Kabbalah as a Field of Magical Practice

Kabbalah as a Field of Magical Practice

By: Archimandrite Theophilos Lemontzis, Ph.D. in Theology

So, why does Kabbalah, and occultism in general, replace the Old Testament worldview of the world's creation by the living personal God with that of Neoplatonism and the Babylonian religion, concerning a supposed emanation from a supreme divine principle? This happens because the worldview of Neoplatonism and the Babylonian religion fulfills the basic theoretical prerequisites for practicing ritual magical rites in occult systems.
Thus, according to occultists, since the entire Universe emanates from a supreme divine principle, consequently the Universe constitutes an indivisible unity and totality [1]. Just as in a living organism, which constitutes a totality, one member can affect another, in a similar way all parts of the Universe, earthly and spiritual, are in interaction with each other, and everything that happens in one part creates a reaction of "response" in all the other parts [2], a commonplace not only for Kabbalists but also for Babylonian and Neoplatonic magicians [3]. This interaction among all beings [4] is expressed by the Neoplatonic term "sympathy"[5] and, according to occultists, makes the practice of ritual magic possible [6]. Thus, magical ritual acts on Earth influence the invisible celestial world [7] and vice versa, the stars can influence the earthly world, as adherents of astrology maintain [8].
Also, since all beings emanate from the same divine principle, the celestial elements of the Universe resemble the earthly ones and are mirrored in them [9]. Thus, material objects, plants, stones, etc., used in magical rites, mirror and symbolize divine powers and entities [10], and the handling of the appropriate material objects brings the magicians into communication with them [11], because as the Neoplatonic philosopher Proclus says: "For similarity is sufficient to connect beings to one another" [12]. Thus, the magicians through their rituals "came to know the demonic powers" and by using material objects came into contact with them, again notes the aforementioned philosopher [13]. This, therefore, is also the reason why Kabbalah and occult systems in general accept the extra-biblical cosmological concept of emanation from a supreme divine principle, because it precisely fulfills the theoretical prerequisites for the practice of magic.
The fact that Kabbalists practice magic is neither a matter of conspiracy nor requires special proof, as the Kabbalists themselves admit [14]. Alongside the theoretical, there is also practical Kabbalah, which is the practice of magic [15]. Kabbalistic texts of magical rites such as the Sefer Ha-Bahir [16], the Sefer Ha-Heshek [17], etc., the so-called grimoires, i.e., books with magical invocations and symbols, have survived. They contain magical uses of the zodiacal cycle [18], magical symbols [19], palmistry [20], preparation of magical potions, spells, methods for writing magical amulets [21], often with incomprehensible phrases and invocations [22].
Also contained within them are lists of angelic and divine names whose magical manipulation is supposed to give power to those who master it[23]. Names of angels, unknown in the Old Testament, are mentioned in Kabbalistic texts, such as the angel Raziel, which in Hebrew means "angel of mysteries." In the book bearing his name, the Sefer Raziel HaMalakh [24], it is claimed that this specific angel reveals hidden knowledge to Adam and Eve as comfort for their fall [25] and directly refers to Lucifer, who according to Gnosticism supposedly gave the power of knowledge to humanity [26], a view also adopted by Theosophy [27]. Moreover, the book Sepher ha-razim, meaning "book of mysteries" in Hebrew, which was supposedly given to Solomon by the same angel, contains instructions for ritual magic [28].

Footnotes:

[1] Olga Vereli – Anna Lazou, Nature in Ancient Greek Philosophy. Plotinus & Neoplatonism, Copyright National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Anna Lazou, Konstantinos Kalahanis 2015. Anna Lazou, Konstantinos Kalahanis. "Philosophy of Nature. Nature in Ancient Greek Philosophy". Athens 2015. Available from the web address: http://opencourses.uoa.gr/courses/PPP107, p. 3
[2] R.T. Wallis, Neoplatonism, op. cit., p.122-123 and K. Viglas, The theory of sympathy, at https://katohika.gr/katohika/η-θεωρια-τησ-συμπαθειασ/
[3] K. Viglas, "Chaldean and Neoplatonic Theology", op. cit., p.71.
[4] Th. Pelegrinis, Magicians of Philosophy, Athens 1997, p. 102 – 113.
[5] Olga Vereli – Anna Lazou, Nature in Ancient Greek Philosophy. Plotinus & Neoplatonism, op. cit., p. 4.
[6] The Neoplatonic Proclus says characteristically: "Just as amorous people, following the path that leads from the beauties of the sensible to this one principle of all things beautiful and intelligible, so also the hieratic (i.e., magicians), starting from the sympathy inherent in all phenomena, both among themselves and towards the invisible powers, and thus understanding that all things are in all things, constituted the hieratic science (i.e., magic)". See. The Hieratic Art – The Hymns. Introduction – Translation: P. Kalligas, Athens: Stigmi 2009 ("Library of Ancient Writers", no. 50). According to Antonia Kakavellaki, the doctrine of sympathy served as a foundation for every form of divination, magic, and superstition. See. Neoplatonism and Occultism in the Byzantine Tradition, at https://www.pemptousia.gr/2015/06/i-epistimes-ke-i-filosofia-sto-vizantio-ton-14-eona/ and R.T.Wallis, Neoplatonism, op. cit., p.177.
[7] G. Contenau, La Magie chez les Assyriens et le Babyloniens, Paris 1947, p.154 and M. Eliade, Cosmologie et Alchemie Babyloniennes, Paris 1991, p. 24-29.
[8] See. V. Chletsos, The principle of "cosmic sympathy" in Stoic and Neoplatonic philosophy, at https://xletsos-basilhs.blogspot.com/2021/04/blog-post_4.html
[9] The example given by the Neoplatonic Proclus is that of the heliotrope, which symbolizes and is connected through invisible powers to the celestial body of the sun. See. Proclus: The Hieratic Art – The Hymns. Introduction – Translation: P. Kalligas, Athens: Stigmi 2009 ("Library of Ancient Writers", no. 50): "Thus, the heliotrope moves according to that to which it is connected, and if one could hear it striking the air during its rotation, perhaps one would perceive a hymn being sent up by this sound to its king (the Sun), as much as a plant can hymn."
[10] Olga Vereli – Anna Lazou, Nature in Ancient Greek Philosophy. Plotinus & Neoplatonism, op. cit., p.8. This reflection and mirroring of celestial reality in the earthly world and vice versa is expressed in the following way by the Neoplatonic Proclus: "On earth, then, one can see suns and moons in an earthly way, and in heaven all plants, stones and animals living in a celestial and intellectual way. Having ascertained this, the ancient sages offered to each celestial power different objects and thus, through similarity, attracted the divine powers to the mortal place (sublunary region). For similarity is capable of connecting beings to one another." See. The Hieratic Art – The Hymns. Introduction – Translation: P. Kalligas, Athens: Stigmi 2009 ("Library of Ancient Writers", no. 50). Also see, R.T.Wallis, Neoplatonism, op. cit., 2002, p.177, M. Eliade, A History of Religious Ideas. From the Stone Age to the Eleusinian Mysteries 1, London 1979, p. 61-62 and G. Shaw, Theurgy and the Soul. The Neo-Platonism of Iamblichus, Pennsylvania 1995, p.28.
[11] R.T.Wallis, Neoplatonism op. cit., p.177.
[12] See. Proclus: The Hieratic Art – The Hymns. Introduction – Translation: P. Kalligas, Athens: Stigmi 2009 ("Library of Ancient Writers", no. 50.
[13] See. Proclus: The Hieratic Art – The Hymns. Introduction – Translation: P. Kalligas, Athens: Stigmi 2009 ("Library of Ancient Writers", no. 50): "And in rites and the other services to the Gods they chose appropriate animals and some other things. Starting, then, from these and from similar things, they recognized the demonic powers, whose existences are connected with the powers that are within nature and within bodies, and through these very things they attracted them to come into contact with them. And from these they then ascended to the very creations of the Gods, sometimes guided by the Gods and sometimes guided correctly by themselves in devising the appropriate symbols. And so, leaving behind nature and natural activities, they used the primordial and divine powers."
[14] According to official positions of Kabbalists: "Kabbalah is divided into three types: the theoretical, which deals mainly with the inner dimension of reality: the spiritual worlds, souls, angels and other similar subjects; the transcendental meditative, through the study of this type of Kabbalah, one is trained and reaches higher meditative levels of consciousness and awareness, and perhaps, the possibility of prophecy, using the various names of God, the combination and variation of letters, etc. The third type of Kabbalah is the magical, which has to do with transforming and influencing the flow of nature. And in this type, the various names of God are used, the recitation of spells, amulets, magical seals, as well as various other mystical practices", at https://www.chabad.gr/templates/articlecco_cdo/aid/854821/jewish/-.htm
[15] See. Fr. Antonios Alevizopoulos, Dogmatic and practical Kabbalah, at https://www.entaksis.gr/δογματικη-και-πρακτικη-καββαλα-2/
[16] See. Sefer HaBahir, The Book of Brilliance, With Commentary by Ariel Bar Tzadok 2011.
[17] See. Yohanan Petrovsky-Shtern, “The Master of an Evil Name: Hillel Ba’al Shem and His “Sefer ḥa-heshek” , in AJS Review 28(2004), p.217-248.
[18] https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/269721/jewish/Is-Astrology-Kosher.htm
[19] See. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sefer_Raziel_HaMalakh
[20] Agata Paluch, “Writing on Hands: Practical and Kabbalistic Manual Devices,” Knowledge in Circulation: The Reception and Transmission of Jewish Esoteric Knowledge in Manuscripts and Print in Early Modern East-Central Europe, January 16, 2021, at https://esknowcirc.hypotheses.org/297
[21] Agata Paluch, Making sense of recipes for amulets and natural magic, kabbalistic style (Marginalia included), at https://recipes.hypotheses.org/18113
[22] The Tree of Knowledge: magic spells from a Jewish potion book, https://blogs.bl.uk/asian-and-african/2020/08/the-tree-of-knowledge.html. Also see Ortal-Paz Saar, Jewish Love Magic: From Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages. Leiden: Brill 2017, Yuval Harari, “‘Practical Kabbalah’ and the Jewish Tradition of Magic”, in Aries: Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism, 19 (2019), p.38-82 and Moshe Idel, “Jewish Magic from the Renaissance Period to Early Hasidism”, in Religion, Science and Magic in Concert and in Conflict, ed. Jacob Neusner, Ernest S. Frerichs, and Paul Virgil McCracken Flesher, New York 1989, p.82–117.
[23] See. https://www.bl.uk/hebrew-manuscripts/articles/the-power-of-language-in-jewish-kabbalah
[24] See. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sefer_Raziel_HaMalakh
[25] Robert Zucker, Kabbalah’s Secret Circles: Jewish Mysticism and the Kabbalah Wheel, Arizona 2017, p. 17.
[26] Epiphanius of Cyprus, Panarion, PG 41, 641BC, 645AB.
[27] H.P. Blavatsky, The Secret Doctrine: The synthesis of science, religion, and philosophy, Vol.I, op. cit., p.404-405: "The Ophites asserted that there were several kinds of genii, from god to man; that the relative superiority of these was ruled by the degree of light that was accorded to each; and they maintained that the serpent had to be constantly called upon and to be thanked for the signal service it had rendered humanity. For it taught Adam that if he ate of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, he would raise his being immensely by the learning and wisdom he would thus acquire". See in detail Archim. Theophilos Lemontzis, “Deus inversus”. Doctrines and conceptions of God of the Theosophical Society. Paper presented at the 31st Pan-Orthodox Conference on Heresies and Parareligion, Nafplio 2019, at https://www.entaksis.gr/deus-inversus and Theosophy: Study and refutation of Theosophical concepts from the perspective of Orthodox Theology, at https://www.pemptousia.gr/2022/09/theosofia-meleti-ke-aneresi-ton-theosofikon-antilipseon-ex-epopseos-orthodoxou-theologias/
[28] We mention as an example some instructions for ritual magic contained in the book: "If you wish to put love of a man into the heart of a woman, or to arrange for a poor man to wed a rich woman, take two copper lamellae and write upon them, on both sides, the names of these angels, and the name of the man and the name of the woman and say thus: “I ask of you, angels who rule the fates of the children of Adam and Eve, that you do my will and bring in conjunction the planet of N son of N into conjunction with (the planet of) the woman N daughter of N. Let him find favor and affection in her eyes and do not let her belong to any man except him.” Place one lamella in a fiery furnace and the other where she bathes. Do this on the twenty-ninth of the month when the moon has completely waned. Take care to keep yourself from intercourse, from wine, and from all (kinds of) meat". See. J.G. Gager, Curse Tablets and Binding Spells from the Ancient World, New York Oxford 1992, p.106.

Source: https://www.pemptousia.gr/2023/11/i-kampala-os-pedio-askisis-tis-magias/

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