Introduction

HUMANITY HAS HELD in its possession the keys to the Old Glyphs for two thousand years now. These were applied and studied with much benefit, yielding first the Hebrew systems, then the Arabic and finally the Greek. In this way, the Old Glyphs formulated the Alphabets and the mystics in turn found the mapping and concordance between the Glyph and all its manifestations not in Language alone, but extending to the Physical Sciences, and to the study of Number and Proportion, that is, of Mathematics, the Father of Sciences. The texts were revisited in light of this new Knowledge. Formulae were revealed, the mysteries deciphered and Understanding flowered in souls here and there. Armed with Knowledge, these Men and Women then return to the World to resume their Work for good or for evil, but on a grander scale, empowered as they now are and cognizant of the forces at play in the Universe, of which they now possess the Lever of.

What is the Qabalah?

It is often impossible to explain what is evident without succumbing to tautology. It is difficult to describe the wetness of water, or separate a thing that is intrinsically a property of another thing. One may ask what is the Qabalah? It is the Alphabet of a Language and it is the Language itself. It is a collection of terms and concordances, apparently nonsensical but verifiable in Practice, and evident in Experience.⁴

History of the Qabalah

THE ORIGINS of the word Qabalah are not perfectly known. Qabalists themselves will tell us the word comes from the Hebrew root qoph-beth-lamed for QBL meaning “to receive”, and is said to contain in its name the formulae for receiving the fruit of the Tree of Life and successfully transcending the Knowledge of Good and Evil⁹, that is to say, conditioning or conditioned knowledge, which is the task of the Adept to transcend.

The Literal Qabalah

There are 3 distinct branches of literal Qabalah in the Tradition. These are generally referred to as:

1. Notariquon
2. Temurah
3. Gematria

We forego the first two for being unverifiable and whimsical or superstitious constructions, though we will enter upon a short description of each method here.

There are two forms of practical Notariquon. The first is considered legitimate or inspired, and the second which meets with some ridicule, amounts to an art form and a process of creation which makes it distinct from other forms of mostly analytical Qabalah.

Essentially a cousin to anagram constructs, Notariquon consists of matching a word to a phrase in which the first letter of each word of that phrase, when combined, spells the word. A famous Hebraic example of this is found by taking the initials of the phrase mhmymçh wnl hlwy ym Mi Iaulah Leno Ha−Shamayima, “Who shall go up for us to heaven?” found in Deuteronomy, 30. 12. These form mem-yod-lamed-heh or Milah, the Hebrew word for circumcision. Taking the final letters we get IHVH, the Tetragrammaton. Notariquon enthusiasts would use this to imply that Jehovah had ordained circumcision as a requirement for entrance to Heaven.

The Temurah is about “commutations” or the substitution of one letter for another, and is a precursor to cryptography. For example, one can divide the alphabet in half and exchange the letters that coincide in position:

Thus, the word “ant” would be transliterated as “nag”. The arrangements for letter substitutions and all the possible commutations are gathered together and are known as the “Tables of the Commutations”.

Gematria is that branch of the literal Qabalah which is the subject of this study. We forego Temurah and Notariquon and dismiss these methods for falling outside the bounds of Science and Empiricism. They pertain primarily to the creative aspect of these Arts and primarily those that regard Magick or the projection of the Will. However, behind the idea of Gematria lies an equally outrageous notion: namely, that there is a simple and basic correspondence or syncreticism between Number and any phenomena—particularly words and letters. It is this prima facie preposterous claim that has spawned simple Numerology that most everyone is familiar with, in one sense or another; and has been the source of many another misguided superstition ever since John of Patmos wrote that famous line in his Revelations: “Here is Wisdom, Let him that hath Understanding count the number of the Beast, for it is the number of a man; and his number is six hundred and three score and six.”²¹.

Synchronicity & Coincidence

Though we will define synchronicity more precisely and technically for our needs, synchronicity is generally seen as the simultaneous occurrence of two ‘meaningfully-connected’ but ‘acausal’ events.

When we say ‘meaningfully-connected’ we denote a meaning ascribed by the observer to the event, and this is independent of whether or not the event inherently carries such meaning with it, or whether this is projected onto the event by the observer. We will later distinguish between these two.

Synchronicity & Coincidence

Though we will define synchronicity more precisely and technically for our needs, synchronicity is generally seen as the simultaneous occurrence of two ‘meaningfully-connected’ but ‘acausal’ events.

When we say ‘meaningfully-connected’ we denote a meaning ascribed by the observer to the event, and this is independent of whether or not the event inherently carries such meaning with it, or whether this is projected onto the event by the observer. We will later distinguish between these two.

Qabalah & Syncreticism

In statistics, apophenia is known as a Type I error, the identification of false patterns in data. It is the experience of seeing meaningful patterns or connections in random or meaningless data and has come to represent the human tendency to see patterns even when none are present. Addicts, paranoids, fanatics, scientific, political or religious bigots et al, exhibit this behaviour markedly and grow excited at any attempt to examine the rationality or source of their Belief. Any colouring of Consciousness will in fact lead to this error. Any unresolved passion, any emotion, imbalance, imperfection, weakness or strength, affects consciousness. The virture of the Qabalah, and Gematria is that it is impossible to deceive oneself in simple calculations which can be repeatedly tested, no matter how temporarily imbalanced one may be. But the Qabalah is more than Number and Letter alone, but the full perception of the Universe and containing this structure and Understanding in the mind. This is why it is said that the QBLH is rightly of the M∴T∴ alone,⁴¹ for pure spirit is Black like the Body of Space. And just as light travels through Space invisibly (that is without lighting it) until it hits upon a planet or some other gross material, so Purity presents no obstacle to the passage of Light, and because there is no reflection of Light, there is no Image.

Synchronicity and Syncreticism in a Time-Series

Instead of being a “rare” phenomenon, as some suggest, synchronicity is all-pervasive, for all events are causally connected, at least ultimately. The occasional dramatic coincidence we notice is only the materialization of subtler energies that otherwise go unnoticed. Though omnipresent, these correspondences tend to become obvious to us only in the case of the most startling coincidences. There is even a bias error ever-prevalent—for it seems to the observer that the more improbable the coincidence, the more significant the event. This presupposes an acting agent in Nature, for the more improbable the event, the more effort it takes to realize, the more extraordinary it is and so the more significant it must be to justify this lavish expenditure on part of the universe.⁴⁵ This may or may not be so; all gradations and hierarchies are errors of a particular sort. The practice of Qabalah balances all perceptions by virtue of its operative abstraction on the ego and the mind; and eventually corrects all errors of perception. In the very least, it offers a practical method of not only becoming more conscious of these subtle connections, but of testing and even predicting their occurrence throughout one’s life. In this way, the Qabalah serves one to prepare for such an event, and it may serve another as a Lamp to guide one along; as a series of lamps, like points of light that trace the path; and to others, it is the path itself.