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Nothing now
remains but for the scribe to bear witness to the strange Qabalistic
“coincidences” connected with this Drama.
Was Wagner a
great Qabalist? Were those from whom he obtained the sources of his
information such? Who can tell?
Rather I would
suggest that, being inspired, this Drama must of necessity conform to all
truth, on all planes. For there are certain Numerical Emanations, called
the Ten Sephiroth, and there are certain Vibrations of a numerical nature
connected with Words.
It is not my
intention to write a treatise on the Holy Qabalah (those who wish to study
this interesting subject may do so in “Q.B.L. or The Bride's Reception"),
nor to describe fully the “Tree of Life", nor the methods of drawing
numerical meanings from words. The accompanying plate shows the structure
of “The Tree of Life", and the Frontispiece indicates how the “Chalice of
Ecstasy” may be drawn therefrom.
The Qabalistic
teaching is that Malkuth—The Kingdom—The Animal Soul—THE FALLEN DAUGHTER
must be RAISED through the Office of the SON—Tiphereth —The Sun—Harmony
and Beauty, to the Throne of the MOTHER—Binah—Under- standing—THE CUP,
when she is again united to the FATHER—Chokmah—Wisdom —Will—THE SPEAR,
thus absorbing all into THE CROWN—Kether—The Pure Light of the DOVE which
descends upon their Union.
Thsi is the
Mystery of Redemption and of the Great Work, the Uniting of the Microcosm
and the Macrocosm—Man with God.
The main Formula
of the Great Work, that of the Rose and Cross, is symbolised in the Great
Order as 5ø=6ø. This refers to the Microcosm and the Macrocosm as the
Pentagram or Fivefold Star on Unconquered Will and the Hexagram or
Six-fold Star. The Work is to discover their equivalence, and to unite
them.
The first stage
of this Union occurs in TIPHERETH, and is accompanied with the feeling of
Ecstasy. This Sephira is that of the SUN, and is necessarily connected
with the Solar Numbers of which 6, 66, and 666 are the Scale. This is the
Sphere of the Crowned King—The Son who unites in himself both Glory and
Suffering.
But since there
has been, what we may term, a change of Office in the Great Hierarchy in
this New Aeon, we find that the Number 418 which is the numeration of
“ABRAHADABRA” the Word of the Aeon is also particularly attributed to this
Sphere, since it represents perfectly the formula of 5ø=6ø. (See Sepher
Sephiroth, Equinox Vol. I. Number VIII.)
Again 777 is a
number representing alike “The Flaming Sword” and the Unity of all things
including the World of Shells. In Greek Qabalah it corresponds to the word
STAUROS—The Cross.
It is worthy of
notice, and most careful consideration, therefore, that with slight
adjustment of spelling, the Names of the principle characters in the Drama
have an extraordinary significance.
TITUREL, Founder
of the Grail Order, adds to 666.
MONSALVAT, the
Mountain of Salvation, adds to 666.
GAMURET, the
Father of Parzival, adds to 666.
AMFORTAS, with
his Cross of Suffering, adds to 777.
KLINGSOR, who
represents Choronozon (333) adds to 333.
GURNEMANZ,
Conductor of the New King, adds to 418.
PARZIVAL, The
Pure Fool, adds to 418.
KUNDRY and
GUNDRYGGIA, alike add to 290.
In the above the
Hebrew equivalents of the letters and the old spellings of the names are
used. With small study of the Qabalistic System and the Grades of the
Order based on the Tree of Life, the significance of the above will become
more and more apparent to the Student. An extended treatise might be
written on the subject, but that is not the intention of the author at
this time.
Now, there are
several spellings of the name Parzival; the one I have adopted being that
of Wolfram von Eschenbach, from whom Wagner derived the Drama. The usual
spelling—Parsifal—is interesting since it adds to 388, which, with the
addition of 500 (Final Mem. The Water of the Great Sea of Understanding),
becomes 888. By Greek Numeration 888 is the number of Jesus the Christ.
But there is
another spelling, much more significant, and probably the oldest of them
all. PARCHVAL, the numeration of which adds to 326.
It will have been
noticed that the most important Points of the Drama are connected with THE
CUP—Understanding—Binah the THIRD Sephira; The SPEAR —Will—Wisdom—Chokamh
the SECOND Sephira, and THE HEART—The Castle of the Grail—Tiphereth the
SIXTH Sephira. If we examine these Spheres on the Tree of Life we find
they form a Descending Triad representing the Bowl of The Chalice of
Ecstasy, the points of which are 326.
Now 326 is the
Numeration of IHShVH—The Hebrew Jeheshuah—Jesus—The God- Man or Redeemer.
This Word also symbolises the descent of “Shin” the letter of the Holy
Spirit into the Four Lettered Word IHVH—Jehovah—The Ineffable Name and the
Formula of the Four Elements. Thus PARChVAL symbolises the whole process
perfectly; the Descent of Spirit into Matter and also of the Redemption.
It also shows the
transition to the New Aeon, there being a connection between this old
spelling and that of Parzival the formula of the present time. For the
central letter of the word PARChVAL is “Ch” in Hebrew Cheth, which spelt
in full is 418 the numeration of Parzival, and of the Word of the Aeon,
his Magick Formula.
I need only add
that The DOVE—Kether—The Crown—when shown above the bowl of the CHALICE
(in its natural position on The Tree of Life) together with Yesod—the
Foundation and Malkuth—The Kingdom, as the stem and base of the Cup;
completes the Qabalistic Design. This arrangement clearly shows how the
Chalice is one with the Tree of Life and filled by the Holy Spirit.
The numerical
proof is not, however, quite complete—indeed it could never be
completed—but let me draw your attention to the word Grail. The old
spelling is GRAL and here we find G—the letter of The Moon—and R—the
letter of the Sun, coupled with AL, the Great Name of God.
Turning once more
to our Qabalistic Design of the Cup drawn on the Tree of Life, let us
examine the Numbers of the Sephiroth involved. We shall indeed discover
the “Chalice of Ecstasy” for we obtain 1 + 2 + 3 + 6 + 9 + 10 = 31, which
is the numeration of both AL and LA—God and Not—Key to the Mysteries both
of the Old Aeon and the New and when properly understood the
Final Formula of ECSTASY.
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