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To: thelema93-l@hollyfeld.org
From: jake stratton-kent 
Subject: English-Qaballa FAQ. Long!
Date: Sun, 12 Jan 1997 22:19:07 +0000

A L W H S D O Z K V  G  R  C  N  Y  J  U  F  Q  B  M  X  I  T  E  P
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Frequently Asked Questions 

Q. Why is the E.'.Q.'. Order & Value a serial order (one to twenty six)
rather than hundreds, tens and units like the Hebrew system and others? 

A. Many students of the Golden Dawn system and the better known sources
on Greek and Hebrew Qabalah ask this question. In fact there is a
considerable body of evidence that Greek and Hebrew characters were used
for a serial order first, and that this order was important in the
development of these systems, similarly many other ritual alphabets have
used serial orders rather than hundreds, tens and units. There is thus
no reason why E.'.Q.'. should adhere to the same pattern as the systems
which have had most currency since the nineteenth century. On the other
hand the vast majority of alternative English Gematrias proposed since
E.'.Q.'.'s discovery have adopted the 1 to 26 "value" while proposing
another "order" for the letters. 

Q. Surely any attribution of numbers to letters would produce results?
Isn't it more a matter of belief and "word association by numbers"? 

A. Apparently not, though before my own experience of E.'.Q.'. I might
well have thought so myself. Several alternative gematrias do exist, but
as yet none has produced a magical system. The question of belief is not
appropriate to a true numerical system, numbers are a standard of
immutable truth that rises above mythology and other limited paradigms.
So far the alternative gematrias have indeed proved to be nothing more
than systems of word association, or go little further than "proving"
the discoverer is Crowley's successor!  E.'.Q.'. on the other hand has
shown itself capable of considerably more than this, a situation that
cannot be entirely due to the superior ability of its exponents! 

Since writing the above I have become familiar with the work of David
Allen Hulse, whose unpublished work on English gematria is a major
exception to the above rule. Though not extending to a magical
methodology in itself - as yet -  the system he uses is the simplest of
all, the ABC series numbered 1 to 26, which the discoverers of E.'.Q.'.
had tried and not found of interest, my own researches also failed to
find anything of interest in this schema. Hulse on the other hand, and I
take my hat off to him for it, came at the problem from another
direction, as may be seen in his "Key of it All" which I cannot
recommend too highly, and got first class results from what had seemed
to some of the best qualified persons in this field to be an unlikely
schema. Having surveyed and examined many alternative methods of English
gematria it is my belief that more is to come, and that the serial order
applied to ABC and its odd numbered permutations (of which "family"
E.'.Q.'. is an honoured member) is likely to be the most fertile area
for future discoveries. 

Q. What simple proofs can you present that E.'.Q.'. is a valid solution
to the Qabalistic puzzles of the Book of the Law? 

A. Simple proofs are many, though in their enthusiasm E.'.Q.'. writers
have often assumed the reader will find them for themselves, and have
concentrated on other more technical aspects. These following are among
the simplest and most "accessible" indicators of E.'.Q.'.'s astonishing
ability to detail Thelemic principles exactly without mindbending
calculation or peculiar spellings!

 Many Thelemites are accustomed to writing "Love is the law, love under
will" as three 93's. The value of LOVE IS THE LAW, LOVE UNDER WILL by
E.'.Q.'. is 279 or 3x93. Similarly "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole
of the law" = 386 which is 2x193.

The second chapter of the Book of the Law, gives the number of "Had" as
eleven, the value of HAD in E.'.Q.'.. 

The phrase STRANGE DRUGS from AL has the value 143, the same value as
the phrase DISTANT DRUG in Liber VII. This is a striking example of the
accuracy of the gematria system, involving not only AL but the entire
Class A literature.

The Book of the Law injoins us to exceed by delicacy and drink by the
eight and ninety rules of art. DELICACY = 98 by E.'.Q.'., no other
reason has ever been presented for the number of "rules of art".

The Thelemic Pentagram rituals frequently attribute Babalon to West and
Water, while Aiwass/Aiwaz is frequently attributed to the direction of
Air. BABALON = 65 = WATER, AIWAZ = 36 = AIR. Accordingly E.'.Q.'.
derived ritual corresponds closely with traditional ritual in this
obvious respect and in others less obvious, without any necessity to
squeeze round pegs into square holes by selective spelling or other
contortions.

The Counting Well process (briefly, value of word a times number of
letters in word b and vice versa) produces other startling proofs.

AZURE % LIDDED = 718 Note eleven letters and initials AL, the next word
is "Woman", thus the initials ALW, which are the first three letters of
the E.'.Q.'. Order & Value.  Note also that the phrase "O Azure-Lidded
Woman" starts with the letters O.A.Z.,  which letters have the E.'.Q.'.
values of  7.1.8.

ABRAHAD % ABRA = 418 (Crowley's "Hebrew" system gives the same value).

AUM % HA = 93 (this word seals the book).

SUN % MIDNIGHT = 666, this number is traditionally associated with the
Sun and with the "Solar Phallic" current of which "The Beast" is the
embodiment. There are important keys in this equivalence, relating to
Khephra, results magick and the IVth house of astrology, the enemy
naming ceremony and much else.

[BABALON % BABALON = 910, 91 is a significant number, with or without
considerations of the Hebrew system, since it is the sum of the numbers
one to thirteen, and the value of 13x7. The E.'.Q.'. value of BABALON is
65,  65 + 91 = 156, the value of Babalon in Crowley's "Hebrew" system.]

These simple proofs are outside the realm of coincidence and are
unmatched by any alternative system. Neither Achad or Crowley produced
results of this quality or quantity with their qabalistic analyses,
simply because they lacked the tools, no alternative gematria schema has
come close either. It is not a matter of "my qabalah is better than
yours", though many responses to E.'.Q.'. have been based on such a
petulant attitude. The "English Qaballists"  have done considerable
research into all alternatives which have been put forward, and have
often tried harder to extract sense from them than the proposers of the
alternatives themselves. The vital thing to bear in mind is a qabalah is
a ritual language, and any proposed system that does not produce a
magical system is not a qabalah, whatever else it might be. I see no
reason to reject the possibility of further numerical systems within the
Book of the Law, but this is no argument against making use of the only
one so far to produce practical results! 


-- 
jake stratton-kent
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