Author, lecturer, and mystic Manly P. Hall (b. 1901, d. 1990) wrote over 150 books and pamphlets, countless essays, and gave thousands of lectures over his 70-year career. Canadian-born, young Hall was first led to mysticism when he moved to Los Angeles at the age of 18. As a preacher and lecturer at the Church of the People in the 1920s, Hall shared the wisdom of Pythagoras, Plato, and the teachings of ancient traditions.
During these years, he also met his wealthy patrons, Carolyn Lloyd, and her daughter, Estelle. With their financial backing, Hall was able to expand his research across the globe, learning more about age-old religions and amassing a sizeable library of rare books that he sent back to Los Angeles. In later years, these books would be collected at the Philosophical Research Society, a center of wisdom and learning.
A prolific writer, Hall wrote consistently throughout his career, with titles like The Secret Teachings of All Ages (1928) and Lectures in Ancient Philosophy: An Introduction to Practical Ideals (1984). He also lectured frequently, attracting a record-setting audience at Carnegie Hall in 1942 with his talk titled "The Secret Destiny of America."
The Sacred Magic of the Qabbalah is one of Hall's earlier works, first published in 1929 and republished in 1936.
The work, while short, is broken into three distinct parts. Part one is titled Keys of the Sacred Wisdom, and describes the preparatory work that a student of the Qabbalah must do before being pure enough to receive these teachings. They must only be motivated by the "highest motives and purest ideals" if they hope to gain true understanding. This section also introduces the reader to the importance of the twenty-two hieroglyphic letters of the Hebrew alphabet and the ten sacred numbers. It is from the interactions of these letters that all creation originates.
Part two is titled The Mystery of the Numbers. "The ancient Qabbalistic magic of the philosophers had nothing to do with fortune-telling, divination, or the so-called art of numerology..." Hall warns.
This section explains the significance of the numbers one through ten. The number two, for example, is "symbolic of the dual system of human thought, which views everything either from the standpoint of opposites or comparison. Things are judged in their relation to other things, but seldom, if ever, weighed and measured according to their own intrinsic merits." It is only the mystic who sees that everything in creation can only be judged on its own merits.
In part three, The Power of Invocation and the Science of Sacred Names, Hall explains the truth behind the ancient rituals of past ceremonial magicians. No need to draw a special circle and carefully place swords and scepters within it. The trappings of ritual are merely a metaphor. For "...the true Magus stood in the center of his circle, but the circle was the sphere of his experiences...for the circle is his own aura...The true magician was robed in the white garments of a purified body...he carried the living offerings of his daily labors, and there with the vowels and consonants of the celestial alphabet as his own being he blazed forth in the living name that invokes all things."
Christianity, Hall argued, has maintained the "crystallized, external ritual" of magic, but the "sublime magic...is missing." It is form without function and leaves the Christian student with a hungry soul.
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