The children of light delight in the words of the wise, because they are light unto their feet and direct their paths. "Why is a man ill?" asks the pupil. "By reason of his disobedience to the light," says the Rabbi. Ponder then on the words of the Holy Qabalah and let it heal all your infirmities. —From an Ancient Commentary on Zohar. Before entering into a study of the holy scriptures which shall be more profitable than that which has been entered into by the sectarian dogmatists of the past, it is necessary to obtain a sure foundation upon which may be built a stately edifice worthy the attention of men who value truth and wisdom more than mere argument. To this end a knowledge of the methods used by the Qabalists of old to explain their sacred scriptures and mysteries is necessary, for it is this knowledge which will constitute the foundation of the edifice. It is essential that these methods be fully understood, for any new presentment of ancient truths must carry conviction with it, must, as it were, prove itself as it goes, and prove itself logically so that the student may pass step by step and stage by stage to a complete understanding of the mysteries. It is easy to give an explanation of the meaning of the word itself, for its root is QBL, which means "to receive," hence the Qabalah is the "received" doctrine, the esoteric side of the scriptures, the Doctrine of the Heart, in contradistinction to the doctrine of the eye, the inner Truth as opposed to the outer form. There is, however, no Book of the Qabalah, no manuscript called "The Qabalah," but many manuscripts and books have been written based upon qabalistic knowledge, and these different works are known collectively as the Qabalah. They are, however, merely opinions and statements embodying the ideas of the Hidden Wisdom, which has ever been taught to companies of students by the teachers of the Secret Doctrine though seldom written down. The We have, however, to remember, when entering upon a study of the Qabalah, that it is to be viewed in three ways, viz., historically, as regards the documents, etc., then again in reference to the qabalistic methods of teaching and unveiling the mysteries hidden in the scriptures, and finally, as the Qabalah, the Wisdom itself, or Spirit, Soul and Body, for everything in the whole universe must of necessity be threefold as will be proved later, and therefore the Qabalah is no exception to the rule. It is well to remember these distinctions and to realize the difference between the Qabalistic Wisdom, the means of production and the product or appearance. The Qabalah, then, viewed from this point of view, is not a book as so often thought, just as the Occult Teaching, the Secret Doctrine is not a book, even though the Secret Doctrine happens to be the name of a book containing many of the teachings derived from that source. What, then, is the Qabalah, and whence papyri of the Priests of Egypt, on the stones of Assyria and Babylon, in the writings of the ancient Persians and Sassanians, in all countries and in all climes. In Peru and in other parts of America, in China, in Japan and throughout Asia, Africa, Europe and Australia, everywhere are traces of this Ancient Wisdom to be found. The Occultists tell us likewise in various works, notably the Secret Doctrine, Isis Unveiled, Man; Whence, How and Whither, and many others, that the Ancient Wisdom was ever known to the Teachers of men and continually given out by them as time and occasion called it forth. All this may be seen in the pictures of the Kinemetograph of Nature, the Akashic records. It is, however, useless to offer evidence of this description where the historical facts are required and for this latter purpose a history of the written Qabalah will be necessary. There exist certain manuscripts of a certain date and from these we deduce certain facts: this is the method usually followed This quotation is from a letter of St. Agobard, and in mentioning it in his Doctrine and Literature of the Kabalah, Waite does not seem to have noticed in passing by this evidence of the antiquity of the written Qabalah, the fact that St. Agobard is himself quoting from the Book of the Zohar, or Splendour, in which it is stated that all the Hebrew letters were used by God to prepare for the creation of the world. To this fact we refer later on, when the letters themselves will be explained and their true significance be shown. It is sufficient to The book of the Zohar is said by its compiler to have been discovered in a cavern where it had lain many years, and it is not an unlikely tale, although scoffed at by modern critics. It is quite reasonable to suppose that Moses de Leon did find some old manuscripts written by the disciples of the Rabbi Simeon in the second century, and that he edited them and re-arranged This does not, however, dispose of the fact that the Qabalah itself is of infinitely greater antiquity even though some of its doctrines may have been written down in the second century. To search for the "author" of the Qabalah as scholars have done for so long, is in fact a vain attempt, for it would be just as wise to search for the origin of Religion itself. As H. P. Blavatsky says in her Theosophical Glossary, no two writers are "agreed upon the origin of the Kabala, the Zohar, Sepher Yetzirah. Some show them as coming from Hence the student is again reminded that the study of Qabalah is no mere Jewish work, but must be the work of occult students whose ideas are beyond the reach of sectarian differences, although they may be working within a sect or born into the environment of a special religion, for the occult student is not bound by forms even whilst he follows the ceremonies and ritual of his forefathers. Indeed it is wise that
Thus standing the ravages of time what can this wisdom be but truly Divine and Eternal. The history of books is not important after all, it is the "Thing-in-itself" that matters to the truth seeker. Let us then, leave these dates and data, for the history of the Qabalah has not yet been nor will ever be written by any scholar, whose knowledge is of the head only. The various books called "Qabalistic" or purporting to be the "Qabalah" are many. Few of them have been translated and the most important has not yet been thoroughly translated into the English tongue, although there is a splendid version in French of the Zohar, translated by De Pauly and posthumously The Sepher Sephiroth, or book of the Becomings, treats of the Emanation of the different Cosmic Beings, the evolution of the Many from the One, or rather the description of the Many who themselves constitute the One. This is the book from which most of the "intellectual" writers cull their riddles when they speak of the Ten
Finally we have the Aish Metzraph, that As one of the Zoharistic works, the Sepher Dzyaniouta must be mentioned, especially for its likeness to the Stanzas of Dzyan of the "Secret Doctrine." This treats of what is called the "Concealed Mystery," the doctrine of the "Balance," an Egyptian survival, probably taken from the Egyptians together with the other jewels of which the Israelites are said to have spoiled them. There are also other minor works of importance, but these are generally bound up with the Zohar. These treat of various matters, the emanations of the Deity, or "Creation," the doctrine of Reincarnation, or Gilgool, that is, "revolutions of the soul," and also the doctrine of Karma, or as it is called in Hebrew, Judgments or Mischpotim. Other treatises are of a more difficult and perhaps more dangerous character, treating of demons, and obsessing entities, etc., as well as of Angels and elementals, and such-like creatures. 69:* The "East" being of course the "Place of Light" and not a mere physical "east," for the Wisdom is no more eastern than western, in fact the East is indebted to the West and vice-versa, according to the time when the qabalistic knowledge was given out or re-presented, sometimes in the west and at others in the east. 73:* Compiled probably by a certain Rabbi Abraham (and not as some misread it The Patriarch).THE MYSTERIES OF THE QABALAH.
THE QABALAH.
Footnotes
