English Qabalah:
The Key of it All Part I

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T.·.G.·.D.·.

System of the
English Qabalah

By David Cherubim
(Frater Aurora Aureae)

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Donated to the Thelemic
Order of the Golden Dawn.

Copyright © 1996 e.v.
Thelemic Order

of the Golden Dawn.
All rights reserved.

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Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.

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In Liber AL, II, 55, it is written in the Voice of our Lord Hadit: "Thou shalt obtain the order & value of the English Alphabet; thou shalt find new symbols to attribute them unto."  The English Alphabet has 26 letters, whereas our traditional Magical Alphabet, the Hebrew Alphabet, has only twenty-two letters.  The twenty-two letters of the Hebrew Alphabet are linked with the twenty-two Paths of the Qabalistic Tree of Life and with the twenty-two Atu of Thoth (Major Arcana of Tarot).  The 26 letters of the English Alphabet also pertain to the twenty-two Paths, which connect the ten Sephiroth on the Qabalistic Tree of Life, and also to the four secret Paths of the Ageless Tree, which also connect certain Sephiroth on the Tree.  The order of the English Alphabet, as indicated in verse 55 of Chapter II of the Book of the Law, pertains to the proper arrangement of the 26 letters of the English Alphabet on the Qabalistic Tree of Life.  Their value, as indicated in this same verse, denotes a new system of Numerology.  The new symbols of this same verse denote the four secret Paths of the Tree of Life, which, till this day, have remained hidden in the Sanctuary of Occult Wisdom.  But the Tree of Life is incomplete without the addition of the four secret Paths, and therefore we must now expound upon these four Mysteries to make whole that which was partial.

The making visible of the four secret Paths on the Tree of Life gives birth to a new Tree to accord with the English Alphabet, which is our Magical Alphabet for the New Aeon of Horus.  This new Tree of Life, which incorporates the English Alphabet of 26 letters rather than the 22 letters of the Hebrew Alphabet, gives us 36 Paths of Wisdom in all (10 Sephiroth and 26 Paths).  The sum of the numbers of 36 is 666, the Great Number of the Sun.  Also, 36 is the Mystic Number of the Sephira Hod or the sum of 8, which is the number of Thoth-Hermes-Mercury, the Logos or Word of the Gods, and the Lord of Magick, Occult Science and Tarot.

The 26 Paths of the new Tree of Life give us a new Major Arcana of Tarot, a set of "new symbols" or Trumps, which include four new Atu of Thoth, called "Knowledge, Courage, Will, and Silence" or "To Know, To Dare, To Will, and to Keep Silence."  These are the four Powers of the Sphinx, which are the Occult Virtues of the initiated Magician.  The four new Atu of Thoth are also linked with the four Worlds of the Qabalah (Atziluth, Briah, Yetzirah, and Assiah), the four Kerubim or Holy Living Creatures who guard the Universal Sanctuary of Wisdom, and the four Thelemic principles of Light, Life, Love, and Liberty.  They are also linked with the four Philosophical Elements of Fire, Water, Air and Earth, whereas the remaining twenty-two Trumps of Tarot correspond with Sol, Luna, the eight Planets (Pluto, Uranus, Neptune, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, and Mercury) and the Twelve Astrological Signs (Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces).

The four mysterious Paths, like the common twenty-two Paths of the Tree of Life, connect two Sephiroth each.  Thus one Path connects the two Sephiroth called Geburah and Chokmah, another Path connects Geburah and Kether, another Path connects Chesed and Binah, and another Path connects Chesed and Kether.  From this it will be observed that a second Unicursal Hexagram can be formed on the Tree of Life, with Daath in its center, whereas the first Unicursal Hexagram contains Tiphareth in its center.  Also, a second Pentagram can be formed on the Tree of Life with the application of the four secret Paths.  The four secret Paths complete the symbol of the Tree of Life, making it a perfect symbol of the Unity of All Things.   These four Paths make perfect that which was an imperfect image of the Universe, giving birth to a whole new Qabalistic system of classification and thinking.

26, the number of letters and paths in our Thelemic Qabalah, is the sacred number of the Tetragrammaton or Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh (IHVH).  The Tetragrammaton corresponds with the Four Worlds of the Qabalah.  Our English Qabalah contains the Mysteries of the Four Worlds.  26 is also the sum of the numbers of the Four Sephiroth of the Middle Pillar: 1 (Kether) + 6 (Tiphareth) + 9 (Yesod) + 10 (Malkuth) = 26.  The Middle Pillar is a Phallic Symbol of the Yechidah (True Self) and it is the Great Key to Initiation.  Our English Qabalah contains the Mysteries of Initiation.   26 is also the sum of the numbers of the four Fixed Signs of the Zodiac, that is, Taurus (2), Leo (5), Scorpio (8), and Aquarius (11).  These are the Kerubim, the Angels of the Elements from the point of view of Malkuth (Earth) or the Holy Living Creatures from the point of view of Kether (Spirit).  These four Holy Kerubim are magically linked with the four mysterious Paths on the new Tree of Life.  They are the Angelic Guardians of the Sacred Mysteries, Four-in-One and One-in-Four, that is, the Fourfold Nature of the Winged Sphinx of the Sun.

26 is the magical number of the Cube of the Sun.  It is written in the Book of the Law that the Cube is a symbol of our Lord Hadit, the Sun.  The Cube has 6 sides, 8 points or corners, and 12 edges or boundary lines.  The Cube contains the Great Secret of the Universe.  In Alchemical terminology, it is the Stone of the Philosophers.  The Cube is made of six squares; it is therefore linked with the Hexagram, the sacred symbol of the Sun.  It is the Folded Cross of six squares which contains the Mystical Rose or Pentagram in its Center.  The Rose is concealed in the Cube or Folded Cross; it represents the Secret of Secrets or the Arcanum Arcanorum of our Sacred Magick.  By the unfolding of the Cube of the Sun is this Great Secret revealed; and the Cross and Rose, the Hexagram and Pentagram, become One in Eternity.

Love is the law, love under will.

The Order & Value
of the English Alphabet

The order and value of the English Alphabet is simple yet profound in nature. The order pertains to the Paths of the new Tree of Life, which are linked with the 26 letters of our Thelemic Alphabet.  The value of each letter is a multiplication of Six, the sacred number of the Beast (The Sun).  26 multiplied by 6 produces the number 156, which is the sacred number of Babalon (The Moon).  The English Alphabet is the Magical Alphabet of the Sun and Moon.  The value of the English Alphabet begins with the number of the Beast (The Sun) and ends with the number of Babalon (The Moon).

Order    Letter    Value

11         A           6

12         B          12

13         C          18

14         D           24

15         E           30

16         F           36

17         G          42

18         H          48

19         I           54

20         J          60

21         K          66

22         L          72

23         M         78

24         N         84

25         O         90

26         P          96

27         Q         102

28         R         108

29         S         114

30         T         120

31         U         126

32         V         132

33         W        138

34         X         144

35         Y         150

36         Z         156

Continue Reading:
English Qabalah Part II