Great Kabbalistic Art — Hartmann Schopper, 1564-1569

Chapter I. On the Query and its parts.

What is required in a Query

This part, or the first disposition of its place, which seems to be considered the basis of a perfect work, requires many conditions for it to be completed excellently. First, it must be known that the Quæsitus Query or Question must be unique, not multiple. It must not be ambiguous, nor contain equivocal words, but be clear. It must not be deficient nor superfluous. In the query itself, it is necessary to avoid adjectives, synonyms, and measures as much as possible. One must explain the time, the names, surnames, and homelands for each century of every species. One must distinguish the petitions of the operator from others and adapt them according to their prescribed qualities. Do not believe that too little study should be applied in constructing these perfectly. In my judgment, ambiguities in the response and obscure senses, as well as the difficulties of the work itself, arise from no other source than a poor disposition of the query. Therefore, I have chosen to set forth this part to be completed with all my strength, setting aside vain things for the freedom of the questioners.

First

And first, regarding the first qualities of the "Unique" and not multiple petition of a thing, it must be said that a multiple petition not only brings uncertainty to the responses, but for the most part renders the responses false, ambiguous, and not upright where they should be. Experience, the mistress of all things, testifies that this comes from an intricate formula of speech. For long ago, while staying in Lutetia Paris, I received a letter from a friend from which I learned of the unexpected captivity of my brother, who was at the Court in Paris. This greatly disturbed my mind, especially because I knew no cause indicated from the substance of the letter. Wherefore I happened to make this query:

"For what cause is Adolphonius Stephanus the German cast into prison in this year 1548? And is he detained for the cause of Majesty or for the crime of high treason?"

When this was done, I received this response:

original: "Amores scelus non hunc Regis ita fuisse"

Wherefore, not noticing the ambiguity of the response which contained a double meaning, and looking only at its beginning, that is "Passion," I held it for certain. Love reconciles craftsmen. After a few days, the cause of his detention began to depart from me, thinking he would be free because he was well known among the King's familiars. But after some days, the groans and inconsolable grief of my whole house announced in another letter that he had breathed out his spirit, his life having been cautiously cut short on account of a breach of the King's...

...council. I thought it best to instruct the zealous student by this event, so that you might study to compose your unique and clear precept. Let no ambiguous words or senses remain in the response. For if I had understood the equivocal things dictated by the table, I would not have believed it was a matter of passions of the law.

Second

Secondly, I think a clear, non-ambiguous, and non-equivocal Query must be formed. For example, if some word in the query were to denote a double sense, then you shall change that word until it is seen to have a unique and clear meaning. This condition is also adapted to the following warning. Therefore, we have omitted examples here.

Third

Thirdly, one must consider it should not be superfluous or hesitant. For if it errs in this condition, I believe a false and lying response will follow, and this arises not from the malice of the Kabbalah, but from the ignorance of the operator. For example, if you were curious to know if a man born named Antonius followed any new dowry or mastery, you would describe your desire thus: "Will Antonius practice commerce?" Or if someone wanted to know about the harvest of crops or a shortage in a given year, the desired query would be: "Will crops be abundant this year?" Then both petitions would be deficient in two ways. The first by Surname and Homeland. The second by the Year and the Province or Region. Therefore, to write them perfectly, it is necessary to proceed thus: "Will Antonius the Bavarian of Venice practice commerce?" The second more cautiously thus: "In the year 1540 in the Town of Leder, will crops be abundant?" And here we have omitted the term "this year" as unnecessary.

Then there was a subsequent petition, for example, if you desire to know the successor of a Supreme Roman Pontiff still living, you would delineate the petition thus: "Here I ask for the surname of the Pontiff to be elected after the death of Leo, and of the Medici of Florence." You see this sentence has erred twice. First in that little word "I ask." Then in the final words "from the lineage of Medici," all of which are superfluous and not to be admitted. Thus it pleased us to write the question differently, as an example of a perfect query elaborated by me for the year when Maximilian II was ruling in Vienna, to whom God Grant the Years of Nestor a reference to Nestor's long life in Homeric epic: "In what year of his Empire will Maximilian II of the Hungarians...?" The Kabbalistic response to this, as well as the demonstration of all the examples noted above, we have not omitted to place at the end of this our work.

And let this suffice regarding the Query. Although enough has been said of it, we leave more to be said by the studious reader, which is perceived more easily by practice and experience than by words. Therefore, at the beginning of this chapter, I said that the operator must distinguish the petitions and place them upon the paper according to their norm. But let us proceed to the practice.

On the First Species of Operation.

Chapter II.

The discourse above concerning the Query was devised by us as the theory of the entire Art; now let us proceed to the practice, which takes its beginning from this first species of operation. Therefore, this first operation is applied thus: take the letters of each word and reduce them into a single numerical sum, proceeding thus in every word until the end of the query, as will be demonstrated here below by an example. Then take the proposition, or more correctly, the difference of the numbers of those same sums; from these differences, we shall compose the following four lines. First, having formed the Petition, we shall gather the number for each letter of the word, just as the attached Hebrew-Latin Alphabet here provides.

When this is done, let the numbers of the letters of the word be reduced into a single sum. For example: "An Antonius" Is Antonius...?