Shematria Links

A collection of recommended links to articles, books, podcasts, videos, blogs and websites for students.

Bibles & Midrashim
Biblehub Interlinear
- There are several excellent Hebrew/Greek interlinear Bibles available online, but I like this one because it attempts to
categorize the words into nouns, verbs, adjectives etc, which is an important aspect of gematria practice. However, it does use Christian translations, which aren't always accurate, so you are advised to cross reference with Scripture4all or with the Sepharia Jewish Library which is an awesome compendium of Jewish texts across the ages. I also recommend the website Learn Tefillah for Hebrew readers who wish to study and pray on a daily basis, and this site has some lovely recordings of readings from the Tanakh.

The Holy Name - Discover how the Holy Name binds together the creation of the Heavens and the Earth in the form of the Merkabah (seven palaces).

Learning the Hebrew Alphabet
You can download a PDF workbook from Shematria that will help you learn the Hebrew alphabet, and for people that are learning but are still somewhat reliant upon transliterations, we also provide a PDF transliteration of Genesis 1-2. You can also visit the Sanctum Regnum site for online Hebrew flash cards for the letters and their correspondences.

Academic Studies
The parts of the first Temple are corresponded to Genesis 1-2, which is corresponded to the alphabet and the seven Palaces, so a first class study of the Temple is worthwhile. Fortunately, a renowned scholar of the Temple - Professor Victor Avigdor Hurowitz presented his paper 'Heaven on Earth' to the Library of Congress and they recorded the presentation on video.

As for academic studies of Gematria itself, although the Tosafot Yom Tov referred to gematria as "mathematics", it has been generally ignored by academia because it was assumed to be merely numerology. Prior to my own research (which revealed the correct biblical ciphers and the system of formal rhetoric math used in the Bible), the last real academic study of gematria was done by Stephen J. Lieberman in 1987, and you can read his paper online at JSTOR.
  In recent years, Professor Israel Knohl (Harvard) has been paying attention to the numerical structure of texts, and he was quick to suggest that prior studies into the gematria of the bible had not revealed much of significance because the knowledge of it (ciphers/systems) was sacred and thus secret. He is well worth following on academia.edu.

My introductory paper "Gematria in the Bible: an early system of Hebrew rhetoric mathematics" can be found on academia.edu, and links to my book 'Behold! The Art and Practice of Gematria' are on the main page of Shematria. I also maintain a blog about Gematria with the Times of Israel. 
 

Studies into the origins of the alphabet can reveal much that is informative to our studies of gematria, particularly in respect of the value of 'mnemonic words', which are words that have a set value connected to a letter and its theme in creation. Professor Douglas Petrovich's alphabet chart is
particularly useful. As well as being an epigrapher, Petrovich has a background in archeology and his books "The World's Oldest Alphabet: Hebrew as the Language of the Proto-Consonantal Script (Carta 2016)" and "Origins of the Hebrews: New Evidence for Israelites in Egypt from Joseph to the Exodus (2022)" are well worth picking up for their depth and breadth. Douglas maintains a blog 'Exegesis International' which is worth a bookmark.
  Other scholars of note in this area are Brian Colless (see his cryptcracker site), and Judith Dillon for her analysis of cultural myths and stories in respect of the alphabet.

Talmud and Kabbalah
During biblical times, people mapped the macrocosm to the seven palaces/merkabah, and in antiquity this schema was broadened and combined with Greek/Gnostic concepts to form the Tree of Life in the Sepher Yetzirah. In the Middle Ages, Kabbalah developed the idea of the microcosm (the Tree of Life) as a complement of the macrocosm, and as something that could mirror or align with all that was good in God's creation. Teachers such as Joseph Gikatilla and Moses de Leon took up the subject of the alphabet, and the conformations of the Merkabah once more. These are matters covered in a free 10 part video course on the fundamental concepts of Kabbalah, presented by Rabbi Avraham Yehoshua Greenbaum.

For a hands on book on Jewish meditation, I would recommend "Eye to the Infinite" by Rabbi Rubin. This incorporates visualizations, meditations & techniques adapted from the Talmud, Kabbalah & Classics of Jewish theology. It's an indispensable investment for anyone interested in traditional Jewish Kabbalah.

There are many kosher Kabbalah videos and channels I find enjoyable and informative. From Jerusalem, I follow Rabbi Betzalel Edward's channel and his 'Сoffee and Cabbala' series. The videos are a dedicated to Torah, and in particular Hasidism, Talmud, and Kabbalah, and the teachings of the Isbitz and Radziner Rebbes are a key feature on this channel.

One video series I totally adore is the "Daf Reactions" series by Miriam Anzovin. If you've never come across her videos yet, where have you been? Under a rock? Daf Reactions went viral earlier this year on Tik Tok and Youtube. Miriam produces two-minute, engaging, funny videos about the Talmud and the Torah. She has a gift and I admire her so much. Laugh and learn!

Also check out My Jewish Learning, Chabad.org, Forward, and why not check out TorahCalc - which is a Jewish calculator with 25 different ciphers which are all mentioned by Kabbalistic sources! Personally, I don't think any of them were used by biblical scribes, but they could have been used in later texts. Unless you check, how will you know?

Qabalah
The Virtues and Vices of the Sephiroth is a collection of 11 essays written by Tom Schular in 2007 for the usenet group alt.magick. For each of the sephiroth in the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, there is a virtue and a vice assigned. In the thoughts, feelings, and actions of the magician, each of these virtues and vices manifest continually. By attending to them, identifying their operations in one's daily life, and accentuating the virtues while moderating the vices, the magician equilibrates the sephiroth in his or her personality and progresses in the Great Work.

From the Golden Dawn, Nick Farrell has an excellent long running magical blog that covers many aspects of qabalah. Well recommended.

Also, check out the
Sanctum Regnum Library for a list of readings and invocations, and Shematria's PDF for Correspondences of the Tarot to Genesis 1-2.

Christian esotericism
For those interested in a more new age type of esoteric synthesis of Jewish Kabbalah, modern science, with a Christian overlay, is a new blog called Open Minds Conscious Intentions by Bettina Morello.
  Morello is the woman behind the translation of the Zohar by Professor Daniel Matt and the recent translation of the Book of Mirrors by Giorgio Gardino-Colonna. Bettina is in a class of her own. She manages to find correspondence between systems and yet keep things real and in context with respect for each system sans cultural appropriation. That's a real talent that everyone thinks they have, but surprisingly few people actually do.

Occult and Magick
As you may have noticed, this site has a sister site called 'the Glory of Kings' which is devoted to uncovering the gematria of Aleister Crowley's 'Book of the Law'. That's because Crowley found the biblical ciphers in 1900 and he used a transliterated hebrew/english cipher in his writings. He also re-ordered and renamed the tarot, based on his understanding of the letter correspondences to Genesis 1-2 and to the Seven Palaces. Why not download the PDF about his hermeneutics on the main Shematria page, and watch this two minute video for the solution to the AL II:76 riddle? And if that's not impressive enough for you (in a totally anorak way), see my article on the notariqon of the first chapter of the Book of the Law. Can you imagine how long it took Aleister to count the first letter of every word in Chapter 1 and make it sum to 50,000 - without even an electronic calculator? Phew!

Crowley texts are becoming rarer, but the 100th monkey press maintains a full
bibliography of unedited original texts by Aleister Crowley.

Finally, why not head over to Red Flame - The Thelemic Research site from  Grady Louis McMurtry's branch of the Argentium Astrum. Maintained by Gerald Edward and Erica Cornelius, the site is a compendium of essays, letters, rare photographs and books from these two authors and working magicians. Recently published works from them that I've particularly enjoyed are "On the Scarlet Woman and the Ancient Mercurial Serpent", and "The Secret Sexual Teachings of Aleister Crowley."

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8/28/2022

Would you like to recommend a link to a website, book or blog about gematria, the bible, kabbalah, etc? Write to me at admin@vvheel.com and let me know.

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