Literal Qabala

Literal Qabala is based on the fact that in the Hebrew alphabet, each letter also doubles as a number. Literal Qabala has been transliterated to English in various ways, some more successful than others. The most common and accepted transliteration is this table, which shows the numeric value of each letter followed by an English approximation of the letter's sound.

Literal Qabala is little more than finding the relationships between written words. There are three ways to find these relationships: Gematria (GMTRIA), Notariqon (NVTRIQVN), or Temura (ThMVRH).

With Gematria, significances are culled from the relations of words or phrases whose letters add up to the same number.

For example, the sacred name of God, "YHWH," has the same value as the word for "sight; vision." Thus God becomes linked to the idea of sight, and from this a prophet spreads the word of God by healing the "blind" -- the prophet bestows sight/God upon those he touches.

Notariqon is, for all intents and purposes, shorthand. Indeed, the word "notariqon" is derived from Latin notarius, or a writer of shorthand. In this form of Literal Qabala, a word is used as an acronym for a phrase, each letter being the first letter of another word. In this way, phrases are found "hidden" in words and words hidden in phrases.

The best example is the first word of the Bible, BRAShITh, which can make the phrase BRAShITh RAH ALHIM ShIQBLV IShRAL ThVRH, or "Upon becoming, God saw that Israel would accept the Law."

Conversely, the first letters of words in a sentance or phrase can be used to form a new word. In this way, the Hebrew phrase "Who shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven?" produces the word for "circumcision," thus symbolically proving that only the circumsized shall be saved.

Finally, Temura is forming a cipher or code by substituting one letter for another in a set pattern. This method is also known as permutation, the most basic form of which is "folding" the Hebrew alphabet back on itself at K/L:

"A" than can then be substituted for "T/Th"; "B" for "S/Sh"; and so on, like a simple child's code, thereby forming new words with symoblically related meanings.

There are many other, far more complex, methods of permutation that cannot be gone into here. While at first this method seems the most simple and ignorant, it actually calls upon a deeper understanding of Qabala and its philosphical foundations to create authentic permutations. For more understanding than this brief primer can offer, study the books listed in the sources.

Many people see Literal Qabala as nothing more than foolish "number games." To be sure, without a knowledge of the philosphical and cosmological meanings within Qabala, it does tend to be exactly that. However, once the code is understood, it can be utilized to say much with very few words and can lead to the creation of amulets and charms.

Contrary to popular belief, Qabala is not a tool for divining the future. The "number games" can certainly be steered in that direction, and even lead to seemingly meaningful results. But so can anything, if looked at in the necessary frame of mind.

Qabala is a pathway through the Tree of Life toward enlightenment. Literal Qabala is nothing more or less than demonstrating the existence of infinity within the finite; opening all realms of possibility from a simple word or phrase. It forces us to see things "hidden" within other, seemingly mundane, vessels. It reminds us that God is within each of us.

The God of Qabala does not care so much for us to understand the material world as for us to become one with Him and thus reacquainted with ourselves and the Universe. Adam and Eve fell not because they had sinned, but because they had forgotten their divine origins. Far from Christian punishment, we are here simply because we are mired in the material instead of the spiritual.

Only through witnessing infinity within finite existence can we hope to glimpse the true Universe.