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Closer Look at the Tarot: Aces
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Guardians of the Four Gateways
How to Eat Meat
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The Kabalah in Everyday Use
The Oldest Magick
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The Kabalah in Everyday Use

Don Michael Kraig

"The Kabalah is too hard." "The Kabalah is too complex."

"The Kabalah is too patriarchal." I have been hearing these same arguments for years. They all seem to have one thing in common: people who have never taken the time to really study the Kabalah made them up.

The Kabalah seems complex because of its thoroughness. Like astrology, Tarot, I Ching and physics, it is a way to look at the universe; a system for understanding physical and spiritual reality. You should not look at any of the above named systems and discard them merely because they appear complex. Rather, you should take them a little bit at a time, then assemble them to make a unitary whole. Nobody eats an entire apple in one bite—even a small apple. Instead you take little bites. If the apple is particularly tasty, you may want to take your time and savor each bite, chewing it thoughtfully and slowly.

You should do the same with the Kabalah. Don't start by looking at the Tree of Life, just examine one sphere. After you have gotten familiar with each sphere, learn each path. Then you can assemble it into an easy-to-understand, easy-to-use system.

The Kabalah is something that you can use to improve your life on a daily basis. There are many ways of doing this, from divination techniques to protection techniques, from meditation techniques to better understanding how people interrelate and thus being able to work better with them.

The technique here is one that is strictly Kabalistic and can positively change your life. It will require no practice and it will enhance your ability to do creative visualization a thousand fold.

My book, Modern Magick, explains this in detail. There I call it "The Kabalistic System of Mental Magick." Here is a brief description so you can use it today. First you will need some background information.

Positive <->Affirmations

It is a traditional occult belief that thoughts are things, or, more appropriately, thoughts can become things. I think that this is self-evident. An artist must conceive of something before he can bring it about. A person must have an idea for an invention before it can be invented.

The use of positive affirmations is one spiritual use of this wisdom. A man named Coue created perhaps the most famous affirmation. He repeated,

"Every day in every way I am getting better and better." Either positive affirmations should work, all the time, or the basic belief in them should be discarded. In short, we should look at positive affirmations as either being a law or something to ignore. I contend that it is a law—if you do positive affirmations you will get your desire. Well, then, how come some people do positive affirmations and they don't work?

My response is that they do work. Consider the case of one who spends fifteen minutes each day doing the above affirmation. Suppose the person spends the day at a sedentary job, gets no exercise, overeats, eats unhealthy food, etc. He spends fifteen minutes giving positive affirmations and many hours giving negative ones. The first secret is that the affirmations work constantly.

Creative Visualization

The use of words is very "left-brain," logic-oriented, and not everyone has that focus in life. There is another method, similar to the use of affirmations that is more "right-brain" and intuitive. It uses images instead of words. This is called creative visualization. The idea is simple: instead of repeating words, and working with your left brain, use images and work with the right hemisphere of your brain. Thus, if you wanted a car, you would visualize the type of car you wanted.

Some people cannot see an image in their mind's eye. They fear that they will never be successful with creative visualization because they are not able to do this. But the actual "seeing" of the image is only secondary. The primary and most important part of creative visualization is the using of your imagination to create an image on the astral plane. Being able to see it in your mind's eye only means that you have developed astral vision—the ability to see onto the astral plane. So here is your second secret: If you know (not believe, not hope, but really know) that you have used creative visualization to create something on the astral plane, you will be successful—you do not have to be able to see it.

Unfortunately, some people are still not successful using this technique. The answer comes with a Kabalistic secret, one that requires a bit of explanation.

The Four Worlds

In the Kabalah, there is an ancient tradition that holds that there are four planes of existence. These planes are called The Four Worlds. Relating these worlds to various creation processes is easy. The first, or most spiritual world, is the world of raw ideas. It is where you come up with basic ideas and concepts. Let us say, for example, that you are a lecturer and need something to hold you notes. The realization of this need means that you are thinking on the level of the first world.

The second world gives form to the ideas of the first world. You may figure that you need a podium that is of a certain height and shape, with the back higher than the front so that the notes are at an angle, and with a ledge so the notes don't slip off. When you do this kind of planning, you are thinking on the level of the second world.

Next, you have to do something. In the example given here, you may go out and buy the wood, cut it to size, assemble it and give it a finish. Here you are operating in the third, or "formative," world.

Finally, you put the podium to work. When you do this, you have brought your idea into manifestation in the physical world.

So where does this all get us? Well, there is more to say about the third, or formative, world.

The Secret of the World of <->Formation

When you do positive affirmations or creative visualization, you are working on the level of the third world or the World of Formation. It is a Kabalistic secret that this world relates to the senses and emotions. Therefore, the more you use your senses and emotions in your positive affirmations and creative visualizations, the more successful you will be. Don't just say the affirmations, say them with feeling! Say them as if they are the most important and meaningful words. More important, you must also believe them to be of vital importance. "I'd sort of like such-and-such" won't make it. "I really want and need" is what you must say and feel to be successful quickly.

When doing creative visualization, you can involve you senses even more. First you must involve yourself in the visualization. Do you want health? See yourself as healthy. Do you want a car? See yourself driving the exact car that you want. Involve your senses as much as possible. Feel that steering wheel under your hands. Fell the wind in your hair as you drive. Feel the texture of the upholstery. Smell the interior of the car. Use all or your senses to as great a degree as possible.

Let's review what we've learned so far:

1) You are constantly creating.

2) You have to know, not believe, but know that if your astral vision were better, you would be able to see your creative visualization.

3) You need to involve yourself—senses and emotions—in your affirmations and creative visualizations.

The Kabalistic System of Mental Magick

This system makes use of all the above information to make you a virtual powerhouse of success and creativity! First, it does not limit you to just affirmations or creative visualization: you use both. Here is a brief version of how to use this powerful system of the Kabalah.

1) Repeat an affirmation three times. Remember that these are positive affirmations; express them in positive terms. Thus, if you wanted to quite smoking do not use "I am stopping smoking." The subconscious (also related to the World of Formation) does not look at negative and only sees "I am smoking." Also, use the present tense. "I will stop smoking" is talking about the future. When tomorrow comes, you will still be talking about the future. A good affirmation would be "I am free of smoking."

2) Now spend three to five minutes visualizing what you want. Remember to involve your senses and emotions.

3) Do steps one and two when you get up in the morning and just before going to sleep. Do them every day.

4) Anytime during the day that counter-ideas come into your head, simply repeat your affirmation.

That's it! With this information, you will be using the Kabalah and have begun to understand one part of it, the so-called Four Worlds. Even better, you have made it practical and useful in your life.

If you want to learn more about the Kabalistic System of Mental Magick, you can find complete instructions in my book. If you want to find out more about the Kabalah, there are many books available on the subject. But don't try to eat it all in one gulp. Take small bites and savor them and you will find the Kabalah to be an asset, no matter your particular spiritual path.

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Copyright © 1988 Don Michael Kraig