Glossary - exWitch Australia (formerly 'Born Again Pagan')

ZOHAR

The Zohar, meaning splendor, was the first written work containing very much Kabbalistic information. Such information is Esoteric doctrines contained in Hebrew Scriptures, but can not be perceived by the uninitiated; they are, however, plainly revealed to person of spiritual mind. No other information about Kabbalism was recorded before this work.

Moses de Leon of Granada, Spain (d. 1305) published a version of the Zohar, which is one of the two classics of Kabbalism. The work has profoundly influenced millions of Jews, numerous Christians, and a multitude of occultists. The work was titled Sepher Hazzohar (The Book of Brightness) that de Leon claimed to be written by Simon ben Jochai, but most authorities agree that the book is the creation of de Leon himself.

The Zohar explicates the nature of God, the divine emanations of the Sephiroth, the creation of angels and men, and the Esoteric message of the revealed law. Because the Zohar along with other major Kabbalistic writings affirms that its mystical-occult concepts were derived from the canonical Hebrew Scriptures, some Catholic theologians saw the Zohar as proving proof of the divinity of Christ and many other New Testament doctrines. Aside from this, the Zohar still continues to influence numerous occultists.

According to Kabbalistic lore, the knowledge in the Kabbalah had been taught orally and transferred from Moses. Before this it had been thought to initially have been taught by God Himself to a select company of angels. After the Fall the angels most graciously communicated the heavenly doctrine to the disobedient child on earth, to furnish the protoplasts with the means of returning to their nobility and felicity. From Adam it passed to Noah and then to Abraham, who immigrated to Egypt where he allowed some of the mysterious doctrine to leak out. It was in Egypt, the land of his birth, that Moses was, according to Kabbalistic lore, first initiated into the Kabbalah.

According to Kabbalistic lore, Moses learned this mysterious teaching while learning all the wisdom of Egypt; however, he became most proficient in it during his wonderings in the wilderness, when he devoted to it not only his leisure hours of the forty years, but received lessons in it from one of the angels. With the aid of this mysterious science the lawgiver was enabled to solve the difficulties that arose during his stewardship of the Israelites, in spite of the pilgrimage wars and frequent miseries of the nation.

According to Kabbalistic lore, He covertly laid down the principles of this secret doctrine in the first four books of the Pentateuch, but withheld them from Deuteronomy. Moses also initiated seventy Elders into the doctrine's secrets, and they in turn initiated others. Of all who formed the unbroken line of tradition, David and Solomon were the most deeply initiated in the Kabbalah. No one, however, dared to write it down till Schimeon ben Jochai, who lived during the time of the destruction of the second. After his death, his son, Rabbi Elaezar, and his secretary, Rabbi Abba, as well as his disciples, collated Rabbi Schimeon ben Jochai's treatises, and from them composed the celebrated work called Z H R, Zohar, or splendor.

see also: de LEON, Moses

PLEASE NOTE:
One of the major problems with 'defining' Paganism and/or its beliefs and practices is that it is an 'organic' movement, in that it is undergoing constant change and re-evaluation from within, and as such any 'one-size-fits-all' approach to understanding Paganism will be found wanting.

Due to the very 'organic' nature of Paganism, and the many differing Paths and Traditions within it, in many cases no one definition may be universally accepted by all Pagans. Therefore, where such cases of possible conflicting and/or contradictory meanings of certain terms occur I have endevoured to give not only the generally accepted meaning, but also any major 'variations' in belief and/or practice.

Christians who believe this difference in meaning of certain key terms, beliefs and practices to be unique to Paganism need to remember that such conflicts also arise within the Body of Christ - the Church. Take for instance the differing practices amongst Christians concerning Baptism and the different attitudes towards women in the clergy.

- Jean-Luc