Theos-Talk Archives (March 1995 Message tl00138)

Alan, I just read your Kabbalah, Part I, and overall I think its
quite good.  I would like to start the ball rolling on a
discussion of Kabbalah (John said to just start right in) in two
related areas, the Klippoth and the Abyss.

1.  Klippoth.

I have one question about your equation of Assiah = Klippoth
where you say "The last of the four Worlds is called Assiah, the
material world, also called Klippoth, or shells." Do you have a
source for this? The reason ask is that the O.T.O.  and G.D.
both describe Klippoth in a different and more sinister vein.
The following quote is an example:

       "Qliphoth (Heb.): The plural form of '
       qlipha,' meaning 'an harlot' or 'strange
       woman'; terms which signify 'otherness.'
       The shadowy world of shells or reflections.
       Each 'sephira' of the Tree of Life has its
       corresponding 'qlipha.' which is the
       reflection of the energy which it represents,
       and these averse power-zones - or 'qlipoth' -
       form the Tree of Death."  (Kenneth Grant,
       NIGHTSIDE OF EDEN, in Glossary, pp 275-276.
       I have put Grant's italics in single quotes
       to keep this in ASCII)

Grant pictures the Qlippoth or Klippoth as being beneath the
physical plane, rather like the Avichi (the so-called "8th
Sphere") of theosophy.  Is this one of the areas of difference
that you mentioned you had with magic schools? I bring this up
because Grant has built up an elaborate thesis on the foundation
of the Klippoth being sub-physical - i.e., his Tunnels of Set.
According to Grant, the doorway into the Klippoth lies in Daath.
I have talked with people who tell me that they have actually
visited these tunnels.

2.  Dqath.

You write, "...the link which arises between the Supernal
Sephiroth on the Tree of Life and those below them.  This link is
called Daath, Knowledge, sometimes considered for convenience as
another, "invisible" Sephira..." I agree with you that Daath is
not a Sephera per se.  In fact, it has no connecting path on the
Tree.  However, it does separate, so to speak, the upper three
Sephiroth from the lower seven, in that it is always said to be
located in the Abyss, and some would go so far as to equate Daath
with the Abyss itself.

You write that Daath is "the point of knowledge via which hidden
teachings are received" and I agree with you.  But are you saying
that it does *not* exist as a special region of "inner space?"
The whole idea of Daath only makes sense to me as a kind of
Ring-Pass-Not for the human mind, and as you say, as a link
between the formless spiritual planes and the formed material
planes.  But I have no problem seeing it as a subtle region which
can actually be visited, and one that must sooner or later be
"crossed" or spanned.  In fact, this idea is clearly spelled out
in Enochian Magic, where the Abyss is the 10th Aethyr, ZAX, an
actual subtle region that can be (and has been) visited, has
denizens, and so on.

The idea of the Abyss containing "tunnels" to lower cosmic planes
seems a possibility, although your text suggests that it is only
associated with upward movement.  Have you ever come across
anything that repudiates or substantiates Grant's hypothesis?

I am looking forward to Part 2.

             Jerry S.