ROBERT AMBELAIN PRACTICAL KABBALAH INTRODUCTION to the study of Kabbalah, both mystical and practical, and to using its Traditions and Symbols with a view to Theurgy WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR Éléments d'Astrologie scientifique : Étoiles Fixes, Comètes et Éclipses ; Beetmale edit., Paris, 1936 (out of print). Traité d'Astrologie Ésotérique, t. Ier (Les Cycles), Adyar edit., 1937 (out of print). Éléments d'Astrologie scientifique : Lilith, second satellite de la Terre ;Niclaus edit., 1938 (out of print). Traité d'Astrologie Ésotérique, t. II (L'Onomancie), Adyar edit., 1938 (out of print). Dans l'Ombre des Cathédrales : Étude sur l'ésotérisme architectural et décoratif de Notre-Dame de Paris ; Adyar edit., 1939 (out of print). Adam dieu rouge : La Gnose des Ophites ; Niclaus edit., 1941 (out of print). Traité d'Astrologie Ésotérique, t. III (L'Astrologie lunaire), Niclaus edit., 1942 (out of print). Au pied des Menhirs : Essai sur le Celtisme ; Niclaus edit., 1945 (out of print). Le Martinisme contemporain et ses Origines, Niclaus edit., 1948 (out of print). La Talismanie pratique, Niclaus edit., 1950 (out of print). Les Tarots, comment apprendre à les manier, Niclaus edit., 1950 (out of print). Les Visions et les Rêves, Niclaus edit., 1953 (out of print). Le Dragon d'Or : Aspects occultes de la recherche des Trésors ; Niclaus edit., 1958 (out of print). La Magie sacrée d'Abramelin le Mage, d'après le manuscrit de l'Arsenal, Bussière edit., 1986. L'Alchimie Spirituelle (Technique de la Voie intérieure), La Diffusion Scientifique edit., 1961. Le Cristal Magique ou la Magie de Jehan Trithème, Bussière edit., 1988. L'Abbé Julio, sa vie, son œuvre, sa doctrine, La Diffusion Scientifique edit., 1962. Sacramentaire du Rose + Croix, La Diffusion Scientifique edit., 1964. Cérémonies et Rituels de la Maçonnerie Symbolique, Niclaus edit., 1957 (out of print). Jésus ou le mortel secret des Templiers, Robert Laffont edit., 1970. La vie secrète de saint Paul, Robert Laffont edit., 1971 (out of print). Les lourds secrets du Golgotha, Robert Laffont edit., 1974. Le Vampirisme, de la légende au réel, Robert Laffont edit., 1977. Cérémonies et rituels de la Maçonnerie symbolique, Robert Laffont, 1978. Crimes et secrets d'État : 1783-1830, Robert Laffont edit., 1980. Drames et secrets de l'Histoire : 1306-1643, Robert Laffont edit., 1981. Symbolisme et rituel de la Chasse à courre, Robert Laffont edit., 1981. Les Traditions celtiques, Dangles edit., 1981. La Chapelle des Damnés : 1650-1703, Fouquet le régicide, le complot des Protestants, la véritable affaire des poisons, Robert Laffont edit., 1982. L'Astrologie des interrogations, Robert Laffont edit., 1984. La Géomancie arabe, Robert Laffont, 1984. Le Fal-Nameh ou Livre du Sort, Bussière, 1985. La Franc-Maçonnerie oubliée, Robert Laffont, 1985. Capet, lève-toi... (Louis XVII), Robert Laffont, 1987. Le Secret de Bonaparte, Robert Laffont, 1989. NOTE: Most of the books listed as out of print have in fact been recently reprinted. 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS I. – DOCTRINAL ELEMENTS ..............................................................................................................4 PREFACE ................................................................................................................................................6 I. — ORIGINS AND DEFINITION OF KABBALAH .........................................................................10 A. — Its Genesis ................................................................................................................................10 B. — Its development: The Kabbalah and its different Schools.........................................................17 I. — Isaac the Blind......................................................................................................................18 II. — Ezra-Azriel..........................................................................................................................18 III. — Nachmanides .....................................................................................................................20 IV. — Eleazar of Worms..............................................................................................................23 V. — Abulafia ...............................................................................................................................24 II — METAPHYSICAL ELEMENTS...................................................................................................26 A. — The Sephiroth ...........................................................................................................................26 B. — Ain Soph = The negative existence of God ..............................................................................31 I. – Ain Soph Aur..........................................................................................................................31 II. – Ain Soph ................................................................................................................................32 III. – Ain ........................................................................................................................................32 C. — The Cineroth or “Paths”............................................................................................................37 D. — Texts in Action .........................................................................................................................44 III. —THE DIVINE “EXISTENCES” ...................................................................................................46 1st) Aziluth..........................................................................................................................................46 2nd) Briah ............................................................................................................................................57 3rd) Yetzirah........................................................................................................................................63 4th) Assiah...........................................................................................................................................64 5th) Tables of Correspondences ..........................................................................................................65 6th) Being and Non-Being...................................................................................................................75 IV. — THE “QLIPPOTH” .....................................................................................................................76 The Tree of Death...............................................................................................................................76 3 I. – DOCTRINAL ELEMENTS \ 4 “There exists in the Soul a Principle superior to external Nature. For by this Principle we may surpass the Cosmos and the systems of this Universe. When the Soul raises itself up towards those natures superior to its own, it abandons this Cosmos to which it is temporarily linked. And through a mysterious magnetism, it is attracted to a Higher Plane with which it joins and identifies itself...” “Theurgy unites us so closely to the Divine Power generated by itself; it unites us so closely to all the creative activities of the Gods according to the capacity of each, that the Soul which has accomplished the sacred Rites is affirmed in their actions and understanding, and finds itself at last placed within the God-Creator Himself...” (Iamblicus : On The Mysteries, V, VI, VII). “Whomsoever works by Religion alone, without the aid of other virtues1, is absorbed and consumed by Divinity, and cannot live long. And whomsoever draws near without being purified draws down condemnation upon himself, and will be delivered up to the Evil Spirit...” (H. Cornelius Agrippa : Occult Philosophy, book III, IV). 1 From the Latin virtus : strength, influence. 5 PREFACE “All Wisdom comes from God, the Sovereign Lord”. (ECCLESIASTES, I-1) It seems that the Kabbalah is doomed never to be other than the manifestation of «mystery» itself! Indeed, no doctrine has been or is more misunderstood by the general public. From the Middle Ages to the Renaissance, as now, the most staggering silliness, the most unjustified reproach circulates about the subject1. For such a Jesuit Father of the seventeenth century, “the Kabbalah is only a Grimoire of Sorcery, whose author is a famous sorcerer, called Kabbalah”... For another, it was a “Magical treatise, analogous, though greater in improbability than the famous Jewish Grimoire called ‘Talmud’...” As P. Vulliaud amusingly notes in his work on the Kabbalah, it is “claimed that music is superior to the valve trumpet!” Nowadays it is still the same... During the five years that the men of the Vichy Government exercised their fanaticism of another time, books and manuscripts on the Kabbalah had the honor, along with those on Illuminism and Masonry, of being plundered from private libraries for the personal activity and interest of the officials... In another realm, it was the same. For the majority of German scholars of our age, specialists in the subject, it didn’t seem that the Kabbalah contained anything other than the art of drawing mystical anagrams from the official text of the Pentateuch, and so enrich the already long list of “Divine Names”. In reality, the Kabbalah is the traditional “Initiatory Path” of the Western Christian. As Swami Sidesvarananda recommended,