Crowley, Gematria, and Qaballa (Qabalah)

In order to acquire a "contemporary" view of the Craft of Qaballa, it is oft useful to peruse the writings of Aleister Crowley. Crowley secreted much information that proves useful in demonstrating the Craft and provides some historical context to what then becomes "the Isisian Codes". This article will provide a glimpse into Constructs enunciated by Crowley, and in the process, enables us to explore some of the more technical and traditional techniques found in the Craft of Qaballa.

One of the primary goals to the study of Qaballa is to obtain the ability to ascertain occult significances of words. The reason for this is that we wish to penetrate reality and acquire a comprehensive understanding of the Construct.

This effort leads to a philosophical inquiry into the language and indeed, the very effort is at the core of what could be considered Occult Philosophy.

Says an anonymous writer of the Hermetic Arts,

"Let the studious Reader have a care of the manifold significations of words, for by deceitful windings, and doubtful, yea contrary speeches (as it should seem), Philosophers wrote their mysteries, with a desire of veiling and hiding, yet not of sophisticating or destroying the truth; and though their writings abound with ambiguous and equivocal words; yet about none do they more contend than in hiding their Golden Branch."

Qaballa is the Craft through which we are able to ascertain the manifold significations of words. It is Crowley who provided the general public with some of the techniques employed to discover some of these manifold signification of Words.

Wrote Crowley in Gematria,

The methods of discovering Dogma from sacred Words are also numerous and important: I may mention:—

(a) The Doctrine of Sympathies: drawn from the total Numeration of a Word, when identical with, or a Multiple of Submultiple of, or a Metathesis of, that of another Word.
(b) The Method of finding the Least Number of a Word, by adding (and re- adding) the Digits of its total Number, and taking the corresponding Key of the Taro as a Key to the Meaning of the Word.
(c) The Method of Analogies drawn from the Shape of the Letters.
(d) The Method of Deductions drawn from the Meanings and Correspondences of the letters.
(e) The Method of Acrostics drawn from the Letters. This Mode is only valid for Adepts of the highest Grades, and then under quite exceptional and rare Conditions.
(f) The Method of Transpositions and Transmutations of the Letters, which suggest Analogies, even when they fail to explain in direct Fashion.
All these and their Varieties and Combinations, with some other more abstruse or less important Methods, may be used to unlock the Secret of a Word.

Herein we will review some of these concepts and place them into a more comprehensive perspective.

(a) The Doctrine of Sympathies: drawn from the total Numeration of a Word, when identical with, or a Multiple of Submultiple of, or a Metathesis of, that of another Word.

This is, perhaps, one of the more basic usages (and mis-usages) within the Craft of Qaballa. What this says is that words of similar values must, but their numerical equivalence, by default such become esoterically connected.

For instance, we can take the word GOD and "add it up". It has a value of 26. We may then take the word FLAG and "add it up". The word FLAG, too, has a value of 26. Utilizing Qaballa, we must then find a rational or philosophical REASON why such words have some esoteric equivalence relative to NUMBER.

We may, equally, make rational observations as to the nature of the WORD as it pertains or affects the human psyche or spirit.

What we note is that in the case of "GOD" and "FLAG", each word, based on the "26", has clear similarities and parallels as to their effect on the human psyche and spirit.

We may logically conclude that there is some esoteric link within the words GOD and FLAG as a product of their numerical equivalence.

Thelema, and with it, New Aeon English Qaballa 11, or NAEQ, will often employ the "Doctrine of Sympathies" as part of a process to "prove" the value of Crowley's esoteric system. Examples of this may be found sprinkled across the WWW, but lets draw attention to one from "the 11th Continuum", a site dedicated to various manifestations of NAEQ11.

71 is the value of VENUS, the Great Goddess expressed in Woman; whose planet bestows all the qualities of beauty; whose love is eternal. HEARTS has the value 71: all hearts express love, regardless of whether or no the individual so names his passion, for the man who hates violence loves peace, and he who loves justice abhors injustice; this is why both love and hate cause the same warm glow in the heart. It is wise to understand this when looking at words such as ‘hate’ in Liber AL.

In this example, the Alphabet has been shifted using a cipher wheel known as "NAEQ11". It is noted that using this cipher, the words VENUS and HEARTS share equivalence. The author, a "qaballist", then goes about creating the rational REASON for the equivalence based on observation.

What one finds is that no matter the cipher, the basic process of "adding words up" and then "finding equivalence" and then attaching some esoteric equivalence may indeed ADD DEPTH to a comprehension of the esoteric formulae contained in any given sets of words, the very PROCESS does little to peer deeper into the very attributes of the word ITSELF.

This technique seeks to provide some insights into possible meaning or relationship or provide some clue as to where to seek further, but in no way can guarantee one to arrive at the core Occult formulations contained within any given word.

(b) The Method of finding the Least Number of a Word, by adding (and re- adding) the Digits of its total Number, and taking the corresponding Key of the Taro as a Key to the Meaning of the Word.

Of all techniques I have found to be most specious, and useless, is what is also known as "the reduced integer value of a word." You see this form used in numerology, but as a gematria tool, I find little value in the form and method.

This method states that words should be (or simple are) reduced to a single integer value. In the case of the word OSIRIS, for example, the word has a value of 89. The numbers 8 and 9 are added together to arrive at 17, and then the number 17 is added yet again to arrive at 1+7=8.

8, therefore, is the reduced integer value of OSIRIS.

In this example, esoteric equivalence is sought after through an ascertaining of linked words that reduce to the number 8. I once posted at a fairly large "beginners witch" forum and you would see this form of babble invoked all the time. I could only marvel at the naiveté of it all and figured that if the Creator sought to hide the Construct into such simplicities, we would have had no need to advance beyond the age of 7 relative to philosophical reasoning.

If you were to read work here at the Illuminatus Observor, you will find that this "technique" has NEVER been invoked and never will be.

Our goal is to seek into the manifold significations of words, and reducing words to a single digit does little to nothing to solving for this qaballistic exercise.

(c) The Method of Analogies drawn from the Shape of the Letters.

The idea of "drawing analogies" relative to the Craft of Qaballa is the same as using intuition to peer into an esoteric construction. It is not practical to "draw analogies" unless there is an established concept of the Letters having archetypal meanings attached to them.

Hence, when Crowley stated that seek out an order and value to the Alphabet AND ATTACH NEW MEANINGS TO THE LETTERS, the caveat was and generally is never considered that an established archetypal set of properties ALREADY EXISTED WITHIN THE OCCULT STRUCTURES existing and influencing the language.

For example: The Letter C is the SYMBOL OF THE OCCULT in that the Letter C is formed from the occultation of the Moon or Sun as a process of lunar or solar eclipses. The monthly occultation of the moon, forming a crescent C at the new moon, are but examples of this archetype already embed and existing in the Letter C.

In the case of the word COVER, we may say that the WORD OVER is describing the Letter C in that a shadow is falling OVER the "O" astronomic body (say the Moon) and hence is producing the appearance of the Letter C.

The WORD COVER, therefore, is really two concepts: the word OVER and the derived shape of "what" is "over" "what" to arrive at C, specifically taken from the occultation of the Moon as the primary observable pattern in nature.

Similarly, since the Construct is based on the idea that "mankind has been drowned in a deluge", we may surmise that the Earth is "covered in water".  Those who are drowned are the general masses, while "the illumined" or "enlightened ones" have risen above the water.  Hence in the word CRAFT, as in "the Craft of the Occult", we note that the Occult is the Letter C, and the RAFT is what keeps us afloat above the waters.  We may then derive further insights through the use of the Letter R.  Since the Letter R denotes "coming into being" as a product of B = Latent Life and R = Manifested Life, we can note further that the OCCULT was GIVEN BIRTH AFT(erwards), or was given birth after the creation of WORDS or "the Word".

In this way may the "Method of Analogies" be applied in order to peer into the manifold signification of words.

Applied Qaballa, in this case, has little or nothing to do with "gematria".  Gematria implies some mathematical code set into a word.  Drawing an analogy from the shape of a Letter provides further clues into an occult construction of words in that individual letters may provide us with the necessary keys in order to being a more comprehensive occult deconstruction.

In this way, equally, one may meditate on the Letter T and the Letter t.  In a serif format, the lower case letter "t" is shaped as half an anchor.  Hence we may deduce that the Ankh and the Anchor are philosophically linked, as the phonetics equally imply.

(d) The Method of Deductions drawn from the Meanings and Correspondences of the letters.

Again, we have to ask why Crowley would intimate such a method if he was to later equally admonish his flock to seek out a new order and value to the Alphabet and attribute new meanings to the Letters?

But lets look further into the mythologies:

As we read about the child "Jesus", it is said of him in "Thomas' Gospel of Infancy" from Lost Books of the Bible,

A CERTAIN schoolmaster named Zacchæus, standing in a certain place, heard Jesus speaking these things to his father.

2 And he was much surprised, that being a child, he should speak such things; and after a few days he came to Joseph, and said,

3 Thou hast a wise and sensible child, send him to me, that he may learn to read.

4 When he sat down to teach the letters to Jesus, he began with the first letter Aleph;

5 But Jesus pronounced the second letter Mpeth (Beth) Cghimel (Gimel), and said over all the letters to him to the end.

6 Then opening a book, he taught his master the prophets: but be was ashamed, and was at a loss to conceive how he came to know the letters.

7 And he arose and went home, wonderfully surprised at so strange a thing.

In other words, there is a prevailing knowledge of a mystical affiliation with the Letters. Letters contain much hidden value and archetypes, and this knowledge had always been the domain of "the Occult".

Hence, seeking out manifold significations in words requires a rational and conscious comprehension of the manifold significations of the Letters. Hence, utilizing "meanings and correspondences of the Letters", the word "correspondences" meaning "tables" of available knowledge, is often a subset or parallel set of knowledge or technique as utilizing the shape of the Letters.

If one does know the correspondences, one may deduce the correspondences through a rational analysis of the Letters.

For example: The Letter M is comprised of Male and Female components.

M = I V I = V II = VEE PI = EVE ADM = Pi and 666

The SHAPE of the Letters tells us that V is EVE reversed while the I I of the M is as ADM M - BRACING EVE, or V. One may then apply Qaballistic Arts to arrive at numerous additional philosophical meanings and correspondences.

This technique, as well as the technique of drawing insight from the shape of the Letters, is used extensively throughout the Illuminatus Observor as the technique is a staple to the manner and form in which words have been constructed.

Hence B means Latent Life and R means Manifested Life. The PROCESS is called BR(th).

(e) The Method of Acrostics drawn from the Letters. This Mode is only valid for Adepts of the highest Grades, and then under quite exceptional and rare Conditions.

Acrostics is the process of embedding a particular set of knowledge or idea into (in general) the first letter of a word that starts a line of a poem. Acronyms are the same concept but attributed to singular words. NEWS, as representing North, East, West, South, for instance, would be an acronym, while we could create a little poem as

Never in Land of Oz
Echos reality with a gleam
Wishes abound to fill the air
Sounds drifting in a dream

The poem begins with the Letters NEWS.

Although this technique may be used to encode clues to manifold significations of words, its usage as a tool takes enormous time relative to the values created.

However, the idea was quite prevalent in the times of Shakespeare, and many schools through time were dedicated to seeking out hidden meaning in Shakespeare's work using this technique.

One such concept is known as the Kaye and Simple Ciphers set into Shakespeare.

As a practical tool, however, this method should be considered largely archaic and obsolete.

Having studied or examined many of the works available on these methods, I have not been convinced that the technique leads to an ability to penetrate the manifold significations of words.

(f) The Method of Transpositions and Transmutations of the Letters, which suggest Analogies, even when they fail to explain in direct Fashion.

This technique is a staple within the Qaballistic Arts. Again, the term "drawing analogies" is the same as intuiting the need for letters or numbers to be transposed or transmuted.

There are MANY examples of this technique sprinkled throughout the Illuminatus Observor.

Since many words are encoding "Pi Proportion" properties, the transposition of letters and numbers is really at the heart of gematria encoding.

For example, we have noted many times that the word SUN shows that S is 3 and N is 5. Drawing analogies is a mystical way of saying we are looking at a mathematical formulation.

S = 3
U = (X)
N = 5

We know that U has a value of 5 (Isisian Code), but also that the value of 1:6 is the 21 Letter, or U, and hence we can surmise that most likely intended code is SUN = 365.

This method is really is the Qaballistic technique or Art known as Temurah.

As Crowley stated clear - all of these methods and more may be employed into the seeking out of the more hidden meanings in words. You may find these techniques, and more, demonstrated clearing throughout the Illuminatus Observor.

For more information, I recommend reading (or rereading) the following posts:

For Transpositions -

Leo the Lion - A Lesson in Transpositions
Temurah - the Dynamic Use of Number

For drawing insights from shapes of Letters

The Tau, the Ankh, and the Anchor


These pages, and so many more, will assist the interested in seeking a comprehensive understanding of the Qaballist Arts.