I think I must have summoned the Angel Dr Sledge and suddenly learned a hell of a lot about Jewish mysticism, because that did not feel like an hour!!! Thanks for another great lesson!!
Just wanted to say how much I've been enjoying this series and channel. Just sitting alone, watching your videos, and taking notes has become one of my favorite things. I appreciate you a lot. Thanks so much!
I grew up in an apocalyptic doomsday cult. This series so far is immensely healing for me. Thank you. I want to know more about these “messiahs that come and go”. This is juicy stuff. Who are they and how do they differ from prophets?
It's a very common theme for shamanic cultures to describe the spirit world as a descending into it. There are various cultures using rock openings, holes in the ground, pits, to enter this world.
Yes. The best Knowledge of the World is literally located in The World, so animals that went underground were thot to have this Knowledge. Snakes know about Earthly things. Eagles knew about Sky things. I don't know what knows about Water things. If the Israelites were using this system of directionality, who did they inherit that from? Cuz that's pretty primitive and the cultures they passed thru were mostly looking to the other direction for Wisdom. I think... Would it go back as far as Ur? Did they value the Wisdom of snakes? I know that Inanna descended to gain Knowledge of the realm of the Dead, but was that the only direction they valued? What was their relationship to "The Heavens"? I think the Roman soldiers valued descent in order to gain Wisdom. Their temples for Mithras are all below ground level. And I think Mithras came all the way from India ...? but there is alot of confusion there. And why would Israelites copy Roman practice? So...????
Just to be precise, in shamanic practice and belief there are (at least) three Worlds. One "descends" to the Lower World (not the same as the Land of the Dead BTW) which is only one part of the Spirit or "Other" World(s). One can also ascend to the (wait for it) Upper World. But there is also a Middle World (thank you JRR Tolkien for knowing that) which is the Spiritual equivalent of the world which we inhabit daily and which exists "right next to it" but in another non-ordinary place or, in modern terms, dimension. So it is very interesting that in certain forms of Jewish mysticism people "descend" to the Spirit World because most of the monotheistic religions are Sky God religions ie., Upper World focused. Most ancient (aka "traditional" aka "primitive" sic) religions are more focused on the Middle and Lower Worlds, a generalization, but relatively accurate. Judaism's "descent" seems to hark back to its shamanic tendencies as Dr. Sledge had mentioned. God I LOVE this series!! So interesting.
@@atlantean1209 "Dark Places of Wisdom" by Peter Kingsley is an amazing survey of the way that this concept (known as chthonic in Greek) was used to inform the mystery traditions and healing temples of the Hellenistic traditions. I know its not exactly what you requested but it brings a great deal what it says is important to understanding the greater picture of underground sources of wisdom.
I really like this format of the Dr. just being in teaching mode and I might even prefer it over the more compactly produced videos. This series has better flow than the other videos.
Today I learned that God is a huge, long-fingered alien. And don't mess with angels. Thanks so much for this series, man. Been learning a huge amount. I would love to see that rendering of the "alien God" sometime.
I always enjoy your channel. But this one blew my mind. You connected so many dots and dropped so much knowledge I had to rewind the video three times to make sure I caught everything. Wow. 🔥
I like the word descent, as it makes me think of going inward into the place where one's self can access the connection with divinity. In general, this feels like a more grounded/grounding route. If spiritually traveling, you want to possess a strong connection to the 'inner senses' as well as the physical body - to do otherwise would be so very hazardous! So rather than ascending beyond the body to an outward source, contextualizing the experience as a descent seems pretty logical and (more) safe to me! I've studied/practiced many facets of mysticism/spirituality/psychology/etc but am very new to Kabbalah and Jewish Mysticism, thanks largely to you! So I don't know how fully my ideas make sense within your superior understandings on the matter, but I do thank you ever so heartily for all you share and do!!!
Justin Sledge - I call you out on your inconsistencys! In this episode you said that phenomenology is a 4 dollar word, but in a previous episode you said it was a -two- dollar word. I have double checked with inflation rates and it doesn't check out. Jokes aside, what a great lecture series this is. Fantastic. Thank you!
These spiritual journeys also read or sound like the Gnostic literature. This is so cool. I wish this series was in book form. I read Major Trends in Judish Mysticism and I agree it is a bit dated though very informative. This is a major update. Quite an achievement Dr. Sledge.
FYI the word "weird" comes from an old Norse word "wyrd" meaning not quite of this world. So saying that any kind of mysticism is "weird" is actually technically correct and not just a colloquialism. Thought you'd get a kick out of that.
This is so interesting. Again, another parallel to mormonism is that their temple rituals involve learning the signs, tokens (handshakes), and passcodes to get past the angels guarding heaven. You make a journey through the three levels of heaven, ending up in the highest level by the end of the ceremony. In mormonism God also has a body.
Also, in the Eleusinian Mysteries you would descend into the earth for knowledge too, right? So might be more Hellenistic influence from Demeter/Hades or other chthonic mystery cults.
'We will not let you enter by us,' say the door-posts of this door,'unless you tell our name.' '"Plummet of Truth" is your name.' 'I will not let you enter by me,' says the right-hand leaf of this door, 'unless you tell my name.' '"ScalePan which Weighs Truth" is your name.' 'I will not let you enter by me,' says the left-hand leaf of this door, 'unless you tell my name.' '"Scale-Pan of Wine" is your name.' 'I will not let you pass by me,' says the floor of this door, 'unless you tell my name.' '"Ox of Geb" is your name.' 'I will not open to you,' says the door-bolt of this door, 'unless you tell my name.' '"Toe of his Mother" is your name.' ... 'I will not let you tread on me,' says the floor of this Hall of Justice. 'Why not? I am pure.' 'Because I do not know the names of your feet with which you would tread on me. Tell them to me.' '"Secret Image of Ha" is the name of my right foot; "Flower of Hathor" is the name of my left foot.' 'You know us; enter by us.' (Spell 125, Faulkner translation)
@@DarkMoonDroid the Book of Coming Forth by Day first appeared around 1500BCE, with roots in the Pyramid Texts that date to around 2300BCE ish. The specific literature that Dr Sedge discusses in this video is more like 400-700CE, so nearly 2000 years later.
I would guess they say descend to the Palaces because the heart is where the divine is found. The soul is residing there, and so is the throne. Ascending is when we die and if we are sanctified in holyness, we leave out the crown of the head.
I would opine that the belief that adept mystic "descends" into the chariot is that the mystic must be in such a spiritual state that it feels natural and easy to "settle down into" the throne of God. This would be a statement on the nature of spiritual mastery.
The Merkabah ,chariot of body and soul,I have seen in one of my astral travels.it’s a tetrahedron that sits slightly above the abdominal area .it’s hollow yet takes the shape of a tetrahedron.it is lit up with all the colors of the 7 chakras.it’s gorgeous
My theory is that you "descend" inwardly rather than ascend outwardly. As a Quaker mystic, I find much value in the "inner" metaphor, and cannot help but wonder if that is not the case here
There is some - very little evidence - of possible meditation, mantra-like chants, body postures, and possible breathing techniques but the evidence is very, very scant
You rock dude. Thank you for teaching me cool stuff. Would you consider a historic perspective on the evolution of eschatology which might help us understand the orthodox beliefs in present day Jerusalem? I think you could knock it out of the park.
I have a question I developed only ten minutes in would the norse ragnarok event be viewed as apocalypticism even though there's no direct "mesiah" figure?
This description of god in this text has blown my mind, this sounds like a mashup between shadow of the colossus and a dark souls boss. This somehow sounds more "aweful" than the general assertion that god is everywhere at all times. I can imagine someone seeing this and developing a religion around it easily
It is so interesting how almost materialist ancient judaism was. The thing that makes you divine and the thing that makes you a king are both a physical throne. A physical object is what gives someone the power. Like sitting on the throne of god makes you like god, it's not hard to imagine they might have thought sitting on a throne is what made you a king.
Wow, thanks so much. I experienced these realms and beings on hi dose psilocybin. Two days ago was a big one on Lions Gate, I will post report on page Psilocybin Soulstice Psychonauts here on RUclips soon. Your vid here helped me recall and process much of it. Thanks again
How can I learn traditional Judaism as if I wanted to make it my religion? I don't but I am fascinated with Kabbalah and would like to better understand the culture. I'm in college in Atlanta and am taking a course in Hebrew as well.
Love this series... thank you. ??: could descent simply refer to a feeling of going inward or down into oneself. Could the odd letter strings (angelic names) form a pattern in some way (numerologically) with the dimensions. Could the extreme revulsion about a second, even if lesser, Divine be a managed backlash to early Christianity, Jesus emerging as the second person of the triune (!) God.
Could descent be an indication of an inner instead of outer journey or would that be trying to insert later concepts into the minds of an earlier period?
In shamanic journeying, you often descend into an astral realm through a hole in a rock, stump, etc., swim or scamper along, and come out in another world where you can talk to animal or other spirits. I suspect that the “descent” in Merkavah journey is similarly just a visual metaphor for a desired shift in consciousness, with no further significance. Your mention of Sar Torah technique as a precursor to angel summoning magic is very interesting. Is there any resource that extracts the Sar Torah passages from the Merkavah literature?
How would you characterise an ascent mysticism such as April De Conick postulates for the adherents of the Gospel of Thomas? The Hesychasts also talk about descent INTO the heart and are very touchy about notions of ascending tho the higher realms. What are your thoughts on this?
Sure sounds a lot like the hymns (ícaros) of the spiritual journeys using Ayahuasca, and even rhymes with Terrnce Mckenna description of his psilocybin experiences. Have you done any study or videos in the vein of linguist John Marco Allegro's ideas that mystical experiences (e.g. at Qumran) could be attributed to practices with psychedelics?
I stumbled on this channel and enjoying this course. When you talk about passcodes and needing the names of angels triggers 2 thoughts for me - firstly the freemasons and passwords to go up levels, might this link to these practices, or more likely the gnostic type influence? Secondly the idea that need a name to prevail over a spiritual being reminds me of certain christian exorcist traditions that ask for a demon's name in order to cast it out.
Great series, thank you. Joseph Dan states that Azriel's "Ein Sof" was influenced by Aristotle's "unmoved mover" (his Kabbalah: short Intro book, p. 39). Moreover a modern student of Hermetic Qabalah sees the seven planets attributed to sefirot 3-9, so that the modern Tree of Life is in some ways similar to the old geocentric model. Yet the early kabbalists I believe never thought to correlate the seven planetary heavens to the sefirot. Does anyone know when they first started to be correlated thereto in the Hermetic Qabalah? I suspect it's not until around the Golden Dawn, but it could be earlier. The planets got correlated to the magic squares and thus the numbers 3-9 in 1100 C.E. with Ibn al-Zarqālluh’s "Treatise on the Movements of the Wandering Stars."
Bink Hallum's "New Light on Early Arabic Awfāq Literature," p. 96 is my source for the magic squares to planets, which is a great history for magic squares. Nicolas Vinel's "The Hidden Judaism of the Sator Square in Pompeii" I like as well since it seems to me proves Greek knowledge of magic squares earlier than scholars have thought before.
![Blox Fruits Dragon Rework Update [Full Stream]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/EqDAp8udhm0/mqdefault.jpg)
I like the way "descending" to the throne gives meditation the feel of a dungeons and dragons type experience.
Dungeons and dragons and Yahweh
@@TheEsotericaChannel Dungeons and dragons and Yahweh oh my!
@@patrickhammes1829
"I understood that reference."
- Captain America
I think I must have summoned the Angel Dr Sledge and suddenly learned a hell of a lot about Jewish mysticism, because that did not feel like an hour!!!
Thanks for another great lesson!!
Just wanted to say how much I've been enjoying this series and channel. Just sitting alone, watching your videos, and taking notes has become one of my favorite things. I appreciate you a lot. Thanks so much!
💜🙏💜 Thank you for sharing your insights
"art students are weird... And they're great". This dude has spoken many a truth for this channel, and this is the truest one yet.
Love the love for art students!! I feel represented 😇
I grew up in an apocalyptic doomsday cult. This series so far is immensely healing for me. Thank you. I want to know more about these “messiahs that come and go”. This is juicy stuff. Who are they and how do they differ from prophets?
Glad you're out and hopefully doing well. Much respect for confronting that experience through continued learning -- here's to continued healing 🤜
It's a very common theme for shamanic cultures to describe the spirit world as a descending into it. There are various cultures using rock openings, holes in the ground, pits, to enter this world.
Yes. The best Knowledge of the World is literally located in The World, so animals that went underground were thot to have this Knowledge. Snakes know about Earthly things. Eagles knew about Sky things. I don't know what knows about Water things.
If the Israelites were using this system of directionality, who did they inherit that from? Cuz that's pretty primitive and the cultures they passed thru were mostly looking to the other direction for Wisdom. I think...
Would it go back as far as Ur? Did they value the Wisdom of snakes? I know that Inanna descended to gain Knowledge of the realm of the Dead, but was that the only direction they valued? What was their relationship to "The Heavens"?
I think the Roman soldiers valued descent in order to gain Wisdom. Their temples for Mithras are all below ground level. And I think Mithras came all the way from India ...? but there is alot of confusion there. And why would Israelites copy Roman practice?
So...????
I see it as a metaphor for a journey within (urself) as in many mystic teachings know thyself
Just to be precise, in shamanic practice and belief there are (at least) three Worlds. One "descends" to the Lower World (not the same as the Land of the Dead BTW) which is only one part of the Spirit or "Other" World(s). One can also ascend to the (wait for it) Upper World. But there is also a Middle World (thank you JRR Tolkien for knowing that) which is the Spiritual equivalent of the world which we inhabit daily and which exists "right next to it" but in another non-ordinary place or, in modern terms, dimension. So it is very interesting that in certain forms of Jewish mysticism people "descend" to the Spirit World because most of the monotheistic religions are Sky God religions ie., Upper World focused. Most ancient (aka "traditional" aka "primitive" sic) religions are more focused on the Middle and Lower Worlds, a generalization, but relatively accurate. Judaism's "descent" seems to hark back to its shamanic tendencies as Dr. Sledge had mentioned. God I LOVE this series!! So interesting.
@@marykayryan7891 is there a book you’d recommend on this shamanic descent? Thanks!
@@atlantean1209 "Dark Places of Wisdom" by Peter Kingsley is an amazing survey of the way that this concept (known as chthonic in Greek) was used to inform the mystery traditions and healing temples of the Hellenistic traditions. I know its not exactly what you requested but it brings a great deal what it says is important to understanding the greater picture of underground sources of wisdom.
I really like this format of the Dr. just being in teaching mode and I might even prefer it over the more compactly produced videos. This series has better flow than the other videos.
Oh man!!! I feel like there's a bigger teaser at every episode. I can't wait for the next one. Thank you so much Dr Sledge.
Today I learned that God is a huge, long-fingered alien. And don't mess with angels.
Thanks so much for this series, man. Been learning a huge amount.
I would love to see that rendering of the "alien God" sometime.
After watching the sublime Agrippa course, I'm delighted that this seems to be equally as good!
This just keeps getting better. Thank you Dr. Sledge.
it would be really awesome if you could share with us that picture of "God's body" one of those art students created! @53:20 Great lecture
I also hope to see this!
We need it!
A lot of us really look forward to these. Thank you Dr. Sledge
Awesome. Another great entry in this series. I can't wait till next week and diving into Jewish magic!
Thanks
Thanks!
I always enjoy your channel. But this one blew my mind. You connected so many dots and dropped so much knowledge I had to rewind the video three times to make sure I caught everything. Wow. 🔥
Yes, plz drop all those links we broke folks need for descending into the merkaba. And thank you. Good work Dr.
I like the word descent, as it makes me think of going inward into the place where one's self can access the connection with divinity. In general, this feels like a more grounded/grounding route. If spiritually traveling, you want to possess a strong connection to the 'inner senses' as well as the physical body - to do otherwise would be so very hazardous! So rather than ascending beyond the body to an outward source, contextualizing the experience as a descent seems pretty logical and (more) safe to me!
I've studied/practiced many facets of mysticism/spirituality/psychology/etc but am very new to Kabbalah and Jewish Mysticism, thanks largely to you! So I don't know how fully my ideas make sense within your superior understandings on the matter, but I do thank you ever so heartily for all you share and do!!!
These introductions are great. I've been liking your stuff for a while now, but I've been missing a good chronological introduction :)
Kinda glad I got started late. I get to binge watch this over and over. I pick up more each time…… Doc! You Da’ Man!
Justin Sledge - I call you out on your inconsistencys! In this episode you said that phenomenology is a 4 dollar word, but in a previous episode you said it was a -two- dollar word. I have double checked with inflation rates and it doesn't check out.
Jokes aside, what a great lecture series this is. Fantastic. Thank you!
This is an outstanding series.
This is just fascinating, challenge accepted, going to order some books on the practices.
I thought the same thing!! The never ending divine adventure 🙌🙏🏼
OMG, what an amazing course! Patreon, here I come! I hope we get to see more of your courses!
this series is fantastic. so greatful for this channel.
Great leacture Dr. Sledge. It keeps getting more and more interesting. Keep 'em coming!
Thank you SO much for this series, my favorite videos from the channel yet!
Such a gifted and unique style of presentation and depth. Bravo and thankyou ! :)
Fantastic series, thanks for all your insight Doc Sledge!
Fascinating presentation, Justin. Thank you.
Still loving this series, thank you again
@ESOTERICA - Would like to see the picture your student drew of the Shi'ur Komah. Can you post a link?
It’s a way of decent to God because it’s an inward journey.
You are doing a great work mate. Thank you.Really enjoyed this lecture
These spiritual journeys also read or sound like the Gnostic literature. This is so cool. I wish this series was in book form. I read Major Trends in Judish Mysticism and I agree it is a bit dated though very informative. This is a major update. Quite an achievement Dr. Sledge.
Major Trends written by Gershom Sholom of course.
speechless lecture!! thank you
I love you work so much, thank you for sharing.
Been waiting for this. Thank you!
Thanx Justin . its been such a great journey , with you as a teacher and storyteller - im hooked ;-)
Excellent presentation as always, Doctor.
Again, excellent. Toda Rabah
“The Descent of Merkabah” would make a baller Dungeons and Dragons game.
FYI the word "weird" comes from an old Norse word "wyrd" meaning not quite of this world. So saying that any kind of mysticism is "weird" is actually technically correct and not just a colloquialism. Thought you'd get a kick out of that.
Old English too
Ie Saxon
Assuming that he doesn’t know this is the boldest take of the century
This is all such great information. Thank you!
This is so interesting. Again, another parallel to mormonism is that their temple rituals involve learning the signs, tokens (handshakes), and passcodes to get past the angels guarding heaven. You make a journey through the three levels of heaven, ending up in the highest level by the end of the ceremony. In mormonism God also has a body.
Also, in the Eleusinian Mysteries you would descend into the earth for knowledge too, right? So might be more Hellenistic influence from Demeter/Hades or other chthonic mystery cults.
Amazing work Justin!
When measuring God's body, let us not forget to carefully record the dimensions of His divine six-pack.
Gracias
"passwords and secret code to get past the angels" - reminds me of the Book of Coming Forth by Day (aka Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead)
'We will not let you enter by us,' say the door-posts of this door,'unless you tell our name.'
'"Plummet of Truth" is your name.'
'I will not let you enter by me,' says the right-hand leaf of this door, 'unless you tell my name.'
'"ScalePan which Weighs Truth" is your name.'
'I will not let you enter by me,' says the left-hand leaf of this door, 'unless you tell my name.'
'"Scale-Pan of Wine" is your name.'
'I will not let you pass by me,' says the floor of this door, 'unless you tell my name.'
'"Ox of Geb" is your name.'
'I will not open to you,' says the door-bolt of this door, 'unless you tell my name.'
'"Toe of his Mother" is your name.'
...
'I will not let you tread on me,' says the floor of this Hall of Justice.
'Why not? I am pure.'
'Because I do not know the names of your feet with which you would tread on me. Tell them to me.'
'"Secret Image of Ha" is the name of my right foot; "Flower of Hathor" is the name of my left foot.'
'You know us; enter by us.'
(Spell 125, Faulkner translation)
@@PaulHaesler
This is great!
When were these practices first happening?
And was that before or after it shows up in Israelite Lit.?
@@DarkMoonDroid the Book of Coming Forth by Day first appeared around 1500BCE, with roots in the Pyramid Texts that date to around 2300BCE ish.
The specific literature that Dr Sedge discusses in this video is more like 400-700CE, so nearly 2000 years later.
I would guess they say descend to the Palaces because the heart is where the divine is found. The soul is residing there, and so is the throne. Ascending is when we die and if we are sanctified in holyness, we leave out the crown of the head.
Thanks for your insights
I would opine that the belief that adept mystic "descends" into the chariot is that the mystic must be in such a spiritual state that it feels natural and easy to "settle down into" the throne of God. This would be a statement on the nature of spiritual mastery.
Great series! Thank you so much 🙏🏽
Thank you! תודה!
The Merkabah ,chariot of body and soul,I have seen in one of my astral travels.it’s a tetrahedron that sits slightly above the abdominal area .it’s hollow yet takes the shape of a tetrahedron.it is lit up with all the colors of the 7 chakras.it’s gorgeous
"Oh man I got into GOD's palace and He looked just like Dr. Justin Sledge."
😊 Yeah.
😂😂
👌
Tat tvam asi
😂
Just a old heathen. But I find your work very interesting. Been following you for about a year or so. Keep up the good work!
It s been great. Thanks.
Must confess I derive so much poetic inspiration from these lectures.
Even named a recent musical work 'Measurement of the Vastness'.
Thank you, Doctor.
sir , please make lectures on alchemical study of isaac newton and robert boyle
My theory is that you "descend" inwardly rather than ascend outwardly. As a Quaker mystic, I find much value in the "inner" metaphor, and cannot help but wonder if that is not the case here
Impressive video!! One question remains for me. What did those mystic rabbis actually DO? Some form of meditation with 'jewish mantras'?
There is some - very little evidence - of possible meditation, mantra-like chants, body postures, and possible breathing techniques but the evidence is very, very scant
Only He can remain on the throne and all must go down from the throne.
Fascinating stuff.
probably one descends into the soul which is connected, opposed to the outside which is disconnected
You don't happen to have a link to that image of that CAD file of YHWH do you? Lol. I'd love to try and fully flesh that out into an oil painting.
I wish sometimes I could reach escape velocity
Ha ! I'm glad for the rare time I feel rooted around these parts !
Fascinating!!!
I really wanna see the art students depiction of Merkavah God
You rock dude. Thank you for teaching me cool stuff. Would you consider a historic perspective on the evolution of eschatology which might help us understand the orthodox beliefs in present day Jerusalem? I think you could knock it out of the park.
So interesting to me that what I've heard closely resembles what my evangelical protestant parents and church believed!
Looking back after this lecture, I can't help but feel a certain Merkavah vibe from Tarkovski's Stalker.
Anyone find, or recreate, that picture?
I was wondering the same thing.
I have a question I developed only ten minutes in would the norse ragnarok event be viewed as apocalypticism even though there's no direct "mesiah" figure?
Not so much - it's much more an escatalogical rather than apocalyptic concept
@@TheEsotericaChannel okay that clears things up far more. Ive heard people say it was, now its go to thats ignorance. Thanks Dr.Sledge!
This video was fascinating if not a bit techical.
Will there be DIY type of thing for decent ?
I would definitely be killed I can't remember my wifi password. Thank you Dr Sledge very well taught. Looking forward to the next teaching.
This description of god in this text has blown my mind, this sounds like a mashup between shadow of the colossus and a dark souls boss. This somehow sounds more "aweful" than the general assertion that god is everywhere at all times. I can imagine someone seeing this and developing a religion around it easily
"God has a Tesla"
You know... somehow that checks out.
It is so interesting how almost materialist ancient judaism was. The thing that makes you divine and the thing that makes you a king are both a physical throne. A physical object is what gives someone the power. Like sitting on the throne of god makes you like god, it's not hard to imagine they might have thought sitting on a throne is what made you a king.
Wow, thanks so much. I experienced these realms and beings on hi dose psilocybin. Two days ago was a big one on Lions Gate, I will post report on page Psilocybin Soulstice Psychonauts here on RUclips soon. Your vid here helped me recall and process much of it. Thanks again
What's it called?
How can I learn traditional Judaism as if I wanted to make it my religion? I don't but I am fascinated with Kabbalah and would like to better understand the culture. I'm in college in Atlanta and am taking a course in Hebrew as well.
Perhaps the reason mystics "descend" into the chariots / palaces, is because mysticism is a going "inward" not outward.
Seems reasonable to me, could also be taboo inversion
Love this series... thank you. ??: could descent simply refer to a feeling of going inward or down into oneself. Could the odd letter strings (angelic names) form a pattern in some way (numerologically) with the dimensions. Could the extreme revulsion about a second, even if lesser, Divine be a managed backlash to early Christianity, Jesus emerging as the second person of the triune (!) God.
Did you find that image im incredibly curious
Could descent be an indication of an inner instead of outer journey or would that be trying to insert later concepts into the minds of an earlier period?
In shamanic journeying, you often descend into an astral realm through a hole in a rock, stump, etc., swim or scamper along, and come out in another world where you can talk to animal or other spirits. I suspect that the “descent” in Merkavah journey is similarly just a visual metaphor for a desired shift in consciousness, with no further significance. Your mention of Sar Torah technique as a precursor to angel summoning magic is very interesting. Is there any resource that extracts the Sar Torah passages from the Merkavah literature?
How would you characterise an ascent mysticism such as April De Conick postulates for the adherents of the Gospel of Thomas?
The Hesychasts also talk about descent INTO the heart and are very touchy about notions of ascending tho the higher realms.
What are your thoughts on this?
Sure sounds a lot like the hymns (ícaros) of the spiritual journeys using Ayahuasca, and even rhymes with Terrnce Mckenna description of his psilocybin experiences.
Have you done any study or videos in the vein of linguist John Marco Allegro's ideas that mystical experiences (e.g. at Qumran) could be attributed to practices with psychedelics?
Does anyone have a link to any images of such models of the body of God based on the Shi'ur Komah measurements? I want to see what it would look like
I stumbled on this channel and enjoying this course. When you talk about passcodes and needing the names of angels triggers 2 thoughts for me - firstly the freemasons and passwords to go up levels, might this link to these practices, or more likely the gnostic type influence? Secondly the idea that need a name to prevail over a spiritual being reminds me of certain christian exorcist traditions that ask for a demon's name in order to cast it out.
Gimmie that content. thank you Dr. Justin "the hammer" Sledge. :)
Are there any Jewish writings or Kabbalistic traditions on the "school of the Prophets?"
Would you still have a link to the texts on Hekhalot that you mentioned near the end?
Hi can you link the PowerPoint
Great series, thank you. Joseph Dan states that Azriel's "Ein Sof" was influenced by Aristotle's "unmoved mover" (his Kabbalah: short Intro book, p. 39). Moreover a modern student of Hermetic Qabalah sees the seven planets attributed to sefirot 3-9, so that the modern Tree of Life is in some ways similar to the old geocentric model. Yet the early kabbalists I believe never thought to correlate the seven planetary heavens to the sefirot. Does anyone know when they first started to be correlated thereto in the Hermetic Qabalah? I suspect it's not until around the Golden Dawn, but it could be earlier. The planets got correlated to the magic squares and thus the numbers 3-9 in 1100 C.E. with Ibn al-Zarqālluh’s "Treatise on the Movements of the Wandering Stars."
Bink Hallum's "New Light on Early Arabic Awfāq Literature," p. 96 is my source for the magic squares to planets, which is a great history for magic squares. Nicolas Vinel's "The Hidden Judaism of the Sator Square in Pompeii" I like as well since it seems to me proves Greek knowledge of magic squares earlier than scholars have thought before.
excellent...ty
Can you drop some links to some good merkaba & Enoch literature?