---
title: "Sixty Skills Kabbalah Explained"
url: https://staging13.perseusarcaneacademy.com/post/sixty-skills-kabbalah-explained/
date: 2025-07-04
modified: 2026-07-03
lang: en
author: "Perseus Arcane Academy"
description: "Introduction In this post Bob from Sixty Skills breaks down the Kabbalah (Letter Magic) course—explaining the reasons behind its creation, the specific problems it addresses, and how it differs from..."
categories:
  - "Guest Post"
  - "Kabbalah"
  - "Uncategorized"
tags:
  - "Franz Bardon"
  - "Hermetics"
  - "Kabbalah"
image: https://staging13.perseusarcaneacademy.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Kabbalah-in-the-Himalayan-Light-1024x683.png
word_count: 3067
---

# Sixty Skills Kabbalah Explained

## Introduction

In this post Bob from Sixty Skills breaks down the Kabbalah (Letter Magic) course—explaining the reasons behind its creation, the specific problems it addresses, and how it differs from Franz Bardon’s original approach.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BKZnT6zhCw

Table of Contents

- Introduction- Welcome and Overview- Difference Between Sixty Skills and Bardon's KTQ- Preparatory Standards- Color, Tone, and Number- Error Corrections- Ventilation and Counterbalancing- Energy Ball Foundation- Letter Magic and History- Multi‑Layer Letter Work- Outer Planet Extensions- Upward versus Downward Path- Letter Formulas and Timing- Progress Benchmarks- Group Learning and Transmissions- Mental and A‑osic Strain- Time Investment Reality Check- Practical versus Mystical Goals- Living Crystal and Tools- Consistency of Letter Effects- Post‑Course Integration- ConclusionThe Three Transformations - Free Course

## Welcome and Overview

Welcome back all you letter magicians, Kabbalers and magical mal contents. It is I, Sixty Skills, and today I'm here to answer your questions about Cabala training.

## Difference Between Sixty Skills and Bardon's KTQ

So, number one: what is the difference between my system and Bardons's KTQ? Why not just do KTQ? How does the Sixty Skills syllabus order those stages and how do they differ?

Okay, the first problem with Bardon's third book is it's really incomplete. The book was published post‑mortem after he died, by his secretary, and it leaves a lot of things out. I've talked to a number of people who've trained from the book only, and universally they make a lot of mistakes. They make mistakes involving equilibrium. They make mistakes involving counterbalancing and, frequently, they come up with some pretty severe problems as a result of that. Also, like I've said earlier, the book is incomplete. It leaves a lot of things out, and we'll get to some of that a little bit later on.

But the way my course deals with this, from the position of letter magic, is it gives you a structured way of approaching the training through the medium of clair‑sentience, and it explains all of the missing parts of the book.

## Preparatory Standards

Number two: preparatory standards. Bardon insists on full elemental equilibrium before touching the letters in Step Eight of IIH. What concrete skills from the Sixty Skills Master Course or elsewhere must a student know before you let them start the Cabala course?

We have to remember Bon also wrote a book. He had a method of training, if you will, where he knew he was not going to meet most of his students—if ever—or have any contact with them. So when you put a course together this way, you have to structure it in such a way that it minimizes the potential for harm and maximizes the opportunity for success by the student.

Also keep in mind that when these materials were written, printing was really expensive, and video instruction basically wasn't a thing. Even getting the word out on what exactly he was teaching would have been extraordinarily difficult. So all of those are factors.

The main skill that you have to have is clair‑sentience—i.e. building the ball, the ability to touch and feel energy—but that's included directly in the Cabala course itself. So the reality is, as long as you're willing to follow instructions and don't skip ahead too much, you can train this kind of letter magic from day one.

Keeping in mind I am not the only person with this approach. If you look at the Chiang aspects of Xing Yi Quan or Five Element Fist, they're training elemental magic from day one. They just don't do it very well. Food for thought.

## Color, Tone, and Number

Item number three: color, tone, and number. Bardon fixes a unique color, pitch and number to every letter. Do you keep Bardon's exact correspondences, or have you amended any of them based on modern testing? If amended, what drove the change?

Generally Bardon's stuff is correct in terms of that. One of the main differences that doesn't get explained in the book very well is: if you're teaching it from an elemental perspective—as I am, and as Bon probably did—the sounds that you hear internally are sounds from nature, and human vocal cords may or may not be able to repeat that very accurately.

Additionally, the colors change slightly as you go from one level of reality to the next. Jewish Cabala training is actually fairly explicit on this. If you read books like *Paths of Wisdom* by John Michael Greer, he gets into this as well. So, for all practical purposes, they're close enough.

Have I amended anything based on modern testing? Sure, a little bit. Certain letters have a dual nature, and that's not explained in the book. Again, I suspect the book was put together from a series of notes left behind after Bardon's death—because it was, in fact, published post‑mortem—and whoever did the editing clearly was not a practitioner of the method or didn't have a lot of experience with it.

## Error Corrections

Number four: error corrections. You've said KTQ contains a handful of post‑mortem editing errors. Can you name one specific letter exercise you've corrected in your course and explain the correction?

Sure. The letter L doesn't hinge on the spleen. The letter K refers to the outside of the ear. Certain letters have a dual nature—like the letter H, which is both a fire and air letter. There are a bunch of these.

Also, there are things left out that are very strange considering how important they are. The letter R is a back door to the solar sphere, so before you work with that, you probably want to be pretty good at your equilibrium and counterbalancing and ability to flush things out of your system. Also, that chart in the back of the book that gives you the four‑letter combinations is just kind of randomly dropped in there. The importance behind it isn't explained. In the beginning of the book, when he explains the meaning of the third tarot card, he's spelling out the whole meta‑system he constructed; nowhere else in any of the three books explains any of this.

So again, we need to be grateful for what we got from Bon, but keep in mind these books are not great for practice if you don't have prior training or somebody to talk to—and that's not going to be a popular sentiment.

## Ventilation and Counterbalancing

Your curriculum lists how to ventilate and how to counterbalance. What do these two practices add to Bardon's original instructions about balancing vital force and elemental charge?

Bon talks about clearing energy out of the body and he gives you a few steps for doing that, but he doesn't really get into the need to counterbalance. When you're working with one letter extensively it will create imbalances in you, and the way to get rid of that isn't just through ventilating the energy but to actually counterbalance with an opposing energy. These are things that people who learn the material on their own don't tend to understand very well—particularly the role of equilibrium and just how crucially important that is to everything—and they end up having a lot of problems. It's not hard to fix, but whoever put the book together clearly wasn't a practitioner, because they didn't understand this.

## Energy Ball Foundation

Students in Sixty Skills first build the ball of vital energy. How does that exercise prepare or accelerate later letter work compared with Bardon's standard curriculum?

First of all, it gives you a way of determining how strong things are. After a practice you can say, “Oh, it got stronger,” or “it got weaker.” As your clair‑sentience improves, you gain a variety of other information regarding the energy you're working with. Most people have very poor clairvoyance and clairaudience. My working theory now is that Bardon and his group relied far more upon alchemy for development of those skills than anything else—and I have evidence to support that which I can't share openly.

Clair‑sentience—of the clair‑senses—is probably the easiest and most applicable skill to develop. Hence, building the ball.

## Letter Magic and History

You've mentioned that letter magic might be the oldest of magics, and hinted at where Bardon got the material. Is there anything else you can reveal that might motivate students and provide understanding for people assuming you've just repackaged Bon's work?

People who make those snippy comments really amuse me because none of them have done the amount of work that I have. They didn't travel to North Africa, they didn't go all the way down the River Nile, they haven't been through sub‑Saharan Africa, they haven't been through the islands, they haven't gone all the way through Turkey. They've risked nothing and, in general, are a bunch of whiners.

Letter magic is old, and when you really get into it you can see echoes of it across multiple cultures—whether it's Five Element Fist from Chinese martial arts, the four‑element work including mantras for the electric and magnetic lines of force in Tibetan Buddhism, and so on. It's simply a way of describing how the universe works.

It's not a big stretch to see how something—probably not quite human—could be lying on its back, staring up at the sky, feel its mind suddenly expand, and hear that eagle's cry sound in its ear: there's the letter A, the air element, right there. By applying that method you could figure out all the different letters; as that not‑quite‑human learns to repeat these effects, it might even have been the source of human speech.

You’re only going to understand this by making the effort to study. This material is so poorly organized it took me 30 years to do what I could have done in two or three—and I know that from working with my students. You can talk about repackaging someone else's material, but I'm here to tell you: this stuff is old, it's been around a really long time, and Bon got his material from other people too. Nothing in his three books I haven't seen elsewhere, with the possible exception of some personal sigils from the near‑Earth zone. Everything else is derivative. We owe him a great debt because he was one of the first to put it together. I view what I do as a further refinement.

## Multi‑Layer Letter Work

Your blog speaks of letter work at the vital, astral, mental and a‑osic layers, not just the mental and astral layers in KTQ. What does practicing the same letter on each layer achieve, and how do you instruct students to tell layers apart?

There’s extensive training in the coursework involving the Three Transformations, which teaches you vital, astral and mental—how to feel those different layers of reality. The book itself actually gets into the a‑osic as well, by its definition. There's extensive training that teaches people how to tell the difference between these levels and determine effects. One of my favorites, the letter L, on a mental level deals with morality; on an astral level, magical equilibrium; on a vital level, human health and longevity. If you can't tell which level you're working with, focusing your effects is difficult.

Most systems of letter magic don't really break things down with much granularity, so it's easy to get confused.

## Outer Planet Extensions

You've taught Uranus‑, Neptune‑ and Pluto‑centric letter meditations. Are these outer‑planet variations part of core Cabala training or an advanced elective? And how do they expand on Bardon's strictly solar‑system model?

In the beginning of his third book—page 13 or 18 of the Merkur version—Bardon talks about the symbolism of the third tarot card and explains that glyph on the cover. This is not a solar‑centric system. It works at the vital, astral, mental and a‑osic levels—specifically the physical, planetary, zodiacal and sephirotic levels of existence. He's very clear.

Cabala can be generated at planetary levels too, and it slightly changes its nature. By learning to work at all these levels you learn to fine‑tune letter work and can create interesting effects. Working with Pluto, for example, can give you the ability to generate letters at a cellular level—if the tendency to engage in suicidal ideation doesn't get you first.

## Upward versus Downward Path

KTQ hints at an upward path. Your blog documents completing that path and reversing into a downward path. How does letter magic function differently on the return leg? What did you learn that KTQ doesn't spell out?

He explains this in his part about the third tarot card. Getting into too much detail is why we have coursework forthcoming, because it's that complicated. One of the first big changes is generating accasha from equilibrium. When most people work with accasha initially, it has a dissolving effect; it also has a bringing‑into‑form effect if you flip it the other way. Descriptions of magical tension give a hint. It's a very long discussion.

## Letter Formulas and Timing

Bardon warns against using two‑, three‑ and four‑letter keys until complete mastery. Sixty Skills students combine letters for practical effects—what safeguards are in place?

The "complete mastery" thing is nonsense. It's included to slow you down and prevent progressing. Step 1 of IIH—watching thoughts—I have to redo every six to eight weeks; it's like a cup, it fills up again. There's no such
thing as complete mastery. We start working with two‑letter combinations toward the end of learning single letters because you have to be able to generate the forces equally. We describe limitations of two‑, three‑ and four‑letter practices, how they can be draining, how you can really only work with one or two at a time, and so on. The reason you don't see much description in Bardon's book is the book is not complete. People who learned on their own usually make serious mistakes.

## Progress Benchmarks

Bardon leaves verification to the practitioner's honesty. What objective or shared milestones do you see—sensory markers, phenomena—to confirm a student has truly mastered a letter?

The colors and sound start manifesting on their own. Usually the first big one is accasha: they'll start to see a purple color creep into meditations once they work with equilibrium often enough. Mastery of a letter? Not really a thing. The first goal is the ability to reproduce the letter on command with strength. As a practical matter, about 100 hours of practice—sometimes less—per letter, but the first 10–20 hours are most critical.

## Group Learning and Transmissions

Your program offers Discord study halls and energy transmissions. Does real‑time peer or instructor feedback change the learning curve relative to solitary book study?

Absolutely. Eighty‑ninety percent of the work you have to do on your own, but having other people to bounce things off and transmission strength makes a huge difference. You can learn this material relatively quickly from another human in person, but it takes forever alone. Video coursework corresponds to a mental‑level transmission; weekend classes correspond to an astral‑level transmission; in‑person gives vital/etheric transmission. These radically speed learning and remove confusion.

## Mental and A‑osic Strain

You've noted severe fatigue and even suicidal ideation when your group hits certain high‑level a‑osic phases. What pacing, recovery or counseling protocols have you built into the course so students avoid those pitfalls?

In the planetary course, suicidal ideation is a risk from Saturn outward. We have specific meditations, such as meditations on Imnet, to clear that. For a‑osic drain we keep sessions short—usually no more than 30 minutes when working with accasha unless deep‑diving. The coursework covers mitigation: exercise, sleep, diet. Whether someone follows that advice is beyond my control, but the information is there.

## Time Investment Reality Check

Bardon's KTQ can take years. You suggest 18 months to two years for magical independence. Master Course plus letter work for a diligent student—what's a realistic weekly workload and total timeline to reach competent letter practice under Sixty Skills?

As a rule, two hours of practice a day. You do a build‑out for a week to ten days at a time, practice two hours in the morning, run the energy in the background the rest of the day using Rites of the Eucharist in between. Every week or so you'll have mastered a letter, and within six months you'll have all 27. You'll be a little unstable along the way, but manageable. I've had a student every bit as strong as me; it took him four years what took me 30, because instruction I received wasn't well‑organized.

## Practical versus Mystical Goals

Bardon frames the cabalist as a conscious co‑creator aligned with divine law. Do you hold the same endpoint, or do you emphasize practical manifestation as equally valid?

I recommend the path of enlightenment first because then you're connected to your higher nature and, in theory, you'll think twice about doing something dumb. This stuff works fine without those experiences, but you risk spending time on goals at odds with your internal development—doing stupid shit. Non‑dual light immersion tempers that.

## Living Crystal and Tools

You're associated with Living Crystal, said to be powered by cabalistic energy. Is using external constructs part of the syllabus or strictly optional?

Strictly optional. You don't need Living Crystal at all, though many get a lot out of it. It's an interesting technology we're developing and I think we'll see interesting developments, but you absolutely don't need it—it's like having beads, a wand, or other paraphernalia: nice, but not required.

## Consistency of Letter Effects

Badton claims a correctly vibrated letter yields the same effect every time. Across your cohort have you observed any consistent variations? What explains them?

They're generally the same. Keep in mind the body is the medium of expression, so depending on physiology, lifestyle, habits, things manifest a little differently, but they point the same direction. Bardon's book is fairly accurate. Some letters like U/Y need more elaboration.

## Post‑Course Integration

Once students finish all 27 letters, what ongoing practice keeps the work alive? Do you recommend periodic reviews, planetary Cabala, or stepping into the sephirotic path next, and how does that mirror or diverge from Bardon's roadmap?

Organizationally, according to his description of the third tarot card, next you would do planetary work. You don't have to. Understand that if you've gotten through IIH and basic Cabala, as far as magic is concerned the world is your oyster: you can decode another system, apply it to medicine, martial arts, engineering—you name it. I like the mandala work from Bon's third book, so that's what I pursued, but you don't have to. It depends on your path in life.

## Conclusion

Thanks for the questions, guys. Keep them coming and we'll get updates out there just as soon as we can. As per usual: train hard and be well.

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