Kabbalah: The Yoga of the West

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The focus for today is on the Kabbalah, the Jewish mystical tradition. We are going to explain how Kabbalah is the basis of Western mysticism, Western esotericism in the Judeo-Christian tradition. A lot of people who are Christian or Jewish often do not understand or have any awareness of the Kabbalah. This mystical tradition is the root of these faiths, and therefore if we wish to have a better understanding, of perhaps Judaism or Christianity, it is important to know what Kabbalah is.
 
Dione Fortune, a Western writer, from the Western esoteric tradition, explained that Kabbalah is the yoga of the West. Now, it is important to understand what she means by yoga. It is also important to understand what Gnosis, real wisdom, is, because these are the principles of our tradition, of which we study, and of which Kabbalah is a part. 

​Gnosis, Wisdom, and Yoga

​Gnosis is a Greek term relating to the Old English cnawlece, “the acknowledgment of a superior, honor, worship,” which is from cnawan, “to perceive,” related to Sanskrit, Jna. This term applies to a very particular and specific experience in which our consciousness, the real root of who we are, acknowledges a superior state of being.
 
It is the recognition, the worship, the veneration of the sacred, of the eternal. It means to directly perceive within oneself, divinity. Not only is it a perception of the divine, through mystical experiences of which Kabbalah teaches, but it is the understanding of them.
 
Sometimes these experiences come in the form of dreams, visions. When the body is asleep, the consciousness can awaken to realities beyond the body, beyond our material perception. But, obviously, if you’ve studied dreams, your own psychology, you may realize that there is a lot of chaos in it. It is disordered, disorganized. This commonly reflects our daily state: what we are beneath the surface of our common perception.
 
This is why in our tradition we study ourselves. We learn to discriminate with our awareness, the nature of our states, whether we are physically active or whether we are in the dreaming state. प्रज्ञ Prajna: “discriminative awareness” is “consciousness” or “wisdom.” It is the ability to perceive phenomena, not only physically, but when we dream, so that we can understand their contents. By learning to discriminate what is inside of ourselves, we can expand consciousness. Dreams do not only need to be a disorganization of the psyche, they can represent or can reflect superior types of visions. These are states of consciousness, some people call lucid dreams, in which we perceive realities with great lucidity and clarity.
 
But not only that, we can receive wisdom through symbols, experiences from our inner God.  This is the Tibetan shes rab, “perfect knowledge.” It is knowledge of higher realities. It is knowledge of God.  It is the experience of the divine, and by learning to experience our inner divinity, we perform real yoga.  We begin to unify ourselves. This term योग yoga does not refer to physical postures and calisthenics. It is the Sanskrit term for union. This is similar to the Latin religare, the root word for religion. It is the union of a soul with the truth in which we become familiar with the heights, with the supreme reality.

​The Origins of Kabbalah

​Now, Kabbalah is very interesting because in its etymology, Kabbalah means “to receive.” It means to experience the divine, as we see here with Moses on Mount Sanai receiving the Decalogue from Jehovah. This represents a mystical, internal, reality. It’s a symbol. It’s a myth that represents something that can occur within us when we know how to meditate.
 
In a state of prayer, contemplation, reflection, we can receive insights when the mind is clear, like in this image. When the clouds part within our mind, when obscurations, habitual thoughts, afflictive memories and mental states subside, when they suspend, when they still, light can enter.
 
We can receive, through symbols and dreams, visions, revelations from heaven. This is the origin of Kabbalah, the Jewish mystical tradition. Now, it is important to remember that, according to many scholars of Kabbalah, like Gershom Sholem, who is a German-Israeli philosopher and writer on conventional academic Kabbalah, they believe that Kabbalah means “tradition” and that it is the transmission of knowledge from master to disciple through a successive chain of lineage.  This writer also mentioned that Kabbalah is a tradition, is a movement, and that as a tradition or as a school of thought, it developed over time, especially within 13th and 14th century Spain and France.
 
While this type of historical knowledge is very admirable and useful for understanding some religious context, it does miss a very important point: Kabbalah is the mystical revelation of the soul with divinity. These truths are eternal. They are not dependent upon a particular culture, a particular race, a particular philosophy. This knowledge of universal divine experience is in every religion, although, this process has been given different names.
 
What is beautiful about the Jewish mystical tradition is that it codified very abstract laws that can aid us in understanding ourselves, understanding reality.
 
We see here a quote from the third book of Enoch and the twenty-two Hebrew letters of Kabbalah because the Jewish language embodies and encodes higher principles. It is useful to study the mystical alphabet of Judaism so that we can understand this ancient text, the Tanakh especially, the Torah. 

Receive [קבל kabel] the [22] letters of the oath. ―Third Book of Enoch

​Again, it is important to really emphasize that Kabbalah as is conventionally known, is a Jewish tradition. However, the principles of which we speak are universal. In the same way that Isaac Newton did not invent gravity, but merely documented it, the same way that Jewish mystics codified Kabbalah. Kabbalah has been known by different names in different traditions. The map of the universe, of higher realities, has been known as Kala Chakra in Buddhism. Many faiths speak about a universal tree, many mythologies, that hold up the structure of the world and of creation. Now, to understand all of these universalities, or better said, particularities of different traditions, we study Kabbalah, because it is a very synthetic map for knowing the structure of divinity and also our relationship with the universe and with God.
 
What we want most of all in these studies is to receive that direct experience because it is revelation that comes first. These truths, these immutable laws are sacred. They predate any culture, religion, even planet, because this doctrine is cosmic. It is everywhere, but taught in our common parlance, within the Hebrew language and the Kabbalistic tradition. 

The Objective of Kabbalah

​Now, what is important to understand is that our particular objective with studying Kabbalah is to understand our dreams. We recently gave a course called Dream Yoga and Astral Travel, in which we talked about how to awaken consciousness within dreams. These are the internal worlds. Every time we go to sleep, the physical body rests and the consciousness goes out. We do this every night, every time we fall asleep. The problem is that we don’t remember. We don't have any awareness.
 
Now, if you study that course and apply some of its practices, you will begin to experience dreams more clearly. You will start to perceive those realities for yourself. Dreams become more lucid, more vivid, and then we start to receive symbols, divine experiences. These symbols and dramas play out in the form of certain comedies or tragedies, or events that can relate to our physical life. What is interesting is that we study Kabbalah so that we can understand what we are seeing in the internal worlds, because Kabbalah is an oneiric language. It is a symbolic teaching. Kabbalah, as a doctrine, constitutes all the symbols from diverse religions, and also their inherent meanings. So, if you dream of a particular symbol, maybe it’s a cross within Christianity or a Star of David, whatever tradition, whatever religion, these are all Kabbalah. These are all symbols from God, and they teach us what we must understand about ourselves, whatever obstacles we are facing in our life, and what we need to do to overcome them.
 
This is why Samael Aun Weor stated in Tarot and Kabbalah:

The objective of studying the Kabbalah is to be skilled for work in the internal worlds. One who does not comprehend remains confused in the internal worlds. Kabbalah is the basis in order to understand the language of these worlds. ―Samael Aun Weor, Tarot and Kabbalah

Now, this doesn’t mean that you need to have an experience related to Judaism, maybe the Hebrew letters or the Jewish faith. Divinity speaks to us in accordance to our particular language, our customs, our culture, our psychology. What we mean by Kabbalah is the symbols, the universal expression of divinity. However, what is important is that Kabbalah is the map. We can study the Jewish mystical tradition, especially in an image called the Tree of Life, so that we can understand where we dream, where we are at, what dimension, what level of nature we subside, what we are experiencing, and what we need to do.
 
It is logical that if you travel to a foreign country, you do not go there without some knowledge of the language or a map of that place, so that you do not get lost, you do not get confused, because you received a vision that you cannot understand, that you can’t interpret. So, Kabbalah is very interesting. It will teach us how to understand our dreams, many of its complexities, but also its simplicity and profundity. 

​How to Receive

​Now, to do that, we have to learn how to receive. As I said the Hebrew word קבל kabel means “to receive,” “to accept.” This is the basis of the Kabbalistic tradition.
 
At a very basic level, Kabbalah means “tradition.” It’s inheritance. It’s knowledge passed from one teacher to a disciple. This is the most exoteric, basic level of this tradition. But, unfortunately, people limit their understanding to this and they neglect the spiritual experience.
 
קבלה Kabbalah, even the Hebrew letters, as I said, represent principles. They can represent in their letters a number, and each number can relate to a certain type of principle or struggle that we are facing, a challenge, an ordeal, and these numbers represent forces in nature. We understand from science that the universe is very mathematical and mathematics, according to the Hebrew language, is Kabbalah.
 
But, it is not merely of the intellect alone. We see here an image of Jesus, and the word קבלה Kabbalah transposed above his head. The Hebrew letter ק Kuf, which you see on his forehead, represents the mind. קוֹף Kuf can mean “monkey,” literally.
 
This is very interesting. The mind is like a monkey. Have you ever tried to meditate? What is the first thing that you notice? Your mind is all over the place. It is chaotic. It is crazy. It doesn’t sit still on one thing. It does not focus on one object. It is constantly distracted. It is divided. It is confused. A mind like this cannot know divinity.
 
The mind, with its projections, its associations, its flightiness, cannot reflect the truth from heaven. For that to happen, the mind must be still. The mind must be calm. When the mind, like a lake, is lucid, tranquil and clear, then it can really start to reflect within imagery, the language of dreams. It can reflect higher truths. The mind must be still. We learn this through meditation.
 
But not only that. The heart must be calm. We see here the Hebrew letters ל Lamed and ב Beth over the heart of Jesus of Nazareth. לֵב Lev means “heart.” It is a heart that is at peace. It is not afflicted. It is not disturbed by passion, by desire, by fear, by anger. A heart that is driven by lust, resentment, with pride, cannot receive the visions of heaven.
 
We chose this image of Christ because the sacred heart with its thorns around a flaming diadem, with a cross, represent a type of spiritual work that is essential when studying Kabbalah. Jesus is often known as saying we must learn to deny ourselves (Matthew 16:24, Luke 9:23). This means to deny our egotistical behavior. Do not act on them. Do not feed them. Do not give anger what it wants, which is to destroy. The heart must be still. It must be in remembrance of the presence of divinity, in the heart. Divinity is not a person, not an anthropomorphic figure, but is a state of consciousness, that is internal, that is inside, who is closer to us than we realize, and yet we ignore. We do not know. We do not reflect upon or remember what that state is. לֵב Lev, the heart, must be inflamed with compassion, with serenity, with comprehension, with love, for others, selflessness, so that it can receive wisdom from a superior state of being.
 
The last letter in קבלה Kabbalah is ה Hei and is related to sexuality. You notice that we have ק Kuf, in the head; ל Lamed, ב Beth or לֵב Lev in the heart, and we have ה Hei in the sexual organs. ק Kuf, לֵב Lev, and ה Hei represent three aspects of our psychology. ה Hei relates to our instincts, our sexual desires, our passions, our lust, attractions and repulsion in terms of relationships, sexuality.
 
If we wish to receive higher knowledge, divine wisdom, we must be in control of every aspect of ourselves, not only in the intellect, not only in the heart, but also  our body, our movement, our instincts, and our sexual impulses. Because the unity of the three means to love our God with all of our heart, with all of our mind, with all of our strength. This is the highest commandment, according to Jesus: that you shall love your neighbor as yourself, or love your God above all things (Matthew 22:34-40). This is the foundation of Kabbalah. If you wish to receive insights or experiences from divinity, we have to be integrated as a psychology. We must be balanced, we must have harmony within our interior. 

​Intuition vs. Intellect

This is why we study what is known as intuition. It is important to understand what the intellect is, to know its place, to know its purpose.
 
We have to understand how the intellect, in its proper orbit, is very useful. We need an intellect to live in society, to have a job, to study at school, university, whatever our whatever our level of education, so that we have the necessary concepts and skills to function in this world.
 
However, the intellect by itself, without being guided by a moral compass, the hunches of the heart, is really a useless machine. The intellect is a machine. It can store information. It can draw comparisons. It can deliberate. It can choose. It can theorize. The intellect is mechanical. It is a machine that we need to know how to use. But, just as in the same way that you drive a car, you know that you are not the car. It is a vehicle that you operate in, in order to interact in society.
 
But sadly, people mistake their identity with the intellect, and this is the problem. They do not understand that there is a higher reality to the consciousness: the soul, then the mind. The heart is the vehicle that can really connect with divinity, as we see in this upper image of a galaxy in a man’s heart. We know from our studies, that the galaxy relates to the spirit, to the unity of the cosmos, to divine wisdom and compassion of supreme order, harmony. We study this very explicitly that we want to develop intuition because when we study Kabbalah, we have to understand the heart.
 
Real Kabbalah is not merely of the intellect. It is not about remembering or memorizing some abstract scriptures, drawing intellectual comparisons, debating, theorizing. The intellect can merely process information. That is all it does. It does not mean that we really experience the spiritual reality of a given thing. It is one thing to have a knowledge of astral projection, but not know how to do it. We need to learn how to experience these things. We do so with intuition.
 
Intuition is the ability to know and to experience without having to think. It is a superior way of being. It relates more to the emotion. It is when you have an experience in a dream, a vision, that is so startling, so overwhelming, that it strikes at your being and hits you in your heart. It makes you question life, why we are here, what we are doing, where are we going, what do we need to do. We may have had that longing when we were children, when we were adolescents. Yet, with acculturation to society, with the preponderance of developing the intellect, we smothered that. We lost it.
 
It is very hard to find someone, especially in North America, with a very powerful intuition or heart.  We have a very heavy emphasis on the intellect, and the intellect has to be put in its place. It cannot define everything that we are. We need to know this difference to understand Kabbalah.  As Samael Aun Weor states in Tarot and Kabbalah:

There are two kinds of kabbalists: intellectual kabbalists and intuitive kabbalists. The intellectual kabbalists are black magicians. The intuitive kabbalists are white magicians. ―Samael Aun Weor, Tarot and Kabbalah

​This term magician comes from the Indo-European root word Mag, which means “priest,” officiant. It refers to a person who has some mastery or conscious control of the elements of nature. These elements are not merely just physical, they are psychological.
 
There are people who have some mastery of themselves. They have some control of their thoughts, their feelings, and their body. But, there are two forms of magic, two ways to manifest the psyche. That is in the intuitive sense or the intellectual sense. A black magician is a person who can perhaps have experiences in dreams, have a lot of knowledge in spirituality, and yet their perception is awakened within negative states. They have power within pride, within anger, within lust. They can control elements of the psyche, but it is within desire. It is negative. It is not in alignment with the higher laws of divinity. It is intellectual, because the intellect at the service of the spirit is useful, but the intellect at the service of pride and anger is harmful.
 
An intuitive kabbalist is very distinct. This is a person who knows how to receive wisdom from divinity without the interference of the ego, without the self: the sense of “me, myself, I.” It is a person who knows how to meditate, to calm the mind, the heart and the body, and to learn to receive with their consciousness, the higher truths of divinity.
 
A black magician, someone who overdevelops the intellect, and feeds their desires, has experiences, but it is not within the heavenly dimensions of nature. It is within the inferno, dimensions, within the dreaming state, and they have power and abilities there.
 
Obviously, in our studies we want to learn how to develop intuition, to become white magicians. This refers to the purity of the consciousness, the luminosity of the soul, which is free of selfhood, desire, attachment, fear, craving, resentment, lust.
 
Intuition is, again, that ability to perceive, to understand, without having to think. It is a very distinct sense. 

​The Limitations of the Mind

Now, the mind we want to cultivate to a degree, but it should not be the definition of who we are.
 
There is a lot of knowledge out there, a lot of books, a lot of words in scriptures, and lectures, and teachings about different religious traditions, about different faiths. It is important to have some basic understanding of where diverse religions fit in, how they relate to consciousness, and how they can help orient our heart with their daily problems and ordeals. The problem is when the intellect is fattened because where we direct attention is where we expend energy. If our energies are going into our intellect all the time, we deplete our heart. We create an imbalance.
 
The mind can be a library. We can know what so-and-so said in the second century BC among the Greeks, or we can know many abstract or nuanced arguments of diverse traditions and can recite them at will. Yet, we still may not have any conscious experience of divinity. We may know about astral projection. We may know about Jinn science, different exercises mentioned by Samael Aun Weor in this tradition. Yet, we do not know from experience what he is talking about.
 
The mind is limited. We need the intellect. The intellect is useful to have some contextual understanding of diverse traditions, as I said, but merely stuffing the intellect with knowledge, means that we are exercising a muscle in our psychological body that becomes strong at the expense of other parts of ourselves. It would be unusual to go the gym and only work on our right bicep, right? It would be strange. Nobody would do that, yet ,this is what we would do intellectually. We read a lot of books. We fill the intellect. We get lost in a maze. Samael Aun Weor stated in Tarot and Kabbalah:

On such a simple thing, scholars have written millions of volumes and theories that would turn anyone crazy who had the bad taste of becoming intellectualized with that entire arsenal. ―Samael Aun Weor, Tarot and Kabbalah

Also, the intellect is also fortified as an arsenal to be used as weaponry to win an argument, to when a debate. This is not what we are really interested in in this tradition.

Balancing Mind and Heart

​We want to know the synthesis of religion, of yoga, of gnosis, of Kabbalah, so that we can balance ourselves. For Samael Aun Weor stated in Tarot and Kabbalah again:

The intellect is a tool that is useful when placed under the service of the spirit. But, when the intellect seeks to control the spirit, the intellect becomes destructive. ―Samael Aun Weor, Tarot and Kabbalah

​I believe that movie Oppenheimer came out, right? The story about the creation of the atom bomb? This is an example of the intellect that is destructive, to use the mind for harmful things, in order to kill each other with more creative means. If the intellect is aligned with the spirit, with divinity, it becomes useful. For Samael Aun Weor stated:

Therefore, the intuitive kabbalist is the one who learns through the experience of the consciousness. The intuitive kabbalist learns directly without opinions or theories. This one seeks a radical intellectual culture: a comprehensive knowledge of esoterism that is qualified by direct investigation.  ―Samael Aun Weor, Tarot and Kabbalah

​So, he is explaining how the intellect becomes useful. You can study the books of Samael Aun Weor.  You can study any scripture. You can read and meditate on their contents, and by having a vision within meditation or having an astral projection, you can experience what is written. That is a very beautiful thing. That gives you faith, because you experience what the scriptures are talking about, whether through a symbolic dream, a vision, an insight. You do not have to theorize. You experience it. You do not have to debate it. You know it. Therefore, it invigorates your spirituality. It makes your spirituality something factual, not based on theory.
 
When he talks about a radical intellectual culture, he means a comprehensive knowledge of religion. It means to have knowledge of the symbols of the diverse traditions within humanity’s legacy. We want to study enough so that we can experience what is written. This is why he said:

In order to become a complete kabbalist one has to study. One has to record the teachings into memory. ―Samael Aun Weor, Tarot and Kabbalah

Without a map we get lost. Therefore, we need to investigate what these religions are talking about. 

​Consciousness is Beyond Memory 

​But it is also important to emphasize that memory is not enough. Consciousness awakened is what really transforms.
 
These studies emphasize a particular form of work. It is not for entertainment. It is not for leisure reading. We want to study what the prophets and initiates of humanity have taught so that we are well-prepared when we begin to awaken consciousness within visions and meditations. We want to know the structure of reality so that we know how to navigate those worlds.
 
Also, it is important to emphasize that intellectual knowledge or memory is insufficient. It is not reliable. It will not last forever, primarily because if you study this tradition, or Hinduism, or Buddhism, you might have learned that according to some initiates, we have had many lives, the doctrine of transmigration of souls. Yet, despite all of our learning, education, or knowledge from previous existences, we do not remember a thing. Now, for some people this is a theory. Some people believe that reincarnation or transmigration is a belief: an idea or a concept that is not based in reality. However, for those who have seriously practiced this knowledge and have learned to meditate, we have been able to verify that we have indeed existed many times before.
 
The problem is that our consciousness, the capacity to perceive higher realities, is completely asleep. It is not active. It is not awake, and therefore it cannot perceive nor recall previous states. We have a type of collective amnesia, which is something that you can only verify in yourself. As you practice some of the exercises in this tradition, but also some at the end of the lecture we will give, it is something that you can experience.  Rather than dismiss it as superstition or maybe something to believe or become fascinated in, I recommend that you take the time to really practice and see whether or not it is true. 
 
Knowledge alone is not enough. Memory will be lost when we die, unless we become conscious of what we read, that we experience these things in the soul, because the soul can remember. The soul can recall, the consciousness, the Essence of a person, that have full knowledge of where we came from, where we are at, and where we are going. This is why Samael Aun Weor stated:

Kabbalistic studies must be combined with work on oneself. One must be conscious of these studies, for if they remain only in the intellect, they will be lost when one dies. Yet, if one is conscious of them the knowledge will manifest itself from childhood.  ―Samael Aun Weor, Tarot and Kabbalah

​So, the thing to remember is that, consciousness in our studies is the ability to have awakened experiences within higher dimensions and realities, within meditation. It means to understand the origins of thought, of feeling, of desire. It means to be present in the moment, to be conscious and awake without thinking of other things or being distracted. It means to have a mind that is integrated. It is united and not dispersed among discursive thought. It means to be unified as a soul and to remember and experience the presence of divinity in every moment.
 
But that quality in us, the consciousness that can experience that truth is asleep. It is latent. Right now, our intellect, our negative emotions and our impulses and desires predominate. These negative egotistical elements are active, and so the consciousness is passive. We want to reverse that quality. We want the consciousness to be active. We want the mind, the heart, and the body to be receptive. When the waters are still, we can receive images from the higher planes. That knowledge will always be retained. We will never forget that because its an experience in the soul.
 
For example, you might have an experience, like a car accident, in which you were shocked into awakening. Any person who had a near death experience knows this, in which, because of a traumatic event, a life-threatening moment, the consciousness goes into high gear in order to save itself. Some people refer to it as a survival instinct. But in some cases, you can have more lucidity and awareness because you are shocked into a state of consciousness in which you see things and remember things that are very right, detailed, and profound. One sees reality. But, then as the shock wears off, the senses calm, the consciousness goes back to sleep, because the intellect, and the emotions, and the instincts jump back in and say, “What just happened?” Right?
 
I mean that is one example of being shocked into awakening. But, what we are talking about is obviously something safer. Obviously we do not want to look for dangers to awaken consciousness, obviously. But, as we are learning to train in this science, we begin to perceive things that are beyond mere physical senses, and so that knowledge becomes integrated in the soul and regulated with will, and it is sustained and maintained with temperance, with balance. Obviously, these qualities are beyond thought. We have to leave the intellect, the mind behind.
 
As Dione Fortune states in The Mystical Qabalah:

The esotericist, when endeavoring to formulate his philosophy for communication to others, is confronted by the fact that his knowledge of the higher forms of existence is obtained by a process other than thought, and this process only commences when thought is left behind. ―Dion Fortune, The Mystical Qabalah

​This is very interesting because the scriptures are the expressions of internal experiences of different prophets articulated through thought. It is a process beyond thought, but the initiates teach through symbols and language and culture, to express these higher-order principles. But, to understand what they really mean, we have to leave thought behind. 

The Tree of Life

​This is why we study the Tree of Life. As I said, the Tree of Life, the map of the universe, is a structure of 10 spheres. These are modalities or qualities of being, within higher-level abstractions from the most synthetic and rarified elements of divinity above, to the most dense, material, and physical below. The Tree of Life mentioned in the Bible is a symbol. It represents the structure of divinity in reality. It also maps out the different dimensions of nature, which we seek to experience within dream yoga.
 
We have on the left an image of Yggdrasil, the Nordic Tree of Life.
 
We have the Tree of Life of the Kabbalah to the right, transposed on the Egyptian God, Ptah, the Father, the solar divinities.
 
We have Buddha, Gautama Shakyamuni meditating under the Bodhi Tree in his yellow Saffron robe, a symbol of how he conquered and illuminated his mind, so that he can receive Bodhi, Wisdom.
 
To the far right we have Moses before the burning bush, the inflamed Tree of Life, the perfected soul that manifests the energies of divinity.
 
So, again, these are universal. Different religions teach the same thing. What we want to do is understand how they all relate and how they teach the synthesis. 

​The Tree of Life, as we use in our tradition, is a glyph or a map to help us understand where we are at and where we need to go. As Dion Fortune stated in The Mystical Qabalah:

It is a glyph, that is to say, it is a composite symbol which is intended to represent the cosmos in its entirety, and the soul of man as related there too. The more we study it, the more we see that it is an amazingly adequate representation. We use it as the engineer or the mathematician uses his sliding rule, to scan and calculate the intricacies of existence, visible and invisible, an external nature or the hidden depths of the soul. ―Dion Fortune, The Mystical Qabalah

​These spheres are levels of being. They are states of consciousness. They represent places in nature that we can explore within visions, within mediation, within astral projection. They also represent the organization of our psyche: what we must do to transform ourselves in our daily lives, so that we can not only navigate the cosmos, but more importantly, our daily life. These spheres are not in some vertical space within heaven, within physical space. They are inside. This verticality of this image represents more elevated states of being and more material or base levels of being, more egotistical.
 
So, like an engineer or mathematician, we use this image to guide us. 

​Walking the Path of Balance

​So, how do we study Kabbalah? Through the intellect, by studying Kabbalah, in the words of the initiates; through the heart, by meditation; and through our actions by working with creative energy.
 
So, we included some links in the pdf, to Glorian Publishing’s website where you can access diverse resources on these topics. If you wish to dive into this more, study these aspects of religion with greater detail, you can do so:

1. Kabbalah
2. Meditation
3. Creative Energy

 
Obviously, I mentioned meditation and Kabbalah, but also it is important to understand the role of creative energy, because as we direct our attention, we spend energy. We also want to learn to use the most powerful force we carry in the body, which is the creative sexual energy itself. We harness this through exercises like pranayama, vocalizations, mantras, runes, many exercises in our tradition that circulate energy, conserve it, transform it, so that we can elevate our state of being. 

​The Mantra O

​Here is a practice that you can use to develop intuition, especially if you want to learn how to experience more in dreams and learn to understand what you perceive.
 
Adopt a comfortable posture. Relax your three brains. Find a position that you can sit still, that you can fully relax yourself, your thoughts, your heart, your body.
 
You want a posture that is conducive to maintaining attention, but also regulating drowsiness. You want your body to become sleepy, but your consciousness to maintain its vigilance, its wakefulness. It is a very hard balance to master, but in the beginning especially, but with training, you can so that you can willingly enter that transition between wakefulness and dreaming.
 
Pray to your Innermost, your inner Gos, your internal Gos. You want to visualize a brilliant white light in your heart while you vocalize the mantra O, for one hour. The mantra is prolonged like this:
 
“Oooooooooooooo…”
 
Concentrate on the internal vibration, the energy, and the visualization in your heart.
 
This sacred sound, or this mantra is a form of protecting the mind. Mantra means “mind protection.” The vowel O vibrates in the center of the heart, the energies of the heart, to give it strength. In this way, when our heart is emboldened, it is strong. It has a greater connection with divinity.
 
We learn what it means to remember what divinity is and to experience higher states of being like compassion, conscious love, sacrifice, selflessness, patience, fortitude. These are superior emotional qualities. The Mantra O helps us to understand what we perceive and gives us a sense of conscience.

The Rune Rita

​You can also work with the Rune Rita. In our tradition, we practice a Nordic yoga. The Nordic alphabet, similar to Hebrew, is a symbolic grammar.  Each letter of Futhark, the Nordic alphabet, represents forces in nature, principles, and qualities that we can develop in the spirit. The Rune Rita is a posture that we adopt with our body.  It is also accompanied with sacred sounds, vocalizations, and prayer.
 
These sacred sounds help to energize the body, activate centers in our psychology, within our physiology. Some people call them chakras. They are energies or vortices of force, of a vital nature, of a psychic nature that can awaken and open our spiritual senses.
 
The Rune Rita is like this. It helps you to develop conscience, inner judgment, also, remorse from mistakes, because we have to follow our heart. Our heart has to tell us “this is right” or “this is wrong.” That is intuition. It is knowing without having to think about it. But, unfortunately, for most of us, our inner judgment is very weakened.
 
We have suffocated it, stifled it. But, with the Rune Rita, you can strengthen your heart, develop inner judgment of yourself, so that you know from your own conscience what actions and behaviors are right and what are wrong. When you follow your heart, you understand and can receive higher knowledge because the heart is what dictates our development.
 
Stand with your feet together, your hands over your heart, right over left, in a state of prayer. Pray to your Innermost, your inner God, to help you awaken and develop conscience, judgment, remorse, intuition. Extend your left leg out, place your left hand on your left hip. Keep your right hand to your right side. Vocalize the mantras RA, RE, RI, RO, RU, seven times.
 
I will perform one set:
 
Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa…
 
Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee…
 
Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii…
 
Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrooooooooooooooooooooo…
 
Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu…
 
[See How to Pronounce Mantras for audio examples of both mentioned practices].
 
Cross your hands over your heart again and give thanks to your Innermost.
 
When you vocalize these sacred sounds, you want to focus on the vibration in your chakras, your inner body, your centers. Sing the mantras like a bee working in the pollen to make honey, be fully immersed and concentrated in the practice. Do not let the mind wander. If it does, gently return to the practice, continue to vocalize and pray.

​Resources

​Finally, we have some resources that you can study. These are some main books from the Gnostic tradition written by Samael Aun Weor where he goes into great detail about the nature of Kabbalah, different aspects of the Tree of Life. But, also, more importantly, on how to practice them.

• Aztec Christic Magic
• The Three Mountains
• Alchemy and Kabbalah in the Tarot
• Secret Teachings of Moses
• Tarot and Kabbalah

 
So, at this point and time, we will open up the floor to questions. 

​Questions and Answers

​Question: Sometimes when I meditate, I will be harassed by distressing pictures and imagery. When I call the four directions protective shielding, they calm down or go away. Does the Kabbalah mention anything about these negative entities that harass people?
 
Instructor: Yes. Especially the Zohar. The Zohar speaks a lot about incubi and succubi: about negative, lustful entities that we typically created in this or past lives, that come back to us in order to feed and receive energy from us. So, if you really want to know more about, again, the nature of demonology or negative entities, the Zohar is very rich. I mean, you will have a lot of reading to do with that because the Zohar is like 12 volumes, but very deep and very profound. Very powerful.
 
The scripture talks a lot about how the products of our own desires haunt us when we try to enter this work, because, obviously as we are learning to save energy, or calming the mind, and saving intellectual energy, emotional energy, creative energy, we become a light. The light, as you know, attracts the moths, attracts the negative forces. So, there are techniques that we use in this tradition, as you know, that we use to protect ourselves and to guard ourselves. Certain prayers, that we use [Spiritual Defense]. So, yes, the Zohar goes into great detail about what those negative entities are, and you can study that if you really want to go deep into kabbalistic wisdom. 
 
Question: Could you talk about self-hatred? I’ve been struggling with this defect. Often, I feel incompetent.
 
Instructor: Self-hatred is a deep ego. Some people have a lot of pride. They feel really elevated, superior, and even divine. The negative polarity of pride is shame. Shame or self-hatred is an ego that is inverted pride. So, the other polarity of pride is to self-aggrandize. The other polarity of pride is to hate oneself, or to have a lot of shame. When I have observed self-hatred in myself, shame, or feeling of incompetence, I try to remember my Being. The more I experience my Being, the more I see that my Being is competent. My mind is not.
 
We are powerless without divinity. We are weak without our Divine Mother. She is the one who can really manifest in our mind, heart, and body, the more we cultivate that space for Her to express, especially in our heart.  Self-hatred or shame is a very difficult defect for a lot of people, especially, if we make mistakes or if we have had traumas in our childhood. We have certain defects that are more predominate, but self-hatred is a big one.
 
When I have observed self-hatred in myself, saying with thoughts: “you are not capable of this.” But, actually observing it in the moment, I have received the insight, kabel, Kabbalah, in mediation my Being saying, “Yes, you cannot do this work. Your ego cannot, but your soul, divinity can.” So, it is a reverse move. The ego says, “I cannot do this.” When you comprehend it, you say, “Yeah, you are right. You as an ego cannot do this work. So, stop talking.” It does not mean that you suppress your mind, but you comprehend it in the moment and say, “OK.” You can put that ego aside.
 
The only way to do this type of psychological judo or spiritual work is to observe in the moment what is bubbling up inside, what is going on internally, what is manifesting in our three brains, what are we seeing. If you are not looking in yourself to see it in the moment, you will not catch it. But, if you are observing in your meditating, in a meditative state, you suddenly receive insights: “OK, this is an ego that is afflicting me. Let me observe it, understand it,” because, yes, you can use superior logic to counter the thoughts of any negative mental state.
 
The Being is competent. The soul can learn. So, be patient. With patience possess ye your souls (Luke 21:19). We all struggle with certain elements, and we have to be patient.
 
The key to understanding self-hatred is to understand its opposite, which is dignity. The soul has dignity. This is not pride. It is humility. It is a state of consciousness that free of self, that is humble, that accepts whatever comes its way and recognizes its self-worth because divinity is present. Dignity, humility is the natural state of the consciousness.
 
So, if you are really struggling with self-hatred then I would mediate on that virtue. Do not just focus on the ego because that can make you morbid. We have to be balanced. Meditate on the virtues as well as the vices. Look at the relationship there. See what is trapped in that element by observing it.
 
Question: What is a good translation or version of the Zohar that you could recommend?
 
Instructor: I recommend the Pritzker translation by Stanford University Press. They have published 12 volumes of big books, works of Kabbalistic literature. You will have a whole life, many many lifetimes to be able to read it. It is that dense. Yes, the Pritzker Zohar by Stanford University Press is what I recommend.
 
We have a question going back to the earlier comment about negative entities.
 
Question: Are they coming from inside me? Or they outside of me?
 
Instructor: Only your intuition will know. In some cases when you are dreaming or in meditation, you may see entities that are your own lust. Other times, they might be external black magicians or negative entities who are trying to manipulate you. You have to follow your intuition. There is no blanket answer for that. It is contingent upon the situation. Your intuition or heart will know.
 
Question: What are some essentials to developing dream memory? How common is it for dream recall or memory to fluctuate, even with daily practices?
 
Instructor: We have a whole lecture on dream recall in our Dream Yoga and Astral Travel course. It is called How to Remember Dreams. We tried to compile all the practices that we have read about, practiced, and studied from the works of Samael Aun Weor. There are many exercises that you can use in that lecture that goes into great detail about how to remember dreams.
 
Now, in terms of how common it is for dream recall to fluctuate, obviously when the connection between the astral body and the physical brain is not strong, better said, if the physical brain is not nourished or treated well, it does not have that thread or connection, vibrant, in connecting with the astral body. Dream memories can easily be difficult for them to transfer, to flow.
 
Dream recall will fluctuate in the beginning quite a lot. There may be times where you remember more and other times less. But, there is a gradual, consistent increase in the stability of your memories over the years, even over a period of months or even a few weeks, if you really are intensely applying some of these practices, like the mantra Raom Gaom [available at How to Pronounce Mantras].
 
When you are in bed before you wake up, or as you wake from bed, you pronounce that mantra mentally to remember your dreams. If you are really consistent and apply a lot of discipline in those practices, you can strengthen your memory quite quickly. I would say that it will fluctuate in accordance with the consistency and depth of your practice.
 
But, there is a general trend that occurs for a lot people because, in a slow, gradual way, because nature does not take leaps. The body, and the mind, and the internal vehicles do not change overnight. It takes some time. But if you are consistent and diligent with your daily practices, it is going to get very strong very quickly.
 
OK, if there any other questions? We can conclude. I thank you all for coming! I really appreciate the turnout. I wish you all a very wonderful evening.