 |
 |
Alan, I share your conclusion with regard to the relationship between magic and the qlippoth prior to the Golden Dawn. I don't know to what extend the qlippoth were used by Golden Dawn adepts in their magic. With regard to clairvoyance and the method 'Rising on the Planes', Regardie cites a text that urges one "to investigate the regions of the Qlippoth and the Demonic Forces", as one should have knowledge of the entire Astral Plane. (p. 465, Golden Dawn, 6th ed., 1989) According to Bill Heidrick, Mathers used only Tom II: Pars Secunda Tracts 1 through 3 for his translation. These texts are the Zohar sections Sepher de Zeniutha, Idra Rabba and Idra Zuta. That means that he left the 'Pneumatica Cabalistica seu Doctrina Hebraeorum de Spiritibus, nempe Angelis bonis & malis…' out. Thank you for the details of Isaac ben ha--Cohen's treatise. Scholem mentions this treatise in his 'Major Trends', but provides no further details. He does this in the context of "the idea of a 'left emanation," i. e. of an ordered hierarchy of the potencies of evil [...] which, like the realm of light, is organized in ten spheres or stages." (pp. 177-178) This idea of an averse tree seems to stem from this treatise. Although I don't know whether Mathers had access to it. It seems that there were two main sources for Mathers' translation. The Introduction is an abridgement of `The Kabbalah' by Christian Ginsburg (1862). It is in this Introduction, that Mathers names the demons and the arch-demons. Up till now, I haven't found these names in his 'Kabbalah Unveiled'. The concept of Da'ath requires some further reseach. I found that Eliahu Klein in his "Kabbalah of Creation" (2005) (p. 137) argues that Da'at, or knowledge, is a 'concealed' sefirah between Chokmah and Binah. To what extend this was known to Mather, I do not know. Guido Alan Thorogood schreef: > 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 > >