Flat Earth; Enclosed Creationism; Conspiracy (Theory) and Reason – Part Three:
The Tree of life: For most groups, the Tree of Life is nothing but a metaphorical (or symbolic) set of images regarding the relationship between human states of consciousness and the external experience of reality in the natural world. For Flat Earthers, however, the Tree of Life is something that used to be literal or tangible before it turned into myth, and perhaps that’s why the symbol is ageless and ubiquitous among creation mythology. This gives new meaning to the Tree alongside its representation of a universal state of eternal aliveness – or fulfilment, rather than the immortality of the body or soul. Within the awareness of states of eternal aliveness, one can interpret death as a direct experience of the perfect divine reality that is both possible and ever-present.
In Sumerian history, they called their Tree the ‘Persian trees of life’ represented by a series of nodes and crisscrossing lines. This significant symbol was often adorned with eagle-headed gods and priests or the king’s immortality. The film title ‘The Fountain;’ [which I talked about in the previous post], if one to finish it would be ‘The Fountain of Youth,’ which is about the search for immortality and so happens the Epic of Gilgamesh has a similar quest for immortality. In Mesopotamian mythology, Etana searches for a “plant of birth” to provide him with a son. These origin stories have links to antiquity found in cylinder seals from Akkad around 2390 BCE.
Isis and Osiris are represented as the original couple in Egyptian mythology from the Ennead system of Heliopolis. They emerged from the acacia tree of Saosis, which, according to Egyptians, is the Tree of Life – referred to as the “tree in which life and death are enclosed.” The Egyptians Holy Sycamore also stood on the threshold of life and death, connecting the two worlds.
The Tree of Life can be depicted as a phoenix and a dragon in Far East mythology, with the Chinese dragon representing immortality and the Phoenix depicting life after oblivion. There is a story about a tree that produces a peach every three thousand sand years. The one who eats the fruit receives immortality. In Japan, the Lotus flower carries aspects of the Tree of Life. The flower is sacred in many cultures, but more so in Eastern religions as a symbol of purity, enlightenment, self-regeneration, and rebirth. The flower grows deep within the mud, far away from the sun. However, it finds a way to reach the light and become one of the most beautiful and cherished flowers. These characteristics are a perfect analogy for the human condition.
In Norse mythology, the Tree of Life is Yggdrasil, the world tree, and extensive lore surrounds it. It’s in the golden apples from Iounn’s Tree that provide immortality for the gods. Pagan rituals and sacrifices took place under ancient trees.
A pre-Colombia culture in the Americas, the Tree of Life is a prevalent motif in Mesoamerican mythical cosmologies and iconography. Cultures like the Maya, Aztec, Izapan, Mixtec, Olmec, and others all depict universal trees within their art and mythological traditions. The world trees embodied the four cardinal directions, which also represent the fourfold nature of the central world tree, including the four elements of air, earth, fire, and water. This is a symbolic axis Mundi connecting the planes of the Underworld and the sky with that of the terrestrial world. Within the Christian motif, the Tree of Life, which has the potential to grant immortality to Adam and Eve, is mentioned in the Book of Genesis. The biblical Garden of Eden and its variations parallel the Tree of Life mythology; these themes are common among other ancient cultures. Man strives for equilibrium in a perfect world where man and nature are united until man is corrupted. The Tree of Life appears in the Book of Mormon in revelation to Lehi. It symbolises God’s love and is sometimes understood as salvation toward a post-mortal existence. Kabbalists use the Tree of Life symbolism as a road map, allowing the information to communicate with powerful spirits.
The Tree of Life is represented as a symbolic Tree, but it’s also known as the Ten Sefirot (Sephiroth). Kabbalah teaches that the Ten Sefirot certain aspects of God’s nature and plan, detailing how His power emanates into the world below:
| Keter | The Crown | Ayn (Ein) Sof |
| Chokhmah (Hokma) | Wisdom | Zodiac |
| Binah | Intuition, Understanding | Saturn |
| Chesed (Hesed) / Gedulah | Mercy, Greatness | Jupiter |
| Gevurah | Strength | Mars |
| Tiferet | Glory | Sun |
| Netzach | Victory | Venus |
| Hod | Majesty | Mercury |
| Yesod | Foundation | Moon |
| Malkut | Sovereignty | Earth |
| The middle five qualities are mentioned explicitly and in order at Chronicles 29:1: Yours, O L-rd, is the greatness (gedulah), the strength (gevurah), the glory (tiferet), the power (netzach), and the splendor (hod). |
Gershom Scholem defines the Sefirot as “spheres, whole realms of divinity, which underlie the world of our sense data and which are present and active in all that exists.” The Sefirot are equally divided into feminine aspects of God and male aspects of God. According to Kabbalah, some qualities of God can be known (the Ten Sefirot), and some that cannot be known (the Ein Sof—infinite qualities). The Ten Sefirot corresponds to the known characteristics of God or the Godhead; through these emanations, God radiates to the world. These vessels are connected to the universe in ways that God cannot be connected, with the result that every action in the lower world vibrates through the Ten Sefirot and, in some way, affects the universe, the upper world, and God.
The last sentence makes God seem impersonal. It’s a contention fundamentalist Christians have noted, but that’s not what it means. God’s love is absolute and permeates within worlds (the light is always there). The disconnection or misunderstanding is to assume God functions like how humans function in a material way, which is not the way it works. And this is what it means when God cannot be connected to the universe in ways that vessels can. Another way of looking at the disconnection is through time. That time is God’s invitation to heaven. God asks, are you ready? And people are replying no, not just yet. The creator is interacting with himself alongside their creation; therefore, we should optimize our expression and expression of it. The disconnection, however, comes from a God that’s always at a distance, but somehow, eventually, it makes itself known subtly.
According to a Kabbalistic model, Uranus rules the fixed Stars (Zodiac / Chokmah); there is a conflict of truths within the study of fixed stars, whether it might also be the Firmament. The Kabbalah system suggests it is. So it’s either beneath or among the Firmament; it depends on which study you wish to follow. There are 88 fixed constellations, but initially, there were only 48. All stars are transfixed; however, some are exceptions, such as Sirius, Ursa Major, Pleiades, (possibly) Orion, and Canis Major. The Zodiac plane moves in precession, but Stars are fixed onto them except for a handful of constellations. The Stars plane is out of sync with the Sun’s ecliptic cycle [must be viewed through ancient cosmology to understand], so on the 21st of March, the equinox points to Aquarius instead of Aries because of the precession (people call it the Age of Aquarius).
Tropical system astrology is based on the Ecliptic (sine wave) and Hermetic principles. Above the Zodiac-plane (Firmament), there is the Crystalline Sea, which Neptune rules, and above the Crystalline-Sea (Firmament) is Water (Psychic Water), the same waters existing below the Earth. Above the Crystalline Sea is the red Rose (indicating or symbolizing silence and secrecy towards the secret group Rosicrucian) – the Rose once represented purity, passion, heavenly perfection, earthly passion, virginity and fertility, death and life. The Rose is the flower of the Goddess Venus and the blood of Adonis and Christ. The Rose is encased in a yellow pyramid pointing towards the Supernal Emporium. The unconditioned abode creates the first movement on Terra-firma or Earth; from the first movement, it creates other spiritual systems (other abodes). Hyperreal-space believers (or heliocentric believers) call it the solar system. Still, it’s a universe in itself.
These systems are unapproachable physically or materially; it’s a realm for the spirit. In other words, these dimensions are not physical worlds but internal worlds (the kingdom of heaven). Scientists describe types of matter through physical atoms. Still, the universe of heaven, which is composed of many different dimensions, is composed of a different kind of matter – that which we call matter, in itself, or matter without form, is something unknowable to the intellect.
The lower planes (the hellish planets) below the Earth are said to have their own waters, much like Earth and equally large. Life graduates from there and incarnates into our realm, and we take on the heroic nature of Earth. In the Kabbalistic system, we become a Hebrew or a Jew; in the Greek system, we become a Hero; in the Vedic system, we become a Demigod. People are striving or, more precisely, reaching for the divine. It is said among conspiracy theorists and gnostic researchers that entities (Aliens, Archons, Annunaki, Demons, and so on) that reside in the lower planes influence or actually control our world through various means.
To the dismay of the fundamentalist Christians and Jewish scholars, there was a time when Christianity adopted the notion of Cabala in a new interpretation called Christian-Cabala, thought to have originated in Europe, where the migration of Jewish converts to Christianity began. These converts reinterpreted Kabbalistic doctrines from a distinctly Christian perspective, linking Jesus Christ, His atonement, and His resurrection to the Ten Sefirot. Cabalists taught that Jesus Christ, by His atonement and resurrection, replaced the Ten Sefirot to reach the Ein Sof. The three upper Sefirot are now: Keter (Crown) – which represents the Father; Hokma (Wisdom) – which represents the Son; and Binah (Intuition) – which represents the Holy Spirit of God. The Ten Sefirot is open to reinterpretation; therefore, medieval rabbis eventually forbade instruction until the age of forty.
Christian-Cabala did them a favour by diminishing intuition and denying the ascendance of enlightenment by replacing it with Jesus’s atonement and resurrection. So why does the fundamentalist think this action is a misnomer? It’s because fundamentalist Christians and their Churches follow a path of exclusivity (secret societies) and movements of the political kind.
Fundamentalists are generalizing all aspects of Kabbalah, and everything has its shadow side within the rule of polarization. Can one call themselves a Christian without honestly acknowledging a non-demoralizing version of Lucifer and Satan? The indoctrination of fear is by the over-focus on the light, but more precisely, a materialistic notion of light. The idea of God as Logos equated to the Sun may have influenced this; therefore, the moon, or the dark being opposed, must be anti-God. The Sun representing the Son of God is a fascinating notion made famous by the documentary “Zeitgeist” This documentary and its notions are something fundamentalist Christians cannot fathom. The logos are also the creator of worlds, who creates worlds through light and sound. When God said let there be light, it’s the supernal light, but what came first is the word, and the word is the sound.
A scientific understanding would coincide with cymatic research. The sound is in relation to atomic vibrations inherent to a thought-wave universe. This is where the Practical side of Kabballah has made its influence. Still, it’s less about manipulating matter for nefarious means through Magick than through understanding a universe that reacts to intentions symbolically. The adoption of this process by secret societal elites has been a long-standing conspiracy fact; they adhere to the dark side of Kabbalah by practising the dark arts and worshipping the Tree of Death. Kabbalah is versed in its understanding of the dark side and has been interpreted into its philosophy. And this dark side is known as the “Tree of Death.”
The Tree of Death It is symbolic of the abode of demons, shells, and destructive, chaotic forces, which are the flip side of the acceptable qualities of the bright side of the tree. The (Astral) Shells are also known as Qliphoth, which means empty bodily forms, as opposed to bodily forms that once had souls – an empty shell that once had the divine spark or consciousness. Some Parapsychologists link ghosts to Astral Shells, figments or imprints left behind in the (a)ether after the original occupant has moved on. Wandering souls can take over these shells since they are floating around on the dark side. The spirits that take them over are low-grade entities and demons that can magically persuade to the bidding of Black Magicians.
| These be they who be unclean and evil, even the distortion and perversion of the Sephiroth: the fallen Restriction of the universe, the Rays of the coils of the stooping Dragon. Eleven are their classes, yet Ten are they called. Seven are the Heads, yet an Eighth ariseth. Seven are the Infernal Palaces, yet do they include Ten. In the Tree of Life, by the Waters of the River, in the Garden of Wisdom, is the Serpent of the Paths; it is the Serpent in the Celestial Eden. But the Serpent of the Temptation is that of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, the antithesis and opposer of the other: the Red coiled Stooping Dragon of the Apocalypse, the Serpent of the Terrestrial Eden. Regard thou therefore the Celestial Serpent, as of Brass, glistening with Green and Gold, the Color of Vegetation and of growth: banish thou therefore the Evil and seek the Good. For as Moses lifted up the Serpent in the Wilderness, even so must the Son of Adam be lifted up, raised through the balance of strife and of trial, through the Pathway of Eternal Life. And when, like our Master, thou art extended on that Tree, through suffering and through pain, let thy countenance be raised up towards the Light of the Holy One to invoke the Divine Brightness, not for thyself, but for those who have not yet attained to the Pathways, even though they be thy tormentors. Balanced between the Spiritual and the Material, the type of Reconciler, remember the symbol of the Brazen Serpent. Mark thou well the difference between the two serpents, for before the Serpent of Brass of Numbers, the Serpent of Fire could not stand. But at the Fall, the Serpent of Evil arising in the Tree surrounded Malkuth, and linked her thus into the outer and the Qliphoth, for this is the Sin of the Fall, even the separation of the Material Plane from the Sephiroth through the interposition of the Coils of the Stooping Dragon. Thus, therefore, must Malkuth be cleansed, and this is the Redemption to come. For also Christ expiated not Sin till after he had overcome the Temptation. But surely all things in the Creation are necessary, seeing that one existeth not without the other, and the Evil also helpeth the Work, for thus the greater and more intense the Darkness, by so much more doth the Light become bright by Contrast and draweth, as it were, increased force from the Blackness. – (The Qliphoth) The Book Of The Black Serpent |
The “shells,” Qlipoth, are the demons, which, again, are a form of the Sephiroth, distorted and averse. As described, this great dragon is identical to Job’s leviathan. He is the executor of judgment, the centripetal force, and the old serpent seeking to penetrate Paradise. In a more exoteric sense, he is Satan and the devil, the accusing one. – Kabbala Denudata: The Kabbala Unveiled
The Serpent, aka Dragon and Phoenix, is a dominant symbol in esoterica, more than just an adopted symbol for medical practice (the caduceus). As a medical aspect, the Serpent is closer in association with the Kundalini; the “serpent power” is electricity-like spiralling energy. It has been universally equated with goddess divinities or Shaktis. The force of Kundalini matches Astro-theology’s concept of raising the Oil (Christos) to reach illumination. The Serpent or fire lying coiled at the base of the spine; through means of living spiritually, they can magnetize the Kundalini serpent upwards through the channel of the spine. It finally reaches the masculine-feminine principles of the brain and fires them into coordination, becoming inspired and attuned to the inner world of wisdom. And you can only achieve this with the “kundalini serpent.” Jesus Christ hinted at this when he said: “Be ye wise as serpents.”
The Serpent represents two things: knowledge and sex. The secret aspect is the “creative force” within each of us, but that force is one single force. The choice is about where we direct this force, upwards or downwards (good vs. evil). A.E. Waite’s “The Secret Doctrine in Israel”, a book about Kabbalah, the Tree of Life, and its association with the Zohar, states. “It should be noted further that the Sephiroth are represented as good and evil equally, which seems reasonable in respect of that world of dimensions wherein both principles manifest.” In all esoteric systems, Eastern and Western, the Serpent is the agent symbol of wisdom, also called Sophia. The ripple symbolism of the cosmic Serpent, our DNA activation and Earth’s kundalini awakening stand out in the mythos of creation throughout the ages.
So for every sphere in the Sefirot, Chesed has a shadow side, ruled by Jupiter, and all the Gods of benevolence, mercy, abundance, and expansion can flip over into excess, greed, compulsion, and cancerous growth. Think of Sagittarius’s good and bad sides: optimistic, fun-loving, active, and philosophical, but they can also be dogmatic, bullying and crude. It’s like that for all of the Sephiroth, whether Netzach (Venus), Hod (Mercury), Geburah (Mars), Binah (Saturn), etc. The Dark Tree houses chaos, disintegration, unbalanced power, or forces out of conscious control — for what is in the dark is unconscious, instinctual, reacting without thought. Furies live on the dark side of the tree and all those beings that we, or society as a whole, reject. Death lives on the dark side, waiting in the shadows.
The latest Netflix show, Sabrina, showcases the Tree of Life and Tree of Death with their duality; we have a Tree underneath a dome as Sabrina enters the maze. Then we see the full tree in all its glory, symbolically reminiscent of a Jewish candle holder – then Sabrina picks the fruit and has a vision. The tree becomes darkened as Satan emerges from the Tree of Death and approaches Sabrina. The show ticks all the boxes on how fundamentalists see witchcraft – that it’s all Satanic. The reaction between Pagans and Neopaganism would undoubtedly be seen through the glamourized satanic aesthetic and many of its misconceptions of witchcraft.
Some major contentions About the Tree of Life (traditional Christian) fundamentalists can’t get over, [students can probably write dissertations on each of these contentions] some of these are:
| Contention | Symbolic interpretation to that of historical interpretation as in mystical over evidential. [This is not singular to just the interpretation of the Tree of Life, but among everything that goes against their militant view of the Bible and its scripture]. |
| Response | Symbolism is inherent in nature (and therefore in the self) truthful interpretation of those symbols has only one progression in relation to human nature. The seed of life sprouts the Tree of Life, the Tree blossoms the Flower of Life, the Flower produces the Fruit of Life, and the Fruit contains the seed of life. Scripture as an absolute seems inconstant considering its both mythological (mystical / mystery) and factual. |
| Contention | Kabbalist relies on innumerable commentaries of men and tools Notarikon, Temura, Gematria and the names of God to interpret the Hebrew Bible – in direct contrast to Christian’s instruction to rely upon the Word of God. |
| Response | The contrast is in the details; many Kabbalists claim their doctrines and methods were brought down from Heaven by Angels to primeval man. They couldn’t accept (according to the Zohar) that the Torah and its tales were just about Angels. Questions started to arise, like, why is it called The Perfect Law? The Law of Truth? and The True Witness of God? and concluded there must be a hidden meaning. Therefore these commentaries of men are about doing the work to find out why. Compared to just being obedient to religion (not God). These works Notarikon, Temura, and Gematria are in the Practical side of Kabbalah. This is about finding (meaning or) inter-relation between letters and numbers while using modes of divination. This would later become an influence on Mediaeval Magic in Europe. |
| Contention | Hermetic Qabalah uses the Ten Sefirot as a magical tool to progress from ordinary reality to Ein Sof, the inexpressible infinite divine. |
| Response | The Ten Sefirot correspond to the known characteristics of God or the Godhead, and through emanations, God radiates to the world. The idea that the Ten Sefirot is used as a tool is an inaccurate summary, the Ten Sefirot is just a symbol. This is an attempt to classify the Ten Sefirot with the incorrect label, the label of magic. The magic aspect is solely in the practical aspect of Kabbalah. |
A black-and-white approach when mysticism is involved is never in good stead; mystical over evidential leaves any room for the grey area. This assumes the evidential aspect is absolute, but questions stem from reason and logic; where did those evidential notions come from? In other words, some parts of historical interpretation had to go from symbolic interpretation to tangible. It assumes the evidential or historical aspect without referent or reference and that you should rely only on the label or word of God. And this is not to be confused with faith. Fundamentalist views the occult only through means of delegitimizing it through points of reference in Scripture and forgo the understanding of it. Divination is terrible because it’s known as “curious arts” in Acts 19:19. After all, this is the word of God. It’s an abstraction of the highest order, and never mind if it needs the acquired state of consciousness, memory, thought files, function and experience. Therefore, one can assume that it’s merely a warning sign, much like a warning sign in a cigarette pack, but free will is an established aspect of humanity, and therefore people will still have that freedom to smoke.
Kabbalists rely on innumerable commentaries of men and the tools of Kabbalah (Notarikon, Temura, Gematria) to interpret the Hebrew Bible, not just the Bible, but how reality works in general. You can equate this to spiritual researchers of the past and modern researchers of today, such as parapsychologists (Psi research). And this can’t happen without accepting the notion of magic. So you can probably define them as modern-day gnostic researchers as well. Fundamentalist Christians are aware of the three differences in the PSI study between Normal ESP, Occult ESP, and Occult Psychokinesis. To them, Normal ESP is scripture-friendly, has nothing to do with the occult, and can be referred to as a sixth sense or intuition. However, the others deliberately try to trespass willingly into the occult world. However, it’s not simple.
The diagram above indicates a classification of Psi phenomena, although this is a semantic simplification. How can fundamentalists distinguish ‘dreams’? These anomalies can’t be categorised because both go under the Normal ESP and Occult ESP categories. Fundamentalists cleverly identify telepathy as more intuitive (although a materialistic view of intuition rather than a broader version of intuition); this is an attempt to redefine its meaning to match their fundamentalist view.
| Telepathy Definition: | The ability to know what is in someone else’s mind, or to communicate with someone mentally, without using words or other physical signals |
| Fundamentalist redefinition: | Normal ESP usually manifests itself in telepathy: the ability to access knowledge of an idea or event while it is in process. This knowledge has no connection whatsoever with the occult or with religion. |
Telepathy is under the Normal heading of ESP, and fundamentalists can’t accept this anomaly. If Psi researchers wanted to use the word intuition rather than telepathy, they would have because they know intuition as a whole is far more complex than animal intuition/telepathy. As for dreams and the images manifested in them, they’re known as archetypal symbols. What if these symbols are dark or in the realm of the shadow? Does that mean it’s demonic? According to dream alchemy, it’s not. I don’t know about fundamentalists because they generalize and reclassify. Under Occult ESP, Psi researchers acknowledge Human Demon’s communication but dismiss Human Angels and Fallen Angel’s communication. Why? They know both come from the same realm: Mercury, the heaven of the mind where archangels reside and according to the Vedic system, Mercury is also the realm of 33 million demigods and demons. I thought these were heavenly planes and demons only resided beneath the earth among the abode of demons.
It is said fallen angels (bodhisattvas) reside in Mercury along with Cain, the first son of Adam and Eve and apparently human souls that practice black magick. Perhaps these Demons are fallen angels mentioned in the Vedic system. Cain is represented as the first Intellectual Animal Mind. Abel represents the Human Soul, the consciousness that obeys the Spirit. Cain, the animal mind, has to be dissolved to build a real human (Manas). Both Cain and Abel worship God, but apparently, God is displeased with Cain’s type of worship because Cain, being of a mystical mind, extracts the treasures of the earth from his body, meaning sexual energy. And this is how Cain (the animal mind) kills Abel (the consciousness) – so to be born again and enter into the Kingdom of heaven means Mercury’s parable/literal activities. This means living in Chastity; this is a conflict between one of the steps in reaching true enlightenment – and the notion of Love of a partner and Karma. Perhaps it’s more about the right way to expel sexual energy. Many ancient Egyptian people sublimate their sexual energy with the vibrations of an Ankh to live longer, healthier and stronger.
Maybe Demons residing in Mercury are more in tune with the metaphorical and metaphysical parable found in the film “A Dark Song”, which coincides with the Gnostic notion of the Father being within us, as the eternal inner mind [at least that’s how I saw it as]. ‘A Dark Song’ is a film about a woman named “Sophia Howard who rents a house in the countryside of Wales and hires the occultist Joseph Solomon to contact her son, who was kidnapped and murdered by teenagers practising black magic. Over the days, Sophia follows Solomon’s guidance in rituals to purify her soul. However, Sophia’s hidden agenda jeopardizes their lives.” – IMDB. Once she passes her magical initiations, the film showcases her being in the underworld and depicts her striving to get through all the death; the film depicts the human side of the shadow or Qilpoth (Klipoth).
| Sophia through ritual magic gets to meet an Angelic being who happens to wear ancient Roman attire. – a dark song |
The eternal mind sees in every direction, the all-seeing that sees within and sees the eternal realm, making the intellectual animal mind the dualistic universe. The idea is to get our soul through the Father, through all the death, corruption and dead Aeons (our Father protects the spirit within the mind and soul). Then, you can get through to the Holy Spirit, which is said to be the real Baptism, the water within. Gnostic scripture states: “There is a light within the light, water within the water.” There is the inner mind within the outer mind and inner spirit water within the outer spirit water. There are many ways to enlightenment; perhaps this is one way around it. The film ‘A Dark Song’ portrays this metaphysical concept (or narrative) in the material world.
| Target symbol aka circum-point (circumpunct) is taken from the Centre of the Earth images. Mythical city Atlantis is always is depicted topographically the same way. It’s also a trinity symbol. |
The quest for immortality is like the quest for truth. Jung describes the idea of immortality:
| The idea of immortality is a psychic phenomenon that is disseminated over the whole earth. Every “idea” is, from the psychological point of view, a phenomenon, just as is “philosophy” or “theology.” For modern psychology, ideas are entities, like animals and plants. The scientific method consists in the description of nature. Mythological ideas are essentially real, and far older than any philosophy. The only question we can profitably discuss is whether they are universal or not. If they are universal, they belong to the natural constituents and normal structure of the psyche. And if by any chance they are not encountered in the conscious mind of a given individual, then they are present in the unconscious and the case is an abnormal one. The fewer of these universal ideas are found in consciousness, the more of them there will be in the unconscious, and the greater will be their influence on the conscious mind. This state of things already bears some resemblance to a neurotic disturbance. It is normal to think about immortality, and abnormal not to do so or not to bother about it. If everybody eats salt, then that is the normal thing to do, and it is abnormal not to. But this tells us nothing about the “rightness” of eating salt or of the idea of immortality. That is a question which strictly speaking has nothing to do with psychology. Immortality cannot be proved any more than can the existence of God, either philosophically or empirically. – Carl Jung, The Psychology of the Occult |
The idea that the Ten Sefirot is used as a tool [for the occult] is an inaccurate summary; the Ten Sefirot is just a symbol. And this is an attempt to classify the Ten Sefirot with the incorrect label, the label of magic. The magic aspect is solely in the practical aspect of Kabbalah. The Ten Sefirot symbol comes out of the Seed of Life symbol. Terence McKenna has described our reality as built upon a language system; through his many psychedelic interactions with entities, he calls Elfs concluded thoughts manifest images. Therefore, if the universe is structured linguistically, it can be engaged linguistically. Kabballah uses a combination of words and images or symbols to engage in an inherently language-based world. The response entails a feedback loop. Often, these results are subjective; ordinarily, the details are missed because magic can be indistinguishable from coincidence. Language being symbolic suggests words can be spells as well and are more potent with the power of intent behind them, so prayers are also spells.
Astronomers interpret symbols similarly through Star symbols, but constellations don’t exist; they’re entirely imaginary. However, they are used by astronomers and astrologists to mean something. Language and Mathematics are symbols as well. Do people nefariously interpret these practical uses of symbols, or is there a distinction? Sheldrake’s notion that our thought comes from somewhere other than the brain – but from the […], this place is known to be many things.
Occultism is a symbol system that interprets events or reality through symbolic systems, whether a Zodiac, Terra, Grimoire, Amulets, or Talisman. These highly sophisticated symbolic systems have been refined over centuries and, in some cases, millennia. Technically, there is no occult; the term came about through the Middle Ages when information from the Middle East was seeping into Western society. The church frowned upon it, and so it was hidden. They only discussed it in secret societies. What the occult is known for now is different. People only understand it as divination coupled with the use of magical symbols.
Fundamentalist Christians and most of the general populace view occultism only in a generalized way by only understanding one aspect of occultism, and that aspect is divination. Even in this referent, there is no experience established, thereby invalidating its reference (excluding magicians or the awakened), and therefore, the label prescribed to occultism would mostly be incorrect. For most Christians, a spiritual understanding is in the realm of materialists, similar to that of the (new)-Atheists; both exist on different sides of the same coin. Valentinus distinguished three classes of man: Pneumatics, Hyletics, and Psychics, which can be equated to materialists, true believers, and spiritual people. Within the coin analogy, Atheists are materialists, fundamentalists are true believers, and both can revert from one another, but both are missing intuitive aspects, leaving an incomplete trinity. As a result, words and notions are built up; in other words, they end up putting an artificial referent to the label. True believers and Psychics often mistake the Demiurge for the True God; this fallacy must always be met with a never-ending discernment.
It is safe to say the old Rabbis who were interpreting the Kabballah to book form noticed this fallacy in men. [The Old Testament was not enough to satisfy learned Rabbis, so they supplemented them with two parallel series of works of literature. One, Talmudic, is based on Moses’s Thirteen Rules of Argument to illustrate the Old Testament for teaching the populace. The other is designed to illustrate their Secret Doctrines and Esoteric views, which resulted in the Sepher Yetzirah and the Zohar or Book splendour, which they describe as “The Secret Knowledge” that God gave to Moses for the use of the priests themselves.
It cannot be denied that those ancient volumes, Sepher Yetzirah and Zohar, contain a system of spiritual philosophy of clear design, deep intuition and far-reaching cosmologic suggestions that are well worthy of the honour of receiving a special name and of founding a theological body of doctrine,–The Kabalah. – An Introduction to the Study of the Kabalah, William Wynn Westcott]