Qabalah for a New Age

Welcome to Goddess & the Tree: Qabala for Pagans 8! We’re glad you could make it! Do check out the other 7 groups of this name on other networks. As I’m writing this, it is the 25th of December. To Christians it is Christmas. For us Pagans, it is Yule (or if you’re Celtic it’s Alban Arthuan.) For Stephen, it’s Jeazmas. It has not as yet penetrated his thick skull that this is wholly and originally a Pagan holiday. The Christians only grafted it onto their calendar because the people were so stubborn about celebrating it. For the Greeks it was the anniversary of the birth of Dionysus on December 25th in a cave. For the Persians it was the birthday of Mithra, son of Ahura Mazda, also born on December 25th in a cave.. Sorry about that. My word processor was doing some weird things. For the Romans it was either the birth date of Sol Invictus or Saturnalia, a week long celebration of the old farmer god Saturn. We really ought to take better care of our nation’s farmers, especially those who run family farms, for on them depends the stomach of America, and a good part of the rest of the world as well. People were getting drunk and copulating in the streets when the church fathers thought they ought to be in church, so the Church unilaterally and arbitrarily set the date for Christ’s birth on December 25th in the year 1. Actually, if such a person really lived, he was most likely born in the spring time, probably around the Ides of March just before the beginning of the Roman year. Stephen seems to think that he was born on April 20th, which is now known as Adolf Hitler’s birthday. The shepherds would not be watching their sheep out in the fields by night in December. All the really fun parts of Yule are Pagan: holly, mistletoe, stars, bells, garlands, gifts, and feasting, including tippling too much Xmas cheer. So please help me get through to Stephen that this is a Pagan holiday that the Christians have co-opted. We Pagans have celebrated the Winter Solstice for thousands of years. There is a group who is seeking to take the Christ out of Christmas. Can anyone find me more information on this group, maybe point me towards their website? Enough of that.

On to the Qabalah. The late great Ellen Cannon Reed wrote the book which inspired this group: The Witches’ Qabalah: The Goddess and the Tree. I mentioned before that it was a filing system. It’s like one of those cases with all the hooks in it, on which one hangs keys, except that in the case of the Tree of Life glyph, the hooks are places to hang magickal correspondences, or concepts. Uncle Al (Aleister Crowley) produced a master work, Liber 777,l the different parts of the world’s religions were filed on the glyph. He left out a great many religions, perhaps he omitted your favorite religion or spiritual path, but that’s all right because it leaves room for others to come in and complete his work. He never meant us, his spiritual nieces and nephews, to slavishly repeat his work, but to use it as the launching pad from which to launch our own work.

Stephen started working on a game called The Tarot and the Tree in 1974, and it as yet remains unpublished. The basic idea behind the game is to achieve balance. You acquire karma points, and the more karma points you acquire the higher you progress. You travel on the Tree of Life and have serial encounters with the different cards in the Tarot. There are multiple scenarios, which are mini-games within the game. I tried to get Stephen to put me through a game today, but he was into sulking in his room.

The Jews don’t hold sole title to the Tree of Life concept. The Germans/Norse have Yggdrasil, which is the ash tree that is the nexus of their universe. It certainly is the foundation of the Hammer of Thor game.

You know, angels far predate the Jews or the Christians. They were the servants and messengers of the Pagan Gods and Goddesses dating from Sumerian times, which go back to long before the Egyptians built any of the pyramids. Stephen doesn’t realize that. He thinks that the Jews and Christians own the angels. I think that the angels were deities in their own right at one time. Of course the followers of the Von Daniken and like theories would say that these Gods and angels were actually extra-terrestrials, aliens from other planets or dimensions. New Agers would say that demons are beings if low frequency vibration, while angels are beings of high frequency vibration. They can also be characterized by their attitude towards humans. The ones who were either indifferent or positively affected towards us are seen as angels, while those who seek our harm are seen as demons. Of course, if you are invaders taking over a people, your gods are good, while the other people’s deities are demons.

Enochian magick, also known as angelic magick, has its own qabalah. And of course the premier work on the Tree of Life, and the explorations thereof us by the late great Israel Regardie: A Garden of Pomegranates.. My copy was re-edited and annotated by that famous magickal couple, the new heads of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the Ciceros. They are a very controversial couple; you either love them or you hate them. Myself, I tend to admire them for what they’re done to further the cause of magick in this modern world, especially Golden Dawn magick. If you know of any other power couples in the field of magickal besides the Ciceros, and Denning & Phillips, please let us know..

We discussed in the first group of this name how the pop singer Madonna studied qabalah. Well, Stephen feels that this tends to demystify the subject. There are a few fantasy novels based on the Qabalah. Stephen believes they have a female protagonist. If you know what they are, please post here or on the Wall. I would like to know what they are. Maybe our library has them.

Let’s talk about color and the Qabalah. Each Sephirah has a color, as well as a bunch of other correspondences. Gematria is one of the four aspects or parts of the Qabalah. Notaricon is another part, and what they have in common is numbers. Each letter or character in the Hebrew alphabet also represents a number, and so, each word in the Totrah or Pentateuch has a numerical significance. Gematria holds that two words having the same numerical value are related in meaning. Gematria is the center post for all workings with the Tree of Life. Godwin’s Caballistic Encyclopedia is a classic in the field of gematria. If you have a number, you can look it up, and it might be there. You might be able to find a used copy for sale at Amazon.com. We don’t recommend Ebay, unless you have an unlimited supply of funds. But Doc had quite good luck with Ebay. You have to know what you’re doing with Ebay. Stephen refuses to have anything to do with Ebay because he hates auctions. “It’s not for the working poor.”

If you know anyone who wants a fairly cheap housing situation with two congenial Pagan magickal housemates in an ethnically mixed neighborhood in Sacramento, contact me at tezra.reitan@gmail.com or Stephen at abbottsinn_school@yahoo.com or Stephen at his phone number 916-455-2267. Also, we desperately need donations to keep Abbott’s Inn International School of Magick afloat. You can send donations of any size to either Stephen’s Paypal account at abbottsinn@gmail.com or abbottsinn_school@yahoo.com or my Paypal account at tezra.reitan@gmail.com. If it’s for at least $32, you’ll get either a reading or a class from our vast collections of divination decks/methods/tools or for the class, pick a topic from our vast repertoire in the field of magick. For $60, you can actually have both a reading and a class. I don’t have my webcam hooked up yet, or my mic, but with Stephen you can have sound and video on Yahoo IM, Windows Msgr or Skype. With me for a short while, it’ll be just phone or typing on Yahoo IM or Windows Msgr. Thank you for using and disseminating Stephen’s Zodiac referral number 1-800-280-8496. Stephen1580. It helps ever so much when you use it instead of the regular number because you don’t pay any more, but he makes three times as much. We’re both on SSI, thanks to Arnold Schwarzenegger drastically cut both of our checks, and Keen isn’t coming up with the paying calls. I haven’t made one cent since signing on with Keen. My clients all demand free five minute readings, and refuse to go over that five minutes for a paid reading. In fact, it’s cost me money to bid so altogether, Keen has been pretty much of a total loss for me. If you need money, kids, mow lawns or babysit, don’t join a psychic reading service, because it’ll just suck in what little money you do have.

Do check out the PaganRadioNetwork.net It’s free, although they certainly do accept donations. Doesn’t everyone? Seems like everyone has his hand out nowadays, and we’re sorry to be part of that, but the situation is dirt. We almost lost our power last month. In these times of smaller SSI checks, a bankrupt state, and practically non-existent paying KEEN calls, the prices just seem to be rising all the time for less and less service or quality.

In order to keep his computer alive, or perhaps get a new computer, Stephen needs a new battery and Windows 7, because Vista is just too unreliable. Vista is the worst operating system since 98. But first Stephen has to pay off his rent, and so do I. Don’t buy a Dell or do business with Wells Fargo. They’re both ripoffs.

If you’re ever in Sacramento, look up Walter Rhoads and Julie Maahs. Together they own Gallery 14 at 14th St. and 60th Avenue. We’re promoting them big time. Walter Rhoads has a very interesting and different approach to art. He compares himself to the late great Jackson Pollock but there are two main differences: Rhoads is still drawing breath with a healthy 98.6 degrees temperature (except when he’s sick, in which case it’s somewhat higher) and I think Jackson Pollock was gay, and Rhoads is, like us, hopelessly hetero.

We certainly hope you’ve enjoyed this post. Sorry about my negativity up there, but I’ve been very depressed by this economy lately, and wishing I were with Doc in the Summerland.
Tegwedd ShadowDancer
Stephen Abbott
Inky my BFF (BoyFriend Forever)
Little (Big)Boy
Oreo (the Mouser)
Bailee Beasley Beastly
Frikki & Frakki
Dr. Livingston I. Presume aka Prince Henry the Navigator