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[Tau Malachi]

Inner Workings of Prophecy: Spiritual Influx & the Mind of the Navi

If we aspire to the experience of Ruach Ha-Kodesh and prophecy, then we must know and understand what prophecy is and how it works. What transpires when a son or daughter of the navim is taken up by Ruach Ha-Kodesh and has a vision? What are the mechanisms or inner workings of prophetic states of consciousness? If we look into the activities of the navim we find that they tend divorce themselves from the world, or desires of the world, and take up a continuum of mystical prayer, and that they occupy themselves with the study and contemplation of the Holy Scriptures, and delve into the mysteries of the Scriptures, the Holy Kabbalah; yet more, we find that they divest themselves of the body, which is to say that they *meditate* (hitbodedut), for all prophecy transpires through holy meditation – until a person can reach hitbodedut, the deepest meditation, true prophecy is impossible, even at the grades of the hazy mirror.

Essentially, meditation calms the surface consciousness – those parts of the mind that deal with the actual and material world in our ordinary consciousness. Thus, our imagination, our reverie, stops and all the idle chatter of the ordinary mind is brought into silence, cessation – a state of mental and vital repose comes into being, and in that repose our consciousness opens to higher and more refined levels of mental consciousness – higher aspects of the mind that are intuitive and sensitive to things of the upper or spiritual worlds, and through which we can contact spiritual forces and experience parapsychological phenomenon. This is why through regular meditation individuals often experience heightened parapsychological phenomenon of various kinds; through meditation individuals may gain sight into the future or sight into things far removed from them, and they may become conscious of contacts with spiritual beings-forces that typically remain unconscious in most ordinary individuals – they experience an opening of consciousness to metaphysical dimensions and spiritual worlds.

At the simplest and most common level of Ruach Ha-Kodesh a person feels near to God – they feel God’s presence with them and are aware of the Sacred Unity underlying all; then, in actual preparation for an experience of illumination or prophecy, they will bring that feeling and intuitive aspect of themselves into contact with their imaginative power or “dreams center” – that aspect of consciousness that translates feelings and intuitions of subtle and loftier things into images, thoughts and emotions, an experience that can interface with the more ordinary levels of consciousness.

In speaking about Holy Sefirot, Netivot, angels, and such – these are pure being-force, formless and abstract. At the outset, in truth, when a person initially experiences such aspects of spirituality, everything they feel or contact seems the same – they have no true sensitivity or ability to discern and distinguish between various gradations of experience or various modes of spiritual reality. They are rather like a person who is born blind from birth being healed – at first there is light and color, but the person can distinguish or make out nothing, and before there is any actual seeing, there is complete confusion. However, with time and some education, they start perceiving subtle nuances, and eventually they can actually see – eventually they actually know and understand what they perceive with their eyes.

The same thing is true of early spiritual and mystical experiences – having been spiritually blind, deaf and dumb, acquiring sight and hearing in the Holy Spirit, we cannot actually distinguish between the subtle nuances and various gradations of our experience – it is all the same. Thus, for example, early on, when an initiate prays with kavvanah – focused attention, afterwards, typically, all they can say is that they had “a spiritual experience” and felt something of the Divine or the Light, but nothing more. Only with time and experience, and a proper spiritual education, can actual distinctions be made between various gradations of consciousness and spiritual experiences, and true knowledge and understanding of their spiritual and mystical experiences dawns.

Thus, once a person is well educated and has a lot of spiritual and mystical experiences, only then do they actually realize that there are many gradations and subtle nuances of such experiences – they begin to realize that there are experiences of being close to many different kinds and classes of angels, or to souls of the holy tzaddikim and apostles of previous generations of various grades, and are able recognize the differences between the influxes of various Sefirot and Netivot, and the many gradations of those influxes.

As mentioned above, once there is the feeling of closeness to the Divine, or the feeling of the presence of the Divine, then that feeling and intuitive perception must become linked to the imaginative power – the dream center, as it is often called by Mekubalim.

According to the Zohar, when we go to bed and fall asleep, our soul takes flight and departs our body – divesting itself of the body.

Essentially, akin to meditation, when we go to sleep our faculties rest, our senses are quieted, and our ordinary mind is relaxed and silenced – the only thing functioning is our imaginative power, and this conceives and generates various images. Some of these images are from our diverse experiences in waking consciousness, often of the previous day, and others are the result of biological activity in the brain, the influence of hormones or from the foods eaten. These images are the dreams that all people experience.

Yet, in sleep and dream we may experience something more, for the Holy One has ordained that during sleep and dream the soul can travel about the spiritual world wherever it is allowed to enter, whether into the lower, intermediate or higher realms, worlds and universes in the metaphysical dimensions. Aspects of the ruach and higher portions of the soul ascend into the spiritual abodes from which they are drawn, while only the nefesh remains in the body or bestial nature.

Those aspects of the soul liberated from the body in this way sojourn in the spiritual world according to the merits of the soul, and its development and evolution, and they may come into contact with various spiritual entities – maggidim, tzaddikim, as well as archons, demons, and all manner of spiritual being-forces. What a person experiences will depend upon a large variety of factors, but fundamentally it will be dependent upon the karmic continuum of the soul – the greater the merit of a soul and the purer the soul, the loftier the heights to which it can ascend.

When the inner or higher levels of the soul come into contact with something or perceive something, under certain conditions they can transmit it grade by grade, until it reaches the nefesh or vital animal soul – the imagination is then stimulated, and it forms images in its normal manner, so a big dream happens, or vision in dream.

Essentially, the imaginative faculty translates the spiritual and supernal experiences of the soul into recognizable imagery, giving forms to that which is abstract and formless, as though clothing it in garments – and this is the experience, the dream, or vision in dream, that the incarnate soul may know and understand, and speak about. However, in truth, it is only an interpretation of spiritual and supernal experience, and the interpretation may be more or less pure or impure, more or less clear or distorted.

This, of course, is very dangerous – whether in sleep and dream, or in meditation, because when a person’s mind is not completely clear, perfectly pure, the spiritual or mystical experience is going to be translated into whatever inane thoughts or strange desires are in the mind – this is why in the training of navim the spiritual disciplines for prophecy require such extreme self-purification of the mind, heart and life, the consciousness of the navi.

A navi must learn how to purify themselves, and they must learn how to discern between every possible nuance and gradation of spiritual and mystical experience – and they must have a very thorough spiritual education, providing their imaginative faculty with a very large and consistent symbolic vocabulary through which various gradations of experience may be discerned and through which a truer translation of spiritual and supernal experiences may occur. Basically, the images of a luminous dream or vision are created totally by the navi’s own mind, and therefore what appears is completely dependent upon the navi’s state of consciousness and knowledge at the time of the experience, and whether that mirror of prophecy is hazy or clear, impure or pure.

On account of impurities in consciousness and the lack of proper spiritual education – a general lack of true spiritual self-discipline, false teachings and false prophecy abound in the midst of modern spirituality, the new age, psychism and occultism; generally speaking, true prophecy is very rare in these times, even among sincere aspirants.

This reflects the need for spiritual austerities among the sons and daughters of the navim, and the study and contemplation of the Holy Scriptures and Kabbalah – the Work of Creation (Ma’aseh Bereshit) that prepares us for the Work of the Chariot (Ma’aseh Merkavah).

Here we may say, unless the proper vehicle is formed in consciousness, and the consciousness itself is purified and refined, the higher grades of Ruach Ha-Kodesh and prophecy are impossible to attain – if there is to be a full Supernal Influx, a fit and holy vessel must be fashioned to receive it.

Now there is a distinction to be made between three principle grades of prophecy, within which are countless gradations. Thus far, in truth, we have spoken only about the hazy mirror, for all translations into forms or images with which the ordinary mind relates is a sever restriction, and to some degree a distortion, of the spiritual and supernal influxes, even in the case the most lofty and luminous of images. The clear mirror of prophecy, in fact, bypasses this translation or reflection, and instead, rather than seeing images there is hearing and knowing, and rather than images, there are words, and rather than something reflected in consciousness, as though indirectly in a mirror, the illuminations of Ruach Ha-Kodesh and prophecy pass through a clear or transparent state of consciousness, as though sunlight that shines directly through well polished glass.

*In this, perhaps, you will know and understand something about the two He in the Great Name – He literally meaning “window,” and the two He allude to the reflective and non-reflective experiences of the Holy Shekinah, the Divine Presence and Power.

There is an even more lofty grade of prophecy than this, however, for there may be knowing and speaking without the subtle dualism of hearing; when this transpires the Supernal Shekinah of the Holy One speaks in the navi as the navi, and it is the utterance is of the Divine I Am, the Divine I Shall Be – God is speaking. Among the great navim there are hints of this, as for example in Deuteronomy, when on occasion Moshenu speaks briefly, here and there, in the first person, as though he is Ha-Shem; the full realization and embodiment of this Supernal Grade of Prophecy, however, is manifest in full by the Messiah, Adonai Yeshua, for it is the grade of prophecy in Supernal or Messianic Consciousness.

As we have spoken of three primary grades of prophecy, we may also speak of three steps that an aspirant must ascend in order to come to the higher grades of Ruach Ha-Kodesh and prophecy, and in order to unfold full self-realization in the Messiah. The first step is the cultivation of kavvanah and devekut – without this nothing true or real can be accomplished in spirituality; and most important is *devekut*, the ability to turn your thoughts to God and to passionately cleave to God with your heart and soul; hence, the fear and love of Yahweh. This prepares you for the next step, which is *hishtavut*, from the root shava (Shin-Vau-He), meaning “equal.” If you will notice from your study and contemplation of the prophets, very often they speak of themselves in the third person, as though they are a different presence entirely – complete detached or removed from themselves, and as though they are nothing before the Holy One; this is hishtavut, which is the ability to nullify one’s egoistic self and to feel the same whether you are praised or insulted – there is no difference, either way it equal to you. This, in turn, prepares for the next step – hitbodedut, complete self-isolation, deep meditation, the state in which true prophecy becomes possible.

If you are sincere in your desire for prophecy, and for the knowledge of God and union with God – true enlightenment, then these are the steps you must climb.

If you consider these three steps you will understand that the navi is completely divested of him or herself as they approach prophetic consciousness – completely self-transcendent, and that they are in a completely balanced mental and emotional state, in repose; it is then that Ruach Ha-Kodesh moves and the soul may be taken up into prophecy.

In this it is very important that you cultivate all positive qualities and avoid all negative qualities – it is important that you are be awake and alert, and in a pleasant and joyous mood, and that you avoid such things as lethargy and depression, arrogance and anger, and the like, all that attracts klippotic beings-forces and that distorts and prevents prophecy.

Now, above, we have spoken of the potential journey of the soul in ascent in sleep and dream, and it is in luminous dreams and lucid dreams that prophecy most commonly occurs among the sons and daughters of the navim, or among initiates. Your dreams are most affected by the thoughts and emotions you entertain throughout the day, and by your words and your actions in daily living – therefore, remember and keeping your mind, heart and life in the Messiah, and fully living in the Sanctuary of Grace, is essential. Coupled with this, the food that you eat and beverages that you drink have a significant influence, so that you ought to be conscious of what you eat and drink, and always bless and uplift all that you consume, giving thanks to God and praying for those less fortunate. Joined to this, the study and contemplation of Holy Scriptures and writings of Kabbalah in the evening will bless and empower your soul, but there must be a shift before actually going to bed towards prayer and meditation – especially meditation, and going to bed a practice of dream union should be taken up.

*An essential part of evening prayer is confession and repentance, releasing the energy of the day and letting go of the world as you prepare to go into the dream-time; the establishing of yourself fully in the Sanctuary of Grace, and the invocation of hasidim made effective by the invocation of gevurot.

If you tend the Flame of the Continuum in this way luminous dreams will eventually arise, and you will find an ascent happens in luminous dreams from one grade to another, until there is vision in dream and true lucid dream in the Spirit, dreams that become actual “inner plane works” dispelling klippotic beings-forces, invoking the transmission of divine powers, and conscious ascents through shamaim, even into the height of the eighth heaven and abodes of the Supernal Universe.

When the realization of the soul in the Messiah nears you will hear the word of Yahweh without need for the arising of dream, that, or in the arising of dream, it will be the radiance of the Sacred Heart – compassionate activity; in the perfection of non-dual realization, the “highest rung,” there will be Pure Radiant Awareness, Supernal Da’at (direct knowing).

If after tending the Flame of the Continuum for some time luminous dreams are not arising, but you are bound below Klippah Nogah – attend to self-purification and intensify your worship, for a greater purification and passionate in worship are necessary. If then luminous dreams do not arise, you may wish to consult a living tzaddik and engage in visitation, seeking a blessing or empowerment – for where there is a good heart and sincere aspiration, the visitation of tzaddikim tends to invoke luminous dreams, for the company of the Holy Shekinah is with them. If then the obstruction remains, you must look to the tikkune of the soul to which you are being called, for if Adonai called you to the Way of the Navi, but there is a significant obstruction, then Adonai has called you to perform the tikkune; either that, or you have reason to question the call to the Way of the Navi, and whether it came from the Holy Spirit or the spirit of the Other Side – for often the feeling of such a call can very well be of Klippah Nogah and inner klippot.

Now, here we must speak of the discernment of ruachot or spirits that appear in dream or vision, for all ruachot that appear are not of God, the True Light, but many are from the demiurge and archons, and many are from the shedim, the demons. The discernment of ruachot is very simple, and only requires openness and honesty with yourself – openness and sensitivity to the presence of God, the Divine Light; you merely need to look and see what an “angel” or spirit inspires and encourages in you – an angel from God will never flatter you or bolster your ego, nor inspire or encourage any negative thought or emotion, word or deed, but they will always encourage righteousness, and their message will always accord with the Holy Torah and Gospel, and with the Kabbalah. Indeed! All that the angels of God speak is true, and all that they speak will come to pass; but angels of the archons will speak an admixture of truth and falsehood, and those of the demons complete falsehood, with, perhaps, only the faintest hint of truth – by this you will discern the ruachot that come. If and when ruachot from the archons or demons come, then there is a need for self-purification and tikkune, for these klippotic beings-forces can only link with us through our own inner klippot and the impurities of Klippah Nogah in us.

In this you may know something regarding the Holy Scriptures, or the writings of those we know were holy men and women, true prophets and tzaddikim in the generations before us – knowledge and understanding of them is a measure and discernment of our own experience and the ruachot that present themselves to us, for the angels of God are not going to contradict the wisdom of previous revelations, though, indeed, new revelations may be given that progress from the holy foundation laid and that arise to a higher grade – the revelation of the Divine is progressive and ongoing, and evolves with us.

In this you may also know the importance of hishtavut. Firstly, because to draw near the great and shining ones above, and to your Creator, is an overwhelming and terrifying experience at the outset, and only with complete detachment can this initial phase of authentic mystical experience be endured; and secondly, because it is self-cherishing (egotism), and selfish desires and fears, that unclean and evil spirits will play upon to deceive a would-be prophet, catering to impurities in consciousness and using them as inroads. Unless there is hishtavut, always we remain susceptible to deceiving ruachot – only hishtavut provides full guardianship from their wiles.

Also, here it must be said that you must know and understand what is written in the Holy Scriptures, and especially in Gnostic Scriptures and holy writings of the Merkavah and Kabbalah, and make no mistake about it, nor deny the knowledge, understanding and wisdom of those who have sojourned in ascent before you and given their testimony: passing up in ascent, the soul passes through the psychic atmosphere of the world, which is largely populated with the influence of the archons and the demons, their shadows, and the soul passes through the dominions of the klippot, and then through the realms of Klippah Nogah – then it enters into the higher spiritual abodes and kingdom of heavens, and continuing in ascent it passes into the Supernal Abodes. If in the process of ascent there is anything in the soul-stream that links it to any dominion below, then it will become bound up in that dominion, or if along the way the soul turns aside because of desire or fear, or dullness, it will pass no further in ascent – to pass into the “highest rung” a soul must be willing to complete dissolution in the Clear Light, seeking only God, the True Light; the soul must be willing to complete cessation, as we behold in Adonai Yeshua Messiah.

In the midst of this teaching, you must understand that on every level, in waking consciousness, in sleep and dream, and in death and the afterlife, the reality of your experience is a radiant display of your own mind, consciousness or soul – thus, the reality of your experience reflects the state of your own consciousness.

In closing we can share this: If in this life the soul can pass up in the ascension, then at the time of the soul’s transition, which we call “death,” the soul will pass up in ascension, and in truth, to that soul death will not be death, but a continuation of life in Hayyah Yeshua – the eternal life we have been promised in the Messiah.

Perhaps from the above you may acquire further insight into the inner workings of prophecy and the Way of the Navi.

May all souls be carried up in the Great Ascension by Divine Grace, all uplifted in Hayyah Yeshua; amen.

Blessings & shalom!
_________________
Tau Malachi
Sophia Fellowship
Ecclesia Pistis Sophia