Qabbala 101: Part 1

=== July 14, 2004 ===
== Qabbala 101: Part 1 ==
The basic tool of August Barrow's 'Anglossic Qabbala' is the Alphanumeric Gematria.
Since this numerization of the Neo-Roman alphabet merely continues the procedure now familiar from Hexadecimal (A = 10 ... F = 15), it proved elusive to qabbalists expecting a traditional gematria.
As Reza has explained in his introductions to the Abjad, these traditional systems (whether Hebrew, Greek, Farsi or Arabic) have distinctive typical features:
(1) They substitute letters for numerical values, overcoding numerals where they exist.
(2) They code for discontinuous numerical values, typically 1-10, then 20, 30 ... chunked in decimally significant magnitudes.
In contrast, Barrow's Gematria is a continuous nonredundant system, supplementing the numerals 0-9 with numerized letters from A (= 10) to Z (= 35), treating the 0-Z alphanumeric sequence as a numeral succession, corresponding to the numerals of a modulus 36 notation.
While there are countless 'reasons' for adopting this convention for the numerical decoding of oecumenic messages, Aleister Crowley's system of Magick provides the best evidence of its supreme qabbalistic virtue in respect to the universe of Anglobal communications.
"Why did Crowley entitle his book of qabbalistic essays '777'?" asks Barrow-Scholar Peter Vysparov.
This question seems to point to the most astounding qabbalistic datum of modern times, the alphanumerically rigorous gematria equation:
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law = 777
One remarkable feature of this equation is that neither Crowley not any of his followers explicitly recognized the exact qabbalistic identity of the Thelemic Law (as stated in The Book of the Law, Liber AL vel legis) to the numerical index of modern qabbalism (777 & Other Qabalistic [sic] Writings). This relates intriguingly to the topic of secrecy (of which more elsewhere).
Crowley says of The Book of the Law:
"'AL' is the true name of the Book, for these letters, and their number 31, form the Master Key to its Mysteries."
Crowley bases this equation on the Hebrew gematria, in which the letter Aleph and Lamed have the values '1' and '30' respectively.
'AL' truly earns its status as a key when it is noted that its Anglossic (alphanumeric) value also equals 31:
A (= 10) + L (= 21).
The TX expression of 31 - ((((:)))) - reveals it as the 4th mainline hyprime, the 11th prime (with the hyprime mainline numbers 2, 3, 5, 11, 31, and 127 ... all being of prominent importance within Thelemic Magick, although this system of connections - once again - seems nowhere to be explicitly emphasized. 31 is also a Mersenne number. In a strange Hyprime-mainline reflex it corresponds to alphanumeric 'V'.
127, the 31st prime, TX (((((:))))), = NUMBER = THELEMA = CRYPT.
Qabbalize and sum the names of the Sephirot (as Romanized by Crowley, and including DAATH, 11th Sephirot), total = 1270.
Vysparov even cruelly suggested that Crowley's entire magickal career was a cosmic joke whose sole purpose was the unwitting demonstration of the Barrow gematria.
As for Allala, Current 93, the Crowley Tarot, more on the Sephirot ... later.
Posted by at July 14, 2004 09:29 AMHyperstition: Qabbala 101: Part 1 (abstractdynamics.org)