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CABBALAH
CABBALAH
of Angels, because those intelligent and in-corporeal beings reside therein, who are wrappedin a luminous garment, and who assume a sen-suous form when they appear to men: and iv.
The World of Action (rWJlH also called
the World of Matter' (TIlB^pn D^5?), whichemanated from the preceding world, the tenSephiroth of which are made up of the grosserelements of ail the former three worlds, andwhich has sunk down in consequence of itsmateriality and heaviness. Its substances con-sist of matter limited by space, and perceptibleto the senses in a multiplicity of forms. It issubject to constant changes, generation, andcorruption, and is the abode of the Evil Spirit.These four worlds, which have thus successivelyemanated from the En Soph, and from each other,sustain the relationship to the Deity of first,second, third, and fourth generations.
4. The Creation of Angels and Men. —“God,”says the Sohar, “ animated every part of thefirmament with a separate spirit, and forthwithall the heavenly hosts were before him ” (iii. 68 a).These angelic beings consist of two classes, goodand bad, have their respective princes, and oc-cupy the three habitable worlds in the followingorder. The angel Metatron inhabits the secondworld, called the World of Creation. He aloneconstitutes the world of pure spirits, and is thegarment of Shaddai (*HE^), i.e. the visible mani-festation of the Deity. His name is numericallyequivalent to that of the Lord (Sohar, iii. 231 a).He governs the visible world, preserves the unity,harmony, and the revolutions of all the spheres,planets, and heavenly bodies, and is the Captainof the myriads of the angelic hosts who peoplethe third world, or the World of Formation.The angelic hosts who occupy this world aredivided into ten ranks, answering to the tenSephiroth; and each of the multitudinous angelsis set over a different part of the universe. Onehas the control of one sphere, another of another;one has the charge of the sun, another of themoon, another of the earth, another of thesea, another of the fire, another of the wind,another of the light, another of the seasons, andso on. These angels derive their names fromthe heavenly bodies, or the elements whichthey respectively guard (Sohar, i. 42 6). Thedemons, which constitute the second class ofangels, inhabit the fourth world, or the Worldof Action. And though they are the grossestand most deficient of all forms, and are the shells
(ma^p) of being, still they form ten degrees,answering to the ten Sephiroth. In their ranksdarkness and impurity increase with the descentof each degree. The first two degrees are nothingmore than the absence of all visible form andorganisation, the third degree is the abode ofdarkness, whilst the remaining seven degrees,
or “infernal halls” VIK* = Hells),
are occupied by the demons, which are the in-carnation of all human vices. These seven hellsare subdivided into endless compartments, soas to afford a separate chamber of torture forevery species of sin. The demons here are oc-cupied in torturing those poor deluded beingswho suffered themselves to be led astray by themin this world. The prince of this region of dark-ness is Samael — angel of poison or
death). He is the evil spirit, the serpent wh®seduced Eve. He has a wife called the Harlot,or the Woman of Whoredom, who, together withhim, are treated as one person, and are called“ the Beast ” (Sohar, ii. 255-259 with i. 35 b).
As to man, he was not created by the En Soph,or God, but “ the heavenly Adam (i.e. the tenSephiroth), who emanated from the highestprimordial obscurity (i.e. the En Soph), createdthe earthly Adam” (Sohar, ii. 706). Man isboth the import and the highest degree of crea-tion, for which reason he was formed on thesixth day. As soon as man was created, every-thing was complete, including the upper andnether worlds, for everything is comprised inman. He unites in himself all forms ” (Sohar,iii. 48 a). Originally man was created withfaculties and features far transcending those oithe angels; and even his body was not of thatgross matter which constitutes our presentbodies. He was wrapped in that luminousethereal substance in which the celestial spiritsare clad, and which is neither subject to wantnor to sensual desires. It was only after thefall that the protoplasts obtained the garmentsof skin, which mean our present body, in orderto adapt them to the changes which the fall in-troduced. Still even in their present form therighteous are above the angels. Every man isstill the microcosm, and each member of hisbody corresponds to a constituent part of thevisible universe. “The mystery of the earthlyman is after the mystery of the Heavenly Man.Just as we see in the firmament above, coveringall things, different signs, which are formed ofthe stars and planets, and which contain secretthings and profound mysteries, studied by thosewho are wise and expert in these signs; so thereis in the skin, which is the cover of the body ofthe son of man, and which is like the sky thatcovers all things, signs and features which arethe stars and planets of the skin, indicatingsecret things and profound mysteries, wherebythe wise are attracted, who understand to readthe mysteries in the human face ” (Sohar,ii. 76 a). Even now man is the presence of Godupon earth; and the very human form depictsthe Tetragrammaton, the ineffable Jehovah(niiT). The head is the shape of the letter Yod('), the arms and the shoulders are like the letterHe (H), the breast is in the form of the letterYau (1), whilst the two legs with the back re-semble the form of the second He (H). Comp.Sohar , ii. 72 a. All human countenances aredivisible into the four primordial types of faces,which appeared at the mysterious chariot thronein the vision of the prophet Ezekiel, viz., theface of man, of the lion, of the ox, and of theeagle.
5. The Psychology. —The doctrine about thenature of the human soul is one of the most im-portant features of the Cabbalah. All souls arepre-existent in the World of Emanations, andwithout exception are destined to inhabit humanbodies, and pursue their course upon earth for afixed number of years. “ When the Holy One,blessed be he, wished to create the world, theuniverse was before him in idea. He then formedall the souls which are destined for the wholehuman race. All were minutely before him inthe same form which they were to assume in thehuman body. He looked at every one of them,