Path: ultra.sonic.net!bug.rahul.net!rahul.net!a2i!news.kjsl.com!news.new-york.net!news-peer.gip.net!news.gsl.net!gip.net!newsfeed.cwix.com!206.172.150.11!news1.bellglobal.com!198.235.216.4.POSTED!not-for-mail Message-ID: <36905635.2D4A@sympatico.ca> From: richard sprigg Reply-To: kteis@sympatico.ca X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.01C-SYMPA (Win95; U) MIME-Version: 1.0 Newsgroups: alt.magick,alt.magick.tyagi,alt.pagan.magick Subject: Re: (O) Gematria and Other Systems of Numerology References: <199812311126.DAA26899@f274.hotmail.com> <368b93f9.3255213@news.well.com> <76ot5v$r34$1@quince.news.easynet.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Lines: 46 Date: Mon, 04 Jan 1999 00:48:37 -0500 NNTP-Posting-Host: 206.172.251.133 X-Trace: 198.235.216.4 915428366 206.172.251.133 (Mon, 04 Jan 1999 00:39:26 EDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 04 Jan 1999 00:39:26 EDT Organization: Bell Solutions Xref: ultra.sonic.net alt.magick:130686 alt.magick.tyagi:15103 alt.pagan.magick:13194 benedicthassell wrote: > > I've also been following this thread with some interest but, alas, little > comprehension. > I still don't understand what Gematria (etc) is for. Gematria of a word will have a value, which implies that other words of the same value are related. This may involve meditation on the (often disparate) meanings. It may also lead to a chain of concepts. Thus Thelema (by greek Gematria) is 93. Agape is also 93. This establishes a possible connection between love and will. > What has it got to do with the will? Not a lot. It can be a useful signpost. > What has it got to do with magick (defined as manipulation of reality in > accordance with will)? > What is it used for? > > Please excuse my ignorance. > Is there a web-page that explains the above in fairly simple terms? Gematria is simple to learn, but different systems have different values. > > I also do not undersatnd the furore surrounding the historical/cultural > origins of gematria/qabalah etc. > Why is this important? Qabbalah has it's source in Jewish mysticism. Hermeticists adopted the symbology over a number of years for purposes other than the original, deriving correspondences and attributions that have nothing to do with the original system. The renascence of the hebrew language in the past 50 odd years has given rise to a number of traditional qabbalistic mystics, who view with some ascerbity what they see as the hijacking of their culture. Any cultural group tends to view being treated in the same way as a dead culture with a jaundiced eye. To truly comprehend traditional qabbalah, it is important to understand the cultural source from which it sprang. This is not always easy, but it is possible. To understand the hermetic interpretations of qabbalah it is necessarry to read the major works on the subject by magical authors.