Publication
Imprint: Grand Rapids : Phanes Press, 1991. Context: Originally published: Edinburgh : Magnum Opus Hermetic Sourceworks, 1981. Series: Magnum Opus Hermetic Sourceworks ; #9. Responsibility: Böhme, Jakob, 1575-1624. Translated from the German by William Law with an introductory essay by Adam McLean and illustrations by D. A.. Freher. OCLC Number: 22420691. Physical: Text : 1 volume : 81 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm.
Call number
GT-C-P / Boehm
ISBN
9780933999947
Collections
CSS Library Notes
Description: The Clavis or 'Key" of Jacob Boehme, "The Teutonic Theosopher," is a condensed version of the principle points of his mystical philosophy. -- from back cover
Table of Contents: Introduction
The clavis of Jacob Boehme
An illustration of the deep principles of Jacob Behmen in thirteen figures
FY1992 / FY2015 /
Table of Contents: Introduction
The clavis of Jacob Boehme
An illustration of the deep principles of Jacob Behmen in thirteen figures
FY1992 / FY2015 /
Physical description
81 p.; 22 cm
Description
The second edition of a volume in the 'Magnum Opus Hermetic Sourceworks' series introducing the ideas and spiritual philosophy of a seventeenth-century Christian mystic. As a young man, Boehme, an unschooled shoemaker, experienced an intense vision of the origin of the universe, the struggle of polarities in creation, and the role of Sophia or Divine Wisdom in the world. In trying to find a language to communicate his mystical perceptions, he turned to alchemical ideas and Hermetic imagery.This condensation is taken from William Law's translation of Boehme's complete works, and includes Law's Illustration of the Deep Principles of Jacob Boehme, with thirteen emblematic figures designed by Dionysius Freher.
Language
Original language
German
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LibraryThing member paradoxosalpha
This later work of Jacob Boehme (1575-1624) was written to serve as a short introduction to his larger corpus, explaining his peculiar terminology and outlining his system of ideas. It is reissued here in the translation of 18th-century Behemenist William Law. While brief, it is far from simple.
"Yet where Life consists in venom, and has a Light or Brightness shining in the Oil, namely in the Fifth Essence, therein Heaven is manifested in Hell, and a great virtue lies hidden in it: this is understood by those that are ours" (47).
In my academic studies of Western Esotericism, I was assured by generally reliable scholars that Boehme's thought was not grounded in the Hebrew kabbalah, but editor Adam McLean thinks otherwise. After reading this volume, I'm inclined to agree with McLean. Even though Boehme avoids the Hebrew terminology, his emanationist concept is so similar to kabbalistic versions that I could not help using my knowledge of the kabbalistic Tree to understand it, and, in fact, it helped me to realize some new things about the kabbalistic schema.
Appended to the Key is a brief Behmenist work by Dionysius Freher: An Illustration of the Deep Principles of Jacob Behmen, consisting of thirteen full-page esoteric diagrams, with explanatory captions on the facing pages. These are set in a sequence, from "The Unformed Word in Trinity without all Nature" to "fallen and divorced Adam's Reunion with the Divine Virgin SOPHIA." These seem to come at Boehme's ideas from a rather different angle than the Key does, being more narrative and Neognostic in character, with more reference to angelic hierarchies, and less to alchemical principles.
The cover of the book is a colored version of Freher's Plate V., which shows how these engravings as printed have not yet reached their full expressive potential. (Although credit isn't given, I believe the color is by McLean.)
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The alchemical vocabulary is difficult enough in any case, but this Key involves some further willful obscurity, alluding to non-textual transmissions of esoteric knowledge. Such allusion is evident, for instance, here:"Yet where Life consists in venom, and has a Light or Brightness shining in the Oil, namely in the Fifth Essence, therein Heaven is manifested in Hell, and a great virtue lies hidden in it: this is understood by those that are ours" (47).
In my academic studies of Western Esotericism, I was assured by generally reliable scholars that Boehme's thought was not grounded in the Hebrew kabbalah, but editor Adam McLean thinks otherwise. After reading this volume, I'm inclined to agree with McLean. Even though Boehme avoids the Hebrew terminology, his emanationist concept is so similar to kabbalistic versions that I could not help using my knowledge of the kabbalistic Tree to understand it, and, in fact, it helped me to realize some new things about the kabbalistic schema.
Appended to the Key is a brief Behmenist work by Dionysius Freher: An Illustration of the Deep Principles of Jacob Behmen, consisting of thirteen full-page esoteric diagrams, with explanatory captions on the facing pages. These are set in a sequence, from "The Unformed Word in Trinity without all Nature" to "fallen and divorced Adam's Reunion with the Divine Virgin SOPHIA." These seem to come at Boehme's ideas from a rather different angle than the Key does, being more narrative and Neognostic in character, with more reference to angelic hierarchies, and less to alchemical principles.
The cover of the book is a colored version of Freher's Plate V., which shows how these engravings as printed have not yet reached their full expressive potential. (Although credit isn't given, I believe the color is by McLean.)
Show Less