INTRODUCTION

For over 1500 years, our Western society has been built on the biblical tradition. Of course, this was essentially Christianity, declared the state religion on the ashes of the defunct Roman Empire. But it was built on the foundation of the Torah, which for Christians became the Old Testament. For Christians, and for the whole of Western society, the Bible was the foundation of religious tradition, attempting to erase everything that had gone before. We will see later that modern Kabbalah has transcended these proselytizing tendencies to go further than Church dogma.

Our purpose in this book is neither religious nor academic. Both are respectable and useful, but we will place ourselves in a modern Hermetic perspective, refusing any dogmatism linked to these presuppositions.

We will explain in greater detail what kabbalah is, or rather the different kabbalahs that developed over time. Historically, it is clear that the first Kabbalah came out of Judaism. The Torah was set down in a language that became the Hebrew language we know today. Like all sacred texts that form the basis of a religion, the Bible is supposed to have a literal meaning and a hidden meaning, veiled from the profane gaze. It is therefore a symbolic text with two levels of reality: that of the human world in which it develops, and that of God, from whom it derives its origin and justification. The discourse we read describing these founding epics of a people guided, protected and tested by the Eternal God, is only the surface of a much vaster inner world. Opening a sacred book like the Bible is like looking at the outside of a house through a pane of glass. Different things are on the glass: shining ice crystals, impurities, imperfections... Light from outside reaches us through the glass, allowing us to see what is on its surface. This glass, like what is on it, is absolutely real. There can be no doubt about it. Of course, these realities may be changeable, but the fact remains that they exist. The biblical text is like that window. But what this allegory teaches us is that this sensitive surface is the screen for a much larger reality, which gives it its strength and light. The text veils the divine beyond that illuminates it. So, we need to go beyond the text to access this horizon that we perceive, to elevate ourselves to this divinity. There are many ways of doing this, both within and outside Kabbalah. This image illustrates the origin of literality. Kabbalah will encourage us to use the sacred text as a springboard for illuminating what would otherwise have been only a cold appearance.

However, to speak of Jewish Kabbalah, Christian Kabbalah, Hermetic Kabbalah, etc., is to already specify the nature of an outlook and a perspective. It is to limit an orientation towards the reality that lies beyond appearance. If we return to the image we've just used, we know that a house doesn't have just one window or one pane of glass. They usually have multiple. Each has its own imperfections, and each leads to an apparently different point of view of external reality. None is superior to the other, or even definitive. Whether one is called the Torah, the other the New Testament, the Bhagavad Gita, etc., is of no importance in itself, for its nature as a sacred text aims at the same objective: to lead us towards divine planes. We could say that a materialist would deny that there is an elsewhere to the edifice in which he lives. The dogmatist or fundamentalist would consider that the window in front of which he stands is the only reality, or at least that it is the only one guaranteeing real access to this divine plane. The Hermeticist, on the other hand, has a broader point of view and considers existence from several different viewpoints. He can then choose the one that suits him best or use one at certain times and the other in different circumstances. How can we imagine that there can only be one opening onto the divine and sacred world? Of course, points of view differ, but this in no way prevents freedom of being.

Christian Kabbalah is part of this tradition of the search for hidden meaning. Christianity counted open minds, eager to go beyond the veil and engage in a real search for meaning, the result of genuine inner work. They were born into a biblical and Christian culture. So, it was only natural for them to study the text in depth, to uncover its occult meaning. This first step led them to discover the source itself, the original text of the Torah. Always keen to find the occult meaning, it was natural for them to turn to those who carried and were initiated into this tradition, the Jewish kabbalists. They learned everything they could from them, from theoretical techniques to ritual practices.

But Judaism remains a religion, and Jewish kabbalists are esotericists and mystics of that religion. And some of this knowledge can only be passed on to members of the same religion. A choice had to be made either to convert to Judaism, or to continue the journey on one's own and build up a new form of this wisdom. This is what happened. This new knowledge was applied to the message of the Christian religion. This enabled an esoteric meaning to be drawn from it, and a set of practices to be developed from these discoveries. But as with any monotheistic religion, the danger of individual research was real. The Church of the time did not joke about initiatives that might suggest that the authority of dogma could be called into question, or that the Church hierarchy could be bypassed to ascend to the divine. Kabbalists therefore had to conceal certain parts of their statements and organize small, closed groups of followers. In this way, research and practical techniques derived from these discoveries could be developed freely and safely. This was how the Christian Kabbalah came into being.

Implicitly, one might think that Christian Kabbalah stops at this discovery of Christian esotericism. This is a common mistake made by many modern researchers and initiates, who confuse kabbalah with monotheistic dogma. For, as we said earlier, kabbalah is a reading grid, a map and a system enabling us to work on the occult and spiritual plane.

Christian kabbalists were able to distance themselves from the prevailing dogma. For these men, the quest for truth and the inner journey was far more important than respect for religious power, which was far more temporal than spiritual. This is why their search for the origins of their tradition led them to go beyond the text of the Bible, to the true roots of Western and Mediterranean tradition. Just as the ancient thinkers had done in Alexandria in the first few centuries AD, Hermeticism and its integrative vision began to flourish once again. Pythagoras became the father of the Kabbalah, and the ancient myths resumed their natural place in this rich tradition. Christianity and its positive intuitions were not, of course, denied, but simply associated with what had gone before and placed in a historical continuity in which nothing new radically rejected what had gone before. This is the point at which we can truly speak of a Christian and Hermetic Kabbalah.

It gave rise to a new expression of the tradition present in the Platonic academies of the Renaissance, and a little later in Agrippa's “community of Magi.” It made it possible to transmit the studies and internal rites of these currents.

But not everything disappeared into the dust of history! The friendship and fraternity of the adepts was able to form an extremely strong yet discreet chain that spanned history and manifested itself in various forms. These initiates placed this important heritage in various places and groups capable of transmitting and protecting it. These deposits were made without these outside structures knowing about them, or even realizing their importance. This was the case, for example, in certain occult degrees of Freemasonry. Sometimes, as we shall see, Orders were set up to safeguard the initiation and methods specific to this tradition. Some received only part of the inheritance, while others were able to access other aspects of this rich tradition through their own character and the times in which they manifested themselves. These were the Neoplatonic theurgic traditions, the Rose-Cross, Martinesism, Martinism, the Kabbalistic Order of the Rose-Cross, and so on. We will take a closer look at them in this book.

But not all rites are destined to remain within initiation schools. A certain number of teachings and practices need to be passed on regularly to keep the flame of desire alive among seekers. That's what we've done in this book. It is important to learn to grasp the spirit behind the letter. For Kabbalah's techniques are designed to help us move from the surface of things to that other plane.

As you will see, the practices We will be transmitting here will be a first approach to this current and will enable you to begin this inner work which is, as the Masters of this tradition used to say, the first step on the sacred path of return

HERMETIC ENGRAVINGS

The tradition of symbolic engravings

Esoteric and initiatory traditions have long used symbolic methods to transmit their knowledge. To understand this mode of transmission and teaching, we need to keep in mind the strict distinction between what is visible and communicable to all, and what is veiled and must be kept under the seal of secrecy. This precaution is all the more important given the troubled and dangerous periods in history for free spirits and initiates. Thus, the Western Hermetic tradition veiled itself throughout its history, both to preserve its techniques and to avoid persecution of its initiates over the centuries. There were, of course, a few exceptions due to the intolerance of the Church. Giordano Bruno, burned alive in Rome, was a famous example.

So that the tradition would not fade from human memory, initiates have always expressed it in symbolic, allegorical, and philosophical form. These were alchemical, kabbalistic and theurgic treatises. Not everything was explicitly expressed. This was the case even for philosophers such as Descartes, who declared that he had to “advance masked,” obviously for fear of the power of the Church. Campanella's treatises, too, expressed this aspect of things, and should be read as far as possible beyond the letter of the discourse. This is not to say that the first exoteric meaning is false, misleading, or deliberately deceptive.

It is fair to say, however, that few Christian Kabbalists were content to do bookish work on Kabbalah and related sciences. Many practiced various mystical and ritual techniques, veiling the results of their work in allegorical figures. We have several examples of a series of symbolic engravings. Easterners have also long used these visual techniques, which they call mandalas. These are symbolic representations summarizing the macrocosm or the microcosm. The meditation or ritual construction of such figures is a ritual and spiritual practice. It is a little-known fact that Western tradition has precisely the same thing. Initiates have developed genuine mandalas, which we refer to here as symbolic or allegorical engravings. They have the same function as in the Eastern tradition and are transmitted in the same way.

The first step in working with plates and engravings is to analyze the symbols. Many things can be brought to light, such as alchemical symbolism, kabbalistic meaning, astrological elements and so on. However, the aim is to bring these different aspects together into a coherent whole. It is quite possible that a symbolic analysis focused on a particular element will lead us to considerations that are no longer those of the authors. What is more, our interpretations could drift into a delirium more akin to wild self-analysis than traditional work. At best, this would give us access to a symbolic representation of our inner world, but not to the message and teaching of symbolic engraving. It is indeed possible to work in this way to explore our unconscious, but this type of inner work comes after the traditional analysis generally passed on from initiate to initiate. To avoid the kind of interpretive slippage that can lead to serious confusion, we have two main solutions. The first is to study traditionally in an authentic Initiatory Order. This would enable us to progress in complete safety. The second, which is not incompatible with the first, is to consider the symbols individually and then as a whole. It is their reciprocal relationship and coherence that will enable us to avoid errors and mistakes.

The second stage of the work is to identify the practical and often ritual aspects of engraving. The authors of these symbolic representations have coded a process of inner and spiritual work. These precise veiled elements enable us to understand how they are to be applied within our progression. It is an important work that takes us from theory to practice.

The third step is to make your own copy of the engraving. This is done within a ritual framework, with precise instructions. The nature of the colors, the days and times of production, the order in which to make the tracings, are just some of the aspects that need to be taught to transform such an exercise into a veritable asceticism. The engraving will then be able to trigger both an inner and an outer result in what will have become a living pentacle in close relationship with you.

Among the engravings traditionally used for these practices, those contained in Heinrich Khunrath's Amphitheater of Eternal Wisdom are extremely representative and important. So, it is from this work that We will draw to give you an idea of how to proceed.

The amphitheater of eternal wisdom

This work is well known to followers of the Western tradition. First published in 1609, it was written by Heinrich Khunrath. Born in Leipzig in 1560, Khunrath studied medicine there and then in Basel. There, he studied Spagyria with the Protestant mystic Johannes Arndt. He was an alchemist, Kabbalist and, as his engravings show, most likely a theurgist. He died in 1605, aged forty-five. The work in question contains twelve intaglio engravings. They were usually bound at the head of the book. They are grouped together arbitrarily; the author having neglected to specify their sequence.

Three of them are in single format. There are also five large rectangular and four circular plates. The latter four were produced under the author's direct control. This is less certain for the others, although close examination will confirm the authenticity of the source for many elements. It is the overall execution that may reveal less coherence than the circular engravings. Several names have been attributed to the engravings, but they have none in the original work. This has enabled various commentators to refer to them with terms that seemed appropriate. De Guaita, for example, chose to call them: The great hermetic androgyne; the Laboratory of Khunrath; Adam-Eve in the verbal triangle; the pentagrammatic Rose-Cross (whose analysis and commentary we reproduce here); The Seven Steps of the Sanctuary and the Seven Rays; The alchemical Citadel with twenty dead-end doors; Nature’s Gymnasium a synthetic and highly learned figure in the guise of a rather naive landscape; The Emerald Tablet engraved on igneous and mercurial stone; The Pantacle of Khunrath.. There is much more to be said about this text and these representations, so We will confine ourselves to examining the plate Stanislas de Guaita calls “the pentagrammatic Rose-Cross.” For a clear, rigorous, and historical examination of this work, we recommend the book by Umberto Eco cited in the bibliography. It is remarkable and indispensable.

Analysis of Heinrich Khunrath's Rose-Cross work

Figure 14: Engraving of the Rose-Cross according to the teachings of Heinrich Khunrath

As we have just said, we will base our comments on Stanislas de Guaita's explanation of this circular engraving of Christ.

As with any study of this kind, we recommend that you contemplate the engraving for a while before reading the text that follows. It is important to immerse yourself in it, to abandon yourself to its contemplation, without first exercising your critical mind or reason.
This initial meditation should be based on an aesthetic feeling. Please note that the appendix contains information on how to obtain a high-quality reproduction.

After this period of meditation and contemplation, you can go on to read the following commentary. It will give you a good idea, albeit from the outside, of this symbolic approach to a traditional representation. Our comments appear as footnotes.

“This figure is a marvelous pantacle, the hieroglyphic summary of an entire doctrine; here, grouped together in a skillful synthesis, we find all the pentagrammatic mysteries of the Rose-Cross adepts. [[1]]

First, it is the central point extending the circumference to three different degrees, giving us the three circular and concentric regions representing the process of Emanation itself.

In the center, a Christ on the Cross in a rose of light: this is the resplendence of the Word or Adam Kadmon; it is the emblem of the Great Arcanum: never has the identity of essence between Man in synthesis and God manifested been more boldly revealed.

It is not without the most profound reasons that the hierographer has reserved for the middle of his pantacle the symbol that represents the incarnation of the eternal Word. For it was by the Word, in the Word and through the Word (itself indissolubly united with Life) that all things, both spiritual and corporeal, were created. “In principio erat Verbum (says Saint John) et Verbum erat apud Deum, et Deus erat Verbum... Omnia per ipsum facta sunt et sine ipso factum est nihil quod factum est. In ipso vita erat....” If we pay close attention to which part of the human figure the central point unfolding the circumference can be attributed to, we will perhaps understand the hieroglyphic power with which the initiator was able to express this fundamental mystery. [[2]]

The luminous radiance blossoms all around; It is a rose in full bloom with five petals, the five-pointed star of the Kabbalistic Microcosm, the Blazing Star of Masonry, the symbol of Almighty Will, armed with the fiery sword of the Kerubim.

To use the language of exoteric Christianity,[[3]] for it is the sphere of God the Son, placed between that of God the Father (the shadow sphere above where Ayin Soph עין סופ (in luminous characters) slices), and that of God the Holy Spirit, Ruach Hakkadosh רוח הקדוש (the luminous sphere below where the hierogram Aemeth אמת slices in black characters).

These two spheres appear as if lost in the clouds of Atziluth אצילות, to indicate the occult nature of the first and third persons of the Holy Trinity: the Hebrew word that expresses them stands out in force, luminous here against a background of shadow, tenebrous there against a background of light, to imply that our mind, unfit to penetrate these Principles in their essence, can only glimpse their antithetical relationships, by virtue of the analogy of opposites.

Above the sphere of Ayin-Soph, the sacred word Jehovah or Iahôah breaks down into a triangle of flame, as follows:

Yod

He – Yod

Vav - He – Yod

He - Vav - He – Yod

Without embarking on a hieroglyphic analysis of this sacred word, or attempting to explain the arcana of its generation - which would require endless elaboration - we can say that, from this special point of view, Yod י symbolizes the Father, Iah יה the Son, Iahô יהו the Holy Spirit, Iahôah יהוה the living Universe, and this mystical triangle is attributed to the sphere of the ineffable Ayin-Soph or God the Father. Kabbalists wanted to show that the Father is the source of the entire Trinity, and moreover, contains in occult virtuality all that is, was or will be. [[4]]

Above the sphere of Emeth (Truth) or the Holy Spirit, in the very irradiation of the Rose-Croix and beneath the feet of Christ, a dove with a pontifical tiara takes its fiery flight.[[5]] The Holy Spirit is indeed represented by a dove: an emblem of the double current of love and light that descends from the Father to the Son - from God to Man - and ascends from the Son to the Father - from Man to God; - its two outstretched wings correspond exactly to the pagan symbol of the two snakes entwined around Hermes' caduceus.

Only insiders can understand this mysterious connection. [[6]]

Let us return to the sphere of the Son, which requires more extensive commentary. Above, we highlighted the impenetrable nature of the Father and the Holy Spirit, considered in their essence.

Only the second person of the Trinity - represented by the central Rose-Cross - pierces the clouds of Atziluth, shining the ten rays of the sefirot into them.

They are like windows opening onto the great arcane of the Word, through which we can contemplate its splendor from ten different points of view. Indeed, the Zohar compares the ten Sefirot to so many transparent vases of disparate color, through which the central focus of Unity-synthesis shines forth in ten different guises.

Suppose again a tower pierced by ten openings, at the center of which shines a five-pointed candelabra; this luminous quinary will be visible at each of them; whoever stops there in succession will be able to count ten burning candelabras at the five points... (Multiply the pentagram by ten, shining the five points at each of the ten openings, and you will have the Fifty Gates of Light, or Intelligence).

Figure 15: The pentagram and the name Ieschouah.

Anyone claiming to be a synthesist must enter the tower. Does he only know how to go around it? He is a pure analytic. We can see the optical errors he exposes himself to as soon as he tries to reason about the whole.

We will say a few words about the sefirotic system later, but we need to finish with the central emblem. Reduced to the geometric proportions of a diagram, it can be drawn as follows:

A cross enclosed in the flaming star. The quaternary finds its expansion in the quinary.

But its destiny is to find in its very degradation the revelation of its personality, and already - a harbinger of salvation - it feels, at the last rung of its decay, the great redeeming force of Will instinctively welling up within it. [[7]]

It is the Word Yod-He-Vav-He who incarnates and becomes the sorrowful Christ or corporeal man Yod-He-Shin-Vav-He, assuming with him his regenerated human nature,[[8]] he will return to his glory. This is what the adept Saint-Martin expresses in the first volume of Errors and Truth, when he teaches that the fall of man comes from his having inverted the leaves of the Great Book of Life and substituted the fifth page (that of corruption and decay) for the fourth (that of immortality and spiritual entity).

Adding together the crucial quaternary and the starry pentagram, we obtain 9, a mysterious number whose full explanation would take us beyond the scope of this article. Elsewhere (Lotus, volume II, 12, pp. 327-328) we have detailed at length, and demonstrated by numerical kabbalah, how 9 is the analytical number of man. We refer the reader to this exposition... (See this analysis in the appendix of this book).

And let us not forget - because in High Science, everything fits together, and analogical concordances are absolute - that in the geometrical figures of the Rose-Cross, the rose is traditionally made up of nine intertwined circumferences, like the rings of an endless chain. Always the analytical number of man: 9!

A suggestive remark is in order, which will provide further confirmation of our theory. It is obvious to anyone with any esoteric knowledge that the four branches of the inner cross (represented by Christ with arms outstretched) must be marked with the letters of the tetragrammaton: Yod, He, Vav, He. We cannot repeat here what we have said elsewhere (On the Threshold of the Mystery, page 35 - Lotus, tome II, n 12, pages 321-347) about the hieroglyphic and grammatical composition of this sacred word: the most extensive and complete commentaries are to be found in the works of all Kabbalists.

But let us consider the hierogram Ieschouah for a moment: what elements does it consist of? Everyone can see the famous tetragrammaton, split by the middle Yod-He and Vav-He, then re-soldered by the Hebrew letter Shin. Now, Yod-He-Vav-He expresses the Adam-Kadmon, Man in his integral synthesis, in a word the divinity manifested by his Word and representing the fruitful union of the universal Spirit and Soul. To split this word is to emblematize the disintegration of its unity and the resulting divisional multiplication for the generation of submultiples. The shin, which joins the two sections, represents (Arcana 21 or 0 of the Tarot)[[9]] the generating and subtle fire, the undifferentiated vehicle of Life, the universal plastic Mediator whose role is to carry out incarnations, allowing Spirit to descend into matter, penetrate it, erode it, elaborate it as it pleases. The Shin, which links the two parts of the mutilated tetragrammaton, is therefore the symbol of the crumbling and fixation, in the elemental and material world, of Yod-He and Vav-He in stasis of submultiplication.

Finally, it is shin, whose addition to the verbal quaternary, in the way we said, generates the quinary or number of forfeiture.[[10]] Saint-Martin saw this very well. But 5, which is the number of the fall, is also the number of the will, and the will is the instrument of reintegration. [[11]]

Initiates know how the substitution of 5 for 4 is only transiently disastrous; how, in the mire where it wallows fallen, the human submultiple learns to conquer a truly free and conscious personality. Felix culpa! From his fall, he rises stronger and greater; this is how evil never succeeds good except temporarily and with a view to achieving the best! [[12]]

The number 5 conceals some of the most profound mysteries, but we must limit our commentary if we are to avoid getting bogged down in endless digressions. What we have said about 4 and 5 as they relate to Rose-Cross will suffice for Initiates. We write only for them. [[13]]

Let us say a few words at this point about the rays, ten in number, that pierce the region of the clouds or Atziluth. This is the Pythagorean deanery known in Kabbalah as the sefirotic emanation. Before presenting our readers with the most luminous classification of the kabbalistic sefirot, we'd like to draw up a small table of traditional correspondences between the ten sefirot and the ten principal names given to the divinity by the Hebrew theologians: these hierograms, which Khunrath engraved in a circle in the blossom of the flaming rose, each correspond to one of the ten sefirot.

As for the divine names, after providing their translation into vulgar language, we will, as briefly as possible, deduce from the hieroglyphic examination of each of them, the average esoteric meaning that can be attributed to them.

SEFIROT

DIVINE NAMES

RKether

Crown

Ehieh

Being, I am

Chochmah

Wisdom

Iah

Iah, God

Binah

Intelligence

Iehoah

Jehovah, The Eternal

Chesed

Mercy

Gevurah

Justice

Elohim Gibor

Tiferet

Beauty

Eloha

Netzach

Victory

Iehoah Tsebaoth

Jehovah Sabaoth

Hod

Eternity

Elohim Tsebaoth

Elohim Sabaoth

Yesod

Foundation

Chadaï

The Almighty

Malkuth

Kingdom

Adonai Meleur

The Lord King

Ehieh - This is the inaccessible essence of absolute Being, where life ferments.

Iah - The indissoluble union of universal Spirit and Friend[[14]].

Iehoah - Copulation of the Male and Female Principles, eternally generating the Living Universe (Great Arcanum of the Word).

El - The deployment of the Unity-principle. - Its diffusion in Space and Time.

Elohim Guibor - God-the-gods of giants or man-gods.

Eloha - God reflected in one of the gods.

Iehoah Tsebaoth - The Yod-heve (see above) of the Septenary or triumph.

Elohim Tsebaoth - God-the gods of the Septenary or Triumph.

Chadai - The Fecundator, through quaternized expanding astral Light; then the return of this Light to the forever occult principle from which it emanates (Masculine of He, Dalet, Shin, the Fecundated, Nature).

Adonai Meleur - The quaternary or cubic multiplication of the Unity-principle, for the production of the ceaselessly changing Becoming (Heraclitus’ Panta Rei); then the final occultation of the concrete objective, by the return to the potential subjective.

Meleur - Maternal Death, fatal to life: a fatal law that unfolds throughout the Universe, and which interrupts with sudden force its movement of perpetual exchange, whenever any being objectifies itself (2)[[15]].

Such are these hierograms in one of their secret meanings.

It is also worth noting that each of the ten Sefirot (aspects of the Word) in Khunrath's pantacle corresponds to one of the angelic choirs - a sublime idea when explored in depth.[[16]] According to the primitive Kabbalah, angels are not beings of a particular unchanging essence: everything moves, evolves, and transforms in the living Universe! Applying to the celestial hierarchies the beautiful comparison by which the authors of the Zohar attempt to express the nature of the Sefirot, we would say that the angelic choirs are comparable to transparent envelopes of varying colors, in which shine in turn an increasingly splendid and pure light, the spirits who, definitively freed from temporal forms, ascend the supreme degrees of Jacob's ladder, of which the mysterious Yod, He, Vav, He occupies the summit.

Khunrath also assigns one of the verses of the Decalogue to each of the angelic choirs: It is as if the rector angel of each degree opened his mouth to promulgate one of the precepts of divine law. But this seems a little arbitrary and less worthy of our attention. [[17]]

A more profound idea of the Leipzig theosophist is to make the letters of the Hebrew alphabet spring from the cloud of Atziluth, riddled with sefirotic rays.

The twenty-two letters of the sacred hieroglyphic alphabet - which, as we know, correspond to the twenty-two arcana of the Absolute Doctrine, translated into pantacles in the twenty-two keys of the Bohemian Tarot - give birth to the contrasts of Light and Darkness, condensing into a striking image the entire doctrine of the Book of Formation, Sepher-Yetzirah.[[18]] These emblems, in fact, alternately radiant and gloomy, mysterious figures that so aptly symbolize the Fas and Nefas of eternal Destiny, Henrich Khunrath gives birth to them from the fertile coupling of Shadow and Clarity, Error and Truth, Evil and Good, Being and Non-Being! Suddenly, unexpected ghosts appear on the horizon, their faces smiling or gloomy, splendid, or threatening, when Phoebus, once again victorious over Python, shoots his golden arrows into the dense, dark clouds.

The sefirot of

Correspond to

Kether

Balancing Providence

Raiot Hakodech

Providential intelligences

Chochmah

Divine Wisdom

Ophanim

Star wheel motors

Binah

Intelligence still active

Aralim

The Mighty Ones

Chesed

Infinite Mercy

Rachmalim

The Lucids

Gevurah

Absolute justice

Seraphim

Angels burning with zeal

Tiferet

Inconceivable Beauty

Meleurim

Kings of splendor

Netzach

The Victory of Life over Death

Elohim

The gods (God's envoys)

Hod

The Eternity of Being

Bnéi Elohim

Sons of the gods

Yesod

Generation, the cornerstone of stability

Keroubim

The ministrants of astral fire

Malkuth

The Shapes principle

Ichim

The glorified souls

Along with the meaning of the Sefirot, the table on the previous page shows the Kabbalah's correspondences between the Sefirot and the spiritual hierarchies.

To complete the elementary notions, we have been able to produce concerning the sefirotic system, we will end this work with the well-known diagram of the triple ternary brought back to unity by the decade; this classification is the most luminous, in our opinion, and the most fruitful in terms of precious corollaries.

The three ternaries represent the Trinity manifested in the three worlds.

The first ternary - that of the intellectual world - is alone the absolute representation of the Holy Trinity: Providence balances the two pans of the scales in the divine order: Wisdom and Intelligence.

The two lower ternaries are simply reflections of the first, in the denser environments of the moral and astral worlds. They are therefore inverted, like the image of an object reflected on the surface of a liquid.

Figure 16: The three ternaries of the tree of life.

In the moral world, Beauty (Magnus Adam is Tiferet) (or Harmony or Rectitude) balances the scales: Mercy and Justice.

In the astral world, Generation, the instrument of the stability of beings, ensures Victory over death and nothingness, by nourishing Eternity with the inexhaustible succession of ephemeral things.

Finally, Malkuth, the Kingdom of forms, realizes the totalized, blossoming, and perfect synthesis of the Sefirot, whose antecedent and potential synthesis is contained in Kether, the Providence (or Crown) above.

There is much more to be said about Henrich Khunrath's symbolic Rose-Cross. But we must limit ourselves.

Incidentally, a whole book would not be too much for the logical and normal development of the subjects we have cursorily indicated in these few notes; so the reader will inevitably find us too abstract and even obscure. We apologize for this. Perhaps, if he takes the trouble to delve deeper into the Kabbalah at its very sources, he won't be upset to find, in the course of this massive and tiring exposition, the precise indication and even the explanation in initiatory language of a rather notable number of transcendental arcana.

Like algebra, Kabbalah has its equations and its technical vocabulary. Reader, this is a language to learn, whose marvelous precision and customary use will compensate you enough, later on, for the efforts your mind may have expended in the period of study.”

Heinrich Khunrath's Rose-Cross practices

In the study of a symbolic representation such as this, several levels of practice and ritual arise. Some can be adapted to an exoteric approach, as we do in this book. Others can only be practiced safely within an egregore.

Once the symbolic study is well advanced, it is important not to stop there. Such analysis must be embodied if it is to be assimilated profitably. The words and gestures that make up rites influence our bodies. Their repeated impact creates a kind of echo that illuminates the body's opaque envelope. In this way, the soul is better able to reveal itself and illuminate the totality of our being.

In the next chapter, we give several examples of the use of this engraving in the section entitled “The work of the Rose and Cross.”

We can complete this picture with the central representation of this engraving. As you can see, the Adam Kadmon is surrounded by a flaming rose whose five main petals or flames bear the five Hebrew letters Yod, He, Shin, Vav, He. We've already touched on some of their meanings. Here, they are attributed to the image of the radiant being in the pentagram.

Rose-Cross practice

Place the engraving in front of you, for example on a wall to the east of where you are standing. Face this direction. If you can, place five white candles on a small table in front of you. They will be placed side by side, aligned parallel to the eastern face of the table.

After a moment of contemplation, light these candles, starting with the one on the left.

After a moment's silence, create the Chalice (described in this book), then assume the pentagram position. First, imagine you are at the center of the wheel of light on the engraving, at the heart of this resplendent rose. Become aware of its vibrations, light, and warmth.

Figure 17: The Rose-Cross practice.

Then visualize the five Hebrew letters on the following five parts of your body: Yod (red): left foot, He (blue): left hand, Shin (bright white light): Head, Vav (yellow): right hand, He (dark brown): left foot. If you can, match the corresponding colors to each of the five letters. Feel the presence and power of each letter.

Breathe quietly and deeply as this visualization strengthens.

Then pronounce or vibrate the first letter Yod. Say the name of this letter five times. (We recommend that you perform this practice facing the picture, which will give you the necessary bearings and enable you to better visualize the shape of the letters. However, we've given you an overview here, which you can also reproduce and enlarge as a support for your work: Yod: י, Heh: ה, Shin: ש, Vav: ו). Continue in the same way for the other four letters, which you will also vibrate five times.

Once you've completed the cycle, center yourself on the sefira Yesod, located on your body approximately three fingers below your navel.

Then relax your arms, resuming the position in which you began the practice, i.e. with your arms relaxed at your sides. Breathe quietly, becoming aware of this energy center.

Then trace a clockwise invocation pentagram in front of you, facing east.

As you trace it, vibrate the sacred name Ieschouah once, so that the name begins at the beginning of the trace and ends at the end. Turn a quarter-turn to your right to face south. Do the same in this direction.

Continue facing west, then north.

Then face East to complete this turn on yourselves. You will have traced the pentagram four times.

Place your arms horizontally, palms facing forward. Keep your legs together.

Breathe quietly and deeply for a few moments.

Say the sacred name Yeshua six times, mentally activating each letter of the word in turn in your aura. At the same time, be aware of the gyratory movement that this imparts to your aura. These invocations also have the effect of intensifying the luminosity of your energetic body.

Once these six invocations have been performed, release your arms.

Imagine your aura increasing in diameter and radiating outwards. Cross your arms over your chest, left over right, so that your fingertips are level with your collarbones. Then say the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet, visualizing them around you on a vertical plane and continuing clockwise: Alef, Bet, Gimel, Dalet, He, Vav, Zayin, Chet, Tet, Yod, Kaf, Lamed, Mem, Nun, Samech, Ayin, Pe, Tsadi, Qof, Resh, Shin, Tav. If you can't visualize them in their specific form, just think of the letter and its position during pronunciation. This will not only ensure the effectiveness of the technique, but also make it easier to practice. What is important is to maintain awareness of the circular movement when pronouncing the letters.

After a few moments of silence, raise your arms forward, hands open to the sky, and finish this practice by pronouncing the tetragrammaton deconstructed in the upper triangle of this representation.

Pronounce the letters starting from the bottom of the triangle:

Yod - He - Vav - He

Yod - He - Vav

Yod - He

Yod

Release your arms. Remain silent and receptive for a few moments, then extinguish the candles, saying, “May this light be placed under the bushel and continue to shine in the secret of my being.”

[[1]] For many years now, the word "Mysteries" has been used in the plural by initiates to refer to the Mysteries of antiquity. These schools, essentially Greek, were the first in the West to transmit what today can be described as initiations. It then became possible to speak of esoteric knowledge, i.e. reserved for the initiates themselves, and exoteric knowledge, aimed at the uninitiated layman. This is what we do here. The elements transmitted are the same, and we could say that we're dealing with two levels of understanding and explanation of the same reality.

[[2]] The simple contemplation of this figure will enable you to grasp the value of Stanislas de Guaita's commentary. Reading the preceding lines, we would spontaneously associate his words with a purely Christian vision in line with dogma. But this remark instantly erases what we might have imagined. On the contrary, it places us in an optimistic Hermetic perspective that was not foreign to certain currents of ancient Gnosticism. Here, the creator draws his sacred energy from where all life appears in being.

[[3]] This expression underlines what we said earlier about the two levels of interpretation of this teaching.

[[4]] As we've already mentioned, Christian Kabbalists maintained a close link between the esoteric mysteries of Christianity and those of the ancient masters. This is why Pythagoras held such an important place in the Mediterranean tradition. Proof of this can be found in this decomposition of the tetragrammaton, which takes up what the Pythagoreans called the Tetractys, which for them represented the Supreme Being, the divine. As you can see from the comparison of the two figures, the Tetractys consisted solely of dots, whereas this representation associates the letters, thus developing and specifying a more universal knowledge. In their practical use of these symbols, therefore, initiates are careful not to forget their traditional basis.

[[5]] Allow us to develop this symbol esoterically, to make it consistent with the rest of this master's sentence and the most traditional representations of this engraving. As we can see from a larger color representation, this bird is depicted in red. Its wings, or even its entire shape, do not correspond to that of a dove. What might have appeared to be a tiara no longer looks like one when we examine it under better conditions. It's more like a particular form of radiance around its head. A symbolic analysis respecting the occult coherence of this engraving, therefore, leads us to associate this bird with the phoenix or the red eagle.

[[6]] Here's a wink as the initiates of our Western traditions like it. In the rites transmitted in the inner Hermetic tradition of the Kabbalistic Order of the Rose-Cross, the symbolic representation of the Hermes caduceus, as well as the work of this strange red bird, are fully integrated. They are a prime indication of the non-dogmatic nature of this representation. We understand why the authority of the Christian Church has always been suspicious of Christian Kabbalists. It didn't take long to realize that behind the Christian guise still lay the ancient Mysteries, which thus managed to perpetuate themselves. The same was true in symbolic, philosophical, and ritual terms. What was once a reality remains so today, as these allusions demonstrate. Another engraving in Khunrath's set is a clear indication of this.

[[7]] We need to distinguish between the philosophical values of optimistic and pessimistic gnosis. In the first case, we must speak of the descent of the soul into matter. As a result of this voluntary movement of incarnation, the soul is obscured and can no longer retain the clear vision it had in the celestial or intelligible world in which it found itself before birth. Incarnation therefore enables it to continue its experiences, keeping as intact as possible the memory of its origin. Oriented in this way towards the divine, she can continue to work for her own good and that of her fellow human beings, embodying the balance and harmony necessary for her fulfillment. In this expression, then, there's no need to reject the body, which, as we've said several times in this book, is never the source of evil. In the second case, that of pessimistic gnosis, the soul falls into matter and the body. It is exiled to an obscure place that is foreign to it, but above all hostile to it. The pains often alluded to in Christian tradition are therefore the consequences of the suffering of the exiled soul. We need to combat this by considering the flesh that constitutes us as something fundamentally evil and a source of sin. The aim is to return to God, but not by seeking harmony. The body must be rejected and mortified to free the soul. This was the perspective adopted by the Christian religion and the Martinesist doctrines. Christian Kabbalists as a whole were equally divided between these two doctrines. It's easy to see the radical difference between these two perspectives, and the choice of life and practice that ensues. For our part, we refer to the doctrine of the Hermetic path we're talking about, and that of the theurgic path, i.e. optimistic gnosis.

[[8]] In other words, when it returns to its natural home, the divine plane, the intelligible world described by the Greek philosophers.

[[9]] We give an example of the practices of this tradition in the following chapters. As you will see, the Tarot is effectively associated with ritual in the form of specific visualizations. This is an extremely powerful way of connecting with specific energies and assimilating and understanding them, without necessarily using the intellect. The experiences of various initiates have shown that there are correspondences between the Hebrew letters and the Tarot arcana that are often richer than those given here. This is the one we use in the tables you'll find in this book. In this case, the letter schin refers to Arcanum 20, Judgment or Resurrection, which corresponds perfectly to the character of the word Iéschouah.

[[10]] Incarnation, we might say, so as not to create ambiguity.

[[11]] As well as the number of the regenerated man, as shown above by Stanislas.

[[12]] This is indeed the case, as we have shown, for every experience in this world is a source of greatness of being.

[[13]] Is there any better way to underline the esoteric nature of the text we are presenting and commenting on? Of course, the transition from the 4th to the 5th is the subject of ritual and practical developments,

[[14]] Note from Stanislas de Guaita: Those who know how to read inverted hierograms, by deconstructing them (following the same radical principles established by Fabre d'Olivet, for etymology in the direct and normal sense), will easily see that this complementary method further confirms the esoteric interpretations we propose here.

Some examples: Iah which is Hai Inverted expresses eternalized Life.

Ael reversed means Expansion without term, indefinite.

The two roots whose contraction forms Yod-Dalet-Shin (Shaddaï inverted) can be translated: the Hand of Fire, the Igneous Hand. The secret meaning is obvious.

Meleck is a contraction of two roots. The ideas of totalization and perfection on the one hand, and of a sympathetic and mutual link on the other... The new meaning perfectly controls and completes that already manifested esoterically by the normal hierogram, opened by the appropriate keys.

[[15]] Note by Stanislas de Guaita: This occult meaning is reflected in the term Malkouth the Kingdom (10th Sefira), derived from Meleur the King. In Kabbalah, Malkout expresses the Kingdom of the Astral, the support of physical creations, the effective of objectivations.

[[16]] In the following practical section, we show one of the individual ritual applications of this allusion. This is the practice of the Rosary of St. Michael.

[[17]] See appendix.

[[18]] This reference to the Sepher Yetzirah is extremely important. It provides one of the most important keys to the esoteric interpretation of this engraving. This text traces the creation of the world and of being through the power of the Hebrew letters manifested before the Eternal. This relationship is obviously used in the inner initiation rites of this tradition. For example, we read of the letter Yod (10) in this work: "The Eternal made the letter Yod reign over Action, adorned it with a crown and combined it with the others. Through it he created the sign of Virgo in the world, the month of Hellul in the year and the left kidney in the body." The same applies to the different letters of the alphabet and the stages of creation.