This is the most recent essay written to document the new line "Kabbalah Blends" created exclusively by master blender Jacqui Elliott, also known as IvoryCat. She has spent the past four years studying and writing on the Kabbalah. Her complete series of essays have been published in Ann Arbor Michigan based The Seeker Journal and various other web sites.
Once again it has been a stretch since I last wrote on the Kabbalah. My business is working with absolutes and essential oils and I created some new blends. Since it is the Kabbalistic way to take an idea and develop it four ways, this project has extended from finding associated oils not only for the Ten Sefirot, but for oils corresponding to our Seven Chakras, resulting in creating two new product lines, Exotic CharkasTM and Kabbalah BlendsTM made from very high end ingredients. According to Dion Fortune from The Mystical Qabalah, "Perfumes are used not only to enable the deity to manifest, but to tune the imagination of the operator".
Blends for each of the Ten Sefirot consists of four oils representing their existence in each of the four worlds, Atziluth, Briah, Yetzirath, and Assiah. There are two ways of looking at how these Worlds exist on the Tree glyph. One way to look at it is Keter is the only one occupying Atziluth, the world of Emanations. Chokmah and Binah are the only two in Briah, World of Creation. The bulk of the tree exists in Yetzirah, World of Formation, and Malkuth is alone in Assiah, World of Action. OR you can look at it as a "revolving" type of thing, as each world is positioned end to end where Malkuth of one World overlaps Keter in the next.
Each Sefirot exists in Atziluth. Each has it's archtypical characteristic. Each one exists in Briah and has it's Creative forces. In Yetzirath they have their formative characteristics and finally in Assiah, it's primary signature of action. These Worlds are not only positioned end to end, but Malkuth in Atziluth, it's archetypal ideal, becomes Keter in Briah, World of Creation. Malkuth in Briah becomes Keter in Yetzirah. We start with Keter in Atziluth and we end up with Malkuth alone in the world of Assiah.
What I did when I created the oil for Malkuth is use the oils I picked for Keter in Briah, Yetzirah, and Assiah because they were the same, which left the last oil for Malkuth on it's own. So I figured the ultimate oil in Assiah for Malkuth, the world of Action, the ultimate manifestation, would be the combination and Divine copulation between Chokmah (Ultimate Divine Maleness) in Assiah (action) and Binah (Ultimate Divine Femaleness) in Assiah. So Malkuth is actually made of 5 oils instead of four. Malkuth is derived directly from Keter and the combination of Chokmah and Binah, as it should be to manifest Diviness on our physical plane. How about those apples???
All ten Sefirot blends are comprised of four oils each, except for Malkuth which is of five. Creating this blend, whether wrong or right, brought me to a Kabbalaistic revelation. It is an esoteric principal that fours strive to seek their resolution in a fifth parameter. If you have a point in space, that is just what it is, a point. Have two and you get a pair and in space, a line. Have three points and now you have a spatial formation. Even though everything has a center point, a triangle does not have an easily clear and concise center of concentration from only two intersecting lines. Two elements may bond but three will play off of each other. Four points will create six separate pairs; in space form a rhombic parallelogram with two intersecting diagonal lines, clearly, easily, concisely defining a center of focus, a fifth central point. 4, 6, back to 5. Any more than four sides, or fouor points in space do not become any more or less defined or concentrated since four is the first initial set yielding a clear concise center point of focus.
Even with calling in the four corners or elements before ritual, it is wise to be including the fifth element, the Akasha, the all encompassing, all inclusive, residing in nothingness. The fifth element is the abstract, the invisible indivisible pure Divine consciousness.
Yod Heh Vav Heh, the name of God, represents Father, Mother, Son, Daughter; and the fifth element would be the whole which would be the all encompassing Diviness itself. The Kabbalah is divided into the four worlds and the letters correspond to the four worlds too. Yod represents Atziluth, World of Emanations and Archetypes. Heh corresponds to Briah, the World of Creation and Archangels. Vav to Yetzirah, the World of Formation and of Angels, and the second Heh to Assiah, the World of Action and Matter. These worlds also correspond to the Elements and suits of the Tarot. The suit of Wands and the element of Fire are assigned to Atziluth. Cups and Water to Briah. Swords and Air to Yetzirah and the suit of Pentacles or Coins and Earth to Assiah.
Although upon meditation, in my opinion, the Tree is missing the fifth world, that of the World of Completion. I think my celestial Rabbi guide gave me the suggestion; and that it could be named Zulth. All works of creation, whether of the Divine World or of our Physical World need a point of completion. Just as there is the invisible Sefirot of Knowledge called Daath, Zulth is the invisible World of Completion. They say that the Qlipoth, the adverse qualities of the Tree, immediately follow the last Sefirot in the last World, Malkuth in Assiah. But I think this is where Zulth is found, in-between Malkuth and Qlipoth. It houses no Sefirot, yet influences all of them simultaneously, because all eventually will be done, or, as residing in Zulth, all has actually been completed. It's almost as important to know when something is finished as it is to be inspired with an idea in the first place. This position on the Tree makes sense because I believe we have all experienced working on a project past the point that we should have, only to reck whatever we worked so hard on by over working it. Knowing exactly when our creation is completed is an empowerment in itself and saves us from our own disappointments arising from the Qlipoth. The seasoned artist "knows" when they've applied that last brush stroke. I remember way back in my college days playing music with my sculpture professor's gang at his house on Friday nights. One night we lit into a marathon jam. When we finally quit, one old black man spoke up and said "I'm glad one of us had sense enough to stop!". Knowing Completion. I'll be honest, I was not the one with the sense that night.
How I picked oils for each of the ten Sefirot. Upon researching oils associated to the Sefirot, I found the list skimpy. I could at least find one particular scent indicitive of each Sefirot and I labeled these the archtypical scents and placed them in Atziluth, the World of Emanations, of each one. I made substitutions when I needed to. As for instance, Keter's archetypal scent is listed in several sources as ambergris. Actual ambergris is a fatty secretion of the sperm whale, said to be sometimes found floating on the water surface, but they have been excessively hunted for the essence before being protected from hunters. Because I do not believe in harming animals, I won't use this one. Like wise musk, or a scent called civet, obtained by ruthless atrocious acts to extract excretions from the anal or genital area of the musk deer or civit cat. These animals do suffer and are often killed by the act.
Back to Keter. White light is associated with Keter and I wanted to focus on the white light so I decided to use a fat based floral oil instead of using fat based ambergris. I found an oil called "White Star of India" which is true gardenia extracted by a method called enfleurage. Those flowers that tend to keep producing fragrance long after being harvested, that may be to delicate to be distilled or made into an absolute by common means are laid on a thin coating of fat referred to as a chassis, in this case they used coconut fat, and the chassis is constantly replenished with fresh flowers to obtain the fragrance. The fat becomes saturated with the fragrance, which is then called a pomade, and alcohol extraction from the pomade yields an oil or absolute. 1
I used Angelica Seed Absolute for Keter in the world of Yetzirah, which became Angelica Root for Malkuth. Likewise I used White Rose Absolute for Keter in Briah but chose Red Rose for Malkuth symbolizing a well defined physical manifestation, (a single solid color), from Diviness (pure white light which is comprised of all colors in physics).
I compiled lists according to the seven chakras from various sources. I made planetary lists of fragrances as well to correspond to both the Sephirot and Chakras. I mainly found these compilations in Scott Cunningham's books. From these lists I created my blends. In cases where I did not have many associations I meditated on the individual Sephirot in the particular World it occupied and tried to pick an oil that best signified that instance. For example, I only found one scent for Chokmah which was Orchitic musk. It's planet was Uranus and I found close to zilch matches for Uranus. So I meditated on what Chokmah meant to me as it existed in each of it's worlds and planned it's blend intuitively, as I did for any of the Sephirot which were difficult to find actual correspondences for.
For each Sefirot I tried my best to choose oils which would best manifest the characteristics of each. As an example, the function of Yesod is to purify all emanations before they become manifest in Malkuth. So I chose oils for their purification aspects. Also Yesod is associated with the moon and I included various lunar scents in it's blend with dual purposes for purification.
The whole set of blends are designed to aid a Kabbalistic practitioner in their particular path working with the Tree and to manifest a better life on the physical planes. copy writeã 2001 IvoryCat 1 Encyclopedia of Esseitial Oils Julia Lawless.
I am turning this essay into a documentary on the creation of my Kabbalah blends and I want to compare my own creative process to that of the method of the Kabbalah. I believe the development of these ten blends was a natural integrative progression of my studies and carrying them into a physical manifestation through the vehicles that I know best, essential oils and gemstones. I had barely toyed with the idea, but everything has it place in time for fruition. At this point my ideas were up in the Veils of Negative Existence, bio electrically swimming around in a pure mental current until a friend and business associate suggested that I create a line of chakra oils. This gave me the inspiration to create. Inspiration is the threshold of the creative process radiating forth from Keter, the Sefirot designated where the non existent Divine energies cross into the arena for potential physical manifestation.
I was in a very low period of my life during this time, in a phase where I was questioning myself and everything I was doing. I didn't have any inspiration or motivation to do much. I was trying to connect with spirit for guidance and nothing was coming through. I usually reserved my Rabbi guide strictly for Kabbalah, but I was desperate and silently asked this entity for direction. Then I experienced an uncanny chain of events. I began thinking about the chakras. I began rereading Anatomy of the Spirit by Caroline Myss, Ph.D, a book I read before I started studying Qabalah. I found that she compared the chakras to the Sephirot and I began researching for Kabbalah blends with chakras. Somewhere around this time I received an e-mail from a stranger saying they had read one of my essays and was inspired by it. I thought how odd because I hadn't written anything in months. I had read a couple other books on Kabbalah during this break. Kabbalah and Meditation by Aryeh Kaplan led me to purchase Sefer Yetzirah also written by him. I studied more of Garden of Pomegranates by Israel Regardie, but wasn't driven to write anything.
I don't usually surf the net for information too often, but I proceeded to look up Kabbalah in relation to essential oils. I had a difficult time finding anything. Then I happened to type in the phrase "Kabbalah perfumes" on the yahoo search engine and there in the number one top spot was one of my essays on a site called Real Magic. I was as unaware of my essay being on someone's site as I was unaware that I was the "expert", even though it was an essay where I listed the mundane associations to the 22 paths out of The Garden of Pomegranates, it was still my piece. The owners of the site did give me full credit and a link to my own web site. The very next day I received another e-mail from a stranger saying it inspired them. Rabbi showed me where I was supposed to go, what I was supposed to be doing and how what I already did inspired others. Now I had received e-mails from strangers over these past years in reference to my essays, but those were times when I was actively writing. To be truthful I can't even remember when I last wrote on Kabalah without looking it up.
One thing led to another. Applying the four fold Kabalistic method, and associating chakras with Sefirot, I developed two lines at once. When I had compiled a lengthy list of essential oil associations, and was finally satisfied with that list, I sat in the floor on a Friday morning and figured out roughly the recipe for each Sephirot blend in one sitting. I had already completed a few chakra blends, but was anxious to start the Kabbalah. I did not have the oils I wanted to attempt to make Netzach or Malkuth. I had not planned on actually blending any oils that day, but I got into a creative pocket and proceeded to mix. I usually will not mix so many at one time, but I got into a frenzy and one blend gave way to another. Before I knew it seven blends were done.
I made these in succession knowing full well that I couldn't mix Netzach or Malkuth. I also learned a lesson not to mix so many different blends at once because by the time I finished Hod I was asphyxiated by oils and chose to quit and not venture to Yesod. I pulled down all this energy from Keter, I by passed my Intuition, went right for Intellect, then totally skipped the refinement stage. It was during this mixing of seven blends in a row that I opened to the idea of some sort of "Completion" segment of the Tree. My brain on oils.
Looking back on this experience and what I wrote in the last essay, I can clearly see that my intellect had a great need to get this revelation down on computer, to get my thoughts out in the open and to beat the Seeker deadline for the beginning of the New Year 2002. What was not included was my introspection on this new idea. I don't know if mixing the Netzach blend would have made the ideas clearer, however this new concept did not get expanded and purified through Yesod before it came crashing down in Malkuth.
After I made the first seven blends and wrote the previous essay I went back to smell each blend again. Most of them needed to be adjusted. There were a couple that I didn't like the way they turned out at all. Upon re smelling I thought "This came out of me?" and threw them out. Thank goodness I don't have kids. Modifying only one ingredient in each questionable blend rectified their scents and brought them into a more unified progression, individually as well as a whole working Tree.
The four fold method of creativity is not cut and dry. It's not supposed to be cut and dry. Looking at the four Worlds or planes of existence again. Just for the sake of trying to grasp the complex ingenuity of the Kabbalah system these worlds are explained as being end to end, maybe not a "revolving" system as I stated in the last essay, but definitely one that "recycles". But the irony of this system is that all four worlds actually exist not as graphically separated planes, but side by side and integrated.
The nature of energy is revealed by it's movement, it's behavior. Energy weaves in and out, traverses from one density to another and back and forth. Free flowing, constant motion is called kinetic and is the nature of the Tree. Energy flows from one Sefirot to another, from one World to another and back again. You can even look at these Planes as similar to atomic orbits. Electrons, and other assorted sub atomic particles travel around orbits surrounding the atom's nucleus. Electrons will orbit at a certain speed but when an electron gets excited it "jumps" orbits. It leaves it's current orbit and moves up to the next level or the next higher level. If it looses energy it can drop back down to an inner orbit. Same goes within molecules, compounds of atoms that arise from "sharing" electrons and other subatomic bits amongst each other. The electrons that get "shared" between atoms jump orbital levels inbetween the atoms, interweaving their energy paths within each other. The sharing of these particles becomes the covalent bond between atoms that creates a completely different substance than what the atoms are on their own.
The human creative process is very much alike. Boy would I love it if every blend I made ended up exactly as I had it calculated down on paper. Alas, I am not perfect, and if I was, boy would I be bored with myself. The human creative process begins in the abstract regions of Negative Existence. This is the idea before the light bulb turns on in our minds. The light turns on in Keter in Atziluth and becomes inspiration. Inspiration, if acted upon, takes hold in the planes of Formation and Action. Very often the Action and Formation stages will give rise to more inspiration, taking the creative process in other directions. The actual work that takes place in Formation and Action are often catalysts for more inspiration, occurring after inspiration was the initial catalyst behind them in the first place.
If we ponder an idea it begins to take shape in Briah, World of Creation. Pondering takes time. I can ponder blends or other art works for months before I actually embark on the project. Here we begin to "form" our idea mentally, but not before it dips into Yetzirah, World of Formation then returns back to Briah again. Here is another contradiction. It takes "action" to "form" anything. Ironic that it passes from Atziluth, Archetypes, into Briah but not before it takes a quick jump way into Assiah for Action, before it pops back into Briah or Yetzirah. So this energy jumps all over, in and out, throughout the Worlds as it accumulates or looses momentum.
The human creative process itself is kinetic. I got inspired, I assembled a list of oils on paper, but the real creativeness doesn't happen until I'm actually mixing oils. I always allow myself this last minute space of uncertainty to use my artistic license to make the final decisions effecting the end result. I often switch ingredients right before I begin blending. Maybe what I have down on paper doesn't jive in real life, maybe another oil will call out to be included, maybe I just change my mind. It's like that with art work too. If commissioned for art work I have to turn out a product looking like what I was hired to turn out. Left to my own devices the piece often takes a turn in the middle and ends up completely different than what I started out to make, but that is the true beauty of the creative process. Learning to work with the spontaneity that is kinetic energy. Learning to guide your own kinetic creative resources to a point of satisfied completion is a discipline and an art onto itself.
I found several oils that wove themselves through out the Tree. Rose oil finds its way into several of the blends, as does sandalwood. I tried to symbolize the Divine energy flowing from Keter and manifesting in Malkuth by using various kinds of rose oil. Rose oil eminates the highest energy vibration of all oils. I chose white rose absolute for Keter; white symbolizing the color of Divinity. I used red rose absolute in Binah to draw the energy down from Keter and carried the energy diagonally across the whole tree by using red rose otto in Netzach. I used red rose absolute in Malkuth to symbolize Divine energy being manifested (white to red) and that Malkuth is the daughter of Binah as manifested on Earth.
Myrrh popped up often as being appropriate for many Sefirot and instead of redundantly using it all the time I chose to use oppopanox or sweet myrrh in a few of the combinations. Of course I love those rare floral absolutes and odd oils so each Sefirot blend has at least one of those in it. Carnation in Chokmah, orange flower in Tiferet, calendula in Chessed, pink pepper and hyacinth in Gevurah, plumeria (frangipani) in Netzach, melissa in Yesod.
Each Sephirot has their associated gemstones as well. Each were picked with the idea of bringing down the energy from the most Divine to be Divine in Physical manifestation. The corresponding gems are as follows. Keter is fine tuned with diamonds, (although in this case I have used herkimers, which are stout double terminated clear quartz crystals, along with a diamond melee). Diamonds being the ultimate gemstone, hardest natural substance known to man; hardness of 10 on the mohs scale, highest refractive index of all gemstones yielding the highest brilliance, most coveted, most cherished.
Chokmah is set inbetween star rubies. Corundum. Second hardest substance in gem land, reaching 9 on mohs scale, second to only emerald in price. Chokmah is ultimate male, the gem should be high on the scale. What is that old saying? A good man is hard to find, a hard man is good to find. The asterism or star in the stone brings it closer to Divinity. The asterism is the result of rutile fibers densely packed inside the stone crisscrossing each other causing light to be concentrated in three rays that intersect at right angles to form the star.1 Esoterically speaking it possesses a higher internal energy than an unasterized stone. Although stars are many times found in the lesser expensive corundum material, ruby stars are still scarcer than their counterparts, black, or blue star sapphires.
Binah is charged between cultured pearls, the most feminine regarded and highest priced "organic" gemstone. Thou shalt not cast their pearls before swine or attempt to clean them in commercial jewelry cleaner. The fluid will eat the nacre, the "luster" coating on the pearl that distinguishes it's value, right off and leave you with a dull white marble. This is a soft gemstone, on the mohs scale only a 2.5, but it must be soft, it is female.
Chessed is aligned between Star Sapphires, again being of corundum, the second hardest substance. Rubies and sapphires are the same material, just different colors. Gevurah is set between un asterized red ruby cabochons.
Tiferet is aligned between golden imperial topaz stones representing the Sun. A measure of 8 on the scale. Aside from the pearl, we have energy spilling down through graduated hardness and density of gemstones.
Energy flows onward through the most colorful segment of the Tree, Intuition coupled with Intellect. Netzach is charged between Venusian green and pink tourmaline, hardness of 7 - 7.5. Hod is tuned with opals, which are amorphous. Silicate particles floating in an actual liquid state or referred to as a gelled silicate, it can be as much as 20% water. That is why rough opals are always stored and displayed in water filled containers. It is wise to keep any opals, loose or those in metal settings, in moist conditions, or rub them with oil every so often to keep them hydrated so that they don't dry out and crack. Never wear them in extreme cold weather. They could freeze and shatter upon slight impact. Hardness of 6.5.
Energy weaves in and out, traversing from one density to another. Bright multi colored energies of Hod and Netzach are squeezed and purified through another water associated stone, pale blue brilliant aquamarine of Yesod, before they become emeralds in Malkuth. An interesting progression here is that both aquamarine and emeralds are of the beryl family, hardness of 7.5 - 8. the aquas being a mid to high priced stone and of course, emeralds, which are the third most coveted stone. So we have the pure white diamond Divine quality energy emanating down from Keter, being whittled through a series of graduated harnesses of specific stones depicting the decendance of energy through the Tree, to being purified through a stone of greater hardness and density metamorphisizing the energy to become the precious green emerald physically manifest in Malkuth. The energies come through two of the most revered gems, filtered through the other gems of the Sephiroth to be manifested in Malkuth in a third most coveted gemstone. The concept is repeated again, as exampled by the color of red rose in Malkuth stemming from white rose in Keter. We have the one definitive color, signified by the green emerald, being singled out, defined and refined from the whiteness in Keter. All to the One.
My first round of frenzy blending brought the concept of another World. After reflecting on the initial idea, I realized the energy for this had not been through the stations of Netzach, or Yesod before it screeched onto the screen of my computer monitor. As I awaited the shipment of the missing ingredients I refined the scents of the blends already made. As I worked, the idea of completion kept swirling around my head as I swirled oils in glass receptacles. Action gave rise to more inspiration. Then a question came to mind that fed the inspirational flame of this newly conceived concept. Is it a World or a Veil?
"For the purposes of their system, they (the Qabalists) draw a veil at a certain point in manifestation, not because there is nothing there, but because the mind, as such, must stop there." 2 As Dion fortune puts it in describing the veils of negative existence.
According to Fortune the Qabalists recognize four planes of manifestation, the four Worlds, and three planes of unmanifestation, the three veils, the three abstract regions above Keter named Ain (veil of negativity), Ain Soph (veil of the limitless) and Ain Soph Aur (veil of limitless light). The idea of Veils is purely symbolic. They are the symbols that allow us to "think of that which transcends thought, and which at the same time hide that which they represent." 3 She also says that even though the Veils of Negative existence are outside of our range of realization, realization being concreting the abstract, it doesn't mean that we are outside the range of it's influence. This area is before existence, an unknowable region to our minds, but is needed in the course of comprehending evolution because it does give our minds a symbol of inclination as to where all originated from.
"The Qabalists conceived of the evolution...by a kind of flowing forth or emanation from Ain, it was held that there were produced in succession four Worlds or planes of consciousness.5" Because the Sefirot can not be fully comprehended upon one plane, the Kabbalists express their complexity in a four fold nature. Each Sephiroth manifests itself four ways through these four Worlds which constitute the Kabbalistic creative evolutionary process. These worlds are not necessarily one on top of the other, rather they coexist intermingled and interwoven. Energy weaves itself in, out and around all parts and sections of the Tree. These Worlds, like the Tree, are kinetic and all Ten Sephiroth reside in each World. I am sure that each of the 22 paths are expressed in each world as well.
This point of Completion that lies between Malkuth in Assiah and Qlipoth may be a Veil instead of a World. Everything else is expressed in fours regarding the Kabbalah, why is there only three veils? This region is pulling in each direction simultaneously. Since a veil is an abstract region where emanations pass through instead of exist in, it could be called the Veil of Completion. It could still be called Zulth. The key word here is influence. This region does not house, it influences. It is a region of force instead of occupancy. It's function is to pull Divine energy down from the Ain soph Aur, through the Ten Sephirah as they collectively coexist in the Worlds. Applying as above so below, it's function is to pull energy upward from the Qlipoth at the same time, which can be analogous to the force behind "raising Holy sparks from Qilpoth". The only thing that can do that is a vacuum or a black hole.
Is the point of completion static? When we complete a project, the finished piece is there. It statically houses the energy put forth into it's creation, but it doesn't have a kinetic energy on it's own. When we complete a project we often feel empty. Action comes to a stand still. The product of creation does not perpetuate energy like the work of creation, but it often gives rise to another cycle of creativity, another plateau of evolution.
It must be a Fourth Veil instead of the Fifth World. Since I wrote the previous essay I purchased another book, "God is a Verb" by Rabbi David Cooper. I had listened to a series of tapes by him on the Kabbalah lent by a friend about a year ago and was familiar with his writings. After another friend suggested that I read this book I bought it with revenue from a returned holiday gift to Barnes and Nobel. Low and behold I am looking through the book as I am writing this and Rabbi Cooper has a chapter "Five Worlds, Five Soul Dimensions" where he lists the fifth World as Adam Kadmon, the primordial source before Atziulth. He correlates Assiah, Yetzirah, Briah, and Atziluth, plus Adam Kadmon to the soul levels of the Tree, those being Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama, Chia, and Yechidah. I going to end here for now, this is getting rather lengthy. There's more to come. copy writeã 2002 IvoryCat 1 Modern Jeweler's Guide to Colored Gemstones. 2 3 4. Mystical Qabalah by Dion Fortune pages 29 - 36. 5 A Garden of Pomegranates by Israel Regardie page 123 Color Encyclopedia of Gemstones by Joel E. Arem. Ph. D., F.G.A.
Jacqui Elliott has been practicing esoterics for over thirty years and has studied Kabbalah for over eight years.
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Most recent update 2/10/2005
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