m1thr0s
08-02-2006, 05:50 PM
This image has already been posted at abrahadabra.com but I am going to be moving a number of the more technical drawings to the forums anyway to allow for open discussion. The significance of this glyph is that it provides us with a visual proof, based upon simple geometry, demonstrating that the formula of Abrahadabra has a special relationship to the Qabbalistic Tree of Life. I am especially curious to see if anyone will ever be able to effectively dispute this proof because it is to my way of thinking fundamentally irrefutable and forms the basis of most of my thesis...well...at least that part of it that links Abrahadabra to the Tree of Life. Abrahadabra could actually act as a stand-alone Body-of-Light model in itself, but it just so happens to synchronize with the conventional Tree in a fairly astonishing sort of way.
The Abrahadabra Grid
http://abrahadabra.com/images/treestar01.gif
Throughout this discussion I will be periodically referring to the *Abrahadabra Grid*, which, for me, is second nature but may not be clear to everyone else. The grid is built around the most common way of expressing Abrahadabra itself...as a series of descending letters following this pattern:
A
A B
A B R
A B R A
A B R A H
A B R A H A
A B R A H A D
A B R A H A D A
A B R A H A D A B
A B R A H A D A B R
A B R A H A D A B R A
This pattern is often presented upside down where the objective is to reduce *an illness* from greater to lesser strength, but this is not the only way to approach the formula. It is useful to keep in mind that it ultimately runs in both directions, however. To begin looking at the geometry itself, it is useful to eliminate the letters and replace them with simple points like this:
•
• •
• • •
• • • •
• • • • •
• • • • • •
• • • • • • •
• • • • • • • •
• • • • • • • • •
• • • • • • • • • •
• • • • • • • • • • •
This gives us a grand total of 66 points. By connecting all points with straight lines we get a grid comprised of 66 points and exactly 100 equilateral triangles, counting all ascending and descending examples and excluding the large triangle comprised of the smaller ones. The example above is obviously an ascii variation, not quite equilateral due to the limitations of type fonts.
Before looking at how Abrahadabra intergrates the Tree of Life, it first needs to be recognized that there is more than one version of the Tree of Life in circulation and they don't all follow the same logics or symmetries. Not only are there various models within Qabbalah itself, but there are Trees of Life from numerous other cultures, stretching as far back as the Sumerians that we know of, and it's anybody's guess what might have existed previous to this. The Sepher Yetzirah (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sepher_Yetzirah) itself does not really address the geometry of the Tree of Life...it does not tell us exactly what goes where and in what proportion or according to what ratios etc. It outlines a system of Sephira and Paths and that's it. Everything that comes after has been a fishing expedition on one level or another. Here is an example of at least one other well known Tree arrangement:
http://abrahadabra.com/images/tol.medieval.gif
Found on a woodcut from medieval europe, this image is actually not quite accurate, since it does not correctly display the 22 paths but does at least give us a fairly accurate depiction of the symmetry of the Sephira themselves. This essential arrangement is still preferred among many traditional Hebrew Qabbalists, though it has generally been displaced by the more symmetrical Four Worlds arrangement among contemporary Hermetic Qabbalists. We are perhaps beginning to gather from this that these two camps are not exactly the same thing, and indeed they are not. Hermetic Qabbalah pools from a lot of different sources and is more likely than Hebrew Qabbalah to venture into uncharted waters. Oftentimes this is a very good thing but it does have its risks as well. Experienced theorists take the time to aknowledge these kinds of differences since, in the end, it weakens the legitimacy of any theoretical model to tout it as "traditional", when in fact it is not. People who make blanket statements about the Tree of Life as though it were all the same thing should not be regarded as having any real degree of expertise.
The second thing we need to familiarize ourselves with is the Tetractys of the Decad (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetractys). The Tetractys is virtually all over Abrahadabra so that it is really quite startling that no one seems to have very much addressed it before now. Historically, it predates the Qabbalistic Tree of Life, though not Trees of Life in general. Pythagoras made a huge deal of the Tetractys, referring to it as *The manifestation of God on Earth* (ie Logos) and regarded it in the highest esteem. It was considered to contain within itself all the mysteries of the Universe and was the central object of worship in Pythagoreanism generally. Like the Tree of Life, it is a base 10 numerology that makes the fullest possible use of 3's and 4's in particular. It contains the entire Qabbalah of 9 Chambers within itself and is said to be at the heart of Shemhamphorasch and numerous other core numerological systems. If there were no Tree of Life, the Tetractys itself would soon enough reveal one...
Tetractys of the Decad
http://abrahadabra.com/images/tetractyspoints01.gif
It would be impossible to do the Tetractys any kind of justice just in passing and is a topic I will be returning to at other points in this whole discussion. For the moment it is sufficient to say that it should be researched independantly as a means to fully understanding Abrahadabra's wholer significance. Over time it will be observed that so many Pythagorean concepts are embedded in the formula of Abrahadabra as to render it an heir apparent extension of his known work. It would not be surprizing to finally discover that it does in fact originate from this work directly. For the time being we do not know that of a certainty but can only marvel at the parallels as they unfold.
The specific form of the Tree of Life that is most clearly revealed in Abrahadabra has no distinguishing thematic name that I know of, and it is unfortunate that occult philosophy has not been more disciplined regarding its own variations upon themes. For want of any better term, I will refer to it as the *Four Worlds Arrangement*. Though I have searched for its precise point of origin, I cannot say that I have been able to ascertain this either but it has been around since Renaissance times at least and has attained significant prominence owing to the internal consistency of its logic with all other related elemental theories and assertions. To build the Tree of Life upon this standard we begin with 4 concentric rings (or spheres) representing the four cardinal elements:
Four Worlds Arrangement
http://abrahadabra.com/images/fourworlds01.gif
Next we simply connect intersections and outer vertical cusps of our intersecting circles to give us our Sephira (also Sepheroth). Here it will be noted that there are 2 coordinates that are defined in the geometry that do not attain actual numbers...both aligned along the outer cusps of Atsiluth. The Highest point corresponds to the 3-fold seat of Ain - Ain Soph - Ain Soph Aur, which we find depicted in medieval alchemical woodcuts positioned just above Crown (Sephira #1) and is the root source of all the Sepheroth. The Lower is called Daath (Knowledge), bridging the Supernals to the worlds below.
The Sephira
http://abrahadabra.com/images/sephira01.gif
Once we have our Sepheroth laid in we can then go ahead and connect the 22 Paths which typically number 11-32 and correspond to the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet, the 22 Major Arcana from the Book of Thoth and a whole battery of elemental and attribution assignments too numerous to delve into here. Perhaps owing to the visual awkwardness of displaying Ain - Ain Soph - Ain Soph Aur, it would very rarely be depicted in anything but the most technical of drafts. It is not directly connected to the Tree and there are no paths linking it. The finished structure should look something like this:
The 22 Paths
http://abrahadabra.com/images/22paths01.gif
I am obviously flying through this stuff about as fast as anyone possibly could, but it should also be observed that its relative simplicity is one of the great strengths of the Four Worlds Arrangement. At the level of its geometry, it's pretty much a slam-dunk alignment that is very easy to remember once you have been through it a few times. Now that we have our Tree configured, we are in a good position to go back in and take a look at what is really going on with the Abrahadabra Grid...
Grid Proof #1
http://abrahadabra.com/images/gridproof01.gif
Our first (and possibly most compelling) proof consists of being able to establish that the Four Elemental Worlds themselves fit the Abrahadabra Grid perfectly. An exact fit with no remainders...nothing short and nothing left over. You have to bear in mind with this that everything actually boils down to points themselves. The dimensions we assign to the sephira is something we lay in for our own aesthetic convenience, but the real issue rests with the points. If the points converge...the thing is a perfect fit. What we find occuring here is that not only some of the points match, but literally every single critical point convergence within the Four Worlds configuration finds an exact correspondence within the Abrahadabra Grid...without exception.
Returning to the Tetractys of the Decad, observe closely what is going on internally at each sphere. If you look closely you will observe that each circle is balanced by an internal equilateral triangle comprised of 10 points in 4 tiers. In other words, each sphere is balanced by its own internal Tetractys, progessing according to this same pattern all the way to the bottom.
Now it happens that the Tetractys of the Decad is a form of the Lo Shu Diagram itself which, like the Lo Shu, carries 9 "Chambers" as defined by the number of equilateral triangles that 10 points arranged in this way yields, which is always 9. This is a very important feature of the Tetractys that endows it with its own "Qabbalah of 9 Chambers", among other things. This also means that the entire force of Bigrammaton resides within each of the Four Elemental Worlds when balanced against the Abrahadabra Grid...something we might not really have harnessed otherwise. It would still be there as a potential, but here it's an integral function of the fusion itself...just one of the "perks" that goes along with fitting these particular circles to this particular triangle. Because Bigrammaton is the hub of a much larger enginery, we may also know from this that Trigrammaton, Tetragrammaton and Hexagrammaton are there as well, so we have good reason to suppose that in this configuration, each of the Four Elemental Worlds is being backed by the full force of the 729 Ternary Hexagrams, of which the 64 Binary Hexagrams are a mathematical subset. It is no insignificant matter that our middle pillar extends to 6 "Lines" in height, flanked by Trigrams on either side, something I will delve into more deeply at a later time.
Grid Proof #2
http://abrahadabra.com/images/gridproof02.gif
Sometimes the best way to demonstrate what is there is to hyphenate what is not there... In this glyph you should have no problem determining where exactly on the Abrahadabra Grid the missing sephira should seat. It may be a little difficult for some at first to recognize that we are not simply talking about one thing fitting on another here, the way a hat might fit on a hat-tree for instance. Rather we are talking about being able to construct the Tree of Life right on the Abrahadabra Grid itself, such that for all practical intents and purposes, the Tree of Life can be seen to be a logical subset and a natural extension of the Abrahadabra formula. Once observed, any child of average intelligence could come along and construct the entire Tree of Life from scratch, from the highest to the lowest rungs, on the unembellished grid. One only really needs to make this conscious connection just once to be able to see it clearly from there on out. One way or another, that amounts to a stunning degree of geometrical synchronization between Grid and Tree.
Grid Proof #3
http://abrahadabra.com/images/gridproof03.gif
I call this proof the *Secret Chiefs*. I have already shown that the Tetractys of the Decad is a core ingredient in the Four Elemental Worlds, but here it comes to bear again at the level of the entire Abrahadabra Grid. I actually didn't catch onto this for a few years owing to the fact that we are ordinarily accustomed to seeing the Tetractys displayed in points or letters, whereas here it shows up at healm to the 100 internal triangles themselves. What is being demonstrated here is something quite remarkable and, to the best of my knowledge, has never before presented in any kind of public way. It identifies a unique system of Sephira integral to Abrahadabra itself which are very similar in many respects to the 10 Sephira on the Tree of Life, save only that they are an independant system that are operating in tangent with the Tree Sephira but are not otherwise directly connected to them in any way.
This is just one of many evidences I have unearthed over time indicating that what we are looking at in Abrahadabra itself is actually 2 unique anatomical engines occupying the same essential space and time coordinates. We know what to call the Tree of Life, but what do we call the other? It has been my *hunch* from the very beginning that the only proper thing to call it is a *Star*. Abrahadabra may actually be a *sleeper* science of some kind...a pragmatic hermetic physics of star anatomy as it applies to human beings, awaiting only the proper conditions to awaken. In practical application, it comes off very much like *macrocosm* to the Tree of Life as *microcosm*, something completely unexpected viewing matters from the perspective of the Tree alone. It is still too early on in things to be absolutely certain of this, however. Anything this potentially important has to be approached with the utmost caution, but having said that, after nearly 30 years of studying this puzzle from all possible angles, I can still find no better technical explanation for everything that appears to be going on with this so-called *magickal* formula.
Perseverance Furthers,
m1thr0s
The Abrahadabra Grid
http://abrahadabra.com/images/treestar01.gif
Throughout this discussion I will be periodically referring to the *Abrahadabra Grid*, which, for me, is second nature but may not be clear to everyone else. The grid is built around the most common way of expressing Abrahadabra itself...as a series of descending letters following this pattern:
A
A B
A B R
A B R A
A B R A H
A B R A H A
A B R A H A D
A B R A H A D A
A B R A H A D A B
A B R A H A D A B R
A B R A H A D A B R A
This pattern is often presented upside down where the objective is to reduce *an illness* from greater to lesser strength, but this is not the only way to approach the formula. It is useful to keep in mind that it ultimately runs in both directions, however. To begin looking at the geometry itself, it is useful to eliminate the letters and replace them with simple points like this:
•
• •
• • •
• • • •
• • • • •
• • • • • •
• • • • • • •
• • • • • • • •
• • • • • • • • •
• • • • • • • • • •
• • • • • • • • • • •
This gives us a grand total of 66 points. By connecting all points with straight lines we get a grid comprised of 66 points and exactly 100 equilateral triangles, counting all ascending and descending examples and excluding the large triangle comprised of the smaller ones. The example above is obviously an ascii variation, not quite equilateral due to the limitations of type fonts.
Before looking at how Abrahadabra intergrates the Tree of Life, it first needs to be recognized that there is more than one version of the Tree of Life in circulation and they don't all follow the same logics or symmetries. Not only are there various models within Qabbalah itself, but there are Trees of Life from numerous other cultures, stretching as far back as the Sumerians that we know of, and it's anybody's guess what might have existed previous to this. The Sepher Yetzirah (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sepher_Yetzirah) itself does not really address the geometry of the Tree of Life...it does not tell us exactly what goes where and in what proportion or according to what ratios etc. It outlines a system of Sephira and Paths and that's it. Everything that comes after has been a fishing expedition on one level or another. Here is an example of at least one other well known Tree arrangement:
http://abrahadabra.com/images/tol.medieval.gif
Found on a woodcut from medieval europe, this image is actually not quite accurate, since it does not correctly display the 22 paths but does at least give us a fairly accurate depiction of the symmetry of the Sephira themselves. This essential arrangement is still preferred among many traditional Hebrew Qabbalists, though it has generally been displaced by the more symmetrical Four Worlds arrangement among contemporary Hermetic Qabbalists. We are perhaps beginning to gather from this that these two camps are not exactly the same thing, and indeed they are not. Hermetic Qabbalah pools from a lot of different sources and is more likely than Hebrew Qabbalah to venture into uncharted waters. Oftentimes this is a very good thing but it does have its risks as well. Experienced theorists take the time to aknowledge these kinds of differences since, in the end, it weakens the legitimacy of any theoretical model to tout it as "traditional", when in fact it is not. People who make blanket statements about the Tree of Life as though it were all the same thing should not be regarded as having any real degree of expertise.
The second thing we need to familiarize ourselves with is the Tetractys of the Decad (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetractys). The Tetractys is virtually all over Abrahadabra so that it is really quite startling that no one seems to have very much addressed it before now. Historically, it predates the Qabbalistic Tree of Life, though not Trees of Life in general. Pythagoras made a huge deal of the Tetractys, referring to it as *The manifestation of God on Earth* (ie Logos) and regarded it in the highest esteem. It was considered to contain within itself all the mysteries of the Universe and was the central object of worship in Pythagoreanism generally. Like the Tree of Life, it is a base 10 numerology that makes the fullest possible use of 3's and 4's in particular. It contains the entire Qabbalah of 9 Chambers within itself and is said to be at the heart of Shemhamphorasch and numerous other core numerological systems. If there were no Tree of Life, the Tetractys itself would soon enough reveal one...
Tetractys of the Decad
http://abrahadabra.com/images/tetractyspoints01.gif
It would be impossible to do the Tetractys any kind of justice just in passing and is a topic I will be returning to at other points in this whole discussion. For the moment it is sufficient to say that it should be researched independantly as a means to fully understanding Abrahadabra's wholer significance. Over time it will be observed that so many Pythagorean concepts are embedded in the formula of Abrahadabra as to render it an heir apparent extension of his known work. It would not be surprizing to finally discover that it does in fact originate from this work directly. For the time being we do not know that of a certainty but can only marvel at the parallels as they unfold.
The specific form of the Tree of Life that is most clearly revealed in Abrahadabra has no distinguishing thematic name that I know of, and it is unfortunate that occult philosophy has not been more disciplined regarding its own variations upon themes. For want of any better term, I will refer to it as the *Four Worlds Arrangement*. Though I have searched for its precise point of origin, I cannot say that I have been able to ascertain this either but it has been around since Renaissance times at least and has attained significant prominence owing to the internal consistency of its logic with all other related elemental theories and assertions. To build the Tree of Life upon this standard we begin with 4 concentric rings (or spheres) representing the four cardinal elements:
Four Worlds Arrangement
http://abrahadabra.com/images/fourworlds01.gif
Next we simply connect intersections and outer vertical cusps of our intersecting circles to give us our Sephira (also Sepheroth). Here it will be noted that there are 2 coordinates that are defined in the geometry that do not attain actual numbers...both aligned along the outer cusps of Atsiluth. The Highest point corresponds to the 3-fold seat of Ain - Ain Soph - Ain Soph Aur, which we find depicted in medieval alchemical woodcuts positioned just above Crown (Sephira #1) and is the root source of all the Sepheroth. The Lower is called Daath (Knowledge), bridging the Supernals to the worlds below.
The Sephira
http://abrahadabra.com/images/sephira01.gif
Once we have our Sepheroth laid in we can then go ahead and connect the 22 Paths which typically number 11-32 and correspond to the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet, the 22 Major Arcana from the Book of Thoth and a whole battery of elemental and attribution assignments too numerous to delve into here. Perhaps owing to the visual awkwardness of displaying Ain - Ain Soph - Ain Soph Aur, it would very rarely be depicted in anything but the most technical of drafts. It is not directly connected to the Tree and there are no paths linking it. The finished structure should look something like this:
The 22 Paths
http://abrahadabra.com/images/22paths01.gif
I am obviously flying through this stuff about as fast as anyone possibly could, but it should also be observed that its relative simplicity is one of the great strengths of the Four Worlds Arrangement. At the level of its geometry, it's pretty much a slam-dunk alignment that is very easy to remember once you have been through it a few times. Now that we have our Tree configured, we are in a good position to go back in and take a look at what is really going on with the Abrahadabra Grid...
Grid Proof #1
http://abrahadabra.com/images/gridproof01.gif
Our first (and possibly most compelling) proof consists of being able to establish that the Four Elemental Worlds themselves fit the Abrahadabra Grid perfectly. An exact fit with no remainders...nothing short and nothing left over. You have to bear in mind with this that everything actually boils down to points themselves. The dimensions we assign to the sephira is something we lay in for our own aesthetic convenience, but the real issue rests with the points. If the points converge...the thing is a perfect fit. What we find occuring here is that not only some of the points match, but literally every single critical point convergence within the Four Worlds configuration finds an exact correspondence within the Abrahadabra Grid...without exception.
Returning to the Tetractys of the Decad, observe closely what is going on internally at each sphere. If you look closely you will observe that each circle is balanced by an internal equilateral triangle comprised of 10 points in 4 tiers. In other words, each sphere is balanced by its own internal Tetractys, progessing according to this same pattern all the way to the bottom.
Now it happens that the Tetractys of the Decad is a form of the Lo Shu Diagram itself which, like the Lo Shu, carries 9 "Chambers" as defined by the number of equilateral triangles that 10 points arranged in this way yields, which is always 9. This is a very important feature of the Tetractys that endows it with its own "Qabbalah of 9 Chambers", among other things. This also means that the entire force of Bigrammaton resides within each of the Four Elemental Worlds when balanced against the Abrahadabra Grid...something we might not really have harnessed otherwise. It would still be there as a potential, but here it's an integral function of the fusion itself...just one of the "perks" that goes along with fitting these particular circles to this particular triangle. Because Bigrammaton is the hub of a much larger enginery, we may also know from this that Trigrammaton, Tetragrammaton and Hexagrammaton are there as well, so we have good reason to suppose that in this configuration, each of the Four Elemental Worlds is being backed by the full force of the 729 Ternary Hexagrams, of which the 64 Binary Hexagrams are a mathematical subset. It is no insignificant matter that our middle pillar extends to 6 "Lines" in height, flanked by Trigrams on either side, something I will delve into more deeply at a later time.
Grid Proof #2
http://abrahadabra.com/images/gridproof02.gif
Sometimes the best way to demonstrate what is there is to hyphenate what is not there... In this glyph you should have no problem determining where exactly on the Abrahadabra Grid the missing sephira should seat. It may be a little difficult for some at first to recognize that we are not simply talking about one thing fitting on another here, the way a hat might fit on a hat-tree for instance. Rather we are talking about being able to construct the Tree of Life right on the Abrahadabra Grid itself, such that for all practical intents and purposes, the Tree of Life can be seen to be a logical subset and a natural extension of the Abrahadabra formula. Once observed, any child of average intelligence could come along and construct the entire Tree of Life from scratch, from the highest to the lowest rungs, on the unembellished grid. One only really needs to make this conscious connection just once to be able to see it clearly from there on out. One way or another, that amounts to a stunning degree of geometrical synchronization between Grid and Tree.
Grid Proof #3
http://abrahadabra.com/images/gridproof03.gif
I call this proof the *Secret Chiefs*. I have already shown that the Tetractys of the Decad is a core ingredient in the Four Elemental Worlds, but here it comes to bear again at the level of the entire Abrahadabra Grid. I actually didn't catch onto this for a few years owing to the fact that we are ordinarily accustomed to seeing the Tetractys displayed in points or letters, whereas here it shows up at healm to the 100 internal triangles themselves. What is being demonstrated here is something quite remarkable and, to the best of my knowledge, has never before presented in any kind of public way. It identifies a unique system of Sephira integral to Abrahadabra itself which are very similar in many respects to the 10 Sephira on the Tree of Life, save only that they are an independant system that are operating in tangent with the Tree Sephira but are not otherwise directly connected to them in any way.
This is just one of many evidences I have unearthed over time indicating that what we are looking at in Abrahadabra itself is actually 2 unique anatomical engines occupying the same essential space and time coordinates. We know what to call the Tree of Life, but what do we call the other? It has been my *hunch* from the very beginning that the only proper thing to call it is a *Star*. Abrahadabra may actually be a *sleeper* science of some kind...a pragmatic hermetic physics of star anatomy as it applies to human beings, awaiting only the proper conditions to awaken. In practical application, it comes off very much like *macrocosm* to the Tree of Life as *microcosm*, something completely unexpected viewing matters from the perspective of the Tree alone. It is still too early on in things to be absolutely certain of this, however. Anything this potentially important has to be approached with the utmost caution, but having said that, after nearly 30 years of studying this puzzle from all possible angles, I can still find no better technical explanation for everything that appears to be going on with this so-called *magickal* formula.
Perseverance Furthers,
m1thr0s