Angel declares his name. I add it up. It comes to 65. An excellent
number! a blessed angel! Not necessarily. Suppose he is of a Mercurial
appearance? 65 is a number of Mars.
Then I conclude that, however beautiful and eloquent he may be, he is a
false spirit. The Devil does not understand the Qabalah well enough to clothe
his symbols in harmony.
But suppose an angel, even lonely in aspect, not only knows the Qabalah
your own researches in the Qabalah as well as you do, but is able to show
you truths, qabalistic truths which you had sought for long and vainly! Then
you receive him with honour and his message with obedience.
It is as if a beggar sought audience of a general, and showed beneath his
rags the signet of the King. When an Indian servant shows me chits signed
by Colonel This and Captain That written in ill-spelt Babu English, one knows
what to do. On the contrary the Man Who Was Lost rose and broke the stem of
his wineglass at the regimental toast, and all knew him for one of their own.
In spiritual dealings, the Qabalah, with those secrets discovered by yourself
that are known only to yourself and God, forms the grip, sign, token and
password that assure you that the Lodge is properly titled.
It is consequently of the very last importance that these final secrets should
never be disclosed. And it must be remembered that an obsession, even
momentary, might place a lying spirit in possession of the secrets of your
grade. Possibly it was in this manner that Dee and Kelly were so often
deceived.
A reference to this little dictionary of numbers will show that 1, 3, 5, 7, 12,
13, 17, 21, 22, 26, 32, 37, 45, 52, 65, 67, 73, 78, 91, 111, 120, 207, 231, 270, 300,
326, 358, 361, 370, 401, 306, 434, 474, 666, 671, 741, 913, were for me numbers of
peculiar importance and sanctity. Most of them are venerable, referring to or
67
[Lat., it is solved by walking , i.e. by doing the work.]
46
LIBER LVIII
harmonious with the One. Only a few e.g. 120 refer to the means. There
are many others any others just as good; but not for me. God in dealing
with me would show me the signs which I should have intelligence enough to
understand. It is a condition of all intellectual intercourse.
Now I preferred to formulate the practical problem in this shape: How
shall I unite the 5 and the 6, the Microcosm and Macrocosm?
And these are the numbers which seemed to me to bear upon the problem.
1. Is the goal not the means. Too simple to serve a magician s purpose.
2. Vide supra.
3. Still too simple to work with, especially as 3 = 1 so easily. But, and
therefore, a great number to venerate and desire.
4. The terrible weapon of Tetragrammaton, the great enemy. The number of
the weapons of the Evil Magician. The Dyad made Law.
5. The Pentagram, symbol of the squaring of the circle by virtue of =
3.1415, symbol of man s will, of the evil 4 dominated by man s spirit.
Also Pentagrammaton, Jeheshua, the Saviour. Hence the Beginning of
the Great Work.
6. The Hexagram, symbol of the Macrocosm and Microcosm interlaced, and
of the End of the Great Work. (Pentagram on breast, Hexagram on back,
of Probationer s Robe.) Yes it also symbolises the Ruach, 214, q.v., and
so is as evil in viâ as it is good in termino.
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]