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W. Garca
During my research about both Qliphotic Qabalah and Psychoanalysis I have come to find many
similarities and quite a lot of food for thought. In the next pages I will try to explain some of the
results from my own reflections, as well as from my experience working with qliphotic powers
and as patient and student of Psychoanalysis, to the best of my understanding of both fields.
An Overview of Psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis is a therapeutic method formulated by Sigmund Freud in the late 1800s, based on
his work with hysteric patients, which led to the discovery of an unconscious dimension of
human experience which is directly unavailable to our conscious experience, but which can
manifest in different ways, such as symptoms or similar formations, such as hallucinations in the
case of psychotic structures.
From a general view, Psychoanalysis is primarily a therapeutic method through which the
patient (or analysand) is confronted with certain repetitive elements or themes from his or her
own discourse which can go unnoticed for the conscious mind. The work of the analyst is to
actively listen to what the patient says (as well as what is not said) and return what is listened to
the patient so that it can be clarified and consciously elaborated. Such repetitive elements and
themes are held to have their origin in events from the earliest stages of life, and these events will
shape the way an individual will relate with the world and themselves.
Freud developed two models of the psyche: the first is comprised of three levels or layers
called the conscious (what is available to our direct experience), the preconscious (what is not
directly available but can become conscious with relative ease) and the unconscious (what is
unavailable to our direct experience); the second model is comprised of three structures: the id
(primal impulses and drives directed towards satisfaction and pleasure), the ego (a structure
originated when certain parts of the id realize that satisfaction cannot always come immediately
and thus is related to the reality principle) and the superego (the introjected laws and moral
codes related to society). According to his theory, psychic conflict arises when a desire from the
id seeks to be satisfied in a way that is incompatible with the regulations from the superego, thus
making the ego feel anxious and insecure. The id can be satisfied by substitutes that are similar to
that which is desired but forbidden by the superego, and does so in a variety of ways which
depend on each individuals psychic structure. However, since this satisfaction comes only from
a substitute, the id will still seek to quench its thirst on the real thing, a thing that, according to
Psychoanalysis, is unattainable by default. Being this so, the desire is continually repressed, and
it continually seeks to return in the form of symptoms such as compulsive behaviors, addictions,
perversions, hallucinations, etc.
One of the goals of Psychoanalysis is that the patient overcomes their own resistances and get
to a conscious, but partial, understanding of their life situations. Unlike other forms of therapy,
such as Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, Psychoanalysis focuses on the unconscious roots of the
patterns which structure ones life. By working with ones own unconscious, one is confronted
with what one apparently desires, or what one is supposed to desire, so that the real desire
becomes clearer. This, however, tends to be a very long process, and in a world where people
want quick solutions so that they can be productive, people will tend to turn to other, more time-
effective methods such as psychiatric drugs, denying themselves of the possibility of undergoing
a process of getting to know themselves in a more profound way.
Conclusion
Qliphotic Qabalah and Psychoanalysis are ways I have found that work against the current in
order for me to encounter parts of myself that I didnt know were there. I see both as inherently
antinomian methods which put one against what is believed to be right and wrong, good and evil,
white and black, to come to the realization that we only perceive a little view of the whole
spectrum of existence. One may be directed towards the Qliphoth in their quest for stronger
experiences, and the need for these may come from an unconscious need to overcome a reality
that is inherently unsatisfactory and this is, I think, the whole idea. We live in a world that
every day becomes more and more disenchanted, and so many people feel the urge to break from
this paradigm and bring forth a change in reality, from one in which one is a result from their
circumstances, to another in which one is capable of dealing with lifes difficulties in a creative
way. The way to break from this reality is let the forces of disorder into our life, so that it can be
rejuvenated and the fire reignited. This process is a symbolic death, after which the individual
rises again as autogenes, a self-begotten being that is free to build their own destiny.
The Qliphoth are remnants from a past which resists to be forgotten, and that continually
seeks to reenter the side of light, as if wanting to be recognized as a real and still existing part of
Creation, just as our unconscious seems to want to tell us something through our symptoms.
Suggested readings:
Sigmund Freud: Civilization and its Discontents; The Ego and the Id; Inhibition, Symptoms &
Anxiety; Beyond the Pleasure Principle.
C.G. Jung: Psychology and Religion; Psychology and Alchemy; Aion: Researches into the
Phenomenology of the Self.
Francoise Dolto: Sminaire de Psychoanalyse dEnfants.
Erich Fromm: Zen Buddhism and Psychoanalysis; To Have or to Be?; You Shall be as Gods.
Mircea Eliade: The Sacred and the Profane; Images and Symbols.
Gershom Scholem: Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism; Kabbalah.
Joseph Dan: The Early Kabbalah.
Thomas Karlsson: Qabalah, Qliphoth and Goetic Magic.
Kennet Granholm: Dark Spirituality.