#qabalah

I've seen a lot of back and forth over the years regarding the spelling of the word 'magick'. I figured it's about time I explain my reasons for refusing to drop the 'K' despite the occasional backlash. To me, 'magic' and 'magick' are two completely different things. Magic is a stage magician pulling a rabbit out of their hat. Magic is something whimsical and wonderous, like a rainbow unicorn or a vivid sunset.

Magick with a 'K' intends to convey the art and science of causing change to occur in conformity with one's own will and intentions. It's been around since the 1600's, it wasn't popularized by Aleister Crowley until the late 20th century. Regardless of how you feel about the man, Crowley was strongly influenced by Qabalah and Gematria, ancient mystical systems known for highlighting the importance of numerology and grammar. 'K' is the 11th letter of the alphabet, 11 represents divine connections and the power to manifest one's will. Adding 'K' to magick changed the spelling from 5 letters to 6, 6 being the number of unconditional love, nature, temperance, creativity, the hexagram, and the planet Venus.

Magick is a word of power, an ancient spell in and of itself. It hasn't ever had any other meaning and its a word made to physically and spiritually represent witches and practioners of the craft. To desregard it is to disregard not only the history, but also the legitimacy and seriousness of the craft.

In summary, do what works for you in the end, but you probably shouldn't reject an entire word because someone you don't agree with used it. That's just putting unnecessary limits on yourself and your potential.

Secrets of the Clow, Part II: Inner Workings

As promised in my previous post on the topic, here I will break down how I organized my personal deck inspired by Sakura Kinomoto’s cards throughout Cardcaptor Sakura and Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card Arc and what creatively liberties I took in order to ensure the most complete representation of the various card fairies depicted in these works.

I hope that by sharing this process you can start thinking about how you would formulate your own cartomancy system!

This post is part of my Magi Praxis series. If you have any suggestions for future topics, or you have attempted anything I have shared and want you share your experiences, please send me a message! I am always happy to go back and provide further explanation as well. ☆

There's a saying that goes "two Jews, three opinions" meaning we all have different opinions. Here's mine.

Anything Qabala comes from Kabbalah. It was not initially created disrespectfully, but there have been magical practitioners since that denigrate Judaism and Jewish people while practicing Qabala. You actually can't practice Kabbalah unless you're Jewish, so Qabala is very different. Just practice Qabala with respect for Jewish people and knowledge of where it comes from and you're fine.

There's also a lot of spirits in the Goetia that come from reference of the Hebrew Bible or Medieval Jewish texts like the Alphabet of Ben Sirach, which is a parody that was controversial among the Jewish community at the time of its original publication. The Bible is how we see Astaroth and Beelzebub either are or are in reference to deities worshipped by ancient Hebrews and the neighboring Ugarits.

Lilith comes from the Alphabet of Ben Sirach so while there is a misunderstanding online about her being a Jewish goddess she's actually not. She's a dark figure in a parody text published centuries after the foundational texts of Judaism and was never meant to be a model for worship. I don't know what that makes Lilith, but I did meet her once so I know she's certainly something and I don't think humans have the right to tell other humans to not worship her based off misinformation. Worshipping her is simply not a standard Jewish practice and so it does not belong among the accepted practices, such as celebrating Passover, that goy (non-Jews) must abstain from practicing. Nothing you ever do with that goddess is going to look Jewish unless you are a Jew bringing your own Judaism into practice with her.

Again, this is my opinion and likely other Jews will tell you something different. It's ultimately up to you what you choose to do in your practice. My interest is that in everything, Jewish or not, the world benefits when we practice conscientiousness in everything we do.

Welcome back to my series of:

“you can’t always get what you want”

🪬🪬🪬

Theres more to this world than the physical.

When you conquer the want for physical possessions, you will start to gain what your heart truely desires.

GREED IS AN ACT OF SURVIVAL

The Qabalists believed chiefly that Creation was initiated by God turning outwards, and allowing it to emanate out from Him and down, in accordance with the emanation theories of the neo-Platonists. This theory was turned upside-down by the famous Qabalist Isaac Luria who lived and worked in the Galileian city of Safed during the 16th century. According to Luria, instead of Creation beginning with God focusing his power towards one point, it began with God withdrawing himself away from an area. God, or Ain Soph, creates a void in its own limitlessness. Here God can create the world without, pantheistically, becoming one with it. Notwithstanding, God creates the world by entering down into His self, becoming increasingly demarcated. The first act of God is to create demarcation and emptiness, i.e. a primordial darkness.