Hebrew esoterica

I've always been interested in languages - and generally, the more obscure the better - and my interest in Hebrew
was sparked because of my interest in the Qabalah and the Tarot.

This page is not intended as a course in Hebrew - if you're interested in that, I've included an excellent book in
the bibliography - but to point out a few of the esoteric aspects of Hebrew that attracted me to the language in the
first place.

Introduction

Hebrew is an ancient language, dating back at least 6000 years. It is in a completely different "family" to English.
English is part of a family of languages called "Indo-European", which includes not only English but languages as
diverse as French, German, Celtic languages like Gaelic and Welsh, several Indian languages like Hindi and Urdu,
Russian and most Eastern European languages, Greek, Latin and most Mediterranean languages, and most
Scandinavian languages. Indo-European is the largest family of languages in the world.

Hebrew is part of the Haimo-Semitic family, which also includes Arabic.

Like English, Hebrew has an alphabet. In fact, our word "alphabet" comes from the names of the first two letters of
the Hebrew alphabet, Aleph and Beth. The Hebrew alphabet was almost certainly used as the basis for the ancient
Greek alphabet, which in turn became the basis for the alphabet used by the Romans, and now by most languages
in Europe.

Unlike English, the Hebrew alphabet has no vowels, and words are written from right to left. This is why there can
be confusion over how Hebrew words are pronounced. In modern Hebrew, vowels are usually missed out
altogether in the written language. However, the Bible is considered such a sacred work that it is necessary to know
how each word is pronounced. For this reason, Biblical Hebrew does indicate vowels by placing marks under or
alongside each letter. These dots have names in their own right, but are not strictly speaking part of the alphabet,
which consists of 22 letters.

As an example, here is the first verse of Genesis, written without the vowel signs:

and with the vowel signs:

Words of Power

We tend to take written language for granted. To the ancient Israelites, Hebrew was far more than just a language -
it was a means by which they could interact with God. According to Jewish legend, the Torah (the first five books
of the Bible) was written before the Universe was created, and by implication, the letters themselves predated the
Universe. The Torah is supposed to contain all possible truth; since the Torah is a relatively small book, it is
believed that the Torah contains not just the "obvious" reading, but many, many different hidden meanings as well.

For example, in Genesis, it is written that "the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into
his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." Later on in Genesis, "Adam" is referred to, but
nowhere is Adam introduced - it's taken for granted that the reader understands that "Adam" must be the man in
question. Now, in Hebrew, Adam is written like this:

This consists of three letters (right to left): Aleph, Daleth and Mem. The word for "blood" in Hebrew is "Dam" -
Daleth and Mem. Aleph by itself not only represents the "Ah" sound, but also the element of air, or breath - so
"Adam" is seen as blood with the breath of life - the man created by God. There are many other such hidden
meanings in the Bible - using letters as numbers, using a "cypher" so that the last letter of the alphabet corresponds
to the first, the penultimate letter corresponding to the second, and so on, and hidden abbreviations. Scholars have
spent many years finding meaning in these, and the Talmud is a body of writing which largely consists of
commentaries - the "hidden meanings" - on the Torah. Even today, Jewish scholars are researching such hidden
meanings. In recent years, the "Bible Code" has received a lot of publicity; this is a system where supposed hidden
messages are teased out of the bible by picking, say, every 31st letter in a sequence, or every 42nd letter, to reveal
new words. Unfortunately, a number of people have brought discredit to this idea by jumping on the Bible Code
bandwagon and finding all sorts of apparent links which simply don't stand up to statistical analysis. However, the
original idea was discovered by a statistician and quantum physicist, Eliyahu Rips, and his original paper on the
Bible Code, though now generally dismissed, was sufficiently impressive to be included in an academic journal on
statistics.

One word in the Bible which is never pronounced "correctly" is the name of God - YHVH. There are several words
used for God in the Bible - "Adon", meaning "Lord", and "Elohim", which is a curious word based on "El" (God)
and the plural ending "im". However, God's name is often given as YHVH, which we know as "Jehovah".
According to legend, if the name of God is ever pronounced correctly, the Universe will come to an end. For this
reason, the "real" pronounciation is - sensibly - never given in the Bible. Instead, the vowel signs used for "Adon"
are used for the middle H and V instead, giving us a pronounciation of "Ye-Hah-Vo". Some scholars maintain that
the "correct" pronounciation is closer to "Yahweh" - but please don't practice this at home; we don't want the
Universe to end just yet!

Esoterica

The Tree of Life has 22 paths on it, each path corresponding to a Hebrew letter. There are 22 major arcana cards in
the Tarot, so there is a direct correspondence between the Tree of Life and the Tarot. This is, I realise, a very
controversial statement. Devout Jews may strongly disagree with this, particularly if they view Tarot as a form of
fortune telling, which is prohibited in the Torah. I personally see the Tarot as a tool for personal growth, rather than
a predictive device, and for me, the mapping between the Tarot and the Tree of Life works.
Each Hebrew letter corresponds to a number; most Hebrew bibles actually use the letters to indicate chapter
numbers and verse numbers. This means that every single Hebrew word has a numeric value, and scholars have
long been fascinated by entirely different words that have the same numeric value as each other. A simple example:
the word for love is Ahebah (Alef-Heh-Beth-Heh), which adds up to 13. The word for unity is Achad (Alef-Cheth-
Daleth), which also adds up to 13. Thus there is a correspondence between love and unity. The art of finding words
with the same numeric value is called gematria - the concept is vaguely similar to numerology (where a person's
name is reduced to a number, to indicate their personality), except that gematria is usually conducted on biblical
names and the names of angels.

In addition, each Hebrew letter has a meaning in its own right - for example, the letter representing the "Ts" sound
is called "Tzaddi", which means "fish-hook", and the symbol actually looks like a fish hook. Some of the
correspondences are not terribly obvious - the "N" sound is called "Nun", which means "fish", but the symbol for
Nun doesn't honestly look much like a fish!

Finally, Hebrew letters are divided into three categories: three "mother" letters, which correspond to the three
elements (Air, Water and Fire - Earth is considered to be a combination of all three elements, and not an element in
its own right), seven "double" letters, which correspond to the seven planets known to the ancients (Moon,
Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn). Double letters are so called because they historically had two
different sounds; for example, the letter "Peh" can have a "P" sound or an "F" or "Ph" sound; some of these
distinctions have now disappeared - for instance, the letter "Gimel" only has a single sound now (a hard "G"), but
used to have two sounds ("G" or "J"). The remaining twelve letters correspond to the twelve zodiac signs:
For the Qabalist and devout Jew alike, the most sacred word is the four-letter name of God (Yod-Heh-Vau-Heh),
known as the Tetragrammaton (from the Greek "Tetra", four, and "Gramma", word). Many types of meditation
revolve around visualising the letters of the Tetragrammaton in various forms. Each letter has numerous
correspondences - for example, the four suits of the Tarot. The four letters can also be combined to represent the
human body:
Who is Yahweh?

The Tetragrammaton - the four-letter name of God - is considered very sacred in Judaism, and the power of the
Tetragrammaton has carried through to the modern day not only among Jews, but in esoteric groups too. For
example, the Golden Dawn - an esoteric group, set up in the 19th century, and devoted to the study of Tarot and the
Qabalah - has people of many different beliefs among its adherents, and uses the "formula" of the four letters in
many of its rituals.

And yet the first chapter of Genesis does not refer to this four-letter name at all - it simply refers to the creator of
the Universe as "Elohim". Not until Chapter Two does Yahweh put in an appearance, and from that point onwards,
Yahweh's relationship with humanity takes a turn for the worse. First, Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit (of the
Tree of Knowledge) and were banished from Eden; then Yahweh regretted creating humanity in the first place
(Genesis chapter 6) and decided to destroy everyone until he relented a little and saved Noah and his family.
Following this, Yahweh became increasingly violent, slaying people at the slightest provocation. "I am a jealous
God" he says in Exodus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Johel, Nahum...

Not only jealous, but prepared to act on a whim too - and sometimes be talked out of it (either Yahweh, or one of
his angels, was going to slay Moses at one point - Exodus 4:24 - until Moses' wife talked him out of it). On top of
this, Yahweh also snuffed out a number of angels: according to Jewish tradition, Yahweh burned the angels of
peace and truth, their hosts and an entire legion of angels for objecting to the creation of man (although Yahweh
himself subsequently regretted creating humanity), annihilated the Song-Uttering Chorister angels for failing to
chant at the appointed hour, and drowned the angel Rahab for espousing the cause of the Egyptians, even though
that was in fact his designated role. And when the Israelites fought the Canaanites, they massacred tens of
thousands of them with Yahweh's blessing.

So we have a jealous, violent God, who can sometimes be argued out of his tantrums. This does not sound like the
loving, all-powerful creator of the Universe. There have been suggestions that Yahweh had his origins in Sumerian
mythology. The Sumerians had a vast array of gods, and it has been suggested that Yahweh could have been a
minor war god - not a very important figure, except at times of war. Yahweh was then adopted by the Israelites as
the one and only true god. This is of course highly speculative, but would account for some of the anomalies in the
Bible.
Qabalah
The Qabalah is a Hebrew word meaning "received" - an oral tradition of knowledge passed on. The Qabalah
can be seen in many different ways - an ancient Jewish saying is that "there are as many ways to Truth as
human faces". Everyone has their own path, and each of us carries with us our own Qabalah. Like life itself,
you can read about it, write about it and think about it - but at the end of the day it can't be taught, only
experienced.

Qabalah is a Hebrew word, and so is spelt using Hebrew characters (written from right to left). Hebrew does not
use vowels, and many of the consonants don't have a one-to-one correspondence with English. So Qabalah can be
spelt Kabbalah, Cabala, Qabala...

Will Parfitt, in his book "The New Living Qabalah", (see bibliography) classifies the Qabalah into five parts:

• Oral - passed on by word of mouth from a teacher or spiritual traveller

• Written - from books written about the Qabalah, and with Qabalistic viewpoints
• Literal - from Qabalistic teachings, especially the Bible
• Symbolic - concerned with understanding symbols, especially the Tree of Life
• Practical - using all these aspects to effect change

Although Judaism, like Christianity, uses the Bible (except the New Testament) as its primary holy book, it
assumes that the Bible is far more complex than it appears at face value. Judaism has a long history of writing
commentaries on the Bible - the Talmud is one such set of writings.

The Qabalah has its own literary history - the earliest and most influential book is the Sefer Yetzirah (The Book of
Formation), which according to legend was written by Abraham, although it was probably written between 1,500
and 2,000 years ago. In this book, each letter of the Hebrew alphabet (there are 22) was assigned to either one of
the three elements (Fire, Air, Water - Earth was considered to be a combination of all three, and not an element in
its own right), one of the seven planets (Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn) or one of the twelve
signs of the zodiac.

In 1280, the Spanish Qabalist Moses de Leon compiled the Zohar, or Book of Radiance. He probably wrote it
himself, although he claimed it derived from the mystical writings of a second century Qabalist, Rabbi Shimon bar
Yochai.
The Qabalah has a reputation for being "secret", but this secrecy only occurred as a result of persecution of
Qabalists by Christians. Indeed, in the thirteenth century, the Spanish Qabalist Abraham Abulafia opened the
practice to include Jewish women and non-Jews - a radical step.

The Supernal Triad: Kether,

Chockmah and Binah

Kether (white in this diagram) means "crown",

and is associated with pure spirit.

Chockmah (grey in this diagram) means

"wisdom" and is associated with spiritual will.

Binah (black in this diagram) means

"understanding" and is associated with spiritual
awareness.

These three sephirot together are called "The

Supernal Triad", and represent the world of
spirit. They lie above "The Abyss" - below the
Abyss, everything is duality; a balance of
opposites. Above the Abyss, all opposites are
reconciled.

On these pages, I've allocated Spirituality and

Taoism to these sephirot.

The Supernal Triad represents the world of spirit - the single source from which we all came. This idea of all being
part of a single source is common to many philosophies and religions, and modern physics holds much the same
view. Timothy Ferris in his book "The Whole Shebang - A State of the Universe(s) Report", a book on modern
cosmology (and lauded in The Humanist magazine for its sensible, no-nonsense atheist approach) says:

Suppose that, as string theory implies, the universe began as a hyperdimensional bubble of space, all but four of
the dimensions of which compacted to form what we today call subatomic particles. Those particles look to us like
zillions of individual things, but that is merely their appearance in the four dimensions of spacetime. In hyperspace
they could very well still be one thing - could, therefore, be not only connected but identical.

In that case, we live in a universe that presents two complementary aspects. One is large, old and expanding and
in some sense mechanical. The other is built on forms of space and time unfamiliar to us, and is everywhere
interconnected. We peer through the keyhole of quantum weirdness and see a little of this ancient, original side of
the cosmos.

To assert that the universe is deeply interconnected is to echo what mystics have been saying for thousands of
years. This can be a liability in the scientific community, which has heard more than enough of complacent,
shallow-draft assertions to the effect that science amounts to little more than proving what Lao Tzu and Chief
Seattle were saying all along. Yet some of the most important scientific and philosophical thinking in history has
been impelled by mystical motives.

Barefoot Doctor, in his splendid book "Barefoot Doctor's Handbook for the Urban Warrior: A Spiritual Survival
Guide" sums it up more amusingly:

If everyone in the entire universe, every woman, man, centipede, Martian, shark, dog, suicide bomber, saint,
butterfly, hooker, bigot, reflexologist and cab-driver, were simultaneously to drop an advanced level, hardcore-
heavyweight meditation, and all went deep enough inside, we'd all meet up, along with everyone who's ever lived,
ever, in one absurdly mad, huge inner chamber, and to our utter astonishment (feigned of course), we'd, you'd, I'd
discover that there'd only been one of us here all the time.

You'll notice I've only put two buttons below - Spirituality and Taoism. This isn't because I think these are the only
two areas of relevance - but these are two areas I'm particularly interested in, and at least give a flavour of these
sephirot.

Experiencing Kether, Chockmah and Binah

This is called "enlightenment." I've never achieved it myself, but if I ever do and I find an exercise that will
achieve it, I promise I'll put it up on this web site!

Chesed and Geburah

 Chesed (blue in this diagram) means "mercy",
and is associated with personal love and
awareness.

Geburah (red in this diagram) means "severity"

and is associated with personal will.

This level of the tree can be seen as a

continuum between Love and Will; every issue
in life is a balance of these two. For example, a
parent can be too harsh with their child, or too
lenient.

Chesed corresponds to Jupiter. Known as Jove

in Roman mythology, he was a powerful but
generous god - from where we get the
expression"jovial".

Geburah corresponds to Mars, the god of war,

and from which we get the word "martial".

On these pages, I've allocated Magick and

Ritual to these sephirot.

Experiencing Chesed and Geburah

Every time you make a decision that impacts on someone else, you are experiencing Chesed and Geburah:
weighing up whether you are being "too hard" or "too soft".

Geburah is a misunderstood sephira - and can be frightening. It is the harsh lesson that we needed - the nervous
breakdown that made us see where we needed to go next; the angina attack that stopped you short on your road to
a heart-attack. Moving on sometimes means purging the past - and that is usually painful. However, Geburah has
its less harsh side too - the side of free will. The ability to make things happen because you want them to. Albert
Einstein was told he would never amount to anything by his school teachers - fortunately for the world, he didn't
believe them. Stephen Hawking was given two years to live after being diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease -
back in 1962. He isn't ready to die just yet - his work on cosmology is far too important. We create our own reality
- a world of self-fulfilling prophecies. If you believe you are worthless, stupid or unattractive, the world will
believe you and you will be. If you decide that you are capable of doing something, even if others have told you
that you're not, you can do it. I have a friend who has been in a wheelchair all her life. It doesn't stop her being
physically fit - she goes skiing, she's a national champion at wheelchair dancing, has a sense of humour and
outlook on life that is far richer than most, and a left hook that's the envy of many a boxer!
Chesed is a great big giant fluffy sephira - it's warm and cosy and fills you with a nice glow. It's easy to love your
friends when they love you back. But how easy is it to love the guy who pulled out in front of you in his car and
then took the only parking space in the car park? Or the hypocritical politician who just gave a speech attacking
something you hold dear? Or the drunk driver who caused your injuries? Or the terrorist who was responsible for
planting the bomb that killed your child? Chesed has a message of love and forgiveness that can be just as difficult
as Geburah.

Geburah exercise - Reality for Windows v 2.0

Things can't be that bad - you're reading this, so you're still alive. But maybe life isn't perfect for you - there are a
few bits and pieces that you'd like to change. Maybe it's time for an upgrade. Version 1 is getting a little stale and
you're getting a bit fed up with it. So - let's get Version 2 out of the box and see what we can do with it.

You load it up - there's a blank white screen, and some toolbars.

<program removed>

This is your life. It's a blank slate. Now, start to create the reality you would like. Click on the job icon - what sort
of work would you really like? Design your perfect job. What sort of holidays would you like? Design your perfect
holiday scenario.

Having designed your perfect life, you could just save it to disk and look at it. Alternatively, you could actually
attempt to run it; to do this, you first need to process your life through the Reality for Windows Action Compiler.
Otherwise, when you try to run your new reality, you may get error messages: "Caribbean Holiday Error:
Insufficient funds to complete task". The Action Compiler lets you specify a list of things you need to achieve each
task: money, qualifications, experience and so on. For each action, you then have to determine how you could go
about achieving these things.

This is not an easy half-hour exercise. It is a long and daunting task, and can take many years. However, a journey
of a thousand miles starts with a single step - you can start to make positive changes to your life right this instant.
Now. Not tomorrow. Just put one of the things on your list into action now. Then another, and another. Before long,
your life will have changed beyond all recognition.

Chesed exercise - Cuddle a politician

Geburah has to be balanced with Chesed. Will is a fine thing, but must be tempered with Mercy. For instance, in
the last exercise you could have decided that a suitable action to increase your wealth would be "rob a bank", or a
suitable way to go to Bali would be "hijack a plane". The problem is, this could lead to the airlines and banks
having "catch and imprison the person who robbed our bank/hijacked our plane" as one of their actions - and being
banks and airlines, they may have Reality for Windows v3.0!

So use your Will - but use it with Love, use it to make our Universe a better place, and not to trample all over other
people.

The idea of "Love Thy Neighbour" is a beautiful one - but can be a difficult one to put into practice. I'm indebted
to the Western Order of Buddhists for the following meditation - I first started meditating at a group run by the
Western Order of Buddhists back in the early 1980s, and part of their technique is to imagine your close friends
and think loving thoughts about them. Then you expand this to include people that you don't feel that close to.
Then expand it again to include people you actively dislike, and so on - until you can love your enemy.

Sit down comfortably, in a place where you won't be disturbed. Close your eyes, and breathe in and out, slowly.
As you breathe in, concentrate on your breath. Feel it flowing in through your nostrils and into your lungs.

Hold the breath for a few seconds - just long enough to savour it, but not long enough to be uncomfortable.

Now breathe out, and feel the warm air blowing out gently through your nostrils.

Breathe in again, and out. Keep breathing rhythmically for a few minutes, concentrating on the feel of the breath

Now imagine a close friend. Hold a picture of them in your mind, and smile. Think loving thoughts of them, and as
you breathe out send waves of loving energy to that person. Imagine holding them and giving them a hug if it feels
appropriate. Repeat for several of your friends.

Keep going, and include people you feel neutral about - these may include work colleagues, shop keepers, the
refuse collectors, newspaper deliverers and so on. It's OK - you can love them too. It won't hurt.

Now see if you can include people that have pissed you off a bit in the past - not that you hate them, you may be
just a bit annoyed with them. Go on - treat yourself. Love them anyway.

By now, your heart chakra should be just buzzing with Love. Don't worry if you can't actually feel it - it is, I
promise you!

So now, you're ready for the Big One. Think of someone that makes your skin crawl, someone you loathe and
detest from the core of your being. It may be a politician, a TV evangelist, a chat-show host, your boss - anyone.
Hold an image of them in your mind. Tell them that you loathe what they stand for, and you disagree with them,
but that they are human like you and you love them - because you love the whole of humanity. Go on - I know it's
not easy. But try. Give them a big loving hug. Embrace them warmly. Love them. They have a soul, too - just like
you, and me and everyone else in the Universe.

Don't despair if you can't do this exercise. It takes a LOT of working up to!

iphareth
 Tiphareth means "beauty", and is associated
with your inner self.

This is the world of the real you. Not your

body, not your thoughts, not your feelings - but
the YOU who has this body, thoughts and
feelings.

Tiphareth corresponds to the Sun, and is

associated with "inner work" - getting to know
yourself, and overcoming obstacles in your life
that stop you achieving what you need.

On these pages, I've concentrated on Tarot and

the Qabalah - because for me, these two are
closely related. The Qabalah is a road-map of
yourself, and Tarot is about discovering
yourself, rather than a fortune-telling device.

Experiencing Tiphareth

Who are you?

You have a physical body - but if you had to have a leg amputated, you'd still be you. You are more than just your
body. As we've seen, the physical body is represented by Malkuth.

You have a subconscious; you can dream and imagine - but you are more than just your dreams. The subconscious
is represented by Yesod.

You have an intellect; you can think. The French philosopher Rene Descartes said "I think, therefore I am". True,
you must exist to be able to think - but you are more than just your thoughts. The intellect is represented by Hod.
You have feelings and emotions; you can laugh and cry. Sometimes you can get so bogged down in your emotions,
it feels as though that's all there is. But you are more than just your feelings. The emotions are represented by
Netzach.

Tiphareth is above all these sephirot - it includes Malkuth, Yesod, Netzach and Hod. It is the YOU that has a body,
dreams, thoughts and feelings.

Tiphareth exercise - Climbing the Tree

Sit or lie down with your back resting against a tree. If it's not a nice day or you don't live near any trees, you can
do this in a chair instead and imagine you're lying against a tree.

Be aware of how you feel physically. Are you comfortable? Hot or cold? Be aware of every physical sensation -
the sensation of sitting. Notice any itches or aches. Notice any pleasant sensations - the breeze through your hair,
for example.

Now be aware of your thoughts as they flit in and out. Don't try to control them - just notice them. What are you
thinking about? Notice them - whether they're nagging thoughts worrying about something, or pleasant thoughts
looking forward to something, or recalling something.

How do you feel? Happy or sad? Excited, calm, anxious? Get in touch with your emotions - don't be overwhelmed
by them, just notice them.

Now it's time for the real you to come out...

Imagine that you are climbing out of your body and climbing the tree to a branch directly overhead. Stay in the
same position, but imaging your "inner you" looking down on your body as you lie against the tree.

Describe what you see, using your name instead of "I". Describe what the person looks like, what they're feeling
physically, what they're thinking and what they're feeling emotionally. For example, "There's Chris, lying by the
tree. He looks quite happy and content. He is fairly comfortable, apart from a slight pain where he stubbed his toe.
He's thinking about what he's going to do when he goes on holiday, and who he should ask to feed his cat while
he's away. He's also worrying about whether an important letter he's waiting for is going to arrive before he goes
away. Chris is feeling quite positive, and is getting quite excited about his holiday. He's also feeling a little sad
because a friend of his passed away recently, and he's feeling a bit annoyed because he's having a dispute with his
telephone company."

You're detached from this person sitting under the tree. You can sense their feelings, thoughts and sensations - so
you're aware of them, but you're not wallowing in them. Does it feel any different, looking down on yourself from
a different perspective? Can you detach from this person temporarily? If you are going through a crisis, and you're
bogged down in your emotions, you may not be able to. If you're in serious physical pain, you may not be able to.
If you do have the ability to detach it can be very useful indeed - to be able to see your thoughts, feelings and
sensations, and put them into perspective.

When you've finished, climb down the tree again and go back into your body. Sit still for a few minutes, and close
your chakras.

Hod
 Hod means "splendour", and is associated with
the intellect and the mind.

This is the world of thoughts and ideas.

Hod corresponds to the planet Mercury, the

winged messenger of the gods.

In our society, intellectual pursuits are highly

prized and we spend a lot of our time
experiencing this sephira. The intellectual side
of life is so vast, this site couldn't possibly
begin to scratch the surface. So, as the focus of
this site is the Qabalah, I'm going to
concentrate on the intellectual side of the
esoteric: the study of the Hebrew language,
central to the Qabalah, astrology and
cosmology, a particular passion of mine.

Hebrew

I've always been interested in languages and the way they relate to each other. I've always been frustrated by the
fact that I'm not actually very good at languages - I find I can pick them up fairly quickly in the early stages, and
learn a little of a language quite quickly, but I've never succeeded in becoming fluent in any language other than
my native tongue, English.

You will notice that each sephira on this site has its Hebrew name displayed. A study of the Qabalah necessitates at
least a basic appreciation of Hebrew, because Hebrew to the Qabalist is far more than just a language. The letters
themselves are considered sacred, and are imbued with meaning and power.

Click on the Hebrew icon below for a very brief introduction to the Hebrew language, and relevant links.

Astrology

I’ve been interested in astrology since I was a child, and I teach it at the Bristol School of Astrology, which is also
where I undertook my formal study of the subject. My study of astrology was triggered by my interest in the Tarot.

Click on the astrology icon below for more information about astrology, my chart, and relevant links.

Cosmology
Cosmology is, for me, a very spiritual area of science - the study of the Universe, and how it came into being.
Modern science seems to be coming to the same sorts of conclusions as many spiritual outlooks.

Click on the cosmology icon below for more information about cosmology, and relevant links.

Experiencing Hod

My first experience of meditation was quite inadvertent - I became a computer programmer. Sometimes, our
normal notions of space and time break down when we're engrossed in something very "mental" - like doing a
crossword puzzle, or writing a computer program. When I'm really engrossed in a program, I feel as though I'm
"inside" the program, following the various paths. This "program space" is quite different from the three
dimensions that we normally know and live in.

Greek philosophy had the concept of a "space of ideas" - that thoughts existed in a "space", quite separate from our
space of three dimensions. Mathematicians use the concept of number "space", and we have the idea of
"cyberspace" - first coined by the brilliant novelist William Gibson - to refer to the community of people connected
via the Internet. If you're reading this over the web, you're in cyberspace. It exists - it's real. You can navigate your
way round in it. It's space, Jim, but not as we know it. You have a "back" button on your browser - but there's no
North or South, up or down.

When we meditate, we enter a different kind of "space". There are many different kinds of meditation space - and
"Hod-space" is the world of ideas, thoughts and the intellectual challenge.

Hod exercise - Words, Words, Words

Think of a three-syllable word. Write it down. Now write down a dozen words that you associate with it, no matter
how indirect the association is.

Look at the words you've written down and stare at them for at least a minute. Do any of the words look strange?
Sometimes everyday words can suddenly look strange, and lose their meaning until your brain kicks back in again.

Pick out the strange ones and say them out loud, very slowly. Feel them forming in your mouth; feel your throat
vibrate or your tongue hiss as you say them. Pick one of the words and say it slowly, twenty times. Feel the rhythm
of the word as you say it again and again. Do you notice anything?

This is a very simple form of ritual - you have kept your brain active, doing something that is essentially
meaningless. While the logical side of your brain follows the instructions and is kept busy, your intuitive side has
time to listen, hear and generate some internal images for you.

As soon as you've finished the exercise, quickly write down any immediate impressions that may now be in your
mind.

Netzach
 Netzach means "victory", and is associated
with the emotions.

This is the world of feelings.

Netzach corresponds to the planet Venus, and

is particularly associated with pursuits such as
art, music and dance.

I also associate Netzach with beautiful scenery

and walks in places of beauty - whether in the
city or the country - but as walking is also a
physical pursuit, I've included it in the sphere
of Malkuth instead.

Netzach is associated with the idea of

surrendering to the energy around you, and just
taking a back seat and enjoying life. This is
closely related to Taoist ideas, as well - the
idea of yielding.

On these pages, I've included Bristol (because

it's my home town and I love it), and sacred
sites.

Experiencing Netzach

If you've ever fallen in love, you've already experienced Netzach. If you've ever experienced total and utter
despair, you've already experienced Netzach. Netzach is the world of feelings - which as we know, can be very
intense at times. The following meditation is not designed to be that intense - it's a lovely way of just letting go and
relaxing. This meditation is my variant of the "Three Friendly Deities" meditation in the astonishingly good
"Barefoot Doctor's Handbook for the Urban Warrior: A Spiritual Survival Guide" (see Bibliography). This book is
so good, I definitely recommend that you buy at least two copies of it. Modify this meditation to include your own
personal deities!
Netzach exercise - Three Friendly Deities

It's early in the morning, just before dawn breaks, and you're swimming in a warm, moonlit tropical ocean listening
to the waves breaking, and bobbing up and down with them. You see the psychedelic purples and pinks in the sky
as the day breaks, and hear the sounds of the seagulls as they circle around.

It's nearly time for breakfast, and Rita is just opening up her café on the beach. You see her setting the tables on the
beach, getting the parasols ready for another warm day as you walk out of the water and slowly up the beach, the
cool sand on the soles of your feet. She smiles and waves to you, and you wave back happily as you walk up to the
café. You sit down at a beach table, and she brings you a freshly squeezed orange juice, a strong espresso with a
perfect crema on it and a freshly-baked croissant. You sit watching the sunrise, and you and Rita sit down chatting
and drinking. Not only does she run the perfect café, she's also a great friend and confidante, and always helps you
out if you're in trouble and gives you a hug when you're down.

After breakfast, you hug goodbye and start to walk up the cliff path. You peer into the crystal cave and look at the
sparkling citrine and amethyst on your way up, until you reach the plateau at the cliff top. The red glow in the sky
gets stronger - not just from the dawn hue of the sun, but from the light reflected on the magnificent crimson
palace on the top of the cliff. You walk through the beautiful scented gardens to the doors of the palace, which
being made entirely of polished ruby coming as it does straight from a fairy-tale, sparkle in the morning sun. The
prince walks out, smiling, to kiss you tenderly. You really appreciate him - you have total trust in each other; he's
your best friend, your lover - and such a fashionable address, too! You sit in the gardens cuddling each other,
listening to the waves breaking far below, the seagulls crying, and Rita's uninhibited hoot of laughter as she relates
the rather dubious joke about the goat and the watermelon to the clientele yet again.

You're going to be having lunch with the prince at the palace later, and decide to go for a stroll before lunch. You
kiss "au revoir", and walk along the plateau a short way to the foot of the mountain, and start to walk up the steep
mountain path. You climb and climb, the invigorating mountain air filling your lungs, until you are nearly at the
snow-capped peaks at the top. You pass the cave with the hermit and acknowledge him with a smile and keep
climbing until you reach the summit. Golden eagles soar overhead, and you stand awe-struck at the magnificent
view over the other mountains, and the lakes in one direction, and the ocean in the other. You absorb the view,
unable to find words, and you are aware of a presence - your guardian angel stands next to you, a benevolent if
scruffily-dressed Merlin-type character with mischievous eyes and a beard you could hide a badger in. You feel
absolutely safe, and there is no need for words - you are moved beyond them.

When you feel ready, you can descend the mountain again. I tend to come down to the appropriate level - if I'm
intending to do a different sort of meditation, or a tarot reading, I'll stay at the top of the mountain. If I am going to
socialise, or a friend needs a shoulder to cry on, I'll come down to the palace and stay there. If I'm going to do
physical exercise - a long walk, or playing badminton, or doing T'ai Chi - I'll come down to the beach again.

The great thing about this meditation is you can do it whenever you want, it's better than the description in the
holiday brochure, and it's completely free of charge. And you get a friend, a lover and an angel of your choice into
the bargain!

Yesod
 Yesod means "Foundation" - the astral or
subconscious realm.

Yesod is the "place" where things are formed

before they are acted out in Malkuth, the
physical world. The spheres surrounding it
(Netzach - emotions, Hod - intellect and
Malkuth - physical) are in the present; Yesod
carries with it the ideas and conditioning of the
past as well, to form the full experience. It is
associated with the subconscious, our
conditioning and our sexuality. It is also
associated with spiritual experiences that lie
just outside the physical - seeing the astral
body, astral travelling and dreamwork.

Yesod corresponds to the Moon.

On this site, I've chosen this page to represent

the psychic side of life - meditation and the
chakras - although really the whole Tree is
associated with different sorts of meditation
and different chakras.

Experiencing Yesod

Yesod is associated with dreams, the subconscious and the Moon. Dreams have always had special significance for
me; every since I was a child, I've divided my dreams into "just a dream" and "a real dream". A "just a dream" is
what is says - it felt like just a dream and nothing more. I wake up with anything from a vague impression to a
vivid recall - and yet it doesn't seem important. Other times, I wake up feeling as though it wasn't "just a dream" - I
was actually there. This isn't to say that if I dream of a person that I believe I've physically been to that person's
house. I haven't. I've astrally been with them. The effect on me is sometimes very profound, and is as "real" as any
physical experience.

Yesod exercise - Dream Recall

To experience Yesod, try the following over a period of two weeks.

Keep a pencil and paper by your bed. Some people remember their dreams vividly on waking; others have only a
vague impression, and still others have no recollection at all. One thing that most people have in common is that no
matter how vividly you remember your dreams on waking, frequently you will have forgotten them completely
within half an hour - or even less.

When you wake up, write down your dream. This is MUCH easier said than done! There are numerous practical
problems:
 • Once your brain really kicks in, there's a good chance you'll forget your dream. Unfortunately, the act of
writing is usually enough to get your brain to start working. You may feel too groggy to be able to write
coherently. Don't panic! If you possibly can, write down some key words in your dream (for example:
"boat", "cat", "playing backgammon with Genghis Khan"). Or draw a quick picture.
• If you really can't write the second you wake up, shout out some key words at least three times; the act of
vocalising the words (which may well be easier than writing them) makes it more likely they'll stick in your
mind so you can write them down a few minutes later, after your brain has started working. This tip works
well if you live alone, but can cause misunderstandings if you live in a shared house, particularly if you
share a house with a psychiatrist.
• You may have absolutely no recollection of your dream whatsoever. Admittedly, this DOES make writing it
down a bit of a problem. Without thinking about it, write down the first few words that come into your head
(for example, "toadstool", "arguing", "bubonic plague", "multi-tasking operating system")

Notice anything odd. To give an example, on one occasion I woke up laughing, because in my dream someone had
quoted a short, succinct poem that was beautiful, elegant and amusing. It was only four lines long, it rhymed and
the meter of the poem was just perfect. I woke up and just had to write it down quickly before I forgot. I tried to
say the first line before writing it down, and then realised that it was utter gibberish. Not even writable gibberish -
that would have been quite interesting in its own right - but just a series of grunts and moans.

After doing this for at least two weeks, see if you feel any different internally. The act of writing down your dreams
means that you are less likely to forget them, so your experience now consists of your day-to-day reality together
with a knowledge of your dreams. If you want to try to analyse them, that's fine - I don't bother, personally. Just
being aware of them means that my Universe is a larger than it would otherwise be.

This may seem a bit obscure - but Yesod is obscure. Trying to experience Yesod directly is like trying to catch
moonbeams. It can't be done. But you do know what the sea looks like without the reflection of the full moon in it;
and you know what it looks like with the reflection, and you know what the difference looks like. This dream
exercise gives you a taste of Yesod by helping to crystallise the fleeting experience that is dreaming.

Malkuth
 Malkuth means "the Kingdom" - the physical
realm. It is at the bottom of the Tree of Life -
and yet, at the same time, it is also the top
sphere of another Tree of Life.

Malkuth corresponds to the planet Earth and to

all the elements, and so it has four colours:

Russet for fire

Citrine for air

Olive for water

Black for earth

On this site, I've chosen this page to represent

the physical side of life - like walking and
eating.

Experiencing Malkuth

In many ways, Malkuth is the easiest sephira for us to relate to, because even the most hardened sceptic is aware of
physical sensations! However, Malkuth is about more than simply physical experience. Normally, we rarely
experience anything physically without a whole load of other thoughts and feelings being associated with it. For
example, taste is part of the experience of Malkuth; but when you bite into something, you experience a whole set
of thoughts and emotions: that ice-cream you're eating may remind you of a similar taste experience you had years
ago, and all the memories associated with that come flooding back; or it may be so cold it sets your teeth on edge,
and reminds you, nervously, that you have a dental appointment tomorrow; or you may be on a diet and start
worrying about how many calories it contains. None of these associated thoughts and feelings are part of Malkuth -
just the physical sensation.

Malkuth exercise - Alien Visitor

To experience Malkuth, try the following exercise. You will need a small piece of food for this - a piece of fruit or
a sandwich, for instance.

Sit down quietly where you won't be disturbed. It may be in your house, your garden, or somewhere public.
Imagine that you are an alien visitor to Earth - you have never been here before, and have no idea what it looks
like, what sort of food humans eat, what the people and animals and plants are like. You don't have ANY pre-
conceived ideas.
Take a look around you - what do you see? Don't give the things that you see labels - you don't see "a cat" or "a
road accident" - you don't know what these things are. They're new to you. Just EXPERIENCE the sensation of
looking around and seeing images.

Now pick up the piece of food, and start to chew it, very slowly. Notice the texture. Notice the taste. Notice the
sensation of your mouth chewing the food. There are no other sensations - the food does not remind you of
anything, for instance, because you have never eaten Earth food before. Just be AWARE of the sensations.

After you have eaten half the food, sit quietly for a few minutes while you come back into the "real world", and
start being human again. Start looking around you and name the things you see around you. Eat the rest of the food
in the normal way.

Compare the experience - the day-to-day way of operating, and seeing things through different eyes. What aspects
are the same? What aspects are different? You're comparing "raw" Malkuth to your normal experience, which is a
mixture of various sephiroth coming into play.

Chakras
Chakras are "energy centres" in the body, and we have seven primary chakras. When I first started to meditate, I
didn't believe that chakras were "real"; after all, if there is an energy centre, then what kind of energy? Electrical,
kinetic, electromagnetic? And energy can be measured - how many kilojoules were these energy centres
processing, and at what rate? So it is that science doesn't believe in chakras - or if it does, it believes in the concept
as a purely psychological construct, or metaphor. But then again, science doesn't really "believe" in love - it merely
accepts that certain sensory inputs trigger reactions in the brain, which in turn manifest as psychological states. So
frankly, I don't care whether chakras are "real" or a metaphor; I use them, and they work for me.
Contacting your chakras

Chakra means "wheel", and your chakras can be visualised as spinning wheels of energy. Each chakra has a name
(I've given the English and Indian names here) and is located at a certain point of the body. As there are seven main
chakras and seven colours of the rainbow, many people correlate each chakra with a colour. You can visualise your
chakras as you like, but personally I find this a useful correspondence, and I've used this colour correspondence on
this page. The "sensations" I've listed for each chakra are a little simplistic - try practising the colour visualisation
exercise a few times and see if you can sense what each chakra "feels" like for yourself. Each chakra is situated on
a line running parallel to the spine, but in the middle of your body as opposed to down your back.

Muladhara: Base chakra

The base chakra is situated at the very base of the spine but inside a little - the area you can feel when you contract
your anus. Pure, raw physical energy. Imagine the feeling, the buzz you get when you feel really satisfied after
strenuous physical exercise - that's the base chakra feeling.

Svadisthana: Sexual chakra

The sexual chakra is situated near your genitals - the base of the penis or clitoris. Raw sexual energy. When you
feel horny, that's your sexual chakra doing its stuff.
 Manipura: Solar plexus chakra

The solar plexus chakra, as its name suggests, is situated in the area of your solar plexus. It's a difficult sensation to
describe - but the term "gut feeling" sums up this chakra. Imagine feeling really confident about something - the
warm glow of satisfaction.

Anahata: Heart chakra

The heart chakra is situated near the heart, but in the middle of the body (rather than to one side). Love - whether
you're "in love" with someone, or just that powerful feeling of warmth and benevolence of love freely given - to
your mother, your child, your friends - is the sensation of the heart chakra.

Visuddhi: Throat chakra

The throat chakra is situated in your throat, of course. The energy of communication. When you're just bursting to
have your say and just want to chatter on and on - your throat chakra is working overtime.

Ajna: Third eye chakra

The third eye chakra is situated in the "third eye", which is in the middle of your forehead between your eyebrows
- but inside your head, not on the outside. This is a powerful psychic centre and its sensation can't be described
easily in everyday terms. If you meditate, you will be familiar with the sensation of this chakra - a very warm or
buzzing sensation in your third eye.

Sahasara: Crown chakra

The crown chakra is not situated in the body at all, but just above the top of the head. It is a focus of spiritual
energy, and the sensation associated with it is a feeling of connectedness and contentment with the Universe, or
even spiritual enlightenment. If you actually know what this feels like - congratulations! I admit that I don't!

Opening and balancing your chakras

According to the system of Chinese philosophy called Taoism, the Universe is filled with a vital energy called Chi.
This energy is present in all things, and in living organisms - you, me, cats, bats, rats, mice, lice, fleas and trees -
Chi manifests as a life-force which flows through us. If the flow of Chi is blocked, then disease results. Of course,
science does not admit to such a thing - and yet the whole of acupuncture is based on this principle, and many
conventional medics are now referring patients for acupuncture. Taoism also recognises three areas of the body
which can be seen as reservoirs of Chi, called "Tantiens" (pronounced "Dan-tee-ens"): the lower tantien
corresponds to the solar plexus chakra, the middle to the heart chakra and the upper to the third eye chakra. I say
"correspond" in a loose sense - in effect, the tantiens are "pools" of energy, and the chakras are the pumping
stations that help to move this energy around.
Now, in combining the Chinese concept of Chi with the Indian concept of chakras, I may be accused of mixing and
matching my philosophies here - but who cares; Truth is Universal!

To achieve balance, you need to have all your chakras working fairly evenly. If your upper chakras are working
overtime and your lower ones have ground to a halt, you may feel "spaced out" all the time. If it's the other way
round, you may feel physically well but feel discontent, or bored all the time. I use the following meditation to do a
health check on my chakras periodically. Once you've done any sort of meditation, it's a good idea to close them
again afterwards.

Colour meditation

This meditation works best if your spine is vertical. You can either do it standing up, or sitting in a chair. You can
do this meditation from the top downwards, or from the bottom upwards. Strange though it seems, I find that
sometimes I can get it to work in one direction but not the other. See what works best for you; I'm going to
describe the meditation from the bottom up. This meditation opens your chakras one by one, and helps to balance
them.

Close your eyes, and start breathing easily and evenly, in through your nose and out through your mouth.

Be aware of the base of your spine, and the feeling of your feet on the ground. Imagine your feet are bathed in a
red pool of energy. On a convenient in breath, breathing through your nose, visualise a stream of red energy going
in through the soles of your feet, up your legs and gathering at the base of your spine.

Open your mouth, and gently blow out. Imagine you are blowing out smoke. Your intention is to blow out red
smoke, but you may find that the visualised smoke you blow out is grey, or muddy, or some other colour. Don't
worry - just keep gently breathing in the red energy to the base of your spine, and blowing out until the smoke
you're blowing out is red smoke. Do this for a few breaths, to make sure the out colour is the same as the in colour
each time. Now just be aware that your base chakra is balanced, and is doing its job properly. Any blockages there
have been cleared.

Now as you carry on breathing, visualise the pool of red energy that has gathered at the base of your spine and
imagine it rising up in a stream to your sexual chakra - situated about 5cm below your navel. As the stream flows
up, it gets paler and becomes orange. Breathe in, visualising the stream turning orange and gather around your
sexual chakra. Blow out, and note the colour of the smoke you're blowing out. Your intention is to blow out orange
smoke. Do this a few times, until you are breathing in orange energy to your sexual chakra, and blowing out
orange smoke.

Carry on breathing, visualising the pool of orange energy flowing upwards again as you breathe in, getting paler as
it rises up towards your stomach, becoming yellow in the process. Blow out through your mouth, until you are
blowing out yellow smoke. Do this until you are breathing in yellow energy to your solar plexus chakra, and
blowing out yellow smoke.

Continue this process for the other chakras - the yellow energy in your solar plexus will flow up to your heart,
turning green in the process. After this, the green energy in your heart will flow up to your throat, turning blue; the
blue energy in your throat will flow up to your third eye, becoming indigo; and finally, the indigo energy in your
third eye will flow up to the top of your head, becoming violet.

You may find some chakras easier than others. Make a note of any difficulties you find - maybe you have difficulty
visualising the stream moving from one particular chakra. Maybe the stream flows, but the smoke you blow out is
not the colour you intended, or it looks "dirty". These can indicate blockages, and the act of visualising them
working properly is usually enough to clear the blockage. Be aware of these blockages, and see if there are issues
in your life that need to be resolved associated with the chakras involved. For example, if your throat chakra has a
blockage, maybe you are having difficulty in communicating your needs to someone; if your heart chakra is
involved, maybe you are being too self-centred (or conversely, giving too much of your self to others and
neglecting your own needs).

After finishing this meditation, close your chakras.

Closing chakras: psychic protection

Even if you don't meditate regularly, various events will open certain chakras - in particular, dreaming will open
your third eye chakra, and so when you wake up one or more of your chakras may be open. If your chakras remain
open, this may leave you feeling drained or vulnerable, so it's a good idea to shut them down again, with one
exception; try to leave your heart chakra open. The heart chakra is a very special one, and is associated with
universal love. If you leave it open, you leave yourself open to give love unconditionally to those around you; and
they'll give you love back. Or at least, enough of them will to make it worthwhile! If you are feeling really, really
hurt and feel that you need all the love you've got for yourself then shut your heart chakra down too - but try to
make this a temporary measure, or you'll end up feeling cut off from the community around you.

There are various ways to close down your chakras:

1. Exercise. This doesn't have to be vigorous - just getting out of bed and walking around is usually enough to
close the chakras that were opened up while you slept.
2. Protection visualisation. This is good if you wake from a nightmare: imagine you are inside a sleeping bag,
and the zip has come undone. Zip up the sleeping bag, from bottom to top, so that you are cocooned inside
it, just peering out from it. Repeat this three times. Then imagine you, and the sleeping bag, are bathed in a
pale blue light.
3. Colour closedown. I always do this after I've meditated - although the other methods are quicker, this takes
less than five minutes and avoids leaving any chakras inadvertently open. Starting from the crown chakra,
visualise your crown chakra as a lotus flower (or water lily), with a purple light streaming in through the
top of your head as you breathe in. As it streams in, close the lily (use your fingers to physically go through
the motions of closing the leaves). Then breathe out. Repeat twice more. Now move on to the third eye
chakra, and do the same - this time, with an indigo light streaming in through your third eye. Repeat twice
more. Carry on for all the other chakras (including the heart chakra). Then gently open your heart chakra:
breathe in deeply, then slowly breathe out (through your mouth or nose), opening the lily on your heart as
you do so, and imagine a stream of green light flowing out from your heart and into the Universe around
you. Repeat this opening twice more.

Tarot
Tarot is an ancient system of knowledge of unknown origin - some say that it derives from the ancient Egyptians,
some that it derives from Atlantis. It is more likely that it was invented in the early 14th century, and used as a tool
of instruction for those who couldn't read, and was also used for gambling. It is also the basis for modern playing
cards. Whatever its origins, the correspondences between Tarot and the Qabalah are striking.

By the 1800s, tarot cards were used for fortune telling. I use the tarot for gaining insights into myself, and to help
friends gain similar insights. The Tarot works on many levels; I don't pretend to know how it works, but it does.
Tarot and the Tree of Life

The Tarot consists of 78 cards, split into the "Major Arcana" and the "Minor Arcana." The minor arcana are the
basis for modern day playing cards, and are divided into four suits. These suits have different names in different
decks - and there are many, many different decks available - but in traditional decks they are:

Wands, representing the element of fire

Cups, representing the element of water

Swords, representing the element of air

Pentacles, representing the element of earth

Each suit has ten numbered cards, Ace to Ten, and four "court cards" - which are traditionally King, Queen, Knight
and Page - although my deck uses King, Queen, Prince and Princess.

The major arcana consists of 22 cards with descriptive titles - such as "Death", "The Star", "The Hanged Man" and
"The Wheel of Fortune".

So...

There are ten numbered cards in each suit - and ten sephirot.

There are 22 major arcana cards - and 22 paths on the Tree of Life.

The numbered cards correspond to each sephira - for example, the five of each suit corresponds to Geburah. This is
quite a challenging sephira, representing "severity"- and the fives in tarot tend to have quite harsh messages. The
sixes correspond to Tiphareth. This is a very positive and balanced sephira, representing "beauty" - and the sixes
tend to have positive balanced messages.

The 22 paths of the tree of life each have a Hebrew letter associated with them, and a major arcana card:
The attributions of the cards to the Tree are not accepted by everyone - some systems swap the Emperor and the
Star, for example. This system is the one used by an esoteric organisation called the Golden Dawn. This was a
society set up in 1888 as a "magickal fraternity" of men and women, and included Dion Fortune and Aleister
Crowley among its members. Its literature is well worth reading, and there are a number of references in the
bibliography.

Decks

There are numerous different sorts of tarot decks available. Generally, these can be split into "traditional" decks
and the "mystical" decks.

The best-known traditional deck in England is probably the "Rider-Waite" deck. Aleister Crowley produced his
own deck, the Thoth deck, still widely used. The Golden Dawn produced a new deck in the 1980s, called the
"Golden Dawn Ritual Tarot". This is the deck that I prefer to use personally, as it has the Qabalistic symbolism
embedded in each card. For example, the "Star" card below shows the astrological meaning (Aquarius, both in its
imagery and the astrological symbol on the bottom of the card), the Hebrew attribute (Tzaddi, the fish hook), the
Tree of Life with its ten sephirot, the number seven (seven stars, seven pointed star on the woman's head) is
representative of Venus (the planet associated with sephira number seven, Netzach), represented by the woman on
the card.
More modern decks have different symbolism - for example, the Greenwood deck with its pagan imagery, the
Mythic Tarot with Greek mythological symbolism, various Arthurian decks and the Osho Zen deck which has
completely different suits and even an extra major arcana card.

Use whatever deck you relate to best - you will know when you see the right deck for you.

Meditation

Tarot is usually seen as a "fortune-telling" method. To me, Tarot is a way of gaining insights into myself, of finding
out what lessons I can learn in this lifetime. It is a form of meditation. The following meditation is one I use
frequently - I would acknowledge the original source if I knew who it was; I've seen it in various Golden Dawn
books, and a similar meditation is described in Mary Greer's "Tarot for Your Self" (see bibliography) and various
others. The meditation (often called "scrying") is very powerful, and I find it useful to perform a banishing ritual
before and after doing this, and to close my chakras afterwards.
Choose a tarot card from the major arcana. Make sure you are sitting comfortably, where you will not be disturbed
for at least half an hour, preferably longer. Breathe in and out gently, focusing on your breath; feel yourself
drawing it in through your nostrils, into your lungs, and then breathing out again. When you feel relaxed, look at
your chosen tarot card. Observe it closely, looking at the various images on the card. Close your eyes, and hold the
picture of the card in your mind's eye. Open your eyes, and see whether you've missed anything.

Once you can picture the tarot card in all its details with your eyes shut, imagine the card growing in size, until it's
the size of a small door (the door should be slightly shorter than you).

Now open the door and walk through it. Instead of a static image, you're in a landscape that looks like the depiction
on the card. The characters on the card are moving, talking and three-dimensional. Choose a character in this
tableau (it doesn't have to be human) and talk to it. Ask it what lessons it has for you, to help you. Notice anything
else that you might see in this landscape, any unexpected images that crop up.

Don't get sidetracked - you're talking to one character on the card. If another character wanders on to the scene -
particularly if it's a character not on the card - don't talk to it.

After you've talked to your character, turn around and walk through the door back into this reality. Alternatively,
walk backwards through the door so that the landscape you've just been in recedes.

Shut the door firmly behind you, and keep your eyes closed. Become aware of the room you're sitting in,
background noises and familiar surroundings before you open your eyes. Remain seated for a while, and stay
relaxed.

Write down what you experienced, and close your chakras.

Health warning!

If you haven't meditated before, don't start with this one. Try the Friendly Deities meditation or the Climbing the
Tree meditation first. Meditation should be a pleasant, positive experience; tarot cards are very powerful tools, and
sometimes they will connect you with aspects of your personality that you may not feel comfortable with, and the
experience can be frightening. I've described how to close your chakras elsewhere on this site; the purpose of this
(even if you don't "believe" in chakras) is to provide a technique for protecting yourself against frightening
situations. This may sound silly - but most of us can remember sitting round at night as kids, telling each other
ghost stories and scaring the living daylights out of ourselves; we may be grown up now, but it's still possible to
scare yourself, often when you least expect it.

Initially, choose a card that looks "friendly" to you; all tarot cards have positive and negative aspects. However, for
most of us, cards like Death, the Devil and the Tower probably aren't good candidates for scrying if you've never
tried this before.

Finally, don't spend too long in the landscape, and do make sure you come back down to earth afterwards; if the
phone or doorbell rings in the middle of your meditation, ignore it. Being dragged out of a mental landscape
suddenly can leave you feeling very uneasy for hours, or even days, afterwards.

Magick
Magick is the art of achieving results by using your Will. This is not the same as magic, which is using conjuring
tricks and sleight of hand. (Tipareth represents the inner work)
A lot of people are scared by Magick - they assume that anything that involves some kind of process or ritual must
be evil - "black magic", or Satanism.

Actually, most religions make use of ritual; not all, to be sure - and many Christian groups (such as Methodists,
Quakers and many fundamentalists) eschew the use of ritual altogether. However, ritual plays a major part in many
Christian groups, such as Anglicans and Roman Catholics, and yet is not generally considered evil. We have
probably been exposed to far too many films showing "Black Masses", and strange looking people dressed in
robes, chanting strange names and summoning up the devil.

Real Magick is not like this. I suppose that as Magick is achieving results using Will, if your Will is to further your
ego without regard for others, then Magick can be used for negative purposes. This is ultimately futile, as it will
backfire on you. Your Will should be in harmony with the Universe - if you try to go against the Universe, to swim
against the tide, you will ultimately fail.

Magick has had something of a bad press. A famous magician, Aleister Crowley, was reviled by the popular press
as "the most evil man in England" for describing himself as the reincarnation of the Beast 666, and for formulating
his Law:

"Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law".

Many people took this to mean that you should do what ever you want, without regard for others. It doesn't. It
means that you should act in accordance with your Will, and that your Will is in tune with the Universe at large.
Crowley was never a good diplomat, and positively revelled in winding people up and in his notorious reputation -
he was a difficult man to get on with, by all accounts, was appallingly egotistical, and had a rather wicked sense of
humour; but he was certainly no Satanist.

Magicians are often asked "Can you do real magic? Can you create things out of thin air, or summon up beings, or
make someone love you, or gain great wealth?". The answer is: yes, but not if you do it purely for your own ends.
But you can effect a change within yourself that brings to you that which you need. And that's REAL magick.

The Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentragram

The following ritual I find very powerful - I always used to have negative connotations with the word "banishing" -
I like my house to be friendly and welcoming - but this ritual is to clear a space of energy, both good and bad. This
is a useful thing to do before doing a Tarot reading, or some kinds of meditation.

Before going into the details, I should just mention a couple of points. Firstly, these rituals are Qabalistic - they are
based on Judaism for their symbolism, but are universal. I'm not Jewish, but that doesn't stop me using the same
symbolism that Judaism uses - the ritual still works. Secondly, the word "pentagram" has negative connotations for
many Christians, who consider it to be "Satanic". Satan is mentioned in the Old Testament, as "ha-satan", meaning
"adversary". Satan only appears as the prince of evil in the New Testament, so he's something of major character in
Christianity - but as I'm not a Christian, I certainly wouldn't bother trying to invoke him even if I did believe in his
existence. The pentagram is an ancient symbol, and was adopted by the early Christians too. It is a very spiritual
symbol if the point is upwards, towards heaven.

This ritual summons up the four heavenly archangels to clear a space of energy, and to protect it. Once they have
performed their duty, I think it is only polite to thank each of them and ask them to depart with your love and
thanks.

You can do this ritual directly, or use some accessories to make the associations stronger; for example, burning
incense and lighting candles. The instructions indicate that a word should be "vibrated". This is done by saying the
word slowly and in a very deep voice.
Stage One: The Qabalistic Cross

The words for this ritual are taken from the last part of the Lord's Prayer: "For thine... the kingdom... the power...
the glory... for ever... Amen".

Stand upright, breathing slowly and regularly. Raise your right hand high in the air, index finger pointing directly
upwards to the ceiling. Draw divine energy down from the sky and to your forehead, touching your third eye.
Vibrate the word "ATAH". Visualise yourself standing on the world, drawing in energy from the Universe.

Move your finger down to your groin, and visualise a line of white light following your finger. Vibrate:
"MALKUTH" (pronounced Mal-Koot). Be aware of standing on the Earth and being grounded.

Now move your finger to your right shoulder and vibrate "VE GEBURAH". Be aware that you are doing this as a
result of your WILL. You "will" this ritual to happen. You have the power to do what you want.

Now move your finger across to your left shoulder, visualising a line of white light as you go. Vibrate: "VE
GEDULAH". Be aware that you harbour no hatred for anyone, and that your love is unconditional and universal.

Now cross your arms across your chest and vibrate "LE OLAHM" (pronounced "Lay O Lahm"). Be aware of
being HERE, NOW.

Open your arms wide apart in a cross, and vibrate "AMEN".

Stage Two: Summoning the angels

Face East. Draw a pentagram in the air with the index finger of your right hand, and imagine it blazing in fire:

Thrust your index finger through the middle of the point and vibrate "YOD HEH VAV HEH". This is the
tetragrammaton - the four-letter name of God.
Turn round clockwise, finger still pointing out, and inscribe a line of pure white light as you move towards the
South.

Draw another flaming pentagram and vibrate "ADONAI". This means "Lord".

Turn to the West, inscribing white light as you go. Draw another flaming pentagram, and vibrate "EH HEH EE
EH". This means "I am that I am", the obscure answer that God gave to Moses when Moses asked God his name.

Turn to the North, inscribing white light again. Draw another flaming pentagram, and vibrate "AH GAH LA". This
is AGLA, short for "Atah Gibor Le-Olahm Adonai" - which means "Thou art great forever, my Lord".

Turn round to the East again, inscribing white light as you go.

Say "before me - RAPHAEL", vibrating the angelic name and visualising the archangel of Air rising up before
you, facing outwards. He is wearing robes of yellow and violet.

Say "behind me - GABRIEL". Visualise the archangel of Water dressed in robes of blue and orange stepping out of
the sea behind you.

Say "at my right hand - MICHAEL" (pronounced "Mee-kye-el"). Visualise the archangel of Fire dressed in robes
of red and green rising up.

Say "at my left hand - URIEL". Visualise the archangel of Earth, dressed in robes of citrine, russet, olive and black.

Visualise all the angels - facing outwards - and the flaming pentagrams. Now imagine a six-rayed star above your
head (the hexagram):

Say:

"For about me flame the pentagrams, and above me and within me shines the six-rayed star."

Stage Three

Repeat the Qabalistic Cross.