In 18th-century Poland, there lived a Jewish mystic who boldly claimed that behind all religions lies a living root of profound and hidden truth—with Judaism, Christianity, and Islam being nothing more than distorted branches requiring pruning.

In his own words:

"Pruning the branches means eliminating religions. But the root remains alive in the earth. Therefore, it is written: 'Shake yourself from the dust.’" (The Teachings of the Master, 735)

This man was Jacob Frank—a figure the rabbis and priests absolutely despised. They persecuted him, imprisoned him for thirteen years, and even attempted to eliminate him through hired assassins.

Frank was a radical spiritual teacher who successfully confounded everyone—including most respectable academic researchers. His shameless, audacious statements about sexuality, spirituality, and law-breaking were, frankly, too much even for the intellectuals.

Today, December 10, 2024—the 233rd anniversary of his death—I'm sitting in the Berkeley hills in California, giving final approval to publish the English edition of my historical novel about him — "Shining Darkness."

The writing process, which took several years, was not easy for me. Frank was an extreme character, and nothing we know of him came directly from his own mouth. His followers compiled "The Words of the Master" from fragments of things he spoke in his later years. Did these scribes truly understand his teachings? From their own writings, it's clear that the "Master" didn't believe they genuinely comprehended his message. Their consciousness remained enslaved to the Jewish religious box from which they emerged—a situation Frank saw as bordering on mental illness.

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The other source of information about his teachings, about the sexual rituals in his community, and the lifestyle we'd now simply call "polyamory" (though the rabbis called it "adultery") reached us primarily through his bitter opponents.

Now, facing my own critics and persecutors I understand the abyss that stretches between truth and what gets written about you in newspapers or on social media. The rumors spread about Frank on 18th-century Poland's TikTok were truly horrific. So how can I synthesize the seed of truth that may lie there, knowing the perspectives of his bitter opponents taint the reports? And how can I, as a writer, attune those pieces of truth to their original vibration and context?

To do justice to Frank’s real teachings, I tried to step into his boots. I attempted to perceive him as a complex, multifaceted figure: as a leader, a mystic who conversed (and sometimes made love) with all sorts of energetic entities, a shamanic lover, a family man, and a thought leader whose wisdom didn't always transmit to his disciples.

Frank was unambiguous about liberating humanity from religious constraints:

"I came to Poland solely to abolish all laws and all religions. My aspiration was to bring eternal life to the world.“ (ibid, 130)

He added:

"Cut down the tree, but its essential roots remain in the earth. This means all existing religions must be cut down, for they are merely branches of a mortal tree... In truth, the root remains in the earth... I wanted to grasp that root, and had you grasped it too, you would all have held the Tree of Life without fear.” (ibid, 708)

Like Sabbatai Zevi, who lived a century earlier and called for women's liberation from their husbands—centuries before anyone heard the term "feminism"—Jacob Frank believed the feminine principle must be redeemed from its exile, and would subsequently redeem the entire world.

In his view, the "Maiden"—his term for the sacred, supreme feminine principle—was dispossessed of her throne by the "handmaid" that everyone knows through religious lenses. The Maiden herself remains unseen, hidden, yearning to be revealed, but patriarchal cultural codes prevent our consciousness from seeing her internal femininity in "her true form and shape.”

“Were anyone to see her in her true shape and form they would live eternally. She yearns to the time when she will be seen as she really is, because then she will be instantly empowered and validated” (ibid 378)

In Frank's view, the true divine feminine principle is connected to the principle of life itself, but femininity as it appears through the religious prism is not connected to life, but rather to degeneration and withering. "The true maiden is in great distress," he said. The maidservant "has seized power," and this maidservant is a great seductress. The maidservant who sits on the throne of culture and all religions is the companion of Death. She tempts people to surrender to a religious faith that involves self-flagellation and ascetic life. These deeply religious people believe they are devoting themselves to God, but this is not the case. On the contrary, devotion to the true God brings life, but religions, according to Frank, shrivel the person and bring about spiritual and physical degeneration:

"She seduced you to fast and to memorize religious laws. She draws people to her and then proceeds to punish them. She is the maidservant who inherited her mistress's position, and this is what I told you before: the true maiden is in great distress, and she is hidden, while the maidservant has seized power.

What did that maidservant do? She brought all the God-fearing ones and all the righteous ones and monks to great love and profound fear of her, and she breathed into them the holy spirit. She revealed to them all religious laws through fasting, and she did all this so they would fall into her trap, and then she strangled them with their own fear..." (ibid. 397)

The Non-Binary Messia

Many of us today consider ourselves highly progressive because we recognize the non-binary identity spectrum. But here, too, many will be surprised. Mystics within the Sabbatean movement referred to its first leader, Sabbatai Zevi, as someone who appeared male but whose soul was fundamentally feminine. Similarly, Jacob Frank told his followers that if they followed his teachings and properly served the true Maiden, all of humanity would understand that they were essentially women, even those in male bodies:

"Just as it was said of the first leader [Sabbatai Zevi] that he was secretly feminine, so too would you serve her, and the entire world would understand that you are women. That first leader was secretly feminine, but not openly—and yet they said of him: 'The Lady had come to this world’, but this time, she will truly be a woman, openly a woman, essentially a woman, and she will build the world. Without her, no construction is possible... This time everything will be in the light of day.’" (Ibid. 609)

Not only would men serving the Goddess, or the Maiden, be recognized as women, but "She"—referring both to the divine feminine essence and the concrete messianic figure—"will truly be a woman, openly a woman, essentially a woman, and she will build the world."

Because:

"How could you imagine the Messiah is a man? This is impossible under any circumstances because the essence is the Maiden. She will be the true Messiah. She will guide all worlds.” (Ibid. 1051)

There is so much more to say about this non-duality crazy-wisdom master of the 18th century. He moved between all religions without believing in any of them, mocking the believers and leaving upheaval in his wake. This 'charlatan' (as most academics would say) and his students, according to historians, influenced the secularization of Europe and the Western world's turn to modernity. I had to dedicate 491 pages to this crazy lover of god in my book 'Shining Darkness' — which, although the second book in the Kedesha series, stands as its own story.

I hope that by reading this novel you too will be inspired to shine your darkness deeper!

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~ Pele.

December 10th. Berkeley, California.

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