INFOGRAPHIC #05: APPEARANCE or PHYSIOGNOMY

  

 

Infographic caption:

The 5th Art: Xiang (相) - Appearance or Physiognomy - from Chinese Metaphysics called Wu Shu (五 术) or the Five Arts. This Art is the study of forms.

Infographic explanation:

Key cultural study 5th Art areas depicted in the image above:

Palmistry (form of the hand) - Chinese Medical Palmistry: Your Health in Your Hand – July 1, 1995 by Zong Xiao-Fan, Gary Liscum and Xiao-Fan Zong ... In Chinese medicine, every part of the body is believed to contain a hologram of the entire organism, just as each cell contains the genetic code of the entire body. Thus Chinese doctors have for centuries believed that one can diagnose health and disease from the shape of the hand, the mounds and lines on the palm, and the fingernails. There are many other books on palmistry in English, but this is the first on Chinese medical palmistry. ... A diagnostic tool that I know nothing about and very different then palmistry being used to determine Ming (Destiny/Fate) the 4th Art.

Face Reading (form of the face) - Mian Xiang - Your Guide to the Art of Chinese Face Reading – January 8, 2005 by Joey Yap In this book: Learn the basics of Face Reading, including the 5 Officers, the 12 Palaces, and the 100 Year map of the Face, find out how the face not only reveals a person's fortune, but their abilities, personal characteristics, innate nature and discover 'trade secret' Face Reading techniques. ... All I know is that Joey Yap is a prolific author on Chinese cultural topics and has built a large business educating students all over the world.

Feng-Shui (form of the living environment) - A Master Course in Feng-Shui: An In-Depth Program for Learning to Choose, Design, and Enhance the Spaces Where We Live and Work – July 17, 2001 by Eva Wong ... Definitive text. Feng-Shui "Wind-Water" is a topic I've long been fascinated with and the ideals of environmental flow, uncluttering and harmonious decor elements have great appeal. In China it's complex, with many schools of thought. The eight-sided Bagua symbol utilized to map locations is iconic and sublime.

Nine Star Ki: Feng Shui Astrology for Deepening Self-Knowledge and Enhancing Relationships, Health, and Prosperity – December 18, 2008 by Robert Sachs ... It may feel like woo woo snake oil, but Nine Star Ki developed in 1924 is an interesting adjunct to Feng-Shui. There are thought to be nine-year and nine-month cycles of Ki/Qi on Earth, which are related to solar and seasonal cycles, and which have common effects across the planet on people's mental and physical development and experiences throughout their lives. The 9 Ki 'stars' are numbers that represent those cycles. The numbers can be calculated for anyone using only a birthdate.

Naming - Eight Diagrams and Naming (Chinese Edition) – January 9, 2013 by Yusen Chang ... A technique using the Bagua to determine auspicious baby names that align with their birthdate and destiny.

Burial - A Brief History of Funeral and Burial Practice in China (Chinese Edition) – January 8, 2011 by Zhang Jie Fu ... Last here and appropriately last of the Xiang forms, are these practices. Feng-Shui, in the beginning was about tomb location and it evolved into a architectural Art that was more expansive.

INFOGRAPHIC #004: FIVE PHASES OF WU KING

  

 

Infographic caption:

Wu Xing: "Five Phases" - Classical Chinese Medicine (CCM) and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) external application practices (exogenous methods) ... aka The 2nd Art: Yi (医) - Medicine - from Chinese Metaphysics called Wu Shu (五 术) or the Five Arts.

Infographic explanation:

Wu Xing (五行) is a fivefold philosophical scheme that many traditional Chinese fields used to explain a wide array of phenomena, from cosmic cycles to the interaction between internal organs to the properties of medicinal drugs. The "Five Phases" are Fire (火; huǒ), Water (水; shuǐ), Wood (木; mù), Metal or Gold (金; jīn), and Earth or Soil (土; tǔ). This order of presentation is known as the "Days of the Week" sequence. In the order of "mutual overcoming" (相克; xiāngkè), they are Wood, Earth, Water, Fire, and Metal. A conceptual predecessor of the rock/paper/scissors game.

The system of five phases was used for describing interactions and relationships between phenomena. This device was employed in many fields of early Chinese thought, including seemingly disparate fields such as Yi jing divination, alchemy, feng shui, astrology, Classical Chinese medicine (CCM), music, military strategy, and martial arts. Although often translated as the Five Elements, the Wu Xing were conceived primarily as cosmic agents of change rather than a means to describe natural substances.

CCM/TCM external application practices (exogenous methods):

Here is a subjective "best book" reading list of external Wu Xing methods that do energetic body healing work exogenously by skilled practitioners. In my opinion, some are amazingly effective and the benefits of others baffle me. Explore.

Note: Changlin Zhang, the Chinese physicist author of Invisible Rainbow makes an important distinction between Classical Chinese Medicine (CCM) and the less effective Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) that was created as a watered down "scientific" compromise during the Chinese Cultural Revolution in the mid 20th century. However, both approaches have intrinsic value.

Chinese Acupuncture and Moxibustion (4th Edition, First Printing, October 2019) Hardcover by Cheng Xinnong ... Definitive. We had a Chinese Temple Priestess who was an excellent acupuncturist. Jin has now relocated to California and her abilities and sexiness are missed.

Chinese Tui Na Massage: The Essential Guide to Treating Injuries, Improving Health & Balancing Qi (Practical TCM) Paperback – June 1, 2002 by Xu Xiangcai ... Good book on the Chinese "push - grab" massage method.

Gua Sha Scraping Massage Techniques: A Natural Way of Prevention and Treatment through Traditional Chinese Medicine – May 22, 2018 by Zhongchao Wu ... I have no personal experience with this modality, but it looks interesting.

Traditional Chinese Medicine Cupping Therapy 3rd Edition 2014
by Ilkay Z. Chirali MBAcC RCHM ... Definitive.

Related Evolvements:

A Zen approach to bodytherapy: From Rolf to Feldenkrais to Tanouye Roshi – January 1, 1989 by William S. Leigh ... For those of you who think of massage as relaxing and relatively painfree, this blended technique, deep tissue acu-point method is the opposite and great for masochists. A Zen bodytherapist will let you vocalize the degree of intensity you can handle and dial it back accordingly, but it is still an ordeal to undergo. It is very effective though. Body toxins, emotional knots people often carry for a lifetime, all are released. Temple Terra Incognita's "Honey Priestess" Daien was trained by the William Leigh in Hawaii and introduced us to this brutal Art of Destruction.

Sexual Reflexology: Activating the Taoist Points of Love – Illustrated, May 22, 2003 by Mantak Chia and William U. Wei ... Highly recommended. "Reflexology is based on the premise that all our organs have reflex points on other parts of the body. It is most often associated with massage of the hands and feet. Yet the most powerful reflex points are on the sexual organs. Sexual Reflexology shows how to use the sexual reflex points in lovemaking, allowing sexual intercourse to become a form of ecstatic acupressure. In this way the entire body provides the sexual organs with energy and in return the entire body is stimulated with healing energy." Very important in Taoist dual cultivation sex magick practices like White Tigress/Jade Dragon work.

INFOGRAPHIC #003: THE TAO OF PHYSICS

  

 

 

 

Infographic caption:

Tao of Physics (1975) and Invisible Rainbow (2016) - how ancient Eastern knowledge fits into a modern scientific paradigm.

Infographic explanation:

I highly recommend these two books as a starting point in understanding how energy and electromagneticism works from a modern scientific point of view and relates to biology, as well as sexuality.

The first book is an integrative classic: The Tao of Physics An Exploration of the Parallels Between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism (1975/2010). It began my own journey into exploring the nexus points of mysticism and rational affirmation.

Even better: Invisible Rainbow A Physicist's Introduction to the Science behind Classical Chinese Medicine (2016). It is my current favorite read and does a great job of connecting the ancient practices of Classical Chinese Medicine (CCM) to advances in modern science.

Author quotation: "The humble truth is that we are both blind and deaf to most of the world."

Invisible Rainbow gives experimental evidence of postulated energy acu-meridians (AKA nadi's), acu-points, orbits, auras, chakras, etc., that are part of the invisible electomagnetic spectrum and tell us how alternative medicine can use this knowledge via acupuncture, acupressure, qigong, ayurveda, etc., to unblock, balance and heal people. This is also essential information in Taoist and Tantric dual cultivation energy exchange practices. Not woo woo nonsense, despite being from a "Ghost World" of entities beyond our meager sensory abilities.

The materialist point of view that long dominated physics has slowly shifted to a more "spiritual" way to explain the Universe and allows for the existence of invisible forces (like gravity and other forms of energy - see footnote infographic), moving from old atomic concepts (ultimately indivisible particles) to thinking the "material" world is hard cores of energy and tight wave packets dispersed in vacuum fluctuation, where the field and the wave are the essence of everything. Meanwhile Western medicine, molecular biology and even psychology has tended to go in the materialist direction - saying the secret of life and consciousness may be a tangible particle or molecular construct.

Changlin Zhang, the Chinese physicist author of Invisible Rainbow challenges materialist viewpoints and makes an important distinction between Classical Chinese Medicine and the less effective Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) that was created as a watered down "scientific" compromise during the Chinese Cultural Revolution in the mid 20th century.

Energy, vibration and even information is ethereal. Integrative or Complementary Medicine is now utilizing Energy Medicine that posits a healer can transmit healing energy into a patient. Vibrational Medicine claims to transfer various forms of frequencies of vibrations into the human body and its energy field to heal the patient. Cognitive Science is exploring how the mind and radiated thoughts and emotional content can be healing. Much is still unknown, so we call applications that aren't fully understood Magick.

Footnote Infographic: Gravity and other forms of energy.

 

INFOGRAPHIC #002: THE ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM

  

 

Infographic Caption:

 

Electromagnetic Spectrum: The Key to Understanding how energy is transmitted and works in an interconnected biologic system, technomancy, synchronicity or participatory sex magick egregore.

 

Infographic Explanation:

 

The part of the Electromagnetic Spectrum that human senses can detect is extremely limited. Many animals and insects have a broader range. The visible light spectrum we "see" is incredibly narrow, ditto our auditory and olefactory abilities. There is so much more going on within our bodies and the external world. Tapping into this is like experiencing New Worlds of Being. Modern science, especially physics and chemistry are making great advances in affirming this and finding applications. Our own personal explorations are often ahead of this.

PS: Yes, there are technologically induced dangers in the above image. You can control the level of exposure you feel comfortable with. No need to be paranoid or over-reactive, just mindful.

INFOGRAPHICS THE BEGINNING

 

 

Infographic caption:

The 5th Art: Xiang (相) - Appearance or Physiognomy - from Chinese Metaphysics called Wu Shu (五 术) or the Five Arts. This Art is the study of forms.

Infographic explanation:

Key cultural study 5th Art areas depicted in the image above:

Palmistry (form of the hand) - Chinese Medical Palmistry: Your Health in Your Hand – July 1, 1995 by Zong Xiao-Fan, Gary Liscum and Xiao-Fan Zong ... In Chinese medicine, every part of the body is believed to contain a hologram of the entire organism, just as each cell contains the genetic code of the entire body. Thus Chinese doctors have for centuries believed that one can diagnose health and disease from the shape of the hand, the mounds and lines on the palm, and the fingernails. There are many other books on palmistry in English, but this is the first on Chinese medical palmistry. ... A diagnostic tool that I know nothing about and very different then palmistry being used to determine Ming (Destiny/Fate) the 4th Art.

Face Reading (form of the face) - Mian Xiang - Your Guide to the Art of Chinese Face Reading – January 8, 2005 by Joey Yap In this book: Learn the basics of Face Reading, including the 5 Officers, the 12 Palaces, and the 100 Year map of the Face, find out how the face not only reveals a person's fortune, but their abilities, personal characteristics, innate nature and discover 'trade secret' Face Reading techniques. ... All I know is that Joey Yap is a prolific author on Chinese cultural topics and has built a large business educating students all over the world.

Feng-Shui (form of the living environment) - A Master Course in Feng-Shui: An In-Depth Program for Learning to Choose, Design, and Enhance the Spaces Where We Live and Work – July 17, 2001 by Eva Wong ... Definitive text. Feng-Shui "Wind-Water" is a topic I've long been fascinated with and the ideals of environmental flow, uncluttering and harmonious decor elements have great appeal. In China it's complex, with many schools of thought. The eight-sided Bagua symbol utilized to map locations is iconic and sublime.

Nine Star Ki: Feng Shui Astrology for Deepening Self-Knowledge and Enhancing Relationships, Health, and Prosperity – December 18, 2008 by Robert Sachs ... It may feel like woo woo snake oil, but Nine Star Ki developed in 1924 is an interesting adjunct to Feng-Shui. There are thought to be nine-year and nine-month cycles of Ki/Qi on Earth, which are related to solar and seasonal cycles, and which have common effects across the planet on people's mental and physical development and experiences throughout their lives. The 9 Ki 'stars' are numbers that represent those cycles. The numbers can be calculated for anyone using only a birthdate.

Naming - Eight Diagrams and Naming (Chinese Edition) – January 9, 2013 by Yusen Chang ... A technique using the Bagua to determine auspicious baby names that align with their birthdate and destiny.

Burial - A Brief History of Funeral and Burial Practice in China (Chinese Edition) – January 8, 2011 by Zhang Jie Fu ... Last here and appropriately last of the Xiang forms, are these practices. Feng-Shui, in the beginning was about tomb location and it evolved into a architectural Art that was more expansive.

WESTERN TAROT & JEWISH KABBALAH

In his book, *KABBALAH A Very Short Introduction*, Joseph Dan says, 

"The development of the Christian kabbalah began in the school of Marsilio Ficino

in Florence in the second half of the fifteenth century. It was the peak of the

Italian Renaissance, when Florence was governed by the Medici family, who supported

and encouraged philosophy, science and art. Florence was a gathering place for many

of the greatest minds of Europe, among them refugees from Constantinople,

which was conquered by the Turks in 1453. Ficino is best known for his translations of

old esoteric treatises that eventually became the Hermetica. These works that probably

originated in Egypt in late antiquity were attributed to Hermes Trismegestus, dealing

in magick, astrology and  esoteric theology. “The Thrice-Great Hermes centered on the

concept of magic as an ancient scientific doctrine and “source of all religious and natural

truth,” which deeply inspired Ficino and his followers. A great thinker that came out of this

group was a young scholar and theologian Count Giovani Pico dela Mirandola who died

in 1496 at the age of 33. He took a deep interest in Hebrew and was introduced to

Jewish Kabbalah through Flavius Mithredates, a Jewish convert to Christianity who

provided translations for him in both Hebrew and Latin." (65?)

This is where the deviation began, the product of which you saw yesterday.

But stripping away Christian and Hermetic affectations, look what happens!

First the tree is actually 3 trees stacked  on top of each other from 3 worlds +

1 not attached to the ADAM: Atsiluth - the World of emanations; Beriah the World of

Creation; Yetsirah the world of Formation; and Assiah, the World of activation. 

AND

There are 3 columns. The middle column is the "God" column which is made of

both sexes in one form or another (which is why the Gnostic hermaphrodite is so important). The column on our right is the masculine attributes, the left, the feminine attributes. 

Unchanged and at the top on the center pillar (of course) and above the columns is

KETER - The Ain Sof. 

*Interesting note here regarding Rabbinic Judaic aversion to myth.

The controversy around whether God came out from nothingness was a rabbinic

interpretation of the Zohar's description of Creation (Zohar 1, 15a) If He came from

nothingness then it was an act of Will (the Magician) - If He came from Chaos this is a

mythic reflection which to me is a continuation of Marduck coming through Tiamat (chaos)

after her death and beginning Genesis. This though would mean it was Fate or where

later you'll see the connection with the 10th Sefiroth - The Shekhinah. (re: Scholem.

Symbols p. 102)

So let's say God came out from the Chaos through his connection with the Shekhinah

(perhaps). 

ATSILUTH

World of Emanations

...................................................KETER (chaos)

BINAH (Intelligence) [III EMPRESS]...................................CHOKMAH (Wisdom) [I MAGUS]

..................................................DA'AT (Knowledge) (1300s) [II HPS]

The movement goes from KETER to CHOKMAH and then to upper mother BINAH in 1st world, Emanations and then splits down to "lower mother," GIVORAH in the feminine column making the World of Creation. (Note: as I said Da'at hermaphrodite added later so then came 2nd after Chokmah.)

GIVORAH is considered Lilith and severe judgment, queen of demons. She brings law and strength. The Christians felt these were male characteristics (privileges?) and made her an Emperor. But then they weren't using the columns. With Lilith in IV, that becomes the female JUSTICE with scales. (cool huh?) and on the masculine side, she's turned toward CHESOD for love/kindness. (what they smokin? lol) and move to TIFERET in the middle column and union of the 2 in the middle column.

BERIAH

World of Creation

GIVORAH (Severe Judgment) [IV JUSTICE]..........CHESOD (love/mercy) [V HEIROPHANT]

......................................................TIFERET (Beauty) [VI LOVERS]

This is where it gets REALLY fun! YETSIRAH, The World of Formation, where Angels reside (Scholem, Symbols p. 74) Masculine column is NETZACH (Victory) the Ezekiel's 

chariot moving up the Ladder. and then HOD is on the left and is 8 Splendor which I think might need some work.  Scholem says the 9th Sefirah "is the male potency, described with clearly phallic symbolism, the 'foundation' of all life, which guarantees and consummates the *Hieros Gamos*, the holy union of male and female powers" (Scholem, Symbols p. 104)

The 10th is not FATE, but the Shekhinah, separate but ready to be unified with her partner. 

Active:

Sefiroth:.......................After 1300s

KETER......CHOKMAH.....DA'AT........BINAH .....GIVORAH........CHESOD

0............... I ............... II ............ III ............ IV ................. V

Fool...........Magus.........High.........Empress....Emperor.........Hierophant

.....................................Priestess

Passive (Subtract the top from the XX or Judgment Card)

XX...............XIX.............XVIII..........XVII........ XVI.................XV

Judgment....Sun.............Moon........Star.........Tower............Devil

Active

TIFERET NETZACH HOD YESOD MALKHUT

VI.................VII ............. VIII ............IX ...............................X

Lovers..........Chariot........Justice.......Hermit.........................Fate

........................................................Foundation

Passive

XIV............... XIII..............XII.............XI............................... X

Temperence..Death..........Hanged.....Strength......................Fate

....................................... Man

XXI

Beyond Fate

MYSTICISM IN JEWISH KABBALAH

 There is a prevailing view in Religious Studies that those involved in academic studies need to be completely objective.  Consequently, too many academics exploring religions are atheists and want to explore topics like ritual and ceremony from a distance which seems ludicrous.  That's like a medical doctor dissecting a cadaver that he thinks will be his model for family practice.  Because our society is so heavily secularized and works from a language as developed by "Tyler/Frazier" that such practices are naive and superstitious.

My thesis would have centered on practical applications for mystical paradigms.  The example I'm using comes out from Native American practices as shared by Jim Northrup, an Anishinabe soldier coming back from Vietnam with PTSD.  Northrup began traditional therapy and when he wasn't healing he began using Native American spiritualities of sweat lodges, trickster stories and pow wows. There are two issues we’re facing.

1.  Native Americans do not appreciate non-tribal people utilizing their spirituality without a guide.  There's protocol to ask for such things, and it has been difficult finding what that protocol is.

2.   (the nurse practitioner) tells me that we have to be careful about how we view dysfunction.  She gave me the example of 2 young sisters, pregnant with the same man's babies, whose mother it is suspected gave them to this man for drugs.  Nobody would be able to investigate for criminal charges, nor would  anything be proven.  But the point is this man is a source of revenue for  their family and apparently has a strong bond with one of the girls.  This is "hypothetical" though I'm sure there's more truth to it than would admit.  Families form under extraordinary circumstances and we don't have all the answers.  My interest is finding how to create opportunities where young people in crisis can form a meaningful community that honors their own forms of bravery.

 I am also 56 years old and a good deal older than most of the other students.  The issues I'm working on has more to do with the fact that mystical meanings can have practical application in our society and to simply pass them off as fairy tales for bedtime stories might be short sighted.

CHRISTIAN EFFECTS ON EUROPEAN MYSTICISM (Needs Revision)

 Disclaimers:

1. The Jewish Kabbalah’s foundations develop from three pillars demarcating the divine within male/female principles and some combination in between and union of the two. “Principle” is the key word. I am not engaging in a politically definition of gender, only that kabbalah has a strong dialectic between a masculine and Divine feminine active throughout its processes and a gender polarity language active in the Hieros Gamos. 

2. Good/Bad paradigm are extremely strong in Christian theology which is reflected in their Kabbalah. As we look deeper at Kabbalah, we’d need to redefine ideas around demons and the Devil.

3. And then Gershom Scholem lends a word about mysticism saturated with unembodied life forms as they affect spirituality. He says: 

The conservative character so frequent in mysticism hinges largely on two elements: the mystic’s own education and his spiritual guide... As to the mystic’s education, he almost always bears within him an ancient heritage”

A religion for example...but what happens to mystics who are not raised in a specific religion? A question perhaps answered another time. Be that as it may, there are strong engagements of mysticism, entities, angels and magic in Kabbalah. One needs an open mind to understand what it means so it is suggested suspending disbelief and entertaining a mystical stance to effectively approach kabbalah.

INTRODUCTION

Tarot cards, according to academic research, began as a game in Northern Italy in the late 1400s and only transitioned to an occult vehicle at the height of its popularity in the 18th and 19th centuries. In 1981, Michael Dummett, a philosophy professor at Oxford University authored the book, The Game of Tarot: from Ferrara to Salt Lake City in which claims he found no evidence to show that Tarot with occult interpretations existed before the 16th century in northern Italy.  His book was a 600 page treatise on the history of Tarot as a card game, and I believe though Dummett’s research was precise, his conclusions were shortsighted. He wasn’t interested in mysticism of the middle ages, but if Dummett had studied the Tree of Life and Jewish Kabbalah he’d see

• how at the end of the 15th century some perhaps ascetic Christian mystics enthusiastically embraced the Jewish paradigm and tweaked it to make it their own and supporting a new acetic paradigm that became part of  European culture;

• that through Jewish historical connections,the symbols and patterns of a fully formed and activated (Yetsirah and Assiah respectively) the hieros gamos unearths deep ancient Babylonian magic (oh yes, I said it), which actually becomes a tidy “Eliadean” sacred return out of which we can easily make a deck of tarot cards based on Jewish instead of Christian kabbalah ; 

• that magic is only undiscovered science as evidenced inside Pythagorean mathematics utilized within kabbalistic structures; and

• how at the time the inquisition was burning heretics (unsanctioned magicians) the Christianized cards could be a way to practice Cabbalah (the C differentiating Christian from Jewish Kabbalah) under the Inquisition’s radar. 

A card reader might see a new Tarot the Jewish Tree of Life as consisting of 4 worlds, the beginning Atsiluth, the world of emanation, ein sof makes room for his partner through TzimTzum (Big Bang) in Keter; the second world, Beri’ah, the creation where Lilith exists reigning over demons and the golem  waiting for their souls;the 3rd world, Yetsirah, where the angels live igniting the 9th Sefirot, performing the Hieros Gamos with his beloved Shekinah in Assiah, activating Malkhut, the independent 10th Sefirot. (Read Scholem, Symbolism - Section IV, Chap.3) And all of which can be and has been witnessed and utilized within a deck of Tarot cards --  

Christian Cabbalah:

Dan says: 

The development of the Christian kabbalah began in the school of Marsilio Ficino in Florence in the second half of the fifteenth century. It was the peak of the Italian Renaissance, when Florence was governed by the Medici family, who supported and encouraged philosophy, science and art. Florence was a gathering place for many of the greatest minds of Europe, among them refugees from Constantinople, which was conquered by the Turks in 1453.” Ficino is best known for his translations of old esoteric treatises that eventually became the Hermetica. These works that probably originated in Egypt in late antiquity were attributed to Hermes Trismegestus, dealing in magick, astrology and  esoteric theology. “The Thrice-Great Hermes” centered on the concept of magic as an ancient scientific doctrine and “source of all religious and natural truth,” which deeply inspired Ficino and his followers. 

A great thinker that came out of this group was a young scholar and theologian Count Giovani Pico dela Mirandola who died in 1496 at the age of 33. He took a deep interest in Hebrew and was introduced to Jewish Kabbalah through Flavius Mithredates, a Jewish convert to Christianity who provided translations for him in both Hebrew and Latin. Pico famously proclaimed that Christianity’s truth is best demonstrated by the disciplines of magic and kabbalah and  as Dan says, “regarded magic as a science, both in the natural and theological realms, and interpreted the kabbalistic texts with which he was familiar as ancient esoteric lore, conserved by the Jews, at the heart of which was the Christian messages, which is fortified by the study of kabbalah.”  

Pico’s work was continued by his student, German philosopher and linguist Johannes Reuchlin (1455-1522) Reuchlin’s most noted work was De Arte kabbalistica (1516), which became the textbook on kabbalah for 200 years. Reuchlin presented his information as coming from “Simon”, a descendant of Rabbi Shimeon bar Yohai, the central figure in narratives of the Zohar. According to Reuchlin’s interpretation, his Simon presents kabbalistic principles which a Muslim and Christian both colleagues integrate with general principles of philosophy by what they believed to be Pythagorean philosophy -- and those of science and magic. Reuchlin’s presentation was regarded by both his own disciples and followers throughout Europe as a definitive, authoritative presentation of the kabbalah.

The issue with much of the literature translated by Christian academic and religious authorities is that whenever they are confused by their non-Christian sources, they make up stuff. It was certainly true of Sir James George Frazier’s classic The Golden Bough, a Christian’s “scientific and educated” perspective that compares Europeans with the rites and beliefs, superstitions and taboos of early cultures which is considered to be the foundations of modern Anthropology. It’s no different with Pico and Reuchlin’s own attempts at applying ascetic standards to ancient pre-Christian worldview. “Kabbalah” for Pico and Reuchlin is radically different from medieval Jewish kabbalah that they claimed to use as their source. Most of the Jewish sources they included were not kabbalistic and what little they referenced the Zohar were usually only referenced by other authors, not direct translations. Vital is Dan’s own comparisons:

The image of ‘kabbalah’ as it emerges from the works of early Christian kabbalists is thus meaningfully different from the one presented by the Hebrew sources... Most meaningful are the differences in the subjects that are discussed. The intense kabbalistic contemplation of “the secret of creation” and emergence of the system of the sefirot from the infinite Godhead is rather marginal in the deliberations of the Christian scholars; they had ready the theology of the Trinity, which they integrated with their understanding of the kabbalah. The shekhinah as a feminine power was of little interest, as well as the erotic metaphorical portrayal of the relationships in the divine world. The dualism of good and evil in the Zoharic kabbalah was not a main subject, nor was the theurgic element and the impact of the performance of the commandments on celestial processes. Mystical experiences, visions, and spiritual elevations were not at the center of their interest; [like Frazier] they regarded themselves as scholars, scientists and philosophers rather than mystics. (p. 66)

This became a particular problem as would-be mystics and Alchemists in the beginning of the 20th Century reached for solid tradition, was left empty handed. Creating false sources became more the norm as there didn’t seem to be any true schooling to be found as was evident by A.E. Waite as he was developing his Tarot clearly founded on kabbalah, not only disparate from the Zohar, but the established Christian kabbalah as well.  

Tarot and the Tree of Life

According to Dummett, card games began in Northern Italy in the late 15th century. Kabbalah was openly studied and practiced in Italy between the 13th and 16th centuries (KABBALAH in ITALY 1280–1510, A Survey by MOSHE IDEL) and the Roman Inquisition was active in Italy in the late 16th Century. What this means is what is left is a more visible Christian heretical ascetic kabbalah breaking from a spirituality that engages the source of life itself to become a monist approach to a One Being from which evolved 10 other life forms 9 of which align into a Pythagorean geometric form named Adam Kadman who engages sexually with a 10th seforit feminine divine entity whose sefirot stands separate from her partner. This copulation activates the Heiros Gamos, one of the first and most potent of the ancient Babylonian rites that is over 5,000 years old. 

Also, the ascetic Christian standards imposed on kabbalah castrated God’s passage to His Salvation, It turns out Jewish Kabbalah was enmeshed in erotic honesty. Kabbalah means “tradition,” the tradition of things divine. (see Scholem, Symbolism p. 1) and was a way of engaging mysticism that sprung mostly from Spain and then Italy in the Middle Ages 

My focus will be to link academic dots to some previous one which I believe can easily traced to Babylon. The cards at the most basic level are oracles which in one perspective proves Kabbalah’s power. Why the Jewish Kabbalah? Because sex may be the most powerful force hooking mankind with a true Divine which I suspect Christian Kabbalists hoped to avoid. Rabbinical Jews were no different for they too created a Religion around the power perhaps to contain it. From what I’ve read and explored, it seems the magick independent  physical force of nature which if you step back is both creative and sexual and needs to interact with another to reach its potential. 

A.E. WAITE

Tarot was a useful tool for Mystics, Magicians and Alchemists for centuries until A. E. Waite rewrote millennia of magickal history through co-authoring the Rider-Waite deck in 1910 and publishing his book, “Pictorial Key to the Tarot” the following year .  [A.E. Waite][http://www.goldendawnpedia.com/HistoryPages/Bios/AEWaite.htm] was an influential member of the Golden Dawn and a Christian Mystic. Probably it very well may have been his Christian faith that compelled him to leave the flailing occult group and struck out on his own.  Within the bylaws of the Rosy Cross he stipulates that nobody affiliated with him or his organization could practice Magick or Alchemy. There has never been a more influential and lasting Western European mystical tradition outside the Jewish Kabbalah and the ue to Christianity's extreme prudery and belief that such power should only be in the hands of God.  With its 78 illustrated cards, which set a standard for all subsequent Tarot cards. The 

• Changed the Suits of the Cards:

Was Waite ignorant or deliberately attempting to misdirect students of the occult by comparing the suits in his Tarot with a deck of cards as Wands = Diamonds, Cups = Hearts, Swords = Clubs, Pentacles = Spades (See Waite, Pictorial Key, Chapter 3 page 1)? 

Apparently, the standard for pre-Golden Dawn decks were Wands = Clubs, Cups = Hearts, Swords = Spades, and Pentacles = Diamonds. (See Stuart Kaplan, The Encyclopedia of Tarot Vol. 1 p. 5). 

• Switched the 8th and 11th Major Arcanum positions.

 Pictures are powerful, so it could be that those studying his deck were so taken with the pictures, they weren’t concerned with the elements. There’s astrologers that can show planetary reasons for the displacement if Justice and Strength, but I will attempt to give a reasonable argument for why they were set at those positions in the past. 

Mostly Tarot is used for oracular purposes, I’m not sure that Mystics care where the numbers are or how suits are engaged. A Reader channels cards that follow what the Reader dictates and so for the most part pictures are fine. But do we want to use miscrafted tools? The importance of elements, for example, is clear on the I Magician who has his tools sitting on a table in front of him (the Wand/Swords controversy and their symbolism with air and fire will not be covered in this essay); but something truly extraordinary happens when using the Jewish and not the Christian Kabbalah as a map. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Kushner, Laurence. The Way into Jewish Mystical Tradition. Vermont. 2001. p. 77

http://www.dartmouth.edu/~matc/math5.geometry/unit8/unit8.html