Kabbalah

[Octavia156]

Greetings cousins,

Are there any practising Kabbalists on this forum?

I work with the Hermetic Qabala, and would enjoy some comparitive dicussion on the subject.

 

[Levite]

Greetings cousins,

Are there any practising Kabbalists on this forum?

I work with the Hermetic Qabala, and would enjoy some comparitive dicussion on the subject.

I learn Kabbalah. I mostly "practice" in terms of studying for the purpose of spiritual advancement, and meditating for clarity and balance. But I have learned from some of the more practical texts, and have on occasion put into practice what I learned there, although strictly low-level stuff.

I have been friendly with several people who were Wiccans, Thelemists, practitioners of "natural spirituality," and others who occasionally employed elements of the Hermetic Qabala. It's interesting stuff, from the little I learned about it.

 

[Zardoz]

Greetings cousins,

Are there any practising Kabbalists on this forum?

I work with the Hermetic Qabala, and would enjoy some comparitive dicussion on the subject.

Shalom

I used to be into the Kabbala in the '70s

Today the Kabbala still shapes my view of many things; how I perceive the various aspects of Judaism and the World. So, I guess I'm still a 'practicing Kabbalist'.

Talk about it more after Shabbat I guess...

 

[Octavia156]

DO you work with the Tree of Life?

 

[Levite]

DO you work with the Tree of Life?

I'm not sure what it means in your parlance to "work with" the Tree of Life. I do use a Sefirotic understanding of the emanations of God. I am not primarily a Zoharic or Lurianic Kabbalist: my primary texts are Sefer Yetzirah and Sefer ha-Bahir, so my Tree of Life is the classic ten sefirot, unencumbered by the modalities of Atik Yamin, Ze'er Anpin, Abba/Ima, etc.

I have and do use meditation on the different sefirot for drawing down different kinds of shefa.

And I sometimes meditate on different sefirot when I am travelling in different places, to try and better connect me to the energies of the place I am in.

 

[Octavia156]

Intersting, thank you.

Yes I do similar work with the Sephirot.. invoking their specific energies when needed I use the planetary correspondences for them - do you also?
Do you work with the paths at all?

 

[Levite]

Yes I do similar work with the Sephirot.. invoking their specific energies when needed I use the planetary correspondences for them - do you also?
Do you work with the paths at all?

The paths? You mean like the 32 netivot from Sefer Yetzirah? I've done some permutations of the Name in meditation, using the gematria tablature from Sefer Yetzirah. And I did some study of the correspondences of the permutations of the Name and the permutations of the mother letters and the doubled letters in the commentary of Rabbi Eliezer ha-Rokeach of Worms.

I don't usually do a lot with the planets or constellations. The astrological relations have never done a whole lot for me, although I admit that sometimes I have used them in their connections to the hosts of angels described in the Hekhalot.

I confess I am curious: given that the Hermetic Qabala is much different, do you also study the classical Kabbalistic works? Do you find them helpful?

 

[Octavia156]

The paths? You mean like the 32 netivot from Sefer Yetzirah? I've done some permutations of the Name in meditation, using the gematria tablature from Sefer Yetzirah. And I did some study of the correspondences of the permutations of the Name and the permutations of the mother letters and the doubled letters in the commentary of Rabbi Eliezer ha-Rokeach of Worms.

I don't usually do a lot with the planets or constellations. The astrological relations have never done a whole lot for me, although I admit that sometimes I have used them in their connections to the hosts of angels described in the Hekhalot.

I confess I am curious: given that the Hermetic Qabala is much different, do you also study the classical Kabbalistic works? Do you find them helpful?

I work mainly with Crowley's Qabalistic system - Liber 777 and Sepher Sephiroth. alongside the Keys of Solomon and One Star in Sight.
As I'm not Jewish, the Kabbalah for me is not the language of God, but the language of the Universe.
As such I work cery closely with the Astrological correspondences of the paths and the sephira, seeing that the Tree of Life is both a map of the Universe and a map of my soul. I seek to make the map my territory

The Tree of Life is the map of choice for the most mystical of Thelemites, where in we literally climb the Tree by working with every path and sephiroth completely from Malkuth to Kether... though most of us only get half way...

Were you aware the Tarot is a complete qabalistic system?

 

[Caladan]

Were you aware the Tarot is a complete qabalistic system?

I own the Crowley's Thoth deck, and I do enjoy indulging myself in the qabalistic richness of the cards.

 

[Octavia156]

Likewise... indeed it was that very deck that initiated me into Magick

 

[Levite]

I work mainly with Crowley's Qabalistic system - Liber 777 and Sepher Sephiroth. alongside the Keys of Solomon and One Star in Sight.
As I'm not Jewish, the Kabbalah for me is not the language of God, but the language of the Universe.
As such I work cery closely with the Astrological correspondences of the paths and the sephira, seeing that the Tree of Life is both a map of the Universe and a map of my soul. I seek to make the map my territory

The Tree of Life is the map of choice for the most mystical of Thelemites, where in we literally climb the Tree by working with every path and sephiroth completely from Malkuth to Kether... though most of us only get half way...

Were you aware the Tarot is a complete qabalistic system?

I had heard that the Tarot could be interpreted qabalistically. I was actually taught to read Tarot many years ago, in a fusion of the Romany and the Celtic systems; but have come to believe that Tarot and runes, and other such types of divination are not actually magical, but are a psychic ability, wherein one taps into the collective unconscious of the human race using systems of archetypal symbols, in order to use the preconscious and superconscious psyche to "forecast" a probable future patterning for someone based upon their observed energy patterns in resonance with the universe.

In part, I think this belief helps me be able to continue reading Tarot as a practicing Jew. If I really believed that the Tarot were magical devices, and the divination was mystical, I would have to design a specifically Jewish Tarot deck to be certain I was not divining in a way that invoked non-Jewish structures of theology.

That's always a challenge for a Jewish practitioner: if one examines the roots of Jewish law carefully, much of what we think is prohibited to us in terms of practical mysticism or "magic" is actually not necessarily prohibited. But one must be careful to utilize modalities which, even if syncretic, are not treading on the toes of monotheism or of accepted Jewish mystical thought. You always have trade-offs if you exist within a structured spiritual system, but I guess in the end it all works out OK....

 

[Octavia156]

I had heard that the Tarot could be interpreted qabalistically. I was actually taught to read Tarot many years ago, in a fusion of the Romany and the Celtic systems; but have come to believe that Tarot and runes, and other such types of divination are not actually magical, but are a psychic ability, wherein one taps into the collective unconscious of the human race using systems of archetypal symbols, in order to use the preconscious and superconscious psyche to "forecast" a probable future patterning for someone based upon their observed energy patterns in resonance with the universe.

In part, I think this belief helps me be able to continue reading Tarot as a practicing Jew. If I really believed that the Tarot were magical devices, and the divination was mystical, I would have to design a specifically Jewish Tarot deck to be certain I was not divining in a way that invoked non-Jewish structures of theology.

That's always a challenge for a Jewish practitioner: if one examines the roots of Jewish law carefully, much of what we think is prohibited to us in terms of practical mysticism or "magic" is actually not necessarily prohibited. But one must be careful to utilize modalities which, even if syncretic, are not treading on the toes of monotheism or of accepted Jewish mystical thought. You always have trade-offs if you exist within a structured spiritual system, but I guess in the end it all works out OK....

Dear Levite

I'm willing to entertain the belief that some Tarot readers have psychic abilities, but like you I believe this is most probably down to their unique 'ability' (or in some cases non-ability) to read micro-bodylanguage.

However I am not one of these gifted people (yet).. my reading of the cards is purely scientific and purely based on qabalisitic correspondences and my attempt to interpret them.
Its one big code.
For me, because I possess no apparent psychic ability, and I have approached the cards as a scientist with a qabalisitc manual.. the fact that I have had remarkable results, is some evidence that there is something in the cards

Just like there is something in the qabala... its a picture of the universe.

 

[Abulafia]

I have been reading a book (Foucault's Pendulum), that has consistent allusions to the Kabbalah, and its adherents....

So...I looked up Kabbalah (which is written "Cabala" in the book :sad in Chamber's Dictionary of the Unexplained, failing to find it in Webster's Collegiate or Bulfinch's Mythology....so....now I'm enthralled...

Could you provide any material (i.e. with pages) references that have a good description and explanation of the Kabbalah...without being entirely esoteric? I mean, The Zohar is said to be nearly impossible to comprehend, even to Jewish Scholars, and I can't find much lit. online....

Thanks for your help...

-Abu

 

[Levite]

I have been reading a book (Foucault's Pendulum), that has consistent allusions to the Kabbalah, and its adherents....

So...I looked up Kabbalah (which is written "Cabala" in the book) in Chamber's Dictionary of the Unexplained, failing to find it in Webster's Collegiate or Bulfinch's Mythology....so....now I'm enthralled...

Could you provide any material (i.e. with pages) references that have a good description and explanation of the Kabbalah...without being entirely esoteric? I mean, The Zohar is said to be nearly impossible to comprehend, even to Jewish Scholars, and I can't find much lit. online....

Thanks for your help...

-Abu

Ah, yes, lovely book, Foucault's Pendulum! Dense reading, but lots of fun.

OK, so if you're interested in some basic explanations of Kabbalah and its nature and history, the go-to works are those of Gershom Scholem. He is the classic academic investigator of Kabbalah.

On The Kabbalah and Its Significance
Kabbalah
Origins of the Kabbalah
Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism
On The Mystical Shape of the Godhead

Those are his five best, and I think they are quite readable.

Some additional options include:

Kabbalah: The Way of Light, by Rabbi Lawrence Kushner
Kabbalah: A Very Short Introduction, by Joseph Dan
Kabbalah: A Brief Introduction for Christians, by Tamar Frankiel
Inner Space: Introduction to Kabbalah, Meditation, and Prophecy, by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan

And some tangential, but worthwhile, readings include:

Jewish Magic and Superstition: A Study In Folk Religion, by Joshua Trachtenberg
The Encyclopedia of Jewish Myth, Magic, and Mysticism, by Rabbi Geoffrey W. Dennis

A general rule (there are some exceptions, but few) is that books on Kabbalah by non-Jews are generally not about Jewish Kabbalah, but about non-Jewish mystical systems that claim descent from Kabbalah, or claim to be "real" Kabbalah or "lost" Kabbalah, or have simply taken the name to themselves for whatever reason. Many, if spelled Qabala or Qabalah are actually about Western Mysticism, which is a fine mystical tradition, it just happens not to be Jewish.

You should be wary of anything written by Z'ev ben Shimon Halevi. He is a sketchy character, and his authenticity is in question.

You should shun anything written by Yehuda or Michael Berg, or from the Kabbalah Centre. They are hucksters and charlatans, and what they teach is not Kabbalah, but merely Jewishly-influenced cultishness in an attempt to profit from the hapless. Also do not trust anything by Michael Laitman, or from the Bnei Baruch Kabbalah Education & Research Institute (also called Bet Kabbalah l'Am): they are like the Kabbalah Centre, only slightly less odious.

Also, any book about Kabbalah that claims to reveal lost secrets of the ancients, or secrets of how to attain mystical powers, or how to attain mystical revelations, or how anyone-- Jewish or non-Jewish-- can use Kabbalah in their daily lives, are all complete wastes of time and not worth picking up.

I'm certainly not saying, BTW, that studying Kabbalah might not really be able to teach you secrets and help you attain revelations; but I do think that it could only come about through painstaking understanding of the subtlest nuances of the great mystical texts-- in the original. Hebrew is an exceptionally difficult language to translate anyhow, and mystical poetry is difficult to truly grasp in any language. But to truly comprehend Hebrew mystical poetry from a synthesis of someone's English prose translations? No.

Do feel free to ask for more recommendations, or for help with any concepts that you feel are perplexing. Always glad to help.

 

[Octavia156]

I have been reading a book (Foucault's Pendulum), that has consistent allusions to the Kabbalah, and its adherents....

So...I looked up Kabbalah (which is written "Cabala" in the book :sad in Chamber's Dictionary of the Unexplained, failing to find it in Webster's Collegiate or Bulfinch's Mythology....so....now I'm enthralled...

Could you provide any material (i.e. with pages) references that have a good description and explanation of the Kabbalah...without being entirely esoteric? I mean, The Zohar is said to be nearly impossible to comprehend, even to Jewish Scholars, and I can't find much lit. online....

Thanks for your help...

-Abu

The Chicken Qabalah by Lon Milo DuQuette is the lightest wittiest explanation of the Qabala you will find.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

 

[David_2010]

Ah, yes, lovely book, Foucault's Pendulum! Dense reading, but lots of fun.

OK, so if you're interested in some basic explanations of Kabbalah and its nature and history, the go-to works are those of Gershom Scholem. He is the classic academic investigator of Kabbalah.

On The Kabbalah and Its Significance
Kabbalah
Origins of the Kabbalah
Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism
On The Mystical Shape of the Godhead

Those are his five best, and I think they are quite readable.

Some additional options include:

Kabbalah: The Way of Light, by Rabbi Lawrence Kushner
Kabbalah: A Very Short Introduction, by Joseph Dan
Kabbalah: A Brief Introduction for Christians, by Tamar Frankiel
Inner Space: Introduction to Kabbalah, Meditation, and Prophecy, by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan

And some tangential, but worthwhile, readings include:

Jewish Magic and Superstition: A Study In Folk Religion, by Joshua Trachtenberg
The Encyclopedia of Jewish Myth, Magic, and Mysticism, by Rabbi Geoffrey W. Dennis

A general rule (there are some exceptions, but few) is that books on Kabbalah by non-Jews are generally not about Jewish Kabbalah, but about non-Jewish mystical systems that claim descent from Kabbalah, or claim to be "real" Kabbalah or "lost" Kabbalah, or have simply taken the name to themselves for whatever reason. Many, if spelled Qabala or Qabalah are actually about Western Mysticism, which is a fine mystical tradition, it just happens not to be Jewish.

You should be wary of anything written by Z'ev ben Shimon Halevi. He is a sketchy character, and his authenticity is in question.

You should shun anything written by Yehuda or Michael Berg, or from the Kabbalah Centre. They are hucksters and charlatans, and what they teach is not Kabbalah, but merely Jewishly-influenced cultishness in an attempt to profit from the hapless. Also do not trust anything by Michael Laitman, or from the Bnei Baruch Kabbalah Education & Research Institute (also called Bet Kabbalah l'Am): they are like the Kabbalah Centre, only slightly less odious.

I want to read Scholem's 'Kabbalah', it sounds like a great introduction. I've also heard good things about Rabbi Geoffrey W. Dennis, his book sounds very cool, and I like his blog. I'm also at the beginning of 'Jewish Magic and Superstition' (I really like learning about paranormal/magical/mystical topics). I've heard a lot of negative things about the Bergs, and Laitman (someone told me that he believes all other systems aren't as good as his, including other Jewish mystical paths, and they're either inferior or come from dark sources or something like that).

Although, I've read some of Halevi's books, and, even though I'm a complete beginner to the Kabbalah and Judaism, I did kind of like his work, so far anyway. I like how he draws parallels to other traditions and also psychology (particularly the work of Jung, and Freud). Isn't he considered authentic?.

The Chicken Qabalah by Lon Milo DuQuette is the lightest wittiest explanation of the Qabala you will find.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

I read that a few years ago when I was about 18, or 19, but, and this may just be me, but, it didn't really help me understand the Kabbalah that much. I think authors like Rabbi Arthur Green, Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, Halevi (although, again, with him, I'm only going with my impressions), and William G. Gray (he wasn't Jewish, I think he was more a Hermeticist(sp?) or Esoteric Christian, but, apparantly, his work has quite a bit in common with Orthodox Jewish Kabbalah).

That may be just me, though.

 

[Abulafia]

Ah, yes, lovely book, Foucault's Pendulum! Dense reading, but lots of fun.

OK, so if you're interested in some basic explanations of Kabbalah and its nature and history, the go-to works are those of Gershom Scholem. He is the classic academic investigator of Kabbalah.

On The Kabbalah and Its Significance
Kabbalah
Origins of the Kabbalah
Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism
On The Mystical Shape of the Godhead

Those are his five best, and I think they are quite readable.

Some additional options include:

Kabbalah: The Way of Light, by Rabbi Lawrence Kushner
Kabbalah: A Very Short Introduction, by Joseph Dan
Kabbalah: A Brief Introduction for Christians, by Tamar Frankiel
Inner Space: Introduction to Kabbalah, Meditation, and Prophecy, by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan

And some tangential, but worthwhile, readings include:

Jewish Magic and Superstition: A Study In Folk Religion, by Joshua Trachtenberg
The Encyclopedia of Jewish Myth, Magic, and Mysticism, by Rabbi Geoffrey W. Dennis

A general rule (there are some exceptions, but few) is that books on Kabbalah by non-Jews are generally not about Jewish Kabbalah, but about non-Jewish mystical systems that claim descent from Kabbalah, or claim to be "real" Kabbalah or "lost" Kabbalah, or have simply taken the name to themselves for whatever reason. Many, if spelled Qabala or Qabalah are actually about Western Mysticism, which is a fine mystical tradition, it just happens not to be Jewish.

You should be wary of anything written by Z'ev ben Shimon Halevi. He is a sketchy character, and his authenticity is in question.

You should shun anything written by Yehuda or Michael Berg, or from the Kabbalah Centre. They are hucksters and charlatans, and what they teach is not Kabbalah, but merely Jewishly-influenced cultishness in an attempt to profit from the hapless. Also do not trust anything by Michael Laitman, or from the Bnei Baruch Kabbalah Education & Research Institute (also called Bet Kabbalah l'Am): they are like the Kabbalah Centre, only slightly less odious.

Also, any book about Kabbalah that claims to reveal lost secrets of the ancients, or secrets of how to attain mystical powers, or how to attain mystical revelations, or how anyone-- Jewish or non-Jewish-- can use Kabbalah in their daily lives, are all complete wastes of time and not worth picking up.

I'm certainly not saying, BTW, that studying Kabbalah might not really be able to teach you secrets and help you attain revelations; but I do think that it could only come about through painstaking understanding of the subtlest nuances of the great mystical texts-- in the original. Hebrew is an exceptionally difficult language to translate anyhow, and mystical poetry is difficult to truly grasp in any language. But to truly comprehend Hebrew mystical poetry from a synthesis of someone's English prose translations? No.

Do feel free to ask for more recommendations, or for help with any concepts that you feel are perplexing. Always glad to help.

Thanks! I know, if you don't have an omnium gatherum of reference material at your fingertips, or a ready wikipedia page, Foucault is (in my opinion) unreadable...I was totally lost at Casaubon's venture to Bahia and the voodoo sects..... Phaw! I do know quite a bit about medieval literature, so that helps....

No, I hate spiritual self-help books...intellectual con-artists....

Thanks for your help.