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English Qabalah

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This redirect is about English Qabalah in general. For James Lees' system, see English Qaballa.

English Qabalah (alternatively English Cabala(h)) refers to several different systems[1]: 24–25  of mysticism related to Hermetic Qabalah that interpret the letters of the Roman script or English alphabet via an assigned set of numerological significances.[2][3]: 269  The spelling "English Qaballa," on the other hand, refers specifically to a Qabalah supported by a system of arithmancy discovered by James Lees in 1976.

While some writers make a distinction between a qabalah and a gematria, in current usage the term qabalah may refer to either type of system. Most of the systems developed since the death of Aleister Crowley (1875-1947) have been created with the intent of gaining a better understanding of the mysteries elaborated in his inspired works, especially those in Liber AL vel Legis, the Book of the Law.

Background

Further information: Isopsephy and Gematria

The practice of using alphabetic letters to represent numbers developed in the Greek city of Miletus, and is thus known as the Milesian system.[4] Early examples include vase graffiti dating to the 6th century BCE.[5] Aristotle wrote that the Pythgoraean tradition, founded in the 6th century by Pythagoras of Samos, practiced isopsephy,[6] the Greek predecessor of Hebrew gematria. Pythagoras was a contemporary of the philosophers Anaximander, Anaximenes, and the historian Hecataeus, all of whom lived in Miletus, across the sea from Samos.[7] The Milesian system was in common use by the reign of Alexander the Great (336–323 BCE) and was adopted by other cultures during the subsequent Hellenistic period.[4] It was officially adopted in Egypt during the reign of Ptolemy II Philadelphus (284–246 BCE).[4]

The first system of English gematria was used by the poet John Skelton in 1523 in his poem "The Garland of Laurel".[8] In 1532, Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa defined an analogue of the Greek system of isopsephy in his work De Occulta Philosopha. Agrippa based his system on the order of the Classical Latin alphabet, appending the four additional letters in use at the time after Z, including the still-in-use letters J (600), U (700), and W (900).[9] Other variations are detailed in Underwood Dudley's Numerology, Or, What Pythagoras Wrought.[10]

Agrippa code

Shows a picture of a cipher with the English alphabet, missing the J, U, and W, but with 4 extra letters after the Z which appear as I, V, HI and HV.
The Agrippa Cipher, pg. 143 of De Occulta Philosophia 1533

The Agrippa code was used with English as well as Latin. It was defined by Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa in 1532, in his work De Occulta Philosopha. Agrippa based his system on the order of the Classical Latin alphabet using a ranked valuation as in isopsephy, appending the four additional letters in use at the time after Z, including J (600) and U (700), which were still considered letter variants.[9] Agrippa was the mentor of Welsh magician John Dee,[11] who makes reference to the Agrippa code in Theorem XVI of his 1564 book, Monas Hieroglyphica.[12]

Qabalah vs. gematria

According to Jake Stratton-Kent, a qabalah is specifically related to three factors: a language, a holy text or texts, and mathematical laws at work in these two.[13]

Gematria, on the other hand, is a system in which letters are equated to number values. The letters comprising the word or name of person or object are then summed together. The number of this sum is termed the key of that particular word. Words sharing the same key are said to share properties. The letters are often tabulated along with their numerical equivalents.[14][15]

An example of the simplest serial gematria for English letters would be the following: 

A=1  B=2  C=3  D=4  E=5  F=6  G=7  H=8  I=9  J=10  K=11  L=12  M=13 
N=14 O=15 P=16 Q=17 R=18 S=19 T=20 U=21 V=22 W=23  X=24  Y=25  Z=26

Notable systems

Willis F. Whitehead

The next reference to an English Qabalah found in the literature was made by Willis F. Whitehead in 1899 in his book, The Mystic Thesaurus, in which he describes a system he called "English Cabala."[16]

Aleister Crowley

Main article: 777 and Other Qabalistic Writings of Aleister Crowley

In 1904, Aleister Crowley wrote out the text of the foundational document of his world-view, known as Liber AL vel Legis, The Book of the Law. In this text was the injunction found at verse 2:55; "Thou shalt obtain the order & value of the English Alphabet, thou shalt find new symbols to attribute them unto" which was understood by Crowley as referring to an English Qabalah yet to be developed or revealed.[17] In one of the Holy Books of Thelema written by Aleister Crowley in 1907, called Liber Trigrammaton, sub figura XXVII -- Being the Book of the Mutations of the Tao with the Yin and the Yang,[18] are 27 three-line diagrams known as 'trigrams', which are composed of a solid line for the Yang, a broken line for the Yin, and a point for the Tao. By attributing 26 Roman script letters to the trigrams of this work, Crowley felt that he had fulfilled the injunction to "obtain the order & value of the English Alphabet", as noted in his 'Old Comment' to The Book of the Law.[17]

James Lees' English Qaballa (EQ)

Main article: English Qaballa

The first report of the system known as English Qaballa (EQ) was published in 1979 by Ray Sherwin in an editorial in the final issue of his journal, The New Equinox. In his editorial, Sherwin reported that the "order & value of the English Alphabet"[19] had been discovered by an English magician, James Lees, in November 1976.[20] Lees subsequently assumed the role of publisher of The New Equinox and, starting in 1981, published additional material about the EQ system over the course of five issues of the journal, extending into 1982.[20] The first software designed to perform textual analysis of Liber AL and the other Holy Books of Thelema was written in 1984-5 by Trevor Langford.[21] Langford subsequently worked with Jake Stratton-Kent on The Equinox: British Journal of Thelema, in which further original material on EQ was summarized by Stratton-Kent in the March 1988 issue.[21]

More recently, the system is described in Jake Stratton-Kent's 2011 book, The Serpent Tongue: Liber 187.[15] This was followed in 2016 by The Magickal Language of the Book of the Law: An English Qaballa Primer by Cath Thompson.[22] The discovery, exploration, and continuing research and development of the system up to 2010, by James Lees and members of his group in England, are detailed in her 2018 book, All This and a Book.[23]

William Eisen's The English Cabalah

A system related to the Spiritualist Agasha Temple of Wisdom was described by William Eisen in his two volume The English Cabalah (1980–82).[24][25][26]

William Gray's Concepts of Qabalah

William G. Gray proposes another system in his 1984 book, Concepts of Qabalah,[27] more recently republished as Qabalistic Concepts.[28] This system includes correspondence attributions of the English letters to the positions on the Tree of Life.

R. Leo Gillis' The Book of Mutations

Another system of English Qabalah known as Trigrammaton Qabalahn (TQ) was proposed by R. Leo Gillis around 1988,[citation needed] and published on his website, Trigrammaton.com, starting in 1998,[29] and subsequently released as an eBook.[30] This system is based on one of the Holy Books of Thelema written by Aleister Crowley in 1907, called Liber Trigrammaton, sub figura XXVII -- Being the Book of the Mutations of the Tao with the Yin and the Yang. Liber Trigrammaton (aka Liber XXVII) was called by Crowley "the ultimate foundation of the highest theoretical qabalah".[18]

In Liber XXVII are 27 three-line diagrams known as 'trigrams', which are composed of a solid line representing yang, a broken line representing the yin, and a point representing Tao. Crowley later attributed the 26 letters of the English alphabet to these trigrams, in an attempt to fulfill an injunction found in his earlier work Liber AL vel Legis, The Book of the Law, verse 2:55 which states: "Thou shalt obtain the order & value of the English Alphabet, thou shalt find new symbols to attribute them unto." By attributing the English alphabet to the trigrams in his later work, Crowley considered this verse to be fulfilled, as noted in his 'Old Comment' to The Book of the Law.[17]

TQ is an extension of Crowley's work with Liber Trigrammaton. By considering the numerical value of the 27 trigrams as expressions in ternary (base 3), and then transferring those values to the letters attributed by Crowley to the trigrams, a system of English gematria is created. Further use is made of the trigrams to create a true qabalah in the sense of the definition provided by Jake Stratton-Kent above.[13] Correspondences are created with some of the major forms of divination such as the I Ching, Tarot and runes, as well as Greek and Hebrew alphabets, the Tree of Life, Western and Vedic astrology, magic squares, and the Platonic solids. A primary feature of this qabalah is a new understanding of the Cube of Space and its 26 components of edges, faces, and vertices, which equal the number of letters in the English alphabet.[31]

Trigrammaton Qabalah gematria values are as follows: 

A=5  B=20  C=2  D=23  E=13  F=12  G=11  H=3  I=0  J=7 K=17 L=1  M=21
N=24 O=10  P=4  Q=16  R=14  S=15  T=9   U=25 V=22 W=8 X=6  Y=18 Z=19

E. Joel Love's "Cipher X"

In 1994, E. Joel Love, a student of the English Qaballa and a member of the Hermetic Alchemical Order of the QBLH, proposed another English cipher that he would call "Cipher X". Love possessed a high mathematical aptitude and formal training in cryptography in the U.S Coast Guard.[citation needed] A lifelong Thelemite, Love considered EQ to be incomplete to the task of answering many of the cosmological and deep structure questions proposed by Gillis' system. Both Gillis and Stratton-Kent met with Joel Love in 2004 and were mutually surprised to find that both Love's and Gillis' work contained many striking parallels.

Love considered the English Qaballa to be representative of an authentic epistle, and interpreted verses in Liber XXVII to hint at a process of inversion. By taking the obvious base three trigrams system of Liber XXVII, and by comparing them to the cipher key of EQ, these inversions resulted in Cipher X which, technically speaking, is the base three inversion of the EQ cipher. Love always maintained that Cipher X was a complement to EQ. He was a vocal proponent of comparing the results of multiple ciphers, a study he called "cross cipher correlation".

Love would go on to compile over 20 years of notes and research. Love had several students, the first of which was longtime friend and colleague H. Thomas Chaudoin. Chaudoin maintains that he was present during the years that the bulk of this research was received by Love. Chaudoin would go on to found the New Order of Thelema (NOT), using many of Love's innovations as a foundation. Love died in June 2015.[32]

Base 3 inversion of the EQ cipher values results in the following values: 

A=9  B=20 C=13 D=6  E=17 F=2  G=19 H=12 I=23 J=16 K=1  L=18 M=5 
N=22 O=15 P=26 Q=11 R=4  S=21 T=8  U=25 V=10 W=3  X=14 Y=7  Z=24

Other systems

In 1952, John P. L. Hughes published The Hidden Numerical Significance of the English Language, or, Suggestive Gematria, based on his lecture delivered at Holden Research Circle on July 4, 1952.[33] More recently, Michael Bertiaux described a system called Angelic Gematria in his The Voudon Gnostic Workbook (1989),[34] and David Rankine described a system of English gematria[35]: 244  using prime numbers which he calls Prime Qabalah in his book Becoming Magick (2004).[36]

See also

References

Citations

  1. ^ Nema (1995). Maat Magick: A Guide to Self-Initiation. York Beach, Maine: Weiser. ISBN 0-87728-827-5.
  2. ^ Hulse, David Allen (2000). The Western Mysteries: An Encyclopedic Guide to the Sacred Languages and Magickal Systems of the World. Llewellyn Publications. ISBN 1-56718-429-4.
  3. ^ Rabinovitch, Shelley; Lewis, James (2004). The Encyclopedia of Modern Witchcraft and Neo-Paganism. Citadel Press. ISBN 0-8065-2407-3.
  4. ^ a b c Halsey (1967).
  5. ^ Jeffrey (1961).
  6. ^ Acevedo (2020), p. 50.
  7. ^ Riedweg (2005).
  8. ^ Walker, Julia. M. Medusa's Mirrors: Spenser, Shakespeare, Milton, and the metamorphosis of the female self, pp. 33–42 University of Delaware Press, 1998. ISBN 0-87413-625-3
  9. ^ a b Agrippa von Nettesheim (1993), Book II, ch. 22.
  10. ^ Dudley (1997), pp. 49–51.
  11. ^ Mostofizadeh, Kambiz (2012). Magic as Science and Religion: John Dee and Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa Paperback. Mikazuki.
  12. ^ Dee, John (1975). The Hieroglyphic Monad. Translated by J. W. Hamilton-Jones. Weiser Books. ISBN 1-57863-203-X.
  13. ^ a b Stratton-Kent, Jake (May 1988). "What is a Qabalah?". The Equinox: British Journal of Thelema. VII (2). Frome, Somerset, UK: Kiblah Publishing: 59–61. ISSN 0953-7015.
  14. ^ Stratton-Kent, Jake (1994). The Book of the Law and Its Qaballa. Sherborne: Kiblah Publishing. ISBN 9780952312505.
  15. ^ a b Stratton-Kent, Jake (2011). The Serpent Tongue: Liber 187. UK: Hadean Press. ISBN 978-1-907881-07-7.
  16. ^ Whitehead, Willis F. (1899). The Mystic Thesaurus, Or Initiation in the Theoretical and Practical Secrets of Astral Truth, and Occult Art: The Symbol of the Cross. Chicago: Willis F. Whitehead. Original from Harvard University collection digitized November 17, 2005, online at [1]
  17. ^ a b c Crowley (1974), p. [page needed].
  18. ^ a b Crowley, Aleister (1983). The Holy Books of Thelema. York Beach, Maine: Samuel Weiser. ISBN 978-0877285793.
  19. ^ Crowley (2004), ch. 3, v. 47.
  20. ^ a b Lees (2018).
  21. ^ a b Stratton-Kent, Jake (March 1988). "The English Qaballa". The Equinox: British Journal of Thelema. VII (1): 17–25. ISSN 0953-7015.
  22. ^ Thompson (2016).
  23. ^ Thompson (2018).
  24. ^ Eisen, William (1980). The English Cabalah. Vol. 1. Marina del Rey, Calif.: DeVorss & Company. ISBN 978-0875163901.
    Eisen, William (1982). The English Cabalah. Vol. 2. Marina del Rey, Calif.: DeVorss & Company. ISBN 978-0875164595.
  25. ^ Lawrence, S. B. (2019). The Big Book of Numerology: The Hidden Meaning of Numbers and Letters. Red Wheel/Weiser. ISBN 978-1578636778.
  26. ^ Mast, J. A. (1991). The Emerging Self: A Celtic Journey. Fithian Press. ISBN 978-0931832680.
  27. ^ Gray, William G. (1984). Concepts of Qabalah. Sangreal Sodality Series. Vol. 3. Red Wheel/Weiser. ISBN 0-87728-561-6.
  28. ^ Gray, William G. (1997). Qabalistic Concepts: Living the Tree. Weiser Books. ISBN 1-57863-000-2.
  29. ^ Gillis, R. Leo (March 3, 2006). "The Book of Mutations". Trigrammaton. Archived from the original on 2022-02-05. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  30. ^ Gillis, R. Leo (2014). The Book of Mutations (3rd ed.). ISBN 9781312374942.[self-published source?]
  31. ^ Gillis, R. Leo (2013). "Trigrammaton Qabalah". In Kaczynski, Richard; Thiebes, Joseph (eds.). Manifest Thy Glory: Proceedings of the Eighth Biennial National Ordo Templi Orientis Conference. Riverside, CA: Ordo Templi Orientis. pp. 73–80. ISBN 978-1-490-36534-3.
  32. ^ Chaudoin, Tom (April 9, 2004). "Liber Trigrammaton and Cipher X". The New Order of Thelema. Retrieved 2020-03-02.
  33. ^ Hughes, John P.L. (1952). The Hidden Numerical Significance of the English Language, or, Suggestive Gematria. Holden Research Circle. For further information on this edition and subsequent reprints, see [2]
  34. ^ Bertiaux, Michael. The Voudon Gnostic Workbook. Magickal Childe, 1989. ISBN 0-939708-12-4. Republished as The Voudon Gnostic Workbook: Expanded Edition, p. 82. Weiser, 2007. ISBN 1-57863-339-7
  35. ^ Drury, Nevill (2006). The Watkins Dictionary of Magic. Sterling Publishing Company. ISBN 1-84293-152-0
  36. ^ Rankine, David. Becoming Magick: New & Revised Magicks for the New Aeon. Mandrake, 2004. ISBN 1-869928-81-4

Works cited

  • Acevedo, J. (2020). Alphanumeric Cosmology from Greek Into Arabic: The Idea of Stoicheia Through the Medieval Mediterranean. Germany: Mohr Siebeck. ISBN 978-3161592454.
  • Agrippa von Nettesheim, Heinrich Cornelius (1993). Tyson, Donald (ed.). Three Books of Occult Philosophy. Translated by James Freake. Llewellyn Publications. pp. Book II, Ch. 22. ISBN 978-0875428321.
  • Crowley, Aleister (1974). Magical and Philosophical Commentaries on the Book of the Law. Montreal: 93 Publishing.
  • Crowley, Aleister (2004). The Book of the Law: Liber Al Vel Legis. Red Wheel Weiser. ISBN 978-1578633081.
  • Dudley, Underwood (1997). Numerology, Or, What Pythagoras Wrought. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-88385-524-0.
  • Halsey, W., ed. (1967). "Numerals and systems of numeration". Collier's Encyclopedia.
  • Jeffrey, L. (1961). The Local Scripts of Archaic Greece. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Lees, James (2018). Thompson, Cath (ed.). The New Equinox: The British Journal of Magick. Hadean Press Limited. ISBN 978-1907881770.
  • Riedweg, Christoph (2005) [2002]. Pythagoras: His Life, Teachings, and Influence. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0-8014-7452-1.
  • Stratton-Kent, Jake (March 1988). "The English Qaballa". The Equinox: British Journal of Thelema. VII (1): 17–25. ISSN 0953-7015.
  • Stratton-Kent, Jake (May 1988b). "What is a Qabalah?". The Equinox: British Journal of Thelema. VII (2): 59–61. ISSN 0953-7015.
  • Stratton-Kent, Jake (2011). The Serpent Tongue: Liber 187. UK: Hadean Press. ISBN 978-1-907881-07-7.
  • Thompson, Cath (2016). The Magickal Language of the Book of the Law: An English Qaballa Primer. Hadean Press Limited. ISBN 978-1907881688.
  • Thompson, Cath (2018). All This and a Book. Hadean Press Limited. ISBN 978-1-907881-78-7.
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