Mackey A G - Encylopedia of Freemasonry - The Grand Masonic ...

KABBALA
KABBALA 377
of the one modifies the rigor of the other, so
that the Divine Justice is always tempered by
the Divine Mercy . C . W . King in his Gnostics
(p. 12), refers the right-hand pillar to the
Pillar Jachin, and the left-hand pillar to the
Pillar which stood at the porch of the
Temple p • and p two," illars he says,
"figure ~argely amongst all the secret societies
of modern tmaes, and naturally so ; for these
illuminati have borrowed, without understanding
it, the phraseology of the Kabbalists
and the Valentinians." But an inspection of
the arrangement of the Sephiroth will show, if
he is correct in his general reference, that he
has transposed the pillars. Firmness would
more naturally symbolize Boaz or Strength,
as Splendor would Jachin or Establishment .
These ten Sephiroth are collectively denominated
the archetypal man, the Microcosm, as
the Greek philosophers called it, and each of
them refers to a particular part of the body .
Thus the Crown is the head ; Wisdom, the
brain ; and Intelligence, the heart, which was
deemed the seat of understanding . These
three represent the intellectual ; and the first
triad is therefore called the Intellectual World .
Mercy is the right arm, and Justice the left
arm, and Beauty is the chest. These three represent
moral qualities ; and hence the second
triad is called the Moral World. Firmness is
the right leg, Splendor the left leg, and Foundation
the privates . These three represent power
and stability; and hence the third triad is
called the Material World . Lastly, Kingdom is
the feet, the basis on which all stand, and represents
the harmony of the whole archetypal
man .
Again, each of these Sephiroth was represented
by a Divine name and by an Angelic
name, which may be thus tabulated :
Sephiroth. Divine Names. Angelic Names .
Crown, Eheyeh, Chajoth,
Wisdom, Jah, Ophanim,
Intelligence, Jehovah, Arelim,
Mercy, El, Cashmalim,
Justice, Eloha, Seraphim,
Beauty, Elohim, Shinanim,
Firmness, Jehovah Sabaoth, Tarshishim,
Splendor, Elohim Sabaoth, Beni Elohim,
Foundation, El Chai, Ishim,
Kingdom. Adonai. Cherubim.
These ten Sephiroth constitute in their
totality the Atzilatic world or the world of
emanations, and from it proceeded three other
worlds, each having also its ten Sephiroth,
namely, the Briatic world or the world of creation
; the Jetziratic world or the world of
formation ; and the Ashiatic world or the
world of action : each inhabited by a different
order of beings. But to enter fully upon
the nature of these worlds would carry us too
far into the obscure mysticism of the Kabbala.
These ten Sephiroth, represented in their
order of ascent from the lowest to the highest,
from the Foundation to the Crown, forcibly
remind us of the system of Mystical Ladders
which pervaded all the ancient as well as the
modern initiations ; the Brahmanical Ladder
of the Indian mysteries ; the Ladder of Mith
ras, used in the Persian mysteries ; the Scandinavian
Ladder of the Gothic mysteries, and
in the Masonic mysteries the Ladder of Kadosh
; and lastly, the Theological Ladder of
the Symbolical degrees .
II . THE LrrERAL KABBALA. This division
of the Kabbalar being, as has already been
said, occupied in the explanation of sacred
words by the value of the letters of which they
are composed, has been extensively used by
the inventors of the high degrees in the symbolism
of their significant words . It is divided
into three species : Gematria, Notaricon, and
Temura .
1 . Gematria . This word which is evidently
a rabbinical corruption of the Greek geometria,
is defined by Buxtorf to be "a species of the
Kabbala which collects the same sense of different
words from their equal numerical
value ." The Hebrews, like other ancient nations,
having no figures in their language,
made use of the letters of their alphabet instead
of numbers, each having a numerical
value. Gematria is, therefore, a mode of con-