Hermeticism, Kabbalah, Enochian Magic and Alchemy

Hermeticism

Hermeticism is, literally, the practice and study of the Magick and Philosphy of Hermes Trismegistus ("Thrice Great Hermes") as laid out in the Corpus Hermeticum. However, Hermetic Magick has come to be a bit broader in scope;encompassing Greek Cosmology, Gnosticism and other Western Mysteries as well.

 

Kabbalah

The Kabbalah is a system of instruction which is attributed to the Jewish Mystics of the Middle Ages (though it may be earlier), yet is probably rooted in Greek Hermeticism (Hebrew attributes a Magick meaning &number to each letters of its alphabet, though the Greeks did this first. Most assuredly, the Alexandrian Jewish Community of the first centuries A.D. - who were fluent in Greek - helped to bring this tradition to Hebrew). The central principle of Kabbalah is the Tree of Life. The Tree of Life contains 10 'emanations' or 'numbers' (Sephiroth) which correspond to a certain principle such as Wisdom, Understanding, Beuty, etc. (the highest is KETHER or "Crown", and the lowest, is MALKUTH or "Kingdom). Each Sepheriah is is an archetypal ideal and emanation from God. They also describe the process of creation. There are 22 paths between them and each path corresponds to a letter of the Hebrew Alphabet. There are, actually, 4 Kab! ! ! bali stic Trees of Life, each corresponding to a different "world" (Atziluth is the highest and called the World of the Spirit, Briah is the Creative World, Yetzirah is the World of Formation, and Assiah is the Physical/Material World). The 10 Sephiroth and the 22 paths are, collectively, the 32 Paths of Wisdom. The Tree of Life is sometimes used to instruct us in which path to take in life, and to ascertain where we are now. It is very prominent in Jewish Mysticism, and in much of Western Mysticism;especially in the Golden Dawn.

 

Enochian

Enochian is a system of Magick that shares some of its teaching with the Kabbalistic system. It was originally presented by Sir John Dee, the English court astrologer to Queen Elizabeth in the 16th Century.Dee, working with Edward Kelley, learned of the Enochian system when it was 'revealed' to him by the Enochian Angels that inhabited the Watchtowers and the Aethyrs, which are the subtle regions of the Universe. While Kelley looked deeply into a crystal 'shewstone', describing aloud what he saw, Dee took notes. He then developed a series of Runes to correspond to the Enochian Alphabet and Language. The Enochian Alphabet has 21 Magickal letters and is the language "of the angels". The runes were placed on a series of square tablets which corresoponded to the planes of the Magickal Universe. The four planes, or Watchtowers, correspond to the elements of Earth, Air, Fire &Water. Each of these represents aspects of our world or relevance to living things;their correspondences form the basis of Enochian workings. The other important aspect of Enochian Magick is that it describes the "30 Aethyrs", zones that penetrate the Watchtowers. The Enochian Magickian learns to leave his or her physical body and travel through these Aethyrs in his/ her body of light, in order to become a living embodiment of knowledge and power. The Enochian system is very simple to use, and very powerful as well.

 

Alchemy

By definition, Alchemy is the science by aid of which the Chemical Philosophers of the Medieval period attempted to transmute the baser metals into Gold and Silver. However, this is the literal definition and neglects the important allegorical aspects of Alchemy. Historically, Alchemy is probably as old as Metalwork itself. Early Greek records show that the Egyptians were very skilled in Metalwork and other transmutations of substances. The implications of Metalwork;that certain substances combined made newer, better ones; it influenced philosophy as well. The concept of transmuting base metals into gold or silver is analogous to the idea of darkness transformed into light, and a variety of other metaphors. Alchemy is often looked at as though it is a primitive science, but it wasn't. It was far more advanced than some current science;and as we find with physics, "As above, so Below" (a concept of the Alchemists). Alchemists experimented with other activities, including those that dealt with organic compounds and elements such as the Elixir of Life and the Creation of a Homunculus (an artificial Man, said to have been successfully achieved by Paracelsus).