This second edition of Aleister Crowley's Secret Temple is more informative and has been updated to reflect the major discoveries made by the author in the last few years.
CONTENTS. Foreword by Steven Ashe. 2 Preface. 8 The Seven Palaces and the Key to Liber AL. 9 Merkabah, Ritual and Magick. 18 The Mysteries of Liber Al vel Legis. 20 Anagrams and other puzzles. 24 Liber Ararita and the paths of the Seven Palaces. 26 Liber Ararita rearranged. 31 The Merkabah Keys to Liber Arcanorvm. 46 The Merkabah keys to Liber B vel Magi. 49 The Merkabah keys to Liber Tau. 53 Liber Tzaddi vel Hamus Hermeticus. 55 Merkabah – the mystery of the Chariot Wheel. 58 Aleister Crowley and the Merkabah. 60 Notes. 69 The Seven Palaces in the Ancient Near East & the Indus Valley. 71 Standard Gematria and Secret Gematria. 81 Notes. 82
Bethsheba Ashe is the creator of the popular gematria calculator: Shematria, and the grand master of the Sanctum Regnum. She has spent the last seven years in research culminating in the publication of her most recent book "Behold! The Art and Practice of Gematria" which is available at Amazon, Lulu and other outlets.
The Genesis Wheel is a book for anyone with even a slight interest in Gematria (ancient alphabets that are also used as number systems and whose encoding into texts are used both esoterically and to provide essential, most often secret or hidden, information) as well as sacred scripture in general, both the Old and New Testament. The author of this work has clearly done an immense amount of groundwork and research into the particular number systems and specific coding applied by the early writers of the books of the Bible. This has brought to light a completely new and surprising interpretation of the Bible that adds new levels of understanding, which makes this book a very interesting read. It is well written, highly engaging - and most importantly - thought provoking. The author's enthusiasm for the subject shines through on every page. To add to this work, Bethsheba Ashe has developed a fully functioning website that allows input of any text in Hebrew, Greek, Arabic and English to be calculated automatically using the new Bible Gematria values that she has discovered were used to encode Gematria into the very fabric of the texts of the Bible's Old and New Testament. This website also has a wealth of invaluable resources and links to relevant ancient Jewish books and Kabbalistic literature, which you'll struggle to find anywhere else. This is indeed a Great Work! 10/10.
"This is a meticulous work, highly commendable for the quality of the original research that has inspired its unique character, worthy of very serious study."
BethSheba's research, premise and conclusions are both impeccably laid out and entertaining. There is no way of placing spoilers here since no amount of reviewing could give away the wealth of details and supporting evidence she has so lovingly revealed here. Because that is what this book is, a labor of love, which can be seen sentence by sentence. It's a real joy to follow along as the whole puzzle falls into place, piece by piece.
This book is divided into distinct sections, all related and interlocking, while remaining, for the most, standalone in case someone wants to jump ahead to their specific area of interest. Chariot will be of immense interest to Kabbalists, Students of Jewish Antiquity, Tarot Practitioners, Occultists of Golden Dawn and Thelemic bent, Cryptographers and many other areas.
BethSheba starts off with a Primer, recognizing that not everyone will be as well-versed on the background necessary to appreciate the full content without understanding some basics on ancient cults and their relationship to early astronomy and the invention of writing, Jewish and Greek Gematria, early Jewish history and worship, and what the temple architecture reveals, as well as insights into the New Testament. This primer alone is probably worth the entry price.
From there we go into the origins of the Kabbalah, and in particular the two different Hebrew scripts which had different numeric values that applied in Gematria, and how many parts of the Old Testament can be numerically analyzed based on the letter values, to the point that some later changes to the Bible can be clearly identified as the numeric values no longer "align" elegantly. There are no "Bible Code" revelations here, no one was predicting the Kennedy Assassination in the Bible, but the original writers did use the stories as mnemonic devices, and they did so using the number values for the respective letters used.
The Tree of Life is picked apart by BethSheba, to reveal the original, and much more elegant version she calls the "Chariot". She then goes ahead and proves why this is so based on archaeological, historical, biblical and other hard evidence. It even ties into some of Aleister Crowley's writings, and specifically to the "unsolved" riddle in Liber AL vel Legis, otherwise known as The Book of the Law, being the revelation for this Aeon, according to Thelemic belief. A clear explanation on how to use the Chariot is given, and this ties into other work BethSheba has been doing and which she has made available online.
She then goes on to explore the Tarot and its motifs, based on the revelations provided by the Chariot and her other findings, neatly wrapping this all up as a present to the reader. If you are even remotely interested in or curious about the topics I mentioned in this review, you really need to give this book a good read. And then read it again taking notes. And read it a few more times to see what you missed the first two or three times.
Towards the end, as a nice little bonus, we get a section detailing the history of medieval mystic Jewish literature such as the Zohar, and the Sepher Yertzirah, and their appropriation by different hermetic societies and actors. Also included is an analysis of the first 16 lines of Genesis, employing the techniques BethSheba presents in this book, allowing the interested reader to check his understanding and continue to explore further lines for better understanding.
As a practicing Kabbalist, and a ceremonial magician, this book is going to be my constant companion for a long time, until I have internalized all its teachings. I only wish I'd had a book like this 30 odd years ago when I started these topics.
The Genesis Wheel book (of Hebrew manifold gematria methods) by Bethsheba Ashe, is an excellent introduction, compilation, reconstruction, AND erudite scholarship sharing of deep dive referenced information-rarely known to the world at large to the same degree as the inner sanctum of it's foremost practioners.
I have nothing except genuine awe and admiration for the author's well researched diligent work and accomplishments in completing this book. Such that I continue to "draw from the well to wet my thirst" and to extract those "precious gems and rare gold nuggets" that fill the eyes, that her book summarily provides. [YesHWH•HWHseY]
Without pause, I highly recommend her book to all those who appreciate such gainly knowledge, as a cursory review or reading will not suffice.
I just finished The Genesis Wheel and it was something completely different from what I normally read. This book expanded my knowledge of Kabbalistic methods. I learned about Gematria. Gematria is a Kabbalistic method of interpreting the Hebrew Scriptures using an alphanumerical code of assigning a numerical value to a word, name or phrase based on its letters. I found this concept to be interesting, but will admit I was still pretty confused about the process illustrated throughout the book. This is an interesting book providing insight into a system utilized to decipher potential meaning in various religious texts. it is one I would recommend when you would like to ponder and expand upon potential meanings of the Bible. This book was given to me for free as an ARC to provide my honest review.
The authors provide a concise overview of Sex magic, contrasting Eastern Practices with their Western counterparts. Heavily kaballistic, it ties these practices into the different levels on the Tree of Life, its Sephira, and also the components of the soul (or mind, as in id, ego and super-ego).
The Ashes do a great job at explaining the purpose behind Sex Magick, and the results which maybe obtained through it. Mention is made of a few of the luminaries in the field and their teachings. A novice reader will glean many avenues for further research from this book.
It is, I think purposely, light on actual techniques, but again, an interested reader can easily find further readings. Overall, a good book from a couple that has legitimate credentials in magical practices. Well worth reading!
Interesting to develop a calendar that ay have predated traditional Bible theology. Its just a dry summary of ideas. I feel disastisfied because it does not help me use tis concept in a spiritually productie way.