Post by maat on Mar 2, 2012 4:22:04 GMT
Further... and from the same essay
There are many and easily identifiable footprints of Kabbala in Freemasonry.
This "Golden Age" of Medieval Judaism peaked in Arab occupied Spain and contributed some of the most profound Jewish mystical philosophers since the period of the Prophets in the Old Testament. Moses ben Maimon, the preeminent commentator on classical Jewish writings, Solomon ben-Gabirol, and Moses of Cordoba, the author, or more likely editor of the Sepher Zohar come from this period. The Zohar, or Book of Illumination, along with the Sepher Yetzirah (Book of Formation), forms the basis for all kabbalistic speculation, meditation, and ritual. Its commentaries on Biblical lore are a never ending storehouse of wisdom for students of Western mysticism. It is because of these activities in Spain, in the region of Catalonia in particular, and Provencal in Southern France, that Kabbalah grew into one of the most powerful and influential mystical philosophies in Western history.
This is also important to mystical students because it is from Arab Spain that the West gets much of its knowledge of Alchemy, and Ritual Magic, the sisters of Kabbalah. Together, these three schools formed the basis for Hermetic philosophy and practices as mentioned in the early Rosicrucian manifestoes: the Fama Fraternitatis, the Confessio Fraternitatis, and The Chemical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreuz. For many students of mysticism, the pilgrimage to these schools was as great and as dangerous as their forbearers had made to the temples of Egypt and Persia. Raymond Lull, Arnold of Villanova, and the famed French mystic, alchemist, and Rosicrucian Nicolas Flamel, bookseller turned patron of cathedrals, all received their initiations into the Hermetic sciences, of which Kabbalah is a part, in Spain and brought it to the rest of Europe.
There are many and easily identifiable footprints of Kabbala in Freemasonry.