The Secret Doctrine in Israel: A Study of the Zohar and Its Connections

THE SECRET DOCTRINE IN ISRAEL A STUDY OF THE ZOHAR AND ITS CONNECTIONS BY ARTHUR EDWARD WAITE WITH FOUR ILLUSTRATIONS OCCULT RESEARCH PRESS Publishers 115 FOURTH AVENUE NEW YORK 3, N. Y. PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA PREFACE IN the year 1902 I endeavoured in The Doctrine and Literature of the Kabalah to offer a consideration in detail of the chief texts which embody the Secret Tradition in Israel, together with some account of the manner in which it influenced Christian scholarship in Europe during the i6th, iyth and i8th centuries, or broadly speaking, from the period of Picus de Mirandula until the eve of the French Revolution. The publication of Sepher Ha Zohar, or The Book of Splendour, which is the palmary Kabalistic text, for the first time in another language than the original Chaldaic, took place in France between the years 1906 and I9H,1 thus putting into the hands of modern students the best means of judgment concerning the tradition at large. If there be not at the present day much that remains for our agreement in the very interesting literary monograph of Adolphe Franck, entitled La Kabbale* published in 1843 an<^ reprinted more recently, with some corrections, in 1892, I believe that I shall be in accord with all scholarship that deserves the name if I express my concurrence when he says that the later Kabalists, like Isaac de Loria, Abraham Cohen Irira et hoc genus omne, added mainly their personal reveries to that great text and enfeebled it precisely in proportion as they sought to develop and reduce it into 1 SEPHER HA ZOHAR (Le Ltvre de la Splendeur): Doctrine £soterique des Israelites. Tradnit pour la premiere fois sur le texte Chalda'ique et accompagni de notes, par JEAN DE PAULY. (Euvre posthume entierement revue, corrigee et completee. Publiee par les soins de EMILE LAFUMA-GIRAUD. 6 vols. 1 La Kabbale, ou La Philosophic Religieuse des H£breux. Par Ad. Franck. The Secret Doctrine in Israel a system of the conventional kind. I am concerned in the present study with few questions belonging to purely critical scholarship, but in these prefatory remarks a word must be said upon the Zohar in respect of its authority or otherwise on the question of date — not indeed with the view of discussing, much less of deter mining so difficult a question, but to shew in the interests of clearness that such a question exists. The text itself belongs to a period in literature which knew nothing of chronological importance and still less of the values attaching to personalities in authorship. It is anonymous in respect of its redaction and it is silent as to the circumstances under which and the imputed time of the world when it came into the ever growing circle of Jewish records. By its hypothesis, however, it is an account of discourses between Rabbi Simeon Ben Jochai and other masters of the mystic understanding of the Law and the Prophets, of whom he was leader and chief.1 This is the first point of the hypothesis. In respect of the second and last point, it is a record of the debates which took place between certain immediate successors of Rabbi Simeon, who belongs by tradition to the first century of the Christian era, or the period of the destruction of Jerusalem by Vespasian, A.D. 70. I put aside in this connection various texts and extracts or fragments of texts which are, as one may say, imbedded in the Zohar, introduced for the most part at arbitrary points, where they have little or no relation to that which precedes and comes after. It is to this that we owe the preservation of certain parts of a work entitled Sepher Ha Bahir, or Book of Brightness. Their authority has been disputed, but there seems good ground for believing (i) that if the Zohar proper is a work of the early Christian 1 It should be observed that he is the traditional author of the text itself, subject, I suppose, to exceptions in respect of those parts which either give account of his death or of what transpired among his successors after that event. VI Preface centuries, then these items are approximately of similar antiquity ; or (2) if we suppose for a moment that the text major was invented at a late period — being at or about the end of the I3th century — whether by a certain Moses de Leon or another, then it seems probable, from the positions assigned to the extracts, that they were brought in from another source. Speaking generally of all the additamenta, their introduction is so apart from design that they might have been attached by a tran scriber where they suited his convenience, or when he happened to come across some of them. The Book of Concealment, The Greater Holy Synod and The Lesser Holy Synod, which have been made available for some years by more or less pretentious and unsatisfactory translations into French and English, from the Latin version of Rosenroth, are particular instances to the point in this connection. There seems no reason whatsoever why the first should follow one of the closing sections of the Commentary on Exodus, why the second should intervene at an early stage of the Commentary on Numbers, or the third appear at the end of the Zohar, amidst the frag ments of a Commentary on Deuteronomy. It may be said indeed that the last is that which recounts the death of Simeon Ben Jochai, and that hence it is an appropriate conclusion to the work ; but there is no chronological order to be found in the text as a whole, and in the course of many early discussions between the Sons of the Doctrine, it is evident that the great master of Kabalistic sentences has already passed away. The present study is in no sense a sequel to The Doctrine and Literature of the Kabalah ; it approaches the whole question of Zoharic tradition from another point of view ; but as I do not wish it to cover the same ground when occasion might prompt this, it will be sufficient at this point to refer those who are concerned to the consideration which I have given therein upon the questions of date and authority in respect of the vii The Secret Doctrine in Israel Zohar.1 It represents the views of scholarship at the period, under all reserves that are necessary concerning my own knowledge. The French translation of the Zohar is the work of Jean de Pauly and it has been published posthumously by Emile Lafuma-Giraud, who has completed and corrected it with the assistance of other Rabbinical scholars. The personal views of Jean de Pauly on the whole question of Zoharic antiquity are represented sufficiently by his opinion that the three Idras — being The Assembly of the Sanctuary and the Greater and Lesser Holy Assemblies or Synods already named — are referable to the second or third century before Christ. M. Lafuma-Giraud says justly that this is rejected by all critical learning. His personal conclusion is that the Zohar as a whole embodies very old materials combined with much that is of modern authorship, which is pre cisely my own opinion, as stated in 1902, while this in its turn was merely the sum of preceding scholarly judgment, or a reasonable mean between various con flicting views. I should add that the Zohar is a literary document in the sense that it bears the marks of its making. It is for the most part, as already indicated, a record of Rabbinical debates, and I suppose that there has been never a champion of its authenticity who dared to say that it was compiled from notes taken on the spot by ear and eye witnesses. Within its own hypothesis it is such of course, but an occasional lapsus memorice deter mines the value of the implied claim in the negative sense, just as we should expect antecedently, and the unknown editor is found on these occasions reminding 1 A. E. WAITE: The Doctrine and Literature of the Kabalah. Demy 8vo, pp. xx, 508. 1902. See Book III : Source and Authority of the Kabalah. viii Preface his readers of that which has been written or said previously.1 The Zohar is de omnibus rebus, if not — as it is indeed and certainly — de quibusdam aliis — being phantasies as well as ideas, many inventions as well as great realities. I do not know whether I was the first to call it a medley, but there is no nearer description of the things therein, regarded as they are. It represents not only the con flicting views developed in the course of a symposium and the occasional harmonies established subsequently between them, as this or another discussion drew to its term, but at different stages of the text many irreconcile- able points emerge into prominence, and it cannot be said that the Sons of the Doctrine are left at the close of all in exact unanimity with themselves, much less with one another. The fact does not signify, and this statement might obtain on the simple ground (i) that the Zohar embodies many independent texts and (2) does not repre sent an ordered system ; but it may be justified more especi ally from my own standpoint, which can be formulated briefly thus. The work is a development of Secret Doctrine, but the root-matter of that doctrine is presumed to be familiar throughout, as we can understand readily when the interlocutors are ex hypothesi initiated therein, are talking among themselves and not for the elucidation of the subject before an assembly unversed therein. While the whole Secret Doctrine may be therefore found in the Zohar, it is accidentally rather than systematically. There may be some indeed who will question whether the complete system can be adduced therefrom, and for its warrants no one will look. At all points there is much that goes before and does not pass into expression, to say nothing of what may come after. In any case, the 1 See, for example, Z., Pt. I, fol. lib; DE PAULY, I, 65, where the scribe forgets — as I have mentioned in the text above — that Rabbi Simeon is speaking" to his intimate disciples and co-heirs and not writing a book which may be used by the unprepared and the hostile. See also ib., fol. 2ooa ; II, 393. IX The Secret Doctrine in Israel teaching of Zoharic Kabalism upon a given doctrinal matter can only be ascertained by the codification of every reference thereto, occurring throughout the texts. This is the task which I have set before me. I could have wished to have added some consideration of the doctrine, so expli cated and harmonised, in the light of more general secret tradition in Christian times, as I understand this and have dealt with it in other writings : but it has been impossible within the limits assigned to the present undertaking. I have not, however, omitted the application, if any, of Theosophical Doctrine in Israel to the mind of Chris tian mysticism in the modern world, which is everywhere and always my real concern and that which I have taken for my province. I said long ago that the Rabbinical doctors in the chairs of the Holy Assemblies are men who are our brothers, and as such it is important to know the kind of message which they communicate to us at the present day. In the decade and more than a decade which has intervened since the publication of my previous study, I have travelled — if I may venture so tb say — very far in the search after Secret Doctrine, its symbolism and its liter ature. There is naturally something to correct in that which has preceded within the measures of Kabalism, something on points of fact, something in points of view, and these things will be seen to when and if an oppor tunity arises in the future. Meanwhile The Doctrine and Literature of the Kabalah may continue to serve its purpose, as the corrections here intimated are not vital in their nature, more especially for the unadvanced student. So far as concerns the Secret Tradition in Israel, I have reached my term here. Several departments belonging to the same subject in other places and times have been dealt with in earlier works ; that which remains is the Hermetic side of transmission, properly so called, by which I mean the great texts of alchemy. The decoding of this symbolism in any complete sense presents extra- Preface ordinary difficulties, and it may well be that several years will elapse before the task is finished. I am therefore indicating only that which is my next concern. I mention these personal matters, asking to be forgiven beforehand for what seems extraneous to my subject here and now. It is not so in reality. The Secret Doctrine in Israel is part of a long series undertaken with one object in view, being the demonstration of a great experiment which has been always in the world but has assumed particular forms during the Christian centuries — the literature of the Holy Graal, the texts of Hermetic Art, the pageant of the Rosy Cross, the symbolism and ceremonies of Masonry. I have intimated elsewhere that the books of Zoharic Kabalism are to some extent a witness apart, if only for the obvious reason that they are not Christian evidence, though they arose in Christian times. The witness in the open world throughout the whole period has been that of Christian mystic literature. There is one point more which it seems desirable to mention, so that there may be no misconception as to the nature of the present study ; it does not pretend to con tain direct translation anywhere, save and except in those rare instances which are marked as such by means of quotation commas ; it is a work of critical analysis and collation for the, exposition of Zoharic doctrine on the several subjects indicated by the teachings of its sections, and this has been attempted for the specific purpose of proving that behind each and all there lies a single radical and essential thesis which is spoken of in general terms as the Mystery of Faith. It is this thesis which constitutes the vital part of the Secret Doctrine in Israel. XI CONTENTS CHAP. I. THE EARLY STUDENTS OF KABALISM II. THE HIDDEN CHURCH OF ISRAEL . III. THE MAJESTY OF GOD IN KABALISM . -27 IV. THE DOCTRINE OF COSMOLOGY • 52 V. THE MYTH OF THE EARTHLY PARADISE. . 69 VI. THE SERPENT, SON OF THE MORNING, AND FALL OF THE ANGELS . • 8o VII. THE FALL OF MAN • 91 VIII. THE LEGEND OF THE DELUGE - 107 IX. THE COVENANT WITH ABRAHAM . • II5 X. OF MOSES, THE MASTER OF THE LAW . .123 XI. THE TEMPLES IN JERUSALEM . - 135 XII. THE COMING OF MESSIAH . • 141 XIII. THE SOUL IN KABALISM. • i52 XIV. THE DOCTRINE CONCERNING SHEOL . 173 XV. CONCERNING RESURRECTION . -183 XVI. THE MYSTERY OF SHEKINAH . • 19° XVII. THE MYSTERY OF SEX . . • 235 xiii The Secret Doctrine in Israel CHAP. PAGE XVIII. THE OCCULT SCIENCES 270 XIX. DEVELOPMENTS OF LATER KABALISM . . .284 XX. THE ALLEGED CHRISTIAN ELEMENTS . . . 292 XXI. CONCLUSION ON JEWISH THEOSOPHY . . 309 INDEX 325 xiv ILLUSTRATIONS PLATE I THE SACRED TREE OF THE SEPHIROTH . . Frontispiece Shewing the emanation of the Divine Principles through the Four Worlds of Kabalism from their Hidden Source in Ai'N-SopH. This diagram establishes a harmony be tween the text of the Zohar proper, The Secret Book, The Great and Holy Assembly, and The Little Holy Assembly. In its fundamental understanding, the full length Human Figure represents created or generated intelligence on the male side, from which is produced the female side, originally latent therein, according to the Legend of Paradise and the Zohar. The female side is shewn in Malknthi because the He final of the Sacred Name, or Shekinah, came down into manifestation on earth. She is the Path of Liberation for those who are born under the Written Law, and she symbolises that which is within it, namely, the Traditional or Oral Law, through which man returns into Divine Union. PLATE II FACING PAGE THE SEPHIROTIC SYSTEM, ACCORDING TO LATER KABALISM . 38 Reproduced from ATHANASIUS KIRCHER : CEdipus &gyptiacus, Tomus Secundus, section Cabala Hebrceorum, It is described as Iconismus totius Cabala summam con- tinens. PLATE III THE SEPHIROTH IN CIRCLES 66 Reproduced from JOHANNES CHRISTOPHORUS STEEBIUS : Coodum Sephiroticum, Mayence 1679, and described as Schema antiquum C<zli Sephirotici. XV The Secret Doctrine in Israel PLATE IV FACIN(; PAGE SUMMARY OF THE CHRISTIAN KABALAH .... 292 Reproduced from HEINRICH KHUNRATH : Amphithe- atrum Sapienticz sEterncz, Hanover 1609. It exhibits the Cosmic Christ encompassed by the Ten Sephiroth and the Divine Names. xvi THE SECRET DOCTRINE IN ISRAEL CHAPTER I THE EARLY STUDENTS OF KABALISM THE rumour of a great literature which had subsisted from time immemorial in Jewry may not have been heard of first through a signal piece of good fortune which befell Picus de Mirandula when he purchased, from an unknown Israelite, certain strange codices in manuscript, but nothing which came into his hands and proved to be a treasure of the past was likely to lie unnoticed on his own part, while this artist of the schools was a trumpet of fame for anything announced by his voice during the brilliant, too few years that he carried the quest of learning and the proof of his attain ments from place to place in Europe. He was himself the pupil in Jewish philosophy of Elias del Medigo, who filled a chair at Padua and wrote two treatises at the instance of Picus, one being on the Intellect and on Prophecy, in 1481-82, which seems to have remained unprinted and was written in Hebrew, like its com panion De Substantia Orbis, the work of 1485, but this appeared at Basle in 1629. It was also edited with a commentary by Isaac Reggio and so republished at Vienna in 1833. Picus de Mirandula was in some sense a critic of his day, for he wrote upon the vanity of astrology ; but it was by no means a period which debated the authority "The Secret Doctrine in Israel of works referred to antiquity, either by repute or by the simple audacity of claim, while it was still less concerned with polemics on questions of authorship. I believe that I have mentioned elsewhere how perilous it would have seemed then to have entered such a field of research. To deny in the particular case that the Zohar embodies the actual discourses of Rabbi Simeon Ben Jochai might have been tantamount to suspecting the authorship of the Pentateuch — by which I mean that it would have opened a vast speculative horizon, so that one might have suggested the other. There came a time, and it was not far away, when the treasure of Picus was questioned, when people began to distinguish between a false and a true Zohar, the first as the work of one Moses de Leon, belonging to the late 1 3th century, and the second as something un- demonstrable in respect of age and value. The distinc tion remains at a high point in the world of speculation, because no one has heard of the, second ; it might not be worth while to mention it in the present place save that it gives the opportunity of stating that the manuscript purchased by Picus represented the identical work which has been known for six centuries and over under the name of Sepher Ha Zohar. An index of the codices acquired by him was published in 1651 by the French bibliographer Gaffarel,1 and in the recent translation of the Zohar its instalments are appended to the various sections. There are innumerable mistaken references, but the index reflects the text ; what is missing in items referred to one section may be found sometimes in another, and though the pains of Gaffarel can in no wise be called representative as an attempted summary — it is not even the shadow — there is no question that the treasures of Picus are those which we know under the distinctive 1 JACOBUS GAFFAREL : Codicum Cabbalisticorum manuscriptorum quibus est usus JOANNES Picus, COMES MIRANDULANUS, Index, 1651. ^ The Early Students of Kabalism name of Zohar. There is no alternative text and the differentiation given above is a mendacity which can deceive no one.1 The contribution of Picus de Mirandula to the know ledge of the Zohar in Europe does not exceed to any considerable extent the simple fact of its existence. His short Latin theses, translated in my previous work, cannot be termed representative, nor can anything else from his pen. It remains that he was the first Christian into whose hands the work came in any form whatsoever, and it seems to have been that authoritative form which was represented later on by the Cremona and Mantua edi tions.2 We shall never know under what circumstances these appeared at their several dates,3 and so far as I have been able to trace the bibliography of Kabalism, it does not appear that there is any earlier codex in manu script. As he was the first to see the volumes, so Picus was the first to postulate that the Zohar incorporated many elements which are capable of a Christian con struction.4 I shall deal with this at the close of the present study, when there will be something to say on the fact that the Christian predisposition of which 1 Curiously enough, the report has reached us through Richard Simon, the well-known author of Hist. Critique du Vieux Testament. See G. C. SOMMER : Specimen Theologies Soharica. It is of course within possibility that the statement mentioned above does not question the claims of the work published long after at Mantua and Cremona, but indicates that there was a false Zohar circulated by Moses de Leon and presumably now unknown. 2 The edition of Mantua appeared in 1558 and that of Cremona almost coincidentally — 1558-60. The latter is called bibliographically the Great Zohar because it contains certain tracts and fragments which are not found in the Mantua edition, whence the latter has been named the Little Zohar. Other editions are those of Dublin, 1623 ; Amsterdam, 1714 and 1805 ; Constantinople, 1736; and Venice, with the date of which I am unacquainted. 3 The Mantua edition appeared under the auspices of R. Meir ben Ephraim de Patavio and R. Jacob ben Napthali de Gazulo. See JULIUS BARTOLOCCI : Magna Bibliotheca Rabbinica, vol. iv, p. 416, col. 2, Rome, 1693. They were, however, the printers merely. See /£., p. 15, col. 2. * See his Heptaplum, a sevenfold exposition concerning the six days of Genesis. — Opera, 1572. The Secret Doctrine in Israel Mirandula may be called the prototype has been — almost without exception — the predisposition, the dedication indeed, of the literati who came after him, up to and including those who have translated and edited the French text. Picus passed away in his youth,1 or there are indications which lend colour to the possible realisa tion of his great dream that the Latin pontificate itself, in the person of Pope Julius, might have lent an ear to his eloquence and done something to approach Israel from the standpoint of Christianity in Kabalism.2 Well, it was after this manner that the work began to be known in Europe, and there passed something like a century away, after which the next name to our pur pose is that of William Postel. It was he who translated The Sepher Tetzirah for the first time into Latin, and thus introduced to the curious and learned of Europe the root of all Kabalism concerning the doctrine of the Sephiroth, the powers and virtues of the twenty-two Hebrew letters and the mystery which resides in numbers. I must not say that The Book of Formation is like that legendary grain of mustard which grows into a vast tree, because the Zohar is in no sense its development except in so far as letters and numerations are concerned ; but it ranks as the primitive text of theosophical doctrine in Israel, and the contribution of Postel to our knowledge — minute as it is — seems much more to our purpose than the detached and almost sporadic Conclusions! Kabba- fistic* of Picus. Postel is credited by tradition with a translation of the Sepher Ha Zohar which would be a rare 1 He died at Florence in 1492. 2 The points of correspondence observed by Picus de Mirandula led him to infer that the Zohar contains : (i) The Doctrine of the Holy Trinity, (2) The Fall of the Angels, (3) Original sin, understood as the Fall of Man, (4) The necessity of redemption, (5) The incarnation of the Divine Word. With certain reserves in respect of the Trinity, and what is to be understood by Divine Incarnation, these doctrines are not only to be found in the text, but are of continual recurrence therein, and yet the most surprising thing about the work, having regard to the period of its origin, is the very slight tincture that it has received from the Christianity in the midst of which it originated and developed. The Early Students of Kabalism treasure had it ever come into existence or been main tained therein.1 I do not know how or with whom the attractive story arose, but some years since it took a very strong hold on the mind of French students and there was a great research after it, terminating as might have been expected. There is, however, rather more basis for the attempt than mere legend, as it is impossible to read PosteTs most memorable work, or Claris Abscondi- sorum, without inferring that he must have been acquainted with the text, and might, therefore, by bare possibility, have undertaken such a task.2 It speaks of the soul of the Mediator as the first creature of God and the Law, the reconciler of the universe, referred to the Sephira Binah^ which titles and which local habitation are those of Shekinah, according to the Zohar.3 It is too early in our inquiry to dwell upon this point, for much attaches thereto which will be considered at later stages. This is by no means the only direction in which Postel connects with the chief text of the Secret Tradition in Israel, but it is sufficient on my part to have established the fact without enlarging thereon. Between the period of Mirandula and that of William Postel I have given some space in my previous work to the names of Cornelius Agrippa and Paracelsus, but it has been only to shew that the first connects more especially with the practical Kabalah so called, powers of Divine Names, mysteries of numbers, doctrines of angels and demons, drawn for the most part from sources other than the Zohar ; while in respect of the second his 1 Picus de Mirandula is said to have caused the Zohar to be translated into Latin, or alternatively a Latin version was one of the manuscripts which came into his possession by purchase from the unknown Jew. 2 The legend of a Latin version is recurrent. A French gentleman of Lyons is supposed to have purchased a copy in 1890, paying many thousands of francs, and a translation is also ascribed to Gui de Viterbi. There is nothing improbable in the notion that it may have been so rendered, and may be in hiding somewhere, though I do not put much value on the Lyons story. 3 Later Kabalism regarded Adam Kadmon, the Great Countenance as the pre-existent soul of Messiah. 'The Secret Doctrine in Israel use of the word Kabalah has no connection with any theosophy of Jewry. Contemporary with Postel there was John Reuchlin or Capnion, who dedicated his three books entitled De Arte Cab alls tica to Leo X. His work may be best de scribed as a study of Messianic doctrine, the object of which was to shew that He who was expected by Israel had already come. I am not actually certain, but I believe that he was the first to point out that the Hebrew name of Jesus was formed of the consonants of Jehovah = mir with the addition of the second letter £fo'# = mOT — i.e. Jehos- huah. He quotes a large number of post-Zoharic writers on Kabalism, but does not mention the Zohar, at least by name.1 Reuchlin wrote also De Verbo Mirtfico. Be longing to the same period as Reuchlin, there was Petrus Galatinus, an Italian convert from Jewry, the author of De Arcanis Catholics Veritatis? drawn from the texts of Kabalism into twelve great books in the form of a debate between himself, a certain Hogostratus — of whom I know little otherwise — and Reuchlin. It is a work of much greater extent and more considerable learning than the books of the last writer and it does mention the Zohar, 1 There are several editions of both these works, and they are in cluded in the collection of Pistorius entitled, Artis Cabalistica Scrip- tores^ Tomus Primus, but the second volume — if that was the limit intended — never appeared. This publication belongs to the year 1587. 2 PETRI GALATINI : De Arcanis Catholiccc Veritatis, Libri XII, 1672. The text in this edition is followed by REUCHLIN : De Arte Cabalistica. It is of course a reprint, the work itself having been com pleted in 1516, according to its colophon. Those who can suffer its prolixity will not be unrepaid by its reading, even at this day. The analysis of contents in respect of the twelve books is worth giving : (i) Tracts of the Talmud ; (2) The Trinity of Divine Persons ; (3) The In carnation of the Son of God ; (4) The First Advent of Messiah ; (5) The Jewish Argument that the Messiah has not come is confuted; (6) The Redemption of Mankind ; (7) The Blessed Virgin ; (8) Mysteries con cerning the Messiah ; (9) Rejection of the Jews and Call of the Gentiles ; (10) The Institution of the New Law; (u) The Passing of the Old Law ; (12) The Second Advent. Galatinus is supposed to have possessed a copy of the lost Targum or chaldaic paraphrase of Jonathan Ben Huziel on the hagiographical books of the Old Testament — i.e. prophets, &c. Op. tit., Book I., c. 3. The Early Students of Kabalism but not shewing much first-hand acquaintance. This also is a study of Messianic doctrine and is masterly after its own kind. A third name of importance is Paulus Riccius, who was another Jewish convert to Christianity, but his work on Celestial Agriculture 1 did not exercise any considerable influence. He wrote also Statera Prudentum on the Law of Moses, Christ and the Gospel, but the work was con demned, and a number of other treatises, including one on the dogmas of the Kabalists, which appeared at Nurem berg in 1523. It would be of some bibliographical interest to make a complete list of these early students — of Alabaster, Gas- parellus, Athanasius Kircher, and — above all — of Knorr von Rosenroth. The rabbinical bibliographies of Wolf, Bartolocci and Imbonatus, his editor and successor in research, offer materials for the purpose : but it is en tirely outside our subject. I must hold it sufficient to have established the fact that there was a succession of scholarship, and that its chief or early concern was to unfold the Christian elements which it discerned in the Secret Doctrine of Israel, above all in the Zohar and in the Jewish literature which arose therefrom. 1 This is the first text given in the collection of Pistorius, CHAPTER II THE HIDDEN CHURCH OF ISRAEL A STUDY of the Secret Doctrine or Theosophy in Israel, as it is embodied in the great Book of the Zohar, might be made assuredly on any one of several plans, and while there can be no object in particularising at length those which it is not intended to adopt, I feel it right to men tion that which may seem to be the most natural course of all, so that I may explain why it is set aside. A simple and unpretending analysis of the salient points in respect of doctrine, designed to throw a light of Secret Tradition on the faith of the Old Covenant, as this is found in the Hebrew canonical Scriptures, might be re garded as preferable before any other design. To some extent along my own lines, it would take, for example, the myth of the Earthly Paradise and shew how this is interpreted by the mind of the Zohar; it would take the story of creation as recited in Genesis and, whether by quotation or analysis, would ascertain what manner of light is cast thereon ; and so forward in respect of the Law promulgated on Mount Sinai, the building of the First and Second Temples and the Messianic expectation. But seeing that the Zohar is by its own arrangement a long succession of studies in the five books of the Penta teuch, it would treat these texts point by point under the heads which I have indicated, and present a digest of the commentaries, maintaining the aspect of commentary. As I wish to deal honestly with my readers, I may as well state that such a design would be considered very sensible and practical by a number of serious persons. This notwithstanding, if it had been possible, I should have neglected to earn the kind of commendation which The Hidden Church of Israel they would have been in a position to bestow, were the task performed to their satisfaction. Had it been the only course open, I should not have undertaken the pre sent study, because it would have been none of my busi ness. It so happens, however, that it is not possible, firstly, because the Zohar is much too loose and elusive as a commentary on the Pentateuch to present it in an intelligible manner under this guise ; and, secondly, be cause the peculiar nature of its exegesis would prove an insuperable rock of offence for those to whom the work would — in such case — have been addressed. I have there fore approached the subject from the one point of view which is important to my own mind and in the one way that is possible, having regard to the nature of the work. I have taken it as it is essentially, namely, a store-house of Secret Doctrine, and for the use of students of Secret Doctrine I propose to present it, so to speak, at first hand — in all its important aspects — for the purpose of ascertaining — as already mentioned — what light it casts — if indeed any — upon other forms of the Secret Tradi tion, as these have been presented in earlier and more ambitious writings with which I have been concerned in the past. Here is the keynote in respect of my whole research, and if there be another which is second only thereto it is to learn whether the Secret Doctrine in Israel must remain with us merely as an historical land mark, or whether it conveys an understanding of things which, when considered in its true light, is of moment to us as mystics here and now. To complete the circle of these preliminary remarks, I will add that the plan thus outlined will be found in the outcome to include all that is of importance in the alternative scheme that I have mentioned, for by the nature of the case there is no para mount doctrine under the aegis of the Old Covenant, no vital phase of scriptural tradition and no large event in the history of Israel about which we shall not learn in due course, and fully, the mind of the Zohar. There The Secret Doctrine in Israel is one thing more which it may seem well to make clear as a point of fact : I shall neither assume hereafter an acquaintance in my readers with the Secret Tradition in Israel — on which account I have reduced technical expres sions to a minimum — nor am 1 producing a kind of pro legomenon to the Book of the Zohar which is intended primarily to facilitate research when they have recourse to that work itself. After due allowance has been made for the predilection and enthusiasms of a mystic who has taken the business of the Secret Tradition into his heart of hearts, I shall be glad if those whom I address will be content to believe on my testimony that the Zohar is one of the great books of the world, one also which stands alone and is comparable to nothing save itself; but I have no intention of recommending it to their particular and earnest consideration at full length. In the French translation it contains, roughly speaking, about 1,250,000 words, distributed throughout six very large volumes, and in the absence of a special dedication it will prove frankly unreadable, vexatious even and irritating — per haps to the last degree. I am giving an account of its essence on the great subjects of its concern — things which a careful collation has lifted out of the mass of material. Beyond these there is all the drift and scattermeal of its speculation, like a vast waste beyond the garden of the wise, arid as a field of quest, arbitrary beyond words as exegesis, out of all reason as thesis and ridiculous at every turn and corner of the streets of thought. I am confus ing images or mixing metaphors rather of set purpose, to produce the kind of effect which is fitting to the kind of subject. If the Zohar may be likened otherwise to a temple of learning, then for all ordinary critical minds the words inscribed on its porch are : " Abandon hope, all ye who enter here." In justice to myself I am, how ever, furnishing the necessary references, firstly, to the Aramaic text which is paged identically in the epoch- making editions, and, secondly, to the French transla- The Hidden Church of Israel tion, so that those who wish to check my statements may have full opportunities in their hands. In attempting to educe from the Zohar the root- matter of the Secret Doctrine which it claims to embody, we are brought very quickly to a pause by the fact not merely of many inconsistencies characteristic of the text at large in a variety of lesser respects, but of the ob vious manner in which the great record seems contin ually at issue with itself over matters of prime importance. It is easy to allow for those cases — and they are com paratively few — in which the doctors correct one another, whether or not they reach an agreement subsequently ; but one seems to be dealing continually with irreme diable variation over clear issues, though in establishing the simple fact at this early stage there will be no occasion to cite instances. I mention it only to indicate my in tention to find — as we move forward in our research — a middle way, wherever possible, between statements that exclude one another. There are two things, however, for which allowance must be made from the beginning : one is the distinction of aspects, and then a reconciliation may be possible — not so much in the middle way as by means of checking and counterchecking — allowing for the point of view ; another arises from the fact that the content of the Zohar is made up of materials belonging to different dates, and this is much more difficult to deal with, because the Secret Doctrine of Israel should be in harmony with itself — whatever the period.1 Where either arises we must deal with cases individually, and it is this necessity which will tend to swell the annotations much beyond any limit that I could have desired on my own part. In the last resource we must recognise that the Secret Doctrine issues in a mystery in all directions because 1 Here, as in other cryptic literatures — and especially that of alchemy — if we can find something which will serve as a key, the house of mystery will give up its treasures, which does not mean that every point of symbolism will be placed of necessity in our hands, but we shall find the principle at work and the true subject. II The Secret Doctrine in Israel there is no place at which it enters into expression fully, so that the adequate materials are never in our hands. When things appear mutually or commonly exclusive, it will be little to our purpose if we decide that one of them seems to have a preferential claim, but we may get to our term if we can find a point of coincidence between the things which they tend to intimate, though they are scarcely expressed by any.1 According to the form of another school of sym bolism, I will proceed now to open the Lodge of Research by affirming that I am approaching The Book of the Zohar from a standpoint heretofore unattempted in the whole history of Kabalistic literature and criticism, so that I am as usual without precedents, while I am also without any specific intention of creating them. The remark is in a sense helpful, because those who are in favour of established ways and notions can take their proper warn ing before they go further. And again, in so far as it is possible, I should wish to exclude from the auditorium all those who understand the Scientia Kabalistica as an art of making, consecrating and using talismans and amulets, as a magical mystery concerning the power of Divine Names, or as the root matter of grimoires and ceremonial rituals of evocation.2 I can at least tell them that they will be saved from disappointment if they go elsewhere for enlightenment : this is no guide to the perplexed in the paths of occult arts. I mention this matter because there is a debased Kabalism, improperly so called, which 1 To give almost a frivolous example of disparities which arise in this way, the Zohar proper everywhere condemns astrology, but The Faithful Shepherd, a tract inserted at different points of the text, acknow ledges one of its root principles.— Z., Pt. II, fol. 42a ; DE PAULY, III, 191. a I do not refer here to what is sometimes called the Practical Kabala, in which are included the artificial methods of Gematria, Notaricon and Temura, which are principles of exegetical interpretation. I have said all that is necessary on this subject in my earlier study, and they are apart from the present concern. The reader may consult also DR. W. WYNN WESTCOTT : An Introduction to the Kabalah, 1910. These methods are old ; about the Magical Kabalah, the antiquity must be left unsettled : regarding its folly and iniquity there is no question. The Hidden Church of Israel deals in these putative mysteries and claims some roots in the past, as if it belonged to the old tradition of Israel — when it is not even a reflection. The mind of the Zohar on the subject of the occult sciences will be shewn towards the end of this study, so that there may be no mistake hereon at the term of quest. I mention it at this initial stage, so that there may be no mistake now. I have termed the present chapter The Hidden Church of Israel^ but it is not in the sense of suggesting that there was any formal incorporation,1 much less that there were secret religious rites and ceremonies in use among a company of adepts ; it was an entirely inward, spiritual and mystic church, for all purposes of which the official forms of the external Holy Assembly would have been held to be of sufficient efficacy, had the Temple, during the period when the Zoharic records came into existence, stood at Jerusalem, as it did in the days of old. One reason is 2 that the Secret Doctrine was judged to be inseparable from the literal or written word ; it was developed sometimes as if to deepen its meaning and extend its office, never to make it void within its own measures or in the place to which it belonged.3 Our 1 At the same time we do meet with a number of occasional instances, the suggestion of which is almost as if the colleagues formed a College of Initiates. Sometimes it even looks as if there were almost a cere monial manner of imparting mysteries. See, for example, Z., Pt. I, fol. I33a; DE PAULY, II, 124. Again, it is said that the mysteries were guarded secretly in the hearts of those who possessed them and com municated secretly to each other. /£., fol. 960 ; I, 550 For further allusions, see ib., fol. I33a; II, 124 ; ib., fol. I55b; II, 212, shewing that what was known by one of the adepts was not always familiar to another; ib., Pt. II, fol. 8b ; III, 3b ; ib., I4a; III, 61 ; ib., fol. i68a; IV, 116 ; ib., Pt. Ill, fol. i8;a ; V, 490. 2 In illustration of this, there is one similitude which says that the Written Doctrine is the candle or lamp, while the flame is the Oral Law. — Z., Pt. II, fol. i66a ; DE PAULY, IV, 112. 8 The thesis was that the written word of Scripture, in every passage and syllable, was the word of the living God. The meanings, however, were many, but they are usually reduced to three : (i) the historical sense, which corresponds to the Court of the Temple ; (2) the moral sense, which answers to the Holy Place ; and (3) the mystical sense, which is in analogy with the Holy of Holies. The Secret Doctrine in Israel first task is therefore to ascertain what is established in the Zohar concerning the fact of the Secret Doctrine; we must then take in succession the chief points of intimation on external doctrine and religion in Jewry, so as to elicit the sense of that tradition respecting each and all. Lastly, we must find — if this indeed be possible * — whether the tradition has a central root from which the great tree of the concealed knowledge has grown up ; whether also — as I have said — and how far we are concerned or perhaps even should be integrated therein as mystics of this day. I must add that while the last point is obviously the most important and vital, it can only be reached by the mediation of the two others. The question is therefore as to the fact of the Secret Doctrine and under what terms it is mentioned in the records. It is of course, broadly and generally, a method of interpreting Scripture,2 but so far as this expression is to be understood in an ordinary sense — as an actual and logical construction of the letter — the interpretation, as I have indicated already, is of no value, for the most part. It is, however, to be understood after a mode of its own, and in the light of this it signifies little that the Doctrine, in respect of exegesis, is often arbitrary 1 It is perhaps just to myself if I add in this place that, since I am not concerned with compilations as such, there would have been no excuse for the present work if I had not satisfied myself: (i) that such a root exists, and (2) that its nature can be set forth clearly. This has been implied already in several places. 2 The symbolism of the Secret Doctrine is also extracted from Scriptural words and phrases which antecedently seem far from the mark. The word " waters," as it is used sometimes in the Talmud, is said to signify the Secret Doctrine, and when David cried : " Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me" (Ps. ii, 12), he was praying for his heart to be opened by the study of divine mysteries. So also it is said : " Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together into one place" (Gen. i, 9). The waters refer to the Secret Doctrine, and the one place designates Israel, whose soul depends from that region to which Scripture alludes in the words, " Blessed be the glory of the Lord from His place" (Ezek. ii, 12). The "glory of the Lord" signifies the Shekinah below and "from His place " signifies the Shekinah above. "The Hidden Church of Israel to the last degree ; one would scarcely expect it to be otherwise, having regard to the Rabbinical mind. And the great point is that the mills of those lesser gods who are called Sons of the Doctrine ground out great things in their processes — pure and precious jewels of the spirit — as well as much dust and many rough stones from the matter which they passed through their mills. It is only as if casually that the word interpretation x can be held to apply in any solid sense : the Secret Doctrine is rather the sense below the sense which is found in the literal word — as if one story were written on the obverse side of the parchment and another on the reverse side. This is not an exact comparison, but it gives my meaning clearly enough for the purpose. There are hard things said from time to time about the outward sense and they must not be taken too seriously, for the letter was always precious, if only as a vesture ; but the difference between that which was within and without is well illustrated2 by a similitude which says that those who interpret Scripture according to the literal sense set the Sacred King and His Bride upon an ass, while those who understand it according to a mystic sense mount them nobly on a horse.3 This notwithstanding, the two belong to one another, because the Written Law is completed by that which is traditional,4 and the latter issues from the 1 The canon of interpretation is often exceedingly simple : for example, any reference to vegetation coming up out of the ground is explicable by symbolical vegetation, the one and the other being confused together, and either taken to explain the other. In Ps. Ixxxv, u, it is said that "truth shall spring out of the earth," and literal grass is held therefore to signify truth. 2 The Zohar gives another illustration when it says that the Oral Law enlightens the Written Law. Z., Pt. Ill, fol. 23a ; DE PAULY, V, 61. » Z.,Pt. III,275b; VI, 47- * The Written Law is designated in another place under the name of heaven, while the Oral Law is called earth. On the surface this appears somewhat against the more obvious sense and intention, but what is signified may be an obscure counterchange in virtue of corre spondences between things above and below, and this is a recurring Zoharic doctrine.— /&, Pt. I, fol. 247b ; II, 578. The Secret Doctrine in Israel former as woman was brought forth from man : it can exist only in union with the Written Law, and this it serves to enlighten — by the hypothesis at least. We shall see at the proper time that chief among the root doctrines is that Jehovah is one with Elohim in a sense which is very far from the theological understanding of Scripture ; but it is held also that the Written Law is the image of Jehovah, as the Oral Law is of Elohim, meaning the Holy Shekinah, from which it would follow that at heart they are two aspects of one and the same Law. That which is oral is called the voice of the turtle,1 and it comes from the side of mercy ; it is also the green wood, while the literal Law is the dry,2 coming from the side of judgment. But as a further instance of the unity in both it is laid down that there are three things which are at once hidden and concealed —being God, the Law and Israel itself. The vulgar man sees only the material side, but the initiate discerns also that which is buried within it. In virtue of this bond of union, we meet with intimations occasionally in which terms are applied to the one that seem referable rather3 to the other. It is said, for example, that the Written Law is above and that which is Oral below, as also that the former penetrates and fructifies the latter.4 That which is without seems, however, to be clearly a manifestation of that which is within, though there is a sense also in which the Law was regarded as written on high ; but this I should understand to signify that the Oral Law passes into expression here and into 1 Z., Pt. Ill, fol. 4b. ; DE PAULY, V, 9. 1 /£., fol. 27b, and V, 76. 3 According to the rabbi in Longfellow's Golden Legend, all Bible lore is water and Mishna is a strong wine ; but according to the Zohar, it is the Written Law which is wine ; the Oral, however, is not water but milk. I conclude that the one is the lesser, the other is the greater salvation, according to the voice of the Doctrine. See Z., Pt. I, fol. 24oa; II, 549. 4 Z., Pt. II, fol. 2ooa ; DE PAULY, IV, 200 ; also Z., Pt. II, fol. 2o6a and IV, 208. The Hidden Church of Israel realisation there. To conclude upon these analogies: the manifested part bears no comparison with that which is contained within ; that which is essential is called the Soul of Scripture ; the commandments are its body and the tales are the garments thereof. This is in the world below, while in that which is above the Ancient of Days is the soul of soul in the Law ; the soul is that mystery which is called the Beauty of Israel ; the body is the Community of the Elect ; while the vesture is heaven and its region. Cursed be he, says the text,1 who pre tends that the recitals of Scripture have no other meaning than that which appears on the surface. Scripture, if this were the case, would not be the Law of Truth, the Holy Law and the Perfect Witness, more precious than gold and jewels. If it contained only simple stories and such vulgar elements — as of Esau, Hagar, Laban and Balaam's ass — it would be possible to produce something better, apart from all inspiration, after the manner of profane books ; but the truth is that every word of Scripture enshrines a supreme mystery, and is capable of sixty methods of interpretation.2 This is a character istic extravagance, but every one who 'has followed the quest of the mystic sense knows how manifold it is, and hence no doubt it has been testified that the original Zohar was a load for seven camels. That is like St. John saying : " I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written/' if all the acts of Jesus were reduced into a complete memorial.3 I am very sure that the beloved disciple was guilty herein of no extravagant utterance, because Christ has been always in the world ; and I am not less certain that the 1 Z., Pt. Ill, i49b; DE PAULY, V, 386, 387. 8 lb., Pt. I, fol. 26a; DE PAULY, I, 161. It is said otherwise that there are sixty sections, which are the sixty queens of the Song oj Solomon. The "young maids" without number are the Halakhoth. — lb., Pt. Ill, fol. 2i6a ; V, 548. Another statement concerns seventy modes of interpreting Scripture, all of which are true in their results. lb.. Pt. I, fol. 54a ; I, 310. 3 St. John xxi, 25. 17 B The Secret Doctrine in Israel extent of the Zohar has been understated, for the varia tions of inward meanings are numberless as the Sons of the Doctrine, and they are all true analogically, though some of them are brighter jewels and the pearls of greatest price may be few enough. Whatever belongs to man belongs also to Christ : so too the Divine Sayings are like the Divine Acts, and from the first time of manifestation until that moment when God shall be all in all, there is no end to either. Now, it is said that the inner sense of the Law is not less concealed than the world from which it emanates,1 wherefore the mysteries known to the Sons of the Doctrine are guarded secretly in their hearts. Those who apply themselves to its study receive as their in heritance the world to come as well as that of Jacob, for it is the path of the life to come.2 He who is so dedicated and so consecrated is accounted as if he had received its sweet and heavenly words on Mount Sinai itself.3 It is the way of the Garden of the Sacred King and the way of the King Himself.4 A certain price has to be paid however, for it is said hyperbolically that the study of the Law succeeds only in the case of him who kills himself for the Law, meaning that it is a path of poverty, and a poor man is considered as one who is dead.6 1 Z., Ft. I, fol. i56b ; DE PAULY, II, 215. 2 /<£., fol. i s8a ; 1 1, 220. I should perhaps mention here that consecra tion to the study of the Sacred Doctrine brings down what is called the Supplementary Soul which Zoharic Kabalism attributes frequently to all pious children of Israel who observe the Sabbath in the plenary sense. It remains with them during that day and returns whence it came. But it would seem that the Sons of the Doctrine are in permanent enjoyment of this added part. He who does not cultivate the mystic science is therefore in a state of deprivation. The soul is brought down by the voice of him who studies the Secret Doctrine and it comes from the land of the living, making him whom it overshadows equal to the angels. When it is said in Ps. ciii, 20, " Bless the Lord, ye His angels," the reference is to those who study the Doctrine and are called God's angels on earth. In the world to come they will have wings like those of the eagle. 3 /£, Pt. Ill, fol. I79b ; V, 471. * /£., Pt. I, 224b ; II, 485. 6 /£., Pt. II, fol. i58b ; IV, 95. But against this, he who is dedicated to the study of the Law opens the 50 gates of Binahy corresponding to the letter Yod multiplied by the letter He.—lb., Ill, fol. 2i6a; V, 548. The Hidden Church of Israel I have dealt so far with preliminaries, and if the next question be how did the Secret Doctrine originate, the answer seems that it was before the world was with God. The sense of this must be that it was implied in Elohim, whose image it is, as we have seen. Another explanation is that it is on the side of mercy, and by mercy the world was made : it is the beneplacitum termino carens. We find, moreover, that God created the world by joining thereto the Secret Doctrine. The world was founded thereon, and it is added that so long as Israel is consecrated to its study, so long will the world be stable. When the lovers of truth1 rise for its study at midnight2 the Holy One and all the just who are with Him in the Garden of Eden listen to their voices.3 The versicle appertaining hereto is : " Thou that dwellest in the gardens, the companions hearken to thy voice : cause me to hear it." 4 We may understand by this that those who work below are really listening to the Voice which is above and that when they hear it, it is the mystery of doctrine which they hear. There is no need to add that the Voice is speaking in the heart. The word Bereshith with which Genesis opens, and which has been rendered sometimes " in wisdom," not " in the beginning," is said to signify the Secret Doctrine and its joining to the work of creation. The Scriptural allusion is: " The Lord possessed me in the beginning of His way, before His works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was." 5 It will be observed that this is personified 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. 77b ; DE PAULY, I, 454. 2 I may mention at its value that the annotator of the French version distinguishes between that which the Zohar designates mysteries of doctrine and that which it calls mysteries of tradition. The first is the spiritual sense of Scripture and the second that of tradition. 3 The study of the Doctrine is held to call for adornment of body as well as attention of mind. It was needful for the doctors who rose at midnight to clothe themselves for the purpose of study, out of respect to the Shekinah, who accompanies students of the Doctrine. Moreover, the study calls for serenity of mind, and it was held difficult to ensure this in a reclining posture. — Z., Pt. I, fol. 72a ; I, 426. 4 Song of Solomon , viii, 13. Z., Pt. I, fol. 77b ; I, 455. 6 Prov. viii, 22, 23. Z., Pt. I, fol. 24b ; I, 153. The Secret Doctrine in Israel Wisdom testifying on her own part, and the application of the text by the Zohar in connection with the beginning of things is, under the circumstances, rather subtle. It goes on to affirm that this was the kind of beginning in which God created the heaven and earth, the basis of which is His Covenant. Hence it is said also : " If the Covenant which I have made existed not, there would be neither day nor night, neither heaven nor earth."1 All accepted renderings of this passage from the Vulgate downward are quite different, but the point to be remembered is the allusion made to the Covenant in the particular con nection, for we shall find at a much later stage that it is the sign manual or visible of one of the Divine Hypostases and it is also one of the keys to the whole mystery of the Zohar. We are not, however, dealing with the question of creation at this point of our debate, and it has been mentioned only to indicate the seemingly eternal pre-existence of the Secret Doctrine. After what manner was the latter brought down to earth, so that it came to the knowledge of the elect ? The thesis of possession and successive custody depends from a legend of Paradise, and this in its turn arises from the Scriptural reference to a " book of the generations of Adam." 2 It is supposed by the Zohar to signify that there was a secret and supreme book, the source of all, including the Hebrew letters3 — presumably in that form under which they are manifested below. It expounded the holy mystery of wisdom and the efficiency resident in the Divine Name of seventy-two letters.4 It was sent down from heaven by the hands of 1 This is the rendering of the Zohar, but the Authorised Version reads : " If my covenant be not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth ; then I will cast awav the seed of Jacob, and David my servant," &c. Jer. xxxiii, 25, 26. Compare the Vulgate : Si pact urn meum inter diem et noctem, et leges ccelo et terra non posui, equidem et semen Jacob et David, servi mei, projiciam^ &c. 2 Gen. v, r. 3 Z., Pt. I, fol. 3?a etseq. ; DE PAULY, I, 231, 233. 4 There are said to be three books which are opened in heaven on the first day of the year. The first is that which was transmitted to Adam, and this is the book of the just who are perfect. The second has a part The Hidden Church of Israel the angel Raziel1 and Adam was entrusted therewith. Raziel is said to be the angel of the sacred regions and chief of the supreme mysteries. The gift placed Adam in a superior position to that of any celestial being — presumably with the exception of the messenger, though indeed he may have carried that which he was not per mitted to understand. Adam became acquainted in this manner with Supernal Wisdom,2 and the celestial choirs came down to be present when he read the book. He was cautioned, however, to conceal it, and he seems there fore to have studied it in silence with recollection of the heart. The book proved later on to be like the Lthet Gradalis or fundamental record concerning the Holy Graal, for it took unto itself wings at need when Adam — his advantages notwithstanding — fell ultimately into sin. It was clasped in his hands when he was driven out of the Garden of Eden, but thereafter it vanished, and for long and long he lamented the loss of his treasure. Ultimately it was given back to him, in answer to his tears and prayers,3 by the angel Raphael ; he returned to its study and bequeathed it to his son Seth, who entrusted it to later messengers, so that the Secret Doctrine might be spread through the world. It became known as the Book of Enoch after passing through the hands of that patriarch,4 and it is said that Abraham penetrated the in heaven and a part on earth, but it is not otherwise described. The third is the Written Law, which was designed for the first man and was presumably known of the heart, for it is not said that it was manifested at that time on earth. — Ib. 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. 55b; I, 319,320. 2 The Sacred Name of 72 letters was explained in the Genesis of Man by means of the 670 mysteries which it contains. The mystery of Chokntah discovered the 1500 keys which are not entrusted to any celestial being. 3 The variant account in fol. 55b says that he smote his forehead when the work vanished and plunged up to his neck in the river Gihon, being the sacred river which flowed out from the " garden eastward in Eden." Gen. ii, 13. The result was that all his body was covered with wrinkles, so that he was no longer recognisable. 4 There are several Enochian legends which offer curious points in themselves, but seldom connect with our subject. According to one "The Secret Doctrine in Israel glory of his Master by means of its mysteries. Moses, however, was the first man who attained perfection in its fulness and perhaps on this account it is not suggested that he derived his knowledge from a book, so that after Abraham we hear nothing of the secret text : it was a treasure of the patriarchal age. The External Law and the Secret Doctrine were both revealed on Mount Sinai, and as Moses transmitted the one to his nation at large so he communicated the other to certain elders, by whom it was handed on. But there are two remarkable passages designed to shew that the whole secret knowledge came down to the Zoharic period under the darkening of suc cessive clouds. It is said that at the death of Moses the sun was eclipsed and that the Written Law lost its splendour. At the hour of King David's death the light of the moon diminished and the radiance of the Oral Law was tarnished. The consequence was that dis cussions and controversies began among the sages of the Mishna, so that the joy in the study of the Law has ceased for all future generations.1 It was pursued pre viously in clear and full light, so that there was the union which comes from certitude among the Sons of the Doctrine, but afterwards it was followed from afar in a state of doubt and separation, amidst the wrangling of the schools, who saw only as in a glass and darkly. This state of things is sometimes symbolised by a division in the Divine Name, by the loss of the true method of pronouncing the Tetragram in conformity with its proper vowels, and so forth. Occasionally there are intimations of a new breaking of light, as when it is said that Ezekiel was less faithful than Moses, for he divulged all the treasures of the king,2 but apparently those account, Enoch became the great archangel Metatron ; according to another, he was exalted to the high heavens and made guardian of their treasures, including the 45 keys to the combinations of graven letters. — Z., Pt. I, fol. $6b ; DE PAULY, I, 326. 1 ZMPt. 1 1, fol. is6a, b; IV, 88. • /*.,PtII,fol.5a; IH,i9. The Hidden Church of Israel treasures were not cast before doctors who — whatever their zeal and sincerity — were unable to value them in understanding at their proper worth. It was otherwise in the days of Rabbi Simeon, for the glory of the mystic light was at its zenith in him, according to the Zohar, which, considering that he was the revealer in chief of its doctrines, naturally exalts that master of wisdom above all the stars of heaven. It is added that from the day when Rabbi Simeon came out of his cavern 1 the mysteries were secrets no longer for the colleagues, because the Hidden Doctrine had become no less familiar to them than it was to their precursors in that day when it was revealed on Mount Sinai. But the time came when this great sun set in the hour of the master's death ; and when after wards his disciples and successors sought to reproduce the words which they heard from his lips, the attempt proved a failure.2 The withdrawal of the Secret Doctrine is also mentioned, but with vestiges remaining over : these are to be concealed, as much perhaps because of their in completeness as because the Doctrine itself was secret.3 The last point which calls for our consideration here is whether the general references to the Secret Doctrine as a whole, apart from its various branches, offer any ground of presumption concerning its radical nature. Now, it is said that the Supreme Mystery is concealed in the Law,4 that it is the secret of the Law, meaning the secret of the King — Sacramentum Regis quod abscond ere 1 The reference is to the Tract Sabbath, which contains the history of Rabbi Simeon, the reasons which led him to find refuge in a cave for twelve years and the circumstances under which he came out. See MICHAEL RODKINSON : Babylonian Talmud, vol. i, c. 2. 2 This disposes of the ridiculous tradition that R. Simeon wrote anything in the cavern where he found a refuge from Roman imperial persecution. 8 Z., Pt. I, fol. 2i6b, 2i7a; DE PAULY, II, 453-455. See also /£., fol. 9a ; I, 50, from which it follows that the Secret Doctrine is the explanation and unfoldment of all. This is founded on Ps. xix, 6 : " There is nothing hid from the heat thereof." But this was the Doctrine in its fulness. «/fc,fol.236b; 11,533- The Secret Doctrine in Israel bonum est — revealed only to those who fear sin, and that as to its nature, this is bodied forth by the sacred covenant concerning circumcision.1 In other words, it is a mystery of sex. It was on account of this that Rabbi Simeon consecrated to the study of the Secret Doctrine the entire night in which the Heavenly Bride is united to her Heavenly Spouse, being the night of that day when the Law was revealed to the Israelites and the Covenant contracted between God and His people. The reason was that the mystic Knowledge constitutes the jewels of the Heavenly Bride. We can only understand this on the hypothesis that the science in question is concerned at some stage or under some aspect with a most holy mystery of sex, as if some unknown path of splendour and path to the height might open therefrom. It is said that "the King's daughter is all glorious within/' and the Zohar explains that there is glory and glory, a glory of the male and a glory of the female principle.2 It is said also, as if in connection with the pursuit of this path, that whosoever follows in the train of the Heavenly Bride on the night of union 3 shall be preserved from all evil for ever in heaven and on earth — as if death and the second death had no power. He will enjoy celestial peace to the end of time. The counsel in this respect is : " Taste and see that the Lord is sweet." If the study of the doctrine adorns the Bride of Heaven with jewels, as we have just seen, it seems that it also adorns the soul of the student with all manner of graces and sanctities. When the Zohar affirms that his desert is far above anything which follows on mere works, there is no doubt that it gives expression 1 Z., Ft. I, fol. 237 ; DE PAULY, II. 535. 2 This is based on Ps. xlv. 13 : "The King's daughter is all glorious within," which the Zohar renders : "All the glory of the daughter of the King is within" ; and the Vulgate : Omnis gloria ejus filicz regis ab intus. The words are held to designate the Community of Israel. 3 Z.,Pt. I,9a; I,5i. 4 Ps. xxxiv, 8. 'The Hidden Church of Israel to a great truth, though it may be one that is reserved only for the understanding of the elect. But in the ordinary sense the explanation is that it enables good works to be fulfilled with knowledge, under the opera tion of Divine Will. Those who study the Doctrine are set free from fear — whether of things in heaven or things on earth, whether of evils which may overwhelm mankind — for they are grafted on the Tree of Life and are taught daily thereby. As regards things in heaven, the meaning is that the fear of God, which is the beginning of wisdom, has been absorbed by the love of God, which is wisdom in realisation, and the Divine Doctrine cannot be studied without imparting love for the Divine. To walk in the path of the Doctrine is therefore to follow the path of love ; it is said other wise to lead into the way of truth, so that we learn how the soul may return to its Master. It is not the work of a certain day, nor of a certain hour, but one of the day and the night. We come to understand in this manner that the study is a question of life, of living with the face towards Jerusalem, having the aware ness of God in the heart, and herein is the moyen de paruenir, the counsel of real living. We shall understand also why it is added that he who neglects or forsakes the study of the doctrine is not less guilty than if he separated himself from the Tree of Life, for he is leading the life of separation.1 The last considerations follow, as it seems to me, the ordinary course of thought in the direction to which they belong ; but the extracts out of which they arise are a counsel to those who would study the Secret Doctrine that there is needed a conscious union by intention, con templation, and the art of finding in the heart, so that the heart and mind of the student may concur in an ineffable union which is said to be consummated above. As to its nature we know enough to be certain that the 1 Z., Pt. I., fol. i ia ; DE PAULY, I, 62. The Secret Doctrine in Israel night thereof is not of a festival below but of the eternal oneness in that Divine Darkness which is called other wise in the records siin-Soph, the limitless and undif- ferentiated light. The festival of the Paschal Lamb in the calendar of Jewry is only a specific memorial on earth, so that what it is held to signify may be kept in the soul of Israel ; and this is not really an act of unreason ; on the contrary the intention is so to proceed here as if that which is remembered below is in particular remembrance above, yet the union there is in the still rest and the changeless simplicity, being infinite and eternal therein. Lastly, the extracts out of which these things arise would be worse than idle words if the quest concerning their meaning could be carried no further. It will be seen as we move forward on the strange path of our research that the Sons of the Doctrine were only from time to time, and as if by accident, concerned with reserving any common, or indeed any merely remote and arbitrary understanding of the Written Word in Israel ; that in short there was something, on the contrary, which — at least from their point of view — imposed a reasonable and even a zealous reserve, because it was pre eminently one of those matters which the unprepared and sensual mind would wrest to its own destruction. CHAPTER III THE MAJESTY OF GOD IN KABALISM I SUPPOSE that there would be no more interesting study than the antecedents of Zoharic doctrine in the systems of the past. I speak of the more formal and — if I may so put it — more exoteric part, of that also which is not after its own order and manner — within the measures of the mind of Israel. Such an undertaking is outside my whole proposition and would demand qualifications to which 1 make no claim, for it is somewhat late on my part to serve another apprenticeship. Special proficiency is not of course required to recognise in how many quar ters the great vistas open, and I suppose that in such a connection the discourse would begin as this chapter begins — that is to say, on the nature of God in the trans cendence. I will reaffirm at the outset that I am con cerned here, as I shall be concerned throughout, with an attempt to ascertain whether there is anything which leads to some central point of all ; and I believe that we shall find it almost ready to our hands, as we did in dis cussing the nature of the Secret Doctrine. This point will recur continually, and so shall I look to reach in fine a culmination or term of quest, from which we shall be able to look back over the whole journey and survey it under one light. Speaking generally of God in the transcendence, we learn that the glory of the Holy One is so sublime and exalted so highly above all human understanding, that it remains eternally secret ; no man can penetrate the depths of the Divine Wisdom. The place of its exalta- "The Secret Doctrine in Israel tion is unknown to men and angels,1 and this is held to be intimated by the prophet when he said : " Blessed be the glory of the Lord from His place," or as the Zohar renders it, " in the place wherein He resides." I suppose that this may be regarded as a short introduction to the Doctrine of the Infinite, as this finds expression in the Zohar under the name of Ain-Soph, or the Divine Essence abiding in the simplicity and undifferentiation of perfect unity. The Latin equivalent \sfine carens, that is to say, without end, and it is customary to translate Ain Soph Aour as Limitless Light, that which is without end being held to be without beginning. Ain-Soph is, however, understood in the Zohar as the limitless mystery of Divine Thought, the centre of all and the secret of all secrets — God unknown and unknowable in respect of His Essence.2 The references to this state of Deity are comparatively few in the Zohar,3 and it was unknown to the Book of Formation which preceded it. There are im portant developments concerning it in later Kabalism, which located it above Kether in the Sephirotic Tree and regarded this first Sephira — sphere or numeration — as the Throne of the Infinite, adding that Ain-Soph dwells in the hiddenness thereof.4 The Zohar testifies: (i) That God is essentially without form,5 but in His manifestation He is seen 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. io3a ; DE PAULY, II, 18. See also Ezek. iii, 12. 8 /£., , fol. 2ia ; I, 129. 3 It is important to establish this point because some confusion has been created on the subject by modern writers. In those portions of the Zohar which were rendered into Latin by Rosenroth he has introduced an interlinear commentary which gives a false impression as to the re currence of the doctrine throughout the text. M. Franck (La Kabbale, 1843, pp. 173-176) introduces the term Ain-Soph in the course of a long Zoharic excerpt which is difficult to follow on the assumption that it is direct translation. Lastly, Mr. Mathers (The Kabbalah Unveiled^ 1887), who failed to render even Rosenroth's Latin correctly, produces the latter's commentary with additions of his own and increases the confusion further. * See Kabbala Denudata : Apparatus in Librum Sohar, Pars Prima, p. 81. 6 Z., Pt. I, 27$a; DE PAULY, II, 644. The text derives its autho rity in the usual amazing manner from the Son* of Solomon, vii, n, 12: u Come, my belovod, let us go forth into the field ; let us lodge in the The Majesty of God in Kabalism or discerned under different aspects, according to a scale of degrees extending to 32 and constituting the Paths of Wisdom, which will be mentioned hereafter in connection with the Book of Formation. (2) That the most secret of all mysteries is that which is called Nothing,1 being the Most Holy Ancient, from Whom the light flows forth.2 This notwithstanding, it is affirmed (3) that in the essence of the Infinite there are neither intentions nor lights, nor brightness,3 and the explanation is that although all lights emanate therefrom they are not in that state of clear shining which would enable man to grasp the nature of the Infinite. It is a Supreme Will. (4) That again this fact notwithstanding, the holocaust which has for its object to effect an union with the Holy of Holies ascends to din-Soph^ because all union and all perfection must tend to fusion with the Mysterious Unknown 4 Who is the object of all desires, though in d'tn-Soph there are no desires, even while they subsist thanks only to Him. (5) That A'in-Soph is symbolised by the letter Aleph* It seems to follow that later Kabalism was well within the measures of the symbolism when it posited A'in-Soph as a hidden light above Kether at the head of the Sephirotic Tree. By a kind of flowing forth or emanation, which is distinct as such from pantheism, there were produced four worlds in succession, and as again the developments villages. Let us get up early to the vineyards ; let us see if the vine flourish." This is contrasted with a Talmudic story concerning the son of Zoma, one of the four persons who penetrated into the Mysterious Garden ; but he remained on the hither side of the vineyard, which is taken to mean that he did not enter the 32 Paths of Supreme Wisdom. 1 Z., Pt. II, 64b; DE PAULY, III, 283. It is founded on Ex. xvii, 7: "They tempted the Lord, saying, Is the Lord among us, or not?" — which is supposed to contain a distinction between the Ancient and Jehovah, contrary to the unity of God in all degrees, and whether manifest or unmanifest. 2 Ib., 43b; III, 194. 3 Ib., Pt. II, 239a; IV, 267. « 7J.,Pt. III,26b; V, 74,75- 8 /£., 257a ; V, 597. The Secret Doctrine in Israel of these are chiefly in later Kabalism, being very elabo rate therein, it is desirable to see exactly what is said upon the subject in the fountain text. The references are in summary form as follows: (i) there is a Sephirotic degree entitled Malkuth, and it seems clear that to what world soever this name is allocated, one Sephira alone is signified, being that which is tenth in numeration and is actually called Malkuth^ signifying the Kingdom. (2) It is testified that Scripture makes use of the three ex pressions " to create, to form and to make " 2 in allusion to the three worlds which are below the world of emana tion. It follows that the four worlds are those of Emana tion, Creation, Formation and Manifestation, Action, the material universe, or as it is called by Rosenroth Mundus Factionis? The Hebrew equivalents are Atziluth, Briah, Tetzlrah and Assiah. (3) The union of God and His Shekinah takes place, as we shall see, in Atziluth* the world of Emanation, where there is no separateness ; the angels of Brtah form the body of Shekinah,5 when she descends therein, and this world is called the region of the Throne. It is said that the princes of Israel, the wise, the intelligent, the zealous, heroes, men of truth, prophets, just men and kings are all from the world of Emanation, but there are others from the world of Crea tion, whereof Shekinah is the sacrifice. But this is not to be taken literally. (4) There is also a reference to three worlds of divine hiddenness.6 The first can be neither seen nor discerned and is known only to Him Who is concealed therein ; I suppose that this refers to A'in-Soph. The second is attached to the first and the Holy One is manifested therein : it is presumably Atziluth. The third is the beginning of division, signifying created intelligence, 1 Z., Pt. I, i8a; DE PAULY, I, 112. Malkuth is supposed to be designated by the word " bow," when it is said : " I do set my bow in the cloud." — Gen. ix, 13. 2 7&.,fol. i79b; 11,298. 3 Kabbala DC mt data : Apparatus, Pars Prima, p. 12. 4 Z., Pt. III,fol. lOQb; V, 276. § Ib. • /£., fol. I59a; ¥,411,412. The Majesty of God in Kabalism and is the world of the superior angels : it is therefore Briah, according to later Kabalism. For the Sons of the Doctrine the four worlds of their conception were understood not only in their first or universal sense but in a manner particular to themselves, from which point of view the worlds in their synthesis are symbolised in later Kabalism by the Hebrew word Pardes, signifying a Garden and understood as that of Paradise, the consonants of which are the initial letters of four words signifying (a) the literal sense of the word of Scripture, (b) the symbolical sense, (c) the allegorical sense, and (d) the mystical or Kabalistic sense.1 It was a question of correspondence and went to shew in the eloquent manner of symbolism that the Divine Word is truly Divine in all its stages and that its study is an ascent from the world of manifested things to that of Deity. So also it was out of the literal sense of Scripture that the doctors derived their exalted notion of things unseen and of Him Who reigns not alone in the world to come but in this which we see with our eyes, Who fills them both and by Whom the soul is replenished on all the planes of being. Now it follows from the Kabalism of every period that these four worlds are subdivided into ten spheres, which are called Sephiroth or Numerations, and they are con ventionally described thus : 1. KETHER^the Crown. 2. CHOKMAH = Wisdom. 3. BINAH = Understanding. 4. CHESED = Mercy. 5. GEBURAH =Severity or Judgment. 6. TIPHERETH = Beauty. 7. NETZACH = Victory. 8. HOD -Glory. 9. YESOD = Foundation. 10. MALKUTH =The Kingdom. 1 Kabbala Demi data : Apparatus Pars Prima, p. 12. The Secret Doctrine in Israel Their further consideration will follow, but we are concerned at the moment with the way in which these spheres are allocated to the worlds of Kabalism. Now the Zohar speaks of three Supernal Degrees or Divine Hypostases, and the first of them is called Kether.1 It is said also that when the world of manifest things was in the state of Tohu, God revealed Himself therein under the Hypostasis Shaddai ; when it had proceeded to the condition called Bohu He manifested as the Hypostasis Sabbaoth ; but when the darkness had disappeared from the face of things He appeared as Elohim. Hereto appertain the words: "And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters,"11 understood as a reference to the sweet and harmonious voice heard by Elijah and termed : "The Voice of the Lord is upon the waters."3 This signifies the completion of the Sacred Name Jehovah. Hence in the vision of Elijah it is said that " the Lord (Jehovah) was not in the earthquake :" it was Shaddai. He was not in the fire ; this was Sabbaoth ; but He was in the still small voice, being that of the Spirit of Elohim, and the name of Jehovah was complete.4 It is said also that this name is composed of four letters,5 the relation of which to the Divine Essence is like that of the limbs to the human body ; 6 but this notwithstanding, the Hypostases are three only. Now, as Kether is the first, it is to be inferred that Chokmah and Binah consti tute the other two, and the world of Atziluth or Emana tion will be completed in these. They are symbolised by the three bars of the Hebrew letter Shin,1 which also exhibits their essential unity. We may regard the point as determined by one further statement, according to which the First Light is symbolised by the Crown and the Second Light or Hypostasis forms the second Sephira. 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. 22b; DE PAULY, I, 139. z Gen. 1, 2. 3 Ps. xxix, 3. 4 I Kings xix. 11, 12. 6 Z., Pt. I, fol. i6a ; I, 97. • Ib. 7 16., Pt. Ill, I94a; V, 502. The Majesty of God in Kabalism These lights appeared to Abraham,1 and the third, which was seen by Jacob,2 proceeds from the two first.3 It has been necessary to enter at some length into this involved subject because later Kabalism has compli cated almost inextricably the worlds of the Zohar. I now proceed to establish the following Sephirotic division as that which best represents the mind of the original text. To the first world of Alziluth are referred Kether, Chokmah and Einah ; to the second world of Eriah are allocated Chesed, Geburah and Tip here th ; Tetzirah com prises Netzach) Hod and Tesod ; while Assiah is Malkuth, as I have said at the beginning of this study. The ten Sephiroth are therefore contained within the four worlds. According to the Zohar, the Sephiroth are comparable to chariots for the degrees of the Divine Essence, and the word degrees, which is used very frequently in the text, illustrates after a simple manner the idea of gradations in the nature of the Presence as the spheres of manifestation proceed further from the centre. The supernal world contains the highest degrees of which the human mind can conceive by the intellection of faith, and Kether, Chofonah, Einah form an unity therein. It will be seen from previous extracts that Eriah is the world of created intelligence, though it would seem that its content flows over into Tetzirah. The third and the fourth world are not described in the Zohar, but their names indicate that as in Eriah God created the forms of consciousness to which He could manifest Himself by divine modes, so in Tetzirah He produced the pattern, idea or archetype of the visible and material cosmos, referred to Assiah. The names allocated to the ten Sephiroth are on their surface conventional and arbitrary — at least in certain cases. We can recognise that Malkuth is appropriate in respect of the visible world, and that Kether is the crown or summit of the entire Sephirotic system. Mercy and 1 Gen. xviii, I. 2 Gen. xxxii, 31. 3 Z., Pt. I, fol. 2ia, b; DE PAULY, I, 130, 131. 33 c The Secret Doctrine in Israel severity will be found to explain the reason why they are ascribed to certain Sephiroth when arranged as what is called the Tree of Life in Kabalism. Tesod has a deep significance which* we shall come to understand later; but the names of Victory and Glory are without inter pretation, even in later Kabalism, which can be said to be of moment. The source of Zoharic information respecting the ten Sephiroth or Numberings is in the Sephcr Tetzirah or Book of Formation.1 It is a work which is assigned to several periods by scholarship, and if we take the middle view we should place it very early in post-Talmudic times — let us say roughly, the fourth century of the Christian era. A summary of what is found concerning the Sephiroth in this tract is necessary as a point of de parture. They are termed ineffable, without beginning and without end ; they are an abyss of good, but one also of evil ; they are height and depth unmeasured, illimitable on the right and on the left, in each of the four quarters. They are said to give forth the ten numbers, and the correspondences established respecting the latter must apply presumably to the sources from which they emanate. The sequence however seems arbi trary to the last degree, and I have found nothing in the Zohar which can be held to connect therewith. They are briefly as follows : I. The Spirit of God. II. The element of air, meaning the air which is set in motion by the utterance of the voice and which produces in this manner the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet. III. Water, from which is condensed the element of earth. IV. Fire, in connection with which is the Throne of Glory ; there are also the angelic Orders of Auphamm, 1 The English reader may consult DR. WYNN WESTCOTT'S trans lation of The Sephcr Yetzirah, of which two editions have appeared. The little text is mentioned twice in the Zohar. See Ft. II, fol. iSyb, where it is quoted to prove that the Sephiroth are not eleven but ten, and lb,, fol. 3153, where its authorship is referred to the patriarch Abraham, in accordance with tradition. The Majesty of God in Kabalism Seraphim and Kerubim. V. The Height. VI. The Depth. VII. The East. VIII. The West. IX. The North. X. The South. From this point of view, the ten Sephiroth represent doctrines of extension in space and of the Divine manifesting therein. It is said that the Faith ful King rules all these from His Holy Seat, for ever and ever. It will be observed that the names allocated to the SephirotJi are wanting in this description, nor do I pretend to say when or in what work they are met with for the first time. Something will depend on the date to which we assign the Zohar itself: if it is earlier than the commentaries on the Sepher Tetzirah by Judah Halevi and by Eben Ezra, it may have been — for all that I know to the contrary — the authority for the ten names. It should be noted further that the Sephiroth are repre sented as good and evil equally, which seems reasonable in respect of that world of dimensions wherein both principles manifest. The Zohar has developments of its own on this subject and something must be said of them later. The diagrams which represent the Sephiroth in the form of the Tree of Life are unknown to The Book of Formation, nor can they be deduced therefrom. Here also the origin is doubtful, but a certain form is met with in the Zohar, or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that it is implied continually therein. Passing to this work, I will give the indications suggesting the arrangement mentioned. There is firstly the Middle Pillar and there are the Right and Left sides, correspond ing to Mercy and Severity. Chokmah is on the right of Kether and Binah on the left.1 Chesed is the right and Geburah the left arm. Netzach and Hod are the right and left hips. The right side is life and the left is death.2 The pillars of Mercy and Severity are thus completed, according to the scheme of the Tree. The Middle Pillar is one of the Hypostases in the Divine 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. 26b ; DE PAULY, I, 164, 165. 2 /£., Pt. I, fol. 22b; I, 139. "The Secret Doctrine in Israel Essence, and it is called the Perfect Pillar.1 The light of the right side, which is active, enters therein, and so does the passive light of the left. The Word issues from this union. Elohim forms the Middle Pillar and therein are the union and fecundity of the waters above and below, meaning Sephirotic degrees.2 Children, life and the means of existence come therefrom : 3 it is " mine eldest son, Israel." 4 The four rivers of Eden seem to be Chesed, Geburah, Netzach and Hod? The Middle Pillar is the Tree of Life, and perhaps the two other pillars are together the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil — but it is all speculation and all is high convention. There is no evil when these are united with the central pillar, which is called the seventh day,6 the Sabbath and the tent of peace.7 It is the peace in particular between the light of the right side and thi.t which in another place is called the darkness of the left.8 The Talmud and the Mishnah come from the Middle Pillar.9 There are many contradictory allocations, as for example, when the Middle Pillar is called the son of Tod™ but also the He, which is Binah. The Middle Pillar is also the master of the house.11 It is said of the right arm that it draws the immensity of space in love, like the arm of the male drawing the female.12 The law of faith is on the right side.13 The left arm draws the immensity of space in rigour.14 The serpent constitutes the left arm and thence emanates the impure spirit. It is the side of water and the side of sadness. These en gender darkness and the way of escape is by the harmony I Z., Pt. I, fol. i6b; DE PAULY, I, 101. a Ib., fol. i;a; I, 103. 3 Ik., fol. 24a ; I, 149. * Exodus iv, 22. 5 Z., Pt. I, fol. 28a; I, 178. 6 Ib., fol. 47b ; I, 276. 7 /£., fol. 48a ; I, 279. 8 Ib., fol. 254a; II, 599. a /£., fol. 2553; II, 601. 10 Ib., Pt. II, fol. ii5b ; III, 445. We shall see that from one point of view this is supported by an independent text imbedded in the Zohar, but the text general presents a different aspect. II /£., Pt. III,272a; VI, 37. 12 Ib., Pt. I, fol. 64a; 1,375. 18 Ib., Pt. II, fol. 82a ; III, 343. 14 /<*., Pt. I, fol. 64a ; I, 375- "The Majesty of God in Kabalism which can be instituted between the Mercy or Grace of Chesed and the Severity of Geburah^ The left side is without pity in the state of separation,2 yet she who is Matrona according to another allocation is the left side and it is known that she is the mother of Mercy.3 A day will come when the evil, that is the left, side shall disappear and good will obtain only.4 It is said further that the Mercy and Severity of Chesed and Geburah are united in Tiphereth? The holy degrees are declared to emanate from the holy side and the impure degrees from the impure side.6 It follows that the Zohar bears out the thesis of the Sepher Tetzirah when this work describes the Sephiroth as the abyss of good and evil. It gives no explanation which will help us to understand this, though it speaks in one place of the union between good and evil 7 as a secret or mystery and indicates in another that there is a sense in which the left side is on the way of attainment.8 It was possibly the difficulties arising from the allocation of evil to spheres in which God was present everywhere 9 that led the later Kabalists to suppose that the ten Sephiroth were repeated in each of the four worlds ; but this development does not really deal with the point at issue, and as there is no further light thereon we must be content to pass over it, remembering that, almost in the words of the text, the Middle Pillar draws the right and left sides, the good and the evil together, in which union evil dissolves as such and the good obtains entirely under the name of Benignity — which is that of the Middle Pillar. It is a question of transmutation. The conventional Tree of Life connects the Sephiroth 1 Z., Pt. II, fol. io3b; DE PAULY, II, 21. 2 /£., fol. igSb; II, 387. 3 /£., fol. 25oa ; II, 584. * Ib., Pt. II, fol. I9oa ; IV, 175. 5 Ib., Pt. Ill, fol. 233a ; V, 563. 6 Ib., I, 203!) ; II, 409. 7 Ib., Pt. 1 1, fol. 34a; IV, 166. 8 /£., 6ob; III, 268; and i I4b; 111,443- • The mystery deepens when it is affirmed that there is no other God comprised outside the ten Sephiroth, and that the Shekinah, who is a Divine Hypostasis, dwells in each Sephira. — Z., Pt. Ill, fol. V, 276. The Secret Doctrine in Israel together by means of lines which are called paths, being twenty-two in number, and these in connection with the Sephiroth themselves constitute the thirty-two paths of the Sepher Telzirah. As there are several forms of the Tree, according to different commentators, I have reproduced those which are regarded as of authority. They do not represent adequately the mind of the Zohar, and I have therefore added one which seems to be more in conson ance, especially regarding the Tetragram. Serving as it does to reconcile statements to which considerable conse quence attaches, I am of opinion that it is a proper supplement to the accepted forms. We must remember, however, that late Kabalism arose to account for the difficulties, omissions and discrepancies which prevail in the fountain text, and though I have had occasion to make various strictures, these are without prejudice to the fact that the work as a whole was done with sincerity and zeal, whence it is helpful in respect of occasional conciliation and from time to time as reasonable extension and inference. This notwithstanding, I believe that my diagram is more within the logic of the symbolism than are its alternatives in the printed text-books. It follows the two Idras, or Holy Assemblies, and it gives another aspect of the right and the left sides, which are always presented from the observer's standpoint, so that Chokmah is on the right of him when he is looking at the figure, while Geburah is on his left. On the contrary, what seems intended obviously in the Zohar is right and left in the order of procession on the Tree, or en the path of descent into manifestation. The distinction may seem unimportant at first sight, but it has enabled me to rectify the position of the consonants belonging to the Sacred Name in respect of certain Sephiroth, so that it is justified by a particular allocation, as well as by the reason of things. I will now summarise the correspondences of the ten Sephiroth in succession. Kether is the crown or head of HORIZON Stphn-a SYSTEM A"™ 1" ^ °SEPf I1ROTICVM X- DIVING r*4?£^MRVM NOMIN'VM r ' f mm ^ '& L_ i| B A ^?C:iv '***4»<^ flu V^A**1 rf *- ^ '"5' '** Jr_ .. & ^* -^ THE SEPHIROTIC SYSTEM, ACCORDING TO LATER KABALISM Facing page 38 The Majesty of God in Kabalism the Tree.1 It is the first Hypostasis but not apparently the First Cause or Cause of causes.2 The meaning seems to be that the First Cause is A'in-Soph. Kether contains within itself two Hypostases, presumably male and female.3 Jehovah manifests with Shekinah in the degree of Kef her.* In contradiction hereto it is said that the first and third Sephiroth are united as male and female.5 It is said also that Kether and Chokmah are never in separation.6 As regards Chokmah, it is by the sublime and im penetrable mystery of this Sephira that the world exists 7 and all other mysteries depend therefrom.8 It is the second Sephira or Hypostasis and is called Man.9 The house is built by Chokmah;™ it was concealed like the Supreme Point before the creation,11 and it is called Tod)'1 It is eternal wisdom,13 and therein is concealed the eternal thought, which is the Great Voice,14 or otherwise the still small voice which is the house of Eternal Wisdom. In contradiction to these indications it is said to be the sister, meaning thereby Shekinah.15 It is also daughter and mother. It is the beginning of all.16 Binah is intelligence or understanding,17 and its number is said to be fifty because of the Gates of Under standing.18 It is the concealed world,19 and motherhood is its image.20 It is also penitence,21 the degree of the moon,22 the mystery of the supreme world,23 and the com munity of Israel.24 The letter He is allocated to Binah, and it is then described as the only daughter ; 25 it is the throne Z., Pt. I, 2ib; DE PAULY, I, 131. 2 Ib., fol. 22b ; I, 138. Ib., fol. 22b ; I, 139. 4 Ib., Pt. Ill, fol. 242b, 243a ; V, 581. Ib., Pt. I, fol. 3ib; I, 196 6 Ib., Pt. II, fol. lib; III, 51. Ib., Pt. I, fol. 3b ; I, 1 8. 8 Ib., fol. 7 ; I, 38. Ib., fol. 2ib ; I, 131. 10 Ib., fol. 29a ; I, 183. 11 Ib., fol. 3oa ; I, 188. 12 Ib., fol. 3ia ; I, 194. 11 /*., fol. 3ib ; I, 195- 14 /A, fol. 5ob ; 1, 293. 15 /£., fol. i lib, H2a; II, 50, 51. lft Ib., Pt. I, Appendices III, Secrets of the Law; II, 732. 17 Ib., fol. 7ia ; I, 420 J8 Ib., fol. io6a ; II, 34. 19 Ib., fol. I54a ; II, 206. *> Ib., fol. is8a ; II, 220. 21 Ib., Appendices II, Secrets of the Law; II, 662. 11 Ib., Pt. II, fol. lib ; III, 51. " Ib., fol. 43b ; III, 194. " Ib., fol. 8sa ; III, 349. »• Ib., Pt. Ill, fol. 27b ; V, 76. The Secret Doctrine in Israel of Mercy and the celestial fire which descends, as Mai- ktith is the throne of Justice and the fire which goes up.1 It is the sweetness of God 2 and constitutes the mystery of the Levirate.3 The house is built by Chokmah and is established by Email* Chesed is the male side5 and the patriarch Abraham is referred thereto.6 The Divine Name Jehovah is attri buted to Chesed1 and it is even called in one place the first degree of the Divine Essence. It is merit, as demerit is Geburah.* It is the place of revelations 9 and it is the twin sister who came into the world with the Vau™ which is contrary to the general trend of the symbolism. The Van is the son of Yod and He; it unites to the He, symbolising Chokmah and itself represents Binah.11 What, however, it represents really is the seven lower Sephiroth. Geburah or Pachad is sometimes used in a good and sometimes in an evil sense ; 12 the world is based thereon — in the sense that severity is indispensable — but it could not subsist without Mercy.13 It is said also to be the re pentance of God u and it seems even to connect with Samael.15 It was by Geburah that Jerusalem was de stroyed.16 Tiphereth is beauty ; 17 it is the heart of the Sephirotic Tree and is called heaven.18 It is also glory.19 Netzach and Hod come from the celestial river.20 In one place Netzach is placed in correspondence with the covenant.21 Z., Pt. Ill, fol. ^(Faithful Shepherd) ; DE PAULY, V, 89. 7£.,fol. 2i5b (Faithful Shepherd] ; V, 547. 3 Ib., fol. i6ib ; V, 416. Ib., Pt. I, fol. 32b ; I, 203. 6 Ib., fol. 94a ; I, 537. /£., fol. i32b; II, 123. * 7 Ib., fol. i73b, i74a ; II, 282. Ib., Pt. I, Appendices I, fol. 2653 (Secrets of the Law) ; II, 626. /£., Pt. II, fol. iiQb; III,46o. 10/£.Pt. III,fol. 77b; V, 210,211. 11 Ib., fol. 247b (Faithful Shepherd) \ V, 585. 12 Ib., Pt. I, fol. i6oa ; II, 228. 13 Ib., fol. i8ob ; II, 311. 14 Ib., fol. 163,1 ; II, 237. 15 Ib., fol. 36a ; I, 223. 16 Ib., fol. isia; II, 196. J7 Ib., fol. 34a ; I, 211. 18 /A,fol.3ia; I, 195- " /£.,Pt.II,fol.79b;III,332- 20 Ib., Pt. Ill, fol. 68a ; V. 186. 21 Ib., Pt. I, fol. 24b ; I, 152. The Majesty oj God in Kabalism Netzach and Hod also represent the two Messiahs1 men tioned by the Talmud. In the macrocosmic human figure Tesod is the organ of generation, and it receives light from the supreme Sephiroth." It is said to issue from the right and left sides — meaning that it draws from both — as Malkuth issues from Tesod. Malkuth is connected with Israel, regarded as the son of the king.3 It is the rainbow, or at least the arch thereof.4 It is also the lower firma ment.5 The following points may be drawn together in con clusion. All supreme degrees and all Sephiroth are one, and God embraces all the Sephiroth. The Law is Chesed. Binah is repentance,6 and Malkuth is confession. God and the ten crowns are one.7 To ascend to the Paradise above, it is necessary that souls should cleave to the Middle Pillar.8 There is an unity of the ten Sephiroth, and 9 there is joy in the world when order reigns among them.10 Finally the Holy One manifests in the Sephiroth for those who comprehend Him.11 The doctrine concerning the three Divine Hypostases is obviously that of a Trinity in Kabalism, and the heads of this subject must be considered in the next place in view of developments towards the end of my study, not to speak of the Christian implicits suggested by the simple expression. There are three that bear testimony in Atziluth, and these three are one. They are described after many manners, as, for example, when it is said that they are three lights, which form a single light.12 But the chief symbolism is drawn from the Sacred Name, being Tod, He, Van, He, = Jehovah. Tod is the Father, He is the Z., Pt. Ill, fol. 243a, 243b (Faithful Shepherd) ; DE PAULY, V, 581. Ib., Pt. I, fol. 3ob; I, 191. Ib., Pt. Ill, fol. 2233 (Faithful Shepherd} ; V, 563. /£., Pt. I, fol. iSa ; I, 112. 5 Ib., fol. 33b; I, 209. Ib., fol. 286a (Secrets of the Law) ; II, 662. Ib., Pt. Ill, fol. 7oa; V, 190. 8 Ib., Pt. II, fol. 21 ra ; IV, 219. Ib., fol. 673. ; III, 298. See also Pt. Ill, fol. 28a ; V, 80. 10 Ib., Pt. II, fol. ;8b; III, 329. u Ib., Pt. I, fol. 24ia ; II, 554. 11 Ib., Pt. I, fol. i;b; I, 103. The Secret Doctrine in Israel Mother and fait the begotten Son.1 At the moment we will not affirm that these ineffable personalities are referable to Kether, Chokmah and Einah — as might seem probable — because later considerations may intervene to correct this view. Let us remember only that the Zoharic Trinity constitutes a Divine family in the world of heaven. Like the Christian Trinity, the letters which are their symbols are called one on account of the unity of God. We will now proceed one step further. Tod and He are the Supreme Mystery,2 for ever impenetrable.3 On the Tod are all things based,4 and it is never in separation from the He.5 As the prototypical male principle, it has man for another symbol.6 He is the female principle,7 and it has woman therefore as its emblem ; it signifies many mysteries,8 and its true name is Shekinah. Because the letter He is duplicated in the Sacred Name it is said to terminate both the first and second parts thereof.9 The world was created by the He,10 or alternatively by the Tod and He in the perfection of their concurrence.11 The Vau is the " free Son,"12 and it is this which diffuses all blessings.13 The Tod unites with the He, as male with female, and gives birth to the Vau as Son.14 The three dwell together in unity.15 Vau is the eternal world.16 So far in respect of the three Divine Hypostases ; but there is the He final which completes the Sacred Name, I An important analogous intimation occurs early in the Zohar. The Scriptural reference is " Let there be light" (Gen. i, 3), which in Hebrew is Titf VP, the first word being the verb in the imperative. It should be remembered here that Hebrew is read from left to right. This word, Yod, He, Yod, is regarded as a symbol of the three Divine Hypostases occurring at the opening of Genesis and designed to shew that the three are one. The first Yod is the Heavenly Father, the He is the Divine Mother, while the third Hypostasis is indicated by the second Yod and proceeds from the first two. — Z., I, i6b ; DE PAULY, I, 99, 100. 2 Z., Pt. I, fol. I59a ; II, 225. 3 Ib., fol. 232b ; II, 517. 4 Ib., Pt. Ill, fol. lob ; V, 31. 6 Ib., fol. 2ygb ; VI, 54. 6 Ib., fol. 34a; V, 89. '' Ib. 8 Ib., Pt. II, fol. i8ob; IV, 152. 9 Ib., Pt. Ill, 89b ; V, 240. 10 Ib., fol. 298a ; VI, 125. II Ib., Pt. II, 22b ; III, 113. 12 Eccles. x, 17. 13 Z., Pt. I, I24b ; II, 98. ^ " Z., Pt. II, I23b ; III, 478. 15 Ib., Pt Ill, 92a ; V, 245. 16 Ib., fol. 2520 ; V, 591. 'The Majesty of God in Kabalism and this is called the Daughter.1 It is said of this Daughter2 that the He came down to earth.3 The first He is liberty above and the second is liberty below.4 The High Priest depends from the He which is above but the ordinary priest from that He which is below.5 It follows that two letters of the Name belong to the male principle — namely, 2Wand Vau — two also to the female, being He primal and final. The engendering of the whole world depends on these two principles.6 The second He will rise from the earth, meaning that it will be united with the Divine Hypostases in the world of transcen dence.7 The Van will be united to the He* and when the Van is thus attached, as a bridegroom to the Bride, there will be union everywhere — between the Tod and the He above, between the Van and the He final.9 The location of these symbolic personalities is our next question. Now, it is said that the Tod is Chokmah^ while the He is "Bin ah™ this being repeated in another place, where it is added that they sustain the Vau, but without intimating the location of this letter or of the second He which is represented as in union therewith.11 For informa- 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. 2;b ; DE PAULY, I, 174. 2 Ib., fol. 354b ; II, 600. There is another symbolism as follows. When the letter Yod is written at length in Hebrew it is composed of Yod, Van and Daleth. Yod 'is the Father of all, Vau — as seen already — is the begotten Son, and Dalelh is the Daughter — that is, the Daughter of Matrona. The imagery is exceedingly mixed as this Daughter is said to proceed from the Father and the Son, whereas it is certain in the sense of things and is plain from the text elsewhere that the He primal of the Sacred Name produces in union with the Yod not only the Son, being Vau, but his Sister, who is also her daughter and in the natural succession of the Divine Name is therefore the He final. Here however the Yod as Father is probably implied as abiding with the Divine Mother. — Ib., Pt. Ill, lob ; V, 31. It is not of much consequence to the purpose in view whether it is possible or not to harmonise distinct symbolisms on this subject : it is sufficient that they help to formulate the Kabalistic notion of the Trinity in the supernal world. 3 Ib., Pt. I, fol. 354b ; II, 600. * Ib., Pt. II, fol. i83a ; IV, 109. 5 Ib.. Pt. Ill, fol. 8gb ; V, 240. 6 Ib., Pt. II, fol. 223a ; IV, 250. 7 Ib., Pt. I, fol. u6b; 11,66. 8 Jb., fol. nga ; 11,76. 9 Ib., Pt. Ill, fol. 267b; VI, 23. 10 /*., Pt. II, fo). 123!); 111,478. 11 Ib., Pt. 1 1 1, fol. 153°; V, 394- The Secret Doctrine in Israel tion on these points we must transfer our attention from the Zohar proper to some of the additional materials connected therewith and mentioned briefly in my preface. There are four texts incorporated at wide intervals which have been held to offer a macrocosmic and microcosmic scheme of a very different nature to anything that appears in the Zohar itself, though the latter has certain references — unimportant indeed comparatively and again at wide intervals — which recognise the authority of the incre ments.1 These texts contain further strange revelations of Rabbi Simeon, in the form of disquisitions at length on his part and occasional remarks elicited by his pupils from him. It is held, or tends to be held, that these are the most ancient parts of the whole collection ; but as on the one hand the Zohar proper refers occasionally to these, so do the latter draw from the body of the work. While their symbolism is not only anthropomorphic of set pur pose but is what would be called monstrous so far as modern taste is concerned, they contain in certain direc tions the most important intimations to our subject considered as a whole. I should perhaps add at this point that three out of the four tracts are those which were rendered into Latin by Rosenroth,2 imperfectly enough from the standpoint of scholarship, though his version serves practical purposes for the Latin-reading student. Unfortunately he added a considerable amount of commentary and explanation drawn from the later Kabalists, with the result that the issues are confused 1 For references to what is called the Divine Head, see Z., Pt. I, fol. 6sa; DE PAULY, I, 381. Ib., fol. 232* ; 11,515. Ib., fol. 25 ib; II, 591, 592. Ib., Appendices III, fol. 6a ; 11,689. Ib., Pt. II, fol. 192!) ; IV, 79, quoted from a Book of Enoch. Ib., fol. 268!) ; IV, 302. Ib., Pt. Ill, fol. 7b; V, 21. Ib., fol. lob ; V, 30. Ib., fol. 48b ; V, 135. Ib., fol. 66b; V, 183. Ib., fol. ii9b; V, 306. For the Doctrine of Countenances, see /£., Pt. II, fol. Gib; 111.271. /&.,fol.64b; 111,283. For the Great Adam, see Ib., Pt. I, fol. I34b ; II, 132. Ib., Pt. Ill, fol. 48a; V, 132. 2 See Kabbalcs Denudata Tomus Secundus, Pars Secunda, pp. 347-598. "The Majesty of Goa in Kabalism and the unversed reader can only obtain with difficulty a notion of the Zoharic teaching as apart from its develop ments. The tracts in question are The Assembly of the Sanctuary, The Secret Book, The Great and Holy Assembly and The Lesser Holy Assembly} We can pass over the first of these, as Rosenroth was guided wisely in omitting it ; it seems contradictory and inextricable in its symbolism and is, speaking roughly, a sort of summary of a good deal that follows afterwards in a better and fuller form The Secret Book comprises a discourse concerning The White Head, the Ancient, or the Great Countenance. The same subject is continued in The Great and Holy Assembly^ and therein the White Head is described as Ancient of Ancients, concealed of all concealed, and only imperfectly definable.2 He who is symbolised thereby is the Master with the white mantle and resplen dent visage, and he is also called Holy of Holies. The Countenance is described at great length, the hair and the beard of snow which depend therefrom. We learn that the eyes are without lids because the eyes never close in slumber,3 as their sacred and beautiful light shines on the worlds for ever. It has been supposed by some modern students — who have followed transla tions only — that there is no body attached to the White Head, but this is an error, as the navel is mentioned 1 The Assembly of the Sanctuary is inserted towards the end of Part II, § 6, and occupies folios 1220 to 1230. The Secret Book, called sometimes in translation The Book of Concealed Mystery, follows Part II, § 7, and occupies folios 1760 to I79a. The Great and Holy Assembly is placed early in The Commentary on Numbers, § i, Z., Pt. Ill, folios 1270 to 1453. The Little Holy Assembly follows The Commentary on Deuteronomy, § 10, Z., Pt. Ill, folios 2870 to 2960. 2 Z., Pt. Ill, fol. I28a; DE PAULY, V, 334. The White Head was also without beginning and without end before its reign was established and the Crown, that is, Kether was assumed. The reference would seem there fore to Ain-Soph Aour, which pours down into Kether, and we shall see that the White Head is called Ain. At this point the Zohar and the mystical theology of pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite join hands. It should be understood, however, that the White Head is not Ain-Soph, but the first procession therefrom. 3 Ib., fol. I29b; V, 339. The Secret Doctrine in Israel twice in the text.1 There is, however, no further allusion to parts of the personality below the head and beard. It would appear that the Face is turned in a peculiar manner, for though its eyes are mentioned in the plural, as if it would confront the observer in a full aspect, we are assured that it has no left side,2 which would be that of severity, whereas mercy only and all the attributes of longanimity abide therein. Connected by means of a white thread 3 or bond of union with the Great Countenance, there is that which is called the Lesser Countenance, Little Form or Figure, which presents, however, a complete aspect of humanity and is extended through three symbolical worlds. The distinction between the two heads is that in this case the hair and beard are black.4 The Lesser Countenance has eyelids, because it has periods of sleep,5 a complete visage in manifestation because severity is one of its attributes, and a distinctive name, being Lord, whereas the Great Countenance is called Am,6 or Nothing. These points notwithstanding, it is laid down (i) that the Lesser Countenance emanates from the Greater,7 (2) that the Greater metamorphoses into the Lesser,8 (3) that the latter is actually the former, as if seen through a curtain,9 and more specifically that they are one and the same.10 The body of this Sacred Form is described fully and is that of the male perfect in all its members. Of this Form there is a counterpart of perfect woman- 1 Z Pt. Ill, fol. nia ; DE PAULY, V, 344. and fol. 134^ ; V, 353. * /*'., fol. i3oa ; V, 341. a //', fol. i28b ; V 335, 336. 4 Z Pt III fol I32a; V, 346. The authorities are The Song of Solomon, v, II : "His locks are bushy, and black as a raven," and Dan vii 9- "The hair of his head like the pure wool, or as the Zohar gives it, "whitest and purest wool." It is to be noted, however, that when severity operates the hair of the White Head becomes black. 6 //>., fol. i36b ; V, 359. 6 /*•, fo1- I29a ; V, 337- 7 /#., fol. I3ib ; V, 345- 8 ^-, foL '35a ; V, 354. 10 7<C Pt. Ill, fol. uia ; V, 365. See also The Little Holy Assembly, tf., fol. 288a; VI, 82, and fol. 292* ; VI, 99. 'The Majesty of God in Kabalism hood, and these two were primordially side by side, till the Ancient of Days put the Lesser Form to sleep and detached the female principle,1 whose name is Matrona, Bride, Daughter, Betrothed and Twin-Sister — for the Zoharic allegories institute strange marriages in the world above. The object of separation was that the Bride might come to the Bridegroom and, in the great sacra ment of matrimonial union, that they might become one body and one flesh.2 All is mercy in this union ; 3 it constitutes the true Sabbath ; and it is this that God blessed and sanctified.4 The sacred organ of intercourse is called Yesod* on the male side, and it has access to the concealed and mysterious region on the female side which is called Zion* Jt is a holy place and all the holiness of the male enters therein.7 The reference to Tesod shows that the Lesser Form is extended through the Lower Sephiroth. It is the Begotten Son or Van? whose place we have been seek ing on the Tree ; and as its name is Daath 9 or Knowledge, being a semi-Sephira which represents the junction point of the influences flowing from Chokmah and Binah, the inference is that the Lesser Countenance or Head is located there, while the feet are situated in Malkuth, as later Kabalism affirms. We have learned also where the Daughter and Bride dwells, being side by side or face to face in union with her Celestial Spouse. But she is the He final of the Divine Name and we shall learn at a later stage that her present dwelling is in Malkuth. We are now in a position to establish the Doctrine 1 Z., Pt. Ill, fol. i42b; DE PAULY, V, 368. 2 /£., fol. I43b ; V, 369. a Ib.t fol. i43a ; V, 368. 4 It is said that Matrona dwells in the Supernal Sanctuary — that is to say, in Binah — and in the Jerusalem which is manifested on earth — that is to say, in Malkuth; and it is because she is united to the male in the unseen world that she is joined in manifestation with man. This is defined as the quintessence of all faith, for all faith is comprised in this mystery.— Z., Pt. Ill, fol. I43b ; V, 370. 6 Ib., fol. 296a ; VI, 118. ' Ib., fol. 2Q6b ; VI, 119. 7 Ib. 8 /&, fol. 2900; VI, 92. • Ib., fol. 29 la; VI, 94. The Secret Doctrine in Israel concerning the Tree with as much clearness as is possible considering the subject. According to the symbolism of the Idras, the Great Countenance is in Atziluth, abode of the three Supreme Sephiroth, which are Kether, Chokmah and Binah. It is located more especially in Kether. Below this there is the Lesser Countenance and Form, the head of which is in Daath, while the body is extended through Briah, Tetzirah and Assiah, the male being not without the female. I have indicated, however, that the Great Counte nance has a body attached thereto, so that the Holy Ancient is complete as a type of humanity, like the manifestation that is below. But, according to The Great and Holy Assembly, everything save the head is in concealment.1 It is stated also that there are three heads,2 and this enables us to harmonise the symbolism of the Idras with that of the Zohar proper. The Great Countenance is more especi ally in Kether, as Franck also has intimated.3 The other heads are those of Abba and Alma, the Father and the Mother, the Tod and the He of the Divine Name. They seem to be in one form of symbolism the curtain which is drawn before the Great Countenance 4 and in another the throne on which the Most Holy Ancient is said to be seated.5 We have therefore in the Sephirotic Tree: (i) The first Divine Manifestation proceeding from A'in- Soph and so interpenetrated thereby that it bears some times the same name. In so far as it is postulated in Kether it is not differentiated into male and female, but these are implied, and according to other testimony the Shekinah is certainly there. (2) But when the Sacred Ancient wished to establish all things, He constituted male and female in the supreme region,6 namely, the Father and Mother, owing to whom all is made male and female. These are the second Divine manifestation 1 Z., Pt. Ill, fol. 288a ; DE PAULY, VI, 83. 2 Ib. 3 La Kabbale, p. 187. * Z.,Pt. Ill, fol. i28b; V, 335. 6 Ib., fol. 1303 ; V, 341. 6 Z., Pt. Ill, fol. 29oa; VI, 90. The Majesty of God in Kabalism in Chokmah and Binah.1 (3) The third is in the seven lower Sephiroth, as Son and Daughter, Brother and Sister, King and Queen. According to later Kabalism, the Great Countenance is Macroprosopus, the soul of the greater world, while the Lesser Countenance or Figure is Microprosopus, the soul of the lesser world, and Adam Protoplastes, his Bride being the archetypal Eve. They form together the habitaculum of all created intelligences, the hierarchies of consciousness ; and we can therefore sum up the whole subject by saying that The Book of Mystery and the Idras are a great allegory of man and his analogues coming forth from God. Male and female they were implied and conceived in Him ; male and female He manifested Himself on account of them ; male and female they came forth in Him and from Him ; male and female they abide above and below ; male and female they return in fine to Him, as we shall see fully and clearly in its proper place. In conclusion as to the Majesty of God in Kabalism, I must add that there is a Zoharic theosophy of the Word, but how the term should be referred in respect of the Divine Hypostases is not easy to determine. The name of Elohim is allocated thereto,2 but this is a title of Shekinah. Again, it is said that the Word was mani fested in the Sanctuary, because it was indispensable to the existence of the latter on earth that the Divine should be present therein ; 3 but that which we know to have appeared between the Kerubim on the Mercy Seat was the Presence in the form of Shekinah. In the paraphrase of Onkelos the term Meimra was substituted for Jehovah, Who is thus identified with the Word ; but in the Zohar it is held that the Word in Scripture is designated under the term Eereshilh^ because in order to fulfil the work of creation this term was engraven " under the form of a turnstile," 4 representing the six great celestial directions, 1 Z.,Pt. III,fol.29ob; DEPAULY,VI,92. 2 /£., Pt. I, fol. i6b ; 1,99. 3 Ib., fol. 74a ; I, 439. * lb., fol. 3b ; I, 18. 49 D The Secret Doctrine in Israel being the four cardinal points, together with height and depth. The Word seems also to be specified under the name Sabbath ; * it had birth by the union of the active and the passive light, the latter being called darkness, and it discovers to us the supreme mysteries. The Supreme Principle and the Word are distinguished as two, though at the root they harmonise as one.2 It is said : " While the King sitteth at his table, my spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof." It is to be understood here that the king means the Supreme Principle while the spikenard signifies the Word, Who is king below and has formed the world below on the model of the world above. Thought and word are held to be of the same essence ; seen through the medium of one region, this essence appears as thought, but through another as the Word. The doctrine of Israel is placed between two voices,3 one of which constitutes the Supreme Mystery, but the other is more accessible. The first is the Great Voice, " the voice out of the midst of the darkness." It is interior, imperceptible, without cessa tion or interruption. Thence cometh the Secret Doc trine, which — in its manifestation — is called the Voice of Jacob, and this voice is heard. The Voice of Jacob is placed between the interior, imperceptible voice and that Word which resounds abroad and which I should identify with the Written Law. The Great Voice is the house of the Eternal Wisdom and is female, as a house always is. The Word is the house of the Voice of Jacob, that being apparently the literal and this the esoteric doctrine. When -the Song of Solomon testifies that the voice of the turtle is heard in our land, the reference is to that voice which emanates from Him Who is the inward essence of all.4 It is the Voice which 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. 32a ; DE PAULY, I, 199. 2 Ib., fol. 74a ; #., 439. 3 7#., fol. sob ; I, 292, 293. «/A,fol.97b,98a; 11,5- The Majesty of God in Kabalism utters the Word — as for example, the Word which ordained circumcision for Abraham so that he might be made perfect. The Voice is added or joined to the Word, and this is held to be indicated by the appearance of the Lord to Abraham, when that tent before the door of which the patriarch was seated signified the Supreme World, on the threshold of which he rested, to receive the light thereof. One of the chief purposes of this chapter has been to introduce, almost at the inception of our subject, some intimations concerning that which will prove to be the foundation of the whole mystery concerning the Secret Doctrine, as this has been enshrined in the Tradition of Israel. It is that, as intimated more than once already, which inheres in the distinction, relation and union of male and female ; but — as there should be no need to say — the principle which inheres is far removed from anything that belongs in the public ways of life to the idea of sex. CHAPTER IV THE DOCTRINE OF COSMOLOGY IF the four worlds of Kabalism are held in a very true sense to correspond with a path in consciousness by which the mind of the dedicated seeker after Divine things may pass from the " sacred and beautiful King dom " of the literal sense on the surface of the Word of God, and through world on world of experience may attain at last that place or state of realisation where all meanings are unified in the light of the Eternal Word, we shall find no difficulty in understanding those who devised this analogy when they go on to tell us not only that Deus non pars est sed totum — as Raymund Lully expressed it — but that all whatsoever of the realms in which He is immanent or is held to have revealed Himself are part of that law of election in virtue of which those who are drawn by God are journeying in Him for ever. So is the spiritual history of Israel the sole concern of Scripture, from the moment when Elohim said " Let there be light/' that the minds of the chosen might be enlightened. The same motive manifests, as a fact, through all the Zoharic story of creation, nor was there other reason needed for the Kabalist to account for God passing from the withdrawn state of srtn-Soph to the manifestation which begins in Kether and reaches its limit in Malkuth. The thesis of creation is as follows, but I should explain that I am drawing from many quarters of the text and simplifying at every point, so that no remediable difficulties may be left in respect of expression. We are not concerned at the moment with the respective The Doctrine of Cosmology share in the work taken by any or all of the three Divine Hypostases. It will be more intelligible at this point to speak of the cosmos, in a general sense, as created by the Holy One, which is indeed a recur ring term of the Zohar. When therefore the Holy One, Who is the mystery of all mysteries, willed to manifest Himself, He constituted in the first place a point of light, which became the Divine Thought1 — that is to say, in its application to the purpose then in view. Within this point he designed and engraved all things, but especially that which is termed the Sacred and Mysterious Lamp, being an image represent ing the most holy mystery.2 About the nature of this mystery, situated — if one may so speak — at the heart of all the manifested world, we may derive some light of speculation at a later stage. Here indeed is one of those allusions through which a vista opens into the unwritten Secret Doctrine. It follows in the mean time that the universe was created by and from thought.3 The authority for this revelation is the prophet Elijah, and the development is an excursus on the words : "Behold Who hath created these things."4 In the beginning, however, that is to say, in the point of Divine Thought, the creation was only in the subject of the Divine Mind, or — as the text says — it existed, yet existed not. In other words, it was hidden in the 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. 2a ; DE PAULY, I, 8. See //;., II, 98,1; III, 395, where it is said that the words "Lord my God" (Prov. iii, 27) are the foundation of the mystery concerning the unity and indivisibility of the world at the moment when it was conceived in the Supreme Thought. * We shall see that this is identical with what is called so frequently the Mystery of Faith, and it is to be distinguished therefore from what is called otherwise the Lamp of God, being simply the general notion of merit.— 7^., Ill, 28b; V, 80. 3 It may be noted here— though the statement belongs to another part of the text — that thought and the word by which it is formulated are of the same essence : seen under one aspect, this essence appears as thought and under another as the word, which may really mean that, for the processes of the human mind, they are inseparable.— Z., Pt. I, fol. 74a ; DE PAULY, I, 439. 4 Isaiah xl, 26. S3 "The Secret Doctrine in Israel Divine Name, and it would seem to follow that this also was hidden. The symbolism of the thesis is very curious and deep withal herein. The Sacred Name of God presupposes those who can pronounce, or at least conceive it.1 In this sense the Name exists for man and as antecedent of necessity thereto are the letters which are images of the Word. Now the world is said to have been created by the help of the Hebrew letters,2 whence it follows that these were produced in the first place— or rather their archetypes. They are said to have emanated from one another,3 presum ably on account of the fact that it is possible to reduce them to a few primitive simple forms. After their emanation, the sacred letters, the Great Letters — the letters that are above, of which those on earth are a reflection — remained in concealment for a period which is specified as 2000 years before the Holy One pro ceeded further in His work.4 When He willed so to do the letters came successively before Him, to shew cause why each one of them should be utilised as an instrument in the task. This is mere comedy in the literal understanding and is one of the curiosities of literature in its form of expression, as it is easy to say ; but let us mark what issues therefrom. The letter Beth was chosen, but not because it is the initial of the word Bara, meaning to create, nor yet because it is that of Bereshith, or " In the beginning/' with which the Book of Genesis opens, but because it is the initial letter of the word Barach, which signifies to bless. It serves therefore to illustrate the ineradicable optimism of Jewish philosophical thought, which main tains that in the root-sense all is "right with the world," because for ever and ever God is "in His 1 In other words, it is recognised that manifestation can be only to consciousness. 2 Z., Pt. I, fol. 2o4a; DE PAULY, II, 411. 3 /£., fol. 2a; 1,9. * /£., fol. 2b ; I, 12 et seq. "The Doctrine of Cosmology heaven." It is indeed something more than optimism, which is often a characteristic rather than a ground in reason ; it is something more than instinct ; it is an apprehension in consciousness, the beginning of a work in knowledge. It is so permeating and so paramou-nt that there are moments when the catholic sense of goodness seems to cast down the last barrier, and one or another rabbi thinks in his zeal that even the punish ment of the Gentile in the world to come shall be for this or that period or season, but not world without end. It is in virtue of the benepladtum termino carens that the letter Beth was used in creation, and I care not by what devious or grotesque path of thought such a truth is reached, so long as it emerges at last on the Pisgah height with such a sun shining in the eyes. The Zohar is like the Hebrew Scriptures, canonical and sub-canonical ; it is sealed with sanctity. The writers had passed that sacred initiatory degree in which the soul looks for " good things of the Lord in the land of the living " : * they had come to see with their own eyes. Amidst the sorrows and rogations of the Greater Exile, their hearts never faltered nor failed over that faith which opens into sight, or in that hope which begins already to realise itself in participation. The Zohar is therefore like Osiris : it is " true of voice," and is inspired on every page, not only with the sense of immortality but with that of a conscious communion subsisting ever and continually between the Holy Assembly that is above and the Assembly which has attained holiness below. There is hence a consolation throughout it which seems — for the most part — to be implied only under veils by the Law and the Prophets. The Divine intention to make use of the letter Beth, for the reason stated, does not concern further the mind 1 Ps. xxvii, 13. The Secret Doctrine in Israel of the Zohar,1 because it has done its work in delineating the motive of the worlds, shewing that the instrument of creation was the power to bless all things. The in tention was further to manifest the Divine Name therein as .an indwelling presence of the universe and as a glory standing about the four quarters thereof. The pro cedure is symbolised by reciting that the Holy One engraved in the ineffable world those letters which represent the Mystery of Faith, being Yod, He, Vau, He, the synthesis of all worlds above and below.2 Tod represents the central point and the cause of all things, concealed and unknown for ever, being the Supreme Mystery of the Infinite.3 It is that point of Divine Thought which has been mentioned previously, and from it there issues a slender thread of light which is itself concealed but contains all lights, receiving vibrations from Him Who does not vibrate and reflecting light from Him Who dbes not diffuse light — that is, the mysterious point, or God centralised in thought on the world about to be produced. The slender light — lumen exile — gives birth to a world of light, which enlightens the other worlds. It is affirmed that when the central point, the thread of light and the light-world are united, then is union perfect. This is the office of the Great Name shadowed forth in part, but the primordial elements which were produced at the beginning of creation were without feature — as it is said that " the earth was with out form and void," 4 like " the sign drawn by a pen overcharged with ink," and it was by the grace of the Sacred Name of forty-two letters that the world assumed 1 I ought to say that there is one instance of recurrence to the general notion when the slory of the letters and their pleading is again mentioned, with variations respecting the letters Resh and 7>///, but they do not now concern us. — Z., Pt. I, fol. 2O4a ; DE PAULY, II, 411. 2 The Mystery of Faith is once more the hidden doctrine that there is male and female above as there is male and female below. 3 Z., Pt. II, fols. I26b, I2;a j IV, 5, 6. 4 Gen. i, 2. The Doctrine of Cosmology shape.1 All forms emanate from these letters, whicn — in a manner — are the crown of Tetragrammaton — that is to say, the Sacred Name of four letters already enumerated. By their combinations, their superposition, and by the figures thus obtained above and below, the four cardinal points had birth, with all other images. The letters of the Sacred Name were the moulds of the work of formation, and as such they were arranged in a reverse order to that which obtains here. Many things, however, were united or drawn to gether in the mind of the Holy One for the perfect purpose of His providence in respect of all that which was to come into being. He contemplated in His fore sight the mystery of the Law, and because it was im possible for the world to subsist without it,2 He created that Law to rule in all things above and below, and to sustain them. But because of the Law, in which the possibility of transgression is implied, He created also repentance 3 as a path of refuge in Himself, of return at need to Him. But the Law is said to be contained in the Sacred Name and to be summarised by the Decalogue, the ten sections of which correspond to ten other Names. These appear to be described alternatively as ten creative words,4 which are reducible to three, for it is said : " With the Spirit of God, in wisdom and in under- 1 Z., Pt. I, fols. 3oa, 3ob ; DE PAULY, I, 189. The name of forty-two letters is an expansion of Tetragrammaton, for if the consonants of that Name are written at length thus — Yod, He, Vau Vau, He=T(, 11, PI, "11% their sum in numbers is forty-two. After what manner the letters them selves are extracted to make up the expanded Name it is scarcely worth while to consider, being not only outside our subject but of no conse quence in itself. I will refer, however, to ATHANASIUS KiRCHER : (Edipus sEgyptiacus, Tomus III, p. 261 et seq. 2 Jb., fol. 20/a ; DE PAULY, II, 429. » 7^., fol. 2903; 11,670. 4 Jb., Pt. II, fol. I4b; III, 66, 67. It is said, however, elsewhere that the words by the help of which the world was made were not established until it pleased God to create man. The intention was that he should be dedicated to the study of the Law, by which the world subsists. In this study man is said to sustain creation. — 7&, Pt. II, fol. i6ia, b; IV, 101. The Secret Doctrine in Israel standing."1 The end in view was that God might manifest Himself and be called by His Divine Name.2 It is easy to say that all this is arbitrary in the extreme, and certainly many developments, which I for bear to cite, represent the casuistry of words pushed into a region of distraction ; yet I incline to think that any peg will serve to hang a discourse of Divine Things upon — though some devices are to be preferred before others — and if it be found to answer the purpose it is then a good peg. Whether it so does depends upon the quality of thought which is extracted in such strange manners as these, and of course it has to be realised that the peg is only a pretext — whether Jewish theosophy understood it as such or not. From the manner in which the Secret Doctrine is externalised in the Zohar one can not help feeling that some of its authors knew this in their day, and in no very different manner from that in which I realise it now. The changes are rung after many manners by the great bells of tradition when they peal out the work of creation. The truth which emerges from the far-spreading tissue of reveries is the operating efficacy of the Divine Will in all the manifest universe, together with that which may be held to lie within the measures of the Doctrine of Correspondences, which obtains everywhere in the Secret Doctrine — whatever the schools thereof — and has been reflected thence into systems which cannot be included in the same category. It would seem further to have been discovered at first hand by a few seers — as, for example, Jacob Bohme * and 1 Exodus xxxi, 3. 2 Z., Pt. I, fol. 2a ; DE PAULY, 1,8. It is to be noted in this con nection that this Name was not revealed to the angels, which is one instance only of a recurring pretension that man was in a position of superiority to all other hierarchies of being. — /#., Pt. Ill, 78b ; V, 214. See also lb., Pt. I, fol. 253 ; I, 157. 3 A comparison between Bohme's Mystcrium Magnum, which is a commentary on Genesis, and the Zohar on the same text would bring out some extraordinary parallels and would increase the zeal of speculation concerning that glass of vision into which the German mystic looked. It "The Doctrine of Cosmology perhaps Swedenborg. It is the erection of an inevitable anthropomorphism into a philosophical doctrine, and when I say this I may be sanctifying the seeming limita tion. It is at least true that man is, for all concern of man, the measure of the whole creation, and if the testi mony of creation is true — as Leibnitz would have held — then that which we discern intellectually is in the like ness of the truth of things. But this the Doctrine of Correspondences. Nature, according to the Zohar, is the garment of God ; x it is that in which He appears and wherein He is veiled, so that we can look upon Him and know Him in His vestured aspect ; but it is not the body of God — which is more properly Shekinah, at least in one of her aspects — and it is still less God manifest. It is that which He took upon Himself for the purpose of appearing. Prior to the period when the Divine Name was formulated for the ends of creation He was apart from the kind of definition implied therein and this non-defined state is termed " Who " by the Zohar, as in the words : " Behold Who hath created,"2 while the product of creation is called " That " : " Behold Who hath created That "—or these things. The Hebrew words are respectively Mi and Elah. The product specified was not, however, for the Zohar, that which we understand by creation but the Elohim below,3 who thus came into being when the letters emanated from each other. The explanation is that by the pairing of Elah and Mi the Sons of the Doctrine contrived to obtain the word Elohim, and out was assuredly a glass which was common in several respects to other seers besides himself. His intimations on the first estate of man, on the making of woman, on Paradise and the mystery of the Fall offer recurring analogies with Jewish theosophy. 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. 2a ; DE PAULY, I, 8. 2 Isaiah xl, 26. 3 It is not difficult to follow the reverie, though it seems involved at first sight. In the transcendence God and Elohim are inseparable, being male and female, and the first movement towards the production of a manifested universe was to send forth their living images below. That which was of the nature of God became of the nature of the Cosmos. The Secret Doctrine in Israel of this verbal juggle arise the following conclusions : (i) Even as in creation Ml, or Who, the Unnamed, remains always attached to Elah : That, so (2) in God these two descriptions are inseparable, and (3) it is thanks to this mystery, that the world exists. We have here at the very inception of the Zohar that identification of Jehovah and Elohim which we shall find of such capital importance at the term of our research. At the moment we have only to observe that what I have called the juggle educes a doctrine of Divine Immanence in the cosmos of manifested things. Apart from this there could be neither the things themselves nor the harmony which produces the music, the accord, the grace, the beauty of creation. It was to make known this doctrine that Elijah once shewed himself to Rabbi Simeon on the sea-shore, after which he took flight, as the text says, and the Master of Kabalism saw him no more, leastwise at that time.1 The passage of Isaiah which I have quoted twice already is affirmed elsewhere to express the whole work of creation. By " Who " above and " That " below has all been made.2 When we read in yet another place that Scripture was the Architect under God,3 the reference is also to Elohim, either in the vesture of the Written Law or in that of the Secret Tradition. But I have spoken of the word Bereshith and how it is rendered sometimes "in Wisdom ," which is recognised by the Zohar on the authority of the Chaldaic paraphrase of Onkelos. But Wisdom is regarded more correctly as the analogical in terpretation of the word,4 and it is added that the world exists owing to the " sublime and impenetrable mystery of Chokmah" It follows that qreation is a work of wisdom, operating by means of benediction. He Who is ineffable, according to the Secret Doctrine, He Who is 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. 2a ; DE PAULY, I, 9. 2 /£, fol. 2Qb, 3oa ; I, 186. 8 Ib., Pt. II, fol. i6ia, i6ib; IV, 100, 101. * Ib., Pt. I, fol. 30; I, 1 8. The Doctrine of Cosmology mysterious and unknown,1 delineates Himself in vesture, as a priest assuming pontifical clothing. He unfolds Himself in the voice of blessing and passes continually from the unknown into the range of apprehension by means of this voice, uttering the speech of wisdom. But God said : " Let there be light," and it is affirmed that all celestial legions and powers emanate therefrom. When first manifested, its brilliance filled the world from end to end ; but when God foresaw the number of the guilty He concealed and rendered it inaccessible.2 The sweet smell of the spikenard in the Song of Solomon signifies the celestial light,3 while it is said elsewhere that it is designated by the word goodness.4 This is an illus tration of the way in which from many ingenuities of interpretation some appealing lesson is educed. Again, it does not signify that the methods are artificial in their nature ; Zoharic theosophy is in a very marked and particular sense an illustration beforehand of Matthew Arnold's idea that God has put " a heap of letters " into the hands of man and has bade him make with them "what word he would." The distinction between Arnold's hypothetical case and the one now under notice is that in place of a painful consciousness on the part of humanity through the ages that the true Word has never been formed with the letters, the rabbinical masters believed that their sacred ciphers produced true words invariably and could be used in any manner which would extract a refulgent and Divine idea. Eereshith has served on more than a single occasion in this manner, but its capacities are not exhausted, and so also in respect of the first created light. If that word signifies goodness, it means also perfect love,5 the grand and divine love, that love of man for God, the correspondence of which is God's perfect love for man. This love of the Divine is 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. 3b ; DE PAULY, I, 18. 2 //;., fol. sob ; I, 190, 191. 3 76., fol. 3oa ; I, 188, 189. « 7&, fol. ;a ; I, 38. 6 74., fol. lib; 1,66. The Secret Doctrine in Israel not grounded on the self-questing hope of personal benefit, but is something constant in affliction and in joy, rooted in the perfection of God. Hereof is the ground of union between the Divine Creator and the creature divinely fashioned by the hands of Him.1 And because of this union the word light is said also to be the symbol of unity.2 It is in the sense of all these considerations that our world is held truly to form the centre of that which is celestial and to be surrounded by doors which open thereon.3 Like all the streets of thought, all paths and vistas of the cosmos, the portals in their tens of thousand open on God. I must append hereto the symbolism of a certain myth which connects with the primeval formulation of the Divine Name and has its origin in the Talmud. As developed in the Zohar, it presents another aspect of that point of Divine Thought about which we heard at the beginning of this chapter. It concerns a mysterious stone called Schethiyd 4 which was originally in the Throne of God 5— that is to say, it was a precious stone or jewel and was cast by Him into the abyss, so to form the basis of the world and give birth thereto. One might say otherwise that it was like a cubical stone or ^ altar, for its extremity was concealed in the depth, while its surface or summit rose above the chaos. It was the central point in the immensity of the world, the corner stone,6 the tried stone, the sure foundation, but also that stone which the builders rejected.7 The last allocation, 1 The authority is The Song of Solomon, i, 2 : " Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth » ; and these words are held to express the perfect and eternal joy which all worlds shall experience in their union with the Supreme Spirit. The condition of this union is said to be the prayer of man.— Z., Pt. I, fol. 44b ; DE PAULY, I, 262. 2 7^., fol. I2b; I, 70. • This ?s mentioned m the Talmud. See the tracts called Yoma and Sanhedrin. 6 Z., Pt. II, fol. 222a, 222b ; IV, 243. 6 Ib , Pt. I, fol. 23ia ; II, 51 1. See also Job xxxvni, 6. 7 Ps. cxviii, 22. See also Z., Ill, i$2b ; V, 392. The Doctrine of Cosmology however, passes understanding, as by the hypothesis of the legend it was used in the building from the beginning. Finally — but this is not less inscrutable — it was that stone which served Jacob as a pillow and thereafter for an altar.1 It was the good stone, the precious stone and the foundation of Zion.2 The Tables of the Law were made from it,3 and it is destined for the salvation of the world.4 Jacob called it the House of the Elohim,5 mean ing that the Hypostasis to which this name is attributed transfers her residence from the world above to that which is below.6 It is like the lapis exilis of the German Graal legend, for it appears to be a slight stone ; it is supposed to have been carried by Aaron 7 when he entered the Holy Place, and it was held in the hands of David when he desired to contemplate close at hand the glory of his Master.8 In a sense it fell from heaven, like the stone from the crown of Lucifer, and again it was overturned by the iniquity of man, until Jacob re stored it to an upright position. Solomon was also one of those who restored it, and thereon he built the sanc tuary.9 We may not know how to harmonise these re ferences which seem to exhaust all that is said of the stone in the Old Testament, but its connection with other and less fabulous elements belonging to the Zoharic myth of creation resides in the fact that this stone was inscribed with the Divine Name before it was cast into the abyss.10 For the rest it seems part of the inherent notion that the world was created for Israel and that the story of its making is a part of the story of election. So is it said in one place that the world did not obtain stability until Israel received the Law on Mount Sinai ; u 1 Z., Ft. I, fol. 72b ; DE PAULY, I, 429. 2 ///., fol. 23ia ; II, 512. 3 /£., fol. 23ib; 11,514. 4 //'., fol. 23ia; II, 512. 5 Genesis xxviii, 22. 6 Z., Pt. I, fol. 23ia ; DE PAULY, II, 512. 7 Leviticus xvi, 3. The reference is merely to Aaron's entry, and does not carry the suggestion indicated. 8 Z..Pt. I, fol. 72a; 1,427. 9 7^., fol. 9ib ; I, 429. 10 7£, Pt. II, fol. Qib; 111,370. " 7&,Pt. I,fol.89a; 1,511. The Secret Doctrine in Israel that God created the worlds after He had delivered the Law ; that He ended his work in the Traditional Law, which is the basis of the world, and is therefore that legendary stone with which we have been dealing, for the Secret Doctrine is a Sabbath ; and that Abraham is also the foundation, the one just being on whom it rests, by whom it is made permanent, and who nourishes all creatures.1 It would be not less idle work to try and harmonise these references than to shew that they are not to be taken blindly. They are things that stand by themselves, unrelated one to another, and they serve their purpose as such, being loose lines of thought turn ing the student's attention in one direction. If we look in this direction and read with the heart therein, I think that we may come to understand how the mystic stone is the central point of the world and how at this point there is the Holy of Holies.2 I have spoken of the Word in its relation to the Divine Transcendence. It is said that the six days were created thereby, being lights emanating from the Word and illuminating the world. It is also the Divine Seed from which manifest things came forth. The specific affirmation is, however, that the- world was created by the Word united to the Spirit,3 that which operated being the sound of the Word, as a voice which spoke and it was 1 Z., Pt. II, fol. 86b ; DE PAULY, I, 498. 2 Ib., Pt. I, fol. 23ia; II, 511.— There is also the stone "cut out without hands" of Dan. ii, 34, and it is said in the Zohar to represent Him Who is "the shepherd, the stone of Israel" (Gen. xlix, 24). It is the Community of Israel — that which shall be called the House of God (//->., xxviii, 22). The stone of Jacob is that stone which forms the bond of union between the Divine Essences — blessed on the right, blessed on the left, blessed above and below. According to The Faithful Shepherd, Z., Pt. Ill, fol. 279b, the stone of Daniel was en graved with the letters of Tetragrainmaton^ and it is not to be identified with the stone of Moses, being that rock which he smote twice. — Num. xxx, 8-1 1. 3 It is taught that the one is not without the other, and the authority is Ps. xxxiii, 6 : "By the Word of the Lord were the heavens made and all the hosts of them by the breath of his mouth."— Z., Pt. I, fol. is6a ; II, 213,214. The Doctrine of Cosmology done. For the dispensation of the light this Word was joined with the Father, the light itself proceeding from the Father and being as such incompatible with matter.1 In the union of the Father and the Word it became ac cessible thereto, seeing that henceforward it proceeded from both. Before the manifestation of the Word the light proceeding from the Father formed seven letters, which — in some inscrutable sense — were without body and for this reason were inaccessible to matter. When the sacred, nebulous, clouded fire which is called " dark ness upon the face of the deep " 2 appeared for the trans mutation of matter, seven other letters were formed, also from pure light and hence inaccessible to matter, like the first seven. When the Word manifested, the remaining eight letters were formed, and then the whole alphabet was rendered accessible by the casting down of that barrier which separated matter from the celestial rays. It is for this reason that, according to Scripture, Elohim said : " Let there be light." 3 The firmament was made likewise and the waters were separated from the waters, or the light above from the light below.4 It was subject to this separation that matter became susceptible of light, and I infer that a spiritual mystery is here indicated which might be comparable to the distinction between material light of reason and that of the higher mind. Now, the Word is said to be designated by the name Elohim.5 The firmament constituted the line of division : thereunto matter could ascend and thereunto could the light come 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. i6b ; DE PAULY, I, 98 et seq. 2 Gen. i, 2. 3 Ib., I, 3. 4 Z., Pt. I, i6b ; I, 100. 6 The greater light which God made to rule the day is a symbol of Jehovah, while the lesser which rules the night is the Word, regarded as the end of thought. — /£., fol. 2oa ; I, 123. It is said elsewhere that if the world had been the work of the Divine Essence called Jehovah, everything would have been indestructible therein, but being the work of the Divine Essence called Elohim, it is all subject to discussion. This curious statement arises from Ps. xlvi, 9, but it has been pointed out that in this Psalm the Divine Name used is not Elohim but Jehovah. In the text itself a discussion follows and there is a divided view. — /$., fol. 59b; I, 337. 65 E The Secret Doctrine in Israel down ; but while it is thus a limit in both directions, the firmament is also a bond of union between the one and the other, so that both are united thereby in Elohim. It is said also that the Word assumed the form of the alphabetical signs, presumably because it is in ^ this form that thought passes into expression.1 The six days of creation are lights emanating from the Word for the illumination of the world.2 It is thanks, in fine, to the Word that the waters of the celestial river flow for ever to irrigate the worlds that are below.3 So far therefore concerning the work of God in creation and the instruments appertaining thereto. But there are certain final intimations which belong more especially to our subject and lead therein. When the Holy One created the world He engraved the Mystery of Faith in letters of sparkling light ; He engraved it above and below, because it is the same mystery and because the world below is the mirror of that which is above. By means of the Mystery of Faith He created the worlds. Now, in another place it is asked : What worlds ? The answer is matrimonial unions.4 These are the worlds which God does not cease from creating. It follows that creation, as the story is told, is a veil of the sex mystery ; it follows also that something is under stood of which physical union is the shadow as this is known here : the intimations concern union as the result of a law, which law is literal on the plane of expression and mystical on a higher plane. Another key is given in these words : The union of the male and female prin ciple engendered the world 5 — as indeed it was impossible that it should do otherwise within the measures of Zoharic 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. 2ia ; DE PAULY, I, 129. 2 Ib., fol. 3ib ; I, 196. The Zohar is sometimes like scholastic philo sophy in its lighter moments and seeing that the six days of creation are mentioned by Genesis but not the six nights which are implied therein, it inquires what has become of the latter and concludes that God holds them in concealment for some good purpose of His own. 3 //>., fol. 33b ; I, 208. 4 Ib., fol. 8ga ; I, 511. 5 7£.,Pt. 1 1, fol. 228a; IV, 250. THE SEPHIROTH IN CIRCLES Facing page 66 The Doctrine of Cosmology symbolism. So also in the emanation of the letters, Aleph and Beth are postulated, from which two come forth the rest of the alphabet, and hence it is said that these two are male and female.1 Here is a further reason why Beth was the instrument of creation, as already ex plained. Another story intimates that God took the " heap of letters " in His hands and began to make worlds therewith over and over, but they had no consistence, the reason being that the covenant had not yet been made.2 The world under the law of circumcision must be understood as a specific dispensation within the mani fest order, and the destroyed worlds are previous dispen sations which arose and decayed unceasingly. This is illustrated when it is said that their destruction was because those who dwelt therein did not accept the commandments of the Doctrine. It is not that God undoes His works, but the works undo themselves by refusing salvation. Why, it is asked, should God put an end to those children whom, according to tradition, He created by the Second Hypostasis, called Hen It is only under the Law and the Doctrine, or in virtue of that inward covenant of which circumcision was once the shadow, that man is hereby made male and female by the Elohim, which is another manner of saying that the cosmic harmony is established in him. We shall see in the next chapter that he was created prototypically in the likeness of the world below and in that of the world above. He was also so made that he represents 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. 3oa ; DE PAULY, I, 187. It is said elsewhere that the letters expressing the male principle are not susceptible of transforma tion, while those expressing the female principle can be counterchanged by means of certain combinations — Ib., Pt. II, fol. 1343; IV, 29. Which letters are male and which are female, we are not told. A note to the French version suggests that the uneven are masculine and the even feminine, which is theoretically probable but is not borne out in fact because it is certain that He, the fifth letter, is female in the Zohar, while the sixth or Vau is masculine. 3 7£.,fol. 2$a; I, 154. 3 Ib. The Secret Doctrine in Israel the celestial Lover and Beloved, who are symbolised by the letfers Tod and He, and are united by Van? In another form of symbolism he was designed to be the Spouse or Beloved of God who was never to be separated from the Lover. So proceeds the mystery with which we are concerned from stage to stage of unfoldment ; but we are at present concerned only in seeing how it belongs to all. 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. 26a ; DE PAULY, I, 161, 162. CHAPTER V THE MYTH OF THE EARTHLY PARADISE IN the previous chapters I have been content to lead up as I could to certain intimations which have formed part of each concerning that mystery of sex which is called Mystery of Faith and Supreme Mystery in the Zohar ; but in the present consideration it will be with us even from the beginning. It is a matter of some difficulty to disassociate the subject from that Divine personality — the Indwelling Glory — which is the central figure of the Aramaic text and the full discussion of which I have de cided for good reasons to postpone till the end of our study. It must be explained in the first place that there are two Gardens of Eden which are in communication one with another, while the one leads to the other.1 The one is the mystery of sex as it was established or rather formulated originally on this lower earth by the hypo thesis of the Secret Doctrine, but this Garden was ravished ; the other is a mystery in transcendence as it subsists in the eternal world, the world of the supernals. In the symbolism of the whole subject, the word of both is womanhood; she is the Garden in transcendence and 1 According to later Kabalism, the Superior Paradise is referable to Briah in respect of souls and to Yetzirah in respect of angels, but this is manifestly opposed to Zoharic teaching, by which it is allocated to Binah and is therefore in the supernal world of Atziluth. The Inferior Para dise is in Assiah according to both forms of Kabalism. We shall see in its proper place that the Higher Eden is probably the abode of souls awaiting incarnation and that the Lower Eden is, so to speak, the threshold of entrance into the life of earth. So also on the return journey through the gate of death the Lower Paradise is a tarrying-place for the souls of the just before they ascend higher, that is to say, into the Supernal Eden, where perfect liberation is enjoyed. — Z., Pt. Ill, fol. ig6b: DE PAULY, V, 506. 'The Secret Doctrine in Israel she is also the Garden1 below, or alternatively their mystery is she ; and their image amidst the exile and penitence of this present order is also woman — woman in her betrothals, woman in her espousals, woman as wife, mother, daughter and sister. We shall see at a later stage that all these designations are titles of Shekinah — as the Divine Personality which I have mentioned — and she can be regarded from two points of view, being (i) as woman in the archetype and (2) as the mystery of sex. Speaking essentially, these two are reducible to one. But the male is not without the female, nor is the woman apart from the man in respect of this mystery, which includes all. It is that of God in His concealment, of God also as He is manifested in the Secret Doctrine, and of prototypical humanity. It is the mystery of the traditional fall of man and of all the banishments which the elect are postulated as having suffered ; but as it is owing to this mystery that each one of us is incarnate here so is it also through this that we return homeward into the refuge whose name is Shekinah ; it is with us at this day in the bondage of our mortality, but it is also the law of our liberation. The Zoharic legend of the Earthly Paradise may be held to formulate the mystery, but it does not expound it. The Paradise above is called " the Sanctuary, O Lord, which Thy hands have estab lished." 2 The Paradise below has the Holy of Holies for its image and both are at the centre of the earth, called Zion and Jerusalem — the place and house of peace.3 As regards the making of man we know 1 According to Franck, Paradise is always termed by the Kabalists either fijj p = the Garden of Eden or &on D^15J = the World to Come and never D*nB=*/*«w#kr=::Garden) this being the word of the modern Kaba lists. — La Kabbale, p. 57. It is not their word exclusively. Can Eden is applied in the Zohar both to Kinah and Malkulh, as the Sephirotic locations respectively of the Superior and Inferior Eden. 2 Isaiah xv, 17. Z., Pt. I, fol. 7* J DE PAULY, I, 38. 3 See Chapter III, p. 47. The Palace or Paradise below is modelled on the pattern of that which is above, for the Divine Presence in Malkuth, as the Kingdom of this world, does not differ from the Divine Hypostasis in Binah) which is the world to come. The Lower Garden was formed The Myth of the Earthly Paradise that there are two accounts in Genesis, one dovetailed into the other, a fact which the Zoharic doctors did not realise, and with the difficulties which thus arose they dealt as they could. According to the Elohistic text man was made in the likeness of the Elohim — that is to say, male and female — for which reason we shall see that Shekinah — whose title is Elohim — is now male, and female at another time. In so far as she represents the mystery of sex, it is obvious that she is of both sexes, or male on the right side of the Tree of Life — which is the masculine side — and female on the left side. But the myth of the Earthly Paradise is a Jehovistic text, and by its hypothesis Adam, being the male in distinction from the female, or having the female latent within him, was made in the first place. Now, it is said that when the Holy One created Adam He exhorted him to walk in the way of goodness and revealed to him the Mystery of Wisdom, by aid of which he could attain even to the supreme degree.1 He also gave him the Law and taught him His ways.2 This is not, however, Adam in distinc tion from Eve but refers to humanity in its two primor dial forms : so also in respect of what follows. Man was crowned with celestial crowns and was so endowed that he could rule over the six directions of space ; he was perfect in all things and bore the seal of the heights on his countenance. The angels encompassed him and honoured him, revealing mysteries relating to the know ledge of their Master. But he on his part beheld all supreme mysteries and all wisdom — exceeding, as we have seen already, the science of the angels — and he knew the glory of God. The intention was that he should remain united in heart and mind to Him Who and planted by the Holy One, that He might have joy with the souls of the just who dwell therein ; but the Garden which is planted in the tran scendence, under the Wings of Shekinah, is the place of contemplation for souls in the sweetness of the Lord, and herein is the Blessed Vision. — Z., Pt. II, fol. i2;a ; DE PAULY, IV, 8. 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. i4ob ; II, 147. 2 /&, fol. i99a ; II, 388. The Secret Doctrine in Israel was his model, thus being preserved unchanged, like Him Who is the synthesis of all things and in Whom all is unified.1 If it be said that this is mere fantasy in distraction because man, by the hypothesis of the legend, did not know good or evil and much less one from another, I can only point out that authorised Christian doctrine on the same subject is in the same case precisely, for it is obvious (a) that in this state no person can be accountable for disobedience, or (b) if he be so account able he is at least aware that obedience is on the side of goodness and its opposite on that of evil : but this spoils the postulate. The unreason is of course to treat a pure myth as if it were literal history. By so much, however, as we elect to exalt the state of man in Paradise, by so much our construction crucifies further the story with which it professes to deal.2 In respect of the Garden itself, we learn that the whole world is watered by that mysterious river which went forth out of Eden — meaning the Paradise that is above.3 It came from a secret place on high, and brought life to things below.4 This place is symbolised by the 1 Z., Ft. I, fol. 22 ia, 22 ib ; DE PAULY, II, 470. It is said also that God encompassed Adam with glory from on high (ib.}, meaning the resplendent vesture or vehicle in which he was manifested before he was clothed with skins as one consequence of his fall. 2 We are told in Gen. ii, 15 that "the Lord God took the man, and put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it." With this it is interesting to contrast the Zoharic ideas of those duties which fell to Adam in his original state of radiance. He was set to offer sacrifices in the Garden, and for this purpose an altar is postulated therein, which he profaned by his fall, and so became a tiller of the ground. — Z., Pt. I, fol. 57b ; DE PAULY, I, 331. It is said in another place that he was set to grow roses. These things occurred by the hypothesis before the institu tion of blood offerings ; we can infer therefore that the sacrifices of Adam were offerings of aspiration, and I think that what is indicated is part of the mystery of union. We shall see otherwise the kind of altar that was profaned by the fall ; it is simply another variant of the mystery of woman hood — that Garden which man was given to cultivate. — Ib., Pt. II, fol. loga ; 111,430. The roses were children of Shekinah, because she is the rose of the world, and under another aspect is herself the Garden. 3 76., fol. 3ob; I, 192. 4 In other terms, it brought the celestial waters, and thus gave birth to the plants and fruits which flourished in the Garden. — /£., fol. sgb ; I, 348. The Myth of the Earthly Paradise letter Beth when it appears for the first time in Genesis. The meaning is that this letter contains all letters in its womb, even as the river vivifies all things else. The secret place resembles a narrow path along which it is difficult to travel, but there the treasures of the world are hidden. The river brings sanctity from on high ; and when the Kingdom of Heaven shall have come under the form of first-fruits of the earth, the latter will be raised and made equal with Heaven. One might call this a keynote for the whole doctrine of cosmology, except that a keynote of one or another kind seems to transpire everywhere. Holiness is life, and the world subsists by holiness. If this, its correspondences and analogues, were not the beginning, middle and end of Zoharic theosophy, I should have no cause to write about it, because it would not belong to the Secret Doctrine of God, which is my concern in the old litera tures. As regards the formation of Eve from the side of Adam, we meet in the Zohar with another presentation of a tradition which is found in many places of legend.1 Adam and Eve were joined side by side originally. The explanation — which is given in one place only, or perhaps I should say rather that there is no alternative — is after the most inscrutable manner of the text — i.e., that they were not face to face because as yet "the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth." 2 This is on the authority of Rabbi Simeon, who forgot, as one might think, for a moment that the same verse adds: "And there was not a man to till the ground." Too much attention must not be given to inconsistencies of this kind — whether or not some means of escape happens to be found subsequently — as the purpose of the Zohar is always to make known a point of its Secret Doctrine which can be hooked on to a text, and the context — for 1 7., Pt. I, fol. ssa ; DE PAULY, I, 216. 2 Gen. ii, 5. The Secret Doctrine in Israel this purpose — is seldom held to signify.1 The point in this case is (a) that man being superior to all the works of creation,2 the union of man and woman must be modelled on that of Nature — meaning, however, the Arch-Nature that is above ; but (b) their union face to face could not be accomplished till after that of heaven and earth, which was manifested by rain. It is obvious that a spiritual mystery is here indicated, and one that is part of the intercourse which constitutes the transcen dental unions. The physical basis is of course that the sex-union of humanity takes place in an opposite position to that of all the animals, which was certain to suggest deep symbolism to the Zoharic doctors, though they do not make the contrast. Another intimation is that in their original state not only was Adam made male and female but so also was the woman attached to his side.3 I suppose that this notion is the antechamber or threshold of that "supreme mystery'* which is believed to be expressed in the words : " Male and female created He them." 4 It is said to constitute the glory of God and to be the object of faith. In the root-nature it is regarded as inaccessible to human reason, perhaps in the sense that it has not entered into the heart of man to understand what God has prepared for those who love Him, or, from another standpoint, it is a matter of experience and not of dissertation. By this mystery was man created as well as the heaven and the earth. It is inferred that every figure which does not represent male and female has no likeness to the heavenly figure.5 We shall see in 1 As a matter of fact, the discrepancy is recognised speedily, and the same master of doctrine explains that there was no man because Eve had not yet been created, and man was as if non-existent because he was incomplete in her absence. The last point is not a subtlety of the moment, but a doctrine which obtains everywhere regarding our human nature.— Z., Pt. I, fol. 3$a; DE PAULY, I, 217. 2 /&., fol. 34b ; I, 216. 3 Z., Pt. 1 1 1, fol. n;a; V, 301. 4 Gen. i, 27. 5 Meaning Adam Protoplastes, the Cosmic Son, himself a reflection of what subsists but is not explicated in Adam Kadmon. The Myth of the Earthly Paradise due course that the Holy One does not make His dwell ing except where male and female are united, and there only His benedictions are disposed. This is why Scripture says : And God " blessed them and called their name Adam, on the day when they were created." * It is recognised by the Zohar in no uncertain manner that the condition of side to side was one of imperfection because it was not a true union in the likeness of heaven ; the latter is eye to eye and beyond it there is another state, in which heaven and earth pass away, like all the former things, because the distinctions of this and that are at an end. Eve was joined to Adam until he was put to sleep,2 and here the text dwells especially on the fact that the place of his entrancement was that place where the Temple was built subsequently.3 As regards the formation of Eve, it is said that " He took one of his ribs," and here the Zohar develops a great subtlety, inferring that the second pronoun alludes, like the first, to Jehovah Elohim. It says, further, that the plural "ribs" signify the virgins of Matrona, meaning her maids of honour, one of whom was taken to be the " help meet " for Adam.4 However this story is for gotten soon afterwards and yet others are substituted, but I do not think that we need attach importance to any. When the time came for man and woman to be joined face to face the text which here follows is applied to the intercourse : " They stand fast for ever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness." 5 The reference is to the state of true nuptials, ineffable in 1 Gen. v, 2. z Z., Ft. I, fol. 34b ; DE PAULY, I, 215. 3 /£., fol. sib; 1,215. 4 //?., fol. 28a, b; I, 176-178. It is even said that "bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh" (Gen. ii, 23) are words that signify Shekinah, so close is the connection recognised between the Cohabiting Glory who is the guide of man on earth and the womanhood which is part of him. 5 Ps. cxi, 8. The Secret Doctrine in Israel the holy transcendence, when between the male and the female, as between the wings of the two cherubim, the glory of Shekinah manifests, when within and without are over and there is neither marrying nor giving in marriage because those which were once in separation have entered into the heaven of union. The words " stand fast" are said to designate male and female, whose union here below will subsist through all eternity in the world that is above.1 It consists in a sacred union face to face, for Zoharic similitudes seldom transcend this, though it is only the court of the Temple, where the Lover and Beloved are still clothed in their vestments. The words : a There went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole, face of the ground " 2 signify the desire of the female for the male, and here it is added cryptically that man was taken from his place and transplanted, or changed about, that man and woman might attain perfection. Now, it is claimed in one place that the sleep of Adam signifies the cap tivity, so that it is another episode in the long history of creation ; but I do not know that these scattered intimations can be drawn into a true memorial. A word must be added concerning the Trees of the Garden, though I scarcely feel that the Secret Doctrine offers lights of the first magnitude on this subject. The Tree of Life is identified with the Doctrine,3 presumably in its inward form, not that which is inculcated by the surface sense but by the sense within : it is the Holy Law, which offers aspects of truth in all its interpretations. The fruits of this Tree subsist for ever and give life to all ; 4 it gave life in particular to the twelve tribes who issued therefrom.5 It covers thpse 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. 35a; DE PAULY, I, 217. 2 Gen. ii, 6. 3 Z., Pt. I, fol. io6b, loya; 11,36. 4 Ib., Pt. II, fol. 2a ; III, 3. They are sweeter than honey.— //A, Pt. I, Appendix 3 ; II, 730. 6 At the end of time the purified Israel will depend from this Tree only.— Ib., Pt. Ill, fol. 1245 ; V, 322. The Myth of the Earthly Paradise vessels which are pure souls with its wings. It is know ledge in the true sense, which is supernal, the knowledge that is above reason : those who are attached thereto possess life in the world to come as well as life in this world.1 The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is reputed to have been a vine and the forbidden fruit was the grape,2 whence it is added elsewhere that Scrip ture interdicts wine and fermented drink. It is said also to be the female principle,3 which I suppose to mean when it is unsanctified in the state of separation.4 Among the fables concerning it there is that which relates how it invited many spirits to revolt before they were furnished with bodies, meaning possibly in the state of pre-existence about which we shall hear in its season. When so furnished, these spirits con ceived a plan to descend on earth and assume possession thereof. God classed therefore the spirits in two cate gories, the good being placed on the side of the Tree of Life and the evil on that of mixed knowledge. He provided the first with bodies, but when the time had come to do likewise in respect of the second, the Sabbath interrupted the work of creation 5 — otherwise there would have been wreck and ruin from end to end of the world. By this intervention the Holy One provided the remedy before the evil, advancing — that is to say — the hour of the Sabbath, so that the evil spirits had the mortification of seeing good spirits invested with desirable bodies, whilst they in their deprivation were impotent. It would seem to follow 1 It is the centre of all life. — Z., Ft. II, fol. iia ; DE PAULY, III, 48. 2 /£., Pt. Ill, 1580 ; V, 410 : fol. I2ya ; V. 327. 3 /£., Pt. I, fol. 36a; 1,223. 4 As a matter of fact, the passage referred to, which is curious in all respects, seems to suggest that the Tree of Knowledge is that evil woman who is the wife of Samae'l and intercourse with whom is incest, idolatry and murder. It is the averse side of the sex mystery. 6 Z., Pt. I, fol. I4a; I, 82. "The Secret Doctrine in Israel that the desire of the evil side is towards sex,^ but in the iniquity to which it may be debased. The infernal hosts are therefore in a state of inhibition, arrestation and unsatisfied longing. Generally as regards both trees, the Secret Doctrine looks forward not only towards that time— and because of it is glad in all its aspects— when the elect will depend no longer on the Tree of Good and Evil, but when they will not be subject longer to that Law which legislates on things permitted and forbidden, on clean and unclean things.1 Our entire nature will be drawn in that day from the Tree of Life and there will be no further debates about the evil and impure, for con cerning this time it is written : " I will cause . . . the impure spirit to pass out of the land." Herein is the rest which remains for the people of God and the fruition is herein of those good things of the Lord which are gathered into the Land of the Living.3 Now, there is a strange thing said in another place which seems to connect with the subject and to issue there from in a mystery that seems yet like a path of light. Between the 'spirit of good and the spirit of evil " she must stand who is called woman" and they shall then abide in harmony or in the turning of the evil to account on the part of goodness. It is by the help of the woman that the spirit of good preponderates over that of evil. After this manner does the Mystery of Faith proceed from more to more in the law of its self-unfoldment. In conclusion, I infer that the Tree of Life is also the female principle in the state of sacramentum ineffa- bile, preserving all who are attached to it from death i Z., Ft. Ill, fol. i24b ; DE PAULY, V, 322. 3 Iht Tree' of' Knowledge being the Tree of Death, in contrast to the Tree of Life.— Z., Ft. Ill, fol. i5?a ; V, 405. The Myth of the Earthly Paradise for ever.1 My reason is that when it is said of the other Tree that those who are attached to it cleave also to death, the text quoted is : " Her feet go down to death ; her steps take hold on hell." 2 As this is woman on the side of the devil, so is the other woman hood also, but on the side of God. 1 Here it is fair to mention that in one place the letter Vau is said to be the Tree of Life.— Z., Pt. I, fol. I2ia ; V, 309. But the point is that Vau in the perfect state — which I have called sacramentum ineffabile — is in union with the second He of the Sacred Name, as we have seen already. 2 Prov. v, 5. CHAPTER VI THE SERPENT, SON OF THE MORNING AND FALL OF THE ANGELS AN adequate study of the Zohar on the subject of angelology, the fall of the angels, the hierarchy of demons which came about as a consequence, would begin in Talmudic literature and would be itself an undertaking of no inconsiderable magnitude, for behind that literature lies all oriental belief. I do not pretend to know what remains to be said on the subject when I recall the vast histories which have been written already, counting only from the days of Van Dale at the end of the 1 7th century.1 It is fortunate that such an inquiry does not belong to our subject, for there is very little in the Zohar which is important hereon from the stand point of Secret Doctrine, though there is a mass of curious speculation and ingarnering of bizarre superstition. It would be arid and wearisome to collect it without com mentary of any kind, and I shall confine my remarks under a few general heads, to elucidate things which led up to the Fall of Man and some which followed therefrom. I suppose that in the first place a word must be said upon the subject of evil and how it is regarded in the text. It seems to follow expressly or by implication from certain statements that there is at least a sense in which 1 ANTONIO VAN DALE : Dissertationes de Origine ac Progressu Idol atries . . . et de Divinationibus Idolatricis Jud&orum. Quarto, pp. 762. Amsterdam, 1696. It offers a mass of information on angels and demons according to Jewish ideas, on false Messiahs and on the magical side of Kabalism, The Serpent and Fall of the *Angeh God is the author of evil ; 1 a system being given in which not only do all things come from God, but He is present immanently in all, it is not unnatural to accept the direct consequences without debate or refinements, and in this particular respect no difficulty is created thus in the Zoharic mind. The Pauline consciousness that all Nature groaneth and travaileth, the sense of suffering in all animate beings had never entered therein, though there was a very keen sense of the burdens on election in Israel. It is admitted quite freely, and indeed the notion is implied in several places, that the Holy One has created both the just and the unjust,2 or still more plainly that He formed man of a spirit of good and a spirit of evil. The exoneration resides in the fact that evil is of service to good, because good turns evil to account.3 Moreover, God created that Tree the eating of which meant that the full understanding of the evil side of things entered into the life of humanity ; but the saving clause is that it imparted also the knowledge of good. There can be no question — and we have seen already — that from this point of view the Tree of the Trespass is a synonym or image of the Written Law, for this is prohibition above all things, which defines evil and separates that which is so imputed from what is recognised as good It is understood, however, that the definition is on the formal side and stands therein at its value, without reference to essentials.4 1 We have seen that there is also no difficulty in the Sepher Yetzirah on the subject, and it is this primitive text which is responsible for Sephirotic theology throughout the Zohar proper. The evil which is created by God is to be distinguished, however, from that which man works on his own part. It is woe to those who make themselves wicked. This is on the authority of Is. iii, n. It is ruled, however, that " He hath made every thing beautiful in His time" (Eccles. iii, u), because He is glorified by the works of the just and the occasional good acts of the wicked. — Z., Pt. II, fol. iia ; DE PAULY, III, 47. 2 Ib. 3 /£., Pt. I, fol. 49a ; I, 283. * The exoneration in chief is, however, in a discourse of R. Simeon, who maintains that merit and demerit would have been equally impossible for man if God had not (i) created the Spirit of Good and the Spirit of 8l F The Secret Doctrine in Israel There is no tabulated account of the Hierarchy of the Blessed Angels in the Zohar, but we hear generically of great hosts and cohorts, battalions of guardians, usually for purposes of honour — as when angels accompany Shekinah on some of her missions.1 — and there are also clouds of messengers. It is specified, that Metatron is the leader of the Invisible Host and that his place is immediately beneath the throne of God ; 2 but we hear nothing of legions like those of the Nine Choirs of Dionysius,3 though there are divisions and subdivisions with correspondences of this kind in late Kabalism. As regards the Infernal Hierarchy there are various categories consisting of angels who kept not their first estate and of demons generated in several ways.4 They are specified as comprising ten degrees or ten crowns below5 and corresponding as such to numerous Evil, and if He had not (2) composed our nature of both.— Z., Pt. I, fol. 233; DE PAULY, I, 142. The Spirit of Good and the Spirit of Evil are on the right and left of man. If the last lives in purity, the first acquires an ascendency over the second, so that both combine to protect him in all his ways. — /£., fol. i65b ; II, 250. The Spirit of Evil is in a state of incompleteness unless man nourishes him by sin.— /#., fol. 2Oia ; II, 398. Apparently, those who thus nourish their master are maintained in turn by him, whence the happiness and prosperity of the Gentiles is a fruit of the union between Samael and his prostituted wife. — Ib.t Pt. II, iia; III, 47. It is admitted, on the other hand, that evil is stronger than good. — /^., Pt. Ill, fol. 2&3b ; VI, 24. But even the demon contains a particle of sanctity, without which he could not exist. — /^., Pt. II, fol. 203b ; IV, 205. 1 It is mentioned, for example, that 42 sacred angels, commissioned for her service, came down with Shekinah when she accompanied Israel into Egypt. Each bore a letter of the Divine Name of 42 letters. — Id., fol. 4b; HI, 15. 2 Ib., fol. 294b ; IV, 318. It is here that Metatron is said to be the name assumed by Enoch when he was raised to heaven. 3 It is just, however, to say that Picusde Mirandula, in his Conclusiones Cabbalisticce manages to extract nine hierarchies in the following order : Kerubim, Seraphim, Chasmalim, Aralim, Tarsisim, Ophanim, Js/iim, Malachim and Elo/iun, but it is a purely arbitrary classification. 4 Speaking generally, the Empire of the Demon is supposed to be under the presidency of three chiefs or princes, who are described as three impure branches, from which depend seventy minor branches, and these are the leaders or angels of the seventy Gentile nations. — Z., Pt. Ill, fol. I94a; V, 503. 6 Z., Pt. I, fol. i6;a; 11,256. The Serpent and Fall of the ^Angels hierarchic grades,1 separated in appearance yet communi cating one with another, being ramifications of a single tree. There are ten crowns to the right and ten also to the left,2 for there is a right and there is a left side in the empire of the demons, this being modelled through out on that of God.3 There is even an infernal triad in correspondence as such with the Sacred Triad that is above, and the observance of the Paschal Lamb was instituted to break its bonds.4 There are averse Seraphim in the form of serpents, emanating from the evil serpent.5 There are finally seven averse palaces corresponding, on the one hand, to the palaces that are above 6 and on the other to the seven names which are attributed to the tempting spirit : Satan, Impure, Enemy, Stumbling-block, the Uncircumcised, Wicked, Crafty.7 What I may call the metaphysical account is as follows : When the passive light, designated as darkness in Scripture, was joined to the active light on the right side,8 following the ordinary arrangement of the Sephirotic Tree, many celestial legions — concluding that there was antagonism between the modes — in place of harmony or equilibrium by virtue of the Middle Pillar — declared themselves for the light of the left side and made ready to revolt against the other. When the Middle Pillar manifested the Perfect Unity of God, the good legions renounced the struggle and submitted, but those which were evil 9 persisted and gave birth as a consequence to hell. In this manner discord was introduced into the world 1 Z., Pt. I, i7;a ; DE PAULY, II, 296. /£., Pt. Ill, fol. 2o;a; V, 527. 3 /£., Pt. II, fol. 37b ; III, 179. lb., Pt. II, fol. 4ob ; III, 189. 6 /&, fol. 247b ; IV, 281. //;., fol. 245a ; IV, 278. 7 Ib., fol. 36 3a ; IV, 295, 296. Z., Pt. I, fol. 170 ; I, 105. The inference seems to be that, belonging to the passive side, their potentiality for evil was greater than that of the active side, though it subsisted also in this, or the imputed conspiracy could not have been shared by the intelligences of both sides, as the case was apparently. It is said also elsewhere that the " Sons of God" (Gen. vi, 2) were angels of the evil side who were in a state of perversity from the beginning. — 74., fol. 27oa; 11,638. The Secret Doctrine in Israel on both sides, and the sense of the text seems to suggest that its vibrations remained on that of the good powers, though apart from any spirit of rebellion. The Scriptural allusion is : " And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament,"1 a text which does duty on many sides of interpretation and meaning in this case that He separated the discord which had its source in the angels who kept not their first estate from that which was introduced into the world by those who were cast into the abyss. Both disruptions had, how ever, their result below, but that which belonged to the first class redounded to the glory of heaven, had this as its end in view and disappeared apparently when the end in question was reached. This is so far concerning one category of souls rejected from heaven and enchained below. There was another class, the downfall of which was consequent on the Holy One assembling several legions of superior angels and advising them that He intended to create man.2 They appear to have replied by quoting the Psalmist when he said : " Nevertheless man being in honour abideth not : he is like the beasts that perish."3 Thereupon the Holy One stretched forth a finger and burned these blessed legions, after which He called others into His presence and made the same state ment, to which they answered on their part : " What is man that Thou art mindful of him and the son of man that Thou visitest him." 4 The Lord explained that man should be made in His image and would be superior to those whom He addressed. It does not appear what happened to these legions. There were, moreover, those Sons of God who " saw the daughters of men that they were fair," 5 and they included Aza and Azael, who entered into a dispute with Shekinah on the advisability of creating Adam,6 seeing that he would end by sinning with his wife, 1 Gen. i, 7. 2 Z., Pt. Ill, fol. 2oyb, 2o8a ; DE PAULY, V, 529. 3 Vs.xlix, 12. 4 Ps. viii,4. 8 Gen. vi, 2. 6 Z., Pt. I, fol. 233 ; 1, 141. The Serpent and Fall of the <Angels to which Shekinah replied that before they could make accusations of this kind it must be postulated that they would prove more chaste in their own persons.1 This was the conclusion for the moment, but the children of God had recourse to the daughters of men and " took them wives of all that they chose." 2 The result was that Shekinah stripped them of their sanctity and of all part in eternal beatitude,3 which had been the case also with the rebellious angels belonging to the first category : these are burnt eternally in Sheol.4 According to one version, Aza and Azael became enamoured of the evil daughters of Cain,5 but the text says also that the sons of Elohim or of God were actually sons of Cain. We can take our choice among alternatives over matters of no consequence. Elsewhere it is affirmed that before the corruption of the world all men were called sons of Elohim.6 When Aza and Azael were cast down, they assumed bodies on earth and were imprisoned therein.7 It was subsequently — according to this version — that they were seduced by women and are alive at this day, still instructing men in the art of magic, which they had begun to teach soon after their descent. They were chained on certain black mountains, which Laban and Balaam fre quented for instruction in the forbidden art.8 There 1 Certain codices of the Zohar cause the Shekinah to intimate at this point that Adam will indeed end by sinning with a single woman, but it will prove also with her that he will be able to repair the fault, while the lost angels will sin with many women and will be deprived of all reparation. 2 Gen. vi, 2. 3 Z., Ft. I, fol. 25b ; DE PAULY, I, 157. 4 lb., fol. i;b ; I, 108. 6 Id., fol. 3?a ; I, 230. 6 lb. 7 /£., fol. 58a ; I, 334. They belonged to that class who appeared under the form of men, and it was possible therefore for them to exist on earth. They assumed bodies to come down and because of their revolt they could not unclothe to reascend. By their union with women they engendered giants, the "mighty men of old," and "men of renown," mentioned in Gen. vi, 4. 8 Z., Ft. Ill, fol. 2o8a; V, 530. According to another version, Naamah, the sister of Tubal Cain, was from the side of Cain the murderer ; she was a seducer of men and spirits, including Aza and Azael, who again were of the children of God mentioned in Genesis. She became the mother of demons and is still abroad in the world, exciting the desires of men, more especially in dreams of the night. She is associated with The Secret Doctrine in Israel were in all five orders of intelligence which seem to have been cast out of heaven, and some of them were in carnated as men.1 These were the Giants of Genesis, the Nephi/im, the descendants of Amalec, the Intruders of the Talmud, and so forth. It is on record that they caused the destruction of the Temple. There is a distinction made in the Zohar between the serpent mentioned in Genesis and him who rode thereon. It is said that the serpent was female and was she who is called the Prostituted Woman.2 She was the wife of him who rode upon her back,3 and this was Samael the death- angel. It comes about in this manner that there is male and female on the evil, even as on the sacred side4 — though in a rough and general sense the right side is sometimes said to be masculine and the left feminine. Samael is the tempter-spirit whose purpose is to put man to the test, and his other name is the End of Darkness, which is equivalent to the end of all flesh."5 But when the Zohar speaks of the spirit of evil generically, it affirms that this is an old and insensate thing 6 — much as European folk-lore was accustomed to represent Satan as a poor Lilith, of whom we shall hear shortly in connection with the fall of Adam. It is testified by this tradition that demons are subject to death in the same way as human beings, but this must apply to the progeny and not to the first parents, as Samael, Lilith and Naamah are still in activity. — Z., Ft. Ill, fol. ssa; DE PAULY, I, 317. 1 Ib., fol. 25a; I, 156. 2 /£., Appendices, Ft. Ill, Secrets of the Law; II, 727. See also Additamenta (Toss eft a}; II, 734. It is she whose "feet go down to death." — Prov. v, 5. 8 It is. said also that the adulterous woman by whom the world is seduced is the sword of the destroying angel. — Z., Pt. Ill, fol. 23ib ; V, 57L 4 Ib.j Pt. I, I53a ; II, 201. They are impurity taking shape as such ; and from their union issue powerful spiritual leaders who are spread abroad in the world and defile it. Samael mounted on the serpent's back is a symbol of the evil side of sexual intercourse — that is to say, after the manner of the beasts. 5 /£., fol. i$2b; I, 201. 6 Ib., fol. I79a; II, 307. The reference is to the "old and foolish King" of Eccles. iv, 13. See also Z., Pt. II, fol. 33b ; III, 163, and Pt. Ill, fol. 2i9a, The Faithful Shepherd; V, 553, from which it seems to follow that the demon is a fool. "The Serpent and Fall of the ^Angels and witless creature who is cheated easily in the end. When the serpent was condemned to go upon her belly this means that God took away those feet which are the support of the body, and here the text affords one of its profound intimations when it goes on to say : But Israel, who would not be supported by the Law — which was built up to encompass it, as the hills stand round Jeru salem — has lent feet to the serpent for the support of her. As there is a serpent below which is still at work in the world, so there is a sacred serpent above which watches over mankind in all the roads and pathways and restrains the power of the impure serpent.1 It is one of the adornments of the heavenly throne. From the kind of union which is predicated concerning Samael and the evil serpent, they seem to pass easily one into another, and it is presumably in this way that we hear of a great serpent — the dragon of later Kabalism — which was cast into the abyss with his legions when the Sacred Name of forty-two letters was first graven upon the seal of God. But the abyss subsequently gave up the demons and the surface of the earth was covered with darkness till celestial light illuminated the world.2 This spirit of evil has chiefs and messengers under his orders, intervening in all acts of man ; yet the serpent can only defile the soul by special authorisation therefrom.3 Therefore Israel still suffers on account of the impurities which came from the side of the first serpent ; from the impurities of ill- doing spirits ; and from those of demons ; but especially from the impurities of that particular reptile which is called "the other god" and is identified with Amalec.4 He is said to be the cause of all uncleanliness in the world, in all the degrees thereof. He is apparently on 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. 243b ; DE PAULY, II, 563. This is Metatron. 2 /£., fol. sob ; I, 190. 3 /£., fol. 1525, i53a ; II, 200, 201. 4 /£., fol. 28b, 2ga ; I, 181, 182. 8? The Secret Doctrine in Israel the male side and as such is an assassin, while his wife is a mortal poison, because she incites to idolatry. Now, the word 4< poison " is Sam in Hebrew and " God " is Ely whence the two words make up the name Samael, or the God-empoisoner, so that Amalec is apparently a synonym. There are said, however, to be two demons of this name and the Divine malediction of the first serpent applies to both. For the rest, demons are the excrement of the earth and are designated by the word Tohou, while Bohou signifies that part of the world which is free from demons.1 It follows that the first state is that of the infernal cohorts so confused with matter that they formed one body therewith. A separation was accomplished by the fire which is referred to under the name of darkness, when it is said that " darkness was upon the face of the deep." 2 But to make the clarification complete, the Holy Spirit brooded upon the face of the waters.3 It is added that so long as the purification was unfinished, the spirit of the demon still interposed between heaven and matter, to deprive man of the pure vision of God 4 — another suggestion that the history of creation is one of states of the soul. Unfortunately the Zohar — amidst all its casual information of this kind — does not furnish one per cent, of the materials necessary to elucidate it at length, and the same remark applies to the general history of election of which it is a part, so that this phase of the Secret Doctrine cannot be developed. We shall meet with the Serpent and Samae"! again in the next chapter and shall ascertain after what manner they enter into the mystery of sex. As a conclusion to this part, it seems desirable to say that the Zoharic prince of demons is never compared to the morning star or to any other luminary in heaven. I do not remember 1 There is apparently a light of the world below which is in separa tion from the world above, and this is said to generate demons without number. — Z., Pt. I, fol. 15613 ; DE PAULY, II, 214. 2 Gen. i, 2. 3 Ib. 4 Z., :'t. I, fol. i6a ; I, 94-96. The Serpent and Fall of the ^Angels that the word Lucifer occurs anywhere in the text and not certainly as a synonym of Satan. Finally, the world will not be set free from the serpent until the coming of Messiah the King, who will cast down death for ever.1 As to what may happen thereafter, the mind of the doctors is divided, which it seems to have been invariably on all matters that concern eschatology. We shall have to take back into our hearts every primitive form of thought before we shall consent to believe that the Holy One, blessed be He, created the tempter-spirit so that He might put man to the test ; 2 but this is one of the theses, as we have seen, and it follows in such case that " he is also God's minister." Perhaps it is for this reason that there is a counsel not to affront the demon, since in virtue of such an imposed office he would be sacred, like the executioner. Moreover, as the infernal male and female principles symbolise the sex mystery in the deeps of corruption, we have to remember that even in these deeps it is a reflection of the mystery that is on high, and to say that it may not be without an inward element of redemp tion seems to connect with the truth of things, working towards a justification of the Divine Ways in all the quarters of the universe.3 Si descendero ad infernum, ades. One of the fragmentary texts incorporated with the Zohar affirms therefore that even the evil spirit will be restored at the end of days.4 The inference is ex- • tracted with an all too common perversity out of the 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. ii3b, ii4a; DE PAULY, II, 58, 59. The authority is Is. xxv, 8 ; Zach. xiii. 2. The point is that Samael is the death-angel, and it is one of those places in the Zohar where he and the serpent on which he rides are identified on account of their union. 2 /£., Appendix III, The Secret Midrash, fol. 2b ; DE PAULY, II, 686. 3 Between good and evil the mediating and reconciling principle is held to be womanhood, and hence, as we have seen, it is said — in rather cryptic language — that the Spirit of Good and the Spirit of Evil can only abide in harmony so far as the female is between them, she having part in both. It is then only that the Spirit of Good, which constitutes true joy, attracts the female and thus preponderates over the Spirit of Evil. — /<£., fol. 49a ; I, 284. 4 /£., I't. I, fol. 28;b; 11,664. The Secret Doctrine in Israel words : " He brought back all the goods, and also brought again his brother Lot." x The imputed authority matters nothing and the idea which has begotten the interpreta tion signifies everything. I have indicated that the Zohar as exegesis was conceived and born in a house of distraction. 1 Gen. xiv, 16. CHAPTER VII THE FALL OF MAN MATTHEW ARNOLD was of opinion that it was impossible to dispense with Christianity or to be satisfied with it in the current and accepted forms. A similar impression has been created through all the Christian centuries by the myth of Paradise, and especially that part of it which concerns the Fall of Man ; l but it will be understood that I am not alluding to persons for whom it is folk-lore or fable. As to these there is no difficulty: it is only among those who regard it as in some sense a veil of man's spiritual history that the problems offered by this myth are of real consequence, and it is these naturally who have expended their skill in seeking to construct it rationally. Very few have done otherwise than distort the materials placed in their hands, so that if it is hard to be satisfied with the plain story, it is impossible to accept the attempts by which the literal body has been buried, so that it might be raised a spiritual body. The resurrections are worse than the form which used to move among us in some manner of the life of faith. I believe that at this day the Latin Church imposes on its mem bers an acceptance of the simple story, exactly as it is 1 There is a feeling at the present day in certain schools of interpre tation that the idea of a generic difference between man in the first estate of Paradise and in the exile of the world beyond has no authority in Scripture and that it was adopted by the Church early in the Christian centuries as a working hypothesis of doctrine. However this may be, the Zohar has very plain instruction on the subject, and the present section of our research, taken in connection with that on the Myth of Paradise, will shew that a life of glory and divinity was followed by a life of shame. The word fall is of course technical and as such parti cular to Christian theology, with all its cloud of developments, but about that which is meant thereby no question will be found in the Zohar. The Secret Doctrine in Israel given in Genesis, so that it is a clear issue and deserving of our respect as such.1 It is to be taken or left ; those in the fold take it amidst silence in the heaven of faith, though there may be many wry faces turned to the wall for concealment ; the rest leave it no doubt. I have spent many years among the mystics who have made excursions into this subject and have produced their vari ous versions, " to perplex the sages " and others. The versions stand at their value, and I do not know that there is much to choose between them, from those of St. Augustine to Saint-Martin. Readers who are acquainted with the theses of Jacob Btfhme on the Paradisaical state will remember that Adam, in his system, began to de generate before the specific occasion of his Fall is sup posed to have arisen and, as part of his declension, that a state of inactivity supervened.2 One consequence was that Eve had to be removed from within him and mani fested in a state of separation. I do not know how this is harmonised with the Lord God's statement that " it is not good that the man should be alone," 3 nor does it perhaps signify. In any case the provision of a helpmate did not save him, for in the obscure providence of those dealings the woman was the occasion of his literal fall. The Zohar also recognises a gradual degeneration of Adam,4 because apparently the workings of the beast " more subtle than any " were in process prior to the manifest temptation of Eve. I do not know why a time - limit should be drawn about the story so 1 It makes a clean sweep of the whole fantastic mass of private inter pretations and throws us back on the first principles of the story, forbid ding us to exercise our personal and putative wisdom above that which is written. While it is not possible to accept the asylum offered, there is no desire on my part to make salvage in respect of the baggage which has been "heaved over among the rubbish." 2 It is said that the "tincture" of Adam was quite wearied, The Three Principles, c. 13. The reason is given at length in Mysterium Magnum, c. 18, being his hunger to eat of good and evil, not indeed in the mouth but with the imagination. 3 Gen. ii, 18. 4 Z., Pt. II, fol. 262b ; DE PAULY, IV, 295. The Fall of Man closely, but it is stated more than once that Adam fell on the very day of his creation,1 the notion being drawn in the usual inscrutable manner from this text of Isaiah : " In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish," though the reading is quite different in the Zohar. It appears that the original union of man, male and female, was apart from fleshly sensation, and it was therefore an union in modesty.3 When Adam said : " This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh " 4 he was seeking to dispose Eve in favour of this inter course, because they were one only. It was out of this that the temptation is represented as having arisen, for immediately after these words of tenderness the spirit of evil awoke, to substitute carnal pleasures for its own profit in place of pure affection.5 The object was also to sully the sanctity above by defiling man below in the first place.6 As regards what theology would call the matter of the sin, there is no need to add that the apple is not understood literally. It is called sometimes the fruit of the vine, that is to say, grapes ; but this is a veil also and is to be understood as the explanation of a certain mystery of knowledge, which knowledge belongs to the domain of sex. These are the fruits which are said elsewhere to be agree able, on the authority of Genesis, but they trouble the spirits of those who make bad use of them, as 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. 35b ; DE PAULY, I, 219. According to Jacob Bohme, the period was forty days. We shall see elsewhere that the First Sabbath followed the decree of his expulsion. 2 Is. xvii, n. The Zoharic rendering is "The day that you have planted, your seed shall produce only wild fruits." 3 There is an obscure suggestion that children were born to Adam in the Garden of Eden, that is to say, souls, and if they had come with him out of the Garden, man would have had eternal life. He was expelled, however, to engender children outside. — Z., Pt. I, 6ob, 6ia ; I, 356. * Gen. li, 23. 5 Z., Pt. I, fol. 49b ; I, 287. 6 11)., fol. 52a; I, 301. The Secret Doctrine in Israel Noah did in the case of his own vine.1 He who rode upon the serpent, the Tempter-Spirit or Samael, who is said also to have descended from heaven so mounted,'2 as if he were an accredited messenger, approached Eve and testified that the Holy One created the world by help of the Tree of Knowledge ; B that by eating thereof, and so only, was He able to create the world ; and that if the woman ate of it, on her own part, she would attain the same power.4 In a work so multifarious as the Zohar and so free of all responsibility created by the precedents of its own sections, it \vill be understood how there are alternative accounts as to the kind of temptation. In another case it is said that Eve was seduced by the peculiar atmosphere of the demon which encompassed the mythical fruit, as if it lay in a hot bed;5 but this is additional detail rather than alternative. In a third there is exactly the kind of intimation which we should expect in relation to the mystery which the text reads into the myth : it was a seduction arising from the bewrayment of love, which had not appeared in the world till Adam and Eve were set toward one another face to face ; fi it was also an outcome of the blind turning towards conception and generation ; so that in this sense Eve was made victim as a result of her own womanhood. By reason of one or another cause, she decided to taste the fruit, which had the faculty of opening the eyes, in those who approached 1 Z., I't. I, fol. 192.1: DK FAULY, II, 356. See also Deut. xxxii, 32: "Their grapes are grapes of" gall, their clusters are bitter." And see Z., Ft. I, fol. 36a; I, 225. 2 //;., fol. 35!) ; I, 221. It is said that all creatures took fright when he appeared. 3 The allusion is to the Mystery of Faith and Sex ; the universe was a work of generation, and in this sense therefore the testimony of Samael was true, but that to which it was a preface proved — by the hypothesis of the legend — -a lying travesty of the true practice. 4 Z., Ft. I, fol. 36a ; I, 222. 5 Jb., Ft. II, fol. 203!} ; IV, 205. 0 //>., fol. 23ia; IV, 253. It is suggested again in this place that Adam and Eve began to engender children from the moment that they were put face to face. f The Fall of Man it, in respect of things concerning the Tree itself.1 The result was a division between life and death,2 as if the peace-insuring Middle Pillar had been removed from the Sephirotic Tree and the Shekinah had ascended to Kether^ leaving the Sephira Malkuth without God in the world. There was division also between the Voice and the Word, so that the Voice spoke yet the Word was not uttered.3 God was asleep therefore in the heart of man. To speak of events like these in what ever immemorial past is of course to remind the Sons of the Secret Doctrine how it fares with them in the actual present ; and so it is added that since Israel has been in captivity the Voice has been divided from it, whence the Word is audible no longer.4 The in ference is that the Word remains in the heart, but the lips which should speak are paralysed. Recurring to the substitution of a mystical vine for the apple-tree, another tradition certifies that Eve pressed grapes and gave the juice to her husband. The opening of their eyes was to behold all the ills of the world.5 I suppose that I need not specify in what sense these grapes are to be understood as a sex-symbol, and it follows that she shewed Adam how they might be enjoyed. Obviously, according to this version — Traditum es t ge nit ales paries Ad<e exist ere, in some sense at that period, though neither he nor his wife had as yet been clothed with skins, which are understood mystically as material bodies. They discerned also their nakedness, 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. 36a ; DE PAULY, I, 224. 2 Ib., fol. 36.1; I, 225. 3 //A, fol. 36a ; I, 225. It was the consequence of separating life from death, the analogy of which is separation between man and woman by the chastisement of the menses, so that she is in hiding like the moon, which is taken away from the heaven of stars for a week from month to month. But I question whether the symbolism is true in this case, for as the phenomenon concerned is a line of demarcation in sex between woman and the world of animals, it is in the proper sense a dignity rather than a punishment. 4 The suggestion comes from Ps. xxxix, 2 : "I was dumb with silence. I held my peace, even from good." a Z., Pt. I, fol. 36b; I, 226. The Secret Doctrine in Israel and of this fact there are several explanations, the most important of which must be cited. In the act which constituted the trespass they lost that celestial lustre which had covered them previously and they clothed themselves with leaves of the same Tree of which they had eaten — that is to say, with leaves of the vine or fig ! 1 They knew now all secrets of the lower world — vel infra cingulum — and seeing that the leaves of the tree were the most pleasurable of that region, they sought to acquire force therein by the means thereof. Another account renounces symbolism utterly, so that he who runs may read. " And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasant to the eyes . . . she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat." These words are held to designate the first union of Adam and Eve.3 She consented originally to union " as a result of her reflections on the values of conjugal relations and by reason of that pure affec tion and tenderness which united her to Adam." But the intervention of the serpent had as its result that Eve " gave also to her husband with her/' which means that their conjugal relations changed and that she filled him with carnal desires.5 Henceforth desire was first on the part of the woman, she alluring the man. This evil notwithstanding, the acts performed hence forth between them were in correspondence with those which obtain above, for the Spirit of Evil imitates the Spirit of Good, and that which it occasions below in malice the spirit of good fulfils in holiness above. This 1 These leaves are said in more than one place to signify demons, meaning probably the evil side of fleshly desires. It is difficult not to think that the Doctors of the Secret Law, who invented a cloud of parables to explain the parables of Scripture in its literal sense, had a meaning behind this grotesque woof of symbolism, and sometimes it shines through the texture. 2 Gen. iii, 6. 3 Z., Ft. I, fol. 49!:) ; I, 287. 4 I have put this sentence literally, to shew that the early Victorian accent existed prior to the congeries of motives and manners belonging to that period. 5 Z., Pt. I, fol. 49b ; I, 287, 288. The Fall of Man correspondence implies, however, a sublime mystery, which is said to exceed the capacity of most men.1 When Adam and Eve had sinned the Holy One stripped off the cuirass formed by the light of the sacred letters with which they had been invested : it was then they saw that they were naked.2 Previously the cuirass had shielded them from all attacks, whilst they were free therein. " And they sewed fig-leaves together and made themselves aprons." 3 This means that they betook themselves to the delights of the lower and material world, leaves of the Tree of Good and Evil, fleshly pleasures and the consequences thereof.4 But it is to be observed that the evil is not without the good in the Tree of Knowledge : it was the profanation of a great mystery, but the seeds of redemption remained. It is for this reason that the Zohar discerns a promise of salvation hidden in the words : " And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat : but of the Tree of the Knowledge of. Good and Evil, thou shalt not eat of it : for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." 5 The interpretation itself is extracted against all simple sense and reason ; but the fact remains that the Sons of the Doctrine recognised a way of escape.6 A third version affirms that the forbidden fruit signifies woman herself,7 and the versicle appertaining 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. 49b ; DE PAULY, I, 288. It is obvious ex hypothesi that the correspondence existed previously in the putative spiritual intercourse already mentioned and the fact that the likeness remained in the alleged grosser union constituted its title to redemption. That the sons of the Doctrine practised that which they regarded as the path of its trans mutation we shall see later. 2 /£., fol. 53a ; I, 307. 3 Gen. iii, 7. * Z., Pt. I, fol. 53b ; I, 307. 5 Gen. ii, 16, 17. This was prior to the creation of Eve, according to the literal account in Genesis and therefore, as a technical point, it is to be noticed that he alone was commanded and he alone forbidden. • Z., Pt. I, fol. 35b ; 1,219. 7 lb., fol. 35b ; I, 220. The Tree is said, moreover, to signify man. /£., fol. 3$b ; I, 222. It must follow in the sense of things that, in this 97 c The Secret Doctrine in Israel hereto is : " Her feet go down to death ; her steps take hold on hell."1 Qut we know that the extract applies only to a " strange woman," and the application must have reference to intercourse in unredeemed bonds of the body of death, as if the ficus religiosus of the Tree of Life had become the barren fig-tree which Christ cursed, or as if the letter of the Law remained without one vestige of its spirit. Woman is also signified by the Garden,2 when it is said : " And a river went out of Eden to water the Garden."3 Prior to the trespass this river penetrated into the woman and irrigated her waters. It is added — obscurely enough — that when men are in such a degree of sanctity there is perfect unity, and of this unity it is said : " In that day there shall be one Lord, and His Name one."4 Subsequently to their sin the Holy One clothed Adam and Eve with vestments belonging to flesh alone.5 The suggestion is that pre viously the flesh was glorified by light of the spirit ; but what is stated otherwise is that they had garments of light, thanks to which they were raised above the higher angels — who had recourse to them in order to enjoy case, the forbidden fruit is an act common to man and woman. It is not less certain that in the logic of such symbolism the Tree of Life is another postulated act performed by male and female according to a law and life of perfection. I must add that after weighing very carefully all the counter-symbolism, we must be on our guard how we accept in all its literal bearings the somewhat casual and certainly isolated suggestion that the forbidden fruit was woman. It is true in a certain sense, but that sense postulates the kind of relations between the woman and the serpent, between the man and Lilith, of which we hear otherwise, and which is the recurring symbolism. I think, in conclusion as to this matter, that woman was the forbidden fruit in the same way that she is said to be the Garden of Eden. Here again there is a sense in which the statement is true assuredly : she is the Garden in the Kingdom of Malkuth and she is meant to become the Garden in Binah when man has been redeemed in her and she in man ; but this is high mysticism and would be nonsense according to the letter, if it were so taken. 1 Prov. v, 5. 2 Z., Pt. I, fol. 35b ; DE PAULY, I, 221. 3 Gen. ii, 10. * Zech. xiv, 9. 6 Z., Pt. I, fol. 36b ; I, 226, 227. The Fall of Man light.1 A non-Zoharic tradition declares that the beauty of Adam was reflected from the glorious Throne, while the beauty of Eve was such that no creature could look on her. Even Adam could not do so till after the trespass, when both lost their supernatural loveliness.2 According to yet another account, the sin of Eve was one of separation, and this would no doubt have been endorsed by the Bohme school of Christian Mysti cism. Separation, on the other hand, according to the Zohar, designates death.3 This is on the one side, and on the correlative it is said elsewhere that when Adam ate of the Tree of Good and Evil he provoked the separation of woman from man.4 On the day of trans gression both heaven and earth sought to flee away, because they were established only on the covenant of God with man, as it is written : " If my covenant be not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth,"5 &c. When Adam forsook the way of faith and the Tree which is the synthesis of all trees, he lapsed from a region of stability into one susceptible of variation, abandoning life for death.6 The Tree of Life preserves all who are attached 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. 36b ; DE PAULY, I, 226, 227. Towards the close of the Zohar, Rabbi Eleazar, in the course of a discussion with another doctor of the Secret Law, allows that Adam and Eve were clothed with garments of. skin before the Fall, but they were then glorious vestments which became gross subsequently. He adds that their eyes were opened by the trespass to the material form of this world, whereas previously they had beheld in all things only the celestial side. — /£., Pt. Ill, fol. 2<5ib; VI, n. 2 Z., Pt. Ill, fol. 83b; V, 227. The physical beauty was theirs afterwards and is the subject of several allusions. 3 Ib., Pt. I, fol. I2b; I,7o,7i. 4 /<£., fol. 53a; I, 306. The intention may be to signify that the union of physical intercourse is of times and seasons only, but above it there is a spiritual union, once enjoyed by man, and this is unceasing, like that of Jehovah and Elohim. When we come to consider the question of the soul in Kabalism, we shall find that this union is postu lated in a pre-natal state, and it may well be that the myth of the Earthly Paradise is an allegory thereof, embodying a delineation of things which led up to the life of earth. 6 Ib., fol. 56a; I, 321, 322. Jer. xxxiii, 25. 6 Ib., Pt. Ill, fol. I07a, b ; V, 269, 270. The Secret Doctrine in Israel to it from death for ever. Man was made originally in the likeness of the Elohim, which likeness was obscured by the Fall, so that the faces of men were transformed, with the result that they began to fear the beasts who had been afraid previously of them.1 I will put separately another intimation which is distinct from these and belongs to a different order of symbolism, though it seems to me a moral consideration rather than a secret doctrine. It depends from the reverie that innumerable pleasant odours are diffused for ever throughout the Garden of Eden to perfume the precious vestments of the soul which are formed from the good days spent by man on earth.2 " And they knew that they were naked." 3 This means, according to tradition, that they were aware of being without the precious vestures which are formed of stainless days.4 As a result of the trespass, no such day was left to Adam, and it is in this sense that he was naked.5 When he repented, the Holy One clothed him with other garments, but they were not garments of days.6 If, however, the garments of skin are on the whole to be understood as vehicles of manifestation, material in place of spiritual bodies, the question of nakedness remains in the absence of a covering belonging to the region of artifice. Alternatively, if the bodies were not already of flesh, in what sense did the trespass open the eyes of Adam and Eve to the fact that they were naked ? There are two places in which the garments of skin are said to be robes of glory with which they were clothed by God, in which they left Paradise, in virtue of which 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. 7ia ; DE PAULY, I, 419. 2 For the Earthly Paradise is a place of sojourn for the departed on the return whence they came. 3 Gen. iii, 7. . 4 Z., Pt. I, fol. 2243, b ; II, 482, 483. 6 It is rather an unhappy similitude, for so long as he had not eaten of the Tree of Knowledge, he was incapable of good days, and further more that which was stripped from him was a robe of glory, wherein he had no need for the vesture of stainless days. « Z., Pt. I, fol. 224a; 11,483- IOO The Fall of Man they resembled those who are on high, and wherein they were ultimately buried.1 There is one more point of view before I come to the suggestion in chief of the story. It is said that when Adam sinned the evil serpent cleaved to him and defiled him, as well as all future generations.2 The serpent was able to penetrate secretly into man's interior, and Adam submitted to this so that he might know the mysteries of things below. The serpent showed him all the pleasures of the world3 — presumably as Satan took Christ into a high mountain whence He beheld all the Kingdoms. These intimations depend from a thesis which recurs many times in the Zohar. It is testified by the colleagues that the fall of man was one of sin with a woman4 in the normal sense which attaches to this expression. It is added almost immediately that sexual desires have caused all evils, the correction or modification assigned to which — in the course of debate — is that in themselves they are good or evil according to the spirit which inspires them. Now, seeing that it is to Eve that sin of a sexual order was first imputed, the question is who instructed or initiated her ? The answer is that the serpent — meaning Samael — had " criminal relations " with her and injected his defilement into her,5 Adam not being affected until she communicated in turn to him.6 She cohabited with Samael, who corrupted her and by whom she became with child, bringing forth Cain.7 It is obvious that this is in clear contradiction 1 Z., Pt. II, fol. 39a, 39b; DE PAULY, III, 184, 185. They were permeated with the odours of Paradise. See also ib., Pt. Ill, fol. 2610 ; VI, 1 1, already quoted. 2 /&, Pt. I, fol. 53b ; I, 309. 3 /&, fol. 52a ; I, 301. * Ib., Pt. I, fol. 23a ; I, 142. This transpires in the course of a con versation, already mentioned, between Shekinah and the two fallen angels Aza and Azael. Some of the codices add, as we have seen, that with woman he will repair his fault, which is a very important statement from the standpoint of the Mystery of Faith, and involves the reintegra- tion of nuptial union in the order of Divine things. 5 7^., fol. 54a; 1,311. 6 /£., fol. I26a ; II, 101. 7 /£., fol. 37a ; I, 230. The story of this cohabitation is of Talmudic origin and will be found in the Tract Sabbath, among other places. It The Secret Doctrine in Israel to the text of Scripture, which says : " And Adam knew his wife Eve ; and she conceived, and bare Cain." 1 But the anomaly is so glaring that it must be assuredly of set purpose, or, in other words, that to develop the sexual nature of the Fall the history on which it is founded is ignored at need. The Zohar is content equally to contradict itself, for it affirms in another place that Adam was defiled by the impure spirit before his union with Eve, and the son whom he begot in this state of impurity was from the left side : so was Cain born. But when Adam repented he engendered a son from the right side : so was Abel born.2 It is of course arbitrary to postulate such repentance between the two nativities rather than before or after. All that we know from the text of Genesis is that at the birth of Cain Eve was of opinion that she had " gotten a man from God." Another account, on the authority of Rabbi Eleazar, recurs to the earlier thesis, specifying that Cain was begotten from the serpent but that after intercourse with Adam, Eve conceived again, and so brought two sons into the world — one of the works of the serpent and one of the works of Adam. The image of Abel was from on high and that of Cain from below.4 We have not finished, however, with the complications is also of general rabbinical authority otherwise, and is stated by R. Abraham de Seba in his commentary on the Pentateuch. The Midrash Ruth affirms that both Adam and Eve were defiled by the serpent. Finally, it is mentioned categorically in the Paraphrase of Jonathan ben Uziel (Gen. iv, i) that when Adam knew Eve his wife she had conceived already of the angel Samael. Apparently as a r result of the dual inter course, she brought forth Cain, who is said to have resembled the beings who are above, not those who are below. Eve is also recorded to have said : " I have gotten a man, an angel of Jehovah," and not : " I have gotten a man from the Lord" (Gen. iv, i). 1 Gen. iv, 5. » Z., Pt. I, fol. 54a ; DE PAULY, I, 311. 3 Gen. iv, i. * Ib. It will be seen that this is at issue with the Paraphrase of Jonathan. According to Zohar Ha Hadash, § Yithro, the seduction of Adam by Lilith and of Eve by her companion Samael caused our mortal condition. This is the sense in which death was brought into the world, "and all our woe." Ex hypothcsi^ the springs of generation were tainted. IO2 The Fall of Man of this subject, for another story recites that the relations of Samae'l continued for a long time with Eve, who bore him many children — presumably after the expulsion from Paradise.1 They were not in human likeness. So also, after the death of Abel,2 Adam separated from his wife and began to receive visits from two female demons, with whom he had relations, and engendered those evil spirits and demons which infest the world.3 It is pointed out that there is no need for surprise at this, because every man in his dreams sees such women occasionally, observes them smiling at him, and if they excite his concupiscence they conceive and bear demons. I suppose that one of these demons was the black Lilith and the other Naamah, who are both mentioned in the Zohar, though not actually in this connection. We shall see shortly that Lilith was the wife of Adam in Paradise. Adam remained separated from his wife for one hundred and thirty years, continuing to engender, and so long as he was defiled by the infection of the impure spirit, he had no desire for union with Eve. It returned, however, when he purified himself, and he begot "a son in his own likeness, after his image " — that is to say, Seth.4 Dwelling still upon the 'mystery behind sex, the Zohar generalises on this matter, saying that so long as man follows the path which leads to the left side, his desire is towards the impure only, but the just who 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. 55a ; DE PAULY, I, 315, 316. 2 It is taught, much after the manner of Christian theology, that if Adam had never sinned man would nev,r have tasted death as the con dition of his entrance into the world beyond. But Christian theology does not encourage us to suppose that in such case the union of Adam and Eve would have produced children — so far at least as I am aware. On the other hand, the separation of the sexes was primarily for this purpose. — See ib.t Pt. Ill, 1590 ; V, 412. I should add that in a later place one of the doctors maintains that Adam and Eve would have re mained alone in the world in the unfallen state, but another answers him that they would have engendered children emanating from the Holy Spirit. — /£., Pt. I,fol.6ia, I, 356, 357. See also Pt. Ill, fol. i8ga ; V, 495, 496. 8 Z., Pt. I, fol. 54b ; I, 314. The Talmudic story is different in this sense, that the sin of Adam in eating of the forbidden fruit was punished by an excommunication which lasted 130 years, and it was thereafter that he began to engender children in his own image. The Secret Doctrine in Israel walk in the right way have children worthy of themselves. The important point to fix in our minds is that the fall of man was not the result of human intercourse taking place between Adam and Eve but of some aberration in sex variously described, most accounts being exclusive one of another. There is an alternative not mentioned pre viously which balances the copulation of Eve and Samae'l by the relations subsisting for a long period of time be tween Adam and Lilith amidst all the splendours and perfections of Paradise, prior to the creation of the help mate. It was to substitute human for infernal pleasures that Eve was taken ultimately from the side of Adam, and from this point of view we discern another sense in which it was " not good that the man should be alone." To illustrate further that, from the first page of Genesis to the last of the prophets, the importance of 1 Z.,Pt. I,fol. 34b ; 1, 216. There are a number of scattered references to this female demon, who appears to have been of the Melusine and mer maid type, for when it is said that " God created great whales" (Gen. i, 20), the reference is to Leviathan and his wife Lilith. — Ib., fol. 346 ; I, 213. She is a negotium perambulans in tenebris, for she goes abroad in the night. — Ib., fol. 34b ; I, 214. She is the instigator of punishments, clamouring daily for their infliction. — Ib., fol. io6a ; II, 33. She is said to preside over all fish who are charged with missions to this world — presumably other amphibious demons, though the Zohar says that they are called " the first-born in the land of Egypt " (Ex. xii, -29). The sacred angels of the waters that are above were separated by God from the emissaries of Lilith in the waters below. It may be noted here that she is distinct from the " adulterous woman " who was the wife of Samael, as the latter is to be distinguished from Leviathan. — Ib., Pt. II, fol. 35a, b; III, 169, 170. She is termed "servant" in one place, which is in op position to that servant who is Shekinah. The latter is like the conjugal Venus and presides over the birth of children, but Lilith devours them. — Ib., fol. 96a, b; III, 387. Also ib., fol. in a, b ; III, 435. She is the mother of demons. — Ib., fol. 267b ; IV, 301. She is the most terrible of all evil spirits, but she took refuge in the deep when God created and adorned Eve.— Ib., Pt. Ill, fol. iga ; V, 51, 52. See also ib., Pt. I, fol. i6gb; II, 266.— Pt. II, fol. H4b; III, 442.— Pt. Ill, fol. 222b ; V, 562. A Talmudic legend relates that Lilith was created from the same earth as Adam and refused in the end to serve him through pride respecting her origin. I should mention that the word which the Authorised Version renders "screech-owl" in Is. xxxiv. 14, and the Vulgate lamia, is Lilith in the original Hebrew, the root of which is a word signifying night. Rabbi Elias recognised four mothers of demons, namely, Lilith, Naa- mah, Ogeret, and Machalath. The Fall of Man Holy Writ is in its adaptation to the history and election of Israel, it is said that when the Tables of the Law were broken, it was then man perceived that he was naked 1 — as he was literally, according to the account in Exodus. It is said further that the words: — "They heard the voice of the Lord Go.l " is an allusion to the voice of God on Mount Sinai. And finally : since the day when Adam fell the world was in a condition of poverty 2 until the arrival of Noah, who — having offered a sacrifice — restored it to the normal state. Now, it is obvious that there had been sacrifices previously — e.g., the acceptable offering of Abel. There must have been therefore some thing particular about that of Noah — I mean, in the mind of the Zohar — and we shall see in the next chapter that there was something particular also about his drunken ness, which was an exploration of Divine Mysteries. We know the indignity which befell him, and I shall shew presently the kind of sin which led ex hypothesi, to the Deluge. I believe that all these allusions touch upon the same mystery. The Zohar contains no suggestion of importance in respect of the expulsion from Eden or the Flaming Sword.3 Adam is said to have chanted the 92nd Psalm in his flight, and the Sabbath intervened to protect him, so that he was not entirely driven out until the end of that day. I do not know what purpose this version is supposed to serve, but the secret lamp of Israel did not diffuse always the same light. The way of return to the Garden was barred, lest worst evils might be brought upon the world.4 The " Flaming Sword which 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. 28b ; DE PAULY, I, 181. 1 /£.,fol.63b; 1,371. 3 A certain supposed contusion of pronouns in the Hebrew text of Gen. iii, 24 enables the Zohar to suggest that it was not the Lord God who drove out Adam but rather that the latter expelled the Divine Being, presumably from his own heart and also, as a manifest Presence, from that world which man had ravaged by his trespass. — Z., Pt. I, fol. 53b ; I» 3°7- * Z.,Pt. I, fol. 53b; I, 308. The Secret Doctrine in Israel turned every way"1 signifies the angels set over the chastisement of man in this world.2 There is no true grace herein and there is no mystery ; but if the temp tation and the Fall signify an aberration of sex, a de clension or a materialisation therein, there is no question that the Tree of Life is the perfect way of nuptials ; and the ascent of the Sephirotic Tree, which — accord ing to the secret schools — is a return into union, we shall find at the proper time to be a journey in the graces and glories of the Sacred Shekinah, who presides over the intercourse which, if begun on earth, is completed in the world of the Supernals. For there is a grade of per fection attainable in these mysteries which was known to the Sons of the Doctrine, and in view of it they said that a day should come when the world will be avenged of the serpent ; 3 this will be the day of the coming of the Tree of Life, which will obtain the remission of sins and will enchain the serpent. The male and female will be united in the Garden of Eden as they were before the Fall. But now as then the nakedness of the natural Adam is a nakedness of good works and of obedience to the commandments of the Law — understood as that Secret Doctrine which is concerned with the Mystery of Faith.4 1 Gen. iii, 25. 2 It is said also to have symbolised the trials with which God over whelms man, that he may be restored to the way of goodness. — Z., Pt. II, fol. i6ya ; DE PAULV, IV, 114. 3 Z., Pt. I, fol. 1450; II, 173, 174. It is an exceedingly suggestive intimation, and its seeming Christian implicits are plain, almost on the surface. The world will remain in the toils of the serpent until that day shall come when a woman who is comparable to Eve and a man corresponding to Adam shall vanquish not only the serpent but the angel of death and destruction who rides thereon. * It is quite extrinsic to my subject at this point, but as there will be occasion for a subsequent reference, I may add here that Adam and Eve were interred together in a cave having a door which opened on the Garden of Eden ; and there also some of the patriarchs were buried. — Z., Pt. Ill, fol. i64a ; V, 423. There are several other references. 1 06 CHAPTER VIII THE LEGEND OF THE DELUGE THE way of human generation1 had replaced the higher intercourse which is outlined faintly and at a far distance by the Secret Tradition, and so outlined only in deference to all the covenants expressed and implied, because it is admittedly a mystery that cannot be revealed to the world. The way of humanity had become a sacred way, a sacrament in virtue of its correspondence with things above, in virtue also of its reflections from that which was the design of Nature when it came forth resplendent at its first birth.2 Had this been maintained there would have been no path of regeneration, for men would have walked in union, as Enoch walked with God. It is implied more especially that in the birth of Seth3 human generation was uplifted into the sacramental world, and the path of nuptials was followed by the saints of old in accordance with a practice of wisdom which will be indicated hereafter — towards the end of the present study. But it was not the way of the world, and we 1 It should not be inferred that the way of human generation is ever reduced in its importance or tampered with in its high symbolism. This is why I have termed it important to observe that the fall of man was not a sin of natural intercourse with a woman. Under certain prescribed conditions, that is rather the way of his return into the true likeness of God — though not so much for what it is in itself as for that which it intimates. 2 The point is that the Zohar postulates a mystery of spiritual inter course belonging to the state of Paradise and in the body of our present life a natural intercourse which can be raised into a sacrament of things Divine : between these was a sexual iniquity described in the language of earthly lust and constituting the fall of man. 3 Because he only — according to the Zohar — was in the image and likeness of his father, who was in the likeness and image of God. The Secret Doctrine in Israel have next to consider those stages of the downward path which led up to the Deluge, as this is understood in Zoharic theosophy. It will be found that the mystery of sex belongs thereto, but it is here on the averse side. In the explanation of this cataclysm the text dwells naturally on the wickedness of man and has the authority of Scripture that it was very great over the whole world. The particular mystery of iniquity indicated by the Zohar is peculiar thereto. The patience of God was extended until the evil began to take that form which is described as the spilling of blood vainly on the earth.1 The sex aberration here designated will be understood by the expression used. It is the crime attributed to Onan, and the Zoharic doctrine affirms that no man who is sullied in this manner shall enter the heavenly palace nor behold the face of Shekinah.2 The Shekinah is driven away thereby, and because of its prevalence the world fell into corruption, in part through the sin itself and for the rest by the absence of Shekinah. It was as if the principle of life had been withdrawn or that the loss of the head caused the body to decay. The world had become like an unclean woman who has to hide in the presence of her husband.3 Yet this was not the last state, for a time came when corruption reached such a point that there was neither shame nor concealment longer. The sin of Onan is held to have corrupted the earth as well as man,4 quia semen fundebat in terram. Now, the waters above represent the male principle, while those of the female are the waters below, which is 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. 56b ; DE PAULY, I, 326. 2 /£., fol. 5?a ; I, 327. I believe that the Theologia Moralis ot t Latin Church is not in agreement with the Zohar respecting the nature of the offence recorded in Gen. xxxviii, 9, and offers a particular alter native which there is no need to specify. I mention the matter because the alternative probably represents an old understanding of the subject. 3 Ib.j fol. 6ia ; I, 359, 36°- * /£., fol. 6ia,6ib; I, 359, 360. This is, however, qualified later on when it is said that the earth is called corrupt when man is in a state of decadence.— /£., fol. 62a ; I, 363. 1 08 The Legend of the Deluge a very simple allegory of posture in the act of inter course. The sin postulated was concerned with the waters of the male principle and it was necessary there fore that the whole contaminated earth should be purified by those of the Deluge.1 But the waters above, which are spiritual, and the spiritual waters below both con curred therein, for the floodgates of heaven were opened and the fountains of the great deep were broken up. One explanation of the vicious state of the world is that at the Deluge period it had as yet not been purified fully from the infection of the serpent.2 The generation was also without faith — more especially concerning the secret subject matter of that which is called the Mystery of Faith. Men were attached to the leaves of the Tree of Good and Evil, meaning the spirit of the demon. There is something very strange implied in the symbo lism of the Ark, and one is inclined to ask : What was this Ark or who? It is a symbol of the Ark of the Covenant, and Noah had to be shut up in such a vessel here below because this comes to pass also in respect of the mystery which is on high.3 He could not be so in closed until God had entered into a covenant with him.4 He was then able to save the world, and this corresponds with the supreme mystery. It is said that Noah walked with Elohim, who is the covenant of peace in the world : he was predestined from the day of creation to be shut up in the Ark. But it is unbecoming for a wife to re ceive any one as a guest at her house without the consent of her husband, so when Noah proposed to enter the Ark, it was necessary that Jehovah, the Spouse or Master 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. 62a ; DE PAULY, I, 363, 364. 2 II)., fol. 635 ; 1,371. The complete purification took place for a moment at the foot of Mount Sinai. 3 It is obvious that the meaning of this passage is not on the surface. It will be seen from what follows that the Noetic Ark was feminine, because it was a house for those who were saved from the waters of the Deluge, and we know otherwise that a house is always feminine. 4 Z., Pt. I, fol. 59b; 1,349- The Secret Doctrine in Israel of the house, should authorise his union therewith.1 It was therefore at the invitation of God that he so entered. The reason is found in the words : " For thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation." But Elohim is the celestial Bride, who is Shekinah, and it was by her permission, as Bride, Wife and Mistress of the house, that he had a license to leave the Ark when the Deluge was over. After leaving those hospitable quarters, Noah made a present to the lady of the house, but it reached her by the mediation of her spouse, because Scripture tells us that it was to Jehovah and not to Elohim that Noah erected an altar and offered sacrifice thereon. It was direct, however, from the lady of the house that Noah received his reward, because it is said that Elohim blessed Noah and his children, saying: "Increase and multiply and fill the earth."3 It follows, as we shall see otherwise, that Shekinah presides over the fruit of nuptials, as well as over the nuptials themselves. In respect of the altar itself, it may be remembered that the Zohar has occasional references to an offering made by Adam and to that on which he sacrificed. The Deluge either destroyed or overturned everything, and when the time came for Noah to sacrifice on his part he is sup posed to have raised up for this purpose the overthrown altar of Adam.4 We see that his sacrifice is connected, though obscurely enough, with that mystery of sex which is the subject of allusion throughout. This would seem to be the case with every kind of burnt-offering, and it is even said that Leviticus i, 17, should be translated to signify that the holocaust is a woman and as such an agreeable odour to God.5 The Authorised Version 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. 6;a; DE PAULY, I, 394 ; and #., fol. 7ob, yia ; I, 418. 2 Gen. vii, i. 3 Gen. iv, i. The name which the Authorised Version and the Vul gate translate "God" is "Elohim" in the Hebrew. But the name in Gen. viii, 20, 21, which is translated " Lord" in the Authorised Version and Vulgate is Jehovah in the original. 4 Z., Pt. I, fol. 6Qb, ?oa; 1,412. 5 The translators point out that the Zohar in this passage alters the The Legend of the Deluge reads : " A burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the Lord." It is admitted at the same time that the victim of the holocaust is male, according to the text, a male without blemish. It is admitted also that the word translated burnt is correct according to the literal sense, but if this were its true meaning it is argued that the orthography would have been different. The real purpose of the holocaust was the union of the male and female principles, as these should never be in separation. Noah offered a sacrifice because he represented the male principle which the Holy One united to the Ark, the latter representing the female principle.1 There are two other points which may be mentioned for the sake of completeness, and the first of these is that the Holy Land was not covered by the waters of the Deluge.2 An authority is found in the words : " Thou art the land that is not cleansed, nor rained upon in the day of indignation." ; The second is that the Deluge came to be called the waters of Noah, because he prayed for himself only and not for the world. I believe that this idea attaches to a Talmudic story, for there is no indication in Genesis of especial prayer on the part of Noah. The thesis is, however, that, had he chosen, he could have prevailed with God to spare the whole creation.4 We know from Genesis that Noah planted a vine yard, and according to one Zoharic opinion he trans planted the vine which had grown in the Garden of Eden, but whether this signifies the Tree of Knowledge does not transpire — except by inference from the legends. sense of Scripture by substituting other vowel-points. But the question for us is whether it succeeds in conveying its own designed intimation. We shall see in due course that Shekinah, the Divine Woman, is termed more than once the sacrifice of the Holy One. 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. yoa ; DE PAULY, I, 413. 2 /£., Pt. II, fol. I97a ; IV, 192. 3 Ezek. xxii, 24. 4 Z., Pt. Ill, fol. I4b, I5a; V, 43. The manner in which he saved the world, as we have seen that he is supposed to do, was wanting there fore in the seals and characters of perfection. Ill The Secret Doctrine in Israel According to another view, he moved an ordinary vine of earth to a more favourable place. The fact that Noah pressed the grapes — as Eve is said also to have done— par took of the juice and so became drunken, is held to contain a mystery of wisdom.1 We have seen that ex hypothesi the lady of all our race was making an experiment of know ledge, and we shall understand further that what followed was an intoxication after its own kind. So also Noah was concerned with an experiment, having set himseli to fathom that sin which had caused the fall of the first man. His intention was to find a cure for the world, "in place of Eve and her poison";2 but he became drunken by laying bare the Divine Essence without having the intellectual strength to fathom it. This is why Scripture says that he was drunken and was un covered within his tent. The meaning is that he raised a corner of the veil concerning that breach of the world which ought always to remain secret. The physical symbolism is obvious in this place. Moreover, the tent of Noah was really the tent of the vine.3 I do not pretend that the last sentences are intelligible from any point of view, nor that the materials as a whole of this section convey anything of especial importance, beyond the postulated experiment made by Noah for the purpose of restoring the mystery of sex to its proper place in the spiritual life of man. The rest only con tinues the tale of lapse and degradation from the perfect union signified by the state of Paradise. I will add here 1 Z., Ft. I, fol. 73* ; DE PAULY, I, 433- 2 But not of course Eve apart from the serpent's poison. I cannot help feeling that it would have been a great relief to the Sons of the Doctrine and a material simplification of their system, if they had not been compelled to follow the legend of Genesis which ascribes the fall °t»eZ/>Pt*ni fol. 73b; I, 434. The Ark was the means of trans mitting the true knowledge concerning the mystery of sex from one epoch of the world to the other. Certain literati of the early nine teenth century, like Jacob Bryant, the Rev. G. S. Faber, Godfry Higgms and Edward Davies seem to have recognised that it conveyed somehow the mysteries of knowledge, but of what nature they had no conception. The Legend of the Deluge a few vestiges of symbolism on the subject of the con fusion of tongues, which was the next event of importance after the Deluge. The builders of Babel are said to have found a book containing certain mysteries of wisdom, which book had belonged to the generation destroyed by the Deluge.1 The text is very loosely worded and it may seem at first sight that it was the primeval memo rial of secret knowledge which, as we have seen, was transmitted to Adam and thence to the chiefs of the people, leaders of sanctity in the early generations. I do not think that this is the case, but that it was rather a record of magical art as this was attained by Enos, according to another Zoharic account.2 It is said that his knowledge and ability in occult science exceeded that of his predecessors from Adam downward, and this is the sense in which we are to understand the scriptural statement that he, Enos, began to " call upon the name of the Lord"3 — that is to say, he used the Divine Name to compel spirits in accordance with the recognised pro cedure of magical operations. The progress of this science ended by assuming such proportions that the wicked generation of the Deluge expected to escape the Divine chastisement by recourse thereto. With the help of its mysteries they prepared even to make war on the Holy One, which was also the intention of those who planned the tower of Babel.4 Like their predecessors, they had great skill in magic : it was enough for them to pronounce words and things were accomplished. But the project had its source in a limited knowledge con- 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. ;6a, b ; DE PAULY, I, 449, 450. 2 Ib., fol. s6a; 1,323. 3 Gen. iv, 26. The Authorised Version reads: "Then began men to call upon the Name of the Lord" — apparently at the time of the birth of Enos, or soon after. The Revised Version agrees, but the Vulgate translates the verse in the sense of the Zohar : Iste (id est, Enos) cccpit invocare nomen Domini, I should mention that the Zohar always recog nises the claim of magic as the art of a secret power, but, as we shall see more fully, it is condemned in all its branches and all its modes. 4 Z., Pt. I, fol. 7$b et seq.; I, 445, n. 113 H The Secret Doctrine in Israel cerning the Mystery of Ancient Wisdom,1 and I conclude therefore that there were two primeval ^books recognised in the legend — one that of Adam and *the other one of knowledge which was either evil in itself or^ could be converted readily to evil.2 At the dispersion which arrested the building those concerned therein lost even their partial knowledge. The confusion of tongues was of course a punishment adjudged;3 but the apocryphal prophecy of Sophonias assures us that at the end of days the Lord will change the tongues of all people into a pure tongue, so that all may invoke His name and all pass under His yoke in one spirit.4 This is ^quoted by the Zohar and is, I think, the only instance in which it cites a text outside the greater canon. 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. ?6a ; DE PAULY, I, 447- 2 It must be admitted that this does not agree with a statement in fol. 76a ; I, 446, where it is said that the celestial book containing the Mystery of Wisdom was transmitted by Adam to other men who pene trated this Mystery, and seem to have irritated God thereby ; but this is not in agreement with the succession of the keepers of the treasure, already enumerated. . 3 The union between the thought and the word already mentioned seems to have been symbolised by the original existence of one language only. When men became separated from God, unity was no longer possible among themselves. The plan of Babel was elaborated with ingenious perversity, as the builders desired to quit the celestial domain for that of Satan and so substitute a strange glory for the glory of God. 4 But the Vulgate rendering of the Prophetia Sophmia reads, Qwa tune reiidam populis labium election, ut innocent omnes in nomine Domini, et serinant ei humero uno. This is rendered by the revised Douay version : " Because then I will restore to the people a chosen lip, that all may call on the name of the Lord, and may serve Him with one shoulder." CHAPTER IX THE COVENANT WITH ABRAHAM THE considerations arising in the Zohar out of the history of Abraham fall into two sections for our purpose in connection therewith. The first is consecutive, coherent in a certain sense and of great length, but it is not of our especial concern ; the second, on account of its content, is scattered throughout the text and is of prime import ance to the subject of this study. The first may be said to open with an interpretation of the call which came to the patriarch, in answer to which he left "the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees " * and entered into the land of Canaan. The journey was literal no doubt for the doctors in Kabalism and stood as such at its value, but it was also a mystic travelling and in this respect it belongs to a higher currency. Abraham had been endowed with a spirit of wisdom2 and by the use of its talents had attained a knowledge of the celestial chiefs3 who govern the various divisions of the habitable world.4 He had also gone further than this, having dis covered that Palestine was the centre of the earth, and the point of departure in its creation. He had not as yet ascertained by what chief it was ruled but con cluded that such a president must be head over all the cohort. The study of the Holy Land was therefore the 1 Gen. xi, 31 ; xv, 7. 8 Z., Pt. I, 77b, ?8a ; DE PAULY, I, 457- 3 It is not quite certain whether this carries the implicit that he was addicted to the kind of magic which is an art of dealing with spirits and is usually called ceremonial because it follows a ritual and prescribed verbal formulae. If so, the sequel shews that he was held exonerated in virtue of his intention. 4 Z., Pt. I, fol. 78b; 1,458. The Secret Doctrine in Israel intent of his journey and he drew for the purpose on all his stores of astrological knowledge, but still was unable to penetrate the essence and importance of that Supreme Power which ruled the worlds innumerable and was postulated in his mind as the spiritual chief of Palestine. When at the end of his resources, however, the Holy One manifested on His own part, counselling that he should enter into himself, learn how to know himself and forsake all the false occult sciences to which he had had recourse previously. This is another sense in which he was to come out of his own country. The words : " Go into a land that I will shew thee " * mean that Abraham was to be occupied henceforth only by those things which God would make known to him, though the essential nature of the Supreme Power which rules the world could not be included in the revelation, being above human understanding. It was therefore a journey in the Divine obedience rather than one of the soul in God ; but this path of conformity is itself a ladder of sanctity, by which man can be united to the Holy One and is indeed the one way of our ascent. Abraham went up this ladder stage by stage2 until he attained that point which was designed in his case, as it is written : '^And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the South" being the Holy Land, wherein he was to reach the highest degree of holiness. But it is said that there was famine therein, which means that the country was not as yet consecrated, and he proceeded therefore to Egypt which is assimilated to the spiritual Garden of the Lord,4 for it is written: " As the garden of the Lord, as the land of Egypt." 5 Abraham knew the mystery of this Garden,6 1 Gen xii i The direction to leave his country signified that he should abandon his studies of the moral influences connected with different countries ; to leave his kindred was to abandon the science of astrologv : to leave the house of his father was to cease from the manner oflU observed therein.-Z., Pt. I, fol. 78b ; DE PAULY, I, 458- 2 Z., Pt. I, fol. 8oa; I, 468. » Gen xii Q 4 Z., Pt. I, fol. «ib ; I, 469- 6 Gen xm. 10. 6 The' knowledge of Abraham was the consequence of his absolti faith in God. The Covenant with ^Abraham the degrees of which are in correspondence with those that are below — that is to say, with Egypt, which is there fore said to be assimilated. But the nearer that he drew to Egypt the more did he cleave unto God. This notwithstanding, as the journey had not been authorised divinely, he was destined to suffer therein in respect of Sarah.1 It is stated iruthis connection that Abraham had lived so modestly with his wife, and in such holiness, that he had never looked upon her face previously. Only as they drew near to Egypt did she raise a corner of her veil, and then he saw that she was fair.2 In Egypt he found a great centre of the occult arts and again betook himself to their study, but this time he penetrated the secret of evil without being led away thereby. He re turned thence to his own grade or degree, which is indi cated by the words:3 "And Abram went up out of Egypt . . . into the South " 4 — meaning the inward height of his sanctity. From this time forward he knew the Mystery of Supreme Wisdom and became the right hand of the world. This is indicated by the words: " From the South even to Beth-el,"5 which is the integral stone — that stone of the world and Jacob about which we have heard already. Abraham — in other words — had attained what the Zohar understands by perfect faith. But he was yet to proceed further, " going on still toward the South," 6 rising from grade 1 Gen. xii, 14-20. It is said that the Holy one was seeking to prove Abraham and for this reason allowed him to act on his own initiative in visiting Egypt. — Z., Pt. I, fol. 8za ; DE PAULY, I, 474. 2 Sarah was under the protection of Shekinah, and during the night that *she passed in the palace of Pharaoh she was accompanied by angels belonging to the superior degrees, who gave thanks to God. — Z., Pt. I, fol. 82b; I, 476. See also *#., fol. 8ib ; I, 470, by which it appears that the beauty of Sarah was a reflection of the Divine Presence. I may mention here that the verbal economy or subterfuge to which Abraham had recourse in respect of his wife and sister occasions no comment in the Zohar, although it enlarges on the account and adds miraculous elements. It is actually affirmed that the description of Sarah as Abraham's sister was a description of Shekinah, who was with her. 3 /£., fol. 83a; I, 478. * Gen. xiii, i. 5 Gen. xiii, 3. 6 Gen. xii, 9. The Secret Doctrine in Israel to grade, as one exploring the infinite and winning his aureole.1 So did the Holy One become his patrimony, and after Abraham was parted from Lot he c< dwelled in the land of Canaan," a which is the place of faith. When the time comes for the Zohar to speak of Melchizedek, King of Salem, it says that his offering of bread and wine symbolised the worid above and the world below.3 The sense in which he was " priest of the Most High God " is that in the sanctification of himself he raised the world below to the height of that which is above. For once, as it seems to me, the Zohar has exceeded its own measures at this point and has announced a spiritual truth the full purport of which it did not realise. Concerning the mission of the priesthood it gives, how ever, a proper definition when it says that this conjoins the world below to that which is above by an indissoluble bond.4 I believe that I have indicated sufficiently the qualities of interpretation which appertain to the first section in the history of Abraham; but the second covers that period which opens with the making of the covenant between God and the patriarch, or the whole of his later history. The subject at this point passes from personal narration to the " token" or sign of the covenant and the mystery foreshewn thereby.5 The characteristic physical sign of all Israel on the male side has issued in the Zohar from the region of 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. 835; DE PAULY, I, 482. 2 Gen. xiii, 12. 3 Z., Pt. I, fol. 87a ; I, 502. It seems to follow that, according to another manner of Zoharic symbolism, bread and wine signify male and female. The bread and wine of Melchizedek were also symbols of nutri ment and blessings for the world. — /£., fol. 8;b ; I, 505. 4 /£., fol. «Sya ; I, 502. 6 I have called Abraham throughout by his name in its later form, but it is said that the addition of the letter He, by which Abram was transformed, was not added until he had suffered circumcision and it was thereafter that the Shekinah became attached to him.— Z., Pt. I, fol. 93a ; I, 529. The letter He was added also to the name of Sara, as a symbol of the female principle.— /&, fol. 9^a; I, 54^, 547- "The Covenant with ^Abraham arbitrary ordinance into that of most sacred symbolism. If at first it was a hygienic observance or one that might act as an aid to continence, it has become in the Secret Tradition a seal of purity, and though it is not expressed it is implied indubitably by the text that it had reference also to the purity of womanhood, because her protection was therein. The proof is that, according to the Zohar, the male side of humanity in its separation from the female had no true title to the name and prerogative of man. There is little need to add that the woman was not without the man, but this is not discussed in the Zohar, for, with all its illuminations and its strong tendencies towards the liberal side, it represents the last development of a purely oriental religion.1 It remains that while the masculine shares in humanity, it is man only in union with womanhood. When Abraham was circumcised 2 he separated himself from the impure world and entered into the Sacred Covenant, into that covenant on which the world is based ; and seeing that he so entered, it follows that the world is founded on him. Expanding this fantasy, it is sometimes affirmed that Genesis opens with the words : " By Abraham God created,'* &c., and therefore the covenant of circumcision is the origin of heaven and earth.3 The He added to the name of Abram after he had fulfilled the ordinance is said to symbolise the five books of the Law, which are the records at length of the covenant. But that which begins on earth is raised gloriously into heaven and prolonged through all the worlds. The Sign of the Covenant constitutes the foundation of the Sacred Name and of the Mystery of Faith — the root of the notion being probably the shape of t}ie letter Tod with which the Name commences, or this at least is the material root. It is said further that 1 It is said, however, that the Covenant implies the union of the two principles.— Z., Pt. II, fol. 26a ; DE PAULY, III, 127. 2 /£., fol. 9ib; I, 519- 3 Z., Pt. I, fol. 93a; I, 529. "The Secret Doctrine in Israel the Sacred Sign of the Covenant is fixed at the base of the Throne, between the two thighs and the trunk 1 — a reference to the Sephira Tesod, when this is placed on the Tree.2 As the sun enlightens the world, so the sacred sign enlightens the body; as a buckler protects man, so does this : no evil spirit can approach him who preserves it in purity.3 By the fact of circumcision man enters under the wings of the Shekinah.4 He who preserves the Sign as 1 have just said, and fulfils the commandments of the Law, is righteous from head to foot, and his life in con tinence is his title to a part in the world to come.0 It is said also that so long as a man is uncircumcised, he can not unite himself to the Name of the Holy One ; but after circumcision, he enters that name and is joined therewith.6 Those who do not preserve the sign in purity make separation, in a manner, between Israel and the Heavenly Father.7 All the forces of Nature centre in the organ of the Covenant, and in the metaphysical principle of the Covenant it is held 8 that there was subsequently hidden and enclosed that light created when God said : " Let there be light" -the alleged reason being that it symbolises the fructifying principle, qui semen injicit famine. It is this which is called in Scripture " the fruit of a tree yielding seed.1 »» 10 1 When it is said in Gen. xxi, i : " And the Lord visited Sarah," the Divine Name used in the Hebrew is Jehovah, but according to theZohar it was that Degree of the Divine Essence which was symbolised by the Vau. It is added that all is contained in the mystery of Vau, and thereby all is revealed. — Z., Pt. I, fol. H7b ; DE PAULY, II, 69. a Z., Pt. I, fol. i4Qb ; II, 190. It is very difficult to allocate sporadic symbolism of this kind to its proper source elsewhere in the text, bat the allusion seems to be to the extension of the Divine Son through the lower Sephiroth, having the head in Daath, as explained in my third chapter. 3 /*., fol. 8a ; I, 45, 46. 4 /£, fol. 95* J I, 543- 6 /#., fol. i62a ; II, 235. The text is : " Blessings are upon the head of the just." — Prov. x, 6. But the head of the just signifies the Sign of the Covenant. — Z., in loco tit. 6 /£., fol. Sga; I, 510. 7 /£., fol. iSgb ; II, 348. 8 /£., fol. i a ; I, 4. * Gen. i, 3. 10 Z., Pt. I, fol. la ; I, 4. I 2O The Covenant with ^Abraham It is counselled : c< Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin," l and the exhortation is understood as a restraint placed upon speech, lest this should generate evil thoughts, calculated to soil the consecrated flesh which is marked with the seal of the Holy Covenant. When the Psalmist says : " The firmament sheweth His handiwork,"2 it is to the mark of the Covenant that reference is made — that is " the work of His hands." So also those other words : " Wherefore should God be angry at thy voice and destroy the work of thine hands ? " 3 — are an allusion to those who keep the seal in purity. In yet other terms, the firmament publishes the names of those holy men who have lived in chastity, and our part is to plead for their intercession with God, Who hears them always. Their names are written in the Book of God, which is the great firmament of stars : they are the4 company which follow the Heavenly Spouse. It is said otherwise concerning the Sign of the Covenant that holy flesh is marked with the letter Yod* referring to the obvious analogy between the " organ of sanctity " and this letter, when circumcision has been performed upon the first. The letter Tod symbolises also the configuration of the celestial river which is the source of souls. The words : u Sanctify unto me all the first born, whatsoever openeth the womb among the children of Israel," 6 is a commentary on the letter 1W, which is the first-born of all the heavenly sanctities.7 Finally, there is a curious train of thought which r&quires to be followed carefully.8 " Through wisdom is an house builded."9 This is termed an allusion to the mystery expressed in those other words : " And a river went forth from Eden to water the garden." 10 It 1 Eccles. v, 6. 2 Ps. xix, i. 3 Eccles. v, 5. • Z., Pt. I, fol. 8b ; DE PAULY, I, 48. 6 Ib., fol. I3a; I, 74. • Ex. xiii, 2. 7 Z., Pt. I, fol. I3b ; I, 79. 8 /£., fol. 940 ; I, 539. • Is. iv, 3. 10 Gen. ii, 10. The Secret Doctrine in Israel is said further: "Thy tabernacle is holy,"1 but our renderings are not literally the same. This tabernacle is termed the union of all. The verse in question enumerates three enclosures, one within the other — the Courts, House and Tabernacle — and the Zohar says, unexpectedly enough on the surface, that whosoever subjects his son to the holocaust of circumcision may be assured that the Holy One will draw the child to Himself and make his abode in the innermost of these enclosures, while the father will earn no less merit than if he had offered all other sacrifices in the world and had raised up the most perfect altar. The explanation of these things can rest only, as I have said, in a most profound understanding of the mystery of sex, and the final place of that mystery is indicated by the correspondence alleged in another part between the Sign of the Covenant and the Sacred Crown.2 1 See Ps. Ixv, 4 : " Even of Thy Holy Temple." Compare, however, the corresponding passage in the Vulgate, Ps. Ixiv, 5 : Sanctum est templum tuum, 2 Z., Pt. I, fol. 95a; DE PAULY, I, 542. The following points may be gathered from other parts of the text: (i) The mark of the Covenant is imprinted above as well as on man below ; but this is probably a reference to the mark on the Throne, already given. (2) The Kingdom was removed for a period from David because he had not preserved the sign in perfect purity. (3) He who so keeps it has nothing to fear from severity — i.e., judgment — being united thereby to the Name of the Holy One. (4) He who defiles it cannot aspire to the mark of God, which is royalty and Jerusalem. (5) The sign is the gate of the body, to hold which in sanctity is to find the gate of heaven always open. — Z., Pt. I, fol. 94a ; I, 535, 536 ; and fol. I5ob ; II, 193. But that to which all this applies is surely the idea which lies behind circumcision. CHAPTER X OF MOSES, THE MASTER OF THE LAW THE Biblical story of Moses issues in a mystery, for he " whom the Lord knew face to face," l having died in the Lord on Mount Nebo, was also by Him buried, and " no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day." 2 But, according to the Zohar, the story of Moses begins in a mystery also, for he, about whom it is- said , that <l there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses," 3 was not in his conception after the manner of men who had preceded or of those who came after him. The distinction belongs more properly to another part of my subject and will be found therein. I will there fore say only that his parents — the " man of the house of Levi " 4 and she who was li a daughter of Levi " 5 — had their hearts uplifted unto Her who is called Shekinah, second of the Divine Hypostases — at the time of that union when it is said that " the woman conceived and bare a son."6 The consequence of this was that Shekinah reposed on the nuptial bed of his parents.7 He was therefore born, " not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man " merely, " but of God " ; 8 and even from the day of his birth , l Deut. xxxiv, 10. 2 /£., v. 6. 3 /£., v. 10. 4 Ex. ii, i. 5 Ib. 6 /£., v. 2. 1 See Z.,Pt. II,fol. na-i2a; DE PAULY, 111,48-52. It is said in the most cryptic manner of the text that the " man of the house of Levi " was the angel Gabriel, who is called u man,'5 as it is written : " Even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning" (Dan. ix, 21). The house of Levi signifies the Community of Israel — referring probably to the School of Sanctity above, in the Sepkira Binah. The daughter of Levi is the soul. The meaning is that the parents of Moses stood for these symbolically. 8 St. John i, 13. I23 The Secret Doctrine in Israel the Shekinah never quitted him.1 He ascended into that region where she is said to extend her wings,2 as it is written: "He did fly upon the wings of the wind."3 The Lawgiver is affirmed, moreover, to have been the first man who attained perfection, even as Messiah will be the last ; 4 but there are good reasons, from the standpoint of Zoharic Kabalism, why it was requisite to qualify this statement, and so it is said elsewhere that he was not perfect in all things, the reason being that he was separated from his wife.5 There is no authority in the Pentateuch on this subject, but there is that of Talmudic tradition, which says that they ceased to cohabit. It is probably an arbitrary inference from the fact that 'neither she nor his two sons, Gershon and Eliezer, are mentioned in Exodus or elsewhere after they were brought back to Moses, "when he encamped at the Mount of God " in the wilderness of Sinai.6 So it is said otherwise that the Lawgiver attained the degree of Einah but not that of Chokmah ;7 in other words, he did not open the 5Oth Gate of Understanding which gives upon the path of Daleth^ leading from Einah to Chokmah in the Sephirotic Tree. It is difficult, however, to judge clearly as to the earthly espousals of Moses, according to the Zohar, for we learn elsewhere that he separated himself from Sephora by the ordinance of God, that he might be joined to 1 The father of Moses is said to have been espoused to Shekinah — apparently in the sense that she was attached to or overshadowed him. Otherwise he would have been unwonhy to beget the Lawgiver. But it is added that the daughter of Levi whom he espoused was the Shekinah — perhaps in the sense of being her symbol beiovv. — Z., Ft. II, fol. iQa; DE PAULY, III, 92.— Ib., Pt. I, fol. izob; II, 83. 2 Ib., Pt. 1 1, fol. 7«b; III, 329. 3 Ps. xviii, 9. 4 Z., Pt. Ill, fol. 26ob ; VI, 7. 6 /#., Pt. I, fol. 234!); II, 523. The explanation is that in order to perfection there must be union not alone with that which is above but also with that which is below. A falmudic tradition on the subject will be found in the Tract Sabbath, but this is at issue with the Zohar as it reckons the fact of his separation among his titles of honour. 6 Ex. xviii, 5. 7 Z., Pt. Ill, fol. 223a; V, 564. I24 Of Moses, the Master of the Law the heavenly light of Shekinah.1 Hence it is intimated elsewhere, on the authority of Rabbi Simeon, that to attribute him children was in some sense beneath his dignity, as he had entered into spiritual espousals.2 It is a question of the Mystery of Faith and a case of extraordinary exception from the prevailing mind of the Zohar, which makes children according to the flesh an indispensable title to union with the glory of that Second Hypostasis which stands for the nuptials that are above. It should be understood at this point that the Mystery of Faith consists, according to the French translation of the Zohar, "in the union of God with a Female whom He fructifies, after the manner of the union of male and female." This is true assuredly, yet it is only a part of the mystery, or rather it is the doc trinal side, and arising therefrom is a practical side about which we receive intimations at many points of the text, though it enters into complete expression nowhere. Its real nature is the sole end of our research. To con clude as to the marriages of Moses, there was a moment when God said to the Lawgiver: "Let it suffice thee," 3 but that which was sufficient, says the Zohar,4 was the prophet's union with Shekinah, to Whom he was nearer in truth than hands and feet, for — as we have seen — they were not in separation even prior to his birth in this life. So also he was under the guidance of no angel and no messenger from heaven but under that of God Himself,5 because God and His Shekinah are one. He represented the male principle,6 though in virtue of his * Z., Pt. Ill, fol. i8oa ; DE PAULY. V, 472. ~ Ib., Pt. II, fol. 6gb ; III, 308. The argument is purely casuistic, pretending that Scripture attribute? the children of Moses to the mother only, and afterwards— on the authority of Rabbi Simeon, wresting Ex. xviii, 5 — maintaining that Tethro brought his own sons to Moses. 3 Deut. iii, 26. 4 Z., Pt. 1 1 1, fol. 26ob; VI, 7. 6 Ib., fol. 286b ; VI, 72. This is held to follow frcm the words: "And he said unto Him, If Thy Presence go not with me, carry us not up hence." — Ex. xxxiii, 15. 6 Z., Pt. II, fol. 3/b; III, 178. I25 The Secret Doctrine in Israel union with Shekinah he was the light of the moon, the moon being his symbol, for albeit that she and God are one — as I have said — she shines in the light of the Eternal Sun of Justice, more especially in her manifesta tion below, or in the work of her providence concerning the children of men. It-is by Moses that the men of this world are believed to have found salvation, for he communicated the vital spirit of the Tree of Life. If Israel had not sinned this spirit would have been pre served for ever in Israel.1 There was no servant so faithful as he who is called in the Secret Tradition the Faithful Shepherd. He knew all the celestial degrees and was never tempted to join himself otherwise than to the Highest.2 His fidelity was greater than that of Ezekiel, for the latter is said to have divulged all the treasures of the King.3 This statement is not explained by the Zohar,4 but I suppose that it refers to what is called Kabalistically the work of the chariot, being that of Ezekiel's vision, and it seems to me that in this respect the later prophet may be held to deserve exoneration. The title of Moses was that he kept the Secret Law secretly, transmitting it only to the elect,5 and that he made public the Exoteric Law, which does not contain the Mystery of Faith. In this sense he is called the elder son of Adam,6 and the reason — which is not readily translatable — is quia verenda pains' sui operaverat. It is the keeping of the Mystery. I pass now to the promulgation of the Law, and it would seem that Moses ascended Mount Sinai clothed in the vesture of Shekinah, being that cloud which he entered and in virtue of which it was possible for him to go up.7 The intention of the Law was to place man 1 By virtue of the gracious Law contained in the First Tables. 2 Z., Pt. I, fol. 76a ; I, 447. 3 /£., Pt. II, fol. 5a ; III, 19. 4 Except indeed to say that if Ezekiel so acted he had authority from the Holy One. 6 Z., Pt. I, fol. 28b; DE PAULY, I, 179. 6 /£., Pt. I, fol. 28b; I, 179. 7 /£., Pt. II, fol. 99a; 10,398. Of Moses, the Master of the Law under the domination of the Tree of Life,1 which means that there would have been no mysteries, the Law in this aspect being the Spouse of God, and therefore it is Shekinah herself, or the Mystery of Faith expounded. It is that mystery which is beheld in contemplating the face of Shekinah in the state which is eye to eye.2 If this intention had been fulfilled, there would have been no distinction of Oral and Written Law, and the ques tion is therefore as to what intervened so that another order followed, contrary to the design of providence. Now, it is affirmed by the Zohar that a change took place in Israel at the foot of Mount Sinai,3 and this is insisted upon so frequently in terms which never vary as to the alleged fact that one cannot help feeling some principle is involved, some unstated matter of Secret Doctrine. It is testified that Israel was joined anew to the Tree of Life, so that it beheld the heavenly splendours and realised their lights ; it experienced the ineffable joy which fills the hearts of those who desire to know and understand the Supreme Mysteries. The nation was reclothed by the Holy One with that cuirass formed from the letters of His Sacred Name which was the protection of Adam and Eve before their fall. The serpent could cleave no longer to Israel, and it is affirmed to have disappeared from the world. We must under stand all this as a reflection rather of the Divine in tention in its union with the covenant made by the people on their part : " All that the Lord hath spoken we will do."4 They were washed also and sanctified. 1 Z., Pt. Ill, fol. 26ib ; DE PAULY, VI, 10. * /£., Pt. II, fol. 4ob— The Faithful Shepherd; III, 189. 3 Ib.y Pt. I, fol. 523, b ; I, 302, 303. See also ib., fol. 36b ; I, 226. It may be that an arbitrary mode of reasoning is all that lies behind this subject. In the view of the Zoharic doctors, there was something so great — and beyond' all experience in fallen human nature — which it was designed to promulgate in the first Tables of the Law that for them it was the Law of Paradise, and its proposed reception by Israel involved for them a restitution of the paradisaical state. 4 Ex. xix, 8. The Secret Doctrine in Israel To go beyond this point is unreason, and I know not how the Zohar, regarded as commentary, can postulate such exaltations of Israel either on the basis of the text or of that which followed.1 For we must remember that in the absence of Moses, and in the uncertainty as to what had become of him, but — ex hypothesi — in the absence otherwise of all temptation, Israel adored the golden calf; the old evil order was thus reinstated, and I conclude that the serpent returned. It is to be under stood further that the riot of the feast which followed the idol-worship signifies a sexual orgie, so that she who presides over the mystery of sex in sanctity was driven from the people, and her secret was taken from them. When therefore Moses came down from the mountain carrying the Tables of the Law he broke them in the presence of the people, which, according to Scripture, was because " his anger waxed hot," 2 but it is understood otherwise in the Zohar. The thesis is that the original Tables constituted the liberation of all,3 meaning the separation from that serpent who is called " the end of all flesh."4 They were formed originally from a single block of sapphire, but God breathed upon them and the precious stone was divided into two parts.5 They were created prior to the world by the coagulation of the 1 The canon of criticism seems to be reached by the contrast of two passages of Scripture : " And Israel saw that great work which the Lord did" (Ex. xiv, 31) — which the French translation of the Zohar renders : "And Israel saw the mighty hand of the Lord," following apparently the Vulgate (et manum mctgnam qiiam exercuerat Dominns contra eos) — this being reputed to mean that Israel was able to contemplate the celestial splendour and enjoy the vision of the supernal lights. The other passage is this : "And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come nigh him " (Ex. xxxiv, 30). As to the value of the contrast, it is enough to point out that the first text belongs to the period when the Red Sea had just been crossed and has nothing to do with the sojourn at the foot of Mount Sinai, which was reached three months after (Ex. xix, i). 2 Ex. xxxii, 19. 3 Z., Pt. I, fol. 630; DE PAULY, I, 371. i n 4 /£., Pt. I, fol. 63b : I, 371. It is understood that one consequence of this separation would have been that there should be no more death. 5 /£., Pt. 1 1, fol. S^a, b; III, 347. . 128 Of Moses^ the Master of the Law sacred dew which is said to fall on the Garden of Apples.1 They were written before and behind, and were symbolised by the loaves of proposition.2 It is said in one place that the writing thereon was like black fire on white fire,3 while according to another it would appear that the stones were transparent : 4 the writing in front, or on the obverse side, was read from behind, and that on the reverse, or behind, was read from in front.5 It is an allusion to the inter-connection of the written and oral Law. The Tables were given to Moses on the Sabbath Day. It is recorded by Scripture 6 that they were cast from the hands of Moses and were broken, and here it is explained by the Zohar that this was because the letters took flight 7 — a device designed to point out that no writing remained upon them which could possibly be seen by Israel in contemplating the fragments. The Tables were broken because Israel was not worthy to profit by them,8 and that which was shattered is said to have been not only the written but the inward and oral Law.9 The meaning is that the higher order of liberation and mercy which included these, the revelation of the secret union, was taken henceforth into concealment. The malediction brought upon the world by the trespass, and removed for a moment as the people passed under the shadow of Mount Sinai,10 descended again upon them. The Tables came out of that region from which all liberties issue Z., Pt. II, fol. 84b ; DE PAULY, III, 348. /&, Pt. 1 1 1, fol. 2;ib; VI, 37, and fol. 273a ; VI, 39- /£., Pt. II, fol. 226b ; IV, 248. /£., fol. 84b ; III, 348. See also fol. 84a ; III, 347. /£., fol. 84a ; III, 347. Ex. xxxii, 19. According to the Zohar, they fell of themselves from his hands.— Z., Pt. II, fol. iQSa, b ; IV, 188. Ib. 8 /£., Pt. I, fol. 26b; I, 167. //;., fol. 28b ; I, 181. "And the Lord said unto Moses, ... I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written. — Ex. xxiv, 12. According to the Zohar, the word " law " signifies that which is written, while the word "commandments" refers to the Oral Law.— /£., Pt. Ill, fol. 4ob ; V, 109. 10 Ib., Pt. I, fol. 36b ; I, 226. 129 I The Secret Doctrine in Israel and on which they all depend.1 Over the mystical mountain they diffused a sweet odour, because the sanctities of the world of sanctity inhered therein, but this passed away when the golden calf was set up for the worship of the nation.2 It is recognised by the Zohar that the second Tables embodied another record, which was the Law of oppor tunism, the Law of mine and thine — of prohibition and denial, being that of bondage. It was sacred after its own manner, because it was a shadow of the first intention, but it reflected at a very far distance. I do not know whether it is affirmed literally that it is a work of the Tree of Knowledge, but this must be held to follow from numerous unprecise intimations. And the Secret Doctrine, with all the Oral Law by which that Doctrine is encompassed, is the Tree of Life ; but the art of its mastery is long, and of all the Sons thereof, of all the heir s at law, I suppose that only Rabbi Simeon could have been said to possess it in the fulness.3 We know that after him the reign of certitude was over and the great quest in the hiddenness was pursued in the attitude of groping, not erect as heretofore, with the light of true enlightenment shining from a meridian sun on the heads of the initiates. There is much more that could be said upon this subject, but I feel that my purpose is served. I would add only that amidst the clouded splendours and substitutions of the surface sense we can understand readily the great and pressing need for that study of the inward meaning which is imposed everywhere in the 1 Z., Pt. Ill, fol. 6b ; DE PAULY, V, 17. 2 Ib., fol. 6ib ; V, 170. 3 I mean, of course, since the days of patriarchs and prophets. As regards the work of the Tree of Knowledge, the Law — from this point of view — was to preserve the species of the chosen people according to the mode of human generation in the world beyond the mystic Garden of Eden ; but the work of the Tree of Life, for those who could dwell beneath it, was one of mystic generation and fruition. It is never sug gested that the Sons of the Doctrine attained the secret in its fulness ; they raised a corner of the veil. I30 Of MoseSy the Master of the Law Zohar on those who would enter into the real heritage of the elect. To sum up therefore : Moses gave other Tables to Israel, and these were from the side of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, from which the Law emanates. The first Tables emanated from the Tree of Life. I should add that the written Law seems to be repre sented by the word Daath, or Knowing : l it is completed by that which is traditional. The Doctrine is sometimes called Chokmah, or Wisdom, and sometimes Binah, or Understanding.2 The traditional Law has come out of the written Law, as woman was brought forth from man, according to the mystery of the Garden — but this we have seen already. It can exist only in unison with the written Law, but I think that the Zoharic treatment of the latter shews that it was regarded rather as a beast of burden — that ass of a certain comparison — already cited — on which the King and Queen of the Secret Mysteries must never be set to ride.3 There is, however, one more memorable point concerning the Oral Law, and this is that although it is a balm of life for the just, for the unjust it is a mortal poison.4 I believe that as much has been said concerning the elixir of alchemy. The aphorism is not therefore ve/ sanctum invenit, vel sanctum facit, yet I think that there is a heart of the Doctrine in which the good must fill us entirely as the student enters more deeply into its understanding. But the sor row of it is that after eating of the Tree of Knowledge through the years and the ages we are still untutored children knowing little in the essential manner either of good or evil.* 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. 48b ; DE PAULY, I, 282. 2 The reason given is that it has been formed by the "complete name" — i.e., Jehovah Elohim, being the Divine Male and Female. 3 It was like the mule in The High History of the Holy Graal — "a beast on God's side." * Z., Pt. I, fol. 268a; 11,633,634. 6 Deut. xxxiv, 6. The Secret Doctrine in Israel I have reminded my readers already that Moses was interred outside the Holy Land and that " no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day." But this sepulchre, according to the Zohar, signifies the Mishna.1 The Secret Doctrine was interned in the written word —that end of all revelations.2 But the tradition says that the inner meaning — like the spirit of Moses- remained with the elders and was handed on secretly. The Scripture mentions that "the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days/' 3 They might well have mourned him, had they known, through the triumphs and the exiles continued thenceforward, for they lost the Secret Doctrine of which he was the personitication. It was withdrawn when he left, as if into a secret sanctuary, and no voice issued therefrom until the days of Rabbi Simeon. That was the Rose of Sharon which blossomed on the ruins of Jerusalem in the days of Vespasian. I wonder not that there was sorrow on occasion amidst the Sons of the Doctrine, as with Marius over the ruins of Carthage. Moses was the life of the Doctrine, and hence it is affirmed that when he ascended to the height of Pisgah " his eye was not dim, nor his natural form abated." 4 It is recorded also of his figure in its prime that this resembled the sun in its splendour5 — so perfectly did his moon reflect that glory. One legend says, however, that he did not die,6 though the text repeats it on an authority which is not its own, and it adds — rather in the manner of a casuist — that no man dies who is graced by faith. As a fact, the authority is the Midrash Rabba, and the Zohar quotes it again in another place but in a less questioning mood. Perhaps Z., Pt. I, fol. 2;b ; DE PAUI.Y, I, 175- The Mishnah is the maid-servant who takes the place of the mis ress.— /£., fol. 28b; I, 175. Deut. xxxiv, 8. * Deut. xxxiv, 7, Z., Pt. I, fol. 28a ; I, 177- /£., fol. 28a i I, 176, and tf., Pt. II, fol. i74a ; IV, 129. Of MoseSj the Master of the Law there is a deeper heart of meaning than transpires on the surface, for if we accept the Secret Doctrine on the subject of Moses and the Law th'ere is an aspect of failure about the great mission of the Lawgiver. His stiff-necked genera tion prevailed against him to the extent that he could fulfil only the shadow of that which he proposed. His intention was to deliver the truth which makes men free, but they were fit only for a substitute. Now, this is set forth very curiously in a single passage of the text, where it is affirmed that Moses sought to bring the Shekinah out of exile, but he failed.1 The Shekinah signifies here the Secret Doctrine and this implies that the First Tables were written ad clerum, but the content was destined to remain in exile so long as Israel was incorporated as a people in its own place and land, while there is no suggestion that the debates of the Doctors brought Shekinah into libera tion.2 It is said therefore, in yet another place, that Moses will return on earth at the end of time to com plete his mission by revealing the true name of Shekinah,3 which is also in the hiddenness, and there is no pretence that it was known to the Doctors. Those whom he brought out of Egypt he will then lead into knowledge. This is why it is exclaimed by Job: "The Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken away : Blessed is the name of the Lord." That will take place which was to have been fulfilled at first : the elect will be set free from the death-angel by the true Tables of the Law. Mean while Moses obtained the degree of Binah — as we have seen — but not that of Chokmah. His death was from what is called in the Zohar the other side, which means the right side, the left being the side of the serpent.5 It 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. 28a ; DE PAULY, I, 176. 8 On the contrary, so long as the Shekinah is in captivity, she is never left by Moses. — Id. That which he did on earth was, however, to attract her to Israel.— 7^., fol. 68a ; I, 400. 3 Ib., fol. 28b ; I, 180. See also, for the return of Moses, #., Pt. II, fol. 255a ; II, 602. * Jobi, 21. 5 Z, Pt. I, fol. 53a; I, 306. The Secret Doctrine in Israel was not caused by the sin of Adam but by the operation of a supreme mystery. It is also recorded of Joshua that he did not die through his own sinning, but through the serpent's counsel to Eve, and this is said to be ex pressed in the words : " His servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the Tabernacle. 1 Ex. xxxiii, 1 1 »» i CHAPTER XI THE TEMPLES IN JERUSALEM LOOKING back upon the chequered history of their nation and on the purport of its life generally, the mystic doctors of Israel did not fail to discern the uplifting of strange portents in their spiritual sky, the full signifi cance of which was not rightly to be recognised before hand, supposing that they were real prognostics. It is only after the event that most of us become wise in this manner. In retrospect the portents were everywhere ; in retrospect the world's creation, the great myth of the Garden, the judgment of the Flood, and the rest of the Divine Providences were like tocsins and trumpet voices concerning all that was to follow. Not alone were the seeds therein, but it was Israel delineated throughout. Abraham might turn to the South and again he might turn therefrom, but the reason in either case was of that or of this to come in respect of the twelve tribes. Yet it was not only to come ; already it was in a sense there, so that the stories of old look weirdly in a light which sug gests that they were recorded before the events with which they are supposed to deal. The occurrences of the past were also fateful in respect of later things that were to come. For example, when the Tables of the Law were broken by Moses, this is said to have occasioned the ultimate destruction of the First and Second Temples.1 There are two aspects under which the Temples come before us in the Zoharic texts, and as happens so often, they do not harmonise together, while it is more impossible than difficult to believe that an adjustment can be effected 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. 26b ; DE PAULY, I, 167. The Secret Doctrine in Israel between them. 1 will collate them under what may be called the motives attaching to each. There is firstly that wherein there is no shadow of vicissitude as to the glory and the plenary grace which inhered in the design and execution of Solomon's Holy House. The inner sanctuary constituted the heart of the world ; 1 the She- kinah dwelt therein after the manner of a virtuous and faithful wife who never leaves the abode of her husband.2 It was therefore well with Israel during this period. The building plan was sketched by a supernatural hand and was seemingly delivered to David, by whom it was shewn to Solomon." The Temple was erected on seven pillars,4 the craftsmen following the design, point by point, until the work was finished.5 There was a sense in which they followed blindly, but there was also another sense in which the work was self-executed . This is suggested by the silent nature of the work, about which we hear in Scripture.6 The analogy is that of creation, for the world evolved of itself, with God as the beginner of the work.7 Hence David said : " Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it." The meaning is that the Lord designed the Temple and the work went on of itself. It is said also : " Except the Lord watch the city, the watchman waketh but in vain." This is Jerusalem in its building. The moon is symbolised as shining at the full during the whole period.10 The Temple was built for the union of the King and Matrona,11 God and His Church in Israel. Of the structure in its complete- Z., Pt. I, fol. 84b ; DE PAULY, I, 487. Id. Ib., Pt. II, fol. i64a ; IV, 107. Jb. It was guarded by the archangel Metatron. Ib., fol. 74a ; I, 438. " And the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither : so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building." — I Kings vi, 7. 7 Z., Pt. II, fol. 226a ; IV, 247. 8 Ps. cxxvii, i. 9 Ib. 10 Z.,Pt. I, fol. I5oa; II, 190. 11 Ib., Pt. Ill, fol. 74b; V, 203. I36 The Temples in yerusalem ness we are told that the earth inhabited by the Gentiles encompasses the Holy City, which is the centre of the habitable world ; the town encircles the Holy Mountain ; the Mountain surrounds the session-house of the Sanhe- drin ; this in its turn stands about the Temple; and the Temple encompasses the Holy of Holies, where dwells the Shekinah and where are the Propitiatory, the Kerubim and the Ark of the Covenant.1 The Holy of Holies itself was built on that foundation stone which, as we know already, is held to form the central point of the world. It is identified with the celestial throne of Ezekiel, and in appearance it was like a sapphire.2 Solomon is said to have united Matrona to the Supreme King by the building of the Temple and there was joy everywhere, both above and below.3 The Temple itself is understood as the spiritual union of male and female apart from any fleshly union.4 It symbolised therefore the mystery of sex at the highest, and this is a point to be memorised in respect of all these reveries. Here is the first picture and the alternative is as fol lows. The First and Second Temples were transitory things in their nature ; they should have been the work of God Himself, but because of Israel's sin in the wilder ness, the First Temple was built by Solomon, and hence it did not subsist.5 Contrary to the former intimation, the Lord was not its builder. So also at the epoch of Ezra, again on account of sin, the Second Temple was erected by men and there was no ground of subsistence. It follows that so far no holy house has been built in 1 Z., Ft. Ill, fol. i6ib ; DE PAULY, V, 416. 2 Ib., Pt. I, fol. 7ib, 72a ; I, 425. See Ezek. i, 26 : "And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone." This stone, according to the Zohar (#.), signified the celestial throne, and the throne of the vision signified the Traditional Law, while " the appearance of a man" who sat thereon was the Written Law. 3 /£., Pt. Ill, fol. 74b; V, 203. 4 /£., Pt. II, fol. 258b; IV, 292. 5 /£., Pt. Ill, fol. 22ia; V, 559. The Secret Doctrine in Israel reality at all,1 nor has even the city of Jerusalem been as yet constructed. The world is still awaiting that pro mise of the Lord : " I, saith the Lord, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in the midst of her." 2 There are suggestions however which go much further than mere questions of substitution. It is said that from the day when the Holy One raised the Supreme Sanctuary the celestial favours were never mani fested in the terrestrial Temple, built of stones and mortar.3 I suppose that this is the house not made with hands which is termed elsewhere a place of spiritual nourish ment which the kingdom of heaven accords to those in need of it, and that sanctuary which brings all the poor under the shadow of Shekinah.4 The Temple of Solomon was a symbol of penitence as well as a house of prayer, and its destruction signifies an impenitent state.5 The cause of its destruction is said otherwise to have been the separation of the He and Van in the Divine Name as the result of sin.6 The people were sent into exile and the Shekinah was driven out.7 The Vau went in search of the He, but she was in a distant place ; it looked towards the sanctuary, but it was burnt ; it looked for the chosen people, but they were in exile ; it turned towards the source of benedictions, but this was dried up.8 It is said otherwise that the destruc tion of the First Temple dried up the sources of the Shekinah above and that of the Second Temple dried up those of the Shekinah below.9 All light was clouded, so that the saints of this world were no longer enlightened.10 During the exile in Babylon the wings of the Mother in Transcendence did not cover her children ; n there was I Z., Pt. Ill, fol. 22ia; DE PAULY, V, 559. 2 Zech. ii, 5. 3 Z., Pt. 1 1, fol. io8b; III, 427. 4 Z., Pt. I, fol. 2o8a; 11,434. 5 Ib., Pt. Ill, fol. 75a ; V, 204. 6 Ib., fol. I22a ; V. 316. 7 Ib., fol. 75a ; V. 204. 8 The reason was that the male was united no longer to the female.— Ib. 9 Ib., Pt. I, fol. 25sa; II, 601. 10 Ib., Pt. II, fol. 9b ; III, 40. II Ib., fol. 9b; 111,39,40. The Temples in ^Jerusalem therefore a separation between the Tod and first He of the Divine Name. The reference is of course to the spiritual state of Israel. During the present and greater exile the Divine Name is divided now as it was divided then,1 albeit that which it signifies is one eternally above. In another form of symbolism the First Temple was destroyed because it wanted light, 2 which was absent also from the Second Temple, but in a still greater degree, the Second Temple signifying the fleshly union of male and female.3 The priests of the First Temple ascended on the walls of the sanctuary, holding their keys in their hands, and said to God : Hereunto we have been Thine administrators ; henceforth take back Thy possessions.4 The sun turned away from the moon and enlightened it no longer ; there was no day without maledictions and sufferings.5 These are the lamentations of the Zohar over its holy places arid houses; but another day will come when the moon shall resume its primal light.6 It will be that period mentioned in Scripture : " Behold, My servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled and be very high." 7 The reference is to the Messianic epoch, when the world will be restored, impurity will disappear therefrom, and death shall be cast out for ever. The Holy One will remember His people Israel and the Temple shall be rebuilt.8 Formerly it was based on severity and wrath, but it will be restored in charity and will be founded thereon.9 Meanwhile, since the destruc tion of the sanctuary here below, the Holy One swore Z., Ft. II, fol. 9b; DEPAULY, III, 41. Ib., fol. I79b; IV, 150. Z., Ft. II, fol. 2s8b; IV, 292. Ib., Ft. I, fol. 202b, 203a; II, 406. This is " the burden of the valley of v sions."— Is. xxii, I. Ib., fol. i8ia, b; II, 315. Ib., fol. i8ib; II, 316. Is. ii, 13. See also Gen. xxiv, 2. Z., Ft. I, fol. I34a; II, 128. Ib., Ft. II, fol. 593, b ; III, 263, 264. The Secret Doctrine in Israel never to enter the Jerusalem above until Israel returned into the Jerusalem below.1 No blessings have gone forth, either in the world above or in that which is below, for these worlds depend on one another.2 The consolation of the elect is however that, in the absence of a place of sacrifice, devotion to the study of the Law will bring the forgiveness of sin more readily than the burnt-offerings of old."3 1 Z., Pt. I,fol. 2}ia; DE PAULY, II, 511. 2 70., fol. 7ob; 1,415- :> II)., Appendices III, Secret Midrash, fol. 6a ; II, 680. CHAPTER XII THE COMING OF MESSIAH THERE is no question that the Kabalistic teaching concerning a Deliverer to come should begin by a consideration of Talmudic intimations on the subject ; for these are many and important within their own measures. There is unfortunately no space for such an extension of the materials already in my hands, but there are several sources of information which are open to 'readers, and indeed the whole subject is available if he can have recourse to the French rendering of the JerusalemlTalmud l and to the valuable English version of the Babylonian Talmud 2 which appeared some years since in America. Outside this question of the past, the first thing for us to realise on our own part is that there is not one line, and much less one page, in the Zohar which can be constructed according to its proper sense on the assumption that a Messiah has appeared already in Israel, while there is consequently nothing that can be applied to a second advent of the Christ of Nazareth. These things are dreams, and recent pleadings on the subject are if possible of less consequence than those of the old scholars who filled Europe with their debates in the 1 M.SCHWAB: Le Talmud de Jerusalem, nvols. Paris, 1871-1889. 8vo. See also Le Talmud de Babylone. Traduit par 1'Abbe Chiarini. 2 vols. Leipsic, 1831. 8vo. It embodies a condensed account of both .recensions and may serve some general purposes. 2 New Edition of the Babylonian Talmud: English Translation. Original Text edited, formulated and punctuated by MICHAEL L. RODKINSON, vol. i, Tract Sabbath, 1896. In all 18 volumes, various years. The Secret Doctrine in Israel 1 6th and lyth centuries.1 The points of analogy be tween Kabalistic and Christian doctrine are many and eloquent in their way, but they belong to another order. There is an attractive hypothesis with which I shall attempt to deal a littlerlater on, and its whole design is to construct Zoharic theosophy in a direction opposite hereto, or not only in a Christian sense but in one which would place the texts under the particular obedience of Latin theology; and I who, of all things else, would desire, were it possible, to look through such enchanted glasses, have concluded that there is no evidence, so I would therefore warn others. It should be added in justice to the interests at large that the Roman Church is much too wise to lend countenance — officially or extra-officially — to the interesting view, which is therefore the outcome of private zeal only. The first question which concerns us is that of Mes sianic expectations in mystic Israel. The elect — and if these are more especially the Sons of the Doctrine it is in the sense that the greater include the lesser, meaning the race of chosen people — the elect must hope always for the coming of the man of holiness,2 for it is said : " I will wait upon the Lord, that hideth His face from the house of Israel, and I will look to Him/'3 He is the man in transcendence, the man who is allocated- in one place to the Sephira Chokmah* but the point is one of great complexity and its elucidation belongs to a sub sequent part of our research. It is said further that He is the " man more precious than fine gold " who is 1 See BENEDICTUS POSCANTINUS: Dialogum de Messia, Venice, 1548, and ANTONIUS HULSIUS : In Theologiam Judaicam de Messia, Bremen, 1 580. -There is a still earlier work, but I can only claim to know of a report concerning it : Epistola R. Samuelis Judcci missam ad Isaac \ Mantua, 1475. It claims to have been translated from the Arabic by a Dominican, Alphonsus Bono-Homo, and is an argument from the prophets that Jesus Christ was the Messiah expected by Jewry. 2 Z., Pt. I, fol. 204a ; DE PAULY, II, 413. 3 Is. viii, 17. 4 I should mention that this reference depends on certain Supple ments of the Zohar, which are not included in the text. I42 The Coming of Messiah mentioned by Isaiah ; * and it is on record also that He shall be raised above all the inhabitants of the world, who will adore Him, prostrated in His presence.2 As a further witness respecting His eternal generation, the Spirit of Elohim which brooded over the face of the waters is sometimes regarded as the Spirit of Messiah, who has washed His robes in the heavenly wine from the creation of the world.3 He is also the sacred moon on high, having no other light than that which it receives from the sun above ; 4 but it is to be noted that the Shekinah is also symbolised by the moon and this has led to a precarious and indeed impossible identification of the Messiah as the Shekinah incarnate. It might be said on the same evidence that Solomon was an incar nation of Messiah and Moses also, for both had the moon as a symbol. According to the Midrash Talpigoth, the Messiah will bring eternal peace, which of course was understood by the Israelites as peace for Israel, plus that which may follow extermination for all who did not enter by con version into the House of Jacob. It is said in the Zohar that, according to tradition, wherever Solomon is men tioned in the Song of Solomon this King of Peace is designated.5 Conversion at the Messianic period will be apparently on a great scale, because all the nations of the world will gather about the King Messiah when He shall be manifested,6 seeing that these words of the Scripture must be fulfilled : 7 " And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people ; to it shall the Gentiles seek ; and his rest shall be glorious." It will be a time for the revelation of mysteries which the will of God has concealed through the ages, but as the day of the King approaches even 1 Is. xiii, 12. 2 Z., Pt. I, fol. I07b; DE PAULY, II, 39. a Ib., fol. 24oa ; II, 548. 4 Id., Pt. I, fol. 2383 ; II, 540. 6 Ib., fol. 29a; I, 182, 183. 6 Ib., Pt. II, fol. i;2b ; IV, 127 ' Is. xi, 10. The Secret Doctrine in Israel little children shall know the mysteries of wisdom.1 It will be also a time of union, for in the Sabbatic millenary the Holy One will accomplish union between souls.2 All the blessings of Isaac will be realised in Israel,3 which will form one people only on earth, " and I will make them one nation in the Lord." The meaning seems to be that all nations will become one nation of the Holy One ; but the great war of the world will precede this. It is unfortunate that the annotations to the French Zohar are largely polemical in character and elucidations which would have been valuable on difficult points of fact are too often wanting. It would seem at first sight that there are several Messiahs to come. There is he who is to be the Son of Jesse, said to be master of all, by whom the earth is nourished.5 There is secondly the Son of Ephraim, of whom it is testified that he will be driven back from Rome.6 These personalities are mentioned, each of them once or twice only, and it is suggested in the notes — but without offering a reason — that the second is identified with the third Messiah who is the Son of Joseph. The fourth is the Son of David7 and both these are mentioned in the Talmud;8 but one of the " omissions " given in the first appendix to the first part of the Zohar affirms that the last two are one.9 The Midrashim are said to agree, but the dis tinction for what it is worth remains perfectly clear in Z., Ft. I, fol. ii8a ; DE PAULY, II, 71. lb., fol. iiga ; II, 77. lb., fol. 1450; II, 172. Ezek, xxxvii, 22. Z., Pt. I, fol. 29!} ; I, 185, 186. Eternal life is possible through him only. The authority cited is i Kin^s xx, 31, and a supposed state ment therein that "the son of Jesse lives upon the earth," but it is to be found in i Sam. xx, 31, and refers of course to David. G Z., Pt. II, fol. I2oa; III, 461. See also Part III, fol. I53b; V, 394- 7 The Son of David is said to be the Sephira Netzach^ while the Son of Ephraim \sHmL— //'., Pt. Ill, fol. 24311, b ; V, 581. 8 Tracts Aboda-Zara^ Siecai, Ycbauwt and Sanhedrin. 9 Z., Pt. I, fol. 267b; 11,633. H4 The Coming of Messiah the Talmudic references, according to which the Son of Joseph will suffer a violent death l and will be succeeded by the Son of David. Elsewhere in the Zohar it is denied that the Son of Joseph will be killed, because he is compared to an ox and evil has no hold over him.2 It is of this Messiah that it is said in Scripture : " He was wounded for our transgressions . . . and with his stripes we are healed." 3 On the contrary, the fact that he will die is reaffirmed a few folios subsequently. It is said also that one of these alternative deliverers is poor and mounted on an ass, while the other is the first-born of a bull.4 They are the two Kerubim stationed before the Garden of Eden ; the Flaming Sword is Metatron,5 but at this point the symbolism passes into a wilderness of confusion where it is impossible and would serve no purpose to follow it. I do not know that we need come to any decision as to the number of Messiahs ; it does not look in the Zohar as if they can mean states of one personality, which is the opinion of the editors, for in another place the text explains by an accident what is meant by a previous identification : it is said that the Messiah who is the Son of Joseph will be united — that is, in his mission — to the Son of David but will be slain. 6 The one is the conqueror of the great Rome and the other of the little Rome 7 — whatever the distinc tion between these cities may signify. The number 60 is fixed for the manifestation of the first and the number 6 for that of the second.8 I do not pretend to explain the mysticism of these numbers, but I note that the 1 The Zohar agrees in one place, but adds that he will rise again. — /£., Pt. Ill, fol. 203b ; DE PAULY, V, 520. See also //>., Pt. I, fol. 26;b; II, 633, from which it follows that there is one Messiah and that he will suffer death. But this is contradicted in Pt. Ill, fol. 27Qa ; VI, 52, where a distinction is made between the Son of David and the Son of Joseph, who will be slain. 2 Ib., fol. 2;6b ; V, 48. 3 Is. liii, 5. 4 Ib., Pt. I II, fol. 279a; VI, 52, 53. 5 //A, Pt. I, fol. 26;b, 268a ; II, 633. 6 /A, Pt. Ill, fol. 2o3b; V, 520. 7 Ib., fol. 252a; V, 589. * //>., fol. 252a ; V, 590. 145 K "The Secret Doctrine in Israel number 6 is represented by Vau and the Son of David is connected with this number.1 It is obvious that it is convenient for purposes of Christian interpretation to identify the Son of David and Joseph, as Jesus of Naza reth was both.2 I should add in this connection that the words : " Lowly and riding on an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass," 3 which are referred to Messiah, are not understood literally, for the ass represents that demon which shall be curbed by the King to come.4 The time of the coming of Messiah will be when all souls who are kept in the treasury of souls against the day of their incarnation shall have actually come hither in flesh.5 Thereafter it would seem that new souls will be incarnated in Israel. Then shall the chosen people deserve to find — and shall not fail herein — the beloved and sister-soul predestined to each from the beginning of creation. It is in allusion to this that the Scripture says : " A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you." And again: "It shall come to pass that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh ; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions."7 The Intruders8 shall be exterminated 1 Z , fol. 203b ; DE PAULY, V, 520. The letter Vau — as we have seen — js said to symbolise the Eternal World. — /£., fol. 252b ; V, 591. 2 The Chevalier P. L. B. Drach concludes that the Talmud speaks of the suffering Messiah as Son of Joseph and of the victorious Messiah as Son of David, but the evidence which he quotes from the Tract Succa seems, on the whole, against him. — De U Harmonic entre l*Eglise et la Synagogue, T. iire, pp. 184, 185. 3 Zach. ix, 9. 4 'Z., Pt. Ill, fol. 23;a ; V, 577. The explanation given is that the demon, who is called the ass, can be made subservient by the Sacred Name Shaddai. This reference and extract belong to The Faithful Shepherd. It follows that Messiah, who connects with the Ox symbolically, will overcome the ass or demon, and hence it is forbidden in Deut. xxii, 10, to yoke an ox and an ass together. — Z., Pt. Ill, fol. 207a ; V, 528. 5 //>., Pt. I, fol. 28b ; I, 179. * Ezek. xxxvi, 26. 7 Joel ii, 28. 8 The reference is primarily to the mixed crowd which followed Israel during the Exodus from Egypt and were not afterwards separated from the chosen people. There are recurring allusions, and in one place it is said that these aliens were souls in transmigration from antecedent, destroyed worlds.— Z., Pt. I, fol. 2$a ; I, 155. The Coming of Messiah and that tradition shall be accomplished according to which Moses and Israel shall find the beloved soul destined to each from the beginning of creation.1 To this period there is referable also that text of Genesis which says that Adam and Eve were u naked and not ashamed," 2 the reason being that the Intruders are the cause of luxury and when they disappear all leaning towards incontinence will vanish in like wise.3 Now all this is utterly stultifying disquisition and mania of inter pretation in the literal sense, so far as it can be said to have any ; and yet through all one feels that the Secret Doctrine is sealing and veiling the simplicity which is of all grace in Nature and Mystic Art. It is a change come over the dream of Israel, so that it shall enter into its own on all the planes and in all the worlds by the help of the " right spirit " renewed within them. This is the Spirit of the Messiah,4 as it is written : " Renew a right spirit within me." 5 And as we know that the Christ Who is to come in each one of us, Who is of Nazareth and of all the local habitations of the mastery, Who is son of David, son of Joseph, Heir of the true legitimacy, stands ever at the door and knocks, that rectified period is the one when all the portals shall open, so that He shall be welcomed in all the ways. Out of the heart and the mind shall the Intruders be cast once and for all, and the soul shall find the Spouse. We might come to a pause at this point on the subject of the Messiah in Israel, according to the lights and shadows of the Secret Doctrine. It is a forecast of that time when the Mystery of Union, which is now a Mystery of Faith, shall have entered into realisation in experience on this earth 1 See next chapter. 2 Gen. ii, 25. 3 It will be seen therefore that the alien people are understood spiri tually as the prompters towards evil who are within us. 4 It is also the Spirit of God which "moved upon the face of the waters" (Gen. i, 2). It is to this Spirit that David aspired. — Z., Pt. I, fol. i92b; II, 357, 358. 6 Ps. li, 12. H7 The Secret Doctrine in Israel of ours, and as in the world above there is no distinction between Shekinah and the Holy One, so in that which is below there will be such a spiritual communion between the Lover and the Beloved that the voice of the turtle, which is the Canticle of Canticles, shall be heard every where, and of that time it may be said : " The male with the female, neither male nor female." There are, however, some further points which, being of an external kind, are of the shadows rather than the lights, and there is one which is a light of symbolism, so it shall stand first in the sequence. In the time of the letter He1 — that is, when the He shall rise from the earth — God will fulfil that which is mentioned in Isaiah. The reference is to c. Ix, at the end of verse 22, and it reads in the Authorised Version: " I the Lord will hasten it in his time " ; 2 but the Zohar gives : " I am the Lord ; and it is I who will hasten these marvels when the time thereof shall have come." When Israel was driven from its abode the letters of the Sacred Name were separated one from another, if it be permissible so to speak ; the He was separated from the Vau, and hence the Psalmist said: "I am dumb with silence."3 When the Van is separated from the He the Word is stilled. The day of the letter He is the fifth millenary — the period of Israel in exile. When the sixth millenary comes, the Van shall raise up the He, and Israel shall be lifted also from the dust.4 After six hundred years of the sixth millenary the Gates of Supreme Wisdom 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. ii6b, ii7a; DE PAULY, II, 66-69. * The Vulgate agrees : Ego Doinmus in tempore ejus subito faciam istud. 3 Ps. xxxix, 2. 4 To understand this passage, it is necessary to remember that, according to more than one Zoharic testimony, the second He of the Divine Name ni!T = Jehovah, fell, as I have mentioned in Chapter III — with a promise to recur in the future, when we pass to the consideration of Shekinah. We have seen also that the second He is the Daughter and that whereby she will be raised is the Van, or Son. It is well to observe here how remote these intimations are from the Christian scheme which is based on the resurrection of the Son. The Coming of Messiah shall open, and the springs of Wisdom shall begin to pour upon this world, which will make ready to enter worthily into the seventh millenary, and this latter will constitute the Sabbath of creation. Assuming that we have a proper point of departure for calculation, we have in another place 1 the exact year of the Messiah's advent. When sixty years shall have elapsed after the sixth century of the sixth millenary, it is said that heaven shall visit the daughter of Jacob. In the seventieth year the King Messiah shall be revealed in the province of Galilee. The portents will be as follows : (i) The rainbow — which is now tarnished, because it serves only as a memorial that the world will be destroyed no more by a deluge — will shine with very brilliant dyes, like a betrothed lady adorning herself to enter into the presence of her spouse.- (2) A star will appear in the East and swallow up seven stars in the North.3 (3) Presumably after a period, a fixed star will appear in the middle of the firmament and will be visible for seventy days. It will have seventy rays and will be surrounded by seventy other stars.4 (4) The city of Rome will fall to pieces5 — an intimation which should be of moment to the hot gospel of certain protestant second-advent preachers, whose vestiges remain among us. (5) A great King will rise up and will conquer the world.6 There will be war against Israel, but the chosen people shall be delivered. According to one account, the seventy celestial chiefs who rule the seventy nations of the earth will marshal all the legions of the world to make war on the sacred city of Jerusalem, but they will be exterminated by the power of the Holy One.7 It is written: "And the house of Jacob shall 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. iiga ; DE PAULY, II, 75, 76. 2 /£., fol. 72b; 1,429,430. 3 /£., fol. nga; II, 76. 4 /£., Pt. 1 1 1, fol. 2i2b; V, 536. 5 Id. 6 7£.,fol2i2b; V, 537. 7 Z., Pt. II, fol. 580; III,26o,26i. I49 The Secret Doctrine in Israel be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble." 1 As such stubble, by such fire and flame shall the nations perish. Thereafter the King Messiah will cause Jerusalem to be rebuilt;2 the Holy one will remember that covenant which He has made with Israel ; and in that day will David be also raised up.3 The Messiah will draw to him the whole world ; it shall be so to the end of the century ; and then the Vau shall be united with the He.* It will be the period of true bridals ; the Messiah will bring about union between the palaces above and below, as also between El and Shaddai.5 The present place of Messiah, according to the prevailing opinion, is in the Garden of Eden, but as the testimony is not in full accord it must be left open as to whether this is the Eden above or that which is below. Wheresoever it be, there is a most secret place in the hiddenness which is called the Bird's Nest, and therein he abides.6 In the Paradise there is also a certain place which is called the Palace of the Sick ; 7 the Messiah enters therein and calls upon all the diseases, sorrows and troubles of Israel in exile to assail himself, and this comes to pass accordingly. Were it otherwise there is no one who could suffer the penalty due to his misdeeds. Hence it is said : " Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows." So long as Israel dwelt in the Holy Land, and sacrifices were offered therein, Israel was preserved thereby from all maladies and penalties ; now it is the Messiah who bears them — as it is affirmed, for the whole world ; but I fear that this can be understood only as the world of Israel.9 Obadiah v, 18. 2 Z., Pt. Ill, fol. 2i2b; DE PAULY, V, 536. /£., Pt. I, fol. 72b ; I, 430. 4 Ib., fol. IIQE ; II, 76, 77. Z., Pt. II, fol. 253a ; IV, 286, 287. But he visits various Palaces and the School of Doctrine. /£., fol. 2i2a; IV, 222. 8 Is. liii, 4. Z., Pt. II, fol. 2i2b; IV, 222. The Coming of Messiah I have left one statement till the last, that it may stand for the present by itself, because we shall recur thereto at a point which is still far away. It is said almost at the beginning of the Zohar, and in that which is called The Preliminaries^- that God created man with the object of preparing for the advent of the Lesser Countenance — that Divine Son, corresponding to the letter Van, about Whom we have heard sufficiently in my third chapter. It is obvious that this is the Messiah, and if the fact is not in agreement with some other intimations about which we have heard also, there will be an opportunity in the proper place to contrast them and perhaps also to reach a conclusion on the subject. 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. igb; DE PAULY, I, 119. CHAPTER XIII THE SOUL IN KABALISM IT should be understood that the story of the soul in Kabalism is part of that central doctrine which the Zohar calls the Mystery of Faith, or at least the one is in close connection with the other and they arise to gether.1 I shall proceed at once to my subject and con sider it under four heads, being (i) Pre-existence, (2) the Parts of the Soul, (3) the Soul in the world to come, but here only in respect of the blessed state, and (4) Rein carnation. The doctrine concerning Sheol will call for separate treatment. As regards pre-existence, I will establish first what may be termed the general thesis, with that which belongs thereto, and will then illustrate it by such distinctions and variations as may seem to deserve mention. When the Holy One willed to create the universe, He formed 2 — and apparently in the first instance — those souls which were intended subsequently to dwell in human bodies.3 The place of their tarrying is said in more than one place to be the Paradise below, which is the Earthly Paradise 1 It speaks at once for the genesis and term of the mystery : there is that which must be done in heaven, brought down amongst the simili tudes of earthly things and finally restored to heaven. 2 This is the method of expression in the place from which I derive, but the idea, in its more adequate Zoharic expression, is not one of for mation ; it is rather of begetting. The point is that souls are affirmed to have a father and mother, and they are produced in virtue of the union between male and female. The basis of the idea is Gen. i. 24 : " Let the earth bring forth the living creature," this "creature" being held to mean the soul of the first celestial man. — Z., Ft. II, fol. I2a ; DE PAULY, 111,53- 3 /£., fol. 96b ; III, 387. " Each has its form like that of the body which it is destined to animate." The Soul in Kabalism or the Lower Eden.1 This is also an abode of disin- carnate souls who have entered that path which leads to the blessed life ; but it is not their final home.2 Like the Christ of Nazareth, the Zohar seems to know that there are many mansions in the House of the Father. Before they left the presence of the Maker, all souls were conjured to keep the precepts of the Law.3 While they await incarnation in Paradise they are clothed with bodies and have countenances like those which they are destined to possess hereafter, but these vestures are of course of a psychic or spiritual kind.4 When the time arrives for embodiment each soul in its turn is called before' the Holy One and is told which physical envelope to inhabit.5 Paradise is a place of blessing, and it may be that " from the gold bar " thereof it has leaned out and seen no reason to descend of its own accord, or to quit present happiness, as it is said, "for bondage and temptation. " It is assured, however, that from the day of its creation it had no other mission than to come into this world.6 It submits therefore and is stripped of the paradisaical body, that it may be clothed with that of earth. It takes the road of earth sorrowing 7 and pro ceeds into the exile of human life. 1 Z., Pt. II, fol. iia ; DE PAULY, III, 48. It is also said poetically that souls are formed in Paradise of the four winds which breathe therein, but the reference is really to that psychic vesture which gives form to the soul.— /#., fol. I3b; III,59,6o. 2 Z., Pt. II, fol, na ; 111,48. 3 /£., Pt. I, fol. 223b; II, 520. See also Pt. Ill, fol. isa; V, 38, and Pt. II, fol. i6ib. ; IV, 101, where the soul is pledged to the study of the Law and the attainment of the Mystery of Faith. * /£., Pt. II, fol. I5oa ; IV, 70. There is no real joy for the soul, save in the body of Paradise ; in that of earth it is shut out from communica tion with the Supreme Mysteries. See also //'.., Pt. I, fol. gob, Qia ; II, 515, 516. 5 /£., Pt. II, fol. 96b; III, 388. * Ib. Seeing that the Earthly Paradise is the house of pre-existing souls and the place to which they return after death, it may seem that the fall which took place therein was in the prototypical humanity, or Adam Protoplastes of later Kabalism, in whom all souls fell, as Recanati maintained. They are detached from the parent body in succession for incarnation on earth. 7 It is even declared that all which is learned by man as a conse quence of his habitation here below was known previously by him in the The Secret Doctrine in Israel Souls descend in a pre-established chronological order, though there are certain exceptions.1 As in all the great events of human life and the universe the precedence must be taken by Palestine, it is held that descent to earth reaches its term therein, and this invariably, after which the souls are thence distributed to the whole world.2 What is much more important is that all souls awaiting incarnation are arranged in pairs ; the one which is destined to animate a male is by the side of one who is to animate a female, so that those who are united below have been united previously above,3 because, according to Scripture, there is nothing new under the sun. They descend also together, but they come into the charge of an angel who presides over the pregnancy of women and they are then separated.4 Sometimes the male soul animates a man first, sometimes the reverse.5 When the time of marriage comes, the Holy One unites them as before and proclaims their union. After the espousals, and apparently when intercourse has taken place, they become — mystically speaking — one body and one soul. world above, but this is apparently the case — more especially or only — with those who love the truth and are righteous in earthly life. This is from the Commentary on Leviticus, and it puts an end to the question of freewill by adding that those who are wicked below have been already set aside by God, their incarnation being delayed through frequent en forced visits to the abyss. So also those who are headstrong here were headstrong prior to their incarnation. — Z., Ft. Ill, fol. 6ib ; DE PAULY, V, 169. This was said in the presence of Rabbi Simeon and was suffered to pass unchallenged. 1 Id., Pt. II, fol. loia; 111,407. 2 /#., Pt. I, fol. 205b ; II, 424. The exceptions correspond to the idea of those who are born out of due time. It is said that male souls come from the Tree of Wisdom and female souls from the Inferior Tree, but it is a sporadic suggestion which is at issue with recurring notions. — /#., Pt. II, fol. loia; III,4o8. It is explained in another place that just souls, attached to the sacred King by true love, are longer than others in coming to this earth.— Ib., Pt. Ill, fol. 68a, b ; V, 106. 3 This is the blessed union. — 7^., fol. Qib ; I, 520. 4 Ib. 5 It is not said that a mistake ever occurs, though this is recognised by one form of occultism and is held to account for certain sex-aberra tions. I have not found any Kabalistic warrant for the opinion. See itliphas Levi. The Soul in Kabalism If this, however, is the law, we shall see later on that it is illustrated chiefly by exceptions.1 At. the moment I will mention only a variant of the last notion, which says that, prior to their descent on earth, all souls form an unity, and are part of the same mystery ; separation into male and female takes place by reason of incarnation, but they are again made one in marriage.2 This recalls the Adamic legend and would seem its application to the history of individuals above and below. I have now given the general thesis, supplemented by counter-theses, but it should be realised that it is drawn from several places. Among questions which must be left open when the text is collated at large there is that which locates the soul prior to incarnation in the Paradise below, as I have said. Other accounts substitute the superior Eden 3 and according to one of these the descent for a period into the Earthly Garden takes place just prior to incarnation. The time is thirty days.4 One of the alternatives has no explicit concern with either Paradise but affirms that from an epoch which preceded the creation of the world all souls have been in the presence of the Holy One and there remain till they are called to go down on earth.5 According to tradition all emanate 1 As the Zoharic considerations on the subject of sister-souls, who have been, so to speak, mismarried, bear ample witness. 2 Z., Pt. Ill, fol. 43b ; DE PAULY, V, 121. See also id., Pt. I, fol. 85b ; I, 493, 494> where it is stated that whether or not a man shall meet in this life with the soul predestined to himself in union, even from the beginning, depends on his own desert. 8 7#., Pt. Ill, fol. 43a ; V, 1 20. Here it is said that when the soul is in the act of descending towards this world it visits the Earthly Paradise, where it sees the souls of the just who have left this life. It goes also to 5^0/and sees the souls of the wicked. These are object lessons, and the inference is that they may act as a guide in life. It is said in another place that the Soul is from the Sanctuary on high. — Ib., Pt. I, fol. 2O5b ; 11,424. It is that Temple which is mentioned in Ex. xv, 17, as "the Sanctuary, O Lord, which Thy hands have established." — Z., Pt. I, fol. 7 ; I, 38. 4 According to another account, they pay only a flying visit also for purposes of inspection. — Ib., Pt. Ill, fol. I3a, b ; V, 39. 5 Ib., Pt. II, fol. 282a ; IV, 310. It was especially the union of male and female souls which existed before creation. The time of intercourse The Secret Doctrine in Israel ' from the same region and during their sojourn in heaven they share in the government of things above and below.1 There are also certain souls which are kept in the hidden- ness and are guarded in a particular manner. When these enter into earthly bodies they have power to re- ascend into heaven without dying.2 Of such were Enoch and Elias. Speaking for the majority of cases, there is some trouble in effecting a harmonious junction between the soul and its earthly envelope3; it is not definitely established therein until after thirty-three days, and for the first seven it goes in and out continuously. One reason seems to be that circumcision, in the Zohar, does not take place till the thirtieth day and that for three days thereafter the body is in a state of suffering.4 These reveries are tortured out of two texts : " She shall then continue in the blood of her purifying three and thirty days," 5 which is of course a reference to the purification of women after childbirth ; and : " It shall be seven days under the dam," 6 which is a reference to the birth of animals — bullocks, sheep, or goats. The " blood of her purification " is in some obscure way the blood of circumcision.7 Hereof is the Zohar in one of its exegetical moods ; but these things are weariness, and I will conclude there fore on pre-existence with one further reference. It is said that the souls of the patriarchs pre-existed in the thought of God before the creation and were concealed in the other world, whence they came forth in their due corresponds to midnight on earth. It is an union in the contemplation of God and the joy thereof brings forth other souls, which are those o( Gentiles who become converts to Jewry. 1 Z., I--t. 1 1 1,' fol. 68a; OK J'AULY, V, 186. 2 ///., fol. 68b ; V, 1 86, 187. See also //>., fol. iSzb, 1833 ; V, 475, 476. 3 It is said to be attached to the body by one end only. The sou' and its envelope develop simultaneously, meaning that their union be comes more perfect, but care of the soul is needed for this purpose, just as the body needs care. The soul, however, is in the care of heaven. — /&, Pt. I, fol. 1973; II, 381. * Z., I't. III,fol.43b; V, 121, 122. 6 Leviticus xii, 4. • Ex. xxii, 30. 7 Z., Ft. Ill, fol. 43b, 44a ; V, 122. The Soul in Kabalism day.1 The text apposite hereto is : " The flowers appear on the earth," 2 meaning that the souls of the patriarchs appear in this world. One would say that these souls were the thoughts of God dwelling in divine men, but if we reflect upon the subject, we shall, I think, see that the Zoharic hypothesis really comes to this ; that the soul- world is a world of thought in God ; that the thought precedes the Word, as it is shewn to have done in respect of creation generally ; and that souls are uttered forth continually, passing ultimately into expression in flesh. Though it is closely connected with pre-existence, the mode followed in the generation or creation of souls is hypothetically at least independent and there are import ant reasons why it should be postponed for consideration till I treat of the mystery of sex in Zoharic theosophy. I proceed therefore to the parts or divisions of the soul. It is taught in a summary way that man is composed of three things : 3 Life, or Nephesh ; Spirit, which is Ruah or Ha'id ; and Soul, that is, Neshamah. By this he be comes " a living spirit" — a term, however, which is applied more especially to Neshamah. They are called also three degrees, or vital spirit, intellectual spirit and soul proper.4 Nephesh is the fallible part, for sin is sug gested neither by Ruah nor Neshamah.* It is said else where and more plainly that the vital spirit sins, but not the soul. The three degrees are superposed one upon 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. ia ; DE PAULY, I, 5. 2 Song of Solomon ii, 12. 3 Z., Pt. I, fol. 2;a ; I, 169. The "living spirit" is said to proceed from the mouth of Shekinah, who is called "living soul." Here is another aspect of souls being uttered forth by the Divine, and seeing that this is the Shekinah in transcendence, who is (a) the Third Hypostasis and (b) the M other = Aima in the Supernal Sephira Binah, we shall understand the kind of union which subsists between her and the Father, who is Abba in Chokwah. There is the Divine Thought in Kcther : it is formulated as if mentally in Chokniah : and it is uttered in Binah, producing the living intelligences, who are therefore begotten into the higher Paradise. 4 Il>., Pt. I, fol. 205b, 2o6a; II, 424. 6 /£., Pt. Ill, fol. i6a ; V, 46. It is said, however, elsewhere that the defilement of Nephesh defiles Rutfh and Neshamah. — ///., Pt. II, fol. i82a; IV, 155. The Secret Doctrine in Israel another in the order already given,1 and Neshamah is attached to God,2 but all these are not the imprescriptible possession of every person in life ; the higher parts are earned by serving the Master.3 Unfortunately, this thesis — which may seem reason able enough in itself — leads to very grave complications in respect of that which pre-existed and that which con stitutes man a living being in manifestation. It is said that some persons are judged worthy to possess a Neshamah, others a Ruah only, while yet others have a Nephesh and nothing more.4 These last, by reason of their deficiency, are attached to the impure spirit.5 The Nephesh alone is imprescriptible, or necessary to the man's existence.6 If he comports himself worthily with this gift another spirit is poured into him, which is like a crown of Nephesh, and this is Ruah. The man is then illuminated by light from a superior region and is in a position to discern the laws of the Sacred King. If he still continues worthy he receives the crown of Ruah, the name of which is Neshamah, but it is called also Soul of God. Now, it seems obvious that it is this only of which pre-existence, paradisaical life and the Divine Vision can be predicated, and the point is therefore that — con trary to the very clear doctrine concerning the descent of sou-Is — Neshamah does not come down and incarnate in every human being.7 It seems in this case to be mere fantasy with which we have been dealing previously. 1 Z.,Pt.II,fol.2o6a;DEPAULY, 11,425. i/£.,Pt.III,fol.25a; ¥,64. 3 lb., Pt. I, fol. 2o6a ; II, 424. * lb., fol. 25a ; V, 65. 6 We have to check this by other statements as follows : (a) Man is endowed with a Nephesh in the first place and it is given him as a pre paration for leading a holy life.— lb., Pt. I, fol. 2c6a ; I, 424. (b) The three degrees constitute one soul and are attached one to another. — lb., Pt. Ill, fol. 7ob; V, 191. But in further contradistinction hereto, another ruling suggests that the possession of Nephesh and Rua'h leaves man use less for the purposes of Shekinah in captivity and of Moses who abides with her. — Ib., Pt. I, fol. 28a ; I, 175, 176. But the reason seems to be that they are unskilled in the Secret Doctrine. 6 Z., Pt. Ill, fol. 7ob; V, 191, 192. 7 Alternatively, the successive addition of higher parts of the soul must be understood as gifts of grace, and there is authority for this view The Soul in Kabalism There is, however, an attempt elsewhere to harmonise these disparities, for it is said that when the soul, mean ing Neshamah, leaves the celestial region and comes down towards earth it is joined to the intellectual spirit; after wards both are joined to the spirit of light that is, Nephesh? The spirit of light and the intellectual spirit dwell together and depend one upon the other, but the soul •is independent of both. Another thesis is that when man proposes to live in purity heaven comes to his aid, grant ing him the holy soul, by which he is purified and sancti fied ; but if he be unworthy and will not live in purity, he is animated only by Nephesh and Ruah. It is obvious that this fails to concur with the earlier statement, which represents Ruah as a gift to be earned, but we can read between the lines of contradiction and conclude that the real intention is to represent the permanent part of man as descending and overshading the personality, when this * is born into the world ; it draws nearer with his growth and improvement ; and it may be, so to speak, incor porated with him, or it may not. Understood thus, the speculation will stand at its value : it is a primitive crudity of materialism, but the Zohar sometimes exceeds such notions and ascends into a clearer region. Before giving two or three casual examples, I will cite another classification because of the extraordinary conse- m the text, though I do not propose to consider it, as the multiplication ol aspects beyond what is actually needed must tend only to the reader's confusion. I have registered the fact for the use of those who would carry their research further. When it is said elsewhere that Neshamah cannot sin the reference— from this point of view— is to a state of attained sanctity in which lapse is— by the statement— impossible, meaning- unlikely. It has become not less difficult to sin than before it was to abstain from sin. F * ^ ArV/ 5E)L, 62av DE PAULY> I, 365. According to Adolphe * ranck, Nephesh throughout the Old Testament signifies the body of man so long as it is alive.— La Kaballe, p. 61. It is identified with the rsyche by Adumbratio Kabbalce Christian^, which is one of the rare supplements to Rosenroth's Kabbala Denudata. It is here regarded as the vitality inherent in the natural and instrumental body, and it is vegeta tive and sensitive in its nature. There seems to be no Zoharic authority for such definitions. '59 The Secret Doctrine in Israel quences which follow.1 Nephesh is the soul which forms the body and presides over the procreation of beings ; Ruah is the soul which causes Nephesh to act and deter mines its kind of action ; 2 Neshamah is the supreme force issuing from the Tree of Life.3 These three degrees separate after death, each returning to the place from which it was brought. Nephesh is presumably of the earth earthy, for it is said to remain in the tomb 4 — but any statement seems to serve which is made on the spur of the moment ; Ruah enters the Earthly Paradise, where the High Priest Michael offers it as a holocaust to the Holy One and it remains in the joy of Paradise ; 5 Nesh amah ascends on high.6 What purpose has been attained by its experience below does not appear in the text ; if it cannot sin, it is not in search of merit. There is no need to add that — here again — this version of the tripartite personality, postulating independent survival in three separate directions — for Nephesh is alive in the tomb — cannot be reconciled with the alternatives that have gone before. I conclude that the Secret Doctrine in Israel was unsettled on the subject of the soul and its divisions, that there is no guide for the perplexed therein, and that we shall come in the end to recognise only one secret doctrine in Jewry, which is the secret concerning sex. Among several intimations which are better than formal attempts to classify there is one which says that 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. 287)3, Appendix II, containing Tossefta or Additions : DE PAULV, I, 664. 2 Late Kabalism sometimes termed Rurfh the Spirit, meaning the human soul itself. It was held to extend through the body, to be rational and self-subsisting, but its mode of comprehension was by inter mediaries and not direct. It was also the seat of good and evil, and hence of the moral attributes. 3 Neshamah is understanding in late Kabalism, the individual intellect communicated by the Catholic and Divine Intellect. 4 Z., Pt. I, fol. 287!) ; I, 664, 665. This statement is subject to considerable modification in other places. 5 This is also qualified : it remains in the Paradise for a period and then returns whence it came, because the spirit — i.e., A'lta'A—gocs back to God Who gave it. * It returns to the Tree of Life, because it came therefrom. The Soul in Kabalism man acquires the soul of soul by fear of the Lord and by wisdom. He acquires the soul by penitence. Abraham represents the soul of soul ; Sarah is the soul ; Isaac is the intellectual spirit ; and Rebecca is the vital spirit.1 Another speculation designates Nephesh as the soul in a state of sleep, and this definition seems excellent. Ruah is the soul in a waking state, by which I understand the earlier stages of becoming alive to things above. It is said that these two do not differ in essence. Above them is Neshamah, which is the soul proper.2 These grades of the spirit of man are the image of the Mystery of Wisdom and to fathom them is to discover that Wisdom. When Neshamah is pre-eminent in man he is called holy. The parts of the spiritual personality are by no means exhausted in any triadic enumeration,3 for ascent in the grades of sanctity can provide additionally to these and in succession: (i) a soul from the world of emanation on the side of the Daughter of the King;4 (2) a soul from* the world of emanation on the side of the Son of the King;5 (3) a soul from the side of the 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. 264a, DE PAULY, II, 622. 2 7^., fol. Sja, b; I, 480, 481. 3 A more simple extension than here follows is given in Pt. II, fol. I58b; IV, 95, where it is said that the soul has five names, being Nephesh, Rua'h, Neshamah, Ham and Yehidah. This is an extract from The Faithful Shepherd. But — as we have seen — Haiti is some times a synonym for I\tta?h. Isaac Myer gives the following definition : " YJhu-dah, the only one, is the personality of man ; Hay* yah is the life in man ; Neshamah the soul or intellect ; Rdah the spirit ; Nephesh the animal soul or vital dynamcis, the anima. — Philosophy of Ibn Gebirol, p. 397. Such a classification makes for confusion only as the distinctions do not correspond to separable aspects of human nature. Late Kabalism said that Yehidah is individuality — the unity or correspondence by which man becomes like unto his First Cause. Haul is a condition of unity between the particular and catholic intellect, the union apparently of our life with that life which is Divine. Franck says that it is the vital spirit, that its seat is in the heart, and that it is distinct from the principle of animal life.— /-« Kabbale, p. 235. 4 Z., Pt. II, fol. 94b; III, 379. 8 Ib., the authority being : " Ye are the children of the Lord your God." — Deut. xiv, i. 161 i. The Secret Doctrine in Israel Father and the Mother ; * and (4) a soul which reflects the four letters of the Sacred Name Jehovah.2 This is one specimen extension, but there are others, some of which I will omit and some are transferred to their proper place elsewhere. I have mentioned already that there is a casual supplementary soul 3 added to the Stu dents of the Doctrine on the Sabbath Day, after which it returns whence it came. It appears to be a sacred soul issuing from the Tree of Life, and it is adapted to the works of the recipient. An alternative account attaches it to all good Israelites who fulfil the Law, whether they are Students of the Doctrine in the deeper mystic sense or not. The state of the soul in the world to come is de scribed in several ways, as we should expect assuredly ; but those which concern the blessed life of the departed can be harmonised, or at least there is nothing of essen tial discrepancy. When the good soul is preparing to leave this world, and while it is suspended from the body only at the larynx, it beholds three angels to whom the dying man confesses his sins.4 These spirits engarner the souls of the just and they accompany the glorious Shekinah, for no man leaves this world without seeing the Shekinah at the last moment of life.5 The soul prostrates itself before her and praises God.6 It seems then to enter a cavern which is the door leading to the Earthly Paradise ; 7 there it encounters Adam, the patriarchs and all the just, who rejoice with her and she is admitted within the Garden. Either then or pre- 1 Z., fol. 94b ; DE PAULY, III, 379, 380. The versicle appertaining hereto is " breathed into his nostrils the breath of life ; and man became a living soul." — Gen. ii, 7. 2 A man in possession of this soul is the image of the Heavenly Master. Of him it is said: "And have dominion over the fish of the sea."— Gen. i, 28. 3 See Z., Pt. II, fol. 88b ; III, 361 — among many other places. 4 Z., Pt. I, Appendix III, Secret Midrash, fol. 3b ; II, 677. 6 Ib. 6 Ib., fol. 2b; 11,676. 7 Ib., Pt. I, fol. i27a ; II, 103. See also fol. 287b ; II, 664. The Soul in Kabalism viously, she has been furnished with an envelope other than the fleshly body but still having the form thereof.1 It is said as to this that the days of life are a vesture, and the days of man's life on earth are his vesture in the world to come, in so far as he has lived them worthily.2 The odours given forth daily in the Garden of Eden perfume the precious vestments woven out of the days of man.3 This again is a clear issue at its value, but it is superseded in other accounts and it complicates its own position by adding that there is one vesture4 for Neshamah, another for Ruah, and one finally of an external and scarcely perceptible kind for Nephesh5 — all formed from the days of life. At the same time the commandments of the Law are the vesture of Neshamah* In this way we are taken to another point of spiritual progression which may be perhaps without prejudice to what has gone before. When the soul of a man who has been consecrated to the study of the Law during life quits this world, it goes up by the roads and path- 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. 9ia ; DE PAULY, I, 516. a See ante, c. 7 ; and Z., Pt. I, fol. 224a, b; II, 482-484. It is said elsewhere that the soul cannot have two vestures at one and the same time, even as the spirit of good and the spirit of evil cannot dwell to gether. The heavenly envelope is assumed, or the soul is clothed there with, when that of earth is decomposed as well as laid aside. It is a curious theory of vehicles, but it rests on the authority of Rabbi Simeon. The object of Samael is to hinder man from receiving the garment of heaven, and this he can do until the fleshly body has dissolved.—/^, Pt. I, fol. i69b, lyoa; II, 441. But the reference is apparently to Nephesh. The Rudh is itself not at rest ; it is only after the complete return of the earthly part to earth that it is drawn back to the Holy Spirit which gave it. 3 Ib. 4 It is admitted that the wise in doctrine have not reached a full agreement on the subject, yet the number of vestures is three. — Id., fol. 225a; I, 485. 5 Because, notwithstanding previous testimony, Nephesh is bound up with the body in its tomb for twelve months only, after which it goes wandering, and enters into communication with those who are still incarnate to inquire respecting their sufferings and to pray at need for them.— Ib., Pt. II, fol. I4ib; IV, 48. 6 Presumably Neshamah is so clothed with righteousness because it cannot sin. The Secret Doctrine in Israel ways of the Law,1 so that his knowledge is a guide in attainment, while the souls of those who have neglected such study go astray in the paths which lead to the region of Geburah, where they suffer punishment.2 In another manner of symbolism the Law goes before the soul when it rises into the celestial regions, and it opens all the doors thereto.3 The Law remains with the soul till the day of resurrection, when it will take up the defence of the soul. This is again in reference to the students of the Law, and it is said that after their resur rection they will preserve intact all knowledge which they had during their antecedent life.4 Indeed such knowledge will be extended, so that they will be able to penetrate mysteries which were concealed from them previously.5 It would seem also that those who are dedicated to the study of the Law on earth will be so also in the world to come, and this apparently apart from the resurrection life.6 I will make an end of these economies by condensing one more parable of the soul.7 There are seven palaces on high containing the Mystery of Faith, and I under stand these as seven stages of union, like a tower going up to God. In case I am correct herein, it is said that six of them are accessible to the understanding of man, but the seventh is secret and forms part of the Supreme Mysteries.8 The reason is the old reason, namely, that " eye hath not seen " ; and considering that in this state the union is altogether ineffable, it may be worth while adding that we have no title to term it absorption, identity, or by any other word which is within the measures 1 Z., Ft. II,fol. i75b; DE PAULY, II, 290. See also fol. 2?a ; I, 170. 2 Ib., Pt. I, fol. I75b; 11,290. 3 /£., fol. i85a ; II, 329. « Ib., fol. i8$a ; II, 330. 6 Ib. 6 Ib. When stripped of its conventions, the real meaning which issues from these extracts is that the pursuit of the Law is the following of the will of God and that the union hereafter therewith is a penetra tion of the Divine Mystery, in which the soul progresses for ever. 7 Ib., fol. 38a ; I, 235. 8 Ib., fol. 38a ; I, 235. The Soul in Kabalism • of things expressible. There are also seven palaces below, and among these one is superior to the others, as it holds both from heaven and earth. For the rest, they are postulated in relation to certain grades of advance ment in the world to come. When the souls of the just leave material life they enter the first palace and are occupied with preparations for the next stage of their experiences, but there are no particulars.1 The second palace 2 is the sojourn of those who have suffered morally and physically in the present world, but have given daily thanks to their master, this notwithstanding, 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. 38b , DE PAULY, I, 236. 2 There are several systems of palaces described by the Zohar ; there are those in which speech prevails but in others thought or intention. The latter are more exalted in order, presumably because silence is better than speech, seeing that it stands for the contemplation of God in the heart. I do not find for what reason per se or in what manner, but the object of all the palaces above is to preserve Shekinah in the world below. The different accounts are somewhat confusing, as it is not in variably too easy to see whether the subject of discourse is the palaces which are above or those which are below. (See, for example, Z., Pt. I, fol. 38a ; I, 236.) It is said (Ps. xxvii, 4): "That I may dwell in the House of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in His Temple." The beauty of the Lord is held to designate the palaces above, but the word " beauty " is rendered " delights " by the Zohar. The Temple means the palaces below. The seven superior palaces are (i) the basis and beginning of the Mystery of Faith ; (2) the abode of Faith ; (3) the place in which worthy souls are offered in sacrifice ; (4) the place of judgment, whether propitious or otherwise; (.5) the Palace of Love; (6) the Palace of Mercy; and (7) the Holy of Holies and final end of souls. — See Tract Palaces^ being Appendix II., Z., Pt. II, fol. 244b, 26ia; IV, 277-294. There are also seven Palaces of Prayer, provided with doors by which the prayers of man ascend to the Great Master. The first corresponds to the "paved work of a sapphire stone." — Ex. xxiv, 10. It leads to the heaven of heavens. The second is like "the body of heaven in its clearness" (ib.}. The third is a palace of pure untinctured light, having a point of golden splendour. The fourth is a palace of 70 lights, while the splendour of the fifth is like that of the lightning and thunderbolt, combining purple with many colours. The sixth is the palace of will, and it diffuses 12 lights ; its mystery is expressed by the words : " Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet" (Song of Solomon iv, 3). It is also the Palace of Love. But the seventh palace is devoid of all form ; it constitutes the Mystery of Mysteries ; and it is separated from the other habitations by a veil. Herein sojourns the Infinite Will. — Z, Pt. I, fol. 4ib~45b ; I, 248-265. "The Secret Doctrine in Israel and have not neglected prayer.1 The Messiah descends into this abode and thence he draws souls into the third palace. It is the place of those who have suffered extremely in earthly life as the result of serious disease. It contains also the souls of young children and of such as have shed tears over the destruction of the Temple. They are consoled by Messiah, who brings them into the fourth palace, where are the souls of all those who have shared the sorrow of Zion and those also who have been slain by the heathens. The fifth palace is the sojourn of true penitents who have restored their souls to a state of purity, and of those who have sanctified the Name of their Master by going to meet death for His glory.2 There also are the souls of those who have repented on their death-beds, for the Doctors of Kabalism insist no less on the possibility of saving the situation of life thus at the last moment than do the doctors of the Latin church : for the one and the other the great fatality resides in final impenitence. The sixth palace is the sojourn of the souls of Zelatorcs who have pro claimed the Master's unity, and have loved Him with a true love.3 The seventh palace is that which I have called superior in respect of the rest ; it is also more secret and mysterious. It is not unlike that .glimpse of the Beatific Vision which according to Catholic theology is seen for a moment by souls on the threshold of purgatory, or it is like the vision of Shekinah which is granted in artlculo mortis^ according to Kabalism — as we have seen. The soul on its departure from earth enters this palace for a moment — though there seems no assignable reason and though it is not said to see any thing : it is then immediately relegated to that sojourn which corresponds to its state at death. It will be noted that the parable has no logical consistence — and 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. 38b; DE PAULY, I, 237. 2 Ib,, fol. 39a ; I, 239. 3 Ib.; I, 240. The Soul in Kabalism it has no concurrence with previous accounts : if those who have suffered martyrdom for the glory of God have a particular abode assigned them, it is obvious that others who have died naturally for example have no title therein ; and so of the rest. Were it worth while to disturb one's mind on the subject, it might be sug gested that souls which have reached a certain grade in life do not pass through the palaces below that grade, while those who are below work, upward and attain the grade after a given period in the world to come. But the Zohar is really concerned only with enforcing the idea of ascent in the scale hereafter, and the logic of its fiction is of no consequence in comparison witfi the main object. It is therefore idle to rectify on our part ; let us realise rather that the Zohar is establishing another point of correspondence between the lesser and greater world. We have seen how early in the Christian centuries it has forestalled the modern doctrine of macrocosmic evolution and this now is a story of evolution in the microcosm, working on the basis of six periods corre sponding to those of creation ; while as the latter was followed by a period of rest, so is the seventh palace a place of the secrecy and mystery suggesting a Sabbatic state. But above it there is the other and ineffable order of the supernal palaces, and beyond the present epoch in created things there is the Messianic age to come, in which the story of the world and man reaches its end for Zoharic theosophy, as it does in the Apocalypse. The idea of reincarnation in Kabalism has been the subject of much confusion in the modern occult schools, which have depended, firstly, on the vague and incor rect vestige of elucidation offered by Adolphe Franck * 1 La Kabbale, pp. 244-247. There is postulated in the first place the fact of metempsychosis in Kabalism on the authority of Z., Pt. II,fol.99b, and afterwards the author gives a very imperfect account of the Zoharic doctrine concerning overshadowing, impingement, or embryonic states of souls, with which I am proceeding to deal. The Secret Die trine in Israel and, secondly, on the obvious misstatements of Eliphas Leva.1 It is dismissed by the one in a few paragraphs and the other states that the doctors of traditional science in Israel did not admit the subject. On the contrary, there is a very clear system of reincarnation scattered throughout the Zohar. To some extent the doctrine hinges on questions of paternity, for it is stated very plainly that when a man has failed to have children in this world, the Holy One will send him back, and many times at need, to fulfil what has been neglected, so that he is compared to a plant which is continually removed from the ground and located elsewhere — in the hope that it will do better.2 Reincarnation is not, however, an universal law, or at least it is contingent on other cases than the particular case which has been just specified. Those who have accomplished their mission during a single sojourn on earth rest near to the Holy One ; those who return are those who have not finished their work, whether it be that of parentage or otherwise.3 It is rather obvious that the perfect fulfilment of the Law was a matter of great difficulty, and we know that St. Paul regarded it as an intolerable burden ; we know also that failure in certain points voided the entire fulfilment; and the inference would seem to be that reincarnation for the doing of that which had been previously left undone arid for the undoing of that which was amiss formerly must, by the hypothesis, have been the rule rather than the exception. Hence it is said in one place that the words u seeing that he also is flesh " 4 signify that the spirit of man, meaning his soul, will be many times reclothed with flesh, until the time comes when the soul shall be susceptible of 1 See A. E. WAITE : The Mysteries of Magic: A Digest of the Writings of £liphas Lcvi. Second Edition, 1897, where it said that a multiplicity of incarnations has never been recognised by Kabalists of the first order. — pp, 131, 132. 2 Z., Pt. II, fol. i86b ; DE PAULY, II, 337. 8 Ib.} fol. i87b; II, 341. « Gen. vi, 3. The Soul in Kabalism receiving the spirit of God. In order that the significance of the expression should not remain doubtful, it is added that the Holy One will some day ransom the world and will grant the spirit in question to men generally, so that they may live eternally.1 This is said to be shewn by the words : " For as the days of a tree are the days of my people," 2 and also : " He will swallow up death in victory : and the Lord God will wipe away all tears from off all faces ; and the rebuke of His people shall He take away from off all the earth: for the Lord hath spoken it."3 Reincarnation or transmigration would seem also to be the invariable fate of the Gentiles ; I do not know what happens to those who die in whatever land they belong to, but there is no reason to suppose that they are better off in this respect than the souls of Pagans who deliver up their bodies in the Holy Land.4 Of these it is said that they are not received in heaven, that they wander about in the universe, transmigrate many times and finally return to the unclean place whence they came. The souls of Israel which leave the body outside Palestine have also transmigrations and wanderings before reaching the region assigned them.5 If this is to be taken as definite — and 1 do not think that the view is revised subsequently — one side of the law of reincarnation depends upon a merely external accident. It will be useful to remark here that the Zohar knows nothing concerning spaces of time intervening between death and rebirth ; the question does not seem to have arisen within their consciousness ; the period elapsing may have been variable, as it is regarded in Eastern doctrine ; but it is sometimes at least immediate. Seth, for example, was animated by the soul of Abel, which thus returned to earth.6 At the tbirth of Benjamin, however, his soul 1 An allusion apparently to the permanence of the resurrection state. 2 Is. Ixv, 22. 3 Is. xxv, 8. * Z., Pt. II, fol. i4ia ; DE PAULY, IV, 46. 6 Ib. • Ib., Pt. I, fol. 55a; I, 315. Adam is said to have called his son Seth to mark the end of a situation, the consonants of his name being the two last letters of the alphabet. "The Secret Doctrine in Israel left the body of his mother, which it had animated pre viously.1 At the death of Rachel, her soul animated the son of Benjamin.2 It seems to follow that in each case there were two fsouls at one time in the same body. It is said further that Phineas received the soul of Nadab and Abihu, who were alive at the time.3 Rabbi Simeon testifies that this is a mystery, meaning that their soul did not find refuge under the wings of Shekinah, because they left no children and had thus diminished the figure of the King. The King here is presumably the Adam Protoplastes of late Kabalism, corresponding to the Lesser Countenance. I have spoken already of the place — whatever it is, for it is indeed described variously — in which souls are reserved, awaiting the period of their primary embodiment in flesh ; I have mentioned also the notion that at the Messianic period the fount of souls will be exhausted, leading to the creation of entirely new cohorts.4 But it is said also that there will come a time when old souls, meaning souls in migration, will be renewed for the renewal of the world.5 Each of these souls which have been incarnated previously will be united to a new created soul, as it is written : " And it shall come to pass that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jeru salem, shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem.'* We see by these extracts that reincarnation according to Kabalism is complicated by several considerations and that the word impingement or overshadowing would be a better de scription of that which occurred in certain cases. The subject is not developed in the text itself, and it came 1 Z., Pt. I.,fol. issb; DE PAULY, II, 211. « Ib. 3 /£., Pt. Ill, fol. 2i6b; V, 550. The suggestion is difficult to follow and would scarcely deserve the pains. It is added that when Phineas slew Zimri and Cozbi the tribe of Simeon were keen on avenging the death of their chief; the soul of Phineas fled and the two wandering souls took possession of its vacant place. * Ib., fol. 28b; I, 179. 6 Pt. I, fol. iiga; II, 76, 77- 6 Is- iv, 3. The Soul in Kabalism into the hands of later Kabalists, who manufactured mighty systems thereon. The testimony of Isaac de Loria in his Book of the Revolutions of Souls is an instance of the lengths to which the subject could be carried and I shall have to deal with it at a later stage.1 The question of resurrection in connection with re incarnation created difficulties of its own. It was alleged that in the case of souls who take flesh several times the body which shall rise will be that in which the soul has succeeded in taking root, meaning presumably that it has fulfilled the Law in perfection.2 Those bodies in which the soul fails to reach its ends are like dried up trees which fall to dust, and they will rise no more. There is some subtlety in this as a way out of the difficulty created by the idea of resurrection in connection with the idea of rebirth. But it will be observed that nothing is said as to those who have been rooted only in wickedness. I may add that the Zoharic doctrine of the world to come and the recompenses and punishments therein is quite independent of any reincarnation hypothesis and cannot be adjusted thereto. The two ideas were developed almost certainly in complete independence of e.ach other. As regards resurrection, there is a variant of the above view, according to which the soul will return into the last body that was animated, but the previous bodies will rise also and will be animated with new souls. " If these bodies have fulfilled meritorious works " — I give the literal words in this instance — "they will continue, but if not they will return again to dust," and as no purpose will have been served, this reverie does not seem less than imbecile.3 Some incidental points may be summarised as follows. On the basis of the words : " One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh," 4 it is said that the generation which comes is that also which has passed.5 1 See Chapter XIX. ' 2 Z., Pt. I, fol. 1313; DEPAULY, II, 114. 8 Z., Pt. I., i3ia ; II, 114. * Eccles. i, 4. 6 Pt. I, fol. 268b. Book of Brightness ; II, 365. The Secret Doctrine in Israel Reincarnation is sometimes despite the soul and some times apparently otherwise.1 In one place it is formulated in the terms of uttermost simplicity by affirming that souls are sent for a second time on earth that they may repair faults committed on the first occasion.2 They come back also through the workings of grace, as for example when husband and wife have been sterile through no fault of theirs in a previous lifetime ; 3 on the next occasion they will be enabled to fulfil the Law, though it is not suggested that they will do so one with another. This implies that the axiom once an Israelite always an Israelite obtains automatically, and though I have not had occasion to mention it previously, it may be said now that what may be called the primordial generation of the chosen people insures this — supposing that rebirth occurs. There is another point : reincarnation is good because good reasons are, by the hypothesis, behind it, but as it is not good in itself it is well to be spared therefrom. In conclusion, rebirth befalls those who do not study the Law, the inference being that those who do and who at the same time fulfil the other precepts do not suffer transmigration. 4 1 Z., Pt. II, fol. 96b ; DE PAULY, III, 387, 388. 2 70., Pt. II, fol. 54a; III, 244. 3 70., fol. loga ; III, 429, 430. * 70., Pt. Ill, fol. iy8b, The Faithful Shepherd; V, 464. Accord ing to the testimony at this point, incarnation may take place thrice, because of the words : " Lo, all these things worketh God often times with man." — Job xxxiii, 29. The Zohar renders the passage : " Behold what God doeth in respect of each man, even to the third time." Compare the Vulgate : Ecce haec omnia operatur Deus tribus vicibus per singulos. CHAPTER XIV THE DOCTRINE CONCERNING SHEOL IF there be any subject on which it might seem reason able to expect something like unanimity of opinion in the traditions of Kabalism, I should have thought that it would have been the question of rewards and punish ments — the latter perhaps more especially. The very contrary happens to be the case, and it is the more difficult to account for as by no extension of language can. the question of the temporal or eternal punishment reserved for disincarnate souls be regarded as a real part of the Secret Doctrine. It seems to me that the Doctors testified very often with the unmeasured words of enthusiasm and that the emotion of the moment gave the inward meaning to the written word much more frequently than any abstruse law of interpretation. I will speak first of that which is held to occur at the time of death and then of punishment in Sheol, with special reference to its duration. Many things which are hidden from the mind and heart of man so long as the body is in health are beheld by the soul when it is hovering between life and death.1 Three messengers descend who begin to count up the days that he has lived, the sins that he has committed, and all the works which he has accomplished here below. 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. 79a; DE PAULY, I, 462. This is held to be the " spiritual interpretation " of Job xxxvii, 7, which reads thus in the Authorised Version : " He sealeth up the hand of every man ; that all men may know His work." In the Revised Version there is the follow ing variant of the last words : " That all men whom He hath made may know it." Cf. the Vulgate : Qui in inami omnium Jwminum signat, ut noiierint singuli opera sna. But the Zohar reads : " He causes every man to sign with his own hand, that each may know His acts." 173 ' The Secret Doctrine in Israel The dying man confesses with his lips to the facts so related and signs the prods-verbal with his own hand, psychic or not, as you please.1 Thereon is he judged, for Zoharic theology, like that of the Latin Church, recognises a particular as well as a general judgment at the end of time. On quitting this lower world the man gives account to his Master on the basis of the record which has been mentioned. Having crossed the threshold, he recognises many persons whom he knew on earth. As we have seen otherwise, he also beholds Adam seated before the Garden of Eden, so that he may rejoice with those who have observed the commands of their Master. Adam is ever encompassed with a multitude of the just, who have learned how to avoid the path going down to hell and who have been gathered into the abode of Paradise.2 Another account says that when the soul leaves this world, it is stopped by a number of angels who preside over the offices of severity, and is prevented from pass ing through that door by which it would attain a place on high if the person has left no pledge on earth, mean ing no son.3 Those who would enjoy the inheritance of God and be united with Him for ever in the land of life must have produced male issue, so that the Divine Law may continue to have its servants through all generations.4 1 The thesis is that sins are committed while spirit is united to body, and the account rrjust be taken therefore before their separation is com pleted.— Z., Pt. I, fol. 79a ; DE PAULY, I, 463. Zoharic pneumatology is inextricable, but we may remember that, according to one testimony, Neshamah cannot sin, whence it cannot be under the judgment ; Nephesh remains with the body for twelve months, and it would seem therefore that it is Rua-h only which enters into reward or punishment as a result of the particular judgment ; but in contrast hereto, we must remember further that all parts of the inward personality are one, by another account, so that the Zohar, like Latin doctrine, recognises fundamentally only (i) body and (2) soul. 2 /£., fol. 65b ; I, 386. 3 /£., fol. ii5b; 11,63. * This is the higher side of the desire which prevailed in Israel towards the increase and predominance of the people ; it was not alone The Doctrine concerning Sheol It is said also elsewhere that the day of death is the day of the Lord.1 When the Holy One desires that the soul should return to Him, it does so return if worthy.2 In the case of the just man his approach to the gate of death is proclaimed in the Garden of Eden throughout the thirty days which go immediately before the event.3 During these days the soul is separated nightly from the body and ascends to heaven for the purpose of inspecting the place reserved for it in the world to come.4 It follows also from a tradition mentioned by the Zohar that at the actual hour of death man is allowed to see his departed relations and friends, that he recognises these and that they appear to him with the same countenances which they wore here below.5 If the man is worthy, his relations and friends salute him full of joy ; in the contrary case, he beholds only the guilty whom he has known and who are expiating their offences in hell. They are all plunged in sadness. Relations and friends accompany the soul into the other world and shew him the place of his reward or punishment. This is one side of the story 6 but another is that when the souls of those who have studied the Doctrine relinquish the body which is composed of the four elements they ascend into heaven — or into that part and that they might inherit the earth but that the Law might prevail therein. The production of children was therefore for the glory of God. It was a continuous building of houses not made with hands which might become meet for His habitation. Here is one sense in which the Zoharic mystery of sex was a great mystery of sanctity and a divine work in the world. 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. 2i7b ; DE PAULY, II, 457. 2 There is firstly a purgation by fire according to fol. 2iyb ; II, 457, for those who are imperfect and yet not deserving of entire condemna tion. The purgatorial state of Catholicism is therefore recognised. 3 Z., Pt. I, fol. 2i7b; 11,457. 4 Id. 6 /£., fol. 2i8b; 11,463. The point is of interest in connection with death -bed visions in Jewry at the period to which the text is referable. 6 It is said also that the highest place in the world to come is kept in reservation for those who have (a) penetrated the mysteries of their Master and (b) learned how to cleave to Him during life. It follows that the illumination of mind by Divine Things has a greater reward than works, but the works are necessary. — 7#., fol. I3ob ; II, in. The Secret Doctrine in Israel region which is allocated to the four living creatures.1 The more general thesis is that the spirit which man attracts during life will draw his soul after death. Should it have been the Holy Spirit he will be raised thereby into the higher realms and there — incorporated in the legion of sacred angels — he will become a servant of the Holy One.2 He enjoys in the world above that light which he has desired here on earth. It is called " the splendour of light in reverberation," 3 reflected by that which is in the region above all regions. Souls are clothed hi what is characterised as the Mantle of the Master, in the absence of which they would be incapable of approaching the light and contemplating it.4 I suppose that this mantle is that which is called vest ments in another place. These are said to be stored in a certain palace, each being adapted to that soul for which it is reserved.5 All the good works which have been performed by him or her are, so to speak, embroidered thereon. The soul is not clothed, how ever, until the thirtieth day after death, because the sins committed on earth have to be expiated during this period, indifferently by bad and good. It is an expiation by fire and a passage through a river of fire.6 There is, moreover, a punishment of the body in the 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. 273, b ; DE PAULY, I, 170. 2 //>., fol. looa ; II, 8. The authority is : "I will give thee places to walk among" these that stand by." — Zech. iii, 7. C[. Vulgate : Et dabo fil'i ambit hint es tic his qui nunc his assistunt. The Zoharic version is : " I will give thee access among those who stand before me." 3 Z., Pt. I., fol. 6sb, 66a ; I, 187. * //;., fol. 66a ; I, 388. 6 Z., Pt. II, fol. 2ioa ; IV, 217. The vestments seem to be different from that which Latin theology terms "the form of the soul" and from which occultism with its derivatives calls the actual and psychic body. They are rather the soul's clothing in its literal sense, corresponding in things above to that worn by the High Priest in the ceremonies of the Sanctuary. I note further that in the Earthly Paradise souls are clothed with good works but in the Paradise above they are clothed more gloriously, namely, with purity of intention, Tightness of heart and prayers. — /£., fol. 2iob; IV, 218. 6 //>., fol. 21 ib ; IV, 221.— Pt. I, fol. 20ia ; II, 397. I76 The Doctrine concerning Sheol grave * for a period of twelve months,2 during which the so-called animal spirit — or Nephesh — is attracted thereto and suffers therewith ; but the just are not subject to this. As there does not seem to be any purgation in view the intervention of this ordeal is idle. And now with regard to those who go down into hell I will endeavour to tabulate the distinctions and counter- distinctions under two heads, collating firstly those statements which predicate the everlasting notion of their torments. It is laid down that the Holy One forgives every man who repents of his sins ; but it is woe to those who will not and who persist in their evil conduct. They will be precipitated after death into hell and will not issue therefrom through all eternity.3 The same idea is expressed analogically in another place as follows. The souls of those who defile their bodies, and of the evil generally, go down into hell and never come forth therefrom,4 Of these it is said : " As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away : so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more/' 5 But the Zohar here understands the grave (Sheol) in the sense of hell, against the obvious meaning of the verse. Again, to fall into the hands of him who is called the Angel of Vindication is defined to be death in eternity.6 These instances will suffice as to one aspect of the subject, and it will be observed that they are sufficiently unqualified.7 1 Z., Pt. Ill, fol. 533 ; DE PAULY, V, 144. 2 /#., Pt. I, fol. 22 5a ; II, 487. The Nephesh knows also the suffer ings of survivors but cannot go to their aid. After the twelve months it is clothed with that envelope to which I have referred previously and goes on wings through the world, learning from the Rurfh the mis fortunes which befall man and seeking to communicate with these, so that they may pray for the evil to be averted. But this we have seen. 3 Pt. I, fol. 66a ; I, 389, 390. 4 7^., fol. 77b ; I, 455. 6 Job vii, 9. 6 Z., Pt..I,fol. 94a ; I, 535. The Angel of Vindication is Douma, and the Gentiles seem to be his victims en masse (#.), while that which is the protection of Israel against him and his consequences is the sign of the Covenant, on the understanding that it is preserved in purity. 1 Respecting punishment in the other world, man was not considered to have attained his majority — and therefore to be capable of punish ment — till he had reached the age of twenty years. — /£., fol. n8b; II, 74. 177 M "The Secret Doctrine in Israel As much can be said of those in the opposite category, though if possible they seem more salient. There are only two extracts which need especially concern us ; the first is an unqualified statement that the guilty are chastised in the fires of hell, but that they are not damned for all eternity.1 Indeed the period has been fixed by tradition at twelve months, being that of the sufferings of Job.2 This is the first statement, and the second is that at the end of time all the guilty will be saved, with the single exception of Canaan.3 It is said that this mystery is not unknown to those who are familiar with the highroads and bypaths of the Secret Doctrine.4 The tradition respecting Caanan is part of an obscure sex-mystery which scarcely calls for notice. It belongs to the same realm of reverie as another mystery which presided over the marriage of Bathshebah with Uriah before she was espoused to David.5 It is added that those who know this mystery will be in a position to see why the Holy Land was given as a patrimony to Canaan before the coming of the Israelites. The question is whether there is any middle term by which we can reconcile the two series of conflicting testimonies, and if it be granted beforehand that the Doctors of the Secret Law, as they are reported in the Zohar, were frequently very loose in their statements, we may find what we seek almost at the end of the great text.6 There, on the authority of yet another tradition, it is affirmed that there are various compartments in hell, one beneath another, and corresponding to the different 1 Z., Pt. II, fol. 2ib; DE PAULY, III, 105. There is some un- demonstrable way in which this assurance and its consolation are drawn from Is. xxxiii, 12 : "And the people shall be as the burnings of lime : as thorns cut up shall they be burned in the fire." But the Zohar gives "thorn-bush'' and institutes a comparison with the burning but uncon- sumed bush on Mount Sinai. 2 And also of Nephesh with the body.— Z., Pt. I, fol. isob ; II, in. 3 Z., Pt. I, fol. 73b ; I, 435. See also fol. U4b ; II, 60, 61, where it is argued that all men will be acquitted at the celestial judgment. « Ib. 6 //A, fol. 73b ; I, 436- 6 Z., Pt. Ill, fol. 28sb, 286a ; VI, 67. I78 'The Doctrine concerning Sbeol degrees of culpability found among men. The lowest of all bears the name of Abaddon, and the man who is cast therein is lost through all eternity, because it has no door through which he can go out therefrom. It is about this place that it is said : " As the cloud is con sumed and vanisheth away : so he that goeth down to the grave (Sheofy shall come up no more." J This not withstanding, says the Zohar, we learn otherwise from Scripture that " He sends down into hell and again He brings forth therefrom." 2 The first of these verses refers to the lowermost pit and the second to one of those places from which escape is possible.3 Canaan is not located and the darksome picture of the deep below the deep is relieved by the unconscious grotesquerie which testifies that the denizens of this region are those who, prompted by disdain, have omitted the word "Amen" which completes the forms of prayer Two other points deserve to be mentioned in this connection as they tend to shew that the Zohar might have furnished some useful material to the pious author of Hell Opened to Christians. It is said 4 that the impure soul which is cast into Sheol is sometimes drawn out therefrom and carried through celestial realms, with this cry going before it : <c Such is the lot of those who transgress the commandment of their Master." It is then returned to its place. There may be some justice in adding that this moral diversion is meted out in that part of the text which limits the period of damnation to twelve months, after which the soul is remitted to a suitable region. Here is the first point, and the second 1 Job vii, 9. 2 I Sam. ii, 6. The French translators follow the Vulgate, which says, Liber Primus Samuelis, quern nos Priinum Regum dicimus. a But as a travesty of the whole situation — as we shall see immediately — the abysmal hell is reserved to punish acts of irreverence. I make a point of this because one is inclined to speculate whether Rabbi Simeon — who is the supposed speaker — was not secretly insinuating the opposite of that which he expressed. 4 Z., Ft. I, fol. isob; DE PAULY, II, in. The Secret Doctrine in Israel is a brief picture 1 of souls located in Paradise proceeding to view ceremonially the chastisement of the guilty. So does eschatology reproduce itself independently in the minds of its makers. I do not suggest that the Zohar in this place is really a post-Thomist text, nor that St. Thomas Aquinas was acquainted with the Zoharic Com mentary on Exodus^ but I say that the same notion is found in both. In conclusion as to the whole matter: (i) There are three chiefs in hell, acting as overseers of those who are doomed for murder, incest and idolatry.2 If this is to be taken literally, Barabbas would have left the premises without a stain upon his character ; but the inference is doubtless that greater crimes stand at the head of a long list in their respective sequences. (2) The chastisement is by fire and ice,3 but an elucidation in another place4 explains that the waters which fall from above are cold as ice, while the fire which comes up from below is water which burns. (3) The souls of the heathens will never come out of hell.6 I suppose that things more ridiculous have never been said on the subject of retribution, but there are gleams here and there of a better sense. It is recorded for example that those who have been guilty on earth but have been also punished on earth will not suffer in eternity if thev have shewn resignation here.6 And I observe rather frequently a disposition in the doctors to lean towards human mercy and to forget very often even their sentence on the heathen in general. There is a feeling that all men will be acquitted at the general judg- 1 Z.,Pt. II,fol.2i2a; DE PAULY, IV, 221, 222. As regards both these points they constitute solitary statements in the text, but the second is on the authority of Rabbi Simeon, by which I mean that it is imputed to him and occurs in one of his discourses. /£., Pt. Ill, fol. 2373, The Faithful Shepherd '; V, 576. Ib., Pt. I, fol. 238b; II, 542. /£., fol. 68b ; I, 405. Ib., fol. 4b of Appendix III, to Pt. I, i.e. Secret Midrasli ; IT, 687. 7&.,Pt. I, fol. io8ar; 11,42. I 80 The Doctrine concerning Sbeol ment/ and there is one place from which it seems to follow that Satan himself will become again an angel of light.2 So is the " broken circle " made whole by fits and starts. There are the following supplements and alternatives which have suggestive points, and they serve, moreover, the unintended purpose of proving that eschatology in the Zohar is in a state of complete rlux : all views were possible and the alternatives of all views. The souls of those who die impenitent go forth naked and find no envelope,3 but it is set forth pretty plainly elsewhere that some kind of vesture is essential to personal existence. They suffer punishment in hell, but many of them are saved at the end of time, being those who intended to repent but did not get to the work. They take up their task in Sheol and its gates are opened subsequently in their respect. There is nothing more agreeable than this to the Sacred King, a view that is illustrated amply in another place. It is laid down furthermore that even those who are just and nearly approach perfection go down into hell (i) because all have been guilty of some offences at least ; but (2) because it is theirs to bring forth those very sinners who had proposed to repent in this life but succeeded only on the other side of the grave.4 So and continually docs the Zohar Jean towards mercy, as I have said, though it holds out little hope for persons who have planned no atonement : 5 they re main in the place of perdition for ever.J This is the 1 Z., I't. I, fol. ii4b, lisa; DE 1'AULY, 1 1, 6061. 2 It is even said that while we are to be on our guard against the attacks of the demon we are not authorised to treat him with contempt. — lb., it. II, fol. 237b; IV, 265. See also Ft. 1 1 1, fol. 2650; VI, 19. 3 lb., i;t. II, iol. isoa; IV, 70. 4 //»., Ft. I II, fol. 22oij ; V, 558. We have seen already that intention is greater than works and the uttermost sacredness is ascribed thereto. It may be said therefore that the Zohar is inclined to pave the way to God with good intentions rather than the road to hell, as the old proverb puts it. But it is imp.ied of course that such intentions pass continually into \vork ; it is a question therefore rather of a permanently right direction of heart and mind. 5 lb. ° See I't. II, fol. ^oa, b; IV, 70, 71. "The Secret Doctrine in Israel case especially with those who have led a life of debauch ; they do not have respite on the Sabbath — like the rest of the damned.1 However, another thesis shews that the flames of hell are stilled of necessity on that day.2 By these and all other considerations ' we are justified in applying the most liberal sense to the vague suggestions that all men — Jew and Gentile — will enter ultimately into some kind of salvation and that hell will give up all its prey at the end of days, whether demons and the prince of demons or men, including Canaan. One last word : the doctors of the Zohar coun tenanced prayers for the dead, one of them asking another to visit his tomb for seven days following his burial, there to plead for his soul.3 1 Z., Pt. II, fol. i sob; DE PAULY, IV, 72. 2 /£., Pt. I, fol. i4b; 11,84. 3 Ib.f fol. 2i7b ; II, 458. It is testified also that the faithful departed pray for those who are alive, without which the latter would be unable to subsist for a single day, or even part of a day. — /#., Pt. II, fol. i6b ; III, 75. This is another side of a very clear Christian reflection — the intercession of the just above for those who need help below. CHAPTER XV CONCERNING RESURRECTION SEEING that the doctrine of physical resurrection remains to our confusion as something of a blot on the 'scutcheon of Catholic theology, it may be reasonable to ascertain that which is advanced on the subject by Zoharic theo- sophy. We shall find that it is pleased to be particular — I was about to say — in no common degree ; but my readers may judge for themselves. It will be thought, and this naturally, that a secret doctrine which offers no enlightenment on the subject — in the sense that we should attach to this term- — is scarcely one that can appeal to the modern mind and much less that of the mystic ; but I trust that I have done nothing throughout the present study to reduce the difficulties, or — if it should be preferred — the impossible nature of much that has been transmitted from this source. To say otherwise would be to pose as unserious. We are, how ever, concerned in reality only with the root-matter of the tradition and we have yet to reach a decision thereon. If the central testimony should prove of moment, it is of little importance — however regrettable otherwise — that there should be a considerable accretion of waste and drift from all sources encrusted over it.1 I believe that so far in our quest we have come across much that is at least of a certain value, while the curiosities — taken as such — are not in themselves idle. In respect of physical resurrection we shall find, in the first place, that it is 1 The point is that the root-matter is not one of metaphysical specula tion or dogmatic teaching merely : it is a practice connected with a theory, the latter on account of the practice belonging to a category apart. *fhe Secret Doctrine in Israel physical above all things, and as the Sons of the Doctrine happen to be acquainted with the modus operandi of the whole process, we may have great expectations on the wonder-side and, though we can scarcely look to be edified, the lessons in other respects may not be without significance. I should record in the first place that it must be left as an open question whether the Gentiles are included in the scheme of resurrection.1 This is negatived categori cally in one place,2 while in another it is added by way of re-expression that only the circumcised will subsist at that dreadful day.3 But even here there are reservations, for certain persons belonging to the past of Israel — persons conspicuous by their ill-doing — are regarded as blotted out completely, so that for them there is neither judgment nor rising.4 The restrictions would be still greater if several casual statements were to be construed literally — as when it is said, for example, that resurrection is by the merit of chastity.5 The vesture of holy days — about which we have heard — is a particular aid of the just;6 1 For example, when it is said without qualifying the statement that the guilty will rise with the just, will do penance and will enjoy thereafter the light of God, there can be no question that the reference is to Israel alone. — Z., Pt. I, Appendix III, Mathnitin ; DE FAULV, II, 711. 2 The words are that God will command his Servant who is charged with the work of resurrection not to restore their souls to the Gentile peoples. — /^., fol. i8ib ; II, 317. The servant is Metatron. a Id., Pt. II, fol. 576; 111,256. 4 Ib., Pt. I, fol. 6ga ; I, 406. The allusion is especially to the sin of Onan, the enormity of which is ever present to the mind of the Doctrine. See also fol. 66a ; I, 390. 5 /£., fol. 22oa ; IV, 234. The remark should perhaps be taken in the sense of the previous extract. 6 Another account tells us that when a man has maintained his soul in its pristine purity, on leaving this world many lights are poured upon him and he is preserved against the day of resurrection in a hidden Palace of Love where the King of Heaven kisses the holy souls. — /£., Pt. II, fol. 97a ; III, 389. The Scriptural authority is Ex. xxi, 9, very curiously adapted : " He shall deal with her after the manner of daughters." It follows that all souls in respect of God are held to be female by the Zohar, and the kind of Divine Union here adumbrated is remarkably like that which we meet with in m my recognised aspects of Christian Mysticism. Concerning Resurrection 'but as it is certain that many of the wicked will also come to judgment it is possible that evil days may serve in their case, while making for their condemnation of course.1 The general thesis of the subject is put very clearly as follows : When circumstances required it, a simple morsel of wood — the reference is to Aaron's rod — was transformed by the Holy One into a thing having body and life. With how much the more reason will He change into new creatures those forms which possessed previously a vital spirit and a holy soul, fulfilling the commandments of the Law, consecrated to its study.2 It is the same bodies that have existed heretofore which will be resuscitated, as it is written : " Thy dead men shall live ; " 3 and they will be animated by the same souls.4 There is a sense, however, in which they will be formed anew, but they will have the aspects of old and will be therefore recognisable.5 The new formation is more especially a Divine act of healing, so that the lame and the blind will be so disqualified no longer.6 This will be effected by the rays of that primitive sun 7 which shone at the beginning, embracing the whole world from one extremity to the other.8 After God had beheld 1 Z., Ft. I, fol. 224a, b ; DE PAULY, II, 483, 484. 2 Ib.> Pt. II, fol. 28b; ill, 135, 136. J Is. xxvi, 19. * Z., Pt. I, fol. 1305 ; II, 113. 5 /£., Pt. Ill, fol. 9ia; V, 243. 6 Ib. See also Pt. I, fol. 2O3b ; 1 1, 410. The robes of glory, or sacred vestures and vehicles with which the disembodied soul is clothed in the state of beatitude, being psychic garments would, by the hypothesis, serve in the transfiguration of the risen physical body, though there would not be two envelopes one within the other, this idea being set aside by the Zohar, as we have seen. 7 The Gentile nations will be consumed by its fire. — /#., fol. 6 /£., fol. 203b; II, 410. The light of this concealed sun encom passed Moses as an infant among the bulrushes ; it surrounded him on Mount Sinai, wlience the children of Israel could not look upon his countenance ; and in some sense it remained with him for the rest of his life.— 7/5., foi. 310; 1, 19^. There is no question that it was the light ot Shekinati, which would have been presumably always in manifestation, if man — according to the legend — had not proved unworthy of the mysteries which would have been revealed therein. The Secret Doctrine in Israel the generations of Enoch, with those of the deluge and confusion of tongues, He concealed this light, which had curative properties. Its future restoration as stated signifies the restoration and enlightenment of Israel. It is said that "in that day shall there be one Lord, and His name one." 1 We should read between these lines to our destruction did we seek to spiritualise any of the statements made : there is nothing so fell as their literalness, and the details to which I have alluded rise up here and there for our complete confusion. The resurrection of the dead will take place in the order of their interment : 2 if a wife was the first to be buried, it is she who will rise first, and this rule seems to prevail through the ages, with an exception in favour of those who died in the desert : the trumpet will sound for these sooner than for the rest of humanity.3 When the great day approaches it will be the task of Metatron to embellish the bodies in the sepulchres and presumably to prepare them for rising ; 4 but when the hour sounds the Holy One will cause a dew to fall, and it is thanks to this that the event itself will be accomplished. It will be a dew of light and it will emanate from the Tree of Life.5 There is, however, a special dispensation in respect of students of the Doctrine. Whether or not without prejudice to those who died in the desert, it is those who will be raised first,6 and they will bear witness in favour of the 1 Zech. xiv, 9. 2 Z., Pt. Ill, fol. 1643. ; DE PAULY, V, 423. 3 /£., fol. i68b ; V, 437. 4 Ib., Pt. I, Appendix III, Mathnitin, fol. 6a; II, 705. But it is Matrona who preserves the souls for resurrection. — /#., Pt. Ill, fol. 2220 ; V, 561. 6 Z., Pt. I, fol. 1300, I3ia; II, 113. It is said elsewhere that at the time of resurrection (i) the waters of that heavenly fountain which is represented' by the letter Yod will flow forth afresh; (2) the 32 paths of communication between things above and below will be open freely ; and (3) all letters of the Sacred Name will be complete, which has not been the case in the world heretofore. — Ib., fol. loa ; I, 42. ' /&, fol. I75b, 1763; II, 290, 291. The risen bodies of these will subsist always, because the Law will be their protection. Concerning Resurrection rest. The instrument in their case will be a wind which shall be the synthesis of all winds. These things stand at their value, but there is a sort of central fact — ex hypothesi — which may be held to ex plain everything ; each man who is born into the world is provided with an imperishable bone in his present physical body, and it is from or on this that his organisa tion will be built up anew at the time of the resurrection * —it is like the rib taken from the side of Adam. The bone in question will be to the risen body that which the leaven is to the dough. So is it sown a natural body and raised miraculous enough, though scarcely — on the evidence — spiritual. Now, it is said in one place that by virtue of the dew of light, already mentioned, the resurrection of bodies will be as the upspringing of flowers,2 but this is the poetry of the subject, and there is another side of the question. It was desirable for the peace of the doctors that such an event as resurrection should take place only in Palestine, and it became neces sary to devise a particular scheme for the great majority of Israel dying outside the precincts of that sacred land. This was done by postulating that, after their recon- stitution, the bodies of such persons will be transported underground to the Holy Land, and there only will they receive their souls.3 The complete resurrection will begin in Galilee.4 Souls will come down through the gates of heaven and rejoin their bodies.5 At first it will be a day of severity, for the Holy One will demand an account of all actions prior to the separation of soul and body ; the books of record will be opened and the chiefs of severity will stand ready to act.6 But Israel is a nation 1 Z., Pt. I., fol. 6ga ; DE PAULY, I, 406. See also Appendix III to Pt. I, Secret Midrash ; II, 716. 2 Z., Pt. I, fol. I3ob, I3ia ; II, 113. 3 70., fol. I3ia; II, 115. 4 70., Pt. n» fo1- ioa ; 111,42. 6 70., Pt. I, Appendix III, Secret Midrash', II, 712. 6 70., Pt. I, fol. 2oib; II, 401. The particular and general judgment of Latin theology are therefore recognised by the Zohar, as we have seen previously. It is said also that the " Serpent will rise up to bite and man shall tremble in all his members." — 70. The Secret Doctrine in Israel of the elect ; the guilty who rise with the just will do penance and thereafter will enjoy the Divine splendour.1 It is even testified — as we have seen — that the tempter- spirit will be transformed,2 though whatever is understood by extermination is meted out to him in other passages.3 The Holy One will bless the bodies of the just and will render them like the body of Adam in the state of Paradise. Such souls will bring with them the higher lights which nourish them during their sojourn in heaven, between the death and the rising, and those lights will make their bodies radiant.4 Soul and body in tine shall know their Master.5 A great festival will follow ; but in place of the salted leviathan promised to the elect by the Talmud the refection will be spiritual, because those who are truly just have no need to eat or drink but are nourished by the splendour of Shekinah.0 I am no doubt exceeding the restricted province which I have chosen, but it seems to me difficult to deny that Zoharic eschatology is permeated with that of the Christian scheme, as presented by the Latin Church. Subject to the distinctions — not always main tained on the question of the duration of punishment — all souls at death go to the place prepared for them and the judgment connected with the resurrection determines once and for all the state of humanity for ever. There is neither change nor vicissitude thereafter. The just in their risen bodies will behold the Divine, so that the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of God.7 In this world — as it now is — they are in a state of imper- 1 Z,, Pt. I, Appendix III, Mathnitin ; DE PAULY, II, 711. 2 Ib.y Appendix III, Secret Midrash\ II, 716. The passage is a good example of the Zohar in its most cryptic mood. " The tempter spirit and his two daughters will be transformed. Formerly he was called Lot, meaning malediction, but hereafter he will be called Laban, meaning wife." 3 In one place it is said merely that he will disappear. — /^., Pt. I, fol. I3ia; II, 114. 4 70., Pt. I, Appendix III, Secret Midrash; II, 696. 6 /£.; 11,713. 6 70., P. 714. 7 70., Pt. I, Appendix III, Secret Midrash; II, 713. /£., p. 696. Concerning Resurrection faction, but after the resurrection they will be perfect and will rejoice with Shekinah.1 Their bodies will be like the splendour of the firmament, or like silver that has no alloy.2 So also will the earth be renewed.3 1 7/5., p. 698. 2 /#., Pt, I, Appendix III, Secret Midrash ; II, 699. 3 /£., p. 697. I will mention in this connection for the students of numerical mysticism that the number 40 seems to be a resurrection or renewing number. — Ib. Appendix III, Secret Midrash: II, 715, 716— where the recurrences of the number in the Old Testament are tabulated. It will be remembered that the Ascension of Christ occurred 40 days after the Resurrection. CHAPTER XVI THE MYSTERY OF SHEKINAH THERE is a very true sense in which the Secret Doctrine of the Zohar must be said to centre in that mystery, whatsoever it may be, which lies behind the wonder and glory of Shekinah — a recurring, and speaking literally, incessant subject of reference in adoring honour through out the great text. There is a very true sense further more in which it may be said that out of this mystery all Kabalism seems to issue and, moreover, goes back therein. It would have been very reasonable, if indeed it had been possible, to have opened my study of the Doctrine with this subject, but it would have involved entering at once into its most recondite and difficult part, one also which might have made the whole under taking insuperable for the general and unversed reader.1 As it is, I must proceed carefully, not only on account of the difficulties but because the keys of the mystery open into a region about which there are grave motives for speaking with considerable reserve, when it is possible to speak at all. It is here, if anywhere in our subject, 1 The old maxim of the mystical alchemist, Khunrath, seems to obtain in every direction without variation or reduction : Sigillum Nattircc et Artis simplicitas^ and I quote it here, as I have quoted it on several occasions elsewhere, to indicate that it is one which applies in a paramount manner to the root of the Secret Doctrine in Israel; for the vast body of cryptic writing and the practice concealed behind it arose out of that one verse in Scripture Avhich says: "So God" — that is to say, Elohim — "created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him ; male and female" — defining the nature of the image — "created He them." — Gen. i, 27. The difficulty therefore to which I have alluded above is not in respect of the fact wherein the Doctrine centres but in the complications of its development and in the details of the practical part. "The Mystery of Shekinah that we shall find whether as mystics we are coming into something which is our own in the matter of Jewish theosophy or whether we must relegate it to the curiosities of past speculation that are not of our vital concern. " The sole object with which the Holy One, blessed be He, sends man into this world is to know that Jehovah is Elohim."1 Herein is also all true joy of heart.2 Now, it is in this manner that I open the high conference respecting the mystery of Shekinah, which is a mystery of man and God, of man in the likeness of the Elohim, of the relation between things above and things below, of intercourse for union upon earth performed in the spirit of celestial union, and the transmutation of one by the other for the work of God in the world. In this union abides the Mystery of Faith, which is the synthesis of the whole Law — Written and Oral Law — and of all that exists whatsoever. But union is not identity,3 whence it is said further that Jehovah and Elohim are distinct, not synonymous, though to gether they form an unity.4 It must be explained in the first place that Elohim is a title of Shekinah and so also is Adonai,5 in which sense — but presumably for us in manifestation — she is called the Mirror of Jehovah.6 Like the First Matter of the Great Work in alchemy, Shekinah is almost myriony.mous in respect of her designations, but the chief ascriptions are feminine. She 1 Z., Pt. II, fol. i6ib, i62a; DE PAULY, IV, 101, 102. There is also a marriage of the two names in Kabalism, producing the Sacred Name of nine letters, the consonants succeeding one another alternately, thus— Q^nm^ntP : Yod, Aleph, lie, Lamed, Vau, he, He, Yod, Mem.— Ib., iv, 151. It is said also: " And the Lord God formed man" (Gen. ii, 7) — i.e.f Jehovah Elohim, the male principle united to the female, according to the Zohar. Man is said to be grafted on Elohim, as the latter is grafted on Jehovah.— Z., Pt. II, fol. 26oa ; IV, 293. 2 Id., Pt. Ill, fol. 8b ; V, 23. 3 Ib,, Pt. II, fol. i62a ; IV, 102. * Cf. Deut. iv, 35 L " Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know that the Lord He is God" — or, as the Zohar quotes it, that Jehovah is Elohim. 6 Z., Pt. I, fol. loia; II, 10. • Ib., Pt. II, fol. I24b ; 111,482. The Secret Doctrine in Israel is now the Daughter of the King ; she is now the Betrothed, the Bride and the Mother, and she is sister in relation to the world of man at large.1 There is a sense also in which this Daughter of God is — or becomes — the Mother of man. In respect of the manifest universe, she is the architect of worlds, acting in virtue of the Word uttered by God in creation. In respect of the myth of Paradise, the Shekinah is the Eden which is above, whence the river of life flows forth that waters the Garden below, and this is also Shekinah as she is conceived in external things — or Bride, Daughter and Sister in the world below. Considered in her Divine Womanhood, in the world of transcendence, she is the Beloved who ascends towards the Heavenly Spouse, and she is Matrona who unites with the King, for the perfection of the Divine Male is in the Divine Female. Hence it is said that the perfection of Jehovah is in Elohim.2 She is a trinity in respect of her title as Elohim, for there is an Elohim in transcendence — concealed and mysterious — an Elohim that judges above and one who judges below ; but these three are one.3 As such, the Oral Law is her image, while the image of Jehovah is the Written Law.4 So also she is the waters that are above the firmament in respect of her title of Elohim, but she is the waters below the firmament when she manifests as Adonai.5 As Elohim she is the Middle Pillar,6 and all the various aspects of the one thing that is needful from the stand point of the Secret Tradition are collocated, their seeming exclusiveness notwithstanding, to shew that she abides 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. 8ib ; DE PAULY, I, 470. See also Pt. Ill, fol. 29;b ; VI, 124, for Shekinnh nnd Matrona ; Pt. I, fol. 2763. Book of Brightness ; II, 644, for Daughter of the King ; and Pt. II, fol. loob; III, 406 for all the synonyms. 2 /£., P. Ill, fol. 5a; V, u. 3 //;., Pt. II, fol. 257*1 ; IV, 290. 4 7&, fol. i6ib ; IV, 102. 5 /£, Pt. I, fol. i7b, i8a ; I, 108. 6 /£., fol. 2783, The Faithful Shepherd; II, 647. 'See also fol. 24ia; 11,552. The Mystery of Shekinah in all, is at once above and below, without even as within. She is that Divine Presence which walked in the Garden of Eden in the cool of the evening, went before Israel in the desert and protects the just man who has fulfilled the precepts, dwelling in his house and going forth with him in his journeys.1 As Elohim, in fine, she is the middle degree of the Divine Essence.2 Now, in all the references cited up to this point the intention of the Zohar has been to shew in the most positive and unqualified way that the Shekinah is female in its essential aspect, whether as the Bride of God in that transcendent state wherein there is no distinction between her and the Holy One3 or whether as the tutelary guide of humanity.4 But in preparation for another part of our subject it is necessary to glance at certain alternative allocations which appear in the Zohar. The Shekinah is the Liberating Angel who delivers the world in all ages,5 who is ever near to man and never separated from the just.6 Of her it is said : " Behold, I send an angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have pre pared."7 But it is stated that this Liberating Angel manifests as male and female, being male when it dis penses the celestial benedictions on the world below, because it then resembles a male nourishing the female ; but when charged with offices of judgment it is called female, as a woman who carries her child in the womb of her.8 It is said elsewhere that those who understand these male and female attributions know the great 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. 76,1 ; DE PAULY, I, 448. 2 //>., fol. i sob ; II, 194. •• " She and God are one."—//;., Pt. II, fol. ii8b ; III, 456. 4 See //'., fol. 2o;a ; IV, 210. 5 Pt. I, fol. 228b ; II, 502. 6 71)., fol. 230:1 ; II, 508. 7 Ex. xxxiii, 20. 8 Z., Pt. I, 232a ; II, 516. The " Flaming Sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the Tree of Life '"' (Gen. iii, 24) is a symbol of this Angel and of Shekinah in the dual sex of both. Mercy is always counted as masculine and severity or judgment as feminine. 193 N "The Secret Doctrine in Israel wisdom.1 But the exposition as to this wisdom is given much later on, when it is stated that Matrona is feminine in so far as she is not in union, but in that state she is identified with the male principle, and this is how the interchange of sex in divine things must be understood throughout.2 So also Metatron, who is an aspect of Shekinah, is indifferently male and female, changing incessantly according to the vibrations of the union.3 Now, it is said that Shekinah is to Metatron what the Sabbath is to the weekdays.4 In other words, she is rest and the rapture of rest, yet it is that rest in which there is the intercourse of spiritual union. The same vibrations which are mentioned in the case of Metatron constitute the beatitude of the soul in heaven. There are two points which should be memorised on this subject. At the apex of the union between male and female — which is to be understood only in a spiritual sense — the sex distinction has ceased : it is only from this point of view that the Shekinah is mentioned sometimes as if she were on the male side. Here is the first point, and the second is that in characteristics and in mission, she is always typically female ; it is she who comprises all women in her mystery,5 and this is why — as we shall see — she does not abide except with him who is united to a woman.6 We have next to consider her relation to the letters of Tetragrammaton. The He which is above, meaning the first He of the Sacred Name, is the symbol of the Shekinah in transcendence, while the He final represents 1 Z., Pt. II, fol. ioob ; DE PAULY, III, 406. 2 /£., Pt. Ill, fol. 3ia; V, 84. It is said distinctly that, in this respect, whether the feminine or masculine form is used by Scripture the same degree is always and only designated. 3 lb., fol. 73b ; V, 201. * Ib., fol. 243b ; V, 581. 6 Ib., Pt. I, fol. 228b; II, 501. 6 Ib. The task of lighting the Sabbath candles devolved on the matrons, because they were in the service of Matrona. The act was regarded as an earnest (a) of long life for the husbands and (b) of a holy posterity for both, as well as (c) great personal rewards for themselves. — Ib., fol. 48b ; I, 281. I94 The Mystery of Shekinah the Shekinah below, or in manifestation, connected with the idea of Malkuth 1 — understood as the world of Assiah. According to one account, she has been in manifestation so long as the world was created.2 She is, however, above and below at one and the same time — there encom passed by twelve sacred legions and the supreme Hayoth, here by the twelve sacred tribes of Israel.3 The Tod and the He constitute the Father and the Mother : these are Jehovah and Elohim.4 She is the Mother, Matrona, above and Matrona or Mother below.5 From the con stant and ardent love of He for Tod there issues Vau, conceived and born of He, who also nourishes Van. But Van came into the world with a twin sister bearing the name of Grace ; the two took root on earth and consti tuted the He final — a reference to the metaphysical con ception of their affirmed union. Then and thus was the Vau united to the He, meaning the second He of the Divine Name.6 It follows that there is a descent of Vau into manifestation, but there should be no need to add that, this notwithstanding, the Vau has its place in the supernal world and so also has the final He, because it is obvious that the Divine Name must be perfect above before it can manifest below, and from this point of view, though there is no Zoharic authority, and other allocations are paramount, the place of the He final is in Daath.7 As the He in manifestation, the Shekinah is the repose of beings below and in transcendence of beings above,8 referring more especially to souls which have 1 Z., Ft. I, fol. 27b; DE PAULY, I, 174, where it is said also that the He final is the child of the first He. 2 Ib., fol. 8sa ; I, 489. 3 Ib., fol. I59b ; II, 227. 4 Ib., fol. 28a ; I, 177. That is to say, in Chokmah and Binah, as we have seen by the evidence collected in Chapter IV. 5 Ib., Pt. Ill, fol. lob ; V, 31. 6 Ib., fol. 77b ; V, 210, 211. 7 I have put this on record in respect of the Sacred Name in the Supernals, but it need not concern us further. In the scheme of Divine Names allocated to the ten Sephiroth, Jehovah is referred to Chokmah. But this is late Kabalism. 8 Z., Pt. Ill, fol. io8a, b; ¥,274. The Secret Doctrine in Israel attained beatitude, and this is defined as the vision of her.1 The Van is the male child or the Son.2 The Tod of the Sacred Name is ever united to the He, and when the Van is also joined thereto it is union everywhere, including that which should obtain between the Van and the He final.3 Owing to the present state of the world, we shall see that this union has been broken. In a withdrawn sense the Tod of the Sacred Name designates the Supreme Thought, while the He designates Shekinah, as the Heart or love in that Thought.4 To conclude as to the Divine Name, its consonants bear the vowel points of the name Elohim,5 from which two things seem to follow: (i) That the intimate union between Jehovah and Elohim is here indicated by the silent eloquence of verbal symbo lism, and (2) That the degree or hypostasis, or that part of the Divine Nature with which man is in communion on earth, is that which the Secret Tradition understands as Shekinah. It is she who enables the name to be ex pressed on earth, or God to be realised in the heart. I conclude that in the perfect state the manifestation of the He final on earth would be in espousals with Van, but there is separation in the present order until that which now hinders shall be taken out of the way.6 The next point which is posed for our consideration is the place of Shekinah in the Sephirotic Tree, and it will be well to state at the inception that the attributions throughout Kabalism seem almost as many as the refer ences, though there is only one which is predominant. She is the Middle Pillar — as we have seen — the Pillar of 1 Z., Ft. II, fol. 4ob, The Faithful Shepherd; DE PAULY, III, 189, IQO. 2 //;., Pt. Ill, fol. iiSb ; V, 305. 3 //;., fol. 26yb; VI, 23. 4 /&, fol. 23oa; V, 570. 5 //>., Pt. I, fol. Qoa ; I, 511, 512. Otherwise this Divine Name has the pointing of Adonai. 6 My reference is to the period, foretold in the Zohar, when the Vau shall raise up the He. The Mystery of Shekinah Benignity, extending from Kether to Malkuth,1 and she takes up the Sephiroth to God, or into the place which is no place, beyond the infinite height and depth, the infinite of all directions embraced by the Tree. This is the place of A'tn-Soph? The Middle Pillar is described otherwise as the trunk of the Tree,3 it being understood that the root is in Kether, so far as the genesis and legend of the soul are concerned, but it is in Malkuth in respect of the return journey to God, which is a journey through the Shekinah, or under her glorious leading. Shekinah is, in another form of symbolism, the body of the Tree ; 4 and the elect — summarised as Israel — are the cloud of witnesses forming the branches; but it is said also that she is the crown of the Middle Pillar,5 the synthesis of all the Sephiroth and of every Sacred Name expressed or implied in the wisdom of the Secret Doctrine. She is to God that which the vowel point is to the letter — a thing not distinct therefrom but the means of its utterance. She is further the crown of the seven lower Sephiroth, and this might account for the allocation of the semi- 1 This is likely to cause some mental confusion, for which the text is too often responsible. We have seen that, according" to the Jdras, the Son or Van. is extended through the three worlds which are below the world of Atziluth, and He also is called the Middle Pillar ; but He is in union with the He final, or Bride, thereon. I have spoken in the present • tense, but this was during" the perfection of the manifest world. They are in separation now, for the He is fallen to earth — that is, to Malkuth — and has to be raised by the Vau. It is never said that the Van also has fallen, but as the method and terminology chosen to illustrate the notion are an adaptation of the Myth of Paradise symbolism, the Van is certainly involved, as Adam in the calamity of Eve. The undoing of the evil rests also with her — as the Zohar itself intimates in one place. The whole account is an allegory of man and woman involved by a fatal con struction respecting the mystery of sex but intended to redeem the trespass, with the life belonging thereto. 2 This is a matter of inference from one isolated statement, which says that Shekinah in her ascent draws up the ten Sephiroth, and it is a matter of logic that thither where she draws them is beyond Kether. Now, beyond Kether is Ain-Soph by the hypothesis of the Tree. — See Z., Pt. I, fol. 24:1; DE PAULY, I, 149, where it is said that when she rises towards God she causes all the ten Sephiroth to go up with her. 3 //;., Pt. I, fol. 24ia; II, 552. 4 //A, fol. 241 b; II, 555. 5 //>., Pt. II, fol. rsSa; IV, 94. The Secret Doctrine in Israel Sephira Daath or Supernal Knowledge to the centre of the influence coming from Chokmah and Binah, as tabu lated by later Kabalism.1 Now, there is an appendix to the Sepher Tetzirah concerning 50 Gates of Understanding referred to Binah, also by late Kabalism, but this ascription is countenanced by the Zohar when it is said that these Gates are in the region of the Supreme Mother, who gives power to the Mother below2 — a reference to the Shekinah in transcendence and in manifestation. This determines absolutely that the Shekinah is in Binah and that the first He of the Divine Name is also therein. It is said further that the side of severity emanates from her, though she is not herself severity,3 and we know that the Pillar of Severity is on the left side of the Tree, at the head of which is Binah? " Shekinah emanates from the left side." 5 The 50 Gates are another symbolism concerning the return of man to the heights by the operation of Shekinah, as by a journey through the great distance, for the first gate is in matter and the last is in God Himself; but this gate was not, according to tradition, opened by Moses — because another tradition affirms — as seen already — that he ceased to cohabit with his wife on earth. It is to be observed 1 This again leads to confusion, for we have seen that the head of the Son is in Daath. I am not, however, attempting to harmonise the in numerable statements and counter-statements. Our object is to study the bent of the symbolism, and the glaring discrepancies — seeing that they speak for themselves — must take care of their own differences. 2 Z., Pt. Ill, fol. 262a ; DE PAULY, VI, 12. As regards the number 50 which is allocated otherwise to Shekinah, it should be noted that the jubilee year, occurring once after every 49 years, is allocated to the Divine Mother in Binah, as the Sabbatic year — occurring every 7 years — is re ferred to the Mother below — that is, the Shekinah in manifestation, so that her number on earth is 7. — See *£.,fol. io8b, The Faithful Shepherd; V, 274. 3 /&, fol. 262b ; VI, 13. 4 That is to say, in the ordinary diagrams of the Sephirotic Tree- left and right referring to the observer. 6 Z., Pt. Ill, fol. 275b ; VI, 44. But this is looking towards the observer — as, for example, when he is faced by the two Countenances of the Idras. See Chapter IV. The Mystery of Shekinah that it is a Gate in Einah^ so that God is attained by man in and because of Shekinah, for which reason her number is said to be 5O,1 though from another point of view she is not contained in number.2 There are, however, various allocations. Two Supernals, namely Chokmah and Einah^ are disposed on the right and the left, and these are said to be united in Shekinah.3 But the complete integration in her of all branches of the Sephirotic Tree will not take place till He comes Who shall be called Man, that is Adam or Shiloh* It follows that there is a sense in which the Shekinah is in Chokmah? and it is supposed to be of her that it is said : " She openeth her mouth in wisdom." 6 For the purpose of this attribution wisdom is the letter tie and all depends therefrom.7 The Shekinah in this relation is called concealed and visible, conciliating the mysteries above and the mysteries below.8 Her hiddenness is in respect of the Supreme Degree of the Divine Essence, which exceeds understanding. She herself is revealed in wisdom by the mode of the Law of Mercy, so that she is Mercy on one side although Severity proceeds from her on the other. As the mouth which is opened with wisdom, she is the He 1 Z., Pt. Ill, fol. io8b, The Faithful Shepherd; DE PAULY, V, 274. 2 /£., Pt. II, fol. i64b; IV, 108. 3 /£., fol. i65a; IV, 109. 4 /£., Pt. I, fol. 250 ; I, 160. 5 Because she is indubitably present in things that are united in her ; because, in so far as she represents sex conceived transcendently, she is male and female ; and because — as we have seen — in the Supernals there is no distinction between her and the Holy One. 6 Prov. xxxi, 27. The reference is to a virtuous woman — accentu ating in this manner the feminine aspect of Shekinah. We ought, I think, to remember in this connection that, in the physical order, it is woman who conceives, contains and brings forth both male and female — a point which must have been present assuredly to the minds of Zoharic doctors. 7 But the attribution is casual or transient and as such fantastic. There is no question that in the natural allocations of the Tree it is the Yod that is in Chokmah^ and for this — as we have seen — there is full evidence. For example, according to The Assembly of the Sanctuary^ Z., Pt. II, fol. I23b; 111,478. 8 /£., Pt. I, fol. I45a; II, 171. I99 "The Secret Doctrine in Israel final of the sacred Name, and this is the word which emanates from wisdom.1 Again it is said that Elohim is seated on the right side, suggesting that the Shekinah is in Chokmah — according to the familiar diagrams. Moreover, wisdom is the glory of and is revealed in the tabernacle2 — that is to say, by Shekinah. We must deal with this as we can, seeing that in another place Elohim, who is Shekinah, is said definitely to desig nate Einah? Fortunately the harmony between these statements is given elsewhere by the Zohar itself, when it is said that the mother below is sometimes called the Betrothed and sometimes Sister. If she comes from the side of the Father she is called Chokmah but if from that of the mother she is Binah* The truth is that Shekinah is on both sides of the Tree, and the explanation is that she is the spirit of all the Holy Assemblies, above and below.5 It is in this sense and this only that Chokmah is sometimes said to be female and is that Mother who is allocated alter natively to Binah, while she is Daughter, Sister and Bride in the worlds below. There is also a question of the unity which obtains throughout the Supernals. For the same reason she is now located in her mani festation at the foot of the Middle Pillar — that is to say, in the fallen world ; but we have seen that she is also at the head and is therefore in Kether — that is to say, as Alma Elohim, covering the Supernals with her wings. Hence it is mentioned that the Holy One is 1 Z., Ft. I, fol. H5a; £>E PAULY, II, 171. 2 Elsewhere the tabernacle is said itself to be Shekinah. — //'., Pt. Ill, fol. ii4a; V, 285. 3 //;., Ft. I, fol. 263a, Secrets of the Law ; II, 620. It is all a very simple question of transposing the diagram and bearing in mind what follows above. 4 //A, Ft. Ill, fol. 77b ; V, 212. She is known by many names, as we are told in another place — sometimes as an angel simply, sometimes as the angel of Jehovah and sometimes even as Jehovah. — /<£., Ft. 1, fol. ii3b; II, 58- 5 II)., fol. I03b ; V, 262. 2OO The Mystery of Shekinah covered by His Shekinah, both within and without.1 I conclude that there are the Father, the Mother and the Begotten Son, being Chokmah^ Binah and Daath, overshadowing the lower Sephiroth, though other allo cations are made and stand at their value. These three are symbolised by Tod, He and Vau in the Sacred Name, while the He final, the Bride in manifestation, is in Malkuth since the legendary fall, but so that the kingdom of this world may become in the fulness of the Messianic day the Kingdom of Heaven. Outside these there is Kether, and it should be noted in this connection that Jehovah manifests with Shekinah in that Supernal Sephira? The seeming attribution of feminine descrip tions to the Shekinah in her threefold aspect, so far from leading to confusion, really provides the key. She is the catholic nature of womanhood in all degrees and grades. In so far as everything proceeds from Kether, it is in virtue of the union between God and His Shekinah therein. That which was produced is male and female also, being the Father and Mother in Chokmah and Binali, but because of this twofold pro cession there is a sense in which these two may be called Son or Word and Daughter. They beget on their own part the King and the Queen below, Lover and Beloved, the Son and Shekinah in manifestation. But the Supernals are in unity, and this is why the Zohar is so careless seemingly in its allocation of Shekinah, so that it is in Chokmah or Binah as the one 1 Z., Ft. II, fol. 159.1, The Faithful Shepherd; DE PAULY, IV, 96. The Shekinah is represented also by the initial letter Shin of the word Sabbath, but this would be, I think, the Shekinah below, because of the Sabbatic year already mentioned. 2 This is a most important point and is on the authority of TJie Faithful Shepherd. — Z., Pt. Ill, fol. 243a ; V, 581. It determines affirmatively a suggestion which I made in considering the symbolism of the White Head, as this is found in The Book of Mystery and the Idras. There is no aspect of the manifest Godhead in which the Male is without the Female, but the distinction is lost in Ain-Soph, about which nothing can be posited, except that it is shewn forth in Kether. 2OI The Secret Doctrine in Israel or the other mood happens to prevail. There are moments even when it looks as if Father, Word and Spirit abide in the Supernal Sephiroth.1 We must, however, beware of being misled by apparent correspondences with Christian Trinitarian doctrine and must remember in this connection that the Zoharic hypostases are never spoken of as proceeding eternally one from another. The Word, for example, is strictly a time concept, postulated in respect of creation and preceded by the indwelling thought of God. Shekinah herself, in the state of distinction which- as we have seen — is postulated concerning her, is either the first of created things or may be such when she assumes the vesture of Metatron.2 In the state of in effable union and in that conception which lies behind her name, she can be only eternal like the Holy One, save in so far as the Holy One, postulated in Kether, is also a time conception in respect of A'in-Soph, the inaccessible God, compared with Whom even the world of Atziluth is a conditioned state, and its conditioning is in respect of manifestation. I have mentioned in another connection the work of Shekinah in creation. In her office as architect of the world, the word was uttered to her, was by her conceived and brought or begotten into execution. We have seen that Shekinah below concurred with the architect above and was also its builder — in what sense does not signify, nor is it explained by the Zohar.3 In so far, however, as creation is the history of the elect symbolised, it is obvious that the work remains unfinished till the great 1 Z., Ft. Ill, fol. iob; DE PAULY, V, 31. 2 lb. It is said that Metatron is the vesture of Shaddai, but this Divin Name, with those of Adonai, Elohim and Shekinah herself are evidently interchangeable. See Z., Ft. Ill, fol. 231.1; V, 571, m respect of Metatron, by which it appears that they are so related because numerical value of the one name is the same as that of the other. 3 /£., Ft. I, fol. 22a, b; I, 136-138. It is said, however, that She kinah is the object of the mysteries relative to the works of creation.— /£., Pt. Ill, fol. 23ia; V, 571. 2O2 The Mystery of Shekinah day of restitution, and coincident therewith is the his tory of Shekinah herself. On the manifest side it begins in the Garden of Eden — in that Garden which is she, according to another symbolism l — and it continues for the theosophical Jew through the whole period of the Greater Exile. I have mentioned that it was Shekinah who walked with Adam in Paradise under the title of Lord God,2 that is to say, of Jehovah Elohim, the union above communicating to the union below and prescribing the first law of life. This is the Shekinah in manifesta tion. But we know that the trespass followed and that our prototypical parent was driven out of the Garden. This might appear to mean that he was cast out from under the wings of Shekinah ; but he was not deserted in his need, for she followed him into the captivity of the senses. This is one side of the Zoharic doctrine that Shekinah suffered with mankind,3 but it is put much more explicitly when it is said : " Therefore the man was driven out and the Mother was driven out with him." 4 This was the primal captivity and many captivities fol lowed, wherein Shekinah shared ; for it is said that she is the sacrifice which God has placed on His right and on His left hand, and about Him.5 There was separation between the King and Matrona in respect of the outer world and so came about a sepa ration in the Divine Name, for the final He was detached 1 The counterpoise to this is that Shekinah was the companion of human exile when Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden — as we shall see immediately. 2 Z., Pt. I, fol. ?6a ; DE PAULY, I, 448. 3 7^., fol. I2ob; 11,84, 85. * 7£. , fol. 22b ; I, 137. The authority is : "Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away." — Is. 1, i. 6 7&, fol. 256a ; II, 602.— 7#., Pt. Ill, fol. loga ; V, 275.— 7/;., Pt. I, fol. 24a ; I, 149. Sometimes it is a question of drawing into the deeps and heights of Divine Union. Sometimes it is the same conception symbolised by the female offering all her members and all the parts of her personality to the corresponding members and parts on the male side. The Secret Doctrine in Israel and came down on earth, the source of graces coming with her.1 Though it is forbidden to separate the Heavenly Bride and Bridegroom, even in thought, it is this which has come to pass by reason of the sufferings of Israel,2 with whom Shekinah was destined— as we have seen— to endure even from the beginning.3 'When Israel is in exile the Shekinah is also in exile. It is for this reason that the Holy One will remember Israel/' meaning that He remembers His covenant, " which is Shekinah."4 The symbolical position is summed up m the statement that the second He was obscured and fell,5 becoming a symbol of penitence.6 The meaning is that she is with the elect, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer;7 and as in their attainments so is she with them in their sins, though not after the same manner, for she is then on the wrath side. Her shame is the defiled body of man.8 Again she is in separation from the King owing to the wickedness of man, and though she does not leave him the sin of Israel causes her to turn away.9 To sum up on this subject, she was driven out of the Garden of Eden with Adam, like a wife sent away by her husband ; but it was for the salvation of the world.10 1 Z Pt I fol. 254b ; DK PAULY, II, 600. The point is expressed in a verf' curious way-namely, that the world could not exist until t He final detached itself from the other three letters of the Divine Name and descended on earth. The authority seems to be : " I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever (Ps. Ixxxix, 2), which the Zohar renders : "The world shall be built by mercy." Cf. Vulgate: In cctcrnum miscricordia aedificabitur in coslis. — Ps. Ixxxviii, 3. 2 Z., Pt. II, fol. 9a, b; III, 39- 3 //;., Pt. I, fol. I2obj II, 84. 4 lb\ Pt. I, fol. I2ob; II, 84. Compare Detit. xxx, 3 : thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee. * 7/>.,Pt. II, fol. 9a,b; 111,40. "//'., fol. iub; III, 442. . ' Ib., Pt. Ill, fol. 74a ; V, 202. She is weighed down by the sin o Israel.— //A, fol. 28a; V, 79- ,, • //;., fol. 7>a ; V, 204. 9 /^, fol. 155", b;4 V' T397'i 1° //;, Pt. I, fol. 237a; II, 535, 5.3.6. It is written: " O Lord our God (Tehovah Elohimj, other lords beside Thee have had dominion over us • but by Thee only will we make mention of Thy Name," or— as the Zohar has it— "but, thanks to Thee, we have remembered Thy ISam The Mystery of Shekinah In glancing at the concurrent history of Israel and that of Shekinah, considerable care is needed to distin guish between the allusions to her who is enthroned in Einah^ never leaving the Supernals, and the exiled servant of God 1 for there is a Shekinah called servant and a Shekinah who is Daughter of the King.2 The one is above the angels, like her who in Christian doctrine is termed Regitta Angelorum? and in respect of all other lights of creation is that which soul is to body, though in relation to the Hol^ One she is as the body to the soul, notwithstanding that she and God are one.4 She is the Mistress of the Celestial School, called the Abode of the Shepherds, and this is a school of Metatron, un derstood as a vesture or form assumed by Shekinah.5 In another aspect of symbolism she is that great and wide sea mentioned in Ps. civ. 25, and she embraces the whole world, which is concentrated in her.6 She is the jubilee above — presumably on account of joy.7 All this is in the world of procession or emanation — the hypostatic world, which is Atziluth* But Shekinah is said other wise to receive a body in Tetzirah 9 and so is empowered to manifest in Assiah, wherein — among other titles — she is the Lady of Battles,10 who also obtains remission of only." — Is. xxvi, 13. This verse is held to contain the Supreme Mystery of Faith. Jehovah Elohenou is the source of highest mysteries, and when Israel attains perfection it will make no distinction between Jehovah and Elohenou. It is forbidden — as we have seen — to separate these names even in thought. Yet is their separation now on account of the sufferings of Israel, and because it is apart from God. — //;., Pt. II, fol. Qa, b; 111,38-40. 1 Z., Pt. Ill, fol. 223a ; DE PAULY, V, 563. a /£., Pt. 1 1, fol. 94b; 111,378. 3 7/;., fol. n6b; 111,450. 4 7^., fol. u8b; 111,456. 5 /& , Pt. Ill, fol. I9?a; V, 508. 6 II)., Pt. I, fol. 2^6a; II, 530, 531. 7 /#., fol. 252a ; II, 593. 8 7b., Pt. Ill, fol. loga: V, 276. 9 Ib. 10 Ib., fol. 75b ; V, 205. It is of course obvious that Shekinah as Daughter of the King did not fall into sin, and hence her exile is willing, or she is empowered, as this text says. But that of which she is proto type — incarnate womanhood — did — ex hypothesi—fa\\, and that son who is incarnate manhood fell with her. The Secret Doctrine in Israel the sins of Israel, after the manner of the Agnus 'Dei qui tollit peccata mundi.^ The Shekinah is held to connect in a particular sense with the patriarchal age. It was after his circumcision that the letter He was added to the name of Abram and it was also thereafter that he was united with Shekinah.2 Most of the divine visions beheld by Abraham were visions and manifestations of Shekinah,3 who dwelt con stantly in the tent of Sarah, and this is why Abraham — as we have seen — on appearing in^the presence of Pharaoh, described Sarah as his sister, not as his wife, his refer ence being really to Shekinah, who bears this title in respect of man and who accompanied Sarah.4 When he went to the rescue of Lot,5 on leaving his house, Abra ham beheld Shekinah lighting the way before him and encompassed by many celestial legions.6 She was present when Isaac blessed Jacob ; 7 it was she who conferred upon Jacob the name of Israel,8 and she was with him when he set up the mystic stone as his pillar.9 When seeking a wife it was with Shekinah that Jacob united his intention, and hence it is said — in characteristic Zoharic symbolism — that when he married Rachel he united heaven and earth.10 Shekinah, however, did not ignore or forget Leah, but— as the Holy Spirit — inspired her so that she knew respect ing her part in the bearing of the twelve tribes.11 Rachel died when the progenitors of these tribes were com pleted and her place was taken by Shekinah, but after the death of Leah she removed to the house of Bala, so that she might be near Jacob, though she could not dwell in his house because — as we know — she resides only where 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. igib; DE PAULY, I, 353. 2 7^., fol. 93a; I, 529- ' '*-. Pt-H' fol- IO5a ' H> 27- * 7*., fol. i nb; II, 50- 5Gen.xiv, 14. 6 Z, Pt. I, fol. ii2b; II, 55- 7 /^, fol. H4b; II, 168. s Ib., fol. i?3b; 11,283. 9 /&, fol. 14% ; II, 1 86. 10 Ib., fol. I53a; II, 203. 11 Z., Pt. I, fol. 1573; II, 216. The Mystery of Shekinah the man is united to the woman.1 When Jacob lost Joseph he lost the Shekinah also, either because joy had left him, and she dwells only with the glad heart, or because it is said that he ceased to cohabit with his wife, as a mark of grief and desolation.2 The part of joy re turned to him after reunion with his son, and presumably also Shekinah, for she accompanied Jacob and his family into Egypt, and forty-two sacred angels destined for her service came down with her, each bearing a letter belong ing to the Divine Name of forty-two letters.3 So long as Joseph was with the Israelites the Shekinah was with them also and they were not enslaved by the Egyptians ; but when the day came for him to die, it is said that she departed,4 and we know how it was with the people until the advent of Moses. It was he who again attracted the Shekinah to Israel ; 5 it is said that she never quitted him from the day of his birth ; 6 but more even than this, one of the doctors affirms that the father of Moses was espoused to Shekinah, or alternatively that both father and mother aspired towards her in their hearts during the intercourse which was followed by his conception.7 This is what is meant by the statement, made elsewhere, that the Shekinah reposed upon the nuptial bed of the parents of Moses.8 The nature of the union which subsisted between Moses- and Shekinah is set out very curiously, for it is said that in a manner she had three husbands, namely, Jacob, Joseph and Moses. But the first abode with his wives on earth and was only united with her after his death. The espousals were not dissolved between her and Joseph until the bones of the latter were interred in Palestine. It was for this reason that Moses carried them out of Egypt, and they accompanied the children of Israel 1 Z.,Pt. I,fol. i75b; DEPAULY,II,289. 2 Ib., fol. 1973, b; 11,381, 382. 3 /£, Pt. II, fol 4b; III,is. ' */£.,Pt. I, fol. 1843; 11,327 5 /£., fol. 6;b, 68a ; I, 400. « /£., fol. i2ob ; II, 83. 7 /£., Pt. II, fol. iga; 111,92. 8//;., fol, lib; 111,49. The Secret Doctrine in Israel during the wanderings in the desert. It was somehow in virtue of their presence that Moses was united to She- kinah, so that she cohabited with him, and in connection with this it is observed that he detached himself from his wife _ a very strange intimation if the Indwelling ^Glory abides only with man in so far as he is wedded in the ordinary and lawful sense.1 Indeed in another place the fact stated is not counted to Moses exactly as righteous ness.2 The whole point rests — as already noted — on a Talmudic tradition concerning the separation of Moses from Zipporah, presumably because we hear nothing further concerning her than is found in the opening chapters of Exodus.3 Another account, which is in opposition to much that has preceded, says that the Holy One espoused Matrona to Moses, and this was the first time that she made contact with the world below.4 We may compare this with the remark on the Daughter of God in another place, where it is said that until she became a Bride, no one spoke with God face to face : 5 it is another reference to the espousals of Moses, contradicting her alleged union with Abraham and Jacob and her presence in the world before its creation. The meaning is that Shekinah was united with Moses after a new and more intimate manner than i Z Pt. I, fol. 2ib, 88a ; DE PAULV, I, 133-135- I am on verv slieht sketch of the whole subject, which would seem to the general reader a record of utter unreason. The fact that the bones of Jacob were interred in Palestine means that they belonged to the " celestial beings ; it was otherwise with those of Joseph, and he was still counted as belong- in^ to the earth. The bones are symbols of the celestial legions, and these only needed to be interred in Palestine. The Sons of the Doctrine did not know that a man in the position of Joseph would have been embalmed after his death. A still more inscrutable suggestion is worded literally as follows : " Moses cohabited with Shekinah, who is symbolised by the moon, even while the spirit dwelt in his body and he subjected her to his desires."-/*., fol. 22a ; I, 134- After his death he ascended to decree of the Jubilee, which— as we have seen-is Binah and t) Shekinah in transcendence therein. She who was the spouse of Moses was the Shekinah in manifestation, and it is said that after his death she - 3 See Tract Sabbath. 5* The Mystery of Shekinah had been the case previously, just as God revealed Him self to the lawgiver in another way and in a sense under a new name. The exodus brought about by Moses occa sioned, moreover, the manifestation of Shekinah before the people of Israel, she being the pillar of fire by night, as Jehovah was that of cloud by day.1 According to another account, she was also the cloud, and it was through this cloud that Moses passed on his ascent of Mount Sinai.2 Finally, and most important of all, Moses caused Shekinah to manifest in the Ark of the Covenant over the Mercy-Seat, between the figures of the Kerubim. The tabernacle was erected to serve as her residence ; and at the moment when it was set up by Moses, there was another erected in the world above. What seems to have happened, however, was that the Mosaic tabernacle became the residence of Metatron, who connects so curiously with Shekinah.3 The latter was also that cloud which abode on the tent of the congregation while the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.4 Alternatively it was a cloud that rose up to veil her presence, and dis solved when she went forth. It is called smoke by the Zohar, which also gives the reason, according to its own fantastic symbolism — namely, that the Shekinah had been drawn into this world by the fire which burns in the hearts of the patriarchs.5 The male principle or Jehovah is said also to have spoken from the tabernacle by the intermediation of Shekinah, who is the female principle.6 The tabernacle itself — as we have seen — is the Shekinah under another aspect,7 much as the tent of Sarah is so called on occasion, because she and the Divine Bride dwelt therein.8 The Shekinah considered as the tabernacle is in pledge for the sins of man.9 1 Z., Pt. Ill, fol. 191!) : 13 E PAULY, V, 499. 2 lh., Pt. I, fol. i;6b; II, 293. ;! //;., Pt. II, fol. I43a; IV, 54. 4 Ex. xl, 34, 35. 5 7., Pt. I, fol. i, 76b ; II, 294. G //>., fol. 2^;a ; II, 545. ' H>., Pt. Ill, fol. 114.1 ; V, 285. 8 /<£., Pt. I, "fol. ioib : II, 11. •' //>., Pt. Ill, fol. 114,1 ; V, 285. 209 o The Secret Doctrine in Israel We know by the scriptural account that in the temple of Solomon the Shekinah continued to repose between the wings of the Cherubim.1 She is described as resident throughout the Holy of Holies,2 yet is connected in an especial manner with the western wall of the temple.3 The Holy of Holies was guarded moreover by Metatron4 and was built for the union of the king and Matrona. It is written: " Those of the country shall utter cries, and the angels of peace shall weep bitterly." This is the Zoharic version of Isaiah xxxiii. 7. It refers to the weeping of the angels when the Sanctuary was destroyed and the Shekinah was exiled into a foreign land.6 She underwent transformation and assumed another form than that which she had worn previously. So also the Spouse of the Shekinah— referring to the Van of the Sacred Name, she in manifestation being the second He— reduced that light which enlightens the world,7 as it_ is written : u The sun at his rising shall be covered with darkness, and the moon shall give no light." These are naturally the heads, and such only, of the history of election in Israel and the glory of all in con nection therewith. In the Second Temple the Shekinah had no part,9 though by the hypothesis of the subject she had followed her people into the exile of Babylon and helped them to remember Zion by its sad waters. Albeit the Sons of the Doctrine had their dark moments during that day of a thousand years or over which followed 1 Z., Pt. II, fol. i6b ; DE PAULY, III, 76. 2 /£., Pt. Ill, fol. i6ib ; V, 416. 3 //;., Pt. 1 1, fol. n6a; 111,447- 4 //>., fol. i64a ; IV, 107.— /£., Pt. Ill, fol. 74b ; V., 203. 5 Cf. Vulgate : Ecce videntes clamabunt fores, angeli pacts amare fiebunt. The Authorised Version is : " Behold, their valiant ones shall cry without : the ambassadors of peace shall weep bitterly." The Revised Version agrees. 6 Z., Pt. I, fol. 203a ; II, 407.— /£., fol. i82a ; II, 319. 7 /#. 8 Is. xiii, 10. 9 The First Temple was destroyed, because light failed therein, but the Second Temple seems never to have had the light.— Z., Pt. II, fol. 9$b ; IV, 150. 2IO The Mystery of Shekinah the destruction of Jerusalem, at some period of which the Zohar entered into record, and though some of their sayings in these moments haunt the heart with their catholic sense of unavailingness, the mood and its clouds lifted ever and unerringly. Deeper still in their own hearts they knew that they had not been deserted, that on account of the Betrothed of God Israel was not for saken by Him.1 Were they not conscious also — I think in my soul, most surely — as by all the waters and in all the Babylons of the greater exile, they made up their dream of Shekinah, that she was more vitally and effica ciously with them than she had been with patriarchs of old ; that she was married to them not less closely than to Moses, prince of lawgivers; and that she was better realised as a presence than when she sat between the Kerubim ? Ever in Binah her celestial fire abode on the Throne of Mercy 2 for those who dwelt in her covenant, and by her mediation an union was still possible, as indeed actual, between the Holy One and the Community of Israel.3 This is one of the senses in which the souls of Israel are said to be attached to Shekinah.4 That is not true, there fore quod unus doctor dixit in excessu suo : " Israel is dead for the Shekinah which is above by the destruction of the First Temple ; it is dead a second time for the Shekinah which is below by the destruction of the Second Temple."5 And again : " The destruction of the two Temples dried up the sources of the Shekinah above and below."6 She and Israel are in exile together, in sorrow and loss together,7 and the path of penitence trodden by the one is the path of emancipation for both. Meanwhile, " the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein " ; 8 but the fulness thereof is a refer- 1 Z., Ft. Ill, fol. iisb ; DE FAULY, V, 297. 2 /#., fol. 34a ; V, 89. 3 /£., fol. 37b ; V, 102. 4 Id., Ft. I, fol. 25a ; I, 154. 6 /£., Ft. I, fol. 26a; I, 164. 8 /£., fol. 255a; II, 601. 7 /£., Ft. II, fol. i8gb; IV, 175. 8 Fs. xxiv, i. « The Secret Doctrine in Israel ence to Shekinah, as an ample moon enlightened over all its surface by the sun. She is full also of celestial bene fits, like a treasury ; and in her manifestation to Israel she is a treasury which belongs to the Lord.1 More over, the exile of Shekinah and Israel, and her resi dence among other peoples, has its train of extrinsic consequences in the peace and benefits which are enjoyed by the latter.2 This is the sense in which it is said that other nations have attracted the Shekinah towards them.3 Indeed her perfection is throughout the whole earth and her benedictions over all the world,4 for Elohim is a mystery of life 5 and the source of all life. She never separated from man so long as he observed the com mandments of the Law ; 6 but in connection with this we must take and qualify freely a number of counter-state ments : (i) Every sin committed in public drives away Shekinah from the earth;7 (2) The generation of Noah sinned in the sight of the whole world, and the Shekinah was far from the world ; 8 (3) When owing to the wicked ness of the world the latter has been left by Shekinah it is deprived of all defence, and the severity of justice reigns therein ; 9 (4) After the guilty have been extermi nated the Shekinah returns.10 It is obvious that these statements do not obtain generically on the literal side ; the consequences, like the acts, are individual, or, in the case where they are collective, it is only in a restricted way. To sum up : the wounds of the world and the wounds of the church in the world may be wide and deep ; but the church and the world go on, for ten persons in the House of Prayer constitute the body of the Shekinah ; n and there is a very much truer sense than was ever con- 1 £., Ft. I, fol. 6ya ; DE PAULY, I, 395, 396. 2 Ib., fol. 84b ; I, 488. 3 Ib. 4 Ib., Pt. I, fol. i66a; II, 251. 5 Ib., fol. 22;b ; IT, 497. 0 Ib., Pt. I, fol. 23ia; II, 516. 7 Ib., fol. 57b; 1,333. 8 Ib. 9 Ib., fol. 6Sb; 1,406. 10 //'. 11 Ib., Pt. Ill, fol. I26a; V, 324. % The Mystery of Shekinah ceived by the Zohar in which those ten are never wanting ; the elect are everywhere the true Israel, and it is thanks to Israel that the Shekinah resides on earth, Israel being its bodyguard.1 In thousands and tens of thousands of cases, all the wide world over, it is true and glorious that man acknowledges the kingdom of heaven and submits thereto; that the Shekinah rests upon his head, assisting him in the quality of witness ; that she testifies before the Sacred King that this man proclaims the Divine Unity — or, in other words, that Jehovah is Klohim — above and below, twice every day ; 2 that so far as these are con cerned the earth is perfect and all joy is found therein.3 So is Jerusalem rebuilt for ever in the heart ; the She kinah goes up into the high mountain and announces its reconstruction to the patriarchs.4 In these also she is herself delivered,5 and they dwell together henceforward in the Holy Land.6 It is a foretaste of that time when all peoples shall enter under the wings of the Shekinah,7 as also of the day to come when evil shall be entirely ex terminated and there shall be the same solemnity of festival as when the Holy One, blessed be He, created heaven and earth.8 Let us therefore join our voice to those of the doctors who say that the covenant with She kinah will endure for ever.9 Before attempting to place a reasonable interpretation on the materials which are now in our hands, it is neces sary to complete the collection by certain additional particulars which to some extent stand by themselves. The created Law is called the garment of Shekinah 10 — a vesture, as Metatron is also, being perhaps the same vesture. It follows that she herself is something that 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. 6ia ; DE PAULY, I, 358. 2 //>., I't. II, fol. i6ob ; IV, 99. 3 //>., Pt. I, fol. 6ia ; I, 357. 4 //>., Pt. Ill, fol. I73b; V, 451. 5 Id., Pt. II, fol. 2i6b; IV, 229. fl lit., fol. 222a ; IV, 242. 7 //;., fol. 69b ; III, 308, 309.— Is. ii, 2, 3. 8 Z., Pt. I, Appendix III, Secret Midrash ; II, 714. 9 //;., Pt. 1 1 1, fol. 2573; V, 597. 10 7^., Pt. I, fol. 23a,b; 1,143- 2I3 The Secret Doctrine in Israel dwells within it — as, for example, the Traditional, Oral and Secret Law which is not disclosed to the rank and file of believers because of the wickedness of the world. When the Created or External Law is broken below it is as if the sinner rent or removed the vestments of Shekinah, while alternatively those who observe the commandments have the same merit as if they clothed the Shekinah with garments.1 Such is the work of sanctity in the higher conventions, according to the reverie of Israel. The Mishna is the servant of Shekinah 2 and is also that helpmeet for man which is promised in Scripture.3 Whether this interpretation could be elucidated by explaining in what sense the Mishna — as part of the story of Israel — may be said to have tempted men, understood as those who are elect or are at least capable of election, and may have led them into the exile of the fall, is another question ; but the tour de force is not attempted in the Zohar. It might be affirmed truly that it took them further and further into the bondage of the letter. The text itself says only that the Mishna was the spouse of Israel during his adolescence,4 spouse also during his exile, though sometimes for and sometimes against him. The marriage was imperfect at best. During the adolescent period the Mishna was pre-eminent over Matrona, so that the King and Matrona were separated from the celestial spouse.5 It was the servant who took the place of the mistress. Perhaps the meaning is that the literal explanation in its excessive development clouded the spiritual sense of holy doctrine;6 but if it be this, it is 1 Z., Ft. I, fol. 23a, b ; DE PAULY, I, 143. 2 /£., fol. 2;b ; I, 174. 3 Gen. ii, 18. 4 Z., Ft. I, fol. 2;b ; 1,174. 5 /£., fol. 27b, 28a ; I, 175. b We have had one example previously to shew that the sense of darkness and uncertainty alternated with the sense of light. The suc cessors of Rabbi Simeon were not like that doctor himself, who had apparently William Postel's key of things kept secret from the foundation of the world. They were rather like the second circle of Brothers of the Rosy Cross, of whom it was said to be doubtful whether they were admitted to all things. It is clear, by their own confession, that they did not understand all things. 2I4 'The Mystery of Shekinah . also more. Who then is the mistress ? The answer, according to the Zohar, is that the Oral Law is the image of Elohim, and this we know to be Shekinah.1 There is one practical application of all this cloud of doctrine, and it may be summarised in a few words. It is prayer that attaches man to Shekinah, and as the Holy One is united constantly to her, it follows that by prayer man is attached to the Holy One.2 All the angels open their wings to receive the Shekinah by prayer* and those on earth who wish their prayers to reach heaven should unite themselves with the Shekinah.3 Whereas the gates of the palaces to which prayers ascend commonly have numerous guardians, those of the palace of Shekinah have none, and prayers enter unhindered.4 It will seem at first sight that she occupies in Kabalism the same position of intercessor which is ascribed to the Blessed Virgin by the devotion of the Latin Church, yet having regard to Shekinah's incorporation with the Divine Hypostases, I incline to think that the analogy is misleading. In view of all that has been done to Christianise Kabalism by every good means, and by so many that are bad intellectually, one has to be very careful of reading Christian implicits into the text of the literature.5 There is a question whether my next and last point of analysis had better be taken here or in a later chapter ; but as I have mentioned Christian implicits, and as what I have to say seems to connect with this subject, I will incorporate it under that motive, though it has also other issues. We have come across already in our quest many allusions to the Divine Father, the Divine Son, being two of the Christian Hypostases, and as we know 1 Z., Pt. II, fol. i6ib ; DE PAULY, IV, 102. 2 Ib.y Pt. I, fol. 24a ; I, 148, 149. 3 Ib., fol. 279b, 28oa ; II, 648. 4 Ib., fol. 24a; I, 148. 5 Undesigned Christian reflections are another matter, and I have mentioned a few out of many possible examples. "The Secret Doctrine in Israel that the Shekinah in transcendence is also the Divine Mother, the question arises naturally whether this is the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Christian Trinity.1 Those who are acquainted with theology will know that the Third Person is not recognised as feminine, though there has been a tendency in several modern departments of semi-Christian transcendentalism to regard the Holy Spirit in this light and thus complete the triad of the Divine Family. They forget, however, that neither in the East nor the' West — under the aegis of the Greek or Roman Orthodoxy — is the Son held to proceed from the Father and the Spirit, but on the contrary that the last is postulated as proceeding from the Father and the Son. Albeit the Filioque clause of the Nicene creed^ was a ground of division between the two branches of the Church Catholic, as not of apostolical authority, I have heard that it is not denied otherwise in the Greek Rite. One alternative would be the co-equal and co- eternal procession of the Son and the Spirit from the Divine Father, and the symbol in this case would be a triangle with the apex upward, not in the reverse position which characterises Latin theology. Now it cannot be said that either doctrinal position represents the mind of Kabalism. We have seen that Jehovah Elohim, Spouse and Bride, Father and Mother, God and His Shekinah are in Kcther in a state of oneness, without separation, if not without distinction. There are very few references to this state in the Zohar. I have intimated indeed that there is only one which can be quoted with complete certainty in the wording, but I am justified thereby in saying that it is a state corresponding to that of parentage. They reproduce themselves immediately 1 I have said that it arises naturally, but I do not mean that we should do much in this manner to complete the Christian Triad in Kabalism. Readers who have followed my study up to this point will find little o-round for comparison between those who dwell in the Sephirotic Supernals and Father, Son and Holy Ghost in the Heaven of St. Thomas Aquinas, or other of the Latin Doctors. 2l6 The Mystery of Shekinah below as Abba and Alma, referred to Kether and Chokmah. But as in the Supernals there is no distinction between Shekinah and the Holy One, so the male and female in these Sephiroth are one with those which are in Kether. It follows that Shekinah is on both sides of the Tree, as I have said elsewhere in this book, and it is difficult to postulate in such a triad either a time conception or passage from subject to object. But the Trinity was working towards manifestation, and the result was that Abba and Alma begot the Son, who is Van in Daath, from which His personality was extended through all the lower Sephiroth. They begot also the Daughter and Bride, at first implied in the Son, but afterwards separated and extended with him through the three worlds below Atziluth. Later Kabalism locates the conception of Tod in Chokmah, excogitated as King and Father ; He in Elnah, as Queen and Mother ; Van posited in the Six Briatic and Yetziratic Sephiroth from Chesed to Tesod inclusive, but enthroned especially as the Son in Tip- hereth ; while the He final is in Malkuth. The descent of the second He being into Malkuth, the two schemes concur, and have been followed in my special diagram. It must be recognised otherwise that two separate arrange ments of the Tree seem implied in the Zohar. There is that which I have followed, drawing largely from The Book of Mystery and the three Idras, and there is its alternative which can be extracted — not without some confusion— from other parts of the collection. According to this the Father and Mother are in Kether, the Son who is the Word is in Chokmah, the Daughter and Bride is in Binah. Now the Divine Name attributed to Kether is Jah, formed of Jod and He final belonging to the Tetragam. It is said to be the Unknown God for whom the Name in question is that which the propitiatory was for the Tabernacle — a summary of the male world above and the female world below. It is the Name of the Ancient of Ancients ; it is the synthesis of all things The Secret Doctrine in Israel above and below. It follows in the arrangement that the Vau is referable to Chokmah and the He final to Binah, who descended to Malkuth, as the Bride or Shekinah in manifestation. Shekinah is really in every part as well as on both sides of the Tree, being the mistress of the height and the deep, president over the four quarters of the universe of created things and all that led up thereto. Now the editor and translator of the Zohar have an arrangement peculiar to themselves, by virtue of which Tod or the male principle, understood as the Father, is allocated to Kether ; He, understood as Shekinah, is in Chokmah ; while Vau in Einah is the Holy Spirit. The Christian Trinity is thus complete, though the question of procession is left to account for itself as it may. The attribution is part of a scheme for decoding the mystery of Shekinah along a particular line in connection with the Zoharic doctrine respecting Messiah, and it will be considered in full later on. The question which arises here is whether the Shekinah, by us allocated to Binah, is or is not the Holy Spirit. The editor or translator maintain that she is not, and the fact that two opinions are possible on the subject implies that the Zohar is either not at one with itself or utters an uncertain voice. There are many references, and perhaps there is a choice between them. It is manifest in the first place that the Holy Spirit is personified in the Zohar, and a pre liminary point is whether we can find authority for this in the Old Testament. "Take not thy Holy Spirit from me," 1 says David, and according to Isaiah the people of Israel vexed God's Holy Spirit.2 He asks also : " Where is He that put His Holy Spirit within him ? " 3 — meaning Moses, adding that " The Spirit of the Lord " caused Moses to rest. I do not know whether these can be called personifications, but they exhaust the allusions in the Old Testament which are connected with the 1 Ps. li, II. 2 Is. Ixiii, 10. 3 Is. Ixiii, 14. The Mystery of Shekinah distinctive qualification of " holy." We know that " the Lord put his spirit upon them " ; 1 that " the spirit rested upon them and they prophesied " ; 2 that Joshua was " a man in whom is the spirit " ; 3 that God hardened his spirit " ; 4 that " the spirit came upon Amasai " ; 5 that David gave to Solomon all the designs for the Temple " that he had by the spirit " ; 6 that by His spirit God " garnished the heavens " ; 7 that God sends forth His spirit ; 8 that there is a spirit poured from on high,9 and Isaiah also says that " the Lord God and His spirit hath sent me";10 that "the spirit of the Lord God is on me " ; n that the spirit took up Ezekiel ; 12 and that according to Zechariah God sent in His spirit by former prophets.13 There is a sheaf of other allusions, but enough has been quoted for the purpose in hand. They may be kept in mind by the reader in connection with the Zoharic allusions which will follow hereon. He shall decide for himself — as I have no wish to adjudicate — whether there is more explicit personification in the Kabalistic text, and if so whether it is to be accounted for by (i) natural development of ideas; (2) Jewish tendencies prior to the Talmuds, represented roughly by Philo and, as s_uch, a possible common source for Kabalistic Jew and Christian; (3) Talmudic evidence; or (4) the atmosphere of Christian doctrine in which the Kabalistic Jew lived and moved for the most part and which he can have scarcely failed to absorb in some degree. I will take first of all those references which are either dubious or appear to suggest that the Holy Spirit is not synonymous with Shekinah. The Zohar asks : what is signified by the words : " And the Spirit returns to Elohim who gave it " ? 14 1 Numbers xi, 29. 2 //;., xi, 26. 3 //;., xxvi, 18. 4 Deut. ii, 30. 5 i Chron. xii, 18. G //>., xxviii, 12. 7 Job xxvi, 13. 8 Ps. civ, 30. 9 Is. xxxii, 15. 0 Is. xlviii, 16. l Is. Ixi, i. L2 Ezek. iii, 12. " Zech. vii, 12. 14 "And the spirit shall return unto God who gave it." — Eccles. xii, 7. Authorised Version, for which the Revised Version substitutes : " And the spirit returns." Cf. Vulgate : Et spiritus redeat ad Deitm, qui dedit ilium. The Secret Doctrine in Israel The answer is that one of the words designates Shekinah, that word being Elohim, while another word designates the Holy Spirit, i.e. the word u spirit." It might seem therefore that the Holy Spirit is not Shekinah but is in close connection therewith, like a breath that goes forth and returns.1 It does not signify for our purpose that the Zohar is making a false interpretation — seeing that the spirit mentioned in Scripture is that of man. Again, it is said that when man is circumcised he is joined to the sacred crown of Shekinah and the Holy Spirit rests upon him.2 In another place three spirits are dis tinguished : (i) The Spirit below, which is called the Holy Spirit ; (2) the Spirit of the Middle Way, which is that of Wisdom and Understanding; (3) The Spirit which sounds the trumpet and unites the fire to the water, this being the Superior, Concealed and Mysterious Spirit, whereunto are suspended all sacred spirits and all luminous countenances.3 Now, it is stated, after the prevailing manner of the Zohar, which cannot postulate a triad apart from an inward unity, that these three are one and that they form a holocaust, which is the Holy of Holies.4 This, however, is explained elsewhere to be Shekinah, for — as we have seen — she is the sacrifice which God has placed on His right and His left hand, and about Him.5 Again, " she is the sacrifice of the Holy One," and prayer is the holocaust which in turn is offered to her.6 Once more, it is said that when the Shekinah resided in the Holy Land the impure spirit took flight and found refuge in the abyss, while the Holy Spirit was diffused throughout the world, so that the one would seem to be associated closely with the other, if we can pre sume that there is indeed distinction.7 In this connection 1 Z., Pt. II, fol. 97b ; DE PAULY, III, 390. 2 Id., Pt. Ill, fol. ub; V, 42. 3 Ib., Pt. Ill, fol. 26a; ¥,73, 74. 4 Ib. 6 Ib., Pt. I, fol. 24a ; I, 149. 6 Ib., fol. 256a ; II, 604. 7 Ib., Pt. II, fol. 26ga; IV, 303. I may add that when Joseph saw Benjamin with the rest of his brethren, as related in Gen. xliii, 16, he is said by the Zohar to have discerned, by the Holy Spirit, (a) that 22O The Mystery of Shekinah the Holy Spirit is spoken of as the cloud that covered the Tabernacle ; but the same cloud has been identified otherwise with Shekinah. It will be seen so far that it would be difficult to quote anything more indecisive. There is, however, one memorable passage which I have reserved to the last, and must cite almost in extenso. " A tradition tells us that at the hour when Moses, the true prophet, was about to be born into the world, the Holy One caused the Holy Spirit to come forth from the Tabernacle " — elsewhere that which seems to be the abode of Shekinah in transcendence. God en trusted all power thereto and innumerable Keys of power, together with five diadems, the splendour of which en lightened a thousand worlds. " The Sacred King exalted the Holy Spirit in His palace and set Him above all celestial legions" — even as Shekinah is placed above all angels. " These were in great amazement, for they saw that the Holy One was resolved to change the face of the world by the intermediation of the Holy Spirit." They began to inquire concerning u Him," and were told to prostrate themselves, because " He " would descend one day among men, and the Law — till then hidden — should be revealed. They did homage accordingly, and thereafter the Holy Spirit ascended towards the King The three letters, Mem, Shin and He, belonging to the name of Moses, offered their worship also ; and then the Holy Spirit, in fulfilment of what had been foretold, came down to earth, bearing the arms necessary to smite Pharaoh and his entire country. On reaching this world He found the Shekinah already here, radiant of aspect and spreading light through all the house.1 It will be observed that the last sentence looks like an unqualified and conclusive distinction, though in its absence and from what has preceded in the extract one would have Benjamin would have part in the Holy Land, and (b) that the Shekinah would reside therein. Whether this tends to identification or to the opposite might be difficult to affirm. — See ib., Ft. I, fol. 2O2b ; II, 405. 1 Z., Pt. II, fol. 53b, 54a ; DE PAULY, III, 241, 242. The Secret Doctrine in Israel said that the Holy Spirit was actually a synonym of Shekinah. We hear nothing more, however, of any office in distinction, for that which henceforward abode with the Lawgiver was not the Holy Spirit but the glory of his Spiritual Spouse, who had been with him from his beginning on earth. Let us now take the evidence in the contrary sense, proceeding in the same manner and remembering that there is only one decisive testimony at most on the nega tive side of the subject. In the first place, it is said — as we have seen indeed already — that the Holy Spirit inspired Leah concerning her work in connection with the foundation of the twelve tribes;1 but we know otherwise that it is Shekinah who presides over birth, seeming to be in analogy with the chaste and conjugal Venus. In con nection with the daughter of Jethro — who was the father-in-law of Moses — the Holy Spirit is affirmed to have been always with Moses,'J which we may read in the light of another statement — that the Shekinah was associated with the orders which Moses gave to the experts charged with building the Tabernacle, because such work could not be accomplished properly without the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.3 The association of Shekinah meant the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit. Here again is at least the close connection in virtue of which the one is not without the other, and the kind of nearness is illustrated more clearly by another passage which speaks of that day when God shall pour upon us the Holy Spirit of His Shekinah.4 It would seem again to be the breath of Shekinah. Once more it is said that the Holy Spirit is called Z0//7, being the name which designates the sign of the 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. i57a ; DE PAULY, II, 216. - //;., Pt. II, fol. i3b; III,6i. 3 //>., Pt. II, fol. I79b ; IV, 149, i5°- 4 //A, Pt. Ill, fol. 219.1; V, 555. The Mystery of Shekinah sacred covenant imprinted on man ; l but we shall see that this sign is connected especially with Shekinah. So also when Balaam lifted up his eyes,2 he is supposed to have beheld Shekinah resting with poised wings above the twelve tribes of Israel, and to have questioned how he could prevail against them, seeing that the Holy Spirit was thus their stay and their protection. There seems no doubt that this is an equivalent of identification.3 It is only at the end of the Zohar that we obtain a still more decisive voice on the affirmative side. The question is one of alleged or suggested criminal relations between Esther and Ahasuerus, which are characterised as slander, the Zohar adding that "she was clothed with the Holy Spirit," 4 as it is written : " Esther put on her royal apparel " — or, as the passage renders it, " clothed herself with royalty." The inter pretation follows immediately thus : " The Holy Spirit — this is the Shekinah with which Esther clothed herself." 5 It is an opportunity for a favourite form of testimony, and the great text adds : " Woe to those who feed Upon the husk of the Law, while the grain of wheat is the mystic sense." It will be observed that, if words signify anything, this is not less than an unqualified and con clusive identification. If anyone will read over with care similar to my own the references which I have now provided on both sides of the question, I believe that they will conclude with me, as against the one definite statement on the negative side, that there is a cumulative affirmative evidence crowned by a most clear affirmation : " The Holy Spirit — this is the Shekinah." When therefore the editor and translator of the Zohar allocate .this Spirit to Binah, it means that they are referring the Shekinah thereto, as I have done 1 Z., Ft. I, fol. 228a ; DE PAULY, II, 498. 2 Num. xxiv, 2. 3 As a fact, it is actually more than a simple equivalent. 4 Z., Pt. Ill, fol. 275b; VI, 47. 6 Ib. See Esther v, i. The Secret Doctrine in Israel also, even if their design is in the opposite sense. But this Spirit is not the Third Person in the Blessed Trinity of Christendom, though it is impossible that it should not have aspects of likeness, in so far as the root of both doctrines is in the Holy Scriptures of Israel. I conclude on the authority of the text itself— which for once I must repeat at this point — that "from the constant and ardent love of He" in Binah " for Tod" in Chokmah "there issues Vau" in Daath, conceived and born of He, by which also it is nourished.1 " But Van came into the world with a twin-sister bearing the name of Grace," which is Chesed because Grace is Mercy. " The two took root on earth and constituted the He final " — that is to say, in Malkuth — because the male is not without the female — as we shall see — either above or below. " Thus was the Vau united to the He" final. But in the completion, the perfection and harmony of the Divine Name, letter by letter and letter within letter, all these are one at the root: there would be separation proclaimed in the Divine Nature if Tod, He, Vau, He did not bear witness to His unity.2 The most important consideration which arises out of the whole subject is after what manner we are to regard essentially this Cohabiting or Indwelling Glory which is termed Shekinah in Scripture and in the sacred texts of the Zohar. We know that it dwelt between the Kerubim in the Tabernacle or Ark of Moses, and the Kerubim are said to have been male and female, types in the Sanctuary of Israel of things manifested on earth as types in their 1 Z., Pt. III., fol. 7?b ; DE PAULY, V, 210, 211. 2 The passag-e is important to my purpose, but it must be admitted that it is exceedingly confused. The meaning may be that in the extension of Vau through the worlds below Atziluth, the head of the Son is in Daath—ns we have seen otherwise— while that of his Bride and Sister is in C/iesec/, which, however, is on the male side of the Tree. do not pretend to explain fully how the descent of the Son and Daughter constituted the He final, for the Vau is distinct from the He. But this has been touched upon in a previous note. 22A The Mystery of Shekinah turn of the union that is above. When the harmony is taken between all the cloud of references, it calls for no gift of interpretation to discern what lies with uttermost plainness on the surface ; but we have explained nothing which is vital if we say that Shekinah is the principle of Divine Motherhood — that is, the feminine side of Divinity, implied in. the logic of our symbolism when we speak of the Fatherhood in God. It is a case of being true to our symbols, and though this is of consequence intellectually, it remains thereat. If we turn to the analogy which subsists in virtue of the symbolism be tween womanhood above and that which is found below, we shall not proceed much further if there is brought home to us merely the notion that the office of the mother on earth is made sacred in a sense that is above the hallowed sense of Nature by the conception of its archetype in heaven. It has been present to us through all the Christian centuries in the popular and most catholic devotion to the Queen of Heaven, which, like so many other popular interests, but those more especi ally that are consecrated by the greatest of all the churches, adumbrates a vital truth in the spiritual life and a first principle in the world of reality. It has been a very sincere and whole-hearted devotion in those who have been drawn thereto ; but the particular doctrine of miraculous and virgin birth, though eloquent and sugges tive within its own measures, creates a clear line of de marcation between subject and object, so that there is a world-wide distinction between the honour paid to her who is ever outside ourselves and the adoration of Him Who is never understood essentially until He is realised within. Now, there are no prayers to Shekinah in the official liturgies of Jewish religion, but in the Secret Church of Israel, frequented in spirit and in truth by the Sons of the Doctrine, she is either the House of Prayer or else abides therein, and we have seen that her doors are open to prayers for ever. She was the 225 p 'The Secret Doctrine in Israel great object of prayer, though it is to be questioned whether it was by the way of prescribed forms : it was rather by that prayer in the stillness of unexpressed thought about which we hear in the Zohar. The reason is ready to our hands, and the first light which may be said to fall on our subject is that the Shekinah is an indwelling glory. The Latin Kabalists made use of the term cohabitant by an imperfect understanding on their own part of the mystery involved — that is to say, by a consideration of the external side which obtains in espousal relations on earth. The proper word is inhabi tant, for it is said that the Shekinah dwells in man,1 being in the heart of those who seek after good works zealously.2 And more definitely : Man is the House of the Shekinah.3 The beginning of this inhabitation is when man makes a firm effort towards self-amendment, for by such turning the Shekinah is drawn towards him,4 and to this condi tion are applied the words : " I am my beloved's and his desire is towards me."5 Those with whom she dwells are those who are humbled and even broken by suffering.6 Yet does she reign only where there is joy rather than sad ness, an allusion to the support of trials with resignation. The suffering is, however, more especially that of which the root or cause is in love, being the state of those who are consumed by the love of the Divine : these are the Brothers of the Shekinah.7 Again, it is said that the work of Shekinah below is comparable to that which the soul accomplishes in the body : more accurately still, it is the same work,8 and this enables us to understand in what sense she is termed the soul of the Tabernacle below,9 which Tabernacle is the sacred body of man. I have called these intimations a first light, but I have not intended to exaggerate their value as such. I speak 1 Z., Ft. I, fol. i66a ; DE PAULY, II, 250. 2 Ib., Pt. II, fol. I28b; IV, ii. 8 Id. * II)., Pt I, fol. 88b ; I, 509. 5 Song of Solomon vii, 10. 6 Z., Pt. I, fol. i8ia; II, 315. 7 Ib. 8 Ib., Pt. II, fol. I4ob; IV, 45- 9 Ib. The Mystery of Shekinah as a mystic ; we have heard for two thousand years that God is within and His kingdom, yet the world remains comparable rather to the wilderness without the Holy City than to the blessed Zion, and if Shekinah is offered to us in the secret literature of Jewry as that aspect of the Divine Nature or Principle which is realisable by the heart of man, I do not see that we have added anything to our subject. It is idle to decode books of secret doctrine unless they have something more definite to tell us concerning the way, the truth and the life. So also it is beautiful to hear that whosoever wrongs a poor person is guilty of wrong to Shekinah, because she is the protectress of the poor ; 1 but we know too well already of the things which grieve the spirit. I might multiply these quotations, and it would serve no greater purpose ; the question would remain then which remains now ; the Secret Doctrine of Israel either covers a mystery of know ledge wherein there lies possible a mystery of certitude in experience or it is a temple in a waste of thought, far from any city of refuge and filled only with confused rumours or raving of empty words. Now, I have per formed many arid journeys in my time and have returned with an empty wallet ; but if this had been one of them I should not have written its itinerary in the present study of the Zohar. There have been recurring intimations there and here in these pages concerning a mystery of sex ; it is imposed upon me now to affirm that this is the mystery of Shekinah ; and the nature of such mystery corresponds — according to its veiled claim — with the definition which I have just given concerning a knowledge and an experience. The point and centre of the whole subject is the Indwelling Glory ; it is declared everywhere, but everywhere it is also concealed ; one aspect of its presentation — amidst great hiddenness of wording — sug gests that the entrance of the High Priest into the Holy 1 Z., Pt. II, fol. 86b; DE PAULY, III, 355. See also Is. Ivii, 15. The Secret Doctrine i?i Israel of Holies belongs to the mystery of sex ; 1 but I do not propose to pursue this intimation, as it seems to me like that fiftieth gate which was not opened by Moses, and, moreover, the fitting time is not yet. I will rather resume the conference by saying that, according to the Zohar, the union of male and female is Modesty,- and that the title to behold the face of Shekinah is one of purity.3 It seems true therefore to say that she is the Law of the Mystery, and the Zohar quotes concerning her, " When thou goest, it shall lead thee ; when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee ; and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee." 4 The study of this Law is life eternal.5 Considered as a law, it implies a covenant, and of this covenant Joseph is said to be the image, because of his continence in respect of Potiphar's wife.6 Having tabulated these premisses and thus secured a point of departure, we have again to ap proach the great text and see after what manner it will shed light on the research. It is specified that the Shekinah dwelt with Israel prior to the captivity, meaning probably the captivity in Babylon, and the sin which brought about this exile was equivalent to the uncovering of the hidden physical centre of Shekinah. I am speaking here under great difficulty and am somewhat exchanging terms, for this Minerva and Diana of Israel is a woman, like Isis, and her veil is not to be lifted. The French translators finish the quotation under notice with the help of the Latin tongue, and it reads : Traditum est . . . genitaks panes Shekin* existere? This also is a sacrament, but we can understand the meaning by assuming that the Shekinah in such a connection signifies the Secret Doctrine in so far as it was a mystery of sex, and the Zohar goes on to particularise the alleged sin as a crime of incest, by which 1 Z., Ft. Ill, fol. 66b ; DK PAULY, V, 182. The hour of entrance is when the Sacred King is united to Matrona. - lb., fol. i45b; V, 375. 3 Ib., Pt. II, fol. 6ob ; III, 268, 269. * Prov. vii, 22. 6 Z., Pt. I, fol. I75b ; II, 290. 6 /£., fol. i84a; II, 327. 7 /£., fol. 27b ; I, 173. The Mystery of Shekinah we must understand some illegal and reprobate application of the sex doctrine. It matters nothing to our subject if on the surface of Scripture the accusation seems without warrant ; to justify the hermeneutics of the Zohar would be a task as much beyond my province as beyond my powers of pleading.1 But we begin to see in this manner the kind of problem that has been taken in hand. It is said farther that the mystery of the Shekinah comprises all women, and this — as we have seen — is why she does not abide except with him who is united to a woman.2 She is fixed definitely in the house of man when he marries, ct quum ftfderis suum signum in locum pomt? This is why the He and the Van follow each other in the alphabet — Vau being the symbol of the male and He of the female principle. Husband and wife are one, and a ray of celestial grace covers them ; it descends from Chokmah, penetrates the male principle, and the latter communicates it to the female.4 We can understand therefore in what sense her shame is the defiled body of man,5 and how she is weighted by the sin of Israel.6 The reason is that she is a virgin betrothed to the Middle Pillar,7 and of her it was said by Adam in the great day of his perfection : " This is nowr bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh," s which is to affirm that in one of her aspects she is the type of stainless womanhood ; but she passes ever into espousals below — as she is ever in es pousals above — for the fulfilment of herself in humanity, 1 As 'a matter of fact, the idea is drawn from the Talmud, which enumerates various cases of the crime in question, but the reference in the Zohar is to be understood spiritually, as of an assault on Shekinah, who — as we have seen — is the sister of all men. From all modern points of view and feeling, this kind of symbolism is unfortunate and disconcerting enough ; but I think that the Sons of the Doctrine, if they had been challenged on the subject, would have replied with Gerald Massey that Nature is not ashamed of her emblems. 2 Z., Ft. I, fol. 228b; DE FAULY, II, 501. 3 Ib., fol. 943 ; I, 536. 4 Ib., fol. 94a; I, 537. 5 Ib., Ft. II I, fol. 753, b ; V, 205. 6 /£., fol. 28a ; V, 29. 7 Id., Ft. I, fol. 28a ; I, 178. 8 Gen. ii, 23. The interpretation of this text in this strange manner is like an opening into a great vista of the Secret Doctrine. The Secret Doctrine in Israel and of all humanity in her. The evidence is that when there is a just man on earth the Shekinah cleaves to him and does not leave him henceforth.1 It will be observed that in order to gain the parti cular point at a given moment the Zohar is valiantly careless of that which goes before, as of that which may be designed to come after. The history of the fall of man through the intermediation of woman, acting under the virus of the serpent, is by no means the history of Shekinah, unless under a special aspect and as a remote reflection ; but when it is sought to shew that she is nearer to the elect than hands and feet are near, it is difficult to find anything more complete in its correspondence than such words as " bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh,"2 and the use of the text — so long as it is apart from the context — happens to be a true one, though it is about as literal in its application as is the tale of the Garden of Eden. So also when the Zohar wishes to apply that idea of a " field which the Lord has blessed " 3 to the mystery of sex, it is not above saying that the King who " tills the field " 4 or is u served by the field " is the Shekinah, sex-contradiction notwithstanding. The object is to indicate that the dwelling of the Shekinah in the house of those who are married is to bring about the descent of souls to animate children under her presidency.5 But perhaps there was never an instance so much to our purpose as the statement that on the day when the Song of Solomon was revealed below, the Shekinah descended6 — as if for the first time, though we know 1 Z., Pt. I,foi. 66b; I, 391. 2 Gen. ii, 23. 3 Ib., xxvii, 27. 4 Eccles. v, 9. The Authorised Version says : "The King is served by the field." Cf. Vulgate : Et insuper universes terra rex imperat seruienti, and the Douay rendering : " Moreover there is the King that reigneth over all the land subject to him." — Eccles. v, 8 6 Z., Pt. I, fol. i22a ; DE PAULY, II, 91, 92. 6 /£., Pt. II, fol. I43b; IV, 55. The putative authority is I Kings viii, 1 1 : "So that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud ; for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord." The Mystery of Shekinah that she had been with man from the beginning and had shared in the whole creation. The object, however, is to shew that this glorious canticle is the world's history of her in man, the beginning and end of all that belongs to the union, the mystery of the Lover and the Beloved throughout the ages of election. It is the summary of Holy Scripture ; it is the work of creation, the mystery of the patriarchs, the exile in Egypt, the exodus of Israel, the Decalogue and manifestation on Sinai, the emblem of all events during the sojourn in the desert, thence to the entrance into the Holy Land and so forward to the building of the Holy Temple. It is also a summary of the mystery contained in the Sacred and Supreme Name, of the dispersal of Israel through the nations, of its deliverance to come, the resurrection of the dead and the events leading up to that day which is called the Sabbath of the Lord. In a word, it contains all that hath been, is and ever shall be, for it is the story of that Isis who is Shekinah, from the first verses concerning the kisses of his mouth to the last rapture on the mountain of spices.1 Now, it is said that there is desire on the part of man to be united with the Mother in transcendence as well as with the Mother below, to attain her by perfection and to be blessed on account of her.2 We know that this is a desire for Divine Union because Jehovah is Elohim, and in case such testimony should not be found full or sufficient, the Zohar adds elsewhere that the memorable words : " I am that I am " signify in their inward sense : " I, the Holy One, blessed be He, am the Shekinah."3 It is certain that the state of union is not only deeper than the state of vision 1 Z., Pt. II, fol I44b. ; DE PAULY, IV, 55, 56. It should be under stood that while I have not given an actual translation of the passage I have kept faithfully to its sense. 2 It is a question of integration in the Zoharic law of correspondences. 8 /£., Pt. I, fol. 23a ; I, 140. 23I "The Secret Doctrine in Israel but differs generically therefrom, and I cannot say that I have found unquestionable Zoharic authority for the attainment of Divine Union in this proper sense of the term. It is rather vision which is promised to the blessed in the world beyond, to gaze upon the face of Shekinah,1 as in a substituted state of union, and the title must be earned in this life by the following of the path of purity.2 It is affirmed in reference to this that those only who quit the lower world in the grace of the Shekinah are judged worthy of eternal life.3 So also there are some who do not die as men die commonly, but are ravished by the attraction which Shekinah exercises on their souls.4 The Mother in transcendence is, however, like the Mother below, and spiritual communion with her is in so far as man has become a house or abode by attaching himself to the female : it is then that the Divine Mother pours down her blessings on both.5 There is — in the true sense of this term — a spiritual union below for the Sons of the Doctrine, so that they are encompassed by two females G — the wife who is on earth and the Unseen Helpmate. After what manner her presence is realised never transpires definitely in the text, but — as there is no need to say — it is by spiritual apprehension only. Curiously enough, this appears at its best not in connection with the nuptial state itself but in the discourses of the Sons of the Doctrine on the Traditional Law ; they are conscious then of the presence of Shekinah and testify respecting it continually with no uncertain voice. It must be said that the women of Israel are never present at the debates,7 but their place in the house insured that 1 Z.,Pt. II,fol.4ob; DEPAULY,III,i89. 2 //>., fol. 6ob; 111,268,269. 3 I/}., Pt. I, fol. 82a ; I, 473. * /&, fol. i6b ; II, 99. 5 //;., fol. soa ; I, 292. G //>. 7 I remember, however, that there is a solitary exception in favour of an innkeeper's daughter, who was present when her husband exhibited his knowledge of the Hidden Law before a company of adepts. The Mystery of Shekinah of the Divinity. When, however, the master of the Law was going by himself upon a journey, and when, technically speaking, the male was to be apart from the female, he was not for that reason in a state of separation from the Shekinah, supposing that he had prayed to the Holy one before starting,1 in order to maintain the union between male and female abroad as well as at home. Another condition was that he must watch over all his actions in every phase of life : 2 otherwise he might be separated from his spiritual companion, putting a stop to the union and rendering himself an incomplete being. It is scarcely desirable at this stage to speak of any thing so obvious and familiar as the known character istics of oriental imagery, to recall for example the personifications of Wisdom in the books ascribed to King Solomon ; but the literary vestures of these ex perienced two curious developments. The titles and offices of the Hebrew Chokmah were raised bodily from their setting and transferred to the Blessed Virgin by the compilers of the Roman Breviary, while through another channel they passed over to the Gnostic Sophia and by a last transition into the Virgin Wisdom of Jacob Bohme and the later mystics of his school. The cor respondences between Shekinah and the Christian Mother of God are rather plausible on the surface and may be deceptive to that extent, because shallow analogies still deceive many ; but even the unusual predispositions which led up to the French translation of the Zohar have not permitted its editors to postulate that the Shekinah is a veil of Mary. The correspondences between the In dwelling Glory and the Virgin Sophia of Bohme are so much closer that they cannot fail to create an impression that the German theosophist owed something to this source. There is nothing in his life to suggest that he was taught in any secret schools or was in communica- 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. 4913 ; DE PAULY, I, 289. 2 //;M foj. 5oa . If 289. The Secret Doctrine in Israel tion with persons who were acquainted with the Secret Doctrine in Israel, though there were many Kabalistic scholars at his period. There is one possible alternative —that the root-matter of Jewish tradition in the Scrip tures of the Old Testament developed in his own con sciousness, to some extent after the same manner as it did in that of the Sons of the Doctrine, so that in his case, as in others without number, it proved that true men and seers spoke the same language because they belonged to the same region of thought. They saw also in the same glass of vision. But the question, however interesting, is not of our real concern. We have now considered the Shekinah in the light of all her attributes. I do not believe that I have omitted a single reference of the least importance found in the text of the Zohar, while all have been considered criti cally. The conclusion reached is that the Shekinah, as the president of a mystery of sex, is the direction in which we must seek if — as labourers in this strange field — we are to obtain our wages. The other intimations are excellent and agreeable in their way, but that which we seek — in what is for us an untrodden region of thought — is some new message, which is not to be found in the other offices, qualities and virtues that characterise the Holy Guide of Jewry. I suppose that, here in conclusion, 1 have no real need to say that the Secret Doctrine in Israel is not one of sex only, though intimations concerning the latter are found everywhere. Eschatology, for example, is not of this order, nor are the parts of the soul in man, but with these things and with several others that are like them I have dealt at their value. CHAPTER XVII THE MYSTERY OF SEX I AM entering in this chapter upon that part of my task which is at once most important and difficult. It may be an open question whether I should begin at the highest point of the research and thence work downward or take the opposite course and so — as the proverb counsels — proceed from small beginnings to the greater end. That is best which seems the simplest, and I have therefore chosen to work upwards from below. I will cite in the first place certain great axioms of the whole subject — as these have been proclaimed on the authority of the masters. It is testified that the union of the male and female must be a perfect union in the mystery of faith.1 There is also another testimony, already given, and this is that the title to behold the face of Shekinah is one of purity,2 the scholium on which — though it lies far away in the text — is that modesty is the union of the male and female ;3 and it may be noted in this connection that the most cryptic of all texts in the Zohar — containing the mys teries of Divine personalities — is called The Book of Con cealment or of Modesty. These things being so, we may consider in the next place what is said on the subject of espousals, as these are known on earth. There is one definition which is in keeping with the tradition at large, and this is that marriage is the union of the Sacred Name 1 Z., Ft. I, fol. ioib ; DE PAULY, II, u. 2 Ib,, Pt. Ill, fol. 2i3a ; V, 542 ; //>., Pt. II, fol. 6ob ; III, 268, 269. 3 Ib.y Pt. Ill, fol. 1450 ; V, 375. Man is perfect only when he com prises male and female ; it is then that he fears sin and then that the title of modest is conferred upon him. The Secret Doctrine in Israel here below 1 — that is, its completion in each person. The thesis appertaining hereto is that circumcision is the symbol of all purity in sexual intercourse ; 2 that Israel is placed on this account in purity as a starting-point and enters under the wings of the Shekinah.3 This sacred sign of the Covenant constitutes the root-matter of the Sacred Name and of the Mystery of Faith.4 As the sun enlightens the world, so the sacred sign enlightens the body ; as a buckler protects man, so does this : no evil spirit can approach him who preserves it in purity.5 But as the advantage is greater with which the children of Israel begin their earthly life so is the responsibility greater if they make the covenant of no effect in their own persons. Now, the Sacred Name is never attached to an in complete man, being one who is unmarried, or one who dies without issue.6 Such a person does not penetrate after death into the vestibule of Paradise,7 on account of his incompleteness. He is like a tree that is rooted up, and he must be planted anew — that is to say, he must suffer rebirth, as we have seen, in order that the Sacred Name may be completed in all directions.8 The com mand to fulfil the Law, which means the pro creation and engendering of children, is to spread the radiance of the Sacred Name in every direction, by col lecting spirits and souls which constitute the glory of the Holy one — above and below. Whosoever fails to apply himself to the fulfilment of this command diminishes the figure of his Master and prevents it descending here below.9 The last statement refers of course to the making of man, male and female, in the likeness of the Elohim. It is said also that the paucity in the descent 1 Z., Pt. Ill, fol. ;a ; DE PAULY, V, 18. 2 /#., Pt. I, Appendix III, Secrets of the Law ; II, 721, 722. 3 //A, fol. 95a ; I, 543. 4 //;., Pt. II, fol. 3b ; III, 19. 6 Ib. 6 Ib., Pt. I, fol. 48a; I, 278'. 7 Ib,, fol. 66a ; I, 388 ; #., fol. 48a ; I, 278. a Ib. 9 Ib., fol. 2720; II, 641. "The Mystery of Sex of souls is the reason why the Shekinah does not come down into this world,1 but this is in contradiction to the presence of the Indwelling Glory throughout the whole creation. God blessed Adam because they were made together male and female, and blessings are found only where male and female are united for the fulfilment of the purpose of creation,2 which — according to the counsel of the Elohim — was to increase, multiply and replenish the earth. It was not good for man to be alone because this end was in a state of frustration. It may even be that the Zoharic legend concerning the male and female being originally side by side may be only a veiled way of indicating that they were not in the marital estate.3 Afterwards they were face to face, signifying the fulfil ment of the precept. I have now dealt briefly with what may be called the principles at issue, and we have next to see after whac manner those who exalted so highly the nuptial state gave instruction, so to speak, on its practice here below. The doctrine was that no marriage is made on earth before it is proclaimed in heaven, and that the Holy One accomplishes unions in the world above before the de scent of souls on earth.4 About the last point we shall see at a later stage. In practice the Sons of the Doctrine were separated as far from the uninitiated world of Israel 1 Z., Ft. I, fol. 272b ; DE PAULY, II, 641. The reference is really to her manifestation and not to her immanence. She stands at the door and knocks, but those who should welcome her in keep fast their precincts and tyle their portals. This, however, is symbolism ; it is more true to say that we fail to realise her presence in our consciousness. 2 /&, Pt. I, fol. i6sa; II, 245. 3 I have put this tentatively, as I wish to leave some conclusions in the hands of my readers ; but there is no question that Zoharic teaching is clear on the point, not only in what it implies but in what is expressed frequently. Whether there was ever such an epoch in the history of the human soul is another question. We must remember that the object of the soul's legends is not the delineation of putative histories, but the symbolical adumbration of possibilities inherent in the soul. That which is here indicated is a transcendental union between the Lover and Beloved, of which the nuptial union on earth is a type and to which it may be a path of approach. 4 /£., fol. 2293 ; U»503. The Secret Doctrine in Israel as the chosen people at large were separated ex hypothesi by the fact of their circumcision. There is a particular sense in which it is held that the union here below between husband and wife is the work of the Holy One, and herefrom, as from other considerations, arises the sanctity and necessity of that act which is implied by the word union.1 After what manner the Divine is said to intervene therein, or perhaps I should say to overshadow it, is indicated by the theory that man is formed below on the model of that which is above.2 It follows that he who, in Zoharic terminology, suffers his fount to fail and produces no fruits here-^-whether because he will not take a wife, whether his wife is barren, or whether he abides with her in a way that is against Nature- commits an irreparable crime.3 " It is vain ... to sit up late " 4 are words that designate those who do not marry till an advanced age, for it is woman who con stitutes the repose of man.5 Hereof, according to the text, is the peace of espousals, and in further variation of the testimony which recurs continually, it is added that man shall participate in the world to come because he has entered during this life into the joy of living honourably with his wife.6 The reason is that soul as well as body shares in the gaudium inexprimabile by which children are engendered. This is the eroticism which characterizes the Zohar, according to certain com mentators : but as the Doctors of the Law beheld the supreme mystery in sex, it is obvious that whatever belongs thereto is explained thereby.7 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. i86b; DE PAULY, II, 337. 2 Ib., fol. i86b ; II, 338. 3 Ib. * Ps. cxxvii, 2. 6 Z., Pt. I, fol. i87a ; II, 340. See also Pt. Ill, fol. io8a ; V, 274, where it is said, on the authority of Rabbi Eleazar, son of Rabbi Simeon, that the He is the repose of beings above and below— above being the rest of the Shekinah in transcendence and below of the Shekinah in manifestation. 6 Ib.t Pt. I, fol. 9ob; I, 515 ; ib., Appendix III, Secret Midrash, fol. I4b, isa ; II, 694 ; ib., fol. i87a ; I, 340. 7 It is about the worst word that could be selected by a scholar and a critic who is alive to the issues of his subject. Coventry Patmore's The Mystery of Sex And now as regards the practice, the thesis is that whoever sanctifies himself at the moment of intercourse shall have children who will not fear the tempter-spirit. This is the consequence respecting the fruit of marriages, but there is also a consequence within the measures of the union itself so that it is raised from the physical into a spiritual degree, from the mode of Nature into the mode of grace.1 The fulfilment of a particular pre cept is the condition attaching hereto and this is the raising of the heart and mind, on the part of the Lover and Beloved, to the Most Holy Shekinah, the glory which cohabits and indwells, during the external act.2 The absconditus sponsus enters into the body of the woman and is joined with the abscondita sponsa.3 This is true also on the reverse side of the process, so that the two spirits are melted together and are interchanged con stantly between body and body. The sexes are then also interchanged in a sense, as the sex of Metatron is said to be transformed momently before the veil of palms and pomegranates on the threshold of the inmost shrine in the Supernals.4 In the indistinguishable state which arises it may be said almost that the male is with the female neither male nor female : at least they are both or either. So is man affirmed to be composed of the young lady thought that the sacrament of marriage was rather a wicked sacrament, but the Zohar raises it into realms of which the Christian Churches have never dreamed, though I have met with some rare aspects of Latin theology which seem to indicate that a Redeemer may live hidden therein. 1 It is added significantly that herein the Holy One exercises such providence over man that he may not be lost in the world to come. 2 There are many references, but perhaps the most signal is Z, Pt. I, fol. 5oa ; DE PAULY, I, 290. 3 7£.,Pt. II, fol. loib; III,4io. 4 This intimates what, by the hypothesis, can be accomplished in nuptials, through the purification of body and mind, towards the union of souls. The statement in the Zohar on which my words are based seems to contain the elements of the whole mystery on the manifest side and after what manner that which is now only mutual in a complete dis tinction may be unified by experience in consciousness. I am somewhat veiling my meaning because it is not possible to speak ad clerum. The Secret Doctrine in Israel world above, which is male, and of the female world below.1 The same is true of woman. Now according to the Zohar those words in the Song of Solomon : " Thy breasts are better than wine " refer to that wine which provokes joy and desire ; and seeing that all things are formed above according to a pattern which is reproduced faithfully below, it is held to follow that when desire awakens beneath it awakens also on high.3 Herein lies the sanctity of espousals on earth and herefrom depends the need for exalting that sanctity and all that belongs to espousals into the highest grade. There are however two classes whose respective duties differ with the degrees of their election ; there are those who are termed ordinary mortals, meaning the rank and file of the chosen people, but there are also the Sons of the Doctrine, chosen among the chosen out of thousands. The counsel imposed on the first class is to sanctify their conjugal relations in respect of the time thereof, which is fixed at midnight, or forward from that hour, the reason being that God descends then into Paradise and the offices of sanctity are operating in the plenary sense. But this is the time when the counsel to the Sons of the Doctrine is that they should arise for the study of the Law, for union thereby with the Community of Israel above and for the praise of the Sacred Name of God. 4 The Sons of the Doctrine are described as reserving conjugal relations for the night of the Sabbath, being the moment when the Holy One is united to the Community 1 Z., Pt. II, fol. i?3b ; DE PAULY, IV, 128. 2 There can be no question that in the majority of Scriptural quota tions the translator of the Zohar has done his best to conform his rendering to the Vulgate: it was of course unlikely that he would follow any other version, and I am stating the fact only to shew that he has seldom translated de now. Our Authorised Version of I, 2 reads : " Thy love is better than wine," and the Vulgate : Quia meliora sunt ubera tua -vino. 3 Z., Pt. I, fol. yoa, b ; I, 415. * /£., Pt. Ill, fol. 8ia; V, 224. The Mystery of Sex of Israel.1 The thesis is that God is One and as such it is agreeable to Him to be concerned with a single people. Out of this arises the question as to when man may be called one, and the answer is that this comes about when the male is united to the female in a holy purpose ; it is then that man is complete, is one and is without blemish.2 It is of this that the man and the woman must think at the moment of their union ; it is in uniting bodies and souls that the two become one ; man in parti cular is termed one and perfect ; he draws down the Holy Spirit upon him and is called the Son of the Holy One, blessed be He.3 According to Rabbi Simeon, the relations of the patriarchs with their wives were actuated by a supreme mystery.4 So long as Jacob was unmarried, God did not manifest to him clearly, and this mystery is familiar to those who are acquainted with the ways of the Law. After marriage he arrived at the perfection which is above as distinguished from the perfection which is below, and God manifested to him clearly.5 The 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. i4a, b; DE PAULY, i, 82. /£., Pt. Ill, fol. 8ia ; V, 224. 2 Ib. 3 /£., fol. 8ib ; V, 224. The intention here seems obvious, and it is to shew that beyond that process indicated by Gen. ii, 24, when it is said that "they shall be one flesh," there is another and higher process, in the fulfilment of which it is possible that they shall be one soul. The man is not, however, without the woman, and this is a thing to be marked because the contrary idea may be presented to some minds. The following curious point may be noticed in this connection. It is affirmed that the words: "In the beginning God created " (Gen. i, i) conceal the same mystery as those other words : " And the rib which the Lord God had taken from man made He a woman" (/£., ii, 22). In " God created the heaven " the two last words conceal the same mystery as the words : "And brought her unto the man" (/#., ii, 22). In " God created the heaven and the earth" the three last words conceal the same mystery as " bone of my bones (/#., ii, 23). All designate " the earth of life."— Z., Pt. I, fol. 5ob ; I, 293, 294. But it is said also that the words " the heaven " signify the Shekinah above, while the words " and the earth " denote the Shekinah below, whose union shall be as perfect on a glorious day to come as the union of the male and the female. — Ib., fol. 5ob; I, 295. 4 /£., Pt. I, fol. I33b; II, 126. 5 //>., fol. I5oa; II, 192. 241 Q The Secret Doctrine in Israel explanation seems to be that the Supreme Wisdom is a mystery of sex.1 Out of these considerations there arose a very curious question, of which I must speak at some length because — in its way — it is a characteristic development on the practical side and, within certain measures, it carries our subject further. The principle is that the male must be always attached to the female for the Shekinah ever to be with him.2 All holiness might be practised, the Secret Doctrine might be studied by night and by day, and the illuminations thereof might overflow the intellec tual part ; but failing fulfilment of this radical counsel a man was not on the way which leads into true life.3 He was in that condition in which " it is not good for man to be " 4 — alone, like Adam in the Garden.5 But those who had the precept at heart and were therefore complete men by their union with women on earth, remind us in one particular of many students of the Middle Ages : they were travellers in search of wisdom ; and they were also men of affairs, workers in the vineyard of this world as well as in the Garden of God. The Zohar is full of their little journeys, and these as far as possible were taken one with another, so that the Secret Doctrine might be studied on the way and that the presence of Shekinah might be thus secured for their consolation, protection and instruction as they fared forward. Great adventures befell them in the sense of the Mysteries of Doctrine, for strange people went about in those days carrying, unknown to one another, the treasures of 1 Z., Ft. I, fol. isob ; DE PAULY, II, 193. 2 //>., fol. 490; I, 289. 3 There was otherwise a certain dispensation for the Sons of the Doctrine in respect of the fruit of intercourse. On the assumption that there was no issue they appear to have been spared the penalty of return into incarnation. 4 Gen. ii, 18. 5 He was held to be in a state of sickness, and as such was lo be isolated from the offices of the altar. Only a man completed, and in this sense made perfect, by union with a woman, could offer sacrifice. — Z., Ft. Ill, fol. 5b; V, 12. The Mystery of Sex mystic knowledge. It was after all an unincorporated fraternity, and though it looks differently there and here, initiation was by a segregating principle and not by communication from a common centre of knowledge. The son of an instructed doctor might have advanced a great distance unknown to others, while occasionally an isolated student entered by his own reflections, and by grace descending into the heart, into the golden chain of tradition, so that he was not less in the light state than if he had sat at the feet of Rabbi Simeon through the days and the years. Now, journeys in search of wisdom or in the prosecution of 'business — which, it may be mentioned, was often of a humble kind — meant separation from the wife of the doctor's household, and this would seem at first sight to involve separation from Shekinah.1 To remove this diffi culty it was held sufficient — as we have seen — (a) that the doctor should pray to the Holy One before starting and (b) should watch over all his actions during the period of absence from home.2 He would not then be separated from his spiritual companion, nor would he put that stop to the union between male and female which would render him an incomplete being. It was understood further that the counsel which prevailed abroad must prevail at home also, so that what was inculcated was really a precept of life. I feel that this might have been almost taken for a point of departure in respect of the Co-habiting Glory, if con siderations of a different kind had not intervened. It occurs early in the Zohar — as a fact, in the first section — and concerning the Great Presence it postulates the 1 The position is a little fantastic, because in such case the same danger might arise from the isolation of a single hour : moreover, the notion discounts the whole value of unions realised in spirit and in truth, appearing to make physical contiguity more important than that near ness of heart which spatial considerations do not help nor hinder. But the question seems raised in reality because it is an opportunity to enforce a practice of inward dedication after the best manner of the Zohar. As usual, the peg answers because it supports this lesson. 2 Z., Ft. I., fol. 49b, $oa ; DE PAULY, I, 289. The Secret Doctrine in Israel dwelling of Shekinah with man.1 The word cohabiting seems to be an incorrect word, for it was obviously in an inward sense only that the Shekinah accompanied the Sons of the Doctrine in their recurring voyages and ven tures. If not indwelling, she was their overshadowing grace and power ; but they seem to have been conscious of a certain marriage state — spiritually realised — in their relation with her, though it was of course collective and not personal. Alternatively, there is a sense in which it was peculiar and catholic at one time, and this is an im portant point of analogy between the Holy Guide of the Sons of the Doctrine and that Christ Who is the Spouse of the soul. That this, however, is per se an insufficient ground for the identification of the two Divine Principles we are likely to see at the end. I need not add that the Shekinah appears throughout this section of the symbol ism as distinctively feminine. Recurring to the text, after having made these lawful inferences therefrom, the Zohar — with Rabbi Simeon as the mouthpiece of its teaching — is comprehensive and precise in its justice, after the manner which obtains throughout. It is not in virtue of the man being side by side with the woman, as the legend depicts him pre viously, that the Shekinah abides with man.2 We have 1 It is said elsewhere that Shekinah never separates from man so long as he observes the commandments of the Law. — Z., Pt. I, fol. 2323. ; DE PAULY, II, 165. The authority is : " Behold I send an angel before thee, to keep thee in the way" (Ex. xxiii, 20) ; and: "I will send an angel before thee " (ib. xxxiii, 2). This is held to be the Liberating Angel, to whom Jacob made allusion (Gen. xlviii, 16 ), who watches over man, who receives blessings from above and distributes them below.— Z., Pt. I, fol. 23oa; II, 508; and fol. 228b ; II, 502. 2 See, among other places, Z., Pt. I, fol. 49^ ; I, 284. I suppose that the reason is obvious from the Zoharic standpoint : contiguity is not union. It is obvious also, or should be, that we are not considering a Siamese-Twins symbolical legend. What lies at the heart of the story, regarded as hypothetically something of the far past, would be very difficult to decide if it were to be accepted as one of fact. It belongs to "the hunger and thirst of the heart" after a way to the blessed life through earthly espousals. Surely the Sons of the Doctrine must have found in their own marriages pearls of great price which their heirs have lost now, and of which we have not even dreamed. And yet The Mystery of Sex seen that this ancient mode was before all things imper fect. The man and the woman must be face to face, at once in the continuity and restrictions of the sacred mystical act. So also when, after days and weeks of travel, the Son of Doctrine returns to his home he must procure nuptial gratification to the wife of his heart, seeing that he has had the advantage of mystic union in his absence with the companion or helpmate who is on high.1 In the deepest understanding of the subject, the one belongs to the other, that which is without being Zohari- cally as that which is within and all the correspond ences being aspects of one thing seen and done upon different planes of being. The external and expressed reason is, however, twofold: (i) because there is Tal- mudic authority that conjugal relations on returning from a journey constitute a good work2 and (2) every pleasure resulting from a good work is shared by She- kinah.3 Furthermore, it is in such pleasure that the peace of the house is maintained, for the Zohar is much too modest and inclined spiritually to have any shyness over the physical and emotional facts of daily life. The Scriptural authority, obtained after the usual manner, is contained in the words: "Thou shalt know that thy tabernacle shall be in peace ; and thou shalt visit thy habitation, and shalt not sin." 4 To abstain from con jugal relations in such a case would be indeed sirifiilj depreciating the work of the companion on high, who cleaves to the man, but thanks only to union with the wife.5 If subsequently there be fruit of this intercourse, the Heavenly Companion will provide a holy soul for the we continue to hear rough things about the position of womanhood in Israel, sometimes even from converted Jews, like that Chevalier Drach who chaffered and trafficked in his conversion — as it seems to me — more than enough. 1 Z., Ft. I, fol. soa; DE PAULY, I, 290. 2 See Talmud, Tract Yebamoth. 3 Z., Ft. I, fol. 5oa ; I, 290. She who suffers with Israel enters into joy with him. 4 Job v, 24. 6 Z., Pt. I, fol. soa; I, 290. 'The Secret Doctrine in Israel new-born child, the Shekinah being that Covenant which is termed the Covenant of the Holy One. The rule on return from a journey must be fulfilled therefore with the same zeal as the ordinance laid down by the wise re garding the restriction of conjugal relations to the day of the Sabbath, and it is apparently the only recognised ex ception thereto in the matter of times and seasons, unless of course an exception is made by Nature. Finally, and this, which is assuredly a most strange — and within my experience of the sacred literature — an unique counsel, has been cited already : when man has in view the Shekinah1 at the moment of his conjugal relations the pleasure which he experiences is a meritori ous work. The reason is that the union below is an image of the union that is above. The mystery of the whole subject is that the Mother in transcendence abides with the male only in so far as he has constituted himself a house by his attachment to the female : there must be a local habitation, an union below to offer a point of con tact with the union that is on high, and then the Divine Mother pours down her blessings thereon — that is to say, on male and female in equal measures.2 So is the male below said to be encompassed by two females, and all the ways of blessing in the two worlds are open before him.3 He reads the Secret Doctrine in the womanhood on earth, and it is read to him by her who sits between the pillars of the eternal Temple with the Book of the Secret Law lying open on her sacred knees.4 1 It is part of the contemplation of the absent and higher beauty in union with that beauty which, albeit lower, is present, manifest and is or may become sacramental. It is a memorial also that the union which is of time has, or may attain, a part in the union which is eternal, described in one place as the contemplation of the beauty of Shekinah, already mentioned.— Ib., Pt. II, fol. ii6a ; DE PAULY, III, 448, 449. 2 Z., Pt. I, fol. 5oa ; I, 291. It is said also that Shekinah does the will of the master of the house. — /£., fol. 236b ; II, 532. The reference on the surface is to Moses. 3 /£., fol. soa ; I, 292. 4 It is important to note here what is involved by the illustration as a whole— namely, that man in his union with woman becomes a house in The Mystery of Sex Among its lesser objects the counsel concerning the Sabbath Day and the relations therein offers proof to the spirits of the evil side respecting the superiority of those on the side of goodness, meaning mankind, who being provided with bodies can fulfil the duties of procreation.1 Whosoever has intercourse with his spouse, on what clay soever, must obtain her consent beforehand with words of affection and tenderness ; failing consent, he should proceed no further, for the act of union must be willing and not constrained.2 Nuptial intercourse is interdicted during the day because of the words : " And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set." 3 Subject to these and the rest of the provisions, some of which I have omitted, because of their difficulties of expression,4 it is affirmed that blessed are those who sanctify the Sabbath Day by intercourse with their wives ; for the Sons of the Doctrine it is a work consecrated to the Holy One, for as the union of Matrona with the heavenly King which the Divine Presence can dwell. Let us take another illustration, which is excellent and indeed admirable in its symbolism. The eye of man is said to be an image of the world ; the white of the eye is an image of the great ocean by which earth is encompassed, and the latter is represented by the "internal circle" of the eye. Within this there is another circle, and it is called the image of Jerusalem, centre of the whole worlch Finally there is the pupil, which corresponds to Zion and this is the abode of Shekinah. — /£., fol. 226a ; II, 490, 491. So also there are the parts of the human personality — physical and mental parts — and there is the conscious centre wherein is the Divine Presence awaiting realisation within us. The thesis is that marriage is a condition of realisation. 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. I4a, b ; DE PAULY, I, 82, 83. 2 Ib., fol. 493, b; I, 286. 3 Gen. xxvii, u. On the basis of this verse intercourse was forbidden during daylight hours. — Z., Pt. I, fol. 49!) ; I, 286. 4 In view of the sanctity which the Zohar attributes to the sex-act under the obedience of purity — which is marriage — there was a prohibition respecting its performance in nuilitate personarum. Those who ignore it are subject to the visitation of demons and will produce epileptic children obsessed by Lilith. This is the case more especially if the light of a lamp is used. I do not know whether this has Talmudic authority. — Z., Pt. I, fol. I4b; 1,83. The Secret Doctrine in Israel has for its object to send down holy souls into this world, so the colleagues on earth seek to attract these sacred souls into their own children.1 The theory of conception is that the Holy One and His Shekinah furnish the soul, while the father and mother provide the body between them2 — heaven, earth and all the stars of heaven being associated in the forma tion, together with the angels.3 By the desire which the man experiences for the woman and the woman for the man at the moment of their intercourse, their seeds are interblended and. produce a child which is said to have two figures, one within the other. The child in this way draws life from father and mother, and this is why there should be some kind of sancti- fication for all classes at the moment of conjugal union, so that the child about to be born may be perfect and complete in figure.4 The secret of divine generation is however a secret of the doctrine and is reserved for the initiated therein ; it is apparently they alone who draw down the holy souls which are the fruit of the union between God and His Shekinah. But there are various kinds and generations of souls, some being superior to others, and when the desire — apparently of the ordinary man — provokes in an equal degree the desire of the male soul for the female soul, the child born of this union will have a soul superior to that of other men, since its birth has come about by the desire of the Tree of Life.5 These things are clear issues at their value, and in looking at them from the standpoint of Israel we 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. soa ; DE PAULY, I, 290. //,., Pt. II,fol. Sgb; III, 363. 2 /<*., Pt. Ill, fol. 2i9b, The Faithful Shepherd', V, 556. 3 Ib. 4 Ib., Pt. I, fol. gob; I, 514, 515. 5 If)., fol. 2oc;a ; II, 437. This also is important because of that which it implies. The frigid, uninspired unions si pro forma marriages are, by this hypothesis, useless for the higher purposes ; there must be mutual and equilibrated desire, upspringing from love, and such desire must be transmuted by the tincture of Divine aspirations. The Mystery of Sex must make allowance for national exclusiveness in what is said about holy souls which can only become incarnate in Jewry. We must make allowance also for that which by inference from the teaching might be supposed to befall the barren woman. In conclusion as to this part, it is affirmed that the Sons of the Doctrine, knowing the mysteries of the Doctrine, turned all their thoughts to God, and their children were called Sons of the King.1 But those whose marital relations are not encompassed with sanctity cause a breach in the world above.2 The religion of earthly espousals, if I may so term it, is the part in manifestation of that which is called so frequently the Mystery of Faith and I will proceed next to the consideration of what is intimated there and here on this subject. In the words " male and female created He them " 3 there is expressed the supreme mystery which constitutes the glory of God, is inaccessible to human intelligence and is the object of faith. By this mystery was man created, as also the heaven and the earth.4 It is inferred that every figure which does not represent male and female has no likeness to the heavenly figure. This is why Scripture says that God blessed " them and called their name Adam in the day when they were created." The Scriptural authority for the affirmation that there is a Mystery of Faith is drawn from several sources, but without exception on the lucus a non lucendo 1 Here then is the counsel of espousals : Mens sana in corpore sano et spiritus Deo adhcerens', but such cleaving is in virtue of love uplifted through all the worlds.— See Z., Pt. Ill, fol. ;8a ; DE PAULY, V, 213. 2 It is said also that woman is the image of the altar, from which it seems to follow in the symbolism that man is the priest, and then of the oblations there should be no need to speak. It is said further, in this connection, that divorce makes a breach in the altar — in the altar below, because there is separation between male and female, and in the altar above by the Kabalistic hypothesis of correspondence between things above and below. — Z., Pt. II, fol. iO2b, io3a ; III, 415. See also *?., Pt. 1 1 1, fol. ;8a; V, 213. 3 Gen. i, 27. * Z., Pt. I, fol. 55b ; I, 320. 6 Gen. v, 2. The Secret Doctrine in Israel principle, as it is impossible to conceive where it lies in the texts or what it can be on the evidence of their surface meaning. I will group a few of them together and let them speak for themselves. (i) UO Lord, Thou art my God ; I will exalt Thee. I will praise Thy Name ; for Thou hast done wonderful things ; Thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth."1 (2) "And his hand took hold on Esau's heel."2 (3) "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them," 3 et seq. This is said to be the Great Mystery. (4) " I will sing unto the Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously : the horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea," 4 et seq. Among the intimations which rest upon the Zohar there are many which seem designed almost obviously to confuse the issues and misdirect research thereon. The Mystery is said to consist in the examina tion of good and evil and then in cleaving to the good.5 It is said again to be contained in the fact that Zion constitutes the foundation and the beauty of the world and that the world draws its nourishment therefrom,6 There is Zion, which is severity, -and there is Jerusalem, which is mercy ; but the two are one.7 We may say in respect of both that goodness and mercy are on the male side of the Sephirotic Tree, while evil and severity are on the female side ; that these two must be united by the Middle Pillar ; that this is entering under the wings of the Shekinah ; and that when they are thus joined, goodness, joy and beauty are found everywhere. We shall speak in this manner the characteristic language of the Zohar and might deserve the blessing of Rabbi Simeon, but we shall not have advanced our subject by one line or syllable belonging to a line. We must there- 1 Is. xxv, i. 2 Gen. xxv, 26. Z., Tt. I, fol. 1993 ; II, 387. 3 Gen. ii, i. 4 Ex. xv, i. 6 Z., Pt. II, fol. 34a ; III, 166. 6 /£., Pt. I, fol. 2o6b ; II, 427. 70., fol. i86a ; II, 335. 7 Ib. The Mystery of Sex fore go further and test the values of a few less obdurate extracts. There are forty-nine gates of compassion which con nect with the mystery of the perfect man, composed of male and female, and with the Mystery of Faith.1 These are the Gates of Understanding referable to Binah,2 wherein dwells the Spouse in Transcendence, who is Shekinah, but there is a fiftieth gate which Moses did not open, according to the legend, and presumably because he ceased to abide with his wife on earth, as another legend tells us, and as we have seen previously. This gate is the mystery of espousals in the Divine world. Another reference tells us that there are seven degrees above which are superior to all others, and they constitute the mystery of perfect faith.3 The attachment of Israel to the good side is attachment to the Supreme Mystery, 1 Z., Ft. II, fol. i39b ; DE PAULY, IV, 41, 42. 2 It seems desirable at this point to collect the references to these Gates which occur throughout the text, so that there may be no mis understanding on the subject. The points are these in summary, (i) It is through 50 openings of the mysterious heavenly palaces that the Word of Yod — which, as we have seen, is in Chokmah — penetrates to the He (in Binah}. — Z., Pt. I, fol. I3b; I, 79. (2) There is one Gate which is the synthesis of all Gates and one Degree which is the synthesis of all Degrees ; by this Gate and Degree do we enter into the glory of the Holy One. — Ib., fol. io3b ; II, 19. (3) This Gate is unknown because Israel is in exile, and the result is that all the Gates are shut. — 7^., fol. iO3b; II, 20. (4) The 50 Gates of Under standing are or may become salvation for the whole world. — Ib., Appendix I, Omissions; fol. 26oa ; II, 611. (5) The Gates emanate from or are referable to the side of severity. — 7^., Appendix III, Secrets of the Law; II, 723, 724. (6) It was owing to the evil Samael that Moses could enter only 49 of the 50 Gates of Binah. — Ib., Pt. II, fol. H5a; III, 443. (7) The union of the Father and the Mother produced 5 lights, which gave birth in their turn to the 50 Gates of Supreme Lights. — Ib., Assembly of the Sanctuary, fol. I22b, 123.1; 111,473. (8) The light of the Mother above reaches us by 50 Gates. —7^., fol. I37b ; IV, 37. (9) He who devotes himself to the study ofthe Law opens the 50 Gates of Binah, which correspond to the Yod multiplied by the He. — Ib., Pt. Ill, fol.2i6a; V, 548. (10) By such multiplication Moses attained these Gates. — 7^., fol. 22jb ; V, 565. (11) In the absence of these Gates Israel would have remained always in the bondage of Egypt. They are in the region called the Supreme Mother, who gives power to the Mother below. — Ib., fol. 262a; VI, 12. 3 7£.,Pt. I, fol. 204b; II,4i4. "The Secret Doctrine in Israel the Mystery of Faith, so that Israel is one therewith.1 On the hypothesis that the Mystery of Faith is a sex mystery, the practice of perfection therein, on the terms already indicated, should give a title to the knowledge of these degrees and thereby the Mystery of Faith would pass into a perfect mystery of experience. Probably these seven degrees are identical with the seven firma ments the purpose of which — as we are told elsewhere— is to reveal the Mystery of Faith.2 They are also called seven palaces.3 There is a kingdom to come after that which is called symbolically the end of the world ; it is a sacred reign, and this also is said to constitute the Mystery of Faith ; 4 but we have seen otherwise that the advent of Messiah means perfect conformity in the nuptial state, above as well as below. It has been necessary to make these citations ; but it will be seen that the most which they tell us is (i) the fact that there is a Mystery of Faith and (2) that it is concerned with the union of male and female. We may take the question one step further by the collation of some final references. The priestly garment with fringes5 and the phylacteries on head and arms6 designate the Supreme Mystery, because God is found in that man who wears them.7 It is the Supreme Mystery of Faith. A spring which flows unfailingly is another image of the Mystery,8 and we shall remember in this connection the sex-interpretation placed on the river which came forth from Eden to water the Garden — in which man was created male and female — and which was afterwards parted and became into four heads. A well fed by a spring also symbolises the Mystery of Faith, because it symbolises the union of male and female,9 and here again we shall 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. 205a ; DE PAULY, II, 217. 2 /£., fol. S$b ; I, 494- 3 See Chapter XIII, p. 165, note. 4 Z., Pt. II, fol. i34a, b ; IV, 30. The Feast of the Paschal Lamb is said to contain the Mystery of Faith. — /#., fol. 1353 ; IV, 32. 6 Numbers xv, 38. 6 Deut. xi, 18. 7 Z., Pt. I, fol. I4ia ; II, 150. 8 7£.,fol. I4ib; II, 151. 9 /£., fol. 1410; II, 152. "The Mystery of Sex remember (i) the " fountain of gardens/'1 (2) the "garden inclosed" which is " my sister, my spouse,"2 (3) the " fountain sealed,"3 and (4) the "well of living waters and streams from Lebanon." 4 Whoever contem plates such a well is said to contemplate the Mystery of Faith.5 The moon is said finally to be another image, and we know that this luminary is a symbol of Shekinah.G I conclude on all the evidence that the doctors of the Zohar had no intention of communicating under the formula which they used so often more than a broad and general definition of what their convention symbolised. We must again go further therefore, and the key to 1 Song of Solomon iv, 15. 2 Ib., iv, 12. 3 Ib. 4 Ib., iv, 15. 5 Z., Ft. I, fol. I4ib; II, 152. 6 /£., fol. I42a, b; II, 157. As I have by no means exhausted the references and as so much seems to be implied in the formula, I will make a further selection as follows : (a) That the Supreme Mystery, which is synonymous with the Mystery of Faith, is the law of the' whole world is taught in the words : " These are the three sons of Noah : and of them was the whole earth overspread" (Gen. ix, 19), as if the Zohar were indicating that the event in question marked a new epoch in the mode of generation.— Z., Pt. I, fol. 73a ; I, 432. (b) The Mystery of P^aith is represented by Jacob.— Ib., fol. isSb ; II, 143. (c) Every word in ' Scripture conceals the Supreme Mystery of Faith, because all the works of the Holy One are based on equity and truth. — Ib., fol. I42a ; II, 154. (d) The Supreme Wisdom is by implication the Mystery of Sex. Ib., fol. isob; II, 193. (e) The Mystery of Faith and all celestial sanctities emanate from the union of male and female principles. — Ib., fol. i6oa ; II, 229. (f) One Mystery of Supreme Wisdom is that the world's salvation must issue from the union of Juda andThamar, as if there were a secret sanctuary somewhere in the world which overwatched that true legitimacy belonging to the line of David.— //>., fol. i88b; II, 344. (g) The union of the worlds above and below is of the Mystery of Faith. — Ib., , fol. 2o6b ; II, 426. (h) The Supreme Mystery concealed in the Law is the Secret of the Lord, and this is a secret of the Holy Covenant. —Ib., fol. 236!) ; 1 1, 533. (i) The Cup of Blessings comprises the Mystery of Faith, which Mystery embraces the four quarters and the Sacred Throne.— 7#., fol. 2500 ; II, 585. (k) The Sacred Reign to come con stitutes the Mystery of Faith— meaning union sanctified everywhere. —Ib., Pt. II, fol. i34a ; IV, 30. (1) The Mystery of Faith is to know that Jehovah is Elohim.— 7/>.,fol. i6ia ; IV, 100. As I have now omitted only references that are trivial or obscure and calling for considerable explanation, the two collections are in all respects adequate and it will be seen that they are quite clear as to the nature of the Mystery, whether it is qualified as Supreme or characterised as that of Faith. The Secret Doctrine in Israel the matter before us will be found, under another form of symbolism, by the collation of two passages which are separated widely from each other. It is affirmed1 that when the Tod is united to the He they give birth to that river concerning which it is said : " And a river went forth from Eden 'to water the Garden."2 The other extract tells us that from the union of the male and female — meaning, of course, in the transcendence — come all souls which animate men.3 The inference is that the Eden-river is that of life, or synonymously it is the river of souls,4 and in this case we shall understand that the Higher Eden is the place of Divine Nuptials, while the Garden which was watered by the river was the place of nuptials below. We have seen this illustrated already by various speaking images — as, for example, in the higher degree by the analogy instituted between Shekinah and the Seed of Solomon,5 the tent of grace,6 and so forth ; but in the lower degree by the identification of the Garden with womanhood.7 We are not left, how ever, to mere inferences on the subject, for it is said elsewhere that at the moment of the union of the Spouse and Bride all souls came forth from the celestial river.8 The one is " the Sanctuary, O Lord, which Thy hands have established1' and the other is the repose of man. 1 Z., Ft. I, fol. 95b ; DE PAULY, I, 545- 2 Gen. ii, 10. 3 Z. Pt. II, fol. yoa ; III, 310. It is said here that the creation of man m the likeness of the Elohim is an allusion to the Mystery of the Male and Female Principles. 4 It is the river of life and of souls in the sense that it issues from the letter Yod, regarded as the organ of the Covenant in the Supernal World —semen superinerprimabile. ' Sometimes this idea is expressed almost literally. 6 Z.,Pt. 1 1, fol. 66b; 111,292. 6 Ib Pt. I, fol. loib; II, ii, where the tent of Sarah is understood as the tent of Shekinah, or as Shekinah herself. There are other instances: The Jerusalem above is said to be designated a tent in Is. xxiii, 20, and to signify Shekinah.—//'., Pt. II, fol. 6sb ; III. 288. 7 It was also the Synod of Israel.— /£., Ft. I, fol. 633 ; I, 3°9- 8 Ib., Pt. I, fol. 2oyb, 2o8a ; II, 432. They came forth male and female, descending confusedly. This intimation is of some importance in the legend of the soul. "The Mystery of Sex It is said elsewhere that souls are produced by the union of male and female,1 whence it follows that they have a father and mother, even as their bodies have when they enter into incarnate life. We learn also that all souls emanate from the celestial region called Ja/i, which is explained to be the Unknown God.2 As seen already, this Name is for God that which the Propitiatory is for the Tabernacle — a summary of the male world above and the female world below.3 We can understand now in what sense the Shekinah is termed so often the Supreme Mother; we can understand also why it is joy of heart 4 to know that Jehovah is Elohim and why the attainment of such knowledge is the object with which the Holy One sends man into this world.5 It is said — as we have seen pre viously — that this is the Mystery of Faith which is the synthesis of the whole Law. It is said also that Eden is the Mother above and the Garden which was watered by the river coming forth out of Eden is the Shekinah or Mother below, while the river itself is the Middle Pillar of the Sephirotic Tree.6 It follows that descent into manifestation is by the central path which com municates between Kether and Malkuth. It is the path of Shekinah, and when it is testified that she was destined from the beginning to suffer with Israel 7 this means that the nuptial intercourse which was infinite and holy in the world above, which was pure, spiritual and holy for a period — ex hypothesl — in the world below, descended through what is termed the Fall of man into the region of the shells, or the order of animal things. The physical sign of the Covenant is held to symbolise Shekinah8 1 See Z., Pt. I, fol. 207b, 2o8a ; DE PAULV, 1 1, 432, among other places. 2 //;., Pt. II,fol.i65b; IV, Hi. 3 lb. * /£., Pt. Ill, fol. 8b ; ¥,23. 6 Z., Pt. II, fol. i6ib; IV, 101, 102. 6 /£., Pt. I, fol. 26a, b ; I, 164. 7 Ib., fol. I2ob; II, 84. It is said here that Shekinah is the first of all that is, which is affirmed also of Metatron. 8 Ib., fol. 2;8a, b, The Faithful Shepherd', II, 647. So also it is said, as we have seen, that the covenant with Shekinah will endure for ever. — Ib., Pt. III.fol.257a; V, 597. The Secret Doctrine in Israel because it symbolises the path of purification by which man may return into the perfection of spiritual union.1 We have seen that the Supreme Mystery of Faith is the union of Jehovah and Elohim, which union is the source of all other mysteries. We have seen also that when Israel shall become perfect, it will make no distinction between Jehovah and Elohim — the male with the female being neither male nor female. It follows that the Supreme Mystery and the Mystery of Faith are one — as [ have said — and are also the Mystery of Union of Male and Female in the Divine Nature, behind which I infer that there is a mystery of experience in man. Let us now take another legend of the soul which is not quite in consonance with some things that have pre ceded, as it postulates a continual generation as fruit of the eternal union between the Father and Mother in transcendence2 in place of a creation of souls once and for all prior to the evolution of the created universe. That which follows is more in consonance with the Mystery of Faith, and is in fact one of its aspects. It is said that at every birth new souls are created and detached from the Celestial Tree.3 Thanks to these new souls, the legions of heaven are increased,4 for which reason 1 I ought to mention here that in one place only of the text it is said that in forming the prototypical Eve and placing her face to face with man, it was intended that the union between male and female should take place after the same manner as that of Jehovah with Elohim, or in the absence of any fleshly and impure sensation.— Z., Pt. II, fol. 2$8b ; DE PAULY, IV, 291, 292. This seems to me an allusion to a pre-natal state, for things must be referred to their natures ; the spiritual unions are one thing and have their own end; the physical union is another and Nature thereby insures the perpetuation of species. 2 Hence it is said that man — understood as male and female — is the synthesis of Jehovah and Elohim.— Z., Pt. Ill, fol. 4§a ; DE PAULY, 8 It is repeated also that all souls issue from the celestial region called Jah, which is the source of wisdom. It is called the Holy Spirit, and all souls are comprised therein.—//;., Pt. II, 174.1 ; IV, 129. According to another version, those souls which animate men issue or emanate from Him Who is called the Just.— 7^., fol. ?oa ; III, 310. 4 /£., Pt. Ill, fol. i68a ; V, 434 and elsewhere. The Mystery of Sex the Scripture says : " Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life," l meaning the waters of the celestial river which has its source in the Holy and Eternal Alliance.2 It should be understood that this Alliance, which is the union of Jehovah and Elohim, has its correspondence below in the Covenant between God and man on the basis of circumcision — as symbolising the great postulate concerning purity. The Scripture adds : " And fowl that may fly upon the earth," 3 because at the moment when the newly created soul traverses the heavenly region called " living " — meaning the Land of Life — it is accompanied by many angels, who have followed it from the time that it was detached from the Tree of Heaven.4 Those who abstain from practising the precept : "Increase and multiply" diminish — if it be per mitted so to speak — the celestial figure, centralisation of all figures ; they arrest the course of the celestial river and defile the Holy Alliance.5 We have seen that this is a sin against God Himself; the soul of such a man will never penetrate into the vestibule of Paradise and shall be repulsed from the world above.6 After this manner does the Zohar indicate yet again that from the beginning of the sacred text it is concerned with the history of man rather than the external cosmos and, by inference, with the history of Israel rather than of man at large. We on our part are in a position to understand it in a higher sense as the catholic history of souls ; it is this 1 Gen. i, 20. 2 They are the waters of Chokmah and Binah^ the Yod and the He in their union, or alternatively— according to another form of the symbolism — they are those waters proceeding from Kether under the presidency of the Divine Namey^. 3 Gen. i, 20. 4 This notion is expressed in one place only and seems only semi- poetical adornment. 5 Z., Ft. I, fol. 273a, b, Appendix I, Book of Brightness ; DE PAULY, 11,641. 6 /£., fol. 48a ; I, 278. The guilt of such abstinence is exaggerated in the prevailing manner of the Zohar, and if we come to discriminate thereon we shall remember that the man returns to this life in another body and has the chance to do better. 257 R "The Secret Doctrine in Israel on the inner side though it is cosmic history of course on the surface of the outward sense. This also is the con struction of the Zohar, which naturally does not deny that on the literal side the first chapters of Genesis are the story of creation ; but the vital or palmary interest rests in the internal sense — as if the one were a question of accidents and the other of essence. The souls of all Gentiles emanate from the demons under circumstances which are not explained in the Zohar.1 The suggestion is sometimes that they are from the left side of the Tree, but the question is exceedingly obscure,2 because God and His Shekinah are everywhere in the Tree of the Sephiroth, and though there is a sense in which God is allowed to have created evil, the position is by no means maintained with any consistency through out. It was left for late Kabalism to contrive its own way of escape from the difficulty, for which purpose it devised the idea of postulating ten Sephiroth in each of the four worlds, as also in each Sephira. There is practically no warrant for this in the original text, though there is a trace of some septenary repetition of Sephiroth in the in dividual Sephiroth. There was, however, the case of those who were converted from Paganism to Jewry and fulfilled the whole law thereafter ; it was necessary that they should be reconciled on all the planes or it would serve no pur pose to receive them into the fold ; and it was therefore postulated that after undergoing circumcision they entered under the wings of Shekinah and were separated from the side of the Demons.3 They did not participate, in the 1 It is affirmed elsewhere, on the contrary, that they come from the Divine World ; but the question is negligible, as anything that is found in the Zohar on the subject of unbelievers is antecedently known to be worthless, all Secret Doctrine notwithstanding. The literal statement — setting contradictions aside— is that human souls come from heaven. — Z., Ft. I, fol. isa; DE 1'AULY, I, 664. 2 There is one place at least in which the right and the left side seem to be two paths of coming out into manifestation apart from any Sephirotic notion. — Z., Ft. I, fol. i6oa ; II, 229. 3 /£., fol. I3a ; I, 76. The- Mystery of Sex world to come, in the full beatitude of the elect who were such by their right of birth ; they remained under the wings of Shekinah, but the latter was like a chariot for Israel, in which Israel passed higher, namely, into the land of the living. The Gentiles had no part in the heavenly Tree and could not therefore return to it.1 The view is naturally at issue with much that has preceded, but the question does not concern us in any important sense Returning to the generation of souls, it is said that there are three souls in the superior degrees ;2 the first is the Supreme Soul, which is unintelligible even to beings on high : it is the soul of all souls, it is concealed eter nally and all depends therefrom. The second soul is the female principle, and by the union of these two Divine 1 The records are obscure and contradictory, but I have suggested previously that the Sephirotic Tree is really the Tree of Life, and there may be a sense intended in winch the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is also Sephirotic in its attributions, the good being the right and the left the evil side. Zoharic Kabalism recognised, moreover, an averse Tree under the title of Inferior Crowns, in analogy with the Crowns that are above, namely, the true Scphiroth. The salient allusions are as follows : (a) There are ten averse Crowns and they are in analogy with ten varieties of magic, all understood as infernal, for the Zohar very properly recognises no distinction between "Black and White in the occult arts.— Z., Pt. I, fol. i67a ; II, 257. (b) The Inferior Crowns are rnmifications of one and the same Tree.— /£., fol. 1773 ; II, 296. (c) The Law of Correspondence obtains in these things, for— as we have seen— the Empire of the demon is modelled on' that of God;— 7^-> PL n> foL 37b ; III, 179. (d) There is further a demoniacal triad m imitation of that Triad which is Supernal.— Ib., fol. 4ob ; II, 189. (e) There are also inferior palaces corresponding to the I'alaces'that are above and— like these— they are seven in number.— /</>., fol. 24$a ; IV, 278. (f) There are hierarchies of demons answering to the Hier archies of Blessed Angels— Seraphim to Seraphim, and so forth.— Ib., fol. 247b ; IV, 281. (o) The titles of the averse Sephiroth are the same as those above— Wisdom and so forth, all the qualities being illustrated by their opposites.-/^., Pt. Ill, fol. 7oa ; V, 190. (h) It is said finally, and this is a further light on another subject which has been under con sideration just previously, that there are ten averse Scphiroth on the right and ten upon the left, even as in the Holy World. Here is another way of understanding the right and left side in the Zohar, but I do not affirm that there is a single ruling idea throughout the references, yet if there be the modes of expression have been not less obscure than they have been otherwise misleading.— /£., Pt. Ill, fol. 2O7a • V S27 »/,*., Pt. I,fol.245a,b; II, 570, 57L The Secret Doctrine in Israel Works are manifested to the whole world, even as all acts of the human soul are manifested by the human body. The third soul is that of all holy souls emanat ing from the Male and Female in the transcendence.1 The multiplication of symbolical modes for the expression of the same speculative doctrines is disconcerting enough and sometimes tends to confusion, but the meaning is. in no sense remote, as it happens, in the present instance. We see in the first place the root-postulate belonging to the Mystery of Faith — that the union of male and female in the Ineffable Persons causes conception and birth ever lastingly ; that what is born is souls ; that these descend, and that ; they are male and female. One account says that at the moment of earthly marriage the souls must sort themselves out, each male soul discovering the female who was its companion before incarnation ; but this is so rough and crude that it is set aside tacitly, without, however, establishing any general law in its place. The implicit is of course that the male body contains a male soul and that the soul of a woman is female, though there is an obscure sense in which any soul is male to any body but is female to the degree which is above it.2 Another implicit can be recognised which is more to our purpose — that he who abides in the true way will meet in marriage with the woman-soul which was his pre natal companion.3 If he has deviated it may happen that the woman predestined to him is espoused to 1 Though there has been no occasion to dwell upon it, seeing that I am not concerned with the maintenance of orthodox theological views or their opposites, I think that the reader has abundant proof in his hands by this time that the Zoharic system as a whole is no more emanationist than pantheistic. That which proceeds from Ain-Soph into the complete concealment and yet comparative manifestation of the Three Supernal Sephiroth may be called an emanation from Ain-Soph, but as it is a question of Divine Essences, that is an orthodox view at its value. In the present instance the symbol is one of begetting, which is not synonymous with emanation. 2 /£., Pt. I, Appendix III, Mathnitin; DE PAULY, II, 703. 3 See on the general subject ib., Pt. Ill, fol. 283^ 284a ; VI, 64, 65. Also, #., fol. 43b; V, 120, 121, and Pt. I, Appendix 1 1 1, Mathnitin; II, 703- The Mystery of Sex another, but in the event of his repentance a time will come when the alien male will disappear, thus yielding the woman to her true mate.1 In a scheme like this it is obvious that there must be fatalities and mischances innumerable when it comes to be worked out ; among others there is that in virtue of which a male soul will come into this world without a sister-soul, and presum ably vice versa. It is held that such a person will not marry and cannot therefore have children, but in the event of his keeping the Law and proving worthy, he will find the means of rehabilitation in another earthly life. In the alternative case, he will be judged unworthy of a new transmigration.2 It is part of the Divine Plan for the salvation and felicity of man that a sister-soul is not permitted to remain the wife of another.3 The considerations with which I have been dealing lead up to other dreams which are significant of the concern of Israel on another and higher side of the sex mystery. It is not to be supposed, the union of humanity below according to the manner of the flesh being, at least in its consecration, a reflection of the Divine Union, that there should not be an union of souls in the world to come so that in the beatitude of the true region of life they should not continue to reflect the Supernal work and its mystery. This is why, as we shall see, the union between God and the soul is in the sense of vision, though there are indications of deeper stages. That which is substituted is the union in heaven of souls who have been espoused on earth — being those who were espoused previously before the world began.4 When it 1 See on the general question #., Ft. Ill, fol. 28$b ; DE PAULY, V, 64. And on this special point, 'ib., Pt. II, fol. 22Qa ; II, 503. 2 We have seen that reincarnation is not in itself desirable but that it is justified — ex hypothesi — by adequate reasons. It follows from the above statement that there is a less favourable alternative. That which is embodied is, however, only a sporadic or casual notion, and it is quite out of harmony with much that goes before and comes after. 3 This is somewhat fully discounted in other places of the text. 4 It is a recurring subject of reference and we see that the triad obtains here as otherwhere. There are (a) Pre-natal union ; (b) Union The Secret Doctrine in Israel is said that the Blessed Vision is the sight of the She- kinah and the contemplation of her Divine Face,1 we are to understand apparently that the union of sister-souls is under her eyes and in her presence. It is said that in the heights of heaven there is yet another union of two born of love and for ever inseparable.2 It is contemplated by those who have part in the life to come. The way which leads to the Tree of Life, the Tree which is kept by the Cherubim and the Flaming Sword, is the grand Matrona herself. She is the way of the Sacred City, the way of the Heavenly Jerusalem, the intermediary of communi cation between things above and below in both directions : she is the perfect Mediatrix, to whom all the Divine Powers are confided.3 The intimation is vague, but as on earth and (c) Union in the risen life of the spirit. Two things are to be observed, firstly, that we hear nothing" concerning the marriage life after the resurrection, or in that state wherein the perpetuation of a physical envelope seems to pronounce separation for ever between God and man, so far as all that is understood by mysticism respecting the union is concerned ; but, secondly, following all the analogies, there can be no doubt that the risen bodies will enter into the life of intercourse, because they are complete bodies. 1 Z., Ft. II, fol. 400, The Faithful Shepherd; DE PAULY, III, 189. But there are other references. 2 Ib., Pt. II, fol. sob ; III, 229. 3 Ib., fol. 5ia; III, 230. The same Divine Powers were said to be entrusted to Enoch when he became Metatron, concerning whom I will now collect the following references, premising only that whatever we may think of his sex transformations and their meaning, neither he nor any of the angels beneath him were truly in the likeness of the Elohim and they did not therefore beget their own kind or species. The chief points are as follows : (a) He is charged with the government of the earth. — Z., Pt. I, fol. I43a: II, 161. (b) He sets all his legions in motion by the power of a single letter in his name — presumably any letter, as none is specified. — //>., Appendix III, Mathnitin; II, 705. (c) He is the Serpent above.— Ib., Pt. II, fol. 28a ; III, 134. (d) This is explained by ib.y Pt. I., fol. 2;a ; I, 171, which says that he is favour able to man when he is transformed into a wand — e.g. that of Aaron or Moses — but as a serpent he is against man. (d) The river which went out of Eden to water the Garden (Gen. ii, 10) is Enoch, who is called otherwise Metatron, but it is the Lower Eden and not that in the Supernal World. It is the place called Parses, which name — according to Franck — was never so used in the Zohar. — Ib., fol. 27a ; I, 168, 169. (e) He is to the cohorts above apparently that which is Samael to the cohorts below. — Ib., Pt. II, fol. 42a ; III, 191. (f) He is called Server and he embraces the six directions of space. — Ib., fol. 94a ; III, 377. (g) It is said that souls The Mystery of Sex the contemplation of Matrona sanctified nuptials below, so is the path by which the elect enter into the higher nuptials as if they ascended that Middle Pillar of the Sephiroth which is so often said to be she. We can pro ceed therefore to glance at another question of those palaces for which the Zohar has a natural attraction, while their number is most usually seven. When souls leave the lower world they enter into a certain palace which is above, if they carry the proper warrants, and therein those which are male are again united to the female, in which union they radiate light as in sparkles.1 This palace is said to be the throne of Faith and, I infer, is the proceed from the side of Metatron and from the side of Shekinah, but it does not seem to be by the way of generation, as between male and female. — Ib., fol. 94b ; III, 379. (h) He is also called " Young Man," and it was he who dwelt in the Tabernacle of Moses. — Ib., Pt. II., fol. I43a ; IV, 54. (i) He helped to build the Tabernacle.— /#., fol. I59a ; IV, 96. (j) He guarded the Temple of Solomon. —7^., fol. io4a; IV, 107. (k) The School of Metatron is the School of the Holy One. — lb., Appendix III, fol. 287a ; IV, 314. (1) The curtain of the Tabernacle was his symbol. — /#., fol. 293a ; IV, 317. (m) He is like Michael, for he offers the souls of the just to God. — Ib., Pt. Ill, 'Ike Faithful Shepherd, fol. 29a, b ; V, Si. (n) There is an obscure suggestion that he may be the Angel of the Sun, and it is said also that he draws milk for his purifica tion from his mother, as if she were the Matrona in Binah and he were the Begotten Son or Vau. — Ib., fol. 64b ; V, 177. (o) He has the Keys of Heaven. — Ib., fol. I7ib; V, 445. (p) During the exile, he has the government of the House; he is the rainbow, and he is called Shaddai. — Ib., fol. 2i5b; V, 547. (q)>He is old and he is again young. — Ib., fol. 2i7a, b ; V, 530. (r) He is the Man of the Lesser Countenance ; that is to say, he is the tenth Sephira, Malknthj and here we must remember that there is a sense in which the Vau came down to earth in union with the He final. — Ib., fol. 223!^ ; V, 565. (s) As otherwise noted, he is the vesture of Shaddai. — Ib., fol. 2313; V, 571. (t) As noted also, he is to Shekinah that w,hich are the week days to the Sabbath — as if he were activity and she rest. — Ib., fol. 243b ; \, 381. (u) He is poor in exile — that is to say, in the exile of Israel, and his nourishment is prayer. — Ib., fol. 278a ; V, 51. I have omitted only a few minor allusions and one fantastic comparison which would tend to confuse the issues. Apart from the stultifying intervention of the Enoch motive, I think that these extracts tend very clearly towards the identification of Metatron with the Son who is extended through the worlds below Atziluth, and who is not exactly in union with Shekinah and yet not apart from her during the fall and exile of the elect. At times — perhaps generally — they are distinct from one another ; at times they are found together ; and their end is complete union. 1 Z., Pt. II, fol. 246a; IV, 279. The Secret Doctrine in Israel place of its mystery. Yet another story of palaces tells us that there are four which are exclusive to women, or at least to holy mothers, but it is forbidden to reveal their nature.1 Daring the day the females are separated from the males, but the spouses are in union at night, and in their mutual embrace the lights of both dissolve into a single light. The conclusion reached on this sub ject is that blessed is the lot of the just, male as well as female, for they shall enjoy all delights in the world to come.2 We are led on in this manner to the great mystery of the subject, as to which there are several testimonies. It rests on the witness of a testament bequeathed by Rabbi Eieazar the Great 3 that when the Holy One comes down into Paradise at midnight the male souls are united to the female ; fecundation follows from the joy which they experience in the contemplation of God, and they bring forth other souls 4 which are destined to occupy the bodies of Gentiles who will become converts to the Law of Israel.5 But, almost immediately, this is explained after a different manner : the souls born of celestial unions are reserved in a palace, and when a man is converted one of them takes flight and comes under the wings of She- kinah, who embraces her — because she is the fruit of the just in their intercourse — and sends her into the body of a convert where she — or he — remains, and from that moment the convert acquires the title of just.6 This is the mystery of those words in Scripture : 4C The fruit of the just is the Tree of Life." 7 There is, however, by yet another testimony, a general sense in which the Holy 1 Z., Pt. Ill, fol. i6;b ; DE PAULY, V, 434. 2 Ib. 3 It is not clear whether this means the son of Rabbi Simeon. 4 I must not omit to mention that this is contradicted in The Faithful Shepherd, which says that in the world to come there is neither eating nor drinking, that there are no conjugal relations, and that the beatitude of the just — as we have seen — is to contemplate the beauty of Shekinah. — Ib. Pt. II, fol. ii6a; 111,448,449. 6 Ib., Pt. 1 1 1, fol. i68a; V, 434- 8 Ib. * Proverbs xi, 30. The Mystery of Sex One effects the union of sister-souls so that they may engender other souls, themselves animated by those sacred forces which are above them.1 The fact that these passages are all less or more irre concilable is of no consequence ; the object is to indicate the nature of beatitude in the world above, and they are ail independent fables belonging to the motive, inspira tion or casual spur of the moment,2 and no one would have been more astonished possibly than a Son of the Doctrine, had he heard that they were to be collated and harmonised, were that possible. There are a few minor points which I will mention at this stage. It is said that all depends on thought and intention ; holiness is attracted by good thought ; but he who defiles himself by thought, and he who at the moment of fulfilling the act of intercourse with his wife thinks of another woman changes the degree above — the degree of holiness — into one that is impure.3 We may compare the elective affinities of Goethe, for the child born of such union is called a substituted son : soul and body are held to be alike substituted. The second point is that there are rare occasions when conjugal relations seem forbidden, even on the Sabbath, and periods of famine are a case in point : 4 the child born at such a season will be from the side of the demon. Lastly, there is the question of virginity — by which I mean among women.5 That such a condition on earth should be 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. i86b ; DE PAULY, II, 337. 2 I must except, however, conditionally at least, one other quality of testimony which seems to suggest that the way of the generation of souls has been always by conception and birth, following intercourse. 3 Z., Pt. I, Appendices III, Secrets of the Law; II, 730. Yet it would seem permissible on occasion to think of another, because in cohabiting with Leah, Jacob thought of Rachel, though unintentionally, as it is said. — /#., p. 731. 4 //>., fol. 204a ; II, 412, 413. The consequence threatened seems arbitrary, as usual, but — according to Rabbi Simeon — a supreme mystery is involved. Ordinary sense would assume that the regulation was a question of doing penance. 6 /£., Pt. 1 1, fol. I3ib; IV, 23. The Secret Doctrine in Israel considered as tolerable, much less as a title of sanctity, never entered into heart or mind of any Son of the Doctrine. The only Zoharic reference to virgins in an exalted state specifies that the third among several legions is composed of celestial virgins who are in the service of Matrona and adorn her when she is presented to the King : these are her maids of honour. It is a very simple transfer of an earthly image, but the legion does not consist of human souls.1 We are now at the end of our inquiry into the Mystery of Sex, so far as the statements in the text are concerned, and that which remains is to determine whether the path which was followed by the early Kabalists may have led them into any experience of the spiritual kind that is implied rather than expressed in the records before us. I will suppose that they followed the counsel on which those records insist, and as it in volved a distinct mode of procedure in connection with an important fact of life, the insistence, as it seems to me, must indicate that in the experience of things the method had proved of practical service. In other words, they had found that there is a mystery of nuptials of which it has not entered into the heart of man to con ceive in the ordinary ways and under the common motives of desire.2 There is one beautiful point to observe in this connection — that their mystery lay within the pure offices of Nature, under all the accepted war rants. Those who conceived it had already fulfilled the Law in respect of marriage ; they sought no new way of the physical kind ; they were not lovers at white heat on the quest of the ideal beloved ; 3 they were not in 1 Z., Pt. II, fol. isib; DE PAULY, IV, 23. 2 We must remember that there is no lawful act of life and no law of Nature which cannot be raised above its own degree by the consecration of motive, or otherwise that the will of man in all its authorised ways and places can be united to the Divine Will. 3 More correctly, they had an inward, spiritual and godly ideal, on which they dwelt, and by which they seem to have accomplished trans mutations below. The Mystery of Sex search of an excuse for setting aside old pledges and old bonds ; they were content with that which they had ; they made use of the elements which had been given already into their hands, like true craftsmen and masters. The genesis of their practice is of course outside our knowledge : it may be that those who sought to make all things holy in their life had sanctified by intention of their own the fulfilment of that Law which told them to " increase and multiply," and that which they expe rienced in its sanctification may then have developed sub sequently the sequence of theosophical speculations with which I have been dealing ; it may be that they had come across teaching in unfrequented paths, something handed down from the past. 1 know nothing of written records on the subject outside the Zohar ; but I do know that there is some vestige of teaching in the East l which is communicated on rare occasions, though I believe that it is concerned with the act itself rather than with the fruit thereof, and it is not the kind of secret which the East keeps to itself exclusively. Two things followed in respect of Kabalistic doctrine and practice. Marriage for the mystic Jew had become a sacrament, and I care nothing if scholarship — supposing that it were to take up the question — should decide in its wisdom that the Zoharic notion of marriage owes something to the sacra mental system of the Catnolic Church. I reject the pro position in advance — for what my view is worth — and 1 do not think that it will be put forward ; but it would signify nothing if it were true. There has been no failure so great on the register of Latin orthodoxy as its consecration of marriage.; there has been nothing that is so skin-deep, nothing so reluctant and half-hearted. It never did a wiser thing, a greater or a truer, than when it instituted the seventh sacrament ; how it ever came to do it is another question, having regard to all the 1 It is precisely the same teaching as that of the Zohar, though not of course in -the same terms. The , Secret Doctrine in Israel conflict of interests, the so-called counsels of perfection, the intolerable and melancholy burden brought over from Theban deserts and everything that has been collected into that strange edifice which is termed the Paradise of Palladius.1 The result has been that after nearly two thousand years of so-called sacramental rites there is nothing less consecrated either in the East or West than are the offices of earthly marriage. On the other hand, the ideal presented in the Zohar stands for true and life-long consecration on the highest plane ; it is not the ceremonial of a moment which puts a kind of eccle siastical veneer over something that was less or more abhorred. Here is the first point, and the second in all simplicity is added on the hypothesis, at its value, that the ideal did more than exist on paper and may repre sent the practice of a secret school. We are told by the records that the fruit of the mystic intercourse was the begetting of children from what is called the Holy Side, as against the side of the demons, and I believe that this was a Kabalistic way of accounting for the literal fact that children born of such unions belonged to another category than we are accustomed to meet with in the streets and byways of daily life all the world over, or — for that matter — to be familiar with in our own homes. They were children of Grace rather than what we call Nature, though Grace is only Nature better understood. There is one word more : of the personal con sequences which befell the Sons of the Doctrine in their delineated life of espousals we hear nothing directly, but the claim is that they came to realise the Divine Presence in their hearts as the general recompense of their consecrated lives. They were 1 DR. E. A. WALLIS BUDGE: The Paradise or Garden of the Holy Fathers . . . Compiled by Athanasius Archbishop of Alexandria; Palladius Bishop of Helenopolis ; Saint Jerome and others. Translated out of the Syriac. 2 vols., 1907. I do not wish to be understood as making a sweeping condemnation ; I speak chiefly of processes and atmosphere. There are other respects in which the text is worthy to rank with The Golden Legend. 'The Mystery of Sex not ascetics and they were not solitaries ; truly they were a company of scholars in the city and along the country-side, in village and in wilderness. For them the world of Nature was grace externalised ; the Pre sence was about them therein, and they attained it after another manner — which was one of very life and testimony — each of them in his proper heart and mind. I conclude that they had found the true meaning of the words : " It is not good for man to be alone/' l and that there is a very secret path in which "the joy of living honourably with his wife"2 may bring the completed man — male and female — into the spiritual city of joy, great city of praise,3 wherein is the joy of the Lord.4 So the souls go up male and female into the world beyond ; if they are prepared souls, they find one another, and the union that is everlasting begins in the light of God. 1 Gen. ii, 18. 2 See page 238. 3 Jer. xlix, 25. * Is. xxix, 19. CHAPTER XVIII THE OCCULT SCIENCES THOSE who approach the Zohar with a general know ledge concerning the common repute of Kabalism will not improbably assume — and I have suggested it indeed already in my prefatory remarks — that the text is a storehouse of magic and that it belongs, properly speaking, to the domain of so-called occult science. With all his imperfections, the writings of Eliphas Levi, who is now well known in England, should have done much to correct this view, and there are other sources of information. When William Postel trans lated the Sepher Telzirah and so made a certain begin ning of public knowledge concerning the literature of Kabalism, the magical grimoires, which are a depra vation at a very far distance of certain Kabalistic notions, were already extant in manuscript and indeed in some printed forms. To describe these testimonies of the dregs and lees of life and quest as holding in any true sense from the tradition of Israel is unques tionably to place upon them an undue imputed import ance. They contain ignorant travesties of Hebrew Divine Names, angelical titles and things of this order. There is no doctrine attached to them, no practice which reflects anything in the sacred literature at large : it would be almost as reasonable at first sight to suggest that the makers of grimoires had drawn from Hebrew copies of the Old Testament with some additions from the Greek of the Gospels or the Rites of the Orthodox Church. But as a matter of fact, beyond the literature on any side of its subject, there The Occult Sciences were obscure ways of superstition in magical practice among the Jews and their root is in the power of Divine Names, Hebrew letters and so forth, which belief prevailed in Israel and is found in the Zohar. To this extent it has to be admitted that, out of all proper sequence, the question of occult sciences connects with our subject. Beyond this, and much more important — that is to say, from the mystic stand point — there is the fact that the voice of the Zohar testifies in no uncertain manner as to the view con cerning magic, its connections and derivations, held by all Sons of the Doctrine and imposed by inference on those who might seek to come after them, following in their path. This notwithstanding, we may find here and there in the long sequence of debate that the same standpoint is not maintained invariably on specific details, and there are certain statements which might lend colour to an opinion that the root-matter of one and another department of occult experiment may be found therein. It is said, for example, that there is a mystery known to the holy thaumaturgists con cerning the miraculous powers which inhere in the sacred celestial letters and that if these are written inversely, after a certain manner, the extinction of the guilty can be brought about thereby.1 Now it is to be observed that the celestial characters are not those which are written with the hand by human scribes, but are the Great Letters, alive and givers of life, emblems of all intelligence and therefore endowed with understanding. By the Zoharic hypothesis, they existed before the creation and — as we saw long ago — one of them was concerned therewith. The explana tion of this fable is that, for all the sages of Israel, thought must pass into expression, because that which is done in heaven must be done also on earth. The Sons of the Doctrine must reflect therefore in their 1 Z., Ft. I, fol. 6;b ; DE PAULY, I, 398. The Secret Doctrine in Israel hearts on the Secret Doctrine, as the Divine Thought was turned upon itself in the eternity which preceded creation ; but it must also pass into expression, because at length the creation was formulated, and this expres sion enters into record by means of letters. These are further the elements of that Law by which the world was made, and the use of their reflections on earth was another instance of accomplishing below that which is performed on high. After what manner the holy thaumaturgists brought down the celestial letters for the purpose under consideration, or for any other, is not told in the story, and I suppose that for sane persons there can be no question that the intimation must be understood allegorically, though I am not pro posing to explain after what manner — as the unexpressed meaning exceeds my purpose. For the rest, I am certain that the Zohar was unknown to the adepts of magical workings ; it reflects there and here some practices which obtained in Jewry and the Talmuds are a source of sporadic information to those who would pursue the subject. The general thesis of the Zohar is that the science of magic came from the sages of the East,1 and as it is said by the Scriptures that the wisdom of Solomon surpassed that of the Egyptians, as well as of all the East,2 it seems to be understood that he drew from some superior source, in respect of occult science. The intention is not, however, either to exonerate the science or to justify the king in this branch of his learning. He seems to have pursued it when he fell away from justice, but it was otherwise during the building of the Temple : 3 then he beheld wisdom face to face and 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. 223a ; DE PAULY, II, 478. 2 I Kings v, 10. It is very difficult to understand the purpose of the Zohar in this reference. Somehow Shekinah was his teacher, but it is not certain, and the question is scarcely worth pursuing. — See Z., Pt. I, fol. 223a,b; II,478-48i. 3 Ib.j fol. I5oa; II, 190. There is more on the subject which need not be quoted here. We have seen in our study of the Deluge- Myth that The Occult Sciences had no need of the occult arts. That of the Egyptians is regarded as the lowest of all,1 presumably because the subjugation of Israel is said to have been its chief object and it failed in the end therein. It was not, however, mere trickery ; the wands which changed into serpents became actual serpents, not only in dream or vision, and those of Aaron which devoured them were actual in like manner.2 The Egyptian masters had acquired ten degrees of magic, corresponding to the averse or evil Sephiroth, the Inferior Crowns,3 which rule in all magic. In virtue of his communications with the abyss, Pharaoh himself was skilled more highly in occult practices than any of the magicians he employed.4 Abraham — as we have seen — was drawn in this direction, and when he first went into Egypt it was for the profound study of Egyptian occult science, though not as one who was seduced nor one who became attached thereto.5 He penetrated the secret of evil only to reascend towards the good. As regards the later children of the East and their wisdom, there is a sense in which Abraham was himself a fountain of knowledge, for the presents made by him to the children of his concubines seem to have been a medley of true knowledge and occult arts, which were taken eastward and deteriorated in the course of the centuries.6 There is therefore a vestige of truth in the eastern wisdom, but it is combined with magic is older than the Deluge ; it existed also during the patriarchal age. Laban was the greatest magician in the world and by the aid of his idols learned all that he wished to know. — Ib., Pt.I,fol. i64b; DE PAULY, II, 243. 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. 223b ; II, 481. " It is designated under the name of the maid-servant seated behind the mill." 2 Ib., Pt. II, fol. 28a; III, 134- 3 Ib., fol. 3ob ; III, 145. Ib., fol. 35b ; III, 171. "All the streets of Egypt were full of magicians, and in each house were to be found articles belonging to the works of magic." 4 Ib., Pt. II, fol. 37b : III, 179. Also, fol. 52b ; III, 236. 6 Ib., Pt. I, fol. 833 ; I, 478. * Iiliphas Le"vi makes a great point of these "presents." See my rendering of The History of Magic, p. 48. See also Z., Ft. I, fol. I33b ; II, 127. 273 s The Secret Doctrine in Israel impure magic. The source of all magical power, howsoever it may be derived through individual per sons, is the first serpent, who is the impure spirit, and the theory is that in order to attract this spirit the magicians must begin by defiling themselves, apparently by sex acts against Nature.1 The workings are facilitated by the fact that the impure spirit bestows himself for nothing, so that the path to the abyss looks easier than the path to the heights. The authority for this statement is not fortunately the Secret Tradition in Israel but a book of magic said to have been transmitted to Solomon by the demon Asmodeus.2 It affirms also that the Holy Spirit demands a price, must be bought and the cost is high. The Zohar explains that this price is one of effort for the puri fication of heart and soul, that the aspirant may be made worthy of serving in the tabernacle of the spirit. The present state of the art is defined at the end of the Zohar when it is said that magic has been abolished by the Holy One.3 In other words that has prevailed which is always above magic, namely faith, this being friendship with God, whereas magic is friendship with the demon.4 The term magic is sufficiently general to answer for 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. i25b; DE PAULY, II, 100. 1 /£., Pt. II, fol. I28a; IV, 10, The very opposite is taught in the Grimoires concerning evil spirits, of whom it is said that this kind of creature gives nothing for nothing. Whatsoever is evoked, for ex ample, must be satisfied on its own part; if it be a question of obtain ing some hidden treasure, a coin must be thrown to the fiend who assists in securing it. 3 " The Holy One, blessed be He, has caused magic to disappear from the world, in order to prevent, men, under the seduction thereof, from forsaking the fear of God."— /£., Pt. Ill, fol. 2Q9b ; VI, 128. They are the final message of the text. I observe that Parisian occultism, after all its futilities, false-seeming and ignorant ascriptions respecting Kabalistic magic, has preserved a discreet silence since the publication of the Zohar in its own language. 4 /£., Pt. II, fol. 52b ; III, 237. It is said that Pharaoh was un acquainted with this truth and had found no confirmation of the doctrine that the Divine Name Jehovah, as formulated by Moses, had dominion over the whole earth. The Occult Sciences the rest of the things included in the department of occult science. Astrology stands to some extent apart, and it is perhaps for this reason that it is a subject of distinct and particular condemnation. The thesis is that it is a lying science, understood as the prediction of future events of the human order by the constellation rising at nativity, and the consequent pretension that the day, hour and minute of each man's birth exercises an influence on his future.1 When God directed Abraham to look up to heaven, it was a counsel to forsake astro logy, this having predicted apparently that he would die without children, whereas God promised him a posterity not less numerous than those stars which in this matter seemed to have been in combination against him.2 The point is, and it appears fully elsewhere, that Abraham had studied astrology, presumably in Egypt ; that he was wrong in fact, was told to neglect the study and have faith in the Divine Name, when a son would be given to him.3 When it is said in the Scriptures that Abraham believed in God,4 this means in contradistinc tion from the testimony of stars, and this faith was imputed to him for righteousness. At the same time it is not denied that many things are indicated by the course of the stars in heaven, but the Holy One changes them according to His will.6 This is one aspect of the admission in respect of the subject ; another says that, according to an old book, there are times when the moon is hollowed, and souls born at this period will be overwhelmed with sufferings and poverty, without reference to their personal deserts.6 On the other hand 7 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. ;8a ; DE PAULY, I, 458. 2 /£., fol. gob; I, 514. 3 Ib. 4 Ib. 5 Ib. 6 Ib., fol. i Sob, iSia ; II, 313, 314. When it is said that the moon is hollowed, the meaning is that it is sometimes waxing and sometimes waning, through the wiles of the old serpent. — Ib. 7 There is another point: the ancient and prevailing connection of angels and certain stars is admitted by the Zohar, which holds also that angel succeeds angel, and in some manner that does not transpire this The Secret Doctrine in Israel those who come down into incarnate life when the moon is full will enjoy all earthly prosperity. The Zohar explains that in the first case the souls are those whom the Holy One loves the most and allows to suffer in this world, so that they may be purified from stain.1 . . . This notwithstanding, the lunar intimation remains correct and astrology is justified by the hypothesis. The subject of occult science suggests that of demonology, as to which there is much information scattered throughout the text, and it may be well to summarise the doctrine concerning demons and the rest of the evil spirits — though I have dealt shortly with the sub ject when concerned with the fall of the angels. Speaking generally, the evil spirit is a serpent and he who rides on the serpent is Samael.2 The wife of Samael is that adulterous woman who seduces the world.3 It is suggested that demons existed prior to the creation of the world, and there came a time when in company with all other maleficent and impure spirits, they were authorised to go about the world and ravage therein.4 Their abodes are in ruins, in great forests and in deserts.5 They are all emanations from the serpent and .this is why the evil spirit reigns in the world.6 These are apparently one class and another are the scourges, or demons already mentioned, which Adam engendered during those years when he was in separation from his wife.7 A third class arises from the fact that when the soul is apart from the body during sleep the impure spirit may attach it self to the latter, or in other words, that female demons may cohabit therewith.8 They conceive and bring forth putative fact places human temperaments under the ascendant of that constellation which happens to preside at birth. It will be seen that the principles on which astrology rests do not seem to be denied, and that the "lying scierce:J is the attempt to calculate the influences and predict thereby. The authority in the present instance is The Faithful Shepherd.— Z., Pt. II, fol. 423 ; DE PAULY, III, 191, 192. 1 'Ib. * Ib., fol. 35b; I, 221. 3 See Chapter VI, p. 86. « Ib., fol. i69b ; II, 265, 266. 6 Ib. * Ib. 7 See Chapter VII, p. 103 et seq. 8 Z., Pt. I, fol. l69b; 11,266,267. The Occult Sciences children as a result of the union. Such demons are in the likeness of man but without hair on their heads.1 It would appear that holy men, or people having holy souls, are not less liable than others to be thus denied in the body. I do not know whether these three categories correspond to those of the Mishna, some of whom resemble angels while some are like men and others are comparable to beasts.2 They are occasionally versed in the oral law for the better misdirection of mankind.3 Another account says that there are many hierarchic degrees in the kingdom of the demons. Every three groups have at their head a chief placed in charge of one or other nation of the earth.4 These chiefs in their turn are overruled by superiors entrusted with the direction of the stars, so that each nation is indirectly under the influence of a certain star, which, it will be seen, is another astrological intimation. Hence the destiny of one nation is never like that of another.5 The reign of these chiefs will continue till the Holy One shall Himself come down and govern here below.6 Most curious of all is the intimation that if these degrees or groups are disintegrated there will be found at the centre a sacred kernel which draws all, even the impure side.7 Having regard to the consideration allotted to the interpretation of dreams by the Old Testament, it would surpass expectation if the Zohar rejected the possibility, more especially with the authority of the Talmud to support the affirmative view. It does something, how- 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. i6Qb ; UE PAULY, II, 266, 267. . 2 An exact description of the Infernal Hierarchies according to the Grimoires — not that they are borrowing from the Zohar but because the province of images is restricted. 8 So also one of the demons in Goetic Theurgy is supposed to give true answers respecting things human and divine. 4 Z., Pi. I, fol. i;;a; 11,296. 6 7^., fol. i77b; 11,297. 6 Ib. This has been mentioned previously in other terms. It does not seem to differ from the doctrine of Latin theology. 7 The logical consequence is realised in another place, where it is said that this vestige or kernel can never be lost utterly. The Secret Doctrine in Israel ever, to reduce the rank, of dreams. They are the gross form of that which the soul sees when it is separated from the body. The soul then discerns things as they actually are, while the body perceives them only in a form corresponding to its own degree.1 Every dream is regarded as an admixture of truth and falsehood;2 but the most curious thesis of all is that a dream is realised according to the interpretation placed upon it ; should this be favourable,3 favours will overwhelm the man, but in the contrary case he will be weighed down by adversity. The reason is that the word governs,4 and it follows that no dream must be disclosed to any one by whom the dreamer is not loved. There are in all three degrees — dream, vision and prophecy ; the greatest of these is prophecy.6 Now it so happens that the Doctrine of Signatures, of which we seem to hear first in Paracelsus — so far as Latin-writing Europe is concerned — and which was de rived from him into the theosophical system of Jacob Bfthme, is a doctrine of Kabalism, and though the Zoharic allusions are few and far between in respect of actual definition, they enable us — with the aid of their de velopments — to conclude that the book-knowledge of Paracelsus, at once vast and confused, included some reflections from Zoharic sources. According to the sage of Hohenheim, there are elements and signatures of elements ; 6 a science of the signatures exists, and it 1 Z., Tt. I, fol. i94a ; DE PAULY, II, 367. a /£., fol. i83a; II, 322. 3 /£., fol. i83a; II, 323. 4 Ib. I think that this is the only place in which a definite, over ruling power is attributed to the formulation of thought in speech, apart from those words which — like Divine Names — are supposed to be essentially potent. The explanation is probably that the dream-inter preter was in a kind of prophetic state, but this is to be distinguished from the ceremonial and magical use of words, as — for example — when it is said of the pre-diluvian sorcerers that, with the aid of the mysteries contained in their secret book, it was enough for them to utter words and the desired things were accomplished. — Ib.t fol. ;6a, b ; I, 449. 5 /A, fol. i83a; II, 323, 324. ' Philosophies ad Athenienses Liber //, Text us x, p. 247. The Occult Sciences teaches how heaven produces man at his conception, how also he is constellated thereby.1 Stones, herbs, seeds, roots and all things whatsoever are known by their signatures, that which lies within them being discovered thereby.2 In respect of man, signature has three species, which are chiromancy, physiognomy and proportion.3 The Zohar has a good deal to tell us on the first two, while it has a supplement, so to speak, concerning char acter and hair.4 I do not know how the findings would appeal to those artists of our own day who deal in such subjects ; but it is desirable to point out that— within the consciousness of Kabalistic doctors — such things were no part of the decried occult sciences ; they were matters of observation arising from that doctrine of correspondences which obtained in all directions. I append the following particulars, gleaned from there and here, without pre tending to know whether they have points of concur rence with later readings of character on the same bases, or whether they differ therefrom. I should expect that the Zohar would be found peculiar to itself — here, as in more important matters. There are seven considerations regarding hair and the dispositions indicated thereby: (i) Hair which is crisp or frizzy and inclined to stand up signifies a choleric temper ; the heart is tortuous like the hair, and such a person should be shunned ; (2) Straight and silky hair is usually that of a good companion, one who succeeds in business — if not undertaken alone. He is prudent re specting supreme mysteries, but cannot hold his tongue about matters of daily life. (3) Hair that is coarse and 1 Rxplicatio Totius A stronomicc : Interpretatio Alia^ p. 666. 2 /<£., In Scientiam Signatam Probatio, p. 669. 3 /£., s.v. De Massa et Materia ex qua Homo factus est, p. 666. — See Opera Omm'a, Vol. II, Geneva edition, 1658. See also my Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus •, Vol. II, pp. 268, 294, 305,295. The 9th book De Natura Rerum treats at considerable length de signatura rerum naturalium. 4 The general references are to Z., Pt. II, fol. 7ob to 78a ; DE PAULY, III, 311-328, and #., fol. 284b to 288b ; IV, 312-315. *fbe Secret Doctrine in Israel straight signifies one who does not fear God, but does evil knowingly. He will become better, however, if he reaches an advanced age. (4) A man having black and glossy hair will succeed in material things, but he must work alone. (5) The success of a black and dull- haired man is rather of an intermittent kind, and he may quarrel with his business associates ; should he take to the study of the Holy Law, he will make progress therein. (6) A prematurely bald man will do well in business ; but he will be crafty, avaricious, hypocritical and one who makes a pretence of religion. (7) A man who grows bald in the natural course of years will undergo great changes otherwise ; if he has been of good conduct previously, he will now be bad, but he will turn into paths of virtue if he has been so far an evil liver. I dare not furnish particulars, but these ascriptions are referable to mysteries belonging to certain Hebrew letters. Since some of the conclusions are a little hard and arbi trary — under the reserve of sacred letters — I will add that certain alternative readings at a later stage do not endorse them entirely ; but from this secondary account I will draw only a decision in respect of auburn hair ; on the understanding that it is curly, the head which wears it will fear sin, will feel compassion for all in misfortune and will have the welfare of others as much at heart as its own. Physiognomy is a larger subject and being treated at some length, I shall be content with a few typical ex amples. The man whose forehead is low and flat acts without thinking, is fickle in notions, believes himself wise and understands nothing. His tongue is like a biting serpent. The man who has deep wrinkles on his forehead which are not in parallel lines, and which are replaced when he speaks by parallel and less deep wrinkles, is to be shunned under most circumstances, as he seeks nothing but personal interests and will keep no secrets. A large and full forehead denotes the best kind of per- The Occult Sciences sonality, capable of acquiring knowledge with the least pains and successful in all search after spiritual felicity. In money questions he may succeed at one time and fail at another, but he is not solicitous regarding material things. The man with blue eyes has a tender heart and one that is free from wickedness, but he follows his own ends and is careless proportionally about wrong done to others. He seeks pleasure but not of an unlawful kind, yet if he should fall into evil ways, he would remain therein. A man with green, shining eyes is touched with madness, believes himself superior to others and lets them know it ; he will not prevail against enemies, and he is inapt for the Mysteries of the Law. A man with clear but yellowish eyes is passionate, though often sympathetic towards the sufferings of others ; yet is he cruel in his anger, and he also cannot keep secrets. A man with dark grey eyes will succeed in the Mysteries of the Law, and if he perseveres in its study he will make steady progress therein ; he will also prevail over his enemies. The distinctive marks of the countenance are modified by conduct, and differ from the general inherited types, which correspond broadly to the four living creatures of Ezekiel's vision. There are those which are distinctively human, those which are leonine, bovine and in aspect like that of the eagle. There are also four types which are said to be imprinted by the soul, being: (i) that of the virtuous man, who is distinguished by a small horizontal vein on either temple, the one on the left being bifurcated and crossed by another small, vertical vein. (2) That of a man who returns to his Master after leading a bad life. He is repulsive at first, but one is finally drawn to wards him ; he does not care to be looked straight in the face, because he thinks that his past may be legible ; he is alternately pale and yellow. He has one vein descend ing from right temple to cheek, another under the nose and this joins with two veins on the left cheek. These last are united by another vein, but the last will disappear 'The Secret Doctrine in Israel when the man is habituated to a virtuous life. (3) That of a man who has fallen off completely from the good way. He has three red pimples on either cheek and some faint red veins beneath them : should he be con verted the pimples remain but the veinlets vanish. (4) That of a man who has been incarnated a second time, to repair the imperfections of his first sojourn on earth. He has a vertical line on the right cheek, near the mouth, and two deep lines on the left cheek, also vertical. His eyes are never bright, his health is poor, and the cut ting of his hair and beard changes his appearance com pletely. Thick lips are those of the evil speaking. If a medium lower lip is cleft the person will be of violent temper, but he will succeed in business. Unusually large ears are a sign of stupidity and even of tendencies to mania ; persons with very small and well-shaped ears are awakened in mind and yearn for knowledge. I need some indulgence for bringing in these details, and I will forbear from dwelling on chiromancy, except to say that the lines of the hand are believed to shew forth great mysteries, including those of the fingers. On the contrary I might not be forgiven by the few who know if I omitted to certify that a man with two great hairs between the shoulders is one who swears without ceasing and to no purpose. The presence of three such hairs is the sign of a happy nature. To make an end of these fantasies, he who has been guilty of adultery and has not done penance is identifiable by an excrescence with two hairs, below the navel. If he repents, the swellings will remain but the hairs will fall off. Hereof is the Zohar when it makes an excursion into by-ways beyond its province, and it is likely enough that those who take palmistry and physiognomy seriously will regard the indications as worthless, even from their standpoint. It is none of my own concern. The lesson in general concerning the occult sciences is another matter The Occult Sciences and it counts to the text for righteousness ; it stands also much better in the context than can be made to appear herein. For the rest, even when it says that they are lying, the Zohar does not deny the arts ; they come from the pit and are deceptions belonging to the pit, but they are not vagrant trickeries. There is the greater reason to eschew them, and the work of condemnation has more than philosophy behind it ; there is the sense mystic of the essence and truth of things. The Book of the Secret Law in Israel puts forth its arms to draw those for whom it was written, among the Academies and Synagogues of the past, from the world of pictures, wherein the images of mind are multiplied and super posed one upon another, into the inward ways of thought, to a true refuge, where — in processes of silent prayer and contemplation — the mind is released from images and the Glory of the Indwelling Presence is understood and seen in the heart. CHAPTER XIX DEVELOPMENTS OF LATER KABALISM THE circulation of the Zohar by Rabbi Moses de Leon at the end of the thirteenth century — he being its con cealed author, according to one section of opinion — proved unquestionably as great a surprise to the com munity of Israel as it was to the Christian scholars when they came to know of it later. I speak here with a quali fication because our first information concerning Zoharic MSS. comes to us from Picus de Mirandula towards the end of the fifteenth century and we have seen that his was the first voice which testified to the presence of Chris tian elements therein. On the other hand, the Jewish ex positors belong to the sixteenth century and later ; but I speak of those who are of repute, and if any one wishes to go farther into the matter there are the great rabbinical biographers to tell of things unprinted which are among the treasures of the Vatican and other libraries of Europe.1 Speaking generally — as I have mentioned elsewhere — the impetus of studies in both directions must be sought in the Cremona and Mantua editions of the Zohar. So far as the records are concerned, it must not be said that there is a very large literature on either side ; but a few sons of Israel had recourse to the wonderful memorial with as much zeal as Mirandula and his successors. 1 The most important bibliographies are (i) JOHANNES BUXTORF : Bibliotheca Rabbinica novo ordine alphabetico disposita. 8vo, Basle, 1613. (2) BARTOLOCCI : Bibliotheca Magna Rabbinica : De Scriptoribus et Scriptis Rabbinicis, 4 vols. Folio, Rome, 1678-92. (3) IMBONATUS: Bibliotheca Latina-Hebraica (a sequel to No. 2, by the editor of Bartolocci's work, most of which was published posthumously), Folio, Rome, 1694. (4) O. CHRISTOPH. WOLF : Bibliotheca Hebraa, 4 vols. 4to, Leipzic, 1715. Developments of Later Kalalism To the Kabalistic Jew it offered an illimitable field of development and the indulgence of that particular sort of metaphysical speculation which was dear to his heart at the period. There could be no greater opportunity, for I have indicated that the Zohar assumes throughout a more or less perfect familiarity with the chief heads of its subject, and it is not therefore concerned with presenting a formal system of the Secret Doctrine. The later Kabalists provided that which was wanted there and here out of their own heads, with the help of any flotsam and jetsam of theosophical reverie which was passing from mouth to mouth in and about the Academies from Sapeth to Beaucaire. We know that about the middle of the eighteenth century two sects arose in Jewry, claiming the Zohar as their authority in chief. One was the sect of Pietists or New 'Hassiaim, which rejected the Talmud, together with external forms, and was zealous in the practice of Contemplative Prayers, as recommended by the Zohar to those who are in search of inward know ledge concerning Divine Mysteries. It was incorporated for the quest of perfection along these lines. Solomon Maimon has left some particulars concerning the vagaries of these enthusiasts, who were followers of Israel Baal Shem, and its vestiges were to be found in Poland at the middle of the nineteenth century. The second was the sect of Zoharists who belonged to the same country. It was established by Jacob Frank, and it embraced Chris tianity. I mention these matters, because they shew the kind of influence exercised by the Zohar at one period in a particular locality. Of its secret influence on remote continental Jewry, in places like Galicia above all, we shall probably never know, so that the later developments of Kabalism are without adequate records. There is, however, no need to burden this study even with a comprehensive summary of the contributions of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to the extension and understanding of the Zchar. I suppose that to all The Secret Doctrine in Israel intents and purposes I have said that which is needed on the subject in my previous work. The most notable expositions and variations are on the four worlds, the Sephiroth and the mode of their distribution, the soul and the places of its emanation in respect of its various parts, the regions to which they return and the sequence of speculative theses which connect with the idea of reincarnation. I have met with nothing on the mystery of sex which can be said to carry the subject further, and except for one contribution by Isaac de Loria1 the concern was slight therein. Wherever there have been important developments on any matter they have appeared already in the annotations, and they stand at their proper value. In respect of one and all I may say that for those who believe that there was a floating tradition preserved among the doctors of Israel^ and transmitted from mouth to mouth, it will be advisable that they should not regard the later Kabalists as having reduced that tradition to writing. As I have indicated, that which they may have done was to reproduce current speculation— to which they added their own. If the debates at Salamanca had ever been reduced into ^vvhat the Fama Fraternitatis R.C. calls "a true memorial," the later Kabalists— supposing that they had been admitted to the conclave — might have made a contribution which would have been within the law and the order in respect of the rule of debate, and this is where they stand within their particular subject ; nor have I found that they make a higher claim, all their contentious voice of certi tude notwithstanding.2 1 I know of this only through Rosenroth, who in the preface to his second volume gives a list of the Loria literary remains as collected by R. Chaim Vital. There are nearly 200 sections drawn into six volumes, but I believe that they have never been printed, except in so far as they were incorporated by Rosenroth himself.— See ROSENROTH : Kabbala Demtdata, Tomux Secundns, Pars Prima, pp. 10 et seq. 2 The worship of intellectual heroes seems to have reached a zenith in the schools and sects of Kabalistic Israel. For example, the adulation offered by his disciples to Rabbi Simeon, and by him accepted freely, Developments of Later Kabalism There is one subject on which I have drawn very little from their testimony, and it is of this only that I feel called to speak at some length — the ground, if there be need to confess it, being that of previous silence when there was an occasional opportunity rather than essential importance in what there is left to say. It is the question of the Revolution of Souls, which was treated at great length by Isaac de Loria.1. So far as his repute is concerned at his particular period — being that of the seventeenth century — he was of almost indescribable lustre. The account of his literary memorials occupies a considerable space in the Kabbala Demdata, which also incorporated many hundreds of Loria extracts in the alphabetical apparatus which constitutes the bulk of the first volume. The treatise entitled De Revolutionibus Ani- marum is given in its entirety, and it is from this that my points are drawn. The sin of Adam resulted in an admixture of good and evil, and hence we are obliged to fulfil many re volutions before we attain reintegration. Two things followed, being (i) the necessity that man should sepa rate good from evil and then (2) reintegrate the good part. These dedications were accomplished by the perfect keeping of the Law, but this had to be done in thought and word and deed. Moreover, the Law must be studied according to its literal, allegorical, anagogic and mystical or Kabalistic sense, and the soul who has neglected one or more of these must return again and again to earth till he has become proficient in each and all.2 There are two modes of return, one of which is passes almost through extravagance to blasphemy. The same befell other doctors and teachers within the particular measures of their influence. 1 De Revolutionibus Animarum, translaius e manuscript o quodam Loriensi, rarissimo ct niagna inter Judaos aitcloritatis. — Kabbala Denu- data, Tomus Secundus^ 1't. Ill, Tract 2. 2 For this ihere is no authority in the Zohar, which — at least in one place— limited possible incarnations to three. It seems to have been supposed, rather roughly and broadly, that the moral failings of one life would be put right in another, and those who were not students of the The Secret Doctrine in Israel called Revolution and the other Embryonic Return.1 It is the state of Revolution 2 when a soul enters a child at the time of birth and suffers all whatsoever that may afflict its body until the death thereof. The embryonic state is that of a soul who enters into a man already born into the world and — as it may be — of adult age. The analogy which is instituted is one of the sex-order, for it is said that when a soul enters into such a person it is like entering the body of a woman who has conceived : it is this correspondence indeed which accounts for the conventional name ; and the state is like a new fecunda tion taking place in the adult man, who receives a new soul in addition to that which is called his radical soul.3 This cannot occur till he has reached the age of thirty years and one day, being the period when he is held to doctrine when they were first made flesh could so be on a second occasion. Moreover, the Zohar never assumed that man could attain the knowledge of the whole Law, for that Law was infinite in depth of meaning. At the same time the conclusion of Isaac de Loria was natural enough, as in Law and in conduct the task imposed on Jewry was so arduous that it seemed antecedently unlikely for deficiencies to be fully atoned for if reincarnations were limited. 1 The hypothesis is that all souls, as a consequence of the catastrophe which befell Adam Prrtofilastes in the mystical garden, are suffering from an admixture of good and evil : they come into this world to remake themselves by separating the good from the evil. It is the whole work of life.— r*A II. 2 This is called dlptl. 3 There is an overshadowing of the embodied by a disembodied personality recognised by the Zohar and referred to twice by the text, namely, in the discourse of the Ancient Man in Section Mishpatim. It is a very important section for many doctrines and ideas connected with transmigration. The thesis is (i) That all holy and superior souls which are destined to enter this world are accustomed — while awaiting incarnation — to descend from their residence on high and visit the Earthly Paradise at stated periods. (2) That they meet therein the souls of proselytes and other inferior souls which have been incarnated once only and cannot ascend higher. (3) That the superior souls clothe themselves with inferior souls, as if with a vesture, and are so joined to these during their sojourn in Paradise ; but they unclothe to return above. It is a particular illustration of the invariable teaching that the spirit is draped to come down and nndraped to go up. (4) That the inferior soul, so far from being degraded by this use as a vesture, profits through the experience ; but unfortunately at this point there is a break in the discourse of the Ancient Man, and the same thread is not resumed.— Z., Ft. II, fol. 98b ; DE PAULY, 111,396, 397. Developments of Later Kabalism have attained the full stature of manhood and to have assumed all the duties imposed on the elect people by the Law of Israel. The embryonic state is twofold ; there is the case of a soul which is added to a man because it is in a condition of imperfection, something having been wanting in the fulfilment of one or another precept during a pre ceding revolution. Alternatively there may have been some precept which a particular calling or condition may have made it impossible to carry out : the levirate is an example in point. There is no occasion for a soul to descend into reincarnation for the repair of such a formal deficiency ; therefore it enters into the embryonic condition and fulfils the precept in the person of that man to whom it is attached. Secondly, a soul may fructify a man solely in the interest of the latter, that he may be led to perfection in obedience to the Law. There is a difference in the two cases, for when a soul returns to improve its own condition it is extended through the whole body of the man, like his own soul, and shares all misfortunes which befall the body. On the other hand, when the soul comes for ministration and assistance to the man on earth it is not subject to his bodily suffer ings and there is no fixed time for the indwelling ; it seems to be at the discretion of the soul and may con tinue so long as there is good will in the personality. But if the man falls into evil ways, separation follows and presumably the experiment has proved a failure. There is also more than one kind of reincarnation, though it is difficult to present the details in an exact manner without carrying explanations much further than one is warranted by their value or interest. Speaking rather roughly, more than one soul may reincarnate in a single body. If one person has led another person away both will suffer rebirth in the same body, he who was seducer that he may help the other to fulfil those duties from which he has turned him previously and thus repair 289 T The Secret Doctrine in Israel the evil of which he has been the cause. The fructifica tion which is implied by the embryonic state may take place between two living beings ; for example, if a just man alive on this earth is engrossed by the observance of a particular precept and if there is another of the same period who is making a struggle to fulfil it, the Nephesh or lower soul of the just man may impregnate the other, though both are leading their separate personal lives. There are several reasons for reincarnation but they are reduced to four as follows, (i) A soul returns because it contracted a vice in its previous life and its period of rebirth is consecrated to the reparation of the sin in question. In this case it is easy for reincarnate man to sin afresh. (2) Another soul returns to fulfil and perfect some neglected precept, and this soul will be less likely to sin than one who comes back to atone for a specific vice. (3) Yet other souls come to lead men into justice, to conduct them along the path of goodness and not for any concern of their own. These are absolutely certain to avoid sin. (4) Finally some souls return because in the previous incarnation they have not deserved to receive the beloved spouse or sister-soul belonging to them, but they will do so in their second birth. The number of souls who will reincarnate in a single body is limited to four, or there may be a new soul, not previously incar nated and now appearing in conjunction with three old souls. The same rule applies to the embryonic state, the limit being three souls therein in addition to the root-soul belonging to the incarnate personality. I have spoken here of the principles which are held to be at work in the two states specified, and I feel that the matter can be left at this point. We are far already from the intimations contained in the Zohar, and it will serve no purpose to show the complications at full length or how the reincarnation of male souls differs from that of female, much less how rebirth and the embryonic state are developed — with exhaustive particulars — throughout Developments of Later Kabalism the history of Israel. It is a side view of the secret history of the soul among the elect people through the ages and generations, but it must be said that it is high fantasy. The office of the great Kabalistic text, amidst all its cloud of doctrine on the subject of pneumatology, is always and everywhere to shew that there are many ways which lead to the height, that the opportunity of salvation comes from many quarters of Divine Provi dence, on the understanding that they are all quarters wherein the Law reigns. But these later dreams strive to reduce the intimations into an arbitrary system, with confusion and all failure as a result. I have indicated that the literary memorials of Isaac de Loria are vast in their dimensions but nothing has entered into print, save through the medium of the Kabbala Denudata, and as to where the remainder are deposited, I do not pretend to know. He died in the odour of sanctity, leaving instructions that all his writ ings should be entombed with him, which ordinance was observed by his faithful disciples, who had however made transcripts in ful], so that the world did not suffer through the humility and self-effacement of their master. One thing more : it is never suggested in Zoharic Kabalism — nor, I think, in any later developments, outside those of Isaac de Loria — that there is any office of rebirth for the souls of women ; it may be said that the male is not without the female therein as in all else, but the fact remains and must be taken in connection with another fact, mentioned already — that there is no instance of a woman being an initiate of the Secret Doctrine. CHAPTER XX THE ALLEGED CHRISTIAN ELEMENTS I HAVE made some occasional allusions, as required by the matter of the moment, to those particular interests, circumstances and dedications in religion under which the Zohar seems to have assumed the luminous vesture of the French language. It has been owing to a group of literati, incorporated — so to speak — for the purpose and actuated by an old and time-honoured zeal for its interpretation in a Christian sense * — at least as regards the chief elements of the text. I have indicated also at need the personal gratitude and joy with which I should welcome a proof in this direction. I believe in my heart that the mystery of the Christ in Palestine is the mystery of a Holy Sanctuary, hidden in the mystery of the Provi dence which moves humanity forward ; but it is not my intention to say anything on this subject until I have opened another path in the mystic quest. It is one thing, however, to confess, under every prudent qualification, to such a view, but it is another to affirm that the Zohar, written long after the advent of Christ, is a secret store house of Christian doctrine, confessing under veils to the Divine Mission of the Master of Nazareth. The bias of the translator in this direction was in several cases so strong that some paraphrasings, in which Christian pre- 1 The claim is not only the old claim but the expression is almost identical when it is said that Christian teaching is neither more nor less than a continuation of Jewish tradition, and that the Zohar — as the reflection of that tradition within certain measures — formulates plainly, amidst all its obscurities, the doctrine of the Trinity and of the Man- God, Who came upon earth 2000 years ago. See Epilogue to the French translation, fol. b. SUMMARY OF THE CHRISTIAN KABALAH Facing page 292 The Alleged Christian Elements dilections obscured the true sense, have been excised and redone by revisers. The supplementary task of annota tion, which is partly the work of De Pauly but in the main that of his editor, is the storehouse of debate on the whole subject, and it goes even so far as to suggest that a considerable portion of the text, or of its codifica tion at a given period, was the production of a Christian school which, in some undemonstrable manner, lay hidden in Jewry. It is not worth while to follow out a speculation of this kind unless the canon of criticism on which it rests should be found to speak with authority, and this is by no means the case. But seeing that the Zohar does not correspond internally to that which it would appear on the surface, namely, verbatim reports of debates held in the first century of the Christian era, but is — on the contrary — a work of various periods and multifarious authorship, having further a certain rough method and sequence preserved moderately throughout, a certain unity of purpose, there is nothing improbable in the idea that it was the work of an exegetical school — if only for the very innocent and candid reason that Kabalism sup poses Kabalists. My reference is here to the text itself, apart from the additional documents which are brought in at various points. Speaking rather in a tentative and fluidic sense than in one that is dogmatic and formal, I believe personally that some of these * have their roots in a further past than can be claimed for the Commentaries on the Pentateuch, at least in their extant form. It is, however, no part of my concern to insist on the question of antiquity, either in respect of the fact or its import ance. The existence of a Secret Tradition in pre- Christian times is beyond my province of research, as I 1 On the other hand it is thought that some are later still, and one has been even ascribed to the fourteenth century. If this be correct, it follows of course that they were added by the editors of the first printed editions, and it is of common knowledge that these varied in respect of their contents. The Secret Doctrine in Israel do not happen to have taken all knowledge for my sub ject. Herein, as in my other writings, I am dealing only with an epoch of Christendom. If it could be shewn that the Zohar did not antecede the twelfth or thirteenth century in any part of the collection, even this substi tuted antiquity would be adequate for my purpose, if I found that its intimations offered aspects of importance within the measures of Secret Tradition. There was assuredly a Secret School of Kabalism, and it is a subject of incessant reference in the Zohar under the general title of Sons of the Doctrine. Whether it was an incorporated school is another question. It is said in one place that man is renewed or reborn by every new idea respecting the Secret Doctrine1 — almost as if the latter constitutes a sequence of principles, presupposed and wholly understood, out of which many developments might issue. It was not consequently always a matter of tradition. Granting that there was this common or general root, not only were fresh lights possible but their discovery became a source of joy — where and when soever it rose, with whomsoever it might be for a mouth piece.2 The disciples of the Zohar held open minds, giving ready — even rapturous — welcome to any new idea, if it carried the proper warrants. But it is said further, -and not in full consonance with what I have just intimated, that the message must be one of a master — meaning pre sumably that he must either be known as such or must prove himself.3 It was a case, however, that by his own words ye shall know him. A stranger in the course of 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. 5a ; DE PAULY, I, 25. 2 For example, in the section Mishpatim, which contains the dis course of Rabbi Yebba the Ancient, as we have seen, that master of theosophy is treated at first with derision, for he is unknown and appears anonymously, with some crooked questions in his mouth ; but before he has finished the colleagues have thrown themselves more than once at his feet, with tears in their eyes, protesting that had they come into the world for no other purpose than to hear his words, their existence would not have been useless. — //>., Pt. II, fol. gga. ; III, 398. They were hear ing new things. 3 Z., Pt. I, fol. 5a ; I, 27. The Alleged Christian Elements some journey, a poor and outwardly despised person, might so exhibit his titles, when he was recognised and acclaimed on the spot.1 It follows that the masters, as such or otherwise, were not always known to one another, so that if the Society of the Secret Doctrine was after any manner incorporated, it must have been scattered widely and propagated by a process of segregation — if I may so call it — by instruction or communication from master to disciple, from father also to son. As to the latter classes the counsel was one of silence, because he who pronounces sentences without having attained the grade of a master of sentences would produce only mis fortunes.2 Under the guide of ordinary reason, one would say that this must be interpreted intellectually, as of the misfortunes of ignorance, mistakes and mental mischances, or confusions arising therefrom. However, Rabbi Simeon ben Jochai cautioned his auditors on one occasion never to pronounce a word touching the Secret Doctrine without being entirely certain as to its exact ness.3 To do otherwise might cause the death of legions. This is an alleged consequence which calls to be under stood physically, and I mention it because — although it can be nothing but a grotesque hyperbole of speech 4 — it looks for a moment as if the great teacher of Kabalism were quoting the penal clause of a pledge by which the Sons of the Doctrine were bound together. It reads like 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. 5a ; DE PAULY, I, 27. 2 Some of the incidents to which allusion is made here are quite in the dramatic manner ; perhaps it is only to our modern minds that they betray the literary hand, but this is how they impress at least one sym pathetic mind. The section Mishpatim is again a case in point, but there are several instances. 3 Z., Pt. I, fol. 5b; 1,27. 4 There are analogies on the other side of the scale, as, for example, when it is said that the Holy One, blessed be He, comes down into three of the Heavenly Schools — one of them being that of Rabbi Simeon — and listens to the expositions of the Secret Law. Moreover, a new idea pro duced with authority concerning the Doctrine ascends to the Ancient of Days and is ornamented with 370,000 crowns, after which it becomes a heaven. Others are metamorphosed into lands of the living. — /#., fol. 4b, 5a; 1,22,23,25. The Secret Doctrine in Israel the vengeance threatened in the obligations of secret societies — if their mysteries are betrayed by the recipients. Another counsel was to examine the Secret Doctrine attentively before it was given out or taught, so that all error might be avoided.1 Being, ex hypothesi, originally oral doctrine which passed — in so far as it did pass — at a much later period into writing, it was obviously stored in memory, by the implicit of the claim ; and the glaring inconsistencies which are met with ever and continually throughout the text of the Zohar are really a rather strong presumptive testimony to this kind of transmission. If Rabbi Moses de Leon had, as it used to be suggested, conceived and begotten the whole colossus of words out of his own head, he would not have fallen out with himself in quite such an obvious manner — even if we grant that forgeries have an ill-starred manner of betraying them selves there and here, so that they are for the most part a miscarriage rather than a making. But while accepting under all necessary reserves the general idea that the Zohar embodies some ancient Midrashim2- which are less or more complete and is, for the rest, a late compilation made up from similar sources, it must be recognised that it bears in an extraordinary degree the marks of com pilation — as I have said. In connection with my present point it would be possible to quote several cases in which the imaginary turba philosophorum seem to have been making up the Secret Doctrine as they went along at the moment. It is better to face these facts, but it may be added that they and the late editing — otherwise so trans- 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. sa ; DE PAULY, I, 28. z This was the opinion of S. MUNK, in Melanges de Philosophic Juive et Arabe, as far back as 1859, but the work as a whole, "in the form under which it has been transmitted," is not older than the thir teenth century, and its authors lived in Spain. The last point seems to rest on the evidence of a single word, and, according to the French edition of the Zohar, it fails thereon. Munk, however, recognised that certain doctrines— as, for example, that of the microcosm— go back to the ninth century. The Alleged Christian Elements parent — leave untouched that which is necessary to my purpose, being the existence of older material belonging to the Secret Doctrine. It may be of the tenth century and it may be earlier ; some vestiges may even go back to pre-Christian times, but this does not signify.1 The literature of alchemy made a great and new beginning, somewhere about that period, or when it assumed a Latin garb : the literature of the Holy Graal was posterior by some two centuries ; the other written testimonies to the Secret Doctrine under the asgis of Christendom were products of a still later period. What was the message of theosophical Jewry in comparison with the alternative messages ? As a purpose in litera ture, does it connect with the other and the later pur poses, as a school with some other schools in respect of the end proposed — or is it of itself and no other ? The mystery of the Graal is of the mystical body of Christ ; the mystery of alchemy is many sided, but on one side it is of the body of man in its transmutation ; the mystery of Rosicrucianism is one of Divine Union, but here again there is more than a single aspect and one is the body of resurrection ; the mystery of speculative Masonry is of the building up of man into a spiritual house, meet for the inhabitation of God. And the Secret Doctrine of Israel concerns a mystery of sex summarised as the mystical body of Shekinah, while it includes the shadows and outlines of a science of perfection, of union also, therein, so that amidst all variations of process, distinction in symbolism and diversity as to root-ideas in doctrine, the question is answered by saying that it is not only in analogy but in living concurrence with the other witnesses. As such, it is to my own mind a matter of consider- 1 I mean that it does not matter so far as my purpose is concerned. I have been trying for some years past to hold up a certain glass of vision which tends to shew that the same term of research was sought everywhere in the secret literary schools and in two instituted mysteries belonging to the Christian centuries. It is not essential that Kabalism, being a non-Christian system, should be linked into the chain, but it is important if it does enter therein, whether late or early in its origin. The Secret Doctrine in Israel able consequence that it is not a Christian witness, while acknowledging that if it were it would be of consequence even greater, though of another kind ; and my task in the present chapter is to shew that the case on the con trary side presented by those who have put forward the French version of the Zohar is a case unproved. Now, the points at issue between Israel and Chris tendom on the subject of Messiah are obviously of a very simple kind, so far as the ground is concerned, for unless the Christ of Nazareth — as His story appears in the records — had not offered, or had not been represented as offering, at least some considerable proportion of the marks and seals by which He might be entitled to acknowledgment, the claim could not have been proffered on His own part, nor sustained on that of His believers. Otherwise, the expectation of Jewry was one thing and the event another, or there would have been no colourable basis for His rejection in the natural reason of things. I suppose that the time has gone past when it was thought possible to affirm that Jesus, Son of Mary and putative Son of the carpenter Joseph, was antecedently likely or tolerable as the Deliverer to come and that it was owing to wilfully hardened hearts, to eyes that were blinded wilfully, that He was not recognised as such. It is not less true that any claimant was, in a sense, antecedently improbable, because of the complete vagueness charac terising every intimation by which He is supposed to be foreshadowed. As it so happens — justly or unjustly — Israel expected a Deliverer who would be a mighty warrior before the face of the Lord Who sent him and before the faces of the nations whom he was to scatter, who was to deliver the Gentiles into the hands of Jews, that the one might be sacrificed by the other to that Samae'l who is the master of the Gentiles. In other words, they expected a personality as much and as little promised in prophetic literature as it was foretold that He who was to come would be crucified between two The Alleged Christian Elements thieves, who are the Written and Oral Laws, would rise up on the third day and would ascend into Heaven. Jewry was entitled to its dream in proportion to the sincerity of its expectation, whether this was warranted or not ; the little company of disciples, whom the events of the crucifixion had scandalised, were entitled no less to theirs, when after the resurrection they received their Christ as the Lord of Glory, and so far as the present consideration is concerned, the question on either side is not of our business further. The speculative thesis before us is that by the evidence, expressed or implied, of Sepher Ha Zohar the Messiah has come. So far as expression is concerned this thesis is manifestly untrue, while so far as implica- cation goes I am very certain that the text is on the opposite side. It contains no particle of real evidence concerning that imputed sect in Jewry which — under the title of Sons of the Doctrine — had confessed to the Christ of Nazareth and were putting forward their views under veils. It is clear, in the first place, that if such evidence exists it lies within the veils ; it is not — I repeat — suggested that it is part of the surface sense, and hence the question is reduced to its minimum so far as circumstances will permit. In the second place, I have to shew that it is not contained in the hidden sense. Let me solicit my readers at the outset to recall and recur at need to all that which has been ingarnered and to the conclusions reached in preceding chapters : (i) On the Sephirotic allocations of the consonants comprised in the Divine Name, but especially those of the Pan and final He; (2) On the feminine nature and offices, the be-^ trothals and espousals of Shekinah above and below, but on those in particular which concern our Lady of Providence in her manifestation here on earth, the com panion and guide of our exile ; (3) on the relation of Shekinah to the Holy Spirit ; and (4) on the coming of Messiah. We found that the Vau is the begotten Son The Secret Doctrine in Israel of the Tod and He, being Abba and Aima abiding in Chokmah and Binah ; that he is extended through three Kabalistic worlds below the Supernals in Atziluth ; that he came into the world with a twin-sister, namely, the He final, who was also his predestined spouse ; that she was at first latent within him but was afterwards drawn forth and put with him in the nuptial state, that is to say, face to face, like Adam and Eve ; that she descended or fell to earth, as Eve also fell, and is to be raised up by the Van hereafter ; that the Shekinah and Holy Spirit are in a condition of superincession ; and that the Messiah is he who has been always expected, a warrior and king to come. The counter-thesis requires very careful tabulation, as it is scattered through a great many notes and is not presented formally. I shall connect it with two subsidiary points, which will illustrate further the un critical bias with which we are called to deal. In respect of Shekinah and Messiah it is maintained that the former designates the Second Degree of the Divine Essence, otherwise the Second Person, in Chokmah —and is also the Word. The Shekinah in transcendence is the Word before incarnation and below is the Word made flesh. It is stated in the Zohar that the Shekinah does become incarnate and in so doing assumes the form of man. The incarnation of Messiah is by operation of the Van, and the Zohar indicates that there is unity between God and the Redeemer. This incarnation of the He, or Word, is recognised by Rabbi Simeon. The Messiah is Metatron, or the body of Shekinah — which is said to be the same thing. The Lesser Countenance of the Idras designates the Word incarnate on earth, and the Greater Countenance is the Word prior to manifesta tion in created things. One passage of the Zohar is declared to have no meaning unless the incarnation is admitted, while it is held that another announces the mystery in formal words. Finally, it is believed that The Alleged Christian Elements there is an allusion to Mary the Mother of Messiah and to her son Jesus Christ when it is affirmed — as we have seen otherwise — that " the world will remain under the domination of the serpent until the coming of a woman like unto Eve and of a man like unto Adam, who shall vanquish the evil serpent and him who rides thereon."1 As I have presented and collated these points, so that they may carry their own message with all the force that is possible, they would look rather plausible on the sur face, if we knew nothing of the state of things as the result of our research. I feel that the whole question is determined already in a negative sense by my readers as well as myself, but I will analyse the various clauses, so that no false impression may be possible. (i) We have seen that the Shekinah is on both sides of the Tree ; that it is in Chokmah as well as Binah, because the Supernals are in unity ; that it is in Kether for the same reason. (2) We have seen that the Holy One uttered forth the Word and that the Builder — who is Shekinah — acted thereon ; there is thus a distinction between God, His Word and the Architect, but again the Three are One, because all is one in Atziluth. The statement that Shekinah in transcendence is the Word before manifestation and below is the incarnate Word is made on several occasions, but unfortunately in respect of extracts which carry no conviction because they do not convey the intended message. It is said, for example, in the Zohar that the daily morning sacrifice 2 is signified in the words of Isaiah which it renders: " And the Lord shall keep thee always in repose " ; 3 but this sacrifice of the morning-tide is held by the French editors to mean the Shekinah above, while the afternoon sacrifice signifies the Shekinah in manifestation. Now, if this is 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. H5b, H6a ; DE PAULY, II, 174. 2 Ib., fol. I4ia ; II, 151. 3 The Authorised Version reads : "And the Lord shall guide thee continually." — Is. Iviii, 11. Compare the Vulgate: Et requiem tibi dabit Dominus semper. The Secret Doctrine in Israel correct — as it may be — there is no reference to the Word and much less to the Word made flesh. We find further in the Zohar a fantastic etymology of the word Sabbath,1 according to which it is identified with that only be gotten Daughter who is Shekinah below. This is for our delectation ; but as an instance of their canon of criticism the editors have recourse to the Talmud, where they find that the Sabbath came secretly into the world, unlike other gifts of God to Israel, and thence they conclude that the only Daughter is the only Son and was born secretly in flesh. (3) It is never said in the Zohar that the Shekinah becomes incarnate and much less that then it assumes the form of man. The passage referred to specifies that the letter Vau is a symbol of the body of man in an erect position, and adds cryp tically : 2 " Hence God willed that Shekinah should be present at the building of the Tabernacle" by Moses. The editors argue that if this does not mean what they postulate there is no sense in the passage. The second alternative is preferable to the arbitrary construction. (4) The Zohar does not say that the incarnation of Messiah is operated by the Vau. The passage in ques tion is dealing with Gen. xix, 33, concerning the first born daughter of Lot : " And he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose." The word which corresponds to " arose" in Hebrew " is augmented by a Vau" to shew that the child whom she conceived was to constitute the stem of Messiah.3 (5) The incarna tion of the He or Word is not recognised by Rabbi Simeon, who is referring only to the descent of Shekinah into Egypt,4 accompanying Israel and guarded by 42 angels, as we have seen elsewhere. (6) Metatron is not identified with Messiah.5 It is said in the place referred Z., Pt. I, fol. 23b ; DE PAULY, I, 146, 147. /£., Pt. II, fol. i8ia; IV, 152, 153. /£., Pt. I, fol. nob; II, 48. /£., Pt. II, fol. 4b; III, 15. /£., Pt. I, fol. i8ib; II,3i6. The Alleged Christian Elements to that the "eldest servant 'M of Abraham is the image of Metatron, who is the servant sent by his Master. (7) The reference to the Lesser and Greater Coun tenances is purely arbitrary. The passage out of which it arises says (a) that the Little Van shall awaken to unite and renew the souls in migration, and (b) that at the period in question God shall send down new souls to earth.2 The editors add that the Great Van is the Holy Spirit above and the Little Van the Holy Spirit below — after descent to earth — but I know of no place in which the Vau is said to descend except in connection with the He final and then what is stated is not in con sonance with the prevailing symbolism. The Vau must descend also to raise up the He final. (8) The passage which is affirmed to have no meaning unless it relates to the incarnation of Shekinah is as follows: "A tradi tion tells us that when the Holy One, blessed be He, regards the world and finds that the works of men are good here below, the Sacred Ancient is revealed to the world in the form of the Lesser Countenance, so that all men may see God and be blessed thereby." 3 What ever the meaning may be, the construction offered by the editors is impossible, as the Lesser Countenance is the Vau in its extension through the worlds, and this is not the Shekinah. (9) Here also is the passage which is held to announce the said incarnation formally : " I have found in the book of King Solomon that I^K = ASHER was born in the Heavenly Palace of Delight from the embrace of two other Supreme Degrees. ... It is a prediction that ;rnN = EHEiEH will engender ASHER. "4 1 Gen. xxiv, 2. 2 Z., Pt. I, fol. iiga; DE PAULY, II, 77. The period is that of Messiah the King in his triumph, when the Van shall be united to the He, when the sons of Ishmael shall make war on all other nations about the precincts of Jerusalem. The reference to new souls shews also that it is just before the great resurrection. As regards the Greater and Lesser Vau, the ground and nature of the distinction do not appear. 3 /£., Pt. Ill, fol. I5a; V, 44. 4 /£., 116, fol. 6sb; V, 179. "The Secret Doctrine in Israel The reference is to the words: rrriK IPK nviN = I am that I am, and the text itself explains that it is dealing with the revelation of the Sacred Name in successive degrees : (l) EHEIEH, (2) ASHER EHEIEH, (3) JEHOVAH. The revelation was to Moses. (10) The alleged allusion to Mary and her Son Jesus in the words quoted above is negatived by the fact that the Blessed Virgin was the mother of Christ, whereas Eve happens to have been the wife of Adam.1 It is a pity to create analogies over things which have no similitude. I will mention only one thing more on this part of the subject. The He final comes down to earth and has done so from the beginning of things, according to the Zohar. If we could suppose for a moment that there is authority in the text for an actual incarnation of the He — that is, of Shekinah — she could appear only as a woman, or the whole symbolism would be falsified. There is indeed one passage in which the Daughter of the King is said to have taken flesh 2 but Metatron was her body, even as Shekinah herself is said in another place to be the body of the Holy One. It is flesh of the Land of Life and not of earth. If any personality symbolised by any consonant of the Sacred Name is really expected by Kabalism to assume the limitations of mortality in the bonds of the body of earth, that consonant is Vau, and what is meant can be only the incarnation of the Begotten Son, who is assuredly the Lesser Countenance of the Idras. At this point I will remind my readers of that which was stated at the end of Chapter XII, concerning the coming of Messiah.3 There on the authority of the Zohar we have seen that the creation of man was designed to prepare the way for the advent of that Divine Personality.4 The memor- 1 Z., Ft. I, fol. 145, i46a; DE PAULY, II, 174. 2 Ib., Ft. II., fol. 94b; III, 378, 379- 3 See p. 151. 4 //;., Ft. I, fol. 190; I, 119. I am sorry to add that the subject is connected with the notion of an infernal "shell" or "mark" — Lilith, or one of her type — said to be the cause of epilepsy in children. 3°4 The Alleged Christian Elements able passage is passed over by the French editors without a word of comment, owing no doubt to their unfortunate and impossible predilection for Shekinah as Christ. They could have done much better with the alternative materials, so far as the logic of symbolism is concerned. They would not of course have made out a case in favour of Jesus of Nazareth as Messiah of the Zohar, because it is obviously the intention of the text to shew that its New Adam, the Deliverer to come, is not without an Eve who is at once his sister and spouse, who has had an office in creation through all ages. For this feminine personality there is no room in the Christian scheme, because although I regard Shekinah as practically identical with the Blessed and Holy Spirit, the suggestion that this latter is in the relation of wife to Messiah or belongs to the side of womanhood means that Latin Trinitarian doctrine calls to be revised and the French editors are evidently under the obedience of Rome in respect of official religion. Having reached this point, we can deal shortly with their views on the subject of the Holy Spirit, Which is identified with the Van of the Sacred Name and is located in Einah. There is one passage in the Zohar where, in consonance with much that precedes and comes after, the Van is said to issue from the He in transcendence, while the second He issues from the Vau.^ The first clause of this statement is understood as the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Word and the second as intimating that the Messiah or Christ takes flesh by the operation of the Holy Spirit. The real intention is that which recurs everywhere — namely, to indicate that the union of Tod and He causes the He as Mother to conceive and beget of Yod^ the Father and Spouse, that which is Son of both, namely, the f^au^ who comes into being carrying the second He latent within him ; but this is subsequently removed from him in a profound Adamic sleep and they 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. i93b ; DE PAULY, II, 365. 305 u The Secret Doctrine in Israel dwell as spouses in unity. As there is no need to say, it would be difficult to find symbolism in more complete opposition to Christian Trinitarian doctrine or to the Christian scheme of the Incarnation. By an accident of things, we are reminded in another note that the Holy Spirit is compared to the light of the moon ; but we know that the moon is Shekinah, and the Holy Spirit is therefore the light of Shekinah, which seems to corre spond with its office — otherwise but analogically indicated when it is implied that the Spirit is the breath of Shekinah. As regards that place in the Zohar where the Indwelling Glory is plainly identified with the Holy Spirit,1 the difficulty is disposed of by saying that it is a transcriber's mistake ; but to justify this, even in a preliminary sense, the error would have to be characteristic of one codex only, plus any edition or manuscript which may have derived indubitably therefrom. Now we have seen that the trend of all collated extracts seems towards identifica tion rather than distinction, or to something so like it that the two principles pass one into another and are interchanged continually, while in respect of the single extract which makes distinction absolute, I should be not less or more in order — perhaps even more — if I suggested, on the contrary, that the copyist's mistake is there. I do not adopt such devices ; the Zohar is a contradictory collection ; but I abide by the consensus of intimations. If, however, we wish for even more typical specimens of the true value attaching to the .annotations on their polemical side, we must have recourse to what is said about the Eucharist. According to the Zohar, there is a wine which is the synthesis of all joys,2 an ancient and sacred wine which was known to Jacob,3 Joseph, and David.4 Metatron in the personality of Enoch is said 1 See Chapter XVI, p. 223. 2 Z., Ft. I, fol. H2b ; DE PAULY, II, 157. 3 Gen. xxvii, 25. 4 Z., Pt. 1 1 1, fol. i89a; ¥,496. The ^Alleged Christian Elements to have administered it to the patriarchs.1 It is not connected with the wine carried by Melchizedek, but — according to the French editors — we have here an allusion to the mystery of transubstantiation. So also the unleavened bread, which is called bread of affliction in the Old Testament, and is therefore the very antithesis of Eucharistic bread, is declared in the Zohar to represent the female in separation from the male,2 who would be presumably represented by the yeast. Such separation means of course affliction for Kabalism. There is, how ever, some undemonstrable way in which this under standing of unleavened bread is held to mean the Eucharist — in which case it can be only that of the Latin rite, where the bread is in separation from the wine. There is also a Zoharic reference to the offering of bread and wine, the one representing joy and the right side, while the other is the left and is therefore affliction, though it is not specified in the text.3 This, say the editors, exposes clearly the mystery of the Blessed Sacrament. We are prepared in such manner for the last suggestion which I feel called to mention here. At the death of Rabbi Simeon, his son, Rabbi Eleazar, overcome with grief, exclaims that "all the colleagues should drink blood." 4 This indicates the " offering of the Holy Sacrifice and proceeding to transubstantiation." Under all these considerations, not to speak of many others of similar purport and intention, we can under stand that the Kabalistic Community of Israel is re garded as the Church of God, in the sense of the Christian Church. When it is said to be above, it is 1 Z., Ft. Ill, fol. i8o.b; DE PAULY, V, 496. Seven firmaments, seven palaces, six directions, and five pathways issue from this wine. 2 Ib., Ft. I, fol. 1573; 11,216,217. 3 Ib., Ft. II, fol. 293; III, 139. I suppose that when any sacred text speaks of bread and wine, our Christian pre-occupations on the subject will look inevitably for Eucharistic analogies. I was on the watch myself anxiously at the beginning of my Zoharic studies, but I suffered disappointment only. 4 /£., Ft. Ill, fol. 296b ; Idra Zouta, VI, 120. The Secret Doctrine in Israel the Church triumphant and glorious in Heaven ; below it is the Church militant on earth ; but it is left to the reader's discrimination whether it is centred at Rome. I am sure that the work of annotation has been done by the French editors with sincerity and even with zeal, but on the side of their palmary concern it has not been done with insight. There seems to me nothing more unfortunate in the long story of attempts to construe the Kabalah in a Christian sense than the presentation of Shekinah as Christ, and, as I have indicated, without dwelling thereon, another way was possible — by no means satisfactory, but not at least ridiculous. Our Blessed Saviour has been placed in many anomalous positions by those who seek to glorify Him and desire that His cause should prevail, but in none surely which is quite so curious as this. CHAPTER XXI CONCLUSION ON JEWISH THEOSOPHY THOSE who seek in the Zohar for a deeper knowledge concerning the term of mystic experience, as it has reached expression in the great texts of mystic literature, will not find what they need in the way that they are likely to need it, though I believe that the experience is there. It follows, however, another path of symbolism, and there is this further to be said — that, perhaps more than most others in the great schools, the doctors of the hidden Law realised that it has not entered into the heart of man to conceive what God has prepared for those who love Him. They must have known at least how the experience transcends expression, as the mourn ful failures of mystic literature bear witness on every side. I take it that this is why the union of male and female — which is their adopted form of symbolism — the more it is raised into the transcendence is the deeper covered with veils. On the sanctification of the natural act and the path therein, they speak with reasonable fulness, all things perhaps considered. They are ex plicit also on the correspondence between things above and below therein, but there is not a word or part of a word which tells of the end attained. This is not to say that the terminology of the Divine Union is never indi cated ; but we shall see by collating the allusions that they are not spoken from the centre, or at least in the wording itself the centre seems very far away. In the first place, as to the path which may lead to the mystery of union : the thesis is that the just aspire to contem plate the delights of the Lord and in Him their delights 3°9 The Secret Doctrine in Israel are found ; * it is in the Lord Himself, and so only, that they desire to rejoice. The counsel in symbolism is that those who seek to contemplate the mystery of sacred union shall consider the flame which springs from a lighted candle. Two colours will be perceived, one being white and the other a kind of blue. The one is above and the other is the pedestal of the first ; they are united and yet distinct.2 Here is an analogy borrowed from a material object and indicating something which is postu lated concerning the state of integration in God. The path is one of holiness,3 for it is by the ascent of this as by a ladder that man is able to be joined with the Holy One. Hence God said to Abraham : " Get thee out of thy country."4 It is a call from earthly into spiritual life. The necessity of this call and the departure which follows thereon resides in the fact that whatsoever is pro duced in this world is in a state of separation ; union exists only in the world above, according to the words : "From thence it was parted and became into four heads." 5 This is held to be the doctrine of distinction, diversity and inevitable separateness in the way of mani festation. The path is followed in the faith which pre cedes experience, and the postulate of this faith abides in the recognition of unity in heaven, on earth and in all the worlds. Those who can realise along this line are counted among the just whose will is done by the Holy One.6 The Zohar in this place is either written more wisely than its makers knew or we have a hint of secret doctrine which never passed fully into expression. The essential of progress in the path is that man shall apply himself to the study of the Law and shall cleave thereto, so that he may be judged worthy of being united to the Tree of Life.7 This is another symbol of the union, for 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. 2iQa ; DE PAULY, II, 465. 2 /£., fol. 5ia ; I, 296. 3 /£., fol. 79b ; I, 465. 4 Gen. xii, i. 6 Z., Pt. I, fol. iQib; II, 355. » /A, fol. i93a, b; 11,364. 4 Gen. xii, i. 6 Gen. ii, 10. Conclusion on ^Jewish Tkeosophy as a tree is composed of leaves, branches and trunk, so are the souls which emanate from the Tree of Life grafted in the Holy One.1 But there are distinctions, states and stages, and for this reason some souls may be compared to the leaves and some to the branches ; yet a common faith unites them and makes of them one tree. Prayer is an aid on the path, and there are two kinds of prayer held to be indicated by David when he speaks of the words of his mouth and the secret medita tion of his heart.2 The one is the prayer of words and the other is the prayer of silence, the state of the latter being very deep, according to the Zohar. It is foretold that " I will multiply thy race as the sands of the sea, the multitude of which is innumerable," 3 and this refers to the state of silent, unexpressed and inexpressible prayer, for which reason it is said to conceal the mystery of perfect union in the Divine Essence.4 While the intellectual idea of a final union between the soul and God emerges with tolerable clearness in the sense that a state is suggested which seems to exceed that understood by the Blessed Vision of theology, the evi dence is as usual rather out of harmony with itself. It is said on the one hand that in their communion the Holy One and the Community of Israel are called one,5 as also that there is no separation in the joy of heaven,6 yet there are other modes of expression which are less clear in their nature. That of integration in the body of the heavenly King must be counted in this class,7 and again it is said that the Master is in the midst of those who 1 Z., fol. i93a, b ; DE PAULY, II, 364. 2 /£., fol. i6ga ; II, 264, 265.— Ps. xix, 14. 3 Gen. xxxii, 12. 4 Z., Pt. I, fol. i6o.a ; II, 265. It is said in another place that man must not raise his voice in prayer higher than is necessary, or he is not likely to be heard. The reason is that true prayer is made in silence. There is an obscure suggestion also that the prayer of silence is spoken by the Divine Voice within us. So also the later mystics say that Christ prays in us. — /£., fol. 209b, 2ioa ; II, 440. 6 /£., Pt. Ill, fol. 93b; V, 248. • Ib., fol. 4a ; V, 7. 7 /<*., Pt. II, fol. 8ya ; III, 358. The Secret Doctrine in Israel love Him,1 which corresponds more probably to the state of eye to eye than to that of oneness.2 Perhaps the clearest intimation is in a short commentary on the words, " Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth,3 which are held as referring to the union of all spirits with the Supreme Spirit, called otherwise the condition of grand, perfect and eternal joy.4 Imperfect spirits will enter into perfection by its means, and spirits that would be otherwise apart from life will diffuse a great brilliance by its aid.5 This mystery is expressed also in those other words of Scripture: "And Jacob kissed Rachael." 6 It is obvious therefore that the analogy is that of human union, and it is said cryptically that the perfect union above is accomplished only in so far as seed shall be communicated by the seventh palace above to the seventh palace below.7 It is then perfect, and blessed is he who knows how to effect it, for he is loved above and below : 8 he is the just man who is the foundation of the world.9 In the state of perfect union all is concentrated in the Supreme Thought, the forms and images disappear, and this Thought animates and enlightens all.10 1 Z., Pt. II, fol. 2iia ; DE PAULY, IV, 220. 2 The words, " to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His Temple" (Ps. xxvii, 4) are contrasted with, "Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord" (Is. Iviii, 14) to shew that the latter signifies a deeper state of union ; but those who attain hereto are very few in number. — //A, Pt. I, fol. 2iQa; 11,465. 3 Song of Solomon, i, 2. 4 Z., Pt. I, fol. 44b; I, 262. 5 Ib. This union is said to depend entirely on the prayer of man. 6 Gen. xxiv, 1 1. 7 Z., Pt. I, fol. 45a, b; 1,263. 8 Ib., fol. 45b ; I, 263, 264. 9 Prov. x, 25. 10 Z., Pt. I, fol. 45b ; I, 264, 265. There are the following additional allusions on the subject of union and its correlatives : (a) By following the ascending path of the Sephiroth^ there is reached that supreme place where all is united and all henceforth is one. — /£., fol. i8a ; I, in. (/>) So long as severity rules this world there is no union, the reason being that this is mercy, peace and the covenant. It is thought to be proved by the words : " And God remembered Noah" (Gen. viii, i). — Z., Pt. I, fol. 6Qb ; I, 409, 410. (c} True unity depends on attachment to the Supreme King. When the river which went forth out of Eden was divided into four heads, this signified separation in manifest things ; but Conclusion on Jewish 'Theosophy I have left until the present concluding section the suggestions which it is my intention to offer on the Mystery of Sex in Kabalism, as it seemed desirable to isolate my own views from the evidence or intimations of the text. It will be observed that the Mystery in its unfolding comprises (i) the doctrine concerning an union between male and female principles postulated as inherent in Deity and illustrated as to its nature by analogies in physical humanity, which analogies have to be checked by (2) the doctrine of the essential unity between Jehovah and Elohim, Who are the male and female principles in question. The analogy breaks at this point and is not restored by (3) the hypothesis that Adam and Eve were originally side by side, which hypothesis is grounded on certain monstrous births that occur from time to time in humanity and are a yoking but not an unity. Nor is it restored by a literal understanding of Genesis, according to which Eve was dormant in Adam, not active and conscious within him, for in the latter case he could not have been said to be alone. There is finally no intention of maintaining the corre spondence, because (4) the original generation of souls was in separation as male and female, and (5) this dis tinction will continue to be maintained in the eternal world by the mode of simple reunion in companionship, plus a transcendental intercourse the rapture of which is increased by a visual contemplation therein of God and His Shekinah, Who is also God. (6) But an important content of the Mystery is the generation of souls as a it was in union at the source itself. — /£., fol. 740 ; I, 440, 441. (cT) A sacred union is attained at times in prayer. — /#., Pt. II, fol. 5?a ; III, 254. (e) Those who dwell in the higher region are united in joy and never separated.— Ib., Pt. Ill, fol. 4a ; V, 7. (f) Lastly, the union of God in Himself — which is the ground of all other unions — is believed to be exhibited perfectly in the words — Jehovah Elohenov Jehovah (Deut. vi, 4). Elohenov is the root mentioned in Is. xi, I : " And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots." The final Jehovah is the pathway here below ; in order to know the mystery of union it is indispensable to follow the pathway. — Z., Pt. Ill, fol. 7a ; V, 20. The Secret Doctrine in Israel result of Divine Intercourse, and this is imitated on earth by incarnate man, as it (7) will continue to be imitated in heaven, where the union of created souls will produce fruit after their own kind. We are not concerned with applying tests of value to the metaphysical part of the doctrine, for its collation with other doctrines leads to insuperable difficulties, some of which have been illustrated by the lights of later Kabalism. There is, however, the doctrine of experience, and I wish to say that if we accept Zoharic teaching on its own warrants, then the imitation on earth of that which is operated in the transcendence, being done — if I may so express it — in the sense of God's ineffable union, did not unreasonably become, in the eyes of those who not only held the doctrine but performed the prac tice, a work of sanctification. Now, the question is where it may have brought them. The Zohar is silent thereon, except in so far as it testifies with no uncertain voice to the presence of the Shekinah in the houses of the holy doctors of the Law. But this presence followed them in their travels abroad, and there is one allusion at least to a state in which it was realised invariably as indwelling in the soul.1 It seems to me that there are three qualities of intimation as to a Divine Realisation in consciousness resulting from the manner of life laid down as indispensable thereto. In this case the Sons of the Doctrine walked not only by faith but by expe rience, and it follows that this mystery in its practice had a consequence within themselves as well as in their children. More than this cannot be said on the evidence which lies before us, and of the issue which came of the unions thus adumbrated it is obvious that we can say nothing. One of the Instituted Mysteries tells us in its moving ritual that the children of philosophers belong to philosophy, and we may believe that in the case under notice they were worthy of their high calling and birth right. 1 Z., Pt. I, fol. i66a ; DE PAULY, II, 250. 3H Conclusion on yewisb Theosopby In what manner does this secret doctrine of Israel affect us as mystics in the twentieth century ? There is firstly the doctrinal side, and it will be seen that those among us who belong to the Christian tradition, more especially on the orthodox side, must be conscious that they are moving through the great text as through a strange world of images — vestiges of many pantheons, many systems of the past, and legends of the soul of man. I have mentioned already that the theological doctrine of the Trinity must complete its own symbolism, if it is to be held as a product of the logical mind, and that therefore the Eternal Father is ex hypothesi the Eternal Mother, or in the sense and reason of things there could be no generation of an Eternal Son. The Zoharic male and female in the Deity cannot be therefore repugnant to the Trinitarian. Beyond this point the Kabalistic system moves farther and farther, as it pro ceeds, from the authorised fields of theology. If it were not complicated by irreconcilable elements in the medley of texts and testimonies, so that on the one hand we have the creation of souls en masse, as if by the conventional Fiat, and on the other their unceasing generation as the result of Divine Communion, to say nothing of the minor alternatives, there is much that is suggestive in the second dream, and for those who feel able to accept any definite hypothesis on the subject it may have an appealing aspect. We know also that the tradition of souls being created, generated or otherwise evolved in pairs is old and far diffused. I am not sure that it does not belong to " the hunger and thirst of the heart " after something like a timeless sanction of human relations ; but it is difficult to regard it either as part of a secret doctrine or as convincing per se if it were.1 The kind 1 A distinction on secret doctrine is desirable in this connection, it being understood that I am speaking ex hypothesi on both sides of the subject. There is that which is based on experience and is kept secret because the nature of the experience is regarded as a thing to conceal from public knowledge. If an Order of Alchemists discovered a very 3*5 The Secret Doctrine in Israel of reunion which constitutes the beatitude of the Elect who experience the rapture of intercourse — one with another — in the sight of God is rather like an houri's paradise conducted on monogamic lines, and it looks a little strange, moreover, in the face of its contrasts at other points in the text.1 I refer to the continued study of the doctrine by the Elect in the Lower Paradise and by the Community of Israel gathered into the transcen dence of Binah.2 I do not say that these ideas of a paradise of espousals and a college of transfigured adepts are absolutely exclusive, but 1 am equally certain that they were never meant to dwell together in unity. The nuptials of Rabbi Simeon at the close of the Lesser Holy Assembly were, one feels, of another order 3 than most of the psychic marriages proclaimed in the Zohar. When, however, the scheme is detached to some extent from its setting, it is worth while formulating its irreducible minimum as follows : (i) The Communion of the Divine Duality, Ineffable Male and Female, in the supernal world, generates human souls, male and female, in Its own likeness, who assume flesh — according to a law of succession. (2) They are intended to find one another in earthly life and to enter into marriage therein ; but there are various interventions which postpone and even seem to frustrate the general design, yet it is accom- simple process of transmuting metals, they would keep it secret presum ably for their own benefit. If they discovered a simple way to compose an elixir of life which would confer physical immortality, they might keep it secret out of mercy to mankind. This is one side of the question, and the other is speculative doctrine, which there is no true reason to reserve from others, more especially as it seldom differs es-entially from independent analogous forms and is usually not new at all. 1 It is beautiful and moving, however, within its own measures, and the heart goes out to greet it. 2 This is a subject of continual reference and is a clear issue in respect of departed souls gathered into the Lower Paradise. Israel in the supernal world offers points of difficulty in most allusions. It is even described as a Degree of the Divine Essence uniting all legions above. — Z., Ft. Ill, fol. i97a ; DE PAULY, V, 507. Presumably it is the Israel of souls in perfect union, almost in the state of absorption. 3 See Idra Zouta, #.,fol. 2g6b ; VI, 121, and Pt. I, fol. 2i8a ; II, 461. 3l6 Conclusion on Jewish Theosophy plished unfailingly in the case of those who keep the Law. (3) The souls return into the spiritual world and are reunited for ever therein. (4) The keeping of the Sex Law, which is part of the Secret Doctrine, ensures the procreation of those who may be called the Children of the Doctrine, assuredly a " peculiar people." It would not be worth while to place on record a personal opinion if it were not one which I feel is likely to be shared — in the detached manner that I design to put it forward. If we draw from all sources whatever the soul's legends, her travels and metamorphoses, together into a single storehouse of memorials, I question very much whether we should find in our collection a more tolerable proposition at its value, and I make this qualifi cation because I am not suggesting that either one or another is convincing. I do not know of any light on the mystery of man's beginning in his inward state which carries the seals of mastery, for the literature of mystic attainment, the records of our precursors on the path which leads to God, have nothing to testify thereon, as it is not the concern of their experience. Each school reproduces therefore the accepted teaching of its time and place.1 The Zohar shews in its own manner that the end is like the beginning, and if it be only a tale of faerie, it is one of grace as such. Having said what is possible on this part of the subject, there arises in the next place that which must be called indubitably the most important question of all, and though it is one that is difficult to approach it would be 1 The inference is obvious and is, I think, utterly true. If we take the Christian records, that part of them which deserves to be called mystic is either a study of conditions, processes, practices leading to the term in God or it is concerned with the experience attained in the term. The first may depend from dogma — e.g. the idea that an ascetic path is of Divine counsel — but it does not explain the counsel or ordinance ; the second is a realisation of the Divine in consciousness and has nothing to do with vision, as when Dr. John Pordage seems to have seen the Trinity manifest in arbitrary forms. The deep mystic state is imageless and is not a light on theological teaching. 31? The Secret Doctrine in Israel quite impossible to pass over and not miss the whole point of the present study. I have said at the beginning of this chapter that the form of symbolism adopted in respect of Divine attainment by the doctors of the Hidden Law is that of male and female in their union ; it begins here on earth and it is raised into all the heavens ; mutatis mutandis it is the same kind of intercourse on all the planes1 and all planes or worlds are in communication one with another, not merely by the analogy which ob tains but in a manner which is represented by the recurring image of the world above being married to the world below. We have seen that he is called perfect and blessed who knows how to effect such an union, and this so far as the individual is concerned can be only by fulfilling that which he is appointed to do under the pro visions of the Secret Law. My hypothesis is that in so doing he became conscious of what — for want of a better expression — I must term the cosmic union, in which the personal act was merged, so that he shared in the loving intercourse which obtains, according to Kabalism, above and below. By this also the worlds are bound together, God is united to creation and the soul of man partakes within its proper measures — and under the reserves of all the veils by which he is covered during the life of earth — of that universal and divine communion. I have said that there are intimations of this state in eastern teaching, by which I mean India, but that — so far as I am aware — they have not passed into writing. It was testified also in the past — once at least — by a spiritual alchemist that he was acquainted with the mystery of his art but had never proceeded to the practice because he 1 I hope that the qualification will be quite clear to my readers. The body of man was the most sacred thing for Kabalists and there is absolutely no question that it was in perfect analogy with the body of heaven in its clearness ; they were not afraid of their symbolism and they accepted all its consequences. The result was what on the surface is called gross physicalism ; but there is sufficient evidence that when they happened to drop their symbolism, or to adopt another form, they realised that the things of the spirit are understood spiritually. Conclusion on jfewtslt Theosophy had not found a woman who could help him in the work.1 So also when Thomas Vaughan speaks of " the conjugal mystery of heaven and earth " I believe that he had some notion of these workings, whether as the result of experience or merely in an intellectual way, by the study of the concealed literatures. It would be possible to carry these considerations much further, but I do not feel that they are meant for presentation at length in this place. The suggestion is that, expressed in very plain language, there is something to be fulfilled between man and woman by a marriage of Nature and Grace of which the sacramental aspect some times attributed to earthly marriage is the merest shadow and vestige. We have seen what Zoharic theosophy adum brates on this work ; I have found the same testimony in the allegories of some alchemical books,2 and there are vestiges of the experience or of notions concerning the experience in the Philadelphian mystical school of the late seventeenth century in England.3 It is better — for the moment at least — that those who feel drawn in this direction, with clean hearts and minds turned towards God, should follow out the research for themselves in the literatures to which I have alluded. They may come to 1 The question is whether this is the open door of the Hermetic Mystery — introitum apertus ad occlusum regis palatium — in so far as the literature is apart from experiments in the mineral kingdom. It was once suggested that the key was to be sought in something done between operator and subject, after the manner of the trance-state induced by mesmerism. In The Hidden Church of the Holy Graal I have sought to establish certain crude analogies between the spiritual work in alchemy and that in the Eucharist ; it obtains within its own measures, but every thing depends on the true meaning of the breaking of the Host into the Chalice. 2 The Liber Mutus, first published at Rupella in 1677, and reprinted in MANGETUS, Bibliotheca Chemica Curiosa, is of some importance as a case in point, but the allegories are in pictures only. I have called it elsewhere The Book of tJie Silence of Hermes. 3 From this point of view and otherwise all the writings belonging to the Philadelphian school demand consideration anew, including Robert Roach's Imperial Standard of Messiah Triumphant, Theologia Mystica of John Pordage, the works of Jane Lead, and the rare Philadelphian Transactions. 3*9 "The Secret Doctrine in Israel see that the analogy instituted by the Latin Church be tween those who are joined in wedlock and the union of Christ with His Church has a deeper meaning than has been discerned in the public ways, that in certain grades of consecration the spouse and the beloved on earth do stand for Christ the Lover of the soul and for the soul in that nuptial union which is called the mystic marriage in great and holy texts; the absconditus sponsus may be under veils of the living man, and the sponsa may realise in the person of her own consciousness that the soul is indeed the bride. I am the last person in the world to enforce practical conclusions, but if those who are prepared thereto within and without — and this not too late in life — were to enter the nuptial state and fulfil it consistently, as also with high reverence, in the sense of the Zohar, I think that the world might be changed and that a generation to come born of such unions would be children of a risen life. For the rest, in conclusion, it will be seen that I have not put forward the Secret Doctrine in Israel as one who regards its part major as of great theosophical and high mystical .importance, though I hold its memorials not merely as of living interest but as belonging to that kind which does not die, for at the back of all its reverie, the strange fantasia of symbols and images, there is the pulsating heart of a dedicated humanity, set in and out of season to justify the ways of God to those who could see through its particular glass of vision. I speak as one who has found God in many strange ways of thought, and — what is perhaps more unusual — in very simple and homely ways. I look to go further, for much that has never been spoken or said, and so remains for expression, is not indeed beyond it. But the Kabalistic Jew, dreaming of liberation and of union under the grievous yoke of his law, giving it the wings of interpretation and rising himself thereon, is of my own lineage in the spirit, of my kinship in the heart of quest. His fall of man is Conclusion on ^Jewish Theosophy no mere dream, because it is high symbolism. His myth of Paradise has a voice speaking within it from a far home of the consciousness ; though the eyes of flesh may be dazzled and the longing of sense may sink when the glories of our end are published, I know that, be it ever so splendid, there is no place like home. The Jew's covenant in the flesh is assuredly, in Zoharic under standing, one of God's most true covenants ; the Master Who seals us within does often seal us without, whence peers and co-heirs have always known one another in every place of the world, and every sign-manual of heaven is honourable and worshipful, since it sets apart to His service. The outward and inward Law is like the book of our life itself, intus efforts scriptus ; there is nothing so allusive in the whole world of images ; it is illustrated in all our ways — without in the rule of our conventions, without in the external veneer of our too imperfect con formities, without in the age-long tale of our schooling and self-schooling ; but within in our hungers and raptures after the " good things of the Lord in the Land of the Living," in the thirst after righteousness which we cannot attain ourselves and can scarcely formulate, in the ineradicable covetousness with which we would grasp at what God has prepared for those who love Him. The beauty of the courts of the Temple — the Temple of Solomon and Esdras — of its Holy Place and the Holy of Holies beyond, has eaten up our hearts with desire. Do we not also expect the coming of Messiah, while confessing to the Messiah Which has come, Whose star we have seen in the East, nor yet in the East alone but all the quarters of Heaven, through the ages and nations : Son of Issachar, Son of David, Son of Joseph, true legitimate and true King for ever, do we not know that for us He has never come without until He has come within ? Domine, non sum dignus utintres sub tectum meum: yet are we His stable in Bethlehem, yet is He born in us. Sed tantum die verbo — O Word of Words, speak it in the 321 x The Secret Doctrine in Israel inward silence — et sanabitur anima mea. And the legend of the soul in Kabalism, at however far a distance, flashes and reflects within us its changing aspects of that long, strange journey of old taken by those who came forth, and perchance are still coming, taken by those who go back ; God-speed them in both respects, and give to those who seek it safe conduct and the blessed end. Yes, there is truth in Kabalism, all its contradictory messages notwithstanding ; the contradictions themselves are but turnings of the glass of mind, hither and thither, to encompass all directions — opposites included, and in cluded the pairs of these. But the great message of all is the message of the Indwelling Presence, though it comes to us who are mystics under unwonted forms and in a peculiar radiance of vesture. The Divine Father hood is one side of the shield of faith and the other is Divine Motherhood. Whether we regard it as doctrine handed down from an immemorial past — few of us can so regard it — or whether we decide in our excess that it was conceived by Moses de Leon and born of his brain and pen, it is a wonderful heritage of mind which has come into our hands, and perhaps at this day it has a greater message for us than it had ever for our brothers in Jewry. I could almost wish that this Moses were the one and very man, for I do not think that in the wide world there would be the same kind of greatness as his. But taking things as they are, and by what we know of his writings, there is nothing so unlikely. It follows that I have not put forward the Secret Doctrine in Israel as one who believes that it is literally what it claims to be in respect of antiquity, though I have made evident that in my opinion the Zohar incorporates old Midrashim. It makes no claim except as to oral tradition, and about this I have no feeling. It follows also that I have not put it forward as a sum total of wisdom, written or unwritten ; but I do believe that in the expounded mystery of sex — so far as it is indeed Conclusion on Jewish Theosophy expounded — it suggests a great experiment which — " once in time and somewhere in the world " — was practised in hidden sanctuaries that were homes of man and woman. The doctrine of sex in the Zohar is the desideratum which I mentioned at the beginning, a key general to the House of Doctrine ; all other teaching in the great theosophical miscellany may be said to encom pass it, as the Divine Names and Sephiroth stand about the figure of the Cosmic Christ in the eloquent diagram of Khunrath. It is the central root which I have men tioned, and from this root the Tree of Knowledge grows up. It becomes, as the Zohar intimates, the Tree of Life. At this end of our travelling, I feel that in these final words I have reached what was set before us when the work was first undertaken, namely, a term of quest, from which we can look back over the strange path that we have followed and can survey it under one light. The Shekinah is the high light which shines thereon. We have seen that this Lady of Mediation is the president over that nuptial intercourse which I have described as begun on earth and completed in the World of the Supernals. The return journey of the soul is therefore under her light, in and by her grace, with the sustenance and aid of her mysterious power. For us at this day the Shekinah can be no more than a principle, but it is Divine as such, and after what manner — if indeed differently from this — it was understood by Sons of the Doctrine during earlier days of their exile through the long cen turies of Christendom, we must be content to leave. It would be a satisfaction to find the answer, but it is not of our vital concern. It is sufficient to have assured ourselves — and this I feel that we have done — that the central testimony is of moment. It follows, in fine, therefore, that Sephir He Zohar — THE BOOK OF SPLENDOUR — has something to tell us at this day which is worth hearing by those who have ears. I do not affirm, God preventing, that it is the only way, The Secret Doctrine in Israel for ways are many to the height. From the beginning of things He has called man and woman in all the states of life — in childhood and virginity, in espousals and widowhood — and He Who makes all things one has called the Lover and Beloved, that they may go up hand in hand and become one in Him. Hereunto is that which can be said in the public places, and for all that remains over — ^acramentum Begte abgconDere faonum INDEX In the compilation of these references the annotations have been treated as if they were part of the text. AARON, 273; Rod of, 185 Abba and Aima, 48, 157, 162, 203, 217, 232, 256, 300; Supreme Mother, 198, 232, 246, 305 ; Mother below, 232 ; Father, 43, 65, 200, 201, 215, 216, 256, 305 Abel, 102, 105, 169 Abraham, 21, 22, 33, 51, 115-119, 135, 206, 208, 273, 275, 303, 310 Abraham de Seba, R., 102 Adam, 71, 73, 74, 75, 76, 84, 85, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, no, 113, 114, 127, 134, 147, 162, 169, 174, 187, 1 88, 203, 204, 229, 237, 242, 249, 276,287,300, 301, 313 Adam Kadmon, 5, 74 Adam Protoplastes, 49, 74, 153, 170, Adonai, 191, 192, 202 Agrippa, Cornelius, 5 Ahasuerus, 223 Aima Elohim, 200 Ain-Soph, 26, 28, 29, 45».46, 48, -52, 197, 201, 202, 260; Ain-Soph Aour, 28, 45 Alabaster, 7 Alchemy, x, xi, 9, 131, 191, 297, 319 Alliance, Eternal, 257. See Cove nant Altar, 72, 1 10, in, 249 Amalec, 86, 87, 88 Ancient, 29 ; Ancient of Days, 47, 48 ; Ancient of Ancients, 217 Angelic Orders, 34, 35, 80, 82 Apple, 93, 95, 9^5 Garden of Apples, 129 Apron, 96, 97, 100. See Vestures Aquinas, St. Thomas, 180, 216 Architect, under God, 60; She- kinah as, 202, 301 Ark of the Covenant, 109, no, in> 112, 137,209,224 Arnold, Matthew, 61, 91 Asher, 303, 304 Asmodeus, 274 Assiah, 30, 48, 69, 195, 205 Astrology, 116, 274, 275 Atziluth, 30, 32, 33, 41, 48, 69, 197, 202, 205, 217, 301 Augustine, St., 92 Aza and Azael, 84, 85, 101 BAAL-SHEM, Israel, 285 Babel, 113 Balaam, 85, 223 Balance, 85, 223 Bartalocci, Julius, 7 Benjamin, 169, 170 Bereshith, 19, 49, 54, 60, 61 Beth-el, 117, 200 Betrothed, 47, 211 Binah, 31, 33,35,36, 39/40, 42,43, 47, 48,49,69,70, 98, 123, 124, 131, 133, 157, 198, 199*200, 201, 205, 211, 217, 218, 223, 224, 254, 301, 316 Bohme, Jacob, 58, 92, 93, 233, 278 Bohu, 32, 88 Bono-Homo, Alphonsus, 142 Book, Secret, 20, 21, 49; Book of Concealment or Modesty, 235 ; Book of God, 121 ; Book of Enoch, 21,217; Book of Mys teries, 113, 114 ; Book of Magic, 274 ; Book of Brightness, vi Bread and Wine, 118, 306, 307 Briah, 30, 31, 48, 69, 217 Bride and Bridegroom, 47, 49, 192, 204 ; Bride of Heaven, 24 ; Bride of God, 193 ; Divine Bride, 209 Bryant, Jacob, 112 The Secret Doctrine in Israel CAIN, 85, 101, 102 Canaan, 118, 178, 182 Celestial Chiefs, 115, 116 Chesed, 31, 33, 35, 36, 37, 40, 41, 217, 224 Chiromancy, 279, 282 Chokmah, 31, 32, 33, 35, 38, 39, 40, 42, 43, 47, 4B, 49, 60, 124, 131, 133, 142, 157, 195, 199, 200, 201, 217, 218, 224, 233, 300, 301 Christ, 101, 141, 147, 153, 292, 298, 299, 308 Christian Trinitarian Doctrine, 306 Circumcision, 51, 67, 118-122, 156. See Covenant. Community of Israel, 55, 64, 123, 136, 211, 240, 307, 311, 316 Correspondences, 58, 59, 61, 259 Countenance, Great, 45, 46, 48, 303; Lesser, 46, 48, 49, 51, 170, 303, 304 Covenant, 20, 118-122; Sign of, 236, 255 Creation, 136. See Doctrine of Cosmology, 52-68 Cuirass, 97. See Vestures. DAATH, 47, 120, 131, 198, 201, 217, Daleth, Path of, 124 Daughter, 43, 47, 192, 200, 302 ; Daughter of the King, 24, 49, 148, 161, 304 Daughters of Men, 85 David, 22, 63, 136, 311 Davis, Edward, 112 Deluge, 108, 109, 113, 135. See Chapter VIII, passim De Pauly, viii, ix, 293, and Notes, passim Dionysius, Pseudo-, 45, 82 Doctrine, Secret, ix, x, 3, 14, 15, 18, 19, 20, 23, 25, 26, 50, 51, 53, 58, 60, 69, 70, 73, 78, 106, 130, 132, 133, 147, 158, 173, 178, 190, 227, 230, 234, 241, 246, 258, 272, 295,^296, 297 Douma, Angel of Vindication, 177 Drach, P. L. B., Chevalier, 146 Dreams, 277, 278 EARTHLY PARADISE. See Eden East, Wisdom of, 272, 273 Eben Ezra, 35 Eden, Higher and Lower, 72, 93, 98, 99, loo, 106, 116, 135, 145, 153, 154, 162, 163, 174, 175, 176, 192, 193, 203, 204, 230, 240, 254, 255, 257, 264, 288; Rivers of, 36, 72, 73, 121, 192, 254 Egypt, 116, 117,133,272, 303 Eheieh, 303, 304 El, 150 Eleazar, R., 102, 238, 307 ; Eleazar the Great, R., 264 Elias del Medigo, i Elijah, 32, 53, 60, 156 Elohim, 32, 36, 49, 52, 59, 60, 63, 65, ?o, 99. ioo, 109, 1 10, 143, 191, 192, 193, 196, 200, 202, 215, 216, 219, 256 Embryonic Return, 288, 289, 290 Enoch, 21, 82, 107, 156, 1 86, 262 Enos, 1 13 Eschatology, 188, 234. See also Chapters XIII, XIV • Essence, Divine, 28, 35, 36, 65, 112, 199, 260, 311, 316 Esther, 223 Eucharist, 306, 307 Eve, 49, 71, 73, 75, 93, 94, 96, 97, 98, 99, loo, 101, 102, 103, 104, 106, 112, 127, 134, I47, 300, 301, Evil, 37, 80, 81, 86, 96 Evolution, 136, 167 Ezekiel, 22, 126, 137, 281 Ezra, 137 FABER, G. S., Rev., 112 Fall of Man, 80, 255. See Chapter VII, passim; also Chapter VI, for Fall of the Angels Fama Fraternitatis, 286 Filioque clause, 216 Flaming sword, 105, 145, 193, 262 Franck, Adolphe, v, 28, 48, 70, 159, 161, 167, 262 Frank, Jacob, 285 GABRIEL, 123 Gaffarel, Jacob, 2 Galatinus, Petrus, 6 Galicia, 285 Galilee, 187 Gasparellus, 7 Index: Gates of Understanding, 18, 124, 198,251 Geburah, 31, 33, 35, 36, 37, 38, 40, 41, 164 Gentiles, 184, 258, 259, 264, 298 God, 5, 6, 16, 19, 20, 24, 25, 27, 28, 32, 33, 34, 37, 40, 42, 49, 52, 54, 56, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 64, 66, 67, 70, 71, 74, 75, 77, 79, 81, 83, 84, 88, 92, 95, 99, 100, 105, 108, 109, no, in, 117, 119, 120, 123, 125, 128, 136, 139, 148, 151, 156, 157, 158, 162, 164, 169, 185, 188, 191, 196, 198,201, 203, 211, 219,225, 237, 241, 249, 252, 257, 261, 264, 269, 275, 297, 301, 303, 310, 319, 320, 321 Graal, Holy, xi, 21, 297, 319 Grapes, 112 Greek Church, 216 Grimoires, 12, 270, 274 Gui de Viterbi, 5 HAIR, character by, 279, 280 Hassidim, New, or Pietists, 285 //"<?, 148, 150. See Sacred Name Head, Divine, 44, 45, 46, 48 Hierarchy, Angelic, 82 ; Infernal, 82, 277 Higgins, Godfrey, 112 Hod, 31,33,35,36,40,41 Hogostratus, 6 Holy of Holies, 45, 210, 220, 224, 227, 228 Holy Spirit, 88, 176, 206, 216 et seq.^ 241, 274, 299, 305, 306 Hulsius, Antonius, 142 Hypostases, Divine, 20, 32, 35, 42, 43,49,70, 123,215 IDRAS, t'.e., Texts of the Holy Assemblies, 45, 48, 49, 201, 217, Imbonatus, Jos., 7 Immanence, Divine, 60 Incarnation, 306 Intruders, 146 Irira, Abraham Cohen, v Isaiah, 60, 143 Isis, 228 JACOB, 63, 206, 207, 208, 241, 265, Jah;2i7 Jeheshuah, connection with the Tetragram, 6 Jehovah, 60, 65, no, 148, 191, 192, 195, 196, 201, 209, 216, 256, 304 Jehovah Elohim, 75, 203, 204 Jehovah Elohenou, 205, 313 Jehovah is Elohim, 191, 213, 231, Jerusalem, 40, 70, 137, 140, 150, 170, 210, 213, 250 Jesse, Root of, 143 Jesus of Nazareth, 146, 147, 304, Job, sufferings of, 178 Jonathan-ben-Uziel, 102 Joseph, 207, 208 Joshua, 134, 219 Judah Halevi, 35 KABALAH, 6, 12, 31, 33, 34, 41, 49, 52, 115, 124, 141, 152, 173, 259, 266, 270, 284 et seq., 293, 294, 297, 3i3, 3i4, 322 Kabalah, Practical, 5, 12 Kerubim, 145, 209, 210, 224, 262 Kether, 28, 29, 31, 32, 33, 35, 39, 42, 48, 52, 94, 157, 197, 202, 216, 217, 218,255 Khunrath, Heinrich, 190, 323 King, Supreme, 137 ; Sacred King, 213, 311 ; King and Queen, 49, 136, 201 Kircher, Athanasius, 7, 57 LABAN, 85, 188, 273 Lafuma-Giraud, Emile, v Lamb, Paschal, 83, 252 Lamb of God, 206 Land of the Living, 78, 257, 321 Land, Holy, iii, 115, 116, 132, 150, 154, 187, 213, 220, 231 Latin Church,, 91, 108, 142, 174, 1 88, 216, 308, 320 Law, in general, 57, 64, 71, 87, 192 ; Written Law, 13, 15, 16, 22, 50, 60, 81, 98, 130, 131, 191, 214, 223, 299; Oral Law, 13, 15, 16, 17, 130, 191, 192, 214, 215, 232, 299 Lead, Jane, 319 Leah, 206, 222, 265 Letters, Hebrew, 29, 32, 54, 55, 56, 271 ; Great letters, 271 The Secret Doctrine in Israel Levi, Eliphas, 154, 168, 270, 273 Leviathan, 104, 188 Levirate, 40 Liberating Angel, 193 Lilith, 86, 98, 102, 104, 276 Loria, Isaac de, v, 171, 287, 291 Lot, 90, 1 1 8, 1 88 Lover and Beloved, 68, 76, 148, Lucifer, 63, 89 Lully, Raymund, 52 MACROPROSOPUS, 49 Magic, 12,85, H3, n.5»274 Male and Female Principles, 209 Malkuth, 30, 33, 41, 47, 52, 70, 95, 195, 197, 217, 218, 255 Mangetus, 319 Marriage. See Mystery of Sex Mary the Virgin. See Queen of Heaven Masonry, xi, 297 Mathers, S. L. M., 28 Matrona, 41, 42, 43, 47, 75, 136, 137, 192, 194, 195, 203, 208, 210, 214, 247, 263 Mediatrix, 262 Meimra, 49 Melchizedek, 118 Mercy-Seat, 209 Messiah, 5, 40, 124, 141, 143, 166, 218, 252, 298, 299, 300, 302, 304, 305, 321 ; Messianic Epoch, 139, Metatron, 22, 82, 136, 145, 184, 186, 194, 202, 205, 210, 213, 262, 263, 300, 302, 303, 304 Michael, as High Priest, 160 Microprosopus, 49 Midrash Rabba, 132 Midrash Talpiga, 143 Midrashim, Ancient, 296, 322 Mishna, 22, 36, 132, 214, 277 Moab, Plains of, 132 Modesty, 235 Moon, 22, 212 Moses, 22, 135, 185, 198, 207/208, 209, 2l8, 221, 222 Moses de Leon, R., vii, 2, 284, 322 Mother of God. See Queen of Heaven Myer, Isaac, 161 Mysteries, Instituted, 314 Mystery of Faith, xi, 50, 53, 56, 69,78,94, 101, 109, 119, 125,126, 127, 152, 153, 164, 191,249,251, 252, 253,255,256,260 NAAMAH, 85, 103, 104 Name, Sacred (including its separate consonants Ynn), 18, 22, 32, 36, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 47, 48, 54, 56, 57, 58, 62, 63, 68, 98, 113, 120, 127, 138, 139, 1 86, 194, 195, 196, 198, 199, 200, 201, 203, 204, 206, 210, 217, 2 1 8, 224, 229, 236, 240, 254, 275, 299, 300, 302, 303, 305 Name, Sacred, of 9 letters, 191 Name, Sacred, of 42 letters, 207 Name, Sacred, of 72 letters, 21, 87 Names, Power of Divine, 5 Names, Divine, 270, 271, 299 Nebo, Mount, 123 Nephilim, 86 Netzach, 31, 33,35, 36,40, 144 Noah, 94, 109, no, HI, 112, 212, Nuptials, Divine, 254 OCCULT Sciences, 12, 13, 116, and Chapter XV III, passim Onan, sin of, 108 Onkelos, 49, 60 Osiris, 55 PALACES, 165, 251, 263 ; Palace of Delight, 303 Palladius, Paradise of, 268 Paracelsus, 5, 6, 278 Pardes, 31, 70 Parts of the Soul, 157, 158, 159, 160, 161, 167, 174, 177, 178 ; and Chapter XIII, passim; Genera tion of Souls, 315 Paths, the, xxxii, 29, 38, 186 Patmore, Coventry, 238 Paul, St., 81, 168 Pharaoh, 273 Philadelphian School, 319 Philo, 219 Physiognomy, 279, 280, 281, 282 Picus de Mirandula, i, 2, 3, 4, 82 Pillar of Benignity, Middle, 35, 36, 37, 83, 95, 192, 196, 200, 229, Index Pillar of Mercy, 35. See also Sephiroth Pillar of Severity, 35. See also Sephiroth Pisgah, 132 Pistorius, 6, 7 Pordage, Dr. John, 317 Poscantius, Benedictus, 142 Postel, William, 4, 5, 214, 270 Prayer, 166, 215, 225, 276 ; Prayer of Contemplation, 285 ; House of Prayer, 212; Prayer of Silence, 3ii Pre-existence, 152 et seq. Principles, Supreme, 50 Procreation, 94 Propitiatory, 137, 255 Punishment, everlasting, 177 ; not everlasting, 178. See Chapter XIV QUEEN of Heaven, 203, 225, 233, 298, 30 1 > 3°4 RACHEL, 170, 206, 265, 312 Raziel, 21 Reggio, Isaac, i Reincarnation, 167 et seg., 261, 289, 290 Reuchlin, John, 6 Revolution of Souls, 287, 288 Riccius, Paulus, 7 Roach, Robert, 319 Robe of Glory, 100 Rodkinson, Michael, 23, 141 Rome, 145 Rose of Sharon, 132 ; Roses, 72 Rosenroth, Baron Knorr von, 7, 28, 30, 44, 159, 286 Rosicrucians, xi, 297 SABBAOTH, 32, 47 Sabbath, 36, 46, 77, 129, 162, 182, 246, 247, 265, 302 Saint-Martin, L. C. de, 92 Samael, 82, 86, 89, 94, 101, 102, 103, 104, 163, 276 Sarah, 117, 206, 209 Satan, 86, 101, 181, 188 Schethiya. See Mystic Stone Seed, Divine, 64 Sepher Dzenioutha, 45 Sepher Yetzirah, 28, 29, 34, 35, 37, 38, 81, 270 Sephiroth, 31, 33, 34, 35, 37, 38, 40, 41, 47, 120, 195, 197, 202, 217, 258, 259, 260, 286, 312 Sephiroth, evil, 273 Seraphim, 83 Serpent, 36, 86, 87, 101, 109, 128, 134, 187, 275 Seth, 103, 107, 169 Sex, Question of, 51, 69, 93, 94, 97, 101, 107, 137, 228, 234, 313, and Chapter XV 1 1, passim Shaddai, 32, 146 Shekinah, 30, 39, 42, 69, 70, 71, 75, 76, 82, 84, 85, 95, 101, 104, 106, 108, no, in, 117, 120, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 133, 137, 138, 148, 157, 162, 168, 185, 188, 237, 239, 241, 242, 243, 244, 245, 248, 251, 255, 258, 259, 283, 297, 300, 303, 304, 305) 3o6, 313, 314, 323, 324. See also Chapter XV 'I, passim Sheol, 177, 178, 181 Shiloh, 199 Signatures, Doctrine of, 278 Simeon Ben Jochai, R., 2, 23, 24, 44, 60, 73, 81, 124, 130, 132, 170, 178, 180, 214, 238, 241, 243, 244, 250, 265, 295, 300, 302, 307, 316 Sinai, Mount, 18, 22, 23, 63, 105, 124, 127, 128, 129, 185, 231 Solomon, 63, 136, 137, 143, 210, 233, 254, 272, 274, 321 Sommer, G. C., 3 Son, Begotten, 42, 43, 74, 149, 151, 201,215, 217, 305, 315 Sons of God, 83, 84, 85 Sons* of the Doctrine, 13, 18, 22, 24, 97, 106, 142, 162, 184, 1 86, 210, 225, 232, 234, 237, 240, 242, 244, 245, 266, 271, 294 Sophia, Gnostic, 233 Sophia, Virgin, 233 Sophonias, 1'rophecy of, 114 Spirit of God, 34 Stone, Mystic, 62, 63 Supplementary Soul, 18 Supreme Mysteries, 23, 164, 251, 252, 253, 256 ; Supreme Soul, 259 ; Supreme Spirit, 62 Swedenborg, 59 TABERNACLE, 122, 209, 217, 221, 224, 226, 255 The Secret Doctrine in Israel Tables of the Law, 63, 128, 129, 131* 135 Talmud, 14, 29, 36, 62, 81, 86, 101, 103, 104, iii, 124, 141, 144, 188, 219, 229, 245, 272, 277, 285 Temples, First and Second, 76, 86, 122, 210, 211, 272. See also Chapter XI, passim Tetragram. See Sacred Name Tiphereth, 31, 33, 37, 40 Tohu, 32, 88 Transcendence, 64 Transubstantiation, 307 Tree of Knowledge, 36, 76, 77, 78, 79, 81, 94, 97, 99, 100, 109, 130, !3i, 154, 323 Tree of Life, 36, 76, 77, 78, 79, 97, 99, 106, 127, 130, 131, 154, 160, 162, 186, 193, 217, 256, 257, 259, 262, 264, 310, 311, 323 Tree of the Sephiroth, 29, 34, 37, 48, 196, 198, 199 Triad, Sacred, 83, 224 Triad, Infernal, 83 Tubal Cain, 85 UNION, Divine, 25, 184, 191, 203, 231, 232, 235, 256, 261, 297, 309- Unity, 213 Unknown God, 217, 255 VAN DALE, Antonio, 80 Vau, 120, 146, 148, 150, 151. See also Sacred Name Vestures, 72, 100, 106, 184 ; Mantle of the Master, 176 Vision, Blessed, 71, 261, 262, 311 Voice, 95 ; Great Voice, 50 ; Divine Voice, 311 WAITK, A. E., viii, 168 White Head, 45, 46 Will, Divine, 25, 29, 58, 165, 266, Wisdom, 27, 39, 71, 114, 117, 161, Wolf, bibliographer of Kabalism, Womanhood, 98, 201, 246, 254 Word, 31, 36, 49, 50, 51, 54, 64, 65, 95, 201, 202, 300 Worlds, Four, 30, 31, 33, 52 ; Worlds made and destroyed, 67 YEBBA, R., 294 Yesod, 31, 33,34,41,47, 120, 217 Yetzirah, 30, 48, 69, 205, 217 Yod, 119, 121, 186 ZECHARIAH, 219 Zion, 47, 63, 70, 166, 170, 210, 227, 247, 250 Zipporah, 208 Zohar, its influence on Christian scholarship, v ; traditional author ship, vi ; general content, vi, vii ; false and true Zohar, 2 ; its chief editions, 3; alleged Christian ele ments and complexion, 3; pos sible plans of its study, 8; a storehouse of Secret Doctrine, 9 ; scope of the present work, 9, 10; value of its exegesis, 10, 14; its contradictions, ii; of various dates, ii ; connection with magic and other branches of occultism, 12, 13; original extent, 16, 18; Keys of its Mystery, 18; ante cedents of Zoharic Doctrine, 27 ; its testimony on God, 28; con cerning the Sephiroth, 33; the- osophy of the Word, 49. See also 55, 56, 59, 69, 73, 75, 80, 86, 92, 99, 105, 108, 115, 123, 125, 127, 128, 129, 130, 135, 139, 142, 144, 151, 152, 156, 167, 168, 174, 178, 181, 182, 183, 190, 193, 211, 213,215,216, 227, 230, 235, 244, 258, 267, 268, 270, 272, 274, 277, 279, 283, 284, 285, 292, 294, 296, 299, 302, 304, 306, 307, 309, 317, 319, 320, 321, 322 Zoth, i.e., Sign of Covenant, 222