A PowerPoint presentation that I created for the University of Exeter's EXESESO MA in Western Esotericism. It's not really intended for viewing without any verbal explanations, but it might be of interest to some of you.

1. Athanasius Kircher,
Cabala Hebraica
Dr Peter Forshaw
(University of Amsterdam)

2. Athanasius Kircher (1601-1689)

3. Ars magnesia (1631)
Musurgia universalis (1650)
Itinerarium extaticum (1656)
Ars magna sciendi sive
combinatoria (1669)
Arca Noe (1675)
Turris Babel (1679)
Obeliscus Pamphilius (1650)
Oedipus Aegyptiacus (1652-55)
Athanasius Kircher (1601-1689)

4. Athanasius Kircher (1601-1689)

5. • Wisdom of Egypt
• Theology of the Phoenicians
• Astrology of the Chaldaeans
• Cabala of the Hebrews
• Magic of the Persians
• Mathematics of the
Pythagoreans
• Theosophy of the Greeks
• Mythology
• Alchemy of the Arabs
• Philology of the Latins

6. ‘The Hebrews have such an
affinity to the rites, sacrifices,
ceremonies and sacred
disciplines of the Egyptians
that I am fully persuaded that
either the Egyptians were
Hebraicizing or the Hebrews
were Egypticizing’.
Athanasius Kircher (1601-1689)

7. The Cabala of the Hebrews, that is,
On the Allegorical Wisdom of the
ancient Hebrews, the parallel of
Egyptian and Hieroglyphic Cabala.

8. The Cabala of the Hebrews, that is,
On the Allegorical Wisdom of the
ancient Hebrews, the parallel of
Egyptian and Hieroglyphic Cabala.
Clement of Alexandria,
Stromata:
‘The mysteries of the Hebrews
are very similar to the mysteries
of the Egyptians’.

10. A Mirror of Mystical Cabala, in which everything that the
Hebrews secretly conceal about the four-letter name of God with
respect to the name of the Messiah Jesus is set forth. Also it is
taught that, not without mystery, all the nations of the world
pronounce the name of God with four letters.

11. Kircher, Oedipus Aegyptiacus (1652-
55)

12. Kircher, Oedipus Aegyptiacus (1652- Philippe d’Aquin, Interpretation de
55) l’arbre de la cabale (1625)

16. Khunrath, Amphitheatre of Eternal Wisdom: Sigillum Dei/Emet

17. [Reuchlin] The Wonder-Working Word (Verbum
Mirificum)
[YHSVH]
The Pentagrammaton
‘The Name above all names … the efficient cause of all
divine miracles’

19. Jesus Christ, the centre of all nature, in
whose name all the other divine names are
concentrated, God and man, has shown
the four-letter name, which was formerly
secret and concealed but is now revealed
and explained by the Teacher himself, to
the future world. Here the figure shows the
diffusion of the divine name YHSVH
whose figure was formerly the four-letter
name YHVH. Just as the Sun illuminates,
makes fruitful, and animates all things by
diffusing its rays through all the world, so
the power and efficacy of the name Jesus,
who is the Sun of Justice, vivifies and
preserves all things by diffusing itself
through all things.

21. Ab Ben va Ruach haquadosh - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
Twelve divine attributes:
1) Eternal (Aeternus)
2) Good (Bonus)
3) Merciful (Misericors)
4) Just (Justus)
5) Long-suffering (Longanimis)
6) Satisfying (Sufficiens)
7) Compassionate (Clemens)
8) Immense (Immensus)
9) Infinite (Infinitus)
10) Glorious (Gloriosus)
11) Incomprehensible (Incomprehensibilis)
12) Ineffable (Ineffabilis)

22. Grades of Being
1) Love
2) Hope
…
41) Beauty
42) Wisdom

23. Grades of Being
1) Love
2) Hope
…
41) Beauty
42) Wisdom

26. Since the world was created for
man and all mankind is divided
into seventy-two families, as
attested by holy scripture, hence
arose the name of seventy-two
letters, or the seventy-two
names, in which the whole order
of nature is aptly expressed
together with the seventy-two
names of the Angels presiding
over all nature.

29. The Mystical Tree Planted in the Middle of Paradise
for the Salvation of the 72 Nations,
whose fruit are the 72 Names of God

30. So by this it seems to be indicated that everything in the world receives
sustenance by the power and efficacy of this name; and thus all the
peoples and nations of the world are bound to respond to so many
gifts of divine goodness under the true cult of one religion diffused
through the world.

31. The Vine bearing the 72 Names of God, derived from Exodus 14

33. The Olive Tree:
‘The Mystical Tree Containing
the 7 Planets, the Members of
the Body and the Presiding
Angels’
• 7 Planetary Seals
• 7 Planets & Presiding Angels
• 7 six-letter Names that make
up the 42-Letter Name of God
• 7 Entrances of the Soul in the
Head (2 eyes, 2 nostrils, 2 ears,
1 mouth)

34. The Olive Tree:
‘The Mystical Tree Containing
the 7 Planets, the Members of
the Body and the Presiding
Angels’
• 7 Planetary Seals
• 7 Planets & Presiding Angels
• 7 six-letter Names that make
up the 42-Letter Name of God
• 7 Entrances of the Soul in the
Head (2 eyes, 2 nostrils, 2 ears,
1 mouth)

35. Seal of Saturn:
• 1st 6 letters of
42-letter name
• Right Eye
• Raphael
• Long Life

36. Seal of Saturn:
• 1st 6 letters of
42-letter name
• Right Eye
• Raphael
• Long Life

37. Seal of Saturn:
• 1st 6 letters of
42-letter name
• Right Eye
• Raphael
• Long Life

38. Seal of Saturn:
1) Magnificent God,
guide us
2) Splendid God,
illuminate us
3) Strong God, fortify
us
4) God the exalting.
etc

40. ‘The Pomegranate Tree
Containing the 12 Signs
of the Zodiac, the 12
Tribes of Israel and 12
Revolutions of the Name
of God’
• 12 Permutations of
YHVH

41. Let the reader know that
sometimes under a shining
Angel a black tail is found,
when there is nothing so holy
that the enemy of the human
race will not use it under the
pretext of divine worship in
order to destroy souls.

42. Variant presentations of the Sephiroth

45. Archetypal World: En Soph and the 3 Supernals (Kether, Cochma, Binah)

46. Angelic World: the 4th sephira Chesed and the 5th sephira Pechad
[the 5th is more commonly Geburah (Strength or Severity)]

47. Angelic World: the 4th sephira Chesed and the 5th sephira Pechad
[the 5th is more commonly Geburah (Strength or Severity)]
Left: 35 Princes taking their origin from Severity
Right: 35 Princes taking their origin from Mercy

48. Sidereal or Celestial World: the sephira Tiphereth (Beauty)
Candelabrum: 7 Planets

49. Sidereal or Celestial World: the sephira Tiphereth (Beauty)
Candelabrum: 7 Planets
Table of the Loaves of Proposition: 12 Signs of the Zodiac

50. Exodus 25:23-24; 30-32, 37 Thou shalt
make a table also of setim wood, of two
cubits in length, and a cubit in breadth, and
a cubit and a half in height And thou shalt
overlay it with the purest gold:… And thou
shalt set upon the table loaves of
proposition in my sight always.
Thou shalt make also a candlestick of
beaten work, of the finest gold, the shaft
thereof, and the branches, the cups, and the
bowls, and the lilies going forth from it. Six
branches shall come out of the sides, three
out of one side, and three out of the other
… Thou shalt make also seven lamps, and
shalt set them upon the candlestick, to give
light over against.

51. 365 Negative Precepts of the 248 Affirmative Precepts of the
Law; ‘Thou shalt not …’, Law;
‘Thou shalt …’
Equivalent to the number of days
in the year Equivalent to the number of
bones in the body

52. Elemental World: 4 lowest Sephiroth (Nizah, Hod, Iesod, Malcuth)

53. Elemental World: 4 lowest Sephiroth (Nizah, Hod, Iesod, Malcuth)
(Fire, Air, Water, Earth)

54. Chesed = Jupiter
Pechad/Geburah = Saturn
Tiphereth = Sun
Nezach = Mars
Hod = Venus
Yesod = Mercury
Malcuth = Moon
7 Lower Sephiroth & Planetary Relationships

55. Kether – Colour, pure crystalline
Hochmah – Yellow
Binah – Golden
Chesed – Red
Geburah – Green
Tiphereth – Purple
Nezach – Sky Blue
Hod – Reddish Purple (Puniceus)
Yesod – Tawny (Fuscus)
Malcuth – Black
Colours associated with the Sephiroth

56. Manly P.Hall, The Secret Teachings of All Ages (1959), p. CXXIII

58. The 22 Channels:
1) Aleph: from Kether to Chochmah, associated with God of Infinity
2) Beth from Kether to Binah, God of Wisdom
3) Gimel from Kether to Tiphereth, God of Retribution
4) Daleth from Hochmah to Binah, God of the Gates of Light
…
22) Tau, from Yesod to Malcuth, God the end of all things

59. The 22 Channels:
1) Aleph: from Kether to Chochmah, associated with God of Infinity
2) Beth from Kether to Binah, God of Wisdom
3) Gimel from Kether to Tiphereth, God of Retribution
4) Daleth from Hochmah to Binah, God of the Gates of Light
…
22) Tau, from Yesod to Malcuth, God the end of all things
The 32 Paths of Wisdom (connected with 2nd sephira Hochmah):
1st path is called ‘Admirable Understanding’
2nd path = ‘Illuminating Understanding’
3rd path = ‘Sanctifying Understanding’

60. The 50 Gates of Understanding (connected with 3rd sephira Binah):
1) Primordial elements, the first gate being Primal Matter or Chaos;
Gates 5 to 8 being earth, water, air and fire;
2) the second class is Mixed Things, including minerals, plants, and so
forth;
3) Class three is the human microcosm, Gate 22 for example being
the earth from which Adam was formed, Gate 23 the breath that God
blew into him;
4) Class four is the Celestial World of the planetary spheres
5) Class five is the nine orders of the Angelic World, and the highest,
Class
6) Class six is God himself.

62. On the Tautic Character, or Crux Ansata, chief of all hieroglyphs

63. Ein Soph
Kether & Fire
Hochmah & Air
Binah & Water
Tipheret & Earth
Raphael
Raviel
Jophiel
Tzadquiel

64. Kircher’s Crux Ansata, or Egyptian Ankh

65. Kircher’s Crux Ansata, or Egyptian Ankh John Dee’s Hieroglyphic Monad

66. Monas Hieroglyphica (1564) John Dee (1527-1608)

67. John Dee (1527-1608)

68. Sigillum Dei/Æmeth John Dee (1527-1608)

69. BL Sloane MS 313, Kassel, Summa Sacrae Magicae
Liber sacer sive juratus – of Berengarius Ganellus
Sworn Book of Honorius
Sigillum Dei – Seal of God, in two manuscripts owned by John Dee

70. A ‘Heptagonal Cabalistic Amulet’
in Kircher’s Oedipus Aegyptiacus

73. AGLA 
 
  
Attah Gibbor Le'olam Adonai
Thou art mighty forever, Lord

80. A Cabalistic Amulet, in Oedipus Aegyptiacus, ‘Magia Hieroglyphica’

81. A Cabalistic Amulet, in Oedipus Aegyptiacus, ‘Magia Hieroglyphica’

82. A Cabalistic Amulet, in Oedipus Aegyptiacus, ‘Magia Hieroglyphica’

83. Solar
Talisman
Talisman
of Venus
A diagram for creating magical talismans from Kircher’s ‘Cabala Saracenica’