What is this?
This is a central page from which one can navigate to, and find all the posts which make up my essay "Where to Fuck did High Priestess is a Moon, come from?"
I started writing this essay sure it was just Golden Dawn moving around some Hebrew letters but keeping astrological correspondences of Eliphas Levi. What unfolded was a dream and a descent into darkness that ended up being 40 pages in Google Docs.
This is very amateur scholarship of a guy who is missing MANY parts that he needs to reach the conclusion. I apologise for any error. This was my effort to figure out what to do with this whole mess in the best way I could. I don't expect anyone to read it but I am still happy I did wrote this. It was fulfilling and as such I want it to be on my Blog. However, it is a big text, and if you don't want to read it in pieces, here is a free link to the Google Drive document. There are some minor differences, as I've smoothed out texts here and there.
Warnings
These posts will mention anti-semitism, discussed in the context of cultural appropriation and conversion history,. I tried not to focus on it but I couldn't help but get furious. Not that it doesn't require getting mad about, or exposed, but A) I didn't want to replicate it, B) I am not sure it's my place.
It will also contain discussion of misogyny.
I also want to say that I am ESL, so errors will crop up.
The Parts
- Introduction
- Elucidation of problem and Overview of the main actors
- Theoretical basis of Qabbalah and Cracks in the French School
- Many Sins of Eliphas Levi Part One|Part Two
- Westcott and Mathers blasting off again
- Conclusions and Reflections
- Addenda
The Bibliography
Sources I used and cited, for maximum transparency, some translated though Google Translate, or in case of pdfs, Google Lens. It’s safe to assume that when I don’t say anything I used the french/latin/german original text, but there is a chance I misremembered - this took so long to make.
Christine Payne-Towler's essays on the tarot can be found on the site tarot.com. The two most important ones for my essay were her essay on Continental Tarots and Kabbalah. Her table of correspondences, which inspired this endeavour, can be found in a book called Tarot Correspondences by T. Susan Chang, and also her own book The Underground Stream - Esoteric Tarot Revealed.
Essential Tarot Writings: A Collection of Source Texts in Western Occultism by Donald Tyson, specifically Part One.
The specific volume of Monde Primitif that contains notes on Tarot can be found digitized on Gallica. (Page 395 for Mellet's essay and Page 365 for Gebelin's part).
For Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie (The Doctrine and Ritual of High Magic), it's actually two books — Dogma and Rituele — and French versions can be found online: Dogma and Rituele. The relevant Waite translation is the major reference text.
La clef des grands mystères (The Key to the Great Mysteries) can be found in French on Archive.org. I also referenced Aleister Crowley's translation, however a version that reads way better is this one.
History of Magic (French, translated via browser). This one also has a Waite translation — approach with caution, but after reading this man for more than a week, Waite's acidic comments were like balm on the soul.
The Magical Ritual Of The Sanctum Regnum
The Book of Splendours: The Inner Mysteries of Qabalism by Weiser Book — preview shows the 10 translated letters to his students.
Clefs majeures et clavicules de Salomon — available for free on Google Play of all places.
Paul Christian's History and Practice of Magic. I used this English translation but also checked some things in the original French release.
Papus' The Tarot of The Bohemians in English and in French. I used the English to quote Papus.
Golden Dawn's esoteric card correspondences were first leaked by Crowley here. Note the sparseness of the Majors.
We also have the Book T document.
The Isiac Tablet of Cardinal Bembo by Westcott.
Sefer Yetzirah = The Book of Creation : in theory and practice Rev. ed. — Aryeh Kaplan. (1997) Red Wheel/Weiser.
Some translations of Sefer Yetzirah are also found on Sefaria, including the GRA version. Sefaria also has a very good article on Sefirot with many quotes from Jewish works.
The Ten Sefirot of the Kabbalah — used for names and quick revision of the concept.
Kabbalah: An Introduction (Hermetic Golden Dawn) — used for Hermetic Qabalah names.
Jewish Encyclopedia on the Tetragrammaton
Papus' translation of the Sefer Yetzirath can be found in La Kabbale : (tradition secrète de l'occident). The 1903 edited version can be found on Gallica.
L'homme rouge des Tuileries from Paul Christian. Actually fairly good, but I read only up to the astrology text in the middle.
Grimoire archangel assignment comparisons
Catholic Encyclopedia on Mary — contains discussion on the etymology of her name.
The Sepher Yetzirah: The Book of Formation by Darcy Kuntz. (1996) Holmes Publishing Group. This is a new fourth edition based on Westcott's third edition, with notes from all previous editions and prefaces. Wikisource has a fragment of the second edition. A third version is also available.
Notes on Editions of Sefer Yetzirah in English — this article contains a good planetary attribution table comparing English authors.
A fascinating article On Some Renaissance Latin Translations of the Sefer Yetzirah
Isidor Kalisch's translation of Sepher Yetzirah, also available with notes.
Sefer Yetzirah translation by Guillaume Postel
Johannes Stephanus Rittangel's Sefer Yetzirah
Ars Cabbalistica by Johann Pistorius — a compilation of Kabbalistic texts, also containing a translation of Sefer Yetzirah under the title ABRAHAMI de CREATIONE & CABALISTINIS, Hebraicè SEPHER IEZIRA, Liber (page 869).
Johann Friedrich Meyer's German 1830 translation of Sefer Yetzirah
The Magical Ritual of Sanctum Regnum
Bill Heidrick's scans of Kabala Denudata and Oedipus Aegyptiacus — a source of enormous importance, with specific parts explained. I also used the scanned page as an image for the Tree of Life.
The Magicians of the Golden Dawn: A Documentary History of a Magical Order 1887–1923 by Ellic Howe. (1985) The Aquarian Press, Wellingborough.
A History of the Occult Tarot 1870–1970 by Ronald Decker and Michael Dummett. (2013 Ebook Edition) Duckworth Overlook.
Mackenzie's Royal Masonic Cyclopedia
Hermetic.com has the deciphered Cipher Manuscript. Its articles on the Golden Dawn are also very informative.
YouTube — flip-through of the Eliphas Levi deck
Collection of Eliphas Levi's Letters to his student Baron Spedialeri, written in 1861