Dearest readers:
I am pleased to share with you the research that this engraving deserves, which is entitled…
… AN OUTLINE OF THE CHRISTIAN KABBALAH
First of all, it is good to know that it is one of the four illustrated plates of the Amphitheatrum sapientia aeternae, ‘Amphitheatre of Eternal Science’, an unusual book on Alchemy, impregnated with Christianity and magic, written by the German doctor, hermetic philosopher and alchemist Heinrich Khunrath (1560-1605). He wrote the volume and directed an engraver in its illustration/in the illustration of it, most likely one of the well-known Dutch printers Peter Van der Doort or Hans Vredeman de Vries. The first edition of this work was published in Hamburg in 1595. There are several more editions, posthumous, some with additional plates.
The Sapientiae amphitheatrum inspired The Alchemical Weddings by Christian Rosencreutz, published in 1616, and in fact everything points to authors such as Jakob Böhme and Heinrich Khunrath being two of the pillars on which the Rosicrucian movement of the seventeenth century developed.
The four engravings of the first edition were named as follows:
- The great hermetic androgyne.
- The Khunrath laboratory.
- The Adam-Eve within the triangle of the verb.
- The Christian Kabbalistic Outline or The Cosmic Rose.
The drawing has an outer circular border where several words in Latin and Hebrew appear.
Then, at the top, the tetrakys ─triangle─ with the Tetragrammaton ─the written representation of the divine name in Hebrew─. The outer circle with the ten commandments, the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet and the Latin words DILIGES DOMINVM DEVM TVVM EX TOTO CORDE TVO ET EX TOTA ANIMA TVA ET EX OMNIBVS VIRIBVS TVIS ET EX OMNI MENTE TVA ET PROXIMVM TVVM SICVT TEIPSVM, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your might and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.’ The Ten Sephiroth, the ten emanations of God through which the world was created, also appear/are also seen.
In the igneous circle Jesus Christ appears crucified in the center and the phrase IN HOC SIGNO VINCES, ‘in this sign ─the cross─ you will conquer’. At his feet the red pheasant.
The words that are written on the outer edge of the drawing:
“QVI ERAT; QVI EST; QVI ERIT; PLENI SUNT CELI, PLENA EST OMNIS TERRA, MAIESTATE GLORIAE EIVS: הללויה, הללויה, הללויה.”
‘He who was; He who is; He who will be; the heavens are full, the whole earth is full, of His majesty and glory. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah’.
“LAVAMINI MUNDI ESTOTE.”
‘Let us be washed ─purified─ from cleanliness’.
“VNVM OMNIUM EFFECTOREM; CETERAS POTESTATES, MINISTRAS HABETOTE.”
‘Have only one task and the rest of the occupations in divine service –to be a servant of God, to know that you are a divine instrument─.’
“AD PRIMUM VOTA PRAECESQ AD INFERIORES HYMNI SUNTO.”
‘Vote for a predecessor from the beginning and make hymns—praises—to the needy poor.”
“QUOD, SI FORTE, PETITIO, AD INFERIORES, PROCESSERIT, NISI SUB MODO DELEGATAE, a PRIMO, ADMINISTRATIONIS INTENTIO NON ESTO.”
‘Those who make a strong plea will advance from the greatest poverty, and not those who, in a demanding way, approach through their position’.
This engraving, companions of the Path, clearly shows us that everything is duly planned by the most holy THEOMEGALOGOS from the beginning of creation. This is the reason why we are shown in Latin and Hebrew, through beautiful phrases, the cosmic architecture that, since ancient times, has been discussed with those disciples truly interested in knowing the anatomy of the divine.
We begin our description by directing our gaze towards the triangle located at the top, which is none other than the pointing out of the THREE PRIMARY FORCES OF CREATION, namely: THE FATHER, THE SON AND THE HOLY SPIRIT. Everything is born from them and without the help of these THREE PRIMORDIAL FORCES, nothing is created, nothing is crystallized.
Unquestionably, the words that go on the outside of the drawing: QVI ERAT, QVI EST, QVI ERIT, speak to us of that which HAS BEEN, IS AND WILL ALWAYS BE, in other words: THE BEING. Obviously, the entire creation is filled with His strength and glory.
The praises “Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah” are profoundly justified, for we are all the result of His divine action.
LAVAMINI MUNDI ESTOTE emphasizes the need to be purified from cleanliness, that is, from the abandonment of the horrible FORNICATION.
VNVM OMNIUM EFFECTOREM; CETERAS POTESTATES, MINISTERS HABETOTE: Certainly we need to dedicate ourselves only to the search for the BEING, to dedicate our lives to that one task. We need to feel that we are divine instruments, servants of divinity. THIS IS URGENT.
AD PRIMUM VOTA PRAECESQ AD INFERIORS HYMNI SUNTO: We urgently need a predecessor, an intimate Savior, and to that predecessor we must sing praises with good thoughts, words, and deeds. Above all, let us help those who need support in this valley of tears that we gnostically call SAMSARA.
QUOD, SI FORTE, PETITIO, AD INFERIORES, PROCESSERIT, NISI SUB MODO DELEGATAE, a PRIMO, ADMINISTRATIONIS INTENTIO NON ESTO: To approach the BEING we need not to be rich in EGO but rich in SOUL, and only those who are not proud, pedantic and insolent will certainly be able to have access to the kingdom of heaven.
The igneous circle shows us the INTIMATE CHRIST as the reward for our search.
The fact of seeing Christ standing on a PHEASANT is because in Alchemy, in the science of transmutations, such an animal, with its showy coloration and its song, directly allegorizes the Lord of Perfections. Likewise, the Christ, at the center of this igneous circle, is to indicate to us that He is the sustainer of all creation through His perpetual INRI: IGNIS NATURA RENOVATUR INTEGRA, ‘Fire incessantly renews all Nature’.
Undoubtedly, in order to apply ourselves to these tasks, WE NEED TO DEMONSTRATE WITH CLEAR AND CONCISE FACTS THAT WE LOVE THE BEING ABOVE ALL THINGS ─ understood here family, children, social position, wealth, traditions, etc., etc., etc. ─.
It is interesting to know that Athanasius Kircher was a Jesuit monk in his time, and this reminds us of the words of our Avatar of Aquarius, V.M. Samael Aun Weor, when he said: “During the Middle Ages, many monks, secretly, dedicated themselves to the study of Kabbalah and Alchemy, and secretly carried out their alchemical practices under the protection of Catholicism itself, which branded these things as demonic…”
I now give you these sentences for your reflection:
“Love resembles a tree: it bends under its own weight, takes deep root in our whole Being, and sometimes it continues to grow green in the ruins of a heart.”
Victor Hugo
“Love is an entirely personal poem.”
Balzac
“Love is the most benign and the best of moralists.”
Bacon
“Love is man’s great refuge from solitude, the immense solitude imposed on him by Nature, by the species, by the eternal laws.”
Henri Bataille
“Love lives more from what it gives than from what it receives.”
Concepción Arenal
“Love is the compensation for death.”
Schopenhauer
OMNIUM CONSENSU.
‘With the consensus of all’.
KWEN KHAN KHU
