The Basis of Kabbalah: some views

venicebard

LittleBuddha said:
It is a big subject, which is why it appears quite overwhelming to me at the moment.
This is why it is imperative to grasp the simple basis of it all, that which unites it, namely the primordial round or wheel of earlier Merkabah tradition ('Work of the Chariot'), 4 examples of which are the 4 wheels-within-wheels of Ezekiel's vision, each half the height of its predecessor: (1) that centered at the crown of standing Adam Qadmon ('primordial Adam', the sexless archetype), (2) that centered atop the head of seated Adam (where archetype and human meet), (3) the zodiac of that seated torso (aries-head-spring-up, cancer-breasts-summer-out[ahead], etc.), and (4) the round of the womb. The first 10 signs on these 4 wheels (worlds) are the pips: Batons are the spokes of the 1st, Swords their sweep in the 2nd, Cups the angles formed by their sweep in the 3rd, and Coins the physical rounds or cycles governing the horoscope at birth, so to speak.

The 3 'mothers' of Sefer Yetzirah are the first three wheels themselves (their centers), which have other wheels in their bellies: mem-sofit (mem's final form, closed) is the 1st wheel (all-containing), shin forms the 2nd, and alef the 3rd (the 4th being the opening at the bottom of intermediate mem). The bowl formed by the bottom half of the 2nd wheel (the surroundings, from horizon without to horizon within) contains the 7 'doubles': originally in phonetic order P-T-K-R-G-D-B, P and D have switched places, leaving D-dalet as the 'door' into manifestation. And the 12 signs on the 3rd wheel (the 12 'simples') were originally (starting at aries) samekh-tzaddi-cheyt-vav-ayin-qof-teyt-heh-zayin-yod-lamedh-nun, which I can argue for but is apparent anyway from the shapes of the letters and the fact that heh is the 8th sign, physiologically man's 'secrets' (the privates), explaining why circumcision occurs on the 8th day (a heh was added to Abram to make Abraham, remember, at the time of the Covenant).

[Edited to add:] The relation of tarot to the above can be seen in the court cards being 3 male to 1 female: this is the distribution in the Name (yod-heh-vav-heh), yod and the two hehs being to the right or inner side of the vertical axis, the vav to the left or outer side, where motherhood is (being an outward swelling of the womb).
I remember coming away from [Berg's book] feeling very enriched. I think I ought to read it again, as I have slipped since the last time - letting frustration, anger and quick-fixes dictate a lot of my life.
Though I have not read Berg (having assumed his stuff more or less introductory), I think you hit on it here, a point often forgotten: Kabbalah deals with eternals, with the eternal structure of reality. For Adam Qadmon -- atop whose head the 1st wheel, the All [Ark], is centered -- is the Form or Ideal Upright Sentience, the one eternal Form sought by all other forms (however far they be from that goal).
Buddhism was another path I researched heavily. Looking at the two, there are simularities which I need to open myself up to.
Here it helps to understand that the Buddha taught the pure Gnostic view -- that sensation is a fine servant but makes a poor ruler -- and did not teach there is no self: the anatta doctrine says, rather, that you will not find self out there amongst those elements (specifically, the 5 skandas) of which the world is made. Theravada Buddhists have evidently come to the conclusion the world is all there is (hence 'no self'). Self is in the direction of the inner horizon (straight back towards oneself, the direction of individual responsibility), not the outer.
 

venicebard

moderndayruth said:
I began studing Tarot first, some 7 years ago and then Kabbalah four years ago; just now i began making correlatons between the Majors and Hebrew letters and it could be confusing...
Especially when you consider the modern theories are off from each other by one yet each seems happy with the result! The actual correlations at the time (High Middle Ages) were (beginning with zero) H-A-E-I-O-B-M-P-F-K-G-T-D-N-L-R-S-U-Q-Y-St-Aa, which translates into cheyt-alef-heh-zayin-ayin-beyt-mem-peh-samekh-kaf-gimel-tav-dalet-nun-lamedh-reysh-shin-vav-qof-yod-tzaddi-teyt, F being a pagan substitute for samekh, and Aa, the bardic vowel that is the fire breath (symbolized by the palm or phoenix), being consonant teyt-theta-tag-day in Hebrew, Greek, and runic.
Like, this month's letter, Tzzadi, when you look at it, consist of Yud , the first letter of Tetragrammaton and Zayin.
Says who? (Rhetorical question.) It is the throat taurus, in breathing (intermediate tzaddi) and in swallowing (tzaddi-sofit), but was moved to aquarius to indicate that the primordial wind-in-one's-face (air triad pointing back or in) was changed, in astrology, to the one pointing down (primordial water, according to tradition surrounding the Star of David).
Zayin is said to be connected with the fall, . . .
It forms the pillar Jachin, the spinal column, which remains standing when Boaz, the front column, is broken off at the sternum to allow childbirth (result of the Fall, whereupon man became mortal).
This far this good, but then i found out that some systems, while connecting Hermit to Yud and The Star to the Tzzadi, ( which makes sence to me), connect Zayin with the Lovers... which i don't really undestand.
First of all, in the Tarot de Marseille it is L'Amoureux, 'The Lover' singular, and phonetically this means "Mmm" or sweetness, muin the vine or grape in the bardic tree-alphabet, which bore the number 6 in medieval times (in Ireland, at least, according to Robert Graves, and later in Wales, based on my research). This means mem (whose final form is the great unifier, the box carrying the Ark, to which its intermediate form prays). Second, yod (mistletoe or loranthus) is actually XVIIII LeSoleil (being the 'Golden Bough'), VIIII L'Hermite is Kaf (coll the hazel of condensed wisdom), XVII The Star is vav (ura the heather, bed of trysts under the stars), tzaddi is XX Judgement (straif the blackthorn, meaning 'strife' or Armageddon), and zayin is bardic I-idho-yew, pillar Jachin and the trump III The Empress: the male pillar Jachin is represented by the eagle on the shield, which embraces her about her spine, indicating that the male pillar forms the backbone of both sexes. (Boaz is B-beth-birch, B's shape indicating a pregnant torso in profile, and this is V LePape, Boaz being the mother whose arm enters the card from the right but who is herself not on the card, being the column that is broken-off.)
 

moderndayruth

venicebard, thank you so much for the effort you made to answer me! i read your post once, than again and again... I think it's going to take me some time to have a deep insight into the matter, as you are far more advanced and have far more knowledge than i do; but i am gonna try my best. I'll pm you.
Thank you again,
Love&Light
Ruth
 

venicebard

moderndayruth said:
venicebard, thank you so much for the effort you made to answer me! i read your post once, than again and again...
To add weight to the bardic interpretation my posts are based on, in the Hermetic pattern of paths on the Tree, those leading into the central Sefirah 6 or Tiferet are (in order) gimel-heh-zayin-yod-lamedh-nun-samekh-ayin (G-E-I-Y-L-N-[F]-O): heh through samekh ascend the inner or Jachin half of the zodiac in the bardic (original) sequence of 12 simples (pre-alef-bet), from scorpio to aries, gimel being the scorpio of the next larger wheel, that of the surroundings [see footnote below]. Ayin, then, is the sign leo on the wheel of simples and yet also the bardic vowel O of spring (and new moon), which it rules by virtue of being the 'heat-engine' of the year -- its hottest month, leo -- and drawing nature to itself through spring. O as leo's warmth teleologically causes spring, in other words, which it must do in order to remain a vowel, that is, at the tongue-root, the zodiac's bottom half (summer-fall, where all the vowels are), and still rule the one season located beyond that half's reach, namely spring or up, meaning aries the head (the direction things spring in spring). Specifically, O is the mercury vapor that rises up into spring's upper half of the vessel or year when heated from below (at leo, by the sun, though fire or light has fallen to libra the loins in man). As such it also represents spring-summer filling in the outlines of the trees, amongst other things.

[Footnote: the 7 doubles, from horizon without to horizon within, are ideally P-T-K-R-G-D-B, but in mortals they are D-T-K-R-G-P-B, which in the calendar become -- by discarding the 13th month R of B-L-N-F-S-H-D-T-K-M-G-P-R to make 12 signs -- D-T-K-M-G-P-B, or 12-11-9-6-10-7-5, and this, when returned to the middle 6 -- sweetness (M-muin-vine as the grapes of Aesops fable beyond the fox's reach) -- makes the sequence of differences 1-2-3-4-3-2-1, identifying the four layers of the 'Cauldron' (the bowl of manifested surroundings, from horizon without to horizon within) as 1-fire, 2-air, 3-water, and 4-earth. Just so, straight ahead is the horizon we see (by light, which is fire), 30 degrees down from which is what approaches within earshot (we hear vibrations in air), 30 more degrees on being what is within reach as we sit meditating and can therefore be brought to the lips to be tasted [edited to add: which implies solution in water], while 30 more degrees means straight down, our point of contact with earth: this last stands for earth's sense, surface contact, which unfocused is touch but focused (on individual molecules) is smell. Proceeding on to the three signs within (towards inner horizon B), we arrive at the three parts of the conscious self dedicible from Plato's division of reality into durationless present (doer), finite durations (thinking), and the eternal (knowing). Whew! (I'll shut up now.)]
 

venicebard

Ruth, I should have been clearer earlier:
venicebard said:
It is the throat taurus, in breathing (intermediate tzaddi) and in swallowing (tzaddi-sofit), but was moved to aquarius to indicate that the primordial wind-in-one's-face (air triad pointing back or in) was changed, in astrology, to the one pointing down (primordial water, according to tradition surrounding the Star of David).
Based on both tree-calendar and phonetic considerations, I take the simples in the order samekh-tzaddi-cheyt-vav-ayin-qof-teyt-heh-zayin-yod-lamedh-nun: samekh is shaped like the head, cheyt like the shoulders, vav in Phoenician and earlier was a breast pouring forth milk, and so on. As such, they show a definite 'code' when translated into alef-bet order, as follows.

Taken as a round with aries both 1st and last (i.e. 13th, whence the 13 middot or divine attributes, the first 10 of which are Sefirot since they reach to where we have gotten to, namely straight back or capricorn, meaning the direction back towards oneself), the last four remain on their triads, whereas the first four take the primordial elements of their respective triads to the triads on which they reside in astrology: aries is in both groups because fire still points up (like flame) towards aries-the-head in astrology but the other three have changed triads (you can check this out yourself, based on the first 4 signs generating the primordial triads in nature's order, fire-air-water-earth).

The bottom five (those below the horizon) move elements to their places at the four quarters in common ritual (fire-south, air-east, water-west, earth-north), with the proviso that those in manifested nature (from horizon without cancer to straight down libra) cart off the elements these signs are in nature, namely those wherein each triad manifests in the element following (fire in air, air in water, etc.). So ayin carries air from leo to the east, capricorn (where the round ascends), and so on. Now the bottom half of the round is the satiric half to a bard (winter-spring being heroic by contrast), and sure enough there is here a joke on behalf of those who think touch and smell two senses. For heh takes earth from its original triad (which points where earthly body points, ahead), in honor of smell (the nose taking its form from said triad), to aries or north (up being north on average for humans), when teyt has already taken earth from libra (straight down, where we contact earth) to leo (whose triad points north) in honor of touch (being where we touch earth). Cracks me up (both are surface contact, smell simply being where it is most focused).

On the Cauldron of surroundings, then, meaning the half-circle of the same height in which the round of simples sits, calendar-order yields D-T-K-M-G-P-B (from orig. P-T-K-R-G-D-B, with B-P on its rim or 'lip' and guttural R at its gullet), and teyt and mem both appear to resemble the legs folded under one when seated in meditation, since the Cauldron is on the round centered atop the head of one who is seated in meditation and the round of the simples is that seated torso (hence both libras are one's folded legs, in a sense). Mem (its intermediate form) is standing in for reysh here, which has deserted its station (elsewhere but Hebrew and perhaps French) to seek the top (or tip) of the round (or tongue) as Arabic or Scots rolled R. But mem-sofit (final form) is the Great Round in which these other two are, namely that centered atop the head of standing Adam Qadmon, that is, the height of the bunch of grapes Aesop's fox could not reach (being sweetness "mm" of muin the vine). These three rounds, by the way, are the three mothers, for each has others in its belly, this because in the belly of the third is the fourth (wheel of Ezekiel's vision), the round of the womb itself.

Hope this helps some.
 

jmd

The above posts were moved from the thread Kabbalah/Tree of Life system... and Tarot.

Though (mainly) Venicebard addresses similar topics, they form a discussion in its own right, with various suggestions that are both worthy of consideration, but also, it needs to be acknowledged, at variance with the manner in which Kabbalah has developed over the past few centuries.
 

jmd

Is not part of the overall 'problem', with this vast and broad area, in part similar to the breadth of the noumenal, or religious, in which there exists tensions between considerations that differentiates the personal to the group (or social); between the active more 'magical' paths and the more mystical or passive/receptive areas of work; and between the important roots in its historical dimensions within a specific milieu and the myriad living streams into which it spills?

That is why, when Venicebard says that 'it is imperative to grasp the simple basis of it all', I both concur, and question what is possibly meant.

The 'basis', in terms of Kabalah, would be, I would have thought, first and foremost a fourfold understanding and reading of the Torah - the fourfoldness reflected in the acronym PaRDeS, where the last letter stands for what is really a 'secret', sacred, and spiritual understanding and exegesis of the text, informed by meticulous personal work as well as being solidly grounded in various texts within the religious corpus of Judaism.

For most of us, however, it is not this aspect that is pertinent, but rather one (or a few) of the overflows that, though deriving from this source, permeates the western esoteric world. Of this, principally, I would suggest, is the representation of the Tree of Life (in various forms). Another are the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet.

Of course, once one begins to work with these, some 'foundational' texts also become part of the 'basis' - such as, importantly, the Sefer Yetzirah (and the Bahir and the Zohar).

The personal work that one does may then also be modified in order to reflect some aspect of the model of the Tree one uses.

That is why, in so many ways, I do not personally support presentations of the personal whims of the founders of the Golden Dawn as 'correct without question'. Of course one may choose to work their way, which they sought to carefully integrate into a unified world-view, even if it meant a modification of any part of this over-riding tables of correlation - hence a change in popular 20th century tarot in the English-speaking world that is only more recently shedding this influence (the French speaking world went through the same 'intrusion' in the 19th century with the Etteilla 'Book of Thoth' tarot).

With regards to the letter presentation and correlation presented by Venicebard, and though I have considered his views with regards to the 'bardic' and molecular correlations as worthy of consideration, they neither, to my view, reflect tarot or Kabalah in any intrinsic fashion - but are instead, it seems to me, an alternative workable model that seeks to discover ways in which myriad views can in some way be correlated in a manner that is meaningful IF one adopts the view in the first place.

Where Venicebard has not convinced me is why I should even begin to adopt his correlations that do not seem intrinsically reflected in tarot - a view with which he will undoubtedly disagree.
 

kwaw

Language as basis of kabbalah

In Kabbalah the universe and its dynamics are understood in relation to the structure of language and its components, letters, syllables, words and sentences, the primary semantic unit being the word [written and oral]; and relates the precepts of discourse to cosmic processes.

Any elementary text book on grammar and rhetoric may in that respect be considered good basic introduction to kabbalah.

For example:

By Aristotle:
Rhetoric
Topica


By Cicero:
De inventione
Topica
De Oratore


By Pseudo-Cicero:
Rhetorica ad Herennium

By Quintilian
The Orator's Education

Kwaw
 

kwaw

kwaw said:
For example:

By Aristotle:


Kwaw

For example the 10 Categories of Aristotle:

01 substance
02 quantity
03 quality
04 relation
05 place
06 time
07 position
08 state
09 active
10 passive

"Expressions which are in no way composite signify substance, quantity, quality, relation, place, time, position, state, action, or affection. To sketch my meaning roughly, examples of substance are 'man' or 'the horse', of quantity, such terms as 'two cubits long' or 'three cubits long', of quality, such attributes as 'white', 'grammatical'. 'Double', 'half', 'greater', fall under the category of relation; 'in a the market place', 'in the Lyceum', under that of place; 'yesterday', 'last year', under that of time. 'Lying', 'sitting', are terms indicating position, 'shod', 'armed', state; 'to lance', 'to cauterize', action; 'to be lanced', 'to be cauterized', affection." [categories1.4]Categories By Aristotle [trans.Edghill, E. M.].

Such possibly we may relate perhaps to the 10 sefiroth.

The four components of language [letter, syllable, word and sentence] and four modes of interpretation we may relate to the four worlds.

Kwaw