A Garden of Pomegranates Quotes

“The “Intelligence of Will” denotes that this is the path where each individual “created being” is “prepared” for the spiritual quest by being made aware of the higher and divine “will” of the creator. By spiritual preparation (prayer, meditation, visualization, and aspiration), the student becomes aware of the higher will and ultimately attains oneness with the Divine Self—fully immersed in the knowledge of “the existence of the Primordial Wisdom.”
― Israel Regardie, A Garden of Pomegranates: Skrying on the Tree of Life

“one gradually equilibrizes the whole of one’s mental structure and obtains a simple view of the incalculably vast complexity of the universe. For it is written: “Equilibrium is the basis of the work.” Serious students will need to make a careful study of the attributions detailed in this work and commit them to memory. When, by persistent application to his own mental apparatus, the numerical system with its correspondences is partly understood—as opposed to being merely memorized—the student will be amazed to find fresh light breaking in on him at every turn as he continues to refer every item in experience and consciousness to this standard.”
― Israel Regardie, A Garden of Pomegranates: Skrying on the Tree of Life

“The “Intelligence of Will” denotes that this is the path where each individual “created being” is “prepared” for the spiritual quest by being made aware of the higher and divine “will” of the creator. By spiritual preparation (prayer, meditation, visualization, and aspiration), the student becomes aware of the higher will and ultimately attains oneness with the Divine Self—fully immersed in the knowledge of “the existence of the Primordial Wisdom.” The Hebrew letter Yod means “hand,” and it refers to the hand of the divine, extended to assist us. Yod is the primary letter whose shape forms the basis for all other Hebrew letters.”
― Israel Regardie, A Garden of Pomegranates: Skrying on the Tree of Life

“If you face something that you fear and recognize it for what is, you give it balance. You restore equilibrium.ʺ”
― Israel Regardie, A Garden of Pomegranates: Skrying on the Tree of Life

“The object of the theoretical (as separate from the practical) Qabalah, insofar as this thesis is concerned, is to enable the student to do three main things: First, to analyze every idea in terms of the Tree of Life. Second, to trace a necessary connection and relation between every and any class of ideas by referring them to this standard of comparison. Third, to translate any unknown system of symbolism into terms of any known one by its means.”
― Israel Regardie, A Garden of Pomegranates: Skrying on the Tree of Life

“Now, to demonstrate the grandeur of modern progress, we have a poor, miserable, disconnected populace with nothing but American films, politics, and empty vacations to satisfy the ever-present human need of living in harmony with the universal spiritual forces underlying nature and all phenomena.”
― Israel Regardie, A Garden of Pomegranates: Skrying on the Tree of Life

“The whole idea of the wand of Aaron the High Priest, implies the shaft connecting the Sephiros on the Middle Pillar- a straight road from the Kingdom to the Crown.”
― Israel Regardie, A Garden of Pomegranates: Skrying on the Tree of Life

“Qabalists assert that Reason is a weapon inadequate to the Search for Reality since its nature is essentially self-contradictory. Hume and Kant both saw this; but the one became a sceptic in the widest sense of the term, and with the other, the conclusion hid itself behind a verbose transcendentalism.”
― Israel Regardie, A Garden of Pomegranates: Skrying on the Tree of Life

“Formal academic philosophy glorifies the intellect and thus makes research into what are, after all, incidentals- if we consider philosophy as the supreme means of investigating the problems of life and the universe. The Qabalah makes the primary claim that the intellect contains within itself a principle of self-contradiction, and that, therefore, it is an unreliable instrument to use in the great Quest for Truth. Numerous academic philosophers have likewise arrived at a similar conclusion. Some of the greater of these have despaired of ever devising a suitable method of transcending this limitation, and became sceptics. Others, seeing simply the solution, have seized upon intuition, or to be more accurate, the intellectual concept of intuition, leaving us, however, with no methods of checking and verifying that intuition, which in consequence is so liable to degenerate into mere guesswork, coloured by personal inclination and abetted by gross wish-phantasm.”
― Israel Regardie, A Garden of Pomegranates: Skrying on the Tree of Life