The Kabbalistic connection of this card is to the sephiroth Malkuth and Yesod, although the lord of gnomes bears a solar symbol on him. However, his solar nature is that of the underground Sun. Mysterious forces express themselves in riddles, so one should carefully ponder the answers received, neither dismissing them nor accepting them lightly. The initiate receives the help of this force when in search of fateful answers. The spirit of this card can also assist the initiate in delivering a blow in a magical duel.
Baphomitras is a blog dedicated to esoteric topics through essays, stories, poetry, prose, and magical texts.
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Thursday 30 May 2024
Arcana V - Shanahan / Bafomitras’ Grimoire of Arcana
The Kabbalistic connection of this card is to the sephiroth Malkuth and Yesod, although the lord of gnomes bears a solar symbol on him. However, his solar nature is that of the underground Sun. Mysterious forces express themselves in riddles, so one should carefully ponder the answers received, neither dismissing them nor accepting them lightly. The initiate receives the help of this force when in search of fateful answers. The spirit of this card can also assist the initiate in delivering a blow in a magical duel.
Friday 24 May 2024
Historical Assumptions of Lurianic Kabbalah
Modern Kabbalists, both Jewish and Christian,
were significantly influenced by the genius Isaac Luria (1534-1572), known as
Ari (the Lion), who, in a sense, but without such intention, is one of the
fathers of modern occultism. Lurianic Kabbalah shifted the focus from the
mystical light of God's emanations to the soul and its "sparks,"
which strongly resembles the first premise of Aleister Crowley's Book of the
Law: "Every man and every woman is a star." Emphasizing the
microcosmic factor, the spark, the soul, suggests a fundamental change in the
esoteric mentality, which is not without consequences on the exoteric plane.
This laid the ideological foundations for the development of modern psychology.
It also laid the groundwork for revolutionary currents and the birth of
individualism in the new era, paradoxically intertwined with modern forms of
collectivism, including ideological movements, political parties, and
nation-states. This esoteric maneuver at the epicenter of history charted the
main courses for shaping the future.
Gershom Scholem, in his book Major Trends in
Jewish Mysticism, states that for Isaac Luria, the appearance of the Messiah is
the culmination of the continuous process of restoration, or tikkun. For this
reason, the true nature of redemption is mystical, and its historical and
national forms are merely auxiliary symptoms that form the visible symbol of
its fulfillment. Redemption, as Scholem interprets Luria, means that all things
are put in their right place. Tikkun, or restoration (remember, Wilmshurst spoke
of the Masonic doctrine as a doctrine of regeneration), is the world of
messianic activity. The coming of the Messiah means that this world of tikkun,
or restoration, has reached its final form. Scholem concludes that it is
precisely at this point that the mystical and messianic elements of Luria's
teaching converge. Ultimately, as Scholem says, tikkun is the path leading to
the end of all things, but it also leads to the beginning.
Judaism, at least as defined by Lurianic
Kabbalah, has the task of restoring the original harmony, that is, to repair
the damage caused by Adam's sin and fall. The essential consequence of this
damage is a kind of breaking of God's Name, or the disruption of the original
harmony. According to Luria, at that time, a split occurred in God's Name -
YHWH (yod-he-vav-he) with the falling away of the last two letters. Allegedly,
with the breaking of God's Name, the time of the mythical and mystical exile of
the Shekhinah, the divine presence, supposedly the female aspect of God, began.
The light of the Shekhinah was drawn into the klipot, the demonic world,
creating a mixture of dual nature: divine light and klipot darkness. The repair
of the world means the separation of the sparks of light from the darkness,
i.e., the disintegration of the universe as it exists. The new world will be of
pure light, eternal and imperishable. The return of the Shekhinah to her master
and their union, according to Luria, is the true purpose of the Torah's
existence. Working on this return and restoring the world's harmony is
certainly a messianic mission for an entire people. This would be the purpose
of Judaism from the perspective of Lurianic Kabbalah, as I understand it.
The moment when historical forces set their
course towards today's development is the year 1492, laden with events whose
consequences manifested later. Firstly, it is the year of Columbus's discovery
of America, which represents a fundamental shift in the understanding of the
world and the expansion of Europeans, laying the foundation for what we call
the modern era, the New Age, when the foundations of the contemporary world
were established. On the other hand, that year is linked to two great historical
tragedies: those of the American indigenous people and the Spanish Jews.
Scholem says that the end of the 15th century marked the end of a phase of
Kabbalistic mysticism and that the experience of the tragic Spanish exodus, as
a great national trauma, brought a new impetus to the development of Kabbalah.
Based on that experience, through its contemplation and attempt at explanation,
a new Kabbalah was born, shaped by the Safed school. Kabbalists up to the
period of the affirmation of Lurianic Kabbalah mainly operated reclusively, in
a typically mystical manner, as Scholem says, not particularly inclined to
spread their ideas beyond the narrow circles of Kabbalists. They had no
interest in changing the way of Jewish life. All of this changes with the
advent of Lurianic Kabbalah.
Earlier Kabbalists were oriented towards
involutive action, that is, towards the beginning, avoiding messianic ideas and
impulses. Instead of focusing on the end of the world, they were more centered
on its beginning, on returning to that beginning. Thus, they strove for a
return. The way forward meant the way back, to the state of primordial harmony.
Lurianic Kabbalah marked a shift in the mystic's thought towards a
revolutionary breakthrough forward, adopting the formula for the final phase of
the world's process, pushing for redemption instead of creation. This
accelerated the development of ideas about creating historical crises and
catastrophes, charging ahead. This shift can be said to have an apocalyptic
character. What would that be if not the foundation of the formula for a new
age, but in a Jewish manner, in line with the historical mission of Judaism?
This is the ideological premise of revolutionary messianism, the intellectual
fuel of modern history. Of course, this did not come out of nowhere; it
certainly relied on already existing Kabbalistic, Gnostic, and Christian
directions. This prepared the Jewish spirit for a new era, not just to be a
passive observer striving to understand, but an active agent, placing itself at
the very center of history.
Experienced trauma, a survived catastrophe, can
be a trigger for revolution. Redemption is revolution, revolution is
liberation, but the cost is catastrophe. So when we invoke freedom, we are
actually invoking catastrophe. The spirit of liberation is catastrophic,
apocalyptic, prone to millenarianism. Catastrophe hints at the end of the
world, and this is one of the fundamental assumptions of Judeo-Christian
doctrines. Catastrophe and the notion of the end of the world are at the root
of messianism. Theoretically, a parallel can be drawn between the catastrophic
scenario and Aleister Crowley's Aeon of Horus. Also, from the perspective of
the apocalyptic scenario, the Aeon of Horus is in its anti-nominalistic hints
similar to the description of the reign of the Antichrist in the Revelation.
Only in the Aeon of the goddess Maat (representing balance, justice), which is
prophesied by Crowley's Book of the Law, and which follows after the Aeon of
Horus, would an age similar to that foreshadowed by Judeo-Christian doctrines
about a post-apocalyptic world emerge, when the primordial harmony is restored,
when a new Heaven and a new Earth are created. The Aeon of Maat implies the
abolition of the division in the human being caused by the creation of separate
sexual nature. That is to say, as Christ himself foretells, in the heavenly
kingdom there will be neither male nor female, nor any essential differences
between its inhabitants. This means a return of humanity to an androgynous
state.
The consequences of the expulsion of the Spanish Jews in 1492, emphasizes Scholem, were not limited to them alone; rather, this trauma and awareness of catastrophe spread throughout the Jewish diaspora, creating a new mood. This process lasted an entire century and contributed to the merging of apocalyptic and messianic elements of Judaism with the traditional aspects of Kabbalah. Thus, the final era became as significant as the first. New teachings, according to Scholem, emphasized the concluding phases of the cosmological process. The pathos of messianism permeated the new Kabbalah and its classical expressive forms in a way entirely foreign to the Zohar. Scholem concludes that a connection was established between the beginning and the end. The spread of such a spiritual atmosphere triggered a flood of messianic expectations, feelings, and fervor. The end of the world became a pressing concern. Just as with the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, in the Jewish case, destruction begins with exile, but this time the destruction of the world begins with the exile of the Jews.
Just as Adam and Noah were responsible for all living things on Earth, so the Jews (particularly the Messiah they await) are responsible for all of humanity. Hence, it is not surprising that Jesus Christ, with a universal mission of salvation—not only for the Jews but for all of humanity until the end of time—emerged from the Jewish people. At the same time, outside Judaism, except for the catastrophe of the Byzantine cultural and civilizational sphere which fell under Ottoman rule, a new era was emerging. New perspectives were opening for the advance of Western man, to the horror and sorrow of the rest of humanity. The advent of this new historical moment spread slavery and death continuously from 1492 to the present day. Concurrently, Judaism was forging its own path, a path of redemption and gathering for the central and ultimate event, which is the coming of the Messiah. This path underwent various trials, schisms, heresies, emancipation, pogroms, migration, the Holocaust, and Zionism. This aspiration was particularly accelerated by the catastrophe of 1492. It created a special mystical mentality that was certainly influenced by the ideological tendencies of the external world, but which was itself often influenced by Jewish messianic ideas.
Sunday 19 May 2024
Ars notoria, Talismanic Magic, Sigils, and the Art of Memory
Frances A. Yates points to Ars Notoria as another
connection between magic and the art of memory, which can be linked to tarot,
as it involves the method of sigil and talismanic magic. Before delving into
her considerations and references, I would like to focus more on this form of
magic. Namely, the medieval textbook of angelic magic known as Ars Notoria
originates from northern Italy and claims to be a divine secret revealed to
King Solomon by an angel. The magic textbook asserts that it provides the practitioner
with enhanced mental abilities for memory and speech, spiritual abilities for
communication with angels, as well as the acquisition of scholarly and heavenly
knowledge through prayers and the memorization of special magical imaginative
images. And all this in a short period of time. The author of Ars Notoria is
unknown, but its creation has a complex history, beginning with the legend of
King Solomon and encompassing several historical texts written between the 13th
and 17th centuries. Ars Notoria builds on the biblical story in which King
Solomon has a divinely inspired visionary dream the night after performing a
religious sacrificial ritual. In that dream, God asks King Solomon what he
desires, to which Solomon responds by asking for wisdom and understanding. Ars
Notoria informs that God sent angels to teach King Solomon magical ways to
quickly gain knowledge over the course of four days.
The
art of Ars Notoria is supposedly governed by four angels, and the text of their
instructions was allegedly written on golden plates given to King Solomon. This
fact is very reminiscent of the legend of the Mormon prophet Joseph Smith, who
received the original Book of Mormon from an angel also on golden plates. After
receiving the teachings and books, King Solomon compiled a series of extracts
from these books known as the florilegium (The Book of Heavenly Learning
Flowers - Liber Florum Caelestis Doctrinae). The mentioned "Book of
Flowers" was written in a mixture of languages, which formed the
mysterious prayers asking the angels for the improvement of mental and
spiritual abilities and the rapid acquisition of knowledge.
Later
practitioners of Ars Notoria adopted the method of emulating the biblical story
in which Solomon had a dream. The practitioner spiritually prepares through
confession, prayer, and fasting to be worthy and receive divine approval to
proceed with the great ritual of Ars Notoria under angelic guidance. After
completing the preliminary preparations according to certain astronomical and
astrological regulations, and after receiving permission from heaven (!), the
practitioner begins the ritual by reciting mysterious prayers and staring at
magical images in a specific way. Essentially, the practitioner memorizes the
imaginative images to feed them into their mind and thus acquire knowledge of
the desired art or science. Special magical imaginative images are assigned to
certain liberal arts, moral virtues, or even forbidden arts. Each of these
images is called a "nota." A magical imaginative image is like a
visual definition of the art or science it is associated with. Through a
mnemonic process of visualization, such an image is imprinted into the memory
to form a foundation around which the knowledge the practitioner acquires
through regular means is grouped. These images thus serve as templates that the
practitioner personalizes by inserting their own mnemonic signs into them
through a process of creative visualization. With additional guidance from
angels, the practitioner’s mental capacity for memory is enhanced, accelerating
their learning.
Following
in the footsteps of King Solomon, Apollonius of Tyana compiled his florilegium
in the 1st century AD, calling it Golden Flowers (Flores Aurei). Apollonius'
Golden Flowers were composed of selected and deciphered excerpts from Solomon's
Book of Flowers and translated into Latin. Additionally, Apollonius wrote his
own commentaries on Ars Notoria. The core text of Ars Notoria is essentially
the only surviving fragment of the Golden Flowers. Since that fragmentary text
was evidently insufficient, centuries later, an unknown author from northern
Italy supplemented it with new text. Where that author acquired the knowledge
for these additions remains unknown. In this supplemented version, Apollonius'
Golden Flowers represent Ars Notoria in three chapters that provide
instructions for ritual magic aimed at enhancing mental and spiritual abilities
and quickly acquiring knowledge. These instructions involve the piety of the
practitioner and contain a series of prayers, their Latin prologues, and a set
of imaginative images. Ars Notoria also offers the promise of acquiring skill
in the forbidden knowledge of necromancy and astrology. Perhaps it is for this
reason that Ars Notoria gained a notorious reputation.
The idea of using tarot cards as magical images
by animating or charging them with magical power has its origins in the alleged
practice of Egyptian priest-magicians described in the Asclepius. They would
invoke celestial influences into the statues of gods with special incantations
and spells, thereby animating them for magical or divinatory purposes. Frances
A. Yates, in her book The Art of Memory, mentions that Marsilio Ficino, in his
work De vita coelitus comparanda, describes how to draw life from the stars,
capture astral currents that descend from above, and use them for life and
health. According to Hermetic sources, celestial life is transmitted through
air, or spiritus, with the Sun being the strongest transmitter. Yates points
out that Ficino, for this reason, turned to the Sun, and his therapeutic astral
cult represents a revival of sun worship. In the mentioned work of Ficino, the
foundation of an organic worldview, celestial forces, the World Soul, and
correspondences are laid out. Relying on Plotinus and the Hermetic tradition,
Ficino asserted that each planet and each house of the Zodiac has its demon and
ruling angel, who transmit the will of the World Soul to the lower spheres. In
this way, the harmony of the macrocosm is maintained. The human soul, as a
microcosm, has the ability to absorb the influences of the World Soul through
the rays of the Sun or Jupiter.
Some modern occultists have applied the principles of Ars Notoria to tarot cards as well as to the process of magical sigilization. In magical practice, a sigil represents the signature of the force we engage to achieve our intent. Additionally, a sigil can be a compressed or concentrated diagram of our desire. A sigil is an aesthetic and graphic expression of our desire, which we intend to manifest through magical means. We can use a sigil by purposefully visualizing it or by drawing it in the air, on paper, parchment, warm wax, or engraving it on wood, metal, stone, etc. In short, for a sigil to have magical power, it must be imbued with the operator's intent, which somehow animates it. Sigils are used in talismanic magic as well as in specific purely mental operations. Frances Yates describes a talisman as an object imprinted with an image thought to have gained magical properties, or to have magical effects because it was made according to certain magical rules. She mentions the Picatrix, an Arabic manual of talismanic magic, which describes procedures to make a talismanic image magical by infusing it with astral spiritus.
Yates says that Ficino used talismanic magic and that his procedures aimed to bring the imagination into a state capable of receiving celestial influences. According to Ficino's understanding of magic, as conveyed by Yates, an image containing elements of astral mythology can be imprinted internally into the human mind with such strength that when a person, with such an imprint in their imagination, goes out into the external world, there is a merging of the two, thanks to the power of the internal image derived from a higher world. Sigils in this sense can be part of a talisman, but even on their own, under certain conditions, they can serve as talismans. Typically, sigils are inscribed on a talisman and then charged or "magnetized" with magical power. The difference between a sigil and a talisman is that a talisman is a more complex structure, more of a composition, primarily consisting of a certain image that may or may not be accompanied by specific sigils or signs. Tarot cards, in this sense, are a form of talisman and can play such a role independently or in combination with several cards. It is common for modern occultists to consecrate their tarot decks and use them ritually. Thus, a deck of cards becomes a magical instrument. The occult design and accompanying lore facilitate the transformation of beautifully illustrated pieces of paper into magical tools.
Tuesday 14 May 2024
Planetary Doctrine
Interpreting the astrological psychology of
Marsilio Ficino, Thomas Moore in his book The Planets Within states that the
soul is nourished by images because images are the source of spirit.
Astrological and hermetic images of the nature of planets and zodiac signs are
one of the key sources of cultivating magical imagination in the West. The
classical images of planets as agents of the spirit are a striking expression
of the ancient understanding of the psyche as a reflection of the macrocosm.
However, for the psyche to truly be this, it is necessary to possess a
well-trained and strong imagination, because without an orderly imagination,
there is no orderly psyche, and only as orderly can it reflect the orderliness
of the cosmos. Namely, each of the planetary spirits/gods, in Gnosticism
referred to as archons, of which there are seven, matching the number of
planets known in antiquity, including the Sun and the Moon, has endowed man
with a part of its nature. Hence, human beings, in their nature and character,
represent a mixture of planetary qualities. In this sense, the planets are
within us. In an ideal state, the harmony that prevails among the planets in
the cosmos naturally reflects in the microcosm, but the experience of life on
Earth disrupts this natural macro-microcosmic harmony. Our inner planets
intertwine, collide, conflict, disrupting the harmony, which results in human
misery, unhappiness, illness, or madness.
Manly
Palmer Hall, in his book The Secret Teachings of All Ages, described planetary
spirits as a spectrum extracted from the white light of the Supreme Deity. In
this sense, Hall states that the worship of planets is based on their
acceptance as cosmic embodiments of the seven creative attributes of God.
Thomas Moore emphasizes the ancient text Asclepius, which contains ideas that
form the basis of Marsilio Ficino's theory of magic. What sustains life in all
things, as asserted in Asclepius, is the breath or spiritus. According to
Ficino's theory, spiritus is the intermediary in the magical connection between
planetary daimons and the physical world or an individual's life within it. The
way this spiritus is transmitted from the planets to individuals is described
in Asclepius as a matter of creating images. Each image, says Thomas Moore,
embodied, for example, in a statue that represents the attributes of a
particular planetary deity, has the ability to gather, retain, and impart the
power of that deity to the person who uses the image. In this sense, Moore
concludes, images carry profound, archetypal power. The images Moore speaks of
are woven into the very foundations of the human mind. Not only are the planets
within us, but so is all of nature. In so-called primitive communities and
those of ancient times, we can find beliefs about the origin of the human soul,
i.e., the concept of conception involving spiritual forces, from which,
ultimately, the teaching of the Immaculate Conception of the Christian Virgin
Mary derives. For example, the Egyptian goddess Neith conceived from the wind.
At this point, I would like to draw readers'
attention to the representations of the nature and essences of the seven
traditional planets. The first among them, and also the oldest in a
mythological sense, and certainly the most distant from us physically, is
Saturn. By carefully observing many details in classical images, we can grasp
the basic elements of the representation of the nature of not only Saturn but
of each planet. Saturn, as Moore states, represents simple and hidden
knowledge, separated from all movement and united with divine things. To
perceive the mysteries in the depths of the soul, it is necessary to distance
oneself from usual activities and established thought patterns. According to
ancient tradition, the basic elements of Saturn's nature are weight, depth,
contemplation, and orientation towards the abstract, the spirit, the religious,
and the artistic, all immersed in a melancholic atmosphere of the spirit.
Thomas Moore highlights two natures of Saturn: puer and senex. Puer is Saturn
the revolutionary, the one who wields the sickle and castrates his father
Uranus, depriving him of authority. This is, one might say, the martial side of
Saturn, the energetic, youthful, revolutionary side, eager for power, which can
be seen, for example, in the tarot's major arcana The Emperor. Senex is, as
Moore says, the senile old king who jealously guards his authority, the monarch
of the golden past. It is this golden past that is the most intriguing feature
of Saturn's nature because it connects the temporal abyss that hides something
valuable, like a dragon guarding hidden gold.
In alchemy, Saturn represents the metal lead, the
initial material that, after undergoing a series of transformations, ultimately
produces gold. In this sense, Saturn is the father of gold, identified with the
Black Sun (Sol Niger), the alchemical stage of putrefaction, symbolized by the
raven. Saturn is the grave. His children are gravediggers, but also carpenters
and masons. They build but also bury. They till the land but also dig graves.
Thus, we can draw a parallel between Saturn and another major arcana of the
tarot, Death. This also illuminates another connection between Saturn and Mars,
as the sequence Puer / the Emperor arcana / the zodiac sign Aries, points to
gold (the Golden Fleece), guarded by the Saturnian dragon. On the other hand,
alchemical Saturn is closely related to decay and Death. As Fulcanelli
explains, Saturn is symbolically the representative of the first earthly metal,
the parent of all others, but at the same time, he is their only natural
solvent. Fulcanelli elucidates the mythological fact with an alchemical
argument that each dissolved metal combines with the solvent and loses its
characteristics. Hence, it is accurate to consider that the solvent
"eats" the metal, and thus the old man Saturn devours his progeny.
The
aforementioned ideas align with Ficino's teaching, which posits that a melancholic
temperament facilitates the liberation of the soul from external events and is
one of the conditions that favor divination! Divination, oracles, and prophets
are Apollo's children, embodying solar nature. Thus, the depth of depression
and melancholy, if it does not exhaust a person, leads to solar brilliance and
the gifts of the Sun—clear vision, far-sighted vision, seeing in the light of
truth, perceiving phenomena and things as they truly are. Isn't that akin to
gold? Saturn, therefore, is the cause of melancholy, but also the one who
dispels it. Falling into melancholy, akin to descending into Hades, is a kind
of gathering, closing, retreating from the periphery to the center, all under
Saturn's rays. Furthermore, as Moore explains, in Ficino's theory of knowledge,
Saturnine consciousness is closest to the highest part of the soul, the
function most removed from the material world. This is not the spirituality of
the Sun nor the rationality of Mercury, but the function of deep contemplation.
Ficino also pointed out the common trait of Saturn and Mercury, which is an
inclination and talent for science and literature, while being completely
opposite to Venus. Venus gives life, Saturn takes it away, yet we cannot
overlook Saturn's association with old age. Old age is also dryness, but it is
also longevity, which is why Ficino emphasized that to achieve a long life,
people made a Saturn talisman from sapphire during Saturn's hour, when he was
ascendant and in a favorable position in the sky. The talisman depicted an old
man sitting on a high chair or on a dragon, with his head covered by a dark
cloth and his hands raised above his head, holding a sickle or a fish wrapped
in a dark-colored covering. Dark colors, the sickle, the fish, the dragon—all are
attributes of the chthonic powers of the Great Mother, and let us recall that
Kabbalists associate the sephira Binah, the "great maternal sea,"
with the planet Saturn.
Giordano Bruno depicted each planet with seven phantasmagoric images. Contemplation on these images stimulates imagination and memory, thereby enabling a person to understand the nature of the influence or spirit of a particular planet symbolically expressed through these images. A similar principle applies to tarot cards. For example, Bruno's first depiction of Saturn shows a man with a deer's head riding a dragon. On his right hand, he holds an owl devouring a snake. We can look up the meanings of these representations in various dictionaries of symbols and reflect on them, but more than that, we can use this depiction when invoking the influence of Saturn's spirit. Furthermore, by using the system of analogies, we can arrange entire segments of our experience or knowledge in the corridors of memory according to the similarities of those experiences/knowledge with the given images. Thus, in the first image of Saturn, we can place a whole series of phenomena and events we wish to remember that have associative similarities with the motifs of the image. This is, among other things, a methodology of the art of memory, which is very important in occultism. This entire composition points to one aspect of Saturn's spirit.
Another aspect of that spirit is depicted by a man on a camel holding a sickle in his right hand and a fish in his left. The third image of Saturn shows a dark man wearing a black ceremonial robe, raising his palms upwards. The fourth image depicts a dark man with camel feet sitting on a winged dragon, holding a cypress branch in his right hand. In the fifth image, we see a dark figure dressed in black, with a basilisk coiling its claws around its tail in the right hand. The sixth image shows an old and lame man leaning on a staff, sitting on a high throne placed on a cart pulled by a mule and a donkey. Finally, in the seventh image, there is a charioteer whose chariot is drawn by two deer. In one hand, he holds a fish, and in the other, a sickle. Based on the depictions described by Giordano Bruno and Ficino's descriptions, we can gain a visually rich and clear picture of the classical hermetic representations of Saturn's astromagical influences. Similarly, we can do this for each planet individually. Aren't these planetary imaginative images also the basis for some form of tarot? Haven't some of these images found their way into the tarot cards themselves?