text:
From H.P. Blavatsky Theosophical Articles, Vol. III.

Articles by HPB

[ Footnote: 1.The spelling of the word is various; some write Cabbalah, others Kabbalah. The latest writers have introduced a new spelling as more consonant with the Hebrew manner of writing the word and make it Qabalah. This is more grammatical, perhaps, but as no Englishman will ever pronounce a foreign name or word but in an Englishified way, to write the term simply Kabalah seems less pretentious and answers as well. ]

UNIVERSAL aspirations, especially when impeded and suppressed in their free manifestation, die out but to return with tenfold power. They are cyclic, like every other natural phenomenon, whether mental or cosmic, universal or national. Dam a river in one place, and the water will work its way into another, and break out through it like a torrent.

One of such universal aspirations, the strongest perhaps in man's nature, is the longing to seek for the unknown; an ineradicable desire to penetrate below the surface of things, a thirst for the knowledge of that which is hidden from others. Nine children out of ten will break their toys to see what there is inside. It is an innate feeling and is Protean in form. It rises from the ridiculous (or perhaps rather from the reprehensible) to the sublime, for it is limited to indiscreet inquisitiveness, prying into neighbours' secrets, in the uneducated, and it expands in the cultured into that love for knowledge which ends in leading them to the summits of science, and fills the Academies and the Royal Institutions with learned men.

But this pertains to the world of the objective. The man in whom the metaphysical element is stronger than the physical, is propelled by this natural aspiration towards the mystical, to that which the materialist is pleased to call a "superstitious belief in the supernatural." The Church, while encouraging our aspirations after the holy--on strictly theological and orthodox lines, of course--condemns at the same time the human craving after the same, whenever the practical search after it departs from its own lines. The memory of the thousands of illiterate "witches," and the hundreds of learned alchemists, philosophers and other heretics, tortured, burnt, and otherwise put to death during the Middle Ages, remains as an ever-present witness to that arbitrary and despotic interference.

In the present age both Church and Science, the blindly-believing and the all-denying, are arrayed against the Secret Sciences, though both Church and Science believed in and practised them--especially the Kabalah--at a not very distant period of history. One says now, "It is of the devil!" the other that "the devil is a creation of the Church, and a disgraceful superstition"; in short, that there is neither devil nor occult sciences. The first one forgets that it has publicly proclaimed, hardly 400 years ago, the Jewish Kabalah as the greatest witness to the truths of Christianity;2 [Footnote: 2. This is demonstrated by what we know of the life of John Picus de Mirandola. Ginsburg and others have stated the following facts, namely, that after having studied the Kabalah Mirandola "found that there is more Christianity than Judaism in the Kabalah; he discovered in it proofs for the doctrine of the Trinity, the Incarnation, the Divinity of Christ, the heavenly Jerusalem, the fall of the Angels," and so on. "In 1486, when only twenty-four years old, he published 900 theses which were placarded in Rome (not without the consent or knowledge surely of the Pope and his Government?), and which he undertook to defend in the presence of all European scholars, whom he invited to the Eternal City, promising to defray their travelling expenses. Among the theses was the following: 'No science yields greater proof of the Divinity of Christ than magic and the Cabbalah'." The reason why will be shown in the present article. ] the second, that the most illustrious men of science were all alchemists, astrologers and magicians, witness Paracelsus, Van Helmont, Roger Bacon, etc. But consistency has never been a virtue of Modern Science. It has religiously believed in all which it now denies, and it has denied all that it now believes in, from the circulation of the blood up to steam and electric power.

This sudden change of attitude in both powers cannot prevent events from taking their natural course. The last quarter of our century is witnessing an extraordinary outbreak of occult studies, and magic dashes once more its powerful waves against the rocks of Church and Science, which it is slowly but as surely undermining. Any one whose natural mysticism impels him to seek for sympathetic contact with other minds, is astonished to find how large a number of persons are not only interested in Mysticism generally, but are actually themselves Kabalists. The river dammed during the Middle Ages has flowed since noiselessly underground, and has now burst up as an irrepressible torrent. Hundreds today study the Kabalah, where scarcely one or two could have been found some fifty years ago, when fear of the Church was still a powerful factor in men's lives. But the long-pent-up torrent has now diverged into two streams--Eastern Occultism and the Jewish Kabalah; the traditions of the Wisdom-Religion of the races that preceded the Adam of the "Fall"; and the system of the ancient Levites of Israel, who most ingeniously veiled a portion of that religion of the Pantheists under the mask of monotheism.

Unfortunately many are called but few chosen. The two systems threaten the world of the mystics with a speedy conflict, which, instead of increasing the spread of the One Universal Truth, will necessarily only weaken and impede its progress. Yet, the question is not, once more, which is the one truth. For both are founded upon the eternal verities of prehistoric knowledge, as both, in the present age and the state of mental transition through which humanity is now passing, can give out only a certain portion of these verities. It is simply a question: "Which of the two systems contains most unadulterated facts; and, most important of all--which of the two presents its teachings in the most Catholic (i.e., unsectarian) and impartial manner?" One the Eastern system--has veiled for ages its profound pantheistic unitarianism with the exuberance of an exoteric polytheism; the other--as said above with the screen of exoteric monotheism. Both are but masks to hide the sacred truth from the profane; for neither the Âryan nor the semitic philosophers have ever accepted either the anthropomorphism of the many Gods, or the personality of the one God, as a philosophical proposition. But it is impossible within the limits we have at our disposal, to attempt to enter upon a minute discussion of this question. We must be content with a simpler task. The rites and ceremonies of the Jewish law seem to be an abyss, which long generations of Christian Fathers, and especially of Protestant Reformers, have vainly sought to fill in with their far-fetched interpretations. Yet all the early Christians, Paul and the Gnostics, regarded and proclaimed the Jewish law as essentially distinct from the new Christian law. St. Paul called the former an allegory, and St. Stephen told the Jews an hour before being stoned that they had not even kept the law that they had received from the angels (the æons), and as to the Holy Ghost (the impersonal Logos or Christos, as taught at Initiation) they had resisted and rejected it as their fathers had done (Acts vii.). This was virtually telling them that their law was inferior to the later one. Notwithstanding that the Mosaic Books which we think we have in the Old Testament, cannot be more than two or three centuries older than Christianity, the Protestants have nevertheless made of them their Sacred Canon, on a par with, if not higher than, the Gospels. But when the Pentateuch was written, or rather rewritten after Ezdras, i.e., after the Rabbis had settled upon a new departure, a number of additions were made which were taken bodily from Persian and Babylonian doctrines; and this at a period subsequent to the colonization of Judea under the authority of the kings of Persia. This reëditing was o£ course done in the same way as with all such Scriptures. They were originally written in a secret key, or cipher, known only to the Initiates. But instead of adapting the contents to the highest spiritual truths as taught in the third, the highest, degree of Initiation, and expressed in symbolic language--as may be seen even in the exoteric Purânas of India--the writers of the Pentateuch, revised and corrected, they who cared but for earthly and national glory, adapted only to astro-physiological symbols the supposed events of the Abrahams, Jacobs, and Solomons, and the fantastic history of their little race. Thus they produced, under the mask of monotheism, a religion of sexual and phallic worship, one that concealed an adoration of the Gods, or the lower aeons. No one would maintain that anything like the dualism and the angelolatry of Persia, brought by the Jews from the captivity, could ever be found in the real Law, or Books of Moses. For how, in such case, could the Sadducees, who reverenced the Law, reject angels, as well as the soul and its immortality? And yet angels, if not the soul's immortal nature, are distinctly asserted to exist in the Old Testament, and are found in the Jewish modern scrolls.3 [Footnote: 3. This is just what the Gnostics had always maintained quite independently of Christians. In their doctrines the Jewish God, the "Elohim," was a hierarchy of low terrestrial angels--an Ildabaoth, spiteful and jealous. ]

This fact of the successive and widely differing redactions of that which we loosely term the Books of Moses, and of their triple adaptation to the first (lowest), second, and third, or highest, degree of Sodalian initiation, and that still more puzzling fact of the diametrically opposite beliefs of the Sadducees and the other Jewish sects, all accepting, nevertheless, the same Revelation--can be made comprehensible only in the light of our Esoteric explanation. It also shows the reason why, when Moses and the Prophets belonged to the Sodalities (the great Mysteries), the latter yet seem so often to fulminate against the abominations of the Sodales and their "Sod." For had the Old Canon been translated literally, as-is claimed, instead of being adapted to a monotheism absent from it, and to the spirit of each sect, as the differences in the Septuagint and Vulgate prove, the following contradictory sentences would be added to the hundreds of other inconsistencies in "Holy Writ." "Sod Ihoh [the mysteries of Johoh, or Jehovah] are for those who fear him," says Psalm xxv. 14, mistranslated "the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him." Again "Al [El] is terrible in the great Sod of the Kadeshim" is rendered as--"God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints" (Psalm lxxxix. 7). The title of Kadeshim (Kadosh sing.) means in reality something quite different from saints, though it is generally explained as "priests," the "holy" and the "Initiated"; for the Kadeshim were simply the galli of the abominable mysteries (Sod) of the exoteric rites. They were, in short, the male Nautches of the temples, during whose initiations the arcanum, the Sod (from which "Sodom," perchance) of physiological and sexual evolution, were divulged. These rites all belonged to the first degree of the Mysteries, so protected and beloved by David--the "friend of God." They must have been very ancient with the Jews, and were ever abominated by the true Initiates; thus we find the dying Jacob's prayer is that his soul should not come into the secret (Sod, in the original) of Simeon and Levi (the priestly caste) and into their assembly during which they "slew a man" (Genesis xlix. 5, 6). 4 [Footnote: 4. To "slay a man" meant, in the symbolism of the Lesser Mysteries, the rite during which crimes against nature were committed, for which purpose the Kadeshim were set aside. Thus Cain "slays" his brother Abel, who, esoterically, is a female character and represents the first human woman in the Third Race after the separation of sexes. See also the Source of Measures, pp. 253, 283, etc. ] And yet Moses is claimed by the Kabalists as chief of the Sodales! Reject the explanation of the Secret Doctrine and the whole Pentateuch becomes the abomination of abominations.

Therefore, do we find Jehovah, the anthropomorphic God, everywhere in the Bible, but of AIN SUPH not one word is said. And therefore, also, was the Jewish metrology quite different from the numeral methods of other people. Instead of serving as an adjunct to other prearranged methods, to penetrate therewith as with a key into the hidden or implied meaning contained within the literal sentences--as the initiated Brahmins do to this day, when reading their sacred books--the numeral system with the Jews is, as the author of Hebrew Metrology tells us, the Holy Writ itself: "That very thing, in esse, on which, and out of which, and by the continuous interweaving use of which, the very text of the Bible has been made to result, as its enunciation, from the beginning word of Genesis to the closing word of Deuteronomy."

So true is this, indeed, that the authors of the New Testament who had to blend their system with both the Jewish and the Pagan, had to borrow their most metaphysical symbols not from the Pentateuch, or even the Kabalah, but from the Âryan astro-symbology. One instance will suffice. Whence the dual meaning of the First-born, the Lamb, the Unborn, and the Eternal--all relating to the Logos or Christos? We say from the Sanskrit Aja, a word the meanings of which are: (a) the Ram, or the Lamb, the first sign of the Zodiac, called in astronomy Mesha; (b) the Unborn a title of the first Logos, or Brahma, the self-existent cause of all, described and so referred to in the Upanishads.

The Hebrew Kabalistic Gematra Notaricon, and T'mura are very ingenious methods, giving the key to the secret meaning of Jewish symbology, one that applied the relations of their sacred imagery only to one side of Nature--namely, the physical side. Their myths and the names and the events attributed to their Biblical personages were made to correspond with astronomical revolutions and sexual evolution, and had nought to do with the spiritual states of man; hence no such correspondences are to be found in the reading of their sacred canon. The real Mosaic Jews of the Sodales, whose direct heirs on the line of initiation were the Sadducees, had no spirituality in them, nor did they feel any need for it apparently. The reader, whose ideas of Initiation and Adeptship are intimately blended with the mysteries of the after life and soul survival, will now see the reason for the great yet natural inconsistencies found on almost every page of the Bible. Thus, in the Book of Job, a Kabalistic treatise on Egypto-Arabic Initiation, the symbolism of which conceals the highest spiritual mysteries, one finds yet this significant and purely materialistic verse: "Man born of a woman is . . . like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not" (xiv. 1, 2). But Job speaks here of the personality, and he is right; for no Initiate would say that the personality long survived the death of the physical body; the spirit alone is immortal. But this sentence in Job, the oldest document in the Bible, makes only the more brutally materialistic that in Ecclesiastes, iii, 19, et seq., one of the latest records. The writer, who speaks in the name of Solomon, and says that "that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts, even . . . as the one dieth, so dieth the other . . . so that a man hath no preëminence above a beast," is quite on a par with the modern Hæckels, and expresses only that which he thinks.

Therefore, no knowledge of Kabalistic methods can help one in finding that in the Old Testament which has never been there since the Book of the Law was re-written (rather than found) by Hilkiah. Nor can the reading of the Egyptian symbols be much helped by the mediæval Kabalistic systems. Indeed, it is but the blindness of a pious illusion that can lead anyone to discover any spiritual and metaphysical correspondences or meaning in the Jewish purely astro-physiological symbology. On the other hand, the ancient pagan religious systems, so-called, are all built upon abstracts spiritual speculations, their gross external forms being, perhaps, the most secure veil to hide their inner meaning.

It can be demonstrated, on the authority of the most learned Kabalists of our day that the Zohar, and almost all the Kabalistic works, have passed through Christian hands. Hence, that they cannot be considered any longer as universal, but have become simply sectarian. This is well shown by Picus de Mirandola's thesis upon the proposition that "no Science yield greater proof of the divinity of Christ than magic and the Kabalah." This is true of the divinity of the Logos, or of the Christos of the Gnostics; because that Christos remains the same WORD of the ever-unmanifested Deity, whether we call it Parabrahm or Ain-Suph--by whatever name he himself is called--Krishna, Buddha, or Ormazd. But this Christos is neither the Christ of the Churches, yet the Jesus of the Gospels; it is only an impesonal Principle. Nevertheless the Latin Church made capital of this thesis; the result of which was, that as in the last century, so it is now in Europe and America. Almost every Kabalist is now a believer in a personal God, in the very teeth of the original impersonal Ain Suph, and is, moreover, a more or less heterodox, but still a, Christian. This is due entirely to the ignorance of most people (a) that the Kabalah (the Zohar especially) we have, is not the original Book of Splendour, written down from the oral teachings of Simon Ben Jochai; and (b) that the latter, being indeed an exposition of the hidden sense of writings of Moses (so-called) was as equally good an exponent of the Esoteric meaning contained under the shell of the literal sense in the Scriptures of any Pagan religion. Nor do the modern Kabalists seem to be aware of the fact, that the Kabalah as it now stands, with its more than revised texts, its additions made to apply to the New as much as to the Old Testament, its numerical language recomposed so as to apply to both, and its crafty veiling, is no longer able now to furnish all the ancient and primitive meanings. In short that no Kabalistic work now extant among the Western nations can display any greater mysteries of nature, than those which Ezra and Co., and the later co-workers of Moses de Leon, desired to unfold; the Kabalah contains no more than the Syrian and Chaldean Christians and ex-Gnostics of the thirteenth century wanted those works to reveal. And what they do reveal hardly repays the trouble of passing one's life in studying it. For if they may, and do, present a field of immense interest to the Mason and mathematician, they can teach scarcely anything to the student hungering after spiritual mysteries. The use of all the seven keys to unlock the mysteries of Being in this life, and the lives to come, as in those which have gone by, show that the Chaldean Book of Numbers, and the Upanishads undeniably conceal the most divine philosophy--as it is that of the Universal Wisdom Religion. But the Zohar, now so mutilated, can show nothing of the kind. Besides which, who of the Western philosophers or students has all those keys at his command? These are now entrusted only to the highest Initiates in Gupta Vidya, to great Adepts; and, surely it is no self-taught tyro, not even an isolated mystic, however great his genius and natural powers, who can hope to unravel in one life more than one or two of the lost keys.5 [Footnote: 5. The writer in the Masonic Review is thus, quite justified in saying as he does, that "the Kabalistic field is that in which astrologers, necromancers, black and white magicians, fortune-tellers, chiromancers, and all the like, revel and make claims to super-naturalism ad nauseam"; and he adds: "The Christian quarrying into its mass of mysticism, claims its support and authority for that most perplexing of all problems, the Holy Trinity, and the portrayed character of Christ. With equal assurance, but more effrontery, the knave, in the name of Cabbalah, will sell amulets and charms, tell fortunes, draw horoscopes, and just as readily give specific rules. . . . for raising the dead, and actually--the devil. . . . Discovery has yet to be made of what Cabbalah really consists, before any weight or authority can be given to the name. On that discovery will rest the question whether the name should be received as related to matters worthy of rational acknowledgement." "The writer claims that such a discovery has been made, and that the same embraces rational science of sober and great worth." "The Cabbalah," from the Masonic Review for September, 1885, by Brother J. Ralston Skinner (McMillian Lodge, No. 141). ]

The key to the Jewish metrology has been undeniably unravelled, and a very important key it is. But as we may infer from the words of the discoverer himself in the footnote just quoted--though that key (concealed in the "Sacred Metrology") discloses the fact that "Holy Writ" contains "a rational science of sober and great worth," yet it helps to unveil no higher spiritual truth than that which all astrologers have insisted upon in every age; i.e., the close relation between the sidereal and all the terrestrial bodies--human beings included. The history of our globe and its humanities is prototyped in the astronomical heavens from first to last, though the Royal Society of Physicists may not become aware of it for ages yet to come. By the showing of the said discoverer himself, "the burden of this secret doctrine, this Cabbalah, is of pure truth and right reason, for it is geometry with applied proper numbers, of astronomy and of a system of measures, viz., the Masonic inch, the twenty-four inch gauge (or the double foot), the yard, and the mile. These were claimed to be of divine revelation and impartation, by the possession and use of which, it could be said of Abram: 'Blessed of the Most High God, Abram, measure of heaven and earth'"--the "creative law of measure."

And is this all that the primitive Kabalah contained? No; for the author remarks elsewhere: "What the originally and intended right reading was [in the Pentateuch] who can tell?" Thus allowing the reader to infer that the meanings implied in the exoteric, or dead letter of the Hebrew texts, are by no means only those revealed by metrology. Therefore are we justified in saying that the Jewish Kabalah, with its numerical methods, is now only one of the keys to the ancient mysteries, and that the Eastern or Âryan systems alone can supply the rest, and unveil the whole truth of Creation.6 [Footnote: 6. Even as it stands now, the Kabalah, with its several methods, can only puzzle by bring several versions; it can never divulge the whole truth. The readings of even the first sentence of Genesis are several. To quote the author: "It is made to read 'B'rashith barâ Elohim,' etc., 'In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,' wherein Elohim is a plural nominative to a verb in the third person singular. Nachminedes called attention to the fact that the text might suffer the reading, 'B'rash ithbarâ Elohim,' etc., 'In the head (source or beginning) created itself (or developed) gods, the heavens and the earth,' really a more grammatical rendering." (Ibid.) And yet we are forced to believe the Jewish monotheism!  ]

What this numeral system is, we leave its discoverer to explain himself. According to him:

Like all other human productions of the kind, the Hebrew text of the Bible was in characters which could serve as sound signs for syllable utterance, or for this purpose what are called letters. Now in the first place, these original character signs were also pictures, each one of them; and these pictures of themselves stood for ideas which could be communicated, much like the original Chinese letters. Gustav Seyffarth shows that the Egyptian hieroglyphics numbered over 600 picture characters, which embraced the modified use, syllabically, of the original number of letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The characters of the Hebrew text of the sacred scroll were divided into classes, in which the characters of each class were interchangeable; whereby one form might be exchanged for another to carry a modified signification, both by letter, and picture, and number. Seyffarth shows the modified form of the very ancient Hebrew alphabet in the old Coptic by this law of interchange of characters.7  [Footnote: 7. Before Seyffarth can hope to have his hypothesis accepted, however, he will have to prove that (a) the Israelites had an alphabet of their own when the ancient Egyptians or Copts had as yet none; and (b) that the Hebrew of the later scrolls is the Hebrew, or "mystery language" of Moses, which the Secret Doctrine denies. ]This law of permitted interchange of letters is to be found quite fully set forth in the Hebrew dictionaries. . . . Though recognized . . . it is very perplexing and hard to understand, because we have lost the specific use and power of such interchange. [Just so!] In the second place these characters stood for numbers--to be used for numbers as we use specific number signs--though also there is very much to prove that the old Hebrews were in possession of the so-called Arabic numerals, as we have them, from the straight line I to the zero character, together making 1 + 9 = 10. . . . In the third place, it is said, and it seems to be proved, that these characters stood for musical notes; so that, for instance, the arrangement of the letters in the first chapter of Genesis, can be rendered musically or by song.8 [Footnote: 8. Not the Hebrew helped by the Massoretic signs, at all events. See further on, however. ] Another law of the Hebrew characters was that only the consonantal signs were characterized--the vowels were not characterized, but were supplied. If one will try it he will find that a consonant of itself cannot be made vocal without the help of a vowel;9 [Footnote: 9. And therefore as the vowels were furnished ad libitum by the Massorets they could make of a word what they liked! ] therefore . . . the consonants made the framework of a word, but to give it life or utterance into the air, so as to impart the thought of the mind, and the feelings of the heart, the vowels were supplied.

Now, even if we suppose, for argument's sake, that the "framework," i.e., the consonants of the Pentateuch are the same as in the days of Moses, what changes must have been effected with those scrolls--written in such a poor language as the Hebrew, with its less than two dozens of letters--when rewritten time after time, and its vowels and points supplied in ever-new combinations! No two minds are alike, and the feelings of the heart change. What could remain, we ask, of the original writings of Moses, if such ever existed, when they had been lost for nearly 800 years and then found when every remembrance of them must have disappeared from the minds of the most learned, and Hilkiah has them rewritten by Shaphan, the scribe? When lost again, they are rewritten again by Ezra; lost once more in 168 B.C. the volume or scrolls were again destroyed; and when finally they reappear, we find them dressed in their Massoretic disguise! We may know something of Ben Chajim, who published the Massorah of the scrolls in the fifteenth century; we can know nothing of Moses, this is certain, unless we become--Initiates of the Eastern School.

Ahrens, when speaking of the letters so arranged in the Hebrew sacred scrolls--that they were of themselves musical notes--had probably never studied Âryan Hindû music. In the Sanskrit language there is no need to so arrange letters in the sacred ollas that they should become musical. For the whole Sanskrit alphabet and the Vedas, from the first word to the last, are musical notations reduced to writing, and the two are inseparable.10 Footnote 10. See Theosophist, November, 1879, article Hindû Music, p. 47. ] As Homer distinguished between the "language of Gods" and the language of men,11 [Footnote: 11. Thes. xiv. 289, 290. ] so did the Hindus.

The Devanâgarî--the Sanskrit character--is the "Speech of the Gods" and Sanskrit the divine language.12 [Footnote: 12. he Sanskrit letters are three times as numerous as the poor twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet. They are all musical and are read, or rather chanted, according to a system given in very old Tantrika works (see Tantra Shâstras); and are called Devanâgarî, "the speech or language of the Gods." And since each answers to a numeral, and has therefore a far larger scope for expression and meaning, it must necessarily be far more perfect and far older than the Hebrew, which followed the system, but could apply it only in a very limited way. If either of the two languages were taught to humanity by the Gods, surely it is rather Sanskrit--the perfect of the most perfect languages on Earth--than Hebrew, the roughest and the poorest. For once we believe in a language of divine origin, we can hardly believe at the same time that angels or Gods or any divine messenger should have selected the inferior in preference to the superior. ] As to the Hebrew let the modern Isaiahs cry "Woe is me!" and confess that which "the newly-discovered mode of language (Hebrew metrology) veiled under the words of the sacred Text" has now clearly shown. Read the Source of Measures,read all the other able treatises on the subject by the same author. And then the reader will find that with the utmost good-will and incessant efforts covering many years of study, that laborious scholar, having penetrated under the mask of the system, can find in it little more than pure anthropomorphism. In man, and on man, alone, rests the whole scheme of the Kabalah, and to man and his functions, on however enlarged a scale, everything in it is made to apply. Man, as the Archetypal Man or Adam, is made to contain the whole Kabalistic system. He is the great symbol and shadow, thrown by the manifested Kosmos, itself the reflection of the impersonal and ever incomprehensible principle; and this shadow furnishes by its construction--the personal grown out of the impersonal--a kind of objective and tangible symbol of everything visible and invisible in the Universe. "As the First Cause was utterly unknown and unnameable, such names as were adopted as most sacred (in Bible and Kabalah) and commonly made applicable to the Divine Being, were after all not so," but were mere manifestations of the unknowable, such

In a cosmic or natural sense, as could become known to man. Hence these names were not so sacred as commonly held, inasmuch as with all created things they were themselves but names or enunciations of things known. As to metrology, instead of a valuable adjunct to the Biblical system . . . the entire text of the Holy Writ in the Mosaic books is not only replete with it as a system, but the system itself is that very thing, in esse,

from the first to the last word.

For instance, the narratives of the first day, of the six days, of the seventh day, of the making of Adam, male and female, of Adam in the Garden, of the formation of the woman out of the man, of . . . the genealogy of Ararat, of the ark, of Noah with his dove and raven, . . . of Abram's travel from Ur . . . into Egypt before Pharaoh, of Abram's life, of the three covenants, . . . of the construction of the tabernacle and the dwelling of Jehovah, of the famous 603,550 as the number of men capable of bearing arms, . . . the exodus out of Egypt, and the like--all are but so many modes of enunciation of this system of geometry, of applied number ratios, of measures and their various applications.

And the author of Hebrew Metrology ends by saying:

Whatever may have been the Jewish mode of complete interpretation of these books, the Christian Church has taken them for what they show on their first face--and that only. The Christian Church has never attributed to these books any property beyond this; and herein has existed its great error.

But the Western European Kabalists, and many of the American (though luckily not all), claim to correct this error of their Church. How far do they succeed and where is the evidence of their success? Read all the volumes published on the Kabalah in the course of this century; and if we except a few volumes issued recently in America, it will be found that not a single Kabalist has penetrated even skin deep below the surface of that "first face." Their digests are pure speculation and hypotheses and-- no more. One bases his glosses upon Ragon's Masonic revelations; another takes Fabre d'Olivet for his prophet--this writer having never been a Kabalist, though he was a genius of wonderful, almost miraculous, erudition, and a polyglot linguist greater than whom there was since his day none, even among the philologists of the French Academy, which refused to take notice of his work. Others, again, believe that no greater Kabalist was born among the sons of men than the late Éliphas Lévi--a charming and witty writer, who, however, has more mystified than taught in his many volumes on Magic. Let not the reader conclude from these statements that real, learned Kabalists are not to be found in the Old and New Worlds. There are initiated Occultists, who are Kabalists, scattered hither and thither, most undeniably, especially in Germany and Poland. But these will not publish what they know, nor will they call themselves Kabalists. The "Sodalian oath" of the third degree holds good now as ever.

But there are those who are pledged to no secrecy. Those writers are the only ones on whose information the Kabalists ought to rely, however incomplete their statements from the standpoint of a full revelation, i.e., of the sevenfold Esoteric meaning. It is they who care least for those secrets after which alone the modern Hermetist and Kabalist is now hungering--such as the transmutation into gold, and the Elixir of Life, or the Philosopher's Stone--for physical purposes. For all the chief secrets of the Occult teachings are concerned with the highest spiritual knowledge. They deal with mental states, not with physical processes and their transformations. In a word, the real, genuine Kabalah, the only original copy of which is contained in the Chaldean Book of Numbers, pertains to, and teaches about, the realm of spirit, not that of matter.

What, then, is the Kabalah, in reality, and does it afford a revelation of such higher spiritual mysteries? The writer answers most emphatically NO. What the Kabalistic keys and methods were, in the origin of the Pentateuch and other sacred scrolls and documents of the Jews now no longer extant, is one thing; what they are now is quite another. The Kabalah is a manifold language; moreover, one whose reading is determined by the dead-letter face text of the record to be deciphered. It teaches and helps one to read the Esoteric real meaning hidden under the mask of that dead letter; it cannot create a text or make one find in the document under study that which has never been in it from the beginning. The Kabalah--such as we have it now--is inseparable from the text of the Old Testament, as remodelled by Ezra and others. And as the Hebrew Scriptures, or their contents, have been repeatedly altered--notwithstanding the ancient boast that not one letter in the Sacred Scroll, not an iota, has ever been changed --so no Kabalistic methods can help us by reading in it anything besides what there is in it. He who does it is no Kabalist, but a dreamer.

Lastly, the profane reader should learn the difference between the Kabalah and the Kabalistic works, before he is made to face other arguments. For the Kabalah is no special volume, nor is it even a system. It consists of seven different systems applied to seven different interpretations of any given Esoteric work or subject. These systems were always transmitted orally by one generation of Initiates to another, under the pledge of the Sodalian oath, and they have never been recorded in writing by any one. Those who speak of translating the Kabalah into this or another tongue may as well talk of translating the wordless signal-chants of the Bedouin brigands into some particular language. Kabalah, as a word, is derived from the root Kbl (Kebel) "to hand over," or "to receive" orally. It is erroneous to say, as Kenneth Mackenzie does in his Royal Masonic Cyclopædia, that "the doctrine of the Kabalah refers to the system handed down by oral transmission, and is nearly allied to tradition"; for in this sentence the first proposition only is true, while the second is not. It is not allied to "tradition" but to the seven veils or the seven truths, orally revealed at Initiation. Of these methods, pertaining to the universal pictorial languages--meaning by "pictorial" any cipher, number, symbol, or other glyph that can be represented, whether objectively or subjectively (mentally)--three only exist at present in the Jewish system.13 [Footnote: 13.Of these three not one can be made to apply to purely spiritual metaphysics. One divulges the relations of the sidereal bodies to the terrestrial, especially the human; the other relates to the evolution of the human races and the sexes; the third to Kosmo-theogony and is metrological.  ] Thus, if Kabalah as a word is Hebrew, the system itself is no more Jewish than is sunlight; it is universal.

On the other hand, the Jews can claim the Zohar, Sepher Yetzirah (Book of Creation), Sepher Dzeniuta, and a few others, as their own undeniable property and as Kabalistic works.

Lucifer, May, 1892

Support this site by visiting our donation page
Site copyright © 1996- by Estela Carson-Priede


Content-Type: application/http; msgtype=response

WARC-Identified-Payload-Type: text/html

WARC-Type: response

text:
Search for: "U.S. v. Towe*" Results 101 - 120 of 720
Sort by Relevance | Sort by Date
RSS Subscribe: 20 results | 100 results
30 Dec 2018, 3:03 am by Ben
Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit in Folkens v Wyland. [read post]
23 Oct 2018, 6:00 am by Sandy Levinson
  Not surprisingly, removal was the subject of perhaps the first “great debate” in the history of the U.S. [read post]
10 Oct 2018, 6:32 pm by Larry
United States, a not-so-recent decision of the U.S. [read post]
29 Jul 2018, 4:50 pm by INFORRM
The Social Media Law Bulletin has posted on a matter of judicial ethics arising from the case U.S. v. [read post]

warcinfo:
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2020-24
publisher: Common Crawl
description: Wide crawl of the web for May/June 2020
operator: Common Crawl Admin (info@commoncrawl.org)
hostname: ip-10-67-67-88.ec2.internal
software: Apache Nutch 1.16 (modified, https://github.com/commoncrawl/nutch/)
robots: checked via crawler-commons 1.1-SNAPSHOT (https://github.com/crawler-commons/crawler-commons)
format: WARC File Format 1.1
conformsTo: http://iipc.github.io/warc-specifications/specifications/warc-format/warc-1.1/


text:
La Sportiva Lycan

La Sportiva Lycan

Test Locations: Gunnison – Crested Butte Valley, CO; Sequoia, Kings Canyon, & Yosemite National Parks, CA

Test Duration (so far): 99 Miles

Stated Heel-to-Toe Drop: 6.0 mm

Stack Height: 18 mm (heel) 12 mm (forefoot)

Stated Features:

  • Upper: breathable mesh with microfiber reinforcements, abrasion-resistant coating
  • Midsole: Injection molded EVA with external structure for shock absorption
  • Outsole: FriXion AT 2.0 with Rock Guard and Impact Brake System
  • TPU Toe cap
  • Wider forefoot for maximum comfort

MSRP: $115.00

Reviewer: 6’1″ , 145 lbs (see running profile)

Size Tested: US Men’s 12.5

Stated Weight per Shoe (US Men’s size 9): 268 grams / 9.5 oz

Gordon Gianniny reviews the La Sportiva Lycan for Blister
The La Sportiva Lycan
Share on facebook
Share on twitter
Share on pinterest
Share on reddit
Share on email
Review Navigation:  Specs //  Intro //  Fit //  Features & Construction //  Weight //  Upper //  Midsole & Cushioning // Outsole // Performance // Bottom Line

As a general rule, La Sportiva’s shoes tend to be on the narrower and stiffer end of the spectrum, designed to inspire confidence on technical mountain terrain. This is great if you like narrow, stiff shoes. But if you don’t, in the past, you were pretty much out of luck. This is where the Lycan comes in. It’s one of Sportiva’s few offerings that’s specifically designed for longer distances on more moderate terrain. To that end, it has a more spacious fit, softer cushioning, and lower-profile outsole lugs than most of the brand’s other shoes.

Gordon Gianniny reviews the La Sportiva Lycan for Blister
Gordon Gianniny running in the La Sportiva Lycan, Gunnison, CO. (photo by Katie Lyons)

I’ve been intrigued by the Lycan since it first came out for exactly this reason. I’ve run in a few other La Sportiva shoes in the past, including the Bushido and Akasha. While they were both great shoes for the right people, I found that they weren’t quite wide and soft enough for me to remain comfortable after a few hours of running. This has always bummed me out, as I really like the quality materials and attention to detail in La Sportiva shoes.

So, does the Lycan successfully translate La Sportiva’s mountain running know-how into a comfortable long-distance shoe? After about 100 miles in the shoe, I’m pretty well convinced that the answer is yes. In this review, I’ll break down how I’ve reached this conclusion and provide my thoughts on how La Sportiva can improve the shoe even more.

As always, it’s best to try on the Lycan in person before you buy it. If you do decide to order it online, be sure to use your European size. La Sportiva’s conversion from European to US sizing seems to be slightly off, so their shoes tend to run small by about a half- to a full-US-size. For example, I wear a US 11.5 in most shoes. In the Lycan, I had to size up to a US 12.5.

Gordon Gianniny reviews the La Sportiva Lycan for Blister

Aside from the sizing, the Lycan fits very differently from other La Sportiva shoes I’ve worn. It’s built on the brand’s roomier “Tempo” last, but I’ve found the fit to be even more spacious than other shoes built on the same last (such as the Akasha). The Lycan’s heel and midfoot aren’t particularly wide, but they are pretty high-volume. Since I’ve got very low arches, I had to cinch down the laces pretty tight to get a good fit in the midfoot. But if you have normal or even high arches, the Lycan should fit securely and comfortably. The Lycan’s toebox isn’t as wide and rounded as an Altra, but it does provide significantly more room for toe-splay than other La Sportiva shoes I’ve used.

Gordon Gianniny reviews the La Sportiva Lycan for Blister
Gordon Gianniny running in the La Sportiva Lycan, Gunnison, CO. (photo by Katie Lyons)

Overall, the Lycan’s fit feels similar to the Hoka One One Speed Instinct 2 or Salomon S/Lab Sense Ultra, which have been some of my favorite shoes for the last few years. The Lycan isn’t quite as locked down and secure on technical terrain as those other shoes, but the Lycan is comfortable and roomy enough to accommodate foot swelling after several hours in the shoe. With that said, the added roominess does sacrifice some security / stability, and I have noticed my feet slipping a little on off-camber terrain.

Features and Construction

One of the first things I noticed about the Lycan is that it looks like a pretty “normal” shoe. If you’re not sure why that’s remarkable, go scroll through our Brand Guide for La Sportiva’s running shoe lineup. Where many of La Sportiva’s shoes have fancy inserts, complicated midsole constructions, and non-traditional uppers, the Lycan takes a simpler approach. There’s a time and place for fancy features, but I think that the Lycan’s straightforward design helps it avoid the overbuilt feeling of some of Sportiva’s other shoes.

The Lycan has a standard lacing system with a well-padded tongue, a breathable mesh upper reinforced by synthetic microfiber overlays, and a stout toe cap that wraps around the sides of the toebox.

The midsole consists of a single piece of soft but springy EVA foam, with a fairly moderate 18 mm (heel)/12 mm (forefoot) stack height. Finally, the outsole features La Sportiva’s harder / more durable FriXion Blue (called FriXion AT 2.0 in the U.S., for some reason) rubber and has low-profile, widely spaced lugs. This design is intended to provide good traction on hard surfaces and improved durability relative to the brand’s other softer, grippier, but less durable outsole compounds.

With a stated weight of 268g/ 9.45oz for a US Men’s size 9, the Lycan is on the upper end of my preferred weight range for shoes, but it’s still light enough that it doesn’t feel heavy or cumbersome on trail. Here’s how the Lycan’s stated weight for a US Men’s size 9 compares to some other shoes with similar stack heights:

268 g/ 9.45 oz- La Sportiva Lycan
272 g/ 9.6 oz- Salomon Sense Ride 2
283 g/ 10.0 oz- Salomon S-Lab Ultra 2
294g/ 10.4 oz- Inov-8 Trailtalon 290
301g/ 10.6 oz- Altra Lone Peak 4.5

So while it’s not a super light shoe, the Lycan is quite a bit lighter than similar offerings from other brands. Personally I think that it strikes a good balance between lightness and cushion/protection, though the slightly higher weight does make it feel a bit slower on short/fast runs.

The Lycan’s upper is simple and mostly effective. It consists of a breathable, open mesh material with stiffer synthetic overlays, which give the upper a little more structure. The tongue is very well padded and has prevented any pressure points from the laces so far, but the lack of any kind of gussets does allow it to occasionally slide off to the side during runs.

Gordon Gianniny reviews the La Sportiva Lycan for Blister
La Sportiva Lycan- Upper

While most of my runs in the Lycan have been in pretty dry conditions, I have worn them through several stream crossings. The open mesh in the toebox allows them to drain and dry quickly, though the thick tongue does stay wet slightly longer. The breathable materials used for most of the upper kept my feet from overheating, even on runs in 80-90 degree weather.

Midsole & Cushioning

Along with the wider fit, the Lycan’s midsole is what really sets it apart from other La Sportiva shoes and makes it well suited to longer runs. The cushioning is still firmer than a soft shoe like the Hoka Challenger ATR 5, but the Lycan does feel soft and comfortable underfoot. Most importantly, it strikes a nice balance between energy return and cushion that so many shoes seem to miss. The Lycan’s midsole feels springy, but has enough soft cushion to help prevent foot fatigue.

Gordon Gianniny reviews the La Sportiva Lycan for Blister
Gordon Gianniny running in the La Sportiva Lycan, Gunnison, CO. (photo by Katie Lyons)

The 18 mm heel / 12 mm forefoot stack height is low enough that the Lycan still offers some ground feel, though not nearly as much as a more minimal shoe like the Altra Superior 4.0. The ground feel is enhanced somewhat by the lack of a rockplate, while the full-length rubber outsole has provided plenty of protection against sharp rocks in my experience.

Outsole & Traction

As previously mentioned, the Lycan’s outsole uses La Sportiva’s FriXion Blue rubber, which is designed for durability and traction on hard surfaces. I’ve always thought that Sportiva’s outsole compounds work exceptionally well, and the same is true in this shoe.

Gordon Gianniny reviews the La Sportiva Lycan for Blister
La Sportiva Lycan -Outsole

The Lycan’s outsole doesn’t seem all that crazy at first glance — the lugs are low and widely spaced, and the rubber doesn’t feel particularly grippy. But once on the trail, the shoe grips surprisingly well on hard surfaces like scree, slickrock, and packed trails. It does struggle a little on anything loose or wet, but it works great for the hard surfaces for which the shoe was designed.

On The Trail

Most of my miles in the Lycan were run on the rocky, dry trails of Sequoia / Kings Canyon and Yosemite National Parks in California. In addition to shorter daily runs, I also wore the Lycan for several full-day hike / runs, which gave me a better sense of the shoe’s long-term comfort. For my running style and preferences, the Lycan performed the best on more moderate to non-technical, hard-packed trails.

Gordon Gianniny reviews the La Sportiva Lycan for Blister
Gordon Gianniny running in the La Sportiva Lycan, Gunnison, CO. (photo by Katie Lyons)

As previously mentioned, the Lycan has a roomy fit throughout. In combination with the slightly softer cushioning, this makes the shoe comfortable for cruising non-technical trails. On such terrain, the ride feels very similar to the Salomon S/Lab Sense Ultra or Sense Ride. With that said, the Lycan’s heel-to-toe transition doesn’t feel quite as smooth as the Sense Ultra or the Sense Ride. I think this is probably a result of the Lycan’s flatter, less rockered outsole shape. It’s not super noticeable at slower paces, but it does make the shoe feel a little awkward when you try to pick up the pace.

While the fit and cushion are great on even terrain, I’ve found that they make the shoe feel a little insecure on technical trails. My feet slip around a little more in the Lycan than in other similar shoes (Salomon Sense Ultra/ Sense Ride, Hoka Speed Instinct), which makes running on uneven or off-camber terrain a bit tricky. The low-profile lugs on the outsole also struggle to provide enough traction on loose or even slightly muddy trails.

Gordon Gianniny reviews the La Sportiva Lycan for Blister
Gordon Gianniny running in the La Sportiva Lycan, Gunnison, CO. (photo by Katie Lyons)

Then again, the Lycan was never designed for technical, muddy, or fast-paced running — La Sportiva has plenty of other shoes for that. The Lycan was designed to provide a more comfortable option for long days on trail, and aside from the minor quirks I noticed with the ride, it does that quite well.

I obviously can’t say a whole lot about the long-term durability of the Lycan right now, but it has held up quite well to the first 100 miles of use. I’ve always had good experiences with the quality and durability of Sportiva’s shoes, and I have high hopes for the Lycan. The upper shows no sign of wear, and the midsole is just as springy and responsive as it was out of the box. The outsole has worn down a little in the toe / forefoot area, but not so much that it affects traction at all.

I’ll report back on the long-term durability of the shoe, but at the moment I feel confident that the Lycan will keep going for at least another 250-300 miles.

Who’s It For?

The Lycan is a great addition to La Sportiva’s shoe lineup in that it fills a long-standing gap in their mountain running line. The main complaint that I’ve heard about La Sportiva shoes in the past is that they’re too narrow and stiff for longer on-trail runs, especially for people with wide / high-volume feet. The Lycan addresses this problem with a roomier fit, softer cushioning, and more flexibility than the brand’s other models.

These features do decrease performance on technical terrain — the Lycan is not a great choice for very tricky, off-camber terrain or wet / loose conditions. But if you’re looking for a comfortable, everyday shoe for non-technical terrain, the Lycan is worth checking out. It’s an especially good option for runners that enjoy shoes like the Salomon Sense Ultra, Salomon Sense Ride, or Hoka Speed Instinct — but who want a shoe with a slightly higher volume fit.

Bottom Line

To answer my initial question about the shoe, I think that the Lycan successfully carries La Sportiva’s mountain running features over into a more comfortable platform that excels on long, non-technical outings. It’s durable, comfortable, and in my mind covers all the bases for a solid long-distance training shoe. It wouldn’t be my first choice for fast or technical runs / races, but it’s a good option for slower-paced, long days on moderate terrain.

Share this post:
Share on facebook
Share on twitter
Share on pinterest
Share on reddit
Share on email

3 comments on “La Sportiva Lycan”

  1. Your review of the Lycan is really appreciated. I’ve run in the Raptor and found it very large in the toebox and your statements about the Lycan and seemingly to have more volume for wide and high volume feet compared with the typical La Sportiva line-up concerns me. I’ve ordered a pair of Lycan II (April 2020) so I’ll see how it goes. You review the Lycan (Jan 2020) in this article. Do you know anything about the Lycan II? How it differs from the Lycan. Thx

    • Hi Curtis,

      Good question- I haven’t had a chance to try out the Lycan II’s yet, but from what I can tell the main change from the original Lycan is an updated outsole. The Lycan II has much deeper / more aggressive outsole lugs than the Lycan, which should improve the shoe’s traction on loose terrain. With that extra outsole material comes some extra weight — the Lycan II is about 1.6 oz heavier per shoe than the Lycan.
      Aside from the new outsole, the Lycan II looks to be built on the same last and have a pretty similar upper to the Lycan, so I’d imagine the fit would be similar. I haven’t personally run in the Raptor, so I’m not sure exactly how the Lycan’s fit compares, but I’ve got fairly narrow feet and didn’t find the Lycan to be too roomy / loose fitting.
      Hope that answers your question!

Leave a Comment


text:
Click on the Button to Contact Us   Contact Form

Blocked Drains Watford Sewer Rehabilitation Support The House Of Quality Within Watford

We provide reliable, efficient as well as eco-friendly sewer rehabilitation support from Watford. We've supplied the residents of Watford with the best quality sewer rehabilitation support for many years. Clients within Watford discovered that they are able to depend on us to have it correct the very first time: that's one of the reasons we are a favourite sewer company.

With years of expertise, we've perfected using CCTV digital cameras to watch water pipe -- functions. Our experts combine revolutionary methods and a strong work ethic to provide you with an extensive overview of the workings of your plumbing. We'll provide you with a full statement on problems, in addition to a comprehensive evaluation in our easy, safe and sound, problem solving procedure approach.

A Distinctive Sewer Rehabilitation Provider Within Watford

  • Blocked Drains Watford takes the security of their employees and also the atmosphere seriously
  • These are the reasons why we adhere to all rules and regulations keenly
  • Excellent Sewer Rehabilitation within Watford, Fulfilment Guaranteed

Quick And Timely

The team quickly responds when a customer gives us a call simply because we all know exactly how dangerous as well as uncomfortable using a broken sewer system could be. The clients within Watford are always impressed by how fast as well as effectively our team gets started on their task.

They are also assured of excellent services and respectful service. The team sees each client report as an urgent matter. We always come prepared to handle the problems that are known and even undetected.

Our Preparation Ensures We Are Never Surprised By Situations

A good pace is essential in any sewer repair procedure. Trenchless Technologies Sewer Rehabilitation Support within Watford. Sewers developing problems is definitely a routine and anticipated event.

Those being used tend to be constantly vulnerable. Through poor sewer function, via ecological enduring in order to individual exercise, the quantity of architectural tension your own sewer encounters continuously has me overwhelmed.

An incorrect method of repairing this issue may lead to heavy excavation as well as preventable extended task conclusion period. This could trigger additional extended setbacks. Sewer safety factors are vital, as well as interfering with the actual sewer system may hassle you and the local people.

Here's The Reason Why We're A Popular Within Watford

Blocked Drains Watford's sewer restoration support is designed in order to restrict the requirement of excavation whilst nevertheless guaranteeing effectiveness as well as durableness. Blocked Drains Watford utilizes an array of technologies as well as suitable method which means you obtain a versatile methods to your own sewer issues.

All of us make use of trenchless (absolutely no -- search) technologies consistent with the environmentally friendly strategy whenever suitable. Regardless of the size the actual sewer water pipe, we'll reline this effectively.

Blocked Drains Watford Sewer Rehabilitation From Watford

We Assist you to Resolve Each and every Problem There is no doubt our group of extremely -- experienced experts is going to be available to evaluate all your requirements and supply unrivalled options. The solutions include every thing.

We'll examine the actual sewer, measure the harm, evaluate the potential risks, figure out as well as perform the answer, and be sure the entire procedure fulfils all of the related legislation needs. Fortunately that people perform in the event that quick as well as effectively.

Insurance Assured, Provide Us With The Call

All of us worth each and every client, as well as prioritise your requirements. All of us make certain all of us thank you for believe in through your sewer rehabilitation work effectively. In order to honour which believe in, we've committed to an insurance coverage bundle so that you can attend serenity understanding your own sewer is included.

For this reason Blocked Drains Watford likes the actual trustworthiness of becoming among the relaxed sewer rehabilitation businesses within Watford. Arrive as well as encounter real reassurance along with Blocked Drains Watford within Watford. Is this serious as well as immediate? We're for a person. Blocked Drains Watford Is the perfect Organization with regard to Crisis Sewer Repair Solutions within Watford. Because of the unequalled customer support, all of us assure a couple -- day time turn-around here we are at each and every relining task within Watford. All of us usually provide on the guarantee and you'll obtain the best feasible support.

A Duration Of Superb Sewer Rehabilitation Support Within Watford

We're the best option which are more challenging function May be the problem complex or even are you currently not really acquainted with this? The specialists may discuss an answer. Blocked Drains Watford offers developed a few really revolutionary tasks. A few had been officially hard to accomplish, a few had been within challenging landscapes, other people had been eco difficult, however, each time all of us do an outstanding work.

In Watford, We Provide Top Quality Sewer Rehabilitation Client Service

You're royals to all of us and we'll deal with a person based. We're inspired to provide 100% client satisfaction. And we're fortunate to possess employees which are enthusiastic as well as passionate at work. All of us usually make an effort to place a grin evidently in our client.

And we're thankful our clients happen to be the finest ambassadors for many years. We've top quality gear as well as expert employees to obtain the task finished correctly. We're usually upgrading the methods, and taking advantage of the historical knowledge to supply high quality support.

Call Blocked Drains Watford To Get Reasonably Priced High Quality Services

Sewer servicing is our core business but we always do more than just that. Within Watford, Blocked Drains Watford has always intended to offer unequalled quality services and a price that is not too costly.

Blocked Drains Watford constantly enhances the quality associated with sewer rehabilitation support. The only real people who aren't pleased with the dedication to quality and just how much we fulfil the clients are the competitors.

Give use call and get to understand why we're the most well-liked option.

Contact Us


text:
Dsrp dynamics

    See the blogs below that have this tag.

    DSRP Dynamics

    Jig: XY Graph

     Excerpt from the book: Systems Thinking Made Simple, Chapter 8  This blog is part of a set of blogs under the tag "cognitive jigs." Be sure to check out the tag to read them as a group and learn how cognitive jigs are at play in our everyday lives. Graphs are immensely useful in every discipline of knowledge. Understanding DSRP not only reveals the implicit structure of graphs but also allows us to

    • Derek & Laura Cabrera
      Derek & Laura Cabrera


text:
Throwback Thursday- The X-Files

It was recently announced that The X-Files is coming back. Fans are rejoicing about seeing their favorite characters, Mulder and Scully, return. The show originally aired from 1993 to 2002, so it’s been awhile since we’ve seen Agent Dana Scully rock numerous business suits. For this throwback Thursday we’d like to make some suggestions on how to update her wardrobe.

Since she’s an agent, she needs to be respectably dressed. Nothing super low cut or too short. However, we think something a little more form fitting than a pants suit might be a nice change. We’re not suggesting leggings or a spandex superhero costume, but maybe a modern biker jacket to give her a little edge.

Another idea is to add a little more color to her outfits. If they have to keep with the strict collared shirt and blazer look, how about some more colorful shirts or a colorful statement necklace? We don’t mean anything too wild that would be out of character. Solid colored shirts, no prints, or a white shirt with something like a blue enamel bib necklace. The color would even play up her eyes.

Check out Chicastic for necklaces and other accessories to inspire your own reboot.

Free standard shipping within USA! Low priced International Shipping starting at $2.99!

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: Logo

You are commenting using your account. Log Out /  Change )

Google photo

You are commenting using your Google account. Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s


text:
The grape, picked by members. The name, suggested and chosen by members. The label design concepts, inspired by members.

And now it’s time for members to vote to decide which label concept will be worked up to grace the bottle of our first ever Member-designed wine, Pioneer Pinot Grigio.

Working with our designers, our wine team has drawn inspiration from over 200 label ideas suggested by members. What’s not in doubt is the incredible creativity, wit and knowledge of our members. We had some cracking ideas – ranging from timeless, typography-centred designs to rather more surreal offerings – like a pie pictured on an ear (pie-on-ear – love it!).

There are the three design concepts that have made the shortlist. And don’t forget, you could be in with a chance of winning a week’s trip for 2 to California by simply voting for your favourite.

#1 Grizzly Bear Concept

Inspired by Jonathan Grey, Co-op Member, Manchester & Christopher Pipe, Co-op Member, Peterlee.

We really liked the use of the grizzly bear which features on the official flag of the state of California and originally dates back to 1846 (2 years after the Rochdale Pioneers!). We’ve gone with a modern twist on the label, incorporating similar colours palettes and style to the increasingly popular craft beer labels.

#2 Signpost Concept

Inspired by Tammy Mellor, Co-op Member, Leeds.

This label idea jumped out at us at first sight. It’s clear, simple and we believe it would give our wine a great stand-out presence on the shelf. With its nod to the bustling streets of San Francisco, we believe this label brings a bit of fun to the wine.

#3 Photography Concept

Inspired by many members – thank you one and all!

Lots of members sent us photographs, which got us thinking…We don’t have many wines in the range that make great use of photography on the label. We think the simple use of bold photography with a strong typeface could really stop you in your tracks when you’re picking up a bottle for the weekend.

Once the votes are in our design team will continue to work on the winning concept to develop a final label that you will see on shelves.

The vote will close on Sunday 11 June at 11.59pm.

A huge thank you once more for all your creative entries. I’m really excited to see which one emerges as the members’ choice, so please vote now for your favourite.

Joe Turner,
Wine Buyer

For the facts about alcohol

Join the conversation! 9 Comments

  1. […] 1,500 Co-op Members voted to decide which design idea will be worked up to grace the bottle of the first-ever Co-op member-designed wine, when it […]

  2. I think the boat one is good but good have been made brighter and so more cheerily optimistic

  3. All 3 have separate issues.

    1. Grreat attitude but lose the accessories on the bear!
    2. Tram looks like Heinz beanz rolling down the hill, typography lacks and feel’s outdated but the colours are spot on, certainly stand out of the shelf!
    3. Good for a book cover but too dark for a white pinot surely?! Overall essence for pioneer is ok albeit too forced.

    20 1 6 layout on 2 & 3 is a bit off too.

  4. ……and standing out is great, if it makes you buy it 😉

  5. I have to say i’m not keen on any of the 3 you have selected sorry. Pinot is crisp, dry and refreshing and i don’t think any of them say that. The Boat choice is too dark and imo better for a red. The tram one is too colourful and too fruity looking (would definitely put me off buying the wine, as would the boat one). The grizzly one is too jokey, as Stuart Cankett said above, but to me it has the right colours for a bottle of dry white at least! I’m not against a photo on the label though – just not a dark one.
    I tend to really like Co-op wines but these would put me off.

    • Hi Charlie. Appreciate your honest comment on the designs. The fact it is designed by a member should really make it stand out a little and not blend in, perhaps. What do you think? ^Ian

      • Hiya 🙂
        I love the idea of having members design the label – it’s great. Also I agree that it should stand out. I love the photo of the boat and the choppy waters, its really good in fact, but i don’t think it’s right for the product. I’m not a professional though, just a consumer! It would put me off though I think. Do you have a favourite?

  6. Make it a real grizzly if you think a bear is an appropriate symbol for a wine. The jokey winking bear with sun glasses and CND chain is just trivialising the label and the contents.

  7. Why politicise label 1? Anyway why model it as a craft beer?

Join the conversation

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: Logo

You are commenting using your account. Log Out /  Change )

Google photo

You are commenting using your Google account. Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Join In, Member-designed Wine


WARC-Identified-Payload-Type: application/xhtml+xml

text:
A recent review of the Community Patent process

Some informative articles by the The Register on the state of the negotiations for establishing a common legal system for establishing patents and governing litigation across the EU. See this. Also on The Reg, this article about how damaging the U.S. system is to FOSS.

Have your say.

Write in the language of the post. Comments are meant to encourage on-topic discussion. For general comments, observations, complaints (e.g. about the site), you can use the form found in the Contact page. Make sure you've read the Terms of Use before commenting.

Comments Feed for this post Comments Feed for this entry.