(Kabbalistic Tree of Life – source)

Mahaseh Berashith: the Work of Creation

To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the Tree of Life,
which is in the midst of the paradise of God. [Rev 2:7]

Introduction

The study of traditional Hebraic Qabalah can be loosely divided between two particular schools. The principal of these is called Mahaseh Berashith– the Work of Creation. This is what we might call the “Qabalah proper”- based upon philosophical interpretation of Biblical literature, especially those books dealing with God’s creation of the Universe. (Such as Genesis I.) This is the school that gives us the Tree of Life and the Four Worlds, the practice of Gematria, etc.

The second school of Qabalah is termed Mahaseh Merkavah– the Work of the Chariot. This is actually a direct reference to the ancient Jewish shamans known today the “Merkavah Mystics.” These mystics focused heavily upon prophetical and apocalyptic literature- especially the first chapter of Ezekiel, wherein the prophet is granted a vision of the Divine Throne of God. This Throne is actually described in the text as a kind of Chariot (Merkavah), drawn by four mighty Kherubic Angels. Other Jewish legends depict the Chariot as drawn by terrible Seraphim (angelic Serpents of Fire), upon which Yahweh rushes into celestial battle. The Merkavah Mystics believed that man- as the manifest Image of God- had the authority and birth-right to act after the manner of God. This meant that they believed in mankind’s right to create, to perform magick, and to journey into the heavens (like the prophets Enoch and Elijah) in their own personal Chariots of Fire.

Mahaseh Merkavah could not be practiced without first engaging in deep studies of the Mahaseh Berashith. Yet, this did not always work the other way around. During the Middle Ages, those Rabbis who adhered fundamentally to Jewish law, and studied the Work of Creation themselves, were outspoken against the Work of the Chariot. The Merkavah Mystics were a sub-culture of mages who did not intermingle with “official” Jewish religious authority.

Meanwhile, their philosophies and practices were of much interest to their Christian counterparts- the Alchemists, Hermeticists, and especially the occultists who wrote and utilized the medieval grimoires like the Key of Solomon the King. Thus, a large amount of Jewish-based practical magick found its way into Western European occultism, and survives there in several forms today. Aspects of it have been preserved in the grimoires, of course. Other aspects have come to us largely through the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, and you might recognize them as the Pentagram Rituals, the Middle Pillar, the making of talismans, the summoning of Angels and spirits, etc.

Over the course of your studies, we shall explore many aspects of both the Mahaseh Berashith and the Mahaseh Merkavah. However, in this particular class, we shall be focusing exclusively upon the Work of Creation. First and foremost, I will explain in detail a vital foundational aspect of the Hermetic Qabalah- the Holy Tree of Life. Afterward, I will cover a related subject of equal importance, the Hebrew Alphabet.

This course assumes the student is a beginner with no knowledge what-so-ever on the Tree of Life, the Hebrew Alphabet, or the Qabalah in general. Therefore, the novices among you can use this as your own study material to come to a working knowledge of the Qabalah, and thus read further works on the Qabalah with a solid foundation and fuller comprehension. If you are not a novice, I hope you will find new ideas and viewpoints herein that will further expand your knowledge and experience of the Spheres.

This is doubly true, beginner or not, if you will take the information contained here and apply it to your everyday life. The Qabalah focuses heavily upon Archetypal Forces- that is, blueprint concepts behind all physical things and non-physical ideas. Take, for instance, a simple oak tree. Any given single oak tree is only one oak tree out of millions of close and distant relatives. It is AN oak tree, rather than THE oak tree. And yet, when you sat in school and learned what an “oak tree” was, you were not taught about this tree or that tree. You were taught about “oak trees” in general- you were being taught about THE oak tree. This all-encompassing- even hypothetical- oak tree that stands for all oak trees everywhere is an Archetype.

Therefore, as you can see, every little mundane object or concept has an Archetype behind it (or- better- over it). Of course, of all the creatures on planet Earth, only humans (so far as we know) have conceived of Archetypal Forces. Like Adam naming all the things and creatures in the Garden of Eden, human beings are uniquely and naturally wired to apply archetypal labels and classifications to all things.

The Qabalah, particularly Mahaseh Berashith, could be classified as a direct study of Archetypes and their interaction with the human mind or soul. In order for one’s study to be successful, the student must eventually be able to think in terms of the Qabalah without any specific mental effort to do so. This means that one should look around the mundane world, seeing the invisible Archetypes that lie behind everything. This is what is meant by Biblical literature that insists- Let him who hath eyes, see!

“This war is an aspect of Gevurah”, or “That book would classify under Hod” should become second nature to your thinking as you encounter things throughout the day. Peoples moods and mentalities can be classified the same way, helping one to understand both people and their emotions better. The same goes for any idea or concept one encounters, or experiences, or wishes to create. All things comprehended by humans has a classification of some kind- sometimes for good or ill. Doing this with the classifications of the Qabalah is a great way to make good mental associations. Then, further study of the Qabalah (especially the Hermetic variety) will be most fruitful.

The method of achieving this end is simple enough. We will begin here in this course, by exploring the glyph of the Tree of Life in some detail. We shall take things one step at a time, allowing foundational ideas to sink in by themselves before moving on to more advanced concepts. Here, the student can concentrate on the structure, content and (most importantly!) the terminology of the Tree of Life. Once that is familiar, further courses in this curriculum will outline the many correspondences between the Tree’s Archetypes, the soul of each human being, and the many “things” that make up the world around us.

Course Glossary

This glossary is provided to help you during your reading of the course material, and study for the test. There is no need to memorize this material- it is merely for reference purposes.

Ain: Nothingness- the highest manifestation of the Divine Source.

Ain Soph: Limitlessness- another common term for the highest Divine Source.

Ain Soph Aur: Limitless Light- that aspect of the highest Divine Source that can be “viewed” from the physical as Pure White Brilliance. This rests just above Kether, and is nearly synonymous with it.

Etz haChaim: The Tree of Life. This is the central philosophical glyph of the Western Qabalah, depicting the fundamental energies and natural cycles that govern creation.

LVX: Latin for “Light” and indicating the Light of God. This is generally associated with Solar Light, and is considered the cyclic energy of the Tree of Life and Nature.

Macrocosm: The “Greater Universe” – indicating the manifest physical realm of planets, stars, Earth, etc. (See also Microcosm.)

Mahaseh Berashith: The “Work of Creation.” A branch of the Qabalah that focuses upon the creation of the Universe by God. This is the primary focus of the Qabalah proper. (See also Mahaseh Merkavah.)

Mahaseh Merkavah: The “Work of the Chariot.” A branch of the Qabalah that focuses upon a personal journey from the Earth-plane back toward the Creator, and the concept that humans have the divine right to create as does God. Qabalistic Magick all falls under this practice. (See also Merkavah, and Mahaseh Berashith.)

Merkavah: Hebrew for “Chariot.” This is the name given to the Throne of God- which often doubled as a chariot when the Deity would ride into battle on behalf of Israel. (See Ezekiel 1, Revelation 4, and 1Enoch.) A vision of the Merkavah was the primary goal of the Merkavah Mystic- ancient Jewish Mages who astral traveled through the Seven Heavenly Palaces. (See also Mahaseh Merkavah.)

Microcosm: The “Lesser Universe” – indicating the inner workings of the human aura (or psyche), which theoretically mirror the patterns and conditions of one’s larger environment. As above, so below. (see Macrocosm.)

Qabalah: “Tradition.” This is the term given to Jewish mysticism of the thirteenth century that focused on contemplation of Biblical scripture. It adopted much from both Merkavah Mysticism and ancient Gnosticism. It was eventually adopted by Christian mystic sects- such as the Hermeticists and Rosicrucians- who have passed it on to us as modern Western Hermetic Qabalah. (See also Mahaseh Berashith.)

Qliphoth: “Shells.” The Kingdom of Shells is the demonic realm that exists just below Malkuth on the Tree of Life. Most often, this Kingdom is illustrated as an inverted Tree of Life (or Tree of Death).

Sephirah (pl- Sephiroth): “Saying.” A Sephirah represents one of the ten instances of “God said…” in Genesis 1. The ten Sephiroth make up the Spheres of manifestation upon the Tree of Life glyph.

Shekhinah: “Divine Presence.” The Shekhinah represents the physical aspect of God- the Divine Presence on Earth. Traditionally, the Shekhinah is viewed as a feminine entity, related closely to the Gnostic Mother Goddess named Sophia. She is the Bride of God described in Hermetic texts.

Part One: The Tree of Life (Etz haChaim)

The seeds of the Western Renaissance era were sown in the black historical soil known as the Dark Ages. This is to say that the educational and social revolutions enjoyed during the 1400s-1600s CE were created and popularized among intellectuals in the days when the Roman Church still held the world in its grip. They are the reason the Renaissance took place once the Church lost some of that grip.

Just one of these early manifestations of the Renaissance came in the form of educational reform. A new method of taking notes had been developed for scholars and students- known as the Tree pattern. If any of you have seen an Amway(tm) presentation, you’ll be quite familiar with the Tree pattern of displaying information:

This Tree pattern makes recording, studying, and referencing information incredibly easy. Many related but different classifications can be grouped together under larger classifications. Graphically, this is drawn as many small circles connected to a single circle. These larger classifications can then be grouped together under even higher classifications- so that entire clusters of circles are connected to one or more circles at the very top. More and more refined classifications can be added, making the “tree” branch out as far as necessary. It shows one at a quick glance exactly how different subjects of information all interrelate to one another.

For instance, as in the diagram below, all oak trees could be grouped together in a single circle of classification. That circle can be labeled “oak trees.” However, there are different species of oak trees out there, such as live oak, red oak, white oak, and pin oak. Thus we can add these sub-species of oak as a group of circles beneath “oak trees”- each connected to their common circle.

Meanwhile, the oak tree is only one type of tree. Therefore, it is possible to add higher classifications than “oak trees”- such as just “trees” in our example. Then we can add branches to the diagram for elm trees, willow trees, pine trees, etc, etc.

If you relate this to our early discussion, you can easily see how perfectly the Tree pattern lends itself to the concept of Archetypes. Any thing or idea can be mapped into a Tree pattern, and by following the natural logic of higher and higher classifications, one will necessarily reach the top of the pyramid and the purest Archetypal blueprint of that idea. “Oak trees” traces itself invariably to the Archetype of “Trees.”

The glyph known as the “Holy Tree of Life” was developed sometime after the 1200s CE (when the Judaic Qabalah as we know it was born). It just so happened that this was during the same period when this new “Tree pattern” method of interfacing with information was in vogue. Thus, if you have ever wondered why the Qabalistic Tree of Life looks nothing like an actual tree, you now know where it really got its name. It is, in fact, a Tree pattern study diagram.

The Tree of Life is intended to help you study and meditate upon an infinite number of important Qabalistic and Archetypal principals. More than this, it is intended to illustrate how these Archetypes interact with one another, and how the human soul interacts with them. Long and dedicated study of this glyph- reading many different sources for information and ideas- will help transform your mind into one which thinks Qabalistically. The knowledge and insight programmed into the Tree of Life diagram, all of the Archetypal forces of the universe, are the Divine Fruits of God’s Wisdom. The human soul is there, the mind of God is there, and the Heavenly (or Planetary) realms that stretch between the two are mapped upon it.

Divine Realms

Some of the earliest representations of the Heavenly Realms in Western civilization were created in the Ancient cities of Babylonia, as the great Ziggurat Temples. These massive “stepped pyramid” structures consisted (in some examples) of seven levels, each one dedicated to a Planetary God, with the Temple of the city’s Patron God perched upon it’s summit. These structures were said to be exact replicas of the Heavens themselves- an idea that continues to this day in Churches and other Holy Places. As the Babylonian Wizard-Priest ascended the steps of the Ziggurat on holy occasions, so too did his soul symbolically ascend the Planetary Spheres toward the Divine.

The lowest level of these structures was said to be the Sphere of Saturn, dedicated to Ninib, the God of the Earth, Lord of the Hunt and Harvest- of Life gained through Death and Sacrifice. Next up was the level of Jupiter, dedicated to Marduk, the Ruler and King of the Gods, who was Wisdom, Power, and Abundance. Thirdly was the Martian level, dedicated to Nergal, Lord of the Underworld, War, and Pestilence. Fourth rested the level of the Sun, dedicated to Shamash, the Sun God, the Judge of the World. Upon this rested the level of Venus, dedicated to Inanna Herself, the Goddess of the people, Lady of the Womb, Reproduction, Passion. Then followed the level of Mercury, and of Marduk’s son Nabu, lord of Writing, Art, and Wisdom. And, finally, was found the level of the Moon, dedicated to the Father of the Gods Nanna, Lord of the Waxing and Waning Tides of Nature. Once these seven heavenly spheres were ascended, the Wizard-Priest would reach his destination at the Temple, House of the Divine.

It was this concept that the Hebrew people discovered upon their captivity in Babylon around 600 BCE. During the process of adoption into the Jewish cosmology, the Spheres were reversed so that the level of the Moon was lowest in the Heavens, and the level of Saturn was upper-most. (The ordering of the seven ancient Planets is based upon each Planet’s relative speed to earth. The Moon is the fastest object in the sky, followed by Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Jupiter, Mars, and then finally the slow and stolid Saturn.)

The orbital circles of these Planets became the famed Seven Hebrew Heavens or Palaces. What is perhaps the first recorded description of these Heavens (most likely written right there in Babylon) is the Ethiopian Book of Enoch (or 1Enoch). In this legend, we see the Patriarch Enoch- “who walked with God”- whisked away by Angels to the Heavenly Palaces and given a tour of the Cosmic realm- ending with an audience at the Throne of God Himself. This book was one of the most popular writings among the Merkavah Mystics who made a practice of Astral Traveling through the heavens on a journey toward God.

There are many versions of these Heavens. Perhaps the first is the basic concept of each one being stacked upon the other, just as with the Ziggurats. Following this would be the concept of a group of Concentric Circles (based upon the Planetary orbital paths). This latter model places the Divine Plane as the outermost circle (encompassing all of creation), showing an upward Ascension from Earth toward the highest Divine realm.

It would be just as valid to inverse these same Circles- the Divine Plane innermost, showing an outward radiation from the Divine to the physical realm. (This latter model is shown in the famous diagram of the Nine Angelic Choirs of Heaven, surrounding the Throne of God in several sets of concentric circles.)

Emanation

This “outward radiation from the Divine” has a name in the Qabalah. It is called “Emanation.” This is simply the process by which the Divine- usually seen as being “out there” somewhere, or “down deep” within us- reaches out from Its own realm to manifest onto ours. The various Heavenly Spheres are these different stages of emanation. In modern terms, we could think of emanation taking place through various physical dimensions. We might start with the quantum realm, which leads to the atomic realm, which leads to the molecular realm, which leads to the realm of matter. Another point of view is by way of geometry: begin with a point, which has no mathematical dimension. The point, then, leads to the first dimension- the line. Beyond the line we come to the second dimension- the plane, which finally leads to the third dimension of geometric shapes (cubes, spheres, etc.).

As you can see, Emanation is (like the Tree pattern) based upon logical progression- starting from an archetypal source-point, then branching into further levels with new attributes added to each along the way. In ancient Mythologies, we see Emanation in the form of the birth of various Gods. The Babylonian Creation Epic, Enuma Elish (“When Skies Above”), begins with an empty abyss inhabited only by Tiamat and Apsu- the Mother and Father who represent the Divine Source. (In these primitive terms, Apsu represented the fresh waters of the rivers, and Tiamat the salt waters of the sea. These were the ultimate source of life as understood by the Mesopotamian people.) The Epic goes on with the generations spawned by these two Cosmic Beings; each generation better (or at least stronger and more grossly refined) than the one before:

Lahmu and Lahamu emerged, Their Names pronounced.
As soon as They matured, were fully formed,
Anshar and Kishar were born, surpassing them.
They passed the days at length, They added to the years.
Anu, Their first-born son, rivaled his Forefathers;
Anshar made His son Anu like Himself,
And Anu begot Nudimmud in His likeness.
He, Nudimmud, was superior to His Forefathers;
Profound of understanding, He was wise, was very strong at arms
Mightier by far than Anshar His father’s begetter,
He had no rival among the Gods His peers.

Conversely, some cultures- such as the ancient Christian-mystics known as the Gnostics- viewed Divine Emanation as a process of increased imperfection. For instance, think of a cassette tape or photocopy. The original is perfect. Then a copy is made which is slightly imperfect. From that copy another is made, and so on and so forth, until the end result is a horrible excuse for the original- not even recognizable. This is why the Gnostics viewed the physical realm (the end result of Divine Emanation) as corrupted and even evil- something from which to escape.

However, the Merkavah Mystics had other ideas. They believed in the immutability of the Divine. That is: the Divine could not be divided, lessened, or made imperfect in any way. Therefore, each new emanation of the Divine must actually contain the whole of Divinity within it- so that no Heaven was lesser than another. For example, imagine viewing a faceted gem very closely, so the face of only one facet is visible at a time. The entire gem is always there, though most of it is hidden. Another view is that the emanation of the Heavens is similar to flames spreading outward among a sea of candles. Each flame is lit by the one before it- and no single flame is lessened or increased by those before or after it. Thus, the Merkavah Mystics’ ascension through the Heavenly Palaces became a descent into the Heart of Creation, rather than an escape from the physical realm.

Part 2 to come…

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Lilith: Queen of the Night, Mother of Demons, First Wife of Adam, and one of my own patron Goddesses. Unfortunately, I have found that modern authors often leave much to be desired on the subject of Lilith. Modern interpretations of Her nature are presented as historical, and the historical facts themselves are regularly misrepresented. Does She originate in ancient Sumeria, a maiden connected to the Temple of Inanna? Was She once a benevolent Mother Goddess Herself, later demonized by patriarchal religious leaders? Is it female strength She embodies, or has She persecuted women for centuries via birth complications and crib death? Was she actually deleted from the story of Eden? These are some of the questions, myths, facts, and errors that will be covered in this essay- hopefully laying to rest the many misconceptions that surround this ancient and powerful figure.

I do not feel that any God or Goddess can be divorced from Their sacred mythologies. As I have stated elsewhere, a mythology is the soul of the God(s) it depicts. For instance, you and I both know today that the Gods did not build the city of Babylon with Their own hands. Yet, if one were to call upon the great Marduk, He would gladly share with us his full memory of constructing the city. Likewise, we know that Adam and Eve did not exist as the “first humans.” Yet, Lilith has full memory of Eden, the Fall, and every other event depicted in Genesis and the various Judeo-Christian legends. It is thus that Lilith, though She is not now the vile and disgusting archdemon envisioned by the early Judaic peoples, is nevertheless affected by these conceptions of Her. Her darker aspects, even the nastiest ones, are a part of Her regardless of modern attempts to “liberate” Her from unpleasantness. Lilith was, in fact, not originally a benevolent Goddess who was raped by the patriarchy. However, I move slightly ahead of myself here. Therefore, I will begin at the beginning:

The Historical Origin of Lilith

The first myth I wish to dispel is that Lilith was originally found in the ancient land of Sumeria. Her roots do certainly extend that far, but Lilith Herself is not to be found among that massive pantheon of Gods and demons. In order to explain how both of these particulars can be true at once, we must begin with some basic lessons in ancient Sumerian language- specifically the development of one word in particular:

In Sumerian, the word “Lil” means “Air.” Enlil, for instance, was the Sumerian Lord (En) of Air (Lil). The oldest known term which we might suggest relates to Lilith would be the plural word “Lili” (feminine “Lilitu”), which was simply the same in Sumeria as our modern generic word “spirits.” In fact, it was quite common in ancient languages for the same word for “air” or “breath” to be used for “spirit,” as the breath was thought to be the evidence of life; the spirit of the person. Disembodied spirits, therefore, were themselves composed of the same substance. The very word “spiritus” is one such example- Latin for “to breath.” The Hebrew “ruach” is another identical example. This suggests, therefore, that the Sumerian Lilitu were either a specific type of demon, or were simply “spirits” in general.

Lilith is often described as having been a Sumerian succubus. And, in fact, there were such creatures in Sumer-Babylonia who surely had their part in the Hebrew conception of Lilith. These beings were known as the “Ardat Lili.” “Ardatu” was a term that described a young woman of marrying age. Thus, the Ardat Lili were sexually active female spirits- the succubi. It was believed that these night demonesses were the cause erotic dreams, by which they robbed the male of semen and spiritual vitality. Of course, there is also a male version of this entity- the incubus- but we need not address this creature here.

It is also interesting to note that the Sumerian word for “wantonness” was “Lulu.” The word for “luxuriousness” was “Lalu.” Also, the very word for “evil” was “Limnu.” This has an obvious relation to the word Lili (and Ardat Lili specifically); not just in the similarity of pronunciation and spelling, but also in the very definition of the words. Keep in mind that these ancient languages did not possess the specific definition of our modern words. A single word would indicate any one of a number of related concepts.

This does not exhaust the etymology of Lilith. However, the word-play does not continue until the Hebrew Captivity in Babylon (600 BCE), and I do not wish to jump ahead just yet. Still concerning Sumer, there are two instances that are generally seen as proof of Lilith’s existence there.

One is a legend, contained in the Gilgamesh Epic, in which a female demon takes residence within the Goddess Inanna’s sacred Tree of Life- thus effectively stunting the Tree’s growth and production. This demoness is supposed to be Lilith Herself, whom the hero Gilgamesh finally forces out of the Tree and into the desert.

However, it turns out that there is no basis for assuming this creature is Lilith, or even an Ardat Lili, after all. Apparently, the misunderstanding arises from a mistake in translation made by the historian and scholar Samuel Kramer. In the Epic, the demoness in the Tree is described as “ki-sikil-lil-la-ke,” which Kramer suggested meant “Lila’s maiden, beloved, companion, or maid.” (I assume this is also the origin of Merlin Stone’s mistaken suggestion that Lilith was the “maiden” of Inanna.) While the word for air/spirit is obviously present, there is no indication of a Lilith- anymore than the presence of the word “ki” (Earth) indicates the Earth Goddess Ki. Perhaps Kramer was concentrating on the two syllables “lil-la.”

The second instance is the famous Sumerian plaque which depicts a woman with owl talons and wings, standing upon two lions, with two owls flanking her on either side. It has been assumed that this figure is Lilith specifically because of the above (mis)translation by Kramer (see bibliography) More specifically, the assumption was made first, and Kramer’s work was provided as proof of Lilith’s existence in ancient Sumeria. Of course, as the demoness of the Tree is not Lilith, than surely neither is the woman depicted in the sculpture.

(The famous Burney Relief, currently located at the British Museum is usually thought to depict Lilith, an idea which is still in debate. However, Lilith didn’t exist in Sumeria and this figure is wearing Ishtar’s crown, carrying her rings and disks, and standing on her lions. Sandra Tabatha Cicero suggested that “The Horned Cap of divinity, the Rod and Ring of justice, and the lion are all symbols of Ishtar/Inanna who was often shown winged and naked. It is supposed to be a sexual or underworld aspect of the goddess.” It is also suggested to be a depiction of Ereshkigal. – Source)

Jumping ahead just a bit to a related point: In the Torah, there is said to be one reference to Lilith- Isaiah 34:14. The verse supposedly speaks of a screech owl, and this is said to indicate Lilith by way of the above-mentioned plaque (and the owls depicted thereon). This instance is even used to argue that Lilith’s name is derived from the Hebrew term for “to screech.” However, this is probably not the case. Instead, the Biblical reference seems to come directly from the term “Lilitu.” It may very well be a direct reference to Lilith, however the spelling must be noted: In the Biblical passage the word is L I L I Th, while the name of Lilith is properly spelled “L I L O Th” (which is actually a plural, and will be covered later).

However, these are not the only indications of Her mistaken identity. For instance, the female on the Sumerian plaque holds not one, but two sets of Ring and Rod- the Sumer-Babylonian signs of authority. Inanna Herself is shown with these instruments when She moves to conquer the Underworld. Also, note the presence of Lions, which are signs of power and authority, as well as fertility. These also happen to be symbols associated with Inanna. It is most unlikely that the lowly demon driven away by Gilgamesh would be depicted among these holy symbols. Of course, others may argue that owls are a principal motif in the image as well- and owls were animals of bad omen and evil in Sumer-Babylonia. Thus, the plaque is surely a mystery, but in any case there is no hard evidence to support its identity as Lilith. One begins to wonder if this is not Inanna Herself as associated with the Underworld…

Before I go on, I wish to insert some modern insight on this subject. This plaque has been accepted as Lilith for quite a while now. And, surely this will not cease for quite some time (sadly, occultists are not always the first to research history from a scholarly perspective). Even I can not glance at this image without Lilith entering my mind, and I even interpret part of Her mythos by way of this owl-taloned figure. The modern association of Lilith with this image has given it its own validity (the same must also be said of the relation of Lilith with “to screech”), and therefore does not need to be cast aside for practical purposes. However, the historical facts should at least be understood and noted.

And so Lilith is not derived from the above two instances (the plaque or the Epic of Gilgamesh) after all. Instead, She most likely traces her roots strictly to the Lilitu and Ardat Lili- borrowed by the Hebrews from the Babylonians during the captivity in about 600 BCE. However, it must be kept in mind that Ardat Lili simply meant succubus, without indicating any specific being. This, then, brings me to another often overlooked point: the name Lilith itself is, in fact, an improper transliteration of the Hebrew. The Hebrew lettering is Lamed (L), Yod (I), Lamed (L), Vav (O), Tau (Th). The “-ith” should be spelled “-oth,” which is the Hebrew feminine plural suffix. It may be that the earliest Hebrew references were not to “Lilith,” but to “the liloth” (the spirits)- a curious cross of a Sumer-Babylonian word with a Hebrew suffix. More specifically, it referred to female spirits, and thus was probably little more than the Hebrew version of the Sumerian term Lilitu.

Yet, Lilith may have finally become a proper noun during or right after the Captivity. This is possibly indicated in the numerous Hebrew inscriptions, painted upon bowls, dated to around that time. These inscriptions picture a particularly nasty looking demoness by the name of Lilith, and the words are for protection against Her. However, I have personally found no direct evidence to support whether these bowls referred directly to one demoness or to a group of demonesses. The etymology may suggest the latter, while the existence of the singular Lilith in Hebrew mythos may suggest the former.

(Incantation bowl with an Aramaic inscription around a demon. Nippur, Mesopotamia, sixth–seventh century. Ceramic. University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archeology and Anthropology. Photo by Marie-Lan Nguyen – Wikimedia Commons, released under CC BY 2.5. – Source)

(Jewish incantation bowl from Nippur with depiction of Lilith – Source)

(6th century CE incantation bowl. Lilith in the middle surrounded by an Aramaic prophylactic text designed to ward her off. University Museum, University of Pennsylvania – Source)

Luckily, we do appear to have a clue as to how “The Liloth” finally became “Lilith.” This tentative answer lies in the Babylonian demoness Lamashtu. This horrible creature was, among other things, held responsible for “stealing babies from their mothers.” More than likely, this indicates crib-death and perhaps still-birth- as the general concept of a demon in Babylon was more often than not an explanation for medical problems and sickness. As we know, crib death was shockingly common in the ancient world, and thus Lamashtu was one of the major, and most feared, demonic forces. She was, perhaps, a large enough cultural influence to be adopted by other peoples who had intimate contact with Babylon. People such as the Hebrews, who adopted quite a few major concepts from the Babylonian religion. Thus was Lilith’s birth- a demoness who attacked men in the night, and women and babies during and after child-birth.

And, with this, the beginning is finished- while the story is just begun. Lilith appears to have lived on in oral tradition until the Talmudic times, where the popular mythos of Lilith is first presented in response to a contradiction in the Torah. The work in question is a tenth-century folktale called “The Alphabet of Ben Sira,” where Lilith is presented as the first wife of Adam.

Male And Female, He Created Them…

Genesis 1: 27 reads- “And Elohim created Adam in His Image, in the Image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”

Genesis 2:18 and 22 read- “And Yahweh said, ‘It is not good for Adam to be alone. I will make a fitting helper for him.’ … And Yahweh fashioned the rib that He had taken from the man into a woman; and He brought her to the man.”

Today, we know that Genesis I and II are two separate Creation stories. Genesis II derives from a Sumerian story, while Genesis I is a later creation of the Hebrew Priesthood (created by the Deuteronomic School around 700 BCE). However, to a people who were quite determined to take the Scriptures as ultimate Truth, such a contradiction was not welcome at all. It demanded an explanation that reconciled both stories.

Explanation number one is perhaps the best- Qabalistically speaking. As we know, Adam was created to perfection. He was created in the perfect image of “Elohim.” Of course, God is not seen as being either male or female, but as both at once. Even the Name Elohim is a feminine word (Eloah- Goddess) with a masculine plural suffix (-im). Thus, if God is male and female, the mother and the father, then Adam (which translates as “Mankind”) must also have originally been male and female in one. To be otherwise would have been unbalanced, and thus imperfect.

Of course, Adam was created in perfection, said to be greater than even the Angels. In fact, according to this view, Adam was not a human at all- but a Cosmic Being known as Adam Qadmon. He was the Archetype upon which humans would later be based.

(Kabbalistic illustration of the androgynous Adam Kadmon/Qadmon – source)

Now, enters the passages from Genesis II. Just as the Unity of God was divided in two (the separation of the Waters by the Firmament) to create the Universe, so too was mankind created by the separation of the Archetypal Man into “its” two halves- male and female. Thus, woman was separated from man, and Adam Qadmon became an unbalanced creature- a human. This imperfection finally led to the Fall- which was the manifestation of the human race from the archetypal to the actual. The woman was called Eve, which literally translates as “Life.” Mankind was given Life, and the rest is history.

Explanation number two, though just as Qabalistically useful in its own right, is nevertheless vastly more fun- especially mythologically speaking. This is where Lilith enters the picture as the first wife of Adam. The verse from Genesis I was thus explained as a veiled hint to the entire Lilith affair. Genesis II:20 even helps back this up- “And the man gave names to all the cattle and to the birds of the sky and to all the wild beasts; but for Adam no fitting helper was found.” The animals of the Earth had been created for the strict purpose of being helpers to Adam, and Lilith was among them. But, Lilith had failed, and no other beast even came close to fulfilling the need (apparently Lilith was the only animal enough like Adam to be a candidate at all). The next scene in the Scripture is where Yahweh breaks down and decides to chance separating Adam into his two halves of male and female.

Without worrying over specific developments of the tale, I will simply relate the entire story as it came to be after all. Here, then, is the story of Lilith:

The Mythos: Lilith’s Defiance

Now Lilith was the first wife of Adam, well before the creation of Eve. She had been created along with him to be his helper, as the Torah states “Male and Female He created them.”

However, Lilith was not so suited as a companion for Adam. There was little on which they could agree. In his attempt to mate with Lilith, Adam demanded the missionary (or male-superior) position. However, Lilith refused. Some say she claimed, “We were created equal, and thus we shall make love in equal positions.” In fact, Lilith even attempted to be superior to Adam herself.

Adam replied that he, being the Image of the Elohim, would not stoop to such a level as to be subordinate to Lilith, who was simply one of the many beasts of the field. She was created as his helper, he insisted, and that is how she must remain.

Lilith, however, was far more than Adam had imagined. She went straight away to Yahweh, and used her prowess of seduction upon Him. Yahweh, known for his soft heart toward women, was finally lulled into revealing His sacred Name unto her. Thereupon Lilith pronounced the Divine Name, and flew away from the Garden and Adam forever.

She took residence within a cave upon the shores of the Red Sea, where to this day she finds Her shelter. Within, she accepted the demons of the world as her lovers, and spawned many thousands of demon children in only a short time. It is thus that the world became populated with demons, and how Lilith came to be called the Mother of Demons- wife of Asmodeus, the King of Demons. In this aspect, she was called the Younger Lilith.

Adam, meanwhile, found that he regretted wishing Lilith away. He went to Yahweh and pleaded his case for Her return. Yahweh agreed that a creature of Eden should not so easily depart that realm, and dispatched three Enforcer Angels to retrieve Her.

These three, Senoy, Sansenoy, and Semangeloph, soon found Lilith within her cave, and demanded her return unto Adam by order of Yahweh. If she refused, they informed her, they would slay one hundred of her demon children each day until she decided to return.

Lilith exclaimed that even this fate was better than returning to Eden and submission to Adam. As the Enforcers carried out their threat, Lilith also made a terrible proclamation. In return for the pain delivered upon her and her children, she would slay the children of Adam. She swore to attack children, and even their mothers, during child-birth. She also swore that all new-born children were in danger of her wrath- baby girls for twenty days after birth, and boys for eight. Not only this, but she vowed also to attack men in their sleep. She would steal their semen to give birth to more demon children, in order to replace those slain each day.

However, even Lilith was not without feeling. She also made one further promise: wherever she saw displayed the names of the three Angels who opposed her, no one in that place would be in danger from her actions.

And thus is the legend of Lilith. However, the story does not end here by any means, and I will be adding to it as this essay continues. I will go over the basic Hebraic interpretations (Folk and Religious), the later Qabalistic interpretation, the modern interpretation, and I will conclude with my own interpretation.

The Folk Interpretation

On this we need spend little time. The folk interpretation of this myth is the most literal, and sees the myth as an actual event. In this, Lilith is an actual demoness who is blamed for such things as mothers dying in child-birth, still-birth, crib-death, “night-hag syndrome,” and erotic dreams among men.

The succubus aspect of Lilith is perhaps the most complicated. As we know, the Judaic life was very strict, full of Divine Laws and hundreds of ways in which a man might break them. Even an impure thought was greatly unwanted, let alone impure actions. With sexual release being such a taboo, it is no surprise that erotic dreams were very common- and even more so were they feared. This was no case of seeing a woman and being aroused. This was (within a dream) committing the full sexual act and enjoying it the entire time! Being that it is not uncommon to dream of women one knows in waking life- other men’s wives among them- the problem became an issue of breaking the Ten Commandments. Finally, add to this the fact that the real life result of these dreams was to be cursed as one who has “spilled his seed.” Yet, this was something that could never be avoided by even the most pious men- and was thus going to be a continuing source of guilt. The relief for this guilt was to blame it on a succubus, Lilith.

(The three brides of Dracula appearing in the 1992 film “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” are a famous and excellent example of succubus attack over a pious man – source)

And what of the demon children that Lilith spawned with one’s seed? Why, upon death, these spirit children would hover around the deceased’s household, demanding their rightful inheritance from the estate (and, presumably, causing mischief when they are ignored). This dynamic may have developed in answer to the hardships often associated with death. There were even steps a family would take to ensure the illegitimate demon-children were banished from the house upon the husband’s death. Of course, Lilith was not the only possible mother for these children. Jewish folk tales are teeming with gullible men being tricked into marriages with beautiful demonesses.

Another important aspect of Lilith as succubus is called “night-hag syndrome.” When we sleep, our bodies produce a chemical which effectively causes paralysis; thus ensuring we remain motionless as we dream. It is also extremely common for this drug to work ineffectively. When too little is produced, we often have dreams of being restricted or barely able to move (the infamous “running through molasses” nightmare). This is due to the fact that your limbs are trying to move according to the dream, but are being entangled under the body and in the bedclothes. When even less of the chemical is produced, sleepwalking occurs.

On the other hand, too much of the drug might flood the body, or it might simply not stop production soon enough before one awakes. Those who have experienced this (and there are a great many of them, myself included) report feeling “something” sitting upon them and attempting to crush them. They can not move or speak, and sometimes they can’t even breath. Of course, there is no visible attacker, which makes the experience extremely frightening. Today we know that this chemical imbalance is simply caused by stress or old age; though it could still be considered Lilith (or simply a succubus) if one considers a demon an imbalanced aspect of the Self or sickness. In the old world, such things were known as rape by the succubus (or Lilith).

It was thus- from crib death to night-hag syndrome- that we have many examples of talismans against Lilith. The Hebraic bowls are the earliest examples of this. Even more recent are the talismans which bear the images of the three Angels and the Hebrew phrase: “Senoy, and Sansenoy, and Semangeloph! Adam and Eve! Out Lilith!”

(Medieval apotropaic amulet to protect from Lilith during childbirth and infancy. Technically, Lilith does does not appear in this amulet. Rather we have ‘portraits’ of the three angels who are her bane: Snoy, Snsnoy & Smnglof. Above the angel portraits, in each of the two panels, we have the names ‘Adam and Eve’ and the phrase (in smaller print) “Out Lilith!” From The Book of Raziel, Amsterdam, 1701 – Source)

These would be hung over wedding beds as well as delivery tables and cribs. In many cases the inscription was painted upon or over the door to the place. All of this done as per the agreement Lilith made with the three enforcer Angels.

The Religious Interpretation

At this point I will include a Christian addition to the Lilith mythos. Though it may not figure into the Hebraic views of her, it still relates. This addition concerns Lilith’s involvement with the Fall from Eden.

Perhaps the most famous version of this Christian Lilith is the Sistine Chapel paintings by Michaelangelo. In this She is shown as a half-woman half-snake, and is credited with being the very Serpent who instigated the Fall from Eden itself. Apparently, Lilith was not satisfied with her vows of revenge as they were, and decided to attack Adam where he least expected it- through his new wife Eve. Perhaps even an amount of jealousy is involved here.

(One of the most famous paintings is Michelangelo’s Temptation and Fall, found in the Sistine Chapel, Vatican. Source)

Of course, it was Satan who was said to have been the serpent in the Christian viewpoint. And, indeed, Lilith is said to be the wife of Satan (or, from the Hebrew angle, the wife of Samael). The Serpent was a joint effort between these two to take revenge upon Adam and cause the fall from grace. Lilith provided the body of the serpent, while Samael was the voice. As the wife of Samael (rather than Asmodeus), she is known as the Elder Lilith.

I have all ideas that this Serpent-Lilith was a result of the Rabbinical view of Lilith- she who seduces men from the True Path of God- thus causing them to fall from grace as did Adam.

Within the Arabic mythologies of King Solomon, we meet Lilith on a number of occasions, usually known as the Queen of Sheba. Solomon had suspicions that this queen was in fact Lilith, and thus devised a plan to know for sure. After inviting her for a visit to his palace, he had the floor altered so as to appear as a pool of ankle-deep water. When the queen arrived, she lifted her skirts to walk through the pool, and Solomon was able to just barely glimpse her overly-hairy legs.

This was the Rabbinical image of Lilith- a dark and beautiful seductress from the waist up, yet hairy and ugly from the waste down. In many cases, she is actually a male from the waste down. This, of course, is the part of the body that would most be concealed from view. Only one intimate with her would find out the horrible truth- after it was too late.

Of course, this is a metaphor. Lilith represents that which appears beautiful on the outside. She is sex, indulgence, and everything that one desires to do which breaks the Judeo-Christian “Laws of God.” She is all of the things in life which tempts and seduces the man into the ways of evil. Only after he is firmly within her grasp does she reveal her true nature of ugliness. In this, Lilith far pre-dates (and perhaps has something to do with) the Christian concept of the Pan-like Satan.

The Qabalistic Interpretation

Here we find that the plot decidedly thickens. The Qabalists created yet another chapter in the life of Lilith, which stems directly from the above Religious ideas. As Lilith had come to represent those things that God frowned upon, so too did she come to symbolize the corrupt ways of the entire world at large. She was the lifestyle of the Pagans around the Judaic Peoples, who did not frown upon sex, indulgence, and fun. She symbolized all those who would break the Torah, and she was anyone who would attack the Israelites. Most of all, she was Babylon- the enemy holding the Israelite people captive..

Before I continue, it is important to explain the principals involved. Though these concepts developed well after the Second Temple had been destroyed (in 70 AD), the Temple itself plays a large role in the mythos. Also involved are Adonai (The Lord), and His Bride the Shekinah (Hebrew for “Presence”).

This mythos is a development of earlier Pagan ideas, where the union of the male and female aspects of the universe are seen as paramount to the continued existence of all creation. This was known as the Sacred Marriage. In the Middle Eastern cultures, a newly anointed king was ritually married to the Goddess (or mother of the land), and thus to the kingdom itself. Likewise, the Qabalists depicted Adonai as a king, and the Shekinah was [the people of] Israel herself.

(Hieros Gamos, or the Holy Marriage is an ancient myth found in many cultures, but also in alchemy. This picture represents the conjunction of the King and Queen, of the Sun and the Moon, Gold and Silver. – Source)

There was one singular place where Adonai would consent to join with the Shekinah, one place holy enough to sustain the Divine Sex. That place was the Temple of Solomon. Once in the year, the Couple would join together within its walls, and the Divine Light of goodness and increase shone throughout the world.

However, the Temple had been destroyed and its treasures carried into foreign lands. With it went the perfect union of Adonai and His kingdom. He withdrew from the world, refusing to meet the Shekinah in an impure fashion. The Shekinah, who embodied the physical word and thus could not withdraw from it, followed her people into captivity by foreign nations, and was there raped by the enemy. This “rape” was symbolic of mankind’s rape of the world and of the Israelite people.

And here, once again, enters Lilith. As before stated, Lilith symbolized the very foreign people who held the Shekinah captive. Lilith embodied their evil ways- and now those evil ways were allowed to remain in power. The reason for this lay in the fact that Adonai, alas, could not be without a female partner. There could be no God without- in some sense- Goddess. Thus, in an effort to sustain a balance, Adonai took Lilith as His consort. Being what She was, Adonai felt no pity in uniting with Her in impurity. She was, quite simply, His harlot. Thus it was that one half of the Divine Force which sustained the Universe was tainted- allowing the evil of mankind to reign supreme and unstoppable. Lilith was the Dark Shekinah- the polar opposite of that Holy Goddess. She had made Her final leap from demoness to Goddess- the Wife of God.

The Qabalist felt his duty was to strive to reunite the Shekinah with Adonai, and thus cast Lilith away forever. The Sabbath was an example of this. Because of the holiness of this day, Lilith had no power to remain with Adonai, and was forced to retreat to the desert where She screamed in pain until the day came to an end. (Remember Lilith as related to the term “to screech” in Isaiah 34:14; this is exactly where this concept has its birth.) It was during this time that Adonai had the best chance of reuniting with the Shekinah- and the Qabalist did all he could to help through purity and devotional invocation. This symbolism is even hinted at in the Christian Book of Revelation, where the Whore of Babylon is supplanted in power by the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.

(Albrecht Dürer’s “Whore of Babylon”, 1498. – Source)

This was the final outcome of the legends of Lilith, and here you have Her mythos in full: First wife of Adam, wife of Asmodeus, wife of Samael, the Serpent of the Tree of Knowledge, and finally the wife of God. From here, I will briefly explain Her modern interpretation, and you will see why I disagree with most of it so strongly:

The Modern Interpretation: Feminism

Today Lilith has been adopted by the Neopagan community. Most specifically by those with a feminist angle. Their main focus is upon Lilith’s choice to fly from paradise, and even suffer the death of hundreds of Her children, rather than live under submission to Adam. In this, She represents feminine defiance and strength. Her resulting attack on men in the night is the revenge of the woman upon the men who have harmed Her.

(Source)

This, in and of itself, is worthwhile (and plays a large part in my own interpretation). However, this is not all there is to the figure of Lilith. This interpretation totally ignores a large part of Her mythos- not the least of which being Her attacks on mothers and babies. The groups which put forth this view would also have us believe that Lilith was, in fact, a great Goddess within Sumeria. The “proof” of this is the above mentioned plaque, and we have already seen how this is simply not so. It is even said that Lilith was a maiden, in service to Inanna, who stood without the Temples and invited men to enter and partake of the sacred sex with the Priestesses. For this, not one shred of archeological evidence has been offered of which I am aware.

Along with this, the myth in which Gilgamesh drives the demoness out of the Tree of Life is said to be symbolic of the Patriarchal God driving the Goddess away. This is, in my opinion, pure silliness. Anyone who puts the slightest study into Sumerian culture will find that there was hardly any degradation of women occurring there. The exact same thing can be said for the Babylonians who followed, and even the earliest Hebrews themselves. It is true that the warrior traditions and kingship of early civilization began to focus upon masculine Deities, but the idea that hatred of women came immediately with this is not founded.

Unfortunately, there is a modern trend in which the “liberation” of any evil feminine mythological character is attempted. According to this view, there were originally no male Gods among mankind in the ancient world. Likewise, this view insists, there were absolutely no evil female characters in any mythology. Once God-worship had been invented by “power-hungry war-mongers,” that is when all the mythologies were re-written to show how evil the Goddesses were.

An example often given to prove this is the Babylonian Mother Goddess Tiamat- depicted in the creation epic as the enemy of Lord Marduk. Indeed, Tiamat (demonized in the text) does seem to be a later version of the Sumerian Nammu (a benevolent Mother Goddess). The overthrow of Tiamat by Marduk is often described as warfare between Goddess religion and God religion. In reality, however, the tale is a depiction of warfare between younger Gods and older Gods. Gender does not play a specific role in the epic- and both male and female characters play roles on both sides of the battle.

Another example is the Egyptian War God Set; who was also possibly a primordial benevolent Goddess (Set literally translates as “Lady”). Therefore, the battle between Horus and Set might be depicted as male versus female, or primordial Mother versus young male usurpers. Though, once again, a review of the actual stories do not reveal such a distinction. (More than likely, the story of the battle between Horus and Set is a depiction of solar eclipse.)

When they stand alone, these can be convincing examples for the “liberation” standpoint. However, I must also remind the reader that there are also convincing examples of the existence of Atlantis, and of alien intervention in the creation of humans. Such facts are taken from history, isolated, and held as proof of the silliest concepts imaginable. In my opinion, this is comparable to isolating Bible verses in order to prove one’s religious convictions- without reading the stories in context.

However, I do wish to make something clear at this point. I am not speaking against the concept of feminism here. I do not ignore the damage done to women over the years- mostly thanks to the Deuteronomic School of the Hebrews, and the Church of the Christians. I am not speaking against interpreting mythologies in new and different ways (as my own interpretation of the Lilith mythos will show). That is, after all, what mythology is all about. What I am speaking against here is shoddy scholarship. And, more than this, the attempt to push off personal opinions, half-truths, political agendas, and even outright lies as actual history. I will gladly interpret mythologies for use in the modern world, but I also A) acknowledge the original interpretations, and B) make sure that my interpretation takes the older ones into account. Again, I point out that a God and its mythology are inseparable. If I evoke Lilith, She will not conform utterly to what I expect or wish. Yes, She will be affected by my expectations and my interpretation of Her nature, but this merely accounts for one half of the interaction between myself and the Goddess.

And with this I move on to my final goal: an interpretation of Lilith for the modern world. This is based not only on the scholarship above, but also on my own experience of this seductive beauty. And now, let us meet Lilith:

The Lilith of Today

Adam literally translates as “mankind.” He is all of us- male and female, young and old. He is, basically, civilization. Adam is the Image of the Divine; he, and all physical things, are the final result of Divine manifestation. On the Qabalistic Tree of Life, Adam is Malkuth (Kingdom), the physical world. In Qabalistic psychology, Malkuth refers to the conscious mind. Thus, Adam represents our waking consciousness, or ego. Adam is everything about us that imposes “proper behavior” within society.

Lilith, created along with him, is the Shadow Self. She is our subconscious, that part of us that is most animal like, defiant, uncivilized, passionate, and basically natural. She is sex. She is everything that our (currently corrupted) society frowns upon; a society that has been taught for thousands of years to suppress everything within that is most natural and enjoyable. She is just as described in the religious interpretation- she is Babylon (or, as Crowley spells Her Name: Babalon).

(Aleister Crowley’s Thoth Tarot card “Lust” depicting Babalon. In Crowley’s religion, Thelema, she is the Sacred Whore, the Scarlet Woman, the Great Mother. – source)

(The satanic organization Order of the Nine Angles have similar archetypes such as Baphomet, The Dark Goddess. Many similar archetypes can be found in their Sinister Tarot Deck – Source)

Eve is also our subconscious. However, she is that small part of our inner-selves over which our conscious selves have gotten full control. She has no free will of her own- being wholly a part of Adam. She is that part of ourselves that, as a civilized people, we will show to others. Eve is what has been programmed into us as “acceptable.” She is the polar opposite of Lilith. She and Lilith together form the whole of the inner Self.

(Let me point out that this interpretation of Adam and Eve/Lilith as the conscious and subconscious is a rather old one. The Lovers Card of the Tarot uses this symbolism, with the addition of an Angel who represents the Higher Self.)

Samael, meanwhile, is the Archangel of Gevurah (Severity) upon the Tree of Life. He is the embodiment of Divine Severity. He is the Prince of the Seraphim- those Fiery Serpents who, at one point, Yahweh sent to punish the Israelites (see the book of Exodus), and to purify by fire those who wished to enter the Temple (see the book of Isaiah). Samael is hardship.

Lilith’s demon spawn represent our own personal demons. They are neurosis and harmful (self-destructive or criminal) behavior. They are the imbalances in the mind that can lead to our destruction.

Such are the characters of the Lilith mythos. The above interpretations of them must be held in mind at all times through the following. If so, certain aspects of the myth begin to make a certain kind of modern sense.

For instance, Adam’s insistence that he mate with Lilith in the missionary position becomes the civilized mind’s attempt to reign in and suppress the animal within- to be superior to it. Likewise, Lilith’s own insistence on mating in a superior position is the lower will’s attempt to dominate the rational self. Lilith’s flight from Eden, and into the cave, is the banishment of our natural animal instincts to the dark recesses of our minds. Even when Adam wishes She would come back, it is too late and the damage has been done.

What damage is this? Lilith spawned thousands of demon children. These demons are born within the locked away and forgotten parts of our minds. Even though we attempt, as the Angelic Enforcers, to hunt down and slay as many of them as we can, the tide is too great to be turned. We have attempted to suppress that which can not be suppressed. Lilith, in Her darkness, has grown the Her (owl’s) talons. By nature a beautiful creature- as our natural selves are in fact beautiful- Lilith now has the means and motive to rip us to tiny shreds. She attacks us while we sleep; and with our semen- the facts and deeds of our daily lives- she spawns more and more demons. Before she is finished, she will slither her way back into our minds- as the Serpent in the Garden. Our conscious selves rarely see it coming; while we are occupied with our day to day foolishness- Lilith will be sweet-talking Eve into taking the fatal bite. She will attack us below the surface, in that part of ourselves we have long-since thought conquered. One moment we suddenly find ourselves with break-downs, outbursts, causing harm to others, and social and personal ruin. We have experienced the Fall from Grace.

This also applies on a greater social level, not simply within the mind of the individual. When viewing the myth from the wider angle, we see where Samael comes into play. What happens when the things that are natural and beautiful are suddenly labeled as wrong? They then begin to attract the dregs of society. Once there were Goddess Temples with priestesses adept in the arts of sexual magick. Now, we have prostitution, strip-clubs, and brothels which are viewed as seed-beds of physical abuse, drug abuse, and disease. The people who frequent these places are labeled as dirty and immature people with little to no social value. Individuality and self expression is now corrupted into gang activity and the anarchy of social outcasts. Children who display this individuality spend their time in the principal’s office or suffer worse punishments. They are labeled as “problem children,” and so problem children they believe they are.

Here the Rabbinical view of Lilith must be considered, where corruption is so often deceptively tempting or beautiful on the outside. The sleazy clubs, the gangs, the criminal behavior are all very seductive. The glamorous people are the rebels who break laws and harm others. Bonnie and Clyde, Billy the Kid, Al Capone- these are our heroes. Yet, if we allow Lilith to seduce us with Her beauty, she will finally show us the ugliness that lies under her dressing. This is when she rips into us with her talons. The gangster is executed, and thus ends his glory. The prostitute has her throat cut, or dies of an overdose. And the man who frequents the brothel dies a lonely old man because a real relationship was ever beyond him.

Of course, all of these are extremely corrupted and impaired views of reality. This is the marriage of Lilith to Samael. This dark Angel of strife is Lilith’s talons. He is the hairy male lower half of her body. These things which are so beautiful and natural actually BECOME dirty and harmful, merely at the insistence of those who wish them to be such. This, in turn, fuels the view that these things are harmful in and of themselves. Society literally eats itself from the inside out- and this is the marriage of Lilith to God. As in the Qabalistic interpretation, the flow of Divinity has been tainted; Samael/Lilith is in control, and what is natural has been twisted into evil. Lilith should be our ally, and yet we are pitted in combat against her. If Adam can not be forced to accept his Lilith, then Lilith will destroy him. But, those in control of our society maintain that control through the suppression of Lilith- our defiance and freewill- and they would sooner see us destroyed than to lose that control.

And here enters yet another character in the mythos: Cain. It is little known that Cain was born not of Adam and Eve but of Eve and the Serpent during the Temptation. Thus, Cain is actually the child of the interaction between Eve and Lilith/Samael. The clashing of the acceptable and non-acceptable, or the overrunning of the mind by its own neuroses. In short, Cain- full of hate, jealousy, and anger which finally explodes into murder- represents the very inhibited society thus far described. This is not a new concept, of course, as Cain has long been said to be the ancestor of the corrupt majority of the world’s population. For instance, Hebraic legend insists that it was the Cainite women who seduced the Angelic Watchers and gave birth to the Nephalim (Giant creatures, one of whom was Asmodeus Himself) (Genesis 6:1-4f).

Cain’s brother Abel, who was born of Adam and Eve proper, is the world that could have existed if not for the intervention of Cain. On the other hand there is also Seth, the third son of Eve (also fathered by Adam), who is said to be the ancestor to the pious minority of the world. The Gnostics for instance, who felt they had the Knowledge to purify themselves (of the Samael/Lilith influence), and thus return to a state of grace, described themselves as descendants (or even embodiments) of Seth. Abel, then, is the Paradise that could have been; Cain is the corruption that slew that dream, and Seth is the hope of a return to utopia.

Thank the Gods that things are not necessarily quite as bad as all of that. There are respectable brothels and men’s (and women’s!) clubs. There are those who display self-expression in childhood who, somehow through all of the abuse, still grow up to become respected artists of all kinds. There are those who understand the sacredness of sex. In short, there are those few who have refused Samael’s marriage to Lilith. Instead, they have invited Lilith to return to the Garden- promising Her that She can play mistress just as much as Adam plays master. They have attempted to join Lilith and Eve, and to return them both to their rightful place within Adam. They strive to become Adam Qadmon- that Supernal Man(kind) who is greater even than the Angels. They strive for the state of Seth.

Of course, few of us have attained that success. Though, perhaps a reconciliation will one day occur. Perhaps in that time a person could be natural, individual and even a little rebellious without being labeled a criminal for doing so. Of course, no utopia will ever exist in full. However, just as the Medieval Qabalist strove to unite God and His Shekinah, so too should we strive to unite Eve and Lilith, and both of them with Adam within ourselves. Only then will we have the power to rebuild the inner Temple, and aid the Shekinah’s return to Adonai. Only then will the “children of Seth” have a chance to reign.

This is my view of Lilith. She is the Mother of the Night, and all the dark beauty that lies within it. Lilith is the hidden mysteries which society would rather I not know. I am Adam, and I have rejected my foolish concepts of superiority over Lilith. Of course, Lilith has Her dark side. If I allow Her to rule over me, She would drain my vitality as a succubus. She would rule me to the point of being little more than a thoughtless animal, useless and perhaps harmful within a human society. Instead, I accept Lilith in equality; in both darkness and light.

Append I: The Names of Lilith

During the section on the religious interpretation of Lilith- or the Rabbinical interpretation- I indirectly hit on the Solomonic legends of Lilith (The Queen of Sheba). Here I wish to elaborate somewhat on this aspect, as it is a rather important one in getting to know Her. In the Solomonic Legends, the Queen of Sheba was a very prominent figure. Much like Asmodeus, Lilith was an adversary to Solomon. However, unlike Asmodeus- who’s wish was to dethrone Solomon- Lilith simply enjoyed testing Solomon’s wisdom. She constantly arrived in his royal court with puzzles, riddles, and specific dilemmas in unceasing attempts to find fault in his abilities to serve the throne.

This, in fact, makes Lilith one of the Satans- those dark Angels who test us and accuse us of our failures. If (the Rabbinical) Lilith could not seduce one off of the true path, then She would literally attempt to ruin one upon that path. This rings very close to the instance in the New Testament where a group of exorcists attempt to cast out demons in the names of various prophets of the past. The demons replied that they knew these Prophets, and added, “But who are you?” Unlike Solomon to the Queen of Sheba, these exorcists had no good answer- and the demons tore them apart. Solomon always had a good answer- that is to say, he always knew the solutions to Her puzzles. In fact, it would seem that Solomon accepted the true nature of Lilith, because he actually enjoyed Her visits; and the opportunity to try himself at Her puzzles. He understood the necessity of these tests to keep him polished and on his toes. But, then again, Solomon was known for his Wisdom.

Of course, it would not be fair to neglect including an example of one of the Queen of Sheba’s puzzles. Already mentioned was the meeting between the two in which Solomon tricked Her into revealing Her true nature. However, Lilith was often much more subtle. In one instance, She took the form of a prostitute and claimed motherhood to another prostitute’s baby. Eventually, the matter was brought to the court of the king. Solomon heard both sides of the story, but this solved nothing. Both women were adamant, and told wholly different stories to back their claims.

However, king Solomon was not to be outdone. Instead, he ordered a swordsman to approach the throne. Because the matter could not be otherwise resolved, he declared that the baby should be cut in half so that each woman could have an equal share. As the sword was raised, one woman shouted for him to halt. She admitted that she was not truly the mother, and that she did not wish for the baby to die on her account. Solomon immediately gave the baby to her- knowing that only the real mother would give the baby away rather than watch it die. Lilith, on the other hand, was foiled again.

Yet another Solomonic tradition is outlined in “The Testament of Solomon.” This is a work that describes Solomon’s efforts to summon a number of demons, and find out their various names, forms, actions, and (most importantly) the Angels who oppose them. Lilith was among these summoned demons. (As a note, there is a similar legend in which Elijah encounters Her and demands Her Names.) She told Solomon that Her opposing Angel is Raphael- which makes sense when we recognize that Lilith’s name refers to “spirit” or “air,” and Raphael is the Kherub of Air. Lilith is the enveloping fog, while Raphael is the clear-sky breeze. As for Her various Names- taken from various sources- they are as follows:

Abeko, Abito, Abro, Abyzu, Ailo, Alu, Amiz, Amizo, Amizu, Ardad Lili, Avitu, Batna, Bituah, Eilo, Gallu, Gelou, Gilou, ‘Ik, ‘Ils, Ita, Izorpo, Kakash, Kalee, Kali, Kea, Kema, Kokos, Lamassu, Lilith, Odam, Partasah, Partashah, Patrota, Pods, Podo, Raphi, Satrina, Talto, Thiltho, Zahriel, Zefonith.

Append II: The Experience of Lilith

I.

I stood often upon the shore of this small lake in the heart of Florida. It was always late- far into the darkest hours of the night- and I stood wrapped in the icy embrace of Mother Lailah (Night). Her children sang and chirped and buzzed to me as they always have from the shadowy places among the grass and reeds, and often a cool breeze skittered across the lake to blow away the insects and the muggy heat. Many times had I stood here, communing with the lake, reciting love poems to Levanah (Luna), taking in the jewel-studded view of the southern nighttime skyline, and gazing at Venus in the early hours of dawn.

But tonight was different. Lailah’s embrace was deep and frigid. There were no stars or moon, no skyline, and no sky. There was no song from the grass and reeds about me, and no gentle breeze rushing over me from the water. The lake stretched out (for what little distance I could see) still and black as the dark Abyss itself. The night was dark, black, still as death, and over the surface slithered a deep fog that swallowed the world. A verse from Genesis arose within me: “And a mist moved upon the face of the deep…,” and within it fluttered the Shadows of the Qliphoth. The world held its breath. Lilith had arrived.

I stood upon the edge of the abyss, the helpless subject of the mighty Queen of the Night. She reached toward me slowly and seductively, yet always just beyond my own reach. She called to me softly from deep within the swirling mists. She is a siren, a succubus, and my bestial male spirit answered the call. It was pure pleasure- a burst of dark power. Yet, it was also pain as I willed against Will to stay my feet. More than once I nearly yielded to the temptation to simply walk into the blackness. My heart seemed to tell me, “You can go forth. You will not sink. You would be safe.” Of course, I knew better. I knew that if I stepped forward I would sink into that cold water- the lake that was no longer my friend. I knew that hypothermia would quickly set in, and that I would have little hope of even knowing in which direction the shore waited. I could very well die, with the land no more than a few feet away. Even more frightening was that I didn’t believe I would care! I wanted to feel the icy water envelope me, to sink into its silent depths and into oblivion beyond.

Yet, at the same time, I nearly believed I could walk safely across the surface of the pool. More so, I desired to fly into the fog; I wanted to take wing and join the demonic children of Lilith who swarmed within. I needed to hunt, stalk, pounce, and to bite. I wanted to feel the fear of prey flood over me, adding strength to the pain of my own desire, and to experience the shudder of their final ecstasy- that sudden peace and contentment that comes to all once death is inevitable. Suddenly I wanted to exert power and force over others. I wanted the taste of fear and pain.

And yet I knew that a single step in that direction would mean my own loss within the abyss before me. I would not live to hunt down my prey. I was no free predator, but a domesticated animal. With a sigh I wondered if this is how our own pets feel- who in distant ages were mighty hunters- as they beg at our tables, and are patted on their heads. With that I regained my senses somewhat, and backed away from the dark Lady before me. Out of breath I whispered how much I loved and desired Her, and then bowed and slunk away. Soon I was myself again- this had happened before, and would happen in the future. Anywhere the fog could creep upon me, especially over bodies of still and deep water, Lilith would find me and once again try Her seduction upon me. She would ever attempt to lead this son of Eve into the Blackness of the Kingdom of Shells. Perhaps the male child is not so safe after the eighth day from birth…

The above is what might be expected from the male experience of the Queen of Night. What more could one expect from She who seduced the Divine Name from Yahweh Himself, and traditionally bears somewhat of a grudge against Adam (Mankind)?

Another thing that I have noted was the intuitive feeling I had that Lilith was the fog itself. It was, in fact, later that I learned the name “Lilith” traces back to a Sumerian word for “Air.” The Lilitu of Sumer are supposed to be night-time air spirits, and according to my direct experience, this is exactly what they were, and what Lady Lilith is today. But, more than just “air,” She is the thickening mists that can cause a person to stray blindly from the path and into Her dark embrace. It seems the Rabbis were right…

II.

A woman who may have stood in my place, lost within that gray-white haze, would surely have experienced something different from what I described. While I can’t provide you with a description of such an experience, I can at least speak on some women’s issues with which Lilith might be deeply and darkly involved.

I recently spoke to a (female) devotee of Lilith, and suggested the possibility of the Dark Queen’s involvement in the issue of abortion; especially viewing Her in Her aspects as both succubus and baby-killer. Perhaps Lilith is even the patron Goddess of abortion.

This may seem a bit extreme, and is certainly an extremely touchy issue. However, I feel there may be some merit to the idea. Not more than a few days after I mentioned this to my friend, I came across these words concerning Lilith and abortion on the Internet:

On the other hand, there is a modern metaphor for “baby killing” that adequately places us in the quandary and conflict of power vs. violence…abortion. To those opposed, it is clearly murder. But to those who claim the right to choose…well, look at the phrase “right to choose.” Those who fight for the right to choose abortion fight for the right to have control over their bodies, over control over when and how they bestow the gift of life, and when and how they will take what kind of responsibility for the outcome of their sexuality. Those who fight to make abortion illegal once again see this as an irrelevant argument. The woman’s body and life are incidental when compared to the potential life she carries inside her…at least, this is how a Daughter of Lilith would see it…someone who is, themselves, opposed to abortion simply see it as a question of life and death. Choices of life and death. These are the kinds of choices Lilith asks us to make. Knowing, full well, that there are no right answers…or wrong answers…only *our* answers.

Blessings, light & dark,
Margot

(Famous painting of Lilith by John Collier. Oil on canvas. 1892)

Bibliography

The Lilith Shrine, http://www.lilitu.com/lilith/

The Story of Lilith, http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu:80/~humm/Topics/Lilith/alphabet.html
From The Alphabet of Ben Sira Question #5 (23a-b), Tr. Norman Bronznick (with David Stern & Mark Jay Mirsky) (Stern90)

The Devils and Evil Spirits of Babylonia, by Reginald Campbell Thompson
July 1973, AMS Press; ISBN: 0404113532

Semitic Magic : Its Origins and Development, by R. Campbell Thompson
Samuel Weiser; ISBN: 0877289328

Babylonian Magic and Sorcery: Being the Prayers of the Lifting of the Hand, by Leonard W. King
Samuel Weiser; ISBN: 0877289344

The Hebrew Goddess, by Raphael Patai, Merlin Stone (Designer)
Wayne State Univ Pr; ISBN: 0814322719

Lilith’s Cave : Jewish Tales of the Supernatural, by Howard Schwartz, Uri Shulevitz
Oxford Univ Pr (Trade); ISBN: 0195067266

Gilgamesh and the Huluppu-Tree: A reconstructed Sumerian Text, by S. N. Kramer
University of Chicago 1938

Further reading:

http://jewishchristianlit.com/Topics/Lilith/

The post Lilith: From Demoness to Dark Goddess appeared first on Occult-Study.

The medieval systems of “grimoiric” mysticism (of which the European Solomonic tradition is a part) are outlined in such manuscripts as The Key of Solomon the King, the Goetia, the Book of Abramelin, The Magus, etc.[1] The authors of these texts (many of them members of the medieval Catholic Church) drew magickal secrets from the cultures they found around them – such as Jewish Merkavah Mysticism and Qabalah, classical Gnosticism, Arabic Sufism and the rich traditions of European pagan folklore.[2]

The mysticism that evolved among these Christian mages was fairly shamanic. It called upon the Angels and spirits of nature. It described methods of exorcism and acquisition of spirit familiars. Wax images, sacrifices, incantations and necromancy all proved a marked pagan influence on the texts. Yet, they were unquestionably the work of devout Christians, who invoked the name of Jesus, used standard Christian prayers (such as the Pater Noster and the Psalms) as magickal spells, and presented a blatantly Christian mythos.

The Solomonic mystics were unique because they were among the first humans in history to have access to the technology of paper and bound books.[3] (They were very often scholars, scientists or scribes.) Therefore, they naturally recorded much of their tradition into manuscripts called textbooks or “grammars” (French: grimoire). The appearance of these grimoires shocked Roman Catholic and many Protestant authorities so deeply, it triggered the Inquisitions and mass book burnings. What we know of Solomonic mysticism today comes largely from the grimoiric manuscripts that survived.

After the Inquisitions, the Age of Enlightenment dawned in Europe. The surviving grimoires had vanished into private collections and museum archives – mostly guarded by the Masons as occult curiosities. There was the odd scholar or quasi-Masonic group (most of them students of Hermeticism) who discovered the texts and made use of some of the material. You might recognize many of the names – Elias Ashmole, “Dr. Rudd”, Francis Barrett, MacGregor Mathers and Aleister Crowley are just a few. However, few of them practiced the texts on their own terms. The more pagan elements of the grimoires vanished, and the mark of Masonic lodge-style magick was eventually imprinted upon them.

Today, there are many ceremonial groups that make limited use of the Solomonic material – most of them descended from or influenced by a late Victorian quasi-Masonic lodge called the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. There have even been a number of modern Orders that focus entirely on the grimoires,[4] though even they are influenced by post-Golden Dawn magickal methodology. Toward the end of the 20th Century, several books were released that present methods for summoning Angels and spirits based upon (or influenced by) Golden Dawn techniques.[5]

While the modern ceremonial systems may draw names, sigils and talismans from the medieval grimoires, the techniques they utilize are no older than the late 1800s – and in some cases are even younger. The grimoires are not composed of lodge-style ceremonial magick. You’ll find no “Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram” in the Key of Solomon the King. You will not see instructions in the Goetia to inscribe geometric figures in the air. No Tarot-based Elemental Weapons or Lotus Wands are found anywhere in the vast corpus of medieval Solomonic literature.

At the time I wrote my book on grimoire magick, I was operating under the impression that the “living grimoiric tradition” – as recorded by the medieval mages themselves- had long-since ceased to exist. I focused strictly upon the historical European Solomonic tradition, along with suggestions for following a similar path in the modern world. (In fact, I was hoping my book would help to re-ignite the Solomonic tradition, and provide a textbook – grimoire – for it.)

However, over the past several years, I have discovered that I was fundamentally wrong about the passing of the “living grimoiric tradition.” It was not stamped out by the Church, nor has it been dead and buried in Masonic vaults for the past 400 years! Indeed, it survived the inquisitions, migrated to the New World with European immigrants, and – true to its shamanic nature – mutated to a new form. It has been with us right here in America for nearly as long as the nation has existed – and it is currently becoming part of a larger occult revival. I have been shocked to discover just how many people are currently out there really working with this material! Their procedures may or may not differ from what I describe in my book. I may or may not always agree with their philosophies about the magick. Yet, one way or the other, they are using the old methods and getting results.

Thus, contrary to what you may read in my previous work, the Solomonic tradition is alive and growing today. In this essay, I will trace this slightly mutated “grimoiric” trend from Europe to the New World (both New England and the American South), and finally discuss how it is currently affecting aspirants searching for the Solomonic path. Overall, I hope to give the reader a solid impression of what it means when someone – right here in the modern world – calls him or herself a “Solomonic magician.”

European Folk Magick in the New World

The medieval Solomonic grimoires are, in fact, a sub-set of a larger literary genre – the folkloric “receipt-book.” (The word “receipt”, used in this sense, is an archaic form of the word “recipe.”) A receipt-book was a hand-written journal of family and local folklore, passed down from generation to generation.

The typical receipt-book contained such things as agricultural lore, cleaning tips, beauty aids and “home remedy” medicinal secrets. For an example of such domestically-useful content, take this recipe for a plaster that aids healing:

A Very Good Plaster.[6]
I doubt, very much whether any physician in the United States can make a plaster equal to this. It heals the white swelling, and has cured the sore leg of a woman who for eighteen years had used the prescriptions of doctors in vain.

Take two quarts of cider, one pound of bees-wax, one pound of sheep-tallow, and one pound of tobacco; boil the tobacco in the cider till the strength is out, and then s train it, and add the other articles to the liquid: stir it over a gentle fire till all is dissolved.

Or this recipe for curing fatigue:

Another Remedy for Weakness[7]

Take Dittany and St. John’s wort, and put them in good old rye whiskey. To drink some of this in the morning before having taken anything else, is very wholesome and good. A tea made of the acorns of the white oak is very good for weakness of the limbs.

The receipt-books also contained occult lore – in the form of incantations, spells and simple conjurations. Depending on the source, this occultism is variously known as European folk magick, witchcraft or “collections of local superstitions.” For example, here is a folk remedy for the fever:

How to Banish the Fever.[8]

Write the following words upon a paper and wrap it up in knot-grass, (breiten megrich,) and then tie it upon the body of the person who has the fever:

Potmat sineat,

Potmat sineat,

Potmat sineat.

Or, how about this helpful hint for ranchers:

Another Way to Make Cattle Return Home.[9]

Feed your cattle out of a pot or kettle used in preparing your dinner, and they will always return to your stable.

There are also more involved spells, which should sound very familiar to any student of the Solomonic tradition:

To Prevent Bad People From Getting About the Cattle.[10]

Take wormwood, gith, five-finger weed, and assafœtida; three cents’ worth of each; the straw of horse beans, some dirt swept together behind the door of the stable and a little salt. Tie these all up together with a tape, and put the bundle in a hole about the threshold over which your cattle pass in and out, and cover it well with lignum-vitæ wood. This will certainly be of use.

This kind of magick was a hold-over from the paganism that existed in Europe before the domination of the Church. While the pagan religions themselves may have been destroyed, local and family traditions and folklore often survived. Many of them simply adapted to the new Christian environment. By the time the receipt-books were penned, Biblical scripture and prayers to Jesus and Saints had become intermixed with the older pagan material:

Another Well-Tried Charm Against Firearms.[11]

Blessed is the hour in which Jesus Christ was born; blessed is the hour in which Jesus Christ was born; blessed is the hour in which Jesus Christ was born; blessed is the hour in which Jesus Christ has arisen from the dead; blessed are these three hours over thy gun, that no shot or ball shall fly toward me, and neither my skin, nor my hair, nor my blood, nor my flesh be injured by them, and that no kind of weapon or metal shall do me any harm, so surely as the Mother of God shall not bring forth another son. + + + Amen.

At the same time, aspects of Judeo-Christian occultism (such as we see in the Solomonic grimoires) were incorporated into the receipt-books. Perhaps the best example of this is the famous SATOR/ROTAS magickal square:

S A T O R
A R E P O
T E N E T
O P E R A
R O T A S

We have seen this square on Solomonic talismans, and a (slightly altered) version even appears in the Book of Abramelin.[12] Meanwhile, the lesser-known receipt-books grant this talisman various powers. If written on either side of a plate and cast into a fire, it can extinguish the flames without water. If written on paper, ground up and added to cattle’s feed, it will protect the beasts from evil witchcraft. If built into the structure of a door or window, it will keep evil spirits from entering.[13]

Another folk remedy for the fever should be familiar to students of European occultism:

To Banish Convulsive Fevers.[14]

Write the following letters on a piece of white paper, Pew it on a piece of linen or muslin, and hang it around the neck until the fever leaves you:

A b a x a C a t a b a x
A b a x a C a t a b a x
A b a x a C a t a b a
A b a x a C a t a b
A b a x a C a t a
A b a x a C a t
A b a x a C a
A b a x a C
A b a x a
A b a x
A b a
A b

This talisman is obviously adapted from the “Abracadabra” formula, which adopts its principal from Qabalistic philosophies on the power of words. The fever is symbolically linked to the word “Abracadabra” (or, in this case, “Abaxacatabax”), and should diminish as the letters of the word are reduced one by one. (Most folks are familiar with “Abracadabra” because stage-magicians in the early 1900s – who sometimes claimed real occult power – adopted the word into their acts.)

The receipt-books were grimoires in every sense of the word- and were sometimes known as “wonder-books.” In fact, it could be said that the Solomonic grimoires were merely the receipt-books (or wonder-books) of one group of medieval Christian mystics.

Once the Inquisitioners had finished searching for grimoires on the shelves of their clergy, they began seeking out the local healers and midwives who often had receipt-books of their own. (From this grew the legends of “witch-burning” that characterize the Inquisition to this day.)

It was this atmosphere of religious persecution throughout Europe that prompted many individuals and entire communities to seek their fortunes in the New World. Those whose faiths were labeled (or bordered upon) “heresy” migrated especially to the colony of Pennsylvania, which had been founded (in 1681 CE by the Quaker William Penn) on the principal of religious freedom. It quickly became a haven for Quakers, Mennonites, Anabaptists and other obscure (and often mystical) religious sects. By 1683, German settlers had established the community of Germantown near Philadelphia – and they brought their receipt-books with them.[15]

Once in the New World, the lore we find recorded in the books combined with Native American herbalism. (The immigrant cunning-folk and healers would have wanted to learn about the local plant life as soon as possible, in order to make necessary medicines and potions.) The information then began to appear in published works in the late 1700s and 1800s. Thanks to mass distribution through mail-order catalogues,[16] books like the Farmers Almanac, and John Hohman’s Pow-Wows, or the Long Lost Friend (first published in German, in 1820, as Der Lange Verborgene Freund) became the foundation of the New England folk tradition.

This New England folk tradition is sometimes called Hexcraft – though this may be a modern convention. Alternately, it has been called braucha in the Pennsylvania Dutch dialect, speilwerk in the German, or “Pow-wow” after the title of John Hohman’s book. (He had simply borrowed an Algonquian word for “shaman.”)[17]

Practitioners of Pow-wow magick were known by the German term Hexenmeisters (spell-masters). Besides their spells and conjurations, they were most famous as herbologists and healers. In most cases, the tradition could only be handed down from a male to a female, or from a female to a male – especially from mother to son. (Modern students of Wiccan history may find that information of interest.)

Receipt-books had been kept within families since the invention of paper and bound books, and they continued to appear even as late as 1950s America. Eventually, the advent of the Industrial Age and the nuclear family destroyed the transmission of such folk wisdom from the older generations to the younger, and the receipt-book finally disappeared.[18] Today, it is unclear how many hexenmeisters are left, or whether or not the tradition will be handed down to another generation.

Nonetheless, Mr. Hohman’s book eventually became the quintessential American grimoire, and was the principal (but not the only) source of spells for Pow-wowing. (In fact, all of the above examples of receipt-book folklore were taken from The Long Lost Friend.) Another text of importance was Egyptian Secrets, (supposedly) by Albertus Magnus, which was one of the main sources for Hohman’s book.

Even more interesting for us here, there were several classical grimoires that made it through the Inquisition and across the sea to America. The most important to the Pow-wow tradition were the Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses, the Black Pullet and possibly the Goetia as well. The hexenmeisters were not very interested in the purification rites and conjuration ceremonies. Instead, they merely adopted the elaborate seals and sigils – which they charged according to their own tradition. For instance, merely placing a grimoiric seal inside a Bible for seven days was often enough to make it magically viable.

Unfortunately, these classical grimoires were often associated with “black-magick” by Pow-wow healers. Even owning such a book was seen as an indication of satanic influence- and they were strictly avoided by those who wished to present Pow-wow magickal lore as lawful within Christian dogma.[19]

The Magick Moves South: The Hoodoo Tradition

While the European immigrants were bringing their religions and folk magick with them to New England, the slaves were bringing theirs to the South. In places like Cuba, the Caribbean and the American southern states (like Louisiana), we find a strong presence of the African Diaspora religions – such as Santeria, Palo and Voodoo (or Voudoun).

These initiatory shamanic faiths were themselves combinations of the original African religions and elements from religions in the New World. Santeria adopted much from Catholicism, so that Saints were invoked as indistinguishable from the African Orishas (gods). Both Santeria and Palo drew from Allan Kardec’s Spiritism (an offshoot of Spiritualism) to replace their lost ancestral worship- resulting in the mesa blanca (white table) séances.

It would also appear that, unlike the New England hexenmeisters, the Diaspora faiths had no compunction against making use of the European grimoires.[20] For example, at some point, several of the seals from the Goetia and related texts were adopted by the Voodoo priests as veves (sigils) for the African Loas (gods).[21]

For example, compare the following two sigils. One is from the Goetia, representing the spirit Gomori. The other is the Voodoo sigil for the Loa Ezili-Freda:

The next example is also from the Goetia – the seal of the spirit Marbas. Compare this to the sigil of the Loa Ibo:

I’ll give one final example here – this time the seal is from the grimoire called the Grimoirum Verum, representing the spirit Frucissiere. Corresponding to this, we have the Voodo sigil of the Loa Papa-Legba:

As one should expect, these African-descended religions also brought with them a rich tradition of African folk magick. Crossroads magick, “foot track” magick, “laying down tricks”, crossing and uncrossing, gris-gris or mojo bags, ritual sweeping and bathing are all African survivals. And, as usual with folk traditions, these things were not strictly contained within the Diaspora religions. Instead, during the late 19th century, they disseminated among the lay-people as well – intermixing freely with the folklore and occultism of surrounding cultures. Included in the mix were Native American herbalism, Spiritism, European folk magick (especially Pow-wow), and the medieval grimoires.

This new southern American folk tradition was eventually labeled Hoodoo – also known as root-working and conjure sorcery.[22] Because of its close ties to Voodoo, Palo, etc, it is often mistaken as a Diaspora religion in its own right. However, Hoodoo is not a religion, nor does one have to be an initiate of any of these religions to practice. Like the Pow-wow tradition, it was taught and practiced by common folk within families or close-knit communities. (Pre-WWII blues music is known for references to Hoodoo – such as Crossroads Blues by Robert Johnson and Hoodoo Lady by Memphis Minnie.)

Of course, for this essay, we are most interested in the influence of European folklore and occultism on Hoodoo. The southern rootworkers (or root-doctors) were great fans of what they considered “Jewish Kabbalistic” works like Hohman’s The Long Lost Friend,[23] Magnus’ Egyptian Secrets and grimoires like The Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses, The Black Pullet, The Key of Solomon the King and The Goetia. In fact, there is some speculation that the term “Hoodoo” may descend from the Latino word Judio, pronounced “hoo-dee-oh”, and meaning “Jewish.” It could easily have come into the culture via Palo, within which is a path named Palo Judio. If this is the origin of the word Hoodoo, then it is likely the practice was named for its association with so-called “Jewish magick”; the medieval grimoires.

However, much as we see with New England folk magick, the southern rootworkers were not interested in the grimoires’ ritual instructions – they wanted books with lots of seals and words of power associated with them.[24] These seals were then drawn on paper and placed in sachets, buried in pathways, built into doors, placed upon wounds, etc. – similar to the manner in which the SATOR square is used. They could be empowered via several simple methods such as intonation of their words of power, anointing with oil, recitations of scripture and/or enclosure within a Bible for seven days.

Another European magickal tradition adopted into Hoodoo was the use of the Biblical Psalms as spells or conjurations in their own right.[25] This was largely (but not entirely) thanks to the publication of a text called Secrets of the Psalms: A Fragment of the Practical Kabala by Godfrey Selig.[26] (Possibly based upon a medieval Jewish book entitled Shimmush Tehillim – On the Use of Psalms.) Selig’s book described the Qabalistic philosophy that the Psalms (especially those attributed to King David) contain hidden “seed syllables” that will produce magickal affects if pronounced aloud.

In practice, however, the use of Psalms in Hoodoo magick is much like the conjurations of the Solomonic tradition. The magickal effect produced by the scripture is directly related to the subject-matter of the passage- rather than to Hebrew “seed-syllables.”[27]

For instance, if one wants to bring fortune to his home, one might recite Psalm 61 which says:

Thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy. I will abide in Thy tabernacle forever, I will trust in the covert of Thy wings.

If one has need to travel by night, one might invoke protection via Psalm 121 which says:

I will look up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.

For headaches or backaches, one can recite Psalm 3 (traditionally used in exorcism) which contains the line:

Thou, o Lord, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter of my head.
In this manner, Secrets of the Psalms outlines Psalms for numerous uses- such as release from prison, business success, safe childbirth, success in court, defeat of enemies, general protection from evil and more. Psalm magick remains central to Hoodoo practice to this very day.

Hoodoo reached its greatest popularity during the early 1900s – largely thanks to the growing mail-order industry and companies like King Novelty Co., Valmore Beauty Products, the Lucky Heart Co., and R.C. Strong. These companies specialized in beauty products (like Sweet Georgia Brown Hair Pomade, Bleach Cream and Face Powder), cleaning supplies, and “spiritual curios.” The spiritual curios are what interest us- the basic components of conjure-spells like roots and herbs, incenses, anointing oils, lodestones and herbal washes.

Within these same catalogues, rootworkers could find such grimoires as The Long Lost Friend, The Black Pullet, The Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses, and the Secrets of the Psalms, right alongside of books like The Art of Kissing, the Book of 1000 Ways to Get Rich and The Egyptian Witch Dream Book and Fortune Teller.

Eventually, an expanding market lead to several new books that blended the European occultism of the grimoires with the growing lore of Hoodoo. Lewis de Claremont[28] released a number of books, among them The Ten Lost Books of the Prophets, The Seven Keys to Power, and The Ancients Book of Magic. Also of particular interest to us is Henry Gamache’s The 8th, 9th and 10th Books of Moses, which is similar to the older grimoire, but includes a lengthy introduction by the author that links African tribal beliefs with (so-called) anceint Jewish and Egyptian practices.

Henry Gamache also wrote an important Hoodoo book called The Master Book of Candle Burning. The folk use of candle burning likely originated in the Catholic practice of lighting votives to the Saints and the dead. Then, thanks to mass-production in the early 1900s, candles of all sorts of shapes and colors became easy to obtain from local drugstores. This led to the central role that candle-burning magick played in Hoodoo.[29]

The practice was fairly simple. One merely needs to take a candle of an appropriate color (such as green for money, red for love, black for curses, etc), anoint it with a related dressing oil (Money Drawing Oil, Healing Oil, Follow Me Girl Oil, Aunt Sally’s Lucky Dream Oil, etc), and light it with an appropriate Psalm or statement of intent.[30]

Today, Hoodoo candles are available in a plethora of types and shapes. The most popular are glass-encased seven-day candles with pictures of Saints on their labels. (They usually have a prayer to the Saint on the back of the lable as well.) Some of them are multi-colored for spells designed to have different effects at different stages. You can even buy candles with one color on the outside and another on the inside- for removing jinxes and returning them to their senders. You can even buy candles shaped like men, women, penises, and other shapes that aid in magickal sympathy with the object of the spell.

It is very unlikely that Hoodoo is in the same danger of dying out as Pow-wow. (This is likely due to the fact that Pow-wow put heavier restrictions upon its transmission.) As Hoodoo once disseminated itself through mail-order catalogues, it is now gaining popularity through the Internet. Websites like the Lucky Mojo Curio Co.[31] make the obscure spell ingredients, altar tools, talismans, and books easy to find.

Rootworking and conjure-magick is alive and well. One reviewer of Secrets of the Magickal Grimoires suggested the release of my book was well timed, because it met with an “…increased interest in operative magic…”[32] I suppose what they meant by that was a rising interest in good old-fashioned witchcraft. The kind of folk-magick that requires a crossroads at midnight and railroad spikes, rather than initiations and lodge-style ceremonies. The kind of magick our ancestors used and passed on to their children, but was sacrificed to “scientific reason” and the nuclear family before our generation came along. As the world becomes an increasingly hostile and dangerous place, perhaps the younger generations desire to reconnect to the healing spells, protective spirits and results-oriented “operative magick” we have lost.

The Modern Solomonic Path

In this essay, we have traced grimoiric shamanism from medieval times to the present day, and we have seen that it followed two specific paths: One path was with the Masons and Hermeticists. They eventually borrowed the grimoires’ talismans and words of power, but applied them to their own lodge-style magick. The second path was with the immigrants who took the grimoires with them to the New World, packaged with their native folklore. However, they also ignored the ritual instructions in favor of the talismans and words.

The modern Solomonic Path differs from these in that it does not eschew the instructions recorded in the grimoires. The purifications and preparations, robes and magickal tools, conjurations and ceremonies are what define the Solomonic Path. However, at the same time, the Solomonic mage is just as interested in the “rootworking” aspects of the grimoires that have been dismissed by the magickal lodges. The wax images, virgin-spun thread, sacred herbs, etc.

The Solomonic mages in medieval Europe had borrowed what they could from local pagan folklore. Likewise, modern Solomonic mages are drawing pagan material from systems like European folk-magick, the African Diaspora religions and Hoodoo. (In fact, the practice of borrowing material from European and African folklore is a hallmark of Hoodoo itself.)

When I began to explore the Solomonic material (during the 1990s), I was unfamiliar with the traditions of Pow-wow and Hoodoo. I knew that Pow-wow existed, but I knew very little about it and had no idea it was connected to the medieval grimoires. Of Hoodoo I knew even less – except for a vague understanding that some members of the Afro-Caribbean communities were using the Books of Moses and possibly a few other medieval European texts. In fact, I had heard there was a growing “Solomonic trend” within these communities, though I had no clue where this movement was taking place.

For some years, I had used the grimoires in the modern ceremonial fashion; with acceptable results. I knew it was not a true reflection of the magick presented in the medieval texts – however, the grimoires were not easy to understand on their own terms. Besides being jumbled and obscurely worded, they were missing a lot of material that had likely been transmitted orally from teacher to student. Plus, their instructions often directly contradicted what I “knew” to be true about magick.

Eventually, I stumbled upon Santeria and Palo Mayombe through a friend who had been initiated into both faiths. At first, my interest in his knowledge was purely academic. I love to speak with people of differing faiths and worldviews, and especially of different magickal systems, in order to widen my own perspective. In this case, I was wildly successful – because my discussions with the Santero radically altered my worldview. Those long conversations were my first real introduction to magickal principals outside the influence of Neopaganism or the Golden Dawn. It was my first direct encounter with established systems of shamanism.

It all came together when the Santero and I realized that his descriptions of African-descended magick were coming awfully close to my descriptions of the Book of Abramelin, the Key of Solomon and several other grimoires. Agrippa’s Occult Philosophy did not contradict his own at all. (He was particularly fascinated by Book I of the Three Books…- dealing with “natural magick,” or what we have been calling folk-magick.) Many aspects of the grimoires that made no sense to me, and were often called “blinds” by others, were perfectly logical when viewed through his shamanic worldview. (Frog skin? Blood from a black cat? Ritual sacrifice??)

Before long, I was bringing the grimoires to him for clarification. I would ask him about the obscured and missing aspects of Solomonic magick, and he would fill in the gaps by describing similar practices in Santeria or Palo. He could tell me why certain things were done, and even where to find the obscure ingredients. (The co-relations were so close, I began to suspect the African and Solomonic traditions had crossed paths before.) Eventually, my girlfriend decided to explore the path of Palo with my friend as her spiritual god brother, and the two of them have been invaluable sources of information and practical experience ever since.[33]

In some cases, the grimoires and folk traditions like Hoodoo match almost exactly. A great example is the parallel folklore about crossroads found within both. Hoodoo teaches that a crossroads at midnight is a place of convergence – between days, human destinies and “between the worlds” of human and spirit. At the crossroads, spirits are met, deals are made and power is gained.[34]

Meanwhile, grimoires like the Key of Solomon the King insist that evocations (especially necromancy or goetic work) are best performed at a crossroads “during the depth and silence of the night.”[35] In The Magus, we find an operation for binding a number of familiar spirits to a magickal book – including both a crossroads and the hour of midnight.[36] One is to prepare the book with all the prayers and conjurations necessary to call the spirits. Then, at a crossroads at midnight, one must prepare a magickal circle. The book is consecrated and the spirits are summoned. The book must then be buried in the center of the crossroads and (after wiping away all traces of the circle) left for three days. On the third night, one must return again at midnight, reform the circle, offer prayers of thanks and retrieve the book. That is the kind of magick any good rootworker can appreciate!

We can find even more examples of folk magick in Agrippa’s Occult Philosophy, Book I, “Natural Magic.”[37] In fact, I would suggest that it stands on its own as a root-worker’s manual- especially for someone geared toward the Solomonic path. It is certainly the most neglected book of Agrippa’s trilogy, merely wanting rediscovery by modern aspirants.

A wonderful example is found in Chapter 16, “How the operations of several Virtues pass from one thing into another, and are communicated one to the other”:

Therefore they say that if any one shall put on the inward garment of an Harlot, or shall have about him that looking glass, which she daily looks into, he shall thereby become bold, confident, impudent, and wanton. In like manner they say, that a cloth that was about a dead Corpse hath received from thence the property of sadness, and melancholy; and that the halter wherewith a man was hanged hath certain wonderfull properties.

[…] If any shall put a green Lizard made blind, together with Iron, or Gold Rings into a glass-vessel, putting under them some earth, and then shutting the vessel, and when it appears that the Lizard hath received his sight, shall put him out of the glass, that those Rings shall help sore eyes. The same may be done with Rings, and a weasel, whose eyes after they are with any kind of prick put out, it is certain are restored to sight again. Upon the same account Rings are put for a certain time in the nest of Sparrows, or Swallows, which afterwards are used to procure love, and favor.

This sounds like something one would expect to read in a Hexenmeister’s receipt-book. It is an example of sympathetic magick- or “like attracts like”- the hallmark of most primitive shamanic and folk traditions.
Agrippa makes much of magickal sympathy in his book on Natural Magick. Another example can be found in Chapter 19, “How the Virtues of things are to be tried and found out…”

Moreover thou must consider that the Vertues of things are in some things according to the species, as boldness, and courage in a Lyon, & Cock: fearfulness in a Hare, or Lamb, ravenousness in a Wolf, treachery, and deceitfulness in a Fox… So is boldness in a Harlot, fearfulness in a Thief. And upon this account it is that Philosophers say, that any particular thing that never was sick, is good against any manner of sickness: therefore they say that a bone of a dead man, who never had a fever, being laid upon the patient, frees him of his quartane.

Extending from this philosophy of sympathy, we find healing practices in faiths like Santeria wherein an animal (usually a bird) is applied to the body to “absorb” a sickness. This is described by Agrippa in Chapter 21, “Of the Virtues of things which are in them only in their lifetime…”:

So they say that in the Colick, if a live Duck be applyed to the belly, it takes away the pain, and her self dies.

Agrippa gives many further examples in Chapter 51, “Of Certain Observations, Producing Wonderfull Virtues”:

So they say that quartanes may be driven away if the parings of the nails of the sick be bound to the neck of a live Eel in a linen cloth, and she be let go into the water. And Pliny saith, that the paring of a sick mans nailes of his feet, and hands being mixed with wax, cure the quartan, tertian, and quotidian Ague, and if they be before Sun rising fastened to another mans gate, will cure such like diseases. In like manner let all the parings of the nailes be put into [anthills], and they say that that which begun to draw the nailes first must be taken, and bound to the neck, and by this means will the disease be removed. They say that by Wood stricken with lightning, and cast behind the back with ones hands, any disease may be cured…

Also the Spleen of Cattle extended upon pained Spleens, cures them, if he that applies it, saith that he is applying a medicine to the Spleen to cure, and ease it: After this, they say, the patient must be shut into a sleeping room, the door being sealed up with a Ring, and some verse be repeated over nineteen times.

I find the following quote – from the same chapter – to be particularly fascinating from the root-working perspective:

It is said also in gathering roots and herbs, we must draw three circles round about them, first with a sword, then dig them up, taking heed in the mean time of a contrary wind.

Space prohibits me from giving more excerpts – though I certainly could continue at some length. Agrippa continues to describe auguries by animals, the power of “enchantments” (incantations), and many more tidbits of use to modern sorcerers. The entire book discusses the philosophies behind Natural Magick in depth – all based upon the four Elements and the seven Planets.

As we can see, there is plenty of material within Solomonic literature to appeal to members of Afro-Carribean religions and Hoodoo rootworkers. For this reason, it would seem, the modern Solomonic movement has become wedded to a parallel “ATR” (African Tribal Religion) movement.

There is currently a growing interest in the ATRs, as cultural intermixing in America has slowly opened them to Caucasians.[38] Many are taking the full initiations, while some are choosing the Hoodoo route of merely drawing folklore and folk-magick from the religions. The modern Solomonic sorcerer usually falls into the latter category, though I know of some Diaspora full-initiates who also engage in Solomonic practice.

Therefore, when we encounter the records of a modern grimoiric practitioner, we are likely to find a kind of hybrid between Solomonic magick and African rootworking. Let us take a look at some examples:

The Goetia tells us that King Solomon bound spirits into a brass vessel. The book also tells us how to make a brass vessel of our own, including the Hebrew Divine Names and the Seal of Solomon. However, it tells us nothing at all about what to do with the thing. One can assume the vessel should be placed in the Triangle of conjuration (with the spirit’s sigil traced on the ground beneath it), and perhaps a metallic seal of the spirit placed inside. Beyond that, where it comes to working with such a spirit in a vessel, the grimoire is silent.

Meanwhile, if we look to Palo we also find familiar spirits bound to vessels, called ngangas, and a practice backed by an elaborate and ancient tradition. They know the secret ingredients to include inside the vessel to provide a living environment for the spirit. They know how to feed and care for it. And they know how to get it to work for them.

The modern Solomonic mage can draw from such lore to “flesh out” the instructions of the Goetia. The brass vessel could include its own set of ingredients to provide the Goetic spirit with a harmonious environment. A Goetic “King” (a Solar spirit) like Belial would be in sympathy with the metals gold (from which his Seal should be made) and pyrite, solary plants (like saffron, sunflower, laurel and frankincense) and solar stones (such as ruby, yellow topaz and carbuncle). Small figurines of a sun, a hawk, a king, a scepter, and/or a throne (and better if they are fashioned from gold) can be included.

Also dirt from places like local hospitals, courthouses, police stations, etc. will grant the spirit a direct astral link with the places from which the dirt was taken. This gives the shaman some amount of protection from and influence over the organizations at those locations.

Adding fresh hot peppers to the vessel is an obscure secret. Paleros include them to add “spiritual heat” to their Ngangas; to excite the spirit and discourage it from lapsing into sleep.

Further ingredients could be included, such as tools for the spirit to work with. A writer would make sure to include a pen and paper. An artist could add a paintbrush and easel. A police officer could include a badge and bullet, or even a gun. Much like the dirt, the tools you give the spirit will give it influence over the arts that utilize those tools.

Santeria makes use of a special water it calls Omiero as a kind of offering to newborn Orishas. Simply put, it is water that has been strained through sacred herbs while a Santero sings shamanic songs over it. The Santero then uses this sacred water to wash the Orisha’s sacred objects before sealing them in an urn. The practice appeared in Hoodoo in the form of various herbal washes- usually sold in the catalogues as floor washes and baths. They can even be purchased today.[39] Or one could make their own by straining Solomonic holy water through herbs sympathetic to the spirit (i.e.solary herbs for Belial, etc). For the right Psalms to chant, one could reference Secrets of the Psalms[40] and/or read up on Psalmody in Secrets of the Magickal Grimoires.[41] Then, the resulting water could be used to wash the objects placed into the vessel, and even poured directly into the vessel itself during the Conjuration.

After the Goetia’s conjuration rites are complete, the brass vessel could be placed on a simple altar or shelf decorated in sympathy with the spirit; objects, colors, stones, plants, etc. Light a candle and incense when consulting the spirit, and don’t forget to feed it![42]

I’m afraid I must now bring this discussion to a close. If you are a Solomonic mage, I hope these practical examples have fired your imagination. If you are a student or aspirant seeking to discover the “Solomonic Path”, I hope I have given you some idea of the spirit behind the tradition and its history. (Make sure to explore the links in the footnotes!)

Bibliography

AGRIPPA, H.C., April 11, 2004-last update, Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa: Of Occult Philosophy, Book I. (part 1) [Homepage of Twilit Grotto: Archives of Western Esoterica], [Online]. Available: http://www.esotericarchives.com/agrippa/agrippa1.htm.

FRATER ALASTOR, February 21, 2004-last update, sigils and veve [Homepage of The Magick Circle], [Online]. Available http://www.frateralastor.com/veve.htm.

BARRET, F, unknown-last update, the magus [Homepage of Internet Sacred Text Archive], [Online]. Available: http://www.sacred-texts.com/grim/magus/index.htm.

GRASSO, S, unknown-last update, hoodoo [Homepage of philhine.org.uk], [Online]. Available: http://philhine.org.uk/writings/ess_hoodoo.html.

KONSTANTINOS, 2003. Summoning Spirits. 2nd edn. St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications.
KRAIG, D.M., 2002. Modern Magick: Eleven Lessons in the High Magickal Arts. 2nd edn. St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications.

KRIEBEL, D., July 21, 2003-last update, powwowing: a persistent american esoteric tradition [Homepage of Esoterica], [Online]. Available: http://www.esoteric.msu.edu/VolumeIV/Powwow.htm.

LEITCH, A., 2005. Secrets of the Magickal Grimoires. Woodbury, MN: Llewellyn Publications.

MATHERS, S.L.M., PETERSON, J.H., December 3, 2005-last update, the key of Solomon (clavicula salomonis) [Homepage of Twilit Grotto: Archives of Western Esoterica], [Online]. Available http://www.esotericarchives.com/solomon/ksol.htm.

MATHERS, S.L.M., 1975. The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage. 2nd edn. NY: Dover Publications, Inc.

REGARDIE, I., 1985. The Golden Dawn: A Complete Course in Practical Ceremonial Magic, Four Volumes in One. 6th edn. St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications.

RUNYON, C., 1996. The Book of Solomon’s Magick. Silverado, CA: Church of the Hermetic Science, Inc.

SELIG, G., 1958. Secrets of the Psalms. NY: Dorene Publishing Co., Inc.

STAVISH, M., unknown-last update, voxhermes review of ‘secrets of the magickal grimoires’ by aaron leitch [Homepage of Aaron J. Leitch], [Online]. Available: http://kheph777.tripod.com/secretsrev2.html.

STRASSER, B.D., 1999. Pennsylvania German Mysticism & Folk Spirituality. Allentown, PA: Allentown Art Museum.

YRONWODE, C., December 28, 2005-last update, hoodoo in theory and practice: an introduction to african-american rootwork [Homepage of Lucky Mojo], [Online]. Available: http://www.luckymojo.com/hoodoo.html.

______________________________________________________

[1]  See https://occult-study.com/medieval-magick/ and https://occult-study.com/medieval-magick/ for an introduction to the medieval grimoires.

[2] In fact, one of the grimoires- the Book of Abramelin- chronicles the journeys of one Aspirant who investigates all of these sources in his quest for the True and Sacred Magick. See Mathers (1975).

During the medieval period, both Gnosticism and Hermeticism were nearly dormant, and Rosicrucianism had yet to be introduced. These three, along with the Christian Qabalah, would arise later during the renaissance era and become the foundations of Christian Mysticism.

[3] Paper was invented in China in the first century CE. However, they guarded the secret of its manufacture for quite some time, and the technology did not reach Europe until the 13th Century. This is the late medieval period. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper#History

[4] See http://www.templeofastarte.com/ for the Order of the Temple of Astarte.

[5] Regardie 1985, p.402; Kraig 2002, pp.371-420; Runyon 1996; Konstantinos 2003.

[6] Excerpts from John Hohman’s Pow-Wows, or the Long Lost Friend. See http://www.locksley.com/llf/

[7] Ibid.

[8] Ibid.

[9] Ibid.

[10] Ibid.

[11] Ibid.

[12] In the Key of Solomon the King, see the Second Pentacle of Saturn (where the square is written with Hebrew letters).

In the Book of Abramelin, see Book III, Chapter Nineteen (For Every Description of Affection and Love), the ninth Talisman (By a Maiden in General). The square is there written:

S A L O M
A R E P O
L E M E L
O P E R A
M O L A S

The earliest known appearance of the SATOR / ROTAS magickal square was in first-century Pompeii, where it was written on a the wall of a residence, as “graffiti.” (It was more likely someone casting a Roman folk-magick spell.)

[13] For further discussion of the folk use of the SATOR square, see Strasser (1999)

[14] Hohman, op. cit

[15] Ibid. for further discussion of the migration of German mysticism to America.

[16] Yronwode (1996, Online), “Admixtures: European, Spiritist and Kabbalist Influences on Hoodoo.”

[17] See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pow-wow_%28folk_magic%29 for a short introduction to the subject of American “Pow-wow” magick; also Kriebel (2002, Online) for a lengthy discussion of the Pow Wow tradition.

[18] However, the receipt books would become source-books for later spiritual traditions. No doubt, Gerald Gardner and the founders of British Traditional Wicca had access to such books (the “family traditions” to which many of them laid claim?) and drew much witchcraft lore from them.

[19] Kriebel, op. cit.

[20] In Leitch (2005), I made a small case for the idea that the African religions had affected the European grimoires during the time of their writing. If this is the case, then the favor was returned in the New World once the African Diaspora religions began to adopt material from the grimoires.

[21] Alastor 2003, Online.

[22] Yronwode 1996, Online; Grasso 2004, Online.

[23] Yronwode 1996, Online, Powwows – http://www.luckymojo.com/powwows.html

[24] Even today, you can purchase the Seals from the Books of Moses in Botanicas or even from online curio suppliers. See http://www.indioproducts.com/webstore/index.php?cPath=580 for an example.

[25] We can see this throughout the Key of Solomon the King, as well as other medieval grimoires both Christian and Jewish.

[26] Yronwode 1996, Online., “Secrets of the Psalms: The Kabbalist Influence on Hoodoo” – http://www.luckymojo.com/secretspsalms.html

[27] See Barret (Online), Book II, “Of The Consecration Of All Magical Instruments And Materials Which Are Used In This Art.” – “Then in the prayer by which the consecration is made it derives its virtue either from divine inspiration, or else by composing it from sundry places in the holy Scriptures, in the commemoration of some of the wonderful miracles of God, effects, promises, sacraments and sacramental things, of which we have abundance in holy writ.”

[28] See Yronwode (1996, Online), “The Enduring Occult Mystery of Lewis de Claremont, Louis de Clermont, Henri Gamache, Joe Kaye, Joseph Spitalnick, Black Herman, Benjamin Rucker, and the elusive Mr. Young.”

[29] Grasso, op. cit.

[30] Again, Wiccan scholars may wish to take note, as this could be the origins of modern Neopagan and New Age candle magick.

For Hoodoo anointing oils, see http://www.luckymojo.com/mojocatoils.html#hoodoo

For Hoodoo ritual candles, see http://www.luckymojo.com/mojocatcandles.html

[31] See http://www.luckymojo.com/catalogue.html

[32] Stavish 2005, Online.

[33] Both of them appear in the acknowledgements for Secrets of the Magickal Grimoires, as their influence is found throughout the book.

[34] Grasso, op.cit.

[35] Mathers (1975), Book II, Chapter 7, “Of Places Wherein We May Conveniently Execute the Experiments and Operations of the Art”

[36] Barret (Online), Book II: The Perfection and Key of the Cabala, or Ceremonial Magic, “Of the Invocation of Evil Spirits, and the Binding of and Constraining of Them to Appear.”

[37] Agrippa, Online.

[38] As always, the Internet is helping this along. Plus, there was an entirely new Diaspora in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina – which spread the lower classes of New Orleans across America. This should result in further dissemination of Afro-Caribbean folklore.

[39] See http://www.luckymojo.com/mojocatbaths.html

[40] Selig (1958). The original version of this book, Schimmusch Tehillim, or the Use of the Psalms, can be found online here: http://www.esotericarchives.com/moses/67moses2.htm#appendix4

[41] Leitch (2005).

[42] See Mathers (2005, Online), Book II, Chapter 23, “Concerning sacrifices to the spirits, and how they should be made.” I would feed the spirit at the time the Goetia prescribes for its conjuration.

The post Modern Grimoire Magick: Folk Magick and The Solomonic Path appeared first on Occult-Study.

Recently, a member of my ‘Solomonic’ Facebook group posed the question (and I paraphrase): Why would anyone want to work with spiritual beings who have, according to their own mythos, fallen out of favor with God? Is this done in protest of the divine judgement against such spirits, or in ignorance of it?

That’s a fair question, and not far from similar questions I have asked about occultism in general. For instance, why in the world would anyone, knowing the Lovecraft mythos, actually desire to make contact with a destructive chaotic force like Cthulhu? Why do some people choose to focus their studies and practices on infernal demons, fallen angels, the Qliphothic realms and even the dead? Frankly, there are plenty of very powerful spirits out there who actually like humans—or at least tolerate us for some reason—so why should you purposefully invoke the meanest, nastiest human-haters our mythologies have to offer?

All of this plays perfectly into a question I’ve long pondered about the Solomonic grimoires themselves: Why the hell do they even include Satan or demons at all? The texts arose from Christian tradition; in many cases written by clergy, or at least by very devout educated Christians (who received their education from clergy). What would possess these people to include spells for summoning Satan, Lucifer, Leviathan, Oriens, Paimon, Amaymon, Ariton, the 72 demons of the Goetia, etc, etc? Why should there exist a text called The Harrowing of Hell? Not only does this appear to run counter to the faith of the authors, but they were doing this in a time and place where they could be killed for far lesser religious infractions. Were these people secretly Satanists?

Medieval Church propaganda notwithstanding, there is no evidence to be found that the authors of the grimoires were worshiping Satan. What we do find in the Solomonic texts is a cosmology that doesn’t fit comfortably into the mold of fundamentalist Christian dogma. Not that it doesn’t try! Thus we have instances where perfectly non-infernal spirits of nature or the aerial realm are referred to as “fallen angels in Lucifer’s employ.” Because there are “either angels or demons and nothing else,” we find the grimoires labeling every faery, pixy, dryad, gnome, sylph, salamander, and undine a “demon from hell.” Them and, of course, every pagan god in the history of the world.

And as for the underworld: the Church had taken the Greek fiery realm of afterlife punishment—Tartarus—and expanded it to encompass the entire subterranean realm. So all underworld spirits (including chthonic deities) were declared demonic denizens a fiery place called “Hell.”

If that were all there was to the issue, it would be rather simple. The angels approved by the Church are the good guys, every blasted thing else is an evil bad guy. Write your spells to call on the good guys and banish the bad guys and, voilà, your perfect Christian grimoire. But, that isn’t what happened by a long shot…

Instead, what we’ve received is—cosmologically speaking—a confused mess. They can’t make up their minds if all demons are evil or if some are actually nice guys after all. (Even the Goetia of Solomon includes spirits who “wish to return to the divine Glory” in the future.) Some texts will sternly warn you against ever trusting or invoking Satan in one chapter, and then include instructions for summoning him in the next (see the Book of Abramelin). Even angels are a source of confusion: many of them have very ancient underworld associations (for example, the angels of Mercury, Mars, and Saturn), so one grimoire might list such an entity as an angel, while the next could have him listed among infernal spirits.

(This is the actual representation of angel Cassiel as depicted in the grimoires)

So the question we must ask is: why did this happen? What was going on in that culture at that time to produce such confusion? Why address the underworld at all, and why is the whole genre such an ontological disaster?

The answer is: The grimoires didn’t arise in a cultural vacuum. Beneath the obvious Christian veneer, the Solomonic tradition was heavily influenced by local forms of witchcraft and extra-Christian occult currents such as we see in the Picatrix, Testament of Solomon, and the Greek Magical Papyri. To be frank, the authors of the grimoires sought occult wisdom from every source they could lay their hands on, the Church’s dogma be damned.

And what did they find when they explored these ancient systems of magick? The underworld is what they found! Today, people tend to assume there is a wide gap between the celestial gods and angels (the good guys) and the infernal spirits (the bad guys). However, relatively speaking, this view is young, naïve, and extremely shortsighted. Throughout most of human history, going all the way back to the most primitive tribal witchdoctor, magick was primarily associated with the underworld.

And by this I do not mean “the infernal realm.” While there were unpleasant areas of the underworld (such as Tartarus), there were also paradisaical areas. All of your ancestors were there—which is why the underworld was the central focus of one of the world’s oldest religions (ancestor worship). Plus all of the celestial deities traveled through that realm on a daily basis, descending into the the underworld at dusk and arising, reborn, in the east at dawn the next day. There were entire mythical dramas associated with the gods’ nightly passage through the underworld (such as we see preserved in the Egyptian Book of the Dead).

Even the truly harmful (infernal) spirits were not viewed in the dualistic “good vs evil” sense the Church would later apply to them. Sure, they were fiery and nasty. Yes, they represented sickness and injury, plague and famine, war and death, and all of the ills of society. But they were important spirits because those unpleasant things were in their jurisdiction. One of the primary jobs of the tribal shaman, as a healer, was to enter the underworld and negotiate with the beings there for the return of the souls of sick and dying people. An entity that could bring sickness could also take it away. One who knew the pathways of the dead could also bring souls back along those paths. The same spirit that might keep the herds away could also bring them to the hunt. These same fiery spirits were called upon for protection in travel and war, and to reveal the hidden mysteries during initiations. A tribe needed these guys on their side so they could be safe from them.

And so the underworld has been central to Western occultism for thousands of years. From the ancient Greek Goen (shamans who specialized in funerary rites and underworld initiations) to the Orphic tradition, from Babylonian exorcists to Egyptian funerary rituals, from the Greek Magical Papyri to the Mystery traditions that honor chthonic deities (Persephone, Demeter, Hermes, etc); this list could go on and on. Even established archangels (like Michael, Raphael, and Uriel) have undeniable underworld associations, and it is why both Michael and Raphael are associated with healing. (If you are interested in this aspect of Western history, then I highly recommend Jake Kent’s Geosophia series.)

So, the fact is that Western occultism has always focused upon the underworld. And any medieval grimoire mage would have been more than aware of that fact. Quite simply, magick that works (that gets things done in the real world) typically involves ancestors, the dead, and either chthonic entities or deities that tend to pass through the underworld a lot. You need to know your way through the underworld passages to heal the sick, find lost treasures and wisdom, earn the friendship of spirits who could otherwise cause you hardship, etc. And, in most cases, occult initiation involves some kind of descent into the underworld and/or confrontation with demonic beings.

So the poor medieval exorcists were left with a dilemma: To access the mysteries of magick you had to tread into the underworld. But, according to their faith, the entire underworld was a place called “Hell” and the only beings that lived there were infernal demons. The Lord of the Underworld (Hades) had been consumed by the Enemy of their religion, Satan. He is even depicted holding Hades’ two-pronged pitchfork. And, like Hades, Christian religion declared that Satan has dominion over both the earth and the underworld. (See 2 Corinthians 4:4 and John 12:31 for references to Satan ruling the world.)

As Satan was regarded as the “Lord of the (physical) world,” he was also equated with the Greek nature deity Pan—from whom Satan gets his goat horns and hooves. In this guise he governs all of the spirits and elves and spirits of nature—who also become evil demons in this cosmology.

Therefore, the Christian occultists were left with no choice. If they were going to call upon underworld deities from within their own Faith and tradition, they were stuck with Satan and his lot. If they wished to explore the pathways into the underworld as shamans had done for thousands of years before them, they had no choice but to enter the realm they called Hell. (See Dante’s Inferno for a prime example.) If they wished to find buried treasure, they only had recourse to the underworld spirits who knew where to find it. If one desired money, sex, honor, protection during travel or battle, a good harvest season, the return of stolen property, etc., then one had to conjure the spirits in charge of those things. And to do that, if you are a Christian, you have no choice other than to “harrow hell.”

And so harrow hell they did—but as faithful Christians rather than devil worshipers. The texts typically invoke God and the angels when conjuring the spirits. (And those texts that instead invoke higher ranking demons, rather than calling on celestial aid, still do not include such phrases as “…my Lord and Savior, Lucifer.” Instead we find triangles and other talismans intended to subdue and command the infernal spirits, magick circles to protect the mage from their fiery wrath, and even the best spirit-torture techniques used by exorcists in case the spirits got out of hand.

What we see in the grimoires is the result of actual occultists—shamans in their own right—trying their hardest to find a middle ground between real magick and the limited dualist cosmology within which the Church expected them to live. That they were devout Christians is, in my opinion, not in doubt. But the ancient (pagan) sources from which they were drawing their knowledge simply couldn’t fit comfortably into the “angel good, demon bad” mindset. Therefore, they compromised by hiding serious magick, and the spirits of the underworld and nature (helpful or harmful), beneath fundamentalist rhetoric about Satan and Hell. What should be assigned to Hades and Pan became the domain of Satan. The brute force of the sea became Leviathan. All of the Jinn and Faery became the footsoldiers of Lucifer. That the Church considered them all “evil” was really a secondary concern.

Stay tuned for part two of this discussion, “Why Work with Demons?,” where I will explore the reasons why a modern practitioner might choose to work with dark and infernal magick.

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In the issue of Hermetic Tablet (Summer 2015), Jake Stratton-Kent has published an essay entitled, “The Other Magicians and the Goetia,” (adapted from an Internet post simply called, “The Other Magicians”), and I am about to spoil the hell out of it. It’s not that I want to steal Jake’s thunder, but I think this is a topic that needs discussion, and I’m not against shining my own spotlight upon it—especially since the subject matter has become rather important to my own path. But I don’t want to get ahead of myself, so let me begin with a bit of explanation.

When modern students look at the most popular texts of classical Western occultism—such as the Key of Solomon, Lemegeton, The Book of Abramelin, Agrippa’s Three Books of Occult Philosophy, etc,—we often come away with the impression that they represent how magick was done at the time. However, we can easily forget a rather simple fact: the medieval/Renaissance European grimoires only reflect how one specific group of occultists did their work.

I talk about this at length in Secrets of the Magickal Grimoires, where I discuss the origin of the Solomonic tradition among a class of clerical exorcists. Without a doubt, the methods of spirit conjuration outlined in the Solomonic texts reflect this origin: the view of all chthonic and nature spirits as “evil,” the imperious and arrogant manner in which the spirits are addressed, and the harsh methods used to force the spirits’ compliance—all of this arises from a culture of people who spent their days casting out truly demonic entities of sickness and ill-fortune from their clients.

Yet, the grimoires themselves have given us clues that this was not the only method of working with spirits—perhaps not even the predominant one. These clues reside in the condemnations the grimoires often make about… well… other grimoires. It would seem that each Solomonic mystic was convinced he was the real deal, truly connected to God and doing holy work, while “everyone else” was just engaging in diabolical enchantments. Here are a few examples:

• “All the books which treat of characters, extravagant figures, circles, convocations, conjurations, invocations, and other like matters, even although any one may see some effect thereby, should be rejected, being works full of diabolical inventions. …and which be truly the inventions of the devil and of wicked men.” [Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage, Book II, Chapter 4: That the greater number of magical books are false and vain.]
• “There be certain little terrestrial spirits that are simply detestable; sorcerers and necromantic magicians generally avail themselves of their services, for they operate only for evil, and in wicked and pernicious things, and they be of no use soever.” [Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage, Book III: Essential remarks upon the foregoing symbols.]
• “No man is ignorant that evil spirits, by evil and profane Arts may be raised up as Psellus saith Sorcerers are wont to do, whom most detestable and abominable filthiness did follow, and accompany, such as were in times past in the sacrifices of Priapus, and in the worship of the Idol which was called Panor, to whom they did sacrifice with their privy members uncovered. Neither to these is that unlike (if it be true, and not a fable) which is read concerning the detestable heresy of old Church-men, and like to these are manifest in Witches and mischievous women, which wickednesses the foolish dotage of women is subject to fall into. By these, and such as these evil spirits are raised.” [Three Books of Occult Philosophy, Book I, Chapter 39: That we may by some certain matters of the world stir up the Gods of the world, and their ministering spirits.]
• “Berith is a great and terrible Duke, and hath three names. Of some he is called Beall; of the Jews Berith; of Necromancers Bolfry…” [The Goetia of Solomon, Spirit #28]
• “There is extant amongst those Magicians (who do most use the ministry of evil spirits) a certain Rite of invocating spirits by a Book to be consecrated before to that purpose.” [The Fourth Book of Occult Philosophy, Liber Spirituum: a Book of Spirits]

As I stated above, these passages can make it appear as if each author was merely repudiating all of the other grimoires besides his own. However, as Jake points out in his article, the truth is a bit more complex. If we take all of the above quotes together (and these are only a few examples!), we can see a common thread running through them: there was a specific group of “other magicians” out there. They are commonly called “sorcerers,” “necromancers,” and “witches,” and they are accused of employing evil and diabolical spirits to achieve their ends.

Now, if you follow my work and/or that of Jake Stratton Kent, you already have an idea where this is headed. The word “goetia” is not merely the title of a late Solomonic text, but is in fact the name of a very ancient spiritual tradition. It originated with ancient Greek shamans (called goen) who became famous for their funeral services and magickal work with chthonic deities. Later, when the Olympian cult arose, the ancient magick was dismissed as an ignorant and primitive practice. As often happens when one cult supersedes another, the goen were demonized even as their practices were plundered for the newly urbanized religions. Thus were the “Western Mysteries” truly born—epitomized in such schools as the Eleusinian Mysteries.

By the time we reach the European grimoires, we find evidence of the ancient goetic tradition dispersed throughout the texts. The ancient religion of the goen was long gone, yet their magickal practices persisted and those who engaged in them were still being demonized, now with the terms “Necromancer,” “Sorcerer,” and “Witch.” (By the time the Goetia of Solomon was written, the word “goetia” had come to mean “witchcraft”—or working directly with spirits.)

Given the effort taken by some authors to warn us away from them, we must assume these “other magicians” still existed in medieval Europe and were still doing their thing. Abraham the Jew, in the Book of Abramelin, gives us several anecdotes wherein he meets with these necromancers. A few of the grimoires, too, make no apologies for their goetic content: such as the Key of Solomon the King, the Grand Grimoire, Grimoirum Verum, the Goetia of Solomon, etc. Of course, all of the grimoires have elements of goetia woven into them—making the “non-sorcerous” texts look a hell of a lot like sorcery and thereby compelling their authors to loudly proclaim they “aren’t those guys.” In the grimoires, the goetic tradition is not a separate cult from the dogmatic Christian tradition, but is in fact a tradition hidden within the latter. One book (like the Key of Solomon) will freely tell us how to conduct rituals of necromancy, while another book will assure us such practices will mean the loss of our souls.

So what were the necromancers and sorcerers doing that so offended the Catholic exorcists? Check out the passage from the Three Books… I quoted previously (see here). Therein, Agrippa reveals the mystery: the sorcerers were engaging in the same kind of “detestable and abominable filthiness” as Pagans worshiping Gods like Priapus and the Idol of Panor. That’s right! What makes goetia “evil” is the simple fact that it utilizes ancient Pagan methods of honoring the spirits, rather than treating them like infernal garbage as would a Catholic Exorcist. It is really nothing more than yet another example of the religious intolerance that characterized much of the Roman Catholic empire. It was evil only because it was Pagan.

Rather than brow-beating the spirits and threatening them with torture and hellfire if they do not comply, goetia erects altars to them, feeds them with offerings, and enters into mutually-beneficial pacts with them. Where the later Solomonic magician approaches the spirits to conquer and rein over them, older methods called for establishing lifelong friendships with the forces of nature. And, of course, goetia does not conflate “chthonic” with “infernal”—and thereby does not classify all spirits of nature, Pagan deities, etc. as demonic.

Jake Stratton-Kent gives some great examples of this dichotomy in the grimoires themselves. For example, the Grimoire of Pope Honorius (Wellcome MS 4666) explains that the magician may conjure Leviathan after struggling with him—using the strongest of prayers, a firm will, fearless heart, and a well-constructed magick circle for protection. Yet, the very same passage goes on to say witches, who make a pact with him, ride Leviathan to their sabbats. It doesn’t sound as if they struggle with him, and they sure don’t seem to require a protective circle. Why not? Because the witches honor the forces of nature and bond with them. They ride upon the winds, rather than attempt to defeat them. (Jake goes on to give further examples in his article. Don’t pass it up!)

Not only does this give us further proof that goetic magick was still in use at the time, it also indicates that the sorcerers and witches were finding it much easier to invoke the very same spirits. In fact, some of the grimoires make a point of this, such as the Book of Abramelin, which tells us several times that the spirits will dislike being ordered around like slaves, but will “fly with haste” to serve those who employ the proscribed methods. We are told such methods will work, and very well, but that we must never avail ourselves of them. Why? Because we aren’t dirty Pagans!

In The Key of Solomon the King, the two traditions seem to blend entirely together. Part of the book relates a typical Catholic exorcism-style evocation method—complete with brandished swords and daggers, curses, and threats of torture for disobedient spirits. Yet, later in the book, we find descriptions of setting up offering tables (it never goes so far as to use the word “altar”), calling spirits from books, and no hint of weapons or threats. Even a magickal circle is stated to be unnecessary unless the magician has some particular reason to fear the spirits he would summon to the table. Plus, The Key… does not shrink from giving us instructions to work with the dead, the spirits of nature, etc. without once declaring these practices “evil” or “abominable.”

Jake suggests in his piece that these “kinder, gentler” methods are in fact the older methods, the ones that can be traced back to primordial sources like the goen, the Picatrix, and the Greek Magical Papyri (all Pagan). The blades and curses only came into the picture later, after medieval Roman Church dogma had taken its toll. These are the folks who re-classified the entire underworld as “Hell” and all spirits of nature to be “evil demons.” As I have stated many times in the past, the grimoires present a befuddled and broken cosmology—clearly an ancient Pagan worldview with a dogmatic Christian overlay upon it. They don’t match up very well, and that is because we are in fact looking at two traditions competing for space in the same books.

Slowly but surely, modern occultists are re-evaluating our assumptions about “goetia.” Just a decade ago, the word was merely the title of a particular grimoire—an evil book that good magicians leave well alone. Now, we know it is in fact the name of an ancient spiritual tradition that underlies much of our Western mysteries.

I believe we are currently witnessing a goetic revival—and I do not mean among so-called “left-hand path” and “demonolatry” types who are mainly interested in sounding dark and scary, and typically know little about the spirits they claim to invoke. I’m talking about the community of Old Magick practitioners who are coming to understand the true role of chthonic entities in the grimoires. And we know that this tradition continued to live on, in one form or another, until the time of the Solomonic grimoires and (now) even until today.

Besides this, we are also coming to understand that goetia does not focus entirely upon the chthonic realm. For example, I work primarily with angels—yet I erect altars to them, give them food offerings, make pacts with them, and generally conduct myself toward them in the manner of a dirty, dirty Pagan.

That’s goetia. And Abraham the Jew was correct—it does work better.

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(Diagram of the gnostic mythos, from  “The Gnostic Scriptures” by Bently Layton – source)

Gnosticism: History and Mythology

The Greek word Gnosis indicates “Knowledge” of God; specifically Knowledge in the intimate (or Biblical) sense. Therefore, anyone involved in a study and practice of the Qabalah, Hermeticism, Rosicrucianism, medieval Angel magick, etc is a gnostic in the technical sense- because all of these depend upon personal spiritual revelation and inspiration. Their highest Wisdom can only be received directly from God or His Angels, and each individual is responsible for his own communication therewith.

Yet, the term “Gnostic” is also applied to a certain religion, and its people, born in Egypt around the dawn of the Common Era. This religion was so named because it did, indeed, depend upon personal spiritual revelation- the Gnosis (or Knowledge) of God. Therefore, we can refer to these people both as “gnostic” and as “the Gnostics.”

When we hear the term “ancient Egypt”, it tends to bring to mind images of pyramids and sphinxes, pharaohs and tombs, powerful magickians and the Book of the Dead. Stories of the magickal power and wisdom of the Egyptian Priesthoods have long-since embedded themselves in our Western culture. More often than not, Egypt is herself considered the birthplace of Western mysticism and magick.

On the other hand, the people of modern Egypt are predominately Islamic- a faith even younger than Christianity. What, then, became of the wisdom and magick of the ancient Egyptian priesthoods? If we take Western mythology at face value, we must assume that Moses packed it up and took it with himself when he left Egypt. It is supposed to have become the basis for the Qabalah. However, when we take a look at history, it becomes clear that the bulk of what we know as Jewish mysticism actually originated in Babylon during the Hebrew captivity there in 600 BCE (quite some time after Moses did his thing).

The answer lies with the Graeco-Egyptians living after the invasion of Alexander the Great- the Copts. (More often, the name “Coptic” is used to designate the Egyptian language of the time. It consisted of the remnants of the older Egyptian tongue with the written alphabet of the Greeks.) The Copts were the last inheritors of the magickal mysteries of the fallen Egyptian empire. Yet, they were also heavily influenced by the people around them- most specifically the many Jewish mystical communities (such as the Essenes) to be found throughout the Middle East. This combination of Egyptian, Greek, and Jewish influence resulted in the Coptic faith of Gnosticism.

Simply put, Gnosticism is the earliest form of Christianity. The Nag Hammadi texts, discovered in Egypt in 1945, are written in Coptic. Modern scholars have called them the Gnostic Gosples and the Gnostic Scriptures. These ancient manuscripts allegedly contain the “secret” teachings of Jesus and the early Christians. They even provide some recognizable text from the later-compiled Scriptures, though given in an older and often surprising context.

Even one of the canonical books of the New Testament- the Gospel of John- is primarily of Gnostic origin. In it we can see a heavy Egyptian influence. The book begins with the words:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made…”

This is a reflection of the Gnostic concept of the Logos (“Word”). The Logos is an aspect of the Christos (“Anointed One”)- the Divine Spirit of Redemption that existed long before the birth of Jesus. It was with God at the very beginning, and was in fact the very Word with which all was created. (See Genesis I: “And God said…”) It is self-created, and is equated with both the Consciousness of God and the consciousness within mankind.

The concept descends quite directly from ancient Egyptian views of the God Djehuti (Thoth)- who was Himself the self-created Word of Re. Thoth stood as the redeemer between the human realm and the Divine, often shown in mythology as coming to the rescue of those in need. He was also credited with the creation of all things- as the active creative power of Re. To the later Gnostics, the Christos was a force to which all adepts must aspire. We witness the descent of the Logos into the body of Jesus at his baptism in the Gospel of Mark- and here we see another starkly Egyptian influence:

“And straightway coming up out of the water, [John] saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon [Jesus]:

And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

These lines echo the Egyptian myth of the birth of Osiris, which was accompanied by the Voice of Re from the heavens, proclaiming the birth of His Son and heir. In the Gnostic teaching, Jesus Christ then set out to teach all aspiring adepts how to make their own personal contacts with the Logos. The mysteries of exactly how to do this formed the backbone of Gnostic religion.

The mythical model for Christianity, therefore, had long existed when Jesus came onto the scene. I feel it is probable that Jesus had some contact with early Gnostic teachings. However, I have found nothing concerning his life that suggests he was himself Gnostic. Rather, Jesus was likely influenced by Essene teachings. The Essenes were a Jewish mystical group, who provided much of the Judaic influence upon Gnostic mysticism.

In the 1940s, a surprising amount of ancient mystical literature was discovered in caves near the northwest bank of the Dead Sea. Apparently, they were hidden there by Christian monks at the beginning of the Catholic aggression against “heresy” in the early Common Era. The writings were already ancient at the time they were hidden, and they remained safely concealed for another 1600 years.

Though there is much debate over the issue, these Dead Sea Scrolls possibly originated with an Essene commune that once existed at nearby Qumran. Supporting this theory are references in the scrolls to the “Sons of Light” (the good-guys, the authors of the texts), and to the “Sons of Belial” (the opposition, corrupted civilization). This suggests that the authors of the scrolls followed a separatist doctrine. The Essenes were also a separatist group, due to their strict rules regarding observance of Torah Law and ritual purity. The Dead Sea Scrolls are the oldest known versions of many Christian texts, and provide several clues into the religion of Gnosticism as well.

The similarities between Essene and Gnostic teaching make it easy to assume a connection between Jesus and Gnosticism. Perhaps because of this, the years after Jesus’ execution saw a commingling of the Christian political movement*, and the spiritual principals of the Gnostics. Of course, by the time the New Testament was compiled, a Gnostic work- the Book of John– was accepted as one of the four canonical Gospels.

• Remember that the Christian movement founded by Yeshua ben Joseph was a pro-Jewish and anti-Roman political faction that supported Yeshua as the rightful heir to the Throne of Israel. Therefore, at that time, one had to be a Jew in order to be Christian.

Eventually, the legends surrounding Jesus’ life were incorporated into the mythology of Gnosticism. For instance, the Nag Hammadi Gnostic literature discovered last century in Egypt purports to be the “secret teachings of Jesus.” That is, the teachings that Jesus reserved for his disciples, while he provided the masses with parables. Here we see Jesus as an Adept, one who has bonded with the Logos. His stated purpose is that of teaching the worthy to invoke the Logos as he had done, and to ascend past their basic human natures. The methods for doing this are strikingly similar to Jewish practices- such as Mekavah Mysticism.

The Gnostics incorporated a great amount of Old Testament literature into their tradition. However, as is common when new religions evolve, the Gnostics had their own peculiar interpretation of the material. The God of Judaism had become the devil of Gnosticism, the Serpent of Eden was a manifestation of the Redeemer Christ, and the being who warned Noah of the coming Deluge was working against the God who flooded the world. (We will return to all of these subjects later.)

One of the most central mythos of the Gnostic faith is the Biblical story of Cain and Abel found in Genesis 4. In the original story, Cain and Abel were the first two children of Adam and Eve. Cain made his living as a farmer, while Abel worked as a shepherd. The world’s first dispute arose between these two brothers over the subject of religion. Both brothers made offerings to God- Abel of the firstborn sheep, and Cain of the produce he grew. However, God found only Abel’s sacrifices acceptable, and his brother therefore murdered him. As punishment for this crime, Cain was marked and banished- cursed to be a “fugitive and a wanderer upon the earth.”

Cain does seem to have settled eventually- at least long enough to found an entire city in the land of Nod (eastward of Eden). Meanwhile, Adam and Eve had another son to replace the lost Abel- and they named him Seth. Seth remained pious throughout his life, and it was from him that descended Methuselah, Enoch, Lamech, Noah, and (therefore) the entire race of God’s chosen people upon the earth.

The Gnostics considered themselves the Sons of Seth. However, as the Copts were not themselves Jewish, they did not make the claim of blood descent through Abraham. Instead, the Gnostics believed in the doctrine of reincarnation. They had descended spiritually from Seth and his family.

The Gnostics were much like the Essenes in their separatist views. As the Sons of Seth, they were an elite minority of adepts existing outside of mainstream society. The rest of humanity had descended from the murderous Cain- and the corruption, warfare, and general hardship associated with their civilization was the legacy they inherited from their unfortunate forefather. Note the similarity between this worldview and the Essene doctrine of the Sons of Light vs. the Sons of Belial.

So far, we have discussed the origins of the Gnostic faith in Hellenic Egypt, as well as certain points of relationship between Gnostic doctrine and those of ancient mystical Judaism. Now, I will narrate my own “harmonized” version of the Gnostic Mythos of Creation. This story is an allegorical drama in four “acts”- leading from the primordial birth of the cosmos, to the current state of the world today.

The Gnostic Mythos: Act I

The first act of the Gnostic creation saga takes place beyond not only the physical realm, but also beyond the celestial. The most primitive shamanic myths recognize no “super-celestial” place- holding that all of reality simply stops at the band of fixed stars. All of the Gods, even the Creator Himself, lived in the sky among the visible heavenly bodies. Later, after the agricultural revolution, mythologies began to incorporate a super-celestial world. Herein exists all of the archetypal spiritual forces upon which reality- including the Gods- is based. In Judaism, only God Himself lived here. Gnosticism adopted and elaborated upon this cosmic scheme, turning it into an allegorical description of the Mind of God. Their name for this realm is the Pleroma– “the Fullness” or “the Entirety.”

The classic Gnostic creation myth is recorded in The Secret Book According to John. The story does not begin with the Creator fashioning the universe, but actually well before the process outlined in Genesis I. The Creator, in fact, has not yet come into existence. Instead, the main character is the “Parent of the Entirety”- an unknowable and indescribable Primal Source of all things created and uncreated.

“It is not fitting to think of it as divine or as something of the sort, for it is superior to deity… It is unlimited because nothing exists prior to it so as to bestow limit upon it… It is immeasurable light, which is uncontaminated, holy, and pure…

It is not corporeal, it is not incorporeal, it is not large, it is not small, it is not quantifiable, nor is it a creature. Indeed, no one can think of it. […]

It is eternity as it bestows eternity. It is life as it bestows life. It is blessed as it bestows blessedness. It is gnosis as it bestows gnosis. It is good as it bestows good. It is mercy as it bestows mercy and ransom. It is grace as it bestows grace. It is all these things not as possessing attributes; rather, as bestowing them.”

This Parent of the Entirety was utterly alone. Then, as has been described earlier in this lecture, the Parent began to think. However, as there was yet nothing to think about, the Parent had only Itself to contemplate. This contemplation is personified as an entity called the “Barbelo.” The Barbelo is the “Image of the Parent”, “Forethought”, or “Thinking.” (Remember that He does not represent the first thought of the Parent so much as the Parent’s act of thinking.) Moreover, the Barbelo is described as the “Mother-Father” of all things- because it is not a distinct entity from the Parent Itself.

Once the Parent had the ability of Thinking, it began to contemplate several intangible concepts most associated with Itself. The Gnostics called each of these thoughts an “Aeon”- which indicates an “eternal realm”, an incredibly long span of time, and is personified as a being in its own right. The Barbelo, in fact, is the first of the Aeons. In John’s Secret Book… , the Barbelo requests of the Parent four more Aeons- Prognosis, Incorruptibility, Eternal Life, and Truth. These five are called androgynous- meaning they include both male and female attributes. (Again, note that the Barbelo is called “Mother-Father.”) This makes for a total of ten Aeons who stand before the Parent- with the “Image of the Parent” heading the group.

The next being to manifest was not requested of the Parent by the Barbelo, but was actually conceived between Them. Of course, this explanation is simplified at best because the Barbelo and Parent are not truly separate things. Thus, this third being descended directly through the Parent/Barbelo and is Itself a third aspect thereof. This is called the Christos (Annointed), and the Self-Originate- because it was born only of Itself. It was then glorified by the Barbelo and established as the God of the Pleroma. This is only aspect of Ultimate Divinity that the human mind can hope to comprehend- and it was the primary focus of the Gnostic sect.

The Christos then requested from the Parent three co-actors: Intellect, Will, and Word (Logos). There is an implication that these are also beings, but they are not treated as such. Instead, they are aspects of the Christos Himself, and with them (especially Word) did the Christos create the rest of the hierarchy of the Pleroma. (In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God, and all things were made by Him.)

Thus the Christos, from His own Light, formulated four Great Luminaries: Harmozel, Oroiael, Daueithai, and Eleleth. Like the Aeons, these were both mighty beings and eternal realms. Subordinate to Them came twelve further Aeons:

Harmozel: Loveliness, Truth, and Form.

Oroiael: Afterthought, Perception, and Memory.

Daueithai: Intelligence, Love, and Ideal Form (or Idea).

Eleleth: Perfection, Peace, and Wisdom.

These are the lowest aspect of the Pleroma. Beneath Wisdom would come to exist the great veil that separates the Pleroma from all created reality.

Now, you will likely note the obvious relationship between this group of entities and the twelve signs of the Zodiac and the four Kherubic Archangels who preside over them. Although, they are not one and same- nothing physical or celestial has been created here in act I of the Gnostic creation mythos. Instead, these sixteen entities are the blueprints for what would later become the Zodiac and its Rulers.

Finally, there were four more blueprints added to this group- each one indicating something that would eventually be seen on the physical Earth. Within the realm of Harmozel was placed the Celestial Adam (blueprint for the Human Being, or Man). With Oroiael was placed the Celestial Seth (the Son of Man). With Daueithai was the Posterity of Seth (apparently the souls of all future Gnostics). And, lastly, with Eleleth was placed the Penitents (the souls of non-Gnostics who would later repent).

The Gnostic Mythos: Act II

The most important of the 12 lesser Aeons- for our purposes- is the last of the family: Sophia (Wisdom) – who exists just above the veil that separates the material realm from the Pleroma itself. Sophia is the Mother Goddess of the Gnostic creation mythos, from whom all life in the material realm ultimately descends. We now enter Act II of this fascinating plot- keeping in mind that it has always been intended as an allegorical tale describing the descent of Light into matter.

As the last engendered being in the hierarchy, Sophia felt Her own desire to procreate. However, where those Aeons above Her had made offspring only with the consent of Their polar mates, Sophia could not gain Her own mate’s cooperation. Therefore, Sophia attempted to engender a child of Her own. This child-god was named Ialdabaoth. However, due to the unbalanced circumstance of its birth, Ialdabaoth was deformed, blind (without gnosis, or ignorant), and insane. (He is described in the Secret Book… as serpentine, with a lion’s face, and eyes that flashed like lightning.) Out of shame over Her creation, Sophia cast Her son out of the Pleroma and concealed him in a cloud of darkness.

The infant Ialdabaoth, upon first opening his eyes, had seen only the smallest glimpse of the Pleroma, its principal hierarchy, and his Mother. (Some texts insist that he only saw their reflection upon the surface of the Waters of the Deep.) Yet, in that instant, he had become enamoured of Sophia, and had moved to grasp the luminous power that radiated from Her. Only after Sophia had drawn closed the veil between the Pleroma and the outer darkness did She realize that Her light had diminished, because Ialdabaoth had stolen a portion of it.

And so Ialdabaoth was alone, insane, and full of stolen divine power. His ignorance led him to believe that he was alone in the universe, and that he was the Parent of all things. This is the being the Gnostics called the Demiurgos (craftsman), the Creator of the world- the God of Genesis. He was also called Samael (blind god) and Saklas (fool).

His glimpse of the Pleroma had seeded his mind with the idea of a pattern for creation- an idea he thought to be his own. He thus fashioned the heavens and the earth within the abyss of darkness. Further, he populated his universe with angelic rulers (called Archons) in order to have worshippers who believed him to be the Highest God. (It is thus we call him “Ialdabaoth”- begetter of the hosts.) There were twelve great Archons:

-Iaoth
-Hermas -Kalia-Oimbri
-Iabel
-Adonaius
-Sabaoth
-Kainan-Kasin
-Abrisene
-Iobel
-Armoupieel
-Melkheir-Adonein
-Belias (who presides over Hades)

And there were seven Archons who directly govern the world:

-Athoth, with the face of a sheep or lion. (Kindness)
-Eloaios, with a Typhonian face. (Forethought)
-Astaphaios, with the face of a hyena. (Divinity)
-Iao, with the face of a serpent, and seven heads. (Lordship)
-Sabaoth, with the face of a dragon or snake. (Kingship)
-Adonin, with the face of an ape. (Zeal)
-Sabbataios, with a glowing face of fire. (Intelligence)

Each of these seven are given dual names. Through the first name, given by Ialdabaoth, each Archon exercises power over the world. The second name (Kindness, etc) was given to each- without Ialdabaoth’s knowledge- by the glory of the heavenly realm (the Pleroma). By these secondary names are the Archons overthrown and rendered powerless.

Further, more Archons were created, subservient to these 19, so the number of Archons equaled either 360 (degrees in the celestial circle) or 365 (days in a year). Ialdabaoth created these celestial hosts from his own natural fire, but did not share with them any of the life-giving Light he had stolen from his Mother.

Thus did the Demiurgos create his universe in the chaotic depths outside the Pleroma. He believed himself to be the One True God- though he secretly knew about the existence of his Mother Sophia. He became drunk and stupefied by his own power and arrogance.

As for Sophia, She repented for her deed and for the loss of the portion of Her Light. She cried out, and was heard by the hierarchies of Aeons within the Pleroma. They pitied Her, and raised Their voices with Hers- so that the Parent of the Entirety took notice and consented to help. It poured forth its divine spirit upon Her, and elevated Her to the ninth of the twelve lower Aeons (called Afterthought) until She could rectify the problem of the stolen Light.

The Gnostic Mythos: Act III

Act III of the Gnostic creation begins with the arrogant proclamation of Ialdabaoth- taken from the scripture of Judasim- to his hosts of Archons: “For my part, I am a jealous God. And, there is no other God apart from me.” Because of this, the Archons themselves became suspicious. If Ialdabaoth were truly the only God, then what other God could exist to arouse his jealousy?

The Demiurge’s faulty declaration also brought a response from the Pleroma. This was, in fact, the first step taken by the Aeons in a plan to regain Sophia’s stolen light. From behind the great barrier veil, a voice rang out through the abyss of darkness: “Not true Ialdabaoth! The Human Being exists, and the Child of the Human Being!” (That is to say, Man- the Celestial Adam- and the Son of Man- Seth; both of whom exist within the Great Luminaries of the Pleroma.) With this, the Celestial Adam was brought to the edge of the veil so that his luminous image was reflected into the waters of the deep. Ialdabaoth’s realm trembled, the foundations of the abyss shook, and the Archons were dumfounded.

Even the Deumiurgos himself did not know from where the voice or the image had come. Thinking quickly, Ialdabaoth took credit for these things himself. He said to his Archons: “Come, let us make a human being after the image of God and after our own images, so that the human being’s image might serve as a light for us. Let us call him Adam, so that we might have his name as a luminous power.” (The biblical student will recognize these words as adapted from the Judaic scripture of Genesis II.)

Therefore, all of the Archons came together to build Adam- each adding something of himself to the new soul. However, this was not yet the physical Adam. This original version was more like an Angel or Archon himself. Yet, even after the efforts of each and every Ruler, Adam remained a lifeless construct, and he lay immobile. Without the power to bring Adam to life, Ialdabaoth faced having his status as a lesser God revealed.

This, too, was part of the divine plan initiated by the Aeons of the Pleroma. The Barbelo dispatched the Christos and the Four Luminaries to consult Ialdabaoth in his predicament. They whispered into his ear that he should breath the Breath of Life into Adam. The Demiurgos followed this advice, as seen in Genesis II, and miraculously brought Adam to vibrant life. However, Ialdabaoth realized too late that he had been tricked into relinquishing all of his stolen power to Adam. The human being grew strong and shone with the divine light of Sophia.

Adam was now more powerful than Ialdabaoth himself, and this made the Archons angry. In fear and retaliation, they cast Adam into the lowest pit of matter. The Barbelo, out of compassion for the human being, dispatched Mother Sophia to reside within Adam- to suffer with him and to raise his thinking beyond his material prison. Some versions of this story hold that it was merely an aspect (or daughter) of Sophia that descended to the material realm- called Zoe (Life).

Meanwhile, the Archons completed their prison for Adam. A body of matter was created from the dust of the earth, into which Adam’s soul was imprisoned. Furthermore, the Garden of Eden was created as a place of leisure and earthly delight- so that Adam might become complacent, unperceptive, and “asleep”- and so have no clue of his true inner power. The only rule Ialdabaoth gave him was that he should never touch the Tree of Knowledge (or Tree of Gnosis)- else he might discover his godhood and defeat the Demiurgos and his hosts of Rulers. (Note that some texts suggest that even this Adam was not a physical man such as you or I. In these cases, the human race would not materialize on earth until Adam was expelled from Eden.)

As a further step toward keeping Adam asleep, Ialdabaoth succeeded in taking from him the power of Zoe. Another body was fashioned- this one female- and Zoe was imprisoned within it. This is the Gnostic interpretation of the creation of Eve seen in Genesis II. Here, it was Zoe rather than a rib that was removed from the sleeping Adam. Thus, the divine power stolen and then lost by Ialdabaoth became divided between Adam and Eve. (Note that Eve, in Hebrew, means “Life” just as does the Coptic Zoe.)

According to the text The Hypostasis of the Archons (“The Reality of the Rulers”), it was then that the Christos descended to the Garden of Eden in the form of the serpent. Where the serpent had been the antagonist of the Judaic Eden story, he became the hero of the Gnostic mythos. It was the serpent who convinced Adam and Eve to eat the fruit of the Tree of Gnosis, and therefore moved them closer to the realization of their own power and liberation from the material darkness.

For this, Ialdabaoth expelled Adam and Eve from the Garden and cursed the Earth, woman, and serpent. (The Christos, however, had withdrawn from the serpent before the curse could be declared.) The two humans were given the waters of forgetfulness, so they would not remember whom they were, and the man was set to dominate the woman. They were thus blinded to their own sins, and to the existence of the God above Ialdabaoth and the Archons.

Now, Ialdabaoth set his eyes upon the power of Zoe, which still resided within Eve. He pursued Eve with the intention of raping her to reclaim his lost power. However, before this could happen, Zoe was caught up once more into the Pleroma. It was therefore a mere earthly shell- the body of Eve- that was attacked and defiled by Ialdabaoth. The result of this union was the corrupted child Cain.

(The Secret Book According to John states that both Cain and Abel were fathered in this way, though other texts insist it was only Cain. In the Revelation of Adam, it is said that the divine glory left both Eve and Adam after their expulsion, and did not return again until it entered Seth and- thus- his descendants. In The Hypostasis… it was all of the Archons together who chased Eve. At the last moment, however, Zoe left Eve behind and transformed Herself into the Tree of Life. This same text also suggests that Eve later had a daughter (by Adam) named Norea- the wife of Seth. Norea was supposed to be the rebirth of Zoe into the world, so that Norea and Seth together gave birth to the Gnostic race.)

It is thus that humanity had its beginning as a lost people unaware of their divine origin. Those among us who awaken and remember (“upon whom the spirit of life will descend and dwell with power”) will, upon death, return to the Pleroma. In this way, they will return their small portion of the stolen Light of Sophia to its rightful home. Those souls who fail will, upon death, be seized by the Archons, bound, and cast back into the prison of physical incarnation. This cycle will continue forever until the soul awakens and escapes the Wheel of Fate.

Finally, the Hypostasis… claims that Zoe dispatched a fiery Angel to banish the Demiurgos to Tartarus. Here, he became the “Satan” we most commonly know, and populated the created world with demons such as Envy, Death, etc.

Meanwhile, one of Ialdabaoth’s seven sons- Sabaoth- eventually repented and condemned the ways of his father. He sang praises to Sophia/Zoe, and was therefore caught up to the seventh heaven (the highest of the heavens outside of the Pleroma). Here, Sabaoth became the God of the Jews:

“Now when these events had come to pass, it made itself a huge four-faced chariot of kherubim, and infinitely many angels to render assistance and also harps and lyres. And Sophia took Her daughter Zoe and had Her sit at its right to teach it about the things that exist in the eighth heaven; and the Angel of Anger she placed at its left. Since that day, its right has been called Life, and the left has come to represent the injustice of the realm of absolute power above.”

Sabaoth was the Gnostics’ way of explaining contradictions between their mythos and their Judaic sources. The God of the Old Testament was not always unjust or arrogant, and thus these instances of mercy or wisdom were credited to Sabaoth rather than Ialdabaoth. As an example, the Gnostics saw two beings at work in the story of Noah and the Deluge: Ialdabaoth who wished to rid the world of the offspring of Adam, and Sabaoth who acted secretly against his father by warning Noah of the coming disaster.

The Gnostic Mythos: Act IV

The final act of the Gnostic creation mythos does not differ greatly from the already well-known Christian Gospels- the story of Jesus. In fact, by reading the Gospel of John one will have read the standard Gnostic telling of the tale. What sets the Gnostic story apart from other versions of the Gospel is the peculiar manner in which the details of the story are interpreted. This is very similar to Gnostic interpretations of passages from Genesis and elsewhere in the Bible.

Unfortunately, much of the information about the Gnostic interpretation of Jesus’ life comes from an untrustworthy source- St. Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons, who wrote his Against Heresies in about 180 C.E. As the title of his work suggests, St. Irenaeus was set firmly against the beliefs of the Gnostics, and presented their mythos with an aim toward discrediting it entirely. His information is trusted to some degree because his presentation of already-familiar Gnostic material (such as the creation mythos) appears accurate. (Plus, what he presents concerning Gnostic thought and practice is not nearly so fantastical as that found in other anti-Gnostic writings; such as those by St. Epiphanius- who described many horrifying and unlikely practices among the Gnostics. Such as ritual abortion, etc.)

The first point of contention between the Gnostic and Catholic views of Jesus is over the origin of the man himself. The Gnostics viewed Jesus and the Christ as two separate entities. They did not see Jesus as merely an ordinary human, but neither did they feel that Jesus was “with the father in the beginning.” Instead, Jesus was engendered by the Holy Spirit as a perfect vessel for the containment of the true God of the Pleroma and Redeemer of mankind- the Christos. Jesus the man would not obtain the Christos until his baptism, and he would lose it again just before his death.

St. Irenaeus tells us that- after the first three acts of the Gnostic creation mythology- the “vulgar Wisdom” (perhaps meaning Zoe- the Lower Wisdom) had no resting place upon earth or in the heavens. Therefore, she called upon her mother (presumably Sophia, referred to as the Holy Spirit in this text) for help. If we place this into the context of the previous acts of the mythos, then we should assume this as another step in the divine plan formulated by the Aeons to retrieve the stolen light. In response to the plea of vulgar Wisdom, the Holy Spirit engendered two humans: one was John the Baptist, born of a barren woman, and the other was Jesus ben Joseph, born of a virgin. John was intended to proclaim the coming of the Anointed, and to baptize Jesus so that he (Jesus) would be a pure vessel when the Christos finally descended.

Earlier in this lecture, you heard a bit about the baptism of Jesus, and mention was made of the descent of the Christos as witnessed by John. The form it took was that of a white dove- a common symbol of the Holy Spirit even in modern Christianity. In the Gnostic interpretation, this dove symbolizes a combination of Sophia and the Christos- and thus the true Holy Spirit of God. It was in response to the plea of the “vulgar Wisdom” that the Christos was dispatched to the physical earth. During its journey hence, it descended through the seven heavens, emptying each sphere (and thus the Archons) of power along the way. Then, it joined itself to Sophia, so that the Christos is called the Bridegroom and Sophia the Bride. It was this unified divine force that descended into Jesus at his baptism, and to which the voice of God proclaimed His pleasure from the sky. Thus was created Jesus the Anointed, or Jesus Christ.

Of course, even Jesus the man was not an original creation by the Holy Spirit. Like most aspects of the Gnostic mythos, anything that appears on earth must necessarily have its counterpart (or blueprint) in the Pleroma. (Later Hermetic schools would comprehend this in the phrase “As Above, So Below.”) In this light, there is indication that Jesus was a reincarnation of the father of all Gnostics- Seth. (Remember that Seth was himself modeled upon the super-celestial Seth.) According to the Gnostics, this explains why Jesus often referred to himself as the “Son of Man”- a title generally reserved for Seth, the Son of Adam. We can see how this would secure the entire Jesus story as an acceptable Gnostic mythology. While the first Seth fathered the Gnostic race- preserving the precious divine light in his line of descendants- the second Seth came to teach his children the secrets of bringing the light back to the Pleroma, thus bringing the divine plan to completion.

Of course, Ialdabaoth and his Archons were angry over the advent of Jesus Christ, the miracles he performed, and (especially) the message he delivered. Therefore, it was these forces of darkness that orchestrated the persecution and crucifixion of Jesus. (In the Gospel according to John 8:44, Jesus outright accuses the Pharisees of serving Satan. In the Gnostic interpretation, this is where Jesus affirms that the Jews were serving Ialdabaoth.)

Another Gnostic angle on Bible interpretation helps explain one of the most curious scenes in the Gospel- found (for instance) at Mathew 27:46. Here, Jesus has already been crucified and is painfully drifting toward death. Of all the things the Son of God might possibly have said at that particular moment, Jesus was recorded as uttering, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” In and of itself, it simply makes no sense if one follows the standard Christian dogma concerning God and Jesus. Thereby, God could not have forsaken Jesus, for the two were either one and the same, or were at least of the same substance. Yet, according to Gnostic dogma, God and Jesus were always separate entities- and there is precedent already set in the mythology for the desertion of the physical by the Christos.

Remember that the Annointed, as a Force of the Pleroma, is perfect and cannot be defiled in any way. It descended once into the Serpent of Eden to rescue Adam and Eve from their prison, but had to withdraw again before the Demiurgos could pronounce his curse against it. In like manner did the Divine Light flee from Adam before he could be similarly cursed, from Eve before she could be raped by the Archons, and yet again from Able before his murder at the hands of Cain.

Thus, once his worldly ministry was complete, and Jesus was brought before the Roman governor Pilate to begin his trial and suffering, the force of Christ/Sophia left him. Allegorically, it was only the perishable aspects of the Master that suffered and died- particularly his body and earthly spirit. The incorruptible light of God within him could experience no such thing, and was thus caught up into the heavens again. Therefore, the passions and crucifixion of Jesus were intended to separate the pure from within him and to destroy the impure. To this very day, this remains the mystical and hermetic interpretation of the Crucifixion.

Continuing this allegory, Jesus was resurrected after three days as a perfect being. Having been purified of all earthy materials and passions, he no longer existed in a physical human body. He was then caught up into heaven, where he sits at the right hand of Ialdabaoth (or Sabaoth, depending on the text). As the souls of departed humans raise themselves naturally toward the throne of the seventh heaven, Jesus gathers the Gnostic souls to himself without Ialdabaoth’s knowledge. Non-Gnostics, however, are seized by the Demiurgos and forced back to incarnation upon earth- where they will continue to feed the Archons with their suffering. Eventually, Jesus will have gathered all of the enlightened souls, finally recovering the entirety of the light stolen by the Creator, and thus bringing created reality to a final end.

Valentinian Gnosticism

This is part two of a longer lecture dedicated to the subject of historical Gnosticism. Part one dealt with a simple overview of Gnostic history and philosophy, and a “harmonized” telling of the classical Gnostic creation mythos- taken from such texts as the Secret Book According to John, and the Hypostasis of the Archons.

Here in part two, we shall discuss a later, yet equally important, school of Gnosticism. This school arose independently of the most ancient Gnostic sects, and within the boundaries of the Pauline Christian Church. It is known today as “Valentinian” Gnosticism- so named after the founder of the movement. It would appear, in fact, that the bulk of Gnostic influence upon Western culture- especially within the Qabalah, Hermeticism, and Magick- was handed down almost exclusively from the Valentinian school. (Remember that the Nag Hammadi texts, containing what we know of classical Gnosticism, were not discovered until the 1940s CE.)

Much as I have done previously, I will begin this exploration with an historical overview of the Valentinian movement and some of the people involved in it. Then, I will present the Valentinian recension of the Gnostic Creation mythology.

Valentinus

Valentinus (ca 100 – 175 CE) was born in the city of Phrebonis in the Egyptian delta. He is said to have received a Greek education in Alexandria, and became a Neoplatonic philosopher and teacher. Around 140 CE, he moved to Rome in order to take an active role in the Roman Catholic Church as a teacher and leader. We also know that he once hoped to be appointed the Bishop of Rome, but he did not receive the position (possibly due to his heretical spiritual views?).

Valentinus and his students accepted traditional Roman (that is, Pauline) Christian doctrine. The teacher himself claimed to have learned the mysteries from a disciple of St. Paul’s named Theudas. Theudas, as a member of Paul’s inner circle, was supposed to have learned a deeper allegorical interpretation of Scripture than was taught to common men. This he passed on to Valentinus, who then taught the same mysteries to his inner circle of students at private meetings in Rome. (Note the similarity here to the classical Gnostic claim of receiving the “secret teachings of Jesus”- revealed only to his inner circle of disciples.)

Now, I find it incredibly unlikely that Paul (who was nothing more than a Roman infiltrator and pretender within Christian ranks) could have ever taught such insightful things as we see from the school of Valentinian Gnosticism. Yet, it was this claimed apostolic succession from Paul, through Theudas, to Valentinus that formed the foundational spiritual authority upon which Valentinus stood. (Such claims of apostolic succession were important to many early Christian teachers.)

As it turns out, these “deeper allegorical interpretations” of Scripture were actually a version of the classical Gnostic mythos. It was certainly much more Christian- or at least more Roman- than the original Gnostic myth, but it retained most of the same basic elements.

The surviving teachings of Valentinus (such as in the Gospel of Truth) depict a formula of salvation through personal gnosis of God. The Gospel of Truth is not classical Gnosticism at all, but it seems to apply the same principles on an individual scale as the Gnostics applied to their entire people. (By reason of this individual focus, Valentinian teachings are considered a form of mysticism.) The text describes the human soul as a spark of Divinity lost in ignorance and in need of a redeemer to ransom it from the darkness. That redeemer leads the soul back to gnosis with God. This “fullness-loss-recapture” pattern has resulted in the labeling of the Gospel… as “gnostic rhetoric.”

Valentinus also taught that God contains all things (much as we see in the concept of the heavenly spheres- where God is the largest sphere encompassing all others)- rather than the principally linear pattern espoused by the classical Gnostics, wherein reality is outside of and far removed from God. He also taught that physical reality is an illusion- and that the illusion of distinction and structure dissolves once gnosis of God is achieved. The ignorant- who are blind to the reality behind perceived reality- are literally trapped in a waking nightmare, while the elect are to be awakened and called home. (To be “called home”, in this sense, is to enter a state of “repose” or “rest.” This, like much of the Valentinian philosophy, is of Neoplatonic origin- where a distinction is made between the “volatile” and the “fixed.” All of imperfect reality is the result of motion, while perfection can only exist in a fixed state.)

Valentinus was attacked viciously for his teachings and Biblical interpretations. Later Church fathers claimed that he was forced to leave Rome because of this, though there does not seem to be any evidence to support it. His public career effectively ended in 165 CE, when he did not receive the position as the Bishop of Rome.

Influences upon Valentinus

The groundwork for Valentinian Gnosticism appears to have been laid while its creator was still studying in Alexandria. For instance, we know there was an active sect of classical Gnostics in Alexandria at the time, and it is obvious that Valentinus learned much from them (either directly or, at least, via their writings or public speeches). At the same time, the Hermetic sciences were flourishing throughout Hellenic Egypt, and it is likely that much was drawn from this school into the Valentinian form of mysticism. Also in Alexandria was the School of Basilides. Basilides was a Christian philosopher who was, himself, affected by classical Gnosticism, Neoplatonism, Stoicism, and Pythagorean theories (all of which are likewise very important to the Valentinian school.) It is doubtless that Valentinus would have interacted freely with this particular group.

Yet, upon reading the Valentinian philosophy and mythos, it becomes apparent that one school had an even greater impact upon Valentinus than the Alexandrian Gnostics or the disciples of Basilides. This was the School of St. Thomas- and it was so intimately connected with the Gnostic philosophies that it is nearly impossible to consider it non-Gnostic in and of itself. (Like the Valentinian Gospel of Truth, it is not classical Gnosticism, but can be considered “gnostic rhetoric.”) The principal surviving texts of the school are: The Gospel According to Thomas, The Book of Thomas, and The Acts of Thomas (which latter includes the powerful and highly significant poem entitled The Hymn of the Pearl).

The School of St. Thomas was founded in Mesopotamia and then disseminated throughout the known Christian world. Valentinus probably met with an Egyptian branch of the school during his formative years in Alexandria. Because the philosophies of St. Thomas are so vital to our own current exploration, I’ll take a moment here to outline some of the history and teachings of the school.

The full name of its founder is St. Didymus Jude Thomas, Apostle of the East. He is said to have been no one less than Jesus’ twin brother. After the messiah was executed, it was Thomas who inherited the leadership of the fledgling Christian movement. (Thus, his description as Jesus’ twin [if it is not literal] may have simply been an acknowledgement of his equal status with Jesus as the movement’s leader and teacher. It was Thomas’ group, by the way, that referred to itself as “the meek” or “the humble” [etc]- which throws great light upon New Testament statements such as “the meek shall inherit the earth.”) St. Thomas was officially credited with the conversion of northern Mesopotamia and India to Christianity.

As previously stated, the School of St. Thomas is not historically related (as far as we know) to classical Gnosticism, but it did teach a mysticism of spiritual gnosis. It focused upon one’s personal relationship with God, and the existence of God and His Divine Kingdom within the hearts of all believers. The philosophy teaches one to find the “living Jesus” (i.e.- Divine Light) within, and thus to gain knowledge of both oneself and one’s divine double (i.e.- Higher Self).

The St. Thomas mythos can be summed up in this succinct manner: The True Self (or soul) of an individual has been sent from the “Kingdom of Light in the East” (or spiritual realm). It now lives in the material realm- a place of “sleep, drunkenness, darkness, and death”- where it has forgotten its true nature and origin. This land of outer darkness is often metaphorically termed “Egypt” or “Babylon”, and is ruled by malevolent authorities termed “Pharisees”, “Babylonians”, etc. The King- or Father- of the Kingdom of Light then sends a savior (Jesus) or a “personified message” (what we might call a Holy Guardian Angel) to awaken and sober the soul- teaching it to recognize itself (and where it comes from) and to distinguish between Light and darkness. This ultimately causes the soul to return to its home in the Kingdom of Light- a place described as partly elsewhere and partly within the self. The Hymn of the Pearl is based entirely upon this mytho-mystical outline.

The Valentinian School

It must be understood that Valentinian Gnosticism was a philosophical school rather than a sect of Christianity. They were Pauline Christians, and followed the doctrines of Rome. As a school, they felt they had apostolic succession from St. Paul himself- and they claimed him as their principal authority. Two branches of the school eventually developed, each distinguished by its particular views upon the origin of Jesus Christ. One was the “Italic” (or Western) branch started by Ptolemy and Heracleon. This group believed that Jesus had been an animate being who joined with the Christos at his baptism- very similar to the classical Gnostic belief. The other was the Eastern branch started by Theodotus and Mark. This group believed that Jesus was a divine being from his very birth, engendered by the Holy Spirit- a view more in holding with the contemporary Catholic doctrine.

At first, Valentinian Gnostics were accepted within the Church (i.e.- Valentinian scholars could hold official positions as late as 200 CE) and they were therefore allowed to spread throughout the Roman Empire. Eventually, however, the Valentinians were distanced from the Roman Church. Because they first existed within the ranks of the official Church, their enemies often referred them to as “wolves in sheeps’ clothing.” By the 4th century (Constantine’s time) the Roman government was in the act of consuming the Church (or vice-versa). In 326 CE, Constantine officially listed Gnosticism among heretical movements- all of which were ordered to immediately shut down. (Note that this is the same century in which a group of clever monks hid the Coptic manuscripts in a cave near Nag Hammadi.) A mention of a “Valentinian Chapel” was made in 388 CE- when it was burned down by Christians. In 428 CE, the Roman Emperor Theodosius included the Valentinians in another law passed against heretical sects. In 692, the Trullan Synod (a meeting of Church and Roman officials) discussed how to receive a “repentant Valentinian” into the Catholic Church.

Unfortunately, St. Irenaeus (the declared anti-Gnostic) is our primary source for the writings and teachings of the Valentinian school. He only gives us a sketchy account of the Gnostic myth as told by Valentinus himself. However, he gives a complete account of the story as told by Ptolemy- one of Valentinus’ first and greatest students. The mythos is likely Ptolemy’s own recension of the story, but (because it is the most complete) it is considered the definitive Valentinian Gnostic creation myth.

Ptolemy

Very little is known of Ptolemy. He lived roughly between 136-180 CE. Some have suggested that he was one ‘Ptolemy the Martyr” (died ca 152 CE), but we can’t know if this is indeed the case. We do have some of Ptolemy’s teachings- as quoted or described by St. Irenaeus and St. Epiphanius in their anti-heretical works. Epiphanius, in particular, quotes an Epistle to Flora written by Ptolemy.

The Epistle to Flora concerns interpretation of the Old Testament- both the Law contained within it and the God(s) who delivered it. First, Ptolemy explains, the God of the Old Testament could not be the Parent of the Entirety, or else its Law would have been as perfect as Itself. Yet, the Law of the Old Testament is not perfect, needed fulfillment by another (a reference to Jesus, who said he came to fulfill the Law rather than break it), and often contradicts the very nature of the Parent. (Examples given of the latter are the Mosaic Law allowing for divorce, or the injunction to take an “eye for an eye”, etc.)

At the same time, Ptolemy continues, the God of the Old Testament could not have been the Devil- as claimed by the classical Gnostics- because the craftsmanship of the world reflects the work of a God who hates evil. Any work of a true Devil would necessarily run counter to anything of heavenly origin.

In fact, the nature of the various Laws of the Old Testament indicate that there must have been three different authors:

1) The Creator. (That is, the Demiurgos, not the highest Parent of All.)

2) Moses.

3) The Hebrew Elders.

Further, those Laws given by the Creator are divided into three:

1a) Pure but Imperfect. (These are the Laws that are just, but were in need of later “fulfillment”- that is to say completion- by Jesus.)

1b) Interwoven with Injustice. (These are the “eye for an eye”-style Laws mentioned previously- that were later abolished by Jesus).

1c) Symbolic. (These were originally Jewish ritual laws. As such, they were abolished by Jesus- but the scripture that describes the rituals were given a higher allegorical meaning.)

Ptolemy asserts that this proves the God of the Old Testament is intermediate between perfection and evil. Thus, the Demirugos is called “Just”- and he is often referred to by Ptolemy in the Epistle… as the “God of Righteousness” or “God of Justice”. (“Being a judge of the Justice (Righteousness) that is his.”) He was made in the image of the Parent of All.

Ptolemy’s version of the Gnostic myth (contained in St. Irenaeus’ Against Heresies) was the best-known account of the Gnostic creation before the discovery of the Nag Hammadi library in the 1940s CE. This is likely the very text that most affected the development of the Hermeticism, Qabalah, and Western occultism of later centuries. John Dee almost certainly owned and/or studied a copy.

The return to repose- from volatile to fixed- is the theme of Ptolemy’s telling of the Gnostic creation. The fixed nature of spiritual perfection is symbolized in the text by androgyny (the permanent union of sexual opposites, the return of “male” and “female” to a single body). Thus, the True Self that resides within each of us (the Divine Spark) has its own counterpart (or Angel) in the spiritual realm with which it must re-unite. Thus, as we shall see, there exists a deeply sexual tone to Ptolemy’s myth- as it attempts to relate the spiritual “mystery of the bridal chamber.”

(NOTE: This “counterpart (or Angel) in the Pleroma” is NOT equivalent to our own concept of the Holy Guardian Angel. The Redeemer of the Valentinian mythos represents the Guardian Angel- who is dispatched to the physical realm to awaken the sleeping soul. The spiritual counterpart (or Higher Self) of the True Self remains always in the Pleroma waiting for the reunion.)

Valentinian Gnostic Mythos

(Note: For convenience, I have attempted to divide this story into four principal “acts”- so as to reflect the same division made within the classical Gnostic creation tale. This should make a comparative study of both myths somewhat easier.)

Act I: Formation of the Pleroma

In the beginning was the Prior Source- also called the Ancestor, the Deep, and several further descriptive titles. This is identical with the classical Gnostic “Parent of the Entirety” and it is likewise described as “uncontained, invisible, unengendered”, etc. As usual, the Source is utterly alone in the universe- the original unit, or monad. However, the Valentinians also recognized a pseudo-Aeon called “Silence” as the consort of the Ancestor. While the Source must be described as singular in a technical sense, Silence is counted as an Aeon when the number of Aeons is expressed as a Pythagorean mystery. (See the Tetraktys below.)

Therefore is it said that the Source and Silence together engendered the next two Aeons- Intellect and his consort Truth. Intellect is the Valentinian version of the classical Gnostic Barbelo. It is called the “Only Begotten”, and is the only being to comprehend the magnitude (or have gnosis) of the Source. These four primal Aeons (including Silence) are called the “Root of the Pleroma”, and compose together the Pythagorean Tetraktys:

Source  (1)        *

Silence  (2)      * *

Intellect  (3)   * * *

Truth      (4)   * * * *

= 10  (the perfect number)

The process of emanation continued when Intellect (and his consort) produced the next pair of Aeons: the Word (Logos) and Life (Zoe). This completed the principal hierarchy of the Pleroma. The Source, Intellect, and the Logos are all called “Parent”, because they are individual aspects of a single Divine Force. (We saw much the same previously with the classical Gnostic Parent, Barbelo, and Christos.) The Valentinian Logos is considered the Parent of all beings created after it.

The Logos and Zoe, then, gave birth to two further Aeons- each serving as a blueprint of sorts for things that would later appear upon earth. The first was the Human Being, and its consort was the Church. (Remember that the word “church” in this case indicates a body of believers, or the presence of God among His believers, and is not a reference to either the Catholic Church or any building of worship.) The inclusion of these Aeons brings the total to eight, and this forms what the Valentinians called the “Primal Octet” of the Pleroma.

The Source                   – Silence

Intellect                        –    Truth

The Word (Logos)      –     Zoe

Human Being              –   Church

Ptolemy states that each of these Aeons were naturally produced to the glorification of the Prior Source. What followed this, however, were creative actions taken independently by the Aeons in the hopes of further glorifying the Source. Thus, the Logos and Zoe decided to engender ten further Aeons in five pairs:

The Deep-Sunken          –   Intercourse

The Un-ageing                –  Union

The Self-Produced         –  Pleasure

The Motionless               –  Mixture

The Only-Begotten*       –  The Blessed

(*- Not to be confused with Intellect, who bears “Only-Begotten” as a title.)

The Human Being and the Church, then, emitted twelve final Aeons:

The Intercessor           –  Faith

The Fatherly                 –  Hope

The Motherly                –  Love

The Ever-Flowing        –  Intelligence

The Ecclesiastical         –  Blessedness

The Wished-For            – Wisdom (Sophia)

(Note that, as within classical Gnosticism, Sophia is again the lowest of the twelve final Aeons.)

This seems to represent the basic structure of the Mind of God. All of the Aeons taken together- the 8, 10, and 12- compose the “30 Silent and Unrecognizable Aeons”- the Valentinian version of the classical Gnostic Pleroma.

Act II: The Suffering of Sophia

As before stated, only Intellect had gnosis of the Prior Source. To those Aeons below Intellect, the Source was both invisible and incomprehensible. For this reason, Intellect intended to arouse the other Aeons into longing and searching for the Source- in order to elevate them to its own position, and allow them to share in the gnosis of the Ancestor. However, had it accomplished this, the Aeons would have been consumed by the Source and dissolved back to their universal essence. (Imagine a drop of water falling into the ocean.) Therefore, Intellect’s hasty passion was restrained by Silence.

Now, the lower Aeons did feel Intellect’s passion and did indeed wish to seek out the Ancestor. However, thanks to Silence, they were never incited to move and remained still. Intellect’s restrained passion, however, filtered down through the Pleroma and collected within the lowest Aeon- Sophia.

This was the beginning of the suffering of Sophia. Filled with a passion to search out the Ancestor, She recklessly charged forth without her consort. She wished to comprehend the magnitude of the Source, but this was not possible without resulting in Her dissolution. So it became a struggle for Her as she pushed her way ever higher toward the Immeasurable Magnitude.

The Ancestor, meanwhile, was aware of the approaching Sophia as well as the consequences. Therefore, it directed Intellect to create a Great Barrier and set it between the Source and everything else in the Pleroma. This Barrier is sometimes considered “hexagonal”, because it has six names: Boundary, Cross, Redeemer, Emancipator, Boundary-Setter, and Conveyor. Usually, however, it is considered a Great Cross (which will become important later in this story).

This Barrier has two functions: one is to stabilize, and one is to divide. As Ptolemy tells us: “In stabilizing and establishing, it is the Cross. In dividing and bounding, it is the Boundary.” John the Baptist, continues Ptolemy, spoke of the Boundary when he said, “The Cross is a winnowing fork, and consumes all material elements as fire does chaff. And winnows the saved as the fork winnows wheat.” (You can read the original quotes in Mt. 3:12, or Lk 3:17.)

When Sophia finally struck this Barrier, it caused Her to realize that the Source truly was incomprehensible. The Barrier restrained her, purified her, and restored her to her consort and her proper place within the Pleroma. Sophia was therefore at rest again, because the Barrier had separated (or winnowed) the passion from Her.

Of course, there is nothing within the Pleroma that cannot be personified, and the same can be said of Sophia’s reckless and unfulfilled passion. Once separated by the Barrier, the passion was removed entirely from the Pleroma, and bounded outside in a region of shadow. In this state, it is called Achamoth– probably from the Hebrew word Chockmah, meaning Wisdom. To the Valentinian Gnostics, she was the Lower Wisdom (or daughter of Sophia). At first, Achamoth was little more than a misshapen essence- because she was an unfulfilled passion (or a Thought that had never comprehended its subject).

Because of Sophia’s reckless actions and the resultant production of Achamoth, Intellect- acting again under the Ancestor’s foresight- emitted another pair of Aeons: The Anointed (Christ), and The Holy Spirit. These two Aeons were to “fix and establish” the Pleroma so another incident like Sophia’s could not occur.

First, Christ taught the Aeons the importance of remaining in pairs to maintain equilibrium. It also taught them that the Source is incomprehensible, and cannot be seen or heard but through the Only-Begotten (Intellect). While the eternal permanence of the Pleroma is due to the incomprehensible aspect of the Source, its origination and forming is due to the Source’s comprehensible aspect (or its child- which I assume to mean Intellect).

Meanwhile, the Holy Spirit equalized all of the Aeons- bringing them to “true repose” (or motionlessness, the Neoplatonic concept of perfection). Because of this, all the Aeons became as one. (Ptolemy states they “…became equal in form and intention.”). Thus, each male Aeon was equally an Intellect, Word, Human Being, and Christ; and each female Aeon was Truth, Life, Church, and Holy Spirit.

Now all in the Pleroma existed in a state of perfection and happiness. Christ and the Holy Spirit, acting with approval of the Source, had each of the Aeons offer up the most beautiful and splendid it had within itself. These elements were woven together to produce “…a kind of perfect beauty and star of the Pleroma.” This was Jesus (the 2nd Anointed). After his parent (Christ) was Jesus named Savior, Anointed, and Word. At the same time, Angels were produced in the same manner- so as to be bodyguards (or an entourage) for Jesus.

Act III: Achamoth and The God of Justice

At this point in the mythos (which I have personally labeled Act III), we leave the Pleroma behind and focus instead upon the outer region of shadow into which Achamoth was bound. She was herself of the same spiritual substance as the higher Aeons, and thus her expulsion from the Pleroma represented a loss of a portion of its Light. Achamoth herself, as I hinted at before, is described as “like an aborted fetus” because she had never comprehended anything.

Christ (the Redeemer) took pity upon her, and so reached across the Great Cross Barrier and used his power to give her a more concrete form. He placed within her some of the essence of himself and the Holy Spirit. Then he left her and hastened back to the Pleroma, so that she would begin to yearn for and seek out the superior realm. Thus Achamoth was given two names: Wisdom (Sophia) after her mother, and Holy Spirit after the essence left within her by Christ.

Achamoth, then, did yearn for the Light that had left her. However, she was still a creature of passion (and thus had no repose)- so she could not enter the now fixed and established Pleroma. She was turned back and left alone in the darkness, still having comprehended nothing. Because of this, Achamoth experienced more passions. St. Irenaeus records:

“Sometimes…she cried and felt grief because of being left alone in the darkness and emptiness; sometimes she… thought about the Light that had left her, and she relaxed and laughed; sometimes she was afraid; and yet other times she became uncertain and distraught.” 

As we will see later, this is the origin of the essence of all matter- because the entire Soul of the World was created from the passions Achamoth suffered at being turned away from the Pleroma. All moist essences came from her tears, all luminous essences from her laughter, and the essences of the bodily elements of the world from her grief and terror.

After suffering all of these passions, Achamoth turned to supplicate the Light that had left her (Christ). In response, Christ and the rest of the Aeons dispatched the Intercessor (Jesus)- endowing him with the Source’s power, and putting all under his authority. So Jesus came to Achamoth with his guard of Angels.

Achamoth was at first ashamed of her condition, and covered her face with a veil. Finally, however, she came to Jesus. The savior separated Achamoth’s passions from her, and was able to give her a final concrete form because she finally had gnosis of something- Jesus himself. Thus was she cured of her many passions.

However, something had yet to be done with the removed passions themselves. So, the Savior “set them apart, poured them together, fixed them, and transformed them from incorporeal passions into incorporeal matter.” He endowed them with properties that caused them to form compounds and bodies. Two universal essences were thereby created- a bad one formed of Sophia’s passions, and a mixed one (tainted with passion) formed when Achamoth was turned away from the Pleroma. Now free of the passions, Achamoth was filled with joy and the contemplation of the Savior’s Angels (apparently a sexually-charged reference)- and she thus gave birth to a third universal essence, generated after the likeness of the Angels.

Essences:

1) Material Essence = From Achamoth’s passion

2) Animate Essence (part divine, but tainted with earthly passion) = From her turning back

3) Spiritual Essence = From her joy

Now, Achamoth began to form these essences. But she could do nothing with the spiritual because it was of the same divine substance as herself. So she turned to the animate, over which she did have creative control, and there-from formed the Craftsman (Demiurgos– the Valentinian version of Ialdabaoth).

Achamoth then set her son as God and King of all that was composed of two of the three essences: all animate substance (of which he was himself composed), and of all that derive from passion and matter. (The former are called “those on the right” while the latter are called “those on the left.”) He was placed in this kingly position because it was he- inspired secretly by Achamoth- who formed all who came after him. Thus he is called Mother-Father, Parentless, Craftsman, and Parent. (He is the Parent of animate things, the Craftsman of material things, and he is King of all creation.) Yet, he is unacquainted with his Mother (Achamoth), the Pleroma, or the spiritual universal essence.

It is important to remember that Achamoth was the anonymous inspiration behind the Craftsman’s actions. It was her wish to honor the Pleroma by having the physical universe modeled upon it. The correspondences between the higher and lower realms are given:

The Invisible Source = Achamoth

Intellect = The Craftsman

The Aeons = Archangels and Angels of the Craftsman

And so the Demiurgos became Parent and God of all things outside of the Pleroma- the maker of all things animate and material. He constructed the seven heavens- each of which is intelligent and is thus an Archangel. The Craftsman rests at their summit- so that he is the 7th and Achamoth is the 8th- thus preserving the number of the Pleroma’s Primal Octet. (Achamoth rests at what the Valentinians called the Midpoint or the Supercelestial Palace- between Creation below and the Pleroma above. She is called the Eighth, Lower Wisdom, Jerusalem, and Holy Spirit.) Because the Craftsman did not know that Achamoth was moving him- and he did not have gnosis with the spiritual forces- he truly believed that he was the one and only God. He grew arrogant, and told his Angels “It is I who am God, apart from me there is no one.”

Meanwhile, remember that the material essence was formed from Achamoth’s grief. From this come all wicked spirits and the Devil. To the Valentinians, the Devil is a world-ruler in direct control of earthly affairs. This fits Pauline Christian dogma, wherein Satan has supposedly been given rulership of Earth until Christ returns a second time to overthrow him by force. However, it is also explained by Ptolemy as a continuation of the process of reflection we have seen at every level of creation so far: the Mother resides in the Supercelestial Palace, the Demiurgos mirrors her by ruling in the 7th Heaven, and the Devil mirrors him as lord of the Earth.

However, the scheming of the denizens of the Pleroma is not yet done, for there is still the matter of the Spiritual Light (the third universal essence) missing from the higher realm. This spiritual essence is called “the seed” and was placed as such within the Craftsman by Achamoth- without his knowing. Therefore, when the time came, the Demiurgos would breath it into Adam (and thus into the Gnostic race). There it would gestate, grow, and become ready for the reception of the Logos. In this way was the spiritual seed sewn into mankind. The seed is also called the Church- the earthly counterpart to the Aeon called “Church”- for it is the presence of God among humanity.

Of the ultimate fate of the three essences, the Valentinians tell us:

1) Material is wholly mortal and will perish.

2) Animate is intermediate between material and spiritual- and can either be saved (ascend to the eighth heaven) or perish with the material depending on its own nature.

3) Spiritual is bound to the Animate (because it was sewn into the Demiurgos, and then breathed into mankind). It is to learn and experience with the animate while physically incarnate, until it has grown to readiness and returns to the Pleroma.

There are also three distinct “species” of humans in this philosophy- based upon the essences they carry and illustrated by the mythos of Cain, Able, and Seth:

Seth = Material + Animate + Spiritual (the Gnostics- who will all be saved)

Abel = Material + Animate (might be saved, or might perish)

Cain = Only Material (will perish).

By this model, we can see that animate essence that is good by nature (“just”) can receive the seed, while animate essence that is wicked by nature cannot. Interestingly, I see no indication in this philosophy that one must be born a Gnostic- or any idea of reincarnation from Seth. Achamoth “down to this day” continues to sew the spiritual essence into just souls. They come into the world as infants to learn and grow. Once deemed mature, they ascend and are given as brides to the Angels of the Savior. (These Angels are the Pleroma doubles of the spiritual essences themselves. So each Gnostic is eventually wedded to his own Angelic double- his Higher Self, as we would call it today.) So, apparently, one can receive the seed- which would fit with the Pauline Christian doctrine of conversion, saving souls, etc.

The Valentinians regarded themselves as composed of material, animate, and spiritual essences- and because they posses the spiritual they are automatically saved (redeemed) upon death. They put off their material and animate essences, enter the Pleroma, and become brides to the Angels. The animate essence they leave behind must remain in the eighth heaven, while the material will perish in the grave upon Earth.

Other humans are composed of material and animate essences alone- and thus they must be on good behavior (following the rules of the official Church, etc) so they can make it to the Eighth heaven upon death.

The End of All will come when all of the spiritual essence has evolved and been initiated into the mysteries of Achamoth. She will then leave the Midpoint, re-enter the Pleroma, and be married to the Savior. (This is the Bride and Bridegroom of mysticism- Wisdom and the Redeemer.) The entire Pleroma will be their bridal chamber. The Craftsman, at that time, will move into the Supercelestial Palace vacated by Achamoth. Animate humans (“The Just” or non-Valentinian Christians) will move into the eighth heaven with the Craftsman and the animate essences cast off by the Gnostics. This is called the Final Repose of the Just. Finally, the Earth will consume itself with fire. (Note that the Demiurgos was unaware of all of this until the advent of the Savior.)

Act IV: Advent of the Savior

Unknowingly moved by Achamoth (once again), the Demiurgos himself begot the earthly Jesus upon Mary. Thus did Jesus take of the animate essence of the Demiurgos and mixed it with the spiritual essence of Achamoth to form his earthly body. However, there was nothing material in his form- because the material essence cannot be saved. (The Valentinians supposed Jesus appeared physical by some miracle- that his body was apparent and not actual.) It was this earthly Jesus of whom the Craftsman spoke through the Old Testament prophets- the coming of his son.

Upon Jesus’ baptism, the Christos (Anointed) descended into him in the form of a white dove. However, both the Christos and the spiritual seed he took from Achamoth left him when he was arrested and brought before governor Pilate – because the Christos cannot experience suffering or any passion). So it was only the animate Jesus that suffered. He was crucified as a representation of the Christos stretching out along the Great Cross Barrier and forming Achamoth. (And- as described earlier concerning the Barrier- it represents the Cross as winnowing the impure from the soul, while the spiritual essence ascends beyond it to the Pleroma.)

As part of his ministry on Earth, Jesus educated the Craftsman about Achamoth, the Pleroma, and the reward awaiting him at the end of all things (viz.- to move into Achamoth’s place in the eighth heaven.) So the Demiurgos was happy to defect to Jesus’ cause (symbolized in the New Testament by the encounter between Jesus and the Roman Centurion in Mat. 8 and Lk 7). So the Craftsman became the “God of Righteousness (or Justice)”, and was left in charge of creation to “bring about a providential arrangement of events in the world until the appropriate time.” (That is, until the end of all things, or the final coming of Christ.) Especially, he is to oversee his Church here on earth. Unlike the classical Gnostics, who saw Ialdabaoth (or Sabaoth) as the God of the Jews, the Valentinians saw the God of Righteousness as the God of the official Catholic Church. We can see here, as it was described by Ptolemy in his Epistle to Flora that the Creator is not an enemy of mankind- but merely another force of nature under the direct employ of the Highest Divinity.

Here, at long last, I will bring this dissertation to an end. Now you know the basic story of Gnosticism, and its many allegorical implications for the spiritual and physical universes and our own place within them. We have seen a general overview of the historical rise of the Gnostic philosophy- especially as it was affected by Egyptian, Jewish, and Greek cultures. And we have seen its progression from the first classical Gnostics to the Valentinian recension. However, we have not yet seen all of the known early influences upon classical Gnosticism- such as Neoplatonism and Zoroastrianism. Also, I have refrained (with some difficulty) from describing in detail the progression of the Gnostic philosophy beyond the Barbelo Gnostics and Valentinians- such as its overbearing influence upon the Knights Templar, the medieval grimoires, the Qabalah and Hermeticism of the 13th century, and even into our own Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Each of these represents a new thread that can be traced in this fascinating exploration- either for the student himself, or for future additions to this lecture series.

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(Source)

Picatrix (Ghâyat al-Hakîm fi’l-sihr):

Recent scholarship on this Arabic text indicates that it may in fact be a major sourcebook for many of the later grimoires (listed below). According to Joseph Peterson, the Latin translation most familiar to scholars of the West dates to 1256 CE, from the court of king Alphonso the Wise of Castille. Unfortunately, we have yet to see an English translation of the book- though copies do exist in Arabic, German, French, and Latin.

According to Martin Plessner, the text is extremely erratic while covering a surprisingly wide range of occult topics. The philosophical doctrines that form the basis of the talismanic art, the theory of magick, astronomy, astrology and love, extensive instructions on practical magick, and anecdotes concerning the employment of the magick are jumbled together throughout the book without apparent rhyme or reason.

The work is divided into four books. The first contains a preface with “autobiographical” information about the author, his reasons for writing the book (i.e.- to make available the secrets of magick as guarded by the “ancient philosophers”), and a summery of the material found in the four books. The chapters of book one contain large portions of occult philosophy according to its author (largely Neo-Platonic and “pseudo-Aristotelian” according to Plessner), a definition of magick (into theoretical and practical), as well as preliminary information on astrology and the mansions of the moon. The latter is given as vital information for the formation of talismans.

Book two continues the discussions of philosophy above, the correspondences between earthly creatures and celestial archetypes, and gets further into the mysteries of astrology- the triplicities, degrees, conjunctions, the fixed stars, etc- along with (in chapter three) some long and in-depth information about the occult virtues of the moon. Yet another definition of magick follows in chapter five- dividing it this time between the talismanic art, worship of the planets, and incantations. These three, it is suggested, were divided among the human race so that different cultures became the masters of different arts. In the same chapter, material concerning the art of prophecy and divination is related. Chapters six and seven (as well as several following chapters) then go into depth upon the philosophy of talismans, explaining even that

“Man makes talismans unawares as soon as he begins to manipulate nature in such processes as dyeing cloth, breeding animals or compounding drugs, as well as in the manufacture of objects of everyday use from the products of nature, as in cooking, spinning and the like.”

Its main feature is a large hexagram, which covers most of the surface of the tablet, and a triangle in the center of this (reminding one of the triangle used in the Goetia). As a final feature, four holes are drilled through the tablet- one in each corner. When this work is done, more wax is used (specifically more of the same wax from which the tablet was made) to fashion four candles; each with a small shelf-like protrusion of wax (called a “foot”), presumably, half-way up the length of the candle. The four candles are placed in candlesticks, and positioned in a square pattern with the “feet” all facing inward. The Almadel itself is then placed between the candles, so that it rests on the “feet” (taking care they do not block the four holes) and is thus elevated well above the surface of the table or altar. The final components are a small golden or silver talisman which rests in the center of the Almadel, and an earthen censor placed on the table directly underneath.

No less than four Almadels must be made- including the four candles and the earthen censor (but not the metal talisman)- so there is one of a different color for each of the four altitudes:

“Though the following advice may be scarcely necessary for the most part, since I have already explained unto you all things necessary to be done; and also seeing that your Guardian Angel will have sufficiently instructed you in all that you should do… “

 

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Note: The following article has been published with the author’s approval. The original article can be found at http://kheph777.tripod.com/secrets_chap1.html

The Medieval and Renaissance Eras

The “classical age” of the grimoiric texts is roughly equivalent to the span of the Middle (or Medieval) and Renaissance ages. The Middle Ages began roughly in the fifth century CE, when the empire of Rome was both infiltrated and violently overrun by Germanic tribes. This is when the famous sacking of Rome took place at the hands of the Vandals, in the year 455 CE. The established government was slowly inched out of power, and Italy became little more than an extension of a German kingdom. The vast Roman Republic faded away, and was replaced by a wholly agricultural society.

The Roman government, however, was not willing to simply vanish into the pages of history. It quickly shifted from its past political structure and focused upon a theocracy instead. Much of the groundwork for this was set as early as the mid-300s, when the Roman Emperor Constantine decided to take action against the fragmentation of his empire. He saw his chance within the various religious cults of Christianity (which had steadily gained popularity with the people regardless of attempts to exterminate it), and the already widespread worship of Mithras (a rather Christ-like solar God). If the people could be united under one religious structure, then the entire land would finally be controllable again.

In 325 CE, Constantine called together the famous Council of Nice- where four hundred bishops gathered to establish a unified and government-controlled religion. Constantine built churches across the land, and enforced the observance of the new faith. Highly adept at persuading his people, he combined the most popular elements of Christianity with those of other cults such as Mithraism in order to make the new doctrine as attractive as possible. His maneuvering paid off; as this was the foundation of the Holy Roman Empire.

(First Holy Council of Nicea)

The decisions of the Council- recorded as the Nicene Creed– became something of a holy scripture itself. It contained the specific outline of what made one a Christian, in the form of theological beliefs. For example, one line of the Creed reads as follows:

We believe in the Holy Spirit,
The Lord and Giver of Life,
Who proceedeth from the Father.

The Nicene council is often considered the birth of Catholicism, but this is not entirely the case. Originally, the Christian religion was quite decentralized, and any given church had its own way of doing things. When issues arose that concerned the religion as a whole, large gatherings of Bishops and religious leaders were called together so the issues could be debated and ruled upon. The Council of Nice itself is an example of this process.

It was not until three hundred years later that a major schism took place within the organization, creating two distinct branches of the faith: Orthodox and Catholic. Though it may be hard to believe, the division was created by the inclusion of a single Latin word into a song. This was done by a French priest who was working on setting the Nicene Creed (in Latin) to the music of Gregorian chant. Apparently, he had trouble with the line quoted above, as the metre of the song left a few notes of the chant without lyrics. In order to “flesh out” the words to fit the music, the priest added the four syllable word filioque onto the line- changing it to:

We believe in the Holy Spirit,
The Lord and Giver of Life,
Who proceedeth from the Father, and from the Son.

As the song became popular, it brought the theological implications of the lyrical addition into the spotlight. One camp saw little problem with the inclusion, while others felt it inappropriate to alter the Creed- especially where it concerned the natures of both the Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ. In 589 CE, the Third Council of Toledo officially accepted the new word into the Creed, and effectively divided the faith in two. Those who refused to accept the new Creed separated into the Eastern Orthodox faith (centralized in Constantinople under the guidance of the “Ecumenical Patriarch”), and those who remained became the Catholic Church (centralized in Rome under the “Pope”).

Such was the state of Europe at the beginning of the Medieval era, ruled by its Germanic kings and Catholic clergy. The people gathered together upon “manors,” which consisted of the landlord’s castle, the church, a village, and the farmlands that surrounded them. These manors were actually land grants given by the king to powerful noblemen. In return, the noblemen had to declare loyalty, and promise tribute and access to military troops to the king. The noblemen then divided their land amongst various lesser nobles called “vassals,” or land barons. Finally, the land barons contracted peasants (“serfs”) to tend and cultivate the farmland in return for military protection. This was the basic structure of the feudal economic system. The serfs were uneducated, traveled very little, and were heavily taxed by their landlords. The rulers themselves were constantly embattled in petty political and military intrigue.

By the seventh century, the religion of Islam arose upon the Arabian peninsula, and swept through the middle east. Its armies defeated the Byzantine and Persian kingdoms that ruled there, and took control of the Holy Land by the year 638 CE. Over the next three centuries, the Arabians pushed northwestward onto the continent of Europe- engaging in a holy war against the empire of the Christians.

In the eleventh century, the Christians were experiencing more difficulty at home. The East/West schism that had begun nearly half a century before finally came to a boil in 1054 CE. In an effort to mend the dissolving relationship between the Churches, emissaries from Rome journeyed to Constantinople and visited the Ecumenical Patriarch. Unfortunately, the discussions failed, and ultimately ended with both sides casting anathemas of excommunication at each other. The schism was complete, and the Eastern Orthodox Church had no involvement in the later actions of the Roman Catholic Church.

(Map presenting the Great Schism)

Meanwhile, the Turks displaced the Arabians as the rulers of Islam. Where Arabian rulers had often been tolerant of the Christians’ interest in the Holy Land, the Turks were not so kind. Christian pilgrims to the middle east soon found themselves traveling in armed bands for protection against Turkish attackers. In the year 1095 CE, the Byzantine emperor, Alexios I Komnenos, sent an urgent plea for help to Pope Urban II. The sympathetic Pope addressed a council of leaders in Clermont, and the Crusades were created in answer. The Holy Land thus became a place of bitter religious war.

There were several Crusades that took place over the next few hundred years, all directed against non-Christian peoples. The warrior class of Europe had become a religious order in its own right, fighting one holy war after another in the name of God and King. Military conquest continued even after the loss of the Holy Land to the Turks in 1291 CE, though this date is often considered the “official” end of the Crusades.

The Knights Templar arose in the environment of the Crusades in 1118 CE. They were a mystery cult of warrior-monks who protected the merchant lanes of the Holy Land, and practiced the rites of ancient Gnostic Christianity. They were established at the site of the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem by the French king Baldwin II. By 1128 they had been confirmed by Pope Honorius II at the Council of Troyes. As the Holy Land fell to Islam, the Templars slowly withdrew toward Paris, and finally established their headquarters at the Temple Monastery there.

(Templars fighting against the arab army)

The Knights Templar had grown in wealth and power over the years, and eventually excited the greed of the King of France, Phillipe le Bel. Declaring that the mystery rites of the order were heresy to the Church, he began to systematically destroy the order one member at a time. All of the treasure of the Templars was to go directly to his coffers, but none of its members could be coerced or tortured into revealing its whereabouts. Phillipe had wasted his efforts. In a final maneuver, he attempted to demand judgement against the Templars from the Pope. When the holy man refused to be manipulated, the king dismissed him and instated his own man, the Bishop of Bordeaux, as Pope Clement V. This Pope gladly issued a papal bull suppressing the Templar order in 1312 CE.

This was the basis of the dreaded Inquisitions. Their stated objective was to discover heresy within the Church, and thus rid the world of all rival Christian (i.e.- non-Catholic) groups. The Templars were merely the first to fall, with their Grand Master Jaques de Molay burned at the stake with several others in March of 1314. The order went underground, and its history becomes shaded from that point forward.

(Jaques de Molay burned at the stake)

The “Holy Inquisition” had been growing since the twelfth century, though it had not become institutionalized (under the governance of Dominican monks) until the thirteenth century. In 1231 Pope Gregory IX declared life imprisonment for heretics who confessed and repented, and death for those who refused. Once rival Christian sects had been obliterated, the Church turned its attentions toward others. Two Dominican monks- Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger- penned the Malleus Maleficarum (Witches’ Hammer) in 1468 CE; a text of hatred, lies, and methods of torture dedicated to the eradication of pagan practices. It is in this book that we find the stereotypical images of Medieval witches, midnight sabbaths, black witchcraft, and pacts with Satan. It also happened to give exceedingly graphic instructions for torture, and outlined some of the ludicrous “tests” for witchcraft with which many of us are familiar today. Needless to say, this was the textbook upon every inquisitor’s desk. As late as 1492, the Queen of Spain established the Spanish Inquisition- aimed at the conversion, expulsion, or eradication of its Jewish and Moslem people. This latter was by far the bloodiest chapter of the inquisitorial period.

This entire episode of human history is known today as the Dark Ages, where we find very little beyond blood and ignorance. There was little cultural advancement, much ancient knowledge was lost forever, and the world existed under the iron fist of a Church gone mad.

(Process of a witch, depicting a woman being undressed, probably to find the ‘signs of the Devil’ on her body. These signs were usually moles, of which people believed were done by the devil and would not bleed if pricked)

However, there was some light during these dark times. The 1200s saw great gatherings of scholars and philosophers in Spain and other areas of Europe. This class of people did not harbor the all-too-common religious bigotry of the day, and they met Christian, Muslim, Jew, and Pagan alike. It was here that the Qabalah as we know it was created, marked especially by the publication of The Sepher haZohar (Book of Splendor)- a mystical commentary on Biblical literature- by Moses de Leon.

This was also the time of the famed Magna Carta, a human rights contract which the English land barons of 1215 forced King John to sign at peril of his life. It changed little for the serfs, but it greatly restricted the king’s right of taxation and required trials before punishment. In many ways, it is the historical forerunner to the American Bill of Rights.

Finally, the domination of the Medieval Church was dealt its greatest blow, in the fourteenth century, by the spread of the bubonic plague from China. The cycle of the virus continued until the seventeenth century, and wiped out a large portion of the population of Europe. For centuries the people had paid heed to the Church’s doctrines of the end of the world, and to the armies of Angels who would come to the aid of the faithful in those times. When the black plague struck, the Church lost no time in proclaiming the final rapture (Thessalonians 4:16-17), and insisted that only the sinners of the world would suffer.

(Plague victims were blessed; illustration from Omne Bonum manuscript by James le Palmer, 14th century)

This was a political disaster. The plague swept through the known world, and paid no attention to the piety of its victims. Worse than this, the one segment of society least affected by the plague were the Jewish peoples, due to their strict religious laws regarding cleanliness. These were the people whom the Church had promised would first fall. Now, if the plague were truly the Armageddon, then it was the Jewish people who were proving themselves the “Chosen.” The Church could do nothing, and its armies of Angels languished with sheathed swords. This ultimately broke the spell the Church held over Europe. These sixteenth century people felt that, when the chips had been on the table, their spirituality had failed them. Thus, they slowly began to seek for alternative answers. This ended the Dark Ages, and began the age of the Renaissance.

The invention of the printing press by Johann Gutenburg in 1450 revolutionized communication and scholarship in a manner comparable to our own development of the Internet. Columbus discovered the New World in 1492. On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed a copy of his 95 Theses to the doors of Castle Church in Wittenberg; leading to the separation of the Roman Church into Catholic and Protestant sects. King Henry VIII created his protestant Church of England, and his daughter Elizabeth established it during her reign from 1558 – 1602. Johannes Kepler, Galileo, John Dee, and a host of others came to the forefront of the scientific world in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries; many times in direct opposition to the Catholic Church. This was also the time of the most famous wizards of history; such as Johannes Trithemius (1462-1516), Dr. John Dee (1527-1608), Giordano Bruno (1548-1600), and others. It isn’t taught in our modern schools, but the very men who originally fashioned the basic scientific assumptions about our world had copies of the grimoires upon their shelves, and/or claimed membership to various mystery orders.

(Johannes Trithemius 1462-1516)

One thing for which the Renaissance is particularly known is the shifting of thought from the Medieval philosophy based on Aristotle to the more pantheistic Neo-platonic views. In the late 1400s, Marsilio Ficino translated the Corpus Hermeticum– believing it was a true reflection of ancient Egyptian religion and the source for the philosophy of Plato and the Greeks. Of course, today we know that the Hermetic Arts arose in the early Common Era, and that it was they who were affected by Plato. However, this was not understood in the fifteenth century, and Ficino’s work created something of an Egyptian craze among mystics and occultists.

At the same time that Ficino was disseminating the Hermetic teachings, one Pico della Mirandola was doing the same for the Qabalah. Both of these traditions (Hermetic and Qabalistic) had been in vogue centuries earlier, but had been largely lost due to Church suppression. The efforts of men such as Ficino and Mirandola re-created the mystical movements that gave rise to the spiritual values of the Renaissance mystics. This Neo-platonic Hermetic-Qabalistic philosophy is the very one described in detail by Henry Agrippa in his Three Books of Occult Philosophy. (An extremely important book in relation to the grimoiric literature- see below.)

This philosophy endured until the 1600s, where it would culminate in a German mystical movement known as the “Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross.” In 1614 and 15, two manifestos (generally known as the Fama and Confessio) were anonymously published in the name of this Brotherhood. Each of them took a very strong anti-papal stance, and insisted on religious tolerance, the advancement of science as a spiritual art, and the reform of education, religion, and ethics. These “Rosicrucians” were deeply Hermetic (holding Alchemy as the most sacred of sciences) and they drew much from the philosophy outlined by Dr. John Dee in his Hieroglyphic Monad of 1564 CE.

(To Rosy Cross, associated with the founder Christian Rosenkreuz)

It is most likely that the Brotherhood did not exist in any tangible sense. The Rosicrucians claimed to meet only at an “Invisible College”- and there are many subtle hints to suggest that this was meant as an allegory. The Rosicrucian manifestos were addressed to all free thinkers and spiritual seekers in the world; especially those who yearned for the dawning of a new age, the advancement of learning, and freedom from the oppressive Roman Church. The Invisible College was the common ground within the hearts of all who sought such goals. There is no known historical philosopher or Hermetic mystic, who we would call “Rosicrucian” today, who ever claimed membership to such an Order. Instead, it is the results of their Work that make them Rosicrucian thinkers.

This represents the end of the classical period upon which this book focuses. The Rosicrucian movement initiated a new magickal current- much less shamanic in nature than the grimoiric material (see chapter two). After the initial furor caused by the publication of the manifestos, the Thirty Years War broke out in Europe, driving the thought movement underground. There it continued until it finally found expression in the Age of Enlightenment and within Freemasonry. It is from Freemasonry that so many of our modern magickal systems descend. Rosicrucianism, therefore, stands as a mid-point between the authors of the grimoires, and the Masonic founders of our own post-Victorian magickal systems.

The Classical Grimoires

Write the names upon a piece of new paper, and having extended it over your forehead from one temple to the other, address yourself turning towards the north to the six names, saying…

Write upon a slip of virgin parchment…this Character and Name; …thou shalt hold with thy right hand the aforesaid strip of parchment against thy forehead, and thou shalt say the following words:

At the same time, another influence played a primary role in the formation of the classical grimoires: the apocryphal biblical text known as the Testament of Solomon. Elizabeth Butler considers this work “The turning point between ancient and Medieval magic…” The Testament outlines the mythology of King Solomon, from his subjugation of the spirits to build the Temple to his eventual entry into worship of foreign Gods.

(King Solomon evoking demon Belial)

I Solomon said unto him:

“Beelzeboul, what is thy employment?“

 And he answered me:

“I destroy kings. I ally myself with foreign tyrants. And my own demons I set on to men, in order that the latter may believe in them and be lost. And the chosen servants of God, priests and faithful men, I excite unto desires for wicked sins, and evil heresies, and lawless deeds; and they obey me, and I bear them on to destruction. And I inspire men with envy, and murder, and for wars and sodomy, and other evil things. And I will destroy the world.”

The third said: “I am called Arotosael. I do harm to the eyes, and grievously injure them. Only let me hear the words, ‘Uriel, imprison Aratosael’, at once I retreat.”…

The sixth said: “I am called Sphendonael. I cause tumours of the parotid gland, and inflammations of the tonsils, and tetanic recurvation. If I hear, ‘Sabrael, imprison Sphendonael’, at once I retreat.’

The Testament even lists four demonic rulers of the cardinal points of the compass, who were later echoed by a great number of Medieval grimoires: Oriens (of the east), Amemon (of the south), Eltzen (of the north), and Boul (of the west).

It would seem that the direct inheritor of this material among the Medieval grimoires is the Goetia– or Lesser Key- which lists 72 such spirits, along with their characters, functions, appearances, and information on how to bind them to the will of the magickian. The four “cardinal princes” even make an appearance, called here Amaymon, Corson, Zimimay, and Goap. The Goetia, in turn, had a major influence on the texts that followed. Therefore, the demonology of the Testament of Solomon became the grimoiric standard.

This occurred along with another trend that ran throughout the European texts- the assimilation of Jewish mysticism into the primarily Christian material. Even before the rise of the Qabalah in the thirteenth century, there existed a form of Jewish shamanic magick known as Mahaseh Merkavah or the “Work of the Chariot.” This was a practice of astral travel through the seven palaces of heaven (i.e.- the planetary spheres), where the ultimate goal was the Vision of the Throne of God.

This text is part of the book Secrets of the Magickal Grimoires written by Aaron Leitch. You can order the book by accessing the following link http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0738703036/13thstarcomin-20

Images:

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Note: The following article has been published with the author’s approval. The original article can be found at http://www.llewellyn.com/journal/article/2321

The Enochian Mythos

In the Beginning, the Creator fashioned the world via a series of divine words. These words were then written in letters of fire upon a series of celestial tablets called the Book of the Speech From God. That Book contains the celestial language of creation, the keys to the gates of heaven and all the knowledge and wisdom of the universe—past, present and future. It appears in many different forms in religions around the world—variously called the Heavenly Tablets, the Tablets of Destiny, the Book of the Secrets of God, the Book of Life, the Book of the Lamb, the Book of Thoth, the Akashic Records, and even Book T (or Tarot).

In the Garden of Paradise, Adam fluently spoke the celestial language recorded in the Book. With it, he held familiar conversation with both God and angels and also gave true names to all created things. However, when Adam lost his place in Paradise, he also lost his knowledge of the sacred tongue—he could no longer easily speak with the angels. However, so he might communicate with his family, he created a primordial human language based on his best (yet flawed) memories of the celestial speech.

Seven generations later, the prophet Enoch established a new dialog with the angels. The holy creatures deemed him worthy to visit the heavens, to see the choirs of angels, the Throne of God, and the celestial tablets. From them, Enoch transcribed 366 earthly books of wisdom, with which he hoped to restore humanity to its former glory. But, alas, Enoch’s wisdom was soon lost in the Great Deluge that destroyed the world.

Adam’s reconstructed language persisted (through Noah’s line) until the Confusion of Tongues at the Tower of Babel. There, the primordial human tongue was divided into several different languages so the builders of the Tower could no longer communicate with one another or complete the project. (This is the Biblical explanation for the various languages of the world.) Of all the ancient tongues, the one that remained closest to Adam’s original was the one we know today as Biblical Hebrew. No knowledge or memory of the celestial tongue of the angels survived at all.

(When considering this mythos, take note that it centers upon each point in the Old Testament where language is the central subject matter. Even more importantly, it highlights those instances where language plays a direct role in Man’s ability—or inability—to communicate with God and the celestial creatures.)

The Enochian Magick of Dr. John Dee—Mythos Meets History

The “Biblical” (that is, post-Babel) state of earthly language lasted well into the sixteenth century. In the meantime, many scholars had tackled the subject of the celestial language, and even a few attempts had been made to reconstruct it. Yet, such attempts were usually simple knock-offs of Biblical Hebrew written with astrological characters. They were given such names as “Celestial” and “Malachim” (which were and are still used in talismanic magick), but they were only feeble shadows of the divine language of creation. (For more on this subject, see my previous Llewellyn Journal article, “The Quest for the Divine Language.”)

Then, in the late 1500s, a new pair of prophets—Dr. John Dee and his “skryer Edward Kelley—took a keen interest in both angels and their lost language. Working, at first, from various Solomonic grimoires, these men established contact with the same angels to whom Enoch had once spoken. They revealed many magickal secrets to the two men, such as how to summon the angels of the planets and the stars, how to descry the secrets of foreign nations, and how to—like Enoch—spiritually visit the celestial realms.

Most importantly, Dee also asked the angels to reveal the lost Book of Enoch—by which he meant an apocryphal Biblical text that preserves the story of Enoch’s life and work. (Today, this text is called 1 Enoch or the Ethiopic Book of Enoch. Though it was lost in Dee’s time, it was rediscovered in the 17th Century. You can now find it online in many places for free.) The angels agreed to Dee’s request; however, what they brought was not the Biblical text at all. Instead, they revealed the celestial tablets—the Book of the Speech from God—from which Enoch had once copied. To Edward Kelley the Book appeared as a large tome of forty-nine leafs, written in blood (we assume the blood of the Lamb, as mentioned in the Book of Revelation) and containing the forty-nine speeches God had used to create the world. The angels told Dee and Kelley how to use the Book to open the gates of heaven, receive revelations directly from God, and to speak with angels in their own native tongue.

Though Dee never called it such, later historians would refer to Dee’s material as “Enochian Magick,” due to its relationship to the biblical prophet Enoch. This complex system of magick remained largely hidden in Dee’s journals for hundreds of years.

Golden Dawn Enochian Magick (or Neo-Enochiana)

When the Order of the Golden Dawn was formed in the late 1800s, they were keen to include Dee’s material in their higher-grade curriculum. However, they were only aware of a few of Dee’s journals, and therefore of only a portion of Dee’s magickal system. They wrongly assumed they had found a rough outline for an incomplete system of angel magick, and therefore applied what they had to their own system of lodge-style Rosicrucian magick. The result was an Enochian system that appears similar to, but is in fact very different from, Dee’s original system. I have called this recension of the Dee material “Neo-Enochiana.”

The Order did not originally know about Dee’s planetary magick, nor did they have access to the most important aspect of his system—the Book of the Speech From God. They did have his systems for skrying various locations around the world and for summoning the angels of the stars. They also had a series of 48 invocations in the Angelical language (often called Keys or Callings) that were intended to access the powers of the celestial Book, but they did not know the true purpose of the 48 Keys.

Meanwhile, it was Dee’s system for summoning the angels of the stars that formed the backbone of the Golden Dawn’s Enochian magick. This was derived from a set of four large word-squares (called “Watchtowers”) that contained the names of God and dozens of angels assigned to the four quarters of the universe. However, the Golden Dawn used a different arrangement of Watchtowers in the four cardinal directions than Dee had used, and they devised a different method of decrypting names from the four word-squares—resulting in a much larger hierarchy of angels than Dee had intended. (Most of this was outlined in a document entitled Book H, which was likely written by an early founder of the Order.)

The Golden Dawn also interpreted the angels of the Watchtowers as creatures of the four Elements: Fire, Water, Air, and Earth. (Dee never associated his Watchtowers with the Elements, instead assigning them only to the four cardinal directions and listing the functions of the angels as mostly alchemical in nature.) Finally, because they did not know of the Book of the Speech From God and its magickal system, the Golden Dawn assumed the Angelical Keys should be used to summon the angels listed in the Watchtowers. Therefore, they divided the Keys and applied them to the various groups of angels found throughout the squares.

These things—the different arrangement of Watchtowers in the quarters, the new manner of decrypting the names, the application of the four Elements to the Watchtowers, and the use of the Angelical Keys to summon the Watchtower angels—are the very things that make Golden Dawn Neo-Enochiana a completely different tradition from Dee’s original. Beyond this, the Order devised a deeply complex system for applying their own correspondences to each and every Watchtower square, along with their own rituals for working with the angels.

Over the next hundred years, the Golden Dawn would have the largest impact on the modern occult revival, and thus their Neo-Enochian system would become the common standard. Every bit of this system is unique to the Golden Dawn tradition, though many modern students mistakenly believe some of it originated with Dee. They do not know that there is a larger—and indeed complete—system of magick found throughout Dee’s collection of spiritual journals. Even those who are aware that more Dee material exists, do not often understand the fundamental differences between Dee’s magick and what was later taught by the Golden Dawn.

The Dee Revival

In the late 1990s, the advent of the Internet brought about a new era of research and communication between scholars. Up to that point, the Dee material had been considered very obscure and hard to understand. Few had the courage to tackle the material by themselves. Now, however, Dee scholars and Enochian practitioners from around the world could finally pool their resources. Over the course of about a decade, Dee’s journals were fully vetted and his obscure magickal system finally pieced together again. At last, the Dee-purist study of Enochiana came to exist over a hundred years after the Golden Dawn’s recension had become standard.

Today, it is not uncommon to see Dee’s Enochian magick discussed alongside the Golden Dawn’s as if they were one and the same. In fact, some intermixing is taking place—mostly on the part of Golden Dawn magicians borrowing further elements from Dee’s journals (such as his angelic summoning tools) and applying them to their Neo-Enochian rituals. You will not likely find such magicians changing the directions or Elemental associations of the Watchtowers back to Dee’s originals, nor are they likely to remove the Angelical Keys from their Watchtower invocations. Such changes would remove the Enochian system from the Golden Dawn cosmology such practitioners have adopted.

The Dee-purists, on the other hand, are much less likely to adopt any aspect of the Golden Dawn Enochian material into their study or practice of the magick. Again, to adopt such changes would be to remove the system from the Renaissance cosmology they know. They stick with what is outlined in Dee’s journals as well as what is described in the grimoires that Dee consulted in his work (such as the Arbatel of Magic, Agrippa’s Three Books of Occult Philosophy, the Lemegeton, etc.).

The usual mistake of the Dee-purist is not in misunderstanding the magick (or understanding it only in part), but in assuming that the Golden Dawn’s version is somehow “wrong.” While it is true that the Neo-Enochian system was created from an incomplete view of Dee’s material, that doesn’t make it inherently incorrect. At least, not any more so than the Golden Dawn’s Egyptian material is incorrect, or its Qabalah, or its Alchemy, etc. In all of these cases, the Order adopted aspects of older systems into their own unique framework, creating something new in the process. None of them are pure examples of the originals, but all of them fit into the greater context of the Golden Dawn tradition itself. The Neo-Enochian system is “correct” from within the Golden Dawn (and those who followed in their footsteps, such as Thelema, Wicca, and others).

But, then, the Dee-purist system is also correct in that it is an accurate reflection of what the man himself recorded. Over the past twenty years, a lot of great work has been done to decipher and restore Dee’s system. Much effort has been made to understand the Angelical language, the Book of the Speech From God, the various hierarchies of angels, and the magickal methods Dee recorded.

This new material is only beginning to reach the occult community through forums, blogs, and published books. And students are only now beginning to gain an awareness of the differences between the two traditions of Enochian magick (or, in fact, that there are indeed two different traditions). For the first time in over a hundred years, genuinely new (yet older) Enochian material is becoming available for students, with more on the horizon. Without a doubt, this is an exciting time in the realm of Enochian study and practice.

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