Concealed Mysteries

and Unheard-of Curiosities :

Jacques Gaffarel’s Defence
of Celestial Writing
and Divine Kabbalah
Peter Forshaw

J a cques Gaffarel is best known for his Curiositez inouyes in which he discusses
Persian talismans, the horoscopes of the Patriarchs and the reading of the stars.
The first part defends « Oriental » religion and philosophy, focusing on ancient
Hebrew traditions in particular, the second considers Persian talismans in relation
to natural and astral magic, the third part discusses the « horoscope of the patri-
archs » or astrology of the ancient Jews, and the final, fourth part concerns itself
with how to read the stars and other heavenly phenomena. Gaffarel discusses the
origins of these various traditions and argues that they are neither diabolical, nor
hostile to Christianity. 1
In the introduction to Curiositez, Gaffarel justifies his choice of the book’s title
by reminding his reader that the curiosities he is discussing, obscure even to their
originators, the Jews, are indeed « unheard of » by most Christians, due to their ig-
norance of the Hebrew language. 2 During the course of these discussions Gaffarel
displays his personal knowledge of Hebrew and with it an interest in a doctrine
that was a relative newcomer to the Christian West, the Jewish tradition of Kab-
balah. This, too, is discussed under the assumption that it is in no way hostile to
Christianity, indeed it is presented as a subject that can only serve to deepen a Chris-
tian’s knowledge of his own religion and guide him on the path to salvation. Fur-
ther reading of Gaffarel’s publications reveals a protracted interest in the subject
of « Oriental » Jewish Kabbalah and its more recent Occidental mutation, Christian
Cabala, concerning which he has been recognised as one of the most prolific au-
thors. 3 This essay shall provide some evidence of the French scholar’s familiarity
with the subject. 4

1
L. Thorndike, A History of Magic and Experimental Science, New York, Columbia University Press,
1923-1958, vii, pp. 304-305.
2
J. Gaffarel, Curiositez Inovyes, sur la Sculpture Talismanique des Persans, Horoscope des Patriarches, et
Lecture des Estoilles, Paris, 1629, sig. [†vi r] and p. 382. For an English translation, see J. Gaffarel, Unheard-
of Curiosities : Concerning the Talismanical Sculpture of the Persians ; The Horoscope of the Patriarkes ; And the
Reading of the Stars, London, 1650, hereafter indicated as uc. All references, unless otherwise noted, will
be to the French edition, hereafter ci ; all translations unless otherwise stated, my own. My thanks to
Yossi Chajes for checking the transliterations and translations from Hebrew.
3
S. G. Burnett, Christian Hebraism in the Reformation Era (1500-1660) : Authors, Books, and the Transmis-
sion of Jewish Learning, Leiden, Brill, 2012, p. 126.
4
On Gaffarel’s Cabala, see S. Campanini, Eine späte Apologie der Kabbala : Die Abdita divinae cabalae
14 peter forshaw

Gaffarel’s Concealed Mysteries

Four years before the appearance of Curiositez, at the age of twenty four, Gaffarel
published a work that sought to defend Cabala against its detractors, to show its
value and justify its existence. Dedicated to his patron Cardinal Armand Richelieu
(1585-1642), the book bore the title Abdita divinae cabalae mysteria, contra sophistarum
logomachiam defensa (Concealed Mysteries of the Divine Cabala, Defended against the
Sophists’ Disputes over Words). The two main disputants that Gaffarel had in mind
were the Italian Professor of Philosophy and Physician Giorgio Raguseo (1579-1622)
and the French Minim Friar Marin Mersenne (1588-1648), both of whom had pub-
lications appear in 1623 that attacked Cabala. In Quaestiones celeberrimae in Genesim
(Oft-repeated Questions about Genesis), Mersenne targeted the cabalistic thought in
Francesco Giorgi’s De harmonia mundi (1525), 1 while Raguseo directed a more gener-
al critique of Cabala in Epistolarum mathematicarum seu de divinatione libri xi (Eleven
Books of Mathematical Letters or On Divination). As such, they represented for Gaf-
farel two of the foremost « contemners of Highest Knowledge ». 2
As should be expected from a scholar who worked as Cardinal Richelieu’s librar-
ian, Gaffarel takes care to provide evidence of a multitude of sources supporting
his claims concerning this « divine Cabala or tradition ». Foremost among recent
sources is the French theologian and Hebraist, Gilbert Génébrard (1537-1597), trans-
lator of many rabbinic works and author of such works as the Isagoge ad legenda &
intelligenda Rabbinorum commentaria (Introduction to Reading and Understanding the
Commentaries of the Rabbis) (1563), Hebraicum alphabetum (1564), an introduction to
the Hebrew alphabet, with a parallel-text reading of the Decalogue, and Chronologia
Hebraeorum major, quae Seder Olam Rabba inscribitur (Greater Chronology of the Jews,
Called the Great Order of the World) (1578). It should be added that Génébrard was
also the teacher of one particularly significant figure in the history of Christian Ca-
bala, cryptography and alchemy, Blaise de Vigenère (1523-1596). 3 Other important
names and works consulted by Gaffarel include Petrus Galatinus (1460-1540), De
arcanis Catholicae veritatis (On the Secrets of Universal Truth) (1561), Johannes Reuchlin
(1455-1522), De arte cabalistica (On the Cabalistic Art) (1517) and Guillaume Postel (1510-
1581), De originibus seu de Hebraicae linguae antiquitate liber (Book on the Origins or the
Antiquity of the Hebrew Language) (1538). 4

mysteria des Jacques Gaffarel, in Topik und Tradition : Prozesse der Neuordnung von Wissensüberlieferungen des
13. bis. 17. Jahrhunderts, ed. T. Frank et al., Göttingen, v&r Unipress, 2007, pp. 293-320. See also its Italian
version in this volume.
1
A. Faivre, Access to Western Esotericism, Albany ny, suny Press, 1994, p. 60. On Giorgio, see W.
Schmidt-Biggemann, Philosophia Perennis : Historical Outlines of Western Spirituality in Ancient, Medieval
and Early Modern Thought, Dordrecht, Springer, 2004, pp. 305-318 ; G. Busi, Francesco Zorzi : A Methodical
Dreamer, in The Christian Kabbalah : Jewish Mystical Books and their Christian Interpreter, ed. J. Dan, Cam-
bridge ma, Harvard University Press, 1997, pp. 97-125.
2
J. Gaffarel, Abdita divinae cabalae mysteria contra Sophistarum Logomachiam defensa, Paris, 1625, pp.
36-37, hereafter indicated as adc.
3
F. Secret, Les Kabbalistes chrétiens de la Renaissance, Paris, Dunod, 1964, pp. 201-203. See B. de Vi-
genère, Traicté du Feu et du Sel (1608), for a combination of alchemy and Cabala.
4
adc, pp. 10-11.
 gaffarel ’ s defence of celestial writing and divine kabbalah 15
It quickly becomes apparent, however, that in the context of Cabala, the « great
prince of philosophers » for Gaffarel is undoubtedly the Italian syncretic philoso-
pher Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463-1494), who has been called the Father of
Christian Cabala. He was the first Christian by birth to devote himself to study-
ing kabbalistic works translated for him by Jewish teachers. Pico absorbed a vast
amount of material from different mainstream and esoteric traditions into his
philosophia nova, including the thought of Aristotle, Plato, Hermes Trismegistus,
Orpheus, Pythagoras and Zoroaster. 1 This resulted in his intellectual synthesis, the
900 Conclusiones philosophicæ cabalisticæ et theologicæ, published in 1486. Here Pico
introduced the Christian West to the mysteries of the Kabbalah in 47 « cabalistic
conclusions » according to « the secret teaching of the wise Hebrew cabalists » and 72
« cabalistic conclusions according to my own opinion », in a context that introduced
major themes of Jewish Kabbalah as found in the thirteenth-century Sefer ha-Zo-
har (Book of Splendour), and works by influential Kabbalists like Abraham Abulafia
(1240-1291), Joseph Gikatilla (1248-c. 1305), and Menahem Recanati (1250-1310). 2 Here
the attentive reader could learn how the science of Cabala was both speculative and
practical, how it concerned itself with divine emanations (Sephirot) and the powers
of divine names (Shemot), and how it was divided into two major concerns, Bereshit,
or the cosmogonical account of divine creation in the Book of Genesis, and Mer-
cavah, reflections on Ezekiel’s vision of the chariot and the notion of theosophical
ascent to the realms of the divine.
At the start of Concealed Mysteries, Gaffarel offers his reader a working definition
of Cabala, glossed as the traditio of the Hebrews, as « nothing other than a certain
mystical exposition of the scriptures, handed down before and after the coming of
the Saviour, Christ ». 3 It is indeed a « more secret exposition of Divine law, received
from the mouth of God by Moses, and from the mouth of Moses to the fathers
by continuous succession, not in fact written, but orally received ». Comparing it
to the quadriga, or four-fold exegesis of Catholic tradition (literal, allegorical, tro-
pological, and anagogical), kabbalistic exegesis most closely resembles « anagogy »,
more sublime than the rest because it « leads us upwards from terrestrial to celestial
things, from sensible to intelligible, from the temporal to the eternal, from corpo-
real to spiritual », in short, « from the human to the divine ». 4
Much of the introductory kabbalistic material in Concealed Mysteries, concerning
creation (Bereshit) and the chariot (Mercavah), the Sephirot and Shemot, explicitly
cites Pico’s Conclusions as the source, 5 as well as demonstrating a familiarity with
Arcangelo da Borgonuovo’s commentary on Pico’s conclusions in Cabalistarum
1
On Pico and Kabbalah, see Secret, Les Kabbalistes, cit., ch. 3 ; K. Reichert, Pico della Mirandola and
the Beginnings of Christian Kabbala, in Mysticism, Magic and Kabbalah in Ashkenazi Judaism, ed. K. E. Gröz-
inger and J. Dan, Berlin, de Gruyter, 1995, pp. 195-207 ; Pico della Mirandola : New Essays, ed. M. V. Dough-
erty, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2008. On Pico as creator of the « first true Christian Ca-
bala », see B. McGinn, Cabalists and Christians : Reflections on Cabala in Medieval and Renaissance Thought,
in Jewish Christians and Christian Jews : From the Renaissance to the Enlightenment, ed. R. H. Popkin and G.
M. Weiner, Dordrecht, Kluwer, 1994, pp. 11-34.
2
S. A. Farmer, Syncretism in the West : Pico’s 900 Theses (1486) : The Evolution of Traditional Religious and
Philosophical Systems, Tempe az, mrts, 1998, pp. 344-363, 516-553.
3
adc, 6. A. Kilcher, Constructing Tradition : Means and Myths of Transmission in Western Esotericism,
4 5
Leiden, Brill, 2010, p. 26. adc, p. 11. adc, p. 15.
16 peter forshaw
selectiora, obscurioraque dogmata (More Select and Obscure Teachings of the Cabalists)
(1569). 1 Gaffarel is well aware that Pico’s Conclusions were condemned by Pope In-
nocent viii, but points out that he was later absolved by Alexander vi. 2 He asserts
that the accusations of « anticabalistae » are unjust, and supports Pico’s arguments
that Kabbalah is extremely useful for the Christian religion as a way of convincing
Jews, Arians, Sabellians and other heretics of the truth of Christianity, particularly
in relation to the doctrine of the Trinity, Christ’s incarnation, virgin birth, crucifix-
ion, death, the mystery of the Eucharist, and the immortality of souls. 3
Gaffarel’s other main source is the « most learned and sagacious » Johannes Re-
uchlin, famous for his two classics of Christian Cabala, De verbo mirifico (On the Won-
der-Working Word) (1484) and De arte cabalistica. 4 The German scholar’s presence is
apparent in Concealed Mysteries even when he is not directly cited, as when Gaffarel
employs terminology only to be found in De arte cabalistica, such as Reuchlin’s idi-
osyncratic use of the terms « cabalici, cabalaei, vel cabalistae », « diligent seekers of
the mysteries of such a venerable tradition », who affirm that Cabala literally means
« reception ». 5 Reuchlin’s definition is passed on verbatim : « Cabala is the symbolic
reception of divine revelation handed down for the salvatory contemplation of
God and separate forms ». 6 This divine revelation was revealed to Adam while he
was sleeping, after which he was then able to give creatures their proper names. 7
It was also revealed to Moses on Mount Sinai. 8 Like Pico and Reuchlin before him,
Gaffarel promotes the value of Kabbalah for understanding the meaning and po-
tency of the divine names and the importance of preserving words of power in the
original Hebrew rather than transliterating them into another alphabet or trans-
lating them into another language. He adduces not only kabbalistic authors but
a whole host of ancient sages in support, including Zoroaster, Orpheus, Hermes,
Plato, Plotinus and Iamblichus. 9
So what was so special about Kabbalah that made it of such potential value for
Christians ? One of the main fascinations for Christian readers was a set of Jew-
ish exegetical techniques, not strictly speaking limited to kabbalistic texts, but by
Gaffarel’s time firmly associated with speculative Kabbalah. 10 Gaffarel explains that
the « ancient cabalaei » expressed by the word Ginat (gnt, written with the three
Hebrew letters, Gimel, Nun and Tau), three different parts of Kabbalah, with each

1 2 3
adc, p. 18. adc, p. 36. adc, pp. 33-34.
4
adc, pp. 30-31. On Reuchlin, see J. Dan, The Kabbalah of Johannes Reuchlin and its Historical Signifi-
cance, in Dan, The Christian Kabbalah, cit., pp. 55-95 ; W. Schmidt-Biggemann, Einleitung : Johannes Reuch-
lin und die Anfänge der christlichen Kabbala, in Christliche Kabbala, ed. W. Schmidt-Biggemann, Ostfildern,
Thorbecke, 2003, pp. 9-48.
5
adc, p. 14, and J. Reuchlin, On the Art of the Kabbalah, trans. M. and S. Goodman, Lincoln, Uni-
versity of Nebraska Press, 1983, p. 63 : « Those who are given this by the breath of heaven are known
as Kabbalics ; their pupils we will call Kabbalaeans ; and those who attempt the imitation of these are
properly called Kabbalists ».
6
Reuchlin, On the Art of the Kabbalah, cit., p. 63 : « Kabbalah is a matter of divine revelation handed
down to further the contemplation of the distinct Forms and of God, contemplation bringing salva-
7
tion ». adc, p. 14.
8 9
adc, p. 15. adc, pp. 51-52.
10
On this point see J. Dan, Kabbalah : A Very Short Introduction, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2006,
p. 63.
 gaffarel ’ s defence of celestial writing and divine kabbalah 17
letter indicating one of three exegetical techniques, Gimetria, Notariacon, and Te-
mora. His source was undoubtedly the thirteenth-century Spanish Kabbalist Joseph
Gikatilla, whose Ginat Egoz (Garden of Nuts), was a classic introduction to kabba-
listic exegesis. All three of these techniques take advantage of the alpha-numeric
nature of the Hebrew alphabet, the 22 letters of which form « the foundation of the
world and the law ». 1 The first technique, Gaffarel continues, is a type of geometria
or arithmetic, on account of its use of the « abstract simplicity of its numbers »,
to generate computations of the numerical values of words and then reveal hid-
den relations between different parts of scripture that bear the same numerical
value. The second technique, Notariacon, is use of the Notae of notaries, whereby
the writer would put a dot over specific letters in a word or set of words, thereby
indicating that they could be combined to create new words or represented acro-
nyms that required further unpacking of meaning. The third technique, Temora, is
the « commutation of elements », whereby the Kabbalist worked through various
substitution tables, transforming one set of letters into another, in order to discover
hidden meanings. 2 Gaffarel displays an enthusiasm for these abbreviations, acro-
nyms, cryptograms and anagrams and provides his reader with many insights and
reflections. Here, let a few examples suffice.
By the use of Gimetria, Gaffarel argues that the king of Salem and priest of El
Elyon, Melchizedek, mentioned in Genesis 14.18 (« And Melchizedek king of Salem
brought forth bread and wine : and he was the priest of the most high God »), was
a prefiguration of Christ, his offer of bread and wine foreshadowing the Eucha-
rist. In a table he shows how the Hebrew letters for the name « Malchitsedek » and
« Iechouah Machiach », i.e., « Yeshuah the Messiah » both add up to the same nu-
merical value of 42 and thus the former could be argued to anticipate the latter. 3 A
similar example in Curiositez is again put to the service of Christian Cabala, when
the reader discovers that the Hebrew words Ioavo Schilo (« [until] Shiloh comes »)
in Genesis 49.10 give the total of 358, exactly the same value as the Hebrew word
Maschiach (Messiah), again with the implication that this is a prediction of the com-
ing of Christ. 4
Gaffarel then offers a simple non-Hebrew example of Notariacon, the famous
Roman acronym s.p.q.r. that expands into « Senatus Populusque Romanus » (Sen-
ate and People of Rome). A more sombre example is the kabbalistic unpacking
of the Hebrew word for man, Adam (adm), the first letter of which signifies Epher
(powder), the second Dam (blood), and the third Marah (bitterness), as if man is
nothing more than bitterness, and sorrow, than blood of corruption and vice, and
ultimately, than powder and ash. 5
One of the best-known instances of commutation of alphabets is found in Jer-
emiah 25.26 and 51.41, where we find the unknown word Sesach. 6 The « targum »
shows that this is an example of Temora, specifically the first method of commuta-
tion, Athbash, whereby the first letter of the alphabet Aleph is transformed into the

1 2 3
adc, p. 27. adc, pp. 19-20. adc, pp. 22-23.
4 5
ci, p. 628. ci, p. 629.
6
See, for example, Jeremiah 51.41 : « Oh, how Sheshach is taken ! Oh, how the praise of the whole
earth is seized ! How Babylon has become desolate among the nations ! » (King James).
18 peter forshaw
last Thau, the second letter Beth into the penultimate letter Shin, and so forth, mov-
ing inwards from the beginning and end of the alphabet. Working backwards from
the word Sesach (ShShK) we discover that the passage is really speaking in an en-
coded way of Babel (bbl). 1 A fairly common example of the anagrammatic method
is the exegesis of Exodus 23.23 that Gaffarel provides in Curiositez, when God said
to the children of Israel « My angel shall go before you ». In answer to the question,
« Which angel ? », one need only rearrange the Hebrew letters of the word Malachi
(mlki – « my angel ») to arrive at the name Michael (mikal). 2
The kabbalistic exegete is always ready to deconstruct words, to break them
down into their most basic elements, into syllables, individual letters, in fact even
into the basic shapes that form these letters. From this deconstruction, new words
can be generated. One of the best-known instances of this involves speculation on
the first words of Genesis and Gaffarel provides a few examples. The first word of
the Torah is Bereshit (BRAShIT – « In the beginning »). This can be broken down into
the letters BR AShIT, read as Bar Ashi – « I shall put a son ». 3 A cabalist of a Christian
persuasion would immediately be able to make the connection that the « son » in
question is the second person of the Trinity and that this was proof that Christ
existed at the beginning, before Creation – a refutation of the Arian denial of the
divinity of Christ. The word Bereshit can be permutated once more to discover the
words Ashrey Bat (AShRI BT – « blessed daughter »), by which is to be understood
the Virgin Mary. 4 The second word of Genesis 1.1, Bara (« [he] created »), is formed
of the Hebrew letters BRA, which Gaffarel duly informs us denote the words Ben
(Son), Ruach (Spirit) and Ab (Father), i.e., the Holy Trinity : « The word begins with
Beth or Son, first, because he is made a visible man and mortal, to the experience
of the senses before the two other divine persons. The letter Resch or Ruach, i.e.
Spirit, is put in the middle to show the divine emanation, by which the Holy Spirit
proceeds from the Father and the Son ; and finally Aleph, is the Father ». 5 One last
example is to take the final letters of the first three words of Genesis : Bereshit Bara
Elohim (« In the beginning God created »). These three letters, Aleph, Mem, and Thau,
form the Hebrew word Emet, meaning « Truth », denoting Christ as the Way, the
Truth, and the Life. Furthermore, Gaffarel tells us that the letters of the word Emet
can be « arranged by the cabalistic art » to generate the phrase El (God) Adam (Man)
Met (is dead), with the message that Christ who is the Truth, the Theanthropos, God
and Man, died for the salvation of mankind. 6
Such ideas and approaches did not convince everyone, however, and, as men-
tioned above, Gaffarel devotes space in Concealed Mysteries to his refutation of the
Sophists and their logomachia, or « disputes over words ». He systematically works
through a list of Raguseo’s and Mersenne’s primary reasons for rejecting Cabala.
These include challenging the notion of merely ten Sephirot on the tree of life, each
with their own related divine name, with the argument that there are far more

1 2
adc, p. 47. ci, p. 630 (mispaginated as 632).
3
adc, p. 21, or « I shall put/place/appoint a son ».
4 5
adc, p. 21. adc, p. 23.
6
adc, p. 21. For the story of the Golem with the word Emet on its forehead, see M. Idel, Golem : Jewish
Magical and Mystical Traditions on the Artificial Anthropoid, Albany ny, suny Press, 1990, p. 64.
 gaffarel ’ s defence of celestial writing and divine kabbalah 19
names that could be added. This is followed by their denial of any particular mys-
tery to the most powerful Hebrew name, the « tetragrammaton » yhvh, as well as
the rejection of any value in the transposition of other names, because absurdities
can arise. For example, by reversing the letters of the name El (God), one has the
word Lo (Not), which hardly seems appropriate as a secret appellation of the god-
head. 1 Neither do Raguseo or Mersenne believe that Hebrew words have any intrin-
sic power, nor that demons are moved by the power of such words, but by the maj-
esty of God ; as such Hebrew is no more efficacious than Latin. This is surely true
because the Church no longer makes use of Hebrew. All arguments for Hebrew as
the natural language of man are rejected and claims that Adam imposed names on
animals according to their innate properties are dismissed, with the argument that
he did it merely according to external accidents. Furthermore, the original Hebrew
characters that existed before the Babylonian captivity have long since been lost. All
of these statements constitute a definite rebuff of kabbalistic and magical claims to
the power of language. 2
Gaffarel responds by conceding, along with Hermes Trismegistus, that in truth
« God has no name », but goes on to point out that many of the names used actu-
ally designate functions or works, for which reason he is called « love », by which
he draws believers to him, and is called « light », which illumines all coming to him.
Citing St Hilarius, Gaffarel agrees that there is a host of epithets that could be
used, including « word, virtue, wisdom, pearl, treasure, fountain, stone, lamb, man,
calf, eagle, lion, way, truth, life ». As for why the Hebrews chose ten names of God
rather than nine or eleven (an issue raised over a millennium earlier in the proto-
kabbalistic Sefer Yetzirah, that is, Book of Creation), he reminds his reader that the
denary, the number ten, is a perfect number, recalling especially the doctrines of
Pythagoras ; doubtless bearing in mind Reuchlin’s equation of Jewish Cabala and
Neopythagorean doctrine. 3 In support of the uniqueness of the divine name yhvh,
Gaffarel cites Rabbi Moses the Egyptian, i.e., Maimonides, who declares in his fa-
mous Guide for the Perplexed that all names of God arise from divine works, except
for yhvh. 4 Gaffarel then points out that the letters of this divine name are particu-
larly special because they are all « circular » numbers, which when multiplied by
themselves reproduce themselves : Yod = 10, He = 5, and Vav = 6. 5 This intimates
that « God is a true sphere, and proceeds in all things in a spherical manner ; for he
reduces all things into himself, just as all things proceed from him ». 6 What bet-
ter verbal expression of God’s divine majesty could there be, then, than the word
yhvh ?
The Concealed Mysteries, though, is more than simply a digest of some of the en-

1
adc, p. 37. See G. Raguseius, Epistolarum mathematicarum seu De divinatione libri duo, Paris, 1623, p.
363, hereafter indicated as em. On Raguseo, see S. Campanini’s and S. Taussig’s articles in this volume.
2 3
adc, pp. 36-38. adc, pp. 38-39.
4
Note that the Aristotelian Maimonides is not generally held to be a Kabbalist, despite the fact that
Abraham Abulafia wrote a kabbalistic commentary on his Guide for the Perplexed. See M. Idel, Maimo-
nides and Kabbalah, in Studies in Maimonides, ed. I. Twersky, Cambridge ma, Harvard University Press,
1990, pp. 31-81.
5
See M. Idel, Judah Moscato : A Late Renaissance Jewish Preacher, in Preachers of the Italian Ghetto, ed. D.
6
B. Ruderman, Berkeley, University of California Press, 1992, pp. 41-66 : 54. adc, p. 44.
20 peter forshaw
igmatic aphorisms of Pico and the learned expositions of Reuchlin ; nor is it merely
a refutation of two of the more vocal anti-kabbalists. Gaffarel in fact takes a state-
ment by one of the antagonists and uses it as a spring-board for his consideration
of a taxonomy of Cabala when, in one of his marginal notes, he states that « More
recent cabalists (cabalistae) recognize a threefold Cabala ». 1 His unnamed source for
this threefold division must surely be one of his disputants, Raguseo, who provided
just such a distinction in his Books of Mathematical Letters, in Book 2, Letter 5, devot-
ed to the subject of Cabala (the sixth being on Magic, the seventh on Necromancy,
and so forth). There Raguseo divides Cabala into that « of the Jews », « of the Magi-
cians », and « of Raymund ». 2
We have already touched on the « Cabala of the Jews », which Gaffarel and Ragu-
seo both appear to present as primarily speculative mystical expositions of divine
scripture, exegetical material concerned with Bereshit and Mercavah. 3 As for the third
category, the « Cabala of Raymund », both men mean the Catalonian Franciscan
missionary and philosopher Ramon Lull (1232-1315), most famous for his works on
mnemotechnics. Raguseo describes Lull’s Cabala as « a certain art invented by him,
by which, in a brief space of time, it is alleged that one can easily teach oneself all
sciences ». The book Raguseo and Gaffarel have in mind is the pseudonymous trea-
tise, De auditu kabbalistico (On Kabbalistic Hearing), first published in Venice in 1518. 4
Although the word « kabbalistic » is included in the title, little of the book really
has much overt relation to Jewish Kabbalah, and the work is more concerned with
Lull’s famous wheels with their associated letters and philosophical qualities. The
work does include a definition of Kabbalah as « reception of the truth of anything
divinely revealed to the rational soul ». It even deconstructs the word « Kabbalah »
as composed of two other words, namely « abba », which « in Arabic » (Arabice, cu-
riously not Hebraice) means « father », and « ala », which (again « in Arabic ») means
« my God » ; as for the letter k, that means nothing other than « conveying » (impor-
tans). The whole word (K-abba-ala), then, can be glossed in Latin as « Pater abun-
dans sapientia » (Father abounding in wisdom). Lull, or rather Ps.-Lull, concludes
his reflection on the word by stating that « Kabbala, therefore, is a cognitive habit of
the rational soul from right reason of divine things ». 5 While On Kabbalistic Hearing
has little that really originates in Jewish Kabbalah, it is easy to see how some Chris-
tian practitioners, like Pico, would be attracted to the book’s references to divine
names, angels, combinations of letters and symbolic geometry, ultimately giving
rise to a kind of Lullian Kabbalah. 6

1
adc, p. 14.
2
See Raguseo’s letter on cabala to Giovanni Andrea, in em, pp. 327-371 : 330 : « Cabala triplex [...] Ca-
3
balam Raimundi, Magorum, & Hebraeorum distinguitur ». em, p. 334.
4
H. J. Hames, The Art of Conversion : Christianity and Kabbalah in the Thirteenth Century, Leiden,
Brill, 2000, p. 2. P. Zambelli, Il De auditu kabbalistico e la tradizione lulliana nel Rinascimento, « Atti
dell’Academia Toscana di Scienze e Lettere, La Colombaria », xxx, 1965, pp. 115-247, repr. in Eadem,
L’apprendista stregone : Astrologia, cabala e arte lulliana in Pico della Mirandola e seguaci, Venice, Marsilio,
1995, pp. 55-172, has shown that De auditu kabbalistico was most likely written by Pietro Mainardi in the
fifteenth century.
5
(Ps.-)Ramon Lull, Opusculum Raymundinum de auditu kabbalistico, s.l., 1601, 4 : « Est igitur Kabbala
habitus animae rationalis ex recta ratione divinarum rerum cognitivus ».
6
On Kabbala lullianea, see A. B. Kilcher, Kombinatorik als meditations und mnemotechnisches Verfahren
 gaffarel ’ s defence of celestial writing and divine kabbalah 21
When it comes to the middle category, the « Cabala of the Magicians », Raguseo
defines it as « an occult science, by which marvellous effects can be achieved by ob-
serving specific dispositions of the stars, and bringing together active and passive
substances, sometimes just with the powers of nature, but other times with the
assistance of demons ». 1 He does not attach the name of any particular authority or
practitioner to this definition, but it would appear that he had in mind the magical
Abbot Johannes Trithemius (1462-1516) and his protégé Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa
(1486-1535), author of the famous De occulta philosophia libri tres (1533). Both men are
mentioned in Raguseo’s letter on magic, in a distinction between the black magic
of « goetia » and the white magic of theurgy, together with the physician Pietro
d’Abano (1250-1316), reputed author of the well-known Heptameron, or Magical Ele-
ments. 2
Gaffarel likewise mentions these famous magi in Concealed Mysteries and possibly
has in mind other practitioners of magic and cabala like Heinrich Khunrath (1560-
1605) and Robert Fludd (1574-1637) whom he discusses in Curiositez. 3 We should cer-
tainly not make the mistake of assuming that Gaffarel approves of all magicians.
In a passage where he refutes his opponents’ erroneous ideas about Cabala, he
pays particular attention to an article in Quaestiones celeberrimae in Genesim, where
Mersenne condemns « onomancy », « diabolical divination from [calculating the nu-
merical value of someone’s] name ». Gaffarel’s response is that « while [Mersenne]
wishes and orders others to pay no attention to the alphabets of that experienced
onomantist, of Agrippa, of Cattanus, and of other most senseless magicians, he
himself openly teaches about them ». Rather than destroying the foundations of
such practice, in Gaffarel’s opinion, Mersenne seems rather to be stabilising them. 4
Gaffarel appears to have scant sympathy for these practices, for the reference to
« insensissimorum magorum alphabeta » is not Mersenne’s but his own. Indeed, by
claiming that « onomantists, magicians and cabalists only differ in name, when in-
deed they are worlds apart », Mersenne has confused the « deservedly damned oc-
cult doctrine of Agrippa » with Cabala. 5
Although it may now sound as though Gaffarel frowns on magical practice, this
is not the case. Like Pico and Reuchlin before him, he does not restrict himself to

in der Kabbala und im Lullismus, in Meditation und Erringerung in der frühen Neuzeit, ed. G. Kurz, Göttingen,
Vandenhoeck, 2000, pp. 99-119 : 114 ; A. Coudert, The Impact of the Kabbalah in the Seventeenth Century : The
Life and Thought of Francis Mercury van Helmont (1614-1698), Leiden, Brill, 1999, p. 85 ; Hames, The Art of
Conversion, cit., ch. 3 in particular. For a reference to Pico’s association of the letter combinations of Kab-
balah and Lull’s art, see C. Wirszubski, Pico della Mirandola’s Encounter with Jewish Mysticism, Cambridge
ma, Harvard University Press, 1989, p. 259.
1 2
em, p. 331. em, pp. 390-391.
3
A. B. Kilcher, ‘Ars memorativa’ und ‘ars cabalistica’ : Die Kabbala in der Mnemonik der Frühen Neuzeit,
in Seelenmaschinen : Gattungstraditionen, Funktionen und Leistungsgrenzen der Mnemotechniken vom späten
Mittelalter bis zum Beginn der Moderne, ed. J. J. Berns and W. Neuber, Vienna, Böhlau, 2000, pp. 199-248 :
213. On Khunrath, see P. J. Forshaw, Curious Knowledge and Wonder-Working Wisdom in the Occult Works
of Heinrich Khunrath, in Curiosity and Wonder from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment, ed. R. J. W. Evans
and A. Marr, Aldershot, Ashgate, 2006, pp. 107-129.
4
See M. Mersenne, Quaestiones celeberrimae in Genesim, Paris, 1632, cols. 1391-1400. By « Cattanus », the
two are referring to Marsilio Ficino’s disciple, Francesco Cattani da Diacceto (1466-1522).
5
adc, pp. 67-68.
22 peter forshaw
the promotion of Kabbalah simply as an exegetical technique, for he insists that
there is also a practical form. 1 While the speculative part concerns itself with God,
the angels, and [Platonic] Ideas, what is contemplated is not only how God and the
celestial spirits operate but also how knowledge of Kabbalah may be applied to
human uses, as was the case, he believes, with « ancient lovers of theosophy » like
Empedocles, Democritus, Plato and Pythagoras. 2 Elsewhere, Gaffarel distinguishes
between « that black diabolic » magic and a licit magic by which the Oriental wise
men, especially the Persians, investigating the hidden things of God and nature,
performed wonders by applying active to passive things for human benefit. 3 This,
of course, was to be the subject of much of Curiositez, published four years later,
with its wealth of information on the creation of Persian talismans and their re-
lation to astrology. Already in Concealed Mysteries, Gaffarel is promoting this licit
form of magic, defined, he reminds his reader, by Pliny, as being a combination of
three sciences : theology, medicine and astrology. Apparently, we are told, Cabala is
composed of the very same three sciences. The first of these is for the purgation of
the spirit, so that it is ready for occult understanding ; the second is for recognising
the virtues of herbs, stones, metals, and their sympathies and antipathies ; while the
third is for the observation of motions of the heavenly bodies and various influ-
ences on sublunary things, in order to know the best times for magical operations. 4
The main person Gaffarel praises for such an understanding of magic is that long-
time guest of the Hispanic and Papal prisons, Tommaso Campanella (1568-1639).
Gaffarel was so impressed by Campanella’s De sensu rerum et magia (1620), which
he defended against the condemnations of Mersenne, that he visited Campanella
in his Roman prison in 1628 (recounted the following year in Curiositez), and was
instrumental in the publication of Campanella’s De reformatione scientiarum Index
(Index on the Reformation of the Sciences) in 1633. 5

Kabbalistic Knowledge in Gaffarel’s Curiositez

Gaffarel’s engagement with kabbalistic knowledge, both speculative and practical,
continues in Curiositez, where he furnishes his reader, for example, with lists of the
« Zephirotz » on the kabbalistic tree of life, providing the terms in Hebrew, in trans-
literation and then in translation. 6 He continues to draw from a mixture of Jewish
and Christian sources, citing, for instance, the « Abraham in his Ietsira, or Book of
Creation » and Simeon Bar-Iochay in the Zohar, curiously crediting Reuchlin, rather
than Pico, as the « first in a barbarous century who began to discover something
about Cabala ». 7
As part of his general desire to argue that astrology is licit and that its images are

1
On Kabbalah in relation to operative forms of magic, see C. Zika, Reuchlin’s De Verbo Mirifico and
the Magic Debate of the Late Fifteenth Century, « Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes », xxxix,
1976, pp. 104-138 : 107. On the question of the operativity of Pico’s Kabbalah and magic, see Farmer,
2
Syncretism in the West, cit., pp. 128-132. adc, p. 16.
3 4
adc, p. 15. adc, p. 16.
5
G. Ernst, Tommaso Campanella : The Book and the Body of Nature, Dordrecht, Springer, 2010, pp. 232-
6
233. See adc, p. 68 ; ci, p. 267. ci, p. 421.
7
ci, p. 549. On Simeon, ci, pp. 588 (mispaginated as 590)-599.
 gaffarel ’ s defence of celestial writing and divine kabbalah 23
natural and neither idolatrous nor diabolical, and to convince his opponents that
Hebrew, rather than some other language like Arabic or Samaritan, is indeed the
original language of God and creation, Gaffarel draws connections between Kab-
balah and astrology. 1 His best-known manifestation of this are the two large fold-
out plates of « celestial writing » at the very end of Curiositez, in which he presents
the heavenly constellations as Hebrew characters. In support of this belief, he turns
again to the opening words of Genesis, this time the first five words : Bereshit Bara
Elohim et haschamaim (« In the beginning God created heaven »). By claiming that the
untranslated Hebrew particle et stands for the word ot, i.e., « letter », Gaffarel feels
justified in translating the opening phrase of Genesis as « In the beginning God cre-
ated the letter or character of heaven ». 2 The idea of celestial writing had, of course,
been touched on by Pico in his Disputations against Judicial Astrology and Agrippa in
Three Books of Occult Philosophy, and Postel claimed that he had the ability to read
everything in nature from the Hebrew characters in the stars. 3 Gaffarel appears
to have been the first to attempt to reproduce the idea in an engraving, in order
to support his conviction, contrary to Raguseo and Mersenne, that Hebrew was
indeed the true natural alphabet, that its letters could be seen in the constellations,
and that the heavens could be read like a book. He acknowledges the presence of
celestial characters in recent publications – one of the 72 ancient and magical alpha-
bets in Virga aurea (Golden Rod) (1616) by James Bonaventure Hepburn (1573-1620/21)
and one of many discussed in Claude Duret’s Thresor de l’histoire des langues de cest
univers (1613) – but he is correct in suggesting that the characters in his engraving
are a little bit different. 4 Instead of presenting his celestial Hebrew alphabet in an
orderly alphabetical table in the style of a grammarian or cryptographer, Gaffarel
offers an engraving of cabalistic astronomy, his « alphabetum Hebraeum coeleste »,
in which the Hebrew letters are scattered through the heavens like constellations,
with the assurance that the Rabbis say that « on a calm and clear night one can see
all the Hebrew characters perfectly figured in the sky ». 5
Towards the end of Curiositez, Gaffarel provides examples of Hebrew words that
can be discerned in the heavens, words formed from the celestial characters that
predict the fates of kingdoms. By way of illustration, he discusses a time when five
of the principal stars that form the head of the constellation Medusa announced
the desolation of Greece. This was clear to the experts in this science from the way
the characters formed the Hebrew word Charab, which can be translated as « to be
desolate ». The explanation Gaffarel offers his readers is pure kabbalistic Gimetria :
the Hebrew words for « Greece » (Iavan) and « desolation » (Charab) can be reduced
to the same numerical value, 12. 6 Additional advice for reading these characters
1 2
ci, pp. 607-608. Cf. Thorndike, A History of Magic, cit., vii, pp. 305-306. ci, p. 583.
3
S. J. Rabin, Pico on Magic and Astrology, in Dougherty, Pico della Mirandola, cit., pp. 152-178 : 174 ; H.
C. Agrippa, Three Books of Occult Philosophy, trans. J. Freake and ed. D. Tyson, St. Paul mn, Llewellyn,
1993/1997, p. 406. On Postel, see ci , pp. 597-601.
4
For a facsimile of the 72 different alphabets, magical seals, and other images in Hepburn’s publica-
tion, see F. de Mély, La Virga aurea du Fr. J.-B. Hepburn d’Écosse, Milan, Archè, 1984. For a table labelled
« characteres celestes », see C. Duret, Thresor de l’histoire des langues de cest univers, Cologne, 1613, p. 119.
5
ci, p. 608.
6
ci, pp. 621-622. For further examples, see ci, pp. 631 (mispaginated as 633)-656. Cf. T. Browne, Pseu-
dodoxia epidemica, London, 1658, p. 286, on the « cabala of the stars ».
24 peter forshaw
again has a kabbalistic ring to it : if one wishes to know and understand the future
prosperity of a kingdom (or anything else), one should read the starry letters that
are placed directly above it, or are not far from that position, reading the words they
form from the West to the East. If, on the other hand, you are seeking knowledge
about misfortunes, then the characters should be read from the North to the West. 1
The heavenly letters, like those in the Hebrew scriptures, are evidently open to a
similar flexibility of reading practices and represent a practice where astrology and
Kabbalah can be combined.
There does, however, seem to be a change in attitude between the 1625 and 1629
publications. In Concealed Mysteries, Gaffarel is intent on defending Kabbalah against
its gainsayers, but in Curiositez, he is also policing the boundaries, apparently more
judgmental concerning the claims other proponents of Christian Cabala are mak-
ing about its meaning and use. He is also now well read on the subject of Hebrew
astrology and is clearly extremely critical of the opinions of other Western writers
and confidently contradicts Agostino Ricci, Heinrich Khunrath and Joseph Justus
Scaliger, all of whom he claims have written erroneously on the subject. He rejects,
for example, the « strange doctrine of Riccius and Kunrath, concerning the plan-
etary Zephirots » :
That of Augustinus Riccius, of Kunrath, and of some of the Later Rabbins, is altogether as
Impertinent ; where they assure us, that the Ancient Hebrew Astrologers disposed of the
Ten Zephiros, in several Parts of the Heavens ; alloting Seven of them to the Seven Planets,
which are the Authors of all those Effects, say They, which we impute to the Stars, distribut-
ing Good, and Evill Fortune to Mankind. 2
Although I know of no such passage in Khunrath’s works and little by Ricci has sur-
vived, the doctrine that Gaffarel finds abhorrent is one associating the Decalogue
with the planets. 3 He tells us that Ricci and Khunrath claim that Moses instituted
the Commandments based on his knowledge of astrology. The Fourth command-
ment, to keep the Sabbath Day holy, is due to Saturday being governed by the ma-
lign planet Saturn ; hence it is better to abstain from any work on that day in order
to avoid negative results. The Fifth, to honour thy father and mother, is related to
the benign planet Jupiter ; the Sixth, Thou shalt not kill, to Mars, and so forth. 4 The
very suggestion that the Ten Commandments were composed by a man, even a
divinely inspired man like Moses, rather than by God himself would, of course,
have been anathema to the vast majority of Christians.

1
ci, pp. 624-625. He admits that he has no idea why this should be the case.
2
ci, p. 442 = uc, p. 291. Here I have adopted the English translation of 1650.
3
On Agostino Ricci, see Secret, Les Kabbalistes, cit., pp. 81-82.
4
ci, pp. 443-444. See also G. Michaelis, Notae in Jacobi Gaffarelli Curiositates, Hamburg, 1676, pp. 330-
333, n. 73, regarding Gaffarel’s statement « Non minus absurda est opinio de Sephirotz », where he pro-
vides additional information on this passage, drawing from Archangelo de Burgonuovo’s commentary
on Pico’s Cic conclusions, providing such information as « Astrologia divina dicitur Cabala » (Cabala is
called divine Astrology). Michaelis provides lists of correspondences between the 10 Sephirot and the
members of the human body, the spheres of the heavens, and the orders of the angels, moving from
terrestrial, via celestial, to supercelestial realms. See F. Secret, Le commentaire de Gregorius Michaelis sur
les Curiositez inouies de Jacques Gaffarel, in Alchimie et philosophie à la Renaissance, ed. J.-C. Margolin and
S. Matton, Paris, Vrin, 1993, pp. 423-434.
 gaffarel ’ s defence of celestial writing and divine kabbalah 25
Unfortunately, for some, Curiositez were apparently also unspeakable monstrosi-
ties : the work was condemned by the Faculty of Theology at the Sorbonne shortly
after its publication as « entirely to be disapproved », « false, erroneous, scandalous,
opposed to Holy Writ, contumelious towards the Church Fathers, and supersti-
tious besides ». 1 Gaffarel’s « reveries » on the celestial writing were called into ques-
tion and he was accused of being a « rank impostor ». 2 Nevertheless, the engravings
of « celestial characters » enjoyed some celebrity and we find Sir Thomas Browne
(1605-1682) commenting on the « strange Cryptography of Gaffarel in his Starry-Book
of Heaven » in his highly Hermetic The Garden of Cyrus (1658). 3

Conclusion
Like many of the Western scholars interested in Kabbalah, Gaffarel clearly believed
that it could be of service to Christianity, be that for discovering new truths in fa-
miliar passages of scripture, confirmation of the Christian message, or new meth-
ods to dispute with Jews and to further missionary attempts at conversion. His in-
terest, moreover, extends beyond the frame of religion and ranges into the realms
of astrology and natural magic. Gaffarel himself displays a great familiarity with
genuine Jewish texts as well as with the Christianised Cabala of his coreligionists.
There is evidence that he had strong contacts with contemporary Jews and even
encouraged their publications, although he did not always see eye to eye with their
beliefs. One such example is Leon Modena (1571-1648), whom Gaffarel assisted in
getting Historia de gli Riti Hebraici (History of the Rites of the Jews) published in Paris
in 1637. 4 It is an irony of history, then, that two years later Modena was to publish
Ari Nohem (A Roaring Lion) (1639), a « frontal attack on Kabbalah », in particular on
its Christian manifestation. 5 Neither this disappointment nor the harsh criticism
Gaffarel’s own work received from the authorities did much, however, to dampen
his ardour for the subject of Kabbalah. As Cardinal Richelieu’s librarian, he contin-
ued to purchase kabbalistic books and manuscripts for the collection and in 1651, a
full quarter of a century after the appearance of Concealed Mysteries, he published
the Codicum cabalisticorum manuscriptorum index, a catalogue of three kabbalistic
manuscripts that, in a prefatory letter to his friend Gabriel Naudé, he triumphantly
1
Thorndike, A History of Magic, cit., vii, p. 306, citing Carolus Du Plessis d’Argentré, Collectio judicio-
rum de novis erroribus, Paris, 1755, ii, p. 285.
2
R. Simon, Bibliothèque critique ou recueil de diverses pièces critiques, Amsterdam, 1708-1710, ii, p. 237.
3
T. Browne, Garden of Cyrus, London, 1736, p. 19. On Browne, see J. Odger’s article in this volume.
Cf. also J. C. Steeb, Coelum Sephiroticum Hebraeorum, Mainz, 1679, p. 7, which opens with a long quote
from the Latin edition of Gaffarel’s Curiositez ; see also p. 67. During a discussion of authorities on Ca-
bala in his Introductio ad historiam philosophiae Ebraeorum (Introduction to the History of the Philosophy of the
Jews), Halle, 1702, p. 335, the theologian and philosopher, Johann Franciscus Buddeus (1667-1729) praises
Gaffarel as one of the first to discuss celestial writing.
4
A. Ben-Zaken, Cross-Cultural Scientific Exchanges in the Eastern Mediterranean, 1560-1660, Baltimore,
Johns Hopkins University Press, 2010, p. 98 ; S. G. Burnett, From Christian Hebraism to Jewish Studies :
Johannes Buxtorf (1564-1629) and Hebrew Learning in the Seventeenth Century, Leiden, Brill, 1996, p. 88.
5
T. Fishman, Shaking the Pillars of Exile : ‘Voice of a Fool’, an Early Modern Jewish Critique of Rabbinic
Culture, Stanford, Stanford University Press, 1997, p. 170 ; Y. Dweck, The Scandal of Kabbalah : Leon Mode-
na, Jewish Mysticism, Early Modern Venice, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2011, especially Ch. 5 : « A
Jewish Response to Christian Kabbalah ».
26 peter forshaw
claimed had formerly belonged to that « Phoenix of Geniuses Pico della Miran-
dola ». 1 In this light, Gaffarel’s interest in Christian Cabala should be seen not just
as the recovery of an ancient esoteric tradition, but as part of the humanist venatio
scientiae, a book-hunt with all the scholar’s enthusiasm for rediscovering secret and
lost writings, be those writings in manuscripts or in the stars. 2

1
J. Gaffarellus, Codicum cabalisticorum manuscriptorum, quibus est usus Ioannes Picus Comes Mirandu-
lanus, Index, Paris, 1651, pp. 7-18 : 7 : « ingeniorum Phoenix Picus Mirandulanus ». For details of this codex,
which contained material by Menahem Recanati and Eleazar of Worms, see Dweck, The Scandal of Kab-
balah, cit., pp. 158-159. Gaffarel’s codex was republished as part of J. C. Wolf, Bibliotheca Hebraea, Ham-
burg and Leipzig, 1715. On Naudé and Gaffarel, see S. Taussig’s and F. Gabriel’s articles in this volume.
2
Kilcher, Constructing Tradition, cit., p. 26.