The Kabbalah Unveiled — S. L. MacGregor Mathers (from Knorr von Rosenroth's Latin) (1887)

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THE

KABBALAH UNVEILED

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BALLANTYNE, HANSON AND CO.
EDINBURGH AND LONDON

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THE

KABBALAH UNVEILED

CONTAINING THE FOLLOWING BOOKS OF THE ZOHAR

1. THE BOOK OF CONCEALED MYSTERY.

2. THE GREATER HOLY ASSEMBLY.

3. THE LESSER HOLY ASSEMBLY.

TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH FROM THE LATIN VERSION OF KNORR VON ROSENROTH, AND COLLATED WITH THE ORIGINAL CHALDEE AND HEBREW TEXT

BY

S. L. MAC GREGOR MATHERS

LONDON

GEORGE RE D WAY

C-1.) BVF.C/t

Weilcome Library

for the History and Understanding of Medicine

TO

THE AUTHORS OF “ THE PERFECT WAY ” .ANNA KINGSFORD, M.D., and EDWARD MAITLAND

THIS TRANSLATION
IS

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PREFACE.

Before finally presenting to the public the first English translation of three of the most important books of the “ Zohar,” a few additional remarks are necessary. These three books are so closely connected in sense as to be practically inseparable, the two last forming consecutive developments of the first. But, as to launch the unprepared reader on these abstruse qabalistical writings without some preparatory explanation of the tenets of the Qabalah would be simply to hopelessly bewilder him, I have written a long and full Introduction, in which I have endeavoured to explain thoroughly the principal dogmas of the “ Zohar,” and have further added explanatory notes to the actual text for the better elucidation of difficult passages. Therefore I would advise the reader first to carefully study the Introduction, and then to read the three books of the “ Zohar ” in the order in which they stand.

My translation is principally taken from the Latin version of Knorr Von B-osenroth, but I have throughout collated it with the original Chaldee and Hebrew text, and in many instances have translated directly therefrom, especially whenever the Latin rendering seemed unreliable. The dialect in which the original is written is Aramaic Chaldee, interspersed with Hebrew quotations, and the style is difficult and obscure.

In the “ Siphra Htzenioutha,” or “ Book of Concealed Mystery,” the translation of the actual text is in the ordinary type; Bosenroth’s interpolations, and variant readings from the Codices, being distinguished by being in brackets. The notes in small print within brackets at the end of each section .are my own, and they virtually form a commentary on this book.

In the “ Idra Babba,” or “ Greater Holy Assembly,” and in the “ Idra Zuta,” or “ Lesser Holy Assembly,” variant readings are put in brackets ; my own or Bosenroth’s additions to the text within brackets also, but in italics. Fur-

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PREFA CE.

thermore, as Babbi Schimeon Ben Yocbai is the author of the bulk of these two books, I have only put his short speeches in inverted commas, while I have left his longer discourses unmarked. The speeches of all the other Babbis are, however, marked in the ordinary way.

The renderings of the pronunciation of Hebrew and Chaldee words are in all cases put in italics.

IHYH is usually rendered by “ Tetragrammaton ” instead of by “ Jehovah,” for reasons given in the Introduction.

I have generally commenced words or names relating to the Sephiroth with a capital letter, as also all pronouns referring to the Deity in any of His forms.

I wish particularly to direct the reader’s attention to the stress laid by the Qabalah on the Feminine Aspects of the Deity, and to the shameful way in -which any allusion to these has been suppressed in the ordinary translations of the Bible ; also to the qabalistical equality of Male and Female.

I have much pleasure in dedicating this work to the Authors of the “Perfect Way,” as they have in that excellent and wonderful book touched so much on the doctrines of the Qabalah, and laid such value on its teachings. The “ Perfect Way ” is one of the most deeply occult works that has been written for centuries.

In the Introduction (§ 20) the derivation of the number
3910 from Berashith is given only as a curious speculation,
and not as accurately fixing a date.

I have not gone into the meaning of the plural form ADNI, as it may be also taken as ADN-I = my Lord. I will, however, just observe that its plural meaning, as applied to IHYH, comprehends the Persons included in that Name ; and as applied to Malkuth, it comprehends the other nine Sephiroth included therein.

In conclusion, I will merely remark that a short time ago there appeared in the “ Theosophist ” an excursus by Eliphaz Levi on the “ Siphra Dtzenioutha,” but that it certainly was not a literal translation of the “ Book of Concealed Mystery ” given in this volume.

S. LIDDELL MacGREGOR MATHERS.

London, May 1887.

KABBALAH.