THE JEWISH KABBALAH
In the Summer of 2021, I was reading about Kabbalah, a branch of Jewish Mysticism that uses language, symbols and metaphors as a way of structuring the universe, creation and life into an understandable formula of interrelated categories. Regardless of the religious or esoteric associations with Kabbalah and whether or not it is “true” in a literal sense, it is a fascinating system and philosophy to study, and an interesting way in which to attribute complex, interconnected meaning to every facet of existence. In a certain sense, it is believed by some that the entire universe as we know it was “created” out of these twenty-two sacred letters, and that every single thing we have ever interacted with in this conscious body was some combination of the energies these letters represent. Everything was, perhaps, conjured into existence by the spoken Word of God.
While reading Daniel C. Matt’s book "The Essential Kabbalah: The Heart of Jewish Mysticism,” the author made reference to how Rabbis and mystics throughout history have made a practice of meditating upon the “names of God” as a way of deepening their own understanding of Divinity, the universe and themselves. I am not Jewish nor a part of any religion, and I don’t believe in a “god,” not in that sense. This study came from an innate curiosity about various spiritual systems of the world and a fascination with how cultures throughout time have discovered and utilized esoteric tools.
THE HEBREW ALPHABET
This led me to a personal meditative experiment: to take each of the twenty-two letters and spend a minimum of one hour meditating upon them. I set aside twenty-two days, and removed the Major Arcana cards from Aleister Crowley’s Thoth Tarot Deck, each of which is associated with one Hebrew letter. Every morning, I would shuffle the twenty-two cards and pull one, and whatever came out was the letter I would meditate upon for that day. I sat in asana (a comfortable seated position in which the back is straight and the body is held still) and would slow my breathing to a steady, even pace while first staring at the Hebrew letter for a few minutes. I would then close my eyes and repeat the pronunciation of the letter mentally, over and over in my mind, as a mantra. In a method learned earlier in my practice, I would “vibrate” the sound of the letter while seeing its shape in my mind’s eye, imagining it hovering before me in an empty space. For example, mentally repeating “Lamed-Lamed-Lamed-Lamed-Lamed” and imagining that the audible sounds of the word were “buzzing” within my third eye point, stimulating the pineal gland.
As a side note, this method of “vibrating” within the third eye point can be utilized for any word or sound, be it Om, YHWH or another “God name,” the name of any deity, angel or spirit, a Transcendental Meditation phrase or your own unique mantra. Results may vary from person to person and it will surely take some disciplined, repeated effort to notice an effect (meaning: don’t necessarily expect a reaction the very first time you do this—it takes practice and time). Test it out for yourself and see what happens.
Three cards from Aleister Crowley’s “Thoth Tarot” - note the Hebrew letters at the bottom of each
As I moved through each Hebrew letter over a series of days, I would receive astral “visions” for each, and every one of them was utterly unique. These visions (I use that term loosely—more like a suggestive ride I was taken on through my imagination) embodied the imagery, colors, symbols, archetypes and themes wrapped up in these strange, mystical letters. Sometimes the vision would be subtle and simple, little more than a particular color and texture given to the symbol. Other times, they were full-fledged narrative journeys on par with scrying the Enochian Aethyrs, often with “spirit guides” leading me through the astral plane, animals appearing as poignant symbols of certain Divine or Elemental aspects, occasionally angels with pictorial messages to deliver, and even deities revealing themselves in brilliant, sometimes terrifying form.
I must at this point express how fully surprised I was to have received such an intense “response” from these ancient symbols, and I can fully acknowledge how, frankly, “crazy” or unlikely these experiences may sound. I recognize that my descriptions here resemble the utterances of a dope fiend who has just returned from a high-dosage psychedelic trip, or perhaps the rantings of one whose rational mind is not sound and who may need some serious mental health assistance. But I can assure you that I approached this practice with a very serious and sober mind, and my only request for skeptics or those intrigued would be to make your own inquiry into these curious glyphs—treat it like a personal science experiment, be consistent, keep a journal and always take notes, see if any patterns emerge. For me, it was amazing and fascinating to be shown such vibrant, particular imagery while moving through this alphabet. At the time, I had never experienced anything like it, and came out of the experience with an assurance that these symbols are far more than merely letters to form words on a page, but that they carry a power all their own—an energetic imprint, if you will—and a significance that is mysterious, bizarre, beautiful, scandalous and wonderful. I cannot claim to have much understanding of this phenomena, and it is something I will continue to study and play with.
THE SACRED TONGUES SERIES
Months after this process, I had the idea to look back on my notes and use the imagery from my “astral visions” as inspiration for a series of art pieces. Thus, the Sacred Tongues series was born. I believe that individuals will be drawn to one particular letter or another, based upon their own unique framework and subtle hints from deep within their unconscious (including you, reading this, right now). If any symbol appeals to you right off the bat, there’s good reason for that—probably a hint to look deeper. My hope is that those who come across these pieces, whether they purchase an NFT from me or not, will use them as a starting point for personal exploration. What I ultimately believe that these letters “did” to me (or did for me) was to unlock and unveil deeper levels of understanding, perhaps scrubbing away layers of energetic debris within my psyche. I also believe that this is a practice that can be returned to over and over, that new and different things will be revealed over time as one is ready to receive it. And I absolutely believe these cosmically-charged symbols can do the same for anyone who spends enough time with them. What’s even more interesting is that your experience will be completely different from mine, stemming from your own individual framework and the ideas upon which your understanding of reality have been built. Happy Meditating.
I’m Josh Gaines, an artist who does kind of a bunch of different things and I live in Portland, OR. See my other work on this site or join my Patreon pals for even more fun, weird stuff.