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JMarshall: QBL Terminology/Culture

To: alt.magick.tyagi,alt.magick,alt.occult.kabbalah,talk.religion.misc,talk.religion.newage,alt.consciousness.mysticism
From: tyagi@houseofkaos.abyss.com (nagasiva)
Subject: JMarshall: QBL Terminology/Culture
Date: 13 Sep 1997 12:58:30 -0700

[from kabbalah-l@hollyfeld.org: "Jeff Marshall" ]

Greetings

I certainly have neither the formal training nor the erudition in Qabalah of
many on this list.  But what I have found through interaction in several
online groups is students of this topic tend to fall into roughly two
categories:

1.  Those that tie the study pretty much to a religious system of some sort
2.  Those that don't

Now this doesn't mean there aren't crossovers and that people are
"pigeon-holed", although I've met many that are.

In category 1, I've run into again broadly speaking, two subcategories
a.  Those who say the study is strictly Judaic and those not approaching it
from very well defined Judaic model are not "properly" studying the subject.
b.  Those who seem to use the study to prove that Jesus Christ was part of a
grand design form the very beginning and apply the study within a
specifically Christian framework to "prove" Christianity.

I really don't think I'm the first to notice these rough groups.  The
breakout of Kabbalah/Cabala/Qabalah is not mine.  I've run across it in
several places.  If you don't like it, then hey, I'm not trying to label you
or anyone.  Don't sweat it.  But what I have seen in many places is that
those tending toward 1a(Jewish approach) tend to spell it Kabbalah almost
all the time.  They also *tend* to take the most umbrage when someone
approaches the study from a non-Judaic perspective.

For example, initiation.  Generally speaking most of the Jewish students
(and here I don't mean ethnically Jewish, but rather strict Jewish
interpretation) I've discussed the topic with, the flow is only one way:
Kether to Malkuth.  The idea of initiation and backward flow is alien at
best(this of course neglects Merkabah).  In an initiatic setting, the
student works to reintegrate the forces/properties of the Sephiroth back
together and travel back up the Tree to awaken the Divine within.
Personally, I see this as the meaning behind Enoch and his walk with God,
especially in the traditions where Enoch is transformed into Mettatron.

I honestly don't see the Qabalah as Judaic.  Rather, I see it as lovingly
maintained by the Judaic tradition and passed to the West in a Judaic form.
I think we can see traces of Gnostic thought, Mesopotamian thought and the
Egyptian Ennead in the Qabalah.  That is why I shy away from taking a
religious approach to the study.  But I certainly do not say my approach is
the only way at all.  Which is why when on a list with many different
approaches to the study, I attempt to clarify my position and use a spelling
that many (obviously not all) associate with the Western Esoteric
interpretation of the study.

If I have offended in some way, then please accept my apology.  If I have
shown you that I am unlearned in the study, then by all means either
instruct or ignore an unlearned man.

AOI
Jeff

[quotations omitted]
-- 
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see http://www.abyss.com/tokus; "Clement of Rome taught that God rules the world
with a right and a left hand, the right being Christ, the left Satan." - CGJung

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