I did a search and found only a short mention on Kabbalah in FMA, so I hope it is okay that I start a new topic even though I'm new. I don’t know very much about Kabbalah (which is really, really complicated and confusing) but I was able to pick up a few things that relate to FMA.

What Kabbalah is:
Kabbalah is a discipline within Judaism that seeks to explain the relationship between God and the mortal world. Kabbalah is very complicated and I don’t understand it very well myself, so I’m not going to try to explain all of it but only describe the parts of it related to FMA. If you want a general understanding, Wikipedia is okay: Wikipedia-Kabbalah.

Kabbalah and Alchemy:
Kabbalah and alchemy have a number of things in common: both Kabbalah and alchemy were methods of trying to use reason to understand the world; both are considered esoteric disciplines; both were prominent in the Middle Ages but lost prominence with the rise of modern science; and both were thought of by many practitioners as a science.

Kabbalah and alchemy overlapped as well, since many Jewish alchemists also believed in Kabbalah. According to at least one book, reliance on Kabbalah became at trend in alchemy from the 16th to 18th centuries. For more on the relationship between the two, see this book: Kabbalah-Alchemy links.

Proof that Kabbalah is in FMA:
It is not a speculation that Kabbalah is part of FMA: it is observable fact. The “Tree of Life,” the central belief of Kabbalah, is the image on the Door of Truth, as can be seen below.

Image of the Tree of Life:
Click to view attachment

In the picture below, you can clearly see the word “Sephiroth”, the name of the 10 attributes on the Tree of Life. Interestingly, you can also make out “Ie” and “ho” and with a possible “va” below: Iehova (Jehovah) is the Hebrew name of God.
Click to view attachment

The attachment below seems to indicate Keter/ Kether- the crown on the Tree of Life. The origin of the word “Corona” is crown and a crown is clearly visible. There is also what looks like a version of Keter (Chator) on it. Either way, it is in the same position as Keter and appears to have the same meaning.
Click to view attachment

While I’ve not seen roots on the Tree of Life, the words that can be made out on the roots in the picture below clearly represent the Sephiroths: Netzeth = Netzach (victory); Geburah = Gevurah (judgement); Malc… = Malchut (kingdom).
Click to view attachment


I have not looked up the pictures of the second time Ed sees the gate- but I think this is plenty of proof that this is, in fact, the Tree of Life.

I don’t really understand the Tree of Life, but it has to do with understanding the nature of creation and the link between God and humans. While I don’t really understand the Door of Truth either, passing beyond it was indicated to give the person some kind of understanding of Truth and the ability to create without a transmutation circle, so there is a similarity in these concepts.

Here’s more information on the Sephiroth: Wikipedia- Sephiroth

“All is one and one is all”:
This idea appears to come from Kabbalah rather than alchemy. The idea of God in Kabbalah is a version of monistic panentheism. (It was listed as this in Wikipedia and I confirmed it with other sources). Monism refers to a belief in the unity of all things (Wikipedia- Monism) or “All is one”- and panentheism is the belief that all things are part of the one God (Wikipedia- Panentheism) or “One is all.” While “all is one and one is all” was explained in the context of the “circle of life” by Ed and Al in the manga, they ended by saying it means “All is the world and the one is me,” which combined with the previous statement means “I am the world and the world is me,” consistent with monistic panentheism.

More importantly, Truth introduces himself like this: “I am what you humans refer to as "the world", also known as “the universe”, or “God”, or “true knowledge,” or “all”, or “one,” and… I’m you.” This is pretty much the definition of God in monistic panentheism, and is consistent with Kabbalah. God is all things and individuals are merely manifestations of God. Reinforcing the influence of Kabbalah on Truth’s statements, we view the Door of Truth as he says this.
Click to view attachment

The Nature of Truth:
It is hard to get a handle on what the soul is in Kabbalah, because not only is the soul a manifestation of God, but the body is also. I suspect that the manifestation of Truth that speaks to Ed is his own soul. I don’t think this is counter to Kabbalah- but the only way Kabbalah supports this is that the soul is a part of God.

This has some support within FMA, however. After the attempted transmutation of their mother, Ed and Al both see Truth, but do not see each other. It is likely that each sees the manifestation of Truth that is his own soul. After Ed pulls Al’s soul out, the realms of their souls merge, which is why Ed sees two doors when he returns. It is notable that Al’s body is seated in front of his Door of Truth in the same position that Ed saw Truth previously. It seems Al simply got reversed, with his body and soul on the wrong sides of the door. His body seems to still get enough nourishment to survive through his connection with Ed due to it being located in Ed’s soul’s realm, and his mind remains connected to the soul, allowing him to retain his memories and personality. The idea of Truth being Ed's soul is also supported by Truth being the same size as Ed and Ed forgetting what he was doing when faced with Truth, as the mind separating from the soul may have caused some confusion.

If this is correct, the soul is likely the closest part of a human to God and it has knowledge that is unavailable to the mind and body. In this case, all souls may have some shared consciousness and knowledge.

All this is consistent with Kabbalah, but this admittedly involves more speculation on my part than the clear link between Kabbalah and the two previous ideas.

The Nature of Father:
The nature of Father himself may, in fact, be in like with Kabbalah. Father is a very mysterious being- he came into existence as a shadow in a jar but already had incredible knowledge. His nature and his goals are not yet known in the manga, but they seem like they could be in line with Sitra Achra (“The other side”) in Kabbalah.

Evil exists in Kabbalah as the absence of God’s will. Because God is everything and God is good, evil can only exist where God is absent. God is absent because he withdraws his will from reality in order to allow free will and human autonomy. This allows “evil” or Sitra Achra into the world. However, Sitra Achra does not have a true existence- it is variously described as something like a shadow from God’s light or a parasite on the physical universe. It underlies reality but has no life or existence of its own- it can only derive life as a parasite and it will be eradicated at the end of time when God extends his will. ( Sitra Achra- I’ve read a number of links with different information, but this one is short and easy to understand. It is just one interpretation, though, and others get really complex. Also, see the Wikipedia Kabbalah page above for more).

Father may actually be a manifestation of Sitra Achra. He is an entity that had knowledge beyond what he could have attained when created in the flask, indicating another existence. His manifestation in the physical world required a creation by Hohenheim’s master using Hohenheim’s blood- this can be seen as an example of his parasitic nature, as he was unable to attain physical form without both a human creating him and human blood. His original form is a shadow, which is also consistent with Sitra Achra, which is a kind of shadow from God’s will. His confinement to the flask may be due his existence requiring the absence of God- he may only be able to maintain his physical form in a small realm where he can keep out God (Truth), since the rest of the physical world belongs to Truth.

His parasitic existence is further indicated by his need for human beings to create a body for him through evil acts (he cannot do this himself), as well as his body being made up of human souls. It is of interest that Father has grown older and decayed over time, but Hohenheim hasn’t. This may again be due to Father being a parasite: he needs to draw energy from these souls simply to maintain his existence in the world and has grown older as he wore them out. Hohenheim, on the other hand, would have an intrinsic existence. Even in the present, Father is still a parasite who requires humans to perform evil deeds to complete his plans and needs humans for the transmutation he wants performed- he simply cannot do these things himself. It is also worth noting that Hohenheim refers to him as still being trapped- Father may be more powerful now, but he must still stay where he can keep God out. It is possible that the absence of God is the weird thing that the Xingese characters felt within Amestris.

(Note: I may be wrong on some elements of the manga in the discussion of Father since I did not double check that all of it is correct with the manga. Please let me know if I screwed anything up).

Ishbala:
This is just a quick note about the link between Ishbala, the Ishbalan god, and Kabbalah. The name Ishbala could come from Jewish Kabbalah (the version of Kabbalah that I'm referring to here). If this is the case, it is likely that the Ishbalans have a better understanding of the world than the Amestrians because the world’s true nature appears to be governed by Kabbalah, not alchemy.



That’s all I can write on this, but Kabbalah is much deeper and more complex than this- honestly I don’t understand it at all. Hopefully I did not screw too much up. There are also many types of thinking within Kabbalah, since it was derived by many different rabbis over many centuries- it is hard to know which perception of Kabbalah Arakawa has based this on. But this explains some of the main principles of Kabbalah as they could relate to FMA, as best as I am able to interpret them. Maybe someone else can do better with a little research.

There are many, many things in the manga that I have not discussed here and could potentially be related to Kabbalah: I'm hoping this thread can be used for discussion of these things, as well as discussions of reasons for and against some of the possible interpretations listed above. (Possible things of interest: Ishbalan teachings, the second time at the gate, Scar's brother's research, etc.)

(Edited 5/21/09 to put links within text instead of at the end and make some minor changes).

Thanks for all this. I always knew a bit about kabbalah and a bit on relating it to FMA, but this is in far greater detail. The bit with Father's form and shadow is very interesting. I'm going to digest this for a bit.

It's great to find someone who knows a bit about Kabbalah. Does my interpretation make sense with what you know about Kabbalah? I only even learned Kabbalah existed from looking up words on the Door of Truth- so, it might be good to hear from someone who had knowledge of Kabbalah outside of what they found out from this (unless you came across it the same way).

======================================================

Something I did not mention in my first post: "Eheih Pater," which is clearly visible at the top of the door means "I am Father".

"Eheih" is a variation of "Eheyeh," which is a way of saying "I am" in Hebrew.

"Pater," on the other hand, is the Latin word for "Father," and is used as a prefix in words like "paternal" or "patriarch."

"Corona," appearing in the same circle and discussed in my first post, is also Latin.

So Arakawa is mixing at least 2 languages for this: she is sometimes also using less common variations on spelling or altering words slightly so they are different but still recognizable. As far as I can tell, all the words (and symbols) in this manga actually mean something, though I haven't looked up that many.

Must point, though, that that's only on Ed's door. Al's door has a different design (don't remember if there's a better pic elsewhere). From that we can conclude that the engraving on the doors of truth must br subjective for everyone... or sth.

I think someone around here posted what Al's one was (maybe Kaballah related too?), but I don't remember what, who, where or when.

Yeah, it's completely different, haven't noticed that!:

http://www.onemanga.com/Full_Metal_Alchemist/53/32/
http://www.onemanga.com/Full_Metal_Alchemist/53/33-34/

Thank you, chaton for detailed analysis! To be honest, I don't understand all of it, but it makes sense!

Edit: Oh, isn't that Yggdrasil Tree? I have no idea if that's the same as "Tree of Life"

I don't understand much about Kabbalah, but I found some links and images I thought I might share. Might be partially offtopic, but it was already being discussed in this thread, so...

First, on Ed's Doors there's Robert Fludd's Sephirothic Tree, which indeed has a lot to do with Kabbalah (but that's clear if you've read the fisrt mesage in this thread, of course). Anyway, I found some information about it here.

The picture on Al's doors is more difficult to find information about. It's obviously based on an illustration that can be found here (look at the one numbered "A046"). That's the only place I've found a picture of it, and it's quite small. (Maybe if someone ordered the print...). Also, the only information about the illustration is that it's an

That does not exactly tell much about what it means.

EDIT: Here's the image, I added it so that everyone doesn't have to follow the link to see it:



The clearest image if Al's doors in the manga can be found from chapter 73. Because it's not very clear in any scans, I scanned a panel from my own copy of Volume 18 and photoshopped the brightness/contrast a bit.


Hmm. Unlike the original illustration, this one has a sun.

Also, I've tried to draw a clearer picture of it, since all the pics I've found are either small or unclear. My drawing's missing most of the text, because I could not figure out what it said, but I wrote what I could figure out. (Don't rely too much on that, I'm fairly sure I made mistakes.)



[EDIT.] Also, there was some discussion about the design of Al's Doors (and a mention of the Sephirothic Tree on Ed's Doors as well) on Livejournal. The discussion is a couple of years' old, but apparently I had the page bookmarked and found it. Here.

This is all really great information. I'm definitely going to have to look that up. Just when I was starting to think I was getting it figured out.

It's also good to know that Ed's tree comes from Robert Fludd- but it seems to refer to Christian Kabbalah rather than Jewish Kabbalah, as I previously thought.- (and Al's may be a Hermetic symbol, so it may have to do with (Hermetic Qabbalah). I need to do a lot more research, but if others did not find much of anything, it may not be possible. Thanks for all the great information.

By the way, good job on the picture, too. Interesting that both have the crown on top. I wonder if the sun is just a representation of the soul- wasn't it said previously that the sun represents the soul in FMA?

By the way, I cannot make out the words too well, on yours either. I can make out "corpus" (body in latin) and "spiritus" (breath, breathing, life, spirit in latin) and "anima" ("life, soul" in latin) on top. Do you know the other words, and/or their meanings?

Well Christian Kabbalah was taken from Jewish Kabblah and Mysticism so I am not really sure if there is any actual differences between the two. But either way I am sure Arakawa takes her ideas from many places not just one.

Anyways this discussion is very interesting so thanks for bringing it up with all these interesting details. I wish I had more thoughts to add on what it all means but unfortunately I really have no idea. I like to think that Arakawa is just taken the basic ideas from these things and forming her own mythology.

I do agree with the notion that Ed & Al have different doors because they each have their own version of truth. That one person's truth will be different from someone else's truth.

On another note although not as poopular as it was in the Middle ages the Kabbalah is still studied by some today. There is also this which is open up to basically anyone who is interested. It is also studied quite a bit in the city of Safed


edit: Can you remind me what chapter this conversation occurred?

When Ed asked Envy if Father was trying to become God, Envy said something along the lines of “That’s close.”

I've tried to find out more information about the image on Al's doors, but I wasn't really able to find much anything. It's way easier to find information about Fludd's Tree.


It could be that. It was said that sun symbolizes the soul.


...Those were pretty much the only things I could surely make out myself. Also, I'm fairly sure but not certain that on the left side of the triangle, it says "In Unitate" and on the right side "Ternarius". Also, in the fruit-thingy on the right side, I'm fairly sure it says "Leo Rubeus" ("Red Lion", maybe?).

I'm curious about this. I don't know specifically about alchemy or Kabbalah, but, from what I am familiar with, Western philosophy and religion generally has not allowed for multiple truths- it's always a search for or belief in one absolute truth. But the idea of multiple truths makes the most sense explaining the different doors.

Eastern philosophy, I think, is much friendlier to the idea of multiple truths. As you said previously, Arakawa is drawing from multiple sources of mythology and philosophy. Could this be an example of eastern philosophy coming in to play? Are there other examples? Or is this an aspect of alchemy, Kabbalah, or another Western tradition that I am not familiar with? Or maybe this is not intended to draw on any tradition? Hmm... I'll have to think about this.



Oops. I made a mistake here. I hadn't re-read the manga in a couple years, and the last part about Father I thought of and wrote up only at the last minute. I really did not check the manga on much of it, but since the part about Father was almost completely speculation, I did not think it was a big deal.

Here's the mistake I made: I mixed up the conversation between Envy and Marcoh in Ch. 49 with the conversation between Ed and Envy in Ch. 53. In Ch. 49, Marcoh asks Envy if they are trying to turn the country into a giant philosopher stone and Envy answers "That's close" (or depending on the translation, "You're on the right track.") In Ch. 53, Ed theorizes to Envy that Father is trying to surpass God and Envy neither refutes nor confirms what he says. Since I had previously thought both of these were true, I was curious about the "That's close," but apparently not curious enough to remember in which case it was said. I still don't know why Marcoh's statement was only "close."

I'm editing the first post to remove that statement and add a disclaimer that I did not double check the manga on the part I wrote about Father.



I looked too, but I have not found any information. I wonder if that picture is mislabeled. Searching images for "George Ripley" or "Marrow of Alchemy" turns up that picture, but nothing else similar. Either the site mislabeled it or they took the image directly from its source in the British Library. It may actually be both, since MS. Sloane 3667 (the call numbers), appears to refer to a collection of manuscripts from the 17th century, not only to the "Marrow of Alchemy." This site may have attributed this to the wrong manuscript within that collection. I refuse to believe this picture is so rare that it is only found in one manuscript in the British Library and in one low-quality scan on the Internet. Arakawa must have come across it somehow, so it is probably common enough to be reprinted in Japanese.

If this picture is, in fact, from "The Marrow of Alchemy," I'm wondering if this picture is unique to this version of the book- the site says the book version it is from is from the 17th century, but George Ripley lived in the 15th century. This may be an interpretation of his work rather than something he created himself. Either way, by reading the "Marrow of Alchemy," it should be possible to make some sense of the picture (if that is truly the source), but I'm not ready to do that yet.

If this is wrongly attributed the the "Marrow of Alchemy," then my working hypothesis is that it is from another manuscript in the collection. I'd like to figure out what part it is in. Here's a link for anyone who wants to see the other possible sources. (See 3667) I'm going to go through them later and see what I can find out. Either way, I'm curious now and am not ready to admit defeat.

While I don't think this discussion is off-topic (since figuring this out would help us determine how important the role of Kabbalah in FMA is), I'm considering changing the thread name to reflect this part of the discussion as well.



Thanks. Your eyesight must be a lot better than mine, since I could only make out a blur no matter what I did. This should be of help either searching or determining how the image relates to the text of the "Marrow of Alchemy."

you my friend seem to be extremely knowladgeable. this is really interesting and i think from what i've seen here that its a very good observation. maybe there is a link between alchemy references that arakawa used.

first thing yehovah is god's real name and the god in hebrow it's elohim, second thing nezzahh is forever, gvurah is bravery and malchut is kingship and i know what i'm talking about couse i'm jewish and know hebrow better than english.

Some very good work here! Thankyou, some bits and pieces I allready knew, I asked my very knowedgable mother for translations for what the stuff on the doors said, but theres so much more I didn't know, its all very interesting and all the links you've made are very clever.

Ive noticed that the symbols on the Gate looks a lot like jewish "tree of life" with its 10 names for God and 10 sephiroths the names are actually written on the gate. Has anyone noticed that and why do you think it is only on Eds Gate but not on Als?

<@vionasoancY - Welcome to our board! I moved your post here from FMA-2 News thread. Please feel free to re-edit your post to fit this thread, and also please feel free to delete this note after you read it. ^^ ~ Tombow>

In case someone is still interested in the design of Alphonse's Doors, I started searching again, trying to google other works from MS. Sloane 3667, as chaton had suggested, and I eventually came across a work called Catholicon Physicorum, by Samuel Norton. You can see it here. Now, if you look at the fifth page, it looks kind of familiar...

The visual design is a bit different, but the writing looks quite identical (with the biggest difference being that this is clear enough to read). You can see some other related pictures here. Some googling around indicates that the images are illustrations for this series of texts by Norton:
i. Mercurius Redivivus.
ii. Catholicon Physicorum.
iii. Venus virtiolata.
iv. Elixir, seu Medicina Vitæ.
v. Saturnus saturatus dissolutus & coelo restitutus.
vi. Metamorphosis lapidum ignobilium in Gemmas pretiosas.
vii. Alchymiæ Complementum et perfectio.
viii. Auslegung der duncklen Wörter, Namen und seltzamen Reden, so in dieser Kunst geführet werden.

(Catholicon Physicorum is the one in which the illustration that looks a lot like the image on Al's Doors is featured.)

Very interesting discussion so far.
I also noticed that other transmutation circles-- the one in the fifth lab, for instance-- have a fair amount of Latin thrown in.

On the subject of gates, we've got another for discussion (SPOILERS AHOY): http://www.onemanga.com/Full_Metal_Alchemist/102/014/

Now this is interesting. It doesn't seem to have any writing on it. Edit: I lied about the writing http://www.onemanga.com/Full_Metal_Alchemist/102/015/ but it does seem to have a lot less writing on it than the other gates have. The design seems a little similar to those of his gloves... and is that a double helix looped through it?

I haven't done much research, but I might hazard a theory that not only Kabbalah, but other historical alchemy has been used in creating the alchemy system here. It seems like Arakawa did a lot of research, then fused it into FMA's alchemy system.

Honestly, I am nothing short of amazed at all this. I read through this topic and I wasn't sure how to comprehend everything, let alone type down my amazement in a grateful statement. Haha. Anyways, this discussion here is really very interesting to me. This whole concept of the Kabbalah was something I never heard of before and what little I know of it from this topic has given me the urge to go look it up. The relationship between God and the mortal world was always something we (or at least I) as humans have always pondered upon, and though, it wasn't at the top of my list to research, it's pretty thought provoking.

A lot of this stuff is pretty in depth, and I'm generally not the type of person to dig deep into this type of things and for that chaton. ropespiner and everyone else who has participated in this discussion, I want to thank you and encourage your guys to keep drying to decipher this "code" since I don't think I'm as smart as you guys on here.

Oh and I agree with Katya's statement. The fact that Arakawa went so deep into this is nothing shy of incredible.

Long time ago, I tried to draw a pic of Al's Doors (yep, I'm still talking about that. I feel like I'm spamming, sorry...), but since all source images were so unclear, it was left unfinished. But now I that I found that illustration from Catholicon Physicorum, where the text was clear enough to read, I tried again. (Also it helped that chapter 102 and the Brotherhood anime have since supplied us with some slightly clearer images of Al's Doors).



(This must be the the geekiest thing I've ever done!)

Also, I was trying to google more information about the image and Catholicon Physicorum, and I came across this. There some of Norton's illustrations are explained; not this particular one, but others from the same book, and they seem to be quite connected, so adapting that explanation when trying to interpret the image on Al's door should not be too far-fetched.

I'm especially interested in the fact that the text (Dictionary of Alchemy) talks about the separation and reunion of body and soul as a phase when trying to create what can be called the Philosopher's Stone, and the graphs in Norton's Catholicon Physiocorum seem to, at least partially, represent that.

On the subject of Roy's gate...I think that double-helix part could be two snakes. I brightened it on Photoshop (to the best of my ability) and it looks really similar to an image I found in the gallery on that Alchemy website.

I wonder if Arakawa stuck different imagery together on Roy's gate? I can't find the same image anywhere. =o

I'm really enjoying this discussion; thank you to Ropespinner for the brilliant drawing! The meaning of it is so apt considering Al's situation. : D

I'll take a look at my copy of Gangan, but from what I could see on the actual pages (not from a scan), was that the double-helix is either two snakes or two dragons (the heads were kinda hard to see).

That would also make sense; there's a lot of snake imagery related to alchemy. It could also be salamanders, which are associated with fire.

Wow. That was actually really interesting. O.O Made me wanna do some research, so I did! It's concerning Roy's gate ^^

I think it is snakes, serpents do seem to be very common in alchemy (and it kinda looks like there's scales on the picture).

As for what it is, I've looked up serpents in alchemy before and found what it kind of looks like, though I'm not entirely sure:

The Caduceus



This is two snakes wrapped around a central axis (in this case, it would be the line where the gate opens). Caduceus represents mercury(or Hermes), although it can also represent duality. This is quite interesting as the method to achieve the Philosopher's Stone is to bring this together to make one. (as far as I understand from what I read)

Hermes was also said to have invented fire, which is quite appropriate for Mustang.

Also, on Mustang's gate, there seems to be two triangles, I'm not sure but these could be like the ones on Mustang's gloves(the inverted triangle is earth and the other is air), or it could be the symbols for fire and water. The triangles look like they're coming together, and I'm sure I've read somewhere that opposites(eg. fire & water) joining together can also create the Philosopher's Stone.

And of course, we also see the sun which represents the soul. There's also something at the bottom of Roy's gate, but I can't really tell what it is exactly.

On another note, have we ever seen Izumi's gate? I can't remember, and if anyone finds it, please let me know where abouts in the manga it is.

^That's the picture I was referring to in my post! Thank you so much for posting it! : D

And that bit about the triangles coming together is really interesting!

It appears - from my untrained eye - that Roy's gate design is the same as Riza's back tattoo (the secret of flame alchemy). If it's not exactly the same, then it's darn close:

Roy's Gate is similar to, but not exactly, the same as Riza's tattoo. Many of the same elements are there (two snakes, a sun, the triangles) but it's not the exact thing.

Also, in looking at the raw of ch. 103 in Gangan, I like the fact that Scar's tattoo for 'reconstruction' is a caduceus.

I think they did show Izumi's gate. It was brief, but I remember it. It was when Ed and Al learn Izumi committed human transmutation in Brotherhood. It only lasted five seconds, so I'll post the pictures later.

I always wanted to learn about science from over two hundred years ago, and it still fascinates me to this day. This is really cool on what you guys are doing! The only word I knew was "anima," yet you guys know so much! Amazing, I'm going to my local library to do research this weekend, this is so interesting!

This thread just made me love FMA that much more.
Kudos to you X's 100000 Ropespinner for that work on Al's gate. It's amazing.


Just a friendly tip deet, we class this sort of comment as spam, as it adds nothing to the discussion. Can we be careful not to do this in the future, and if you want to compliment a members work, why not send them a PM? - Chiyo

I find it extremely awesome that people are interested in this, I’ve always loved Arakawa’s incorporation of Alchemy’s roots.

I just want to add some of the background info on what Kabballah is in general.

And as a pre-face to my statement on Kabballah (I’m Jewish, have a little knowledge of its study and themes), please read the following 2 paragraphs:

There are those who train their minds for many many years, Buddhists for example who may be able to exert their spiritual energy onto the world... after they train their minds for many, many yrs., (assuming most of their entire life, at least 40,50+ yrs. i'd say... ) there are some that say tests have shown more brain activity in learned and trained Buddhists than in normal ppl. or beginner Buddhists... and there are some who have studied and trained all their lives who i've heard are rumored to be able to use telepathy or the amazing exertion of energy from their body in the form of physical properties - but note that these ppl. have trained their body and mind for many many yrs.

Now combine this idea of many intense years of study with a science.
Alchemy was that science, that combined early elements of chemistry with wizardry, religion and mysticism, including the idea that the human soul acted as a catalyst for chemical reactions (thus the transmutation circles dreamt up by Ms. Arakawa in order to symbolize the chemical reaction). They believed that when they heated an element and combined it with another element, the creation of a third, seemingly different element was partially b/c of their souls involvement in the process (i.e. they did it themselves, nature not included). This incorporation of soul in the process was not an idea cooked up during the scientific process – in fact it was borrowed from the religious ideals surrounding the time.

on that note...

It is extremely difficult to understand Kabballah as it was meant to be. It is not just some philosophy book you can pick up at a library, it has references and logic that needs to be learnt before – similar to the reason you don’t open a Calc. III book without learning I or II.

Kabballah is a mystical belief that incorporates the many ideas and texts of the Torah, Nevi'im (Judges or Prophets), Ketubim (extra writings which include Psalms, Song of Solomon, Ruth, the book of Esther, the chronicles of the Judeain (Jewish) Kings) - and was commented on in the Gemara (book of law) by many Rishonim and Geonim (different generations of Rabbis)...

It is said to include in it the secrets of Judaism and the secrets of G-d Himself, God's creation of the universe and the laws of nature, and the path by which Adult Religious Jews can learn these secrets...

Why Adult? The same way Buddhists and others train their mind, body and soul for yrs., so too was the requirement for the study of Kabballah - A religious Jew who is past the age of 40 and has studied extensively the writings of the Tanach (the Torah, Nevi'im and Ketubim combined) and Gemarah so much so that he would be able to quote any Gemarah or line in Tanach in a heartbeat (which only very few Rabbis have ever accomplished - such examples today may be the head Rabbis in the world and the most learned Rabbis... of their day, these Rabbis were Rashi, Maimonides, Nahmanides and others)

This is truly possible. There is something called the pin test – stick a pin in any page of the Gemarah, and some learned Rabbis can recall every letter that pin would touch on every page of the over 6,000 or so pages.

He must also understand Gematria (letter-number connections) and commentaries such as Tosafot, Rashi and the like... Moreover, he must have learnt for many, many yrs.!

Today’s extreme view of Kabballah (such as Madonna and others) is so off and wrong, it is shameful to those Religious and Learned Jews and philosophers who actually understand it...

But Arakawa did her research, and her addition of Alchemy's connection to religious symbols is truly a statement about her dedication to accuracy in her work.

It is also a great way to start philosophical discussions huh?

This is amazing! When I started watching the first series I thought of the alchemy in FMA as a vulgarisation of historical alchemy that had little semblance to the original. Later, I was impressed with Al being turned himself into the philosopher's stone, and now I realise that my original judgement was wrong and that it was I who had an incomplete understanding of alchemy.

Not to be a complete spammer, in case this hasn't been already said, the 'Red Lion' that has been mentioned previously is one of the many symbols of the Philisopher's Stone.

Found something that made me do a double-take. And then make me crap bricks.

I was re-reading chapter 30 and looking at the individual images of Al's memory from when he was in the gate.
And then I saw this
http://s65.photobucket.com/albums/h219/sag...waIsAmazing.jpg

Obviously, the far right image.

But the one on the left, we've seen here.
http://www.onemanga.com/Full_Metal_Alchemist/102/014/

Figured it was worthy of discussion. Because it made me gasp out loud.

OSH----

Instead of just leaving a shocked exclamation, I shall also wonder if any of the others saw the eclipse in their Gate, "off-screen."

Also. Guesses for what Roy saw at the Gate? The fact that we haven't found out yet makes me think it'll be important.

I'm starting to wonder if we'll ever see Roy's gate