Mirach's Blog

I came across an intersting way of using the Sephiroth a couple of days ago.  In Jeremy Rosen’s book “Kabbalah Inspirations: Mystic Themes, Texts and Symbols”, he describes an exercise attributed to Abulafia:

* Sitting upright, breathe in to the count of 5, exhale to the count of 5
* On each in breath bring the power of a Sephirah into your body (start with Keter, then Chokmah, all the way to Malkuth)
* Do this three times a day (morning, mid-day, evening)
* After the evening session, reflect on which Sephirah you have used most productively during the day.  Which Sephirah have you under-used or mis-used?

I think it would be useful to make a written record of your reflections on the Sephiroth. Each of us is “attracted” towards one particular one and , equally, we “struggle” with another. We should always strive to give all of the Sephiroth equal prominence within our lives.

I’m still meditating on the 72 Names.

Here’s a question I am mulling over.  The 72 Names are each associated with a 5 degree segment of the Zodiac, but which lies “closest” to man?

Is the influence of a given Name modified through the attributes of its astrological segment, or is influence of the zodiac modified byt the Name?

This post expands upon an earlier post made on February 26th.

The Hebrew letters are the fundamental forces of creation. Everything (both physical and spitiual) has been created by the interaction of these letters.

A magical effect is a new creation. A practical kabbalistic magician uses the letters to bring about “magical” effects. So, if an effect at the mental level of the magician is desired then the appropriate letters should be meditated upon. A spiritual effect requires the letters to be spoken (as in the Abulafian meditations). A physical effect requires the letters to be written.

Of course, none of this is actually magical. Effects are created by applying a kabbalistic algebra that is as rigid and defined as mathemetical algebra:

aleph + daleth + mem = adam (man)

The powers/properties of the letters are found in the Sepher Yetzirah, one of the oldest kabbalistic texts

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A useful note for magically working with the 22 Letters of the Hebrew alphabet

“…. Written letters are like bodies, and the pronounced letters are spiritual and the mental letters are intellectual and the emanated letters are divine.”

From a letter written by R. Abraham Abulafia
quoted in Kabbalah: New Perspectives by Moshe Idel

This equates with the four forms of letters with the Four Worlds:

So, how a letter is utilised determines at which level it manifests:

Putting those levels in to the terminology of the Tree of Life, we have:

Thus, working at the level of Binah, requires the mental use of letters (i.e. meditation), but to bring about any change on the physical plane (Malkuth) we have to write them down.

Rabbi Abraham Abulafia details his system of meditating on the triplets of the 72 Names in his book “Life of the Future World”.  A translation of the relevant parts of this appears in Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan’s “Meditation and Kabbalah”.

R. Abulafia describes how the practitioner has to use sound, breathing, movement and visualisation.  The purpose of the meditation is to receive divine influx, in the form of the angel Metatron .

Today I have started performing this meditation.  My practice consists of:

1. Performing Mirach’s Daily Ritual
2. Meditation on the triplets
3. Mirach’s Four Quarters meditation.

I hope to do this twice a day for the period of at least a month.

I will make regular posts on how I am progressing.

If you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact me.