writing reaches through the veils of lower consciousness, allowing higher levels, even God’s consciousness, to come through. Others contend that the bizarre style of the Zohar results not from the automatic writing but from the contributions of several writers over hundreds of years.
The Zohar describes the journey of Rabbi Simeon ben Yohai and ten companions through Galilee, the northern region of Palestine and formerly the kingdom of Israel. Along their journey, the travelers discuss their interpretations of the Torah and, specifically, the Torah’s main characters. The characters become a part of the narrative of the Zohar, their lives weaving in and out of those of Yohai and his group. The companions come and go gracefully within their own group, turning from one character to another. The Zohar uses the term Ein Sof for God, meaning the “Infinite Eternal.” Ein Sof is a departure from the traditional concept of divinity, which portrays God as a knowable presence, a being in the heavens that people can comprehend and feel. Ein Sof, on the contrary, is so vast that It is unknowable, beyond the boundaries of human comprehension. Kabbalists believe that, at most, they can know merely fragments of the Infinite Eternal, which they receive only through profound mystical experiences. The Zohar depicts God as a distant presence that sacrificed Its own being in order to create the universe.
Though the Zohar and its teachings spread quickly from Spain and Italy into other parts of Western Europe, it was slow to reach Eastern Europe—at least at first. After the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492, study of the Zohar became more widespread as Jews fled eastward. The Zohar remains in print today and has been translated into English in a twenty–two–volume set.
In addition to these volumes, there are over a hundred texts elaborating on Kabbalistic concepts and practices. And even though we have these Kabbalah codices, wisdom is still sought and received directly from heaven through revelation, intuitive perception, prayful communion with the Divine, various forms of deep meditation, and even spontaneous enlightenment. The literature of the Hekhalot movement (Hekhalot meaning heavenly palaces or temples of God, containing stories of journeys to heaven) and the Merkabah movement (developed from Ezekiel’s vision of the chariot of God, from the Hebrew RKB, “to ride” to heaven) describe in detail how seekers enter meditative–like trance states in order to commune with God—just as Edgar Cayce did. Many believe that God still speaks to the minds and hearts of those open to learning and following a more spiritual way of living. Yet intuitive “receiving” often comes after one has been studying and practicing the written knowledge in daily life. And often, in moments of quiet reflection, an inner awareness sparks a communion, even if only for a fleeting moment. But one can go with the energy and enlightenment of that moment for a very long time.
The Kabbalah story begins, as do so many ancient wisdoms, with God, and then it addresses the groupings of angels and the many spheres, or planes, of heaven. It covers the Creation and the journey of the souls. It contains the rituals, ceremonies, and magic words and names that evoke the powers of the unseen divine forces. It integrates the outer life with its inner source and the Creative Forces, from which the soul came into being. These concepts and experiences gradually enhance life, making it more meaningful, more bright, and more fulfilling than the materialistic, earthly approach.
Kabbalah also helps us become aware of the invisible forces of life and to discern the eternal from the temporary. We learn to feel the Infinite Eternal (Ein Sof) Mind and Spirit and Its oneness, which is often clouded by the dualities of this life: yin and yang, female and male, night and day, sleep and wakefulness, inside and outside, and so on. Kabbalah helps us perceive the oneness of infinite life that runs through the maze of multiplicity of the Creation and this temporary incarnation. It does this by revealing the sources of creative energy, of consciousness, and of the oneness behind the multipicity.
Next, let’s explore the invisible dimensions of Kabbalah, because the visible life comes from the invisible.
CHAPTER 2 THE VISIBLE AND THE INVISIBLE
The Kabbalah teaches that behind the visible life is a vast, invisible reality from which the visible came into being and in which the visible exists. Cayce adds that these unseen forces are more powerful, more influential than the seen. (EC 262–8) He and the Kabbalah teach that the seen is actually an expression or emanation of the unseen, even a result of unseen dynamics. Life begins in the spirit, Cayce says, takes shape in the mind (thought form), and then manifests in the physical life—not the other way around. “As we have given, every force—in its manifestation—is from the One, or God. And that which is manifested in material things is a result, and not the motive force; for mind, mental (which may not be seen with the eye as termed in the material world, but with the spiritual eye) is the builder.” (EC 347–2; parenthetical comments are Cayce’s.)
Now you might quickly ask, If it is all from God, then why is the evening news so horrible? The answer is free-willed souls! They are allowed, for a time, to do as they choose. This is clearly expressed in Scripture: “I have set before you this day life and good, and death and evil” (Deuteronomy 30:15), the implication being that it is ours to choose which influence we will bring into this world, this life.
The conscious man Cayce was able to see and perceive beyond normal human ability. His psychic readings for himself explained that these sensitivities were a natural result of his level of spiritual development and that all humans would eventually become so sensitive as to see the invisible. Cayce could see discarnate souls among the incarnate. He could hear them and talk to them. He explained that it was like having a switch in his head, which he flipped on in order to see ghosts and communicate with them. He also saw auras around the bodies of incarnate people. These auras emanated colors and patterns that gave him insight into a person’s mental, emotion, and spiritual condition, even as it changed during a conversation. Here are a few examples in his readings (notice his use of the Kabbalistic concept of “emanations”).
[An] aura is the emanation, or the influence that is ever present with an animate body, that may change or alter as to that which is the impelling influence of or about same—or from within. Aura changes, to be sure, [according] to the temperament.
EC 282–4
The aura, then, is the emanation that arises from the very vibratory influences of an individual entity mentally, spiritually—especially of the spiritual forces.
EC 319–2
We find in the aura the physical and the mental and spiritual emanations, that show for developments and retardments as well as abilities for the studying, classifying and applying of same.
EC 1612–1
(Q) Am I beginning to see auras?
(A) Beginning to see auras. As life, light, and love—with understanding—is reflected in self, so may there be seen those of the same reflection from others.
(Q) What is the significance of the flashes and forms which I frequently see?
(A) Those of the higher vibrations of inter-between, as well as spiritual forces taking forms in or before the mental self.
EC 281–4
If Cayce came in proximity to a person, he psychically knew what he or she had been doing and thinking. His longtime secretary confided that she would sometimes avoid him because “it was just none of his business.”
Cayce’s wife, Gertrude, shared a story about the two of them asleep on the second floor of their home when someone tapped on their bedroom window! Edgar immediately knew who this
