777 and Other Qabalistic Writings of Aleister Crowley
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| Author: | Aleister Crowley | |
| Country | United Kingdom | |
| Language(s) | English | |
| Genre(s) | Thelema | |
| Media Type | Print (hardback & paperback) | |
| ISBN | 978-0877286707 | |
777 and Other Qabalistic Writings of Aleister Crowley is a compilation of writings by Aleister Crowley. It serves as a table of magical correspondences and was edited and introduced by Dr. Israel Regardie. This book serves as a reference based on Hermetic Qabalah.
777 and modern Qabalah
The Golden Dawn was partly an expression of Hermetic Qabalah, which itself was derived from Jewish mystical Kabbalah. In Judaism, Kabbalah is a form of Torah commentary that became particularly prominent in the sixteenth century through the book known as the Zohar. It introduced the concept of the diminishing Four Worlds, God as the transcendent Ain Soph, and Israel as embodying the Shekinah, or "presence", as children of the True God. Most famously, it presented the ten Sephiroth as a schema of the universe between Israel and Jehovah, interpreting the concrete ethics of the scripture. From the 15th century through the Enlightenment, esoteric groups drew from Christian Kabbalah, which was practiced and reinterpreted by occultists like Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, Pico della Mirandola, and Eliphas Levi before being popularized in contemporary esoteric magic.
Contents
Gematria
'Gematria' was derived from 'The Equinox' vol. 1, no. 5, where it was originally titled 'The Temple of Solomon the King continued,' the fifth installment in that series. It explains the dogmatic Qabalah as taught by the original order of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. The main studies focus on the ten "Sephiroth" or "Emanations" of the godhead, which can also be viewed as rungs of a divine hierarchy connecting Earth and the Godhead, along with three forms of word analysis. These include gematria, where each of the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet has its own number, which are combined in words to create metaphorical relationships; aiq baqir, also known as the "Qabalah of the Nine Chambers", which transforms any letter in a word to its radical equivalent, such as "A" (=1) transforming to "I" (=10) or "Q" (=100), thus "AIQ" for the radical no. 1 column; and notariqon, which uses Hebrew words as initials for a potentially larger sentence. For instance, the first word of the Torah, BRAShITh, is manipulated into BRAShITh RAH ALHIM ShIQBLV IShRAL ThVRH ("In the beginning Elohim saw that Israel would accept the law"). It quotes extensively from the introduction to Mathers' Kabbalah Unveiled and also includes Crowley's own Qabalistic Dogma, an appendix to his Collected Works vol. I, before beginning a study of significant numbers in magical art.
Liber 777
'Liber 777 Vel Prolegoma Symbolica Ad Systemam Sceptico-Mysticae Viae Explicande, Fundamentum Hieroglyphicum Sanctissimorum Scientiae Summae' is classified as a "Class B" document by Crowley. The title alludes to a lightning flash that descends through the diagrammatic worlds, with the zig-zag pattern suggesting three diminishing 7s and the cumulative value of the Gematria of the paths. It comprises approximately 191 columns, with each row corresponding to a particular Sephirah or path on the Tree of Life, totaling 35 rows. This document serves as a quick reference for corresponding mnemonics and religious factors utilized in magic. For example, an evocation of Venus would involve looking across that column for the color associated with Venus, which would determine the color of one's robe, along with the choice of Venusian incense, and so on.
The first appearance of "777" was published anonymously in 1909, after Crowley wrote it from memory in just a week. An introduction to one edition by "Frater N∴" suggests that Crowley may have chosen to publish it anonymously because it was derived from a Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn manuscript that initiates were required to memorize.
Within the detail of the book the column's vertical axis is numbered from 1 to 32 signifying the 32-paths of wisdom which occur in the western Qabalah, numbers 1–10 are the sephirah of the universe and numbers 11–32 the paths which join them. The horizontal columns have many categories pertinent to religion, mythology and magick given in some 32-parts each. The Hebrew alphabet, the tarot cards and the astrological glyphs total 22-each and are given to the paths as a map of the magician's universe. From the 11th path onward some of these numbers have been exemplified by appearing to the left or right in the margin for easy reference, paths 11, 23, 31, 32-bis and 31-bis are leftwards and denote the five astrological elements; paths 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 24, 25, 26, 28, 29 are rightwards and denote the 12 astrological signs, the rest are astrological planets.
The tables were constantly revised in Crowley's lifetime but it was not until 1955 that they were published ("Revised Prolegomena Symbolica ad Systemam......"). This includes smaller tables that extrapolate correspondences of the five elements, twelve zodiacal signs and seven planets only.
Sepher Sephiroth
Sepher Sephiroth was originally a supplement to Equinox vol. 1, no.8. published in 1912. The title means "Book of Emanations" and is also indexed as Liber 500. It was written by Crowley and Allan Bennet (Frater I.A.) and is an index of numbers from 1–3321 listing their Hebrew word equivalents. This book is also helpful for magical students as a reference for word sympathy, from AB ("father") and BA ("to come") = 3 to ShDBRShHMOTh ShRThThN = 3321. Numbers 1–1000 are inclusive, whilst 1000+ are abridged.
Editions
- Crowley, Aleister (1973). 777 and other Qabalistic writings of Aleister Crowley. York Beach, ME: Samuel Weiser. ISBN 0-87728-222-6.
- Crowley, Aleister (2004). 777 Revised. Leeds: Celephais Press.
- More information is available at [ Wikipedia:777 and Other Qabalistic Writings of Aleister Crowley ]
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- More information is available at [ Wikipedia:777_and_Other_Qabalistic_Writings_of_Aleister_Crowley ]
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