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Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780877286547 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Red Wheel/Weiser |
| Publication date: | 01/01/1990 |
| Pages: | 184 |
| Product dimensions: | 5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.43(d) |
Read an Excerpt
THE PRACTICAL QABALAH
By Charles Fielding
Samuel Weiset, Inc.
Copyright © 1989 Caroline AllenAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-87728-654-7
CHAPTER 1
Foundations of Western Occultism
This is a book about occultism. It is written for average, intelligent people who are interested enough to find out more about it. The word "occult" means "hidden"—just that; but the subject has been so misunderstood and distorted by late night movies, superstition and a sensational press, that it is often condemned as spectacular garbage. Men and women of all races have studied this subject since earliest history and rumor says that many of the world's most eminent people have made it their life study and owe their greatness to its practice.
Study of the Qabalah and its great symbol, The Tree of Life, is probably one of the best ways of introducing yourself to occult theory and practice. To do justice to qabalistic theories and methods, it is important to see them against a realistic background. What do modern qabalists think? Why are they devoting time and attention to a subject already ancient when Jesus was born? What are they trying to achieve?
These are all very reasonable questions. So, before we start looking at the Qabalah itself, we ought to examine the basic ideas of modern occultism in the Western world. Not every occultist would subscribe to all the ideas put forward here. As in modern science, there are differences in interpretation and disagreements about details. What follows is a reasonable synopsis of current occult thinking.
Once upon a time, as the story books say, all knowledge of mankind and the world we live in was studied under the discipline of philosophy, which means "love of wisdom." Physics and psychology rubbed shoulders with chemistry, metaphysics and ethics, because all of these subjects were believed to be parts of one great system.
As time went on, certain subjects—notably physics and chemistry—developed away from their philosophic parent and developed the arrogant independence of the adolescent. Even psychology renounced its origins and declared a unilateral independence.
From all this growth was Western technological civilization born and many of our social habits and morals derived. Despite its detractors, Western science is a remarkable tribute to human creativity. But we are beginning to realize that our civilization is a very unbalanced system and that some central concept of purpose and unity must be sought if civilization is not to destroy itself.
The great civilizations of the East have not succeeded any better. The West has produced an environment technologically advanced, but emotionally and spiritually arid, while the East's great philosophical and psycho-spiritual growth now withers in surroundings of poverty, ignorance and squalor. Something must surely be wrong somewhere.
But there are gleams of light dawning in the darkness. Modern science is showing signs of approaching adulthood. The universe of Einstein and the particle physicists is a far cry from the mindless mechanisms of Victorian science. Physics is fast becoming a life-science, and the divisions between mind and matter are being eroded slowly but surely. So what of occultism from all this?
Properly understood, occultism is the study of mind and matter, God and humanity, origins and destiny. It is the true Science of Life.
What then are the basics of occult belief? The first thing to understand is that occultism has no creed: there is no "I believe...." Instead, like science, there are a number of hypotheses. Now a hypothesis is an idea which seems to work when put into practice but which can be modified in the light of further experience. Occultism is the Science of Life. Life evolves and with it, experience. So having made it clear that there are no occult dogmas, let us examine some of these basic ideas, and see how they appeal to us.
First, occultists think that there is an invisible reality behind what we see and experience in the physical world and that this reality is the hidden cause behind all the appearances of the world about us. This seems reasonable enough when you consider that science says much the same thing. After all, gravity is, in one sense, an "invisible reality." You can't see it, but it works. The only difference here between scientists and occultists is that the latter extend the hypothesis beyond the tangible world.
The next hypothesis concerns purpose: "What is the meaning of it all?" At one time, many scientists considered the universe a cosmic accident and life a biochemical fluke. Recently, some of them seem to be changing their minds.
Occultists consider that nothing is without a purpose. They reason that there must be a supreme plan for the creation and evolution of the universe which embraces galaxies and solar systems, suns and planets, atoms, plants, animals, and humanity. Within this supreme plan are the countless lesser plans of all creation, each of them interlocked and interrelated into one organic whole. They suggest that we—as an intelligent life-form having the power of choice—have a vital task to play in the continuous unfolding of the supreme plan.
As to what vast mechanism might contain and administer that plan, you must make your own choice. If religious, then you can conceive of God as the origin and prime-mover. If agnostic, you might prefer to imagine some vast cosmic "system." After all, we are only using words and it is the idea that matters.
Following on from the plan comes the idea of universal evolution in which we move from a simple and uncoordinated state to a wonderful condition of harmonious and highly developed perfection, each element of the plan having developed its own lesser plan to the highest excellence that its structure allows.
Now we, in our essential nature, are considered as nuclei of intelligent energy. As such we are self-motivating creators in our own right, eternal and indestructible. One of the cornerstones of occult thinking is the proposal that the human does not have to live through a physical body and that our involvement with matter is simply one of many phases through which we pass in our evolution. Nevertheless, working through a body is considered to be a vital aspect of our education because it teaches us control of dense matter—a condition far removed from our natural condition of freedom.
Now this introduces the idea of reincarnation. Reincarnation is the notion that we get through many bodies in the process of learning about the dense matter of the physical world. One short span of seventy or eighty years is no way sufficient to learn all the lessons and put right all the mistakes. The idea of reincarnation is a great liberator. Instead of one life, win or lose—the concept of reincarnation gives us a chance to learn from mistakes and move forward with the excitement of new challenges to meet, and the prospect of fresh conquests.
When the idea of reincarnation is accepted as a working fact and when it is realized that there is always more living to come and new opportunities to explore, then where is the sting of death? Occultists have always maintained that our first major victory lies in conquering this fear. In this lies the first great freedom.
Occultists lay great stress upon the matter of personal responsibility. If the idea of continuing evolution is accepted, then race and circumstances are no mere accidents of birth. Nationality, state of health, amount of money, and personality characteristics in each new life are the result of past successes and failures.
The circumstances of life at any moment in time offer the perfect environment for the next lesson in physical experience. And, if this idea is taken on trust, then it follows that we are totally responsible for the circumstances in which we find ourselves, no matter how hard this may seem to us.
"As a man sows, so also shall he reap," "Cast your bread upon the waters ...," and so on, are all statements based upon this idea. In the philosophy of the East it is called karma, the law of cause and effect. There are no straight lines in the universe. Every thought or action returns eventually to its point of origin—like a boomerang.
Ultimately, the inner person completes its term in physical matter having learned all its lessons. But evolution goes on and physical experience is only a small part of it. What happens, then, to one who is "free of the wheel of birth and death"? Well, we have free will, so we can choose. It is said that there are two basic choices: either to go on or to remain.
Some may choose to continue their experience on non-physical levels, moving away from their fellow students who are still in the classroom of matter. Others may decide to remain near the physical world to help. Occultists call these helpers of humanity "Inner Plane Adepts," and believe they have chosen to guide and instruct less-evolved companions on Earth.
This must surely raise another question. How can a being without a body "guide and instruct" one who is still in the flesh? How can communication be established? Well, if one can accept that there is more to us than just the body, then it follows that a part of us must be non-physical. If that is so, then it is reasonable to suppose that the non-physical part is capable of functioning in the invisible world that lies behind physical matter, just as the material body functions in the ordinary world. So the idea is that the Inner Plane Adept talks to our non-physical part and the communication is passed to the brain and becomes a conscious thought. Basically it can be thought of as telepathy between a discarnate and an incarnate being.
These are the foundations of the Western occult system of thought. Some concepts I have mentioned may be accepted immediately as true, others might rate as "non-proven." If what occultism says is true then it doesn't matter, because when you follow the system, you will ultimately find out for yourself. Direct experience is the only way.
Now you can do one of three things. You can throw this book away in disgust. You can read on for intellectual stimulation. Or you can read on determined to gain enough knowledge to put these ideas to the test. You have free will—the choice is yours.
CHAPTER 2
An Introduction to the Qabalah
You are seeking the invisible reality. All readers of this book are searching, in some way or other, for that invisible reality we discussed in the last chapter. That is what this book is all about. But there are difficulties. It is not easy to use everyday language to discuss things that are supposed to be real, yet somehow invisible! Sometimes words are useless.
The Western Occult Tradition aims to bring invisible reality down to earth, to ground it and (eventually!) bring about the kingdom on earth. To accomplish this formidable task, we need to be able to come to grips with ideas that are, in the everyday world, unthinkable.
Signs, Symbols and Glyphs
Consider for a moment your ordinary thoughts and ideas. Everyday thoughts are most often expressed in words. In fact, in many people, a thought may become conscious as "words in the head." A thought like "I need a haircut" often appears as mental words. Other thoughts may come into the mind as a mixture of words and pictures. Emotionally colored thoughts often bring a picture with them. Most of our thinking in Western society is a wordy operation.
Ideas are rather different. It is true that "mental" rather than "emotional" people frequently clothe ideas in words; but often ideas are more pictorial and are associated with feeling. Sometimes words can be long-winded and clumsy and we often use signs to signify common ideas. One obvious example is road signs, where a simple design, an "ideogram," can replace words to good advantage. In this book we shall be using the word "sign" in the same way as many psychologists might—meaning a substitution for the real thing or a representation of it. Other examples of signs are a "food" emblem consisting of a knife and fork enclosed in a circle and a lighted cigarette enclosed in a circle with a bar across it, meaning that smoking is forbidden. There are, of course, many more, such as the internationally agreed sign for radioactivity.
Sometimes compound signs are used—a group of signs arranged to show a set of relationships or the flow of data within some system. The circuit diagrams of electronics and the flowcharts used by computer programmers are examples. Signs, whether single or compound, are shorthand that represents thoughts or objects or processes as shown in figure la. There is no feeling in them.
Let us get back to words. Words are signs because they represent thoughts and things. Quite complex ideas can be depicted by words. But words can also be used to tune the mood of the reader by painting mental pictures, though even in expert hands they are often quite inadequate. Poets are masters at using words to describe an image of something, but it is the image that represents the significance of the thing with its attendant emotions and feelings. The more brilliant the poet, the more effective the word-image. But there is still a limit to what can be achieved by words alone.
We will consider images—the pictures left in the mind when the words of the poet have faded away. The sort of image we are describing is not a sign; it is not merely a convenient shorthand for something ordinary. Rather is it a symbol, an ideogram depicting some state or process which cannot adequately be put into words. In fact that gives us our definition for a symbol—an image that depicts something that could not otherwise adequately be described. Signs are essentially mental things. Symbols are involved with feelings on some level or other. Signs are surface products of the recently acquired logical mind; symbols, on the other hand, evoke the depths, the great and fundamental simplicities on which humanity is based. Signs are conscious; symbols belong to the unconscious. The way to superconsciousness is through the unconscious, therefore symbols are the tools of the occultist.
Try making a mental picture of the Christian cross (see figure lb). Even to an atheist it evokes the whole concept of Christianity, in particular the sacrificial death of its founder. To the devout Christian, its associations are practically limitless—from the mystical idea of vicarious sacrifice to the higher emotions of devotion, idealism, piety, and so on. Of course, to the atheist the cross may also evoke strong feelings of irritation and annoyance at the apparent futility of it all! But one thing is certain—feelings will be aroused. Everyone is likely to react emotionally in some way to some degree.
Symbols have degrees of profundity and universality. Human beings are very different and a given symbol may mean much to one and little to another in the same way that music and pictures enthrall one and bore another. The more archetypal a symbol, the more universal its power and appeal. Symbols may depict aspects of the soul or the universe; the "inside" or the "outside." If modem physicists had their say, they would probably declare inside and outside to be the same thing from different angles.
Occultists use symbols extensively to depict the incomprehensible, to comprehend the inconceivable, and to control the unimaginable. We are tool-using creatures and employ symbols as tools so we can understand the nature of the invisible reality and work with it, both within ourselves and within the soul of nature. Most of the symbols used in Western occultism are archetypal. Many are very old; some go back to the earliest time of our organization on this planet.
If the human is considered in a fourfold way as spirit, mind, emotions and body, then there are grades of symbols suitable for each level. The simplest, most abstract symbols are geometrical: the point, line, circle, polygon, and so on. The next level, sometimes called compound symbols, include such images as the cross, ankh, star of David, and pentacle. The third level, characterized by its human or animal imagery, may be called personalized. Ezekiel's "Four Holy Living Creatures"—the man, lion, eagle and bull—come into this category as do the anthropoid forms of archangel, Mary the mother of God, Jesus as crucified savior, and Christ the king. You can probably think of many more. The fourth level is not made up of single symbols, but of specially selected imagery linked together like a chain. In practice, this dynamic symbol set is arranged like a visual journey within which we "move" from one state of consciousness to another. These inner journeys are called pathworkings by the modem qabalist; we shall be dealing with them later in some detail.
If you look at the four levels of symbols we have described, you will see that they represent increasing levels of complexity, as do the four levels of mankind. You will realize that geometrical symbols apply to the most abstract level—the spirit or the first cause in the universe. A point has position but no dimension. A line is an extended point, a point thrusting out toward infinity. A circle is a line which returns to the point from which it started, a sort of endless track making an enclosure in which "space" is confined. Polygons—squares, triangles, hexagons and so on—represent special types of enclosures whose significance is determined by the number of their sides.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from THE PRACTICAL QABALAH by Charles Fielding. Copyright © 1989 Caroline Allen. Excerpted by permission of Samuel Weiset, Inc..
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Table of Contents
Contents
Acknowledgment
Preface
1. Foundations of Western Occultism
2. An Introduction to the Qabalah
3. The Tree and Its Forces
4. Sephirotic Glyphs and Temples
5. The Qabalistic Paths and Pathworkings
6. Cosmogony
7. Esoteric Anatomy
8. Esoteric Physiology
9. Psychology
10. Karma and Destiny
11. The Anatomy of Ritual
12. Basic Ritual Exercises
Postscript: Why, Whither and Whence?