We now come to the consideration of Positive Evil.
This again has a “negative’s and “positive’s aspect.
Its “negative’s aspect is pure chaos, unformed substance and unco-ordinated force.
It has been aptly called the Cosmic Abortion.
To drift into the sphere of “negative” Positive Evil is like being caught in a psychic quicksand.
We are now ready to consider the sphere of “positive” Positive Evil, the demons themselves, or the Qlippoth, as they are called in the Qabalah.
In order to understand their significance we must make a further excursion into Qabalistic philosophy.
The Creator is conceived of as bringing the universe into manifestation through a series of Divine Emanations, ten in number.
These are called the Ten Holy Sephiroth, and are represented in a diagram as arranged in a particular pattern.
This is the famous Tree of Life, the key to all symbolism.
The Sephiroth were not emanated independently, each from the Divine Source; but overflowed, the one from the other.
As soon as one Sephira has emanated another, these two are said to be in equilibrium, compensating each other.
But there is a period during the emanation of a Sephira when the force is not yet in equilibrium, but is pushing out unsupported, like an incomplete arch.
It is the uncompensated force emanated during this epoch of unbalance, and never subsequently absorbed after the establishment of the new sphere, which constitutes Positive Evil.
There are, therefore, ten kinds of Positive Evil, just as there are ten Divine Emanations.
To these spheres go, according to their kind, all the evil imaginings of the heart of man that are not neutralised by repentance or compensated by the overplus of good in other members of the same group-soul.
There is a deep occult doctrine here which we cannot enter upon now; it must suffice to state it dogmatically in explanation of the Qabalistic conception of the Qlippoth.
When we consider all that must have been poured into these ten sinks of iniquity since the days of Atlantean Magic, through the decadence of Babylon and Rome, down to the Great War, we can guess what rises up from them when their seals are broken.
Not only do influences emanate from them which tempt and corrupt souls, each according to its susceptibility, but time has served for the formulation of evil intelligences.
These probably originated through the workings of Black Magic, which took the essential evil essence and organised it for purposes of its own.
The beings thus formulated assumed an independent existence, developed, and multiplied their kind.
They appear as dreams and hallucinations, and may produce a considerable degree of objective phenomena, such as noise, deposit of slime or blood, balls of light, and, above all, stenches of an amazing pungency.
The Ten Divine Emanations are personified as Archangels, and the Ten Infernal Emanations are personified as Archdemons.
It is these which are the Names of Power in Magic.
Each Sephira, then, has its obverse side in the corresponding Qlippottic demon.
The initiated adept always gains control over the demonic force before he attempts to utilise the angelic force which, by the appropriated means, can be contacted in each Sephira.
If he does not do so, he contacts them both simultaneously.
Moreover, the planets, the elements and the Signs of the Zodiac are all intimately connected with the Sephiroth, being arranged upon the Tree of Life in a pattern known only to initiates.
The initiated adept is exceedingly careful what he does when he is working with these potencies because he knows that he has always got the Qlippoth in the background.
The magical manufacture of a semi-autonomous entity from the operator's own creative mind-stuff, formulated with sufficient force and sustained attention that it acquires a distinct, independent life of its own beyond an ordinary passing thought-form — directable as tool, weapon, or guardian, but capable of escaping the operator's control if mishandled. Distinct from spirit_conjuration (binding a spirit that already exists, rather than manufacturing one) and from word_power_incantation (the causal force of the spoken word itself, rather than the sustained mental construction of an entity).
The text describes evil intelligences formulated through Black Magic that assumed independent existence and multiplied their kind.
The Hermetic axiom that the structure of the cosmos is reflected at every scale — 'as above, so below; as within, so without' — making each level a legible map of the others.
The passage states that planets, elements, and Zodiac signs are intimately connected with the Sephiroth arranged upon the Tree of Life.
A chain of divine beings or principles flowing downward from a single transcendent source (the One or the Father), each level less perfect than the one above.
The passage centrally describes the Creator bringing the universe into manifestation through a series of Divine Emanations (Ten Holy Sephiroth) that overflow from one another.
The ritual admission of an individual into esoteric knowledge or a sacred order through a formal rite of passage — testing, ordeal, or ceremony — marking a definite before/after threshold in the initiate's status and access. Distinct from hidden_sayings (the doctrine being concealed, not the rite of admission to it) and esoteric_lineage (the historical chain of transmission across generations, not a single individual's admission).
The passage repeatedly references the 'initiated adept' and their specific knowledge and caution regarding these potencies.
The balance of two contrary forces as the structural law of cosmos and operation — Lévi's equilibrium, expressed in Kabbalah by the senary: the will of God in its first cause, liberty in man, mathematical equilibrium in matter; the twofold vibration required to direct the Astral Light safely.
The text explains that Sephiroth are in equilibrium compensating each other, and Positive Evil arises from uncompensated force during unbalance.
The grimoire-tradition practice of ceremonially commanding or binding a spirit through consecrated seals, circles, divine names, and prescribed instruments, compelling its appearance and obedience. Distinct from theurgy in the direction of the power relationship — theurgy is reverent engagement with the gods on the premise of the operator's own ascent, this is subordination of a lesser spirit to the operator's will — and from word_power_incantation and sacred_names, which name components (verbal force, name-power) this practice deploys rather than the ritual structure itself.
The text discusses the initiated adept contacting angelic forces and controlling demonic forces, implying the magical operation of summoning or engaging these entities.