qabalah

20
Aug
2012

Climbing the Tree – Threshold – Clarshitel


(Don’t worry, they all won’t be as story like, it’s just the first three that set the stage, and a few others down the line.)
So after asking Sh’miral to “open the way” for me I lost my job. Having completed skrying into the Earth Sphere of Almak, getting positive feedback from friends in my experiment, and of course having plenty of time without work I decided it was time to move onto the Lunar Sphere.
Having more experience with Lunar forces I set out nine purple candles, drew the sigil of Gabriel on my skrying mirror, lit my incense, and began chanting. I brought myself to the Lunar Temple, and called upon Gabriel, who told me I was expected, and the path was the same as before, but more difficult. While I had left the Earth, I was still of it, reaching to the Moon and beyond required crossing a Veil, the most subtle and fickle Veil on the Tree. I knew the trick from last time, and I found the connection point, that rippling between realities, I stepped into it, turned away from everything and was falling. Perhaps I was flying, or shot from a cannon, there was movement, fast, and yet had the sense of going nowhere. I tried to take control, force myself to exit somewhere, to call a door to me. Nothing, it was movement that wouldn’t end. I felt like the other Sphere was right there, but I just couldn’t reach it.
Suddenly I jerked to a stop, and a hand on my shoulder “You’ll never get anywhere at that rate. The Ways are endless if you don’t have an open door.” I turned and found myself facing Sh’miral, he was larger, darker than before. I asked if he can help. “I can always help you find the Way, call on me when you Climb, you don’t need to jump from one Tree to another anymore, you’ve been given access, use it.” With this I fell again, briefly, a silver nonagonal door with a purple liquid glyph of the Moon stood before me. With three sets of three knocks the door opened to me. Inside was an amethyst crystal cavern, lit by glowing urns placed around it. A sound between bells and bubbling water filled the air. I called out, asking if there was anyone there. The white-blue water flowed from cracks and flowed up into the form of a woman, early Yaksha/Apsara in her appearance.

Apsara

Without prompting she began to speak. “I am Clarshitel, Mother of this place and all who dwell here.” Then with some questioning she identified the Sphere as Timarin, the Angels of this place as Shaqaran, and the God Name as La’andras. She explained she can function like any Spirit of the Moon, any Angel, but she is also more terrestrial than most, while her Sphere is Lunar she loves the Earth and touches it more deeply than most like her.
I left her place, taking her Seal with me, and returned to myself. As usual I distributed the Names and Seal to some people involved with the experiment to get their impressions. I turned back to the Gematria, because it worked last time amazingly well, that was probably a fluke though.

Her Seal by drawing her Name on the Qamea of the Moon


Clarshitel, Angel of the Sphere, her name was the same value as Mother, Veil, and Hidden Wisdom. She had called herself the Mother, Gabriel had mentioned the Veil of the Moon was different, and it was harder to cross, and Hidden Wisdom is appropriate for the Moon in general and the attribution of the High Priestess.
Timarin, the Sphere of the Moon, if spelt without a final Nun is Cancer, and with a final Nun is Heavens, Sky, Ruach. Cancer is the sign ruled by the Moon, Heavens and Sky are appropriate for the Moon, but also for anything visible in the sky, but Ruach is the part of the Soul that is housed in or represented by the Moon.
Shaqaran, the class of Angels of the Sphere and children of Charshitel. Their Name is the value of Natron, Mem, and Water. Natron is the only one slightly out of place, it was used in mummification to remove water, but that’s the only link I could think of. Mem, the letter of Water, and Water, are both tied to the idea of the Moon, but also in the way Clarshitel presented herself and her realm to me.

Her Seal linked with the Glyph of the Moon


La’andras is the God Name ruling and forming the forces of the Sphere. It’s value is that of Man and Ishim. The Ishim are the Angels of Yesod, which was the only real link I had.
I was trusting more than Gematria to confirm these Names, heck, I’d say I started using it almost as a lark, just to see. Again though I had good confirmation, three out of the four Names strongly linked to what they should, and the fourth did relate. Perhaps there is something to Gematria.
While waiting for responses I was failing to find a job, but I figured the Angel of Mercury could help me out there…

Her “revealed” Seal from years later.


Like all the Angels I encountered, once contact was made establishing a low-level connection again was easy. Whenever I need to open up “simply” to Clarshitel, such as when I make my offerings to her on Monday morning I call to her “Hail unto thee, Clarshitel, Ruler of Timarin, Mother of the Shaqaran, in the Name of La’andras I call you here, and ask that you work with me and walk with me.”

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick
05
Aug
2012

Climbing the Tree – The Call to Adventure


I love the Qabalah, I really do, but it’s a frakking mess. Between different sources, different interpretations, blinds, mistranslations, and everything else it’s jumbled up.
There are the Four Worlds, everyone seems to agree there, but where are they divided on the Tree? Is there a unique Tree for each world? Are the first three Sephiroth the top three Worlds, and the next seven the lowest world? Are the cross-paths the divisions between the Worlds? Is it a Jacob’s Ladder where the Worlds overlap a little as the Trees climb up?
What Angels rule what Sephiroth? Do the Angels of the Planetary Sephiroth rule the corresponding planet? Who rules Malkuth? Do the same Angels rule the elements, or another set? Why are some of the Angels and Demons gods?
Now these are just the first of my issues with the Qabalah that sprang to mind immediately on considering this discussion. I love the philosophy, the cosmology, and the system, but there is a lot of it that seems unclear and jumbled to be polite.
What surprises some people who know my practice is that I haven’t dealt with Raphael, Michael, Tzaphkiel, and the like in years. For the reasons mentioned above, and a great many more, I felt I had to return to “The Source” not in a textual sense, but in a transcendent sense. This inspired what became my longest, and perhaps most volatile magickal experiment. While I completed this several years back, I’ve never really discussed it here and only minorly or privately elsewhere. Issues on credibility and silly notions like that got in the way. I spent two years, two months, and two days (not on purpose, just the way it worked) skrying the Tree of Life, talking with the Forces of the Tree. Not the Angels we know, but the Force.
Reality is a multifaceted diamond of infinite complexity, but the trouble is whenever we look at one facet we distort and obscure others. Tipareth, Michael, and the like are all just one facet of a diamond of the Sun-Sphere, the most familiar one, but not the only one. In my experiment I climbed the Tree, skying and communing as I went to meet other Names of those diamonds, other beings, that are of the same quality, type, and level, but don’t have the cultural-historical baggage or the confusion of the blinds/traditions/mistranslations and the host of problems that popped up with the traditional sources. These Angels (for while they aren’t the traditional Angels in my experience they are of the same level/type of entity) would speak to me, free of the confusion of the myriad of Qabalistic confusions, and gave me Names to use that were free from the Judeo-Christian sources (which was always a minor issue with me), and forms and relationships that suited my life.
I was foolish. I thought it was something I could do quickly. Pop in, get the Names and contacts I need and move on, be done in a few weeks. The Angels had a different notion, I had to be initiated into each Sphere, live each quality in order to gain access. I couldn’t just bang on the Gates of Mercury and be allowed in, I had to live a Mercurial life and only when I had lived it sufficiently then would I be permitted in.
It took me over two years of work, on and off, of having my life switch around repeatedly, in order to complete this mission, but since then it has only deepened. I work with these Angels daily, my Path has been opened by them, and they walk with me, work with me, and reside with me.
I had told a few people about this experiment at the time, and had their help with it at times, confirming identities as well as experimenting with the Angels, but I’ve never really talked about it too much. One of the things about returning to the Starry Path is discussing this, and sharing. So over the next while I will talk about the process I used, the Angels I met, and the life it led me to as I climbed the Tree.
Hail Sh’miral, the Opener of Ways, and Guide of Contact.

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick
02
Jun
2011

Review: The Dictionary of Demons – Michelle Belanger


The Dictionary of Demons: Names of the Damned – Michelle Belanger
Llewellyn. 2010. 362 pp. with appendices. 9780738723068.
For the sake of transparency before I start this review I will admit to two reasons why I could be biased toward the book.
1. Michelle is a friend of mine.
2. Jackie, the very talented artist who did the alphabet art and several seals and pieces of art within the book, is also a friend or lab partner.
Of course people who know me, know I’m not exactly easy on most of my friends…
From Aariel to Zynextyur (is he next to your what?) this book has a listing of over 1,500 demons from the grimoiric tradition. This book is an amazing wealth of information on the entities within. Michelle worked strictly from an academic perspective; personal experiences and ideas do not enter into the text, only what information Michelle could dig up from the grimoires. Dig up is a great way to put it, Michelle went through an extensive process of several years of cataloguing these demons and searching for more information, other translations, older manuscripts. The common and popular texts like the Lemegaton and the Book of Abramelin were used, as well as more obscure texts like Liber Juratus Honorii, Caelestis Hierarchia, and Liber de Angelis.
“This book is not intended to be a how-to book on grimoiric magick” (10) instead it is as the title says a dictionary of names that have appeared in various texts. Names, ranks, and powers are given, along with much more. The entries on a demon let the reader know what grimoire they appear in and in many cases the several grimoires they have lent their names too, as well as information like what their name may be derived and distorted from as well as showing how some demons are most likely the same figure but over the course of years scribal errors have pushed their names further apart. Michelle pieces together part of the puzzle of grimoires, by analyzing names and lack of names in different texts Michelle attempts to establish a connection and timeline between the various books. Interspersed with the different entries are small articles by Michelle and Jackie about various relevant topics to the text, such as the scribal process involved in medieval grimoires, the history of Jewish appropriation in Christian mysticism, and comparing different lists of what demon rules what directions.
While most of the book is written in a straight forward manner Michelle was not above the occasional humorous observation. “From the profusion of [love] spells in all the magickal texts, it would seem that practitioners of the black arts had a very difficult time find a date in the Middle Ages” (15) or pointing out that Pist, who helps you catch a thief, has a name that sounds like how one would feel when stolen from (247).
While reading it I only noted one thing that seemed off in that Michelle attributed Mather’s translation of The Sacred Mage of Abramelin the Mage to a 15th century manuscript, when I have always seen the French manuscript dated to the 18th century. All in all I was greatly pleased and impressed with the effort, resources, and scholarship Michelle put into this book. While not a practical how-to guide, this book is an invaluable resource of names and histories for those interested in the grimoiric tradition. I felt the plot was a bit dry, but it had a wicked cast of characters.
Also for those wanting a related, but simpler text, I recommend you check out Michelle and Jackie’s D is for Demon. It is a delightful (not for) children’s book of rhymes leading you through 26 demons. I, of course, got a copy for my two-year old niece to make sure she is brought up right.

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick
18
May
2011

Kalagni's Tree of Life


Or: Let’s not sqabalah about the details.
Why hello there synchronicity, I suppose you want me to write about my attributions for the Tree of Life and why I redesigned parts. I say this because I was away at a convention for the weekend and when discussing tarot and the Tree of Life I ended up explaining to someone that I use a different model of my own creation. Part of it I’ve debated may have to do with blinds, and when catching up on my blogs saw a link to an old post by Ananael Qaa about blinds and a post by Robert (referencing Ananael Qaa in another circumstance) about his model of the Tree and worlds. So since I lacked my Tree to show my friend this weekend I thought I might post about it and then various things have cropped up so I’ll take that as a sign to post about.
This entry will won’t be super-complicated but a basic interest/understanding of the Qabalah, especially with the Golden Dawn model, would definitely make this easier to process.
Now in order to discuss my Tree I should probably mention some other tweaks that relate to it. As a disclaimer I am not now nor have I been a member of the Golden Dawn, I may use a Golden Dawn inspired system of magick, but not the Golden Dawn system. So what I put forth admits the possibility that ideas were changed due to a lack of knowledge achieved in initiation.
I like the notion of the Golden Dawn colour system, I have a highly structured mind that likes systems. Unfortunately you can’t just toss a correspondence system at me because unless there is a logical system underneath it that I can recognize, I can’t make use of the system. “I was asked to memorise what I did not understand; and, my memory being so good, it refused to be insulted in that manner.” So saith Uncle Al. The Golden Dawn Qabalah has a logic underneath it which allows the basic framework to be expanded upon, this I like, but there are a few things I don’t like/understand.
I work with the Queen Colour scale, just to put the following discussion in context. The colour attributions of the Astrological signs make a great deal of sense. Starting with red in Aries you follow the colour wheel hitting the primary, secondary, and tertiary colours in the order of the spectrum, simple, and logical. The colour attributions of the Spheres on the Tree make sense. First triangle is shades, second triangle is primary colours, third triangle is secondary colour, makes sense, the which goes where makes sense too, but more in-depth than I need here. Then you get the planetary colours and…wait…what?
Now I know planetary forces shouldn’t be confused with the forces of the Sephiroth but if they’re associated why should they be different? Why should the colours of the planets and spheres of Sun and Mercury be reversed, or Jupiter and the Moon, and why is Saturn a fake colour? Perhaps there is a reason, perhaps it was overlooked, perhaps it’s a blind, I dislike it, and I find it useless. I know it follows the colour spectrum order when you put the planets in order of apparent motion, but I don’t think that’s enough for me to have it counter the colours of the Sephiroth. Not to de-power the GD colour system, but I view it as process of psychological training, you teach your mind to associate and categorize different forces. What happens when you try to get your brain to process and integrate illogical information? Any sci-fi fan can give you the answer, and while we may not be computers I don’t think it is useful to try to get this to integrate. Let me clearly state this is different than trying to integrate a paradox.
So to me the planets are the same colours as the spheres. The fact they match makes logical sense and when you look at the ruling planets of the astrological signs you get several of the signs to match up where they didn’t before (Mercury is orange and so is Gemini, Sun is yellow and so is Leo) and you get no new times where sign/planet do not match. Saturn is the only exception being black, but there is no black zodiac sign. This is simpler, requires your mind not to memorize a bunch of exceptions, and makes a lot of the associations match up better. If your mind is holding conflicting associations neither will be held to the conviction it could be held without that conflict. This means if your mind is holding conflicting views (especially within the same system) you can’t get the full force of your belief/understanding behind them, and this limits the focus/force you can put into your magick.
That being said moving onto the Tree I gave that disclaimer so people aren’t confused when they look at the colours of the Paths/Letters on the Tree. The layout of the letters on the Tree doesn’t make sense to me. Well it does, I get it, it is alphabetical, which makes sense with a language like English, where the letter C is the letter C is the letter C and there is nothing hidden/extra about it. Hebrew doesn’t work like that. There are three classes of letter: Mothers, Doubles, and Singles, of which there are three, seven, and twelve respectively. Qabalistically these letters are the three elements (no Earth), seven planets, and twelve astrological signs. There are three directions of Paths on the Tree: horizontal, vertical, and diagonal, of which there are three, seven, and twelve respectively.
This is the basis of my version of the Tree. Alphabetically makes little sense, it reveals nothing, seems lazy, and a touch unaware of the letters and their division/meanings. So why not make use of the way the structure of the Hebrew alphabet matches the structure of the Tree? I did, which leads me to this image.

Click for full size


This is one of the revisions I’ve made, and I’ve been working with it for quite a while now and enjoy it, more importantly I find it fruitful. Sometimes I worry it may be too balanced, or out of balance, you’ll notice red colours predominate on one side, and blue on the other.
The three horizontal paths become the three Mother letters, the three elementals, and also serve as the divider between Qabalistic worlds. Granted I’m not a fan of the model that the worlds are divided on the Tree, I much prefer a Jacob’s Ladder model (which I don’t see as much so maybe I’ll write on that at some point), but if I were to divide the Tree with the worlds, then the elemental/mother/horizontal paths lend themselves to it quite well. Atziluth (associated with Fire) is comprised of the upper three Spheres, with the Path of Shin (Fire) as the boundary. Briah (associated with Water) is comprised of the middle three Spheres with the Path of Mem (Water) and Tiphereth as the boundary. Yetzirah (associated with Air) is the bottom three Sphere with the Path of Aleph (Air) and Yesod as the boundary. Lastly Assiah is Malkuth.
For the seven vertical paths there are the seven double letters, the seven planets. In each case the planetary letter rises up from the sphere it is associated with, with the exception of Saturn/Tau which rises out of Malkuth instead of Binah. Two reasons: Binah has no vertical path above it, and Saturn/Tau plays double-duty in many systems also representing Earth, so rising out of Malkuth the Earth-Plane.
The twelve diagonal paths were the hardest to work on, and have been through the most revisions. After trying a lot of planetary and astrological juggling I got a lay out I like. It was a process of elimination. I started off by having the colour-matched sign descend from the Sphere that the planetary path ascended to. So the Path of Mars/Peh rises into Binah, the Path of Aries (the red Martial astrological sign, while Scorpio is blue-green martial) descends on the diagonal from Binah for example. When I couldn’t do that I used to the colour/sphere associations. So Cancer, which is Yellow/Orange is placed on the Path connecting Tiphareth (Yellow) and Hod (Orange), this wasn’t my first choice and seems superficial (and might be) but I find it actually works rather well. The two signs that are half purple rise diagonally from Yesod (purple) toward the side their colour is mixed with. The Path of Ayin/Capricorn is Purple/Blue, so it rises to the right toward the side of Chesed as an example.
This leaves four letters/Paths unassigned. Heh/Taurus, Tet/Leo, Nun/Scorpio, and Tzaddi/Aquarius. These just happen to be the four Fixed signs, and where we get the surrounding image on the World and Wheel of Fortune cards of the Bull, Lion, Eagle, and Human. Appropriately they become the four “framing” diagonal paths. They were the hardest to assign. I originally tried their layout from the zodiac and above tarot cards, but didn’t like it. I decided to have Tet/Leo descend into Binah rather than Tzaddi/Aquarius. No Sphere had a sign they rule descending into them, so I figured Binah should not be the exception. As they are ruled by the Sun and Saturn, and are Yellow and Purple, they are balanced, so they became the top two paths. Heh/Taurus, and Nun/Scorprio descend into Malkuth on the side of their colour predominance.
So that is the Tree of Life model I use, for meditation, magick, and understanding. I find it far easier and effective to work with the standard Golden Dawn model, or any of the other Trees of modern or classic origin with the Paths on a different arrangement. Hopefully I made sense, feel free to ask questions, comment, or throw the standard ceremonial “You changed something!” hissy-fit.

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick
01
Mar
2011

Secrets of the Shattered Name


Sorry for the lack of posting. The last few weeks have been hectic. I took very ill for a while -an unusual occurrence for me-, I’m preparing for some large ritual work so getting and making supplies along with ritual purification, and lastly now is that time of year when professors like to believe that you have no course other than theirs and try to cram in as many tests and assignments as they can before exam period. While my obligations are lightening they are still heavy for the next two weeks or so. As such I haven’t had time to write up a proper post. Below is an article I wrote for a friend’s book on demons, as I mentioned last time I posted such an article the format of the book changed so my article was excluded though the information was still used to some extent. Hopefully I’ll get something original up here soon, and if this week continues in the same manner it begin I’m sure it will be amusing. This article continues Hebrew characters which appear to post correctly on my end, hopefully they display properly for everyone else.
Intrinsically bound to the nature and use of the demons in some the Judeo-Christian magick systems would be the names of their controlling angels. Perhaps the most important set of angels would be the Shem ha’mephorash angels, or the angels of the Interpreted Name, also translated more poetically but less accurately as the Divided Name, or Shattered Name. The Shem ha’mephorash angels are a collection of 72 angels that were carefully devised or discovered –depending on your interpretation– by early Jewish Mystics.
The Names of YHWH are many, and many were considered lost by the Jewish Mystics. In an attempt to discover the lost Names, the mystics applied a variety of Qabalistic techniques to a variety of names and verses to try to discover more. In one attempt they focused on the number 72, one of the Sacred Numbers associated with YHWH’s name, because of how it enumerates in a triangle.
י (10)
יה (15)
יהו (21)
יהוה (26)
72
Writing a Name or a Word in this pyramid style of increasing letters was a method of making a token of increasing or calling upon the Name or Word, writing a Name or Word with decreasing letters was a method of banishing the influence. Because of the importance that was put upon the number 72, for this and other reasons, the mystics searched for an incident in the Torah where one verse had 72 letters. After a long study of the Torah they came across three such verses that happened to be in a row, in English names and notions that would be Exodus chapters 14, verse 19-21. These three verses were written atop each other, the first verse being written normally (which in Hebrew is right to left), the verse below being written left to right, and the final verse being written normally again. To further decode these verses, the mystics read them downward, forming seventy-two sets of three letters each, and at the end of each triplet a divine or angelic suffix was added, either Iah, or El, as those are the most common suffixes in Angelic names. This gave the mystics seventy-two Angels with which to work. The Shem ha’mephorash includes many angels that are unfamiliar to many people, such as Mabahiah but also contain some of the more common or popular angels, like Michael (though the spelling is just slightly different, so it is unknown if this refers to the Michael).
Early modern translations of the Goetia from the nineteenth and twentieth century often began with a single word of warning “Shemhamephorash.” This was often not understood, though the Golden Dawn took it as advice, and began to pair up the Goetic Demons, of which there are seventy-two, with the Angels of the Shem ha’mephorash. Their attempt was admirable and according to some did create a workable magickal system, but more recent developments have cast their attributions into disfavour, if you take Dr. Rudd as correct at least.
One interpretation of the warning of “Shemhamephorash” at the introduction of the Goetia, is that it is advocating for their use as a protective force, but at the time the grimoire was written the use of the Shem ha’mephorash was so widely understood and applied, that it didn’t require repeating. In much the same way, many magick and psychic books don’t include Shielding, Centring or the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram, because it is expected that people either already know this, or it is not repeated because it can be easily found anywhere. Another possible reason is that the Shem ha’mephorash was a part of the Goetic grimoires, but was later removed or lost in a transcribing/translation of the text.
Recently the Goetia of Dr. Thomas Rudd, an associate of John Dee, has come to light, and it is one of the earliest translations of the Goetia that has been recovered. The trait that sets this book from other versions is its inclusion of the Shem ha’mephorash. In it, each Goetic Demon is linked to an Angel of the Shem ha’mephorash, which is regarded as its controlling Angel, and it is this Angel that helps contain the Demon on a one-on-one basis, while the magickian works with them. The Angels are simply applied to the Goetic Demons in order, a thought which did not occur to the Golden Dawn, and as such their correspondences of the Goetic Demons with the Angels are different.
Not all who work with the Goetia have accepted this new finding, some feel it is unnecessary, whereas some feel it was Dr. Rudd’s personal addition to the system, rather than something that was a part of the system from an earlier time. The good magickian would be wise to take time and experiment both ways, before falling into such an opinion.

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick
11
Jan
2011

The Secrets of the Summoning Circle


This article was originally written for a “flavour” article in a friend’s Dictionary of Demons book. The format of the book changed and my articles got cut, though some the information was still incorporated into the book. I’ve slightly edited it from the original format to be a bit more personal and experiential rather than just cold theory.

The Circle is probably one of the most important, and misunderstood tools in the arsenal of a magickian who works with Demons. Anyone who has flipped through a text on summoning Angels or Demons has come across a Summoning Circle, but probably with no more explanation than the method of drawing it, and that the circle is important to use.

Over the course of time the design of the circle has changed, and the importance of it has shifted. In modern magick, more than ever, the circle is being deemed unimportant, or simplistic. The Summoning Circle is being replaced by Psychic Shields, or ritual belts, or a simple visualized bubble. This shows, among other things, a tendency to interpret the Summoning Circle as merely a form of protection when dealing with Demons, when in fact it is far more than just that in some interpretations.

Before the modern interpretation of the Summoning Circle, the most common alternative Circle was published in the Mathers/Crowley translation of the Goetia. This circle was written over the image of a spiralling snake with the names of each of the Sephiroth, with the Names of Gods, Angels and Forces associated with each Sephiroth. This was an adaption, or a simplification of an earlier form of Summoning Circle that appeared in one of the earliest serving texts on Summoning Demons, the Heptameron.

In the Heptameron, which is a Grimoire that predates the Goetia, the Summoning Circle was at once the most simple and most complex form it would take. The Heptameron styled Circle was not a constant Circle like the other ones, in the sense that the design changed depending on the Season, the Day of the Week, and the Hour of the Day. In each case of Season, Day and Hour, there is a set of Angels associated with that period, and with the Heptameron system, to create the Circle, one must know and use the Names of the Angels associated with each of these periods. The belief was that each Angel had a period of power, and through working with that Angel in their ruling period, you had the ability to control the other Spirits in your work. I find there is something about skilfully directing your attention to specific forces and Spirits to create your Circle, rather than just toss out all the Names you can think of to cover everything. In magick when you have a goal you direct your attention to the appropriate entities, you don’t call upon everyone you know to help you get a job or deal with an abusive co-worker that would complicate matters.

The Construction of the Summoning Circle, when interpreted through the lens of Qabalistic Magick, revels that the Circle is much more than just a form of protection. The following section presumes the most basic familiarity with the Qabalah and the structure of the Tree of Life, which can be picked up in any introductory text. The world that we live and operate in is Malkuth, and represented by the number ten. The Sephiroth above us is Yesod, which is represented by the number nine. The Summoning Circle has an outer circle of nine feet, representing the demarcation of the world we live in, and the magical world involved in the magic. Above Yesod is Hod, which is represented by the number eight, above that Netzach represented by the number seven, then Tiphareth represented by the number six. Within the nine foot circle, there are three smaller circles, each a foot less than the one before, the magickian stands in the smallest circle that is six feet across. The magickian is in the circle of six feet, surrounded by seven, eight, nine, and lastly the entire world beyond.

It is in Tiphareth, that the human can first truly touch the Divine in a pure form. In every Sphere below Tiphareth the Divine is only accessed in a filtered form, like coloured light from a stained glass window, whereas in Tiphareth the Divine flows down uninterrupted, like the sunlight before it hits the coloured glass. By standing in the concentric circles, surrounded by the appropriate Names, the magician identifies their place in the Universe. The first Circle of Yesod separates the magical realms, from what is outside of it, Malkuth, the world of the day to day existence. In the centre circle the magician identifies their place in Tiphareth, the place of their direct connection with the Divine.

In this sense it is understood that the magician is not operating through the power of the Angels, but by knowing what Angel and God Names to surround themselves with, the magician is able to gain access and place themselves in a higher sphere, that of Tiphareth; this grants the magician access to all the power that the Divine will bestow on them. The power is no longer that of the Angels, but that of the Magickian, in their most Divine Aspect.

This Qabalistic interpretation of the Summoning Circle focuses more on the empowerment of the magickian than just their protection. This is not to deny the role of protection in the circle, but it is a manifestation of the magicians Divine Will that they are protected, rather than simply being protected and aided by outside forces. The protection the Circle offers is through the magician becoming a conscious manifestation of the Divine in this world, and it is this same access to Divinity that is what grants them the power to control the Spirits. It isn’t about threats and borrowed power, but existing in the natural order of things and helping to bring the Spirits into line with that order through the tasks they are given.

I don’t know if it was merely a confidence boost as I started to uncover this system and interpretation of the Circle but I’ve found my workings more successful and easier with this Circle. Before I felt like I was grappling with some power and trying to wrangle it to keep the Goetic entities under control, but now when I work with them it feels more relaxed, I don’t need to really control them because their obedience is a natural part of the Divine order which I’m consciously accessing. The best way of explaining it sometimes is almost Taoist in nature, that in the Circle I’m in Tao and the Goetic obedience is part of that Tao, no force, no struggle, simply nature taking its course. As with all things I think people should at least try it out, see what they think of this style of Circle. I’ve explained the why, and you can find the how in the Heptameron. Personally mine is slightly altered from the Heptameron but the theory behind it is the same.

It is not just the nature of practices that change over time but the understanding of practices, the whys get lost in the whats. Tracing a practice to earlier times occasionally leads to a now irrelevant practice but can also lead the magickian to a greater understanding of what they’re supposed to be doing in the modern form.

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick
25
Sep
2010

Review: Qabalah, Qliphoth and Goetic Magic – Thomas Karlsson



Qabalah, Qliphoth and Goetic Magic – Thomas Karlsson
Ajna bound.  2004-2009.  230pp. 9780972182010.
“The light side represents an ideal order in religion and myths, while the dark side represents the wild, overgrown infinity that hides beyond the limits of order” (17).
Most magickians in the West at very least know of the Qabalah, some may know of the Qliphoth -the dark mirror of the Tree of Life- but few understand and engage these forces.  Karlsson has produced a rare book dealing with these forces, very academic, well read, and balanced with personal insight and experience.
The book starts with Karlsson’s collection and interpretation of various models of the Qliphoth, presented as information not dogma.  The reader gains insight into several different how, why, and when theories for the Shells and their formation.  Along the way Karlsson is gracious enough to include citations for those looking to personally research this oft overlooked aspect of Qabalistic magick.  He covers a variety of topics related to the Qliphoth; the nature and origin of Evil, the nature and role of Satan and Lucifer, the Kings of Edom, and Solomonic Magick.
Through the presentation of the models of the Qliphoth the reader comes to understand -regardless of origin- the primal, chaotic, and potentially damaging forces they represent and Karlsson freely notes that this “dark path does not claim to be for all” (19).  He is right to make such a claim; it is rare to see such a path, so very much of the Left-Hand, expanded upon.  The path he lays out, based upon personal and group experience, truly involves the magickian turning from “the light,” away from the process of Divine Creation, and to descend into the subversive wasteland reality “beneath” our own to find power and enlightenment there.  It is a path fraught with challenges and risks, not for the faint hearted, and I am delighted to see such a work.  Books dealing with the darker paths in my experience have tended to be apologetic or sensationalizing the “awesome uberevilness” they represent, and Karlsson falls into neither of these categories.  He doesn’t shy away from the darkness of reality and he doesn’t try to sell it to horror and evil thrill seekers.
He doesn’t offer a “complete” path, as such a goal is too much for any book, and he reasonably explains that “[t]he Qliphoth above Thagirion are too abstract for the magician to be able to work with without experienced guidance” (142) and in an odd way it is nice to see a book that is willing to recognize the limitations it has as a printed medium.  The Shells and Tunnels are discussed, as well as a form of Goetic magick more appropriate for the Qliphotic magickian, all explained with a rational tone and rich visual depiction.
I definitely took a lot of theory from the book, and many resources for the next time I’m researching the Qliphoth.  It is greatly pleasing to see this book reprinted, as I wasn’t able to get it when it first came out, and after reading the book my pleasure is only increased.  Really this is a phenomenal and unique read, especially for Qabalistic magickians, or anyone taking a Left-Hand path.

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick