English Gematria

To: Thelema93-L
From: twilliam@rain.com (Fra. Doubt-Goat)
Subject: Re: English Gematria (long!)
Date: Tue, 27 Jun 1995 03:23:43 -0500

93

Thought I'd bite the bullet and post the article that I wrote on my
exploration of English gematria. I wrote it with graphics in Word for
Windows 6, so I had to take out the graphics to post here, and have replaced
them with written explanations. If you would like to have the graphics
(various pictures of the Tree in various states), let me know and I'll try
to privately email them out to those who may want them.

I hold copyright for the article (not the ideas!), so if you would like to
repost, or something, let me know.

Enjoy (or Dread)!

Fra. Doubt-Goat
---------------------

New Aeon English Qabalah:

An Introduction
by Fra. Doubt-Goat

"Thou shalt obtain the order & value of the English Alphabet; thou shalt find new symbols to
attribute them unto." - Liber AL vel Legis sub figura xxxi, II:55

A=1 B=20 C=13 D=6 E=25 F=18 G=11 H=4 I=23 J=16 K=9 L=2 M=21 N=14 O=7 P=26
Q=19 R=12 S=5 T=24 U=17 V=10 W=3 X=22 Y=15 Z=8

1=A 2=L 3=W 4=H 5=S 6=D 7=O 8=Z 9=K 10=V 11=G 12=R 13=C 14=N 15=Y 16=J
17=U 18=F 19=Q 20=B 21=M 22=X 23=I 24=T 25=E 26=P

In approximately 1974, a group of English Magickians doing the A.'.A.'. work "discovered'" the
solution to the above problem in Liber AL. Called Cipher Six, or New Aeon English Qabalah
(abbreviated NAEQ6), it is achieved by a relatively simple process. The following is reprinted by
kind permission of the Ancient & Primitive Gnostic Church.

"NEW AEON ENGLISH QABALAH IN ONE LESSON

"In the 19th and early 20th centuries, a number of "inspired" Holy Books appeared, usually having
been channeled in much the same manner as the communications from the dead in medium-ship, or
the messages of the ascended masters in contacteeism and trance channeling.
"The most important of these documents is The Book of the Law, Liber AL vel Legis, given
to Aleister Crowley by the mystifying intelligence Aiwass on April 8, 9, and 10, 1904 for one hour
each day in Cairo, Egypt.
"The existence of an occult cipher hidden in The Book of the Law is mentioned in several
passages. A single page of the original manuscript is written with a unique and mysterious grid
overlay that has since been discovered to reveal not only the original cipher, but many useful
variations. Since this involves reducing words to numerical values, and comparison with the text of
The Book of the Law and other Holy Books, it is better described as a "Cabbalah" or "Qabalah"
(occult interpretation of a holy text through number values) rather than a mere form of numerology.
"It has been discovered that the often strange names of the alleged 'controls' in mediumistic
and channeling cases can be profitably reduced to cipher, and meaningfully "decoded" by using
this cipher in connection with the text of The Book of the Law and related documents. Some of
these meaningful connections precede the discovery of the cipher by over one hundred years.
"The 1974 Cipher Solution to Liber AL vel Legis followed upon the lead of Frater Achad in
his BOOK 31. Studying the strange "grid page" in the original handwritten manuscript, along with
passages that seemed to refer to a cipher, a group of researchers in Britain discovered a cipher
solution involving lettering across the grid page in standard English, and counting down eleven
spaces from A. This brings one to L, and eleven more spaces to W, and so on. A=1, L=2, W=3, etc.
This is the original solution, which led to immediate discoveries.
"Later Frater Lamed of QBLH created a twenty six pointed star (one point for each standard
letter), and, with mainframe computer technology used over a ten year period, developed the
Lexicon Computer Program which, anchored on the A, can generate many thousands of alternate
ciphers. Since then, research has been ongoing by a scattered informal network of New Aeon
Qabalists."

Gematria

The use of gematria, reducing words to numbers and comparing the results to other number
reduced words, looking for correspondences, is very like the use of Zen Koans. Taking often
completely unrelated words and finding the same numerical value is a way to shock the brain off
the normal, rational paths and onto the irrational, symbolically meaningful paths. By dwelling on
that which cannot be comprehended rationally, other portions of the brain are opened to view.
For an example of NAEQ6 gematria, again provided by The Ancient and Primitive Gnostic
Church: THE ORDEAL X = 128 or 1+2+8=11. Likewise BAPHOMET = 128. BABALON = 65
or 6+5=11. SCARLET WOMAN = 128.
The preponderance of the number 11 is predicated by the passage from AL: "My number is 11, as
all their numbers who are of us." I:60. Eleven is the number of Magick. The conjoination of the 6
and the 5, the Microcosm (5, the number of Man), with the Macrocosm (6, the number of "God", or
Man with the 6th element). Also, in the Sephir Yetzirah, it states "The Sacred Sefiroth are Ten
as are their numbers. They are the ten fingers of the hands...There are ten Sefiroth. Ten and nor
nine; ten and not eleven." Of course, this means that the tree can be considered as having 9
sephiroth, Malkuth often being called an appendent to the Tree; or 11 if one counts Da'ath. There
are many other interesting things about the number 11 that further research and meditation will
reveal.

To easily obtain the Cipher, lay out the English Alphabet. Call A=1. Count 11 letters thus:
A 1, B 2, C 3, D 4, E 5, F 6, G 7, H 8, I 9, J 10, K 11. The next letter is L. Call L=2. Count 11
letters thus: L 1, M 2, N 3, O 4, P 5, Q 6, R 7, S 8, T 9, U 10, V 11. Next is W. Call W=3, etc.

A=1 B=20 C=13 D=6 E=25 F=18 G=11 H=4 I=23 J=16 K=9 L=2 M=21 N=14 O=7 P=26
Q=19 R=12 S=5 T=24 U=17 V=10 W=3 X=22 Y=15 Z=8

1=A 2=L 3=W 4=H 5=S 6=D 7=O 8=Z 9=K 10=V 11=G 12=R 13=C 14=N 15=Y 16=J
17=U 18=F 19=Q 20=B 21=M 22=X 23=I 24=T 25=E 26=P

Let's take a few words and see what can be made of them. LAW (the first 3 letters in the NAEQ6
numerical sequence) L=2 A=1 W=3, 2+1+3=6. Six is the number of the sephiroth Tiphereth, the
sphere at which Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel is accomplished.
Crowley was given Liber AL, the Law, by Aiwass, his HGA. AL = 3. Three is the number of the
sephiroth Binah, the first sephiroth that is obtained after crossing the Abyss, and is the "Palace" of
the Master of the Temple, the one who has obtained Great Enlightenment, a bodhisattva.
THELEMA = 102 1+0+2=3. 1=Hadit, 0=Nuit, 2=RaHoorKuit, 1=the Father, 0=the Mother, 2=The
Child, the product of their union. The formula is that of IAO. WILL = 30 3+0=3. LOVE = 44
4+4=8. "Nothing is the secret key of this law. Sixty-one the Jews call it; I call it eight, eighty,
four hundred & eighteen." Liber AL I:46.

In order to understand the future, we much have a firm grasp on the past. The gematria that
most magickians are exposed to first is Hebrew. The Qabalah as we now know it is inexorably
linked with Jewish mysticism. To truly understand Qabalah and it's implications one must study the
source, the Sephir Yetzirah, the Zohar, and other documents of traditional Jewish Qabalah.
Likewise, one should study the history of the Hermetic Qabalah to grasp how others have
taken the framework and adapted it. In Hebrew Qabalah, the Hebrew alphabet is laid out in it's
traditional order. Numbers are then assigned to each letter in order. Aleph=1, Beth=2, Gimel=3,
Daleth=4, He=5, Vav=6, Zayin=7, Cheth=8, Teth=9, Yod=10, Kaph=20 or 500, Lamed=30,
Mem=40 or 600, Nun=50 or 700, Samekh=60, Ayin=70, Pe=80 or 800, Tzadi=90 or 900,
Qoph=100, Resh=200, Shin=300, Tav=400. This is the Hebrew gematria. There is also traditional
Greek and Arabic gematria's, among others.

The numerical values of the Hebrew are assigned sequentially, that is in ascending order,
from first to last, smallest to largest. Aleph equals 1 because they are both first in their respective
orders. There is a magickal method involved (albeit a common one): that of ascending letters
corresponding with ascending numbers. Unfortunately, there are not enough letters to handle the
numerical scheme; five letters are required to do double duty. In the preface to Godwin's Cabalistic
Encyclopedia, David Godwin states, "That the Hebrew system is de-rivative (from the Arabic),
although perhaps at a date far earlier than the Middle Ages, may be indicated by the fact that the
Arabic alphabet contains 28 characters - exactly enough to indicate numbers up to 1,999 without the
somewhat awkward device of using secondary forms of letters such as the
'finals' of Hebrew." In the NAEQ6, the magickal method is that of a himeola pattern, 11 against
26. Consider a set of 11 and a set of 26. Start them both off at the same time, the set of 11 counting
from 1 to 11 and the set of 26 counting from 1 to 26, at a speed ration of 1 to 1. When the set of 11
gets back to 1 again, the set of 26 is on count 12. In order for both sets to be on 1 at the same time
again, the set of 11 will have counted 26 full repetitions and the set of 26 will have counted 11
repetitions. It evenly comes out, one number per letter, with no shortages or overages. Now that's
what I call a Magickal Method.

A simple himeola of 2 against 3 with two full repetitions of the pattern:

1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2
1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3

After 3 sets of 2 and 2 sets of 3 they both link up on 1.A more complex pattern of 11 against 26:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
23 24 25 26 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 etc.

After 26 sets of 11 and 11 sets of 26 they both link up on 1.

So far, everything I've written has been a rehash, with no original

work of my own. Now comes the fun part.

The Tree of Life

The Tree of Life is the Graphic Interface of Qabalah. The ten numbers and twenty-two
Hebrew letters are represented in a visual form with the Tree, making many concepts and ideals
quicker and easier to grasp and manipulate. Memorizing abstracts is faster with a graphic
representation. New ideas and formulas leap out by contemplation of the spatial relationships of the
sephiroth in a visual representation.
The Tree has had many forms over the centuries of it's existence, with a flexible number of
paths, although the usual number has been 22, the number of the letters in the Hebrew alphabet.

(Graphics of 6 versions of the Tree not in this ascii version.)

From 1517 (paths connecting Binah with Chesed, Chokmah with Geburah, no paths connecting
Malkuth with Netzach or Hod), From 1652 (looks like thestandard Tree) From 1708 (no path from
Kether to Tiphereth, no single pathsfrom Chokmah or Binah to Tiphereth but one path forming a
"Y" from Chokmah and Binah to Tiphereth, no path from Chesed to Geburah, no path from Hod to
Netzach, no paths from Malkuth to Hod or Netzach), Tree of Perfection (Malkuth moved up to the
center of the Abyss paths connecting to each nearest sphere), Hidden Paths (a path from each sphere
to everyother sphere), Tree of the New Aeon (my own alteration based on research, four new
paths, from Kether to Chesed and Geburah, and from Yesod to Chesed and Geburah)

The idea of the "Hidden Paths" has fascinated me ever since I first saw them. Here were
these other paths connecting the sephira, a myriad of possibilities. One could conceive of a path
from each sephiroth to every other sephiroth. Every sephiroth would have 9 paths emanating from
it, every sphere would have a direct link with every other sphere.
The sephira have been described as objective experience and the paths as subjective
experience. The sephiroth are ten in number, but the paths? That, I think, is another story.
If we postulate that there are actually forty-five paths, then why do we usually only see 22
on the tree? "There are ten sephiroth as there are ten fingers", this is true of all humans. It is
objectively true. "There are twenty-two paths", this is true if the number of paths is predicated by
the number of letters. The origin of the Tree of Life as we use it is Jewish, thereby it makes sense
that if one were to apply paths to letters that there would be only 22. That is, if you are
Jewish. It is a subjective truth.
What if I wanted to apply the English alphabet to the Tree? I have two choices: 1. I can mutilate
the English alphabet, cutting out letters to make it fit into a box too small for it, or 2. I can
"activate" four of the hidden paths, bringing the number of frequently used paths up to 26.
I have seen attempts at the first solution, but they have always seemed somewhat awkward
and ungainly to me, like cutting off toes to fit a too small shoe. It can work, but seems overly
restrictive.
I refuse to believe that Hebrew is special beyond all other languages. Twenty-two is not an
objective number in the same sense that ten is. I see no reason that twenty-six cannot work just
as effectively. Thereby I have chosen the second solution, which, in combination with Cipher 6,
forms a most eloquent system. New subjective experiences are called for. A New Aeon Is Here
Now. "Behold! The rituals of the old time are black. Let the evil ones be cast away; let the good
ones be purged by the prophet!" - Liber AL II:5.
Evolve or Die. I have chosen to activate the paths joining Kether with Chesed
and Geburah and those joining Yesod with Chesed and Geburah. One of the titles of Geburah is
Will, and a title of Chesed is Love, thus forming the Law of the New Aeon, "Love is the law, love
under Will." The four new paths form a yoni (symbol of Nuit), around Tiphareth (the Sun, symbol
of Hadit). The male encompassed by the female, the female having the male at her core. Also, a
hexagram is formed by the first six sephira, joined by an inverted pentagram formed by the 4th
through ninth sephira at Tiphareth. This gives us the symbol of "God" (appropriately placed in the
"higher" sephira) joining the symbol of Man (placed in the "lower" sephira) at the sphere of the
accomplishment of the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel. In some systems
the hexagram is a male symbol and the pentagram a female symbol. This would describe a formula
for the attainment of the HGA. More meditation will grant further insights.
One of the most interesting things about the Tree is that you can attribute anything and
everything to some path and/or sephira. The Golden Dawn really went over the top with this
concept, attributing everything including the kitchen sink to something on the Tree.
It is the filing cabinet from Hell.Now comes the problem of numbering the paths, including
the newly "activated" ones, and attributing the English alphabet to them. In numbering the paths, I
have broken slightly with tradition and have numbered them in exact numerical sequence, highest
sphere to thevery next lower, etc.
In order to lay the English alphabet on the Tree, I could have chosen the same route that is
used for the Hebrew alphabet, that is, linking the numerical ascension with the alphabetic order.
That way
path #1 would be A, path # 2 would be B, etc. However, if we consider the Tree in it's most
archtypical aspects, we find that the most basic and important of the concepts involved is number.
Have the numbers first make sense and then everything else will follow. Accordingly, I chose to
link the gematric numerical values and the path numbers directly. This way the number of the path
is also it's numeric value. An exact fit is formulated.

(Graphic of the Tree of the New Aeon with Cypher 6 not available in ascii format
Kether to Chomah = #1, A
Kether to Binah = #2, L
Kether to Chesed = #3, W
Kether to Geburah = #4, H
Kether to Tiphereth = #5, S

Chokmah to Binah = #6, D

Chokmah to Chesed = #7, O
Chokmah to Tiphereth = #8, Z

Binah to Geburah = #9, K

Binah to Tiphereth = #10, V

Chesed to Geburah = #11, G (check it out!)

Chesed to Tiphereth = #12, R
Chesed to Netzach = #13, C
Chesed to Yesod = #14, N

Geburah to Tiphereth = #15, Y

Geburah to Hod = #16, J
Geburah to Yesod = #17, U

Tiphereth to Netzach = #18, F

Tiphereth to Hod = #19, Q
Tiphereth to Yesod = #20, B

Netzach to Hod = #21, M

Netzach to Yesod = #22, X
Netzach to Malkuth = #23, I

Hod to Yesod = #24, T

Hod to Malkuth = #25, E

Yesod to Malkuth = #26, P)

The Tarot

In "traditional" Hermetic tarot, the Major Arcana are laid out on the Tree in ascending order,
the path number linking with the card number minus one. In this method, the Fool, card number 0.
is laid onto path #1; the Magician, card number 1 is laid onto path #2, etc. In this scheme a
Hebrew letter is linked with a Trump across their respective ascending orders. Crowley felt a need
to transpose the order of four of the cards, Strength (Lust) with Justice (Adjustment) and the
Emperor with the Star. The reason for this is, I feel, never made completely clear, however, it does
set an interesting precedent.
I do not feel the necessity of changing the order of the cards (though I do use half of
Crowley's changes). What I do feel the need for though, is four new Trumps to go with the newly
activated paths. This is a BIG project that I don't have an answer to at this time, and
feel I won't for many years of intense study to come. The closest ideas I've come up with so far
have been naming the two new paths out from Kether as Order and Chaos, and the two new paths
out of Yesod as some form of Love and Will. As for images, I really don't have a clue at this time.
The whole idea of new paths, new Trumps, a new gematria, a new system adapted to the old
time-tested system for use in a new Aeon is exciting.
I do not hold any "copyrights" on the system so far described. In fact, such an idea as
"ownership" of any qabalistic concept is sheer nonsense. I would like to invite serious students and
researchers to investigate the above proposed system, test it, refine it, add on to it,
see what makes it tick. Evolve. I know I intend to.

article Copyright 1994, Fra. Doubt-Goat

The Horn Of The Doubt-Goat Be Exalted