The Tannaim, or initiates of the Jewish Mystery School, alone possessed a complete understanding of the significance of the Ten Commandments. These laws are esoterically related to the ten degrees of contemplation constituting the Path of Ecstasy, which winds upward through the four worlds and ends in the effulgence of AINSOPH. MPH
From Kircher’s OEdipus AEgyptiacusThis rare cut shows the name of God in seventy-two languages inscribed upon the petals of a symbolic sunflower. Above the circle are the seventy-two powers of God according to the Hebrew Kabbalah. Below are two trees, that on the left bearing the symbols of the planets and that on the right the signs of the zodiac and the names of the tribes of Israel. The esoteric doctrines of the Kabbalah are in alignment with the secret teachings of all the schools of philosophy, but the method by which its secrets are revealed to the wise and concealed from the ignorant is most unusual. MPH
By arranging the four letters of the Great Name, (I H V H), in the form of the Pythagorean Tetractys, the 72 powers of the Great Name of God are manifested.
● = I = 10 = 10
● ● = H I = 5+10 = 15
● ● ● = V H I = 6+5+10 = 21
● ● ● ● = H V H I = 5+6=5+10 = 26
The Great Name of God = 72
In the central triangle are the three Mother Letters from which come forth the seven Double Letters—the planets and the heavens. Surrounding the black star are the signs of the zodiac symbolized by the twelve Simple Letters. In the midst of this star is the Invisible Throne of the Most Ancient of the Ancients—the Supreme Definitionless Creator. MPH
From Westcott's The Isiac TabletThe letter Shin signifies the trinity of the first three Sephiroth. The central circle slightly above the other two is the first Sephira—Kether, the White Head, the Crown. The other two circles represent Chochmah, the Father, and Binah, the Mother. From the union of the Divine Father and the Divine Mother are produced the worlds and the generations of living things. The three flame-like points of the letter have long been used to conceal this Creative Triad of the Kabbalists. MPH
From Böhme’s Libri ApologeticiThe Tetragrammaton, or four-lettered Name of God, is here arranged as a tetractys within the inverted human heart. Beneath, the name Jehovah is shown transformed into Jehoshua by the interpolation of the radiant Hebrew letter , Shin. The drawing as a whole represents the throne of God and His hierarchies within the heart of man. In the first book of his Libri Apologetici, Jakob Böhme thus describes the meaning of the symbol: "For we men have one book in common which points to God. Each has it within himself, which is the priceless Name of God." MPH
The life of the Supreme Creator permeates all substance, all space, and all time, but for diagrammatic purposes the Supreme, All-Inclusive Life is limited by Circle 3, which may be called "the boundary line of Divine existence." The divine Life permeating the area bounded by Circle 3 is focused at Point 1, which thus becomes the personification of the impersonal life and is termed "the First Crown." The creative forces pouring through Point 1 come into manifestation as the objective universe in the intermediate space, Circle 2. MPH
In the above chart the dark line between X3 and A1 constitutes the boundary of the original dot, while the concentric circles within this heavier line symbolize the emanations and worlds which came forth from the dot. As this dot is contained within the outer rings X1, X2, and X3, and represents the first establishment of individualized existence, so the lower universe symbolized by the forty concentric circles within the dot represents the lower creation evolved out of and yet contained within the nature of the first Crown, which may be called God, within whom the divine powers, the celestial beings, the sidereal worlds, and man, live and move and have their being. It is highly important that all the rings within A1 be considered as being enclosed by the primitive dot, which itself encircled by the great ring X1, or the Auric Egg of AIN SOPH. MPH
The forty concentric circles shown here are arranged as four trees, each consisting of ten circles. These trees disclose the organization of the hierarchies controlling the destinies of all creations. The trees are the same in each of the four worlds, but the powers vested in the globes express themselves differently through the substance of each world, resulting in endless differentiation. MPH
From Fludd’s Collectio OperumThe above diagram has been specially translated from the Latin as being of unique value to students of the Kabbalah and also as an example of Robert Fludd’s unusual ability in assembling tables of correspondences. Robert Fludd ranks among the most eminent Rosicrucians and Freemasons; in fact, he has often been called "the first English Rosicrucian." He has written several valuable documents directly bearing upon the Rosicrucian enigma. MPH
Translated from Kircher’s OEdipus AEgyptiacusThe Kabbalists divided the universe into four worlds, each consisting of ten spheres, arranged into what is called the "Sephirothic Tree." This Tree is composed of ten circles, representing the numbers 1 to 10, connected together by twenty-two canals—the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The ten numbers plus the twenty-two letters result in the occult number 32, which, according to the Mishna, signifies the Thirty-two Paths of Wisdom.
from Maurice’s Indian AntiquitiesThomas Maurice reproduced this engraving, which is a modification of the elaborate tree above. The Sephiroth are here superimposed, decreasing in size as they decrease in power and dignity. The Crown is the greatest and the all-inclusive, and the Kingdom, which represents the physical universe, the smallest and least important. MPH
from The "Bear" BibleThis plate, which is from the first Protestant Bible published in Spanish, shows the Mercavah, or chariot of Jehovah, which appeared to Ezekiel by the river Chebar. According to the mystics, the wheels supporting the throne of God represent the orbits of the planets, and the entire solar system is properly the Mercavah, or chariot of God. One of the divisions of the Kabbalah—that dealing with the arts and sciences of those planes which are under the heavens—is called the Mercavah. MPH
From Myer’s QabbalahThe diagram shown above is also reproduced in The Rosicrucians, by Hargrave Jennings. This author adds to the original diagram appearing in Antiquitatum Judaicarum Libri IX the signs of the zodiac, placing Aries at the head and continuing in sequential order to Leo, which occupies the fifth cross section of the ark. Jennings assigns the panel containing the door to the undivided constellation of Virgo-Libra-Scorpio (which is continued into the first subdivision of the second section) and the remaining four cross sections to the constellations from Sagittarius to Pisces inclusive. "When the androgenic Scorpio-Virgo was separated and the Balance or Harmony made from Scorpio, and placed between Scorpio, i.e., male, and Virgo, i.e., female, then appeared the 12 constellations or signs, as we now have them. The ark is three stories high (perhaps to symbolize Heaven, Man, Earth). In the figure of the Man, notice the parting of the hair in the middle of the forehead and the arrangement of the beard, whiskers, moustache and the hair, on the back of the neck and shoulders." (See The Qabbalah by Isaac Myer.) MPH
from Montfaucon’s AntiquitiesIt is in this form that Jehovah is generally pictured by the Kabbalists. The drawing is intended to represent the Demiurgus of the Greeks and Gnostics, called by the Greeks "Zeus, the Immortal Mortal," and by the Hebrews "IHVH." MPH
From Calmet’s Dictionary of the Holy BibleThe order of the stones and the tribe over which each administered were, according to Calmet, as in the diagram here. These gems, according to the Rosicrucians, were symbolic of the twelve great qualities and virtues: Illumination, Love, Wisdom, Truth, Justice, Peace, Equilibrium, Humility, Faith, Strength, Joy, Victory. MPH
from Mosaize Historie der Hebreeuwse KerkeThe robes of the High Priest of Israel were often called "The Garments of Glory," for they resembled the regenerated and spiritualized nature of man, symbolized by a vestment which all must weave from the threads of character and virtue before they can become High Priests after the Order of Melchizedek. MPH
from Mosaize Historie der Hebreeuwse KerkeOver the plain white cap of the ordinary priests the High Priest wore an overcloth of blue and a band of gold. On the front of the golden band were inscribed the Hebrew words "Holiness unto the Lord." This illustration shows the arrangement of the bonnet both with and without the golden crown. MPH
From Calmet’s Dictionary of the Holy BibleJosephus tells us that the Cherubim were flying creatures but different in appearance from anything to be seen on earth; therefore impossible to describe. Moses is supposed to have seen these beings kneeling at the footstool of God when he was picked up and brought into the presence of Jehovah. It is probable that they resembled, at least in general appearance, the famous Cherubim of Ezekiel. MPH
from Barrett’s MagusCurious alphabets were invented by the early and mediaeval philosophers to conceal their doctrines and tenets from the profane. Probably the most famous is the angelic writing, termed in the above plate "The Writing called Malachim." Its figures are supposedly derived from the constellations. Advanced students of occult philosophy will come upon many valuable documents in which these figures are used. Under each letter of the first alphabet above is its equivalent in English. Above each letter of the other
Erasmus of Rotterdam
Championed the freedom of the will, as a crucial point in his De libero arbitrio diatribe sive collatio (1524)
"To exist is to change, to change is to mature,to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly."
- Henri-Louis Bergson