The Bible teaches that there are twelve gates into the City, metaphorically meaning that there are many paths back home to God. Drawing strongly from both Eastern and Western religious and spiritual traditions, this series offers some of the many perspectives on how to approach enlightenment.
Enter the 11th gate into the city through steps on Jacob’s Ladder, a Jewish mystical
path in the tradition of the Kabbalah.
11th Gate Chapters — (Click to jump to a topic)
> The Story of Jacob’s Ladder
> Mother Mary’s Commentary
> Mystical Judaism – The Kabbalah
> The Names of God
> Pronouncing the Names of God
> Video Teaching: Early Rabbinic Mysticism
The Story of Jacob’s Ladder
Jacob, the son of Isaac, and grandson of Abraham, was fleeing from his brother Esau who had vowed to kill him. Jacob laid down to sleep, and as he slept, he had a dream in which he witnessed a staircase from earth to heaven with Angels descending and ascending on it. Below is a summary of the story from Genesis 28:10-19.
Jacob left Beersheba, and went toward Haran. He came to the place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it!
And behold, the Lord stood above it [or “beside him”] and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your descendants; and your descendants shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and by you and your descendants shall all the families of the earth bless themselves. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done that of which I have spoken to you.”
Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place; and I did not know it.” And he was afraid, and said, “This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. (Source: Wikipedia)
Mother Mary’s Commentary
Beloved Mother Mary in her dictation from January 11, 1988 refers to Jacob’s Ladder and of our need to embrace our own climb upon the ladder as is done in the mystical Jewish tradition of the Kabbalah. She says,
“Out from the Great Central Sun, luminous spheres descend for the healing of the hearts, souls and bodies of the millions who have not entered in to the vast panorama of life that can be known, realized and adopted.
I call to you, beloved, and I call to all souls of light. Come up higher and see the realms of light. Do not wait for them to descend upon you, but climb Jacob’s ladder. Move with the great beings who have determined that they shall bring forth the profound understanding of Kabbalah.
I would speak to you of Kabbalah, beloved, for Kabbalah is a wondrous teaching. When the fullness of that teaching comes forth, when, in fact, Kabbalah is accepted as a part of Christianity, there shall be an opening of the gates of heaven, even as in the time of Ezekiel.
Now then, look at your book on Kabbalah. Some of you have not had the time. But I say, make the time. For in doing so, you will realize that mystical Judaism is one of the highest, if not the highest, manifestations of awareness of God.”
Mystical Judaism – The Kabbalah
What is Mystical Judaism? ‘Mysticism’ refers to those religious and spiritual paths that believe in the possibility of direct contact with, and prophecy from, God. The Kabbalah is a mystical Jewish tradition.
The Kabbalah affirms the key to our ‘inner’ power, and seeks to expand upon the Torah, which is the written teachings, laws, customs and philosophies of traditional Judaism. The Kabbalah addresses many subjects, such as the origin of evil, the feminine aspect of God, the Tree of Life and its theories on the creation, and even touches upon the mysteries of the soul and soul mates. Though these teachings are highly mystical, they are highly practical as well.
Kabbalah is said to have begun around 1200 in Provence, France. At that time, the Kabbalah was considered so sacred that for many centuries thereafter only men over the age of 40 were allowed to study it.
When we think of the Kabbalah, we think of the Tree of Life that contains the 12 Sefirot that are the divine aspects of God. The Kabbalists teach that the Tree of Life, containing the divine aspects of God, is inside of us. They teach that we can access these divine aspects through specific prayers, meditations and spiritual practices. Through these practices, the Kaballah teaches us how to have a direct, one-on-one relationship with God.
The Names of God
The Tree of Life explains the inner workings of the universe, and that they are manifest in the names of God. ‘Names’ are the key to our identity. We make contact with someone through their name, and so if we know a name of God (or the name of a part of God), we can make contact with Him or with that part of Him.
The most important of these names is Ein Sof, the unmanifest and unknowable. The second of these is sefirot, a plural noun which refers to the ten aspects of God’s being that manifest from Ein Sof.
When we call upon the God, Ein Sof, using one of the sefirot, there is released a singular aspect of God’s power, and God releases the particular concentration of energy through the corresponding ‘sefirah.’ When we need to request something from God we can use the specific name to call upon the sefirot designated to handle that question.
Kabbalists stress that our prayers are not directed to the sefirot but through them, so to speak. The sefirot are like the chakras of the cosmos. They are step-down transformers for the light of Ein Sof. Kabbalists say that we can use the keys of Kabbalah to access that power, and to become mystics ourselves.
Elizabeth Clare Prophet in her book Kabbalah, Key to Your Inner Power says, “The Zohar [a foundational Jewish text] even gives a formula for making requests to God: We should begin by praising God and then present our petitions to him. When petitioning God, it prescribes, we should “state in precise terms” what we require so that there is “no possibility of misunderstanding.” God wants our prayers to be specific.”
Mrs. Prophet states that the Kabbalah recognizes the incredible power of sound through spoken prayer, or what the Ascended Masters refer to the ‘Science of the Spoken Word.’ (See the 5th Gate). She says that Kabbalists even claimed that Moses saved Israel by ‘pronouncing’ the names of God in his prayers.
Just as the repetition of the names of God—and of sacred mantras containing the names of God—is used by Hindus and Buddhists throughout India as a means of reunion with God, so do the Kabbalists seek the same result. The Kabbalists knew that in order to get the results they wanted from their prayers and meditations, they had to use the correct name of God. Therefore, for us also, we must become expert in the “purpose” of each divine name so that when we need to request something from God we can “concentrate on the name designated to handle that question.”
Pronouncing the Names of God
Below are the Hebrew names of God and their divine aspects associated in Kabbalah with the ten sefirot, with the correct pronunciations of each of the sefirot.
Adonai, “Lord” (Malkhut) – pronunciation: ah-doh-NIE (ie as the i in high)
Shaddai, “Almighty” – pronunciation: shah-DIE
El Hai, “Living God” (Yesod) – pronunciation: ehl khie. (kh as in German buch or Scottish loch. Place tongue in position for sounding the letter k, but release the breath in a stream as in pronouncing an h)
Elohim Tzevaot, “God of hosts” (Hod) – pronunciation: ehl-oh-HEEM tz vah-OHT
YHVH Tzevaot, spoken Adonai Tzevaot, “Lord of hosts” (Netzah) – pronunciation: ah-doh-NIE tz vah-OHT
YHVH, spoken Adonai (Tiferet) – ah-doh-NIE (ie as the i in high)
Elohim, “God” (Gevurah) – pronunciation: ehl-oh-HEEM
El, “God” (Hesed) – pronunciation: ehl
YHVH, spoken Elohim (Binah) – pronunciation: ehl-oh-HEEM
Yah, “the Eternal” (Hokhmah) – pronunciation: yah
Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh, “I AM THAT I AM” (Keter) – pronunciation: eh-heh-YEH ah-SHAIR eh-heh-YEH
In the song Come, Holy Dove by Cosmic Portals all the names of God are pronounced. Listen below and see if you can pronounce them as well.
Video Teaching
Below, Elizabeth Clare Prophet explains the conflict between mysticism and traditional religion in the video: Kabbalah: Early Rabbinic Mysticism of the Prophets.
Additional Resources for Learning:
Book: Kaballah: Key to Your Inner Power
Practical Prayers of Kabbalah
Mantra Yoga – The Names of God
Pronunciation of the Names of God
Mysteries of the Divine Names
*All materials published with permission from The Summit Lighthouse® and Summit Publications, Inc.
