Ritual

First worship the Immortal gods, as they are established and ordained by the Law. Reverence the Oath, and next the Heroes, full of goodness and light. Honour likewise the Terrestrial Daemons by rendering them the worship lawfully due to them. Honour likewise your parents, and those most nearly related to you.

Moses says, God created heaven and earth, and all creatures, in six days, and rested on the seventh day, and also commanded it to be kept for a rest.

But never begin to set your hand to any work, until you have first prayed the gods to accomplish what you are going to begin. When you have made this habit familiar to you, You will know the constitution of the Immortal Gods and of men. Even how far the different beings extend, and what contains and binds them together.

Music and dancing do not put into the heart what is not there already, but only fan into a flame dormant emotions.

Jewish mysticism is as old as the Old Testament - nay, as old as some of the oldest parts of the Old Testament.

The whole of Jewish mysticism is really nothing but a commentary on the Jewish Bible, an attempt to pierce through to its most intimate and truest meaning; and what is the Bible to the Jew but the admonisher to be loyal to the traditions of his fathers?

Thou shalt confess thy transgressions in the church, and shalt not come unto prayer with an evil conscience. This is the path of life.

But concerning baptism, thus baptize ye: having first recited all these precepts, baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, in running water; but if thou hast not running water, baptize in some other water, and if thou canst not baptize in cold, in warm water; but if thou hast neither, pour water three times on the head, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Thou shalt command him who is baptized to fast one or two days before.

Concerning the Eucharist, after this fashion give ye thanks. First, concerning the cup. We thank thee, our Father, for the holy vine, David thy Son, which thou hast made known unto us through Jesus Christ thy Son; to thee be the glory for ever.

Let none eat or drink of your Eucharist but such as have been baptized into the name of the Lord, for of a truth the Lord hath said concerning this, Give not that which is holy unto dogs.

But concerning the apostles and prophets, thus do ye according to the doctrine of the Gospel. Let every apostle who cometh unto you be received as the Lord.

Thou shalt, therefore, take the first-fruits of every produce of the wine-press and threshing-floor, of oxen and sheep, and shalt give it to the prophets, for they are your chief priests; but if ye have not a prophet, give it unto the poor.

Elect, therefore, for yourselves bishops and deacons worthy of the Lord, men who are meek and not covetous, and true and approved, for they perform for you the service of prophets and teachers. Do not, therefore, despise them, for they are those who are honoured among you, together with the prophets and teachers. Rebuke one another, not in wrath, but peaceably, as ye have commandment in the Gospel; and let no one speak to any one who walketh disorderly with regard to his neighbour, neither let him be heard by you until he repent.

The idea of silence or secrecy was frequently employed by the early Rabbis in their mystical exegesis of Scripture.

To carry out a commandment from pure love, means, in Jewish theology of all ages, to attain a high stage of mystic elation which can only be arrived at as the result of a long preliminary series of arduous efforts in the upward path.

To win this jewel of the Thought I offer perfect worship to the Blessed Ones, to the stainless gem of the Good Law, and to the Sons of the Enlightened, oceans of virtues.

Whatsoever guilt I have gathered in my foolishness and delusion, alike the wrong of nature and the wrong of commandment, I confess it all as I stand before the Masters with clasped hands, affrighted with grief, and making obeisance again and again.

In the Mishna, Ḥaggigah, ii. 1, it is said: "It is forbidden to explain the first chapters of Genesis to two persons, but it is only to be explained to one by himself.

In the same passage another Rabbi (Ze‘era) of the 3rd century A.D. remarks, with a greater stringency: "We may not divulge even the first words of the chapters [neither of Genesis nor Ezekiel] unless it be to a 'chief of the Beth Din' 1 or to one whose heart is tempered by age or responsibility".

The Rabbis often materialised the Shechinah and gave strongly definite personality to their 'angels'.

'Shechinah' comes from shachan = to dwell. The whole edifice of thought about the Shechinah is based upon such passages in the Old Testament as "And let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them" (Exodus, xxv. 8). "Defile ye not therefore the land which ye shall inhabit, wherein I dwell: for I the Lord dwell among the children of Israel" (Numbers, xxxv. 34). "And I will set my tabernacle among you and my soul shall not abhor you. And I will walk among you and will be your God, and ye shall be my people" (Leviticus, xxvi. 11, 12)

It is a mystical philosophy drawn from the sounds, shapes, relative positions, and numerical values of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet.

This brings us to two doctrines of Jewish mysticism which appear for the first time in the Book Yetsirah, and which were developed subsequently on diverse lines. These are: the doctrine of emanation; the Ten Sefirot.

The last of the Sefirot is Royalty (Malkūt). This tenth Sefirah indicates the abiding truth of the harmonious co-operation of all the Sefirot, thus making the universe in its orderliness and in its symmetry a true and exact manifestation of the Divine Mind - an ‘Olam Azilut, a world of emanation.