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THE  DOCTRINE  AND  LITERATURE  OF 
THE   KABALAH 


BY    THE    SAME    AUTHOR 


The  Life  and  Doctrine  of  Louis  Claude  de  Saint-Martin, 

the    Unknown    Philosopher,  and    the  Substance  of  his   Trans 
cendental  Doctrine.     Demy  8vo,  7s.  6d. 

A  Book  of  Mystery  and  Vision.     Small  4to,  75.  6d.  net. 

Azoth,  or,  The  Star  in  the  East.  Imp.  Svo,  Cloth.  Cheaper 
editions.  55.  6d.  net. 

"  The  conclusions  reached  in  this  work  are  the  result  of  considerable  research 
into  the  significance  of  the  Hermetic  and  Mystical  _  Symbolisms  contained  in 
alchemical  literature,  and,  as  regards  fundamental  doctrine,  they  offer  a  reasonable 
harmony  between  the  transcendental  teachings  of  Eastern  and  Western  Theosophy." 

The  Golden  Stairs.  Tales  from  Wonder-World.  Cloth,  Svo, 
2s.  6d. 

"  The  lessons  these  stories  are  intended  to  convev  are  unmistakeable,  but  not  so 
obtrusive  as  to  weary  even  those  of  tender  years,  and  so  charming  is  the  language 
in  which  the  stories  are  told,  so  picturesque  the  scenes  presented,  that  many 
children  will  turn  to  these  pages  again  and  again  with  delight." 

Obermann.  Translated  from  the  French  of  Etienne  Pivert  de 
Senancour.  With  a  Biographical  Introduction  and  Study  of 
the  Literary  and  Philosophical  position  of  these  celebrated 
letters  from  Switzerland,  in  comparison  with  the  later  writings 
of  Senancour.  Crown  Svo.  [In  Preparation.} 


SEP  HI  ROT  1C    SCHEME. 

AIN    SOPH 
LATENT  STATE  OF  DEITY. 


THE 


DOCTRINE  AND    LITERATURE 


OF 


THE    KABALAH 


BY 

ARTHUR    EDWARD    WAITE 

AUTHOR    OF 

THE  LIFE  OF  LOUIS  CLAUDE  DE  SAINT-MARTIN,  THE  UNKNOWN- 
PHILOSOPHER,"  AND  TRANSLATOR  OF  THE  WORKS  OF 
E'LIPHAS  LEVI. 


MICROFORMED 

PRESERVE- 

SERVICES 

SEP  1  8  1989 


DATE 


LONDON 

The   Theosophical    Publishing   Society 

1902. 


8 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

PREFACE  ix. 


BOOK   I 

POST-CHRISTIAN    LITERATURE   OF   THE 
JEWS. 

I.  INTRODUCTORY i 

II.  THE  OCCULT  STANDPOINT     7 

III.  THE  KABALAH  AND  THE  TALMUD 14 

IV.  DIVISIONS  OF  THE  KABALAH...  22 


BOOK   II 

THE    DOCTRINAL   CONTENT   OF   THE 
KABALAH. 

I.  THE  DOCTRINE  OF  THE  UNMANIFEST  GOD          30 

II.  THE  DOCTRINE  OF  THE  TEN  EMANATION*          36 

III.  THE  DOCTRINE  OF  THE  FOUR  WORLDS     44 

IV.  THE  DOCTRINE  OF  THE  COUNTENANCES 53 

V.  THE  INSTRUMENTS  OF  CREATION     59 

VI.  THE  PATHS  OF  WISDOM         65 

VII.  THE  DOCTRINE  OF  PNEUMATOLOGY...  74 


vi  (£ontenl0 


BOOK  III 

SOURCE   AND    AUTHORITY   OF   THE 
KABALAH. 

PACE 

I.  DATE  AND  DOCTRINE  OF  THE  BOOK  OF  FORMATION    ...    89 
II.  MODERN  CRITICISM  OF  THE  BOOK  OF  SPLENDOUR        ...    95 

III.  THE  DATE  AND  AUTHORSHIP  OF  THE   BOOK  OF  SPLEN 

DOUR  103 

IV.  THE  AGE  OF  ZOHARIC  TRADITION 115 

V.  ALLEGED  SOURCES  OF  KABALISTIC  DOCTRINE     122 

VI.  ISLAMIC  CONNECTIONS  OF  THE  KABALAH 136 

VII.  INFLUENCE  OF  THE  KABALAH  ON  JEWRY 144 


BOOK    IV 

THE   WRITTEN   WORD    OF    KABALISM  : 
FIRST   PERIOD. 

I.  EARLY  KABALISTIC  LITERATURE      152 

II.  THE  BOOK  OF  FORMATION 167 

III.  CONNECTIONS    AND    DEPENDENCIES    OF   THE    BOOK   OF 

FORMATION  ..  174 


BOOK  V 

THE   WRITTEN    WORD    OF   KABALISM  : 
SECOND    PERIOD. 

I.  THE  BOOK  OF  SPLENDOUR  :  ITS  CONTENT  AND  DIVISIONS  187 
II.  THE  BOOK  OF  CONCEALMENT  ..212 

III.  THE  GREATER  HOLY  SYNOD 217 

IV.  THE  LESSER  HOLY  SYNOD 226 

V.  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  THE  AGED  MAN  ...  229 

VI.  THE  ILLUSTRIOUS  BOOK  234 


Contents  vii 


,  PAGE 

VII.  THE  FAITHFUL  SHEPHERD 246 

VIII.  THE  HIDDEN  THINGS  OF  THE  LAW         256 

IX.  THE  SECRET  COMMENTARY  ...        ...        ...        ...        ...  260 

X.  THE  LESSER  SECTIONS  OF  THE  BOOK  OF  SPLENDOUR  :  270 

(a)  THE  ADDITIONS 271 

(b)  THE  COMMENTARY  ON  RUTH 273 

(r)  THE  MANSIONS  OR  ABODES       :.  274 

(d)  THE  SECRET  OF  SECRETS          276 

(<r)  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  THE  YOUNG  MAN           ...  277 

XI.  THE  ANCIENT  AND  LATER  SUPPLEMENTS                       .  280 


BOOK    VI 

THE   WRITTEN   WORD    OF    KABALISM  : 
THIRD    PERIOD. 

I.  EXPOSITORS  OF  THE  BOOK  OF  SPLENDOUR         287 

(a)  MOSES  OF  CORDOVA        288 

(b)  ISAAC  DE  LORIA 292 

(<r)  NAPTHALI  HIRTZ 303 

(d)  ABRAHAM  COHEN  IRIRA  306 

(e)  R.    ISAACHAR    BEN    NAPHTALI 307 

II.  THE  BOOK  OF  PURIFYING  FIRE     308 

III.  THE  MYSTERIES  OF  LOVE 314 

IV.  MINOR  LITERATURE  OF  KABALISM  319 


BOOK    VII 

SOME   CHRISTIAN    STUDENTS    OF   THE 
KABALAH. 

I.  INTRODUCTORY 323 

II.  RAYMOND  LULLY       325 

III.  I'ICUS    DE    MlRANDOLA  331 

IV.  CORNELIUS  AGRIPPA  344 


viii.  Qfcntitnfo 


PAGE 

V.  PARACELSUS  349 

VI.  JOHN  REUCHLIN  353 

VII.  WILLIAM  POSTEL    ...        ...        ...        ..         ...        ...  357 

VIII.  THE  ROSICRUCIANS  364 

IX.  ROBERT  FLUDD       366 

X.  HENRY  MORE          370 

XL  THOMAS  VAUGHAN  375 

XII.  KNORR  VON  ROSENROTH  380 

XIII.  RALPH  CUDWORTH 386 

XIV.  THOMAS  BURNET 389 

XV.  SAINT-MARTIN        394 

XVI.  ELIPHAS  LEVI         396 

XVII.  Two  ACADEMIC  CRITICS 408 

XVIII.  THE  MODERN  SCHOOL  OF  FRENCH  KABALISM          ...  414 

(a)  PAPUS          417 

(b)  STANISLAS  DE  GUAITA 421 

(f)  LEON  MEURIN,  S.J 425 

XIX.  THE  KABALAH  AND  ESOTERIC  CHRISTIANITY           ...  428 
XX.  THE  KABALAH  AND  MODERN  THEOSOPHY      433 


BOOK   VIII 

THE    KABALAH   AND    OTHER    CHANNELS 
OF   ESOTERIC   TRADITION. 

I.  THE  KABALAH  AND  MAGIC         438 

II.  THE  KABALAH  AND  ALCHEMY 449 

III.  THE  KABALAH  AND  ASTROLOGY  461 

IV.  THE  KABALAH  AND  FREEMASONRY       470 

V.  THE  KABALAH  AND  THE  TAROT  ..  479 

VI.  THE  KABALAH  AND  MYSTICISM 483 


PREFACE 

FEW  educated  persons,  and  certainly  none  belonging 
to  the  class  of  students  for  which  this  work  is  more 
especially  designed,  will  require  to  be  told  that  the 
Kabalah  is  a  form  of  esoteric  philosophy,  that  it 
makes  for  itself  a  high  claim,  or  that  this  claim  has, 
from  time  to  time,  been  admitted  by  persons  who  are 
entitled  to  our  consideration.  Nor  will  it  be  needful 
to  state  that  the  literature  called  Kabalistic  rose  up 
among  the  Jews  during  the  Christian  centuries  which 
succeeded  their  dispersal  and  the  destruction  of  their 
Holy  City.  It  offers  a  strong  contrast  to  the  sacred 
scriptures  of  Israel,  which  are  direct,  beautiful  and 
simple,  while  Kabalism  is  involved,  obscure  and  in 
many  ways  repellent  as  regards  its  outward  form. 
The  Bible  is  in  focus  with  humanity  ;  the  Kabalah  is 
distorted  out  of  all  correspondence  with  the  simple 
senses,  and  we  must  grind  our  intellectual  lenses  with 
exceeding  care  if  we  would  bring  it  into  perspective. 

From  whatever  point  of  view  it  may  be 
approached,  the  Kabalah  is,  however,  of  importance  : 
it  connects  with  literatures  which  are  greater  than 
itself  and  with  pregnant  issues  of  history.  It  is  part 
of  the  history  of  philosophy,  and  as  such  it  once 
entered  into  the  thought  of  Europe.  It  is  responsible, 
broadly  speaking,  for  all  that  strange  tissue  of 
symbolism  and  ceremonial  which  made  up  the  magic 
of  the  Middle  Ages;  at  a  later  period  it  sought  to 
transform  alchemy  ;  it  tinctured  many  of  those  con 
ventional  practices  and  beliefs  which  we  term  super- 


x.  preface 

stition  generically,  and  the  guise  in  which  we  know 
them  is  therefore  chiefly  a  Kabalistic  guise.  If  we 
might  dare  to  suppose  for  a  moment  that  behind 
magic,  behind  alchemy,  behind  astrology  there  is  any 
mystery  of  secret  and  real  knowledge,  then  it  is 
entitled  to  peculiar  respect,  because,  by  the  hypothesis 
of  some  of  its  defenders,  it  is  through  this  seemingly 
impassable  literature  that  the  road  to  the  secret  lies. 

A  comprehensive  account  of  the  Kabalah,  in  the 
main  bibliographical  and  historical,  but  seeking  to 
establish  its  connections  with  other  forms  of  occult  phil 
osophy  and  to  determine  its  influence  and  importance 
from  more  than  one  standpoint,  is  the  design  of  the 
present  work,  in  which  special  regard  has  been  also  paid 
to  the  limitations  and  requirements  of  English  readers 
— in  other  words,  of  those  unacquainted  with  the  lan 
guages,  dead  and  living,  in  which  Kabalistic  literature 
has  been,  with  few  exceptions,  available  heretofore. 
The  subject  is  exceedingly  abstruse,  and  has  been 
presented  by  some  of  its  expositors  after  a  highly 
technical  fashion  ;  in  this  case  there  is  no  knowledge 
assumed  in  the  reader,  and  hence  all  technicalities  have 
been  avoided,  while  the  scope  of  the  enterprise  much 
exceeds  the  one  or  two  attempts — mostly  in  foreign 
tongues — which  have  been  made  to  simplify  the  study 
of  the  Kabalah.  It  is  the  result  of  an  inquiry  under 
taken,  in  the  first  instance,  for  my  own  personal 
requirements ;  and  I  must  add,  in  fairness  to  my 
readers  and  in  gratitude  to  early  labourers  in  this 
obscure  field  of  research,  that  the  abounding  diffi 
culties  of  the  Hebrew  and  Aramaic  originals  have 
been  simplified  by  recourse  to  the  vast  storehouses  of 
Rabbinical  lore  entombed  for  some  centuries  in  such 
Latin  collections  as  those  of  Buxtorf,  Bartolocci, 


JkeCace  xi. 

Pistorius  and  Rosenroth ;  a  very  large  proportion  of 
the  materials  necessary  for  an  intelligent  familiarity 
with  Jewish  esoteric  tradition  are,  indeed,  to  be  found 
in  these.  These  and  other  resources  have  been 
strengthened  subsequently  by  a  considerable  range  of 
reading  among  modern  writers  in  England,  France  and 
Germany  who,  directly  and  indirectly,  have  concerned 
themselves  with  the  subject.  The  work  has  there 
fore  the  learner's  advantage  of  being  without  pretence 
and  without  ambition,  but  it  is  believed  at  the  same 
time  to  contain  all  that  the  ordinary  student  is  likely 
to  require  in  order  to  appreciate  at  their  proper  worth 
the  various  claims  preferred  on  behalf  of  the  Kabalah 
by  those  who  take  it  seriously  at  this  day.  It  is 
necessary  to  add  that  it  has  been  written  by  a  tran- 
scendentalist  and  chiefly  for  the  use  of  transcendent- 
alists  ;  in  offering  materials  for  their  judgment,  it  also 
indicates  the  lines  of  the  conclusions  to  which  the 
writer  leans  himself,  and  seeks  to  enforce  some  of 
them.  It  has  been  preceded  in  England  by  only  two 
books  dealing  directly  with  the  subject ;  one  is  the 
slight  but  not  inconsiderable  essay  of  Dr.  Ginsburg,* 
which  is  critical  rather  than  descriptive,  and  is,  on  the 
whole,  hostile  in  its  tendency.  It  has  been,  moreover, 
long  out  of  print.  The  other  is  the  "  Kabbalah 
Unveiled"!  of  Mr.  S.  L.  MacGregor  Mathers,  which 
is  largely  translation  and  commentary,  and,  in 
addition  to  other  limitations,  embraces  therefore  only 

*  "The  Kabbalah."     I5y  C.  I).  Gi.uburg.      London,  1865.     8vo. 

f  "  The  Kabbalah  Unveiled,  containing  the  following  books  of 
the  Zohar :  I.  The  Book  of  Concealed  Mystery  ;  2.  The  Greater  Holy 

.:•!>•;  3.  The  Lcs>er  Holy  Assembly,  Translated  into  Hindi, h 
from  the  Latin  version  ol  Knon  uolh,  and  collated  with  the 

original  Chaldee  and  Hebrew  Text."  I'.y  S.  L.  MacGregor  Mathers, 
London,  1887.  8vo.  The  Commentary  is  partly  that  of  Rosenroth, 
and  partly  the  work  of  ilu-  '; 


x. 

a  small  portion  of  an  extensive  literature.  The 
present  comprehensive  account  fulfils  a  distinct 
purpose,  and  may,  it  is  hoped,  be  held  to  occupy, 
not  altogether  unworthily,  a  vacant  place  from  which 
there  is  a  wide  prospect,  by  no  means  deficient  in 
importance  for  those  who  are  not  transcendentalists, 
for  the  student  of  philosophy  and  history,  and  for  the 
curious  in  paths  of  literature  which  the  elder  D'Israeli, 
despite  the  bias  of  his  birthright,  forebore  to  enter. 

The  works  containing  the  esoteric  tradition  of 
Israel,  as  distinguished  from  the  exoteric  tradition 
embodied  in  the  Talmud  and  its  dependencies,  fall, 
under  two  heads  : 

a.  The  Sepher  Yetzirah,  or  "  Book  of  Formation." 

b.  The  Zohar,  or  "  Splendour." 

Connected  with  the  "  Book  of  Formation "  are 
its  commentaries,  foremost  among  which  are  those  of 
Saadya  Gaon,  Rabbi  Azariel  Ben  Menahem  and 
Rabbi  Abraham  Ben  Dior.  The  treatise  itself  is 
comprised  within  a  few  pages. 

The  Zohar  proper  is  a  commentary  on  the  five 
books  of  Moses,*  but  a  number  of  distinct  treatises  are 
connected  with  or  embedded  therein.  There  are  also 
supplements  and  additions  which  must  be  considered 
to  some  extent  separate  from  the  original  collection. 

With  the  Zohar,  furthermore,  are  connected 
certain  important  developments  and  commentaries, 
some  of  which  are  included  in  the  Kabbala  Denudata 
of  Rosenroth.  They  fall  under  two  heads  : 

i.  Those  which  deal  with  the  subject-matter  of 


*  This  at  least  is  its  conventional  description  ;  Graetz,  the  German 
historian,  seems  uncertain  as  to  its  correctness,  but  does  not  offer  an 
alternative.  It  is  really  a  theosophic  medley  connected  with  the  Pen 
tateuch,  and  arising  therefrom. 


preface  xiii. 

the  work,  and  are  designed  to  elucidate  certain  of  its 
most  obscure  treatises. 

2.  Those  which  expound  and  extend  the 
doctrines  of  Pneumatology  which  are  established  in 
the  Zohar. 

These  commentaries  are,  of  course,  the  work  of 
later  Kabalists  whose  dates  can  be  fixed  with  more  or 
less  certainty.  Such  Zoharistic  writings  have  been 
sometimes  confused  with  the  Zohar.f 

Some  classifications  of  the  Kabalah  also  include 
and  give  prominence  to  : 

c.  The    Sepher    Sephiroth — i.e.,   the    "  Book    of 
Numerations,"  or  "  Emanations." 

d.  A  treatise  entitled  ^sk  Metzarcph,  or  "  Puri 
fying  Fire." 

Whatever  their  authority  and  importance,  there 
is  no  warrant  for  placing  these  works  among  the 
great  classics  of  the  Kabalah.  The  "  Book  of 
Emanations "  is  more  properly  set  down  among  the 
dependencies  of  the  Sepher  Yetzirah,  while  that  of 
"  Purifying  Fire"  occupies  a  peculiar  position,  as  it  is 
almost  without  a  history,  and  as  it  is  perhaps  the 
only  Kabalistic  treatise  which  deals  directly  with 
alchemy.  Its  date  is  doubtful  and  its  authorship 
entirely  unknown. 

A  short  but  comprehensive  account  of  all  the 
works  which  have  been  mentioned  above  will  be 
found  in  Books  IV.,  V.,  and  VI. ;  an  attempt  at  such 
a  formal  tabulation  has  not  been  made  previously  in 
the  English  language.  The  first  three  books  contain 
a  historical  and  critical  survey  of  the  entire  subject, 

t  Thus  in  the  "  Kabbalah  Unvcik-d,"  Mr.  Mathers  mentions  the 
"House  of  God,"  or  of  "The  Elohim,"  and  the  "Book  of  the 
Revolutions  of  Souls,"  among  the  most  important  sections  of  the 
Zohar.  (Introduction,  p.  15.) 


xv. 

showing  the  philosophical  system  embodied  in  the 
Kabalah,  the  method  by  which  it  was  developed,  its 
connections  with  previous  theosophies,  designed,  like 
itself,  to  explain  the  fundamental  mysteries  of  the 
universe,  and  the  evidences  for  its  antiquity. 

The  seventh  book  is  devoted  to  the  Christian 
students  of  the  Kabalah,  and  collects  for  the  first  time 
the  opinions  of  the  chief  Christian  scholars  whose 
names  have  been  connected  with  Kabalism.  The 
design  of  this  book  is  to  exhibit  a  consensus  of 
opinion  among  all  those  authorities  who  are  most  in 
vogue  with  occultists  as  to  what  is  of  value  in  the 
Jewish  esoteric  traditions  and  as  to  what  is  waste 
substance.  On  this  point  there  has  never  been  any 
real  difference  of  sentiment,  except  in  the  modern 
school  of  transcendentalism,  which,  devoid  of  a 
proper  criterion  of  judgment,  and  regarding  the 
entire  subject  from  a  new  standpoint,  has  been 
disposed  to  accept  everything  indiscriminately  as  part 
of  the  genuine  tradition,  and  has  thus  esteemed  the 
apparatus  of  Gematria  and  Notaricon  as  no  less 
important  and  mysterious  than  the  Zoharistic 
philosophy  of  the  unconditioned  summed  up  in  Ain 
Soph. 

The  eighth  book  deals  briefly  with  other  channels 
through  which  the  esoteric  tradition  is  believed  to 
have  been  perpetuated  in  the  West  and  their  con 
nection  with  the  channel  of  Kabalism. 

To  those  who  may  approach  the  work  from  the 
historical  and  bibliographical  standpoint  the  presence 
of  its  leading  motive  and  its  appeal  to  a  single  class 
of  students  may  require  some  explanation.  It  has,  I 
believe,  been  suggested  that  since  the  appearance  of 
Dr.  Ginsburg's  destructive  criticism  there  has  been  no 


ih-cfacc  xv. 

interest  among  English  scholars  in  the  subject  of  the 
Kabalah.  Among  mere  scholars  —  that  is  to  say, 
within  the  region  of  research  which  has  only  a 
scholastic  horizon — there  was  no  interest  which  calls 
for  special  mention  at  the  period  which  preceded  that 
work  immediately,  and  it  is  quite  true  that  there  has 
been  as  little  subsequently  to  its  publication,  but  not 
mainly  on  account  of  Dr.  Ginsburg's  criticism.  There 
has  been  always,  or,  speaking  exactly,  since  the  days 
of  Thomas  Vaughan,  Cudworth  and  the  Cambridge 
Platonists,  a  certain  class  of  thinkers  for  whom  the 
claims  made  by  and  on  behalf  of  the  Kabalah  have 
possessed  great  interest  and  importance,  and  this 
class  is  now  much  larger  than  at  any  date  prior  to 
1865.  It  also  forms  intellectually  a  more  respectable 
and  considerable  body  than  the  academical  reader 
might  be  disposed  to  imagine  in  the  absence  of  much 
acquaintance  with  the  literature  by  which  it  is 
represented.  One  is  obliged  to  speak  of  these 
thinkers  under  the  generic  designation  of  occult 
students,  though  the  phrase  is  somewhat  inexact  and 
has  been  used  to  describe  persons  who  have  little 
title  to  earnest  consideration.  A  proscribed  mode  of 
thought  is  here,  as  in  other  cases,  identified 
ungenerously  with  the  meaner  capacities  that  follow 
it,  and  an  unpopular  subject  is  classed  according  to 
the  waste  and  drift  which  has  collected  about  it.  But 
the  class  to  which  I  have  adverted  does  not  in  itself 
deserve  either  ridicule  or  contempt ;  it  is  that  which 
believes  in  the  perpetuation  of  a  secret  religious,  or, 
more  correctly,  theosophical,  tradition  from  an  early 
period  of  human  history,  and  this  is  not  manifestly 
an  unwarrantable  consequence  to  draw  from  the 
study  of  religions  undertaken  philosophically.  Now, 


xv. 


the  Kabalah  is  not  only,  as  I  have  said,  the  occult 
philosophy  of  Jewry,  it  is  not  only  one  of  the  chief 
sources  from  which  occult  science  and  philosophy 
have  drawn  in  the  western  world,  but  it  has  been 
further  represented  to  be  the  channel  of  such  a 
tradition  as  I  have  just  mentioned.  It  is  therefore 
not  merely  reasonable  to  suppose,  but  it  is  true  as  a 
fact,  that  to  occultists,  and  to  them  almost  exclusively, 
an  inquiry  like  the  present  must  appeal.  Other 
interests  are  accidental  ;  their  interest  is  vital.  To 
determine  the  claims  of  the  Kabalah  as  a  department 
and  inspiring  centre  of  occult  philosophy  is  to  deter 
mine  that  which  is  of  most  real  moment  regarding  it. 
It  is  for  this  reason  that  I  have  been  led  to 
consider  the  Kabalah,  not,  indeed,  as  an  occultist  in 
the  accepted  sense,  but  from  the  occult  standpoint, 
and  to  recur  with  so  much  frequency  to  the  belief  in 
a  secret  doctrine  of  religion,  as  well  as  to  some  other 
connected  questions  which  need  reconsideration  at  the 
hands  of  those  who  hold  them.  If  I  have  had  in  the 
course  of  the  inquiry  to  reduce  certain  illusions  to 
their  proper  place  in  the  realm  of  the  fantastic,  more 
especially  if  I  have  contracted  the  sphere  of  what  is 
called  Mysticism  within  its  proper  dimensions,  I  trust 
that  I  shall  be  justified,  so  far  as  regards  my 
intention,  by  those  whom  I  have  sought  to  disabuse. 
From  its  nature  the  foundation  of  Mysticism  cannot 
be  in  occult  science  or  in  occult  philosophy,  while  it 
is  on  the  historical  side  alone  that  it  connects  with 
any  traditions  of  the  past,  popular  or  achromatic.* 

*  The  reason  is  indicated  by  Schopenhauer,  when  he  remarks  on 
the  astonishing  unanimity  of  mystics  in  all  ages,  unlike  in  everything 
except  those  principles  which  constitute  mysticism,  and  yet  not  holding 
those  principles  as  a  sect  clings  to  its  tenets,  for  they  are  not  and  can 
never  be  a  sect. 


xv- 


In  the  course  of  the  general  inquiry  I  have 
endeavoured  to  elucidate  the  most  curious  Kabalistic 
teachings  on  the  subject  of  the  soul,  its  origin  and 
destiny,  the  primal  state  of  man,  the  life  of  the  world 
to  come  and  the  Messianic  dream  of  Jewry. 

I  should  add  that  this  study  is  mainly  concerned 
with    the   documents,   and    as    such    it   cannot   deal 
exhaustively  with   all   the   issues.     It   is   also   biblio 
graphical  rather  than  philosophical.     The  exhaustive 
study   of   the    Kabalah   would  have  to  be  made  in 
connection  with  that  of  comparative  religion,  demand 
ing  qualifications  to  which  I  can  make  no  claim  and 
a  space  for  its  development  which  would  have  been, 
under  any  circumstances,  impossible.     I   could  wish 
my  inquiry  to  be  regarded  rather  as  the  note-book  of 
a  student  methodised.     Finally,  the  work  has  been 
performed  in  a  spirit  of  impartiality,  and  this  is  per 
haps    the     only    side    on    which     it    leans   towards 
perfection.       There   has   been    no   interest    at   stake 
which  I  have  felt  myself  compelled  to  defend,  and  it 
is  therefore  free  from  the  animus  of  extreme  hostile 
criticism,  as  well  as  from  the  unreasoned  assumptions 
of    those—  in    the    main    non-critical    believers—  who 
still  have  the  cause  of  the  Kabalah  at  heart.     I  claim, 
furthermore,   that    I    have   considered    honestly   and 
sympathetically  all   the  interests  at  stake,  including 
those  which  the  bias  of  modern  scholarship  is  inclined 
to  overlook,  or  to  dismiss  in  an  intolerant  spirit. 

I  should  add  that  the  history  of  this  book  has 
been  chequered  and  somewhat  unfortunate.  The 
manuscript  was  completed  for  press  at  the  end  of 
1898,  and  in  the  year  following  the  greater  part  had 
been  set  up  and  a  number  of  the  sheets  machined, 
which  were  wholly  destroyed  in  a  fire  at  the  printer's. 


xv. 


The  delay  which  thus  occurred  was  considerable  in 
itself,  and  was  increased  still  further  through  the 
suspension  of  the  publishing  house  by  which  it  was 
to  be  issued.  In  the  interval  which  has  elapsed 
during  the  course  of  those  fresh  negotiations  which 
have  resulted  in  its  production  under  the  auspices  of 
the  Theosophical  Publishing  Society,  and  during  the 
resetting  of  the  entire  work,  Dr.  S.  Karppe  has 
published  in  Paris  his  elaborate  Etude  sur  les  Origines 
et  la  Nature  du  Zoliar,  which  approaches  the  subject 
from  a  standpoint  entirely  different  to  my  own,  but  is 
at  the  same  time  a  valuable  contribution  to  our 
knowledge  of  Jewish  theosophy,  and  I  note  with 
satisfaction  that  there  are  many  debated  points  on 
which,  working  thus  independently,  we  have  reached 
the  same  conclusion.  Dr.  Karppe's  study  is  designed 
for  the  scholar  and  the  philosopher,  while  my  own,  as 
already  explained,  is  intended,  primarily  at  least,  for 
the  occult  student.  The  Jewish  mysticism  which 
led  up  to  and  preceded  the  Zohar  is  very  fully 
presented  by  him,  but  of  the  influence  exercised  by 
that  work  and  of  its  after  history  he  has  nothing  to 
tell  us.  On  the  other  hand,  the  scheme  of  my  own 
treatise  has  led  me  of  necessity  to  pass  lightly  over 
pre-Zoharic  theosophy,  over  Saadyah,  Ibn  Gebirol, 
Judah  Ha  Levi,  Aben  Ezra,  Maimonides,  &c.,  because 
they  did  not  affect  materially  the  occult  thought  of 
Europe,  and  to  give  prominence  to  Kabalistic 
literature  in  its  later  phases,  to  the  Christian  students 
of  the  subject,  and  to  its  influence  upon  other 
channels  of  esoteric  tradition  in  Europe.  Among 
the  points  of  agreement  between  Dr.  Karppe  and 
myself  may  be  mentioned  the  common  recognition 
of  the  heterogeneous  nature  of  the  Zohar,  which  has 


xx. 


justified  me  in  terming  it  a  medley  ;  of  the  specifically 
Jewish  character  of  Zoharic  mysticism,  which  has 
justified  me  in  denying  that  it  is  referable  exclusively 
to  any  one  school  of  thought  outside  Jewry  ;  of  the 
rapid  deterioration  of  the  Kabalah,  subsequent  to  the 
appearance  of  the  Zohar,  into  a  thaumaturgic  system  ; 
of  the  undue  prominence  which  has  been  given  to  the 
commentaries  on  the  Zohar  and  the  false  impressions 
which  have  been  the  result  ;  of  the  preconception 
which  governed  the  mind  of  most  Christian  students 
of  the  literature,  by  which  they  were  led  to  regard  it 
as  an  unacknowledged  depository  of  Christian 
doctrine  ;  of  the  absence  in  the  Sepher  Yetzirah  of 
any  distinctive  pantheism  or  emanationism.  There  is 
also  considerable  similarity,  both  of  thought  and 
treatment,  in  the  development  of  the  Kabalistic  and 
typically  Zoharic  doctrines  concerning  God  and  the 
universe,  more  especially  concerning  Ain  Soph  and 
creation  ex  nihilo.  It  would  be  easy  to  multiply  these 
instances,  nor  less  easy  to  furnish  numerous  points 
of  divergence,  for,  on  the  other  hand,  Dr.  Karppe 
has,  I  think,  laid  too  much  stress  on  his  distinction 
between  the  early  Jewish  mysticism  and  that  of  the 
Zoharic  period,  not  because  such  a  distinction  is  either 
non-existent  or  unimportant  in  itself,  but  because 
I  cannot  find  that  it  has  been  challenged  by  any 
qualified  writer.  And  I  must,  of  course,  as  a  mystic, 
take  exception  to  the  conception  of  mysticism 
expressed  or  implied  throughout  the  whole  work. 
Mysticism  is  not  a  double  doctrine,  whether  of 
monotheism  for  the  initiate  and  of  many  deities  for 
the  vulgar,  or  of  any  other  such  antithesis  as  the 
priestcrafts  may  have  derived  in  the  past,  but  it  is 
outside  possibility  to  do  more  in  the  present  place  than 


xx. 


refer  to  this  point  and  register  the  bare  fact  that  the 
students  to  whom  personally  I  appeal  will  join  issue 
with  Dr.  Karpe  as  to  all  that  follows  from  his  con 
ception,  whether  it  be  a  matter  of  simple  definition, 
such  as  that  mysticism  is  a  reprisal  of  faith  against 
science,  or  of  historical  criticism,  as  for  example,  when 
he  observes  that  the  doctrine  of  ecstacy  is  almost 
unknown  to  Jewish  theosophy,  a  statement,  however, 
which  the  author  himself  abundantly,  though  not 
explicitly,  modifies  at  a  later  stage  of  his  study.  To 
this  exception  may  be  added  certain  points  of  critical 
importance,  to  which,  personally,  I  have  only  had 
occasion  to  refer  in  passing.  The  student  will  also 
notice  a  tendency  in  certain  instances  to  pass  over 
questions  of  criticism  as  if  there  had  never  been 
a  dispute  regarding  them  :  on  the  one  hand  the 
commentary  of  Hay  Gaon  is  made  use  of  as  if  no 
scholar  had  challenged  its  authenticity  ;  and,  on  the 
other,  the  late  date  of  the  Bahir  is  taken  for  granted. 
Criticism  may  not  have  said  its  last  word  on  either 
subject,  but  Dr.  Karppe  ignores  the  criticism. 

The  limits  of  the  present  work  which,  as  regards 
the  original  intention,  have  been  already  exceeded, 
have  necessitated  the  omission  of  a  number  of 
subsidiary  yet  not  unimportant  matters.  I  will 
mention  two  only  :  certain  developments  of  pneuma- 
tology  and  eschatology  which  are  representative  of 
the  doctrinal  or  systematic  part  —  let  us  say,  the 
hells  of  Kabalism  :  certain  historical  consequences, 
such  as  the  mission  of  Sabbatai  Zevi,  the  Neo-Pietists 
and  the  Zoharists.  But  in  each  case  these  omissions 
are  without  real  consequence  for  the  occult  student. 


BOOK  I 

POST-CHRISTIAN    LITERATURE 
OF    THE    JEWS 

ARGUMENT 

The  literature  of  Kabalism  has  a  philosophical,  historical  and, 
within  certain  limits,  an  exegetical  interest  for  ordinary  students, 
but  it  has  a  living  interest  only  for  those  who  believe  ;  (a)  That 
a  secret  religious  tradition  has  been  perpetuated  from  the  early 
ages  of  history,  and  (b)  That  Kabalistic  literature  has  been  one 
of  its  vehicles.  Such  persons  are  here  termed  occult  students. 
The  purpose  of  the  present  book  is  to  show  that  whatever  be  the 
value  of  the  first  view  (a),  imperfect  investigation  has  placed  the 
second  (h)  in  a  false  position.  The  occult  estimate  of  the  Talmud 
is  cited  as  a  case  in  point,  and  the  divisions  of  the  Kabalah  are 
distinguished  to  make  clear  the  issues  and  to  correct  some  other 
misconceptions. 

I.     INTRODUCTORY 

Tin;  construction  of  the  exile  placed  by  the  "  princes 
of  the  exile  "  upon  the  sacred  oracles  of  ancient  Israel 
cannot  be  dismissed  as  unimportant.  From  the  period 
of  the  dispersal  of  the  Jews  after  the  destruction  of 
Jerusalem  by  Vespasian  down  even  to  our  own  times, 
Hebrew  literature  has  developed  in  many  of  the  chief 
centres  of  Europe,  but  outside  the  scattered  remnant 
of  the  children  of  the  covenant  it  has  remained  largely 
unknown.  Many  persons,  not  otherwise  ill-formed, 
would  be  astonished  to  discover  that  so  far  back  as  the 
B 


2       ^Ihe  Jtortrine  anb  |pteratxtre  of  the  Jiabalah 

end  of  the  seventeenth  century  there  were  nearly  four 
thousand  works*  written  in  the  Hebrew  tongue  which 
were  individually  known  and  quoted  by  one  authority 
on  rabbinical  bibliography,  namely,  Julius  Bartolocci, 
of  the  Reformed  Order  of  St.  Bernard,  t  Almost  every 
conceivable  department  of  human  learning  and  intel 
lectual  activity  is  represented  in  this  literature,!  which, 
in  things  secular  as  in  things  sacred,  has  the  seal  of  the 
sanctity  of  Israel  upon  all  its  leaves.  It  is  otherwise 
an  extremely  curious  and  in  some  respects  a  profound 
literature,  which  translation  has  done  little  to  make 
known,  which  is  represented  incompletely  enough 
even  in  the  great  and  authoritative  text-books  of 
Hebrew  history.  There  is  no  need  to  add  that  its 
extent  and  its  difficulties  make  it  a  formidable  subject 
of  approach.  It  is,  indeed,  an  undiscovered  country, 
still  awaiting  its  Columbus  ;  §  a  land  full  of  wealth  and 
mystery,  of  strange  shrines  and  sanctuaries  shining 
weirdly  far  away  through  the  darkness  of  our 
ignorance  with  a  light  which  might  well  be  a  reflection 
of  the  Shekinah,  .,56  foreign  does  it  seem  to  that  which 
enlightens  most  men  who  are  born  into  the  modern 
world. 


*  It  is  perhaps  unnecessary  to  say  that  they  were  for  the  most  part 
in  MS. 

+  Bibliotheca  Magna  Rabbinica.  De  scriptoribus  et  scriptis 
rabbinicis,  ordine  alphabetico  Hebraice  et  Latiue  digestis,  auctore 
D.  Julio  Bartoloccio  de  Cellerio,  4  vols.  Roma,  1678-1692.  The 
work  is  printed  from  right  to  left,  after  the  Hebrew  manner. 

J  For  one  of  the  accessible  collections  which  give  some  idea 
of  its  variety,  see  the  "  Catalogue  of  Hebraica  and  Judaica  in  the 
Library  of  the  Corporation  of  the  City  of  London."  With  a 
Subject-Index  by  the  Rev.  A.  Lowy.  London,  1891. 

§  The  work  of  Dr.  Moritz  Steinschneider,  the  German  biblio 
grapher  of  rabbinical  literature,  is  the  most  important  contribution  to 
our  knowledge  which  has  been  made  during  this  century. 


$oet-(£hti$tian  31'iterature  of  the  Jctoe  3 

Within  this  literature  there  is,  so  to  speak,  another 
and  stranger  literature  included,  the  report  of  which 
has  been  amongst  us  for  several  centuries,  and  in  a 
certain  way  and  measure  it  must  be  admitted  that  it 
is  known  to  some  of  us,  chiefly  because  it  has  been 
made  available  by  the  fathers  of  bibliographical 
erudition,  the  Latin-writing  scholars  of  the  past.  This 
storehouse  of  Hebrew  theosophy,  for  such  it  is,  has 
exercised  a  peculiar  fascination  on  many  great  minds 
of  Christendom,  and  its  Gentile  students,  even  at  the 
present  day,  may,  for  all  that  we  can  tell,  be  as 
numerous  as  its  Jewish  disciples.  It  is  called  the 
Kabalah,  of  which  term  there  is  more  than  one  expla 
nation  suggested  by  the  makers  of  romance  in 
etymology.  For  example,  the  word  has  been  derived 
from  the  name  of  the  Hindoo  teacher  Kapila,*  to 
whom  a  philosophy  of  numbers  is  ascribed,  seemingly 
on  the  slender  ground  that  one  branch  of  Kabalistic 
literature  also  deals  largely  with  this  subject.  Another 
equally  fanciful  suggestion  makes  the  term  an  analogue 
of  Cybele,t  the  mythological  Queen  of  Heaven,  who 
is  thus  connected  with  the  Jewish  personification  of 
Wisdom  under  a  female  aspect.  As  to  the  true 
derivation  there  is  no  room  for  uncertainty,  and  it 
possesses  that  simplicity  which  is  so  often  the  seal  of 
truth  in  things  of  language  as  it  has  been  said  to  be  in 

Mr.  C.  W.  Heckethorn  has  made  himself  responsible  recently 
for  this  view  in  the  new  and  enlarged  edition  of  his  very  unequal  work, 
"  Secret  Societies  of  all  Ages."  See  vol.  i.  p.  83. 

t  The  responsibility  in  this  case  rests  with  the  late  Edward  Vaughan 
Kenealy,  whose  anonymous  "  Book  of  God  "  and  its  sequels  are  quoted 
frequently  as  an  authority  by  occult  writers.  Its  philology  is  of  the 
period  of  (iodfn-y  Higgins,  of  the  author  of  "  Nimrod  "  and  of 
Bryant's  "Ancient  Mythology."  See  Kencnly's  "  Introduction  to  the 
Apocalypse  of  Adam-Oannes,"  p.  613. 


gtfdrine  anb  literature  ot  the  gabalah 

those  of  Nature  and  Art.  The  word  comes  from  a 
Hebrew  root  which  signifies  to  receive.  Kabalah 
equals  reception.*  The  knowledge  embodied  in  the 
literature  which  passes  under  this  title  purports  to 
have  been  transmitted  orally  from  generation  to 
generation.  The  literature  as  it  exists  is  the  tradition 
put  into  writing,  and  in  this  form  it  is  supposed  to  be 
veiled — that  is  to  say,  the  meaning  which  appears  on 
the  surface  is  not  the  true  sense.f 

The  Kabalah  then  claims  to  be  the  light  of  a 
secret  traditional  knowledge  J  preserved  among  the 
"  chosen  people," §  and  the  subjects  with  which  it  is 
concerned,  as  might  be  expected,  are  sacred  and 
divine  subjects ;  they  include,  indeed,  the  most  pro 
found  mysteries  of  God  and  the  emanations  of  the 
Deity ;  the  celestial  economy ;  the  process  of 
creation  ;  the  scheme  of  Providence  in  regard  to  man  ; 
the  communications  of  God  in  revelation  and  to  the 
just  in  his  church ;  the  offices  and  ministries  of  good 
and  evil  angels ;  the  nature  and  pre-existence  of  the 
soul,  its  union  with  matter  and  its  metempsychosis ; 
the  mystery  of  sin  and  its  penalties ;  the  Messiah,  his 

*  The  "Encyclopaedia  Perthensis"  observes  that  the  word  is 
written  also  as  Gabella,  which  is,  of  course,  a  nonsensical  corruption, 
and  would  not  be  worth  noting  if  it  were  not  true  in  fact  that  it  occurs 
in  this  form  among  a  few  old  writers  on  magic.  See  "tEncyc.  Perth." 
iv.  543,  544. 

t  We  shall  see  afterwards  that  this  view  must  be  received  with 
a  certain  amount  of  caution. 

£  One  of  the  titles  ascribed  to  it  was  ChKMH  NSThRH,  that  is, 
secret  wisdom  ;  the  initials  of  these  words  gave  another  title,  signifying 
Grace.  See  Kitto's  "  Cyclopedia  of  Biblical  Literature,"  s.v. 
Kabbalah.  (Third  edition,  London,  1864.) 

§  The  recipients  of  this  knowledge  were  termed  Mekkubalim,  a 
name  which  will  be  familiar  to  the  readers  of  the  Astrologer  Gaffarel. 
On  this  point  see  the  worthless  article,  s.v.  Kabbalah,  in  T.  H.  Blunt's 
"  Dictionary  of  Doctrinal  and  Historical  Theology."  London,  1872. 


§00t-(£hri0tiau  iL'iter.iturc  of  the  Jctus  5 

kingdom  and  his  glory  to  be  revealed ;  the  state  of 
the  soul  after  death  and  the  resurrection  of  the  dead. 
It  is  needless  to  say  that  by  a  literature  so  consider 
able  in  its  capacity  there  are  many  other  subjects 
embraced,  but  these  are  the  heads  of  the  instruction 
as  I  find  them  set  forth  in  an  excerpt  from  a  Latin 
epistle  in  the  collection  of  Baron  von  Rosenroth.* 
The  Kabalah,  in  a  word,  is  the  hidden  thought  of 
Israel  upon  the  doctrines  of  the  Jewish  religion,  which 
are  in  most  cases  Christian  doctrines,  and  upon  the 
proper  understanding  of  that  Written  Word  which  is 
referred  to  a  divine  origin  both  in  Christendom  and 
Jewry.  It  is  therefore  obvious  that  in  a  general  sense 
it  may  be  expected  to  cast  light  of  some  kind  upon 
the  problems  of  Christian  faith ;  but  its  Christian  ex 
pounders  have  held  that  it  does  this  also  in  a  more 
special  way,  that  the  New  Testament  and  the  writings 
of  the  early  fathers  of  the  church  did  not  only  derive 
from  the  inspired  memorials  of  the  first  covenant,  but 
from  the  construction  placed  on  those  memorials  by 
this  esoteric  tradition. f 

According  to  the  literature  which  embodies  it,  the 
tradition  in  question  originated  with  God  himself,  by 

*  Kabbala  Dtnudata,  sen  Doctrina  Hebmornm  Ttanscendtntalis 
ft  Metaphysica,  vol.  i.  Apparatus  in  Librum  Sa/iat;  pars  secunda, 
PP-  3-5- 

t  "It  is  apparent  from  the  many  similarities  in  this  < Cabbalistic 
philosophy  to  the  doctrines  in  the  New  Testament  and  early  Patristic 
literature  that  both  of  the  latter  most  probably  have  had  a  common 
germ  and  origin  in  the  esoteric  teachings  of  the  Isrru-lites,  as  well 
as  in  the  more  open  and  exoteric  teachings  of  the  Hebrew  Holy 
Writings."  Isaac  Mycr,  LL.B.,  "  The  Philosophical  Writings  of 
Solomon  Ben  Ychudah  Ibn  Gebirol,"  Philadelphia,  1888,  8vo.,  p.  7. 
The  letter  of  St.  Jerome  to  Paulinus,  which  dwells  consecutively 
upon  the  mysteries  contained  in  all  the  books  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments,  has  been  Mjineiime-.  regarded  as  a  case  in  point. 


Jtortrine  anb  JDittratxtre  ot  the  Jiabalah 

whom  it  was  communicated  to  chosen  ministers  in  the 
angelical  world ;  and  it  was  imparted  by  divine  revela 
tion  to  Adam  in  his  unfallen  state.  When  he  lapsed 
from  that  pure  condition  he  lost  this  precious  deposit, 
but  it  was  subsequently  restored  to  him  in  order  that 
he  might  return  towards  perfection.  It  was  handed 
down  through  Noah  to  Abraham  and  thence  derived 
to  Moses.  It  is  the  concealed  sense  of  the  Mosaic 
Pentateuch,  the  secret  of  which  was  entrusted  by  the 
law-giver  to  the  seventy  elders,  and  from  these  in  due 
course  it  passed  onward  to  David,  and  was  possessed 
in  an  especial  manner  by  Solomon.  It  was  not  com 
mitted  to  writing  until  after  the  destruction  of  the 
second  temple.*  A  genealogy  of  this  kind  will,  of 
course,  recall  the  fabulous  origins  ascribed  to  institu 
tions  like  Freemasonry,  the  appeal  made  by  the 
alchemists  to  the  sages  of  antiquity,  and  many  other 
fictions  which  deserve  to  be  classed  as  monstrous.  We 
should  beware,  however,  of  fixing  imposture  on  an 
esoteric  literature  because  its  attribution  is  mytho 
logical  ;  it  should  be  remembered  that  we  are  dealing, 

*  The  legend  has  many  variations  and  has  been  loosely  reproduced 
by  many  inexact  writers.  Naturally  enough,  it  takes  occasionally 
the  guise  of  a  book  delivered  to  Adam.  An  old  Jewish  tradition 
tells  us  that  this  volume  was  brought  by  the  Angel  Razael.  Mr.  John 
Yarker,  in  his  "  Notes  on  the  Scientific  and  Religious  Mysteries  of 
Antiquity"  (London,  1872,  p.  21),  connects  this  myth  with  the 
pre-Zoharic  "  Book  of  Razael,"  not  the  imposture  of  Ceremonial 
Magic  sometimes  referred  to  under  this  name,  but  presumably  the 
ancient  legendary  Midrash,  afterwards  developed  by  Eleazar  of  Worms 
and  reproduced  under  various  forms  by  debased  Kabalism.  Compare 
E.  V.  Kenealy's  mythical  notice  of  a  Book  of  the  Wisdom  of  Adam, 
received  in  an  ecstasy  and  "  full  of  mysteries  and  signs  expressive 
of  the  most  profound  knowledge."  See  "  Book  of  God,"  p.  243. 
See  also  ibid.,  p.  273  et  seq.,  for  a  rabbinical  account  of  a  staff 
given  to  Adam,  which  is  supposed  to  signify  the  support  of  a  secret 
knowledge. 


jtoet-Chrisliau  literature  of  the  Jetos  7 

by  the  hypothesis,  with  a  body  of  symbolism,  and  the 
genealogy  may  be  itself  an  evasion.  Moreover,  an 
oral  tradition  is  peculiarly  liable  to  the  exaggerau-n 
of  its  antiquity,  and  we  must  distinguish  therefore 
between  the  possible  fact  of  its  existence  at  a  remote 
period  and  the  growth  of  legend  about  it.  We  have 
the  testimony  of  Christ  Himself  as  to  the  existence 
of  a  tradition  in  Israel,  and  we  have  also  His  judg 
ment  upon  its  value.  It  is  in  one  sense  'he  purpose  of 
this  inquiry  to  determine  whether  the  later  literature 
of  the  reception  is  entitled  to  be  included  in  the 
condemnation  of  the  Divine  Rabbi. 


II.     THE    OCCULT    STANDPOINT 

As  the  Kabalah  claims  to  be  a  tradition  long 
received  in  secret  by  one  generation  from  another  and 
reduced  at  length  into  writing,  so  one  of  its  classics 
informs  us,*  because  of  the  bad  state  of  the  affairs  of 
Israel,  but  yet  written  after  a  concealed  manner,!  it 
is  to  be  expected  that  its  literary  methods  will  offer 
difficulties  to  the  ordinary  student.  It  has,  indeed, 
proved  so  unintelligible  upon  its  surface  that,  on  the 
one  hand,  it  has  been  considered  merely  meaningless 
jargon,  while  a  few  who  pretend  to  have  penetrated 
to  its  real  sense  have,  on  the  other,  found  pleasure  in 
believing  that  it  is  sealed  to  uninitiated  persons,  for 
whom  it  must  ever  remain  a  matter  of  curious  and 
unrewarded  research,  though  not  perhaps  wanting 

*  The  Sepher  Yet.irak  or  "  Hook  of  Formation,"  but  the  state 
ment  is  probably  the  explanation  of  a  commentator. 

t  Obscurities,  complexities  and  confusions  do  not  necessarily 
point  to  the  existence  «f  a  double  sense. 


nt  anb  ^itwatww  of  the  giabalah 

some  gleams  of  unexpected  suggestion.  The  first 
view  suggests  that  more  patience  and  greater  pains 
were  needed ;  the  second,  that  the  faculty  for  pains 
taking  is  a  kind  of  peculiar  election  which  is  possible 
only  to  the  few,  and  this  appears  unwarranted 

Specialists  in  cryptography  assure  us,  and  we 
have  even  higher  warrant  in  the  testimony  of  reason 
itself,  that  no  cipher  writing  devised  by  human  in 
genuity  is  incapable  of  solution  also  by  human 
ingenuity,  but  the  assumption,  of  course,  supposes 
good  faith  in  the  cipher ;  it  must  follow  a  certain 
method  and  conceal  a  definite  sense.  There  is  also 
no  system  of  symbolism  and  no  form  of  philosophical 
speculation,  however  complex,  which  will  not  sur 
render  its  secrets  to  the  searchlight  of  analysis,  pro 
vided  always  that  the  symbolism  is  systematic  and  that 
the  speculation  is  methodised,  however  curious  in  its 
involutions.  There  are  cryptic  philosophies  and  con 
cealed  metaphysics,  even  as  there  is  cryptic  writing; 
but  if  they  possess  a  meaning,  it  cannot  escape  ulti 
mately  the  penetration  of  the  patient  and  skilled  critic, 
subject,  however,  to  the  distinction  which  must  subsist 
of  necessity  between  the  sense  of  a  cipher — which  is 
unmistakable  from  the  moment  that  it  is  disengaged 
— and  the  construction  of  a  speculative  hypothesis 
which  in  its  minor  issues  may  always  be  open  to 
debate.*  In  regard  to  occult  philosophies  it  is  usual 

*  The  best  example  of  a  really  cryptic  literature  is  that  concerned 
with  Alchemy,  and  yet  it  is  not  cryptic  in  the  sense  of  cipher-writing. 
It  has  a  perfectly  simple  surface  meaning  ;  the  concealment  is  the 
significance  of  certain  conventional  words  and  recipes.  This  also  is  its 
great  difficulty  ;  while  cryptography  must  disclose  its  secret  to  skill  and 
patience,  it  is  nearly  impossible  to  say  what  the  word  Vitriol,  for 
example,  may  represent  to  any  writer,  if  it  be  not  the  ordinary  substance 
passing  under  that  name. 


$oet-Chnetiitn  giterature  of  the  Jctus  9 

to  say  that  they  are  unintelligible  till  the  key  is  sup 
plied,  which  in  its  legitimate  meaning  is  true  ;  but  just 
as  cipher  writing  will  surrender  its  secret  to  analysis, 
which  is  the  master-key  to  all  cryptography,  so  will 
occult  philosophy  also  disclose  its  mystery,*  without 
conventional  initiation,  though  supposing  the  exist 
ence  of  a  royal  road  of  this  kind,  it  might  be  regarded 
as  a  labour-saving  apparatus  which,  if  accessible,  it 
would  not  be  prudent  to  set  aside. 

There  are,  however,  two  considerations  on  the 
surface  of  a  question  like  the  present  which  will  at 
once  arrest  attention.  The  first  is  whether  the  occult 
philosophies  are  not  inherently  unmeaning,  and  unable 
therefore  to  disclose  what,  in  fact,  they  do  not  possess. 
Or  alternately,  in  the  case  that  they  are  methodised, 
whether  the  mystery  which  they  cover  is  not  out  of 
all  proportion  to  the  enormous  intellectual  cost  of  un 
ravelling  it.f  Of  these  two  points  one  at  least  must 
be  determined  according  to  individual  predilection. 
For  my  own  part,  after  spending  some  years  among 
strange  pathways  of  human  ingenuity,  I  know  cer 
tainly  that  the  occult  sciences  do  constitute  a 
methodised  system  which  is  singularly  inwrought,  * 
and  since  la  science  est  nne  noblesse  qui  oblige,  I  must 
bear  testimony  to  this  fact,  even  though  an  imagi 
native  reader  may  transfigure  the  statement  and  inter 
pret  too  liberally  the  narrow  concession  which  I  have 
here  made  to  sincerity.  About  the  second  point  it  is 


*  In  most  cases  this  mystery  is  merely  the  difficulty  of  the  single 
MUM. 

t  I  refer  here  to  the  unravelling  of  the  fust  sense  ;  the  existence  of 
any  other  is  a  matter  of  conjecture. 

%  In  the  sense  that,  for  example,  numerical  mysticism  runs  through 
all  departments  of  occultism. 


io     ^lu  Jbftrine  anb  fjDiterature  .of  the  Siabalah 

extremely  difficult  to  indicate  even  a  personal  opinion. 
So  far  as  knowledge  is  its  own  reward,  I  suppose  that 
it  .nay  be  worth  its  cost;  but  if  any  department  of 
research  should  be  ruled  out  of  the  sphere  of  operation 
possessed  by  this  truism,  it  is  occult  science  and  philo 
sophy,  so  far,  at  least,  as  the  majority  are  concerned. 
The  labour  involved  by  their  exhaustive  study  repays 
those  who  undertake  it  only  in  a  few  cases.  In  the 
pursuit  of  occult  knowledge  Campaspe  is  never 
finished.  But  it  is  precisely  for  this  reason  that  an 
inquiry  like  the  present  may  be  held  to  deserve  a 
welcome,  because  it  offers  to  all  those  who  may  be 
disposed  to  concern  themselves  with  one  important 
department  of  occult  philosophy  an  intelligible  state 
ment  of  the  issues  which  will  save  most  of  them  the 
need  of  personal  research. 

The  importance  of  the  written  tradition  of 
Kabalism  can  be  regarded  only  from  two  standpoints. 
There  is  that  which  it  may  possess  for  the  sacred 
scriptures  of  the  Jewish  and  Christian  religions  and 
for  the  exoteric  doctrines  which  more  or  less  derive 
from  these.*  Under  this  first  head  may  be  also  in 
cluded  its  significance,  if  any,  for  the  science  of  com 
parative  theology  and  for  the  history  of  human 
thought.  Besides  such  obvious  and  unquestioned 
grounds  upon  which  it  is  entitled  to  consideration, 


*  From  the  occult  standpoint  this  is  of  more  consequence  than 
from  that  of  ordinary  exegesis.  Adolphe  Bertet,  in  his  Apocalypse  du 
bienheureux  Jean  .  .  .  devoilte  (Paris,  1861,  p.  51),  gives  the  position 
very  clearly.  "  We  find  on  every  page  of  the  five  books  of  Moses 
Kabalistic  expressions  which  proclaim  that  everything  must  be  taken  in 
a  figurative  sense,  yet  in  none  of  these  books  do  we  possess  a  complete 
treatise  of  initiation,  whence  it  follows  that  prior  to  Moses  oral  tradition 
was  alone  charged  with  transmitting  the  secret  of  initiation."  Bertet 
owed  his  inspiration  and  frequently  his  language  to  Eliphas  Levi. 


float-Christian  literature  of  the  Jetoe  1 1 

there  is  another  warrant  in  the  interest  which  it 
possesses  for  the  seeker  after  occult  knowledge.  And 
here  it  is  necessary  to  determine  what  is  meant  and 
involved  by  occultism.  The  study  of  the  large  litera 
ture  of  the  secret  sciences  is  pursued  by  many  persons 
from  many  motives,  but  few  of  these  can,  in  the  proper 
sense  of  the  term,  be  regarded  as  occult  students. 
Nor,  indeed,  does  the  attempted  practice  of  any  of  the 
secret  sciences  in  itself  constitute  a  claim  to  that  title. 
In  a  very  large  number  of  cases  such  practices  suggest 
titular  distinctions  which  are  not  of  a  flattering  kind. 
As  I  understand  him,  the  true  student  of  occultism 
believes  in  the  existence  of  a  knowledge — which  in 
effect  is  occult  science — handed  down  from  remote 
ages,*  and  that  it  concerns,  broadly  speaking,  the  way 
of  union  between  man  and  God.  It  has,  according  to 
its  legend,  assumed,  for  various  reasons,  the  disguise 
of  many  veils  ;  it  is  not  confined  to  one  country  or 
people,  nor  is  it  the  interior  sense  of  any  single 
religion  or  of  any  single  cycle  in  literature  to  the 


*  The  best  aspects  of  this  belief  are,  as  might  be  expected,  quite 
modern  ;  it  can  scarcely  be  said  to  have  existed  prior  to  the  end  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  but  even  then  it  had  taken  no  definite  shape.  One 
of  its  aspects  was  developed  in  a  remarkable  manner  by  M.  de  Briere, 
who  in  his  Essai  sur  le  symbolisme  antique  de  /'  Orient,  prindpalemctit 
sur  le  symbolisme  Egyptian  (Paris,  1847),  maintained:  (a)  A  common 
origin  for  all  religions  ;  (b)  The  existence  of  sacerdotal  sciences  as  the 
exclusive  patrimony  of  the  priesthood  ;  (c)  The  existence  among  all 
eastern  priests  of  a  common  idiom  of  high  antiquity,  which  passed  as  a 
theurgic,  magical  and  efficacious  language;  (tl)  The  reproduction  of 
this  language  by  hieroglyphics  which  were  also  theurgic  and  magical  ; 
(e)  A  dual  sacerdotal  method  of  expressing  the  principles  of  priestly 
sciences,  and  chiefly  of  theology  :  (i)  Imitation  of  words  =  hieroglyphs 
of  the  texts;  (2)  Imitation  of  thoughts  =  images,  idols,  emblematic 
figures  of  gods  ;  (/)  The  existence  of  the  sacred  language  and  hiero 
glyphic  writing  among  all  peoples  possessing  sacerdotal  sciences,  the 
Phoenicians  and  Chaldeans  for  example. 


12     ^he  |30ctrine  anb  ^itttninu  of  the 

exclusion  of  all  others;  there  are  traces  of  its 
existence  in  all  times,  among  all  nations,  through  all 
religions ;  *  it  is  behind  the  conventional  occultism  of 
Magic  and  the  transcendental  physics  of  Alchemy; 
among  occult  philosophies,  Kabalistic  literature  is  one 
of  its  most  important  vehicles. 

From  this  standpoint  the  true  message  of  the 
Kabalah  is  not  exegetical  or  historical ;  it  is  not  of 
systems,  schools,  or  interpretations ;  it  is  of  a  living 
and  spiritual  kind.  This  is,  indeed,  the  only  vital 
point  of  view  from  which  the  subject  can  be  regarded, 
and  it  redeems  the  whole  circle  of  occult  science  from 
the  charge  of  vanity. 

Given  this  standpoint,  Kabalistic  literature  is  in 
describably  momentous,  and  yet  to  concede  the  posi 
tion  is  impossible  for  ordinary  criticism,  and  should 
not,  indeed,  be  expected  by  those  who  hold  it  intelli 
gently.  It  is,  in  truth,  very  difficult  to  defend,  because 
heretofore  it  has  been  occupied  either  on  the  warrant 
of  a  knowledge  which  cannot  be  made  public,  and  is 
therefore  idle  to  proclaim,  or  on  that  of  evidence 
which  is  without  much  title  to  serious  consideration. 
If  we  take,  for  example,  the  expository  literature  of 
Kabalism  which  has  been  written  from  the  occult 
standpoint  in  any  modern  language,  there  is  not  a 
single  work  which  does  not  break  down  at  once  in 
the  hands  of  the  most  temperate  criticism.  Mr. 
Mathers,  in  England,  has  translated  a  small  portion 
of  the  Zohar,  and  has  prefixed  an  introduction  which 

*  As  regards  the  Christian  religion,  see  Eckartshausen  concerning 
"a  more  advanced  school,"  or  "  invisible  celestial  Church,"  to  which 
the  "deposition  of  all  science  has  been  confided."  The  C/ond  upon 
the  Sanctuary,  Letter  I.  Translated  by  Isabel  de  Steiger,  London, 
1896. 


}J09t-(Ehnstian  giterature  of  the  3feto0          13 

takes  the  whole  claim  for  granted,  while  he  leaves  on 
the  mind  of  his  readers  an  indistinct  impression  that 
Dr.  Ginsburg,  who  errs  on  the  side  of  hostility,  is  not 
only  one  of  its  supporters,  but  gives  credit  to  the  most 
fabulous  side  of  Kabalistic  legend.  In  America,  Isaac 
Myer,  whose  erudition  entitles  him  to  our  respect,  is 
forced  on  crucial  points  to  assume  many  things  that 
are  required  for  his  hypothesis.*  In  France  the  real 
questions  at  issue  are  scarcely  skirted  in  the  otherwise 
careful  tabulation  attempted  by  Papus.t  In  Germany, 
which  exhausts  everything,  I  do  not  know  that  in  any 
true  sense  of  the  term  the  position  has  a  single 
defender.  It  is  not  my  purpose  either  to  question  01 
maintain  the  general  fact  alleged,  namely,  that  a  secret 
doctrine  has  been  transmitted  from  antiquity ;  it 
would  be  scandalous  as  a  reasonable  person  to  chal 
lenge  the  possibility.  I  propose  only  to  determine 
whether  there  is  ground  for  believing  that  the 
Kabalah  has  been  a  channel  of  such  tradition,  and  if 
this  view  must  be  abandoned,  to  place  those  who  are 
willing  to  follow  me  in  possession  of  a  method  of 
regarding  it  which  will  make  its  existence  at  least 
intelligible  without  taking  anything  for  granted  and 
without  appealing  to  any  source  of  knowledge  which 
is  not  fully  in  evidence. 


*  He  assumes  in  fact  the  existence,  antiquity  and  general  hut  -con 
cealed  diffusion  of  a  Wisdom   Religion,  a  term  borrowed   from  modern 
theosophy,  and  one  which,   in   the  last  analysis,  is  not   entirely 
factory  to  the  my^tir. 

t  La     Kabbale.       Tradition     Secrete     de     f  Occident.       Re's  nine" 
<1f{thodiqitc.     Paris,  1892,  8vo. 


14     ^ke  Jlortrine  ani  literature  of  the  Jiabaiah 


III.  THE  KABALAH  AND  THE  TALMUD 

The  post-Christian  literature  which  is  of  authority 
in  Israel  must,  of  course,  be  distinguished  from  the 
multifarious  productions  of  its  scholars  and  literati 
which  it  was  the  object  of  rabbinical  bibliographies, 
like  those  of  Bartolocci  and  Wolf,*  to  resume  in  brief. 
In  order  to  understand  the  place  occupied  by  the 
Kabalah  it  is  necessary  to  say  something  of  that  great 
and  authoritative  collection  which  is"  known  to  every 
one  as  the  Talmud.  The  latter  is  a  larger  as  it  is  also 
an  older  growth.  Its  starting-point  has  been  placed 
by  a  moderate  criticism  shortly  before  the  birth  of 
Christ,  f  and,  to  use  a  somewhat  conventional  phrase, 
its  two  canons  were  fixed  in  the  fourth  and  sixth 
centuries,  A.D.,  at  which  periods,  although  there  are 
evidences  in  abundance  of  a  more  esoteric  doctrine, 
it  cannot  be  shown  conclusively  that  Kabalistic  litera 
ture,  according  to  the  restricted  sense  in  which  the 
term  is  here  applied,  had  as  yet  co'me  into  existence. 
Put  shortly,  the  sources  of  the  Talmud  are  said  to  be 
"  the  customs  and  regulations  practised  by  the  authori- 


*  Bibliotheca  Hebraa,  sire  notitia  tum  auctorum  Hebraicorum 
cujuscumque  (ftatis,  turn  scriptortim,  qua  vel  Hebraice  primum  exarata, 
vel  ab  aliis  conversa  sunt,  ad  nostram  catatem  deducta.  4  vols., 
Leipsic  and  Hamburg,  1715,  4to. 

t  There  are  critics  outside  occult  circles  who  ascribe  a  similar 
antiquity  to  the  Kabalah,  as,  for  example,  the  author  of  the  article  s.v. 
Cabak  in  the  Grand  Dictionnaire  Universel  du  XIXe  Siecle  (Pierre 
Larousse),  t.  iii.  Paris,  1867.  "  In  reality  the  Kabalah  originated 
among  the  Jews  five  centuries  before  our  era.  Formed  of  the  mixture 
of  oriental  ideas  and  Mosaism  at  the  epoch  of  the  captivity,  it  was 
elaborated  silently,  and  in  the  main  among  the  sect  of  the  Karaites,  but 
did  not  attain  its  definite  development  till  the  period  of  Philo  and  the 
schools  of  Alexandria."  The  inspiration  here  is  Franck. 


go0t-(£hri0tian  gitcrature  of  the  Jetos  15 

ties  in  their  administration  of  religious  and  civil 
affairs."*  It  is  claimed  that  this  source  goes  back  to 
the  period  of  Esdras,  and  there  can,  at  least,  be  no 
doubt  that  the  materials  embodied  in  the  literature 
are  far  older  than  their  earliest  collected  forms. 
These  materials  were  certain  Mishn-.iyoth,  a  term 
signifying  repetitions — namely,  notes  of  academical 
teachings,  which  received  subsequently  many  addi- 
tions.f  About  the  year  220,  A.D.,  a  considerable  pro 
portion  of  these  was  engarnered  by  Rabbi  Judah  the 
Prince,  \  by  whom  they  were  methodised  carefully, 
short  comments  of  his  own  being  also  occasionally 
added.§  In  this  way  the  collection  received  the 
impression  of  his  peculiar  views,  from  which  other 
authorities  differed.  He  endeavoured  to  destroy  all 
rival  Mishuayoth,  but  some  of  them  were  preserved  in 
secret  and  came  to  light  after  his  death.  In  this  way 
we  have — 

(a)  The  Mishna,  or  repetition,  being  the  metho 
dised  selection  of  Rabbi  Judah. 

(b]  The     Tosephtoth,    or    additions,    also    called 
Baraitkoth,\\    outsiders,    or    secondary    matter,    terms 


*  "The  Babylonian  Talmud."  KnglMi  Translation.  By  Michael 
L.  Rodkinson.  Vol.  i.  New  York,  1896,  8vo.,  pp.  xv.,  xvi. 

t  In  the  Halichol  Ohim   it  is   said   that  Jewish  teacher-  had  little 
schedules  or  scrolls  of  parchment,  in  which  they  set  down  all  the  tradi 
tions,   sentences,   statutes,    decision,   and    BO   forth   which   they   learned 
from  their  masters  and   that    these   scrolls  were  called   the   v<>lui: 
'•crcl. 

£  He  was  the  third  patriarch  of  the  Western  Jews,  and  a  legend 
says  that,  having  converted  the  Kmperor  Marcus  Aurclius,  he  compiled 
the  Mishna  at  the  command  of  that  Trince.  See  1.  II.  ]' .  Imer  : 
'•  IIi>!'.iy  of  the  Jcwi-h  Xution,"  London,  1883,  pp.  204,  205. 

§  For  an  old  account  of  thi.-.  lali-.ur,  see  David  (ian/.  :  Go-men 
Davidis,  sire  Chronologia  Sacra  ft  Pi  of  liana.  Leyden,  1644. 

II  And  extravagances,  in  the  sense  of  thing-,  extraneous. 


1 6     "oTItr  Jpactrinc  <mt)  |£tt*rature  of  the 

applied  by  the  followers  of  Rabbi  Judah  to  the  rival 
Mishnayoth,  by  which  the  original  collection  is  said  in 
the  course  of  time  to  have  been  almost  extinguished. 
Their  rival  claims  were  ultimately  harmonised  by  later 
rabbis,  and  thus  arose 

(c]  The  Gemara — i.e.,  conclusions  or  completion.* 
The  union  of  the  Gemara  and  the  MisJina  forms 
the  Talmud,f  or  instruction,  from  a  word  signifying 
"  to  teach,"  of  which  there  are  two  versions,  the 
Mishna  being  the  same  in  each.  The  Gemara  collected 
by  Jerusalem  rabbis,  representing  the  school  of 
Tiberias  and  R.  Johanon  Ben  Eliezer,  with  the  Mishna, 
forms  the  Jerusalem  Talmud,  and  belongs  to  the  end 
of  the  fourth  century.  The  Gemara  collected  by 
Babylonian  rabbis,  and  especially  by  Rabhina,  R. 
Ashi  and  R.  Jose,  with  the  Mishna,  forms  the  Talmud 
of  Babylon,  four  times  larger  than  that  of  Jerusalem.  J 
It  was  begun  in  the  fifth  and  completed  in  the  sixth 
century,  but  even  subsequently  to  this  period  much 
additional  material  was  gathered  into  it. 

It  is  exceedingly  important  that  we  should  under 
stand  the  position  which  is  occupied  by  the  great 
collections  of  the  Talmud  in  respect  of  the  literature 
which  is  termed  technically  the  Kabalah.  In  the  first 
place,  this  name,  technical  or  conventional,  as  I  have 
said,  has  suggested  many  errors  of  comparison.  By 

*  Simeon  ben  Jochai  is  represented  as  asserting  that  the  study 
of  the  Gemara  was  more  meritorious  than  that  of  the  Mishna  or 
the  sacred  Scriptures.  But  here  a  later  predilection  has  perhaps 
sheltered  itself  under  an  earlier  name. 

t  Strictly  speaking,  the  term  Talmud  applies  only  to  the  Gemara, 
but  it  has  obtained  the  wider  application  because  the  Gemara  always 
accompanies  the  Mishna,  the  text  being  essential  to  the  note. 

£  The  proportion  of  the  Babylonian  Gemara  to  the  original  Mishna 
is  about  eleven  to  one. 


float-fchrietian  ^literature  of  the  Jctoe          17 

the  hypothesis  of  both  literatures  the  Talmud  is 
Kabalah  even  as  the  Zohar  is  Kabalah,  because  both 
are  a  reception  by  tradition.*  But  to  say  that  the 
Talmud  is  Kabalistic  in  the  sense  of  the  Zohar  is 
extremely  misleading.  The  cycles  are  distinct  and 
almost  divergent.  There  is  no  question  as  to  the  age 
and  the  great  authority  of  the  one,t  while  some  cen 
turies  of  inquiry  have  not  as  yet  determined  the  claims 
of  the  other.  Moreover,  if  we  assume  the  equal 
antiquity  of  both,  the  nature  of  the  tradition  is  still 
generically  different.  The  Talmud  is  not,  at  least, 
primarily  a  philosophical  system;  |  it  is  h»v  and  com 
mentary;  it  is  the  construction  placed  by  authority 
on  the  jurisprudence,  ecclesiastical  and  political,  cf  old 
Israel.§  It  is  sociology,  not  metaphysics,  even  though 
it  has  admitted  metaphysics  and  has  accretions  which 
can  be  termed  mystical.  To  place  it  by  the  arbitrary 

"  In  older  Jewish  literature,  the  name  (Kabalah)  is  applied  to 
the  whole  body  of  received  religious  doctrine  with  the  exception  of 
the  Pentateuch,  thus  including  the  prophets  and  Hagiographa,  as 
well  as  the  oral  traditions  ultimately  embodied  in  the  Mishna." 
— American  Encyclopedia,  iii.,  pp.  521,  522. 

t  I  do  not  mean  that  there  has  never  been  a  question,  for  the 
French  ecclesiastic  Morin,  proceeding  on  the  principle  that  the  Jews 
cannot  be  believed  in  anything  relating  to  the  age  of  their  literature, 
endeavoured  to  refer  the  Mishna  to  the  beginning  of  the  sixth  century 
and  the  Gemaras  to  some  two  hundred  years  foter.—Exercitntionfs 
Hil'lidf,  Paris,  1660. 

+  Hence  all  the  conspicuous  philosophical  doctrines  of  the  Kabalah 
have  no  place  therein.  For  example,  the  Sephirotic  system,  with 
which  we  >hall  be  concerned  later  on,  and  the  theory  of  emanation 
which  it  involves,  cannot  be  traced  in  the  Talmud.  Consult 

beta  :   M  History  of  the  Jewish  Nation,"  third  edition,  p.  406. 

§  It  has  been  described  as  "  a  corpus  juris  in  which  the  law 
has  not  yet  been  differentiated  from  morality  and  religion."  See 
Farrar's  "Life  of  Christ,"  illustrated  edition,  «.,/.,  p.  758. 

It  is  possible  to  institute  a  compari.son  between  the  Talmud  and 
the  Kabalah  as  between  Freemasonry  and  late  Western  Occultism. 
The  Talmud  is  not  mysticism,  but  it  became  the  asylum  of  some 

C 


1 8     ^he  Jtodrine  attb  $tteratttre  of  tltc  Jiabalah 

use  of  a  conventional  term  in  the  same  category  as 
the  literature  which  discusses  the  mysteries  of  the 
"  Supreme  Crown,"  the  evolution  of  "  negative  divine 
subsistence,"  so-called,  into  positive  being,  the  emana 
tion  of  the  Sephiroth  and  the  origin,  metempsychosis 
and  destiny  of  souls,  is  to  make  a  foolish  and  de 
ceiving  classification.  M.  Isidore  Loe'b*  offers  us 
the  equivalent  of  an  admirable  distinction  between  the 
two  literatures  in  his  observations  upon  the  compara 
tive  position  of  the  French  and  Spanish  Jews  at  the 
period  of  the  promulgation  of  the  Zohar.  Talmudic 
Israel  was,  he  tells  us,  circumscribed  by  the  circle  of 
the  Law ;  it  had  no  horizon  and  no  future ;  it  had  no 
place  in  the  life  of  philosophy,  f  The  Zohar  gave  to 
Israel  the  splendid  impulsion  of  the  ideal ;  it  gave 
philosophy ;  it  created  a  wide  horizon ;  it  brought  the 

mystic  traditions.  Freemasonry  is  not  Occult  Science,  but  under 
ihe  standard  of  the  Craft  all  occult  science  of  the  eighteenth  century 
found  not  only  a  refuge,  but  a  field  of  work  and  of  development. 
The  way  of  entrance  in  the  one  case  was  the  Haggadic  morality, 
in  the  other  it  was  the  high  grades. 

*  La  Grande  Encyclopedic  >  Paris,  4to,  s.v.   Cabbale,  vol.  viii. 

t  "  In  the  immense  collections  which  have  come  down  to  us  from 
the  fifth  or  sixth  centuries  of  the  Christian  era,  in  the  Talmud  as  in 
the  allegorical  interpretations  of  the  Bible,  there  is  no  trace  of 
philosophical  speculations.  If  we  find  reminiscences  of  the  Kabalah, 
they  concern,  so  to  speak,  the  exoteric  portion,  or  angelology  ;  the 
existence  of  the  speculative  part  is  shown  in  these  books  solely  by  the 
reference  to  the  mysteries  contained  in  Bercshith,  or  the  first  chapter 
of  Genesis,  and  in  the  Mcrcavah,  or  Vision  of  Ezekiel." — S.  Munk  : 
La  Philosophic  chcz  lesjuifs,  Paris,  1848,  p.  8.  The  author  was  an 
informed  and  accomplished  defender  of  the  existence  of  Kabalistic 
tradition  in  Talmudic  times.  It  should  be  added  that  the  Talmudic 
references  to  the  Work  of  the  Creation  and  the  Work  of  the  Chariot 
would,  if  collated,  go  far  to  verify  the  opinion  that  such  a  tradition 
was  known  as  regards  the  fact  of  its  existence,  but  it  was  referred  to 
only  enigmatically,  and  its  nature  does  not  really  transpire.  While  the 
Talmud  records  occasionally  that  there  were  conversations  betwen  the 
doctors  of  Israel  thereon,  it  does  not  report  the  utterances. 


Soet-CChristian  literature  of  the  Jetuo          19 

exiled  Jew  into  correspondence  with  the  thought  of 
the  world  ;  it  communicated  the  Eternal. 

The  first  result  of  the  confusion  in  question  is  to 
place  a  wrong  construction  upon  Talmudic  literature, 
to  affirm  that,  as  believed  of  the  Kabalah  proper,  it 
possesses  a  double  meaning,  and  that  we  are  to  look 
below  its  literal  sense.*  It  has  been  well  pointed  out 
that  it  would  be  as  reasonable  to  admit  a  metaphysical 
construction  in  the  Common  Law  of  England,  the 
deliberations  of  a  Holy  Synod  in  the  collections  of 
State  Trials,  and  a  theory  of  transmutation  in  Con 
veyancing.  Yet  this  is  what  has  been  done  actually 
in  the  case  of  the  Talmud  by  the  one  Kabalistic  ex 
positor  whose  influence  with  occult  students  in  France 
and  England  is  so  paramount  as  to  have  been  con 
sidered  almost  beyond  appeal.  To  Eliphas  Levi, 
who,  as  a  fact,  misstated  so  much,  we  owe  a  grandiose 
presentation  of  the  Talmudic  system  which  does  grave 
outrage  to  good  sense. f  He  lays  down  that  the  first 
Talmud,  the  only  truly  Kabalistic  one,  was  collected 
during  the  second  century  of  the  Christian  era  by 
"  Rabbi  Jehudah  Hakadosh  Hanassi — that  is,  Judah 

Edersheim  divides  Talmudic  traditionalism  into  two  portions  : 
Ilalakha  =  the  legislative  enactments  of  the  Fathers;  and  Haggada 
=  free  interpretation.— "  History  of  the  Jewish  Nation,  p.  136.  Some 
of  the  Haggadic  legends  may  possess  an  inner  meaning,  that  is,  they 
are  allegorical  stories;  the  history  of  the  salting  of  Leviathan  is  so 
absurd  in  it.,  literal  sense  that  one  is  driven  out  of  mere  generosity  to 
suppose  that  it  meant  something  which  does  not  appear  on  its  surface. 
Compare  "  Israel  among  the  Nations,"  by  Anatole  Leruy-Beaulieu, 
p.  24.  As  Ilalakha  is  rule,  norma,  so  Haggada  is  legend, 
"a  collection  of  miscellaneous  utterances  touching  on  every  possible 
subject."  The  Ilalakha  alone  is  law. 

t  La  Clef  des  Grands  Mysteres.  Paris,  1861,  8vo,  p.  351,  et  seq. 
See  also  Waite  :  "Mysteries  of  Magic."  Second  edition,  London, 
1897,  8vo,  pp.  1 12- 120. 


20     ^he  Jtoctrine  anb  |Citerature  oi  the 

the  most  holy  and  the  prince  " — who  "  composed  his 
book  according  to  all  the  rules  of  supreme  initiation." 
He  "  wrote  it  within  and  without,  as  Ezekiel  and  St. 
John  have  it,  and  he  indicated  its  transcendental  sense 
by  the  sacred  letters  and  numbers  corresponding  to 
the  Bereshith  of  the  first  six  Sephiroth?*  This 
asserted  Sephirotic  correspondence  has  no  place  in 
fact.  The  Mishna  comprises  six  sections,  of  which  the 
first  concerns  tithes,  the  beasts  which  it  is  unlawful  to 
pair,  the  seeds  which  must  not  be  sown  together  in  the 
earth,  the  threads  which  must  not  be  interwoven,  the 
fruits  which  must  not  be  gathered  till  the  trees  have 
passed  their  third  year,  and  so  forth.  It  is  by  no 
means  chiefly,  much  less  exclusively,  agricultural,  as 
Levi,  who  had  obviously  not  read  it,  represents.  Nor 
has  it  any  special  correspondence  with  Kether,  except 
on  the  thin  ground  that  "  in  the  notion  of  the  Supreme 
Crown  is  contained  that  of  the  fructifying  principle 
and  of  universal  production."  Any  attribution  could 
be  accredited  after  this  fashion. 

The  second  book  concerns  the  festivals  of  Israel, 
the  meats  which  are  prohibited  on  these,  the  days  of 
fasting  and  so  forth.  There  is  no  attempt  to  justify 
the  attribution  which  connects  it  with  Chokmah.  The 
third  book  concerns  marriage  and  divorce,  or,  in  the 

*  I  should  note  that,  long  prior  to  Eliphas  Levi,  Adrianus  Relandus 
(Analecta  Rabbinica,  1702)  and  Galatinus  (De  Arcanis  Catholics 
Veritatis,  1656)  supposed  a  second  sense  in  the  Talmud.  It  was  not, 
however,  metaphysical  or  mystical,  but  was  a  concealment  prompted 
by  the  necessities  of  a  persecuting  time.  This  supposition  is  not  less 
idle  than  the  other,  for  the  first  thing  which  prudence  would  have 
suggested  would  be  to  hide  the  real  feelings  of  Talmudic  Jews  towards 
Christians,  and  these  are  not  dissembled  in  the  Talmud.  There 
are,  of  course,  many  histories  in  the  Talmud  which  must  not  be 
construed  literally,  but,  as  in  the  case  previously  cited,  they  belong 
merely  to  the  domain  of  allegory. 


Jost-Chrietian  gitcrature  of  the  jfetos         21 

words  of  Levi,  "  it  is  more  particularly  consecrated  to 
women  and  the  fundamental  basis  of  the  family." 
The  fourth  book  deals  with  civil  contracts,  general 
jurisdiction,  civil  and  criminal  actions,  penalties,  &c. 
Eliphas  LeVi  says  that  it  is  superior  to  any  code  of 
the  Middle  Ages  and  accounts  for  the  preservation 
of  Israel  through  all  its  persecutions.  According  to 
the  natural  order  of  the  Sephiroth,  it  corresponds  with 
Chesed  or  Mercy,  but  as  it  looks  better  under  the 
attribution  of  Justice,  the  Sephirotic  system  is  re 
versed  accordingly.  The  fifth  book,  which  is  allotted 
to  Mercy  by  this  transposition,  treats,  according  to 
the  French  transcendentalist,  of  consoling  beliefs  and 
things  holy,  which  creates  a  completely  false  im 
pression  concerning  it.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  is 
dedicated  to  votive  offerings.  The  sixth  book  treats 
of  purifications,  which  Levi  terms  "the  most  hidden 
secrets  of  life  and  the  morality  which  directs  it."  * 

It  is  procedures  of  this  kind  which  have  made 
occult  criticism  deservedly  a  byword  among  scholars.! 

*  The  exegesis  thus  inaugurated  loses  nothing  in  the  hands  of  later 
occult  writers.  For  example,  an  occult  opuscuhtm  observes  that  the  key 
which  will  alone  open  the  revelations  of  the  Christian  Scriptures  and 
manifest  their  interior  sense,  "exists  in  a  book  proscribed  by  the 
Christian  Church— the  Jewish  Talmud."  See  "  The  Astral  Light,"  by 
Nizida.  Second  edition,  London,  1892,  pp.  50,  51.  It  is  just  to  add 
that  this  work  is  not  regarded  as  of  consequence  by  the  circle  to  which 
it  makes  appeal. 

t  Some  criticism  which  is  not  the  work  of  occultists  deserves  the 
same  condemnation.  Mr.  C.  W.  Heckethorn,  author  of  the  "  Secret 
Societies  of  all  Ages  and  Countries"  (new  edition,  2  vols.,  1897),  lias 
presumed  to  treat  the  subject  of  the  Kabalah  in  the  absence  of 
elementary  knowledge.  Thus,  he  tells  us  that  the  literal  Kabalah  is 
called  the  Mishna  (vol.  I.  p.  85),  which,  as  we  have  seen,  is  the 
traditional  commentary  on  the  legislative  part  of  the  Mosaic  Thorah. 
So  also  Walton,  in  his  eighth  prolegomena  to  the  "  Polyglot  Bible," 
observes  that  the  terms  Kabalah  and  Massorah  are  applied  to  one  science 
by  the  Jews.  Richard  Simon  draws  attention  to  this  error,  saying  that 


22     ^he  gtortritu  auii  ipterattire  ot  iht  giabalah 

The  Talmud  has  its  correspondences  with  the 
Kabalah,  but  they  are  of  method  rather  than  material. 
It  is  highly  desirable  to  study  it  in  connection  with 
the  Zohar,  but  it  is  a  consummate  act  of  ignorance  to 
confound  and  to  regard  them  as  written  upon  the 
same  principle  and  with  the  same  objects. 

Another  writer,  also  an  occultist,  but  governed  by 
very  different  sentiments  of  scholarship,  Mr.  Isaac 
Myer,  makes  an  exceedingly  proper  distinction  when 
he  affirms  that  the  Kabalah  and  the  Zohar  "  allow  a 
great  margin  to  speculative  thought."  He  means  to 
say  that  they  are  purely  speculative  philosophy,  while 
the  Talmud  "  deals  with  everyday  life  and  humanity 
under  the  Law ;  "  that  the  one  "  starts  from  a  spiritual 
point  of  view,  contemplating  a  spiritual  finality  as 
regards  the  Law  and  its  explanation,"  but  that  the 
other  is  "  eminently  practical  in  both  its  starting-point 
and  end,  and  having,  in  the  face  of  ignorance,  want 
of  perception  and  natural  waywardness  of  the  masses, 
nothing  but  the  strict  observance  of  the  Law  in  all  its 
details  in  view."  * 


IV.     DIVISIONS    OF    THE    KABALAH 

Before  we  can  proceed  with  our  subject  it  will  be 
necessary  to  remove  some  further  false  impressions 
which,  unlike  the  transcendental  aspect  attributed  to 

the  Massorah  is  the  criticism  of  the  Hebrew  text. — Histoirc  Critique  du 
Vieux  Testament,  p.  498.     Amsterdam,  1685. 

*  "  Philosophy  of  Ibn  Gebirol,"  p.  35.  Compare  W.  B.  Greene, 
"  The  Blazing  Star,"  1872,  I2mo.  "  The  Massorah  is  in  every  respect 
the  converse  of  the  Kabalah.  The  Massorah  is  that  which  was 
openly  delivered  by  the  Rabbi  ;  the  Kabalah  is  that  which  was  secretly 
and  mysteriously  received  by  the  disciple,"  p.  29. 


float-Christian  gitmiturc  of  the  Jf  etos          23 

the  Talmud,  are  not  errors  peculiar  to  occult  writers, 
and  have  consequently  a  wider  sphere  of  operation. 
They  concern  the  nature  and  applications  of  the 
tradition  which  is  supposed  to  have  been  perpetuated 
in  Israel.  For  most  popular  writers,  for  almost  all 
encyclopaedias  which  have  not  had  recourse  to  a 
specialist,  the  Kabalistic  art  is  simply  the  use  of  sacred 
names  in  the  evocation  of  spirits,*  or  it  is  that  at  least 
above  all  and  more  than  all.f  We  find  it  in  standard 
sources  of  reference  like  the  great  dictionary  of 
Calmet,*  while  it  obtains  still  in  many  slipshod 
accounts  which  pass  from  book  to  book,  without  any 
attempt  at  verification  on  the  part  of  those  who 
reproduce  them.  It  illustrates  the  importance  which 
is  everywhere  attributed  to  magic,  for  in  the  last 
analysis  all  occult  science  and  all  its  oral  traditions 
are  resolved  by  the  popular  mind  into  a  commerce 
with  the  denizens  of  the  unseen  world.  I  have  done 
full  justice  elsewhere  §  to  the  enormous  influence  exer 
cised  by  the  belief  in  this  commerce,  so  that  the  vulgar 
instinct  is  not  entirely  at  fault.  In  a  higher  sense 
than  that  of  ceremonial  magic  the  ends  of  all  occult 
science  are  assuredly  in  the  unseen,  and  as  to  the 

*  Compare  Frinellan  :  Le  Triple  Vocabulaire  Infernal  (Paris, 
n.d. ),  p.  30  :  "  What  is  termed  the  Kabalah  is  the  art  of  commercing 
with  elementary  spirits." 

t  Sometimes,  however,  it  is  cl<>.->ely  united  with  astrology,  and  to 
speak  of  this  occult  science  is  considered  equivalent  to  speaking  of 
Kabalistic  matters.  Such,  apparently,  was  the  notion  of  D^meunier, 
L1  Esprit  des  Usages  et  des  coutumes  des  different  reuplcs>  font.  ii.  lib. 
\\.  London,  1776. 

£  "  Dictionary  of  the  Bible."  For  convenience  of  reference, 
consult  C.  Taylor's  translation,  London,  1823,  vol.  i.  s.  v.  Cabbala. 

§  "  The  Book  of  Black  Magic  and  of  Pacts,"  part  i.  c.  i.  p.  5  et  seq. 
London,  1898,  410.  It  must  be  admitted  that  th-_-  term  Kabalah  was 
applied  early  in  its  history  to  some  form  of  theurgic  practice. 


24     ^he  jportrine  anb  literature  of  the  gabalah 

processes  of  evocation  I  have  said  already  that  they 
are  largely  Kabalistic  processes.*  They  are,  however, 
either  late  and  corrupt  derivatives  which  are  not  the 
esoteric  tradition,  but  applications,  and  hence  acci 
dents  thereof;  or,  if  we  must  admit  that  there  were 
magical  practices  involving  a  conventional  procedure 
and  a  formal  ritual  prevalent  among  the  Hebrews  at 
a  remote  period,-)-  which  were  also  handed  down,  and 
are  therefore  entitled  to  be  classed,  in  a  sense,  as 
Kabalah,  then  that  reception  must  be  distinguished 
very  carefully  from  the  Kabalah  with  which  we  are 
here  concerned.  J  The  tradition  of  the  "  Book  of 
Formation  "  and  the  "  Book  of  Splendour  "  is  not  of 
magic  but  of  philosophy.  It  has  not  been  incorrectly 
described,  though  by  an  unknown  writer,  in  the  fol 
lowing  terms  :  "  The  Kabalah  claims  to  be  that  spon 
taneous  philosophy  which  man,  quoad  man,  naturally 
affirms  now,  always  has  affirmed,  and  always  will 
affirm  so  long  as  man  is  man.  The  worlds  confessed 
by  the  Kabalah  are  worlds  known  to  man,  worlds 
upon  which  man  has  set  the  seal  of  his  own  nature, 
worlds  related  to  man  and  of  which  man  is  the 

*  Refer  to  preface. 

t  It  is  to  these  practices  that  I  suppose  Richard  Simon  alludes, 
when  he  says  that  "the  ancient  Jewish  doctors  brought  many  super 
stitious  sciences  from  Chaldea,"  p.  93.  This  author  can  be  hardly 
regarded  as  an  authority  on  Kabalistic  questions ;  indeed,  he  seems  to 
confess  (op.  cit.,  pp.  116,  117)  that  he  had  not  thought  it  worth  while 
to  expend  time  over  "the  ancient  allegorical  books  of  the  Jews,"  such 
as  the  Zohar  and  the  Bahir. 

£  The  opposite  is  held  by  an  American  writer,  T.  K.  Hosmer, 
who  says  :  "  From  this  source  all  Jewry  was  overrun  with  demonology, 
thaumaturgy,  and  other  strange  fancies." — The  Jews  in  Ancient, 
Mediceval  and  Modern  Times,  London,  1890,  pp.  222,  223.  Speaking 
generally,  it  is  most  in  consonance  with  the  facts  to  regard  the  magic 
which  Europe  received  at  Jewish  hands  as  a  debased  application  of 
Kabalism. 


Jost-Chriotian  Jgiterattire  of  the  Jttos          25 

authentic  form.  There  is  nothing  in  the  Kabalah 
which  is  not  found  also  in  the  nature  of  man."  * 

As  we  have  found  it  expedient  to  set  aside  the 
Kabalah  of  the  Talmud  in  order  to  clear  the  issues,  so 
also,  or  at  least  till  a  later  stage  of  our  inquiry,  we 
must  ignore  the  Kabalah  of  magic.  We  are  dealing 
with  an  attempted  explanation  of  the  universe,  which 
is  something  entirely  distinct  from  all  formulae  of 
evocation.  The  theurgic  and  talismanic  use  of  divine 
names  and  the  doctrine  of  efficacious  words  belongs 
to  a  distinct  category,  and  is  liable  to  be  encountered 
everywhere  in  Jewish  Theosophy.  As  will  be  seen 
later  on,  there  is  no  question  as  to  the  antiquity  of 
these  notions. 

By  another  error  the  subject-matter  of  the  secret 
tradition  is  confused  with  certain  exegetical  methods 
by  which  a  scriptural  authority  is  found  for  it.  These 
methods  obtained  very  widely,  and  there  is  no  doubt 
that  many  of  their  most  curious  results  contributed  to 
swell  the  volume  of  the  tradition,  but  the  method 
which  deals  with  material,  and  may  even  occasionally 
supply  it,  must  be  held  distinct  therefrom.  They 
were,  however,  a  matter  of  tradition,  and  as  such 
are  Kabalah,  but  they  are  not  the  doctrinal  Kabalah, 
and  in  the  attempt  to  methodise  our  subject  these 
also  must  be  held  as  embodying  things  distinctf 

*  W.  B.  Greene  :  "  The  Blazing  Star,"  p.  57.  It  follows  from  the 
specific  teaching  of  the  chief  storehouse  of  Kabalism,  the  Zohar,  that 
apart  from  the  human  form,  permanence  and  organisation  are  impossible 
to  finite  existences,  whence,  also,  it  is  the  form  in  which  God  com 
municates  Himself. 

t  P.  J.  Hershon  divides  the  Kabalah  into  two  parts,  symbolical  and 
real.  The  first  teaches  the  secret  sense  of  Scripture  and  the  thirteen 
rules  by  which  the  observance  of  the  Law  is  expounded  Kabalistically, 
i.e,  Gcmatria,  Notaricon,  T/wnumh,  &c.  The  real  Kabalah  he  -ub- 


26     Qht  ilcrtrine  anb  |ptetature  °%  ihe  glabakh 

It  follows  from  the  above  discriminations  that 
there  are,  broadly  speaking,  four  separate  groups  or 
species  of  tradition  in  Israel  which,  by  virtue  of  the 
meaning  of  words,  are  entitled  to  rank  as  Kabalah  :  * 

1.  The  administrative  tradition  of  the  Talmud, 
the  authoritative  regulations  as  to  the  laws,  customs, 
ceremonies  and  civil  life  of  the  Jewish  nation.     The 
literature  of  this  tradition  is  of  great  historical  value, 
but  it  has  little  place  in  philosophy. 

2.  The  magical  tradition  of  the  Hebrews,  very 
important  to  the  history  of  occult  science,  very  obscure 
in  its  history,  very  much  exaggerated  by  those  who 
write  about  it,  possessing  little  literature  prior  to  the 
fourteenth  century  of  the  Christian  era,  by  which  time 
it  had  lost  most  of  its  antique  elements." t 

3.  Certain     exegetical     and     other     traditional 


divides  into  theoretical  and  practical;  the  one  is  concerned  with  the 
emanations  and  worlds  of  Kabalism,  the  nature  and  names  of  God,  the 
celestial  hierarchy  and  its  influence  on  the  lower  world,  the  mysteries  of 
creation  and  so  forth  ;  the  other  deals  with  the  mystical  properties  of 
divine  and  angelic  names  and  the  wonders  performed  with  these. — 
"Talmudic  Miscellany,"  London,  1880. 

*  Dr.  Wynn  Westcott,  in  his  work  on  "Numbers,  their  Occult 
Power  and  Mystic  Virtue,"  observes  (p.  11)  that  the  word  Kabalah 
"includes  the  Hebrew  Doctrines  of  Cosmogony  and  Theology  as  well 
as  the  Science  of  Numbers."  The  first  he  terms  the  Dogmatic  and  the 
second  the  Literal  Kabalah.  The  Kabalistic  Science  of  numbers  is 
included  in  Gematria. 

t  The  indefectible  title  of  magic  to  a  place  in  Jewish  Kabalah  is 
enforced  by  all  modern  occultists,  who  have  helped  very  much  to 
confuse  the  issues  in  question.  So  far  back  as  the  end  of  the  seventeenth 
century  the  distinction  between  the  magical  tradition  and  the  philo 
sophical  or  doctrinal  was  recognised  by  R.  Simon  (Histoire  Critique 
du  Vieux  Testament.  Amsterdam,  1685,  4to),  who  said:  "There  is 
another  sort  of  Kabalah  which  is  more  dangerous  and  forms  part  of 
that  which  is  commonly  called  Magic.  It  is  a  mere  illusion,  the 
prepossession  of  certain  persons  who  believe  they  can  perform  miracles 
by  means  of  it."  (p.  374). 


$00t-Chnstiau  gitcrature  of  the  Jeto0          27 

methods  by  which  a  secret  sense  was  extracted  from 
the  letter  of  Holy  Scripture.  Very  curious  results 
were  sometimes  obtained  by  these  solemn  follies 
which  appear  so  childish  and  ridiculous  at  the  present 
day.*  They  comprise : 

a.  Gematria,  by  which  the  letters  of  a  word  were 
converted  into  numbers,   and  the  arithmetical  value 
was  used  to  explain  its  internal  sense. 

b.  Notaricon,  by  which  each  letter  of  a  word  was 
taken  as  the  initial  of  another  word,  or,  conversely,  the 
initial  letters  of  an  entire  sentence  were  combined  to 
form  a  word,  which  word  was  held  to  throw  light  on 
the  sentence. 

c.  Themurah,  that  is,  the  transposition  of  letters 
in  a  given  word  or  sentence. 

It  is  obvious  that  the  field  of  these  methods  is  not 
confined  to  one  language  or  one  literature ;  their 
application  to  the  plays  of  Shakespeare  might  produce 
results  which  would  exceed  even  the  pretensions  of 
the  "  Great  Cryptogram."  It  is  a  little  humiliating  to 
find  an  important  subject  and  a  fascinating  literature 
connected  with  such  diversions,  but  we  shall  see  later 
on  that  the  peculiar  views  of  the  Hebrews  upon  the 
divine  character  of  their  language  invested  them  with 
a  certain  speciousness,  while,  for  the  rest,  our  inquiry 
is  fortunately  not  concerned  with  them.  These 
methods  are  sometimes  termed  the  artificial  or  prac- 

*  The  Kabalistic  method  of  interpreting  scripture,  "which  reduces 
the  sense  of  the  sacred  books  to  vain  and  ridiculous  suUletie-.,  the 
mysteries  contained  in  letters,  in  numbers,  and  in  the  dismemberment 
of  certain  words,"  was  supposed  by  Simon  to  have  passed  from  the 
school  of  Platonism  to  that  of  the  Je\\  s,  chiefly  in  Europe.  There  is 
no  ground  for  this  view.  He  adds  (op.  cit.,  p.  374)  that  this  "specu 
lative  Kabalah  "  was,  in  his  own  day,  still  highly  esteemed  by  the  Jews 
of  the  Levant." 


28     c&kt  ^odnnt  anb  JDiteratiire  of  the  Jiabalah 

tical  Kabalah.*  Their  antiquity,  like  that  of  the 
Hebrew  vowel-points,  is  a  debated  question.  By 
some  critics  their  traces  have  been  discerned  even  in 
Holy  Scripture,  t  One  point,  however,  which  should 
be  especially  noted  is  that  recourse  to  these  methods 
is  met  with  comparatively  seldom  in  the  Zohar. 

4.  The  philosophical  tradition,  embodied  in  the 
"  Sepher  Yetzirah  "  and  the  "  Zohar  "  cycles.  To  this 
only,  in  the  interests  of  clearness,  should  the  con 
ventional  term  Kabalah  be  applied,  and  it  is  this  which 
is  really  signified  by  every  well-informed  writer  who 
uses  it.  It  is  divided  by  the  Kabalists  themselves  into 

a.  The  Doctrine  of  Creation, 

b.  The  Doctrine  of  the  Chariot — i.e.,  the  chariot 
of  Ezekiel's  vision.  J 

These  divisions  are  concerned  respectively  with 
the  natural  and  the  transcendental  world,  and  are 
sometimes  termed  collectively  the  theoretical  Kabalah. 


*  They  assumed  sometimes  the  most  extravagant  forms.  For 
example,  the  middle  letter  of  any  sacred  book  was  written  in  an 
unusual  position  or  of  an  unusual  size,  and  was  regarded  as  possessing 
a  deep  spiritual  meaning.  See  "The  Bible  Handbook,"  by  Joseph 
Angus,  D.D. ,  1860,  p.  499.  "The  modes  by  which  the  Kabalah 
educes  the  secret  meaning  veiled  under  the  words  of  the  Hebrew 
scriptures  are  manifold,  extending  to  every  peculiarity  of  the  text. 
Even  in  what  we  should  regard  as  critical  marks  or  as  errors  or  fancies 
of  some  transcriber,  as  when  a  letter  is  written  too  large  or  too  small,  is 
inverted  or  in  any  way  distinguished,  an  occult  intent  was  presumed." 
American  Encyclopedia,  iii.  521,  522. 

t  The  Chaldaic  paraphrase  of  Jonathan  ben  Ouziel  has  recourse 
occasionally  to  a  species  of  transliteration  when  dealing  with  certain 
obscure  scriptural  names. 

+  Both  these  divisions  are  mentioned  in  the  Mishna  by  name 
(Chagiga,  xi.  2),  and  are  said  to  be  secret  doctrine,  but  the  Afaassc 
Bereshith  and  the  Maassc  Mercabah  there  referred  to  are  not  a  written 
tradition,  nor  does  that  of  the  written  Kabalah  necessarily  represent  it. 
The  Zohar  identifies  the  Mercabah  with  the  Sephiroth  or  Ten  Emana 
tions,  which  see. 


$o0t-(Ehriatiau  ^literature  of  the  Jetoe          29 

It  is  this  which  gave  to  Israel  the  intellectual  horizon 
which  was  impossible  to  the  Talmudic  Jew,  and  it  is 
this  also  which  gave  the  Children  of  the  Exile  a  place 
in  Western  philosophy.  When  we  hear  that  the 
Kabalah  once  fascinated  some  of  the  great  minds  of 
Christendom,  it  is  to  this  only  that  the  statement  can 
be  applied.*  It  is  this,  finally,  which  it  is  the  purpose 
of  the  present  inquiry  to  elucidate.-)-  It  should  be 
added  that  outside  the  cycle  of  the  Zohar  there  is  a 
large  Jewish  theosophical  and  mystical  literature,  of 
which  the  Sepher  Yetzirah  is  an  instance.  It  was 
this  which  led  up  to  the  Zohar,  and  was  embraced 
thereby.  But  whether  it  was  Kabalistic  in  the  sense 
of  the  latter  is  one  of  the  disputes  of  scholarship. 

*  Drach  distinguishes  three  uses  of  the  term  Kabalah  for  which 
authority  can  be  cited  :  (i)  It  is  frequently  applied  by  the  Talmud  to 
the  books  of  the  Old  Testament  outside  the  Pentateuch  ;  (2)  The 
rabbins  apply  it  to  the  legal  or  talmudic  tradition  ;  (3)  It  signifies 
especially  the  "mystic,  esoteric,  acroamatic  portion  of  the  oral 
tradition." — De  f  Harmonic  entrc  F  Eglist  et  la  Synagogue.  Par  U 
Chevalier  P.  L.  B.  Drach,  2  vols.,  Paris,  1844. 

f  I  must  not  pass  over  the  division  of  the  Kabalah  proposed  by 
Dr.  Pa  pus  in  one  of  his  latest  publications,  though  I  regard  it,  critically 
speaking,  as  fantastic.  The  Kabalah  is,  in  his  opinion,  attributable  to 
Moses,  and  the  written  word  of  Scripture  is  therefore  naturally  a  part  of 
the  tradition.  We  have  thus  :  (a)  The  written  word  ;  (£)  The  oral 
word  ;  (f)  An  intermediate  portion,  being  rules  insuring  the  preservation 
of  the  text,  i.e.  Massorah.  The  last  is  the  body  of  the  oral  tradition  ; 
the  Mishna  and  Gemara  are  its  life  ;  the  Sepher  Yetzirah  and  the 
Zohar  arc  its  spirit.  Unfortunately  Dr.  1'apus  has  not  made  his 
thesis  so  clear  as  he  does  usually,  and  he  seems  to  assume  some  of  the 
most  important  points  at  issue.  See  Traitt  Eltmtntaire  de  Science 
Occulte,  50  edition,  Paris,  1898. 


BOOK  II 

THE  DOCTRINAL  CONTENT  OF 
THE  KABALAH 

ARGUMENT 

The  fundamental  doctrines  of  the  Kabalah  are  shown  to  be  : 
(a)  The  Philosophy  of  the  Absolute  ;  (£)  The  evolution  of  the 
universe  by  way  of  emanation  ;  (c)  The  distinction  of  the  emanation 
into  Four  Worlds  issuing  one  from  another.  The  subsidiary 
doctrines  connected  with  these  are:  (i)  The  contrast  between 
God  in  Himself  and  God  as  revealed  to  His  people ;  (2)  The 
Sacramental  nature  of  the  conventional  symbols  of  the  human 
Logos  ;  (3)  Certain  ways  and  methods  by  which  knowledge  and 
wisdom  are  attainable ;  (4)  A  complex  system  of  pneumatology. 
These  subjects  are  regarded  from  the  occult  standpoint,  but  a 
sufficient  warrant  is  not  found  for  the  view  that  they  represent  an 
occult  doctrine  of  Absolute  Religion. 

I.    THE   UNMANIFEST    GOD 

THE  conventional  division  of  Kabalistic  doctrines  into 
transcendental  and  physical,  though  valuable  for  pur 
poses  of  tabulation,  must  not  be  held  to  signify  that 
there  is  a  clear  line  of  demarcation  in  virtue  of  which 
the  literature  branches  off  into  divergent  paths,  much 
less  that  the  Kabalah  offers  a  natural  history  of  the 
universe.  Its  physics,  so  far  as  it  can  be  said  to  have 
any,  are  transcendental  physics.  Admitting  of  no 
separation  between  God,  Man  and  Nature,*  the 

*  That  is  to  say,  the  mystic  communication  is  permanent,  but 
the  pantheistic  doctrine  of  identity  is  quite  foreign  to  the  position  of 
Kabalism. 


The  pcctrinal  Content  of  the  JjUtmlah          31 

science  which  explains  them  is  likewise  one,  and  the 
best  manner  of  studying  it  is  to  follow  its  view  as  to 
the  eternal  order.  It  begins  in  that  Absolute  which 
it  is  the  purpose  of  all  fundamental  wisdom  to  make 
known  or  communicate  to  man ;  it  attempts  to  exhibit 
the  transition  from  the  Absolute  to  the  related,  from 
the  noumenal  to  the  phenomenal,  and  to  establish  a 
chain  of  correspondence  between  the  infinite  and  the 
finite.  It  is,  however,  more  than  a  philosophical 
attempt  to  bridge  over  the  gulf  which  separates  the 
timeless  from  the  temporal ;  that  is  the  side  on  which 
it  connects  with  philosophy,  as  commonly  understood. 
The  intermediaries  of  the  transition  are  the  ladder  of 
ascent  by  which  man  returns  to  the  Divine ;  hence 
also  it  is  more  than  an  explanation  of  the  universe  ; 
it  is,  speaking  correctly,  a  sum  of  religion,  and  as  it  is 
founded,  no  matter  how,  on  those  Scriptures  which 
Jew  and  Christian  have  recognised  equally  as  the 
peculiar  revelation  of  God,  the  text-book  of  true  re 
ligion,  we  shall  see  readily  what  depth  and  mystery 
are  sought  to  be  infused  by  the  Kabalah  into  the 
Bible.  We  shall  also  agree  with  those  discerning 
critics  who  describe  it  as,  strictly  speaking,  a  system 
of  theosophy ;  it  is  the  application  of  the  wisdom  of 
Israel  to  the  unsearchable  mystery  of  God,  and  it 
begins,  as  we  might  have  expected,  by  confessing  that 
it  is  unsearchable,  that  beyond  our  best  conceptions 
of  all  that  is  most  divine,  as  beyond  so  many  veridic 
illusions,  there  is  the  unknown  and  unknowable  God.* 

•  According  to  the  Zohar,  it  is  impossible  to  know  that  \\hidi 
there  is  in  this  principle,  for  it  never  stoops  to  our  ignorance  and  i.-, 
above  even  wisdom.  See  "The  Letter  II->ly  Synod,"  when  treating, 
for  example,  of  the  Capttt  quod  tton  est  caf>ut  .  .  .  quod  n.»: 
comprehenditur  Sapientia  nee  intellects.  Kabbalce  Denudata  Tomit* 
Secitndus,  p.  528. 


32     y&he  |B0rtriiu  zwb  giteratute  ot  the 

Even  in  the  mystic  communication  possible  between 
the  divine  and  man,  which  is  an  old  doctrine  of  Jewish 
mysticism,  long  anterior  to  the  Zohar,  at  least  in  its 
present  form,  the  essence  escapes  our  apprehension. 
We  can,  indeed,  know  God,  but  not  as  He  is  in  Him 
self,  our  knowledge  being  made  possible  through 
the  manifestation  of  the  Deity,  and  this  takes  place 
after  two  manners — by  the  mediation  of  the  Law  of 
Nature,  that  is  to  say,  in  the  physical  universe;  and 
by  the  Law  of  Grace,  which  is  the  manifestation  of 
God  in  his  relation  with  the  souls  of  his  elect.  It  will 
be  seen  that  both  these  methods  are  sacramental,  and 
the  sacramental  system  is  the  form  of  all  mysticism. 
For  the  Kabalistic  Jew  the  Law  and  the  Covenant 
were  signs  or  mysteries  capable  of  a  plurality  of  inter 
pretations,  while  the  whole  outward  world  was  omen 
and  metaphrasis.  It  is  therefore  to  be  expected  that 
in  the  written  word  we  must  look  for  another  mean 
ing  than  is  conveyed  by  the  outward  sense.  It  was 
also  a  part  of  Jewish  mental  bias  to  look  for  an  inward 
significance  which  was  opposed  to  the  external,  and 
strikes  unfailingly  the  modern  observer  as  strained 
and  unnatural. 

In  the  eternity  which  preceded  either  of  the 
manifestations  which  I  have  mentioned,  the  Deity  was 
withdrawn  into  Himself  and  subsisted  after  a  manner 
which  entirely  transcends  the  conception  of  human 
faculties.*  The  names  which  are  ascribed  to  the 

*  The  tract  entitled  the  "  Faithful  Shepherd,"  which  forms  part  of 
the  Zohar,  says,  on  the  authority  of  R.  Simeon  ben  Jochai,  that  before 
God  created  the  archetypal  idea  which  underlies  the  form  of  the  world, 
He  was  alone,  without  form  or  similitude,  and  hence  there  could  be  no 
cognition  of  him.  (Rayah  Mehemnah,  in  the  Cremona  edition  of  the 
Zohar,  pt.  ii.  col.  73).  There  was,  of  course,  no  intelligence  to 


The  Doctrinal  Content  of  the  Jtobahih          33 

Deity  in  this  abyssal  condition  are  not  names  which 
present  either  the  condition  or  the  Divine  Nature  ; 
they  are  the  conventions  of  the  philosophical  hypo 
thesis  ;  they  are  terms  which  serve  to  indicate  that 
God,  prior  to  manifestation,  is  nameless,  even  as  He 
is  beyond  reach.*  He  is  the  Ancient  One,  and  the 
most  Ancient  of  all  the  Ancients,  but  this  describes 
only  the  eternity  of  His  subsistence;  He  is  the 
Hidden  of  all  the  Hidden  Ones,  but  this  concerns 
only  His  concealment  ;  He  is  A  in  Soph,  a  phrase 
which  Rosenroth  renders  fine  carensft  the  unlimited 
or  infinite,  but  it  also  includes,  by  the  separate  signifi 
cance  of  the  word  Ain,  the  abstract  competition  of 
nothingness,  and  this  registers  only  the  inconceivable 
nature  of  His  infinite  mode.J  According  to  the 
"  Book  of  Concealment,"  His  dwelling  is  the  place 
which  is  not  a  place,  or  more  literally,  locus  gut  _non 
£££§  There  is  at  first  sight  a  touch  of  atheistical 
impiety  in  this  attempt  to  describe  God  as  the 


comprehend  Him,  but  the  idea  which  underlies  the  confusion  is  thai 
the  supposed  period  of  God's  eternal  rest  is  now  beyond  the  comprehen 
sion  of  the  human  mind.  We  are  unable  to  conceive  a  state  or  period 
in  which  the  world  was  not,  but  God  alone. 

*  The  interrogative  pronoun  Who?  is  ascribed  by  the  Zohar  to  this 
state  of  the  Supreme.  Earlier  mysticism  speaks  of  God  being  alone 
with  his  Name,  /.,:,  the  Divine  Tetragram,  which,  according  to 
Maimonides,  preceded  the  whole  creation. 

t  Apparatus  in  Lib  rum  Sohar  pars  priina,  Kabbala  Demtdata, 
vol.  i.  p.  81. 

£  Zoharic  teaching  specifically  affirms  this  point.  It  is  said, 
for  example,  that  prior  to  the  creation  of  the  world,  prior  to  the 
production  of  any  image,  God  was  alone,  formless  and  resembling 
nothing.  In  tin-  state  it  is  forbidden  to  represent  Him  by  any  image 
or  under  any  form  whatsoever,  even  by  His  Holy  Name,  or  by  any 
letter  or  any  point. — Zohar ;  ii.,  42  /;.,  Mantua. 

§  Liber  Occultationis,  seti  Mystcrii,  c.  i.  §  5.     K'abbala  Denudata, 
\"1.  ii.  p.  348. 

D 


34     Ihe  Jloxtrine  anb  literature  of  the 

Non-Ens  dwelling  in  the  Non  Est,  but  it  is  really  a 
philosophical  subtlety  which  seeks,  by  successively 
stripping  off  every  attribute  pertaining  to  manifest 
existence,  to  attain  some  idea  of  unmanifest,  uncon 
ditioned,  abstract  being.  The  key  is  given  in  the 
treatise  entitled  Pardes  Rimmonim,  by  R.  Moses  of 
Cordova,*  which  says  that  the  Cause  of  Causes  is 
called  Ain  Soph  because  His  excellence  is  without 
bound,  and  there  is  nothing  which  can  comprehend 
Him. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  Kabalistic  conception  is 
one  which  is  familiar  to  later  forms  of  transcendental 
philosophy  under  the  name  of  the  Absolute,  a  term 
which,  in  the  last  analysis,  is  not  wanting  in  similar 
intellectual  difficulties,  or,  rather,  it  symbolises  our 
intellectual  recognition  of  that  which  exceeds  our 
intelligence. f  In  this  Absolute  resides  the  essence 
or  potentiality  of  all ;  J  it  is  not  accurate  to  say  that  it 
is  the  subsistent  principle  which  underlies  the  ob 
jective  state  termed  existence,  because  existence  is  a 
condition  of  the  finite  and  the  created,  though  there 
is  a  true  and  real  sense  in  which  God  may  be  said  to 


*  Pardes  Rimmonim,  i.e.,  Paradise  of  Pomegranates,  Tract  iii.  c.  i. 
Moses  of  Cordova  belonged  to  the  more  modern  school  of  Kabalists, 
and  his  treatise  is  exegetical  and  not  authoritative  in  Kabalism. 

t  See,  however,  Dr.  Noah  Porter:  "The  Human  Intellect," 
London,  1868,  who  argues  that  in  its  proper  definition  the  Absolute 
becomes  knowable.  Our  idea  of  the  Absolute  belongs,  nevertheless, 
to  that  region  of  our  consciousness  which  Herbert  Spencer  terms 
indefinite  and  escaping  formulation. 

+  Hcene  \Yronski,  whose  mathematical  transcendentalism  is  of  high 
authority  with  French  occultists,  affirms  that  the  reality  of  the  Absolute 
is  the  first  principle  of  reason,  and  in  the  absence  thereof  every 
assertion  made  by  reason  would  be  valueless.  On  this  principle,  as  on 
an  indispensable  condition,  he  establishes  absolute  philosophy  in  his 
work  entitled  Apodictique. 


The  Doctrinal  (Content  of  the  gabalah          35 

encompass,  overstand  and  subtend  the  visible  world.* 
Ain  Soph  is  the  subsistent  state  of  Deity  itself,f 
whence  it  follows  that  there  is  from  the  Kabalistic 
standpoint  a  manifested  state  of  the  Divine  Nature, 
and  this  is  certainly  not  the  visible  world.  Where 
this  manifestation  occurs  will  be  indicated  in  the  next 
section. 

It  will  be  obvious  that  all  ordinary  notions  of  a 
personal  God  are  destroyed  or  transcended  by  this 
Non-Ens  or  N on- Ego  of  the  Kabalists  ;  it  is  absolutely 
simple,  unity  without  any  multiplication,  above  all 
number,  above  Wisdom,  which,  as  we  shall  see,  is, 
however,  one  of  its  first  emanations.  It  is  also  with 
out  sex,  and  it  is  therefore,  strictly  speaking, 
inaccurate  to  make  use  of  the  masculine  pronouns  in 
reference  thereto.  According  to  Moses  of  Cordova, 
the  angels  are  neither  simple  nor  without  multiplica 
tion  in  comparison  with  it.  The  book  entitled 
"  Faithful  Shepherd  "J  says :  "  Woe  unto  him  who 
makes  God  to  be  like  unto  any  mode  or  attribute 
whatever,  even  if  it  be  one  of  His  own ;  but  woe  still 
more  if  he  make  Him  like  unto  the  sons  of  men,  whose 
elements  are  earthly,  and  so  are  consumed  and  perish ! 
There  can  be  no  conception  attained  of  Him,  except 
in  so  far  as  He  manifests  Himself  when  exercising 

*  According  to  the  Zohar,  (lod  i.-  immanent   in  all  that  In- 
created  or  emanated,  and  yet  is  tratiMX-ivU-nt  to  all. 

t  Occultists  should  l)cw;uc  of  giving  further  currency  to  the 
absurd  description  of  thU  Mate  H  "  negative  existence."  So  far  back 
as  1867  Herbert  Spencer  established  clearly  in  !  Principles" 

that    "thi.-   Unconditioned   must    be    represented  c    and   not 

negative." 

£  Quoted    in    Beth    Elohim,    or    the    "  House   of    the   Gods," 
Dissertatio  i.   c.   i.     See  Kabbala  Dtnttdata,   vol.    ii.  ;    J'artis    / 
Tractatus  i.,  i.e. ,  Pneumatica  Kabbalistica,  p.  187. 


36     Ihe  gortrttte  attb  literature  of  the  Jiabalah 

dominion  by  and  through  some  attribute.  Abstracted 
from  this  there  can  be  no  attribute,  conception,  or 
ideal  of  Him.  He  is  comparable  only  to  the  sea, 
filling  some  great  reservoir,  as,  for  example,  its  bed 
in  the  earth,  wherein  it  fashions  for  itself  a  certain 
concavity,  so  that  thereby  we  may  begin  to  compute 
the  dimensions  of  the  sea  itself/' 

It  remains  for  me  to  state  that  the  doctrine  of 
Ain  Soph  is  not  found  in  the  earliest  Kabalistic  litera 
ture,  and  appears  to  have  been  first  developed  by  the 
commentators  on  the  Sepher  Yetzirah  and  in  the 
school  of  Isaac  the  Blind. 


II.  THE  DOCTRINE  OF  THE  TEN 
EMANATIONS 

Having  thus  postulated  the  existence  of  the 
Absolute  and  the  Unconditioned,  the  next  concern  of 
the  Kabalah  is  the  mode  of  the  manifestation  of  that 
withdrawn  and  inconceivable  nature.  Having  attained 
its  ultimate  and  fundamental  conception  of  the  Deity 
by  the  process  of  elimination  to  which  reference 
has  been  made  already,  it  was  inevitable  that  the 
attribution  of  absolute  reality  to  that  which  had  been 
stripped  of  all  realism  should  have  produced  as  a 
result  something  which  was  outside  intellectual  com 
prehension.  It  is  perhaps  open  to  question  whether 
this  fact  justified  the  transcendency  with  which  Ain 
Soph  was  invested,  as  it  is  also  doubtful  whether  the 
methodical  and  elaborated  antithesis  of  anthropo 
morphism  thus  created  was  not  as  much  a  convention 
of  the  human  mind  as  that  which  it  sought  to  replace. 


gJoctnnnl  £ouimt  of  the  gabalah          37 

The  intellectual  difficulty  was,  however,  the  ground 
for  the  exaltation  of  the  conception  at  the  expense  of 
the  human  mind  by  which  it  had  been  devised  so 
laboriously.*  Now,  the  Jew  was  confronted  by  at 
least  two  problems  which  called  for  the  exercise  of  his 
further  ingenuity  as  regards  the  latens  Deit.is  of  Ain 
Soph.  He  had  to  account  for  the  bond  of  connection 
between  this  abyss  of  the  Godhead  and  the  visible 
universe,  having  man  for  its  mouthpiece,  but  so  far 
this  is  only  the  common  problem  of  all  philosophy 
which  begins  and  ends  in  the  unconditioned.  He  had 
further  a  problem  peculiar  to  his  own  inheritance  and 
election,  and  this  was  to  establish  another  bond  of 
connection  between  the  absolute  transcendency  of 
Ain  Soph,  apart  from  all  limitation,  outside  all  human 
measurement,  isolated  from  all  relationship,  and  the 
anthropomorphic  Lord  of  Israel,  whose  stature  and 
measurements  were  not  beyond  the  ingenuity  of  rab 
binical  calculations,  and  most  of  whose  members  are 
mentioned  with  sufficient  fulness  and  frequency  in  the 
sacred  writings  for  any  devout  student  to  possess  a 
clear  notion  of  the  "  body  of  God,"  and  to  describe  it, 
did  he  please,  and  we  shall  see  later  on  that  he  did, 
with  considerable  precision,  in  a  book  dedicated  to 
the  question.  For  the  moment,  however,  we  are  con 
cerned  only  with  the  first  problem,  namely,  the  diffi 
culty  of  conceiving  why  the  abyssal  state  in  which 
God  unmanifest  had  been  sufficient  from  eternity  to 
Himself  should  at  any  period  have  had  another  mode 
superadded  to  it.  I  say  superadded  by  convention 


*  The  Zohar  says  that  it  is  called  Ayin,  not  on  the  ground  of 
nonentity,  but,  it  may  be  inferred,  because  that  which  is  wholly 
outside  our  knowledge  is  for  us  as  nothing 


38     ^he  Jtorttitt*  anfo  fCiteratuve  of  the  giabalah 

based  on  the  notion  of  sufficiency ;  it  is  not  a  reason 
able  term  to  make  use  of  in  such  a  relation,  to  which 
no  terminology  is  suitable.  The  non  ens  dwelling  in 
the  non  est  is  like  the  cipher  of  the  decimal  system  ;* 
of  itself  it  is  nothing,  and  its  extension  produces 
nothing ;  so  also  it  is  not  possible  to  add  to  it,  but  it 
gives  power  to  all  numbers.  The  solution  offered  by 
Kabalism  does  not  differ  materially  from  that  which 
has  been  always  given.  It  is,  in  a  word,  the  move 
ment  of  the  Divine  Will.  "  In  this,"  says  Myers, 
"  the  Unknown  Absolute,  above  all  number,  mani 
fested  itself  through  an  emanation  in  which  it  was 
immanent,  yet  as  to  which  it  was  transcendental."! 
We  are  dealing  here  with  a  system  of  speculative 
philosophy,  and,  traditional  or  otherwise,  it  must  not 
be  supposed  to  be  free  from  the  disabilities  of  other 
philosophies  or  from  the  crudities  of  its  particular 
period.  The  Kabalistic  hypothesis  supposes  an 
eternity  antecedent  to  this  initial  operation  of  the 
Divine  Will,  and  in  the  latent  subsistence  of  Am  Soph 
it  would  appear  an  inconsequence  to  assume  that 
there  was  either  willj  or  consciousness  possible.§ 
Both,  however,  by  a  common  and  almost  inevitable 
anachronism,  are  attributed  to  A  in  Soph,  despite  the 
warning  of  the  Zohar  already  quoted :  "  Woe  unto 
him  who  shall  compare  Him  with  any  mode  or 

*  The  circle  is,  in  fact,  a  Kabalistic  symbol  of  Ain  Soph. 

t  "  Philosophy  of  Ibn  Gebirol,"  p.  266. 

%  The  Zohar,  however,  says  expressly  that  "  in  the  beginning  was 
the  will  of  the  King."  Cremona  edition,  i.,  fol.  56. 

§  "Exceeding  comprehension  it  must  be  regarded  as  the  non- 
Ego  rather  than  the  Ego.  All  that  is  in  man  depends  from  it, 
but  it  transcends  consciousness  ;  it  transcends  what  we  conceive  by 
the  terms  personal  and  individual."  Myer :  "Philosophy  of  Ibn 
Gebirol." 


Jpoctrinal  Content  of  the  JBabalah          39 

attribute,  even  with  one  of  his  own."*  The  later 
commentators  on  the  Zohar  either  do  not  recognise  or 
are  content  to  ignore  the  difficulty.  Thus  a  treatise 
entitled  "The  Royal  Valley,"  by  Rabbi  Naphthali 
Hirtz,  says :  "  Blessed  be  His  Holy  Name !  Before 
anything  was,  He,  by  His  simple  will,  proposed  to 
Himself  to  fashion  the  worlds.  For  the  King  is  not 
given  without  the  people,  as  it  is  written  in  Proverbs 
xiv.  28  :  'In  the  multitude  of  the  people  is  the  King's 
honour.'  And  it  is  the  nature  of  the  Supreme  Good 
ness  to  dispense  good.  Now,  if  the  world  were  not, 
on  whom  could  He  bestow  it  ?  "t  The  exegetical 
literature,  treatises  like  the  "  Gates  of  Light,"  indicate 
that  the  exertion  of  the  Divine  Will  in  the  production 
of  the  emanations  is  a  path  so  secret  that  no  creatur-  , 
not  even  Moses  himself,  can  understand  it.t  At  the 
same  time,  that  will  is  beneplacitnm^  or  good  pleasure, 
and  beneplacitutn  termine  carats,  without  end  or 
limit.  Hence  the  motive  by  which  the  universe  is 
accounted  for  is  the  same  motive  which  communic 
the  mercy  of  God  to  them  that  fear  Him,  after  which 
it  will  be  unnecessary  to  say  that  optimism  is  the 
fundamental  characteristic  of  Kabalism,  or  that, 
according  to  to  the  Zohar,  this  is,  in  some  respects, 
the  best  of  all  possible  worlds. 

Seeing  then  that  the  transition  of  the  Divine 
Being  from  the  state  of  the  mm  ens  was  accomplished, 
like  the  conversion  of  man  from  the  condition  of  a 
merely  material  creature,  by  an  operation  of  the 

*  Zohar,  pt.  ii.  (Kayah  Me/termin),  col.  73,  Cremona  edition. 

t  Kal-lala  Av/W//-/,  tcin.  ii.,  partis  />; ;  nnJits, 

§1,  DC  Mundo  Infinite  prim ot  p.  152. 

t  /Cabbala  Dcnndata,  torn.  i..  Apparatus  in  Librum  Sohar  pars 
f>riffia,  pp.  691,  692. 


40     ^hc  itortriite  sub  gDtoature  of  tit*  Ibbalah 

mystery  of  the  will,  we  have  next  to  ascertain  some 
thing  of  the  nature  of  this  process,  and  this  leads  us 
to  the  word  which  I  have  already  mentioned  in 
advertently,  namely,  emanation.*  In  specifying  what 
followed  from  the  motion  of  the  Divine  will,  we  must, 
I  think,  in  an  elementary  treatise,  set  aside  too  subtle 
inquiries  into  the  sense  in  which  terms  were  used.  It 
must  be  allowed  in  any  case  that  the  Kabalah  re 
pudiates  implicitly  the  axiom  ex  nihilo  nihil  fit,  for  the 
non  ens  dwelling  in  the  unconditioned  state  wherein 
is  neither  time  nor  placet  is  the  fulness  which  contains 
the  all.  Ex  plenitudine  ista  omnia  fiunt.  In  this 
divine  plenitude  pre-existing  eternally  was  the  sub 
stance  of  all  the  worlds,  which  therefore  came  forth 
from  God.  Hence  the  Kabalistic  system  is  one  of 
emanation.!  When  it  is  said  that  emanation  is  not 


*  In  which  the  idea  of  pantheism  is  almost  always,  but  not,  I 
think,  of  necessity  involved.  There  is,  of  course,  a  certain  sense  in 
which  that  notion  is  not  escaped  even  on  the  hypothesis  of  creation, 
and  further  there  is  a  higher  sense  of  pantheism  from  which  no  spiritual 
philosophers  could  wish  to  escape.  But  as  regards  Jewish  mysticism, 
while  there  is  always  some  doubt  in  what  way  it  made  use  of  the  term 
emanation,  there  seems  to  me  no  doubt  that  its  system  does  not  answer 
to  what  is  commonly  understood  by  pantheism,  though  it  has  often  a 
pantheistic  aspect.  God  was  all  for  the  Kabalist,  as  he  is  for  the 
Christian,  and  yet  the  theosophic  Jew  no  more  than  the  orthodox 
theologian  would  admit  that  God  was  one  with  the  material  world. 
When,  therefore,  Solomon  Munk  (Dictionnaire  de  la  Conversation] 
says  that  the  Kabalah  issued  from  the  amalgamation  of  oriental 
pantheism  with  the  religion  of  the  Hebrews,  we  can  accept  this  only 
by  supposing  that  the  pantheism  in  question  had  suffered  a  peculiar 
alteration. 

f  "  The  No-Thing  is  not,  however,  an  absolute  negative  or  void,  but 
some-Thing  unknown  to  man."  Myer  :  "  Philosophy  of  Ibn  Gebirol," 
p.  378.  It  should  be  added  that  Nachmanides  was  one  of  the  few 
Kabalists  who  maintained  creation  ex  nihilo. 

%  In  Book  IV.  §  2,  we  shall  see  that  this  statement  is  subject  to  a 
reservation  regarding  the  most  ancient  document  of  the  Kabalah,  and 
it  should  be  noted  in  this  connection  that  at  least  one  scholar  of 


Socirinal  Content  of  the  gabalah          41 

its  only  foundation,  for  it  rests  also  on  the  identity  of 
thought  and  existence,*  or  otherwise  the  doctrine  of 
Divine  Immanence,  there  is  much  in  the  literature 
which  would  tempt  us  to  endorse  this  view,  after  due 
allowance  has  been  made  for  the  confusion  and  ob 
scurity  of  the  originals.f  But  it  is  not  necessary  to 
follow  it  at  any  length ;  it  is  enough  for  the  present 
purpose  to  say  that  the  term  emanation  is  more  in 
harmony  with  the  doctrine  of  the  Kabalah  than  is  that 
of  creation,  and  the  rejection  of  the  axiom  already 
mentioned  is  perhaps  little  more  than  a  play  upon 
words. 

We  are  not,  however,  concerned  as  yet  with  the 
evolution  of  the  physical  universe.  The  first  conse 
quence  which  followed  the  operation  of  the  Divine 
will  was  the  manifestation  or  unfolding  of  the  Divine 
attributes — in  a  word,  the  transition  of  Deity  from  the 
latent  to  the  active  state.  As  in  the  one  He  was 
above  all  number,  so  in  the  other  He  may  be  said  to 
have  produced  numbers,  and  the  decade  is  the  emana 
tion  of  Am  Soph.  We  must  not  be  so  crude  as  to 
suppose  that  the  mere  arithmetical  numerals  are  here 
intended ;  it  was  powers,  forces,  vitalities,  virtues, 
attributes,  principles,  which  were  thus  produced,*  and 
in  the  first  instance  the  Sephiroth,  as  they  are  termed, 


authority  has  rejected  the  general  view,  and  does  not  regard  the 
Kabalah  as  a  system  of  emanation.  See  Joel,  Philosophic  Religieusc 
(fit  7,ohar. 

*  Isaac  Myer  :  "  Philosophy  of  Ibn  Gebirol,"  p.  266. 

t  That  is  to  say,  the  terms  emanation,  creation,  formation 
and  such  like,  signifying  distinct  ideas,  are  used  somewhat  indiscrimi 
nately  by  the  Kabalist>. 

t  Azariel,  in  his  work  on  the  Canticle  of  Canticles,  terms  them 
"measures  and  organs,"  and  in  the  Zohar  itself  they  appear  as  divine 
emanated  essences. 


42     ^ht  Jtortrine  anb  gDitmtur*  oi  the  glabalah 

belong  solely  to  the  world  of  Deity.       The  names 
which  are  assigned  to  them  are  •. 

I.  KETHER,  the  Supreme  Crown. 
II.  CHOKMAH,  Wisdom. 
III.  BlNAH,  Intelligence  or  Understanding. 
IV.  CHESED.     Mercy,  otherwise  Gedulah,  Magni 
ficence  or  Benignity. 
V.  GEBURAH,  Severity. 
VI.  TlPHERETH,  Beauty. 

VII.  NETZACH,  Splendour. 
VIII.  HOD,  Victory. 

IX.  JESOD,  the  Foundation. 
X.  MALKUTH,  the  Kingdom. 

The  conjunction  of  Chokmah  and  Binah  pro 
duced  a  quasi-emanation  called  Daath,  knowledge, 
but  it  is  not  one  of  the  Sephiroth* 

To  these  ten  emanations  or  numerations  various 
profound  meanings  are  attached ;  indeed,  the  study 
of  the  Kabalistic  system  of  the  Sephiroth  constitutes 
a  science  by  itself,  and  one  which  is  full  of  complexity. 
We  are  not  concerned  here  with  its  exhaustive  pre 
sentation,  which  would  fill  volumes,  or  with  more  than 
its  elementary  symbolism.  We  are  concerned,  in  a 

*  A  term  derived  from  a  word  signifying  "to  number,"  though 
late  Kabalists  offer  other  etymologies,  as,  for  example,  the  Greek 
cr^cupat  The  singular  is  Sephira.  The  emanations  are  regarded  as 
vessels,  receptacles  of  the  Divine  Power  and  attributes  as  they 
developed,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  these  vessels  were  usually 
considered  spherical.  See  especially  the  treatise  Beth  Elohim  con 
cerning  father,  in  which  the  idea  of  circularity  is  involved.  The 
author  of  the  "Gates  of  Light"  refers  the  term  to  the  Hebrew  word 
signifying  sapphire,  which  stone,  on  account  of  its  brightness  and 
purity,  is  a  symbol  of  the  Sephiroth.  Other  rabbinical  authorities 
have  supported  this  view.  See  Jellinek  :  Beitrdge  zur  Geschichte  der 
Kabbala.  Leipsic,  1851. 


vlhf  Hoctvinal££ontent  of  thf  gabalah          43 

word,  not  with  what  it  may  have  been  designed  to 
conceal  for  the  benefit  of  a  circle  of  initiates,  which  is 
the  claim  of  occult  science,  but  with  what  it  was 
intended  to  explain,  and  this  explanation  may  offer 
some  warrant  for  concluding  that  outside  it  there  is 
only  the  province  of  fantasy. 

Beyond  a  certain  point  it  is  not  reasonable  to 
suppose  a  double  meaning  in  any  literature ;  the 
theory  of  many-sided  allegories  does  credit  only  to 
the  ingenuity  of  the  critic,  and  of  its  general  value  we 
have  had  a  typical  instance  in  Talmudic  exegesis.* 

The  initial  purpose  of  the  Sephirotic  system  was 
undoubtedly  to  provide  intermediaries  between  the 
Deity  and  the  material  world.  It  is  that  of  all 
doctrines  of  emanation.  But  while  we  reject  con 
jectures  for  which  no  warrant  is  produced  we  must  be 
careful  not  to  fall  into  the  opposite  error.  To  bridge 
the  gulf  between  the  finite  and  the  infinite,  and  to 
effect  a  correspondence  by  stages  between  the  incon 
ceivable  purity  of  the  Divine  Nature  and  the  unclean- 
ness  attributed  to  matter  by  all  the  old  theosophies, 
was  not  the  sole  purpose  of  the  Sephirotic  system,  a 
point  which  is  sometimes  missed  by  the  merely 
academical  critic. 

It  is  affirmed  by  hostile  writers,  for  example,  by 


*  After  an  exhaustive  study  of  modern  occult  literature,  I  doubt 
much  whether  the  occultist  really  concerns  himself  with  the  discovery 
of  a  concealed  sense  in  the  Kabalah.  It  is  a  sufficient  exercise  of 
his  patience  to  codify  and  harmonise  the  outward  sen^e,  \\hich  is 
perhaps  a  little  irradiated  and  transcendentalised  by  his  methods,  but 
ircdly  not  removed.  Take,  for  example,  the  conception  of 
Ain  Soph  :  he  certainly  does  not  look  for  any  notion  more  withdrawn 
than  that  of  divine  latency  therein.  The  inner  meaning  of  the  Kabalah 
is  its  proper  and  single  sense,  which  has  been  confused  by  the  obscurity 
of  its  style  and  its  subject. 


44     ^he  ilcdrine  sub  literature  .of  the 

Dr.  Ginsburg,*  that  as  the  earliest  Kabalistic  litera 
ture  does  not  contain  the  doctrine  of  Am  Soph,  so  also 
it  wants  that  of  the  Sephiroth,  but  it  is  above  chal 
lenge  that  the  germ  of  the  Sephirotic  scheme  must  be 
sought  in  the  Sepher  Yetzirah.  The  ten  numerations 
of  that  treatise  are,  in  fact,  the  Sephiroth,  and  it  seems 
quite  impossible  to  maintain  the  contrary  opinion. t 


III.    THE   DOCTRINE   OF   THE   FOUR 
WORLDS 

The  Sephirotic  system  was  concerned  first  of  all, 
as  I  have  indicated,  with  the  mystery  of  Divine  Evolu 
tion.  From  that  unsearchable  condition  which  is 
above  consciousness,  by  a  mysterious  operation,  the 
Uncreated  Will  moved  outward,  and  subsequently 
three  manifestations  or  relations  of  Deity  were  estab 
lished.  By  the  first  manifestation  the  Ain  Soph 
passed  from  latency  into  activity  ;  the  non-Ego 
became  Ego,  subsisting  still,  however,  in  a  condition 
which  is  humanly  inconceivable,  in  the  state  of  pure 
abstract  thought.  The  concentration  of  this  thought 
is  depicted  in  Kether,  which  is  also  the  Divine  Will 
in  its  primordial  manifestation.  The  Supreme 
Crown  t  is,  symbolically  speaking,  the  base  or  sphere 

*  More  especially  in  his  article,  s.v.  Kabbalah,  contributed  to  the 
third  edition  of  Kitto's  "Cyclopaedia  of  Biblical  Literature." 

f  William  Postel,  the  first  translator  of  the  Sepher  Yetzirah, 
indubitably  regarded  the  Ten  Numerations  as  identical  with  the 
Sephiroth  of  more  evolved  Kabalism. 

J  In  the  treatise  entitled  the  "  Gates  of  Light,"  it  is  said  that  the 
name  of  Kether  is  applied  to  the  first  Sephira,  because  even  as  the 
crown  encircles  the  head  so  does  Kether  encircle  every  Sephira.  It  is 


The  Doctrinal  Content  of  the  gabalah         45 

of  the  Divine  Consciousness.  By  the  second  mani 
festation  the  abstract  thought  entered  into  or  de 
veloped  the  relationship  of  time,  so  that  it  could  be 
now  regarded  as  that  which  was,  which  is  and  is  to 
come.  Lastly,  it  established  a  relation  with  Nature — 
that  is  to  say,  its  development  produced  the  universe. 

By  a  slight  extension  of  the  symbolism  Kethcr 
is  also  regarded  as  the  Throne  of  the  Ancient  of 
Days,*  and  as  the  Divine  Consciousness  is  the  veil  of 
the  subsistent  state,  Ain  Soph  is  further  represented 
as  the  central  point  of  Kether,  regarded  as  a  sphere, 
and  the  circumference  is  infinity,  which  is,  as  it  were, 
the  Divine  Vestment.  The  later  Kabalists  explain 
that  this  is  because  Ketlier  has  no  vessel  or  receptacle 
wherein  it  may  be  contained. t  Hence  also  it  is 
beyond  all  cognition.  The  "  Book  of  Formation," 
however,  affirms  that  the  properties  of  all  the 
Sephiroth  are  infinite,  "  the  infinite  of  beginning,  the 
infinite  of  ending,  the  infinite  of  good,  the  infinite  of 

the  world  of  "  Direction,"  which  encompasses  all  things.  This 
statement  involves  the  view  that  the  Sephiroth  were  emanated  as  a 
series  of  concentric  circles,  a  point  which  will  be  dealt  with  later  on. 

*  The  term  Throne  is  applied  to  several  of  the  Sephiroth.  Thus 
l\falknlh  is  the  throne  of  judgment,  Tiphcreth  that  of  mercy.  Some- 
time>,  ho\ve\er,  />///(///  i^  termed  the  throne  of  mercy,  because  it  is  a.s 
a  seat  under  the  supernal  dilections.  Tiphereth  is  also  called  the 
throne  of  glory  when  it  receives  the  influence  of  the  thirty-two  paths  of 
wisdom.  See  Bk.  i.  §  10.  The  same  name  is  applied  to  Malkuth^ 
because  it  is  the  seat  of  Tip/ureth.  The  term  throne  taken  simply 
signifies  Malkitth,  and  Dinah  which  is  the  v- at  of  Malkuth.  Kabbala 

t  t'ata,  Apparatus  in  Libnim  Sohar,  B.T.  Throntis,  vol.  i.  p.  483. 
These  points  are  cited  only  to  show  the  chameleon  character  of  the 
symbolism. 

t  I  owe  this  statement  to  the  "  MoiaK  and  Dogma  of  the 
Ancient  and  Accepted  Scottish  Rite,"  compiled  by  Albert  Tike.  Grand 
Commander  of  the  Southern  Jurisdiction  of  the  U.S.A.  The  authority 
is  not  stated,  but  it  is,  I  believe,  from  "The  Royal  Valley,"  by  R. 
Napthali  Ilirtz. 


46     ^he  gtortrhu  anb  ICitoature  ot  the  gabalah 

evil,  the  infinite  in  elevation,  the  infinite  in  depth,  the 
infinite  at  the  East,  the  infinite  at  the  West,  the 
infinite  at  the  North,  the  infinite  at  the  South,  and  the 
Lord  alone  is  above  all ;  as  a  faithful  King  He 
governs  all  from  the  height  of  His  throne  in  the  ages 
of  ages."*  As  the  vessel  of  the  Divine  Consciousness, 
which  itself  is  contained  by  nothing,j*  Kether  contains 
all  things  ;J  it  is  the  egg  in  which  reposes  the  germ 
of  the  universe,  to  borrow  the  symbolism  of  another 
system.  In  particular  it  contains  the  remaining 
Sephiroth,  which  are  the  sum  of  all  things.  The 
Word  of  God  circulates  in  all,  and  Kether  is,  in  a 
special  sense,  the  Spirit  of  the  Living  God. 

The  second  Sephira  is  Wisdom,  but  seemingly 
of  a  middle  quality,  for  the  highest  of  all,  the  truly 
celestial  Wisdom,  can  be  referred  only  to  Kether. 
That  of  Chokmah  is,  notwithstanding,  so  transcendent 
that  no  creature  can  attain  it.  It  was  concealed  from 
Moses,  and  the  Wisdom  for  which  Solomon  was 
magnified  belongs  to  an  inferior  order,  which  connects 
with  the  lowest  of  the  Sephirotk.  The  Sephira 

*  Sepher  Yetzirah,  c.  i.  par.  4. 

f  This  appears  paradoxical,  but  just  as  Fichte  and  Carl  du  Prel 
have  maintained  that  the  human  ego  is  not  wholly  embraced  in  self- 
consciousness,  so  Kether  is  presumably  the  vessel  of  the  Divine  Con 
sciousness  in  the  sense  that  it  receives  an  influx  therefrom.  Readers 
will  remember  the  Universal  Solvent  which  yet  could  be  contained  in 
a  phial,  a  diverting  incident  in  one  of  the  "Tales  of  the  Genii." 
According  to  the  "  Royal  Valley,"  A  in  Soph  had  full  consciousness  and 
appreciation,  prior  to  their  actual  existence,  of  all  the  grades  and 
impersonations  contained  unmanifested  within  Itself. 

%  There  is  hence,  as  Isaac  de  Acco  observes  in  his  treatise  on 
"The  Enlightenment  of  the  Eyes,"  a  unity  of  the  ten  Sephirofh'm 
themselves,  which  unity  is  concentrated  always  in  Ain  Soph.  It  must, 
perhaps,  be  admitted  that  this  idea  is  contained  implicitly  in  the 
Zoharic  statement  that  Ain  Soph  is  the  beginning  and  end  of  all  degrees 
in  the  creation. 


fortrinal  Content  of  the  gtabalah         47 

Chokmah  is  described  by  the  "  Book  of  Formation  " 
as  the  Breath  of  the  Spirit  of  God. 

Dinah,  Intelligence  or  Understanding,  is  symboli 
cally  represented  by  the  same  fundamental  authority 
as  the  moisture  of  the  Breath  of  the  Spirit.  It  is  the 
highest  Scphira  with  which  man  can  establish  corre 
spondence,  but  it  contains  at  the  same  time  one 
mystery  which  was  also  concealed  from  Moses.  The 
root  of  all  roots  and  the  foundation  of  all  foundations 
is  by  it  communicated  to  man,  who  could  otherwise 
have  no  knowledge  of  the  antecedent  states  of  the 
Divine  Nature.* 

Magnificence  or  Mercy,  Gedulah  or  Chesed,  the 
fourth  emanation,  is  the  warmth  or  fire  contained 
within  the  moisture  breathed  forth  by  the  Spirit  of 
God.  It  expresses  the  eternal  love  and  compassion, 
connecting  with  life  and  vitality.  It  is  the  base  of  the 
beneplacituin  tcrmine  carens  mentioned  in  the  last 
section  and  supposes  implicitly  the  free  will  of  the 
Divine  Agent.  It  follows  from  this  as  a  consequence 
that  the  universe  was  made  or  emanated,  not  because 
anything  was  wanting  to  the  Divine  completeness,  but 
out  of  the  fulness  of  goodwill,  which  is,  however,  in 
distinct  opposition  to  some  of  the  later  Kabalists, 
especially  Isaac  de  Loria.*  Symbolically  speaking, 
Chesed  is  therefore  the  Scphira  by  which  God  con 
stituted  the  world. 

*  All  things,  according  to  the  commentary  of  Isaac  de  Loria,  in  a 
certain  and  most  abstruse  manner,  consist  and  reside  and  are  contained 
in  Hinah,  which  projects  them  and  send.,  them  clou  awards,  species  by 
species,  into  the  several  worlds  of  Emanation,  Creation,  Formation  and 
Fabrication.  Dinah  is  hence  represented  as  a  great  reservoir  or  o 
it  is  the  source  of  prophetic  inspiration,  as  Chokmah  is  that  of  revelation. 

t  See  Liber  Drushim,  a  metaphysical  introduction  to  the  Kabalah* 
Kabbala  Dfnudata,  vol.  i.  pt.  2     Also  Book  vi.  §  i  of  this  work. 


48     Ihe  ifljctrine  an*  ^iterate*  ot  tht  gabalah 

The  fifth  Sephira  is  Geburah,  signifying  Judg 
ment,  Justice,  Judicial  Power,  known  also  as  Pachad, 
or  Fear.  It  is  the  supernal  tribunal  before  which 
nothing  can  subsist. 

Tiphereth,  or  Beauty,  the  sixth  Sephira,  is,  in  a 
sense,  the  conjunction  of  Mercy  and  Judgment  and 
summarises  the  Divine  goodness ;  it  is  the  heart  of 
the  pillar  of  benignity. 

But  the  Divine  Benignity  is  manifested  by  the 
victory  signified  in  Netzach,  the  seventh  Sephira. 
There  are  three  rays  diffused  from  the  splendour  of 
Providence — Benignity,  Beauty  and  Victory.  When 
they  shine  and  are  diffused  over  the  Sephiroth  the 
whole  world  is  filled  with  joy  and  perfection,  for  the 
Divine  goodness  itself  looks  forth  upon  all  creatures, 
and  all  the  worlds  are  in  fulness  and  completeness.* 
This  Sephira  is  also  termed  Eternity. 

The  eighth  Sephira,  Hod,  signifies  Glory,  Adorn 
ment,  Splendour.  In  combination  with  Netzach  it  is 
termed  the  armies  of  Jehovah.  All  the  salutations 
and  praises  contained  in  the  Psalter  of  David  belong 
to  this  emanation.  It  is  the  place  of  praise,  the  place 
of  wars  and  victories,  and  of  the  treasury  of  benefits.f 

Jesod,  the  Basis  or  Foundation,  the  ninth 
Sephira,  is  the  storehouse  of  all  forces,  the  seat  of  life 
and  vitality,  and  the  nourishment  of  all  the  worlds.} 

*  Apparatus  in  Libnun  Sohar.  Kabbala  Denudata,  s.v. 
Super  atio,  i.e.  Netzach,  p.  589  et  seq. 

t  Ibid.  s.v.  Decus,  Gloria,  i.e.  Hod,  p.  268  et  seq.  According 
to  the  Zohar  Netzach  and  Hod  correspond  to  extension,  multiplication 
and  force,  and  thence  issue  all  the  forces  of  the  universe,  for  which 
reason  these  Sephiroth  are  also  termed  the  Armies  of  the  Eternal. 
Zohar,  iii. ,  296  a,  Mantua. 

%  Kabbala  Denudata,  Apparatus,  s.v.  Fundament  :t  in  t  \.z.,Jesod, 
p.  439  et  seq. 


Doctrinal  Content  of  the  Jiabalah          49 

Malkutii  is  the  tenth  Scphira,  signifying 
Dominion,  Royalty,  Kingdom.  In  the  "  Lesser  Holy 
Synod  "  it  is  termed  "  the  Mother  of  all  the  Living." 
It  is  the  final  manifestation,  emanation,  or  develop 
ment  of  the  Divine  Nature  taking  place  in  the  Divine 
World,  and  is,  therefore,  that  point  at  which  the  more 
external  orders  make  contact  with  the  supernal.* 

To  this  brief  general  description,  which  rests  on 
the  authority  and  reproduces  the  words  of  the 
Kabalists,  I  will  now  add  the  heads  of  an  occult 
interpretation,  which  is,  of  course,  conjectural,  but  has 
a  very  reasonable  aspect 

Ain  Soph,  the  Unknowable  and  Absolute,  mani 
fests  through  the  efflux  of  the  spiritual  and  material 
universe,  using  the  Sephiroth  as  its  media.  The 
first  emanation  symbolises  Abstract  Thought,  the 
Absolute  assuming  consciousness  to  manifest  out 
wardly.  The  second  emanation  represents  the 
association  of  abstract  ideas  in  the  intellect,  which 
association  is  Wisdom.  The  third  emanation  is  Mind 
receiving  the  impression  of  the  abstract  ideas.  These 
three  constitute  the  Spirit  of  the  World.  The  second 
triad  of  Sephiroth,  Mercy,  Judgment  and  Beauty, 
includes  the  principles  of  construction  and  symbolises 
the  abstract  dimensions  of  matter,  length,  breadth, 
depth  and  their  double  polarity.  Chesed  and 
Geburah  are  the  centripetal  and  centrifugal  energies 
between  the  poles  of  the  dimensions.  In  their  junc 
tion  with  Tiphereth  they  represent  all  ethical  life  and 
perfection.  They  correspond  to  the  Soul  of  the 

Hence  it  is  said  that  the  tenth  Sefihira  is  the  Shtkinah,  that  is, 
the  place  of  the  manifestation  of  Deity. 


50     ^he  50rtriite  anfo  fUtterahtr*  of  iht  Jiabalah 

World.  The  third  triad  is  dynamic  ;  its  Sephiroth 
signify  the  Deity  as  universal  potentiality,  energy  and 
productive  principle.  They  answer  to  the  idea  of 
Nature,  the  natura  naturans,  however,  and  not  the 
natura  naturata.  The  tenth  Sephira,  or  Malkuth, 
represents  the  Concrete,  and  is  the  energy  and  execu 
tive  power  of  the  Abstract  Intellect* 

The  important  point  to  remember  as  regards 
both  tabulations  is  that,  although  their  wording  is 
open  occasionally  to  another  significance,  they  are 
neither  concerned  as  yet  with  any  material  evolution, 
but  solely  with  that  development  of  the  Divine  Prin 
ciples  which  found  its  ultimation  at  last  on  the 
material  plane,  between  which  and  the  Divine  there 
was  the  intervention,  as  we  shall  see,  of  two  mediate 
worlds,  f 

Now,  it  must  be  confessed  that  the  distinction 
seems  absolute  between  the  Sephirotic  system  and 
any  anthropomorphic  conception  of  Deity;  it  is 
arbitrary  to  the  point  of  fantastic,  but  it  seems  outside 
all  human  correspondences.  Its  point  of  view  is  that 
the  visible  world  is  the  last  consequence  in  the 
development  of  the  attributes  of  God,  or  that  God  in 
order  to  create  had  to  pass  outward  from  his  eternal 
subsistence.  The  Sephiroth  are  the  symbolism  of  the 
attributes,  and  the  course  of  their  efflux  is  the  history 

*  Summarised  from  Isaac  Myer's  "  Philosophy  of  Ibn  Gebirol," 
§  xiii. 

t  So  also  it  is  said  by  the  later  Kabalists  that  God  called  Himself 
Wisdom  in  Chokmah,  Intelligent  in  Binah,  in  Chesed  He  took  the 
character  of  Great  and  Benignant,  in  Geburah  of  Rigourous,  in 
Tiphereth  of  Beautiful,  in  Netzach  of  Overcoming,  in  Hod  of  our 
Glorious  Author,  in  Jesod  of  our  Support,  by  Jesod  all  vessels  and 
worlds  being  upheld,  while  in  Malkuth  He  applied  to  Himself  the 
title  of  King. 


The  Doctrinal  Content  of  the  lubalah          51 

of  the  Divine  evolution.*  This  course  or  sequence  is 
the  subject  of  much  discussion  among  Kabalistic 
writers.  It  is  generally  held  that  the  Sephiroth  were 
contained  originally  one  within  the  other,  that  is, 
Kether  enclosed  all  those  below  it,  CkokinaJi  enclosed 
Binah,  while  Binah  contained  the  seven  last,  produced 
by  a  successive  efflux.  "  Originated  by  points,  they 
expanded  in  circular  shape — ten  circles  under  the 
mystery  of  the  ten  Sepkirotk  and  between  them  ten 
spaces."f 

The  entire  emanation,  unlikely  as  it  may  seem, 
was  collected  together  under  the  notion  of  a  heavenly 
man,  Adam  Kadmon,  archetypal  and  primordial.  It 
was  similarly  collected  under  the  notion  of  a  supreme 
world,  termed  Atziluth,  the  World  of  Deity,  J  of  which 
Adam  Kadmon  §  was  the  sole  occupant!)  This  in  a 
special  manner  is  termed  the  World  of  Emanations. 
From  this  proceeded  a  second  world,  having  also  its 
Sephirotic  decade,  that  of  Creation,  called  Briak,  but 
not,  as  I  infer,  to  be  understood  in  the  usual  accepta 
tion  of  that  term,  for  Briah  also  came  forth  or  was 
emanated.  It  was,  in  fact,  a  consequence  of  the 
superior  world,  namely,  of  the  effectuating  energies  of 
the  Supreme  Will,  resident  in  the  Archetypal  World. 
The  Sephirotic  forces  were  carried  forward  in  Brink 
and  by  this  prolonged  emanation  was  the  world  of 
highest  finite  intelligence,  technically  that  of  the  arch- 

*  It  is  in  this  sense  that  the  ten  Sephiroth  are  said  to  form  a 
strict  unity  among  themselves  and  also  with  Ain  Soph. 

t  Introductio  in  Lit, rum  Sohar,  i.e.,  Vallis  Rcgia.  See  A'abba/a 
Dontdata,  vol.  ii.  p.  152  tt  scq. 

£  The  "  intelligible  world,"  of  the  Zohar. 

§  That  is,  the  Man  from  the  I 

I!  Myer :  "  Philosophy  of  Ibn  Gebirol,"  p.  418. 


52     ^he  Stortrine  anb  Jtterature  vt  the 

angels,  produced.  But  the  Sephirotic  prolongation 
was  continued  into  a  third  world,  that  of  Yetzirah,  or 
formation,  the  abode  of  the  angelic  choirs.  Though 
further  removed  from  Supreme  Perfection,  there  is 
not  a  taint  of  the  material  in  this  abode  of  incorporeal 
beings.  It  is  otherwise  with  the  World  of  Action,  the 
fourth  product  of  the  tenfold  emanation,  Assta/i,  the 
region  of  matter  and  also  the  dwelling  of  the  demons, 
called  shells  or  Cortices  by  the  Kabalists.  In  common 
with  many  other  systems  of  emanation  this  material 
world  is  regarded  as  the  gross  purgations  of  the  upper 
regions.  It  should  be  observed,  however,  that  the 
Sephiroth  permeate  the  four  systems,  but  they 
deteriorate  as  they  proceed  further  from  Am  Soph 
and  the  corruption  of  the  infernal  world,  the  formless 
region  and  the  seven  hells  of  Kabalism  are  the 
extreme  limits  of  the  emanation  which  begins  in 
Kether.  Thus,  in  order  to  explain  the  imperfections 
found  in  the  world-craft  of  a  perfect  author  the 
deterioration  of  his  infinite  energy  is  not  disdained  as 
a  resource.  It  is  easy  to  criticise  such  a  system,  or  to 
set  it  down  as  beneath  criticism,  but,  again,  the  dis 
ability  is  common  to  the  dreams  of  all  emanationists. 
It  remains  to  say  that  we  have  the  distinct  authority 
of  the  Zohar  for  regarding  the  demons  as  products 
of  the  will  of  God  and  designed  for  a  specific 
purpose ;  but  this  point  may  be  reserved  for  further 
consideration  at  a  later  stage.* 

Broadly  speaking,  the  Four  Worlds  of  the 
Kabalah  may  be  regarded  as  corresponding  in  the 
physical  order : 

*  We  have  already  seen  that,  according  to  the  "Book  of 
Formation,"  the  ten  Sephiroth  are  the  infinite  of  evil  as  well  as  of  good. 


The  Doctrinal  (Content  of  the  JUbalah          53 

(a)  ATZILUTH,  to  the  Primum  Mobile. 
(£)  BRIAH,  to  the  sphere  of  the  Zodiac. 

(c)  YETZIRAH,  to  the  planetary  chain. 

(d)  ASSIAH,  to  the  world  of  the  four  elements. 

Thus,  astronomy  is  at  the  basis  of  the  conception. 

The  doctrine  of  the  Four  Worlds  was  developed 
between  the  period  of  the  Sepher  Yetzirah  and  that 
of  the  promulgation  of  the  Zohar,  and  it  received 
many  increments  from  the  commentators  on  the 
latter  work.  It  is  first  met  with  in  the  "  Book  of 
Emanation,"  which  is  a  product  of  the  school  of  Isaac 
the  Blind.  This  treatise  is  ascribed  to  R.  Jacob 
Nazir.  Its  distribution  of  the  Four  Worlds  differs 
from  the  above  tabulation  in  one  or  two  respects,  as, 
for  example,  by  referring  the  souls  of  the  just  to 
Briah,  the  archangelic  world.  It  should  be  added 
that  the  Zohar  also  recognises  a  distribution  of  the 
Sephiroth  into  Three  Worlds— (i)  Intelligible,  (2) 
Moral,  (3)  Natural. 


IV.    THE    DOCTRINE    OF   THE 
COUNTENANCES 

The  Four  Worlds  are  also  depicted  in  a  single 
Sephirotic  scheme,  and  this  leads  us  to  another  order 
of  symbolism  established  for  a  distinct  purpose, 
namely,  the  vindication  of  the  relationship  between 
man  and  God.  This  vindication  is  founded,  it  will  be 
superfluous  to  say,  on  God's  providence  regarding  the 
Jewish  nation,  as  it  is  recorded  in  the  sacred  literature 
of  the  First  Covenant.  There  are  many  respects, 


54     ^he  t&Qtinnt  anfo  fpterature  of  the  giabalah 

however,  in  which  it  is  not  at  all  peculiar  to  that 
nation,  and  there  are  indeed  traces  of  a  very  liberal 
and  almost  Catholic  doctrine  in  the  books  which  form 
the  Kabalah.  The  Chosen  People  is  the  channel  by 
which  all  grace  and  favour  are  communicated  from 
above,  but  the  gifts  of  the  Divine  Mercy  derive 
through  Israel  to  the  world  at  large ;  the  union  of  the 
divine  potency  with  Zion  incorporates  all  things 
together,  so  that  they  are  as  one  body,  and  by  this 
union  the  whole  universe  is  found  to  be  in  joy.* 
Again,  it  is  said  that  a  certain  light  falls  from 
the  supernal  which  blesses  the  whole  world,  so 
that  wrath  is  no  longer  found  in  the  universe ; 
"  all  the  worlds  rejoice  and  are  fulfilled  with  all 
perfection." 

The  relations  of  God  with  man  are,  however, 
those  which  are  delineated  in  the  dealings  between 
Jehovah  and  Jewry,  and  the  conception  of  the  God  of 
Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob  had  to  be  harmonised  with 
the  exalted  or  at  least  recondite  Godhead  of  Am 
SopJi  and  the  Sephirotic  system.  Now,  Ain  Soph,  as 
such,  the  latens  Deitas,  being  essentially  unknowable 
and  outside  the  region  of  correspondence  and  relation 
ship,  enters  by  manifestation  into  a  quasi-knowable 
but  still  unsearchable  and  transcendent  state  in  the 
supernal  triad  of  the  Sephiroth.  Therefore,  this  triad 
is  taken  to  represent  the  entire  Sephirotic  system  of 
the  Atzilutic  world.  We  have  seen  that  this  world  is 
regarded  as  the  abode  of  Adam  Kadmon,  who  is  also 
its  sole  denizen.  In  the  alternative  symbolism  with 
which  we  are  now  dealing,  this  notion  of  the  Body  of 

*  See  "The  Lesser  Holy  Synod,"  §  xxii.,  Kabbala  Denudata, 
II.,  p. 


The  Doctrinal  Content  of  the  gUbalah         55 

God  is  replaced  by  that  of  a  Vast  Countenance,* 
resident  in  Kether  and  termed  the  Macroprosopus. 
By  this  head,  devoid  of  all  lower  conformation,  the 
antithesis  of  anthropomorphic  Deity  is  shadowed 
forth,  and  the  qualities  ascribed  to  it  are  also  the 
antithesis  of  the  embodied  Jehovah.  As  Ain  Soph  is 
the  Closed  Eye  of  the  Unknown  Darkness,  so  in  the 
Vast  Countenance  the  eye  is  open  aud  never  closes.f 
for  the  subsistence  of  the  universe  and  all  its  worlds 
depends  upon  the  light  which  shines  therefrom.!  In 
this  Vast  Countenance  there  is  neither  wrath  nor 
judgment,  while  all  wrath  and  judgment  which 
operate  in  the  world  and  in  humanity  are  held  in 
check  by  the  mercy  and  longanimity  of  Macro- 
prosoptts  to  such  an  extent  that  they  may  be  regarded 
as  counterbalanced  and  annulled  in  the  last  disposi 
tion.  There  is  no  need  to  expatiate  here  on  the 
symbolism,  to  which  reference  must  be  made  again. 
It  is  sufficient  to  note  that  the  first  Sephirotic  emana 
tion,  corresponding  to  the  self-consciousness  and 
abstract  thought  of  the  Supreme  Being,  is  a  God 
described  by  the  Kabalists  in  terms  which  are  in 
tentionally  the  reverse  of  the  salient  characteristics 
ascribed  to  the  Old  Testament  Deity.  From  Macro- 
prosopus,  through  the  SepJiira  Wisdom,  under  the 
aspect  of  a  masculine  potency,  and  through  the  third 
SepJiira,  the  feminine  ttinah,  Understanding^  there  is 

*  Called  Arik  Anf>in  in  the  Zohar  and  its  dependencies. 

t  "Book  of  Concealment,"  c.  i.  v.  14. 

£  The  same  notion  is  found  in  Indian  mythology,  and  readers  of 
Southey's  "Curse  of  Kehama"  will  remember  what  followed  the 
sudden  veiling  of  the  eyes  of  Seeva. 

§  These  are  the  Supernal  Father  and  the  Supernal  Mother,  who 
must  be  regarded,  however,  us  modes  of  the  manifestation  of  Macro- 
prosopus. 


56     Ihe  Jlortrme  attb  literature  ot  the  Jiabalah 

emanated  the  Lesser  Countenance,*  or  Micro- 
prosopus,  possessing  bodily  configuration  and 
extended  through  the  six  emanations  from  Chesed 
to  Jesod  inclusive.  It  embraces,  therefore,  the  two 
inferior  triads  of  the  Sephtroth,  the  worlds  of  Creation 
and  Formation.  But  as  Kether  in  the  world  of 
Atzilutli  is  attributed  specially  to  the  Vast 
Countenance,  so  is  Tiphereth  in  Briah  to  the  Lesser 
Countenance.  As  longanimity  is  the  characteristic 
of  Macroprosopus,  so  is  "  swiftness  to  wrath  "  that  of 
the  inferior  being,  parvam  faciem  habens,  cito 
irasccns^  These  comparative  qualities  are  typified 
by  length  and  shortness  of  face.  Microprosopus  is 
regarded  by  modern  occultism  as  the  shadow  or 
reflection  of  the  superior  manifestation,  but  this  view 
is  not  entirely  borne  out  by  Kabalistic  literature. 
Making  due  allowance  for  all  inexactitude,  it  repre 
sents  in  a  general  manner  what  is  designed  to  be 
enforced  by  the  symbolism,  and  the  sole  point  which 
we  are  concerned  in  establishing  here  is  that  Micro 
prosopus  is  the  mediator  between  God  and  Man.  It 
is  not,  however,  in  the  Christian  sense  of  mediation, 
that  of  intercession,  for  wrath,  vengeance  and  judg 
ment  are  not  in  the  Vast  Countenance,  even  as  they 
are  not  in  Ain  Soph,  The  mediation  is  communica 
tive  or  sacramental.  In  the  natural  order  it  is  the 
human  conception  of  Deity,  to  which  God  con 
descends  and  may  be  said  in  a  sense  to  verify  and 
even  to  inform.  J  Conversely,  as  regarded  from  above, 
it  is  the  construction  of  the  Divine  Nature,  so  that  its 

*  Called  Zair  Anpin  in  the  Zohar. 

t  Apparatus  in  Libruni  Sohar,  Kabbala  Demidata,  vol.  i.  p.  312, 
s.v.  Macroprosopus. 

%  Eliphas  Levi,  Le  Livre  des  Splendeurs,  Paris,  1894,  p.  69. 


goctrinal  QTontent  of  the  Jtobalah          57 

knowledge  and  its  power  may  be  derived  to  mankind. 
It  is  the  adjustment  of  the  infinite  being  to  finite 
possibilities,  so  that  the  limited  may  receive  a  certain 
measure  of  the  boundless.  It  is  so  much  of  God  as 
man  by  his  constitution  and  estate  is  capable  of 
comprehending ;  it  is  Divine  Providence  leading 
humanity  by  an  administration  suited  to  humanity,  by 
the  way  of  contest  and  prize,  by  the  way  of  kindness 
and  severity,  of  reward  and  punishment.  God  in 
Himself  is  above  all  these  things,  but  they  are  neces 
sary  to  His  froward  children.  In  a  word,  it  is  so 
much  of  the  Principle  of  Newton  as  would  be  under 
stood  in  a  village  school,  namely,  the  illustration  of 
the  falling  apple. 

That  this  is  the  significance  of  the  symbolism  is 
evinced  further  by  the  Sephirotic  allotment  of  certain 
Divine  Names  which  occur  continually  in  the  Bible. 
The  affirmation  of  self-existence  and  self-conscious 
ness  is  made  in  the  Name  which  signifies,  I  am  that 
I  am,  AHIH,*  and  this  is  referred  to  Kef  her,  while 
the  world  of  Atziluth  generally  embraces  the 
mysterious  name,  never  uttered  and  therefore  re 
garded  as  incomprehensible  and  unpronounceable, 
JOD,  HE,  VAU,  HE.t  When  the  Israelite  comes  to 
this  name  in  the  Bible,  he  omits  it  altogether,  or 
substitutes  ADNI,  Adonai,  the  Lord.  The  word 


*  "It  is  possible,"  says  Maimonidcs,  "that  in  the  Hebrew 
language,  of  which  we  have  but  a  slight  knowledge  now,  7\it\j^rammafont 
in  the  way  it  was  pronounced,  conveyed  the  meaning  of  absolute 
existence."— M.  Friedlander :  "The  Guide  of  the  Perplexed  of 
Maimonides,"  vol.  i.  (March,  part  i.  c.  61)  p.  228. 

f  It  is  unpronounceable,  because  its  real  vowels  are  unknown. 
See  Renan  :  "  History  of  Israel,"  note  to  c.  vi.  More  accurately,  the 
first  three  letters  belong  to  the  supernal  Sephiroth  and  the  fourth  to 
the  inferior  seven.  The  attributions,  however,  vary. 


58     <3Ihe  Stortrine  an&  literature  ot  the  gabalah 

which  we  render  Jehovah  belongs,  therefore,  to  the 
symbolism  of  the  Vast  Countenance,  to  the  God  who 
is  not  as  man  is.  But  AL  and  its  derivatives,  Jehovah, 
or  the  Lord  of  Hosts,  those  lesser  names  of  which  the 
contents  can  be  grasped  by  the  human  mind  and  can 
therefore  be  uttered,  are  the  Names  of  the  Lesser 
Countenance.  The  relation  between  Macroprosopus 
and  Microprosopus  is  the  philosophical  hypothesis  of 
the  correspondence  between  the  absolute  as  it  is  and 
the  absolute  as  conceived  by  man.  The  disparity 
between  them  registers  the  inadequacy  of  all  human 
conceptions  of  the  Uivinity,  fully  recognised  by  every 
Kabalist  as  abounding  in  that  book  which  he  re 
garded  as  more  Divine  than  any. 

Like  the  Sephirotic  system,  the  doctrine  of  the 
Four  Worlds  and  the  two  Countenances  is  curiously 
involved,  and  though  in  its  elements  it  is  exceedingly 
simple,  in  its  elaborations  it  is  highly  technical.  As 
in  the  single  Sephirotic  scheme  with  which  we  have 
been  dealing  here  the  first  triad  of  emanations  is  held 
to  represent  the  world  of  Atziluth,  so  the  second  triad 
comprehends  Briah  and  the  third  the  world  of 
Formation,  or  Yetzirah.  Assiah^  the  fourth  world,  is 
contained  in  Malkuth.  Now,  with  Microprosopus 
there  is  associated  the  symbol  of  a  Bride,  who  is  in 
fact  Malkuth,  or  the  Kingdom,  in  which  sense  it 
would  follow  that  the  visible  creation  is  the  Spouse 

of  God,  or  rather  of  that  lesser  Divine  Manifestation 

• 

which  alone  communicates  with  man.  The  locus 
sanctorum,  the  organ  of  nuptial  intercourse,  is,  how 
ever,  "  the  place  called  Zion  and  Jerusalem,"*  and  it  is, 

*  Laurence  Oliphant  quoted  these  and  similar  passages  to  prove 
the  sanctity  and  mysticism  with  which  the  notion  of  sexual  conjunction, 


Doctrinal  Content  of  the  gabalah          59 

therefore,  in  Israel  only  that  the  communication  is 
received.  The  office  of  Israel  is  hence  the  dispensa 
tion  of  the  divine  to  the  world  and  men.* 

The  doctrine  of  the  Countenances  is  the  subject 
of  special  development  in  the  "  Book  of  Conceal 
ment  "  and  its  supplements,  being  tracts  introduced 
into  the  Zohar ;  it  was  unknown  to  the  Sepher 
Yetzirah  or  its  early  commentators. 


V.    THE    INSTRUMENTS    OF    CREATION 

It  must  be  confessed  that,  so  far,  Kabalistic  litera 
ture  deserves  to  be  called  philosophical.  The  doctrine 
of  A  in  SopJi  may  be  classed  with  Platonic  con 
ceptions  ;  the  SepHirotic  system  will  not  suffer  by 
comparison  with  any  other  dream  of  emanation  and 
may  even  challenge  all ;  the  motive  which  underlies 
the  metaphysics  of  the  two  Countenances  is  singularly 
profound  and  may  be  regarded  as  the  chief  glory  of 
the  Kabalah.  We  must  now,  however,  approach  its 
fantastic  portions.  We  have  seen  that  the  World  of 
Briah  is  that  of  Creation,  but  whatever  reservations 
may  be  inferred  from  Kabalistic  writers  on  the  axiom 
ex  niJdlo  nihil  fit,\  we  have  seen  also  that  their  use 

and  the  act  itself,  was  invested,  as  he  said,  from  the  earliest  times. 
But  his  opinion  of  the  Kabalah  was  derived  only  from  Mr.  Mathers' 
translation  of  the  "occultation  "  scries,  and  he  had  probably  never 
heard  of  the  controversial  history  of  the  Zohar.  See  "Scientific 
Religion,"  London,  1888,  Appendix  I. 

*  This  is  a  further  development  of  the  Talmudic  doctrine  that 
Zion  is  not  only  the  centre  of  the  earth  but  the  starting  point  of  the 
universe.  Consult  also  the  Kuzari,  of  R.  Judas  Ha  Levi. 

t  According  to  Myer,  the  speculative  or  metaphysical  Kabalah  is 
an  attempt  to  harmonise  Hebrew  monotheism  with  the  "fundamental 


60     ^he  Jtortrine  anb  SJtterature  of  the  J 

of  the  term  Creation  does  not  at  all  correspond  to  the 
sense  of  Christian  cosmology,  because  that  which  they 
called  Nothing  evasively  was  the  plenitude  in  which 
the  All  lay  latent  Further,  the  world  of  Briak  was 
not  that  in  which  anything  material  was  formed, 
emanated,  or  otherwise  brought  into  actual  being ;  it 
was  rather  the  Elohistic  world,  that  of  Panurgic  force 
and  intelligence,  which  became  formative  in  Yetzirah, 
but  did  not  produce  matter  except  in  the  fourth 
world.  Now  the  materials  used  and  shaped,  or, 
perhaps,  more  properly  speaking,  the  instruments,  the 
matrices  of  the  material  world,  are  said  by  the 
Kabalists  to  have  been  the  letters  of  the  Hebrew 
alphabet.  According  to  the  Sepher  Yetzirah,  God 
imparted  to  them  form  and  weight  by  combining  and 
transforming  them  in  divers  manners,  Aleph  with  all 
the  rest  and  all  the  rest  with  Aleph  ;  Beth  with  all 
and  all  with  Beth  ;  and  so  of  the  rest.*  Some 
hundreds  of  permutations  were  obtained  in  this 
manner,  which  are  the  origin  not  only  of  all  languages 
but  of  all  creatures.  As  these  permutations  can,  by 
the  hypothesis,  be  reduced  to  a  single  name,  that  of 
Tetragrammation,  the  JOD,  HE,  VAU,  HE,  which  I 
have  had  occasion  to  mention  previously,  it  is  said  that 
the  entire  universe  proceeds  from  this  name.-)-  The 

principle  of  ancient  philosophy,"  namely,  the  axiom  quoted  above. 
"Philosophy  of  Ibn  Gebirol,"  p.  230.  This  was  also  the  design  of 
Maimonides  in  his  "  Guide  of  the  Perplexed." 

*  Sepher  Yetzirah,  c.  ii.  par.  4.  Cf.  the  Talmudic  teaching 
that  the  present  world  was  created  by  God  with  the  letter  He  and  the 
world  to  come  with  the  letter /0<£ 

t  And  thus  the  comprehension  of  this  name  gives  all  knowledge 
according  to  the  Kabalists.  Compare  E'liphas  Levi.  who  reduces  the 
doctrine  to  an  axiom  :  "All  knowledge  is  in  a  word,  all  power  in  a 
name  ;  the  intelligence  of  this  name  is  the  Science  of  Abraham  and 
Solomon."  Clefs  Ma-'eures,  Paris,  1895. 


\Thc  Doctrinal  Content  of  the  glabalah          61 

reader  will  discern  at  once  the  nature  of  the  device, 
which  may  be  methodised  by  a  simple  process  : 

The  world  came  forth  from  God  : 
But  the  name  of  God  is  niPP  5 
Therefore  the  world  came  forth  from 


The  fundamental  letters  of  the  Book  of  Forma 
tion  are  not,  however,  those  which  compose  the  Divine 
Name  ;  they  are  Alcpk  (^),  Mem  (ft)  and  Shin  (^), 
distinguished  as  the  Three  Mothers  and  correspond 
ing  to  Air,  Water  and  Fire.  The  heavens  are  formed 
of  Fire,  the  Earth  is  of  Water,  and  the  Air  of  the 
mediate  Spirit. 

Their  correspondences  are  :  in  the  year,  the 
torrid,  frigid  and  temperate  seasons  ;  in  man,  the 
head,  belly  and  breast. 

Besides  the  Three  Mothers  there  are  seven 
double  letters—  Beth  (i=B),  Ghimel  (:  =  G).  Daleth 
(-7  =  0),  Kaph  k  =  K),  Pe  (B  =  P),  Resh  (^  =  R)  and 
Tau  Q-\  =  T,  Th).  These  seven  signs  stand  in  the 
Book  of  Formation  for  :  — 


Life               \ 

'  Death 

Peace 

Strife 

Knowledge 
Wealth 
Grace 

f  and  their  opposites  ' 

Ignorance 
Poverty 
Sin 

Fruitfulness 
Dominion 

Sterility 
^  Slavery 

*  It  will  be  unnecessary  to  point  out  that  this  is  a  logical  non 
scquitur,  hut  it  must  be  added  that  for  the  Kabalistic  Jew  the  true  name 
of  God,  as  indeed  of  any  existence,  was  a  manifestation  of  its  essence 
and,  as  such,  inseparable  therefrom. 


62     ^Ehe  gtodrine  mtfc  IDiteratut*  of  tlie  JUbalah 
Their  correspondences  in  the  universe  are :  — 


East 
West 
Height 


Depth 
North 
South 


and  the  Holy  Palace,  fixed  in  the  centre  and  sustain 
ing  all  things.  When  the  seven  double  letters  had 
been  shaped  by  the  Deity,  He  combined  and  created 
therewith  the  planets  in  the  heaven ;  the  days  in  the 
year — i.e.,  the  seven  days  of  creation ;  and  the  gates 
in  man — i.e.,  eyes,  ears,  nostrils  and  mouth. 

There  are,  finally,  twelve  simple  letters,  having 
the  following  correspondences  in  man  and  the 
world :  — 


HE 

n-E  = 

Sight 

N.E. 

VAU      = 

i.  v 

Hearing       — 

S.E. 

DZAIN 

t.  z 

Smell 

E.  Height 

CHETH  = 

n,  Ch  = 

Speech 

E.  Depth 

TETH    = 

»,T  = 

Digestion 

N.W. 

JOD 

^>      -^ 

Coition 

s.w. 

LAMED  = 

L),      L      : 

Action 

W.  Height 

NUN 

D,   N  = 

Motion 

W.  Depth 

SAMEK  = 

D»  s 

Wrath 

S.  Height 

AIN 

y, 

Mirth 

S.  Depth 

TSADE  = 

2»    Ts  = 

Meditation  = 

N.  Height 

QUOPH  = 

p>  Q  = 

Sleep 

N.  Depth 

By  means  of  the  twelve  simples  there  were 
created  the  signs  of  the  zodiac,  the  twelve  months 
and  the  twelve  directors  of  man — i.e.,  the  two  hands, 
the  feet,  the  two  kidneys,  the  liver,  the  gall,  the  spleen, 
the  colon,  the  bladder  and  the  arteries. 

I    must   leave    my   readers   to   decide    how    this 


vlhc  Jlortrinal  Content  of  the  gabalah         63 

bizarre  system  is  to  be  interpreted.  It  has  been 
regarded  by  one  or  two  critics  who  have  no  occult 
leanings  as  a  serious  attempt  to  devise  a  philosophical 
cosmology ;  *  but  for  myself  I  must  confess  that  I  do 
not  see  in  what  manner  it  is  superior  to  the  familiar 
fable  of  the  elephant  and  the  tortoise.  There  are 
those,  of  course,  who  discern  in  it  a  secret  meaning, 
who  remember,  for  example,  that  the  letters  of  the 
Hebrew  alphabet  stand  also  for  numerals,  and  do  not 
fail  to  cite  the  scriptural  statement  that  God  made 
everything  by  weight,  number  and  measure. 

Indeed,  the  Sepher  Yetzirah  may  be  regarded  as 
a  commentary  on  this  declaration.  As  a  rule,  how 
ever,  I  think  that  the  Kabalists,  like  other  makers  of 
philosophy,  meant  that  which  they  said,  and  if  they 
did  not  say  all  that  they  meant  the  unexpressed 
residuum  was  along  the  lines  of  the  sense  expressed. 
When  they  affirmed,  therefore,  that  the  world  was 
made  by  means  of  the  letters  of  the  alphabet,  they 
really  meant  what  they  stated  ;  but  if  it  be  asked 
whether  they  understood  by  those  letters  the  symbols 
of  arcane  powers,  it  must  be  answered  that  they  did. 
The  letters  are,  however,  more  than  mere  symbols ; 
they  are  vessels  or  manifestations  of  the  concealed 
powers.  The  sense  is  therefore  true  ex  hypothesi  in 
a  literal  and  arcane  manner. 

The  warrant  of  the  hypothesis  must  be  sought  in 
the  Talmudic  system,  which  believed  that  the  body 
of  the  sacred  text  was  divine  like  the  sense  which  was 


*  Dr.  Alfred  Edersheim  seems  to  speak  in  this  sense  in  hi-, 
"History  of  the  Jewish  Nation  after  the  Destruction  of  Jerusalem." 
I  have  used  the  third,  posthumous  edition,  revised  by  the  Rev.  H.  A. 
White,  M.A.  London.  1896.  See  p.  408. 


64     ^he  jjirrtritu  anfc  literature  of  the  Jiabalah 

its  soul,  which  soul  had,  like  man  himself,  an  inner 
spirit,  the  highest  of  all,  namely,  the  concealed  mean 
ing.  Now,  the  letters  of  the  alphabet  were  the 
materials  of  the  textual  body,  to  the  care  and 
preservation  of  which  the  traditional  science  of  the 
Massorah  was  devoted.*  For  the  mystical  Jew,  who 
discerned  strange  abysses  of  mystery  in  the  smallest 
peculiarities  of  the  Tkorah>  there  was  a  weird  fascina 
tion  in  the  fact  that  all  the  wonders  and  sanctities  of 
the  Law  and  the  Prophets  resulted  from  the  diverse 
combinations  of  twenty-two  letters,  and  he  came  to 
regard  this  handful  of  conventional  hieroglyphs  as  so 
many  sacraments  or  instruments  by  which  the  divine 
wisdom  was  communicated  to  man.  In  a  word,  for 
him  they  ceased  to  be  conventions ;  a  divine  revela 
tion  required  a  divine  language  to  express  it,  and  the 
alphabet  of  that  language  was  a  derivation  from  the 
noumenal  world,  vessels  of  singular  election,  instru 
ments  of  Deity,  from  which  it  was  an  easy  transition 
to  suppose  that  such  channels  of  spiritual  grace  and 
life  must  have  fulfilled  some  exalted  office  in  the 
shaping  of  the  universe  itself. 

*  The  Massorah  was  concerned  with  the  body  of  the  text,  the 
rules  as  to  reading  and  writing  the  Thorah,  and  special  considerations 
on  the  mystic  sense  of  the  sacred  characters.  It  was  hence  the  criticism 
of  the  Hebrew  text.  It  was  also,  as  already  seen,  that  which  was 
openly  delivered  by  the  rabbins  in  contradiction  to  that  which  was 
supposed  to  have  been  communicated  secretly.  Thus  it  taught  the  true 
reading  of  doubtful  passages,  the  true  pronunciation  of  uncertain  words, 
the  correct  subdivisions  of  the  books,  and  so  forth.  Buxtorf's  work 
entitled  "Tiberias"  (Basilise,  1620,  4to)  deals  with  the  Massorah. 
Compare  Molitor's  "  Philosophy  of  Tradition."  Occultists  pretend 
that  its  exoteric  formulae  were  designed  to  conceal  every  trace  of  a 
secret  sense  in  the  Thorah.  See  "  Mission  des  Juifs,"  p.  646,  by 
Saint-Yves  d'Alveydre,  who  follows  Fabre  d'Olivet  in  La  Langue 
Hebrdiquc  Restitute.  The  Massorah  compiled  from  MSS.,  alphabetically 
and  lexically  arranged,  has  been  published  by  C.  D.  Ginsburg.  3  vols 
London.  1880-85. 


a  he  Doctrinal  Content  of  the  gabalah          65 

This  doctrine  of  the  instruments  of  creation  is 
the  oldest  part  of  Kabalistic  literature,  which,  it 
follows,  improved  very  much  as  it  developed.  It  was 
intimately  connected  with  the  idea  of  the  pre-existence 
of  the  Thorah,  and  to  say  that  the  world  was  created 
by  the  inscription  of  letters  in  the  air  was,  in  one 
sense,  only  another  manner  of  saying  that  it  was 
created  by  the  Thorah,  while  the  latter  affirmation  is 
not  incapable  of  being  regarded  in  a  philosophical 
manner  by  the  help  of  the  Kabalistic  doctrine  of 
correspondences,  for  which  the  Thorah  of  Moses  would 
be  only  the  mundane  type  of  the  Eternal  and  Divine 
Law. 


VI.    THE   PATHS   OF  WISDOM 

In  the  Latin  collection  of  Pistorius  the  marrow 
of  philosophical  Kabalism  is  presented  in  the  form  of 
certain  terse  propositions  or  dogmas,*  according  to 
one  of  which  the  ways  of  eternity  are  thirty-two — 
Vice  ceternitatis  sunt  triginta  dno.-\  These  are  the 
paths  of  the  Sepher  Yetzirah,  namely,  the  ten 
Sephiroth  and  the  letters  of  the  Hebrew  alphabet, 
The  doctrine  concerning  them  is  a  dependency  of  this 
fundamental  treatise,  but  of  much  more  recent  date, 

*  They  are  the  extremely  interesting  theses  of  J'ims  de  Mirundola, 
which  will  be  found  in  Book  vii. 

t  They  are  referred  to  the  Scphirah  Chokinah  and  are  teniu-d 
occult  channels,  at  once  hidden  and  revealed.  In  the  "  Faithful 
Shepherd  "  Chokinah  is  called  the  hi-hi-t  of  all  paths,  eml, racing  and 
including  all  that  are  beneath  it,  and  the  influx  of  all  i.,  «! 
therefrom.  The  same  treatise  connects  with  Chokinah  the  words  in 
Job,  xxviii.  7  :  "  The  bird  hath  not  known  the  path,  neither  hath  tin- 
eye  of  the  vulture  beheld  '^'—Kabbala  Denndata,  Apparatus,  i.  601, 
602. 


66     ^Ite  Jportrine  anb  literature  of  the  jiabalah 

and  without  even  an  imputed  authorship.  It  tabulates 
the  special  graces  and  illuminations  which  may  be 
communicated  to  man  from  above  by  means  of  these 
channels,  and  is  very  interesting  because  it  shows  that 
the  most  philosophical  part  of  Kabalism  had  a 
practical  application  to  the  human  mind,  and  was  not 
merely  a  speculative  system.  It  is  outside  the 
province  of  this  work  to  offer  translations  to  the 
student,  but  as  in  the  present  instance  it  would  be 
difficult  to  summarise  the  tabulation  more  briefly,  I 
shall  give  it  in  extenso,  premising  only  that  it  has 
been  translated  more  than  once  into  English,  and  is 
indeed  available  in  a  number  of  European  languages. 

The  first  path  is  called  the  Admirable  Intelli 
gence,  the  Supreme  Crown.  It  is  the  light  which 
imparts  understanding  of  the  beginning  which  is 
without  beginning,  and  this  also  is  the  First 
Splendour.  No  created  being  can  attain  to  its 
essence. 

The  second  path  is  called  the  Illuminating  Intelli 
gence.  It  is  the  Crown  of  Creation  and  the  splendour 
of  the  Supreme  Unity,  to  which  it  is  most  near  in 
proximity.  It  is  exalted  above  every  head  and  is 
distinguished  by  Kabalists  as  the  Second  Splendour. 

The  third  path  is  called  the  Sanctifying  Intelli 
gence  and  is  the  foundation  of  Primordial  Wisdom, 
termed  the  Creation  of  Faith.  Its  roots  are  -p^N-  It 
is  the  mother  of  Faith,  which  indeed  emanates  there 
from. 

The  fourth  path  is  called  the  Arresting  or 
Receiving  Intelligence,  because  it  arises  like  a 
boundary  to  receive  the  emanations  of  the  higher 
intelligences  which  are  sent  down  to  it.  Herefrom  all 


The  Doctrinal  Content  of  the  gabalah          67 

spiritual  virtues  emanate  by  the  way  of  subtlety,  which 
itself  emanates  from  the  Supreme  Crown.* 

The  fifth  path  is  called  the  Radical  Intelligence, 
because  it  is  more  akin  than  any  other  to  the  Supreme 
Unity  and  emanates  from  the  depths  of  the 
Primordial  Wisdom,  f 

The  sixth  path  is  called  the  Intelligence  of 
Mediating  Influence,  because  the  flux  of  the  emana 
tions  is  multiplied  therein.  It  communicates  this 
affluence  to  those  blessed  men  who  are  united  with  it.J 

The  seventh  path  is  called  the  Hidden  Intelli 
gence,  because  it  pours  out  a  brilliant  splendour  on  all 
intellectual  virtues  which  are  beheld  with  the  eyes  of 
the  spirit  and  by  the  ecstasy  of  faith. 

The  eighth  path  is  called  the  Perfect  and 
Absolute  Intelligence.  The  preparation  of  principles 
emanates  therefrom. §  The  roots  to  which  it  adheres 
are  in  the  depths  of  the  Sphere  Magnificence,  from  the 
very  substance  of  which  it  emanates. 

The  ninth  path  is  called  the  Purified  Intelligence. 
It  purifies  the  numerations,  prevents  and  stays  the 
fracture  of  their  images,) |  for  it  establishes  their  unity 


*  Dr.  Westcott,  following  the  Hebrew  text  of  Rittangelius,  makes 
this  rendering  :  "  The  fourth  path  is  named  Measuring,  Cohesive,  or 
Receptacular  ;  and  is  so-called  because  it  contains  all  the  holy  powers, 
and  from  it  emanate  all  the  spiritual  virtues  with  the  most  exalted 
essences  ;  they  emanate  one  from  the  other  by  the  power  of  the 
primordial  emanation,"  i.e.,  K'cther. 

t  Or,  "the  primordial  depths  of  Chokmah"— Westcott,  Sephcr 
Vetzirah,  p.  28. 

£  "  It  causes  that  influence  to  flow  into  all  the  reservoirs  of  the 
Blessings  with  which  these  themselves  arc  united."— Ibid.  p.  29. 

§  According  to  Westcott  "it  is  the  means  of  the  primordial  "— 
Ibid. 

II  Or,  "proves  and  corrects  the  designing  of  their  representations  " 
— Ibid. 


68     ^he  J)xrd;tine  anb  ^toature  of  the  Jwbalah 

to  preserve  them  from  destruction  and  division  by 
their  union  with  itself.* 

The  tenth  path  is  called  the  Resplendent  Intelli 
gence,  because  it  is  exalted  above  every  head  and 
has  its  seat  in  Binah  ;  it  enlightens  the  fire  of  all 
lights  and  emanates  the  power  of  the  principle  of 
forms.f 

The  eleventh  path  is  called  the  Fiery  Intelli 
gence.  It  is  the  veil  placed  before  the  dispositions 
and  order  of  the  superior  and  inferior  causes.  Who 
soever  possesses  this  path  is  in  the  enjoyment  of  great 
dignity ;  to  possess  it  is  to  be  face  to  face  with  the 
Cause  of  Causes.j 

The  twelfth  path  is  called  the  Intelligence  of  the 
Light,  §  because  it  is  the  image  of  magnificence.  It  is 
said  to  be  the  source  of  vision  in  those  who  behold 
apparitions. 

The  thirteenth  path  is  called  the  Inductive  Intel 
ligence  of  Unity.  It  is  the  substance  of  glory,  and  it 
manifests  truth  to  every  spirit.] | 

The  fourteenth  path  is  called  the  Illuminating 
Intelligence.  It  is  the  institutor  of  arcana,  the  founda 
tion  of  holiness. 

The  fifteenth  path  is  called  the  Constituting 
Intelligence,  because  it  constitutes  creation  in  the 

*  Or,  "  disposes  their  unity  with  which  they  are  combined  without 
diminution  or  division." — Ibid. 

f  "  Causes  a  supply  of  influence  to  emanate  from  the  Prince  of 
Countenances. " — Ibid. 

%  Westcott  gives  an  entirely  different  version  :  "  It  is  the  essence 
of  that  curtain  which  is  placed  close  to  the  order  of  the  disposition,  and 
this  is  a  special  dignity  given  to  it  that  it  may  be  able  to  stand  before 
the  face  of  the  Cause  of  Causes." — Ibid. 

§  Or  of  Transparency. — Ibid. 

||  "It  is  the  consummation  of  the  truth  of  individual  spiritual 
things." — Ibid. 


vlhe  Jloctriual  Content  of  the  gabalah          69 

darkness  of  the  world.  *  According  to  the  philo 
sophers,  it  is  itself  that  darkness  mentioned  by 
Scripture  (Job  xxxviii.  9),  cloud  and  the  envelope 
thereof. 

The  sixteenth  path  is  called  the  Triumphant  and 
Eternal  Intelligence,  the  delight  of  glory,  the  paradise 
of  pleasure  prepared  for  the  just. 

The  seventeenth  path  is  called  the  Disposing 
Intelligence,  It  disposes  the  devout  to  perseverance 
and  thus  prepares  them  to  receive  the  Holy  Spirit.f 

The  eighteenth  path  is  called  the  Intelligence  or 
House  of  Influence, J  and  thence  are  drawn  the  arcana 
.  1  the  concealed  meanings  which  repose  in  the 
shadow  thereof. 

The  nineteenth  path  is  called  the  Intelligence  of 
the  Secret  or  of  all  spiritual  activities.  The  fulness 
which  it  receives  derives  from  the  highest  benediction 
and  the  supreme  glory. 

The  twentieth  path  is  called  the  Intelligence  of 
Will.  It  prepares  all  created  beings,  each  individually, 
for  the  demonstration  of  the  existence  of  the 
primordial  glory. 

The  twenty-first  path  is  called  the  Rewarding 
Intelligence  of  those  who  seek.§  It  receives  the 
divine  influence,  and  it  influences  by  its  benediction 
all  existing  things. 

The  twenty-second  path  is  called  the  Faithful 

*  "  It  constitutes  the  substance  of  creations  in  pure  darkness." — 
Ibid.,  p.  30. 

t  Westcott  adds :  "It  is  called  the  foundation  of  excellence  in 
the  state  of  higher  things."— Ibid. 

£  Westcott  adds:  "  By  the  greatness  of  whose  abundance  the 
influx  of  good  things  upon  created  beings  is  increased."— Ibid. 

§  Westcott  gives  "  the  Conciliating  Intelligence."—/^'*/. 


70     ^he  gtortrine  an!b  gpiterahtre  of  the 

Intelligence,  because  spiritual  virtues  are  deposited 
and  augment  therein,  until  they  pass  to  those  who 
dwell  under  the  shadow  thereof.* 

The  twenty-third  path  is  called  the  Stable  Intelli 
gence.  It  is  the  source  of  consistency  in  all  the 
numerations. 

The  twenty-fourth  path  is  called  the  Imaginative 
Intelligence.  It  is  the  ground  of  similarity  in  the 
likeness  of  beings  who  are  created  to  its  agreement 
after  its  aspects. 

The  twenty-fifth  path  is  called  the  Intelligence 
of  Temptation  or  Trial,  because  it  is  the  first  tempta 
tion  by  which  God  tests  the  devout. 

The  twenty-sixth  path  is  called  the  Renewing 
Intelligence,  for  thereby  God — blessed  be  He! — 
reneweth  all  which  is  capable  of  renovation  in  the 
creation  of  the  world. f 

The  twenty-seventh  path  is  called  the  Active 
Intelligence,  for  thence  is  created  the  spirit  of  every 
creature  of  the  supreme  orb,  and  the  activity,  that  is 
to  say,  the  motion,  to  which  they  are  subject.} 

The  twenty-eighth  path  is  called  the  Natural 
Intelligence,  whereby  the  nature  of  everything  found 
in  the  orb  of  the  sun  is  completed  and  perfected.  § 

The  twenty-ninth  path  is   called  the   Corporeal 


*  Westcott's  literal  rendering  reads,  "  by  it  spiritual  virtues  are 
increased,  and  all  dwellers  on  earth  are  merely  under  its  shadow." — 
Ibid. 

t  "  All  the  changing  things  which  are  renewed  by  the  creation  of 
the  world." — Ibid.,  p.  31. 

%  "  The  twenty-seventh  path  is  the  Exciting  Intelligence,  and  it  is 
so  called  because  through  it  is  consummated  and  perfected  the  nature 
of  every  existent  being  under  the  orb  of  the  sun,  in  perfection." — Ibid. 

§  This  path  is  omitted  both  in  the  text  of  Rittangelius  and  in 
Westcott's  version. 


vLhc  Jloctvinal  vlToutcut  of  the  ^iabalah          71 

Intelligence ;  it  informs  every  body  which  is  incor 
porated  under  all  orbs,  and  it  is  the  growth  thereof. 

The  thirtieth  path  is  called  the  Collective  Intelli 
gence,  for  thence  astrologers,  by  the  judgment  of  the 
stars  and  the  heavenly  signs,  derive  their  speculations 
and  the  perfection  of  their  science  according  to  the 
motions  of  the  stars. 

The  thirty-first  path  is  called  the  Perpetual  Intel 
ligence.  Why  is  it  so  called  ?  Because  it  rules  the 
movement  of  the  sun  and  the  moon  according  to  their 
constitution  and  causes  each  to  gravitate  in  its 
respective  orb.* 

The  thirty-second  path  is  called  the  Assisting 
Intelligence,  because  it  directs  all  the  operations  of 
the  seven  planets,  with  their  divisions,  and  concurs 
therein. 

The  modern  accent  of  this  tabulation  will  occur 
at  once  to  the  reader,  but  its  quotation  was  necessary 
to  exhibit  the  intellectual  profit  believed  to  follow 
from  the  study  of  Kabalism,  and  still  more  that  it  was 
in  the  last  resource  the  understanding  of  man 
methodised,!  and  embracing,  as  such,  the  entire  circle 
attributed  to  human  knowledge.  | 

*  According  to  Kliphas  Levi,  this  verse  contains  the  secret  of  the 
great  work  of  alchemy.  The  rca-on  assigned  is  that  path  thirty-one 
corresponds  to  the  Hebrew  letter  Shin  (Sh),  which  represents  the 
magic  lamp,  or  the  light  between  the  horns  of  Baphomet.  "It  is  the 
Kabalktir  -L;n  of  (iod  or  the  Astral  Light,  with  its  two  poles  and  equili 
brated  centre."  The  sun  mentioned  in  the  paragraph  represents  gold, 
the  moon  silver,  and  the  planets  correspond  to  the  other  metals. — La 
Clef  des  Grand  My stercs,  p.  234.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  the  Sepher 
Yetzirah  and  its  developments  have  nothing  to  do  with  alchemy. 

t  "  Man  is  the  Kabalistic  balance,"  according  to  Mr.  \Y.  1>. 
Greene. — "The  Ula/ing  Star,"  p.  51. 

+  However,  it  fi-11,  a.  may  be  expected,  into  superstitious  uses 
and  became  a  kind  of  theo^ophic  divination,  ba-.ed  on  the  first  chapter 
of  Genesis,  wherein  the  name  hlohim  i-,  mentioned  thirty-two  time*. 


72     ^he  Doctrine  anfc  fCiterature  ot  the 

For  the  sake  of  completeness,  and  because  an 
occult  importance  has  been  attributed  to  it,  though  in 
the  absence  of  any  real  warrant,  a  word  may  be  added 
concerning  a  somewhat  conventional  piece  of 
Kabalistic  classification,  entitled  the  Fifty  Gates  of 
Understanding.  It  is  referable  to  Binah,  the  third 
Sephira,  and  is  an  attempt  to  sketch  the  outlines  of 
universal  science,  to  embrace,  as  Eliphas  Levi 
observes,  all  possible  departments  of  knowledge  and 
to  represent  the  whole  encyclopaedia.  At  the  present 
day  such  classifications  have  something  of  a  ghostly 
aspect.  There  is,  however,  no  intention  to  methodise 
human  science  after  the  impossible  manner  of 
Raymond  Lully  and  his  Ars  Magna  Sciendi.  I  infer 
also  that,  in  spite  of  the  exalted  themes  which  are 
included  in  the  scheme,  it  concerns  only  intellectual 
knowledge,  acquired  by  the  external  way,  and  thus 
constitutes  a  kind  of  scholastic  introduction  to  the 
paths  of  Chokmah  or  of  Wisdom,*  by  which  the  holy 
men  of  God  may,  as  Kircher  observes,  after  long  toil, 
long  experience  of  divine  things  and  long  meditation 
thereon,  penetrate  to  the  concealed  centres. t  The 
principle  of  the  enumeration  must  perhaps  be  sought 
in  the  symbolism  of  the  Hebrew  word  Koll,  which 
signifies  All,  and  the  consonants  of  which  are 
equivalent  to  the  number  fifty. 

The  consultation  of  this  chapter  was  accompanied  by  prayers  extracted 
from  the  divine  name  in  question,  and,  according  to  Kircher,  by 
suitable  ceremonies. 

*  According  to  Papus,  the  thirty-two  paths  are  deductive  like  the 
Sepher  Yetzirah  itself,  which  starts  from  the  notion  of  God  and 
proceeds  thence  to  natural  phenomena,  while  the  fifty  gates  are 
established  on  the  inductive  principle,  ascending  from  Nature  to  Deity. 
— La  Kabbah^  p.  132. 

f  Kircher,  QLdipus  sEgyptiacus ,  Rome,  1623,  fol. 


vThc  godvinal  Content  of  the  Jlabalah          73 

The  Gates  of  Understanding,  considered  as  an 
introduction  to  the  Paths  of  Wisdom,  which  diverge, 
as  we  have  seen,  from  Chokmah,  are  essential  to  the 
higher  knowledge  approached  by  these.*  It  would 
serve  no  purpose  to  enumerate  them  all  categorically ; 
they  begin  with  the  first  matter,  the  Hyle  or  Chaos, 
proceed  through  the  various  elements  of  ancient 
science  to  the  theory  of  composite  substances,  thence 
to  organic  life  and  the  physical,  intellectual  and 
psychic  nature  of  man,  afterwards  to  the  heaven  of 
the  planets,  that  of  the  fixed  stars  and  the  primum 
mobile,  then  to  the  nine  orders  of  the  angelical  world, 
and,  finally,  to  the  supermundane  and  archetypal 
world,  that  of  A  in  Soph,  unseen  by  motal  eye, 
transcending  human  intelligence.  It  is  said  that 
Moses  did  not  attain  to  this,  the  fiftieth,  gate,  and 
some  stress  seems  to  be  laid  on  this  point,  one  would 
think  a  little  superfluously,  as  it  is  obvious  that  what 
is  beyond  all  finite  capacity  must  have  ueen  beyond 
the  law-giver  of  Israel. 

The  scheme  of  the  Gates  of  Understanding  is 
late  in  Kabalism ;  it  is  found  in  the  treatise  entitled 
"The  Gates  of  Light," f  which  is  full  of  references 
to  the  mystery  of  the  word  Koll  (KL).  All  created 
things,  it  explains,  have  come  out  of  these  gates,  so 
that  in  a  sense  their  knowledge  connects  with  the 
mystery  of  universal  generation,  in  reference  to  which 
it  may  be  observed  that  the  addition  of  the  feminine 
letter  H  =  5  to  the  word  KL=5O  gives  KLH  =  the 
Bride  of  Microprosopns,  the  Lesser  Countenance, 


*  They  are  called  gates,  because  no  one  can  attain  to  the  paths 
unless  he  enters  by  these.— Ibid. 

t  By  R.  Joseph  Gikatilla  ben  Abraham. 


74     "Ihc  Itortrirte  anb  JCitoture  of  the 

whence  follows  the  whole  mystery  of  spiritual  genera 
tion  in  man,  for  KLH  connects  with  KNSTL,  i.e.,  the 
Church,  Ecclesia  Israel,  and  brings  us  back  to  that 
place  called  mystically  Zion  and  Jerusalem,  in  which 
the  divine  is  communicated  to  man,  as  stated  in  the 
fourth  section  of  this  book.  It  is  by  little  gleams  of 
suggestion  of  this  kind  that  the  barren  science  of 
Gematria  is  illuminated  occasionally. 


VII.    THE  DOCTRINE   OF 
PNEUMATOLOGY 

We  have  now  ascertained  the  heads  of  Kabalistic 
instruction  as  to  the  essential  nature  of  God,  the 
transition  from  the  divine  unmanifest  into  the  mani 
festation  of  divinity,  the  extension  of  the  powers  and 
attributes  thus  developed  through  the  archetypal, 
creative,  formative  and  material  worlds,  the  Kabalistic 
hypothesis  of  creation  and  the  doctrine  of  tran 
scendental  and  natural  science.  It  remains  for  us  to 
present  in  brief  outline  the  doctrine  of  spiritual 
essences  according  to  Jewish  theosophy.  This  is, 
perhaps,  the  favourite  and  certainly  the  most  recurring 
subject  of  the  Zohar,  and  it  is  this  also  which  was 
destined  to  receive  fuller  development  than  any  other 
in  the  later  literature  of  Kabalism.  The  history  of  its 
growth  is  also  worth  noting.  Pre-existence  and  the 
subdivision  of  the  spiritual  nature  are  found  in  the 
Talmud,  but  the  Sepher  Yetzirah  has  nothing  to  tell 
us  on  the  subject,  and  there  is  very  little  in  the  first 
commentators  on  that  treatise.  It  may  be  said,  with 
considerable  truth,  that  the  book  and  its  connections 


Jlortrinal  Content  of  the  gabalafi          75 

were  concerned  rather  with  the  physical  forces  which 
produced  the  universe,  but  the  commentaries  at  least 
are  sufficiently  discursive  to  have  included  it  in  their 
scheme  if  they  had  anything  to  say  upon  the  subject. 
It  remains,  therefore,  that  the  fascinating  hypothesis 
with  which  we  are  here  dealing  is  in  the  main  a  late 
growth.  The  distinction  between  a  holy  intelligence 
and  an  animal  soul  in  man  is  found,  however,  in  the 
"  Book  of  Concealment,"  *  which,  so  far  as  can  be 
judged  from  its  form,  is  the  most  ancient  portion  of 
the  Zohar.  The  latter  cycle  may  be  regarded,  broadly 
speaking,  as  the  chief  source  of  pneumatology  in 
Kabalism  proper.  The  indications  contained  therein 
became  a  vast  and  ponderous  system  in  the  schools  of 
Isaac  de  Loria  and  Moses  of  Cordova.  This  system 
has  at  all  times  exercised  the  greatest  influence  on 
occultists,  and,  chiefly,  perhaps,  because  it  has  been 
made  available  in  Latin  by  Rosenroth,  has  superseded 
that  of  the  Zohar  itself.  Franck  states  that  it  is  not 
true  Kabalism  and  hints  that  it  is  full  of  distorted 
rabbinical  reveries,  but  it  may  be  doubted  whether 
there  is  any  real  canon  of  criticism.  The  later 
speculations  are  in  any  case  founded  on  the  Zohar, 
and  the  following  slight  sketch  contains  the  general 
elements  of  the  subject. 

We  have  seen  that  the  world  of  Briah  is  that  of 
Creation  so-called,  that  is,  of  the  emanation  of  creative 
forces.  These  forces  are  the  Elohim,  and  Uriah  is 


*  "  When  the  inferior  man  descends  (namely,  into  this  world) 
there  are  found  (in  him)  two  spirits,  according  to  the  supernal  form. 
Man  (therefore)  is  constituted  from  the  two  side.-,  the  liidu  and  the  left. 
As  from  the  right  side  he  has  a  holy  mind,  as  from  the  left  an  animal 
soul."  The  extension  of  the  left  side  was  the  consequence  of  the  Fall. 
— "Book  of  Concealment,"  c.  iv.  par.  7-9. 


76     ^Ihe  Jtortrine  anb  literature  ot  iht  gabalah 

therefore  the  Elohistic  world ;  in  other  words,  it  is 
that  of  the  lesser  or  secondary  gods.  It  is  also  called 
the  world  of  archangels.  It  would  not  be  exact  to 
say  that  the  archangels  are  Elohim,  much  less  that 
Michael,  Raphael,  Gabriel,  Metatron  and  so  forth,  are 
deities  according  to  the  Kabalah.*  The  system  is 
much  too  involved  to  admit  of  such  clear  identifica 
tions.  In  a  general  way  it  may  perhaps  be  affirmed 
that  the  intelligent  forces  of  the  Briatic  world,  when 
assumed,  so  to  speak,  by  the  divine  world,  may  be 
regarded  as  the  Elohim.  Thus,  according  to 
Kabalism,  the  three  men  who  appeared  to  Abraham 
in  the  vale  of  Mamre  to  announce  the  destruction 
impending  over  the  cities  of  the  plain  were  three 
archangels,  but  they  were  also  Adni,  the  Lord,  for 
they  were  the  forms  assumed  by  the  Divinity. 

Of  the  hierarchy  of  spiritual  beings  outside 
humanity  we  meet  with  various  classifications  by 
different  Kabalistic  writers,  the  sources  of  which  must 
be  referred  to  Talmudic  times ;  but,  as  regards  the 
descending  scale  more  especially,  later  authorities  do 
not  even  hesitate  to  contradict  Zoharic  statements. 
The  archangels  of  Briah,  corresponding  to  the  exten 
sion  of  the  Sephiroth  in  that  world,  are  usually 
enumerated  as  follows : 

I.  METATRON,  Angel  of  the   Presence,  World- 
Prince,  corresponding  to  Ketker.-\ 

*  Isidore  Loeb,  however,  describes  Metatron  as  a  species  of 
Demiourgos,  following  presumably  the  heterodox  opinions  of  the 
Talmudic  R.  Acher.  Franck  also  regards  him  as  a  divine  hypostasis. 

f  When  written  with  a  Jod  (MITTRVN),  the  name  Metatron 
signifies  the  Shekinah  ;  without  that  letter  it  signifies  the  angel  who  is 
the  "  legate  ofShekinah"  also  called  NGHR  =  Boy,  and  hence  Metatron 
is  said  to  be  a  boy-angel. — Kabbala  Denudata,  Apparatus,  i.  528. 


Doctrinal  Content  of  the  gabalah          77 

II.  RATZIEL,  the  Herald  of  Deity,  corresponding 
to  ChokmaJi. 

III.  TSAPHKIEL,  Contemplation  of  God,  corre 
sponding  to  BriaJi. 

IV.  TSADKIEL,  Justice  of  God,  corresponding  to 
Chcscd. 

V.  SAMAEL,  Severity  of  God,  corresponding  to 

GeburaJi. 

VI.  MICHAEL,  Like  unto  God,  corresponding  to 

Tiphereth. 
VII.  HANIEL,    Grace    of    God,    corresponding    to 

Netzach. 
VIII.  RAPHAEL,  Divine  Physician,  corresponding  tc 

Hod. 

IX.  GABRIEL,  Man-God,  corresponding  to  Jesod. 
X.  SANDALPHON,  Messias,  the  second  phase  of 
Metatron,  corresponding  to  Malkuth. 

As  the  Sephirotic  forces  of  the  Atziluthic  world  are 
represented  as  resumed  under  the  likeness  of  a  man, 
Adam  Kadmon,  so  those  of  Briah  are  resumed  under 
the  form  of  a  second  Adam,  who  is  regarded  as  the 
sole  inhabitant  of  that  world,  as  Adam  Kadmon  is  of 
Atziluth. 

The  world  of  Yetzirah  or  Formation  is  said  to  be 
that  of  the  angels,  who  are  divided  into  nine  choirs, 
which  are  very  nearly  identical  with  the  hierarchy  of 
pseudo-Dionysius,  whose  scheme  has  become  part  of 
Christianity.*  Those  who  attribute  a  high  antiquity 
to  the  Kabalistic  tradition  say  that  Dionysius  drew 

*  It  should  he  noted,  however,  that  unlike  Christian  angelology, 
that  of  the  /.ohar  represents  the  divine  :'<>^ether  inferior 

to  man  and  most  certainly  to  the  souls  of  the  just,  which  ascend  higher 
and  attain  a  superior  rank.  See  the  Mantua  edition,  iii.  68  /'. 


78     ^he  Jtortriiu  anb  HDiterature  of  the  giabalah 

from  the  oral  doctrine  of  Israel ;  others  pretend  that 
Dionysius  and  the  Kabalah  both  derive  from 
Neoplatonism,  but  Greek  and  Hebrew  thought  had 
joined  hands  before  the  date  of  the  Areopagite. 
Dionysius,  perhaps,  may  be  taken  to  represent  the 
point  of  contact  between  Hellenism  and  Jewry  after 
modification  by  Christianity.  The  Kabalah  may 
represent,  but  at  a  much  longer  distance,  in  the  form 
of  its  extant  literature,  the  point  of  contact  between 
Hellenism  and  Israel  unmodified  by  Christianity. 

According  to  the  most  usual  attribution  the  choirs 
of   Yetzirah  are  as  follows  : — 

I.  CHAIOTH  HA  KADOSH,  the  holy  living 
creatures,  or  animals  of  Ezekiel  and  the 
Apocalypse,  corresponding  to  Kether  and 
to  the  Christian  Seraphim. 

II.  OPHANIM,    or    Wheels,    also    mentioned    in 
Ezekiel,   corresponding    to    Chokmah    and 
the  Cherubim. 
III.  ARALIM,    or    Mighty    Ones,   corresponding  to 

Briah  and  the  Thrones. 
IV.  HASHMALIM,  or  Brilliant  Ones,  corresponding 

to  Chesed  and  the  Dominations. 
V.  SERAPHIM,  or  Flaming  Serpents,  correspond 
ing  to  Geburah  and  the  Powers. 
VI.  MELACHIM,     or     Kings,      corresponding     to 

Tiphereth  and  the  Virtues. 
VII.   ELOHIM,  or  Gods,  corresponding  to  Netzach 

and  the  Principalities. 
VIII.  BENI-ELOHIM,  or  Sons  of  God,  corresponding 

to  Hod  and  the  Archangels. 

IX.  CHERUBIM,  the  Seat  of  the  Sons,  correspond 
ing  to  Jesod,  the  Foundation,  and  the 
Angels. 


goctrinal  Content  of  the  gUbalaK          79 

The  tenth  order  required  to  complete  the 
Sephirotic  attribution  is  found  in  the  ISHIM,  or 
beatified  souls  of  just  men,  corresponding  to  Malkuth 
and  the  great  multitude  of  the  redeemed  seen  by  St. 
John  in  the  Apocalypse. 

These  orders  are  also  summarised  in  the  notion 
of  a  third  Adam,  Yetzirah  represented  by  the  Malkuth 
of  the  Yetziratic  world,  man  in  the  iiKeness  of  die 
angels — in  a  word,  the  unfallen  Adam  of  Genesis. 

The  world  of  Assiah,  or  of  matter,  is  that  into 
which  Adam  descended  at  the  Fall,  the  abode  of  the 
evil  spirits,  the  Shells,  Envelopes  and  Cortices  of  the 
Kabalah.*  It  contains  the  orders  of  retrograde  spirits 
corresponding  by  inversion  to  the  angels  of  Yetzirah 
and  the  arch-fiends  corresponding  after  the  same 
manner  to  the  archangels  of  the  Briatic  world.!  They 
are  usually  enumerated  as  follows : 

I.  THAUMIEL,  the  doubles  of  God,  said  to  be 
two-headed    and  so  named,  because  they  pretend  to 
be  equal  to  the  Supreme  Crown.     This  is  properly  the 
title  of  the  averse  Scphira  corresponding  to  Kethcr. 
The  cortex  is  CATHARIEL,  according  to  the  supple 
ments  of  the  Zohar.     Satan  and  Moloch  are  said  to 
be  the  arch-demons,  but  the  attributions  are  hope 
lessly    confused    throughout,    partly    owing    to    the 
obscure  classifications  of  the  Zohar  and  the  contra 
dictions  of  later  Kabalists. 

II.  CHAIGIDIEL,    a    term    connecting    with    the 
significance  of  placenta,  or,  according  to  other  authori- 

*  For  some  information  on  Kabalistic  demonology,  see  Die 
Kabbala.  Ihrc  Hauptlehren  und  ihr  vcrhaltniss  zu  Christcnthutn. 
Innshruch,  1885. 

t  But  there  are  also  many  material  correspondences  which  are  not 
of  shells  and  demons. 


8o     3lht  Scdrtne  an&  literature  of  the  gabalah 

ties,  with  that  of  obstruction,  in  the  sense  of  an 
impediment  to  the  heavenly  influx.  This  averse 
Sephira  corresponds  to  Chokmak.  Its  cortices  are 
the  OGHIEL  or  GHOGIEL,  which  cleave  to  illusory  or 
material  appearances  in  opposition  to  those  of  reality 
and  wisdom.  This  explanation  is,  of  course,  very 
late.  The  arch-demon  is  said  to  be  ADAM  BELIAL, 
and  so  again  is  Beelzebuth.  The  Dukes  of  Esau  are 
also  connected  with  this  number. 

III.  SATHARIEL,     the     concealment     of     God, 
meaning  that  this  averse  Sephirah,  unlike  Binah,  or 
Intelligence,  hides  the  face  of  mercy.     In  the  Supple 
ments  of  the  Zohar  it  is  termed  SHEIRIEL,  from  the 
hirsute  body  of   Esau.       The   Dukes   of   Esau   are 
referred   to   this   number,    instead   of  to    the  averse 
correspondence    of    Chokmah,   by    the    same    work. 
LUCIFUGE  is  said  to  be  the  arch-demon,  but  this  is 
obviously  not  a  Kabalistic  term  ;  it  is  known,  however, 
to  the  grimoires  and  to  some  late  demonologists  of  the 
Latin  church. 

IV.  GAMCHICOTH,  or  GOG  SHEKLAH,  disturber 
of  all    things,  the  averse  correspondence  of  Chesed. 
According   to  the    Zoharic    Supplements   the    cortex 
seems  to  be  AzARIEL.    The  arch-demon  is  ASTAROTH 
in  late  Kabalism. 

V.  GOLAB,  or  burning,   m  the  sense  of   incen 
diarism.       This    is    the    averse    correspondence    of 
Geburali  and  the  antithesis  of  the  Seraphim  or  Fiery 
Serpents.     The  cortex  is  UsiEL.     The  arch-demon  of 
late  Kabalism  is  ASMODEUS. 

VI.  TOGARINI,  wranglers,  because,  according  to 
Isaac     de     Loria,     this     averse     correspondence     of 
TipheretJi  strives  with  the   supernal    Geburah.     The 


Mhc  gortrinal  Content  of  the  gabalah          81 

cortices  are  called   ZOMIEL  and    the  arch-demon   is 
BELPHEGOR. 

VII.  HARAB  SERAP,  dispersing  raven,  referring 
to  the  idea  that  this  bird  drives  out  its  young,  the 
averse  correspondence  of  Netzach.     The  cortices  are 
the     THEUMIEL      and     the     arch-demon     is     BAAL 
CHANAN. 

VIII.  SAMAEL,  or  embroilment,  corresponding  to 
Hod,    the     supernal      Victory.       The     cortices     are 
THEUNIEL    according    to    the    Supplements    of    the 
ZOHAR,  and  ADRAMELEK  is  the  name  assigned  to  the 
arch-demon  by  late  writers. 

IX.  GAMALIEL,    the    obscene,    in    averse    corre 
spondence  with  Jesod,  which  signifies  the  generation 
of  the  higher  order.     OGIEL,  which  other  classifica 
tions    attribute    to    the    averse    correspondence     of 
Clused,  seems   to    be   the   cortex   mentioned    in    the 
Zoharic  Supplements,  and  the  arch-fiend  is  LlLlTH, 
according  to  late  Kabalism. 

X.  LlLlTH  *  is,  however,  according  to  another 
tabulation,  the  averse  correspondence  of  MALKUTH, 
with  whom  later  Kabalism  connects  NAHEMA,t   the 
demon  of  impurity. 

In  Zoharistic  doctrine,  however,  the  chief  per 
sonalities  ofAssta/i  are  SAMAEL,  who  is  to  some  extent 
the  averse  Adam  Kadmon,  though  in  a  better  sense 
we  may  presume  that  this  title  is  applicable  to  natural 
humanity  as  a  whole,  and  his  bride  LlLlTH.  The 
Sephirotic  attributions  are  obscure  and  incomplete, 

According  to  the  Zohar  she  is  a  strygc  who  slays  infants. 
^  t  A   succubus   who  brings    forth  spirits   and  demons   after   con 
nection   with  men,   says  the  Zohar,    which   in  various   places  further 
develops  this  idea. 


G 


82     ^hc  |30rtrine  mtfo  Ipterature  of  the  I 

but  in  a  general  way  it  is  said  that  as  in  the  Holy 
Kingdom  so  is  it  in  that  of  iniquity,*  as  in  the  circum 
cision  so  also  in  the  uncircumcision.  SAMAEL  is  said 
to  be  the  uncircumcised  and  his  bride  is  the  prepuce, 
which,  it  adds  significantly,  is  the  serpent.f 

I  have  given  space  to  this  portion  of  the  pneu 
matic  hypothesis  of  Kabalism,  part  of  which  is  post- 
Zoharic,  not  because  it  is  of  any  inherent  importance, 
or  can  be  regarded  otherwise  than  as  a  disfigurement 
of  the  philosophical  doctrine,  but  because  we  shall 
have  later  on  to  give  account  of  the  connection 
between  the  Kabalah  and  ceremonial  magic,  and  the 
doctrine  of  angels  and  demons  is  necessary  to  the 
understanding  of  this  connection. J  It  should  be 
added  that  the  doctrine  of  the  celestial  and  infernal 
hierarchy  is  not  found  in  the  most  ancient  portions  of 
the  Zohar. 

The  psychological  doctrine  concerning  the  nature 
of  man  is  of  greater  interest.  It  is  now  a  matter  of 
general  knowledge  that  the  belief  in  the  soul's 
immortality,  which  is  not  found  in  the  Pentateuch  or 
the  prophets,  was  held  by  the  Jews  in  later  times  in 
connection  with  that  of  the  resurrection  of  the  body 


*  Hence  the  true  name  of  Satan  is  said  to  be  that  of  YHVH 
reversed. — Pike,  "  Morals  and  Dogma,"  p.  102. 

t  R.  Simeon  ben  Jochai  in  Tikkunim,  or  "  Supplements,"  No. 
1 8.  See  Beth  Elohim,  by  R.  Abraham  Cohen  Irira,  c.  ii.,  Kabbala 
Denudata,  ii.,  Part  3,  Tract  I,  i.e.,  Pneumatica  Kabbalistica,  p.  188 
et  seq. 

%  The  Talmuds  abound  with  legendary  history  and  teaching  on 
this  subject,  for  they  are  as  much  a  storehouse  of  folk-lore  as  of  juris 
prudence.  It  has  been  even  proposed  that  the  mediaeval  notion  of 
vampirism  is  to  be  traced  to  Talmudic  fables  concerning  stryges.  See 
A.  Brierre  de  Boismont,  "  Des  Hallucinations,"  £c.  Second  ed. 
p.  395.  Paris.  1852. 


Doctrinal  Content  of  the  Jiabulah          83 

and  appears  freely  in  the  Talmuds.*  Occultists,  who 
remember  that  Moses  was  learned  in  all  the  wisdom 
of  the  Egyptians,  conceive  it  to  be  impossible  that  he 
should  have  known  nothing  of  doctrines  which  were 
known  to  all  Egypt,  and  they  hold  accordingly  that 
he  communicated  them  secretly  to  a  circle  of  initiation, 
by  which  they  were  perpetuated  in  the  oral  way. 
Others  incline  to  the  notion  that  they  were  acquired 
by  the  Jews  in  Babylon.  In  the  Graeco- Egyptian 
period  it  was,  of  course,  impossible  that  the  learned 
rabbins  of  Alexandria  should  not  have  been 
acquainted  with  the  great  speculation  of  a  future  life. 
In  one  way  or  another  it  was  inevitable  that  the  Jews 
should  have  acquired  it,  which  they  did  accordingly, 
and  the  particular  date  or  circumstances  are  a  minor 
question,  about  which  there  can  be  no  certainty.  The 
doctrine,  as  taught  by  the  Talmud,  thougli  recog 
nising  five  divisions  of  the  soul  having  names  familiar 
to  Kabalism,  is  comparatively  of  a  simple  kind  ;  it 
does  not  possess,  for  example,  that  philosophical 
aspect  which  we  find  in  Philo,  and  even  those  who 
discern  Greek  influence  in  early  Kabalism  must  admit 
that  its  pneumatology,  after  allowing  for  pre-existence, 
shows  very  little  trace  of  Platonism.t 

Broadly     speaking,     the     Kabalistic     hypothesis 

"The  immortality  of  the  soul  and  the  resurrection  of  the  body 
figure  in   the   Talmud  as  tenets  of  the  Synagogue.       They  form   the 

thirteenth  and  last  article  in  the  profession  of  faith  of  Maimonides." 

Leroy-Beaulieu,  "  Israel  among  the  nations,"  p.  17.  This  i,  not  quite 
accurate,  as  that  article  concerns  the  resurrection  only.  "I  firmly 
believe  that  there  will  U-  a  resurrection  of  the  dead,  at  the  time  when 
it  shall  I.KMM-  the  Creator,  l.le-e.l  !>e  Hi-,  name!"— M.  Kreidlandei, 
"Text  Book  of  the  Jewish  Kdigi,,n."  4th  ed.  London.  1896. 

t  For  a  good  summary  of  Kabalistic  pneumatology  the  German 
student  may  consult,  inter  alia,  Leiningen's  Lcclenlehre  der  Qabalah. 
Leipsic.  1887. 


84     ^he  gtortriiu  anb  $ittr*h*«  of  the  Jabalah 

divides  man  into  body,  soul  and  spirit,*  and  thus  the 
triad  reigns  in  things  below  as  in  those  which  are 
above.  These  divisions  are  the  animal  nature, 
NepJiesh  ;  f  the  rational  nature,  Ruach  ;  and  the  seat 
of  individuality,  Neskama/i.  The  system  is,  however, 
in  reality  far  more  complicated.  In  the  first  place, 
Nephesh  is  the  animal  soul  rather  than  the  physical 
body,  or,  more  exactly,  it  contains  also  the  triad. 
There  is  thus  a  Neshamah  of  Nephesh,  which  is  the 
principle  of  the  whole,  there  is  a  Ruach  of  Nephesh, 
and  a  Nephesh  of  Nephesh,  which  is  the  physical 
part.J  The  whole  together  is,  according  to  the  Zohar, 
the  living  man  in  this  world.  §  It  may  be  gathered 
also  from  the  same  work  that  the  natural  man  is 
complete  in  this  one  division,  and  that  it  depends  upon 
himself  to  attain  or  receive  the  others.  ||  The  true 

*  The  most  universal  and  natural  of  all  extant  classifications. 
The  Kabalah  also  holds  that  the  higher  rules  the  lower.  Compare  Mrs. 
Crowe's  translation  of  Kerner's  "  Seeress  of  Prevost,"  pp.  125,  126, 
where  the  "  revelation  "  given  in  the  magnetic  condition  reads  like  a 
simplified  Kabalism. 

f  Papus  states  that  Nephesh,  "the  inferior  principle,"  is  not  the 
material  body,  because  matter  has  no  existance  essentially.  I  find  this 
doctrine  nowhere  in  Kabalism,  for  which  matter  was  a  vile  reality. 
The  text  will  explain  further  in  what  sense  Nephesh  is  and  is  not  the 
physical  body.  But  Papus  also  admits  that  Nephesh,  Ruach  and 
Neshamah  are  practically  identical  with  the  body,  life,  and  will  of 
"modern  science." — La  Kabbale,  pp.  91,  92. 

£  The  German  Kabalist,  Carl  de  Leiningen,  in  a  communication 
addressed  to  the  Munich  Psychological  Society,  includes  the  material 
body  under  the  Nephesh  division.  There  can  be  no  question  that  this 
view  has  the  countenance  of  the  Sepher  Yetzirah  by  which  the  term  is 
applied  to  the  human  body  as  long  as  it  is  alive. 

§  Rosenroth,  however,  identifies  Nephesh  with  Psyche,  the 
vegetative  soul  and  the  plastic  part  of  the  soul.  He  regards  it  also  as 
the  Anima  vivens  of  the  Zoharic  Supplements. — Apparatus,  Kabbala 
Demidata,  i.  589. 

||  R.  Isachar  ben  Napthali ;    Synopsis  Libri  Sohar,    Titulus  xiii. 
e  dictis  in  Geneseos,  No.   22.      Cum  homo  nascitur,  non  nisi  Psychem 


vlhc  Soctrinal  Content  of  the  JUbalah          85 

Ruach,  or  rational  principle,  and  the  true  Neshamah, 
or  spiritual  individuality,  are  for  those  "  who  deserve 
to  do  the  work  of  the  Master."  NesJiamah  corre- 
ponds  to  Briah,  Ruach  to  Yetzirah  and  Nephesh  to 
Assiah.  The  junction  of  RuacJi  with  the  natural  man 
constitutes  a  state  to  which  the  term  CJiiah  is  given 
by  the  Kabalists.  The  junction  of  Neshamah  with 
both  adds  another  principle  termed  JecJiidaJi. 
Jcchidah,  Ckiah  and  Neshamah  are  also  said  to  be  the 
highest  triad.  The  doctrine  of  the  four  worlds 
suggests,  however,  that  there  is  a  still  more  exalted 
part  of  man,  coresponding  to  Atziluth,  and  of  which 
the  Neshamah  is  only  a  shadow  reflected.  This  is 
called  Tsure,  which  signifies  Prototype,  and  it  never 
quits  its  exalted  abode  in  the  archetypal  world.  It  is 
connected  with  the  NesJiamah  by  an  invisible  thread, 
and  the  aspiration  of  the  lower  to  the  higher  opens 
the  path  of  ecstasy.*  The  doctrine  of  the  Mystic 
Marriage  in  Christian  transcendentalism  has  analogies 
with  some  developments  of  this  speculation.  But  its 
immediate  connections  in  Israel  are  with  the  Ten 
Degrees  of  contemplation  described  in  the  Babylonian 
Talmud,  and  with  the  later  ritual  of  the  Pardes. 

In  the  hands  of  the  later  Kabalists  Zoharic  pneu- 
matology  became  still  more  involved.  The  Sephirotic 
attribution  of  the  triple  triad  and  the  supernal  part  is, 

so/am  cucipit,  et  prccterea  nee  spirit  it  m  n<\-  nicntcni  :  cmn  an  fern  dcinde 
inctdit  in  ria  rirtiitutn,  eidcni  super  additur  Spiritns  ct  Mcns. 

*  Compare  Tauler's  "  divine  knot  which  l>in<K  happily  the  soul 
with  the  Saviour  in  the  eternity  of  His  kingdom." — Institutiones 
Divina,  c.  xxxix.  in  the  collection  of  Surius,  Cologne,  1548.  It  is  a 
part  of  Kaljalistic  teaching  that  the  path  of  ecstasy  is  n»t  entirely 
closed  to  man  even  in  this  life,  which  may  to  some  extent  be  held  to 
follow  from  another  doctrine,  namely,  that  life  draws  at  once  from 
above  and  from  below. — Zohar  i,  60  et  se</.,  Mantua. 


86     Ihe  Jtortrine  aab  literature  ot  the 

of  course,  obvious,  though  it  is  not  methodised  in  the 
Zohar.  It  was,  however,  taken  up  by  the  school  of 
Isaac  de  Loria,  and  the  operation  of  the  ten  Sephiroth 
is  elaborated  in  each  of  the  ten  divisions.  It  is  not 
necessary  to  enter  into  these  refinements. 

It  should  be  added  that  the  Zohar  teaches  the 
pre-existence  and  foreknowledge  of  the  soul*  but  the 
revolutions  of  Kabalism  are  not  precisely  what  modern 
occultism  understands  by  reincarnation.f  The  works 
of  Isaac  de  Loria  treat  very  largely  of  this  subject,  but 
have  been  regarded  as  full  of  innovations.  J 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  doctrines  of  the  Kabalah, 
taken  per  se,  are  nearly  all  of  consequence  to 
occultists,  but  it  is  necessary  to  add  that  the  aspects 
under  which  they  are  presented  do  not  increase  that 

consequence,  while  the  presumption  that  they  are  part 
on  their  surface.  There  is  nothing  in  the  doctrine  of 

of  a  tradition  delivered  from  generation  to  generation, 
deriving  from  a  remote  past,  by  no  means  appears 
Ain  Soph  which  will  warrant  us  in  placing  it  on  a 
higher  level  than  any  other  theory  of  the  Absolute ; 


*  All  souls,  moreover,  were  created  together.  Later  writers 
introduced  the  idea  of  transmigration.  Thus  the  treatise  entitled  "  The 
Royal  Valley,"  says  that  the  soul  of  a  slanderer  is  transmigrated  into  a 
silent  stone,  and  that  of  the  murderer  into  water. 

t  They  are  still  less  what  Christian  mysticism  understands  by 
regeneration,  a  misapprehension  peculiar,  I  believe,  to  the  late  Lady 
Caithness. — See  "  Old  Truths  in  a  New  Light,"  p.  370.  "We  now 
know  that  the  doctrine  of  regeneration  was  secretly  taught  among  the 
Jews  in  the  '  Mysteries,'  or  Sacred  Kabalah,"  the  regeneration  in 
question  being  the  transformations  and  mysterious  trials,  the  goings  and 
returnings  of  souls  and  spirits,  described  in  the  Zoharic  "  Discourse  of 
the  Ancient  Man." 

J  In  a  general  sense  Mr.  W.  T.  Flagg  is  correct  when  he  states 
that  "the  Gnostics  and  Kabalists  held  that  perfection  was  arrived  at 
by  means  of  successive  reincarnations." — See  "Yoga  or  Transforma 
tion."  New  York  and  London.  1898. 


Doctrinal  Content  of  the  gabalah         87 

there  is  much  in  its  modern  presentation  by  some 
occultists,  who  most  strenuously  defend  its  antiquity, 
and  even  its  divine  derivation,  which  helps  to  place  it 
outside    philosophical    consideration ;     in    its    funda 
mental  nature   it   is   the   common   inheritance   of   all 
human  speculation  ;    it  needs  neither  revelation  nor 
oral  tradition  to  perpetuate  it.     The  doctrine  of  the 
Sephiroth,  on  the  other   hand,  is  at  most  a  degree 
better  than  any  other  system  of  emanation,  and  no 
such  theory  can  be  accepted  as  a  satisfactory  attempt 
to  explain  the  universe.     At  the  epochs  when  these 
theories  were  possible  they  were  serious  and  excellent 
in  their  intention,  and  up  to  that  point  their  interest 
is  permanent  for  the  history  of  human  thought.     To 
revive  them  at  the  present  day  is  beside  all  reason. 
Just  as  the  necessity  of  final  causation,  with  all  the 
difficulties  which  it  involves,  is  not  dispensed  with  by 
recourse  to  evolution,  so  the  transition  from  infinite  to 
finite,  from  eternal  to  temporal,  from  absolute  per 
fection   to   the   imperfect  order   of  the   physical   and 
moral  world,  from  God,  in  a  word,  to  the  material,  is 
not  assisted  by  supposing  stages  between  them.    This 
kind  of  compromise  belongs  to  a  period  of  human 
thought  which  has  utterly  passed   away.     It  is  the 
same  with  the  doctrine  of  the  two  Countenances ;   it 
was  admirable  for  its  time  as  an  eirenicon  between 
the  God  of  the  philosophers  and  the  God  of  old  Israel, 
but  at  the  present  day  there  is  not  much  need  to 
bridge  that  gulf,  and  occultists  in  particular  who  have 
abandoned  the  orthodox  in  faith,  who  are  also  very 
proud    of    this    fact,    and    very    resolute    as    to    its 
importance,  are  less  in  need  than  others  of  such  an 
accommodation.     Speaking  generally,  UK-  Kabalah  is 


p  odtinz  anb  literature  of  the  $abalah 

an  attempt  to  give  depth  and  significance  to  a  form  of 
religious  faith  which  occultism  has,  at  least  in  its  literal 
aspects,  agreed  to  set  aside.  Its  pneumatology  is 
important  to  those  who  take  ceremonial  magic 
seriously,  and  the  doctrine  of  the  virtue  in  words, 
contained  by  implication  in  that  of  the  Instruments  of 
Creation,  is  much  in  favour  with  a  certain  school  of 
occultism;  but,  taken  altogether,  the  content  of  the 
Kabalah  does  not  possess  the  momentous  character 
which  has  been  ascribed  to  it  by  those  whose  beliefs 
have  invested  it  with  something  of  living  interest 
The  next  stage  of  our  inquiry  is  to  determine  as  far  as 
possible  its  claims  to  antiquity.* 

It  may  be  mentioned  in  conclusion  that  the  reader  who  has  a 
little  knowledge  of  Hebrew  will  do  well  to  consult  the  curious  diagrams 
as  well  as  the  Latin  text  of  the  rare  fourth  part  of  Rosenroth's  Apparatus 
in  Librum  Sohar. 


BOOK    III 

SOURCE  AND  AUTHORITY  OF  THE 
KABALAH 

ARGUMENJ 

The  two  chief  cycles  of  Kabalistic  literature,  in  spite  of  destructive 
criticism,  are  referable,  by  their  materials,  to  Talmudic  times. 
There  is  no  reason  why  the  "  Book  of  Formation  "  should  not  be 
the  work  of  R.  Akiba,  as  tradition  affirms.  There  is  no  solid 
evidence  to  support  the  theory  that  R.  Moses  de  Leon  wrote  the 
Zohar  at  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century.  At  the  same  time, 
the  belief  of  occult  students  that  these  works  represent  a  tradition 
dating  from  an  early  period  of  history  has  also  little  to  support  it. 
The  attempts  to  refer  the  Kabalah  in  a  direct  manner  to  some  prior 
philosophical  system  must  be  largely  set  aside  ;  it  has  its  antecedents 
everywhere,  but  its  analogies  with  other  systems  are  referable  to  a 
natural  similarity  between  independent  conclusions  on  fundamental 
problems  of  being.  Antecedent  Jewish  influence  through  the 
school  of  Aristobulus  and  Philo  must  not  be  overlooked,  but  also 
it  must  not  be  exaggerated.  The  Kabalah  is  sui  generis.  It  has 
its  scholastic  connections,  and  it  has  its  Mohammedan  corre 
spondences.  If  there  be  any  preponderance  in  a  given  direction, 
its  sphere  of  influence  has  been  Christian  rather  than  Jewish. 

I.    DATE  AND  DOCTRINE  OF  THE  "BOOK 
OF   FORMATION" 

WE  are  now  in  possession  of  the  most  important 
elements  of  Kabalistic  doctrine  and  the  chief  heads  of 
its  philosophical  instruction.  There  is  much,  very 
much,  more  in  its  literature,  some  of  which  must  be  set 


90     ^Ihe  Jlrrrtritu  anii  SJiteratttr*  at  iht  gtabalah 

aside  altogether  from  consideration  in  a  work  which 
would  exceed  its  purpose  if  it  entered  into  abstruse 
and  technical  matters,  while  some  has  been  postponed 
till  a  later  stage  of  our  study,  because,  although  it  is 
highly  important  to  the  right  understanding  of  the 
subject,  it  does  not  involve  the  points  with  which  we 
are  concerned  at  the  inception.  First  among  these 
points  is  whether  and  how  far  we  are  warranted,  by 
evidence  that  can  be  produced  in  the  open  day,  in 
regarding  the  literature  which  contains  the  doctrines 
summarised  by  the  preceding  sections  as  possessing 
an  authentic  character,  or  the  doctrines  themselves  as 
part  of  a  tradition  perpetuated  in  Israel  from  very 
early  times. 

For  this  purpose  it  will  be  convenient  to  accept 
the  literature  as  divisible  into  four  classes — (i)  The 
"  Book  of  Formation  "  ;  (2)  The  commentaries  on  that 
work  which  preceded  the  public  appearance  of  the 
Zohar ;  (3)  The  Zohar  itself ;  (4)  The  writings  subse 
quent  thereto.* 

The  report  of  an  esoteric  tradition  in  Israel  did 
not  begin  to  circulate  through  Christendom  till  the 
fourteenth  century,  and  this,  as  we  shall  see  later  on, 
is  explained  by  the  fact  that  the  chief  collection  of  its 
archives  was  unknown,  at  least  generally,  in  Jewry 
itself  till  about  1290,  A.D.  This  collection  is  that 

*  Solomon  Munk,  one  of  the  highest  French  authorities  on 
Kabalism,  tabulates  the  following  classification  in  the  Dictionnaire  de  la 
Conversation,  s.v.  Kabbah.  (1)  A  symbolical  portion,  namely,  mystical 
calculations,  i.e.,  Themurahy  Gematria,  Notaricon,  on  which  refer  to 
Book  I.  §  4  ;  (2)  A  dogmatic  or  positive  part,  which  is,  in  fact, 
concerned  with  the  hypothesis  of  spiritual  essences,  i.e.,  angels,  demons, 
human  souls  and  their  transmigration ;  (3)  A  speculative  and 
metaphysical  part,  namely,  Sephirotic  doctrine  and  so  forth.  It  is  not 
a  satisfactory  classification,  but  there  is  no  need  to  criticise  it  here. 


<Sourre  anb  JUthoritp  of  the  gabalah          91 

which  is  termed  by  Kabalists  the  work  of  the  Chariot, 
in  other  words,  the  Zohar.  The  work  of  Creation — 
that  is,  the  Sepher  Yetzirah — was  known,  as  we  have 
ground  for  believing,  to  at  least  one  Christian  student 
so  far  back  as  the  middle  of  the  ninth  century,  but 
there  was  no  consequence  attached  to  it  for  Christen 
dom.  The  Sepher  Yetzirah  is  supposed  to  embody  a 
tradition  handed  down  from  the  time  of  Abraham,  and 
there  is  no  doubt  that  the  uncritical  spirit  of  several 
centuries  represented  the  patriarch  as  its  author.  This 
does  not  seem,  however,  as  some  modern  criticism  has 
loosely  supposed,*  to  have  been  the  view  universally 
adopted  by  the  Jewish  learning  which  accepted  the 
document.  That  he  received  and  he  transmitted  it 
was  undoubtedly  held,  but  the  work  itself  does  not 
pretend  to  have  been  reduced  to  writing  till  after  the 
destruction  of  Jerusalem,  and  tradition  has  ascribed  its 
formal  authorship  to  Rabbi  Akiba  ben  Joseph,  the 
pupil  of  R.  Joshua  ben  Chananja,  who  was  himself  the 
successor,  as  he  was  also  once  the  opponent,  of 
Rabban  Gamaliel.  There  is  nothing  flagrantly  impro 
bable  in  this  attribution,  though  it  reaches  us  late  in 
history.  Akiba  was  a  mystic  with  whose  notions  the 
scheme  of  the  Sepher  Yetzirah  was  in  complete 
accordance,  and  he  is  the  reputed  author  of  another 
work  dealing  with  the  mysteries  of  the  Hebrew  alpha- 

*  Dr.  Edersheim,  "  History  of  the  Jewish  Nation,"  observes  that 
it  is  properly  "a  monologue  on  the  part  of  Abraham,  in  which,  by  tin- 
contemplation  of  all  that  is  around  him,  he  ultimately  arrives  at  the 
conviction  of  the  unity  of  God."  3rd.  ed.  p.  407.  So  also  (iin-Onir^ 
says  that  it  professes  to  be  a  monologue  of  the  patriarch.  It  does 
nothing  of  the  sort;  but  the  fifth  chapter  mentions  "Abraham  our 
father."  Of  course,  the  legend  of  patriarchal  derivation  became 
stereotyped  quickly.  In  the  twelfth  century,  K.  Judah  Ha  Levi 
of  "the  Book  of  the  Creation  which  belongs  to  our  father  Abraham. 


92     ^he  grrrtrine  anb  HJtteratur*  ot  the  Jubalah 

bet*  In  his  interpretation  of  Scripture  he  followed 
and  exaggerated  the  principles  of  Hillel  the  Great  and 
Nahum  of  Giso.  He  promulgated,  or,  at  least,  gave 
the  weight  of  his  authority  to,  the  doctrine  that  "  every 
sentence,  word  and  particle  in  the  Bible  had  its  use 
and  meaning." f  His  literary  labours  were  also  very 
great,  for  to  him  is  attributed  the  arrangement  and 
redaction  of  the  Halakha.  Subsequent  generations 
were  so  impressed  by  his  marvellous  knowledge  of 
divine  things  that  he  was  asserted  to  have  discovered 
much  of  which  even  Moses  was  ignorant,  which,  in 
the  sense  not  intended,  is  indubitably  true.  If  we 
admit  the  existence  of  a  secret  tradition  in  Israel,  we 
shall  not  need  to  question  that  Akiba  was  initiated 
therein ;  if  we  admit  the  existence  of  the  Sepher 
Yetzirah  in  the  second  century,  we  can  imagine  no 
more  probable  author  for  that  work.J  Nor  is  the  date 
essentially  disagreeable  to  a  moderate  criticism ;  §  it 
is  merely  unestablished  for  want  of  exact  evidence,  || 

*  It  is  called  the  alphabet  of  R.  Akiba,  being  the  letters 
allegorically  explained.  Buxtorf  says  that  it  was  printed  at  Cracovia 
in  1597,  with  a  Commentarius  Prolixus.  See  Bibliotheca  Hebraa 
Rabbinica.  Basilia,  1618-19,  4  vols.  fol.  An  earlier  edition  of  the 
Alphabet  appeared  at  Venice  in  1546.  See  Bartolocci,  iv.  274. 

f  Edersheim,  "  History  of  the  Jewish  Nation." 

J  Curiously  enough,  M.  Nicolas  admits  the  date  necessary  but  not 
the  authorship  it  suggests,  on  the  ground  that  Akiba  was  a  rigid  and 
head-strong  doctor  of  the  Law  and  not  likely  to  indulge  in  speculative 
lucubrations.  This  estimate,  with  which  it  is  difficult  to  agree,  has  also 
the  authority  of  Franck,  on  the  ground  that  the  Talmud  reproaches 
Akiba  for  his  incommensurate  notions  of  God,  but  Franck  is  possibly 
more  influenced  by  his  belief  in  the  earlier  origin  of  the  work. — La 
Kabbah,  p.  87  et  seq. 

§  Quite  independently  of  occult  prepossessions  it  has  been  argued 
that  the  language  of  the  Sepher  Yetzirah  is  a  Hebrew  wholly  analogous 
to  that  of  the  Mishnah. 

||  Dr.  Schiller-Szinessy  expressly  says  that  the  book  no  doubt 
belongs  to  Akiba,  "both  in  substance  and  form." — Encyclopedia  Bri- 


anb  JUthoritg  of  the  Jiabalah          93 

which  begins  only  with  the  ninth  century,  when  there 
is  tolerable  reason  to  infer  that  it  was  known  by  St. 
Agobard.*  It  is  not  possible  from  any  internal  testi 
mony  to  fix  the  work  as  belonging  to  the  later  period, 
for  obviously  any  book  may  be  far  older  than  the  date 
of  its  first  quotation,  while  the  fact,  if  established,  that 
it  was  known  in  France  in  or  about  the  year  85of 
would  create  a  presumption  that  it  was  in  existence 
much  earlier,  for  literature  travelled  slowly  in  those 
days.  We  must  remember  also  that  a  Sepher  Yet- 
zirah  is  mentioned  in  both  Talmuds  in  connection  with 
the  doctrine  that  heaven  and  earth  were  created  by  a 
mysterious  combination  of  letters,  and  that  Franck 
characterises  the  attempt  of  modern  scholarship  to 

tannica,  9th  ed.,  s.v.  Midrashim,  a  term  derived  from  a  root  signifying 
to  seek  out  or  to  question.  Munk  also  takes  this  view  in  the  article 
s.v.  Kabbah,  contributed  to  the  ninth  volume  of  the  Dictionnaire  de  la 
Conversation  et  de  la  Lecture,  Paris,  1833. 

*  The  English  reader  may  consult  Taylor's  translation  of  Basnage's 
"  History  of  the  Jews,"  p.  590  et  seq.  London.  1708.  Agobard  was 
Archbishop  of  Lyons,  and  wrote  against  trials  by  ordeal  and  other 
superstitions  of  his  period.  See  the  Abbe  Migne's  Dictionnaire  dcs 
Sciences  Occultes,  vol.  i.  col.  32.  Despite  this  apparent  enlightenment 
he  figures  among  the  persecutors  of  Jewry.  See  Basnage,  Histoire  des 
fuifs,  t.  v.  pp.  1493,  1494. 

t  The  evidence  falls  short  of  demonstration,  and  is  confined  to 
two  short  pavs.i^e*  in  the  Epistola  S.  Agobatdi  .  .  .  de  fudaicis 
Suftrstitionibus.  In  the  first,  the  Jews  are  branded  for  their  gross 
notions  of  the  Deity,  on  the  ground  lhat  they  believe  Him  to  be  possessed 
of  a  bodily  form,  having  distinct  members  and  lineaments,  including 
organs  of  seeing,  hearing,  speaking  and  so  forth  ;  also  that  they  note 
only  one  difference  between  the  body  of  God  and  that  of  man  who  is 
in  His  imnge,  namely,  that  the  fingers  are  inflexible,  because  God 
effects  nothing  with  his  hands.  It  seems  certain  that  St.  Agobaid  chaws 
here  from  the  "  Description  of  the  Body  of  God."  In  the  second 
passage  it  is  said  :  "  Further,  they  believe  the  letters  of  their  alphabet 
to  have  existed  from  everlasting,  and  before  the  beginning  of  the  worl-1 
to  have  received  diverse  offices,  in  virtue  of  which  they  should  preside 
over  created  things." — S.Agobardi,Li4gduncnsisEpiscopi,  (.>/<•;  <?  Omnia. 
Patrologia  Cursus  Completes  .  .  .  aaurante  J.  P.  Migne.  Paris, 
1851,  p.  78^  seq. 


94     ^he  IPottrine  anb  $titrftittxt  ot  the  Jiabalah 

distinguish  two  works  under  an  identical  title  as 
founded  in  gross  ignorance.*  If,  however,  we  do 
not  place  the  work  in  Talmudic  times,  we  may 
concede  that  it  came  into  existence  within  a 
measurable  distance  of  the  stormy  period  in  which 
the  great  Talmudic  canons  were  forcibly  closed. 

We  have  next  to  distinguish  between  the  date 
which  may  be  surmised  for  the  treatise  and  that  which 
must  perhaps  be  attributed  to  the  teaching  embodied 
therein.  Have  we  any  ground  for  believing  that  the 
doctrine  of  the  Sepher  Yetzirah  is  older  than  the 
Egyptian  captivity,  as  its  legend  affirms  ?  This 
question  must  be  answered  by  an  emphatic  negative. 
The  doctrine  under  notice  gives  prominence  to  the 
sacred  and  divine  character  of  the  Hebrew  alphabet, 
and  we  have  no  warrant  for  supposing  that  the  art  of 
writing  was  possessed  by  Abraham  ;  every  probability 
is  against  it  and  every  authority  is  agreed  on  this 
point.  But  the  Sepher  Yetzirah  contains,  by  implica 
tion  at  least,  the  doctrine  of  an  occult  power  and 
sanctity  inherent  in  certain  divine  names,  and  we 
know  that  this  belief  is  very  old  in  humanity,  that  it 
is  found  at  an  early  period  in  Chaldea,  Akkadia  and 
so  forth.  It  is  afflicting  to  modern  intelligence,  but 
it  is  of  great  antiquity,  and  as  it  belongs  to  those 
countries  with  which  Israel  was  in  contact,  we  have 
reason  to  think  that  it  became  part  of  the  religious 
baggage  of  the  Hebrew  people  long  before  the 
Sepher  Yetzirah,  the  Alphabet  of  Akiba,  or  the 
Mishna  itself  were  dreamed  of.  Occultism  has 

*  On  this  fact  Franck  insists  very  strongly,  maintaining  that 
these  references  demonstrate  the  existence  of  a  work  reserved  to  a 
few  and  that  this  work  is  identical  with  the  Sepher  Yetzirah  as  we  now 
have  it.—  La  Kabbale,  Paris,  1843,  P-  75  et  Se1- 


§ourcc  ant)  JUthoritg  of  the  glabalah          95 

attached  itself  to  this  doctrine,*  and  we  must  allow, 
therefore,  to  occultists  that  the  most  ancient  document 
of  Kabalismf  does  embody  something  of  tradition 
from  the  past,  perhaps  even  from  the  period  of  the 
Babylonian  captivity,  as  the  Talmud  itself  indicates. 
On  the  other  hand,  we  have  no  evidence  to  show  that 
the  doctrine  of  the  Instruments  of  Creation  is  much 
prior  to  the  date  of  the  treatise  which  develops  it ;  it 
has  no  history  previously,  and  can  therefore  be  placed 
only  in  Talmudic — i.e.,  in  post- Christian — times.  It 
should  be  added  that  the  Sepher  Yetzirah  is  part  of  a 
considerable  literature  of  an  occult  or  mystical  com 
plexion  covering  the  period  between  the  closing  of  the 
Talmudic  Canon  and  the  first  report  of  the  Zohar. 


II.    MODERN  CRITICISM  OF  THE  BOOK  OF 
SPLENDOUR 

The  commentaries  on  the  Sepher  Yetzirah  which 
preceded  the  publication  of  the  Zohar  make  no  claim 

*  And  so  also,  it  would  seem,  has  the  less  pronounced  form  of 
modern  Christian  mysticism.  See,  for  example,  the  interesting  col 
lection  entitled  "  Letters  from  a  Mystic  of  the  Present  Day,"  by  an 
anonymous  writer.  Second  edition,  London,  1889,  pp.  205-207. 
"We  seem  to  have  to  learn  the  various  names  of  God  before  we  can 
grasp  the  Name.  The  Name  grasps  us,  while  the  others  are  various 
outer  courts  through  which  we  come  into  the  Sanctuary  or  Name  of 
God  ;  in  that  name  we  find  pasture  wherever  our  outer  life  may  take 
us."  Compare  Saint-Martin,  L?  Esprit  des  (hoses,  torn.  ii.  65  et  seq. 

f  I  ought  not,  perhaps,  to  omit  that  Mayer  Lambert,  one  of  the 
latest  editors  of  the  Sepher  Yetzirah,  attirms  that  it  has  nothing  in 
common  with  the  Kabalah,  by  which  he  understand:,  a  mysterious 
explanation  of  the  Bible  drawn  from  the  letters  of  the  text  and  a  meta 
physical  theory  which  connects  God  with  the  world  through  a  series 
of  emanations  of  divinity.  As  regards  its  date,  he  agrees  that  it  is  one 
of  the  numerous  Midrashim  produced  by  the  Talmudic  period. 


96     ^[Ehe  jjpfljctrme  zmfo  literature  ot  the  giabalah 

on  antiquity,  and  may  therefore  be  reserved  for  con 
sideration  in  their  proper  place  later  on.  The  alleged 
traces  of  Kabalism  in  writers  of  known  dates  also 
prior  to  that  event  may  in  like  manner  be  left  till  we 
deal  with  the  documents  consecutively.  We  may, 
therefore,  proceed  at  once  to  the  absorbing  problems 
connected  with  the  Book  of  Splendour.  Chief  among 
these  are  the  vital  questions:  (i)  Whether  modern 
criticism  is  right  in  ascribing  the  Zohar  to  the 
thirteenth  century  as  its  period,  and  to  R.  Moses  Shem 
Tob  de  Leon  as  its  author.  (2)  Whether  we  have 
evidence  that  some  at  least  of  its  doctrine  was  in 
existence  at  a  much  earlier  period,  or,  as  its  legend 
states,  at  the  time  of  the  Roman  Emperor  Antoninus. 
To  determine  these  points  we  shall  do  well  to  glance 
first  of  all  at  the  history  of  the  criticism  which  has 
befallen  this  vast  document. 

We  shall  get  very  little  help  from  the  insight  of 
contemporary  Israel  as  to  either  point.  The  Sepher 
Yetzirah  was  known  and  accepted  before  docu 
mentary  criticism  can  be  well  said  to  have  been  born, 
and  so  also  when  the  Zohar  was  promulgated  it  was 
among  a  mixed  audience  who  either  took  or  rejected 
it  on  a  priori  grounds.  Those  who  loathed  the  yoke 
of  Aristotle,  which  Abraham  ben  David  Ha  Levi, 
Aben  Ezra  and  Moses  Maimonides  would  have 
placed  on  the  neck  of  Jewry,  accorded  it  a  glad 
welcome ;  *  all  that  great  section  of  Jewry  which  was 

*  The  contrariety  of  the  two  systems  is  best  shown  by  this  fact. 
Myer  says  :  "  Its  opponents  were  almost  universally  Jewish  Aristotelians 
who  opposed  the  ancient  secret  learning  of  the  Israelites  because  it  was 
more  in  accord  with  the  philosophy  of  Plato  and  Pythagoras,  and  indeed 
most  likely  emanated  from  the  same  sources,  the  Aryan  and  Chaldean 
esoteric  doctrine." — Philosophy  of  Ibn  Gebirol,  p.  12.  It  is  the  fact 


anb  JUthoritu  of  th*  glabalah          97 

addicted  to  astrology  and  magic  took  it  into  their 
heart  of  hearts:  it  was  neither  astrology  nor  magic, 
but  it  harmonized  with  their  transcendental  aspirations. 
On  the  other  hand,  it  was  hated  by  the  Aristotelians 
because  it  did  not  consort  with  their  methods.*  It  is 
not  till  recent  times  that  we  have  any  intelligent 
defence  on  the  part  of  Jewish  thinkers— Konitz  in 
1815,  Franck  in  1843,  David  Luria  in  1857,  Munk  in 
1859;  or,  on  the  other  hand,  a  strong  and  informed 
hostility,  as  that  of  Graetzf  in  Germany,  to  quote  only 
one  instance. 

In  the  influence  exercised  by  the  Kabalah  upon 
certain  minds  of  Christendom,  the  Sepher  Yetzirah 
must  be  distinguished  from  the  Zohar.  The  former 
has  had  no  influence  ;  it  was  indeed  introduced  to  our 
knowledge  by  a  monk  of  exalted  erudition  and  of 
eccentricity  equally  great,  but  it  was  not  till  the 
sixteenth  century  and  it  found  no  sphere  of  operation. 
Some  of  its  Sephirotic  developments,  the  corn- 
only  which  is  of  value  ;  Mr.  Myer's  explanation  may  be  read  in  the 
light  of  Book  iii.,  §  5. 

*  "  When  the  Saracens  became  the  patrons  of  philosophy 
the  attention  paid  both  by  Arabians  and  Christians  to  the  writings  of 
Aristotle  excited  the  emulation  of  the  Jews,  who,  notwithstanding  the 
ancient  cur.e  pronounced  on  all  Jews  who  should  instruct  their  sons  in 
the  Grecian  learning  .  .  .  continued  in  their  philosophical  course 
reading  Aristotle  in  I  It-brew  translations  made  ln>m  the  inaccurate 
Arabic,  for  Creek  was  at  this  period  little  understood."— ( iould, 
"  History  of  Krt-una>oniy,"  London,  1885,  ii.  66,  67  ;  see  also  69,  70. 
ip>  ii  is  more  stiong  than  it  is  well  informed.  I  see  no 
etz  of  any  real  acquaintance  with  the  Kabalah,  about  which 
he  writes  savagely  and  with  the  indiscrimination  which  we  connect  with 
a  savage.  Thus,  he  turns  the  Zohar  "  a  notorious  forgery,"  whereas  the 
chief  notoriety  concerning  it  is  that  after  eight  centuries  of  criticism 
scarcely  two  authorities  can  be  found  to  agree  in  their  estimate. 
Throughout  this  part  of  his  history  we  find  continually  things  uncertain 
Described  in  the  language  of  certitude,  and  things  for  which  there  is 
little  evidence  as  if  there  were  overwhelming  testimony. 

H 


98     l^he  gcrtrme  attb  HJiterattir*  of  the  JUbalah 

mentaries  of  Rabbi  Abraham  and  Rabbi  Azariel,  met 
with  a  certain  audience  among  a  few  men  of  learning, 
but  they  can  bear  no  comparison  with  the  appeal  made 
by  the  larger  cycle.  For  all  Christian  students  the 
Kabalah  was  substantially  the  Zohar,  and,  as  we  shall 
see  subsequently,  the  office  attributed  to  it  was  almost 
exclusively  evangelical ;  that  is  to  say,  the  discovery 
that  there  had  existed  in  Israel,  from  time  immemorial, 
as  it  was  alleged,  a  secret  doctrine  which  appeared  to 
contain  analogies  and  even  identities  with  funda 
mental  dogmas  of  Christianity,  put  the  Jews  so  clearly 
in  the  wrong,  by  their  own  showing,  that  their  conver 
sion  was  deemed  inevitable.*  Thus,  the  antiquity  of 
the  tradition  was  not  at  that  time  challenged  in 
Christendom,  and  again  it  was  not  a  period  when 
documentary  criticism  was  pursued  with  any  keenness. 
The  fourteenth  century  made  the  grave,  but  yet 
excusable,  mistake  of  supposing  that  most  people 
wrote  the  books  attributed  to  them.  They  accepted 
the  claim  of  the  Zohar  for  much  the  same  reason  that 
they  were  persuaded  of  the  antiquity  of  Homer.  In 
the  existing  state  of  scholarship  to  have  challenged 
one  might  have  openea  an  abyss  beneath  the  other, 
and  could  well  have  included  all  ancient  literature  in  a 
common  uncertainty.  Of  course,  as  time  went  on,  and 


*  "  Some  Christians  have  also  esteemed  them  (i.e.,  the  Kabalistic 
books  and  their  connections)  because  they  found  them  more  favourable 
to  the  Christian  religion  than  the  recent  commentaries  of  the  Rabbins. 
But  they  failed  to  consider  that  these  same  allegorical  books  are  filled 
with  an  infinitude  of  ridiculous  fables,  and  that  Jewish  superstition  is 
much  more  clearly  proved  from  them  than  are  the  mysteries  of  our 
religion.  William  Postel  has  imposed  on  several  theologians  in  this 
matter,  having  pretended  to  find  Christianity  in  the  books  of  the 
Zohar." — Richard  Simon,  Histoire  Critiqi4t  du  Vieux  Testament,  p.  371. 


anb  JUthorihi  of  the  Jab.ilah          99 

the  evangelical  instrument  proved  to  be  of  no  effect, 
its  validity  began  to  be  challenged,  but  even  then  it 
was  scarcely  on  critical  grounds.  So  also,  even  at  the 
inception  of  the  enthusiasm,  some  sceptical  voices 
were  raised,  but  again  from  uncritical  and  predeter 
mined  motives.*  The  Christians  who  rejected  the 
Zohar  were  like  the  Jews  who  rejected  it — the  latter 
because  they  were  Aristotelians,  the  former  because 
they  were  Christians,  who  saw  no  good  in  the  Ghetto, 
and  only  the  final  impenitence  of  the  lost  thief  in  the 
erudition  of  Toledo.f 

The  credulity,  or  at  least  the  disability,  of  early 
students  has  been  amply  atoned  for  in  the  spirit  which 
has  governed  the  later  critics  of  the  Kabalah.  I  must 
confess  that  in  some  cases  they  seem,  after  their  own 
manner,  to  have  prejudged  the  question  much  as  that 
laborious  bibliographer  Julius  Bartolocci  prejudged 
it  in  the  seventeenth  century.  It  was  offensive  to  the 
dignity  of  the  Latin  Church  to  suppose  that  there  was 
a  rival  tradition,  full  of  illumination  and  wisdom, 
preserved  unknown  to  the  church  in  the  rejected 
house  of  Israel.  By  a  similar  sentiment  it  has  seemed 
intolerable  to  modern  taste  that  any  occult  literature 
should  possess  a  real  claim  on  attention.  It  is  there- 


*  Among  writers  who  did  not  permit  themselves  to  be  deceived 
by  the  alleged  instrument  of  conversion,  a  high  place  must  be  accorded 
to  Petrus  Galatinus  and  his  DC  Arcanis  Cat/ioliue  Veritatis  contra 
Jmlo-ornin  pcrfidiain,  first  published  in  1518. 

t  The  connection  between  Christianity  and  the  Xohar  still  finds 
an  occasional  expositor  in  occult  circles.  Consult  Stanislas  de  Guaita, 
Essias  des  Sciences  Mauditcs.  I.  Au  Seuil  du  Mystere.  Nouvcllc 
edition,  i-orri^t't .  P.iri>.  1890.  "  The  /ohur  has  wedded  the  Gospel  ; 
the  spirit  has  fructified  the  soul ;  and  immortal  works  have  been  the 
fruits  of  this  union.  The  Kabalah  became  Catholic  in  the  school  of 
St.  John,"  &c.  A  romantic  criticism  inspired  by  Eliphas  Le"vi. 


TOO  ^he  Jtortriru  anb  Jpterature  xrf  the  jiabalah 

fore  said  out  of  hand  that  the  Kabalah,  represented 
by  the  Zohar,  is  a  forgery  of  the  thirteenth  century. 
We  must  endeavour  to  comprehend  precisely  what  is 
involved  in  this  standpoint. 

There  are  some  literary  fabrications  which  do  not 
need  a  high  degree  of  scholarship  to  expose  them,  for 
they  may  be  said  to  betray  themselves,  often  at  every 
point.  In  the  department  of  belles  lettres  it  is 
sufficient  to  mention  the  so-called  Rowley  poems. 
These,  as  everybody  is  well  aware,  were  forgeries  pure 
and  simple,  and  their  disguise  is  so  entirely  spurious 
that  it  can  be  peeled  off  without  any  difficulty.  It  is 
not  necessary  to  add  that  they  possessed  their 
believers,  and  not  further  back  than  the  days  of  the 
Bell  edition  of  Chatterton,  the  race  of  Rowleyites  had 
still  a  few  survivals,  for  we  find  the  editor  describing 
their  characteristics  in  terms  which  have  a  wider  appli 
cation  than  he  was  concerned  with  at  the  moment. 
A  true  Rowleyite,  he  says,  is  not  open  to  conviction, 
and  the  statement  obtains  in  the  case  of  all  pertina 
cious  defenders  of  spurious  literary  productions.  The 
position  of  the  Rowley  MSS.  is  fairly  paralleled  oy 
that  of  many  occult  documents,  among  which,  as 
typical  instances,  we  may  select  the  handbooks  of 
Ceremonial  Magic.  There  are  no  works  which  betray 
themselves  more  transparently  and  abundantly  than 
the  "  Key  of  Solomon  "  and  the  "  Sacred  Magic  of 
Abramelin  the  Mage,"  and  yet  they  possess  at  this 
day  their  believers,  enthusiasts  for  the  good  faith  of 
their  claims  to  a  high  antiquity  or  a  Hebrew  origin,  as 
the  case  may  be. 

There  are  again  some  fabrications  which  possess 
a  certain  basis  in  fact,  over  which  a  mass  of  forgery 


<§ourre  anb  JVxithoritu  of  the  $abalah         101 

has  been  arranged.  One  ready  instance  in  point  is 
found  in  the  poems  of  Ossian,  for  which  there  was 
indubitably  a  nucleus  of  floating  Gaelic  tradition 
which  was  wrought  into  his  imposition  by  McPherson. 
The  result  may  deceive  for  a  moment  even  sound 
scholarship,  but  its  full  exposure  is  only  a  matter  of 
time.  In  this  case  the  epic  of  "  Wallace  "  was  fatal 
to  the  possibility  of  Fingal.  Perhaps  the  Latin 
alchemical  writings  attributed  to  Geber  may  be 
regarded  as  typical  instances  in  occult  literature  of 
this  form  of  fraud.  They  have  scarcely  any 
resemblance  to  the  Arabic  originals,  but  such  originals 
exist. 

Finally,  there  are  certain  works  which  may  or 
may  not  be  fabrications,  but  they  either  incorporate 
so  much  genuine  material  belonging  to  the  depart 
ment  of  literature  which  they  pretend  to  represent,  or 
else  are  so  skilfully  constructed  that  the  balance  of 
probability  is  poised  pretty  equally  concerning  them, 
and  it  is  almost  impossible  to  arrive,  by  impartial 
methods,  at  the  determination  of  their  claims.  I  do 
not  know  whether  there  is  any  good  instance  in  belles 
lettres  of  this  kind  of  alleged  fabrication.  Hogg's 
"  Jacobite  Relics  of  Scotland  "  is  perhaps  the  nearest 
approach  to  a  parallel.  That  collection  undoubtedly 
contains  a  large  proportion  of  genuine  material,  but  it 
is  suspected  that  the  Ettrick  Shepherd  supplied  a 
proportion  of  the  collection  by  his  own  skill  in  verse- 
craft,  and  criticism,  though  it  has  not  concerned  itself 
very  seriously,  is  perhaps  fairly  divided  on  the 
question.  In  occult  literature  we  have  several  signal 
examples  of  this  suspected  writing  which  has  not  been 
found  out  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  impartial  mind. 


102  ^he  Iptfrtrtrte  atvb  literature  xrf  the  giabalah 

For  example,  a  few  of  the  Hermetic  books,  which  are 
usually  classed  by  scholars  as  productions  of  the 
Alexandrian  period,  and  therefore  post-Christian,  are 
held  by  others  to  represent  occult  traditions  of  con 
siderable  antiquity,  and  I  do  not  think  that  the  case 
has  been  decided  for  all  time  as  regards  some  of  these 
works.  But  the  most  renowned  of  all  the  instances  is 
that  with  which  we  are  here  concerned — the  Kabalah 
itself.  Destructive  criticism  has  maintained  that  its 
foremost  work  was  forged  by  a  single  writer,  of  indif 
ferent  claims  to  our  intellectual  consideration,  at  the 
end  of  the  thirteenth  century.  There  is,  as  we  shall 
see,  no  positive  evidence  on  this  point  which  is  worth 
naming,  and  the  presumptive  evidence  is  not  at  all 
strong.  There  is  very  good  proof  of  late  writing,  but 
the  theory  of  the  fabrication  of  the  Zohar  by  Moses 
de  Leon  puts  an  almost  impossible  burden  on  the 
shoulders  of  that  questionable  personage,  and  is 
generally  the  work  of  writers  who  have  not  paid 
sufficient  regard  to  the  possible  existence  of  much  of 
the  traditional  doctrine  which  is  summarised  in  the 
Zohar  at  a  period  preceding  its  appearance  by  some 
centuries. 

We  admit,  therefore,  that  Kabalistic  literature 
belongs  to  a  suspected  class,  but  how  we  are  to  regard 
its  impeachment  is  a  different  question.  The  fact  that 
this  inquiry  has  been  undertaken  will  indicate  that,  in 
my  own  opinion,  the  hostile  critic  must  change  the 
nature  of  his  indictment.  As  regards  its  material,  and 
usually  as  regards  its  motive,  spurious  literature 
belongs  to  the  most  accountable  class.  It  falls  into 
line  readily.  Where  there  are  complex  workings  of 
the  human  mind,  as  in  the  Zohar,  there  sincerity  is 


gource  atvb  JUthorihj  of  the  gabalah        103 

usually  present.  The  Kabalah  is  much  too  singular  in 
its  mechanism  to  be  referable  to  a  solitary  author. 
So  far  as  there  is  evidence  on  the  subject,  that 
evidence  tends  to  show  that  it  grew,  and  that  in  its 
final  state  it  was  neither  wholly  old  nor  entirely  new, 
but  doctrine  more  or  less  familiar  or  following  from 
familiar  doctrine.*  These  facts  are  now  in  course  of 
recognition  outside  occult  circles,  in  the  academic 
places  which  rule  general  opinion.  Of  this  Dr. 
Schiller-Szinessy  offers  the  best  evidence  when  he 
observes  that  "  almost  all  that  the  latest  critics  have 
said  concerning  the  age  of  the  various  Targumim  and 
Midrashim,"  including  the  Zohar,  "  will  have  to  be 
unsaid." 


III.    THE  DATE  AND  AUTHORSHIP  OF 
THE   BOOK   OF   SPLENDOUR 

The  theory  which  accounts  for  the  Zohar  on  the 
ground  that  it  was  written  by  Moses  de  Leon  in  the 
latter  half  of  the  thirteenth  century  does  not  depend 
merely  on  internal  evidence  ;  it  is  not  exclusively  an 
inference  made  by  modern  criticism  from  allusions  to 
late  events  found  here  and  there  in  the  work ;  it  is 

*  This  is  very  nearly  the  position  of  Solomon  Munk,  who 
maintains  that  the  Zohar  and  its  connections,  that  is,  the  various  tracts 
and  fragments  which  enter  into  the  compilation,  are  not  the  inventions 
of  an  impostor,  but  that  ancient  documents  were  u>ed  by  the  editor, 
including  Midrashim  which  are  not  now  extant. — Melanges  de  Philo 
sophic,  /uive  et  Aral',-.  Paris.  1859,  p.  275  et  sf,/.  In  spite  of  this, 
Munk  did  not  consider  the  Zohar,  at  least  in  its  present  form,  as 
anterior  to  the  seventh  century,  but  rather  that  the  Kabnlistic  develop 
ments  which  it  represents  took  place  in  the  thirteenth  century,  and 
were  either  influenced  by  Gebirol  or  by  sources  common  to  both. — 
Ibid.  pp.  276,  277. 


104  ^he  ipoxtritu  an^  $*iM5*tee  r>f  the 

not  a  presumption  arising  only  from  the  fact  that  the 
Spanish  Jew  who  is  suspected  of  the  splendid 
imposture  lived  by  transcribing  copies  of  it,*  that  it 
had  never  been  heard  of  previously,  or  that  the 
original  MS.  from  which  R.  Moses  claimed  to  have 
drawn  has  never  come  to  light.  It  is  based  upon 
evidence  which  claims  to  be  contemporary,  or  there 
abouts,  with  the  appearance  of  the  Zohar  itself.  It 
may  be  highly  probable  that  in  the  absence  of  any 
such  testimony  the  same  point  would  have  been 
reached  independently,  but  the  fact  remains  that  it  is 
not  the  discovery  of  modern  criticism  at  all ;  it 
transpired  without  being  sought  for,  and  hence  the 
case  against  the  work  is  based  both  on  external  and 
internal  grounds.  It  is  not  therefore  at  first  sight  a 
weak  case,  and  I  have  sketched  it  fully  and  frankly 
that  I  may  not  be  accused  of  any  bias  in  the  matter. 
At  the  same  time  it  is  my  purpose  to  show  that  the 
indictment  breaks  down  altogether. 

Let  us  dispose  first  of  all  of  the  alleged  external 
evidence.  In  the  year  1566  there  appeared  in 
Hebrew  at  Constantinople  a  work  entitled  Sepher 
Yuhasin,  or  "  Book  of  Genealogies,"  by  R.  Moses 
Abraham  ben  Samuel  Zakut,  who  belongs  to  the 

*  Although  I  have  called  this  a  fact,  because  it  is  accepted  by  all 
critics  who  accept  the  account  of  the  Zohar  given  in  the  Sephir 
Yuhasin>  it  seems  to  me  that  the  statement  has  an  air  of  fable.  The 
Zohar  is  a  very  large  work,  and  Moses  de  Leon  must  have  employed  a 
very  large  staff  of  copyists  in  order  to  transcribe  it  frequently.  There 
is  no  evidence,  however,  that  he  employed  any  one  ;  but  if  he  worked 
single-handed,  he  could  not  have  <c  made  large  sums,"  as  alleged,  by  so 
slow  a  process.  It  has  been  suggested  alternatively  that  he  profited 
much  by  the  patronage  of  the  wealthy  Jews,  to  whom  he  dedicated  his 
works,  but  as  to  this  there  is  no  conclusive  evidence.  It  is  merely  an 
inference  from  the  fact  that  he  dedicated  several  other  works  to  co 
religionists  who  were  his  patrons. 


cSource  anb  JUthorittj  of  the  gabalah        105 

second  half  of  the  fifteenth  century.*  Its  point  of 
view  with  regard  to  the  Zohar  is  that  the  splendour 
of  that  work  is  truly  an  illumination  of  the  world  ; 
that  it  contains  the  deep  secrets  of  the  Law  and  of 
the  concealed  tradition  in  Israel ;  that  it  is  conformed 
to  the  truth  as  regards  the  written  and  oral  law ;  that 
it  embodies  the  sayings  of  R.  Simeon  ben  Jochai,  of 
the  period  of  the  Emperor  Antoninus,  under  whose 
name  it  appears,  but  is  really  the  work  of  his 
disciples ;  and  that,  finally,  it  did  not  become  public 
till  after  the  death  of  Nachmanides,  namely,  the 
second  half  of  the  thirteenth  century.  It  is  therefore 
obvious  that  Zakut  must  not  be  classed  among  those 
who  opposed  the  Zohar,  as  some  modern  critics  have 
attempted. 

It  will  seem  almost  incredible  that  in  this  work, 
which  so  elaborately  defends  the  Zohar,  a  narrative 
should  appear  which  represents  it  as  an  imposture 
devised  from  mercenary  motives  by  Moses  de  Leon, 
yet  such  at  first  sight  is  the  case,  and  as  such  it  has 
been  accepted  by  those  who  impeach  the  Kabalah. 
The  explanation  is  in  reality  simple ;  the  narrative  in 
question  is  a  fragment,  and  the  proof  that  its  missing 
conclusion  is  really  to  the  credit  of  the  Zohar,  and 
exculpatory  as  to  the  transcriber  of  that  work,  is  found 
in  the  fact  that  the  person  whose  adventures  it  relates 
became  subsequently  assured  that  the  Zohar  was  not 
a  sordid  forgery,  as  he  embodied  some  of  its  principles 
in  one  of  his  own  treatises.  The  most  biassed  of 

*  That  is  to  say,  to  the  reign  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella.      1 1 
a  Jew  of  Salamanca,  but  he  taught  at  Saragossn.     When  the  edict  of 
expulsion   was  published  he  retired  into   Portugal  and  was  appointed 
Royal   Historiographer  by   King   Kmanuel.      His   work  embraces  the 
entire  period  between  the  creation  of  the  world  and  the  year  1500  A.D. 


106  <&ht  Jtortnne  attb  Ipteratuu  of  the  gabala<t 

modern  critics,   Dr.   Graetz,  admits  the  force  of  this 
fact. 

The  narrative  is  concerned  with  the  adventures 
of  Isaac  de  Acco,*  a  disciple  of  Nachmanides,  who 
laid  claim  to  the  performance  of  miracles  by  a  trans 
position  of  the  Hebrew  letters  according  to  a  system 
which  he  pretended  that  he  had  learned  from  the 
angels.  Independently,  therefore,  of  the  Zohar,  he 
was  a  Kabalist  after  his  own  fashion,  and,  we  may 
suspect,  a  visionary.  In  either  case,  he  was  at 
Novara,  in  Italy,  about  1293,  when  he  heard  that  a 
Spanish  Rabbin  was  in  possession  of  the  original 
Zohar  MSS.,  and,  being  very  anxious  to  see  them,  he 
made  a  journey  into  Spain.  He  there  learned  by 
report  that  the  erudite  Moses  Nachmanides  was  said 
to  have  transmitted  the  book  to  his  son  in  Catalonia 
from  Palestine,  f  but  that  the  ship  which  bore  it  was 
driven  by  the  wind  to  AragoniaJ  or  to  Catalonia,  and 
the  precious  volume  came  into  the  hands  of  Moses  de 
Leon.  At  Valladolid  Isaac  de  Acco  made  the 
acquaintance  of  the  latter,  who  declared  upon  oath 
that  he  was  in  possession  of  the  MS.  and  that  it  was 
at  his  home  in  Avila,  where  he  would  exhibit  it  to 
Isaac.  They  undertook  a  journey  together  with  this 
object,  but  Moses  de  Leon  died  at  Arevolo  on  the 
way.§  His  companion  proceeded  to  Avila,  and  there 

*  I.e.,  Acre,  besieged  by  the  Sultan  of  Egypt  in  1291.  Isaac  was 
one  of  the  Jewish  refugees  from  that  city,  and  seems  to  have  suffered 
imprisonment  for  a  time. 

f  It  is  curious  that  the  disciple  should  first  learn  that  his  master 
was  in  possession  of  such  a  treasure  by  a  floating  rumour  from  a  great 
distance. 

%  The  reference  is  probably  to  Tarragona,  as  Aragon  has  no 
seaboard. 

§  So  far  the  account  represents  Moses  de  Leon  as  acting  with 
perfect  sincerity  in  the  matter. 


anb  JUthoritn  of  the  JUbalah         107 

prosecuted  his  inquiries  among  the  relatives  of  the 
deceased.  By  one  of  these,  namely,  by  David  Rafon, 
of  Corfu,  he  was  informed  that  Moses  de  Leon  had 
been  a  spendthrift  who  derived  great  profit  from  his 
writings,  but  neglected  his  wife  and  daughter,  while 
as  for  the  Zohar  he  had  made  it  up  out  of  his  own 
head.  How  far  Isaac  was  impressed  by  this  state 
ment  does  not  appear  explicitly,  but  he  next  had 
recourse  to  a  wealthy  Rabbin  of  Avila,  named  Joseph, 
who  communicated  with  the  widow  and  daughter  of 
Moses,  offering  for  the  maiden  the  hand  of  his  son 
and  a  substantial  dowry  if  they  would  produce  the 
original  MS.  of  the  Zohar.  The  women  had  been  left 
in  poor  circumstances,  and  there  was  every  reason  to 
suppose  that  they  would  comply  gladly.  They, 
however,  concurred  in  affirming  that  there  was  no 
such  MS.,  that  the  dead  man  had  composed  the  work 
out  of  his  own  head  and  written  it  with  his  own  hand.* 
His  quest  having  thus  failed,  Isaac  de  Acco  left  Avila 
and  proceeded  to  Talavera,  where  he  met  with  R. 
Joseph  Hallevy,  the  son  of  a  Kabalist  named  Todros, 
who,  in  reply  to  his  inquiries,  affirmed  that  the 
genuine  Zohar  was  in  the  hands  of  Moses  de  Leon, 
as  he  had  himself  proved  conclusively.  The  nature 
of  the  proof  does  not  appear,  and  the  account  of  Isaac 
breaks  off  abruptly  in  the  middle  of  a  sentence 
describing  some  testimony  which  he  received  at 
Toledo  as  to  an  ancient  Rabbin,  named  Jacob,  who 
had  "  testified  by  heaven  and  earth  that  the  book 


Hence  lie  did  not  employ  transcriber*,  and  whatever  price  he 
may  have  obtained  for  copies  of  the  work  he  could  not  have  multiplied 
many.  If  assiduous,  he  could  have  had  no  time  for  squandering  ;  if 
idle,  no  money  to  spend. 


io8  ^HThe  Joctrine  attb  JJiteratxtre  of  the 

Zohar,  of  which  R.  Simeon  ben  Jochai  is  the 
author  *  *  *." 

I  have  passed  over  purposely  in  this  brief  account 
several  minor  details  which  have  awakened  suspicion 
as  to  the  honesty  of  the  narrative,  for  it  is  unnecessary 
to  confuse  the  issues.  The  point  is  that  it  closes  with 
two  solemn  testimonies  to  the  authenticity  of  the 
Zohar,  and  by  the  course  which  he  subsequently  took 
Isaac  de  Acco  must  have  concluded  to  abide  by  these. 
Assuming  that  the  narrative  is  truthful,  the  evidence 
which  was  set  aside  as  insufficient  by  the  one  person 
who  has  recorded  it  cannot  be  accepted  by  impartial 
criticism  unenforced  by  other  considerations.  So  far 
therefore  as  the  account  in  the  Sepher  Yuhasin  is 
concerned,  it  is  not  proved  that  Moses  de  Leon  wrote 
the  Zohar  "  out  of  his  own  head."*  Zakut  himself 
mentions  an  opinion  that  he  did  write  it  under  the 
guidance  of  the  Writing  Name,  i.e.,  by  angelic  revela 
tion,  but  I  do  not  conceive  that  it  is  necessary  to 
discuss  this  possibility. 

The  state  of  the  case  as  it  stands  is  confused,  and 
most  persons  who  have  taken  part  in  the  controversy 
have  been  led  into  more  or  less  contradiction.  Those 
who  have  regarded  Moses  de  Leon  as  nothing  more 
than  a  transcriber  have  had  to  reckon  as  they  could 
with  certain  damaging  references  to  late  events  which 

t  Outside  this  document  there  is,  moreover,  no  proof,  so  far  as 
I  am  aware,  that  he  was  even  connected  with  it  as  transcriber.  Further, 
speaking  still  under  correction,  the  Yuhasin  is  the  one  authority  by 
which  we  can  fix  so  important  a  date  as  the  death  of  Moses  de  Leon. 
Who  was  the  Rabbi  of  this  name  and  place,  for  whom  Samuel,  son  of 
Isaac,  transcribed  a  copy  of  the  Moreh,  anno  1452,  which  copy  is  still 
preserved  in  the  Giinglung  Library,  Paris?  It  is  numbered  771, 
according  to  Friedlander's  preface  to  the  third  volume  of  his  version  of 
Maimonides,  p.  xiv. 


(Source  jwft  JVuthoritj)  of  the  $ab;Uah        109 

are  found  in  the  Zohar,  and  their  explanations  are 
often  quite  worthless ;  those  who  regard  the  tran 
scriber  as  the  concealed  author  have  had  to  meet  as 
they  might  the  extreme  difficulty  of  supposing  that 
such  a  collection  was  the  production  of  one  individual, 
and  that  individual  Moses  de  Leon.  Their  explana 
tions  also  are  of  little  value  and  are  for  the  most  part 
merely  ingenious  assumptions. 

The  internal  evidence  against  the  Zohar  may  be 
reduced  under  the  following  heads : 

(i)  It  refers  to  the  vowel  points  which  are 
alleged  to  have  been  invented  in  post-Talmudic 
times.*  (2)  It  quotes  or  borrows  from  a  book  entitled 
the  "  Duties  of  the  Heart,"  written  by  a  Jew  of 
Saragossa,t  about  the  middle  of  the  eleventh  century. 
(3)  It  mentions  two  kinds  of  phylacteries,  or  Tephilim, 
which  fact  is  supposed  to  prove  the  late  origin  of  the 
entire  work.J  (4)  It  quotes  authorities  posterior  to 
its  alleged  period.  (5)  It  is  written  in  Aramaic, 
whereas  at  the  period  to  which  it  is  ascribed  Aramaic 
was  the  vernacular,  while  Hebrew  was  made  use  of  in 
religious  writings. 

*  Elias  Levita,  a  German  Jew  of  the  sixteenth  century,  was  one 
of  the  first  to  affirm  the  late  institution  of  the  points,  which  he  ascribed 
to  the  Jews  of  Tiberias  about  the  beginning  of  the  sixth  century.  In 
reply  to  this  it  has  been  advanced  that  at  the  period  the  schools  of 
Jucbea  had  been  closed,  and  that  Jewish  learning  was  then  centred  at 
Babylon  (see  David  Levi  :  Lingua  Safra,  part  i.  c.  iii.  §  I,  London, 
1785).  Ginsburg,  however,  adopts  the  theory  of  Levita,  subject  to 
the  modification  that  they  were  introduced  by  the  Karaite,  R.  Mocha, 
at  the  end  of  the  sixth  century.  David  Lcvi,  on  the  other  hand, 
makes  their  reception  by  the  Karaite  Jews  a  proof  of  their  antiquity, 
because  they  were  "  professed  enemies  to  tradition  and  innovation." 
Unfortunately,  there  are  no  pointed  Hebrew  MSS.  prior  to  the  tenth 
century. 

t  R.  Behai  ben  Jo>L-ph  Ibn  Hakuda. 

t  For  a  general  description  of  the  7 '<• />////////,  see  Basnage,  Histoire 
dts  /ut/s,  torn.  iii.  p.  752  et  ss</t 


no  1£lu  Jtortriiu  anb  literature  x>f  the  $abalah 

These  difficulties   are  met   by   defenders   of  the 
Zohar  in  the  following  way : 

(1)  The  vowel  points  are   not  the   invention  of 
times  posterior  to  the  Talmud ;   the  proof  is  that  they 
are  mentioned  in  the  Talmud,  and  there  is  no  question 
that    this    work    is    long    anterior   to    the    thirteenth 
century.     In  the  Talmud  they  are  said  to  have  been  a 
rule  given  to   Moses   on   Mount   Sinai.*       The   pre- 
Christian   existence    of    the    point    system    with    the 
exception  of  a  very  few  cases  occurring  in  the  Penta 
teuch,  which,  moreover,  are  not  vowel-points,  this  is 
one  thing,  and  must  be  left  to  those  who  affirm  it ; 
its  existence  in  Talmudic  times,t  that  is,  prior  to  the 
close  of  the  sixth  century  is  another,  and  all  that  is 
required  in  the  present  case  to  destroy  the  validity 
of  this   objection   to   the   genuine   character   of  the 
Zohar.J 

(2)  The  treatise  on  the  "  Duties  of  the  Heart " 
is  certainly  a  work  of  the  eleventh  century,  but  it  is 
advanced  that  its  author  himself  borrowed  from  the 
Zohar  in   an   early   form,   the   existence   of  which  is 
traceable,  from  Talmudic  references,  under  the  name 


*  Treatise  Nedareem,  also  Bab.  Megillah,  Bab.  Berocoth,  and 
Bab.  Eruvin.  This  is  also  the  testimony  of  the  Zohar,  obviously  re 
producing  current  legend,  or  borrowing  from  the  traditional  storehouse 
of  the  Talmud. 

f  See  David  Levi,  op.  «?.,  who  says  that  in  several  places  of  the 
Babylonian  Talmud  mention  is  made  of  "  the  distinction  of  the  accents, 
and,  in  particular,  of  the  accents  of  the  law,  which  might  be  shown  and 
pointed  at  by  the  hand,  consequently  they  must  be  visible  marks  or 
figures,  and  are  to  be  understood  both  of  the  vowel  points  and  accents.'' 
Though  belonging  to  an  early  period  of  the  controversy,  Levi's  defence 
is  still  worth  reading.  Basnage,  torn.  ii.  p.  763,  refers  the  invention 
to  the  eleventh  century. 

£  The  commentary  of  St.  Jerome  on  Jeremiah  is  positive  proof 
that  the  vowel  signs  were  not  in  existence  in  his  day. 


<§ourcc  anb  JUthovitn  of  the  JUbalah         m 

of  the  Midrash  of  Rabbi  Simeon  Ben  Jochai.*  It  is 
also  said  that  the  author  was  a  contemporary  of  Rabbi 
Abraham,  who  wrote  a  commentary  of  repute  upon 
the  Book  of  Formation,  but  this  mysterious  personage, 
the  pretended  instructor  of  Nicholas  Flamel  in  the 
secrets  of  alchemy,  died  at  the  close  of  the  twelfth 
century.  As  it  is  obvious  that  the  objection  with 
which  we  are  here  concerned  is  equivalent  to  begging 
the  question  at  issue,  so  it  is  fairly  met  by  the  opposite 
assumption.  It  is  unserious  and  may  be  dismissed. 

(3)  The  existence  of  two  kinds  of  phylacteries 
arose  through  a  difference  of  rabbinical  opinion  as  to 
the   Scriptural  passages  to   be  used  on  them.     The 
question  is  whether  this  difference  of  opinion  occurred 
in    the    eleventh    century   and    later,    or    whether    it 
originated  in  earlier  Talmudic  times.     Certain  state 
ments    and    inferences    therefrom    are    set    forth    by 
defenders  of  the  Zohar  in  support  of  tiie  second  view, 
but  the  use  of  two  kinds  of  phylacteries  before  the 
tenth  century  has  not  been  clearly  demonstrated. 

(4)  The  citation  by  the  Zohar  of  late  authorities 
belonging  to  the  Amoraim  school  is  met  by  represent 
ing  it  in  its  present  form  as  the  growth  of  several 
centuries,  which  is  provably  true  of  most  early  Hebrew 
literature,  canonical  or  not.     The  indirect  strength  of 
this  view  is  considerable,  but  it  is  much  weakened  by 
its  supporters  when  they  attempt  to  argue  that  had 
the  Zohar  been  forged  by  Moses  de  Leon  he  would 


*  According  to  Jellinek  the  great  classic  of  the  Kabalah  has  passed 
under  three  names  :  (a)  Midrash  of  the  Kabbi  Simeon  Ben  Jochai ;  (b] 
Midrash:  Let  there  be  Light!  (c)  Zohar,  i.e.,  Splendour  Of  Light, 
after  Daniel  xii.  3. — Die  Kabbala,  oder  die  Religions  philosophic  der 
Hebraei  von  Franc k.  Leipsic,  1844.  The  Midrash  is  a  symbolical 
narrative  or  account. 


ii2   <3Ehc  gtodrin*  anb  $it*ratu«  of  the  jiabalah 

have  carefully  avoided  the  citation  of  later  authorities. 
The  history  of  literary  impostures  points  wholly  in 
the  opposite  direction,  and  the  objection  demonstrates 
quite  clearly  that  the  work  as  we  have  it  is  later  than 
its  latest  authority.  For  it  to  be  otherwise  is  impos 
sible.  How  the  late  authorities  came  to  be  included 
is  a  distinct  matter. 

(5)  When  Isaac  de  Acco  set  out  on  his  quest  for 
the  original  MS.  of  the  Zohar,  he  is  recorded  to  have 
said  :  "  If  it  be  written  in  the  Jerusalem  idiom  it  is 
genuine,  but  if  in  Hebrew  it  is  not."  The  value  of  an 
objection  to  the  Zohar  founded  on  its  use  of  Aramaic 
is  here  exhibited  by  the  express  statement  of  a  Jewish 
litterateur  in  the  thirteenth  century.*  It  is  argued 
furthermore,  by  its  defenders :  (a)  That  Aramaic  is 
the  language  of  the  Targums,  which  are  mystical. 
(7>)  That  the  common  language  is  used  to  increase  the 
symbolism,  but  this  may  be  regarded  as  a  subtlety. 
(c)  That  supposing  the  antiquity  of  the  Zohar,  the 
scribe  of  Simeon  Ben  Jochai  was  undoubtedly  the 
Rabbi  Abbah  that  it  mentions,  and  he  as  a  Babylonian 
must  have  been  thoroughly  conversant  with  Aramaic,  t 
(^)  That  supposing  the  Zohar  to  be  a  forgery  pro 
duced  by  Moses  de  Leon,  he  was  more  likely  to  have 


*  Compare  the  article  s.v.  Midrashim  in  the  ninth  edition  of  the 
"Encyclopaedia  Britannica,"  by  Dr.  Schiller-Szinessy,  Reader  in 
Talmudic  at  Cambridge.  "The  Zohar  was  begun  in  Palestine  late  in 
the  second  or  early  in  the  third  century,  A.D.,  and  finished  at  the  latest 
in  the  sixth  or  the  seventh  century.  It  is  impossible  that  it  should  have 
been  composed  after  that  time  and  before  the  Renaissance,  as  both 
language  and  contents  clearly  show." 

t  There  is  no  evidence  for  the  editorship  of  R.  Abbah,  but  if 
anything  Zoharic  was  committed  to  writing  in  the  second  century  there 
would  be  good  ground  for  accepting  the  express  statement  of  the 
"  Lesser  Holy  Synod"  that  the  recorder  was  the  son  of  R.  Simeon. 


<§ourrc  anli  JUthoritw  of  the  JUtwlah        113 

written  it  in  Hebrew,  which  is  the  language  of  his 
other  books.* 

From  these  objections  and  these  answers  the 
general  conclusion  must  be  that  the  internal  evidence 
for  the  late  origin  of  the  bulk  of  the  Zohar  as  it  stands 
is  not  of  any  real  force.  The  two  tabulations  have  by 
no  means  exhausted  the  difficulties  or  the  counter- 
evidence,  as  to  which,  even  at  the  present  day,  Franck 
is  in  many  cases  the  best  and  certainly  the  most  lucid 
expositor.  The  absence  of  Christian  influence,  if  not 
absolutely  of  all  reference  to  Christianity,  the  absence 
also  of  Aristotelian  influence,  and  some  points  of  the 
argument  from  the  dialect  in  which  the  work  is 
written,  seem  to  possess  as  much  force  as  they  did 
originally  in  1843.  But  the  strength  of  the  case  in 
favour  of  the  Zohar  is  also  the  strength  of  the  chief 
objection  against  it.  It  does  quote  later  authorities, 
but  this  may  exhibit  that  it  grew  like  the  Talmudic 
writings  and  several  of  the  canonical  Hebrew  books. 
It  has  been  well  urged  that  if  contemporary  with  the 
Talmud,  the  latter  ought  to  have  mentioned  it,  and  it 
is  replied  that  it  does,  not,  however,  under  the  catch- 


*  On  the  entire  question  compare  Munk,  Melanges  de  Philosophic, 
Juive  et  Arabe,  pp.  280,  281.  "The  Aramean  dialect  of  the  Zohar  is 
not  that  of  Daniel  and  Ezra,  of  the  Chaldaic  paraphrase  of  Onkelos 
and  Jonathan,  of  the  Targums,  the  Talmuds,  the  Afidrashim  or  the 
Gneonurnt  but  an  incorrect  and  most  corrupt  mixture  of  all.''  M.  Munk 
also  sees  traces  in  the  Zohar  of  unfamiliarity  with  the  language  used.  \\y 
this  a  double  and  altogether  intolerable  burden  seems  placed  on  the 
shoulders  of  its  reputed  forger.  On  this  subject  tin-  question  raised  by 
Franck  in  1843  remains  still  pertinent  and  still  unanswered  :—  I  l»u 
could  Moses  de  Leon  at  the  beginning  of  the  fourteenth  century  treat 
matters  of  the  most  elevated  order  in  an  idiom  which  the  most 
distinguished  scholars  had  been  for  so  long  content  merely  to  under 
stand  and  which,  on  this  hypothesis,  had  not  produced  a  single  work 
capable  of  serving  him  as  a  model  ? — La  Kabbale>  p.  104. 

I 


ii4  ^he  gtortrine  mib  literature  ot  the 

word  of  its  late  name,  but  by  the  title  of  the  Secret 
Learning,  and  by  other  titles  which  have  been  men 
tioned  in  this  section.  It  would  exceed  the  province 
of  an  elementary  work  to  pursue  the  subject  further. 
The  minute  considerations  are  of  course  highly  tech 
nical,  and  there  are  some  on  both  sides  which  it  is 
wise  to  abstain  from  pressing.  One  of  these  is  the 
argument  that  Moses  de  Leon  was  an  unlikely  person 
to  have  written  such  a  work  as  the  Zohar,  because  he 
was  intellectually  and  morally  unfit.*  I  have  noted 
that  he  was  unlikelv,  but  possibilities  of  this  kind  can 
only  be  determined  by  the  event.  Many  great  books 
have  been  accomplished  by  persons  who  were 
antecedently  improbable,  and  after  all,  at  the  best,  we 
know  Moses  de  Leon  only  through  the  testimony  of  a 
hostile  relative.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  Zohar 
was  to  some  extent  sprung  upon  the  Jewish  people  at 
the  period  of  its  publication.  The  manner  of  its 
reception  was  not  unmixed ;  it  was  the  kind  of 
reception  which  would  be  given  to  a  work  which  was 
old  as  regards  its  materials,  but  unfamiliar — less  or 
more — in  its  form,  and  this  is  sufficient  to  account  for 
any  silence  of  previous  authorities,  while  in  the 
shaping  of  those  materials  and  the  impressing  of  that 
form  the  individual  who  multiplied  the  copies  may 
have  had  a  hand.t 

*  Dr.  Schiller-Szinessy  shows  that  he  was  proud  of  the  authorship 
of  his  books,  and  hence  unlikely  to  conceal  his  hand  in  the  composition 
of  any,  but  this  argument  also  must  not  be  pressed  too  far.  The  same 
writer  terms  him  an  inferior  Kabalist,  and  it  seems  admitted  on  all  sides 
that  his  original  books  are  poor  in  quality.  From  these  works  Jellinek 
has  extracted  passages  which  are  parallel  to  others  in  the  Zohar  and 
some  critics  have  thence  concluded  an  identity  of  the  authors.  In  any 
other  branch  of  research  such  parallels  would  be  held  to  prove  nothing. 

t  And  by  those  who  accept  this  view  it  is  considered  that  he 
interfered  only  to  disfigure  it. 


anb  JUthorittj  of  the  Jlabal.'.h         115 


IV.    THE  AGE  OF  ZOHARIC   TRADITION 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  the  field  of  criticism 
is  entirely  occupied  by  a  hypothesis  of  unmixed  fraud, 
or  that  this  hypothesis  has  always  fastened  upon  the 
same  person.*  The  most  favoured  delinquent  is,  of 
course,  Moses  de  Leon,  because  he  is  reported  to  have 
circulated  the  Zohar,  but  occasionally  he  appears  as 
the  tool  of  other  conspirators.  Thus,  Samuel  Cohen 
maintains  that  the  Zoharic  writings  were  composed  by 
a  convocation  of  converted  Rabbins,  convened  for  the 
purpose  in  a  Spanish  monastery,  employing  Moses  as 
their  publisher,  and  thus  the  Church  itself  seems  to 
figure  as  an  accomplice.f  Others,  like  M.  H. 
Landauer,  argue  that  the  true  author  was  Abraham 
ben  Samuel  Abulafia,  while  the  voice  of  Dr.  Graetz  is 
raised  in  favour  of  the  school  of  Abraham  ben  David 
of  Beaucaire.  Abraham  ben  David  of  Posquiere  and 
Isaac  the  Blind  are  also  favoured  names,  to  whom  it 
is  indubitable,  in  any  case,  that  Kabalism  owed  some 
thing  of  development  and  of  impulse.  Meanwhile 
this  extreme  opinion  in  all  its  varieties  is  balanced  by 

*  Basnage  is  inclined  to  refer  the  original  Zohar  to  the  tenth 
century,  and,  following  Bartolocci  (Bibliotheca  Rabbinica,  t.  iv.  p.  82), 
represents  Moses  de  Leon  as  in  possession  of  several  exemplars  which 
he  amplified.  —  Histoire  dcs  /////>,  t.  ii.  781  ;  t.  v.  1775,  1776. 

t  At  the  opposite  extreme  was  Christianus  Schojttgenius  in  lii.s 
considerable  work,  Hnnr  Hcbmif.r  ft  TalmuJn;,-  in  Theologian 
fudtcomm  Dqgmatuam  <utti</nam  ct  orthnioxam  dt-  Jfi'ssia  impensir^ 
2  v«,k,  Dresden  and  Leip.ic,  1733,  1742.  Sec  vol.  ii.  Rahlnnicorunt 
Leetionum  I.ibtr  Sfcundns,  c.\\.^docens  R.  Simfonem  filium  Jochai, 
auftornn  /.//»/•/  .W/,/r,  R.-ligionrm  fuissc  Christ  ianam.  There  are 
eight  heads  to  the  argument,  the  most  important  being  that  the  Zohar 
contains  the  precise,  orthodox  doctrine  concerning  the  Messiah  and 
His  divine  and  human  nature,  and  this  not  in  one  place  or  mys 
teriously,  but  in  many  and  openly. 


n6  Ihe  Jtoctritu  anfc  Kpttenttttre  ot  the  Jiatmiah 

counterviews  which  also  denaturalise  the  literature. 
It  may  be  suspected,  therefore,  with  reason  that  on 
both  sides  there  is  an  error  of  enthusiasm :  there  are 
the  children  of  intelligence  who  look  to  find  the  secret 
doctrine  of  Judea  a  mere  transcript  from  that  of 
Egypt,  or  whatever  land  is  for  them  the  well-spring 
of  all  truth  and  all  truly  sacred  knowledge.  These 
remember,  for  example,  that  Abraham  was  in  Egypt, 
and,  accepting  at  once  the  fairy-tale  attribution  of  the 
"  Book  of  Formation  "  to  the  patriarch,  conclude  that 
this  document  is  older  than  the  Ritual  of  the  Dead. 
It  is  useless  to  reason  with  those  whose  confidence  is 
not  shaken  in  the  face  of  impossibilities,  whose  imagi 
nation  can  bridge  all  gulfs  in  evidence  by  fantastic 
suppositions.  On  the  other  hand,  there  is  the  crass 
criticism  which  rules  off  a  literature  by  a  single  stroke 
of  the  pen  into  the  region  of  forgery  and  imposture,  as 
it  rules  off  all  occult  psychology  into  that  of  imposture 
or  hallucination.  It  does  not  matter  that  this  criticism 
is  always  in  disgrace.  It  proved  Troy  town  to  be  solar 
mythos  till  Troy  town  was  excavated  ;  it  undermined, 
as  it  believed,  the  book  of  Daniel  till  fresh  archaeo 
logical  discoveries  cast  it  into  the  pit  which  it  had  dug. 
It  is  truly  not  less  stupid,  and  it  is  far  less  engaging, 
than  the  opposed  excess.* 

The  importance  of  the  Zohar  does  not  depend  so 
much  upon  the  date  of  its  documents  as  on  the 
possible  claims  of  its  tradition.  The  collapse  of  its 
claim  to  antiquity,  in  that  respect,  and  this  only,  will 


*  Its  typical  representative  is  Graetz,  and  one  can  scarcely 
conjecture  by  what  principle  he  was  guided  in  his  estimate  of  Moses  de 
Leon.  It  is  the  height  of  exaggeration,  the  account  in  the  Yuhasin 
transcendentalised  till  it  almost  exceeds  recognition. 


anb  Jlnthorihj  of  the  JUbalah         117 

reduce  it  to  the  full  rank  of  imposture.  It  is  clear  that 
the  speculations,  for  example,  of  mediaeval  or  later 
Rabbins,  if  we  waive  the  dishonesty  of  a  false  preten 
sion,  will  have  at  most  some  literary,  historical,  or 
exegetical  interest,  but  it  will  differ  in  kind  rather  than 
degree  from  that  which  must  attach  to  a  tradition 
which  interlinks  with  the  far  past.  We  are  therefore 
more  concerned  in  ascertaining  the  state  in  which 
modern  criticism  has  left  the  content  of  the  Zohar  than 
the  form  in  which  it  is  presented  to  us.  The  early 
students  of  the  work,  who  accepted  and  defended  its 
antiquity,  did  not  make  this  saving  distinction,  and  in 
many  instances  modern  hostility  does  not  make  it 
either.  Upon  the  surface  of  the  history  of  Kabalistic 
criticism  the  first  presumption  is,  of  course,  unfavour 
able  to  any  hypothesis  of  antiquity,  because  this  would 
seem  to  have  been  admitted  in  days  when  scholarship 
was  insufficiently  equipped  for  the  determination  of 
such  a  question.  In  the  light  of  fuller  knowledge  it 
will  be  thought  that  the  claim  has  lapsed,  or  remains 
only  as  a  pious  belief  prevailing  among  an  uncritical 
minority,  a  few  persons  being  always  found  whose 
mental  bias  predisposes  them  to  the  defence  of 
exploded  views.  In  such  a  case,  however,  an  indis 
criminate  rejection  is  not  much  less  superficial  than  an 
unenquiring  acquiescence  in  a  non-proven  claim.  The 
history  of  debated  questions  of  this  kind  teaches 
another  lesson,  and  the  closest  approximation  to  truth 
is  found  usually  in  the  mean  of  extreme  views.  Now, 
in  the  history  of  Zoharic  criticism  we  find  that  the  old 
students  not  only  accepted  the  claim  of  the  tradition 
to  antiquity,  and  were  disposed  to  understand  the 
genealogy  more  or  less  literally,  but  that  further  they 


n8   ^he  Jtortrine  mib  $ititatttrt  of  the  JUbalah 

regarded  the  books  which  contain  both  as  belonging 
to  certain  dates  and  produced  by  certain  writers  with 
out  much  suspicion,  on  the  simple  authority  of  the 
literature.*  Later  scholars,  on  the  other  hand,  having 
found  something  to  countenance  the  modern  origin  of 
the  documents,  have  frequently  overlooked  the 
possible  antiquity  of  their  tradition.  The  reference  to 
this  antiquity  as  something  which  deserves  to  be 
regarded  apart  from  the  date  of  publication  will 
explain  what  I  mean  by  the  moderate  and  middle  view 
in  which  the  truth  must  be  sought.  If  we  fail  entirely 
here  we  may  regard  the  case  as  closed. 

Now,  I  believe  that  a  careful  and  unbiassed 
comparison  of  all  the  evidence  will  lead  us  to  conclude 
that  there  are  elements  of  old  doctrine  in  the  Zohar ; 
their  exact  antiquity  is,  in  part,  highly  speculative,  but 
it  is  quite  sufficient  to  invest  them  with  considerable 
interest.  Like  the  Sepher  Yetzirah,  some  of  it  may 
even  be  referable  to  the  period  of  Esdras.  I  refer 
here  to  the  Yetziratic  notions  concerning  the  virtue  of 
Divine  Names,  for  this  is  also  found  in  the  Zohar,  as 
it  is  abundantly  found  in  the  Talmud ;  a  residuum  of 
its  teaching  concerning  angels  and  demons  may  be 
also  an  inheritance  from  Babylon.  All  this,  however, 
is  the  worthless  part  of  the  Zohar,  as  it  is  the  worth 
less,  if  curious,  part  of  Talmudic  literature.  With 

*  Some  modern  ecclesiastical  historians,  for  no  solid  reason, 
incline  to  this  view.  Thus,  we  have  in  Dean  Hook's  compilation,  "  A 
Church  Dictionary"  (fourteenth  edition,  London,  1887),  the  statement 
that  the  chief  Kabalistic  author  was  Simeon  ben  Jochai,  and  also  that 
most  of  the  heretics  in  the  primitive  Christian  Church  fell  into  the  vain 
conceits  of  the  Kabalah,  particularly  the  Gnostics,  Valentinians  and 
Basilidians.  There  is  more  warrant  for  the  second  than  the  first  view, 
as  readers  of  Matter's  Histoire  du  Gnosticisnie  and  of  King's  "  Gnostics" 
will  not  need  to  be  told. 


(Source  anb  JUithoritn  of  the  Jiabalah         119 

regard  to  the  Scriptural  exegesis  which  constitutes  so 
large  a  portion  of  it,  we  shall  not  offend  possibility  by 
supposing  that  some  of  it  may  be  a  transmission  from 
Talmudic  times.*  If  we  take  the  obscure  but  ample 
hints  and  references  found  in  the  Talmuds  to  the 
existence  of  a  mystic  tradition,  and  follow  them 
through  the  large  mystical  literature  which  intervened 
between  those  works  and  the  Zohar  as  we  now  have 
it,  we  shall  be  led  not  to  the  conclusion  of  the  occultist, 
that  there  was  a  great  body  of  secret  doctrine  which 
became  revealed  gradually,  but  that  there  was  a  kernel 
of  tradition  which  was  planted  in  the  secret  heart  of 
Israel,  which  many  watered  and  fostered,  till  the 
growth  at  length  put  forth,  not  without  something 
of  transformation  and  of  suddenness,  the  strange 
flower  of  the  Zohar.  As  regards  form  its  most 
ancient  part  is  probably  the  Book  of  Concealment,  but 
it  is  entirely  improbable  that  any  conspicuous  portion 
could  have  existed  in  writing  till  after  the  sixth 
century,  while  the  growth  of  most  of  it  is  perhaps 
much  later  and  subsequent  to  the  latest  date  which 
can  be  ascribed  to  the  Sepher  Yetzirah.t  It  is 


*  In  other  word>,  we  may  follow  the  learned  author  of  the  article 
on  the  Midrashim  in  the  "  Kncyclop;edia  Britannica,"  who  says  that 
the  nucleus  of  the  work  is  of  Mishnic  times  and  that  K.  Simeon  was 
its  author  in  the  same  sense  that  R.  Johanan  was  of  the  Palestine 
Talmud,  namely,  that  he  gave  the  first  impulse  to  its  composition." 

t  I  mention  this  possibility  because  Dr.  Sdiiller-S/.inessy  has  not 
stated  his  reasons  why  it  is  impossible  that  it  should  have  been  later 
than  the  seventh  century,  and  subject  to  the  conclusive-lie^  of  those 

OS,  \Ve  may  -peculate  what  Dr.  S/im-v-y  would  think  of  Mr. 
Zangwill  did  he  read  the  epilogue  to  the  "Children  of  the  Ghetto," 
in  which  it  is  casually  remarked  that  the  Zohar  was  "forged  by  a 
Spanish  Jew  in  the  thirteenth  century."  By  the  way,  are  copies  of  the 
Zohar  likely  to  be  found  in  a  small  room,  used  as  a  synagogue,  outside 
Jerusalem  and  so  poor  that  it  is  bare  even  of  seats  ? 


i2o  ^Ihc  jpactrine  ani  literature  ot  the  Jiabalah 

advanced,  as  we.  have  seen,  by  its  defenders  that  it  is 
the  subject  of  reference  in  several  texts  both  of  the 
Babylonian  and  Jerusalem  Talmud  under  the  name  of 
the  Midrash  of  Simeon  ben  Jochai,  and  the  parallels 
between  Talmudic  sayings  attributed  to  this  Rabbi 
have  been  exhaustively  compared  with  the  Zohar,  with 
a  view  to  exhibit  their  identity.  The  existence  of  a 
work  entitled  the  "  Mysteries  of  Simeon  ben  Jochai " 
before  the  middle  of  the  eleventh  century  and  possibly 
much  earlier,  is  acknowledged  by  Dr.  Graetz.  It  is 
therefore  reasonable  to  conclude  that  early  written 
and  oral  materials  entered  into  the  composition  of  the 
work  as  we  now  possess  it.*  This  is  the  most  that 
can  be  urged,  and  this  is  sufficient  to  prove  that  no 
one  person  wrote  it  out  of  his  own  head.")" 

It  must  be  confessed,  on  the  other  hand,  that  the 
legend  which  attributes  its  origin  to  R.  Simeon  ben 
Jochai  seems  to  have  made  an  unfortunate  choice,  for 
this  great  authority  of  the  Talmud  represents  a 
reaction  against  the  mystical  tendencies  of  R.  Akiba, 
and  there  is  some  evidence  for  believing  that  he  did 
not  investigate  the  hidden  meaning  of  Scripture,  but 
rather  its  rational  principles.  He  is  described  by  a 

*  An  interesting  article  by  M.  Nicholas  in  Lichtenberger's 
Encyclopedic  des  Sciences  Religieuses,  t.xi.  s.v.  Cabak  (Paris,  1877), 
regards  it  as  certain  that  the  philosophical  speculations  which  compose 
the  Kabalah  generally  began  to  form  during  the  century  which  preceded 
the  Christian  era,  but  they  were  oral,  imparted  to  a  few  only,  and 
under  the  seal  of  secresy.  Unfortunately,  the  article  is  not  trustworthy, 
representing,  as  it  does,  the  Ain  Soph  doctrine  to  be  part  of  the 
Sepher  Yetzirah. 

t  Compare  Blunt's  "Dictionary  of  Doctrinal  and  Historical 
Theology,"  which  argues  that  the  variety  of  style  and  the  disjointed 
character  of  its  contents  show  that  the  Zohar  is  the  growth  of  ages. 
Unfortunately,  Blunt's  work  indicates  no  real  acquaintance  with  the 
Kabalah  and  its  criticism. 


<S0urce  unb  Jtnthoriti]  of  the  liabalah         121 

modern  writer  as  col'd,  exclusive  and  stoical.  At  the 
same  time,  if  we  accept  the  existence  of  a  genuine 
tradition  which  became  incorporated  in  the  Zohar,  it 
is  difficult  to  reject  its  leading  and  central  figure.* 

If  we  turn  now  for  a  moment  to  the  standpoint 
of  modern  occultism  we  shall  see  that  so  far  we  have 
no  warrant  for  connecting  the  chief  cycle  of  Kabalistic 
literature  with  the  high  antiquity  to  which  occultists 
incline.!  While  we  leave  them  once  more  in  full 
possession  of  the  alleged  virtue  inherent  in  divine 
names,  and  perhaps  with  some  elements  of  legend 
concerning  angels  and  demons,  we  are  forced  to  take 
all  that  remains  a  considerable  distance  into  the 
Christian  era.  But  the  Zohar,  although  it  embodies 
the  entire  content  of  Kabalistic  doctrine,  is  not  the 
sole  nor  the  earliest  storehouse  of  that  doctrine,  and 
we  have  next  to  consider  whether  the  antiquity  of  the 
philosophical  tradition  given  in  the  second  book  is  to 
be  inferred  from  its  points  of  contact  and  corre 
spondence  with  other  theosophical  systems  which  have 
prevailed  in  the  past. 

*  The  author  of  the  article  "Cabala"  in  Herzog's  Real 
Encycklopddie  takes  a  middle  view,  namely,  that  the  Zohar  is  not  the 
work  of  Moses  de  Leon,  nor  is  it  of  R.  Simeon's  period,  though  its 
doctrines  are  referable  to  him.  It  was  completed  in  the  eighth  century. 
The  evidence  adduced  for  this  view  seems  inconclusive,  so  far  as  this 
article  is  concerned. 

f  Take,  for  example,  the  following  typical  instance  of  the 
exaggerations  which  have  found  currency  on  this  subject.  "The  origin 
of  the  Kabalah  is  lost  in  the  night  of  time.  Is  it  of  India  or  of  Egypt  ? 
We  do  not  know  ;  but  it  is  certain  that  to  Egyptians  and  Indians  it 
was  alike  known.  Pythagoras  returned  with  it  into  (Greece  after  his 
travels  in  the  East,  then  the  region  of  the  light.  One  asks  vainly 
whether  its  lir>t  revelation  \\a>  divine  or  the  product  of  inspiration." — 
Desbarrolles,  Les  Mysttrcs  de  la  A/aiti,  \$me  Edition,  Paris,  n.d.  M. 
Desbarrolles  knew  nothing  of  the  Kabalah,  but  he  reflected  his  friend 
Levi,  who  claimed  knowledge  but  wrote  frequently  in  the  same  distracted 
strain. 


122  ^Ihe  Jtortrme  anb  fpteratnre  ot  the  gabalah 

V.  ALLEGED  SOURCES  OF  KABALISTIC 
DOCTRINE 

We  are  now  able  to  reach  a  specific  conclusion 
with  regard  to  our  subject  and  to  affirm  that  many  of 
the  materials  collected  in  the  Zohar  are  earlier  than 
the  period  of  their  promulgation.  We  cannot  say 
whether  the  Sepher  Yetzirah  is  much  anterior  to  the 
ninth  century.*  But  both  works  are  in  connection 
with  Talmudic  times  and,  within  the  limits  of  the 
Christian  centuries,  there  seems  therefore  to  have 
been  an  esoteric  tradition  in  Israel. t  Whether  it 
existed  prior  to  Christianity  itself  is  the  next  concern 
of  our  inquiry.  At  this  point  the  difficulties  begin  to 
multiply,  because  the  range  of  research  is  exceedingly 
large,  and  it  has  been  covered  in  every  direction  by 
successive  generations  of  hardy  speculators.  We 
must  proceed  step  by  step  and  shall  do  well  to  begin 
first  of  all  by  a  general  survey  of  the  subject. 

The  doctrine  of  the  Kabalah  has  been  referred 
for  its  origin  to  almost  every  philosophic  and  religious 
system  of  antiquity,  and  its  points  of  correspondence 
with  each  have  been  carefully  tabulated.  It  has  been 
shown  to  be  derived  from  Akkadia,  from  India,  from 
China,  from  ancient  Egypt,  |  from  Platonism  and  Neo- 

*  But  we  can  say  that  one  of  the  most  pronounced  opponents  of 
Jewish  theosophy  assigns  it  to  early  Gnostic  times. — See  Graetz, 
Geschichte  derjuden. 

t  One  of  the  exponents  of  the  English  school  of  Kabalism  states 
that,  according  to  Hebrew  tradition,  the  doctrines  of  the  oldest  portions 
of  the  Zohar  are  antecedent  to  the  second  Temple. — W.  Wynn  Westcott, 
Sepher  Yetzirah.  Translated  from  the  Hebrew.  Second  edition. 
London,  1893. 

£  This  is  the  view  which  obtains  most  widely  among  occultists. 
"  It  is  in  Egyptian  science,"  says  Stanislas  de  Guaita,  "carried  from 


aub  JUthoritn  of  the  $ubaluh         123 

Platonism,  from  the  categories  of  Aristotle,  from  early 
Christian  Gnosticism.*  The  most  philosophical 
conclusion  which  can,  I  think,  be  drawn  from  all  this 
rival  evidence  is  that  it  is  not  derived  from  any  one  of 
them  specifically  and  exclusively,  but  rather  that  the 
human  mind,  when  engaged  on  certain  fundamental 
and  perhaps  insoluble  problems  of  the  universe,  tends 
independently  to  reach  conclusions  that  are  similar 
and  may  even  wear  sometimes  an  aspect  of  literal 
identity ;  that  the  Kabalah  is  largely  an  outcome  of 
such  unaided  research ;  that  its  results  are  in  the  main 
sui  generis,  but  that  they  offer  points  of  contact  with 
other  attempts  of  the  kind  in  all  ages  and  nations. 
We  must,  of  course,  distinguish  the  fundamental  part 
of  the  Kabalah  from  its  developments.  Included  in 
the  first  class  are  the  doctrine  of  the  Ten  Emanations, 
that  of  Ain  Soph,  of  the  Macrvprosopus  and  the 
MicroprosopuS)  some  of  which  may  go  far  back  in 
the  history  of  post-Christian  Jewish  literature, 
indeed  almost  to  Talmudic  times.  The  subsequent 
developments  possess  a  complexion  derived  from 
many  sources,  not  excluding  the  scholastic  philosophy 
of  Christian  Europe  during  the  Middle  Ages.f  Ain 
Soph  is  that  final  concept  of  the  Deity  which  is 

Mit/raim  by  Moses  at  the  exodus  of  the  Sons  of  Israel,  that  we  must 
di-,cx-rn  the  source  of  that  sacred  tradition  transmitted  among  the  Jews 
from  generation  to  generation,  by  the  oral  way,  down  to  the  disciples 
of  Simeon  ben  Jochai,  who  wrote,  at  the  dictation  of  this  master,  about 
the  second  century  of  the  Christian  era,  the  Great  Book  of  the  Light 
(Zohar)."— An  Settil  du  My  nth;-,  pp.  183,  184.  The  last  statement  is, 
of  course,  merely  an  assumption  of  the  vital  point  at  i>Mie. 

*  Even  the  so-called  "Symbols  of  Pythagoras"  have  been 
approximated  to  Kabalistic  teaching.  ilectanea  Hermetica,'' 

edited  by  W.  \Vynn  Westcott,  vol.  v.  (Somnium  Sapionis,  &c.), 
London,  1894. 

t  I  refer  here  to  the  Kabalistic  schools  of  Isaac  de  Loria  and 
Moses  of  Cordova. 


124  Ihe  ilodrine  anb  literature  of  the  JUbalah 

reached  by  all  metaphysics  ;  it  is  not  necessary  to 
suppose  that  it  was  derived  from  Babylonian 
initiations  during  the  exile  of  seventy  years,  or 
from  Greek  speculation  at  Alexandria ;  it  may  be 
regarded  more  reasonably  as  a  product  of  the 
unfinished  exile  of  the  Christian  centuries.  But 
in  either  case  it  is  the  ultimate  point  of  theosophic 
speculation  possible  to  the  human  mind,  at  which 
the  mind  always  arrives.  The  doctrine  of  the 
Sephiroth  is,  in  its  turn,  a  very  intelligible  form  of 
another  widespread  device  of  the  world's  thought 
when  it  seeks  to  bridge  the  gulf  between  finite 
and  infinite,  betweed  absolute  purity  and  that 
material  world  which,  in  one  or  other  way,  seems 
always  to  be  regarded  as  unclean.  The  Macro- 
prosopns  and  the  Microprosopus,  whether  late  or 
early  in  Jewish  literature,  are  late  at  least  in  the 
history  of  human  speculation.  They  are  an  attempt 
to  distinguish  between  God  as  He  is  in  Himself  and 
in  His  relation  with  His  children.  As  might  be 
expected,  they  are  the  most  characteristic  of  Jewry 
and,  as  such,  offer  the  least  connection  with  any 
external  system.  Yet  they  have  some  points  of 
contact.  As  regards  each  and  all,  the  first  point 
to  be  fixed  firmly  in  the  mind  is  that  they  are  the 
natural  results  of  legitimate  intellectual  inquiry. 
Given  the  times  and  the  circumstances,  they  are 
the  kind  of  speculative  doctrine  which  one  might 
have  expected  a  priori. 

When  we  remember  the  persistence  of  tradition 
which  has  always  characterised  the  most  persistent 
of  all  races,  when  we  remember  that  the  Jew  of 
the  Christian  dispensation  may  be  said  to  have 


<Scmrtt  aub  JUthorittj  of  the  jftabalah         125 

lived  in  the  remembrance  of  his  glory  passed  away, 
we  can  well  believe  that  he  was  encompassed  by 
an  atmosphere  of  legend  on  which  his  fervid 
mind  was  at  work  continually,  out  of  which  he 
never  stepped,  and  it  would  be  unreasonable  to 
suppose  that  all  his  literature,  like  all  his  thought, 
was  not  profoundly  tinctured  by  this  his  intellectual 
environment.  But  it  is  a  wide  and  an  unwarrantable 
step  from  the  belief  in  such  a  natural  and  inevitable 
operation  to  a  belief  that  Jewish  tradition  must  or 
may  be  referred  to  any  distinctive  source  in  the 
past,  from  which  it  was  perpetuated  by  some 
conventional  initiation,  as  occult  writers  suppose,  and 
some  others  also  who  have  no  such  bias  towards  the 
mysterious  to  intervene  in  apology  for  their  opinion. 
We  have  no  ground  for  affirming  with  Basnage* 
that  old  Egypt  is  the  true  nursery  of  the  Kabalah, 
though  it  is  quite  possible  that  Israel  brought  some 
thing  from  the  Nile  valley  which  does  not  appear  in 
the  Pentateuch.  Nor  are  we  justified  in  agreeing 
with  the  illustrious  Grand  Master  of  the  Ancient  and 
Accepted  Rite  of  Freemasonry,  United  States 
Southern  Jurisdiction,  when  he  suggests  a  direct 
communication  of  doctrine  from  the  religion  of 
Zoroasterf  to  Kabalism  which  must  be  referred  to 
the  period  of  the  cxile.J  That  the  Jews  derived 

*  L.  iii.  c.  \iv. 

t  For  some  tables  indicating  "  the  harmony  and  identity  of  the 
Chaldean  philosophy  with  the  Hebrew  Kabalah,"  see  the  "Chaldean 
Oraclesof/  edited  by  .  :id<m,  1895,  pp.  8-n. 

The  true  value  of  such  parallels  is  sho\\n  by  such  frenzied  developments 
libUhop  Meurin's  Synn^o^ue  dc  Satan,  \\hich  will    be   noticed  in 
Hook  vii.  §  19. 

J  "  Morals  and  Dogma,''  Charleston,  A.M.  5641,  pp.  266,  267, 
and  elsewhere  throughout  the  compilation.  Compare  Matter,  Histoire 


i26  ^£Itt  Jlortrine  arrb  literature  of  the 

something  from  Babylon  I  have  already  noted,  and 
amidst  their  chequered  experience  under  Persian 
domination,  after  their  final  scattering,  possibly  the 
great  body  of  Haggada  may  have  received  increment 
and  colouring.  More  fantastic  theorists  have 
imagined  that  not  only  is  there  a  Chinese  Kabalah, 
but  that  it  is  the  source  of  that  which  was  in  Israel. 
That  the  great  unknown  empire,  in  which  all  things 
from  alchemy  to  the  art  of  printing  seem  to  have 
germinated,  possessed,  and  still  possesses,  a  vast 
body  of  traditional  lore,  of  so-called  secret  teaching,* 
is  mere  commonplace  on  which  there  is  no  call  to 
insist,  and  if  occultists  will  be  so  unphilosophical  as 
to  term  this  Kabalah,  there  is  as  little  need  to  dispute 
with  them  about  the  improper  and  confusing  use  of 
a  mere  word.  That  the  book  called  "  Yi-King,"f  or 
Mutation,  contains  an  esoteric  religious  tradition 
which  has,  as  it  is  said,  some  analogies  with  Kaba- 
listic  doctrine,  is  neither  surprising  nor  significant  of 
anything  except  the  irresistible  tendency  of  the 
human  mind  to  reflect  after  much  the  same  manner, 
in  all  lands  and  times,  upon  mysteries  that  are  every 
where  the  same,  ever  urgent,  ever  recurring.  Such 


Critique  du  Gnosticisime,  who  refers  the  Gnostic  systems  to  the 
Zendavesta  and  the  Kabalah. 

*  In  conformity  with  which  Bryant's  "Analysis  of  Ancient 
Mythology  "  (vol.  i.  p.  94)  and  Oliver's  "  History  of  Initiation  "  (p.  79 
et  seq.}  would  have  us  believe  that  there  were  mysteries  in  China 
"similar  to  those  of  India,"  which  again  were  more  or  less  the  same 
as  those  which  subsequently  flourished  in  Greece. 

f  For  some  information  concerning  this  work  and  its  Kabalistic 
analogies,  see  L?  Initiation,  revue  philosophique  des  Hautes  Etudes, 
torn,  xxxvii.  No.  3,  Dec.,  1897.  Paris.  S.v,  Y-King,  Tao-see,  Tao-lc- 
Jfin§  et  la  Numeration,  p.  266  et  seq.  Also  Eugene  Nus,  A  La  Recherche 
des  Destines.  Paris,  1892. 


Source  anb  ^nthoritg  of  the  gabalah        127 

analogies  do  not  prove,  as  occultists  would  have  us 
believe,  the  existence  of  a  Wisdom-Religion,  which, 
if  they  will  suffer  the  interpretation,  may  be  presumed 
to  mean  the  secret  science  of  the  reintegration  of  the 
soul  in  God  accumulated  through  the  ages  of  initia 
tion.  In  the  natural  order,  the  truly  fundamental 
religion  is  the  common  ground  of  all,  which  stands  in 
need  of  no  formal  perpetuation,  as  it  is  inborn  in 
the  heart  and  mind  of  humanity.*  And  yet  the 
undoubted  existence  of  the  Mongolian  race  in 
Mesopotamia  almost  at  the  dawn  of  history  may 
suggest  that  the  Semite  drew  something  from 
Mongolian  Chaldea  even  in  the  days  of  Abraham,! 
as  afterwards  the  Jew  of  Babylon  may  have  had  a 
certain  contact  with  Confucianism  in  its  earliest 
form.  We  may  admit,  readily  and  reasonably,  that 
the  Jew  received  everywhere  and  always  retained  the 
reception,  provided  that  we  leave  him  everywhere  his 
own  intellectual  initiative,  and  bear  in  mind  that  the 
process  was  everywhere  natural  and  informal,  not 
arbitrary  and  conventional. 

Passing  over  the  regions  of  wild  surmise  in  which 
Odin    the    Norse   God    becomes    identified  with    the 
Kabalistic  Abba,  Frea  with   Aima,   Thor  with   . 
Anpin,   the    Lesser   Countenance,   and    the    Supreme 

*  I  refer  here  to  sacramental  and  not  to  natural  religion  so-called. 

f  "The  power  of  the  Mongol  rulers  of  Chaldea,  alxnit  the  time 
of  Abraham,  was  far  more  extensive  than  that  of  the-  contemporary 
rulers  of  Thebes  and  of  the  Delta,  and  the  victories  of  the  great 
eighteenth  dynasty  in  Egypt,  extending  over  sonic  three  centuries  at 
most,  form  only  a  passing  episode  in  the  story  of  Asiatic  civilisation, 
which  dates  back  probably  earlier  than  the  time  of  the  Pyramids,  which 
was  native  and  original,  and  from  which  Kgypt  borrowed  much  in  the 
days  of  its  greatest  rulers." — "  li.il>yl«>nian  Discoveries,"  Edinburgh 
Review,  April,  1898. 


128   ^he  Jlortrine  anb  literature  oi  the  JUbalah 

Being  discerned  behind  the  northern  mythology  with 
Ain  Soph\  passing  over  also  certain  Druidic  corre 
spondences  into  which  it  might  be  unwise  to  enter,* 
we  may  take  much  the  same  view  as  before  regarding 
the  alleged  Gnostic  connections  of  the  Kabalah.  We 
may  concur  cordially  with  King  when  he  argues  that 
whatever  the  date  of  the  Zohar  in  its  present  form, 
its  principles  and  traditions  are  similar  to  those 
taught  in  the  schools  of  Babylon  and  Tiberias.f  They 
are  the  same  and  they  are  also  different,  and  the 
difference  represents  the  growth  of  the  intellectual 
thought  of  Israel,  its  proper  native  development 
under  the  various  impulsions  which  it  received 
between  the  period  of  Gnosticism  and  the  period  of 
the  promulgation  of  the  Zohar.  We  may  acknow 
ledge  also  that  Marcus,  as  "a  born  Jew,"  devised 
something  of  the  national  heritage  to  the  system 
which  he  produced.  Yet  Gnosticism  is  not  Kabalism, 
though  there  are  striking  analogies  between  them, 
and  something  of  common  source  is  attributable  to 
both.  M.  Amelineau  is  nearer  the  truth  when  he 
speaks  of  a  coincident  development  of  the  two 
systems. J  There  are  analogies  in  nature  and 


*  Pike,  following  no  doubt  some  unnamed  authority,  affirms  that 
the  Druids  were  true  children  of  the  Magi,  whose  initiation  came  from 
Egypt  and  Chaldea,  "that  is  to  say,  from  the  true  sources  of  the 
primitive  Kabalah." — "  Morals  and  Dogma,"  p.  103. 

t  "The  Gnostics  and  their  Remains."  Second  edition.  London, 
1897. 

J  Essai  sur  le  Gnosticisme  Egyptien,  scs  developpements  et  son 
origine  Egyptienne.  Par  M.  E.  AmtHineau,  published  in  Annales  du 
MusJe  Guiniet,  torn.  xiv.  Paris,  1887,  but  written  so  far  back  as  1882, 
the  date  affixed  to  the  preface.  Compare  Edersheim,  who  believed 
that  "Gnosticism,  like  later  Jewish  mysticism,  sprang  from  the  contact 
of  Judaism  with  the  religious  speculations  of  the  farther  East." 


<Source  anb  Jtuthorihj  of  the  Jiabalah        129 

appearance  between  glass  and  rock-crystal,  but  glass 
is  glass  and  a  pebble  is  a  pebble.* 

It  is  unphilosophical  because  unneedful  to  go  far 
back  and  far  off  when  the  explanation  of  given  facts 
lies  near  in  time  and  place.  "  That  is  best  which  lies 
the  nearest,"  says  the  poet,  and,  artists  or  occultists, 
makers  of  verse  or  Kabalistic  commentators,  we 
should  shape  our  work  of  art  or  interpretation  with 
out  drawing  needlessly  from  things  remote.  The 
prototype  of  Yetziratic  and  Zoharic  theosophy  is 
close  to  our  hand  in  Jewry.  The  fusion  of  all 
systems  which  is  a  characteristic  of  the  present  day, 
has  its  parallel  in  that  epoch  of  the  past  which 
witnessed  the  rise  of  Christianity.  "  At  the  time 
when  John  the  Baptist  made  his  appearance  in  the 
desert,  near  the  shores  of  the  Dead  Sea,  all  the  old 
philosophical  and  religious  systems  were  approxi 
mating  toward  each  other.  A  general  lassitude 
inclined  the  minds  of  all  toward  the  quietude  of  that 
amalgamation  of  doctrines  for  which  the  expeditions 
of  Alexander  and  the  more  peaceful  occurrences  that 
followed,  with  the  establishment  in  Asia  and  Africa 
of  many  Grecian  colonies,  had  prepared  the  way. 
After  the  intermingling  of  different  nations,  which 
resulted  from  the  wars  of  Alexander  in  three-quarters 
of  the  globe,  the  doctrines  of  Greece,  of  Egypt,  of 
Persia,  and  of  India  met  and  intermingled  every 
where.  All  the  barriers  that  had  formerly  kept  the 

*  The  Pistis  Sophia  is  the  most  valuable  document  for  the 
analogic  between  Gnosticism  and  the  Kabalah,  but  it  is  easy  to 
exaggerate  its  evidence.  Mr.  C.  W.  King  says  that  the  doctrines  arc- 
identical,  and  that  it  exhibits  the  leading  principles  of  the  Kabalah,  but 
he  does  not  seem  to  speak  with  a  first-hand  knowledge  of 

•  phy. 


130   ^he  Jtor  trine  anb  |£iteraittte  oi  the  JUhalah 

nations  apart  were  thrown  down ;  and  while  the 
people  of  the  West  readily  connected  their  faith  with 
those  of  the  East,  the  latter  hastened  to  learn  the 

traditions  of  Rome  and  Athens The  Jews 

and  Egyptians,  then  the  most  exclusive  of  all 
peoples,  yielded  to  that  eclecticism  which  prevailed 
among  their  masters,  the  Greeks  and  Romans."* 
National  ambition,  however,  rather  than  eclecticism 
influenced  the  Jews,  and  though  it  was  impossible, 
having  regard  to  their  environment,  that  they  should 
not  be  largely  tinctured,  it  was  their  object  to  tinge 
other  systems  and  not  to  modify  their  own,  to  show 
that  the  ethnic  philosophers  owed  everything  to  the 
divine  doctrine  of  Palestine.  Philo  the  Greek  of 
Alexandria  to  some  extent  Hellenised  the  Hebrew 
religion  that  he  might  the  better  Judaise  the 
philosophy  of  Hellas.  From  this  fusion  there  arose 
the  nearest  approach,  if  not  in  time  and  place  at 
least  in  form  and  subject,  to  Kabalistic  theosophy 
as  regards  its  source  in  Jewry.  There  is  no  need 
in  this  elementary  study  to  refer  to  Aristobulus, 
who  a  century  before  had  received  a  similar  vocation. 
Philo,  and  the  movement  and  mode  of  thought  which 
he  represents,  cannot  reasonably  have  been  without 
an  effect  upon  the  literature  of  later  ages  in  Jewry  ,f 

*  "  Morals  and  Dogma,"  p.  247. 

t  I  should  observe  here  that  Mr.  Arthur  Lillie,  who  has  much 
argued  a  process  in  the  Buddhistic  origin  of  Christianity,  has  discovered 
in  the  Zohar  not  only  the  Trinity  of  Philo,  but  the  Trinity  of  Buddhism, 
and  he  holds  that  the  Kabalah  "was  one  ot  the  secret  books  of  the 
Essenes." — Modern  Mystics  and  Modern  Magic,  p.  14.  He  also  says 
that  it  was  "  written  down  from  tradition  by  one  Moses  de  Leon,"  thus 
showing  that  he  is  not  aware  of  the  existence  of  Kabalistic  books  out 
side  the  Zohar. — Ibid.,  p.  13.  Finally,  he  says  that  it  is  "a  book  of 
Magic." — "  Madame  Blavatsky  and  her  Theosophy,"  p.  194.  After  this 


<Soun:f  .tub  JUthoritn  of  the  gabalah         131 

though  the  history  of  that  influence  and  the  mode 
of  its  transmission  cannot  be  traced  conclusively. 
We  must  not,  however,  fall  into  the  error  of  supposing 
that  the  Kabalah  is  Platonism  derived  through  Philo 
and  the  Jewish  school  of  Alexandria,  or  that  it  is 
Jewish  tradition  modified  by  Philoism.  When  we 
find  in  the  Sepher  Yetzirah  the  alphabetical  symbols 
of  the  Logos  made  use  of  by  God  in  the  formation 
of  the  universe,  it  is  very  easy  to  set  it  down  to 
Greek  influence,  but  the  fact  remains  that  the 
"  Book  of  Formation "  is  essentially  and  charac 
teristically  Hebrew,  and  this  fact  lifts  it  altogether 
out  of  the  category  of  Platonic  succession.  Yet 
we  know  where  to  look  for  the  explanation  of  its 
points  of  contact.  As  regards  the  doctrine  developed 
by  the  commentators  on  the  Sepher  Yetzirah  prior 
to  the  appearance  of  the  Zohar,  as  regards  the 
literature  which  makes  contact  with  these,  and  as 
regards  the  Zohar  itself,  saying  nothing  of  the  later 
literature,  which  had  recourse  consciously  and  openly 
to  Greek  sources,  the  case  is  much  stronger.*  Philo 

we  shall  not  be  surprised  to  find  that  St.  Paul  was  a  Kabalist.—  Ibid. 
So  also  was  Jacob  Bohme,  whose  three  principles,  one  of  which  was  the 
"Kingdom  of  Hell,"  have  something  to  do  with  the  three  supernal 
Scphiroth.  For  similar  speculations,  see  "  Buddhism  in  Christendom." 
*  For  example,  the  Porta  Ccvhnim  of  R.  Abraham  Cohen  Irira, 
which  forms  the  third  part  of  Rosenroth's  Apparatus  in  Libntm  Sohar, 
was  written  expressly  to  exhibit  the  correspondences  between  Kabalistic 
dogmas  and  the  Platonic  philosophy.  Later  on  the  same  theme  was 
taken  up  by  Christian  writers,  some  of  whom  connect  the  Kabalah  with 
Aristotle,  and  so  we  have  works  like  Burgondo's  Podromus  Scientiarum 
Artinmve  liber alinm  ad  ipsos  Peri  pat  cticce  Scholce  et  Kabbah 
doctrinat  pnrissimos  fontes  revoeatus,  Venice,  1651.  So  also  at  an 
earlier  period  Thomas  Campanella  in  his  De  Scnsu  Kerum  et  Magia, 
Frankfort,  1620,  joined  Neoplatonism  and  Kabalism  in  his  attempt  to 
explain  the  universe. 


132   ^he  Jlxrrtrirte  anfo  literature  of  the  Jiabalah 

insists  on  the  antithesis  between  God  and  the 
material  world,  the  infinite  and  the  finite ;  so,  let 
us  say,  does  the  Zohar,  which  may  be  taken  to 
stand  for  the  whole  literature.  Philo  affirms  the 
absolute  transcendency  of  God  ;  so  does  Zoharic 
doctrine.  Philo  regards  the  divine  nature  as  in 
itself  escaping  definition  and  in  itself  without  quality  ; 
Kabalism  denounces  those  who  would  attempt  to 
describe  God  as  He  is  in  Himself  even  by  the 
attributes  which  He  manifests.  Philo's  descriptions 
of  God  are  all  negative ;  compare  the  latens  Deltas 
of  the  Kabalah.  Philo  says  that  no  name  can  be 
given  Him  ;  all  Kabalism  agrees.  Philo  regards  the 
scriptural  Deity  as  anthropomorphic,  and  allegorises 
upon  all  the  descriptions,  attributions  and  manifesta 
tions  of  Deity  therein  ;  compare  the  doctrine  of  the 
Two  Countenances,  designed  to  explain  the  same 
anthropomorphisms.  Philo  regards  the  letter  of 
Scripture  as  a  veil  ;  so  does  the  Zohar.  Philo 
interprets  it  literally  or  mystically  according  to 
his  purpose  ;  so  does  Kabalistic  exegesis.  Philo 
regards  the  visible  world  as  the  gate  of  the  world 
unseen,  he  believes  in  the  possibility  of  an  immediate 
contemplation  of  God,  in  the  existence  of  an 
archetypal  world,  that  things  seen  are  a  counterpart 
of  things  unseen,*  in  all  of  which  we  are  enumerating 
express  points  of  Kabalistic  doctrine.  These 

*  There  is  a  twofold  correspondence  in  Kabalism  between  superior 
and  inferior  things  :  one  transcendental,  being  that  of  phenomena  with 
their  archetypes  in  the  noumenal  world,  and  one  natural  in  the  narrower 
sense  of  the  term,  being  that  which  is  summed  up  in  the  axiom  :  "  There 
is  no  herb  on  earth  to  which  a  certain  star  does  not  correspond  in  the 
heaven."  See  Kircher,  Mundus  Subterraneus,  ii.  401^.  The  whole 
theory  of  natural  magic  is  contained  in  this  maxim. 


anb  JUthoriiji  ot  the  $abalnh 

analogies  are  too  numerous,  too  close,  too  consecu 
tive,  to  leave  any  room  for  doubt  that  the  heads 
of  Kabalistic  teaching  pre-existed  in  Jewry,  and 
we  have  further  the  explicit  testimony  of  Philo  as 
to  the  existence  of  a  mystic  doctrine  in  Jewry. 
Spontaneity,  initiation,  subsequent  influences,  allj 
remain  unimpeded  and  are  all  necessary  to  explain 
the  existence  of  the  Zohar  and  its  connections,  but 
its  source  is  not  indeed  Philo  of  necessity,  much  less 
Philo  exclusively,  but  that  which  produced  Philo._ 
But  more  than  all,  it  is  hardy,  independent  specula 
tion,  wearing  tradition  like  a  veil  which  does  not 
conceal  its  essential  individuality,  and  much  nearer  to 
ourselves  at  times  in  its  spirit  than  we  should  ever 
suspect  from  its  form.  Yet  we  may  suspect  it  on 
philosophical  grounds,  for  however  concealed  behind 
the  veil  of  symbolism,  however  much  distorted  in 
strange  glasses  of  vision,  the  sentiments  and 
aspirations  of  humanity  have  ever  a  common  ground, 
and  through  the  vehicle  of  Kabalistic  apparatus, 
under  many  covers  and  tinctured  by  many  fantastic 
colourings  of  art  and  artifice,  we  see  that  our  own 
yearnings  and  longings  find  expression,  after  their 
own  manner,  in  this  book  of  the  words  of  the  exile.] 
We  acknowledge  with  the  poet  how  truly  all  the  lore 
and  the  legend  is 

"  A  part 
Of  the  hunger  and  thirst  of  the  heart, 

The  frenzy  and  fire  of  the  brain, 
Which  yearns  for  the  fruitage  forbidden, 
The  golden  pomegranates  of  Eden, 

To  quiet  its  fever  and  pain." 

When   the  "  Faithful  Shepherd "  of  the  Zohar   puts 


i34  ^he  Jtortrine  anb  Jpterature  of  the  ghbalah 

these  words  into  the  mouth  of  the  Father  of  universal 
Israel:  "In  this  world  my  Name  is  written  YHVH 
and  read  Adonai,  but  in  the  world  to  come  the  same 
will  be  read  as  it  is  written,  so  that  Mercy  shall  be 
from  all  sides,"  *  we  see  that  at  the  beginning  of 
the  twentieth  century  we  might  have  expressed 
differently  the  longing,  the  hope,  the  faith,  for  which 
this  symbol  stands,  but  it  is  still  that  which  we  all 
desire  to  express,  and,  furthermore,  I  do  not  know 
that  our  modern  terms  could  have  represented  it 
better.  Herein  is  the  justification  of  the  ways  of 
God  to  man  and  herein  the  pious  conviction  of  the 
believing  heart  that  in  the  great  day  of  the  Lord 
there  shall  be  no  scandal  to  His  children  ;  that  in 
spite  of  the  darkness  of  our  ways  we  have  held  rightly 
that  He  is  light,  that  though  we  write  Mercy  in  our 
hearts  but  read  Law  and  its  inflexible  order  in  all 
around  us,  we  shall  one  day  know  that  it  is  Mercy  on 
every  side,  the  highest  expression  of  the  Law,  or  that 
Law  is  that  order  under  which  the  Divine  Charity  is 
manifested.  It  is  in  messages  like  this  that  the 
abiding  beauty  and  significance  of  the  Kabalah  are 
contained,  not  in  the  beard  of  Microprosopus  or  in  the 
number  of  worlds  suspended  from  the  hair  on  the 
cranium  of  Arikh  Anpin.  Gematria  and  Metathesis 
may  be  pastimes  fit  only  for  children,  but  the  voice 
of  the  Rabbis  of  the  Zohar  expressing  the  language 
of  the  heart  of  Israel  needs  no  Temurah  to  expound 
its  meaning,  and  it  is  by  the  ring  of  such  utterances 
that  the  true  believer  of  to-day  is  made  conscious 
electrically  that  the  Holy  Synods  were  composed  of 
men  who  are  our  brethren. 

*  Cremona  edition,  part  ii.  fol.  io6a. 


§o\\ut  anb  JUthoriiji  of  the  ghtbalah         135 

As  this  view  disposes  implicitly  of  the  claim  to  a 
divine  authorship,  and  places  the  theory  of  aboriginal 
tradition  among  fables,  so  also  it  forbids  us  to 
suppose  that  Kabalistic  doctrines  are  the  work  of 
any  single  mind. 

One  feels  instinctively,  without  any  necessity  of 
evidence,  that  these  things  are  not  and  cannot  be  the 
unaided  work  of  Moses  de  Leon.*  They  are  a 
growth  and  a  result.  As,  however,  the  Zohar 
assumed  its  present  shape  at  a  late  period  admittedly, 
it  may  credibly  have  taken  part  of  it  at  the  hands 
of  this  Spanish  Jew.  That  his  other  works  are 
inferior  is  no  argument.  Cervantes  wrote  many 
worthless  romances  before  and  after  the  sum  of 
all  chivalry.  The  "  Galatea "  did  not  make 
"  Don  Quixote "  impossible.  So  also  Beroalde  de 
Verville  wrote  books  on  alchemy  which  are  despised 
even  by  alchemists,  but  he  wrote  also  the  Moyen 
de  Parvenir.  Every  magnum  opus  is  antecedently 
improbable,  and  the  intellectual  distance  between 
the  "  Sorrows  of  Werther "  and  the  second  part  of 
"Faust"  is  like  the  void  between  A  in  Soph  and 
Malkuth,  which  it  was  the  purpose  of  the  Sephiroth 
to  fill. 

But  if  all  masterpieces  are  antecedently  improb 
able,  it  is  true  also  that  they  are  impossible  without 
antecedents.  There  are  certain  dull  old  histories 
known  to  literati  which  were  necessary  to  the  plays 
of  Shakespeare.  So  the  formulation  of  the  Zohar 


•  According  to  the  Zohar  itself,  or  more  precisely,  to  a  tract 
which  it  includes  under  the  title  of  the  "  Faithful  Shepherd,"  nine 
authors  combined  for  the  production  of  the  work,  but  it  is  not  necessary 
o  attach  any  serious  import  to  this  statement. 


136  Ihe  Doctrine  anfc  literature  ot  the  Jiabalah 

must  have  been  preceded  by  much  raw  material, 
both  oral  and  written,  parts  of  which  were  no  doubt 
incorporated  without  any  change  in  their  formulation. 
For  example,  the  "  Book  of  Occultation  "  bears  all 
the  marks  of  antiquity,  no  less  considerable  than 
that  of  the  "  Book  of  Formation." 

There  is,  of  course,  a  point  beyond  which  the 
reasonable  critic  will  not  pass.  So  far  as  it  goes  we 
are  on  safe  ground  with  the  meagre  testimony  of 
St.  Agobard  ;  with  R.  Simeon  Ben  Jochai  we  are  on 
purely  traditional  ground,  and  it  is  not  to  be 
supposed  for  a  moment  that  more  authenticity  resides 
in  the  dramatis  persona;  of  the  Holy  Synod  than  in 
those  of  the  Turba  Philosophorum.  I  do  not  mean 
that  such  names  are  entirely  pretexts,  for  they  may 
possess  an  honest  basis  in  legend,  but  they  are  not 
literal  or  historical.  They  occupy  a  middle  position 
between  the  script  of  a  shorthand  reporter  and 
imaginary  conversations  like  those  of  W.  S.  Landor. 


VI.     ISLAMIC  CONNECTIONS  OF  THE 
KABALAH 

When  the  Jew  of  the  Exile  sought  a  consolation 
in  philosophy,  and  thus  produced  the  higher  part  of 
Kabalism,  compounded  of  his  traditions,  his  specula 
tions,  his  external  receptions,  his  longings,  the 
memories  of  his  election  and  its  glory,  we  must  bear 
in  mind  that  all  exotics  adjust  themselves  to  their 
environment,  not  without  certain  changes  even  in  the 
most  persistent  types.  Now,  the  Jew  is  an  anthro- 


.Source  anb  JUthoritij  of  the  gabalah         137 

pological  exotic  in  all  countries  of  the  world  and  just 
because  his  persistence  is  so  enormous  that  it  is 
explained  by  a  special  law  of  Providence,  we  find 
that  in  all  countries  he  has  been  modified  sufficiently 
to  guarantee  his  survival.  As  in  things  physical, 
as  in  matters  of  daily  life,  so  in  the  intellectual 
order,  he  lost  nothing  but  he  assumed  much. 
The  Jew  of  Salerno  differed  from  that  of  France, 
and  the  Jew  of  Spain  offered  contrasts  to  both. 
Without  attempting  to  add  another  hypothesis  to 
the  scores  extant  as  to  the  origin  of  Kabalism, 
I  propose  to  indicate  that  this  literature  is 
naturally,  if  partially,  elucidated  by  the  features  of 
its  partial  birthplace. 

Having  made  a  reasonable  allowance  for 
spontaneity  in  Jewish  thought,  and  having  noted  its 
observed  connections  and  correspondences  in  distant 
times  and  places,  it  seems  fitting  that  we  should  look 
now  to  that  which  lay  the  nearest.  Without  dis 
puting  or  defending  the  opinion  that  Israel  may  have 
possessed  a  tradition  handed  down  by  the  oral  way 
from  early  times,  of  which  we  have  enough  evidence 
to  warrant  the  presumption  that  it  existed  but  not 
enough  to  determine  what  it  actually  was,  let  us 
begin  by  considering  where  the  Kabalistic  books  first 
began  to  circulate.  That  was  in  Spain.  Now,  what 
was  the  environment  of  the  Jews  in  the  Peninsula  at 
the  period  in  question — let  us  say,  from  the  ninth 
century  and  onward  ?  It  differed  considerably  from 
that  which  surrounded  them  in  other  countries  of 
Western  Europe.  Spain  was  for  Israel  not  indeed  a 
Garden  of  Paradise,  but  a  species  of  oasis  in  the  great 
wilderness  of  the  Exile,  for  the  simple  reason  that 


138   Ihe  gjortrint  atrb  pteratuw  ot  the  gabalah 

much  of  it  was  not  then  under  Christian  rule.*  The 
Jew  of  Spain  enjoyed  comparative  immunity ;  he 
possessed  even  political  influence  ;  he  rose  occasion 
ally  to  high  political  power.  It  is  not  surprising, 
therefore,  that  Spain  became  a  centre  of  Jewish 
literature  and  philosophy.  Thence  Jewish  treatises 
passed  into  France  and  Italy  under  the  Arabian 
equivalents  of  their  authors'  names,  and  were 
accepted  as  the  speculations  or  teachings  of  the 
learned  among  the  Moslems.  Avicebron  is  a  case  in 
point.  There  can  be  no  doubt  whatever  that  the 
erudition  of  Mohammedanism  exercised  an  influence 
on  the  Rabbins, j-  who  reacted  in  their  turn  on  the 
Moslem  doctors.}  The  questions  of  priority  and 
preponderance  may  be  passed  over,  because  they  are 
here  of  no  importance. 

We  have  concluded  already  that  the  Zohar 
presents  the  mystic  thought  of  preceding  centuries 
in  Israel  under  a  certain  aspect  of  transformation. 
The  traditional  knowledge,  of  which  we  have  evidence 
as  to  its  existence  in  Talmudic  times,  had  received 
many  developments  from  many  sources  and  under 
the  influence  of  many  minds.  There  is  ground  for 
supposing  that  the  nucleus  in  Christian  times  is 
first  heard  of  in  Palestine,  which  indeed  follows 
from  its  connection,  once  admitted,  with  R.  Simeon 

*  So  also  the  necessities  of  the  Christian  princes  in  Spain  till  the 
thirteenth  century  led  them  usually  to  protect  the  Jews. 

t  The  translation  of  the  Talmud  into  Arabic  by  R.  Joseph,  disciple 
of  Moses  the  sack-clothed,  during  the  reign  of  Haschem  II.,  King  of 
Cordova,  is  the  best  evidence  which  can  be  cited  on  this  point. 

£  Islamic  mysticism  is  almost  coincident  with  the  mission  of  the 
great  Islamic  prophet.  For  example,  the  Ghoolat  sect,  famous  for  the 
"  extravagance  "  of  its  doctrines,  is  referred  to  the  time  of  Ali.  See 
"Secret  Societies  of  the  Middle  Ages,"  London,  1846,  pp.  29,  31. 


§ource  anb  JUthorih)  of  the  Jmbalah         139 

Ben  Jochai.  But  despite  the  legend  which  represents 
the  Zohar  as  sent  from  Palestine  by  Nachmanides, 
everything  points  to  Spain  and  the  South  of  France 
as  the  chief  scenes  of  the  final  developments  of 
the  Kabalah,  and  it  is  not  unreasonable  to  suppose 
that  it  has  been  affected  by  the  prevailing  tone  of 
mystic  thought  in  one  or  both  of  these  places. 
There  is  evidence  to  show  that  such  influence  was 
at  work  outside  the  Zohar  and  prior  perhaps  to 
its  existence  in  the  form  that  it  now  possesses. 
It  was  then  most  probably  a  part  of  the  very  large 
influence  of  Avicebron.  In  post-Zoharic  mysticism, 
and  in  the  commentaries  on  the  Zohar  which  are 
the  work  of  Spanish  Jews,  it  may  be  traced  more  fully 
and  plainly.  In  no  case  does  it  justify  the  now 
exploded  criticism  which  would  make  the  Zohar 
merely  a  reproduction  or  echo  of  Arabian  theosophy, 
or  would  regard  all  Kabalism  as  referable  to  Islamic 
mysticism  for  its  sole  source,  plus  the  Greek  influence 
at  work  in  Islam.  This  was  the  hypothesis  of 
Tholuck.  We  are  concerned  only  with  a  question  of 
complexion  and  of  tincture,  and  have  other  criteria  by 
which  to  judge  the  true  significance  of  the  points  of 
doctrinal  resemblance  between  Sufi  and  Kabalist 
concerning  the  latent  state  of  Deity,  the  operation 
of  the  Divine  Will  at  the  beginning  of  creation,  the 
emanation  of  the  world,  &c.  The  analogies  are 
interesting  enough  and  the  Orientalist  who  first 
specified  them  had  everything  to  justify  him  at  his 
period.*  As  it  may  not  be  uninteresting  to  cite  a  few 

*  See  F.  A.  D.  Tholuck  :  Sufismus  Sive  Theosophia  Persarum 
Pant  heist  ica,  Berlin,  1831,  c.v.  passim.  Also  De  Ortu  Cabbala, 
Hamburg,  1837. 


140  ^he  Jtortrin*  anb  £ttet*ittre  of  the  Jubalah 

cases  in  point  derived  from  other  sources,  let  us  take 
a  fact,  one  of  many  concerning  which  we  possess 
impregnable  testimony.  About  the  middle  of  the 
fifteenth  century,  or,  more  exactly,  from  1414  to  1492, 
there  flourished  a  Sufi  poet  named  Nuruddin  Abdur- 
rahmann,  known  as  Jami  of  Herat,  among  whose 
works  the  "  Seven  Thrones  "  is  most  famous.  One  of 
the  poems  in  this  collection  is  entitled  "  Salomon  and 
Absal,"  a  mystic  story  of  earthly  and  heavenly  love. 
In  the  epilogue  to  this  poem,  where  the  author 
unfolds  his  meaning,  the  following  lines  occur : 

The  Incomprehensible  Creator,  when  this  world 

He  did  create,  created  first  of  all 

The  First  Intelligence,  First  of  a  chain 

Of  Ten  Intelligences,  of  which  the  last 

Sole  agent  is  in  this  our  Universe, 

Active  Intelligence  so  called. 

It  may  at  once  be  admitted  that  if  we  are  to  accept 
the  method  and  admit  the  quality  of  evidence  which 
has  satisfied  heretofore  the  several  authorities  who 
have  referrred  Kabalism  to  definite  sources  in  philo 
sophy  and  religion,  we  are  at  liberty  to  infer  from 
this  passage  that  somewhere  about  the  year  1450  a 
Sufic  poet,  so  far  away  from  Spain  as  Herat,  was 
adapting,  with  slight  variations  of  a  verbal  kind,  the 
Sephirotic  doctrine  of  the  Kabalah  a  century  before 
the  Book  of  Formation  and  the  Zohar  came  into 
circulation  through  the  medium  of  print.  I  have 
chosen  this  instance  because  it  proves  nothing  of 
itself  on  account  of  its  lateness,  but  it  gives  a  point 
of  departure  backwards  for  tracing  a  possible  con 
nection  between  the  mystical  sects  of  Moham 
medanism  and  the  mystical  sects  of  Israel. 


a  nil  Authority  ot  iht  ^abalah         141 

With  this  let  us  compare  for  a  moment  the 
doctrine  developed  in  the  "  Celestial  Desatir,"  which 
has  been  described  as  "  a  very  early  attempt  on  the 
part  of  the  ancient  Persians  to  form  a  cosmological 
theory."*  The  Desatir,  it  should  be  observed,  is  a 
revelation  addressed  to  the  great  prophet  Abad,  who 
is  identified  with  Abraham.  "  The  nature  of  God 
cannot  be  known.  Who  can  dare  to  know  it  but 
He  (Himself)?  The  entity  and  the  oneness  and  the 
personality  are  *  His  very  nature  and  nothing  beside 
Him.'  "  From  this  Being  proceeded  by  free  creation 
"him  whose  name  is  Baluiaui,  and  called  Prime 
Intellect  and  First  Reason,"  and  through  him 
"  Asham,  the  second  intellect,"  who  created  in  turn 
the  intellect  of  the  next  lower  heaven  named 
" Fames/tarn."  From  these  proceeded  the  "Intellect 
of  the  heaven  of  Kanian"  or  Saturn  ;  of  Harnnizd,  or 
Jupiter ;  of  Bahram,  or  Mars  ;  of  Khurshad,  or  the 
,  Sun  ;  of  Nahid,  or  Venus  ;  of  Zir,  or  Mercury  ;  and 
of  Mah,  or  the  Moon. 

Here,  again,  we  have  the  production  of  ten 
primary  intelligences,  recalling  the  Sephirotic  emana 
tions,  which  themselves  have  planetary  attributions. 

Let  us  now  take  another  step.  At  the  beginning 
of  the  twelfth  century,  or  actually  in  the  year  iioo 
A.D.,  Abu  Bakr  Ibn  Al-Tufail,  a  noted  Arabian 
physician,  poet,  mathematician  and  Sufi  philosopher, 
was  born  at  Guadix  in  Spain,  and  he  died  at  Morocco 
in  1 1 86.  His  chief  work  is  a  species  of  philosophical 
romance  called  "  The  Life  of  Hai  Ebn  Yokdan,  the 

*  My  knowledge  is  confined  to  the  translation  by  Mirza  Mohamed 
Hadi  which  appeared  in  successive  issues  <>f  the  "  Platonist,"  vols.  iii. 
and  iv. 


142   ^he  ~j&Qttnnt  nnb  literature  ot  the 

^.elf-taught  Philosopher."  In  this  curious  narrative 
\vc  find  Ibn  Al-Tufail  using  a  form  of  comparison 
\vhich  occurs  almost  verbatim  in  the  Kabalistic  books. 
"  The  Divine  Essence  is  like  the  rays  of  the  material 
sun,  which  expand  over  opaque  bodies  and  appear  to 
proceed  from  the  eye,  though  they  are  only  reflected 
from  its  surface."  We  find  also  substantially :  (a) 
The  Ain  Soph  of  the  Kabalists  under  the  name  of 
that  One  True  One.  (b)  The  reflection  of  that 
Being  dwelling  "in  the  highest  sphere  in  and 
beyond  which  there  is  no  body,  a  Being  free 
from  matter,  which  was  not  the  Being  of  that 
One  True  One,  nor  the  sphere  itself,  nor  yet 
anything  different  from  them  both  ;  but  was  like  the 
image  of  the  sun  as  it  appears  in  a  well-polished 
mirror,  which  is  neither  one  nor  the  other,  and  yet 
not  distinct  from  them."  (c)  The  immaterial  essence 
of  the  sphere  of  the  fixed  stars,  (d)  The  Sphere  of 
Saturn — and  so  with  the  rest  in  harmony  with  the 
scheme  of  the  Desatir^  ending  at  this  world,  which  is 
subject  to  generation  and  corruption,  and  compre 
hending  all  that  is  contained  within  the  sphere  of  the 
Moon.  None  of  the  material  essences  were  identical 
and  yet  none  were  different,  either  as  regards  the  rest 
or  in  comparison  with  the  One  True  One.* 

The  doctrine  of  the  Divine  Absorption  is  the 
very  essence  of  Sufism  and  Sufism  is  contemporary 
with  Mohammedanism  itself.  It  is  also  mainly 
Pantheistic,  as  may  be  gathered  from  its  proposed 


*  See  the  "  Improvement  of  Human  Reason  exhibited  in  the 
Life  of  Hai  Ebn  Yokdhan.  Written  in  Arabick  above  500  years  ago, 
by  Abu  Jaafar  Ebn  Tophail."  .  .  .  Newly  translated  from  the  original 
Arabick  by  Simon  Ockley,  A.M.  London,  1711. 


nub  JVuthoritn  of  the  $abulah         143 

object.  Some  refer  it  to  India,  others  to  a  Gnostic 
origin,  but  the  question  does  not  concern  us,  for  the 
significant  fact  is  that  this  form  of  Islamic  mysticism 
was  one  of  the  environments  of  the  Kabalistic  Jews 
to  whom  we  are  indebted  for  part  at  least  of  the  Zohar. 
The  influence  of  this  environment  was  felt  outside  the 
Kabalists,  and  was  confessed  even  by  the  most 
inflexible  of  the  sects  in  Jewry — that  of  the  Kairites, 
or  Literalists,  who  rejected  all  innovations  in  the 
primeval  doctrine  of  Israel,  who  set  no  store  by 
tradition,  and  were  thus  as  much  opposed  to  the 
Talmud  as  to  the  Zoharic  writings.  The  proof  is 
their  analogies,  indeed  one  might  say  their  fusion, 
with  the  Motozales,  a  sect  of  scholastic  Arabs.*  A 
Kairite  Jew  of  the  period  allows  that  his  brethren 
followed  the  doctrines  of  this  sect,  and  they  even 
assumed  its  name. 

The  purpose  of  this  section  should  not  be  mis 
construed.  Once  more,  it  is  by  no  means  designed 
to  indicate  that  the  mystic  sects  of  Mohammedanism 
are  responsible  for  the  peculiar  scheme  of  the  Kabalah, 
or  that  the  Sufi  drew  from  the  rabbin.  Such  devices 
belong  to  a  scheme  of  criticism  which  has  fittingly 
passed  away.  If  we  know  anything  concerning  the 
early  connections  of  Sufism  it  is  that  they  are 
Neoplatonic,  and  that  the  Gnostics  of  the  early 
Shiite  sects  were  attracted  to  it  because  of  these 
connections.f  But  to  name  Neoplatonism  and  Gnos- 

*  Munk  :  La  Philosophic  chez  Us  Jnifs,  p.  10. 

t  On  this  point  the  reader  may  consult  with  advantage  an 
admirable  account  of  Islamic  mysticism  in  "  A  Year  Amon^  the 
Persians,"  by  E.  G.  Browne.  London,  1893.  It  makes  no  references 
to  Kabalism,  with  which  the  author  seems  unacquainted,  but  it  may  be 
gathered  from  what  it  tells  us  of  Sufic  commentaries  on  the  Koran  that 


144  ^he  Jlortrine  anfc  |pt*ratur£  ot  the  Jiabnlah 

ticism  is  to  cite  analogies  of  Kabalism.  To  say  that 
Sufism  has  been  referred  to  a  woman  who  died  at 
Jerusalem  in  the  first  century  of  the  Hegira  is  to  say 
that  Sufism  began  to  live  and  move  in  an  atmosphere 
of  Jewish  tradition.  To  say  that  Spain  was  the 
forcing-house  of  the  Kabalists  is  to  say  that  the 
mystic  doctors  of  Jewry  brushed  arms  with  those  of 
Islam,  and  to  deny  that  there  was  any  consequence 
of  such  contact  is  to  deny  nature.  Sufism  was  Pan 
theistic  and  emanationist ;  Kabalistic  emanationism 
was  saved  from  Pantheism  by  the  doctrine  of  divine 
immanence,  and  their  literatures  have  no  real  like 
ness  ;  but  between  the  metaphysics  of  the  Divine 
Love  and  the  mystical  absorption  of  Islam,  and 
between  the  Kabalistic  return  of  the  soul  to  God  or 
its  union  with  the  transcendent  principle,  which  never 
departs  from  Atziluth,  and  the  theory  of  ecstasy  in 
Israel,  it  seems  reasonable  to  suppose  that  there  was 
not  only  the  connecting  link  of  the  analogy  between 
all  mystics  but  a  bond  even  in  history. 


VII.    INFLUENCE   OF   THE   KABALAH 
ON   JEWRY 

There   is   perhaps   no   one  at  the  present  day, 
certainly    no    Christian    or    occult    student    of    the 

these,  although  Pantheistic,  have  many  points  of  contact  with  later 
Kabalism.  We  find  not  only  the  unmanifest  state  of  Deity,  but  the 
attempt  to  explain  why  the  contingent  world  (compare  the  Liber 
Drushim}  was  evolved  from  "  the  silent  depths  of  the  non-existent," 
the  use  of  which  term  is  so  typical  of  the  Ain  Soph  doctrine.  See 
p.  129  for  Mr.  Browne's  opinion  that  the  early  schools  of  Mohammedan 
philosophy  in  Persia  were  adaptations  either  of  Aristotle  or  Plato,  and 
were  also  the  scholasticism  of  Islam. 


Source  anb  Jtuthoritji  of  the  JUbahih         145 

subject,  who  is  in  a  position   to   say  exactly  what 
kind  of  profit  accrued  to  the  mind  of  Jewry  from  the 
promulgation,  let  us  say,  of  the  Zohar.     From  one 
point  of  view  such  an  inquiry  may  be  held  to  strike 
at  the  root  of  all  occult  science  and  philosophy,  and 
for  the  rest  it  is  one  of  those  subjects  which  do  not 
readily  occur   to  the  occultist.     I   remember  a  con 
versation    which    I    once   had    with    a    priest   of  the 
Anglican    Church,   who   had    passed    through   every 
school  of  initiation  with  which  I  am  acquainted  and 
through  others  which  are  outside  my  knowledge.     He 
assured     me    that    the    most    profound    student   of 
occultism  among  all  students  whom  he  had  met  in 
his  long  experience  was  a  Jew— I  think  of  Poland. 
Let  us  make  the  most  of  this  statement,  since  we 
know  that  there  are  initiations,  and  that  the  Jew  is 
in  most  of  them,  concerned  as  he  is  in  all  interests,  in 
evidence  as  he  is  in  all   lands,  and,  with  due  con 
sideration  to   the  late  Sir   Richard    Burton   and    his 
posthumous  treatise,*   much  better  described  by  the 
famous  passage  in  "  Coningsby  "  than  by  a  somewhat 
vexatious  criticism  pivoted  on  a  monstrous  charge. 
But    it     is    quite    certain     that    the    adyta    of   the 
secret  societies,  though  they   are   not   closed  to  the 
Jew,   are    not    in    any  sense   possessed    by  the  Jew, 
while  as  regards  all   such  external  signs  of  activity 

1  Sec  "The  Jew,  the  Gypsy  and  Kl  I>lam."  London,  1898.     The 
charge  is  human  sacrifice;  its  /.•  /,/,/,-,•  l,a,  l.ccn  omitted  hy 

the  editor  on  grounds  that  may  be  conjectured.      Cf.    Desporti 
Mysore  </u  sang  chez  Us  Juifs  de  tons  les  temps,  Paris,  1890,  th< 
of  Burton's  death.      Readers  of  Josephus  will   remember  the  curious 
story  adduced  by  Apion  concerning  the  Greek  captive  found   in  tin- 
Temple  at  Jersualem  hy  Antiochus.      Contra  Apioncni,  ii.   7.      Cf.    Dr. 
H.   Hay  Trumbull,  "The  Blood  Covenant,"  London,  1887,  Apoendiv. 
p.  321. 


146   ^he  Ilortrine  anb  literature  of  the  Jlabalah 

as  are  manifested  by  current  literature  of  occultism, 
any  bibliography  will  show  us  how  little  he  has 
done  in  this  respect.  What  is  much  more  important, 
however,  is  that,  so  far  as  it  is  possible  to  ascertain, 
the  Kabalah  has  exercised  only  a  very  subsidiary 
influence  upon  the  Children  of  the  Exile. 
We  can  point  to  certain  enthusiasms  for  which 
it  is  partially  responsible,  and  they  are  those  pre 
cisely  which  did  their  best  to  wreck  Jewry  and  of 
which  Jewry  is  now  ashamed.  The  history  of 
Abraham  Abulafia,  of  Sabattai'  Zevi  and  the  founder 
of  the  Chassidim,*  are  typical  cases  in  point,  which 
warrant  us  in  saying  that  the  Kabalah  gave  spurious 
Messiahs  to  Israel.-f-  It  was  perhaps  the  last  instance 
of  its  activity  before  it  ceased  to  exercise  any 
powerful  influence,  and  with  this  also  it  began,  if  we 
care  to  believe  that  Rabbi  Akiba  was  the  author  of 
the  "  Book  of  Formation,"  in  which  case  one  of  the 
supreme  sources  of  Kabalism  is  connected  with  the 
bogus  or  at  least  the  frenzied  mission  of  Bar  Cochba. 
When  that  false  Messiah  had  been  finally  silenced  by 
the  sword,  his  disciple,  or  perhaps  his  instigator,  and 
the  inspirer  also  of  R.  Simeon  ben  Jochai,  the  head 
and  crown  of  Kabalism,  was  barbarously  martyred 


*  I.e.,  the  new  order  of  the  mysterious  Baal  Shem,  which  is  still 
said  to  have  its  representatives  in  a  number  of  Jewish  communities  and 
still  holds  the  Zohar  in  high  esteem. — "  Israel  among  the  Nations,"  pp. 
61,  40,  345.  The  sect  has  its  chief  hold  among  Russian  and  Galician 
Jews;  the  name  signifies  "pious  ones."  In  the  time  of  Judas 
Maccabseus,  it  was  the  strict  party  among  the  Jews. — Edersheim, 
"  History  of  the  Jewish  Nation."  These  are  Scaliger's  Order  of  the 
Knights  of  the  Temple.  The  accounts  of  the  original  Chassidim  are 
full  of  mythical  elements. 

t  Mr.  Zangwill  in  his  "Dreamers  of  the  Ghetto"  has  brought 
this  notion  recently  to  the  knowledge  of  the  external  world. 


<Soura  aiib  Jtnthoritu  of  Iht  gabalah         147 

for  his  share  in  the  unhappy  rebellion.  If  a  literature 
may  be  judged  by  its  influence,  that  of  the  Kabalah 
has  been  small ;  it  has  encouraged  false  enthusiasm, 
and  has  been  the  warrant  for  direct  imposture.* 

So  far  as  its  operation  was  intellectual,  there  is 
very  good  ground  for  thinking  that  its  field  was  the 
Christian  rather  than  the  Jewish  mind.f  And  having 
established  one  useful  point  there  is  an  opportunity 
here  of  making  another.  Kabalistic  influence  on 
Christendom  has  been  of  two  kinds,  but  it  has  been 
much  more  of  one  kind  than  another.  It  has  been 
an  influence  exercised  by  an  occult  claim  upon  the 
students  and  the  acceptors  of  occult  claims.  But  it 
has  been  much  more  the  influence  of  possible 
missionary  material  on  the  missionary  enterprise  of 
the  Christian  Church.  To  begin  at  a  late  date— 
What  gave  the  Kabalah  of  the  Zohar  to  the  Latin 
reading  scholars  of  Europe  ?  The  magnum  opus  of 
Rosenroth.  What  impelled  Rosenroth?  The  "splendid 
spectrum"  of  the  conversion  of  Jewry  en  masse. 
And  now,  if  we  sweep  backward  to  the  very 

*  It  has  given  also  a  few  obscure  sects  to  Jewry.  A  knowledge  of 
Kabalistic  mysteries  was  alleged  to  have  imparted  superhuman  power  to 
Lobele,  chief  Rabbi  of  Prague  ;  to  Jacob  Franck,  the  Polish  distiller,  of 
whose  followers  the  so-called  Christian  Jews  of  Poland  are  still  a  small 
survival ;  and  to  his  contemporary,  Israel  of  Podolia,  who  established 
the  New  Saints  and  had  a  recipe  for  miracles  by  means  of  the  IIP  me 
Tetragrammaton. 

t  Mr.  /angwill  is  not  of  this  opinion.  Referring  to  the  period 
which  antedated  immediately  the  mission  of  Sftbbttftl  Zevi,  he  says  : 
"  The  Zohar—  the  Book  of  Illumination,  cmnp.>M-d  in  the  thirteenth 
century— printed  now  for  the  first  time,  shed  its  dazzling  rays  further 
and  further  over  every  ghetto."  But  perhaps  he  follows  here  the 
principle  he  has  borrowed  from  Spiim/a,  "to  see  things  sul>  specie 
•fttrnitatis."  I  wish  the  same  principle  had  inspired  him  to  lay  less 
stress  on  the  exact  date  of  the  Zohar. 


148  ^he  itortrin*  aitb  ICttsrature  of  the  gabalah 

beginning  of  the  Christian  interest  in  Kabalism, 
almost  coincident,  in  fact,  with  the  appearance  of  the 
Zohar,  and  suppose  that  Raymond  Lully  was  really, 
as  it  has  been  said  that  he  was,  the  first  Christian 
student  of  the  Kabalah,  what  was  the  life-long  labour 
of  that  amazing  seneschal  of  Majorca,  and  for  what 
did  he  renounce  the  world  ?  To  wrest,  as  it  has  been 
said,  from  reluctant  Nature  the  elusive  mastery  of 
Nature,  the  Great  Palingenesis  of  alchemy?  The 
Hermetic  treatises  falsely  ascribed  to  him  may  say 
Yes,  but  we  know  that  they  are  the  products  of  the 
school  of  forgery  which  produced  the  spurious 
Geber,*  and  that  this  was  by  no  means  the  ambition 
of  Raymond  Lully.  But  was  it  the  attainment  of 
the  religion  behind  all  religions?  Nothing  of  the 
sort;  that  is  modern  fantasy.  The  work  of  Raymond 
Lully  was  apostolical  and  missionary,  and  it  closed 
with  martyrdom  at  Bugia,  in  a  feverish  attempt  to 
evangelise  "  Mahound."  What  prompted  the  fiery 
energy  of  Picus  de  Mirandola,  that  he  filled  the 
Papal  Court  with  the  rumour  and  the  wonder  of  the 
Jewish  tradition  ?  The  fact  that  he  also  regarded  it 
as  a  certain  mystic  way  by  which  the  princes  of  the 
Exile  might  be  brought  to  the  gates  of  the  Eternal 
City  and  the  Ghetto  might  be  transformed  into  a 
baptistry.  Suppose,  lastly,  that  Nicholas  Flamel  was 
really  initiated  by  the  "  Book  of  Abraham  the  Jew," 
so  that  Kabalism  connects  integrally  with  alchemy, 
what  prompted  the  unostentatious  scrivener  of  old 
Paris  to  make  precious  metals  by  occult  arts  when 
his  wants  were  few  and  his  trade  sufficient  for  a 

*  M.  Berthelot,  La  Chimie  au  AZoyen  Age,  tome  premier.     Essai 
sur  la  transmission  de  la  science  antique  an  Moyen  Age,  passim* 


Source  zmb  ^uthoritn  of  the  glabalah         149 

modest  man?  Why,  he  also  had  the  missionary 
spirit— witness  his  bequests,  real  or  fabulous,  for  the 
conversion  of  the  heathen. 

The  inference  is  that  the  Kabalah  was  imported 
out  of  Jewry  to  prove  that  Jewry  might  be 
Christianised  if  it  were  handled  wisely  according  to 
the  lights  given  in  the  Holy  Synods.* 

Now,  I  do  not  need  to  say  that  there  are  very 
few  occultists  who  would  take  any  interest  in  the 
Kabalah  regarded  from  this  point  of  view.  They 
are  not,  as  a  class,  inspired  by  missionary  zeal  for 
any  form  of  official  religion,  and  their  literature,  as 
it  stands,  does  not  manifest  more  than  sufficient 
respect  for  the  great  orthodoxies  of  Christendom. 
On  the  other  hand,  it  is  only  in  virtue  of  some 
immense  misapprehension  that  the  esoteric  tradition 
of  the  Jews  can  be  supposed  to  offer  them  the 
religion  behind  all  religions.  What  it  does  offer  them 
falls  almost  infinitely  short.  At  its  highest  a  bizarre 
but  truly  strenuous  attempt  to  unriddle  the  universe, 
the  most  unaided  of  all  metaphysics,  the  systcma 
mundi  excogitated  in  a  darkened  synagogue  with  the 
praying-shawl  drawn  over  the  eyes.  What  darkness 
to  be  felt  in  the  void  !  What  strange  lights  flashing 
in  the  darkness!  In  such  a  state  Spanish  Jew  or 
Spanish  Mystic  of  the  Latin  Church,  Moses  de  Leon, 

One  writer  in  modern  times  has  even  gone  so  far  as  to  maintain 
that  "Christian  doctrine,  except  the  Trinity,  which  is  IMat.mic,  i-ucs 
wholly,  with  all  its  details,  from  the  Talmud.  Christianity  is  son  and 
brother  of  the  Talmud."— Alexander  Weill,  Moist,  le  Talmud  et 
rEvangile,  ii.  92.  The  statement  sounds  perilous,  but  M.  \Vcill  is 
not  to  be  taken  seriously.  Compare  ibid.  ii.  91,  "The  Talmud  is 
itself  the  most  violent  adversary  of  Moses,"  i.e.,  the  Moses  of  M. 
Weill.  One  paradox  enables  us  to  judge  another. 


150  ^h*  Jlodrine  anb  Ipteratttre  ot  the  Jiabalah 

if  you  will,  or  St.  John  of  the  Cross,  exile  of  Babylon 
or  recluse  of  the  Thebaid,  must  enjoy  a  certain 
communication  of  the  infinite.  But  to  say  more  than 
this  is  frenzy.  And  at  its  lowest,  that  is  to  say,  on 
that  side  upon  which  it  makes  contact  no  longer  with 
the  infinite,  but  with  the  occult  as  it  is  understood 
by  occultism,  finite  of  all  things  finite,  what  sombre 
trifling  unredeemed  by  the  saving  sense  of  triviality, 
the  physiognomy  of  the  section  Yithroh,  the  astrology 
of  the  processes  of  Gaffarel,  the  star  messages  of  the 
Hebrew  planisphere,  the  paper  tubes  of  Eliphas 
Levi  ;*  or,  again,  notaricon,  metathesis,  gematria^ 
the  arcana  of  the  extended  name,  the  virtues  of 
Agla  and  Ararita  for  conjuring  heaven  and  earth. 
It  is  here  that  occultism  illustrates  how  it  receives 
only  what  it  can  give  and  how  it  comes  to  pass 
that  the  interest  of  the  occultist  in  the  Kabalah  is 
less  inspired  by  the  occult  theorems  of  the  Zohar 
than  by  the  magic  garters  of  the  "  Key  of  Solomon." 
Hence  even  writers,  like  Papus  in  France,  who  have 
exceptional  claims  on  our  consideration,  find  it 
necessary  to  include  in  their  scheme  of  Kabalism 
the  sorry  literature  of  the  Grimoires.J  And  they 
and  he  have  nothing  to  tell  us  of  the  Zohar.  But 
we  do  not  find  the  Grimoires  in  Picus  de  Mirandola, 
or  in  Raymond  Lully  ;  we  do  not  find  much  trace 

*  And  the  kind  of  Kabalah  which  A.  Lelievre  undertook  to  defend 
in  \i\sjTistification  des  Sciences  Divinatoires  (Paris,  1847). 

t  Observe  also  the  developments  which  these  subjects  received  in 
works  like  the  Caballa  Anagrammatica  of  Ranutius  Longelus,  Placentice* 
1654 — ars  mirabilis  indeed,  as  the  author  terms  it. 

£  La  Kabbale,  pp.  10,  16,  26,  the  last  especially,  where  the 
reference  to  Molitor  makes  the  author  of  the  "  Philosophy  of  Tradition  " 
apparently  responsible  for  the  identification  of  the  clavicufa  and 
"magical  MSS."  as  a  serious  branch  of  Kabalism. 


.Source  ani)  ^Uthoritii  of  the  gabalah         151 

of  magic  in  the  Kabbala  Dcnndata.  The  Lexicon 
of  Rosenroth  does  not  include  the  occult  wonders 
of  Agla,  nor  does  it  tell  us  after  what  manner  the 
extended  name  is  compounded,  by  a  childcraft  of 
acrostics,  out  of  three  verses  in  Exodus.  We  do  find 
all  these  in  Agrippa,  who  wrote  as  a  young  man 
of  things  that  he  had  heard  and  read,  making  a  very 
dignified  retractation  of  it  all  in  his  book  of  great 
excellence  upon  vanity. 

There  remains,  of  course,  the  mystic  side  of 
Kabalism,  the  return  of  the  soul  to  God,  and  that 
path  of  ecstasy  already  mentioned,  by  which  it  was 
conceived  that  the  soul  might  effect  such  reunion 
even  in  this  life,  but  it  is  precisely  this  mystic  side 
of  which  we  see  no  effect  in  Jewry,  and  it  is  also 
this  side  which  is  neglected  by  modern  occultism. 
For  example,  the  present  work  is  the  first  published 
in  England  which  has  any  reference  to  the  highest 
principle  of  the  human  soul  in  Kabalism  and  the 
instrument  of  unification  with  the  Divine. 


BOOK    IV 

THE     WRITTEN     WORD     OF 
KABALISM: 

FIRST     PERIOD 

ARGUMENT 

The  traces  of  Kabalistic  literature  outside  the  Sepher  Yetzirah, 
and  prior  to  the  publication  of  the  Zohar,  are  enumerated  briefly 
to  indicate  that  there  was  a  gradual  growth  of  the  tradition  and 
to  correct  exaggerated  notions  concerning  it.  There  are  several 
ancient  treatises  which  connect  with  Kabalism,  but  are  not 
regarded  by  modern  scholarship  as  Kabalistic  in  the  technical  sense. 
This  is  the  case  with  the  Sepher  Yetzirah  itself ;  but  there  is  no 
doubt  that  all  these  works  pretend  to  embody  an  occult  tradition, 
or  that  it  was  the  elements  of  oral  tradition  which  subsequently 
received  development  from  the  commentators  on  the  Sepher 
Yetzirah,  as  well  as  from  the  Zohar,  and,  later  still,  from  the 
expositors  of  Zoharic  mysteries.  The  attention  of  early  Kabalists 
was  concentrated  on  the  "Book  of  Formation,"  and  numerous 
elucidations  of  that  work  appeared  between  the  eleventh  and 
thirteenth  centuries. 

I.    EARLY    KABALISTIC    LITERATURE 

IT  is  beyond  controversy  that  there  was  a  great  body 
of  mystic  speculation  and  doctrine  grown  up  in 
Jewry,  of  which  the  roots  are  to  be  found  in  the 
Talmud,  while  it  is  connected  occasionally  with 
brilliant  and  even  with  some  great  names.  It  is  this 
transcendentalism  which  led  ultimately  to  the  Zohar, 


c£lritttn  <&lorb  of  iuttmliem  153 

and  should  scholarship  forbid  us  to  confer  on  it  the 
distinctive  denomination  of  Kabalism,*  we  must 
defer  to  scholarship,  though  with  the  mental  reserva 
tion  that  if  the  question  be  more  than  of  words  it  is 
at  most  one  of  stages  of  growth,  for  that  which  was 
of  mysticism  in  Israel  between  the  period  of  the 
Talmud  and  the  period  of  the  promulgation  of  the 
Zohar  is  that  which  in  the  course  of  its  evolution 
became  the  Kabalah  and  the  Zohar. 

The  title  of  this  section  is  to  some  extent 
tentative  or  speculative,  but  the  modest  conclusions 
of  the  previous  book  are  a  sufficient  warrant  for 
supposing  that  there  are  traces  of  Kabalism,  outside 
the  Sepher  Yetzirah,  prior  to  the  promulgation  of  the 
Zohar,  and  possessing  some  literary  remains.  It  is 
indeed  essential  to  the  natural  history  of  the  later 
work  that  it  should  have  had  its  antecedents  in 
literature.  According  to  the  most  acceptable  view 
these  were  certain  Midrashim  which,  for  the  most 
part,  are  not  now  extant,  and  it  is  fair  to  suppose 
that,  assuming  such  memorials,  they  must  have 
exercised  some  influence. 

So  also  the  Sepher  Yetzirah,  whatever  the  date 
ascribed  to  it,  was  of  high  authority,  and  the  veneration 
in  which  it  was  held  was  of  the  kind  which  creates 
literature.  We  must  beware,  however,  of  supposing 
that  there  was  an  unbroken  line  of  Kabalists  from  the 
second  to  the  twelfth  century,  as  some  occult  writers 
have  pretended.  Supposing  the  Sephir  Yetzirah  in 
its  present  form  to  be  later  than  the  second  century, 

*  There  can  be,  I  think,  little  doubt  that  the  Kabalah  was  the 
"reception"  of  the  Bereshith  and  Mercabah  mysteries  mentioned  in 
the  Talmud,  or  that  this  was  the  view  always  taken  by  Kabalistic  j 


154  ^he  Jtortritte  anb  literature  ot  the  Jrabalah 

we  must  regard  as  its  prototype  a  work  already 
mentioned  under  the  title  of  the  Alphabet  of  Akiba, 
while  the  antithesis  of  "  The  Book  of  Occupation," 
one  of  the  most  important  sections  of  the  Zohar, 
must  be  sought  in  the  anthropomorphic  Schiur 
Komahy  i.e.,  "  The  Measure  of  the  Height,"  in  other 
words,  the  "  Description  of  the  Body  of  God,"  or 
development  of  the  various  Scriptural  places  in  which 
the  divine  members  are  mentioned.  The  dates  of 
these  fragmentary  works  are  conjectural,  but  there 
can  be  no  doubt,  as  indeed  there  is  no  question,  of 
their  comparative  antiquity.  Connected  with  these 
are  the  Greater  and  the  Lesser  Palace,  known  also  as 
the  "  Delineation  of  the  Heavenly  Temples,"*  which, 
in  common  with  the  others,  is  not  regarded  by 
modern  critics  as  Kabalistic,  but  it  is  allowed  that 
all  were  instrumental  in  calling  the  Kabalah  into 
existence.f 

In  accordance  with  the  exigencies  of  his  stand 
point,  Dr.  Graetz,  who  may  be  taken  to  represent  all 
that  is  most  acrid  and  uncompromising  in  hostility  to 
Jewish  mysticism,  fixes  the  origin  of  Kabalism,  as  to 
its  date,  in  the  tenth  century,  and  thus  by  implication 
denies  the  claim  of  the  Sepher  Yetzirah  to  be  included 
in  its  literature.  He  is  followed,  as  we  have  seen,  by 

*  Not  to  be  confused  with  a  work  mentioned  by  Bartolocci 
under  the  name  of  R.  Eliezer  and  dealing  with  the  measurements  of 
the  earthly  temple. 

t  "  By  the  difficulty,"  says  Ginsburg,  "  in  which  they  placed  the 
Jews  in  the  South  of  France  and  in  Catalonia,  who  believed  in  them 
almost  as  much  as  in  the  Bible,  and  who  were  driven  to  contrive  this 
system  whereby  they  could  explain  the  gross  descriptions  of  the  Deity 
and  of  the  plains  of  heaven,  given  in  these  Haggadic  productions."  It 
may  indeed  be  affirmed  that  one  spirit  informed  the  chief  works  of 
mystical  complexion  which  preceded  the  Zohar. 


(bdrittcu  SBorb  of  Xlabalism  155 

Ginsburg,*  but  it  is  not  open  to  question  that  the  work 
is  indispensable  to  the  Kabalah,  or  that  it  is  an 
integral  and  fundamental  part  thereof.  The  tenth 
century  is,  however,  an  important  period  in  Jewish 
history  and  Jewish  letters,  for  at  this  epoch  the 
quickening  of  the  Arabian  mind  was  followed  by  that 
of  Israelf  and  was  sometimes  eclipsed  thereby. 
There  was  for  a  moment  a  lull  in  persecution  ;  the 
academies  in  the  East  flourished,  and  in  the  West  the 
internecine  struggle  of  Christians  and  Moslems  in 
Spain  ensured  a  breathing  space  to  the  Children  of  the 
Exile.  Prior  to  that  period,  from  the  sixth  century 
and  onward,  there  was  a  hiatus  in  the  literature  of 
Israel.  The  canons  of  the  Talmud  were  closed,  by 
the  terror  and  peril  of  the  time  rather  than  inherent 
necessity,  and  the  history  of  Israel  became  one  of 
bitter  struggle  for  existence.  A  certain  hazardous 
shelter  was  found  under  Persian  dominion,  and 
ultimately  the  intellectual  lamp  of  Israel  shone  forth 
clearly  and  steadily  during  the  Moslem  domination  of 
Spain,  which  country  from  that  period  till  the 
beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century  was  like  a  second 
Palestine  to  the  Jew,  and  this  land  of  refuge,  under 
the  tolerant  and  enlightened  sway  of  the  Spanish 
Khalifs,  became  almost  as  dear  to  his  heart  as  the 
Land  of  Promise.  Montpellicr  in  France  and  Salerno 
in  Italy  were  famous  for  their  Jewish  schools,  but 
that  of  Seville  was,  perhaps,  more  illustrous  than 
either.  Spain  also  was  a  nursing-land  of  Kabalistic 
literature,  and  the  traces  of  the  esoteric  tradition 


*  Kitto's  "  Cyclopaedia,"  third  edition,  1864,  s.v.  Kabbalah 

t  Basnage,  Histoire  dcsjtrifs,  livre  rii.  c.  4,  torn.  v.  p.  1503  et  se</. 


156  ^he  JBottrine  artb  literature  at  the  liabalah; 

between  the  epoch  which  produced  the  "  Book  of 
Formation "  and  that  of  the  "  Book  of  Splendour " 
must  be  sought  chiefly  therein,  though  in  the  twelfth 
century  something  may  be  gleaned  from  Southern 
France  and  earlier  still  from  Hay  Gaon  who 
flourished  in  the  eleventh  century,  a  Babylonian,  on 
the  borders  of  the  Caspian  Sea.* 

There  is  neither  space  nor  occasion  here  to 
produce  a  bibliographical  list,  and  indeed  the 
materials  at  our  command  can  scarely  be  regarded  as 
extensive,  serving  mainly  to  correct  false  and  highly 
coloured  impressions  regarding  the  claims  of  Kaba- 
listic  tradition.  The  chief  names  of  the  period  with 
which  we  are  now  concerned  are : 

I.  Rabbi  Eliezer,  whose  mystic  system,  as 
presented  in  the  Pirke,  connects  on  the  one  hand 
with  the  Sepher  Yetzirah,  and  on  the  other  with 
Zoharic  teaching.  We  have,  in  the  first  place,  God 
subsisting  prior  to  the  creation  of  the  world  alone 
with  his  Ineffable  Name ;  next,  the  creation,  prior 
to  the  visible  world,  of  the  Thorah  or  Law,  together 
with  the  Throne  of  Glory,  the  Name  of  the  Messiah, 
Paradise,  Hell  and  the  Temple  of  Jerusalem,  i.e.,  the 
archetype  of  the  earthly  temple ;  subsequently, 
the  creation  of  the  world  by  means  of  ten  words. 
With  this  work  may  be  connected  the  ancient 
Midrash  Conen,  which  represents  the  Thorah  as  the 
foundation  of  the  universe.  It  is  a  matter  of  con- 

*  Outside  the  dates  and  authorship  ascribed  by  the  old  Kabalists 
to  the  Sepher  Yetzirah  and  the  Zohar  there  are  other  treatises  attributed 
to  the  early  days  of  the  Exile.  Thus  tradition  regards  Eliezer  Hagabite, 
son  of  Jose,  a  contemporary  of  Simeon  ben  Jochai,  as  a  Kabalistic 
doctor  and  the  author  of  a  treatise  on  the  thirty-two  qualities  of  the 
Law.  The  antiquity  of  this  work  is  doubtful. 


CLUiitcn  (iBorb  of  gUbalism  157 

jecturc   whether    these   works    are   slightly   later   or 
earlier  than  the  Sepher  Yetzirah. 

II.  The  Gaon  R.  Saadiah,  head  of  the  Persian 
Academy  of  Sora,  was  the  author  of  a  commentary 
on    the  Sepher  Yetzirah  preserved   in    the  Bodleian 
Library  and  only  printed  recently  in  France,  as  \\  L> 
shall  see  in  the  third  section  of  this  book. 

III.  The  Gaon  R.  Shereerah,  head  of  the  academy 
of    Pherruts    Schibbur*    in    the    neighbourhood    of 
Babylon,    was   perhaps    more   distinguished    for   the 
violence  with  which  he  wrote  against  the  Christians 
than  for  his  Kabalistic  knowledge.    But  Nachmanidesf 
has  preserved  his  observations  on  the  "  Delineation  of 
the  Heavenly  Temples,"J  or  more  correctly  on  the 
fragments  which  it  embodies  under  the  title  of  the 
"Proportion    of    the    Height,"    otherwise   called    the 
"  Description  of  the  Body  of  God,"  which  shows  the 
Kabalistic   leanings   of    Shereerah   and    creates    the 
antithesis   to  the  anthropomorphism   of   these   early 
works  which  has  been   mentioned  already  as  a  key 
note     of     Kabalism.      "God    forbid,"    he    exclaims, 
"  that  man  should  speak  of  the  Creator  as  if  he  had 
bodily  members  and  dimensions  !  "     This  Rabbi  was 
despoiled    of    his   wealth   and    hanged    by    order   of 
Cader,  Khalif  of  the  race  of  the  Abassides. 

IV.  The    Gaon    R.   Hay,  son    and    successor  of 
Shereerah  as  the  head  of  the  Babylonian  School  of 
Schibbur,  is  also  credited  with  a  commentary  on  the 
Sepher   Yetzirah,   which   will    be   dealt   with    in    its 

*  Or   of   Pumbaditha   according   to   some   authorities,    including 
Graetz. 

t  In  his  commentary  on  the  Thorah. 

$  Attributed  to  K.  Islnnael,  apparently  the  doctor  of  that  name 
sentences  are  sometimes  quoted  in  the  Talmud. 


158  3&ht  |B0.cttitt.e  anb  §Dit*rature  of  the 

proper  place.  The  interpretation  of  dreams  was  one 
of  the  daily  occupations  of  the  Jewish  academies, 
and  their  skill  exhibited  therein,  or  the  credulity  of 
the  times,  often  purchased  toleration  and  respect  for 
the  Rabbis  at  the  hands  of  the  Khalifs.  To  Rab 
Hay  is  attributed  a  treatise  on  this  art,  which  was 
printed  at  Venice.*  Outside  his  alleged  commentary 
on  the  "  Book  of  Formation  "  his  voluminous  works 
have  many  Kabalistic  references,  especially  that 
entitled  "  The  Voice  of  God  in  its  Power."  It  will 
be  sufficient  to  mention  among  these  the  doctrine  of 
correspondences,  of  man  as  a  microcosm  and  a 
peculiar  theory  of  mystic  contemplation.  He 
possessed  enormous  influence  and  became  subse 
quently  the  head  of  the  academy  of  Pumbaditha  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  Bagdad.  He  died  in  1038. 

V.  R.   Chasdaif  was  a  Prince  of  the   Exile  and 
temporal  head  of  the  Jews   in   Cordova.       He   was 
also  a  political   minister  under  two  Khalifs.     He  is 
said  to  connect  the  school  of  Hay  Gaon  with   that  of 
Gebirol.J 

VI.  Solomon    ben    Yehudah    Ibn    Gebirol,   the 
scholastic  Avicebron  and   in   all  respects,  Kabalistic 
and   otherwise,  a   focus   of  intellectual   and    literary 
interest,  was  a  contemporary  of  the  famous  Nagrila. 

VII.  R.  Abraham   ben   David  or  Ben   Dior  Ha 
Levi,  the  great  orthodox  apologist   of    the   twelfth 
century,  has  been  included  in  the  chain  of  Kabalism. 

VIII.  Moses   Ibn  Jacob  ben  Ezra,§  one  of  the 

*  Bartolocci,  Bibliotheca  Rabbinica,  ii.  387. 
t  /.<?.,  Abu-Yussuf  Chasdai  ben  Isaac  Ibn  Shaprut. 
%  He  died  about  the  year  970. 

§  See  "  Essays  on  the  Writings  of  Ibn  Ezra,"  in  the  Transactions 
of  the  Society  of  Hebrew  Literature. 


SBrittm  SBorb  of  Jhibalism  159 

greatest  Jews  of  his  time,  was  of  Granada,  and 
flourished  in  the  earlier  part  of  the  twelfth  century. 
His  work  entitled  the  "  Garden  of  Aromatics"  shows 
traces  of  the  doctrine  of  Gebirol,  but  it  appears  by 
his  "  Commentary  on  Isaiah  "  that  he  was  in  dis 
agreement  with  this  doctor.  Basnage  says  that  he 
did  not  reject  the  Kabalah,  though  he  knew  its 
weakness,  because  he  did  not  wish  to  be  embroiled 
with  contemporary  writers.*  He  wrote  upon  the 
Divine  Name  and  the  mystic  attributes  of  numbers 
in  connection  therewith. 

IX.  The  names  of  Juda  Hallevi,  who  has  some 
references  to  the  Sepher  Yetzirah  in  his  work  entitled 
Kusari,  of  Jacob  Nazir,  of  Solomon  Jarki,  of  R. 
Abraham  ben  David,  the  younger,  bring  us  to  the 
thirteenth  century  and  to  the  period  of  (a)  Maimonides, 
who  is  reported,  chiefly  on  the  authority  of  R. 
Chaiim,  to  have  turned  Kabalist  at  an  advanced  age 
but  in  any  case  connects  with  mysticism,  and  was 
acquainted  at  least  with  the  existence  of  the  twofold 
mystic  tradition  distinguished  as  that  of  the  Creation 
and  that  of  the  Chariot ;  (&)  R.  Azariel,  of  Valladolid, 
famous  commentator  on  the  Sepher  Yetzirah ;  (c) 
Shem  Tob  Ibn  Falaquera,  a  disciple  of  Maimonides, 
who  connects  with  Gebirol  ;  (d)  R.  Abraham 
Abulafia.f  who  wrote  on  the  Tetragrammaton  and 

*  Basnage  quotes  Skinner's  letters  and  Usher  in  support  of  this 
view,  hut  he  and  they  are  in  some  contusion  as  to  important  date*  in 
Kabalistic  history  and  literature.  Graetz  has  a  good  account  of  Il>n 
Ezra,  but  it  i>  unnecessary  to  say  that  his  analogies  with  Kabalism  are 
not  mentioned. 

t  See  Frankcl,  Monat shrift  /..  IVeisscmchaft 

dfs  Judenthumsi  vol.  \.  p.  27,  Leipsic,  1856.  (ii.vct/ has  also  a  long 
account  of  Abulafia,  designed  to  ridicule  the  mental  condition  to  which 
he  refers  the  Knbalah. 


160  <<2Ehe  gmrtrittt  anb  literature  of  the  jtabalah 

the  Mysteries  of  the  Law,  but  his  works  have  not 
been  published.*  He  endeavoured  to  combine  the 
theoretical  and  practical  schools,  but  he  was  a  quixotic 
adventurer  and  a  Messianic  enthusiast,  to  whose 
opinions  it  is  unnecessary  to  give  weight.  It  may  be 
noted,  however,  that  he  exhibits  some  Christian 
tendencies. 

Those  who  defend  the  authenticity  of  Kabalistic 
tradition  find  something  to  their  purpose  in  all  these 
writers  and  personalities,  but  they  often  proceed  on  a 
misconception.  What,  for  example,  is  more  likely 
to  lead  an  unpractised  student  astray  than  the  treatise 
of  Abraham  ben  David  Ha  Levi,  by  the  mere  fact  of 
its  title  ?  It  is  called  Seder  Ha  Kabalah,  the  Order 
of  the  Tradition,  j-  As  a  fact,  it  is  the  least  mystical 
of  all  productions,  and  though  I  have  termed  its 
author  a  great  orthodox  apologist,  he  had  a  strong 
Aristotelian  leaven.  The  occasion  of  his  book  was  a 
Sadducean  heresy  prevalent  in  Castile  and  Leon, 
and  represented  by  the  work  of  Abu  Alphrag, 
which  maintained  that  the  true  synagogue  was 
to  be  found  among  the  Sadducees.  The  Seder 
Ha  Kabalah  vindicates  the  authority  of  the 
orthodox  claim  under  the  two  heads  of  suc 
cession  and  universality,  or  community  of  doctrine 
among  all  the  synagogues  It  embraces  the 
entire  history  of  the  Jewish  Church  and  the  per 
petuation  of  the  Mosaic  doctrine,  which  is  the 

*  They  include  also  the  "The  Fount  of  Living  Waters,"  of  which 
there  is  a  Latin  version  in  the  Vatican.  Graetz  extends  the  number  of 
his  works  to  twenty  ;  Bartolocci  knew  only  of  three. 

t  It  was  the  prototype  of  several  later  works,  such  as  Ghedalia  on 
the  Chain  of  the  Kabalah,  the  Yuhasin  of  Zakut,  famous  in  connection 
with  the  Zohar,  and  the  Tsemach  David,  already  quoted. 


Slrittcu  <DQor&  of  gahaiiem  161 

tradition  named  in  the  title.*  The  work  of  Abraham 
ben  David  Ha  Levi  is  perhaps  greater  than  was  the 
occasion  which  called  it  forth.  The  Jews  were 
divided  among  themselves  upon  many  questions,  of 
which  Sadducean  pretensions  were  certainly  not  the 
most  important.  The  great  distinction  of  the  time 
for  the  purpose  of  our  own  inquiry  was  between  the 
Jews  who  had  adopted  Aristotelian  principles  and  the 
Jews  who  opposed  the  innovation.  The  enlighten 
ment  and  culture  were  incontrovertibly  on  the  side  of 
the  former;  the  fascination  of  mystic  thought,  in  a 
word,  all  that  we  connect  with  the  ideal  of  rabbinical 
Israel,  went,  however,  into  the  opposite  scale.  There 
were  great  names  on  both  sides.  Rabbi  Abraham 
and  his  Sepher  exercised  a  large  influence  ;  his  con 
temporary,  Maimonides,  who  survived  him  by  almost 
a  quarter  of  a  century,  was  described  by  the 
enthusiasts  of  his  period  as  "  the  elect  of  the  human 
race,"  and  by  a  play  upon  his  name  it  was  said  of 
him  that  "from  Moses  to  Moses  there  was  no  one 
like  unto  Moses." 

The  rival  school  was  to  some  extent  represented 
by  Avicebron,  and  some  of  those  who  assert  that  the 
Zuhar  incorporated  traditions  belonging  to  preceding 
centuries  arc  content  to  rest  their  case  on  the  writings 
of  this  poet  and  philosopher.  The  evidence,  how- 

is  in  a  very  confused  state.  On  the  one  hand, 
the  system  of  Avicebron  has  many  Aristotelian 
traces  ;  on  the  other  hand,  it  has  been  asserted  that 
Maimonides  has  much  to  connect  him  with  Avicebron, 
though  he  was  not  acquainted  with  his  works,  while, 


i,  Magua  Bibliothcca  Ral>binicat  i.  p.  18  et  scq. 
M 


162   ^he  Jtortrine  nnb  literature  of  the  Jlabalah 

further,  the  great  masterpiece  of  the  Talmud ic  Jew  of 
Cordova,  entitled  "The  Guide  of  the  Perplexed," 
offers  many  indications  of  his  sympathy  with  the 
speculative  Kabalah.*  In  a  general  sense,  however, 
those  who  wished  to  introduce  Aristotelian  principles 
into  Jewish  philosophy  belonged  to  that  school  which 
subsequently  opposed  the  Zohar,-f-  as,  for  example, 
Abraham  Ibn  Wakkar  of  Toledo,  at  the  beginning  of 
the  fourteenth  century^  while  those  who  accepted  the 
Zohar  belonged  to  that  school  which  connects  with 
Avicebron,  among  whom  was  Rabbi  Abraham  ben 
David  of  Posquiere,  to  whom  one  section  of  modern 
criticism  attributes  the  invention  of  the  Kabalah,  and 
Isaac  the  Blind,  with  his  disciples  Azariel  and  Ezra, 
whose  superior  claim  is  favoured  by  Ginsburg.§  The 
Kabalistic  interests  of  this  school  are  outside  all 
debate ;  it  prized  the  Sepher  Yetzirah,  and  one  of 


*  There  does  not  seem,  however,  the  slightest  ground  for 
supposing,  with  Isaac  Myer,  that  Maimonides  was  acquainted  with  the 
Zohar.  On  the  contrary,  there  is  more  perhaps  to  be  said  for  the 
conjecture  of  S.  Munk  that  the  Zohar  quotes,  or  rather  borrows,  from 
Maimonides.  See  Melanges,  &c. ,  p.  278.  Among  the  Kabalistic  corre 
spondences  of  Maimonides  are  (i)  His  recognition  of  a  secret  sense  in 
Scripture  ;  (2)  Of  the  inaccessible  nature  of  God  ;  (3)  Of  the  universe 
as  an  organic  whole.  The  student  should  also  consult  an  interesting 
Notice  sur  la  Cabale  des  Httreux,  prefixed  by  the  Chevalier  Drach  to 
the  second  volume  of  his  work  already  cited  on  the  "  Harmony  between 
the  Church  and  the  Synagogue."  He  establishes  (a)  That  where 
Buxtorf  supposes  the  Talmud  (Tract  Rosh  Hashanah]  to  allow  the 
same  authority  to  the  Kabalah  as  to  the  text  of  Moses,  the  reference  is 
really  to  the  spiritual  power  of  the  Synagogue  ;  and  (b)  that  the  alleged 
mention  of  the  mystic  Kabalah  by  Maimonides  is  a  misconception 
( U Harmonic,  ii.  xvi.  xvii.  xviii.).  It  is  certain,  however,  that 
Maimonides  mentions  a  lost  tradition. 

t  In  which,  however,  Munk  traces  Aristotelian  influences. 
—  Melanges,  pp.  278,  279. 

£  See  the  English  translation  of  Steinschneider,  p.  114. 

§  Who  follows  Graetz  literally. 


vl  he  aariitcn  SI  orb  of  gabalism  163 

the  most  important  commentaries  on  that  treatise 
was  produced  within  it. 

When  we  investigate  the  claim  made  with  regard 
to  Avicebron,  we  must  not  be  discouraged  at  finding 
that  writers  like  Isaac  Myer  have  much  enhanced  the 
real  strength  of  his  Kabalistic  connections.  We  find, 
it  is  true,  the  doctrines  of  the  Inaccessible  God, 
of  the  intermediaries  between  God  and  the 
universe,  of  the  emanation  of  the  world,  and  even 
of  the  universal  knowledge  attributed  to  the  pre- 
existent  soul  of  man  by  all  Jewish  mysticism.  But 
what  we  should  like  to  meet  with  in  a  mystic  of  the 
eleventh  century  is  a  distinct  trace  of  typical  Zoharic 
doctrine,  let  us  say  that  of  the  Countenances,  and  not 
Yetziratic  references,  Sephirotic  correspondences  and 
so  forth.  The  latter  are  to  be  expected  at  the  middle 
of  the  eleventh  century,  and  in  this  case  the  former 
are  wanting.  There  remains,  however,  sufficient  to 
interest  us,  perhaps  even  to  warrant  the  inclusion 
of  Gebirol  among  the  precursors  of  Zoharic  Kabalism, 
and  a  short  account  of  this  author  may  be  appended 
as  a  conclusion  to  this  section. 

At  that  period  when  the  influence  of  Arabian 
imagination  was  infused  into  the  romantic  literature 
of  Western  Europe,  scholastic  philosophy  and 
theology  were  receiving  the  tincture  of  Arabian 
thought,  but  as,  on  the  one  hand,  this  tincture  was 
received  sometimes  without  much  consciousness  of 
its  origin,  so,  on  the  other,  influences  were  occasionally 
referred  to  Arabian  sources  which  were  in  reality 
referable  only  to  the  Spanish  Jews  living  under 
the  protection  of  the  Khalifate  during  the  Moslem 
domination  of  the  peninsula.  A  case  in  point  was 


164  Ihe  Jtoctrtne  ant)  ^iUratnre  erf  the  gabalah 

the  once  renowned  Avicebron,  whose  identity  with 
Solomon  ben  Yehudah  Ibn  Gebirol,  a  Jew  of 
Cordova,  was  first  demonstrated  by  Munk  in  the 
early  part  of  the  present  century.*  His  chief 
treatise,  entitled  the  "  Fountain  of  Life,"  in  a  Latin 
version  ascribed  to  the  middle  of  the  twelfth 
century,  became  widely  diffused  ;  Albertus  Magnus, 
St.  Thomas  of  Aquin  and  Duns  Scotus,  all  cited 
it  ;  and  it  is  said  to  sum  the  philosophy  of  the 
thirteenth  century.  According  to  Renan,  Avicebron 
preceded  the  school  of  Arabian  philosophy  which 
arose  in  Spain.  He  wrote  philosophy  in  Arabic 
and  poetry  in  Hebrew  ;  the  Jews  valued  his  poetry, 
but  his  metaphysics  were  not  in  repute  among  them ; 
the  Christian  scholastics  adopted  his  philosophical 
ideas,  and  knew  nothing  whatever  of  his  verses. 
By  both  classes  of  his  admirers  he  was  respectively 
celebrated  as  the  greatest  philosopher  and  the 
greatest  poet  of  his  time.  But  the  nominalists 
denounced  him  ;  realists  like  Duns  Scotus  entailed 
on  him  their  own  condemnation  ;  while  he  is  said 
to  have  exercised  an  influence  upon  the  mystics  of 
the  Middle  Ages,  he  was  proscribed  by  the  University 
of  Paris  at  the  period  of  the  publication  of  the 
Zohar  on  the  ground  that  he  favoured  Aristotle. 
When  the  school  of  Averrocs  arose  he  was  unknown 
among  it ;  at  a  later  period  he  was  unknown  to 
Maimonides  ;  he  was  unknown  also  to  the  encyclo 
paedic  learning  of  Picus  de  Mirandola  ;  and  on  the 


*  Melanges  de  Philosophic  Juive  et  Arabe.  The  hostile  school  of 
Zoharic  criticism  has  not  done  sufficient  credit  to  Munk  for  his  interesting 
discovery,  but  he  is  not  a  persona  grata  on  account  of  his  theory  that 
the  Zohar  was  founded  on  genuine  ancient  Midrashim. 


(Ltlritten  SHorb  of  gabnli«m  165 

threshold  of  the  Reformation  his  memory  may  be 
said  to  have  perished  at  the  pyre  of  Giordano  Bruno. 

Avicebron  was  born  about  the  year  1021  at 
Malaga  ;  he  was  educated  in  the  University  of 
Saragossa,  and  he  died  at  Valencia  in  1070.  He 
was  patronised  by  Nagdilah — i.e.,  Samuel-ha-Levi 
ben  Josef  Ibn  Nagrela — a  Prince  of  the  Exile,  who 
was  also  Prime  Minister  of  Spain  under  the  Kalifate 
of  Habus.  Nagdilah  was  the  centre  and  mainspring 
of  Jewish  learning  in  that  country,  and  it  is  thought 
that  through  him  the  sacred  tradition  of  the  Hebrews 
was  communicated  to  Avicebron  at  a  period  when 
the  Zohar  and  its  connections  were  still  in  course 
of  formation.  It  seems  certain,  in  any  case,  that 
some  of  the  conceptions  and  the  system  incorporated 
in  these  books  may  be  found  in  his  writings,  more 
especially  in  the  "  Fountain  of  Life "  and  the 
"Crown  of  the  Kingdom."  The  first  is  affirmed 
to  be  the  earliest  known  exhibition  of  "  the  secrets 
of  the  speculative  Kabalah."*  The  second,  composed 
towards  the  end  of  his  life,  is  a  hymn  "  celebrating 
the  only  one  and  true  God,  and  the  marvels  of 
His  creation." 

The  existence  of  the  Zoharic  tradition  some 
centuries  previous  to  the  time  of  Moses  de  Leon, 
the  reputed  forger  of  the  Zohar,  has  been  rested, 
among  other  supports,  on  the  writings  of  this 
Spanish  Jew,  and  he  seems  to  have  been  acquainted 
indubitably  with  the  Book  of  Formation.  In  the 
second  book  and  twenty-second  section  of  the 

*  There  is  some  confusion  here,  as  the  Sepher  Yetzirah  is  certainly 
speculative  as  contrasted  with  the  so-called  practical  Kabalah,  which 
was  mainly  the  working  of  miracles  by  the  use  of  the  Divine  Names. 


i66  ^lu  Jiodrtn*  anb  literature  of  the  jiabaiah 

"  Fountain  of  Life  "  this  passage  occurs  :  "  Hence 
it  hath  been  said  that  the  construction  of  the 
world  was  accomplished  by  the  inscription  of 
numbers  and  letters  in  the  air,"  which  is  obviously 
the  fundamental  notion  of  the  Kabalistic  work 
in  question.  The  table  of  the  Thirty-Two  Paths, 
which  arises  out  of  the  Book  of  Formation,  was 
the  theme  of  one  of  his  poems.  Whether  the  later 
Kabalists  derived  from  Avicebron  or  both  from  a 
common  source  cannot  be  conclusively  determined, 
but  having  regard  to  the  Jewish  indifference  for  his 
philosophical  writings,  and  to  the  probable  existence 
of  a  vast  mass  of  floating  esoteric  tradition,  there  can 
be  no  doubt  as  to  the  direction  in  which  probability 
points.* 

The  connection  between  Avicebron  and  the 
Kabalah  is  not  sufficiently  explicit  upon  the  surface 
of  the  "  Fountain  of  Life "  to  have  attracted  the 
attention  of  critics  like  Ernest  Renan ;  while  Kabalistic 
critics  refer  the  system  which  it  develops  to  the 
ten  Sephiroth^  others  suppose  it  to  be  based  on  the 
ten  categories  of  Aristotle,  a  pantheism  analogous  to 
that  of  the  early  realists.  "  On  the  one  hand,"  says 
Renan,  "  his  application  of  Peripatetic  principles  to 
Mosaic  doctrine  alarmed  the  theologians ;  on  the 
other  hand,  his  concessions  to  orthodoxy  concerning 
the  creation  and  the  free  will  of  the  Creator  did  not 
satisfy  the  extreme  Peripatetic  Jews."  Of  his  alleged 
Kabalistic  connections  Renan  was  either  unaware,  as 
already  suggested,  or  they  were  ignored  by  him. 

*  Graetz  takes  the  opposite  view,  saying  that  the  Kabalah 
borrowed  many  principles  from  Ibn  Gebirol.  He,  of  course,  offers  no 
reasoning  on  the  subject. 


Hhe  (Slrttteu  oBorfo  of  gabaliem  167 

An  impartial  examination  of  the  "  Fountain  of 
Life  "  makes  the  pantheism  of  Avicebron  less  apparent 
than  his  Kabalistic  correspondences.  So  far  from 
identifying  the  universe  with  God,  it  establishes  no 
uncertain  contrast  between  them.  In  order  to  bridge 
the  abyss,  and  to  make  it  conceivable  that  one  derived 
being  from  the  other,  he  supposes  nine  intermediaries, 
plus  the  Divine  Will,  "  through  which  the  Absolutely 
Existing,  who  is  above  number,"  is  "  attached  to  its 
corporeal  universe."  The  analogies  which  this  con 
ception  offers  to  Yetziratic  doctrine  are  self-evident 
and  do  not  need  enforcing,  and  yet  our  impartial 
judgment  must  pronounce  the  philosophy  of  Avicebron 
to  be  of  Greek  rather  than  Jewish  complexion.  It  is 
at  least  clear  that  the  Fons  Vita,  which  is  a  dialogue 
after  the  manner  of  Plato,  is  tinctured  deeply  by 
Hellenic  thought. 

Modern  scholarship  has  recognised  three  chief 
schools  which  led  up  to  Zoharic  Kabalism  :  (a)  that 
of  Isaac  the  Blind,  to  which  belongs  Azariel  with  his 
celebrated  commentary  on  the  Sepher  Yetzirah ; 
(b)  that  of  Eliezar  of  Worms,  which  is  largely  of 
the  theurgic  order;  and  (c)  that  of  Abulafia,  which 
to  some  extent  united  the  preceding  and  made  use 
of  the  theurgic  formulae  combined  with  contemplation 
to  achieve  union  with  God. 


II.    THE    BOOK    OF    FORMATION 

In  developing  the  Kabalistic  doctrine  of  the 
Instruments  of  Creation,  in  describing  the  Paths  of 
Wisdom  and  in  attempting  to  determine  the  date 


1 68  ^Ihe  gortritu  anb  literature  of  the  Jiabalah 

of  the  Book  of  Formation  in  connection  with  our 
investigation  as  to  the  authority  of  the  Kabalah, 
we  have  nearly  exhausted  the  subject  of  the  tiny 
treatise  which  is  regarded  by  most  scholars  and  by 
every  occultist  as  the  nucleus  of  all  Kabalism.  It 
is  difficult,  however,  to  omit  it  in  giving  an  account 
of  the  documents,  and  it  will  perhaps  be  best  to  begin 
this  brief  bibliographical  notice  by  a  summary  of 
the  points  which  have  been  determined  previously 
concerning  it. 

The  legend  which  attributes  it  to  the  patriarch 
Abraham,  who  transmitted  it  orally  to  his  sons,  by 
whom  it  was  perpetuated  in  turn  till  the  "  sages 
of  Jerusalem,"  committed  it  finally  to  writing,  so 
that  the  tradition  might  not  perish  even  when  the 
chosen  people  seemed  themselves  on  the  eve  of 
perishing — this,  we  have  seen,  is  legend.  It  is 
interesting  and  respectable  in  its  way.  At  the 
period  when  we  first  hear  of  the  existence  of  such 
a  tract  it  was  possibly  already  old,  and  most  old 
books  have  myths  designed  to  explain  them.  Those 
who  take  the  myths  historically  convert  honest 
legend  into  something  approaching  farce.  We  must 
be  content  therefore  to  say  that  the  Sepher  Yetzirah 
is  first  mentioned  probably  in  the  ninth  century  ; 
there  is  some  reason  to  suppose  that  it  is  quoted 
in  the  Talmud,  but  it  is  not  wholly  certain;*  it 

*  The  treatise  Sanhedrim  contains  the  following  passage:  "By 
means  of  combining  the  letters  of  the  ineffable  names  as  recorded  in 
SPR  ITsIRH  (/'.*,  the  sealing  names  enumerated  in  the  first  chapter, 
being  permutations  of  IHV),  Rava  once  created  a  man  and  sent  him  to 
Rav  Zeira.  The  man  being  unable  to  reply  when  spoken  to,  the  Rabbi 
said  to  him,  Thou  art  a  creature  of  the  company  (initiated  in  the 
mysteries  of  necromancy) :  return  to  thy  dust." 


The  (Saritten  SRorb  of  JUbalism  169 

may  have  antedated  its  first  citation  in  literature 
by  a  generation,  a  century,  or  an  age.  Let  us  realise 
that  we  do  not  know,  and  that  those  who  judge  the 
question  dogmatically  on  either  side  deserve  to  be 
classed  as  intemperate. 

Let  us  now  look  a  little  more  closely  at  the  work 
itself.  It  is  divided  into  five  chapters,  the  first  being 
concerned  with  the  office  of  the  Sephiroth  in  creation 
and  the  remaining  four  with  what  have  been  termed 
the  Instruments — namely,  the  letters  of  the  Hebrew 
alphabet.  It  was  after  the  revelation  of  these 
mysteries  to  Abraham  that  he  received  the  manifesta 
tion  of  God  and  that  the  covenant  was  instituted. 
According  to  the  expression  of  the  original,  God 
"  bound  the  twenty-two  letters  "  on  the  tongue  of  the 
patriarch  and  discovered  to  him  all  their  secrets.* 

The  symbolism  of  the  Book  of  Formation 
having  been  sufficiently  considered  in  the  second  part 
of  our  inquiry,  there  are  only  two  points  which 
require  to  be  noted  here.  One  is  the  absolute  dis 
tinctness  between  God  and  the  instruments  of 
creation,f  whether  numbers  or  letters,  which  is 

*  Sepher  Yetdrah,  chap.  vi. 

t  Hence  Mr.  C.  G.  Harrison  is  in  error  when  he  implies  that 
pantheism  is  involved  in  the  Sephirotic  system,  and  thence  proceeds  to 
argue  that,  "  It  takes  no  account  of  the  element  of  illusion  which  is 
necessarily  implied  in  the  theophanic  doctrine." — See  "The  Trans 
cendental  Universe,"  London,  1894,  pp.  86,  87.  Cf.  Alexander  \\Yill, 
Lois  et  My  stores  de  la  Crsation  confermts  </  la  Science  la  plus  Absolue. 
Paris,  1896.  The  writer  refers  to  a  work  under  a  similar  title  which  he 
issued  forty  years  previously,  purporting  to  be  the  translation  of  a 
Hebrew  MS.  by  a  master  of  Kabalah.  "This  writing  i>  distinguished 
from  all  rabbinical  and  philosophical  treatises  by  proclaiming  the  identity 
of  the  Creator  with  His  creatures,  based  on  the  text  of  Genesis  itself." 
Weill  is  a  fantasiast  who  pretends  to  separate  the  frauds  and  contra 
dictions  which  Esdras  and  his  assistants  introduced  into  the  Pentateuch 


1 70   ^hc  Jlortrtue  aufc  JJiterature  ot  the 

established  by  this  early  Kabalistic  work.  Separated 
from  all  number  and  transcending  all  expression,  He 
is  represented  as  a  faithful  king  sojourning  in 
eternity  and  ruling  the  Sephiroth  for  ever  from  His 
holy  seat.  The  second  point  concerns  the  emanation 
of  the  Sephiroth,  to  which,  in  preference  to  their 
creation,  all  later  Kabalism  inclines.  There  is  little 
on  the  face  of  the  Book  of  Formation  to  countenance 
this  view ;  they  appear  as  the  instruments  and 
servants  of  the  King  of  Ages,  informed  by  whose 
word  they  go  forth  "  and  returning,  fall  prostrate  in 
adoration  before  the  Throne."*  It  is  said,  however, 
that  their  end  is  joined  to  their  beginning,  as  the 
flame  is  joined  to  the  firebrand,  and  perhaps  the 
principle  of  emanation  is  contained  implicitly  in  this 
statement.  We  have  no  reason  for  rejecting  a  con 
struction  which  has  been  adopted  invariably,  but  it  is 
just  to  draw  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  first  work 
which  mentions  the  Sephiroth  leaves  this  point  in 
obscurity,  while  it  certainly  depicts  God  as  the  active 
architect  of  the  universe,  who  graved,  sculptured  and 
builded. 

The  first  Sephira  is  described  as  the  Spirit  of  the 
Living  God,  the  blessed  and  again  blessed  name  of 
God  living  eternally.  Voice,  Spirit  and  Word — these 
are  the  Holy  Spirit.  Two  is  the  Breathing  of  the 
Spirit ;  the  twenty-two  tetters  depend  herefrom  and 
each  one  of  them  is  Spirit  THREE  is  the  moisture 

from  the  real  work  of  Moses.  Cf.  the  same  author's  Motse,  le  Talmud 
et  fEvangile.  Paris,  1875,  torn.  i.  p.  99.  According  to  Franck,  the 
last  word  of  the  system  developed  by  the  Sepher  Yetzirah  is  the 
substitution  of  absolute  unity  for  every  species  of  dualism. — La  Kabbale, 

P-  159- 

*  Sepher  Yetzirah,  chap.  i. 


QBrittcu  SLlorb  of  Jlabaliem  171 

which  comes  from  the  Breath ;  herewith  God 
sculptured  and  engraved  the  first  lifeless  and  void 
matter.  He  built  TOHU,  the  line  which  circles  snake- 
like  about  the  world,  and  BoHU,  the  concealed  rocks 
imbedded  in  the  abyss  whence  the  waters  issue. 
This  triad  of  the  Spirit,  the  Breath  and  the  Water 
corresponds  to  the  conception  subsequently  formed  of 
the  Atzilutic  or  archetypal  world.  FOUR  is  the  Fire 
which  comes  forth  from  the  Water  ;  with  this  God 
sculptured  the  Throne  of  Honour,  the  Ophanim  or 
Celestial  Wheels,  the  Holy  Animals — />.,  the  four 
living  creatures  and  the  other  serving  Spirits.  Writhin 
their  dominion  He  established  His  habitation.  This 
numeration  seems  to  contain  in  itself  the  conceptions 
of  Briah  and  Yetzirah,  the  archangelic  and  angelic 
worlds.  It  should  be  remembered,  however,  that  the 
Book  of  Formation  is  concerned  only  with  the  sphere 
of  operation  tabulated  subsequently  as  the  third 
world  of  Kabalism.  As  each  Sephira  was  supposed 
to  contain  all  the  Sephiroth,  so  there  was  a  superin- 
cession  of  the  four  worlds  which  were  all  contained  in 
each.  The  arrangement  of  the  Sepher  Yetzirah  does 
not  exhibit  this  clearly,  but  the  numerations  from  five 
to  ten  inclusive  must  be  held  to  represent  As^iah. 
FIVE  is  the  seal  with  which  God  sealed  the  Height 
when  He  contemplated  it  above  Him.  He  sealed  it 
with  the  name  IEV.  Six  is  the  seal  with  which  He 
sealed  the  depth  when  He  contemplated  it  beneath 
Him.  He  sealed  it  with  the  name  IVE.  SEVEN  is 
the  seal  with  which  He  sealed  the  East  when  He  con 
templated  it  before  Him.  He  sealed  it  with  the  name 
EIV.  EIGHT  is  the  seal  with  which  He  sealed  the 
West  when  He  contemplated  it  behind  Him.  He 


172   ^he  gocttine  aub  literature  ot  the  giabalah 

sealed  it  with  the  name  VEI.  NINE  is  the  seal  with 
which  He  sealed  the  South  when  He  contemplated  it 
on  His  right.  He  sealed  it  with  the  name  VIE. 
TEN  is  the  seal  with  which  He  sealed  the  North 
when  He  contemplated  it  on  His  left.  He  sealed  it 
with  the  name  EVI.  The  ten  numerations  are  finally 
classed  together  under  the  one  title  of  "  Ineffable 
Spirits  of  God."  The  sealing  names  are  combinations 
of  three  letters,  successively  transposed,  which  enter 
into  the  name  Tetragrammaton. 

The  Sepher  Yetzirah  was  published  at  Mantua 
in  1592,  but  the  Latin  translation  of  Postel  had 
preceded  it  by  ten  years.*  The  Mantua  edition  was 
accompanied  by  five  commentaries.-]-  Another  Latin 
version  will  be  found  in  the  collection  of  Pistorius  ;  it 
is  ascribed  to  Reuchlinus  and  Riccius.  In  1642  a 
further  edition  was  published  at  Amsterdam  in 
Hebrew  and  Latin  by  Rittangelius.  It  was  issued 
by  Meyer  at  Leipsic  in  1830,  with  a  German  transla 
tion  and  notes,  and  at  Frankfort,  1849,  with  a  German 
translation  and  commentary,  J  by  L.  Goldschmidt 


*  The  full  title  of  this  curious  little  volume  is  ABRAHAMI 
PATRIARCHS  LIBER  JEZIRAH,  sive  Formationis  Mundi,  Patribus 
quidem  Abrahami  tempora  pr&cedentibus  revelattis,  sed  ab  ipso  etiam 
Abrahamo  expositus  Isaaco,  et  per  Profetarum  manus  posteritati 
conservatuS)  ipsis  autum  72  Mosis  auditoribus  in  secundo  divince  veritatis 
loco,  hoc  est  in  ratione,  quo*  est  posterior  authoritate,  habitus.  Vertebat 
ex  Hebrtfis  et  commentariis  illustrabat  I551?  &d  Babylonis  ruinam  et 
corrupti  mundifinem,  GULIELMUS  POSTELLUS,  Restitutus.  Parisiis, 
1552. 

t  It  also  contained  two  recensions  of  the  text,  the  differences 
between  which  are  regarded  by  some  authorities  as  considerable  and  by 
others  as  unimportant  variants. 

t  The  "American  Encyclopedia,"  iii.  521,  522,  mentions  the 
Amsterdam  edition  of  1642,  with  a  Latin  translation,  but  does  not 
connect  it  with  Rittangelius. 


The  (iMdtten  eilorb  of  ^abalism  173 

In  1887  Dr.  Papus  made  a  French  translation  to 
which  he  added  the  Thirty-two  Paths  of  Wisdom 
and  the  Fifty  Gates  of  Intelligence.  With  charac 
teristic  sincerity  he  admits  that  this  was  superseded 
by  Mayer  Lambert  in  1891. 

The  one  question  which  now  remains  for  con 
sideration  is  how  we  are  to  account  for  the  importance 
attributed  by  occultism  to  such  a  work  as  the  Sepher 
Yetzirah.  Do  its  defenders  believe  that  the  com 
bination  of  Aleph  with  all  the  other  letters  and  all 
the  rest  with  Aleph,  Beth  with  all  the  others  and  all 
the  rest  with  Beth,  &c.,  &c.,  actually  produced  the 
universe  ?  That  seems  an  insupportable  assumption. 
Do  they  regard  the  letters  as  symbols  of  forces  and 
hold  that  the  Sepher  Yetzirah  teaches  that  the 
universe  originates  in  the  orderly  combination  of 
certain  forces  ?  That  is  reasonable  enough,  but  it  is 
a  commonplace  which  seems  scarcely  worth  stating 
and  certainly  does  not  require  a  secret  tradition  to 
secure  it.  But  do  they  consider  that  the  letters 
represent  occult  forces,  of  a  fixed,  determinable 
character,  and  that  initiation  into  the  real  meaning 
of  Kabalistic  tradition  will  discover  their  nature, 
explaining  thus  the  secret  behind  the  arbitrary 
doctrine  of  a  virtue  inherent  in  words  and  letters  ? 
This  might  indeed  be  valuable,  but  I  have  never 
met  with  an  occultist  who  took  such  a  view,  or 
had  anything  to  substantiate  it  if  he  did.  In 
the  absence  of  any  light  on  this  point  we  can  only 
conclude  that  it  is  the  arbitrary  doctrine  in  question 
which  accounts  for  the  interest  taken  in  the  Sepher 
Yetzirah  ;  but  the  truly  occult  student,  as  I  have 
defined  him  at  the  outset  of  this  inquiry,  can  only 


174   ^£he  Jlactrine  anb  literature  of  the  gabalah 

be  scandalised  at  the   childish  nature  of  Yetziratic 
tabulations. 


III.  CONNECTIONS  AND  DEPENDENCIES 
OF  THE  BOOK  OF  FORMATION 

Were  there  evidence  to  warrant  us  in  believing 
that  Moses  de  Leon  did  actually,  as  his  hostile 
relative  is  reported  to  have  affirmed,  write  the  Zohar 
bodily  "out  of  his  own  head,"  there  would  still  be 
substantial  evidence  that  the  Kabalistic  system  which 
it  contains  was  not  his  invention.  The  existence 
of  the  Sepher  Yetzirah  is  part  of  this  evidence, 
which  appears,  however,  more  fully  and  more  strongly 
in  the  commentaries  and  developments  of  that  work. 
We  have  seen  already  that  when  it  came  to  be 
printed  at  Mantua,  the  Book  of  Formation  was 
accompanied  by  five  such  connections,  which  at 
the  same  time  do  not  exhaust  the  list  that  might 
be  given  in  a  full  bibliography.  The  best  known 
is  unquestionably  the  Sepher  Sephiroth,  or  "  Com 
mentary  on  the  Ten  Sephiroth  by  way  of  Questions 
and  Answers,"  the  work  of  R.  Azariel  ben  Menahem  ; 
that  of  Rabbi  Abraham  has  been  regarded  as  the 
most  important  from  an  occult  standpoint,  while 
the  earliest  in  point  of  time  is  the  work  of  Saadya 
Gaon  in  the  tenth  century.  Another,  which  has 
been  attributed  to  Hay  Gaon  in  the  early  part  of 
the  eleventh  century,  would  rank  next  in  antiquity, 
but  it  has  been  usually  rejected  as  spurious. 
Commentaries  are  also  attributed  to  R,  Moses 


(LOritten  i&lorb  of  iinb.iliom  175 

Botrel,*  R.  Moses  ben  Nahmann,  R.  Abraham  ben 
David  Ha  Levi  the  younger  and  R.  Eliezer.  With 
the  exception  of  the  one  last  mentioned  they  are 
all  prior  to  the  period  when  Moses  de  Leon  is 
supposed  to  have  been  at  work  on  the  Zohar,  and 
they  have  been  used  to  show  that  the  novelty  of 
that  work  "  is  of  form  rather  than  material." 

The  commentary  of  R.  Saadya  Gaon  was 
published  in  Hebrew  at  Mantua  together  with  the 
Sepher  Yetzirah,+  but  it  was  written  originally  in 
Arabic,  and  a  copy  is  preserved  in  the  Bodleian 
Library.  After  remaining  in  MS.  for  over  eight 
hundred  years  this  Arabic  original  was  at  length 
printed  at  Paris,  together  with  a  French  translation, 
in  1892.  In  the  introduction  prefixed  to  his  version, 
M.  Lambert  observes  that  Saadya  Gaon  appears  as 
a  theosophist  in  his  commentary,  which  is  equivalent 
to  saying  that  the  first  expository  treatise  on  the 
Sepher  Yetzirah  possesses  a  Kabalistic  complexion, 
though  the  author  is  frequently  regarded  as  a  purely 
rationalistic  writer.  It  must  be  confessed,  however,  that 
Saadya  offers  little  connection  with  Zoharic  doctrine. 
We  have  noted  that  the  Sephiroth  of  the  Sepher 
Yetzirah  show  scarcely  any  trace  of  an  emanational 
system.  For  Saadya  Gaon  there  is  one  intermediary 
between  God  and  the  world,  but  this  is  the  physical 
air  and  not  the  transcendental  numerations.  In  this 
air  God  is  everywhere  present,  and  it  penetrates 
all  bodies,  even  the  most  compact.  Of  the  doctrine 
of  Ain  Soph  there  is  also  no  real  trace.  It  is, 

*  He  describes  the  Kakilah  as  a  most  pure  and  holy  philosophy, 
but  exhibits  no  acquaintance  with  the  Zohar. 
+  Bartolocci,  iv.  267. 


176  ^Elte  gJortrine  aitb  IJiteratttr*  ot  the  Jiabalah 

however,  recognised,  on  the  one  hand,  that  we 
cannot  have  an  adequate  notion  of  the  Divinity 
or  His  correspondences  with  the  world,  but,  on  the 
other,  that  some  approximate  idea  may  be  obtained 
as  to  the  latter  and  that  they  may  be  shown  forth 
by  means  of  figures  and  comparisons.  One  of  these 
illustrations  tells  us  that  God  is  the  life  of  the  world 
as  the  soul  is  the  life  of  the  body,  and  as  in  man 
the  soul  is  all-powerful,  so  God  is  omnipotent  in 
the  world.  He  is  also  its  Supreme  Reason,  and  as 
in  man  the  rational  faculty  is  the  guide  of  life,  so 
the  Divine  Power  is  directed  by  the  Divine  Reason. 
Above  this  elementary  and  commonplace  form  of 
natural  theology  the  commentary  never  soars,  and 
we  may  be  indeed  warranted  in  saying  that  the  work, 
as  a  whole,  has  no  inherent  interest,  though  it  is 
valuable  as  a  historical  document. 

Unlike  the  Sepher  Yetzirah,  which  makes  no 
reference  to  pneumatology,  Saadya  Gaon  devotes 
a  certain  space  to  the  consideration  of  the  soul  in 
man  ;  and  here,  in  a  sense,  he  connects  with  Zoharic 
Kabalism,  though  he  rejects  metempsychosis,  for 
he  recognises  its  five  aspects  and  calls  them  by  their 
conventional  names,  which  names,  however,  occur, 
as  we  have  seen,  in  the  Talmud.*  Unfortunately, 
his  classification  is  exceedingly  clumsy,  and  he 
begins  by  following  Plato  in  the  recognition  of  three 
faculties — reason,  concupiscence  and  anger.  On 
account  of  reason  the  soul  is  called  Neshamah,  on 


*  Despite  his  hostility  to  reincarnation  as  understood  by  the 
Kabalah  he  accepts  the  pre-existence  of  souls  and  teaches  that  the 
resurrection  of  the  body  will  take  place  when  all  souls  destined  for 
earthly  life  have  passed  through  it. 


vlhc  <I<Llrittcn  <l<Uorb  of  ^abalism  177 

account  of  concupiscence  it  is  called  Nephesh,  and 
on  account  of  anger  it  is  called  Ruach.  The  two 
other  names,  Chaiah  (living)  and  Jechidali  (unique), 
refer  to  the  vitality  of  the  soul  and  to  the  fact  that 
no  other  creature  resembles  it. 

The  doctrine  concerning  divine  and  angelic 
names  is  also  the  subject  of  some  references  which 
are  important  to  our  inquiry  because  they  establish 
the  fact  that  Saadya  Gaon  did  not  ascribe  to  them 
any  occult  virtue.  The  names  of  the  angels  vary 
according  to  the  events  which  they  are  commissioned 
to  accomplish,  and,  in  like  manner,  those  referred  to 
the  Deity  are  descriptive  of  His  operations.  In  the 
work  of  the  creation  He  terms  Himself  Elohim ; 
when  ordaining  the  covenant  of  circumcision  He  is 
called  El  Shaddai ;  He  is  the  I  AM  in  connection 
with  the  wonders  of  the  ten  plagues  ;  and  He  is  Jah 
when  producing  the  great  miracle  of  the  Red  Sea.* 
As  it  is  with  the  names  of  God  and  the  angels,  so  is 
it  with  those  of  the  stars,  which  vary  according  to 
their  qualities — namely,  their  greater  or  lesser 
brilliance,  their  hot  or  cold  natures,  &c. 

When  explaining  the  object  of  the  Sepher 
Yetzirah  as  representing  the  manner  in  which  created 
things  come  into  being,  there  is  a  reference  to  the 
ten  categories — namely,  substance,  quantity,  quality, 


*  The  Zohar  teaches  that  tin-  name  AIIIH,  which  signifies  I  AM. 
indicates  the  unification  and  concealment  of  all  things  in  such  a  manner 
that  no  distinction  can  be  established  between  them.  The  n;mir  ASLR 
All  IK,  I  WHO  AM,  represents  God  on  the  point  of  manifesting  all 

.   including   lli.->  Supreme  Name.     On   the  other  hand  the  name 
Jehovah  or  A  H  I II  AShK  AHI1I,  I  AM    UK   WHO   IS,   refer,  to   th- 
Deity,    or    is    that    name    assumed    by    Him,   on    the  occasion    • 
manifestation  of  the  Cosmos.— Zohar  iii.  65^,  Mantua. 

N 


1 78  ^he  Doctrine  nub  Jitcrarure  at  the  ga 

relation,  place,  time,  powers,  position,  activity, 
passivity,  and  if  these  are  to  be  regarded  as  referring 
to  the  numerations  of  the  Sepher  Yetzirah,  it  is 
clear  that  Saadya  Gaon  understood  the  latter  as  an 
Aristotelian  philosopher.  With  these  categories,  the 
ten  commandments  are  also  forced  to  correspond  in 
an  arbitrary  manner.  For  example,  that  against 
adultery  answers  to  the  category  of  position,  for  the 
act  itself  is  a  position  and  a  contact. 

Lastly,  in  his  analysis  of  the  Hebrew  alphabet, 
the  commentator  seeks  to  account  for  its  sequence. 
Aleph  is  the  first  sound  pronounced — z>.,  it  is  vocalised 
at  the  back  of  the  tongue.  Shin  is  vocalised  in  the 
middle  of  the  mouth  and  Mem  on  the  lips.  Un 
fortunately  for  the  analogy,  Mem  precedes  Shin  in 
the  alphabet,  and  indeed  the  design  of  the  speculation 
seems  past  conjecture. 

About  the  commentary  ascribed  to  Hay  Gaon 
there  is  considerable  confusion,  which  Isaac  Myer 
increases  by  representing  that  it  deals  with  the  "Book 
of  Concealment,"  instead  of  that  of  Formation.  There 
are  no  historic  notices  and  no  traces  whatsoever  of 
the  former  tract  before  the  appearance  of  the  Zohar, 
in  which  it  was  first  made  known.  The  work  of  Hay 
Gaon  needs  only  to  be  mentioned  in  passing  on 
account  of  its  disputed  authenticity.  Other  works 
attributed  to  him  are  not  above  suspicion,  but  it  may 
be  admitted  in  a  general  way  that  he  had  more 
distinct  Kabalistic  connections  than  Saadya.  The  con 
demned  commentary  deals  largely  with  the  mysteries 
of  the  Tetragrammaton  and  gives  perhaps  for  the 
first  time  the  curious  quadrilateral  method  of  writing 
it  by  means  of  letters  and  circles,  to  which  so  much 


"(The  ofcirittcn  <!&orb  of  Jtobalism  179 

importance  was  afterwards  attributed  by  occult 
writers.*  The  commentary  of  Abraham  ben  David 
Ha  Levi,f  the  younger  of  that  name  and  a  con 
temporary  of  Maimonides,  whom  he  attacked  bitterly, 
is  also  included  in  the  Mantua  edition  of  the  Book 
of  Formation,  and  was  used  largely  by  Rittangelius 
in  that  of  Amsterdam,  1642+  Theintensest  confusion 
prevails  with  regard  to  the  personality  of  the  author, 
who,  on  the  one  hand,  is  frequently  identified  with 
the  writer  of  the  Seder  Ha  Kabalah,  and  is,  on  the 
other,  the  subject  of  many  contradictory  myths  pre 
vailing  in  occult  circles.  Eliphas  Levi,  who  cites  a 
passage  from  his  treatise  as  a  proof  of  the  authenticity 
and  reality  of  his  own  "  discovery  "  of  the  Magnum 
Opns,\  makes  a  great  deal  of  mystery  concerning  it 
and  its  rarity,  but  he  has  used  evidently  the  edition 

*  By  El'iphas  Levi  above  all,  who  reproduces  its  diagram  with 
additions  which  I  regard  as  fanciful  (Dogme  de  la  Haute  Magic,  section 
dealing  with  the  Kabalah),  and  elsewhere  (La  Science  des  Esprit  s) 
illustrates  these  additions  by  a  Kabalistic  document  which  I  think  also 
is  one  of  his  specimens  of  invention. 

t  Bartolocci,  i.  15. 

+  I.iber  Jesirah  (Hebrew  and  Latin)  ijiii  Abrahamo  patriarchs 
adscritntitr,  una  cu/n  commentario  Rabbi  Abraham  F.  D.  (i.e.,  Ben 
Dior)  super  32  Sctnitis  Sapientiic  .  .  Translatus  et  Notis  illustratus  a 
Joanne  Stephana  Rittangelio...Ainstelodatni,  1642.  The  thirty-two 
Paths  referred  to  at  the  beginning  of  the  Sepher  Yetzirah  are  given  in 
Latin  and  Hebrew,  each  followed  immediately  by  the  commentary  of 
R.  Abraham,  likewise  in  Latin  and  Hebrew.  Then  comes  the 
explanation  of  Rittangelius,  which  sometimes  extends  to  many  pages, 
quoting  many  authorities,  including  the  Zohar  and  its  Supplements. 
After  the  Paths,  we  have  the  Sepher  Vctzirah  itself,  in  Latin  and 
Hebrew,  with  the  editor's  commentary,  also  in  both  language.^  I; 
should  be  added  that  the  entire  commentary  of  R.  Abraham  is  not 
given  by  Rittangelius,  who  is  content  with  presenting  that  part  only 
which  is  devoted  to  the  Paths  of  Wisdom. 

§  Ritufl  de  la  Haute  Magie,  c.  12,  where  the  Hebrew  passage 
cited  is  completely  unintelligible.  Cf.  La  Clef  des  Grands  Afystercs, 
PP-  233>  23.1. 


i8o  i£he  Ipoctritu  <wb  |£itcntture  of  the  gabalah 

of  Rittangelius,  which  is  perfectly  well   known  and 
attainable  in  almost  any  national  library. 

We  have  admitted  that  the  commentary  of 
Saadya  Gaon  can  scarcely  be  termed  Kabalistic  ; 
we  have  agreed  to  set  aside  another  which  abounds 
in  Kabalistic  material  because  its  date  and  attribution 
have  been  challenged  ;  in  the  work  of  R.  Abraham, 
however,  there  are  Zoharic  elements  which  admit  of 
no  question,  and  it  is  indeed  to  the  school  which  he 
represents  that  Graetz  and  others  have  referred  the 
authorship  of  the  Book  of  Splendour.  There  is  the 
peculiar  distinction  between  upper  and  lower  Sephiroth 
which  is  not  only  characteristic  of  the  Zoharic  period, 
but  offers  a  connecting  link  between  R  Abraham 
and  the  late  Kabalism  of  Isaac  de  Loria.*  But  more 
than  this,  there  is  the  doctrine  of  the  Unknowable 
God,  of  "  the  Cause  of  Causes  which  is  not  appre 
hended  by  any  one  outside  Itself,"  being  void  of  all 
distinction  and  all  mode  of  existence.  It  has  not 
assumed  the  final  shape  in  which  it  is  presented  by 
the  Zohar,  and  it  appears  to  be  something  more 
concealed  and  latent  than  the  conception  of  Am 
Soph,  the  Non  Ens  or  Corona  Sut/tma,  which  again 
is  distinguished  by  R.  Abraham  from  Kether,  the 
Crown  of  Creation,  on  the  ground  that  "  the  accident 
is  not  made  from  the  essence  nor  the  Res  from  the 
Non  Res  or  Non  Ens"  thus  occasioning  an  insoluble 
difficulty  as  to  the  emanation  of  the  manifest  universe. 
For  the  rest,  the  A  in  Soph  of  our  commentator  is 
described  in  terms  which  are  almost  identical  with 


*  There  is  no   doubt  that  the   ten    Sephiroth   were   an   evolved 
system  in  the  time  of  the  Yetziratic  commentator. 


The  <33ritteu  <&torb  of  Jubalism  181 

Zoharic  teaching.  "  Neither  unity  nor  plurality 
can  be  attributed  to  It,  because  unity  cannot  be 
ascribed  to  that  which  is  incomprehensible  in  its 
essence,"  the  reason  being  that  number  is  an  acci 
dent  belonging  to  the  world  of  extension,  place  and 
time. 

Among  minor  Zoharic  correspondences,  it  may 
be  noted  that  a  peculiar  importance  is  attributed  to 
the  letter  AlcpJi ;  it  is  the  form  of  all  the  letters,  and 
all  the  paths  of  wisdom  are  contained  therein,  but 
after  the  universal  mode.  There  are  also  traces  of 
the  peculiar  angelical  system  which  was  destined  to 
receive  so  much  elaborate  extension  from  the  com 
mentators  on  the  Book  of  Splendour. 

Before  dismissing  this  commentary  we  may  note 
the  alleged  connection  of  its  author  with  that 
Abraham  the  Jew*  who  belongs  to  the  literature  of 
alchemy.  The  testament  of  this  mysterious  personage 
transformed  Nicholas  Flamel  from  a  simple  scrivener 
into  a  seeker  after  the  Great  Work — a  search,  moreover, 
which  legend  represents  as  a  success.  The  memorial 
in  question  was  addressed  to  the  nation  of  Israel 
dispersed  by  the  wrath  of  God  in  France,  by  one  who 
styled  himself  "  priest,  prince,  Levite,  astrologer  and 
philosopher."  The  description  which  constitutes  our 
sole  knowledge  concerning  it  is  given  in  another 
testament,  that  of  Nicholas  Flamel,  and  it  is  very 
difficult  to  decide  how  far  this  can  be  regarded  as 
authentic.  Belonging  as  they  do  to  alchemy,  there 
is  no  ground  here  to  discuss  their  respective  claims, 


*  This  title  is  used  by  Bartolocci  in   his  bibliography   to   describe 
numerous  writers  who  cannot  be  more  closely  identified. 


1 82  ^he  Jlodrine  anb  Jiterature  of  the  glabalah 

but  it  is  well  to  say  that  the  attempt  made  by  Eliphas 
LeVi  to  identify  the  Abraham  of  Flamel  with  the 
commentator  on  the  Sepher  Yetzirah  not  only  insti 
tutes  a  connection  between  alchemy  and  Kabalism 
which  is  unwarrantable  in  itself  but  has  no  colourable 
evidence  to  cite  in  its  own  support,  as  there  is  no 
trace  whatever  of  any  alchemical  meaning  in  the 
Hebrew  commentator.  Abraham  the  Kabalist  belongs 
to  the  twelfth  century.  Flamel  was  two  hundred 
years  later,  and  the  book  which  he  mentions  could 
scarcely  have  existed  in  Jewry,  on  the  Levi  hypothesis, 
for  such  a  space  of  time  without  something  transpiring 
concerning  it. 

As  a  literary  and  philosophical  work  the  first 
place  among  the  dependencies  of  the  Sepher  Yetzirah 
seems  correctly  assigned  to  the  commentary  of 
Azariel.  Its  author  was  born  at  Valladolid  in  or 
about  the  year  1160.  According  to  some  authorities 
he  was  a  pupil  of  Isaac  the  Blind,*  but  others  say 
that  his  teacher  was  R.  Jehuda,  son  of  Rabad.  He 
became  in  turn  the  instructor  of  R.  Moses  Nach- 
manides,  who  also  belongs  to  the  chain  of  Yetziratic 
tradition.f 

He  is  said  to  have  travelled  much  in  search  of 
secret  wisdom,  but  it  was  an  age  when  men  of 
learning  were  frequently  wanderers,  and  it  was 
perhaps  less  recondite  motives  which  actuated  him- 
He  connects  with  the  Kabalistic  system  which  was 
expounded  by  the  school  of  Gerona,  and  there  are  no 


*  A.D.  1190  to  circa  1210.  He  taught  the  doctrine  of  metempsy 
chosis  and  a  few  fragments  of  his  writings  are  still  extant. 

t  And  brought,  as  Graetz  admits,  the  influence  of  his  great 
reputation  to  bear  upon  its  fortunes. 


The  &Uitteu  &lorb  of  Jtobalism  183 

real  grounds  for  supposing  that  he  acquired  know 
ledge  elsewhere,  but  he  added  the  result  of  his  own 
reflections.  Many  works  have  been  attributed  to 
him,  of  which  some  are  lost  and  some  have  remained 
in  MS.  "The  Explanation  of  the  Ten  Sephiroth  by 
way  of  Questions  and  Answers  "  must  have  helped  to 
shape  the  metaphysical  speculations  of  the  Kabalah 
and  may  well  enough  have  originated  more  than  it 
derived. 

The  teachings  of  Azariel  aroused  the  opposition 
of  the  Aristotelian  Jews,  and  it  is  thought  by  Isaac 
Myer  that  the  logical  form  of  his  commentary  was 
a  concession  to  this  school  of  thought.  Whatever  its 
motive,  the  fact,  broadly  taken,  is  of  importance  to 
our  inquiry ;  it  shows  that  the  Sephirotic  notion  in  its 
earliest  development  could  not  really  have  been  that 
of  the  categories,  since  it  had  to  be  conformed  to  the 
principles  espoused  by  the  disciples  of  Aristotle. 
The  Jewish  literati  followed  various  schools,  and  the 
influence  attributed  to  the  Stagirite  has  perhaps  been 
exaggerated.  The  votaries  of  the  so-called  secret 
wisdom  were  a  small  minority.  Platonism,  as  it  is 
needless  to  say,  was  very  little  known  in  the  West  at 
the  period  in  question,  though  it  appears  in  the  later 
Kabalism. 

As  regards  both  matter  and  form,  Azariel's  com 
mentary  has  been  the  subject  of  high  praise.  It 
contains  the  doctrine  of  Ain  Soph,  which  is  not  in 
the  Scpher  Yetzirah,  and  it  has  express  views  on  the 
emanation  of  the  Sephiroth,  which  are  said  to  be 
contained  in  Ain  Soph  and  of  no  effect  when 
separated.  Their  emanation  was  possible  because  it 
must  be  within  the  omnipotence  of  the  Deity  to 


1 84  ^he  Jloxtritte  anb  gDihrature  ot  the  Jiabalah 

assume  a  limit.  The  essence  and  the  real  principle 
of  all  finite  things  is  the  Thought  of  the  Supreme 
Being ;  if  that  were  withdrawn,  they  would  be  left  as 
empty  shells,  and  this  is  true  not  only  of  the  visible 
world  but  of  the  intermediaries  between  God  and  the 
creation.  With  his  philosophical  speculations  the 
Kabalist  mingles  something  from  the  fantastic  region, 
attributing,  for  example,  certain  symbolic  colours  to 
the  Sephiroth.  *  Kether  is  "  like  the  Concealed 
Light,"  or  the  light  which  is  veiled  in  darkness, 
the  comparison  intended  being  probably  that  of  a 
luminous  mist.  Binah  is  sky-blue,  because  Binah 
is  the  great  sea  of  Kabalism.  Chokmah  is  yellow, 
Chesed  white  and  Geburah  red  ;  Tiphereth  is  white, 
red,  or  pink,  Netsach  is  whitish-red  and  Hod  reddish- 
white.  Jesod  is  the  combination  of  the  previous 
triad,  while  Malkuth  is  like  the  light  which  reflects 
all  colours.  Azariel  also  countenances  the  Sephirotic 
division  of  the  human  body  which  is  found  in  later 
Kabalism. 

Moses  ben  Nahman,  or  Nachmanides,  was  born 
in  1194  at  Gironne.  Before  he  made  acquaintance 
with  the  Kabalah  he  is  said  to  have  had  a  prejudice 
against  it,  but  he  was  afterwards  an  enthusiastic 
student  both  of  its  speculative  and  practical  parts, 
and  both  by  his  writings  and  influence  contributed 
much  to  its  development.  His  Kabalistic  "  Explana 
tion  of  the  Law"  was  completed  in  1268,  and  among 
his  many  other  works  that  called  the  "  Garden  of 
Delight,"  and  another  on  the  "  Secrets  of  the  Thorah? 

*  According  to  the  Zohar  the  colour  attributions  are  as  follows : 
Kether,  black,  white,  or  colourless ;  Tiphereth,  purple ;  Malkuth,  clear 
sapphire. 


o  he  SHritten  Sllorb  of  Jpabalism  185 

are  full  of  theosophical  speculations.*  He  left 
his  native  land  to  settle  in  Palestine,  where  he 
died,  apparently  at  a  great  age,  but  at  what  precise 
time  is  not  known. 

The  commentary  on  the  Sepher  Yetzirah  which 
passes  under  the  name  of  R.  Eliezer  seems  to  have 
been  the  work  of  a  German  Jew  of  Germesheim,f 
author  of  the  "  Vestment  of  the  Lord,"  one  of  the 
greatest  Kabalists  of  his  period.  That  he  was  the 
instructor  of  Moses  Nachmanides,  as  some  authorities 
have  stated,  is,  however,  a  mistake,  as  Basnage  has 
indicated,  for  he  belongs  to  a  later  date.  His  works, 
which  are  wholly  Kabalistic,  are  (i)  "The  Vestment 
of  the  Lord,"  but  this  has  never  been  printed- 

(2)  "  The    Guide    of  Sinners,"  exhorting    them    to 
repentance   and   amendment  of  life    (Venice,    1543). 

(3)  A  Treatise  on   the   Soul,  cited  by   Mirandola  in 
his  thesis  against  the  astrologers.    (4)  An  explanation 
of  Psalm  cxlv.      (5)  A  commentary  on   the   Sepher 
Yetzirah,  appended   to   the    Mantua  edition  of  that 
work.     The   author   flourished   before  and   after  the 
middle    of    the   fourteenth   century.      Commentaries 
on  the  Sepher   Yetzirah   are   ascribed   to   R.   Aaron 


*  His  other  works  include  an  epistle  on  the  use  of  matrimony  in 
exercising  the  fear  of  God  ;  a  work  on  the  nature  of  man  from  the  text 
of  II.  Samuel,  vii.  19;  a  book  of  Faith  and  Confidence  ;  another  on 
\Var^ ;  and  yet  another  on  the  Pomegranate.  These  are  not  professedly 
Kabalistic,  like  the  ''Treasure  of  Life,"  the  "  Treasure  of  the  Lord," 
the  "  Garden  of  Pleasure"  (mentioned  in  the  text  above),  or  the  mystical 
epistle  on  the  thing  desired.  As  regards  the  practical  part  of  the 
Kalulah,  he  treated  it  with  grave  consideration,  including  its  arts  of 
necromancy,  the  evocation  of  evil  spirits  and  the  methods  of  their 
control. 

t  Basnage,  Histoire  dcs  fuifs,  c.  vii.  t.  v.  p.  1859.  See  also 
Bartolocci. 


186   Uhe  Jlodmie  anb  JDitn-ature  of  the  Jabalah 

the  Great,*  under  the  title  of  "  Book  of  the  Points  "  ; 
R.  Judas  Levi  ;f  Sabbatai  Donolo  ;J  Juda  ben 
Barzillai;§  and  Isaac  the  Blind. 


*  Bartolocci,  i.  15. 

t  Ibid. 

+  Edited  by  M.  Castelli.     Florence,     1880. 

§  Edited  by  M.  Halbertstamm.     Berlin,  1885. 


BOOK  V 

• 

THE     WRITTEN     WORD     OF 
KABALISM  : 

SECOND     PERIOD 

ARGUMENT 

The  divisions  of  the  Zohar  are  set  forth  in  successive  sections  so 
as  to  furnish  a  clear  and  comprehensive  notion  of  the  materials  in 
corporated  by  this  composite  work.  Its  doctrinal  content  is 
established  by  means  of  copious  quotations,  selected  with  special 
reference  to  its  importance  from  an  occult  standpoint. 

I.      THE      BOOK      OF     SPLENDOUR  :      ITS 
CONTENT   AND    DIVISIONS 

THE  cycle  of  the  Sepher  Yetzirah  lies  within  a 
manageable  compass,  and  its  most  important 
dependencies  are  all  available  to  the  student  by 
means  of  Latin  translations.  The  Sepher  Ha  Zohar, 
on  the  other  hand,  is  large  in  itself,  it  has  consider 
able  supplementary  matter  belonging  to  a  later 
period  and  an  extensive  connected  literature ;  it 
has  not  been  translated  into  Latin  nor  into  any 
European  language.*  The  consequence,  especially 

*  The  Italian  reader  may,  however,  be  referred  to  an  analysis  of 
the  Zohar  by  the  Abbe*  de  Rossi,  which  appeared  in  his  Dizionario 
storico  dcgli  Autori  Ebrti.  The  writer  follows  Morin  as  to  the  late 
date  of  the  work. 


i88  ^he  gortrhw  anb  literature  rrf  the  gabalah 

to  esoteric  students,  has  been  very  unfortunate.* 
Great  confusion  has  obtained  in  regard,  firstly, 
to  the  content  of  the  work  and,  secondly,  to 
the  comparative  importance  of  its  various  divisions. 
Part  of  this  must  be  undoubtedly  attributed  to  the 
ambitious  design  of  Rosenroth's  great  collection.  The 
Kabbala  Denudata,  by  attempting  to  cover  much  too 
wide  a  field,  gives  no  adequate  idea  of  the  work 
which  it  is  meant  to  elucidate.  It  attributes  an 
exaggerated,  though  not  inexcusable,  importance  to 
three  tracts  introduced  into  the  body  of  the  Zohar 
and  to  late  commentary  on  these  ;  the  apparatus  in 
the  form  of  a  lexicon  which  fills  most  of  the  first 
volume,  though  it  has  a  -methodical  appearance,  is 
little  more  than  a  chaos,  in  which  late  and  early 
expositors  are  bundled  together  after  the  uncritical 
manner  of  the  period ;  in  a  later  section  undue 
prominence  is  given  to  some  personal  discussions  and 
correspondence  between  the  Editor  and  Henry  More, 
the  English  platonist ;  finally,  the  second  volume 
includes  an  enormous  treatise  on  the  doctrine  of  the 
Revolutions  of  Souls  by  a  Kabalist  of  the  seventeenth 
century.  With  all  its  defects  the  Kabbala  Denudata 
remains  of  real  value,  but  it  would  have  been  beyond 
all  price  had  a  clearer  genius  governed  its  arrange 
ment.  As  it  is,  the  class  of  persons  who  are  most 

*  Outside  esoteric  students  the  case  of  Basnage  may  be  mentioned 
as  that  of  a  well-informed  writer,  whose  history  of  the  Jewish  people 
from  the  time  of  Jesus  Christ  to  his  own  date — the  beginning  of  the 
eighteenth  century — is  memorable  in  several  respects,  yet  whose  know 
ledge  of  the  Zohar  does  not  even  extend  so  far  as  it  might  have  been 
taken  by  Rosenroth.  He  terms  (Livre  iii.  p.  775)  the  Book  of  Con 
cealment  the  first  part  of  the  work,  and  seems  to  regard  it  as  comprised 
simply  in  that  and  the  two  Synods.  In  a  word,  he  had  not  read  the 
preface  to  the  Kabbala  Denudata,  vol.  ii. 


irittm  ofclorli  of  Jpatulism  189 

concerned  with  the  subject  have  been  content  to 
follow  the  lead  of  Rosenroth,  and  to  accept  a  little 
tract  known  as  the  "Book  of  Concealment"  as  the 
fundamental  part  of  the  whole  Zohar,  and  the 
developments  of  that  tract  as  entitled  to  the  next 
highest  consideration.  There  are,  of  course,  many 
sources  of  information,  for  the  most  part  not  of  an 
occult  kind,  by  which  this  false  impression  might 
have  been  corrected — the  work  of  Franck  in  France 
and  that  of  Ginsburg  in  England,  to  name  two  only 
—but  it  has  endured  notwithstanding,  and  the  latest 
instance  is  found  in  the  latest  work  published  by  Dr. 
Papus.  There  the  bibliographical  appendix  states 
that  "  the  only  complete  translation  "  of  the  Zohar  is 
that  of  M.  H.  Chateau,*  whereas  the  enterprise  in 
question  is  confined  only  to  the  tracts  rendered  into 
Latin  by  Rosenroth,  and  these  have  been  available 
for  years  in  the  English  version  of  Mathers.  The 
Book  of  Occultation  and  its  Zoharistic  commentaries 
are  only  accidents  of  the  Zohar,  and  they  furnish  no 
real  notion  of  the  scope  of  that  work.  I  should  add 
that  from  the  occult  standpoint  the  Zohar  itself  is 
only  an  accident  of  the  Kabalah — an  accident  in  the 
life  of  the  alleged  tradition,  much  as,  from  the  stand 
point  of  Latin  Christianity,  the  New  Testament  is 
not  the  exclusive  foundation  of  the  Church  but  an 
event  in  her  development. 

The    Zohar    proper,   as    I    have   stated    in    my 

*  Le  Zohar •,  Traduction  fran^aise  et  Conuncntaire  d<-  M.  II. 
Chateau.  The  bibliographical  annotation  accredit^  the  translator  with 
w///////r-i/jf  Erudition  and  adds  thnt  he  has  carefully  collated  the 
Hebrew  texts,  the  Latin  and  the  other  versions.  The  \\..rk  is  poorly 
produced,  it  l>ears  no  trace  of  the  scli-laiship  imputed  to  it  and  the 
commentary  i.-,  of  slight  value. 


190  "(Ehe  Bortrtne  ztub  JJiterriture  of  the  Jiabalah 

preface,  purports  to  be  a  commentary  on  the  Penta 
teuch,  and  to  indicate  its  general  scope  I  shall  deserve 
well  of  my  readers  if  I  depart  from  my  general  rule 
of  confining  quotations  from  modern  authors  to  foot 
notes  and  summarise  the  admirable  observations  of 
Ginsburg  :  "  The  Zohar  does  not  (apparently)  pro 
pound  a  regular  Kabalistic  system,  but  dilates  upon 
the  diverse  doctrines  of  this  theosophy,  as  indicated 
in  the  forms  and  ornaments  of  the  Hebrew  alphabet, 
in  the  vowel  points  and  accents,  in  the  Divine  Names 
and  the  letters  of  which  they  are  composed,  in  the 
narratives  of  the  Bible  and  in  the  traditional  and 
national  stories.  The  long  conversations  between  its 
author,  R.  Simeon  ben  Jochai,  and  Moses,  which  it 
records  ;  the  short  and  pathetic  prayers  inserted 
therein ;  the  religious  anecdotes ;  the  attractive 
spiritual  explanation  of  Scripture  passages,  appealing 
to  the  hearts  and  wants  of  men  ;  the  descriptions  of 
the  Deity  and  the  Sephirtth  under  the  tender  forms 
of  human  relationship,  comprehensible  to  the  finite 
mind,  such  as  father,  mother,  primeval  man,  matron, 
bride,  white  head,  the  great  and  small  face,  the 
luminous  mirror,  the  higher  heaven,  the  higher  earth, 
&c.,  which  it  gives  on  every  page,  made  the  Zohar  a 
welcome  text-book  for  the  students  of  the  Kabalah, 
who,  by  its  vivid  descriptions  of  Divine  Love,*  could 
lose  themselves  in  rapturous  embraces  with  the 
Deity." 

We  are  placed  by  this  quotation  in  a  position  to 
understand,  firstly,  after  what  manner  the  literature 


*  It  is  in   this   respect   that   the   Zohar  suggests   analogies  with 
Arabian  Sufism. 


The  >l\lrittcn  &iorb  of  Jtabalism  191 

of  Kabalism  affected  the   fervid   imagination   of  the 
Jew  and  the  kind  of  influence  which  it  had  on  him, 
well  illustrated  in  the  fascinating  and  terrible  histories 
of    Messianic   enthusiasm    and    illusion,   as    already 
noted.     We    can    understand,    secondly,    how   much 
there  is  to  correct  in  the  occult  theory  which  has  fixed 
upon  the  Zohar  as  embodying  the  traditional  know 
ledge  of  a  religion  behind  all  religions.     No  system 
responds  less  readily  to  what  is  involved  in  such  a 
conception  ;  no  person  could  be  less   disposed  than 
the  occultist  to  accept  the  full  Kabalistic  notion  of 
religion,   were  he   really  acquainted   therewith.     The 
philosophical  doctrines  which  I  have  sketched  in  the 
early  sections    of   the   previous   book    do    certainly 
connect  superficially  with   occult   philosophy,  which 
itself  seems  to  connect  magnetically  with  everything 
that  is  unsound  in  faith  and  unreasonable  in  doctrine. 
The  connection  in  the  present  instance  can  only  show 
that  neither  is  of  serious  account  in  the  last  analysis. 
That  God   is  immanent  in  the  material  world   is  a 
much  simpler  and   more  rational  hypothesis  than  to 
establish   intermediaries  between    finite  and  infinite, 
which  create  innumerable  difficulties  without  resolving 
any.     Far  more  truly  philosophical  is  the  doctrine  of 
the   Countenances,  which  I  have  described  already  as 
the  chief  glory  of  Kabalism,  but,  so  far  as  all  effect  is 
concerned,  it  has  passed  away,  like  the  Shekinah  from 
the  Holy  Place.     At  the  present  day  we  have  other 
and  better  means  of  excusing  the  anthropomorphisms 
of  the   Bible,  and,  for  the  rest,  no  attempt  to  excuse 
them   has   any  connection,   approximate   or   remote, 
with  the  ground  which  occult  philosophy  assumes  to 
cover. 


192  ^he  jpo-ctriue  anb  ^ittmimt  of  the 

The  Zohar  is  divided  by  Rosenroth,  after  a  some 
what  artificial  manner,  into  internal  and  external 
parts.* 

I.  The  internal  parts  are  those  which  are  com 
bined  together  in  one  scheme.  They  are  : 

(a)  The  text  of  the  Zohar,  properly  so  called. 
Apart   from    all   its    additions    this    is    not    of 
unmanageable  dimensions. 

(b)  The   Sepher  Dzenioutha,  or  Book  of  Con 
cealment. 

(c)  The  Idrah  Kabbah,  or  Greater  Synod. 

(d)  The  IdraJi  Zuta,  or  Lesser  Synod. 

(e)  Sabah  D'  MisJipatim,  the  Discourse  or  Story 
of  the  Ancient  One  in  section  Mishpatim. 

(/)  Midrash  Ruth,  or  Commentary  on  the 
Scriptural  book  of  that  name.  There  are 
fragments  only. 

(g)  Sepher  Ha  Bahir,  the  Renowned  or 
Illustrious  Book,  sometimes  called  Book  of 
Brightness. 

(Jt]   Tosephthoth,  Addenda,  or  Additions. 

(z )  Rayah  Mehenmah,  or  the  Faithful  Shepherd. 

(/)  Haikluth,  i.e.,  Palaces,  Mansions,  or  Abodes. 

(k)  Sithrai  Thorah,  or  Mysteries  of  the  Thorah, 
i.e.,  the  Law. 

(/)  Midrash  Hannelam,  or  the  Secret  Com 
mentary. 

(;«)  Raze  Derazin,  or  Secret  of  Secrets. 

From  this  account  are  omitted  the  following 
tracts  and  fragments,  on  the  ground  that  they  do  not 

*  Kabbala  Demidata,  vol.  ii.  p.  8. 


TThc  oEritteu  SHorb  of  Subaltern  193 

appear  in  the  Mantua  edition  of  circa  1558,  known  as 
the  Little  Zohar  :  * 

(a)  Midrash  Hazeeth,  or  Commentary  on  the 
Song  of  Solomon. 

(b)  Pekoodah,  or  Explanation  of  the  Thorah. 
(V)    Yenookah,  or  the  Discourse  of  the  Youth. 

(d)  Maamar     To    Hasee,     or    the     discourse 
beginning,  Come  and  See. 

(e)  Hibboorah  Kadmad,  or  Primary  Assembly . 

(f)  Mathanithan,  or  Traditional  Receptions. 

The  ground  on  which  these  portions  are  set  aside 
appears  insufficient,  as  the  sections  e,f,  g,j\  and  ;//  in 
the  first  tabulation  are  also  wanting  in  the  Mantua 
edition.  The  Great  Zohar,  the  Cremona  edition 
(1558-60),  contains  all  the  treatises  enumerated  in 
both  the  above  lists.  I  am  not  aware  that  any 
superior  authority  resides  in  the  Mantua  Zohar.f 

II.  As  understood  by  Rosenroth,  the  external 
parts  are  those  superadded  to  the  earlier  editions. 
These  are  : 

(a)  Tikkunim  Hy  Zohar,  or  Supplements  of  the 
Book    of    Splendour,   called    also    the    Ancient 
Supplements,  to  distinguish  them    from   further 
and  later  additions. 

(b)  Zohar  Chadash — the  New  Zohar,  containing 
matters  omitted   in   the  printed  editions.     This 
has  four  parts. 

*  The  Greater  Zohar  being  that  of  Cremona.  Blunt's  Dictionary 
of  Doctrinal  and  Historical  Theology  makes  a  ludicrous  confusion  over 
this  point,  representing  the  Greater  /..har  U  the  commentary  on 
Genc.Ms  and  the  Lesser  as  the  Book  of  Concealment. 

Hebrew  translation  in   MS.  by  ISarachiel  ben  Korba  is  pre 
served  in  the  Libr.iry  of  Oppcnhcimcr. 

O 


194  ^ht  Jtoctrine  an^  $itcratnre  of  the 

(1)  The  text  of  the  Zohar  itself,  scattered 
through  which  is  the  supplement  of  the  tract 
Midrask   Hannelam,    part    of    which   appears 
in  the  original  work. 

(2)  Tikkunim   Chadashim^  or   New  Supple 
ments. 

(3)  Zohar  Shir  Hashirim,  or  Exposition  of 
the  Canticle  of  Canticles  appertaining  to  the 
Zohar. 

(4)  Zohar  Aike,  or  Exposition  of  Lamenta 
tions,  appertaining  to  the  Zohar. 

In  the  above  tabulations  are  contained  every 
thing  of  the  Zohar  that  has  come  down  to  us.*  It 
will  be  unnecessary  to  say  that  its  authenticity  did 
not  increase  with  its  bulk. 

For  the  better  comprehension  of  the  cycle 
Rosenroth  recommends : 

(a)  Sepher  Deruk  Ameth,  that  is,  the  Way  of 
Truth,    being    various    readings    in    the    Zohar 
arranged  according  to  the  Mantuan  edition. 

(b)  Binah  Amri,  or  Words  of  Understanding, 
being  an  elucidation  of  difficulties  in  the  Zohar- 
istic  vocabulary. 

(c)  Zohar  Chamah,  or  Splendours  of  the  Sun, 
being   a   short   commentary    which    follows   the 
Mantua  edition. 

(d)  Pardes  Rimmonim,   or  Garden   of   Pome 
granates,  by  R.  Moses  of  Cordova,  an  explana 
tion     of    numerous    texts     in     the    Zohar    and 
Tikkunim. 

(e)  Mequr    Chokmah,   or    Fount   of   Wisdom, 

*  Kabbala  Denudata,  ii.  p.  9. 


vThc  e&rittcu  fiHorb  ot  gabaliem  195 

forming  a  continuation  or  new  part  of  the  Way 
of  Truth. 

(f)  Marah  Kohen,  or  the  Vision  of  the  Priest, 
a    synoptic   work,   the    greater    part    of    which 
appears  in  the  Kabbala  Denmiata,  vol.  ii.  part  i. 

(g)  Zar  Zahab,  or    a    Crown    of   Gold,    used 
largely  in  the  apparatus  of  Rosenroth. 

(h)  Pathach  Ainitn,  or  Gate  of  the  Eyes,  for 
the  Biblical  quotations  in  the  Zohar  and  Tikkunim. 

Rosenroth  also  highly  recommends  and  largely 
reproduces  the  vast  manuscript  treatises  of  Isaac  de 
Loria,  compiled  by  R.  Chaiim  Vital,  and  further 
acknowledges  his  indebtedness  to  two  other  un printed 
works,  a  Kabalistic  commentary  on  the  whole  Law 
and  a  treatise  entitled  Chesed  Abraham. 

The  Zohar  proper,  the  conversations  of  Simeon 
ben  Jochai  with  the  prophets  by  whom  he  was  visited, 
with  the  disciples  by  whom  he  was  surrounded  and 
of  these,  as  we  have  seen,  with  each  other,  is  not  a 
work  that  is  to  be  judged  by  the  same  standard  as 
the  purely  allegorical  portions  which  have  been  incor 
porated  therewith,  and  to  which  Christian  students  of 
Kabalism  have  given  so  much  prominence.  It  is,  in  the 
first  place,  far  more  natural  and  comprehensible,  less 
distorted  by  monstrous  symbolism,  having  occasionally 
a  touch  of  nature  to  indicate  its  kinship  with  humanity, 
and  condescending  even  at  times  to  a  Rabelaisian 
episode.*  Finally,  it  does  not  betray  much  trace 

hun.hxd  rabbinical  histories,  fables  and  apologues  are 
narrated  in  it,  sometimes  elucidating  a  knotty  point  of  Scripture,  as,  for 
example,  whether  the  destruction  of  animal  life  at  the  Deluge  may 
indicate  that  the  Least*  al.v,  sinned,  MUetinMi  recounting  the  death  of 
a  just  man,  sometimes  de.-cribing  viM.,n>  and  narrating  tales  of  wonder. 


196   ^Iu  Itortrine  anb  ffiteatnre  of  the  $abalalt 

of  that  inner  meaning  which  is  loosely  supposed 
of  its  entire  content,  for  the  most  part,  by  those 
who  would  and  do  likewise  discern  a  latent  trans- 
scendentalism  in  Pantagruelism.*  To  determine 
whether  the  work,  as  a  whole,  is  important  from 
the  standpoint  of  modern  occultism,  I  shall  now 
give  a  short  synopsis  of  its  doctrine  on  several 
vital  questions  of  religion  and  philosophy.  We 
have  seen  that  in  a  certain  manner — somewhat 
occasional  and  informal — it  is  a  commentary  on 
the  Pentateuch,  and  it  is  understood  and  passed 
over  that  it  is  a  forced,  arbitrary  commentary,  which 
has  nothing  in  harmony  with  the  simple  sense  of 
Scripture.  It  would  serve  no  purpose  to  enlarge 
upon  this  fact,  which  applies  to  all  Kabalistic 
exegesis.  The  governing  principle  of  its  inter 
pretation  or  treatment  is  the  existence  of  several 
senses  in  the  written  word.  These  are  differently 
enumerated,  and  there  seems  no  reason  why  they 
should  not  be  extended  indefinitely,  but  they  are 
reducible  broadly  under  three  heads,  which  are 
compared  by  the  Zohar  to  the  garment,  the  body 
which  is  within  it  and  the  soul  which  is  within 
the  body.  "  There  are  those  unwise,"  it  says,  "  who 
behold  how  a  man  is  vested  in  a  comely  garment, 
but  see  no  farther,  and  take  the  garment  for  the 
body,  whereas  there  is  something  more  precious 
[than  either],  namely,  the  soul.  The  Law  has  also 
its  body.  Some  of  the  commandments  may  be 
called  the  body  of  the  Law,  and  the  ordinary 


*  Following  the  lead  of  Eliphas  Levi,  especially  in  Lc  Sorcier  de 
Meudon. 


cjthitteu  (udorb  of  JUbalism  197 

recitals  mingled  therein  are  the  garments  which 
clothe  this  body.  Simple  folk  observe  only  these 
garments,  i.e.,  the  narrations  of  the  Law,  perceiving 
not  that  which  they  hide.  Others  more  instructed 
do  not  give  heed  to  the  vestment  but  to  the  body 
which  it  covers.  And  there  are  the  Wise,  the 
servants  of  the  Great  King,  who  dwell  on  the  heights 
of  Sinai  and  concern  themselves  only  with  the  soul, 
which  is  the  foundation  of  all  and  the  true  Law. 
These  shall  be  ready  in  the  coming  time  to  con 
template  the  soul  of  that  soul  which  breathes  in 
the  Law."* 

This  passage  illustrates  what  I  mean  by  the 
added  depth  and  significance  which  the  Kabalah 
reads  into  the  Bible,f  and  it  is,  I  think,  also  an 
instance  of  the  intellectual  humility  of  the  great 
rabbins  of  the  Kxile  who  confessed  to  a  sense  in 
Scripture  which  exceeded  their  loving  penetration,}: 
so  that  after  all  subtleties  of  exegesis,  all  the 
symposiums  of  synods,  the  Word  of  God  issued 
in  a  mystery,  and  the  key  of  this  mystery  was  the 
reward  of  the  just  and  wise  man  in  the  world 
to  come. 

The  necessity  of  the  manifold  sense  followed 
from  the  insufficiency  of  the  letter.  Simple  recitals 
and  common  words  suggested  only  the  human 
lawgiver  ;  if  those  only  were  the  sum  of  the  Thorah, 
it  would  be  possible  to  equal,  perhaps  even  to  excel 

*  Zohar,  part  iii.  fol.  152^,  Mantua  edition. 

t  I  mean,  of  course,  ex  hypothesi.  The  extracted  sense  was  too 
often  a  ridiculous  illusion. 

t  Mr.  Isaac  Myer  supposes  that  the  higher  soul  of  the  Thorah 
signifies  God  Himself,  but  no  doubt  it  is  the  divine  sense  of  the  Word 
which  gives  knowledge  of  the  Word  Itself. 


198   ^he  gtortrme  anb  |£iteratuu  of  the 

it.  Moreover,  the  sayings  of  Esau,  Hagar,  Laban, 
of  Balaam  and  Balaam's  ass,  could  not  be  "  the 
Law  of  Truth,  the  Perfect  Law,  the  faithful  witness 
of  God."*  And  hence  the  transcendental  meaning, 
in  which  was  the  true  Law,  was  supposed,  to  save 
Israel  from  scepticism,  and  it  postponed  rationalistic 
criticism  for  some  centuries.  It  led  of  course  into 
extravagance  ;  the  second  sense  became  in  its  turn 
inadequate  and  one  more  concealed  was  inferred. 
So  also,  besides  a  general  latent  meaning,  there  was 
that  more  particular  triple  significance  attributed  to 
each  several  word.  As  the  possibilities  suggested 
by  such  a  method  are  infinite,  it  is  unnecessary  to 
say  that  these  senses  were  never  methodised,  or 
that  the  Zohar  does  not  unfold  in  a  consecutive 
form  either  the  allegorical  or  mystical  meaning.  It 
gives  glimpses  only,  and  it  may  be  in  this  sense 
that  the  original  Zohar  is  said  to  have  been  a 
camel's  load.  That  original  was  a  latency  in  the 
minds  of  Kabalistic  rabbins,  but  it  was  never  written 
with  pen. 

As  the  Zohar  establishes  the  necessity  of  the 
concealed  meaning  on  the  insufficiency  of  the 
outward,  arid  as  the  sense  of  such  insufficiency  is 
indubitably  a  late  event  in  the  history  of  sacred 
documents,  we  have  full  evidence  for  deciding  the 
value  of  the  claim  which  it  elsewhere  makes  to  a 
high  antiquity  for  its  interpretation.  Had  the  Jew 
never  come  in  contact  with  culture  outside  Judea 
he  would  never  have  conceived  the  "  tradition,"  and 
the  kind  of  culture  which  helped  him  to  the  sense 

*  Mantua  edition,  fol.   149^. 


vlhe  <&lrittcu  a21orb  of  Jfiabaliem  199 

of  insufficiency  is  not  to  be  looked  for  in  Egypt 
or  in  Babylon,  but  in  the  Hellenised  thought  of 
Rome.* 

Having  established  the  general  principle  of 
Zoharic  exegesis,  let  us  see  next  the  kind  of  light 
which  it  cast  upon  the  letter  of  Scripture  and,  in 
the  first  place,  upon  the  creation  of  man.  We 
know  that,  according  to  Genesis,  he  was  made  of 
the  dust  of  the  earth,  that  the  breath  of  life  passed 
over  him  and  that  he  became  a  living  soul.  The 
Zohar  is  able  to  tell  us  what  transpired  before  this 
event :  "  When  it  entered  into  the  will  of  the  Holy 
One  to  create  man,  He  called  before  Him  many- 
hosts  of  the  superior  angels  and  said  unto  them, 
'  It  is  my  will  to  create  man.'  They  answered  Him, 
'  Man  will  not  continue  one  night  in  his  dignity.'! 
Then  the  Holy  One  extended  His  finger  and  burned 
them.  Thereafter  He  summoned  other  hosts  into 
His  presence,  saying  unto  them,  '  It  is  my  will  to 
create  man.'  They  answered,  '  What  is  man  that 
Thou  rememberest  him  ? '  J  He  said  unto  them, 4  But 
this  man  shall  be  in  our  image,  so  that  his  wisdom 
shall  be  greater  than  your  wisdom.'  When  Rlohim 
had  created  man,  when  man  had  fallen  into  sin, 
going  forth  as  one  guilty,  there  came  Uzza  and 
Azael,  saying  to  the  Holy  One,  *  We  have  an 


*  It  does  not  follow  that  the  Kabalah  is  I'latonism.  It  was  the 
consequence  of  a  contact,  hut  the  growth  and  the  increase  was  in  the 
mind  of  Jewry. 

t  The  reference  i->  t<>  N.  xlix.  12,  and  the  pleasing  anachronism, 
by  which  the  angels  are  made  to  quote  David  before  the  creation 
of  man,  is  paralleled,  if  Poe  may  be  trusted,  by  the  Aristotelian 
phrases  which  Milton  puts  into  the  mouth  of  Lucifer. 

%  Quoting  \\.  viii.  4. 


200   ^hc  JJ-oxtrine  anfc  Ipterature  oi  ihz 

accusation  against  Thee.  Behold  this  son  of  man 
whom  Thou  hast  made,  how  he  hath  sinned  before 
Thee.'  He  answered  them,  '  If  ye  had  been  in 
like  case,  ye  would  have  done  worse  than  he  has.' 
What  then  did  the  Holy  One  ?  He  cast  them 
down  from  their  sacred  station,  even  from  heaven.* 
It  must  be  confessed  that  this  ridiculous  fable  has 
neither  an  inward  sense  nor  an  outward  light. 
We  know  that  Latin  Christianity  has  a  legend  of 
the  fall  of  the  angels  which  connects  that  event  in 
some  misty  manner  with  the  scheme  of  redemption  ; 
it  is  sufficiently  childish,  but  it  speaks  with  the 
tongue  of  seraphs  in  comparison  with  this  history, 
in  which  the  superior  good  sense  of  the  hierarchy 
is  punished  by  burning  and  expulsion.  There  are, 
of  course,  many  other  passages  in  the  Zohar  which 
are  explanatory  of  the  creation  of  man.  The 
breath  of  life  is  said  to  be  the  holy  soul  which  has 
its  origin  from  the  Life  Divine,  and  thus  man  started 
on  his  mundane  course  with  a  sanctified  natural 
life  (Nephes/i)  communicated  from  the  heavenly 
Chaiah.  And  in  this  connection  there  is  a  suggestive 
and  beautiful  thought.  "  So  long  as  that  holy  soul 
communicates  with  the  son  of  man,  he  is  the  well- 
beloved  of  his  Master.  How  many  keepers  watch 
and  encompass  him  on  all  sides  !  He  is  the  symbol 
of  goodness  both  above  and  below,  and  the  Holy 
Shekinah  rests  upon  him.  But  when  he  turns  aside 
from  this  path  the  Shekinah  abandons  him,  the  holy 
soul  has  no  longer  any  intercourse  with  him,  and 
from  the  side  of  the  mighty  evil  spirit  [Samael] 

*  Zohar,  edition  of  Zolkiew,  iii.  2o8a. 


SBrittcu  (ftlorb  ot  gabalism  201 

there  is  put  in  action  a  spirit  which  goes  up  and 
down  in  the  world,  resting  only  in  those  places 
from  which  sanctity  has  withdrawn,  and  thus 
the  child  of  man  is  corrupted."*  We  learn  also 
that  the  Throne  of  Glory  had  six  steps,-)-  and 
man  was  created  on  the  sixth  day  "  because  he  is 
worthy  to  sit  on  this  throne."J  There  are  again 
obscure  references  to  the  original  physical  condition 
of  humanity.  Adam  and  Eve  were  created  side  by 
side,  not  face  to  face ;  that  is,  seemingly,  there  was 
not  a  "  desire  of  the  female  towards  the  male."§  It 
does  not,  however,  appear  that  the  awakening  of  this 
desire  was  the  real  cause  of  the  lapse  from  perfection, 
a  notion  quite  discordant  with  rabbinical  views  upon 
the  sanctity  and  symbolism  of  sexual  intercourse. 
The  Kabalah  and  the  mysticism  which  led  up  to  it 
offer  a  very  high  ideal  of  the  nuptial  state.  It  is 
true  that  in  the  fragments  of  the  Bahir  the  sin  of 
Eve  is  presented  as  sexual,  but  if  this  is  to  be  under 
stood  literally  it  was  one  of  monstrous  intercourse. 
According  to  Maimonides,  however,  the  serpent 
represented  the  imaginative  faculty. 

Enough  has  been  quoted  to  show  that  there  is  a 
curious  theosophic  lore  in  the  Zohar  concerning  the 
creation  of  man,  but  there  is  nothing  of  any  real 
occult  significance  ;  it  is  suggestive  occasionally  with 
the  suggestion  that  is  never  wanting  in  fable  and 
mythos,  and  it  is  most  interesting  within  its  own 
sphere,  which  is  that  of  mythology  and  not  certainly 

•  Cremona  ed.,  part  ii.  fol.  2ia. 

t  Ex  Hypothcsi.     The    prototype  of  Solomon's  throne,  as  des 
cribed  in  I.  Kings  x.  19.     The  Throne  of  Glory  is  in  the  Briatic  world. 
£  Cremona  ed.,  part  ii.  fol.  25<j. 
§  Ibid.  fol.  26a. 


202   'xjlhe  Doctrine  sub  fEifcratur*  of  the  gabalah 

of  mystic  religion.  We  may  take  the  inquiry  a  step 
further  and  ascertain  what  the  Zohar  teaches  con 
cerning  the  state  of  Adam  prior  to  his  fall.  We  are 
told  that  he  was  clothed  "  in  the  garment  of  the 
Upper  Splendour,"*  for  which  Jehovah  Elohim  after 
wards  substituted  the  garment  of  skin,  thus  indicating 
that  the  fall  was  followed  by  a  change  of  physical 
condition.  There  is  no  need  to  mention  that  this 
legend  prevailed  in  many  Eastern  mythologies  ;  it  is 
not,  on  the  one  hand,  the  special  inheritance  of  the 
Kabalah,  nor  can  the  latter  show  that  it  really  came 
by  it  through  an  oral  succession  from  early  times. 
As  often  happens  in  the  Zohar,  there  is  a  poetical 
inference  from  the  fable  which  is  better  than  the  fable 
itself.  "  The  good  deeds  which  the  son  of  man 
accomplishes  in  this  world  draw  from  the  Light  of 
Glory  above,  and  he  prepares  for  himself  a  garment 
against  the  day  when  he  shall  enter  that  world  and 
appear  before  the  Holy  Blessed  One."f 

The  Fall  of  man  in  the  Zohar,  as  in  its  con 
nections,  insists  upon  the  fact  that  it  was  the  serpent 
Samae'l  who  brought  death  into  the  world  ;  but  this 
serpent  is  to  some  extent  allegorical,  and  the  lapse 
was  a  lapse  of  the  soul  by  the  desire  of  the  things 
below  it.  The  death  seems  to  be  spiritual,  for  it  is 
said  that  "the  serpent  takes  away  the  higher  souls 
\Ncshamoth\  of  all  flesh."  J  The  tree  of  the  trespass 
was  banished  from  Paradise,§  which  sounds  fantastic  ; 
but  the  tree  is  allegorical  and  moves  with  man 

*  Fol.  I03<£.     Cf.  Mantua  Edition,  ii.  229^. 

t  Ibid.    Cf.  the  parallel  mythos  of  Talmudic  times,  which  represents 
good  deeds  as  creating  good  angels. 
J  Cremona  ed.,  part  i.  fol.  280. 
§  Ibid.  fol.  126*. 


IThc  (idrittcu  c&orb  at  |iabalism  203 

through  his  pilgrimage.  Adam  also  was  the  cause  of 
the  eternal  banishment  of  his  descendants.  In 
dealing  with  other  sections  of  the  Zohar  we  shall  have 
occasion  to  refer  again  to  the  mythos  of  the 
Fall  and  shall  observe  that  it  is  further  involved  by 
the  introduction  of  monstrous  elements. 

If  we  turn  now  to  the  mystery  of  original  sin, 
we  shall  find  that  it  is  intensified  rather  than 
explained.  In  Psalm  xci.  11,  it  is  said:  "  He  shall 
give  His  angels  charge  over  thee,  to  keep  thee  in  all 
thy  ways,"  which  passage  the  New  Testament  applies 
in  a  special  manner  to  Christ.  The  Zohar  explains  it 
as  follows :  "  When  man  comes  into  the  world  there 
appears  in  him  at  that  moment  the  evil  spirit  which 
always  arraigns  him.  .  .  .  This  evil  spirit  never 
forsakes  man  from  the  day  that  he  is  born  into  the 
world.  But  the  good  spirit  comes  to  the  man  from 
the  day  that  he  is  made  clean.  When  does  a  man 
become  clean  ?  At  the  age  of  thirteen  years.  Then 
he  joins  himself  with  both  spirits,  one  on  the  right 
hand  and  one  on  the  left,  even  the  good  to  the  right 
and  the  evil  to  the  left,  and  these  are  the  two  spirits 
which  are  appointed  ever  to  remain  by  man.  If  he 
strive  after  perfection  the  evil  spirit  is  restrained,  so 
that  the  right  rules  the  left,  and  then  both  unite  to 
secure  him  in  all  his  ways."*  It  follows  from  this 
statement  that  the  child  is  delivered  over  to  iniquity 
in  an  especial  manner,  as  it  does  not  receive  the  good 
angel  until  it  reaches  the  age  of  puberty. 

Closely  connected  with  the  doctrines  of  the  Fall 
of  man  and  original  sin  is  that  of  the  Messiah,  who, 

*  Ibid.  fol.      ^. 


204  Ihe  gtortrine  nub  $ti*tfttare  of  the  Jabalah 

for  Jew  and  Christian  alike,  is  a  deliverer  and  an 
atonement,  and  much  that  we  find  in  the  Zohar 
recalls  a  host  of  Talmudic  speculations  on  the  same 
subject.  In  common  with  all  souls,  that  of  the 
Messiah  is  pre-existent.  It  was  the  spirit  of  the 
King  Messiah  which  brooded  over  the  waters  at  the 
creation.*  He  governs  both  above  and  below, 
gladdening  the  heart  of  Israel,  but  a  judgment  on 
idolatrous  nations.  When  the  souls  in  the  Garden  of 
Eden  behold  the  just  suffering  for  their  Master  they 
return  and  inform  the  Messiah.  "  When  they  inform 
Him  of  the  afflictions  of  Israel  in  exile,  and  of 
sinners  in  Israel  who  reflect  not  that  they  may  know 
their  Lord,  He  lifts  up  His  voice  and  weeps,  as  it  is 
written,  '  He  was  wounded  for  our  transgressions ' ' 
[Is.  liii.  5].f  We  read,  again,  of  a  Palace  of  Wicked 
Children  in  the  Garden  of  Eden,  to  which  the 
Messiah  repairs,  and  there  invokes  upon  Himself  all 
the  tribulations  of  Israel.  "  If  He  had  not  thus 
taken  upon  Himself  the  punishments  for  the  trans 
gressions  of  the  law,  no  man  would  be  able  to  endure 
them."J:  More  curious  and  more  significant  is  the 
passage  which  follows  immediately.  "Whilst  the 
children  of  Israel  abode  in  the  Holy  Land,  they 
averted  from  the  world  all  pain  and  suffering  [?  in 
the  sense  of  punishment  for  trespass]  by  their 
prayers,  worship  and  sacrifice,  but  now  this  is  per 
formed  by  the  Messiah,"  yet  so  long  only  as  man 
remains  in  the  world,  for  he  must  receive  his  retribu 
tion  afterwards.  As  it  does  not  appear  that  Jews  or 
Gentiles  really  escape  the  consequences  of  their  mis- 

*  Cremona  ed.,  part  i.  fol.  127^.      f  Ibid,  part  ii.  fol.  95^. 
£  Ibid. 


The  cBritten  eBorb  of  giabalism  205 

deeds,  this  notion  of  vicarious  atonement  is  quite  of 

the  fantastic  order.     Elsewhere,  however,  it  is  said 

that  the  righteous  are  the  sacrifice  and  the  atonement 

of  the  world.     We  must  remember  that  the  Zohar  is 

a  medley,  and  that  medleys  are  not  in  correspondence 

at  all  points.     I  must  be  content  to  refer  briefly  to  a 

very  long  passage   which    has   been   the   subject   of 

much  controversy  as  to  the  date  of  the  Zohar  and  is 

concerned  with  the  appearance  of  the  Messiah.     It 

will  be  a  time  of  woe  and  salvation,  and  of  special 

affliction  for  Israel,  but  "  he  who  is  persistent  in  the 

faith  shall  attain  the  joy  of  the  King."     After  this 

tribulation    further    distress    shall    follow    from    the 

combination  of  nations  and  kings,  and  then  a  pillar 

of  fire  extending  from  heaven  to  earth  shall  become 

visible  to  all  men,  at  which  time  the  Messiah  shall 

come  forth  from  the  Garden  of  Eden  and  appear  in 

Galilee,    which    was    the    first     province    to    suffer 

destruction  in  the  Holy  Land  and  is  the  first,  therefore, 

in  which  He  must  reveal  himself.     Thence  He  shall 

stir  up  war  against  the  whole  world.     There  will  be 

many  signs  in  the  heavens,  stars  warring  against  the 

star  of   the  East,  after  which    the   Messiah  will   be 

invisible  for  twelve  months  and  at  the  expiration  of 

that  period  will  be  taken  up  into  heaven  to  receive 

the  Crown  of  the  Kingdom.     He  will  again  reveal 

Himself  and  wage  war  against  the  whole  world,  &c.* 

It    is    idle   to   suppose   that    such    a    Messianic 

doctrine,f    or,    speaking    generally,   the    scheme    of 


*  Zohar,  ii.  fol.  7,  Amsterdam  edition. 

t  For  very  full  information  on  the  whole  subject,  see  A.  Hilj,vn- 
feld's  MessiasJutLrorunti  Leipsic,  1869,  and  Vincent  II.  Stant«>n's 
"Jewish  and  Christian  Mi»iah,"  Edinburgh,  1885. 


206  ^oEhe  Bodrine  anii  literature  of  the  Ipabalah 

Kabalistic  scriptural  interpretation,  can  have  the 
slightest  occult  importance  ;  it  is  essentially  a  Jewish 
scheme,  supposing  the  exclusive  claim  of  Jewry  to 
the  divine  election,  and  the  last  source  to  which  we 
can  look  for  confirmation  of  the  romantic  notion  that 
a  transcendental  doctrine  of  absolute  religion  has 
been  perpetuated  from  the  far  past.  Understood  as 
it  actually  is,  a  thesaurus  of  Jewish  theosophy, 
Jewish  visionary  doctrines,  Jewish  yearning  and 
aspirations,  which,  because  Jewry  is  part  of  humanity, 
is  in  contact  at  a  thousand  points  with  the  aspiration 
and  yearning  of  the  whole  heart  of  the  world,  it  is  a 
priceless  memorial,  but  it  loses  all  its  significance  in 
the  attempt  to  misplace  it.  Because  it  is  theosophical 
although  Jewish,  it  has,  of  course,  its  points  of 
connection  with  other  occult  systems,  and  not  infre 
quently  with  matters  which  are  beyond  the  range  of 
that  which  is  understood  by  occultism,  in  a  word, 
with  the  things  of  mysticism,  as,  for  example,  in  its 
transcendental  speculations  on  the  identity  of  subject 
and  object  in  God  and  perhaps  even  in  the  mystic 
experience  of  the  soul.  It  enters  a  good  deal 
into  that  strange  doctrine  of  correspondences 
which  we  meet  everywhere  in  the  domain  which 
is  embraced  in  the  higher  understanding  of  the 
term  Magic.  It  might  be  described  indeed  as 
the  extended  mystery  of  correspondence.  "  What 
soever  is  found  on  earth,"  says  the  Zohar,  "  has  its 
spiritual  counterpart  on  high  and  is  dependent  on 
it.  When  the  inferior  part  is  influenced,  that  which 
is  set  over  it  in  the  upper  world  is  also  affected, 
because  all  are  united."  From  this  doctrine  the  art 
of  talismanic  magic  is  the  first  logical  consequence. 


vTlu  SHritteu  ©lorb  of  £ubali-?m  207 


Elsewhere  it  is  said  :  "  That  which  is  above  is  in 
the  likeness  of  that  which  is  below,  and  the  likeness 
of  that  which  is  below  is  in  the  sea  [regarded  as 
the  mirror  of  the  inferior  heaven],  but  all  is  one."* 
This  is,  of  course,  identical  with  the  pseudo-Hermetic 
maxim,  Quod  supaius  cst  sic  u  t  quod  infer  ins  et  quod 
inferius  est  sicut  quod  supcrius,  &c.,  which  may  even 
have  been  formulated  along  the  linos  of  the  Zohar. 

The  peculiar  philosophical  system  of  the  Kabalah 
of  course  receives  a  very  full  development  in  its  chief 
literary  memorial,  but  we  are  sufficiently  acquainted 
with  the  heads  of  this  system  to  make  extensive 
quotation  superfluous.  The  primordial  manifestation 
of  the  unknown  God  was  the  production  of  a  luminous 
point,  which  is  Kether,  and  it  seems  certain  that 
hereby  the  Zohar  understands  the  Ego,  for  it  says 
expressly  that  this  was  the  light  which  Elohim 
created  before  everything.  The  nucleus  of  the 
luminous  point  is  Thought,  which  is  the  beginning 
of  all  things.  In  its  union  with  the  Spirit  f  it  is 
called  Binah,  and  the  diffusion  of  this  Spirit  brings 
forth  a  Voice,  which  in  turn  produces  the  Word,  for 
the  Zohar  is  a  philosophy  of  the  Word.*  In  this 
Thought  the  forms  of  all  things  were  evolved.  The 
light  of  the  Divine  Consciousness  is  therefore  the 
first  matter  of  the  manifested  universe.  "  When 
FJ  him  willed  to  make  the  world,  He  produced  a 
concealed  light  from  which  all  the  manifested  lights 
were  afterwards  radiated,  thus  forming  the  superior 

*  7.<»har,  Cremona,  part  ii.  fol.  f)a.  Cf.  parl  i.  fol.  gi<i.  "  A-  it 
is  in  nil  tiling  below,  so  it  is  above." 

t  Kether  is  itself  the  Spirit,  according  to  the  Sepher  Yctzirah. 
Mion.i  c<l.,  part  i.  fol.  131^. 


208  ^he  IBoxtnn*  anb  literature  of  the  giabalah 

world,"  or  Atziluth^  from  which  the  other  worlds 
were  subsequently  emanated.*  It  is  said  also,  as 
we  have  elsewhere  seen,  that  "  in  the  beginning  was 
the  will  of  the  King,  prior  to  any  existence  which 
came  into  being  through  emanation  from  this  will."f 
With  this  will  is  connected  the  notion  of  thought 
as  the  principle  of  all  things,  but  unrealised  in  the 
primordial  condition,  and  contained  within  itself. 
The  expansion  of  thought  produces  spirit,  which 
next  assumes  the  title  of  intelligence,  in  which  state 
the  thought  is  no  longer  self-centred.  The  spirit 
in  the  course  of  its  development  produces  a  voice 
or  word,  but  the  thought,  the  understanding  and 
the  word  are  one  alone,  while  the  thought  itself 
is  bound  up  with  Ain  Soph  and  is  never  separated 
therefrom.  This  is  the  significance  of  the  Scriptural 
statement  that  Jehovah  is  one  and  his  Name  is  one.J 
Among  the  most  suggestive  and  also  the  most 
recurrent  teachings  is  the  importance  and  universality 
of  man  in  the  scheme  of  things.  For  the  Zohar, 
as  for  the  poet,  the  world  is  "a  disguised  humanity," 
and  "  all  that  interests  a  man  is  man."  It  was  the 
form  of  celestial  man  that  God  assumed  at  the 
beginning  of  his  manifestation.  This  is  the  Shekinah, 
this  the  Mercabah  or  chariot,  and  this  also  is  the 
sacred  name  of  Jehovah.  The  form  of  man  com 
prises  all  that  is  in  heaven  or  on  earth,  and  prior 
to  its  manifestation  no  form  could  subsist.  It  is 
the  perfection  of  faith  in  all  things  and  the  absolute 
form  of  all.  It  is  the  summary  and  the  most  exalted 
term  of  creation.  As  soon  as  man  appeared  all  was 

*  Ibid.,  fol.  30,  24^,  98^.         t  Cremona  ed.,  part  i.  fol.  56. 
£  Zohar,  i.  246^,  Mantua. 


vLhe  u&ntten  SQorb  of  Siabalism  209 

completed,  both  of  the  world  above  and  the  world 
below.  Even  those  physical  parts  which  he  puts 
aside  ultimately  are  conformed  to  the  secrets  of  the 
Supreme  Wisdom.  So  also  in  his  threefold  nature 
he  is  a  faithful  image  of  that  which  passes  on  high, 
and  the  souls  of  the  just  are  above  all  the  powers 
and  all  the  servitors  that  are  on  high.*  There  is 
even  a  certain  withdrawn  and  inconceivable  sense 
in  which  man  through  Sephirotic  mediation  brings 
the  latens  Deitas  into  manifestation,  and  as  all  things 
exist  and  subsist  for  man,  so  the  problem  of  evil 
in  the  universe  is  solved  in  his  interest,  as  it  is  the 
condition  of  his  development ;  while  with  a  Catholic 
comprehensiveness  which  has  no  parallel  in  any 
sacred  literature  the  scheme  of  human  existence 
is  regarded  by  the  Zohar  with  an  optimism  strange 
in  its  profundity,  from  man's  pre-existence  in  the 
archetypal  world  to  the  beatific  vision,  the  absorp 
tion  and  the  eternal  nuptials  which  await  him. 

The  pneumatology  of  the  Zohar  is  more  fully 
developed  in  the  connections  of  that  work  than  in 
the  commentary  proper.  The  spiritual  man  is  the 
highest  degree  of  creation  ;  in  him  it  was  completed 
and  he  comprises  everything.  The  soul  originates  in 
the  Supreme  Intelligence.  "At  the  time  when  the 

Holy  Blessed  One  desired  to  create  the  world , 

He  formed  all  the  souls  which  should  be  given  after 
wards  to  the  children  of  men."f  It  is  also  stated 
expressly  that  the  soul  enters  the  body  when  her  time- 
has  come  with  protestations,  grief  and  unwillingness. 

*  Zohar,  Mantua  edition,  ii.  fol.  42  ;  iii.  n^  ;  iii.  144,,  ;  ijj.  4ya  . 
1910;  ii.  I42a;  i.  91^. 
t  Ibid.,  part  ii.   fol.  43^. 
P 


210  ^he  Sortrine  nub  ffijiterahtre  of  the 

It  is  equally  clear  that  it  acquires  nothing  by  the 
experience,  unless  it  be  the  dignity  of  an  ordeal 
which  has  been  withstood  successfully,  for  "  all  that 
souls  learn  in  this  world  they  knew  already  before 
they  came  into  the  world,  which  follows  from  the 
Talmudic  doctrine  that  they  were  acquainted  with 
the  whole  Thorah*  Their  proper  end  is  the  return 
into  Deity,  but  there  are  various  abiding  places  and 
destinies  for  the  higher  spiritual  principles,  and  even 
in  this  life  they  may  depart  from  an  unclean  person.f 
It  may  be  added  that  souls  are  created  in  pairs,  but 
these  pairs  do  not  invariably  come  at  the  same  time 
into  the  world. 

In  the  excerpts  which  have  been  now  given  the 
Zohar  appears  at  its  best,  but  I  may  observe  in 
conclusion  that,  again  after  the  manner  of  a  medley,  it 
combines  with  things  precious  others  that  are  of  little 
value  and  not  a  few  that  are  indescribably  foolish. 
There  are,  for  example,  gross  absurdities  in  the 
pneumatological  portions.  When  the  soul  enters  the 
body  of  the  infant  it  cannot  find  room  and  has  to 
await  the  growth  of  its  envelope  in  considerable  dis 
comfort.  Points  of  this  kind  might  be  multiplied 
indefinitely.  They  extend  to  all  departments  of  the 
doctrine  and  obtain  especially  concerning  the  resur 
rection  of  the  dead,  which,  according  to  the  Zohar,  as 
there  is  no  need  to  say,  is  the  restitution  of  the 
physical  body  together  with  its  proper  soul.  As  this 
resurrection  can  take  place  only  in  Palestine  the 
bones  of  Israel  in  exile  will  be  transported  thither. 

*  Ibid.,  part  iii.  fol.  280.    Compare,  however,  Franck,  La  Kabbah, 
p.  236,  where  the  very  opposite  teaching  is  ascribed  to  the  Zohar. 
t  Ibid,,  part  i.  fol.  376. 


TTht  SBritteu  <$Iorb  of  gUbaliem  211 

It  may  be  added  that  the  Zohar  took  the  Sepher 
Yetzirah  into  its  heart  of  hearts,  dwelt  upon  it, 
extended,  magnified,  almost  transformed  its  sym 
bolism.  The  Hebrew  letters  which  figure  in  the 
earlier  tract  as  the  instruments  of  creation  are  for 
it  the  ciphers  or  vestures  of  the  written  law,  the 
expression  of  the  Thorah,  and  the  Thorali  is  the 
archetype  of  all  the  worlds.  Whether  or  not  we 
are  able  to  agree  with  Franck  that  the  Sepher 
Yetzirah  ends  where  the  Zohar  commences,  and 
that  they  are  the  exact  complements  of  each  other, 
it  is  certain  that  the  instinct  of  the  early  students 
who  singled  the  "  Book  of  Formation  "  from  the 
rest  of  the  pre-Zoharic  Midrashim  was  not  at 
fault  in  regarding  it  as  the  head  and  source  of 
Kabalism. 

But,  in  conclusion,  as  there  was  an  occultism 
and  mysticism  in  Israel  prior  to  the  Sepher  Raziel 
and  to  the  Zohar,  so  both  were  incorporated  in 
the  latter;  both  in  the  process  underwent  a  species 
of  transmutation,  and  as  I  venture  to  think  the 
process,  like  that  "sea-change"  of  the  poet,  produced 
something  more  strange  and  rich..  There  are, 
at  least,  flights  of  mystic  thought  and  aspiration 
in  this  great  book  of  theosophy  which  are 
unknown  to  Gebirol  and  Ibn  Ezra,  and  are  more 
direct  and  strong  in  their  appeal  to  the  inner  con 
sciousness  of  man  in  this  dawn  of  the  twentieth 
century  than  in  the  famous  commentary  of  Azariel  or 
in  the  School  of  Isaac  the  Blind.  And  to  confess 
this  is  to  confess  out  of  hand  that  the  Zohar  has  still 
a  message  for  the  mystic.  Perhaps  all  that  is  of 
value  therein  would  be  contained  within  a  few  leaves 


212   ^ht  JJxrctnitt  anb  literature  of  the  gabalah 

but,  as  said  of  the  choicest  poems  of  Coleridge,  it 
should  be  bound  in  pure  gold. 


II.    THE   BOOK   OF   CONCEALMENT 

The  Sepher  Dzenioutha,  the  Book  of  Conceal 
ment  or  of  Occultation,  to  which  so  much  prominence 
has  been  given  by  occult  writers,  is  not,  therefore,  as 
they  occasionally  seem  to  suppose,  the  beginning  of 
the  great  cycle  entitled  the  Zohar.  In  the  Sulzbach 
edition,  edited  by  Rosenroth,  it  begins  at  fol.  i?6b 
and  ends  at  fol.  ij$b  of  the  second  volume.  Most 
editions  are  either  paged  in  correspondence  with  one 
another  or  refer  readers  to  the  pagination  of  the 
previous  codices.  Among  early  codices  that  of 
Lublinensis  follows  the  Cremona  edition,  which, 
though  used  by  Rosenroth  for  his  references,  was 
regarded  by  him  as  inferior  to  the  simultaneous  or 
slightly  prior  edition  of  Mantua.  The  latter  he  terms 
invariably  Codex  correctus.  From  the  silence  of 
occultists  on  the  subject  of  the  Zohar  proper  it  might 
be  judged  that  they  do  not  regard  it  as  of  great 
occult  importance  ;  but  there  is  a  simpler  explanation, 
which,  as  seen,  is  not  far  to  seek.  The  "  Book  of 
Concealment,"  on  the  contrary,  though  small  in  its 
dimensions,  is  of  the  highest  occult  importance ;  it 
is  regarded  as  the  root  and  foundation  of  the  Zohar,* 
as  it  is  generally  understood,  and  also  as  the  most 
ancient  portion  of  that  collection,  which  is  almost 

*  Mathers,  "  Kabbalah  Unveiled,"  p.   14. 


TTIu  (Uttritten  (SQorb  of  gUbitliem  213 

provably  correct.*     It  has  been  said  further  that  it  is 
a    theogony   comprised    in    a    few    pages,   but   with 
developments  more  numerous  than  the  Talmud.f     In 
a  word,  for  occultists,  the  Book  of  Concealment  and 
the  Book  of  Formation  are  the  fountain  heads  of  all 
Kabalism.     The    Hebrew    term    which    is    rendered 
Mystery,  Concealment,  or  Modesty  by  Isaac  Myers,  is 
given   as   Concealed    Mystery   by    Mathers,   without 
pretending  that  the  version  is  actually  literal.     For 
Sepher  Deznioutha    Rosen  roth   gives    Liber    Occulta- 
tionis.\     The  work  is  concerned  with  the  manifestation 
of  the  Divine  Being  as  the  term  of  His  concealment 
in  the  eternity  which  preceded   manifestation.     The 
first  chapter  deals  with  the  development  of  the  Vast 
Countenance,  the  image  of  the  Father  of  all  things, 
the     Macroprosopus,    when     equilibrium    had     been 
established  in  the  universe  of  unbalanced  forces.  This 
Countenance,    which    is    referred    to    Kether,   or   the 
Crown,  is  compared  by  the  Zoharistic  commentators 
to  the  tongue  of  a  balance,  lingula  exauiinis.     When 
equilibrium    obtained,   the   Countenance   was    mani 
fested,  the   Ancient  of   Days  appeared,   God    issued 
from    His   concealment.  §      This    symbolism    of    the 
balance  depicting  the  harmony  of  the  universal  order 

*  Myers,  "  Qabbalah,"  p.   118. 

t  Eliphas  Le"vi,  />  Livre  des  Sfilendcurs,  preface,  p.  ii.  ; 
"  Mysteries  of  Magic,"  2nd  ed.,  p.  97. 

t  Rabbi  Loria  says  that  it  refers  to  things  which  are  secret  and 
should  be  kept  secretly,  and  compares  Prov.  xxv.  2,  The  Glory  of  God 
is  to  conceal  the  word.  But  he  also  supposes  nn  allusion  to  the  cirmni 
stances  under  which  the  work  is  reported  to  have  been  composed— 
namely,  during  the  concealment  of  R.  Simeon  for  twelve  years  in  a 
cave. 

§  See  Cotnmentarius  Gtntralis  Methodicns  .  .  .  }  Libro 
Emek  HammeUih  in  Kabbala  Denudata,  vol.  ii.  p.  47  et  seq.  of  the 
second  part. 


214  ^he  Jl-oxtritte  anb  Ipterattire  of  iht  Jabalah 

is  the  key-note  of  the  treatise,  which,  in  its  own 
words,  is  the  book  describing  "  the  libration  of  the 
balance."  The  balance  is  suspended  in  the  place 
which  is  no  place,  that  is  to  say,  in  the  abyss  of 
Deity,  and  it  is  said  to  be  the  body  of  Macroprosopus, 
referring  to  the  SephirothVJ\$&Qm  and  Understanding,* 
which  are  the  sides  of  the  balance.  The  Countenance, 
which  no  man  knoweth,  is  secret  in  secret,  and  the 
hair  of  the  head  is  like  fine  wool  hanging  in  the 
equilibrium.  The  eyes  are  ever  open,  and  the  nostrils 
of  the  Ancient  One  are  as  two  doors  whence  the 
Spirit  goes  forth  over  all  things.  But  the  dignity  of 
all  dignities  is  the  beard  of  the  Countenance,  which 
also  is  the  ornament  of  all.  It  covers  not  only 
Macroprosopus  as  with  a  vestment,  but  also  the 
Sephiroth  Wisdom  and  Understanding,  called  here  the 
Father  and  the  Mother,f  descending  even  unto 
MicroprosopuS)  and  it  is  divided  into  thirteen  portions, 
flowing  down  as  far  as  the  heart,  but  leaving  the 
lips  free.  Blessed  is  he,  says  the  text,  who  receiveth 
their  kisses !  From  the  thirteen  portions  there 
descend  as  many  drops  of  purest  balm,  and  in  the 
influence  of  all  do  all  things  exist  and  all  are 
concealed. 

*  "  For  Wisdom  is  on  the  right  upon  the  side  of  Benignity  ;  Under 
standing  is  on  the  left  upon  the  side  of  severity ;  and  the  Crown  is  the 
tongue  in  the  centre  which  abideth  above  them." — Ibid.,  p.  48.  The 
meaning  of  the  symbolism  is  that  the  equilibrium  between  Justice  and 
Mercy  must  be  assumed  before  the  universe,  having  man  for  its  object, 
could  become  possible,  and  the  source  of  this  notion  must  be  sought  in 
the  Bcreshith  Rabbah.  Compare  also  the  teaching  of  the  pre-Zoharic 
Midrash  Conen,  according  to  which  the  Grace  of  God  prevents  the 
opposing  forces  out  of  which  the  world  was  created  from  mutual 
destruction. 

f  Ie.,  Abba  and   Aima. 


Written  SUorb  of  JUbaliam  215 

The  "  Book  of  Concealment,"  though  small,  as 
I  have  said,  in  its  compass,  is  full  of  digressions 
which  destroy  its  continuity  and  make  the  sense 
difficult  to  extract  In  addition  to  the  manifestation 
of  MacroprosopuS)  it  shows  how  the  Most  Ancient 
One  expanded  into  Microprosopus,  to  whom  is 
referred  the  name  Tetragrammaton,  whereas  "  I  am  " 
is  that  of  the  first  Ancient*  The  letter  I,  which 
is  the  first  of  the  Tetragrammaton^  corresponds  to 
the  Sephira  Wisdom,  the  supernal  H  to  Under 
standing,  of  which  Microprosoptis  is  the  issue, 
corresponding  to  the  six  Sephiroth  from  Mercy  to 
the  Foundation  inclusive,  and  referred  to  the  letter 
V.  It  will  be  seen,  therefore,  that  the  primal 
manifestation  of  Deity,  which  is  connected  with 
the  conception  of  the  Crown,  has  no  other  name 
than  that  which  proclaims  His  self-existence,  and 
that  the  Hebrew  Jehovah  is  in  a  sense  a  reflected 
God.  Macroprosopiis,  although  manifesting  in  the 
Crown,  is  still  regarded  as  ever  hidden  and  concealed, 
by  way  of  antithesis  in  respect  of  Microprosopus,  who 
is  both  manifest  and  unmanifest  When  the  life- 
giving  influx  rushes  forth  from  the  Ancient  One, 
amid  the  intolerable  refulgence  of  that  great  light 
the  likeness  of  a  head  appears.  The  distinction 
between  the  two  Countenances  is  the  distinction  of 
the  profile  and  the  full  face,  for  whereas  the  God  of 
reflection  is  manifested  fully,  the  Great  Countenance 
is  only  declared  partially,  whence  it  is  perhaps  inexact 


*  Compare  Bk.  ii.  §  4,  where  it  is  stated  that  AHIH  is  referred  to 
Kether,  i.e.,  as  representing  the  world  of  ,-////  Soph  ;  and  the  Tetra- 
grammaton  to  Atziluth  generally.  There  are  various  aspects  of  the 
•ymbottsm,  l>ut  they  arc  not  really  in  contradiction. 


216  ^he  IBrurttine  anfc  $iterature  of  the 

to  speak  of  Microprosopus  as  a  reflection,*  as  He 
is  rather  a  second  manifestation,  taking  place  in 
the  archetypal  world. 

From  the  sides  of  the  Lesser  Countenance 
depend  black  locks,  flowing  down  to  the  ears  ;  the 
eyes  have  a  three-fold  hue,  resplendent  with  shining 
light ;  and  a  three-fold  flame  issues  from  the  nostrils. 
The  beard,  considered  in  itself,  has  nine  portions, 
but  when  that  of  Macroprosopus  sheds  down  its  light 
and  influence  they  are  found  to  be  thirteen.  Though 
the  Ineffable  Name  is  referred  to  the  Vast  Coun 
tenance,  it  is  also  said  that  the  manifestation  of 
Microprosopus  is  represented  by  the  ordinary  letters 
of  the  Tetragam,  his  occultation  by  the  transposition 
of  the  letters. 

The  Book  of  Concealment  is  described  in  its 
closing  words  as  the  withdrawn  and  involved  mystery 
of  the  King,  and  as  it  is  added  that  "  blessed  is  he 
who  cometh  and  goeth  therein,  knowing  its  paths 
and  ways,"  there  is  urgent  need  for  some  explanation 
of  its  significance.  This,  as  we  shall  see  later  on, 
was  unfolded  in  many  rabbinical  commentaries, 
which  are  all  confessedly  posterior  to  the  period  of 
the  public  promulgation  of  the  Zohar.  There  are, 
however,  two  works  possessing  the  same  authority 
as  the  Book  of  Concealment,  for  which  also  the 
same  authorship  is  claimed,  and  constituting  exten 
sions  of  that  work.  The  first  of  these  will  be  the 
subject  of  some  consideration  in  the  next  section. 

*  It  is  the  device  of  Eliphas  Le"vi  and  connects  with  his  method 
of  interpretation. 


The  aiBritteu  SBorb  of  ^abalism  217 


III.     THE   GREATER    HOLY   SYNOD 

The  Book  of  Concealment  has  been  simplified 
to  the  utmost  in  the  preceding  account.  It  may  be 
now  added  that  it  is  anonymous  ;  it  quotes  no 
rabbinical  writers  and  has  no  references  by  which 
a  clue  to  its  date  may  be  obtained.  It  has,  however, 
two  characteristics  which  give  it  the  appearance  of 
a  much  older  document  than  those  which  follow 
it  immediately,  and  are  designed,  as  already  said, 
to  develop  and  expound  it.  These  are  its  rudeness 
and  the  mutilations  which  it  would  appear  to  have 
undergone.  The  first  translator,  Rosenroth,  supplies 
the  gaps  and  omissions  thus  occasioned  by  con 
jectural  words  and  passages  placed  within  brackets, 
but  even  with  these  it  is  in  an  exceedingly  faulty 
state.  The  treatise  now  under  consideration  is  in 
most  respects  entirely  different.  It  possesses  almost 
a  literary  aspect,  begins  in  narrative  form,  methodises 
the  ensuing  dialogues  in  a  manner  which  is  perfectly 
explicit  and  stands  in  need  of  few  emendations.  It 
deals,  of  course,  with  the  barbarous  symbolism  of  the 
preceding  book  and  so  far  is  admittedly  repellent  to 
modern  taste,  a  fact  which  has  been  noted  by  at  least 
one  sympathetic  critic  who  was  himself  an  elegant 
and  highly  suggestive  writer.*  The  first  point  which 
otherwise  calls  for  notice  is  that  the  Greater  Sacred 
Synod  claims  Rabbi  Simeon  Ben  Jochai  as  the  author 
of  the  "  Book  of  Concealment,"  and  itself  contains 
the  discourses  of  this  Master  in  Israel,  delivered  in  a 

*  Eliphas  Levi,   I.a  Clef  des  Grands  Mysterts. 


218  ^he  Jlxrrtiitu  anb  f£it*ratnre  of  the  Jiabalah 

field  beneath  trees  in  the  presence  of  his  disciples, 
namely,  Rabbi  Eleazar,  his  son,  Rabbi  Abba,  Rabbi 
Jehuda,  Rabbi  Josi,  the  son  of  Jacob,  Rabbi  Isaac, 
Rabbi  Chiskiah,  the  son  of  Rav,  Rabbi  Chia,  Rabbi 
Josi  and  Rabbi  Jisa.  These  are  historical  names 
belonging  to  the  period  which  succeeded  the 
destruction  of  Jerusalem. 

For  an  account  of  Rabbi  Simeon  himself  we 
must  have  recourse  to  tract  Sabbath  of  the  Talmud, 
Babylonian  recension,  which  contains  the  narrative 
which  I  will  here  give  in  its  substance  : 

"  On  a  certain  occasion  R.  Jehudah,  R.  Josi  and 
R.  Shimeon  were  sitting  together,  and  with  them  also 
was  Jehudah,  the  son  of  proselytes.  R.  Jehudah 
opened  the  conversation,  saying, '  How  beautiful  are 
the  works  of  this  nation  (the  Romans).  They  have 
established  markets  ;  they  have  built  bridges ;  they 
have  opened  bathing-houses.'  Whereupon  R.  Josi 
was  silent.  But  R.  Shimeon  ben  Jochai  answered, 
saying :  '  All  these  things  have  they  instituted  for 
their  own  sake.  Their  markets  are  gathering-places 
for  harlots ;  they  have  built  baths  for  their  own 
enjoyment,  and  bridges  to  collect  tolls  from  those 
who  cross  them.'  Jehudah,  the  son  of  proselytes, 
repeated  this  conversation,  and  it  came  to  the  ears  of 
Caesar,  who  proclaimed :  *  Jehudah,  who  extols  us, 
shall  be  extolled  ;  Josi,  who  said  nothing,  shall  be 
exiled  to  Saphoris  (i.e.,  Cyprus) ;  Shimeon,  who  has 
disparaged  us,  shall  be  put  to  death.'  R.  Shimeon 
and  his  son  then  went  out  and  hid  themselves  in  the 
lecture-hall,  but  afterwards  in  a  cave,  where  a  miracle 
took  place,  a  date-tree  and  a  spring  of  water  being 
raised  up  for  them.  They  laid  aside  their  garments 


aSritten  SSorb  of  gtobalism  219 

and  sat  covered  with  sand  up  to  their  necks,  studying 
the  whole  time,  and  assuming  their  vestures  only  at 
prayer-time,  for  fear  that  the  same  might  wear  out. 
In  this  wise  they  spent  twelve  years  in  the  cave,  when 
Elijah  came  to  the  opening,  and  said :  '  Who  will 
inform  the  son  of  Jochai  that  Caesar  is  dead  and  his 
decree  is  annulled?'  Hereupon  they  left  the  cave."* 
The  secret  wisdom  embodied  in  the  Zohar  is  supposed 
to  have  been  the  fruit  of  the  long  seclusion  enforced 
upon  R.  Simeon  by  the  Roman  decree. 

The  Talmud  mentions  expressly  the  learning 
obtained  during  this  period,  but  without  specifying  its 
kind,  According  to  the  tradition  of  the  Kabalists 
the  "  Book  of  Concealment "  was  the  first  form  in 
which  it  was  reduced  to  writing.  The  discourses  of 
the  "  Greater  Sacred  Synod  "  were  recorded  by  Rabbi 
Abba  and  so  also  in  the  case  of  the  "  Lesser  Synod." 
When  the  conversation  was  about  to  begin  a  voice 
heard  in  the  air  showed  that  the  Supernal  Synod  had 
assembled  in  heaven  to  hearken,  and  the  com 
mentators  add  that  the  souls  of  the  just  gathered 
round  the  speakers,  coming  from  their  rest  in 
Paradise,  and  the  Holy  Shekinah  of  the  Divine 
Presence. 

The  explanations  and  developments  concern  the 
world  in  its  void  state  before  the  manifestation  of 
the  Supreme  Countenance,  the  conformations  of  that 
Countenance,  or  Macroprosopus,  as  also  of  Micro- 
prosopus,  the  Lesser  Countenance,  and  after  what 
manner  the  inferior  depends  from  the  superior.  It 
must  be  said  that  the  expounding  and  the  extension 

*  Rodkinson,  Babylonian  Talmud,  vol.  i.  pp.  57-59. 


220  ^Ihe  Jtodrint  anb  Ipteratxtre  of  tht  Jtabalalt 

neither  are  nor  assume  to  be  explanatory  in  the  sense 
that  they  unfold  the  real  significance  of  the  symbolism. 
As  a  fact,  the  treatise  ends,  like  all  treatises  concerned 
with  the  mysteries  of  initiation,  by  saying  that  he 
is  blessed  who  has  known  and  beheld  the  concealed 
words  and  does  not  err  therein.  In  an  account  like 
the  present,  which  does  not  even  pretend  to  be 
synoptic,  it  is  impossible  to  attempt  a  tabulation 
of  the  singular  typology  with  which  the  Greater 
Synod  is  concerned,  and  it  should  be  noted  in  this 
connection  that  the  few  modern  writers  on  Kabalism 
who  claim  to  speak  magisterially  and  from  within 
an  occult  circle  of  knowledge,  may  have  shown  us 
glimpses  in  one  or  two  rare  instances  of  the  system 
on  which  the  typology  is  constructed,  but  have  done 
nothing  to  elucidate  and  therefore  to  recommend 
it  to  our  understanding.  It  is  a  question  which  it 
is  hard  to  approach  from  the  side  of  the  literal  sense, 
and  to  the  occult  student,  in  the  absence  of  initiation, 
the  esoteric  aspects  of  the  literature  are  chiefly  a 
subject  of  curious  speculation.  Fortunately  it  has 
other  aspects  which  make  it  deserving  of  considera 
tion,  or  there  would  be  no  purpose  in  the  present 
inquiry. 

The  unbalanced  forces  of  the  universe,  the  world 
in  its  void  state,  are  considered  under  the  symbolism 
of  the  kings  who  reigned  in  Edom  before  a  king 
was  raised  up  to  rule  over  the  children  of  Israel, 
that  is  to  say,  before  the  emanation  of  Microprosopus* 


*  The  Kabalah  represents  the  present  universe  as  preceded  by 
others  which  passed  away  quickly.  According  to  Basnage,  this  notion 
also  occurs  in  the  Talmud,  where  it  is  said,  with  characteristic  crass- 
ness,  that  when  God  was  alone,  in  order  to  kill  time,  He  diverted 


GErittcu  fi&orb  of  gabalism  221 

At  that  time  there  was  neither  beginning  nor  end, 
and  the  Edomite  kings  were  without  subsistence. 
According  to  Rosenroth  this  signifies  the  fall  of 
creatures  partly  into  a  state  of  rest,  such  as  that 
of  matter,  and  partly  into  one  of  inordinate  activity, 
such  as  that  of  the  evil  spirits,  in  which  case  we 
are  dealing  not  so  much  with  cosmology  as  with 
the  legends  of  souls.  So  also  when  the  "  Greater 
Synod  "  represents  the  Ancient  of  Ancients  creating 
and  producing  the  essence  of  light,  the  same  inter 
preter,  who  speaks  with  the  authority  of  immense 
knowledge,  as  regards  at  least  the  literature  of 
Kabalism,  observes  that  the  reference  is  to  the  Law,* 
in  other  words,  to  the  letters  of  the  alphabet,  by  the 
transpositions  of  which  the  Law  was  recorded  subse 
quently.  For  the  rest,  symbolism  of  this  order  is 
not  simplified  by  its  multiplication,  and  the  record 
of  Rabbi  Simeon's  discourses  is  only  the  "  Book  of 
Concealment "  dilated  in  a  glass  of  vision.  Compare, 
for  example,  the  description  of  Macroprosopus  with 
the  indications  on  the  same  subject  contained  in  the 
previous  section.  "White  are  His  garments  as  snow, 
and  His  aspect  is  as  a  face  manifested.  He  is  seated 
upon  a  throne  of  glittering  brightness,  that  He  may 
subdue  them.  The  whiteness  of  his  bald  head  is 
extended  into  forty  thousand  worlds,  and  from  the 

Himself  by  the  formation  of  divers  worlds  which  He  destroyed  forth 
with.  The  uccessive  attempts  at  creation,  by  which  Deity 
became  experienced  and  at  last  produced  the  existing  physical  order. 
— Histoire  des  Juifs,  t.  ii.  p.  712.  Compare  also  the  rirki  of 
R.  Eliezer,  according  to  which  the  basis  of  the  existing  universe  is  the 
repentance  of  God  over  His  previous  failures.  This  work  is  referred  to 
an  early  period  of  the  ninth  century.  For  other  Zoharic  references 
to  this  subject  see  Zohar  ii.  2Oa,  Mantua. 

*  Understood  as  the  essence  of  the  light. 


222   ^oEhe  Jtortrine  arib  literature  of  the  gabaiah 

light  of  the  whiteness  thereof  shall  the  just  receive 
four  hundred  worlds  in  the  world  to  come."  The 
Vast  Countenance  itself  is  said  to  extend  into  three 
hundred  and  seventy  myriads  of  worlds.  The  brain 
concealed  within  the  skull  is  the  Hidden  Wisdom, 
and  the  influence  of  this  Wisdom  passes  through  a 
channel  below  and  issues  by  two  and  thirty  paths. 
The  hair  of  Macroprosopus  radiates  into  four  hundred 
and  ten  worlds,  which  are  known  only  to  the  Ancient 
One.  The  parting  of  the  hair  is  described  as  a  path 
shining  into  two  hundred  and  seventy  worlds,  and 
therefrom  another  path  diffuses  its  light,  and  in 
this  shall  the  just  shine  in  the  world  to  come. 
When  the  forehead  of  Macroprosopus,  which  is  the 
benevolence  of  benevolences,  is  uncovered,  the 
prayers  of  the  Israelites  are  received,  and  the  time 
of  its  uncovering  is  at  the  offering  of  evening  prayer 
on  the  Sabbath.  The  forehead  extends  into  two 
hundred  and  seventy  thousand  lights  of  the  lights 
of  the  supernal  Eden.  For  there  is  an  Eden  which 
shines  in  Eden ;  it  is  withdrawn  in  concealment, 
and  is  unknown  to  all  but  the  Ancient  One.  The 
eyes  of  the  Vast  Countenance  differ  from  other  eyes, 
having  neither  lids  nor  brows,  because  the  guardian 
of  the  supernal  Israel  knows  no  sleep.  The  two  eyes 
shine  as  a  single  eye,  and  were  that  eye  to  close  even 
for  one  moment  the  things  which  are  could  subsist  no 
longer.  Hence  it  is  called  the  open  eye,  ever  smiling, 
ever  glad.  In  the  nose  of  Macroprosopus  one  of  the 
nostrils  is  life,  and  the  other  is  the  life  of  life.  With 
regard  to  the  Beard  of  the  Vast  Countenance,  called 
otherwise  the  decoration  of  all  decorations,  neither 
superiors  nor  inferiors,  neither  men  nor  prophets  nor 


TThe  ftUritteu  SEorb  of  $abnli$m  223 

saints,  have  beheld  it,  for  it  is  the  truth  of  all  truths. 
Its  thirteen  forms  are  represented  as  powerful  to 
subdue  and  to  soften  all  the  stern  decrees  of  the  judg 
ments.  Thirteen  chapters  of  the  "  Greater  Synod  " 
are  devoted  to  the  consideration  of  this  subject, 
including  the  number  of  the  locks  in  each  portion, 
the  number  of  hairs  in  each  lock  and  the  number 
of  worlds  attributed  to  them.  This  ends  the 
discourse  concerning  Macroprosopus,  and  the  treatise 
proceeds  thence  to  the  consideration  of  the 
Lesser  Countenance.  The  conformations  of  Micro- 
prosopus  are  disposed  from  the  forms  of  the  Vast 
Countenance,  and  His  components  are  expanded 
on  either  side  under  a  human  form.  When 
the  Lesser  Countenance  gazes  on  the  Greater,  all 
inferiors  are  restored  in  order,  and  the  Lesser  is 
vaster  for  the  time  being.  There  is  an  emanation 
from  the  Greater  towards  the  skull  of  the  Lesser,  and 
thence  to  numberless  lower  skulls,  and  all  together 
reflect  the  brilliance  of  the  whiteness  of  this  emanation 
towards  the  Ancient  of  Days.  From  the  brain  of 
Macroprosopus  an  influence  descends,  from  the  hair 
an  emanation  of  splendour,  from  the  forehead  a 
benevolence,  from  the  eyes  a  radiance,  from  the 
nostrils  a  spirit  and  the  spirit  of  life,  from  the 
cheeks  gladness,  and  all  these  fall  upon  the  Lesser 
Countenance.  From  the  brain  of  Microprosepus 
there  are  emanations  of  wisdom,  emanations  of 
understanding,  and  emanations  of  knowledge ;  in 
each  lock  of  the  hair  of  Microprosopus  there  are  a 
thousand  utterances  ;  his  forehead  is  the  inspection  of 
inspection,  and  when  it  is  uncovered  sinners  are 
visited  with  judgment.  For  the  lesson  of  the 


224   ^The  grrrtrine  ani  JJiterature  ot  the  gabalalt 

"  Greater  Synod "  is  that  wrath  may  dwell  with 
Microprosopus,  but  not  in  the  Ancient  of  Days.  So 
also  the  eyes  of  the  Lesser  Countenance  possess  lids  ; 
when  the  lids  are  closed  judgments  subdue  the 
Israelites  and  the  Gentiles  have  dominion  over  them. 
But  the  eyes,  when  they  are  open,  are  beautiful  as 
those  of  the  dove,  for  they  are  then  illuminated  by 
the  good  eye.  With  one  of  those  pathetic  touches 
which  soften  occasionally  for  a  moment  the  unyielding 
lines  of  Kabalistic  symbolism,  it  is  said  that  two 
tears  dwell  in  the  eyes  of  the  Lesser  Countenance, 
and  the  Holy  of  Holies,  when  He  wills  to  have 
mercy  on  the  Israelites,  sends  down  these  two  tears 
to  grow  sweet  in  the  great  sea  of  wisdom,  and  they 
issue  therefrom  in  mercy  upon  the  chosen  people. 
The  special  seat  of  severity  in  Microprosopus  is  the 
nose,  and  judgment  goes  forth  therefrom,  except 
when  the  forehead  of  the  Vast  Countenance  is 
uncovered,  when  mercy  is  found  in  all  things. 

As  in  the  case  of  the  Ancient  of  Ancients,  the 
discourse  appertaining  to  the  beard  of  Microprosopus 
fills  many  chapters,  full  of  strange  scholia  on  various 
passages  of  Scripture,  and  details  minutely  the  con 
formations  of  its  nine  divisions,  what  it  conceals  of  the 
Lesser  Countenance,  what  it  permits  to  be  manifested 
with  observations  on  the  descent  of  a  holy  and 
magnificent  oil  from  the  beard  of  Macroprosopus  and 
a  general  description  of  the  correspondences  and 
differences  of  the  two  adornments. 

It  should  be  observed  that  the  body  of  Micro 
prosopus  is  androgyne,  and  as  at  this  point  the 
symbolism  is  concerned  very  largely  with  the  sexual 
organs,  it  will  be  obvious  that  it  becomes  still  more 


SEritten  (SBorb  of  Jlabaliem  225 

discordant  with  modern  feeling,  and  exceeds  occasion 
ally  what  it  is  considered  permissible  to  express  in 
English.  A  modern  symbologist  has  said  that  nature 
is  not  ashamed  of  her  emblems,*  and  there  is  no 
doubt  that  for  the  Kabalist  the  body  of  man  was 
peculiarly  sacred,  whence  for  him  there  would  be 
nothing  repellent  in  dealing  exhaustively  with  its 
typology.  But  it  will  be  unnecessary  in  a  descriptive 
summary  to  do  more  than  allude  to  it.  The  student 
who  desires  to  pursue  the  subject  must  be  referred  to 
the  Latin  version. 

The  sum  of  the  whole  treatise  may  be  given  in 
the  words  of  the  original.  "  The  Ancient  of  Ancients 
is  in  Microprosopus ;  all  things  are  one ;  He  was  all 
things  ;  He  is  all  things  ;  He  will  be  all  things ;  He 
shall  know  no  change ;  He  knoweth  no  change  ;  He 
hath  known  no  change. "f  Thus  God  in  manifestation 
is  not  really  separable  from  God  in  concealment,  and 
if  the  symbolism  depict  Him  in  the  likeness  of 
humanity,  it  is  by  way  of  similitude  and  analogy. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  "  Greater  Synod,"  we 
are  told  that  three  of  the  company  died  during  the 
deliberations,  and  their  souls  were  beheld  by  the 
remainder  carried  by  angels  behind  the  "  veil 
expanded  above."  J 

Amidst  all  its  obscurity  and  uncouthness  there 
are  sublime  touches  in  this  treatise.  The  Kabalah  is 
perhaps  the  first  of  all  books  which  appeared  in  the 


*  Gerald  Massey  on  phallic  symbols,  in  a  letter  contributed  to  the 

Spiritualist. 

t  Idra  Rabba,   sen  Synodus  Magna,   sectio  xxxix.    par.    920,    in 
Kabbala  Denudata,  t.  ii. 

J  Ibid.,  $  xlv.  par.  1138. 

Q 


226  ^he  Jtortritt-e  anfc  Jfiterature  .of  the 

western  world  reciting  with  no  uncertain  voice  that 
God  is  altogether  without  mutation  and  vicissitude — 
that  wrath  and  judgment  are  of  man  alone,  placing 
thus  a  new  construction  on  the  divine  warning, 
"Judge  not,  lest  ye  be  judged";  and  showing  also 
the  higher  significance  of  the  not  less  divine  promise, 
"  I  will  repay."  Never  for  the  true  Kabalist  could 
this  mean  that  God  would  repay  the  sinner  in  his  own 
spirit,  outrage  for  outrage,  hate  for  hate.  The  repay 
ment  of  God  is  the  compensation  of  the  everlasting 
justice  or  the  gratuity  of  the  everlasting  bounty.  In 
a  sense  the  writers  of  the  Zohar  anticipated  the  most 
liberal  conclusions  of  modern  eschatology.*  Amidst 
the  firebrands  of  the  Papal  Church,  it  promulgated 
for  the  first  time  the  real  meaning  of  the  forgiveness 
of  sins. 


IV.    THE    LESSER    HOLY   SYNOD 

Similar  in  most  of  its  characteristics  to  the  more 
extended  discourse  which  preceded  it,  the  "  Lesser 
Holy  Synod,"  or  Idra  Zuta,  is  termed  by  Rosenroth 
the  Swan's  song  of  Simeon  ben  Jochai,  a  supple 
ment  to  the  subjects  not  exhaustively  treated  in 
the  Greater  Assembly.  As  the  master's  death  is 
recorded  at  the  end  of  the  treatise,  the  translator's 
words  must  be  understood  of  the  instruction  it 
contains  and  not  of  its  setting.  The  Synod  consists 

*  Franck  summarises  the  position  as  follows : — Nothing  is 
absolutely  evil,  nothing  is  accursed  for  ever,  not  even  the  archangel  of 
evil,  for  a  time  will  come  when  his  name  and  angelic  nature  will  be 
restored  to  him.  La  Kabbah,  p.  217. 


The  Sfclrittcn  GEorfc  of  gabaliem  227 

of  the  survivors  from  the  former  conclave,  with  the 
addition  of  Rabbi  Isaac.  Simeon  begins  by  affirming 
that  it  is  a  time  of  grace ;  he  is  conscious  of  his 
approaching  end  ;  he  desires  to  enter  without  con 
fusion  into  the  world  to  come ;  and  he  designs  to 
reveal  those  sacred  things  in  the  presence  of  the 
Shekinah  which  hitherto  have  been  kept  secret. 
Rabbi  Abba  is  appointed  as  scribe,  and  Simeon  is  the 
sole  speaker.  The  discourse  still  concerns  Macro- 
prosopus  and  Microprosopus,  with  the  correspondences 
between  them,  but  it  sketches  only  the  subject  of  the 
concealed  Deity  and  deals  at  great  length  with  the 
manifestation  of  the  Lower  Countenance.  In  both 
cases,  as  would  indeed  be  expected,  it  repeats, 
substantially  and  verbally,  much  of  the  preceding 
Synod  ;  but  it  gives  some  additional  symbolism,  as, 
for  example,  concerning  the  three  heads  of  Macro- 
prosopus,  "  one  within  the  other  and  the  other  above 
the  other,"  and  at  a  later  stage  a  very  considerable 
extension  of  symbolism  regarding  the  first  manifesta 
tion  of  the  Ancient  One  under  the  form  of  male 
and  female,  which  is,  in  fact,  the  emanation  or 
"  forming  forth  "  of  the  supernal  Sephiroth — Chokmah, 
or  Wisdom,  and  Binah,  or  Understanding.  So  also  the 
instruction  concerning  Microprosopus^  when  it  is 
not  a  close  reflection  of  the  "  Greater  Synod," 
deals  with  His  androgyne  nature  and  His  union 
with  the  Bride,  who  cleaveth  to  the  side  of  the  male 
until  she  is  separated,  et  accedat  ut  copuletitr  cum  eo, 
face  to  face.  Out  of  this  comes  the  great  Kabalistic 
doctrine  of  the  sexes,  so  much  in  advance  of  its 
time,  in  whatever  Christian  century  we  may  elect  to 
place  the  literature,  namely,  that  male  and  female 


228  ^he  Jportrine  anb  literature  ot  the  Jabalah 

separated  are  but  mutilated  humanity,  or,  as  it 
expresses  the  idea,  are  but  half  the  body,  that  no 
blessing  can  rest  on  what  is  mutilated  and  defective, 
that  no  divided  being  can  subsist  for  ever,  nor  receive 
an  eternal  blessing,  "  for  the  beauty  of  the  female  is 
completed  by  the  beauty  of  the  male."*  The  con 
junction  of  the  supernal  male  and  female  is  said  to 
be  in  the  place  called  Zion  and  Jerusalem,  which 
further  on  are  explained  to  signify  Mercy  and  Justice. 
"  When  the  Bride  is  united  to  the  King  in  the 
excellence  of  the  Sabbath,  then  are  all  things  made 
one  body.  And  then  the  most  Holy  God  sitteth  on 
His  throne,  then  are  all  things  called  the  complete 
name,  the  Holy  Name.  When  this  Mother  is  united 
to  the  King,  all  the  worlds  receive  blessing  and  are 
found  in  the  joy  of  the  universe."! 

About  this  point  the  discourse  of  Simeon  ceases 
and  Rabbi  Abba,  the  scribe,  still  in  the  act  of  writing 
and  expecting  that  more  should  follow,  heard  nothing. 
But  afterwards  a  voice  cried,  "  Length  of  Days  and 
Years  of  Life,"  and  yet  another,  "  He  seeketh  Life 
from  Thee."  A  fire  abode  in  the  house  the  whole 
day  ;  when  it  was  taken  away  Rabbi  Abba  saw  that 
the  holy  light,  the  holy  of  the  holy  ones,  had  been 
wrapped  away  from  the  world ;  he  lay  upon  his 
right  side  and  a  smile  shone  upon  his  face.  Rabbi 
Eleazar,  the  son  of  Simeon,  rose  up  and  taking  his 
hands,  kissed  them.  "  But  I,"  says  Abba,  "  licked 
the  dust  under  his  feet"  It  is  added  that  during 


*  Idra  Zuta,  seu  Synodus  Minor,  §  viii.  passim.  The  foundation 
of  this  mysticism  concerning  the  nuptial  state  must  be  sought  in 
Talmudic  literature. 

t  Ibid. ,   §  xxii.  par.  746  et  seq. 


Written  Qaorb.  of  ^abaliom  229 

his  obsequies  the  bier  of  the  deceased  saint  was 
raised  in  the  air,  and  fire  shone  about  it,  while  a 
voice  cried,  "Enter  in  unto  the  nuptial  joys  of  R. 
Simeon." 

It  will  be  seen  that  in  spite  of  a  somewhat 
monstrous  symbolism  the  Kabalistic  narratives  have 
at  times  the  touch  of  nature  which  gives  them  kinship 
with  this  world  of  ours. 


V.  THE    DISCOURSE  OF   THE    AGED    MAN 

The  prominence  given  by  Rosen  roth  to  the 
Book  of  Concealment  and  its  sequels  was  not  without 
its  warrant,  as  they  are  certainly  the  most  arresting, 
I  might  almost  say  sensational,  of  all  the  tracts 
imbedded  in  the  Zohar.  Those  which  remain  to  be 
examined  will  now  be  taken  in  the  order  in  which 
they  are  placed  in  the  Kabbala  Denudata,  and  their 
inferior,  or  at  least  more  sober,  interest  will  appear 
by  the  short  analyses  which  will  accompany  their 
tabulation.  The  first  to  be  enumerated  is  that  entitled 
Sabah  D'Mishputim  (Historia  de  sene  quodam  in 
sectione  Mishpatini).  The  term  Sabah  signifies 
ancient  man  and  Mishpat  is  judgment,  referring  to 
Exodus,  from  the  beginning  of  c.  xxi. — "  Now  these 
are  the  judgments  "—to  the  conclusion  of  c.  xxiv. 
The  discourse  occurs  in  the  Cremona  edition,  pt.  ii. 
fol.  43,  col.  169;  in  the  Mantua,  vol.  ii.  fol.  94 ;  in  the 
Sulzbach,  vol.  ii.  94^.  It  narrates  a  conversation 
between  the  prophet  Elias  and  Rabbi  Simeon  ben 
Jochai  on  the  subject  of  the  ordeals  and  metempsy 
chosis  of  the  soul,  to  which  there  are  allusions  at 


230  ^he  Jlarttine  attb  |pterature  ot  iht 

some  length  in  the  Bereshith  section  of  the  Zohar 
proper.  Isaac  de  Loria's  elaborate  doctrine  concerning 
the  "  Revolutions  of  Souls "  is  drawn  from  this 
discourse  of  Elias  with  the  mystic  light  of  Kabalism. 
We  shall  have  again  to  consider  this  doctrine  in 
connection  with  later  Kabalism,  in  order  to  disabuse 
occultists  of  the  idea  that  any  reasonable  view  of 
reincarnation  is  contained  in  the  Kabalistic  writings. 
A  specimen  of  the  original  text  may,  however,  be 
given  in  this  place,  separated  from  many  technicalities 
which  would  be  burdensome  to  the  beginner. 

"  All  souls  go  up  with  the  revolutions  or  windings 
[that  is,  are  subjected  to  the  law  of  transmigration], 
but  the  children  of  man  do  not  know  the  ways  of 
the  Holy  One ;  they  know  not  how  He  judges 
the  children  of  man  every  day  in  all  time,  how 
the  spirits  (Neskamotk,  the  higher  soul,  anima 
animce  of  Christian  theology)  ascend  to  be  judged 
before  they  descend  into  this  world,  or  again 
how  they  go  up  to  judgment  after  that  they 
have  departed  from  this  world  ;  to  how  many 
revolutions  and  mysterious  ordeals  they  (or  their 
essential  substances)  are  subjected  by  the  Holy 
Blessed  One  ;  how  many  naked  souls  and  how  many 
naked  spirits  enter  the  other  world,  yet  not  through 
the  King's  curtain  ;  how  many  worlds  revolve  with 
them  and  how  the  world  itself  turns  about  in  many 
concealed  wonders.  And  the  children  of  men  do 
not  know,  neither  do  they  comprehend,  how  souls 
revolve  like  a  stone  which  is  cast  from  a  sling,  even 
as  it  is  written  :  '  And  the  souls  of  thine  enemies 
them  shall  He  sling  out,  as  out  of  the  middle  of  a 
sling.'  But  while  it  is  permitted  to  reveal,  now  is  the 


SEritten  c^orb  of  Jtabalism  231 

time  to  make  known  all  these  mysteries,  and  how 
all  the  spirits  go  out  from  that  great  tree  and  from 
that  mighty  river  which  flows  from  Eden,  but 
the  lesser  spirits  (Ruachin,  Ruach,  the  anima  or 
pysche)  issue  from  the  small  tree.  The  higher  spirit 
comes  from  above,  the  lesser  from  below,  and  they 
are  united  as  male  and  female."* 

The  Kabalistic  division  of  the  soul  into  five 
parts  has  been  given  in  Book  II.  of  the  present  work 
with  the  necessary  elucidations.  The  basis  of  the 
doctrine  is  set  forth  as  follows  in  the  "  Discourse  of 
the  Ancient  One  "  : 

"  When  the  child  of  man  is  born  into  this  world 
there  is  appointed  to  him  animated  life  (Nepkesh) 
from  the  side  of  the  animals,  the  clean  side,  from 
the  side  of  the  Holy.  Wheels  (the  Auphanim,  a 
Kabalistic  order  of  angels,  assigned  by  some  attribu 
tions  to  Chokmah}.  Should  he  deserve  more  there 
is  appointed  to  him  a  rational  spirit  (Ritac/i)  from 
the  side  of  the  Holy  Living  Creatures  (Chaioth  Ha 
Kadosh,  another  order  of  angels,  commonly  attributed 
to  Kcther,  which  seems,  however,  inconsistent  with 
this  tabulation).  Should  he  still  deserve  more  there 
is  appointed  to  him  a  higher  spirit,  even  from  the 
side  of  the  Thrones  (i.e.,  Aralim,  the  order  of  angels 
ascribed  to  Binah,  whence  come  the  higher  souls, 
according  to  the  Bereshith  section  of  the  Zohar 
proper).  These  three  are  the  mother,  the  male 
servant  and  the  handmaid,  even  the  Daughter  of 
the  King.  Should  he  deserve  yet  more  there  is 
appointed  to  him  an  animal  soul  (Nrfhesh)  in  the 

*  Zohar,  Cremona  ed.  part  ii.  fol.  450. 


232   ^he  Doctrine  anb  Jpiterature  of  the  Jiabalah 

way  of  Atzilnth  (that  is,  the  lowest  essence  of  the 
supernal  portions  of  the  soul),  from  the  side  of 
the  Daughter,  /echida,  the  only  one  (Jechida  is  the 
quintessence,  the  highest  nature  of  the  soul),  and 
the  same  is  called  Daughter  of  the  King.  If  he 
still  deserve  more,  there  is  appointed  to  him  the 
rational  spirit  (Ruacti)  of  Atziluth,  from  the  side 
of  the  Central  Pillar  (that  is,  Benignity,  the  middle 
pillar  of  the  Sephirotic  Tree),  and  he  is  called  the 
Son  of  the  Holy  Blessed  One,  whence  it  is  written  : 
4  Ye  are  the  children  of  the  Lord  your  God  (Deut. 
xiv.  i).  And  if  he  deserve  even  more  there  is 
appointed  to  him  a  higher  spirit  (Neskamah)  from 
the  side  of  Abbah  (the  supernal  Father,  attributed 
to  Chokmah  in  the  Atzilutic  world)  and  of  the 
Supernal  Mother  (Aimah.  attributed  to  Binah  in 
the  same  world),  whence  it  is  also  written:  'And 
He  breathed  into  his  nostrils  the  breath  of  life' 
(literally,  souls  of  life,  Gen.  ii.  7).  What  is  life? 
It  is  Jah  (the  Divine  Name  attributed  to  Chokmati], 
whence  we  have  heard  :  '  Let  everything  that  hath 
breath  (i.e.,  life,  i.e.,  all  souls)  praise  the  Lord '  (i.e., 
Jah\  (Ps.  cl.  6).  And  in  it  is  Tetragrammaton 
(i.e.,  J.D.V.D,  *.*.,  JHVH)  perfected.  But  if  he 
deserve  still  more  there  is  appointed  to  him  JDVD, 
in  its  full  completeness,  the  letters  of  which  are 
Jod,  He,  Vau,  He :  Heh,  Vau,  Heh,  Jod,  which  is 
man  in  the  path  of  Atziluth,  and  he  is  then  said 
to  be  in  the  likeness  (simulacrum')  of  his  Lord, 
whence  also  it  is  said  :  '  And  have  dominion  over 
the  fish  of  the  sea'  (Gen.  i.  28);,  that  is,  he  shall 
rule  over  all  the  heavens  and  over  all  the  Auphanim 
and  Seraphim^  over  all  the  Hosts  and  Powers,  above 


SBritten  SBort)  o£  gabalism  233 

and  below.  When,  therefore,  the  child  of  man 
deserves  the  Nephesh  from  the  side  of  the  daughter 
Jcchida,  this  is  to  say :  *  She  shall  not  go  out  as 
the  men-servants  do"'  (meaning  probably  that  he 
shall  serve  God  in  His  house  for  ever,  Exod. 
xxi.  7).* 

This  passage  is  worth  quoting  not  only  as  an 
illustration  of  the  discourse  in  which  it  occurs, 
but  because  it  gives  a  clue  to  the  probable  meaning 
of  occultists  when  they  speak  of  a  concealed  sense 
in  the  Zohar.  It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  when 
Kabalism  divides  and  subdivides  the  soul  it  means 
anything  else  than  to  distinguish  certain  essences 
and  qualities  therein  ;  in  a  word,  it  means  what 
it  says,  just  as  modern  theosophy  does  at  the 
present  day  when  it  affirms  seven  principles  in 
man.  The  concealed  sense  of  the  Zohar,  as  before 
indicated,  is  simply  the  extraction  of  some  method 
from  its  vast  and  confused  mass,  whichat  first 
sight  appears  altogether  delirious.  In  the  present 
instance  it  will  be  seen  that  the  animistic  nature 
of  man  has  a  sevenfold  aspect,  whereas  other 
Kabalistic  dicta  really  extend  it  to  ten.  When  these 
discrepancies  are  harmonised  we  have  the  concealed 
sense  of  the  Zohar  as  to  the  inner  nature  of  man. 

Perhaps  we  might  reach  it  by  supposing  that  the 
discourse  of  Elias  really  describes  the  development 
of  mystic  experiences  in  seven  stages,  ending,  as  it 
states  literally,  in  the  communication  of  the  divine  to 
man. 

*  Zohar,  ii.  94^,  Brody  ed. 


234  ^he  5oxtrtne  anfc  iEiterature  of  the  giabalah 


VI.  THE    ILLUSTRIOUS    BOOK 

Excerpts  of  considerable  length,  purporting  to 
come  from  a  work  entitled  Sepher  Ha  Bahir,  or 
Liber-  Illustris,  are  given  in  the  Cremona  edition  of 
the  Zohar  at  the  places  which  here  follow.  Part  I.} 
col.  76,  79,  82,  86,88,  104,  no,  112,  122,  125,  127, 
130,  137,  138,  185,241,  462.  Part  II.,  col.  145  and 
259.  Part  III.,  col.  151,  176,  301,  and  333.  They 
are  omitted  in  the  so-called  "Little  Zohar"  of  Mantua, 
but  reappear  in  Rosenroth's  Sulzbach  edition  and  in 
those  of  later  date  which  are  based  thereon.  In  1651 
these  excerpts  were  brought  together  into  a  volume 
and  published  at  Amsterdam,  which  was  at  that 
period  a  great  stronghold  of  Jewry.  A  reprint  of 
this  volume  appeared  at  Berlin  in  1706.  Some 
interesting  but  complex  questions  are  involved  in  the 
consideration  of  this  work,  which  is  thus  known  to 
us  only  by  quotations.  It  is  alleged  on  the  one  hand 
to  be  of  higher  antiquity  than  any  Kabalistic  book 
and  hence  of  superior  importance  to  the  Sepher 
Yetzirah  itself;  on  the  other  it  is  affirmed  to  be  a 
manifest  forgery,  included  in  the  condemnation  of 
the  Zohar,  and  by  implication  also  the  fruit  of  the 
inventive  faculty  of  Moses  de  Leon.  Between  these 
extreme  views  there  is  placed  that  which  considers 
the  extant  extracts  unauthentic  but  believes  in  the 
existence  of  an  old  Kabalistic  treatise,  under  the 
same  title,  which  is  now  lost.  An  examination  of  the 
ascertainable  facts  does  not,  I  think,  compel  our 
respect  for  any  one  of  these  opinions,  and  a  more 
modest,  indeterminate  conclusion  will  perhaps  be  the 


The  c&rittfu  (33  orb  of  gabalism  235 

safest  to  form.  In  other  words,  there  is  evidence  that 
the  Sepher  Ha  Bahir  was  in  existence  prior  to  the 
promulgation  of  the  Zohar,*  but  there  is  no  evidence 
that  it  preceded  it  by  a  considerable  period,  and  there 
are  no  means  of  knowing  whether  or  not  the  extracts 
which  occur  in  the  Zohar  represent  in  some  sense  the 
original  work. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  occult  students  have 
passed  over  the  fragments  of  the  Sepher  Ha  Bahir  as 
they  have  passed  over  the  Zohar  proper,  and  for  the 
same  reason,  namely,  because  it  is  not  available  by 
translation.  It  would  have  been  interesting  to  know 
whether  they  would  have  accepted  the  Kabalistic 
legend  which  has  gone  abroad  concerning  it.  Of 
that  legend  one  aspect  appears  in  the  bibliography 
of  Papus,  which,  however,  indicates  no  first-hand 
research,  and  simply  reproduces  information  of  which 
Molitor  is  the  avowed  source.  In  the  "  Methodised 
Summary  of  the  Kabalah"  the  president  of  all 
Martinism  ascribes  the  Sepher  H<i  Bahir,  which  he 
renders  "  Light  in  the  Darkness,"  to  R.  Nechoniah 
ben  Hakannah,  the  master  of  R.  Ismaelis  ben  Eliezer, 
the  high-priest,  who  flourished  during  the  half-century 
preceding  the  birth  of  Christ.  Such  is  the  Kabalistic 
legend  concerning  the  authorship  of  the  work.  Some 
notable  sayings  of  Nechoniah  are  preserved  in  the 
Talmudic  collections,  and  other  works  are  also 
ascribed  to  him,  namely  : 

(«)  Letter  on   Mysteries  or   Secrets   concerning 

*  Because  it  was  denounced  as  a  forgery  by  Rabbi  Meir  ben  Simon 
in  the  first  half  of  the  thirteenth  century,  thus  antedating  the  period 
at  which  hostile  criticism  places  the  public  appearances  of  the  Zohar. 
Graetz  ascribes  the  forgery  to  Azariel  himself,  on  what  grounds  may  be 
gathered  from  the  general  warrant  of  his  Kabalistic  criticism. 


236   ^he  IBortrine  ani)  JJtteratttre  xrf  the  jtabalah 

the  advent  of  Messiah,  His  divinity,  incarnation  and 
resurrection.  This  epistle  was  addressed  to  his  son, 
who  is  said  to  have  embraced  Christianity.  It  betrays 
the  hand  of  a  Christian,  and  there  can  at  least  be  no 
question  that  it  is  a  late  imposture.  Paulus  de 
Heredia  Hispanus  translated  it  into  Latin  and 
dedicated  it  to  Henry  of  Mendoza,  legate  of  the 
King  of  Spain. 

(£)  Sepher  Kanah,  the  Book  of  the  Fragments 
of  the  Temple,  but  this  is  also  attributed  to  Ismael 
(Samuel)  ben  Eliezer.  It  is  in  any  case  another 
forgery,  which  deals  with  the  generation  of  Christ, 
embodying  apocryphal  narratives  taken  from  the 
Talmud. 

(c)  A  Kabalistic  Prayer,  to  be  recited  by  pupils 
on  entering  or  leaving  the  gymnasium.  It  is  included 
among  the  Mishnayotk,  a  fact  which  shows  that  it  is 
not  Kabalistic  in  the  proper  sense  of  the  term. 

(V)  Sepher  Happeliah. 

(e)  SepJier  Haminchad,  concerning  the  mystery 
of  the  name  of  God,  a  work  akin  to  the  Bahir. 

The  other  aspect  of  Kabalistic  legend  concerning 
the  "  Illustrious  Book "  may  be  used  to  colour  the 
pretension  that  the  Zoharistic  quotations  do  not 
represent  the  original.  It  is  said  to  be  of  such  pro 
found  occult  significance  that  it  has  been  preserved 
among  the  hidden  treasures  of  Israel,  in  Manus 
Cabbalistorum  Gennanorum,  says  Wolf,*  quoting 
Shem  Too.  Buxtorf,f  BartolocciJ  and  Budd0eus,§ 

*  Bibliotheca  Hebrcea, 

t  Bibliotheca  Hebrcea  Rabbinica. 

%  Bibliotheca  Magna  Rabbinica. 

§  Introductio  ad  Historiam  Philosophic  Htbroeorum, 


"Che  oBritieu  dftorb  of  Jiabahem  237 

relate  the  same  story,  but  none  of  them  challenge 
the  excerpts  found  in  the  Zohar,  receiving  them 
explicitly  as  genuine,  while  all  likewise  agree  that  the 
Bahir  was  regarded  by  Kabalists  as  their  oldest 
document.  The  question  of  authenticity  was  in 
recent  times  first  raised  by  Simon,  who,  speaking  of 
the  book  printed  in  Holland,  observes :  "  It  does  not 
appear  that  this  is  the  ancient  Bahir  of  the  Jews, 
which  is  much  more  extended  and  has  not  yet  been 
printed."*  It  is  obvious  that  this  is  neither  the 
language  of  criticism  nor  of  knowledge  ;  we  may 
infer  that  Simon  was  unacquainted  with  the  fact 
that  the  Amsterdam  publication  only  collected  the 
Zoharic  extracts,  and  that  he  might  not  have 
impeached  the  extracts  had  he  been  aware  of 
that  circumstance.  Bartolocci  mentions  a  general 
opinion  that  manuscript  copies  of  the  Bahir  were  to 
be  found  in  many  Continental  libraries  and  par 
ticularises  one  such  MS.  in  the  Vatican  collection. 

The  impeachment  of  the  Zoharic  excerpts 
naturally  became  part  of  the  general  charge  against 
the  Zohar  itself;  the  theory  which  ascribed  that  work 
to  Moses  de  Leon  was  exceedingly  comprehensive 
and  made  a  clean  sweep  of  everything  included 
therein.  It  finds  an  almost  exact  parallel  in  the  con 
sistent  application  of  those  principles  which  arc  held 
to  prove  the  Baconian  authorship  of  the  Shakespeare 
plays  ;  serving  equally  well  for  Marlowe,  Massinger 
and  all  Elizabethan  literature,  that  literature  directly 
or  indirectly  is  attributed  to  Bacon.  Legend  says 
as  we  have  seen,  that  the  complete  Zohar  was  origin- 

*  Histoire  Critique  du  Vieux  Testament. 


238  ^he  Jtodrin*  anfo  f£it*rattt«  ot  the  Jlabalah 

ally  a  camel's  load  ;  were  the  whole  of  it  now  extant 
no  doubt  the  Jew  of  Leon  would  still  have  been  its 
exclusive  author.  Raymond  Lully  is  said  to  have 
written  five  hundred  separate  treatises  ;  the  list 
may  be  seen  in  the  first  volume  of  an  unfinished  and 
impossible  attempt  to  collect  them  into  a  folio  edition, 
the  editor  supplying  not  only  the  precise  years  but 
the  months  in  which  they  were  composed.  What 
Raymond  did,  as  they  say,  could  not  have  been  im 
possible  to  Moses.  But,  as  a  fact,  the  doctor  illuminatus 
wrote  only  a  low  percentage  out  of  all  that  gorgeous 
list,  and  reasonable  criticism  regards  the  spendthrift 
Israelite  as  a  possible  compiler  and  polisher  who 
may  have  played  a  little  at  "  writing  out  of  his  own 
head,"  and  that  is  all,  not,  however,  because  it  regards 
the  Zohar  as  the  work  of  Simeon  ben  Jochai,  or  even 
of  R  Abba,  but  because  it  regards  R.  Moses  as 
human. 

Graetz,  the  German  historian  of  Jewry,  whose 
distinctive  criticism  of  Kabalistic  literature  has 
obtained  much  vogue,  lays  down  a  principle  of  critic 
ism  which  ought  to  be  written  in  capitals  at  the  head 
of  most  impeachments  of  the  Zohar,  namely  that  it  is 
not  compulsory  for  a  hostile  critic  to  be  more  careful 
in  his  arguments  than  those  who  plead  in  defence. 
Without  seeking  to  determine  what  is  compulsory  in 
criticism,  it  may  be  observed  that  there  is  also  no 
binding  law  to  enforce  serious  consideration  for  a 
scholar  who  adopts  that  principle.  What  Graetz  did 
openly  has  been  done  tacitly  or  unconsciously  by 
others.  Taking  the  case  now  under  notice,  I  do  not 
know  of  one  instance  in  which  the  challenge  of 
authenticity  has  been  accompanied  by  an  assigned 


SHritteu  (iilorb  of  Jiabalism  239 

reason  ;  it  is  simply  part  of  the  programme  to  get  rid 
anyhow  of  anything  which  goes  to  show  that  the  whole 
Zohar  was  not  written  at  the  end  of  the  thirteenth 
century.  The  reason  is  not  far  to  seek  ;  the  excerpts 
from  the  Bahir,  if  genuine,  involve  the  existence  not 
merely  of  purely  Kabalistic  but  of  typically  Zoharic 
teaching  prior  to  that  date ;  as  this  proves  too  much 
for  the  imposture  theory,  they  are  set  down  as  part  of 
the  imposture.  One  critic  who  espouses  the  antiquity 
of  the  Zohar  has,  however,  rejected  the  Bahir.  He 
says  :  "  The  Sepher  Ha  Bahir,  attributed  to  Nechonia 
ben  Hakana,  contemporary  of  Hillel  the  Elder  and 
Herod  the  Great,  is  often  cited.  Various  fragments, 
manifestly  unauthentic,  still  pass  for  extracts  from 
this  book."*  Perhaps  so  ;  but  why,  if  so  ?  It  is  for 
some  determinate  and  material  reason  that  one  looks 
and  waits  in  vain,  failing  which  the  identity  of  the 
Zohar  quotations  with  the  original  must  be  accepted 
as  a  tolerable  hypothesis,  because  no  reason  has  been 
given  to  the  contrary.  It  is  quite  another  thing  to 
affirm  that  they  are  the  work  of  Nechoniah,  or  that 
they  are  older  than  the  Sepher  Yetzirah.  Placing 
this  cosmogony  somewhere  about  the  ninth  century, 
because  it  was  then  almost  indubitably  quoted  and 
it  is  not  worth  while  to  dispute  as  to  how  long  it 
antedates  the  first  reference  made  to  it ;  regarding  the 
Zohar  itself  as,  at  least,  a  gradual  growth  between 
that  period  and  the  date  of  its  publication,  there 
seems  no  objection  to  considering  the  Bahir  a 


*  Adolphc  Franck,  IM  Kabbale,  ou  la  Philosophic  Rcligieusc  des 
Htbreux.  Paris.  1843.  If  the  unauthentic  nature  follows  from  the  fact 
that  it  is  falsely  attributed,  then  the  Sepher  Yetzirah  belongs  to  the 
same  category. 


240  ^he  |p.oxtr:tne  anb  Ipt^raturs  ot  the  Jabalah 


production  of  the  formative  age  of  the  work  which  is 
made  to  quote  it.  When  the  extracts  were  inserted 
therein  we  do  not  know  ;  absent  from  the  Mantua 
edition,  which  was  simultaneous  with  that  of  the 
Cremona  codex  which  contains  them,  it  is  possible 
that  they  were  first  added  when  the  Zohar  was 
prepared  for  press  under  the  supervision  of  R.  Isaac 
Delates,  that  unknown  but  "  highly  learned  Jew  un 
surpassable  in  all  the  branches  of  knowledge  required," 
whom  the  publisher  describes.  In  this  case,  they 
have  no  connection  with  Moses  de  Leon. 

There  is,  of  course,  little  unanimity  in  hostile  or 
indeed  any  Kabalistic  criticism.  As,  on  the  one  hand, 
a  defender  of  the  Zohar  challenges  the  Bahir  excerpts, 
so  the  latter  have  been  exalted  as  the  prototype  and 
actual  inspirer  of  the  former  work.  This  view,  though 
in  any  case  of  little  moment,  involves  the  existence  of 
the  Bahir  prior  to  the  alleged  date  about  which  the 
Zohar  was  produced  out  of  the  head  of  Moses  de 
Leon,  like  Minerva  out  of  the  head  of  Jupiter,  ready 
made  and  at  one  leap.  Morinus,  who  has  left  perhaps 
the  most  sensible  review  of  the  subject,  founds  his 
opinion  that  the  Bahir  was  a  product  of  the 
thirteenth  century,  on  the  silence  of  writers  prior  to 
that  date,  and  especially  of  Moses  Nachmanides,  a 
Kabalistic  Jew  of  Jerusalem,  whose  literary  labours 
belong  to  the  period  before  and  after  1250,  According 
to  Wolf  the  first  reference  to  the  Bahir  is  made  by  R. 
Shem  Tob,  who  was  a  contemporary  of  Moses  de  Leon, 
but  belonging  to  a  younger  generation.  This,  however, 
is  a  mistake,  because  R.  Azariel,  the  author  of  the  great 
treatise  on  the  Sephirotic  system,  and  born,  as  we  have 
seen,  about  1  160,  in  his  commentary  on  the  Canticle  of 


vLhc  SBritten  oEorb  of  gUbalidin  241 

Canticles,  sometimes  ascribed  to  Nachmanides,  quotes 
the  Bahir,  not  under  its  own  name  but  under  that  of 
Yerushalmi.  The  proof  is  that  the  Italian  Jew 
Recanati,  contemporary  of  Moses  de  Leon,  used  these 
quotations,  and,  misled  by  the  name,  inferred  that 
they  were  from  the  Jerusalem  Talmud,  but  afterwards 
discovered  them  in  the  BaJiir,  to  which  a  Palestinian 
origin  is  ascribed.  By  how  much  the  lost  treatise 
antedated  Azariel  we  have  no  ground  for  conjecturing, 
but  the  position  of  Wolf  and  Morinus  is  destroyed  by 
the  fact  here  recorded,  which  leaves  the  Bahir  where 
we  should  be  disposed  to  place  it,  between  the  date 
when  the  Sepher  Yetzirah  is  first  mentioned  and  the 
publication  of  the  Zohar. 

The  name  Bahir  is  referred  to  Job  xxxvii.  21  : 
"  And  now  men  see  not  the  bright  light  which  is  in 
the  clouds,"  according  to  the  Authorised  Version,  or 
according  to  Dr.  Durell's  amended  rendering,  "  And 
now  men  see  not  the  light  which  is  above  (or 
within)  the  clouds,  &c."  Hence  "  light  in  darkness," 
is  a  good  equivalent  of  the  Hebrew  word.  The 
subject-matter  of  the  book,  which  is  in  the  form  of  a 
dialogue  between  certain  illuminated  doctors,  is  the 
mystery  inherent  in  the  divine  names,  and  it  contains 
a  very  full  exposition  of  the  celebrated  Shcmaliam- 
phoras,  the  expounded  name  of  deity.  It  belongs 
therefore  to  the  least  philosophical  part  of  Kabalism, 
and  we  can  understand  and  sympathise  with  the 
instinctive  dislike  of  Franck  to  accept  the  excerpts 
by  which  it  is  known  to  us.  Facts,  however,  must 
have  precedence  of  predilections,  and  though  the 
later  history  of  the  doctrine  of  divine  names  may  well 
make  an  admirer  of  the  higher  Kabalism  ashamed  of 

K 


242   ^he  portrine  attb  fCttenthtre  of  the 

the  connection,  it  is  far  older  than  that  of  the 
Sephiroth  or  the  two  Countenances.  Some  other 
matters  are  also  discussed,  including  a  single  reference 
to  Ain  Soph,  and  the  two  quotations  which  here 
follow  exhibit  a  close  connection  between  the  Bahir 
and  the  "  Discourse  of  the  Ancient  Man."  The  first 
concerns  Jechidah,  the  fifth  principle  of  the  human 
soul. 

"  It  is  written  :  The  silver  is  mine  and  the  gold 
is  mine,  saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts.  What  does  this 
mean  ?  It  is  like  unto  a  king  having  two  treasures, 
one  of  silver  and  one  of  gold.  The  first  he  put  to 
his  right  and  the  second  to  his  left,  saying  :  This  is 
prepared  so  that  it  is  easy  to  spend  it.  He  has  done 
everything  in  an  easy  way.  Hence  it  is  said  :  Thy 
right  hand,  O  Lord,  is  become  glorious  in  power. 
(Ex.  xv.  6).  If  a  man  may  rejoice  in  his  inheritance, 
it  is  good,  but  if  not,  it  is  said  :  Thy  right  hand, 
O  Lord,  hath  dashed  in  pieces  the  enemy.  (Ibid) 
What  does  this  signify?  Surely  this  is  the  gold.  It 
is  written  :  The  silver  is  mine  and  the  gold  is  mine. 
Why  do  they  call  it  gold  ?  Because  three  measures 
are  included  in  it.  [That  is  to  say,  the  word  consists 
of  three  letters,  Z  H  B,  Dzain,  He,  Beth].  The  Dzain 
is  seven  measures  [i.e.,  this  letter  represents  the 
number  7]  ;  the  He  is  Unity  [>>.,  A  Ch  D  V  Th, 
Unity  =  4.19=  5  according  to  Kabalistic  addition,  and 
5  is  the  number  of  He] ;  the  Beth  [representing  the 
number  2]  signifies  Chokmah  and  Binah,  and  they  are 
called  Neshamah  because  of  the  last  five  Sephiroth. 
The  Neshamah  has  five  names :  Nephesh,  Ruach, 
Neshamah,  Chaiah  and  Jechidah!'  * 

*  Zohar,  Cremona  ed.,  part  i.  fol.  n6b  and  nja. 


TThc  (Slrittfu  SBorb  of  gUbalism  243 

The  second  excerpt  concerns  the  Fall  of  Man, 
and  its  quotation  is  of  some  importance  for  the 
purpose  of  this  study. 

"  It  is  written  :  Now  the  serpent  was  more  subtle 
than   any  beast  of  the  field  (Gen.   iii.  i.).     R.   Isaac 
said  :  That  [the   serpent]   is  the  evil   inclination.     R. 
Judah  said  :  It  is  a  real  serpent.     When  they  came  to 
R.  Simeon,  he  said  unto  them  :  Surely  it  is  all  one; 
This  is  Samael,  and  he  has  been  seen  upon  a  serpent, 
but  his  shadow  and  the  serpent  are  Satan,  yet  all  are 
one.     When  Samael  descended  from  heaven,  riding 
on  this  serpent,  and  his  shadow  was  seen,  all  creatures 
fled   from  him,  but  coming  to  the  woman  with  soft 
words  he  brought  death  to  the  whole  world.     Surely 
with    wiles    he    invoked    curses    on   the   world    and 
despoiled   the  first  tree  which   the   Holy  Blessed  One 
created  in  the  world.  [The  reference  here  is  apparently 
to  the  Sephirotic  tree  and,  by  implication,  to  the  pri 
mordial  Adam.  Compare  the  Kabalistic  thesis  of  Picus 
de  Mirandola  •   Peccatum  Ada  fuit  truncatio  MalkutJi 
ab  arbore   Sephirotico}     The  Neshamah  of  the  male 
comes    from    male,  and   of  the    female   from    female 
[?>.,  from  the  male  and  female  sides  of  the  Sephirotic 
tree].      This    is   why   the   serpent    had    recourse   to 
Chavah.     He  said   unto   himself:    Because   her  soul 
is  from  the  North  I  can  persuade  her  quickly.     [The 
North,  says  Myer,  is  the  left  side,  facing  eastward  in 
worship  ;  it  is  therefore  the  side  of  wrath  and  severity, 
connected    by   the    Kabalists    with    the    idea  of   the 
female.     But  the    Tikhtne  Ha  ZoJnr  terms  Netzach 
and    Hod  the   latera   Aquilonis.     There    is   no   con 
sistency  in   these    attributions.]     And  the  persuasion 
has  been   because    he    came   on    her.     The  disciples 


244  'i&ht  Bodritu  anb  literature  of  the  jfobalah 

asked  :  How  did  he  that  ?  He  said  unto  them : 
He,  Samae'l,  the  wicked  one,  intrigued  with  all  the 
hosts  above  against  his  Master,  because  the  Holy 
Blessed  One  had  said  unto  Adam  :  Thou  shalt  have 
dominion  over  the  fish  of  the  sea  and  over  the  fowl 
of  the  air  [understood  of  the  evil  spirits  and  the 
angels].  Samae'l  asked  :  How  therefore  can  I  make 
Adam  sin  before  Him,  so  that  he  shall  be  driven 
away  from  His  sight?  So  he  descended  with  all 
his  hosts,  and  he  sought  upon  the  earth  a  companion 
like  unto  himself,  but  it  had  an  appearance  even 
as  a  camel.  [This  curious  comparison  is  based  on 
the  fact  that  the  Hebrew  G  M  L  means  camel  when 
certain  vowel  points  are  added  to  these  consonants, 
and  reward  or  recompense  with  others.  The  signi 
ficance  of  this  is  developed  in  the  Pekude  section 
of  the  Zohar,  commenting  on  Gen.  xxiv.  64  :  And 
Rebekah  lifted  up  her  eyes,  and  when  she  saw  Isaac, 
she  lighted  off  her  camel.  The  camel  is  here  said 
to  signify  the  mystery  of  death,  referred  to  in 
Prov.  xix.  17  :  That  which  he  hath  given  will  He 
pay  him  again.  The  connecting  idea  is,  firstly,  that 
reward,  in  the  sense  of  retribution,  came  into  the 
world  by  the  serpent,  and,  secondly,  that  the  peculiar 
nature  of  the  Fall  is  indicated  by  the  alleged  hidden 
sense  of  the  term  camel  which  represents  \.\\Q  pudenda. 
Compare  Cazotte's  Diable  Amoiircux,  where  the 
impure  demon  is  revealed  at  last  with  the  head  of 
that  animal.]  So  he  rode  upon  it  and  came  to 
the  woman  and  said  unto  her :  Did  not  Elohim 
forbid  thee  to  partake  of  any  of  the  trees  in  the 
garden  ?  She  answered  :  We  have  been  forbidden 
only  the  tree  of  knowledge  which  is  in  the  garden  ; 


(L\\c  ftlrittnx  fcttorb  of  gabalism  245 

of  that  only  did  Elohim  say,  Ye  shall  not  partake 
thereof,  neither  touch  it,  lest  ye  die.  What,  then,  did 
Samael  the  wicked  one  ?  He  touched  the  tree,  and 
the  tree  cried  out.  Then  said  Samael  :  Lo,  I  have 
touched  the  tree,  yet  I  have  not  died.  Do  thou 
touch  it,  and  thou  also  shalt  not  die.  Whereupon 
the  woman  laid  hold  of  the  tree,  and  beholding  the 
angel  of  death  approach  her,  she  said  :  Surely  I  shall 
now  die,  and  the  Holy  Blessed  one  will  form  another 
woman  and  will  give  her  to  Adam.  But  I  will  do  thus  ; 
I  will  cause  him  to  eat  with  me,  so  that  if  we  die 
we  shall  die  together,  and  if  we  live  we  shall  live 
together.  .  .  .  Then  the  Holy  Blessed  One  said 
unto  her  :  Is  it  not  enough  that  thou  hast  sinned 
but  thou  must  also  bring  sin  unto  Adam  ?  Then 
answered  she  :  Lord  of  the  world,  the  serpent  induced 
me  that  I  should  sin  before  Thee.  So  the  Holy 
Blessed  One  caused  all  three  to  come  before  Him 
and  condemned  them  with  nine  curses  and  with 
death.  He  also  cast  Samael  and  his  followers  down 
from  the  place  of  their  holiness  in  heaven  ;  He  cut 
the  feet  off  the  serpent  and  cursed  him,  yea,  more 
than  all  beasts,  and  commanded  that  he  should  lose 
his  skin  after  seven  years."* 

I  have  said  that  this  passage  is  of  importance 
to  our  subject,  because  it  shows  the  kind  of  light 
which  Kabalistic  literature  casts  upon  the  first  and 
greatest  event  in  the  spiritual  history  of  man  as  it 
is  presented  by  Scripture.  Literal  or  mystical,  the 
story  of  the  Fall  is  not  elucidated  by  the  addition 
of  monstrous  elements,  and  the  occult  student  in 

*  Zohar,  Cremona  ed.,  part  i.  fol.  28a,  b. 


246  ^he  Jlortrine  ftrci  ^ittnthurt  of  the  JUlmlah 

particular  will  feel  that  the  Sepher  Ha  Bahir  exhibits 
in  this  place  neither  depth  nor  dignity.  Like  the 
Zohar  itself,  and  most  other  tracts  which  it  embodies, 
it  has  occasionally  a  suggestive  passage.  For 
example,  it  affirms  that  the  world  to  come  is  a 
world  that  has  come  to  pass  already,  because  six  out 
of  the  seven  portions  of  the  primordial  light  which 
was  produced  by  God  for  the  creation  of  the 
universe  are  reserved  as  the  portion  of  the  just  in 
the  life  which  is  beyond. 

It  remains  to  say  that  William  Postel  is  reported 
to  have  rendered  the  Bahir  into  Latin,  but,  if  so, 
I  can  find  no  record  that  the  translation  was  ever 
printed. 


VII.   THE    FAITHFUL   SHEPHERD 

The  Zoharistic  treatise  bearing  this  title  records 
conversations  between  Simeon  ben  Jochai  and  Moses, 
who  appeared  to  the  great  light  of  Kabalism  and  gave 
him  many  instructions  and  revelations.  Elias  took 
part  in  the  conference,  and  the  witnesses  included  not 
only  Abraham,  Isaac,  Jacob,  Aaron,  David  and 
Solomon,  but  God  Himself.  This  indicates  that  in 
spite  of  the  transcendental  doctrine  of  A  in  Soph  and 
the  Two  Countenances,  the  Zohar  recurs  occasionally 
to  the  same  anthropomorphic  conceptions  that  are 
found  in  the  Talmud.  Ginsburg  says  :  "  The  chief 
object  of  this  portion  is  to  show  the  twofold  and 
allegorical  import  of  the  Mosaic  commandments  and 
prohibitions,  as  well  as  of  the  Rabinical  injunctions 
and  religious  practices  which  obtained  in  the  course 


Written  SHorb  of  gabattem  247 

of  time."  The  extant  excerpts  from  these  discourses 
are  dispersed  through  the  Cremona  edition  in  the 
following  order:  Part  I.,  col.  104,  126,207,  21 1,  214, 
247,322,  343,346,  378>  483;  Part  II.,  col.  72,  165, 
203,  281,  328  ;  Part  III.,  col.  I,  26,  32,  42,45,  47,  5^»  57, 
79,  122,  144,  147,  171,  187,209,214,233,235,277,289, 
329,  332,  339,  343,  394.400,404,  408,  41*3,  422,  429, 
430,  431,  432,  433,  434,  447,  451,  45^,  457,  45«,  459, 
460,  461,  466,  468,  472,  519,  534.  As  regards  their 
authenticity,  Franck  classes  these  excerpts  along  with 
those  of  the  Bahir,  but,  as  in  that  instance  so  in  this, 
he  gives  no  account  of  his  suspicions,  which  may  be 
taken,  however,  to  follow  from  his  conviction  that 
much  of  the  Zohar  is  really  attributable  to  the  period 
of  Simeon  ben  Jochai  and  the  disciples  that  came 
after  him.  In  either  case,  the  "  Discourse  of  the 
Faithful  Shepherd  "  contains  much  that  is  important 
to  our  purpose.  Its  views  on  vicarious  atonement 
and  on  the  Messiah  to  come  will  enable  us  to  appreci 
ate  further  the  value  of  the  occult  standpoint ;  some 
of  its  moral  teachings  will  illustrate  its  ethical 
position  ;  its  references  to  the  Shekinah  will  cast  light 
on  this  curious  feature  of  Kabalism  ;  and  its  specula 
tions  on  angels  and  demons  will  show  the  Zoharistic 
foundation  for  the  later  system  of  pneumatology 
which  was  developed  by  Isaac  de  Loria. 

The  discourse  introduces  two  phases  of  vicarious 
atonement,  the  one  effected  through  the  suffer 
ings  of  just  men  and  the  other  by  means  of  the 
Messiah. 

"  When  the  righteous  are  afflicted  by  disease  or 
other  sufferings  in  atonement  for  the  sins  of  the 
world,  it  is  so  ordered  that  all  the  sinners  of  their 


248  ^he  Jtortdne  anb  literature  of  the  giabalah 

generation  may  obtain  redemption.  How  is  this 
demonstrated?  By  every  member  of  the  physical 
body.  When  all  these  are  suffering  through  some 
evil  disease,  one  of  them  is  afflicted  [i.e.,  by  the 
instrument  of  the  leech]  so  that  the  others  may 
recover.  Which  member?  The  arm.  It  is  chastised 
by  the  blood  being  drawn  from  it,  which  ensures 
healing  in  all  the  other  members  of  the  body.  It  is 
in  like  manner  with  the  children  of  the  world  ;  the 
members  are  in  relation  with  each  other  even  as  those 
of  the  body.  When  the  Holy  Blessed  One  willeth 
the  health  of  the  world,  He  afflicts  a  just  man  therein 
with  pain  and  sickness  and  heals  the  rest  through 
him.  How  is  this  shown  ?  It  is  written  :  But  He 
was  wounded  for  our  transgressions,  He  was  bruised 
for  our  iniquities  :  the  chastisement  of  our  peace 
was  upon  Him,  and  with  His  stripes  we  are  healed 
(Isa.  liii.  5).  '  By  his  stripes,'  as  by  the  bruises 
[incisions]  made  in  bleeding  the  arm,  are  we  healed, 
that  is,  recovery  is  insured  to  us  as  members  of  one 
body."* 

Here,  it  will  be  said,  the  Kabalah  recognises  the 
great  and  fruitful  doctrine  of  the  solidarity  of 
humanity.  That  is  quite  true,  and  it  is  one  of  those 
instances  wherein  Jewish  theosophy  has  forestalled 
modern  ideas.  But  if  we  take  the  illustration  which 
it  gives,  we  shall  see  that  it  is  fantastic  in  character ; 
the  affliction  of  a  diseased  rabbi  does  not  as  a  fact 
benefit  his  neighbour  physically,  and  only  on  the 
most  arbitrary  hypothesis  can  we  suppose  that  the 
patience  with  which  he  may  suffer  will  reflect  credit 

*  Zohar,  Cremona  ed.,  part  iii.  fol.  ioia. 


dMrittcu  8$lorb  of  gUbaliem  249 

on  any  one  but  himself.  It  would  be  barely  reason 
able  to  dispute  about  such  a  position  were  it  not 
necessary  to  show  occultists  the  real  messages  of  the 
Kabalah  on  points  with  which  they  are  concerned. 
Now  the  modern  students  of  occult  philosophy  every 
where  reject  with  disdain  the  doctrine  of  vicarious 
atonement.  Let  us  pass  thence  to  the  question  of 
Messianic  atonement,  concerning  which  it  is  said  in 
the  Vision  of  the  Faithful  Shepherd  : 

"  This  is  also  exemplified  in  the  history  of  Job. 
For  the  Holy  Blessed  One,  seeing  that  the  entire 
foundation  was  sinful,  and  how  Satan  appeared  to 
accuse  them,  said  unto  Him,  '  Hast  thou  considered 
my  servant  Job,  that  there  is  none  like  him  in  the 
earth*  (Job  i.  8),  to  save  his  generation  through 
him?"  This  may  be  illustrated  by  the  parable  of  a 
shepherd  who  beheld  a  wolf  approaching  to  rend  his 
sheep  and  destroy  them.  What  did  this  shepherd  ? 
Being  wise,  he  gave  unto  the  wolf  the  strongest  and 
stoutest  bell-wether,  even  that  which  the  flock  was 
accustomed  to  follow,  and  while  the  wolf  was  bearing 
it  away,  the  shepherd  hurried  with  his  sheep  to  a 
place  of  safety,  and  then  returning  rescued  the  bell 
wether  from  the  wolf.  So  does  the  Holy  Blessed 
One  deal  with  a  generation :  He  surrenders  a 
righteous  man  into  the  power  of  the  accuser  for  the 
salvation  of  the  generation  through  him.  But  when 
such  an  one  is  strong  like  Jacob,  it  is  said,  A  man 
wrestled  with  him  (Gen.  xxxii.  24).  But  he  (Satan) 
will  be  unable  to  prevail,  and  in  the  end  he  will 
supplicate  the  righteous  man  to  release  him  'Ibitf.  26), 
for  the  righteous  man,  chosen  by  the  Holy  Blessed 
One,  is  too  strong  for  the  evil  one  and  bears  the  most 


250    &he  Iportriue  anb  Jpterature  oi  the  Jiabalah 

cruel  afflictions  willingly  for  the  redemption  of  his 
generation  ;  whence  also  he  is  held  as  their  saviour, 
and  the  Holy  Blessed  One  constitutes  him  shepherd 
over  all  the  flock,  to  feed  them  in  this  world  and  to 
rule  over  them  in  the  world  to  come."* 

The  clumsy  and  inadequate  parable  which  thus 
represents  the  Almighty  flying  from  Satan  as  the 
shepherd  flies  from  a  wolf,  and  in  accordance  with 
which  the  just  man  is  at  first  compared  to  a  bell 
wether  and  afterwards  to  the  shepherd  of  the  flock,  is 
something  more  than  a  literary  failure.  Theologians 
have,  I  believe,  found  some  trouble  in  locating  the 
accuser  of  Job,  and  it  is  perhaps  most  accurate  to  say 
with  the  poet  that  "  He,  too,  is  God's  minister,"  but 
the  Zoharic  commentary  on  Job  makes  him  in  most 
respects  a  match  for  the  Almighty,  who  must  have 
recourse  to  a  stratagem  in  order  to  save  his  people- 
The  Kabalah  on  the  problem  of  evil  is  therefore,  in 
this  place, neither  illuminating  nor  reassuring;  it  is,  in 
fact,  crass  and  childish.  "  The  ancient  pillars  of  the 
world  [the  intellectual  luminaries  of  Israel]  differ," 
says  the  same  disquisition,  as  to  the  nationality  of 
Job.  One  affirms  that  he  was  a  righteous  Gentile 
who  was  chastised  for  the  atonement  of  the  world. 
At  a  certain  time  R.  Hammarumnah  met  the  prophet 
Elijah  and  said  to  him  :  How  is  it  to  be  understood 
that  the  righteous  man  suffers  while  the  wicked  one 
has  joy  of  his  life?  He  answered,  saying,  The  just 
man  of  few  sins  receives  his  punishment  for  these  in 
this  world,  and  hence  it  is  that  he  suffers  here ;  but 
the  man  whose  sins  are  many,  while  his  good  deeds 

*  Zohar,  Cremona  ed.,  part  ii.  fol.  iool>. 


{jBrittm  flHorb  of  gabaliem  251 

are  few,  receives  recompense  for  the  latter  in  this 
world  and  hence  has  the  joy  of  life."* 

In  this  instance  the  Kabalah  offers  an  explanation 
which,  shallow  though  it  be,  is  identical  with  that 
accepted  by  some  sections  of  Christian  theology,  by 
which,  however,  it  is  applied  more  mischievously. 
Thus,  not  only  the  sporadic  good  actions  of  those 
who  are  wicked  habitually  but  all  natural  goodness 
can  find  their  reward  only  in  this  world.  The 
Kabalah  is  not  disfigured  by  methodised  enormities 
of  this  kind.  There  are  times  also  in  which  it  loses 
its  .grotesqueness  for  a  moment,  and  by  some  not 
unhappy  reference  to  Scripture  illustrates  an  elemen 
tary  spiritual  truth,  as,  for  example,  concerning  the 
change  necessary  to  sinners. 

"  Those  who  are  oppressed  with  sin  need  a  change 
of  place,  a  change  of  name  and  a  change  in  their 
actions,  even  as  it  was  said  unto  Abraham  :  Get  thee 
out  of  thy  country  (Gen.  xii.  i).  Here  is  a  change 
of  place.  And  :  Neither  shall  thy  name  any  more 
be  called  Abram,  but  thy  name  shall  be  Abraham 
(Gen.  xvii.  5).  Here  is  a  change  of  name.  A  change 
of  deeds  :  he  changed  from  his  former  evil  actions  to 
good  actions."f  The  Christian  mystic  might  develop 
the  significance  of  this  quotation  in  connection  with 
the  new  name  of  the  Apocalypse,  the  new  name 
received  in  confirmation,  ordination  and  the  monastic 
and  conventual  life.  Such  analogies,  though  suggestive, 
are  of  slender  value  ;  the  change  mentioned  in  the 


*  Zohar,  Cremona  eel.,  part  ii.  fol.  io6b.  Compare  the  Mantua 
edition,  I,  6,  8,  where  it  is  said  that  the  pure  man  is  in  himself  a  true 
sacrifice  and  that  the  just  are  the  expiation  of  the  universe. 

t  Zohar,  Cremona  ed.,  part  ii.  fol.  98^. 


252   ^he  ^Doctrine  mtb  JSMteratwre  of  the 

Zohar  has  indeed  no  special  mystical  importance ;  it 
concerns  only  the  initial  fact  of  spiritual  life. 

We  have  seen  in  the  fragments  of  the  Bahir  that 
the  scriptural  history  of  the  Fall  of  man  is  disfigured 
rather  than  elucidated  by  Zoharic  commentary.  The 
consequences  of  the  first  sin  are  thus  described  in  the 
Faithful  Shepherd. 

"  Come,  see !  Had  Adam  not  sinned  man  would 
have  known  not  the  taste  of  death  before  he  ascended 
to  the  superior  world,  but  having  sinned  he  became 
acquainted  with  the  taste  of  death  before  ascending 
to  the  world  above.  Through  the  sin  of  Adam  the 
rational  spirit  (RuacJi)  is  separated  from  the  body 
which  remains  in  this  world.  It  has  to  cleanse  itself 
in  the  river  of  fire  (Dan.  vii.  10),  to  receive  punishment, 
after  which  it  goes  up  to  the  Garden  of  Eden,  which 
is  above  the  earth,  and  there  are  prepared  for  it  other 
garments  of  light,  in  conformity  with  the  appearance 
of  the  body  in  the  present  world  ;  it  is  clothed  therein 
and  therein  is  its  habitation  for  ever."* 

This  passage  is  important  because  it  shows  that 
Jewish  theosophy  has  nothing  better  to  offer  us 
than  the  old  Biblical  instruction  that  sin  "  brought 
death  into  the  world  and  all  our  woes."  It  is 
not  our  purpose  here  to  question  that  doctrine,  but 
simply  to  demonstrate  that  the  Zohar,  where  it  is 
intelligible,  does  not  improve  on  accepted  religious 
instruction. 

Let  us  now  select  an  instance  from  one  of  those 
portions  which  are  more  peculiarly  Kabalistic  in  their 


*  Ibid.,  part   iii.    fol.    79^.      According   to   the   Idra   Zuta   the 
Upper  or  true  Eden  is  the  principle  of  life  and  understanding. 


oHritttn  SB  orb  of  jftabulism  253 

subject.  The  Zoharistic  speculations  on  the  Shekinah 
have  an  air  of  mystic  symbolism  which  would  be 
perhaps  naturally  wanting  in  commentary  upon 
ordinary  doctrinal  matters.  It  is  said  that  the 
relation  of  the  Shekinah  to  the  other  lights  of  creation 
is  like  that  of  the  soul  to  the  body,  but  she — for  the 
divine  manifestation  is  presented  under  a  feminine 
aspect — "  stands  to  the  Holy  Blessed  One  as  the  body 
stands  to  the  soul."  In  this,  of  course,  there  is  nothing 
profound  ;  the  Shekinah  is  the  vestment  of  the 
Almighty.  But  the  discourse  of  the  Faithful  Shepherd 
adds  that  all  are  one,  that  is,  God  is  one  with  His 
manifestation.  This  may  be  illustrated  by  the  much 
more  interesting  and  spiritual  doctrine  of  the 
Eucharist  ;  the  bread  is  the  vestment  of  Christ,  the 
mode  of  His  manifestation  in  His  Church,  but  Christ, 
by  the  hypothesis  of  the  doctrine,  is  one  with  the  veil 
which  He  assumes.  It  is  otherwise  in  man,  says  the 
Zohar.  "  His  body  is  earth,  but  the  soul  is  called 
reason.  The  one  is  death,  the  other  is  life."  This  is 
the  ascetic  notion  which  modern  occultism  has  agreed 
to  reject.  "  But  the  Holy  Blessed  One  is  life,  and  the 
Shekinah  also  is  life.  Whence  it  is  written  :  She 
[meaning  the  Shekinah,  but  the  Scriptual  reference 
is  to  Wisdom]  is  a  tree  of  life  to  them  that  can  lay 
hold  upon  her"  (Prov.  iii.  18).  The  Shekinah  of 
Kabalism  is  not,  however,  merely  the  visible  splendour 
which  shone  in  the  Holy  of  Holies.  The  Faithful 
Shepherd  affirms  that  the  Holy  Blessed  One  is  con 
cealed  in  the  mysteries  of  the  ThotMh  and  is  known 
or  manifested  by  the  commandments,  for  these  an- 
His  Shekinah  and  this  is  His  image.  This  is  a  very 
beautiful,  spiritual  and  poetic  conception,  and  it  does 


254  TOe  Jtoirtrine  anb  literature  of  the  gabalah 

not  need  the  gift  of  the  mystic  to  understand  and 
appreciate  it.  It  is  one  of  those  instances  in  which 
we  feel  that  a  depth  is  added  to  the  sacred  tales  of 
Jewry.  We  may  not  at  this  day  feel  disposed  to 
accept  literally  and,  so  to  speak,  physically  the  alleged 
manifestation  in  the  Temple  ;  here  the  Zohar  helps 
us  to  something  truer  and  profounder  than  the  letter 
of  the  legend,  and  we  acknowledge  gladly  that  the 
little  people  of  Palestine,  encompassed  by  the 
idolatrous  nations,  had  truly  something  of  the  divine 
in  the  law  which  was  given  them.  The  passage 
continues  :  "  As  He  is  humble,  so  is  the  Shekinah 
humility  ;  as  He  is  benevolent,  so  is  she  benevolence  ; 
as  He  is  strong,  so  is  she  the  strength  of  all  the 
nations  of  the  world  ;  as  He  is  the  truth,  so  is  she 
the  truth  ;  as  He  is  the  prophet,  so  is  she  the 
prophetess  ;  as  He  is  righteous,  so  is  she  righteous 
ness  ;  as  He  is  King,  so  is  she  Queen  ;  as  He  is 
wise,  so  is  she  wisdom  ;  as  He  is  intelligent,  so  is 
she  His  intelligence  ;  as  He  is  the  crown,  so  is  she 
His  diadem,  the  diadem  of  glory.  Therefore  the 
masters  have  decided  that  all  those  whose  inward 
part  is  not  like  unto  the  outward  semblance  shall 
have  no  admission  to  the  house  of  the  doctrine. 
As  the  image  of  the  Holy  Blessed  One,  whose 
interior  He  is,  whose  outward  splendour  is  the 
Shekinah  ;  He,  his  interior  internally,  she  his  exterior 
externally,  so  that  no  difference  subsists  between 
her  the  outward  and  Him  the  inward,  as  she  is  an 
outflow  from  Him,  and  hence  all  difference  is  removed 
between  external  and  internal,  and  as,  further,  the 
inner  nature  of  YHVH  is  concealed,  therefore  is 
He  only  named  with  the  name  of  the  Shekinah, 


(£lntten  cHorb  of  gabalism  255 

Adonai  ;  hence  the  masters  say,  Not  as  I  am  written 
[YHVH]  am  I  read."* 

The  connection  between  the  Shekinah  and 
Malkuth,  in  the  light  of  the  alleged  unity  of  God 
and  the  vestment  which  conceals  Him,  suggests  the 
identity  of  the  divine  and  the  universe,  but  it  is 
only  in  the  sense  of  immanence.  The  Kabalah,  as 
we  have  seen  many  times,  is  in  some  respects  the 
very  opposite  of  pantheism. 

Our  quotations  must  close  with  a  few  references 
to  the  pneumatology  of  the  Faithful  Shepherd. 
They  concern,  firstly,  the  great  Presence  Angel 
Metatron,  who  is  the  sole  occupant  of  the  Briatic 
world,  as  the  supernal  Adam  is  of  that  of  Alz^uth. 
He  is  the  garment  of  Shaddai.  According  to  some 
his  form  is  that  of  a  boy,  while  others  ascribe  to 
this  angel  a  female  aspect  This  shows  a  connection 
with  the  Shekinah,  and  indeed  Metatron,  with  the 
difference  of  an  added  letter,  signifies  the  cohabiting 
glory.f  There  is,  secondly,  some  information  con 
cerning  Samae'l,  or  Satan,  and  his  wife  Lilith.  The 
first  was  once  a  servant  of  the  Holy  Blessed  One 
and  the  second  a  maid  of  Matroncetha.J  Their 
ultimate  destruction  is  hinted,  but  meanwhile  Lilith 
is  the  devastation  of  the  world  and  the  lash  in  the 
hands  of  the  Holy  Blessed  One  to  strike  the  guilty. 
So  she,  too,  is  God's  minister. 


*  Zohar,  Cremona  ed.,  part  ii.   fol.    106^,      Myer,   "Philosophy 
of  Ibn  Gebirol,"  p.  341. 

t  Ibid. ,  part  iii.  fol.  io6A 

£  Zohar,  Cremona  ed.,  part  iii.  fol.  ij4/>. 


256  ^fte  Jloxtrine  anb  literature  ot  the  jiabalah 


VIII.   THE  HIDDEN  THINGS  OF  THE  LAW 

The  extant  morsels  of  this  work  are  located 
by  Rosenroth  as  follows  in  the  Cremona  edition  : 
Part  I.,  col.  221,  258,  262,  370.  Part  II.,  col.  250. 
Dr.  Ginsburg  has  discovered  others  in  the  Amsterdam 
edition,  to  which  his  references  are  made.  They 
traverse  ground  covered  by  other  sections  of  the 
Zohar,  such  as  the  evolution  of  the  Sephiroth,  the 
emanation  of  the  primordial  light  and  so  forth.  In 
a  word,  the  contents  show  nothing  which  need  detain 
us  long.  As  an  example  of  the  puerility  and  pre 
tensions  of  its  exegesis,  let  us  take  the  following 
passage  : 

"  It  is  written,  If  thou  faint  in  the  day  of 
adversity,  thy  strength  is  small  (Prov.  xxiv.  10). 
'  Thy  strength ' ;  this  means,  if  his  grasp  on  the 
Thorah  become  languid.  '  In  the  day  of  adversity'  ; 
this  means,  when  he  so  weakens  his  strength  becomes 
small  [thus  changing  the  simple  statement  of  Scrip 
ture  into  a  foolish  platitude.]  What  is  meant  by 
'  thy  strength  becomes  small '  ?  It  means  Ko-a'h 
[the  initials  of  words  signifying  the  Throne  of  Glory]. 
Then  the  evil  is  expelled,  so  that  it  cannot  come 
near  man  and  cannot  accuse  him  [the  meaning  seems 
to  be  that  when  a  man  does  not  weaken  in  adversity, 
his  strength  is  like  that  of  the  right  hand,  the  Throne 
of  Glory  being  on  the  right  of  God].  But  when 
man  deviates  from  the  Thcrah  [or  has  a  weak  hold 
thereon],  then  the  strength  is  the  strength  of  the 
left  hand,  because  that  evil  which  is  the  left  side 
rules  over  man  and  sets  aside  the  Throne  of 


f 


The  ddlrittcu  <£lorb  of  giabftliam  257 

Glory."*  On  the  whole,  we  shall  most  of  us  prefer 
to  conclude  simply  with  Solomon  that  giving  way  in 
the  day  of  adversity  is  a  sign  of  weakness.  Those 
who  prefer  the  Mysteries  of  the  Thorah  have  full 
opportunities  for  entering  more  deeply  into  the 
significance  of  Solomon's  homely  aphorism,  for  they 
have  only  to  remember  that  the  Throne  of  Glory  is 
a  title  of  Tiphereth ,  and  of  MalkutJi  occasionally 
because  it  is  the  seat  of  Tiphereth. 

In  a  more  notable  passage,  which  is  supposed  by 
Myer  to  distinguish  certain  stages  of  mystic  vision,  it 
is  said  that  the  will  of  the  King  is  discovered  in  three 
colours.  The  first  is  above  and  so  far  away  that  no 
eye  can  perceive  it  in  its  purity,  but  it  is  distinguished 
(dimly)  by  contracting  the  range  of  vision  [/.*.,  by  the 
closing  of  the  eyelids,  as  in  blinking].  The  second 
colour  is  seen  with  one  eye  shut,  and  cannot  be 
seen  by  the  other  eye  except  when  that  eye  is  shut 
so  that  it  can  see  little,  as  in  blinking.  The  clearness 
of  the  light  could  not  be  endured  otherwise.  Of  this 
it  is  written,  What  seest  thou  ?  [Jer.  i.  u.  The 
prophet,  however,  did  not  see  the  will  of  God  but  a 
branch  of  an  almond-tree].  The  third  colour  is  that 
bright  luminous  mirror  which  cannot  be  looked  into 
at  all,  except  between  the  rolling  of  the  eyes  when 
the  lids  are  altogether  closed  and  they  move  in  their 
sockets.  There  can  then  be  seen  in  that  rolling  the 
light  of  the  luminous  mirror,  and  the  colour  thereof 
can  be  comprehended  only  by  him  who  beholds  the 
shining  with  eyes  shut,  whence  it  is  written,  The  li.md 
of  the  Lord  was  upon  me  (Exck.  xxxvii.  i),  and  The 

*  Ibid.,  part  i.  fol.  890. 


258  ^he  Iportrinc  «ub  JJitemture  of  the  giatmlah 

hand  of  the  Lord  was  upon  me  in  the  evening  (Jbid. 
xxxii.  22).*  No  doubt  the  Kabalists  had  visions  and 
means  of  inducing  visions,  as  also  had  Boehme,  St. 
John  of  the  Cross  and  all  the  seers  and  mystics,  but 
this  clumsy  process  confuses  cause  and  effect,  while 
it  offers  no  intelligible  result. 

As  another  example,  let  us  see  what  the  Mysteries 
of  the  Thorah  can  tell  us  of  the  three  angels  who 
appeared  to  Abraham. 

"  It  is  written,  And  lo,  three  men  stood  by  him 
(Gen.  xviii.  2).  These  are  three  angels,  clothed  in 
ether,  which  came  down  to  this  world,  and  were  seen 
in  appearance  even  as  a  child  of  man.  And  they 
were  three  like  that  above,  because  the  rainbow  is 
only  seen  in  three  colours  [this  point  should  interest 
ethnologists].  Surely  this  is  so.  And  these  are  three 
men  ;  three  colours,  white,  red  and  green.  The 
white  is  Michael,  because  he  is  the  right  side ;  the 
red  is  Gabriel,  because  he  is  the  left  side  ;  and  the 
green  is  Raphael.  And  these  three  colours  are  those 
of  the  rainbow,  because  it  is  never  seen  otherwise 
than  with  them.  Hence  it  is  written,  And  the  Lord 
appeared  unto  him  [Abraham]  in  the  plains  of  Mamre 
(Gen.  xviii.  i),  that  is,  the  Shekinah  revealed  itself  in 
these  three  colours.  It  is  also  written,  And  they  that 
be  wise  shall  shine  as  the  brightness  of  the  firmament 
(Dan.  xii.  3).  They  shall  shine  with  a  light  which 
is  enkindled  by  igniting  a  splendour.  That  brilliant 
light  which  is  hidden,  the  spark  of  all  sparks,  of  all 
lights,  is  therein  invisible  and  hidden,  concealed  and 
made  known,  seen  and  not  beheld.  This  shining 

*  Zohar,  Cremona  ed.,  part  i.  fol.  66a. 


(uLlriltm  (IBorl)  of  Itabalism  259 

light  came  out  from  the  supreme  fountain  of 
enlightenment,  shown  in  the  day  and  hidden  at 
night.  And  this  is  the  only  thing  seen,  wherein  all 
colours  are  concealed,  and  it  is  called  by  the  name 
YHVH."* 

The  account  in  Genesis,  upon  which  this  pretends 
to  be  a  commentary,  is  exceedingly  perplexing,  and 
to  say  that  the  three  men  are  three  angels  clothed  in 
the  light  of  the  Shekinah  scarcely  removes  the  diffi 
culties.  The  explanations  of  Christian  interpreters 
may  not  be  wholly  satisfactory,  but  they  are  much 
better  than  the  Zohar  in  any  instance,  and  more 
especially  in  that  section  which  dissolves  the  mysteries 
of  the  Thorah  by  a  process  of  multiplication. 

As  a  specimen  of  the  demonology  in  the  Sithrai 
Thorah  one  quotation  may  be  appended  : 

"  When  man  joins  himself  with  the  truth,  that 
is,  the  Thorah,  he  requires  proving  in  the  same 
place  where  his  father  was  put  to  the  proof  ; 
so  shall  he  ascend  perfect  and  shall  return  perfect. 
Adam  went  up,  but,  not  watching  over  himself,  he  was 
enticed  by  that  harlot,  even  the  first  serpent,  and 
sinned  with  her  [i.e.,  Lilith].  It  is  written,  And  Jacob 
passed  out  from  Beersheba,  and  went  toward  Haran 
(Gen.  xxviii.  10).  'And  went  toward  Haran,'  that 
is,  the  side  of  the  harlot,  which  is  a  mystery.  '  From 
the  strength  of  Isaac,'  that  is,  from  the  strength  of 
judgment,  from  the  lees  of  old  wine,  went  out  a  spark 
which  comprised  male  and  female,  and  it  spread  itself 
out  to  many  sides  and  into  many  paths.  The  male 
is  called  Samael,  and  the  female  is  always  comprised 

*  Zohar,  Cremona  ed.,  part  i.  fol.  8oA 


260   ^he  iportrine  anb  literature  r»f  the  Jlabalah 

in  him  ;  as  it  is  on  the  holy,  so  is  it  on  the  evil  side, 
male  and  female  are  merged  one  in  the  other.  The 
female  of  Samae'l,  which  is  the  serpent,  is  called 
the  harlot."  * 


IX.     THE   SECRET    COMMENTARY 

We  know  that  Scott  provided  headings  to  very 
many  chapters  of  his  romances  by  pretended  quota 
tions  from  old  plays  which  existed  only  in  his 
imagination,  and  it  occasionally  happened  that  these 
mythical  excerpts  contained  stronger  lines  than  much 
of  his  acknowledged  versecraft.  Those  who  believe 
that  Moses  de  Leon  wrote  the  Zohar  out  of  his  own 
head  will  account  in  a  similar  manner  for  the 
manifold  fragments  of  unknown  treatises  which  are 
found  only  in  that  work.  Of  some  of  these  it  may 
also  be  said  that  they  are  more  interesting  than  the 
Zohar  proper.  As  we  have  seen,  the  whole  world 
of  Kabalism  has  agreed  to  exalt  the  "  Book  of 
Concealment "  over  all  the  other  discourses  attributed 
to  Simeon  ben  Jochai,  but  for  the  purposes  of  our 
present  inquiry  it  must  be  confessed  that  considerable 
interest  attaches  to  the  "  Secret  Commentary."  The 
extant  fragments  of  this  work  are  found  in  the 
Cremona  edition  at  the  following  places :  Part  L, 
col.  257,  260,  261,  264,  265,  268,  269,  272,  273,  276, 
296,  370.  The  field  which  they  cover  is  chiefly  that 
of  the  destiny  of  souls,  future  punishments  and 
rewards,  the  resurrection  of  the  body  and  the  doctrine 

*  Zohar,  Cremona  ed.,  part  i.  fol.  86a. 


fiBritteu  Sttorb  of  38abali«m  261 

concerning  angels  and  demons.  The  connection  of 
the  soul  with  the  body  and  the  perfection  which 
is  to  come  for  both  are  the  subjects  of  the  following 
passage : 

"  R.  Abbah  the  Ancient  rose  up  upon  his  feet 
and  said  :  Rest  and  peace  shall  be  thine,  R.  Simeon 
ben  Jochai,  for  thou  hast  brought  back  the  crown, 
that  is,  the  Thorah.  We  have  learned  in  the 
Mathnuthah  Kadmoah  that  because  the  higher  soul 
[Neshamah]  dwells  in  its  perfection  in  the  upper 
place  [i.e.,  prior  to  birth],  it  has  no  desire  towards 
the  body  except  to  create  from  it  other  similar  souls 
[Neshamoth].  These  come  out  of  her,  but  she  abides 
in  her  place.  Thereupon  R.  Simeon  ben  Jochai 
stood  up  and  explained  :  If  in  this  world  which  is 
vanity,  into  this  body  which  is  a  fetid  particle,  the 
Neshamah  yet  enters,  verily,  in  the  time  to  come, 
when  all  are  made  clean,  when  the  body  will  be 
in  the  fulness  of  its  perfection,  the  perfect  Neshamah 
will  enter  therein,  in  the  world  above.  R.  Acha  also 
said  :  This  very  soul  and  this  very  body  the  Holy 
Blessed  One  is  prepared  in  the  time  to  come  to 
establish  in  eternal  continuance,  but  both  will  be 
perfect  in  the  perfection  of  knowledge,  attaining  to 
that  which  cannot  be  reached  in  this  world."  * 

Occultists  are  accustomed  to  regard  the  re- 
assumption  of  the  same  physical  body  by  the 
progressed  and  glorified  spirit  as  an  unphilosophical 
and  material  doctrine,  not  at  all  of  that  kind  which 
we  should  expect  to  meet  with  in  the  Zohar ;  but 
it  is  there  all  the  same,  and  we  shall  find  it  more 

*  Zohar,  Cremona  ed.,  part  i.  fol.  760. 


262    ^hc  Jtortnne  anb  literature  ot  the  liabalah 

fully  developed  in  other  passages.  Before  proceeding 
to  these,  let  us  see  what  happens  to  the  soul  at 
death. 

"  R.  Isaac  said  :  At  that  time  when  the  Neshantah, 
having  deserved  it,  ascends  to  her  superior  place, 
the  body  lies  peacefully  at  rest  in  its  bed,  as  it  is 
written,  He  shall  enter  into  peace  ;  they  shall  rest 
in  their  beds,  each  one  walking  in  his  uprightness 
(Isa.  Ivii.  2).  What  does  this  mean?  'Walking 
in  uprightness.'  R.  Isaac  said  :  The  Neshamah  goes 
straight  to  the  place  prepared  for  it  in  Paradise."  * 

In  another  part  of  his  discourse  the  same  Rabbi 
distinguishes  two  Edens  and  two  places  of  per 
dition  : 

"  The  Holy  Blessed  One  not  only  created  a 
paradise  on  earth  and  a  Gehennon  on  earth,  but  a 
garden  of  Eden  above,  and  a  Gehennon  above.  He 
created  a  garden  of  Eden  on  the  earth  below,  as  it  is 
written,  And  the  Lord  God  planted  a  garden  eastward 
in  Eden  (Gen.  ii.  8).  He  created  also  a  Gehennon  on 
the  earth,  as  it  is  written,  A  land  of  darkness,  as 
darkness  itself  (Job  x.  22).  In  like  manner  he  created 
a  garden  of  Eden  above,  as  it  is  written,  But  the  soul 
of  my  lord  shall  be  bound  in  the  bundle  of  life  with 
the  Lord  thy  God  (I.  Sam.  xxv.  29).  And  it  is  again 
written,  The  Spirit  shall  return  unto  God  who  gave 
it  (Eccles.  xii.  7).  He  created  also  the  Gehennon 
above,  as  it  is  written,  And  the  soul  \Nephesh— animal 
soul]  of  thine  enemies  them  shall  be  sling  out  as  out 
of  the  middle  of  a  sling  (I.  Sam.  xxv.  29)."!  In 
this  exceedingly  interesting  passage,  as  need  scarcely 

*  Zohar,  Cremona  ed.,  part  i.  fol.  750.         t  Ibid.  fyb. 


"vThe  (iilritteu  aHorb  of  JUbalivMu  263 

be  observed,  the  citation  from  Job  does  not  at  all 
refer  to  any  earthly  Gchennon,  nor  does  any  such 
consequence  as  a  superior  place  of  perdition  follow 
from  the  text  in  Samuel.  The  Zohar  unfortunately 
abounds  in  this  kind  of  unreason. 

The  next  point  upon  which  we  may  seek  infor 
mation  from  the  occult  commentary  is  that  of  retri 
butive  justice  in  the  world  to  come  : 

"  R.  Judah  said,  The  time  of  a  man's  departure 
from  this  life  is  the  day  of  the  great  judgment,  for 
then  the  Neshamah  separates  from  the  body.  But 
man  does  not  depart  from  this  world  until  he  has 
beheld  the  Shekinah.  Hence  it  is  written,  There 
shall  no  man  see  me  and  live  (Ex.  xxiii.  20).  Three 
angels  come  with  the  Shekinah  to  receive  the 
Neshiimah  of  the  righteous.  Hence  also  it  is  written, 
And  the  Lord  appeared  unto  him  in  the  plains  of 
Mamre :  as  he  sat  in  the  tent-door  in  the  heat  of 
the  day  (Gen.  xviii.  i).  That  is,  the  day  of  judgment, 
which  burns  even  as  an  oven  for  the  separation  of  the 
Neskamah  from  the  body.  'And  he  lift  up  his  eyes 
and  looked,  and  lo,  three  men  stood  by  him,'  who 
search  the  deeds  which  he  has  done,  and  through 
whom  he  confesses,  yea,  even  with  his  mouth.  When 
the  Neshamnh  sees  this,  it  parts  from  the  body  as  far 
as  the  opening  of  the  gullet  and  there  tarries  until 
it  has  confessed  all  things  whatsoever  which  the  body 
has  committed  with  her  in  this  world.  Then  the 
Nashamah  of  the  righteous  man  rejoices  over  her 
deeds  [the  higher  soul  is  presented  by  the  Kabalists 
under  a  feminine  aspect]  and  because  she  has  been  so 
faithfully  preserved."  R.  Isaac  adds,  "  The  soul  of 
thi-  just  man  longs  for  the  hour  when  it  shall  depart 


264  ^he  fpoctritu  itnb  Ipteratnre  of  the 

from  this  vain  world  so  as  to  rejoice  in  the  world  of 
the  future."* 

Setting  aside  such  grotesque  details  as  the  pausing 
of  the  soul  in  the  gullet,  and  the  mere  confusion 
occasioned  by  the  mention  of  an  oral  statement,  what 
is  described  in  the  passage  above  is  almost  identical 
with  the  Catholic  notion  of  the  particular  judgment. 
According  to  this  the  Christian  soul,  whatever  sentence 
is  about  to  be  pronounced  upon  it,  sees  Christ,  as  the 
soul  of  the  Jewish  Kabalist  sees  the  glory  of  the 
presence.  We  find,  therefore,  that  the  Zohar  at  its 
best  has  no  richer  gift  to  offer  us  than  a  variation 
upon  all  that  which  the  occultist  has  agreed  to  set 
aside  as  belonging  to  the  letter  and  the  convention. 
It  is,  perhaps,  superfluous,  as  to  the  Kabalist  it  is 
certainly  useless,  to  point  out  that  the  apparition  of 
the  angels  to  Abraham  in  the  plains  of  Mamre  can 
by  no  natural  process  of  exegesis  bear  the  construction 
placed  on  it.  It  is  understood,  of  course,  that  the 
Kabalah  has  no  such  processes. 

Having  seen  how  the  soul  is  judged,  another 
quotation  will  afford  us  some  vague  notion  of  the 
future  happiness  of  the  righteous  : 

"  R.  Joseph  said  :  At  that  time  the  just  man  shall 
attain  full  knowledge  ;  namely,  in  the  day  when  the 
Holy  Blessed  One  shall  rejoice  over  His  works,  the 
just  shall  know  Him  in  their  hearts,  and  their  under 
standing  shall  be  as  great  as  if  they  had  seen  Him 
with  the  eyes,  for  it  is  written  :  And  it  shall  be  said 
in  that  day,  Lo,  this  is  our  God  (Isa.  xxv.  9).  The 
joy  of  the  soul  when  dwelling  in  the  body  surpasses 

*  Zohar,  Cremona  ed.,  part  i.  fol.  750. 


a  he  SBritten  ©Herb  of  38abalism  265 

all,  because  they  are  both  constant,  knowing  and 
comprehending  their  Creator,  and  rejoicing  in  the 
splendour  of  the  Shekinah.  This  is  what  is  meant 
by  the  good  which  is  preserved  for  the  just  in  the 
world  to  come.  Hence  it  is  written  :  These  are  the 
generations  of  Isaac,  Abraham's  son  (Gen.  xxv.  19). 
This  refers  to  the  NeshamaJi  which  deserves  such 
joy  and  is  perfect  in  her  elevation.  *  Abraham  begat 
Isaac,  (Jbid.),  that  is,  the  soul  brought  forth  this 
rejoicing  and  cheerfulness  in  the  world.  R.  Yehudah 
said  unto  R.  Cheyah  :  This  have  we  learned  that  there 
is  a  feast  which  the  Holy  Blessed  One  will  prepare 
for  the  righteous  in  the  coming  time.  What  is  this 
feast  ?  He  answered  him  :  When  I  came  before  those 
holy  angels,  even  the  lords  of  learning,  I  knew  only 
this  which  ye  have  heard,  but  afterwards  I  received 
the  explanation  through  R.  Eleazar,  who  said  :  The 
feast  for  the  righteous  in  the  coming  time  will  be 
thus,  as  it  is  written  :  They  saw  God  and  did  eat  and 
drink  (Ex.  xxiv.  11).  Now  these  are  the  foods,  even 
as  we  have  been  taught.  And  R.  Eleazar  said  again, 
We.  have  learned  in  one  place,  'We  have  rejoiced,' 
and  in  another,  '  We  have  been  fed.'  What  is  the 
difference?  Thus  spake  R.  Simeon  ben  Jochai: 
'Those  of  the  just  who  deserve  so  much  only,  the 
same  shall  only  rejoice  in  the  reflection,  because  they 
cannot  comprehend  all,  but  the  truly  righteous  shall 
be  satiated  till  they  attain  the  fulness  of  under 
standing.'  This,  therefore,  is  to  be  understood  by 
eating  and  drinking,  and  the  same  is  the  feast  and 
this  also  is  the  partaking  thereof.  Whence  have  we 
this?  From  Moses,  for  it  is  written:  And  he  was 
there  with  the  Lord  forty  days  and  forty  nights :  he 


266   ^olhe  Jportvine  ajib  literature  of  the  JUbalah 

did  neither  eat  bread  nor  drink  water  (Ex.  xxxiv.  28). 
For  what  reason  did  he  neither  eat  bread  nor  drink 
water?  It  was  because  he  was  fed  by  another  feast, 
even  the  celestial  splendour  which  is  from  above.  And 
such  shall  be  the  feast  of  the  just  in  the  coming  time. 
R.  Judah  said  :  The  feast  of  the  just  in  the  coming 
time  shall  consist  of  rejoicing  in  his  joy,  for  it  is 
written  :  The  humble  shall  hear  and  rejoice  (Ps. 
xxxiv.  2).  Thereupon  R.  Hunnah  said :  All  shall 
rejoice  who  trust  in  Thee,  eternally  shall  they  sing. 
R.  Isaac  said  :  The  one  and  the  other  shall  be  fulfilled 
in  the  time  which  is  to  come.  R.  Joseph  said  :  We 
have  learned  that  wine  which  is  guarded  and  kept  in 
the  grapes  from  the  first  six  days  signifies  the  ancient 
and  mighty  words  which  have  not  been  revealed  to 
man  since  the  creation  of  the  world,  but  they  will  be 
made  known  to  the  righteous  in  the  time  which  is  to 
come.  And  thus  it  is  eating  and  drinking,  yea,  surely 
this  is  so."* 

It  must  be  acknowledged  that  in  this  very 
interesting  passage  the  Zoharic  doctrine  is  a  great 
advance  upon  the  monstrous  allegory  of  the  salted 
leviathan  in  the  Talmud,  and  yet  the  point  reached 
with  so  much  circumlocution  in  the  rabbinical  dis 
course  is  summed  up  in  a  single  sentence  by  the 
Christian  apostle,  who  says  that  "  it  hath  not  entered 
into  the  heart  of  man  to  conceive  what  God  hath 
prepared  for  those  who  love  Him."  Nor  is  the 
mystical  significance  greater,  though  Isaac  Myer  has 
increased  it  by  pointing  out  that  the  term  wine 
signifies  Kabalistically  "  the  mysterious  vitality  and 

*  Zohar,  Cremona  ed.,  part  i.  fol.  80. 


vlhe  (SHrittcu  SOorb  of  Jabaliem  267 

spiritual  energy  of  created  things,"  an  opinion  based 
on  its  investigation  by  notaricon,  for  wine  =  70  =God 
or  secret.* 

As  to  the  future  condition  of  the  wicked,  the  Secret 
Commentary  gives  the  following  statement  by  R. 
Samuel  speaking  on  the  authority  of  R.  Jacob :  "  The 
souls  of  the  wicked  are  given  into  the  hands  of  the 
angel  Dumah  [the  Angel  of  Silence  who,  according 
to  the  Talmud,  has  charge  of  disembodied  spirits], 
who  conducts  them  to  Gehennon  for  judgment"!  As 
to  the  duration  of  punishment,  the  opinions  expressed 
in  the  Zohar  are  confused  if  not  conflicting,  but  it 
does  not  seem  to  be  everlasting.  J 

Two  other  passages  in  the  Secret  Commentary 
refer  to  the  resurrection  of  the  dead  : 

"  R.  Isaac  spake  and  said  :  The  mandrakes  give 
forth  a  smell  (Song  of  Solomon  vii.  13).  Our  rabbis 
have  learned  :  In  the  time  which  is  to  come  the  Holy 
Blessed  One  will  quicken  the  dead  and  will  awaken 
them  from  the  dust,  that  they  be  no  more  an  earthly 
habitation.  Formerly  they  were  created  from  the 
dust  of  the  earth,  which  hath  no  permanence,  as  it  is 
written  :  And  the  Lord  God  formed  man  of  the  dust  of 
the  ground  (Gen.  ii.  7).  But  in  that  time  they  shall  be 
sifted  from  the  dust  of  that  building  and  shall  stand  a 
firm  building,  and  the  same  shall  be  unto  them  a  lasting 
habitation.  Thus  it  is  written  :  Shake  thyself  from  the 
dust ;  arise  .  .  .  .  O  captive  daughter  of  Zion  (Isa.  Hi.  2). 

*  "  Philosophy  of  Ibn  <  it-bin  >1,"  j>.  358. 

t  Zohar,  Cremona  ed.,  part  i.  fol.  8ot>. 

£  Though  this  also  is  taught  here  and  there  in  the  medley.  It 
may  be  added  that  a  quotation  furnished  l>y  Jellinek  from  the  Beth 
Hammadresh  represents  that  the  Divine  Compassion,  touched  by  the 
sufferings  in  hell,  ordains  the  release  of  all  in  bondage  therein. 


268  Ihc  gtortrin*  anb  JDittratttre  of  the 

They  shall  stand  firm,  they  shall  rise  up  from  under 
the  earth  and  receive  their  Neshamoth  in  the  land  of 
Israel.  For  at  that  time  the  Holy  Blessed  One  shall 
diffuse  over  them  all  kinds  of  odours  from  the  garden 
of  Eden,  as  it  is  written  :  The  mandrakes  give  forth 
a  smell.  R.  Isaac  added  ;  Do  not  call  it  mandrakes 
[Dudaim}  but  friendship  \Dodini\,  meaning  that  body 
and  soul  are  friends  and  companions  to  each  other.  R. 
Na'hman  said  :  This  word  truly  means  Dudaim,  for 
the  Dudaim  [understood  as  the  love-apple]  bring  forth 
love  in  the  world.  What  does  this  mean  ?  '  They  give 
a  pleasant  smell.'  It  describes  the  rectitude  of  their 
deeds,  through  which  their  Creator  becomes  known 
and  comprehended  by  their  generation.  *  And  at  our 
gates  are  all  manner  of  pleasant  fruits,  new  and  old ' 
(Song  of  Solomon  vii.  13).  'Our  gates/  that  is,  the 
gates  of  heaven,  which  are  open  and  through  which 
the  Neshamoth  shall  descend  into  the  bodies.  '  All 
manner  of  pleasant  fruits ' ;  these  are  the  Neshamoth. 
'  New  and  old,'  that  is,  those  whose  souls  have  departed 
from  them  for  many  years  and  those  which  have  left 
them  for  a  few  days  past,  yet  deserve,  through  the 
probity  of  their  actions,  to  enter  the  world  to  come."* 
Hence  it  seems  to  follow  indubitably  that  the 
Kabalistic  world  to  come  is  the  millennial  earth  of 
Christianity,  and  hence  the  destiny  of  the  righteous  is 
substantially  identical  in  the  Zohar  and  in  the 
Apocalypse.  The  theory  of  the  risen  body  in  the 
"  Secret  Commentary "  recalls  also  that  which  was 
much  better  expressed  by  St.  Paul  when  he  said  :  "  It 
is  sown  a  natural  body,  it  is  raised  a  spiritual  body." 

*  Zohar,  Cremona  ed.,  part  i.  fol.  80. 


c&lrittcn  SBorb  of  gabalicm  269 

The  other  passage  is  as  follows : — "  While  the 
Neshamah  has  its  nourishment  from  the  supernal 
splendour,  the  Holy  Blessed  One  says  to  the  angel 
Dumah :  Go  and  proclaim  to  that  body  that  I  am 
prepared  to  quicken  it  at  the  time  when  I  shall  raise 
up  the  just  in  the  age  which  is  to  come.  But  the 
body  answers :  Shall  I  have  pleasure  when  I  have 
decayed?  [Referring  to  Gen.  xviii.  12  where  Sarah 
says :  After  I  have  waxed  old,  shall  I  have  pleasure  ?] 
Even  when  I  have  decayed  in  the  dust,  and  have 
dwelt  in  the  earth  where  worms  and  moles  have  eaten 
my  flesh,  shall  it  be  possible  for  me  to  be  renewed  ? 
Then  the  Holy  Blessed  One  says  unto  Neshamah :  It 
is  therefore  written  :  And  the  Lord  said  unto  Abraham 
.  .  .  is  anything  too  hard  for  the  Lord?  (Gen.  xviii.  13, 
24).  At  a  time  which  is  known  to  me  for  raising  the 
dead,  I  shall  bring  back  to  thec  that  body,  made 
wholly  new,  even  as  it  was  formerly,  that  it  may  be 
like  unto  the  holy  angels.  And  that  day  is  set  apart 
for  me  to  rejoice  with  them,  as  it  is  written  :  The 
glory  of  the  Lord  shall  endure  for  ever :  the  Lord 
shall  rejoice  in  His  works  (Ps.  civ.  31)."* 

\Ve  see,  therefore,  that  on  the  most  important  of 
all  subjects,  namely,  the  destiny  of  the  soul,  the 
Kabalah  has  nothing  to  offer  us  but  that  which  Jew 
and  Christian  possess  independently  of  any  secret 
doctrine.  We  have  not  to  consider  here  whether  this 
common  doctrine  is  insufficient,  but  to  remember  only 
that  it  is  so  held  by  occultists.  That  the  risen  body 
is  transfigured  we  learn  from  the  following  passage^ 
which  is  also  a  specimen  of  Kabalistic  angelology. 


*  Ibid.  fol.  66. 


270  Ihe  Iportrine  aitb  |ptetaiure  ot  the  giabalah 

"  When  it  is  said  :  His  servant  (Gen.  xxiv.  2),  this 
means  the  servant  of  Elohim.  '  The  oldest  servant 
of  his  house  '  (Ibid.).  Who  is  this  ?  It  is  Metatron, 
who  is  appointed  to  glorify  the  body  in  the  grave. 
Hence  it  is  written :  And  Abraham  said  unto  his 
eldest  servant  (Ibid.\  namely,  to  Metatron,  the  eldest 
of  his  house,  for  he  is  the  first  of  the  creatures  of 
Elohim,  governing  all  that  belongs  to  Him.  The 
Holy  Blessed  One  hath  given  him  dominion  over  all 
His  hosts.  And  we  have  learned,  said  R.  Simeon, 
that  R.  Joseph  said  on  the  authority  of  Rab  that  all 
the  hosts  of  the  servant  take  delight  and  felicity  in 
the  pureness  of  the  soul.  We  have  learned  also  that 
the  light  of  the  soul  in  the  world  to  come  is  greater 
than  the  light  of  the  Throne  and  that  the  soul  takes 
the  light  from  the  Throne."* 

The  last  statement  seems  to  mean  that  the  glory 
of  God  is  essential  to  the  Godhead,  but  the  soul  must 
acquire  her  lustre. 

We  must  leave  these  interesting  fragments  at  this 
point.  Much  as  we  may  despise  the  imbecile  theory 
which  would  attribute  them  to  the  inventive  genius 
of  Moses  de  Leon,  it  seems  quite  clear  that  they 
afford  no  support  to  the  occult  estimate  of  the  Zohar. 


X.    THE    LESSER    SECTIONS    OF    THE 
BOOK    OF    SPLENDOUR 

We  have  now  passed  in   review  the  chief  tracts 
and  fragments  which  constitute  the  Zohar.     Beyond 

*  Zohar,  Cremona  ed.,  part  i.  fol.  "j6b. 


The  ollritten  <3Qorb  of  JUbaliem  271 

these  there  are  various  lesser  sections  which  may  be 
noticed  for  the  sake  of  completeness.  They  fall 
under  two  heads  : 

a.  Certain    fragments,    not    of    considerable  im 
portance,   which  are  common   to    the    two   editioncs 
principes,  namely,  I,  "Additional  Pieces"  ;  2,  Excerpts 
from   a  commentary  on   Ruth  ;  3  ,   Excerpts    from  a 
work  entitled  "  Mansions  or  Abodes  "  ;  4,  One  portion 
of  a  treatise  on  the  Secret  of  Secrets. 

b.  Other   fragments   which   are    peculiar   to   the 
Cremona  edition  and  are  therefore  wanting  in   that 
of  Mantua,  namely,    I,  The  quaint  history  and   dis 
course    of    a    Young    Man ;    2,    Excerpts   from    an 
Explanation  of  the  Law  ;  3,  Excerpts  from  a  Com 
mentary    on    the    Song    of    Solomon  ;    a    discourse 
beginning    "  Come     and     See ! "      4,    Some     pieces 
entitled  "  Traditional  Receptions." 

A.  THE  ADDITIONS 

The  small  additional  pieces  which  pass  under 
the  generic  name  of  Tosephtha,  i.e.,  additauienta,  or 
accessions,  are  scattered  through  the  Cremona  folio 
as  follows  :— Part  I.  col.  83,  87,  145,  176,  188,  189, 
203,  222,  259,  265,  295,  303,  318,  367,  371,  487,  513  ; 
Part  II.  col.  48,  107,  120,  163,  238,  358,  426  ;  Part  III. 
col.  50,82,97,98,  117,  149,  155,  163,  177,  184,  1 86, 
191,  274,  331,  441.  Some  of  these  fragments  arc 
addressed  more  particularly  to  proficients  in  the 
secret  things  of  Kabalistic  doctrine.  Perhaps  the 
most  curious  of  all  concerns  the  Treasury  of  Souls 
situated  in  the  supernal  Eden. 

"  Before  the  world  was  created  all  the  spirits  of 
the  just  [i.e.,  the  rational  spirits,  the  Ruachin]  were 


272   ^hc  jportritte  anb  literature  of  the  Jiabalah 

hidden  before  Him  in  thought,  each  in  his  likeness 
[i.e.,  they  existed  in  the  divine  thought,  possessing 
characteristic  individuality].  But  when  He  formed 
the  world,  then  were  they  manifested,*  remaining 
before  Him,  in  their  own  likenesses,  yea,  even  in  the 
highest  place.  He  then  gathered  them  into  a 
treasury  in  the  supernal  garden  of  Eden,  and  that 
treasury  is  never  filled,  but  cries  out  for  ever : 
*  Behold,  the  former  things  are  come  to  pass,  and 
new  things  do  I  declare'  (Isa.  xlii.  9).  What 
does  this  mean  ?  It  means,  I  show  forth  all  by 
their  name,  and  this  treasury  hath  neither  desire 
nor  appetite,  save  only  to  accumulate  souls  therein 
[the  word  here  used  signifies  the  higher  soul,  or 
third  principle  of  the  Kabalists],  even  as  Gehennon, 
which  hath  neither  desire  nor  lust,  save  only  to  take 
souls  and  to  purify  them,  calling  daily,  Give !  Give ! 
What  does  this  mean  ?  It  means,  Burn !  Burn ! 
And  that  treasury  receives  all  souls  till  the  time  they 
are  clothed  and  come  down  to  this  world.  Through 
the  sin  of  Adam  Kadmon  [not  the  supernal  Adam 
of  the  Atziluthic  world],  which  brought  on  the  evil 
side  to  the  world,  the  soul  [NeshamaK\  must  be 
clothed  in  these  garments,  which  are  the  other 
garments  "  [i.e.,  not  the  original  vestments  of  unfallen 
man,  but  a  coarser  material  envelope]."]* 


*  Compare  Zohar  ii.  2Oa,  Mantua,  where  it  is  said  that  all  things 
and  all  creatures  before  they  were  associated  with  the  universe,  and 
whatever  the  time  of  their  existence,  appeared  in  their  true  forms 
before  God  at  the  beginning  of  the  present  creation. 

t  Brody  edition  of  the  Zohar,  iii.  303^.  See  also  Mantua  edition, 
ii.  97«,  concerning  the  profound  mysteries  of  that  Palace  of  Love  where 
in  are  assembled  all  the  well-beloved  souls  of  the  Celestial  King,  who  is 
joined  to  them  by  kisses  of  love. 


(lilritteu  i&iovb  of  glabalism  273 

From  this  it  follows  that  the  sin  of  Adam  did 
not  take  place  on  earth,  but  in  a  higher  region,  which 
is  indeed  a  recurrent  legend  of  mysticism.  The 
involution  and  confusion  of  Kabalistic  psychology 
is  well  illustrated  by  another  passage  : 

"  It  is  written :  Let  the  earth  bring  forth  the 
living  creature  (Gen.  i.  24).  This  means  the  animal 
nature  [Nephesh}  which  is  the  higher  life  [i.e.,  Chaiah, 
meaning  possibly  the  Nephesh  of  ChaiaJi,  the  fourth 
principle  of  the  Kabalists  ;  according  to  one  classifica 
tion,  Cliaiah  is  referable  to  Chokmah  in  the  Sephirotic 
system].  And  because  this  life  of  the  animal  nature 
[Nephesh  Chaiah~\  is  holiness  from  above,  so  when  the 
holy  earth  draws  up  through  her,  and  is  comprised  in 
her,  then  is  she  called  the  higher  soul  [Neshamah]. 
And  come,  see  !  Whensoever  the  child  of  man  walketh 
in  the  true  way,  when  his  mouth  and  tongue  utter 
forth  holy  words,  this  higher  soul  [Neshamah} 
cleaveth  unto  him,  and  he  is  the  friend  of  his  Lord, 
having  many  watchers  protecting  him  on  all  sides. 
He  is  designated  for  good  above  and  below,  and 
the  holy  Shekinah  rests  upon  him."* 

B.    THE   COMMENTARY  ON  RUTH 

The  few  fragments  of  the  unknown  Midrask 
Ruth  which  occur  in  the  Zohar  will  be  found  in  the 
Cremona  edition,  Part  I.,  col.  61,  86,  and  Part  III., 
col.  114,  124,  130,  174,  181,  184,  332,  530.  It  should 
be  noted  that  a  Midrash  Ruth  is  attributed  to  Rab, 
the  last  master  of  the  Tanaites,  who  died  in  A.D.  243, 

*  Ibid.  30 1  a,  b. 


274  ^he  ipcrrtrittt  anb  UJitenttee  of  the 

and  as  I  believe  that  this  work  has  never  been 
printed,  it  is  possible  that  it  is  the  source  of  these 
quotations.  There  is  also  extant  an  allegorical 
commentary*  which  has  been  twice  printed,  and 
yet  another,  attributed  to  the  fourth  century. 

C.    THE  MANSIONS  OR  ABODES 

We  have  already  made  acquaintance  with  a 
work  anterior  to  the  appearance  of  the  Zohar  in 
which  there  is  a  methodical  description  of  heaven. 
It  must  not  be  confused  with  the  excerpts  which, 
under  the  above  title,  termed  in  the  original 
HIKLVTh,  rendered  Palaces  by  Rosenroth,  give 
account  of  the  structure  of  Paradise  and  the  infernal 
region.  Their  places  in  the  Cremona  edition  will 
be  found  in  Part  I.,  col.  116  et  seq. ;  Part  II.,  col  358 
et  seq.,  and  col.  438.  The  mansions  are  seven  in 
number  and  were  the  original  habitations  of  the 
earthly  Adam.  After  the  fall  of  man  they  were 
reconstituted  and  became  the  abode  of  the  saints. 
The  term  which  signifies  Mansion,  Temple  or  Palace, 
is  applied  to  Malkuth,  in  which  Tiphereth  is  said 
to  be  concealed  as  in  a  palace.  So  also  the  name 
Adonai  [ADNI],  Lord,  is  the  Palace  of  Tetra- 
grammaton,  because  it  is  the  same  number  as 
H\¥iL,=Palatium=6$.  This  name  is  attributed  to 
Binah,  and  in  an  especial  manner  to  Kether,  on 
the  authority  of  the  Zohar  proper,  for  HIKL, 
Palace,  is  the  place  in  which  HKL,  that  is,  the 

*  Commentatio  Allegorica  super  quinque  parvos  Libellos,  videlicet, 
Canticus  Canticorum,  Liber  R^ith,  &c.  See  Bartolocci,  Bib.  Rab.  These 
commentaries,  with  "allegorical  expositions  of  the  Ancient  Rabbins," 
were  printed  at  Venice  in  1545  and  again  in  1550. 


dht  ®(rittfu  $lorb  of  $abalism  275 

all,  is  contained,  seeing  that  Kether  includes  the 
whole  world  of  Atziluth.  In  a  sense  also  the  term 
is  applied  to  all  the  Scphiroth.  In  the  plural, 
HIKLVTh  =  Palaces,  are  the  branches  of  the 
Sephirotk  in  the  inferior  worlds.  The  palace  of 
the  Holy  of  Holies  corresponds,  says  Rosenroth, 
to  the  three  supernals. 

The  Zohar  proper  has  also  a  good  deal  to  tell  us 
concerning  the  seven  heavens,  one  above  the  other, 
like  the  layers  of  an  onion.  "  Each  heaven  trembles 
with  fear  of  its  Lord,  through  whom  they  all  exist 
and  all  are  taken  away.  Over  all  the  Holy  Blessed 
One  holds  all  in  His  power."  There  are  also  seven 
earths  below,  arranged  after  the  same  manner.  "  These 
earths  are  disposed  according  to  their  names,  and 
between  them  is  the  Garden  of  Eden  and  Gehenna." 
They  are  inhabited  by  creatures  of  whom  some  have 
four  faces,  some  two,  while  others  are  single  visaged, 
like  humanity.  They  are  not  the  children  of  Adam  ; 
some  of  them  are  clothed  in  skins  and  others  in 
shells,  "  like  the  worms  which  are  found  in  the  earth." 
It  would  serve  no  purpose  to  enlarge  upon  monstrous 
inventions  of  this  kind.  The  concealed  meaning 
which  some  occultists  suppose  them  to  possess  is 
again  evidently  the  plan  upon  which  they  are  based, 
and  to  understand  them  is  to  know  the  method  by 
which  they  can  be  calculated  out,  so  to  speak.  In 
neither  case  are  they  justified  to  reason.  For 
example,  we  have  just  seen  'that  ADNI  is  the 
mansion  of  JHVH;  by  counting  the  numbers  of 
these  names  we  see  why  the  Kabalists  said  this, 
but  we  do  not  see  that  it  served  any  reasonable 
purpose  to  say  it.  It  is  entertaining  and  curious, 


276   UIhe  Jtodrine  anb  Jtjiteratxxre  xjf  the  Jiabalah 

but  at  the   same  time   it   is   assuredly  theosophical 
fantasia. 

D.  THE  SECRET  OF  SECRETS 

The  single  fragment  which  is  extant  of  this 
treatise  is  found  in  Part  II.  of  the  Cremona  edition, 
beginning  at  col.  134.  It  treats,  firstly,  of  the  con 
nection  between  the  soul  and  the  body,  of  which  a 
sufficient  idea  has  been  conveyed  by  previous  quota 
tions  ;  and,  secondly,  of  physiognomy,  which,  no 
doubt,  in  a  certain  manner  connects  with  the  lower 
divisions  of  occult  science,  but  is  not  of  much 
importance  to  our  inquiry.  It  may,  however,  be 
worth  while  to  say  that  Kabalistic  physiognomy 
proves,  as  might  be  expected,  to  have  no  connection 
whatsoever  with  any  accepted  principles  to  which  this 
empirical  art  may  be  supposed  to  have  attained,  and 
is,  indeed,  purely  arbitrary  and  conventional.  Lavater 
was  something  of  a  mystic,  but  fortunately  for  his 
subject,  he  borrowed  nothing,  as  probably  he  knew 
nothing,  of  the  Zohar  and  its  connections.  Four 
general  types  of  the  human  countenance  are  dis 
tinguished,  and  these  are  referred  to  the  faces  of  the 
four  living  creatures  in  Ezekiel's  vision.  We  have 
thus  the  leonine,  the  bovine  and  the  aquiline  types, 
and  another,  less  easy  to  characterise,  but  correspond 
ing  to  the  "  living  creature  "  which  "  had  the  likeness 
of  a  man."  The  approximation  of  any  individual 
to  a  given  type  depends  upon  his  intellectual  and 
moral  rank.  Physiognomy,  however,  according  to  the 
Secret  of  Secrets,  "  does  not  consist  in  the  external 
lineaments,  but  in  the  features  which  are  mysteriously 
drawn  within  us.  The  features  of  the  face  vary, 


flBritten  SHorb  of  gabaliem  277 

following  the  form  which  is  impressed  on  the  inward 
face  of  the  spirit.  The  spirit  only  produces  all  those 
physiognomical  peculiarities  which  are  known  to  the 
wise,  and  it  is  through  the  spirit  only  that  the  features 
possess  meaning.  When  spirits  and  souls  pass  out  of 
Eden  [i.e.,  the  Supreme  Wisdom]  they  possess  a 
certain  form  which  is  afterwards  reflected  in  the 
face."  M.  Gabriel  Delanne,  the  latest  and  perhaps 
most  accomplished  writer  on  the  French  theory  of 
reincarnation,  would  say  that  the  Zoharic  fragment 
here  refers  undoubtedly  to  the  perisprit  of  the  Kardec 
school  of  spiritism,  which  he  holds  to  be  the  plan  or 
type  upon  which  the  body  of  the  man  is  fashioned. 
The  "  Secret  of  Secrets "  also  pretends  that  every 
feature  in  a  given  countenance  indicates  to  those  who 
can  read  therein  whether  it  is  possible  or  not  for  the 
possessor  to  be  initiated  into  divine  mysteries.*  It 
is,  perhaps,  unnecessary  to  say  that  the  fragment  does 
not  disclose  the  rules  which  governed  the  sages  in 
their  discernment,  so  that  the  Kabalah  is  not  likely 
to  be  of  much  practical  use  to  the  few  occultists  who 
may  be  inclined  to  include  physiognomy  within  the 
charmed  circle  of  the  secret  wisdom. 


E.  THE  DISCOURSE  OF  THE  YOUNG  MAN 

The  little  history  which  has  passed  under  this 
name  will  be  found  in  the  Cremona  edition  of  the 
Zohar,  Part.  II.,  comprised  in  a  few  columns,  91  et 

*  In  the  writings  of  the  Gaon  R.  Shereerah  and  other  literature 
preceding  the  appearance  of  the  Zohar  we  meet  with  notions  of 
physiognomy  and  chiromancy  of  a  parallel  kind.  They  recur  in  the 
supplements  of  the  Zohar. 


278  3&ht  flortriut  anfo  literature  0!  the 

seq.,  which  follow  shortly  after  the  "  Book  of  Con 
cealment."  It  is  the  childish  account  of  an  impossible 
or  certainly  an  extremely  uninteresting  rabbinical 
prodigy,  the  son  of  R.  Hammnuna,  but  living  at  the 
period  in  question  with  his  widowed  mother  in  a 
certain  village.  One  day  two  disciples  of  R.  Simeon 
ben  Jochai,  namely,  R.  Isaac  and  R.  Judah,  passed 
through  this  village  on  a  journey  and  paid  a  visit  to 
the  widow.  When  her  son  returned  from  school  she 
wished  to  present  him  to  the  rabbis  to  receive  their 
blessing,  but  he  declined  to  approach  them,  after  the 
unamiable  manner  of  prodigies.  The  reason  assigned 
by  the  narrative  is  that  he  discerned  by  the  odour  of 
their  garmenls  that  they  had  not  recited  the  requisite 
"  Hear,  O  Israel ! "  in  honour  of  the  unity  of  God. 
He  did  not,  however,  disdain  to  converse  at  the  table, 
delivering  sundry  discourses  (i)  On  the  symbolism 
of  washing  the  hands,  a  function  of  some  mystery, 
because  it  is  written,  So  they  shall  wash  their  hands 
and  their  feet,  that  they  die  not  (Ex.  xxx.  21),  that 
is,  Aaron  and  his  sons,  when  entering  the  tabernacle 
of  the  congregation  ;  (2)  On  grace  before  meat ;  (3) 
On  the  Shekinah  ;  (4)  On  the  utterance  of  Jacob, 
"  The  Angel  which  redeemed  me  from  all  evil,  bless 
the  lads"  (Gen.  xlviii.  16) ;  and  on  other  matters. 
The  cautious  critic  will  not  be  prepared  to  deny  that 
the  invention  of  this  history  was  beyond  the  genius 
of  R.  Moses  de  Leon.  However,  the  discourses  con 
vinced  the  disciples  of  Simeon  ben  Jochai  that  such 
a  precocious  youth  could  not  be  the  child  of  human 
parents,  and  the  great  light  of  Kabalism,  when  the 
remarks  were  repeated  to  him,  coincided  with  this 
opinion. 


(SHritten  fillorb  of  gabalism  279 

Our  analysis  of  the  Zohar,  regarded  as  a  literary 
document,  has  reached  its  utmost  limit,  and  this 
specimen  of  the  matters  not  included  in  the  Mantua 
recension  must  be  held  to  serve  for  the  whole. 
Though  he  regarded  the  Mantua  edition  as  Codex 
correctus,  Rosenroth  ingarnered  all  the  tracts  and 
fragments  embraced  by  that  of  Cremona  when  he 
produced  his  own  careful  codex ;  but  it  must  be 
remembered  that  the  Zohar  had  in  all  probability 
grown  under  the  hands  of  transcribers  and  makers  of 
glosses  during  the  space,  approaching  three  centuries, 
which  elapsed  between  its  first  promulgation  and  the 
date  when  it  was  first  printed.  We  have  no  means 
of  knowing  how  much  of  it  was  actually  contained  in 
the  script  of  Moses  de  Leon.  The  suspicion  under 
which  it  has  remained  may  be  partly  accounted  for 
by  its  frequent  quotation  of  unknown  works  which 
have  been  considered  fictitious  ;  but  the  Zohar  was 
edited  prior  to  the  persecution  of  the  Jews  inaugurated 
by  the  atrocious  edict  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  and 
many  documents  existing  in  Spain  may  have  been 
destroyed  during  that  fiery  epoch.  Again,  it  is 
impossible  to  say  that  Continental  libraries  contain 
no  MSS.  by  which  ths  excerpts  of  the  Zohar  might 
be  justified.  The  unprinted  literature  of  Jewry  has 
been  catalogued  by  various  bibliographers,  but  no 
critical  knowledge  of  its  contents  is  possible  by 
recourse  to  bibliographies.  Let  us  take,  for  example, 
the  passages  from  a  commentary  on  the  Canticle  of 
Canticles,  which  is  peculiar,  as  we  have  seen,  to  the 
Cremona  editio  princeps.  These  excerpts  have  not, 
I  believe,  been  identified,  but  there  is  a  MS.  in  the 
Vatican  Library  which  is  mentioned  by  Buxtorf 


280  ^he  Itoctrine  anb  literature  of  the  giabalah 

under  the  very  same  title,  namely,  Midrash  Chazeeth* 
It  is  the  work,  as  he  tells  us,  of  an  unkown  author,  but 
a  uniform  tradition  assigns  it  to  a  Tanaite  commen 
tator  circa  A.D.  100.  The  existence  of  such  a 
work,  of  course,  predicates  nothing ;  but  why 
should  a  commentary  on  the  Song  of  Solomon 
be  called  MDRSh  ChDzITh,  which  is  understood  as 
a  reference  to  Proverbs  xxii.  29?  I  speak  under 
correction,  but  I  know  of  no  ground  except  in  the 
idiosyncrasy  of  the  author,  and  I  am  inclined  to  infer 
therefore  that  the  same  catchword  would  not  have 
been  used  by  two  writers,  but  that  the  editor  of  the 
Zohar  quoted  the  alleged  Tanaite  treatise. 


XI.  THE  ANCIENT  AND  LATER 
SUPPLEMENTS 

The  sudden  appearance  in  public  of  a  work  which 
either  has  or  purports  to  have  remained  in  concealment 
for  several  centuries  may  be  expected  to  lead  to  the 
discovery  or  manufacture  of  continuations  or  con 
nections  thereof,  and  thus  we  have  two  series  of 
Zoharic  writings  subsequent  to  the  Book  of  Splendour 
and  distinguished  as  its  ancient  and  later  supplements. 
As  productions  of  this  kind  multiply  their  authenticity 
does  not  tend  to  assume  a  stronger  guise,  and  the 
documents  with  which  we  shall  deal  in  this  section 
the  reader  will  do  well  to  regard  as  without  determined 

*  Among  later  MS.  commentaries,  also  in  the  Vatican,  Bartolocci 
mentions  that  of  R.  Abraham  ben  Isaac  Tze'mach  Levi,  the  physician, 
and  that  of  R.  Immanuel  ben  Solomon  written  towards  the  end  of  the 
fifteenth  century. 


QBritten  QUorb  of  £Ub*li0m  281 

claims.  I  should  add,  however,  that  considerable 
importance  and  authority  have  been  always  ascribed 
by  Kabalists  to  the  Ancient  Supplements,  and 
according  to  Franck  they  have  been  known  as  long 
as  the  Zohar  itself.  They  contain  explanations  of  the 
term  BRAShlTh  by  R.  Simeon  ben  Jochai  after 
seventy  different  ways,  and  hence  the  work  is  divided 
into  seventy  chapters,  with  eleven  further  chapters 
added  at  the  end.  It  was  printed  by  Jacob  ben 
Napthali  at  Mantua  in  1557  under  the  editorship  of 
Immanuele  di  Benevento,  and  appeared  again  at 
Cracovia. 

Among  notable  matters  in  these  Ancient  Supple 
ments  we  find  the  attribution  of  the  members  of  the 
human  body  to  the  Sephiroth,  whence  the  practical 
magic  of  the  West  may  have  obtained  later  on  its  notion 
of  divine  and  angelic  names  ruling  those  members.* 
The  apex  of  the  head  and  brain  is  referred  to  Kether, 
the  brain  as  a  whole  to  Chokinah,  the  heart  to  Binah, 
the  back  and  breast  are  attributed  to  Tiphercth,  the 
arms  to  Chesed  and  Geburah,  the  legs  to  Netzach  and 
Hod,  the  generative  organs  to  Jesod,  the  feet  to 
Malkuth.  Later  Kabalism  recognises  other  corres 
pondences,  the  arbitary  nature  of  which  is  obscured 
sometimes  by  an  appearance  of  methodical  precision. 

There  are  better  things  than  this  in  the  supple 
ments  to  the  Zoharic  books,  and  it  may  be  well 
supposed  that  some  out  of  all  the  seventy  ways 
of  interpreting  the  much -debated  word  which 
is  rendered"  beginning"  in  Genesis  should  be 

*  According  to  the  Zohar  itself  the  erect  figure  of  humanity 
exhibits  the  letters  of  the  Tctragram  superposed  one  upon  the  other, 
ii.  424,  Mantua. 


282    ^he  gtotrine  anb  literature  oi  the  giabalah 

suggestive  as  well  as  curious.  A  single  instance 
must,  however,  suffice.  " '  In  the  beginning  God 
created.'  This  is  the  soul  when  it  emerges  from 
the  bosom  of  its  mother  and  is  taught  thereof. 
'  And  the  earth  was  without  form,  and  void,  and 
darkness  was  upon  the  face  of  the  deep '  (Gen.  i.  2), 
because  the  eyes  of  the  soul  were  closed.  Hath  it 
opened  its  eyes  ?  '  And  God  said  :  Let  there  be  light.' 
Hereafter  man  is  gathered  in  from  this  world,  and 
this  then  is  written  about  the  soul.  '  And  God  said, 
Let  the  waters  under  the  heaven  be  gathered  unto 
one  place,  and  let  the  dry  land  appear.'  When  the 
soul  is  removed  from  a  man  his  body  remains  even 
as  *  dry  land.' " 

That  French  school  of  occultism  which  is  just 
beginning  to  recognise  in  the  plays  of  Shakespeare  a 
veiled  scheme  of  initiation  has,  it  must  be  admitted, 
an  influential  mystic  precedent  in  the  biblical  exegesis 
of  the  Zohar,  of  which  the  above  passage  seems  to  be 
a  very  neat  instance,  arbitrary  beyond  all  words,  and 
yet  not  without  a  certain  grace  of  notion. 

One  of  the  most  celebrated  quotations  from  the 
Ancient  Supplements  is,  however,  the  Prayer  of 
Elijah,  though  it  belongs  only  to  the  prefatory  part.* 

"  Lord  of  the  universe,  one  alone  art  Thou, 
but  not  according  to  number.  Thou  art  the  most 
sublime  of  all  that  is  sublime,  the  most  withdrawn 
of  all  things  concealed,  and  conception  cannot  attain 
Thee.  Thou  hast  produced  ten  forms  which  we  call 
Sephiroth,  and  Thou  guidest  by  means  of  these  the  un 
known  and  invisible  as  well  as  the  visible  worlds.  In 

*  Namely,  the  beginning  of  the  second  preface. 


SEritttu  SBorb  of  gUbalism  283 

them  Thou  dost  veil  Thyself  and,  permeated  by  Thy 
presence,  their  harmony  remains  undisturbed.  Who 
soever  shall  depict  them  as  separated,  it  shall  be 
accounted  unto  him  as  if  he  dismembered  Thy  unity. 
These  ten  Sephiroth  are  developed  in  successive  gra 
dations,  so  that  one  is  long,  another  short  and  the 
third  intermediate  between  them  ;  but  Thou  art  He 
who  guideth  them,  and  whether  from  above  or  below 
art  guided  Thyself  by  none.  Thou  hast  provided  the 
Sephirotk  with  garments  which  serve  human  souls  as 
intermediate  phases ;  Thou  hast  muffled  them  in 
bodies,  so-called  in  comparison  with  the  vestments 
surrounding  them,  and  the  totality  corresponds  to 
the  members  of  the  human  form.  .  .  .  Thou  art  the 
Lord  of  the  worlds,  the  Foundation  of  all  foundations, 
the  Cause  of  all  causes  ;  Thou  dost  water  the  Tree 
from  that  source  which  spreads  life  everywhere,  as 
the  soul  spreads  it  through  the  body.  But  Thou  hast 
Thyself  neither  image  nor  form  in  all  that  is  within 
or  without.  Thou  didst  emanate  heaven  and  earth, 
that  which  is  above  and  that  which  is  below,  with  the 
celestial  and  terrestrial  hosts.  All  this  didst  Thou  do 
that  the  worlds  might  know  Thee.  .  .  .  Yet  no  one 
can  conceive  Thee  in  Thy  reality  ;  we  know  only 
that  apart  from  Thee,  whether  above  or  below,  there 
can  be  no  unity,  and  that  Thou  art  Lord  of  all. 
Each  Sephira  possesses  a  prescribed  name,  after 
which  the  angels  are  called,  but  Thou  hast  no 
determinate  name,  for  all  names  are  informed  by 
Thee,  and  Thou  only  givest  them  force  and  reality. 
If  Thou  shouldst  withdraw  [from  the  vestments],  they 
would  be  left  like  bodies  devoid  of  souls.  Thou  art 
wise,  yet  not  with  positive  wisdom  ;  thou  art 


284  Ihe  Jloctrme  anb  literature  af  iht  Jiabalah 

intelligent,  but  not  with  a  definitive  intelligence, 
nor  hast  Thou  a  fixed  place  ;  yet  all  these  things  are 
attributed  to  Thee,  so  that  man  may  conceive  Thine 
omnipotence  and  may  be  shown  how  the  universe 
is  guided  by  means  of  severity  and  mercy.  If  there 
fore  a  right  or  left  side  or  any  centre  be  named,  it  is 
only  to  exhibit  Thy  government  of  the  entire  universe 
by  comparison  with  human  actions,  but  not  because 
any  attribute  can  be  really  imputed  to  Thee  corre 
sponding  either  to  law  or  to  grace." 

The  distinction  between  God  and  His  attributes, 
and  hence  between  God  and  the  Sephiroth,  which  in 
a  manner  are  His  attributes  emanated,  is  insisted  on 
elsewhere  in  the  Supplements  by  the  help  of  a  striking 
illustration : 

"  Woe  unto  those  whose  hearts  are  so  hardened, 
whose  eyes  so  blinded,  that  they  regard  God  as  the 
totality  of  His  attributes ;  they  are  like  unto  a 
madman  who  should  describe  the  King  as  the  totality 
of  his  insignia.  Behold  a  king  wears  his  insignia 
only  that  he  may  be  known  through  them,  and  verily, 
the  King  of  Kings,  the  Concealed  of  all  the  hidden, 
the  Cause  of  all  causes,  is  disguised  in  a  splendid 
garment  so  only  that  He  may  be  known  thereby,  and 
thereby  may  impart  to  the  dwellers  on  this  earth  a 
conception  of  His  sacred  nature."* 

This  distinction  has  at  first  sight  an  appearance 
of  considerable  profundity,  but  perhaps  in  the  last 
analysis  it  is  rather  childish  than  otherwise,  for  it  is 
obvious  that  even  in  our  finite  humanity  there  is  a 
latent  and  unseen  nature  behind  all  its  manifested 

*  Supplement,  21. 


o&ritteu  cBorfc  of  Jlabalienn  285 

characteristics.  Man  is  not  exhausted  by  any  de 
scription  of  his  attributes,  and  to  insist  that  this  is 
true  also  of  God  seems  scarcely  necessary. 

From  what  has  been  quoted  above  it  will  be  seen 
that  the  Ancient  Supplements  are  identical  in  their 
teachings  with  the  Zohar  itself,  and  some  affirm  that 
the  original  work  had  existed  from  time  immemorial 
at  Fez  in  Africa.*  We  have  no  means  of  checking 
this  statement,  nor  is  there  any  authority  for  supposing 
with  Isaac  Myer  that  it  was  brought  thither  by  dis 
ciples  of  Rab  Hay,  the  Gaon  of  the  Sages  of  Chirvan 
on  the  Caspian  Sea.f  There  is,  on  the  other  hand, 
no  need  to  say  that  hostile  critics  make  use  of  weak 
points  in  the  Ancient  Supplements  as  if  there  were 
no  distinction  between  these  and  the  Zohar  proper. 

In  the  section  on  the  bibliographical  content  of  the 
Book  of  Splendour  we  have  seen  what  is  broadly  em 
braced  by  the  New  Zohar,  namely,  a  sequel  to  the 
"Hidden  Commentary," certain  additional  supplements, 
a  commentary  on  the  Canticle  of  Canticles,  and  another 
on  the  Book  of  Lamentations.  This  enumeration 
conveys  no  idea  of  importance,  and  perhaps  it  will  be 
unnecessary  to  say  that  occultists  are  for  the  most  part 
unaware  that  these  tracts  are  in  existence.  I  should 
add  that  they  have  not  been  translated,  nor  am  I 
acquainted  with  the  existence  of  any  printed  copy 
beyond  that  of  Cracow,  though  it  has  been  termed 
the  editio  princeps.  This  appeared  in  1703,  or  subse 
quently  to  the  Kabbala  Denudata.  Its  history  seems 

*  Compare  the  statement  which  rests  on  the  authority  of  the 
Supplements,  that  the  full  publication  of  the  Zohar  is  reserved  for  the 
end  of  time. 

t  "  Philosophy  of  Ibn  Gebirol,"  p.  47. 


286  ^he  jp0£ttitt.e  Jtnb  literature  of  the 

entirely  unknown,  and  it  would  be  preposterous  to 
make  any  claim  concerning  it.  It  may  also  be  noted 
that  later  still  Isaac  ben  Moses  of  Satanow,  though 
otherwise  of  some  literary  repute,  wrote  a  forged 
Zohar  which  may  have  deceived  a  few  persons,  but  it 
was  speedily  unmasked. 


BOOK   VI 

THE     WRITTEN     WORD     OF 
KABALISM  : 

THIRD     PERIOD 

ARGUMENT 

The  growth  of  Kabalistic  literature  is  sketched,  firstly,  in  the 
commentaries  on  the  Zohar  and,  secondly,  in  some  independent 
treatises  which  connect  with  the  general  tradition.  Two  works 
are  chosen  for  separate  consideration,  one  on  the  Mysteries  of  Love, 
because  of  its  general  diffusion,  and  one  on  the  application  of 
the  Kabalah  to  Alchemy,  because  of  the  importance  of  its  design 
and  the  credit  which  it  has  obtained  in  the  modern  school  of 
occultism. 

I.    EXPOSITORS    OF    THE    BOOK    OF 
SPLENDOUR 

THE  works  which  are  recommended  by  Rosenroth  as 
assisting  to  a  better  comprehension  of  the  Zohar  fall 
under  two  heads — namely,  those  which  are  designed 
to  elucidate  technical  matters  and  those  which  may 
claim  to  be  original  expository  treatises.  In  the  first 
are  included  the  "  Words  of  Understanding,"  which  is 
actually  a  Zoharic  lexicon  or  vocabulary;  the  "Gate 
of  the  Eyes,"  which  is  concerned  with  the  Scriptural 
passages  in  the  Zohar  and  Ancient  Supplements  ; 
and  the  Zar  Zahab.  The  second  section  contains 


288   32Ehe  |p citrine  zm&  literature  of  tlte  giabalah 

the  famous  "Garden  of  Pomegranates,"  the  "Way 
of  Truth,"  with  its  sequel  the  "Fount  of 
Wisdom,"  and  the  masterly  digest  of  the  Zohar 
proper,  entitled  the  "  Vision  of  the  Priest." 
Outside  these  there  are  a  few  works  which  may 
be  regarded  as  extensions  or  developments  of  Zoharic 
doctrine,  but  more  especially  of  that  part  which  is 
concerned  with  spiritual  essences.  The  scope  of  our 
inquiry  is  too  simple  and  elementary  for  the  dis 
cussion  of  technical  matters  or  the  pretensions  of 
word-books  and  other  collections  which  deal  with 
these.  Except  in  so  far  as  they  have  been  utilised 
in  the  Apparatus  of  Rosenroth,  they  will  be  available 
to,  as  they  concern  only,  the  Hebrew  and  Aramaic 
scholar  who  has  a  first-hand  acquaintance  with  the 
Zohar.  To  mention  them  in  this  place  will  be 
therefore  sufficient,  and  we  may  proceed  at  once 
to  the  consideration  of  the  commentaries  and 
developments  to  which  that  work  gave  rise,  and  to 
the  names,  illustrious  in  later  Kabalism,  which  are 
connected  with  these. 

A.    MOSES  OF  CORDOVA 

Assuming  that  the  Zohar  first  became  known 
in  Spain  towards  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century, 
there  was  a  lapse  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  years, 
according  to  the  dates  fixed  by  modern  scholarship, 
before  any  literature  followed  from  it.  Hence  this 
literature  may  be  largely  regarded  as  a  consequence  of 
the  Cremona  and  Mantua  editions.  Franck  says*  that 
two  Zoharic  schools  were  founded  about  the  same 

*  La  Kabbalc,  p.  4. 


vlhc  eilritttn  SQort  of  Jgztbaliem  289 

time  in   Palestine,  namely,  the  middle   of    the    six 
teenth  century,  the   first  by  Moses  of  Cordova,  and 
the  second  by  Isaac  de  Loria.     On  the  other  hand, 
Bartolocci*  and  Basnagef  agree  in  assigning  Moses 
of  Cordova  to  the  fourteenth  century.     The  earlier 
date  is  of   importance  to  the  history  of  Kabalism, 
because  certain  side  issues  of  documentary  criticism^ 
untouched   in   this  study,  depend    upon   it.     Here   I 
need    only    say    that    Franck    does    not    state    his 
authority   or    indeed    his    reason    for   accepting    the 
later  period.     In   either  case   Moses  of    Cordova   is 
the  first  commentator  on  the    Zohar,  for,  assuming 
that    Bartolocci    was    mistaken    and    that    Basnage 
reproduced    his   error,   Joseph    Gigatella,   called    the 
divine    Kabalist  and   thaumaturge,    who  was  of   the 
time  of   Ferdinand   and    Isabella,   was   a   writer   on 
the  Sephiroth,  and  connects  with  the  Sepher  Yetxirah 
rather   than    the    Zohar,    though    he   refers    to    the 
Kabalistic  Work  of  the  Chariot 

As  his  name  indicates,  Moses  of  Cordova  was 
a  Spaniard,  but  he  travelled  to  Palestine,  and  it  is 
conjectured    that    he   was   instrumental    in    founding 
the  Academy  of  Sapeth  in  Upper  Galilee,  nine  miles 
from   Bethsaida.     In   either   case  he  was  one  of 
teachers  and  helped    to   make   it    illustrious,   for  he 
was    regarded    by    his    fellow    theosophists    as   the 
greatest  light  of  Kabalism  since  Simeon  ben  Jocliai. 
Franck  says  that  he  adhered  to  the  real  significance 
of  the  original  monuments  of  Kabalism,  but,  althnu-1, 
this  appears  worthy  of  praise,  he  sec-ins   t<»  complain 
that  R.  Moses  was  uantin-  jn  originality.     Howe 

*    Inhliothcca  Ma^na  KaMnnica,  t.  iv.  p, 

I    ULloirc  tksjnifs,  livre  vii.  c.  24,  t.  v.  p.   1942. 


290  Ihe  goxtrine  anb  literature  of  the 

this  may  bex  the  work  by  which  he  is  known  is  of 
high  authority  in  Kabalism.  It  is  entitled  the 
"  Garden  of  Pomegranates "  (Pardes  Rimmonivi\ 
referring  to  the  versicle  in  the  Canticle  of  Canticles, 
iv.  13  :  "Thy  plants  are  an  orchard  of  pomegranates." 
Basnage  says  that,  after  the  manner  of  Kabalists, 
he  discovers  whatsoever  he  pleases  in  that  single 
sentence.*  The  pomegranate,  with  its  innumerable 
seeds,  is  a  favourite  object  for  symbolism,  and  the 
garden,  orchard,  or  paradise  has  deep  lessons  for 
all  mysticism.  Here,  in  a  general  sense,  it  is  the 
treasury  of  Scriptural  meanings,  and  the  word  by 
which  it  is  described  having  four  consonants,  these 
meanings  are  classified  as  four  :  PRDS  ;  the  P 
signifies  the  literal  sense,  R  the  mystic  sense,  D  the 
enigmatic  sense,  and  S  the  secret  and  concealed  sense. 
Dwelling  upon  these  involved  meanings,  as  may 
be  well  imagined,  the  "  Garden  of  Pomegranates  "  is 
an  obscure  and  difficult  treatise,  and  the  attempt  made 
by  Rosenroth  to  dismember  it  for  the  purpose  of  his 
Apparatus,  while  it  gives  no  idea  of  its  contents,  creates 
a  lively  image  of  its  complexity.  The  attribution  of 
the  letters  of  the  Tetragrammaton  to  the  Sephiroth, 
the  mystic  meaning  of  words  deprived  of  their  context, 
the  names  applied  to  the  Sephiroth,  their  superin- 
cession  and  their  union  with  Ain-Soph,  the  mystery 
of  the  Throne  and  the  Shekinah,  primeval  Tohu  and 
Bohu,  the  unknown  darkness,  these  are  specimens 
here  and  there  of  the  subject  matter.  But  as  the 
heart  of  the  Kabalist,  in  opposition  to  the  ascribed 
character  of  his  nation,  was  fixed  with  peculiar  in- 

*  Histoire  des  Juifs,  1.  vii.  c.  24,  vol.  v.  p.  1943. 


The  CAlrittcn  fill  orb  of  JRiibaliem  291 

tentness  on  the  eternal  destinies  of  man  and   not  on 
temporal  concerns,  so  his  chief  interest  was  the  soul, 
ever  recurring  in  his  writings,  as  if  it  were  impossible' 
to  atone  sufficiently  for  the  silence  of  his  sacred  books. 
There  is  therefore  no  need  to  say  that  a  special   tract 
in  the  "  Garden  of  Pomegranates  "*  is  dedicated  to  the 
subject  of  the  soul,  discussing  the  region  from  which 
it  emanates,  its  purpose  in  the  world,  the  profit  of  its 
creation,  its  union  with  matter,  its  superiority  over  the 
angels,    its    chief  divisions,   their   relation    one   with 
another,  the  Sephiroth  to  which  they  are  referred,  the 
places  to  which  they  resort  after  death,  the  absence  of 
one  or  both  of  the  higher  divisions  in  many  individuals, 
and    the   good   and    evil    angels   accompanying  each 
human  being.     The  tract  also  devotes  a  very  curious 
chapter  to  the  simulacrum  which  presides  at  generation 
a  phantasmal   image  of  humanity  which  descends  on 
the  male  head  cum  copula  maritalis  cxercetur  inferius. 
It  is  affirmed  to  be  sent  from  the  Lord,  and  no  pro 
creation  can  take  place   without   its   presence.      It   is 
not,  of  course,  visible,  yet   might  be  seen  if  licence 
were  given  to  the  eye.      This  phantom  or  imago  is 
prepared   for  each   man   before  he  enters  the  world, 
and    he    grows    in    the    likeness    thereof.      With    the 
Israelites  this  simulacrum   is  holy,  and   it  comes  to 
them   from   the   Holy   Place.      To  those   of  another 
religion  it  descends   from   the   side  of  impurity,   and 
hence    the    chosen    people    must    not    mingle  their 
simulacrum  with  that  of  the  Gentile.f 

-   Namely,    Tract    xxxi.,    translated   in    the    Kabbala    Denudata 

Apparatus  in  l.ibntm  Sohar  pars  .r,v//;/,/,/,  i.   100  et  j,y. 

t  This  fantasy  rests  on  the  authority  of  the  X«,har,    which   states 
t  is  an  emanation  of  the  celestial  form  of  each  man,  /.,-.,  /„•/• 

-Mantua  edition,  iii.  107. 


292   ^Sthe  godrine  anb  literature  of  the  gabalah 

Another  curious  speculation  is  founded  on  a 
text  of  the  Zohar  which  says  that  the  good  works 
performed  by  a  person  in  this  world  become  for  him 
vestments  of  price  in  the  world  to  come.  Here  was 
a  poetic  sentiment  which  had  to  be  methodised  and 
made  literal  inevitably  by  a  late  Kabalist.  When  a 
man  who  has  performed  many  good  works  finally 
falls  away  from  righteousness  and  is  lost,  what  becomes 
of  his  earlier  works  ?  Though  the  sinner  may  perish, 
they,  says  R.  Moses,  remain.  If,  therefore,  there  be 
a  just  man  walking  in  the  ways  of  the  Supernal 
King,  yet  wanting  something  of  his  vestments,  God 
will  supply  the  deficiency  from  the  good  works  of  the 
impious  one.  The  preference  is  given  to  those  who, 
taken  in  their  youth,  have  been  unable  to  fulfil  all 
the  precepts  of  the  Law. 

B.  ISAAC  DE  LOR i A 

Of  this  Kabalist  Bartolocci  and  Basnage  have 
very  little  to  tell  us,  and  it  is  not  necessary  to  say 
that  he  is  ignored  by  writers  like  Graetz.  He  is 
referred  by  Basnage  to  the  seventeenth  century*  and 
by  Franck,  as  aiready  seen,  to  that  which  preceded 
it.  He  has  been  regarded  as  the  greatest  rabbinical 
doctor  at  his  period  in  Germany.  However,  he  died 
at  Sapheth  or  Separth,  having  published  nothing 
himself,  though  some  suspected  treatises  are  attributed 
to  him.  The  substantial  authenticity  of  the  great 
body  of  his  doctrines  collected  by  his  disciple,  R. 
Chafm  Vital,  has  not,  however,  been  challenged,  and 
Franck  bases  thereon  his  hostile  judgment  of  Loria, 

*  Histoire  desjuifs,  1.  vii.  c.  31,  p.  2089,  vol.  v. 


c&lrittcu  SHorb  of  gabali&m  293 

on  the  ground,  firstly,  that  he  was,  like  Moses  of 
Cordova,  not  original  ;  and,  secondly,  that  he  departed 
from  Zoharic  Kabalism  to  indulge  in  his  own  reveries, 
a  criticism  which  stultifies  itself.  It  is  certain,  how 
ever,  that  Loria  did  innovate  or  extend,  and  that  this 
is  also  his  title  to  interest.  He  is  not  a  mere  echo  or 
reflection,  and  he  makes  good  reading  because  he  is 
a  wild  fantasiast.  Rosenroth  terms  him  the  eagle  of 
the  Kabalists.  It  is,  of  course,  impossible  to  say  how 
far  his  scribe  and  disciple,  R.  Chaim,  may  have  de 
veloped  his  developments  and  elaborated  his  fantasies. 
The  vast  thesaurus  which  represents  both  seems 
never  to  have  been  printed,  except  in  so  far  as  it  is 
given  in  the  Kabbala  Denudata,  where  the  excerpts, 
embodying  whole  treatises,  fill  some  three  hundred 
quarto  pages  of  close  print.  They  include  : 

I.  The  first  tract,  so  called,  of  the  Liber  Drn  shim* 
i.e.,  Book  of  Dissertations,  forming  the  second  volume 
of  the  collection.     It  occasioned  an  interesting  corres 
pondence  between  Rosenroth  and  Henry  More,  who 
was  surprised,  as  he  expresses  it,  by  the  unexpected 
ness  of  its  doctrine,  but  found  much  with  which  he 
could  sympathise,  as  we  shall  learn  later  on   in  the 
book     devoted     to     the    Christian    students    of    the 
Kabalah. 

II.  A   commentary  on   the  "Book  of   Conceal- 
ment,"t  forming  the  second  tract  in  the  sixth  volume 
of   the   collection.     It    is    not   given    in    its    absolute 
integrity — cujus    maximum    partcm    infra   cxliilhmus, 
says  Rosenroth.  J 

*  Kabbala  Denudata,  Apparatus  ....  pars  secunda,  i.  28  et  .vy. 
t  Ibid.  ii.  pars  sefttnda,  tradatus  quartus,  p.  3  et  scq. 
£  In  the  Pnrfatio  ad  Lectorem,  p.  16,  vol.   ii. 


294  Ihe  Itortrin*  an&  JCiteratnre  ot  the 

III.  The  "Book  of  the  Revolutions  of  Souls,"* 
forming  the  first  tract  in  the  fifth  volume  of  the 
collection,  which  seems  to  have  been  even  larger  than 
the  Zohar  itself — in  fact,  almost  the  camel's  load  of 
the  legend.  A  portion  of  this  tract  seems  to  have 
been  printed,  or  another  under  a  similar  title  and 
attribution,  namely,  De  percussione  Sepulchri,  at 
Venice  in  1620,  together  with  De  Precibus,  recalling 
another  subject  treated  in  the  collection. 

The  Ltber Drushtm  is  a  metaphysical  introduction 
to  the  Kabalah,  which  discusses  a  variety  of  subtle 
and  abstruse  questions  much  after  the  manner  of  the 
scholastic  philosophy,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that 
Isaac  de  Loria  would  have  diffused  a  great  light  of 
reasoning  at  Salamanca  had  he  been  a  Christian 
Doctor  instead  of  a  Jewish  Rabbi.  His  first  point,  as 
he  tells  us,  is  one  over  which  the  Kabalists,  late  and 
early,  had  already  outwearied  themselves,  namely,  for 
what  reason  were  the  worlds  created  and  was  their 
creation  of  necessity  ?  Assuredly  from  the  period  of 
the  Angel  of  the  Schools,  the  halls  of  Salamanca,  of 
Padua,  of  Louvain  and  the  other  seats  of  scholastic 
learning,  had  echoed  with  this  debate.  Perhaps  the 
Kabalists  owed  something  to  the  Scholastics,  perhaps 
they  drew  both  from  one  another.  In  the  early 
centuries  of  Christianity  the  so-called  Areopagite 
offers  curious  points  of  contact  with  the  system  of 
Sephirotic  emanation  in  the  angelical  world,  and  the 
Wisdom  of  the  Exile  was  encompassed  on  all  sides  by 
the  great  debate  of  Christian  speculation.  It  would 


*  Kab.  Den.  ii.,  partis  tertia  tractatus  secundus  pneumaticus,  p. 
234  et  seq. 


(utlritteu  (yHorb  of  JBnbaliem  295 

be  interesting  to  discriminate  the  extent  of  the 
tincture  and  to  ascertain  whether  the  plummet  of 
Kabalism  sounded  lower  depths  than  the  schoolmen, 
but  I  doubt  whether  the  dimensions  of  the  present 
volume  would  suffice  for  this  one  excursion.  Let  me 
indicate  therefore  the  answer  of  Isaac  de  Loria,  and 
perhaps  some  student  at  large  among  scholastic 
quartos  will  find  illuminating  parallels  in  the 
Scholastics.*  The  answer  is  that  God  cannot  fail  of 
perfection  in  all  the  works  and  names  of  His 
magnificence,  His  excellence  and  His  glory ;  but 
unless  those  works  were  brought  from  potentiality 
into  act  they  could  not  have  been  termed  perfect,  as 
regards  either  the  works  or  the  names.  The  name 
Tetra&rammaton  signifies  perpetual  existence,  past, 
present  and  future,  in  the  condition  of  creation  before 
the  creation,  and  thereafter  in  the  immutability  of 
things.  But  if  the  worlds  had  not  been  created,  with 
all  that  is  in  them,  it  could  not  have  thus  signified 
the  continuity  of  existences  in  every  instant  of  time, 
and  Tetragrammaton  would  have  been  an  empty 
name.  How  very  curious  is  the  treachery  of  this 
reasoning,  which  ascribes  to  a  name  of  the  Deity  an 
existence  independent  of  the  intelligent  creatures 
whose  convention  it  is  !  But  we  should  probably  find 
many  parallel  treacheries  among  scholastic  rcasoncrs, 
were  there  any  one  at  hand  to  disinter  them.  So  also 
the  name  of  A,i\  //<//,  or  the  Lord,  involves  the  idea  of 
ministers  or  servants,  and  if  there  were  no  ministers 
God  could  not  be  called  by  this  name.  But  after  the 
creation  of  the  worlds  and  the  production  of  the 

*  He  must  ^o  further,  however,  than  B.  Hareau  in  his  treatise  De 

la  rhilosophie  Scholar! ique,      Paris.      l88o. 


296  ^he  Jtodrine  attb  ^literature  r>f  the  Jhtbdah 

divine  works  from  potentiality  into  accomplishment, 
God  has  fulfilled  His  perfection  in  every  operation  of 
His  powers,  and  in  all  His  names  without  any 
exception. 

The  next  point  discussed  by  the  Liber  Drushini 
is  why  the  world  was  created  at  the  time  and  moment 
that  it  was.  and  not  at  an  earlier,  or,  for  that  matter, 
at  a  later  epoch.  The  answer  is  that  the  supreme 
and  most  excellent  Light  is  infinite,  exceeding  com 
prehension  and  speculation,  and  that  its  concealed 
foundation  is  far  from  all  understanding.  Before  any 
thing  was  produced  by  emanation  therefrom,  there 
was  no  time  or  beginning  therein.  This  is  the  solution 
of  the  difficulty  which  is  offered  by  all  official 
theology,  and  it  could  have  no  aspect  of  novelty  at 
the  late  period  of  Isaac  de^Loria.  It  may  be  affirmed 
in  a  general  way  that  when  the  Kabalists  touch  the 
common  ground  of  speculation  they  seldom  surpass 
their  epoch  in  profundity  or  subtlety,  I  might  add 
also  in  the  adequacy  of  their  views,  though  philo 
sophical  sufficiency  was  not,  of  course,  to  be  expected 
on  any  side. 

But  it  is  not  often  and  it  is  not  for  long  that 
works  like  the  Liber  Drushim  confine  themselves  to 
the  common  ground  of  speculation,  and  the  Kabalist 
in  this  instance  passes  speedily  into  the  transcendental 
region  of  the  Sephiroth  and  the  manner  of  their 
emanation,  another  question,  as  he  tells  us,  which  has 
involved  all  Kabalists  in  controversy.  Do  they 
proceed  from  one  another  in  the  simplicity  of  a 
successive  series,  or  is  their  emanation  in  columns  ? 
There  is  authority  for  both  views  and  also  for  a 
third,  which  represents  them  as  a  series  of  homo- 


<<Ehe  oBritteu  (SHorb  of  Jiabalism  297 

centric  circles.  These  questions,  says  R.  Isaac,  are 
hard  and  difficult  to  resolve,  but  he  offers  a  solution 
on  the  authority  of  the  Zohar,  namely,  that  before 
the  order  of  things  was  instituted,  they  were  disposed 
one  over  the  other,  but  after  that  time  in  three 
pillars,  those  of  Mercy  and  Severity,  with  the 
central  column  of  which  Kether  is  the  summit  and 
Malc/uit/i  the  base. 

In  subsequent  chapters  the  Sephiroth  are  con 
sidered  under  a  dual  aspect,  namely,  as  regards  the 
portion  of  the  Divine  Light  contained  in  each  and  as 
regards  the  containing  vessel,  while  these  are  again 
distinguished  into  an  ambient  and  an  inward  Light, 
and  an  external  and  internal  vessel.  The  existence 
of  many  worlds  prior  to  the  Sephirotic  emanations 
is  affirmed,  herein  following,  as  we  have  seen,  both 
Talmudic  and  Zoharic  tradition.  Finally,  several 
classifications  of  the  Sephiroth  are  considered  in  the 
last  chapter. 

The  study  of  the  Liber  Drushim  may  be 
especially  recommended  to  those  occultists  who  have 
been  taught  to  regard  the  Kabalah  as  a  doctrine  of 
certitude,  whereas  it  is  largely  empirical,  its  leading 
theorems  giving  rise  to  as  much  disputation  regarding 
their  proper  meaning  as  the  principles  of  any  other 
speculative  philosophy. 

The  commentary  on  the  "Book  of  Concealment," 
as  might  be  expected,  is  written  somewhat  on  the 
Incus  a  non  lucendo  principle.  It  does  not  yield  itself 
readily  to  an  analysis  of  contents,  as  it  takes  various 
paragraphs  of  the  text  and  exposes  their  meaning 
consecutively,  with  the  help  of  the  Idra  Rabba  and 
the  Idra  Zuta.  The  peculiar  designation  of  the 


298  3&\u  ilortritu  anil  Jpterature  of  the  giabalah 

treatise  is  explained  by  Proverbs  xxv.  2  :  "It  is  the 
glory  of  God  to  conceal  a  thing/'  and  Ibid.  xi.  2  : 
"  With  the  lowly  is  wisdom."  The  second  reference 
explains  why  it  is  termed  both  the  Book  of  Conceal 
ment  and  that  of  Modesty.  On  the  authority  of  the 
Zohar,  section  Pekude,  the  balance  symbol,  which  has 
made  this  treatise  so  famous  in  Kabalism,  is  explained 
to  represent  the  Male  and  Female  principles,  which 
indeed  follows  from  the  developments  of  the  •'  Lesser 
Holy  Synod."  The  male  denotes  Mercy,  the  right 
hand  pillar  of  the  Sephiroth,  and  the  female  Severity, 
the  pillar  on  the  left  hand.  These  principles  are 
termed  the  Father  and  the  Mother,  and  in  the 
Hebrew  Alphabet  are  referable  to  Jod  and  Nun. 
The  Father  is  perfect  love  and  the  Mother  perfect 
severity.  The  latter  had  seven  sons,  namely,  the 
Edomite  kings,  who  had  no  foundation  in  the  Holy 
Ancient  One.  These  are  empty  lights  dispelled  by 
the  source  of  lights  concealed  within  the  Mother. 
Male  and  female  are  conformations  of  the  Holy 
Ancient  One,  corresponding  to  Kether,  and  repre 
sented  mystically  by  three  heads  signifying  :  a, 
the  Unmanifested  Wisdom,  which  is  so  withdrawn 
that  it  is  as  though  it  were  not,  in  contradiction  to 
that  which  is  manifested  in  the  thirty-two  paths ; 
b,  the  Supreme  Crown,  which  is  the  Holy  Ancient 
One  ;  and  c,  the  Head  which  neither  knows  nor  is 
known,  namely,  the  A  in  Soph.  Thus  on  the  one  side 
of  Kcther  is  Chokmah,  and  on  the  other  is  the  latens 
Deltas,  and  C/wkmah,  or  Wisdom,  is  the  Father,  while 
the  Mother  is  the  increment  of  Understanding,  i.e., 
Binah. 

These   instances   of   Loria's  skill    in   developing 


Erittcn  SBorb  of  gUbalism  299 

the  symbolism  of  the  three  supernal  Sephiroth  must 
suffice  as  a  specimen  of  the  whole  commentary, 
which,  it  may  be  added,  does  not  proceed  beyond 
the  first  chapter  of  the  "  Book  of  Concealment." 
He  concludes  that  the  sum  of  the  whole  mystery  is 
that  man  in  his  prayers  should  fix  his  mind  upon 
the  foundation  of  all  foundations,  that  he  may 
derive  to  himself  a  certain  influence  and  benedic 
tion  from  the  depths  of  that  source.  In  this  manner 
the  obscurities  of  Kabalism  are  at  times  redeemed 
by  the  simplicity  of  the  lesson  which  is  extracted 
from  them. 

"  The  Book  of  the  Revolutions  of  Souls "  is  no 
doubt  a  more  fascinating  treatise  than  an  obscure 
exposition  of  so  obscure  a  work  as  the  Sepher 
Dzeniouthi,  but  it  is  also  difficult  to  give  account  of 
it  in  a  small  space  because  the  system  which  it 
develops  is  much  involved,  even  for  a  Kabalistic 
work.  The  greatest  importance  has  been  attached 
to  it  by  occultists  like  Eliphas  Levi,  who  made  no 
distinction  between  Zoharic  and  later  doctrine.  It 
will  be  therefore  useful  to  see  what  is  really  involved 
in  the  famous  treatise  of  Isaac  de  Loria. 

The  basis  of  its  scheme  is  the  doctrine  of  the 
"  Book  of  Concealment "  and  its  expository  synods, 
concerning  the  seven  Edomitc  kings  who  emanated 
and  passed  away  prior  to  the  production  of  the  present 
universe.  In  these  kings  there  was  good  as  well  as 
evil,  and  a  separation  was  therefore  made,  that  which 
was  good  being  used  for  the  material  of  the  four 
Kabalistic  worlds  as  they  are  now  constituted.  Each 
of  these  worlds,  according  to  Isaac  de  Loria,  has  its 
:\Licroprosopus,  Supernal  Father,  Supernal  Mother, 


300  Ihe  gortttne  mib  literature  of  the 

Microprospus  and  Bride,  all  derived  from  the  seven 
kings.  A  like  origin  is  attributed  to  souls,  and  they 
are  disposed  similarly  in  the  four  worlds,  some  corre 
sponding  to  the  Bride,  some  to  Microprospus,  some  to 
the  Father  Supernal,  some  to  the  Supernal  Mother, 
and  some  again  to  the  Microprospus  in  the  world  of 
Assiah.  The  totality  of  these  souls  constitutes  Psyche 
in  Assiah,  which  in  reference  to  the  supernal  per 
sonalities  of  that  world  has  therefore  five  parts  :  the 
Psyche  in  the  Psyche,  or  Nephesh  of  Assiah,  the 
mundus  factivus ;  the  medial  spirit,  or  Ruach  of  the 
Psyche  factiva  ;  the  mem,  or  Neshamah  ;  the  vitalitas, 
or  Chaiah ;  and  the  singularitas,  individuality,  or 
Jechidah,  all  belonging  to  the  Psyche  factiva,  or 
Nephesh  of  Assiah.  There  is  a  similar  distribution 
through  the  three  superior  worlds,  Ruach  and  its 
five-fold  division  being  referred  to  Yetzirah,  Nesha 
mah  to  Briah,  Chiah  to  Atziluth,  and  Jechida,  possibly 
to  the  world  of  unmanifest  Deity  which  is  beyond 
Atziluth.  Loria's  system  proceeds,  however,  upon  a 
five-fold  division  of  four  principles  only.  Each  of 
the  five  divisions  are  again  attributed  as  follows  in 
the  Sephirotic  scheme  : 

I.  Nephesh  to  Malkuth,  the  Kingdom,  i.e.,  the 

Bride. 
II.  Ruach  to  the  Sephiroth  of  Microprosopus. 

III.  Neshamah  to  the  Mother,  i.e.,  Binah. 

IV.  Chiah  to  the  Father,  i.e.,  Chokmah. 
V.  Jechidah  to  K ether,  i.e.,  the  Crown. 

We  are  now  in  a  position  to  appreciate  the 
standpoint  of  Franck  when  he  observes  that  Loria 
added  his  own  reveries  to  Zoharic  teaching.  The 


A! he  CjQriltcn  <l£lorb  of  $Ubalism  301 

developments  have  at  the  same  time  been  considerably 
simplified  in  this  digest. 

All  these  souls  were  contained  in  the  proto 
plastic  Adam  at  the  time  he  was  formed,  some 
corresponding  to  the  head,  others  to  the  < 
and  so  with  all  the  members.  Now  these  souls 
are  those  of  the  Israelites,  who  are  the 
nnica  in  terrain.  We  must  look  elsewhere 
for  the  origin  of  the  nations  of  the  world.  The 
recrements,  the  evil  and  rejected  parts  of  the 
Edomite  kings  are  the  cortices  or  shells  which 
compose  the  averse  Adam  Belial.  But  when  the 
protoplasts  partook  of  the  forbidden  fruit,  their  fall 
confounded  the  good  with  the  evil  of  the  cortices,  that 
of  Adam  with  the  male  shells  of  Samael  or  Adam 
Belial,  and  that  of  Eve  with  the  evil  of  his  bride 
Lilith,  the  spied  tics  of  the  serpent;  for  the  serpent 
had  commerce  with  Eve  according  to  Isaac  de  Loria, 
which  does  not  seem  to  be  the  consistent  doctrine 
of  the  Zohar.  It  was  after  this  fall  that  the  nations 
of  the  world  were  produced  from  the  shells.  This 
is  the  doctrine  which  occultists  accept  by  implication 
when  they  speak,  as  they  do  speak,  of  the  connection 
between  later  Kabalism  and  the  secret  tiv.ditions 
on  which  their  devotion  is  fixed.  To  put  the 
position  tersely,  the  souls  of  the  Israelites  are 
distributed  in  the  members  of  the  protoplastic 
Adam,  regarded  in  his  mystical  extension  through 
the  four  worlds,  and  the  souls  of  the  Gentiles  in 
the  members  of  Adam  Belial.  Liberation  from  the 
foulness  and  venom  of  the  serpent  is  by  -eix  uition 
and  death  only,  whereby  the  good  is  separated  fr  in 
the  evil,  until  all  the  nations  of  the  v- nrld  shall  have 


302  ^he  Jpoctrine  zmb  JJiterature  ot  the  jiabalah; 

been  brought  forth   from  the  evil  and  the  Israelites 
from  the  good  kind. 

From  the  time  when  the  good  and  evil  were 
thus  confounded  two  things  have  been  necessary — 
(i)  That  the  good  man  should  be  separated  from 
the  evil  ;  (2)  That  the  portion  of  the  good  should 
be  restored.  The  first  is  accomplished  by  the 
observation  of  the  prohibitive  precepts  of  the  law, 
and  the  second  by  that  of  the  affirmative.  Both 
classes  must  be  accomplished  in  all  their  number, 
and  in  thought,  word  and  deed,  by  every  soul,  whose 
revolutions  must  therefore  continue  until  the  whole 
law  has  been  fulfilled.  This  law  must  also  be  studied 
in  each  of  its  four  senses,  failing  which  the  revolu 
tions  of  the  deficient  soul  will  again  be  prolonged. 
This  scheme  seems  to  apply  exclusively  to  the 
Israelites,  as  the  nations  of  the  world  can  only  be 
destined  to  return  whence  they  came,  and  Adam 
Belial  is  obviously  not  under  the  law.  The  scheme, 
however,  is  subject  to  a  certain  mitigation,  as 
revolution  proper  is  sometimes  replaced  by  status 
embryonatus.  Revolution  is  the  entrance  of  a  soul 
into  the  body  of  an  infant  at  birth  to  experience 
the  pain  and  trial  prepared  for  that  body.  The 
alternative  condition  is  the  entrance  of  a  soul  into 
the  body  of  a  grown  man,  who  must  be  at  least 
thirty  years  old,*  i.e.,  when  he  is  obliged  to  fulfil 
the  precepts.  The  status  embryonatus  is  entered 
either  (a]  Because  the  soul  in  question  has  something 
to  fulfil  which  was  neglected  in  the  preceding  revolu 
tion  ;  or  (b)  For  the  benefit  of  the  man  who  is 

*  The  Jewish  age  of  reason. 


SBrittfit  oEorb  of  Jtabalism  3°3 

impregnated,  i.e.,  to  justify  and  direct  him.  Revolution 
occurs  (i)  For  the  cleansing  of  sin;  (2)  For  the 
fulfilment  of  a  neglected  precept ;  (3)  For  the 
leading  of  others  into  the  right  way,  in  which  case 
the  returning  soul  is  perfect  in  justice  ;  (4)  To  receive 
the  true  spouse  who  was  not  deserved  by  the  soul 
in  the  prior  revolution.  Four  souls  may  revolve  in 
one  body,  but  not  more,  while  the  status  cmbryomitns 
may  associate  three  alien  souls  with  a  single  man, 
but  again  no  more.  The  object  of  all  revolutions 
and  all  Kabalistic  embryology  is  the  return  of  the 
Israelites  into  the  stature  of  the  first  Adam,  all 
having  been  involved  in  his  fall  since  he  included 
all. 

Such  is  the  Kabalistic  doctrine  of  revolution 
according  to  Isaac  de  Loria.  It  is  not  pure  Zoharic 
doctrine,  nor  is  it  any  scheme  of  reincarnation 
peculiar  to  any  school  of  occultism  at  the  present 
day.  In  so  far  as  it  differs  from  the  Zohar,  it  would 
be  unreasonable  to  regard  it  as  a  fuller  light  of  an 
old  tradition  ;  it  is  very  interesting  and  very  curious, 
yet  fitly  described  as  a  reverie,  written  by  R.  Chai'm 
Vital  out  of  the  head  of  Isaac  de  Loria,  and  perhaps 
owing  something  to  the  scribe. 

C— NAPTHALI  Hn 

This  German  Kabalist  belongs  to  the  seven 
teenth  century,  but  I  find  no  biographical  particulars 
concerning  him.  His  work,  entitled  "The  Valley 
of  the  King,"  was  made  great  use  of  by  Rosen- 
roth,  who  gave,  firstly,  a  compendium  of  its 
entire  content  in  the  form  of  one  hundred  and 


304   ^he  Jlortrine  anb  literature  ot  the  Jtabalah 

thirty  "  Kabalistic  Theses,"*  arranged  with  con 
siderable  perspicuity  ;  in  the  second  place,  the  first 
six  sections  of  the  treatise,  designed  as  an  introduction 
to  the  Zohar  for  the  better  comprehension  thereof ;f 
and,  thirdly,  all  that  part  of  it  which  is  concerned 
with  the  "  Book  of  Concealment "  and  the  two  Synods 
as  a  commentary  on  these  works.  J  The  greater  part 
of  the  "  Royal  Valley "  is  therefore  included  in  the 
Kabbala  Denudata,  the  excerpts  extending  over  several 
hundred  pages.  Its  author  belonged  to  the  school  of 
Isaac  de  Loria,  and  appears  to  have  traversed  a  portion 
of  the  ground  covered  by  the  Lorian  MSS.  of  R. 
Chai'm  Vital.  We  know  these  only,  as  we  have  seen, 
by  the  excerpts  of  Rosenroth,  which  are  concerned  so 
largely  with  the  doctrine  of  spiritual  essences.  After 
the  same  manner  that  these  develop  and  exaggerate 
Zoharic  pneumatic  teaching,  so  the  "  Royal  Valley  " 
extends  Kabalistic  cosmology,  but  not  with  as  much 
extravagance.  The  mundus prior  of  Kabalism,  i.e.,  the 
emanation  of  the  seven  Edomite  kings,  is  termed  the 
world  of  Nephesh,  and  it  was  destroyed  with  the  souls 
belonging  to  it  because  evil  prevailed  therein.  The 
actual  world  is  that  of  Ruach,  in  which  good  and  evil 
are  confused,  but  good  comes  out  of  the  evil  and  at 
last  all  shall  be  good.  Then  a  new  world  shall  suc 
ceed  that  of  Neshamahy  and  this  will  be  the  Sabbath 
of  grace.  It  follows,  therefore,  that  the  present  order 
must  pass  away,  and  this  is  symbolised  by  the  death 
of  the  second  Hadad,  the  eighth  Edomite  king,  as 


*  Kabbala  Demidata,  Apparatus  in  Librum  Sohar  pars  sectinad, 
i.  1 50  et  seq. 

t  Ibid.  ii.  152  et  seq. 

%  Ibid.  ii.  partis  secundce  tractatus  quartits^  p.  47  et  seq. 


The  eiBrittfu  <&lorb  of  |iabali0m  305 

recorded  in  I.  Chron.  i.  50,  51.  In  the  day  of  this 
destruction  the  spirits  of  impurity,  namely,  the  shells, 
shall  be  entirely  destroyed  and  burnt  up,  God  will 
establish  a  new  creation  and  will  bring  forth  from 
His  glorious  light  the  mystery  of  the  Xcs/immth  of 
His  great  name.  The  dominion  of  this  Neshamah  is 
the  king  who  shall  reign  over  Israel,  and  in  that  day 
the  Lord  shall  be  one,  and  His  name  one. 

The  hypothesis  of  the  creation  of  the  world 
begins  with  the  contraction  of  the  Divine  Presence, 
producing  that  space  which  is  termed  primeval  air. 
"  Before  the  emanations  issued  forth  and  the  things 
which  are  were  created,  the  supreme  light  was  infinitely 
extended.  When  it  came  into  the  Supreme  Mind  to 
will  the  fabrication  of  worlds,  the  issue  of  emanations 
and  the  emission  as  light  of  the  perfection  of  His 
active  powers,  aspects  and  attributes,  then  that  light 
was  in  some  measure  compressed,  receding  in  every 
direction  from  a  particular  central  point,  and  thus  a 
certain  vacuum  was  left  in  mid-infinite,  wherein 
emanations  might  be  manifested." 

It  is  to  this  treatise  that  Kabalism  owes  the 
curious  conception  of  the  evolution  of  the  Sephir<-t/i 
by  a  process  of  explosion  through  the  excess  of 
light  which  distended  them.  From  the  fragments  of 
the  broken  vessels  originated  the  Four  Worlds,  the 
shells  both  good  and  evil,  and  myriads  of  souls.  This 
notion  is  fundamentally  similar  to  that  of  Isaac  de 
Loria,  and  becomes  identical  in  its  developments. 
As  it  is  impossible  to  compress  the  scheme  of  the 
treatise  within  the  limits  that  are  here  possible,  I  will 
add  only  that  the  "  Royal  Valley"  regards  Kcther  as 
containing  in  potence  all  the  remaining  .SV/////W//,  so 

\Y 


306  ^he  jpoxtrine  anb  literature  ot  the  jiabalah 

that  they  were  not  distinguishable  therefrom.  "  Pre 
cisely  as  in  man  there  exist  the  four  elements  in 
potence  but  undistinguishable  specifically,  so  in  this 
Crown  there  were  all  the  remaining  numerations."  It 
is  added  that  in  the  second  world,  called  that  of  the 
restoration,  Kether  became  the  Cause  of  Causes  and 
the  Ancient  of  the  Ancients.  We  see,  therefore,  that, 
according  to  the  late  school  of  Kabalism,  the  first 
attempt  at  manifestation  by  the  latens  Deltas  went 
utterly  astray,  and  that  the  evil  of  the  whole  world 
is  the  result  of  the  failure  of  God.  This  peculiar 
instruction  is  also  found  in  the  Talmud. 

D.— ABRAHAM  COHEN  IRIRA 

This  Portuguese  Jew  was  another  follower  of  the 
school  of  de  Loria,  but  tinctured  with  the  Platonic 
philosophy,  which  he  sought  to  harmonise  with 
Kabalism  in  his  "  Gate  of  the  Heavens,"*  as  we  have 
already  seen.  His  other  treatise  is  Beth  Elohim,  the 
"  House  of  God,"  containing  three  dissertations  in 
exposition  of  the  doctrines  of  Loria,  but  directly 
founded  upon  and  citing  at  considerable  length  the 
pneumatological  portions  of  the  "  Faithful  Shepherd," 
the  Pekude  section  in  the  Zohar,  and  the  "  Ancient 
Supplements"  of  that  work.f  So  much  space  has 
been  given  to  Kabalistic  psychology  that  it  will  be 
permissible  to  dismiss  this  writer  in  a  few  words.  The 
first  dissertation  in  the  "  House  of  God  "  rests  chiefly 
on  the  utterances  attributed  to  R.  Simeon  ben  Jochai, 
who  is  termed  the  mouthpiece  of  holiness  and  the 

*  Kabbala  Dentidata,  Apparatus  ....  pars  terlia,  t.  i. 
\  Ibid.  ii.  partis  tertice  tractatus  /.,  p.  1 88  et  seq. 


SBritteu  uBorb  of  $abali«m  307 

angel  of  the  Lord  ;  it  recites  the  emanation  of  the 
Sephiroth  according  to  the  received  doctrine,  develops 
the  system  of  the  hierarchy  of  evil  spirits,  who  are 
still  termed  cortices,  or  shells,  and  of  the  ten  sinister 
or  impure  numbers.  It  examines  also  in  a  special 
chapter  the  opinion  of  R.  Isaac  de  Loria  concerning 
eleven  classes  of  shells,  and  of  R.  Moses  of  Cordova 
concerning  the  connection  of  the  angels  with  the 
celestial  bodies,  and  concerning  their  physical  vest 
ments.  The  second  dissertation  treats  of  the  different 
angelical  orders  and  the  seven  heavens,  while  the 
third  deals  with  elementary  spirits  and  the  nature  of 
the  soul. 

The  House  of  God  has  been  included  unaccount 
ably  by  some  occult  writers*  among  the  books  which 
constitute  the  Zohar,  but  it  is  simply  a  commentary 
or  development,  of  considerable  importance  in  its  own 
sphere,  yet  neither  possessing  nor  claiming  any 
pretension  to  antiquity. 

E.— R.    ISSACIIAR    BEN    NAPTIIALI 

This  expositor  of  Kabalism  seems  to  have  been 
a  contemporary  of  Loria,  and,  like  him,  was  a 
German.  His  chief  work,  the  "  Vision  of  the  Priest  " 
wa*  printed  at  Cracovia  in  1559.1  It  is  a  synopsis  of 
the  entire  /ohar,  or,  more  properly,  a  methodised 
analysis  of  its  contents,  distributed  under  a  number 
of  titles,  each  of  which  is  sub-divided  according 
to  the  Mosaic  books.  It  has  been  found  almost 

*  As   for  example,  Mr.  S.  L.  MacGregor  Mathers  in  the  intro- 
duction  to  Ins   "  kablnlnh   Unveiled." 

,      /'  in    <l><    MM*  Denndata,    ii.  fin  prima   ,,, 

tractalns  primus,  p.  i.  et  .ivy. 


308  ^ht  iloctrine  anb  gjiteratrm  cf  the  JUbalah 

impossible  to  make  use  of  it  for  the  purposes  of  this 
study,  and  it  is  indeed  designed  only  for  the  assistance 
of  the  scholar  who  may  desire  to  consult  the  Zohar 
on  a  given  subject.  The  other  works  of  R.  Issachar 
are  of  similar  character,  and  are,  in  fact,  those  technical 
treatises  mentioned  at  the  beginning  of  the  present 
section  as  outside  the  scope  of  the  present  inquiry. 


II.  THE  BOOK  OF  PURIFYING  FIRE 

When  a  given  order  of  mystic  symbolism, 
possessing  distinct  objects  and  a  sphere  of  application 
more  or  less  defined,  is  applied  to  the  purposes  of 
another  order,  we  may  expect  to  derive  some  curious 
results  from  the  analogy  thus  instituted  if  we  can  get 
to  understand  the  method,  though,  as  I  have  already 
indicated,  this  superincession  of  typology  is  usually 
somewhat  dazing  in  its  results.  The  treatise  entitled 
jEsh  Metzareph,  which  signifies  Purifying  Fire,  is 
an  instance  of  the  application  of  Kabalistic 
apparatus  to  the  purposes  of  alchemy,  and  is,  so  far 
as  I  am  aware,  the  sole  instance  of  its  kind.  In  this 
connection  we  shall,  however,  do  well  to  remember 
that  Hermetic  and  Kabalistic  philosophy  are  ascribed 
by  the  majority  of  authorities  in  occultism  to  a 
common  source,*  while  the  rabbicinical  influence  in 
alchemy  is  well  illustrated  by  such  legends  as  that 


*  Thus  Thomas  Vaughan  (Eugenius  Philalethes),  see  Book  vii. 
§  11,  affirms  in  his  Magia  Adamica  that  the  learning  of  the  Jews,  i.e., 
their  Kabalah,  was  chemical,  and  that  Flamel's  "Book  of  Abraham 
the  Jew"  is  the  best  proof  thereof.  See  A.  E.  Waite,  "Magical 
Writings  of  Thomas  Vaughan,"  London,  1888,  p.  112. 


SBritteu  oEorb  of  gabalism  309 

of  Rabbi  Abraham  and  Flamel.  It  is  true  that  a 
work  under  the  title  of  "  The  Philosophical  Stone  " 
is  attributed  to  Saadiah  by  Moses  Botrel,  but  we 
know  it  only  by  a  single  quotation,  and  we  are  not 
in  a  position  to  say  whether  or  not  it  is  concerned 
with  metallic  transmutation.  A  few  alchemical 
allusions  are  to  be  found  in  the  Zohar,  which 
recognises  the  existence  of  an  archetypal  gold,  and 
regards  the  metals  generally  as  composite  substances. 
But  these  references  are  almost  less  than  incidental, 
and  it  is  needless  to  say  that  there  is  no  occult 
chemistry,  seriously  speaking,  in  the  great  theo- 
sophical  storehouse. 

The  treatise  on  Purifying  Fire  is  written  in 
Aramaic  Chaldee,  which  is  the  language  of  the 
Talmud  and  the  Zohar.  It  was  made  use  of  so 
largely  by  Rosenroth  in  his  Lexicon  that  practically 
the  whole  work  is  found  rendered  into  Latin  in  the 
pages  of  the  Kabbala  Denudata*  It  was  recon 
structed  from  this  source  in  the  early  part  of  the 
eighteenth  century  by  an  occultist  styling  himself  A 
Lover  of  Philalethes,  and  was  by  him  put  into  an 
English  vesture,  f  In  the  year  1894  this  translation 
was  included  in  a  series  of  Hermetic  reprints  under 
the  editorship  of  Dr.  Wynn  Westcott.J  The  preface  ' 
and  notes  which  accompany  this  edition  appear  under 
the  pseudonym  of  Sapere  Aude,  and  are  of  considerable 
value.  No  information  is,  however,  given  as  to  the 

I  make  this  statement  on  Dr.  Westcott's  authority,  hut  no  one 
has  ever  seen  the  original  since  Rosenroth. 

t  Aish  Metzareph,  or  Purifying  Fire.  A  Chymico- Kabali*t ic 
treatise  collected  from  the  Kabbala  Denudata  of  Knorr  von  Rosenroth, 
London,  1714. 

£  Collectanea  Hcrmctica,  vol.  iv.  London,  1894. 


310  Ihe  gloctune  mtfc  literature  of  the  Jiabalah 

Chaldee  original,  and  the  gaps  occurring  in  the  recon 
struction  have  not  been  filled. 

There  is  no  evidence  available  by  which  we  can 
fix  with  any  degree  of  precision  the  period  at  which 
this  treatise  was  composed.*  It  is  subsequent,  of 
course,  to  the  promulgation  of  the  Zohar,  which  it 
quotes  frequently.  It  is  subsequent  to  the  Garden  of 
Pomegranates  by  R.  Moses  of  Cordova,  a  treatise 
possibly  belonging  to  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  which  it  also  quotes.  It  borrows  processes 
from  R.  Mordechai,  a  Kabalistic  alchemist,  whose  date 
I  have  failed  to  discover,*)*  and  it  refers  to  the  forged 
Latin  treatises  of  Geber.  We  may  therefore  conclude 
that  it  does  not  antedate  Rosenroth  by  any 
considerable  period,  and  may  be  placed  conjecturally 
at  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century.  Finally, 
it  contains  expressions  which  are  common  to  most 
of  the  Latin  alchemists,  and  were  by  them  derived 
from  the  Greeks,  such  as,  "  He  that  is  wise  may 
correct  natures."  It  does  not  therefore  possess  the 
interest  or  importance  which  would  attach  to  a 
chemico-Kabalistic  treatise  of  the  Zohar  period,  and 
I  have  not  been  able  to  find  any  evidence  as  to  the 
authority  ascribed  to  it. 

In  the  supplement  to  his  "  Key  of  the  Great 
Mysteries,"  Eliphas  Levi  gives,  firstly,  what  he  terms 


*  It  is  mentioned  by  Claverus  in  a  treatise  entitled  "Observations 
on  the  most  useful  things  in  the  world,"  1706,  p.  72  et  seq.  He  gives 
an  account  of  it  designed  to  show  that  the  Jews  accommodated  the 
Kabalistic  Sephiroth  to  Chrysopccia,  i.e.,  the  art  of  Alchemy.  He  states 
also  that  the  Jews  hold  the  sEsk  Metzareph  in  such  high  esteem  that 
they  consider  no  Christian  worthy  of  reading  it. 

t  A  number  of  writers,  mostly  Kabalistic,  are  classed  under  this 
name  in  the  bibliography  of  Bartolocci. 


The  ffiriiten  eSlorb  of  gabaliem  311 

the  fragments  of  the  ALsh  Mctzareph,  terming  it  one 
of  the  most  important  books  of  Hermetic  science  ; 
secondly,  the  complements  of  its  eight  chapters,  being 
further  fragments  which  he  claims  to  have  discovered  ; 
thirdly,  the  hypothetical  restitution  of  the  original.* 
The  methods  of  the  brilliant  French  occultist  are  well 
illustrated  in  each  case.  It  should  be  observed  that  the 
fragments  are  designed  to  exhibit  the  difficulties  and 
the  weariness  which  his  researches  have  spared  to  his 
readers,  and  to  illustrate  the  conscientious  and  serious 
nature  of  his  studies.  The  first  section  proves  when 
examined  not  to  be  the  fragments  of  the  ^Esh 
Metzarcpli,  but  a  loose  paraphrase  which  has  a  very 
slender  correspondence  with  the  original.  The  second 
section,  which  is  similarly  paraphrase,  is  substantially 
to  be  found  in  Rosenroth  and  the  English  version. 
The  hypothetical  reconstruction  serves  only  to  show 
that  Levi,  like  every  one  else,  never  saw  the  original 
which  some  have  said  is  still  extant,  or  he  would 
not  have  so  misplaced  his  ingenuity.  Lastly,  he 
attributes  the  work  to  Rabbi  Abraham  of  the  Flamel 
legend,  thus  investing  it  with  an  antiquity  which  is 
contradicted  by  its  own  references.-)- 

Before  indicating,  howerer  briefly,  the  heads  of 
its  contents,  it  is  necessary  to  observe  that  the  s£sh 
Metzareph  must  be  for  the  ordinary  student  only  a 
curious  memorial  of  the  connections  instituted 

See  Rensfigncmcnts  stir  Its  grands  mystcres  dt  la  philosophic 
itjnc,  p.  405  ft  se</. 

t  Firstly,  in  the  title,  which  reads,  Fragments  ds  /.'./.»•//  .IKzareph 
du  Jttif  Abraham  ;  secondly,  in  the  hypothetical  reo.mj..,siti<,n  of  the 
treatise  which  connects  it  with  the  mystic  book  l.y  Flamel. 

The  sEsh    Mctzarf/>/i   is  entirely  anonymous,  and  is   included  as  such 
in  the  bibliography  of  Wolf,  ii.  1265. 


312   ^he  Doctrine  an&  Jittratttre  of  the 

between  two  orders  of  mystic  symbolism.  It  is 
described  by  its  latest  editor  as  "suggestive  rather 
than  explanatory,"  and  he  adds  that  its  alchemical 
processes  are  not  set  out  "  in  such  a  way  that  they 
could  be  carried  out  by  a  neophyte  ;  any  attempt  to 
do  so  would  discover  that  something  vital  was 
missing  at  one  stage  or  other."  The  statement 
is  true  of  all  alchemical  literature,  and  the  ALsh 
Metzareph  has  the  common  difficulties  of  purely 
Hermetic  books  further  complicated  by  the  system 
of  Gematria  and  the  Sephirotic  correspondences  of 
the  metals. 

On  the  correspondences  here  indicated  the  treatise 
is  mainly  based,  and  it  is  in  this  sense  that  the 
mysteries  of  alchemical  transmutation  are  said  to 
"  differ  not  from  the  superior  mysteries  of  the 
Kabalah."  The  Sephiroth  of  the  material  world  are 
identical  with  those  of  the  archetypal,  and  they  are 
the  same  in  the  mineral  kingdom.  The  alchemical 
root  of  the  metals  corresponds  to  Kether ;  all  metals 
originate  therefrom,  as  the  other  Sephiroth  are  all 
emanations  from  the  Crown.  The  Crown  is  con 
cealed  ;  so  also  is  the  metallic  root.  Lead  is  referred 
to  Chokmah)  which  proceeds  immediately  from 
Kether,  as  Saturn  from  the  metallic  root.  Tin  has 
the  place  of  Binah,  Silver  that  of  Chesed,  and  these 
three  are  the  white  metallic  natures.  Among  the  red, 
Gold  is  in  correspondence  with  Geburah,  Iron  with 
Tiphereth,  and  the  hermaphroditic  Brass  with  Netzach 
and  Hod.  Quicksilver  is  referred  to  Jesod,  and  "  the 
true  Medicine  of  Metals  "  to  Malkuth.  The  attribu 
tion  will  appear  in  some  cases  a  little  conventional, 
and  it  depends  upon  a  curious  use  of  Scriptural 


Written  ffitorb  of  gabaliem  3*  3 

authority.  However,  the  writer  adds:  "If  any  one 
hath  placed  these  things  in  another  order,  I  shall  not 
contend  with  him,  inasmuch  as  all  systems  tend  to 
the  one  truth."  In  illustration  of  this,  he  gives 
another  attribution,  as  follows  : 

"  The  three  Supernals,"  namely,  Kether,  Chokmah 
and  llinah  are  the  three  fountains  of  metallic  things. 
"  The  thick  water,"  that  is,  Mercury,  "  is  Kether,  Salt 
is  Chokmah  and  Sulphur  is  Bi/ta/i"  These  are  the 
three  principles  of  the  alchemists.  This  attribution, 
says  the  treatise,  is  "  for  known  reasons."  Chesed, 
Geburah  and  Tiphereth  correspond  as  before  to 
Silver,  Gold  and  Iron  ;  Netzach  is  Tin,  Hod  is  Copper, 
Jesod  is  Lead,  while  Malkuth  is  the  "Metallic 
Woman,"  the  "Luna  of  the  Wise"  and  the  "Field 
into  which  the  seeds  of  secret  minerals  ought  to  be 
cast,  that  is,  the  Water  of  Gold."  The  attribution  in 
either  case  has  a  concealed  sense  which  "  no  tongue 
may  be  permitted  to  utter."  The  superficial  expla 
nations  offered  here  and  there  should  not  there 
fore  be  taken  seriously,  as,  for  example,  that  Silver 
is  referred  to  Chesed  "  on  account  of  its  whiteness, 
which  denotes  Mercy  and  Pity."  The  Kamea  or 
Magical  Squares  of  the  planets  are  given  in  connec 
tion  with  each  of  the  seven  metals,  but  not  always 
correctly. 

The  peculiar  genius  of  the  work  is  well  illustrated 
in  the  third  chapter,  where  Daniel's  vision  of  the 
beast  with  ten  horns  is  interpreted  alchemically  by 
the  help  of  gcmatrin. 


314  ^He  Jtoctrine  anb  literature  of  tlte  gabalah 


III.   THE    MYSTERIES    OF   LOVE 

With  the  sole  exception  of  Abraham  Cohen 
Irira,  the  succession  of  Kabalistic  writers  whom  we 
have  thus  passed  in  review  never  descended  to  the 
use  of  a  vulgar  tongue.  To  that  exception  we  must 
now  add  the  case  of  R.  Juda,  son  of  Isaac  Abravanel, 
better  known  under  the  designation  of  Leo  the 
Hebrew.  I  must  confess  that  there  is  no  reason  of 
a  necessary  kind  for  his  inclusion  in  an  account  of 
the  chief  documents  of  Kabalism  ;  he  is  exceedingly 
late,  having  been  born  in  the  kingdom  of  Castile 
shortly  after  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century, 
and  it  is  even  stated  that  he  broke  away  from  all 
Jewish  tradition  by  becoming  a  Christian.  At  the 
same  time  there  are  two  points  by  which  he  is  forced 
upon  our  notice  ;  in  the  first  place,  he  is  a  favourite 
subject  of  allusion  with  occult  writers,  and  cannot 
therefore  be  overlooked  in  a  work  which  deals 
expressly  with  the  occult  interest  in  Kabalism  ;  in 
the  second  place,  his  dialogues  on  love  have  been 
more  popular  than  any  Kabalistic  treatise.  According 
to  the  best  opinion,  they  were  written  originally  in 
Italian  and  first  appeared  at  Rome  in  the  year 
1535.  They  were  reprinted  at  Venice  in  1541. 
Then  they  were  translated  into  Latin  by  Sarrazin, 
being  published,  according  to  Wolf,  in  1564  at 
Vienna.  This  version,  which  has  been  praised  for 
its  elegance,  was  next  included  by  Pistorius  in  his 
famous  Artis  Cabalisticce  Scriptores,  Basle,  1587. 
They  were  rendered  twice  into  Spanish,  the  first 
version,  and  the  only  one  of  my  acquaintance, 


SKrittcn  (L&orb  of  jiabaliem  315 

being  that  of  Juan  Costa,  in  1584.  Lastly,  there 
have  been  at  least  three  French  translations,  namely, 
by  Pontus  de  Thiard,  1580;  the  Seigneur  du  Pare 
Champerrois  ;  and  Alexander  Weill,  1875. 

Though    he    wrote,   as    it    is    said,    in     Italian, 
Abravanel    was    Spanish    by   birth,   but    was   driven 
from     his     native    country    through     the     edict    of 
Ferdinand  and    Isabella.     This   was   in    1492.      His 
first  refuge  was  Naples,  where  he  entered  the  king's 
service,   but  the  king  died  and   his    realm    fell    into 
the  hands  of  Charles  VIII.,  after  which  the  Spanish 
Jew  again   became  a  wanderer.     Some  say  that  he 
retired  to  Sicily,  afterwards  to  Corfu    and    Ponilles, 
and,   finally,   to   Venice,   where    he    died    in     1508. 
Others    relate    that   he    fixed    his   abode   at    Genoa, 
and    there    practised    medicine   with    honour    for    a 
long  period.     As  to  the  change,  real  or  pretended, 
in   his  religious  opinions  there  is  also   serious   con 
fusion.     Basnage  says  that  he  was  a  man  of  a  mild 
nature   who    mixed    familiarly  with    Christians,  but 
inveighed    against    them    in   his   writings,   especially 
against   the   priests   and    the    Pope.*      Pistorius,   on 
the    other    hand,    represents    him    as    a    converted 
Jew.f     He  is  the  subject  of  high  praise,  based  on 
intimate  knowledge,  in  the  bibliography  of  Bartolocci.J 
It    must   be   confessed    that  the   occult   interest 
in   Leo  the    Hebrew  is   not  of  an    intelligible  kind, 
and   it  is  past  speculation  why  he  was  included  by 

*   ///i/.  iksjitifs,  1.  vii.  t.  v.  pp.   1898,  1899. 

t  So  also  does  Drach  in  his  notice  of  the  Kabalah  in  HHarmonie 
entre  ?  Eglise  et  la  Synagogue. 

£  Hibliothtca  Ral>lnni>a,  iii.  86.  There  is  no  mention  of  his 
conversion  in  the  notice,  but  the  original  edition  of  the  "  Dialogues" 
describes  their  aullu'i  as  u'i  nnlionc  Hfl>rto  ct  di  poi  fatto  Christiano. 


316  Ihe  gto-ctrine  anb  literature  ot  the  gtabalah 

Pistorius  in  his  ambitious  and  unfinished  attempt 
to  engarner  the  signal  treatises  of  Kabalism.  We 
look  in  vain  for  the  essential  doctrines  of  the 
Jewish  theosophy,  as  we  have  learned  them  from 
the  Zohar ;  we  look  in  vain  even  for  the  reveries 
of  the  school  of  Loria ;  we  have  in  their  place  the 
elegant  sentimentalism  which  characterised  Italian 
literature  at  the  period  ;  we  are  reminded  now  of 
Boccalini,  and  now  of  the  declamatory  Latin 
exercises  of  Palingenius.  The  machinery  of  the 
dialogues,  if  they  can  be  said  to  possess  machinery, 
belongs  to  classical  mythology  ;  the  allusions,  the 
illustrations,  the  images  are  echoes  of  the  Greek 
and  Latin  poets  ;  when  the  philosophical  authority 
is  not  Aristotle,  it  is  Plato  ;  there  is  only  one  direct 
reference  to  the  Kabalah  in  the  whole  three  hundred 
folio  pages  which  the  dialogues  occupy  in  Pistorius, 
and  it  is  then  a  slender  allusion  to  successive 
renewals  of  the  world,  which  suggests  that  the 
author  had  misconceived  the  "  restoration "  of  the 
<'  Book  of  Concealment."  As  against  this  there  is 
not  one  trace  of  Hebrew  thought  or  influence  ;  there 
is  nothing  which  would  lead  us  to  suspect  a  Jewish 
authorship  except  such  negative  evidence  as  the 
similarly  entire  absence  of  any  Christian  reference. 
If  the  work  can  be  said  to  recall  anything  outside 
the  unwise  literature  of  the  sixteenth  century  in 
Italy,  it  is  certain  Sufic  poets  adapted  to  the  under 
standing  of  Venetian  ladies  in  the  days  of  the  Doges. 
And  here,  indeed,  is  the  true  secret  of  its  popularity. 
It  is  not  only  so  pleasing,  so  educated  according  to 
the  lights  of  its  period,  so  correct  in  its  sentiment  and 
breathing  so  little  but  sentiment,  so  refined  in  its 


The  i&lvittm  SB  orb  of  JUbaliem  317 

amorous  passion  and  so  much  above  reproach,  that  it 
does    not    contain    a    single   obscenity   or   a   single 
recondite  thought.     One  of  its  French  translators  has 
thought  it  worth  while  to  append  a  glossary  of  its 
difficult  words,  but  it  has  no  difficulties  and  its  words 
are  simplicity    itself.     It   has   many  passages  which 
even  at  the  present  day  may    be   called    delightful 
reading,  and  it  is  redeemed  from  the  commonplaces 
of  sentiment  by  tender  suggestions  of  shallow  allegory. 
The  Philo  and  Sophia  of  the  dialogue  are  enough  by 
their  mere  names  to  suggest  transcendentalism  to  an 
occult   student,   and    more    than    one    criticism    has 
supposed  it  to  be  concerned  wholly  with  the  love  of 
God.     As  a  fact  it  discerns  in  all  things  the  activity, 
the  influence  and  the  power  of  the  master  passion, 
and  another  of  the  secrets  of  its  popularity  in  the 
warm-blooded  world  of  the   South,  is   that   however 
much  love  is  transcendentalised  in  the  dialogues,  it  is 
always  sexual.     So  also  the  philosophy  of  this  love  is 
the  doctrine  of  delectation  and  felicity.     Delectation 
is    union    with    the   beloved,  and  the  good  and   the 
beautiful  are  identified  in  words  that  recall  the  light 
metaphysics  of  Cousin  and  the  blessed  life  of  Fichte. 

The  general  definition  of  love  is  that  it  is  a 
vivifying  spirit  which  permeates  all  the  world,  and  a 
bond  uniting  the  entire  universe.  But  the  proper 
definition  of  the  perfect  love  of  man  and  woman  is 
the  concurrence  of  the  loving  with  the  beloved  to  this 
end,  that  the  beloved  shall  be  converted  into  the 
lover.  When  such  love  is  equal  between  the  partakers 
it  is  described  as  the  conversion  of  the  one  into  the 
other  being  Below  this  human  love  there  is  not 
only  that  which  subsists  among  mere  animals,  but  in 


3i8  ^he  Doctrine  anfc  fpterattire  x>£  the 

things  insensible,  in  the  first  matter,  in  the  elements 
and  in  the  heavenly  bodies,  which  are  drawn  one  to 
the  other  and  move  in  regular  order  by  the  harmonious 
impulse  and  interaction  of  a  reciprocal  affection. 

Even  the  knowledge  of  God  seems  to  be  pre 
sented,  as  regards  language  and  images,  under  a 
sexual  aspect.  God  is  loved  in  proportion  as  He  is 
known,  and  as  He  cannot  be  known  entirely  by  men, 
nor  His  wisdom  by  the  human  race,  so  He  cannot  be 
loved  as  he  deserves,  for  such  an  exalted  sentiment 
transcends  the  power  of  our  will.  The  mind,  there 
fore,  must  be  content  to  know  God  according  to  the 
measure  of  its  possibility  and  not  that  of  His 
excellence.  The  knowledge  and  love  of  God  are 
both  necessary  to  beatitude,  for  He  is  the  true 
intellectual  agent  with  Whom  consists  felicity,  which 
is  not  to  be  found  in  the  knowledge  of  all  things,  but 
in  the  One  alone  who  is  Himself  all  others.  This 
felicity  does  not  consist  in  the  act  cognoscitive  of  God, 
which  leads  to  love,  nor  in  the  love  which  succeeds 
such  knowledge,  but  in  the  copulation  of  the  most 
interior  and  united  divine  knowledge,  for  this  is  the 
sovereign  perfection  of  the  created  intellect,  the  last 
act  and  happy  end  in  which  it  finds  itself  rather 
divine  than  human.  Such  copulative  felicity  with  God 
cannot,  however,  be  continuous  during  our  present 
life,  because  our  intellect  is  here  joined  to  the  matter 
of  our  fragile  body. 

It  may  be  added  that  Leo  the  Hebrew,  like 
Raymond  Lully,  accounts  for  the  self-sufficiency  of 
the  divine  nature  on  the  ground  that  the  love,  the 
lover  and  the  beloved  are  all  one  in  God  ;  that  God 
alone  is  the  end  of  all  love  in  the  universe  ;  and  that 


\T!u  Qjllrittnx  SBovb  of  gabaliem  319 

His  love  towards  His  creatures  is  the  stimulation 
of  a  desire  of  good  for  their  sake  and  not  for  His 
own.  It  may  be  inferred  also  that  a  transcendental 
meaning  is  not  improbably  contained  in  such  specula 
tions  as  that  of  the  sleep  of  love,  of  amorous 
contemplation,  of  the  graving  of  the  image  of  the 
beloved  in  the  thought  of  the  lover,  and  of  the  ravish 
ment  of  this  state. 


IV.     MINOR    LITERATURE    OF    KABALISM 

We  have  now  completed  our  study  of  all 
Kabalistic  writings  to  which  any  currency  has  been 
given  in  connection  with  the  claims  of  occultism,  but 
we  have  by  no  means  exhausted  the  literature  either 
before  or  after  the  appearance  of  the  Zohar.  It  has 
been  classified  in  chronological  order  in  a  special  list 
by  Bartolocci  at  the  beginning  of  his  great  work,  and 
those  who  desire  to  pursue  the  subject  further  will 
there  see  how  impossible  it  is  to  deal  with  in  this 
place.  It  is,  moreover,  outside  the  purpose  of  our 
inquiry.  A  few  names,  however,  may  just  be 
mentioned  which  are  to  some  extent  typical  of  the 
minor  literature  of  Kabalism. 

When  the  Zohar  was  on  the  verge  of  the 
historical  horizon,  in  the  reign  of  Alphonso  X.,  we 
find  at  Toledo  Rabbi  Mevi,  the  son  of  Theodore, 
Prince  of  the  Levites  of  Burgos.  Though  a 
Kabalist  and  a  light  of  Kabalism,  he  opposed 
Nachmanides,  thus  showing  that  at  a  comparatively 
early  period  there  was  little  unanimity  among  the 
doctors  of  theosophy  and  the  voices  of  tradition  on 


320  ^hc  JBoxtriiu  anfo  jpiteratur*  of  the  Jiabalah 

the  subject  of  theosophy  or  tradition.  His  book  is 
entitled  "  Before  and  Behind,"  which  is  supposed  to 
indicate  that  he  had  approached  the  Kabalah  from 
every  point  of  view.* 

Side  by  side  with  philosophical  Kabalism  the 
spurious  practical  part,  the  Ars  Kabalistica,  never 
wanted  its  professors.  As  neither  worse  nor  better 
than  the  rest  we  may  mention  R.  Chamai  of  Arragon, 
in  the  early  part  of  the  fifteenth  century.  One  of  his 
practical  secrets  was  the  determination  of  the  sex  of 
an  unborn  child  by  placing  the  nuptial  couch  from 
north  to  south,  thus  indicating  respect  for  the  majesty 
of  God,  which  resided  between  east  and  west,  and 
might  suffer  dishonour  by  marital  intercourse  taking 
place  in  the  same  direction. 

Such  consideration,  it  was  deemed,  would  not  go 
without  its  reward  in  the  birth  of  male  children.f 

In  the  reign  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  and  a 
victim  of  their  edict  of  expulsion,  flourished  Joseph 
Gikatella,  called  the  divine  Kabalist  and  the 
Thaumaturge,  who  wrote  on  the  attributes  of  God, 
the  Divine  names,  and  the  Sephiroth.% 

At  the  period  of  Picus  de  Mirandola  Kabalists 
abounded  in  Italy,  many  of  whom  were  refugees  from 
persecution  in  Spain  and  Portugal.  Picus  in  his 
Apologia  affirms  that  his  demonstrations  of  Christian 
dogma  in  Jewish  theosophy  effected  the  conversion 
of  a  Kabalist  named  Dattilius.  As  it  is  one  of  few 
instances  on  record  the  sincerity  of  the  change  may 

*  Bartolocci,  Bibliotheca  Magnet  Rabbinica,  iv.  1 8 ;  Basnage, 
Histoire  desjuifs,  v.  1773- 

t  Bartolocci,  Bibliotheca  Magna  Kabbinica,  ii.  840 :  Basnage, 
Histoire  desjuifs,  v.  1895. 

J  Ibid.  v.  1899. 


•vihc  $iritlen  &lorb  of  gabaliem  321 

be  allowed  to  pass  unchallenged.*     Long  afterwards, 
that  is  to  say,  in   1613,  Samuel  Nachunias,  a  Jew  of 
Thessalonica,  but    residing   at    Venice,   also   abjured 
Judaism  and  wrote  the  "  Path   of  Faith."      So  also, 
about   1672,  Mordekai    Kerkos   composed    a    treatise 
specially  against  the   Kabalah,  but  it  has  not  been 
printed.     Basnage  hints  that  such  an  action  at  that 
period  seemed  scarcely  less  subversive  in   Israel  than 
to  embrace  Christianity.     On  the  other  hand,  Judas 
Azael,    about    the   same   period,    contributed    to    the 
literature  of  the    tradition   by  his   "  Thrones   of  the 
House  of  David,"  a  treatise  dealing  with  the  Fifty 
Gates  of  Understanding,  while  in    Germany  Nathan 
of  Spire,    better   known,   however,  for   a   treatise   in 
praise    of    the    Holy    Land,    produced    a    Kabalistic 
commentary  on  Deuteronomy  iii.   13,  under  the  title 
of   Mcgi'ltn/i    Hamncoth.      In    Holland,    a    few   years 
previously,  the  famous  Manasses  composed  his  work 
on  the  resurrection  of  the  body,  which  connects  with 
Jewish  esoteric  theology  by  its  defence  of  metempsy 
chosis  ;    and  Isaac  About,  a  Brazilian  settled  in  the 
Low    Countries,   translated    the   Porta    Ccelorum    of 
Abraham  Cohen  Irira  from  the  original  Spanish  into 
Hebrew. 


In  the  sixteenth  century  Paul  Klhananan  became  a  convert  to 
Christianity,  and  in  his  Mysterium  Navum  sou-lit  to  prove  from  the 
Kahalah  that  Jesus  of  Na/arcth  was  the  true  Messiah.  Petrus  (ialatinus 
als«,  abjured  Judai,m  ;  so  did  Johannes  Kortius,  who  wrote  on  the 
mystical  meanings  of  the  Hebrew  letters.  Paul  de  Ik-iedi.i 
convert  of  the  fifteenth  century.  Bartolooci  (iv.  420)  mentions  Louis 
Garret,  a  Frenchman  of  the  si.xte.  -nth  century,  who  in  his  "Visions  of 
God"  defended  the  truth  of  the  Catholic  faith  by  means  of  the  Kabalah. 

Mines  are  Aaron  Martina,  whose  many  works  attempted  to 
Christianise  the  Kabalah;  kittangeliu.s,  the  editor  of  the  Sepher 
Yetzirah,  who  turned  Protestant  ;  and  Prosper  Ruggieri. 

X 


322    ^he  Jtortrine  anfo  literature  of  the  glabalah 

These  meagre  memoranda,  which  do  not  pretend 
to  represent  a  serious  study,  may  close  with  the  name 
of  Spinoza,  who  also  connects  with  Kabalism,  though 
it  must  be  confessed  that  the  tincture  which  he 
exhibits  is  little  more  than  the  memory  of  early 
reading. 


BOOK    VII 

SOME     CHRISTIAN    STUDENTS    OF 
THE     KABALAH 

ARGUMENT 

The  opinion  of  modern  occultists  that  the  Kabalah  is  a  vehicle  of 
the  secret  doctrine  of  absolute  religion  was  never  held  by  occultists 
in  the  past ;  even  those  who  ascribed  it  to  a  Divine  source  were 
actuated  only  by  the  notion  that  it  was  a  disguised  Christianity, 
and  in  most  cases  their  real  interest  was  the  conversion  of  the  Jews 
by  its  means.  The  chief  Christian  students  of  the  Kabalah  are 
cited  successively  to  prove  these  points.  The  modern  opinion 
began  with  Eliphas  Levi,  and  it  is  shown  that  his  authority  is 
unreliable.  Some  minor  misconceptions  are  corrected  and  some 
extrinsic  points  of  interest  are  developed  in  the  course  of  the 
sketches. 

I.    INTRODUCTORY 

So  far  as  our  inquiry  has  proceeded  no  system  of 
philosophy  would  seem  less  connected  with  what  is 
known  conventionally  as  magic  than  is  the  Kabalah 
to  all  outward  appearance.  That  there  was,  how 
ever,  a  systematic  connection,  by  which  I  mean  a 
connection  permitting  the  philosophical  doctrine  to 
emerge  as  fairly  distinct,  there  can  be  no  doubt.  We 
owe  our  mediaeval  withchcraft  chiefly  to  this  source ; 
we  owe  also  our  mediaeval  demonology ;  and  the 
Jew,  hounded  out  of  Spain  by  the  iniquitous  edict  of 


324  ^he  Jtoctritte  jtnb  JDitetature  of  the 

Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  left  to  the  Inquisition  and  its 
devildom  another  pretext  for  extermination,  more 
fuel  for  the  burning — in  a  word,  the  tremendous 
legacy  of  sorcery.  The  Jew  was  avenged  in  the 
magician. 

When  enumerating  the  alleged  branches  of 
esoteric  tradition  in  Israel  I  endeavoured  to 
distinguish  that  of  magic  from  philosophy.  While  the 
traces  of  the  philosophical  tradition  are  nowhere  met 
with  in  antiquity,  that  of  magic  abounds.  It  was  to 
be  expected  that  the  newer  order  of  ideas  should 
become  interfused  with  the  older.  But  the  Sepher 
Yetzirah  and  the  Zohar  are  not  magic,  and  that 
which  drew  the  Christian  students  of  the  literature 
and  made  them  seek  to  fathom  the  Kabalistic 
mystery  was  assuredly  its  philosophical,  transcen 
dental  indeed,  but  not  its  thaumaturgic  part. 

We  are  on  the  track  here  of  another  great 
misconception  which  prevails  among  the  class  of 
thinkers  who  have  most  reason  to  concern  themselves 
with  the  claims  of  the  Kabalah.  It  is  useless  for 
occult  writers  and  their  too  easy  disciples  to  continue, 
as  they  have  done  in  the  past,  appealing  to  Christian 
authorities  as  to  great  names  supporting  their  view  of 
the  subject.  Those  who  accepted  and  those  who 
vindicated  the  authenticity  of  the  secret  tradition  had 
never  dreamed  of  the  religion  behind  all  religions, 
nor  did  the^  look  to  the  sanctuaries  of  Egypt  for  any 
light  but  that  which  perchance  was  carried  into  it  by 
the  descendants  of  Abraham.  The  occult  writers 
make  two  errors.  In  the  first  place,  they  cite  among 
Christian  Kabalists  many  authorities,  within  and 
without  the  mystic  circle,  who  have  no  claim  to 


Ǥome  Christian  <Stubent0  of  the  gabalah     325 

the  title ;  in  the  second  place,  they  misconstrue 
entirely  the  position  of  those  whose  title  itself  may 
be  beyond  any  challenge.  Over  and  above  these 
points,  many  names,  great  and  otherwise,  which  it 
looks  well  to  engross  on  the  deeds  of  a  brief  for 
the  defence,  bear  witness  only  to  the  prevailing 
ignorance. 

The  purpose  of  the  brief  studies  which  follow  is 
to  demonstrate  these  facts,  which  possess  considerable 
importance  for  those  whom  I  address,  and  are 
therefore  an  integral  part  of  my  scheme.  They  are 
not  biographical  sketches,  and  they  are  not  biblio 
graphical  notes.  They  are  designed  to  exhibit  that 
among  the  names  commonly  cited  in  connection  with 
Kabalism,  some  should  no  longer  be  mentioned,  some 
belong  only  to  a  Quixotic  attempt  at  discovering  an 
eirenicon  for  Christendom  and  Jewry,  some  are  not 
worth  citing,  because,  despite  their  imputed  authority, 
they  have  nothing  of  moment  to  tell  us,  and  some,  a 
bare  residuum,  with  a  handful  of  recent  writers,  may 
be  left  on  the  otherwise  vacated  benches. 


II.     RAYMOND    LULLY 

The  name  of  Raymond  Lully  has  been  usually 
cited  as  that  of  a  considerable  authority  on  the 
Kabalah,  as  upon  several  other  departments  of  the 
secret  knowledge.  It  is  time  to  affirm  that  few 
ascriptions  seem  to  possess  less  foundation  in  fact. 
It  must  be  said,  first  of  all,  that  there  is  substantial 
ground  for  supposing  that  there  were  two  distinct 
persons  bearing  this  name,  or  that  it  was  assumed  for 


326  °(Ehc  Ilortrtne  anfo  literature  ot  the  jtnbalah 

a  second  time  at  a  later  date.  The  original  Raymond 
Lully  was  that  seneschal  of  Majorca  whose  legend  I 
narrated  some  twelve  years  ago  in  the  "  Lives  of 
Alchemystical  Philosophers."  He  was  born  during 
the  first  half  of  the  thirteenth  century.*  The  second 
Raymond  Lully  was  an  alchemist  His  legend, 
enshrined  in  the  deceitful  memorial  of  a  so-called 
Abbot  of  Westminster,f  was  unknown,  so 
far  as  I  can  trace,  till  the  beginning  of  the 
seventeenth  century^  but  the  works  by  which  he  is 
distinguished  from  his  prototype  are  certainly 
much  earlier,  possibly  by  two  centuries.  There  is  a 
third  and  modern  legend,  which  bears  all  the  marks 
of  invention  by  its  narrator,  Eliphas  Levi,  and  this 
identifies  the  two  personages  by  prolonging  the  life  of 
the  first  through  the  instrumentality  of  the  great 
elixir.§  It  is  described  as  a  popular  legend,  but 
Raymond  Lully  and  his  namesake  were  never  of 
enough  importance  to  impress  the  imagination  of  the 
people.  The  first  was  a  philosophical  reformer  and  a 

*  The  dates  attributed  to  some  of  his  works,  if  accurate,  would  show 
that  he  was  separated  from  his  predecessor  by  more  than  a  century,  but 
they  are  in  a  sad  state  of  confusion,  and  all  popular  sources  of  information 
are  misleading.  See,  for  example,  Blackie's  "  Popular  Encyclopoedia," 
s.v.  Alchymy. 

f  Test  amentum  Cremeri,  Abbatis  Westmonasteriensis^  Angli, 
Or  dints  Benedictini. 

%  It  was  published  at  Frankfort  in  1618,  by  Michael  Maier,  being 
the  third  tract  of  the  Tripus  Aureus,  hoc  est  tres  tractatus  chymici 
sclectissimi.  In  1678  it  reappeared  in  the  Museum  Hermeticum 
Reformatum  et  Amplificatum,  and  is  known  in  English  by  a  translation 
of  that  collection,  edited  by  myself,  2  vols.  London.  1893. 

§  With  material  derived  from  Eliphas  Levi,  and  a  pyrotechnic 
terminology  from  M.  Huysman,  a  bizarre  work  entitled  Le  Satanisme  et 
la  Afagie,  by  Jules  Bois,  compresses  all  the  legends  into  one  small 
pellet  of  fable  which,  published  in  1895,  is,  I  suppose,  the  last 
misconstruction  on  the  subject  of  Raymond  Lully. 


gome  Christian  <Stubent<3  of  the  |Ubalnh     327 

Christian  evangelist,  martyred  for  an  ill-judged 
attempt  at  the  propagation  of  the  faith  among  the 
Mussulmen  of  Africa.  The  second  has  been  described, 
but  on  what  grounds  I  am  unable  to  state,  as 
a  "Jewish  neophyte"  or  proselyte  of  the  gate.  This 
is  therefore  the  personality  which  would  naturally 
connect  with  Kabalism.  The  second  Raymond  Lully 
connects,  however,  exclusively  with  alchemy,  and  his 
works  are  evidence  that  he  did  not  renounce  the 
Christian  faith.*  It  is  to  him  must  be  attributed 
those  keys,  compendiums,  testaments  and  codicils  of 
alchemy  which  are  found  in  all  the  great  collections 
of  Hermetic  treatises.  He  was  so  far  imbued  with 
the  apostolic  spirit  of  his  predecessor  that  his  great 
ambition  was  to  engage  some  Catholic  monarch  in 
another  barren  crusade  for  the  recovery  of  the  Holy 
Sepulchre.  According  to  his  legend  he  transmuted 
into  gold  sufficient  base  metal  for  the  minting  of  six 
million  nobles,  for  the  benefit  of  an  Edward,  King 
of  England,  on  condition  that  he  assumed  the  Red 
Cross.  The  king  did  not  keep  his  promise,  and  the 
adept  escaped  as  he  could  from  the  extortion  of 
further  projections. 

The  confusion  of  the  two  Raymonds  is  perhaps 
more  excusable  among  occultists  than  for  ordinary 
biographers.  That  alchemy  connects  with  Kabalism, 
or  that  Kabalism  became  identified  with  alchemy,  the 


Witness  the  address  to  the  Deity  at  the  head  of  the  7*cstatncninm 
i-i  Kaymitndi  Lullii  (Mangetus:  Bibliotheca  Chemica  Curiosa, 
i.  707,  708) ;  the  last  words  of  its  theoretical  division — Lans  honor  et 
gloria Jesn  (ibid.  762) ;  the  Tfstatrientnm  Norissimum,  addressed  to  King 
Charles  (Ideo,  mi  Carole  dilecte,  te  infilitnn  sapicnti*  dilectissimum  itt 
fidei  catholics  arnpliatorem  eligam  ;  and  a^'ain  :  .  .<•  in  nomine 

7'rinitatis  et  ictettuc  (Jnifatis,  &c.  (ibid.  p.  790). 


328  ^he  Jlortriue  anb  yiteratur*  of  the  Jtabalah 

treatise  on  Purifying  Fire  sufficiently  testifies,  but  the 
alchemist  per  se  is  not,  as  we  have  seen,  a  Kabalist, 
and  there  is  no  single  word  of  Kabalism  in  the 
Hermetic  treatises  of  Raymond  Lully  the  second. 
The  doctor  of  Majorca  does  connect  artificially  with 
the  esoteric  tradition  of  the  Jews,  by  the  arbitrary  use 
of  certain  words  and  methods,  though  he  was  not 
a  proselyte  of  the  gate,  but  his  system  is  a 
mechanical  introduction  to  the  sciences,  and  has  no 
title  to  the  name,  having  nothing  to  do  with  a 
tradition,  exoteric  or  esoteric,  Jewish  or  Gentile.  It 
has,  moreover,  no  mystical  foundation,  and  is  con 
cerned  wholly  with  an  educational  method.  It  is, 
therefore,  untrue  to  say  that  Raymond  Lully  was  one 
of  the  grand  and  sublime  masters  of  transcendent 
science,  as  Eliphas  Levi  describes  him.  In  the  Ars 
Magna  Sciendi  and  the  Ars  Notoria  there  is  as  much 
occult  significance  as  in  the  scholastic  jest  concerning 
chimcera  bombinans  in  vacua.  The  Notary  Art  of 
Solomon,  which  Robert  Turner  first  printed  in 
English,  connects  remotely  with  Kabalism,  and  the 
Ars  Notoria  of  Raymond  Lully  has  a  verbal  con 
nection,  and  no  more,  with  this  enchiridion  of  Jewry. 
It  is  the  same  with  the  treatise  entitled  De  Auditu 
Kabalistico,  an  opusculum  Raymundimuu,  or  particular 
application  of  the  method  of  Lully,  which  has  been 
ignorantly  included  among  his  works.  The  name 
alone  is  occult,  and  its  selection  is  beyond 
conjecture.*  The  work  proves  on  examination  to  be 


*  It  is  fair  to  say  that  Franck  takes  the  opposite  view,  but  with 
what  qualification  for  judgment  may  be  gathered  from  the  fact  that  he 
accepts  the  attribution  to  Lully  of  the  work  mentioned  above.  He 
says  that  Lully  was  the  first  to  reveal  the  name  and  existence  of  the 


Christian  ^Jtuiiente  of  the  Jiabalah     329 

a  late  offshoot  of  the  great  vacant  pretentious  system 
which  enabled  those  who  mastered  it  to  dispute  on 
all  subjects  with  success,  though  perhaps  without 
knowledge  of  any.  Some  great  minds  were  captivated 
by  it,  but  such  captivities  are  among  the  weaknesses 
of  great  minds.  The  best  that  can  be  said  for  the 
Ars  Magna  is  that  it  was  discoursed  upon  by 
Cornelius  Agrippa  and  that  it  was  tolerated  by 
Picus  de  Mirandola.  And  of  these  facts,  at  the 
present  day,  neither  possesses  a  consequence.  The 
chief  philosophical  mission  of  the  first  Raymond 
Lully  was  to  protest  against  the  school  of  Averroes ; 
his  chief  practical  work  was  the  exhortation  of 
prelates  and  princes  to  found  schools  for  the  study 
of  languages  so  as  to  facilitate  the  conversion  of 


Kabalah  to  Christian  Europe,  for  which  there  is  no  ground  in  fact  ;  he 
thinks  that  it  would  be  difficult  to  determine  how  far  Lully  was  "an 
initiate  of  this  mystic  science  "  or  the  precise  influence  which  it  exercised 
on  his  doctrine.  "  I  refrain  from  saying  with  a  historian  of  philosophy 
(Tennemann)  that  he  borrowed  thence  his  belief  in  the  identity  of  God 
and  Nature  "  (I  think  that  Tennemann  has  here  misconstrued  his  author), 
"  but  it  is  certain  that  he  had  a  very  high  idea  of  it,  considering  it  a 
divine  science,  a  veritable  revelation  addressed  to  the  rational  soul,  and 
it  may  perhaps  be  permissible  to  suppose  that  the  artificial  pr<« 
used  by  Kabalists  to  connect  their  opinions  with  the  words  of  Scripture, 
such  as  the  substitution  of  numbers  or  letters  for  ideas  or  words,  may 
have  contributed  in  no  small  degree  to  the  invention  of  the  Great  Art. 
It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  more  than  two  centuries  and  a  half  before 
the  existence  of  the  rival  schools  of  Loria  and  Cordova,  at  the  very- 
time  when  some  modern  critics  have  sought  to  place  the  origin  of  the 
Kabalah,  Raymond  Lully  makes  already  a  distim-tion  between  ancient 
and  modern  Kabalists."  The  passage  on  which  Franck  MVIU-,  to  depend 
for  his  general  view  is  as  follows  :  Dicitur  h<rc  doctrina  Kablmla  (/nod, 
idem  t-st  st'-nndnni  .  .  .  Hcbrctos  ut  receptio  re  r  it  at  is  aijnslr 
divinilns  rereladf  nnim,r  rational!  ....  Eat  i^itur  Kabbala  habitus 
anitritr  rationalis  ex  rectA  ratione  dirinaruni  rcrum  cognitirus.  Propter 
quod  apparet  quod  est  de  maxima  etiani  divino  conscquvtivt  dirina 
scicntia  vofari  debct.  This  extract  is  derived  from  the  Opus  Raymuti- 
dinmti  already  mentioned. 


330  ^he  Jlortrine  atxb  JDiteratwe  of  the  glabalah 

the  heathen  ;  but  there  were  few  who  heard  or  heeded 
him.  It  was  only  after  his  death  that  his  system 
obtained  for  a  time  a  certain  vogue.  The  collapse 
of  the  process  of  his  beatification  is  one  of  the  great 
escapes  of  the  Latin  Church,  because  it  would  have 
helped  to  accredit  a  system  which  began  and  ended 
in  words.  It  was  not,  as  it  has  been  described 
erroneously,  a  universal  science,  or  a  synthesis  of 
knowledge ;  it  was  chaffer  and  noise  ;  its  egregious 
tabulations  are  a  mockery  for  the  modern  under 
standing.  Even  the  martyrdom  of  this  eccentric 
Spanish  enthusiast  had  a  strain  of  the  folly  of  suicide, 
if  the  martyrologists  have  told  it  truly.  It  had, 
however,  its  defenders,  and  it  had  in  time  its 
miraculous  legend.  So  also,  and  for  the  space  of 
some  centuries,  there  was  a  quiet  and  intelligible 
cultus  of  Raymond  Lully  in  the  Balearic  Islands, 
which,  like  some  other  local  sanctities,  has  become 
perhaps  scarcely  a  memory. 

I  should  add,  in  conclusion,  that  there  are  works 
by  or  attributed  to  the  original  Raymond  Lully  which 
have  no  connection  with  his  Ars  Magna  Sciendi,  as 
they  have  none  with  occult  science,  and  belong  to  a 
higher  category.  When  we  turn  over  the  vast,  uncom 
pleted  collection  of  his  Opera  Onmia,  and  dwell,  as  the 
devout  student  will  gratefully  do,  on  certain  passages 
concerning  the  eternal  subsistence  of  the  lover  and 
the  beloved  in  God,  concerning  contemplation  in 
God — quomodo  omnis  nostra  perfectio  sit  in  perfectione 
nostri  Domini  Dei — and  the  deep  things  of  divine 
union,  we  begin  to  discern  the  existence,  so  to  speak, 
of  a  third  Lully,  who  has  qualities  which  recommend 
him  to  our  admiration  which  are  wanting  in  the 


<§ome  Christian  ^tubcnte  of  the  Jbbalah     331 

Doctor  illuminatits,  though  he  invented  the  Ars 
Magna,  and  in  the  Doctor  alchemisticus,  even  if  he 
transmuted  metals. 


III.     PICUS    DE   MIRANDOLA 

Magical  legend  has  availed  itself  of  the  name 
of  Mirandola,  and  on  the  warrant  of  his  Kabalistic 
enthusiasm  has  accredited  him  with  the  possession 
of  a  familiar  demon.*  His  was  the  demon  of 
Socrates  which  a  late  Cardinal  Archbishop  has 
brought  within  the  limits  of  natural  and  clerical 
orthodoxy.f  His  marvellous  precocity  has  furnished 
a  thesis  to  the  ingenuity  of  M.  Gabriel  Delanne, 
for,  as  with  the  music  of  Mozart  and  as  with  the 
mathematics  of  Pascal,  it  remains  a  ground  of 
speculation  how  this  Italian  Crichton  acquired  his 
enormous  erudition.  M.  Delanne  would  assure  usj 
that  he  brought  it  with  him  at  his  birth,  that  it  was 
an  inheritance  from  a  previous  life,  and  that  Picus  de 
Mirandola  Kabalised  in  a  college  of  Babylon.  On 
the  other  hand,  Catholic  writers,  for  whom  his  studies 
are  unsavoury,  affirm  that  he  was  swindled  by  an 
impostor  who  sold  him  sixty  bogus  MSS.  on  the 
assurance  that  they  had  been  composed  by  the  order 
of  Esdras.  "They  contained  only  ridiculous  Kabalistic 
feveries."  These  MSS.  have  been  enumerated  and 

*  Mignc's  Dictionnaire  des  Sciences  Occult Vj,  t.  ii.  col.  308.   1 
t  See   Manning's   brochure,    s.v.   "The   Daimon  of   Son 

London,  1874. 

+  See  in  particular  Etude  sur  Us  Vies  Successive* ,  Mt'inoirf 
prtsentd  au  Congrh  Spiritc  International  de  I.ondres  (1898),  par 

Gabriel  Delanne ,  p.  6l,  where  Miiandola  is  a  case  in  point. 


332   «Ihe  gtottrme  zmfc  literature  xrf  the  gabalah 

described  by  Gaffarel,  and  his  monograph  on  the 
subject  will  be  found,  among  other  places,  in  the 
great  bibliography  of  Wolf.  We  are  not  concerned 
with  these  nor  yet  with  the  apocryphal  stories  of 
their  original  authorship  and  eventual  sale.  But  as 
Mirandola,  who  was  born  on  February  24,  1463,  and 
died  mentally  exhausted  in  1494,  is  the  first  true 
Christian  student  of  the  Kabalah,  it  is  important  to 
know  what  he  derived  from  his  studies  in  this  respect. 
Now,  unfortunately,  we  are  met  at  the  outset  with  a 
difficulty  only  too  common  in  such  inquiries.  Of  the 
Kabalistic  conclusions  arrived  at  by  Picus  de  Miran 
dola,  and  actually  bearing  this  name,  there  are  two 
absolutely  different  versions  extant  ;  there  is  that 
which  we  find  in  the  collected  editions  of  his  works, 
both  late  and  early,  reproduced  in  the  collection  of 
Pistorius  with  a  voluminous  commentary  by  Arch- 
angelus  de  Burgo  Nuovo,  and  there  is  that  which  we 
find  with  another  commentary,  though  curiously  by  the 
same  writer,  in  a  little  volume,  published  at  Bologna 
in  1564,  and  again  at  Basle  in  1600.*  The  evidence 
is  in  favour  of  the  first  version,  though  I  have  so  far 
failed  to  meet  with  an  alleged  original  edition  said  to 
have  been  published  at  Rome  in  1486,  and  therefore 
in  the  lifetime  of  the  author.  We  may  accept  either 
version  without  prejudice  to  the  point  which  it  is  here 
designed  to  establish,  and  that  is  the  nature  of  the 
enthusiasm  which  prompted  Picus  de  Mirandola.  In ' 
the  first  place,  though  he  speaks  of  magic  in  terms 
which  may  be  held  to  indicate  that  he  possessed  a 

*  Archangelus  de  Burgo  Nuovo  agri  Placentini :  Apologia  pro 
defensione  doctrines  Cabala,  &c.  Ostensibly  a  reply  to  an  impeachment 
of  Mirandola  by  Peter  Garzia. 


(Ehrietiau  <Stubeni0  of  the  Jpabztlah     333 

tolerant  and  open  mind  as  to  some  of  its  claims,  and, 
like  a  learned  man  as  he  was,  did  not  regard  it  after 
the  vulgar  manner,  he  cannot  be  considered  as,  in 
any  real  sense,  an  occult  philosopher.  The  only  depart 
ment  of  occult  science  which  he  has  treated  at  any 
length  is  astrology,  and  to  this  he  devoted  a  long, 
savage  and  undermining  criticism,  which  in  some  of 
its  salient  parts  is  as  good  reading  as  Agrippa's 
"  Vanity  of  the  Sciences,"  and  on  its  special  subject 
takes  much  the  same  point  of  view.  We  should  not 
therefore  expect  that  he  betook  himself  to  the  esoteric 
speculations  of  Jewry  because  he  was  attracted  by 
the  transcendental  powers  attributed  to  the  Divine 
Names,  because  he  intended  to  compose  talismans, 
or  because  he  desired  to  evoke.  I  must  not  speak  so 
confidently  as  to  possible  fascinations  in  the  direction 
of  Gematria  and  Themurah,  for  his  was  a  subtle  and 
curious  intelligence  which  found  green  spots  or  rather 
enchanted  cities  of  mirage  in  many  deserts  of  the 
mind,  and  he  might  perhaps  have  discovered 
mysteries  in  beheaded  words  and  achroamatica  in 
acrostics.  There  is,  however,  no  proof  that  he  did. 
The  bibliographical  legend  which  represents  him 
purchasing  MSS.  on  the  assurance  that  the  prophet 
Esdras  had  a  hand  in  their  production  will  disclose 
his  probable  views  as  to  the  antiquity  ot  Kabalistic 
literature.  He  took  it,  we  may  suppose,  at  its  word, 
and  the  legend  also  indicates  that  he  was  persuaded 
easily  ;  it  was  a  common  weakness  in  men  of  learning 
and  enthusiasm  at  the  period.  On  the  other  hand,  it 
is  more  than  certain  that  he  did  not  regard  this 
antiquity  as  a  presumption  that  the  Kabalah  was 
superior  to  Latin  Christianity ;  the  wisdom  which  he 


334   ^he  latrine  anfc  fpttrature  of  the  giabdah 

found  in  the  Kabalah  was  the  wisdom  of  Christian 
doctrine  ;*  when  he  hung  up  his  famous  theses  in 
Rome  and  offered  to  defray  the  expenses  of  every 
scholar  who  would  dispute  with  him,  those  theses 
included  his  Kabalistic  Conclusions,  but  that  which 
he  sought  to  establish  was  a  via  media  between 
Jewry  and  Christendom.  When  he  turned  the  head 
of  Pope  Julius  with  the  secret  mysteries  of  the 
Thorah,  the  enthusiasm  which  was  communicated 
for  a  moment  to  the  chair  of  Peter  was,  like  Lully's, 
that  of  the  evangelist.  The  servus  servorum  Dei 
found  other  zeal  for  his  ministry,  and  the  comet  of  the 
schools  blazed  itself  out.  The  Kabalistic  Conclusions 
alone  remain  to  tell  that  Rome  had  a  strange  dream 
in  the  evening  of  the  fifteenth  century.  They  lie  in  a 
small  compass  and,  as  I  believe  it  will  be  of  interest 
to  show  what  Picus  de  Mirandola  extracted  from 
his  sixty  MSS.,  I  will  here  translate  them  for  the 
reader.  I  ought  perhaps  to  premise  that  Eliphas  LeVi 
translated  some  of  them  in  his  own  loose  fashion  and 
published  them  with  a  suggestive  commentary,  in  La 
Science  des  Esprits*\  ascribing  them  to  the  collection 
of  Pistorius  but  without  mentioning  the  name  of 
Mirandola.  He  also  gave  what  purports  to  be  the 
Latin  originals,  but  these  he  has  polished  and  pointed. 
To  do  justice  to  his  genius  they  are  much  better 
than  the  quintessential  Kabalism  of  Picus,  but  as 
they  are  neither  Picus  nor  the  Kabalah,  I  shall  not 
have  recourse  to  them  for  the  purposes  of  the 


*  The  existence  of  Christian  elements,  or  at  least  of  materials 
which  might  be  held  to  bear  a  Christian  construction,  is  admitted  by 
several  Jewish  writers  of  the  post-Zoharic  period. 

t  Part  II.  c.  iv.  p.  147,  et  seq. 


<§omc  Christian  <§tufoeut0  of  the  jiabalah     335 

following  version,  except  by  some  references  in  the 
footnotes. 

Kabalistic  Conclusions : 

I. 

As  man  and  the  priest  of  inferior  things  sacrifices 
to  God  the  souls  of  unreasoning  animals,  so  Michael, 
the  higher  priest,  sacrifices  the  souls  of  rational 

animals. 

II. 

There  are  nine  hierarchies,  and  their  names  are 
Cherubim,  Seraphim,  Chasinalim,  Araltm,  Tarsisim, 
Ophamni,  IsJiim,  Malachim,  and  Elohitn. 

III. 

Although  the  ineffable  name  is  the  quality  of 
clemency,  it  is  not  to  be  denied  that  it  combines 
also  the  quality  of  judgment* 

IV. 

The  sin  of  Adam  was  the  separation  of  the 
kingdom  from  the  other  branches. 

V. 

God  created  the  world  with  the  tree  of  the 
knowledge  of  good  and  evil,  whereby  the  first  man 
sinned.f 

VI. 

The  great  north  wind  is  the  fountain  of  all  souls 
simply,  as  other  days  are  of  some  and  not  all.* 

*  As  LeVi  tersely  puts  it,  Schema  miscricordiam  dicit  sed  et 
judicium.  He  utilises  it  to  denounce  the  doctrine  of  everlasting 
punishment. 

t  Hence  Lcvi  infers  that  the  sin  of  Adam  was  educational. 

£  I  have  given  this  literally  without  pretending  that  it  ha^  much 
meaning.  Levi  reduces  it  to  Magnus  a^itilo  fans  est  antmarurn, 
explaining  that  souls  enter  this  world  to  escape  idleness. 


336   ^he  Jlortrine  anfo  literature  of  the  Jiabalah 

VII. 

When  Solomon  said  in  his  prayer,  as  recorded 
in  the  Book  of  Kings,  "  Hear,  O  Heaven."  we  must 
understand  by  heaven  the  green  line  which  encircles 

all  things.* 

VIII. 

Souls  descend  from  the  third  light  to  the  fourth 
day,  and  thence  issuing,  they  enter  the  night  of 
the  body.f 

IX. 

By  the  six  days  of  Genesis  we  must  understand 
the  six  extremities  of  the  building  proceeding  from 
Brashith  as  the  cedars  come  forth  out  of  Lebanon. 

x. 

Paradise  is  more  correctly  said  to  be  the  whole 
building  than  the  tenth  part.  And  in  the  centre 
thereof  is  placed  the  Great  Adam,  who  is  Tiphereth. 

XI. 

A  river  is  said  to  flow  out  from  Eden  and  to 
be  parted  into  four  heads  signifying  that  the  third 
numeration  proceeds  from  the  second,  and  is  divided 
into  the  fourth,  fifth,  sixth,  and  tenth.j 

XII. 

It  is  true  that  all  things  depend  on  fate,  if  we 
understand  thereby  the  Supreme  Arbiter.§ 

*  Levi  renders  this  Calum  est  Kether,  which  does  not,  at  first 
sight,  seem  to  represent  it.  See,  however,  Conclusion,  48,  and  note 
thereto. 

f  This  is  mangled  by  Levi,  who  seems  to  have  misunderstood  its 
meaning.  For  the  night  of  the  body  he  substitutes  the  night  of  death. 

J  Conclusions  9,  10,  II  signify,  according  to  Levi,  that  the  history 
of  the  earthly  paradise  is  an  allegory  of  truth  on  earth. 

§  Levi  gives,  Factum  fatuni  quia  fatum  verbum  est,  an  admirable 
specimen  of  polishing. 


<§ome  Christian  <§»tubn\tc  of  the  gabalah     337 

XIII. 

He  who  shall  know  the  mystery  of  the  Gates  of 
Understanding  in  the  Kabalah  shall  know  also  the 
mystery  of  the  Great  Jubilee.* 

XIV. 

He  who  shall  know  the  meridional  property  in 
dextral  co-ordination  shall  know  why  every  journey 
of  Abraham  was  always  to  the  south.f 

xv. 

Unless  the  letter  Pie  had  been  added  to  the 
name  of  Abram,  Abraham  would  not  have  begotten.  J 

XVI. 

Before  Moses  all  prophesied  by  the  stag  with  one 
horn  (i.e.,  the  unicorn ).§ 

XVII. 

Wheresoever  the  love  of  male  and  female  is 
mentioned  in  Scripture,  there  is  exhibited  mystically 
the  conjunction  of  Tiphereth  and  Chienset  (or 
ChcnecetK)  Israel,  or  Beth  and  Tiphereth.\\ 

*  The  significance  evaporates  in  Le"vi's  shortened  recension, 
Portce  jubilaitm  sunt.  He  explains  the  Jubilee  as  the  joy  of  true 
knowledge. 

t  Levi's  explanation  is  feeble,  namely,  that  the  south  is  the  rainy 
quarter,  and  that  "the  doctrines  of  Abraham,  i.e.,  of  the  Kabalah,  arc- 
always  fruitful.*' 

t  Per  addition em  He  Abraham  sennit,  this  being  "  the  feminine 
letter  of  the  Tetragram." 

§  I.e.,  says  Le"vi,  they  saw  only  one  side  of  truth;  Moses  is 
represented  bearing  two  horns.  Le"vi  adds  that  the  unicorn  is  the 
ideal. 

||  Levi  substitutes  Afas  et  f,rmina  sun/  Tiphcreth  et  Malkuth, 
and  gives  a  sentimental  explanation  which  has  no  connection  with 
Kabalism. 


338   ^ht  JBortrine  anb  literature  of  the  Jiabaiah 

XVIII. 

Whosoever  shall  have  intercourse  with  Tiphereth 
in  the  middle  night  shall  flourish  in  every  generation.* 

XIX. 

The  letters  of  the  name  of  the  evil  demon  who 
is  the  prince  of  this  world  are  the  same  as  those  of 
the  name  of  God —  Tetragrammaton  —  and  he  who 
knows  how  to  effect  their  transposition  can  extract 
one  from  the  other.f 

xx. 

When  the  light  of  the  mirror  which  shines  not 
shall  be  like  the  light  of  the  shining  mirror,  the  day 
shall  become  as  the  night,  as  David  says.} 

XXI. 

Whosoever  shall  know  the  quality  which  is  the 
secret  of  darkness  shall  know  why  the  evil  demons 
are  more  hurtful  in  the  night  than  in  the  day. 

XXII. 

Granting  that  the  co-ordination  of  the  chariots 
is  manifold,  nevertheless,  in  so  far  as  concerns  the 
mystery  of  the  Philaterios,  two  chariots  are  prepared, 
so  that  one  chariot  is  formed  from  the  second,  third, 
fourth,  and  fifth,  and  these  are  the  four  philateria 
which  Van  assumes,  and  from  the  sixth,  seventh, 

*  Levi  interprets  by  distinguishing  the  marriage  of  mere  animals, 
human  or  otherwise,  from  the  true  human  and  divine  marriage  of  souls, 
spirits  and  bodies. 

t  Levi  substitutes  Damon  est  Deus  itiversits  and  argues  with 
characteristic  logic  that,  could  the  former  be  said  to  exist,  then  God  as 
his  opposite  could  certainly  have  no  existence. 

%  This  apparently  puzzled  the  commentator,  so  he  invented  a 
substitute  which  partly  reproduces  an  apocryphal  saying  of  Christ. 


<§ome  Christian  <Stubents  of  the  gabalah     339 

eighth,  and  ninth  a  second  chariot  is  made,  and  these 
are  the  philateria  which  the  He  final  assumes.* 

XXIII. 

More  than  the  quality  of  penitence  is  not  to 
be  understood  (or  applied)  in  the  word  (which 
signifies)  "  He  said."f 

XXIV. 

When  Job  said  :  "  Who  maketh  peace  in  his 
highest  places,"  he  signified  the  austral  water  and 
boreal  fire,  and  their  leader,  concerning  which  things 
there  must  be  nothing  said  further. J 

xxv. 

Brashith — i.e.,  in  the  beginning  He  created, 
is  the  same  as  if  it  were  said :  "  In  Wisdom  He 
created."§ 

*  That  is  to  say,  Chokmah,  Binah,  Chesed  m&  Geburah  form  the 
chariot,  seat,  or  throne  of  the  third  letter  of  the  Tetragrnm  ;  while 
Tiphereth,  Netzach,  Hod  and  Jesod  constitute  the  chariot  of  the  fourth 
letter.  For  other  classifications  of  the  Sephiroth  according  to  the 
symbols  of  a  superior  and  inferior  chariot,  see  Kabbala  Diinaiata, 
»•  535.  536. 

t  This  is  the  best  rendering  which  I  can  offer  of  the  obscure 
original — Supra  proprietatcni  penitent  id-  non  cst  ittcndtun  vcrbo  di.\  it. 
It  is  quite  certain  that  its  intention  is  not  represented  by  Levi's  substi 
tuted  aphorism  I\rnitcntia  non  est  rcrlmm,  wliich  he  translates,  "  To 
repent  is  not  to  act."  According  to  Archangelus  de  Burgonuovo,  the 
meaning  is  that  he  who  seeks  the  forgiveness  of  sins  must  not  have 
recourse  to  the  Son  nor  to  the  Holy  Spirit.  The  proof  ottered  is  that 
the  word  rendered  dixit  belongs  to  the  Son,  and  that  which  stands  for 
dicens  to  the  Holy  Ghost.  This  refers  to  certain  sayings  of  Christ. 
Forgiveness  is  to  be  sought  from  the  Father.  The  Kabalah  is  n«-t, 
however,  a  commentary  on  the  New  Te>tam< /nt. 

%  Le"vi  substitutes  :  cxcelsi  sunt  aqua  aitstralis  et  ignis  septcn- 
trionalis  et  prtffccti  eorttnt.  Sile. 

§  Pointed  by  Levi,  thi-,  appear-,  as  ///  /;///<•///<?,  id  cst  in  Chokmah. 


340  ^he  gortrine  ani  literature  of  the 

XXVI. 

When  Onkelos  the  Chaldean  said  :  "  Buadmin  " 
— i.e.,  with  or  by  the  Eternals,  he  understood  the 
Thirty-two  Paths  of  Wisdom.* 

XXVII. 

As  the  first  man  is  the  congregation  of  the 
waters,  so  the  sea,  to  which  all  rivers  run,  is  the 
Divinity.f 

XXVIII. 

By  the  flying  thing  which  was  created  on  the 
fifth  day  we  must  understand  angels  of  this  world, 
which  appear  to  men,  and  not  those  which  do  not 
appear,  save  in  the  spirit.  J 

XXIX. 

The  name  of  God,  composed  of  four  letters, 
Mem,  Tsade,  Pe,  and  final  Tsade,  must  be  referred 
to  the  Kingdom  of  David.§ 

xxx. 

No  angel  with  six  wings  is  ever  transformed.  || 

*  This  is  given  boldly  by  Levi  as  Via  ceternitatis  sunt  triginta  duo, 

t  Levi  sums  the  idea  by  writing  fusti  cupia;,  Deiis  mare,  and 
shows  in  his  annotation  how  God  becomes  man  and  man  God  after 
his  familiar  Voltairean  fashion. 

+  Levi  gives,  Angeli  apparcntium  sunt  volatiles  cceli  et  ani/nanfia, 
which  exceeds  the  Kabalistic  idea.  I  do  not  think  it  was  intended 
to  say  that  birds  are  angels  of  the  outer  form,  but  that  the  flying  things 
created  on  the  fifth  day  are  symbols  of  the  angels  who  have  appeared  to 
men,  wearing  the  likeness  of  humanity,  as  to  Abraham  and  to  Lot, 
not  those  seen  in  the  interior  state  and  in  vision. 

§  Levi  reads  Daniel. 

II  Meaning,  says  Levi,  that  there  is  no  change  for  the  mind 
which  is  equilibrated  perfectly  ;  but  this  is  mere  ingenuity. 


<§ome  Chrietiau  <Stubent6  of  the  JUbalah     341 

XXXI. 

Circumcision  was  ordained  for  deliverance  from 
the  impure  powers  wandering  round  about. 

XXXII. 

Hence  circumcision  was  performed  on  the  eighth 
day,  because  it  is  above  the  universal  bride. 

XXXIII. 

There  are  no  letters  in  the  entire  Law  which 
do  not  show  forth  the  secrets  of  the  ten  numerations 
in  their  forms,  conjunctions,  and  separations,  in  their 
twisting  and  direction,  their  deficiency  and  superfluity, 
in  their  comparative  smallness  and  largeness,  in  their 
crowning,  and  their  enclosed  or  open  form.* 

XXXIV. 

He  who  comprehends  why  Moses  hid  his  face 
and  why  Ezechias  turned  his  countenance  to  the 
wall,  the  same  understands  the  fitting  attitude  and 
posture  of  prayer,  f 

xxxv. 

No  spiritual  things  descending  below  can  operate 
without  a  garment.} 

XXXVI. 

The  sin  of  Sodom  was  the  separation  of  the 
final  branch. 

*  Liters  stint  hieroglyphic  in  omnibus^  according  to  the  shorter 
recension  of  L£\i, 

t  Abscond*  facicm  fiiam  ft  era,  writes  Levi,  connecting  the 
praying  shawl  in  his  comment  with  the  veil  of  Isis  ! 

+  Uesprit  se  rtvttent  pour  dcsccndrc  et  se  dtpouillt  pour  tnonter, 
says  Le"vi  elsewhere  in  his  writings.  Here  in  his  annotation  he  reasons 
that,  as  we  cannot  live  under  water,  so  spirits  without  bodies  are  unable 
to  exist  in  our  atmosphere. 


342   ^he  SJartnne  zmb  |£iteratnr^  of  the 

XXXVII. 

By  the  secret  of  the  prayer  before  the  daylight 
we  must  understand  the  quality  of  piety. 

xxxvm. 

As  fear  is  outwardly  inferior  to  love,  so  love  is 
inwardly  inferior  to  fear. 

xxxix. 

From  the  preceding  conclusion  it  may  be  under 
stood  why  Abraham  was  praised  in  Genesis  for  his 
fear,  albeit  we  know  by  the  quality  of  piety  that  all 
things  were  made  from  love. 

XL. 

Whensoever  we  are  ignorant  of  the  quality 
whence  the  influx  comes  down  upon  the  petition 
which  we  put  up,  we  must  have  recourse  to  the 
House  of  Judgment.* 

XLL 

Every  good  soul  is  a  new  soul  coming  from  the 
Eastf 

XLII. 

Therefore  Joseph  was  buried  in  the  bones  only 
and  not  in  the  body,  because  his  bones  were  virtues 
and  the  hosts  of  the  supernal  tree,  called  Zadith, 
descending  on  the  supernal  earth. 

*  Literally,  Domum  Naris ;  and  hence  Levi's  abridgment  is 
Nasus  discernit  proprieties,  which  he  defends  from  the  "  Book  of 
Concealment." 

t  The  distinction  between  new  souls  and  old  is  developed  at  some 
length  by  Isaac  de  Loria.  Eliphas  Levi  overlooks  this  point  and  has 
recourse  to  a  sentimental  explanation.  He  takes  occasion  also  to  deny 
that  reincarnation  was  taught  by  the  best  Kabalists,  but  he  is  not  quite 
correct  as  to  his  facts. 


(Some  Christian  -Students  of  the  JtabaUh     343 
I 

XLIII. 

Therefore  also  Moses  knew  no  sepulchre,  being 
taken  up  into  the  supernal  jubilee  and  setting  his 
roots  ab-jve  the  jubilee. 

XLIV. 

When  the  soul  shall  comprehend  all  that  is 
within  its  comprehension,  and  shall  be  joined  with 
the  supernal  soul,  it  shall  put  off  from  itself  its 
earthly  garment  and  shall  be  rooted  out  from  its 
place  and  united  with  Divinity.* 

XLV. 

When  prophecy  by  the  spirit  ceased,  the  wise 
men  of  Israel  prophesied  by  the  Daughter  of  the 
Voice. 

XLVI. 

A  king  of  the  earth  is  not  manifested  on  the 
earth  until  the  heavenly  host  is  humbled  in  heaven.f 

XLYIl. 

By  the  word  "ath,"  which  twice  occurs  in  the 
text,  "  In  the  beginning  God  created  the  heaven  and 
the  earth,"  I  believe  that  Moses  signified  the  creation 
of  the  intellectual  and  animal  natures,  which  in  the 
natural  order  preceded  that  of  the  heaven  and  the 
earth. 

XLYIII. 

That  which  is  said  by  the  Kabalist,  namely,  that 
the  green  line  encircles  the  universe,  may  be  said  also 

*  Levi  ^ivcs  Aniina  plena  superior!  fonjnngiliir,  and  understands 
this  to  mean  that  a  complete  soul  i-,  united  with  a  superior  soul,  whereas 
the  reference  i^  undoubtedly  to  the  divine  soul. 

f  The  veiiioii  "t  l.-'-i  i  an  entirely  dilTei<  iit  aphorism,  namely, 
Post  deos  rex  Vi> .  >~  (errant. 


344   ^Itc  ^octniu  jwb  |Dtteratute  ot  the  jiabalah 

appropriately  at  the  final  conclusion  which  we  draw 
from  Porphyry.* 

XLIX. 
Amen  is  the  influence  of  numbers.f 

We  have  seen  that  a  rival  series  of  Kabalistic 
Conclusions  has  been  referred  to  Picus,  and  so  also 
the  number  of  the  above  series  is  occasionally 
extended  to  seventy.  The  collection  of  Pistorius 
contains  only  those  which  have  been  cited,  and  they 
are  possibly  intended  to  connect  with  the  Fifty  Gates 
of  Understanding,  less  the  one  gate  which  was  not 
entered  by  Moses.  To  develop  any  system  from 
these  aphorisms  would  appear  almost  impossible, 
and  this  difficulty  has  occurred  to  earlier  critics. 
Their  source  is  also  uncertain  like  their  meaning, 
despite  the  labours  of  their  commentator,  Archangelus 
de  Burgo-Nuovo,  who  was  himself  a  Christian 
Kabalist,  but  disputatious,  verbose,  and  with  pre 
determined  theological  motives. 


IV.    CORNELIUS  AGRIPPA 

The  untimely  death  of  Picus  de  Mirandola  took 
place  in  the  early  childhood  of  another  Christian 

*  According  to  Levi,  the  Kabalists  represent  Kether  as  a  green 
line  encompassing  all  the  other  Sephiroth.  I  do  not  know  his  authority, 
but  Azariel,  in  his  commentary  on  the  Sepher  Yetzirah,  says,  as  we  have 
seen,  that  it  is  the  colour  of  light  seen  through  a  mist.  I  assume  that 
this  is  not  green,  though  Zoharic  observations  on  the  rainbow  seem  to 
indicate  that  some  Kabalists  at  least  were  colour-blind.  It  should  be 
noted  that  Norrelius  in  his  Phosphorus  Orthodox*?  Fidei,  4,  Amsterdam 
1720,  translating  from  an  elegy  on  R.  Simeon  ben  Jochai,  given  in  the 
Sepher  Imre  Binah,  explains  that  the  linea  viridis  is  the  new  moon. 

t  An  affirmation  of  the  mind,  an  adhesion  of  the  heart,  a  kind  of 
mental  signature,  says  Levi. 


Christian  .-Students  of  the  Jiabahih     345 

Kabalist,  Cornelius  Agrippa  of  Nettersheim,  born  at 
Cologne  in  1486.  It  is  to  him  that  we  owe  the  first 
methodical  description  of  the  whole  Kabalistic 
system,  considered  under  the  three  heads  of  Natural 
Philosophy,  Mathematical  Philosophy  and  Theology. 
Agrippa  is  therefore  of  very  great  importance  to  our 
inquiry,  and  his  three  books,  entitled  De  Occulla 
Philosophia,  are  the  starting-point  of  Kabalistic 
knowledge  among  the  Latin-reading  scholars  of 
Europe.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  his  treatise 
enjoyed  immense  repute  and  authority.  We  must 
remember,  however,  that  it  is  professedly  a  magical 
work,  by  which  I  do  not  mean  that  it  is  a  ritual 
for  the  evocation  of  spirits,  but  it  unfolds  the  philo 
sophical  principles  upon  which  all  forms  of  magic 
were  supposed  to  proceed,  and  this  is  so  true  that 
the  forged  "  Fourth  Book,"  which  was  added  to  it 
soon  after  the  death  of  Agrippa,  and  does  provide  a 
species  of  magical  ritual,  is  so  much  in  consonance 
with  the  genuine  work  that  it  might  well  have  been 
by  the  same  hand.  We  must  therefore  expect  that 
the  magical  side  of  Kabalism,  that  which  deals  with 
the  properties  and  the  virtues  of  Divine  Names  and 
so  forth,  is  much  more  fully  developed  than  the 
cosmology  of  the  Sepher  Yetzirah  or  the  Divine 
Mysteries  of  the  Zohar.  We  have  also  to  remember 
that,  although  Agrippa  was  the  first  writer  who 
elucidated  the  Kabalistic  system,  he  was  far  muiv 
learned  in  the  occult  philosophy  of  Greece  and 
Rome  than  in  that  of  the  later  Hebrews.  He  was 
sufficiently  acquainted  with  Hebrew  to  be  able  to 
understand  and  expound  the  mysteries  of  the  Divine 
Names  and  the  Notancon  connected  therewith.  Of 


346  ^he  Jtortnne  anb  literature  of  the  Jiabalah 

the  literature  itself  he  gives  no  information  from 
which  we  could  infer  his  knowledge  ;  he  does  not 
mention  the  Sepher  Yetzirah  or  the  Zohar,  both  of 
which  were  then  only  accessible  in  manuscript,  and  I 
am  inclined  to  think  that  his  acquaintance  with 
Kabalistic  subjects  was  formed  chiefly  through  the 
Conclusiones  Cabalisticce  of  Mirandola,  which,  as  we 
have  seen,  appeared  at  Rome  in  the  year  of  Agrippa's 
birth.  It  should  be  added  also  that  there  are  serious 
errors  in  his  division  of  the  Hebrew  alphabet  which 
would  not  have  been  made  by  one  who  was 
acquainted  with  any  authoritative  source  of  know 
ledge,  as,  for  example,  the  "  Book  of  Formation,"  and 
mistakes  without  number  in  his  lettering  of  the 
Divine  Names  ;  but  the  latter  point  cannot  be  justly 
pressed,  as  the  faults  may  have  rested  with  the 
printer. 

It  is  noticeable  in  this  connection  that  the 
doctrine  of  the  occult  virtues  residing  in  words  and 
names  is  expounded  from  the  authority  of  the 
Platonists.*  It  is  only  in  the  scales  of  the  twelve 
numbers,  dealt  with  somewhat  minutely  in  the  second 
book,  that  the  Kabalistic  system  is  developed,  but 
this  has  remained  the  chief  source  of  information 
among  occult  students  up  to  this  day.f  The  most 
important  information  is,  however,  in  the  third  book, 
devoted  to  theology  and  the  doctrines,  mainly 
Kabalistic,  concerning  angels,  demons  and  the  souls 
of  men,  but  creating  correspondences  with  classical 

*  It  should  be  noted,  however,  that  he  preceded  the  chief 
Hellenising  schools  of  later  Kabalism. 

t  On  the  general  question  of  Agrippa's  connection  with  Kabalism, 
see  Frederich  Earth  :  ''Die  Cabbala  des  Heinrich  Cornelius  Agrippa 
von  Nettersheim,"  Stuttgard,  1855. 


.Some  Christian  <Stufocnt8  of  the  Jlab.ilah     347 

mythology  wherever  possible.  Thus,  Ain  SopJi  is 
identified  with  the  Night  of  Orpheus  and  the 
Kabalistic  Samael  with  Typhon.  The  ten  Sephiroth 
are  described  as  the  vestments,  instruments,  or 
exemplars  of  the  Archetype,  having  an  influence  on 
all  created  things  through  high  to  low,  following  a 
defined  order. 

It  would  serve  no  purpose  to  repeat  all  the 
points  of  the  instruction,  because  much  of  it  has 
been  already  given,  while  the  tables  of  commutations 
showing  the  extraction  of  angelical  names  would 
require  elaborate  diagrams.  My  object  is  to  note 
rather  than  illustrate  exhaustively  the  character  of 
Agrippa's  exposition,  which  is  concerned  largely  with 
the  so-called  practical  Kabalah,  and  very  slightly 
with  the  more  important  philosophical  literature.  It 
brought  him  no  satisfaction,  and  before  his  troubled 
life  drew  to  its  disastrous  close  he  recorded  his 
opinion  that  the  Kabalistic  art,  which  he  had 
"  diligently  and  laboriously  sought  after,"  was  merely 
a  "  rhapsody  of  superstition,"  that  its  mysteries  were 
"  wrested  from  the  Holy  Scriptures,"  a  play  with 
allegory  proving  nothing.  As  to  the  alleged  miracles 
wrought  by  its  practical  operations,  he  supposes  that 
there  is  no  one  so  foolish  as  to  believe  it  has  any  such 
powers.  In  a  word,  "the  Kabalah  of  the  Jews  is 
nothing  but  a  pernicious  superstition  by  which  at 
their  pleasure  they  gather,  divide  and  transfer  words, 
names  and  letters  in  Scripture  ;  and  by  making  one 
thing  out  of  another  dissolve  the  connections  of  the 
truth."  What  was  done  by  the  Jews  for  the  literature 
of  the  Ancient  Covenant  was  performed,  he  goes  on 
to  say,  for  the  Greek  documents  of  Christianity  by 


348    &he  5}0r*rine  an^  3Pitct*ttM«  ot  the 

the  Ophites,  Gnostics,  and  Valentinians,  who  produced 
a  Greek  Kabalah,  as  Rabanus,  the  monk,  later  on 
attempted  with  the  Latin  characters. 

I  do  not  know  that  a  modern  writer  could  have 
put  the  position  more  clearly.  I  do  not  think  that 
any  one  at  the  present  day  can  regard  transpositions 
and  extractions  seriously,  but  the  question  is  whether 
these  things  were  not  after  all  a  subterfuge,  or  if  not 
exactly  a  subterfuge,  a  corruption  of  an  older  system. 
Agrippa  adds  another  argument  which  also,  from  its 
own  standpoint,  could  not  be  better  expressed  :  '*  If 
Kabalistic  art  proceed  from  God,  as  the  Jews  boast, 
and  if  it  conduce  to  the  perfection  of  life,  the  health 
of  men  and  the  worship  of  God,  as  also  to  the  truth 
of  understanding,  surely  that  Spirit  of  Truth  which 
has  left  their  synagogue  and  has  come  to  teach  us  all 
truth,  would  not  have  concealed  it  from  His  Church 
even  until  these  last  times,  and  this  the  more  seeing 
that  the  Church  knows  all  things  which  are  of  God, 
while  His  mysteries  of  salvation  are  revealed  in  every 
tongue,  for  every  tongue  has  the  same  power,  if  there 
be  the  same  equal  piety ;  neither  is  there  any  name, 
in  heaven  or  on  earth,  by  which  we  can  be  saved, 
whereby  we  can  work  miracles,  but  the  one  name 
Jesus,  wherein  all  things  are  recapitulated  and 
contained." 

Of  course,  in  the  last  analysis  this  argument 
proves  too  much.  There  is  either  a  peculiar  virtue 
in  Divine  Names  or  there  is  not.  If  there  be,  the 
Christian  cannot  well  deny  it  to  Jehovah  ;  and  if 
there  be  not,  the  doctrine  of  the  Great  Name  in 
Christianity  is  a  sublety  no  less  idle  than  the  Tetra- 
grammaton  or  the  Schemahamphorash.  We  know, 


<§0me  Christian  <g»tubent0  of  the  gabalah     349 

however,  that,  in  so  far  as  names  represent  ideas,  they 
are  moving  powers  of  the  intellectual  world  ;  when 
they  are  used  without  inspiration  and  without  know 
ledge  they  are  dead  and  inert,  like  other  empty 
vehicles.  The  Kabalistic  Jews  believed  that  they 
could  dissect  the  name  without  losing  the  vital  essence 
which  informs  it,  and  they  erred  therein.  The  name 
of  Jesus  spells  grace  and  salvation  to  millions,  but  it 
spells  nothing  when  lettered  separately  and  nothing 
when  it  is  transposed.  To  say  otherwise  is  to  rave. 


V.    PARACELSUS 

Among  the  great  names  of  occultism  which  are 
cited  in  support  of  the  influence  exerted  by  the 
Kabalah  and  the  authority  which  it  possessed,  that 
of  Paracelsus  is  mentioned.  We  are  given  to  under 
stand,  for  example,  by  Isaac  Myer,  that  it  is  to  be 
traced  distinctly  in  the  system  of  the  great  German 
adept.*  Statements  like  these  are  themselves  a  kind 
of  Kabalah,  which  are  received  by  one  writer  from 
another  without  any  inquiry  or  any  attempt  at 
verification.  In  this  way  we  obtain  lists  of  authori 
ties,  references  and  testimonials  which  seem  at  first 
sight  to  carry  great  weight,  but  they  will  bear  no 
examination  and  defeat  their  own  purpose  when 
they  come  into  the  hands  of  a  student  who  has 
sufficient  patience  to  investigate  them.  In  the 
present  instance  we  have  to  remember  that  Para 
celsus  occupies  an  exceptional  position  among  occult 

*  "  Philosophy  of  Ibn  Gebirol,"  p.  171. 


350  TUhe  Jlcrttine  anb  |Citerat;ue  of  the  Jiatmlah; 

philosophers  ;  he  was  not  a  man  who  respected  or 
quoted  authorities  ;  he  owed  very  little  to  tradition, 
very  little  to  what  is  understood  commonly  by 
erudition.*  If  we  take  his  alchemical  treatises  and 
compare  them  with  Hermetic  literature,  we  shall 
find  that  they  are  quite  unlike  it,  and  that  he  was, 
in  fact,  his  own  alchemist.  When  he  concerns 
himself  with  magic,  he  has  few  correspondences 
which  will  enable  him  to  be  illustrated  by  other 
writers  on  this  subject  :  again,  he  was  his  own 
magician.  And  to  come  to  the  question  of  the 
Kabalah,  if  we  discover,  on  examination,  that  he 
has  anything  to  say  concerning  it,  we  should  expect 
that  it  would  be  quite  unlike  anything  that  went 
before  him,  and  quite  foreign  to  the  known  lines 
of  Kabalism.  Once  more,  we  should  find  that  he 
would  prove  to  be  his  own  Kabalist.  In  every 
department  of  thought  he  illustrated  his  own  maxim  : 
Alterius  non  sit  qui  suus  esse  potest.  It  must  be 
added  also  that  any  contributions  which  he  offers 
are  seldom  helpful.  They  do  nothing  to  elucidate 
what  is  obscure  in  previous  authorities,  and  they 
constitute  new  departures  which  are  themselves  much 
in  need  of  explanation. 

Nearly  two  centuries  elapsed  between  the  death 
of  Moses  de  Leon,  the  "first  publisher  of  the  Zohar, 
and  the  birth  of  Theophrastus  of  Hohenheim,  and 
though  no  attempt  to  print  it  took  place  till  some 
forty  years  after  his  turbulent  life  closed  so  sadly 
at  Strasburg,  or  wherever  it  actually  occurred,  there 


*  He  is  said,  indeed,  to  have  boasted  that  his  library  would  not 
amount  to  six  folio  volumes. — Gould's  "  History  of  Freemasonry,"  vol. 
ii.  p.  77. 


<Somc  (Christian  <StubenU  ot  the  $abalah     351 

can  be  no  doubt  that  it  was  quite  accessible  in 
manuscript,  or  that  Paracelsus,  had  he  chosen,  could 
have  made  himself  acquainted  with  its  contents. 
It  seems  fairly  certain,  however,  that  he  never 
acquired  the  language  from  which  it  had  not  been 
translated,  and  that  his  knowledge  of  the  Kabalah 
would  in  any  case  be  limited  to  what  he  could  gather 
from  authors  who  wrote  in  Latin  or  some  current 
tongue  ;  but  his  own  works  show  that  he  was  at 
very  little  pains  of  this  kind.  As  to  this,  it  is  only 
necessary  to  collect  the  few  references  on  the  subject 
which  they  contain. 

The  study  of  Magic  and  the  Kabalah  is  enjoined 
several  times  on  the  physician,  and  old  medical 
authorities  are  scouted  on  the  ground  that  they 
were  unacquainted  with  either.*  The  "Cabala"  is 
in  one  place  identified  with  Magical  Astronomy,f 
which,  I  presume,  refers  to  the  Paraselsic  theory 
concerning  the  stars  in  man  and  the  stars  of 
disease,  and  connects  with  the  contextual  state 
ment  that  all  operations  of  the  stars  in  all  animals 
centre  at  the  heart.  It  is  identified  also  with 
Magic  itself,  of  which  it  forms  a  part*  But  from 
indications  given  in  another  place,  Kabalistic  Magic 
seems  to  have  signified  some  obscure  operations  with 
the  faculties  of  the  astral  body.§  Subsequent]}-  this 
point  is  exposed  more  plainly,  when  the  Kabalistic 
art  is  said  to  have  been  built  up  on  the  basis  of  the 


*  DC  Can  sis  e  (  Online  I.nis  (iallitiS,  Lil>.  iv.  c.  9,  Opera  Ontniat 
(.cncva,    1658,  vol.   iii.  p.  193,*.     Also  De  Peste,   Lil>.    ii.,  //-. 
ibid.,  vol.  i.  p.  408. 

t  De  Pestilitate,  Tract,  i.,  i/>.,  t7>.,  p.  371,  l> 

£  DC  Pestt,  Lib.  i.,  //;.,  //>.,  p.  405,  b. 

§  D(  Vita  Longa,  Lib.  i.  c.  6,  /'/>.,  vol.  ii.  p.  56,  /'. 


352  ^he  Jto.ctriitt  anb  JJiterature  ot  the  Jfobnlah 

doctrines  concerning  the  sacramental  body,  which 
appears  after  the  death  of  the  corruptible,  and 
explains  spectres,  visions,  apparitions  of  a  super 
natural  character,  &c.*  The  art  of  judging  what  is 
concealed  by  certain  outward  signs — in  a  word,  the 
theory  of  signatures — is  said  to  be  the  Kabalistic  art, 
"  once  called  '  caballa,'  afterwards  '  caballia' "  It  has 
also  been  falsely  termed  Galamala,  from  its  author, 
and  is  of  Ethnic  origin,  having  been  transmitted  to 
the  Chaldaeans  and  the  Jews,  by  whom  it  was 
corrupted,  "  for  the  Jews  were  exceedingly  ignorant 
in  all  ages."f  Finally,  the  use  of  certain  prayers  and 
signacula — i.e.,  talismans,  in  the  cure  of  diseases  is 
connected  with  the  Kabalah.J 

These  meagre  instances  exhaust  the  three  folio 
volumes  which  constitute  the  Geneva  collection  of  the 
works  of  Paracelsus.  I  should  add,  however,  that 
there  is  a  short  section  entitled  "  Caballa,"  which 
forms  part  of  a  treatise  on  the  plague,  but  it  is 
concerned  with  the  official  elements  of  early  science 
and  with  the  alchemical  elements,  Salt,  Sulphur  and 
Mercury.  There  is  also  a  reference  in  one  place  to 
some  "  books  of  the  Caballa,"  apparently  the  work  of 
Paracelsus  and  in  this  case  no  longer  extant.  By  the 
student  of  Paracelsus  that  loss  may  be  regretted,  but 
it  is  not  of  moment  so  far  as  the  Kabalah  is 
concerned,  for  it  is  evident  that  this  term,  like  many 
others,  was  made  use  of  in  a  sense  which  either  differs 
widely  from  its  wonted  meaning,  or  is  the  lowest  form 


*  Dt,  Natura  Rertini,  Lib.  viii.,  ib.,  ib.>  p.  101,  b. 
f  Philosophia  Sagax,  Lib.  i.,  ib.,  vol.  ii.  p.  565,  b. 
%  De   Vidneribus,  Lib.   v.   in  Chirurgia  Magna,  Pars,  iii.,  zA, 
vol.  iii.,  p.  91  b. 


<Some  Christian  §tnbent0  ol  the  giabalah     353 

of  that  meaning.  The  Kabalah  for  Paracelsus,  when 
it  is  not  something  quite  fantastic  and  unimaginable, 
is  a  species  of  practical  magic,  and  here  we  shall  do 
well  to  remember  that  the  adept  of  Hohenheim 
flourished  at  a  period  when,  as  we  have  seen,  the 
spurious  literature  of  clavicles  and  grimoires  was  fast 
multiplying. 

It  is  very  difficult  to  judge  Paracelsus,  and  many 
false  statements  have  been  made  concerning  him  by 
friends  and  enemies.  But  it  is  well  to  know  that  he 
was  not  a  student  of  the  Kabalah  in  any  sense  that 
we  should  care  to  associate  therewith. 


VI.     JOHN    REUCHLIN 

As  these  sketches  are  not  constructed  biogra- 
phically,  there  will  be  no  difficulty  in  regarding  the 
subject  of  the  present  notice  as  the  representative  of 
a  group,  which  group  illustrates  most  effectively  the 
standpoint  and  purpose  of  our  inquiry  as  regards  the 
Christian  students  of  the  Kabalah.  The  missionary 
enthusiasm  which  may  be  said  to  have  begun  with 
Mirandola,  which,  if  Lully  had  been  a  Kabalist,  would 
have  been  already  at  fever  heat  in  the  doctor  illumi- 
ncitus  of  Majorca,  which  ceased  only  in  the  earl)-  part 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  assumed  almost  the  aspect 
of  a  movement  between  the  period  of  Rcuchlin  and 
that  of  Rosenroth.  It  was  not  a  concerted  movement ; 
it  was  not  the  activity  of  a  secret  society  or  a  learned 
body  ;  it  was  not  actuated  by  any  occult  interests, 
and  perhaps  still  less  by  those  of  an  academic  kind. 
The  shape  which  it  assumed  in  its  literature  was 

z 


354  ^he  Iptfrtrhu  anfc  HJiteratee  of  the 

that  of  a  deliberate  and  successive  attempt  to  read 
Christian  dogma  into  the  written  word  of  Kabalism. 
It  does  not  appear  so  strenuously  in  the  work  of 
Rosenroth  as  it  does  in  the  collection  of  Pistorius,* 
because  in  the  days  of  the  Kabbala  Denudata  there 
was,  perhaps,  more  reason  to  hinder  such  intellectual 
excesses.  Nor  is  it  so  strong  in  the  writings  of 
Reuchlin  as  in  those  of  Archangelus  de  Burgo 
Nuovo.  It  is  impossible  to  survey  the  vast  treatises, 
extending  in  some  cases  to  hundreds  of  folio  pages, 
by  which  the  enthusiasm  is  represented,  and  it  is 
fortunately  not  necessary.  We  have  only  to  establish 
their  proper  connection  with  Kabalism  and  to  show 
that  it  has  been  so  far  misconceived  by  occultists. 

We  are  justified  in  regarding  Eliphas  Levi  as 
to  some  extent  the  mouthpiece  of  modern  occult 
thought ;  it  is  to  him  more  than  to  any  one  that 
such  thought  owes  its  impulse  towards  the  Jewish 
tradition  as  to  the  absolute  of  philosophy  and 
religion,  "  the  alliance  of  the  universal  reason  and  the 
Divine  Word."f  It  was  he  first  who  told  us  that 
"  all  truly  dogmatic  religions  have  issued  from  the 
Kabalah  and  return  therein,"  that  it  has  "  the  keys 
of  the  past,  the  present  and  the  future." \  In  order 
to  receive  initiation  into  this  great  tradition  he  has 
counselled  us,  among  other  books,  to  have  recourse 
to  the  "Hebrew  writers  in  the  collection  of  Pistorius."§ 

*  Artis  Cabalistica,  hoc  est,  recondita;  theologia:  et  philosophies 
Scriptorum,  Tomus  I.,  Basiliae,  1587. 

f  Dogme,  de  la  Haute  Magic,  p.  95,  2me  edition,  Paris,  1861  ; 
"Transcendental  Magic,"  p.  20;  "Mysteries  of  Magic,"  second 
edition,  p.  502.  J  Ibid. 

§  Ibid.  Students  who  know  the  collection  of  Pistorius  will  be 
aware  that  a  lars;e  part  of  it  is  Christian  in  authorship,  and  that,  with 
the  exception  of  the  Porta  Lucis,  none  of  its  treatises  were  written 
originally  in  Hebrew. 


§on\t  (Christian  gtnbents  of  the  Jiabalah     355 

Following  this  direction,  occultists  have  been  taught 
to  regard  the  famous  Basle  folio  as  a  storehouse  of 
genuine  Jewish  tradition.  No  impression  could  well 
be  more  erroneous.  The  works  engarnered  by 
Pistorius  are  neither  the  Jewish  tradition  nor 
commentary  of  authority  thereon.  If  is  well  also  to 
add  that  they  are  not  the  work  of  occultists  or 
of  persons  who  believed  that  "  Catholic  doctrine," 
or  Lutheran,  is  "  wholly  derived  "  from  the  Kabalah. 
The  writers  are  of  three  types  :  I.  The  Jew  who  had 
abjured  Israel  and  directed  his  polemics  against  it. 
He  is  represented  by  Riccius,  and  his  presence  is 
fatal  to  Levi's  standpoint.  LeVi  recommended  the 
Christian  to  become  a  Kabalist ;  Riccius  thought  it 
logical  for  the  Kabalist  to  turn  Christian.*  II.  The 
born  Christian,  who  believed  that  the  Jew  was  in  the 
wrong  for  continuing  in  Judaism  when  the  Kabalah 
taught  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  the  Divine  Word 
and  so  forth.  He  also  is  in  opposition  to  LeVi,  who 
thought  the  Jew  was  in  the  right  because  the  germ 
of  all  dogmas  could  be  found  in  the  traditions  of 
Israel.  This  type  is  represented  by  Reuchlin,f  who 
is  learned,  laborious  and  moderate,  but  also  by 
Archangelus  de  Burgo  Nuovo,  who  does  frequent 
outrage  to  good  sense,  and  seems  to  regard  the 
Kabalah  as  a  note-book  to  the  New  Testament. 
Reuchlin  toyed  with  Lutheranism  ;  Archangelus  was 

After  his  conversion  this  German  repaired  to  Padua,  where  he 
taught  philosophy  with  great  credit.  He  was  invited  hack  to  Germany 
by  the  Emperor  Maximilian.  He  belongs  to  the  sixteenth  century. 
His  chief  work  treats  of  "  Celestial  Agriculture." 

ful  politician,  diplomatist  and  man  of  the  world. 
He  also  belongs  to  the  .ixteenth  century.  Some  account  of  his  life 
will  be  found  in  Basnage,  t.  v.  pp.  2059  et  seq. 


356  ^Iht  Jtoctrint  an!b  $ittrature  of  the  gabalah 

a  Catholic  prelate.  III.  The  purely  natural  mystic' 
who  might  be  either  Jew  or  Gentile,  who  has  no 
Kabalistic  connections  worth  reciting,  and  to  whom 
Christianity  does  not  seem  even  a  name.  He  is 
represented  by  a  writer  who,  as  a  fact,  was  born  a 
Jew  and  seems  to  have  been  included  by  Pistorius 
because  of  his  supposed  conversion.  I  refer  to 
Abravanel,  whose  "  Philosophy  of  Love  "  is  the  subject 
of  special  mention  by  Eliphas  Levi  as  if  it  were  a 
text-book  of  Kabalism.  The  "  Dialogues  "  have  been 
already  dealt  with,  and  here  it  is  enough  to  say  that 
their  citation  annihilates  Levi,  because  a  student  of 
the  Kabalah  might  as  well  be  referred  to  the  "  Art " 
of  Ovid. 

As  regards  Pistorius  himself,  the  only  point  at 
which  he  makes  contact  with  occultism  is  in  the 
fact  that  his  enterprise  was  undertaken,  among  other 
reasons,  as  a  counterblast  to  the  superstitions  which 
the  Kabalah  had  promoted  in  Christendom  ;  a 
reference,  we  may  presume,  to  the  unfortunate 
budget  of  Agrippa  and  to  the  increasing  grimoire 
literature.  The  Kabalistic  studies  of  the  editor 
began  in  his  boyhood,  but,  so  far  from  leading 
him  to  the  boasted  certitude  of  Levi,  he  passed 
under  their  escort  into  Protestantism,  and  there 
was  conferred  upon  him  the  august  distinction  of 
figuring  as  one  of  the  deputies  charged  to  present 
the  Lutheran  Confession  of  Faith  to  the  Diet  of 
Augsbourg.  Having  registered  the  fact  itself  as 
an  illustration  of  the  quality  of  his  progress  towards 
the  Absolute,  it  is  of  course  permissible  to  regard 
his  sympathies  with  the  attempted  purgation  of  the 
Church  in  a  spirit  of  clemency,  perhaps  even  of 


§omt  <£hr:0ttan  ghtbents  of  the  glabalah     357 

interest,  or  to  confess,  at  least,  that  they  were 
excusable  on  the  ground  of  natural  infirmity,  seeing 
that  he  was  for  long  subjected  to  persecution,  fostered 
by  a  monkish  inquisitor,  because  he  had  saved  the 
books  of  Jewry  from  confiscation  and  burning 
throughout  all  Germany.  In  place  of  them,  as 
opportunity  afforded,  they  burnt  De  Verbo  Mirifico 
and  De  Arte  Cabbalistica,  the  contributions  of 
Reuchlin  to  the  right  understanding  of  the  secret 
tradition  in  Israel.  The  treatises  remain  all  the 
same  as  witnesses  of  the  standpoint  of  Christian 
students  in  the  sixteenth  century,  and  they  help  to 
warrant  us  in  affirming  that  the  chief  Latin  collection 
of  Kabalistic  writers,  outside  the  Kabbala  Denudata, 
contains  no  evidence  in  support  of  the  occult 
hypothesis. 

I  must  by  no  means  leave  this  brief  and  con 
fessedly  inadequate  notice  of  Reuchlin  and  his 
connections  without  a  word  of  reference  to  his 
learned  pupil,  J.  A.  Widmanstadt,  whose  collection 
of  Hebrew  manuscripts,  for  the  most  part  Kabalistic, 
is  one  of  the  great  treasures  of  the  Library  of 
Munich.  In  the  course  of  his  life-long  studies  he 
gave  special  attention  to  the  Zohar  and  to  the 
theurgic  side  of  the  Jewish  tradition. 


VII.     WILLIAM   POSTEL 

A  philosophical,  or  rather  an  occult,  legend  has 
gathered  in  an  unaccountable  manner  round  the 
name  of  William  Postel,  and  it  is  supplemented  by  a 
popular  legend  which  has  depicted  this  peaceable, 


358    ^Ehe  ^ocinnt  anfc  |pt*ratttre  of  the 

though  perhaps  somewhat  puerile,  monk  in  a  vestment 
of  thaumaturgic  splendour.  The  philosophical  legend 
we  owe  almost  exclusively  to  Eliphas  Le"vi,  and  to  a 
few  later  writers  in  France  who  have  accepted  his 
leading,  and,  with  him,  appear  to  be  impressed 
honestly  by  Postel's  well-intended  but  too  often  inane 
writings,  among  which  is  included  the  "  Key  of 
Things  Kept  Secret  from  the  Foundation  of  the 
World."  Postel  was  the  son  of  a  poor  Normandy 
peasant ;  by  his  perseverance  and  self-denial  he 
contrived  to  obtain  an  education,  and  became,  on  the 
authority  of  his  chief  admirer,  the  most  learned  man 
of  his  time.  "  Ever  full  of  resignation  and  sweetness, 
he  worked  like  a  labouring  man  to  ensure  himself  a 
crust  of  bread,  and  then  returned  to  his  studies. 
Poverty  accompanied  him  always,  and  want  at  times 
compelled  him  to  part  with  his  books  ;  but  he 
acquired  all  the  known  languages  and  all  the  sciences 
of  his  day  ;  he  discovered  rare  and  valuable  manu 
scripts,  among  others  the  apocryphal  Gospels  and  the 
Sepher  Yetzirah  ;  he  initiated  himself  into  the 
mysteries  of  the  transcendent  Kabalah,  and  his  frank 
admiration  for  this  absolute  truth,  for  this  supreme 
reason  of  all  philosophies  and  all  dogmas,  tempted 
him  to  make  it  known  to  the  world."* 

So  far  Eliphas  Levi,  whose  undeniable  influence 
upon  all  modern  occultism  has  done  more  than 
anything  to  exaggerate  the  true  philosophical 
position  of  the  Jewish  secret  literature.  The 
redeeming  point  of  Postel  is  his  exalted  piety,  by 
which  he  is  connected  with  the  mystics  ;  the  points 

*  Histoire  de  la  Magic.     Paris,  1860,  liv.  v.  c.  4,  p.  347. 


<§ome  (Christian  <Stubent0  of  the  Jhibalah     359 

to  be  regretted  are  his  extravagance,  his  trans 
cendental  devotion  to  a  religious  and  homely  nun  of 
mature  years,  and  his  belief  that  he  underwent  a 
process  of  physical  regeneration  by  the  infusion  of  her 
spiritual  substance  two  years  after  her  death.*  To 
the  Council  of  Trent,  convened  for  the  condemnation 
of  the  heresies  connected  with  the  Reformation,  he 
addressed  a  benevolent  but  unpractical  epistle, 
inviting  it  to  bless  the  whole  world,  which  seems 
outside  the  purpose  of  a  deliberative  assembly 
considering  doctrinal  questions.  The  result  of  these 
errors  of  enthusiasm  was  that  Postel  was  shut  up  in 
some  convent,  a  course  dictated  possibly  as  much  by 
a  feeling  of  consideration,  and  even  of  mercy,  towards 
a  learned  man  unfitted  for  contact  with  the  world,  as 
by  the  sentiment  of  intolerance.  The  seclusion,  in 
any  case,  offered  him  the  kind  of  advantages  that  he 
most  needed,  and  he  died  in  peace,  having  retracted, 
it  is  said,  everything  that  was  disapproved  by  his 
superiors. 

As  already  seen,  Postel  connects  with  Kabalism 
by  the  great  fact  that  he  discovered  and  made  known 
in  the  West  that  celebrated  "Book  of  Formation" 
which  contains  some  of  its  fundamental  doctrine.f 
He  also  expounded  its  principles  in  a  species  of 
commentary  to  which  I  shall  recur  shortly.  J  His 

*  Ibid.,  p.  250. 

t  "  Post  el  was  the  first,  to  my  knowledge,  wli"  translated  into 
Latin  the  most  ancient  and,  it  must  be  confessed,  the  most  obscure, 
monument  of  the  Kabalah  ;  I  refer  to  the  '  Book  of  Creation.'  "—A. 
V.  Franck,  La  Kabbalc,  p.  16.  He  adds  :  "  So  far  as  I  am  in  a 
position  to  judge  of  this  translation,  which  at  least  equals  the  text  in 
obscurity,  it  appears  faithful  in  a  general  way." 

£  Tradition  also  refers  to  him  \\  Latin  translation  of  the  Zohar, 
or  which  Franck  sought  vainly  in  the  public  libraries  of  Paris.  About 


360   ^he  Jlocttine  aub  Jpterature  0f  the  Jpabalah 

own  doctrine  has  also  some  points  of  contact  with 
Zoharistic  tradition,  though  its  summary  by  Eliphas 
Levi  is  loose  and  inexact,  like  all  literary  and 
historical  studies  undertaken  by  this  modern  adept. 

"  The  Trinity,"  his  interpretation  begins,  "  made 
man  in  Its  image  and  after  Its  likeness.  The  human 
body  is  dual,  and  its  triadic  unity  is  constituted  by 
the  union  of  its  two  halves  ;  it  is  animus  and  anima  ; 
it  is  mind  and  tenderness  ;  so  also  it  has  two  sexes 
— the  masculine  situated  in  the  head,  and  the 
feminine  in  the  heart.  The  fulfilment  of  redemption 
must  therefore  be  dual  in  humanity ;  mind  by  its 
purity  must  rectify  the  errors  of  the  heart,  and  the 
heart  by  its  generosity  must  correct  the  egoistic 
barrenness  of  the  head.  Christianity  has  been  here 
tofore  comprehended  only  by  the  reasoning  heads  ; 
it  has  not  penetrated  the  hearts.  The  Word  has 
indeed  become  man,  but  not  till  the  Word  has 
become  woman  will  the  world  be  saved.  The 
maternal  genius  of  religion  must  instruct  men  in 
the  sublime  grandeurs  of  the  spirit  of  charity  ;  then 
will  reason  be  conciliated  with  faith,  because  it  will 
understand,  explain  and  govern  the  sacred  excesses 
of  devotion."* 

The  particular  excess  of  Postel  was  that  he 
recognised  the  incarnation  of  this  maternal  spirit 
in  the  person  of  the  pious  nun  before  mentioned. 

1890,  M.  le  Baron  Vitta,  of  Lyons,  is  said  to  have  purchased  a  MS. 
copy  of  a  Latin  version  for  25,000  francs.  Stanislas  de  Guaita,  who 
mentions  the  circumstance,  suggests  that  it  may  be  the  missing  work  of 
Postel.  The  French  Biographic  Universelle  also  ascribes  a  Latin 
version  to  Gui  de  Viterbi  (s.  v.  Simeon  b.  Jochai),  but  does  not 
indicate  the  whereabouts  of  the  MS. 

*  Hist,  de  la  Magic,  liv.  v.  c.  4,  p.  348. 


<§ome  <£hri0tian  §twbent0  of  the  ^abalah     361 

Eliphas  Levi,  who  took  no  illuminations  and  no 
enthusiasms  seriously,  terms  this  spiritual  ardour 
a  lyrical  puerility  and  a  celestial  hallucination,  but 
there  is  no  lyrical  element  in  the  Latin  of  Postellus, 
and,  whatever  the  source  of  the  hallucination, 
the  lady  died  making  no  sign.  Into  the  ques 
tion  of  their  subsequent  reunion  after  a  manner 
which  recalls  the  status  embryonnatus  of  Kabal- 
istic  Pneumatics,  it  would  be  imprudent  here  to 
enter.  From  the  period  of  its  occurrence  the  mystic 
always  termed  himself  Postellus  Res  ft  tutus ;  it  is 
reported  that  his  white  hair  became  again  black, 
the  furrows  disappeared  from  his  brow,  and  his 
cheeks  reassumed  the  hues  of  youth.  Derisive 
biographers  explain  these  marvels  as  derisive  bio 
graphers  might  be  expected,  as  if,  Levi  well  observes, 
"it  being  insufficient  to  represent  him  as  a  fool,  it  was 
necessary  also  to  exhibit  this  man,  of  a  nature  so 
noble  and  so  generous,  in  the  light  of  a  juggler  and 
charlatan.  There  is  one  thing  more  astounding  than 
the  eloquent  unreason  of  enthusiastic  hearts,  and  that 
is  the  stupidity  or  bad  faith  of  the  frigid  and  sceptical 
minds  which  presume  to  judge  them."* 

A  less  unsympathetic  historian  than  those  con 
founded  by  Levi  reduces  the  doctrines  of  Postel 
under  two  heads,  (i)  "That  the  evangelical  reign  of 
Jesus  Christ,  established  by  the  apostles,  could  not, 
be  sustained  among  Christians  or  propagated  among 
infidels  except  by  the  lights  of  reason,"  which  appears 
wholly  plausible.  (2)  That  a  future  King  of  France 
was  destined  to  universal  monarchy,  and  "  that  his 


Ibid. 


362  ^he  gtoftritte  anb  |£tttr*ittrt  rrf  the  JUtbalah 

way  must  be  prepared  by  the  conquest  of  hearts  and 
the  convincing  of  minds,  so  that  thenceforth  the 
world  shall  hold  but  one  belief  and  Jesus  Christ 
shall  reign  there  by  one  King,  one  law  and  one 
faith."  Given  universal  monarchy  as  a  possibility 
of  the  future,  no  Frenchman  who  is  true  to  his 
traditions  would  conceivably  assign  it  otherwise  than 
to  a  King  of  France.  However,  one  or  both  of  these 
propositions  led  the  biographer  in  question  to  infer 
that  Postel  was  mad,  and  I  cite  this  conclusion  less  on 
account  of  its  essential  merit  than  because  it  afforded 
LeVi  the  opportunity  for  a  rejoinder  of  characteristic 
suggestiveness.  "  Mad,  for  having  dreamed  that 
religion  should  govern  minds  by  the  supreme  reason 
of  its  doctrine,  and  that  the  monarchy,  to  be  strong 
and  lasting,  must  bind  hearts  by  the  conquests  of  the 
public  prosperity  of  peace  !  Mad,  for  having  believed 
in  the  advent  of  His  Kingdom, 'to  whom  we  daily  cry, 
Thy  Kingdom  come  !  Mad,  because  he  believed  in 
reason  and  justice  on  earth  !  Alas,  it  is  too  true,  poor 
Postel  was  mad  ! "  He  wrote  little  books  at  intervals 
which,  I  must  frankly  admit,  are  almost  impossible  to 
read,  and  in  the  case  of  the  Sepher  Yetzirah  the 
printer  has  done  his  best  to  make  the  difficulties 
absolute ;  but  as  I  have  promised  to  speak  of  the 
commentary  which  accompanies  the  translation,  I 
must  at  least  say  that  it  should  be  described  rather  as 
a  collection  of  separate  notes.  Franck  recommends 
no  one  to  be  guided  by  the  views  which  it  expresses, 
but  they  scarcely  suggest  leading,  as  they  contain 
nothing  of  real  importance,  and  some  of  them  are 
almost  childish.  Among  the  points  which  may  be 
noted  are  : — (a]  Defence  of  the  lawfulness  and 


Christian  <Stubcnt0  of  the  Jgabalah     363 

necessity  of  the  concealment  of  sacred  things  ;  (b)  A 
pertinent  and  useful  distinction  between  the  terms 
creation,  formation  and  making,  as  used  in  the  Sepher 
Yetzirah  ;  (V)  The  antiquity  of  the  belief  in  ten 
spheres  of  the  heavens  ;  (d)  The  recourse  to 
numerical  mysticism  to  show  why  the  Sephiroth  are, 
in  the  words  of  the  Sepher  Yetzirah,  "  ten  and  not 
nine,"  the  necessity  of  the  number  ten  being  shown 
by  the  progression  from  the  unit  to  the  quaternary, 
as  follows  :— I  +  2  +  3  +  4  =  10.  And  this, 
according  to  the  mystical  mode  of  calculating,  brings 
us  back  to  the  unit,  even  as  the  external  universe 
brings  back  the  soul  to  God  ;  (e)  The  attribution  of 
the  angelic  choirs  to  the  Sephiroth,  thus  showing  that 
Postel's  study  of  the  Kabalah  was  not  confined  to  the 
one  document  which  he  is  known  to  have  translated. 

Of  Postel's  original  writings,  that  entitled  De 
Rationibus  Spirit  us  Sancti  Libri  Duo,  1543,  seems  on 
the  whole  the  most  soberly  reasoned  ;  if,  unfortunately, 
it  has  no  connections  with  the  Kabalah,  it  has  at 
least  some  with  good  sense.  It  is  useful  also  for 
occultists  who  are  disposed  to  be  influenced  by  Levi, 
and  hence  to  regard  Postel  as  a  very  great  adept  of 
their  mysteries.  While  it  is  quite  true  that  he  was 
excessively  fanciful  in  his  notions,  which  are  extrava 
gant  in  the  philological  as  well  as  the  conventional 
sense  of  that  term,  it  is  not  at  all  true  that  he  had  set 
aside  or  exceeded  the  accepted  doctrinal  views  of  his 
period,  nor  does  he  appear  to  have  possessed  a  specific 
light  on  given  points  of  teaching  which  can  be 
regarded  as  considerable  for  his  period.  He  upheld, 
for  example,  the  doctrine  of  eternal  damnation,  and 
justifies  it  in  such  a  manner  that  no  room  is  left  for 


364  ^hc  Doctrine  attb  literature  at  the  gtabalah 

the  conjecture  that  he  was  not  saying  what  he  meant. 
Now  this  doctrine  is  not  only  intolerable  to  the 
occultist,  but  it  makes  void  his  scheme  of  the  universe. 
For  the  rest,  Postel  was  a  good  and  single-minded 
Christian,  who,  in  spite  of  his  Clavis  Absconditorum 
a  Constitutione  Mundi,  and  in  spite  of  the  panegyrics 
of  Eliphas  Levi,  had  no  knowledge  whatsoever  of  the 
so-called  Book  of  Thoth,  and  had  never  dreamed  of 
looking  for  a  doctrine  of  absolute  religion  beyond  the 
seat  of  Peter. 


VIII.    THE   ROSICRUCIANS 

Among  many  adventurous  statements  advanced 
concerning  this  mystic  fraternity,  we  are  not  infre 
quently  told  that  it  gave  a  great  impetus  to  the  study 
of  the  Kabalah.  This  assertion  is  so  far  from  being 
founded  in  any  accessible  fact,  that  one  is  tempted  to 
rejoin  that  it  gave  no  impetus  to  anything  except  a 
short-lived  curiosity  and  a  certain  pleasant  fantasia  in 
romantic  fiction.  The  truth  is  that  no  statement 
should  be  hazarded  on  either  side.  In  the  first  place* 
the  historical  evidence  for  the  existence  of  the  order, 
though  it  points  to  certain  conclusions,  is  in  a  very 
unsatisfactory  state,*  and  any  knowledge  of  another 
kind  which  may  be  still  in  existence  is  in  the  custody 
of  those  who  do  not  commit  themselves.  I  have 

*  It  is  open  therefore  to  numerous  singular  constructions,  one  of 
the  most  remarkable  being  that  placed  on  it  by  Mrs.  Henry  Pott,  in 
"  Francis  Bacon  and  his  Secret  Society,"  London,  1891.  See  c.  xii. 
especially,  and  compare  Clifford  Harrison,  "Notes  on  the  Margins," 
London,  1897,  p.  49:  "There  is  every  good  reason  to  suppose  that 
the  founder  of  Inductive  Philosophy  was  a  Rosicrucian." 


<§ome  Chrivtian  .Stubenta  of  the  gabalah     365 

never  met  in  literature  with  an  express  statement 
designed  to  indicate  knowledge  and  to  represent 
authority  which  could  bear  investigation.  On  the 
contrary,  I  have  found  invariably  those  which  most 
assumed  the  complexion  of  assurance  were  only  the 
private  impressions  of  persons  who  had  no  title  to 
conviction,  nor  even  a  sufficient  warrant  for  an 
estimable  opinion  by  their  acquaintance  with  the 
exoteric  facts.  I  have  therefore  to  say  that  there  is 
no  known  student  of  the  Kabalah,*  with  possibly  one 
exception,  whom  it  is  possible  to  fix  at  all  as  the 
member  of  a  Rosicrucian  Fraternity,  laying  any  claim 
to  antiquity,  for  it  is  well  known  that  there  have  been, 
as  there  still  are,  several  corporate  societies,  some 
semi  -  Masonic,  as  in  England,  some  mystic,  as  in 
France,  which  have  indicated  their  occult  interests 
and  purposes  by  adopting  the  name.  There  is  no 
mischief  in  such  adoption,  provided  the  limits  of  the 
pretension  are  clear,  and,  with  the  exception  of  one  or 
two  which  have  appeared  in  America,  this  has,  I 
think,  been  the  case. 

The  few  great  names  of  the  past  which  connect 
with  Rosicrucianism  and  at  the  same  time  \\ith 
Kabalism  are  not  to  be  identified  with  the 
Fraternity,  except  by  a  common  ground  of 
sympathy .f  Such  were  Fludd  and  Vaughan.  More- 

*  The  term  is  sometimes  used  loosely  in  connection  with  the 
Rosicrucians,  as  if  meaning  a  tradition  of  any  kind.  Thus,  Mr. 
W.  F.  C.  Wigston  speaks  of  "German  philosophers  and  writers 
.  .  .  who  each  and  all  held  up  Freemasonry  as  a  branch  of  their 
own  Rosicrucian  Kabalah." — The  Columbus  of  Literature,  p.  203, 
Chicago,  1892.  The  Rosicrucian  Kabalah,  understood  in  this  sense, 
was  the  Divine  Magia. 

t  In  an  interesting  paper  read  before  the  Quatuor  Coronati 
Lodge,  and  published  in  its  transactions,  Dr.  Wynn  Westcott,  Supreme 


366  ^Ihe  Qotttint  anb  Jptevahir*  of  the  glabalah 

over,  the  few  memorials  which  we  possess  of  it, 
especially  those  belonging  to  the  eighteenth  century, 
indicate  that  it  was  mainly  engrossed  by  alchemical 
processes.  The  possible  exception  I  have  mentioned, 
namely,  the  one  case  in  which  a  well-known  student 
of  the  Kabalah,  or  rather  a  well-known  expositor 
of  Kabalistic  subjects,  may  have  received  initiation 
into  a  Rosicrucian  order  going  back  through  the 
last  century,  is  Eliphas  Levi.  It  seems  almost 
certain  that  he  received  initiation  of  some  kind, 
and  it  has  been  recently  stated  by  a  French  occultist 
who  has  access  to  some  important  sources  of  informa 
tion  that  the  scattered  groups  of  Rosicrucian  societies 
were  reorganised  by  Eliphas  Levi,  presumably  about 
the  year  1850.  But  this  solitary  instance  does  not 
really  save  the  situation,  more  especially  as  I  shall 
establish  later  on  that  Eliphas  Levi,  though  he  has 
obtained  a  great  reputation  among  occultists  as  a 
Kabalist,  was  not  entitled  to  it  by  any  profound 
or  even  tolerable  acquaintance  with  the  literature 
which  contains  the  Kabalah. 


IX.     ROBERT    FLUDD 

The  name  of  Robert  Fludd  stands  high  among 
the  occult  philosophers  of  England  ;  he  was  a  man 
of  wide  learning,  of  great  intellectual  ambition,  of 
exalted  spiritual  faith.  He  was  also  an  experimental 
scientist  of  no  mean  order.  If  we  add  to  this  that  he 

Magus  of  the  English  Rosicrucian  Society,  describes  Rosicrucianism 
as  a  new  presentation  of  Gnostic,  Kabalistic,  Hermetic  and  Neo- 
Platonic  doctrines. 


Christian  ^tnbente  of  the  Jlabalah     367 

is  an  accessible  figure,  not  too  remote  in  time,  and 
that  a  short  pilgrimage  in  Kent  will  lead  us  to  the 
lovely  country  house  in  which  he  lived  and  died,*  it 
will  not  be  difficult  to  understand  the  fascination 
which  he  has  exercised  on  many  who,  for  the  rest, 
have  never  dared  to  stir  the  dust  from  his  folios.  I 
have  already  had  occasion  in  more  than  one  work  to 
account  for  this  Kentish  transcendentalist,  and  as 
there  is  only  a  single  mystery  in  his  life,  to  which  no 
one  is  likely  to  bring  light,  I  shall  not  need  here  to 
retrace  ground  that  has  been  travelled.  The  one 
mystery  is  whether  he  did  ultimately  enter  the 
Fraternity  of  the  Rose-Cross.  It  is  clear  from  the 
tracts  which  he  wrote  in  defence  of  this  order  that  he 
had  not  then  been  initiated  into  its  mysteries.f 
Perhaps  so  much  energy  and  devotion  earned  that 
reward  in  the  end,  as  there  is  ground  for  supposing 
was  the  case  with  his  friend  Michael  Maier,  who 
espoused  the  same  cause  in  Germany.  But  we  do 
not  know,  and  the  modern  occult  writers  who  pretend 
that  he  was  a  Rosicrucian  are  either  misled  or  are 
romancing. 

His  connection  with  Kabalism  is,  however,  the 
only  point  with  which  we  are  here  concerned,  and  as 
to  this  there  is  no  doubt  of  his  proficiency,  for  he 
occupied  himself  a  great  deal  with  vast  cosmological 
hypotheses,  which  were  drawn  to  some  extent  from 
this  source.  He  was  forty  years  of  age  when  the 

*  See  "Haunts  of  the  English  Mystics,"  No.  I,  in  "The 
Unknown  World,"  Vol.  i.  p.  130,  et  seq. 

t  Perhaps  the  Valete  Nostrique  Memores  estate  of  the  Epilogus 
Autori  ad  Fratres  de  Rosea  Cruce  may  create  a  different  impression  in 
the  minds  of  some  readers.  See  Apologia  Compendiaria,  Leyden, 
1616. 


368  HEhe  gortrine  atvb  literature  of  the  Jiabalah 

Rosicrucian  controversy  first  gave  opportunity  to 
his  pen,  and  the  "  Compendious  Apology,"  which 
he  then  published  in  reply  to  Libavius,  a  German 
hostile  critic,  exhibits  his  Kabalistic  studies.  I 
must  add  also  that  it  gives  evidence  of  his 
besetting  intellectual  weakness,  an  inordinate 
passion  for  the  marvellous,  which  leads  him  to  dwell 
unduly  on  the  thaumaturgic  side  of  the  Jewish  secret 
knowledge.  Having  given  the  usual  legend  of  the 
tradition,  its  reception  by  Moses  from  God,  and  its 
oral  perpetuation  till  the  time  of  Esdras,  he  divides 
the  Kabalah  into  two  parts,  that  of  Cosmology, 
dealing  with  the  forces  operating  in  created  things, 
both  sublunary  and  celestial,  and  expounding  on 
philosophical  grounds  the  arcana  of  the  written  law. 
This  division,  he  observes,  does  not  differ  materially 
from  the  Natural  Magic  in  which  Solomon  is  recorded 
to  have  excelled,  and  he  adds  that  the  magical 
powers  of  natural  things,  concealed  in  their  centre, 
can  be  brought  forth  by  this  species  of  Kabalah. 
The  second  division  is  entitled  Mercavah,  which 
contemplates  things  Divine,  angelical  powers,  sacred 
names  and  signacula.  It  is  sub-divided  into  Notaricon 
and  Theomantica.  Notaricon  treats  of  the  angelical 
virtues  and  names,  of  demoniacal  natures  and  of 
human  souls;  Theomantica  investigates  the  mysteries 
of  the  Divine  Majesty,  of  sacred  names  and  pentacles. 
Those  who  are  proficient  therein  are  invested  with 
wonderful  powers,  can  foretell  future  things,  com 
mand  entire  Nature,  compel  angels  and  demons, 
and  perform  miracles.  By  this  art  Moses  worked 
his  various  signs  and  wonders,  Joshua  caused  the 
sun  to  stand  still,  Elijah  brought  fire  from  heaven 


Somt  Christian  <StuDcnt0  of  the  $abalah     369 

and  raised  the  dead  to  life.  But  it  is  a  gift  of  God, 
through  His  Holy  Spirit,  which  is  granted  only  to 
the  elect. 

It  will  be  seen   that  this  classification   presents 
not  the  exalted  if  bizarre  traditions  of  the  Zohar,  but 
the  debased  and  superstitious  apparatus  of  the  Sepker 
RastelanA  of  later  Kabalism,  ignored  if  not  unknown 
by  writers  like  Rosenroth.     In  the  vast  folios  which 
followed  the  "  Compendious  Apology  "  the  Kabalistic 
connections  of  Fludd's   philosophy  are  implicit  and 
suggestive     rather     than     patent      and      elaborated, 
and     I     think     arc    positive     proof    that     he     had 
no     acquaintance     with     the     Zohar.     In    his    Cos 
mology    of    the    Macrocosmos*    which    deals    with 
its     metaphysical     and     physical      origin,      he    has 
recourse     chiefly    to     the    Platonic    and     Hermetic 
writings,     and     although      many     other     authorities 
are  cited,  nothing  is   borrowed  from    the    Kabalists, 
except   indeed    the   Tetragrammaton,   which    figures 
within   a  triangle  in  one   of   the  illustrations.     The 
complementary   treatise    on    the    Microcosm    recalls 
Kabalism    in    its   doctrine   of    angels    and    demons. 
Slight  correspondences  may  be  traced   in   his  other 
writings,  but  they  indicate  no   real   knowledge.     In 
discussing     the     properties   of    numbersf    (/>.,    the 
Scphirotli)    and    the    Divine    Names*  attributed    to 
them,  the  diagram  which   accompanies  the  remarks 
shows  that   he  misconstrued    totally    the    Kabalistic 
scheme  of  emanation.      So  also  some  later  observa- 


Cosmi   topru    ,,///,r/  et    .!//„<„/,-    Mctaphysica, 
Jhystca  atque  Technica  Historia,  2  vols.,  Frankfort,  1617  and  1629. 

t  Philosophia    Sacra     et    vert    Christiana,     sen     Mtttorohgica 
Cosmica,  1626. 


AA 


370  ^he  glortriiu  anb  literature  ot  the  glabalah 

tions  concerning  Mctatron  and  the  positive  and 
negative  sides  of  the  Sephirotic  Tree*  suggest  no 
special  knowledge.  When  replying  to  Father 
Mersenne,  Fludd  defends  what  he  terms  his  Kabalah, 
but  the  term  is  used  loosely  and  has  certainly  very 
little  to  do  with  the  Kabalah  of  Jewry,  f  It  may 
be  observed,  in  conclusion,  that  the  Kentish  mystic 
was  pre-eminently  a  Christian  philosopher,  and,  like 
other  subjects,  that  of  the  esoteric  tradition  in  Israel 
was  approached  by  him  from  the  Christian  stand 
point. 

X.    HENRY    MORE 

The  Cambridge  Platonic  philosopher  is  regarded 
by  Basnage  as  a  great  Kabalist  and  his  contributions 
to  the  Kabbala  Denudata  as  in  some  sense  discovering 
the  sentiment  and  spirit  of  Jewish  theosophy.J 
Franck,  on  the  contrary,  regrets  their  inclusion  by 
Rosenroth  on  the  ground  that  they  are  personal 
speculations  which  are  not  at  all  in  harmony  with 
Kabalistic  teaching. §  While  there  can  be  no  question 
that  the  just  view  belongs  to  the  later  critic,  More  is 
interesting  because  of  his  enthusiasm  and  earnest 
ness.  His  point  of  view  is  also  of  importance  to  our 
inquiry,  because  his  name  belongs  undeniably  to  the 
literature  of  English  mysticism.  Let  us  begin  there 
fore  by  stating  that  he  approached  the  subject  as  a 


*  Medic ina  Catholtca^  sett  Mysticutn  Artis  Medicandi  Sacrarium, 
2  vols.,  Frankfort,  1629,  1631. 

t  DC  Sophice  cum  Moria  Certatniue,  1629. 

J  Histoire  desjuifs,  Livre  iii.  c.  10,  toni.  ii.,  p.  786. 

§  Ad.  Franck  :  La  Kabbale,  p.  22. 


Some  Christian  gtirtcnt*  of  the  JBabalah     3?I 

Christian  who  desired  the  conversion  of  the  Jews,  who 
regarded  the  Kabalah  as  a  fitting  instrument  to  effect 
it,  and  not  in  the  case  of  the  Jews  only,  but  even  of 
Pagans.  He  came,  therefore,  to  its  study  and  eluci 
dation  not  as  an  occultist,  not  as  a  seeker  for  an 
absolute  doctrine  of  religion,  nor  even  for  a  higher 
sense  of  Christianity,  but  like  Picus  and  Postel  and 
Reuchlin,  or  like  his  correspondent  and  editor 
Rosenroth,  as  one  imbued  with  an  evangelical 
spirit  * 

The  introduction  of  More  to  the  Kabalah  was 
brought  about,  as  it  has  been  supposed,  by  means  of 
Isaac  de  Loria's  Liber  Drushim.     There  is  no  reason 
to  believe  that  he  undertook  an  independent  study 
of  the  Zohar,  and  hence  as  his  contributions  to  the 
subject  are  all  prior  to  the  appearance  of  the  Kabbala 
Denudata,  it   follows  that  his  acquaintance   was   not 
exhaustive,  nor  was  it  perhaps  very  good  of  its  kind. 
At  the  same  time,  his  study  of  the  Liber  Drushim 
called    forth    a    well-reasoned    letter    from    his    pen, 
addressed  to  Rosenroth,f  in  which  the  description  of 
the  Sephiroth  under  the  form  of  spheres  is  condemned 
as  a  fiction    of   the    later  rabbis  and  their  relation 
to  the  denary  is   affirmed.     The  critical  position  of 
the   writer   is,  however,    conclusively   established    by 
the    attribution    of    the    Pythagorean    denary   to    a 
Kabalistic    origin.      This    letter   was     accompanied 
by   a    number   of    questions    and    considerations    in 
development  of  the  debated  point  and  other  difficulties, 

*  And  desiring  the  Ecclesitp  cmolnmcntum,  as  the  same  corre 
spondence  shows. 

t  Epistola  adCompilatorem,  Apparatus  in  Librum  Sokar,  Par, 
secunda,  p.  52,  et  sey.  Kab.  Den.  t.  i. 


372   <&ht  Jlortrine  anb  HJiteratuu  of  the  Jiabahih 

all  which  are  duly  printed  by  Rosenroth,  to  whom 
space  seemed  no  object,  together  with  his  Arnica 
responsio,  which  cites  the  authority  of  the  Zohar 
in  support  of  the  circular  form  of  the  Sephirotk.* 
More  replied  with  an  Ulterior  Disquisitio  and  an 
accompanying  letter,  in  which  he  announces  his 
belief  that  he  has  hit  upon  the  true  Kabalah  of 
the  Jewish  Bereshith.  This  epistle  is  in  English 
and  quaintly  worded.  The  conclusion  entreats 
Rosenroth  to  intimate  to  his  readers  "  how  beneficiall 
this  may  prove  for  the  preparing  of  the  Jews  to 
receive  Christianity,  the  difficultyes  and  obstacles 
being  cleared  and  removed  by  the  right  under 
standing  of  their  own  Cabbala." 

There  is  no  need  to  follow  this  friendly 
discussion,  which,  it  must  be  confessed,  becomes 
exceedingly  tedious  in  the  Ulterior  Disquisitio.  More, 
however,  contributed  another  thesis  in  exposition  of 
the  Vision  of  Ezekiel,  i.e.,  the  Kabalistic  work  of  the 
Chariot,  together  with  a  Kabalistic  catechism  and  a 
refutation  of  the  doctrine  that  the  material  world  is 
not  the  product  of  creation  ex  nihilo,  in  which  last 
the  Platonist  seems  to  have  scarcely  understood  the 
Kabalah. 

Of  all  these  the  most  interesting  is  the  Mercavcz 
Expositio^  which  contains  nineteen  postulates,  fifty-two 
questions  arising  out  of  the  text  of  Ezekiel  and  the 
replies  thereto.  It  affirms,  (a)  That  all  souls,  angelical 
and  human,  with  that  of  the  Messiah  included,  were 
created  at  the  beginning  of  the  world  ;f  (&)  That  the 
material  world  in  its  first  estate  was  diaphanous,  or 

*  In  Caput  ii.,  Consideratio  tertia^  ibid.,  p.  91. 

t  For  this  there  is  Talmudic  as  well  as  Zoharic  authority. 


Some  Chrietian  §tubent«  of  the  gfobalah     373 

lucid  ;  (V)  That  it  had  two  chief  elements,  the  Spirit 
of  Nature  and   the   vehicle  of  the  Holy  Spirit  ;    (d) 
That   it   was  divided   into   four   parts,  which  are  the 
four  worlds  of  the  Kabalists  ;  (e)  That  all  souls  were 
at   first   enclosed    in    Atziluth,   but    were   subject    to 
revolution  in  the  other  worlds  ;  (/)  That  souls  which 
the  Divine  decree  has  sent  into  Asst'aA,  but  are  free 
from    willing    sin,   are    sustained    by    Divine   virtue, 
and  will  assuredly  return  to  Atziluth  ;    (g)  That  in 
Atziluth  the  souls  and  the  angels  are  absorbed  wholly 
in   the  Beatific  Vision,  but  that  in  Briah  they  have 
a  tendency  to  external  things  ;  (//)    That  the  soul  of 
the  Messiah  in  Atziluth  made  such  progress  in  the 
Divine  Love  that  it  became  united  with  the  Eternal 
Word   in    a    Hyper-Atzilutic  or  Hypostatic  manner, 
and    was   thus   constituted    Chief  of    all    souls    and 
King  of  the   four  worlds,  which   took  place  at   the 
beginning  of  the  Briatic  world,  the  special  heritage 
of  the  Messiah.     At  this  point  the  Christian  Kabalist 
introduces    the    compact    of    the    cross    and     dis 
solves   all    connection    with    the    scheme   of  Jewish 
theosophy. 

The  Mercavce  Expositio  contains  numerous 
references  to  another  work  of  More,  entitled 
Conjectura  Cabbalistica*  which  preceded  his  corre 
spondence  with  Roscnroth.  It  is  a  presentation  of  the 
literal,  philosophical  and  mystical,  or  divinely  moral 
sense  of  the  three  initial  chapters  of  Genesis.  It 
was  received,  so  the  author  assures  us,  neither  from 

*  "A    Conjectural    I-  „>•  of  interpreting   the   Mind   of    Moses 
according  to  a  threefold  Cabbala,  viz.,  Literal,  Philosophical,  Mystical      • 
or  Divinely   Moral,"   London,    1662.     The  attempt  was  dedicated   to 
Cudworth. 


374  ^he  Pcrrtrtne  anb  HJiteratnr*  of  the 

men  nor  angels,  and  as  a  fact  the  "  conjecture " 
illustrates  the  criticism  of  Franck,  for  it  has  very  little 
in  common  with  any  ancient  or  modern  Kabalah  ever 
received  in  Jewry.  The  literal  section  is  a  bald 
paraphrase  of  the  scriptural  account  of  the  creation 
and  fall  of  man.  The  "  Philosophic  Cabala "  is 
established  on  the  denary  after  the  following  fantastic 
manner : — 

The  Archetypal  World  =   Monad,  i. 

The  First  Matter   =   Duad,  2. 

The  Habitable  Order   =   Triad,  3. 

The  Making  of  the  Starry  Heavens  =  Tetrad,  4. 

The  Making  of  Fish  and  Fowls,  or  Union  of  the 
Passive  and  Active  Principle  =  Pentad,  5. 

The  Making  of  Beasts  and  Cattle,  but  chiefly  of 
Man  =  Hexad,  6. 

What  becomes  of  the  rest  of  the  denary  does  not 
appear.  In  his  first  estate  Adam  was  wholly  ethereal, 
and  his  soul  was  the  ground  which  was  blessed  by 
God,  whereby  it  brought  forth  every  pleasant  tree 
and  every  goodly  growth  of  the  heavenly  Father's 
own  planting.  The  Tree  of  Life  in  the  garden  of 
man's  soul  was  the  essential  will  of  God,  while  the 
Tree  of  Knowledge  was  the  will  of  man  himself.  We 
have  here  the  keynote  of  the  allegory,  which  is  merely 
pleasing  and  altogether  unsubstantial.  It  may,  how 
ever,  be  noted  that  the  sleep  which  fell  upon  Adam 
was  a  lassitude  of  Divine  contemplation.  The 
"  Moral  Cabala "  recognises  two  principles  in  man, 
namely,  spirit  and  flesh.  It  gives  apparently  a 
synopsis  of  the  work  of  regeneration,  depicting, 
firstly,  the  spiritual  chaos,  when  man  is  under  the 


Christian  <Stubfnt*  of  the  gabalah     375 

dominion  of  the  flesh ;  next,  the  dawning  of  the 
heavenly  principle,  corresponding  to  the  Fiat  Lux, 
hut  the  analogy  in  most  instances  seems  at  once  weak 
and  laboured.  For  example,  the  fruit-bearing  trees 
are  good  works,  the  manifestation  of  the  sun  is  the 
love  of  God  and  our  neighbour,  and  so  forth.  On 
the  whole,  it  may  be  concluded  that  More's  connection 
with  the  Kabalah  is  an  interesting  episode  in  the  life 
of  an  amiable  scholar,  but  it  was  without  real 
increment  to  either. 


XI.     THOMAS    VAUGHAN 

With  the  questionings,  difficulties  and  tentative 
expositions  of  Henry  More  it  will  be  useful  to 
contrast  what  is  said  on  the  subject  of  Kabalism 
by  his  contemporary  Eugenius  Philalethcs,  other 
wise  Thomas  Vaughan.  It  will  not  be  forgotten 
by  students  of  the  byways  of  literature  in  the 
seventeenth  century  that  the  two  writers  came  into 
collision  in  pamphlets.  When  Vaughan  began  his 
philosophical  labours  by  the  publication  of  two 
tracts  on  the  nature  of  man  and  on  the  universal 
Spirit  of  Nature,  More,  who  was  after  all  more 
Platonist  than  mystic,  and  had  scant  tolerance  for 
mystic  terminology,  published  some  observations 
concerning  them,  to  which  the  Welsh  mystic  replied 
in  satires  with  the  polemical  virulence  of  his  period. 
The  dispute  itself  deserves  nothing  less  than  oblivion, 
but  Thomas  Vaughan  has  been  regarded,  and  not, 
I  think,  with  exaggeration,  as  the  greatest  mystic, 
thcosopher  and  alchemist,  with  one  exception  in 


376  ^he  Jloxtrine  anb  literature  of  the  Jtabalah 

the  last  respect,*  produced  by  his  century  in  England  ; 
and  as  he  died  nearly  twenty-five  years  before  the 
appearance  of  the  Kabbala  Denudata,  the  source  and 
extent  of  his  Kabalistic  knowledge  will  help  us  to 
fix  the  state  of  scholarship  in  England  on  the 
subject  before  the  formation  of  the  group  of 
Cambridge  Platonists.  Vaughan,  in  his  early  works, 
confesses  himself  a  disciple  of  Agrippa,  and  the 
"Three  Books  of  Occult  Philosophy"!  represent 
the  general  measure  of  his  knowledge  concerning  the 
esoteric  tradition  of  the  Jews,  while  the  opinion 
which  he  had  formed  thereon  must  be  referred  to 
the  "  Retractation "  of  his  master,  that  admirable 
work  on  the  "  Vanity  of  the  Sciences  and  the 
excellence  of  the  Word  of  God."  I  must  not  say 
that  he  shows  no  independent  reading  ;  he  quotes 
on  one  occasion  a  passage  in  the  Porta  Lucis\  which 
is  not  to  be  found  in  Agrippa,  and  there  are  one 
or  two  other  instances, §  but  for  the  most  part  he 
is  content  to  represent  his  model  and  his  first 
inspirer.  If  my  readers  accept  this  judgment,  they 
must  interpret  his  own  statement  that  he  spent  some 


*  The  exception  is  Eirenseus  Philalethes,  that  truly  "Unknown 
Philosopher,"  with  whom  Eugenius  has  been  so  often  identified,  and 
from  whom  of  late  years  so  often  and  carefully  distinguished  by  myself 
and  other  writers,  that  it  is  unnecessary  in  this  connection  to  say  any 
thing  concerning  him,  except  that  his  numerous  works  have  no  points  of 
contact,  at  least  explicitly,  with  Kabalism. 

t  Translated  into  English  one  year  after  the  appearance  of 
Vaughan's  first  treatises. 

%  Concerning  the  restraint  of  the  superior  influences  occasioned 
by  the  sin  of  Adam. 

§  Of  which  some  are  sufficiently  erroneous,  as,  for  example,  in 
Magia  Adamica,  when  he  states  that  Malkuth  is  the  invisible, 
archetypal  moon.  I  speak  under  correction,  but  I  know  of  no 
authority  for  the  Lunar  attribution  of  the  tenth  Sephira. 


Ǥome  (Christian  <Stul)ent0  of  tht  $ab.ilah     377 

years  in  the  search  and  contemplation  of  the  Kabalah 
reflectively  and  not  bibliographically,  which  further 
will  assist  them  to  see  how  the  peculiar  mysticism 
of  Thomas  Vaughan  can  offer  distinct  points  of 
contact  with  the  Zohar  without  that  text-book  of 
Kabalism,  then  wholly  untranslated,  having  been  read 
by  the  mystic. 

In  his  discourse  on  the  antiquity  of  magic  we 
find  him  alive,  like  the  students  who  had  preceded 
him,  to  the  distinction  between  the  true  and  the  false 
Kabalah.  The  latter,  described  after  the  picturesque 
manner  of  his  period,  as  the  invention  of  dispersed 
and  wandering  rabbis  "  whose  brains  had  more  of 
distraction  than  their  fortunes,"  consists  altogether 
"  in  alphabetical  knacks,  ends  always  in  the  letter 
where  it  begins  and  the  vanities  of  it  are  grown 
voluminous."  But  in  respect  of  the  "  more  ancient 
and  physical  traditions  of  the  Kabalah,"  Thomas 
Vaughan  tells  us  that  he  embraces  them  for  so  many 
sacred  truths.*  He  recognises  also  a  metaphysical 
tradition  in  which  the  greatest  mystery  is  the 
symbolism  of  Jacob's  Ladder.  "  Here  we  find  two 
extremes — Jacob  is  one,  at  the  foot  of  the  ladder,  and 
God  is  the  other,  who  stands  above  it,  ewittens  fornias 
et  inflitxus  in  Jacob,  sive  subjectum  hominew.  The 
rounds  or  steps  in  the  ladder  signify  the  middle 
nature,  by  which  Jacob  is  united  to  God."f  With 
this  symbolism  he  contrasts  the  "  false  grammatical 
Kabala "  which  "  consists  only  in  rotations  of  the 
alphabet  and  a  metathesis  of  letters  in  the  text,  by 

*  "  Magical  Writings   of  Thomas  Vaughan,"  edited  by  A.    E. 
Waite,  London,  1888,  pp.  109,  no. 
t  Ibid.,  p.  HI. 


378  ^he  iportrine  anb  iEit^ratnre  of  the 

which  means  the  scripture  hath  suffered  many  racks 
and  excoriations."  The  true  Kabalah  only  uses  the 
letters  for  artifice,  that  is,  with  a  view  to  conceal 
ment.*  Of  the  physical  side  of  the  genuine  tradition 
he  gives  an  unfinished  presentation  in  alchemical 
language,  which  is,  however,  transfigured,  for  Thomas 
Vaughan  regarded  alchemy  as  a  spiritual  and  physical 
science,  having  its  operations  in  the  infinite  as  well 
as  in  the  mineral  kingdom.  For  him  the  Sephiroth  are 
ten  secret  principles,  of  which  the  first  is  a  spirit 
in  retrecesso  suo  fontano,  while  the  second  is  the 
Voice  of  that  Spirit,  the  third  is  another  Spirit  which 
proceeds  from  the  Spirit  and  the  Voice,  and  the 
fourth  is  "  a  certain  water "  proceeding  from  the 
third  Spirit,  and  emanating  Fire  and  Air.')'  It  will  be 
seen  that  the  reflections  of  the  Welsh  mystic  on 
the  apparatus  of  Kabalism  are  not  elucidating,  and 
while  recording  the  Sephirotic  attributions  of  the 
Sepher  Yetzirah  are  not  fully  in  consonance  there 
with. 

We  shall  be  inclined,  on  the  whole,  to  confess 
that  Vaughan's  connection  with  the  Kabalistic 
writers  is  like  his  communications  with  the  brethren 
of  the  Rosicrucian  Order.  He  knew  nothing  of  the 
latter  "  as  to  their  persons,"  so  he  tells  us  in  his 
preface  to  a  certain  rare  translation  of  the  Fama 
and  Confessio  of  the  'Fraternity,  and  it  was  merely 
by  report  and  consideration  on  things  heard  at  second 
hand  that  he  was  aware  of  the  mysticism  in  Jewry. 
As  time  went  on  and  he  outgrew  the  simple  leading- 
strings  of  Cornelius  Agrippa,  so  he  strayed  further 

*  Ibid.  f  Ibid.,      i io. 


Christian  <Stubtnt0  of  the  JUbaUh     379 

from  Kabalistic  interests,  and  though  he  never  lost 
the  fascination  betrayed  in  his  earlier  works,  he  passed 
far  away  over  the  fields  of  spiritual  alchemy,  where  no 
jEsh  Mezareph  could  help  him.      When  he  published 
"Euphrates,  or  the  Waters  of  the  East,"  in   1655,  he 
shows  no  longer  any  trace  of  the  tradition  in    Israel. 
In  Lumen  de  Lumim\  which  appeared  some  four  years 
earlier,  there  are,  however,  a  few   references  to  the 
subject,  and  one  indeed  constitutes  an  adumbration 
of  the  Christian  Kabalah  as  impressed  on  the  curious 
mind  of  the  transcendental  royalist.     The  pretext  by 
which  it  is  introduced  is  a  speculation  concerning  the 
"  Fire-Soul,"  or  informing  spirit  of  the  earth,  which  is 
described  as  an  influence  from  the  Almighty  derived 
through  the  mediation  of  the  terra  viventium.     The 
mediating  being  thus  darkly  described,  is  said  to  be 
the  Second   Person,  and    that  which  "  the  Kabalists 
style    the     Supernatural     East"      To    explain    this 
symbolism  Vaughan  adds  :  "  As  the  Natural  Light  of 
the  sun  is  first  manifested  to  us  in  the  East,  so  the 
Supernatural  Light  was  first  manifested  in  the  second 
person,  for  he  \sPrincipium  alterations,  the  Beginning 
of  the  ways   of  God,   or  the  first    manifestation    of 
his   Father's    Light  in  the   Supernatural  generation. 
From  this   Terra    Vii'cntinm  or  Land  of  the  Living 
comes  all  Life  or  Spirit."*     The  Kabalistic  warrant 
of   this    notion    is    the    axiom  :    Omnis    am  ma   bona 
amma  nova  filia   Orientis.^     The   East    in    question 
is  Chokmah,  which    is   contrary  to   Kabalistic  state 
ments,  and  Chokmah  is  the  Son  of  God.     This  also  is 

*  Lumen  De  Lemine,  London,  1651,  pp.  80-82. 
f  Vaughan  also  cites  the  obscure  eighth  conclusion  of  Mirandola, 
and  says  that  the  third  light  is  Binah,  the  Holy  Ghost.—  Ibid.,  p.  83. 


380  llu  iortrine  anfc  $iterattt«  x>f  t!u  $abalah 

opposed  to  the  Sephirotic  attributions  with  which  we 
are  familiar,  but  there  is  some  trace  in  early  Kaba- 
listic  writers  of  an  attribution  of  the  Three  Supernals 
to  Father,  Son,  Bride,  with  which  the  later  rabbins 
are  said  to  have  tampered  so  as  to  elude  its  Christian 
inferences.  In  either  case  Vaughan  is  interesting  as 
a  strange  light  of  Christian  mysticism  and  not  as  an 
expositor  of  the  Kabalah. 


XII.     KNORR    VON    ROSENROTH. 

From  the  occult  standpoint  it  is,  perhaps,  more 
interesting  to  ascertain    the   motives  which    led    the 
editor  of  the  Kabbala  Denudata  to  the  consideration 
of  Jewish  theosophy  than  those  of  any  other  student 
of  the  subject.     To  Christian  Knorr  von  Rosenroth 
the  occultist  owes  nearly  all  his  knowledge  of  the 
Zohar,  for  the  bibliographical  writers  who  preceded 
him   give    only    meagre    notices   of    the    Kabalfstic 
wagnum    opus,   and   it   is   not    even    mentioned    by 
Mirandola,    Agrippa,    or    Postal.      Now    Rosenroth 
occupies  a  somewhat  curious  position  which  occultists 
for  the    most   part    have  failed  to    remark,  because 
they  know  very  little  about  their  chief  illuminator  in 
the  mysticism  of  Israel.     I  propose  to  show  that  he 
was   actuated    by   the   same   missionary   enthusiasm 
which  characterised  all  the  Christian  neophytes  who 
preceded  him,*  but  I  shall  begin  by  enumerating  one 

*  It  was  indeed,  both  before  and  after,  the  conventional  raison 
detre  of  almost  every  work  on  the  subject.  See,  for  example,  Beyers' 
Cabbahsmus  Judaico  -  Christianas  Delectus  Breviterqve  Delineates 
Wittemberg,  1707. 


§omt  Christian  <Stul)ent0  of  the  $abnlah     381 

or  two  points  which  indicate  that  he  had  occult 
connections.  Born  in  the  year  1636,  a  German  noble 
bearing  the  title  of  baron,  he  appears  on  the  scene 
of  history  shortly  after  public  curiosity  had  died 
out  on  the  subject  of  the  Rosicrucian  mystery. 
Joachim  Junge,  Johann  Valentin  Andreae  and 
^Egidius  Guthmann,  three  persons  to  whom  rival 
theories  have  attributed  the  invention  of  that 
mystery,*  were  still  alive  ;  Robert  Fludd,  the  English 
apologist  of  the  Fraternity,  was  on  the  threshold 
of  death,  but  had  not  yet  passed  away  ;  Thomas 
Vaughan  was  a  schoolboy  ;  Eirenaeus  Philalethes  had 
just  written  his  Introitus  Apertus  to  show  the  adepts 
of  alchemy  that  he  was  their  brother  and  their  peer  ;f 
Sendivogius  had  exhausted  his  projecting  powder 
and  was  living  in  seclusion,  an  aged  man,  on  the 
frontiers  of  Silesia  ;J  John  Baptist  van  Helmont, 
who  long  before  had  testified  that  he  had  seen  and 
touched  the  philosopher's  stone — of  a  colour  like 
saffron  in  powder,  but  heavy  and  shining  like 
pounded  glass§ — had  christened  his  son  Mercurius  ; 
and  Mercurius  van  Helmont,  the  contemporary  and 
friend  of  Rosenroth,  divided  his  laborious  existence 
between  a  tireless  search  after  the  secret  of  trans 
muting  metals  and  the  study  of  the  Kabalah, 
Rosenroth,  Kabalist  like  Helmont,  was,  like  Helmont, 
probably  a  chemist,  and  on  the  crowded  title-page 

*  "  Real   History  of  the  Rosicrucians,"  by  A.  E.  Waite,  c.  viii., 
especially  pp.  220 — 222. 

t  See   Prafatio  Authoris,  which  appears  in  all   editions  of   the 
Introitus  aptrtus  ad  Occlusum  Regis  Palatium. 

*  A.     K.     Waite:     "Lives    of    Alchctnjslicall     Philosophers," 
London,  1888,  p.   179. 

§  In  his  treatise  De  Vita  Eterna. 


382   lite  Ilortrin*  aub  literature  of  the  Jhtbaiah 

of  his  great  work,  we  find  it  described  as  Scriptum 
omnibus  philologis,  philosophis,  Theologis  omnium 
religionum,  atque  philochymicis  quam  utilissimum. 
The  justification  is  that  the  Loci  communes  Cabba- 
listici  include  a  Compendium  Libri  Cabbalistico- 
Chymici,  sEsch  Mezareph  dicti,  de  Lapide  Philosophico. 
I  have  had  occasion  in  the  sixth  book  to  give  some 
account  of  this  curious  treatise. 

We  have  reason  therefore  to  suppose  that  Rosen- 
roth  was  infected  with  the  alchemical  zeal  of  his 
friend,  the  second  generation  of  an  alchemical  family. 
We  may  suspect,  however,  that  he  was  more  mystic 
than  Hermetist;  we  are  told  that  he  loved  meditating 
on  the  Holy  Scriptures  and  that  he  knew  them  by 
heart.  Like  his  countryman  Khunrath,  he  was  a 
Lutheran,  and  Eliphas  Levi  would  have  said  of  him, 
as  of  the  author  of  the  Amphitheatrum,  "  herein  he 
was  a  German  of  his  period  rather  than  a  mystic 
citizen  of  the  eternal  kingdom."*  In  matters  of 
religion  his  peculiar  bent  is  determined  by  the  fact 
that  he  wrote  an  "  Explanation  of  the  Apocalypse," 
about  which  I  will  forbear  from  wearying  my  readers. 
More  to  our  purpose  is  a  dialogue  on  evangelical 
history,  in  which  a  Kabalistic  catechumen  proposes 
questions  on  the  four  Gospels  and  a  Christian  replies. 
With  this  also  we  may  connect  a  treatise  entitled 
Messias  jPurus,  in  which  the  life  of  Jesus  Christ, 
from  his  conception  to  his  baptism,  is  explained 
according  to  the  doctrines  of  the  Kabalah.  In  a 
word,  the  motto  of  his  correspondent  Henry  More 
was  that  also  of  Rosenroth  :  "  May  the  glory  of  our 

*  Histoire  de  la  Magie,  Introduction,  p.  33.     Paris,  1860. 


<§ome  Christian  ^tubenta  of  the  Jlabalah     383 

God  and  his  Christ  be  the  end  of  all  our  writings  !" 
In  conformity  with  this  he  begins  his  enumeration  of 
the  reasons  which  justify  the  appearance  of  a  Latin 
version  of  the  Zohar*  by  affirming  that  at  a  period 
when  the  divisions  of  Christendom  are  traceable  to 
diversity  of  philosophical  opinions  and  metaphysical 
definitions  it  must  be  important  to  investigate  a 
philosophical  system  which  flourished  during  the  age 
of  Christ  and  his  apostles,  and  from  which  fountain 
the  sacred  oracles  have  themselves  drawn  largely.  In 
the  preface  to  the  translation  of  the  Zohar  he 
expressly  founds  his  opinion  that  Kabalistic  dogmas 
may  be  of  Divine  revelation  on  the  ground  of  their 
sanctity  and  sublimity,  as  well  as  their  great  use 
in  explaining  the  books  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments.  He  also  notes  that,  unlike  the 
later  Jewish  writings,  the  Zohar  does  not  contain 
a  single  utterance  against  Christ.  Finally,  after 
enumerating  twenty -four  reasons  why  the  Jews 
should  enjoy  toleration  at  Christian  hands,  he 
mentions  the  chief  things  which  will  assist  their 
conversion.  They  include  of  course  the  ordinary 
common  places  of  piety  and  the  ordinary  devices  of 
proselytism,  but  there  is  stress  laid  upon  the  pro 
motion  of  the  study  of  Hebrew  and  Chaldaic,  and 
on  the  translation  of  the  New  Testament  into  those 
languages.!  The  disquisition  is  conventional  enough, 


*   Apparatus  in  I.ibntm  Sohar,  Pars  St'iunJa,  p.  3  et  scq.,  Kn!>. 
Den.,  Tom.  i. 

t  With  thi*  description  the  reader  may  compare  a  little  t 
which  belongs  to  the  Kabbala  Denndala,    though   unfortunately  it   is 
met    with    very   rarely    in    extant    en  pic  ,    i.e.,    AAtmlrati*    Kabbala 
Christiana-,  id  cst  Syncatabasis  Hebraizans,  size  Explicit™  ad  dogmata 
i  Foedfris,  pro  formanda  hypothesis,   ad  convtrsionem  Judtcorun 


384  ^he  Jtoctrine  sub  Jpteratitre  at  the  giabalah 

but  it  is  important,  because  it  indicates,  firstly,  the 
project  which  was  ever  near  to  the  heart  of  Rosen- 
roth,  and,  secondly,  how  little  he  dreamed  either  of 
an  esoteric  Christianity  or  of  a  withdrawn  Wisdom- 
Religion,  how  little  he  looked  to  find  in  Kabalistic 
doctrine  a  deeper  sense  of  Christian  doctrines,  or 
indeed  anything  but  their  consecration  in  the  eyes  of 
Jewry,  by  demonstrating  that  they  were  to  be  found 
in  the  Zohar.  He  did  not  wish  the  Christian  to 
become  a  Kabalist,  but  he  longed  very  much  for  the 
Kabalistic  Jew  to  become  a  Lutheran.  He  is  said  to 
have  endured  great  sacrifices,  outside  the  vast  labour 
involved,  over  the  publication  of  the  Kabbala  Denudata, 
but  there  is  no  need  to  add  that  it  entirely  missed  its 
aim  ;  it  has  enabled  a  few  students  to  get  a  confused 
notion  of  the  Zohar,  and  it  has  in  this  way  done 
immense  service  to  occultists:  it  is  outside  probability 
that  it  ever  brought  a  single  Jew  'into  the  Church  of 
Christ,  and  as  Rosenroth  failed  in  his  public  aim,  so 
at  the  close  of  his  life  he  had  the  misfortune  to  see 
his  daughter  depart  from  the  reformed  religion  and 
embrace,  under  the  influence  of  her  husband,  the  faith 
of  the  Catholic  Church.  Taken  altogether  the  story 
of  Christian  Rosenroth  has  a  touch  of  heroism  and 
tragedy,  and  with  all  its  faults  his  gift  to  scholarship 
is  one  of  permanent  value,  and  it  is,  I  think,  a  useful 
task  to  indicate  the  circumstances  under  which  he 
gave  it  and  the  motives  by  which  he  was  prompted.* 

proficient! s.  It  is  an  addendum  to  the  second  volume,  separately  paged, 
and  is  in  the  form  of  a  dialogue  between  a  Kabalist  and  a  Christian 
philosopher.  It  has  been  translated  quite  recently  into  French. 

At  a  later  date  the  same  motives  inspired  two  small  treatises 
which  are  interesting  in  their  way,  and  are  worth  mentioning  for  the 
benefit  of  students  who  may  wish  to  pursue  the  subject.  ( i )  Phosphorus 


Christian  ^tubtnts  of  the  gabalah     385 

I  should  add  that  over  the  antiquity  of  Kabalistic 
doctrine  and  literature  he  was  by  no  means  credulous 
for  his  period,  seeming  indeed  to  admit  that  there 
may  have  been  an  admixture  of  late  material  with 
the  ancient  fragments  of  the  Zohar.  He  evidently 
regarded  the  Book  of  Concealment  as  the  oldest  and 
most  important  of  its  treatises,  and  this  is  the  only 
one  which  he  was  inclined  to  ascribe  to  the  direct 

Orthodox*  Fidei  Veterum  Cabbalistarum,  sett   Tcstimonia   dc   Sacro- 
Sancta   Trinitate  et  Afessia  Deo  ct  Homine,  ex  pervetuslo  Libra  Sohar 
deprompia,  qua  mine  primum   Latin,!  reddita,   suisque  et  A\  fohannis 
hempen    Judao-Christiatti    animadversionibus     concimu1    c.vfilicata, 
Jmlris  iHfue  ac  Christianis  speciminis  loco  edidit  Andreas   Norrtlius 
Stilus,    i/iti  item   commentaries   Kemperianos   si/is   illustravit   notis. 
Amstehdami,  1720.     The  prolegomena  are  concerned   with   the   praise 
of  R.  Simeon  ben  Jochai,  showing  the  authority  of  the  Zohar,  and  its 
superiority  to  the  Talmud  on  the  ground  that   it,  author  flow 
before  Judah  the  Prince.      The  Talmud   is  quoted  (p.    10),  to  [ 
that  R.  Simeon  studied  the  Kabalah  in  the  cave,  and  that  he  and   his 
-son  wrote  the  Zohar  therein,  or  that  part  of  it  which  is  in  the  Jerusalem 
dialect.     The  Hebrew  portions  are  referred  to  other  authorships  (p.  16). 
The  translated  matter  is  chiefly  from  the  "  Faithful  Shepherd,"  and 
follows  the  Mantua  edition  of  the  Zohar.     (2)  Lux  in  Tcnebris,  tjuam 
Zohar  Antiijuumjudieonini  Monumentiini,  genii  sine  occoccat.e  pncbet, 
in  dcnissimis  return  dirinarnm  tcncbris,  ad  mystcrhtm  SS.   Trinitatis 
eo  facilius  appnehcndtndum,    ct    Majcstatcm'  Christ i    Dh'inam    non 
pertinaciter  oppupiandam,    ct  Honorem  Spiritus  Sancti  Keccntiorum 
more  lion  fadandum  .   .   .   Studio  M.   Nicolai  Liithcns  (witlh.ut  place 
or  date,  but  about  the  same  period  as  the  treatise  of  Norrelius).     In  the 
first  two  chapters  there  is  an  attempt  to  prove  that  th  f  the 

Trinity  is  concealed  in  Leviticus  xvi.  18,  and  Deut.  vi.  5.  The  third 
chapter  investigates  Gen.  xix.,  2^—De  Domino  ,/td  a  Domino  pluit,  in 
the  >ame  interest.  The  fourth  chapter  treats  of  the  Lord  C.-d  .-f  !  : 

35  and  the  fifth  of  the  Lord    God,   il>.    xlviii.,    if,.     The  .sixth 
chapter  seeks  to  prove   that   the  three  supernal   Scphircth  v. 
and  characters  under   which   the   pre-Christian    I  :,jshcd  tlie 

Three  Persons   of  the   One    Divin  (3)   Cmnpare' with    ; 

Diatribe  Pkitobgic*  dt  K.  Simcom-  I- Hit  Jochai  auctorc  Libri  Sa/i..- 
qua    VtH   ccleberrimi    Christ  inn  i    Schc-cllgenii    Disscrtatio    docfns  '  A'. 
Simconum    /-'ilium   Jochai   Jteligiomon    fui^c     Christianum     modiste 
examinatur  et    contrarium   pot, 'tis   r:inciiur,    am  tore  Justo    Martina 
Glwenero,  Hildtsi*,  1736.     A  pamphlet  of  twenty- two  pages. 
BB 


386   the  Hpcctrtne  aub  JJiterahtre  of  the  giabalah 

authorship  of  R.  Simeon  ben  Jochai.  Of  the  rest, 
some  may  have  been  the  work  of  R.  Abba  and  some 
of  the  school  which  succeeded  these  masters. 


XIII.     RALPH     CUDWORTH 

The  honoured  name  of  Ralph  Cudworth,  perhaps 
the  greatest  theosophist  of  his  age,  is  still  a  precious 
memory  in  English  theological  literature  of  the  higher 
type,  though,  except  among  rare  students,  the  "  True 
Intellectual  System  of  the  Universe"  is  now  unknown. 
It  is  a  mine  of  Platonism,  learning  and  sapience, 
and  more  than  this,  it  is  a  deeply  reasoned  treatise 
of  its  period  in  opposition  to  the  atheism  of  that 
period  ;  its  points  are  established  victoriously,  and 
turning  over  the  leaves  of  the  colossal  folio  one 
almost  regrets  that  the  difficulties  of  the  seventeenth 
century  disturb  us  no  longer  and  that  their  solution 
no  longer  helps  us.  It  must  be  confessed  that 
Cudworth  connects  somewhat  superficially  with 
Kabalism,  and  the  connection,  such  as  it  is,  need  not 
detain  us  long.  The  chief  thesis  of  the  "  Intellectual 
System "  is  that  behind  all  the  tapestries  and 
embroideries  of  pagan  mythology  there  is  the 
doctrine  of  monotheism,  and  that  civilised  man  in 
reality  has  never  worshipped  but  one  God,  whose 
threefold  nature  was  a  "  Divine  Cabbala"  or  revelation, 
successively  depraved  and  adulterated  till  it  almost 
disappears  for  Cudworth  among  the  "  particular 
unities"  of  Proclus  and  the  later  Platonists.*  Among 

*  For  the  purposes  of  this  notice  I  have  used  the  original  edition 
of  the  "True  Intellectual  System  of  the  Universe,"  London,  1668. 


gome  Chri0t«n  gtubents  of  the  $abalah     387 

the  cloud  of  witnesses  who  are  convened  in  support 
of  this  view  are  included  the  later  Rabbinical  writers, 
the   Halacoth   of    Maimonides,    the    Gnolath    Tamid 
of  Moses    Albelda,    the    Ikkanm    of  Joseph    Albo, 
the   commentaries   of   R.    David    Kimchi,   the    book 
Nitsaclwn    and     the    glosses    of    Rabbi    Solomon, 
references  and  citings  which  at  least  serve  to  show 
that    this    Christian    divine     had     attempted    some 
curious     exploration     in     the     unknown     world     of 
Hebrew   literature.      His  conclusion   was  "that   the 
Hebrew  Doctors  and  Rabbins  have  been  generally  of 
this  persuasion,  that  the  Pagan  Nations  anciently,  at 
least    the    intelligent    amongst   them,   acknowledged 
One  Supreme  God  of  the  whole  world,  and  that  all 
their  other   Gods   were   but   Creatures   and    Inferior 
Ministers,  which  were  worshipped  by  them  upon  these 
two  accounts,  either  as  thinking  that  the  honour  done 
to  them  redounded  to  the  Supreme,  or  else  that  they 
might  be   their   Mediators  and  Intercessors,  Orators 
and    Negotiators   with  Him,  which    inferior  Gods  of 
the  Pagans  were  supposed   by  these  Hebrews  to  be 
chiefly  of  two  kinds,  Angels  and  Stars  or  Spheres, 
the    latter  of  which    the    Jews    as   well    as    Pagans 
concluded    to   be   animated    and    intellectual."     The 
question    at   the   present    day   is   chiefly   archaic   or 
fantastic,    but    it   has    its    interest,    for   it   serves    to 
illustrate  the  strange  contrast  which  exists  between 
the  Hebrew  mind  at  the  period  of  Maimonides  and  at 
that  far  distant  epoch  when  the  song  of  the  Psalmist 
described   the  idols  of  the  Gentiles   as    "  silver  and 
gold,  the  work  of  the  hands  of  men." 

In  addition  to  the  "True  Intellectual  System  of 
the  Universe"  Cudworth  published  some  sermons  and 


388   ^he  J)0rtrtne  anii  literature  ot  the 

a  discourse  on  the  "True  Notion  of-  the  Lord's 
Supper,"*  afterwards  translated  into  Latin  by 
Mosheim,  with  a  confutation  representing  the  con- 
substantial  doctrine  of  Lutheran  theology  ,f  and  yet 
again  enlarged  upon  by  Edward  Felling  in  his 
"Discourse  on  the  Sacrament."  The  drift  of  the 
thesis  is  represented  sufficiently  by  the  summary  of 
the  first  chapter  :  "  That  it  was  a  custom  of  the  Jews 
and  Heathens  to  feast  upon  things  sacrificed,  and 
that  the  custom  of  the  Christians  in  partaking  of  the 
Body  and  Blood  of  Christ  once  sacrificed  upon  the 
Cross,  in  the  Lord's  Supper,  is  analogous  thereto."  It 
is  outside  my  province  to  pronounce  upon  this  view, 
but  as  a  Christian  Mystic  who  holds  that  sacrament- 
alism  is  the  law  of  Nature  and  the  law  of  Grace,  it 
may  just  be  remarked  in  passing  that  no  theory 
which  reduces  the  Eucharist  to  a  memorial  or  a 
religious  banquet  can  be  mystically  acceptable. 
Cudworth  was  by  no  means  a  mystic,  and  the  most 
that  his  subject  afforded  was  an  opportunity  to  give 
further  evidence  of  his  unusual  erudition,  and  it  may 
be  added  of  no  inconsiderable  skill  in  its  manage 
ment.  The  thesis  is  mentioned  here  because  it  has 
recourse  so  frequently  to  the  Rabbinical  writers,  to 
the  glosses  of  Nachmanides,  the  writings  of  Isaac 
Abravanel,  the  Mishna,  the  commentary  on  that 
work  by  Rabbi  Obadiah,  the  scholiasts  on  Judges, 
rare  MSS.  of  Karaite  Jews  and  so  forth.  The 
Zoharic  writings  are  not  quoted,  but  it  was  because 
they  contained  nothing  bearing  on  the  matter  in 
hand  ;  had  occasion  arisen,  no  doubt  Ralph  Cudworth 

*  London,  1676.          t  This  translation  appeared  in  1733. 


<§0me  Christian  ^tubcute  of  the  JUtmlah     389 

would  have  given  evidence  of  equal  familiarity  with 
that  cycle  of  Kabalistic  literature. 


XIV.     THOMAS    BURNET 

With  the  Cambridge   school   of    Platonists   the 

name  of  Thomas  Burnet,  some  time  master  of  the 

Charterhouse,   connects    by   association    rather   than 

the  similarity  of   intellectual    pursuits.     He   entered 

Christ's  College  in  1654,  when  Ralph  Cudworth  was 

master,  while   Henry  More  was  just  in  his  fortieth 

year.     It  was  probably  to  the  last-named  divine  that 

he  owed  his  slight  knowledge  of  the  subject  which 

entitles  him  to  mention  in  this  place.     The  amicable 

discussion    between    More    and    the    editor   of    the 

Kabbala   Denudata   appeared,   as   we   have    seen,   in 

that  work  in  the  year  1677,  but  the  "Interpretation 

of  the  mind  of  Moses"  had  preceded  it  by  a  number 

of    years.       When    Burnet    published    his     Telluris 

Theoria  Sacra,  he   gave  no  evidence  of  his  interest 

in    Platonic    or    Kabalistic    subjects;    it    has    been 

described    by    Brewster    as    a    beautiful    geological 

romance.      It  is,  of   course,  concerned    largely  with 

the     Mosaic     scheme    of    creation,    and     the    more 

important  work  which  followed  it,  dealing  as  it  does 

with  the  ancient   doctrine  concerning  the   origin  of 

things,   is   really    its   extension    or  sequel.*     In  this 

interesting  volume,  written  elegantly  in  Latin  of  the 

period,  tout   un  grand  chapitre,  as  the   bibliography 

of  Dr.  Papus  describes  it,  is  devoted  to  the  Kabalah. 

Archieologia:   Philosophic^  sive   Doctrina   Antiqua  de  Rerum 
Originibus,  Libri  duo,  tditio  sccunda  (the  best),  London  1728. 


390  ^Eh*  Itortrine  anb  gDibraturt  of  the  Jiabalah 

As  already  hinted,  it  bears  no  evidence  of  original 
research,  or  indeed  of  any  first-hand  knowledge,  but 
it  is  justifiable  by  our  purpose  to  ascertain  how  a 
literature  which  fascinated,  though  it  did  not 
altogether  convince,  the  Cambridge  Platonists, 
impressed  the  liberal  mind  of  a  bold  and  not 
unlearned  thinker  belonging  to  the  next  generation. 
We  find,  as  might  be  anticipated,  that  Burnet  raises 
no  question  as  to  the  wisdom  of  Moses,  by  which 
he  understood  what  all  other  Kabalistic  students 
have  understood  also,  a  knowledge  of  natural 
mysteries  derived  from  the  Egyptian  education  of 
the  Jewish  lawgiver.  He  differs,  however,  from  the 
Kabalists  by  questioning  seriously  how  much  of 
this  wisdom  came  down  to  the  Israelites.  Assuming 
some  tradition  of  the  kind,  there  could  be  no  doubt 
that  it  was  depraved  in  the  lapse  of  time.*  In 
particular,  the  Kabalah,  as  we  now  possess  it, 
abounds  in  figments  of  imagination  and  in  nugatory 
methods.  From  this  statement  of  the  general 
position,  which  may  be  regarded  as  the  common 
ground  of  all  criticism,  he  proceeds  to  a  more 
detailed  examination,  with  the  specific  results  of 
which  no  sympathetic  inquirer  at  the  present  day 
can  reasonably  quarrel.  The  debased  character 
of  the  Jewish  tradition  is  indeed,  as  already  seen, 
admitted  by  those  who  most  earnestly  maintain  its 
mystical  and  theosophical  importance. 

If  we  attempt,  says  Burnet,  to  separate  anything 
which  may  remain  uncorrupted  in  the  Kabalah,  to 
divide  the  genuine  from  the  spurious,  we  must  first  of 

*  Fcedissime  lieet  b  Neotericis  corrupta  et  adulterata. 


§omc  Christian  §tubcnto  of  the  |labalah     391 

all  purge  away  that  numerical,  literal,  grammatical 
part  which  seeks  to  extract  arcane  meanings  from  the 
alphabet,  the  Divine  Names  and  the  word-book  of 
the  Scriptures.  The  magical  and  superstitious  element 
must  also  be  purged  away.  We  must  further  bear  in 
mind,  and  this,  I  think,  is  the  most  sensible  and 
necessary  of  all  the  secondary  points  raised  in  the 
criticism,  that  the  enunciation  of  common  notions  in 
uncommon  language  cannot  be  accepted  as  the  true 
Kabalah.  The  warning  which  it  implies  is  not  less 
needed  at  the  present  moment  than  in  the  days 
of  Thomas  Burnet.  The  delight  in  unintelligible 
language  because  it  is  unintelligible  is  as  characteristic 
of  some  occult  writers  at  the  present  day,  even 
as  of  gloom -wrapped  Hades  according  to  the 
Ritual  of  the  Dead,  and  it  is  a  tendency  which  has 
an  inscrutable  foundation  in  the  entire  subject.  It 
would  seem  indeed  that  the  sphinx  who  propounds 
the  arcana  in  terms  as  monstrous  as  herself  needs 
only  a  commonplace  to  overwhelm  her,  as  in  the 
case  of  CEdipus. 

In  accordance  with  his  intention  Burnet  proceeds 
to  divide  the  Kabalah  into  the  Nominal  and  Real. 
The  first  is  that  which  he  has  specified  as  worthless — 
Gematria,  Tcinurali,  Notaricon,  Vocabula.  Its  devices, 
he  says,  are  the  diversions  of  our  children,  and  in 
truth  it  would  seem  hard  to  decide  whether 
intellectual  superiority  and  philosophical  seriousness 
should  be  ascribed  to  rabbinical  anagrams  or  to  the 
apparatus  of  "Tit:  Tat:  To."  In  any  case,  "  they 
do  not  belong  to  sane  literature,  much  less  to 
wisdom." 

So  far  we  can  accept  very  readily  the  judgment 


392   ^QThe  jpocitme  zinfc  fCitentture  x>f  the 

of  Burnet,  but  destructive  criticism  is  always  com 
paratively  easy,  and  there  was  no  novelty  in  the  line 
taken  even  so  far  back  as  the  second  half  of  the 
seventeenth  century.  When  he  comes,  however,  to 
consider  what  he  has  agreed  to  regard  as  the  real 
Kabalah,  his  insufficiency  is  quite  evident,  and  his 
slender  knowledge,  drawn  only  from  the  Kabbala 
Denudata,  when  it  does  not  arrest  his  judgment,  leads 
him  into  manifest  error.  Thus,  he  tells  us  that  the 
real  Kabalah  contains  two  things  which  are  important 
for  our  consideration,  the  doctrine  of  the  SephirotJi 
and  that  of  the  Four  Worlds,  but  he  complains  that  the 
conception  which  underlies  the  former  does  not  appear 
clearly.  With  the  help  of  the  Lexicon  of  Rosenroth 
he  decides  finally  that  they  are  emanations  from  God.* 
He  sets  forth  what  he  can  glean  from  that  source  con 
cerning  Kcther  and  Chokmah,  and  then  surrenders  the 
inquiry  in  the  hope  of  finding  more  intelligible  state 
ments  concerning  the  Four  Worlds.f  He  concludes, 
however,  that  the  condemnation  of  all  the  pseudo- 
mystics  of  Kabalism,  Theosophy  and  Hermetics  is 
that  of  the  unbelievers  who  continued  to  love  the  dark 
ness  rather  than  the  light  when  the  light  was  come 
already  into  the  world. +  He  assumes,  as  might  be 
expected,  that  the  "  Book  of  Occupation "  is  the  most 
important  part  of  the  Zohar,  and  glancing  at  the 


*  Elsewhere,  he  attempts  to  consider  their  significance  in 
connection  with  the  axiom — ex  nihilo  nihilfit. 

t  He  mentions  in  addition  to  the  Sephiroth  and  the  Four  Worlds, 
the  thirty-two  Paths  of  Wisdom,  from  the  Sepher  Yetzirah  and  its 
commentary,  and  the  Fifty  Gates  of  Providence  "  through  which  Moses 
attained  his  marvellous  science,  and  concealed  the  same  in  the 
Pentateuch,"  i.e.,  according  to  the  Kabalists. 

%  John,  iii.   19-21. 


(Dirisliau  <Slubcnt0  of  the  gUbalah     393 

commentaries  of  Isaac  de  Loria  and  of  Hirtz  on  the 
tract  in  question  and  its  developments,  confesses  his 
inability  to  understand  either  from  text  or  interpreters 
what  is  meant  by  the  symbolism  of  the  Vast  and  the 
Lesser  Countenance.  "  We  are  all  of  us  liable  some 
time  or  other  to  be  distracted  by  reasoning,  but  it  is  a 
common  complaint  of  the  mind  among  Orientals  to 
be  distracted  by  allegories." 

To  sum  the  general  position  :  We  know  from 
Maimonidcs  that  the  Hebrews  once  possessed  many 
mysteries  concerning  things  divine,  but  that  they 
have  perished.*  It  is  at  the  same  time  scarcely 
possible  that  all  foundation  should  be  wanting  to 
the  Kabalah,  yet  if  its  doctrines  were  openly  and 
clearly  set  forth,  it  is  hard  to  say  whether  they  would 
move  us  to  laughter  or  astonishment. 

Thomas  Burnet  has  higher  claims  to  considera 
tion  than  his  ability  as  a  critic  of  Kabalism.  He 
had  perhaps  few  qualifications  from  which  he  might 
be  expected  to  understand  or  sympathise  with  the 
aspirations  embraced  by  theosophy.  He  was  one 
of  the  rare  precursors  of  liberal  theology,  and  he 
is  said  to  have  closed  the  path  of  his  promotion 
by  venturing  to  express  the  opinion  that  the  story 
of  the  Garden  of  Eden  should  not  be  understood 
literally.  In  a  later  treatise  on  the  "  Faith  and 
Duties  of  Christians,"!  he  is  also  stated  to  have 
excluded  so  much  that  seemed  to  him  doubtful  or 
unimportant  in  accepted  doctrine  that  it  is  ques 
tionable  whether  even  Christianity  remained.  A 
posthumous  work  on  eschatology  and  the  resur- 

*  "The  Guide  of  the  Perplexed.''  Part  i.,  c.  71. 
t  De  Fide  et  officiis  Christ  ianorum. 


394  ^he  Jtortrine  zwb  Jpttrature  of  the  Jbbalah 

rection*  maintained  that  the  punishment  of  the 
wicked  would  terminate  ultimately  in  their  salvation. 
I  should  add  that  some  pretended  English  versions 
of  the  Archaeological  Philosophy  do  not  represent 
the  original,  and  in  particular  omit  altogether  the 
Kabalistic  section. 


XV.     SAINT-MARTIN 

The  life  and  doctrine  of  Louis  Claude  de  Saint- 
Martin,  the  Unknown  Philosopher,  who  at  the  end 
of  the  eighteenth  century  and  amidst  the  torch  lights 
of  the  Revolution  diffused  in  France  the  higher 
spirit  of  mysticism,  having  been  the  subject  of  a 
special  study,f  I  shall  refer  to  him  here  only  very 
briefly,  for  his  Kabalistic  connections  are  discussed 
at  some  length  therein.  He  was  the  recipient  of  an 
esoteric  tradition  through  Martines  de  Pasqually, 
the  genesis  of  which  remains  undetermined,  though  it 
was  termed  Rosicrucian  by  his  initiator,  and  is  now 
termed  Swedenborgian  by  his  present  interpreters  in 
France.  It  is  a  tradition  which  differs  very  consider 
ably  from  other  presentations  of  occult  doctrine,  and 
in  particular  it  has  little  in  common  with  what  we 
know  or  may  infer  concerning  Rosicrucian  teaching. 
In  the  writings  of  Pasqually,  with  which  we  are 
acquainted  only  through  some  excerpts  published  by 
one  of  Saint-Martin's  biographers ;£  and  in  the  cate- 

*  De  Statu  Mortuorum  et  Resurgentium. 

t  See  A.  E.  Waite :— "  The  Life  of  Louis  Claude  de  Saint- 
Martin,  the  Unknown  Philosopher,  and  the  Substance  of  his  Tran 
scendental  Doctrine,"  London,  Philip  Wellby,  1901. 

J  It  is  right  to  say  that  Kenneth  Mackenzie,  in  his  "  Cyclopaedia 
of  Freemasonry/'  attributes  to  him  three  published  works  which,  so  far 


§on\t  Christian  Stubenta  of  the  Jiabnlah     395 

chisms  of  the  Masonic  Rite  propagated  by  him, 
which  are  also  most  probably  his  work,  the  tradition 
is  presented  in  a  very  crude  manner.  It  was  much 
developed  by  Saint-Martin,  who  indeed  brought  to  it 
a  gift  of  genius  which  was  wanting  in  his  instructor. 
Now,  Saint- Martin  was  a  man  who  cared  very  little, 
and  does  not  scruple  to  say  so,  for  purely  traditional 
doctrines,  at  least  as  traditional,  nor  did  he  show 
much  deference  towards  doctors  of  authority  therein. 
He  considered  books  at  best  a  makeshift  method  of 
instruction,  though  he  wrote  many  ;  he  preferred 
learning  at  first  hand  from  God,  Man  and  the 
Universe.  Till  he  came  under  the  influence  of  Jacob 
Bohme  he  neither  quoted  nor  possessed  "  authorities," 
with  the  exception  of  the  Scriptures.  He  drew,  of 
course,  from  the  source  of  his  initiation,  but  he  never 
mentions  it  in  any  clear  manner,  except  in  his 
correspondence  and  his  life-notes,  both  published 
posthumously.  There  is  nothing  to  indicate  that  he 
had  ever  read  Kabalistic  literature  ;  there  is  every 
presumption  that  he  did  not.  Some  of  his  lesser 
doctrines  possess  a  Kabalistic  complexion.  There  is 
that  in  particular  concerning  the  Great  Name  which 
I  have  developed  at  some  length  in  the  study  to 
which  I  have  referred,  but  it  has  lost  all  touch  with 
Kabalism  in  the  hands  of  Saint-Martin.  So  also  he 
has  a  complex  system  of  mystic  numbers  which 
suggests  the  Rabbinical  Notaricon,  but  it  is  entirely 
out  of  line  with  all  other  numerical  mysticism, 


as  I  am  aware,  are  unknown,  and  I  must  add  that  personally  I  regard 
them  as  mythical.  It  may  be  noted  further  that  while  this  volume  was 
passing  through  the  press  the  fragmentary  treatise  referred  to  in  the 
text  has  been  published  in  Paris. 


396  ^He  itortrin*  aitb  IpUratttte  at  the 

and  makes  the  question  of  its  origin  one  of  the  most 
attractive  problems  in  later  occult  history.  I  conclude 
that  Pasqually,  whom  I  take  to  have  been  a  sincere 
and  perhaps  even  a  saintly  man,  as  his  Masonic 
school  was  almost  a  seminary  of  sanctity,  derived 
from  a  source  which  retained  some  filtrations 
of  Kabalism,  and  that  they  were  brought  over  by 
Saint-Martin  without  any  historical  associations  what 
ever.*  He  has  therefore  little  title  to  be  included 
among  the  defenders  and  expounders  of  Kabalistic 
doctrine,  which  would  have  come  as  a  surprise  to 
himself.  This  is  done,  however,  by  French  occult 
writers  at  this  day,j*  who  seem  anxious  to  annex 
anyone,  from  Shakespeare  to  the  author  of  "  Super 
natural  Religion,"  and  I  regret  that  I  must  add  by 
one  among  the  rest  who  from  his  position  in  the 
modern  rite  of  Martinism  has  the  opportunity  to 
know  differently  and  the  gifts  which  make  use  of 
opportunity. 


XVI.     ELIPHAS    LEVI 

Between  the  period  of  Saint  Martin  and  that  of 
Alphonse  Louis  Constant,  the  subject  of  the  present 
notice,  the  French  literature  of  Kabalism  may  be 
more  correctly  said  to  have  been  initiated  rather  than 


*  That  man  is  superior  to  the  angels,  and  may  even  instruct  them, 
is,  I  think,  the  most  convincing  instance  in  Saint-Martin  of  such  a 
filtration.  This  notion  is  found  in  the  Zohar,  and  in  some  of  its  com 
mentators. 

t  More  especially  in  the  case  of  the  so-called  facetious  allegory 
Le  Crocodile,  in  which  it  may  be  safely  said  that  there  is  not  a  single 
trace  of  Kabalism. 


(Christian  §tnbcuts  of  the  gabalah      397 

to  have  received  a  new  impetus  by  the  publication  of 
Adolphe  Franck,  to  whose  views  on  the  subject  of 
post-Christian  religious  philosophy  among  the  Jews, 
I  have  already  made  frequent  reference.*  I  have 
also  indicated  that  much  of  its  value  remains  unim 
paired  after  the  lapse  of  nearly  sixty  years,  and 
indeed  modern  criticism  has  in  certain  definite 
respects  inclined  to  return  to  his  standpoint,  as 
regards  not  only  the  antiquity  of  Zoharic  tradition 
but  of  much  of  the  body  of  the  Zohar.  Franck's 
work  has,  of  course,  its  limitations,  and  it  is  well 
known  to  scholars  that  his  excerpts  from  the 
Kabalistic  books  were  early  subjected  to  severe 
strictures  in  Germany  ;  but  for  an  accomplished 
and  luminous  review  of  the  whole  subject  nothing  of 
later  date  can  be  said  to  have  superseded  it.  Its 
analyses  of  the  Sepher  Yetzirah  and  of  the  Zohar, 
together  with  its  delineations  of  the  correspondences 
between  the  philosophical  school  of  Kabalism  and  the 
schools  of  Plato,  of  Alexandria,  of  Philo,  created 
French  knowledge  on  the  subject,  and  together  with 
the  researches  of  Munk,  published  some  few  years 
subsequently,  have  been  practically  the  only  source 
of  that  knowledge  down  to  recent  times,  with  the 
exception  of  such  light  as  may  be  held  to  have  been 
diffused  by  the  writings  of  Kliphas  Levi.  As  regards 
both  methods  and  motives  Franck  and  Levi  are 
located  at  opposite  poles.  The  first  was  an  academic 
writer  having  no  occult  interests  ;  the  second  claimed 
not  only  initiation  but  adeptship,  not  only  the 
ordinary  n  -sources  of  scholarship  focussed  on  a 


.\'ahhale  on  la  /'/n'losoph.f  Rcligieuse  des  Htbrfu.\.     Par.  A<1. 
Franck,  Paris,  1843. 


398   ^he  Jlortrme  zmb  Jftteratute  ot  the  Jiabalah 

literary  and  historical  problem,  but  all  the  advantages 
which  could  be  derived  from  the  exclusive  possession 
of  its  master  key. 

Among  the  lesser  difficulties  of  Kabalistic 
criticism  the  proper  allocation  of  Alphonse  Louis 
Constant  in  the  throng  of  students  and  expositors 
is  not  without  its  gravity.  Whether  in  France  or 
in  England  few  have  approached  the  subject  with 
sympathies  in  the  direction  of  occult  science  and 
philosophy  who  do  not  owe  their  introduction  to 
Eliphas  LeVi.  I  speak,  of  course,  of  the  period 
subsequent  to  1850,*  and  I  may  add  that  few  persons 
thus  initiated  have  done  anything  but  read  the  inter 
pretations  of  their  first  leader  into  the  obscure  body 
of  dogma  which  comprises  the  esoteric  tradition  of 

*  Although  the  elegant  treatise  of  Franck  had,  as  we  have  seen, 
preceded  Levi's  interpretatations  by  several  years,  appearing  in  1843. 
So  far  as  I  can  recollect  the  professed  adept  never  referred  to  the 
sympathetic  criticism  and  defence  of  the  more  academic  writer.  Prior 
to  1843  the  most  extraordinary  ignorance  must  have  prevailed  upon  the 
subject  in  France,  since  it  was  possible  for  a  distinguished  philosopher  to 
write  as  follows  : — "  When  Christian  philosophy  made  its  appearance  in 
the  world  it  crushed  Paganism  and  Theurgy,  and  in  the  second  century 
humanity  was  made  subject  to  a  severe  regime,  which  set  aside  mysticism. 
It  did  not  reappear  till  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries  in  certain 
schools  of  Italy  and  Germany.  This  new  mysticism,  called  Kabalah, 
from  a  name  known  already  in  the  schools  of  Alexandria,  but  since 
entirely  disappeared,  and  signifying  oral  tradition,  issued  from  the 
bosom  of  the  scholastic,  and  acted  with  the  instruments  of  the 
scholastic,  as  formerly  the  neoplatonist  Porphyry  evoked  with  Platonic 
words.  The  Cabbala  (sic)  of  the  fifteenth  century  put  in  operation 
bizarre  formulae,  magic  squares  and  circles,  mysterious  numbers,  by  the 
power  of  which  the  demons  of  hell  and  the  divinities  of  heaven  were 
compelled,  as  it  was  pretended,  to  appear  in  obedience  to  the  wand  ; 
hence  the  mystic  ecstasies  of  Raymond  Lully,  who  attracted  such 
zealous  partisans  and  furious  enemies,  causing  blood  to  flow  ;  hence 
the  delirium  which  brought  Bruno  to  the  stake."  Victor  Cousin  : 
Cours  de  Philosophic,  Paris,  1836.  It  would  seem  impossible  to  record 
a  greater  number  of  inaccuracies,  or  to  display  more  signal  ignorance, 
within  the  dimensions  of  a  paragraph. 


<§>onu  Christian  §tufcenta  of  the  JOabalah     399 

the  Jews.  If  it  be  necessary,  therefore,  to  reduce 
very  largely  the  authority  attributed  to  Eliphas  Levi, 
I  must  expect  to  alienate  the  sympathy  of  his  many 
admirers,  but  this  is  only  a  question  of  the  moment, 
and  so  far  as  it  is  possible  to  take  a  plain 
course  in  the  matter  there  can  be  no  real  need 
for  hesitation.  But  the  question,  which  looks  so 
simple  in  its  first  aspect,  is  no  sooner  raised  than 
it  is  complicated  by  several  kinds  of  considerations 
and  indeed  by  incompatible  facts.  When  I  published 
a  few  years  ago  my  English  version  of  Levi's 
"  Transcendental  Magic,"  I  stated  that  it  was  the 
work  of  a  writer  who  had  received  initiation  into 
a  school  of  traditional  knowledge,  nor  must  I  deny 
that  this  school  possesses  the  respect  of  its  partici 
pants.  A  certain  proportion  of  its  tradition  was 
made  public  for  the  first  time  in  Levi's  treatise  and 
under  circumstances  which  seem  then  to  have  been 
regarded  as  inopportune.  I  do  not  think  that  I 
shall  be  making  an  unpermissible  statement  if  I  now 
add  that  the  course  pursued  by  the  author  brought 
him,  as  it  is  alleged,  into  conflict  with  his  superiors, 
and  that  it  barred  his  progress  through  the  higher 
grades  of  that  initiation.*  On  the  one  hand, 
therefore,  the  possibilities  of  his  communication 
ceased  at  the  limit  of  his  knowledge,  while,  on  the 
other,  it  can  be  shown  abundantly  that  he  was 
not  in  any  solid  sense  of  the  word  a  first  hand 
student  of  the  literature  of  occult  philosophy.  I 
do  not  think  that  he  ever  made  an  independent 
statement  upon  any  historical  fact  to  which  the 

*  On  tliis  point  M.-O  my  letter  in  "  Light  :  a  Journal  of  Psychical, 
Occult  and  Mystical  Research/' July  4,  1896. 


400   ^ht  grrdrhu  ant>  literature  at  the  Jiabalah 

least    confidence     could    be    given    with    prudence- 
He  never  presented  the  sense  of   an  author  whom 
he  was  reviewing  in  a  way  which  could  be  said  to 
reproduce    that   author    faithfully.      As    in    the   one 
case   he   embroidered   history   by   the  help    of   what 
Mr.  Arthur  Machen  would  term  a  decorative  imagina 
tion,  so  it  occurred  frequently  that  he  attributed  to 
an  old  author  the  kind  of  sense  which  it  would  be 
very  interesting   to   find   in   old   authors,   but   is   not 
met  with    except   by  the    mediation   of   a    magician 
with    the    transmuting    power    of    Abbe    Constant. 
He  takes,   for   example,  a  perfectly  worthless    little 
book   by   Abbot   Trithemius,  which  does   not   reflect 
the    opinions   of    that    learned     Benedictine,    but    is 
simply    a     trifle    addressed     to     a     German     prince 
explaining  how  some  persons  in  antiquity  distributed 
the  government  of  the  world  among  certain  planetary 
intelligences  ruling  successively  and  reassuming  rule 
in   rotation.     He    invests   it  with   the   importance  of 
a    grand    and    sublime     achievement    of    prophetic 
science,  whereas  it  does  not  show  half  the  acumen 
of  our  empirical  friend  Nostradamus,  and  is  equalled 
in   any  year  of  grace  by  the  almanacks  of  Raphael 
and    Zadkiel.       Here    is   an    instance    of  what    Levi 
reads   into  an   author.     Nor  do   we  need    to   depart 
from  this  unhappy  little  treatise  to  test  his  reliability 
over  an  express  matter  of  fact.     He  tells  us  that  the 
forecast    of  Trithemius    closes  with   a   proclamation 
of  universal  monarchy  in  the  year  1879.     Trithemius 
says  nothing  of  the  kind,  but  only  modestly  remarks 
that  the  gift  of  prophecy  so  generously  attributed  to 
him   by   his    reviewer  would   be  required   to  discern 
anything  beyond  that  period.     I  mention  this  matter, 


(Ehriatian  ^tubents  of  the  gabalah     401 

to  which  I  have  drawn  attention  previously  in  the 
revised  edition  of  the  "  Mysteries  of  Magic,"  not 
because  I  wish  to  accentuate  charges  against  a  writer 
whose  brilliance  and  literary  beauty  we  all  admire, 
but  because  it  is  necessary  to  exhibit  the  quality  of 
mind  which  was  brought  by  Eliphas  Levi  to  the 
illumination  of  Kabalistic  literature.  I  wish  to 
prepare  my  readers,  more  especially  those  who 
admire  him,  as  I  also  admire  him,  though  not  as 
critic,  not  as  expositor,  not  as  historian,  only  as  a 
literary  thaumaturgist  working  great  wonders  with 
the  magic  of  words— I  wish  to  prepare  them,  I  say, 
for  the  fact  that  the  deliberations  of  the  Holy  Synods 
will  be  found  to  have  suffered  many  changes  and 
transfigurations  through  the  medium  of  their  inter 
preter,  and  that  any  matter  of  sharp  fact  in  the  hands 
of  this  unaccountable  juggler  seems  to  become 
pyrotechnic  and  to  detonate,  if  I  may  speak  so 
roughly,  into  the  most  twisted  squibs  and  crackers. 
I  will  not  dwell  upon  the  miserable  plight  of 
every  Hebrew  quotation  in  those  works  which  he 
may  be  supposed  to  have  passed  for  press.  No 
ordinary  carelessness  would  account  for  such  blunders, 
nor  could  they  be  explained  by  supposing  that  he 
was  ignorant  of  their  language.  His  acquaintance 
must  have  been  slender  enough,  but  it  is  not  necessary 
to  be  proficient  in  Hebrew  or  indeed  in  Chinese  to 
ensure  the  accuracy  of  a  few  excerpts.  The  excerpts 
in  Eliphas  Levi  "  no  one  can  speak  and  no  one  can 
spell."  But  even  in  simpler  matters  his  blunders  are 
incredible.  He  gives  the  three  mother-letters  of  the 
Hebrew  alphabet  inaccurately,*  which  for  an  accredited 

*  La  Clefdes  Grands  My  stores,  Paris,  1861,  pp.  199,  200. 
CC 


402   *&he  Jtortrine  anfo  gDiterature  xrf  the  gtabalah 

student  of  the  Sepher  Yetzirah  is  almost  as  inexcus 
able  as  if  an  English  author  erred  in  enumerating 
the  vowels  of  our  own  language. 

The  instance,  however,  to  which  I  wish  to  draw 
particular  attention,  because  it  seems  to  me  impressive 
and  even  final,  occurs  in  the  posthumous  work 
entitled  the  "Book  of  Splendours."*  Of  this  the 
first  part  is  intended  as  a  compressed  translation  of 
the  "  Greater  Holy  Synod."  Now,  Levi  says  that  the 
deliberations  of  this  conclave  are  contained  in  a 
Hebrew  treatise  entitled  Idra  Suta,  and  these  words 
appear  accordingly  at  the  head  of  his  version.  But 
the  Idra  Suta,  or  more  correctly  Zuta,  is  the  name 
of  the  Lesser  Synod,  as  will  appear  by  referring  to 
the  fourth  section  of  the  fifth  book  of  the  present 
volume,  while  Idrak  Rabba  is  that  appertaining  to 
the  record  of  the  Greater  Assembly.  What  should  we 
think  of  the  qualifications  of  a  commentator  on  the 
books  of  the  Old  Testament  who  informed  us  that 
the  word  Bereshith  was  applied  to  Deuteronomy  ?  It 
will  be  observed  that  I  do  not  make  this  criticism  to 
show  that  Levi  was  unqualified  because  he  was 
ignorant  of  Hebrew,  but  to  prove  that  he  was  guilty 
of  egregious  errors  the  indication  of  which  neither 
supposes  nor  requires  any  knowledge  of  the  kind. 

That  in  spite  of  his  slipshod  criticism,  his  care 
less  reading  and  his  malpractices  in  historical  matters 
the  works  of  Eliphas  Levi  do  contain  valuable 
material  may,  of  course,  be  explained  by  saying  that 
he  drew  from  his  initiation  and  verified  his  knowledge 
badly  by  the  ordinary  channels.  This  is  true  up  to  a 

*  Le  Livre  des  Splendeurs,  contenant  le  Soleil  Juda'ique  .  .  . 
Etudes  sur  les  Origines  de  la  Kabbale,  &c.  Paris,  1894. 


Christian  <$tubcnt0  of  the  Jabalah     403 

certain  point,  and  yet  it  does  not  do  justice  to  the 
entire  position,  omitting  indeed  one  of  its  essential 
features.      What  seems   to  me   to    distinguish    Levi 
from  all  other  occult  writers  is  not  his  knowledge  as 
an  initiate,  but  the  peculiar  genius  of  interpretation 
which   he  applied  to  that  knowledge,  the  surprising 
results  which  he  could  obtain  from  an  old  doctrine, 
even  as  from  an  old  author.     They  were  certainly  not 
reliable  results,  they  were  certainly  not  in  harmony 
with    any  secret    knowledge,   they    represented    the 
standpoint  of   the   agnostic    rather   than    the   trans- 
cendentalist,  and    they   afflicted    the   transcendental 
standpoint  in  consequence,  but  they  wore  the  guise 
and  they  spoke  the  language  of  occultism,  and  it  is 
they  which  have  fascinated  his  students,  they  which 
have     multiplied     his     admirers,    they    also    which 
have    undeniably   imparted    a    new  impulse   to    the 
study  of  occult  philosophy.      This  is  equivalent  to 
saying  that  the  influence  of  Eliphas  LeVi  does  not 
make  for  a  proper  understanding  of  occult  doctrines, 
and  as  concerns  the  Kabalah  that  it  reads  a  meaning 
into  the  esoteric  tradition  of  Israel  which  is  not  fully 
in  harmony  therewith. 

Let  us  take,  for  example,  his  inverted  text  of 
the  first  chapter  of  Genesis,  for  which  he  claims  a 
Kabalistic  foundation.*  It  is  needless  to  say  that  it 
neither  has  nor  could  have  any  rabbinical  authority 
and  that  it  first  occurred  to  the  mind  of  a  Frenchman 
in  the  second  half  of  the  nineteenth  century.  As  it 
exceeds  quotation  in  this  place  I  must  refer  the 
reader  to  the  work  in  which  I  have  rendered  it  at 

*  La  CUf  ctes  Grands  My  stores,  p.    334  et  seq.      "  Mysteries  of 
Magic,    second  edition,  London,  1897,  p.  108  et  seq. 


404  ^Lht  JRottnnt  nnb  ^it^catitre  ot  the 

length.*  It  may  be,  however,  shortly  described  as 
replacing  the  history  of  creation  by  God  with  that  of 
God's  creation  by  man.  It  is,  if  you  prefer  it,  the 
evolution  of  the  God-idea  in  humanity,  though  I 
much  fear  that  Mr.  Grant  Allen  must  have  been 
hindered  by  the  limits  of  his  erudition  from  utilising 
it.  As  an  exercise  of  ingenuity  it  is  admirable,  but 
the  point  at  which  the  sober  critic  must  diverge  from 
the  interpreter  is  that  "  this  occult  Genesis  was 
thought  out  by  Moses  before  writing  his  own." 

Let  us  take  another  case  which,  though  it  brings 
us  to  the  same  question,  is  more  perhaps  to  our 
purpose,  because  it  is  a  construction  placed  upon 
Zoharic  symbolism.  For  Eliphas  Levi  the  Great 
Countenance  of  the  Zohar  is  the  evolution  of  the 
idea  of  God  from  the  shadow  divinities  represented 
by  the  Kings  of  Edom.  Microprosopus  is  the  grand 
night  of  faith.  The  one  is  the  God  of  the  wise,  the 
other  the  idol  of  the  vulgar.  The  one  is  the  great 
creative  hypothesis,  the  other  the  dark  figure,  the 
restricted  hypothesis.  As  it  is  to  the  Lesser  Coun 
tenance  that  the  name  of  Tetragrammaton  is 
attributed,  it  follows  that  the  secret  of  the  Zohar  is 
the  mystic  utterance  of  the  adept  to  the  recipiendary 
of  the  Egyptian  mysteries  :  "  Osiris  is  a  black  god." 
Microprosopus  is,  however,  "  neither  the  Ahriman  of 
the  Persians  nor  the  evil  principle  of  the  Manichaeans, 
but  a  more  exalted  concept,  a  mediating  shadow 
between  the  infinite  light  and  the  feeble  eyes  of 
humanity  ;  a  veil  made  in  the  likeness  of  humanity 
with  which  God  Himself  deigns  to  cover  His  glory  ; 

*  I.e.:  "The  Mysteries  of  Magic,"  first  and  second  edition, 
London,  1886,  1897. 


(Christian  gtutonte  ot  the  JUbalah     405 

a  shadow  which  contains  the  reason  of  all  mysteries, 
explaining  the  terrible  Deity  of  the  prophets,  who 
threatens  and  inspires  fear.  It  is  the  God  of  the 
priests,  the  God  who  exacts  sacrifices,  the  God  who 
sleeps  frequently  and  is  awakened  by  the  trumpets 
of  the  temple,  the  God  who  repents  having  made 
man,  but,  conquered  by  prayers  and  offerings,  is 
appeased  when  on  the  point  of  punishing."* 

That  this  interpretation  has  fascinated  many 
students  can  be  no  cause  for  surprise  ;  one  is  amazed 
and  delighted  irresistibly  at  discovering  an  esoteric 
tradition  in  which  all  theological  difficulties  seem  to 
dissolve  together.  If  it  seem  at  first  sight  incredible 
that  the  Kabalah  should  conceal  so  reasonable  and 
elegant  a  doctrine,  the  symbolism  is  so  plausibly 
accounted  for  that  it  seems  to  enforce  acceptance. 
When  we  come,  however,  to  a  close  analysis  of  text 
and  construction  we  find  that  the  one  does  not 
warrant  the  other  and  that  the  evolution  of  the  God- 
idea  in  humanity  had  no  more  occurred  to  the 
authors  of  the  Zohar  than  it  would  have  occurred 
recently  to  Mr.  Grant  Allen  to  write  a  "  Book  of 
Occupation."  It  is  not  a  case  in  which  it  is  necessary 
to  tax  space  and  patience  by  the  demonstration  of  a 
negative  exhaustively,  which  has  always  technical 
difficulties.  The  validity  of  the  construction  is  seen 
by  the  text  with  which  it  is  connected.  We  all  know 
how  much  Fitzgerald  is  supposed  to  have  imparted 
into  Omar  Khayyam,  but  his  graceful  verses  are  literal 
and  line  upon  line  compared  with  the  high  fantasy 
of  LeVi's  Zoharistic  analysis.  As  an  example  of  this 

*  Lc  Livre  des  Splendeurst  pp.  69,  70. 


406   Ihe  ]Badnnt  anfc  literature  at  the  gabalah 

it  is  sufficient  to  refer  the  student  who  may  desire 
an  express  case  for  comparison  to  the  forty-third 
section  of  the  Idra  Rabba  as  it  stands  in  the  Latin 
version  of  Rosenroth  with  the  excursus  on  Justice 
in  the  "  Book  of  Splendeurs "  which  follows,  says 
Eliphas  Levi,  the  text  of  Rabbi  Schimeon.  It  is 
mere  brilliant  illusion  and  mockery.* 

Another  extreme  instance  is  the  inversion  of  the 
Sephiroth  which  gives  despotism  an  absolute  power 
as  the  dark  side  of  the  supreme  power  of  Kether\ 
blind  faith  as  the  shadow  of  eternal  wisdom  in  Ckok- 
mah ;  so-called  immutable  dogma  which  is  at  the 
same  time  inevitably  progressive  as  the  antithesis  of 
active  intelligence  in  Binah ;  blind  faith  again  as  the 
inversion  of  spiritual  beauty  in  Tiphereth ;  divine 
vengeance  as  opposed  to  eternal  justice  in  Geburah\ 
willing  sacrifice  as  the  shadow  of  infinite  mercy  in 
Chesed\  abnegation  and  voluntary  renunciation  as 
opposed  to  the  eternal  victory  of  goodness  in 
Netzach  ;  eternal  hell  as  opposed  to  the  eternity  of 
goodness,  presumably  in  Hod\  celibacy  and  sterility 
as  opposed  to  the  fecundity  of  goodness,  presumably 
in  Jesod;  while  Malkuth,  corresponding  to  the 
number  of  creation,  is  said  to  have  no  negative  aspect, 
because  celibacy  and  sterility  produce  nothing.f 
Without  dwelling  on  the  carelessness  of  the  arrange 
ment,  in  part  sephirotic  and  in  part  transposing  and 
abandoning  the  sephirotic  series,  or  on  the  failing 
ingenuity  which  repeats  the  same  contrasts,  I  may 
point  out  that  advanced  views  on  despotism,  on  the 
transfiguration  of  dogmas  and  on  vicarious  atone- 

*  Ibid.,  p.  86  et  seq.  f  Ibid.,  p.  74  et  seq. 


<§ome  (Ehristian  §tubcuts  of  the  gabalah     407 

ment  are  not  likely  to  have  been  held  even  by  the 
most  illuminated  rabbins  and  that  since  arbitrary 
tabulations  and  artificial  contrasts  are  easy  exercises, 
and  can  be  varied  to  infinity,  we  may  appreciate  the 
contrasts  here  created  by  the  evidence  which  supports 
them  and  that  is  simply  the  magisterial  affirmation  of 
the  interpreter. 

Eliphas  Levi  represents,  however,  the  inaugura 
tion  of  a  new  epoch  in  the  study  of  the  Kabalah, 
undertaken  not  as  a  mere  object  of  research  or  as  a 
part  of  the  history  of  philosophy.  The  students 
whom  we  have  considered  heretofore  have  been  either 
Christian  propagandists  or  writers  by  the  way  whose 
connection  with  the  subject  is  unsubstantial  ;  but  the 
standpoint  of  Levi  is  that  there  is  a  feligion  behind 
all  religions  and  that  it  is  the  veiled  mystery  of 
Kabalism,  from  which  all  have  issued  and  into  which 
all  return.  Christian  doctrine,  in  particular,  is  unin 
telligible,  apart  from  the  light  cast  on  it  by  the 
deliberations  of  the  Holy  Assemblies.  Now  it  is 
precisely  this  standpoint,  its  derivatives  and  con 
nections,  that  have  created  modern  occultism.  In 
the  past  the  magician  was  content  to  evoke  spirits, 
the  alchemist  to  produce  gold  when  he  could,  the 
astrologer  to  spell  the  dubious  message  of  the  stars, 
the  Kabalist  of  sorts  to  be  wise  in  anagrams  and 
word-puzzles,  but  these  things  are  now  regarded  only 
as  parts  of  a  greater  mystery,  and  in  a  very  true  sense 
Eliphas  L6vi  has  been  the  supreme  magus  who  has 
revealed  the  horizon  of  this  mystery.  He  had  his 
antecedents  and  he  drew  suggestions  from  there  and 
here,  but  he  wrote  it  all  up  and  he  coloured  it.  It  is 
true  that  later  on  his  own  scepticism  did  its  best  to 


408  ^he  ^odnnz  anb  IpUrattire  of  the  Jiabalah 

spoil  the  splendid  illusion,  but  this  is  not  observed  by 
his  disciples. 


XVII.     TWO    ACADEMICAL   CRITICS 

Having  regard  to  the  fact  that,  as  already  stated, 
there  has  been  always  in  England  a  certain  number 
of  persons  who  have  been  interested,  mostly  through 
sympathy  with  occultism,  in  the  study  of  the 
Kabalah,  it  will  appear  almost  incredible  that  there 
are  no  memorials  of  their  interest  between  the  period 
of  Thomas  Vaughan  and  the  year  1865,  a  space  of 
two  centuries.  There  is  a  similar  hiatus  in  the 
merely  academical  interest  represented  by  Burnet. 
I  do  not  say  that  there  have  been  nowhere  any 
references  to  Kabalism  ;  they  have  made  up  in 
number  what  they  wanted  in  learning  and  authority  ; 
and  a  few  valuable  gleanings  might  be  gathered  from 
early  editions  of  the  larger  cyclopaedias,  but  as 
there  has  been  no  occult  student  who  wrote  anything 
of  real  moment  concerning  it,  so  there  has  been  no 
scholar  apart  from  occult  interests  who  has  treated 
the  subject  seriously.  The  work  of  Dr.  Ginsburgh, 
so  well  known  that  it  scarcely  needs  describing,  was 
epoch-making,  because 'it  was  the  first  clear,  simple 
and  methodised  account  of  Kabalistic  doctrine  and 
literature.  It  leaves  naturally  much  to  be  desired, 
as  it  arose  in  an  informal  manner  out  of  a  meeting 
of  some  literary  society  in  Liverpool,  and  the  nucleus 
of  the  short  paper  produced  for  the  occasion  in 
question  was  afterwards  expanded  into  a  slender 
volume.  It  is  a  meagre  measure  to  allot  to  so  large 
a  subject,  but  it  was  as  much  as  could  be  warranted 


gome  Christian  <§tnbcuts  of  the  giabalah     4°9 

by  the  existing  interest,  which  is  sharply  determined 
by  the  fact  that  a  second  edition  was  never  needed. 
There  is  good  reason  to  believe  that  it  did  not 
represent  Dr.  Ginsburgh's  knowledge  at  the  period, 
yet  it  went  much  further  than  cyclopaedic  or 
theological  notices.  Dr.  Ginsburgh  is  therefore 
entitled  to  a  place  among  the  Christian  students 
of  the  Kabalah,  and  I  purpose  in  this  brief  notice, 
which  is  mainly  concerned  with  a  standpoint,  to 
connect  him  with  the  name  of  a  writer  who  recalls 
him  in  France  of  to-day.  Both,  I  believe,  are 
accomplished  Hebrew  scholars ;  both  of  Jewish 
origin.  Dr.  Ginsburgh  is,  however,  a  Christian, 
and  has  done  work  in  connection  with  the  Trini 
tarian  Bible  Society,  while  M.  Isidore  Loeb,  so  far 
as  I  am  aware,  has  remained  in  the  faith  of  Jewry, 
and  it  is  therefore  only  by  way  of  contrast  with  his 
English  prototype  that  I  am  warranted  in  referring 
to  him  in  this  place.  There  is  a  period  of  a  quarter 
of  a  century  between  the  two  writers,  and  as  their 
point  of  view  is  in  general  respects  almost  identical 
and,  indeed,  suggests  that  the  French  critic  has 
profited  by  the  English,  it  is  interesting  to  note 
the  one  matter  over  which  they  diverge,  namely, 
the  authorship  of  the  Zohar. 

It  has  been  objected  against  Dr.  Ginsburgh  that 
he  draws  chiefly  from  Continental  writers,  reflects  their 
views  and  shows  little  independent  research.  His 
quotations  from  the  Zohar  are,  it  is  said,  derived  from 
Franck,  and  are  open  therefore  to  the  harsh  criticisms 
passed  on  them  many  years  ago  in  Germany.  These 
matters  are  of  no  importance  to  the  reader  who  is 
in  search  only  of  elementary  information,  whose 


410  ^h*  Jortrine  anb  ^iitt&tnu  ot  the  gabalah 

purpose  is  served  well  enough  by  the  translations  of 
Franck  and  for  whom  a  digest  of  authoritative 
criticism  is  about  the  best  text-book  possible.  The 
fact  itself  makes  Dr.  Ginsburgh's  little  treatise  the 
English  representative  of  a  particular  school  of 
research,  that  of  the  hostile  criticisms  which  refer  the 
Zohar  to  the  authorship,  more  or  less  exclusive,  of 
Moses  de  Leon.  In  England  Dr.  Schiller-Szinessy's 
article  on  the  Midrashim  in  the  ninth  edition  of  the 
"  Encyclopaedia  Britannica,"  referring  the  nucleus  of 
the  book  to  Mishnic  times  and  regarding  Simeon  ben 
Jochai  as  the  author  in  the  same  sense  that  R. 
Johanan  was  the  author  of  the  Palestine  Talmud,  has 
helped  to  create  another  and  more  natural  manner 
of  regarding  the  Zohar.  The  critical  objections 
of  Dr.  Ginsburgh  derived  from  the  work  itself  have 
been  equally  disposed  of  in  the  majority  of  cases' 
and  the  few  which  still  remain  can  establish  nothing 
conclusively.  They  have  been  noticed  briefly  in  Book 
II.,  sec.  3.  If  we  take  in  connection  with  this  the 
fact  that  M.  Isodore  Loe'b,  who  so  closely  reproduces 
Dr.  Ginsburgh,  abandons  the  theory  of  unqualified 
imposture,  we  shall  see  that  some  progress  has  been 
made  with  the  subject  during  recent  years,  and  as  it 
is  one  of  the  purposes  of  the  present  study  to  place 
the  evidence  of  this  fact  before  the  English  reader, 
I  feel  warranted  in  giving  space  to  the  following 
synopsis  of  M.  Isidore's  Loeb's  essay,  as  it  may  not 
be  accessible  to  some  who  are  acquainted  with  that 
of  Dr.  Ginsburgh.  There  is  a  literary  excellence  in 
the  one  which  is  fairly  precluded  by  the  circum 
stance  that  called  the  other  into  being,  and  it  is 
really  a  matter  of  regret  that  the  sole  contribution  of 


<Sonu  Christian  §tubent0  of  the  gabalnh     411 

M.  Loeb  towards  the  elucidation  of  Kabalistic 
literature  occurs  in  La  Grande  Encyclopedic.  M.  Loeb 
was,  however,  for  some  time  president  of  the  publica 
tion  committee  of  the  French  Society  of  Jewish 
Studies.  His  other  literary  work  comprises  a  mono 
graph  on  the  Jewish  chroniclers,  a  table  of  Jewish 
calendars,  and  some  observations  on  the  situation  of 
the  Israelites  in  Turkey,  Servia  and  Roumania.  In 
the  essay  with  which  we  are  here  concerned  he 
records  the  opinion  that  the  term  Kabalah  may  not 
be  anterior  to  the  tenth  century  and  that  the  claim 
to  antiquity  which  it  signifies  is  supported  by  no 
written  monument.  It  seems  difficult  in  the  nature 
of  the  case  that  it  should  be  so  substantiated. 
M.  Loeb,  however,  makes  a  very  proper  distinction 
between  the  metaphysical  or  mystical  Kabalah 
and  the  gross  thaumaturgy  connected  with  the 
practical  branch.  To  the  original  elements  of 
the  first  he  ascribes,  like  all  critics,  a  high 
antiquity,  but  not,  as  it  need  scarcely  be  said,  of  a 
kind  which  would  permit  it  to  be  regarded  as  the 
perpetuation  of  an  indigenous,  much  less  an  uncor- 
rupted,  tradition.  As  we  have  had  occasion  to  see, 
this  claim  is  no  longer  made  by  any  competent 
student  of  the  subject.  For  M.  Loeb  the  Kabalah  is 
a  part  of  the  universal  mysticism  which  seeks  to 
explain  the  disparity  between  an  infinite  God  and  a 
finite  world  by  means  of  intermediate  creations 
through  which  the  Divine  Power  descends,  diminishing 
in  its  spiritual  qualities  as  it  removes  further  from  its 
source,  and  becoming  more  imperfect  and  material. 
The  difficulty  is  removed  by  this  process  much  in  the 
same  manner  as  the  difficulty  of  a  terra  firma  for  the 


4i2    ^h*  Jlortrtiu  an&  literature  of  the 

elephant  which  supports  the  universe  is  disposed  of 
in  Indian  cosmology  by  assuming  the  tortoise.  In 
other  words,  it  is  not  removed  at  all.  At  the  same 
time  the  explanation  of  emanationist  mysticism, 
which  is  not  all  mysticism,  as  M.  Loe'b  seems  to 
assume,  is  not  in  the  last  analysis  open  to  greater 
objection  than  any  other  philosophic  attempt  to 
bridge  the  gulf  between  finite  and  infinite.  Passing 
from  this  consideration  the  French  critic  discovers 
the  foundation  of  the  Kabalistic  theory  of  meta 
physics  in  the  Scriptural  personification  of  Wisdom, 
and  the  chief  elements  of  its  symbolism  in  the 
prophetical  books,  about  which  points  there  is  no 
question  whatever,  and  they  are  matters  of  common 
knowledge.  So  also  he  refers  correctly  the  name  or 
catchword  of  the  Zohar  to  Daniel  xii.  3.  He  cites  the 
number  of  the  beast  in  the  Apocalypse,  as  every  one 
has  cited  it  before  him,  as  an  example  of  gtmatria, 
but  he  raises  a  less  hackneyed  point  by  suggesting, 
on  the  authority  of  Munk,  that  Temurah  was 
employed  by  Jeremiah.  He  does  better  service  by 
reminding  us  that  the  Essenians  attached  great 
importance  to  symbolical  angelology,  and  that  each 
individual  of  that  mystical  fraternity  was  required  to 
remember  accurately  the  names  of  the  angels.  It  is, 
however,  among  the  Jews  of  Alexandria  that, 
following  several  previous  authorities,  he  discovers 
the  germs  of  Kabalistic  mysticism,  but  in  this  con 
nection  he  cites  only  the  Platonic  doctrine  of  the 
Logos,  its  influence  on  the  Greek  Septuagint  and  on 
the  Chaldee  version  of  the  Old  Testament. 

On  the  whole,  I   do  not  think  that  M.   Loeb's 
critical   faculty,   or   indeed    his    erudition,   is   at   all 


Christian  <§tuteut<3  of  the  gabalah     413 

comparable  to  his  graceful  synthetic  talent.  To  citj 
a  crucial  instance,  he  dismisses  one  testimony  to 
Kabalistic  tradition  by  saying  :  "  Despite  the  contrary 
assertions  of  the  Talmud,  we  refuse  to  believe  that 
Johanan  ben  Zoccai  (sic)  or  his  contemporaries  devoted 
themselves  to  mystic  doctrines  or  secret  things."  It 
is  to  the  second  century  that  he  refers  the  "  ravages  " 
of  Gnosticism  among  the  Jews  of  Palestine,  and  cites 
various  subtleties  of  the  doctors  which  arose  at  that 
period.  He  sketches  the  decline  of  the  Palestine 
schools  and  the  rise  of  those  of  Babylon,  "the 
traditional  country  of  magic."  He  cites  from  Rab, 
the  Babylonian,  of  the  third  century,  that  passage 
which  I  have  mentioned  elsewhere,  and  confesses  that 
it  is  another  germ  of  the  mediaeval  Kabalah,  that  is, 
the  doctrine  of  the  Sephiroth.  With  a  rapid  pen 
he  runs  over  the  great  impetus  given  to  Jewish 
literature  under  Arabian  influence  from  the  middle 
of  the  seventh  century.  He  refers  to  the  ninth 
century  that  all-important  treatise  entitled  "The 
Measures  of  the  Stature  of  God,"  which  is,  in  fact, 
as  we  have  seen,  the  first  form  of  the  Zoharistic 
Macroprosopus,  and  is  mentioned  by  Agobad.  He 
places  the  alphabet  of  Akiba,  dealing  with  the 
symbolism  of  the  Hebrew  letters,  about  the  same 
period,  together  with  a  crowd  of  apocalyptic  treatises, 
including  Pirke  of  R.  Eliezer,  which  has  an  elaborate 
doctrine  of  Pneumatology.  Among  all  these  he 
distinguishes  the  Sepher  Yctzirah  as  occupying  a 
place  and  deserving  a  rank  apart.  He  admits  its 
comparative  antiquity,  seeming  to  regard  it  as 
immediately  posterior  to  the  Talmud,  which  he 
affirms  to  have  been  finished  A.D.  499.  He  describes 


414  ^he  gtodrine  anb  literature  of  th*  gabalah 

it  as  a  philosophy  and  a  gnosis,  and  supposes  it 
to  have  been  written  in  Palestine  under  the  direct 
influence  of  Christian  and  Pagan  gnosticism.  The 
opinion  is  interesting,  but  of  course  entirely  con 
jectural,  and  as  the  doctrine  of  emanation  is  not 
very  clear  in  the  Sepher  Yetzirah,  we  should  not 
accept  hastily  the  theory  of  an  influence  which 
assumes  it.  When  he  observes  further  that  its 
fountain-heads  must  be  sought  in  Azariel's  Com 
mentary  on  the  Sephiroth  and  in  the  Bahir,  I  fail 
to  understand  the  grounds  on  which  he  attributes 
a  superior  antiquity  to  those  works.  He  assigns 
to  the  Zohar  itself  a  Spanish  origin,  but  does  not 
press  the  authorship  of  Moses  de  Leon.  Among  the 
fine  points  of  his  criticism  is  a  picture  of  the  pure 
Talmudists  of  the  period  of  Maimonides,  especially 
those  of  the  Peninsula  and  the  south  of  France, 
living  under  the  influence  of  Arabian  philosophy, 
without  philosophical  doctrine,  without  perspective, 
having  only  the  literature  of  the  Law,  and  the 
anthropomorphic  mysticism  of  the  Jewish  schools  of 
Northern  France,  between  which  the  Kabalah  rose 
up  as  a  mediator,  "completing  Talmudism  by 
philosophy,  correcting  philosophy  by  theosophy, 
and  anthropomorphic  mysticism  by  philosophic 
mysticism." 

XVIII.    THE    MODERN    SCHOOL    OF 
FRENCH    KABALISM 

Eliphas  LeVi  died  in  1875,  having  founded,  as  it 
must  be  admitted,  a  new  school  of  occult  philosophy. 
For  the  ten  years  which  preceded  his  death  he  had 


§ome  (Christian  gtubcnts  ot  the  Jlabalah     415 

made  no  outward  sign.  There  are  rumours  of  the 
initiations  which  were  offered  him  and  of  the  rites 
which  he  remodelled,  but  all  that  is  known  certainly 
is  that  he  collected  around  him  a  small  group  of 
private  students  who  looked  up  to  him  as  their 
master,  regarded  his  suggestive  speculations  almost 
in  the  light  of  revelation,  and,  following  his  leading, 
accepted  the  Kabalah  as  the  great  synthesis  of 
religious  belief.  It  was  not  till  another  ten  years, 
after  his  death,  had  elapsed  that  any  visible  result  of 
his  influence  became  manifest.  During  that  period  a 
marked  change  had  come  over  philosophic  thought 
in  Paris  ;  the  younger  generation  broke  away  from 
the  traditions  of  positivism  and  materialism,  and, 
without  returning  to  the  Church,  passed  off  in  the 
direction  of  mysticism,  and  mysticism  moderated  by 
science  became  the  characteristic  of  the  succeeding 
epoch.  When  about  the  year  1 884  the  Theosophical 
Society  opened  a  lodge  in  Paris  and  began  the 
publication  of  a  monthly  magazine,  a  proportion  of 
the  French  mystics  gathered  round  it,  and  one  of  the 
most  noticeable  in  the  group  was  Dr.  Gerard 
Encausse,  the  young  chef  de  laboratoire  of  an  eminent 
doctor  celebrated  in  connection  with  one  of  the 
schools  of  hypnotism.  His  first  contributions 
appeared  in  the  pages  of  Le  Lotus  and  his  first  work, 
on  the  elements  of  occult  science,  under  the  auspices 
of  the  Society.  A  rupture,  however,  took  place  and 
the  seceding  members,  abandoning  for  the  moment 
their  interest  in  la  metaphysique  orientate,  established, 
so  to  speak,  a  school  of  Western  occultism,  of  which 
Dr.  Encausse  became  the  moving  and  leading  spirit 
and  Eliphas  LeVi  the  most  immediate  inspiration  of 


4i 6  ^he  |p  citrine  anb  JCtterature  at  the 

the  past.  The  ostensible  characteristics  of  this  school 
are  Neo-Martinism  and  Neo-Rosicrucianism,  but  the 
transcendental  conceptions  associated  with  these 
names  have  undergone  developments  which  have  to 
some  extent  effaced  their  original  outlines.  So  also 
the  admired  masterpieces  of  Eliphas  Levi  have  been 
a  point  of  departure  quite  as  much  as  a  guide.  It  is, 
broadly  speaking,  nevertheless,  the  work  of  Levi 
which  has  been  continued,  and  along  with  other 
occult  interests  the  study  of  the  Kabalah  has  been 
revived  under  the  reflected  impulsion  of  his 
enthusiasm.  It  has  not  been  so  far  an  exhaustive 
study,  nor  has  it,  I  think,  been  altogether  a  critical 
study,  for  it  began  by  taking  too  much  for  granted 
and  it  has  not  shown  a  comprehensive  acquaintance 
with  the  documents.  There  is,  however,  no  writer  of 
this  group  who  has  not  had  something  to  tell  us 
concerning  Jewish  theosophy,  while  its  activity  has 
engendered  consequences  of  much  the  same  kind 
outside  its  immediate  circle. 

The  two  names  which  most  call  for  notice  in 
this  connection  are  Dr.  Gerard  Encausse  and  Stanislas 
de  Guaita.  The  literary  and  occult  antecedents  of 
the  first  writer  are  Saint  Yves  d'Alvedre,  Fabre 
d'Olivet,  Eliphas  Levi  and  Adolphe  Franck.  From 
the  first  he  has  derived  a  systematic  view  of  Jewish 
history,  from  the  second  his  notion  of  esoteric 
mysteries  concealed  in  the  Hebrew  language,  from 
LeVi  unfortunately  a  burden  of  historical  suppositions, 
and  from  Franck  an  academic  precedent  for  the 
antiquity  of  Kabalistic  literature.  On  the  other  hand, 
Stanislas  de  Guaita  belongs  to  what  may  be  termed 
the  literary  school  of  occultism  and  as  such  he 


<§ome  Christian  <Stubent0  of  the  $abalah     417 

connects  with  Sar  Peladan.  I  propose  to  consider 
the  position  of  both  these  writers  in  short  sub-sections 
and  to  connect  them  with  a  third  who  is  governed  by 
very  different  motives  and  principles. 


A.— PAPUS 

The     word      Papus     signifies     physician,     and 
according  to  a  commentary  of  Eliphas  Levi  on  the 
"Nuctemeron"   of  Apollonius,    it    is    the   title   of    a 
genius  belonging   to  the   first  hour   of   that    mystic 
period.      It     is    also    the    pseudonym    adopted    by 
Gerard  Encausse,  the  head  of  the  French  Martinists 
and  the  leader  of  occult  activity  in  Paris,  presumably 
because    he   is   a   doctor   of    medicine.     Papus    is   a 
voluminous  writer,  methodical  and  laborious,  and  he 
has  done  work  which  along  its  own  lines  is  admirable. 
From    the    beginning    of    his    literary    life    he    has 
been  occupied  with  Kabalistic  questions,  and  so  far 
back  as  the  year  1887  he  made  the  first  French  trans 
lation  of  the   Sepher   Yetzirah,  which    appeared    in 
the  theosophical  review   Lotus.     It  is  not  entirely  a 
satisfactory  translation   and  has  been  superseded  by 
that  of  Meyer  Lambert,  which  Papus  himself  recom 
mends  with  the  generosity  of  a   true  student.     The 
chief  blemish    of  his  own    version    is    that  by  some 
misconception   or  error,   founded   apparently    on   the 
use   of  a   dubious    word    in    the   Latin   rendering  of 
Postel,  he  has  made  this  ancient  work  responsible  for 
the  doctrine  of  Ain  Soph  and  it  is  a  point  of  great 
critical   importance   that  there  is  no  such  doctrine  in 
the  "  Book  of  Formation." 


DD 


4i 8   ^The  Ipodritu  anb  ffiterature  of  the  Jiabalah 

In  1892  Papus  published  a  methodical  summary 
of  the  Kabalah,  together  with  a  bibliography,  which 
are  both  useful,  but  are  again  open  to  criticism.  The 
bibliography  has  been  constructed  upon  the  most 
debatable  of  all  principles,  viz.,  the  increase  of  the 
numerical  importance  by  adventitious  elements  which 
are  not  Kabalistic  at  all,  and  again  by  the  inclusion 
of  works  which  are  evidently  unknown  to  the 
writer,  with  results  which  are  occasionally  ludicrous. 
Thus,  in  the  one  case,  among  books  in  the  French 
language,  we  find  Figuier's  "  Alchemy  and  the 
Alchemists,"  which  contains  no  reference  to  the 
Kabalah  ;  Saint-Martin's  "  Crocodile,"  a  clumsy  satire 
open  to  the  same  objection  ;  Eckartshausen's  "  Cloud 
on  the  Sanctuary,"  also  non- Kabalistic ;  and  a 
number  of  esoteric  romances  which  have  as  much 
claim  to  insertion  as  Baudelaire's  translation  of  Poe.* 
In  the  other  case,  Dr.  Papus,  who  is  only  superficially 
acquainted  with  English,  classifies  Mr.  Massey's 
translation  of  Du  Prel's  "  Philosophy  of  Mysticism," 
my  own  "  Lives  of  Alchemystical  Philosophers,"  Dr. 
Hartmann's  "  White  and  Black  Magic,"  a  catalogue 
of  second-hand  books  issued  by  Mr.  Redway,  and, 
unfortunate  above  all  other  instances,  the  once 
celebrated  "Supernatural  Religion."  The  bibliography 
of  works  in  the  Latin  language  is  much  better  done, 
though  it  contains  some  useless  numbers. 


*  Another  instance  is  Julien  Lejay  :  La  Science  Occulte  Appliquec 
a  /'  Economic  politique,  in  a  volume  of  composite  authorship,  entitled 
La  Science  Secrete.  I  may  observe,  however,  that  this  volume  contains 
a  paper  on  the  Kabalah  by  Papus,  subsequently  embodied  in  his  larger 
work.  Outside  this,  the  only  reference  to  the  subject  is  in  an  essay 
by  F.  C.  Barlet,  which  refers  the  origin  of  the  Kabalah  to  the  fourth 
century. 


§omt  Christian  <§tubents  of  the  gabalah     419 

As  regards  the  treatise  itself  it  has  the  merit 
of  extreme  modesty  ;  it  is,   in  fact,  mainly  a  series 
of  tabulated  quotations  from  Franck,  Loeb,  de  Guaita, 
Kircher  and  so  forth,  with  a  number  of  serviceable 
diagrams  derived  from  similar  sources.  It  is  altogether 
excellent  as  a  general  introduction  to  the  subject  by 
an  occultist  and  for  the  use  of  occultists.  But  it  makes 
the  mistake  of  attributing  a  real  importance  to  the 
debased    Hebrew  influences    found   in   the   literature 
of   Ceremonial    Magic.      Thus    Dr.   Papus  says   that 
!'  the  practical  part  of  the  Kabalah  is  barely  indicated 
in  a  few  manuscripts   dispersed    through   our   great 
collections.      At    Paris   the   Bibliotheque    Nationale 
possesses  one  of  the  finest  examples,  of  which   the 
origin  is  attributed  to  Solomon."    Having  appreciated 
in    another    section    the   claim    of    the    clavicles    to 
recognition    in    Kabalistic  literature,  it  is    here  only 
necessary  to  say  that  in  the  work  under  notice  there 
is   no   attempt    to   justify    their   inclusion,    which    is 
explained  by  the  sympathies  of  the  author,  who  in 
this  connection  owes  something  to  the  French  version 
of  Molitor. 

Dr.  Papus  has  also  unfortunately  a  bias  common 
to  the  majority  of  French  and  English  occultists, 
and  by  this  bias  he  is  led  irresistibly  to  prefer  the 
imperfect  equipment  of  past  authority  to  the  result 
of  modern  scholarship.  In  Egyptology  he  knows 
no  higher  name  than  that  of  Court  de  Gebelin  ;  in 
problems  of  Hebrew  philology  his  great  master  is 
Fabre  d'Olivet ;  and  hence,  on  the  one  hand,  we  shall 
not  be  surprised  to  find  that  he  regards  P.  Christian 
as  a  source  of  serious  information  concerning  the 
Egyptian  mysteries  of  initiation,  or,  on  the  other, 


420   ^he  iortritu  anb  fCtteratttr*  ot  the  liabalah 

that  he  considers  the  Hebrew  of  the  Mosaic  books 
to  be  identical  with  the  idiom  of  ancient  Egypt* 
The  position  of  writers  who  base  their  views  on 
language-studies  undertaken  at  the  beginning  of  this 
century  is  not  really  more  reasonable  than  would 
be  that  of  a  person  who  should  now  attempt  to 
defend  the  antiquity  of  the  Rowley  poems.  But 
it  might  be  scarcely  worth  while  to  speak  of  it  were 
it  not  for  the  consequences  that  it  involves,  at  least 
in  the  case  of  Papus,  as,  for  example,  the  descent 
of  the  esoteric  tradition  from  Moses  and  its  identity 
-with  the  mysteries  of  Egypt,  points  which,  debatable 
or  not,  must  not  be  determined  after  this  unscholarly 

fashion. 

I  have  said  sufficient  to  indicate  that  the 
historical  argument,  so  far  as  it  exists  in  Papus,  is 
altogether  unsatisfactory,  and  there  is  indeed  no  need 

*  He  is  not  alone  among  recent  French  writers  in  taking  this  view. 
M.  Edouard  Schure,  in  Les  Grands  Inities,  Esquisse  de  t>  Histoire 
Secrete  des  Religions,  Paris,  1889,  maintains  that,  "owing  to  the 
education  of  Moses,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  he  wrote  Genesis  in 
Egyptian  hieroglyphics,  having  three  senses,  and  confided  their  keys 
and  oral  explanations  to  his  successors.  In  the  time  of  Solomon  it  was 
rendered  into  Phoenician  characters,  and  after  the  captivity  of  Babylon 
into  Aramaic  Chaldean  characters  by  Esdras.  The  esoteric  sense  was 
lost  more  and  more,  and  the  Greek  translators  had  a  very  slight 
acquaintance  therewith."  In  this  case  it  may  have  been  the  remnant 
of  this  knowledge  which  made  the  Jews  so  hostile  to  the  Septuagmt. 
M.  Schure  continues:  "Jerome,  despite  his  serious  intention  and  his 
great  mind,  penetrated  only  to  the  primitive  sense  when  he  made  his 
Latin  translation.  The  secret  sense  does,  however,  remain  buried  in  the 
Hebrew  text,  which  plunges  by  its  roots  into  the  sacred  tongue  of  the 
temples,"  and  the  writer  affirms  that  it  flashes  forth  at  times  for  tl 
intuitive,  that  for  seers  it  "shines  forth  once  more  in  the  phonetic 
structure  of  the  words  adopted  or  created  by  Moses,"  and  that  by  the 
study  of  this  phoneticism,  by  the  keys  which  the  Kabalah  furnishes, 
and  by  comparative  esotericism,  "  it  is  permitted  us  at  this  day  t 
reconstruct  the  veritable  Genesis."  Pp.  180,  181. 


§omt  (Ehrietian  §tubents  of  the  giabalah     421 

to  reckon  with  it.  But  his  little  work  is  useful  as  a 
summary  of  the  content  of  the  Kabalah,  though  even 
in  this  respect  it  might  have  been  simplified  with 
advantage.  As  regards  the  special  motive  of  our 
own  inquiry,  the  standpoint  of  Papus  is  that  the 
Kabalah  is  the  keystone  of  all  the  Western  tradition 
of  transcendentalism  ;  that  the  alchemists  were 
Kabalists,  and  so  also  all  mystic  fraternities,  whether 
Templars,  Rosicrucians,  Martinists,  or  Freemasons  ; 
that  the  source  of  the  Kabalah  was  Moses  and  that 
Moses  drew  from  Egypt,  whence  the  Kabalah  is  the 
most  complete  summary  in  existence  of  the  Egyptian 
mysteries.  Why  those  mysteries  should  have  an 
absorbing  claim  on  our  respect  does  not  appear  from 
Papus,  but  the  sub-surface  understanding  is  un 
doubtedly  that  a  tradition  of  absolute  religion  has 
been  perpetuated  from  antiquity,  and  with  all  his 
dissemblings  and  palterings,  with  all  the  hindrance  of 
his  scepticism,  that  also  is  LeVi's  standpoint. 


B.— STANISLAS    DE   GUAITA 

Associated  with  the  literary  work  and  much  of 
the  active  propaganda  of  Dr.  Gerard  Encausse,  thr 
name  of  the  Marquis  Marie -Victor-Stanislas  de 
Guaita,  though  scarcely  known  in  England,  was  much 
valued  in  the  occult  circles  of  Paris,  and  his  com 
paratively  recent  death  at  the  early  age  of  thirty-six 
years  occasioned  profound  sorrow.  I  may  perhaps 
observe  that  outside  the  immediate  circle  of  his 
friends  and  admirers  it  is  possible  to  say  that  he  is  a 
real  loss  to  the  esoteric  literature  of  France. 


432   ^he  JBuctrine  anb  |£ttftattxre  of  the 

It  will  perhaps  scarcely  be  necessary  to  state 
that  he  was  a  disciple  of  Eliphas  LeVi,  whose  works 
he  regarded  as  constituting  "the  most  cohesive, 
absolute  and  unimpeachable  synthesis  that  can  be 
dreamed  by  an  occultist."  If  we  add  to  this  that  De 
Guaita  is  described  by  Papus  as  occupying  beyond 
contradiction  the  first  rank  among  the  pupils  of  Levi, 
we  shall  have  a  fair  knowledge  of  his  position.  He 
began  his  literary  life  as  a  poet,  and  in  that  character 
connects  with  the  school  of  Baudelaire.  His  mystic 
preoccupations  appear,  however,  in  his  verses,  and  he 
soon  devoted  himself  exclusively  to  the  occult 
sciences.  His  works  entitled  "  The  Threshold  of 
Mystery,"  "  The  Serpent  of  Genesis  "  and  "  The  Key 
of  Black  Magic  "  are  much  admired  for  their  "  magis 
terial  form,"  which  recalls  that  of  his  master.  In 
occult  science  de  Guaita  was  chiefly  attached  to  the 
Kabalistic  tradition,  and  he  considered  that  in 
"  Neo  -  Mosaic  Christianity,  explained  by  the  Holy 
Kabalah  and  Alexandrian  Hermeticism  (under 
certain  reserves),  the  absolute  truth  must  be  sought 
in  all  knowledge.* 

At  an  early  period  of  his  occult  enthusiasm 
Stanislas  de  Guaita  founded  a  Kabalistic  Order  of 
the  Rose-Cross,  comprehending  three  grades,  to  which 
entrance  could  be  obtained  only  after  successful 
examination,  and  the  possession  of  the  three  grades 
of  the  Martinist  Order  was  an  indispensable  pre 
liminary  condition.  When  the  numerical  strength  of 
the  association  had  attained  the  limits  prescribed  by 


*  From  a  Lettre  intditc  quoted  in  L?  Initiation,  torn,  xxxviii.,  No. 
4,  Jan.,  1898,  pp.  12,  13. 


<Some  Christian  Students  of  the  Jtabulah     423 

its  constitution,  it  was  rigorously  closed  by  decision 
of  the  Grand  Master.  De  Guaita  is  termed  an 
erudite  orientalist  by  his  friends,  who  also  mention 
the  Hebrew  folios  which  enriched  his  library.* 
Finally,  it  is  recorded  that  he  believed  himself  more 
thoroughly  possessed  of  the  Kabalah  than  all  others. 
Hut  if  we  may  accept  the  authority  of  Dr.  Marc 
Haven  he  seems  to  have  distinguished  two  species  of 
Kabalah,  the  first  a  science  which  no  one  could  teach 
and  no  one  could  learn,  except  with  the  most  arduous 
toil  and  by  years  of  sacrifice,  for  it  is  "  more  rugged 
than  Wronsky,  more  diffuse  than  Spanish  Mysticism, 
more  complex  than  Gnostic  analysis."  And  after  all 
it  appears  to  be  only  a  pseudo- Kabalah.  The  other 
is  apparently  the  Kabalah  as  presented  by  William 
Postel,  Nicholas  Flamel,  Khunrath,  Saint-Martin  and 
so  forth.  I  must  confess  that  this  distinction  is  a 
puzzle.  I  know  well  enough  that  Saint-Martin  was 
not  a  Kabalist,  except  in  the  most  phantasmal  sense 
and  by  a  most  remote  derivation.  I  know  that 
Flamel  the  alchemist,  if  he  ever  wrote  anything,  was 
concerned  with  the  transmutation  of  metals  and  not 
with  the  mysteries  of  Am  Soph.  It  is,  however,  the 
Kabalah  of  such  Kabalists  that  is  said  to  illuminate 
the  pages  of  de  Guaita  and  to  have  inspired  his 
active  works. 

Despite  therefore  t»f  his  accredited  erudition, 
the  author  of  the  "  Serpent  of  Genesis ''  has  no 
message  to  the  serious  student  of  Kabalism  ;  the 
Zohar  has  its  difficulties,  and  by  these  he  was  clearly 
intimidated.  Hut  the  kind  of  distinction  which 

*    li'id. ,  p.  32  et  seq. 


424  ^hx  JBortritu  anb  |pt*rattire  ot  the  gabalah 

de  Guaita  sought  to  establish  offers  at  least  one 
point  of  interest.  Postel,  Flamel,  Khunrath,  Saint- 
Martin,  are  names  which  stand  in  his  mind  for 
Kabalistic  Christianity,  for  that  marriage  of  the 
Zohar  and  the  Gospel  to  which  he  refers  expressly.* 
He  differs  therefore  from  his  fellow  propagandist 
Papus,  who  exhibits  few  Christian  sympathies  and  is 
attached  more  consistently  to  the  doctrine  of  Eliphas 
Levi.  But  in  de  Guaita,  as  in  Levi,  it  is  not  the 
orthodox  Christianity,  as  understood,  on  the  one 
hand,  by  Mirandola  and  Postel,  or,  on  the  other,  by 
Rosen  roth,  with  which  the  Kabalah  is  connected, 
but  Christianity  permeated  by  Gnostic  elements, 
and  this  is  the  special  characteristic  of  all  occult 
students  who  take  any  interest  in  the  light  cast  on 
the  religion  of  Jesus  by  the  post-Christian  develop 
ments  of  Jewish  theosophy.  Thus,  the  missionary 
enthusiasm  of  the  early  Christian  schools  of  Kabalism, 
and  the  Messianic  dream  constructed  by  Jewry  out 
of  the  wild  elements  of  the  Zohar,  have  been 
exchanged  for  an  attempt  to  go  back  upon  the 
path  of  doctrinal  development  and  to  discover  in 
the  analogies  between  the  Kabalah  and  the  Gnostics 
a  practicable  thoroughfare  into  the  debated  regions 
of  esoteric  religion.  As  disappointment  waited  on 
the  mistaken  ardour  of  the  first  zealots,  so  it  is 
possibly  in  store  for  the  revived  zeal  in  Kabalism. 


*  "  The  Zohar  has  wedded  the  Gospel ;  the  spirit  has  fructified 
the  soul ;  and  immortal  works  have  been  the  fruits  of  this  union. 
The  Kabalah  became  Catholic  in  the  school  of  St.  John,  the  master  of 
masters,  incarnate  in  an  admirable  metaphysical  form  .  .  .  the  absolute 
spirit  of  the  science  of  justice  and  love  which  vivifies  internally  the 
dead  letter  of  all  the  orthodoxies." — Le  Serpent  de  la  Genhe,  p.  183. 


-Some  <Rhri0tian  <Stufcent0  of  the  3£nbalah     425 

C— LEON    MEURIN,    SJ. 

Having  to  establish  some  points  of  connection 
between  the  Kabalah  and  Freemasonry,  it  seems  just 
to  include  among  Kabalistic  students  the  most 
laborious  investigator  of  this  subject,  the  late  Arch 
bishop  of  Port  Louis.  It  is  true  that  his  large  treatise, 
"  Freemasonry  the  Synagogue  of  Satan,"  is  a  product 
of  the  troubled  dream  of  the  Papacy  concerning  the 
Liberi  Muratori  and  is  saved  only  by  the  sincerity 
of  its  intention  from  a  place  in  bogus  literature  ;  it 
is  true  also  that  it  connects  with  a  squalid  imposture 
long  since  unmasked,  but  it  shows  a  considerable 
acquaintance  of  the  superficial  order  both  with 
Kabalistic  doctrine  and  Masonic  symbolism,  and  it  is 
worth  noticing  how  the  transcendental  tradition  of 
the  Jews  was  appreciated  quite  recently  by  a  Catholic 
critic  who  was  also  an  ecclesiastic  of  some  eminence 
and  a  member  of  the  Society  of  Jesus. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  say  that  it  is  an  entirely 
hostile  criticism.  "  In  place  of  the  orthodox  syna 
gogue  and  the  true  doctrine  of  Moses  which  God 
Himself  inspired,  modern  Kabalists  represent  the 
paganism  with  which  certain  Jewish  sectarians 
became  imbued  during  the  captivity  of  Babylon.  We 
have  only  to  study  their  doctrine  and  to  compare  it 
with  those  of  civilised  nations  in  antiquity — Indians, 
Persians,  Babylonians,  Assyrians,  Egyptians,  Greeks 
and  so  forth,  to  become  assured  that  the  same 
pantheistic  system  of  emanation  is  inculcated  by  all. 
We  find  ever)  where  an  eternal  principle  emanating 
a  primeval  triad  and  thereafter  the  entire  universe, 


4*6  ^hc  gbrt1"™*  anb  Eiterature  of  the  gmbalah 

not  by  creation,  but  by  substantial  emanation.  Hence 
we  are  compelled  to  recognise  a  close  connection 
between  Kabalistic  philosophy  and  ancient  paganism 
which  is  difficult  to  explain  except  by  the  inspiration 
of  the  same  author,  in  other  words,  the  Lying  Spirit 
who  is  the  enemy  of  mankind." 

The  entire  treatise  may  be  regarded  as  the 
development  of  this  paragraph,  which,  it  must  be 
confessed,  is  the  view  that  would  be  taken  inevitably 
by  the  Latin  Church.  We  have  seen  that  under 
the  auspices  of  Christian  Kabalists,  with  Picus  de 
Mirandola  as  their  mouthpiece,  there  was  for  one 
moment  a  sign  of  rapprochement  between  the  Church 
and  the  Jewish  tradition,  but  it  was  impossible  in  the 
nature  of  both,  and  the  Church  was  saved  then,  as 
it  has  been  occasionally  saved  since,  as  if  by  some 
happy  intuition  which  preceded  any  real  knowledge 
of  the  interests  at  stake. 

The  general  position  being  thus  defined  with 
perfect  accuracy  by  Mgr.  Meurin,  he  proceeds  at  a 
later  stage  to  develop  his  impeachment  by  exhibiting 
the  fundamental  error  of  all  pantheism,  that,  namely, 
which  concerns  the  transition  of  the  Infinite  to  the 
Finite,  which  wears,  he  tells  us,  for  any  serious 
thinker,  the  aspect  of  a  fraudulent  device.  Basing 
his  argument  on  the  well-known  verse  in  Wisdom  : 
"  Thou  hast  ordered  all  things  in  measure,  and  number, 
and  weight,"  he  advances  that  we  musk  seek  in  these 
the  distinction  between  the  Infinite  and  the  Finite, 
for  these  categories  do  not  exist  in  God,  or  rather 
they  are  "elevated  above  themselves  and  lost  in  a 
superior  unity."  Creation  out  of  nothing  is  the  only 
rational  solution  of  the  grand  problem  concerning  the 


Christian  .Stnbents  of  the  glnbalah     427 

origin  of  a  world  which  is  governed  by  number, 
weight  and  measure,  a  doctrine  which  assumes  no 
passage  from  Infinite  to  Finite,  since  it  does  not 
derive  the  universe  from  the  divine  substance  by  an 
emanation  of  any  kind.  "It  is  true  that  ex  nihilo 
nihil  fit.  But  in  the  creation  there  is  not  only  the 
nihilum  ;  there  is  also  the  Omnipotent,  and  it  is  untrue 
to  say  that  with  nothingness  and  the  all-powerful, 
nothing  can  be  made.  Ex  nihilo  nihil  fit  a  Deo 
would  be  a  false  axiom." 

In  a  study  like  the  present  it  would  be  entirely 
out  of  place  to  discuss  the  points  at  issue  between 
emanationists  and  creationists.  The  Kabalah  is  a 
system  of  emanation,  and  it  is  so  far  opposed  to  the 
official  doctrine  of  orthodox  religion  on  a  question  of 
fundamental  philosophy.  I  think  personally  that  the 
better  reason  is  on  the  side  of  the  hypothesis  of 
emanation  on  the  simple  ground  that  the  conception 
of  nihilum  cannot  co-exist  with  that  of  an  infinite 
God.  I  shall  be  told,  of  course,  that  I  am  confusing 
the  notion  of  endless  space  with  that  of  the  Divine 
Nature,  but  as  God  is  everywhere  by  the  hypothesis, 
there  is  no  place  which  is  not  filled  by  His  power  and 
His  presence,  and  then  where  is  the  nihilum  ?  But 
the  whole  controversy  concerns  a  res  ardua  ct  diffic-lis, 
as  Isaac  de  Loria  would  have  termed  it,  which 
fortunately  cannot  produce  a  single  consequence  of 
importance  to  the  human  mind,  though  it  is  precisely 
to  such  arid  speculations  that  official  orthodoxy  has 
always  sought  to  attach  an  eternal  consequence  for 
the  soul. 

Mgr.  Meurin  remains,  however,  the  consistent 
and  correct  exponent  of  the  Church  which  he 


428  i;he  Jltfctrine  anb  literature  of  the  Jtabaiah 

represents,  and  so  far  as  this  Church  is  concerned 
he  has  registered,  as  we  must  admit  fully,  the  heretical 
nature  of  Kabalistic  doctrine.  We  may  go  further 
and  allow  that  in  other  places  he  scores  occasionally 
a  logical  point  against  it.  I  think  that  no  intelligent 
person  can  well  deny  the  intellectual  clumsiness 
with  which  the  system  of  Sephirotic  emanation  is 
presented  in  works  like  the  Greater  Sacred  Synod. 
We  have,  for  example,  such  notions  as  the  commence 
ment  of  thought  in  Ain  Soph  which  proceeds  the 
emanation  of  understanding,  thus  reversing  the 
psychological  order,  as  the  prelate  well  observes, 
besides  formulating  an  absurdity  concerning  the  one 
Being  in  whom  there  is  no  beginning.  It  may  well 
be  that  in  the  last  analysis  these  things  are  to  be 
understood  more  profoundly  than  is  suggested  by 
their  surface  meaning,  but  they  are  crude  and  mis 
leading  enough  in  their  outward  sense. 


XIX.— THE    KABALAH    AND   ESOTERIC 
CHRISTIANITY 

A  discussion  of  the  points  of  contact  between 
Christianity  and  the  mystical  tradition  of  the  Jews 
must  not  close  without  some  reference  to  a  scheme 
of  mystical  Christianity  which  obtained  for  a  period 
a  certain  vogue  in  English  occult  circles  and  met 
with  especial  commendation  from  certain  Kabalistic, 
students.  I  refer  to  the  New  Gospel  of  Interpretation, 
founded  on  illuminations  received,  or  believed  to  have 
been  received,  by  Anna  Bonus  Kingsford,  and 
developed  since  her  decease,  not  perhaps  always 


§ome  (Christian  §tufcent0  of  the  gabalah      429 

acceptably,    by    her    collaborator    and    co-recipient, 
Edward  Maitland,  now  also  passed  away.     The  text 
books  of  this  movement  were,  firstly,  a  small  collec 
tion    containing    the   illuminations,    and,    secondly    a 
formal  treatise  which,  under  the  title  of  "  The  Perfect 
Way,"  constituted  a  philosophical  development  and 
historical  verification  of  the  doctrines  received  by  the 
seeress.     Mr.  S.  L.  McGregor  Mathers  dedicated  his 
English  translation  of  some  of  the  Zoharistic  books 
to  the  authors  of  this  treatise  on   the  ground  that  it 
was  "  one  of  the  most  deeply  occult  works  that  has 
(sic)   been   written    for   centuries."      The    dedication 
also   described    it   as    an    "  excellent   and    wonderful 
book,"    touching    much    on    the    doctrines     of    the 
Kabalah  and   laying  great  value  upon  its  teachings. 
It  was  welcomed  in  terms  of  still   higher  apprecia 
tion  by  Baron  Spedalieri,  of  Marseilles,  the  disciple 
of   Kliphas   Levi,  who  regarded    it   as  "  in  complete 
accord    with    all    mystical   traditions,    and    especially 
with    the    ^reat  mother  of  these,  the  Kabalah."     In 
connection    with    this    appreciation    the    respectable 
French  occultist  observed  :   (a)  That  the  Kabalistic 
tradition   as  we  now  possess  it  is  far  from  genuine, 
and  was  much  purer  when  it  first  emerged  from  the 
sanctuaries,     (b)  That   when  William  Postel  and  his 
brother  Hermetists  predicted  that  the  literature  con 
taining  the  secret  tradition  of  the  Jews  would  become 
known  and  understood  at  "  the  end  of  the  era,"  they 
meant    that   it   would   be  made  the  basis  ol   "a  new 
illumination,"  reinstating  that  tradition  in  its  purity. 
(c)  That  this  illumination  and  this  restoration    have 
been  accomplished  in  "  The  Perfect  Way."    He  adds  : 
"  In  this  book  \ve  find  all  that  there  is  of  truth  in  the 


430  TOe  Ipoxtrine  anb  JCiterature  ot  the  Jtabalah 

Kabalah,  supplemented  by  new  intuitions,  such  as 
present  a  body  of  doctrine  at  once  complete,  homo 
geneous,  logical  and  inexpugnable.  Since  the  whole 
tradition  thus  finds  itself  recovered  or  restored  to  its 
original  purity,  the  prophecies  of  Postel  and  his 
fellow  Hermetists  are  accomplished  ;  and  I  consider 
that  from  henceforth  the  study  of  the  Kabalah  will 
be  but  an  object  of  curiosity  and  erudition,  like  that 
of  Hebrew  antiquities." 

If  this  be  the  case,  the  inquiry  with  which  we 
have  been  occupied  at  such  considerable  length  is 
only  prolegomenary  to  the  New  Gospel  of  Inter 
pretation,  and  our  concluding  words  should  be  simply 
to  direct  the  student  who  is  in  search  of  the  true 
meaning  of  esoteric  tradition  to  the  doctrines  con 
tained  in  this  last  word  of  revelation.  Indeed,  such 
a  course  would  seem  at  first  sight  the  only  one  which 
could  be  followed.  I  must  add,  however,  that  the 
opinion  expressed  by  Baron  Sped  dieri  has  produced 
no  consequence,  that  the  Kabalistic  School  of 
occultists  in  England  has  not  followed  the  lead 
thus  indicated,  and  would  not  endorse  the  opinion, 
though  committed  to  a  certain  extent  in  the  same 
direction,  while  the  New  Gospel  of  Interpretation 
has  taken  no  permanent  hold  on  the  occult  thought 
of  the  time.  It  is  still  occasionally  quoted  with 
respect  by  writers  who  represent  Kabalism,  and 
notably  by  Dr.  Wynn  Westcott,  the  translator  of 
the  "  Book  of  Formation,"  but  this  is  the  extent 
of  its  influence.  I  infer  also  that  Baron  Spedalieri's 
statement  as  to  the  adulteration  of  the  genuine  tradi 
tion  in  the  Hebrew  Kabalah  would  not  be  traversed 
seriously,  but  for  its  recovery  occultists  seem  inclined 


Some  (Christian  <§tubente  of  the  gUbalah     43r 

to  look  backward  towards  Egypt  rather  than  to  any 
form  of  supplementary  revelation. 

I  do  not  propose  to  recite  here  even  the  leading 
aspects    of     the    system     of     esoteric     Christianity 
developed  in  "The  Perfect  Way,"  for  the  work  is  well 
kn-Avn  and  its  substance  has  been  made  accessible  in 
many  forms,  thanks  to  the  untiring  devotion  of  Mr. 
Edward   Maitland.      It  does  offer  some  conspicuous 
points  of  contact  with  the  tradition  of  the  Kabalah, 
especially  as  to  the  dual  nature  of  God,  or  the  Divine- 
Feminine,  and  "  the  multiplicity  of  principles  in  the 
human  system";  but  it  would  be  easy  to  exaggerate 
their  extent,  as  also,  in  some  less  conspicuous  cases, 
their  importance.     The  traceable  references  are  few 
and    superficial.      We    may  find,    for   example,    the 
Kabalistic  doctrine  of  Ain  Soph  and  His  emanations 
in  the  statement  that  "  God  unmanifest  and  abstract 
is  the  Primordial   Mind,  and  the  Kosmic  universe  is 
the  ideation  of  that  Mind,"  but  it  is  not  a  far-reaching 
correspondence.     So  also  the  conception  of  Macro- 
prosopus  reflected  in  Microprosopus  is  thinly  sketched 
by  the  following  passage.     "  In  *  the  Lord  '  the  Form 
less  assumes  a  form,  the  Nameless  a  name,  the  Infinite 
the  Definite,  and  these  human.     But,  althou-h  '  the 
Lord  is  God  manifested  as  a  man '  in  and  to  the  souls 
of  those  to  whom  the  vision  is  vouchsafed,  it  is  not  as 
man  in  the  exclusive  sense  of  the  term  and  masculine 
only,   but    as    man    both    masculine    and    feminine" 
(Microprosopus  it  will  be  remembered  is  androgyne), 
"  at  once  man  and  woman,  as  is  Humanity  itself."     I 
should  add    that  the  "new  Gos;  el  "  maintained  the 
divinity  of  the  Kabalah  on  the  ground  of  the  purity 
of  its  doctrine  of  correspondences,  which  shows  that 


432  ^he  5-trrtrttte  anb  |!Jiteratiire  of  the  Jiabalah 

"  this  famous  compendium  belongs  to  a  period  prior 
to  that  destruction  by  the  priesthoods  of  the  equilib 
rium  of  the  sexes  which  constituted  in  one  sense  the 
"  Fall."  With  this  statement  of  its  Divine  origin 
may  be  brought  into  contrast  the  interpretation  of 
the  claim  made  by  the  Kabalah  as  to  the  manner  of 
its  delivery.  "  When  it  is  said  that  these  Scriptures 
were  delivered  by  God  first  of  all  to  Adam  in 
Paradise,  and  then  to  Moses  on  Sinai,  it  is  meant  that 
the  doctrine  contained  in  them  is  that  which  man 
always  discerns  when  he  succeeds  in  attaining  to  that 
inner  and  celestial  region  of  his  nature  where  he  is 
taught  directly  of  his  own  Divine  Spirit,  and  knows 
even  as  he  is  known."  As  "  The  Perfect  Way  "  and 
its  connections  assume  to  be  the  outcome  of  a  similar 
quality  of  discernment,  it  follows,  of  course,  that  it  is 
a  recovery  of  "  the  doctrine  commonly  called  the 
Gnosis,  and  variously  entitled  Hermetic  and  Kabba- 
listic." 

I  should  add  that  many  thoughtful  persons  have 
found  in  "  The  Perfect  Way  "  a  "  fountain  of  light, 
interpretative  and  reconciliatory,"  that  much  of  its 
interpretation  indicates  a  rare  quality  of  genius ; 
yet  it  was  not  free  at  the  beginning  from  the  fantastic 
element,  and  it  depends  to  some  extent  on  philo 
logical  arguments  which  are  more  than  fantastic. 
Also  at  the  close  of  Mr.  Maitland's  life  he  wrote 
much  which  must  have  been  regretted  by  his  friends, 
bringing  his  earlier  work  into  discredit  by  exaggerated 
claims  concerning  it.  Taking  it  as  a  whole  "  The 
Perfect  Way"  cannot,  I  think,  be  regarded  as  a 
master-key  to  the  Kabalah,  or  as  anything  indeed  but 
a  series  of  suggestions  and  glimpses  concerning  the 


(Christian  ^tubente  of  the  Jiabalah     433 

hidden  sense  of  many  sacred  scriptures,  the  full 
unfolding  of  which  will  not  perhaps  be  accomplished 
even  in  the  twentieth  century. 

XX.— THE  KABALAH  AND  MODERN 
THEOSOPHY 

The  attempt  which  was  made  in  the  year  1875, 
by  the  foundation  of  the  Theosophical  Society,  to  ex 
tend  and  perhaps  to  centralise  the  study  of  Oriental 
Occult  Philosophy,  has,  in  spite  of  its  chequered 
history,  succeeded  to  a  very  large  extent  in  that 
object.  If  we  remove  from  consideration  certain 
claims  advanced  by  the  founders,  about  which  it  would 
be  unbecoming  to  speak  positively,  as  it  would  be 
impossible  and  misplaced  here  to  attempt  their  full 
discussion,  and  if  we  regard  the  Society  rather  as  it 
assumes  to  regard  itself,  namely,  as  an  organisation 
designed  to  promote  a  neglected  branch  of  knowledge, 
we  have  only  to  survey  its  literature  during  the  past 
twenty  years  to  see  how  large  a  field  it  has  succeeded 
in  covering.  No  occult  student  will  be  inclined  to 
overlook  this  fact,  and  as  the  Theosophical  Society 
possesses  at  least  this  aspect  of  importance,  it  will 
be  useful  to  ascertain  how  far  the  expositions  of 
eastern  philosophy  which  we  owe  to  it  connect  with 
the  subject  of  our  inquiry. 

It  may  be  said  in  a  general  manner  that  the 
correspondences  which  I  have  already  established 
are,  of  course,  recognised.  The  cosmology  and 
pueumatology  of  Jewish  esoteric  tradition  are 
regarded,  roughly  speaking,  as  reflections  or  deriva 
tives  from  an  older  knowledge  and  a  higher  teaching 

EE 


434   ^he  Stortritu  <wfc  SJtterature  of  iht  $iabalah 

which  has  existed  from  time  immemorial  in  the 
farthest  East*  I  suppose  it  would  not  be  denied 
that  the  peculiar  methods  of  the  Kabalah  are,  so  to 
speak,  indigenous,  but  with  these  there  is  little 
sympathy  and  indeed  little  acquaintance.-)-  Nor  do 
I  throughout  trace  a  sufficient  warrant  in  knowledge 
for  the  expression  of  particular  opinions.  The  author 
of  "Isis  Unveiled"  and  "The  Secret  Doctrine"  had,  it 
must  be  confessed,  an  enormous  budget  of  materials, 
but  not  very  carefully  selected.  On  the  one  hand, 
she  gives  us  information  which  we  are  not  able  to 
check  because  we  do  not  know  her  authorities  ;  on 
the  other  she  makes  statements  occasionally  with 
which  it  is  difficult  to  agree.  Thus,  she  distinguishes 
between  the  ordinary,  or  Judaistic,  and  the  universal, 
or  Oriental  Kabalah.  If  little  be  known  of  the  one, 
there  is  nothing,  at  least  nothing  that  is  definite, 
known  of  the  other.  "  Its  adepts  are  few  ;  but  these 
heirs  elect  of  the  sages  who  first  discovered  '  the  starry 
truths  which  shone  on  the  great  Shemaia  of  the 
Chaldaean  lore '  have  solved  the  '  absolute '  and  are 
now  resting  from  their  grand  labour."  J  That  is  a 
statement  which,  of  course,  we  cannot  check,  and 
for  any  critical  study  of  the  Jewish  Kabalah  it  can, 

*  Compare  the  ignorant  absurdity  and  assurance  of  the  late 
W.  Q.  Judge,  who  did  not  scruple  to  affirm  that  Abraham,  Moses  and 
Solomon  were  members  of  the  ancient  lodge  of  adepts  from  whom  this 
high  teaching  has  been  handed  down.  "The  Ocean  of  Theosophy," 
New  York,  1893,  c.  I.  "Echoes"  of  this  kind  "from  the  burnished 
and  mysterious  East,"  to  quote  Judge  terminology  ("  Echoes  from  the 
Orient,"  p.  5,  New  York,  1890),  do  not  find  response  among  theosophical 
writers  in  England. 

f  It  is,  however,  said  that  "there  was  at  all  times  a  Kabalistic 
Literature  among  the  Jews."  Secret  Doctrine,  iii.,  166.  This  is 
simply  without  warrant,  and  is  contradicted  by  the  literature  itself. 

%  "Isis  Unveiled,"  i.,  17. 


Christian  <Stnbfnt0  of  the  labalah     435 

therefore,  carry  no  weight.  It  may  be  taken  to 
indicate  a  growing  feeling  among  occultists  of  all 
schools  that  the  Hebrew  tradition  has  been  perverted.* 
It  may  be  accepted  also  as  evidence  that  because 
the  term  Kabalah  signifies  an  oral  reception  it  has 
come  to  be  used  in  connection  with  any  unwritten 
knowledge.  Such  a  course  is  very  inexact  and  mis 
leading,  but  the  same  abuse  of  words  is  found  in 
Paracelsus  and  many  later  writers.  It  serves,  however, 
a  purpose  not  intended  by  those  who  use  it  ;  it 
distinguishes  between  scholar  and  sciolist.  The 
statement  which  we  cannot  check  is,  however,  usually 
accompanied  by  the  statement  that  we  can,  In 
the  present  case  we  are  told  that  the  "Book  of 
Occultation  "  is  "  the  most  ancient  Hebrew  document 
on  occult  learning,"!  and  I  much  doubt  whether 
this  would  be  countenanced  by  any  student  who 
was  acquainted  with  the  strong  claims  of  the 
"  Book  of  Formation,"  to  say  nothing  of  the  literature 
which  belongs  to  Talmudic  times.  It  is  added  that 
the  Sepher  Dzeniouttia  was  compiled  from  another 
and  older  work  which  is  not  named,  but  it  is  stated 
that  there  is  only  one  "  original  copy  "  in  existence, 
and  that  this  is  "  so  very  old  that  our  modern  anti 
quarians  might  ponder  over  its  pages  an  indefinite 
time,  and  still  not  quite  agree  as  to  the  nature  of 
the  fabric  upon  which  it  is  written."  J  Till  antiquaries 


*  One  theosophical  writer,  however,  maintains  that  "the 
collection  of  writings  known  as  the  Bible  constitutes  but  one  of  a 
number  of  record,  which  are  all  derived  from  and  based  upon  one 
unifying  system,  known  at  times  as  the  Ancient  Wisdom  Religion,  or 
Secret  Doctrine."  \V.  Kint^sland.  "The  Ivsoteric  Basis  of  Christianity,'' 
part  I.,  p.  15,  London,  1891. 

f  "  Isis  Unveiled,"  i.,  I.  %  Ibid. 


436  ^he  Jtodrine  ani  $it*ratxm  ot  the  gabalah 

are  furnished  with  the  opportunity  they  will  be 
tempted  to  dismiss  this  claim.  With  both  these 
classes  of  statement  we  may  connect  the  affirmation 
that  is  not  evident  in  itself  and  is  supported  by 
doubtful  reasoning,  Thus  we  are  told  of  Oriental 
Kabalists  who  assert  that  the  traditions  of  their 
science  are  more  than  seventy  thousand  years  old, 
concerning  which  claim  it  is  observed  that  modern 
science  cannot  prove  it  to  be  false,  but  the  question 
is  whether  Kabalists,  oriental  or  otherwise,  have  any 
colourable  pretence  of  evidence  to  produce  in  support 
of  its  truth.  We  may  pass  over  as  circumspectly  as 
possible  the  writer's  personal  pretension  to  a  first 
hand  acquaintance  with  Kabalistic  books  once  indis 
putably  in  existence,  but  now  lost.  Of  such  is  the 
Chaldaean  Book  of  Numbers,*  which,  according  to 
another  authority,  is  a  companion  to  the  sEsh 
Metzareph,^  but  is  declared  in  "  I  sis  Unveiled  "  to 
be  a  part  of  the  great  Oriental  Kabalah,  namely, 
the  patrimony  of  the  persons  previously  described 
as  having  "  solved  the  absolute."!  To  the  lesson 
which  is  taught  by  observations  of  this  kind  we 
may  add  the  borrowed  view  which  rests  on  bad 
criticism,  as,  for  example,  that  the  Talmud  is  "  the 
darkest  of  enigmas  even  for  most  Jews,"§  thus 
attributing  a  mystical  sense  to  the  commentaries 


*  This  work  is  said  to  be  much  superior  to  the  Zohar.  "Secret 
Doctrine,"  i.,  214.  It  is,  in  fact,  the  only  real  Kabalah,  ib.,  iii.,  170. 
It  appears  to  be  now  in  possession  of  certain  Persian  sufis  (id.),  an 
interesting  statement  which  I  have  not,  however,  felt  authorised  to 
make  use  of  in  Book  iii. ,  §  6,  of  this  study. 

t  This  is  Dr.  Westcott's  opinion.  Madame  Blavatsky  adds  that 
the  Sepher  Yetzirah  is  also  a  portion  of  the  Book  of  Numbers. 

£  Ibid.,  L,  579.  §  Ibid.,  i.,  17. 


<§>ome  Christian  §tubent0  of  tlu  Jlabalah     437 

on  the  exoteric  laws  of  Israel,  the  value  of  which 
attribution  has  already  been  exhibited.  I  must 
admit,  however,  that  many  considerable  names  and 
one  of  great  weight  with  occultists  can  be  quoted  in 
support  of  this  opinion.* 

It  would  serve  no  purpose  to  extend  further  the 
correction  of  such  manifest  errors  or  to  enumerate  all 
the  singular  assertions  which  rest  more  or  less  exclu 
sively  on  the  good  authority  of  Madame  Blavatsky. 
It  will  be  sufficient  to  refer  to  her  views  upon  the 
authenticity  of  the  Zohar.f  On  the  one  hand  the 
author  is  said  to  be  R.  Simeon  ben  Jochai  ;  J  again,  it 
was  "  edited  for  the  first  time "  between  A.D.  70  and 
1 10  ;§  and  yet  again,  it  was  written,  as  it  now  stands, 
by  R.  Moses  de  Leon,  the  original  being  lost,  though 
at  the  same  time  its  contents  were  "  scattered  through 
a  number  of  minor  MSS."  R.  Moses  had  Syriac, 
Chaldaic,  and  Christian  Gnostics  to  help  him.  Such 
opinions  are  without  any  warrant  for  serious  criticism. || 


*  The  best  test  of  Madame  Blavatsky's  first-hand  knowledge  of 
the  subject  is  the  fact  that  she  calls  the  Liber  Drushim  of  Isaac  de  Loria 
a  part  of  the  Talmud,  and  thence  proceeds  to  exhibit  the  Sephirotic 
doctrine  of  that  collection.  "Secret  Doctrine,"  i.,  438.  The 
symbolism  of  the  Lesser  Countenance  is  also  referred  to  the  Talmud. 
Ibid.,  i.,  350. 

f  It  is  characteristic  that  she  should  regard  the  Zohar  as  not 
sufficiently  esoteric.  Ibid. 

t  Ibid.,  iii.,  92.  She  also  says  that  it  was  on  account  of  his 
possession  of  the  "secret  knowledge"  that  R.  Simeon  was  forced  to 
take  refuge  in  the  cave.  After  this  version  of  a  matter  of  fact  we  shall 
not  be  surprised  to  learn  that  St.  Peter  was  a  Kabalist  (//;.,  iii.,  125), 
that  the  Count  de  St.  Germain  had  access  to  unknown  Vatican  MSS. 
on  the  Kabalah,  which  MSS.  contain  information  regarding  the 
Central  Sun  (#.,  ii.,  237),  or  th.it  the  Zohar  i>  "called  also  the 
Midrash,"  as  if  the  last  term  were  particular,  and  not  generic  (ib.,  iii., 
167). 

§  Ibid.,  iii.,  167.  ||  Ibid.,  i.,  114,  230;  iii.,  167. 


BOOK    VIII 

THE    KABALAH    AND    OTHER 

CHANNELS     OF     ESOTERIC 

TRADITION 

ARGUMENT 

Modern  occultism  regards  all  the  secret  sciences  as  vehicles  of 
the  great  occult  tradition,  but  thn  is  outside  the  purpose  of  the 
present  inquiry,  which  is  confined  to  estimating  the  extent  of  the 
influence  exercised  by  Kabalism  on  other  branches  of  esoteric 
knowledge  in  the  West.  It  is  found  that  this  influence  has  been 
much  exaggerated  in  the  West.  It  has  been  unquestionably  large 
in  the  case  of  ceremonial  magic,  but  very  small  in  that  of  alchemy, 
of  astrology,  &c.  Freemasonry  has  also  been  regarded  by 
occultists  as  a  channel  of  the  secret  tradition,  but  its  connection 
with  Kabalism  is  slight.  The  claims  of  the  Tarot  as  a  key  of 
Kabalistic  symbolism  are  set  aside,  without  prejudice  to  their 
merits,  because  of  an  insuperable  difficulty.  As  a  conclusion  to 
the  whole  research  the  doctrine  of  pure  mysticism  is  contrasted 
with  that  of  Kabalism  and  the  points  reached  in  the  investigation 
are  brought  into  a  single  focus. 

I.   THE    KABALAH    AND    MAGIC 

IT  was  established  at  the  outset  of  our  inquiry  that 
occult  speculations  do  not  consider  any  single  system 
as  the  exclusive  depository  of  occult  knowledge  ;  a 
variety  of  channels  are  recognised,  and  by  the  net 
work  of  communications  subsisting  between  these 
channels  the  occult  sciences  are  methodised  and  their 


(Other  Channels  of  Esoteric  UniMtion         439 

identities  and  analogies  exhibited.  There  is  an 
enormous  divergence  of  opinion  as  to  what  may  and 
may  not  constitute  a  path  of  the  secret  tradition, 
individual  predilection  exercising,  as  will  be  supposed, 
no  inconsiderable  influence.  We  may  conclude  in  a 
general  manner  that  the  tradition  being  ubiquitous 
by  the  hypothesis  is  thought  to  have  assumed  its 
forms  everywhere  and  at  all  times.  There  was,  for 
example,  no  exoteric  religion  which  did  not  possess 
an  esoteric  interpretation*  and  there  was  no  esoteric 
interpretation  which  did  not  connect  that  religion 
with  all  that  is  more  especially  understood  here  by 
the  secret  teaching.  For  this  hypothesis  the  integral 
connection  of  Kabalism  with  other  systems  belonging 
to  the  far  past  would  be  evidence  enough  that  it  had 
its  root  in  the  secret  tradition,  but,  without  denying 
altogether  that  there  may  be  a  certain  warrant  for  a 
not  dissimilar  view,  we  have  found  that  many  of  the 
resemblances  may  be  accounted  for  in  a  more  natural 
and  spontaneous  manner.  As,  however,  it  was  in  the 
western  world  that  Kabalism  was  chiefly  propagated, 
and  may  be  said  roughly  to  have  developed,!  it  is 
necessary  to  observe  its  connections  with  other 
channels  by  which  the  arcane  knowledge  is  believed 
to  have  been  communicated  to  the  West.  These  are 
Magic,  Alchemy,  Astrology,  the  occult  associations 
which  culminated  in  Freemasonry,  and,  finally,  an 
obscure  sheaf  of  hieroglyphs  known  as  Tarot  cards. 

*  John  Yorker  :    "  Notes  on  the  Scientific  and  Religious  M\ 
of  Antiquity,"  p.  5. 

t  If  the  derivation  of  the  /<>h;ir  iVun  R.  Simeon  ben  Jochai  be 
admitted,  Palestine  was,  of  course,  the  birthplace  of  that  work.  Dr. 
Schiller-Szinessy,  who  defends  [hi*  derivation,  accepts  also  what 
follows  therefrom. 


440   oEhe  Ipcnrtrine  anb  literature  of  the  gabnlah 

There  is  also  a  side  question  as  to  whether  devotional 
mysticism,  apart  from  any  formal  initiation,  shows 
any  trace  of  Kabalism  over  and  above  that  of  uncon 
scious  analogy.  Like  the  studies  which  have  preceded 
it,  the  object  of  this  concluding  book  is  rather  to 
correct  misconceptions  than  to  establish  novel  views. 
Far  too  much  stress  has  been  laid  upon  the  common 
basis  of  all  the  occult  sciences,  while  those  who  look 
for  their  enlightenment  more  especially  to  the 
Kabalistic  apparatus  have  been  unduly  predisposed 
to  discern  Kabalism  at  the  root  of  all.  We  shall  see 
that  in  most  instances  the  connection  was  accidental, 
a  matter  of  adornment,  late  in  its  introduction,  or 
chiefly  of  the  historical  order.  The  paramount 
exception  to  this  statement  is  the  first  system 
with  which  we  have  here  to  deal.  There  is  no 
doubt  that  Magic  in  the  West  *  owes  its  processes 
and  its  complexion  to  Kabalism,  though  it  would  be 
folly  to  pretend  that  without  Kabalism  there  would 
have  been  no  Western  Magic.f 

I  propose  in  the  present  section  to  restrict  the 
use  of  the  term  Magic  within  the  narrow  limits  of 
its  common  acceptation.  To  take  it  in  its  higher 

*  "The  Kabalah  is  the  source  of  all  the  vain  imaginations  which 
form  the  basis  of  Magic,  and  many  Jews  devoted  to  the  Kabalah  are 
also  addicted  thereto,  abusing  the  names  of  God  and  the  angels  for  the 
performance  of  things  supernatural."  Moreri :  Grand  Dictionnairc 
Historique,  Tom.  ii.,  s.v.  Cabale.  Amsterdam,  1740. 

t  The  strength  of  the  connection  is  exhibited  by  the  modern 
literature  of  colportage  in  France.  La  Grande  et  Veritable  Science 
Cabalistiqtte  is  still  la  Sorcellerie  dcvoitie,  and  it  is  under  such  titles  that 
the  mutilated  reprints  of  the  "Great  Albert,"  the  "Little  Albert" 
and  the  "  Red  Dragon  "  appear  in  the  obscure  by-ways  of  Paris,  usually 
without  place  or  date.  Similar  productions  of  the  last  century  also 
exhibit  it  ;  see  the  anonymous  Telescope  de  Zoroastrc  on  Clef  de  la 
Grande  Cabale  divinatoire  des  Mages,  s.L,  1796. 


(Other  Channels  of  dreotcric   tirabitton         441 

sense,*  as  equivalent  to  Divine  Wisdom,  would  make 
it  superfluous  to  inquire  whether  it  connects  with  a 
tradition  which  lays  claim  to  the  same  definition. 
The  question  as  it  is  understood  here  is  rather 
historical  than  metaphysical,  and  is  concerned  only 
with  the  Western  world.  The  White  and  Black 
Magic  of  the  Middle  Ages  constitutes  a  kind  of 
spurious  practical  Kabalah  which  represents  Jewish 
esoteric  science  debased  to  the  purposes  of  the 
sorcerer,  and  it  is  necessary  that  we  should  estimate 
it  at  its  true  worth,  because  it  has  been  the  subject 
of  much  misconception  not  only  among  uninstructed 
persons  but  even  professed  students. 

A  study  of  the  Zoharistic  writings,  their  develop 
ments  and  commentaries,  even  with  the  slender 
materials  which  are  offered  in  this  work,  vviil  show 
that  the  ends  proposed  by  the  speculative  Kabalah 
are  very  different  from  the  evocation  of  spirits,  the 
raising  of  ghosts,  the  discovery  of  concealed  treasures, 
the  bewitchments  and  other  mummeries  of  Ceremonial 
Magic.  The  Kabalah,  does,  however,  countenance, 
as  we  have  seen,  the  doctrine  of  the  power  resident 
in  Divine  Namcs,f  and  it  is  in  fact  one  of  the 
burdens  of  its  inheritance.  Of  the  antiquity  and 
diffusion  of  that  doctrine  there  can  be  no  doubt  ;  in 
one  or  other  of  its  forms  it  has  obtained  almost 
universally,  and,  like  all  universal  beliefs,  behind 
the  insensate  character  which  it  exhibits  externally 

*  II  would  be  unwise  to  deny  that  there  is  a  higher  sense,  but 
such  attempts  to  present  it  as  Dr.  Franr  Hartmann's  "  Magic  White 
and  Black  "  are  much  too  highly  coloured  to  possess  any  historical 
value. 

t  See  the  important  chapter  on  the  Name  of  God  in  J.  Leusden's 
Philologus  Hebraits,  1672. 


442    ^he  IBottrine  an!b  Jitn'atttre  of  the 

there  may  be  an  inward  reason  which  accounts  for 
it.  Without  attempting  an  inquiry  in  which  we 
should  be  probably  baffled,  it  is  sufficient  here  to 
indicate  that  at  the  sources  to  which  Kabalistic 
tradition  is  generally  referred,  namely,  Akkadia, 
Chaldaea  and  Babylonia,  this  doctrine  prevailed  ;  it 
was  no  doubt  brought  out  of  Babylon  by  the  Jews, 
and  they  carried  it  with  them  into  the  dispersion  of 
the  third  exile.  It  inspired  a  whole  cycle  of  bizarre 
legends  concerning  Solomon  and  his  marvels.  More 
than  this,  it  may  be  said  to  be  directly  connected 
with  the  Kabalistic  symbolism  concerning  the  divine 
powers  and  qualities  attaching  to  the  Hebrew 
alphabet  The  worlds  were  made,  so  to  speak,  by 
the  instrument  of  a  single  letter,  and  four  letters 
are  the  living  forces  which  actuate  them.  There  can 
be  therefore  no  question  that  every  Kabalist  accepted, 
symbolically  at  least,  the  doctrine  of  the  power  of 
words.  It  must  have  passed  very  early  into  un 
fortunate  applications;*  sacred  names  were  written 
on  amulets  and  talismans  which  were  used  to  heal 
diseases,  to  avert  evil  chances  and  so  forth.-f  But  it 
was  a  part  also  of  the  Chaidaean  doctrine  that  the 


*  The  Sephcr  Raziel,  referred  to  Eleazer  of  Worms,  and'  posing 
as  an  angelic  revelation  to  Noah,  has  been  already  mentioned.  With 
its  talismans  and  philtres,  its  double  seal  of  Solomon,  its  mystic  or 
occult  alphabetical  symbols,  its  figures  for  the  government  of  evil 
spirits,  and  its  conjurations  by  means  of  the  Divine  Names,  this  work 
constitutes  one  of  the  storehouses  of  mediaeval  magic,  besides  being 
chiefly  responsible  for  the  whole  of  the  practical  Kabalah. 

f  So  far  as  regards  the  early  Christian  centuries,  the  question  is 
settled  by  a  reference  in  the  thirty-third  Sermon  of  Origen  by  way  of 
commentary  on  St.  Matthew,  wherein  allusion  is  made  to  a  book  of 
exorcisms  or  adjurations  of  Demons  passing  under  the  name  of  Solomon, 
which  was  no  doubt  the  prototype  of  the  later  Keys  and  Grimoires. 


(Dther  Channels  of  (Esoteric  ITraoition         443 

possessor  of  the  Divine  Name  could,  in  some  obscure 
way,  influence  the  God  to  whom  it  was  attributed. 
Above  all,  the  demons  and  evil  spirits  became 
subservient  to  the  power  of  such  words.  Here  is 
the  germ  of  which  the  last  development,  or  rather 
the  final  corruption,  is  to  be  found  in  the  French 
grimoires  of  Black  Magic. 

It  was,  broadly  speaking,  somewhere  about  the 
fourteenth  century  that  a  Latin  literature  rose  up  in 
Europe,  passing  subsequently  into  the  vernaculars  of 
various  countries,  containing  processes  for  compell.ing 
spirits  by  means  of  Divine  Names  which  are  corrup 
tions  of  Hebrew  terms.*  The  processes  pretend  to 
be  translated  from  the  Hebrew,  but,  if  so,  the 
originals  are  not  extant.  The  chief  of  them  is  known 
as  the  "  Key  of  Solomon,"  of  which  there  are  two 
recensions,  more  correctly  regarded  as  distinct  works 
under  an  identical  title.f  Among  the  points  which 
should  be  observed  concerning  them  is  the  fact  that 
while  they  are  concerned  with  all  classes  of  spirits, 
good  and  evil,  for  every  variety  of  purpose,  but 
mostly  illicit,  they  contain  no  formula  for  dealing 
with  the  dead,  and  this,  I  think,  indicates  their 
Jewish  origin,  for  the  Jews  had  very  strong  feelings 
as  to  the  sacred  nature  of  the  repose  of  the  human 


*  Jean  Wier,  a  demonologist  of  the  sixteenth  century,  in  his 
ffisloires,  Disputes  et  Discours  (Us  Illusions  et  Impostures  des  Diablcs, 
gives  a  list  of  magical  works  current  at  his  period  under  great  names 
of  the  past,  and  points  out  that  the  art  which  they  deal  with  hai> 
depraved  the  most  secret  interpretation  of  the  Divine  Law,  known  as 
Kabalah  among  the  Jews. — Seethe  reprint  of  this  work,  Paris,  1885, 
>•,  175- 

f  A  work  passing  under  this  name  was  condemned  in  a  Decree  of 
Pope  Gelasius.  ...Sec  Antonius  van  Dale:  De  Online  et  Progressu 
iiT,  Amsterdam,  1696,  p.  558. 


444   ^fte  Jodrtne  anb  JJiterature  xrf  the  jiabalah 

soul.  Out  of  these  two  works  there  was  developed 
subsequently  a  larger  variety  of  processes,  more 
distinctly  spurious,  which  did  enter  into  necro 
mantic  mysteries.  They  begot  also  many  variations 
adapted  for  the  use  of  Christian  operators,  and  con 
taining  sacred  words  the  efficacy  of  which  would  not 
have  been  so  promptly  acknowledged  by  a  Hebrew. 

It  is  one  thing  to  note  the  existence  of  this 
literature  and  to  confess  its  derivation  ;  it  is  another, 
and  as  I  think  an  unfortunate  policy,  to  exalt  works 
like  the  "  Key  of  Solomon "  into  embodiments  of 
genuine  Kabalistic  tradition.  It  is  an  insult  to  the 
rabbins  of  the  Holy  Synod  to  suggest  their  connection 
with  the  puerilities  and  imbecility  of  Ceremonial 
Magic.  It  has  been  done  in  England  and  is  being 
done  at  this  day  in  France.*  The  professed  Kabalistic 
occultists  of  the  latter  country  would  actually  seem 
to  ascribe  a  superior  importance  and  an  additional 
aspect  of  mystery  to  the  worthless  Clavicles  of 
Solomon,  by  representing  that  they  are  the  only 
written  memorials  of  a  most  secret  oral  branch  of 
practical  Kabalism  instead  of  the  final  debasement  of 
a  perfectly  traceable  if  not  rationally  accountable 
doctrine  concerning  Divine  Names.  Dr.  Papus 
observes :  "  The  practical  part  of  the  Kabalah  is  barely 
indicated  in  a  few  manuscripts  scattered  through  our 
great  libraries.  At  Paris,  the  Uibliotheque  Nationale 
possesses  one  of  the  finest  exemplars,  of  which  the 


*  There  is  some  ground  for  supposing  that  the  first  express 
attempts  to  identify  Magic  with  Kabalism  must  be  referred  to  Germany. 
There  are  numerous  earlier  examples,  but  Welling's  Opus  Mago- 
Cabbalisticum,  Hamburg,  1765,  is  a  good  instance,  and  it  is  also  a  work 
of  some  interest. 


(Dther  Channel*  of  <£0oteru  ^raiitiou         445 

origin  is  attributed  to  Solomon.  These  manuscripts, 
generally  known  under  the  name  of  Clavicles,  are  the 
basis  of  all  the  old  grimoires  which  circulate  in  country 
places  (the  Great  and  Little  Albert,  Red  Dragon  and 
Enchiridion}  and  of  those  which  drive  priests  into 
mental  alienation  by  sorcery  (Grimoire  of  Honorius)." 
The  statement  does  not  exhibit  full  acquaintance 
with  the  works  which  it  mentions  ;  the  Enchiridion 
in  its  earliest  forms  owes  little  to  the  "Keys  of 
Solomon,"  and  the  Grimoire  of  Honorius  is  not  more 
concerned  with  sorcery  than  are  rituals  like  the  Red 
Dragon.  Finally,  the  intellectual  and  moral  difference 
between  the  Clavicles  and  their  derivatives  is  so  slight 
that  it  is  scarcely  worth  labouring.  As  regards  their 
scope  and  intention,  the  Clavicles  are  themselves 
grimoires.  I  have  indicated  the  possibility  that 
behind  the  ancient  doctrine  of  the  virtue  resident  in 
certain  theurgic  words  and  formulae  there  may  be 
concealed  a  secret  of  the  sanctuaries  ;  so  also  the 
apparatus  of  Ceremonial  Magic  may  be  a  travesty 
and  disfigurement  of  an  occult  practice  known  also 
to  the  occult  sanctuaries,  but  no  one  is  on  the  track 
of  these  mysteries  who  begins  by  mistaking  signum 
for  signatum  on  the  one  hand  or  the  mutilated 
reflection  for  the  original  on  the  other. 

The  general  fact  remains  that  it  is  by  the 
perversion  of  the  Kabalah  that  we  have  obtained  the 
grimoires,  and  that  the  sympathetic  student  of  the 
Jewish  tradition  mu.t  tolerate  this  unwelcome  fact  as 
he  best  can.* 


*  A  work  belonging  to  this  class,  but  more  elaborate  and 
interesting  than  most  of  them,  goes  to  show  that  a  Jew  in  possession 
of  the  "  Holy  Traditions  of  the  Kabalah  "  and  also  of  the  secrets  of 


446  ^he  Jocttine  nub  fiDitetature  of  the  Jlabalah 

I  should  prefer  to  ignore  altogether  this  so-called 
practical  part  of  the  Kabalah,  but  so  much  import 
ance  having  been  attributed  to  it  by  modern  occultists, 
it  seems  necessary  for  the  sake  of  completeness  to 
say  something  briefly  of  its  materials  and  its  method. 
It  was  concerned  above  all  with  the  names  of  God, 
firstly,  as  they  are  found  in  Holy  Scripture,  and, 
secondly,  as  their  mysteries  were  developed  by 
means  of  Kabalistic  processes.  It  attributed  certain 
names  to  the  Sephiroth,  and  these  were  regarded  as 
analogous  to  the  divine  forces  and  attributes 
associated  with  the  Sephiroth. 

The  Divine  Name  connected  with  Kether  was 
that  signifying  the  essence  of  the  Deity,  Eheieh 
(AHIH).  That  of  Ckokmah  is  Jod,  Jah,  or  Tetra- 
grammaton,  commonly  rendered  Jehovah  (JHVH), 
and  susceptible  of  twelve  permutations,  similar  to 
the  sealing  names  of  IHV  in  the  Sepher  Yetzirah. 
These  permutations  are  called  Banners  by  the 
Kabalists.  The  name  Jehovah  Elohim  (JHVH 
ALHIM)  is  attributed  to  Bin<ih  and  signifies  God 
of  Gods.  EL  (AL)  is  referred  to  Chesed,  and  its 
meaning,  according  to  Rosenroth,  is  God  of  Grace 
and  Ruler  of  Mercy.  Geburah  is  in  correspondence 
with  Elohim  Gibor,  the  strong  God  who  avenges  the 


practical  Magic,  bequeathed  the  first  to  his  elder  and  the  second  to  his 
younger  son.  What  happened  when  there  were  more  than  two  sons 
does  not  appear. — See  the  "  Book  of  the  Sacred  Magic,"  translated  by 
S.  L.  MacGregor  Mathers,  London,  1898.  The  original  is  an  MS. 
in  the  Arsenal  Library,  Paris,  and  belongs  to  the  i8th  century,  but  it 
claims  to  have  been  written  in  Hebrew  in  the  year  1458,  which  claim, 
by  the  internal  evidence,  is  manifestly  imposture.  Even  its  Jewish 
authorship  is  unlikely.  Mr.  Mathers,  who  has  a  certain  erudition  but 
is  devoid  of  critical  judgment,  accepts  every  claim  advanced  by  this 
work,  as  he  accepts  that  of  the  "Key  of  Solomon." 


(Other  Channels  of  Neoteric  Urabition         447 

crimes  of  the  wicked.  Eloah  va  Daath  is  the  Divine 
Name  of  Tiphereth  (ALVH  V  DATh)  ;  Jehovah 
or  Adonai  Tsabaoth  (ADNI  TsBAVTh),  the  God 
or  Lord  of  Hosts,  is  connected  with  Netzach  ;  Elohim 
Tzabaoth,  of  similar  meaning,  belongs  to  Hod ; 
Shaddai  El  Chai  (ShDI  AL  Chi),  the  omnipotent 
living  God,  is  referable  to  Jesod ;  Adonai  Melekh 
(ADNI  MLK)  to  Malchuth. 

But  the  ten  Sephirotk  are  naturally  connected 
with  the  ten  numbers,  and  hence  there  was  an  occult 
power  resident  in  numerals  analogous  to  that  which 
was  inherent  in  the  Hebrew  letters  ;  the  divine 
names  belonging  to  the  Sephirotk  were  those  also  of 
the  scale  of  the  denary,  but  over  and  above  these 
there  were  other  names  referred  to  the  numbers 
based  on  the  number  of  the  letters  which  gave 
.expression  to  these  names.  Thus,  the  number  one 
was  represented  by  the  single  letter  Jod,  understood 
as  a  Divine  Name,  and  not  in  its  alphabetical  order 
in  which  it  is  equivalent  to  ten.  The  number  two 
was  represented  by  JH  and  AL  ;  the  number  three 
by  ShDI  =  Shaddai  ;  the  number  four  by  JHVH  and 
AHIH  ;  five  by  ALHIM,  to  which  I  presume  that 
Christian  Kabalism  has  added  JHShVH=/*vW/W/ 
or  Jesus;  six  by  ALVThIM  and  AL  GBVR  ; 
seven  by  ARARITA  and  AShRAHIH  ;  eight 
by  ALVH  V  DATh  and  JHVH  V  DATh;  nine 
by  JHVH  TsBAVTh,  ALHIM  GBVR,  and  JHVH 
TsDQNV  ;  ten  by  ALHIM  TsBAVTh  and  by  the 
extended  Tetragrammaton  JVD  HA  VAV  HA. 
It  may  be  added  in  this  connection  that  according  to 
Cornelius  Agrippa  simple  numbers  were  used  to 
express  divine  things,  numbers  of  ten  were  for 


448  °lhe  Uortrine  anb  |£iteratu«  of  the  $abalah 

celestial,  numbers  of  one  hundred  for  earthly,  and 
numbers  of  a  thousand  for  things  to  come.  The 
Divine  Names  and  their  qualifications  were  also 
tabulated  in  reference  to  the  twenty-two  letters. 

Of  these  names  the  greatest  power  and  virtue 
were  attributed  to  the  Tetragrammatont  which  was 
the  root  and  foundation  of  all  and  the  ruling  force  of 
the  world  ;  its  true  pronunciation,  as  already  seen, 
was  one  of  the  secrets  of  the  sanctuary  and  for 
Kabalistic  magic  was  the  master  key  of  all  successful 
operation.  With  this  was  connected  the  name  of 
72  letters  obtained  by  the  Kabalistic  computation  of 
the  numbers  of  the  letters  of  Tetragrammaton  after  a 
conventional  manner,  as  follows  : — 

Jod   =    10 
Jod  He  =  :    15 
Jod  He  Vau   ==   21    ^ 
Jod  He  Vau  He  =  =   26 

After  the  Divine  Names  come  those  of  the 
orders  of  the  angels  and  the  chiefs  of  the  hierarchy, 
concerning  which  something  has  been  said  already  in 
the  section  on  Kabalistic  Pneumatology.  It  would 
serve  no  purpose  to  enumerate  all  the  complicated 
apparatus  developed  in  this  connection.  The  ten 
archangels  and  the  ten  angelic  orders  corresponded 
to  the  ten  divine  names  connected  with  the  Sephiroth 
and  the  name  of  72  letters  had  72  other  angels 
attributed  thereto,  whose  names  were  extracted  by  a 
conventional  device  from  Exodus  xiv.  19,  20,  21. 
There  were  angels  of  the  cardinal  points,  rulers  of 
the  four  elements,  angels  of  the  planets,  angels  of  the 
Divine  presence,  and  in  opposition  to  all  these  there 
were  also  evil  spirits,  princes  of  Devils,  held  to  be 


Channels  of  <£sx>teric  ^rabition  449 

"offensive  in  the  elements,"  and  so  forth.  This 
apparatus  passed  bodily  over  to  the  ceremonial 
magic  of  the  middle  ages,  which  the  debased 
Kabalah  may  be  said  to  have  constituted  and  ruled 
throughout,  and  it  is  for  this  reason  that  Western 
conventional  magic  has  so  little  connection  with 
folk-lore. 


II.— THE  KABALAH  AND  ALCHEMY 

Some  reference  has  been  made  to  the  subject  of 
Hermetic  tradition  when  considering  the  Kabalistic 
treatise  entitled  "Purifying  Fire."  We  have  there 
seen  that  the  Hermetic  and  Kabalistic  philosophies 
are  generally  ascribed  to  a  common  source,  and  this 
is  the  case  with  sympathetic  as  well  as  hostile  critics. 
The  question,  however,  is  exceedingly  complicated, 
and  though  I  should  have  much  hesitation  in 
differing  from  such  a  consensus  of  authorities,*  I 
am  not  less  sure  that  as  regards  the  branch  of 
Hermetic  philosophy  which  is  known  under  the 
name  of  alchemy,  we  should  be  exceedingly 
careful  about  making  and  accepting  statements. 
We  must  begin  first  of  all  by  distinguishing  the 
earlier  books  ascribed  to  Hermes  Trismegistus,  and 
not  concerned  with  the  transmutation  of  metals,f 

*  In  a  pamphlet  entitled  "  The  Science  of  Alchymy,"  by  "  Supere 
Aude,"  Fra.  K.R.  et  A.C.,  the  "sages  of  medieval  Europe  are 
said"  to  have  derived  their  knowledge  of  this  subject,  (i)  from  the 
Arabs,  (2)  from  the  heirs  of  the  traditional  lore  now  identified  by  the 
name  "  Kabalah,"  (3)  from  ancient  Egypt.  Of  these  alleged  sources, 
the  first  only  is  historically  certain. 

t  Compare,  however,  the  anonymous  preface  to  the  first  English 
translation  of  the  Divine  Poimander,  that  of  Dr.  John  Everard,  1650; 

FF 


450   Ihe  itortrine  an&  literature  ot  the 

from  such  late  compositions,  to  make  use  of  no 
stronger  term,  as  the  Emerald  Table  and  the 
Golden  Treatise.  When  Isaac  Myer  affirms  that 
many  of  the  doctrines  of  the  Kabalah,  more  or 
less  veiled,  may  be  found  in  the  books  attributed 
to  Hermes  Trismegistus,*  the  reference  obtains 
only,  and  can  be  intended  only,  to  the  Divine 
Poimander^  the  Asclepios  and  other  tracts,  the 
existence  of  which  can  be  traced  about  or  prior 
to  the  fourth  century,  A.D.  We  may  search 
the  Greek  alchemists  in  vain  for  any  definite 
doctrinal  connection  with  these  works,  though 
Hermes  is  naturally  included  among  the  great  names 
of  antiquity  who  are  associated  with  the  making  of 
gold,  and  there  are  also  other  references  to  this 
mystical  personage.  While  we  must  discount 
altogether  such  extreme  opinions  as  that  of  Isaac 
Casaubon,  who  represents  the  earlier  Hermetic 
treatises  as  the  work  of  a  Kabalistic  adept  who 
was  probably  a  Jew  of  Alexandria,^  we  have 
numerous  general  reasons  for  admitting  that  there 
were  points  of  contact  between  Neo-Platonism 


here  the  possession  of  "the  great  Elixir  of  the  Philosophers"  is 
ascribed  to  Hermes  Termaximus.  See  also  Dr.  Westcott's  observations 
prefixed  to  his  verbatim  reprint,  Collectanea  Hermetica,  vol.  2,  London, 

1894- 

*  "The  Philosophy  of  Ibn  Gebirol,"  pp.  166,  167. 

f  M.  Berthelot,  however,  observes  that  "the  role  attributed  to 
the  Jews  in  the  propagation  of  alchemical  ideas  recalls  that  which  they 
enjoyed  at  Alexandria  during  the  contact  of  Greek  culture  with  the 
culture  of  Egypt  and  Chaldea.  It  is  known  that  the  Jews  exercised  an 
influence  of  the  first  importance  in  this  fusion  of  the  religious  and 
scientific  doctrines  of  the  East  and  of  Greece,  which  presided  at  the 
birth  of  Christianity.  The  Alexandrian  Jews  were  for  one  moment  at 
the  head  of  science  and  philosophy."  —  Les  Origines  de  FAlchiinie, 
Paris,  1885. 


Channels  of  (Esoteric  ^rabition  451 

and  the  Kabalah,*  as  seen  in  an  earlier  section. 
The  connection  of  alchemy  with  Hermes  is  not 
through  the  Hermetic  books  of  the  Neo-Platonic 
period,  and  its  Kabalistic  correspondences  must  also 
be  sought  elsewhere.  Among  the  writings  of  Zosimus 
the  Panopolite,  which  belong  to  the  third  century,f 
there  is  a  quotation  from  the  "  True  Book  of  Sophe 
the  Egyptian "  concerning  the  Divine  Lord  of  the 
Hebrews  and  the  powers  of  Sabaoth,  which  affirms 
that  there  are  two  sciences  and  two  wisdoms,  that 
of  the  Egyptians  and  that  of  the  Hebrews,  the 
second  being  rendered  "more  solid  by  Divine 
Justice." I  Both  come  from  remote  ages;  they  do 
not  investigate  material  and  corruptible  bodies  ;  their 
generation  operates  independently  of  any  foreign 
action,  sustained  by  prayer  and  divine  grace.  Then 
comes  the  following  significant  passage,  which 
accounts  for  tlie  philosophical  work  of  alchemy 
being  likened  to  that  of  God  in  the  creation.  "  The 
symbol  of  chemistry  is  drawn  from  creation  (in  the 

*  M.  le  Chevalier  I.  A.  de  Goulianov  in  his  Essai  sur  Us 
Hitroglyphes  d'Horapollon,  &c.,  Paris,  1827,  connects  Hermetic  and 
Kabalistic  tradition  on  the  fantastic  ground  that  Enoch,  who  plays  such 
an  important  part  in  the  revelation  of  the  Kabalah,  is  identical  with  the 
Edris  of  the  Orientals  and  witli  Hermes  (p.  48). 

t  As  Louis  Figuier's  popular  work,  entitled  UAlchimic  ct  les 
Alchimistcs,  is  much  quoted  by  occultists,  and  is  therefore  presumably 
in  the  hands  of  some  of  them,  it  will  be  well  to  point  out  that  he  classes 
all  Byzantine  literature  of  alchemy  as  apocryphal,  and  the  work  of 
monks  belonging  to  the  8th,  Qth,  and  loth  centuries.  There  was  never 
much  excuse  for  this  opinion,  and  it  is  only  necessary  to  add  that  since 
the  researches  of  Berthelot  it  has  become  impossible.  I  may  add  that, 
throughout,  Figuier's  work,  though  exceedingly  interesting,  is  most 
inaccurate  as  regards  its  facts,  and  of  no  consequence  as  to  its  opinions 
and  inferences.  Consult,  on  the  point  involved,  the  third  edition,  p.  6 
Paris,  i860. 

J  Collection  des  ancicns  akhimistcs  Grecs,  livrzison  ii.,  p.  206. 


452   ^he  Sptfjctrine  aitb  literature  of  the  giabalah 

eyes  of  its  adepts)  who  save  and  purify  the  divine 
soul  enchained  in  the  elements,  and,  above  all,  who 
separate  the  divine  spirit  confounded  with  the  flesh. 
As  there  is  a  sun,  the  flower  of  the  fire,  a  celestial 
sun,  the  right  eye  of  the  world,  so  copper,  if  it 
become  flower  (that  is,  if  it  assume  the  colour  of 
gold)  by  purification,  becomes  then  a  terrestrial  sun, 
which  is  king  on  earth,  as  the  sun  is  king  in  the 
sky."*  There  is  no  doubt  that  this  is  a  very 
important  citation.  It  shows  why  the  early  Hermetic 
books  came  to  be  regarded  as  alchemical  in  later 
times,  and  it  institutes  a  striking  parallel  between 
Egyptian  and  Jewish  science.  But  that  the  latter 
is  the  science  of  the  Kabalah  there  is  no  evidence 
to  cite.  So  also  the  reference  to  the  Labyrinth 
of  Solomon  which  occurs  among  the  remains  of 
still  earlier  Greek  alchemists  is  a  mediaeval  inter- 
polation.f  In  short,  the  celebrated  Byzantine 
collection,  which  is  so  far  the  source  of  all 
alchemy,  shows  no  traces  of  acquaintance  with 
the  Jewish  secret  tradition.  The  same  observation 
applies  to  the  early  Arabian  and  Syriac  alchemists 
who  drew  from  Greek  sources,  though  some  extracts 
from  Zosimus,  with  analyses,  in  a  Syriac  MS. 
possessed  by  the  University  of  Cambridge,  mention 
the  talismans  of  Solomon,  referred  to  the  seven 
planets,  and  the  power  which  they  exercise  over 
demons.  When  we  add  to  this  that  in  spite  of  such 
evidence  for  the  connection  between  alchemy  and  the 
Kabalah  as  is  offered  by  the  late  ^Esh  Metzareph 
there  is  very  little,  as  already  seen,  to  support  it  in 
the  Zohar,  it  must  be  inferred  that  these  two  esoteric 

*  Ibid.  f  Ibid. 


(Channels  of  Creotcnr  Trnbitiou  453 

traditions  grew  up  for  a  long  peried  in  independence 
of  one  another.*  Furthermore,  there  is  no  trace  of 
any  science  of  transmutation  in  ancient  Egypt,  and  it 
is  worth  noting  that  the  claim  of  alchemy  rose  into 
prominence  precisely  at  that  period  when  certain 
Chinese  ports  were  first  thrown  open  to  Western 
commerce.  If  it  be  true,  as  it  has  been  affirmed,  that 
alchemy  flourished  in  China  from  a  remote  period, 
that  it  possessed  a  literature,  and  that  the  terminology 
of  this  literature  offers  analogies  with  that  which  after 
wards  prevailed  in  the  West,  it  may  well  be  that  we 
must  look  to  the  furthest  East  for  the  cradle  of  what 
is  usually  understood  by  Hermetic  Science,  namely, 
that  of  transmutation.f  The  subject  is  far  too  large 
to  enter  on  in  this  place,  but  we  shall  do  well  to 
remember  that  the  doctrine  of  the  Macrocosm  and 
the  Microcosm,  the  analogy  between  spiritual  and 
material,  the  Zoharistic  symbolism  of  the  balance, 
have  all  been  traced  to  the  oldest  sacred  books  of 
the  Chinese.  J  The  analogies  may  not  be  so  striking 


*  It  is  fair,  however,  to  state  that  the  Leyden  papyrus  which 
contains  the  earliest  known  process  of  alchemical  sophistication  forms 
part  of  a  Gnostic  and  theurgic  collection.  On  this  point,  see 
Berthelot's  Collection  des  Anciens  Alchimistes  Grecs,  livraison,  Je.t  p.  6 
ct  seq.  Albert  Poisson,  whose  Theories  et  Symboles  des  Alchimistcs  is  a 
contribution  of  real  importance  to  the  elucidation  of  Hermetic  science, 
observes  that  "  Alchemy  among  the  Greeks  was,  by  reason  of  its  very 
origin,  mixed  up  with  magic  and  theurgy.  Later  on,  thanks  to  the 
philosophic  Arabs,  this  science  became  purified,  and  it  was  not  till  the 
fifteenth  or  sixteenth  century  that  it  allied  itself  afresh  \\ith  the  occult 
sciences  properly  so  called.  Thenceforth  a  considerable  number  of 
alchemists  demanded  the  Key  of  the  Great  Work  from  the  Kabalah, 
Magic  and  Alchemy."— Op.  cit.,  p.  27.  Paris,  1891. 

t  See  "The  Chinese,"  by  Dr.  W.  A.  P.  Martin,  New  York,  1881. 

%  The  most  accessible  work  of  reference  is  Isaac  Mycr's 
"Philosophy  of  Ibn  Gebriol,"  appendix  H.  I  mention  this  hypothesis 
so  that  it  may  be  taken  for  what  it  is  worth.  See  Book  iii.,  §  5. 


454  ^he  Jtorttine  anb  JpUratwre  of  the 

as  the  scholars  who  have  discovered  them  have 
thought ;  as  to  this,  we  have  no  real  means  of 
deciding  ;  but  they  indicate  at  least  the  possibility  of 
a  common  source  for  both  esoteric  traditions  at  a 
centre  not  as  yet  acknowledged  and  at  a  very  far 
epoch  of  the  past. 

Of  course,  as  time  went  on,  and  as  alchemical 
literature  developed  in  Europe,  a  connection  un 
doubtedly  arose  with  the  Kabalah.*  The  s£sh 
Metzareph  is  one  of  its  evidences ;  many  Kabalists 
became  alchemists ;  a  few  alchemists  studied  the 
Kabalah.  But  it  is  still  a  slight  and  occasional 
connection  which  we  must  be  careful  not  to 
exaggerate  :  there  is  also  very  little  trace  of  it  prior 
to  the  seventeenth  century ,f  when  writers  like  Fludd 
concerned  themselves  with  both  subjects,  and  Khun- 
rathj  introduced  Kabalistic  symbolism  into  the 
pictorial  emblems  of  transmutation.  § 

The  best  proof  of  these  statements  is  the 
literary  history  of  the  ALsh  Metzareph  itself.  Mr. 


*  "Alchemy,  a  science  of  observation,  could  not  profit  in  any 
way  by  its  alliance  with  the  Kabalah,  which  was  purely  a  speculative 
science." — Poisson,  Theories  et  Sy wholes  des  Alchimistes,  p.  28. 

t  Poisson  refers  this  confusion  of  one  occult  science  with  another 
mainly  to  Paracelsus,  but  I  have  already  given  full  proof  of  the  very 
slender  connection  between  this  adept  and  the  esoteric  tradition  of 
the  Jews. 

£  Amphitheatrum  Sapientice  A^terncc,  with  which  compare  the 
second  tract  of  the  J^rinum  Chemicum  Secundum.  Strasbourg,  1700. 

§  There  is  a  treatise  entitled  "The  Azoth  of  the  Philosophers" 
which  passes  under  the  name  of  Basil  Valentine,  and  suggests  a  certain 
connection  with  Kabalism,  because  the  term  Azoth  is  composed  of  the 
first  and  final  letters  of  the  Greek,  Latin  and  Hebrew  alphabets.  It 
has  been  called  into  requisition  accordingly,  but  the  foundation  is 
exceedingly  slight.  Moreover,  the  term  is  at  least  as  old  as  pseudo- 
Geber,  while  the  treatise  attributed  to  Basil  Valentine  is  of  doubtful 
authenticity,  and  was  excluded  from  the  collection  of  Mangetus. 


<£h*mul0  of  (Esoteric  ^Trabition  455 

Mathers  observes  that  it  is  "  known  to  few,  and  when 
known  is  understood  by  still  fewer."*  If  this  were 
its  position  in  the  year  1887,  it  may  be  truly  said 
that  when  alchemy  most  flourished  in  the  West, 
the  treatise  had  never  been  heard  of,  being  first 
mentioned  by  Rosenroth  at  the  end  of  the  seven 
teenth  century.  Prior  to  that  date  there  is  no  case 
within  my  knowledge  of  its  quotation  by  any 
alchemist,  and  although  the  Kabbala  Denudata  was 
described  on  its  title-page  as  Script um  omnibus  philo- 
logis,  philosophis,  theologis  omnium  religionum,  atque 
PHILOCHVMICIS  quam  utilissimnm,  I  believe  that 
only  one  alchemical  writer  concerned  himself  with  it 
after  the  appearance  of  its  fragments  among  the 
Apparatus  in  Librum  Sohar.  This  was  the  "  Lover 
of  Philalethes,"  who  collected  and  translated  the 
fragments  in  1714  and  also  published  in  the  same 
year  "  A  Short  Enquiry  Concerning  the  Hermetic 
Art,"f  which  introduces  certain  citations  from  the 
ALsh  Metzareph  and  connects  them  with  the 
symbolism  of  the  Doves  of  Diana  first  introduced 
into  alchemy  by  Eirenaeus  Philalethes. 

It  follows,  however,  from  what  has  been  stated 
previously  that  the  literary  connection  between  the 
Kabalah  and  alchemy  does  not  begin  so  late  as 


*  "The  Kabbalah  Unveiled,"  Introduction,  p.  15. 

t  Reprinted  in  Dr.  Wynn  Westcott's  Collectanea  Hcrmctica,  vol.  3, 
London,  1894  ;  the  preface,  which  is  not  by  the  editor,  states  that  the 
"  Short  Enquiry  "  was  "written  with  special  reference"  to  the  JEsh 
Metzare/>h,  but  there  seems  no  foundation  for  this  view.  The  little 
tract  is  largely  a  collection  of  opinions  and  quotations,  not  always 
derived  from  the  best  sources,  for  its  author  appears  to  regard  Edward 
Kelley  and  Elias  Ashmole  as  of  equal  authority  with  the  acknowledged 
adepts  of  alchemy. 


45 6   ^he  Bortrine  anb  Jpittrature  ot  the 

the  first  quarter  of  the  eighteenth  century*  and 
though  the  ALsh  Metzareph  seems  to  have  been  cited 
methodically  by  only  one  writer,  the  influence  of  the 
Kabbala  Denudata  may  be  traced  in  Germany  soon  after 
its  publication  by  means  of  an  anonymous  tract  which 
pretends  to  treat  of  the  chemical  Kabalahf  (cabala 
ckymica)  and  has  these  words  on  its  headline.  This 
little  work  is  incidentally  of  importance  in  more  than 
one  respect.  On  p.  16  there  is  a  curious  Figura 
Cabalce  where  the  light  from  the  Ens  Entium  falls 
on  a  bearded  figure  holding  the  compass  in  the  right 
and  the  square  in  the  left  hand,  thus  giving  the 
characteristic  symbols  of  emblematic  Masonry  in 
connection  with  the  secret  sciences  at  a  date  when 
such  a  connection  would  scarcely  be  expected  on 
the  Continent  by  modern  scholarship.  There  are  also 
some  observations  worth  noting  on  the  subject  of 
regeneration  which  are  useful  for  the  mystical  aspects 
of  alchemy. j  Unfortunately  the  correspondences 
between  the  Kabalah  and  transmutation  seem  to  be 
confined  to  the  title  which  I  have  quoted. 


*  I  except  such  slender  analogies  as  the  correspondence  traced  by 
Sapere  Aitde  between  the  three  worlds  of  Jean  D'Espagnet  and  the 
four  worlds  of  the  Kabalists.  See  "  Hermetic  Arcanum,"  Collectanea 
Chemica,  vol.  1  (Westcott's  Edition),  London,  1893. 

f  Cabala  verier  Descriptio  :  das  ist,  Brundliche  Beschriebungiind 
Enveisung  aller  natitralischcn  und  uber  naturalischen  Dingen 
boieditrch  das  Verbum  Fiat  das  alles  erschasun  .  .  .  Hamburg,  1680. 
There  was  a  later  edition,  Frankfort,  1761. 

J  A  work  of  similar  pretensions  is  F.  Kiern's  Cabala  Chymica  : 
concordantia  chymica,  Azoth  Philosophicum  Solificatum,  Mtilhausen, 
1606.  Here  the  term  Cabala  is  simply  a  catchword  derived  from 
Paracelsus,  and  is  used  in  this  sense  by  a  compiler  belonging  to  the 
group  of  Paracelsian  exponents,  of  whom  Benedictus  Figulus  and 
Alexander  von  Suchten  are  the  names  now  most  remembered  or  least 
forgotten. 


Channels  of  Esoteric  ^rabition  457 

The  most  important  information  on  the  subject 
might  be  expected  in  Hoefer's  "  History  of 
Chemistry,"*  which  claims  to  include  an  exposition 
of  Kabalistic  doctrines  concerning  the  philosophical 
stone,  but  the  term  proves  on  examination  to  be 
used  in  the  loose  sense  of  the  period,  and  out  of 
two  very  large  volumes  there  are  only  two  pages 
devoted  to  the  subject  of  the  Kabalah.f  The 
authorship  of  the  Sepher  Yetzirah  is  attributed  to 
R.  Akiba,  and  that  of  the  Zohar  to  R.  Simeon. 
It  is  also  affirmed  that  Jewish  and  Arabian  alchemists 
possessed  an  old  knowledge  of  Kabalistic  books, 
and  that  they  were  held  by  adepts  in  as  much 
honour  as  those  of  Hermes  Trismigestus.  The 
evidence  is  unfortunately  wanting,  and  as  M. 
Hoefer  also  maintains  that  the  science  of  trans 
mutation  was  pursued  in  ancient  Egypt,  it  would 
be  unsafe  to  accept  his  opinion  unsupported  by 
other  authority.  J 

Before  dismissing  the  Kabalistic  connections  of 
alchemy,  a  word  must  be  said  concerning  two  works 
which  have  been  supposed  to  be  examples  of  that 
connection,  and  to  which  some  importance  has  been 


*  Ferdinand  Hoefer :  Histoirc  de  la  Chimie  depuis  Us  temps  les 
plus  recuUs  jusqu'a  notre  tpoque ;  comprenant  une  analyse  cUtiillec 
des  MSS.  alchimiques  de  la  Bibliotheque  Roy  ale  de  Paris  ;  un  expos f  ales 
doctrines  cabalistiques  sur  la  Pierre  Phihsophale,  etc.,  2  vols.,  Paris, 
1842,  1843.  Mr.  II.  C.  Bolton  observes  that  this  great  work  is 
superseded  so  far  as  the  MSS.  are  concerned  by  the  researches  of 
Berthelot.  See  "A  Select  Bibliography  of  Chemistry,  Smithsonian 
Miscellaneous  Collections,  Washington,  1893,  p.  119. 

t  T.  i.,  pp.  242-244. 

%  There  is  indeed  one  authority  cited,  namely,  the  Apparatus  of 
Rosenroth,  /Cab.  Den.,  i.,  441-443,  and  this  is  a  quotation  from  the 

Metzareph,  c.  7. 


45 8    ^Ehe  J&octnnt  anb  |£iterattt«  of  the  gabalah 

attached.*  Both  have  the  advantage,  which  they 
share  in  common  with  Khunrath  and  his  Amphi- 
theatrum,  of  precedence  over  the  publication  of 
Rosenroth's  Kabbala  Denudata,  and  one  is  prior  to 
any  printed  edition  of  the  Zohar.  It  will  be  needless 
to  say  that  neither  shows  an  acquaintance  with  the 
sEsh  Metzareph,  nor  do  I  observe  in  their  contents 
anything  to  connect  them  with  the  Sephirotic 
attribution  of  the  metals  which  is  characteristic  of 
that  work.  One  is  a  treatise  by  Joannes  Augustinus 
Pantheus,  a  Venetian  priest,  entitled  Ars  et  Theoria 
Transmutationis  Metallicce,  cum  Voarchadumia  Pro 
per  tionibus,  muneris  et  iconibus  rei  accomodis  illus- 
trata.  It  was  published  at  Venice  in  April  i53O.f 
Following  the  author  himself,  the  Plermetic  Lexicons 
interpret  Voarchadumia,  (a)  as  "a  liberal  art  gifted 
with  the  virtues  of  occult  science,"  a  definition  which 
leaves  something  to  be  desired  ;  (&)  as  the  Kabalistic 
science  of  metals.  It  is  further  a  species  of  alchemical 
metallurgy,  concerning  "auriferous  metallic  veins;" 
it  explains  "  the  intrinsic  fixed  form  and  the  natural 
yellow  colour  of  gold  ;  it  distinguishes  the  hetero 
geneous,  combustible,  Volatile  parts,  and  exhibits 

*  There  are  others  naturally  in  the  large  literature  of  alchemy, 
but  they  are  not  of  Hermetic  value,  and,  as  in  all  cases,  the  Kabalistic 
connection  is  thin  and  elusive.  Such  is  the  Philosophic^  Salomonis,  o 
Secret  Cabinet  of  Nature,  a  German  anonymous  treatise  published  at 
Augsburg  in  1753.  Here  the  royal  stone  of  alchemy  is  connected 
.with  the  art  of  King  Solomon,  but  there  is  no  Kabalistic  knowledge, 
and  the  work  is  quite  worthless.  See  also  :  Cabala  :  Spiegel  der  Kunst 
und  Natur  in  Alchymia,  Augsburg,  1690,  remarkable  for  its  curious 
folding  plates. 

t  Rare  in  the  original  edition,  but  rendered  accessible  by  the 
reprint  in  Lazarus  Zetner's  Thcatrum  Chemicum,  Argentorati,  1613, 
etc.,  second  edition,  1659.  See  vol.  ii.,  p.  459  et  seq.  A  Paris  edition 
is  also  mentioned,  date  1550. 


Channels  of  (geoteric  \Trabiticm  459 

how  the  same  may  be  conducted  to  the  grade  of 
perfection.  It  defines,  lastly,  the  Matter  of  the  work, 
"a  heavy,  corporeal,  fixed,  fusible,  ductile,  tinged, 
rarefied  and  arcane  substance  of  Quicksilver  or 
Mercury,  and  of  an  incombustible  Metallic  Sulphur, 
educed  and  transmuted  into  true  gold  by  means  of 
cementation."*  It  will  be  seen  from  this  specimen 
of  style  that  the  work  is  very  nearly  unreadable,  even 
for  an  alchemical  treatise,  and  it  will  be  enough  for 
the  present  purpose  to  note  the  fact  of  its  existence 
and  to  observe  that  it  seeks  to  throw  light  on  the 
mysteries  of  transmutation  by  calculations  of 
Gematria.  It  exercised  no  influence,  and  no  import 
ance  can  be  reasonably  ascribed  to  it. 

The  other  work  is  much  better  known  to  fame 
and  it  offers  several  interesting,  and  so  far  unsolved, 
problems  to  the  student.  This  is  the  Monas  Hiero- 
glyphica  of  Dr.  John  Dee,  first  published  in  1 564,  and 
containing  an  analysis  of  the  planetary  symbols 
attributed  to  the  metals.f  Thus,  the  symbol  of 
Mercury  §  is  composed  of  the  crescent  ^,  which  is 
the  sign  of  silver,  the  circle  O,  which  is  that  of  gold, 
and  the  cross  representing  the  fodr  elements.  Special 
alchemical  importance  is  attributed  to  their  union  in 
the  sign  which  represents  the  fundamental  matter  of 
the  philosophers  as  well  as  metallic  quicksilver.  It 


*  See  the  anonymous  English  translation  of  Martinus  Rulandus  : 
Lexicon  Alchemia,  sive  Dictionarium  Alchcmisticum,  the  edition  of 
1612.  This  translation,  without  date  or  place,  was  restricted  to  six 
copies,  and  includes  a  large  "  Supplement  to  the  Alchemical  Lexicon  of 
Martinus  Rulandus."  The  explanation  of  Voarchadnmia.  occurs  on 

P-  438. 

t  For  the  astrological  aspect  of  this  analysis,  see  some  curious 
speculations  in  Alan  Leo's  "  Practical  Astrology,"  second  edition,  n.  d. 


460  ^he  JJrrrtrine  anb  JJiterature  of  the  JUbalah 

will  be  seen  that  this  is  not  in  any  sense  information 
which  helps  to  connect  alchemy  with  Kabalism, 
though  it  is  highly  important  for  the  obscure  question 
of  the  origin  and  history  of  the  astronomical  signs.* 

I  may  observe  in  conclusion  that  there  is  one 
possible  connection  between  alchemy  and  Kabalism 
which  would  appear  to  be  overlooked  by  all  those 
who  have  instituted  a  comparison  between  them.  It 
is  supplied  by  the  obscure  but  subsisting  analogies 
between  the  ancient  document  of  Latin  alchemy 
known  as  the  Turba  Philosophorum\  and  the  two 
Synods  of  the  Zohar,  I  am  not,  of  course,  referring 
to  the  accidental  similarity  of  form,  though,  having 
regard  to  the  history  of  the  Turba,  this  accident  is 
certainly  a  feature  of  interest.  There  are  statements 
and  allusions  in  this  obscure  colloquy,  more  especially 
regarding  the  four  elements  of  ancient  chemistry, 
which  offer  curious  points  of  contact  with  Kabalism. 
When  we  add  to  this  that  some  scholars  have  referred 
the  Turba  in  the  guise  that  we  at  present  possess  it 
to  a  Hebrew  original,  now  lost,  and  that  its  date,  so 
far  as  it  can  be  assigned,  is  somewhere  between  the 
promulgation  of  the  Book  of  Formation  and  the 
Zohar,  enough  has  been  said  in  indication  of  a 
possibility  upon  which  there  is  no  need,  as  indeed 
there  are  few  materials,  to  insist  further.  J 

*  For  information  and  references  see  §  xliv.  of  the  Eclairtissement 
Astronomiqiie  appended  to  M.  Bailly's  Histoire  de  FAstronomie 
Ancienne,  2nd  edition,  Paris,  1781. 

t  See  the  "  Turba  Philosophorum,  or  Assembly  of  the  Sages,  called 
also  the  book  of  Truth  in  the  Art,  and  the  third  Pythagorical  Synod 
.  .  .  Translated  from  the  Latin  .  .  .  By  A.  E.  Waite,  London,  1896. 
I  must  confess  that  I  have  no  theory  as  to  the  two  previous  Synods. 

J  It  is  due  to  my  readers,  and  to  the  subject,  to  confess  that  I 
have  not  made  an  exhaustive  examination  of  alchemical  literature  in 


Channels  of  (Esoteric  ^Trabition  461 


III.   THE  KABALAH  AND  ASTROLOGY 

The  modern  school  of  Kabalism  is  inclined,  as 
already  remarked,  to  claim  that  all  the  occult  sciences 
arise  out  of  their  own,  but  it  seems  more  correct  to 
infer  that  the  Kabalah  has  been  engrafted  on  some 
of  them,  and  in  this  manner  we  have  Kabalistic 
astrology,  as  we  have  also  Kabalistic  alchemy.  To 
determine  the  superior  accuracy  of  either  view  we 
must  have  recourse  exclusively  to  history  and 
literature.  It  is  only  in  the  instance  of  Ceremonial 
Magic  that  the  voice  of  both  is  unanimously  in  favour 


reference  to  its  connections  with  Kabalism.  I  have  made  myself 
acquainted  with  all  sources  which  have  been  cited  by  those  who  affirm 
them,  but  as  their  observations  have  not  been  based  upon  a  wide 
study  of  the  alchemists,  it  is  possible  that  my  future  researches  may 
discover  something  which  has,  so  far,  been  overlooked  on  both  sides. 
I  should  note  also  that,  according  to  M.  Berthelot,  "the  Kabalah  was 
bound  up  during  the  middle  ages  with  alchemy,  and  the  connection 
goes  far  back,"  that  is,  to  Jhe  Leyden  Papyrus  as  well  as  to  the  Greek 
alchemists.  But  I  infer  that  this  great  authority  has,  so  far  as  the 
mediaeval  period  is  concerned,  received  only  a  derived  impression,  or 
that  at  least  his  notion  of  the  Kabalah  has  been  obtained  as  such 
notions  most  commonly  are.  All  his  instances  as  to  the  earlier 
connections  must  be  rejected  decisively.  Some  of  them,  such  as  the 
"  Labyrinth  of  Solomon,"  have  been  already  dealt  with  ;  others  are 
mere  names — Abraham,  Isaac,  Jacob  and  the  word  Sabaoth  "in  papyri 
of  the  same  family  as  No.  75  of  Keuven>."  It  is  further  obvious  that  a 
reference  by  Zosimus  to  Solomon  and  his  \vi>d<im  establishes  no 
Kabalistic  analogy.  Finally,  when  the  Greek  alchemist  traces  the 
revelation  of  the  sacred  art  from  the  Egyptians  to  the  Jews,  "  who 
published  it  to  the  rest  of  the  world,"  we  must  remember  that  this  view 
belongs  to  a  period  which  referred  all  science  and  philosophy  to  the 
chosen  people  on  the  principle  of  Aristobulus  and  Philo,  so  that  this  also 
proves  nothing.  Lcs  Origincs  de  CAlchimic  .  .  .  Observe  that 
Itibliotheca  Dritannica,  ii.,  179  //,  gives  a  reference  to  a  work  by 
II.  C.  van  Hyler,  entitled,  Tractatus  Cabbali^tico— Chymico— Philo- 
sophico— Magicus,  Cologne,  1729,  but  I  am  not  acquainted  with  its 
contents. 


462   ^he  gortriue  zm!b  Jpteratee  of  the  gabalah 

of  a  Kabalistic  origin  as  regards  the  Western  world. 
From  a  priori  considerations  we  shall  be  disposed  to 
believe  that  the  case  of  astrology  will  prove  some 
thing  like  that  of  alchemy,  namely,  that  its  history 
and  literature  contain  little  to  connect  it  essentially 
with  Jewry.  It  has  the  air  of  an  exact  science  and 
seems  to  suggest  few  possible  analogies  with  the 
speculations  of  a  theosophical  system.  There  are  two 
facts,  however,  which  it  must  be  admitted  are  above 
challenge,  firstly,  that  the  Jews  were  much  addicted 
to  astrology,*  and,  secondly,  that  the  prophetic 
science  of  the  stars,  as  it  is  known  in  the  West,  has 
derived  something  from  the  later  Hebrews.  Against 
these  must  be  placed  two  other  facts,  not  of  less 
significance,  namely,  that  ancient  Israel  contributed 
very  little  to  the  science  of  astronomy,  that  Jewish 
astronomical  writings  belonging  to  the  Christian 
centuries  draw  chiefly  from  Arabia,  and  that  as 
regards  astrology  in  Jewry,  during  the  Kabalistic 
period,  it  was  imbedded  in  fastastic  notions  and 
puerile  processes.  We  are  not  called  to  deal  here 
with  the  history  of  the  science  ;  we  know  that 
Josephus  traces  it  to  Seth  and  assures  us  that  he 
himself  had  visited  the  two  famous  pillars 
reported  to  have  survived  the  deluge,  and  on 
which  all  the  rules  of  astrology  are  said  to 
have  been  engraved.  Josephus  may  have  been 

*  The  question  whether  the  art  was  condemned  by  the  Law  of 
Israel  has  been  a  subject  of  some  debate.  Perhaps  the  best  opinion 
considered  that  it  was.  See  on  this  point  the  Conciliator  of  Menasseh 
ben  Israel,  Sive  de  conventia  locorum  S.  Scriptura  qtia  pugnare  inter 
se  Videntur,  Frankfort,  1633,  p.  142.  It  was  also  debated  by  Gaffarel, 
writing  from  the  Christian  standpoint.  He  contrived  to  defend  the 
art  by  distinguishing  it  into  two  branches. 


Channels  of  (Neoteric  ^rabition  463 

deceived  easily,  or  he  may  have  been  tempted  to 
claim  for  his  nation  on  the  warrant  of  a  fable 
the  precedence  in  a  study  to  which  the  notion  of 
learning  was  attached.  Seth  and  the  pillars  set  apart, 
we  know  also  that  antique  Chaldea  was  a  great  centre 
of  astrology,  that  it  flourished  among  the  Babylonians, 
that  it  was  practised  in  Egypt,  and  it  is  natural  to 
suppose  that  the  Jews  must  have  had  their  share 
in  the  knowledge  of  each  of  these  peoples.  There 
may  have  been  even  a  Kabalah  of  astrological 
procedure  communicated  to  Christian  times.*  All 
this  is,  however,  beside  the  real  question  ;  we  are 
not  justified  in  looking  for  the  Zohar  or  its  influence 
in  Jewish  writings  on  mathematics  or  natural 
philosophy,  for  the  simple  reason  that  the  Zohar 
does  not  connect  seriously  with  these  subjects.  It 
has  also  little  concern  with  astrology.  We  are  at 
liberty,  however,  to  ask  ourselves  one  question. 
Astrology  works  upon  data  which  are  very  obscure 
in  their  history ,f  and  there  are  doctrines  connected 
with  it  which  even  to  the  occult  student  may  seem 
insufficiently  grounded.  It  would  be  interesting  to 
ascertain  whether  they  have  any  Kabalistic  corres 
pondences.  As  to  the  data,  I  suppose  no  one  has 
attempted  to  institute  a  parallel,  but  it  has  been 
thought  that  some  astrological  theorems  may  have 

I  Christian  affirms  that  there  was,  but  he  offers  no  evidence 
in  support  of  his  assertion  that  the  Spectduw  Astrologia  of  Junctin  was 
a  kind  of  synthesis  of  the  astrological  l.ilxmrs  of  the  "Arabian  and 
Hebrew  Kabalists."— Histoirc  dt  la  J/</.c/>,  1.  vii.,  Clefs  gtntiales  <k 
I? Astrologic^  p.  579. 

t  Which  history,  moreover,  has  never  been  elucidated  by  any 
writer  on  the  subject.  Mr.  \V.  Corn  Old's  "New  Manual,"  perhaps 
the  latest  work  on  Astrology  (London,  1898),  docs  not  attempt  to 
account  for  the  grounds  on  which  the  old  judgments  are  based. 


464   ^he  'jBadnnt  anfc  $titt*ittte  0!  the  glabalah 

a  connection  with  Kabalistic  apparatus.  Let  us  see, 
therefore,  what  is  said  upon  this  subject  by  its 
students. 

The  attribution  of  metals  to  the  Sephiroth  in 
the  sEsh  Metzareph  suggests  planetary  attribution, 
and  a  tabulation  has  been  constructed  by  Papus,* 
following  the  authority  of  Kircher  :  — 

1.  .Kether  corresponds  to  the  Empyrean. 

2.  Chokmah          „  „       Primum  Mobile. 

3.  Binah  „  „       Firmament. 

4.  Chesed  „  „       Saturn. 

5.  Geburah  „  „       Jupiter. 

6.  Tiphereth  „  ,,  Mars. 

7.  Netzach  „  „  Sun. 

8.  Hod  „  „  Venus. 

9.  Jesod  „  „  Mercury. 
10.  Malkuth_  Moon. 


It  is  possible,  as  the  d5s/i  Metzareph  shows,  that 
"  all  systems  tend  to  the  one  truth,"  but  this  scheme 
is  not  in  accordance  with  either  of  its  own  attribu 
tions.  These  are  followed  by  Rosenroth,  but  the 
R.  P.  Esprit  Sabathier,  in  that  strange  little  treatise 
on  Kabalism  which  still  exercises  so  much  fascina 
tion  on  French  students  of  the  subject,  refers  Mars 
to  Geburah  and  Mercury  to  Hod.^  When  there  is 


*  For  Papus  consult  La  Kabbah,  already  cited  frequently ;  for 
Kircher  (Edipus  (Egyptiacus.  The  synopsis  of  the  Kabalah  in  this 
rare  work  has  been  recently  translated  into  PVench. 

t  See  L?  Ombre  Ideale  de  la  Sagesse  Universelle^  1679.  A  reprint 
of  this  work  has  been  promised  in  Paris.  The  original  is  rare,  and 
there  is  no  copy  in  the  British  Museum,  but  the  reader  may  consult  the 
Table  given  by  Papus  at  pp.  80,  81  of  his  treatise  on  the  Kabalah, 
where  the  attribution  in  question  will  be  found. 


Channels  of  £0oterir  ^rabition  465 

no  unanimity  we  must  infer  that  there  is  no  point 
of  importance  involved  and  that  attributions  and 
tabulations  of  this  kind  are  less  or  more  conventional 
and  can  have  little  application  to  astrology  itself.  In 
modern  times,  however,  all  the  divinatory  sciences, 
which  in  every  case  possess  or  suggest  astrological 
connections,*  have  received  some  kind  of  Kabalistic 
attribution.  Thus,  the  planetary  correspondences 
of  the  figures  used  in  geomancy  have  been  adjusted 
to  the  Sephiroth\  Kabalistic  principles  have  been 
applied  to  chiromancy  ;  physiognomy  alone,  possibly 
because  it  has  never  had  much  attention  at  the  hands 
of  professed  occultists,  seems  an  exception  to  this 
rule,  although,  as  we  have  previously  seen,  there  is 
direct  warrant  for  it  in  the  Zohar.f 

The  most  accessible  information  on  astrology 
among  the  Jews  is  in  the  "  Curiosities "  of  James 
Gaffarel,  who  based  his  observations  on  a  direct 
knowledge  of  its  chief  rabbinical  exponents  during 
the  Christian  centuries.}  To  reduce  what  he  says  to 
a  sentence,  the  Jewish  astrologers  read  the  heavens 
like  a  book,  they  regarded  it  as  a  book,  and,  for  the 


*  Thus,  the  "Principles  of  Astrological  Geomancy"  have  been 
the  subject  of  a  special  treatise  by  Franz  Ilartmann,  M.D.  (London, 
1899),  while  Miss  Rosa  Baughan  has  compiled  a  curious  medley  of 
chiromancy  and  astrology  under  the  title  of  "The  Influence  of  the 
Stars." 

t  Physiognomy  has  been,  of  course,  connected  with  astrology, 
and  an  old  work  published  about  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth 
century  under  the  title  of  "Book  of  Palmistry,  Physiognomy,  and 
Natural  Astrology"  illustrates  this  connection.  See  also  "A  Treatise 
on  Zodiacal  Physiognomy,"  by  John  Varley,  London,  1828. 

%  A  summary  of  Gaffarel's  information,  with  some  pertinent 
criticisms,  will  be  found  in  Eliphas  Levi's  Kitucl  dc  la  Haute  Magie. 
See  also  "Transcendental  Magic,"  part  ii.,  and  "  Mysteries  of  Magic," 
pp.  248,  252,  253,  254.  Second  Edition,  1897. 

GG 


466  ^he  Ipottrivu  anb  literature  ot  the  JUbalah 

purposes  of  methodising  its  contents  with  a  view  to 
its  interpretation,  they  collected  the  stars  into 
hieroglyphic  characters,  which  were,  in  fact,  the 
Hebrew  alphabet.  Their  process  was  therefore  not 
an  astrological  process,  but  more  correctly  one  of 
divination,  and  as  to  its  value,  we  have  only  to 
glance  at  the  Hebrew  planisphere  furnished  by 
Gaffarel  to  see  how  arbitrary  was  the  nature 
of  the  arrangement.  At  the  same  time  it  must 
be  admitted  that  it  suggests  a  correspondence  with 
the  fundamental  notion  of  the  Sepher  Yetzirah, 
though  the  fact  has  not  been  observed  by  any 
previous  writer.  There  could  be  nothing  more 
natural  for  those  who  believed  that  the  heavens  and 
the  earth  were  made  by  the  inscription  of  letters  in 
the  air  than  to  discover  these  letters  in  the  configura 
tion,  apparently  fortuitous,  of  the  starry  heavens.  In 
place,  therefore,  of  the  unmeaning  mythological 
figures  of  pagan  antiquity  they  imagined  the  twenty- 
two  elements  of  the  divine  word  manifested  to  the 
chosen  people,  and  the  imagination  once  justified 
by  the  apparent  delineation  of  the  characters  it 
became  part  of  the  scheme  of  the  universe  ;*  to 
read  the  sense  of  the  heavens  so  that  they  could 
give  the  meaning  thereof  was  an  operation  no  less 
sacred  in  its  intention,  mysterious  in  its  methods, 
and  strange  in  its  resultsf  than  the  application  of 

*  This  is  the  Zoharic  notion,  and  it  was  claimed  that  by  means  of 
the  signs  and  figures  in  the  heavens  most  profound  secrets  and  mysteries 
could  be  discovered.  So  regarded,  the  stars  and  constellations  are  a 
subject  of  contemplation,  and  a  source  of  mysterious  delight  for  the 
sage. — Zohar,  ii.,  760,  Mantua. 

t  Compare  those  other  strange  results  in  symbolical  astrology  of 
which  Ruysbrceck  the  Mystic  speaks  in  the  "Book  of  the  Twelve 
Beguines,"  Latinised  by  Surius  under  the  title  De  Vera  Contemplatione. 


(EhanneU  of  Esoteric  ^rabitiou  467 

Zoharistic  processes  to  the  disentangling  of  the 
mystic  meaning  beneath  the  letter  of  the  Scriptures. 
This  is  the  true  Kabalistic  astrology,*  based  on  a 
Kabalistic  doctrine  which  is  its  justification  and  of 
which  it  is  in  turn  the  logical  development.  Outside 
the  Sepher  Yetzirah,  it  has  the  countenance  of  the 
Zohar  itself.  But  it  has  little  in  common  with  the 
science  of  the  stars,  as  it  has  been  pursued  in  the 
western  world  ;  it  can  offer  nothing  in  evidence  of 
its  considerations,  even  as  astrology  in  the  West  has 
nothing  to  tell  us  concerning  the  Kabalistic  mystery 
of  Am  Soph.  It  is  better  therefore  not  to  confuse 
further  the  complicated  issues  of  the  secret  sciences 
by  the  suggestion  of  fantastic  influences  and  un- 
realisable  communications.f 

It  will,  of  course,  be  anticipated  that  a  literature 
so  large  as  that  of  the  Jews  and  embracing,  as  we 
said  at  the  inception  of  our  inquiry,  so  wide  a  range 
of  subjects  could  not  have  grown  up  without  con 
tributing  anything  to  the  knowledge  of  the  heavens. 
In  the  third  century  the  Jews  of  Babylon  were 
famous  as  doctors  and  astronomers  and,  partly  for 
this  reason,  were  in  high  credit  at  the  Persian  Court 
during  the  reign  of  the  usurper  Artaxerxes.  Samuel 

Needless  to  say  this  astrology  is  not  judicial.  The  late  Mr.  Ilargrave 
Jennings  has  also  some  pleasing  fantasies  on  the  "astronomy  of  the 
mind"  in  "The  Indian  Religions,"  p.  207  et  scq.,  London,  1890. 

*  Which  astrology,  as  Levi  rightly  observes,  must  be  distinguished 
from  what  is  commonly  understood  by  judicial  astrology.  See 
"  My>teries  of  Magic/'  p.  247. 

t  As  an  instance  of  the  extraordinary  lengths  to  which  speculations 
of  this  kind  have  been  carried  outside  astronomical  connections,  see 
Dr.  J.  Lamb's  "  Hebrew  characters  derived  from  Hieroglyphs," 
London,  1835.  The  hieroghyphics  in  question  are  re-constituted,  ami 
various  doctrines,  passages  and  words  of  the  sacred  writings  are  inter 
preted  by  recourse  to  them. 


468   Ihe  |S0rtrine  anb  literature  rrf  the  giabalah 

Lunaticus,  famous  for  the  astronomical  tables 
attributed  to  him,  and  head  of  the  academy  of 
Naharden,  is  an  instance  in  point,  and  R.  Ada,  also  of 
Naharden,  is  another.  Abba  Aricha,  better  known  as 
the  Babylonion  Rav,  founder  of  the  academy  of  Sora, 
was  again  a  deep  student  of  astronomy,  and  names 
might  be  multiplied  easily.  Side  by  side  with 
medicine  and  the  interpretarion  of  dreams,  astrology 
was  much  pursued  by  the  Eastern  Jews  of  the  tenth 
and  eleventh  centuries.  In  1150,  or  thereabouts,  R. 
Avi  Joseph  wrote  a  treatise  on  the  intelligences 
which  move  the  heavens  and  concerning  the  judg 
ment  of  the  stars.  Aben  Ezra,  about  the  same 
period,  is  a  great  name  among  the  astronomers  of 
Jewry  as  well  as  in  doctrine  and  philosophy. 
Abraham  Chiia  and  Abraham  Nasi  are  also  con 
temporary  students  of  the  same  science.  In  the 
second  half  of  the  thirteenth  century,  during  the 
reign  of  Alphonso  the  loth,  King  of  Castile,  himself 
called  the  astrologer,  the  rabbins  were  in  high 
estimation  for  their  knowledge  of  the  heavens,  and 
the  Tables  attributed  to  Alphonso  were  the  work  of 
a  Jew  whom  he  employed.  In  the  fifteenth  century 
the  family  of  Alcadet  produced  two  famous 
astronomers,  and  Abraham  Zacut,  author  of  the 
Sepher  Yuhasin,  was  another  student  of  the  subject 
in  the  days  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella. 

Meagre  as  are  these  indications,  having  regard 
to  the  fact  that  astronomy  was  usually  pursued  in 
connection  with  the  judgment  of  the  stars,  i.e.,  with 
judicial  astrology,  they  are  sufficient  to  establish 
that  this  occult  science  is  to  be  found  in  Jewry  during 
most  of  the  Christian  centuries. 


<£hannel0  of  (Eeoterir  ^rabition  469 

The  reader  who  desires  to  become  acquainted 
with  the  first  principles  and  procedure  of  Jewish 
astrology  may  consult  the  "Curiosities"  of  Gaffarel, 
whose  information  is  drawn  from  R.  Moses,  R.  Aben 
Ezra,  R.  Jacob  Kapol  ben  Samuel,  &c.  This  learned 
but  pedantic  writer  wholly  rejected  what  is  called 
Kabalistic  astrology,  with  its  Sephirotic  attributions,* 
but  the  system  which  he  develops  is  not  less  fantastic, 
and  is  that  indeed  which  we  have  described  briefly 
in  the  earlier  part  of  the  present  section.  It  would 
be  out  of  place  to  extend  our  references,  for,  as  on  the 
one  hand  Sephirotic  astrology  is  rejected  even  by  so 
determined  a  Kabalist  as  Gaffarel,  so,  on  the  other, 
the  secrets  of  the  Hebrew  planisphere  and  the 
mysteries  of  stellar  writing  do  not  connect  with 
the  practice  of  the  art  in  the  West 

It  may  be  added  that  a  recent  writer,  Mr.  W. 
Gorn  Old,  has  published  a  Kabalistic  astrology,f 
but  it  is  merely  a  process  of  divination,  like  that 
attributed  to  Cagliostro,  which  was  developed  at  great 
length  and  applied  to  the  science  of  the  stars  by 
P.  Christian.  J  It  is  obvious  that  the  use  of  the  term 
Kabalistic  in  such  a  connection  is  merely  a  fagon  de 
parler,  unfortunately  in  very  common  use.  This 


*  So  far  as  I  am  aware,  no  astrological  work  developing  these 
connections  has  ever  been  printed  in  any  European  language,  but  books 
like  John  Bishop's  "  Marrow  of  Astrology,"  London,  1688,  with  its  list 
of  the  governing  angels  of  the  signs  and  the  planets,  suggest  Kabali-tic 
connections  through  the  vehicle  of  Ceremonial  Magic. 

t  "Kabalistic  Astrology,  or  Your  P'ortune  in  your  Name,"  by 
Sepharial,  London,  n.d.  (  ?  1892). 

%  In  his  Histoire  de  la  Magic,  books  ii.,  iii.,  and  vi.  Also  in 
VHomme  Rouge  cks  Tuileries.  Some  account  of  Cagliostro's  Method 
will  also  be  found  in  Grand  Orient's  "Manual  of  Cartomancy,"  &c., 
of  which  several  editions  have  appeared. 


47°  ^h*  Stortrirte  anfo  literature  ot  the  Jbbalah 

is  made  further  evident  by  the  parallel  use  of  the 
term  Hermetic,  not  only  as  an  analogue,  but  an  actual 
equivalent.  Mr.  Old's  process  is  affirmed  to  have 
been  "  in  use  among  the  ancient  Kabalists,"  but  this 
is  merely  speculative  and  an  inference  from  certain 
Tarotic  connections. 


IV.  THE  KABALAH  AND  FREEMASONRY 

It  is  generally  agreed  among  occultists  that  the 
Masonic  Fraternity  is  an  institution  of  mystic  origin, 
but  that  it  has  lost  its  real  secrets  and  is  interesting 
only  as  a  survival.  As  such,  it  continues  to  preserve 
certain  legends  arid  symbols  of  occult  philosophy,  but 
it  applies  to  them  a  conventional  meaning  of  an 
obvious  and  meagre  character.  As  to  its  historical 
origin,  there  is  also  a  general  opinion  prevailing  in 
the  same  circles,  namely,  that  Freemasonry,  after 
some  manner  that  is  not  wholly  apparent,  is  a  survival 
of  the  ancient  mysteries,  but  this  term  is  used  in 
a  catholic  sense,  not  as  signifying  the  initiations  of 
Egypt,  of  Greece,  or  of  Rome,  but  rather  the  secret 
power  and  intelligence  which  is  thought  to  have  been 
present  behind  the  philosophical  associations  of  all  ages 
and  most  civilised  countries.  During  the  Christian 
period  the  knowledge  which  would  otherwise  have 
perished  was  preserved  among  successive  occult 
fraternities,  some  known  to  history,  such  as  Templars 
and  Rosicrucians,  the  rest  working  in  complete  silence. 
Corporately  or  otherwise,  they  were  all  affiliated  with 
each  other  and  symbolic  Freemasonry  forms  the  last 
link  in  the  Western  chain  of  transmission. 


(Channels  of  (Esoteric  ^rabition  47 l 

No  presentation  of  this  hypothesis  has  so  far 
been  able  to  survive  analysis,  and  the  inductive 
student  must  be  content  to  recognise,  (a)  the  mystic 
nature  of  most  Masonic  symbolism  to  which  the 
fraternity  now  attaches  only  elementary  meanings 
belonging  to  the  ethical  primer ;  (£)  a  certain  analogy 
of  ostensible  purpose  as  regards  the  ends  of  human 
existence,  but  it  is  not  worth  while  to  insist  strongly 
on  this  point ;  (c)  the  affinity  for  Mysticism  which  has 
always  been  shown  by  Masonry  during  its  historical 
period.  It  may  be  added  that  there  are  certain 
indications  which  point  to  a  possible  connection 
between  Masonry  and  Rosicrucianism,  and  this,  if 
admitted,  would  constitute  the  first  link  in  its  con 
nection  with  the  past.  The  evidence  is,  however, 
inconclusive,  or  at  least  unextricated.  Freemasonry 
per  se,  in  spite  of  the  affinity  with  Mysticism  which  I 
have  just  mentioned,  has  never  exhibited  any  mystic 
character,  nor  has  it  a  clear  notion  how  it  came  by 
its  symbols;  though  occultists  at  all  times  bave 
gravitated  towards  it,  and  though  it  has  tolerated  and 
even  received  them,  it  has  shown  no  sense  of  under 
standing  on  occult  subjects.  This  being  the  state 
of  the  case,  and  the  claim  which  is  made  for 
Freemasonry  having  never  been  urged  by  the  institu 
tion  on  its  own  behalf,  there  is  nothing /«V*d  facie  to 
accredit  the  idea  that  it  has  ever  been  a  channel  of 
the  secret  tradition  or  to  warrant  us  in  supposing 
a  priori  that  it  should  have  any  distinct  analogies 
with  Kabalism.  And  as  a  fact  its  position  in  this 
respect  is  much  like  that  of  alchemy,  seemingly 
fortuitous,  a  question  of  subsequent  introduction,  as 
much  imputation  as  reality,  a  varnish  rather  than  a 


472   "lite  Jtortriiu  anfo  literature  ot  the  Jiabalah 

permeating  tincture,  and  yet,  like  all  such  positions, 
interesting.  To  establish  my  point,  I  must  refer  for 
a  third  time  to  the  fact  that  since  Masonry  appeared 
on  the  historical  plane,  occultists  and  mystics  have 
always  tended  towards  it,  that  it  has  received  them 
all  amiably,  and  that  all  have  elaborated  the  system 
in  accordance  with  their  particular  notions.  During 
the  prevalence  of  the  passion  for  rites  we  know  that 
alchemists,  Swedenborgians,*  Martinists,  theurgists, 
astrologers,  all  invented  new  grades  and  new 
orders,  and  as  at  this  period  there  were  also 
Kabalists,  so  in  one  or  two  instances  we  hear  of 
Kabalistic  rites,  and  especially  of  rites  and  grades 
which  exhibit  Kabalistic  influences.  As  Free 
masonry  is  not  Swedenborgianism,  as  it  is  not 
alchemy,  as  in  spite  of  the  Elect  Cohens,  the 
evocations  and  rituals  of  Pasqually,  and  all  the  magical 
marvels  of  Schrcepfer,  it  is  not  theurgy,  as  it  is  still 
less  the  mysticism  of  any  of  the  true  Mystics,  so  it  is 
not  Kabalism,  but  it  has  been  developed  somewhat  in 
Kabalistic  as  in  other  interests. 

It  must  be  added  that  the  few  Kabalistic  degrees 
which  have  left  any  record  behind  them  beyond 
their  name,  and  the  uncommon  swiftness  with  which 
they  passed  into  extinction,  give  no  evidence  of 
acquaintance  with  the  Jewish  esoteric  tradition. 
They  represent  the  Kabalism  of  the  period.  There 
is  no  need  to  speculate  as  to  its  quality ;  it  has 
bequeathed  its  literary  remains  in  grimoires  and 


*  The  history  of  the  Swedenborgian  Rite  being  exceedingly  obscure, 
and  yet  possessing  considerable  occult  interest,  it  may  be  observed  that 
some  account  of  it  was  published  at  New  York  in  1870  by  Samuel 
Berwick. 


Channels  of  (Esoteric  ^raMtion  473 

grand  clavicles,  in  the  spurious  thaumaturgic  pro 
cesses  of  Abramelin,  and  in  amusing  Kabalistic 
correspondence  with  the  Seigneur  Astaroth,*  the 
lees  and  lavations  of  the  rabbinical  conduits.  As 
it  will  be  well  to  enforce  these  statements  by  means 
of  documentary  evidence,  I  will  add  an  account  of 
one  Kabalistic  grade  which  may  be  taken  to 
represent  the  whole. 

A  degree  of  Knight  of  the  Kabalah  once 
existed  among  those  innumerable  decorative  develop 
ments  of  the  Fraternity  which  were  termed  high 
by  their  disciples  and  spurious  by  some  who 
resented  innovations,  and  especially  those  which 
led  to  nothing.  It  has  long  since  fallen  into  disuse. 
The  object  of  the  candidate,  according  to  the 
catechism  of  the  degree,  was  "  to  know,  by  means 
of  numbers,  the  admirable  harmony  which  subsists 
between  nature  and  religion."  It  defines  the  Kabalist 
as  a  man  who  has  acquired  the  Sacerdotal  Art  and 
the  Royal  Art  by  the  communication  of  the  tradition. 
The  device  was  Oninia  in  muneris  sita  suut.  The 
Master  of  the  Lodge  in  which  the  degree  was 
imparted  seems  to  have  been  called  the  President 
of  the  Sanhedrim  and  the  Rabbi.  The  mystical 
significance  of  numbers*)"  was  developed  by  the 

*  See  D'Argcns :  Lettres  Cabalistiqucs,  on  Correspondence  Philo- 
sophiquc  .  .  .  entre  deux  Cabalistes,  &c. ,  7  vols.,  La  Ilaye,  1754. 

t  The  numerical  mysticism  of  the  Kabalah  is  La-c-d,  of  course, 
on  the  Sephiroth  ;  most  of  its  developments  are  very  late,  and  possess 
a  magical  complexion,  for  which  reasons  they  do  not  enter  into  the 
scheme  of  this  study.  Some  of  these  developments  are  quite  unknown 
to  occultists,  as,  for  example,  the  attempt  to  simplify  chronology  by 
Kabalistic  figures  in  Michael  Aitsinger's  Pentaplus  Regnorum  Afundi, 
Antwerp,  1579.  On  the  general  subject,  see  Petrus  Bargus :  Mystica 
numerorum  signific adonis  liber,  Bergomi,  1585. 


474  ^he  Ilortritu  anb  Jiteratuu  ot  the  Jiabalah 

catechism  in  a  somewhat   curious  manner,  which   it 
may  be  worth  while  to  summarise. 

I  =  In  the  moral  order,  a  word  incarnate  in  the 
bosom    of    a    virgin,    otherwise,    Religion ;     in    the 
physical  order,  a  spirit  embodied  in  the  virgin  earth, 
or  Nature.     It  is  the  generative  number  in  the  order 
of  Divinity,  apparently  a  false  symbolism,  because 
the  monad  neither  generates  nor  is  generated,  whence 
Eliphas  Levi   more   correctly  says  that   the   monad 
supposes  the  duad,  and  thence,  through  the  triad,  all 
numbers  are  evolved. 

II  =  In  the    moral  order,   man  and    woman;  in 
the  physical,  active  and  passive.     It  is  the  generative 
number  in  created  things. 

III  — In  the  moral   order,  the  three    theological 
virtues ;    in    the    physical,   the    three    principles    of 
bodies.     The  reference  here  is  to  salt,  sulphur  and 
mercury,  thus  indicating  the  Hermetic  connections  of 
this   grade.      Three    also   denotes   the   triple   divine 
essence. 

IV=the  four  cardinal  virtues,  the  four  ele 
mentary  qualities — another  Hermetic  reference — and 
it  is,  moreover,  the  most  mysterious  of  numbers, 
because  it  contains  all  the  mysteries  of  nature. 

V=the  quintessence  of  religion,  and  the  quint 
essence  of  matter — which  again  is  alchemical.  It  is 
also  the  most  occult  number,  "  because  it  is  enclosed 
in  the  centre  of  the  series."  The  precise  meaning  of 
this  last  statement  does  not  appear,  but  it  may 
possibly  refer  to  the  pentagram  as  one  of  the  emblems 
of  the  grade. 

VI = the  theological  cube  and  the  physical  cube. 
It  is  the  most  salutary  number,  "  because  it  contains 


€hanncl0  of  (Esoteric  ^rabitiou  475 

the  source  of  our  spiritual  and  corporeal  happiness." 
Is  this  a  reference  to  the  mystical  adultery  of  the 
first  man  whereby  the  coming  of  the  Liberator  was 
necessitated  ? 

VII  =  the    seven    sacraments     and     the    seven 
planets.     It  is  the  most  fortunate  number,  "  because 
it  leads  us  to  the  decade,  the  perfect  number." 

VIII  =  the   small    number   of   the   elect   or   the 
wise.     It    is    the    most    desirable   number,  "  because 
he  who  possesses  it  is  of  the  number  of  the  Elves 
and  Sages." 

IX^the  exaltation  of  religion  and  the  exaltation 
of  matter.  It  is  the  most  sublime  number,  because 
religion  and  nature  are  both  exalted  thereby. 

X  =  the  ten  commandments  and  the  ten  precepts 
of  nature.     It  is  the  most  perfect  number,  "  because  it 
includes  unity,  which  created   everything,   and  zero, 
symbol    of    matter  and    chaos,    whence    everything 
emerged.     In  its  figures  it  comprehends  the  created 
and  uncreated,   the   beginning  and  end,   power  and 
force,   life   and  annihilation.      By  the   study  of  this 
number  we  find  the  relations  of  all  things,  the  power 
of  the  Creator,  the  faculties  of  the  creature,  the  Alpha 
and  Omega  of  divine  knowledge. 

XI  =  the    multiplication    of    religion     and    the 
multiplication  of  nature.     It  is  the  most  multiplying 
number,  "  because  with  the  possession  of  two  units, 
we  arrive  at  the  multiplication  of  things." 

XI I  =  the   twelve   articles  of  faith  ;    the   twelve 
apostles,  foundation  of  the  Holy  City,  who  preached 
throughout  the  whole  world   for  our  happiness  and 
spiritual  joy;    the  twelve  operations   of  nature;   the 
twelve    signs    of    the     Zodiac,    foundation    of    the 


47 6  ^he  Jtorirtne  attb  ^iteratxtu  of  the  Jlabalah 

Primum  Mobile,  extending  it  throughout  the 
universe  for  our  temporal  felicity.  It  is  thus 
the  most  solid  number,  being  the  basis  of  our 
spiritual  and  corporeal  happiness. 

The  numbers  after  twelve  were  left  to  the 
discernment  of  the  candidate.  The  catechism  also 
shows  that  this  order  concerned  itself  with  the 
universal  spirit  of  alchemy  and  even  with  the 
quadrature  of  the  circle.  The  history  of  the  Knights 
of  the  Kabalah  is  unfortunately  involved  in  obscurity, 
but  it  will  be  seen  that  it  was  Christian  and  Catholic, 
which  furnishes  a  resemblance  to  other  and  later 
institutions  professing  similar  purposes  and  having 
similar  religious  sympathies.* 

Had  the  "  Book  of  Occultation "  been  made 
in  the  eighteenth  century  the  theme  of  a  Masonic 
grade,  had  the  lodge  represented  Atziluth,  the  Master 
Ain  Soph,  his  throne  in  the  East  Kether,  and  the 
officers  the  remaining  Sephiroth  ;  had  the  ritual  been 
constructed  from  the  Zohar  and  the  catechism  from 
the  Apparatus  of  Rosenroth,  all  this  would  have 
proved  nothing  as  to  the  Kabalistic  connections  of 
Masonry.  Within  recent  years  a  powerful  Masonic 
order  has  undergone  a  species  of  development  in 
this  direction  through  the  labours  of  Albert  Pike, 
and  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  it  was  his  intention 
to  transform  the  Ancient  and  Accepted  Scottish  Rite 
into  a  seminary  of  occult  study.  There  may  be 
many  of  its  own  brethren  at  the  present  time  in 
whom  this  statement  will  excite  only  incredulity, 


*  Among  the  degrees  collected  by  the  French  Mason  Peuvret, 
there  was  that  of  Mafon  Cabbalistique.  The  Metropolitan  Chapter  of 
France  dignified  its  8oth  Grade  by  the  title  of  Chevalier  de  Cabale. 


of  (Esoteric  ^rabition  477 

but  it  is  not  the  less  certain  that  Albert  Pike  was 
more  than  an  ardent  admirer  and  far  more  than  an 
unqualified  follower  of  the  occult  philosophies,  or  that 
he  pursued  it  into  regions  of  which  Masonry  has  now 
no  conception.  He  was  also  seconded  by  numerous 
like-minded  persons  who  occupied  high  dignities  in 
the  United  States'  Southern  Jurisdiction,  and  some 
of  whom  still  survive. 

The  evidence  of  all  these  things  is  to  be  found 
in  the  vast  body  of  instruction  which  he  compiled, 
chiefly  from  sources  in  occult  literature,  for  all  the 
grades  of  the  order.  No  person  who  is  acquainted 
with  the  "  Morals  and  Dogma "  can  fail  to  trace  the 
hand  of  the  occultist  therein,  and  it  is  to  be  especially 
observed  that,  passing  from  grade  to  grade  in  the 
direction  of  the  highest,  this  instruction  becomes 
more  and  more  Kabalistic.  It  matters  little  that 
the  sources  from  which  Pike  drew  were  not  of  the 
best,  or  that,  though  a  man  of  wide  reading,  he 
was  not  a  skilled  critic  ;  for  we  are  concerned  only 
with  a  tendency  and  its  development.  He  accepted, 
for  example,  without  due  caution,  the  construction 
placed  on  Kabalism  by  the  most  unsafe  of  all  its 
expounders,  Eliphas  Le*vi,  from  whom  he  translated 
verbatim  at  great  length,  and,  following  his  professed 
habit,  with  no  specific  acknowledgment,  while  for 
the  rest  his  only  source  of  further  information  was 
the  Kabbala  Denudata,  of  which,  however,  he  shows 
no  analytical  knowledge,  seeming  to  regard  the 
Liber  Drushim  as  entitled  to  rank  in  authority 
with  the  Sepher  Dzcnioutha.  In  spite  of  these 
limitations  he  made  available  an  amount  of  informa 
tion  on  occult  subjects  with  which  no  previous 


478   ^he  JBo-ctrin*  attb  JJiterature  ot  the  giabalah 

scheme  had  ever  provided  Masonry.  Yet  with  all 
his  strenuous  efforts  it  must  be  doubted  whether 
the  seal  of  occultism  has  been  impressed  effectually 
on  the  Ancient  and  Accepted  Scottish  Rite,  in  which 
case,  if  we  except  such  interesting  minor  instances 
as  the  Societas  Rosicruciana  in  Anglia,  with  which 
I  have  dealt  elsewhere,  it  must  be  confessed  that 
the  Ancient  and  Primitive  Rite  of  Memphis*  and 
Misraim-f-  is  the  only  section  of  high-grade  Masonry 
which  claims  a  distinct  purpose  of  an  occult  kind  ; 
it  is  not  necessary  to  say  that  in  England,  at  least, 
it  has  failed  wholly  in  obtaining  recognition  as  a 
genuine  development  of  Masonry,  and  it  remains 
practically  in  abeyance.  J 

We  see  therefore  that  Kabalistic  influence  is 
confined  to  the  so-called  high  grades.  It  would  be 
absurd  to  discuss  the  possibility  of  its  conscious 
presence  in  the  blue  lodges,  or  seek  to  interpret  the 
legend  of  the  master  grade  in  connection  with  Jewish 
tradition.  The  symbols,  however,  which  are  familiar 
to  the  initiates  of  these  lodges  do  connect  -  with 
Kabalism,  among  other  forms  of  occult  philosophy, 
but  the  presence  of  the  seal  of  Solomon  among 
the  heirlooms  of  the  brotherhood  being,  so  far, 
unaccountable,  it  is  useless  to  insist  on  the  connection, 


*  See  Marconis  et  Moultet :  V  Hitrophante>  dttveloppement  compkt 
des  Mysteres  Mafonniques,  Paris,  1839.  Le  Rameau  d1  or  cf  Eleusis, 
another  work  by  Marconis  is  also  interesting  as  the  views  of  an 
amiable  student  upon  the  Mysteries  in  connection  with  Masonry. 

t  A  history  of  this  institution,  with  all  the  romantic  elements 
which  might  be  expected,  was  written  by  Marc  Bedarride  and  published 
in  two  volumes  at  Paris,  1845,  under  the  title,  De  V  Ordre  Mcyonniquc 
de  Misratm,  depuis  sa  creation  jusuq 'a  nos  jours,  &c. 

£  The  fourth  Series  of  the  Rite  of  Misra'im  is  designated 
Kabalistic. 


Channels  oi  <£00teric  ^rabitimi  479 

because  nothing  logically  follows  from  it.  So  far  as 
history  is  concerned,  Kabalism  and  Masonry  have 
joined  hands  in  the  sphere  of  the  higher  grades,  and 
as  a  historical  fact  this  is  interesting,  but  that  it  is 
otherwise  significant  must  be  left  to  those  who 
affirm  it. 


V.  THE  KABALAH  AND  THE  TAROT 

It  is  very  well  known  to  all  occult  students  at 
the  present  day  that  the  Tarot  is  a  method  of 
divination*  by  means  of  seventy-eight  symbolical 
picture  -  cards,  to  which  great  antiquity  and  high 
importance  are  attributed  by  several  authorities. 
Their  literary  history  is  also  equally  well  known. 
They  were  first  mentioned  by  the  French  archaeologist 
Court  de  Gebelin  at  the  close  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  and  were  attributed  by  him  to  an  Egyptian 
origin.  Much  about  the  same  time  the  subject  was 
taken  up  by  a  professed  cartomancer,  named  Alliette, 
who  wrote  a  great  deal  about  them  in  several 
illiterate  tracts,  and  endeavoured  to  trace  their 
connection  with  Egypt  through  the  Jewish  Kabalah. 
The  inquiry  then  fell  into  neglect,  except  in  so  far 
as  Continental  fortune-tellers  were  concerned,  until 
the  year  1854,  when  Eliphas  LeVi  made  his  first 
contributions  to  occult  science. 


*  As  there  may,  however,  be  some  readers  who  are  not  acquainted 
with  this  matter,  I  may  observe  that  Mr.  S.  L.  MacGregor  Mathers 
is  the  author  of  a  small  explanatory  treatise,  entitled,  "The  Tarot; 
its  Occult  Signification,"  &c.,  published  with  a  set  of  the  cards, 
London,  1888. 


480  i;he  gortritu  anb  JDitmture  of  the  Jhtbalah 

In  1857,  J.  A.  Vaillant*  endeavoured  to  prove 
their  Chinese  origin^  and  transmission  by  means  of 
the  gipsies  ;  their  connection  with  these  nomads  was 
subsequently  adopted  by  LeVi,  who  gave  great 
prominence  to  the  Tarot  in  all  his  writings  up  to  the 
year  1865.  The  subject  was  also  taken  in  hand  by 
P.  Christian,  who  published  a  large  history  of  Magic 
in  1870.  He  developed  still  further  the  Egyptian 
theory,  but  no  statement  which  he  makes  can  be 
accepted  with  any  confidence.  In  the  year  1887  I 
was  the  first  who  introduced  the  claims  of  the  Tarot 
to  English  readers  in  a  digest  of  the  chief  works  of 
Eliphas  Levi.  An  important  contribution  to  the 
inquiry  was  made  shortly  after  by  the  French 
occultist  Papus,  whose  elaborate  work  entitled  the 
"  Tarot  of  the  Bohemians,"  though  scarcely  of 
critical  value  on  the  historical  side,  remains  the  most 
comprehensive  and  attractive  summary  of  all  the 
arguments. 

The  point  which  concerns  us  here  is,  of  course, 
the  Kabalistic  connections.  Eliphas  LeVi  says  that 


*  Histoire  Vraie  des  Vrais  Bohhniens.  As  a  notice  of  the 
gipsies  this  work  is  exceedingly  good  for  its  period  ;  its  Tarot  speculations 
are  worthless,  and  its  philological  arguments  absurd.  M.  Vaillant 
described  the  Tarot  as  "  the  synthesis  of  ancient  faith,  a  deduction  from 
the  sidereal  book  of  Enoch  "  (412).  Its  origin  he  affirms  to  be  lost  in  the 
night  of  time  (413).  He  only  mentions  the  Kabalah  to  establish  its 
connection  with  Cabul  !  (p.  54). 

f  Occult  writers  mostly  favour  Egypt  as  the  birthplace  of  the 
Tarot,  and  this  is  consistent  with  their  views  on  the  origin  of  the 
Kabalah.  So  Mons.  Z.  Lismon  has  recently  published  a  version  of  the 
cards  under  the  title  of  Livre  de  Thot,  Jeu  des  78  Tarols  Egyptiens, 
with  explanatory  booklet.  Compare  R.  Falconnier  :  Les  xxii.  Lames 
Hermttiques  du  Tarot  divinatoire,  which  pretend  to  be  re-constituted 
exactly  according  to  "the  sacred  texts  and  translation  "  of  the  Magic 
of  old  Egypt ! 


Channels  of  (irsoteric  Tradition  481 

the  Tarot  cards  are  the  key  to  the  esoteric  tradition 
of  the  Jews,  and  "  the  primitive  source  of  divine  and 
human  tradition  "  ;  he  institutes  an  analogy  between 
the  symbols  of  its  four  suits  and  the  four  letters  of 
the  Divine  Name  Tetragmmmaton,  and  between  the 
ten  Scfihirotk  and  the  ten  small  cards  belonging  to 
each  suit  He  gives  also  the  correspondences 
between  the  twenty-two  trump  cards  and  the  letters 
of  the  Hebrew  alphabet,  for  which  he  quotes  the 
authority  of  "divers  Kabalistic  Jews,"  which  must 
not,  however,  be  interpreted  too  strictly,  as  although 
the  symbolism  of  the  Hebrew  alphabet  has  been 
much  dwelt  on  by  such  authorities  there  is  no  trace 
of  any  reference  to  the  Tarot  by  Kabalistic  writers  of 
the  past.  It  must  be  admitted,  on  the  other  hand, 
that  the  analogies  are  exceedingly  striking,  and  that 
although  the  historic  evidences  can  scarcely  be  said 
to  exist,  and  have  been  supplied  from  the  treasures  of 
imagination,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  Tarot  is 
actually,  as  it  is  claimed  to  be,  of  considerable 
importance  symbolically.  I  may  perhaps  be  per 
mitted  also  to  register  my  personal  belief  that  it  has 
distinct  Kabalistic  connections,  some  of  which  were 
broadly  outlined  by  Eliphas  LeVi.  Unfortunately, 
the  interpretations  of  its  symbolism  which  have 
been  attempted  by  various  writers  are  nearly  worth 
less,  in  the  first  place  because  they  have  all  proved 
themselves  incapable  of  conducting  a  dispassionate 
historical  inquiry  ;  they  have  allowed  affirmation  to 
take  the  place  of  evidence  ;  they  have  regarded  a 
hint  as  a  sufficient  ground  of  conviction  ;  they  have 
made  conjecture  certitude.  Setting  aside  Court  de 
Gebelin,  who  was  merely  an  inquirer  hampered  by 

Mil 


482   ^he  Jloctriue  anb  literature  ot  the  gabalah 

the  limitations  of  his  period  ;  setting  aside  Levi,  who 
seldom  made  an  accurate  statement  about  any  matter 
of  fact  ;  observe  how  Dr.  Papus  pursues  his  inquiry 
into  the  origin  of  the  Tarot.  It  is  by  an  appeal  to 
the  writers  who  preceded  him,  as  if  their  authority 
were  final ;  to  Court  de  Gebelin,  who  was  a  groper 
in  the  dark  during  the  childhood  of  archaeological 
reasoning  ;  to  Vaillant,  with  his  fascinating  theory  of 
gipsy  transmission  which  is  about  as  conclusive  as 
Godfrey  Higgins  on  the  "Celtic  Druids";  to  Le"vi, 
whose  "  marvellous  learning  "  is  so  much  and  so  un 
safely  insisted  on  by  the  whole  French  school.  Papus 
contributes  nothing  himself  to  the  problem  on  its 
historical  side  except  an  affirmation  that  "  the  game 
called  the  Tarot,  which  the  Gypsies  possess,  is  the 
Bible  of  Bibles."  Obviously,  the  historical  question 
calls  for  treatment  by  some  independent  scholar  who 
will  begin  by  releasing  its  present  fantastic  con 
nections. 

In  the  second  place,  the  symbolism  of  the  Tarot, 
which,  to  do  justice  to  Dr.  Papus,  is  most  patiently 
and  skilfully  elaborated  in  his  work,  is  at  once 
disorganised  if  there  be  any  doubt  as  to  the  attribu 
tion  of  its  trump  cards  to  the  Hebrew  alphabet. 
Now  there  is  one  card  which  bears  no  number  and 
is  therefore  allocated  according  to  the  discretion  of 
the  interpreter.  It  has  been  allocated  in  all  cases 
wrongly,  by  the  uninstructed  because  they  had  nothing 
but  their  private  judgment  to  guide  them,  and  by 
those  who  knew  better  because  they  desired  to 
mislead.  I  may  go  further  and  say  that  the  true 
nature  of  Tarot  symbolism  is  perhaps  a  secret  in  the 
hands  of  a  very  few  persons,  and  outside  that  circle 


Channels  of  Neoteric  Trabition  483 

operators  and  writers  may  combine  the  cards  as 
they  like  and  attribute  them  as  they  like,  but  they 
will  never  find  the  ri^ht  way.  The  symbolism  is, 
however,  so  rich  that  it  will  give  meanings  of  a  kind 
in  whatever  way  it  may  be  disposed,  and  some  of 
these  may  be  strikingly  suggestive,  but  they  are 
illusory  none  the  less.  The  purpose  of  this  short 
paper  is  therefore  to  show  that  the  published  Tarots 
and  the  methods  of  using  them  may  be  very  service 
able  for  divination,  fortune- telling  and  other  trifles, 
but  they  are  not  the  key  of  the  Kabalah,  and  that 
the  Royal  Game  of  Goose  may  be  recommended  with 
almost  as  much  reason  for  the  same  purpose.  Dr. 
Papus  is  therefore  unconsciously  misdirecting  his 
many  followers  when  he  advertises  his  laborious 
readings  as  the  "Absolute  Key  to  Occult  Science." 


VI.     THE    KABALAH   AND    MYSTICISM 

It  is  a  task  of  no  inconsiderable  difficulty  to 
attempt  a  judgment  upon  the  Kabalah  from  the 
purely  mystic  standpoint.  On  the  one  hand  the 
history  of  Kabalism  is  so  imbedded  in  that  of 
mysticism,  that  it  is  scarcely  known  or  admitted  in 
any  distinct  connection.  On  the  other  hand,  to  the 
pure  mystic,  there  is  so  much  in  the  Kabalistic 
system  which  seems  extrinsic  to  the  subject  of 
mysticism,  that  there  is  a  temptation  to  underrate  its 
real  influence.  The  correspondence  and  the  difference 
may  perhaps  be  brought  into  harmony  if  it  be 
permissible  to  regard  mysticism  in  two  ways — as  a 
philosopical  system,  that  is  to  say,  an  ordered 


484   ^hc  Jlojctrin*  unii  JCiteratitre  of  the  Jiabalah 


metaphysics,  held  intellectually,*  but  also  as  a  mode 
of  conduct  practised  with  a  defined  purpose,  in  a  word, 
as  transcendental  doctrine  and  transcendental  life. 
The  practical  mystic  is  the  saint  on  the  path  of  his 
ascent  into  the  mystery  of  the  eternal  union,  concern 
ing  whom  it  is  consonant  with  the  purpose  of  our 
present  inquiry  to  speak  only  with  great  reservation, 
because  the  mysteries  of  the  Divine  Life  do  not  fall 
within  the  limits  of  historical  research.  I  conceive 
that  the  sum  of  Kabalistic  instruction  is  of  no  real 
service  to  the  disciple  of  this  secret  path,  after  every 
allowance  has  been  made  for  the  Zoharic  doctrine 
that  a  science  of  that  Holy  Unity  into  which  all 
things  return  as  all  come  forth  therefrom  can  be 
attained  by  man.f  Invenit  sanctum.  Like  all  other 
studies,  and  perhaps  not  more  so  than  any  other 
methodised  theosophy,  it  has  a  certain  office  in  the 
sanctum  facit.  For  that  far  larger  class  to  whom  the 
possibility  of  sanctity  is  denied,  who  are  in  search 
rather  of  a  guide  for  thought  upon  questions  of 
fundamental  philosophy,  I  conceive  that  the  Kabalah 
—but  again,  like  other  metaphysics  —  has  some  useful 
and  reassuring  lights.  It  is  a  source  of  intellectual 
consolation  that  one  of  the  most  barren  of  all  the  ways 
pursued  by  the  human  mind  has  its  own  strange 
flowers  and  fruit.  There  is  no  book,  and  there  is  no 
system,  to  which  this  moderate  office  can  be  denied. 
It  is  also,  as  I  have  sought  to  show,  something  more 

*  And  this  would  be  the  correspondence  of  the  Zohar  with 
mysticism.  For  example,  the  doctrine  of  ecstasy  is  assuredly  found 
therein,  but  not  in  the  same  way  that  we  find  it  in  Ruysbroeck  or  St. 
John  of  the  Cross.  It  is  more  especially  a  rationalised  system  of  mystic 
thought. 

t  Zohar,  i.,  $\a,  Mantua. 


Channels  of  (Esoteric   (Tradition  485 

than  an  inheritance  from  the  past,  even  an  inheritance 
that  has  been  transmitted  from  a  period  far  back  in 
human  history.  The  Zohar  at  least  has  the  power 
of  stirring  those  depths  in  the  human  heart  which 
are  beyond  the  "plummet  of  the  sense";  it  seems 
occasionally  to  "strike  beyond  all  time,  and  backward 
sweep  through  all  intelligence,"  and  to  say  this,  is  to 
confess  that  it  is  the  eternal  soul  speaking,  here 
under  the  common  influence  of  right  reason,  there  in 
ecstacy  and  vision,  and  again,  as  it  would  seem  in 
somnambulism  or  even  in  frenzy.  Now,  the  speech 
of  the  human  soul,  in  what  state  soever,  must  be  a 
message  to  the  mystic.  There  is  no  need  to  add 
that  on  the  philosophical  side  the  Kabalah  connects 
assuredly  with  mysticism.* 

With  occultism,  of  course,  it  connects  wholly, 
throughout  all  its  history.  The  difference  between 
occultism  and  mysticism  is  much  more  than  that  of 
a  Latin  equivalent  for  a  Greek  term,  as  might 
appear  at  first  sight.  We  are  all  acquainted  with 
the  distinction  which  is  made  between  the  magnetic 
and  hypnotic  sleep.  They  have  much  in  common, 
but  they  are  pathologically  separate,  having  diverse 
characteristics  and  a  divergent  mode  of  induction. 
Sleep,  however,  is  obtained  in  both,  and  this  is  their 

*  M.  Anatole  Leroy  Beaulieu  says  that  the  Jew  is  not  inclined  to 
mysticism,  and  seems  never  to  have  been  so.  "Judaism  has  nlway> 
been  a  law,  a  religion  of  the  mind,  an  intellectual  creed  not  favourable 
to  mystic  transports  or  divine  languors."  He  denies  also  that  Kabali>m 
was  indigenous  in  Jewry.  "The  mysteries  of  the  Kabalah,  and  those 
of  the  Hassidim,  the  neo-Kabalists,  seem  to  have  been  a  foreign 
importation  ;  according  to  the  best  judges,  the  Cabala  itself  is  not 
rooted  in  Judaism." — Israel  among  the  Nations,  translated  by  Francis 
Ilillman,  London,  1895,  P-  292-  This  v'ew  shows  little  first-hand 
acquaintance  with  the  subject. 


486   c&ht  Doctrine  anb  literature  at  the  Jiabalah 

superficial  and  obvious  point  of  union — so  superficial 
and  so  obvious  that  the  ordinary  observer  would 
scarcely  fail  to  identify  them,  while  they  have  also 
been  identified  on  grounds  which  are  not  precisely 
those  of  ordinary  observation.  Between  occult  science 
and  mystic  science  there  is  the  common  point  of 
union  which  is  created,  let  us  say,  by  their  secrecy. 
Beneath  this  fantastic  resemblance  there  is  the  more 
important  fact  that  they  both  profess  to  deal  with 
the  inner  and  otherwise  uninvestigated  forces  of  the 
human  soul.  In  the  case  of  occult  science  it  is, 
however,  for  the  kind  of  end  which  we  connect  with 
the  notions  of  magic.  For  example,  Talismanic 
Magic,  so  called,  is  ostensibly  the  art  of  infusing  a 
certain  recondite  spiritual  power  into  some  object 
composed  artificially.  This  is  an  operation  of  occult 
science  because  it  deals  with  a  power  which  is,  by 
the  hypothesis,  of  an  occult  or  generally  unknown 
nature  and  applies  it  in  accordance  with  the  formulae 
of  a  concealed  instruction.  A  knowledge  of  the 
powers  which  are  latent  in  human  nature  is  not 
unlikely  to  lead  to  mysticism,  which  is  the  develop 
ment  of  the  latent  powers  in  the  direction  of  divine 
union.  There  is  usually,  however,  no  person  less 
really  mystic  than  the  occultist  conventionally  under 
stood. 

The  points  of  contact  between  occult  science 
and  the  Kabalah  are  very  numerous,  but  between 
Mysticism  and  the  Kabalah  they  are,  com 
paratively  speaking,  few.  It  is  difficult  to  name 
a  branch  of  occult  science  which  is  not  indebted 
for  some  development,  though  not  as  we  have 
seen  in  most  cases  for  a  governing  direction,  to 


Channels  of  (Esoteric  AlraMtion  487 

the  tradition  of  the  Jews,  so  far  at  least  as  the 
West  is  concerned.  This  is  true  in  a  degree  even  of 
astrology,  though  it  must  be  said  frankly  that  its 
rabbinical  aspects  are  often  highly  fantastic,  confined 
by  their  ignorance  to  the  most  general  conclusions 
and  based  upon  absurd  principles,  as  appears  most 
explicitly,  though  not  with  intention,  in  the  defence 
of  Gaffarel.  Ceremonial  Magic  in  the  West  had, 
as  we  have  seen,  its  root  in  Kabalism  ;  so  had 
all  methodised  Divination,  while  the  connections 
of  alchemy  with  the  ALsh  Metzareph  have  been  the 
subject  of  a  special  study.  It  seems  unnecessary  to 
prolong  the  thesis  of  the  present  section.  The  end  of 
Mysticism  is  the  recovery  or  attainment  of  conscious 
ness  in  God.  The  secret  doctrine  of  the  creation,  as 
that  of  the  emanation  of  souls,  written  symbolically, 
cannot  in  the  absence  of  the  Key  which  will  open  its 
mysteries,  be  of  any  use  to  the  mystic,  nor  can  the 
Key  itself,  which  is  the  successful  methodising  of 
the  confused  Kabalistic  medley,  provide  more  than 
intellectual  knowledge, even  by  the  most  extreme  hypo 
thesis.  Should  he  enter  within  the  circle  of  initiation 
where  that  Key  is  said  to  be  obtained  the  student 
will  in  due  time  be  in  a  position  to  know  whether  the 
secret  knowledge  which  underlies  such  symbolism  can 
contribute  to  the  success  of  his  enterprise.  But  it  is 
not  impossible  that  a  knowledge  so  obtained  will  take 
him  far  from  any  traditions  of  Israel.  I  have  never 
met  with  any  mystic,  except  those  of  the  natural 
order,  owing,  as  such,  nothing  to  literature  or 
traditions,  who  ignored  the  possibilities  concealed 
behind  Kabalistic  symbolism,  or  on  the  other  hand 
owed  anything  of  importance  to  the  Kabalah.  I 


488    ^he  Itortrine  nub  literature  of  the  Jiabalah 

have  never  met  with  any  mystic,  as  distinguished 
from  occult  students  concerned  with  the  offices  of 
Magic,  who  had  so  much  as  a  tolerable  acquaintance 
with  the  subject.  Finally,  the  greatest  students  of 
occult  science  within  my  acquaintance  have  been 
invariably  taken  further  afield.  It  must  be  confessed, 
however,  that  the  question  is  complicated  by  a 
number  of  issues  to  which  it  is  impossible  to  do 
justice  in  a  brief  space.  But  it  may  be  clearly  set 
down  that  as  mysticism,  properly  disengaged  from  its 
adventitious  associations  and  regarded  essentially,  is 
a  sacramental  experience  of  the  soul,  not  a  system  of 
cosmology,  not  a  doctrine  of  spiritual  essences  con 
structed  hypothetically,  so  it  has  at  best  but  an 
extrinsic  connection  with  Bereshith  and  Mercavah^ 
as,  in  like  manner,  with  all  that  we  understand 
conventionally  by  the  occult  sciences. 

We  have  now  reached  the  term  of  our  inquiry, 
and  a  small  space  only  can  be  spared  to  a  summary 
of  its  results.  As  regards  the  documents  of  Kabalism 
we  take  our  stand  with  that  later  and  better  scholar 
ship  the  position  of  which  is  indicated  by  Dr.  Schiller- 
Szinessy's  admirable  article  on  the  Midrashim.  We 
reject  entirely  the  German  school  of  Dr.  Graetz, 
whose  popular  English  exponent  is  Dr.  Ginsburgh. 
We  regard  the  Zoharic  writings  as  the  growth  of 
some  centuries.  We  believe  that  they  represent  a 
tradition  which  connects  with  Talmudic  times.  We 
respect  the  legend  by  which  that  tradition  is  identified 
with  the  name  of  R.  Simeon  ben  Jochai,  but  we  are 
not  pledged  thereto.  We  admit  that  the  final  shape 
assumed  by  the  Zohar  may  not  have  been  much 


Channels  of  (Esoteric  TTrabition  489 

anterior  to  the  date  of  its  publication.  We  do  not 
deny  that  it  may  have  received  additions  which 
deserve  to  be  described  as  spurious,  or  that  some 
of  its  increment  may  be  attributable  to  Moses  de 
Leon,  but  we  receive  every  statement  with  regard 
to  this  personage  tentatively  and  under  all  reservation, 
ascribing  little  evidential  value  to  the  account  in  the 
Sepher  Yuhasin,  and  confessing  that  outside  it  there 
is  perhaps  no  ground  for  supposing  that  such  a  rabbi 
flourished  in  the  thirteenth  century.  We  consider 
that  the  period  of  R.  Akiba  is  not  an  unwarrantable 
date  to  ascribe  to  the  Sepher  Yetzirah,  or  to  some 
earlier  form  of  that  document,  but  the  extent  to 
which  it  antedated  the  ninth  century  must  remain 
conjectural.  We  observe  in  the  Sepher  Yetzirah 
and  the  Zohar  certain  doctrines  which  in  some  form 
or  other  belong  to  all  occultism  ;  they  are  part  of 
its  burden,  but  they  go  far  back  into  antiquity.  We 
believe  these  doctrines  to  have  been  derived  by  the 
Jew  in  his  early  settlements  and  captivities.  We 
regard  the  other  doctrines  of  the  Zohar,  in  so  far 
as  they  follow  from  Scripture,  to  be  of  various  and 
chiefly  unassignable  dates  and  periods,  but  in  so  far 
as  they  are  philosophical  subtleties  or  theosophical 
fantasies  we  regard  them  as  largely  post-Talmudic. 
We  look  upon  the  Kabalistic  writings  as  documents 
of  humanity,  and  among  such  as  memorials  of  the 
genius  of  Israel,  possessing  their  connections  with 
other  systems  and  other  modes  of  thought,  but  by 
correspondence,  by  affiliation,  by  filtration,  by  causal 
identity,  rather  than  by  historic  descent.  We  look 
upon  the  Zohar  in  particular  as  one  of  the  most 
attractive  curiosities  of  the  human  mind,  full  of  great- 


49°    ^he  Jtoctrine  anb  |Citerjiturc  at  the 

ness  and  littleness,  of  sublimity  and  folly.  The  interest 
which  it  aroused  on  its  appearance  has  in  some 
measure  survived  all  criticism,  and  the  work  itself 
has  lived  down  even  the  admiration  of  its  believers. 
We  hold  that  it  can  be  accounted  for  naturally  and 
historically  as  a  genuine  growth  of  its  age  and  not 
either  as  an  imposture  or  as  the  key  of  all  esoteric 
knowledge.  It  contains  few  or  no  traces  of  that 
doctrine  of  secret  religion  which  occultists  look  for 
therein.  It  is  the  theosophical  doctrine  of  Jewry. 
It  supposes  and  involves  the  whole  claim  of  Jewry, 
and  as  such  its  acceptation  in  any  serious  teaching 
sense  is  intolerable  to  the  modern  mind  and 
would  not  be  worth  arguing  were  it  not  for  the 
strong  trend  of  occult  thought  in  its  direction. 
The  existence  of  a  concealed  doctrine  of  religion 
perpetuated  from  antiquity  cannot  be  proved 
by  recourse  to  Kabalistic  literature,  and  in  so 
far  as  this  notion  has  been  rested  thereon,  it  is  to 
that  extent  discounted,  yet  the  question  itself  does 
not  stand  or  fall  by  the  Kabalah.  Speaking  from 
the  transcendental  standpoint  for  the  first  time,  as  I 
feel  warranted  to  do  in  concluding,  I  venture  to  say 
that  it  is  in  Christian  channels  that  this  doctrine  must 
be  sought  by  those  who  assume  it,  by  which  I  mean 
that  the  transcendental  succession  has  passed  into 
the  Church  of  Christ.  The  question,  however,  is  not 
approachable  from  the  historical  side,  and  in  no  real 
sense  of  the  term  can  it  be  said  to  possess  such  a 
side.  It  is  therefore  outside  the  common  channels  of 
inquiry,  and  assuming  for  the  moment  that  any 
person  now  living  in  the  flesh  is  entitled  to  affirm  its 
existence,  then  he  best  of  all,  though  not  he  only,  is 


of  (Esoteric  Traoition  491 

aware  that  the  secret  doctrine  is  not  of  this  world. 
The  historical  association  of  the  Kabalah  with  occult 
science  in  the  West  could  not,  of  course,  have  taken 
place  without  a  common  ground  between  them,  and 
the  occult  students  who  are  concerned  practically 
with  the  alleged  efficacy  of  theurgic  formulae,  with 
the  physical  possibilities  said  to  be  indicated  under 
alchemical  symbolism,  with  certain  side  issues  of 
astrology,  as  with  the  historical  aspect  of  all  these 
subjects,  must  not  ignore  the  Kabalah,  for  which 
reasons  the  rigid  demarcation  of  its  sphere  of 
influence  and  operation  has  been  much  needed,  and 
has  been  here  attempted,  as  it  is  'believed,  for  the 
first  time. 


INDEX 


AARON  the  Great,  his  commentary 
on  the  Sepher  Yetzirah,  185,  186. 

Abba  and  Aima,  the  Supernal 
Father  and  Mother,  55,  127,  214, 
232. 

Abbah,  R.,  the  traditional  scribe  of 
R.  Simeon,  112;  eulogy  of  R. 
Simeon,  261. 

Aben  Ezra,  96. 

Abraham,  R.,  his  commentary  on 
the  Sepher  Yetzirah,  98 ;  its 
Zoharic  elements,  180;  on  Ain 
Soph,  1 80,  181  ;  alleged  identity 
with  the  instructor  of  Flamel, 
181,  182;  see  also  Flamel. 

Abraham  Abulafia,  suggested  author 
of  the  Zohar,  115;  his  writings, 
159;  his  Messianic  enthusiasm, 
1 60. 

Abraham  of  Beaucaire,  115. 

Abraham  ben  David  Ha  Levi,  his 
Aristotelian  tendency,  96  ;  a  great 
orthodox  apologist,  158  ;  his 
Order  of  the  Tradition,  160,  161  ; 
a  second  personage  bearing  his 
name,  159,  179. 

Abraham  of  Posquiere,  suggested 
author  of  the  Zohar,  115,  162. 

Abraham  ben  Samuel  Zakut,  his 
Book  of  Genealogies,  104  ;  hi- 
estimate  of  the  Zohar,  105  ;  his 
narrative  concerning  Isaac  de 
Acco,  105—108. 

Abraham  I bn  Wakhnr,  162. 

Abramelin,  spuriou-,  work  attri 
buted  to,  100. 

Abravanel,  i.e.,  Leo  the  Hebrew,  his 
Dialogues  on  Love,  314  ;  sketch 
of  the  author,  315  ;  singular 
mistakes  in  regard  to  his  work, 
316,  317  ;  summary  account  of, 
3i8,  319. 

Absolute,  beginning  of  Kalndi-,tic 
philosophy,  31  ;  the  essence  of 
all,  34  ;  postulation  of  its  exist 
ence  by  the  Kabalah,  37. 

Abu  Alphrag  on  the  alleged  true 
synagogue,  160. 


Academy  of  Sora,  157. 

Adam,  201-203,  243-245,  252,  274. 

Adam  Kadmon,  archetypal  and 
primordial  man,  51  ;  abode  in 
AtzHuth,  51,  54  ;  a  second  Adam 
in  Briah,  77  ;  an  averse  Adam, 
80  ;  sin  of  Adam  Kadmon,  272. 

Adni  :  substituted  for  the  Tetra- 
gram,  57  ;  see  also  76,  and  gene 
rally  under  DIVINK  NAMES. 

.K-h  Metzareph,  an  application  of 
Kabalism  to  alchemy,  308  ;  lan 
guage  of,  309  ;  probable  period, 
310  ;  Levi's  alleged  reconstitution, 
311;  difficulties  of  the  treatise, 
312  ;  sephirotic  attribution  of  the 
metals,  312,  313  ;  for  minor 
references  see  328,  436,  449,  452, 
455,  464,  487. 

Agla  and  Ararita,  150,  151. 

Agobad,  St.,  probable  reference  to 
the  Sepher  Yetzirah,  93,  136. 

Agrippa,  Cornelius,  sketch  of,  344, 
345  ;  gives  earliest  methodical 
description  of  the  Kabalah,  345  ; 
probable  source  of  his  acquaint 
ance,  346 ;  summary  of  his  instruc 
tion,  346,  347  ;  his  subsequent 
retractation,  151,  347-349;  influ 
ence  of  Agrippa  on  Yaughan,  376  ; 
see  also  329,  380. 

Ahih,  see  Divine  Names. 

Ain  Soph,  Kabalistic  name  of 
the  unmanifest  Deity,  33 ;  its 
meaning,  ib.  ;  the  subsistent  state 
of  Deity,  35  ;  transcendency  of, 
36;  pi-ubleiii-.  created  for  the 
I'Av,  37  ;  the  decade  and  Ain 
So/>h,  41;  passage  In  in  latency 
to  activity,  44;  central  point 
•  if  A'fther,  45;  the  Sephiroth 
concentrated  in  .-//;/  .S^///,  46, 
51  ;  manifestation,  49  ;  essentially 
unknowable,  54  ;  as  the  Closed 
Eye,  55;  philo>o|.hiral  claims  oi 
the  doctrine,  59,  86;  world  of, 
73  ;  doctrine  of,  fundamental  in 
the  Kabalah,  123;  an  ultimate 


494 


lute 


concept  of  metaphysics,  123, 
124;  as  described  by  Saadya 
Gaon,  180,  181  ;  according  to 
Azariel,  183 ;  according  to  the 
Zohar,  208 ;  mentioned  in  the 
Bahir,  242  ;  see  also  52,  56,  128, 
192,  246,  347,  417,  423,  431. 

Aitsinger,  M.,  473. 

Akiba,  R.,  traditional  author  of  the 
Sepher  Yetzirah,  91  ;  claims  of 
the  attribution,  92  ;  his  mystical 
tendencies,  120  ;  his  death,  146, 
147;  see  also  457,  489. 

Al,  see  Divine  Names. 

Albelda,  M.,  387. 

AlboJ.,  387. 

Alchemy,    rabbinical  influence    on, 

308  ;    the   Flamel    legend,    148, 

309  ;  alchemical  allusions  in  the 
Zohar,    309  ;    alchemy   and    the 
Sephiroth,  312,  313  ;  alchemy  and 
Paracelsus,  350  ;  general  connec 
tion  with  Kabalism,  449-460 ;  see 
also  8,  126. 

Alphabet,  Mysteries  of,  6 1,  91,  131, 
178  ;  see  also  Sepher  Yetzirah  and 
Instruments  of  Creation. 

Alphabet  of  Akiba,  91,  92,  94,  154. 

Al  Tufail,  141. 

Amelineau,  M.  E.,  on  the  coinci 
dent  development  of  Gnosticism 
and  Kabalism,  128. 

Angels,  the  hierarchies  according  to 
Mirandola,  335  ;  see  also  76-78 
and  under  PNEUMATOLOGY. 

Angus,  Joseph,  on  exegetical 
methods,  28. 

Arabian  Philosophy,  138. 

Archangelus  de  Burgo  Nuovo,  com 
mentary  on  Mirandola,  332  ; 
excerpt  from,  339  ;  his  apparent 
view  of  the  Kabalah,  355. 

Arik  Anpin,  see  Vast  Countenance. 

Aristobulus,  130. 

Aristotle,  yoke  of,  in  Jewry,  96,  97, 
161  ;  influence  on  Ha  Levi,  160  ; 
alleged  influence  on  Avicebron, 
164,  166  ;  Saadya  Gaon,  an  Aris 
totelian  philosopher,  178  ;  Azariel 
opposed  by  the  Aristotelian  party, 
183  ;  see  also  144,  316. 

Assiah,  see  Four  Worlds. 

Astral  Light,  21. 

Astrology,  not  essentially  connected 
with  the  Kabalah,  461,  462; 
much  studied  by  the  Jews,  462  ; 
astronomy  and  the  Sephiroth,  464; 


summary  of  Jewish  astrology, 
465-467  ;  Jewish  astronomy,  467, 
468  ;  Sephirotic  astrology  accord 
ing  to  Gaffarel  and  modern 
occultists,  469,  470. 

Atonement,  249. 

Averroes,  164. 

Avicebron,  see  Gebirol. 

Azariel,  R.,  on  the  Sephiroth,  41, 
on  the  Sepher  Yetzirah,  98,  159, 
167,  174,  182-184,  414. 

BAHIR,  see  Illustrious  Book. 

Bailly  on  the  Astronomical  Signs, 
460. 

Bakoda,  R.  Behai  ben  Joseph  ibn, 
his  treatise  on  the  Duties  of  the 
Heart,  109. 

Bar  Cochba,  his  Messianic  mission, 
146. 

Earth,  F.,  on  Kabalism  in  Cornelius 
Agrippa,  346. 

Bartolocci,  Julius,  his  rabbinical 
bibliography,  2  ;  his  prejudgment 
of  the  Kabalah,  99  ;  on  Abraham 
ben  David  Ha  Levi,  161,  179  ; 
on  the  commentary  of  R.  Saadya 
Gaon,  175  ;  on  other  commen 
tators  of  the  Sepher  Yetzirah,  185, 
1 86  ;  on  the  commentators  of  the 
Canticle  of  Canticles,  280 ;  on 
Abravanel,  315  ;  on  the  minor 
literature  of  Kabalism,  320  ;  see 
also  181,  274. 

Barzillai,  Judah  ben,  on  the  Sepher 
Yetzirah,  186. 

Basnage,  on  the  date  of  the  original 
Zohar,  115;  importance  of  the 
tenth  century  for  Israel,  155; 
on  R.  Eliezer's  commentary  on 
the  Sepher  Yetzirah,  185 ;  his 
slight  knowledge  of  the  Zohar, 
1 88  ;  on  Talmudic  references  to 
former  creations,  220,  221  ;  on 
the  date  of  Moses  of  Cardova, 
289 ;  on  that  of  Isaac  de  Loria, 
292  ;  on  Henry  More,  370 ;  see 
also  93. 

Bertet,  Adolphe,  on  Kabalism  in 
the  Pentateuch,  9. 

Berthelot,  on  the  spurious  books  of 
Geber,  148 ;  on  Jewish  influence 
upon  alchemy,  450 ;  on  the 
Leyden  papyrus,  453 ;  on  the 
Kabalah  and  alchemy,  461. 

Berwick,  Samuel,  on  the  Sweden- 
borgian  Rite,  472. 


fnfccx 


495 


Beyers,  on  the  Christian  aspects  of 

the  Kabalah,  380. 
Binah,  see  Se phi  roth. 
Blavatsky,  II.  P.,  on  the  Kabalah 

and  its  literature,  433-437. 
Blunt's  Dictionary  of  Doctrinal  and 

Historical  Theology,  its  worthless 

article  on  the  Kabalah,  4  ;  on  the 

language    of     the    Zohar,     120; 

absurd  mistake  as  to  the  Greater 

and  Lesser  Zohar,  193. 
Body  of   God,  description   of,    37, 

154,  157- 

Bois,  Jules,  on  Raymond  Lully,  326. 

Boismont,  Brierre  de,  on  Vampires, 
82. 

Briere,  M.  de,  on  the  transmission 
of  secret  knowledge,  n. 

Brashith  or  Bereshith,  mystery  of, 
153 ;  Zoharic  explanations  of, 
281;  according  to  Mirandola, 
339 ;  according  to  Henry  More, 
372. 

Briah,  see  Four  Worlds. 

Bride  of  Microprosopus,  73,  227, 
228. 

Browne,  E.  G.,  on  Islamic  Mysti 
cism,  143,  144. 

Byrant,  Jacob,  on  the  Mysteries, 
126. 

Buddieus  on  the  Bahirt  236. 

Buxtorf  on  the  Bahir,  236. 

Burnet,  Thomas,  his  criticism  of  the 
Kabalah,  389;  on  the  transmission 
of  the  secret  wisdom  of  Moses, 
390  ;  on  the  Nominal  and  Real 
Kabalah,  391  ;  errors  and  specu 
lations,  392  ;  on  Oriental  alle 
gories,  393- 

Burton,  Sir  Richard,  on  human 
sacrifice  among  the  Jews,  145. 

Byler,  II.  C.  van,  on  Kabalistic 
alchemy,  461. 

CALMET,  23. 

Casaubon,  L,  450. 

Chamai,  R.,  on  the  Kabalistic  art, 

320. 
Chasdai,   R.,  connection  with   Hay 

Gaon  and  Gebirol,  158. 
Chassidim,  old  and  new,  146. 
Chateau,  M.  H.,  his  alleged  French 

version  of  the  Zohar,  189. 
Chesed,  see  Sephiroth. 
Chiah,    a    higher    principle   of   the 

soul,   85  ;    according    to    Saadya 

Gaon,  177  ;  the  heavenly  Chiah, 


200 ;  a  name  of  Neshamah,  242  ; 
the  higher  life,  273  ;  in  corre 
spondence  with  Abba,  300. 

Chinese  Kabalah,  126. 

Chokmah,  see  Sephiroth. 

Christian,    P.,    alleged    astrological 
Kabalah,    463 ;    on    Cagliostro's 
process  of  divination,  469. 
|  Claverus,  on  the  sEsh  Metzareph, 

310. 

j  Closed  Eye,  The,  55. 
!   Cohen,  Samuel,  on  the  origin  of  the 
Zohar,  115. 

Commentary  on  Ruth,  fragments 
in  the  Zohar  and  possible  author 
ship,  273,  274. 

Confucianism,  127. 

Converts  from  Kabalism,  320,  321. 

Cortices,  the  demons  of  Kabalism, 
52  ;  attributed  to  Assiah,  79  ;  as 
recrements  of  the  Edomite  Kings, 
301. 

Countenances,  see  Lesser  and  Vast 
Countenances. 

Court  de  Gebelin,  as  an  authority 
on  Egyptology  and  the  Tarot,  419, 
479,  481,  482. 

Cousin,  Victor,  his  confusion  on  the 
subject  of  the  Kabalah,  398 ;  see 
also  317. 

!  Creation  of  man  according  to  the 
/char,  199  -  201  ;  creation  ex 
nihilo,  40,  59. 

Cremer,  Abbot,  forged  alchemical 
testament  attributed  to,  326. 

Crown  of  the  Kingdom,  Sephirotic 
poem  of  Avicebron,  165. 

Cryptography  and  symbolism,  8. 

Cud  worth,  Ralph,  a  great  theoso- 
phist,  386;  his  "Intellectual 
System,''  ib.  ;  connection  with 
Kabalism,  xv.,  386;  his  appeal 
to  rabbinical  authorities,  387-389. 

Cybele,  3. 

DAATH,  see  Sephiroth. 

Dale,  Antonio  Van,  his  reference  to 

the  Key  of  Solomon,  443. 
D'Alvedre,  St.    Yves,  influence  on 

French    occultism,   416 ;    on    the 

Miissorah,  64. 
h'Ai-en-,    hi-    lO-odlcd    Kabalistic 

correspondence,  473. 
Dee,    l)i.  John,   m\    Monas  Iliero- 

•lnca\  459. 
Iielanne,   Gabriel,   his  referen 

Mirandola,  331. 


496 


Delineation  of  the  Heavenly  Tem 
ples,  important  pre  -  Kabalistic 
treatise,  154,  159. 

Demonology,  24,  79-82,  448,  449. 

Desatir,  Celestial,  its  analogies  with 
Kabalism,  141. 

Dionysius,  analogies  with  Kabalism, 

77- 

Discourse  of  the  Aged  Man,  tract  of 
the  Zohar,  192  ;  excerpts  from, 
229-233. 

Discourse  of  the  Young  Man,  193  ; 
summary  of,  277-278. 

Divine  Names,  in  connection  with 
the  unmanifest  state  of  Deity,  32, 
33  ;  in  connection  with  the 
Sephiroth,  57,  58,  446,  447  ; 
their  supposed  occult  power,  94  ; 
antiquity  of  this  belief,  118,  441  ; 
the  sealing  names,  171,  172  ; 
Saaclya  Gaon  on  the  names  of 
God,  177  ;  speculation  of  Isaac 
de  Loria,  295,  296  ;  criticism  of 
Cornelius  Agrippa,  348,  349 ;  the 
Divine  Names  and  the  Scale  of 
the  Denary,  447,  448. 

Donolo,  Sabbatai,  his  commentary 
on  the  Sepher  Yetzirah,  186. 

Drach,  Chevalier,  on  the  uses  of  the 
term  Kabalah,  29  ;  its  authority, 
162  ;  on  Abravanel,  315. 

Duties  of  the  Heart,  treatise  quoted 
by  the  Zohar,  109,  no,  in. 

EDERSHEIM  on  emanationism  and 
the  Talmud,  17  ;  Talmudic  tradi- 
ditionalism,  19  ;  cosmology  of  the 
Sepher  Yetzirah,  63  ;  description 
of,  91;  on  Akiba,  92;  on  the 
Chassidim,  146. 

Edom,  Kings  of,  in  Zoharic  sym 
bolism,  220. 

Egyptian  Wisdom,  83. 

Eirenoeus  Philalethes,  eminence  in 
alchemy,  375,  376  ;  see  also  455. 

Eleazar  of  Worms,  his  Kabalistic 
school,  167. 

Eliezer  Hagabite,  Kabalistic  doctor, 
156. 

Eliezer,  R.,  his  mystic  system,  156, 

157- 
Elohim,      forces     of      Briah,      75  ; 

secondary     gods,    76 ;     a     name 

assumed  by  God,   177  ;  reference 

in  the  Zohar,  207. 
El  Shaddai,  177. 
Emanation   and  the  Kabalah,  40 ; 


emanation  and  Divine  Imman 
ence,  41,  144;  as  the  manifestation 
of  the  Absolute,  38  ;  the  world 
of  emanations,  51;  emanationism 
and  pantheism,  40. 

Encausse,  Gerard,  see  Papus. 

Evangelical  Design  of  Christian 
Kabalism,  98,  147-149,  325. 

Ezra,  Moses  Ibn  Jacob  Ben,  his 
Kabalistic  connections,  158,  159; 
alleged  invention  of  the  Kabalah, 
162  ;  see  also  21 1. 

FAITHFUL  Shepherd,  fragments  in 
Zohar,  on  the  unmanifest  God, 
32,  35  ;  on  the  Names  of  God, 
133>  I34>  on  tne  authors  of  the 
Zohar,  135  ;  analysis  and  excerpts, 
246-255  ;  see  also  192. 

Falaquera,  disciple  of  Maimonides, 

159- 

Fall  of  Man,  as  expounded  in  the 
Zohar  proper,  202,  203  ;  according 
to  the  Bahir,  243,  246  ;  according 
to  the  Faithful  Shepherd,  252 ; 
according  to  the  Tosephthoth,  272, 
273  ;  according  to  the  Conclusions 
of  Mirandola,  335. 

Farrar,  F.  WT.,  description  of  the 
Talmud,  17. 

Fichte,  J.  G.,  317. 

Figuier,  Louis,  as  cited  by  Papus, 
418;  on  Byzantine  alchemical 
literature,  451. 

Flagg,  W.  T.,  on  reincarnation 
among  the  Kabalists,  86. 

Flamel,  Nicholas,  his  instructor  in 
alchemy,  in,  181  ;  alleged  evan 
gelical  zeal,  148,  149 ;  misstate- 
ments  of  Eliphas  Levi,  311  ; 
opinion  of  Stanislas  de  Guaita, 
423,  424. 

Fludd,  Robert,  place  among  English 
occultists,  366 ;  mystery  of  his 
life,  367  ;  his  Kabalistic  studies, 
368 ;  on  the  practical  Kabalah, 
368,  369 ;  not  acquainted  with 
the  Zohar,  369  ;  his  use  of  the 
term  Kabalah,  370. 

Fountain  of  Life,  treatise  of  Avice- 
bron,  164,  165. 

Four  Worlds  of  Kabalism,  world  of 
Deity  or  Atziluth,  51  ;  its  sole 
occupant,  ib.  ;  world  of  creation 
or  Briah,  ib.  ;  world  of  formation 
or  Yetzirah,  $2  ;  world  of  action 
or  Assiah,  ib.  ;  astronomical 


iubex 


497 


correspondences,  53  ;  earliest 
traces  of  the  doctrine,  ib.  As 
regards  Atzi'uth,  sec  57,  77,  144, 
208,  232,  275,  300 ;  as  regards 
Briah,  56,  58,  60,  75,  77,  171, 
300  ;  as  regards  Yetzirah,  60,  77, 
79»  I7l>  3°°  ;  as  regards  Assiah, 
79,  81,  300. 

Franck,  Adolphe,  on  Isaac  <' 

75,  288,  289,  308 ;  on  the  Sepher 
Yet/.irah,  93,  94  ;  his  defence  of 
the  Kabalah,  97,  397,  398;  on 
the  language  of  the  Zohar,  113; 
on  the  foreknowledge  of  the  soul, 
210  ;  on  the  connection  1 
the  Sepher  Yetzirah  and  the 
Zohar,  211  ;  on  Kabalistic  escha- 
tology,  226;  on  the  Hakir,  239; 
on  Raymond  Lully,  328,  329  ;  on 
William  Hostel,  359  ;  on  the 
Kabalism  of  Henry  More,  370, 
374- 

Freemasonry,  its  mystic  origin,  470  ; 
historical  origin,  4/0,  471  ;  con 
nection  with  occultism,  472  ; 
Kabalistic  degrees,  472-476; 
occultism  and  the  Scottish  Rite, 
476-478;  Masonic  Rosicrucianism, 
478  ;  the  higher  grades  and  Kabal- 
ism,  479;  see  also  17. 

Friedlander,  M.,  57,  83. 

Frinellan,  his  Vo<abulaire  Infernal, 

23- 

Future  Happiness  according  to  the 

Zohar,  264. 
Future  Punishment  according  to  the 

Zohar,  226,  267. 

GAFFAKKJ.,    his    astrological    pro- 

,    150;    on    the    Kabalistic 

MSS.    of   Mirandola,    331,   332; 

on    astrology   and    the    Law    of 

Israel,  462. 

Galatinus,  Petrus,  on  the  evangelical 
value  of  the  Kabalah,  99. 

Gamaliel,  R.,  91. 

Ganz,  David,  on  the  compilation  of 
the  Mishna,  15. 

Garden  of  Ivlen,  a  place  of  the 
.ih,  205 ;  the  upper  and 
lower,  262;  reference  by  Miran 
dola,  336. 

Garden  of  Pomegranates,  on  the 
name  Ain  Soph,  34  ;  authority  of 
this  treatise  among  Kabalists, 

290;  its  obscurities  and  difficulties, 

ib.  ;   on   pneumatology,   20. 


good  works,  292  ;  quoted  by  the 
&sh  Mttzareph,  310. 
Gates  of  Light,  on  the  Divine  Will, 
39  ;  on  the  Gates  of  Understand 
ing  73- 

Gates  of  Understanding,  a  sketch  of 
universal  science,  72  ;  late  origin, 
73  ;  see  also  344. 

Geber,  Latin  writings  attributed  to, 
IOI,  148  ;  quoted  by  the  A£sh 

ireph,  310. 

Gebirol,     included      among     eavly 
Kabalists,   158;  his  \\iitii: 
their    evidence    on    the   antiquity 
of  the    Zohar,    161  :    the 
with  which  he  connects,  162  ;  his 
chief  doctrines,  163  ;  his  "  Foun 
tain  of  Life,"  164  ;  sketch  of  his. 
life,  165  ;  reference  to  the  Sepher 
Yet/irah,    165,    166 ;    his  alleged 
pantheism,      166,      167  ;     Greek 
complexion    of    his    philosophy, 
167  ;  see  also  138,  139,  21 1, 
Geburah,  sec  Sephiroth* 
Geinara,  16. 

Gematria,  exegetical  method  of,  xiv., 
27  ;  example  of,  73,  74  ;    in  the 
A£sh  Afet*arepkt  312,  313. 
Gikatella,    Joseph,    73,    320;     see 

of  Light. 

Ginsburg,  C.  D.,  on  early  Kaba 
listic  literature,  44;  on  ]  -n  - 
Kabalistic  literature,  154;  on  the 
Sepher  Yet/.irah,  154,  155;  on 
the  origin  of  the  Zohar,  162 ; 
hi.,  d.  M-ription  of  the  Zohar,  190  ; 
analysis  of  his  work  on  the 
Kabalah,  408-410;  see  also  xi., 
xiv.,  189,  256,  488. 
Gnosticism,  128. 
Goldschmidt,  L. ,  his  translation  of 

the  SepluT  Yet/.irah,  172. 
Good   W.jiks,  Zoharic  Doctrine  of, 

292. 

Gould,  on  Aristotelian  Influence 
among  the  Jews,  97  ;  on 
Paracelsus,  350. 

Goulianuv,    (  le,    i,n    Ik-r- 

metic    and     Kabalistic    tra<lition, 

45'- 

Graet/,  Dr.,  indiscriminate  hostility 
of  his  criticism,  97  ;  on  the 

.in  of  the  Zohar,  115;  his 
estimate  of  .V  i  "iu  1 16  ; 

on  th«-  M)  Series  ,  f  Simeon 

riai,  1 20;  on  the  Sepher 
Yetzirah,  122,  154;  on  the 


49s 


iniiex 


writings  of  Abulafia,  160  ; 
followed  by  Ginsburg,  162  ;  on 
Gebirol,  166 ;  definite  rejection 
of  his  views,  488. 

Great  Adam,  336. 

Greater  Holy  Synod,  its  literary 
aspect,  217  ;  on  the  authorship  of 
the  "  Book  of  Concealment,"  ib.\ 
content  of,  ib.  ;  the  recorder  of 
its  discourses,  219;  summary 
account  of  its  symbolism,  219-226. 

Greene,  W.  B.,  on  the  Massorah, 
22 ;  on  the  worlds  of  the 
Kabalah,  24,  25  ;  on  the 
Kabalistic  balance,  71. 

Gri moires  of  magic,  alleged  place 
in  the  scheme  of  Kabalism,  150; 
close  connection  with  the  Magical 
Clavicles,  445. 

Guaita,  Stanislas  de,  on  Christian 
Kabalism,  99;  on  the  Egyptian 
origin  of  Kabalism,  122,  123;  his 
literary  work,  421,  422;  his 
Rosicrucian  Order,  422,  423  ; 
his  views  on  Kabalism,  423,  424. 

HALAKHA,  arrangement  of,  attri 
buted  to  R.  Akiba,  92;  distinction 
between  Halakha  and  Haggada, 
19. 

Ha  Levi,  Judah,  R.,  on  the  Sepher 
Yetzirah,  91,  159. 

Hareau,  B.,  on  the  Scholastic  Phil 
osophy,  295. 

Harrison,  Clifford,  on  Bacon  as  a 
Rosicrucian,  364. 

Harrison,  C.  G.,  on  the  pantheism 
of  the  Sephirotic  system,  169. 

Hartmann,  Franz,  on  the  higher 
sense  of  magic,  441  ;  on  astro 
logical  geomancy,  465. 

Haven,  Marc,  on  the  Kabalism  of 
Stanislas  de  Guaita,  423. 

Hay  Gaon,  and  the  esoteric  tradition, 
156;  on  the  interpretation  of 
dreams,  158  ;  alleged  commentary 
on  the  Sephir  Yetzirah,  157,  174, 

175,  178. 

Hebrew  literature,  its  extent  and 
development,  i  ;  characteristics, 
2. 

Heckethorn,  C.W.,  absurd  explana 
tion  of  the  term  Kabalah,  3  ; 
error  as  to  the  literal  Kabalah,  21. 

Hellenism,  78. 

Helmont,  Mercurius  and  J.  B.  van, 
their  alchemical  researches,  381. 


Hermetic  Books,  antiquity  of  their 
occult  traditions,  102  ;  earlier  and 
later  series,  449,  450. 

Hermetic  Maxim,  Kabalistic  par 
allel,  207. 

Hershon,  P.  J.,  on  the  divisions  of 
the  Kabalah,  25. 

Hidden  Things  of  the  Law,  extracts 
in  Zohar,  256 ;  specimen  of  its 
exegesis,  256-257  ;  on  the  stages 
of  mystic  vision,  257,  258  ;  on 
the  vision  at  Mamre,  258,  259  ; 
demonology,  259,  260. 

Hillel  the  Great,  92. 

Hirt/,  R.  Napthali,  on  the  Divine 
Will,  39  ;  on  the  consciousness  of 
the  unrnanifested  creation  in  Ain 
Soph,  46  ;  analysis  of  his  "  Royal 
Valley,"  303-306. 

Hook,  Dean,  on  Kabalism  and  the 
early  heretics,  118. 

Hosmer,  T.  K.,  on  the  Kabalah 
and  demonology,  24. 

Hoefer,  P\,  on  Kabalism  and 
alchemy,  457. 

ILLUSTRIOUS  Book,  its  fragments 
quoted  in  Zohar,  192  ;  history, 
analysis  and  excerpts,  234-246 ; 
observation  of  Loeb,  414. 

Immanence,  Divine,  a  foundation  of 
the  Kabalah,  41  ;  in  contrast  to 
pantheism,  144;  see  EMANATION. 

Instruments  of  Creation,  scheme  of, 
59-65 ;  in  connection  with  the 
virtue  of  words,  88. 

Intermediaries,  between  Deity  and 
matter,  37,  43. 

Irira,  Abraham  Cohen,  notice  of  his 
Zoharic  commentaries,  306,  307  ; 
his  Platonic  leanings,  131. 

Isaac  ben  Moses,  his  forged  Zohar, 
286. 

Isaac  de  Acco,  his  search  for  the 
MSS.  of  the  Zohar,  106  ;  meeting 
with  Moses  de  Leon,  ib.  ;  failure 
of  his  quest,  107  ;  abrupt  termina 
tion  of  his  narrative,  107,  108  ;  on 
the  language  of  the  Zohar,  112. 

Isaac  the  Blind,  an  alleged  author 
of  the  Zohar,  115;  connection 
with  Avicebron,  162  ;  his  school 
a  precursor  of  Kabalism,  167 ; 
alleged  teacher  of  Azariel,  182  ; 
his  supposed  commentary  on  the 
Sepher  Yetzirah,  186  ;  see  also 

211. 


Inbex 


499 


Ishmael,    K..  ;    author    of 

the  "  Delineation  of  the  Heavenly 

Temple^,"  157. 

Issach.ir  hen  Napthali,  his  synopsis 
of  the  Xohar,  84,  195,  307,  308. 

JAM  I  of  Herat,  his  "Seven 
Thrones,"  140. 

Jechidah,  fifth  principle  of  the  soul, 
85  ;  its  unique  character,  177  ; 
quintessence  <>f  the  soul,  232; 
the  mystic  daughter,  233  ;  as  a 
name  of  Ne^hamah,  242  ;  accord 
ing  to  Isaac  do  Loria,  300. 

Jellinek,  on  the  term  Sg/>/iira,  42  ; 
on  the  names  of  the  Xohar,  ill  ; 
his  citations  from  Moses  de  Leon, 
1 14  ;  from  the  Kith  Haininadrcsh, 
267. 

Jesod,  we  Sepkirotk.       * 

Jehovah,  sec  Tttra^mmtnaton. 

Joel,  on  emanationism  and  the 
Kabalah,  40,  41. 

.  K.,  hi-  Arabic  translation  of 
the  Talmud,  138. 

Joshua  ben  Chananga,  the  iii. 
Akiba,  91. 

Judge,  W.  O.,  on  a  secret  lodge  of 
adepts,  434. 

Judgment,  Last,  263,  264. 

KABALAH, suggested  derivations.  3; 

true  derivation  of  the  term,  3,  4  ; 
a    secret    traditional    knowledge, 

4  ;  the  hidden  thought  of  Israel, 

5  ;    the   conceal'  of    the 
Pentateuch,    6  ;    difficulty    of    its 
literary  methods,  7  ;  two  ways  of 
regarding  its  importance,   10  ;  its 
interest  not  exegetical  or  historical 
for  the  occult  student,  12  ;  failure 
of  occult  expositions,  t'6.;  whether 
a  channel  of  the  secret  tradition, 
13;     popular    identification     with 
mai'ic,  23;  four  groups  of  Hebrew 
tradition,  26-28  ;   mystery  infused 
by  the  Kabulah  into  the  bible,  31: 

of    a    liberal    and    Catholic 

doctrine,   54 ;    the   understanding 

n  iiu-thodi-rd,  71 ;  limitation 

of,    88;    authority    of,    90;    the 

Kabalah    and     the     Xohar,    98  ; 

.mism,  103; 

sources  of  its  doctrine,  122 
Kabalah    and    mystic    tradition, 
153,   440,    463    ft  .w«/.;    Kabalah 
and   Magic,   323,  324,  351,    438 


.h    and    Agrippa, 
347,    348;    Kabalah    and 

,65    ft    sfij. ;     Modern 
;i    Kabaiism,    414     ,. 

•(.lit  (  hii.stianily, 

42&etseo.'t  Kabalah  and  Modem 
.  433  ft  si't/.;  Kabalah 
and  Alchemy,  449  ct  jw/. ;  Kabalah 
and  Astrology,  461  ct  scq.\ 
Kabalah  and  Freemasonry.  470 
et  sei}.,  the  inquiry  sumn 
488-491- 

Kabbala    Denudata   of    Kosenmth, 
motives    which    led    to   it,    380 ; 
if  the  preface,  383, 
.vv4  :    -airificts    involved    by    the 
work.  ritical  standpoint, 

385,  386;  its  ambitious  design, 
188  ;  excerpts  and  references,  c, 
3i>  33,39,  45.47,  4s,  51.  54,  65, 
75,  76,  fcS,  192,  194,  213,  214, 
225,  227,  228,  291,  293,  294,  304, 
.  306,  307,  383,  457. 

Kairites,  143. 

Kapila,  4. 

Karppe,    Dr.    S.,    pu-h.cc,    \viii-\x. 

Kenealy,      V.,     V.,      on     th< 

Kabalah,   3  ;    on    the   wisdom  of 
Adnm,  6. 

Kcrner,  Ju>tinus,  the  revelations  of 
his  -eeress,  84. 

Kether,  sec  Sephircth. 

Key    of    Solomon,    a    transparent 

forgery,     100 ;    nonsensical    pro- 

,    150;    its   two  recensions, 

443  ;      as     an     embodiment     of 

Kabalistic  tradition,  444. 

Khunrath,  reference  by  Kliphas 
I.«'\i,  382,  by  Stanislas  de  (iii.iita, 
424  ;  his  connection  with  Kab- 
alism,  454. 

Kiern,  F.,  his  Kabalah  of  alchemy, 

456. 

,   r.   \V.,   on    the   ancient   tra 
ditions  of  the  Zc  .  .  '   :   on  the 
anal'  :                   •  -n  (In«.sticism  and 
the  Kab-alah,  I  20. 
Kingsford,  Anna. 
Kingslanrl,     \V.,    on    the    A 

Wisdom  Religion,  435. 
Kircher,  Athanasius,  t)n  the  < , 

i  Kabalistic 
corre  .  132. 

.  .;  defendant  of  the  Kabalah, 
97- 

•     the  Sepht  r 
irah,  159. 


500 


LAMB,  Dr.  J.,  on  the  Hebrew 
characters,  467. 

Lambert,  Mayer,  on  the  date  and 
character  of  the  Sepher  Yetzirah, 
95  ;  on  the  commentary  of  Saadya 
Gaon,  175  ;  see  also  173,  417. 

Landauer,  M.  II.,  on  the  authorship 
of  the  Zohar,  115. 

Leiningen,  Carl,  on  Pneumatology, 

83- 

Lelievre,  A.,  on  the  divinatory 
sciences,  150. 

Lejay,  Julien,  418. 

Letters  from  a  Mystic,  mysticism  of 
the  Divine  Name,  95. 

Leroy-Beaulieu,  A.,  on  the  Hatakha 
and  Haggada,  19  ;  on  the  Jew 
and  mysticism,  485. 

Lesser  Countenance,  symbolism  of, 
56,  73,  87,  215,  216,  219,  220, 
223,  225,  227,  228. 

Lesser  Holy  Synod,  as  described  by 
Rosenroth,  226 ;  design  of  its 
revelations,  227  ;  nature  of  the 
discourse,  ib. ;  Kabalistic  doctrine 
of  the  sexes,  227,  228 ;  account 
of  R.  Simeon's  death,  228,  229. 

Leusden,  J,  on  the  name  of  God, 
441. 

Levi,  David,  on  the  antiquity  of 
the  Vowel-Points,  109,  no. 

Levi,  Eliphas,  his  misconstruction 
of  the  Talmud,  19-21  ;  on  the 
Divine  Name,  60 ;  on  the  thirty- 
first  Path  of  Wisdom,  71,  179, 
182  ;  on  the  Book  of  Conceal 
ment,  213 ;  on  Microprosopus, 
216;  its  symbolism,  217;  on  the 
&sh  Metzareph,  310,  311  ;  on 
Raymond  Lully,  326  ;  translation 
of  Mirandola's  Conclusions,  334  ; 
variants  from  same,  335  -  343  ; 
on  the  collection  of  Pistorius, 
354  -  356 ;  on  William  Postel, 
358,  360,  361,  362;  sketch  of 
Levi's  position  as  a  Kabalist, 
396-408;  as  judged  by  De 
Guaita,  423 ;  see  also  99,  150, 

196,    366>    382.    415.   424,    479> 

480,  481. 
Levita,  Elias,  on  the  Vowel- Points, 

109. 
Liber    Drushim,    excerpts    in    the 

collection     of    Rosenroth,    293  ; 

analysis  of,  294-297  ;  influence  on 

Henry  More,  293,  371. 
Libavius,  Andrew,  368. 


Lilith,  Kabalistic  bride  of  Samael, 
81,  82,  255,  260. 

Lillie,  A.,  130. 

Li.smon,  Z.,  on  the  Tarot,  480. 

Loeb,  Isidore  de,  on  French  and 
Spanish  Jews  in  the  thirteenth 
century,  18  ;  on  Metatron,  76  ; 
his  study  of  the  Kabalah,  409  et 
seq. 

Longelus,  Ranutius,  150. 

Loria,  Isaac  de,  on  the  benevolence 
of  the  creative  act,  47 ;  his 
developments  of  Zoharic  pneuma- 
tology,  75,  86,  230,  287,  299-303  ; 
his  treatises  recommended  by 
Rosenroth,  195  ;  his  position  and 
period,  292  ;  his  works,  293,  294  ; 
summary  of  same,  294-303. 

Lover  of  Pljilalethes,  455. 

Lowy,  Rev.  A.,  2. 

Lully,  Raymond,  his  true  work, 
148;  his  connection  with  Kabalism, 
325,  328  ;  his  date  and  legend, 
326  ;  the  Lully  of  alchemy,  327  ; 
errors  of  Franck,  328,  329 ;  his 
scholastic  system,  330 ;  see  also 

Luria,  David,  97. 

Lux  in  Tenebris,  its  observations  on 
the  Zohar,  385. 

MACROPROSOPUS,  antithesis  of 
anthropomorphic  Deity,  55;  long 
animity  of,  56 ;  relation  with 
Microprosopus,  58,  227  ;  doctrine 
of,  fundamental  to  the  Kabalah, 
123 ;  late  in  the  history  of 
speculation,  124;  symbolical 
development  of,  213 ;  body  of, 
214  ;  ever  hidden  and  concealed, 
215;  conformations  of,  219; 
description  of,  221-224 ;  first 
manifestation,  227  ;  see  also  404. 

Mackenzie,  Kenneth,  on  the  un 
known  writings  of  Pasqually,  394, 

395- 

Magic,  popular  connection  with 
Kabalism,  23  :  not  of  Zoharic 
tradition,  24  ;  not  of  Kabalistic 
philosophy,  25 ;  higher  under 
standing  of  the  term,  206  ;  a  late 
connection,  323,  324 ;  develop 
ment  of  the  magical  side  of 
Kabalism  by  Agrippa,  345  et  seq.  ; 
identified  with  Kabalism  by  Para 
celsus,  351  ;  the  Kabalistic  magic 
of  Fludd,  368,  369 ;  of  the 


Inbex 


501 


modern  French  occultists,  419  ; 
general  considerations  on  the 
connection,  438-440  ;  influence  of 
Kabalism  on  Western  Magic,  440  ; 
White  and  Black  Magic,  441  ; 
power  of  Divine  Names,  441,  442, 
443  ;  processes  of  debased  Kabal 
ism,  443,  444 ;  the  Keys  of 
Solomon,  444 ;  the  grimoires, 
445  ;  summary  of  the  doctrine  of 
Names,  446-449. 

Maier,  Michael,  his  Tripus  Aureus, 
326  ;  connection  with  Fludd,  367. 

Maimonides,  on  the  T'etragram- 
maton,  57 ;  his  Aristotelian 
tendency,  96 ;  said  to  have 
turned  a  Kabalist,  159;  eulogy 
of,  161  ;  unacquainted  with 
Avicebron,  164  ;  see  also  414. 

Malkuth,  see  Scphiroth, 

Maitland,  Fd\vard,  429,  432. 

Mandrakes,  Xoharic  symbolism  of, 
267. 

Mangetus,  327. 

Manning,  Cardinal,  on  the  Daimon 
of  Socrates,  331. 

Mansions  or  Abodes,  excerpts  in 
Zohar,274 ;  symbolism  of,  274, 275. 

Marconison  Masonic  Mysteries, 478. 

Marcus,  what  he  brought  into 
Gnosticism,  128. 

Massey,  Gerald,  225. 

Massorah,  64. 

Matter,  on  Gnosticism  and  the 
Kabalah,  118. 

Mathers,  S.  L.  MacGregor,  his 
gratuitous  assumption,  12,  13 ; 
false  impression  created  by,  13  ; 
his  translation  of  the  occupation 
•  59>  I^9  :  lne  importance 
which  he  attributes  to  same,  212  ; 
blunder  concerning  the  treatise 
Beth  Elo/iifti,  xi.,  307  ;  on  the 
Perfect  Way,  429 ;  devoid  of 
critical  judgment,  446  ;  assertion 
concerning  the  sEsh  Mttzareph, 
455  ;  on  the  Tarot,  479. 

Measure  of  the  Height,  pre- 
Kabalistic  treatise,  154. 

Mi-diution,  56. 

Memphis  aii<i  Misraim,  Rite  of,  478. 

Mercavah,  208. 

ing  to    the    Xohar, 
203,  247  ;  see  also  xvii. 

Metatron,  the  Angel  of  the  I'resence, 
76,  77  ;  a< '  the  Xohar. 

255  ;  according  to  Kludd,  370. 


Metempsychosis,  rejected  by  Saadya 
Gaon,  176  ;  taught  by  Isaac  the 
Blind,  182  ;  and  by  Manasses,32i. 

Meurin,  Le"on,  on  the  Synagogue  of 
Satan,  125  ;  a  troubled  dream  of 
the  Papacy,  425  ;  on  Freemasonry 
and  Manicheanism,  425,  426  ;  on 
Freemasonr)',  the  Kabalah  and 
Pantheism,  426-428. 

Mevi,  R.,  319. 

Meyer,  his  edition  of  the  Sepher 
Yetzirah,  172. 

Microprosopus,  emanation  of,  56 ; 
relation  to  Macroprosopits,  58, 
214,  215  ;  a  fundamental  doctrine 
of  the  Kabalah,  123  ;  late 
character  of  its  speculation,  124  ; 
Sephirotic  attribution,  215  ;  mani 
festation  of,  216  ;  conformations 
of,  219  ;  description  of,  224,  225  ; 
androgyne  nature,  227,  228  ;  see 
also  404. 

Mid  rash  Conen,  156. 

Miilrashim  and  Targumim,  103,  in. 

Midrash  of  R.  Simeon,  an  alleged 
name  of  the  Xohar,  in,  120. 

Mirandola,  Picus  de,  his  evangelical 
zeal,  148,  353,  426  ;  not  a 
partisan  of  magic,  150;  not 
acquainted  with  Avicebron,  164  ; 
conversion  effected  by,  320,  321  ; 
Lully  and  Mirandola,  329 ;  his 
Kabalistic  MSS.,  331  ;  sketch 
of  Mirandola,  332  ;  his  Kabalistic 
conclusions,  332,  335-344;  his 
treatise  on  astrology,  333  ; 
Agrippaand  Mirandola,  344,  346  ; 
docs  not  mention  the  Xohar,  380. 

Mishna,  compiled  by  R.  Judah, 
15  ;  Mi>hna  as  part  of  the  Tal 
mud,  16  ;  date  according  to 
M"iinus,  17;  sections  of,  2O;  error 
of  ll-.-ckethorn,  21  ;  see  also  94. 

More,  Henry,  his  contributions  to 
the  Kabbala  Denndata,  188,  370  ; 
object  of  his  Kabalistic  studies, 
37°»  37 1  !  remarks  on  Isaac  de 
•  37  !>  372;  exposition  of 
Ezekiel,  372,  373  ;  his  Conjcctura 
Cabalistica,  373,  374,  375. 

Morerus  on  Magic,  440. 

Moriinis,  17. 

Mordechai,  R.,  310. 

Molitor,  as  interpreted  by  Papus, 
ISO,  419. 

on,  hi*   alleged  author 
ship  of  the  Zohar,  96;  an  almost 


502 


impossible  theory,  102,  237,  270; 
evidence  adduced  for  it,  103,  104; 
narrative  in  the&/4*r  Yuhasin, 
104,  106-108  ;  does  not  prove  the 
authorship  of  K.  Moses,  108 ; 
sketch  of  the  internal  evidence, 
109 ;  how  met  by  the  defenders 
of  the  Zohar,  110-113;  points  of 
weakness  in  the  defence,  114; 
further  speculation  concerning 
R.  Moses,  115;  see  also  174, 
260,  279,  350,  410,  414. 

Moses  of  Cordova,  his  Paradise 
of  Pomegranates,  34 ;  on  the 
simplicity  of  Ain  Soph,  35  ;  his 
pneumatology,  75 ;  date  of  R. 
Moses,  289  ;  high  authority  of 
his  treatise,  290;  summary 
account  of  it,  290-292. 

Munk,  Solomon,  on  the  pantheism 
of  the  Kabalah,  40 ;  on  the 
Talmud  and  Kabalah,  18;  on  the 
divisions  of  the  Kabalah,  90 ; 
on  the  authorship  of  the  Sepher 
Yetzirah,  93  ;  on  the  language  of 
the  Zohar,  103,  113;  on  certain 
similarities  between  Maimonides 
and  the  Zohar,  162  ;  on  the  fusion 
of  the  Kairites  and  Motozales, 
143  ;  on  Avicebron,  162,  164. 

Myer,  Isaac,  his  erudition  and  his 
assumptions,  13  ;  distinction 
between  the  Kabalah  and  the 
Talmud,  22;  on  the  Kabalah  and 
the  New  Testament,  5  ;  on 
creation  ex  nihilo,  46  ;  on  Adam 
Kadmon,  51  ;  on  the  speculative 
Kabalah,  59  ;  on  the  Aristotelian 
and  Kabalistic  systems,  96 ;  on 
the  acquaintance  of  Maimonides 
with  the  Zohar,  162 ;  on  the 
Kabalistic  connections  of  Avice 
bron,  163 ;  on  liay  Gaon's 
alleged  commentary  on  the  Sepher 
Yetzirah,  178  ;  on  the  higher  soul 
of  the  Thorah,  197  ;  on  the  stages 
of  mystic  vision  in  the  Zohar, 
257 ;  on  Hay  Gaon  and  the 
Zohar,  285  ;  on  Paracelsus  and 
the  Kabalah,  349 ;  on  the  Her 
metic  Books  and  the  Kabalah, 
450  ;  on  a  Chinese  Kabalah,  453. 

Mysteries  of  Love,  see  Abravanel. 

Mysticism  and  the  Kabalah,  Kabal 
istic  history  imbedded  in  that  of 
mysticism,  483  ;  old  Jewish  doc 
trine  concerning  the  mystic  com 


munication  between  Divine  and 
human,  32  ;  analogies  between 
the  Mystic  Marriage  and  the 
Kabalistic  doctrine  of  the  Proto 
type,  85  ;  the  Kabalah  of  no  real 
service  to  the  practical  mystic, 
484 ;  and  yet  it  has  a  certain 
message,  485  ;  the  points  of 
contact  are  few,  486  ;  the  con 
nection  is  extrinsic  only,  488  ;  see 
also  preface  xvi. 

NACHMANIDES,  alleged  transmission 
of  the  Zohar  from  Palestine,  139  ; 
a  pupil  of  Azariel,  182 ;  his 
Kabalistic  writings,  184,  185 ; 
opposed  by  R.  Mevi,  319. 

Nagdilah,  165. 

Nechoniah,  alleged  author  of  the 
Bahir,  235 ;  other  attributed 
writings,  236. 

Nazir,  Jacob,  his  Book  of  Emanation, 
53;  see  also  159. 

Neoplatonism,  78. 

Nephesh,  the  animal  nature  of  man, 
84 ;  in  correspondence  with 
Assiah,  85  ;  according  to  Saadya 
Gaon,  177  >  originally  sanctified, 
200 ;  its  correspondence  in 
Atziluth,  231,  232;  correspond 
ence  with  Jechida,  233  ;  a  name 
of  Neshamah,  242 ;  the  living 
creature  of  Genesis,  273  ;  accord 
ing  to  Isaac  de  Loria,  300. 

Neshamah,  the  seat  of  human 
individuality,  84  ;  corresponds  to 
Briak,  85  ;  according  to  Saadya 
Gaon,  176,  177  ;  the  higher  soul 
of  the  Zohar,  202,  273  ;  its 
judgment,  230  ;  correspondence 
with  Abbak,  232  ;  its  five  names, 
242  ;  in  male  and  female,  243  ; 
the  Neshamah  and  the  body  of 
the  resurrection,  261,  268,  269  ; 
Neshamah  of  the  righteous,  263, 
265  ;  the  garments  of  Neshamah^ 
272  ;  according  to  Isaac  de  Loria, 
300. 

Netzach,  see  Sephiroth. 

Nicolas,  M.,  on  the  authorship  of 
the  Sepher  Yetzirah,  92  ;  on  the 
antiquity  of  the  Kabalah,  120. 

Norrelius,  Andreas,  on  the  Christian 
aspects  of  the  Zohar,  385. 

Norse  Mythology,  suggested  ana 
logies  with  the  Kabalah,  127,  128. 

Notaricon,  a  Kabalistic  method  of 
exegesis,  27. 


lubcx 


503 


Notary  Art,  its  connection  with 
Kabalrsm  and  with  Lully,  328. 

Nuctemeron,  417. 

Numbers,  Mysticism  concerning, 
the  decade  as  an  emanation  of 
Deity,  41  ;  numbers  and  the 
Sfphiroth,  43;  in  the  Sepher 
Vct/irah,  44  ;  Hebrew  letters 
and  numerals,  63 ;  numbers  in 
Kabalistic  Freemasonry,  474  et 
seq. 

Nus,  Eugene,  on  the  Yi-King, 
126. 

OCCULT  Philosophy,  in  what  way  it 
discloses  its  meaning,  9  ;  whether 
it  is  methodised,  9,  10  ;  personal 
testimony,  9 ;  what  occultism 
means  and  involves,  1 1  ;  student 
of  defined,  ib.  ;  transmission  of, 
ib. ,  438,  439  ;  Kabalism  one  of 
its  vehicles,  12  ;  occult  criticism, 
21  ;  ends  of  occult  science,  23  ; 
occultism  and  the  concealed  sense 
in  the  Kabalah,  43  ;  Kabalistic 
doctrine  important  to,  86  ;  limita 
tions  of  this  importance,  87,  88  ; 
occult  estimate  of  the  Zohar,  121  ; 
occultists  and  Christian  Kabali>m, 
149  ;  interest  of  the  occultist  in 
the  Kabalah,  150  ;  occult  estimate 
of  the  Sepher  Yetzirah,  168  ; 
examination  of  this  estimate,  173  ; 
occultism  and  physiognomy,  276, 
277  ;  errors  of  occultism  as  to  the 
Kabalah,  324  ;  occult  feeling  as 
to  perversion  of  Hebrew  tradition, 
435  5  occultism  and  the  practical 
Kabalah,  446  ;  occultism  and 
nry,  477  ;  occultism  and 
mysticism,  485,  486  ;  historical 
association  between  occult  science 
and  the  Kabalah,  491  ;  see  also 
xv.,  xvi.,  212,  220,  235,  261,  269, 
301,  363,  380,  398,  461. 

Ockley,    Simon,    his   translation    of 
the    "  Improvement    of    Human 
142. 

Old,  VV.  G.,  his  manual  of  as:  i 

463;     on     Kabali<:ic    astrology, 
469.  470. 

Oliphant,    Laurence,  on  the   i 
islic  aspect*  of  marriage,  58. 

Oliver,  Rev.  George,  on  the 
diffusion  of  the  Mysteries,  126. 

Onkelos,  quoted  by  Mirai.dola, 
340  ;  his  Aramaic  dialect  not 


identical  with  that  of  the 


Origen  on  Exorcisms,  442. 
Original   Sin,   as  explained   by   the 

Zohar,  203. 
Ouziel,  Jonathan  Ken,  his  Chaldaic 

paraphrase,  28. 

PALMER,  E.  II.,  on  R.  Judah  the 
Prince,  15. 

Pantheism,  40. 

I'apus,  i.e.,  G.  Encausse,  his  assump 
tions  concerning  the  Kabalah,  13; 
on  the  Paths  of  Wisdom,  72  ;  on 
Kabalistic  pneumatology,  84  ;  his 
translation  of  the  Sepher  Yetzirah, 
173,  417:  on  an  alleged  French 
translation  of  the  Zohar,  189  ;  his 
connection  with  the  French  occult 
movement,  415,  416,  417  ;  his 
occult  antecedents,  416  ;  his  sum 
mary  of  the  Kabalah,  418-421  ; 
on  the  practical  Kabalah,  444, 
445  ;  on  the  &sh  Metzareph,  464  ; 
on  the  Tarot,  480. 

Paracelsus,  alleged  traces  of  the 
Kabalah  in  his  system,  349  ; 
value  of  his  references,  350-352  ; 
not  a  student  of  the  Kabalah,  353. 

Pascjually,  Marlines  de,  394. 

Paths  of  Wisdom,  doctrine  concern- 
inS*  °5  >  special  nature  of  their 
interest,  6b  ;  translation  of  the 
document  which  embodies  them, 
66-71  ;  their  modern  accent,  71  ; 
according  to  Papus,  72  ;  Avice- 
bron's  poem  on  the  Paths,  166. 

Polling,  Edward,  388. 

Perfect  Way,  its  Kabalistic  allusions, 
429  ;  opinion  of  Haron  Spedalieri, 
429,  430  ;  value  of  same,  431  ; 
statement  of  the  allusions,  432  ; 
general  inference,  432,  433. 

Pherruts  Schibbur,  {ewish  academy 
of,  157. 

Philo,  his  pneumatology,  83  ;  his 
analogic  with  Kabalism,  130-133. 

Phylacteries,  difficulty  in  the  Zohar 
ining,   109;  how  met   by  its 
defender.-,  in. 

mderstood  by  the 
Zohar,  276,  277. 

•    -erning     / 

45  ;  on  the  true  name  of  Satan, 

82;  on  Kabalism  and  the  religion 

•"  .  :•  i  ,     l_»5  ;    on    Kabalism 

and    Northern    Mythology,    127, 


128 ;  his  transformation  of  the 
Scottish  Rite,  476,  477,  478. 

Pirke  of  R.  Eliezer,  156. 

Pistis  Sophia,  129. 

Pistorius,  his  collection  of  Kabalistic 
writers,  354-356  ;  object  of  same, 
356  ;  see  also  65. 

Pneumatology,  Kabalistic  doctrine 
of,  74-88 ;  according  to  Saadya 
Gaon,  176,  177;  according  to  the 
Zohar,  200,  209,  210,  230-233, 
242,  255,  259,  260,  261,  263, 
264,  271,  272;  according  to 
Moses  of  Cordova,  290-292 ; 
according  to  Isaac  de  Loria, 
299-303  ;  according  to  A.  Cohen 
Irira,  306,  307. 

Poisson,  A.,  on  Alchemy,  454. 

Porter,  Noah,  on  the  Absolute,  34. 

Postel,  William,  on  the  Sephiroth, 
44  ;  his  alleged  translation  of  the 
Bahir,  246;  his  legend,  357; 
notice  of  his  life,  358,  359;  his 
connection  with  Kabalism,  359  ; 
extravagance  of  his  views,  360- 
362  ;  his  commentary  on  the 
Sepher  Yetzirah,  362,  363  ;  other 
writings,  363,  364  ;  according  to 
Stanislas  de  Guaita,  423,  424  ; 
see  also  380,  430. 

Pott,  Mrs.  Henry,  on  the  Rosi- 
crucians,  364. 

Prayer  of  Elijah,  282-284. 

Pre-existence,  taught  in  the  Zohar, 
86 ;  accepted  by  Saadya  Gaon, 
176;  pre-existence  of  the  soul  of 
the  Messiah,  204  ;  see  also  209, 
271,  272. 

Pumbaditha,    Jewish    academy   of, 

157- 

RABANUS,  quoted  by  Agrippa,  348. 

Reincarnation,    differs   from   Kaba 
listic  Revolution,    86;    rejected 
by  Saadya  Gaon,  176;  statement 
of  Eliphas  Levi,  242;  see  METEMP 
SYCHOSIS  and  REVOLUTION. 

Relandus,  Adrianus,  on  a  second 
sense  in  the  Talmud,  20. 

Renan,  Ernest,  57,  166. 

Resurrection,  a  tenet  of  Talmud 
and  Synagogue,  83  ;  in  the  pro 
fession  of  faith  of  Maimonides, 
ib.  ;  as  taught  in  the  Zohar,  261, 
267-269  ;  office  of  Metatron,  270  ; 
treatise  of  Manasses,  321. 

Reuchlinus,    his   translation  of  the 


Sepher  Yetzirah,  172  ;  his  group, 
353  et  seq.  ;  his  Lutheran 
tendencies,  355. 

Revolution  of  Souls,  distinguished 
from  reincarnation,  86  ;  as 
described  in  the  Zohar,  230,  231  ; 
the  treatise  of  Isaac  de  Loria,  188, 
294,  299-303. 

Riccius,  Paulus,  his  translation  of 
the  Sepher  Yetzirah,  172;  his 
conversion  to  Christianity,  355. 

Rittangelius,  his  edition  of  the 
Sepher  Yetzirah,  172,  179,  180. 

Ritual  of  the  Dead,  116. 

Rodkinson,  Michael,  his  translation 
of  the  Babylonian  Talmud,  15  ; 
excerpt  from,  218,  219. 

Rose  Cross,  Kabalistic  Order  of, 
422,  423. 

Rosenroth,  C.  Knorr  von,  his 
importance  to  occultists,  380  ;  his 
occult  connections,  381  ;  charac 
teristics,  382  ;  religion,  ib.  ;  views 
on  the  conversion  of  the  Jews, 
383 ;  his  sacrifices  and  labours, 
384  ;  his  critical  standpoint,  385, 
386;  see  also  75,  84,  147,  151, 
1 88,  191,  212,  213,  287,  310,  369. 

Rosicrucians,  historical  evidences  of 
the  Order,  364 ;  as  students  of 
the  Kabalah,  364,  365  ;  Masonry 
and  Rosicrucianism,  471. 

Rossi,  Abbe  de,  his  analysis  of  the 
Zohar,  187. 

Ruach,  the  rational  nature,  84, 
232 ;  corresponds  to  Yetzirah) 
85 ;  reference  of  Saadya  Gaon, 
177 ;  the  lesser  spirit  of  the 
Zohar,  231  ;  a  name  of  Neshamak, 
242 ;  in  Adam,  252 ;  according 
to  Isaac  de  Loria,  300. 

Rulandus,  Martinus,  on  the  terms  of 
Alchemy,  459. 

Ruysbroeck  on  Symbolical  Astrology, 
466. 

SAADYA  Gaon,  his  commentary  on 
the  Sepher  Yetzirah,  157  ;  written 
in  Arabic,  175  ;  summary  of,  175- 
178  ;  scarcely  a  Kabalistic  com 
mentary,  1 80. 

Sabathier,  R.  P.  Esprit,  464. 

Sabbatai  Zevi,  his  Messianic  Mission, 
146. 

Sacramentalism,  the  form  of  all 
Mysticism,  56. 

Saint-Martin,  his  esoteric  tradition, 


Inbcx 


505 


394  ;  not  a  student  of  the  Kabalah, 

395  ;  Kabalistic  complexion  of  his 
lesser    doctrines,    ib.  ;     error    of 
French  occultists,   396  ;   see  also 
424. 

Salomon  and  Ahsal,  140. 

Samacl,  averse  correspondence  of 
Hod,  8 1  ;  according  to  the  Zohar, 
244,  245. 

Sapere  Aude  on  the  A±sh  Mctzareph 
and  Alchemy,  309,  312  ;  on  the 
Kahala  and  Chaldean  philosophy, 
125  ;  on  the  derivation  of  alchem 
ical  knowledge  to  the  West,  449. 

Scaliger  and  the  Knights  of  the 
Temple,  146. 

Schiller-Szinessy,  on  the  authorship 
of  the  Sepher  Yetzirah,  92  ;  on 
modern  criticism  of  the  Targiimim 
and  Midrashim,  103  ;  on  the  late 
date  and  origin  of  the  Zohar,  1 12, 
439  ;  on  the  original  writings  of 
Moses  de  Leon,  1 14 ;  on  the 
latest  date  which  can  be  ascribed 
to  the  Zohar,  112,  119;  on  the 
Mishnic  period  of  its  nucleus, 
410  ;  see  also  488. 

Schiur  Komah,  154. 

Schoettgenius,  Christianus,  on  the 
Christianity  of  R.  Simeon  ben 
Jochai,  115. 

Sealing  Names,  permutations  of  the 
Tetragram  in  the  Sepher  Yet 
zirah,  171,  172. 

Schure,  Edouard,  on  a  triple  sense 
in  Genesis,  420. 

Secret  Commentary,  fragments  ex 
tant  in  the  Zohar,   260  ;    on  the 
connection     between     soul     and 
body,  261  ;  <>n  tin;  soul  at  death, 
262  ;  on  the  two  Edens,  2< 
retributive  justice,  263  ;  on  future 
happiness,      264-267;      on     the 
reel  ion,   267-269  ;  on  angel  - 
;        :-:el  t-j  the  Secret 
1      :.imentary,  2Sj5. 

Secret  Doctrine,  alleged  lr.ui>mis- 
sion  from  antiquity,  xv.,  xvi.,  11, 
13  ;  the  Kabalah  not  demonstrably 
a  part  of  such  tradition,  86  ;  the 
affirmative  view  wa,  n»t  held  in 
the  past,  323,  324,  and  Hk.  vii. 
passim  ;  see  also  192. 

Secret  Learning,  an  alleged  early 
name  of  the  Zohar,  114. 

Sirret    of  S  uviit    quoted 

in   /:>har,   276;  concerns    Kabal 


istic  physiogonomy,  276,  277  ;  see 
al.vi  192. 

Secret  Societies  in  the  Middle  Ages 
— Ghoolat  Sect,  138. 

Seder  Ha  Kabalah,  an  important 
orthodox  apology,  160,  161  ;  see 
also  179. 

Sepher  I)/.enioutha,  i.e.,  Book  of 
Concealment,  on  Ain  Soph,  33  ; 
on  a  holy  intelligence  and  an 
animal  soul  in  man,  75  ;  probablj 
the  oldest  part  of  the  Zohar,  119, 
136;  its  antithesis,  154;  place  in 
the  Zohar,  212;  summary  of  its 
contents,  213-216;  see  also  192, 

435- 

Sepher  Raziel,  not  the  earliest  form 
of  occultism  in  Israel,  211  ; 
debased  apparatus  of,  369 ;  a 
storehouse  of  mediaeval  magic, 
444 ;  see  also  6. 

Sepher  Yetzirah,  as  a  vehicle  of  the 
philosophic  tradition  of  Kabalism, 
28  ;  part  of  a  large  mystical 
literature,  29 ;  contains  the  germ 
of  the  Sephirotic  scheme,  44  ;  its 
description  of  the  Sephiroth,  45- 
49 ;  does  not  mention  the  Four 
Worlds  of  later  Kabalism,  53; 
nor  yet  the  doctrine  of  the 
Countenances,  59  ;  on  the  letters 
of  the  Hebrew  alphabet,  60,  131  ; 
on  the  instruments  of  creation, 
60-62  ;  the  1'aths  of  Wisdom  as  a 
dependency  of  the  Sepher  Yet- 
/irah,  65  ;  contains  no  reference 
to  Kabalistic  pneumatology,  74; 
traditional  authorship,  91,  116, 
ascribed  to  Akiba,  92,  146  ;  the 
reference  to  a  Sepher  Yet/irah  in 
the  Talmuds,  93,  94  ;  its  different 
influence  on  Christian  minds  as 
compared  with  the  Zohar,  97  ; 
commentary  of  K.  Abraham,  III, 
174,  180-182;  latest  possible 
date,  93,  122  ;  commentary  of 
Saadya  C.aon,  157,  175-178,  180  ; 
commentary  of  A/.ariel,  167,  174, 
I82-I.S.;  ;  general  analysis,  168- 
174;  its  connections  and  depend 
encies,  174-186;  commentary  of 
Nachmanides,  184;  other  com 
mentaries,  185  ;  the  Seph 
zirah  said  to  end  where  the  Zohar 
US,  21 1  ;  not  a  magical  work, 
324;  ice  al-o  xii.,  xiii..  63,  90, 
96,  136,  153,  162,  187,  345,  346, 


So6 


359,  S^S,  378,  435>  446,  447, 
489. 

Sepher  Yuhasin,  i.e.,  Book  of  Gene 
alogies,  104,  view  of  the  Zohar, 
105  ;  narrative  of  Isaac  de  Acco, 
106-108. 

Sephiroth,  as  emanations  of  the 
Deity,  41  ;  their  names,  42 ; 
initial  purpose  of  the  system,  43  ; 
first  met  with  in  the  Sephtr 
Yetzirah,  44  ;  tabulation  of  their 
qualities  and  symbolism,  44-49  ; 
an  occult  explanation  concerning 
them,  49,  50  ;  the  Sephiroth  in  the 
Four  Worlds,  51,  52,  58;  the 
Sephiroth  and  the  Two  Counte 
nances,  55,  56  ;  the  Sephiroth  and 
the  Paths  of  Wisdom.  65 ; 
archangelic  correspondences,  76, 
77  ;  angelic  correspondences,  78, 
79 ;  averse  correspondences,  80, 
8 1  ;  value  of  the  doctrine,  87  ; 
Sufic  analogies,  140 ;  Persian 
analogies,  141  ;  analogies  in 
Avicebron,  166  ;  according  to  the 
Sepher  Yetzirah,  169-172;  how 
understood  by  Saadya  Gaon,  178  ; 
Azariel  on  the  colours  of  the 
Sephiroth)  184  ;  evolution  of  the 
Sephiroth,  256  ;  according  to  the 
Supplements  of  the  Zohar,  282, 
283  ;  according  to  Isaac  de  Loria, 
297  et  seq.  ;  the  Sephiroth  and 
alchemy,  312,  313,  see  also  209, 
281,  284,  406,  465. 

Shekinah,  referred  to  Malkuth, 
49,  255 ;  how  it  rests  upon  the 
first  man,  200 ;  as  the  form  of 
God  in  the  likeness  of  humanity, 
208 ;  its  divine  correspondences, 
253  ;  see  also  219,  265. 

Shereera,  Gaon  R.,  157. 

Simeon  ben  Jochai,  R.,  his  alleged 
authorship  of  the  Zohar,  105, 
108;  his  scribe,  112;  his  Midrash 
according  to  the  Talmuds,  120; 
the  authorship  merely  traditional, 
136;  a  pupil  of  Akiba,  146;  his 
traditional  authorship  of  the  Book 
of  Concealment,  217;  Talmudic 
account  of  R.  Simeon,  218,  219  ; 
his  Discourse  in  the  Greater 
Synod,  220  et  seq. ;  in  the  Lesser 
Synod,  227,  228  ;  account  of  his 
death,  228,  229 ;  conversations 
with  Elias,  229;  in  the  Bahir, 
243;  in  the  Faithful  Shepherd, 


246;  see  also  138,  260,  278,  386, 
437,  488. 

Simon,  Richard,  on  an  error  of 
Walton,  21,  22  ;  on  superstitious 
sciences  brought  by  the  Jews  from 
Chaldea,  24  ;  on  magic  and 
Kabalism,  26  ;  on  the  Christian 
aspect  of  the  Kabalistic  books,  98. 

Simon,  R.  Meir  ben,  235. 

Simulacrum,  curious  fantasy  of  the 
Zohar,  291. 

Soul  and  Death,  statement  in  the 
Zohar,  262. 

Spain  and  Jewry,  137,  138. 

Spedalieri,  Baron,  on  the  Kabalah 
and  the  Perfect  Way,  429. 

Spencer,  Herbert,  on  the  positive 
representation  of  the  Uncon 
ditioned,  35. 

Spinoza,  his  reminiscences  of  the 
Kabalah,  321. 

Spouse  of  God,  58. 

Steiger,  Isabel  de,  12. 

Steinschneider,  162. 

Sufic  Doctrine,  hypothesis  of  Tho- 
luck,  139 ;  Kabalistic  analogies 
in  Sufic  poetry,  140 ;  the  doctrine 
of  Divine  absorption,  142  ;  Sufism 
and  Jewish  tradition,  144. 

Supplements  of  the  Zohar,  two 
series  of,  280  ;  notice  of  the 
Ancient  Supplements,  281-285  ; 
the  Later  Supplements,  285. 

TALISMANIC  Magic,  206,  486. 

Talmud,  starting  point  of,  14 ;  its 
sources,  ib.  ;  materials  embodied 
therein,  15;  by  whom  methodised, 
ib.  ;  Mishnayoth  and  rival  Mish 
nayoth,  ib.  ;  Tosephtoth,  ib.  ;  the 
Ge/nara,  ib.  ;  Talmuds  of  Jeru 
salem  and  Babylon,  16 ;  connec 
tions  of  the  Talmud  and  Kabalah, 
ib.  ;  errors  of  comparison,  16,  17  ; 
the  Talmud  not  Kabalistic,  17  ; 
differences  between  the  traditions, 
17,  18  ;  results  of  their  confusion, 
19  ;  errors  of  Eliphas  Levi,  19-22  ; 
Talmud  and  Pneumatology,  74, 
83,  175;  Talmud  and  Sepher 
Yetzirah,  93,  168  ;  Talmud  and 
Tradition,  95 ;  Talmud  and 
Mystic  Tradition,  119;  Talmud 
and  Mysticism,  152;  closing  of 
the  Talmudic  canons,  155  ;  refer 
ence  to  Simeon  Ben  Jochai,  218, 
219. 


Targum-:,  language  of,  112. 

Tarot,  its  antiquity  and  importance, 
479  ;  first  mentioned  by  Court  de 
Gebelin,  ib.  ;  views  of  Levi  and 
Vaillant,  480  ;  analogies  with  the 
Kahalah,  481  ;  its  history  accord 
ing  to  Papus,  482  ;  true  attri 
bution  of  its  trump  cards,  482, 
483 ;  wealth  of  its  symbolism, 

483- 
Tauler,  his  analogy  with  the  Zohar, 

85- 

>pe  of  Zoroaster,  440. 

Ten  I  )egrees  of  Contemplation,  85. 

Tephilim,  see  Phylacteries. 

Tetragrammaton,  pronunciation  of, 
57  ;  in  what  manner  the  universe 
proceeds  from  this  name,  60  ;  its 
permutations  in  the  Sepher  Yet- 
zirah,  172  ;  transposition  of,  338  ; 
mentioned  by  Fludd,  369  ;  its 
attribution  to  the  Lesser  Counte 
nance,  404  ;  Tetragrammaton  and 
the  Tarot,  481. 

Theosophy,  Modern,  object  of  this 
movement,  433  ;  its  success,  ib.  ; 
views  on  the  Kabalah,  434  ; 
various  statements  of  H.  P. 
Blavatsky,  434-437 ;  the  move 
ment  in  Paris,  419. 

Theory  of  Ecstasy,  144. 

Tholuck,  on  the  connection  between 
the  Kabalah  and  Sufism,  139. 

Thorah,  its  abysses  of  mystery,  64  ; 
its  pro-existence,  65,  156;  its 
symbolism  according  to  the  Zohar, 
!96,  197  ;  as  the  archetype  of  the 
worlds,  211;  concealment  of  God 
in  the  Thorah ,  253 ;  union  of 
man  with,  259 ;  restored  by  R. 
Simeon,  261. 

Tiphereth,  see  Sephiroth. 

ToM-phthoth,  fragments  in  Zohar, 
where  found,  271  ;  excerpts  from, 
272,  273. 

Tradition,  oral,  liable  to  exaggera 
tion,  7. 

Transmigration,  230. 

:y  of  Souls,  271. 

Triilu-mius,  as  misprinted  by 
Levi,  400. 

Tsure,  spiritual  principle  of  man  in 
the  archetypal  world,  85. 

Turba  Phil. iv Chorum,  analogy  with 
the    Zoharie     Synods,    460;    see 
136. 


UN  I  VERSE,  True  Intellectual  System 

of,  387- 
Unmanlfest  Deity,  see  Ain  Soph. 

VAILLANT,  J.  A  ,  on  the  Bohemian 
Tarot,  480. 

Valentine,  Basil,  alleged  treatise  on 
Azoth,  454- 

Valley,  Royal,  late  Kabalistic 
treatise,  39,  86. 

Vast  Countenance,  Symbolism  of, 
55,  87,  214,  215,  219,  221-223, 
228. 

Vaughan,  Thomas,  his  controversy 
with  More,  375  ;  a  disciple  of 
Agrippa,  376  ;  his  Kabalistic 
reading,  ib.  ;  points  of  contact 
with  the  Zohar,  377  ;  on  the  true 
and  false  Kabalah,  ib.  ;  on  the 
Sephiroth,  378  ;  Christian  aspects 
of  his  Kabalism,  379  ;  not  a  real 
Kabalistic  expositor,  380,  see 
also  xv.,  308. 

Vision,  Mystic,  257. 

Vital,  R.  Chaim,  editor  of  Isaac  de 
Loria,  195. 

Viterbi,  Gui  de,  alleged  translator 
of  the  Zohar,  360. 

Vitta,  Baron,  alleged  purchaser  of 
the  Zohar  in  Latin,  360. 

Voice  of  God  in  its  Power,  treatise 
of  May  Gaon,  158. 

Vowel  Points,  question  of  their 
antiquity,  109,  no. 

WAITE,  A.  E.,  19,  23,  308,  354, 
377,  3s i»  394,  405,  460. 

Walton,  on  the  terms  Kabalah  and 
Massorah,  21. 

Way  of  Union,  ir,  484. 

Weill,  Alexander,  on  Christianity 
and  the  Talmud,  149 ;  on  Moses, 
ib.,  on  pantheism  and  the 
Kabalah,  169,  170. 

Welling  on  Kabalistu-  Magic,  444. 

Westcott,  Dr.  Wynn,  on  the  word 
Kabalah,  26;  his  translation  of 
the  Sepher  Yet/.irah,  67-70; 
antiquity  «>!'  Zoh.;ric  doctrine, 
122;  his  Collect  an--ii  Ilam.-tica, 
123,  455;  on  the  .•/•:.»•//  M.-txircpht 
309;  on  i  ,  365, 

366;    on  the  ChakLean   1; 
Numbers,  436. 

Widrnanstadt,  J.    A.,    lu\  collection 

;ss.,  357. 

lean,  on  magical  books,  443. 


Wigston,  W.  F.  C,  on  the 
Rosicrucian  Kabalah,  365. 

Will  of  God,  prior  to  the  creation, 
38 ;  operating  in  creation,  ib.  ; 
in  the  production  of  the  emana 
tions,  39;  manifestation  in  Kether^ 
44;  according  to  Avicebron,  167. 

Wisdom  Religion,  127. 

Witchcraft.    Kabalistic   sources    of, 

323- 
Wolf,    purpose    of    his    rabbinical 

bibliography,    14 ;    on   the   s£sh 

Metzareph,  311 ;  Kabalistic  MSS. 

of  Mirandola,  332. 
Work  of  the  Chariot,  see  Zohar. 
Work  of  Creation,  see  Sepher  Yet- 

zirah. 

Writing  Name,  108. 
Wronski,  Hoene,  on  the  Absolute, 

34- 


YARKER,  John,  on  the  Mysteries  of 

Antiquity,  6. 
Yetzirah,  the  third  world  of  Kabal- 

ism,  52,  53,  60,  77,  79. 
Yi-King,    alleged  connections  with 

Kabalism,  126. 

ZANGWILL,  Israel,  on  the  Zohar  as 
a  forgery,  119,  146,  147. 

Zettner,  Lazarus,  his  Theatrum 
Chemicum,  458. 

Zohar,  for  date  and  authorship,  103- 
1 14  ;  for  age  of  Zoharic  tradition, 
115-121  ;  for  full  analysis,  187- 
286  ;  for  minor  references,  33, 
35,  37,38,  39,  74,  75,^1,84,85, 
95,  96,  97,  ioo,  I31*  l67,  324, 
345,  369,  377,  385,  4H,  489- 

Zoroaster,  religion  of,  125. 

Zosimus,  Greek  alchemist,  452. 


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