Language of creation

With the language of creation is meant the advanced capability of the adept to create in the three worlds - spiritual, astral and physical, through mastery of controlled influences on the higher worlds.

Franz Bardon described this language of creation in his third book of initiation 'Key to True Kabbalah'. The exercises require complete mastery of the first book Initiation into Hermetics (IIH) and should not be tried before having reached Step 8 in the latter. The 27 cosmic letters - see Schema FMC00.517 - are only meaningful given a certain level of spiritual maturity, and trying to articulate them or their combinations is to no use if one did not develop the elemental balance and capabilities as laid out in IIH. After learning the individual letters, practice consists of formulas consisting of combinations in the twofold, threefold and fourfold keys.

Rudolf Steiner called this creative consciousness of the Word, and described how humanity will develop this capability in a natural way in far future Conditions of Life and Consciousness (see ao the future Conditions of Life on Earth (eg Schema FMC00.298 on Earth rounds perspective) as forebodes of the next planetary stages of evolution Future Jupiter, Future Venus and Vulcan).

Aspects

"Today speech arises inwardly and is sent out only into the air. In the future, the spoken word will not fade away into the air but will continue to exist, and with it a Man will create actual forms. During the Future Jupiter stage Man will have power to shape himself by his thoughts; during the Future Venus stage Man will give form to the world around him. During the Future Venus existence creative feelings will arise, creative speech, and the feelings that create through the word." (1923-08-30-GA227)
see also: the first apocalyptic seal (see Schema FMC00.367) that depicts Man as a future creative God speaking the Word, see Apocalyptic seals

Various

the divine I principle of God in ancient cultures is called the 'inexpressible name' (1919-08-17-GA296) or 'unpronounceable Tetragrammaton' (see Jehovah#On the name Jehovah); as current word-names such as IAO (greek) or Yod He Vav He (hebrew) are made up of 'flat' or 'empty' characters devoid of the magical meaning with which they were filled or expressed, hence the 'inexpressible' or 'unpronounceable'.

Illustrations

Schema FMC00.517: provides an overview of the esoteric alphabet of the cosmic language of creation, tables created by Rawn Clark based on Franz Bardon's third book 'Key to True Kabbalah' (KTK). It links the letters to the four elements (left) and also shows them in configuration as multi-letter keys (right).

provides an overview of the esoteric alphabet of the cosmic language of creation, tables created by Rawn Clark based on Franz Bardon's third book 'Key to True Kabbalah' (KTK). It links the letters to the four elements (left) and also shows them in configuration as multi-letter keys (right).

Schema FMC00.517A: is a variant of the language of creation table based on Franz Bardon's Key to True Kabbalah. This copy in French is by Alexandre Moryason.

is a variant of the language of creation table based on Franz Bardon's Key to True Kabbalah. This copy in French is by Alexandre Moryason.

Lecture coverage and references

1905-10-04-GA093

As now, when Man speaks he influences the air, so later he will gain an influence over what is fluid. The ‘I think’, and thought in general, will express itself in the air and indeed in forms, for example as crystals.
At the next stage feeling will also be involved with thinking. Development will work backwards. The warmth of the heart will then express itself in oscillations, and flow outwards together with thought.
And the last stage will be achieved by Man when he will create actual beings which remain; when through the word he will externalise what he wills. The expression of feeling is merely a transition.
When Man becomes creative through the will, then the beings which he brings forth will have actual existence.

1906-06-11-GA094

Having transformed the mineral world, Man will learn to transform the plants. This denotes a higher power. Today, Man erects buildings; in future times he will be able to create and give shape to plant-life by working upon plant-substance.
At a still higher stage, he will give form not only to living beings but to conscious beings. He will have power over animal life. When he has reached the stage of being able to reproduce his like by an act of conscious will, he will accomplish, at a higher level, what he accomplishes today in the mineral world.
The germ of this sublime power of generation, cleansed of all element of sensuality, is the word.
Man became a conscious being when he drew his first breath; consciousness will reach its stage of perfection when he is able to pour into the words he utters, the same creative power with which his thought is endowed today.
In this age, it is only words that he communicates to the air. When he has reached the stage of higher creative consciousness, he will be able to communicate images to the air. The word will then be an Imagination — wholly permeated with life. In giving body to these images, he will be giving body to the word which bears and sustains the image. When we no longer simply embody our thoughts in objects, as for instance when we make a watch, but give body to these images, they will live.
And when Man knows how to impart life to what is highest in him, these ‘images’ will lead a real and actual existence, comparable to animal existence.
At the highest stage of evolution, Man will thus be able, finally, to reproduce his own being. At the end of the process of the Earth's transformation, the whole atmosphere will resound with the power of the Word. Thus Man must evolve to a stage where he will have the power to mould his environment in the image of his inner being. The initiate only precedes him along this path.

1907-09-16-GA284

While I speak to you, you hear my words. Through the fact that this sound fills the air and that certain vibrations are produced in it, my words are transported to your ears and to your souls. When I say a word, for example, “world,” the air vibrates in an embodiment of that word. What we produce in this way today is called “creation in the mineral kingdom.” The movements of the air are mineral movements, so to speak, and thus through the larynx we have a mineral effect on our environment.

But men will progress and will also become effective in the plant kingdom. Then they will call forth not only mineral, but also plant-like vibrations. They will speak 'plants'.

The next step will be that men will be able to speak 'feeling beings'.

On the highest stage of their development, they will generate their like through the larynx. A man now can only express the contents of his soul through his larynx, but then Man will express himself. As men in the future will be able to call people into being through their speaking, so it was that the forerunners of mankind, the gods, were gifted with an organ with which they expressed all things that are around us today. It is they who have made all men, animals and everything else that is manifest. In the literal sense of the word, all of you are words uttered by divine beings.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and a God was the Word!” This does not mean a philosophical word in the speculative sense. St. John set down a primal fact that is to be taken quite literally.

At the end there will be the Word. Creation is a realization of the Word, and men in the future will bring forth a realizations of what today is the Word. Then men will no longer have the physical forms they have today; they will have progressed to the form that existed on Old Saturn, to fire matter.

1923-08-30-GA227

[Future faculties]
So it is that the thoughts of men point towards the Future Jupiter stage in the evolution of the world and of man — a stage that can be reached only when the Earth has passed through death and risen to a new planetary existence. For thoughts will not then live in us in their present fluctuating way; they will take definite shape and appear in the very form of Man. Today we are able to keep our thoughts to ourselves, and on certain occasions our countenance can appear perfectly innocent, although we are inwardly guilty. We shall not be able to do this during the Future Jupiter-existence. A Man's thoughts will then engender the expression of his face. The human form will have lost its mineralised firmness; it will be inwardly flexible and will consist of a quite soft substance. A wrong thought rising up in us will instantly show itself to other people through a change in our expression. Everything in the nature of a thought will at once take shape; a man will then go about in the guise of his own enduring thoughts and temperament. Hence if, during the Future Jupiter-existence, a Man is a regular scoundrel, or has only animal impulses, that is what he will look like. That is the first stage in Man's future.

The second stage will exemplify the creative power of speech. Today speech arises inwardly and is sent out only into the air. In the future, the spoken word will not fade away into the air but will continue to exist, and with it a man will create actual forms. So that in the Future Jupiter stage he will have power to shape himself by his thoughts; in the Future Venus stage he will give form to the world around him. If during the Future Venus stage — when all substance will be as fine as air — he utters an evil word, something like a repulsive plant-form will come into being. Hence a Man will be surrounded by the creations of his own speech. During the Future Venus existence creative feelings will arise, creative speech, and the feelings that create through the word.

During the last metamorphosis of the Earth, the Future Vulcan stage, the activities expressed in our walking and the movements of our arms will develop further. Today we go to our work and use our arms to carry out actions, but nothing of that is lasting. I go to some place; I have something or other to do. It may of course be something quite complicated — possibly even the waging of war. Then we go away again, and in the outer world none of our actions remain. During the Vulcan-existence, everything will remain. A Man will not simply go about and perform actions; everything he does will leave its imprint on the Vulcan-existence. His deeds will be actualised, will become realities.

2002 - Rawn Clark - A Bardon Companion

Section commentary on KTK in 'A Bardon Companion V1'

excerpt added to provide a very concise introduction

Bardon uses the term 'kabbalah' to indicate the cosmic language or creative speech, and not the corpus of Jewish kabbalah. ... kabbalah is the cosmic or divine language through which creation was/is enacted. This is not an intellectual language such as English, French, Chinese, etc. It is not used for purposes of communication between separate beings. Instead, it communicates intent and meaning directly into manifest substance, be it mental, astral or physical substance. ...
.. it represents is the natural descent of spirit into matter, which on a cosmic, divine level, occurs outside of time-space (i.e., in eternity). Where kabbalah differentiates from magic is that in kabbalah, the connection between intent and manifestation occurs outside of time-space and all the natural processes of descent are bypassed. With magic, on the other hand, the magician works from within the realm of time-space and the transition from initial intent into manifestation does follow the natural processes of descent. Only when the magician has succeeded in consciously uniting with the divine, are these natural processes circumvented.
The kabbalist, by way of analogy, connects with the original divine creative force and, through the use of kabbalistically spoken letters, mimics the macrocosmic creativity in a microcosmic manner. Consequently, only the individual who has achieved the highest level of ethical maturity is capable of true kabbalistic utterance. .. only one who can truly merge with the divine is capable of kabbalistic speech.
...
each letter or group of letters expresses a specific idea or meaning that we wish to externalize and bring into manifestation. The letters act as a conduit for this particular meaning .. each letter is expressed in each one of the three realms (mental, astral and physical
...
the cosmic language is spoken with all four poles simultaneously. Only a being capable of uniting itself consciously with deity can achieve a quadrapolarity akin to deity, and thus speak creatively. This may be difficult to comprehend, but the key to it is that we are beings which span the entire gambit of creation. We are composed, in the terminology of metaphysics, in the divine image and thus we are able to untie ourselves consciously with the whole of the creation.
...
Bardon speaks of a quadrapolar concentration: Fire/Color, Air/Tone, Water/Feeling and Earth/Legality (Number). With this quadrapolar concentration, the kabbalist must work tripolarly: mentally, astrally and physically. In other words, one uses the quadrapolar concentration within each of these three realms, through one's own three bodies, simultaneously.
When Bardon mentions the uttering of a kabbalistic letter, he speaks of three phases or modes: mental or silent, whispering, and aloud. The first is effective only upon the mental plane and occurs solely within the mind of the kabbalist. The second mode, whispering, occurs aloud but with only the breath and mind, and without any vibration of the vocal cords. This is effective only upon the astral plane. The third mode, aloud, involves mind, breath and vibration of the vocal cords, and is effective upon the physical plane. When uttering a letter kabbalistically, whether with mind, breath or vibration of the vocal cords, great care must be taken ..

True kabbalistic speech is a very complex matter. First there is the quadrapolar concentration, then the tripolar action, then the placement or projection of the letter into the appropriate realm, and then the actual pronunciation of the letter as noted above. All of which must occur simultaneously.

2021 - Ray del Sole

excerpt from interview in the book 'The Franz Bardon Tradition' - Interviews with experienced practitioners'

Kabbalah is just a traditional term for the cosmic language, the language of God, the divine spirit who creates with it all the worlds on all the planes. The cosmic language contains the primordial components of creation. Everything is made of the cosmic language out of nothing, out of akasha, the state of energy beyond creation.

2021 - Virgil

excerpt from interview in the book 'The Franz Bardon Tradition' - Interviews with experienced practitioners'

Bardon [probably] couldn't have cared less about traditional Kabbalah. His third book is about the art of creative speech. Therefore, its title really should have been: 'The Key to Creative Speaking'. He [probably] chose to refer to the art of creative speaking as 'Quabbala' for advertising purposes because Kabbalah was a subject of much interest in the esoteric community back then, as it is now.
While the art of creative speaking is part of traditional Kabbalah (as shown by passages in the Sepher Yetzirah referencing this), it is hardly unique to that spiritual tradition. It was also practiced by adepts belonging to a diverse array of spiritual traditions from Egypt, India and many other places in the world.
In this third book, Bardon teaches the art of creative speaking in its most pure form, stripped of all the various cultural add-ons and adornments various mystical and magical traditions have slapped onto the art.

Discussion

Note 1 - On Kerning letters

Some sources make the link of Franz Bardon's KTK book to a tradition or lineage of Kerning and Mailander. Some more info below.

Introduction

In the early 19th century, Johann Baptist Krebs (1774-1851), writing under pseudonym Johann Baptist Kerning, taught a system of esoteric exercises in the form of a letter-based practice, consisting of concentrated hearing, seeing, and feeling the letters in a mantric way using the human body and imagination to awaken the 'inner word'. This is described as mystical practice, a vowels and consonants based yoga, working the vowels from the feet up, and consonants from the head down, focusing on the concentrated thinking and feeling of sounds.

Krebs' (Kernings) student Karl Kolb (1824-1895) published about these exercises in his work, the so-called 'Letter Book' in 1857 (see below).

The exercises were taken up on the spiritual community in South Germany by Alois Mailänder (1844-1905) who taught the Kerning system to students including ao Friedrich Eckstein (1861-1939) and Karl Weinfurter (1867-1942). Also Gustav Meyrink (1868-1932) states in his autobiographical essay that he was a member of this group, along with Franz Hartmann, but that he left after some years.

Extracts

Kolb in his book "Rebirth"

When a person is born, he first learns to stand, walk and speak. Consciousness comes to life in him through external speech. Thus the intellect, the power of comprehension and the will develop. And just as the outer man has learned to think and to feel in the language of the mouth, the spiritual man must also learn the language of thought within himself, or learn to will, think and feel in thoughtful speech. Just as the child first had to pronounce the letters, so the spiritual, the inner man must first learn to think within himself and to feel the letters.

General commentary

There are many remnants of esoteric systems that are intriguing and fascinate people, but they are not as clearly documented, transparent and approachable; certainly for beginners they are much harder to demystify and hence they do not have the efficacy, efficiency and effectiveness, compared to what the adepts of the 20th century (such as Bardon, Steiner, Daskalos) have brought and taught.

Nevertheless, an individual can feel resonance or be intuitively attracted to older teachings, which can be felt as a sign along one's path. If someone has a karmic connection with this or that source, this person might gravitate to this again in this life. We are not only led by karma, and incarnate souls, but also by non-incarnate souls and their influences, whether vaguely discernable or quite clear experientially .

References

Note: the books by Kerning and Kolb are freely available in PDF in the public domain on the internet.

Johann Baptist Kerning, Ian H Gladwin, Samuel Robinson: 'Letters on the Royal Art: The Spiritual Alchemy of JB Kerning's Esoteric Masonry' (2022)
Karl Kolb: Die Wiedergeburt, das innere wahrhaftige Leben, oder wie wird der Mensch selig? (1857), also known as the 'Buchstabenbuch' or 'The Letter Book', published oa as
- Die Wiedergeburt, das innere wahrhaftige Leben. Das sogenannte Buchstabenbuch (1908)
- in EN 2023 as 'The Rebirth, the Inner True Life, or How do Humans Become Blessed?' (translated by Kerry Alistair Nitz).

Related pages

References and further reading

Franz Bardon: Key to True Kabbalah (KTK - or sometimes also KTQ when written Quabbalah)