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Subject: Re: JSmith: English Qabalah (LONG)
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Date: 17 Feb 1997 11:01:16 -0800
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[orig-to thelema93-l@hollyfeld.org (Thelema93 Elist)]

49970217 AA1 Hail Satan! 

E6


Rabbi Jeffrey Smith <f901030k@bc.seflin.org>:
# The Sefer Yetzirah, on which all Kabbalah relating to the Hebrew alephbet
# is based, classifies the 22 letters into 3 categories:

so let us imagine possible parallels. I wonder if your assertion here
that 'all Kabbalah relating to Hebrew alephbeth is based on the SY' is
not overstated, but am very ignorant of Kabbalah's history.


# The mothers are related to the elements, the doubles to the planets, and
# the singles to the signs of the Zodiac. There are other attributions,
# but these are the main ones.

association schemes based on phonetics may be valuable. perhaps it will
not be important to retain. this mother/double/single tripartite may only
serve within the Hebrew, detailing real qualities of that language all of
which may not be found within English or other languages. it may be best
to attempt to discover how much of this applies to English and then see if
there is a comparable qualitative taxonomy extant within it, rather than
judging it based on Hebrew constitution, as you also comment elsewhere.


in the association scheme I worked out I intentionally tried to remain as
faithful to the old GD/AC systems as possible, while arranging the planets
in their Sol->Pluto sequence as we know it today and the zodiac in seasonal
sequence, fitting the elements in as they seemed most comfortable within
the Tarot Major Arcana that I was constructing to contain it.


# The categories themselves reflect actual phonetic reality--the doubles
# have two possible vocalizations, the singles only one.

you didn't say here what the meaning of 'mothers' is, so I substitute for
'vowels', which Hebrew does not apparently have. for the Roman letters
within this scheme, here's my preliminary taxonomy:


Mothers (05 letters): A, E, I, O, U
Doubles (06 letters): C, G, H, Q, W, Y
Singles (15 letters): B, D, F, J, K, L, M, N, P, R, S, T, V, X, Z
__
26


compare:
# mothers (3 letters), doubles (7 letters), and singles or elementals
# (12 letters)."

# [an] English Qabalah would, if it carried over the traditional
# categories, classify the letter of the ROma alphabet into mothers,
# doubles, and singles, with the same basic attribution.

that is one intepretation. it could also carry over the process of
analysing the letters for their qualities and taxonomizing them as
it becomes clear how this will break up, regardless of whether this
includes the qualities used by Kabbalists or not. example: vowels.

---------------------------- from another post on similar Subject:,
same author:
# MetaQabalah:
# Some Preliminary Considerations On the Subject of a English Language Qabalah

reviewed, snipped sections.


# The model of Qabalah we use in the European tradition is the Jewish or
# Hebrew version, or as I refer to it the Rabbinic Kabbalah, and its
# variant, the Hermetic Qabalah.

this is why I have continued to maintain that we have a Hebrew-fixation
which is to our detriment and we will do best to break free from ANY system
of language, fabricating a pancultural science of 'QBL' which not only
makes possible the English version but also the hieroglyphic and, more
modernly and importantly, syllabalic (kenji, et al) and ideographic (as
well as an others humans construct). I'd also mention here that the
predominant focus of Europeans seems to have been Luria, who is
popular but not the only Kabbalist.


# We have been dealing in this discussion
# with the Sefer Yetzirah and derivations thereof, but this is only one
# major tradition in Rabbinic Kabbalah; the other major tradition being
# represented by the Sefer haZohar and its allied works and descendants.

this is important, and yet we must be clear what is going on here.  we're
talking about 'fundamental scriptural text' given mythopaeic and mystical
authority. this is the 'generic' from which any QBL system may be
constructed. this is why some Thelemites use the Evil Book for their base.


# The Yetziratic tradition emphasizes the Hebrew language as the vehicle
# by which the Cosmos is symbolized and analyzed. The Zoharic tradition,
# by contrast, bases itself on the text of the Bible, and the symbols and
# ideas derived from that are the tools by which the Cosmos is discussed.

precisely. so here are only *two* means of constructing a QBL: based on
language components or upon scripts given authority of some sort which
are constructed of these components (an Asian example: ancient Chinese
and _Tao Teh Ching_).


# Rabbinic Kabbalah eventually gave priority to the Zoharic tradition,
# and made the Yetziratic tradition a secondary one, serving to illuminate
# the Zoharic teaching. Hermetic Qabalah did the reverse, taking the
# Yetziratic teaching as primary, and the Zoharic teaching as illuminative.

the great thing about Hermetic Qabalah (which some authors and occultists
have understood or are beginning to understand, in part due to those who
*vary* from tradition) is that it can be syncretic and variable. in short,
there are no rules aside from what we find meaningfully expedient. for
this reason it is of little or no consequence to me if we begin from these
two bases or construct others.

I would suggest that we would do best to construct a set of meaningful and
logically consequent ALTERNATIVES to these two, perhaps drawing from previous
Jewish or Hermetic traditions.

Crowley constructed the basis for a third in his hexagram poetry of
Trigrammaton: making possible construction based on a revealed mystical
English letter sequence which does not necessarily derive from a scripture
in abstraction. that is, instead of the components as they appear in
conventional instruction or that found in the construction of a
particular text, a new order is found in reflection/reverie/revelation.


# In both the Yetziratic and Zoharic teachings, the primary concern is
# with the Revelation and the language in which that Revelation is
# communicated. The Revelation is the Self Expression of the Deity;
# the language has special status and capabilities because it is
# the means of that Self Expression.

here we begin to get into the fundamental problems of the science of 'QBL':
there are typically paradigmatic contexts to the construction process,
and historically these have been accepted as necessarily true or presumed
by those who fabricated their QBL. this presents to us an obstacle, as
it did to the Hermetics whom you acknowledge avoided the haZohar on
account of their paradigm addiction.

for the modern mage, paradigm-flux is the NORM, not the exception. :>
for this reason several incompatible QBL systems may be constructed and
utilized (within a variety of paradigms) by the same individual, rather
than engaging the worn-out cultural feud. we're developing into a
global culture, and this means that syncretism and open-mindedness are
of greater value than they were previously in tribal establishments.
computers can be used to resolve the complexities of computation.


# An English Qabalah, if it is to
# follow the Hebrew model, must first justify the use of English as
# a "Holy Tongue"--a means of Revelation;

my understanding is that the construction of the Hebrew Kabbalah
occurred AFTER the presumption of this 'Holy Tongue/Revelation'
paradigm. for this reason I dispute your claim as only partly
accurate, ignoring the fact that the paradigm itself might be
different and therefore to follow an alternative paradigm is
also to 'follow on the Hebrew model'. example below.


# and it must identify the Scripture which is the text of that
# Revelation (even if it is not a book or text in the standard sense).

this is only true for those whose paradigm includes these things.
consider an alternative which I fabricate here and now (allow me
some leeway as I did not prepare this in advance):

paradigm: perpetual cosmic renewal (cyclic rather than linear);
creator deity part of a host; separate religious
system devised to transcend this cosmic wheel, based
on the expressions of those who have awakened to it
(a rough approximation of Buddhism)

language: Japanese (both formal and informal, usage varies as
determined by the circumstances/protocol/need)

scriptures: none. the instructions of the Masters indicate that
language is an impediment (a temporary malady) which
may be transcended either through focus upon the
variety of writings which have come down to us in
our tradition (say 'Soto Zen') or upon refrainment
from said language in an effort to quiet the mind
and obtain a pure and clear reflection of circumstance.

in this example we choose the former (the interpretation
of language as impediment/obstacle/door) and thus find
value in the Soto QBL yet maintain no scriptures.

note: if I have in your eyes 'botched' the fabrication of Soto Zen QBL,
please do not take issue as much with its particular components
as compared with the reason I was constructing it: as an example
whereby 'scriptures' need not be accepted, while the language
itself is considered 'suspect'.


# Those who accept the Liber AL have an advantage here, since for them
# the English language and the Book of the Law meet those requirements.
# Those who do not must either keep on looking, or reject the
# possibility of an English Qabalah, either in favor of an existing
# Scripture and the Qabalah derived therefrom, or in favor of an
# "SuperQabalah" which applies to all human languages and to all
# possible Revelations.

you have neglected at least a third possibility which I am attempting to
draw out here: the derivation of a local QBL from that 'SuperQBL' which
you mention, not necessarily pertaining to any such "Revelation", as its
content depends entirely upon the cosmological paradigm within which the
QBL system is constructed (an alternative for Soto Zen Buddhism paradigm
which exemplifies this is above).


# We must therefore turn to the means by which the Yetziratic and Zoharic
# traditions analyzed the Divine Language and Divine Text, and by which
# they thereby analyzed the Cosmos.

I am regarding these means as inconsequential, a kind of process with
innumeral variations, each one meaningful as it comes to be relied upon
by each individual mage or school.


# ...do we take over the Yetziratic attributions, ....

same question as when a Hermetic ceremonialist comes to the Tarot and
discovers that its association schema isn't working for hir. does she
accept the old GD association scheme? AC? someone else? or make up
an entire new one?


# ...or do we make a phonetic classification of the English alphabet,
# and then work out attributions from that;

I consider this to be a particular of a greater principle: language
component taxonomy. it can be based on whatever we desire, though
working within the language itself and the paradigm of our preference
naturally leads us to specific taxonomical models.


# or do we analyze the set of English letters by another classification,
# one not used by the Yetziratic tradition for Hebrew but equally valid?

as I said above, though you don't mention the underlying paradigm (this
is the major difference between Kabbalah and a universal 'QBL' science).


# The first choice merely adapts Hebrew Qabalah into another setting;

especially if the phonetic/Yetziratic attributions don't carry into the
other language. for some of them they might (Greek?). for English
they might not, and we can take this into account in the QBL-construct.


# but the second and third choices, since they ground themselves in 
# the English language itself, and only then proceed with their analysis 
# of the symbols involved, point the way to a true English Qabalah.

I tend to agree and strongly. it appears that there are a set of QBL features
or characteristics we may derive as primary: grounding in the language and
paradigm(s) of preference forming two examples of these.


# A grounding in phonetics is of
# coursed needed for the second alternative, but as "Will" pointed out,
# we would classify the vowels separately, and then the consonants according
# to their pronounciation--fricative, labials, glottals, and the whole
# panoply of phonetic analysis.

this begins to enter into a particular classification scheme. my example
above merely accepted the 'dual pronunciation' criteria for double letters,
though it may need refinement (C-> K/S; G-> G/J; etc.). I omit the rest of
your construction as beautifully exemplary but unnecessary (being particular).


# The gematria and other variations of an English Qabalah would also be
# capable of being conducted on other principles, and with other results,
# than the Hebrew/Greek gematria familiar to Hermetic tradition.

strongly agreed, though I think we should also discuss extant variants
on this theme and consider what the 'generic' name of the science
should become. 'QBL' is of Judaic origin and thus particular; it also relates
to the 'tradition' or 'transmission' as a whole (as it relates to oral
fabrication of the tradition itself). the rough equivalent from runes
('Ogham'?) should also be considered, along with other systems devised
throughout space and time.

[discussion of scriptural composition omitted as paradigmatically-biased]


# The Liber AL is not the Torah....

I know you meant this differently, but I consider the esoteric meaning of
both of these to be identical, relating to the manifested cosmos from
within the paradigm of 'Revelation' as you have mentioned.


# ...It would be the goal of an English Qabalah--or at least of a
# Thelemite Qabalah--to explore those meanings and symbols, and discover
# in what new terms the Cosmos may be imaged.

if 'imaging the cosmos' is the objective. this ought proceed from the
underlying paradigm of the mage or school, and while the Hermetic and
Jewish forerunners of this art may find Revelation valuable, it is not
a necessary component of QBL composition, as I hope I have made plain
in my argument above.

E6/6/6
[3 3 3 (nigris)]
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