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154-413: The Fifth Empire is not a mere territorial empire. It is a spiritual and linguistic body which spreads throughout the entire world. It represents the ultimate form of fusion between material (science, reason, intellectual speculation) and spiritual knowledge: the occult, mystical speculation and Kabbalism . It is the pinnacle of all the work undertaken by the previous empires (according to old principle of

308-744: A Holy Name in Judaism , as no name could contain a revelation of the Ein Sof. Even terming it "No End" is an inadequate representation of its true nature, the description only bearing its designation in relation to Creation. However, the Torah does narrate God speaking in the first person, most memorably the first word of the Ten Commandments , a reference without any description or name to the simple Divine essence (termed also Atzmus Ein Sof – Essence of

462-474: A military officer appointed Portuguese consul in Durban , capital of the former British Colony of Natal . In a letter dated 8 February 1918, Pessoa wrote: There is only one event in the past which has both the definiteness and the importance required for rectification by direction; this is my father's death, which took place on 13 July 1893. My mother's second marriage (which took place on 30 December 1895)

616-493: A mysticist , Pessoa was an enthusiast of esotericism , occultism , hermetism , numerology and alchemy . Along with spiritualism and astrology, he also paid attention to gnosticism , neopaganism , theosophy , rosicrucianism and freemasonry , which strongly influenced his literary work. He has declared himself a Pagan, in the sense of an "intellectual mystic of the sad race of the Neoplatonists from Alexandria" and

770-554: A phenomenological understanding of the mystical nature of Kabbalistic experience, based on a close reading of the historical texts. Wolfson has shown that among the closed elite circles of mystical activity, medieval Theosophical Kabbalists held that an intellectual view of their symbols was secondary to the experiential. In the context of medieval Jewish philosophical debates on the role of imagination in Biblical prophecy, and essentialist versus instrumental kabbalistic debates about

924-514: A Portuguese of mystical origin to which he refers by a number of names including "The Hidden One", "The King" or "King Sebastian". The Hidden One represents the fulfillment of the destiny of mankind, designed by God since before Time, and, at the same time, the accomplishment of Portugal which, in Pessoa's vision is the chosen nation, the one that will bear the New Messiah and lead the way towards

1078-581: A Secret Society within the Roman Catholic Church. Literary critic Martin Lüdke described Pessoa's philosophy as a kind of pandeism , especially those writings under the heteronym Alberto Caeiro. In his early years, Pessoa was influenced by major English classic poets such as Shakespeare , Milton and Pope , and romantics like Shelley , Byron , Keats , Wordsworth , Coleridge and Tennyson . After his return to Lisbon in 1905, Pessoa

1232-736: A believer in "the Gods, their agency and their real and materially superior existence". His interest in occultism led Pessoa to correspond with Aleister Crowley and later helped him to elaborate a fake suicide, when Crowley visited Portugal in 1930. Pessoa translated Crowley's poem "Hymn To Pan" into Portuguese, and the catalogue of Pessoa's library shows that he possessed Crowley's books Magick in Theory and Practice and Confessions . Pessoa also wrote on Crowley's doctrine of Thelema in several fragments, including Moral . Pessoa declared about secret societies: I am also very interested in knowing whether

1386-572: A centre of this research, including Scholem and Isaiah Tishby , and more recently Joseph Dan , Yehuda Liebes , Rachel Elior , and Moshe Idel . Scholars across the eras of Jewish mysticism in America and Britain have included Alexander Altmann , Arthur Green , Lawrence Fine , Elliot Wolfson , Daniel Matt , Louis Jacobs and Ada Rapoport-Albert . Fernando Pessoa Fernando António Nogueira de Seabra Pessoa ( Portuguese: [fɨɾˈnɐ̃du pɨˈsoɐ] ; 13 June 1888 – 30 November 1935)

1540-483: A devoted reader who spent much of his time in libraries. In August 1907, he started working as a practitioner at R.G. Dun & Company, an American mercantile information agency (currently D&B, Dun & Bradstreet). His grandmother died in September and left him a small inheritance, which he spent on setting up his own publishing house, the "Empreza Ibis". The venture was not successful and closed down in 1910, but

1694-621: A divine blessing too high to be contained openly. The mystical task of the righteous in the Zohar is to reveal this concealed Divine Oneness and absolute good, to "convert bitterness into sweetness, darkness into light". Kabbalistic doctrine gives man the central role in Creation, as his soul and body correspond to the supernal divine manifestations. In the Christian Kabbalah this scheme was universalised to describe harmonia mundi ,

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1848-615: A domed, wooden trunk (25,574 manuscript and typed pages which have been housed in the Portuguese National Library since 1988). The heavy burden of editing this huge work is still in progress. In 1985 (fifty years after his death), Pessoa's remains were moved to the Hieronymites Monastery , in Lisbon, where Vasco da Gama , Luís de Camões , and Alexandre Herculano are also buried. Pessoa's portrait

2002-631: A foundational Musar text . The most esoteric Idrot sections of the classic Zohar make reference to hypostatic male and female Partzufim (Divine Personas) displacing the Sephirot, manifestations of God in particular Anthropomorphic symbolic personalities based on Biblical esoteric exegesis and midrashic narratives. Lurianic Kabbalah places these at the centre of our existence, rather than earlier Kabbalah's Sephirot, which Luria saw as broken in Divine crisis. Contemporary cognitive understanding of

2156-453: A literary motif. Tzimtzum (Constriction/Concentration) is the primordial cosmic act whereby God "contracted" His infinite light, leaving a "void" into which the light of existence was poured. This allowed the emergence of independent existence that would not become nullified by the pristine Infinite Light, reconciling the unity of the Ein Sof with the plurality of creation. This changed

2310-468: A means of restoring order and preparing the transition to a new constitutional normality. He wrote a pamphlet in 1928 supportive of the military dictatorship but after the establishment of the New State , in 1933, Pessoa became disenchanted with the regime and wrote critically of Salazar and fascism in general, maintaining a hostile stance towards its corporatist program, illiberalism, and censorship. In

2464-553: A mutual dialectic that imply and include each other's partial validity. This was expressed by the Chabad Hasidic thinker Aaron of Staroselye , that the truth of any concept is revealed only in its opposite. They wish to convey here that if arms were a disgrace to the hero, it would not have used them as a parable for words of Torah. Instead, they are an adornment for him, so the verse used them for its parable, saying that he should have words of Torah and wisdom in hand, like

2618-579: A novel, O Canibal do Quinto Império , where its main character, a Portuguese living in Brazil for more than 500 years, has a prophetic dream that reveals to himself that he is, in fact, O Encoberto ("The Hidden One") returning in the 21st Century to launch the Fifth Empire. According to his prophetic vision, the Fifth Empire should be based in Brazil, the prodigal son of Portugal and the largest Lusophone country, as to lead all other Lusophone countries as

2772-502: A number of British publishers, namely Constable & Co. Ltd. (currently Constable & Robinson ), trying to arrange publication of his collection of English verse The Mad Fiddler (unpublished during his lifetime), but it was refused. However, in 1920, the prestigious literary journal Athenaeum included one of those poems. Since the attempt at British publication failed, in 1918 Pessoa published in Lisbon two slim volumes of English verse: Antinous and 35 Sonnets , received by

2926-547: A preceding Fifth World Adam Kadmon ("Primordial Man" – Divine Will) sometimes excluded due to its sublimity. Together the whole spiritual heavens form the Divine Persona/ Anthropos . Hasidic thought extends the divine immanence of Kabbalah by holding that God is all that really exists, all else being completely undifferentiated from God's perspective. This view can be defined as acosmic monistic panentheism. According to this philosophy, God's existence

3080-681: A primordial shattering of the sephirot of God's Persona before creation of the stable spiritual worlds , mystically represented by the 8 Kings of Edom (the derivative of Gevurah ) "who died" before any king reigned in Israel from Genesis 36 . In the divine view from above within Kabbalah, emphasised in Hasidic Panentheism , the appearance of duality and pluralism below dissolves into the absolute Monism of God, psychologising evil. Though impure below, what appears as evil derives from

3234-406: A question which perhaps you can reply to; but please do not do so if the reply involves any inconvenience. I believe The Occult Review was, or is, issued by yourselves; I have not seen any number for a long time. My question is in what issue of that publication – it was certainly a long while ago – an article was printed relating to the Roman Catholic Church as a Secret Society, or, alternatively, to

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3388-418: A rhythm. This rhythm is double in one, like the concave and convex aspects of the same arc: it is made up of a verbal or musical rhythm and of a visual or image rhythm which concurs inwardly with it. The translation of a poem should therefore conform absolutely (1) to the idea or emotion which constitutes the poem, (2) to the verbal rhythm in which that idea or emotion is expressed; it should conform relatively to

3542-464: A righteous empire to prepare the world for the messianic age to come. Kabbalah Kabbalah or Qabalah ( / k ə ˈ b ɑː l ə , ˈ k æ b ə l ə / kə- BAH -lə, KAB -ə-lə ; Hebrew : קַבָּלָה ‎ , romanized :  Qabbālā , lit.   'reception, tradition') is an esoteric method, discipline and school of thought in Jewish mysticism . It forms

3696-412: A row, the six poems that make up "Oblique Rain" by Fernando Pessoa. Immediately and totally... It was the return from Fernando Pessoa/Alberto Caeiro to Fernando Pessoa alone. Or better still, it was Fernando Pessoa's reaction to his own inexistence as Alberto Caeiro. As the heteronym Coelho Pacheco, over a long period Pessoa's "triumphant day" was taken as real, however, it has been proved that this event

3850-647: A second edition is shortly to be expected of Athur Edward Waite's The Secret Tradition in Freemasonery . I see that, in a note on page 14 of his Emblematic Freemasonery , published by you in 1925, he says, in respect of the earlier work: "A new and revised edition is in the forefront of my literary schemes." For all I know, you may already have issued such an edition; if so, I have missed the reference in The Times Literary Supplement . Since I am writing on these subjects, I should like to put

4004-413: A splendid style in that language. Although younger than his schoolfellows of the same class he appeared to have no difficulty in keeping up with and surpassing them in work. For one of his age, he thought much and deeply and in a letter to me once complained of "spiritual and material encumbrances of most especial adverseness". [...] He took no part in athletic sports of any kind and I think his spare time

4158-463: A successive stage of Jewish mysticism from historical kabbalistic metaphysics. The first modern-academic historians of Judaism, the " Wissenschaft des Judentums " school of the 19th century, framed Judaism in solely rational terms in the emancipatory Haskalah spirit of their age. They opposed kabbalah and restricted its significance from Jewish historiography. In the mid-20th century, it was left to Gershom Scholem to overturn their stance, establishing

4312-587: A term he invented. These imaginary figures sometimes held unpopular or extreme views. Pessoa was born in Lisbon on 13 June 1888. When Pessoa was five, his father, Joaquim de Seabra Pessôa, died of tuberculosis , and less than seven months later his younger brother Jorge, aged one, also died (2 January 1889). After the second marriage of his mother, Maria Magdalena Pinheiro Nogueira, by a proxy wedding to João Miguel dos Santos Rosa, Fernando sailed with his mother for South Africa in early 1896 to join his stepfather,

4466-415: A title, The Keeper of Sheep. And what followed was the appearance of someone within me to whom I promptly assigned the name of Alberto Caeiro. Please excuse the absurdity of what I am about to say, but there had appeared within me, then and there, my own master. It was my immediate sensation. So much so that, with those thirty odd poems written, I immediately took up another sheet of paper and wrote as well, in

4620-862: A writer, literary critic and political analyst, contributing to the journals and newspapers A Águia (1912–13), A República (1913), Theatro (1913), A Renascença (1914), O Raio (1914), A Galera (1915), Orpheu (1915), O Jornal (1915), Eh Real! (1915), Exílio (1916), Centauro (1916), A Ideia Nacional (1916), Terra Nossa (1916), O Heraldo (1917), Portugal Futurista (1917), Acção (1919–20), Ressurreição (1920), Contemporânea (1922–26), Athena (1924–25), Diário de Lisboa (1924–35), Revista de Comércio e Contabilidade (1926), Sol (1926), O Imparcial (1927), Presença (1927–34), Revista Solução Editora (1929–1931), Notícias Ilustrado (1928–30), Girassol (1930), Revolução (1932), Descobrimento (1932), Fama (1932–33), Fradique (1934) and Sudoeste (1935). After his return to Portugal, when he

4774-588: Is a brief document of only few pages that was written many centuries before the high and late medieval works (sometime between 200-600CE), detailing an alphanumeric vision of cosmology—may be understood as a kind of prelude to the canon of Kabbalah. The history of Jewish mysticism encompasses various forms of esoteric and spiritual practices aimed at understanding the divine and the hidden aspects of existence. This mystical tradition has evolved significantly over millennia, influencing and being influenced by different historical, cultural, and religious contexts. Among

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4928-455: Is a set of sacred and magical teachings meant to explain the relationship between the unchanging, eternal God —the mysterious Ein Sof ( אֵין סוֹף ‎ , 'The Infinite') —and the mortal, finite universe (God's creation ). The nature of the divine prompted kabbalists to envision two aspects to God: (a) God in essence, absolutely transcendent , unknowable, limitless divine simplicity beyond revelation, and (b) God in manifestation,

5082-399: Is an important aspect of "Restriction", and is considered a kind of golden mean in kabbalah, corresponding to the sefirah of Adornment ( Tiferet ) being part of the "Middle Column". Moses ben Jacob Cordovero, wrote Tomer Devorah ( Palm Tree of Deborah ), in which he presents an ethical teaching of Judaism in the kabbalistic context of the ten sephirot . Tomer Devorah has become also

5236-571: Is another date which I can give with preciseness and it is important for me, not in itself, but in one of its results – the circumstance that, my stepfather becoming Portuguese Consul in Durban (Natal), I was educated there, this English education being a factor of supreme importance in my life, and, whatever my fate be, indubitably shaping it. The dates of the voyages related to the above event are (as nearly as possible): 1st. voyage to Africa – left Lisbon beginning January 1896. Return – left Durban in

5390-569: Is both illusion and real from Divine and human perspectives; evil and good imply each other ( Kelipah draws from Divinity, good arises only from overcoming evil); Existence is simultaneously partial (Tzimtzum), broken ( Shevirah ), and whole ( Tikun ) from different perspectives; God experiences Himself as Other through Man, Man embodies and completes (Tikun) the Divine Persona Above. In Kabbalah's reciprocal Panentheism , Theism and Atheism / Humanism represent two incomplete poles of

5544-638: Is considered by its followers as a necessary part of the study of Torah – the study of Torah (the Tanakh and rabbinic literature) being an inherent duty of observant Jews. Modern academic-historical study of Jewish mysticism reserves the term kabbalah to designate the particular, distinctive doctrines that textually emerged fully expressed in the Middle Ages, as distinct from the earlier Merkabah mystical concepts and methods. According to this descriptive categorization, both versions of Kabbalistic theory,

5698-527: Is higher than anything that this world can express, yet he includes all things of this world within his divine reality in perfect unity, so that the creation effected no change in him at all. This paradox as seen from dual human and divine perspectives is dealt with at length in Chabad texts . Among problems considered in the Hebrew Kabbalah is the theological issue of the nature and origin of evil. In

5852-712: Is known to the kabbalistic elect and which, as described more recently by Gershom Scholem , combined ecstatic with theosophical mysticism. It is therefore important to bear in mind when discussing things such as the sephirot and their interactions that one is dealing with highly abstract concepts that at best can only be understood intuitively. From the Renaissance onwards Jewish Kabbalah texts entered non-Jewish culture, where they were studied and translated by Christian Hebraists and Hermetic occultists. The syncretic traditions of Christian Cabala and Hermetic Qabalah developed independently of Judaic Kabbalah, reading

6006-570: Is one method for discovering its hidden meanings. In this system, each Hebrew letter also represents a number. By converting letters to numbers, Kabbalists were able to find a hidden meaning in each word. This method of interpretation was used extensively by various schools. In contemporary interpretation of kabbalah, Sanford Drob makes cognitive sense of this linguistic mythos by relating it to postmodern philosophical concepts described by Jacques Derrida and others, where all reality embodies narrative texts with infinite plurality of meanings brought by

6160-426: Is superior, and whether the symbols of Kabbalah should be read as primarily metaphysical intellectual cognition or Axiology values. Messianic redemption requires both ethical Tikkun olam and contemplative Kavanah . Sanford Drob sees every attempt to limit Kabbalah to one fixed dogmatic interpretation as necessarily bringing its own Deconstruction (Lurianic Kabbalah incorporates its own Shevirah self shattering;

6314-534: The Bahir and the Zohar were composed during this time, laying the groundwork for later developments. The Kabbalistic teachings of this era delved deeply into the nature of the divine, the structure of the universe, and the process of creation. Notable Kabbalists like Moses de León played crucial roles in disseminating these teachings, which were characterized by their profound symbolic and allegorical interpretations of

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6468-627: The Hitzoni (outer). It is solely in relation to the emanations, certainly not the Ein Sof Ground of all Being, that Kabbalah uses anthropomorphic symbolism to relate psychologically to divinity. Kabbalists debated the validity of anthropomorphic symbolism, between its disclosure as mystical allusion, versus its instrumental use as allegorical metaphor; in the language of the Zohar, symbolism "touches yet does not touch" its point. The Sephirot (also spelled "sefirot"; singular sefirah ) are

6622-848: The Mikraot Gedolot (Main Commentators). Cordoveran systemisation is presented in Pardes Rimonim , philosophical articulation in the works of the Maharal , and Lurianic rectification in Etz Chayim . Subsequent interpretation of Lurianic Kabbalah was made in the writings of Shalom Sharabi, in Nefesh HaChaim and the 20th-century Sulam . Hasidism interpreted kabbalistic structures to their correspondence in inward perception. The Hasidic development of kabbalah incorporates

6776-539: The translatio imperii ), which are the following under Pessoa's point of view: The Fifth Empire, led by "the hidden one" ( O Encoberto in the poem, an allusion to Sebastianism ), will unite the entire world spiritually and culturally, led by the Portuguese Nation. The Fifth Empire is a messianic , millenarian (quiliástica) belief, designed by Father António Vieira in the seventeenth century. The first four empires were, according to Vieira, in order:

6930-797: The Assyro - Chaldeans , the Persians , the Greeks and the Romans . The fifth was the Portuguese Empire . As seen when viewing the book of Daniel 2 , in the Hebrew scriptures ( Old Testament ), in Bible , Father António Vieira came to this myth based on a biblical passage that tells the story of King Nebuchadnezzar and his dream, with a statue that featured five kinds of materials. The origins of

7084-587: The Ein Sof transcends all of its infinite expressions; the infinite mystical Torah of the Tree of Life has no/infinite interpretations). The infinite axiology of the Ein Sof One, expressed through the Plural Many, overcomes the dangers of nihilism, or the antinomian mystical breaking of Jewish observance alluded to throughout Kabbalistic and Hasidic mysticisms. Like the rest of the rabbinic literature,

7238-895: The Matriculation Examination , held at the time by the University of the Cape of Good Hope (forerunner of the University of Cape Town ), in November 1903, he was awarded the recently created Queen Victoria Memorial Prize for best paper in English. While preparing to enter university, he also attended the Durban Commercial High School during one year, taking night classes. Meanwhile, Pessoa started writing short stories in English, some under

7392-545: The Spencerian individualism of his upbringing. He described his brand of nationalism as "mystic, cosmopolitan, liberal, and anti-Catholic ." He was an outspoken elitist and aligned himself against communism, socialism, fascism and Catholicism. He initially rallied to the First Portuguese Republic but the ensuing instability caused him to reluctantly support the military coups of 1917 and 1926 as

7546-691: The Zohar , the sin of Adam and Eve (who embodied Adam Kadmon below) took place in the spiritual realms. Their sin was that they separated the Tree of knowledge (10 sefirot within Malkuth , representing Divine immanence ), from the Tree of life within it (10 sefirot within Tiferet , representing Divine transcendence ). This introduced the false perception of duality into lower creation, an external Tree of Death nurtured from holiness, and an Adam Belial of impurity. In Lurianic Kabbalah, evil originates from

7700-848: The divine transcendence described by Jewish philosophy , but as only referring to the Ein Sof unknowable Godhead. They reinterpreted the theistic philosophical concept of creation from nothing, replacing God's creative act with panentheistic continual self-emanation by the mystical Ayin Nothingness/No-thing sustaining all spiritual and physical realms as successively more corporeal garments, veils and condensations of divine immanence . The innumerable levels of descent divide into Four comprehensive spiritual worlds , Atziluth ("Closeness" – Divine Wisdom), Beriah ("Creation" – Divine Understanding), Yetzirah ("Formation" – Divine Emotions), Assiah ("Action" – Divine Activity), with

7854-467: The hermeneutic methods of interpretation for ascertaining these meanings. Names of God in Judaism have further prominence, though infinite meaning turns the whole Torah into a Divine name. As the Hebrew name of things is the channel of their lifeforce, parallel to the sephirot, so concepts such as "holiness" and " mitzvot " embody ontological Divine immanence, as God can be known in manifestation as well as transcendence. The infinite potential of meaning in

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8008-655: The 10th century BCE, an open knowledge practiced by over a million people in ancient Israel. Foreign conquests drove the Jewish spiritual leadership of the time (the Sanhedrin ) to hide the knowledge and make it secret, fearing that it might be misused if it fell into the wrong hands. It is hard to clarify with any degree of certainty the exact concepts within kabbalah. There are several different schools of thought with very different outlooks; however, all are accepted as correct. Modern halakhic authorities have tried to narrow

8162-568: The 1910s. This coffeehouse, in the aristocratic district of Chiado , is quite close to Pessoa's birthplace: 4, São Carlos Square (just in front of Lisbon's Opera House , where stands another statue of the writer), one of the most elegant neighborhoods of Lisbon. Later on, Pessoa was a frequent customer at Martinho da Arcada, a centennial coffeehouse in Comercio Square, surrounded by ministries, almost an "office" for his private business and literary concerns, where he used to meet friends in

8316-530: The 1920s and 1930s. In 1925, Pessoa wrote in English a guidebook to Lisbon but it remained unpublished until 1992. Pessoa translated a number of Portuguese books into English such as The Songs of Antonio Botto . He also translated various works into Portuguese such as The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne , and the short stories "The Theory and the Hound", "The Roads We Take" and "Georgia's Ruling" by O. Henry . He has also translated into Portuguese

8470-662: The British literary press without enthusiasm. Along with some friends, he founded another publishing house, Olisipo, which published in 1921 a further two English poetry volumes: English Poems I–II and English Poems III by Fernando Pessoa. In his publishing house, Pessoa also issued some books by his friends: A Invenção do Dia Claro (The Invention of the Clear Day) by José de Almada Negreiros , Canções (Songs) by António Botto , and Sodoma Divinizada (Deified Sodom ) by Raul Leal (Henoch). Olisipo closed down in 1923, following

8624-602: The Creator for the purpose of creating the universe. The sephirot are considered revelations of the Creator's will ( ratzon ), and they should not be understood as ten different "gods" but as ten different ways the one God reveals his will through the Emanations. It is not God who changes but the ability to perceive God that changes. Divine creation by means of the Ten Sephirot is an ethical process. They represent

8778-515: The Divine Persona before the creation of man. Exile and enclothement of higher divinity within lower realms throughout existence requires man to complete the Tikkun olam (Rectification) process. Rectification Above corresponds to the reorganization of the independent sephirot into relating Partzufim (Divine Personas), previously referred to obliquely in the Zohar. From the catastrophe stems

8932-593: The Fifth Empire: There will be a meeting of the two long separated forces, but long approaching: the left side of wisdom – i.e. science, reasoning, intellectual speculation, and the right side of wisdom – that is, the hidden knowledge, intuition, the kabbalistic and mystical speculation. The alliance of D. Sebastian, Emperor of the World, and the Angelic Pope, figure this close alliance, this fusion of

9086-561: The Hebrew Bible or classic rabbinic literature, and was rejected by various Medieval Jewish philosophers. However, the Kabbalists explained a number of scriptural passages in reference to Gilgulim. The concept became central to the later Kabbalah of Isaac Luria, who systemised it as the personal parallel to the cosmic process of rectification. Through Lurianic Kabbalah and Hasidic Judaism, reincarnation entered popular Jewish culture as

9240-588: The Infinite) beyond even the duality of Infinitude/Finitude. In contrast, the term Ein Sof describes the Godhead as Infinite lifeforce first cause, continuously keeping all Creation in existence. The Zohar reads the first words of Genesis , BeReishit Bara Elohim – In the beginning God created , as " With (the level of) Reishit (Beginning) (the Ein Sof) created Elohim (God's manifestation in creation)": At

9394-763: The Jewish texts as universalist ancient wisdom preserved from the Gnostic traditions of antiquity. Both adapted the Jewish concepts freely from their Jewish understanding, to merge with multiple other theologies, religious traditions and magical associations. With the decline of Christian Cabala in the Age of Reason , Hermetic Qabalah continued as a central underground tradition in Western esotericism . Through these non-Jewish associations with magic, alchemy and divination, Kabbalah acquired some popular occult connotations forbidden within Judaism, where Jewish theurgic Practical Kabbalah

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9548-454: The Kings Sebastian and Charles of Portugal, and Salazar . In 1915, he created the heteronym Raphael Baldaya, an astrologer who planned to write "System of Astrology" and "Introduction to the Study of Occultism". Pessoa established the pricing of his astrological services from 500 to 5,000 réis and made horoscopes of relatives, friends, customers, also of himself and astonishingly of the heteronyms and journals as Orpheu . The characters of

9702-422: The Murder of innocents and unfair punishment. "Righteous" humans ( tzadikim plural of Tzadik ) ascend these ethical qualities of the ten sephirot by doing righteous actions. If there were no righteous humans, the blessings of God would become completely hidden, and creation would cease to exist. While real human actions are the "Foundation" ( Yesod ) of this universe ( Malchut ), these actions must accompany

9856-435: The Old Testament and his prophetic Trovas would also be subject to analysis and inspiration for Fernando Pessoa. In his poem "Mensagem", a book so thoroughly steeped in Templar and Rosicrucian symbolism in his own words, Pessoa reveals himself as the author of the third and final warning, which complements the two previous ones, of Bandarra and Vieira. From the 17th century on, and as the Portuguese Empire slowly crumbled,

10010-565: The Partzuf symbols relates them to Jungian archetypes of the collective unconscious , reflecting a psychologised progression from youth to sage in therapeutic healing back to the infinite Ein Sof/Unconscious, as Kabbalah is simultaneously both theology and psychology . Medieval Kabbalists believed that all things are linked to God through these emanations , making all levels in creation part of one great, gradually descending chain of being . Through this any lower creation reflects its particular roots in supernal divinity. Kabbalists agreed with

10164-457: The Tenth and last Century , including the Fifth quatrain and the last of all quatrains of this century, among many others in Nostradamus's Centuries. In Pessoa's vision, lusophone countries such as Brazil have a key role in this mission, supported by the Portuguese international alliances, including the Iberian nations , Britain , Ireland , the Atlantism , Greece and its legacy, and beyond. Brazilian writer Glauco Ortolano writes in 2023

10318-440: The Torah and Israel are all One". The reapers of the Field are the Comrades, masters of this wisdom, because Malkhut is called the Apple Field, and She grows sprouts of secrets and new meanings of Torah. Those who constantly create new interpretations of Torah are the ones who reap Her. As early as the 1st century BCE Jews believed that the Torah and other canonical texts contained encoded messages and hidden meanings. Gematria

10472-411: The Torah, as in the Ein Sof , is reflected in the symbol of the two trees of the Garden of Eden; the Torah of the Tree of Knowledge is the external, finite Halachic Torah, enclothed within which the mystics perceive the unlimited infinite plurality of meanings of the Torah of the Tree of Life . In Lurianic terms, each of the 600,000 root souls of Israel find their own interpretation in Torah, as "God,

10626-440: The Torah. In the early modern period, Lurianic Kabbalah , founded by Isaac Luria in the 16th century, introduced new metaphysical concepts such as Tzimtzum (divine contraction) and Tikkun (cosmic repair), which have had a lasting impact on Jewish thought. The 18th century saw the rise of Hasidism , a movement that integrated Kabbalistic ideas into a popular, revivalist context, emphasizing personal mystical experience and

10780-399: The absolute unity of Divine light via the ten sephirot, or vessels. According to Lurianic cosmology, the sephirot correspond to various levels of creation (ten sephirot in each of the Four Worlds, and four worlds within each of the larger four worlds, each containing ten sephirot , which themselves contain ten sephirot , to an infinite number of possibilities), and are emanated from

10934-430: The actions and beliefs of the individual. They are said to only fully exist in people awakened spiritually. A common way of explaining the three parts of the soul is as follows: Reincarnation , the transmigration of the soul after death, was introduced into Judaism as a central esoteric tenet of Kabbalah from the Medieval period onwards, called Gilgul neshamot ("cycles of the soul"). The concept does not appear overtly in

11088-616: The afternoon of 1st. August 1901. 2nd. voyage to Africa – left Lisbon about 20th. September 1902. Return – left Durban about 20th. August 1905. The young Pessoa received his early education at St. Joseph Convent School, a Roman Catholic grammar school run by Irish and French nuns. He moved to the Durban High School in April 1899, becoming fluent in English and developing an appreciation for English literature . During

11242-594: The apocalyptic period, where texts like 1 Enoch and the Book of Daniel introduced complex angelology and eschatological themes. The Heikhalot and Merkavah literature, dating from the 2nd century to the early medieval period, further developed these mystical themes, focusing on visionary ascents to the heavenly palaces and the divine chariot. The medieval period saw the formalization of Kabbalah, particularly in Southern France and Spain. Foundational texts such as

11396-595: The beginning of 1935, Pessoa was banned by the Salazar regime , after he wrote in defense of Freemasonry . The regime also suppressed two articles Pessoa wrote in which he condemned Mussolini's invasion of Abyssinia and fascism as a threat to human liberty everywhere. On 29 November 1935, Pessoa was taken to the Hospital de São Luís, suffering from abdominal pain and a high fever; there he wrote, in English, his last words: "I know not what tomorrow will bring." He died

11550-616: The beginning of Existence, is read etymologically by Kabbalists as the question "Koach Mah?" the "Power of What?"). Alternative listings of the Sephirot start with either Keter (Unconscious Will/Volition), or Chokmah (Wisdom), a philosophical duality between a Rational or Supra-Rational Creation, between whether the Mitzvot Judaic observances have reasons or transcend reasons in Divine Will, between whether study or good deeds

11704-691: The catastrophe stemmed from the "unwillingness" of the residue imprint after the Tzimtzum to relate to the new vitality that began creation. The process was arranged to shed and harmonise the Divine Infinity with the latent potential of evil. The creation of Adam would have redeemed existence, but his sin caused new shevirah of Divine vitality, requiring the Giving of the Torah to begin Messianic rectification. Historical and individual history becomes

11858-612: The central role in spiritual creation, whether the practitioner was learned in this knowledge or not. Accompanying normative Jewish observance and worship with elite mystical kavanot intentions gave them theurgic power, but sincere observance by common folk, especially in the Hasidic popularisation of kabbalah, could replace esoteric abilities. Many kabbalists were also leading legal figures in Judaism, such as Nachmanides and Joseph Karo . Medieval kabbalah elaborates particular reasons for each Biblical mitzvah , and their role in harmonising

12012-536: The colours are painted below; it is sealed among the sealed things of the mystery of Ayn Sof. It penetrated, yet did not penetrate its air. It was not known at all until, from the pressure of its penetration, a single point shone, sealed, supernal. Beyond this point nothing is known, so it is called reishit (beginning): the first word of all ... " The structure of emanations has been described in various ways: Sephirot (divine attributes) and Partzufim (divine "faces"), Ohr (spiritual light and flow), Names of God and

12166-464: The coming of a period of 60 years when Portugal was under Spanish rule, the subsequent 1640 revolution and liberation under king John IV ( after thirty scissors ) and the reigns of Afonso VI , Peter II and John V , was an inspired prophet to António Vieira and the Sebastianists of his time. His work also aroused interest especially among the new Christians . Bandarra had a vast knowledge from

12320-703: The community is recounted in the hagiographic works Praises of the Ari , Praises of the Besht , and in many other Kabbalistic and Hasidic tales. Kabbalistic and Hasidic texts are concerned to apply themselves from exegesis and theory to spiritual practice, including prophetic drawing of new mystical revelations in Torah. The mythological symbols Kabbalah uses to answer philosophical questions, themselves invite mystical contemplation, intuitive apprehension and psychological engagement. In bringing Theosophical Kabbalah into contemporary intellectual understanding, using

12474-407: The conscious intention of compassion. Compassionate actions are often impossible without faith ( Emunah ), meaning to trust that God always supports compassionate actions even when God seems hidden. Ultimately, it is necessary to show compassion toward oneself too in order to share compassion toward others. This "selfish" enjoyment of God's blessings but only in order to empower oneself to assist others

12628-522: The cultural journal A Águia , which triggered one of the most important literary debates in the Portuguese intellectual world of the 20th century: the polemic regarding a super- Camões . In 1915 a group of artists and poets, including Fernando Pessoa, Mário de Sá-Carneiro and Almada Negreiros , created the literary magazine Orpheu , which introduced modernist literature to Portugal. Only two issues were published (Jan–Feb–Mar and Apr–May–Jun 1915),

12782-473: The daily events in the worldly life of man in general, and the spiritual role of Jewish observance in particular. The Kabbalah posits that the human soul has three elements, the nefesh , ru'ach , and neshamah . The nefesh is found in all humans, and enters the physical body at birth. It is the source of one's physical and psychological nature. The next two parts of the soul are not implanted at birth, but can be developed over time; their development depends on

12936-783: The detached perspective of the flâneur Bernardo Soares  [ pt ] , one of his heteronyms . This character was supposedly an accountant, working for Vasques, the boss of an office located in Douradores Street. Soares also supposedly lived in the same downtown street, a world that Pessoa knew quite well due to his long career as freelance correspondence translator. Indeed, from 1907 until his death in 1935, Pessoa worked in twenty-one firms located in Lisbon's downtown, sometimes in two or three of them simultaneously. In The Book of Disquiet , Bernardo Soares describes some of these typical places and describes one's "atmosphere". In his daydream soliloquy he also wrote about Lisbon in

13090-438: The development of historical research on Kabbalah in the field of Judaic studies . Though innumerable glosses, marginalia, commentaries, precedent works, satellite texts and other minor works contribute to an understanding of the Kabbalah as an evolving tradition, the major texts in the main line of Jewish mysticism that inarguably fall under the heading 'Kabbalah'—conforming to the sense of every definition and meeting all of

13244-566: The different aspects of Morality. Loving-Kindness is a possible moral justification found in Chessed, and Gevurah is the Moral Justification of Justice and both are mediated by Mercy which is Rachamim. However, these pillars of morality become immoral once they become extremes. When Loving-Kindness becomes extreme it can lead to sexual depravity and lack of Justice to the wicked. When Justice becomes extreme, it can lead to torture and

13398-523: The divine immanently , and are bound up in the life of man. Kabbalists believe that these two aspects are not contradictory but complement one another, emanations mystically revealing the concealed mystery from within the Godhead . As a term describing the Infinite Godhead beyond Creation, Kabbalists viewed the Ein Sof itself as too sublime to be referred to directly in the Torah. It is not

13552-410: The dream became increasingly more mystical. Greater importance was given to Luís de Camões and his masterpiece, Os Lusíadas , which exalted Portugal as a nation of heroes aided by the classical gods. The third cycle of "Mensagem", called O Encoberto ("The Hidden One") refers to Fernando Pessoa 's vision of a future world of peace and understanding, the Fifth Empire, which will come about through

13706-656: The first being the Apocalyptic literature of the second and first pre-Christian centuries and which contained elements that carried over to later kabbalah. Throughout the centuries since, many texts have been produced, among them the ancient descriptions of Sefer Yetzirah , the Heichalot mystical ascent literature, the Bahir , Sefer Raziel HaMalakh and the Zohar , the main text of Kabbalistic exegesis. Classic mystical Bible commentaries are included in fuller versions of

13860-462: The first creative act into one of withdrawal/exile, the antithesis of the ultimate Divine Will. In contrast, a new emanation after the Tzimtzum shone into the vacuum to begin creation, but led to an initial instability called Tohu (Chaos), leading to a new crisis of Shevirah (Shattering) of the sephirot vessels. The shards of the broken vessels fell down into the lower realms, animated by remnants of their divine light, causing primordial exile within

14014-408: The first half of the 20th century. Soares describes crowds in the streets, buildings, shops, traffic, the river Tagus, the weather, and even its author, Fernando Pessoa: Fairly tall and thin, he must have been about thirty years old. He hunched over terribly when sitting down but less so standing up, and he dressed with a carelessness that wasn't entirely careless. In his pale, uninteresting face there

14168-515: The five books of the Torah. After the Talmud is written, it refers to the Oral Law (both in the sense of the 'Talmud' itself and in the sense of continuing dialog and thought devoted to the scripture in every generation). In the much later writings of Eleazar of Worms (c. 1350), it refers to theurgy or the conjuring of demons and angels by the invocation of their secret names. The understanding of

14322-400: The flourishing present-day academic investigation of Jewish mysticism, and making Heichalot, Kabbalistic and Hasidic texts the objects of scholarly critical-historical study. In Scholem's opinion, the mythical and mystical components of Judaism were at least as important as the rational ones, and he thought that they, rather than the exoteric Halakha or intellectualist Jewish philosophy , were

14476-448: The foundation of mystical religious interpretations within Judaism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal ( מְקוּבָּל ‎ , Məqūbbāl , 'receiver'). Jewish Kabbalists originally developed their own transmission of sacred texts within the realm of Jewish tradition and often use classical Jewish scriptures to explain and demonstrate its mystical teachings. These teachings are held by Kabbalists to define

14630-472: The foundational text of Kabbalah, was authored in the late 13th century, likely by Moses de León . Isaac Luria (16th century) is considered the father of contemporary Kabbalah; Lurianic Kabbalah was popularised in the form of Hasidic Judaism from the 18th century onwards. During the 20th century, academic interest in Kabbalistic texts led primarily by the Jewish historian Gershom Scholem has inspired

14784-652: The grandiosity of the Portuguese Empire, leader of the Age of Discovery , and succeed to the four empires of ancient History (Vieira's past empires did not coincide with those advocated by Pessoa and mentioned above). As for the Fifth Monarchists later in England and other authors, although with some differences, Vieira, with an elaborate exegesis based on his vast knowledge of the Bible, believed that

14938-417: The harmony of Creation within man. In Judaism, it gave a profound spiritualisation of Jewish practice. While the kabbalistic scheme gave a radically innovative, though conceptually continuous, development of mainstream Midrashic and Talmudic rabbinic notions, kabbalistic thought underscored and invigorated conservative Jewish observance. The esoteric teachings of kabbalah gave the traditional mitzvot observances

15092-487: The history of Judaic Kabbalah, the greatest mystics claimed to receive new teachings from Elijah the Prophet , the souls of earlier sages (a purpose of Lurianic meditation prostrated on the graves of Talmudic Tannaim , Amoraim and Kabbalists), the soul of the mishnah , ascents during sleep, heavenly messengers, etc. A tradition of parapsychology abilities, psychic knowledge, and theurgic intercessions in heaven for

15246-556: The holy, are nurtured from it, and yet also protect it by limiting its revelation. Scholem termed this element of the Spanish Kabbalah a "Jewish gnostic" motif, in the sense of dual powers in the divine realm of manifestation. In a radical notion, the root of evil is found within the 10 holy Sephirot, through an imbalance of Gevurah , the power of "Strength/Judgement/Severity". Gevurah is necessary for Creation to exist as it counterposes Chesed ("loving-kindness"), restricting

15400-414: The image and likeness of his instincts, which tended towards inertia and withdrawal. The young Pessoa was described by a schoolfellow as follows: I cannot tell you exactly how long I knew him, but the period during which I received most of my impressions of him was the whole of the year 1904 when we were at school together. How old he was at this time I don't know, but judge him to have 15 or 16. [...] He

15554-517: The inner meaning of both the Hebrew Bible and traditional rabbinic literature and their formerly concealed transmitted dimension, as well as to explain the significance of Jewish religious observances. Historically, Kabbalah emerged from earlier forms of Jewish mysticism , in 12th- to 13th-century Spain and Southern France , and was reinterpreted during the Jewish mystical renaissance in 16th-century Ottoman Palestine . The Zohar ,

15708-407: The inner or visual rhythm, keeping to the images themselves when it can, but keeping always to the type of image. It was on this criterion that I based my translation into Portuguese of Poe's "Annabel Lee" and "Ulalume", which I translated, not because of their great intrinsic worth, but because they were a standing challenge to translators. In addition, Pessoa translated into Portuguese some books by

15862-465: The leading theosophists Helena Blavatsky , Charles Webster Leadbeater , Annie Besant , and Mabel Collins . In 1912–14, while living with his aunt "Anica" and cousins, Pessoa took part in "semi-spiritualist sessions" that were carried out at home, but he was considered a "delaying element" by the other members of the sessions. Pessoa's interest in spiritualism was truly awakened in the second half of 1915, while translating theosophist books. This

16016-651: The literary journal Orpheu nr.1 and "Ode Marítima" (dedicated to the futurist painter Santa-Rita ) published in June 1915, in Orpheu nr.2 by his heteronym Álvaro de Campos . While his family remained in South Africa, Pessoa returned to Lisbon in 1905 to study diplomacy. After a period of illness, and two years of poor results, a student strike against the dictatorship of Prime Minister João Franco put an end to his formal studies. Pessoa became an autodidact and

16170-573: The living subterranean stream in historical Jewish development that periodically broke out to renew the Jewish spirit and social life of the community. Scholem's magisterial Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism (1941) among his seminal works, though representing scholarship and interpretations that have subsequently been challenged and revised within the field, remains the only academic survey studying all main historical periods of Jewish mysticism . The Hebrew University of Jerusalem has been

16324-590: The material and the spiritual, perhaps without separation. And the very Second Advent, or even the new incarnation of the same Adept, whom once God has designed His symbol, or Son, seems to show otherwise this same supreme alliance. According to Pessoa "The Fifth Empire. Portugal's future – which I do not reckon, but I know – it is already written, for those who know how to read it, in the Bandarra's Trovas, and also in quatrains of Nostradamus". In The Prophecies of Nostradamus , Fernando Pessoa probably makes reference to

16478-547: The medieval-Zoharic and the early-modern Lurianic Kabbalah together comprise the Theosophical tradition in Kabbalah, while the Meditative - Ecstatic Kabbalah incorporates a parallel inter-related Medieval tradition. A third tradition, related but more shunned, involves the magical aims of Practical Kabbalah . Moshe Idel , for example, writes that these 3 basic models can be discerned operating and competing throughout

16632-486: The most prominent forms of Jewish mysticism is Kabbalah, which emerged in the 12th century and has since become a central component of Jewish mystical thought. Other notable early forms include prophetic and apocalyptic mysticism, which are evident in biblical and post-biblical texts. The roots of Jewish mysticism can be traced back to the biblical era, with prophetic figures such as Elijah and Ezekiel experiencing divine visions and encounters. This tradition continued into

16786-477: The myth of the Fifth Empire are intimately connected with the History of Portugal . The death of King Sebastian and subsequent loss of independence were disastrous for the country and its colonial ambitions. The restoration of independence in 1640 did, however, give a new hope for the entire nation. Father António Vieira , in many of his works and sermons, would present John IV as the saviour, who would restore

16940-473: The name ibis , the sacred bird of Ancient Egypt and inventor of the alphabet in Greek mythology , would remain an important symbolic reference for him. Pessoa returned to his uncompleted formal studies, complementing his British education with self-directed study of Portuguese culture. The pre-revolutionary atmosphere surrounding the assassination of King Charles I and Crown Prince Luís Filipe in 1908, and

17094-427: The name of David Merrick, many of which he left unfinished. At the age of sixteen, The Natal Mercury (edition of 6 July 1904) published his poem "Hillier did first usurp the realms of rhyme ...", under the name of C. R. Anon (anonymous), along with a brief introductory text: "I read with great amusement...". In December, The Durban High School Magazine published his essay "Macaulay". From February to June 1905, in

17248-473: The narrative of reclaiming exiled Divine sparks. Kabbalistic thought extended Biblical and Midrashic notions that God enacted Creation through the Hebrew language and through the Torah into a full linguistic mysticism. In this, every Hebrew letter, word, number, even accent on words of the Hebrew Bible contain Jewish mystical meanings , describing the spiritual dimensions within exoteric ideas, and it teaches

17402-514: The next day, 30 November 1935, around 8 pm, aged 47. His cause of death is commonly given as cirrhosis of the liver, due to alcoholism, though this is disputed: others attribute his death to pancreatitis (again from alcoholism), or other ailments. In his lifetime, he published four books in English and one alone in Portuguese: Mensagem (Message). However, he left a lifetime of unpublished, unfinished or just sketchy work in

17556-419: The patriotic outburst resulting from the successful republican revolution in 1910, influenced the development of the budding writer; as did his step-uncle, Henrique dos Santos Rosa, a poet and retired soldier, who introduced the young Pessoa to Portuguese poetry , notably the romantics and symbolists of the 19th century. In 1912, Fernando Pessoa entered the literary world with a critical essay, published in

17710-462: The poems " Godiva " by Alfred Tennyson , " Lucy " by William Wordsworth , "Catarina to Camoens" by Elizabeth Barrett Browning , " Barbara Frietchie " by John Greenleaf Whittier , and " The Raven ", " Annabel Lee " and " Ulalume " by Edgar Allan Poe who, along with Walt Whitman , strongly influenced him. As a translator, Pessoa had his own method: A poem is an intellectualized impression, an idea made emotion, communicated by others by means of

17864-471: The possibility of self-aware Creation, and also the Kelipot (Impure Shells) of previous Medieval kabbalah. The metaphorical anthropomorphism of the partzufim accentuates the sexual unifications of the redemption process, while Gilgul reincarnation emerges from the scheme. Uniquely, Lurianism gave formerly private mysticism the urgency of Messianic social involvement. According to interpretations of Luria,

18018-599: The presence of the divine in everyday life. Today, the academic study of Jewish mysticism, pioneered by scholars like Gershom Scholem , continues to explore its historical, textual, and philosophical dimensions. According to the Zohar , a foundational text for kabbalistic thought, Torah study can proceed along four levels of interpretation ( exegesis ). These four levels are called pardes from their initial letters (PRDS [ פַּרדֵס ‎] Error: {{Lang}}: invalid parameter: |links= ( help ) , 'orchard'): Kabbalah

18172-473: The reader. In this dialogue, kabbalah survives the nihilism of Deconstruction by incorporating its own Lurianic Shevirah , and by the dialectical paradox where man and God imply each other. The founder of the academic study of Jewish mysticism, Gershom Scholem , privileged an intellectual view of the nature of Kabbalistic symbols as dialectic Theosophical speculation. In contrast, contemporary scholarship of Moshe Idel and Elliot R. Wolfson has opened

18326-672: The relation of sephirot to God, they saw contemplation on the sephirot as a vehicle for prophecy. Judaism's ban on physical iconography, along with anthropomorphic metaphors for Divinity in the Hebrew Bible and midrash , enabled their internal visualisation of the Divine sephirot Anthropos in imagination. Disclosure of the aniconic in iconic internal psychology, involved sublimatory revelation of Kabbalah's sexual unifications. Previous academic distinction between Theosophical versus Abulafian Ecstatic-Prophetic Kabbalah overstated their division of aims, which revolved around visual versus verbal/auditory views of prophecy. In addition, throughout

18480-412: The revealed persona of God through which he creates and sustains and relates to humankind. Kabbalists speak of the first as Ein/Ayn Sof (אין סוף "the infinite/endless", literally "there is no end"). Of the impersonal Ein Sof nothing can be grasped. However, the second aspect of divine emanations, accessible to human perception, dynamically interacting throughout spiritual and physical existence, reveal

18634-625: The right arm, which was "lifted into the air" without his will. Looking in the mirror, Pessoa saw several times what appeared to be the heteronyms : his "face fading out" and being replaced by the one of "a bearded man", or in another instance, four men in total. Pessoa also developed a strong interest in astrology , becoming a competent astrologer. He elaborated hundreds of horoscopes , including well-known people such as William Shakespeare , Lord Byron , Oscar Wilde , Chopin , Robespierre , Napoleon I , Benito Mussolini , Wilhelm II , Leopold II of Belgium , Victor Emmanuel III , Alfonso XIII , or

18788-543: The scandal known as "Literatura de Sodoma" (Literature of Sodom), which Pessoa started with his paper "António Botto e o Ideal Estético em Portugal" (António Botto and the Aesthetic Ideal in Portugal), published in the journal Contemporanea . Politically, Pessoa described himself as "a British-style conservative , that is to say, liberal within conservatism and absolutely anti-reactionary," and adhered closely to

18942-483: The scope and diversity within kabbalah, by restricting study to certain texts, notably Zohar and the teachings of Isaac Luria as passed down through Hayyim ben Joseph Vital . However, even this qualification does little to limit the scope of understanding and expression, as included in those works are commentaries on Abulafian writings, Sefer Yetzirah , Albotonian writings, and the Berit Menuhah , which

19096-500: The section "The Man in the Moon", The Natal Mercury also published at least four sonnets by Fernando Pessoa: "Joseph Chamberlain", "To England I", "To England II" and "Liberty". His poems often carried humorous versions of Anon as the author's name. Pessoa started using pen names quite young. The first one, still in his childhood, was Chevalier de Pas, supposedly a French noble . In addition to Charles Robert Anon and David Merrick,

19250-591: The souls of Man who are the inner dimension of all spiritual and physical worlds, yet simultaneously the Infinite Divine generative lifesource beyond Creation that continuously keeps everything spiritual and physical in existence); Sephirot bridge the philosophical problem of the One and the Many; Man is both Divine ( Adam Kadmon ) and human (invited to project human psychology onto Divinity to understand it); Tzimtzum

19404-514: The supernal Torah , Olamot (Spiritual Worlds), a Divine Tree and Archetypal Man , Angelic Chariot and Palaces , male and female, enclothed layers of reality, inwardly holy vitality and external Kelipot shells, 613 channels ("limbs" of the King) and the divine Souls of Man . These symbols are used to describe various levels and aspects of Divine manifestation, from the Pnimi (inner) dimensions to

19558-582: The supernal divine flow, uniting masculine and feminine forces on High. With this, the feminine Divine presence in this world is drawn from exile to the Holy One Above. The 613 mitzvot are embodied in the organs and soul of man. Lurianic Kabbalah incorporates this in the more inclusive scheme of Jewish messianic rectification of exiled divinity. Jewish mysticism, in contrast to Divine transcendence rationalist human-centred reasons for Jewish observance, gave Divine-immanent providential cosmic significance to

19712-769: The sword on the hero’s thigh, girded and accessible to him whenever he wishes to unsheathe it and use it to overpower his fellow—this is his glory and splendor. This is the idea wherever they expound a midrashic parable or allegory ; they believe that both “the internal and external” are true By expressing itself using symbols and myth that transcend single interpretations, Theosophical Kabbalah incorporates aspects of philosophy , Jewish theology , psychology and unconscious depth psychology , mysticism and meditation , Jewish exegesis , theurgy , and ethics , as well as overlapping with theory from magical elements . Its symbols can be read as questions which are their own existentialist answers (the Hebrew sephirah Chokmah -Wisdom,

19866-476: The ten emanations and attributes of God with which he continually sustains the existence of the universe. The Zohar and other Kabbalistic texts elaborate on the emergence of the sephirot from a state of concealed potential in the Ein Sof until their manifestation in the mundane world. In particular, Moses ben Jacob Cordovero (known as "the Ramak"), describes how God emanated the myriad details of finite reality out of

20020-477: The term Kabbalah is used to refer to a canon of secret mystical books by medieval Jews, these aforementioned books and other works in their constellation are the books and the literary sensibility to which the term refers. Even later the word is adapted or appropriated in Western esotericism ( Christian Kabbalah and Hermetic Qabalah ), where it influences the tenor and aesthetics of European occultism practiced by gentiles or non-Jews. But above all, Jewish Kabbalah

20174-406: The texts of kabbalah were once part of an ongoing oral tradition , though, over the centuries, much of the oral tradition has been written down. Jewish forms of esotericism existed over 2,000 years ago. Ben Sira (born c.  170 BCE ) warns against it, saying: "You shall have no business with secret things". Nonetheless, mystical studies were undertaken and resulted in mystical literature,

20328-548: The third failed to appear due to funding difficulties. Lost for many years, this issue was finally recovered and published in 1984. Among other writers and poets, Orpheu published Pessoa, orthonym, and the modernist heteronym , Álvaro de Campos . Along with the artist Ruy Vaz, Pessoa also founded the art journal Athena (1924–25), in which he published verses under the heteronyms Alberto Caeiro and Ricardo Reis . In addition to his profession as free-lance commercial translator, Fernando Pessoa undertook intense activity as

20482-428: The three main heteronyms were designed according to their horoscopes, with special reference to Mercury , the planet of literature. Each was also assigned to one of the four astral elements: air, fire, water and earth. For Pessoa, his heteronyms, taken together with his actual self, embodied the full principles of ancient knowledge. Astrology was part of his everyday life and he actively practiced it until his death. As

20636-576: The timing was significant because the calendar year 1666 was approaching. The number 666 had been identified in the Book of Revelation with the ultimate human despot to rule the world, but who would be replaced by the second coming of the Messiah ; this added to his belief that the Fifth Monarchy was possibly about to begin. Gonçalo Anes Bandarra , the 16th century shoemaker turned prophet whom interpreters credit with foretelling accurately

20790-549: The tools of modern and postmodern philosophy and psychology , Sanford Drob shows philosophically how every symbol of the Kabbalah embodies the simultaneous dialectical paradox of mystical Coincidentia oppositorum , the conjoining of two opposite dualities. Thus the Infinite Ein Sof is above the duality of Yesh/Ayin Being/Non-Being transcending Existence/Nothingness ( Becoming into Existence through

20944-544: The unlimited divine bounty within suitable vessels, so forming the Worlds. However, if man sins (actualising impure judgement within his soul), the supernal Judgement is reciprocally empowered over the Kindness, introducing disharmony among the Sephirot in the divine realm and exile from God throughout Creation. The demonic realm, though illusory in its holy origin, becomes the real apparent realm of impurity in lower Creation. In

21098-545: The various diagnostic criteria of these different perspectives—are the Bahir , Zohar , Pardes Rimonim , and Etz Chayim ('Ein Sof') . The early Hekhalot writings are acknowledged as ancestral to the sensibilities of this later flowering of the Kabbalah and more especially the Sefer Yetzirah is acknowledged as the antecedent from which all these books draw many of their formal inspirations. The Sefer Yetzirah

21252-519: The very beginning the King made engravings in the supernal purity. A spark of blackness emerged in the sealed within the sealed, from the mystery of the Ayn Sof, a mist within matter, implanted in a ring, no white, no black, no red, no yellow, no colour at all. When He measured with the standard of measure, He made colours to provide light. Within the spark, in the innermost part, emerged a source, from which

21406-551: The views of some Kabbalists this conceives "evil" as a "quality of God", asserting that negativity enters into the essence of the Absolute. In this view it is conceived that the Absolute needs evil to "be what it is", i.e., to exist. Foundational texts of Medieval Kabbalism conceived evil as a demonic parallel to the holy, called the Sitra Achra (the "Other Side"), and the qlippoth (the "shells/husks") that cover and conceal

21560-497: The whole history of Jewish mysticism, beyond the particular Kabbalistic background of the Middle Ages. They can be readily distinguished by their basic intent with respect to God: According to Kabbalistic belief, early kabbalistic knowledge was transmitted orally by the Patriarchs, prophets , and sages, eventually to be "interwoven" into Jewish religious writings and culture. According to this view, early kabbalah was, in around

21714-529: The word Kabbalah undergoes a transformation of its meaning in medieval Judaism, in the books which are now primarily referred to as 'the Kabbalah': the Bahir , the Zohar , Etz Hayim etc. In these books the word Kabbalah is used in manifold new senses. During this major phase it refers to the continuity of revelation in every generation, on the one hand, while also suggesting the necessity of revelation to remain concealed and secret or esoteric in every period by formal requirements native to sacred truth. When

21868-551: The young writer also signed up, among other pen names, as Horace James Faber, Alexander Search  [ pt ] , and other meaningful names. In the preface to The Book of Disquiet , Pessoa wrote about himself: Nothing had ever obliged him to do anything. He had spent his childhood alone. He never joined any group. He never pursued a course of study. He never belonged to a crowd. The circumstances of his life were marked by that strange but rather common phenomenon – perhaps, in fact, it's true for all lives – of being tailored to

22022-694: Was a Portuguese poet , writer , literary critic , translator , and publisher . He has been described as one of the most significant literary figures of the 20th century and one of the greatest poets in the Portuguese language . He also wrote in and translated from English and French. Pessoa was a prolific writer both in his own name and approximately seventy-five other names, of which three stand out: Alberto Caeiro , Álvaro de Campos , and Ricardo Reis . He did not define these as pseudonyms because he felt that this did not capture their true independent intellectual life and instead called them heteronyms ,

22176-454: Was a look of suffering that didn't add any interest, and it was difficult to say just what kind of suffering this look suggested. It seemed to suggest various kinds: hardships, anxieties, and the suffering born of the indifference that comes from having already suffered a lot. A statue of Pessoa sitting at a table (below) can be seen outside A Brasileira , one of the preferred places of young writers and artists of Orpheu ' s group during

22330-637: Was a minor, permitted tradition restricted for a few elite. Today, many publications on Kabbalah belong to the non-Jewish New Age and occult traditions of Cabala, rather than giving an accurate picture of Judaic Kabbalah. Instead, academic and traditional Jewish publications now translate and study Judaic Kabbalah for wide readership. The definition of Kabbalah varies according to the tradition and aims of those following it. According to its earliest and original usage in ancient Hebrew it means 'reception' or 'tradition', and in this context it tends to refer to any sacred writing composed after (or otherwise outside of)

22484-402: Was able to see "magnetic auras" similar to radiographic images. He felt "more curiosity than fear", but was respectful towards this phenomenon and asked secrecy, because "there is no advantage, but many disadvantages" in speaking about this. Mediumship exerted a strong influence in Pessoa's writings, who felt "sometimes suddenly being owned by something else" or having a "very curious sensation" in

22638-536: Was further deepened in the end of March 1916, when he suddenly started having experiences where he believed he became a medium , having experimented with automatic writing . On June 24, 1916, Pessoa wrote an impressive letter to his aunt and godmother, then living in Switzerland with her daughter and son-in-law, in which he describes this "mystery case" that surprised him. Besides automatic writing, Pessoa stated also that he had "astral" or "etherial visions" and

22792-489: Was influenced by French symbolists and decadents such as Charles Baudelaire , Maurice Rollinat , and Stéphane Mallarmé . He was also importantly influenced by the Portuguese poets as Antero de Quental , Gomes Leal , Cesário Verde , António Nobre , Camilo Pessanha and Teixeira de Pascoaes . Later on, he was also influenced by the modernists W. B. Yeats , James Joyce , Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot , among many other writers. During World War I , Pessoa wrote to

22946-415: Was on the 100 -escudo banknote. […] on 8 March 1914 – I found myself standing before a tall chest of drawers, took up a piece of paper, began to write, remaining upright all the while since I always stand when I can. I wrote thirty some poems in a row, all in a kind of ecstasy, the nature of which I shall never fathom. It was the triumphant day of my life, and I shall never have another like it. I began with

23100-410: Was one more fiction created by Pessoa. Pessoa's earliest heteronym , at the age of six, was Chevalier de Pas, a fictitious knight whom he wrote to himself as. Other childhood heteronyms included the poet Dr. Pancrácio and short story writer David Merrick, followed by Charles Robert Anon, a young Englishman who became Pessoa's alter ego . When Pessoa was a student at the University of Lisbon , Anon

23254-457: Was pale and thin and appeared physically to be very imperfectly developed. He had a narrow and contracted chest and was inclined to stoop. He had a peculiar walk and some defect in his eyesight gave to his eyes also a peculiar appearance, the lids seemed to drop over the eyes. [...] He was regarded as a brilliant clever boy as, in spite of the fact that he had not spoken English in his early years, he had learned it so rapidly and so well that he had

23408-514: Was replaced by Alexander Search. Search represented a transition heteronym that Pessoa used while searching to adapt to the Portuguese cultural reality. As a result, Pessoa would write many English poems, specifically sonnets, and short stories under the Search heteronym, including "A Very Original Dinner", which was posthumously published after its recovery and subsequent reproduction by Portuguese literary historian Maria Leonor Machado de Sousa. After

23562-438: Was seventeen, Pessoa barely left his beloved city of Lisbon, which inspired the poems "Lisbon Revisited" (1923 and 1926), written under the heteronym Álvaro de Campos . From 1905 to 1920, when his family returned from Pretoria after the death of his stepfather, he lived in fifteen different locations in the city, moving from one rented room to another depending on his fluctuating finances and personal troubles. Pessoa adopted

23716-529: Was spent on reading. We generally considered that he worked far too much and that he would ruin his health by so doing. Ten years after his arrival, he sailed for Lisbon by East through the Suez Canal on board the "Herzog", leaving Durban for good at the age of seventeen. This journey inspired the poems "Opiário" (dedicated to his friend, the poet and writer Mário de Sá-Carneiro ) published in March 1915, in

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