AGLA

Plate 1 from Michelspacher Cabala: Spiegel der Kunst und Natur, 1615.

AGLA(אגלא) is a notariqon (kabbalistic acronym) for Atah Gibor Le-olam Adonai,"You, O Lord, are mighty forever." It is said daily in the second blessing of the Amidah, the central Jewish prayer. Also seen as Athah gabor leolah, adonai, (אתה גבור לעולם אדני - Thou art powerful and eternal, Lord) Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers has suggested an arbitrary interpretation of AGLA (אגלא) as "A the one first, A the one last, G, the trinity in unity, L, the completion of the Great Work."^[1] According to The Triangular Book of the Count of St Germain God by the name of AGLA was responsible for the preservation of Lot and his family from the fire of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Example of AGLA Monogram

Detail showing AGLA monograph

A monograph for AGLA appeared in Stephan Michelspacher's book Spiegel der Kunst und Natur (The Mirror of Art and Nature), which was published in Augsburg, 1615. This was an Alchemical work strongly influenced by Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa's view of the Kabbalah and magic. Adam McLean describes the centre panel as "two circular diagrams with the German GOTT (the name of God) around the outside, and also the Alpha and Omega and the monograph which may be the name of God, Agla.^[2] This represents the beginning - alpha - within the end - omega, the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. This relates to claim related in the Book of Revelation that Jesus was "the "Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last" (22.13).

References

1. Knorr von Rosenroth, Christian; Mathers, S. J. (1983). The Kabbalah unveiled: containing the following books of the Zohar: The book of concealed mystery, The greater Holy assembly [and] The lesser Holy assembly. New York: S. Weiser. ISBN 0-87728-557-8.
2. MacLean, Adam (1979). "Alchemical Mandala No. 6". Hermetic Journal.