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To: alt.magick.tyagi,alt.occult.methods,alt.magick,alt.consciousness.mysticism,alt.occult.kabbalah.golden-dawn From: haraSubject: Sephirotic Trees (was kabalae) Date: Fri, 23 Nov 2001 20:36:28 GMT 50011122 VI! om shalom alechem, my kin. "greta garbo" : >can you give me information on the tree sephirotic? from the Charter of alt.occult.methods: # Theoretical speculation, cosmology, metaphysics, ethics, and # other primarily speculative, mystical, and religious discussion # are NOT a part of this newsgroup's purpose. Those discussions # can take place in the various occult newsgroups already formed # for the purposes of entertaining general discussion (such as # the alt.magick, alt.astrology, alt.tarot, alt.divination, # alt.consciousness, alt.metaphysics, alt.religion, hierarchies). so consider taking this discussion elsewhere if and when it becomes too theoretical (discussion of "kabbalah" under various names typically becomes entirely symbolic and theoretical very quickly in cyberspace because most people neither have experience with practical use, being occultists rather than mystics or magicians, nor really have an interest in doing more than understanding it and going on). 'the sephirotic tree' is meaningless within the widest scope of study of mysticism and magic surrounding "kabbalah", this name and its variety of forms under this name originating within a community of Jewish mystics and its competitive religious tangents and offshoots developed by the religious of Christian, Hermetic, Thelemic, and other communities. the reason that this is the case is that mystical tree-form diagrams predate Jewish mysticism of this type by centuries, a variety of forms have been used over the millenia, varying *widely* as to both structure and association-assignment and even Jewish trees with "sephiroth" have a multitude of varying forms, even concentric at times. the *practical* elements of (at least Hermetic, and possibly also Jewish) kabbalistic diagrams are the names, ideas, and, especially, the IMAGES and transcendental beings associated with the particular sephira (often the circle in a diagram of this type, usually paired with numbers in a series and sometimes illustrative of cosmogenesis). as far as I can tell, the mystic using such diagrams usually sees them as maps of the spirit, whether directional mazes to the transcendant or symbolic recipes for the refinement of conscious. often they, or their guides within a mystical tradition, attempt to identify their relative location on the map for the purpose of orientation, and then set about visualizations or other mystical and magical activities that are supposed to bring about movement or "progress" toward the agreed or mysterious objectives associated with the next phase of mysticism. sometimes, as seems pretty common amongst Hermetic magicians, the method of using the 'Tree of Life', as it is often called, includes particular visualization images associated with the lines (paths) or circles (sephiroth), specific sonic syllables intoned or presumed to be keys unlocking the energies of the sephira, portions of the mind, personality, or spiritual character which may be the focus of refinement or mastery that the mystic works on based on their state. what actually happens to the mystic, whether these techniques result in anything more than the exercise of the mystic's or magician's imagination, is subject to a great deal of speculation. suffice it to say, without extending into the theories associated with these practices in any depth, that religious traditions sometimes emphasize the authority of those who are known for developing and/or providing these methods or understanding them well enough to explain them. in some cases even notorious individuals have become associated with progress in the methods despite little (sometimes even CONTRARY) evidence to be found otherwise (e.g. occultists like Aleister Crowley). there is a great deal of variation in how these symbolic diagrams and the significances associated with their pieces are understood and used, in part depending upon the social group within which one finds them. often those who use them develop dogmatic adherence to the terminology and meanings applied, sometimes completely ignoring historical precedent and evidence to the contrary. this is as true for Jewish Kabbalists as for Hermetic numerolinguists who mistakenly identify 'qabala' as 'gematria'. I'm setting the followup of this post to theoretic newsgroups because the temptation of posting non-practical information about sephirotic trees is too great to resist and posters don't usually understand the difference amongst occult newsgroups. peace be with you, hara nagasiva@luckymojo.com
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