What we now know as the Kabbalah is concerned primarily with the transmission and preservation of knowledge, from language, math and music to science and philosophy. [Note that we are not talking about phone numbers and baseball scores here.]

The word 'kabbalah' means "to receive", and refers to the ancient oral tradition of passing information from mouth to ear (transmit and receive); the only way of perpetuating knowledge before the invention of writing. At one time culture was transmitted by means of poet's tales about heros and gods, etc.

Originally Kabbalah was the secret tradition (the mysteries) that we see in different cultures, usually reserved for the chosen few for two specific reasons -

One is illustrated in the Bible by the use of parables. When Jesus is asked why he spoke in parables, he said that it is not given to 'them' to understand. He is speaking of a certain quality of intellect here, and dividing the flock. This is called the Doctrine of Exclusion, where not everyone is allowed into the inner sanctum. It is just like the university system where you have to prove yourself intellectually capable before you can move on to the next grade or level.

John Greaves (the 17th century Pyramid explorer) puts it this way, "An obscure way of expressing things was practiced by the wise and learned, to whom it seemd good not to expose everything they knew to the eyes of the vulgar, who would not relish such matters that were too sublime for their otherwise disposed thoughts". He is, of course speaking of the art of myth-making, wherein a parable conveys a hidden truth by means of a fiction, legend or myth.

Before there were universities, there were mystery schools, academies, guilds and seminaries, all of which hand picked who they accepted. The idea was not only to transmit and preserve knowledge but also to monopolize it. As it turns out, that is not that hard to do, because a large part of the substance of the 'tradition' involves math, geometry, architecture, astronomy and philosophy, which is not every ones cup of tea. That is what Jesus is pointing out, that not every one is intellectually capable of understanding the concepts in these studies.

You will note that this is Jesus stating that the doctrine is not to be understood by everyone at all levels, and that it is presented in forms that convey more than one meaning. Parables, allegories, and symbols make it possible for the same presentation to have two different audiences, meanings addressed to two different groups, the difference being that one group 'understands' the symbolism involved, because they have been told about them. In a group that has more than two 'levels', one's understanding matures as you advance in learning.

The other reason for secrecy is that people are insanely jealous of Knowledge, and have always persecuted other people for their behavior, thoughts, and beliefs. In 1600 people were still being burned alive for trying to explain how the solar system really works in writing; probably by men who knew that they were speaking the truth, but who didn't want others to have that knowledge too. It is one thing to conceal facts symbolically, it is another to burn people for telling the facts of the Universe.

You will note that the transmiision of knowledge has sometimes been confused by the historical pattern of persecution and falsifying the facts.

Astronomy

Kabbalah is symbolic and allegorical like Masonry; that is, their true meanings are hidden or disguised from all but initiates in symbols and stories. From what Jesus says about parables we can deduce that the stories in the Bible are not to be understood literally. When we ask ourselves, if the legends are not literal, but symbolic, what is the lesson that they illustrate, the first answer that comes to mind is astronomy. Even the casual student will recognize the sun and 12 zodiac signs being symbolized by Moses and the 12 tribes, SOLomon and his 12 captains, and Jesus and the 12 disciples.

Kabbalistic legends are not histories and do not depend on historical characters, they are allegories (not meant to be taken literally) - like the twelve labors of Hercules which is another story about the sun going through the 12 zodiac signs in a year. [Astronomy was certainly the first of the sciences, containing witin itself, math, physics and geometry.]

"This science (astronomy) was a part of the hidden doctrine of the mysteries and was consequently withheld from the uninitiated...The myths and fables of all early peoples contained veiled allisions to astronomical facts." Canon page 22

The Soul's Journey

Beside the transmission and preservation of knowledge, the other main Kabbalistic theme is the story of the soul's journey characterized either as a Loss and Recovery or an Exile and Return . The story of the Prodigal Son is a loss and recovery story from the father's point of view, but an exile and return story from the son's point of view.

The stories of the exile to and return from Egypt and Babylon in the Bible allegorize the soul's journey, with 'going down to Egypt' signifying a soul inhabiting a body, incarnation. "Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there", Gen 12:10.

The conjunction of spirit and matter that results in incarnation is represented in the legend of King Menes, said to be the first to unite the Two Kingdoms. The symbols on Menes headdress are the vulture and the cobra symbols of the upper and lower kingdoms in Egypt but also of matter and spirit, as are Egypt and Israel. Incarnation = Uniting the Two Kingdoms = the Royal Wedding of spirit and matter. (Osiris was the sun of the Mother Sky Nuit and the Father Earth Geb.) According to Alchemists, life is created from the fusion of two elements, mercury and sulphur.

Egyptians, Musilm and Jews begin their day at sundown, and their year when the sun moves into the southern hemisphere because the SETting of the sun symbolized the moment of incarnation. The time 'underground' or in the 'underworld' at night symbolized the soul's time in the body. Osiris was the god of the Underworld. Set seals Osiris in a coffin (soul in a body) and slips the coffin into the Nile River, symbol of the Milky Way, and sends it on it's way. The coffin comes to shore and is encased by a tree. Osiris is called 'the one in the tree'.

Death, the dawn, saw the freeing of the soul from the prison of the body. This is Easter also. At noon (and in the summer), the sun (the soul) was high in the sky (the heavens) in it's proper place.

Yom Kippur is the fall ceremony celebrating the beginning of the world and the Passover is the spring ceremony celebrating the release from bondage. The Festival of Lights is the winter solstice ceremony like Christmas is. If you know the Bible well, you may recall that when the angel first tells Elizabeth that she is pregnant, her husband was participating in ceremonies at the Temple; this was Yom Kippur. In six months the angel appears to Mary with the same message near Passover in the spring. Three months later John is 'born' at the summer solstice, Jesus is born at the winter solstice. John says, I will decrease but he will increase. You have to know something about astronomy to 'get' this story which serves as a teaching aid as well as a memory aid.

The Greeks taught a different story. According to them, the soul comes from and returns to the stars (Milky Way) via seven planetary 'spheres' or planes; the order of descent is from the stars to Saturn to Jupiter, Mars, the Sun, Venus, Mercury the Moon and the Earth. Note the split between the 'outer' and the 'inner' planets. As you can see, this tale is also an astronomy learning tool. Above the astronomer holds the earth, the moon is in the sky, and the stars are on the dome above him.

"The Mysteries consisted of teaching by representation in symbolic form the principles and dogmas of philosophy and religion combined, as understood by those who controlled them... It is well known that astronomy was always connected with religous rites in ancient times... Symbolic Masonry is a system or order of representation." Bromwell 545

The Glass Bead Game

In the Glass Bead Game, Hesse says, "The Game was at first a witty method for developing memory among students and musicians", essentially "a serial arrangement, an ordering , grouping, and confronting of concentrated concepts from many fields of thought". The template for this interdisciplinary game is the point where the studies of mathematics, physics, astronomy and music intersect.

In the book, the game starts becoming a mechanical memory demonstration, so it was determined that "After each symbol conjured up by the director of the Game, each player was required to perform silent meditation on the content, origin and meaning of this symbol. In this way the hieroglyphs of the Game were kept from degenerating into mere empty signs". (James Frazer's "Golden Bough" has a lot of good stuff to say about how meanings devolve.)

Just as we can see the Bead Game and Journey to the East as Kabbalistic tales, we can also see the study of Kabballah as being described in the books. Note that the journey to the east refers to the soul's journey as symbolized by the sun's path- it moves from the west to the east at night under the world. In Genesis 29 we read "Then Jacob went on his journey and came unto the land of the people of the east".

Bromwell suggests that "The whole supposed journey of the underworld was a principle part of the representation in some of the mysteries celebrated in the caves or subterranean vaults". This implies that, at some level, the mysteries were a symbolic representation of the sun's path and the astronomical facts of life. Earlier he says "The Lodge is the universe... the work of the Lodge is the exposition of the Divine order", the symbolic representations for which are "drawn from the natural divisions of the day" and the year.

All the elements of the lodge including the position and movements of officers are symbolic. At one level the lodge is intended to symbolize both the form and structure, as well as the 'workings' of the astronomical Universe, as 'taught' by those who control the lodge in question. That is, the form and workings of the lodge, as well as the symbols and stories used will be a reflection of the view of the Universe that someone is trying to project or promote.

[Note that the lodge differs from the Temple, in that, while it is a mystical image of the universe, it is intended as a shrine for a deity, a place of worship not for bestowing initiations; it will therefore have a different order of symbols, stories and forms.]

Enoch

The two main Kabbalistic figures, Enoch and Metatron, are actually the same entity. After living a righteous life and finding favor with the Lord, Enoch was swept away to heaven where he sits at the right hand of God as the Archangel Metatron, (as in Metatron's Cube). Most ancient cultures have myths and legends about the individual that invented language or writing, and who ever it was that gave agriculture or mathematics to mankind. In the case of Enoch, he is reputed to have invented writing and instituted the mysteries, and Metatron is the entity that transmitted the Kaballah to Man.

There are two basic Enoch stories, which although written as historical accounts actually allude to two different institutions. In the first story, the Lord tells Enoch of the upcoming Flood and instructs him to build two pillars/columns and to inscribe on them the sum of human knowledge. [Many Kabbalistic legends utilize architectural/masonic/building metaphors.]

The point of this allegory is that mankind has sought to preserve some forms of knowledge symbolically and concretely for ever. Schwaller de Lubicz called the ancient Egyptian Temples 'libraries in stone'. Fulcanelli comes to the same conclusion about Cathedrals. "A few centuries ago the mysticism of theology used to make every feature of ecclesiastical architecture a 'hieroglyph'. p 183 Canon.

Far from being about one man, this is a straight forward kabbalitic story about how all cultures express themselves symbolically. In this legend, Enoch personifies the institution of Symbolic Architecture as a means of preserving and transmitting knowledge.