by Josh Geller
An essay by occultist Josh Geller presenting an original system for constructing magick squares from the sixteen "wings" of the Kabbalistic Tree of Life — the triangular path-formations identified by a friend trained in Judaic Qabala. Written as a practical alternative to the notoriously dangerous squares of the Abra-Melin, Geller's method allows practitioners to build personalised squares from divine names, ritual teloi, or the Grand Square form. The system was preserved and circulated in alt.magick by nagasiva yronwode, who kept a collection of classic essays from the newsgroup's early years.
Geller's approach is notable for its elegance: it begins not with received tradition but with a geometric observation (the sixteen triangular "wings" formed by the paths of the Tree), and derives a complete operational system from that single insight. The result is a method simultaneously Kabbalistic in structure, chaos-magical in spirit, and thoroughly practical — a rare combination in occult writing of any era.
The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abra-Melin the Mage has had a certain mystique dating to its original publication by S. L. Mathers in the later nineteenth century. Aleister Crowley relates stories of various misfortunes befalling possessors of this book in his best dead-pan manner in various places in his published writings. In one well known story, Philip Heseltine, a talented young composer, seems to have committed suicide after using (successfully, or so the story goes) one of the magick squares in the book.
The Abra-Melin operation (to achieve the Knowledge and Conversation of one's Holy Guardian Angel) requires a considerable investment of time and money to accomplish in its classical form. Though I have owned a copy of the book for many years without any significant misfortunes befalling me, I have been and remain rather chary about attempting to utilize any of the squares as published in the book. Perhaps if I accomplished the Operation in its classical form... but that is neither here nor there.
A chance remark of a friend proved the seed out of which grew (or was nurtured) this simple (but I think rather elegant) magickal system. This gentleman was trained in traditional Hebrew (Judaic) Qabala. Now, I have not found Judaic Qabalah particularly useful, by and large. However, during a discussion as to the importance of Sephiroth and Paths in various systems of Qabalah, my friend mentioned that neither was as important as the "wings" — that is, the triangles formed by the paths on the Tree of Life. Shortly thereafter, I worked out the various "wings" and their permutations. There are 16 of them, which immediately made me sit up and take notice, as 16 has been a number of significance in my personal Qabalah for quite a while.
The Hebrew letter attributions used throughout:
A = aleph Ch = cheth S = samekh Th = thav
B = beth T = teth O = ayin
G = gimel I = iod P = peh
D = daleth K = kaph Tz = tzaddi
H = heh L = lamed Q = qoph
V = vav M = mem R = resh
Z = zayin N = nun Sh = shin
The Sixteen Wings
The sixteen wings, with their sephirotic correspondences:
Number Paths Connect
1 ADB (1)(2)(3)
2 AHG (1)(2)(6)
3 GZB (1)(6)(3)
4 HZD (2)(6)(3)
5 VIH (2)(4)(6)
6 ZLCh (3)(6)(5)
7 ILT (4)(6)(5)
8 KNI (4)(7)(6)
9 LOM (5)(6)(8)
10 NPO (6)(7)(8)
11 NTzS (6)(7)(9)
12 SRO (6)(9)(8)
13 TzRP (7)(9)(8)
14 QThTz (7)(10)(9)
15 RThSh (8)(9)(10)
16 PQSh (8)(7)(10)
Three Methods of Construction
I. The Gnomonic Square (from a Name)
Take a divine, angelic, or demonic name. Distribute it as the sides of a gnomon. For instance:
ChAOS
A
O
S
Now observe which letters on the gnomon can be linked up with a third to form a wing, such that the letter completing the triangle is in line with the letters forming the other two sides:
ChAOS
A
O R
S R
Here the O and the S link with R (the only instance in this simple example). I have found squares of this type useful in the invocation of the forces or entities represented by the Name used.
II. The Path-Trace Square (from a Telos)
Trace a line on the Tree of Life which corresponds to the telos of a working. For instance, to actualize a Martial force in Malkuth (the material world), one good example would be:
TIOPTzRSh
(which would be pronounced approximately "tiopetsaresh" or some such). Note that many other lines can be drawn from sephirah 5 (Gevurah, Mars) to sephirah 10 (Malkuth, Earth); most more directly. The selection of the line to be drawn is a matter of art and individual genius — in the process of making one of these things and the mental state engendered, one line seems just right for the purpose one is trying to accomplish.
As would be sensible, many more wings can be linked up in this example than in the previous one. The selection of which wings to link, and whether to link them symmetrically, are also choices of art. So one way to link this one up would be:
TIOPTzRSh
IL
O N
P Q
Tz R
R P
Sh Th
This square is strongly asymmetric. A rule of thumb I have found useful: for teloi which are intended to work materially, asymmetric squares seem preferable; invocatory or contemplative teloi seem better accomplished by symmetrical squares. Note it uses the 7th, 10th, 13th, 15th, and 16th wings.
III. The Grand Square
Grand Squares are developed in a somewhat different manner. They can also be generated from either a holy name or a trace on the Tree of Life, but written in a hollow square:
BABALON
A O
B L
A A
L B
O A
NOLABAB
The next step is to write letters completing wings within the square, as near as possible. Wings can be completed with any adjacent letters; it makes no difference. More complex forms than simple triangles can be traced:
BABALON
ADG MSO
BG ML
A A
LM B
OSM GDA
NOLABAB
Here the corners have been filled with the first wing, a corner of the second, and the ninth wing, with a corner of the 11th and 12th. Continue to make links, in conformity to your particular genius, until the square is filled:
BABALON
ADGHMSO
BGOPOML
AHPNPHA
LMOPOGB
OSMHGDA
NOLABAB
Numerous wings and complex forms can be seen throughout. One is not necessarily aware of all the interconnections when one creates a square of this type.
A Note on Abra-Melin
After discovering (rediscovering?) and developing this system rather fully, I went back to the Book of the Sacred Magic of Abra-Melin and discovered that the squares given there are not of this type at all. There are some superficial similarities, but they are seemingly constructed on entirely different principles — more word-oriented (each row or column of a "full" square being a name or word of magickal significance in some language or another, the gnomonic squares being nothing like mine) than form- or symbol-oriented. That aside, I have found the system outlined here to be easily used, and efficacious in both practical and transcendental applications.
Notes:
-
Heseltine seems to have been none too stable to begin with; the square was designed to "win the affection of a straying woman" or some such. He carved it on his arm.
-
The book is divided into three parts: the first describes how the author ("Abraham the Jew") searched for knowledge and met in Egypt one Abra-Melin who taught him "the true and sacred magic"; the second describes how to perform the K&CHGA operation; the third contains a large number of magick squares for many (mostly practical) purposes.
-
A shortened version (seven weeks as opposed to six months) is given in Crowley's The Vision and the Voice.
-
The appellation "wings" comes from Ezekiel's famous vision of what is called "the chariot" (merkavah), described as having rotating wings to the number of 16, and is neither a UFO landing craft nor a nuclear-powered manna-producing machine, but a poetic description of the Tree of Life — a tradition gleaned from various sources, notably conversation with the aforementioned friend.
Colophon
Written by Josh Geller, an occultist who developed this system as a personal alternative to the Abra-Melin squares. Posted to the Usenet newsgroup alt.magick in 2003 as a self-contained essay, and preserved by nagasiva yronwode in his "classics from alt.magick" collection.
Original Message-ID: [email protected]
Preserved from the Usenet archive for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
🌲