i've found no evidence of the use of the qliphoth in magic prior to
the inception of the Golden Dawn. The subject is not discussed in any
meaningful way by the sixteenth-century Christian cabalists and I
think Rosenroth was probably the first to publish (in Latin) on the
subject, in 'Kabbalah Denudata' vol. 2 part 3, 'Pneumatica
Cabalistica seu Doctrina Hebraeorum de Spiritibus, nempe Angelis
bonis & malis…' at pp. 192–218; Rosenroth employs the Latin term
'cortices' throughout.
Mathers' paper on the qliphoth was not published by Regardie in 'The
Golden Dawn,' but a version (omitting the diagrams) appeared as 'The
Qliphoth of the Qabalah' in R. A. Gilbert (ed.) 'The Sorceror and
His Apprentice. Unknown Hermetic Writings of S. L. MacGregor Mathers
and J. W. Brodie Innes' (Wellingborough: The Aquarian Press, 1983)
pp. 23–29. There is also some relevant material in the GD 'Polygons
and Polygrams' paper (similarly omitted by Regardie) in a section
concerning the endekagram.
Although not strictly within the area (or period) you are studying, I
would recommend reading Isaac ben Jacob ha-Kohen's 'Treatise on the
Left Emanation' in Joseph Dan (ed.) 'The Early Kabbalah' (Paulist
Press, 1986) pp. 165–182, a thirteenth-century text which features,
as Dan puts it, 'a demonological parallel structure of evil emanatory
powers … deriving from the left side of the sefirotic tree,' and
Dan's '"No Evil Descends from Heaven"—Sixteenth Century Jewish
Concepts of Evil' in Bernard Dov Cooperman (ed.) 'Jewish Thought in
the sixteenth century' (Harvard University Press, 1983) pp. 89–105.
Regards,
Alan
On 17 Jun 2010, at 21:52, Guido Woudenberg wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> Do you know if there is any literature on the use of Qlippoth in
> (ceremonial) magic from the Christian Cabalists in the seventeenth
> century through the nineteenth-century occult revival to Kenneth
> Grant? I do have some sources on the role of Kabbalah in magic, but
> there doesn't seem to be that much on the use of Qlippoth in magic.
>
> For my master's thesis, I will study the use of Qlippoth in the
> work of Kenneth Grant. Additionally, I like to discuss the origin
> of the Qlippoth in Lurianic Kabbalah and the lineage from Luria to
> Grant with a focus on its use in the context of magic.
>
> All the best,
> Guido Woudenberg
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