"Kabbalah," "Cabala" or "Qabalah".....?

As said in "The Book of Self Creation," it is clear that while one may understand and accept that much diversification has been going on regarding this Tradition, especially over the last century, and having closely investigated such “variances,” we equally recognise that Kabbalah would become meaningless if its fundamental principles were compromised. In other words, principle Kabbalistic teachings and rudimentary reasoning cannot simply be altered in accordance with personal whims. Hence it is necessary to first understand the central, vital core teachings behind this Tradition, before adjusting parameters in alignment with personal perceptions. One simply can no longer speak of Kabbalah when the supposed stable primary doctrines of this tradition have been sacrificed in the fray. Sadly, such has been the case in a lot of works written in the name of Kabbalah, while they bear little or no relation to the Tradition. Often basic teachings of this tradition are sidelined and even dismissed out of hand.

When you come to think of it, Kabbalah is much more than the current assumption that the doctrine of the “Tree of Life” and the ten Sefirot comprise the entire teaching of Kabbalah. In fact, the “Tree-Concept” was originally only a small part of Kabbalah, and a relatively unimportant one at that. It is mainly Gentiles who expounded and increased it to its current central place in our system. It is certainly a lot clearer, more direct, and much easier to understand than the “letter-number” permutations of early Kabbalah. Yet, if the principles of “Letter-Number Kabbalah” are understood, some remarkable practices, meditations and “inner communications” can be found in this form of mysticism, which can produce some really far-reaching results for the individual who knows the system.

The entire arena of “Ecstatic Kabbalah” is based on this system. Few of these practices were, and still are, available to the modern public. A major part of the system often amounted to no more than mental exercises which enabled the brain to cope with the obscure problems of existence. To some extent it could then be likened to a cryptic crossword, in which the satisfaction came in the exercise of ones mental faculties. This was however never the only value of the “Letter-Number Kabbalah.” There was certainly a lot more to it as the practices of Shemot (Divine Names), Yichudim (unification exercises) and Tzerufim (permutation practices) show quite clearly.

Today the tendency is to think that there is really more than one Kabbalah so to speak, with three categories specifically identified: 1. Traditional Kabbalah—the one as understood to apply to Israel alone; 2. Christian Kabbalah; and 3. Hermetic Kabbalah. The latter two refer to the tradition as interpreted and worked on by Gentile scholars for the Western Inner Tradition at large, and we understand that though the basic formulae are the same, the application and exegesis are very different. End of story? Definitely not. This is a very simplistic and narrow viewpoint, in which the strictly Jewish origins of the Kabbalah are often ignored, not to mention that even in Traditional Kabbalah there are many divergent voices regarding practically every topic within that sector, that one would have to divide what is viewed collectively as “traditional” into many subcategories.

However, most modern researchers are still inclined to speak of “pre-Lurianic” and “Lurianic Kabbalah” in reference to the earlier mentioned two distinct periods in the development of Kabbalah. The first which could be termed “Zoharic,” not entirely correctly as an early Kabbalist like Abraham Abulafia did not belong in this category, culminated in the writings of Moses Cordovero, while his pupil Isaac Luria started a new trend which is now called “Lurianic Kabbalah.”

There are many who, in trying to indicate the distinction between Traditional Kabbalah and the one as applied in the Western Inner Tradition, use the spelling “Qabalah.” It has been suggested by several authors, specifically from the “Hermetic Schools,” that the spelling of the term “Kabbalah” should be varied in order to indicate variant applications, i.e. “Kabbalah” in reference to “Traditional Kabbalah”; “Cabala” to indicate the Christian variety, and “Qabalah” for the “Hermetic Kabbalah.” I have found no use for this kind of variant spelling for a variety of reasons, amongst others:

1. The common use of the “K” spelling is a fairly recent one, apparently introduced to create a consensus. However, it should be noted that many Rabbis, historians and other scholars have been using the “C” spelling when discussing what we might loosely term “Traditional Kabbalah.” In fact, to date there are still French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and Swiss authors, amongst others, who are still using that spelling in their studies of mainstream “Kabbalah.” The suggestion that the “C” spelling be used exclusively to designate a Christian variant of Kabbalistic thinking, would create confusion as far as a veritable host of works are concerned, which were written over a period of more than a hundred years. Likewise the “K” spelling was and still is being used by scholars around the globe in their discussions of “Christian Kabbalah.”

2. The division of the Kabbalistic Tradition in this manner into the mentioned three categories is seriously problematic. It suggests a uniform pattern of thought to be prevailing within the “Jewish Mystical Tradition,” which is patently an inaccurate portrayal of the tradition over the thousand and more years of its existence.

Besides the obvious differences between, for example, the teachings of Isaac Luria and that of the author of the Zohar, marking distinct periods in the development of the Tradition, there are enormous differences and major disagreements between Kabbalists living in the same era, with regard to even the most basic tenets of Kabbalah, e.g. the ten Sefirot, etc. Pertaining to this specific concept, there were Kabbalists who did not like the sefirotic system at all, and rarely made use of it. Moreover, there were thinkers within this tradition who did not agree with Talmudic studies, yet these very individuals are considered part of that tradition. In fact, there are several absolutely distinct “Kabbalistic traditions” and diverse schools of thought which developed over the centuries, some of them considered to be heretical, yet many of the latter kind are now generically accepted as part of what mainstream religionists term “Kosher Kabbalah.”

3. As far as I am concerned the word “Kabbalah” is a Hebrew term with only one spelling. The transliteration of this word has been somewhat problematic due to the fact that the sound of its initial letter is represented by two letters in the Hebrew alphabet, i.e. Kaf and Kof. The latter letter is the one used in the word itself, and has been designated “C,” “K,” or “Q” by different authors, thus the variants in the spelling of the word in languages using the Latin alphabet. Trying to use those variants to denote three different approaches within the Tradition does not work for anybody using the Hebrew, Greek or Cyrillic alphabet. Thus such usage cannot be universal.

Settling for one common spelling, i.e. “Kabbalah,” and then clearly indicating a specific subsidiary of this tradition under discussion—Ecstatic Kabbalah, Theurgic Kabbalah, Prophetic Kabbalah, Lurianic Kabbalah, Christian Kabbalah, Hermetic Kabbalah, etc., is far more useful and accurate. Besides, there is in truth only one “Kabbalah,” the teachings of which are wielded in as many ways as there are people to invent them from their personal perspectives. Provided the core principles and doctrines of the tradition are understood and upheld intact, there can be an infinite number of variant interpretations.

Magical Healing & a Consumer Society - Part 3

It should be noted that since time immemorial there has been a common conception amongst many people that pain, illness and sin can be transferred to stones, trees and even animals. Many magical customs are built around this idea. In many societies there is no differentiation between the physical and the subtler, spiritual realms. Of course, from personal experience and as a practising Kabbalist, I agree that matter and spirit are “one”; that matter is only “materialised spirit” and spirit only “subtle matter,” all being part of one consciousness manifesting itself “multi-dimensionally,” as it were without boundaries. One could say that for us the experience of these dimensions is like reading a ruler centimetre by centimetre in order to eventually discover that they are all part of the selfsameness of a single, vast, universal consciousness called “I Am.”

However, this idea was understood in a variety of ways by humans early in their long journey towards “civilisation.” Many felt that just as a heavy load, perhaps a sack filled with stones, could be transferred from one person to another, so could illness and sin be interchanged. The viewpoint here is that there are spirit intelligences everywhere. All things, i.e. trees, rivers, stones, air, planets, etc., are alive and filled with power. In fact, this belief is not so primitive as might be supposed by its would-be modern detractors. Even in Kabbalah we talk of Ruchaniyut in the stars or in anything really [Idel, M.: Hasidism: Between Ecstacy and Magic, SUNY Press, Albany 1995; Shulman, D.D. & Stroumsa, G.G.: Self and Self-transformation in the History of Religions, Oxford University Press, New York 2002], and that the smallest manifestation has an angel attached to it. In fact, we claim that even our thoughts and deeds are constantly creating “spirits” within the “fiery river of life” which is streaming into manifestation out of the “Being” of the Eternal Living Spirit.

Though this is a wonderful realisation, and one should think that it would lead to a greater respect for life around us, one has to sadly admit that our actions down the ages prove humanity to mainly comprise selfish opportunists, rarely ready to take personal responsibility for their deeds. If the opportunity presents itself, responsibility will be shifted to make the victim in fact the guilty party in the first instance. This behaviour does not only belong in the arena of modern-day, trigger happy politicians or that of global economics, but reaches way back to prehistoric man, who believed magical activity would grant him the power to control “Spirit Intelligences,” the power over life and death, and to achieve miracles. For example, through magical means involving all kinds of curious rituals, a bad spirit could be banished and directed off course into anywhere else. In this manner an infirm person could be liberated from the evil grip of baneful forces. If this did not work, propitiatory actions might do the trick, amongst which were ways of exchanging ill fortune with a surrogate, i.e. a stone, tree, animal, or even an unwilling victim. Of course, we might think this to be wrong, inconsiderate and rather deplorable, but our opinions will certainly not help much in societies around the world, where people always go for the chance of getting themselves “off the hook” so to speak, and where most of the populace are still thinking only of themselves as “people” and the rest of existence as the “consumables.”

Be that as it may, what we need to understand is that the magical transference of misfortune to both animate and/or inanimate objects, is not only a possibility but a reality generally enacted by many spiritual traditions around the globe. What is more, this often involves fowls, especially chickens. Why? It is traditionally believed that evil spirits are scared of light, and roosters frighten away these baneful entities with their early morning crowing which heralds the rising light. Thus the act of sacrificing roosters and hens was understood to not only placate baneful spirits, but to actually scare them off. This viewpoint was in fact very prominent in ancient Persia, which incorporated Babylonia where the majority of Jews had been living in exile for many centuries, and where the previously mentioned ritual of the Kaparot started. The Persians maintained that the creation of the rooster was for the express purpose of banishing demonic entities [Oliver, P.: Shelter, Sign and Symbol, Overlook Press, Woodstock 1977.].

By the way, the big, red comb of the rooster was another motive for accrediting this creature with a magical nature [Dennis, G.W.: The Encyclopedia of Jewish Myth, Magic and Mysticism, Llewellyn Publications, Woodbury 2007.]. The colour red was then believed to keep evil at bay [Morgernstern, J.: The Rites of Birth, Marriage, Death and Kindred Occasions among the Semites, Hebrew Union College Press, Cincinatti 1966.], an echo of which can be found in the “red string” idea. Another point we should also note is that in Jewish folklore the devil has the legs and feet of a rooster. We might also remember that in Gnostic thinking the rooster was equated with the god Abraxas [Hoeller, S.A.: Gnosticism: New Light on the Ancient Tradition of Inner Knowing, Quest Books, Wheaton 2002; Hoeller, S.A.: The Gnostic Jung and The Seven Sermons to the Dead, Quest Books, Wheaton 1982.].

There is so much information on the “divinisation” and “demonising” of the rooster in the folklore and spiritual traditions of the world, that it would make a most interesting and illuminating research for anyone interested in pursuing the subject.

It was inevitable that a rooster, having so much magical power, should have some of it transferred to the hen, and eventually both would be roped into the sacrificial custom of the transference of sins. What is more, while offering them in lieu of the human, they would at the same time chase the evil forces vying for the sinful soul, and thus was born the Kaparot ritual, even though the ultra-orthodox would have us believe that the rooster was chosen because the Hebrew word Gever means both a “man” and a “cock,” indicating that those who originated the ritual understood this to mean that a rooster could be substituted for a man. In this case this explanation came after the fact [Shkalim, E.: A Mosaic of Israel’s Traditions: Unity through Diversity, edited by Schiowitz, D. and Horwitz, F., Devora Publishing Company, Jerusalem & New York 2006]. There is simply no doubt that this is definitely a heathen custom which ended up in Jewish garb, as did many others.

Probably the main reason for it still being performed in our day, is because Yom Kippur initially did involve sacrifice. Sheep and other “kosher” animals were originally sacrificed in the Temple in Jerusalem as a repentance for the sins of the community. As you probably know, none of the animal species which were sacrificed in the original Temple were allowed to follow the same destiny after the destruction of the Temple in 70 c.e. when prayers replaced animal sacrifices.

Despite the fact that the Kaparot rituals persist within ultra-orthodox communities, this custom is not practised amongst the Sefardim, Holland being a case in point, and many Ashkenazi Jews elsewhere want nothing to do with it. Over the years many have discarded the practice, claiming that there is no history of substitutiary sacrifices in Judaism. These communities offer money instead of blood sacrifice, often placing these in bags or handkerchiefs, usually in values of 18 since this is the gematria of Chai, the Hebrew for “life” [Goodman, P.: The Yom Kippur Anthology, Jewish Publication Society of America, Philadelphia 1971]. As in the case of chickens in the Kaparot ritual, the money is also waved around the head and afterwards given to the poor, usually for them to buy the foodstuffs they require for the sacred holidays.

Now, beside the Kaparot rituals, there are other expiatory customs associated with Yom Kippur, like for example the custom on Erev Yom Kippur (Eve of the Day of Atonement) of asking someone, such as the Gabbai (warden of the synagogue) or the Rabbi, for a portion of Lekach (honey cake). This is considered an exchange for the charity which an individual might have to request during the forthcoming year, as well as a wish that the new year be good and sweet. The custom is meant to cause us to pause and think of those who are in less fortunate positions, and to make us thankful for being the “givers” rather than the “receivers.” A thoughtful life is a thankful life. One can easily combine activity and contemplation, which is definitely one of the highest ideals in Kabbalism, leading to Communion with Eternal Nil. As mentioned in my "Book of Self Creation," the first volume of the "Shadow Tree Series," “the words 'think' and 'thank' derive from the same root meaning “to know,” thus, in terms of our Tradition, the person who really knows, should think and thank all the time” [Swart, J.G.: The Book of Self Creation, The Sangreal Sodality Press, Johannesburg 2009].

Now, another atonement ritual performed by all branches of Jewry during the High Holy Days, which is much more common than the Kaparot ritual, is Tashlich (literally to “cast away”). This is one of my favourite rituals, which is traditionally enacted on the first day of Rosh Hashanah (New Year), when the Rabbi escorts his congregants into nature, to a river or a running stream. Here prayers are uttered in the fresh air, while individuals symbolically divest themselves of past transgressions and detriments, as they pray for a life of blessing and peace in the forthcoming year. Pockets are turned inside-out and crumbs or pieces of bread thrown into the water, as a symbol that we are ridding ourselves, by word and deed, of past sins which may still adhere to us. The bread signifying the sins is cast upon the waters [Chill, A.: The Minhagim: The Customs and Ceremonies of Judaism: Their Origins and Rationale, Sepher-Hermon Press, New York 1979; Crompton, M.: Children, Spirituality, Religion and Social Work, Aldershot, Hants 1998].

The idea of the waters carrying away ones sins is not unusual at all, as the Christian baptism or water lustration clearly indicates. In a similar manner Hindus believe the Ganges washes away the sins of the bathers and carries them out to sea. In Britain folk used to “cast their sins” on the Severn tidal bore, which happened every seven years. The river god Nordens, Gwyn son of Nudd in ancient British, was said to ride this tidal bore [Mabinogian, trans. J. Gautz. Penguin Books Ltd., London 1976]. Although there is no reference in either the Bible or the Talmud to the ritual of Tashlich, which originated way back in antiquity, it is based on the scriptural injunction in Michah 7:19 which reads “And Thou shalt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.”

Now to end this deliberation on some Jewish expiatory rituals, I should point out that though there are no Kabbalistic origins to the custom of the Kaparot, Kabbalists like Isaiah Horowitz and Isaac Luria sanctioned the practice by finding all kinds of hidden meanings in the ritual formulas, but this does not mean that all Kabbalists agreed with these “special insights,” as noticed previously from Rabbi Joseph Karo’s objection to this reprehensible practice.

Of Moles, Warts and Sacred Lights

In the process of "weeding" my PC of seriously dated documents, I chanced upon the following essay which I wrote in 2003. At the time I had started to collect primary and secondary writings on "Divinatory Arts" in Kabbalah, amongst others texts dealing with determining ones character and destiny by scrutinizing ones anatomy, e.g. "Metoposcopy," "Phrenology," "Physiognomy," "Chiromancy," etc. I recall that as I was perusing the mass of documentation dealing with the topic in question, I was having a running conversation with my "Nefesh," my Instinctual Self. I then wrote the said essay which I thought I would share here, in hopes of adding some cheer to the "Festive Season." After all, I do believe "a smile improves ones face value," and what is more, it is also "sooo very serious"! So here goes:

"I thought I would write a special essay on those 'alien visitors' blemishing our skins, the ones we view with either indifference or distaste, and which can be most uncomfortable when it appears that everyone you encounter is scrutinizing them with a morbid fascination.....especially when you are trying to make decent conversation and finding it difficult to concentrate on the subject at hand with this constant diversion of attention. Of course, the real reason for your discomfort is that some of us are quite self-conscious, and read all kinds of meanings in the most casual glances directed at that insignificant little blemish on ones skin.

'But is that taint really that insignificant?' you ask. 'I better have it investigated in case the little blighter is malignant,' says the Paranoid Self.

'There is a deeper, mystical meaning to it,' says the Divining Self.

'What? A deeper meaning?' you query. 'Well....that depends on its size, and where it is placed on the body,' replies the All-knowing Self complacently.

With the sudden realization that the Diviner could read you like an open book by merely looking at moles, warts and such things, you decide you better shut up about the ones located rather strategically on portions of the anatomy which your Embarrassed Self prohibits you from acknowledging, least of all having publically scrutinized!

Soon you discover that this form of divination is part of an enormous study which was considered of great significance in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, comprising not only the examining of moles, but also 'Physiognomy' — the investigation of the proportions of the face and the body; 'Metoposcopy' — a term referring to analyzing the lines on your forehead; 'Chiromancy' - commonly called 'Palmistry'; etc.

With a grateful motion you dismissively wave such matters away, retorting 'Thank heavens Kabbalah did not indulge in this kind of superstitious foolishness,' only to be told that the subject of physiognomy was, and still is, of major significance in Jewish Mysticism. The Merkabah mystics, amongst others, employed physiognomic criteria 'to determine eligibility for admission into the circle of mystics. These criteria have to do with the character of the nose, lips, eyes, eyebrows, eyelashes, and sexual organs, although greatest significance was attached to the lines and letters upon the palm and forehead.'

You suddenly recall that it is written in the Zohar that '.....all happens here below as it does above.....on the firmament which envelops the universe, we see many figures formed by the stars and planets. They reveal hidden things and profound mysteries. Similarly, upon our skin which encircles the human being there exist forms and traits that are the stars of our bodies.' What is more, the famed Ari, Rabbi Isaac Luria, was able to read the entire life of a person expressed in the 'letters' revealed on the forehead of that individual. So what is this curious 'mystical art,' and what are the 'profound mysteries' revealed by the 'stars of our bodies'? Soon you find that the subject comprises many diverse opinions, and is much too large to be dealt with in one casual chat, and as Kabbalah in fact addressed all of the mentioned subjects, you choose to focus on the 'metoposcopical' abilities of Isaac Luria, the 'Lion' of Kabbalah, which will at least divert attention away from embarrassing warts....oy gevalt!!

Apparently Isaac Luria had the curious ability to analyse the character of an individual, by detecting and interpreting the Hebrew letters which are evident on the forehead of that person. Chaim Vital, a disciple of Luria, writes in his Sha'ar Ruach ha-Kodesh regarding his master's psychic abilities saying: 'Concerning his attainments, it is impossible for one to relate them [even] in general terms, no less in detail. However, these are the wondrous and true things which I witnessed with my own eyes: He knew how to make a future soul appear before him, as well as the soul of a living or deceased person, from among the early as well as later sages. He could inquire of them whatever he wished concerning knowledge of the future and secret mysteries of the Torah. The prophet Elijah, may his memory be a blessing, would also appear to him and teach him. He could also recognize the letters on the forehead and [was adept at] the science of physiognomy, as well as at [recognizing] the lights that are upon the skin and body of an individual. [He was also skilled at recognizing] the lights in the hair, the chirping of birds, and the language of trees and plants. [He understood] even the speech of inanimate things, as Scripture says: "For the stone shall cry out of the wall [and the beam out of the timber shall answer it]" (Habakuk 2:11). [He knew] the language of the burning candle and the flaming coal; he was able to see the angels who announce all the proclamations (from on high), as is well known, and to converse with them. His knowledge was expert concerning all the plants and the genuine remedies [which they provided]. There are many other such things which cannot even be related. Those who hear of them will not believe them when told. I have recorded that which my eyes have seen in all truth.'

The art of recognizing Hebrew letters on the forehead is based on that section of Kabbalah called 'Chochmat ha-Partzuf,' i.e. the study of permutations, which in turn is based on the idea that the whole of creation was manifested through a divine language. The view that Hebrew was the primordial language of creation found expression in texts like the Sefer Yetzirah, the Sefer ha-Bahir, and the Zohar, but was developed further in the commentaries and other writings of later Kabbalists. The latter were responsible for an extensive literature in which creation is not only considered to be the result of various combinations [permutations] of the glyphs of the Hebrew alphabet, but that all manifestation is actually 'clothed,' as it were, with these letter combinations. It is important to understand that the letters of the Hebrew alphabet are seen by Kabbalists not only as the instruments of creation, but as primordial divine forms. Sacred writ is thus believed to comprise combinations of 'Divine Names,' in which each 'Name' is a focus of divine force. As these 'Names' are manifested in all life, humans are also expressions of the divine language, each individual radiating a different combination of the divine forces represented in the forms of the Hebrew Alphabet.

Eventually the multitude of speculations regarding this theme, developed into a most practical psychic ability in the case of Isaac Luria's, who could 'read' a person in accordance with the sacred glyphs 'made flesh,' so to speak, in the being and body of that individual. In fact, these sacred forms are believed to be present in every aspect of ones being, thus Lawrence Fine wrote in his essay entitled 'The Art of Metoposcopy: A Study in Isaac Luria's Charismatic Knowledge,' that 'According to Chayyim Vital, the twenty-two letters of the alphabet are present in each of the three aspects of the human soul, in ascending hierarchical order, nefesh, ruach, and neshamah. Each is constructed, so to speak, on the basis of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The character and quality of each set of letters are somewhat different in accordance with the different levels of the soul's tripartite division. The letters present in the nefesh are small, those of the ruach are medium in size, and those of the neshamah are the largest of all. These three dimensions of soul clothe one another, as it were, with the body's skin constituting the outer covering of all.'

Vital explained that the letters, also called 'Lights,' are hidden beneath the skin of a wicked person, but in the case of a person who is purifying the different aspects of his/her being, the divine forces and their expression in the power forms of the Hebrew glyphs are openly revealed on the skin, where 'the skilled eye' can observe them. Again Lawrence Fine writes in this regard that 'The appearance of the letters on the skin allows one who can recognize them and determine their meaning virtually to see the divine part of the human personality, the soul itself. One 'sees' the soul in the sense that the letters are a relatively material expression of that which is otherwise immaterial. In the case of one who has sufficiently mended all three grades of soul, the entire alphabet belonging to each grade will appear, at one time or another, on the body's skin, most especially upon the forehead.'

Chaim Vital maintained that the letters of the soul are best displayed on the forehead, because the entire Hebrew alphabet corresponds to Binah, the sphere of "Understanding" on the sefirotic tree, of which the forehead is a symbol. However, the amount and clarity of the letters disclosed by each person is dependent on his or her level of purity and quality of service in this world. Another factor referred to is that these revealed letters can, and do, form themselves into words, which can be observed at certain times. Again quoting Vital, Lawrence Fine wrote 'Certain letters, however, will appear more brightly than at other times under various conditions. When one performs particular mitzvot, the appropriate letters shine especially brightly on that same day. Sometimes a certain word - such as the word chayyim (signaling that a person can expect to continue in life) - will appear briefly and then disappear. One skilled in this art, then, must be careful to gaze at the right time upon an individual's forehead. An exception is the deed of charity (tzedakah), whose letters remain shining brightly upon one's forehead for an entire week. This is demonstrated by the scriptural text: "And his righteousness (tzidkato) endureth forever" (Psalms 111:3).'

As briefly mentioned earlier on, and as Lawrence Fine further elaborated, 'The level of the soul which one has achieved is also discernible on the basis of the size of the letters which appear. Thus, if a person has only perfected the level of nefesh, the letters will be small, and so on. If an individual manifests only one set of letters, having attained only the level of nefesh, and more than one of a particular letter is required to spell out a word on his forehead, the letter will initially appear brightly in one place in the word, and reappear a second or third time as needed.'

For Kabbalists the letters of the Hebrew alphabet corresponds to the ten sefirot, hence there is the further possibility of viewing those glyphs manifested on the forehead in terms of their sefirotic attributions. In this manner one might determine in those letters that are expressed particularly strongly and most frequently, the 'soul root' of an individual understood as a 'sefirotic root.' Some actions strengthens, as it were, the revelation of the glyphs on the forehead. Reciting the daily 'blessings' is said to be of special significance as one such empowering activity. Again Lawrence Fine wrote: 'The lights of the letters which appear on the skin as a result of reciting berakhot (blessings) are special insofar as there is light surrounding each letter; this surrounding light is more luminescent than that of the letter itself. If one sees that the opposite is the case, that the light of the letter is more intense than the surrounding light, it signals that the blessing was not performed properly.'

Now, whilst we have made special reference to the forehead as far as this divinatory art is concerned, it should be clearly understood that the glyphs of power manifests everywhere in your anatomy, as Chaim Vital wrote: 'Know that in each and every organ of a person's body, there are letters engraved, informing us about that individual's actions. But the primary place is the forehead, as indicated earlier.'

It is somewhat difficult to discuss this subject in absolute detail in this already overly long essay, but I would like to include a couple of anecdotes regarding Isaac Luria's mastery of this art as told by his followers.

Eleazar Azikri reports in his Sefer Charedim, how Luria looked at the face of a sage and told him that 'the transgression of cruelty toward animals is inscribed upon your countenance.' Apparently the sage rushed home in a state of great distress, where he found that his wife had forgotten to feed the turkeys. He promptly took appropriate care of these creatures, and returned to Luria. Not knowing what had transpired, Luria looked at his forehead and informed him that the misdeed is no longer evident, at which point the sage proceeded to tell the Ari what had actually transpired.

Amongst the many anecdotes which Chaim Vital preserved in his books, there is the one in which he tells how Isaac Luria clearly recognized the first three letters of the Hebrew alphabet, i.e. Alef, Bet and Gimel on Vital's forehead. The first two letters, spelling the word Av (father) were well expressed in normal Hebrew, but the third, the Gimel, was shown upside down. Following the message expressed by these indicators, the Ari instructed his student to show kindness to his father.

Clearly Rabbi Isaac Luria was a man of extraordinary talent and ability which goes way beyond the traditional study of Torah and Talmud. Perhaps Chaim Vital was right when he said 'There is no doubt that these matters [i.e., esoteric knowledge] cannot be apprehended by means of human intellect, but only through Kabbalah, from one individual [directly] to another, directly from Elijah, may his memory be a blessing, or directly from those souls which reveal themselves in each and every generation to those who are qualified to receive them'."